South Africa: Department condemns shutdown of water treatment plant

The Department of Water and Sanitation in Limpopo has strongly condemned the closure of Nandoni Water Treatment Plant by protesting residents in Tshiulungoma and Muloti villages.

According to Water and Sanitation Provincial Head, Lucy Kobe, the protestors overpowered the security personnel guarding the plant and took the keys.

Kobe warned that this will have far reaching implications, as it has affected water supply to communities that are benefiting from the plant.

These acts of criminality have no place in Limpopo and whatever issues community members feel aggrieved by should not lead to the shutdown of the plant, Kobe said.

Kobe said while the department fully understands that people have a constitutional right to protest, no one has a right to infringe on someone elses right to have access to water.

She said such conduct has negative implications on service delivery, compliance of municipalities and water wastage that cannot be afforded in the midst of unreliable rainfall.

The protestors also endangered the lives of the people guarding the plant, something that is against the law as well and we condemn that, Kobe said.

Kobe said national government is aware of the water challenges experienced in the area, and they are working closely with the provincial and local governments to come up with immediate solutions.

Part of the problem has been the non-functional pump station pumping water from Tshiulungoma to Mutoti village. The pump station has since been fixed, but it cannot be tested now since the plant is closed, Kobe said.

This story has been published on: 2021-06-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Hexagonal boron nitride's remarkable toughness unmasked

HOUSTON - (June 2, 2021) - It's official: Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is the iron man of 2D materials, so resistant to cracking that it defies a century-old theoretical description engineers still use to measure toughness.

"What we observed in this material is remarkable," said Rice University's Jun Lou, co-corresponding author of a Nature paper published this week. "Nobody expected to see this in 2D materials. That's why it's so exciting."

Lou explains the significance of the discovery by comparing the fracture toughness of h-BN with that of its better-known cousin graphene. Structurally, graphene and h-BN are nearly identical. In each, atoms are arranged in a flat lattice of interconnecting hexagons. In graphene, all the atoms are carbon, and in h-BN each hexagon contains three nitrogen and three boron atoms.

The carbon-carbon bonds in graphene are nature's strongest, which should make graphene the toughest stuff around. But there's a catch. If even a few atoms are out of place, graphene's performance can go from extraordinary to mediocre. And in the real world, no material is defect-free, Lou said, which is why fracture toughness -- or resistance to crack growth -- is so important in engineering: It describes exactly how much punishment a real-world material can withstand before failing.

"We measured the fracture toughness of graphene seven years ago, and it's actually not very resistant to fracture," Lou said. "If you have a crack in the lattice, a small load will just break that material."

In a word, graphene is brittle. British engineer A.A. Griffith published a seminal theoretical study of fracture mechanics in 1921 that described the failure of brittle materials. Griffith's work described the relationship between the size of a crack in a material and the amount of force required to make the crack grow.

Lou's 2014 study showed graphene's fracture toughness could be explained by Griffith's time-tested criterion. Given h-BN's structural similarities to graphene, it also was expected to be brittle.

That isn't the case. Hexagonal boron nitride's fracture resistance is about 10 times higher than graphene's, and h-BN's behavior in fracture tests was so unexpected that it defied description with Griffith's formula. Showing precisely how it behaved and why took more than 1,000 hours of experiments in Lou's lab at Rice and equally painstaking theoretical work headed by co-corresponding author Huajian Gao at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore.

"What makes this work so exciting is that it unveils an intrinsic toughening mechanism in a supposedly perfectly brittle material," Gao said. "Apparently, even Griffith couldn't foresee such drastically different fracture behaviors in two brittle materials with similar atomic structures."

Lou, Gao and colleagues traced the wildly different material behaviors to slight asymmetries that result from h-BN containing two elements instead of one.

"Boron and nitrogen are not the same, so even though you have this hexagon, it is not exactly like the carbon hexagon (in graphene) because of this asymmetric arrangement," Lou said.

He said the details of the theoretical description are complex, but the upshot is cracks in h-BN have a tendency to branch and turn. In graphene, the tip of the crack travels straight through the material, opening bonds like a zipper. But the lattice asymmetry in h-BN creates a "bifurcation" where branches can form.

"If the crack is branched, that means it is turning," Lou said. "If you have this turning crack, it basically costs additional energy to drive the crack further. So you've effectively toughened your material by making it much harder for the crack to propagate."

Gao said, "The intrinsic lattice asymmetry endows h-BN with a permanent tendency for a moving crack to branch off its path, like a skier who has lost her or his ability to maintain a balanced posture to move straight forward."

Hexagonal boron nitride is already an extremely important material for 2D electronics and other applications because of its heat resistance, chemical stability and dielectric properties, which allow it to serve as both a supporting base and an insulating layer between electronic components. Lou said h-BN's surprising toughness could also make it the ideal option for adding tear resistance to flexible electronics made from 2D materials, which tend to be brittle.

"The niche area for 2D material-based electronics is the flexible device," Lou said.

In addition to applications like electronic textiles, 2D electronics are thin enough for more exotic applications like electronic tattoos and implants that could be attached directly to the brain, he said.

"For this type of configuration, you need to ensure the material itself is mechanically robust when you bend it around," Lou said. "That h-BN is so fracture-resistant is great news for the 2D electronic community, because it can use this material as a very effective protective layer."

Gao said the findings may also point to a new route to fabricate tough mechanical metamaterials through engineered structural asymmetry.

"Under extreme loading, fracture may be inevitable, but its catastrophic effects can be mitigated through structural design," Gao said.

Lou is a professor and associate department chair in materials science and nanoengineering and a professor of chemistry at Rice. Gao is a distinguished university professor in the schools of both engineering and science at NTU.

Rice-affiliated co-authors are Yingchao Yang, now an assistant professor at the University of Maine, Chao Wang, now at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China, and Boyu Zhang. Other co-authors include Bo Ni of Brown University; Xiaoyan Li of Tsinghua University in China; Guangyuan Lu, Qinghua Zhang, Lin Gu and Xiaoming Xie of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Zhigong Song of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore and formerly of Tsinghua and Brown.

###

The research was supported by the Department of Energy (DE-SC0018193), and simulations were performed on resources provided by the National Science Foundation's Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (MSS090046) at Brown University's Center for Computation and Visualization.

Links and resources:

The DOI of the Nature paper is: 10.1038/s41586-021-03488-1

A copy of the paper is available at: https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1038/ s41586-021-03488-1

High-resolution IMAGES are available for download at:

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 04/ 0503_TOUGH-223hBN12-lg. jpg

CAPTION: A scanning electron microscope image shows branched cracks in a single crystal of 2D hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). Experiments and computational modelling by Rice University and Nanyang Technological University showed h-BN lattice asymmetry allows cracks to follow branching paths, which effectively toughens the 2D material by making it more difficult for cracks to propagate. (Image courtesy of J. Lou/Rice University)

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 04/ 0503_TOUGH-fig-lg. jpg

CAPTION: Computational simulations at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore helped explain the unexpected fracture toughness of 2D hexagonal boron nitride. The material's intrinsic toughness arises from slight asymmetries in its atomic structure (left), which produce a permanent tendency for moving cracks to follow branched paths (right). (Image courtesy of H. Gao/NTU)

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 04/ 0503_TOUGH-jlbz7005-lg. jpg

CAPTION: Experiments by Rice University materials scientists Jun Lou (left) and Boyu Zhang showed 2D hexagonal boron nitride was surprisingly resistant to cracking. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 04/ 0503_TOUGH-jl7001-lg. jpg

CAPTION: Jun Lou (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 04/ 0503_TOUGH-bz6982-lg. jpg

CAPTION: Boyu Zhang (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 04/ 0503_TOUGH-hgzs-lg. jpg

CAPTION: Computational simulations by Nanyang Technological University materials scientists Huajian Gao (left) and Zhigong Song helped explain the unexpected fracture toughness of 2D hexagonal boron nitride. (Image courtesy of H. Gao/NTU)

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 04/ 0503_TOUGH-hex-lg. jpg

CAPTION: In both graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) atoms, atoms are arranged in a flat lattice of interconnecting hexagons. In graphene, all the atoms are carbon. In h-BN each hexagon contains three nitrogen and three boron atoms. (Image courtesy of Rice University)

This release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,978 undergraduates and 3,192 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 1 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance.

This story has been published on: 2021-06-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Press Release

June 2, 2021 "Brilliant N.E.R.D with K-Pop Looks"

Confirmation of the Appointment of Karl Kendrick T. Chua

as Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning and Director General of the

National Economic and Development Authority

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto Mr. President, my dear colleagues: The nominee is a NERD - but with K-Pop looks. By NERD, I mean our National Economist for Recovery and Development. In the Cabinet, he is the youngest in years, but one of the wisest in experience. And it is not only his youthfulness which makes him stand out in a Cabinet of D-O-Ms - Davao connection, Oldies but goodies, and Military - but his intellect, too. His CV is a fine print of academic and professional achievements. Taken together, they are the social and economic reforms writ large. He has logged 18 years of experience in each of the following disciplines: economic policy, fiscal policy, tax administration, political economy, and tax policy. Speaking of tax, he is the architect of the biggest tax hikeor make that plural, tax hikes in historywithout having to be punished by the voters at the ballot box, like the fate of another NEDA head. Add 16 years of work in statistical development, plus 15 in public expenditure management, 13 in labor and social protection policy, and 11 in poverty studies. The sum, which is more than a hundred years in multiple career tracks, is twice Enrile's professional record but achieved at half his age. Every leader, Mr. President, is dependent on some form of AI, or artificial intelligence. And the President should be lucky to have this nominee, who is a walking terabytes of knowledge, in his official family. It is good that he has topnotch qualifications, because the Cabinet portfolio he holds is one of the most important today. The reason is that the pandemic has unleashed a health crisis and an economic crisis all at once. It is a war being fought on two fronts. One is where lives are saved. The other is where livelihoods are salvaged. The fact is, only a few of those that have gotten the virus may manifest severe body ills. But you don't have to get hit by COVID to be hurt by the economic hardships it has caused. Not all COVID victims will see the inside of an ER. But this virus has placed our entire economy in the ICU. Our GDP cratered last year, sinking to a negative 9.6 percent growth. The unemployment rate seesaws between 7 and 18 percent. As businesses bled, the economy shed 2.7 million jobs. For every day of ECQ, income lost is P2.8 billion. The toll on millions is best captured by this observation: "Ang dating isang kahig, isang tuka, ngayon ay kahig ng kahig, walang matuka." It falls upon the nominee as economic war minister to ease their pain, to prevent the economy from fully flatlining, and to lay the foundations of a turnaround. A suki of this institution, he has been counselling us on the relief, recovery, resilience measures that we must undertake if we want the greatest threat to this nation in 75 years to be over soon. Mr. President, I have been working with the nominee for many years now on all the measures the economic team wanted us to pass. I always find my encounters with him a learning experience for me, although I suspect that he may not have treated it as a teachable moment for him. I value the hundreds of hours we have discussed policy, even if I know that he looks forward to meeting me with the same excitement as when he goes to the dentist for a root canal. We have crossed swords on many issues, and we have lost count on the times we put each other's ideas on our own crosshairs. But always I come out of those encounters with a higher respect and deeper admiration for this patriot and professional, whose love for his country and people is beyond doubt. Mr. President, the likes of him should be the rule in the Cabinet, not the exception. The presence of the NEDA chief in the Cabinet serves as a constant reminder of the essential things a government must do for its people. I mean the things that truly matter, not the trivial ones trolls want. Things like jobs created, investments generated, GDP growth, exports, the poverty incidence slashed, literacy, among othersthis is the scorecard NEDA keeps. And it is the only accurate barometer which tells us where we are. The true state of the nation is in our economic numbers. They are not in opinion polls which report the perception of the polled. Neither are they in the reach of socmed posts. Surveys can never be a substitute for the development index. And the nation can only score high in that index if it follows and funds the plans of NEDA and if the government heeds the advice of its head. Mr. President: There is one line in the nominee's official CV which strikes me the most. No, these are not the impressive catalogue of his published works. Neither are these his academic credentials, his AB from Ateneo, and his MA and PhD in Economics from that public school down the road which, as one joke goes, served as a re-education camp for anyone coming out of a Jesuit school. Rather, I find it on his civil status, where he writes: "Married with one happy little boy who misses his dad." That boy is Keid Ashby, an incoming Grade 1 student at, where else, the Jesuit school Xavier, where his dad was the high school valedictorian 25 years ago. "Keid" is a star in the constellation of Eridamis, where habitable planets may exist. And "Ashby", from what a contact tracer told me, is some economist. Obviously, he was named after his father's two passions: astronomy and economics, which bookends the day of this busy man. Mornings, he bikes to work, with two pieces of pan de sal as baon, to his day job as the lead government economist. And after a day of poring over spreadsheets, he searches the sky for stars. So when we had that lunar eclipse some nights ago, I imagine father and son watching it together, with the dad annotating the phenomenon to his class of one. But if he had the nation as audience that night, Karl Kendrick Chua would be telling us that we must have a "man on the moon" goal. I am referring to the moment when Kennedy boldly vowed to put a man on the moon before the Sixties was over. That we must break free of the political culture which treats grandiose dreams as grandstanding. That although we are in the gutter, let us reach for the stars. That we can do it in a way that we secure our children's future without mortgaging it. Mr. President, my dear colleagues: It is my honor to sponsor the confirmation of the appointment of Karl Kendrick T. Chua, father of a boy who misses him terribly, as the Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning and the Director General of the National Economic and Development Authority.
MONTGOMERYAlabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced Wednesday that shes running for reelection, citing her record over the last four years that includes the states emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ivey, 76, made the announcement in a video message released by her campaign. The Republican emphasized her administrations investment in infrastructure, job creation, Alabamas pandemic recovery and its low unemployment rate.

Alabama is working again, and the best is yet to come, Ivey said in her distinct Southern drawl.

The COVID crisis has tested us all, but together weve met the call with the same things that make us who we are  faith, resilience and a good old-fashioned bucket load of common sense. The result: a future brighter than any other in America, Ivey said.

The incumbent governors entry into the 2022 race likely will discourage some gubernatorial hopefuls from jumping into the fray. Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth had said he will not run for governor if Ivey seeks another term. No Democrat has declared an intention to run yet.

Speaking briefly with reporters later in the day, Ivey said she is running on her record and to tackle unfinished business. Ivey cited education, the state prison system and job creation as priorities.
Students pictured during an educational session of EQuest. Photo courtesy of EQuest.

Global equity firm KKR has invested close to $100 million in EQuest, a company that seeks to provide students in Vietnam with access to world-class education.

"As Vietnam continues to elevate on the worlds economic stage, access to affordable, high-quality education solutions plays an important role in meeting the nations objectives," said Ashish Shastry, head of KKRs Southeast Asia division.

The value of the deal was around $100 million, according to DealStreetAsia. The deal is likely to have paved the way for a partial exit for Singapore-based TAEL Partners, which invested in EQuest in 2018.

EQuest operates a diversified portfolio across the educational sector in Vietnam, focusing on four core segments including K-12 bilingual schools, tertiary and vocational institutions, English enrichment courses, and digital learning solutions.

More than 110,000 students enroll in its segments each year.

As of March, KKR had $367 billion of assets under its management.

Before EQuest, it had invested in Vietnams biggest real estate developer Vinhomes and animal feed producer Masan MEATLife.
An investor looks at stock prices on a smartphone at a brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran.

Vietnams benchmark VN-Index has surged over 20 percent in the first five months, highest among major benchmark indexes in Asia.

The growth, driven by an influx of new investors, exceeded those of South Korea and Taiwan that grew at more than 10 percent in the first five months.

One of the reasons why Vietnams stock market has surged in the past five months is that the government has continued to maintain a monetary easing policy, which means banks have kept their deposit rates low, Nguyen The Minh, director of analysis at brokerage Yuanta Vietnam, told VnExpress International.

The low return on deposits prompted people to look for more promising investment channels, and they have zeroed in on the stock exchange. The number of new domestic individual trading accounts opened last month triped year-on-year to 110,000.

Duc Nghia, a new investor this year, has seen handsome returns after investing around VND100 million in several blue chips.

"The value of my investment in Hoa Phat Group and VietinBank has increased by 15-20 percent in the last several weeks. It would be silly to stay out of the market now," said the 26-year-old graphic designer in Hanoi.

With trading volume more than quadruple since the end of 2019 and 11 stocks exceeding $5 billion in market value, up from two in 2015, Vietnam is considered an "investable market," according to HSBC Holdings Plc.

VN-Index closed Tuesday at a new peak of 1,337.78 points. The index had passed the 1,300 level for the first time last month after breaking the 2018 peak of 1,204 points in April.

It has been driven up by banking stocks in recent months as many lenders reported first quarter post-tax profits doubling year-on-year.

Minh said that despite Vietnams fourth Covid-19 wave temporarily suspending manufacturing in some northern provinces, several companies have been allowed to resume operations and a long-term delay in production is unlikely.

He added that the economy is being supported by rising demand from buyers in the U.S. and Europe, especially in agriculture and furniture sectors.

Exports to the U.S. in the first five months rose nearly 50 percent year-on-year, while that of the E.U. went up nearly 21 percent, according to the General Statistics Office.

Yuanta has forecast that VN-Index will peak at 1,364 points this year if new investors keep pouring into the market and the government continues to maintain a loose money policy.

Stephen McKeever, head of the institutional client division at Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corp, said: "We expect high levels of activity to be sustained as long as bank deposit rates stay on a downtrend."

Money managers from Sempione Sim SpA, to Asia Frontier Capital and City of London Investment Management Co. in early May said they were busy looking for entry points.

They cite solid economic prospects, relatively attractive valuations, rising foreign-direct investment flows and healthy earnings growth as reasons to be optimistic, while also showing faith in the governments ability to contain the pandemic, according to Bloomberg.

"I see Vietnam as a very nice compelling growth and stable story for the short, mid and long term," said Federico Parenti, a fund manager at Sempione Sim in Milan.
Sri Lanka, Bahrain suspend entry of visitors from Vietnam over new Covid strain

Passengers wait for security screening at the domestic terminal of Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCMC, February 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran.

Sri Lanka and Bahrain have banned entry for arrivals from Vietnam following its outbreak of the new Covid-19 variant and Britain is considering stricter measures for entry.

Sri Lanka's Civil Aviation Authority said on Monday that though international airports would reopen on Tuesday, travelers from Vietnam would not be allowed in until further notice, Xinhua news agency reported.

This decision was taken due to the spread of hybrid versions of Covid-19 in Vietnam, it said, quoting State Minister of Aviation and Export Zones Development D. V. Chanaka.

The minister said the ban would also apply to people transiting through Vietnamese airports and visiting the country in the last 14 days.

Bahraini authorities prohibited arrivals from Vietnam from June 1.

The U.K. government said it is monitoring a suspected Covid variant detected in Vietnam ahead of a decision on travel restrictions due later this week that could result in more destinations being added to its red list, which requires arrivals to go into hotel quarantine, The Guardian reported.

Vietnam is currently on the amber list, which requires self-isolation at home upon return, but is among the countries that could be upgraded to stricter quarantine measures.

Vietnamese Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said on Saturday a hybrid variant with characteristics from the Indian and U.K. coronavirus strains and which spreads rapidly through the air has been found.

Vietnam's containment of Covid was a worldwide success story until last month when incidence began to shoot up.

Since late April it has been struggling with a fourth wave of Covid, its most challenging so far, with 4,549 cases reported in 37 of its 63 cities and provinces.

Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai, the country's largest airports, have temporarily banned foreign arrivals.
AB495 achieves this while also ensuring Nevadas mining industry can support that funding going forward, NGM said in a statement, adding that mining alone cannot solve what is a structural fiscal and funding issue in Nevada.

The measure is a compromise among lawmakers, mining industry advocates, educators and activists that should replace several previous proposals that would have increased taxes on mining by more than 400% and required citizens to approve on the ballot in a general election.

In speaking with elected officials, Gray said it came to a point where we were able to get a rate that our companies were able to sensitivity test and be comfortable paying while meeting the objective of helping education get to the base funding that they have been trying to get to for the past 20 years.

NGM said in principle the company believes that taxes should be based on income not revenue but is pleased that all sides have come together to allow this proposal to be put forward, and we are proud to be providing additional funding to something as important to Nevada as the education of its youth.

Kinross Gold Corp. is the state's second-largest gold producer with two mines in Nevada.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}
Valdivia shot and wounded the man from a distance of roughly 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 meters) after repeatedly telling the man to back up, county prosecutor Robert Hill said in court.

The man had approached Valdivia on a train, sat across from him and asked the agent for money, Hill said. The man muttered expletives and began to walk away when the agent said he didn't have any money to give, the prosecutor added.

Watch your mouth, the agent told the man, according to Hill.

After the man turned and approached him again, Valdivia pulled a gun from a holster and shot him, the prosecutor said. Another passenger was in the agent's line of fire, about 15 feet (4.6 meters) away, but wasn't harmed, Hill added.

A grand jury indicted Valdivia on charges including attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault and reckless endangerment.

Valdivia turned himself in to local authorities at a county jail Tuesday morning. Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Joan Ryon agreed to release him on personal recognizance. Prosecutors didnt object.

The wounded man had part or all of his spleen, colon and pancreas removed during surgery after the shooting, according to Hill.
New Hampshire and Iowa are not really reflections of our entire country. Presidential candidates should look at Nevada as the example of what they should be doing and who they should be talking to, said Emily Persaud-Zamora, director of Silver State Voices, a Nevada voting advocacy group.

In 2020, the leadoff contest in Iowa unraveled and left the winner unclear. New Hampshire, which was next, ended with a result that was a near tie between two candidates who ultimately lost. The eventual nominee, now-President Joe Biden, came in fifth in New Hampshire.

It's time for Nevada to take its rightful place, not just first in the West but in the nation, as a diverse state, a state with diverse issues," said Nevada Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation.

He said Nevada's small population makes it affordable and navigable for candidates to use as an early testing ground of their national appeal.

Sisolak has not said if he will sign the bill but has been supportive of the idea.
In April 2020, unemployment increased to 14.2 percent in Florida, more than five points higher than the 2019 average. The Miami area has the highest unemployment rate at almost 7%, but overall the data collected shows that the unemployment rate across the state had dropped to 4.8 percent. While higher than pre-pandemic levels, the sharp decline represents a significant improvement in the Sunshine States economy.

Based on these improvements, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has called to reinstate some additional requirements for those on unemployment to receive their benefits. As the pandemic caused mass layoffs in the Spring of 2020, Florida and many other states removed the job search requirement to receive benefits. Job search requirements mandate those on employment to provide evidence that they are searching for new career opportunities.

However, with unemployment inching back to normal levels, the governor has re-implemented the rule to encourage those on employment to begin their re-entry into the workforce. As of 26 May, these requirements are in place, and in the coming weeks, workers will have to report a certain number of searchers. In smaller counties, with populations under 75,000, claimants will have to provide three searchers, and for those in large countries, five searches will be required. The state has provided guidance on what constitutes a valid work search.

Additionally, on 24 May, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity announced that on 26 June, the state would stop the additional $300 a week federal topper to those receiving state unemployment benefits. Florida follows twenty-two other states that will also be ending the federal pandemic unemployment benefits this summer.

In announcing the end to these federal programs, Dane Eagle, the Secretary of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, thanked the governor for his leadership, saying that Floridas economy has bounced back tremendously with over 460,000 jobs available throughout our state and the strongest economic conditions in the nation. Citing worker shortages, the Secretary went on to say that ending the benefit will help meet the demands of small and large businesses who are ready to hire and expand their workforce.

In early May, Secretary Eagle announced the Return to Work program, which will help Floridians who are interested in learning a new career path or need assistance looking for employment, to turn to CareerSource Florida for assistance. CareerSource Florida is a state-run site that aims to help job seekers explore new employment opportunities, provide workforce and job-training skills, and provide career advancement assistance. The program was announced as reports showed that Florida was able to add 700,00 new jobs and had almost half a million jobs available during the pandemic.

While millions of unemployed workers will see their benefits cut this summer, the research does not demonstrate that a cutting in payments incentivizes workers to return to the job market. These benefits were first cut in July 2020 from $600 to zero and then reintroduced in December at a value of $300 a week on top of state benefits. The research did not show that these events correlated with more or fewer people entering or leaving the workforce.
New Mexico becomes one of twelve states that have introduced a covid-19 vaccine lottery to encourage residents to get their shots. In New Mexico, the Vax-to-Max program will also be giving away free park passes, travel vouchers, and other prizes.

Those who are interested must opt-in to win.

The state has announced they will conduct, five regional lotteries where one winner from each region will be selected to win $250,000. The regional drawings will occur for five weeks, beginning, 18 June.

After the regional drawings are completed, there will be one statewide drawing where one winner will be awarded, the $5 million grand prize.

When are the drawings going to take place?

The state has announced the following dates for each of the drawings:

Friday 18 June

Friday 3 July

Friday 17 July

Friday 30 July

GRAND PRIZE: Saturday 7 August

To be considered, those in the state must opt-in by 6 PM the Thursday or Friday before the drawing is scheduled.

Where do the New Mexico vaccination numbers stand?

New Mexico has administered 2.1 million covid-19 vaccine doses, leaving fifty-seven percent of the population at least partially protected. Vaccine demand hit an all-time high in March and has been on the decline since. In March and April, the state vaccinated over half a million residents, in May this number dropped to just over 355,000. With only forty-eight percent of the states population fully vaccinated, officials hope that the lottery will encourage more residents to begin or complete their vaccination process.

President Biden has announced a target of having seventy percent of all US residents at least partially vaccinated by the Fourth of July. With two months left, New Mexico is about thirteen points short of this goal. If the lottery helps maintain or increase the vaccination levels, the state should be able to reach Bidens goal. In April, thirteen percent of those eligible received their first dose, this figure decreased to ten percent in May.

How many other states have implemented vaccine lotteries?

Nine states, including New Mexico, have established covid-19 lotteries.

California

Californias vaccine lottery is the largest to be announced and will give away $1.5 million to ten Californians who have received at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine.

Colorado

On 25 Colorado Governor Jared Polis unveiled the Colorado Comeback Cash Vaccine Drawing which will select five vaccinated residents to win $1 million.

Since the contest has been announced the percent of residents who have received at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine increased one point to 45.4%.

Delaware

On 25 May, Governor John Carney introduced  DE Wins!, which described as a public education and incentive program aimed at increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates in Delaware.

All individuals above the age of twelve, who have been vaccinated will be entered to win $5,000 in cash and additional prizes in twice-weekly drawings conducted by the Delaware Lottery. On 30 June, two residents that have received a vaccine will be eligible to win the $302,000 grand prize.

Maryland

On 20 May, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced the $2 Million VaxCash Promotion which gives those vaccinated in the state a chance to win $40,000.

On 4 July, one person will be selected to win the $400,000 grand prize.

Ohio

Ohio was the first state to announce a vaccine lottery for both young people and adults. The first of five drawings to select a $1 million winner was held on 26 May.

Vaccinated individuals in Ohio now have four more chances to win. The state has announced that the vaccination rate did begin to increase after Governor Mike DeWine announced the contest.

Oregon

On 21 May, Governor Brown of Oregon, introduced the Take Your Shot Program. Residents of Oregon have until late June to get vaccinated to have a chance of wining, $10,000 (37 winners) or $1 million (1 winner).

Younger Oregonians could win one of five $100,000 scholarships to an Oregon university or colleges.

West Virginia

On 1 June, West Virginia became one of the latest states to launch a covid-19 vaccine lottery. The state will be giving away cash prizes as well as goods like riffles and trucks.

Leaders in Hawaii, Illinois, and Louisiana have announced that their states are working to establish a covid-19 vaccine lottery. More than a dozen states are considering the mater but have not made a decision." Only leaders from Florida, Indiana, North Dakota, South Carolina, Wisconsin, have made their opposition to the concept public.
Press Release

June 2, 2021 Villar calls to increase milk production, joins World Milk Day celebration NOTING that dairy production in the Philippines is only at 1% of the demand and that 99% of milk is imported, Senator Cynthia Villar renewed her call to accelerate milk production as she joined the World Milk Day celebration. She also urged all concerned government agencies like the Department of Agriculture (DA), National Dairy Authority (NDA) and the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) to boost the country's dairy industry through policy direction and program implementation. Since June 1, 2000, the United Nations-Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has been celebrating the World Milk Day to highlight the importance of milk products as a global food. But for this year, no major global events have been set due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, website of World Milk Day urged event organisers around the world to shift to social media campaigns and programs. According to Villar, chairperson of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, once we increase our dairy production, we can already make milk affordable and accessible to our children. However, with the country's dependence on imported milk, she said "it's no wonder many Filipino children were being deprived of drinking milk, an excellent source of many nutrients. "Poor families cannot afford to give their children milk that will greatly help in their proper nutrition and academic performance in school," said Villar, adding that "foreign dairy is too expensive for the masses." The lady senator further stated that a developed dairy industry will provide livelihood opportunities to earn more for farmers in farming communities. "And if we are to source our fresh milk and fresh milk-based products from local dairy farmers and cooperatives, we are creating markets, which, if sustained, will eventually develop our local dairy industry," stressed Villar With the current situation, the senator lamented "we have been missing the opportunity to make our kababayan, especially the farmers, benefit from the dairy industry as a source of additional income." During previous hearings in the Senate, Villar railed against the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) and the National Dairy Authority (NDA) which she said were partly at fault that school children do not perform well and called on them to help boost the country's milk production. Villar also chided the PCC for failing to significantly increase milk production despite a nearly P3-billion program. Aside from the budget of the PCC, Villar has allocated P10 million each to 28 locations or a total of P280 million to build dairy processing centers in different parts of the country. The senator cited the Commission on Audit (COA) Report released in January 2020, saying the dairy program that cost P2.85 billion to implement appears to have achieved only "minimal improvement" in increasing the number of dairy animals In the Philippines.
Covid-19 cases rising again, but not in North America - health agency

(Reuters) - Lack of effective political leadership has hampered efforts to stop the Covid-19 pandemic in Latin America, where infections are dangerously on the rise again, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday.

While the United States, Canada and Mexico are reporting overall reductions in Covid-19 cases and deaths, new infections are increasing in the rest of the Americas, PAHO Director Carissa Etienne said. Colombia is reporting the highest rate of infections in South America, where new cases have nearly tripled in some regions, and Brazil is seeing a rise in new infections and hospitalizations, she said.

But without effective leadership, Latin American countries are failing in their response to the illness. "Sadly, across our region we've seen misinformation about Covid-19 sow doubt on proven health measures, often in the context of political disputes," Etienne said in a briefing. "By stoking controversy where there is none, our leaders are sending mixed messages to the public and standing in the way of effective measures to control the virus," she said.

Of greatest concern now is Haiti, where despite sharp increases in cases, hospitalizations and deaths, public health measures required to stop transmission are being largely ignored by the population, Etienne said. She said it was encouraging that Haiti's government has accepted the AstraZeneca vaccine and doses will be arriving soon through the COVAX facility led by the World Health Organization.

Latin America and the Caribbean have the world's highest death toll from Covid-19 in proportion to its population, with at least 33,289,000 reported infections and 1,043,000 reported deaths, according to a Reuters tally. Brazil leads the region with the most new cases and deaths, and a 7-day average of 1,881 fatalities per day. Argentina and Colombia follow in infections and deaths.
The IRS has sent out over 167 million direct payments as part of the third round of stimulus checks, and will continue to make supplementary plus-up payments for the rest of 2021 as they work through a backlog of tax returns.

It has been two and a half months since the third round of stimulus checks was signed into law when the American Rescue Plan was passed and already attention is turning to the prospect of a fourth stimulus check.

Many Democrats in Congress are pushing for further direct payments to be passed but Republicans appear unwilling to countenance another round of stimulus spending at the moment. With this in mind, how long have previous negotiations taken?

First stimulus check

When the extent of the pandemic first became apparent in March 2020, former President Donald Trump acted swiftly to sign the first large-scale stimulus package into law: the CARES Act.

The $2.2 trillion package was passed on Friday 27 March, little over two weeks after covid-19 was first declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation on 11 March. That first round of stimulus checks was worth up to $1,200 for eligible adults and $500 per child dependent under the age of 16.

With a Republican in the Oval Office the proposal had faced little resistance from the Congressional GOP and the payments first landed in bank accounts on the weekend of the 11 April. In response to the bills passage, Trump tweeted: "Workers & small businesses need money now in order to survive. Virus wasn't their fault.

Second stimulus check

Following the swift approval of that first round of stimulus checks the second batch of direct payments took far longer to be agreed. Congressional talks began in July with Democrats in the House of Representatives proposing a $3 trillion package, known as the HEROES Act.

However, despite two versions of the bill passing the House, the GOP-led Senate refused to vote on the matter and discussions dragged on into December, when an emergency package was proposed. Known as the as the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021, this package included stimulus checks worth just $600 per person.

Trump insisted that he wanted another round of stimulus checks before Bidens scheduled inauguration on 20 January and he kept Congress in session over Christmas to ensure that the emergency bill was eventually passed on 27 December. From the start of negotiations to the checks being distributed in January, the process took around six months.

Third stimulus check

While the first two stimulus checks were signed into law by Trump, the third round of direct payments is the only one to date passed by President Biden. It was a central part of his American Rescue Plan, the flagship recovery package he unveiled on 15 January, before he had even entered office.

The $1.9 trillion stimulus bill was a central part of his early agenda but he faced tough opposition when trying to pass it through Congress. He did not get any Republican support with zero GOP votes in either chamber of Congress, meaning that he had to keep his entire Senate caucus together to pass it using reconciliation.

He was struck a blow by the potential defection of Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia. Manchin threatened to vote against the bill unless changes were made to unemployment provision, throwing the fate of the third stimulus check into doubt.

However Manchin duly voted with his party and on 11 March, two months after the American Rescue Plan was first announced, Biden was able to sign it into law and trigger a third round of stimulus checks. The direct payments began landing in recipients bank accounts from Sunday 12 March and by 7 April the IRS confirmed that 156 million payments had already been distributed.
On 20 May, Hawaii Governor David Ige announced that the state would begin requiring those claiming unemployment benefits to report on their progress finding work.

This represents a major shift in policy since the pandemic began. In April 2020 as the pandemic led to massive lock downs and travel restrictions, Hawaiis economy came to a standstill. Hospitality is one of the states largest sectors, and with few travelers coming to the islands, businesses laid off or furloughed nearly twenty percent of the labor force. A year later, the number is down to eight percent.

While real progress has been made, these numbers are high compared to the 2.5% pre-pandemdic average. Visits to the island state have been on the rise and in March hotel occupancy rose to forty-one percent, the highest level recorded since last year.

Businesses are beginning to reopen and many are looking to hire. During his announcement, Gov. Ige spoke to economic distress caused by the pandemic saying When the pandemic shut down global tourism, there was no work for people in the hospitality sector. In response, the state relaxed the job search requirement for recipients of unemployment insurance benefits. He continued by saying that the strides made by the state, justify the implementation of work search requirements.

How to certify your work search?

To comply with the requirements, claimants must complete at least three job search contacts per week. According to the state a job search contrasts include registering for work on HireNet Hawaii, applying for jobs by submitting a resume, or attending a job fair. To ensure benefits are received, individuals must keep a written log of job contacts and must be ready to submit the log to the UI Division upon request.

What support does the state provide to those looking for a job?

Hawaiis Workforce Development Council is providing support to those looking for a job. One of the major forms of assistance was the creation of the American Jobs Center (AJC) -- Hawaii which is a unique collaboration of state and local organizations to connect those looking for work with businesses that want to employ them. Offices are set up across the islands. Services provided:

Assistance in looking for jobs

Access to a free resource center where job seekers can use computers to apply.

AJC also provided  customized services at no cost to individuals who are either unemployed or underemployed.

at no cost to individuals who are either Those who meet federal eligibility requirements may qualify for additional services including in-depth career counseling, skill testing, and access to training for in-demand jobs. Come into a center and learn about the services that are available.

In January 2020, there were 13,780 individuals unemployed in Hawaii, in April that number was 55,356. These numbers show that there are still major gaps to fill and hopefully these programs will help to continue filling them.
The Ancient City of Kashgar, a famous tourist destination in Kashgar City of northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, hosts a variety of unique shops.

Shops at the Ancient City of Kashgar (Junye Zhang/Guangming Picture)

The bustling atmosphere at the Ancient City attracts many young people to start up their own businesses, one of whom is Mewlan Turaq, a 28-year-old Kashgar native who opened his own cultural and creative shop, Rumi Creatives.

Mewlan Turaq in front of Rumi Creatives (Junye Zhang/Guangming Picture)

Rumi Creatives creates culture- and tourism-themed products. It seeks to promote Kashgars traditional culture by selling traditional local costumes, accessories, artworks, and daily products. Its business has also extended into tourism through taking traditionally-themed photographs for visitors dressed in local clothes. As a business opened in 2018, Rumi Creatives has expanded from a small shop into a company with around 20 employees.

Products inside Rumi Creatives (Junye Zhang/Guangming Picture)

Products inside Rumi Creatives (Junye Zhang/Guangming Picture)

Born and raised in Kashgar, Turaq moved to Nanchang for college, worked in Chengdu and Shanghai after graduation, and finally moved back to his hometown to start his own business. Initially, he went to a medical school, but had ideas of starting up his business since his college days. I started collecting antique things back in college. And now, we do repair work of antique products.

For just a little over two years, Rumi Creatives has become a tourist attraction at the Ancient City. People would search up our address and come visit us. Even though my shop is located deep in the Ancient City, people would still come find us.

The exterior of Rumi Creatives (Junye Zhang/Guangming Picture)

Turaq attributes his success to his passion for promoting local culture and his innovative ideas. His favorite products are the canvas bags and T-shirts which he helped design. I hire painters to paint specific images and have them printed onto the bags and T-shirts. They are products which represent my aesthetic taste.

Turaqs idea of starting Rumi Creatives started back when he lived in Nanchang. When I lived in other parts of the country, people kept telling me they wanted to see new things coming from Xinjiang. People who visited Kashgar and Xinjiang 20 to 30 years ago said there is not much difference between things that are being sold now and back then. This gave me the idea to create innovative products inspired by our local culture, said Turaq. The world is developing at such a rapid speed, where everything is happening so fast and upgrading all the time. I want the cultural aspect to keep in pace with other aspects of society, to let people see the new and more developed Xinjiang.

Speaking about his decision to move back to Kashgar, Turaq said that the city attracted him because there are lots of opportunities here for young people. Many young people are moving back here because it is so easy to start their own businesses. The government provides lots of support for young people who want to start up their own things, and there are not a lot of restrictions.

The government offered help to Turaq both before and after he started his business. When I wanted to start my own company, I had no idea about the registration procedure and the filing work involved. People from the government would guide me, and offer classes informing us on the processes of starting up our businesses, said Turaq. After Rumi Creatives began operation, the local government also helped increase Turaqs publicity. The government would increase our media exposure. They want to push young people with original ideas to the forefront, to make us known to the public, and attract more people to come to Kashgar.

Aside from the business opportunities, Turaq is also deeply fond of Kashgars local culture. He emphasized quite a few times that he has a passion for his native culture, which is the biggest inspiration for his start-up plan. Speaking of aspects of the local culture he likes the most, Turaq said it is the traditional songs and dances that have permeated into every aspect of peoples lives in Kashgar. He highly recommends tourists to visit local bars, listen to live-house performances and experience the different musical and cultural dynamics here.

Although Turaq lived in other parts of the country for eight years, he was ultimately lured back to Kashgar due to his love for its local culture, and his confidence in the burgeoning opportunities bursting in Kashgar. "There is so much potential in the tourist industry here, said Turaq. I don't need to go anywhere else."

[ Editor: WXL ]
EIB may issue about EUR75 mln to Kharkiv for new trams and infrastructure

The European Investment Bank (EIB) may issue about EUR 75 million for the purchase of new trams and related infrastructure in Kharkiv, according to information on the bank's website.

"The project is targeting the renewal of Kharkiv city's tram fleet and the related equipment, with the aim to modernize and increase the effectiveness of the urban electric transport network. The investments financed under the operation will improve the quality and sustainability of public transport service in Kharkiv and will have a positive effect on the local economy. The investment is expected to deliver socio-economic benefits and savings in terms of travel time, vehicle operating costs and road accident costs, as well as have a positive impact on the environment (decrease in local air/noise emissions and greenhouse gas emissions) as a result of the expected shift of passengers from private cars to sustainable public transport modes," the bank said.

The total cost of the project is estimated by the EIB at approximately EUR 100 million.

The EIB will also assess measures for the disposal of decommissioned rolling stock in Ukraine and the storage of hazardous waste.

As reported with reference to Acting Mayor of Kharkiv Ihor Terekhov, in September of this year it is planned to present the first tram car - in fact, a complete analogue of Skoda trams, built within the framework of the Kharkiv tram project.

The project for the production of Kharkiv low-floor trams is being implemented jointly with the city authorities on the basis of the Ecopolis HTZ business park (a long-term investment project of DCH Group of Oleksandr Yaroslavsky), in which Yaroslavsky intends to invest EUR 5.5 million.
On June 1, the Supreme Court ruled that the imposition by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) sanctions in the form of UAH 460 million fine to Imperial Tobacco Ukraine and Imperial Tobacco Production Ukraine for alleged violation of antimonopoly legislation was groundless, the company's website has reported on Wednesday.

"Our company has always acted completely transparently and decently, advocating fair and honest competition, observing all antimonopoly laws not only in Ukrainian legislation, but also the principles of protecting economic competition laid down in EU legislation," CEO of Imperial Tobacco Ukraine Rastislav Cernak is quoted in the press release as saying.

According to the materials of the court ruling, Imperial Tobacco had nothing to do with the events on the Ukrainian market for the distribution of tobacco products, as a result of which only one distributor remained on the market.

Cernak said that this court ruling is an encouraging sign for all foreign investors in Ukraine.

As reported, the Antimonopoly Committee in October 2019 imposed a fine of UAH 6.5 billion for anti-competitive concerted actions on cigarette manufacturers and distributors: UAH 3.4 billion on Tedis Ukraine, UAH 370 million on Philip Morris Sales and Distribution, UAH 810 million on Philip Morris Ukraine, UAH 430 million on PJSC JT International Ukraine, UAH 490 million on PJSC JT International Company Ukraine, UAH 170 million on Imperial Tobacco Production Ukraine, UAH 290 million on Imperial Tobacco Ukraine, UAH 80 million on British American Tobacco Sales and Marketing Ukraine LLC, UAH 450 million on PJSC A/T B.A.T.  Pryluky Tobacco Company, and also ordered these companies to stop violations.

Imperial Tobacco Ukraine is part of the Imperial Brands holding (Britain), its tobacco factory is located in Kyiv.

The company's brands are Davidoff, Parker & Simpson, West, Style, R1 and Pryma. About 50% of manufactured products are exported to the markets of 20 countries, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, United Arab Emirates, Mongolia, Lebanon, Uzbekistan, and the United States.
The Verkhovna Rada has passed at the first reading bill No. 5376 on amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding the stimulation of the development of the digital economy in Ukraine, which regulates the tax conditions of the special legal regime Diia City.

Some 281 MPs voted for the relevant document.

The bill introduces a special taxation regime for companies-residents of Diia City and the income of their employees, including gig specialists. The document, in particular, gives Diia City residents the opportunity to choose between paying income tax (18%) and tax on withdrawn capital at a rate of 9%.

The bill exempts individuals from taxation on dividends accrued by a resident company, provided that they are paid no more than once every two years. In addition, a zero tax rate will be applied to income from the sale by an individual of a share in a resident company of Diia City, provided that an individual has owned it for more than one year.

The bill also introduces a tax cut for individuals in case of acquiring a stake in a start-up company that is a resident of Diia City. The amount of the discount will depend on the amount of the transaction.

It is expected that the introduction of these norms will allow IT companies to more actively attract investments for scaling and development. They will also have an additional incentive to reinvest in business development.

The bill also establishes special tax rates for employees of IT companies. So, it is proposed to introduce tax on income of individuals in the amount of 5% (the wage of employees under employment contracts, remuneration of gig employees under gig contracts, royalties for the creation of an official work and the transfer of rights to official works), single social security tax  22% of the minimum wage and 1.5% military duty.
Ambassador of Ukraine to the State of Israel Yevhen Korniychuk took part in Ukrainian-Israeli online consultations on cybersecurity. The Embassy reported this at Facebook.

During the discussion, the parties exchanged views on the state and issues of international cooperation in cybersecurity, shared views on ways to prevent risks and strengthen the fight against cybercrime and cyber attacks on critical infrastructure by individual states, whose actions are aimed at undermining national and international security and stability, - the statement said.

The Embassy notes that there was a professional exchange of information between representatives of relevant government agencies of Ukraine and Israel, responsible for certain aspects of cybersecurity in both countries.

The consultations were held with the assistance of the Embassy of Ukraine to implement the agreements reached between the leaders of Ukraine and Israel. Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Senik made an introductory speech at the event.
In negotiations including the plane of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), flight PS752, shot down near Tehran, Ukraine will insist on the official confirmation of the completion of the investigation into the perpetrators, said Deputy Prosecutor General Gyunduz Mamedov.

"Two-day negotiations of Ukraine and Iran on PS753 begin today. I will insist on the official confirmation of the completion of the investigation into those guilty of the shooting down of the Ukrainian plane and the state of the court hearing. If it's, of course, started," Mamedov wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

As reported, the UIA Boeing 737-800 passenger plane, which was supposed to operate flight PS 752 on the Tehran-Kyiv route, was shot down near the Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran immediately after takeoff early in the morning on January 8, 2020. There were 167 passengers and nine crew members onboard. They all died. Among the dead there were 11 citizens of Ukraine (including nine crew members), 82 citizens of Iran, 63 citizens of Canada, 10 citizens of Sweden, four citizens of Afghanistan, three citizens of Germany and three citizens of Great Britain.

On January 11, Iranian authorities admitted that Boeing was shot down by the Iranian military mistakenly. Later, commander of Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Amir Ali Hajizadeh said that he was taking full responsibility for the crash of the Ukrainian plane.

At the end of July, negotiations were held in Kyiv with the Iranian side to pay compensation for the downed UIA plane. On October 20, Ukraine and Iran completed the second round of talks on the downed UIA plane near Tehran.

On January 5, 2021, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Ukraine had received from Iran a draft technical report on the circumstances of the UIA Boeing 737 crash, which occurred near Tehran on January 8, 2020.

In February, the media released an audio recording of a man identified by sources as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif discussing the possibility that the downing of Flight PS 752 was a deliberate act. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Yevhen Enin said that the pretrial investigation bodies and the Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine were examining the audio recording.
On Wednesday, June 2, more than 1,000 citizens gathered at the building of the Verkhovna Rada to take part in a protest against the introduction of a land market in Ukraine.

As the correspondent of the Interfax-Ukraine agency reports, supporters of the Opposition Platform - For Life party are chanting "No sale of Ukrainian land" on the Constitution Square, holding national flags and flags with the Opposition Platform - For Life symbols.

"We continue the fight for Ukrainian land, which began at the moment when the current government came, and we saw the first bill, according to which it was possible to sell land to any foreigner who comes to Ukraine. This bill was submitted at night, during the pandemic. As it happened, our faction immediately appealed to the Constitutional Court. This struggle will continue, because we know how sensitive, important and fateful the issue of our land is today," co-chairman of the Opposition Platform - For Life faction Yuriy Boiko said from the stage near the parliament building.

The situation at the rally is calm and controlled by the police.
In what was, so far, the best baseball game of the week, the Jaguars pulled their 33rd win out of the fire and salvaged a gem of a start from their star pitcher.
Granting MAP to Ukraine to be next logical step towards NATO membership  U.S. Senator Murphy

Granting the NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) to Ukraine will be the next logical step in Ukraine's joining the Alliance, Senator Chris Murphy (Democratic Party, Conneticut) said.

At a briefing, following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, Murphy said the United States officials strongly feel that it is important for Ukraine to be in close contact with the West. In his opinion, part of this rapprochement of Ukraine is to advance the process of granting NATO MAP to Ukraine. Today the U.S. Senators and the Ukrainian president discussed the MAP process, which will be the next logical step towards NATO membership.

He said that Ukraine has already made several reforms necessary to become NATO member, and will also implement additional reforms.

Murphy said that among the reforms implemented are civil control over the Armed Forces and the modernization of the troops. He believes that the United States can take the next step on the MAP for Ukraine, so that they can accept Ukraine into the community of free countries, who are interested in what is happening on the eastern border of Ukraine, because this in the interests of not only Ukraine, but all democracies.

In turn, Senator Rob Portman (Republican Party, Ohio) said that NATO is a security alliance, but also an alliance based on shared values.

Portman said that Ukraine's ongoing political reforms will strengthen its efforts to join NATO and the EU as well.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky discussed security issues in eastern Ukraine, the buildup of Russian armed forces near the Ukrainian borders and occupied territories of Ukraine with the U.S. Senators who arrived in Ukraine on a visit.

"Discussed the security situation in Donbas and the concentration of Russian forces in the occupied territories and near Ukraine's border with the U.S. Senate members. Due to the video call from the JFO area, senators could see the situation on the touch line to be with in the same information context with us," Zelensky wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

According to the presidential website, during the meeting, Zelensky said that a buildup of Russian troops is currently observed in the temporarily occupied territories and along the Ukrainian border. Russia has increased the number of aircraft and military equipment along the borders of Ukraine and in occupied Crimea.

"That is, Russia only verbally declares the withdrawal of its forces and the fulfillment of obligations. In general, only about 10,000 servicemen have been withdrawn," Zelensky said.

The president appreciates the senators for their bipartisan support of Ukraine, as well as for their assistance in ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our state. He also noted the importance of continuing the policy of sanctions against Russia until it ceases its aggressive actions.

"The current sanctions from the EU and the United States no longer work today, Russia is used to living with this, taking away other territories and threatening Europe. The entire civilized world cannot allow this. Therefore, I believe that it is necessary not only to press, but to create a new format of the sanctions policy," the head of state said.

Senator from the Republican Party Jeanne Shaheen said that due to the information provided, the senators clearly understand what is happening in Donbas, they also received data on the buildup of Russian troops near the borders of Ukraine. She said the senators have to send a very strong signal to Russia that it must withdraw all of its troops from the borders with Ukraine.

A delegation of the U.S. Senators, which includes Democratic Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Chris Murphy, as well as Republican Senator Rob Portman, is visiting Ukraine.
On Friday, June 4, at 12.00, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host a roundtable talk entitled "Cold, unpredictable summer of 2021 - governance crisis leads to economic chaos, social decline. Participants include Director of the Institute of Global Strategies Vadym Karasiov; Director of the Ukrainian Barometer sociological service Viktor Nebozhenko; expert of Hardarika Strategic Consulting Corporation Kostiantyn Matviyenko; political expert Taras Zahorodniy (8/5a Reitarska Street). The press conference will be available on the YouTube channel of Interfax-Ukraine. Admission of journalists requires registration on the spot.
A mob of supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump fight with members of law enforcement at a door they broke open as they storm the U.S. Capitol Building (Photo : REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo)

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday took the unusual step of asking a judge to dismiss the criminal charges against Christopher M. Kelly, a defendant who was facing charges stemming from the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.



In a court filing, prosecutors said they had "discussed the merits of the case" with Kelly's defense counsel. "Upon reflection of the facts currently known to the government, the government believes that dismissal without prejudice at this time serves the interests of justice," they wrote.



Advertisement

The filing did not offer details on why the government wants the case dismissed.



A spokeswoman for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and a defense attorney for Kelly declined immediate comment.



Kelly was one of more than 400 people to face charges in connection with the riots on Jan. 6, in which throngs of former President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol in a failed bid to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's victory.



Kelly was facing charges of obstructing an official proceeding, aiding and abetting, unlawful entry and disorderly conduct. A judge still must sign off before the charges can be dropped.



According to the original complaint, a confidential source who was paid by the FBI in exchange for information tipped law enforcement off about Kelly by providing posts and information from Kelly's Facebook page which appeared to show him informing associates he had breached the Capitol.


U.S. agency not doing its job to halt tech to China's military - congressional report

Chinese and U.S. flags flutter outside the building of an American company in Beijing, China (Photo : REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo)

The U.S. Commerce Department is failing to do its part to protect national security and keep sensitive technology out of the hands of China's military, according to a U.S. congressional advisory report seen by Reuters.



The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission report, due to be published on Tuesday, said the Commerce Department had been slow to create a list of sensitive technology that should be scrutinized before export to China.



Advertisement

The lag in developing the list of emerging and foundational technologies, as required by a 2018 law, may exacerbate national security risks, the report said.



The Commerce Department, entrusted to strengthen U.S. export control laws, "has, to date, failed to carry out its responsibilities," said the report, titled, "Unfinished Business: Export Control and Foreign Investment Reforms."



In a statement, the Commerce Department declined to directly respond to the lack of a list, but noted it had published four rules on controls on emerging technologies and more are pending.



It also said it had expanded the military end user rule and added companies to its entity list, which restricts U.S. suppliers from selling to companies like Huawei Technologies and Hangzhou Hikvision.



In 2018, Congress tightened U.S. export policies and the process for screening foreign investment in response to efforts by Chinese entities to obtain sensitive U.S. technology and use civilian innovation for the military.



The report questions whether a more-than-two-year delay in developing the list should be investigated by the Commerce Department's inspector general. It also asks whether the authority to enforce export controls should be delegated to another agency.



Congress passed the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 to make it harder to export key technologies to adversaries like China.



The law directed the Commerce Department to work with other agencies to identify emerging, or cutting edge, technologies and so-called foundational technologies essential to making key items like semiconductors, that should be controlled.



In November 2018, the department published 45 examples of emerging technologies, including face and voice recognition, but no list was ever finalized. And it has yet to propose a list of foundational technologies, instead asking for input in August about how to define the category.



Eric Hirschhorn, a former Commerce under secretary, said the criticism of the agency was unfair. "They're already controlling emerging technologies to the extent that it can be done, which is limited by the need to be specific," he said. "Foundational technologies are, by definition, widely available outside the United States, which makes controlling them difficult, if not impossible."



The report did note some actions by Commerce.



The department has proposed to regulate software for gene editing, which can make it easier to develop biological weapons, but the rule has not been finalized. It also released an interim rule on geospatial imagery involving AI neural networks.



Advanced surveillance technology has received some attention as well, including on export controls to promote human rights, given its use in Xinjiang for the detention of minority Muslim Uyghurs. But the department still does not control newer types of advanced surveillance software, the report says.



The U.S.-China commission was created by Congress two decades ago to report on the national security implications of trade with China. It is now chaired by Carolyn Bartholomew, who was appointed by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.


U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman speaks during a press briefing with Indonesian Deputy Foreign Minister Mahendra Siregar following their meeting (Photo : Courtesy of Okta/Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Handout via REUTERS)

The most senior U.S. official to visit Cambodia in years expressed concern on Tuesday about China's military presence there and sought clarification on the demolition of U.S.-funded buildings, the State Department said.



Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman urged Cambodia's leadership to "maintain an independent and balanced foreign policy, in the best interests of the Cambodian people".



Advertisement

She met Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled for over 35 years and has become increasingly close to China while Washington has condemned human rights abuses and his demolition of the political opposition.



The Pentagon said last year it was worried about reports that the Cambodian Navy tactical headquarters at Ream Naval Base had been demolished and had asked Cambodia for an explanation.



The building, roughly 30 metres (100 feet) long, had housed several small patrol boats.



In October, Cambodia said it had razed the building to allow for further expansion and would relocate the demolished facility, denying reports of Chinese involvement.



A U.S. State Department spokesman said there was "substantial" publicly available evidence that China was working on a major renovation project at Ream and said "credible reports" suggested this would include an area under its exclusive control.



"Deputy Secretary Sherman expressed serious concerns about the PRC's (China's) military presence and construction of facilities at Ream Naval Base," the State Department said in a statement.



"She sought clarification on the demolition of two U.S.-funded buildings at Ream without notification or explanation and observed that a PRC military base in Cambodia would undermine its sovereignty, threaten regional security, and negatively impact U.S.-Cambodia relations."China has become an increasingly important economic and political ally for Cambodia.



Ties between China and the United States have deteriorated sharply in recent years over issues including human rights, trade and Beijing's military expansion in the South China Sea.



Cambodia is strategically situated with a Gulf of Thailand coastline and also belongs to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Washington sees close cooperation with ASEAN as crucial to its efforts to counter Beijing's growing regional influence.



Cambodian government spokesman Phay Siphan urged dialogue.



"There are some issues that the United States doesn't understand clearly about Cambodia and that Cambodia does not understand the intentions of the United States," he said.



Sherman, who also met opposition leader Kem Sokha, civil society groups and journalists.



Her trip is the first by such a senior U.S. official since well before Kem Sokha's opposition party was banned in 2017. A wider crackdown has targeted activists campaigning about issues such as illegal logging.



Sherman emphasized the importance of human rights and urged Cambodia to abide by international commitments, the State Department said.



"We hope this trip is a reminder to the Cambodian regime that the U.S. continues to be vigilant about rights and the destruction of democracy in Cambodia as well as Cambodia's role in being a responsible actor in the region," said opposition official Monovithya Kem, Kem Sokha's daughter.


Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid party, delivers a statement to the press before the party faction meeting at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem (Photo : Debbie Hill/Pool via REUTERS)

Israel's opposition leader moved closer to unseating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday when he completed coalition deals with political allies to form a new government, Israel's Army Radio reported.



About one hour before a midnight deadline, Yair Lapid, a centrist who has the task of forming the next governing coalition after the right-wing Netanyahu failed to do so in the wake of a March 23 election, was expected to officially inform President Reuven Rivlin that he has the backing of a majority of Knesset members to press ahead and swear in a new Cabinet.



Advertisement

Lapid's main partner is nationalist Naftali Bennett, who would serve as premier first under a proposed rotation between the two men. Their coalition government would comprise a patchwork of small and medium parties from across the political spectrum, including for the first time in Israel's history a party that represents Israel's 21% Arab minority.



But the fragile new government, which would command a razor-thin majority in parliament, was only expected to be sworn in in around 10 days, leaving slight room for Netanyahu's camp to try and abort it by turning lawmakers over to their side and vote against it. Israeli political analysts widely expected Netanyahu to try every possible political manoeuvre to make this happen.



During a 12-year run in top office, Israel's longest serving leader has been an often polarising figure at home and abroad. An end to his tenure may bring reprieve from domestic political turmoil, but major shifts in Israel's foreign policy appear less likely from the staunch U.S. ally.


A Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft is seen at the ILA Air Show in Berlin, Germany, (Photo : REUTERS/Axel Schmidt/File Photo/File Photo/File Photo)

Lockheed Martin Corp aims to produce and deliver about 169 F-35 fighter jets in 2022, the U.S. weapons maker said on Wednesday at a conference hosted by brokerage Bernstein.



The company said it expects the production rate for the jets to eventually plateau at about 175 aircraft per year after 2022, based on the demand by the United States government and partner countries.



Advertisement

Lockheed's decision to enter full rate production for the jets has been delayed as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted operations at aircraft manufacturers and their supply chains. The company is expected to deliver between 133 and 139 jets in 2021.


Egypts Public Prosecution ordered on Tuesday the detention of a Brazilian man for four days pending investigation into charges of alleged sexual harassment of an Egyptian girl in the city of Luxor.

The man is accused of attacking the values of the Egyptian family as well as the victims private life by verbally harassing her, a statement by the prosecution's office said.

He is also accused of using a social media account in committing those crimes.

On Sunday, Egypt's Ministry of Interior announced his arrested a foreign man following the posting of a video of him harassing a girl in Egypt.

The video had gone viral showing the renowned Brazilian plastic surgeon and influencer mocking and sexually harassing, in Portuguese, the girl selling papyrus in an unidentified bazaar in Luxor.

In the video, the girl smiles as she shows him papyrus papers while he speaks in Portuguese in a sexual way, taking advantage of her ignorance with his language.

The video was originally shared on his Instagram story before he made his Instagram account private. He also closed his Facebook page.

He was condemned by rights groups and activists in Brazil who also reached out to their peers in Egypt.

Egyptian women are victims of sexual harassment.

Egypt criminalized sexual harassment in 2014, with penalties including jail terms ranging from six months to three years and/or hefty fines.

Last year, the Egyptian Parliament passed a law to keep the identity of victims of sexual assault and harassment confidential to protect their reputation and encourage them to file police reports.

Short link:


Egypts top prosecutor Hamada El-Sawy on Tuesday inaugurated the first meeting of the executive committee of Africa Prosecutors Association, held via video conferencing, as a precautionary measure against Covid-19.

The meeting discussed challenges facing prosecutors in African countries in the shadow of Covid-19 pandemic, according to a statement by the Public Prosecution.

A workshop was opened on combating crimes related to migration and other organized crimes.

The Egyptian Public Prosecution, which is chairing the association, is seeking to find sources of finance to its activities including establishing partnerships with international and regional institutions in order to upgrade skills of prosecutors in the continent, according to El-Sawy.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Georgia reopens its land borders, modifies entry requirements

By Veronika Malinboym

Today, on June 1, Georgia reopened its land borders which have previously been shut down due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. As is the case with the countrys marine borders, in order to be granted entry, visitors will have to present the certificate of full vaccination and a negative PCR test conducted within the last 72 hours. Alternatively, only the negative PCR test can be presented at the border, however, in this case, a repeat test will have to be taken in three days after staying in the country.On top of that, visitors will be required to obtain a health insurance which can be acquired both in their country of origin and in Georgia.As for those who will be entering the country by air, only those who can confirm the full vaccination course will be allowed to enter the country.Heres a breakdown of the main traveling rules for the individuals who wish to enter Georgia:Non-vaccinated citizens of Georgia can present a negative PCR test taken within the last 72 hours at the border and be placed in a mandatory 8-day self-isolation or take a repeat PCR test at their own expense on the third day of their stay in the country. If the Georgian citizen fails to present a negative PCR test at the border, they will be placed in a mandatory 8-day self-isolation or quarantine, if self-isolation is not a viable option for the individual.Foreign citizens or residence permit holders of the countries which Georgia has granted entry will be required to fill in the form on the governments website prior to their visit, present a negative PCR test taken within the last 72 hours before the travel and retake the PCR on their third day of stay in Georgia at their own expense. On top of that, all individuals that have travelled to India within the last 14 days before the visit to Georgia will be asked to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine at their own expense.
Consultations are under way with Egypt to support the Palestinian cause and stabilise an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, said Palestinian Presidential Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh.

Abu Rudeineh said in televised remarks on Tuesday that Egypt continues dispatching aid to people in the coastal enclave, praising its strenuous efforts to back the Palestinian struggle for independence.

He noted that US efforts should go in parallel with Egyptian and Arab endeavors to support the Palestinian cause, saying the ceasefire in Gaza continues to hold in coordination with Egypt.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is exerting his utmost efforts in tandem with Egypt to back the Palestinian cause, according to the spokesman.

No peace will be established without finding a just solution to the Palestinian problem, he said, voicing his complete confidence in Egypt and its national role in reconstructing Gaza.

He pointed out that a Palestinian delegation will pay a visit to Cairo soon to hold talks on reconstruction efforts in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Ambassador in Cairo Diab Al-Louh has expressed appreciation of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisis efforts and keenness on achieving national Palestinian reconciliation.

Al-Louh said in televised remarks on Tuesday that El-Sisi called on the high-profile Egyptian intelligence delegation that visited Palestine and met with leaders of many factions in Gaza and representatives of the Palestinian Authority to resume efforts aimed at ending schisms and achieving national Palestinian reconciliation.

Meetings are expected in Cairo in the coming days with Hamas delegations and delegates of other Palestinian factions, he said, adding a meeting will convene via videoconferencing with the leadership in Ramallah and with the participation of President Abbas, according to the Palestinian diplomat. The Ramallah talks will be held under the co-sponsorship of Abbas and El-Sisi, he noted.

We highly appreciate President El-Sisis directives and his keenness on achieving national Palestinian reconciliation, which is a necessary step for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, ending tension in Palestine and stopping Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people, he said.

Al-Louh went on to say that Egypt is a pivotal country and a cornerstone of any move in the region, adding the country is today leading all moves on all tracks.

He noted that Egypt and Palestine share a strong partnership in several files, saying a location in southern Gaza has been allocated to establish a city to be named after Egypt on it.

Egypt city in Gaza will forward a message of solidarity to the Palestinians from Egyptians, Al-Louh concluded.

Short link:


Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St Mark proposed on Tuesday designating 1 June a national holiday to mark the day the Holy Family entered Egypt.

The entry of Christ and the Holy Family into the land of Egypt "is one of the fixed feasts of the Coptic Orthodox Church" which take place in the middle of the year and "is a cause for joy, grace, and blessing for all of us, and we must remember it" every year, Tawadros said.

"God singled us out and gave us this blessing for this event to take place on the land of our country [Egypt] to live and rejoice by it, and today we are at one of its important stations," he added.

The statements were part of the popes speech marking the anniversary of the Holy Steps celebration, which was organised by Martyria Foundation for Culture and Development at the Virgin Mary Church in Maadi district, on the occasion of the Holy Family's entry into Egypt.

In a dream, God ordered Joseph the carpenter to escort Jesus and Virgin Mary from Palestine to Egypt, where they would find solace after king Herod had decided to kill infant Jesus to protect his royal status.

Among the Holy Family's stops in Egypt, which includes 25 spots, was Cairo's Maadi.

It is believed that after leaving "Old Egypt" (Fustat)  where they dwelled for a short time in a cave in Abi Serjas Church in Fustat  the Holy Family moved to Maadi district and settled where the Virgin Mary Monastery and Church was later built by the Nile.

The pope expressed gratitude to President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and concerned parties for developing the path of the Holy Family in Egypt, along with Martyria Foundation For Culture and Development, describing work on developing the path as "a great achievement".

The restoration of all the archaeological sites located on the Holy Familys path has been completed.

The improvement work of the path, estimated at EGP 60 million, is meant to create and upgrade touristic facilities and services along the path to incorporate the journey throughout Egypt into the global religious tourism map.

"Our joy is great because God chose Egypt to be a safe haven for the Holy Family," Egypt's Minister of State for Emigration and Expatriates Affairs Nabila Makram said during the Holy Steps celebration, adding that the feast of entering the Holy Family is full of messages of joy and condolences.

The joy of the blessing made by the Holy Family's visit across Egypt and their sailing in a small boat in the Nile, Makram said, carry many reassuring messages for Egyptians that "God protects Egypt and its people, and that we should not worry about the Eternal Nile."

Tawadros also proposed that the Holy Family's journey be incorporated in school curricula, adding that it is a religious and national event that should be designated a national holiday.

Since 2003, 7 January has been marked a national holiday in Egypt. On this day, Coptic Orthodox Christians, who make up around 90 percent of Christians in Egypt, and other Eastern Orthodox countries celebrate Christmas.

Egypt's Christians make up about 10-14 percent of the country's 100 million-plus population.

Short link:


Egypt will receive 500,000 doses of the Chinese Sinovac coronavirus vaccine on 5 June, Health Minister Hala Zayed said on Wednesday.

During the weekly cabinet meeting, Zayed revealed that Egypt will also receive a new shipment of one million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine on 13 June.

On 16 June, a shipment of 500,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine will arrive in Egypt in addition to 2,000 litres of raw materials for the local manufacturing of three million doses of Sinovac.

Egypt signed in May an agreement to start manufacturing Sinovac in state-owned Vacsera by the end of June.

Zayed said 1.9 million doses of AstraZeneca will arrive in Egypt in June through Covax.

The minister added vaccination centres nationwide have increased to 406.

Pensioners will soon be able to be vaccinated in ambulances stationed in front of ATMs and post offices, Zayed said.

Students and professors will be provided with the same service during exams in cooperation with the higher education ministry, she added.

The weekly number of infections in Egypt infections has started to decrease, Zayed noted.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly urged Egyptians to register on the health ministrys website to be vaccinated.

Short link:


Chairman of Egypt's Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) Abdel-Moneim El-Tarras expressed his gratitude on Wednesday for a visit by an African broadcasters delegation to the AOI, which he described as an opportunity to highlight the capabilities of Egyptian industry.

El-Tarras said in a statement that the delegation's visit is in line with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's directives to enhance cooperation and integration with African brothers.

The visit by the delegation of French-speaking African broadcasters was organised by the Ministry of State for Information in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

El-Tarras said that such visits are conducted annually with the aim of informing students and trainees from all African countries about the AOIs activities and efforts to increase domestic industry and the localisation of modern technology.

El-Tarras noted that such visits "open new channels of communication, enhance areas of cooperation and exchange experiences" within the framework of supporting integration and partnership between Egypt and its African brothers.

The Advanced Training Course No. 10, under which the visit was organised, aims to prepare a new generation of African leaders to be the most influential on the continent, with the necessary training and skills, with a vision consistent with Egypt's approach to achieving African integration and unity, El-Tarras said.

During his meeting with the trainees, El-Tarras indicated that AOI "represents the industrial back of the Egyptian state in localising technology, manufacturing and development" in accordance with the standards of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The African delegation expressed their admiration for the AOI's manufacturing capabilities and its use of scientific methods to achieve the highest rates of local manufacturing and to localise technology by utilising international expertise, the statement said.

The delegation also hailed President El-Sisi's efforts to build bridges of communication and cooperation with other African countries and to strengthen trade exchange.

Short link:


Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi was granted on Wednesday the Arab Parliaments Leaders Order, which is its highest honour, in appreciation for his tireless efforts reflected in Egypts conscious and discreet policies in the service of Arab nations issues.

According to Presidential Spokesperson Bassam Rady, the most recent of such efforts is reaching an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, which contributed to reducing human and material losses in the Gaza Strip.

Additionally, it is a commendation for the development and construction process that has been ongoing in Egypt in recent years, which has improved the standard of living and all aspects of life in the country, allowing Egypt to present to the world a successful Arab development model.

El-Sisis honouring came during his meeting with Arab Parliament Speaker and Bahraini Parliament member Adel Al-Asoumi. Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Egypts Parliament Speaker Hanafy Gebaly were also in presence.

During the meeting, El-Sisi asked Al-Asoumi to convey his greetings to his brother, the Bahraini King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, as well as all members of the Arab Parliament, expressing his appreciation for granting him this prestigious medal.

El-Sisi also hailed the parliaments stances in supporting issues affecting Egyptian national security, expressing pride in its efforts as a platform for dialogue and democracy, and also as a popular impetus for the Arab action system, and an active partner in serving the higher interests of the Arab nation and strengthening ties between Arabs.

The president, moreover, stressed Egypts support for the efforts of the Arab Parliament to achieve the goals entrusted to it, while looking forward to discussing prospects for strengthening cooperation with it to serve common Arab issues, Rady noted.

From his side, Al-Asoumi expressed his honour for meeting El-Sisi, praising Egypts role under his leadership in maintaining Arab national security as well as advancing joint Arab action at various levels, including the Arab Parliament, against the background of Egypts pioneering parliamentary experience and expertise.

This comes in addition to Egypts hosting of the temporary headquarters of the Arab Parliament, which he said, reflects the extent of belief in its effective role as one of the basic Arab mechanisms for communicating with peoples and taking effective positions in order to preserve the interests of Arab countries.

Short link:


Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Wednesday that Egypt is planning to vaccinate 40 percent of its population against coronavirus by the end of 2021.

In a press conference held following a cabinet meeting on Wednesday in Cairo, Madbouly said that 2.5 million Egyptians have been vaccinated against the virus.

He added that work is currently underway to make sure that 6 million Egyptian citizens receive vaccinations.

The prime minister added that July will see the first production of coronavirus vaccines in Egypt.

Egypt has signed an agreement to produce Chinas Sinovac vaccine through its state-owned vaccine maker Vacsera.

Private sector company Minapharma has also signed an agreement to produce Russias Sputnik vaccine in Egypt.

Minister of Health Hala Zayed has said that Egypt is set to receive new shipments of Sinopharm, Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines in June.

Concerning the Egyptian economy, PM Madbouly said in the press conference that the economy has achieved a 2.9 percent increase in growth during January, February and March 2021 compared to the same period last year.

Madbouly added that these numbers are a positive indication of the achievements of the Egyptian economy during the coronavirus pandemic.

Short link:


Related Egyptian president calls for hiring women on State Council and public prosecution

As per a presidential decision, Egyptian women can work at the State Council and the Public Prosecution for the first time in the countrys history starting 1 October, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said in a meeting with top judicial figures on Wednesday.

Several historic decisions were issued during the meeting, presidential spokesman Bassam Radi said, noting that they will contribute to achieving full equality between men and women in assuming judicial posts in all judicial bodies and authorities.

Although there are a number of women occupying judicial posts, no women have ever been appointed as judges on the State Council, which refuses all applications filed by women.

This came to an end last March when El-Sisi directed Justice Minister Omar Marwan to coordinate with concerned bodies to allow women to become members of the State Council and the Public Prosecution.

During the Wednesday meeting, El-Sisi said that 1 October of every year is to be considered Egyptian judiciary day.

The meeting also approved a decision to equalise financial entitlements among persons of the same rank in the four judicial bodies and authorities of the State Council, the Administrative Prosecution, the State Lawsuits Authority and the judiciary.

The decisions also aim at achieving equality in income among peers in every judicial body and authority automatically, so that there would be no need to file lawsuits to achieve this equality, the spokesman added.

The decisions approved during the meeting also include briefing the State Lawsuits Authority of the reasons for rejecting any applicant for appointment in judicial positions. These reasons will be submitted to the relevant judicial authority.

The decisions ensure that the secondment of a single judicial member is not repeated in more than one entity, except for the Ministry of Justice. A time limit for the secondment duration will also be set as per the decisions.

The decisions also ensure that the names of those accepted for appointment are not repeated in different judicial entities.

This latest decision is applied for those who graduated in 2018 or later for the State Council and Public Prosecution and for those graduated in 2013 or later for the Administrative Prosecution and the State Lawsuits Authority.

These decisions will expand the opportunities of joining judicial positions after repetition in appointment is prevented, the spokesman said.

He affirmed that these decisions allow transparency to know the reasons for excluding some applicants from appointment.

Also, the transference to the Administrative Capital will be considered a breakthrough in terms of modern workplaces and the use of modern technology in the procedures, the spokesman added.

The meeting was attended by head of the Supreme Constitutional Court Saeed Marie, head of the Supreme Judicial Council Abdullah Shoda, head of the State Council Mohamed Hossam El-Din, Public Prosecutor Hamada El-Sawi, and head of the Administrative Prosecution Essam El-Din Menshawi.

In another meeting with Justice Minister Marwan on Wednesday, El-Sisi ordered enhancing the use of the latest electronic and technological means and techniques in the work system of the courts and litigation procedures.

The president also ordered enhancing the implementation of electronic linkage among the courts nationwide during the coming period for the positive results it has yielded.

Short link:


In a phone call with European Council President Charles Michel on Wednesday, Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi affirmed the need to work urgently to resume direct negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

The phone call comes less than two weeks after an Egypt-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip came into effect, ending 11 days of Israeli aggression on the enclave.

Egypt sent its intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, to meet with the Israeli and Palestinian sides starting Sunday to hold talks with key figures from both sides in a bid to consolidate the ceasefire.

During the phone call, El-Sisi briefed Michel on the continuous Egyptian efforts on various levels to solidify the ceasefire between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, a statement by the Egyptian presidency read.

This comes in parallel with Egypts coordination with the international community to launch the reconstruction process in the Gaza Strip based on the Egyptian initiative in this regard.

El-Sisi allocated $500 million for the reconstruction of the strip a few days before the ceasefire was reached. The recent Israeli airstrikes on Gaza destroyed dozens of buildings and displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Michel praised the successful Egyptian efforts that led to the ceasefire and de-escalation in the strip, affirming keenness to intensify coordination with El-Sisi in this regard.

On Libya, El-Sisi and Michel agreed on continuing bilateral coordination to support the current transitional stage in the country, until elections are held in December.

This should contribute to restoring the states national institutions and ensure the exit of mercenaries and armed foreign militias from Libyan territories, they agreed.

El-Sisi and Michel also discussed the need to ensure continuous European support to African countries in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

They also focused on the need to encourage big European companies to establish more investment projects in Africa.

The Egyptian president affirmed Egypts keenness to boost relations with the European Union as a strategic partner in various fields.

El-Sisi also expressed keenness to coordinate with the EU on regional issues facing the two sides.

El-Sisi voiced Egypts aspiration to expand the cooperation horizon with the EU to launch a true partnership in various political, military and economic fields.

Michel hailed the strong and special relations between the European Union and Egypt.

He expressed aspiration to boost the cooperation between the two sides at various levels in light of the common interests and in face of mutual challenges, given Egypts importance in the Middle East and Africa.

Short link:


Sudan's Irrigation Minister has told a European Union (EU) delegation that Ethiopia's position on the dispute caused by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has shifted "suddenly" to Nile waters quotas after ten years of negotiations over GERD's filling and operation rules.

Sudan, alongside the other downstream country Egypt, has been in negotiations with Ethiopia for a decade now to reach an agreement regulating the rules of filling and operating the controversial dam as both Khartoum and Cairo view it as a threat to their water security in the absence of such a deal.

"The negotiations were only limited, over nearly ten years, to striking a deal on the filling and operation [rules] per the Declaration of Principles signed in 2015 between the three nations," Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas said in a meeting on Wednesday with a EU delegation, whose member are in a visit to the Nile basin country.

"However, Ethiopia changed its position abruptly and started talking about sharing water quotas, a matter that Sudan categorically rejects," the Sudanese minister said.

Under two water treaties dating back to 1902 and 1929, Sudan's share of the Nile stands at 18.5 billion cubic metres, while Egypt's stands at 55.5 billion cubic metres.

Despite Ethiopia's embarking on building its controversial dam on grounds of generating electricity, it has been recently trying to impose the idea of discussing the agreements of the Nile waters quotas on the agenda of the currently-stalled negotiations, a matter that Egypt and Sudan reject.

During the EU meeting, Abbas explained that his country supported Ethiopia using the Nile water as per the international rivers law, adding that the dam would bring "several" benefits to Sudan, but that it would turn "grave" if a binding legal agreement is not signed.

Minister Abbas said the threats are looming due to the proximity of the GERD to the Sudanese Roseires Dam, a matter that could cause environmental harm to Sudan, according to a statement by the Sudanese irrigation ministry.

Tensions have escalated recently between downstream countries and Ethiopia over the lack of an agreement on the filling and operation of the dam.

Ethiopia plans to hold 13.5 billion cubic metres of water during the second filling of the GERDs reservoir in July, despite the objections of Egypt and Sudan to the move in the absence of a legally binding instrument.

Negotiation between the three countries has stalled in January as Ethiopia rejected several proposals by Egypt and Sudan to improve the decade-old negotiation mechanism.

The three countries have resorted to international diplomacy in the past weeks, briefing regional and international counterparts on their stances and developments in the latest deadlock in negotiations.

Abbas urged for a change in the negotiations methodology so as to make the GERD a start for cooperation between the three countries.

Short link:


Israeli politicians battling to unseat veteran right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were locked in last-ditch talks on Wednesday to hammer out their "change" coalition composed of bitter ideological rivals.

They have until the end of the day -- 11:59 pm (2059 GMT) -- to cobble together an administration that would end 12 straight years of rule by the hawkish heavyweight, Israel's longest-ruling premier.

But they were expected to announce the new line-up before the midnight deadline as parliament meets at 11:00 am to vote on a new president for the country, a largely honorary position.

The high-stakes push for a government is led by former television presenter Yair Lapid, a secular centrist who on Sunday won the crucial support of hardline religious nationalist Naftali Bennett.

"The coalition negotiation team sat all night and made progress toward creating a unity government," a Bennett spokesman said in a statement.

But to reach a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, their unlikely alliance would also have to include other left and right-wing parties -- and would probably need the support of 1948 Arab politicians.

That would result in a government riven by deep ideological differences on flashpoint issues such as Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the role of religion in politics.

Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid party, was tasked with forming a government by President Reuven Rivlin after Netanyahu again failed to put together his own coalition following Israel's fourth inconclusive election in less than two years.

Presidential polls

Lapid has reportedly agreed to allow Bennett, a tech multi-millionaire who heads the Yamina party, to serve first as a rotating prime minister in a power-sharing agreement, before swapping with him halfway through their term.

Late Tuesday, a source close to the talks told AFP negotiators were hammering away to "finalise a deal as soon as possible".

Lawmakers were to vote Wednesday in a secret ballot for one of two candidates to replace Rivlin and become their country's 11th president since the creation of Israel in 1948.

The first candidate is Myriam Peretz, 67, a settler and former headmistress widely known as "the mother of sons" after she lost two of her six children while officers in the Israeli army.

The second, 60-year-old Isaac Herzog, is a former leader of the centre-left Labor party and minister from a prominent Tel Aviv family who supports two-state solution with the Palestinians.

Israel's latest political turmoil adds to the woes of Netanyahu, who is on trial for criminal charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust while in office -- accusations he denies.

If he were to lose power, he would not be able to push through changes to basic laws that could give him immunity, and would lose control over certain justice ministry nominations.

The last-minute talks also follow a flare-up of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, which ended after 11 days of deadly violence with an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire on May 21.

Netanyahu, who served an earlier three-year term in the 1990s, had warned on Sunday of "a left-wing government dangerous to the state of Israel".

The premier, who heads the Likud party and has developed a reputation as a wily political operator, was scrambling to scupper the new alliance.

Likud's lawyers on Tuesday tried to hobble the emerging coalition by challenging Bennett's right to serve first as prime minister, given that it was Lapid who was charged with forming the government.

But the legal adviser to Israel's president dismissed the challenge.

1948 Arabs support?

In order to build the anti-Netanyahu bloc, Lapid must sign individual agreements with seven parties, whose members would then vote in parliament to confirm their coalition.

They include the hawkish New Hope party of Netanyahu's former ally Gideon Saar and right-wing secular nationalist Avigdor Lieberman's pro-settlement Yisrael Beitenu party.

The centrist Blue and White party of Defence Minister Benny Gantz, the historically powerful Labor party and the dovish Meretz party would also join.

If all those parties indeed sign on, the emerging alliance still needs the backing of four more lawmakers.

For that, Lapid is counting on parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, which have yet to announce their intentions.

Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamic conservative Raam party, which has four seats, has generally voiced openness to any arrangement that improves living conditions for Israel's 20 percent Palestinian Arab minority.

Abbas told reporters Tuesday that negotiations appeared to be heading "in a good direction".

But, he said: "until it's finished, nothing is finished."

Short link:


Georgia reduces curfew as previously vaccinated Minister of Health tests positive for COVID-19

By Veronika Malinboym

A number of pandemic-induced regulations were removed earlier today in Georgia. On top of reopening its land borders, the country removed restrictions on restaurants hosting the visitors indoors during the weekend and reduced the curfew by one hour. Starting from today, the curfew will last from 23.00  04.00, Chief of the Operational Staff of the Interagency Coordination Council Giorgi Gibradze announced earlier today.Amidst the easing of some of the restrictions, it has been reported that the countrys Minister of Health Ekaterine Tikaradze tested positive for COVId-19, despite receiving the first shot of AstraZeneca vaccine on March 23. The ministers press service has reported that Tikaradze is feeling well, but will remain home until she makes a full recovery.Head of the National Center for Disease Control Amiran Gamkrelidze has commented on the reopening of the countrys land borders by saying that the country will have to be extra cautious with the inflow of visitors, which is why the Interagency Coordination Council was proposed a number of additional recommendations that will help to regulate and monitor visitors in the country:Today we proposed additional materials to the Interagnecy Coordination Council, that might be implemented in two weeks. I cannot yet say what kind of regulations will be implemented, however, it all comes down to the monitoring and regulation of the people entering the country for the purpose of reducing the threat of the spread of the virus, Gamkrelidze explained.As of June 1, a total of 1,233 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Georgia, as well as 1,002 recoveries and 31 deaths. A total number of confirmed cases in the country since February last year has now reached 345,196 .
Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali, who has been treated for COVID-19 in Spain for more than a month, was to leave the country within hours, a Spanish diplomatic source and a source close to Ghali said late on Tuesday.

The Western Sahara independence movement leader was planning to fly to Algeria from Pamplona at 1:40 a.m. local time on Wednesday, the second source said.

"It doesn't make more sense that he remains in Spain," Spain's Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos told 24h TV channel. He said Ghali entered Spain on humanitarian grounds and he no longer needed that aid.

The Algeria-backed Polisario Front is fighting for the independence of Western Sahara, which was a Spanish colony until the mid-1970s and is claimed by Morocco.

Ghali's admittance in April to a hospital in the northern Spanish city of Logrono infuriated Morocco. Perhaps in retaliation, Morocco last month appeared to relax border controls with the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, resulting in a sudden influx of migrants to the Spanish autonomous city.

Spain's High Court earlier on Tuesday turned down a request for Ghali to be taken into custody, saying the plaintiffs in a war crimes case against him had failed to provide evidence he had committed any crime in the preliminary hearing.

The court said Ghali, who participated in the proceeding remotely from the hospital, was not a flight risk.

Moroccan authorities have been informed about Ghali's planned departure, the Spanish diplomatic source said. The Algerian government was not immediately available for comment.

Ghali and other Polisario leaders are accused by human rights groups and Western Sahara individuals of genocide, murder, terrorism, torture and disappearances, a court document said. He denies any wrongdoing.

Shortly after the court decision, Spanish government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said she expected diplomatic relations with Morocco to return to normal within hours.

Despite her optimism, the decision not to detain Ghali was likely to anger Morocco.

Rabat said on Monday that the hearing against Ghali was important to show "the real face of the Polisario."

Morocco said its dispute with Spain was no longer simply about Ghali but also the larger issue of what it sees as Spanish disrespect over the Western Sahara issue.

Short link:


At least 23 migrants were missing and two bodies recovered from the sea off Tunisia, the Red Crescent reported Wednesday, after the military said more than 100 migrants were intercepted.

The Tunisian navy said a boat headed for Europe from Zuwara in Libya was intercepted on Tuesday near Miskar oil platform, some 67 kilometres (52 miles) off the coast.

The migrants -- 37 Eritreans, 32 Sudanese and an Egyptian, aged between 15 and 40 -- were handed over to the Red Crescent and International Organization for Migration in the southern port Of Zarzis.

Apart from 23 people missing, two bodies were recovered from the water, according to the Red Crescent.

The Tunisian army, for its part, said 39 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were intercepted at sea off the eastern port city of Sfax on Monday night.

Tunisia and Libya are key departure points for migrants attempting the dangerous crossing from the North African coast to Europe, particularly Italy.

Short link:


U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, will visit the Turkish border with Syria this week ahead of a likely showdown with Russia in the U.N. Security Council over the extension of a cross-border humanitarian aid operation.

Thomas-Greenfield will visit Turkey from Wednesday to Friday, meeting with senior Turkish officials, U.N. agencies, aid groups and Syrian refugees, senior officials with the U.S. mission to the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Thomas-Greenfield will "convey the United States' strong support for humanitarian access into Syria and the U.S. commitment to the people of Syria," said one U.S. official.

"Nothing could be more urgent than continuing to provide life-saving aid through the cross-border mechanism ... This has grown even more significant and more dire," the U.S. official said.

The 15-member Security Council first authorized a cross-border aid operation into Syria in 2014 at four points. Last year, it reduced that access to one crossing point from Turkey due to opposition from Russia and China over renewing all four.

Another showdown is likely over the renewal of the mandate for the operation, which expires on July 10. A resolution to extend council approval needs nine votes in favor and no veto from any of the five permanent members Russia, China, the United States, France and Britain.

Several council members, including the United States, are pushing to expand the cross-border operation.

"Nothing else can deliver the amount of aid in the frequency needed to support vulnerable populations in northern Syria," said the U.S. official.

U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock appealed to the Security Council last week not to cut a cross-border aid "lifeline" to some 3 million Syrians in the country's north as Russia questioned the importance of the operation.

Short link:


The leader of a movement seeking independence from Morocco who is at the center of a diplomatic row between Rabat and Madrid flew out of Spain to Algeria on Wednesday, arriving in the middle of the night, officials in his movement said.

Brahim Ghali was released from a hospital in northern Spain following more than six weeks of treatment after contracting COVID-19, according to a statement sent to The Associated Press by the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which is based in refugee camps in western Algeria.

Morocco has denounced Spain, a strategic partner, for allowing Ghali to secretly enter the country. Morocco considers Ghali, 71, to be a terrorist.

The representative in Algeria for the self-declared state said Ghali arrived in Algiers at 3 a.m. to continue his recovery. Abdelkader Taleb Omar told the official Algerian news agency, APS, that he was recovering well and needed no further hospitalization.

He denounced ``Moroccan propaganda which tried to hurt the struggle of the Sahrawi people by targeting one of its symbols.''

He went further in an interview with Algerian Radio, saying that the ``expansionist Moroccan regime has bit the dust with a sharp diplomatic failure.''

Ghali is the leader of the Polisario Front, an Algeria-backed pro-independence movement representing the local Sahrawi people of Africa's mineral-rich Western Sahara, and of the self-declared Sahrawi Democratic Arab Republic. Morocco annexed the Western Sahara in the 1970s after Spain's colonial administration ended. It considers the vast territory part and parcel of the Moroccan kingdom. The Polisario Front has long tried to end Moroccan rule over the region.

Ghali departed hours after testifying Tuesday via videoconference in a Spanish investigation into allegations against him of torture, genocide and other crimes. A Spanish magistrate ruled after Ghali's testimony that he should remain free while the investigation continues.

Ghali flew out of Pamplona airport.

His presence in Spain infuriated Morocco and triggered a diplomatic crisis between the two countries, which have been cooperating in fighting terrorism, drug smuggling and migration into Europe. Amid the dispute, thousands of migrants crossed the border from Morocco into Spain as Morocco apparently relaxed border controls.

In a stinging rebuke, Moroccan authorities also questioned publicly whether Spain could be trusted.

Spain, like most other Western countries, has urged a negotiated solution through the United Nations to the question of Western Sahara's future. But the issue became clouded last December when the U.S. Trump administration formally recognized Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara in return for Rabat's normalization of ties with Israel.

Spanish government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said Wednesday she hoped Ghali's departure would help ``draw a line'' under the tensions with Morocco.

``We have to let high diplomacy do its work,'' she told reporters.

But she also pushed back against Rabat's pressure.

``Spain enjoys national sovereignty, so Spanish foreign policy is decided by its government, its parliament, and our decision-making on international issues cannot be subjected to any conditionality,'' she said.

Ghali checked into the Spanish hospital under a false identity after arriving by plane last month with an Algerian diplomatic passport and with the consent of the Spanish government, which said it acted on humanitarian grounds.

Rabat withdrew its ambassador to Madrid and said it wouldn't fill the position if Ghali left Spain under the same cloak of secrecy.

There was no immediate reaction Wednesday from Morocco.

Short link:


At the luxurious Armani hotel inside the world's tallest skyscraper in Dubai, Israelis in kippas and Emiratis in long white robes and kanduras gathered Wednesday to discuss investment opportunities. They aimed to make the most of deepening ties nine months after the two countries agreed to formalize relations.

Rather, the conversations were laser-focused on business. Several Israeli and Emirati speakers opened their remarks with both the Hebrew greeting of ``Shalom'' and the Arabic greeting of ``Salam.'' They spoke about boosting tourism, creating jobs, technology sharing, diversifying economies and tackling issues of water scarcity.

Since the UAE and Israel formalized ties in September, tens of thousands of Israeli tourists have come to the UAE _ mostly to Dubai or in targeted visits to the capital of Abu Dhabi.

Trade between the two countries has already exceeded $354 million. The two countries have signed around 25 agreements in more than 15 sectors, said Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zayoudi, the highest-level Emirati official at the event.

The investment forum was worlds away from the war's devastation. In the lavish and tightly secured Armani ballroom at the Burj Khalifa tower, there was no visible worry or concern on the faces of eager and excited Israeli delegates and speakers, many of whom expressed their astonishment at how rapidly ties have flourished with the United Arab Emirates.

``It's happening and it didn't happen before. If you would have spoken to me a year ago, I wouldn't have guessed that (we) will speak here today in Dubai about all of these things that are happening,'' said Israeli Ambassador Eitan Na'eh, who is based in Abu Dhabi.

Na'eh spoke to The Associated Press on the sidelines of the summit, which was billed as the first face-to-face investment conference in the UAE between Israelis and Emiratis since the U.S.-brokered diplomatic pact was signed in September.

The director general of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, Tariq Bin Hendi, told the audience his country has ``helped Israeli companies set up in the UAE.'' The office is responsible for attracting foreign investment into Abu Dhabi and diversifying the private sector.

``We want the people of Israel, the people of the world to come and join us, help us on that journey, work with us, learn from us, allow us to learn from you, and ultimately build a strong relationship,`` he said.

There were no high-level speakers from Israel at the event, though that may be a result of Israel's political uncertainty. The list of speakers had also changed quite significantly to exclude several of the original speakers listed on the agenda.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

Short link:


A top Sudanese military official said the government will review an agreement with Russia to establish a navy base in the African country.

The remarks about the deal, which dates back to the government of now-deposed Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and has not been ratified by the Sudanese parliament, indicate that Khartoum is seeking some changes to the agreement.

Sudan's Chief of General Staff, Gen. Mohammed Othman al-Hussein told Blue Nile television station late on Tuesday that negotiations are underway with Russian officials ``to achieve Sudan's interests.''

News about the deal surfaced last December on the official portal of the Russian government. The deal allows Russia to set up a naval base with up to 300 Russian troops, and also to simultaneously keep up to four navy ships, including nuclear-powered ones, in Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

In exchange, Russia is to provide Sudan with weapons and military equipment. The agreement is to last for 25 years, with automatic extensions for 10-year periods if neither side objects to it.

``We are negotiating a possible review to this deal, to ensure that our interests and our profits are taken into account,'' al-Hussein said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Wednesday that Russian and Sudanese officials have been discussing the issue in diplomatic channels.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov noted in remarks carried by Russian news agencies that Russia would like to clarify the Sudanese demands.

``We need to understand specifics,'' he said. ``We aren't forcing ourselves on anyone. If there is a desire to fix something, please tell us what you want.''

But Viktor Bondarev, the former Russian air force chief who heads a defense committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, argued that ``there are no objective reasons'' for a revision of the agreement on the base.

``For the Sudanese side, a permanent Russian naval presence with powerful weapons will guarantee peaceful life in the long-term perspective,'' Bondarev said in a statement, adding that the deal will help protect Sudan from both a possible ``foreign intervention'' and ``domestic rifts and upheavals that Sudan has grown tired of over the past decades.''

For Russia, Bondarev argued, the base in Sudan is important to ensure the Russian navy's presence in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean and spare its ships the need of long voyages to reach the area.

The Russian navy already has a major presence in the Mediterranean Sea, with a naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus, currently the only such facility that Russia has outside the former Soviet Union.

Sudan's popular uprising led to the ouster al-Bashir in April 2019. The East African nation is now ruled by a joint military and civilian government that seeks better ties with the United States and the West after nearly three decades of international isolation.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

Short link:


The World Health Organization (WHO) Wednesday warned of "staggering health needs" in the occupied Palestinian Territories after last month's conflict between Israel and Islamist group Hamas.

"WHO is scaling up its response to provide health aid for almost 200,000 people in need across the occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT)," which includes the West Bank, WHO's Eastern Mediterranean regional office said in a statement.

"The situation is volatile. WHO remains concerned... and calls for unhindered access for humanitarian and development-related essential supplies and staff into Gaza and referral of patients out of Gaza whenever needed," warned the WHO's Rik Peeperkorn.

An Egyptian-brokered ceasefire recently ended Israel's 11-day military campaign on Gaza Strip.

Israeli strikes on the enclave killed 254 Palestinians, including 66 children, as well as some fighters, authorities there say.

Fire from Palestinian militants claimed 12 lives in Israel.

"Over 77,000 people were internally displaced and around 30 health facilities have been damaged" in the hostilities, the WHO statement said.

Israel has enforced a land and sea blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized control in 2007 of the impoverished and densely populated territory that is home to about two million Palestinians.

"Palestinians' lives are deteriorating; many of the people affected by the conflict are in urgent need of aid and face other health threats like Covid-19," Peeperkorn said.

The global healthy body said that as of May 31, "337,191 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 3,765 deaths have been reported in OPT, with positive cases increasing in Gaza in recent weeks".

It said that last month it launched an appeal for $7 million to help shore up its health operations in the Palestinian Territories, but had only received $2.3 million.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

Short link:


Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz was heading to the United States for a one-day visit on Thursday to discuss ongoing efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal, which Israel opposes.

He was to meet his counterpart Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan "for strategic dialogue on the emerging nuclear agreement with Iran," his office said.

Global powers have been meeting in Vienna since early April in a bid to bring Washington back to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which the United States left under then president Donald Trump in 2018.

The US withdrawal and re-imposition of sanctions led to Iran stepping up its nuclear activities.

US President Joe Biden, has signalled his readiness to revive the nuclear deal.

Israel opposes the deal, which it says could enable the Islamic republic to develop nuclear arms.

Tehran maintains that its nuclear programme is peaceful.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday reiterated that Israel would not hesitate to risk its good ties with its closest ally the US to defend itself against a nuclear-armed Iran.

"If we need to choose -- and I hope it will not happen -- between friction with our great friend, the US, and getting rid of an existential threat, getting rid of an existential threat will prevail," he said.

Following Netanyahu's remarks, Gantz said that while Iran was a "threat to regional security and global peace," the United States was "Israel's most important ally".

Gantz -- who is now part of an alliance of Israeli politicians seeking to topple Netanyahu -- added in a statement: "Even if differences arise, they will be resolved through direct dialogue, behind closed doors, not through provocative statements that serve to harm Israeli security."

During his Washington trip, Gantz was also to discuss Israel's "qualitative military edge" and maintaining "Middle East stability", the defence minister's office said.

"The officials will further review the Israel ministry of defence's plan for achieving long-term quiet in Gaza" and recovering Israel's soldiers missing in action and hostages, his office said.

In Israel's latest 11-day military campaign on Gaza Strip, 254 Palestinians, including 66 children, were killed, health officials there said.

Rockets and other fire from Gaza from May 10 to 21 claimed 13 lives in Israel, medics said.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

Short link:


European diplomats say the latest round of talks over Iran's nuclear program has made progress, expressing hope that agreement can be reached for Tehran to comply with a 2015 deal aimed at curbing its atomic ambitions and also see the United States rejoin the accord.

Enrique Mora, the European Union official who chaired Wednesday's talks in Vienna, said delegations from Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain, Iran and the U.S. would return home to brief their governments and then meet again in the Austrian capital next week.

``I'm sure that the next round will be the one in which we will finally get the deal,`` Mora told reporters after the meeting.

``There are a few political issues (and) there are a number of technical issues, again rather complex,`` he added. ``But I can say that they are fewer than they were one week ago. So we are (on) a good track.''

``I think every capital has to give a green light to their respective delegations to get the agreement, and I think that will be the case next week,'' said Mora.

Asked about the United Nations' atomic watchdog this week stating that it hasn't been able to access data important to monitoring Iran's nuclear program since late February, Mora said delegations had ``taken note'' of the report.

Iran started limiting inspections in a bid to put pressure on the government of U.S. President Joe Biden to lift crippling sanctions reimposed after then-President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, in 2018.

``It's something that is not directly related to the negotiations of the JCPOA,'' Mora said, referring to the U.N. atomic energy agency's report that it had not had access to the monitoring data since Feb. 23.

Short link:


President Joe Biden used the 100th anniversary of Tulsa's race massacre to make a plea for sweeping legislation in Congress to protect the right to vote as Republican-led governments in Texas and other states pass new restrictions making it tougher to cast ballots.

Biden, marking the centennial in Oklahoma on Tuesday, called out lawmakers in Congress _ including two senators in his own party _ for holding up action on voting bills. Invoking the words of the late Rep. John Lewis, Biden said the right to vote is precious and must be protected. He vowed that June will be a month of action on Capitol Hill as Congress considers the legislation, among the top priorities of his administration.

We're not giving up, Biden said about the bill, S.1. I'm going to fight like heck with every tool at my disposal for its passage.

Republican legislators in state capitols across the nation are pushing what experts say is an unprecedented wave of bills aimed at restricting access to the ballot box. While Republicans say the bills are aimed at preventing voter fraud, Democrats contend that the measures are aimed at undermining minority voting rights in particular.

Most recently, the Texas legislature moved closer to passing a bill that would reduce early voting hours, tighten voter identification requirements for absentee ballots and eliminate ballot drop boxes and drive-thru voting centers. The bill was blocked only when Texas Democrats walked off the House floor on Sunday night, but Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has said he'll order a special session to ultimately ensure its passage.

Biden addressed the federal voting rights legislation during an event marking the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, in which a white mob looted and burned Tulsa's Greenwood district, which was known as Black Wall Street.

As many as 300 Black Tulsans were killed, and thousands of survivors were forced for a time into internment camps overseen by the National Guard. Biden said the nation must acknowledge the long-forgotten chapter of history to fully heal from it, and he pledged action on key issues confronting Black Americans, including police misconduct and restrictions on voting rights.

We can't just choose what we want to know, and not what we should know, Biden said. I come here to help fill the silence, because in silence wounds deepen.

Despite Biden's pledge to keep fighting to pass legislation protecting voting rights, however, he acknowledged Tuesday that his biggest obstacle may lie within his own party.

Biden called out two fellow Democrats in explaining why he hasn't enacted some of the most ambitious elements of his agenda, noting that slim majorities in the House and evenly divided Senate have hamstrung legislative negotiations around key issues like voting rights.

Responding to critics who question why he hasn't been able to get a wide-reaching voting rights bill passed, Biden lamented, Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House, and a tie in the Senate _ with two members of the Senate who voted more with my Republican friends.

It appeared to be a veiled reference to Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both of whom have frustrated Democrats with their defense of the filibuster. The rule requires most legislation to win 60 votes to pass, making many of Democrats' biggest priorities like voting rights and gun control dead on arrival in the 50-50 Senate. While Sinema is a sponsor of the voting rights bill that passed the House, known as the For the People Act, Manchin has refused to sign on, calling the measure too broad.

But it's not just Manchin and Sinema who oppose doing away with the filibuster _ as many as 10 Democratic senators are reluctant to change the rules even for must-pass legislation like the voting rights bill. Biden himself has not said he wants to end the filibuster.

It's unclear whether Biden's comments will change the views of any senators, who are facing tough choices ahead as pressure mounts on them.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told colleagues that he would be bringing the voting rights bill to a vote the week of June 21, in effect testing where senators stand. Schumer warned in a letter to colleagues last week to brace for the month ahead.

The June work period will be extremely challenging, Schumer told them, adding that it would test our resolve.

Biden has tasked Vice President Kamala Harris with leading the administration's efforts to defend voting rights, declaring that with her leadership, Americans will again overcome efforts to reduce access to voting, as they have in the past and did during the 2020 election, which saw record turnout despite new voting restrictions.

It adds another high-profile fight to Harris' fast-expanding portfolio, which includes addressing the root causes of migration from Central America, leading the National Space Council and working on expanding access to broadband internet.

In a statement, Harris said she plans to work with voting rights groups, community organizations and the private sector to strengthen voting rights, as well as push for passage of voting rights legislation on Capitol Hill.

The work ahead of us is to make voting accessible to all American voters, and to make sure every vote is counted through a free, fair, and transparent process. This is the work of democracy, she said.

Short link:


Laikipia Woman Representative Cate Waruguru says she did not steal anyones husband as alleged by the first wife of her husband Peter Waweru.

Waruguru said the renowned businessman who is her childhood friend wooed her and she fell for him.

I am not husband snatcher. Mimi Hukatiwa sikatiani (I am chased, I dont chase). So please ask your men why they chase after me, she said in an interview with Tuko.

The truth of the matter is Peter Waweru is not new to me. He is my childhood friend. Alinikatia na nikakubali. He is my man. Mali safi, she added.

The lawmaker further aimed an indirect dig at Wawerus first wife Zipporah Njoki saying she should check herself.

These women who are complaining should do their homework well on their men and check around if there are areas of improvement that probably they need to work on if they need to keep them, Waruguru blasted.

This comes barely a fortnight after Waweru insisted that Waruguru is his wife and not a mere girlfriend.

Kirinyaga County Chamber of Commerce chairman explained that he wants people to respect his decision and to identify Waruguru as his official second wife.

More on that Here: Cate Waruguru is not my Girlfriend, shes my Wife, Peter Waweru Insists
This morning, the whole village of Tunis  located in the Fayoum governorate  attended the funeral of Evelyne Porret, who was known as the lady of Tunis village.

The Swiss artist, who lived in Tunis since the mid-1980s, was a key mentor of pottery and the founder of the villages Fayoum Pottery School.

Evelyne is Tunis, explained Rawya Abdel Qader, the first girl to attend Porrets pottery school.

I remember how she stood by me and helped me travel with my work to France and stay there for a whole month, how I was the only girl who did not get married at 12 years old, continued to study in her school and ended up being the first woman in Tunis village to own and run a pottery business, explained Rawya Abdel Qader to Ahram Online.

Thanks to her, now several girls who were students of Evelyne have their own pottery workshops, my daughter included. She opened the door for all of us.

It is a black day for the whole village, she concluded.

After Porret established the Fayoum Pottery School in Tunis, the village gained an international reputation for its pottery.

Before Evelyne there was no pottery in Tunis village, explained Mohamed Abu Zeid, professor of pottery and resident of Tunis village. Before that, the whole village lived off crops and fishing. She established a non governmental organization (NGO) called Betah for training urban and rural children in pottery, and now the entire population of the village are potters who are members of this NGO, noted abu Zeid

Tunis is one of the best practitioners of eco-tourism. The pottery school that Evelyne established in the 1980s has improved the living conditions of many families and put Tunis on the tourism map of Egypt. She trained children with great passion and respected their natural talents and freedom of creativity. I had the opportunity to work with some of these children that opened their own workshops in the village, development specialist Zeina Spinelli explained to Ahram Online. This is sustainability. She created a development model, jobs, socio-economic opportunities using local materials and building capacities, and developed quality products and pieces of art that are sold locally and abroad, noted Spinelli.

The results of her work are impressive and resonate in the success stories of all her students.

Evelyene is simply my mother, explained Mahmoud El-Sherif, one of her early students. She taught me to be honest with myself and how the best art comes from within, and how it reflects the artists personality, El-Sherif explained. Currently he is launching his own pottery school abroad, adopting Evelyens school of thought. She used to introduce me and my colleagues and let us represent her school in media and in conferences, because she wanted the new generation to be acknowledged. Now that we are all members of the NGO, we host the annual Tunis Village Pottery Festival and the generations she taught are teaching others. This is sustainable development that does not stop with one person. She did this, noted El-Sherif.

She has planted the seed in Tunis village and by teaching around 100 potters, her learning will live centuries ahead, explained Abdel Satar Abdel Rahman, one of her students and a renowned potter in Tunis village.

On a human level, Evelyne was a really a great human being who chose to give, explained renowned artist Mohamed Abla, who is a resident of Tunis village and a friend of Evelyne.

She had her own art workshop, yet she chose to teach the children of Tunis. She defied very difficult circumstances for she was a foreigner who aimed to teach girls. Her persistence and generosity in giving time and effort paid off and she changed the whole lifestyle of the entire village, transforming it into the most famous village in Egypt. The economic status of the whole village grew better and their income increased drastically, added Abla.

On the artistic level, she was a very talented ceramic artist and potter and her ability to explore and create new ideas was amazing. She studied pottery in Switzerland and when she came to Egypt, she was the student of Saeed El-Sadr . She also worked at Wissa Wassefs pottery and tapestry factory in Garagous , and invented a stitch that is named after her among the handmade stitching heritage of Akhmim , he added.

She was a woman who inspired all of her students with her resilience, persistence, and the passion she held towards art and artisans till the last minute of her life.

Short link:


Over the past 18 months, the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has hit economies and labour markets across the globe. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, that effect has been pronounced, according to a panel survey carried out by the Economic Research Forum (ERF), a regional think-tank based in Cairo.



Focusing on how the labour markets of Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia evolved from before the pandemic until February 2021, the ERF Covid-19 MENA Monitor Panel Survey found that the pandemic has contributed to job losses, reducing employment and increasing unemployment, as well as leading to exits from the labour force entirely, according to a policy brief written by the principal investigators of the survey.



Many people who were employed in February 2020 had lost their jobs by February 2021, said Ragui Assaad, a professor of planning and public affairs at the University of Minnesota in the US and one of the principal investigators of the survey.



Assaad, who was addressing participants at a special session during the ERFs 27th annual conference on Zoom, said that the February 2021 number of unemployed was better than that for November 2020, however. But he said that among those who were unemployed in 2020, many were still unemployed a year later.



The survey also found that many of those who lost their jobs were discouraged and left the labour force altogether. The latter group often included women who were unable to find jobs or did not look for jobs because they were too busy with care work at home and responsibility for children.



In addition to job losses, workers faced temporary layoffs, reduced wages, reduced hours, and delays in pay. Farmers and those running businesses have faced losses in demand as well as problems with inputs.



The way different countries managed the pandemic affected labour markets, according to Assaad. He said that Egypt, which had the least stringent response, but maintained it for longer and reduced measures gradually, saw moderate economic effects and maintained positive rates of economic growth.



Morocco, like Egypt, maintained moderate closure policies for longer and saw large negative effects on growth. But labour market aggregates have been recovering slowly.



Tunisia and Jordan saw a fluctuating response to containing the pandemic. This had a largely negative impact on their economies in 2020, and this will probably linger on into 2021, with a slow recovery in labour market aggregates, Assaad said.



The main threats for workers were for those who could not work from home and did not work for big firms or the government, said Mohamed Ali Marouani, an associate professor in economics at Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University in France and one of the principal investigators.



Informal wage workers, those without social insurance, and especially those working outside establishments or irregularly were particularly impacted by the pandemic, the policy brief said.



Farmers also saw losses. While many thought the Covid-19 crisis was chiefly an urban one, that was not necessarily the case, Marouani said, adding that farmers had had difficulty buying agricultural inputs because of closures and disturbed markets. Demand for their products had also fallen, he said, giving the example of Tunisia because of the lack of tourism and the loss of related demand.



We should learn from this shock, Marouani said. If we had had good social protection, maybe the effects would have been less harsh for many people.



Increasing the reach of social safety nets and their financing is a challenging but critical task to prevent a spiral of income losses that further depresses demand and to prevent deep poverty and its inevitable harms, the policy brief said.



Existing social safety nets and programmes to support businesses have limited reach and are not well-targeted to those most in need, said the brief. Relying on savings and family were much more common than receiving social assistance.



Assaad said models such as Egypts irregular worker programme giving financial assistance to irregular wage workers during the pandemic were promising. However, according to the policy brief, countries also need to think beyond the most vulnerable wage workers to consider designing policies and measures providing support for the self-employed, those running micro-enterprises, and farmers facing income losses comparable or worse than those of informal workers.



Another area the survey drew attention to was social services. Caroline Krafft, an associate professor in the department of economics and political science at St Catherine University in the US and one of the principal investigators of the survey, showed that during the pandemic there had been a retreat in social services and a rise in care work.



There were increases in the time spent caring for children compared to February 2020, especially for women with young or school-age children, Krafft said. This added up to long shifts for more women. Women with children under the age of six worked the longest hours, sometimes up to 12 to 14 hours per day in care work, Krafft added.



The pandemic and closures exacerbated this challenge, she said. Women faced particular challenges with disproportionate and increased care work, she added, pointing out that employment rates for women in the region were already low and declining even before the pandemic.



Krafft said it was not clear that the economic recovery would reverse such losses. Careful monitoring and targeted policy action are needed to support the well being of those with income losses and to help women return to the work force, she stressed.



The pandemic had helped to highlight the importance of social services such as nurseries, schools, and after-school activities for womens employment. It could also help to encourage more investment in such areas, she said.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 3 June, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:


The next visit to the region by Jeffrey Feltman, US envoy to the Horn of Africa, scheduled almost one month after his last trip to Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, is being carefully followed in Cairo.While Feltmans announced mandate is to address the growing humanitarian/political crisis in the north of Ethiopia, it is understood, in Cairo and Khartoum, that the US envoy will also discuss possible solutions to the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).When he was here a month ago we were clear about what we expected Washington to do to encourage a peaceful and diplomatic resolution to this conflict, said a Sudanese source.

He added that while Khartoum does not anticipate a major US initiative, it does expect the US to press on Ethiopia, in no uncertain terms, the importance of working with Sudan and Egypt in good faith.



Egyptian officials echoed the same expectations: Washington, they say, is now expected to be involved somehow in helping push the so-far inconclusive African Union (AU)-sponsored talks forward, either before the July wet season or immediately afterwards.



During a phone call with US President Joe Biden late last week, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi said that Egypt is still hoping for a negotiated agreement that allows Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia to secure their water and energy interests.



On Monday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, made an explosive announcement. Addis Ababa, he said, is planning to build 100 small- and medium-sized dams over the next year.

Ahmed Hafez, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, promptly issued a reply saying Egypt will not turn a blind eye to any attempt to undermine its water rights.



Egyptian officials say that in the absence of any international or regional intervention Cairo has decided to adopt an on the ground approach, sending Addis Ababa clear messages about how far we will go to protect Egypts livelihood.



Last Thursday President Al-Sisi arrived in Djibouti, the first ever visit of an Egyptian head of state to the Horn of Africa country, and held talks with Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh.



Djibouti is a very strategic country, not only because of its proximity and significance to landlocked Ethiopia, but also because of its position on the Red Sea, an obvious zone of interest for Egypt, said an Egyptian official.



The visit came within the framework of a much wider reach-out that Cairo is making across East Africa.

This intensive diplomatic campaign has so far included military, security, development, and cultural cooperation agreements with a majority of countries in the region.

Only this week Egypt and Sudan ended the Guardians of the Nile joint military exercise.

Chief of Staff Mohamed Farid visited Kenya and Rwanda where he discussed military cooperation, and the presidents of Cairo University and the John Garang Memorial University signed a joint cooperation agreement.



We are not plotting against Ethiopias development plans despite what Addis Ababa claims. We have, after all, been part of COMESA since the 1990s. What we are doing, however, is showing that we are not without resources should Ethiopia insist on sticking to its intransigence, said the official.



He added that Cairo is hopeful the message will get through to officials in Addis Ababa and lead to serious talks, under the auspices of the AU and with the help of the US, to draw a roadmap for the future ahead of the arrival of the wet season in mid-July.



A roadmap for the future is also what Egypt is aiming for in the next few weeks to manage the situation in Gaza after securing a ceasefire to Israels 11-day assault on the besieged and densely populated Strip.



Egyptian officials say any progress depends on first stabilising the frail ceasefire, then beginning the reconstruction of Gaza, and finally launching negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis. It is a roadmap for which Cairo secured the support of the Biden administration following the ceasefire two weeks ago.



Egypt has been engaged in some high-profile diplomacy to facilitate this progress.

For the first time in over a decade, and on the eve of the possible end to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus 12-year rule, Israels foreign minister visited Cairo.

Gabi Askenazi, who is tipped to remain in post, arrived in Egypt on Sunday.

Simultaneously, Egypts head of General Intelligence Abbas Kamel was engaged in shuttle diplomacy, meeting Netanyahu and his top brass in Israel, then travelling to Ramallah for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

On Monday, Kamel had moved to Gaza for talks with Hamas leaders. Later this week Hamas chief Ismail Hanniyeh is expected for talks in Cairo.



Egypt is also set to relaunch the Palestinian factions talks next week to help bridge the gaps that had created a de facto split between Gaza, under Hamas, and the West Bank under the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority.



Further Egyptian-Palestinian and Egyptian-Israeli talks are being considered, and Cairo is stepping up communications with concerned capitals, particularly Washington, which have indicated support for Egypts efforts to consolidate the ceasefire and launch peace talks.



Egyptian officials say that containing the situation in Gaza and preventing another round of hostilities, big or small, is not just about gaining points with the Biden administration or courting Washingtons support in the negotiations on GERD.



A tired and frustrated Gaza could explode right on our borders. It could also offer terrain for foreign influence, especially that of Iran which is not something we can accept, said one official.



He argued that Egypt needs to get things started somehow and push for peace talks before it is too late for a two-state solution to see the light of day.



It is a very difficult situation given internal Israeli political squabbles and deep and widening rifts between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas, and also within the PA. We really have no choice but to try and to be very hands-on.



Before the extraordinary foreign ministers meeting scheduled in Doha on 8 June, the official added, Egypt hopes to have formulated a basic working plan to share with members of the Arab League.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 3 June, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:


When Joe Biden won the US presidential elections in November it was widely supposed that the incoming president would up-end the warm relationship that had existed between Donald Trump and Egypts President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi. Biden, said commentators, would continue along the path set by the Barack Obama presidency, supporting political Islam and exerting pressure on Egypt in the area of human rights.

Until recently such predictions appeared to be accurate. Until late last month Biden chose to limit high-level channels of communication with Egypt, restricting them to a phone call in February between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukri. The US State Department was keen to stress that Blinken had used the phone call to raise concerns over human rights which he said were central to the US-Egypt bilateral relationship.

All that, however, was before a new round of hostilities erupted last month between the Israelis and Palestinians and Egypt found itself playing a leading role in brokering a ceasefire. In the first days of the conflict Biden seemed stuck in a policy of having zero contact with Egypts president.

US media outlets claimed Biden was under pressure from senior aides to distance his administration from Cairo. In the first days of the conflict, the US president limited direct communication to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu only. It was only six phone calls with Netanyahu that Biden discovered that in the end all roads lead to Cairo. The shift took place on 20 May when Biden finally decided to place a phone call to President Al-Sisi. In a press conference at the White House Biden expressed his sincere gratitude to Al-Sisi for his role in brokering a ceasefire. A White House statement added that Biden and Al-Sisi had agreed to stay closely in touch. Tellingly, no mention was made of the two leaders discussing human rights.

President Al-Sisi tweeted that the (telephone) discussion confirms the depth and strength of the strategic relations between Egypt and US.

On 24 May, four days later, Al-Sisi received another phone call from Biden. This time it covered a number of issues. The Egyptian presidency said Biden and Al-Sisi discussed not only the ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian factions, brokered by Egypt with US support, but the latest developments concerning the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD) and the Libyan crisis.

On 26 May, Blinken arrived in Egypt and met with President Al-Sisi. A US State Department statement said they discussed the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians, Libya and GERD developments. The statement added that Blinken had stressed the importance of human rights.

Gamal Zahran, professor of political science at Suez Canal University, said the phone conversations between Biden and Al-Sisi and Blinkens visit to Cairo represent a milestone in Egypts relations with Washingtons Democratic administration following four months of frostiness.

The absence of any direct contact between Biden and Al-Sisi was portrayed in the US media as a deliberate snub, says Zahran, though in his first four months as President Biden had no contact with any other Arab leader.

The close relationship between Trump and Al-Sisi had irritated many in the Democratic Party who loathed Trump, and opposed his policies in the Arab world and Middle East, says Zahran. Trump had expressed appreciation for Egypts 30 June Revolution and the role of President Al-Sisi in ridding Egypt of the Muslim Brotherhood which didnt go down well with the Democratic Party and the US mainstream media.

Zahran stresses the fact that Egyptian-US relations have had many ups and downs in the years following the 9/11 attacks. Under the George W Bush administration and after the September attacks the US exerted pressure on Egypt and other Arab countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, believing that the lack of democracy in the Arab world had made it fertile ground for extremism and radical Islamist movements. This pressure meant president Hosni Mubarak did not visit Washington during the last two years of Bushs second term.

Tensions between Egypt and the US continued under Barack Obama, says Zahran, clearly supported the anti-Mubarak revolution in 2011 and welcomed the election of the Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi as president in 2012. Obama had exerted pressure on Mubarak to resign. When the Muslim Brotherhood was removed from power in a popular uprising on 30 June 2013, Obama continued his policies, suspending military cooperation with Egypt. When Al-Sisi was elected president in 2014, Obama declined to invite him to the White House and at that time said he considered Egypt neither a friend nor an enemy of the US.

The downturn in relations between Egypt and the US under Obama was dramatically reversed under Donald Trump. During the American presidential campaign in the summer of 2017, Trump expressed admiration for Al-Sisi. They met in New York in September 2017 and Al-Sisi was the first Arab leader to congratulate Trump, and one of the first Arab leaders Trump phoned when he took office in January 2018.

Unlike Obama, Trump invited President Al-Sisi twice to the White House, to the chagrin of the Democratic party media which used to castigate Al-Sisi as a dictator and the leader of a military regime.

Zahran says Cairo was hoping Donald Trump would win a second term and, when Biden came to office, many expected that a new downturn in relations would take place.

The first four months of Bidens presidency showed clearly that he had no interest in forging a Trump-style relationship with Al-Sisi. And then the Israeli-Palestinian war broke out.

Mohamed Kamal, a professor of political science at Cairo University, says the last two weeks have shown that the US cant do much in the Middle East without the help of a regional power like Egypt.

It became clear to Washington, and to many world capitals, that it was impossible to broker a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel without the help of Egypt, argues Kamal. Egypt underscored its relevance to the Middle East peace process, and President Al-Sisi demonstrated to the US that he could be a reliable and effective regional actor.

Kamal expects the recent warmth in relations between Egypt and the US to continue given that international relations are ultimately based on mutual interests rather than ideological considerations.

The Gaza crisis, says Kamal, has also shown that Egypt cannot isolate itself from what is happening on its borders.

While many in Egypt argued we must first tackle our internal problems before becoming involved in the problems of our neighbours, the Gaza crisis has illustrated how active Egyptian diplomacy in the Middle East can translate into huge material and psychological benefits.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 3 June, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:


The visit this week by the head of Egyptian General Intelligence Service Abbas Kamel to Israel and the Palestinian territories crowned Egypts mediating efforts between the Palestinian factions in Gaza and Israel. A source familiar with the intensive shuttling of the Egyptian delegations told Al-Ahram Weekly: Good understandings have been reached with all sides. There is a constructive and encouraging climate though, of course, what happens next will test whether there exists the degree of political will necessary to translate understandings into deeds and facts.

Among the issues discussed was the resumption of the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). Cairo is counting on US support for this, and sees it as a positive sign that US President Joe Biden has appointed a special envoy for Palestinian-Israeli talks. Egypt would also like to see the Middle East Quartet, consisting of the UN, the US, the EU and Russia, reactivated. Prisoner swaps and the reconstruction of Gaza were also on the agenda, together with way to promote Palestinian reconciliation.

While Kamel was in Palestine and Israel, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri met in Cairo with his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi. They discussed the ceasefire, prisoner exchanges, and measures to facilitate reconstruction. According to Rakha Ahmed Hassan, a member of the Egyptian Council of Foreign Affairs, Egypt is pressing for a more durable ceasefire and the speedy resumption of peace talks.

Israeli and Palestinian delegations are expected in Cairo next week to discuss all pending issues. Palestinian-Israeli talks in Cairo are expected to begin indirectly, with Egyptian mediators shuttling between the two sides. One problem that needs to be addressed is Israels insistence on linking the question of prisoner swaps with reconstruction, a linkage that Yehia Sinwar, head of Hamas in Gaza, and Khalil Al-Haya, a senior Hamas official, have made clear they reject. Israel is keen to learn the fate of a number of Israeli soldiers in Gaza while, according to media sources in Gaza, Hamas is demanding the release of 1,111 Palestinian prisoners in return. The deal, if it takes place, would be the largest prisoner exchange so far between the two sides.

Several critical factors could shape the pace and progress of negotiations, not least the uncertainty surrounding the formation of a government in Israel. In his meeting with Kamel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly showed considerable flexibility on the question of the Palestinian neighbourhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan in East Jerusalem where Israeli human rights abuses sparked widespread protests last month. Israel is also expected to stop its targeted assassinations of Palestinian leaders. Another influential factor is the recent appointment of David Barnea as Mossad chief, replacing Yossi Cohen. Mossad has a major say in many of the key issues.

In Palestinian quarters there has been talk of jailed Fatah freedom fighter Marwan Barghouti being included in the prisoner swap. Mohamed Ibrahim, who headed the Egyptian negotiating delegation that brokered the release of the Israeli POW Gilad Shalit, is sceptical on this point. Barghoutis release will not be welcomed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas: according to an opinion poll in March he would beat Abbas by a huge margin in an election. Other commentators are less pessimistic about Barghoutis chance of release, pointing out that, though Israel would prefer Abbas it might consider letting Barghouti go if that sows confusion on the Palestinian front.

In a related development, Cairo has proposed the creation of a Palestinian National Committee to oversee the resolution of inter-Palestinian political disputes and promote reconciliation. Among the topics the committee will examine are the Palestinian legislative elections that were scheduled for the end of May but called off before the outbreak of the war. According to a Palestinian source, Fatah would not have won the elections. While opinion polls had shown that Fatah, itself, had retained much of its grassroots support, Abbas decline in popularity detracted from the factions chances. The recent war threw Abbas a life raft, according to the source: now, instead of elections, he can form a national consensus government.

Restructuring and rehabilitating the role of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) has also surfaced in connection with the reconciliation process.

On the humanitarian front, Egypt sent a caravan of urgent relief into Gaza last week and more truckloads of aid, financed by the Tahya Misr Fund, are lined up at Rafah. President Al-Sisi has called on other Arab countries to support this humanitarian drive. UNRWA has warned of a dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and called for more urgent relief. Washington has announced that its assistance, which also includes monetary aid, will be transferred via the PA. It insists that the aid must be transferred directly to its intended recipients without passing through Hamas hands. This was one of the issues the Egyptian delegation discussed in Gaza. It appears that a solution has been reached in the form of an Egyptian government committee, aided by a committee made up of representatives from the different factions.

Egypt has also launched the reconstruction of Gaza. Sinwar and Kamel laid the cornerstone for Al-Sisi Residential City which is being constructed on 0.4 km2 of land overlooking Bahr Nusseirat, and will offer 10,000 housing units. Palestinian factional leaders and PA ministers attended the ceremony.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 3 June, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:


In a step ahead of liquidation, the board of directors of the Egyptian Company for Iron and Steel decided to shut down the factory, stopping operations and banning workers from attending.

The order was issued in January. Losses and debts reaching LE17 billion were cited as the reasons behind the closure. Liquidating the company and selling its assets is expected to take nearly two years.

The company informed workers, whose number is estimated at 7,000, not to show up for work until an agreement on compensation was reached.

Employees held a sit-in on Sunday to press for better compensation ranging from LE400,000 to LE700,000 for each worker.

However, the Ministry of Public Enterprises offered to pay each worker from LE225,000 to LE450,000. The union announced its rejection of the plan. According to ministerial sources, the workers will be reimbursed during a period not exceeding three months.

Established in 1954, the company played a leading role for decades in producing iron and its derivatives.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 3 June, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:


As Egypt and Sudan were scrambling to push forward negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) before the start of the flood season, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed chose to make the provocative announcement that Addis Ababa plans to build an additional 100 dams across the country.

Cairo described Ahmeds statement on Monday as a continuation of a regrettable approach that disregards international law.

Ethiopia views the Nile and other international rivers it shares with neighbouring states as falling under its sovereignty, to be exploited in any way it wants, read a statement issued by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

In an attempt to pressure Addis Ababa to adopt a more constructive approach Egypt and Sudan held joint military drills last week. Egyptian ground, naval, and air forces, including special forces and paratroopers, took part in the Guardians of the Nile exercise held in Sudan.

Hani Raslan, an expert on Africa and the Nile at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, says that Ethiopian threats to Sudan, whether in relation to GERD or to the border dispute over the Fashqa region, lay behind the exercises.

The drills, argues Raslan, send an important message: the national security of Sudan is part and parcel of Egypts national security, and vice versa.

A similar training exercise was conducted in April after tripartite talks sponsored by the African Union (AU) in the Congolese capital Kinshasa collapsed.

Meanwhile, Khartoum and Cairo continue with separate diplomatic campaigns to garner support for their water rights. President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi visited Djibouti last week. In a meeting with his Djiboutian counterpart Ismail Omar Guelleh, Al-Sisi reiterated Egypts determination to refuse Ethiopias attempts to impose a fait accompli over the dam. Both presidents underlined that all negotiating parties should display the political will necessary to reach a legally binding agreement.

The visit, says Raslan, came as part of a much wider Egyptian diplomatic campaign. Egypt has established strong bilateral relations across the Nile Basin, signing an intelligence cooperation agreement with Uganda, and last week initialling pacts with Burundi and Kenya.

Strategic analyst Samir Ragheb points out that the visit was held within the framework of growing Egyptian-Sudanese coordination.

Djibouti is of strategic importance to Egypts security due to its location, says Ragheb. As well as being a Nile Basin state, it is a member of the Arab League, the AU, and the Organisation of Islamic Conference.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam Al-Mahdi staged her own African tour that concluded this week and took in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, and Niger. Al-Mahdis tour aimed to underline Khartoums commitment to finding a peaceful solution to the dam dispute based on a legally binding agreement.

In addition to improving bilateral relations, says Raslan, the visits aimed to refute Ethiopian claims that it represents all the Nile Basin states, and to draw attention to the way Addis Ababas policies threaten the security of its neighbours.

Recently, the US has showed signs that it is willing to push the parties to return to AU-sponsored negotiations.

During his latest visit to Egypt US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken reiterated Washingtons commitment to Egypts water security and stressed the need to resume negotiations under the AU while US President Joe Biden underlined the same position in phone calls with President Al-Sisi.

Biden acknowledged Egypts concerns about access to River Nile waters and underscored the US interest in achieving a diplomatic resolution that meets the legitimate needs of Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia, said a White House statement.

Biden also issued a statement last week expressing concern over violence in the Tigray region and underlining that US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman is leading renewed US diplomatic effort to peacefully resolve interlinked conflicts across the region, including a resolution of the GERD dispute.

Feltman, who was appointed in April, visited Congo, Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia last month in an attempt to revive tripartite negotiations, and is expected to return to the region this week or early next week.

The US has recently shown a will to bring the parties back to the negotiations, though so far it has not been accompanied by a plan of action which is urgently needed ahead of Ethiopias threatened second filling. After the AU-sponsored negotiations that started last year failed to produce the needed agreement we need to press ahead in the little time we have left, said a diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity.

He questioned whether Addis Ababa, which refused to sign a US-sponsored agreement in February last year, would listen to the US after Washington imposed sanctions on Ethiopian government officials for their involvement in the violence in the northern Ethiopian Tigray region.

GERDs first-year filling of 4.9 billion cubic metres (bcm) last July is due to be followed this summer by a much more ambitious second filling.

The dispute between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia dates back to May 2011 when Ethiopia started building the dam. In 2015, the three countries signed the Declaration of Principles which states that downstream countries should not be harmed by the construction of the dam.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 3 June, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:


In the past two weeks Egypt participated in four multi- and bi-lateral military manoeuvres. The Phoenix Express drills resumed this year, after having been cancelled last year due to Covid-19. Conducted off the coast of Tunisia, Phoenix Express 2021 (PE21) brought together naval units from the US, Tunisia, Algeria, Belgium, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, and Spain. The multinational naval drills aimed to promote the exchange of expertise in planning and carrying out joint naval operations to ensure maritime safety and respond to unconventional threats.

Meanwhile, Egypt and Pakistan continued their first joint air defence drills this week, dubbed Sky Protectors-1. The activities started with a preparatory phase to promote the interoperability of Egyptian and Pakistani air defence units. Lectures and practical training sessions enabled participants to discuss various aspects of advanced air defence systems and the air defence weapons and systems of both sides. This was followed by a series of intensive joint tactical drills in which participants displayed great precision.

In the Gulf region, Egypt and the UAE continued the two-week long Zayed-3 military drills. The agenda included a preparatory phase with theoretical and practical sessions aimed at unifying training concepts, and honing interoperability between participant units. Drills focussed on reconnaissance activities, methods of urban warfare and confronting terrorist operatives.

Last but not least was the Guardians of the Nile, the Egyptian-Sudanese joint military exercise that kicked off in Sudan at the end of last week.

Following orientation activities to unify concepts, participants from special forces units executed a series of conventional and unconventional sharpshooting tasks. Their performance reflected high levels of mutual coordination and precision in taking out targets from different sighting positions. Paratroopers performed various free-fall training exercises. The joint training programme aims to strengthen military cooperation between the two countries, promote the exchange of expertise and develop closer collaboration between their forces.

Though not the first time Egypt has engaged in military training activities simultaneously and in different strategic directions, three of the four sets of manoeuvres did set precedents. This was Egypts first participation in a drill in Tunisia, and in the framework of the qualitative multinational Phoenix series conducted by AFRICOM, which brings together northern and southern Mediterranean partners and may eventually expand to include other NATO members. The exercises are designed to promote capabilities to respond to mounting threats in the Mediterranean region, including irregular migration, illicit trafficking, organised crime, and terrorism.

Although Egypt took part in two successive Nile Eagles joint military exercises with Sudan recently, the Nile Guardian drills mark a qualitative leap in bilateral military cooperation. Whereas the Nile Eagles series involved members of the two sides air forces, the Nile Guardians brought on board naval and elite commando and paratrooper forces. The growing closeness between Cairo and Khartoum is also evidenced by several exchanges of visits between high level military officials which culminated in a number military cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding being signed. The two sides face a number of common threats, not least from the proliferation of militias and mercenaries in Libya and Chad, and mounting threats to the Red Sea from the Horn of Africa.

In light of the multidimensional and overlapping nature of the threats, Egypt has extended coordination with countries across the Sahel and Sahara. Next door, in Libya, Egypt has helped shape the army as a professional national institution which is now key to maintaining security in eastern Libya, an area that until recently harboured terrorist groups and militias that posed a direct threat to Egyptian national security. Egypt is also involved in the comprehensive political process that aims to steer the country away from conflict and towards durable peace.

Though Egypt has a long history of military and security cooperation with Pakistan, recent developments represent a qualitative leap. In March, Cairo and Islamabad agreed to fast-track cooperation in armament manufacture. Lieutenant General Ali Amir Awan, Chairman of Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF), visited Egypt, using the occasion to announce that his country planned to take part in the 2021 edition of the Egyptian defence exhibition. This occurred shortly after Egyptian Defence Minister Mohamed Zaki visited Pakistan and met with Pakistani military leaders, Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Arif Alvi. During the visit President Alvi issued a statement praising Egypts efforts in supporting regional and international security and stability, and described the relationship between Pakistan and Egypt as strategic.

Egyptian military experts agree that these recent developments are the fruits of a comprehensive programme of military diplomacy that seeks to strengthen individual and collective defence capacities to counter multiple threats and challenges. Other nations are drawn to working with Egypt not only because the Egyptian Armed Forces are ranked among the foremost armies in the world but also because of Egypts reputation for promoting regional security and stability. Egypt has kept itself from becoming embroiled in any of the regions military conflicts and instead follows a policy of strategic deterrence. A prime example is the red line Egypt drew in Libya to compel the regional powers intervening there to stop fuelling tensions and hostilities. As Egyptian military experts point out, Egypt does not create threats, it works to contain them. This is another reason why its partnership is sought in military defence and counter-terrorism efforts in Africa and the Middle East.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 3 June, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:


Peter Beinart is a City University, New York professor of journalism and political science who writes and tweets about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict (some of his work can be found at peterbeinart.substack.com). Once an unequivocal Zionist, the media face of the issue is now thoroughly revising his views in response to Israeli policies: the recent crackdown on Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem and offensive on Gaza, which killed hundreds and injured thousands, felt like the right moment to tease out his thoughts.

On 12 May  two days after Israel started its bombardment of Gaza  Beinart published an opinion piece in The New York Times that was widely circulated on social media in which he harshly criticised Israels refusal to give the right of return to Palestinians who have been living outside their homeland. The Israeli government and its American Jewish allies insist that Palestinian refugees abandon hope of returning to their homeland. This demand is drenched in irony, because no people in human history have clung as stubbornly to the dream of return as have Jews. Establishment Jewish leaders denounce the fact that Palestinians pass down their identity as refugees to their children and grandchildren. But Jews have passed down our identity as refugees for 2,000 years, Beinart argues in the article.

Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, Beinart tackled almost everything, from the means to settle this endless dilemma to the necessity of Palestinian unity, and the extent to which Palestinians might be able to control the future of Israels escalatory moves against them.

You used to think of yourself as a liberal Zionist. What made you believe that both Palestinians and Israelis can live together in peace - despite a 70-year conflict - and what pushed you to change your views?

Throughout my entire life, I was a political Zionist  which meant I believed in the idea of a Jewish state that has a special obligation to Jews. I believed that in a post-Holocaust world, the Jews needed one country that would be particularly dedicated to their protection. Meanwhile, I thought that it was wrong for Israel to govern millions of Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem who didnt have basic rights like citizenship and the right to vote, so there should also be a Palestinian state next door to Israel, and that Israel should give more rights to them while retaining the core elements of a Jewish state. But over time I began to feel that Israeli settlement growth has made a Palestinian state impossible, and that was when I began to rethink the idea of Jewish statehood. I would say I became what I would now call a cultural Zionist. By being a cultural Zionist, I mean it is very important to have a strong Jewish community  what we would call the land of Israel  in which people can speak and run their schools in Hebrew, which is very important for the Jewish people. But I dont think this has to be within the framework of a Jewish state. I think we could have a single, equal state where both Palestinians and Jews would be able to run their own schools and speak their own languages. This would also allow for Palestinian citizens to have full equality and the refugees to return. So this was the shift in my thinking.

What is Israels long-term plan on its policy of evicting Palestinians from their homes? Israel is apparently not only doing so in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, but also in Silwan village.

I think the reality is that Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank are not citizens. So it means that the government of Israel has no responsibilities towards them. It is only accountable to Jews in Israel and the West Bank because they can vote. This means that if there are some Jews who want to take this land, they can generally do so because the Palestinians there dont have their basic right, which is a government that would listen to them. This is the fundamental problem. Israel was created in 1948 with an active mass expulsion of Palestinians. There are still people in Israel  Jerusalem or the West Bank  who want to push the Palestinians out to take more land, and the Palestinians dont really have much to do because they dont have rights. So the government cannot protect them against that.

To what extent are the events that happened in the past month in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza related to Trumps peace plan? That was the first time a US administration dealt with Jerusalem as Israels undivided capital.

Maybe a little. Trump certainly may have emboldened the Israelis a bit, but the truth is that no American president in recent decades  even before Trump  really put any real pressure on Israel to stop its policies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. This includes Joe Biden. In 30 years, for instance, none of them have been willing to condition US military aid to Israel. I think this process of people in Israel wanting to make East Jerusalem Jewish, push Palestinians out and also making a Palestinian state impossible by dividing East Jerusalem from the West Bank started before Donald Trump. Maybe it accelerated because Trump was so obviously willing to support Israel no matter what it takes, but it continued before Donald Trump and unfortunately continued after Donald Trump.

Since Ramadan, when the crisis started, a pro-Palestinian solidarity movement has spread all across the world through social media, with protests and even countries announcing suspending relations with Israel. Combined with the armed resistance of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, could this push Israel once again to make concessions as it did during Oslo?

I think we are quite far from that. The Oslo accords came as a result of the first Intifada, which lasted for years and showed Israel that it cannot easily and directly control the West Bank, that it needed some kind of Palestinian leadership on the ground to work with. It is not clear that the Israeli leadership really wanted the Palestinians to have a state, but they wanted some kind of Palestinian leadership so that they would not have to do all the work on the ground by themselves. The difference now is that  first of all  Israel already has this kind of Palestinian leadership on the ground in the West Bank. So the costs of controlling the West Bank are much lower than they were before Oslo. Now, if the Palestinian Authority collapsed, I think that would put Israel in a more difficult position.

Right now Mahmoud Abbas is keeping things quiet in the West Bank for Israel. Israels settlement project is also much further along. It is difficult to know even what concessions Israel would really make at this point. I also dont think the Israelis feel internationally isolated. On the contrary, the Israelis feel more welcome than they have ever been in some ways, with the UAE, Sudan, Bahrain and Morocco deals. But not only that. Their relations with India, for instance, are much stronger than before, and the same applies to their relations with Brazil and Hungary. So it is quite possible that we might get to a point when Israel would make concessions, but I think we are quite far from that right now.

For the first time in centuries, intra-Palestinian divisions are disappearing, thanks to Israels aggression against Palestinians in Gaza, Jerusalem and West Bank. Could this catalyse Palestinian reconcliation and pave the way to elections?

I hope there will be Palestinian elections, and I think it is crucially important to create a unified and more legitimate leadership. I think this is also what the Palestinians want. But I am not necessarily that optimistic that we will get there because the reason we didnt have Palestinian elections was that the United States, Israel and Mahmoud Abbas himself were all worried that Hamas might do well. So they all essentially worked together to cancel the elections. Now Hamas is more popular and will probably do better. It might not even need to join a coalition government with Fatah and rule by itself. It seems to me that Abbas, Israel and the US have more reasons to fear elections. So even though elections are the right thing, this doesnt necessarily mean we are going to see them any time soon.

During the Gaza war, Israel clearly underestimated the capabilities of the Gazan factions, mainly Hamas and the Jihad. How did corruption charges and the inability to unify Israeli parties affect Netanyahu in power?

In the short term, I think it helped him. The only way for Yair Lapid could have formed a government was by getting the very right-wing, Jewish parties  and maybe one of the Arab Israeli parties  into a government together, and the violence kind of made that impossible. Israel would probably go to a fifth election: that seems most likely. But I think Netanyahu is in better shape than he was before the war because it is very difficult for there to be an alternative coalition than his. Israeli politics is still quite stalemated, but  at least so far  the war has helped Netanyahu politically.

Wouldnt Israels major parties, including the right-wing ones, try to convince the public to consider political alternatives, especially since Netanyahu has sent Israel to war with Hamas repeatedly in past years?

Well, first of all, many of the parties that are running to succeed Netanyahu are no less right-wing than he. So, if anything, they would say hit Hamas harder. Most of the opposition to Netanyahu is just personal. He is corrupt, he has obviously been there for too long and he is threatening the judiciary. So there is no strong, ideological critique of Netanyahu among the Jewish political parties, really. Also, if there were an alternative coalition, it would not really have a clear vision because it would bring together all the different political parties. Netanyahu benefits from fear: people are afraid. Even if its not rational, they would often tend to move to the person they perceive as tougher and more experienced. Even if I wish they would, people will not necessarily turn against Netanyahu because of the war.

Concerning the international responses to the Gaza war and the situation in the West Bank, do you think they will in any way influence Israels relations with the world? For example, the Maldives suspended its ties with Israel, and several international bodies are considering investigations.

Maybe over the longer term we will see that this is having a negative effect on Israel. Certainly, in the US Democratic Party, there is a bit more support for conditioningmilitary aid than there was maybe a year ago. But there are still a lot of structural factors that put Israel in a very strong position. These changes are only happening in the Democratic Party, not the Republican Party. Even in the Democratic Party, most of the politicians in the US Congress  no matter what Israel does  still pretty much want to support Israel. The Europeans will never really want to do anything without the United States. When you talk about China and Russia, even India, these are countries that basically believe in letting sovereign countries do whatever they want no matter how terrible it is. So they are not naturally inclined to protect human rights anywhere. I dont see a dramatic change any time soon.

I read your piece in the New York Times, which was entitled Palestinian Refugees Deserve to Return Home. Jews Should Understand. What would it take to resolve the 70-year-old Palestinian-Israeli conflict?

I cant tell you how we could get from here to there. I do know what I would like to see as an outcome, which would be one equal state where everyone is treated equally under the law. But my guess would be that it would take a long time, if we could ever get there at all. I do think that one thing has to happen. Right now, the cost of controlling the Palestinians who lack basic rights is still relatively low for Israel. Yes, there was this war, but things got back to normal, and Israel remains a successful, prosperous country.

I think the cost has to go up for Israel in a much longer and sustained way for there to be a change. I also think that the Palestinian leadership has to be united. The Palestinian leadership is not united and is not effective in terms of making a unified claim like the African National Congress did. The Congress said this is our vision, this is what we are struggling for, and we are the legitimate representatives of the Black Africans. So these things and the international environment need to change for us to get to the point where Israelis would even consider the idea of accepting equality.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 3 June, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:


In a special one-day session held on 27 May, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted an unprecedented resolution to investigate war crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and Israel.

This happened six days after a ceasefire between Israel and the Islamic resistance movement Hamas went into effect. It ended 11 days of fighting during which Hamass military wing fired rockets into Israel and the latter responded with heavy bombardment of the blockaded and occupied Gaza Strip.

Together with the forced eviction by Israeli settlers of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem that preceded it, the war triggered a worldwide wave solidarity with the Palestinians revealing a shift in the Israel-Palestine discourse, observers say.

A taboo on criticising Israeli policy or presenting balanced coverage of the conflict in the US and much of the West has noticeably eroded, something that resonated even in the infamously bureaucratic United Nations.

For the first time in the history of the organisation, a resolution to investigate alleged violations and abuse of international human rights law and international humanitarian law includes Israel in its mandate. While the special session was scheduled during and because of the 11-day conflict, the wording of the resolution does not limit the investigation to recent events.

Indeed the HRC decided to establish an ongoing independent, international committee of inquiry (ICO), to be appointed by the councils president. This will investigate violations leading up to and since 13 April 2021, and all underlying root causes of recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict, including systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity.

The committees mandate includes collecting and preserving evidence of violations and crimes with the possibility of admissibility in legal proceedings and identifying, where possible, those responsible, with a view to ensuring that perpetrators of violations are held accountable.

The resolution was adopted by a vote of 24 in favour, nine against and 14 abstentions. All seven European member states in the HRC abstained or voted against the resolution, which was introduced by Pakistan on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Conference.

Human rights defenders say the UN has never attempted to investigate violations inside the 1948 borders, known as the Green Line, which marks the Palestinian territories captured by Zionist gangs to establish the state of Israel 73 years ago.

Although Israel is a Jewish state, it has a population of 1.9 million Palestinians with Israeli documents. They are descendants of the Palestinians who remained within those borders after the creation of Israel in 1948.

Akshaya Kumar, director of Crisis Advocacy and Special Projects in the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) described the HRCs commission of inquiry as a transformative moment.

It is the first time ever that the HRC is looking beyond the immediate, beyond for example war crimes in the context of a conflict in Gaza, to the systematic discrimination across the OPT and in Israel itself  everywhere from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea, she said in reference to the entire map of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

In April HRW issued a groundbreaking report documenting crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution by the Israeli authorities. BTsleem, the Israeli rights group, had already released a report earlier this year in the same vein, stating that Israel enacts an apartheid regime in all the territory it controls, but did not have the same impact as the international rights watchdogs findings.

The 213-page report, A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution is based on an overarching Israeli government policy to maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians and grave abuses committed against Palestinians living in the OT, including East Jerusalem.

The HRC did not mention any assessment of the crime of apartheid and persecution, but the COI has the mandate to make such an assessment. According to Kuma, Theyve been told to look into systematic discrimination and its root causes. And HRW will be sure to get our analysis to them so they know what we think of the situation, which is that indeed the crime of apartheid and the crime of prosecution are being committed by Israeli authorities.

Because the resolution tasks the COIs members with preparing case files for the future, identifying perpetrators and collecting evidence, Kumar hopes they can build up the kind of information needed for prosecution.

On 13 May the International Criminal Court (ICC) Public Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said an investigation is underway into alleged war crimes in earlier conflicts by both Israeli and Palestinian individuals, despite the formers rejection of the courts jurisdiction.

Bensouda told Reuters she would press ahead with her inquiry even without the cooperation of Israel, which accuses her office of anti-Semitic bias.

As with HRC commission of inquiry reports on violations in previous Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, the findings of the COI could be a main source of information examined by the office of the ICCs prosecutor general.

This could open up avenues for universal jurisdiction and it takes us one step closer to really giving the situation in Palestine the kind of attention that it deserves at the international level, Kumar said.

By including all territories where Palestinians exist, the resolution is aligned with realities on the ground that have been distorted and misrepresented.

What were seeing here is that the UN has adopted a resolution that takes a holistic view on violations against Palestinians in Gaza, East Jerusalem, the West Bank and inside Israel, said Sawsan Zaher, deputy general director of Adalah, the Palestinian-run legal centre in Haifa, Israel.

This is important, she says, because it highlights how Israel exercises the same policies against all Palestinians regardless of their location and the different laws under which they live. We cant ignore the fact that this is also in compliance with the findings of the HRWs report concluding that Israel has committed abuses required for the crime of apartheid, she told Al-Ahram Weekly in a telephone interview.

Originally coined in relation to South Africa, apartheid has become a universal legal term. The prohibition against particularly severe institutional discrimination and oppression or apartheid constitutes a core principle of international law. The 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid and the 1998 Rome Statute to the ICC define apartheid as a crime against humanity.

In 2017 the UN pulled out a report by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) which accused Israel of imposing an apartheid regime on the Palestinians. It was the first time a UN report clearly accused Israel of the crime of apartheid. The report was taken off ESCWAs website after the UN body and its then secretary general Antonio Guterres came under pressure from powerful member states who undertook vicious attacks and threats in the words of ESCWAs Executive Secretary Rima Khalaf, who resigned in protest.

Guterres was among the 50 senior European and international officials who signed an open letter on Monday condemning political interference in the efforts by the ICC to investigate war crimes in Palestine.

In 2019 a UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination described Israel as a fragmented society, in which law, policies and institutions reflect the dominance of the Jewish population.

It was the first time that Israeli policies inside the green line were examined, Zaher said. What were seeing here with the recent HRC COI is an expansion of the description of Israels regime two years ago.

The root causes leading to changes in how the conflict is being perceived today, even if it is reflected in a different narrative, is a natural reaction to the prolonged Israeli occupation, says Zaher, which is illegal by the definition of international law.

The blockade of Gaza is now 16 years old and Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is 54 years old. This should be reflected in a new discourse, a new debate and a new way of analysing things that moves on from the rhetoric exonerating Israel.

Of course, we shouldnt be naive; theres a huge question now whether the UN will fund such a commission and indeed establish it, she said.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 3 June, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:


A Kenyan woman who stunned the country after she abandoned her family to marry the Holy Spirit says she is traveling to Uganda for her honeymoon.

Elizabeth Nalem, a mother of six from Makutano town in West Pokot County, says the Holy Spirit has guided her to Amudat District in the neighboring country to also serve God and spread His word.

After visiting Uganda, Nalem intends to travel to the United States.

God has shown (sic) me to travel to the United States when I am done with Uganda. He told me to traverse the world but I told him I wont be able to and requested him to recruit other members to help me in spreading the gospel, she was quoted by the Standard.
Fighting between armed Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip and Israel, sparked by attempts to evict several Palestinian families from their homes in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, has stopped. But Israels belligerent measures there have not ended, with the area now completely blocked off and no Palestinians, journalists or aid workers allowed in or out.

Israels cold war is part of an Israeli policy of isolating Palestinian areas. It refuses to submit to the notion of victory that the Gaza-based Hamas is trying to promote, stipulating that calm in the Gaza Strip and the end of military operations there is conditional on an end of aggressions and abuses in occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank. Hamas insists that the end of Israeli aggression is part of the ceasefire agreement.

Palestinian families await eviction in this Jerusalem neighbourhood, and settlers have been able to seize 28 homes there. The new occupiers fly the Israeli flag and tighten security around the perimeter. Clashes with Palestinian families rage on because they believe that if they do not resist their homes will be next.

Israel frames the issue as a legal dispute about the ownership of several homes in this strategic district in Occupied Jerusalem, and Israeli courts are adjudicating the battle between Palestinian families and a group of settlers that claim their homes. Palestinians are convinced this is a tactic to place restrictions on them and evacuate the occupied city of its original inhabitants, as a step towards the complete Judification of Jerusalem.

The Palestinian Authority wants East Jerusalem, where Sheikh Jarrah is located, to be the capital of the future Palestinian state. Israel, meanwhile, believes a united East and West Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, backed by measures that have become de facto in occupied Jerusalem. There is also the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, made by former US president Donald Trump.

Nahalat Shimon, a US-based Jewish group that supports Jewish settlers living in Palestinian areas in Jerusalem, claims it owns these homes and that Palestinian residents have not paid rent and must therefore be evicted. The deputy mayor of Jerusalem said that East Jerusalem must not be void of Jews, which explains why Israel insists on planting Israeli families in this neighbourhood while expelling Palestinians from it.

The alleged legal dispute being heard in Israeli courts will not result in a clear-cut legal verdict in favour of settlers that convinces global public opinion. Israeli courts mostly rely on controversial laws to decide these cases, such as the Absentee Property Law and other laws that presuppose all Palestinian land and property in Jerusalem to be owned by the state of Israel, including Al-Aqsa Mosque, where settlers want to rebuild the Temple Mount on its ruins. These laws stipulate that Palestinians must pay a price for living in Jerusalem. There are also intense attempts to place restrictions on Palestinians in Jerusalem, such as banning them from upgrading their homes and not issuing building permits inside the city.

Daniel Seidman, an Israeli lawyer specialising in Jewish settlement activities in East Jerusalem, asserts, It is no coincidence that the Solomon Temple and Sheikh Jarrah sparked violence, and there are intense efforts to evict Palestinians who live there and replace them with settlers, based on religious beliefs.

Seidman said Israel is targeting four Arab areas in Occupied Jerusalem: two in Sheikh Jarrah and two in Silwan in southern Jerusalem. This is the first phase of Israels extensive efforts to displace Jerusalem Palestinians, in the largest operation since the 1967 War.

According the latest Palestinian reports issued by the Information Centre at the Palestinian News Agency, some 1,250 Palestinians living in Sheikh Jarrah and Batan Al-Hawa in the city of Silwan are waiting for their forced displacement orders. Zoheir Al-Rajbi, member of the Committee for the Defence of Palestinian Homes in Batan Al-Hawa, says, The goal of the occupation goes beyond evacuating homes to the extent of tearing down Al-Aqsa Mosque, building Solomons Temple, and evacuating what is known as the Holy Basin that overlooks Al-Aqsa. Some 700-800 people are at risk of being thrown out onto the streets without shelter if the occupation courts implement those orders.

Hassan Khater, an expert on Jerusalem affairs, believes Israeli occupation has targeted Jerusalem since the beginning of the conflict with the Palestinians, noting that Jerusalem is a strategic goal for Israels settlement and Judification efforts. According to Israeli law, more than one third of the buildings in Jerusalem are in violation of Israeli building codes and have demolition orders, amounting to some 20,000 homes in the Holy City. This confirms there is a real war in Jerusalem between Palestinians and the Israeli occupation, and Israel is deliberately targeting Arab presence in the Holy City.

Regarding Israeli restrictions in Jerusalem, Khater adds: The taxes in Jerusalem are highly inflated, and Israel imposes astronomical taxes on Jerusalem homes and residents.

Although Israel is in shock over the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza Strip and even within the 1948 territories due to Israels recent assault on Jerusalem, there are many factors causing it to continue with these measures in the occupied city. Pressure is building up from the right wing in Israel to continue settlement building and Judification in Jerusalem. Israeli officials also want to show they are not subject to Hamass demands to end aggressions in Jerusalem.

The issue of Jerusalem is sensitive in Israel, especially for right-wing and Jewish religious political parties, which have almost half of the Knesset seats (52 out of 120), and are a strong source of pressure on officials in Israel. However, recent massive global solidarity with the Palestinian cause, Arab pressure and the shift in the US administrations position on Israeli aggression are a serious challenge for the political regime in Israel. This right-wing bloc faces the possibility that its leader and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could exit the political scene for the first time in 12 years, as his political rivals have nearly formed a government led by Yair Lapid, mostly composed of left-wing, centre and even Yamina Party led by Naftali Bennet, who was once Netanyahus ally.

Recent events in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem left a strong impression on the policies of the occupation, states Khater. We saw Netanyahu personally hand over the issue of Jerusalem neighbourhoods to legal counsel, which means the issue has been removed from the courts and has become a political one.

Khater continues: It is now a political issue and Netanyahu is asking the courts to delay their decision until further notice due to military and security events on the ground, as well as international human rights groups championing the cause of Jerusalem residents and threatening to take the matter to the International Criminal Court. He adds that some international organisations are now seeking to put Israel on trial because of Jerusalem. This has forced the Israeli government to delay the issue and pressure Israeli courts to postpone their verdict.

Israeli aggression in Occupied Jerusalem at Sheikh Jarrah and Batan Al-Hawa have not ended, while raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque also continue despite the ceasefire  albeit at a slower pace. Egypt sent Intelligence Chief Abbas Kamel on a shuttle visit between Ramallah, Tel Aviv and Gaza to solidify the ceasefire, de-escalate any future confrontations and discuss rebuilding what Israel destroyed during its war on Gaza.

The next period will show just how successful the Egyptian mediation  undertaken with Arab and international support  has been in persuading Israel to stop its aggressions in Occupied Jerusalem and solidifying calm in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 3 June, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:


Only those who went through that night can perhaps forgive and in doing so give the gift of forgiveness, said French President Emmanuel Macron this week as he acknowledged Frances overwhelming responsibility in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.

Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Germany had caused immeasurable suffering to the Herero and Nama people in todays Namibia, formally recognising as genocide the crimes committed by German troops in the region in the early 20th century.

So, is Europe finally facing up to its colonial past? Does it want to write a new chapter in its relations with the African countries while China and the US are caught up in heated rivalry and the economy of some African countries is rising?

In Europe, France is the most focused on Africa, and its colonial memory is giving it a headache, whether in Algeria, an immensely complicated issue, or as it faces accusations of grave violations in Central Africa.

Last week, Macron visited the Rwandan capital Kigali and stood in front of the countrys Genocide Memorial where more than 250,000 Rwandans are buried to ask for forgiveness for his countrys role in the 1994 genocide.

Standing here today with humility and respect by your side, I have come to recognise our responsibilities, Macron said.

Rwanda and Burundi suffered 100 days of genocide committed by Hutu militia between April and June 1994. Some 800,000 people were killed, most of them Tutsi and Hutu moderates. Rwanda was ruled by the countrys Hutu elite after its independence from Belgium in the early 1960s until Belgian troops were ousted by the Tutsis Rwandan Patriotic Front led by president Paul Kagame.

In March, a French panel of experts found that France under former president Francois Mitterrand had heavy and comprehensive responsibility for the genocide but that it had not been complicit.

The panels report said that France had been oblivious to the preparations for the genocide, with Macron saying last week that Paris had for too long valued silence over the examination of the truth.

France did not understand that while trying to prevent a regional conflict or a civil war, it was in fact standing by the side of a genocidal regime, Macron added.

Mitterrand had close relations with former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, who hails from the Hutu ethnicity. The genocide occurred after a plane crashed with Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira, also a Hutu, on board on 6 April 1994.

Most historians agree that France should have been able to alleviate the horrors of the genocide. Paris provided political and military support to Kigali during the civil war that preceded it, and it has long been accused of turning a blind eye to the danger that Hutu extremists posed in a country that had suffered widespread massacres in the past.

However, despite Macrons stance, which Kagame described as more important than an apology, praising his French counterpart for telling the truth, Rwandas genocide remains an open subject.

Kagame, who led the Tutsi rebellion that ended the genocide, has long accused France of complicity in the crimes that have plagued Rwanda.

The Rwandan president asked his French counterpart to respect the pledge he had made during the visit to bring to justice people in France who are accused of involvement in the genocide, but he did not insist that they should be extradited to Kigali.

For many, Rwandas distancing itself from Francophone Africa, abolishing French as the countrys official language and replacing it with English, together with its expanding economy, could have been behind Frances seeking the forgiveness of Rwanda.

The growing Chinese presence on the African continent has also been a source of tension for Europe. Some African countries are also playing a larger role in Africa that could reduce Europes share.

Egypt is building the Julius Nyerere Dam in Tanzania, for example, and it is also implementing several projects in Rwanda. It is building schools and hospitals in South Sudan, and it has various interests in Uganda.

West Africa is witnessing the continuing growth of Nigeria, as well as the growing roles of South Africa, Morocco and Algeria in the region. All these countries can offer development projects at cheaper prices than those offered by Europe.

Meanwhile, France is also being hard hit in the Sahel region, where it is leading Operation Barkhane, an anti-terrorism campaign in the region extending from Chad, the headquarters of French forces in the region, to Mauritania.

Paris lost its strongest ally in the region, former Chadian president Idriss Deby, after he was killed at the hands of a rebel movement. Another traditional French ally, Mali, is also suffering from its second coup in a year.

Such multiple tensions are obstacles to Frances policies in the region, and they are weakening its efforts to fight terrorism in the Sahel region of Chad, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.

Meanwhile, Maass speech about German atrocities in Namibia was not the first by a German official on the subject. In 2004, German minister for economic cooperation and development Heidmarie Wieczorek-Zoll gave a speech in which she said that I ask you to forgive us for our transgressions and sins. Without conscious memory, regret and apology, there can be no reconciliation.

Wieczorek-Zolls request for Namibian forgiveness came during a ceremony marking 100 years of the beginning of a rebellion against German colonialism in the region that ended with German forces committing massacres in former German Southwest Africa, present-day Namibia, before World War I.

Germany said earlier this week that it would pay Namibia 1.1 billion euros as part of its official recognition of the Herero-Nama Genocide. Our aim was and is to find a joint path to genuine reconciliation in remembrance of the victims, Maas said. That includes our naming the events of the German colonial era in todays Namibia, and particularly the atrocities between 1904 and 1908, unsparingly and without euphemisms.

We will now officially call these events what they were from todays perspective: a genocide.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 3 June, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:


They tied me up, as I was crying and screaming, one young victim of female genital mutilation (FGM) who preferred to stay anonymous told Al-Ahram Weekly. I felt betrayed. My parents had betrayed me without even thinking of explaining the situation. I told my mother that I would never forgive them for what they had done to me, no matter what, she said.



The girl was in primary school when she was sent to sleep over at her aunts. But I was never allowed to sleep over. I was circumcised there by a daya, a woman who carries out this operation, she added.



Although the experience was painful, she remembers every detail. She recalls feeling happy to be allowed to sleep over at her aunts. But she was shocked when her two aunts forcibly took her to a room where the daya performed FGM on her. When she went home, her mother hugged her and said, its okay dear, it was necessary.



FGM remains a widespread practice in Egypt, even among some educated families. Both of the girls parents were well-educated, but they could not let go of the FGM tradition. According to the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), over seven million girls in Egypt could be at risk of undergoing FGM before 2030.



In response, the government has recently toughened up FGM laws to decrease its prevalence in Egypt. Over the last year, the closure of schools as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic may have increased FGM practices, as school meant girls were outside the home, whereas the lockdown may have left them more vulnerable.



Hospitals were not an option for girls to seek help when suffering complications from FGM as Covid-19 cases were top priority. In March this year, the Senate, the upper house of Egypts parliament, approved a new penalty to be applied for FGM crimes. According to a parliamentary Health and Population Committee report, the practice of female genital mutilation is still one of the worst crimes in Egypt, and the laws should be amended to impose harsher penalties for this crime.



The 300-member Senate said that the amendment of Law 58/1937 aimed to fight against FGM as it violates the human body, contradicts societal values, and is illegal. The amendment states that Article 242 of the law will toughen up penalties for FGM to reach seven years in prison in case of permanent disability and ten years if death is the result. Medical professionals such as doctors and nurses convicted of performing FGM will face a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, and they will be denied the right to practise medicine for up to five years.



Article 171 of the penal code also criminalises supporting FGM. Parents who plan to perform FGM on their daughters could thus face prison sentences as well.



As the current penalties have proved not sufficient to put an end to this practice, the new law imposes tougher penalties that will act as a stronger deterrent, said Ibrahim Al-Heneidi, chair of the Houses Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee in the lower house of Egypts parliament.



Over recent years, the authorities have toughened up FGM penalties twice. The last amendment came a year after the death of Nada Hafez, 14 years old, who died due to a FGM procedure in Assiut.



FGM was first criminalised in 2008, and the law was toughened up for the first time in 2016. In 2008, the penalty was three months to two years in prison and a fine that ranged from LE1,000 to LE5,000. The 2016 amendment redefined FGM as a felony rather than a misdemeanour.



MISTAKEN BELIEFS

When I researched it, I found it wasnt part of religion, one FGM victim said. I never understood why they did it to me. But I was a child. I didnt understand what FGM is and its repercussions.



Criminalising FGM is one way to tell the public that the practice is also against religion. Ali Gomaa, chair of the Houses Religious Affairs Committee and Egypts former grand mufti, told Al-Ahram that FGM was a practice that should be strictly criminalised.



The Quran does not mention FGM, and statements attributed to the Prophet Mohamed allowing FGM have been found to be unreliable. There is nothing in Islam that supports the practice of female circumcision, [and the] Prophet Mohamed never ordered that his daughters be circumcised. Gomaa said.



Some Christians in Egypt perform FGM as well, as the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has revealed. Egypts Coptic Orthodox Church has explained that Christianity is against FGM, as it is a clear violation of human rights and negatively affects the victim.



Ayman Abul-Ela, deputy chair of parliaments Human Rights Committee, has declared that it is time to correct mistaken beliefs as FGM is a crime against human rights.



Meanwhile, FGM, also known as female circumcision, is still a widely practised procedure that involves the partial or total cutting of the female external genitalia. Mina Gorgy, a specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist, told the Weekly that there are different types of FGM.



Type one, also known as clitoridectomy, entails removing part or all of the clitoris. Type two, also known as excision, entails removing part or all of the clitoris and the inner labia, the lips that surround the vagina, with or without the removal of the labia majora, or the larger outer lips. This is the most practised type in Africa, accounting for 80 per cent of total cases, according to research.



Gorgy said that types one and two are the most performed in Egypt, mainly in rural areas. Type three, also known as infibulation, entails narrowing the vaginal opening by creating a seal formed by cutting and repositioning the labia and other harmful procedures to the female genitals, including pricking, piercing, cutting, scraping or burning the area. Type four includes all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia such as pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterisation, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).



Short-term complications, like bleeding leading to shock or even death, depend on the type performed. However, post-procedural symptoms are the same in most cases, and pain is an immediate effect due to the absence of anaesthesia. The use of unsanitary equipment and in overall unsanitary conditions can lead to infections and may cause HIV and Hepatitis B and C infections.



The complications may extend to causing primary infertility and difficult labour later in life. The significant psychological and psychosexual consequences lead to many years of suffering.



FGM WORLDWIDE

The exact origin of the practice is unknown, but FGM was practised in ancient Egypt, Pre-Islamic Arabia, ancient Greece, and Tsarist Russia.



The reasons behind the tradition vary, the most prominent being the belief that it is related to religion or is effective in reducing sexual desire and therefore prevents girls from committing adultery in marriage.



UNICEF has found that over 200 million girls and women alive today have been the victims of FGM in 30 countries. According to the WHO, three million girls, mostly below 15, are at risk of undergoing FGM every year. The majority of cases are in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Indonesia. However, FGM exists in other countries such as Canada, the US and Australia, mostly among immigrants who still hold to FGM practices.



Some communities in Africa perform FGM on infants, as a report done by the WHO specifies. In Nigeria, the average age is 6.9 years. In Sudan, nine out of 10 girls have undergone FGM, according to UNICEF.



Many African governments have criminalised FGM as a violation of womens rights. Egypts childrens law includes child protection committees to find and help girls at risk of FGM.



In the past, FGM was mostly performed by traditional practitioners, laypersons, midwives and dayas. After doctors and other members of the medical profession started carrying out FGM, the issue was brought to international attention, leading the WHO to condemn the medicalisation of FGM in 1979 in the first international conference on FGM held in Khartoum in Sudan.



The WHO highlighted the practice at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1982. In 1993, the World Medical Association condemned FGM, followed by the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) and other organisations.



In 2008, a UN interagency statement on eliminating FGM signed by 10 UN agencies was published by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UNICEF, and the WHO.



Collective action by governments alongside regional and international initiatives is an essential step to ending FGM worldwide. In Egypt, UNFPA cooperated with development partners to launch a nationwide awareness campaign on National Day in February to end FGM in Egypt. The public was informed about the Al-Azhar fatwa (religious edict) and the Coptic Churchs position on FGM, both agreeing that it has nothing to do with religion.



The UNFPA campaign took place door-to-door last year with extra attention being given to Covid-19 protective measures, and it reached 14 million people in 27 governorates. The National Taskforce for the Eradication of FGM has reached 74 million Egyptians since its establishment.



The government is also keen to do more research to understand FGMs prevalence in society. The Egypt Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) has been one of the most effective tools to collect such data, and in 2003 it surveyed women about their attitudes to FGM. Sixty-one per cent said they were entirely against the practice, and 42 per cent said they were worried about health complications. The other 20 per cent stressed that FGM was against religion.



On marriage and sexuality, eight per cent of those surveyed said it lessened marriage prospects, while five per cent said FGM negatively affected sexual relations with the husband.



I have a daughter, and I would never do such a thing to her, one FGM victim stressed. Even so, in 2015 the DHS found that among married Egyptian women aged between 15 and 49, 92 per cent had been the victims of FGM.



The report highlighted a massive decline among the younger generations, however. The percentage of FGM victims aged between 15 and 19 has dropped from 97 percent to 70 per cent in recent years.



CONDEMNING FGM

Egypt will not accept violence against women and girls. Backed by strong political will, the government is intensifying efforts to seek parliamentary approval for increasing the penalties on the perpetrators of this crime, said Maya Morsy, president of the National Council for Women (NCW) and co-chair of the National Committee for the Eradication of FGM.



We are reaping the fruit of two years of extensive awareness around FGM, which has led to an increased number of families and medical personnel coming forward and reporting it, she said.



In 2017, the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030 praised President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisis promise to end FGM in Egypt during his time as president. In 2019, the NCW and the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) established a National Committee for Eliminating FGM that gathers representatives from all concerned ministries, civil society, development partners and judicial and religious bodies.



All members of society, including health professionals, educationalists, and religious leaders, along with government officials, have a part to play in eliminating FGM in Egypt, they said.



FGM is both physically and psychologically harmful, resulting in years of medical problems. The trauma left after the procedure often requires therapy so women can restore confidence in their bodies and overcome pain.



I was in agony for two days. Psychologically, I was severely affected, but no one cared, one FGM victim said. In order to resume a normal life, FGM survivors need both physical treatment and therapy, and surgery may be the solution to reconstruct damaged tissues and restore function to the sex organs.



French doctor Pierre Foldes invented reconstruction procedures to treat FGM patients after years of study and research from 1992 to 2008. He saw results in terms of decreased pain and improved sexual function and self-confidence in more than 3,000 patients.



Even so, not many women opt for reconstruction treatments. One FGM victim said she had never talked to her parents about the incident, but had researched it to know how to deal with her body.



Reconstruction surgery is available, but victims rarely seek those services either because of a lack of knowledge or because some of them believe in the tradition, Gorgy told the Weekly. Ive dealt with many victims, but they have refused medical intervention due to religious beliefs, and many of them would have their daughters circumcised.



Reconstruction procedures can restore hope to FGM victims, nonetheless. But more people need to be informed about the effectiveness and importance of the surgery.



Overall, toughening the law goes hand-in-hand with raising public awareness about FGM. Every member of society should aim to raise awareness about the risks of FGM and the legal penalties of it, notably by reporting any suspected cases to the Womens Complaints Helpline (15115) and the governments Child Helpline (16000).



*A version of this article appears in print in the 3 June, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:


Building and consolidating the ceasefire agreement of 22 May between Hamas and Israel has become a challenge for the international community.

The UN Security Council, after three unsuccessful attempts from 10 to 21 May, released a statement on 23 May urging the parties to respect the ceasefire agreement and called for facilitating the entry into Gaza of much-needed humanitarian aid in addition to the start of rebuilding it.

The Arab countries, the European Union and the US administration have been working hard to make sure that hostilities will not break out again due to miscalculations or a lack of the political will to go ahead and prepare the ground for possible talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis to reach a negotiated solution to the Palestinian question.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a whirlwind tour of the Middle East from 24 to 26 May, visiting Israel, Ramallah, Cairo and Amman. He met, in chronological order, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials, Mahmoud Abbas (Abou Mazen), chair of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi (on 26 May) and king Abdullah of Jordan.

The basic message that he carried was that it is essential to consolidate the ceasefire agreement brokered by Egypt, to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and to begin the reconstruction efforts with equal urgency, provided that these are channelled through the PA and do not benefit Hamas in rebuilding its military arsenal.

In Israel, Blinken reiterated the US commitment to the security of Israel, saying that the US fully supports Israels right to defend itself against attacks such as Hamas firing rockets indiscriminately against civilians.

While this is the standard US position, Blinken also had kind and just words for the Palestinians. He admitted that one of the consequences of what he called the operation was that it requires the recognition that losses on both sides were profound and that while casualties can be reduced to numbers, behind numbers there are human beings.

He said that working on economic growth in Gaza and the West Bank will help foster a more stable environment and benefit Palestinians and Israelis. After his meeting with Abbas in Ramallah, Blinken said the Biden administration had earmarked $5.5 million for relief work in Gaza in addition to $32 million for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and others. He also announced that the US would reopen its consulate in East Jerusalem in a significant reversal of a decision by the former Trump administration to close it down. He pledged to request the US Congress to approve $75 million for Gaza.

If Blinken wanted to work with US allies and partners in the Middle East to ensure an extended period of calm, the Israeli prime minister did not see it this way. After thanking the Biden administration for its support for Israel in the latest round of fighting with the Palestinians and Hamas, he pivoted to the indirect negotiations in Vienna between the US and Iran to rejoin the Iranian nuclear deal of July 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). He wanted to deflect international attention from his countrys aggression against the Palestinians and to what he has called the existential threat to Israel of a nuclear-armed Iran.

He pointed out in a joint press conference with Blinken that with or without an agreement between the US and Iran, Israel will do everything to prevent Iran from arming itself with a nuclear weapon, because that [threatens] our existence, as he put it. On the other hand, he also said he would work with the Biden administration to expand relations with the Arab countries in the spirit of the so-called Abraham Accords of the Trump administration last September.

Concluding his talks in Israel and Ramallah, Blinken said that both the Israeli and the Palestinian sides had admitted in talks he had held separately with them the necessity of solving the root causes of the conflict.

In Cairo, paying his first visit to the Egyptian capital, he met with president Al-Sisi and praised the role played by Egypt in reaching the ceasefire agreement of 22 May. He said that the US believes that Egypt is an effective partner and that Washington and Cairo are working together positively to secure stability and peace in the Middle East.

The Egyptian president stressed that the latest hostilities in Gaza had demonstrated the urgent need for the resumption of peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis and that Cairo would work closely with Washington to achieve this objective.

In the meantime, the General Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service Abbas Kamel flew to Israel on Sunday where he had a meeting with Netanyahu, and then went to Ramallah to confer with Abbas. On the following Monday, he drove to Gaza to meet with senior Hamas leaders. The senior Egyptian official has had a sensitive mission in the three stops, namely how to sell the idea that things have to change, and it would be in the interest of the Palestinians and the Israelis to show restraint in the months and years to come and try to reach a negotiated solution for the Palestinian question. Coincidentally, Kamels visit took place the day a new Israeli government was supposed to be announced but without Netanyahu as the next prime minister of Israel. Will this momentous change give urgency to the Egyptian mediation and diplomatic efforts? The days ahead will probably provide a tentative answer.

Blinkens tour of the Middle East has been an opportunity for the Biden administration early in its first term to learn firsthand about the reality of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in concrete terms and after a devastating military onslaught on Gaza. If there is one conclusion of the tour of the US secretary of state in the region, it is that a diplomatic vacuum is a very dangerous situation in the Middle East and a state of affairs that has seen the outbreak of armed conflicts between the Israelis and the Palestinians. There have been four so far: 2008-2009, 2012, 2014 and 2021.

The latest round of the Israeli military offensive against Gaza and Hamas lasted 11 days. The previous one in 2014 lasted 52 days. If the diplomatic vacuum remains in place, the region will witness a new conflagration in either the nearer or more distant future. And the vicious cycle of reconstruction and destruction will continue to deprive both the Palestinians and the Israelis of the fruits of living side by side in freedom, namely security and economic prosperity for all. The earlier the Israelis realise that uprooting the Palestinians from the lands of their ancestors is next to impossible, the better it will be for the Middle East.

In Amman, the last leg of his Middle Eastern tour, Blinken reiterated in his discussions with king Abdullah on 26 May that the Palestinians and the Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely and to enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and democracy.

The magic words here are equally and equal measures. Rarely has there been such a strong articulation on the part of a US administration, whether Democrat or Republican, of the inalienable rights of the Palestinians. The Biden administration has put the Palestinians and the Israelis on a par, at least theoretically. We look forward to active engagement on its part in peace-making in the region.

Is the US administration ready yet to push hard to fill the diplomatic vacuum? From the results of Blinkens tour of the Middle East, it seems that for the time being the US prefers to leave the task of resuming the negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis to its regional allies and partners. The problem in this approach is twofold. On the one hand, Israel is in the throes of a crisis of government that does not seem about to disappear any time soon. On the other hand, the resumption of peace negotiations to solve the Palestinian question is not a shared strategic priority among the Arab and regional powers.

Such being the case, the huge task of keeping the ceasefire in place and working for instituting calm over a longer period of time with the hope of reviving talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis falls on Egypt and to a lesser extent Jordan. The road towards peace and security in the Middle East is a long and a tortuous one, or so it seems. The odds at the present moment are challenging.

*The writer is former assistant foreign minister.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 3 June, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:


At a recent conference in Israel, Ron Dermer, former Israeli ambassador to the US, was asked to respond to a criticism. During his tenure in Washington, he focused more on courting conservatives than on liberal Americans. In response, Dermer noted that he had, indeed, devoted attention to conservatives - in particular the religious right - because at the present time, he said, the backbone of support for Israel in the US are evangelical Christians. He went on to make a few additional observations to develop this point.

Firstly, he noted that liberals, including the majority of the Jewish community, had many competing concerns; Israel wasnt at the top of their list of priorities. For evangelical Christians, on the other hand, Israel was central to their faith. Additionally, he pointed out that the gap between Republican and Democratic support for Israel wasnt a new phenomenon. It was a four decades old, going back to when televangelists like James Hagee, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell led their followers to embrace the GOP. In the intervening years, this movement increasingly gained ascendence and are today the leading force pushing the Republican Party to be more pro-Israel.

Ive never before agreed with Dermer, but his observations are, as the Brits would say, spot on. A poll we released just this week demonstrates the partisan divide on issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the role played by the Christian right wing in generating this gap between Republican and Democratic views.

As Dermer noted in his remarks to the Israeli conference, evangelicals make up 25 per cent of the American electorate. They are also over 40 per cent of all Republican voters. So when our poll shows a split between the attitudes of Democrats and Republicans, most often this divide can be attributed to the views of conservative evangelicals.

Looking at the data, we find noteworthy differences between the attitudes of Democrats and right-wing evangelicals on: views of Israelis versus Palestinians (Democrats favouring Palestinians over Israelis by a 51 to 46 per cent margin, and evangelicals favouring Israelis over Palestinians by a 72 to 42 per cent margin); attitudes to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Democrats having a two to one unfavourable view of Netanyahu and evangelicals a greater than four to one favourable view of the Israeli leader; and Israels efforts to forcibly evict Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem, with Democrats opposed by a 51 to 25 per cent margin and evangelicals supporting Israels right to evict Palestinians by 45 to 29 per cent.

The two groups also have divergent views (though slightly less dramatically) on two other issues: whether opponents of Israels occupation policies have a legitimate right to call for boycotts and sanctions and whether US policy towards the conflict should favour Israel or be balanced. Democrats strongly support the right to boycott and the need for the US to pursue a balanced policy towards the conflict.

There are only two areas where the attitudes of Democrats and right-wing evangelicals converge. Both strongly support the proposition that Israelis and Palestinians are equal and deserve equal rights. Both support an independent Palestinian state as part of a two-state solution to the conflict.

While Dermer notes the dominance of the Christian right-wing in the Republican Party and celebrates their strong support for Israel, however, he either conveniently ignores or is unaware of two pertinent issues. The peculiar theology that has taken hold among the Christian right supports Israel because it sees the in-gathering of the Jews as a necessary first step leading to their conversion to Christianity and the return of Christ to rule for 1,000 years before the Final Judgement. In other words, these right-wing evangelicals may love Israel for their own reasons, but they dont necessarily love Judaism.

It is also important to note that while the influence of right-wing evangelicals is strong in Republican circles, they are losing support among their young, whose attitudes on a range of issues, including Israel, are moving in the direction of their age cohort on the liberal side of the political spectrum. As Shibley Telhami of The Brookings Institution noted, a recent poll by the University of North Carolina found that younger evangelicals are much less supportive of Israel than older evangelicals by a substantial margin.

So while Dermer and his Likud Party have played for short-term gain, investing in their courtship of conservative Christians, it comes at a cost. They are putting their eggs in the right-wing evangelicals basket, missing the point that this basket is unravelling and that the evangelicals view the Jewish people as the eggs that must be cracked to fulfill their end of days theology. At the same time, not only have they alienated Democrats, who increasingly find Israeli policies to be deplorable, they are also creating discomfort with younger American Jews who want nothing to do with the broader conservative agenda espoused by the likes of Robertson, Hagee and their acolytes in the Republican leadership.

*The writer is president of the Arab American Institute.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 3 June, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:


Despite Egypts good intentions towards Ethiopia and its commitment to diplomacy to solve the grave disputes surrounding the dangerous effects of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on its scarce water resources, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed shocked all parties concerned, both African and international, by announcing that he would build over 100 dams across the country to provide much needed development.

By making such statements, Ahmed is not only closing the door in the face of negotiations mediated by the African Union and the United States, but flagrantly furthering his escalation against Egypt and the vital interests of its people.

Water is a matter of life or death for over 100 million Egyptians who have depended on the Nile for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians even went as far as worshipping the river, recognising that without its waters there would be no agriculture or any chance of survival in the middle of vast deserts.

Egypt clearly stated that it fully understands and supports the right of the Ethiopian people to make the best possible use of their natural resources in order to achieve much needed development and growth. Since taking office seven years ago, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi has demonstrated every good intention towards Ethiopia, travelling to Addis Ababa to address the parliament and confirm to the Ethiopian people that Cairo will never stand against their interests.

The latest statements by Ahmed confirmed his insistence on disregarding Egypts good will and agreement to negotiate in good faith for over 10 years to ensure that the GERD would not reduce Egypts legal share of Nile waters while it serves Ethiopian interests. What the Ethiopian premier announced is a continuation of a regrettable approach that disregards the rules of international law.

As stated by the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Egypt strongly rejected the statements made by Ahmed, adding that such statements show again Ethiopias ill intent over the Nile. The statements reveal Ethiopias engagement with the Nile River and other international rivers it shares with neighbouring countries as inland rivers that fall under its sovereignty and are exploited to serve its interests, the Foreign Ministry said.

What should send a clear alarm signal to all concerned partners, is that the intentions revealed in Ahmeds statements violated the rules of applicable international norms that regulate utilising international rivers and obliged Ethiopia to respect the rights of other riparian states.

Ahmeds statements risk an aggravation of tensions between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, especially since he continues to refuse reaching a binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam. The latest statements on plans to build yet another 100 dams without any consideration for Egypts and Sudans water rights, came as several reports indicated that Ethiopia had actually began filling the reservoir in early May, as further construction work on the GERD had allowed the second filling to begin.

Ethiopias rejection of several proposals by Egypt and Sudan on the negotiation mechanism, which includes international quartet mediation, has led to the collapse of the Kinshasa talks sponsored by the African Union in April. Since then Egypt has repeatedly warned that the second filling would lead to tensions in the region and cause instability in East Africa and the Horn of Africa.

Sudan also fears that the GERD will put the operation of its Roseires Dam and the lives of 20 million Sudanese citizens at a very high risk if an agreement regulating the operation and filling of GERD is not reached before the second filling. It warned that it would take legal action if Ethiopia moves forward with the second filling of the GERD in July without first signing a legally binding agreement.

Such facts, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahmeds latest statements, demonstrate that the international community does not realise the risks of not reaching an agreement on the filling and operation of the dam. Egypt will resume close contacts with all concerned parties, led by the AU and other partners in Africa. Cairo was also very positive in dealing with the new mission led by US Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman who toured Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan last month, and is expected to visit the three countries again soon. The option of heading to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) by Egypt and Sudan too cannot be ruled out.

In all such diplomatic contacts, Egypt will stress that any water projects and facilities must be established after coordination, consultation and agreement with the countries that may be affected by them, at the forefront of which are the downstream countries. Nevertheless, Ahmeds statements are nothing but a continuation of the unfortunate Ethiopian approach that disregards the rules of international law regulating the use of international rivers, which require Ethiopia to respect the rights of other countries bordering these rivers and not to harm their interests.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 3 June, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

Short link:


KYODO NEWS - Jun 2, 2021 - 12:20 | World, All

China and the United States affirmed the importance of their bilateral economic ties, Chinese state-run media said Wednesday, following video talks between Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

"The two sides believed that the China-U.S. economic relations are very important," Xinhua News Agency said, adding they had "extensive exchanges" on the macroeconomic situation as well as on bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

Issues of mutual concern were also discussed, the news agency said, without elaborating.

Last week, Liu, who serves as China's chief trade negotiator with the United States, spoke with his U.S. counterpart Katherine Tai by phone for their first talks under the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.

The contacts between the senior officials of the two countries took place amid an intensifying U.S.-China rivalry, with the Biden administration casting a wary eye on Beijing's growing military and economic assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region as well as on allegations of human rights abuses.

The Biden administration has also been reviewing the bilateral trade relationship following a tit-for-tat tariff war and a subsequent "phase one" trade deal reached last year under the administration of former President Donald Trump.

Yellen, for her part, spoke about the Biden administration's plans to support a strong economic recovery and the importance of cooperating in areas that are in U.S. interests, while at the same time tackling issues of concern, the Treasury Department said in a press release.

During their "introductory virtual meeting," Yellen noted that she looks forward to future discussions with Liu, the statement said. The Xinhua report said the two sides expressed willingness to keep lines of communication open.

The Biden administration has characterized the bilateral relationship as having adversarial aspects but also having cooperative and competitive aspects.
KYODO NEWS - Jun 2, 2021 - 19:52 | All, Japan

A 29-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison for operating a manga website that allowed people to read pirated copies of popular comics such as "One Piece."

The Fukuoka District Court found Romi Hoshino guilty of copyright infringement for running the website Manga-Mura, which is believed to have caused the manga industry losses of over 300 billion yen ($2.7 billion), imposing a fine of 10 million yen.

Presiding Judge Hiroshi Kambara also ordered the confiscation of some 62 million yen in criminal proceeds Hoshino had concealed in overseas bank accounts.

In handing down the ruling, Kambara said the operation of the now closed Manga-Mura site carried "the risk of fundamentally destroying the profit structure of copyrighted works and hindering the development of culture."

Hoshino asked a number of accomplices to join him in making manga available for the website through a system he established with the intent to earn a lot of money, according to Kambara.

Prosecutors had sought 54 months in prison and a fine of 10 million yen along with confiscation of the criminal proceeds, which were earned through online adverts on the site.

Calling for a suspended sentence, Hoshino's defense team had argued during the trial that his actions did not constitute a crime because some of the manga files uploaded on Manga-Mura were already viewable on other websites.

Hoshino was detained in the Philippines after having been listed on an international wanted list and was deported to Japan in September 2019. He had entered the Philippines in May of the previous year.

According to the ruling, Hoshino conspired with three accomplices to violate the copyright law by uploading unauthorized image files of the megahit comic "One Piece" and "Kingdom" in May 2017 on Manga-Mura.

Hoshino concealed the 62 million yen in overseas bank accounts between December 2016 and November 2017. The Manga-Mura website was shut down in April 2018, a month before he left for the Philippines.

Hoshino's accomplices -- two men and one woman -- have already been convicted.

An official of Shueisha Inc., a major publishing company, welcomed the jail sentence as "appropriate."

"If a work that authors have put their heart and soul into can be freely accessed by the public, this would harm the environment in creating interesting works," he said in a press conference following the ruling.

Shueisha is the publisher of "One Piece" and "Kingdom" as well as that of many other popular manga series.

The official added that he hopes the ruling will deter people from illegally uploading manga online.

Although Manga-Mura has been shut down, Shueisha and other major publishers say there are still numerous websites breaching copyright.

Related coverage:

Japan enacts copyright control law to ban pirated manga downloads

Publisher starts free online release of One Piece, Dragon Ball, other manga in English
KYODO NEWS - Jun 3, 2021 - 13:38 | All, Japan

A U.S. military helicopter landed off-base Wednesday night in a field on a small island of Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, but there were no reports of injuries or property damage from the incident, local authorities said.

Five crew members belonging to U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma were on board the UH-1 helicopter, which landed on Tsuken Island due to engine trouble, according to an account provided by the U.S. military to the Okinawa prefectural police.

None of crew sustained injuries and the helicopter was not damaged. The aircraft, which is believed not to have been carrying any hazardous materials, landed 120 meters from the nearest house on the island.

According to the U.S. military, the helicopter was conducting routine training and made a "precautionary landing" after the pilot determined there was a possible mechanical issue. It has dispatched a team to the site to look into the incident.

Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told a House of Councillors committee on Thursday that he requested the United States to conduct full maintenance and safety control over its military assets.

The Japanese government has set up a task force involving the Foreign and Defense ministries and the Cabinet Secretariat. It will send officials to the site to probe the case.

The small island, with a population of around 380, is some 4 kilometers southeast of the main island of Okinawa. Tsuken Island is famous for its beautiful beaches.

Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki told reporters, "It's an issue where a slight miss would cost residents' lives and damage to their property," adding the local government will continue gathering information.

A local resident of Tsuken Island reported the helicopter's landing to the police at around 11 p.m.

"U.S. military helicopters are often flying near the island, but never have I thought that one of them would make a landing," said Ritsuo Kora, a 68-year-old resident. "I am anxious and want the number of drills and bases to be reduced."

About 70 percent of the total acreage exclusively used for U.S. military facilities in Japan is in Okinawa, despite the prefecture only representing 0.6 percent of the country's land area.

Concerns over the risk of base-related accidents and crime remain strong among Okinawa residents.
KYODO NEWS - Jun 2, 2021 - 09:20 | All, World, Japan

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday encouraged the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to deepen cooperation with Japan as the organization seeks to become more capable of confronting China's rise and Russian threats.

During a virtual meeting of NATO foreign ministers, Blinken underscored the importance of alliance partnerships and named Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea as countries which NATO should enhance ties with, according to the U.S. State Department.

The department did not elaborate, but it also said Blinken expressed support for NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's efforts to make the 30-member alliance "more resilient and capable of confronting systemic challenges" from Russia and China.

The U.S. administration of President Joe Biden has been rallying allies and like-minded countries to come together to face what it views as challenges to democracies and the international rules they have created from autocracies such as China and Russia.

Among key U.S. allies, Tokyo has been put at the center of the U.S. strategy to counter Beijing's assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region, with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga becoming the first foreign leader Biden met at the White House in person since taking office in January.

The Biden administration has also been encouraging Japan and South Korea to improve a bilateral relationship that has increasingly soured over wartime compensation issues.
Adam Maina is one of the fastest rising social media influencers and big shots across the Kenyan online sphere.

An Internet celebrity with a huge portfolio and great recognition from a majority of Kenyas top brands, Adam has risen above the murky online waters to emerge as one of the most formidable voices and influencers online.

The dashing creative has worked with reputable global and local brands and personalities including as an influencer or brand ambassador; Safaricom, Shell Kenya, Google Africa, Heritage Hotels Kenya, Kenya  MultiChoice Africa, Guinness, Safaricom, Jumia Kenya and Sauti Sol.

Currently he is the Chief Executive Officer and team leader of Mtembezi Tribe  A destination marketing and travel agency that aims to promote travel to the new generation of travellers (mtembezitribe.com) and House Swype  Kenyas fastest growing influencer marketing agency that manages over 200 influencers and works with major Kenyan brands (houseswype.co.ke).

The prolific 25-year old has also has featured in the Top 100 Most Influential Young Kenyans in 2019 and 2020.

During this pandemic, he embarked on showcasing safe travels in and around Kenya and got recognized by Kenya Airways Msafiri Magazine in the December 2020  January 2021 issue.
KYODO NEWS - Jun 2, 2021 - 14:47 | All, World

The 11 members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership decided Wednesday to start negotiations for Britain's entry into the regional free trade agreement, a Japanese minister said.

The members made the decision in a virtual meeting of the TPP Commission, the group's top decision-making body chaired by Japan this year, Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japan's minister in charge of TPP negotiations, told reporters.

Calling Britain a "global strategic partner" of Japan, Nishimura said the inclusion of the country in the trade pact, if realized, "will further advance bilateral economic ties and bring great strategic significance."

Britain filed a request in February to join what is formally called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, in a push to expand the country's trade links with the Asia-Pacific region after leaving the European Union last year.

London was the first accession applicant by a member outside the participating countries. China, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand have also expressed interest in joining the free-trade bloc.

The TPP members welcomed London's entry negotiations, saying in a joint statement the start of the accession process "provides an opportunity to advance the CPTPP's high-standard rules for the 21st century and further promote free trade, open and competitive markets and economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond."

The TPP member countries and Britain are expected to set up a working group within several months to discuss tariffs as well as trade and investment rules, but a decision on whether Britain will join the framework could come next year or later.

Nishimura said he will work "to achieve the best possible outcome for Japan" in Britain's TPP entry talks. Japan will head the working group, with Australia and Singapore as deputies, he added.

The trade agreement, which came into force in 2018, covers about 13 percent of global gross domestic product. Among the 11 member nations of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, seven have so far ratified it.

The TPP is designed to cut tariffs on agricultural and industrial products, ease investment restrictions and enhance intellectual property protection, with the aim of improving economic integration among the participating countries.
By Takuya Okamoto, KYODO NEWS - Jun 2, 2021 - 10:34 | All, Japan, Coronavirus

Japanese farmers are turning to digital technologies to grow and sell their products as the coronavirus pandemic depresses sales to restaurants and the graying of Japan's population complicates the drive to raise productivity in the labor-intensive sector.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 last year, an increasing number of farmers and fishermen have drawn attention to their plight through Pocket Marche, an online service that brings together farmers, fishermen and consumers.

"A substantial number of farmers lost their sales to restaurants due to the pandemic and flocked to our app to sell their products," said Pocket Marche Inc. CEO Hiroyuki Takahashi.

In February last year when Japan was reporting a slow growth rate of coronavirus infections, around 2,000 farmers and fishermen were selling their products to 52,000 registered customers via Pocket Marche's app.

As the coronavirus situation worsened, the number of producers using the service grew to around 5,100, with customers rising to 300,000.

The app, launched in 2016, allows farmers and buyers to exchange messages.

"The surge in the use of our app could slow after the pandemic subsides, but I expect many consumers to keep buying via the app as they trust the farmers they bought from after communicating with them," said Takahashi.

Farmers are also embracing new digital technologies to increase crop output and income without additional human labor.

Japan has seen a substantial decline in the number of farmers, due largely to aging and young people's avoidance of labor-intensive work.

The number of people who engaged in farming as their main occupation in Japan stood at 2.4 million in 2000, but the figure dropped to 1.36 million in 2020. Of them, 69.6 percent were aged 65 or over, according to a survey by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Yasufumi Miwa, an expert on agriculture at the Japan Research Institute, said the declining number of farmers would pose a serious threat to the country's food security, calling for the promotion of "smart farming" with the use of automation.

Japanese IT firm Routrek Networks Inc. started offering a digital farming system in 2013 that automates irrigation and optimizes fertilization with the help of artificial intelligence.

The company has provided its system to nearly 280 farms across the country, improving productivity at some by over 20 percent.

"Our system allows farmers to spare time for marketing and other activities while cutting the use of water and fertilizer by 50 percent compared with conventional farming," Routrek Networks President Shinichi Sasaki said, adding his company plans to expand into Southeast Asian countries including Vietnam in a few years.

"I believe our autonomous drip irrigation system will fit Southeast Asian countries, where farmland is often located in mountainous areas and divided into small plots without sufficient water supply," said Sasaki.

Another Japanese IT firm, Optim Corp., obtained a patent in 2018 for the world's first drone with AI technology to pinpoint insects harmful to rice and vegetable cultivation, and precisely inject them with pesticide.

The technology substantially reduces labor and the amount of chemicals required.

The company says its drones cut the amount of pesticide used for growing soybeans by more than 90 percent.

Optim has collaborated with around 1,700 farming groups in Japan and started exporting its technology to promote smart farming. It tied up with Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group in 2019.

Smart farming only accounts for a small portion of Japan's farm output, but the Japan Research Institute's Miwa says it is the right path for the country's agriculture, and the central and local governments should work together to help realize a successful transition.

"I believe smart farming will be a normal form of agriculture in a decade," he said.
Ahmedabad:

Soon after being declared the Gujarat Chief Minister of 13th State Assembly on Friday, Vijay Rupani said that he and his team will work for the welfare of the people and contribute to all-round development.

Addressing the media at BJP office in Ahmedabad Rupani said, Team Gujarat is prepared and committed to fulfill the expectations and aspirations of the people irrespective of their caste, religion, profession or practice. 

He also thanked the Gujarat BJP lawmakers for selecting him as their leader. My sincere gratitude to Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah for reposting trust and confidence. I also thank Gujarat BJP legislative party for sustaining the trust.

Rupanis deputy Nitin Patel also assured that they will continue to work for the people. He said, I want to give assurance to Gujarat public that I and Vijay bhai will continue to work for the people with the help of other party members like our previous government.

Rupani and Patel were declared as chief minister and deputy chief minister of 13th Gujarat Assembly respectively after newly elected Gujarat BJP lawmakers accepted them as their legislative leaders.

Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Arun Jaitley said, Their names were put to the house which unanimously accepted it.

Also read: BJP MLAs to meet today to choose next Gujarat Chief Minister



The Union Minister added, We had asked the lawmakers for any alternative proposals but no names were given. Since no recommendation was given, we declared Ruapni as CM and Nitin his deputy.

Also read| CWC meeting: Congress top brass discusses 2G verdict, election results



Names of Rupani and Patel as leader and deputy leader for 13th Gujarat Assembly respectively were proposed by Bhupendra Singh. It was supported by five other legislators.

The BJP had registered a sixth straight Assembly poll win in the western state. The saffron party won 99 seats in the 182-members house. Congress will sit in the Opposition, which has bagged 77 seats.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Rahul Gandhi will chair a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on Friday, his first as Congress president. The CWC will accord a warm welcome to the new president and likely discuss the current political situation, including the ramifications of the Congress's strong performance in the Gujarat Assembly polls for the party in future.



Party sources said the 2G spectrum case judgement acquitting all the accused is also likely to be discussed. The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had used the alleged scam to the hilt while mounting a fierce campaign against the Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.



Alleged corruption under UPA II was widely believed to have led to the defeat of the Manmohan Singh government.



The Congress, sources said, wants to take the 2G issue to the people for which it is likely to formalise a plan soon. The CWC, the party's highest decision-making body, is also likely to adopt a resolution to this effect.



AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said the CWC meeting will commence at 10:30 a.m.



The agenda for the meeting was, however, not officially disclosed.



Though Rahul Gandhi has chaired CWC meetings in the past in the absence of his mother Sonia Gandhi, it will be for the first time that he will preside over it as Congress president.



Gandhi was elected unopposed as Congress chief on December 11 and assumed the party's reins on December 16.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

US aerospace giant Boeing and Brazil's Embraer said they were in talks on a "potential combination" but cautioned there was no guarantee of a deal.

The talks ignited shares of the Brazilian company, which makes commercial, military and executive jets, despite immediate signs of opposition to the transaction in Brazil.

Any deal would need to be approved by the Brazilian government. A merger between the two companies would build on their existing alliance on the KC-39 military plane and would permit the much-bigger Boeing to fill a gap in its fleet with regional single-aisle planes.

A transaction also would rebut an alliance between Boeing archrival Airbus and Canada's Bombardier to build smaller planes. The Wall Street Journal first reported the Boeing-Embraer talks earlier Thursday, citing unnamed sources.

The report said the parties discussed a deal that would see Boeing pay a "relatively large premium" for Embraer, but that talks are on hold as the two sides await word on the Brazilian government's view of the deal.

US-traded shares of Embraer shot up following the report, finishing at USD 24.42, up 22.1 per cent. But Boeing fell 1.0 per cent to USD 295.03.

However, the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper reported that Brazil President Michael Temer already ruled out a takeover of the Embraer, one of Brazil's flagship companies.

"Embraer will never be sold under my government," he was quoted as saying at a meeting with the defense minister and head of the air force.

Brazilian officials were reported to have been taken by surprise by the Wall Street Journal story on the merger talks.

Embraer was formed by the Brazilian government in 1969 and privatiSed in 1994 in a process that granted the Brasilia "golden shares" with some veto rights.

The union at Embraer's Sao Jose dos Campos plant also immediately opposed the deal, saying it would risk the jobs of the 16,000 workers employed in Brazil.

"The possible purchase of Embraer by Boeing... is rejected," the Steelworkers Trade Union of Sao Jose dos Campos and Region said in a statement.

"As a representative of the workers, the steelworkers' union reaffirms its position in favor of a veto over the sale of Embraer." Embraer in 2016 notched USD 6.2 billion in revenues, while Boeing had USD 94.6 billion.

The merger talks come two months after Airbus signed an agreement to take a majority stake in production of narrow- body planes made by Bombardier. Those planes are at the center of an ongoing US trade dispute with Canada sparked by a Boeing complaint against Bombardier.

The US Commerce Department yesterday confirmed nearly 300 per cent tariffs on Bombardier's C-series aircraft. The decision is subject to final approval by the US International Trade Commission, a quasi-judicial agency, which is due February 1, though it rarely differs from Commerce.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Aden:

The propaganda chief of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was among six jihadists killed in two separate US drone strikes in Yemen, tribal sources said on Thursday.



On Wednesday evening strikes came as Washington revealed that US forces have carried out more than 120 air strikes against jihadists in Yemen this year as part of a long-running campaign that has intensified since President Donald Trump took office.



Saudi-born Abu Hajar al-Makki and three other AQAP militants were killed when a drone blew up their vehicle in the Wadi Obeida district of Marib province, east of the capital Sanaa, tribal sources said.



A separate strike on a second vehicle killed two other AQAP militants in the same area, they added.



Washington says its strikes have killed a number of senior AQAP figures in recent months, including Mujahid al- Adani, who was killed on November 20.



It considers AQAP to be the worldwide jihadist network's most dangerous branch.



The Sunni extremist group has thrived in the chaos of nearly three years iof civil war between the Saudi-backed government and Shiite rebels who control the capital.



In addition to the air strikes, mostly carried out by drones, US special forces have conducted a number of ground raids against AQAP.



The Pentagon has also been attacking a local branch of the Islamic State group, which it says has doubled in size over the past year.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Panchkula:

Haryana Police said it has formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the alleged killing of a journalist in Charkhi Dadri area.

Rajesh Sheoran's body was found under mysterious circumstances in th.e area on Wednesday, the police said.

Haryana DGP B S Sandhu on Friday in a statement said that a murder case has been registered at Dadri city police station.

He said a three-member SIT, led by DSP Pradeep Kumar, has been formed to probe the case.

#Haryana: A journalist, identified as Rajesh Sheoran, murdered in Charkhi Dadri yesterday. Case registered pic.twitter.com/H2cSn4J7Tc  ANI (@ANI) December 22, 2017

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

In a move aimed at combating black money stashed abroad, India signed an agreement with Switzerland on Thursday that would allow automatic sharing of tax-related information from January 1 next year, the CBDT said.

"With the completion of the parliamentary procedure in Switzerland and signing of mutual agreement, India and Switzerland are set for automatic exchange of information for the period beginning from January 1, 2018," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said.

The policy-making body for the Income Tax Department said the agreement was signed by CBDT chairman Sushil Chandra and Swiss Ambassador to India Andreas Baum at the North Block.

A joint declaration for the implementation of Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) was signed last month between the two sides here and it provided that both countries would start collecting data in accordance with the global standards in 2018 and exchange it from 2019 onwards.

While Switzerland has conformed to the global standards on automatic exchange of information with the signing of the declaration, India, on its part, has promised to safeguard the confidentiality of the data.

Also read: I-T dept unearths undisclosed income of Rs 7,961 cr



"It will now be possible for India to receive from September, 2019 onwards, the financial information of accounts held by Indian residents in Switzerland for 2018 and subsequent years, on an automatic basis," the government earlier said.

Switzerland, which has always been at the centre of the debate on black money allegedly stashed by Indians abroad, used to be known for very strong secrecy walls till a few years ago around its banking practices.

A huge global pressure has resulted in Switzerland relenting on the tough secrecy clauses its local laws gave to the banks.

Also read: Gujarat polls 2017: Rahul attacks Modi, says PM turned all black money of thieves into white



Official sources said that several information requests on details about Indians who had accounts in Swiss banks were still pending.

The AEOI conforms to a norm set by global economic body he Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for tax transparency.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Cuttack:

The three-week-old conjoined twins born to a Nayagarh couple have died at the state government-run Sishu Bhawan in Cuttack while undergoing treatment.

The conjoined twins, who were girls, died on Wednesday night, Dr Saroj Satpathy, superintendent of the childrens hospital said on Thursday.

The conditions of the twins deteriorated last night with acute breathing problems and they died around 12.30 am on Wednesday night, he said.

The twins were joined at their chests and shared a single liver and a defective heart, which is considered a rare condition.

Also read: Odisha conjoined twins Ganga-Jamuna share heart, liver; Govt to bear medical expenses



The twins were born to Kishor Dutta and Sumitra Dutta of Sharnakula village of Nayagarh district on December 1. They were shifted here to the premier children's hospital the next day.

Inspired by the successful separation of Jaga and Kalia, conjoined twin boys born to a Kandhamal couple at AIIMS in New Delhi, the state government had announced to bear the entire cost of treatment of the twin girls at the Sishu Bhawan.

Also read: One of conjoined twins, Kalia undergoes plastic surgery at AIIMS

"It was really unfortunate that the twins did not survive to undergo a surgery for their separation," said state health minister Pratap Jena, who has been personally monitoring the status of Jaga and Kalia.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Ahmedabad:

Newly elected BJP MLAs of Gujarat will meet in Gandhinagar on Friday to choose the next chief minister, a top party official said.



The BJP legislature party will meet to elect its leader in the presence of central observers for the exercise-- Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and party general secretary Saroj Pandey, the party's state chief Jitu Vaghani told reporters in Ahmedabad.



State BJP in-charge Bhupender Yadav and co-in charge V Satish would also attend the meeting at party headquarters 'Kamalam' on Friday afternoon.



"All the MLAs along with party observers and in-charge leaders would meet today to select the leader of the ruling party (chief minister). All the MLAs have been intimated to remain present in tomorrow's meeting," Vaghani said.



Earlier, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and members of his council of ministers gave resign. Rupani, a front-runner for the chief minister's post, has been asked to continue as caretaker chief minister till a new government is sworn in.



Governor O P Kohli had dissolved the Assembly on Wednesday following the declaration of election results.



In the recently concluded polls, the BJP retained power by winning 99 seats in the 182-member Assembly, while the Congress bagged 77. Six seats were won by others.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
According to information published by Asian News International on June 2, 2021, Indonesia wishes to expand its submarine fleet to respond to Chinese incursions into its territorial waters, after Cakra-class KRI Nanggala missing.

Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link

Nagapasa-class KRI Alugoro submarine (Picture source: SINDOnews)

Indonesia is examining agreements with France, Russia, and Turkey about the construction of new submarines, and already have a strategic partnership with the South-Korean company, Daewoo Shipbuilding, and Marine Engineering through the Nagapasa-class submarine.

The Nagapasa class is an upgraded variant of the Jang Bogo class, also known as Improved Chang Bogo. The vessels were built by the South Korean Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DMSE) and the Indonesian PT PAL.

As of 2021, six ships have been planned, which were divided into two batches. Batch 1 consists of three ships and all are already commissioned. Batch 2 also consists of three ships that are in the early development stage.

The diesel-electric Nagapasa-class has a length of 61.3 metres (201 ft) with a beam of 6.3 metres (20.5 ft) and a hull draught of 5.5 metres (18 ft). She has a peak speed of 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h) when submerged and 11 knots (20 km/h) surfaced. The vessel has a maximum operating range of 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km) and is powered by 4 MTU 12V 493 diesel generators.

Nagapasa-class is equipped with Black Shark torpedoes manufactured by Italian Whitehead Sistemi Subacquei, which has a speed of 50 knots (93 km/h; 58 mph) and a range of 50 kilometres (31 mi).
New Delhi:

Expressing its concern over the dismal security situation in Afghanistan, India pushed for strong action to be taken against supporters of terror organisations like Taliban, Haqqani network and Lashkar-e- Taiba at the UN Security Council on Thursday. India strongly advocated to put an end to all terror safe havens operating on Afghan territory.

Terrorists continue to attack the most vulnerable, including the sick in hospitals, children in schools, devotees in mosques and even mourners at funerals. Terrorist groups have gained territory, Deputy Permanent Representative of India to UN, Tanmaya Lal said during an open debate of the Security Council on Afghanistan.

"The support for terrorist organisations like the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, Daesh, Al Qaeda and its designated affiliates such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e- Mohammed from outside Afghanistan, must be forced to stop," Lal said.

"All safe havens and sanctuaries available to such groups outside Afghan borders must end. Security Council has an important responsibility in this regard in our collective interest," Lal said.

"The continued resilience shown by the Afghan people and security personnel has been exemplary but hopes of a better future still appear distant. Our regular consultations and the work done by the Council have not been enough to more effectively reverse the situation on the ground," he added.

Lal said it has been painfully clear since long that the security situation in Afghanistan has implications not only for the region but the entire world.

"While new threats emerge from the Daesh, the Security Council cannot even decide whether to designate the new leaders of Taliban or to freeze the assets of the slain leader of the group more than a year after the issue was brought to its attention," Lal said.

In his address to the Security Council Afghan Ambassador to the UN Mahmoud Saikal said Afghanistan's patience on indiscriminate shelling from across the border by Pakistan should not be tested.

"Under the pretext of receiving fire from our side, Pakistan's violations across the Durand Line, including indiscriminate artillery shelling, has continued unabated throughout 2017, resulting in the loss of innocent lives and destruction of villages," he said.

The proposal of Afghanistan for engagement and operational coordination towards addressing these concerns has not seen any response, he told the UN Security Council. "At the same time, Afghanistan has the will and the capacity to defend its territory and our patience should not be tested," Saikal said.

Afghanistan believes that confidence building measures can only be successful when violations of this nature come to a complete halt, he said.

"In a similar vein, we are also in communication on the imperative of addressing terrorists' regional safe havens and hope to see positive developments on this front soon," he said adding that Afghanistan looks forward to the upcoming trilateral meeting in Beijing next week between the ForeignMinisters of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

The Delhi High Court on Friday granted two-week parole to INLD chief O P Chautala, serving a ten-year jail term in a teachers recruitment scam case, to look after his ailing wife. Justice Mukta Gupta, however, restrained the former Haryana chief minister from involving in any other activity and also stopped him from moving out of Sirsa where his wife is admitted in a hospital.

While granting the relief, the court asked him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of the like amount. He should confine himself to the hospital at Sirsa where his wife is admitted and is in ICU, unless she is shifted to other hospital out of that place, the court said.

It further said that Chautala should ensure that he will not indulge himself in any activity except the reason for which he has been granted two weeks parole. In the petition filed through advocate Amit Sahni, the 82-year-old leader had said that his wife Sneh Lata was critically ill and was hospitalised at Sirsa in Haryana and that he wanted to spend time with his wife in her last days.



Delhi Police standing counsel Rahul Mehra vehemently opposed his parole plea, saying the court had earlier cancelled Chautalas parole and furlough on the ground that he was attending political rallies. He further said there were other family members to take care of the ailing woman.

The court, however, observed that the order by which his parole and furlough was cancelled was appealed before a division bench which had asked the authority to consider Chautalas request when he applies in future.

It also said that after that the March order, he was granted furlough twice and has not misused it. The court also said there was no dispute that his wife was ill and he needed to visit her. The court had earlier asked Chautala to substantiate his claim of seeking two-month parole to look after his ailing wife by producing her recent medical records.

The plea has said the leader was last granted parole earlier this year and he was entitled to get parole as per parole and furlough guidelines, which stipulate that a minimum of six months should elapse after the date of termination of the previous parole. The high court had on March 1 cancelled the parole granted to Chautala on medical grounds and asked him to surrender forthwith, saying he cocked a snook at the court and misled it by feigning illness.

It had then said that Chautala was misusing his parole to attend public meetings. Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala and three others are serving 10-year jail term in the case.

The Supreme Court in August 2015 had dismissed Chautalas appeals against the high court verdict upholding their conviction and sentence of 10 years awarded by a trial court in the junior basic trained teachers recruitment scam case.

The father-son duo and 53 others, including two IAS officers, were among 55 persons convicted on January 16, 2013 by the trial court for illegally recruiting 3,206 JBT teachers in Haryana in 2000.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Secunderabad:

A 28-year-old jilted lover set a woman ablaze in public view in Telanganas Secunderabad after she rejected his marriage proposal, police said on Friday.

The victim, a 25-year-old woman, succumbed to her burn injuries on Friday morning. Police have arrested the accused.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (north zone) B Sumathi said, The accused has confessed his crime. On questioning the man told us that he set her on fire after she rejected his marriage proposal and he did not want her to accept anyone else.

Sumathi also added that the accused also told the police that the victim rejected him saying that she was more beautiful and talented than him.

Another officer of Telangana Police said, The victim succumbed to her injuries around 7:30 am while undergoing treatment at Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad.

Also read: Man sets his two wives ablaze for not keeping his mother happy in Raj



Another senior police official said, In our preliminary investigations we have learnt that a man, aged around 28, last evening called her to Lalaguda area. After a heated conversation, the man poured kerosene on her and set the girl ablaze.

Also read| Delhi: 19-year-old youth set ablaze for objecting to men taunting his female friend



He added, The woman was admitted to the hospital with more than 80 per cent burn injuries. A case under IPC section 307-attempt to murder was registered yesterday.

A police official on Thursday had said that the man was in love with the woman and was regularly harassing her.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Gurgaon:

The CBI on Friday opposed the bail plea of the 16-year-old student, accused of killing a seven-year-old boy, at the Ryan International school in a Gurgaon court

Additional Sessions Judge Jasbir Singh Kundu fixed the matter for January 6 for arguments on the appeal filed by the accused against an order of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) denying him bail.

The probe agency opposed the appeal in a written submission before the court.

The court posted the matter for the next date after an adjournment was sought by the counsel for the accused.

The JJB had on December 20 held that the 16-year-old boy would be tried as an adult and directed that he be produced before the Gurgaon sessions court on Friday.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 lowers the age of juveniles from 18 years to 16 years for heinous crimes like rape, murder and dacoity-cum- murder, which warrant at least seven years of imprisonment.

However, the JJB first decides whether the crime committed has been "child-like" or was it committed in an "adult frame of mind", following which the JJB orders the accused to be tried as juvenile or adult.

The JJB had passed the order on a plea that the accused teenager should not be treated as a juvenile.

If convicted, he will stay in a correctional home till he is 21-years old after which the court can shift him to a jail or grant him bail, it had said.

The board had earlier rejected the bail plea of the Class 11 Ryan International School student, charged with killing Pradhuman Thakur, a Class 2 student of the same school, in the school premises on September 8.

It had set up a committee which included a psychologist from the PGI, Rohtak for an expert opinion on the accused, who had been taken into custody by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last month.

The panel submitted its report in two sealed envelopes.

The JJB had noted that the accused was mature enough to recognise the consequences of his actions.

Pradhuman was found with his throat slit in the school's washroom. The Gurgaon Police had said the crime was committed by a school bus conductor, which the CBI later refuted.

The CBI claimed the teenager had killed Pradhuman in a bid to get the school closed so that a scheduled parent- teacher meeting and an examination could be deferred.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Hours after the Bombay High Court set aside prosecution sanctions against him in Adarsh Housing Society scam on Friday, ex-Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said the entire issue was politically used by BJP to malign Congress party to win 2014 Lok Sabha election.

Ashok Chavan welcomed the decision of Bombay High Court and said, The truth has ultimately prevailed, we always had full faith in the countrys judiciary.

Earlier in the day, the Bombay High Court had "quashed and set aside" Maharashtra Governors order to prosecute former CM and Congress leader Chavan in the alleged Adarsh Housing Society scam.

These issues were politically used around 2014 by BJP to malign the Congress party: Ashok Chavan,Congress after getting relief in Adarsh scam case pic.twitter.com/pYD6h9xLSR  ANI (@ANI) December 22, 2017

In its order, the High Court said, The agency (CBI) failed to present any fresh material capable of being converted into evidence that can be substantiated at the time of trial. Therefore, in the absence of fresh material, the sanction cannot be sustained, and is quashed and set aside.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Chavan challenging a decision of Governor Rao granting sanction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute him in the Adarsh housing society scam.

Chavan is among 14 retired and serving defence personnel, bureaucrats and politicians named as accused in the scam.

The CBI has accused Chavan of approving additional floor space index (FSI) for the Adarsh society in posh South Mumbai, and accepting two flats for his relatives in return when he was the chief minister.

This was the second blow to CBI after a special court on Thursday acquitted former Telecom Minister A Raja and other accused in multi crore 2G spectrum allocation scam that the agency claimed to have taken place during UPA government.

The court in its verdict raised questions on CBIs credibility and said the premier investigating agency filed well-choreographed charge sheet and recorded false statements.

The court said, a huge scam was created by artfully arranging a few selected facts but in reality there was no scam.

After the special courts verdict, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the 2G scam was BJPs propaganda against Congress without any foundation.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day soon after it assembled on Friday as Congress insisted that the impasse over the reported remarks by Prime Minister Narendra Modi against his predecessor Manmohan Singh should be resolved first.

For the past week, the opposition has been demanding a clarification from the Prime Minister over his remarks made during the Gujarat election campaign against his predecessor and others.

As soon as the House assembled and papers were laid, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the House should be adjourned till afternoon so that a solution can be found to end the impasse prevailing in the House since the first day of its sitting on December 15.

He said two meetings of the panel headed by Leader of the House Arun Jaitley have taken place to find a solution.

"The House should be adjourned till a solution is found," he said, adding that the Congress members do not want to enter the Well to force adjournment.

Azad said the opposition too wants the House to function and carry out legislative business.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel suggested that the House should continue to function and in the meantime, a solution is found.

"This is not such an issue that a solution cannot be found," he said, adding, the Rajya Sabha did function for a day even during the impasse.

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma too insisted that the House should be adjourned without any disruption.

Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu tried to continue with the Zero Hour proceedings, but as the Congress did not budge, he adjourned the House for the day.

Rajya Sabha will now meet again on December 27, after the long weekend and Christmas break.

Earlier the Chairman had allowed two members to raise points of order'.

While TMC member Derek O'Brien raised the issue of a brief "blackout" of Rajya Sabh TV telecast on Thursday, SP member Naresh Agarwal demanded a hike in the salaries of Members of Parliament.

O'Brien said the telecast was stopped at 2.13 pm on Thursday when Congress members were protesting over Modi's remarks against Manmohan Singh and others.

These are "democratic scenes", so let the people watch it, he said, adding that this is also part of parliamnetary democracy. O'Brien urged the Chair that the live broadacst should not be shut down.

To this, Naidu said "this is a suggestion" and not a point of order.

Naresh Agarwal then demanded that the salaries of MPs should be increased and said the possible criticism by the media for this, should not be a factor while deciding on the salary hike. He said mediapersons also get hefty salaries.

He demanded for a response from the government on the issue.

Naidu said he will bring the matter to the notice of Jaitley.

Earlier, members paid obituary to Jalaludin Ansari who died on December 17. Ansari was member of the House from April 1994 to April 2000.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Chennai:

Sidelined AIADMK leader T T V Dhinakaran today said a video purportedly showing former chief minister J Jayalalithaa in a hospital was a "private" one shot by her confidante V K Sasikala and claimed it was released by an aide without his knowledge.

Breaking his silence on the issue a day after the video was released by a loyalist, Dhinakaran claimed that top functionaries of the ruling AIADMK, including chief minister K Palaniswami, were aware of the existence of the video.

Dhinakaran said he was "disappointed" over his key aide P Vetrivel releasing it.

"It is a private video...shot by Chinnamma (Sasikala) on the request of Amma (Jayalalithaa) who wanted to know how she looked," he told reporters here.

Dhinakaran said the video was shot in November last year.

He said he had received the video from Sasikala (his aunt) prior to her leaving for Bengaluru to serve a four-year jail term in connection with the Rs 66.66 crore disproportionate assets case.

The former MP also claimed that many senior party functionaries had earlier urged Sasikala to release the video but she had refused.

The video had not been released as "Amma was in a nightie", he said.

"I am disappointed because the video should not have been telecast in public .. he (Vetrivel) has suddenly released it without our knowledge," the sidelined leader said.

Vetrivel told him he had released the purported video due to "mental agony," Dhinakaran said, adding he had done so with a view to "protect his present leader," i.e Sasikala.

He also denied Vetrivel doing it with any intention of deriving "political mileage," referring to today's bypoll to the RK Nagar Assembly seat, where Dhinakaran is an independent candidate.

Dhinakaran, however, said he will submit the video before an inquiry commission probing the circumstances leading to the hospitalisation, medical treatment provided to the late Jayalalithaa and her death, if he was summoned.

The 20-second video aired by TV channels showed a frail looking Jayalalithaa in a nightdress and sipping what appeared to be a health drink with a straw.

AIADMK had hit out at Sasikala's family, saying the video release was a "conspiracy" and a "demeaning" act with an eye on today's bypoll.

The byelection is considered an acid test for the ruling dispensation since it was the first such excercise since Jayalalithaa's death on December 5 last year.

Also read: Raids on VK Sasikala's premises: I-T department unearths unaccounted income of Rs 1400 cr



Suspicions have been raised over circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa's death by several persons, including now deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam and his followers.

The state government has appointed a retired Madras High Court judge, Justice A Arumughaswamy, as the one-man commission of inquiry to look into the circumstances leading to her death.

Also read: Tamil Nadu: Dhinakaran booked for sedition for distributing pamphlets containing derogatory remarks against PM, CM

Vetrivel had said yesterday he released the video on his own "out of mental agony" and that Dhinakaran later called him and asked me why he had done so.

The Election Commission had filed a police complaint saying the video release violated the model code and the Representation of People Act.

The one man commission had also filed a police complaint against Vetrivel, seeking action against him.

It had alleged he intentionally released the purported video to "degrade" it and to create law and order problems.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

A special CBI court on Thursday acquitted all accused in the 2G spectrum scam case including A Raja and DMK chief M Karunanidhis daughter M K Kanimozhi, saying the CBI miserably failed to prove charges against any of the 17 accused.

In its judgment, the court said, "A huge scam was seen by everyone where there was none...some people created a scam by artfully arranging a few selected facts and exaggerating things beyond recognition to astronomical levels."

In his judgement, special CBI judge O P Saini said, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a well-choreographed charge sheet against former Telecom Minister A Raja and others accused.

He said, There is no evidence on the record produced before the court indicating any criminality in the acts allegedly committed by the accused persons.

Others acquitted in the case are former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair.

Verdict a sigh of relief for ex-PM Manmohan Singh

The special courts verdict has come as a huge sigh of relief for ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh under whose tenure the alleged scam said to have taken place.

The 2G spectrum allocation scam case had been repeatedly highlighted by the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha election and became one of the reasons for Congress partys major defeat in elections across India.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh welcomed the verdict and said, "I am glad that the court has pronounced unambiguously. All the massive propaganda which was being done against the UPA was without any foundation. The judgement speaks for itself.

Congress demands PM Modis apology

The verdict also brought huge relief for the Congress party which said the special courts judgment has exposed BJP for its untruth and propaganda.

The party said the truth in the 2G spectrum allocation case had finally prevailed and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise to the nation for its "propaganda" against the Grand-Old Party.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala addressing a press conference said, "The BJP has been exposed for its untruth and propaganda against Congress. The prime minister, (Finance Minister Arun) Jaitley and the BJP should apologise to the nation."

A badge of honour Arun Jaitley taunts

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hit back at Congress and taunted that the party was treating the 2G verdict as a badge of honour.

The Congress is treating 2G verdict as a badge of honour, but its zero loss theory was proven wrong when the Supreme Court quashed spectrum allocation in February 2012, Jaitley told reporters.

He said, the partys zero loss theory was proved wrong when the apex court cancelled spectrum allocation in 2012.

Though the trial court verdict says nobody was guilty of corruption, investigating agencies will study the case history and look into it, the minister asserted.

CBIs to move Delhi High Court against the verdict

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said the 2G verdict was examined prima facie and the agency will appeal against special courts judgement in the Delhi High Court.

CBI said, Todays judgement has been prima facie examined & it appears that evidence adduced to substantiate charges by the prosecution has not been appreciated in its proper perspective by the learned court. CBI will be taking necessary legal remedies in the matter.

"CBI will appeal against special court's verdict in 2G case in Delhi High Court," CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said.

And disappointed Subramanian Swamy, the man who exposed 2G scam

The special CBI courts verdict in the 2G scam case left BJP leader and senior lawyer Subramanian Swamy, who exposed the exposed the alleged multi crore scam, disappointed.

Swamy condemned Modi govts controlling of the entire case and said PM should take lessons from the special court's verdict.

Terming the verdict as a bad judgement Swamy said, This is a big condemnation of the Govt's controlling of the case. I hope the PM takes lesson from this. We must now fight corruption on war footing, Swamy said expressing his disappointment.

He said, the lackadaisical counsels have derailed the 2G spectrum scam case but it can be put back on track again provided we have honest law officers and lawyers who don't do 'chamchagiri' of ministers.

A look back at the entire case

In January, 2008, the former telecom minister A. Raja issued licences and allotted 2G spectrum of 4.4 MHz along with it to six new telecom operators at the 2001 price. The ministry charged only Rs 1,650 crore from an operator for Pan India spectrum.

The 2G scam case gained notoriety in 2010 when the then Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) Vinod Rai came out with a report that the 2G spectrum was allocated at throwaway price causing a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the state exchequer.

Interestingly, in its charge sheet CBI has said that the scam caused a loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the country.

Click here to read the full timeline of the case.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki said that government incentives will be needed to make electric vehicles (EVs) affordable as the country moves towards the eco-friendly solution for mobility.

The company, which plans to launch its first EV in India by 2020, also said it will conduct a study to find consumer insights to prepare for the journey.

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Chairman R C Bhargava said affordability is a major challenge that EVs will face and for them to be successful, focus has to be on manufacturing of batteries and other components within the country to bring down cost.

"I think it will be required... My gut feeling is that yes, some kind of intervention would be required but I don't know to what extent," he told reporters when asked if government incentives would be needed to support electric vehicles transition in India.

As electric vehicles are a new development for the Indian auto industry it would be difficult to say in details how much government support would be needed, he added.

The company will conduct a study to understand more about consumer insights on electric vehicles, which will also help in estimating how much of government support will be needed, he said.

"Before that I can't really say with any kind of confidence that this the kind of government intervention is required," Bhargava said.

The aim of the study would be to find out as to what is the ground reality, where people park their cars and charging infrastructure and what is their thinking about EVs, he said.

"It will gauge what average consumer thinks about EVs. This survey is going to provide us the first reliable data from the ground. We will start it within two to three weeks and by about end of February we would have some authentic basis to answer queries on EVs," Bhargava said.

Stressing on the need for cost of electric cars to be within the reach of consumers, he said, "75 per cent of cars are small cars. How to make small cars electrified and affordable?

"I think this is one of the challenges which we will have to face because making an affordable large car is different from making an affordable small car. We need to keep that in mind. So what kind of government support, policy is required needs to be worked out."

The government has set eyes on 100 per cent EVs for public mobility and 40 per cent electric for personal mobility by 2030. In a white paper submitted to the government, auto industry body SIAM had proposed 40 per cent of all new vehicles sold in the country to be electric by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2047.

When asked about MSI's EV launch plans, he Bhargava said the first one will hit the market by 2020 and the company will also set up charging stations. On the future of conventional internal combustion (IC) engine vehicles, he said it will continue to grow.

The company has done an assessment, assuming an annual growth rate of 8 per cent between now and 2030, that 71 million cars will be sold, of which 14.4 million will be electric and 56.6 million will be IC vehicles, he said. "So, conventional cars will continue to be four times that of electrics," he added.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Moscow:

The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken to German Chancellor Angela Merkel to explain Russia's decision to withdraw its military observers from a joint group monitoring the truce in eastern Ukraine.

Putin said the Russian move announced earlier this week had been prompted by "restrictions and provocations" by Ukrainian authorities that made it hard for Russian officers to perform their duties.

Ukraine has criticised Moscow's decision, saying it could fuel hostilities.

The Kremlin said Putin and Merkel agreed Thursday to consider possible steps to ensure the Russian monitors' return. It added that they also spoke in support of a planned prisoners' exchange and a truce for the holiday season.

Fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 10,000 since April 2014.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

The Reserve Bank has said gross non-performing assets in the system shot up to 10.2 per cent as of the September quarter, primarily led by private sector lenders, and has warned that the situation will only aggravate from there, elevating the systemic risks.

In the half-yearly Financial Stability Report (FSR) put out late this evening, the central bank, however, said the financial system remains stable overall though it has pegged the bad loans spiking to 10.8 per cent by the March quarter and to 11.1 per cent by September 2018.

The banking stability indicator (BSI) shows that the risks remain at an elevated level weighed down by further asset quality deterioration, the FSR notes.

Overall, the stressed assets, including restructured loans and dud loans increased marginally to 12.2 per cent during the same period from 12.1 per cent. The state-run banks GNPA shot by 100 bps to 13.5 per cent while the same for their private sector peers jumped to 3.80 per cent.

Incidentally, the report says private sector lenders, considered more prudent are the ones reporting the most stress reporting a whopping 40.8 per cent spike in their GNPAs as against 17 per cent by the state-run ones whose lazy banking has been blamed primarily for the mess in the system.

Also Read | Black money: India-Swiss deal inked, data sharing from Jan 1

The overall gross non-performing assets or GNPAs in the system have grown to 10.2 per cent as of the September quarter from 9.6 per cent six months earlier, when the last FSR was released, it said.

It can be noted that all the top private sector lenders, including ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Yes Bank, and even HDFC Bank, have been found to have under-reported their dud assets in the recent RBI supervision, results of which were recognised over the first two quarters of the fiscal.

In what should cause more concern for everyone, a baseline scenario of the Reserve Bank says the GNPAs ratio will slip further to 10.8 per cent in the March quarter and 11.1 per cent by September 2018.

In the foreword to the report, deputy governor NS Vishwanathan warns that overall risks to the system arising from asset quality concerns continue to persist.

He warns that though supporting factors exist on external front like increased consumption, investment and geographical spread, the economy will be able to take advantage of the tailwinds only if the banking sector comes back into good shape.

The central bank notes the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code regime is showing significant progress in dealing with financial and operational creditors to insolvent companies in a market determined and time bound manner.

Corporate governance at the state-run lenders is key to ensuring the success of governments Rs 2.1 trillion bank recapitalisation programme, it says.

On the growth front, the report acknowledges that there has been an uptick after GST and note-ban hiccups, but warns that corporate deleveraging and muted credit growth by state-run banks that account for 70 per cent of the system pose a downside risks.

Investment climate remains challenging as seen from the decline in investment proposals, it says, noting that events like the sovereign rating upgrade from Moodys, progress on stalled projects and efforts to improve quality of state expenditure can help revive the inflows.

The decisive recapitalisation move can provide the much needed fillip to private investment going forward, Vishwanathan notes.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

The Delhi High Court on Friday asked the CBI to trace the founder of the north Delhi-based ashram where girls were allegedly kept under illegal confinement.



A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar has asked Virender Dev Dixit, the founder of the Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya in North Delhi's Rohini to be present before it on January 4.



The high court had on Thursday raised doubts over the ashram's claims that women inmates there were not illegally confined, saying that if they were free, why were they being kept behind locked doors.



The bench had also sought to know why the ashram's founder was not making an appearance if he was genuine and honest.



The high court had also enquired into the financial details of the ashram and sought to know from where they were getting funds to run the institution.



Earlier, the high court had directed the CBI to probe the alleged illegal confinement of girls and women in the ashram where it was claimed, they were kept in "animal-like" conditions behind metal doors in a "fortress" surrounded by barbed wire.



Taking note of the "seriousness and the sensitivity of the matter", the bench had asked the CBI director to forthwith constitute a special investigation team (SIT) which will take charge of all records and documents pertaining to the case.



The court has passed the order on the PIL filed by NGO Foundation for Social Empowerment, which informed the court that several minors and women were allegedly being illegally confined at the "spiritual university" here and were not allowed to meet their parents.



Taking note, the high court immediately set up a committee, comprising lawyers and Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal, to inspect the premises of the institute.



The committee, comprising lawyers Ajay Verma and Nandita Rao, gave a report detailing the "horrible" living conditions of the over 100 girls and women who were housed in "animal-like conditions with no privacy even for bathing".



The panel, which had again inspected the ashram and its adjoining building, submitted today that over 30 mobile phones were seized and they want the court to order sealing of a room where they found trunks and other documents containing "serious evidence".



The bench said since the CBI is now seized of the issue, they should investigate it.



During the hearing, the bench was informed by the ashram that there were over 168 women living on the premises.



It was informed by Delhi police's standing counsel Rahul Mehra that the Delhi government's health department has set up a medical board, which will soon visit both the premises in question to medically examine all inmates to ensure their well-being.
New Delhi:

Former TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra, who is now the principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday was applauded by the special 2G court for his commitment in seeking implementation of recommendations of the telecom regulator.

However, the court was critical of the then senior officers of the Department of Telecom (DoT) for passing the buck on others and discarded their testimonies in the case.

Discussing roles and deposition as witnesses of several high-profile bureaucrats, it said Misra's efforts deserve "appreciation".

Special Judge O P Saini said several letters were written by Misra to then telecom secretary D S Mathur but the latter did not send any reply to them.

"This shows the attitude of Mathur towards other government functionaries as well as his official duties. The irresponsible and callous attitude of Mathur is reflected by his conduct in not replying to the letters of Misra, who was also at one time, Secretary (Telecom)," the court said.

It said, "On the other hand, the record reflects the earnestness and commitment of Misra with which he was seeking the implementation of the recommendations. Had Mathur heeded to the advice of Misra, things would not have gone so bad leading to the registration of instant criminal case.

"The efforts of Misra for ensuring proper implementation of TRAI recommendations deserve appreciation."

Regarding A K Srivastava, then deputy director general (Access Services) who was a key prosecution witness, the court said his oral testimony was contrary to the official record which was rejected and he was "inconsistent" and "blowing hot and cold at the same time".

"His evidence indicates how a very senior officer endeavoured hard to disown and discredit the official record created by him alone and to malign the minister (A Raja)," it said.

The court said that the record showed that Mathur was "largely responsible for the mess" in the DoT and it seemed that was awaiting his impending retirement on December 31, 2007 and that he could have awaited his retirement in a more graceful manner.

Also read| CBI's well-choreographed charge sheet had incorrect facts: 2G Court



"If Raja was working against the policies of the Government, he (Mathur) could have informed the Cabinet Secretariat or the PMO. Nothing of this sort was done by Mathur. A Secretary is a Secretary to the Government of India and not to his Ministry alone," it remarked.

Regarding the then member (Telecom), K Sridhara, the court said his statement was of no use to the prosecution.

Also read| Everybody saw 2G scam when there was none: Special CBI judge



It also concluded that Nitin Jain, then director (AS?I), deposed contrary to official record and he testified in a hesitant and roundabout manner and his deposition was not trustworthy.

Misra, Mathur, Srivastava, Sridhara and Jain were among the many key prosecution witnesses in the case.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Bengaluru:

Karnataka is going to polls in 2018 and Congress, BJP, and JDS have already begun their preparations for the elections. Not to lag behind, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is all set to announce its decision to contest the state elections.



National spokesperson of AAP Sanjay Singh has said, "Members of Karnataka Wing of Aam Aadmi Party want to contest elections and have submitted a detailed report and this report will be discussed in PAC. PAC will take the final decision".



Two senior national leaders of AAP Sanjay Singh and Pankaj Kumar Gupta landed in Bengaluru on Thursday to gauge the mood of party members in the state. Both the leaders held several meetings with party workers and senior party leaders of AAP Karnataka.



Prithvi Reddy, the senior most leader of AAP Karnataka said, "Our workers have been working day and night across the state for the benefit of the people. Since BJP, Congress and JDS all looted the money, our workers are ready to fight them in the election to protect the state from corruption".



In the last Lok Sabha elections, Aam Aadmi Party contested from all the seats of Karnataka but failed to win a single seat. This time party workers are confident of not only denting the votes of Congress, BJP and JDS in the state but making an entry into the Karnataka assembly.
Pune:

An eight-year-old girl was allegedly raped by six boys, a 19-year-old and five minors aged about 10, living in her neighbourhood, police officials said on Friday.

All six have been held following a complaint from the girl's mother on Thursday. She alleged that the six, all living in her neighbourhood in Kondhwa area, sexually assaulted her daughter, an official said.

The police arrested the 19-year-old and sent the five boys, in the age group of 10 to 11, to an observation home, he said.

The incident came to light on Wednesday when the woman took her daughter to a doctor after she complained of abdominal pain. The doctor found some marks on the girl's body during a medical examination and suspected it to be a case of sexual abuse, the official said.

When the doctor asked the girl about the marks, she revealed that she had been sexually assaulted by the six on four to five occasions in the last couple of weeks, he said.

The girl's mother then immediately approached the police. The six have been booked under IPC Section 376 (rape) and relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from SexualOffences (POCSO) Act, he added.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
United Nations:

The United States on Thursday presented a draft UN Security Council resolution ramping up sanctions on North Korea by cutting oil supplies vital for Pyongyang's military programs, according to the text.



The council is expected to vote on the new sanctions on Friday, diplomats said.



The measure would ban the supply of nearly 90 percent of refined oil products to North Korea and order the repatriation of all North Korean nationals working abroad within 12 months, according to the text obtained by AFP.



The United States has been in negotiations with China, Pyongyang's ally, on slapping new sanctions in response to the November 28 test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).



Since last year, North Korea has carried out a nuclear test - its sixth - and a series of advanced missile launches which are banned under UN resolutions.



The latest draft would build on previous sanctions that restrict crude and refined oil deliveries to North Korea, most of which are supplied by China.



US President Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping last month to cut off oil to North Korea, a move that would deal a crippling blow to its desperately struggling economy.



Tens of thousands of North Koreans have been sent to Russia and China to earn hard currency for Pyongyang, working in what UN rights officials have described as "slave-like conditions."



The draft resolution would cap crude oil supplies to four million barrels per year and require countries to seek UN permission to ship crude to North Korea.



Deliveries of refined petroleum products including diesel and kerosene would be capped at 500,000 barrels for next year, according to the measure that would order all countries to report their shipments to the United Nations.



The measure would expand a list of banned exports to include food products, machinery, electrical equipment, earth and stone including magnesite and magnesia, wood and vessels from North Korea.



All countries would be authorized to seize, inspect, freeze and impound ships suspected of carrying illegal cargo to and from North Korea, according to the proposed measure.



A total of 19 North Korean officials, most of who work in banking, would be added to the UN sanctions blacklist along with the North Korean ministry of the people's armed forces, which manages logistics for the army.



The United States has led the drive at the Security Council to tighten sanctions that are aimed at pressuring Kim Jong-Un's regime to come to the negotiating table.



Last week, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the council that the "pressure campaign must and will continue until denuclearisation is achieved" as he backtracked from his offer to hold unconditional talks with Pyongyang.



In negotiations on previous sanctions, the United States has first agreed with China on provisions of each resolution before presenting the text to the full 15-member council, which has then quickly voted.



So far, the Security Council has imposed a full ban on supplies of condensates and natural gas liquids to North Korea, capped deliveries of refined oil products to two million barrels a year, and capped crude oil exports at current levels.



The council has also banned exports of North Korean coal, iron, lead, textiles and seafood, restricted joint ventures and ended the hiring of North Korean workers abroad.



The United States has separately asked the council to blacklist 10 ships, including two Hong Kong-flagged vessels, for carrying banned cargo from North Korea.



The UN sanctions committee has set a deadline of 3:00 pm (local time) today for council members to raise any objections to a request to ban all 10 ships from ports worldwide.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday took a jibe at BJP, saying that if the latter made a film series, it would be called "Lie Hard."

"If BJP had a film franchise it would be called Lie Hard #BJPLieHard #BJPLies #HowManyBJPLies," he tweeted.

Rahul Gandhi's tweet comes a day after he alleged that the entire architecture, structure and foundation of the ruling party was based on "lies" and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Gujarat model' was "flawed and fake".

 Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) December 23, 2017

Also Read: Congress President Rahul Gandhi to visit Gujarat's Somnath temple today

He was speaking after chairing the first meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the party, as the Congress chief, with his mother Sonia Gandhi seated next to him, alongwith former prime minister Manmohan Singh and other senior members of the party.

Sources said the issue of indiscipline in the party, with leaders giving out-of-turn statements that hurt the party's prospects in the recent assembly elections, were also raised at the meeting, besides the need to strengthen the organisational structure.

Rahul Gandhi, who had launched a relentless onslaught against Modi during the Gujarat polls, continued in the same vein as he termed the 'Gujarat model' a "lie".

He alleged that people of the state say it is a "flawed and fake" model where there is "stealing" of resources which are handed over to a "few vested interests".

"The whole architecture of the BJP is about lies, their whole structure is about lies...BJP's entire foundation is based on lies.

"If you see the Modi model in Gujarat, it was a lie, clearly. When we went to Gujarat and we spoke to the people of Gujarat, they said there is no model. What is going on is the stealing of resources of the people of Gujarat and that's their design," he told reporters after the meeting.

Gandhi alleged that whether it was putting Rs 15 lakh in every bank accounts, the 2G spectrum allocation issue, or the Modi model, "one by one the lies are coming out".

In his inaugural speech, he said he was surprised to see that it is universally understood by people of Gujarat that "this a flawed, fake model".

"The main expression was that he (Modi) has handed over Gujarat to a few vested interests and he has taken tremendous benefits from Gujarat but Gujarat hasn?t received anything in return," he said.

On the 2G verdict, he said, "I think 2G has been a vindication (of our party's stand)...Everyone knows about 2G and the truth has come before all of you."

Addressing the CWC, he said the BJP used the 2G issue as the biggest instrument against the UPA government which has "turned out to be fake".

"So the idea, their model, is to come up with a lie, spread that lie, and just keep repeating that lie until people believe the lie. And the good news that I can see is that people are now beginning to question it.

"Across the country, they are questioning Mr Modi on the economy, they're questioning Mr Modi when he insults our ex- prime minister. So that feeling is coming up and there is a positive sentiment towards the Congress party," he told theCWC

Gandhi said there is a lot of opportunity for the Congress "that we need to step into and take advantage of".

He also questioned the "silence" of the prime minister on the changes made in the Rafale deal to allegedly help a businessman and the charges of financial irregularities of a firm linked to BJP chief Amit Shah's son Jay.

"It was disappointing that we lost but it was pleasing to see the Congress party fight hatred and anger with respect, love and courage. I send my good wishes to people of both states," he said.

He termed the Gujarat campaign as "unique" and "a real eye-opener" for him, where he got to know how the BJP designs campaigns and "uses hatred and untruth" to fight elections.

"One of the successes that the Congress party can take credit for in Gujarat is the dismantling of the Modi model of development. I was surprised when I went to Gujarat," he said.

Towards the end of the campaign, Gandhi alleged that the BJP attempted to polarise the election.

"At every step, they were trying to polarise. Our party played a very positive role in keeping everybody together. And then we also saw how in their desperation, the Prime Minister himself accused Dr Manmohan Singh of complete blatant falsehood and a lie. And he has had nothing to say about that since then," he said.

Later addressing the media, Congress communications incharge Randeep Surjewala said the CWC also discussed the current political situation and how the BJP "concocted the conspiracy" against the Congress in the 2G issue.

"How prime minister Modi, Arun Jaitley and the BJP stands exposed today with the 2G verdict by special CBI Court.

"The BJP maligned the country and the Congress party for years together making false allegations of corruption as their principal strategy to gain power.

"The BJP, particularly Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley and their stooge, Vinod Rai created a 'fallacious web of allegations of corruption'. The truth is, however, out in the open that the BJP made a profession out of its conspiracy of lies and falsehoods to gain power at any cost.

"Narendra Modi, Shri Arun Jaitley and the BJP leadership should come forward to own up their sinister maligning machinations and apologise to the nation," he said.

The CWC meeting was attended by top party leaders like Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Karan Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, Kamal Nath, BK Hari Prasad, CP Joshi, Motilal Vora, Mohsina Kidwai, Mallikarjun Kharge and others, besides state incharges.

The CWC also passed a resolution lauding the contribution of Sonia Gandhi in leading and guiding the party to great heights during her 19 years of presidentship.

Without naming anyone, some leaders raised the issue of enforcing discipline in the party and action against errant leaders, to which Rahul Gandhi agreed, the sources said.

"I agree. We will ensure discipline is enforced and the party is strengthened," Gandhi reportedly told the meeting.

Former prime minister Singh raised the issue of the challenges ahead for the party.

"The Working Committee was unanimous in saying that the momentum gained from the current set of elections would only be enhanced so that in the next set of elections Congress emerges victorious," Surjewala said.

With PTI Inputs

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Washington:

US President Donald Trump has put Pakistan on notice for providing safe haven to the Taliban and other terror organisations in its soil, Vice President Mike Pence has said during his unannounced visit to Afghanistan.



"For too long Pakistan has provided safe haven to the Taliban and many terrorist organisations, but those days are over," Pence told American troops at the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.



"President Trump has put Pakistan on notice," Pence said, addressing about 500 troops in a hangar decorated with Christmas decorations and massive armored vehicles.



"As the President said, so I say now: Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with the US, and Pakistan has much to lose by continuing to harbor criminals and terrorists," the vice president said, issuing another stern warning to Pakistan, for which using non-state actors against its two neighbours India and Afghanistan has been part of its national security policy.



Trump, he said, has unleashed the full range of American military might.



"We've lifted the restrictions that limited the effectiveness of our armed forces, so you can, as the President has said, fully and swiftly wage battle against the enemy," he said.



The Trump Administration, he said, has given the troops new authorities to directly target the terrorists and militants no matter where they hide.



He has empowered battlefield commanders with the freedom and flexibility they need to win.



Pence said this new strategy is already bearing fruit all across Afghanistan.



"American people deserve to know that with the courage of everyone gathered here, we're making real progress in this fight for freedom in Afghanistan. We've dramatically increased American air strikes. And together with our Afghan partners, we've put the Taliban on the defensive," he said.



In Afghanistan, Pence met the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

The Bombay High Court on Friday rejected Maharashtra governors 2016 sanction to prosecute former chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh housing society scam.

Reacting to the decision, Chavan, who is state Congress Chief, said on Friday: Truth has prevailed. I have full faith in the judiciary. The governors order was politically motivated.

Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao had earlier given his sanction to prosecute Chavan, who was asked by the Congress party to resign as CM after being implicated in the housing scam.

In February 2016, Governor C Vidyasagar Rao had reviewed the December 2013 decision taken by then Governor K Shankarnarayanan, who had rejected the CBIs plea for sanction to prosecute the former chief minister, and given the go-ahead to prosecute him.

Following this, Chavan had filed a petition challenging the sanction. In his petition, Chavan had contended that the move to review the December 2013 decision was politically motivated and biased, and that there was no additional material to warrant a review.

Raos order was motivated by the change in political circumstances and not by any change in any material aspects of the case, his petition had said.

Additional solicitor general Anil Singh had argued that the Justice JA Patil Commission report and certain observations of the high court  made while rejecting Chavans earlier petition that challenged the trial courts decision to reject the CBIs plea seeking to delete his name from the accused list were additional material under the Criminal Procedure Code, and that the governor had been justified in granting the sanction.

There is no question of malafide exercise of power, Singh had said, refuting allegations that the decision was politically motivated. Singh had also justified Raos review of the 2013 order, arguing that the order had been passed at a time when the inquiry commission report was not available for consideration, as it had not been accepted yet.

The development has come as another sigh of relief for the Congress party after all the accused in the 2G scam were acquitted by a special CBI on Thursday.

These issues were politically used around 2014 by BJP to malign the Congress party: Ashok Chavan,Congress after getting relief in Adarsh scam case pic.twitter.com/pYD6h9xLSR  ANI (@ANI) December 22, 2017

The truth has ultimately prevailed, we always had full faith in the country's judiciary: Ashok Chavan after getting relief in Adarsh scam case pic.twitter.com/IF2aSBsOKx  ANI (@ANI) December 22, 2017

#WATCH: Former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan addresses the media in Mumbai after relief in Adarsh Scam case https://t.co/cJACrNk5Fg  ANI (@ANI) December 22, 2017

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Tripoli:

France's foreign minister has urged Libya's unity government to act on a United Nations plan for 2018 elections and a national dialogue to stabilise the war- torn country.

"This calendar is the indispensable political solution for Libya and it must be implemented now with the utmost speed," Jean-Yves Le Drian said after talks in Tripoli with Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the Government of National Accord.

Oil-rich Libya has been wracked by chaos since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

Sarraj's GNA, the product of a 2015 deal aimed at restoring stability to Libya, has failed to impose its authority across much of the country, particularly the east where a rival government backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar holds sway.

A plan presented to the UN Security Council in September by international envoy Ghassan Salame seeks to negotiate a new political deal that would be accepted by authorities in the east.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who hosted a meeting in July between Sarraj and Haftar, at the time announced a deal to hold elections in the spring.

Le Drian said he and Sarraj had a "total convergence of views" on the UN plan and on "the need to move quickly".

In Tripoli, he also visited a detention centre for migrants waiting to be repatriated to their home countries.

The minister travelled on to Benghazi, 1,000 kilometres east of the capital, to meet Haftar, who said this week that the GNA had lost any legitimacy since its mandate expired on December 17 under the 2015 accord.

Le Drian said he delivered a message to Haftar: "There is no other alternative to the accord, also for you. You have a recognised international image. Place it at the service of your country."

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Dead zones formed repeatedly in North Pacific during warm climates, study finds

An analysis of sediment cores from the Bering Sea has revealed a recurring relationship between warmer climates and abrupt episodes of low-oxygen "dead zones" in the subarctic North Pacific Ocean over the past 1.2 million years.

The new study, led by researchers at UC Santa Cruz, was published June 2 in Science Advances. The findings provide crucial information for understanding the causes of low oxygen or "hypoxia" in the North Pacific and for predicting the occurrence of hypoxic conditions in the future.

"It is essential to understand whether climate change is pushing the oceans toward a 'tipping point' for abrupt and severe hypoxia that would destroy ecosystems, food sources, and economies," said first author Karla Knudson, who led the study as a graduate student in Earth sciences at UCSC.

The researchers based their findings on an analysis of deep sediment cores from a site in the Bering Sea. Over long periods of time, sediments are deposited and build up on the seafloor. The activity of organisms living in the seafloor sediments usually disrupts and mixes them as they accumulate, but if hypoxia has killed those organisms, an orderly pattern of layers is preserved. Thus, scientists can find a record of past hypoxic events in the form of these layered or "laminated" sediments in cores drilled from the seafloor.

Scientists have long known about a major episode of widespread hypoxia in the North Pacific at the end of the last ice age, when the melting of the ice sheets sent a massive influx of fresh water into the ocean. The new study provides the first records of earlier low-oxygen events, and shows that the most recent occurrence was not representative of most of these events in terms of mechanisms or timing.

"It doesn't take a huge perturbation like melting ice sheets for this to happen," said corresponding author Ana Christina Ravelo, professor of ocean sciences at UC Santa Cruz. "These abrupt hypoxic events are actually common in the geologic record, and they are not typically associated with deglaciation. They almost always happen during the warm interglacial periods, like the one we're in now."

The hypoxia occurs after intense growth of phytoplankton (marine algae) in the surface waters. When the phytoplankton die, they sink deeper into the ocean and decompose, which depletes the oxygen and releases carbon dioxide into the water below the surface. What triggers these events, however, remains unclear. Ocean warming, high sea levels, and the availability of iron (a limiting factor for growth of phytoplankton) all seem to play a role.

"Our study shows that high sea levels, which occur during warm interglacial climates, contributed to these hypoxic events," Knudson said. "During high sea levels, dissolved iron from the flooded continental shelves can be transferred to the open ocean and promote intense phytoplankton growth in the surface waters."

Although high sea level is an important background condition, it is not enough to trigger a hypoxic event by itself. Changes in ocean circulation, including intensified upwelling to bring more nutrients into the surface waters and stronger currents that could transfer iron from the continental shelf to the open ocean, may play a critical role, Knudson said.

Currently, regional dead zones occur in coastal areas around the world due to the temperature effects of climate warming, as well as nutrient enrichment of coastal waters from agricultural fertilizers. But even the massive dead zone at the mouth of the Mississippi River pales in comparison to the widespread hypoxia that occurred all across the North Pacific Ocean at the end of the last ice age.

Because the new study is based on sediment cores from a single site, the researchers do not know the extent of the dead zones it records--whether they were confined to the Bering Sea or extended across the North Pacific rim as the most recent event did.

"We don't know how extensive they were, but we do know they were very intense and lasted longer than the deglaciation event that has been so well studied," said Ravelo, who was co-chief scientist of Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 323, which recovered the Bering Sea cores in 2009.

Knudson said the cores record multiple events during each interglacial period throughout the Pleistocene, with abrupt transitions where laminated sediments appear and disappear in the core.

The new findings raise concerns about whether climate change and ocean warming will lead to a tipping point that would trigger widespread hypoxia in the North Pacific Ocean.

"The system is primed for this type of event happening," Ravelo said. "We need to know how extensive they were, and we need to rethink how these events are triggered, because we now know that it doesn't take a huge perturbation. This study sets the stage for a lot of follow-up work."

###

In addition to Knudson and Ravelo, the coauthors of the paper include Ivano Aiello at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Christina Knudson at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, Michelle Drake at UC Santa Cruz, and Tatsuhiko Sakamoto at Mie University in Japan.

This story has been published on: 2021-06-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
An order passed on May 31 by Madhabi Puri Buch, whole time member of the Securities Exchange Board of India, barred two senior executives of Infosys - Pranshu Bhutra and Venkata Subramaniam from buying, selling or dealing in securities, either directly or indirectly until further orders. Both the executives held senior positions at the legal and accounting department respectively and had access to Unpublished Price Sensitive Information, according to the SEBI order. Based on a system generated alert on insider trading alerts of Infosys for around the period of July 15, 2020, SEBI conducted a preliminary investigation and passed an ex-parte order based on the material available on record. Apart from the employees, Amit Bhutra, Bharath C Jain, Capital One Partners, Tesora Capital, Manish C Jain, Ankush Bhutra have all been held for insider trading of Infosys scrip.

In its order SEBI stated, "It is noted that Venkata has been in frequent communication with/is connected with Pranshu through (a) professional relationship (both are officers/employees of INFY) and (b) telephonic communication during the UPSI period. Thus, Pranshu is also reasonably expected to have access to the UPSI through Venkata and on a preponderance of probability basis he was in possession of the UPSI."

According to the order, Pranshu was connected to the others mentioned through various other business connections. Call records examined showed constant communication during the said window between Pranshu, Amit and Bharath, partners of Capital One, (both were giving trading instructions on behalf of Capital One). Amit was also giving trading instructions on behalf of Tesora. "Venkata had communicated the UPSI to Pranshu and Pranshu had procured UPSI from Venkata and thereby Venkata and Pranshu had prime facie violated the provision of SEBI Act and PIT Regulations," the order further said.

Infosys in a statement to the BSE said that on June 1, the company was informed of an interim ex-parte SEBI order on two of its employees, amongst other third parties, in an ongoing insider trading investigation. "Infosys has a well-defined Code of Conduct covering all its employees and an Insider Trading Policy that governs dealing with unpublished price sensitive information," the statement said. Infosys said that it would extend full cooperation to SEBI on the matter, and additionally, would initiate an internal investigation and take appropriate action based on the findings. However the aggrieved parties can file their replies or objections within 21 days and also opt for a personal hearing.

Also read: Infosys co-founder SD Shibulal buys company's shares for fifth time in May

Also read: Infosys to initiate internal investigation into insider trading case
Islamabad:

Pakistan on Thursday rejected the insinuations that the mother and wife of Kubhushan Jadhav would be having last meeting with him on Monday, saying the Indian prisoner is under no threat of immediate execution.

Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal said that Pakistan had decided to permit the meeting of the wife and mother of Jadhav with him purely on humanitarian grounds.

"Let me assure you that the Commander (Jadhav) is under no threat of immediate execution and his mercy petitions are still pending," Faisal told the media at the weekly briefing.

He was responding to a question on the possible immediate execution of the Indian prisoner on death row after his meeting with his family.

Faisal said the mother and wife of Jadhav were being provided with a meeting with him in the light of "Islamic traditions and based on purely humanitarian grounds."

He said that the meeting between Jadhav and his family will take place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Pakistan has issued visas to both the ladies. The meeting will be held in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," the spokesman said.

A diplomat from the Indian high commission in Islamabad would be allowed to accompany the visitors.

To a question Faisal said, "Pakistan is ready to permit media interaction with the wife and mother of Commander Jadhav. We await Indian decision in this regard."

Also read: Pakistan allows Kulbhushan Jadhav to meet mother, wife on Christmas



Jadhav, 47, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April, following which India moved the ICJ in May. The ICJ halted his execution on India's appeal pending the final verdict by it.

Pakistan has repeatedly denied India consular access to Jadhav on the ground that it was not applicable in cases related to spies.

It said that Jadhav is not an ordinary person as he had entered the country with the intent of spying and carrying out sabotage activities.

Also read: Pakistan 'processing' visa applications of Kulbhushan Jadhav's wife, mother



Pakistan claims its security forces arrested Jadhav alias Hussein Mubarak Patel from its restive Balochistan province on March 3 last year after he reportedly entered from Iran.

India, however, maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Indian Navy.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel along with other BJP leaders on Thursday resigned three days after BJP won the state Assembly election.

A senior Gujarat official said, resignation by the chief minister along with other leaders were sent to Governor OP Kohli.

Kohli accepted the resignations and formally dissolved the 13th Gujarat Assembly.

Till the new government is formed in the state Rupani will act as the interim Chief Minister.

We will be having a meeting soon along with the newly elected members of the house. After consultation with the BJP observers for Gujarat name of the next chief minister and cabinet ministers will be decided, said Patel.

Also read| Gujarat: New BJP government may take oath on December 25



Soon after the elections BJP chief Amit Shah had informed the media that new government will probably swear on December 25. After the 2012 elections, Narendra Modi had taken oath of office for the fourth time on December 25.

BJP won 99 seats in the 182-member Assembly, securing seven seats more than the 92 needed for a simple majority, while the Congress and its allies won 80.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday accorded an ex post facto approval for signing and approving an agreement on cooperation in the field of mass media between all member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The accord aims to promote equal and mutually beneficial cooperation among associations in the field of mass media. It said the agreement, which was signed in June, 2019, would provide an opportunity to the member states to share best practices and new innovations in the field of mass media.

"The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its ex-post facto approval for signing and ratification of an agreement on 'Cooperation in the field of Mass Media' between all the member states of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation," the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said.

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation comprises eight countries namely India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The main areas of cooperation in the agreement are creation of favorable conditions for wide and mutual distribution of information through mass media in order to further deepen the knowledge about the lives of the peoples of their states.

Former Labor chairman Isaac Herzog elected as Israel's next President

Thailand to accelerate Covid-19 vaccine distribution for mass vaccination

Pakistan made indigenous corona vaccine 'PakVac' with China's help
The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Centre's notification inviting non-Muslims belonging to Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and residing in 13 districts in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Punjab to apply for Indian citizenship.

The interim application argued that the Centre is trying to circumvent the assurance given to the apex court in this regard in the pending petition filed by the IUML challenging the constitutional validity of the provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019.

It said that the Centre provided assurance that staying of the Amendment Act was not necessary since the rules of the Amendment Act had not been framed. The CAA grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities -- Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian -- who migrated to India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh till December 31, 2014, following persecution over their faith.

The fresh plea said the Union home ministry on Friday issued a notification to this effect for immediate implementation of the order under the Citizenship Act 1955 and Rules framed under the law in 2009 even though the rules under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) enacted in 2019 are yet to be framed by the MHA is manifestly illegal and runs counter to the provisions of the Act.

Plea in supreme court over dead bodies found in Ganga-Yamuna river amid corona crisis

2500-year-old Egyptian mummy Telangana State Museum gets new life

Consignment of 3 million doses of Sputnik V landed in Hyderabad
Many other countries have come forward to help in view of the corona crisis in India. Many people are making fun of the same 12 tonnes of goods sent by Kenya. On social media, Kenya is being called "beggars, poor people" etc.

You must have heard the name of the United States, Manhattan, the World Trade Center and Osama bin Laden. While most people may not have heard of 'Inosain Village' which falls on the border of Kenya and Tanzania and the local tribe here is 'Masai'. It took months for the 9/11 attack on the US to reach the Masai people. The news reached them when Kimeli Naomia, a medical student at Stanford University, who lives in a nearby town of her village, returned to Kenya on vacation and narrated the 9/11 story to masai, a local tribe there. A building can be so high that it loses its life when it falls from there, It was unbelievable for the maasai people living in the hut, but they still felt the suffering of the Americans and sent a letter through the same medical student to William Brangic, deputy chief of the Us Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, after which William Brangic first travelled by plane, then reached the village of The Masai tribe, on a road that broke for several miles.

On reaching the village, the Masai tribe gathered and took 14 cows in a line and approached the deputy chief of the US Embassy. An elderly man of the masais pointed to an plank, holding a rope tied to cows on the hands of the deputy chief. Do you know what was written on that plank? It was written: "In this hour of grief, we are donating these cows to help the people of the United States. Yes, after reading that letter, the ambassador of the world's most powerful and prosperous country walked hundreds of miles to collect the donation of 14 cows. Due to difficulty in transport of cows and legal obligation, the cows could not be reached but they were offered to be sold and kept in the 9/11 Memorial Museum by buying a masai jewellery. When this reached the general public of the United States, I know what happened. They made it a decision to take a cow instead of jewellery. Online petitions were signed that they did not want jewellery, emails were written to officers, leaders were spoken to and crores of Americans thanked and congratulated the Masai tribe and the people of Kenya for this unprecedented love. Gladly accept 12 tonnes of foodgrains. The donor is the greatest, it's not necessary how much he is contributing whole difficult times what more important is that he has given. Don't look at the small work of a squirrel who has picked up pebbles and contributed to the bridge. Remember he helped in your difficult times as a humanitarian act.

Also Read

Melbourne: Australia's Victoria state extends COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne

Shashi Tharoor is battling Corona, posted video from the hospital demanding free vaccination

Telangana CM KCR hosted flag on foundation day of the state
Following our preconceptions often leads us astray

Bret Stephens is one of my favorite columnists in The New York Times. He is a bit more conservative than I am, but he is always thoughtful and worth listening to.

He has a great column about how the media did a poor job pursuing suggestions that the coronavirus originated in an escape from the Chinese virology lab in Wuhan. He notes that the idea has intuitive plausibility, since it was no secret that the lab was conducting research on coronaviruses and that the research was risky -- the lab had been classified by U.S. experts into the highest danger category for research labs. Stephens also notes that no evidence was produced that the original victims made purchases at the food markets China had suggested were the source of the virus.

His worry is that despite this plausibility, the theory was not taken seriously by the media. The Washington Post referred to the idea as a fringe theory that has been repeatedly disputed by experts. An article in The New York Times was similarly dismissive. A writer for Vox referred to the idea as a dangerous conspiracy theory being promoted by people known to regularly spew nonsense (and bash China).

A key fact to note here is that one originator of the lab leak theory was Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton.

Cotton is definitely not my favorite senator; he is very far to the right. Here, though, his worries were not crazy at all, though we still dont know if they are true. President Joe Biden and Anthony Fauci have now called for further investigation of this theory.

Let me add an additional perspective. If there were an accidental release of the virus, this by itself would not be evidence that China is evil. To put it very bluntly, terrible accidents do happen (think of the Three Mile Island nuclear material leak a number of years ago). Some, including some European virology experts, believe the Wuhan lab was doing experiments to weaponize the virus, which if true is more problematic. And China has not exactly encouraged efforts to figure out what is at the bottom of this.

The lesson here is about how we as human beings tend to think. We tend to let preconceptions shape our assessment of new information much more than we should. If it is in line with our preconceptions, we tend to embrace it with open arms. If it isnt, we look for reasons not to believe it.

All of us -- including me -- need to fight this natural human tendency. People with whom we dont agree can nonetheless be valuable sources of information and insight. If we forget that, we will often be led astray.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AliveCor , the global leader in FDA-cleared personal electrocardiogram (ECG) technology and services, today announced that it has acquired the independent diagnostic testing facility (IDTF) CardioLabs, a leading monitoring and cardiac diagnostic service provider. The acquisition is a cornerstone of AliveCor's mission to extend its comprehensive cardiological services to patients who are prescribed monitoring devices by their healthcare providers.

AliveCor logo (PRNewsfoto/AliveCor, Inc.)

"The acquisition of CardioLabs sets AliveCor on a course to becoming the premier provider of end-to-end cardiac diagnostic support," said Priya Abani, CEO, AliveCor. "We are creating new opportunities for healthcare providers and patients through enhanced, reimbursed cardiac monitoring services and access to real-time data that helps inform clinical decision-making."

With the acquisition, AliveCor now manages CardioLabs' U.S.-based healthcare provider customers and plans to expand the service to new customers in the coming months. Existing CardioLabs customers will retain access to the full suite of cardiac monitoring services previously available to them including Mobile Cardiac Telemetry, Cardiac Event Monitoring, Extended Holter and Holter monitoring. Longer-term, AliveCor's KardiaMobile 6L will be made available to CardioLabs customers as the world's first and only wireless, patchless, six-lead cardiac monitor.

About AliveCor

AliveCor, Inc. is transforming cardiological care using deep learning. The FDA-cleared KardiaMobile device is the most clinically validated personal ECG solution in the world. KardiaMobile 6L provides instant detection of Atrial Fibrillation, Bradycardia, Tachycardia, Sinus Rhythm with Supraventricular Ectopy, Sinus Rhythm with Premature Ventricular Contractions, Sinus Rhythm with Wide QRS and Normal Heart Rhythm in an ECG. Kardia is the first AI-enabled platform to aid patients and clinicians in the early detection of atrial fibrillation, the most common arrhythmia and one associated with a highly-elevated risk of stroke. AliveCor's enterprise platform allows third party providers to manage their patients' and customers' heart conditions simply and profitably using state-of-the-art tools that provide easy front-end and back-end integration to AliveCor technologies. AliveCor protects its customers with stringent data security and compliance practices , achieving HIPAA compliance and SOC2 Type 1 and Type 2 attestations. AliveCor is a privately-held company headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. "Consumer" or "Personal" ECGs are ECG devices available for direct sale to consumers. For more information, visit alivecor.com .

Story continues

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alivecor-acquires-cardiolabs-and-sets-the-stage-for-the-launch-of-advanced-ambulatory-monitoring-services-301303971.html

SOURCE AliveCor, Inc.
Nati Harnik/AP/Shutterstock / Nati Harnik/AP/Shutterstock

On May 26 the state of Nebraska signed a law to authorize state-licensed banks to hold cryptocurrencies, according to CNBC. The law would make Nebraska the second state to create a formal charter for crypto banks they add. A crypto bank operates much in the same way a holding company holds stocks for an investor or a traditional bank holds cash for its customers  only now it will hold digital assets.

See: Buffett Announces Wholl Take Over Berkshire Hathaway After Hes Gone

Find: 10 Best Cryptocurrencies To Invest in for 2021

CNBCs report suggests legislation is an attempt to turn Nebraska into a hub for digital asset companies and those interested in innovative new financial products and services based on blockchain technology. CoinDesk reports that the law requires that the banks have to hold 100% of its assets in reserve.

This means that banks cannot loan out your crypto assets elsewhere like traditional banks do. According to the Associated Press, Telcoin CEO Paul Neuner said, At its heart, this new charter represents an alternative type of bank that does not have the right to loan your money to somebody else. Telcoin is the company that drafted the legislation along with legislators from Nebraska and is a blockchain-based fintech company.

While the law could turn Nebraska one of the countrys central cryptobank hubs, two of the most famous Nebraskans  and global financial powerhouses  are not exactly fans of the currency.

At the 2021 shareholders meeting, Berkshire Hathaways Vice Chairman Charlie Munger made waves when he stated he was disgusted by Bitcoins success. Meanwhile, the companys CEO and general investing scion has been unashamedly vocal about his distaste for digital assets. In 2014 he said of Bitcoin Its not a currency. It does not meet the test of a currency. I wouldnt be surprised if its not around in ten or 20 years. He has also stated that, It will feed on itself for a while and sometimes for a long while and sometimes to extraordinary numbers. But they come to bad endings, and cryptocurrencies will come to bad endings.

Story continues

See: Heres a Bitcoin Timeline for Everything You Need To Know About the Cryptocurrency

Find: How Does Cryptocurrency Work  and Is It Safe?

Whether or not the Oracle of Omaha will change his mind is yet to be seen  but he might not have a choice soon if his neighborhood banks become the new Silicon Valley for digital money.

More from GOBankingRates:



This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Banks in Nebraska to Accept Crypto  Despite Warren Buffetts Misgivings
(Bloomberg) -- Some of the worlds largest tech corporations -- from Google to Microsoft Corp. and Amazon -- are in talks with a new carbon offset trading platform in Singapore that would be among the first to be backed by a public stock exchange.

The technology giants may use Climate Impact X as they strive to meet ambitious targets to become net-zero emitters, Herry Cho, Singapore Exchange Ltd.s head of sustainability and sustainable finance said in an interview. Ride-hailing firm Grab Holdings Inc. has also expressed interest in the trading venue thats set to be launched this year, she said.

Companies with net-zero or even net-negative ambitions are quickly realizing that negotiating one-on-one with their small sustainability teams to find the best projects is completely unrealistic and is draining their manpower, Cho said.

An Amazon.com Inc. spokesperson said the firm supports the sustainability efforts of customers such as Singapore bank DBS Group Holdings Ltd., which is also backing Climate Impact X. Amazon has no plans to purchase offsets in the region at the moment. Microsoft and Google declined to comment.

Grab Support

Singapore-based Grab said the company supports carbon offset programs that reduce emissions and provide economic uplift to communities.

Having greater transparency and assurance will help us achieve that promise to our consumers and key stakeholders, a spokesperson said. We look forward to more details when CIX is launched.

Private companies are coming under increasing pressure to reduce their carbon footprint to support goals under the Paris Agreement, and are looking for ways to cancel greenhouse gas emissions that cant immediately be slashed. Singapore last week announced a pilot project to encourage more companies to buy certificates for offsets, even as quality control remains a concern globally.

Climate experts have warned that validating cheap offsets that dont actually remove carbon dioxide could give companies a way to claim theyre carbon free without undertaking costly work to reduce planet-warming emissions -- resulting in greater pollution overall. Even respected environmental groups like the Nature Conservancy have come under fire for selling offsets that protect forests no longer in danger of being torn down.

Story continues

Several private markets have emerged to trade carbon credits, such as the Carbon Trade Exchange in London, though Singapore is among the first to offer trading of carbon offsets backed by a public bourse. Unlike carbon credits, which give the holder the right to emit carbon, carbon offsets are projects -- from forests to solar power -- that counterbalance the use of fossil fuels.

While not among the worlds biggest carbon emitters, tech companies have a sizable footprint thanks to energy-intensive data centers. As of April, of the 10 largest U.S. companies by market value, only four had announced plans to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050 -- all of them tech firms.

Google last year said its net carbon footprint over its lifetime was zero, while Microsoft aims to be carbon negative by 2030. Large corporations are mostly worried about the quality and scale of their offsets and projects they back, Cho said.

Climate Impact X will host an exchange for carbon offsets trading as well as a marketplace of nature conservancy projects such as forests, wetlands or mangroves that companies can support. The new platform is also backed by Singapore investor Temasek Holdings Pte. and commercial bank Standard Chartered Plc.

Verify Projects

Climate Impact X will create a rating system for participants based on existing sustainability gauges such as the Gold Standard and will also use satellites, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology to verify the integrity of projects. The aim is to trade products such as futures and other derivatives on the exchange, said Lee Beng Hong, SGXs head of fixed income, currencies and commodities.

The platform will operate at the scale of a startup initially, and is hiring at least 20 people across areas such as tech, operations, legal and sales. SGX is helping the Climate Impact X management set up the exchanges infrastructure and marketplace together with the other partners, Lee added.

(Updates with Amazons comment in fourth paragraph)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.

2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Central government employees will have to wait for a little longer for Dearness Allowance (DA) arrears payment as talks between the National Council of JCM-a central government servants' representative body and officials from the Ministry of Finance and Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) have been delayed.

The meeting is likely to take place in the second or third week of June since talks over payment of three installments of DA arrears-January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021, could not take place in May due to surge in COVID-19 cases in Delhi and the subsequent lockdown.

In case DA is approved, central government employees may get a 4 per cent hike, taking their DA from 17 per cent to 21 per cent. This will lead to a significant raise in the salaries of employees and DR for pensioners is also likely to see a boost.

The Centre had suspended disbursement of DA at increased rates along with DR for pensioners due to the coronavirus pandemic. Suspending DA hikes from January 1, 2020-January 1, 2021 helped the government save Rs 37,530.08 crore, Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. Using this amount, the government bolstered the resources needed to manage the economic impact of coronavirus and subsequent restrictions through various stimulus measures.

Edited by Mehak Agarwal

Also read: 7th pay commission: DA hike to be at least 4%; here's what you need to know

Also read: 7th Pay Commission: Centre likely to announce DA hike in June

Also read: Govt hikes variable DA; 1.5 cr central govt employees to benefit
Reopening travel should be based on recommendations of the COVID-19 Testing and Screening Expert Advisory Panel report

OTTAWA, ON, June 1, 2021 /CNW/ - The Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable ("The Roundtable") is urging the federal government to immediately release an implementation plan based on the recommendations made in the COVID-19 Testing and Screening Expert Advisory Panel (Expert Panel) report, presented to the federal government last week. Canadians are doing their part in getting vaccinated; now it is time to provide clear, timely, and safe guidance on reopening travel and reuniting families and friends.

Canadian Tourism Roundtable (CNW Group/Canadian Tourism Roundtable)

The Expert Panel was convened by the federal government to provide independent, science- and data-driven recommendations to the federal government on testing, border restrictions and quarantine measures. The report recommends eliminating quarantine for fully vaccinated travellers, implementing changes to testing and screening, and eliminating the hotel quarantine policy.

With increasing vaccination rates and decreasing case counts, it is time for the federal government to announce a plan to implement the recommendations of the Expert Panel. Just as it was important to quickly put in place measures to protect the health and safety of Canadians at the start of the pandemic, it is of equal importance to remove restrictions that are no longer necessary.

The travel and tourism sector has worked tirelessly over the course of the pandemic to put in place measures that ensure the health and safety of travellers across the country. Further, Canadians have diligently followed public health restrictions by staying home and avoiding non- essential travel. Given the advances in science and safety, as well as the dramatic progress on vaccination in Canada, the safe restart of travel must be planned.

Many provincial governments have taken a scientific approach to reopening based on metrics, including vaccination rates, COVID-19 cases and hospital capacity. As our economy begins to reopen, based on these metrics, one important catalyst for our recovery will be travel.

Travel enables businesses to grow and thrive, and also provides a lifeline for Canadians to maintain essential links to family and friends.

Story continues

The Roundtable encourages the government to implement a vaccination certification process in line with global standards. The upcoming G7 discussions present an opportunity for Canada to work with the international community toward a common approach.

The Roundtable looks forward to working together with government to continue to improve safety standards and protocols. As part of that work, we encourage the government to heed the advice of its experts to:

Eliminate the government hotel quarantine for all travellers;

Eliminate pre-departure tests and quarantine for fully vaccinated travellers;

Reduce quarantine for partially vaccinated travellers (after a test upon arrival) and unvaccinated travellers (after a test taken at day 7);

Amend border measures in stages; and,

Put in place a system to validate proof of vaccination for arriving travellers as soon as possible.

About the Canadian Travel & Tourism Roundtable

The Canadian Travel & Tourism Roundtable is a cross-Canadian coalition of leaders in the tourism and travel sector  including representatives from airports, airlines, hotels, boards of trade and chambers of commerce across the country  committed to working together to restart the sector smoothly and safely. Travel and Tourism is a $102 billion sector, employing millions of Canadians across the country and accounting for 2.1% of the country's gross domestic product. It advocates for a safe and prosperous tourism and travel sector across Canada.

Members of the Canadian Travel & Tourism Roundtable

ACCOR Fogo Island Inn Air Canada Global Business Travel Association Air Transat Great Canadian Gaming Corporation American Express Global Business Travel Greater Vancouver Board of Trade Association of Canadian Travel Agents (ACTA) Hilton Hotels Canada Avis Budget Group Hotel Association of Canada (HAC) Business Council of Canada InnVest Hotels Canada's Accredited Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) International Air Transport Association (IATA) Canadian Airports Council (CAC) Marriott Canada Canadian Chamber of Commerce Montreal Canadiens Canadian Gaming Association National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC) Canadian Live Music Association Porter Airlines Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal Pursuit Collection Chorus Aviation Inc. Rainmaker Global Business Development Collette Tours Rocky Mountaineer Destination Toronto Ticketmaster Enterprise Holdings Toronto Region Board of Trade Evenko Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC)

Tourisme Montreal

WestJet

SOURCE Canadian Tourism Roundtable

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2021/01/c3077.html
China's banking regulator has warned the country's smaller banks against rushing to grow their property sector loans after a cap on lending by big banks to the highly leveraged industry showed some initial success.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) will pay close attention to growth in property sector loans, and it will identify and closely monitor banks with a high proportion of such lending in their portfolios, Liu Zhongrui, a deputy director of CBIRC's statistical information and risk surveillance department, said on Tuesday.

"Some medium to small regional banks have stepped up to compete for property loans business, as the bigger state-owned banks reduce their lending," he said. The regulator will adopt "stricter measures" against lenders that fail to heed its warning. "For banks with a relatively high ratio of newly added property loans, we will put them under a separate list, and require them to sensibly control the growth rate of property loans," Liu added.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

The warning came as Beijing tries to maintain its grip over China's debt-fuelled property sector. It wants to cool the property sector and guard against systemic risks in the financial system stemming from excessive real estate lending and speculative buying, especially at a time when economic growth in China faces uncertainties arising from the coronavirus pandemic, despite four straight quarters of growth since the second quarter of last year.

The excess flow of funds into the property sector has begun to see a turnaround, said Liang Tao, the regulator's vice-chairman.

Lending to the property sector recorded its slowest growth in eight years in April, rising 10.5 per cent year on year. Banks' lending to the sector year-to-date has also been lower than to all other sectors, Liang said.

Story continues

The number of real estate trust and wealth management products underpinned by property projects has also dropped, with the latter declining by 36 per cent.

"We have seen some improvement in the concentration of property loans following the introduction of the concentration management system," said Deputy Director Liu. The system, which was introduced on January 1, limits banks' lending to the property sector according to their capitalisation. The lenders are organised in five tiers, with well capitalised tier 1 banks being able to lend the most. At the other end, small underfunded tier 5 lenders, which might service villages or local communities, are allowed to lend the least.

The concentration of lending to the proper sector has dropped at China's top six state-owned lenders, which are Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications and Postal Savings Bank of China, Liu said.

Four decades of rapid economic growth have turned communal housing of the Mao Zedong era into some of the world's tallest residential towers, huge housing estates and opulent villas. China's property market is the world's largest, with the sales value of new homes topping US$2.7 trillion last year.

Average prices have grown fivefold over the past 20 years, turning Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing into the world's most expensive cities, according to CBRE's 2020 survey of global home prices.

But growth in China's real estate industry has been financed mostly through borrowing, in part because Beijing wants to control oversupply and has banned developers from selling off-plan. The industry has increasingly resorted to bank loans, bonds and any other financial instrument they can be used to fund construction activity and land purchases.

In the first quarter of this year, banks' loans to the property sector totalled 50.03 trillion yuan (US$7.8 trillion), a year-on-year increase of 10.9 per cent. The banks added loans worth 1.67 trillion yuan during the quarter, data from the Chinese central bank shows.

The total balance of loans owed by property developers that become due this year has risen by 36 per cent to 1.2 trillion yuan from last year, according to the Beijing-based Beike Research Institute.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2021 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2021. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Rick Thornton, a group health insurance agent in Dallas, says new public option insurance bill pitched by blue-state lawmakers is a bold step toward universal coverage and lower healthcare costs.

Dallas, United States, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Dallas group health insurance and the people who have it could experience significant changes if a new public option insurance bill makes its way through Congress, according to Insurance4Dallas. Recently, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) chairwoman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, began requesting what they say is critical feedback on different aspects of a bill they hope to craft in the coming months.

More information can be found at https://insurance4dallas.com/small-business-health-insurance-dallas/

The feedback will come from key stakeholder groups and the general public in hopes of getting their thoughts on everything from what prices should be to knowing what the role of states in a federally administered plan will be and how the public option will interact with traditional programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. Both lawmakers said this is a bold step to achieve universal coverage and lower healthcare costs for all Americans, including those who have or are considering group health insurance Dallas. Coverage would be affordable regardless of income, age, race, disability, or zip code, the lawmakers said.

Rick Thornton, a group health insurance agent in Dallas, said the Medicare-like government insurance plan would be sold on Affordable Care Act marketplaces and is popular among many Americans. One poll, in -particular, said seven in 10 Americans support the public health insurance option. And again, this entire conversation all goes back to the current administrations campaign to create a public option as-a-way to reduce costs without eradicating private insurance. Currently, tens of millions of Americans still remain uninsured or underinsured. This new plan would help improve those numbers, and enough Americans agree to the point where this new bill could gain some steam among other lawmakers.

Story continues

Insurance4Dallas, (I4D), helps insure all of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico, Alabama, Virginia and Florida. Insurance4Dallas provides consumers with detailed information on health insurance with the ability to purchase health insurance online. Insurance4Dallas provides a full spectrum of health, dental, vision, life and ancillary insurance products, providing a diverse selection of price and benefit options complemented by personal customer service. Available via phone, email or fax, Insurance4Dallas answers consumer questions throughout the purchasing process and during the utilization of its health insurance policies.

Website: http://insurance4dallas.com/group-health-insurance-dallas-tx/

CONTACT: Name: Rick Thornton Organization: Insurance4Dallas Address: 4516 Lovers Lane Suite 316, Dallas, TX 75225, United States Phone: +1-972-219-6004




RADNOR, PA / ACCESSWIRE / June 1, 2021 / The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP reminds investors that a securities fraud class action lawsuit has been filed against Romeo Power, Inc. ("Romeo") (NYSE:RMO)(NYSE:RMO.WT) f/k/a RMG Acquisition Corp. ("RMG") (RMG; RMG.U; RMG.WS) on behalf of those who purchased or acquired Romeo securities between October 5, 2020 and March 30, 2021, inclusive (the "Class Period").

Investor Deadline Reminder: Investors who purchased or acquired Romeo securitiesduring the Class Period may, no later than June 15, 2021 , seek to be appointed as a lead plaintiff representative of the class. For additional information or to learn how to participate in this litigation please contact Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP: James Maro, Esq. (484) 270-1453 or Adrienne Bell, Esq. (484) 270-1435; toll free at (844) 887-9500; via e-mail atinfo@ktmc.com; orclick https://www.ktmc.com/romeo-powerclass-action-lawsuit?utm_source=PR&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=romeo

Romeo is an energy technology company focused on designing and manufacturing lithium-ion battery modules and packs for commercial electric vehicles. RMG, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, was formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors.

On March 30, 2021, after the market closed, Romeo issued a press release and filed a report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on a Form 8-K that disclosed its financial results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2020, and conducted a conference call with investors and analysts. The defendants shocked investors by disclosing that Romeo's production had been hampered by a shortage in supply of battery cells and that its estimated 2021 revenue would therefore be reduced by approximately 71-87%. On March 31, 2021, Morgan Stanley issued a research report in which it downgraded Romeo's target price per share from $12 to $7. Following this news, Romeo's shares declined from a closing price on March 30, 2021 of $10.37 per share to close at $8.33 per share, a decline of $2.04 per share, or almost 20%.

Story continues

The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, the defendants concealed that: (1) Romeo had only two battery cell suppliers, not four; (2) the future potential risks that the defendants warned of concerning supply disruption or shortage had already occurred and were already negatively affecting Romeo's business, operations and prospects; (3) Romeo did not have the battery cell inventory to accommodate end-user demand and ramp up production in 2021; (4) Romeo's supply constraint was a material hindrance to Romeo's revenue growth; and (5) Romeo's supply chain for battery cells was not hedged, but in fact, was totally at risk and beholden to just two battery cell suppliers and the spot market for their 2021 inventory.

Romeo investors may, no later than June 15, 2021 , seek to be appointed as a lead plaintiff representative of the class through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP or other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed as a lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member's claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP prosecutes class actions in state and federal courts throughout the country involving securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duties and other violations of state and federal law. Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP is a driving force behind corporate governance reform, and has recovered billions of dollars on behalf of institutional and individual investors from the United States and around the world. The firm represents investors, consumers and whistleblowers (private citizens who report fraudulent practices against the government and share in the recovery of government dollars). The complaint in this action was not filed by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP. For more information about Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP please visit www.ktmc.com.

CONTACT:

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP

James Maro, Jr., Esq.

Adrienne Bell, Esq.

280 King of Prussia Road

Radnor, PA 19087

(844) 887-9500 (toll free)

info@ktmc.com

SOURCE: Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/649981/Deadline-Approaching-Kessler-Topaz-Meltzer-Check-LLP-Reminds-Investors-of-Deadline-in-Securities-Fraud-Class-Action-Lawsuit-Filed-Against-Romeo-Power-Inc




Europe & Middle East Lime Market  Scope of the Report The analysts recent report on the Europe & Middle East Lime market provides readers with an assessment of the landscape of the market with the help of a comprehensive outlook.

New York, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Europe & Middle East Lime Market - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2021-2031" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06079890/?utm_source=GNW

This study on the Europe & Middle East Lime market analyzes the market for the period from 2020 to 2030, wherein 2019 is the base year.



The report enables readers to make important decisions regarding their business, with the help of a wealth of information enclosed in the study.



This study on the Europe & Middle East Lime market also provides data on developments made by important players and stakeholders in the market, along with competition analysis. The report also provides understanding of drivers, restraints, opportunities, and market trends.



Key Questions Answered in Europe & Middle East Lime Market Report



How much revenue is the Europe & Middle East lime market expected to generate by the end of the forecast period?

Which region currently accounts for the maximum share of the Europe & Middle East lime market?

What are the factors anticipated to drive the Europe & Middle East lime market during the forecast period?

Which is likely to be a highly lucrative region of the Europe & Middle East lime market during the forecast period?

What are the essential strategies adopted by key stakeholders of the Europe & Middle East lime market to expand their geographical presence?

What are major advancements in the Europe & Middle East lime market?

This report answers these questions about the Europe & Middle East lime market, aiding major stakeholders and key players in making correct decisions and strategizing for expansion of their business.



Europe & Middle East Lime Market  Research Methodology

This report on the Europe & Middle East lime market is based on a complete and comprehensive evaluation of the market, supported by secondary and primary sources.The competition scenario of the Europe & Middle East lime market is supported by an assessment of different factors that influence the market on a minute and granular level.



By thoroughly analyzing the historical data and current trends, researchers of the Europe & Middle East Lime market arrived at predictions and estimations and calculated the market forecast.



This report uses an analytical triangulation method to estimate the Europe & Middle East lime market by using bottom-up and top-down approaches.



This detailed assessment of the Europe & Middle East lime market, along with an overview of the market, is provided on the basis of a careful examination of growth opportunities. Analysts conclusions on how the Europe & Middle East lime market is set to expand are based on carefully vetted primary and secondary sources.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06079890/?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




Firm continues rapid global expansion to bring institutional-caliber investment management to Australian high net worth clients

SYDNEY, June 1, 2021 /CNW/ -- Fisher Investments, one of the world's largest independently owned, fee-only registered investment advisers, announced it will begin offering investment management services to Australian high net worth private clients via a subsidiary. The subsidiary, Fisher Investments Australasia Pty Ltd, has served institutional clients in New Zealand and Australia since 2013 and will now expand to serve individuals and families. The subsidiary will use the trademark, Fisher Investments Australia with private clients in Australia.

Fisher Investments logo (PRNewsfoto/Fisher Investments)

Australia is the 16th new international private client market Fisher Investments has entered, and the firm is preparing for even more growth ahead. "We're honored to help Australian high net worth private clients achieve their financial goals through our tailored portfolio management services, world-class customer service model, and structure that always puts our clients' interests first. But there are still so many more families around the world who need our investment help to meet their financial goals, and we plan on continuing to grow aggressively into new markets to meet their needs," said Fisher Investments' CEO Damian Ornani.

Carrianne Coffey, Fisher Investments' Senior Executive Vice President responsible for the firm's international private client operations, said, "After years of planning, we're excited to begin working with Australian families. Our dedication to putting our clients' interests first has proven successful everywhere we operate, and we look forward to helping Australian investors reach their financial goals with unparalleled service, continuous education and tailored portfolio management."

Fisher Investments Australia will base its operations in Sydney, and plans to begin soliciting potential clients by midyear. The firm is actively hiring candidates for sales, service and operations roles, and offers generous compensation plans, exciting benefits and flexible career paths. For information on career opportunities at all Fisher Investments locations, visit www.fishercareers.com.

Story continues

About Fisher Investments

Fisher Investments is an independent, fee-only investment adviser based in the United States. As of 03/31/2021, Fisher Investments and its subsidiaries manage over $169 billion in assetsover $109 billion for North American private investors, $40 billion for institutional investors, $17 billion for European private investors and $1 billion for US small- to mid-sized business retirement plans. Fisher Investments maintains four principal business groups, which serve a global client base of diverse investors: US Private Client, Institutional, Private Client International and 401(k) Solutions. Founder and Executive Chairman Ken Fisher wrote the Forbes "Portfolio Strategy" column from 1984 through 2016, making him the longest continuously running columnist in the magazine's history. In recent years, Ken's columns have run consistently in major media outlets across almost every Western European country as well as material Asian countries, spanning more countries and more volume than any other columnist of any type in history. Ken has also authored 11 books, including four New York Times bestsellers on finance and investing. For more information on Fisher Investments, please visit www.fisherinvestments.com.

About Fisher Investments Australia

Fisher Investments Australia is a trademark of Fisher Investments Australasia Pty Ltd (ABN 86 159 670 667, AFSL 433312), which provides services to wholesale clients only and outsources portfolio management to its parent company, Fisher Investments. Investing in equities and other financial products involves the risk of loss. Fisher Investments Australasia Pty Ltd was established in 2013 and is based in Sydney.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fisher-investments-launches-private-client-group-in-australia-301304543.html

SOURCE Fisher Investments

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2021/02/c0721.html
Firm's Seventh Year Being Recognized by National Affordable Housing Management Association

BINGHAM FARMS, Mich., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- FOURMIDABLE, one of the most active companies nationwide when it comes to managing affordable housing units, has been recognized on the National Affordable Housing Management Association's (NAHMA) 'Affordable 100' List for the seventh year in a row.

FOURMIDABLE, one of the most active companies nationwide when it comes to managing affordable housing units, has been recognized on the National Affordable Housing Management Associations (NAHMA) Affordable 100 List for the seventh year in a row.

This year, the Michigan firm is listed at #117 on the NAHMA list, which is made up of the top 140 companies from across the country. In past years, they have won a spot on the ranking list due to their Low Income Housing Tax Credit communities and Public Housing contracts.

"Being recognized by NAHMA has become a company goal for us," said Michael Schocker, president of FOURMIDABLE. "We are always honored to be considered, and thankful to the team that makes it possible."

FOURMIDABLE has seen significant growth since its founding in 1975, as it has managed various types of housing, including conventional apartments, public housing, government assisted, condominiums and commercial properties. Today, it manages 70 properties totaling 7,255 units.

NAHMA works on behalf of multifamily property managers and owners, serving as a leading voice for affordable housing management. The "Affordable 100" list ranks the largest affordable multifamily property management companies in the United States based on the total number of subsidized units managed. Each company must manage housing units that qualify for at least one of the following federal subsidies: HUD Project-based Assistance, Section 42 LIHTC, HOME funds, USDA Section 515, or Bonds.

About FOURMIDABLE

FOURMIDABLE is a national real estate management and brokerage company that specializes in managing, marketing and leasing market rate, tax credit, senior and family government assisted, public housing and rural development apartment communities. Founded in 1975, FOURMIDABLE currently manages 70 communities in 11 states, with approximately 7,255 units under management. FOURMIDABLE is a member of the elite AMO (Accredited Management Organization) and is an approved management firm for HUD, MSHDA and other State Agencies. Additionally, FOURMIDABLE affiliated companies offer support for property management companies and owners, including agility-pm, a provider of back office accounting, HR, IT and compliance support; eCrosstown, a provider of free Wi-Fi amenity services to apartment residents; and ePhonz, a specialized telephone product for apartment management companies.



For more information, please call 248-593-4603 or visit www.fourmidable.com

Story continues

CONTACT:

Michael Schocker

248-593-4634

Sue Voyles, Logos Communications

734-667-2005

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fourmidable-named-affordable-100-company-301304032.html

SOURCE FOURMIDABLE
PARIS (Reuters) - A French prosecutor on Wednesday told judges of the Paris appeals court that Orange's boss Stephane Richard should face three years in jail for his alleged involvement in a disputed compensation payment made by the state in 2008, a spokesman for Richard said.

The prosecutor's penalties, which also include a 100,000-euro fine as well as the prohibition from voting or holding a public office for five years, are similar to the ones pronounced two years ago in a first fraud trial that ended with Richard being cleared of any wrongdoing.

The prosecutor added that 24 months of the three-year prison sentence should be suspended.

The judges will hear the pleadings of Richard's lawyers and others from next week. No date has been set yet for the court's decision.

Richard has denied the allegations, saying he was doing his job and only played a secondary role in the arbitration process in which French tycoon Bernard Tapie was awarded 403 million euros ($491.62 million) in the state-funded settlement.

Tapie, 78, did not attend most of hearings of the appeals trial as he suffers from cancer.

The former businessman and minister of Socialist President Francois Mitterrand in the early 1990s is locked in a fight over the sale of his stake in sportswear firm Adidas in 1993 to Credit Lyonnais, then government-owned, and the compensation he won over the transaction 15 years later.

Richard is accused of complicity in the disputed payment. He was working as chief of staff to then-finance minister Christine Lagarde when it was made.

($1 = 0.8923 euro)

(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
INDIANAPOLIS, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kite Realty Group Trust (NYSE: KRG) announced today that it will release financial results for the quarter ending June 30, 2021, after the market closes on Monday, August 2. KRG will conduct a conference call to discuss its financial results the following day, August 3, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time.



The dial-in numbers are (844) 309-0605 for domestic callers and (574) 990-9933 for international callers (Conference ID: 5090863). A live webcast of the conference call will be available at kiterealty.com. In addition, a webcast replay of the call will remain available on the corporate website.

About Kite Realty Group Trust

Kite Realty Group Trust is a full-service, vertically integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) that provides communities with convenient and beneficial shopping experiences. We connect consumers to retailers in desirable markets through our portfolio of neighborhood, community, and lifestyle centers. Using operational, development, and redevelopment expertise, we continuously optimize our portfolio to maximize value and return to our shareholders. For more information, please visit our website at kiterealty.com.

Connect with KRG: LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Safe Harbor

This release, together with other statements and information publicly disseminated by us, contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such statements are based on assumptions and expectations that may not be realized and are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which cannot be predicted with accuracy and some of which might not even be anticipated. Future events and actual results, performance, transactions or achievements, financial or otherwise, may differ materially from the results, performance, transactions or achievements, financial or otherwise, expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

Story continues

Currently, one of the most significant factors that could cause actual outcomes to differ materially from the forward-looking statements is the potential adverse effect of the current pandemic of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, including possible resurgences, on the financial condition, result of operations, cash flows and performance of the Company and its tenants, the real estate market and the global economy and financial markets. The effects of COVID-19 have caused many of the Companys tenants to close stores, reduce hours or significantly limit service, making it difficult for them to meet their obligations, and therefore will significantly impact the Company for the foreseeable future. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the Company and its tenants will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, including the scope, severity and duration of the pandemic, the actions taken to contain the pandemic or mitigate its impact, and the direct and indirect economic effects of the pandemic and containment measures, and possible short-term and long-term effects of the pandemic on consumer behavior, among others. Moreover, investors are cautioned to interpret many of the risks identified under the section titled Risk Factors in the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 as being heightened as a result of the ongoing and numerous adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additional risks, uncertainties and other factors that might cause such differences, some of which could be material, include but are not limited to: national and local economic, business, real estate and other market conditions, particularly in connection with low or negative growth in the U.S. economy as well as economic uncertainty; financing risks, including the availability of, and costs associated with, sources of liquidity; the Companys ability to refinance, or extend the maturity dates of, the Companys indebtedness; the level and volatility of interest rates; the financial stability of tenants, including their ability to pay rent and the risk of tenant insolvency and bankruptcy; the competitive environment in which the Company operates; acquisition, disposition, development and joint venture risks; property ownership and management risks; the Companys ability to maintain the Companys status as a real estate investment trust for U.S. federal income tax purposes; potential environmental and other liabilities; impairment in the value of real estate property the Company owns; the actual and perceived impact of e-commerce on the value of shopping center assets; risks related to the geographical concentration of the Companys properties in Florida, Indiana, Texas, Nevada and North Carolina; civil unrest, acts of terrorism or war, acts of God, climate change, epidemics, pandemics (including COVID-19), natural disasters and severe weather conditions such as hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes, earthquakes, droughts, floods and fires that may result in underinsured or uninsured losses; changes in laws and government regulations; governmental orders affecting the use of the Companys properties or the ability of its tenants to operate; possible short-term or long-term changes in consumer behavior due to COVID-19 and the fear of future pandemics; insurance costs and coverage; risks associated with cybersecurity attacks and the loss of confidential information and other business disruptions; other factors affecting the real estate industry generally; and other risks identified in reports the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) or in other documents that it publicly disseminates, including, in particular, the section titled Risk Factors in the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, and in the Companys quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact Information: Kite Realty Group Trust



Jason Colton

SVP, Capital Markets & Investor Relations

317.713.2762

jcolton@kiterealty.com




TORONTO, June 2, 2021 /CNW/ - With a recent CIBC Economics report showing that Canadians could be sitting on as much as $100 billion in savings, CIBC is hosting free webinars on investing to help Canadians achieve their financial ambitions. Taking place on June 9, 2021, at 11 a.m. ET in French and 2 p.m. ET in English, the webinars will feature CIBC experts providing insights on top investing trends and assisting clients in building the knowledge and confidence to invest in their future. The English webinar will be hosted by Carissa Lucreziano, CIBC Vice-President, Financial and Investment Advice, and the French webinar will be hosted by Sylvain Vinet, CIBC Vice-President and Eastern Canada Region Head of Retail Distribution.

CIBC logo (CNW Group/CIBC)

The webinars will focus on the following topics:

Understanding market volatility  the importance of diversification and long-term investing

Rise of Sustainable Investing  types of sustainable investing and an explanation of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors

Understanding direct investing

To register for the webinars, visit the website here . Additional resources on saving and investing are also available on the CIBC website .

About CIBC

CIBC is a leading North American financial institution with 10 million personal banking, business, public sector and institutional clients. Across Personal and Business Banking, Commercial Banking and Wealth Management, and Capital Markets businesses, CIBC offers a full range of advice, solutions and services through its leading digital banking network, and locations across Canada with offices in the United States and around the world. Ongoing news releases and more information about CIBC can be found at www.cibc.com/en/about-cibc/media-centre.html .

SOURCE CIBC

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2021/02/c6523.html
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has written a letter to chief ministers of all states for a consensus on centralised procurement of COVID-19 vaccines by the union government in view of the challenges faced by states.

Saying that vaccination is the only way to protect from future waves of COVID-19, Patnaik said no state is safe unless all the states adopt vaccination as the top-most priority and execute it on a war-footing.

"But this cannot be a battle among the states to compete against each other to procure vaccines," the chief minister said in the letter posted by him on Twitter.

Wrote to all CMs for a consensus on centralised procurement of vaccines by GOI in view of the challenges faced by states. Spoke to some CMs who shared my views. No State is safe unless all States adopt vaccination as a top priority & execute it on war-footing. pic.twitter.com/lMkpjDeYRg - Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) June 2, 2021

Since opening of vaccination for everyone above 18 years of age, many states have floated global tenders for procuring vaccines. "However, it is quite clear that the global vaccine manufacturers are looking forward to the Union Government for the clearances and assurances. They are unwilling to get into supply contracts with the state governments".

Also read: Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 vaccines likely in India soon; Centre may grant indemnity

The domestic manufacturers have supply constraints and are not able to commit required supplies, the chief minister said.

"Under the above circumstances, the best option available is for the Government of India to centrally procure the vaccines and distribute it among the states so that our citizens are vaccinated at the earliest," Patnaik said.

He also called for decentralisation of the vaccination programme, with states being given the flexibility to determine their own mechanisms to ensure universal vaccination.

"We have written to the Union Government in this regard. However, I would respectfully suggest that all the state governments should come to a consensus on this issue for early resolution of this problem. We should act fast before any third wave comes and creates further havoc," Patnaik said to the chief ministers.

The Odisha CM said he has also spoken to some of the chief ministers and they share his view on this issue.

Also read: Can you provide second dose of Covaxin in stipulated time, Delhi HC asks AAP govt
ROCC Communication Collaboration



June 2, 2021

Partnership leverages Philips latest Radiology Operations Command Center to improve the access, quality, and productivity of Akumins outpatient imaging center network

Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Plantation, U.S.  Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, and Akumin Inc., a leading provider of outpatient diagnostic imaging services in the U.S., today announced a strategic collaboration to deploy Philips new Radiology Operations Command Center across Akumins outpatient imaging centers and co-create clinical standards for Akumins MR and CT imaging modalities.

Designed to centralize, virtualize, and standardize network-wide imaging operations while facilitating secure remote access, Philips vendor-agnostic command center broadens the scope of collaboration and expertise sharing between technologists, radiologists and imaging operations teams across multiple sites capabilities that fit perfectly into Akumins networked imaging center model. Akumin, which currently operates over 130 outpatient imaging centers across seven U.S. states, is Philips first large-scale commercial Radiology Operations Command Center customer in North America.

We are very excited to partner with Philips on this important strategic initiative to standardize the delivery of clinical care to our patients, while ensuring business continuity, improving first time image quality, and increasing our clinical personnel productivity, said Riadh Zine, President & CEO of Akumin.

Addressing radiology pain points such as operator variability, training, and the need to standardize and optimize image quality, Radiology Operations Command Center is Philips latest innovation in quality and productivity improvement, said Kees Wesdorp, Chief Business Leader, Precision Diagnosis at Philips. Deploying Philips Radiology Operations Command Center across Akumins center-of-excellence imaging network is the perfect opportunity to further drive radiology workflow efficiency to improve patient outcomes, enhance patient and staff experiences, and reduce the cost of care.

Story continues

Leveraging the capabilities of the command center, Philips and Akumin aim to establish best-practice clinical standards for Akumins MRI and CT modalities to enable a consistent approach to imaging procedures across the Akumin platform. It will also allow Akumin to implement centralized tailored support for individual imaging centers to improve their on-site clinical expertise.

Philips integrated, data-driven radiology workflow solutions connect people, data and technology to advance precision diagnosis and create clear care pathways that lead to predictable outcomes. For example, Philips Radiology Operations Command Center allows technologists and radiologists to have a real-time virtual telepresence in any connected MR or CT console room to contribute expertise, guidance and training in acquiring right-first-time images. Its ability to centrally monitor every MR and CT scanner in a network from a single location and orchestrate workflows helps to maintain business continuity, increase enterprise-wide radiology productivity, minimize issues with image quality, and expand access to advanced MR- and CT-based diagnosis.

The Philips Radiology Operations Command Center is the latest addition to Philips end-to-end Radiology Workflow Suite, which helps drive clinical and operational efficiency across all phases of the diagnostic enterprise, including patient scheduling and preparation (Patient Management), image acquisition (Radiology Operations Command Center, Collaboration Live, MR Smart Workflow, Radiology Imaging Suite), image and data interpretation (Workflow Orchestrator, Advanced Visualization Workspace - IntelliSpace Portal), reporting (Clinical Collaboration Platform), decision-making, pathway selection and treatment (Tumor Multidisciplinary Team Orchestrator), and follow-up care (Enterprise Performance Suite). The Philips Radiology Operations Command Center supports legacy systems as well as state of the art technology including Philips newest innovation, the spectral detector-based Spectral Computed Tomography (CT) 7500, to expand access to novel imaging across the enterprise.

For further information, please contact:

Kathy OReilly

Philips Global Press Office

Tel.: +1 978-221-8919

E-mail: kathy.oreilly@philips.com



Twitter: @kathyoreilly



R. Jeffrey White

Akumin Inc.

Investor Relations

Tel.: +1 866-640-5222

E-mail: jeffrey.white@akumin.com

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and well-being, and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum  from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips generated 2020 sales of EUR 17.3billion and employs approximately 77,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter.

About Akumin

Akumin is a leading provider of outpatient diagnostic imaging services in the United States, with freestanding centers located in Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois and Kansas. Our centers provide physicians with imaging capabilities to facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and disorders, thereby reducing the need for unnecessary invasive procedures and contributing to lower costs and better outcomes for patients. Our imaging procedures include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), ultrasound, X-ray, mammography and other diagnostic or interventional radiology procedures.

Attachment




OTTAWA, ON, June 2, 2021 /CNW/ - The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced that he will participate in the G7 Leaders' Summit in Carbis Bay, United Kingdom from June 11 to 13, 2021. Following the Summit, he will attend the NATO Summit on June 14 followed by the Canada-European Union (EU) Summit in Brussels, Belgium.

The G7 Leaders' Summit, NATO Summit, and Canada-EU Summit are all crucial opportunities for the Government of Canada to work with our global partners to find real solutions to the challenges that Canadians and people around the world are facing. Together, we will end the COVID-19 pandemic, create new jobs, grow our middle class, fight climate change, and build a more resilient world for everyone.

This year's G7 Summit will focus on those key global priorities, as well as finding coordinated approaches to promoting international rules and human rights, democracy, and gender equality. In addition to G7 members, the United Kingdom has also invited leaders from Australia, India, South Africa and South Korea.

At the NATO Summit, Prime Minister Trudeau will join other leaders to recommit to working together to address future trans-Atlantic security threats and challenges, and to strengthen shared security commitments that keep our people safe.

During the Canada-EU Summit, the Prime Minister will meet with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to discuss areas of further collaboration. Together, they will discuss ways to tackle climate change, fight COVID-19, and further our economic ties to build on the benefits of the Canada-European Union Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which has created jobs and growth for all Canadians and Europeans.

When we work with our global partners to tackle the challenges of today and tomorrow, Canadians benefit. Together, we will finish the fight against COVID-19, and coordinate a recovery that creates jobs, grows the middle class, and builds a better future for everyone.

Story continues

Quote

"Now more than ever, world leaders need to come together to tackle the challenges of today and tomorrow. Canada will continue to work with our global partners to keep our people healthy, create jobs and opportunity, grow the middle class, fight climate change, and strengthen democratic values. Only together can we bring an end to this pandemic and build a future that works for everyone."

 The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

Quick Facts

The Prime Minister and the Canadian delegation traveling to the UK and Belgium will follow strict public health protocols and procedures during their visit, while in-transit, and when they arrive home.

Leaders of the G7 have come together since the 1970s to discuss issues of domestic and global concern. This will be the first in person meeting of G7 leaders since 2019 and the fifth G7 Summit Prime Minister Trudeau will attend.

The G7 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.

Canada last held the presidency of the G7 in 2018. The United Kingdom holds the presidency in 2021, and Germany will hold it in 2022.

NATO is a cornerstone of Canada's international security policy. It is the primary international forum in which to engage other nations on transatlantic defence and security.

Canada and the EU's Strategic Partnership Agreement deepens and broadens bilateral cooperation on a wide range of issues such as international peace and security, counter-terrorism, human rights and nuclear non-proliferation, clean energy and climate change, migration and peaceful pluralism, sustainable development, and innovation.

CETA has been providing Canadians and Europeans with preferential market access since September 2017, and all economically significant parts of the agreement are in force.

Associated Links

This document is also available at https://pm.gc.ca/

SOURCE Prime Minister's Office

Cision

View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2021/02/c7260.html
Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Its looking more and more like corporate-finance textbooks need a chapter on memes.Being on the brink of bankruptcy no longer seems to matter much in the U.S. stock market. While that might sound like the beginning of a cautionary tale about the state of investing in 2021, the reality is far stranger. Redditors have bid up shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and GameStop Corp. so much that its saved them -- for now, at least -- from deep trouble.Theyre not the only troubl
By Nandita Bose and Tom Polansek

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) -JBS SA employees started returning to U.S. meat plants on Wednesday, a day after the company's beef operations stopped following a ransomware attack, disrupting meat production in North America and Australia.

A notorious Russia-linked hacking group is behind the cyberattack against JBS, a source familiar with the matter said.

Brazil's JBS controls about 20% of the slaughtering capacity for U.S. cattle and hogs, so the plants' reopening should prevent a severe supply-chain disruption.

JBS, the world's largest meatpacker, said most operations resumed on Wednesday, "including all of our pork, poultry and prepared foods facilities around the world and the majority of our beef facilities in the U.S. and Australia."

"We anticipate operating at close to full capacity across our global operations tomorrow," JBS USA Chief Executive Andre Nogueira said in a statement.

The cyberattack followed one last month by a group with ties to Russia on Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel pipeline in the United States, which crippled fuel delivery for several days in the U.S. Southeast.

It is the third major attack this year tied to Russia, and White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday the JBS hack was expected to be discussed at President Joe Biden's mid-June summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"We're not taking any options off the table in terms of how we may respond, but of course there's an internal policy review process to consider that. We're in direct touch with the Russians, as well, to convey our concerns about these reports," Psaki added.

"President Biden certainly thinks that President Putin and the Russian government has a role to play in stopping and preventing these attacks."

The Russia-linked cyber gang goes by the name REvil and Sodinokibi, the source said.

Cybersecurity investigators have said they believe some members of the REvil ransomware team are based in Russia. The prolific ransomware group, which is perhaps best known for attacking an Apple Inc supplier named Quanta Computer Inc earlier this year, previously posted in Russian on cyber-crime forums, marketing stolen data.

Story continues

In the Quanta Computer case, the hackers sent extortion threats and demanded a payment of $50 million for the company to regain access to its systems.

Over the past few years, ransomware has evolved into a pressing national security issue. A number of gangs, many of them Russian speakers, develop the software that encrypts files and then demand payment in cryptocurrency for keys that allow the owners to decipher and use them again.

SCRAMBLING FOR BEEF

With North American operations headquartered in Greeley, Colorado, JBS sells beef and pork under the Swift brand, with retailers like Costco Wholesale Corp carrying its pork loins and tenderloins.

U.S. beef and pork prices are already rising as China increases imports, animal feed costs rise and slaughterhouses have confronted a labor shortage since COVID-19 outbreaks shut down many U.S. meat plants.

"It's probably going to be pretty tight for the next few days because even though they (JBS) are going to start opening ... who knows how they are going to run," said Altin Kalo, economist at Steiner Consulting Group. "There's a fair amount of people that are scrambling (for beef supplies)."

U.S. meatpackers on Wednesday slaughtered 12.5% fewer cattle than a week earlier and 8% less than a year earlier, although slaughtering was up about 12% from Tuesday, according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Plants are expected to return to full capacity in the next couple days, said officials with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union, which represents over 25,000 JBS meatpacking workers.

JBS also owns most of chicken processor Pilgrim's Pride Co, which sells organic chicken under the Just Bare brand.

The company's operations in Brazil, Mexico and the UK were not affected by the attack, JBS said.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cattle futures rose on Wednesday after tumbling on Tuesday as the JBS plant shutdowns prevented farmers from delivering their cattle to slaughter plants.

The attack drew attention to the concentrated beef sector in the United States, where four companies including JBS slaughter over 80% of fed cattle and shutdowns of slaughtering plants have a severe impact on prices that ranchers are paid for their cattle.

"The Justice Department needs to take a serious look into the meatpacking industry, and if they cannot, Congress needs to pass reforms that protect a fair and open cattle market," U.S. senators led by Republican Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Democrat Tina Smith of Minnesota wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek and Julie Ingwersen in Chicago and Nandita Bose in Washingon; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Peter Cooney)
FILE PHOTO: Logo of Aramco is seen as security personnel walk before the start of a press conference by Aramco at the Plaza Conference Center in Dhahran

By Yousef Saba

DUBAI (Reuters) -Saudi Arabian oil group Aramco has lined up banks to help it arrange a sale of U.S. dollar-denominated bonds, three sources said, seeking to raise money ahead of large commitments for its major shareholder, the Saudi government.

Aramco was widely expected to become a regular bond issuer after its debut $12 billion bond deal in 2019 was followed by an $8 billion, five-part transaction in November last year.

A large group of banks has been hired for the deal, including First Abu Dhabi Bank , HSBC , NCB Capital and Standard Chartered , said one of the sources.

The energy giant is expected to raise up to $5 billion and the deal, which would be through sukuk, or Islamic bonds, is expected in the next few weeks.

"There has not been that many dollar sukuk that have been issued of late, so there is clearly demand there," the source said.

Aramco, FAB, HSBC and Standard Chartered did not immediately respond to requests for comment and NCB Capital could not immediately be reached for comment.

The oil company last year maintained a $75 billion promised dividend despite lower oil prices, and is expected to shoulder significant domestic investments that form part of Saudi Arabia's plans to transform the economy.

"I think it was expected. They need the cash to pay the dividends that have been promised, they've done it in the past too," said a debt banker, speaking on condition of anonymity.

One of the sources said the deal could happen in the coming weeks. Qatar Petroleum is expected to issue bonds by the end of June that sources have said could go up to $10 billion in size.

"It could well be busy," the source said, referring to bond issuance from the Gulf in June.

Bloomberg was first to report the planned bond sale on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Yousef Saba and Davide Barbuscia; editing by Jane Merriman and Jason Neely)
NASA has been a busy in recent years, managing a range of scientific explorations from Earth Science and the study of climate change to the Artemis missions to our Moon and eventually Mars. With the agency's hand in so many different and diverse projects, keeping up with all of its efforts can be daunting. Former Senator and current NASA administrator, Bill Nelson, will take to the netwaves at 3PM ET on Wednesday to deliver his inaugural State of NASA address, illustrating and illuminating what the agency has been working on and where its next efforts will be directed. Tune in to NASA's YouTube channel to watch live.
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 2, 2021 / The Law Offices of Vincent Wong announce that class actions have commenced on behalf of certain shareholders in the following companies. If you suffered a loss you have until the lead plaintiff deadline to request that the court appoint you as lead plaintiff. There will be no obligation or cost to you.

Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE:CS)

If you suffered a loss, contact us at:http://www.wongesq.com/pslra-1/credit-suisse-group-ag-loss-submission-form?prid=16485&wire=1

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: June 15, 2021

Class Period: October 29, 2020 - March 31, 2021

Allegations against CS include that: defendants concealed material defects in the Company's risk policies and procedures and compliance oversight functions and efforts to allow high-risk clients to take on excessive leverage, including Greensill Capital ("Greensill") and Archegos Capital Management ("Archegos"), exposing the Company to billions of dollars in losses.

ChemoCentryx, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCXI)

If you suffered a loss, contact us at:http://www.wongesq.com/pslra-1/chemocentryx-inc-loss-submission-form?prid=16485&wire=1

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: July 6, 2021

Class Period: November 26, 2019 - May 3, 2021

Allegations against CCXI include that: (1) the study design of the Phase III ADVOCATE trial presented issues about the interpretability of the trial data to define a clinically meaningful benefit of avacopan and its role in the management of ANCA-associated vasculitis; (2) the data from the Phase III ADVOCATE trial raised serious safety concerns for avacopan; (3) these issues presented a substantial concern regarding the viability of ChemoCentryx's New Drug Application ("NDA") for avacopan for the treatment of ANCA-associated vasculitis; and (4) as a result of the foregoing, Defendants' public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

Washington Prime Group, Inc. (NYSE:WPG)

Story continues

If you suffered a loss, contact us at:https://www.wongesq.com/pslra-1/washington-prime-group-inc-loss-submission-form?prid=16485&wire=1

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: July 23, 2021

Class Period: November 5, 2020 - March 4, 2021

Allegations against WPG include that: (1) WPG's financial condition was deteriorating substantially; (2) as a result, there was substantial uncertainty about the Company's ability to meet its capital structure obligations as they became due; and (3) as a result of the foregoing, Defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.

To learn more contact Vincent Wong, Esq. either via email vw@wongesq.com or by telephone at 212.425.1140.

Vincent Wong, Esq. is an experienced attorney who has represented investors in securities litigations involving financial fraud and violations of shareholder rights. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

Vincent Wong, Esq.

39 East Broadway

Suite 304

New York, NY 10002

Tel. 212.425.1140

Fax. 866.699.3880

E-Mail: vw@wongesq.com

SOURCE: The Law Offices of Vincent Wong





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/650136/SHAREHOLDER-ALERT-CS-CCXI-WPG-The-Law-Offices-of-Vincent-Wong-Reminds-Investors-of-Important-Class-Action-Deadlines




Luxembourg  2 June 2021 - Subsea 7 S.A. (Oslo Brs: SUBC, ADR: SUBCY) announced today the award of a major(1) contract by Equinor to Subsea Integration Alliance(2) for the Bacalhau field development located 185 kilometres from the coast of the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil.



The project work scope covers the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of the subsea pipelines (SURF) and production systems (SPS). The development will include 140 kilometres of rigid risers and flowlines, 40 kilometres of umbilicals and 19 trees, as well as associated subsea equipment, in water depths of approximately 2050 metres.

The Subsea Integration Alliance team established during the initial front-end engineering design phase, awarded in January 2020, will now transition into the full EPCI phase. Project management and detailed engineering will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with support from Subsea 7s Global Project Centre in UK and France and various OneSubsea offices. Offshore activities will take place from 2022 to 2023 using Subsea 7s reel-lay, flex-lay and light construction vessels.

Bacalhau is Brazils first integrated SURF and SPS project. The award today is a significant endorsement of Subsea Integration Alliances strong position within the integrated market, Subsea 7s long-established local presence in Brazil and the Groups commitment to support Equinors strategy of long-term growth in the region.

Stuart Fitzgerald, CEO Subsea Integration Alliance said: The award to Subsea Integration Alliance of the EPCI contract is a result of our strategy for early engagement and track record of major integrated projects. It underlines the strength and breadth of our global project management capabilities which underpin our delivery of large and complex integrated projects.

Marcelo Xavier, Subsea 7 Vice-President Brazil, said: This contract award extends our track record of delivering optimised solutions for deepwater developments in Brazil. We look forward to strengthening our relationship with Equinor during this and future developments.

Story continues

(1) Subsea Integration Alliance is a non-incorporated strategic global alliance between Subsea 7 and OneSubsea, the subsea technologies, production and processing systems division of Schlumberger, bringing together field development planning, project delivery and total lifecycle solutions under an extensive technology and services portfolio. As one team, Subsea Integration Alliance amplifies subsea performance by helping customers to select, design, deliver and operate the smartest subsea projects. This eliminates costly revisions, avoids delays and reduces risk across the life of field. For more information, visit www.subseaintegrationalliance.com.

(2) Subsea 7 defines a major contract as being one where Subsea 7s share of revenue is over USD 750 million.

*******************************************************************************

Subsea 7 is a global leader in the delivery of offshore projects and services for the evolving energy industry. We create sustainable value by being the industrys partner and employer of choice in delivering the efficient offshore solutions the world needs.

Subsea 7 is listed on the Oslo Brs (SUBC), ISIN LU0075646355, LEI 222100AIF0CBCY80AH62.

*******************************************************************************

Contact for investment community enquiries:

Katherine Tonks

Investor Relations Director

Tel +44 20 8210 5568

katherine.tonks@subsea7.com

www.subsea7.com

Contact for media inquiries

Tracey Miller

Group External Communications Manager

Tel +44 1224 265733

Tracey.Miller@subsea7.com

Forward-Looking Statements: This announcement may contain forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the safe harbour provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). These statements relate to our current expectations, beliefs, intentions, assumptions or strategies regarding the future and are subject to known and unknown risks that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, future, goal, intend, likely may, plan, project, seek, should, strategy will, and similar expressions. The principal risks which could affect future operations of the Group are described in the Risk Management section of the Groups Annual Report and Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2020. Factors that may cause actual and future results and trends to differ materially from our forward-looking statements include (but are not limited to): (i) our ability to deliver fixed price projects in accordance with client expectations and within the parameters of our bids, and to avoid cost overruns; (ii) our ability to collect receivables, negotiate variation orders and collect the related revenue; (iii) our ability to recover costs on significant projects; (iv) capital expenditure by oil and gas companies, which is affected by fluctuations in the price of, and demand for, crude oil and natural gas; (v) unanticipated delays or cancellation of projects included in our backlog; (vi) competition and price fluctuations in the markets and businesses in which we operate; (vii) the loss of, or deterioration in our relationship with, any significant clients; (viii) the outcome of legal proceedings or governmental inquiries; (ix) uncertainties inherent in operating internationally, including economic, political and social instability, boycotts or embargoes, labour unrest, changes in foreign governmental regulations, corruption and currency fluctuations; (x) the effects of a pandemic or epidemic or a natural disaster; (xi) liability to third parties for the failure of our joint venture partners to fulfil their obligations; (xii) changes in, or our failure to comply with, applicable laws and regulations (including regulatory measures addressing climate change); (xiii) operating hazards, including spills, environmental damage, personal or property damage and business interruptions caused by adverse weather; (xiv) equipment or mechanical failures, which could increase costs, impair revenue and result in penalties for failure to meet project completion requirements; (xv) the timely delivery of vessels on order and the timely completion of ship conversion programmes; (xvi) our ability to keep pace with technological changes and the impact of potential information technology, cyber security or data security breaches; and (xvii) the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting;. Many of these factors are beyond our ability to control or predict. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this announcement. We undertake no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Attachment




PLANO, Texas, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Toyota Motor North America Inc. (TMNA) announces executive changes to its manufacturing organization effective June 30, 2021.

Jim Zehmer will be promoted to president of TABC, Inc., effective June 30, 2021.

Jim Zehmer, who currently serves as general manager, administration at TABC, Inc. (TABC) will be promoted to president. Zehmer joined TABC's finance team in 1992 and has held a variety of leadership positions, including controller and manufacturing support general manager. He also was responsible for the administration functions at Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Baja California, Toyota's vehicle assembly plant in Tijuana, Mexico, for a two-and-a-half-year period starting in 2016. He will report to Norm Bafunno, senior vice president, unit manufacturing and engineering, TMNA.

Mike Truax, current TABC president will retire after a 37-year career with Toyota and New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI), the former joint venture of Toyota and General Motors in Fremont, California. Throughout his career, Truax held various leadership positions in manufacturing and engineering before his current position with TABC. He worked as general manager in production engineering for in-house plastics products at Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc. Previously, he spent more than 27 years at NUMMI in various production and engineering assignments.

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands plus our 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota has created a tremendous value chain and directly employs more than 47,000 in North America. The company has contributed world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 40 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama that begins production in 2021.

Through its Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society's most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.

Story continues

Contact:

Victor Vanov

Victor.vanov@toyota.com

469.292.1318

(PRNewsfoto/Toyota Motor North America)

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/toyota-motor-north-america-announces-manufacturing-executive-changes-301304412.html

SOURCE Toyota Motor North America
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.
Mehul Choksi will be brought back if expatriated to India by the CBI team led by Sharda Raut, the investigating officer in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.

Raut is in Dominica with six other officials, comprising another CBI officer, and is heading the operation to bring the fugitive businessman back to the country. If the Dominican court orders Mehul Choksi's deportation, he will be brought to New Delhi in a private jet by a team of Indian officials and will be put under arrest by Raut upon landing.

The Indian officials have had numerous meetings with Dominican authorities to ensure that India's case is represented resolutely when it comes up for hearing on Wednesday, India Today TV reported.

Also Read: Mehul Choksi arrived in Dominica on May 23, and not May 25 as claimed

The Enforcement Directorate's (ED) affidavit will be filed before the Dominican court (on Wednesday evening) along with detailed information regarding Mehul Choksi's illicit activities, explicating how he is an Indian citizen and on what foundation he should be deported to India.

The ED and CBI, through Dominican prosecutors, will try to convince the court that the man in their detention is a wanted accused in India since January 2018 and in accordance with the red notice by Interpol, he should be expatriated to the country immediately, sources said.

Mehul Choksi, who had taken the citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in 2017 using its Citizenship by Investment programme, never completed the process to surrender Indian citizenship.

As things stand, he is still an Indian national.

Also Read: PNB scam accused Mehul Choksi hospitalised, tests negative for COVID-19

ED is reportedly in touch with the officials, comprising CBI officers who are in Dominica. The central financial probe agency has also shared tangible evidence against Mehul Choksi with them.

The fugitive businessman, who vanished mysteriously on May 23 from Antigua, was apprehended by Dominican police for entering the country illegally.

Mehul Choksi has also claimed that he was kidnapped from Antigua, probably by Indian and Antiguan officials, beaten up, and then taken forcibly to Dominica, where he was arrested by the police, as part of the conspiracy.

Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted for allegedly siphoning Rs 13,500 crore of public money from the state-run PNB using letters of undertaking. Both are facing a CBI and ED probe.
A King George County man is one of four recently convicted in federal court for their roles in an interstate dogfighting operation, court records state.

Carlos L. Harvey, 46, pleaded guilty in Richmond to a conspiracy charge and will face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced Sept. 1. Convicted as part of the same conspiracy were Odell S. Anderson Sr., 52, of Washington; Emmanuel A. Powe Sr., 46, of Frederick, Md.; and Chester A. Moody Jr., 46, of Glenn Dale, Md.

According to court records, the dogfighting operation lasted from April 2013 through July 11, 2018. Events were held in Washington, D.C., Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia.

Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Specifically mentioned in Harveys case was an April 2016 event in King George. Court records state the defendants and others met up in the parking lot of the Walmart in King George before traveling to a home on Caledon Road for a scheduled two-card dogfight. Two separate dog fights were held and at least one of the dogs died from injuries sustained in its fight.

Dogfighting is absolutely intolerable and subjects defenseless animals to inhumane treatment and abuse, said Acting U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh. Those who engage in this deplorable conduct will face justice to the fullest extent of the law.
We all respect each other, and this is a perfect opportunity for four people to all get on the same page, said Allen, who handles government affairs for the coalition.

Stafford businessman Vernon Green, who manages small business issues for the SCSI, said when there is a community need, he wants to be at the front of the solution.

In addition to leveraging his fraternal organization to help bring additional volunteers to support pantry operations at food banks at United Faith Christian Ministry and Zion Church of Fredericksburg, Green said he is already helping others find employment through the SCSI coalition and the area food banks.

Ive actually interviewed a few of the people for positions, said Green. Ive been able to hire, to bring people in, to mentor and were in discussions to set up community initiatives to put people back to work through the SCSI initiative.

Green said some of those efforts include preparing future employees for their first interview in live practice sessions, or providing assistance in crafting a resume.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the SCSI has taken additional strides helping others in Stafford, ranging from aiding those without an internet connection to register for a COVID-19 vaccine to registering to vote.
Patterson, who lives in Henrico County, visited two predominantly Black neighborhoodsBelmont Woods and Windsorand found many voters who were disillusioned with politics. They cited poor infrastructure and schools in the communities that are home to people who look like them. Why should they vote when theyre seeing these things time and time again just ignored?

He continued: People want a governor that will work for them and not overlook them, and thats where Jennifer comes in. If theyre familiar with her, they are enamored with what shes trying to do. I think people see her not as a firebrand but as someone who is thoughtful and who caresin essence what we need right now.

BACK IN THE RACE

McAuliffes supporters, including a long list of Democratic leaders in the state, say the former governor is the best shot at ensuring Virginias new status as a blue state isnt a fleeting momentthe message the campaign is amplifying in the homestretch.

During a recent debate and in two digital ads, McAuliffe sought opportunities to describe Youngkin as politically extreme and an ally of former President Donald Trump in a state where Trump lost the popular vote last year by 10 points.
Nothing from the government is really free

The FLS recently published a good article on how one established what a fair share of taxes is. Its a good question. Theres always been a populist tendency to increase the taxes on corporations, including a current proposal to sock corporations with a 33.4 percent tax increase.

However, lets take a look at just where those evil corporations get their money:

Quite simply, from us. Corporations get their money from selling products and services. Looking at basic economics, if the costs (includes taxes) of a corporation go up, the prices they charge also have to go up so that they can stay in business.

Not only that, but if governments are purchasing those goods and services, the taxpayers are also paying increased costs several times over. Since most corporations have to buy goods and services themselves in order to do business, its the perfect pyramid scheme paid for by  us.

The Biden administration took office claiming that those who make under $400,000 per year wouldnt see their taxes go up to pay for the spendathon theyve started. Technically, that may still be true. Increased prices on stuff arent taxes.
At dusk on June 12, participants display luminaria bags in their driveways or on their sidewalks and porches. They can take photos of them to post on social media.

Ribbons representing the relay can be drawn in chalk on driveways or posted in windows and houses decorated.

Luminaria bags will be available for a freewill donation. Those whod like a luminaria may contact any team member, at the Care-A-Van or by calling 402-690-3734.

When making a contribution, donors are asked to please provide the names, separated by in memory and in honor, which will be on the luminaria bags so they can be included in the tribute. The tribute will be shown on the Relays Facebook page on June 12.

Anyone who would like their luminaria bag names included in the Facebook tribute are asked to please send the information by June 10 to rfldodge1@gmail.com or private message on the Relay For Life of Dodge County, NE Facebook page.

The Relay For Life auction will be hosted and managed by Bill Christian Auction Company and will be on the HiBid Auction website.
Wednesday

Dodge County Board of Supervisors, Dodge County Board of Equalization and Dodge County Board of Corrections meetings, 9 a.m., board room, third floor, Dodge County Courthouse, 435 N. Park Ave., Fremont. The meetings are open to the public.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, noon, Chapter 5 Club, 136 N. Main St., Fremont.

Fremont Eagles Club open, 3 p.m. to 12 a.m., The club may close early depending on business.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 5:15 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Fremont Eagles Auxiliary pork tenderloin dinner, 5:30-7 p.m., Fremont Eagles Club, 649 N. Main St. The dinner is open to the public.

4th annual Cruise-In to Raising Canes Chicken Fingers, 5:30-8 p.m., Raising Canes, Fremont Mall, 23rd and Bell streets, Fremont. Anyone with an antique, classic, muscle car, street rod or hot rod auto, motorcycle or truck is welcome. The weekly cruise-ins will continue through Sept. 29.

Narcotics Anonymous meeting, 7 p.m., Keene Memorial Library, 1030 N. Broad St., Fremont. The hotline number is 402-459-9511.
Pabian, a member of the Morse Bluff Volunteer Fire Department, is chairperson for the event, which began in 2015 and will see a return after two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Weve expanded it out from fire prevention to safety also, because the more we got into this, like year one, year two, year three, they kind of work together, she said.

Children will also have the opportunity to go through a hazard house and smoke trailer, as well as meet with Smokey the Bear, Firepup and Sparky. Additionally, new for this years event is a suicide prevention booth.

Pabian said many of the kids favorite events include a fishing game and the Dodge County Sheriffs Office and Nebraska State Patrols rollover seatbelt simulator.

Some of the younger kids are kind of scared to get on there, but you get your 7- and 8-year-olds, and theyre ready to roll, she said. A lot of them also like going through the smoke house and the hazard house.

Overall, Pabian said the event has resulted in a decrease of fires for area departments, which means less loss of lives and property.
It is time now to think big.

The resources will be there in 2022, Speaker of the Legislature Mike Hilgers says, as $500 million in new federal pandemic recovery assistance comes flowing into the state.

"It might be a once-in-a-legislative-generation opportunity for the state," Hilgers said.

And legislative dynamics shout that the moment is now: Some heavy-hitters, experienced senators who are leaders and doers and who already have racked up some big accomplishments for the state, will be serving their eighth and final year in the Legislature, the Lincoln senator noted.

"Big thinkers with good working relationships," Hilgers said.

The time is right, he said, and the resources will be there.

"We're going to come to play next year," the speaker said.

After reviewing the pandemic-challenged 2021 Legislature's accomplishments during an interview in his office at the Capitol immediately after senators adjourned Thursday and headed home, Hilgers cast a look ahead.

The speaker said he's open to all kinds of big ideas, but his thoughts move quickly to the Legislature's adventurously named STAR WARS Committee.
At least 10 civilians have been killed in two blasts in the western part of Kabul, Afghan security officials said, amid an uptick in violence across Afghanistan since the start of the international military withdrawal.

Another 14 people were wounded in the separate explosions that targeted two minibuses, Kabul police spokesman Ferdows Faramarz said late on June 1.

However, eye witnesses told Tolo News that the casualty toll was considerably higher.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the bombings.

Both Taliban and the Islamic State militants carry out bombings in Afghanistan.

U.S. President Joe Biden last month announced the withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 to 3,500 U.S. troops and thousands of U.S. contractors by September. About 7,000 NATO troops also are being withdrawn.

The Pentagon has indicated that the pace of the withdrawal was picking up. As of May 30, U.S. Central Command estimated it had completed 30-44 percent of the so-called "retrograde" process.

Meanwhile, NATOs exit from Afghanistan is progressing in an orderly and coordinated way ahead of a planned complete pullout by September 11, according to the alliance's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

But major issues remain over how the 30-nation alliance will continue to fund the corruption-ridden Afghan security forces, whether to continue training special forces troops somewhere outside the country, and what forces will protect civilian workers, embassies, and the Kabul airport.



An unnamed American official was quoted on June 2 as saying that the U,S. military will hand over its main Bagram Air Base to Afghan forces in about 20 days.

The huge base, built by the Soviets in the 1980s, is the biggest military facility used by U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, with tens of thousands of troops stationed there during the peak of America's military involvement in the violence-wracked country.

With reporting by AFP, dpa, and tolonews.com
Electric vehicle and clean energy company Tesla might be planning to enter restaurant business. The California-based company filed for three new trademarks covering categories of 'restaurant services, pop-up, self-service and take-out restaurant services', according to filings of United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The company's application for trademarks will be reviewed around August 27, TechCrunch reported.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other company executives have discussed publicly the idea of restaurant business for some years now. In 2017, the company's the then CTO JB Straubel had said during a conference that Tesla might enter restaurant business.

Also read: RIL created over 75,000 jobs, hired 50,000 freshers in FY21

The company runs charging stations for electric vehicles and planned to convert them into full-convenience service stores, which also have restaurant, the publication said.

In 2018, Musk also tweeted about turning a charging station in Los Angeles into a restaurant.

Gonna put an old school drive-in, roller skates & rock restaurant at one of the new Tesla Supercharger locations in LA - Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2018

The company's latest move indicates that it might be ready to try the long-discussed concept. It remains to be seen if the country will itself run the restaurant or partner companies, which have experience in the sector.

Also read: 43 hikes & only 4 cuts this year! Fuel prices break all records in India
The largest warship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances
Trainer Bob Baffert has been suspended for two years by Churchill Downs after an additional drug test of Medina Spirit confirmed the presence of the steroid betamethasone in the Kentucky Derby winner's system
Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Mostly clear. Low 59F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph, becoming N and decreasing to less than 5 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear. Low 59F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph, becoming N and decreasing to less than 5 mph.
Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Mainly clear. Low 59F. SE winds shifting to NNE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Low 59F. SE winds shifting to NNE at 10 to 15 mph.
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.
How to enter Colorado's vaccine sweepstakes

With Wednesday's announcement, Colorado is now running two programs to financially incentivize Coloradans to get vaccinated.

The first was announced last week: Five Coloradans will win $1 million each between June 4 and July 7. That program is open only to those older than 17. Anyone who has been vaccinated, including before the program was announced, is automatically entered to win. Winners will be publicly announced June 4, June 11, June 18, June 25 and July 7.

The second was announced Wednesday: Twenty-five younger residents, who aren't eligible for the $1 million prizes, will be selected to each win $50,000 scholarships in June and early July. The program is open to Coloradans between the ages of 12 and 17, and anyone in that age group who's been vaccinated is automatically entered. Five winners will be contacted on five successive Monday beginning June 7, and the winners will be publicly announced the following Friday.
In what is assumed to be a sign to rethink diplomatic relations, China is aiming to revamp its image. President Xi Jinping has urged Chinese officials to create a 'trustworthy, lovable and respectable' image for the country. The President said that Beijing needed 'a grip on tone' in its communication with the world and that it should be open and confident but also modest and humble.

President Xi Jinping told senior Communist Party leaders on Monday that China must make friends extensively. According to a report in Bloomberg, the President told the officials that China must 'continuously expand its circle of friends with those who understand and are friendly to China.'

China is likely to take US President Joe Biden as inspiration to forge friendlier relations. The country might aim for a communication strategy makeover similar to Biden's work to bolster US relationships that were rendered weakened after former President Donald Trump's 'America First' policies.

China's diplomatic strategies often criticised as 'Wolf Warrior' diplomacy has been blamed for setbacks with partners that appeared open for closer ties, including the Philippines and the European Union.

Director of Renmin University's Institute of International Affairs and a former Chinese diplomat Wang Yiwei told Bloomberg that China's assertive diplomacy arose in response to those who showcased the country as a threat. However, that has satisfied neither domestic nor international audiences. Moreover, the image of the country deteriorated since the pandemic. A Pew Research survey showed that negative views of China reached historic highs last year.

"The growth in China's power needs to be accepted by the world. That would be the real growth of power," said Yiwei.

Executive dean of Renmin University's Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies and adviser to the government Wang Wen told the news agency that Chinese leaders see misrepresentations of China's image has led to negative impact on the country's core interests.

Also read: China to allow couples to have third child in major policy shift

Also read: How effective are China's Covid-19 vaccines? New research finds the answer
Command Sgt. Maj. Adam Nash, (from left) and Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers look on as Maj. Gen. Matthew W. McFarlane, commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson, speaks with the media about the importance of joining the Army as part of the second annual Army National Hiring Days campaign Tuesday, June 1, 2021 at Fort Carson. (David Bitton/The Gazette)
Govt-and-politics

topical top story

Coalition hits snag with petition for Floyd County special election

CHARLES CITY  A group in Floyd County seeking to change the way supervisors are elected hit a buzz saw in the form of the county auditor who would neither reject nor accept their petitions on Tuesday afternoon.

Gordon Boge, president of the Coalition for Better County Government, said his organization had collected more than 1,100 signatures petitioning the county to hold a special election in August asking to change how the county votes for its board of supervisors.

State code allows for several different options, with Floyd County opting for plan "one," which requires a supervisor to live in a specific district, but allows all of the county to vote for them.

The coalition seeks to change how voters elect the board, with each member only being voted on by those who live in their district, known under state code as plan "three." There are currently three members.

Jaci Smith / Jaci Smith Coalition for Better County Government member Scott Andrews, right, and Gordon Boge, left, look over a petition at the Floyd County Courthouse on Tuesday afternoon.

To force the issue to go to ballot, the group needs 10 percent of the turnout from the last election, or 809 people, to sign. And those folks need to be eligible voters in Floyd County.

But when County Auditor Gloria Carr began looking through the 90-plus pages, she pulled out a page with some signatures and told Boge and local accountant Scott Andrews that she couldn't accept it because the page didn't have the petition language at the top of it.

An argument ensued. Tones became sharp. Andrews accused Carr of "playing games," which Carr denied. Boge wanted the petitions back. A sheriff's deputy was called in to keep the peace.

Carr indicated she would call the Iowa Secretary of State's office, and Andrews called the coalition's attorney, Michael Byrne. Byrne had crafted the petition the group used to garner signatures.

After Carr spoke to the secretary of state's office, she told the group that she couldn't accept or reject the petitions, but needed to consult with the Floyd County attorney's office, and in the meantime had to put giant Xes in yellow highlighter on the pages that didn't have the petition language so that they couldn't be used again, as some in the coalition talked about stapling or taping pages together.

Jaci Smith / Jaci Smith Coalition for Better County Government member Scott Andrews rests his head on the County Auditor's Office counter in frustration on Tuesday afternoon.

Carr told the group, and attorney Byrne, who was listening by speaker phone, that the secretary of state's office said the same part of Iowa code that governs the petition to nominate an individual for elected office -- Chapter 45 -- applies to petitions for special elections. That chapter indicates that every page of the petition with signatures must also carry specific language indicating the candidate's name, office sought, name and date of the election, that all who signed are eligible voters and that the candidate resides in the appropriate district.

Byrne disagreed, noting that petitions for special elections related to county supervisor districts is covered by Chapter 331.207 in Iowa Code. That makes no mention of whether the question for the voters needs to be on every signature page of the petition.

Byrne told Carr that he acknowledged the forms the coalition submitted do not conform to Chapter 45, but that he didn't believe they should because it was the wrong part of the code.

He told the county auditor that if Floyd County intended to make the group adhere to a different code, then they would have a court battle. No final decision was made on the petitions, but both Byrne and Carr agreed to speak again after consulting with the county's attorney.

The issue is a timely one because such petitions must be filed by June 1 of an odd-numbered year, which means if the petitions are ultimately rejected, the group would have to wait another two years before trying again.

In 2018 in Mitchell County, voters petitioned the county to switch board representation to five members from three. Each page of the petition in that county had the question posed to voters at the top of each signature page, according to County Auditor Rachel Foster.

Just $3 for 3 months of your community's news
CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  A ransomware attack on the world's largest meat processing company is disrupting production around the world just weeks after a similar incident shut down a U.S. oil pipeline.

JBS SA of Brazil notified the U.S. of a ransom demand from a criminal organization likely based in Russia, White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed Tuesday. She said the White House and the Department of Agriculture have been in touch with the company several times this week.

JBS is the second-largest producer of beef, pork and chicken in the U.S. If it were to shut down for even one day, the U.S. would lose almost a quarter of its beef-processing capacity, or the equivalent of 20,000 beef cows, according to Trey Malone, an assistant professor of agriculture at Michigan State University.

In a statement, JBS said the cyberattack affected servers supporting its operations in North America and Australia. The company said it notified authorities and engaged third-party experts to resolve the problem as soon as possible. Backup servers werent affected.
Five hundred people can attend each of the five performances and may -- some day -- be able to boast they were the first to see "The Suffragist" before it hit Broadway. "The Suffragist" is Iowas first large scale show of its kind in 2021.

"The Suffragist" is an inspirational and true story of the hard-fought battle more than 50,000 suffragists  predominantly middle-class women  endured for 72 years (1848-1920) as they battled against the government, society and male legislators to get the 19th Amendment into the Constitution giving women the right to vote. The musical spectacle brings to life debates, rallies, imprisonment, hunger strikes, ridicule and protests the revolutionary activists encountered to advance their cause of winning the franchise for women.

Tickets  starting at $29.75 -- are available beginning June 1: 319-273-4849; 877-549-7469; tickets@uni.edu; UNI Ticket Office (2501 Hudson Rd., Cedar Falls). Five performances include: Fri., June 16 (7 p.m.); Sat., July 17 (2 p.m. and 7 p.m.); Sun., July 18 (2 p.m. and 7 p.m.).

You will be mightily rewarded for your journey to "The Suffragist," a budding Broadway show in-the-making.

Steve Corbin is an emeritus professor of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa. His opinions do not reflect those of the University of Northern Iowa. Reach him at Steven.B.Corbin@gmail.com.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Also a year ago, face masks were becoming a part of the routine landscape after Virginia instituted a mandate to wear the coverings in public spaces. Today, its just the opposite. Very few people are masked, despite the low number of local residents who are fully vaccinated. Theres no longer a mask regulation, but local health officials still urge anyone who isnt fully vaccinated to keep masking up, stay socially distant and avoid crowds.

Our current status is that numbers are lower than weve ever seen since the pandemic started, Sheranda Gunn-Nolan, market chief medical officer at Sovah Health, told the Register & Bee via email. Were optimistic that this is progress forward, however, there is hesitation and a strong fear that with lack of masking, low vaccination rates, and more gatherings will create a surge.

A year ago, the positivity rate dipped to a record low of 2.2% before the rise of infections. Today, it's up to 7.3%, a slight nudge upward in recent weeks. The percent calculates the number of positive COVID-19 results against the overall tests administered. Many health officials use it a gauge to determine the state of COVID-19 in a community.

The Centers for Disease Control recommends a 5% rate to show the virus is under control in a locality.

Vaccinations
Share of PNB Housing Finance has delivered more than 60 per cent returns to its shareholders in the last one week after the firm's board approved a proposal to raise up to Rs 4,000 crore by issuing equity shares and convertible warrants to entities led by PE firm Carlyle Group and Aditya Puri's Salisbury Investments.

As per the share price history, PNB Housing Finance stock on BSE closed at Rs 423.05 on May 26, 2021. It hit an intraday high of Rs 630.20 in today's morning session. In a week, the stock has delivered 63.8 per cent returns.

The stock opened 10 per cent higher at Rs 630.20 against the previous close of Rs 630.20. Market cap of the firm rose to Rs 11,664.35 crore on BSE.The share stands higher than 5 day, 10 day, 20 day, 50 day, 100 day, and 200 day moving averages. It has gained 274 per cent in the last 12 months and risen 90 per cent since the beginning of this year.

The board has approved a preferential allotment on a private placement basis, an aggregate of 8,20,51,281 equity shares and 2,05,12,820 warrants exchangeable into equity shares at a price of Rs 390 per share warrant to Pluto Investments, Salisbury Investments, General Atlantic Singapore Fund FII Pte Ltd and Alpha Investments V Pte. Ltd in specified proportions for cash consideration aggregating to approximately Rs 4,000 crore, the company said.

PNB Housing Finance added Pluto Investments, an affiliated entity of Carlyle Asia Partners IV, L.P. and Carlyle Asia Partners V, L.P. (together Carlyle) has agreed to invest up to Rs 3,185 crore through a preferential allotment of equity shares and warrants at a price of Rs 390 per share.

Existing shareholders of the Company, funds managed by Ares SSG and General Atlantic, are also participating in the capital raise. PNB will continue to be the Promoter and a key stakeholder in the Company.

The company mentioned that the key objective of raising capital is to augment capital adequacy, reduce gearing and accelerate growth with a focus on retail housing including self-employed and affordable housing loans such as the Unnati segment.

"This fundraise, and Carlyle's continued support, puts us in a strong position to benefit from the growing opportunities in the housing finance sector including in the affordable housing loans and self-employed segments, where we have developed differentiated capabilities in terms of distribution, underwriting and customer service," said Hardayal Prasad, Managing Director and CEO of PNB Housing Finance.

"The current fundraise and planned strengthening of the Board and management team will enable us to accelerate our strategic priorities, including further expanding our footprint, driving the company's digitalization, improving our operating model and customer engagement," added Prasad.

For FY21, the net profit grew 44 per cent to Rs 930 crore while income declined 10 per cent to Rs 7,624 crore.

The company reported a net Profit of Rs 127.03 crore for the quarter ended March 2021 compared to a loss of Rs. 242.06 crore in March 2020.

Net Sales stood at Rs 1,831.68 crore in March 2021 down 5.9 per cent from Rs 1,946.44 crore in March 2020.

ICICI Securities believes that strengthening of the Board, management, governance, and risk management, coupled with scarcity premium, can drive rerating to 1.2x FY23E book.

PNB Housing Finance Limited is promoted by Punjab National Bank and is a registered Housing Finance Company with National Housing Bank (NHB). The Company offers housing and non-housing loans to its retail customers.

It is also into construction finance loans to real estate developers for residential housing.
This may not help Rasoul in a Democratic primary, but many Republican legislators like him. They tell privately us that behind the scenes hes exactly what you see in public  friendly, honest and willing to buck his own party leadership when principle leads him in a different direction, as it did with redistricting. Well also point out that Rasoul is one of the few Democrats of stature who has consistently made the case that his party needs to pay more attention to rural Virginia. Hed backed up that rhetoric with actual votes. Earlier this year, Rasoul was the only Democrat on the House Privileges and Elections Committee who voted for a constitutional amendment (sponsored by Sen Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County) to end the disparities between affluent schools that tend to be in the suburbs and poor ones that tend to be in rural areas (and central cities). All the other Democratic legislators on the panel  all from the urban crescent, we noticed  voted against the amendment, thus effectively allowing constitutionally-sanctioned school disparities to stay the law of the land. If Democrats are truly concerned about having candidates who can represent all Virginians, some of them need to look in the mirror. On that vote, Rasoul bucked his party leadership  and stood up for all Virginians, even if some of them happen to be in conservative rural areas that will never vote for a Democrat.
Carroll Foy ties her biography  graduating from Virginia Military Institute and working in low-wage jobs and as a public defender  to her political strategy. Theres intersectionality ... coming from one of the poorest communities in Virginia and selling policy ideas to all working- and middle-class voters, she said in an interview.

In addition to no Black woman serving as governor, only two have been elected to the U.S. Senate, and the chamber has none now. The next goal, Carr said, is for Black women to match their voting power to their representation.

Congress began this year with a record 25 Black women out of 435 House members. Black women are mayors in seven of the 100 most populous U.S. cities, up from one less than a decade ago. The number of Black women in state legislatures has nearly doubled in two decades, to more than 4%.

We can celebrate, Carr said, but still recognize the work that needs to be done.

At the least, strong campaigns from Black women so early in the midterm cycle stand out compared to previous years.

In 2017, as Georgias Abrams was preparing for her first bid for governor, white power brokers in the state party recruited one of her fellow state lawmakers, a white woman, to run against her.
WASHINGTON  In 1862, when the nation had bigger problems, a California congressman advocated a tariff on a particular rice favored by Chinese immigrants he called people of vile habits, impossible of assimilation who swarm by thousands to our shores, like the frogs of Egypt. Todays anti-Asian racism is usually expressed in less sulfurous language  in the progressive patois of a culture of diversity.

Thomas Jefferson High School (TJ), a selective STEM magnet school with a national reputation for excellence, has what the school board in suburban Fairfax County, Va., considers a problem: Too many Asian American students excel on the admission test. The current TJ student body is 73% Asian American, 17.7% white, 3.3% Hispanic or Latino, 1% Black and 6% other. So, the board has decided to eliminate the test. Admissions will be based on a holistic assessment of applicants, meaning whatever admissions officials want it to mean.

And there will be limits on the number of admissions from particular middle schools. The four that usually produce a majority of TJ admissions have higher Asian American populations than most other middle schools. A lawsuit by some TJ parents says: By severely limiting the number of students who can be accepted at TJ from (these four) middle schools  future TJ classes will have a radically different racial composition, by design.
There was no evidence presented that Cox Jr. was in a gang or that he discharged a weapon.

Upon reviewing the case, the decision was made to have the investigative findings of the SBI presented to the Grand Jury. Grand jury proceedings in North Carolina are not the same as in other states. 18 citizens are selected to be members of the grand jury. Grand Juries are secret in North Carolina. A grand jury is convened to hear evidence in felony cases and some misdemeanor offenses that are submitted to them by the DAs office.

The prosecutor submits a charging document called a bill of indictment for the Grand Jurys consideration. While the DA of the County prepares a bill of indictment, the investigating agency presents their findings to the Grand Jury body. The District Attorney is not permitted to present the case personally to the grand jury. Also, the accused person is not permitted to appear or testify before the grand jury.
The sheriffs office said eight people participated in the May 25 attack, including Sutton, Beatty, three Southern Guilford High School students and three students from other schools. Sutton is the mother of one of the students involved in the attack, according to the sheriffs office.

Campbell said that, according to her daughter, a boy at her school wanted to fight her, but was told by his brother that he should not fight a girl. Campbell said he then recruited a girl at the school to do it.

That girl, Campbell said, attempted to fight her daughter at her bus stop on Monday last week, but was on the losing end of the fight.

Campbell said she didnt learn about any of this until after the classroom attack on her daughter.

According to Capt. Brian Hall, who supervises the countys school resource officers, some of the group arrived outside of the school on May 25. The student from the bus stop fight went to let them in, but didnt need to because they grabbed the door as some students were leaving and let themselves in, he said.

Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

After that, Hall said, the student and her supporters went to the 14-year-olds classroom and started hitting and kicking her.
GREENSBORO  Bennett College is planning for students, faculty and staff to return to campus in the fall after being away for more than a year.

The private womens college announced Tuesday that it intends to start the fall semester with a mix of in-person and hybrid classes, events and campus operations. Hybrid activities have both in-person and online components.

The college expects to start the transition from all-virtual operations later this summer and finish by the end of September, according to a message from the colleges president, Suzanne Walsh.

Bennett is considering a plan to have students and employees return to campus in phases. The college will adjust its plans if coronavirus cases increase once again.

Like other area colleges, Bennett closed its campus and sent students home in March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yom Kippur is set to begin this year the evening of Sept. 15 and end on the evening of Sept. 16.

The Christian holidays of Christmas and Good Friday are both state holidays in North Carolina, meaning no school by law. Easter, another Christian holiday, falls on a Sunday, the weekly holy day for Christians and a non-school day.

Theres no day off for students or staff for Yom Kippur in the calendar approved by school board members Tuesday.

A placeholder calendar approved by the board earlier this year had a teacher workday coinciding with Yom Kippur, meaning students would have had the day off, Carr said. However, for the final calendar school administrators wanted to add more instructional days, which was in keeping with feedback from some school board members who said the earlier version didnt have enough school days, she said.

The new calendar added two student days by cutting two teacher workdays, Carr said. One of those was what had been the teacher workday on Yom Kippur.

Carr said the district has typically not gone out of its way to give students the day off on Yom Kippur, but has tried to do so if teacher workdays are already planned about the same time.

She said while district administrators are sensitive and inclusive to our community, they avoid making faith-based decisions and keep the education of students as their focus.

Contact Jessie Pounds at 336-373-7002 and follow @JessiePounds on Twitter.

Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
We have to walk together, children, Johnson said, and not grow weary.

The protests in Elizabeth City, which have lasted for over a month, continued even after a prosecutor cleared deputies involved in mid-May. The prosecutor said Brown ignored commands from law enforcement and struck a deputy with his car.

Attorneys for the Brown family say police footage showed that Brown was trying to drive away and did not pose a threat.

Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Tuesday night, Greensboro was among several cities across the state to join Elizabeth City in demanding truth, transparency and accountability in the investigation into Browns death. Rallies led by local faith leaders and allies kicked off in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Raleigh, Charlotte, Fayetteville and Asheville at 5 p.m.

Groups who have led the protests in Elizabeth City and around the state attend each rally with a list of demands, which include the public release of the body-worn camera footage from the law enforcement members present when Brown was shot.

The Rev. Conrad Pridgen with the North Carolina Council of Churches said the footage will show the truth.
NACIs published report says AstraZeneca recipients can be offered the same vaccine if they want it, or can be given either Pfizer or Moderna. They say they are basing their advice on the risk of VITT, and emerging evidence that mixing and matching different types of vaccines is not only safe but may produce a better immune response.

The guidance is not binding but most provincial governments have indicated they were waiting for the information before setting their policies for second doses.



NEW YORK  Health researchers estimate that during the early months of the U.S. COVID-19 epidemic, 7,000 to 10,000 more kidney disease patients died than normally would.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the report Tuesday.

The researchers focused on about 800,000 patients who early last year had kidney failure. About 60,000 of them died between the beginning of February and the end of August last year.
Slavery caused secession and the Civil War.

This tension between the ideals of 1776 and the reality of 1619  and its impact on our history  is worth studying.

But powerful forces in North Carolina dont want that study: the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees, the John Locke Foundation and the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal.

The latter two are creations of conservative megadonor Art Pope, who sits on the UNC Board of Governors. The ultimate opposition to Hannah-Jones, some at UNC believe, comes from Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger.

This is nothing new in North Carolina politics.

The right of Black people to vote  and white opposition to that right  dominated the decades after the Civil War. The white supremacy campaign at the end of the 19th century disenfranchised Black North Carolinians for 60 years. The civil rights movement in the 1960s led to the rise of the Republican Party and, ultimately, to todays politics.

Race has infused modern campaigns since Willis Smiths White People Wake Up campaign against Frank Porter Graham in 1950. Graham was president of UNC.
Loading the player...

India's electricity use fell 10.4% in May amid second COVID-19 wave

India's average daily electricity use in May fell 10.4% from April, a Reuters analysis of government data showed, as states imposed lockdowns to rein in a devastating second wave of coronavirus infections. Average power generation fell to 3,664 billion units in May from 4,074 billion in April.

COVID-19 vaccines: No mixing of different doses; stick to SOP, says govt

The government on Tuesday said doses of two different vaccines should not be mixed and asked the people to stick to the standard operating procedure (SOP). Research is underway on the mixing of vaccines. While it may have a positive effect, severe effects or harm cannot be ruled out for now, Niti Aayog member Dr VK Paul said, adding that it is an unresolved scientific question and will be settled by science.

WhatsApp appoints grievance officer in India amid 'privacy' battle with Centre

Facebook-owned global messaging platform WhatsApp has announced the appointment of its grievance officer for India amid a legal battle with the Centre over privacy issues. The company said the grievance officer can be contacted directly if anyone has concerns regarding their experience on WhatsApp.

WHO approves Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday it has approved a COVID-19 vaccine made by drugmaker Sinovac Biotech (SVA.O) for emergency use listing, paving the way for a second Chinese shot to be used in poor countries. A WHO emergency listing is a signal to national regulators on a product's safety and efficacy. It will also allow the shot to be included in COVAX, the global programme to provide vaccines mainly for poor countries, which faces major supply problems due to an Indian export suspension.

Price of Tesla vehicles surges on supply chain pressure: Elon Musk

The price of Tesla vehicles is increasing due to supply chain pressures across the auto industry, particularly for raw materials, Elon Musk said on Monday in response to a tweet. In May, Tesla increased its Model 3 and Model Y prices, the automaker's fifth incremental price increase for its vehicles in just a few months, the Electrek website reported.

Delay in TRIPS waiver costs 2 million more lives; will harm WTO's credibility, warns India

India has urged the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to end uncertainty around the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver for COVID-19 vaccines and drugs proposal and begin text-based negotiations. India, along with the co-sponsors of the waiver proposal, believes the TRIPS waiver is a necessary and temporary legal measure for removing IP barriers needed to boost the production of vaccines.
You have permission to edit this article.

Edit Close
Two of the three members of Montana's congressional delegation were in the area on Tuesday, with Democratic Sen. Jon Tester touting his work to get the American Rescue Plan Act through the Senate and its nearly $1.9 trillion of financial aid into the hands of local governments and businesses and GOP Rep. Matt Rosendale touring businesses in Clancy, seeing what he could do to help the lumber industry prosper.

Tester, the only member of Montana's congressional delegation to vote in favor of the American Rescue Plan Act, held a news conference at Oddfellow Inn and Farm, a local business that received federal aid dollars to stay afloat during the global health pandemic.

"Over the past year, I've had literally hundreds of conversations with families and small business owners, health care workers and educators here in Lewis and Clark County about what we need to get past this pandemic," Tester said. "In order to fully recover from this crisis, we need to continue getting vaccines in the arms of Montanans as quickly and safely as possible."

He said while continuing to push more Montanans to get vaccinated, the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, provided needed aid to help the businesses and agencies serve those Montanans.
The other new amendment banned voter registration, signature collection, voter turnout and other activities by political groups in certain areas of university campuses.

Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte is the only named defendant. The governor's office did not return an email late Tuesday seeking comment on the filing.

Forward Montana, Lewis and Clark County Attorney Leo Gallagher, the Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Alexander Blewett III, Larry Anderson, Maxon Davis and Gary Zadick are the plaintiffs in Tuesday's filing.

The attorneys said they have donated to several judicial elections because of their "interest in an experienced, independent and nonpartisan judiciary in Montana," according to the filing. The Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers said its members would be stymied by potentially hundreds of substitutions in pending cases across the state and before the Montana Supreme Court if the law were to go into effect, which would be July 1.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs are Raph Graybill, former chief counsel to Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock, and Helena attorney Rylee Sommers-Flanagan. In filings, they argue the state constitutional framers sought to prevent legislation from containing unrelated provisions both in 1889 and again in 1972.
"It's always been my client's goal to work with the community and allow access through the property," she said. "The current offer, which is a backup offer, is now in place which is a stronger offer and ultimately benefits our community. I am in support of this as is my client. I have chosen to donate a sizable amount of the commission to the organizations involved to help maintain this beautiful piece of Missoula."

Wishcamper said he's submitted a backup offer because he and his wife want Marshall Mountain to be of benefit to the conservation and recreation community in Missoula.

"I've lived here for 25 years and grew up in Superior," he said. "I'm really involved in Missoula. I love Missoula and I feel like it's a great place to contribute. My wife and I want to continue to make it a great place. This is an opportunity to make Marshall everything it has the potential to be."

Wishcamper said he's had some "informal" conversations with the city about eventually selling it. Nothing is certain yet because of the pending civil suit.

"Marshall is an incredible resource and we'd like to see the community be able to use and enjoy it in perpetuity," he said. "My wife and I would like to protect the mountain. We'd like to purchase it and hold it for the time it takes the city to put together a financial package to buy the mountain back from us."

Love 5 Funny 7 Wow 4 Sad 0 Angry 4
But Montana should be optimistic. For the first time, small and mid-size companies are poised to compete for funding to build out fiber to forever underserved rural areas of the state. This time its not just the same, decades-old, former monopoly companies locking up still more federal dollars  whose failures over decades have relegated the state to one of the lowest ranked in the country. This time several more nimble entrepreneurial companies will have an equal chance to apply to build out fiber to rural Montana.

Sen. Jason Ellsworth of Hamilton took on the challenge of managing this bipartisan legislation through the state Senate and House. It was a tough exercise in legislative drafting, debate, compromise and committee wrangling. But he faced down the hard questions from a complex communications marketplace, and got it through the process. Gov. Greg Gianforte, who made broadband a cornerstone of his campaign last year, signed the bill into law on May 11. The executive branch in Helena must now stand up the new office called for in the bill and implement that legislation.

Congratulations to the Legislature for making the tough choices and hammering out a fair bill which may just put Montana in a respectable position on the national broadband map for the first time in history.

A Montana attorney, Roger Fleming was previously a counsel on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in Congress, where he worked on telecommunications issues. He is the author of "Majority Rules" and "Outsider Rules," both fictional exposes about insider politics.

Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
 in their conduct, should conform to the requirements of the law, in professional service to clients;

 should use the laws procedures only for legitimate purposes and not to harass or intimidate others;

 should demonstrate respect for the legal system and for those who serve it, including judges, other lawyers and public officials;

 have a duty, when necessary, to challenge the rectitude of official action, but also a duty to uphold legal process;

 should further the publics understanding of and confidence in the rule of law and the justice system because legal institutions in a constitutional democracy depend on popular participation and support to maintain their authority;

 as officers of the court, have a duty to engender trust in the profession and the rule of law. Trust in the integrity of the system and those who operate it is a basic necessity of the rule of law.

One can only wonder how these principles are honored when the attorney generals office, ostensibly retained by the legislative leadership, states in its April 12, 2021, letter to the acting chief justice of the Montana Supreme Court that its client does not recognize a particular order of the Supreme Court as binding and will not abide by it.
Dicamba has been a successful herbicide going back into the 1960s.

It was used on the farms by the fathers of many of todays senior farmers. But it got a new life three years ago when soybean seed was sold that would tolerate dicamba to be sprayed on soybeans without damage to anything but the weeds in the field. Monsanto, now incorporated into Bayer, had a new gem in its long line of farm chemicals.

But, as with any new products, test samples were shared with university researchers, with the hope they would help sell the product to farmers with their recommendations. It was a tried and true marketing ploy, and Monsanto had a lot of friends in the ranks of university weed scientists. But some of them expressed concerns about the dicamba products of Bayer and BASF when the herbicide would uncontrollably volatilize and move around the countryside.

Weeds were killed in the target fields. And non-dicamba tolerant soybeans were killed in adjacent fields. It was not the farmers fault, reported Aaron Hager at the University of Illinois, Kevin Bradley, at the University of Missouri, Larry Steckel at Tennessee, and Jason Norsworthy at Arkansas. Their research indicated there was a problem with dicamba, and those bad news reports began to filter into the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which was preparing to register the dicamba products for several more years of legal use.

 Please log in to keep reading. {{featured_button_text}} Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

But Bayer was pushing back, on the problems and tallying complaints in different ways to diminish the apparent seriousness of the issue. The EPA authorized the new registrations for the dicamba products with little comment and the university researchers were stymied about that. Now we know why.

Last week the Office of Inspector General (OIG) in the EPA issued a scathing report about how some non-scientific staff members within the EPA involved themselves in the results of the testing. The St. Louis Post Dispatch, home newspaper of Monsanto, reported, Senior staffers improperly influenced the decision to re-approve the controversial herbicide in 2018. It does more than sow distrust, several said. It undermines the credibility of federal regulators, discourages the participation of outside scientists, encourages lawyers to mount new arguments, and could push farmers to reconsider their crop decisions.

The OIG report also said that EPA personnel, upset with the outside involvement in the decisions to register the product were reluctant to say anything. For instance, these documents excluded some conclusions initially assessed by staff scientists to address stakeholder risks. We also found that staff felt constrained or muted in sharing their concerns on the dicamba registrations.

With such revelations, what does the EPA do with such a hot button issue? The EPA communications office said, "The agency has responded to the Office of the Inspector General's report and is implementing several actions to ensure that our pesticide registration decisions are free from political interference and that the agency's scientific integrity policy is upheld," the statement said.

But what does that do for farmers planning on using dicamba, for attorneys feasting on big lawsuits about dicambas use, and the future of an otherwise good weed killer?

Stu Ellis is an observer of the Central Illinois agriculture scene. In addition to his weekly column, you can view his From The Farm and Harvest Heritage reports on WCIA 3 News.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
DECATUR  After missing last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Decatur Chamber Business Expo 2021 is back.

The free Decatur Regional Chamber of Commerce event, presented by the Herald & Review, will once again highlight local businesses that provide a variety of services.

Business owners, managers and employees will be available for questions, information and a few samples from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, June 10, at the Decatur Civic Center.

Tickets for $15 are available for the VIP Preview Party scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 9, at the civic center.

 Please log in to keep reading. {{featured_button_text}} Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.

For the $20, the State of the City Breakfast will be from 7 to 8:30 a.m. Thursday, June 10, in the Civic Center. Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe will provide an update on city issues. A breakfast buffet will be provided by Debbie's Diner.

During lunchtime at the expo, the Taste of Decatur will provide samples of local foods with the purchase of five tickets for $10. Hours will be 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

To purchase tickets for the special events, visit www.decaturchamber.com.

Contact Donnette Beckett at (217) 421-6983. Follow her on Twitter: @donnettebHR

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0

The business news you need With a weekly newsletter looking back at local history. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Welcome Guest! You Are Here:
SPRINGFIELD  The General Assembly this week passed legislation addressing lingering concerns from law enforcement about a massive criminal justice reform omnibus passed earlier this year.

Introduced by Chicago Democratic Sen. Elgie Sims, an amendment to House Bill 3443 would act as trailer legislation for the SAFE-T Act, a major criminal justice reform backed by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus that was signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker in February. That measure mandated body cameras and changed use-of-force guidelines for law enforcement, created a new police certification system, expanded detainee rights and ends the use of cash bail in Illinois.

Unlike the SAFE-T Act, Sims new legislation has the support of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and the Illinois State Police and amends some controversial portions of the act that were opposed by law enforcement.

In a statement posted to its website, the IACP approved of the amendments changes relaxing rules around body cameras, removing some use-of-force restriction language and extending deadlines for new training standards.

It passed the Senate 42-17, but in the House, Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Chicago, who negotiated most of the major provisions in the SAFE-T Act alongside Sims, ran into opposition from fellow Chicago Democratic Rep. Curtis Tarver.

Tarver rejected the idea that it was a Black Caucus amendment because Slaughter did not present it to the entire Black Caucus before he and Sims introduced the legislation.

The legislation ultimately passed 79-36, with multiple Republicans voting in favor of the measure and Tarver voting as the sole dissenting Democrat. A brief parliamentary hold was put on the bill, but as of Wednesday it had been lifted, clearing the way for it to head to the governor.

The SAFE-T Act [is] a bold momentous transformational initiative that makes Illinois a national leader in criminal justice reform, and a model for other states to follow, Slaughter said. I beg of you, respect the hard work of the stakeholders that came together on a product where there are no winners or no losers on a bill, where no one gets everything that they want. As a sponsor of this bill I'm absolutely honored to work with all the stakeholders and proud of our efforts.

The changes

A provision in the SAFE-T Act prevented officers accused of misconduct or involved in a shooting, or who have used force which resulted in bodily harm, from using footage from their body camera or recordings from other officers when writing reports of the incident.

HB 3443 keeps that provision in place, but adds language that allows an officer, with a supervisors approval, to file a supplementary report for which they can access body camera footage.

 Please log in to keep reading. {{featured_button_text}} Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Deadly force provisions are also changed.

The SAFE-T Act instituted limits on when an officer may use deadly force to two scenarios  when they believe deadly force is needed to prevent death or harm to themselves or another person; or when an individual who just committed a violent felony and cannot be caught at a later time is attempting to escape, is likely to cause great harm to another person and only deadly force can stop them.

The amendment removes the word just, requiring only that a violent felony was committed in general. The amendment also removes the requirement that a dangerous individual cannot be apprehended at a later date, leaving the restrictions that an officer must believe only deadly force is able to stop the suspect and that the suspect is likely to greatly injure another person.

As a counterbalance to the removed language, the amendment adds that the officers ability to use deadly force ends when the threat of bodily harm to the officer or another ends.

Chokeholds, which are considered deadly force under the SAFE-T Act, are defined as any direct pressure to the throat, windpipe or airway. The amendment carves out an exception for contact with an individuals neck that is not intended to reduce the intake of air. An example listed is a headlock which can be wrapped around a suspects forehead or chin.

A provision on law enforcement misconduct is also changed to be more lenient under the amendment. In order for an officer to be charged with law enforcement misconduct, a Class 3 felony, the officer must have knowingly and intentionally misrepresented or withheld knowledge of the facts of a case with the intent to obstruct the prosecution or defense of an individual, under the amendment.

The IACP also noted a lack of state funding for the body camera mandate and the fact that the attorney general can issue penalties to individual officers, rather than penalties for their departments and municipalities, for civil infractions, as major issues unaddressed in the trailer bill.

The Illinois Chiefs support the trailer bill. It addresses many of our serious concerns with the SAFE-T Act, and law enforcement will be much better off with these changes, the statement from the IACP concludes. We remain concerned about unresolved and unaddressed issues, but in recent months we have strengthened a process of negotiating honestly and in good faith with legislators about criminal justice reform.

Sims released a statement after his amendment passed the Senate.

Public safety has always been the number one priority of the SAFE-T Act and our goal remains the same to create safer communities. That's why, when negotiating these changes, we again included input from advocates, law enforcement officials and various stakeholders, he said.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
lawmakers approved ethics reforms Monday and early Tuesday morning that advocates said would bar elected officials from lobbying other units of government and interrupt the "revolving door" of lawmakers leaving and then returning to lobby the General Assembly.

The package, which received bipartisan support in the Illinois House and Senate, also would give the legislative inspector general the power to initiate investigations of lawmakers without first receiving approval from a bipartisan commission of lawmakers.

"This legislation takes the first steps in addressing some of the most egregious scandals in our state's history," said Sen. Ann Gillespie, D-Arlington Heights. "It offers bipartisan solutions to re-establish public trust in our institutions.

"While it won't end corruption overnight, it closes many of the loopholes that have allowed bad actors to game the system for decades," she said.

Later Tuesday, Gov. JB Pritzker didn't say whether he would sign Senate Bill 539 into law but praised the legislation.

"It isn't perfect, and more work definitely remains, but there are more ways now to putting a stop to corruption than there ever have been before," he said at a Statehouse news conference.

Senate Bill 539, approved first on a 113-5 vote in the House and then with a 59-0 vote in the Senate at 1:20 a.m. Tuesday, now heads to the governor's desk.

The Democratic governor and lawmakers from the Democratic and Republican parties have called for ethics reforms following numerous indictments, convictions and investigations in recent years involving lawmakers  including former House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat  and powerful lobbying interests such as Commonwealth Edison.

The bill would prohibit legislators from lobbying for six months after they leave office or the remainder of the two-year legislative term during which they leave, whichever comes first.

The legislation also would require "consultants" to register as lobbyists. Lobbyists would be required to disclose more information about themselves on public documents filed with the state.

And lawmakers who resign at the beginning of a month no longer would receive their legislative pay for the month under the bill.

Political fundraisers  whether in-person or virtual  would be prohibited anywhere in Illinois on a legislative session day or the day before or after a session day.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans pushing for reforms got everything they wanted in the package, but Sen. John Curran, R-Downers Grove, said the bill represents "an important step forward."

"Corruption is not a victimless crime," he said. "It hurts our state's ability to operate by eroding the public's trust in their elected officials who are supposed to be protecting them.

"Let's face it," he said. "With the indictments that have been brought forward over the last several years, the people of Illinois continue to lose faith and trust in their government. We are well past the point where we can just point to those who have betrayed their oath of office and not move forward with ethical reforms."

Gillespie said the bill's ban on current legislators lobbying other branches of state government or other units of government is designed to prevent situations such as the case of former state Rep. Luis Arroyo, D-Chicago.

While still a legislator, Arroyo was arrested and charged in 2019 with bribing a state senator to support gambling legislation that would have benefited a client he was lobbying on behalf of at Chicago city hall.

 Please log in to keep reading. {{featured_button_text}} Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.

The legislation would require lobbyists, except in Chicago, to register with the secretary of state. Gillespie said Chicago officials think the city's ethics rules are more stringent than what SB 539 would provide.

Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope, a former central Illinois judge, has said she needs more independence, including the power to issue subpoenas and issue public reports without prior approval from the commission, to be more effective.

SB 539 doesn't address the subpoena or the public reports issue. It also wouldn't give the state attorney general the power to convene a statewide grand jury to investigate public corruption, as similar elected officials can do in some other states.

Gillespie and Curran said they will continue to work on future legislation. The bill was a compromise based on the provisions that would gain enough votes to pass, they said.

"Today we take a large step forward in delivering real ethics reform," Curran said.

But Alisa Kaplan, executive director of Chicago-based Reform for Illinois, said the bill doesn't go far enough.

The six-month ban on lobbying for former legislators would put Illinois at the "bottom of the barrel" among states, she said. Three dozen states prohibit lobbying by ex-legislators for a year or more.

The legislative inspector general needs independent authority to issue subpoenas and reports, Kaplan said, calling the bill a "missed opportunity."

"Considering the crisis of confidence that is facing us in Illinois government, it's not enough," she said.

Even though the bill received overwhelming bipartisan support in the House, Republicans said the bill is not enough to fix the state's problems with corruption.

"We've seen members of this body clearly act outside of what the public has entrusted them to do in instances that are maybe illegal, maybe not ... I'm really disappointed with this piece of legislation," said Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Morrisonville.

Rep. Blaine Wilhour, R-Beecher City, said lawmakers "haven't earned our trust on any of this stuff.

"We have a habit in this body of acting like we're dealing with the real issues without really dealing with the real pressing issues in this state," he said. "I call it legislative press releases. You know, let's make the voters back home, pretend like we're doing something. Really what we're doing in a lot of ways is maintaining the status quo, the broken status quo."

Republicans said the bill's six-month revolving-door ban between a legislator resigning and then returning as a lobbyist is too short.

They noted that the bill contains a loophole: If a lawmaker resigned with less than six months remaining in his or her term, the lawmaker still could become a lobbyist as soon as the term ends.

"I think this is really a weak excuse for a revolving door," Bourne said.

The bill's House sponsor, Rep. Kelly Burke, D-Evergreen Park, said many of the recent former lawmakers who have been charged with crimes did things that already were against the law. But she said her bill is a step forward, and she is willing to work with Republicans to strengthen ethics legislation in the future.

"This bill is a big step forward for transparency," Burke said. "It will allow us to work toward earning more public trust."

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
CHICAGO  A study released Tuesday suggests lingering loopholes allow Chicago police to share information with federal immigration authorities, despite activists hard-fought victory to strengthen the city's sanctuary protections this year.

The 19-page report produced by a University of Chicago professor and immigrant rights groups indicates when police can give information to immigration agencies under the federal Department of Homeland Security. That includes the citys much-maligned gang database as well as data collected at high-tech information centers from an extensive camera network, license plate readers and gunshot detection systems.

The sizable trove of information about Chicago residents in the hands of the police creates an enormous danger for the citys immigrant communities, the report said. Chicago police "continue to use a vast network of technologies, which Immigration and Customs Enforcement can employ to target immigrants despite the Welcoming City Ordinance's protections."

Chicago bolstered its sanctuary protections in February when Mayor Lori Lightfoot signed a plan describing limited circumstances when police can work with immigration agents, including if a person living in the country without legal permission has an outstanding criminal warrant or is named in the gang database.

However, the report raises questions about existing operations, saying Chicago police policies allow outside law enforcement agencies to access data from an information center as long as there is criminal predicate." The department does not explain what that means, with activists suggesting it could include a law that criminalizes improper border crossings.

Part of the issue is the lack of information on how the centers operate, according to the report. Researchers relied in part on Freedom of Information Act requests, many of which were withheld.

Its very unclear to us what sort of check is being done to make sure that the reason that information is being requested is valid, said Nicole Hallett, an associate clinical professor of law at the University of Chicago.

 Please log in to keep reading. {{featured_button_text}} Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.

Chicagos first high-tech fusion center was created in 2007 and is staffed by police and outside agents including from the Illinois State Police and Homeland Security. A decade later, the city created local versions to help process the massive data influx.

Authorities have praised the centers for fostering collaboration in investigations and the availability of real-time information to dispatch officers to fight crime. But civil rights groups have raised concerns about the type of surveillance and privacy in cities including Washington D.C., Atlanta and Austin, Texas. Several states have limited the use of facial recognition over fears of civil rights violations and racial bias.

We are over-surveilled as a city, said Kevin Herrera of Just Futures Law, a group that helped with the report. The degree that CPD has access to our images constantly and advance additional surveillance doesnt make us safer and enhances the vulnerability of the immigrant community.

For instance, questions have been raised about the accuracy of the methods.

Last month, the MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern Universitys law school, and other groups said in a court filing that gunshot detection routinely reports gunshots where there are none, sending police into largely Black and Latino areas for unnecessary and hostile encounters.

The city has also lagged in replacing its error-riddled gang database, which has been shared with hundreds of outside agencies. A Chicago Office of Inspector General audit in 2019 showed that of the roughly 134,000 people listed, roughly 95% were Black or Latino. While the department promised to overhaul it, a follow-up audit in March showed continued use of the deeply flawed system.

Messages left Tuesday for Chicago police and Lightfoot's office werent immediately returned.

Still, top city officials argue that using technology such as gunshot detection and the fusion centers is essential for solving crimes. Last month, Lightfoot called the combination of technologies a lifesaver.

The report called for further changes to Chicagos sanctuary protections to specify that information cannot be shared on immigration-related offenses, to end use of the gang database and to offer more transparency on how the police department collects and processes personal information.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Our national motto  In God We Trust  was not birthed along with our nation in 1776. In fact, founders such as Franklin, Jefferson and Madison probably wouldnt have looked kindly on such a motto. They were skeptical about traditional religion, and they were particularly wary of connections between church and state.

No, we waited until July 30, 1956, when the House and Senate unanimously adopted In God We Trust as the motto of the United States. The phrase had been placed on currency since the Civil War, but Congress applied its official sanction during the Cold War, largely as an assertion of our righteousness in comparison to the godlessness of the Soviet Union.

But maybe its time to rethink In God We Trust. Despite the unanimous action by Congress in 1956, the phrase has never been free of controversy. In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt objected to its use on American coinage, calling it dangerously close to sacrilege.

We like to think of ourselves as a Christian nation, but In God We Trust suggests of the sort of prideful assertion of religious sanctimony that Jesus wasnt particularly fond of. He said: (D)o not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.

Jesus preferred a more personal expression of faith. Trusting God takes place in the heart, and its presumptuous to make such an assertion of trust on behalf of an entire nation.

 Please log in to keep reading. {{featured_button_text}} Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.

Besides, how well have we lived up to our national motto, anyway? Jesus preached much more compassion for the poor and downtrodden than we seem to be willing to commit these days. Do we really love our enemies?

And have our leaders and presidents actually demonstrated much trust in God? Nixon? Clinton? Trump? The only plausible candidate for genuine godliness is probably Jimmy Carter, a president widely reviled by the right and not that popular on the left, either.

But the fact that we dont live up to our motto has not stopped us from asserting it. Last week the Texas legislature passed a law that requires every elementary school, secondary school and institution of higher education in Texas to display a poster or framed copy of our national motto in every campus building. The legislators declined to put limits on the size of such displays, and they rejected an amendment that would have permitted parents some control over what is displayed in their childrens classrooms.

Which raises the question of which God our motto professes to trust. Its the Christian God, of course. Jews might see him as Jehovah, but its a real stretch to imagine that our motto refers to Allah or any others in the potential pantheon. Thus in Texas and at least 11 other states, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs and people of no religion  Americans all  will pass posted assertions of unlimited size of the dubious notion that We trust a God that they dont necessarily worship.

Whats the purpose of a national motto? If its to bring us together rather than exclude some of us, couldnt we find a motto thats more inclusive? Before In God We Trust, our unofficial motto was E Pluribus Unum (Out of Many, One). Thats not bad.

Or how about We the People? Or With Liberty and Justice for All? Or A New Nation, Conceived in Liberty?

Surely we can find a motto that articulates our best hopes rather than one that merely boasts about our supposed piety.

John M. Crisp is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service. Email jcrispcolumns@gmail.com.

Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1
In other news, four public safety employees were awarded the Bristol First Award for the month of June.

Firefighter/paramedic Austin Mason, firefighter/paramedic Jason Hilton, firefighter/advanced EMT Chuck Wrights and firefighter/EMT Tim Robinson were nominated by Ballad Health Emergency Medicine Physician Matthew Clark, of Bristol Regional Medical Center, after the four assisted a 77-year-old patient seemingly in cardiac arrest during an event at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 24.

According to the nomination submission, the men performed CPR and other life-saving tactics for nearly 25 minutes prior to arriving at the hospital. The patient survived and was alert and conversational the following day.

I was thinking about if I were in cardiac arrest for 24 minutes, would I have much hope? Powers said. Obviously, in the city of Bristol, there is much hope for that time of incident.

New tourism board

City Council will have a called meeting at 9 a.m. on June 10 in the annex conference room in City Hall to nominate board directors for its new independent tourism marketing organization, called Bristol Regional Tourism Marketing Corp.
HICKORY  Greater Hickory Cooperative Christian Ministry and the Downtown Hickory Farmers Market announce the fifth annual Farm to Fork, Expand the Table fundraiser for 2021. The event benefits and supports the mission of both organizations.

This year, the two organizations are continuing the tradition started last year of offering chef-inspired and prepared to-go meals. New for 2021 is the inclusion of a re-useable tote, in addition to offering a "two series" option to purchase a summer meal and a late fall meal. The date for the summer meal is Thursday, July 29, and Thursday, Oct. 28, for the fall.

Five local chefs will showcase locally grown produce from local farmers who participate in the Downtown Hickory Farmers Market. The chefs are donating their time and talents to create a culinary feast that highlights the variety of seasonal foods plentiful to this area. The chefs include John Buff, Executive Chef, Charolais Steak House; Rick Doherr, Executive Chef Cafe Rule and Wine Bar; Joey Mansueto, Executive Chef, Catawba Country Club; Ben Sullivan, Executive Sous Chef, Catawba Country Club; and Daniel Wheeler, Chef, The Stanley.

Corporate sponsors supporting this event include Paramount Automotive Group, Premier Sponsor; MDI, Alex Lee, Lowes Foods; Frye Regional Medical Center; OrthoCarolina; and Farm Bureau Insurance.
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP)  After nearly five decades of blowin' in the wind, a double Bob Dylan album finally has a direction home: A man living in San Francisco has mailed the vinyl back to an Ohio library 48 years after it was supposed to be returned.

Howard Simon recently sent the album along with a letter to Heights Libraries apologizing for his tardiness, according to a news release from the library system outside Cleveland.

Simon checked out Dylans Self Portrait album in 1973 as an eighth-grader at a University Heights middle school. Simon, now 73, says he found it between two other Dylan albums in his personal vinyl collection.

As a recent retiree, I am taking the opportunity to turn my attention to some of the many vignettes of life that by dint of career and family have been neglected these many years, Simon wrote. I am returning with the letter an overdue item by my count, approximately 17,480 days overdue as of this writing.

His letter says the album cover is a little battered after traveling with him from University Heights to San Francisco with various stops in between, but the library says the records themselves remain in great shape.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP)  For generations Marcus Whitman has been widely viewed as an iconic figure from early Pacific Northwest history, a venerated Protestant missionary who was among 13 people killed by the Cayuse tribe near modern-day Walla Walla, Washington, in 1847.

But this past year has seen a continued reappraisal of Whitman, whose actions have increasingly been viewed as imperialistic and destructive.

The Washington Legislature voted to strip his likeness from the U.S. Capitol. Students at Whitman College in Walla Walla demonstrated recently to demand another Whitman statue be removed from campus. A new book says a well-known story about Whitmans efforts to save the Northwest from British rule was fabricated.

The developments come amid a nationwide movement, following George Floyds death last year, to shed Confederate monuments and depictions of historical figures who mistreated Native Americans. Statues of colonizers have been targeted in several states.

Marcus Whitman is known for leading a small group of missionaries in 1836 into what was then Oregon Country, a region about the size of Alaska. He established the Whitman Mission at Waiilatpu, near the Walla Walla River.

The mission was in the territory of the Cayuse Tribe, which was wary of the white settlers.
MOSCOW (AP)  The Russian parliament's upper house voted Wednesday to withdraw from an international treaty allowing surveillance flights over military facilities following the U.S. exit from the treaty.

The vote comes after U.S. officials told Moscow last month that President Joe Biden's administration had decided not to reenter the Open Skies Treaty, which had allowed surveillance flights over military facilities before President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact.

As a presidential candidate, Biden had criticized Trumps withdrawal as short-sighted. Moscow has signaled its readiness to reverse the withdrawal procedure and stay in the 1992 treaty if the United States returns to the agreement.

After the Russian upper house voted to leave the treaty, it would now come to Russian President Vladimir Putin for signing. If Putin endorses the exit, it would take effect in six months.

Putin and Biden are to have a summit in Geneva on June 16. The meeting comes as Russia-U.S. ties have sunk to the lowest levels since the Cold War times after Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, the accusations of Moscow's interference in U.S. elections, hacking attacks and other irritants.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ahsan Iqbal

Lahore [Pakistan], June 2 (ANI): Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Secretary-General Ahsan Iqbal has said that not trying Prime Minister Imran Khan for treason was a mistake, in connection with an attack on the Pakistani parliament almost seven years ago.

"We should have filed a treason case against Imran Khan under Article 6 for attacking the parliament... but we could not, which was our mistake," Iqbal told a presser in the party's secretariat on Monday, reported Dawn.

He said that the attack on the parliament was a 'grave crime' as it was tantamount to attacking the constitution and said that the mistake of not trying Khan was for the larger interest as the Nawaz Sharif government did not want to be accused of political victimisation.

A party insider said some members had asked Nawaz to book Imran Khan under Article 6 but he could not take a decision to the effect saying that it would not work as the 'powers that be' were with Khan.

This comes after an anti-terrorism court had acquitted the Prime Minister in the 2014 Parliament House attack case, Dawn reported.

On Sept 1, 2014, hundreds of protesters belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Dr Tahirul Qadri's Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), had allegedly ransacked the PTV headquarters and the Parliament House and brutally beaten a senior police official.

Imran Khan, Tahirul Qadri and several others were booked for their alleged involvement in the attack.

Iqbal further said that Khan had tried his utmost to topple the PML-N government in 2014 with the support of the 'local and international establishment'.

"It was an open secret that Imran Khan along with the then DG ISI was conspiring against the elected government. With the help of the international lobbies Imran Khan had created hurdles in the visit of the Chinese president and got it postponed," he said.

The opposition leader further said that the Imran Khan government was lying on its economic achievements as it burdened the nation with a loan of Rs 13,000 billion and it completely failed in tax collection.

The defeat in every by-election showed the [eroding] popularity of the PTI government which had made the lives of the masses miserable, he said.

The PML-N leader also warned the PTI government against making any plan to postpone the upcoming Pakistan-occupied Kashmir election. (ANI)
Restraining order extended against Baring Vostok embezzlement case defendants

   / ""

15:00 02/06/2021

MOSCOW, June 2 (RAPSI)  Moscows Meshchansky District Court on Wednesday extended restraining order against Baring Vostok investment company's founder Michael Calvey and other defendants charged with embezzling over 2.5 billion rubles (about 34 million at the current exchange rate) from Vostochny bank, the courts press service told RAPSI.

Last week, investigators finished furnishing evidence in the case.

In late 2020, the Supreme Court of Russia changed a restrictive measure of Calvey and other defendants. They were prohibited from leaving home from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. and attend Vostochny bank and the First Collectors Bureau.

Other defendants whose restrictive measure was also changed are Baring Vostok partner for the financial industry sector Philippe Delpal, Baring Vostok investment director Ivan Zyuzin, partner Vagan Abgaryan, CEO of the First Collectors Bureau Maxim Vladimirov and former chairmen of the board of Vostochny bank Alexey Kordichev.

In early December, the Moscow City Court denied release of over 7.5 million rubles ($117,000) belonging to Calvey from attachment but overturned the seizure of his flat.

In mid-February 2019, Moscows Basmanny District Court ordered detention of Calvey and five other defendants including Delpal, the companys partners Vagan Abgaryan, Baring Vostok Investment Director Ivan Zyuzin, Maxim Vladimirov and ex- chairman of Vostochny bank board Alexey Kordichev.

On April 11, Moscows Basmanny District Court released Calvey from detention and put him under house arrest. Delpals measure of restrained was changed in October.

According to investigation, Calvey knowing about a 2.5-billion-ruble debt of the First Collector Bureau, a firm under his control, has organized the sale of its shares to Vostochny bank that has led to embezzlement.

The Investigative Committee claims that he committed a crime that could not be classified as business crime because he used a chain of sham companies settling the deal. Moreover, investigators say they have a PricewaterhouseCoopers audit report on the done deal estimating the sold shares at 600,000 rubles, which indicates an instance of fraud.

Calvey denies allegations insisting that the deal was fair as both companies agreed its terms and stood for it, including a person reporting an alleged crime to law enforcement bodies. He noted that a report has been filed with police by a member of Vostochny bank board of directors Sherzod Yusupov. According to Calvey, the real reason of his prosecution is a wide corporate dispute related to the control of the bank by two groups of shareholders: Baring Vostok and stockholders coming from Uniastrum bank, which was reorganized and joined to Vostochny in early 2017.

Baring Vostok company founded by Calvey in 1994 focuses on private equity investments in the CIS and Russia. The company has invested in shares of Yandex, Vkusvill, Tinkoff Bank and other major projects.
Chinese aircraft (File photo)

Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia], June 2 (ANI): Malaysia's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said it would summon China's Ambassador to explain an 'intrusion' by 16 Chinese military airplanes into its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) after Malaysia's military detected "suspicious" activity over the South China Sea, reported CNN.

This comes after Malaysia's Air Force on Monday said it scrambled jets to conduct visual confirmation after China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) planes flew within 60 nautical miles off Sarawak state of Malaysian Borneo, reported CNN.

It described the incident as a "serious threat to national sovereignty and flight safety", adding that the Chinese planes did not conduct regional air traffic control despite being instructed several times.

Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia will issue a note of diplomatic protest and ask China's ambassador to Malaysia to explain the "breach of the Malaysian airspace and sovereignty."

"Malaysia's stand is clear -- having friendly diplomatic relations with any countries does not mean that we will compromise on our national security," the minister said in a statement.

Meanwhile, China's embassy in Malaysia has said that the planes conducted routine flight training and 'strictly abided by' international law without violating the airspace of other countries.

"China and Malaysia are friendly neighbors, and China is willing to continue bilateral friendly consultations with Malaysia to jointly maintain regional peace and stability," CNN quoted a spokesperson of the embassy.

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea and has overlapping territorial claims with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

China has been increasing its maritime activities in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea over the past few months, partly in response to Beijing's concerns over the increasing US military presence in the region because of escalating Sino-US tensions.

Story continues

Last year, a Chinese survey ship held a month-long standoff with a Malaysian oil exploration vessel within Malaysia's EEZ, reported CNN.

Meanwhile, the Philippines has lodged protest against China's continuing "illegal presence and activities" near Pag-asa Islands last week.

"The Department of Foreign Affairs lodged a diplomatic protest yesterday against the incessant deployment, prolonged presence, and illegal activities of Chinese maritime assets and fishing vessels in the vicinity of the Pag-asa islands, demanding that China withdraw these vessels. The Pag-asa Islands is an integral part of the Philippines over which it has sovereignty and jurisdiction," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. (ANI)
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (File Photo)

Brussels [Belgium], June 2 (ANI): At a NATO Foreign Minister's virtual meeting at Brussels on Tuesday (local time), Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the organisation will continue to support Afghanistan's security forces even after the planned withdrawal this year of the alliance's 9,600 troops.

"A civilian presence in the capital Kabul will be maintained to provide advice to security institutions," said Jens Stoltenberg, reported UAE based news portal The National News.

"We are ending our military mission in Afghanistan, but we will continue to provide support to the Afghans," Stoltenberg said.

He said that NATO members were committed to decisions they made when announcing the alliance's military withdrawal from the country after almost 20 years.

The military alliance was also planning to provide out-of-country training for Afghan special forces, reported The National News.

"We will also help to support the Afghan security forces by now working on how we can provide out-of-country training, especially for the Afghan special operation forces," said Stoltenberg.

"We are working on how we can support critical infrastructure, including the continued running of the international airport," added Stoltenberg.

"This is of course important for NATO and NATO civilian staff in Kabul, but also for, overall, the larger international community."

Last month, NATO announced it would withdraw its forces from Afghanistan this year (September 2021), despite fears that the Taliban could regain power.

The talks also looked at how NATO could bolster its collective defence and protect vital infrastructure, reported The National News.

"We also discussed concrete ways to sharpen our technological edge and prevent technological gaps among allies," Stoltenberg said.

He told a press conference that NATO members were "considering [establishing] a defence innovation accelerator - a new centre to foster greater co-operation among allies on technology, underpinned with extra funding from nations that decide to participate".

Story continues

Stoltenberg said there was a broad agreement that "additional resources" were needed to tackle the challenges faced by a more "unpredictable" and "contested world".

NATO has a "historic opportunity" to strengthen the transatlantic relationship, he added.

US President Joe Biden has sought to rebuild ties with NATO and the EU after four tumultuous years under former president Donald Trump, who was often critical of the alliance and member states.

"Of course, spending together is a way to invest in the bond between Europe and North America. NATO brings Europe and North America together every day," Stoltenberg said, as he urged member states to increase funding.

The Pentagon's Central Command, responsible for operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East, said that it had already completed up to 44 per cent of the US military's withdrawal, reported The National News.

Biden has set September 11 as the deadline for all US personnel to be out of Afghanistan, officially ending America's longest war, which began soon after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

According to The National News, on Wednesday, the NATO chief will head to London for talks with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab. (ANI)
Cambodian Prime Minister Hu Sen (Photo Credit - Reuters)

Singapore, June 3 (ANI): Cambodia, China's closest ally in south-east Asia, looks to 'reset ties' with US amid a landmark visit to Phnom Penh by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.

Chris Barrett writing in The Sydney Morning Herald said Cambodia is viewed as vassal of China, but there are signs emerging of discomfort from within the one-party south-east Asian nation about its over-dependence on the superpower.

The visit of Sherman on Tuesday coincided with a column from Prime Minister Hun Sen in Cambodia's state-owned news agency. It said it was "time for the US and Cambodia, in China's shadow, to reset ties", reported The Sydney Morning Herald.

Sherman is on a regional tour that has already taken in Indonesia and includes a stop in Thailand but it is the visit to Cambodia that is most noteworthy in the context of the geopolitical rivalry between the US and China, wrote Barrett.

"The fact that the US Deputy Secretary of State is visiting speaks volumes to Cambodia's degree of discomfort at the position it has found itself in, in relation to China, its investments and China's expectations arising from those investments in Cambodia," said John Blaxland, professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies at the Australian National University.

"There are voices in the Cambodian government - they're not very loud ones but they are reasonably influential - that are very uncomfortable with the degree to which Cambodia has become dependent on China."

China has channelled billions into Cambodia in projects under its Belt and Road Initiative, most glaringly in coastal Sihanoukville, where dozens of casino developments for Chinese tourists shot up in recent years, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.

The noises being made about mending bridges with the US suggest Cambodia is seeking to find middle ground, wrote Barrett.

The issue for the US is how it can strengthen ties when it has been such a vocal critic of human rights abuses in Cambodia. The Hun Sen regime dissolved the main opposition party in the lead-up to the 2018 election and has placed nearly 150 party members on trial for treason and incitement.

Story continues

Mu Sochua, vice-president of the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), on Tuesday questioned whether charges of treason would be withdrawn against CNRP president Kem Sokha, who was accused of colluding with the Americans in a plot to overthrow Hun Sen four years ago. Last year, the US ambassador to Cambodia, Patrick Murphy, labelled such alleged plots as "fabricated conspiracy theories".

Blaxland, however, believes the Biden administration is playing a different tune to its predecessor, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.

"It's not hammering Hun Sen at the moment over human rights or democracy issues. It's just trying to engage," Blaxland said.

He also suggested Hun Manet, the eldest son of Hun Sen, who has reportedly been groomed as his successor, as a potentially key figure in improving relations. A general in the Cambodian army, the 43-year-old is a graduate of US military academy West Point.

Another important factor is Cambodia taking over as chair of ASEAN next year. It was five years ago that Phnom Penh stood in the way of the regional bloc issuing a statement acknowledging an international court ruling that found China had no legal basis for its claim to most of the South China Sea, wrote Barrett.

China's maritime ambitions have again been a hot topic this week. Beijing has helped pay for the redevelopment of Cambodia's Ream Naval Base following the dismantling US-funded facilities there last year and the Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative last week published satellite images of two buildings it said had been rapidly built ahead of Sherman's visit. (ANI)
Singaporean flag (Credit: Reuters Pictures)

Singapore, June 2 (ANI): After Singapore banned arrivals from India and other South Asian countries due to fears of an explosive Covid-19 outbreak, the country is now facing an increasing coronavirus-induced labour shortage - spraining its economic model.

Foreign nationals comprise about a third of the total workforce in Singapore, where construction and shipbuilding sectors rely heavily on low-cost labour especially from India and Bangladesh, says Kentaro Iwamoto in the Nikkei Asia.

Even before Singapore stopped entries from India and other South Asian nations, departures and tighter travel rules were already keeping foreign workers away from the country.

According to Iwamoto, the crunch has led to delays of construction projects by as much as a year, resulting in a surge of 30 per cent in the price of labour and sparking worries over excessive workloads.

"Some workers have even told us that they have been forced to work double shifts, each shift eight hours, for at least half the week since last year," Nikkei Asia quoted Desiree Leong, casework manager at the Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics, a local rights group.

The number of migrant workers in Singaporean building sites, shipyards and factories plunged by 16 per cent in 2020 to 311,000, according to government statistics. The total number of international workers also decreased by 14 per cent.

Meanwhile, the bans on short-term travelers and long-term pass holders from South Asia, which remain in place even though India's second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has eased.

Although the government last week maintained its annual growth outlook for this year at 4 per cent to 6 per cent, it warned the recovery's speed would be uneven across industries and flagged the manpower shortage as a drag on construction, reported Nikkei Asia.

"Recent border restrictions on the entry of foreign workers from South Asia will exacerbate ongoing severe labor shortages at construction worksites and shipyards," the Ministry of Trade and Industry said.

Story continues

Singapore's construction sector shrank by 36 per cent in 2020, while COVID-19 clusters in crowded worker dormitories shut down work sites. Despite the situation stabilising, the industry's decline continued in the first quarter of 2021, with a 23 per cent year-on-year fall.

Project delays in Singapore risk slower real estate sales, stalled facility openings and, potentially, weaker consumption. Thus, industry groups of the country are urging the government to reopen the border for South Asian workers. They argue housing, hospital and transit line projects will be "badly disrupted" if the entry ban continues.

Apart from Singapore, Vietnam's plans to send 500,000 workers abroad in the five years through 2025 have been cast in fresh doubt, partly due to border restrictions in key destinations like Japan, Iwamoto writes.

Regarding long hours of work, the Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics says some migrants have been reported working 14 to 16 hours a day and six days a week.

On May 17, nine construction-related industry organisations warned that the current workforce is "already working at maximum capacity, increasing the risks of workplace incidents." (ANI)
Greenpeace lawyer Neil Murray told the court the campaign did not breach the law because it did not use the AGL trademark in a trade context and its motives were pure.

The conduct of the campaign to cause people to be critical of AGL for continuing to operate coal until 2048 in the hope that that criticism will create pressure on AGL to change is a legitimate goal: initiating public debate for a beneficial cause, Murray said. To punish a charity for doing that would be unjust.

AGL accepted in its latest annual report that it was Australias largest greenhouse gas emitter with plans to continue generating electricity by burning coal until 2048, Murray said.

This is not a frolic invented by Greenpeace. This is a serious issue, the dynamics of which are recognized by AGL in its own documents, Murray said.

The campaign was aimed at ending Australian reliance on coal-fired power by 2030 as recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Its not . . . an exercise in gratuitous denigration of AGL, its not about trying to inflict maximum harm to them, Murray said. Its a socially responsible campaign addressed to a very specific issue based on international research.
The Infoblox (News - Alert) Q1 2021 Cyber Threat Intelligence Report provides original research and insight into threats we observed leading up to and including this period of time. During Q1 2021, the Infoblox Cyber Intelligence Unit (CIU) has published original research reports on campaigns delivering Valyria Trojan Drops Emotet, Snake Keylogger, Italian Emotet, Buer Loader Trojan, RuRAT Trojan, BazarStrike, Warezov Worm, Dridex Banking Trojan, Hancitor Downloader, Trickbot Loader, and Burkina Trojan.

Cloud Vulnerabilities Remain Front and Center

One of the leading causes of cloud breach vulnerability is errors in cloud administration, configuration, and setup, including too many points of administration and different dashboards and too many policies to propagate, synchronize, and maintain consistently.

Architecture requirements for large enterprises and government remain almost completely committed to hybrid as they have both on-premises and cloud resources to protect. New controls to secure container-based workloads, lockdown cloud configurations, and encrypt data in the cloud are still being deployed.

As we noted last quarter, many organizations use security stacks dont scale easily, if at all, from on-premises to the cloud. With new points of administration and management, plus a new front-end configuration, come increased opportunities for error and a potential data breach.

The CI/CD Pipeline Is Under Assault

There has been considerable coverage and research into the SolarWinds (News - Alert) breach. CISAs analysis of the attack on SolarWinds concluded that the threat actors added a malicious version of the binary SolarWinds.Orion.Core.BusinessLayer.dll into the SolarWinds software lifecycle. This version was then digitally signed by a legitimate SolarWinds code signing certificate. The malicious code became trusted once it was digitally signed, defeating the purpose of code signing: providing reassurance to users that the code an organization distributes can be trusted.

Crafting a strategy to breach a software providers most secured continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline means threat actors are aiming for the heart of cyber defenses. By successfully breaching the CI/CD pipeline, threat actors would assume a mantle of trust and are capable, virtually unhindered, of using an organizations trusted reputation to distribute malware across its user base, potentially enabling serious and widespread damage.

Remote Work Environments

With many organizations allowing users to utilize home broadband connections for work use, the corporate attack surface has grown substantially, with sensitive data being strewn and exposed everywhere. None of this has changed in Q1 2021.

Data supporting the incremental risk of WFA environments is circulating from a growing variety of sources. For example, the ed-tech advocacy group the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), creates and publishes surveys on cyber technology issues. According to Keith Krueger, CEO of CoSN, cybercriminals are using phishing scams to target remote students and educators, which often appear to come from recognizable email addresses at first glance. In a school environment, about 3 percent of teachers click inappropriately on phishing scams, Krueger said. That was jumping to 15 to 20 percent from home, so a lot of cybercriminals are getting into the network.

Email Remains the Leading Attack Vector

Email remains the top threat vector used to attack both government and businesses of all sizes. Email delivers 75 to 90 percent of malware. Despite training and widespread warnings against spam, users continue to open suspicious emails, both in their business and personal accounts. They click on malicious email attachments and URLs, as well as view websites not generally associated with business use.

The Infoblox CIU continues to observe widespread threat actor use of email campaigns employing social engineering tactics to propagate a variety of attacks. In some instances, these attacks are highly targeted to one individual or organization, a technique known as spear-phishing, but larger campaigns are more common.

Ransomware as a Service

The widespread use of ransomware continues unabated into Q1 2021, with ransomware tools increasing in sophistication. Ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) platforms that can be easily deployed by even the least technical ransomware threat actor. As threat actors become more skilled and capable at using ransomware, they are executing increasingly more damaging attacks, often against enterprises and government organizations.

COVID-19 Remains a Top Theme for Social Engineering

COVID-19 has continued to present threat actors with new opportunities. Over the past year, there has been an endless progression of COVID-related phishing attacks. As these attacks ramped up through 2020, Google (News - Alert) alone blocked a reported average of 18 million daily malicious COVID-19 messages to Gmail users. Beyond malware and phishing email, Google also blocked more than 240 million spam messages related to COVID-19.

This new opportunity saw threat actors successfully impersonating government authorities such as the World Health Organization (WHO). You can see our report on Trickbot WHO?, which used a fraudulent coronavirus alert from the WHO to deliver Trickbot banking malware. Other emails impersonated UNICEF and attempted to leverage psychological manipulation by posing as a childrens charity. You can see our earlier reports on coronavirus-related themes to get a sense of the depth and breadth of these campaigns. Earlier reports include COVID-19 Unemployment Fraud, Formbook Coronavirus Campaigns, New Agent Tesler Infostealer Campaigns Using Coronavirus Themes, Spoofed Coronavirus Map Delivers AZORult Infostealer and LokiBot Rides Fear of Coronavirus.

For all of these reasons and more, the cyberthreats remain alive and well. As before, threat actors will both innovate, adjust and sustain proven methods as 2021 unfolds. Rogue nation-states and organized crime will continue to build on their offensive capabilities. Accurate intelligence about timely, relevant threats enables an organization to make thoughtful, targeted improvements to its defenses and lower its risk.

Edited by Luke Bellos
MATTOON  Jasmine Jones, a former long time Mattoon Public Library children's department employee, will sign copies of his new children's book before the 2021 Movies in the Park series begins Friday.

The book signing is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. in the band shell pavilion and to continue until the free movie, "Trolls World Tour," begins at dusk in the adjacent field. Executive Director Carl Walworth said the signing will help mark the return of the library's annual summer movie series, which was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jones has written "The Caterpillar Room," illustrated by Ann Pomelova, that features the journey of Makala, a little caterpillar who is surprisingly fierce, strong and determined.

Most caterpillars are happy in their cocoon, Jones said of his book. But this being stuck inside of your shell is not good enough for Makala. Every day she watches her mom and sister leave and fly off as beautiful butterflies. As the book unfolds, Makala overcomes obstacles that are life lessons.

 Please log in to keep reading. {{featured_button_text}} Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Jones said he developed a love for writing his own stories as he read books to children and helped with the summer reading program at the library, where he worked for 20 years and had most recently served as program director. He worked with many local youths through Mattoon Area Family YMCA summer camps and other programs during that time.

"The Caterpillar Room" is the first book to be released from the archive of his writing. Additional information is available at https://www.thecaterpillarroom.com/. Copies of this book will be available for $20 each at Friday's signing. More books are in the development stage.

"This is a really nice new children's book," Walworth said of "The Caterpillar Room." He added that, "Jasmine has a good local following from his years at the library."

Jones has a bachelor's of general studies degree from Eastern Illinois University. He currently is a Chicago-based writer who lives in Calumet City. A lifelong reader, he spends weekends working on writing projects or having fun with his three children.

Movies in the Park films are set to be screened at dusk on most Fridays this summer on the field north of Lytle Pool, weather permitting. Movie-goers are encouraged to bring blankets or lawn chairs to watch the movies.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0

Stay up-to-date on what's happening Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP)  In a June 2 story about the killings of a woman and three children in Fort Wayne, Indiana, The Associated Press erroneously reported the time Wednesday when police found their bodies. Their bodies were found at around 10:45 a.m., not between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.
SPRINGFIELD  Just one year after signing a state budget amid a world of uncertainty, Gov. J.B. Pritzker was boastful Tuesday of the new spending plan approved by the legislature earlier in the morning.

Pritzker, speaking with reporters in the State Capitol, praised the proposal, offering a contrast to the budget challenges of a few years ago, when an impasse between then-Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislative Democrats lead to the state going 736 days without a spending plan.

Unfortunately, Illinois became an example for the nation of what happens when government and budgets are mismanaged, Pritzker said. Four years later, amidst the pain and loss caused by a deadly global pandemic, Illinois has become instead an example for the nation of how resilient our people are, not only in helping our families and our neighbors persist through a financial crisis and a health crisis, but also in managing through the state's fiscal challenges.

The states $42.3 billion budget for fiscal year 2022 was approved by the House 72-44-1 just minutes before midnight and 37-21 in the Senate just after 2 a.m.

The proposal includes an additional $350 million in K-12 education funding as called for under the states evidence-based funding formula and spends about $2.5 billion of the states $8.1 billion allocation of American Rescue Plan (ARPA) stimulus funds.

Despite starting with a $1.3 billion shortfall, Democratic lawmakers said the budget is balanced, relying on better-than-expected revenues buoyed by good economic performance along with ARPA funds.

The budget received no Republican votes. Members of the party sharply criticized several provisions, including the rollback of tax incentives for businesses totaling about $666 million and the use of $1 billion in ARPA funds for capital projects, which they said went completely towards Democratic priorities.

"Our side represents 4 million people in this state," said state Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet. "A 3,000-page bill and there's 4 million people that aren't including that billion dollars."

"The Democrats have come up with dozens more new pet projects and a billion dollars in additional pork," added state Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington. "At a time when most Illinoisans have tightened their belt, the majority Democrats have instead shown their unquenchable desire to tax and spend.

Pritzker pushed back at the GOP criticism regarding the tax credits, saying that the party wanted to use "one time COVID relief funds to kick the budget can down the road and give favors to wealthy business interests."

"In contrast, we Democrats are investing in priorities that will grow and revitalize our economy, improving our fiscal outlook dramatically and reducing tax expenditures on the world's wealthiest corporations," Pritzker said. "It's the Democrats that are getting the state's fiscal house in order."

The bill also calls for the paying down of $2 billion in debt that was incurred after borrowing from the federal government during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. States are not allowed to use ARPA funds to pay debt.

The House adjourned just before 2:40 a.m. while the Senate came back Tuesday afternoon to complete some unfinished business, including a bill that would eventually lead to a fully-elected Chicago school board.

Though the budget was wrapped up, a deal that would provide subsidies for three of Exelon's nuclear plants along with a larger road map to a carbon-free future temporarily fell apart at the eleventh hour.

Stakeholders were close to a deal late Monday evening, with Pritzkers administration and Exelon reaching agreement on a package of ratepayer subsidies.

But negotiations reportedly hit a snag over whether the Prairie State Energy coal plant in southern Illinois and Springfields municipally-owned coal-fired plant should be exempted from 2030 retirement deadlines.

 Please log in to keep reading. Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.

Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, advocated for a pause, which was opposed by Pritzker and House Speaker Chris Welch, D-Hillside.

However, by midday Tuesday, Harmon backed down, saying he stand(s) with the governor on de-carbonization targets that need to be in a final deal.

Harmon, in a news conference, emphasized that he has fought for clean energy for as long as he's been in the Senate.

"So the notion that I am somehow holding up an energy bill on behalf of a fossil fuel provider is laughable," Harmon said. "At the same time, as the Senate President, I have a responsibility to my caucus."

Harmon said Pritzker's agreement with Exelon was "a significant departure from that framework" on municipal and co-op facilities, so he had to check with his members who represent cities impacted

Though Harmon indicated the Senate would be prepared to vote on a bill Tuesday, one was not taken.

There's a lot at stake. Beyond the need to transition to a carbon-free energy future, Exelon has threatened to close at least two plants in its Illinois nuclear fleet without a deal.

Pritzker said his hope is that we'll end up with a good energy bill. We were very close as of last night.

We want to keep those plants open  and that's been a firm principle, and I've said that from the beginning  while we're also working toward a clean energy future and methods for us to fight climate change in the state, Pritzker said.

Pritzker declined to offer details on the nature of the incentives package offered to Exelon. Its expected that lawmakers will be back sometime in the coming weeks to address the issue.

There are still a few other parts of this bill that are very controversial, and depending on which way we go, we'll determine how many votes our side can be able to put on a bill, said state Rep. David Welter, R-Morris. We need to see the bill, we need to review the bill. But when I'm talking with stakeholders right now, it seems positive.

Exelon could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokesman for Ameren, which services much of central and southern Illinois, said they support Illinois transition to clean energy."

The legislature made a sound decision to take a pause and get it done right, in the light of day, with every new cost and every new program fully vetted and understood before a vote is taken, said Tucker Kennedy, spokesman for Ameren Illinois. We remain committed to working with all stakeholders on energy policy that works for all of Illinois - including Central and Southern Illinois.

Meanwhile, ethics legislation cleared the House 113-5 Monday evening and passed the Senate unanimously in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Legislation moving the state's 2022 primary election from March 15 to June 28 passed the House 72-46 and the Senate 41-18 with all Republicans opposing. Gaming legislation allowing in-person betting on Illinois college teams easily cleared the House 96-11 early Tuesday morning, but was not called for a vote in the Senate.

The legislation partially reverses a provision that carved Illinois schools out of the 2019 law that legalized sports betting in the state. It was done at the request of university athletic directors.

Betting on Illinois college teams would only be allowed at physical sportsbooks. Wagering on individual performance would not be allowed.

The legislation would also allow a sportsbook to be hosted at Wintrust Arena, the venue that's home to the WNBA's Chicago Sky and the DePaul University men's basketball program.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- NIO delivered 6,711 vehicles in May 2021, representing an impressive 95.3% year-over-year growth, the EV startup announced on June 1. The vehicles delivered last month consisted of 1,412 ES8s, 3,017 ES6s, and 2,282 EC6s.

As of May 31, 2021, NIOs cumulative deliveries amounted to 109,514 units.

The company said its vehicle delivery in May was negatively impacted for several days due to the volatility of semiconductor supply and certain logistical adjustments. Based on the current production and delivery plan, NIO will speed up the car delivery in June to make up for the delay in May.

Meanwhile, NIO reiterated its delivery guidance of 21,000 to 22,000 vehicles for the second quarter of 2021.

The startup has continued the cooperation with its contract manufacturer JAC Group by signing agreements last month with the Hefei-based automaker and Jianglai Advanced Manufacturing Technology (Anhui) Co.,Ltd. (Jianglai), a 51:49 joint venture between JAC and NIO, for the joint production of NIO's vehicles.

Under the joint manufacturing arrangement, from May 2021 to May 2024, JAC will continue to manufacture NIO's vehicles, including the ES8, the ES6, the EC6, the ET7, and potentially other NIO's models. To meet the growing demands for NIO's vehicles, NIO will enlarge its annual production capacity to 240,000 vehicles (calculated based on 4,000 work hours per year).

NIO will be accountable for the design and R&D of vehicles, the supply chain management, the manufacturing technologies, and the quality management and assurance, according to NIO's announcement. Besides, Jianglai will take charge of the assembly of auto parts and the operational management.
Ex-director of undesirable NGO put in detention for two months

 submitted by Andrey Pivovarov

16:18 02/06/2021

MOSCOW, June 2 (RAPSI)  The Pervomaisky District Court of Krasnodar on Wednesday ordered detention of Andrey Pivovarov, a former director of Otkrytaya Rossia (OR), an organization registered in Great Britain and recognized in Russia as undesirable, until July 31, the press service of the Krasnodar Krais Court reports.

He is suspected of running a foreign organization declared undesirable in the Russian Federation

According to investigators, in August 2020, Pivovarov being a member of the foreign NGO labeled as undesirable put out in the open agitation information in support of the organization. However, the man has been repeatedly brought to administrative liability for engagement in the activity of the organization declared undesirable in the Russian Federation.

Pivovarov was arrested by law enforcement when attempting to escape from investigators abroad on May 31.




Consolidations drive up already inordinate health care costs, Stein said.

Today, I am asking every hospital system administrator about the transparency of their prices and their compliance with federal pricing transparency regulations.

As the letter says, patients have been forced to navigate the health care system with little, if any, information about the actual price of services they are told are necessary, Stein said. Thats not only unacceptable, its against the law.

Background

The headquarters of the combined not-for-profit health care system would have been in Norfolk. Cone and its Greensboro facilities would have served as a regional hub for Sentara.

The combined systems would have had 17 hospitals and projected annual revenues of $11.5 billion.

The systems projected it could have taken until mid-2023 to fully combine and integrate the operations. They would have functioned separately until the acquisition was completed.

Howard Kern, Sentaras president and chief executive, said he is confident that this mutual decision will not alter either organizations ongoing commitment to meet the needs for our respective communities.
Kevin Can F**k Himself, June 20, AMC. Annie Murphy earned herself decades of goodwill with her spectacular performance as Alexis in the award-winning sitcom Schitts Creek and shes running with it in her first post-Rose series as Allison McRoberts, a perfect sitcom wife, schlubby husband and all. But then Allison snaps out of her laugh track-backed life and realizes what shes become, in what promises to be a sardonic parody of a lifetime of marital inequality.

Sex/Life, June 25, Netflix. If Bridgerton was the start of the conversation about female pleasure, Sex/Life seems like its natural successor, about a suburban housewife (Sarah Shahi) who finds her party-girl past crashing into her boring, stable married life. Any show gets a thumbs up for acknowledging that women are supposed to play a role in sex  and enjoy it.

Leverage: Redemption, July 9, IMDb TV. Leverage started the crime ring in 2008: a thief, a grifter, a hacker, a hitter and their leader, a former insurance investigator. Four of the five are back for the reboot (Timothy Hutton has been MIA since a former child actress accused him last year of raping her when she was 14), but that should be more than enough to continue the delightful gang of misfits misadventures of stealing from the rich.
The problem is the cashiers check is fake  no bank actually issued the cashiers check so no bank will be providing the money. But it can take weeks to discover a cashiers check is fake. In the meantime, the seller has sent the item. In addition, the buyer has also pocketed the cash they gave the movers. So the seller is out the item and the seller has to repay the bank the full amount of the cashiers check.

Most people assume if you deposit a check and the money is in your account  the check is good. Unfortunately, thats not correct and crooks know it. Just because a check is credited to your account doesnt mean its good. Federal banking rules require that when someone deposits a check into an account, the bank must make the funds available right away  within a day or two.

Also by law, it can take up to two weeks for a check to wind its way from your bank to the bank that issued the check and then back to yours.

People often say the checks look so real  even bank tellers. Thats because they are real. Scammers steal real checks. Do a little photoshop magic and boom, have a new check to fool you.
Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

"He needs the protection and guidance of his family members in all he does," Bowden said.

One of those needs is a new home, he said. The student now lives among seven family members in a two-bedroom residence. That's a cramped living space that makes it difficult for the student's family to properly take care of him, Bowden said.

At a hearing in 2016, Forsyth County prosecutors alleged that Nolan rubbed up against the boy in a school hallway at Atkins High School and touched the boy inappropriately several times in what Nolan said was an attempt to help the child use the bathroom without urinating on himself. The boy could not talk and used a rough form of sign language, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit said that Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school officials were negligent for several reasons: They failed to protect the boy and other disabled students when they moved from Lowrance Middle School to Atkins High School in March 2015; they failed to provide training and supervision to Nolan; and they failed to establish clear policies requiring teachers and other staff members to report inappropriate behavior. The Hanes-Lowrance campus was closed because of concerns about groundwater contamination.
A group of seven local ministers called for justice Tuesday for Andrew Brown Jr., an unarmed Black man in Elizabeth City who was killed April 21 in a deputy-involved shooting.

"The case cannot be a cover-up of violence," said the Rev. John Mendez, the retired pastor at the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. "We are demanding the truth."

The ministers gathered at First Baptist Church on Highland Avenue for the rally. Similar events were held in Greensboro, Charlotte, Elizabeth City, Fayetteville, Asheville, Raleigh and Wilmington.

The rallies were organized by Repairers of the Breach, the N.C. Council of Churches and B.R.I.D.G.E. Those organizations are demanding transparency and accountability following the fatal shooting of Brown Jr. by Pasquotank County sheriff's deputies.

Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Marches have been a nightly occurrence in Elizabeth City since Andrew Brown's April 21 death. Protesters say that Brown was unjustly killed while sheriff's deputies tried to serve drug-related warrants. But a prosecutor cleared the deputies, saying that Brown used his vehicle as a weapon.
Lander's nomination had been delayed for months as senators sought more information about meetings he had with the late Jeffrey Epstein, a financier who was charged with sex trafficking before his apparent suicide. Lander said he only met with Epstein twice, in 2012, and never requested or received funds from Epstein or his foundation. At his confirmation hearing, Lander also apologized for a 2016 article he wrote that downplayed the work of two Nobel Prize-winning female scientists.

Lander, who has visited Greenland on a balmy 72-degree day, told the AP he sees climate change as an incredibly serious threat to this planet in many, many ways.

Still, Lander said he was more optimistic now than he and others were a decade ago because I see a path to doing something about it.

Lander pointed to a drop of about in 90% in solar and energy wind costs, making them now as cheap as fossil fuels that cause climate change. But he said whats also needed is an explosion of ideas to improve battery life and provide carbon-free energy that is not weather-dependent. Those innovations need federal incentives that are part of Bidens jobs package, he said.

Reducing methane is key to fighting climate change, Lander added, but first improvements are needed in technology to determine where methane is leaking from.
Levy also pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud for receiving 2-methyl-2-butanol, a chemical that he used to intoxicate himself but that standard drug and alcohol screenings dont test for.

Levy was originally indicted on three counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of patients prosecutors said he misdiagnosed. He was also indicted on multiple charges of fraud and making false statements for his alleged attempts to conceal his substance abuse and incorrect diagnoses.

Levy was fired from the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville in April 2018.

The hospital said it is addressing many of the inspector general's recommendations, including exploring the possibility of a mandatory alcohol testing policy and creating a quality analyst position dedicated to pathology and laboratory medicine service.

The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks (VHSO) and the Department of Veterans Affairs is truly saddened at the pain victims and families endured at the hands of this pathologist," the hospital said in a statement. The Department assures Veterans that we are fully committed to improving our processes and systems moving forward to prevent a situation like this from happening again."
The Cooper administration launched Thursday North Carolina's version of a vaccination lottery featuring four $1 million cash prizes and those newly vaccinated getting two entries.

Meanwhile, Gov. Roy Cooper said he will provide Friday a status update on his COVID-19 statewide pandemic emergency order.
A 17-year-old was hit by a car on 27th Street around noon Tuesday while he was allegedly running from the Lincoln Police Department's Gang Unit.

Officer Erin Spilker said the teen, who was wanted, was carrying a loaded Glock handgun and 112 grams of suspected methamphetamine as he tried to run from investigators.

Officer Erin Spilker said the teen was a suspect in a weapons violation from May 26, when police believed he was driving a 2005 BMW that was stolen in Grand Island.

Spilker said investigators spotted the BMW near 27th and N streets before it parked in the 200 block of South 27th Street, when officers saw the teen, who was driving, exit the car and enter a nearby house.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

While the teen was in the residence, Spilker said investigators confirmed the BMW matched the one reported stolen last week. When the 17-year-old exited the house, Spilker said he walked toward the car before he spotted LPD officers and ran the other way.

As he ran, Spilker said the teen was hit by a 2009 Hyundai driving south on 27th Street, knocking him off his feet. Spilker said officers called for medical assistance and approached the teen, who got up and ran.
He asked the jury to find him guilty of possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person, two counts of assault on an officer and use of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony.

Deputy Public Defender Kristi Egger said it was dramatic for the state to focus on the knife swinging down. But that ignores the reality of the situation and Brennauer's persistent and serious mental illness, she said.

"It's obvious that Mr. Brennauer needed help, not gunshot wounds," she said.

She said he had threatened to kill himself holding a screwdriver, then a knife to his own neck. His girlfriend called 911 to try to get him help, her hand bleeding from a cut when police got there. When officers closed in on Brennauer in the tiny apartment, Egger said, it became a matter of flight or fight.

She said he wasn't thinking, he was reacting, holding up a Bible like a barrier to "ward off" the police like they were vampires.

"He's not acting rationally," Egger said.

The defense expert, Dr. Robert Arias, said Brennauer didn't appreciate the consequences of his actions at the time or know right from wrong. The state's expert, Dr. Jennifer Cimpl-Bohn, said he did.
Bill to empower prosecutors to represent Russia in ECHR to be heard as priority

 RAPSI

12:49 02/06/2021

MOSCOW, June 2 (RAPSI)  The State Duma Anti-Corruption Committee on Tuesday held that a draft law empowering the Prosecutor General's Office to represent the interests of the Russian Federation in international and foreign courts should be discussed as a matter of priority, a statement on the website of the parliaments lower house reads.

The proposed amendments will improve the efficiency of representation of the interests of Russia, Russian citizens and organization in international and foreign court proceedings and ensure adequate protection of human rights, according to the Committees Chairman Vasily Piskarev.

On June 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted the bill to the State Duma.

Taking into account the role the Prosecutor's Office plays in the system of public authorities of the Russian Federation, as well as the powers of the Prosecutor to request materials of criminal cases from investigative bodies and courts, information constituting banking and tax secrets, it can be concluded that the transfer of the functions ensuring its representation and protection of Russias interests in interstate bodies, foreign and international (interstate) courts, foreign and international arbitration tribunals will ensure the necessary level of interaction of federal state bodies on these issues and, in general, the effectiveness of work on representation of interests of the Russian Federation, the explanatory note to the bill reads.

It follows from the document that the combination of the powers of the Prosecutor General's Office to oversee the implementation of the law and the observance of human and civil rights with the function of representing Russias interests in the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) will ensure the protection of citizen's rights at all stages of consideration of complaints against the Russian Federation.
A missing Community Corrections Center-Lincoln inmate who allegedly removed his electronic monitoring device and walked off his assigned work location on Monday turned himself in a day later.

Patrick Carey, who is serving time for a list of charges that include assault by a confined person and second-degree arson, didn't return Monday to the prison where he is in the fourth year of a 10-17 year sentence, according to a Nebraska Department of Correctional Services news release.

Authorities found the electronic monitoring device Carey was wearing in a toolbox at the work site. The facility where Carey was being held is at a low custody level, where inmates are allowed to participate in work opportunities.

Carey had a parole eligibility date of Nov. 9, 2021, and a tentative release date of Nov. 19, 2025.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1

Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Police found alcohol containers and marijuana in and around the car, and said Webster's blood-alcohol content tested at 0.11%, above the legal limit of 0.08%.

Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Erica Pruess said Tuesday no one will ever know why Chalk got into the car with Webster. Chalk had worked that night and was sober.

"(But) we know that Miss Webster was intoxicated and that she was driving in an extremely reckless manner," she said. "This was not a case where she made a small traffic violation that resulted in a death. This was 88 miles an hour in town and a violent crash that killed someone."

Pruess said Chalk's family will be forever changed.

In the end, Lancaster County District Judge Robert Otte called it a difficult case and said he can't heal either of the families involved. But he didn't think probation was appropriate.

"When somebody drinks and does drugs and drives at what anybody would say is reckless or super reckless behavior and then kills an innocent person, there are serious consequences," he said.

And Otte sentenced Webster to six to 10 years, allowing her to report to begin serving her sentence June 15. He also revoked her driver's license for five years.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSpilger

Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0

Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
The vaccines would then move to the FDA for emergency authorization, assuming the data shows the vaccine to be effective for kids those ages.

So what should parents (and grandparents) do in the meantime?

Scientists are still learning about whether people who are fully vaccinated can shed the virus, though it seems less likely, Simonsen said.

That means if everyone in a family is vaccinated with no symptoms, its OK to be together, unmasked.

But theres still a lot of room for personal choice there, she said, if family members are immunocompromised, for instance.

In public, its safer for unvaccinated children to be masked. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends children 2 and older wear masks  essentially at an age where they can take it off and put it on by themselves, she said.

In some cases, she said, parents or whole families will mask up when they go out in public  a way to be role models for their youngest kids.

Bottom line: its riskier for kids now, because communities are opening up and kids are still susceptible to the virus, though whats happening in individual communities should also play into families decision.
TULSA, Okla. (AP)  An emotional President Joe Biden marked the 100th anniversary of the massacre that destroyed a thriving Black community in Tulsa, declaring Tuesday that he had come to fill the silence about one of the nations darkest  and long suppressed  moments of racial violence.
Sitting in the back of the courtroom, Streichs daughter, Savannah Beckwith, said she hoped Shepherd meant what he said. And, she said, she understood the sentence. Earlier, Coffey sentenced gunman Dominique Hanks, 27, to 40 to 50 years  a term that is reduced to 22 to 27 years under state law. Both men faced anywhere from 20 years to life in prison after their second-degree murder convictions.

Beckwith, 25, and a cousin, Melissa Regan, said Streich was a gentle man who looked out for others.

He was the kindest person, Regan said. He wasnt violent. His heart always has been good.

Shepherd said he was out of money and strung out on drugs when he hatched the ill-conceived plan. Before that night, his family had tried to intervene and get him help, but all I wanted was drugs, he said.

In the early morning hours of March 12, 2018, Shepherd and Hanks went to Streichs home near 33rd and Kansas Avenues. Streich let them inside.

After it became clear Hanks had bad intentions, Streich ushered him and Shepherd to the door. Before he could shut it, Hanks shot him once in the stomach. The shot proved fatal.
In an ethics class assignment, Loyola juniors were asked to answer such mind-bending questions as:

 How do you benefit from white privilege, and how have you held onto that benefit (despite knowing the harm it does)?

 What have you learned about the ways you have specifically wield(ed) this privilege that do harm (whether you intend to or not)?

 Dig deep. No sugar coating and no focusing on the good you have done with your privilege. Remember this isnt about being self-congratulatory, its about pulling out white supremacy.

Students who were not white also were asked to focus on whatever privileges they might have and reflect on the topic in alternative ways.

Unfortunately missing from these thought-provoking questions, in my view, is the possibility that the student does not feel he or she has benefited from white privilege  or even believes that it exists.

Regardless of color, acknowledging that you have been privileged by anything  race, complexion, ancestry, a wealthy uncle who remembers you generously in his will  goes up against the populist American bootstrap ideal.
Govt-and-politics

REPRESENTATION

For the first time, Latinos represent Racine at every level of local government

RACINE  Fabi Maldonado never planned to become involved with politics as a career.

It wasnt until he witnessed his family undergo an all-consuming lawsuit in the criminal justice system that changed his mind, having run for mayor of Racine in 2017 and being elected as a Racine County Board supervisor to represent District 2 (a southwestern slice of the City of Racine) one year later. Alongside him, he doesnt remember seeing other people of Latino descent in local government who were enacting the change he wanted for his community.

Maldonado

Years later, Maldonado has found the representation hes always desired. For the first time ever, City of Racine residents have at least one Latino or Latina representing them at all levels of local government: city council, school board and county board.

This breakthrough occurred on April 19 when Dulce Cervantes Contreras was appointed as the first-ever Latina to serve on the school board of the Racine Unified School District.

Cuba-born Racine alderman speaks on Castro's death RACINE  Henry Perez has never known his birth country of Cuba. He was brought to the United States by his mother when he was 1 year old.

Perez

Villalpando

Other members accompanying Contreras and Maldonado are city aldermen Edwin Santiago Jr. (District 4) and Henry Perez (District 12), and Village of Sturtevant Trustee Kari Villalpando.

Were all in important roles, setting the tone and example, Maldonado said.

Contreras

Several of the newcomers into these positions are young adults under the age of 35. What better way to take on this role to show our community that we belong in places like this, especially young people like ourselves, said Contreras. To tell them, why not?

Becoming involved in the community

As children, one of the first spaces Contreras and Maldonado found community was at the former Spanish Center on 720 17th St. that closed back in 1995.

I remember they used to have those brown little bags that were filled with free lunch, Maldonado said. My brother and I would get lunch there some days and hang out with the people that used to work there.

The community hub offered an array of services, from recreational activities for children to legal assistance and professional interpretations and translations for documents.

Contreras remembers her parents receiving legal assistance from this center, which also had a Kenosha office, when her family first moved from Mexico to Kenosha.

When the Spanish Center closed down, both started feeling the spark to organize and arrange events to maintain the sense of community.

Maldonado began by chairing the Racine County Green Party to encourage young people to go out and vote, focusing on environmental issues, protection for undocumented workers and the decriminalization of marijuana.

He ran a campaign to legalize marijuana in southeast Wisconsin with the help of the organization NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) back in 2017.

After that, he ran for the Racine County Board and won.

Contreras became involved in social justice organizations and rallies in Kenosha.

Most notably, she focuses on advocating for immigration reform as a member for Voces De La Frontera, self-described as a membership-based community organization led by low-wage workers, immigrants and youth whose mission is to protect and expand civil rights and workers rights through leadership development, community organizing and empowerment.

Since moving to Racine and having a child in the RUSD system, Contreras has recognized the assistance her community needs.

I just want to make sure our kids are getting the proper education that they deserve, especially our underserved communities, she said.

Santiago's city headshot

Santiagos journey to local government was different. Growing up in Chicago, Santiago began purchasing property in and out of his district prior to his first primary run for office in 2016.

After attending a few Democratic Party meetings and witnessing firsthand the poverty rate of the county, he decided to run for City Council.

I was advocating for young people to get involved because I saw a complete absence of it, he said. Everyone who was in the political parties and running things were over the ages of 50s and 60s. And so, I decided to put my money where my mouth was.

Demanding action beyond representation

As everyone has settled into their positions, some local officials are surprised at the impacts they have on their communities.

It means more and more to me now. I didnt realize what a big role it was, said Contreras. It was kind of a shock, receiving the amount of outreach from parents just calling me or other community members inviting me to events.

When you show up and visibly represent the community, people will feel more comfortable to trust you and your vision, Contreras said.

Maldonado recalls a sentimental moment at a Fourth of July parade two years ago.

I remember a Latina friend of mine was so happy to see me. She said it felt good to see somebody like us (Latino) in my role. It was inspiring to her and she was like, I want you to be my son because I really want him to get involved.

However, all the recognition these officials receive only highlights the issues at hand in their communities.

According to 2019 Census data, people who identify as Hispanic and/or Latino make up 13.6% of Racine Countys population and 22.4% of the citys population, with many of those residents residing on the citys south side. One of nine RUSD board members are Latino, while two of 15 city aldermen and one of 21 County Board supervisors are Latino.

Contreras said that many Spanish-speaking families in the school district suffer from what they feel like is lacking communication and transparency on RUSDs part.

The more time passes, the more calls I receive, some outside my district, from Latinx families reaching out and their frustration for the lack of communication that exists or how theyre the second thought when it comes to communication in the district, she said.

Part of that comes down to Contreras advocating for school board information and decisions to be translated into Spanish. That, she says, can be a way to address the lack of trust some community members feel with the school system.

Oftentimes, Spanish-speaking families only hear about the outcomes of decisions; they dont feel like they get to actively participate in making them.

When it comes to board actions and board meetings for our school board, none of that information is in Spanish. Only when the actions are taken, and something is changing, that is relayed in Spanish, she said.

In Santiagos district  on Racines near north side  he aims to revitalize the area by supplying grants to small businesses owned by people of color.

Some areas in my district have upwards to 40% of unemployment, he said. And its really hard because there arent a lot of jobs in the area and businesses filling these commercial spaces.

For the past year, Maldonado has been doing service work to get more Latinos to receive the vaccine.

According to Wisconsin Department of Health Services, 28% of Racine Countys Latino population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Compare that with how more than 42% of the white population has received at least one dose.

Ive been going around talking about vaccines, being part of coalitions to get the community vaccinated, he said. Even my mom is still struggling with the idea of getting vaccinated.

The future for Racine politics

Maldonado, consistently one of the most progressive voices on the Racine County Board, aims to flip the Racine County Board blue, enthusiastically mentioning hes already recruiting candidates.

Spanish speakers want to fix issues, he said. Thats the thing that some folks might not understand, is that they want to be part of the solution.

He wants to continue reminding folks that anyone can run for office because the community has the credentials, from those who attended college to those who are working-class citizens.

This is the beginning of something new thats happening in our community and were transforming the landscape, said Maldonado. I think its only gonna get stronger and I cant wait.

A rally and new conference was held July 31, 2018 for Racine man arrested by ICE
In 2017, Amy reached out to me to see if there was a way to collaborate between UW-Parkside students and Prevent Blindness Wisconsin, said LaTona. Over the past five years, weve certified hundreds of students to provide vision screenings for more than 1,000 children and adults. UW-Parkside students have developed brochures on PBW, hosted us on a podcast and we are planning to have students assist with Spanish translation for an internship. We would not have been able to do all this work without Amy spearheading our collective efforts.
Academic instruction in math, English language arts and world language

Tools to navigate challenging social situations

Trauma-informed care

Similar to previous, pre-pandemic years, parents/guardians will bring students to the Ys George Bray Neighborhood YMCA Branch, 924 Center St., between 6 a.m. for extended care or by 8 a.m., when the YMCA transports students to Carthage College for a full morning of age/grade-appropriate academic instruction and structured educational activities, starting at 8:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday with optional weekly field trips/community service projects on Fridays. There is no extended care programs on Fridays.

Students return to the Bray at 3:30 p.m. for pickup, or stay until 6 p.m. if they participate in the extended aftercare program.

The Y is also arranging a series of special Saturday field trips during the summer session.

Summer session students receive breakfast and afternoon snacks at the Bray and lunch at Carthage College.

Darryl J. Anderson, who joined the YMCA as vice president of social responsibility in April to oversee its community development programs, including the Young Leaders Academy and its summer session, emphasized the value of the six-week program.
Two of my 11 foster dogs so far have come from Amish puppy mills, including my second dog. He was a male German shepherd, about 6 years old, who was no longer wanted as a stud.

That absolutely sweet shepherd came to WGR with severe infections in both of his terribly gnarled ears. The veterinarian who examined him said his ears showed that hed had numerous untreated ear infections in the past. The vet explained that a dog in that kind of misery scratches at the ears, breaking blood vessels. Eventually, hard scar tissue forms inside the ears which are left permanently deformed.

After discovering the infections, that dogs time with me stretched from 14 days  by which time we had a couple waiting to take him  to 28 days while I administered daily ear treatments.

Thankfully, that shepherd (ultimately named Bumblebee, or Bee for short) will live the rest of his life with two kind people who could not be happier to have him in their home.

Michael Burke Shaw This young pit bull terrier named Shaw came to Woof Gang Rescue from a shelter in Georgia with an apparent gunshot wound in one side of his fa

From unwanted to cherished

Like Bee, my next foster dog, Shaw, came with his own horror story. He was a small pit bull-terrier picked up as a stray in Georgia after having apparently been shot in one side of his face, just below his ear.
Russias Civic Chamber urges simplified process of employing adolescents

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

17:41 02/06/2021

MOSCOW, June 2 (RAPSI)  The Russian Civic Chamber has prepared a number of recommendations aimed at developing a system of employment of minors, the press service of the body informs.

The document was drafted on the basis of the results of round table on professional orientation of children as a system for the formation of a personnel reserve for the economy held on October 2 last year.

Civic activists recommended that the government works out the issue of optimizing and facilitating the process of employing minors by organizations on the register of youth and children's associations, in particular, by eliminating the requirement to present consent from guardianship authorities. In addition, the Chamber recommended determining a single body that would take control of the employment of adolescents.

At the same time, the Chamber urged to introduce respective requirements to employers and motivate them by developing support measures, including benefits and budget subsidies, in order to facilitate establishment of operators for the employment of minors in the regions and to expand the program for attracting adolescents to work.

The topic of adolescent employment is important and relevant, as a request for this is seen both from the parent community and from the students themselves, according to civic activists, who cite a survey according to which 91% of high school students express a desire to earn extra money during summer vacations.
A La Crosse man who uploaded videos of his marijuana supply on Snapchat was found with approximately $150,000 worth of the drug in his car and over $90,000 worth of cocaine in his residence.

Austen Schalow, 27, appeared in La Crosse County Circuit court Tuesday on seven charges, including possession with intent to deliver cocaine, possession with intent to deliver narcotics, manufacture/deliver THC, possession with intent to deliver THC, possession with intent to deliver schedule IV drugs, maintaining a drug trafficking place, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Last summer, a confidential informant told officers Schalow had showed them a photo of around 200 marijuana plants in his basement and stated Schalow said he paid a woman with cash or marijuana to come to his home for sexual favors. Officers in July 2020 began looking into Schalow, who is under supervision from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections Probation Office for domestic abuse related convictions, and have been monitoring his social media since.

On May 25, 2021, Schalow posted a Snapchat video of him traveling cross country and showing marijuana products and odor proof bags, often used to store drugs in order to avoid detection, in a hotel room. Schalows video had a large bag containing what appeared to be a pound of marijuana, according to the police report.
When groups allied with a government conduct illegal actions, those actions are referred to as state-sponsored. A state-sponsored killing, a state-sponsored terror attack.

What happened last month in Belarus wasnt state-sponsored at all. It was done by the state. A state kidnapping.

On May 22, authorities in Belarus intercepted a civilian airliner carrying a prominent dissident with a MiG-29 fighter jet and forced it to divert to the countrys capital, Minsk, the Washington Post reported. Upon landing, the journalist Roman Protasevich  a prominent critic of the countrys long-ruling president, Alexander Lukashenko  was seized by Belarus officials. The Ryanair flight had left Athens and was headed to the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.

Protasevich, 26, ran the popular social media Telegram channel Nexta, which exposed Belarusian police brutality during the anti-government demonstrations last year. The channel and its sister channel, Nexta Live, have close to 2 million subscribers, the Post had previously reported. In November, he was added to a list of individuals purportedly involved in terrorist activities. Protasevich has been living in exile in Vilnius.
According to the Sheriffs Office, which confirmed the death for the first time publicly Tuesday afternoon, Ditello-Scott was in jail custody by 5:30 a.m. Saturday and was provided with basic necessities. By 7 a.m., the RCSO reported that Ditello-Scott was snoring and sleeping in his holding cell, but then when he was checked on before 8 a.m., he was yellow in color and not breathing.

Medical professionals provided emergency care to Ronquale, but, unfortunately, he could not be revived, RCSO reported. Ronquale was pronounced dead at the jail.

Tuesday night death

The second man who died at the jail was Malcolm I. James, 27, Racine County Medical Examiner Michael Payne confirmed Wednesday afternoon.

He was arrested Friday night by the Racine Police Department after he allegedly set his apartment building on fire during a mental health crisis; according to charging documents, he allegedly called police on himself, saying he didnt want to die and that he just didnt know what to do.
The Best Little Floorhouse in Texas Your choice for flooring in Central Texas! Your flooring is more than just the surface you walk on  it's an integral part of your home. With over 35 years of flooring experience, The Best Little Floorhouse in Texas has the resources and knowled
1. Yes. Its important to keep my child as safe as possible. We plan to take advantage.

2. Yes. With the school district dropping its mask mandate, its a necessary step.

3. No. Local COVID cases are dropping. There is no good reason to vaccinate my child.

4. No. There hasnt been enough data on vaccinated children. I think Ill hold off.

5. Unsure. I havent decided yet whether to take part in the vaccine clinics.

Vote

View Results
Felicia Frazar is the managing editor of the Seguin Gazette. You can e-mail her at felicia.frazar@seguingazette.com .
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP)  Former mixed martial arts fighter Tito Ortiz has quit his post on the City Council of Huntington Beach, California after spending about six months in politics for the first time  and attracting harsh criticism for his anti-mask views and for filing for unemployment benefits while serving on the council.

Ortiz, who was the city's mayor pro tem, announced his resignation Tuesday night during the first in-person council meeting held this year.

This job isnt working for me, Ortiz said.

In a 6-0 vote Wednesday, the City Council chose Councilwoman Barbara Delgleize as the new mayor pro tem. She will hold the post until December. Meanwhile, the council will begin discussing the appointment of someone to fill Ortiz's vacated seat, according to a city statement.

Ortiz said he made the decision to resign on behalf of his family after being subjected to what he labeled as attacks by the media, the Orange County Register reported.
GRAND ISLAND - A group of males assaulted an 18-year-old Grand Island man early Sunday morning in Grand Island and robbed him of $40.

Kaleb Kelly sustained visible injuries and may have lost consciousness after the assault. The crime happened between 2:05 a.m. and 2:40 a.m. Sunday.

Kelly said he planned to meet a juvenile male in the alleyway to purchase an item. Once Kelly parked and exited his vehicle, he said, five individuals dressed in black approached him and assaulted him.

Police learned that the occupants of a Chevy Silverado may have been involved in the assault. Officers located that vehicle nearby.

Inside the vehicle were three juveniles and 21-year-old Abraham Gonzalez of Grand Island.

Talking to the occupants of the vehicle, officers say they detected a strong odor of marijuana. A search of the vehicle and its occupants turned up more than two ounces of marijuana, two digital scales and two blunts.

Kelly was unable to locate his vehicle, which was later found damaged in the same alley north of where the assault occurred.

Its not clear how many people assaulted Kelly, said Grand Island Police Capt. Jim Duering. Its possible that one or two individuals left the scene.
Research through the Dairy Innovation Hub and the Center for Dairy Research will allow Wisconsins dairy industry to develop new products to meet the demands of customers around the world. Just last year, despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, trade disruptions, and other factors, Wisconsins exports of dairy-related products increased more than 10 percent to $263.4 million. Our dairy-related products are destined for countries around the world, and working together, we can meet the need of each unique marketplace.

While the past year has undoubtedly had a lasting impact on the dairy industry, I hope in June we can all look forward with optimism for the dairy industry. The entire dairy supply chain, from the farmer to the processor to the distributor to the point of sale, are all connected. During Dairy Month, I hope Wisconsinites across the state will take a moment to recognize the great contributions of Wisconsin dairy to our states heritage, economy, and, most importantly, our future. Among the many things we have learned from the members of the Wisconsin Agriculture Youth Council, one thing is very clear: the future of Wisconsin agriculture is strong.
LONDON (AP)  Queen Elizabeth II made a quick visit Saturday to the Royal Navy's flagship aircraft carrier that bears the name of her eponymous 16th- century predecessor, ahead of its maiden operational deployment.
"I'm not building this on Cass Street. I'm not going between two beautiful historic homes. I'm doing this on a vacant lot," Biondo said. "I just see a need. I see the perfect spot, I see the scale [matching] to the area, and I see the one bedrooms, again, as attracting the right clientele to the area. Because that's who needs it."

Tim Acklin with the city's planning department said the choice to recommend the rezoning, which would move it from the Washburn Residential District to the Traditional Neighborhood District, a catch-all zoning label, was a "difficult decision."

"We respect and acknowledge a lot of the issues and concerns this neighborhood has been going over the last few years, a lot of projects, a lot of proposals, a lot of things going on. We also recognize the large investment many of you in this room have made into that neighborhood," Acklin said.

"That did not go unnoticed by our planning department. But what we also noticed as a result of that is your investment has made this a very desirable neighborhood to live in," Acklin said.
Special education students in La Crosse schools are partaking in the Zot Artz inclusive art experience, which features adaptive materials so youth of all abilities can express their creativity through art.

Through grants from the La Crosse Public Education Foundation, La Crosse SOUP, and several other organizations, every La Crosse school will participate in Zot Artz events. Art materials are designed to accomodate children with physical, cognitive, or emotional disabilities for an experience that empowers all individuals by designing increased options for meaningful participation, social interactions, and inclusive art-making, the School District of La Crosse says.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Art tools available include pogo painter stamps, specialized rollers and wheelchair hookups. A Zot Artz artist previously trained district therapists on how to use all of the art tools, which are now owned by the District. Local schools will integrate the tools into future art curriculum and events.
The university's failure to offer Hannah-Jones tenure has prompted outcry by dozens of members of the journalism school's faculty, who have demanded an explanation. Her lawyers argue the move is part of a conservative backlash against scholars telling the truth about the history of racism in the U.S.

Hussman, 74, said that instead of sending one lengthy email, he sent separate emails, based on arguments from other historians, challenging assertions by Hannah-Jones that the American Revolution was fought to protect slavery, that the fight for freedom and equality for Blacks was fought by Blacks alone, and about reparations. The news website The Assembly first obtained the emails and reported on their content.

Hussman said he showed his emails to one trustee, who suggested he show them to the other board members, but he said he decided to go no further. He declined to say which trustee he reached out to.

I don't think that's my role as a donor. It would be perceived as lobbying the board to not hire, he said. I've made it known to one of the trustees; if they want to share it with others, they can. If they don't want to share it with others, that's their discretion.
The other indictment against Chauvin alleges he deprived a then-14-year-old boy, who is Black, of his right to be free of unreasonable force when he held the teen by the throat, hit him in the head with a flashlight and held his knee on the boys neck and upper back while he was prone, handcuffed and not resisting.

According to a police report from that 2017 encounter, Chauvin wrote the teen resisted arrest and that after the teen, whom he described as 6-foot-2 and about 240 pounds, was handcuffed, Chauvin used body weight to pin him to the floor. The boy was bleeding from the ear and needed two stitches.

Chauvin was convicted in April on state charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd's death. Experts say he will likely face no more than 30 years in prison when he is sentenced June 25. If convicted in the federal case, any federal sentence would be served at the same time as his state sentence.

The other former officers face charges of aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and manslaughter. They are free on bond and face state trial in March.



Find APs full coverage of the death of George Floyd at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Evers, along with U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, said they hadn't seen data to back that up and employers had been short of workers long before the pandemic hit.

Evers commented after a ceremony outside the state Capitol where the rainbow flag symbolizing gay pride was raised for the third straight year. June is gay pride month and Evers was the first governor in Wisconsin history to order the pride flag to be flown when he did it in 2019.

This year Evers also signed an executive order requiring state agencies to review external documents to ensure they are using gender neutral language. Evers also signed an order requiring the Department of Health Services, Department of Corrections, and the Department of Children and Families to expressly disallow using taxpayer money for gay conversion therapy for minors.

Evers said that was a preventative measure and he wasn't aware of any state money being used currently on the practice.

Evers also strongly signaled that he would veto Republican-authored bills making their way through the Legislature that would prohibit transgender girls from playing for girls or women's teams from kindergarten through college.
BEIJING (AP)  China is showcasing economic development in its northwestern Xinjiang region to fight allegations of human rights abuses there.

The regions government organized an international Zoom call featuring numerous testimonials from Muslim ethnic minorities native to Xinjiang. More than 1 million people have been held in a vast system of prison-like detention centers as part of a drive for cultural and political assimilation that the U.S. and some other Western governments have described as genocide.

China says the system is intended to deradicalize those influenced by jihadist ideology and teach job skills, and has fought accusations of human rights abuses by pointing to social stability and economic development in the vast region. In past years, hundreds were killed in attacks blamed on Islamist radicals, sparking a massive security clampdown.

The government has held near-weekly news conferences in Beijing and organized visits to Xinjiang by diplomats and journalists to counter accusations of political persecution, birth control imposed on Muslim women and forced labor, among other abuses.

Uyghurs and other minorities are generally seen as benefiting less from the region's economic development than members of China's dominant Han ethnic group who have flooded into the region over recent decades.
If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE).
BERLIN (AP)  German airline Lufthansa said late Wednesday that it has received the green light from Russia to resume flights there, after being briefly denied permission, which resulted in a reciprocal blocking of flights by Germany.

In a statement, Lufthansa said Russian authorities had issued approval for its flights from Frankfurt to Moscow and St. Petersburg for the month of June.

Lufthansa had been forced to cancel two flights Tuesday and Wednesday after failing to get approval from Russias aviation authority FATA.

Due to the underlying reciprocal practice, the German Federal Aviation Authority also did not issue any further permits for flights of the Russian carriers as long as the permits were pending on the Russian side, Germanys Transport Ministry said in a statement.

The move affected connections operated from Russia by Aeroflot and budget carrier S7.

It wasnt immediately clear whether the green light for Lufthansa would prompt German authorities in turn to issue approval for Russian airlines to resume flights to Germany.

But the ministry had stated that as soon as the FATA approvals for Lufthansa flights are granted by the Russian side, the flights of Russian companies will also be approved.
A West Cocalico Township man intended to meet a 15-year-old girl for sex, only to find that the juvenile he thought was meeting was actually a Leola child-predator vigilante, according to West Earl Township police.

Antonio Virginio Illiano, 53, was charged with two counts of statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, selling obscene or sexual materials, photographing child sex acts, criminal use of a communication facility and corruption of minors.

Those charges stem from an encounter Illiano had with Justin Perry, a Leola child-predator vigilante who is known on social media as Mr. 17540, at a Sheetz at 4179 Oregon Pike in Brownstown on July 18, 2020, according to an affidavit of probable cause. The encounter was captured in a live video feed Perry posted on Facebook and YouTube.

Illiano told Perry while on video that he had intended to have sex with the girl, police said.

Illiano had sent sexually explicit messages to the girl, actually Perry, in the days leading up to the meeting, including nude images of himself, according to the affidavit. Illiano also requested that the girl send him naked images of herself.

Illiano remains at large, court records show.

Illiano has previously pleaded guilty to three DUIs, numerous drug violations and three separate charges of theft dating back to at least 1992, according to court records. Additional criminal history dating back to 1986 was not immediately available.
Crews from three counties responded to a home explosion in Mount Joy Township, Lancaster County, on Tuesday evening.

The investigation into what caused the explosion is ongoing.

Here is a look at what we know and don't know.

When were the explosions reported?

Emergency crews were dispatched at 5:57 p.m. Tuesday to a residence in the 100 block of Waldheim Road, just off of Mt. Gretna Road (Route 241) northeast of Elizabethtown, following reports of an explosion that set a home there on fire.

A dispatcher told LNP at the time that firefighters arrived to find the house on fire and live wires on the ground.

Was anyone inside the home?

After an autopsy Friday morning, Lancaster County coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni identified homeowners David and Victoria Preston as the two victims found dead Wednesday morning at the scene.

A dog belonging to the residents of the home, frightened by the explosions, was found inside a detached garage in a frightened state, neighbor Donna Updegraff, 68, said.

What caused the explosion?

Officials have not yet said what caused the explosion. It is also not immediately clear if there was any other property damage as a result of the explosions.

Officers taped off the area and deployed a drone to survey the area. A K-9 unit was also brought in at one point to investigate.

Who owned the house?

Property records indicate the residence was a 2,240 square-foot rancher built in 1972. The property owners are listed as David and Victoria Preston.

What did neighbors hear?

Neighbors reported hearing one large explosion, followed by several other smaller explosions. They also reported hearing what appeared to be ammunition exploding after the initial explosions rang out.

Keith Mapplebeck, 52, who lives around the corner on Mount Gretna Road, was in his yard when he heard what he described as a single, massive explosion.

It was a huge boom, he said.

Mapplebeck, who shoots live cannons as part of pirate reenactments, said the explosion was louder than anything hes ever heard, shaking the ground like an earthquake.

Who is investigating?

Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams said Wednesday morning that her office is not investigating the explosion. The Northwest Regional Police Department has not released any other details.

A fire marshal was on the scene Wednesday morning.

What units responded?

Firefighters from Dauphin and Lebanon counties were dispatched, and Lancaster County-Wide Communications reported at 6:50 p.m. that 27 units were on the scene.

Heavy smoke filled the area as emergency crews doused what remained of the house with water. All that remained appeared to be a chimney standing amid the rubble.
Gov. Tom Wolf visited Lancaster County for the second time in less than a week on Tuesday, this time to promote his plan for reforming Pennsylvanias charter school law, which Wolf called the worst in the nation.

Wolf wants to create performance standards for charters, put a moratorium on creating new cyber charters, create a ceiling for cyber charter enrollment at low-performing schools, set equitable tuition rates and require charters to be subject to the Right to Know law and other transparency requirements.

These changes would save $395 million that could be redirected to the states public education system, Wolf said.

Five superintendents from around Lancaster County joined Wolf outside J.P. McCaskey High School to show their support for Wolfs proposal.

The fact we have to pay the charters and the cyber charters more money than it actually costs to educate a child, that is just ridiculous and unfair, said School District of Lancaster Superintendent Damaris Rau. I dont understand how anyone thinks thats OK.

Brian Bliss, the superintendent of Solanco School District, said his district pays more than $1.4 million for 94 of its students to attend charter schools. Almost all of this goes to cyber charter schools because there are few brick-and-mortar charter schools accessible from that part of Lancaster County.

Solanco spends about $11,689 to send a regular education student to a cyber charter, and $30,687 for each special education student. If the district were to bring all of those students back into the districts online academy, it would save $650,000, Bliss said, bringing the rate down for regular education students to $8,000.

If those students came back to school in person, that money would be spent on the districts own teachers, curriculum and facilities, he added.

[Sending money to charter schools] is a significant expenditure for the taxpayer when we provide that service for our students in the district as well, Bliss said.

Jessica Hickernell, spokesperson for Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, said charter schools already need to submit annual reports and pay for independent audits. And if these schools were failing students, they would no longer be in business -- yet enrollment continues to grow each year, she added.

The coalition opposes Wolfs proposal. Hickernell noted that while school districts complain about sending money to charters, districts across Pennsylvania are benefiting from $6.1 billion in new money from the federal government since March 2020, with $4.5 billion of that in unreserved funds that so far have not been allocated.

Wolf has less than two years remaining in his term and is coming off a loss in last months primary election, in which 53% of people who voted chose to amend the state constitution to limit a governors emergency powers -- fallout from a year of fighting with the GOP-controlled Legislature over when and how to reopen the states economy.

Wolfs cyber charter proposal has support from at least 10 Republicans in the Legislature, but the governor will need to win over more GOP support to get his plan enacted.

So the governor is hitting the road to sell his unfinished agenda. Tuesdays visit on school reform followed last Thursdays event in Lancaster where he promoted raising the states minimum wage.

No Republican from Lancaster County has publicly endorsed Wolfs charter school plan, and comments by officials in the governors administration in April signaled that the governor could pursue some of his charter school agenda through the regulatory process without the Legislatures input.

State Sen. Scott Martin, R-Martic Township, the chairman of the Senate education committee, is already planning to be a lead sponsor on legislation with Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman to reform the states charter school laws and expand the EITC tax credit scholarship programs, according to a co-sponsorship memorandum sent to all senators in February. Martin has hosted hearings on the issue in his committee to help create the unreleased legislation.

School choice

Though each official at Tuesdays press conference proclaimed support for school choice, that support came with the caveat that they only support it when its done right. For example, Wolf said he wants charter schools to help innovate better ways to teach students, like the International Baccalaureate program at York Academy Regional Charter that he and his wife, Frances Wolf, helped start.

That was the initial promise of the charter school program, to allow for this flowering of new ideas and innovation with the hope that traditional public schools could learn from that, Wolf said at Tuesdays press conference. Were not just saying it, we believe [in school choice].

Additionally, Rau said she believes school districts should be allowed to restrict students from attending cyber charters if they have an equitable or better cyber academy offered through the school district. Low performing cyber charter schools are not adding value to that childs life, Rau added.

Every one of Lancaster Countys 17 school districts offers an online learning option.

The School District of Lancaster saw a 25% increase in students attending cyber charter schools this academic year, Rau said, for a total of 245 students. In addition, 200 students attend Lancasters brick-and-mortar charter school La Academia.

A lot of parents have said to me, Cyber charters must be better because theyve been doing [virtual learning] much longer, Rau said. That is absolutely not true, he said, adding that the School District of Lancaster offers one-on-one instruction for its virtual students, which Rau claims students enrolled with cyber charters cant always access.

Rep. Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster city, said during the press conference he supported the first charter school law in the Legislature -- well before the state even imagined cyber charter schools were a possibility. Now its ballooned to a profitable business that leaves school districts still set with educating all students -- while charters can cherry-pick their students or return them to the district if they are not doing well.

What we see today is a situation where people have figured out a way to make money and they are less concerned about what the outcome is, Sturla said. Cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania are some of the lowest performing schools in the state of Pennsylvania. Its not about quality, its not about education, its not about innovation. Its about the bottom dollar and how much money somebody could make.

Alex Geli contributed reporting.
HONG KONG (AP)  For decades, Hong Kong has been one of just two cities in China allowed to mark the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijings Tiananmen Square.

In 1989, hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in the square calling for democracy, less censorship and greater freedom of speech.

On June 4 that year, Chinas military converged on the square with orders to clear it out, opening fire and arresting protesters. Estimates of the number of people killed range from hundreds to several thousand.

Chinas official verdict is that the largely peaceful protests aimed to topple the ruling Communist Party and plunge the country into chaos. China has censored any mention of the event online.

Each June 4, thousands have gathered in Hong Kongs Victoria Park to mourn the victims of the crackdown, lighting candles and singing songs in remembrance.

This year, however, Hong Kong authorities have banned the vigil for the second consecutive year, citing social distancing restrictions and public health risks from the coronavirus pandemic.

Similar events have also been held each year in Macao, although authorities have also banned them for the last two years, citing the pandemic.

Critics say authorities are using the pandemic as an excuse to silence pro-democracy voices in Hong Kong as Beijing tightens its control over the semi-autonomous city following months of anti-government protests in 2019.

Last year, thousands gathered in Victoria Park despite the ban and police warnings. Weeks later, police arrested over 20 activists who took part in the vigil.

Organizers have urged residents to mark June 4 in private this year by lighting a candle wherever they are.
Fraud of Anglo-American Posturing as Angels of Democracy Called Out as Danish Spying for NSA Scandal Builds

June 1, 2021 (EIRNS)Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, whom U.S., British and EU leaders proclaiming themselves guardians of democracy slandered as an autocrat, called out their brazen double standard, after the latest exposes of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) using Denmark to spy on all kinds of European politicians, most notably German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Imagine if Belarus did it, if you listened to Angela Merkel: what sanctions would be imposed against Belarus! If Lukashenko had listened to Angela Merkel with the help of Russia, what would they have done to Russia and Belarus? Vucic told a Serbian TV program yesterday, Market Research Telecast reported. But when it comes out that the U.S. tapped Merkel through Denmark, nothing happens, because there are no principles. There have been no principles or laws in international relations for a long time, Vucic complained.

Similarly, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova charged that the United States is supervising everyone and everything, while NATO and EU governments remain quiet. Perhaps they decided to toss their vassal partners a bone, allowing them to bend the rules as well.

The Anglo-American axis has ordered Huawei, Chinas leading 5G company, banned from any country which wishes to be considered democratic, on the grounds that the private firm is just a cover for Chinese government spying. We believe that the reason why the U.S. has groundlessly accused China is because the U.S. itself has been doing so, and the U.S. is convinced that any force with some kind of dominance will conduct the same espionage, Chinas Global Times editorialized yesterday.

There is no equality and mutual respect within the West. The U.S. leadership of its allies is not conducted in accordance with rules, but is full of coercion and compulsion. Its not easy to be a U.S. ally. Not only is their sovereignty infiltrated, but they are monitored by Washington at any time. This is the cold reality under the deceptive appearance of unity between the U.S. and Europe.... The image of the so-called one of the largest democracies as the boss of a sinister gang has become more vivid.

The rest of the international community must speak out, not just Europe, because the NSA-Danish action severely violated international laws.... Those who are being spied on are not just European leaders, and more countries must have been included.

The U.S. is a superpower out of control, infringing on other countries sovereignty and destabilizing the world, Global Times wrote. It is in the common interest of all countries to restrict this behavior.
The Strategy for a Pacific War, Say Colby, Parpart and Goldman

June 1, 2021 (EIRNS)Elbridge Colby, the primary author of the January 2018 National Defense Strategy at the Defense Department (the core document which defined Russia and China as strategic competitors to be contained economically and militarily), participated in a discussion today with Uwe Parpart, now the editor-in-chief at the Asia Times. Not surprisingly the discussion was moderated by Parparts cohort David Goldman. Demonstrating how far they fall since their days working with Lyndon LaRouche, Parpart and Goldman lapped up the praise from Colby for their work and for Asia Times as a platform for what they would discuss: What Might Start a Pacific War, and Who Would Win It. Their conclusion: China might start such a war over Taiwan, by miscalculating that the U.S. would not come to Taiwans defense, and that the war could go nuclear as a result. All three repeatedly protested that such a war was not their intention, nor in U.S. interests, but that since it could happen, the U.S. must be prepared to fight and win. Colby added that we must be certain to have the capacity to win with conventional forces, or it may become nuclear.

Colby, who was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Deployment under Secretary of Defense James Mattis, warned that China is not threatening only Taiwan, but is also projecting power globally. China has blown through their former self-restraints: bases abroad, willing to use force as in the Philippinesit is not ideology, its power. He went on that Chinas rise is like the gravitational pull of Jupiter, like when Germany arose, causing a huge disruption. He said that the agreement to a One China policy did not recognize Beijings power over Taiwan. This administration[Antony] Blinken and [Kurt] Campbellhas clearly signaled that they would not sit by if China invades Taiwan.

Goldman took a question from EIRs Mike Billington (although he did not name him), asking why the U.S. should not join with China in the BRI to build the world. (Goldman left out the second part of the question, in which Billington contrasted the BRI to the Malthusian Green New Deal.) Both Colby and Parpart answered in classic British imperial terms. Colby, referring to two competing governments coming together, insisted:

Thats against human nature. G2 never works. The impulse is simply too great for each country to gain an advantage over the other. [So much for the Peace of Westphaliaed.] The basic reason is that China wants to have a large area where it is hegemonic, sets the economic rules, has suzerainty, as they used to say.... This is not in our interest, nor that of Japan, India, Korea, nor Europe for that matter.

Parpart was more absurd:

There is a massive cultural difference between the U.S. and China. There was this German guy, Leibniz, who thought that the Chinese way of writing was wonderful, could be universal. But Im certain that if he went to live there he would not have wanted to stay. He concluded: An egregious miscalculationnot an accidentcould lead to a military confrontation. But our two aspirations can be pursued without a war. Thats the best we can hope for.

Colby has a name for the Quad and other allies that he expects will work with the Anglo-Americans against China: the anti-hegemonic coalition. He denounced Japan for spending only 1% of their GDP on the military. Japan is critical if the coalition of forces will succeed against China. Japan clearly sees China as a threat. Spending only 1% on defense is irrational. They should at least double that. On the Philippines, he said that we are frustrated that we can not reestablish our posture there under the current government. China sees an opening there. He said Chinas policy toward Southeast Asia is to Keep in line, or pay the consequencesyet another case of ascribing ones own policy to another.

Colby, quoting from Bidens Independence Day speech that Democracy itself is under threat, demurred, saying: My view is that we all love republicanism, but the balance of power is more important.

The China-Russia relationship is an anomaly, Colby mused, due to the power of China compared to Russia. After all, he said, Putin wanted to be European, like Peter the Great. Germany and others know that they must not push Russia away so hard that they would have no choice but to link up with China. He added casually: Russia would not take sides in a U.S.-China war.
Min. Malcolm, Prosecutor for the People: Unmasking Racism in Americas Claim of Innocence

It is the critical and incisive character of his understanding of us, society and the world that gives Min. Malcolms message and insights, their instructive and enduring relevance. So, whether we raise his life and legacy as lesson, model or mirror during the days and months we mark his birth and martyrdom or any other times, his voice is of great, promising and perennial value. As we once again find America faced with the choice and challenge to concede and begin in earnest to correct and rid herself of her systemic racism, Seba Malcolms teachings in talk, text and living practice offer us insights and understanding of the problem itself, and our responsibility to continue the struggle, keep the faith and hold the line until victory is achieved.

Malcolms critical studies and lived-experience compel him to conclude that America is a sick society. Thus, he says Uncle Sam is sick with racism plaguing America like an incurable cancer. From the inception of his conscious and committed life as a Muslim minister and teacher, he has been central to the struggle to expose and end racism which he saw as both a systemic killer and suppressor of Blacks and other peoples of color and the self-deluding and suicidal practice of society against itself. Indeed, unchecked and unrepentant racism leads America (down) the suicide path and we are compelled to resist it.

ADVERTISEMENT

The message Malcolm constantly delivered to the guardians of the gates of systemic racism was that they should not delude themselves or reassure themselves with lies and the comfort food of fantasies about the imagined innocence of the country. Indeed, he says that the seeds of racism have been deeply planted in this country since its beginning with genocide, enslavement and oppressions of various kinds. And this holds true regardless of Mitch McConnell and Tim Scotts self-deluding and dishonest denial and Joe Bidens and Kamala Harris strategic denial to appease the rabidly and reservedly unrepentant and to avoid being labeled and opposed as anti-American.

But Malcolm will not deny Americas racism in delusion, dishonesty or for strategic appeasement, for he realizes its deadly and destructive character. And he puts America on trial as a continuing and compelling prosecutor, concerned with the well-being and health conditions of his people and the social conditions of the society which are both pathological and pathogenic, sick itself and causing sickness in others. Thus, he is both prosecutor and injured physician. Like his people, of whom he is a deeply rooted part, he and they are injured physicians who must heal, repair, renew and remake themselves in the process and practice of repairing, renewing and remaking the sick, racist and oppressive society which wounds and kills us.

Indeed, Min. Malcolm defines himself and his role of speaking truth to the people and truth to power in similar terms. He says early in his mission that he recognizes that people might mistakenly see him as anti-white, a teacher of hate, and a reverse racist, but he is neither. It is only Americas misunderstanding of his mission and meaning that makes it see and pose him as such. He explains this with the following analogy. He says, My friends if you see a man attired in white with a sharp instrument, bending over someone who is prostrate on a table, your lack of understanding might compel you to shout murderer. But when you know the place is a hospital, the sleeping man is a patient, the man attired is a surgeon and the sharp instrument must be used to perform some surgery that is necessary to save the patients life, you can then accept that although the operation is very painful, it must be performed.

Min. Malcolms sharp instrument is his compelling critique of domination which he defines as sharp truth, a scalpel and sword which he wields with surgical precision, unmasking racism in America and in its self-deceiving claims of innocence. He states that the sharp and incisive truth he speaks is like a two-edged sword. It cuts into you. It causes you great pain, but if you can take it, it will cure you and save you from what otherwise would be certain death.

Malcolm starts by asserting that racism and the White supremacy that it is founded in and fosters is systemic, not simply personal, psychological or episodic. The entire American economy is based on white supremacy, he says, as is Americas religious philosophy, political foundation, social philosophy, and educational system. And whether it is raw racism of the outward racist or a hypocritical and hidden or disguised racism, he tells us, It doesnt alter the basic immorality of white supremacy and its anti-human imposition of force and violence, its dishonest and self-stroking ideological justification, and its brutal institutional processes and practices of domination, deprivation and degradation.

Min. Malcolm cites the police violence approved by the White public; the educational system that savages the mind and breaks the spirit of our children and youth; the political system that suppresses our voice and vote; the media that distorts and criminalizes our identity and interests; an economy that exploits and deprives us of a life of dignity and decency; and the churches which abandon their moral responsibility to support and ally in radical struggle with the downtrodden, poor and disempowered. He speaks too of not only the domestic problem and oppression posed by racism, but also its reach abroad as imperialism and colonialism and the damage and devastation this imposes on the lives and lands of the people, whether in brutally occupied Haiti, Palestine or Uighur land (Xijiang) in China.

ADVERTISEMENT

Haji Malcolm, speaking as a noble witness for his people and his Islamic faith imagined a world without racism and the oppression, exploitation and degradation it practices, promotes and perpetuates. He holds out hope that through righteous and relentless struggle, we can radically reorder the structure and process of things in more humane, hopeful and history altering ways. He believed that we could develop a new logic of liberation, think for ourselves and change our thinking by liberating our minds through the study of philosophies, psychologies, cultures and languages that dont come from our racist oppressor.

Also, Min. Malcolm held out hope that the whites of the younger generations in colleges and universities would embrace and act on the truth and tragic consequences of Americas racism and join the struggle against it, as the only way left to America to ward off the disaster that racism inevitably must lead to. But in the final analysis, Min. Malcolm, our honored teacher, reminds and reassures us that we are our own liberators. He tells and teaches us that the key to our success lies in united action in our struggle against Americas oppression, exploitation and degradation and for freedom, justice and equality. He wants us to love and respect each other and to boldly and defiantly take this oath and honor it: We declare our rights on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.

Freedom by any means necessary was his constant battle cry. And it has two essential meanings. It means first, by whatever means the oppressor compels us to take to win our freedom. But equally important and perhaps more important, it means by any service and sacrifice required of us to secure and sustain this sacred right of ours and every human being  to be free from all that oppresses, exploits and degrades and to be free to develop, flourish and come into the fullness of ourselves.

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.

05-10-21
Chinas government has raised the child limit for couples from two to three as the country experiences lower birth rates.

For many years, China enforced a one-child policy as a way to control the population. But that policy was replaced in 2016 with a two-child limit. That change was aimed at raising the number of births as the country faced a fast aging population.

But birth rates have further decreased in recent years as the cost of raising children in Chinese cities remains high.

The latest measure to permit three children per family is meant to actively deal with the aging population, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The decision came during a ruling Communist Party meeting led by President Xi Jinping, it said.

The policy includes what the government calls "supportive measures to make it easier for families to have more children. The measures include plans to lower educational costs for families and increase tax and housing support. The government also said it would seek to educate young people "on marriage and love."

Recent data showed that Chinas fertility rate -- the average number of births per mother -- was 1.3 in 2020. That rate  which is similar to aging nations like Japan and Italy  is well short of the 2.1 needed to replace the population.

Yifei Li is a sociologist at New York University Shanghai. She told Reuters that most families did not hold back on having children in recent years because of the governments two-child policy. Instead, she said they held off because of "the incredibly high costs of raising children in today's China.

Zhang Xinyu is a 30-year-old mother of one from Zhengzhou in northeastern China. She said another problem was that women carried most of the responsibility for raising children.

She added, I don't want to have a second child. And a third is even more impossible."

Economists say that China, along with Thailand and some other Asian economies, faces concerns that it could grow old before it gets wealthy.

The Chinese population of 1.4 billion was already expected to reach a high later this decade before starting to drop. But recent government data suggested that is happening faster than expected. Experts say this adds to pressures on underfinanced retirement and health systems and cuts the number of future workers available to support a growing retiree group.

The share of Chinas working-age people 15 to 59 fell to 63.3 percent last year from 70 percent a decade earlier. The group aged 65 and older grew to 13.5 percent from nearly 9 percent. The countrys reported 12 million births last year was down nearly one-fifth from 2019.

Chinese researchers and the Labor Ministry say the share of working-age people might fall to half the population by 2050. That increases the dependency ratio, the number of retirees who depend on each worker to pay into retirement programs and to pay taxes for health and other public services.

Party leaders at the meeting also agreed on the need to start delaying retirement ages for citizens, Xinhua reported, without providing details. The government has been debating changes in the current retirement ages of 60 for men, 55 for professional female workers and 50 for blue-collar females.

Im Bryan Lynn.

The Associated Press and Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

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

___________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

incredible  adj. very large

decade  n. a period of ten years

blue-collar  n. relating to jobs that require physical work


June 1 marks the 100th anniversary of the destruction of Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

But that day  with hundreds of Blacks killed, and houses and businesses burned to the ground  did not become part of the American story.

Instead, it was ignored, unlearned and untaught until many years later. Even this year, the Tulsa massacre is still unknown to many Americans.

The massacre in Tulsa began when white anger built over a Black man accused of stepping on a white girls foot. Blacks came with guns to the jail in Tulsa where the man was held to prevent his killing. White people answered with deadly force. For the next two days, on May 31 and June 1, mobs of white people terrorized and burned the Black neighborhood of Greenwood. The attackers killed up to 300 Black people and forced survivors into internment camps.

Understanding society

Joshua Guild is a professor of history and African American studies at Princeton University. He and other historians say racist attacks like Tulsa are very important in understanding the United States today. When an event like that is lost to memory, American society cannot be truly understood.

It is sort of a lie that we tell ourselves collectively about who we are as a society, he said. If we dont understand the nature of the harm ... we cant really have a full reckoning.

Manisha Sinha, a professor of American history at the University of Connecticut, agreed.

Its really important for Americans to learn from the past, because you really cannot even understand some of our current-day political divisions and ideas, without knowing the countrys full history, she said.

Some terrible events that many Americans do not remember were from long ago. For example, the 1887 Snake River attack in Oregon where 34 Chinese gold miners were killed. Or the Sand Creek massacre in 1864, where U.S. soldiers in Colorado killed around 230 Native American people.

But other forgotten events were within the lifetimes of Americans living today. In 1985, a bombing by the Philadelphia police killed 11 people. The police were targeting the Black organization MOVE.

Robin Wagner-Pacifici is a professor at the New School for Social Research, who has written about the MOVE bombing. She said that just because an event is important or impacted a large number of people does not mean it will be remembered.

Remembering the Tulsa massacre

In Oklahoma, the massacre mostly was not discussed until a committee was formed in 1997 to investigate the violence. For years, the states public schools called it the Tulsa race riot. Students are now asked to consider the differences between calling it a massacre or a riot.

How an event is presented can make a difference, Wagner-Pacifici said. That could include whether it is connected to other historical events and whether or not parts of the story are given importance.

In Tulsa, news of the violence that started on May 31, 1921 did make it to the papers. Front-page stories from The Associated Press spoke of a race clash and armed conflict. But the stories of the aftermath  of a community destroyed went mostly untold. Weeks later, The New York Times reported that a jury in Oklahoma had determined the violence was the fault of the armed Black people. It was off the front page and not major news.

All sorts of political forces and actors will kind of move in, to try to name it and claim it, in order either to tamp it down in its impact or to elaborate it in its impact, Wagner-Pacifici said.

She pointed to a current example: the deadly Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol. Some Republican lawmakers have blocked the Democratic-led attempt to investigate the attack.

A presidential visit

President Joe Biden visited Tulsa on Tuesday to honor the victims of the massacre. As the first president to do so, his visit will bring even more attention to the massacre.

Biden also met privately with survivors of the massacre. And his administration presented several new policies aiming to narrow the wealth gap between Black and White Americans.

Eddie Glaude is with the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University. He said Bidens visit is so important because we have to recognize what we have done ... It has to be more than symbolic. To tell the truth is the precondition for reconciliation and repair, he said.

Im Dorothy Gundy.

And I'm Dan Friedell.

Deepti Hajela, Jonathan Lemire and Darlene Superville reported this story for The Associated Press. Dan Novak adapted it for VOA Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

massacre  n. the violent killing of many people

internment n the act of putting someone in a prison for political reasons or during a war

reckoning  n. the time when your actions are judged as good or bad and you are rewarded or punished

tamp  v. to press (something) down by hitting it lightly

elaborate  v. to give more details about something : to discuss something more fully

precondition  n. something that must exist or happen before something else can exist or happen

reconciliation  n. the act of causing two people or groups to become friendly again after an argument or disagreement
Five years on from the first discovery of gravitational waves, an international team of scientists, including from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), are continuing the hunt for new discoveries and insights into the Universe.

Using the super-sensitive, kilometre-sized LIGO detectors in the United States, and the Virgo detector in Europe, the team have witnessed the explosive collisions of black holes and neutron stars. Recent studies, however, have been looking for something quite different: the elusive signal from a solitary, rapidly-spinning neutron star.

Take a star similar in size to the Sun, squash it down to a ball about twenty kilometres across - roughly the distance from Melbourne airport to the city centre - and you'd get a neutron star: the densest object in the known Universe. Now set your neutron star spinning at hundreds of revolutions per second and listen carefully. If your neutron star isn't perfectly spherical, it will wobble about a bit, and you'll hear a faint "humming" sound. Scientists call this a continuous gravitational wave.

So far, these humming neutron stars have proved elusive. As OzGrav postdoctoral researcher Karl Wette from the Australian National University explains: "Imagine you're out in the Australian bush listening to the wildlife. The gravitational waves from black hole and neutron star collisions we've observed so far are like squawking cockatoos - loud and boisterous, they're pretty easy to spot! A continuous gravitational wave, however, is like the faint, constant buzz of a faraway bee, which is much more difficult to detect. So we've got to use a few different strategies. Sometimes we hone in on a particular direction ? for example, a flowering bush where bees are likely to congregate. Other times, we close our eyes and listen keenly to all the sounds we can hear, and try to pick out any buzzing sounds in the background. So far, we haven't had any luck, but we'll keep trying! Once we do hear a continuous gravitational wave, we'll be able to peer deep into the heart of a neutron star and unravel its mysteries, which is an exciting prospect."

A recent collaborative study with OzGrav has taken a closer look at the remnants of exploded stars, called supernovae. OzGrav PhD student Lucy Strang from the University of Melbourne explains: "Our search targets fifteen young supernova remnants containing young neutron stars. We use three different pipelines: one optimized for sensitivity, one that can handle a rapidly evolving signal, and one optimized for one likely astrophysical scenario. This is the first LIGO study covering all three of these scenarios, maximising our chance of a continuous wave detection. Continuous gravitational waves are proving very difficult to detect, but the same properties that make them elusive make them appealing targets. The exact form of the signal (i.e. its frequency, how rapidly the frequency changes, how loud it is, etc.) is dependent on what neutron stars are made of. So far, the structure of neutron stars is an open question that draws in all kinds of physicists. Even without a detection, a search allows us to peek behind the curtain at the unknown physics of neutron stars. When we do detect continuous waves, we'll open the curtain and shine a spotlight on new physics. Until then, we can use the information we do have to refine our understanding and improve our search methods."

OzGrav Associate Investigator Lilli Sun from the Australian National University says: "Young neutron stars in supernova remnants are promising targets to look for those tiny continuous gravitational waves, because they haven't spent a long enough time to relax and smooth out the asymmetries introduced at their birth. In our endeavor to search for continuous waves from these young neutron stars in our third observing run, we take into consideration, for the first time, the possibilities that the interior configuration and structure of the star can result in signals emitted at two different harmonics. Although no signal has been detected in O3, we set interesting constraints on the neutron star properties. If such a signal can be detected in future observations when the detectors are more sensitive, it will shed light on the fascinating structure of a neutron star."

OzGrav postdoctoral researcher Carl Blair from the University of Western Australia says: "Gravitational waves are being used to probe the most exotic objects in the Universe. Neutron stars - composed of matter collapsed in on itself like a giant atomic nuclei - have to be one of the most exotic. We don't know that much about neutron stars because they're so small and strange. Are they hard or soft? And when they spin fast as they collapse, do they wobble away that energy in the form of gravitational waves? While there is no evidence yet for continuous gravitational waves from neutron stars, limits have been placed on how wobbly a neutron star is from the fact that we haven't measured gravitational waves from them yet."

In addition, recent studies announced by the international research team - including the U.S./international LIGO Scientific Collaboration, European Virgo Collaboration and Japanese KAGRA Collaboration - have focussed on pulsars. These are neutron stars which act as cosmic lighthouses, beaming out copious energy in the form of radio waves. Pulsars are like giant spinning magnets, except they're billions of times stronger than the ones stuck to your fridge. So strong, in fact, that the magnetic field distorts the shape of the neutron star, and may lead to a tell-tale hum of continuous gravitational waves. While the recent studies did not pick up anything, they found tight constraints on how loud the "hum" could be, which, in some cases, are starting to challenge theoretical predictions.

OzGrav PhD student Deeksha Beniwal from the University of Adelaide says: "Gravitational-wave observation from O3 run of LIGO and Virgo detectors has allowed us to set realistic constraints on signals expected from young pulsars. O3 observations also provide an opportunity to test out different pipelines - such as different search methods for continuous wave signals ? in realistic environments."

OzGrav postdoctoral researcher Meg Millhouse from the University of Melbourne says: "Continuous gravitational waves from neutron stars are much smaller than the gravitational waves LIGO and Virgo have seen so far. This means we need different techniques to detect them. And, because these are long lasting signals, we need to look at lots of data which can be very difficult computationally. The recent LIGO-Virgo papers published showcase a wide range of these clever approaches to detect continuous gravitational waves. Even though there were no detections in the most recent data analysed, we're in a good position to keep searching and possibly make a detection when LIGO collects more data."

Scientists estimate that there are billions of neutron stars in the Milky Way with a faint murmur of continuous gravitational waves. Further studies have therefore taken an "ears wide open" approach, combing through the LIGO and Virgo data for any hint of a signal. The results so far suggest that these murmurings are extremely quiet and out of the detectors' "ear" range. However, as detector technology becomes more advanced and sensitive, the first ever detection of continuous gravitational waves could soon become a reality.

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
Ceremony honors those who have fallen

From 10 years ago, June 1, 2011

On May 27, students from Pioneer School joined the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps in placing flags and crosses at veterans grave sites at the Lebanon I.O.O.F. Cemetery.

They were helping get ready for the ceremonies on Memorial Day.

This may be more important, in a way, than the ceremony on Monday, said John Green, commander of the American Legion Post No. 51. For our nation to retain the heritage, the love of country, the respect to the veterans: Its these kids out here that will get that spirit built into their bones.

At each grave, Lebanon JROTC cadets saluted and paused before making a hole for the flag.

Mark Burroughs, 10, a student from Tonya Cairos fifth-grade class, carried a handful of American flags. He handed one to a cadet, who pushed the flag into the hole, taking care that it was upright and in the proper position before moving to the next grave.

We have a list of them that shows their ranks and how long theyve served, Cadet Austin Starbuck, 16, said.

LCSD employees suspend 'work to contract' phase
Currently, Cait is the owner of Irwin Artworks LLC and is in her sixth year of operation and is based in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Her company showcases her work, ranging from large murals to sculptures made from recycled materials. She has also established a strong online presence where she sells a large amount of her work. Cait also travels to a variety of established Artist residencies as well as designing her own. She is constantly gathering inspiration from the world around her and is always on the look out for new projects with new challenges.

Caits artist statement is as follows: I have written many artist statements throughout my career and each one is unique, as it is always my intention to capture the spirit of the specific project. In thinking about this residency and what it means to me as an artist, I thought it would be most appropriate to base it on this quote from Robert Henri himself.

Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living.
Competing in his first basketball game of the season, sophomore Jaedyn Brown was summoned off the bench and provided Pullman with the shot in the arm the Greyhounds needed to sew up a 70-65 road victory against Clarkston in the second game of a Greater Spokane League doubleheader Friday at C
Clear, sunny skies gave way to a well-attended Memorial Day ceremony, which drew close to 200 attendees to the Solvang Memorial Veterans Hall.

Prior to the ceremony and on Saturday morning, post members joined by service members and veterans placed more than 900 American flags on veterans' graves at Mission Santa Ines, Chalk Hill, Oak Hill and Saint Mark's cemeteries. Last year, the ceremonies were canceled as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.

On Monday morning, members of Santa Ynez Valley VFW Post 7139 and American Legion Post 160, representatives from the city of Solvang and Vandenberg Space Force Base, as well as local veterans and community members, gathered to honor the fallen in an hourlong program.

The Memorial Day program began with the lowering of the colors to a half-staff position and the dedication and placement of a commemorative wreath at the foot of the flagpole, located in front of the Veterans Hall.

Halfway through the event, Mayor Charlie Uhrig stood before attendees and officially declared May 31 as Memorial Day in the city of Solvang.

As part of the program, 19 Santa Ynez Valley residents who gave their lives in service to the nation  including Staff Sgt. Timothy Manchester who died this year supporting Operation Spartan Shield in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait  were honored individually. Nineteen plaques honoring the 19 servicemen also were dedicated during the ceremony. Attendees were invited to later view the plaques located in the Large Hall of the Veterans Hall building.

At the conclusion of the event, Flat Fender Friends club members drove their Jeeps that were parked along Mission Drive in a military-style convoy through downtown Solvang with music playing and flags flying.

Over 100 members of the community then gathered at the children's Memorial Day art show at the Avenue of the Flags median in downtown Buellton.

The event, sponsored by the Buellton Arts & Culture Committee, unveiled groupings of painted pictures on display for public viewing.

The artwork, which was produced by local children to commemorate their personal interpretation of the patriotic holiday, remain on display.
Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on June 1 laid out priorities for spending $86.2 million anticipated over the next two years from the federal American Rescue Plan Act designed to help states, counties and cities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some projects to be added to the countys proposed 2021-22 budget scheduled for hearings next week include $7 million to lease property for housing the homeless and $1.5 million to expand mental health services and patient housing.

County budget hearings start Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will conduct hearings on the 2021-22 budget at 9 a.m. Tuesday and Thursday next week.

Another $4.3 million was allocated for road maintenance, and $200,000 was dedicated for developing a recovery resource center to guide people through the many assistance programs offered by the federal government.

Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann said there are so many various assistance programs, its difficult for county officials, much less the public, to navigate through them and maximize the benefits.

We must have expertise, Hartmann said. Its going to make all the difference for our county.

Other projects will be refined and brought back to the board in October after the county receives final guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department on how ARPA funds can be spent.

Those include a lighting project at Orcutt Community Park that Board Chairman and 4th District Supervisor Bob Nelson asked to have moved from the Tier 2 capital improvement projects list to the higher-priority Tier 1 list, bringing the total cost for those projects up to $5 million.

Of the initial six Tier 1 projects, only one was in the North County  a $400,000 replacement of three heating, ventilation and air conditioning units at the Santa Maria Juvenile Hall.

At the same time, supervisors agreed to commit unallocated cannabis tax revenue to three other projects as part of the proposed 2021-22 budget.

Hartmann also asked to have $50,000 in cannabis revenue contributed to each of two California Coastal Conservancy feasibility studies on providing trails in the Point Sal area and creating a campground in Guadalupe.

She sought board support for the contributions after 1st District Supervisor Das Williams had secured support for spending $2 million to assist the $18 million effort to purchase the West Mesa portion of the San Marcos Foothills to preserve it as open space.

+3 Santa Barbara County supervisors adopt accessory dwelling unit amendments Amendments to bring Santa Barbara County ordinances in line with new state laws on accessory dwelling units were unanimously adopted May 18 by the Board of Supervisors with a few questions but virtually no opposition.

There is no way in hell, on the day that I vote for $2 million for open space for South County, that I wouldnt vote for $100,000 for open space for North County, Williams told Hartmann, drawing chuckles throughout the hearing room in Santa Barbara, where the meeting was held.

Supervisors also asked staff to arrange presentations that will give the board more information about three potential projects  a proposed emergency child care initiative, a partnership with the EconAlliance and the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians to provide broadband services to the North County and optional projects to meet the countys most critical housing needs  before they commit ARPA funds to those.

Hartmann said the board needs a set of principles for evaluating projects to select those with the greatest benefit, suggesting criteria addressing inequities, racial justice and educational opportunities, providing match funding, improving efficiency, increasing transparency, reducing the countys carbon footprint, providing multiple benefits and being in the works for a long time.

The staff is expected to bring a proposed evaluation system back by October as well.
A male inmate sentenced to death in 1987 for the murders of a Nipomo mother and her three children was found dead in his San Quentin State Prison cell on May 31.

Richard Allen Benson, who was 74 years old, was found unresponsive in his cell shortly before 5:30 a.m. and pronounced dead shortly after 6 a.m., according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

A paramedic unsuccessfully performed CPR on Benson and called an ambulance before declaring him dead.

The Marin County Sheriff's Office Coroner Division will determine a cause of death, however foul play is not suspected, according to the CDCR. Benson did not have a cellmate.

+3 Solvang man convicted in 2006 killing of Wayne Shaw granted clemency Family and victim advocates of a man shot to death in a 2005 Buellton road rage incident are opposing the release of his killer, who was recently granted clemency in June after serving less than half of a nearly 33-year sentence and is eligible for release in December.

Benson, an unemployed jeweler, was convicted March 5, 1987, of murdering 24-year-old Laura Camargo and her three children  Stephanie, 4; Shawna, 3; and Sterling, 2  with a hammer in a drug-induced rage, before setting fire to their home in the 100 block of Chestnut Street on Jan. 6, 1986, according to court documents.

Benson was originally to be tried in San Luis Obispo County, but Superior Court Judge William R. Fredman approved a change of venue to Santa Barbara County after finding he would not receive a fair trial due to excessive media coverage. Benson was sentenced to death on April 30, 1987, and admitted to San Quentin prison on May 1.

Additionally, Benson received two sentences for lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 and arson of an inhabited structure, although those sentences were stayed pending the completion of his death penalty, according to the CDCR.

Camargo's fourth and oldest child, 6-year-old Sasha, was not home at the time and lived, according to Mary Einert, the victims' mother and grandmother.

Einert, who is now 80 years old and lives in Salinas, said she felt "happy" after hearing of Benson's death, but said the news will never bring closure.

"I think closure is such a bogus term," Einert said. "What he did was purely evil. Im happy about it but ashamed of myself for being happy about it."

Einert worked as an educator in Southern California for several years but retired early, citing her daughter's and grandchildrens' deaths as a drain on her health. Life afterward was incredibly difficult for Einert, particularly around Mother's Day. Ten years before the murders, Einert also lost her 12-year-old son to leukemia.

She kept quiet about the murders until 2019 after Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a death penalty moratorium.

"Your arbitrary abolishment of California's death penalty is extremely disrespectful to the law enforcement investigators, the prosecutors, juries and judges involved in the death penalty cases as well as the victims and their families," Einert said, adding that she also supports the current recall effort against Newsom.

San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow called Benson the "worst of the worst" criminals.

"Nothing, including his death in prison, will ever begin to diminish the pain and suffering that he inflicted on the young children, their mother and their family," Dow said.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Hidden beneath a kilometre of ice in northwestern Greenland, an impact crater that could swallow a city the size of London, Ont. is the subject of much debate about its origins and age.

Now, Western planetary scientist Elizabeth Silber has published new research suggesting the crater could be young - as craters go - having formed during the Pleistocene geological epoch, between 11,700 and 2.6 million years ago.

The impact of the asteroid thought to have created the Hiawatha crater would have produced so much heat that the ice sheet would have released a massive volume of meltwater "in pretty much an instant," Silber said. She estimates it would have produced enough water to fill Lake Tahoe, which straddles California and Nevada.

"It is a rarity to find a new impact crater on Earth, let alone one of this size," said Silber, an adjunct professor with Western's department of earth sciences.

"While some 190 impact structures have been catalogued thus far, this putative crater is interesting because it looks geologically young and well preserved and, if confirmed, it will be among the largest ever found on Earth," she said. "Because it is hiding beneath the ice sheet it begs the question (of) when it might have formed, and whether the ice existed at the time."

The 31-kilometre-wide crater first came to the world's attention in 2018 when a team led by the University of Copenhagen published research revealing its existence. The discovery sparked a lively debate about whether the two-kilometre-wide asteroid believed to have made it hit before or after the Greenland Ice Sheet formed about 2.6 million years ago.

"Because it is very well preserved, it points to a possibly very young age, as young as the onset of the Younger Dryas period (between 11,500 and 14,500 years ago)," said Silber. "Or alternatively, if old, it tells us about the erosional processes that might have taken place in that area."

Silber studies how impact craters form on various planetary bodies, including Jupiter's moon Europa, Saturn's moon Titan, our moon, and Earth. She also studies the physics of meteors, or shooting stars.

So, she was well placed to put together a team, including some of the researchers who made the initial discovery, to shed light on the crater's formation and age.

The team used hydrocode modelling, a numerical tool that describes the physics behind the shockwaves that cause impact craters to form. The modelling takes into account the projectile's composition, target and impact speed, as well as surface temperature and other factors.

"Modelling formation of impacts into terrestrial ice sheets has never been done before, and it serves to shed light on why the crater is unusual in terms of morphology and why the rocky ejecta is absent from drill cores," Silber said.

Shockwave physics assume that an impact this big should form a peak-ring basin with a pronounced crater rim if an asteroid slams directly into bedrock. But the Hiawatha crater has a central uplift and muted morphology, which means that the crater rim is less pronounced. The formation of the central uplift makes sense, however, if an asteroid hit at a time when the land was covered with ice at the height of the sheet's thickness (likely 1.5 to 2 kilometres).

"The modelling shows that thick overlying ice in fact serves to muffle the formation of a peak-ring basin," said Silber. "Furthermore, the nearby drill cores don't show any rocky ejecta from the impact, and our study shows that ice sheets inhibit ejection of rocky material during the impact."

While it wasn't the focus of her paper, Silber calculated some of the likely after-effects of a large asteroid slamming into the ice sheet. She came up with a dramatic picture: supersonic winds of 400 kilometres an hour ripping down trees within a 200-kilometre radius and stripping them of branches and leaves. Anyone within a 500-kilometre radius would have seen a white-hot fireball that appeared four times larger than the sun, she said.

"From a scientific standpoint, we want to know how something might have occurred and how it might have affected the region. After all, the Chixculub impact, which was significantly larger than the Hiawatha impact, was responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago."

MEDIA CONTACT: Jeff Renaud, Senior Media Relations Officer, 519-661-2111, ext. 85165, 519-520-7281 (mobile), jrenaud9@uwo.ca

ABOUT WESTERN

Western University delivers an academic experience second to none. Since 1878, The Western Experience has combined academic excellence with life-long opportunities for intellectual, social and cultural growth in order to better serve our communities. Our research excellence expands knowledge and drives discovery with real-world application. Western attracts individuals with a broad worldview, seeking to study, influence and lead in the international community

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
Local

featured

Lufkin preps for future disasters using lessons learned in past ones

JOEL ANDREWS/Lufkin Daily News file photo Jose Maldanado clears freshly fallen, ice-coated pine limbs Feb. 17 on Trenton Street near Coston Elementary. Im just doing my part to help my neighborhood, Jose said.

The city of Lufkin has begun to implement emergency plans discussed after the winter snow storms earlier this year, including equipment purchases and construction.

The city council on Tuesday approved, on first reading, the purchase of a lube skid, brush chipper and grader blades and the construction of a storage building to hold generators.

These items had been discussed by city administration with city council. The goal is to be better prepared if a disastrous event, such as a hurricane or another winter storm, were to run through the city, city manager Bruce Green said.

Even though (the winter storm in early 2021) wasnt a storm we could have known about, we took a very careful analysis, and said perhaps our circumstances could have been better improved if we did a number of things, he said.

The city will fund these projects, purchases and more utilizing unexpected funding from sales tax revenues seen over the last few months. The city has seen a 16.52% increase in revenues just between January and May, according to data produced by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts last report issued in mid-May.

We thought we could assume a lot of those (costs) in our current budget, Green said.

This would also prevent a lot of these expenditures from encumbering the fiscal year 2021-22 budget, which may feel the impacts of the economic downturn seen nationwide.

Well only be bringing these (before council) as long as we have funds, Green said. We did a lot of advance review, research to see where we could get the best prices on things.

The lube skid will be used for the maintenance of equipment and will cost $11,390.

The brush chipper will be used for debris removal and will cost $33,061. It will allow the city staff to clear debris and shred it down so staff members do not have to take it to the landfill, Green said. The city would consider offering the chipped debris to the public, he said.

The grader blades will be used for street clean-up during emergency events and will cost $1,934. These will help city staff in removing ice or snow from roadways.

The construction of a storage building for generator storage will cost $55,050. The city looked at the number of generators that froze during the winter storm and we think we might be able to help that with a cover on some of those, Green said.

The city council still needs to approve these purchases on a second reading and will likely have the opportunity to do so in the June 15 meeting.

In other business, The council also:

Canceled the regular council meeting on July 6, as they do for every early-July meeting.

Granted the special use permit needed to construct a craft distillery in downtown Lufkin.

Granted 2015 Culverhouse St. a zone change to commercial.

Granted 4707 Daniel McCall Drive a zone change to residential large.

Approved the closure and conveyance of a property on an undeveloped roadway in the Lufkin Land and Lumber company No. 2 Addition to a private citizen.

Approved the closure and conveyance of an alley in the Jordan Davis addition bounded by Elsie Street to the Salvation Army.

The council accepted:

An $8,000 grant from the Koch Companies, Georgia Pacific, community fund for the Lufkin Fire Department.

A $26,556 grant from Trauma Service Area H for the Lufkin Fire Department.

The council also approved budget amendments appropriating money for:

The Solid Waste facility fire sprinkler repair, on second reading.

The installation of a transfer switch for the Pitser Garrison Convention Center generator, on second reading.

Repairs to the Kurth Memorial Library roof, on second reading.

Facility repairs and equipment or uniform purchases for the Lufkin Fire Department.

The purchase of ballistic vest carriers for the Lufkin Police Department.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Ashley Furniture Industries, the largest manufacturer of furniture in the world, announced plans to open a new multi-million-dollar facility in Chippewa Falls that will create more than 200 manufacturing and office support jobs for the area.

Hiring started in May with production set to begin in June. The company will host a ribbon cutting event in the coming month. The 127,000 sq. ft. facility, located at 925 First Avenue and formerly operated as a corporate office for Spectrum Industries Inc., serves as an upholstery furniture manufacturing site.

This new location expands the companys already established national network of 12 production facilities servicing the U.S.

The Chippewa Falls site will work in coordination with Ashleys Arcadia advanced manufacturing and distribution facility, located 60 miles to the South. The companys multi-million-dollar investment will be put toward updating the facility along with machinery and equipment costs.
Horizon High School saves lives, its students say.

Shortly after staff celebrated the recovery high schools nine graduates last week, two of them told the Cap Times they were there because of the support the school offers.

I don't want to be too gloomy, but it pretty much saved my life, Will Adams said. I was in a very bad spot, was contemplating suicidal thoughts and this gave me another reason not to go through with it.

Last Thursday was the culmination of what the school can do for students dealing with addiction and mental health problems.

If you knew the backstory of every single one of those students, the challenges and the things that they've had to face in their life, it really is a miracle, Horizon director Traci Goll said. It really is, that they all graduated and got their credits and even showed up.

Just days before that celebration was another milestone, one that will help create a long-lasting imprint for the school on more students like Adams: Horizon moved to 659 N. Whitney Way, to a larger building better equipped to meet its students' needs.

Horizon opened in 2005 for students who had recently been in alcohol or drug treatment programs. It was the only such school in Dane County at the time, and remains the only one today, with about 12 to 15 students enrolled at any given time. Its now the only recovery school in Wisconsin that Goll is aware of, and also allows students with mental health challenges to enroll.

Why we're still standing is because Madison is an outstanding community, said Goll, who has lived most of her life here and began working at Horizon about six months after it opened.

Key to its ongoing existence is financial support from the community. Construction company C.G. Schmidt donated all of the renovation costs for the new space, Horizon's sixth location, while the Cuna Mutual Group Foundation announced a $32,000 grant to support increased mental health services.

Through a partnership with the Madison Metropolitan School District that began a decade ago, Horizon students who would otherwise attend an MMSD high school attend at no cost.

They can do things that we can't do, which is what makes them highly effective, said East High School social worker Pam Herman, who has referred students to Horizon. They respond to kids literally 24 hours a day. They go above and beyond, and they respond to the entire family.

Current and former students told the Cap Times that seeing that support makes them feel like the school, itself, is a family.

For some, multiple family members have found success through Horizon, with two siblings of former students among the recent graduates. Ken Adams, who graduated three years ago, looked on Thursday as staff praised his younger brother, Will, and handed him a diploma.

I'm never going to stop talking about (the school). It's never going to be something that I can just be like, Okay that part of my life is over, Ken Adams said. It's always going to be a very important and influential part of my life.

I'm always going to be part of this family. I think it's important to keep going, and the new building, it's going to be very instrumental in that happening.

Pride in graduation

The smiles of students and staff were evident, with or without masks, at Rennebohm Park on Thursday.

They and their supporters, family or otherwise, listened as staff spoke about each student, highlighting fun memories, challenges and skills. Bob Weinswig, the lead teacher, went first, talking about Will Adams and choking up at various points as he celebrated his accomplishments.

Usually when we get these kids, theyre not in the best shape and youre just thinking theyre never going to make it, Weinswig said after the ceremony. When they finally get to this point, its amazing because you just feel like theyre part of your family.

For Will Adams, one of the most important things about the school was that its staff never give up on you, he said. Lily Arsenault, one of Will Adams best friends and classmates, felt similarly.

Honestly, I thought I was going to be dead; I was super suicidal so I really wasn't expecting to live past 16, she said. And now I'm 18, I have my own baby and my own house. So it means so much to me to be graduating today.

Both were excited to have reached this point, but expressed some concern at what comes next, as they know they will miss an important group of people and part of their everyday support system.

It's going to be a lot of hard work for me, I'm going to leave my entire family, Arsenault said. I've had these people text me at like midnight like, Are you okay? Do you need help with anything? I've had these people constantly up my alley, here on my team always advocating for me.

That is the best thing ever. I don't know any other school that would do this.

Dedicated staff

When Goll started at Horizon, it was supposed to be a six-month job until the school found a more permanent hire. Instead, 16 years later, shes found its fulfilled something in my life.

I've always been touched by it because it's not like anyone ever asked to be a drug addict or an alcoholic and I just think the stigma behind it is so bad, Goll said. People dont like to talk about it.

About decade into her tenure, when she had surgery and was out of school for a few months, Weinswig stepped in. A former teacher who thought he was done with that profession, he accepted with no long-term plans.

Now hes five years into the job he describes as exhausting but worth it.

You love working with kids, love that moment where you can get them excited and inspired about something, Weinswig said. Whatever it is, you have to find that spark in each kid.

Other staff include dual diagnosis counselor and teacher Kim Lohman, art teacher Erin Marklein, special education assistant Darby Buisker and office manager Suzanne Sweetnam. Goll said all of them are always going 120%, over and above, to help the students.

The average kid comes in and has, we always call it the Swiss cheese education or transcript where they're missing something, because they've been hospitalized or they've been in rehab or they just didn't go to school, Goll said. So we have to catch them up, weve got to figure out what is going to motivate this kid, how can we educate this kid.

Requirements for attendance at the school include 30 days of sobriety prior to enrollment and having an outside therapist.

The number one criteria in order to come to Horizon is you have to want to be there, Goll said.

New space

The new building features plenty of upgrades over the old space, which Weinswig described as like a one-room schoolhouse.

Goll said there was no privacy, whether that was because of the single bathroom that had to be used regularly for drug testing or because it was more or less one big room and one tiny office.

There was no place to really even breathe, she said. If something went wrong or haywire Id literally have to take kids outside to walk; rain, snow, whatever, get them out of the building if they were having some sort of explosive tantrum or something.

Now, there's a food pantry, and the new space provides more room to teach life skills like cooking and laundry.

If someone comes to school and they're just filthy we can wash their clothes and that's huge, Goll said. In the past Ive had to take kids to the laundromat or they would come to school with garbage bags full of clothes, Can you please take this and clean it for me? And I've done it, we've all done it.

Goll said the space and all of the people and organizations that made it possible are an example of the community's support for Horizon, which is something she wants to make sure the students are aware of.

We truly care about these kids, and they should know that Madison has gone above and beyond... making sure our school stays open, Goll said.

While she anticipates slightly expanding enrollment, itll likely still be limited to make sure they can provide the support and care that are key to the approach.

It's important, even if we only have 15 kids, those are 15 kids that would be on the streets using drugs, using alcohol, causing havoc or maybe just sitting at home completely depressed in a closet for months, she said. And because of Horizon, they have an opportunity to learn how to find out who they really are and become an important member of our community.

Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.
DHS spokeswoman Elizabeth Goodsitt in a May 6 email to the Cap Times wrote the agency "is not considering vaccine passports at this time." She didn't immediately return a follow-up question Tuesday about whether anything had changed since then.

Many of the bills were first circulated for co-sponsors in April, marking a pre-emptive strike against early moves from President Joe Bidens administration and the private sector to develop so-called vaccine passports, though the federal government doesn't have plans to require their use, past reporting shows.

In Wisconsin, the four bill drafts, led by Republicans, range from broad and sweeping  aiming to bar the need for vaccine certifications to gain access to businesses, public places and modes of transportation  to more targeted measures.

A fifth bill, from Rep. Gae Magnafici, R-Dresser, and Sen. Rob Stafsholt, R-New Richmond, would bar the University of Wisconsin System and tech colleges from requiring students to be tested for COVID-19 or vaccinated against the virus as a condition of attendance or being present on campus.
Rhodes-Conway said in a statement after the meeting that the councils decision was a positive step to support the development of more housing and more types of housing in Madison.

This ordinance alone will not solve our housing crisis, but it is one piece of a larger strategy that we are acting on, Rhodes-Conway said in the statement.

Whats changing

The zoning code changes are meant to make it easier to build more multi-family housing in Madison. Also, the city hopes to support new and smaller-scale developers by making it easier, more predictable and less expensive to create more housing.

There are three components of changes. One of them creates more uses that are allowed by right, meaning that they don't require conditional use approval from the Plan Commission and can move forward with city staff permission.
In 1920, African-Americans owned some 14% of the farms in the United States.

Today, thanks to a century of racial discrimination, from land theft in the Jim Crow South to banks and governmental farm services refusing to consider them for loans or other financial assistance, that number has dropped to just 1.4%. There are now fewer than 49,000 farms left in America that are owned by Blacks.

New U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, has pointed out that in his state there were once 50,000 farmers of color. Today there are fewer than 2,900.

That history is what prompted the Biden administration to earmark $4 billion of the $1.9 trillion American Recovery Act specifically to help the non-white farmers still left and help right some or the wrongs they endured through the years. That aid, for instance, can be used to pay off mortgages, some backed by the Department of Agriculture, on the farms owned by Black, Hispanic and Indigenous farmers. It's hoped that about 16,000 mortgages will be paid sometime this summer.
What Vos proposes is not a serious investigation. One of the officers he has hired is Mike Sandvick, a scandal-plagued former Milwaukee police officer who has been off the force since he produced a 2008 report on alleged voter fraud so shoddy that, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, it was disavowed by prosecutors and rejected by a federal judge as not trustworthy.

Sandvick retired from the department soon after his bosses barred him from visiting the polls on Election Day in 2008, reports the Journal Sentinel. He went on to do work for the state Republican Party and True the Vote, a Tea Party-aligned Texas group focused on voter fraud.

In other words, Voss chief investigator is a partisan hack with a track record of producing reports that arent credible.

Why would a savvy legislative leader jump in the clown car with the cranks whose outrageous claims about the 2020 election are literally parodied in comedy routines?

The answer to that question is the same answer to every question involving Vos: Hes scared.
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson met last week with the mother of fallen U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died on the day that former President Trump incited an insurrectionist mob to attack the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

She did so despite the fact that Johnson has declared that he was not frightened by the attack on the Capitol because the seditionists were people who truly respect law enforcement.

Gladys Sicknick wanted to explain to Johnson that what happened on the day her son died was not, as the senator continues to claim, a "peaceful protest.

The heroic officers mother put her faith in the prospect that face-to-face meetings with Republicans might break loose support for a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 violence that left five people dead and injured 140 police officers.

"How can they not be doing the right thing?" she asked.
Judge Robert Repischak went beyond that, saying a deputy wouldnt be needed and approving the furlough, so long as Bell wore a GPS tracker from the time he left the jail at 11 a.m. Friday and that he would be back at the jail by 4 p.m. that day.

On Tuesday, Bell and his loved ones figured hed be able to see his family again come Friday. But then the DOC stepped in, asserting it would be a risk to let Bell out even for just a few hours, even though local elected authorities (i.e., the district attorney and Judge Repischak) didnt come to the same conclusion.

The last week had been full of hopefulness, hoping hed be able to get out, that theyd be able to see and hear the severity of the situation, Ashley Stuckey, Bells girlfriend of eight years, said during an interview Thursday evening.

To just find out the court system would agree to him getting out and the DA would agree to get him out, but for the people who were supposed to be working with him (the DOC and his probation officer) to not let him get out  its devastating.

Allegations
Expedition 65 Flight Engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos are scheduled to depart the International Space Station Wednesday for a spacewalk to continue preparing the Pirs docking compartment airlock for undocking and disposal later this year.

The duo will exit the space station's Poisk docking compartment about 1:20 a.m. EDT tomorrow, signifying the start of their spacewalk, which is expected to last about six and a half hours. NASA will begin its live coverage on NASA Television and the agency's website at 1 a.m.

The cosmonauts also plan to replace a fluid flow regulator on the nearby Zarya module and replace biological and material science samples on the exterior of the Russian modules.

This will be the 238th spacewalk overall in support of International Space Station assembly, and the first spacewalk for both Novitskiy and Dubrov, who arrived at the space station in April aboard the Soyuz MS-18 crew ship.

Novitskiy, who is designated as extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1), will wear a Russian Orlan spacesuit with red stripes. Dubrov will wear a spacesuit with blue stripes as extravehicular crew member 2 (EV2).

On-Orbit Status Report

Payloads:

COSMIC (Confocal Space Microscopy): The crew removed the 2 checkout samples and installed 2 temperature loggers in the COSMIC system. COSMIC will be used to support upcoming Cell Gravisensing investigation. The Elucidation of the Gravisensing Mechanism in Single Cells (Cell Gravisensing) investigation studies how cells sense gravity. While recent research has revealed that individual animal cells can detect gravity, the mechanism for this sensing is largely unknown. This investigation analyzes changes in tension in cell stress fibers during spaceflight as a possible mechanism.

FIR CCU HD Replace: In order to return the FIR/LMM (Fluids Integrated Rack/Light Microscopy Module) system to nominally processing the ACE-T2 science module, the crew replaced a failed Hard Drive in the Confocal Control Unit (CCU). The Advanced Colloids Experiment-Temperature-2 (ACE-T-2) experiment looks at the assembly of complex structures from micron-scale colloidal particles interacting via tunable attractive interactions. Regulating the temperature enables control of the particle interactions, which for these mixtures of particles A and B are different, leading to the growth of complex structures, and provide a better understanding of how complex interactions lead to complex structures, and to understand the dynamics of growth of these structures.

Fluidics: As a continuation of the Fluidics series of experiments, the crew initiated the second and third (of 3 total) science runs, and then transferred the science data and stowed the hardware. The measurement of liquid displacement within a sphere in microgravity relates to a given kinematic representation of a spacecraft's fuel tank. The FLUIDICS investigation evaluates the Center of Mass (CoM) position regarding a temperature gradient on a representation of a fuel tank. The observation of capillary wave turbulence on the surface of a fluid layer in a low-gravity environment can provide insights into measuring the existing volume in a sphere.

SUBSA/DFM sample exchange: The crew removed the processed ampoule-4 and installed the final amoule-8 to be processed for the DFM investigation. When a metal solidifies during casting or additive manufacturing, it forms a multitude of tiny crystals called dendrites. The dendrite shape and whether the dendrites fragment determines the strength of the resulting solid metal. However, since gravity affects the growth and fragmentation process, it is unclear how those dendrites grow during freezing. The Dendrite Fragmentation and Morphology During Melting and Solidification (DFM) investigation, conducted in the Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA) facility, uses microgravity to examine the effects of cooling and heating rate on the shape of these crystals.

Systems:

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Preparations: The crew completed activities in preparation for the ISS 2B IROSA EVA. The crew performed an EMU swap, and also removed hardware from the Airlock that is not needed for the upcoming EVA and prepared the Airlock to support EVA operations. The ISS 2B IROSA EVA is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, June 16.

Airlock Prebreathe Hose Assembly (PHA) repair: The crew reattach the dust cap tether onto the PHA Port QDs in the Airlock. The PHA supports crewmember Prebreathe Protocol activities done for EVA prep. The PHA Hardware supplies O2 from two PHA Ports in the ISS Joint Airlock.

In Flight Maintenance (IFM) Light Removal: The crew removed the light in the NODE 1 overhead port 2 location and installed it in the JPM. The light at NOD1OP2 is fully functional, but the upstream Remote Power Controller (RPC) is failed, so the crew installed the Light in a more useful location.

IWIS (Internal Wireless Instrumentation System) RSU (Remote Sensor Unit) Swap: The crew swapped two RSUs on the IWIS onboard the ISS. The IWIS is an instrument onboard the station that is used to measure ISS vibrations.

SpaceX-22 Cargo Dragon On-Board Training (OBT): The crew reviewed an overview of the Cargo Dragon Vehicle, Mission profile, and rendezvous procedures in anticipation for SpaceX-22 launch/dock. This is SpaceX's 22nd contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station and is set to launch on Thursday, June 3 and dock to the ISS on Saturday, June 5.

Completed Task List Activities:

None

Today's Ground Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

PRO Plant Habitat Experiment Activation & Powerup Commanding

PRO Iceberg Activation Commanding

Nitrogen/Oxygen Recharge System N2 Repress

Secondary Power System (SPS) Safing

Look Ahead Plan:

Wednesday, June 2 (GMT 153)

Payloads:

AC Touch, ELF Holder exchange, ISS HAM pass, ManD print removal and stow, MME-2 Kubik setup, SUBSA Hardware stow, Toilet questionnaire

Systems:

Atmospheric Control System (ACS) Nitrogen Oxygen Recharge System(NORS) Nitrogen Transfer

Dragon 22 Prepack

SpaceX-22 Dragon Rendezvous review CBT

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tool Configuring

Thursday, June 3 (GMT 154)

Payloads:

AC Touch, Food Acceptability, Food Physiology, ManD print remove, Nanoracks Module-9 OBT, POLAR/Dragon transfer overview, RTPCG plate load, TICTOC procedure review, Toilet questionnaire

Systems:

Portable Onboard Computers (POC) Dynamic Onboard Ubiquitous Graphics (DOUG) Software Review

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cooling Loop Maintenance Scrub

Dragon 22 Prepack

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Procedure Review

Friday, June 4 (GMT 155)

Payloads:

BPA filter clean, Cold Stowage unpack, Toilet daily questionnaire

Systems:

Crew off-duty day

Today's Planned Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Solid Combustion (SCEM) Item Gathering Part 2

SpaceX-22 Dragon Vehicle Ops CBT

FIR CCU Hard Drive Replace

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Airlock Unstow

Solid Combustion (SCEM) OS Troubleshoot Preparation

Fluidics Run 2 execution

Review RS EVA 48 procures with RS Crew

Confocal Space Microscopy Thermal Container Removal

Confocal Space Microscopy Temp Lens Check

Solid Combustion (SCEM) OS Troubleshoot

IWIS (Internal Wireless Instrumentation System) RSU (Remote Sensor Unit) Swap

SpaceX-22 Dragon review CBT

Public Affairs Office (PAO) Social Media Event

Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) in Columbus

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Swap

Solidification Using Baffles in Sealed Ampoules Sample Exchange

Solidification Using Baffles in Sealed Ampoules Historical Documentation Photos

In Flight Maintenance (IFM) Light Remove

LIGHT INSTALLATION AT JPM1OA1

Airlock PHA Dust Cap Tether Repair

Health Maintenance System (HMS) Profile of Mood States (POMS) Questionnaire

Health Maintenance System (HMS) - ESA Nutritional Assessment

Atmosphere Control and Supply (ACS) Nitrogen Manual Valve Open

Iceberg Desiccant Swap

SpaceX-22 Dragon Rendezvous review CBT

Glacier Desiccant Swap

ISS HAM Kenwood Radio Power Down in Columbus

ISS HAM Radio Power Down in Service Module

Health Maintenance System (HMS) Vision Test

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Jill Biden is getting a day at the beach for her 70th birthday.

President Joe Biden and his wife were heading to their Delaware beach house Wednesday evening to help the first lady celebrate that personal milestone on Thursday.

The trip makes for a rare midweek getaway from the White House by a president. It will also be the president's first visit to the couple's Rehoboth Beach home since he took office in January.

The Bidens were expected to be back at the White House on Friday.

Jill Biden, a longtime community college English professor, recently finished virtually teaching a course for Northern Virginia Community College. She also won't be teaching over the summer.

Biden often speaks about how proud he is of his wife of nearly 44 years.

"Teaching is not what Jill does. Teaching is who she is," Biden said last week, echoing his wife's own description of herself. "And she's done it her, her whole adult life, and she's still doing it."

Biden said his wife had pledged she would continue to teach as first lady.
VIENNA (AP)  European diplomats say the latest round of talks over Irans nuclear program has made progress, expressing hope that agreement could soon be reached for Tehran to comply with a 2015 deal aimed at curbing its atomic ambitions and also see the United States rejoin the accord.

Enrique Mora, the European Union official who chaired Wednesday's talks in Vienna, said delegations from Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain, Iran and the U.S. would return home to brief their governments and then meet again in the Austrian capital next week.

Im sure that the next round will be the one in which we will finally get the deal," Mora told reporters after the meeting.

There are a few political issues (and) there are a number of technical issues, again rather complex," he added. "But I can say that they are fewer than they were one week ago. So we are (on) a good track.

I think every capital has to give a green light to their respective delegations to get the agreement, and I think that will be the case next week, said Mora.
MADRID (AP)  The leader of a movement seeking independence from Morocco who is at the center of a diplomatic row flew out of Spain to Algeria, arriving in the middle of the night before being taken to an Algerian military hospital Wednesday.

Brahim Ghali was released from a hospital in northern Spain following more than six weeks of treatment after contracting COVID-19, according to a statement sent to The Associated Press by the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which is based in refugee camps in western Algeria.

Morocco has denounced Spain, a strategic partner, for allowing Ghali to secretly enter the country. Morocco considers Ghali, 71, to be a terrorist. Amid the dispute, thousands of migrants crossed the border from Morocco into Spain as Moroccan authorities appeared to relax border controls last month.

After Ghali's arrival in Algeria on Wednesday, he was taken to the Ain Naadja military hospital  and received a visit from Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and army chief of staff Said Chengriha, according to Algerian state news agency APS. Algerian state television showed images of the visit, with Ghali hooked up to an oxygen machine.
More tickets than expected will go on sale Friday for Concerts on the Square, a signature cultural event for Madison each summer.

Now in its 38th year, the Wednesday evening concert series traditionally brings huge crowds of music lovers and picnickers to Capitol Square. But because of the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, the five-concert series running from July 7 to Aug. 4 will be held at Breese Stevens Field this year, and in-person listeners will pay up to $12 each to attend.

When the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra initially announced the venue change in April, it expected to seat 1,500 per concert. That number has now risen to 5,000 because of the easing of restrictions on public gatherings by Public Health Madison and Dane County.

The WCO wants to take an intentional, step-wise approach in getting people back to live concerts, keeping in mind that audience members will have different comfort levels with being in a crowd, orchestra CEO Joe Loehnis said.
The MPO is working on a follow-up survey this summer to see if attitudes have changed.

I dont think many people want to work full time at home, but I think people will like the flexibility, said planning manager Bill Schaefer.

In a March survey by the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, 57% of businesses said they expected all employees to return to the workplace after the pandemic is contained.

Chamber President Zach Brandon said there is no one-size-fits-all solution for employers.

Decreasing our emissions is a worthy, shared goal, as is helping our businesses and economy recover from an unprecedented year of challenges, he said. We must also be mindful that many commuters use transit and that there are other impacts of a remote workforce, including the effect on our tax base and some of the businesses most impacted by the pandemic that rely on the proximity of foot traffic to survive.

UW Health, the countys largest private employer, says it has encouraged those who can to work remotely throughout the pandemic and will continue to support telecommuting into the future.
If all goes as planned, Simon Gilroy will be growing cotton in space this weekend.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket scheduled to blast off Thursday from Floridas Kennedy Space Center will carry 48 seeds from the UW-Madison botanists lab to the International Space Station, where astronauts will attempt to grow them in a system developed in Madison.

The idea is to see how gravity affects the root systems, information that Gilroy said could help breeders develop new strains that could be grown more efficiently back on Earth.

Cotton is a really environmentally impactful plant, Gilroy said. It uses a lot of water. It uses a lot of fertilizer. It uses a lot of pesticides. But it has a big economic impact.

On Earth, gravity guides plant roots down into the soil in search of water. By removing gravity, Gilroy hopes to reveal the other influences that determine which direction the roots grow and how they branch out.

Theres really only one place to do that, Gilroy said. The space station.
LAKE MILLS  While hikers investigate a recently burned prairie and a nearby Osprey nest, Susan Trier keeps her eyes trained on the ground as she walks along the southern end of Rock Lake.

Known to her neighbors as the turtle lady, Trier inspects this stretch of the Glacial Drumlin Trail every afternoon throughout the months of May and June, usually while riding her electric bike, on the lookout for migrating turtles.

Turtles are one of these really charismatic species, Trier said in between greeting her neighbors and their dogs. I mean people love them. They want to take care of them. Theyve been part of our environment since practically the dinosaur age.

But their hard shells are no match for a 2-ton vehicle, which is why Trier keeps a pair of leather gloves in her car just in case she needs to help a turtle cross the road.

When you see a creature like that going across the road you just want to help them survive, said Trier, who helped the Rock Lake Improvement Association start a campaign to save turtles a couple years ago. Trier then reports any sightings to the state Department of Natural Resources through an online turtle reporting form.
K-12 spending

Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, committee co-chairs Born and Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, said there are no changes planned to the GOP budget following comments made earlier this week by Evers that he might veto the entire proposal.

Nothing really changes from last week, Born said.

Evers on Tuesday said he was keeping a full veto of the GOP-authored budget on the table if Republicans dont allocate enough education funding to qualify for federal stimulus dollars.

The $128 million in K-12 funding in the GOP budget proposal isnt enough to qualify for the full $1.5 billion in education funds in the latest stimulus package. In order to qualify, the states nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates the state would need to increase the funding from the current budget by at least $387 million over the next two years.

Republicans last week also allocated $350 million in their budget to the states rainy day fund that could be directed toward education spending, but theres no guarantee those funds would go to that use. Last week, the U.S. Department of Education said simply putting that money aside wont help qualify the state for federal education funds if its not directed toward K-12 education.

Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
If you want to see all of the emails your mayor received and sent during the week of March 16-20, 2020, to find communications about the coronavirus outbreak, all you have to do is ask. Under state law, the mayor is required to retain these and provide them on request.

If you want to see the emails that flowed between a given school district and a former superintendent regarding a school-siting controversy from several years ago, again, these are supposed to be preserved and provided.

But if you ask your state senator or representative for something as simple as a copy of his or her schedule from, say, yesterday, you have no guarantee. If you even get a response, one of the lawmakers aides could say, Sorry, we deleted it at the end of the day. We have no record of it.

Thats because, several decades ago, lawmakers exempted any member of the Legislature from the states record retention statute.

Recently, the Wisconsin Examiner reported that two Republican state lawmakers, Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, and Rep. Rob Brooks, R-Saukville, apparently used this loophole to destroy records about a proposed elections bill.
In a Cold War episode reminiscent of Boris and Natasha, the dictator of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, hijacked an international airline flight to kidnap a dissident. It was so clumsily transparent that it would be funny if the life of journalist Raman Pratasevich, now the prisoner of the KGB, werent in danger.

The civilized world, which is just about everywhere but Belarus, must unite against this act of state piracy, blocking flights to or from Belarus and steering international air traffic around the East European prison house.

Pratasevich was traveling on Ryanair Flight 4978 from Athens to Vilnius, in Lithuania, overflying Belarus. The trip is a little less than three hours, but shortly before the non-stop was due to arrive in Vilnius, it did a U-turn and landed in Minsk, escorted and forced down by a MiG-29 fighter jet. Pratasevich was grabbed and pulled off the plane, which then proceeded to Lithuania.

Official excuse: bomb threat.

Pratasevich later showed up in a video from his jailers with him saying that he is being treated well, even though his parents say it looks like his face is swollen and his nose is broken. Pratasevich must be released and allowed out of the country. ...
Please log in to keep reading.

Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.
The Twin Falls Municipal Band is composed of 45-60 musicians  including members and non-members  at any one time and is overseen by Thomsen. After two years of playing with the band, non-member musicians are eligible to be voted in as members for the next year.

Thomsen was raised in Twin Falls, graduating from Twin Falls High School before attending Boise State University for music education. After fulfilling her dream of teaching music in Montana, she returned to southern Idaho where her former music teacher, Ted Hadley, was stepping down as director of the Twin Falls Municipal Band.

When he was ready to retire, he gave me a call, and I got the job, Thomsen recalled. Its been a good fit for me.

After graduating, Thomsen received an invitation to play with the band and took them up on the offer. She has been playing with the band since 2009, even meeting her husband while working with the group.

Thomsen has also been teaching music at Canyon Ridge High School and Robert Stuart Middle School for seven years.

Im really lucky to be at the schools Im at because we were still able to do performances [during COVID-19], she said. They let us play.
BOISE  The Idaho Supreme Court soon will have a new justice.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little announced in a news release Tuesday that Boise attorney Colleen Zahn will fill the position that Justice Roger Burdick will vacate when he retires June 30. Burdick, who was appointed to the Idaho Supreme Court in 2003 and served as chief justice from 2011 to 2017, announced his retirement date earlier this year.

Zahn, a graduate of the University of Idaho College of Law, will be the fourth woman to serve on the Idaho Supreme Court, according to Supreme Court spokesperson Nate Poppino.

Most recently, Zahn served as the head of the Criminal Law Division for the Idaho Attorney Generals Office. Before that, she was the lead deputy attorney general for the Civil Litigation Division. Zahn handled civil matters for numerous state agencies, including the Idaho Department of Correction. Zahn also has 10 years of experience with trial and litigation firms in the private sector.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

She will bring beneficial insight to Idahos highest court with her extensive civil litigation background and longtime role representing numerous government agencies. I am confident she has the experience and aptitude to handle complex matters before the Idaho Supreme Court, Little said in a news release.
Opioids are made and marketed by drug manufacturers, not pharmacies, the company said. Pharmacists dispense opioid prescriptions written by licensed physicians for a legitimate medical need. Pharmacists do not  and cannot  write prescriptions. Nor do they  or can they  examine patients, conduct tests, diagnose medical conditions or determine medical treatment. That is the role of physicians, who have the responsibility to write appropriate prescriptions.

The new Kentucky lawsuit says CVS Health used unlawful business practices and failed to guard against the diversion of the powerful opioids.

To highlight the massive supply, Cameron said one CVS store in Perry County purchased more than 6.8 million dosage units of oxycodone and hydrocodone from 2006 to 2014  enough opioids for each resident of the Appalachian county to have more than 26 pills every year during the same period. In western Kentucky, a CVS store in Crittenden County bought more than 2.8 million dosage units of the drugs, enough to supply everyone in the county with at least 34 pills every year, he said.

Since CVS had a dual role in the opioid supply chain as a distributor and pharmacy, the lawsuit says the companys compliance with the law was vital to safeguard consumers and control the rate of addiction, abuse and diversion of opioids.
Idahos citizens can handle the anger and fear without resorting to civil warfare by word or action. A first step is to agree on the terms within the conflict. I suggest a few.

Racist: it refers to the belief that one race is superior to another. It has come to express anger whenever someone without white skin believes that an action or words intend to hurt them or limit their access to resources. Intend is the crucial word. When someone is called a racist, they object to having their mind read and their feelings misinterpreted.

Systemic racism: This does not mean that everyone in a system (group of people) is racist. It means that no one in charge of the system is noticing or opposing racist outcomes from that system. For individuals, it can mean that they are not noticing and opposing words or actions they encounter in a group that indicates intended, or even unintentional, racism.

Social justice: this is a broad term that intends to bring fairness to our civil life. It is a topic for debate. Since the Civil Rights movement, more people have opposed unjustified opposition to their equal treatment under the law.
None of that appears to forebear the sometimes dire predictions for the district by analysts at the University of Virginia, who use data to forecast trends rather than track history. Theyve suggested another surge is coming.

And the decline in vaccination rates are raw numbers that may portend future increases, along with the positive tests in the district, which increased about 5% earlier in the month to more than 8% once again.

When you look at vaccinations, you see that 52,833 residents have gotten at least one shot of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, which is about 38.5% of all residents  well below the nearly 55% statewide.

Then you notice that there have been 43,884 that are now fully vaccinated  getting the second shot of Pfizer or Moderna or the single shot of Johnson & Johnson  which is about 32% of the population, less than the 44% statewide.

But heres a key reason about those lagging rates: In March the district was distributing more than 1,000 doses a day (1,046 between March 2 and March 31).

In May the average was 450 a day, a decline of about 60% and falling well behind the figures required to get the district herd immunity against the novel coronavirus.
To the editor:

As a former assistant attorney general, I pay close attention to the individual who runs one of the largest law firms in the state, the office of Virginias attorney general. So, Ive been following Mark Herring for more than eight years, from his legal briefs to his management of the office to his national leadership.

Based on my observations, I couldnt agree more with what one newspaper recently wrote about Mark Herring:

No Attorney General [Mark Herring] in recent memory has made such a positive difference in the lives of ordinary people.

Mark was raised by a single Mom, worked construction to pay for college, was elected by his community to serve in the General Assembly and, as AG, has become a nationally recognized advocate and attorney for issues that affect us every day. As a result, Mark has been endorsed by every single Attorney General in the nation who is a member of his party.

Mark has fought to keep electric bills down for all of us. Hes stood up for clean water, environmental justice, civil rights and human rights, created a civil rights division and tasked attorneys with aiding the prosecution of individuals who abuse animals.
Approved the consent agenda. This consisted of the May 18 meeting minutes, a contract with the Marion Business Association, a depot lease agreement with the MBA, several budget ordinance amendments, the Catawba River Bank stabilization project, the American Rescue Plan, the designation of an agent for the Tropical Storm Zeta state disaster declaration and a petition for annexation of the Resolution Drive property.

Was introduced to Dwayne Riddle, the new assistant public works director.

Adopted an ordinance regarding the dilapidated structure at 80 Riverbreeze Drive. This building is along the Catawba River and was substantially damaged by flooding from Tropical Storm Alberto. It is currently in foreclosure due to unpaid back taxes. A portion of the building collapsed into the river. The church that used to meet there has abandoned the property and many calls for police service have been made there because of vagrants causing a public nuisance. The ordinance adopted by council will allow city staff to move forward with the condemnation process and take action to remove any occupants and close the building.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  Wisconsin business owners, university leaders and government officials would be prohibited from requiring the COVID-19 vaccination or treating unvaccinated people differently under Republican-backed bills moving through the state Legislature.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has already signaled that he will veto the bill forbidding any government official or business owner from requiring proof of vaccination. That and four other bills were heard at a public hearing Wednesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Over the course of the last year weve almost normalized asking people their own personal medical decisions surrounding COVID, said bill author Republican Rep. Tyler August. That has never been a normal part of society.

Evers on Tuesday said, its a reasonable request of businesses to make those requests.

The Wisconsin Medical Society, which represents doctors, says rules requiring vaccinations help ensure patients and workers in hospitals dont get sick.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The study, published in the journal Nature, shows how a drug available on the NHS can boost fitness of healthy stem cells in the gut, making them more resistant to sabotage from mutant stem cells that cause cancer.

Researchers in the Netherlands, funded by the UK charity Worldwide Cancer Research, have discovered a way to boost the fitness of healthy cells in the gut to prevent the development of bowel cancer. The findings have led to the initiation of a clinical trial to find out if a commonly used psychiatric drug could be used to prevent bowel cancer in people. The trial will recruit patients with a genetic mutation that means they are virtually 100% certain to develop bowel cancer in their lifetime, unless the entire large bowel is removed.

Bowel cancer affects more than 43,000 people each year in the UK and just over half of the people diagnosed survive their disease for 10 years or longer. It is thought that the majority of bowel cancer cases are caused by mutations in a gene called APC.

Intestinal stem cells with mutations to the APC gene have been shown to have a competitive advantage over their healthy counterparts and frequently outcompete them, leading to unrestricted growth and cancer.

Up until now it was unclear how the mutant stem cells win the upper hand, but new research, published in the journal Nature, now shows that the mutant stem cells actively emit signals that sabotage the function of healthy stem cells in the gut.

Professor Louis Vermeulen, Group Leader at the Center for Experimental Molecular Medicine at Amsterdam UMC, and senior author of the paper explained: "We have uncovered the very first steps in the development of bowel cancer. We found that following the occurrence of a mutation in a key gene that regulates stem cells in the intestine, these cells turn into cheaters that actively suppress the normal cells in the environment.

"This is a totally new concept as it was always thought that mutant cells that can turn into cancer simply proliferate faster or are resistant to cell death. But our findings indicate that cells on their way to a full malignancy can actively suppress the stem cells in the vicinity to gain a competitive edge. This is a concept we refer to as supercompetition."

Critically, the researchers also discovered a way to prevent the mutant stem cells from interfering with the healthy ones. Lithium, a commonly used drug for the treatment of several psychiatric disorders, prevented the mutant stem cells from taking over and forming tumours in mice by rendering the healthy stem cells insensitive to the damaging signals.

A clinical trial funded by the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF) testing the effect of lithium of bowel cancer development in individuals with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) will now be performed in the Netherlands. FAP is a relatively uncommon genetic syndrome that affects about 1 in 7,000 to 1 in 22,000 people. FAP patients have mutations in their APC gene and develop hundreds of non-cancerous polyps and adenomas in their bowel. Without treatment nearly all of them will develop bowel cancer between the ages of 35 and 45.

The trial is set to recruit 10 young adult patients with FAP and will observe the patients before, during and after treatment with lithium for a total of 18 months. The researchers will collect evidence on the preventive effect of lithium on mutant stem cells and polyp formation, as well as test the safety profile of lithium. Results of the clinical trial are likely to build the basis for larger trials with more patients.

Sanne van Neerven, Ph.D. student who conducted the research, said: "Our clinical trial may reveal that lithium can be used to prevent cancer development in FAP individuals. But what is also important is that this trial can establish a proof of concept that manipulating competition between mutant cells and normal cells can be manipulated in such a way that the healthy cell outcompete the mutant cells. This is a novel strategy for cancer prevention and could be applied to many heritable cancer syndromes involving different mutations and organs, but more research is warranted in this area."

Dr. Helen Rippon, chief executive at Worldwide Cancer Research said: "The discoveries made by Professor Vermeulen and his team are a huge breakthrough in our understanding of how bowel cancer develops. It's amazing to see innovative research like this go from the lab to the clinic as it shows just how important early-stage discovery research is to starting new cancer cures. We are all very excited to see the results from this clinical trial and the future impact these findings might have on other people with inherited cancer syndromes.

"Around 1% of bowel cancers are caused by familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). This may seem like a small number, but in the UK alone this means that over 400 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer caused by FAP every year. The only treatment option available for people with FAP is major surgery to remove the entire colon, which can be life altering and unfortunately cannot guarantee that cancer won't develop. The launch of a clinical trial thanks to this incredible research will offer real hope to people that there could be a simple way to prevent bowel cancer in the future."

Explore further Gut stem cells offer clues for preventing tumours in inherited bowel cancer

More information: Apc-mutant cells act as supercompetitors in intestinal tumor initiation, Nature (2021). www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03558-4 Journal information: Nature Apc-mutant cells act as supercompetitors in intestinal tumor initiation,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03558-4

Provided by Worldwide Cancer Research
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

COVID-19 is more than a respiratory disease. Emerging evidence indicates that COVID-19 acts as a vascular disease, helping explain why people with diabetes are at a higher risk of developing its severe form, according to new university research.

Florida Tech Ph.D. student Amanda Almeida de Oliveira, along with biomedical and chemical engineering and sciences faculty member Kenia Pedrosa Nunes, completed the review paper, "Crosstalk of TLR4, vascular NADPH oxidase, and COVID-19 in diabetes: What are the potential implications?" The manuscript was published in the May edition of Vascular Pharmacology.

In the paper, de Oliveira and Nunes reviewed the potential impact of COVID-19 on individuals with diabetes. They identified heavy inflammation in COVID-19 patients linked to over activation of the immune system. The presence of inflammation led them to propose that oxidative stress would also contribute to the severity of COVID-19since the mechanisms triggering inflammation and oxidative stress overlapwhich would affect the blood vessels in one's system. Given previous research that pointed to the disease's vascular connections, as well as studying the problems patients had throughout their bodies, the two researchers were even more convinced COVID-19 was not only a respiratory disease.

"The heart would start having problems, the kidneys, the whole body might shut down in severe cases," de Oliveira said. "When they started discussing COVID-19 as a vascular disease, everything started making sense because the blood vessels connect all systems in the human body, so, if it's affecting the vasculature, it could help explain why we're seeing problems throughout the body."

de Oliveira and Nunes also examined how toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), the cofactor NADPH, diabetes and COVID-19 may interact. They observed that in diabetes, both TLR4 and NADPH oxidase levels/activity are altered, and noted in the paper that these mechanisms, whether together or independently, might play a role in diabetes-associated severe COVID-19. TLR4 is a protein in humans that plays a significant role in regulating NF-B, a major transcription factor that regulates genes responsible for both the innate and adaptive immune response. There is also a link between TLR4 and NADPH oxidase, which has also been reported to modulate NF-B activation, contributing to inflammation, oxidative stress, and likely the severity of COVID-19 in diabetic patients.

Studying a disease that shut down the globe last year caused some challenges for researchers, including de Oliveira and Nunes. While they learned a lot in the past year, they noted there are still a lot of things researchers are trying to figure out with the disease, such as long-term effects of COVID-19 on individuals with diabetes. With research still being so new, Nunes also noted the opportunity for researchers to continue their contributions to further understanding various aspects of COVID-19's effect of the vascular system.

"It's our contribution associated to the disease to say, "Look, COVID-19 can affect this as well, this needs to be investigated," and that's not just with this research, but with all the research that has been published," Nunes said. "Everyone's trying to contribute to say, "Hey, I see that, this is what I see with my background, and this is what I haven't seen in the literature," and that's the idea."

Nunes noted through this research exactly how serious COVID-19 is, even more than previously known. Even with a vaccine, the problem is still very much a real one that needs to be solved. For de Oliveira and Nunes, the public needs to be prepared in case something like this happens again.

"Cautious, I think that would be the word," Nunes said. "Even though we are trying to get back into normal lives, caution is still needed, for everyone. We are not in a normal mode yet. We will be, but we need to be careful."

Explore further Evidence mounting that COVID-19 can cause diabetes type II

More information: Amanda Almeida de Oliveira et al, Crosstalk of TLR4, vascular NADPH oxidase, and COVID-19 in diabetes: What are the potential implications?, Vascular Pharmacology (2021). Amanda Almeida de Oliveira et al, Crosstalk of TLR4, vascular NADPH oxidase, and COVID-19 in diabetes: What are the potential implications?,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.vph.2021.106879
CSU's Dr. Anna Fagre (right) said while other studies have shown that bats are susceptible to Zika virus in controlled experimental settings, detection of nucleic acid in bats in the wild indicates that they are naturally infected or exposed through the bite of infected mosquitoes. Credit: Ron Bend/CSU

A team of Colorado State University scientists, led by veterinary postdoctoral fellow Dr. Anna Fagre, has detected Zika virus RNA in free-ranging African bats. RNA, or ribonucleic acid, is a molecule that plays a central role in the function of genes.

According to Fagre, the new research is a first-ever in science. It also marks the first time scientists have published a study on the detection of Zika virus RNA in any free-ranging bat.

The findings have ecological implications and raise questions about how bats are exposed to Zika virus in nature. The study was recently published in Scientific Reports.

Fagre, a researcher at CSU's Center for Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, said while other studies have shown that bats are susceptible to Zika virus in controlled experimental settings, detection of nucleic acid in bats in the wild indicates that they are naturally infected or exposed through the bite of infected mosquitoes.

"This provides more information about the ecology of flaviviruses and suggests that there is still a lot left to learn surrounding the host range of flaviviruses, like Zika virus," she said. Flaviviruses include viruses such as West Nile and dengue and cause several diseases in humans.

CSU Assistant Professor Rebekah Kading, senior author of the study, said she, Fagre and the research team aimed to learn more about potential reservoirs of Zika virus through the project.

The team used 198 samples from bats gathered in the Zika Forest and surrounding areas in Uganda and confirmed Zika virus in four bats representing three species. Samples used in the study date back to 2009 from different parts of Uganda, years prior to the large outbreaks of Zika virus in 2015 to 2017 in North and South Americas.

"We knew that flaviviruses were circulating in bats, and we had serological evidence for that," said Kading. "We wondered: Were bats exposed to the virus or could they have some involvement in transmission of Zika virus?"

The virus detected by the team in the bats was most closely related to the Asian lineage Zika virus, the strain that caused the epidemic in the Americas following outbreaks in Micronesia and French Polynesia. The first detection of the Asian lineage Zika virus in Africa was in late 2016 in Angola and Cape Verde.

"Our positive samples, which are most closely related to the Asian lineage Zika virus, came from bats sampled from 2009 to 2013," said Fagre. "This could mean that the Asian lineage strain of the virus has been present on the African continent longer than we originally thought, or it could mean that there was a fair amount of viral evolution and genomic changes that occurred in African lineage Zika virus that we were not previously aware of."

Fagre said the relatively low prevalence of Zika virus in the bat samples indicates that bats may be incidental hosts of Zika virus infection, rather than amplifying hosts or reservoir hosts.

"Given that these results are from a single cross-sectional study, it would be risky and premature to draw any conclusions about the ecology and epidemiology of this pathogen, based on our study," she said. "Studies like this only tell one part of the story."

The research team also created a unique assay for the study, focusing on a specific molecular component that flaviviruses possess called subgenomic flavivirus RNA, sfRNA. Most scientists that search for evidence of Zika virus infection in humans or animals use PCR, polymerase chain reaction, to identify bits of genomic RNA, the nucleic acid that results in the production of protein, said Fagre.

Kading said her team will continue their research to try and learn more about how long these RNA fragments persist in tissues, which will allow them to approximate when these bats were infected with Zika virus.

"There is always a concern about zoonotic viruses," she said. "The potential for another outbreak is there and it could go quiet for a while. We know that in the Zika forest, where the virus was first found, the virus is in non-human primates. There are still some questions with that as well. I don't think Zika virus has gone away forever."

Explore further Scientists reveal details of antibodies that work against Zika virus

More information: Anna C. Fagre et al, Subgenomic flavivirus RNA (sfRNA) associated with Asian lineage Zika virus identified in three species of Ugandan bats (family Pteropodidae), Scientific Reports (2021). Journal information: Scientific Reports Anna C. Fagre et al, Subgenomic flavivirus RNA (sfRNA) associated with Asian lineage Zika virus identified in three species of Ugandan bats (family Pteropodidae),(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-87816-5
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

France will start offering COVID-19 vaccines to all young people aged 12-18 years starting on June 15, President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday.

During a visit to the village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie in southern France, Macron also noted that 50 percent of French adults have now received at least one COVID vaccine jab, calling it "truly a turning point" in the country's inoculation drive.

Vaccine supplies have increased sharply recently, prompting officials to open up appointments to all adults earlier this week, several weeks ahead of schedule.

With the country just beginning to bounce back from a severe third wave of infections, Macron's government is keen to quickly expand the vaccine coverage to slow the spread of variants.

But Macron urged people to remain "extremely careful and vigilant" and said wearing face masks outdoors would still be required in several regions for the time being.

The 43-year-old president, who caught COVID last December, announced Monday that he and his wife had also had the jab.

Later Wednesday, Health Minister Olivier Veran told TF1 television that the vaccination programme for teenagers would not be compulsory, but on a voluntary basis and with the agreement of parents.

Starting the vaccinations for adolescents now would make it easier to avoid schools closures at the beginning of the next academic year in September, he added.

The country is emerging from its third nationwide lockdown, with restaurants and cafes now allowed to serve clients outside. Indoor dining is due to resume from June 9.

Pressure on hospitals has eased, with the number of COVID patients in intensive care falling steadily in recent weeks, with 2,754 serious cases as of Wednesday, down from more than 6,000 in late April.

Macron was in Saint-Cirq-Lapopie to launch a nationwide tour ahead of next year's presidential election, as well as regional elections set for later this month.

Explore further France opens Covid jabs for all adults in race against variants

 2021 AFP
Credit: Telethon Kids Institute

Researchers from Telethon Kids Institute and Curtin University in Perth and Tulane University in New Orleans have developed sophisticated data modeling that could help eradicate malaria in Haiti.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Caribbeanbeset by natural disastersand is one of the few countries in the region that have not mostly wiped out the mosquito-borne disease.

Telethon Kids Institute researcher Associate Professor Ewan Cameron led the team, using a range of different health data to create a complete picture of where malaria infections are taking place in Haiti. This information has been used to directly inform Haiti's national response to malaria.

The team's findings have been published in the journal eLife.

Director of the Malaria Risk Stratification at Telethon Kids Institute and an Associate Professor at Curtin University, Dr. Cameron said the team used mathematical modeling to work out where people diagnosed with malaria were most likely to reside.

"Monthly counts of malaria cases arriving at local health facilities are routinely gathered by the Haitian health system, but these data don't record at a granular level where those patients live, or where they were most likely to be infected," he said.

"Most people will be bitten in or around their homes, so the interventions we have to fight malaria aim to interrupt transmission there, whether that's spraying for mosquitos or delivering bed nets and anti-malarial medications.

"By using a wide range of datafrom satellite images of the terrain to hand-written medical logswe've been able to develop a fine-scale malaria risk map to help public health experts find these at-risk populations."

Almost 9,000 cases of malaria were reported in Haiti in 2019 and determining which areas are most at risk is a crucial line of defense against infection.

Dr. Cameron said this fine-scale data could be the final piece of the puzzle that helps stamp out malaria in Haiti.

"Haiti is seen as a place where malaria eradication can be achieved," he said.

"Neighboring countries like the Dominican Republic are much wealthier and have been able to reduce malaria to really negligible amounts but, working with fewer resources, Haiti has not yet been able to achieve the same results.

"We hope that this work can help the country to better target its interventions and work towards that goal."

Researcher Alyssa Young from Tulane University in New Orleans, working in Haiti, said accessing some of the more remote parts of the island to gather data was a significant challenge.

"During the rainy season, some of the health facilities we visited were out in really remote locations," she said.

"They'd often be a small building on a remote beachthat was the community health facility. But the people who work at those facilities were incredible, and very committed to the goal of eliminating malaria in Haiti."

Telethon Kids Institute epidemiologist and the Kerry Stokes Chair of Child Health at Curtin University, Professor Pete Gething, said the team hopes to be able to contribute to the goal of eliminating malaria in Haiti.

"Haiti is really the last bastion of malaria in the whole of Mesoamerica, just a stones-throw from the US, so it's a really interesting place," he said.

"We're making maps that are being used by Haiti's malaria control program to fundamentally change where they're targeting their interventions."

The research in Haiti is part of a collaboration that has been operating since 2017, funded by the Clinton Health Access Initiative.

Explore further WHO eyes malaria eradication in 25 countries by 2025

More information: Ewan Cameron et al, Mapping the endemicity and seasonality of clinical malaria for intervention targeting in Haiti using routine case data, eLife (2021). Journal information: eLife Ewan Cameron et al, Mapping the endemicity and seasonality of clinical malaria for intervention targeting in Haiti using routine case data,(2021). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.62122

Provided by Telethon Kids Institute
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

In patients with insulin-treated type 2 diabetes, the use of continuous glucose monitors is associated with better blood sugar control and fewer visits to the emergency room for hypoglycemia, a Kaiser Permanente study published June 2 in the journal JAMA found.

The monitors have previously been shown to improve glucose control for patients with type 1 diabetes. Continuous glucose monitors are now the standard of care for these patients.

"The improvement in blood sugar control was comparable to what a patient might experience after starting a new diabetes medication," said the study's lead author Andrew J. Karter, Ph.D., a senior research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research.

The retrospective, comparative effectiveness study included 5,673 patients with type 1 diabetes and 36,080 patients with type 2 diabetes treated with insulin who were self-monitoring their blood glucose. Between January 2015 and December 2019, on the recommendation of their doctors, 3,462 patients with type 1 diabetes and 344 with type 2 diabetes began using continuous glucose monitors.

Using statistical techniques that mimicked randomization in a clinical trial, the researchers evaluated before-and-after results among patients who initiated use of a continuous glucose monitor compared to the results among patients who did not. These analyses showed that continuous glucose monitors were associated with a decline in levels of HbA1c, a laboratory test used in the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes that measures blood sugar levels. The monitors also reduced emergency department visits and hospitalizations for hypoglycemia, or very low blood sugar. Hypoglycemia increases the risk for falls, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and death.

"Blood sugar levels that go too low can be dangerous," said the study's senior author Richard Dlott, MD, an endocrinologist and the medical director of population care for The Permanente Medical Group. "This study shows that continuous glucose monitors helped people stay close to their glucose targets without going too low."

For decades, people with diabetes have used finger sticks to test their blood sugar levels. Since 2017, Medicare has covered the cost of continuous glucose monitors for patients with diabetes who met certain qualifications. (Today, almost all people with type 1 diabetes qualify.) Continuous glucose monitors use a thin metallic sensor to detect blood sugar levels just under the skin. The sensor transmits blood sugar readings every 5 minutes to a receiver or smartphone. Continuous glucose monitors are available only with a prescription.

The study looked at patients with diabetes who started using continuous glucose monitors as prescribed by their doctor. To qualify under Medicare guidelines, a patient generally must give themselves 3 or more shots of insulin daily or use an insulin pump, perform blood glucose testing 4 or more times a day, and consistently communicate with a diabetes team every 3 to 6 months.

"Selective prescribing of continuous glucose monitors may partially explain the benefits we saw in these patients with type 2 diabetes," said Karter, who is also the associate director for the Health Delivery Systems Center for Diabetes Translational Research, sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. "Doctors appeared to have preferentially prescribed monitors to patients with a history of hypoglycemia or at high risk of hypoglycemia."

The next step, the researchers say, is to determine if there are other patients with type 2 diabetes whose blood sugar would be better and more safely controlled with continuous glucose monitors. "This study found that patients who used continuous glucose monitors had very good results compared to those who continued only with intermittent testing using finger sticks," said Dr. Dlott. "We now need to determine whether there are other patients who might also benefit, even if they don't meet all of the Medicare criteria. The newest technology isn't always better for everybody. We need to identify the people who are most likely to benefit."

Explore further Personalized sweat sensor reliably monitors blood glucose without finger pricks

More information: Karter AJ et al. Association of Real-time Continuous Glucose Monitoring With Glycemic Control and Acute Metabolic Events Among Patients With Insulin-Treated Diabetes. JAMA. Published online June 02, 2021. Journal information: Journal of the American Medical Association Karter AJ et al. Association of Real-time Continuous Glucose Monitoring With Glycemic Control and Acute Metabolic Events Among Patients With Insulin-Treated Diabetes.. Published online June 02, 2021. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2021.6530
Travel & Outdoors



Passing Through Customs at the Puerto Vallarta Airport



At present, travelers entering Mexico by air must press a button when passing through Customs, and those who get a green light are free to go. The unlucky minority who get a red light have their bags searched. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - We had the delightful (cough, cough) opportunity to make a passage through Customs (Aduana) in Puerto Vallarta recently and observed some of the do's and don'ts. (Smile) Our experience took place at the airport and we thought it mind be kind and thoughtful to share what we have known for years.



We, most of us, know what is absolutely forbidden, such as guns, mace, pornography, contraband drugs, etc. However, there are subtleties that can innocently escape us and there are also questions for which we should be on the alert.



When bringing a new item through airport security and customs in Puerto Vallarta, such as a large electronic like a printer; or a car part, large or small; anything that is obviously a recent purchase... make sure you have the receipt and don't try to feign honesty. It could be more costly.



Often a custom officer will pull a number out of thin air to charge as duty tax OR they will calculate the 16% of your proven paperwork. But if you don't properly declare it, provide the proof of your purchase, you run the risk of paying an erroneously high amount of tax.



In front of us was a disgruntled man, all ready for the beach in his khaki shorts, floral shirt and straw hat. He did NOT understand WHY he had gotten a RED light and WHY people were RUMMAGING through his belongings he has so neatly packed and were now being completely disorganized. It is far better to smile and nod, rather than raise a ruckus, which will encourage further rummaging.



We brought in a number of items for hurricane victims on our last trip into Puerto Vallarta. We were asked were they new. No, they were all used. Were they clean? Yes, we had laundered them all. This is important information. As far as the customs officer knows, as nice as these articles look, they could easily harbor and ferry vermin. They have only our word to go on. If your word is not accompanied by a smile and a lot of friendly nods, you may discover the true meaning of the Gore Vidal quote "No good deed goes unpunished."



Some of us ask friends (or friends on Facebook) to bring things from across the border. This can range from a difficult-to-find spice or personal mail/documents to impossible-to-find car parts... you get the idea. We call this burro'ing or muling. It's considerate and helpful but we are also totally aware of the contents of any package.



Smile. Don't say "Oh, great," if the button you pushed responds with a glaring scarlet. Smile. Nod. Guaranteed, the more you protest, the more they will react. Remember the customs people have the privilege of wearing their uniform for a cause. They are trained and they have authority. It's their job and they take it seriously. You should, too.



Que es como es.

The number one selling and listing agency in the greater Bay of Banderas region since 2011, Timothy Real Estate Group is a locally-owned and operated real estate brokerage with a strategic location in the city's Romantic Zone. Because the Puerto Vallarta area has varying neighborhood personalities, we practice localized real estate and, with 5 sales offices around the bay, we know our communities well. If you are looking to sell or purchase a property in the Banderas Bay area, download their



Click HERE to learn more about Timothy Real Estate Group - We had the delightful (cough, cough) opportunity to make a passage through Customs (Aduana) in Puerto Vallarta recently and observed some of the do's and don'ts. (Smile) Our experience took place at the airport and we thought it mind be kind and thoughtful to share what we have known for years.We, most of us, know what is absolutely forbidden, such as guns, mace, pornography, contraband drugs, etc. However, there are subtleties that can innocently escape us and there are also questions for which we should be on the alert.When bringing a new item through airport security and customs in Puerto Vallarta, such as a large electronic like a printer; or a car part, large or small; anything that is obviously a recent purchase... make sure you have the receipt and don't try to feign honesty. It could be more costly.Often a custom officer will pull a number out of thin air to charge as duty tax OR they will calculate the 16% of your proven paperwork. But if you don't properly declare it, provide the proof of your purchase, you run the risk of paying an erroneously high amount of tax.In front of us was a disgruntled man, all ready for the beach in his khaki shorts, floral shirt and straw hat. He did NOT understand WHY he had gotten a RED light and WHY people were RUMMAGING through his belongings he has so neatly packed and were now being completely disorganized. It is far better to smile and nod, rather than raise a ruckus, which will encourage further rummaging.We brought in a number of items for hurricane victims on our last trip into Puerto Vallarta. We were asked were they new. No, they were all used. Were they clean? Yes, we had laundered them all. This is important information. As far as the customs officer knows, as nice as these articles look, they could easily harbor and ferry vermin. They have only our word to go on. If your word is not accompanied by a smile and a lot of friendly nods, you may discover the true meaning of the Gore Vidal quote "No good deed goes unpunished."Some of us ask friends (or friends on Facebook) to bring things from across the border. This can range from a difficult-to-find spice or personal mail/documents to impossible-to-find car parts... you get the idea. We call thisor muling. It's considerate and helpful but we are also totally aware of the contents of any package.Smile. Don't say "Oh, great," if the button you pushed responds with a glaring scarlet. Smile. Nod. Guaranteed, the more you protest, the more they will react. Remember the customs people have the privilege of wearing their uniform for a cause. They are trained and they have authority. It's their job and they take it seriously. You should, too.The number one selling and listing agency in the greater Bay of Banderas region since 2011, Timothy Real Estate Group is a locally-owned and operated real estate brokerage with a strategic location in the city's Romantic Zone. Because the Puerto Vallarta area has varying neighborhood personalities, we practice localized real estate and, with 5 sales offices around the bay, we know our communities well. If you are looking to sell or purchase a property in the Banderas Bay area, download their Free Real Estate Buyer and Seller's Guides to learn more, then contact one of the Timothy Real Estate Group agents for the best experience in Puerto Vallarta real estate. For more information, visit TimothyRealEstateGroup.com.



Site Map  Print this Page  Email Us  Top


Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

While both inherited traits and environmental influences affect parent-child interactions, not much is known about how child behavior impacts parenting and, in turn, later child outcomes.

Elizabeth Shewark, a former Penn State doctoral student in developmental psychology and current postdoctoral research fellow at Michigan State University, is examining the evocative gene-environment correlation, the process through which children's inherited characteristics, such as their negative emotions, influence parenting environments.

The work, which appears in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, was part of Shewark's dissertation and is the first of three planned papers.

"I was interested in examining how inherited child traits are associated with child emotion, and how children's genetically influenced emotions during early childhood are linked to parenting and later child behavioral outcomes," Shewark said. "Much of the research on child behavior and parenting focuses on families rearing their biological children. However, parents and children share both genes and environments, so it is difficult to tease apart genetic and environmental influences."

The research team utilized the Early Growth and Development Study, a longitudinal adoption study, which includes 561 adopted children from two cohorts and their linked adoptive parents and birth parents, following them from infancy to early adolescence. The adoption design helps to clarify genetic and environmental influences because adoptive parents are genetically unrelated to the child but provide the rearing environment, while birth parents are genetically related to the child but do not provide the rearing environment.

"I was very fortunate to have access to longitudinal, genetically informed data. By using these data, we were able to assess the role of certain environmental influences, such as parenting, and inherited traits in child adjustment," said Shewark, who was advised at Penn State by Social Science Research Institute cofunded faculty Jenae Neiderhiser and Kristin Buss.

The research team assessed inherited traits via biological parent temperament, child anger and sadness at four and a half years, followed by child behavior problems and social competence at seven years. In addition to child emotions and behavior, the research team examined adoptive parent hostility and warmth.

The researchers found that child anger at four and a half years evoked hostility from their adoptive parents at six years of age, which was then linked to an increase in child behavioral problems at seven years of age.

"We also found different associations with anger and sadness. For example, we found that child anger was associated with more hostile parenting, and this was partially because of the inherited traits of the child. We were surprised to find that child anger and sadness were not associated with warm parenting in our study," Shewark explained. "Warm parenting has been shown to be important for child adjustment. Evocative gene-environment correlation findings with warm parenting have been mixed, suggesting that evocative effects may be present for specific positive parenting behaviors rather than overall parental warmth."

According to Neiderhiser, this study shows how important it is to consider the role of the child in their own development.

"In this study we found that children influence the way they are parented, while parents still help to shape child behavior. In other words, both parents and children influence child adjustment," said Neiderhiser.

This study is the first in a series of three dissertation papers. "The next paper focuses on how children's behaviors and inherited traits might impact teacher-child relationships and, in turn, be linked to child adjustment," Shewark said. "My dissertation work really inspired me to continue examining how children's inherited traits and their environment impact children's developmental outcomes. Currently I'm extending this work to include neighborhoods."

Explore further Nature and nurture both matter for children's early behavior problems

More information: Elizabeth A. Shewark et al, The role of child negative emotionality in parenting and child adjustment: Geneenvironment interplay, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (2021). Journal information: Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Elizabeth A. Shewark et al, The role of child negative emotionality in parenting and child adjustment: Geneenvironment interplay,(2021). DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13420
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has asked the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee to revisit whether COVID vaccinations should be mandatory for aged-care workers and provide fresh advice to national cabinet.

In January, the committee said aged-care workers should be "strongly encouraged" to get vaccinated, but given there was little data about the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing the spread of COVID-19, it stopped short of mandating the jabs.

The Victorian government said it expects all front-line aged-care and health workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In an attempt to increase coverage, from Wednesday it will allow aged-care and disability-care workers to jump the queue in state-run mass vaccination clinics.

Data from places which have made influenza vaccination mandatory in the past suggests it's clear vaccine coverage will increase after a mandate.

However, before moving forward we need to make sure we have exhausted the other options. The Victorian government is making a good start by reducing the barriers to access.

However to really understand whether mandates are needed it's critical we get a good handle on the number of health and aged-care workers who have received the vaccine, and whether we are getting equity in coverage across and within organizations.

It's important to remember the term "health workers" includes clinical and non-clinical staff. Tracking vaccine uptake for health workers can be challenging for a range of reasons, including that staff can receive their vaccine onsite or at other locations.

We already have various vaccine requirements for health workers

Australian hospital staff are required to show evidence they're protected from a range of vaccine preventable diseases.

The list of diseases differs slightly depending on the state or territory. In New South Wales, for example, front-line staff must show evidence they're vaccinated against measles, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), and varicella (chickenpox).

Annual flu vaccines are highly recommended for health-care workers in NSW, but not required. It's currently only mandatory for those in high-risk situations for example intensive care and oncology ward staff.

Internationally, mandates for influenza are more common in parts of the United States, while countries in Europe often require health workers to show evidence of protection from other vaccine preventable diseases.

What happens when voluntary programs fail?

In an attempt to support flu vaccine uptake, staff members running vaccine clinics in Australia would tell me they offered extended opening hours, had mobile clinics, offered raffles and lollipops, had education sessions with influenza experts, and used declination forms (a legal document that signals an individual's intent to refuse a recommended treatment)but coverage remained the same. One staff member I spoke to likened it to banging her head on the wall. Nothing she did increased coverage at her hospital.

At this point, organizations or governments often shift away from voluntary based programs and introduce mandatory requirements.

While vaccine requirements in Australia for influenza are still in their infancy, they have been in place in some settings in the United States for much longer and have been shown to work.

One study from the United States looked at flu vaccine uptake in health-care workers at University of California Irvine Healthcare. It found that after introducing measures and incentives like the ones above, coverage rose from 44% of staff to 62.9%. But it was only after the vaccine became mandatory that coverage reached over 85%.

What's more, in 20162017, influenza vaccination was highest among US hospital workers who were required by their employer to be vaccinated (98.3%). When vaccination wasn't required, promoted, or offered on-site, rates were as low as 45.8%.

What are the pros and cons of mandating vaccination?

Multiple arguments are used to support mandatory vaccination but the focus tends to be the obligation for staff to "do no harm" and patients' and residents' (and staff members') right to a safe environment, free from the risk of infection from a staff member. This right is both an ethical and a legal requirement.

Those who oppose mandates often draw on the rights of health workers to autonomy, question the data supporting the rationale for the mandate, or criticize the level of effect the vaccine has in reducing transmission from staff members to patients. Others suggest adding a mandate will drive staff to quit their jobs. But research shows that isn't the case.

For COVID-19, what should we try first?

We urgently need to reduce the chance of COVID-19 transmission in health- and aged-care organizations to patients and staff members. But are we at that tipping point of needing to mandate a COVID-19 vaccine?

In attempt to answer that question, we need to consider the following:

have we ensured there are no physical barriers to vaccination? Have we overcome logistical issues impacting on staff getting vaccinated?

have we tried other options to nudge health workers to get vaccinated? Have we considered incentives or reimbursements such as a coffee voucher or free parking? Or could we introduce a competition with a prize for the department with the highest uptake?

do we understand the reasons some staff members may be indecisive about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine? Have we developed purpose-built instruments to measure changes in vaccine hesitancy that focus on understanding the attitudes of staff towards issues such as safety, efficacy, and trust? Based on this knowledge, have we modified our communication approaches?

do we have strategies in place to help those staff who are having trouble reaching a decision about whether to have a COVID-19 vaccine? Could we offer decision aids or guides (which account for variations in health literacy) to assist people to balance up the benefits and risks?

And if that doesn't work?

When we've tried these strategies and haven't seen improved coverage, we need to accept voluntary approaches probably won't cut it. Every study on influenza vaccination of health workers points to a ceiling effect that will not be broken unless the vaccine gets mandated.

If we accept the same situation will occur for COVID-19 vaccination, mandatory policies may be the only way forward in ensuring high coverage of staff.

However, in moving forward with a mandate, it's critical we work with the health workers at the receiving end of the policy, as well as those staff members tasked with introducing and enforcing it.

More information: Holly Seale et al, Examining the role of a decision aid in reducing decisional conflict amongst hospital healthcare workers towards receiving the influenza vaccine, BMC Health Services Research (2016). Holly Seale et al, Examining the role of a decision aid in reducing decisional conflict amongst hospital healthcare workers towards receiving the influenza vaccine,(2016). DOI: 10.1186/s12913-016-1339-0

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

University students in Stockholm reported no tangible differences in depression, anxiety or stress during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a longitudinal study at Sophiahemmet University and Karolinska Institutet finds. The study is published today in Scandinavian Journal of Public Health.

The study examined changes in self-rated depression, anxiety and stress in more than 1,800 students at six universities in Stockholm before and during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The researchers feared that distance teaching and reduced socializing would lead to higher levels of self-reported mental ill-health.

However, their results showed stable average levels of symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in the students during the first three months compared with before the pandemic. The level of symptoms dropped somewhat during the summer, which the researchers believe can be related to seasonal variations in mental wellbeing.

"We can't draw any reliable conclusions about why the students' mental health remained unchanged," says the study's first author Fred Johansson, psychologist and doctoral student at Sophiahemmet University who is also affiliated with the Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet. "However, one possible interpretation is that the measures taken with distance teaching have not impacted so much on students' mental health."

Especially vulnerable groups

The study also looked at students who reported poor sleep quality, loneliness and mental health issues before the pandemic, as they were feared to be especially vulnerable to the effects of social distancing. These groups also displayed no decline in mental health.

Students who before the pandemic reported loneliness, poor sleep quality or mental health issues had higher degrees of mental ill-health both before and after the pandemic, but these groups showed no worse development of mental health than students without such problems during the pandemic.

Previous studies on the theme of mental health during the pandemic have given conflicting results, and the researchers emphasize that more high-quality studies are needed before any conclusions can be drawn on mental wellbeing during the pandemic.

One strength of this study is its longitudinal design, but it does also have certain limitations. For instance, only 27 percent of the students responded to the first survey, of whom only 60 percent completed the study six months later. The study was also confined to the Stockholm area, which can compromise its applicability to the rest of the country.

The study is part of the ongoing Sustainable University Life (SUN) study, which is monitoring university students for a year to identify factors that impact on their health.

Explore further No cause for alarm about graduate students' mental health

More information: Fred Johansson et al, Depression, anxiety and stress among Swedish university students before and during six months of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cohort study, Scandinavian Journal of Public Health (2021). Journal information: Journal of Public Health Fred Johansson et al, Depression, anxiety and stress among Swedish university students before and during six months of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cohort study,(2021). DOI: 10.1177/14034948211015814
An ECT treatment room at Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan's academic medical center. Credit: University of Michigan

When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in North America in March 2020, health care facilities stopped providing all but "essential" care, to reduce infection risks and preserve protective gear known as PPE.

That included changes at many centers that provide ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) for severe depression and other conditions, a new survey shows.

Because ECT involves anesthesia, so that patients are unconscious when carefully controlled pulses of electricity are delivered to key areas of the brain, it is considered an "aerosol generating" procedure. That means it poses special risks when a respiratory virus such as the novel coronavirus is in widespread circulation.

In a new commentary in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a team led by Daniel Maixner, M.D., of the University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry and U-M Eisenberg Family Depression Center, describes the experiences of ECT centers during spring of 2020. Maixner leads the ECT program at Michigan Medicine, U-M's academic medical center.

Some centers temporarily stopped accepting new patients for ECT, or prioritized ECT care for only the most severely ill and hospitalized patients. Many changed the schedule for the repeated treatments that a course of ECT entails. All followed newly developed protocols to reduce staff exposure to aerosols using patient screening, used advanced personal protective equipment, also called PPE, and collaborated extensively with anesthesia teams to safely administer treatments.

In all, 16 of the centers reduced their capacity to less than half of their usual patient volume between March and June, including 5 that treated less than a quarter of their usual number of patients. For new patients, and those who had completed their initial course of treatment but needed maintenance, 18 of the 20 centers reduced the frequency of treatments.

The changes came with a price. One center lost a patient to suicide. Three other centers had patients who made serious suicide attempts. Seventy percent of sites had patients return to inpatient psychiatric care after living in the community because they weren't able to receive ECT on the planned schedule, and 80% of the centers had patients who had to restart ECT care from the beginning to get back on track.

Because of this, the authors call for ECT to be seen as "essential" in future waves of COVID-19 activity, and in other crises and pandemics, so that care can continue.

With improved availability of COVID testing and PPE, and treatment protocols, most of the academic ECT programs were able to react promptly and return to caring for most patients again by mid-summer 2020, despite many challenges.

However, Maixner said, "risks are high for our patients during the time of COVID-19 and any other pandemic if access to ECT is curtailed. It is important for psychiatrists and patients to advocate for ECT to remain an essential treatment and not just be considered elective."

The survey was conducted by the ECT Task Group of the National Network of Depression Centers. In addition to the new commentary, Maixner presented additional data on the effects of the pandemic on ECT practice at a recent meeting of the International Society for ECT and Neurostimulation, which has also issued a position statement on the essential role of ECT.

Maixner and colleagues have also studied the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of ECT as a key option for patients who have not responded to other forms of treatment for depression and other mental health conditions.

Explore further How did trauma centers respond to COVID-19? New processes provide care to trauma patients while keeping providers safe

More information: Daniel F. Maixner et al, Electroconvulsive Therapy Is an Essential Procedure, American Journal of Psychiatry (2021). Journal information: American Journal of Psychiatry Daniel F. Maixner et al, Electroconvulsive Therapy Is an Essential Procedure,(2021). DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.20111647
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

A new study by a team of University of Rochester psychologists and other researchers in the Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (CIFASD) finds that partners of mothers-to-be can directly influence a pregnant woman's likelihood of drinking alcohol and feeling depressed, which affects their babies' development.

The study, which appeared in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, highlights the importance of engaging partners in intervention and prevention efforts to help pregnant women avoid drinking alcohol. A baby's prenatal alcohol exposure carries the risk of potential lifelong problems, including premature birth, delayed infant development, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).

"The findings emphasize how many factors influence alcohol use during pregnancy," says lead author Carson Kautz-Turnbull, a third-year graduate student in the Rochester Department of Psychology whose interests lie in FASD intervention work and reaching underserved populations, including racial minorities, rural populations, and low-income groups. "The more we learn about these factors, the more we can reduce stigma around drinking during pregnancy and help in a way that's empowering and meaningful," Kautz-Turnbull says.

The team followed 246 pregnant women at two sites in western Ukraine over time as part of CIFASD, an international consortium of researchers that researchers at the University's Mt. Hope Family Center are members of, which is funded by the NIH's National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

The team found that higher use of alcohol and tobacco by partners as well as pregnant women's lower relationship satisfaction increased the likelihood of their babies' prenatal alcohol exposure. Conversely, women who felt supported by their partners reported lower rates of depressive symptoms and were less likely to drink during pregnancy.

All study participants had a partner; most were married. In their first trimesters, the women reported on their relationship satisfaction, including frequency of quarreling, happiness with the relationship, and the ease of talking to their partners, their partners' substance use, and their socioeconomic status. In the third trimester, the participants were surveyed about their own drinking habits and depressive symptoms. Subsequently, the researchers assessed the infants' mental and psychomotor development around the age of six months.

According to the team's analysis, pregnant women's depressive symptoms and drinking directly correlated with their relationships with their partners and to their partners' substance use. (The researchers asked about alcohol and tobacco use only.) Positive partner influences resulted in women's lower alcohol use in late pregnancy and fewer depressive symptoms. The findings applied even when socioeconomic status, which is generally linked to depression and drinking, was taken into account. Higher prenatal alcohol exposure resulted in poorer mental and psychomotor development in the infants, though a mother's prenatal depression did not affect babies the way drinking did.

That's why maternal health and pregnancy interventions are likely to be more effective when partners are included, with benefits for both mothers and babies, the team concludes. Interventions addressing the partners' substance use may help reduce pregnant women's substance use, too, while improving their relationship satisfaction, protecting against depression, and boosting infant development.

Besides Kautz-Turnbull, the study was coauthored by Rochester's Christie Petrenko and Elizabeth Handley, Emory University's Claire Coles and Julie Kable, University of South Alabama's Wladimir Wertelecki, Lyubov Yevtushok of Omni-Net Centers in Ukraine, Natalya Zymak-Zakutnya of the OMNI-Net for Children International Charitable Fund in Ukraine, Christina Chambers of the University of California, San Diego, and CIFASD.

Explore further Alcohol use during pregnancy linked to offspring depression
Some prison systems in the United States have been able to vaccinate high numbers of inmates against COVID-19, and that success could point to ways to convince skeptical people in the general public to get vaccinated.

For example, more than 80 percent of inmates in North Dakota and about 73 percent of inmates in California and Kansas have received at least one vaccine dose, while the overall rates among residents in those states are 42 percent, 56 percent, and 47 percent, respectively, The New York Times reported.

"Education is really key," said Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and leader of the COVID Prison Project, which monitors coronavirus cases in correctional facilities and gathers data on vaccination rates in those settings. "Especially in a prison context, where there tends to be a lot of distrust of both health care staff and correctional staff, that education piece becomes even more important."

In Kansas, inmates were prioritized for vaccinations and vaccine information was provided to inmates and their relatives. In Rhode Island, former inmates helped create a vaccination plan for inmates. One California prison held a town hall-style meeting for inmates where medical experts answered questions about COVID-19 vaccine safety, the Times reported.

Explore further Nearly half of inmates at Arizona prison test positive for virus

More information: The New York Times Article

Copyright  2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Credit: Asociacion RUVID

According to their data, published in Scientific Reports, the number of people infected with COVID-19 on the day the state of alert was declared, 14 March 2020, was at least 35 times higher than the number of people registered.

The number of new infections per day is one of the main parameters for understanding the dynamics of an epidemic. However, during the COVID-19pandemic in 2020, this information has been of low quality, especially during the first months, due to the bias of the official figures because of the insufficient number of diagnostic tests performed. In this context, a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Alicante (UA) and the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII) in Madrid has designed a retrospective methodology, called REMEDID (Retrospective Methodology to Estimate Daily Infections from Deaths), capable of estimating daily infections from the number of deaths, a figure documented with greater precision.

This work helps analyze and understand the dynamics of the pandemic and evaluate the efficiency of the measures adopted at different spatial and temporal scales, as explained by the team's coordinator, Cesar Bordehore, Ph.D. in Biology and researcher at the UA Ramon Margalef Institute for Environmental Research.

REMEDID enables the calculation of time series of daily infections from time series of daily deaths. High-fidelity time series of each parameter of an epidemic are crucial to run reliable epidemiological models. We assume that in the early months of a pandemic, official infection data are highly biased downwards, Bordehore insisted.

Data analysis

The team of experts has applied this precise mathematical model to estimated time series of infections, between 8 January and 29 November 2020, in Spain and its 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities. The results show that the probable infections were between 35 and 42 times more than the official ones on 14 March, when the government decreed national confinement, David Garcia said, professor in the UA Department of Applied Mathematics and first author of the article.

According to this work, the first infection in Spain could have occurred between 8 and 9 January 2020, some 43 days before the official records during the first wave. "Serology studies conducted by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III have given us a realistic estimate of the total number of infections, showing that the official data were underestimated. The REMEDID methodology complements these studies by reconstructing the temporal evolution of these infections, Garcia reported.

Also, national lockdowns had an immediate effect on virus transmission, as shown by the rapid decline in the slope around 14 March. This immediacy in the decline of transmission (the epidemiological R) was not seen in the official data on the number of infected people.

This methodology is useful for refining models and improving understanding of the dynamics of the pandemic, including the effectiveness of different measures taken to flatten the curve and design safe post-lockdown measures. More realistic and accurate models could be obtained by using a more reliable daily number of infections provided by REMEDID, which, in turn, would improve the output of the models and improve comparisons of different transmission-slowing measures, Bordehore said.

Explore further New tool helps compare different COVID-19 spreading scenarios

More information: David Garcia-Garcia et al, Retrospective methodology to estimate daily infections from deaths (REMEDID) in COVID-19: the Spain case study, Scientific Reports (2021). Journal information: Scientific Reports David Garcia-Garcia et al, Retrospective methodology to estimate daily infections from deaths (REMEDID) in COVID-19: the Spain case study,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-90051-7
Credit: Malmo University

Think you are doing the environment a favor when you throw a veggie alternative on the barbecue? The Swedes don't, and as it stands they might be the only ones who feel shame when they chomp down on a halloumi burger.

Many of us battle with feelings of guilt when we buy suspiciously cheap clothes, or book flights to far-flung locations, but for Swedes, there is a new shame to deal with, and one they can get when browsing the cheese aisle of the local supermarket.

"Halloumiskam" (halloumi shame) is a Swedish concept, says Kristofer Hansson, ethnologist, and senior lecturer at the Department of Social Work.

Grilling halloumi instead of a piece of meat is popular in Sweden as it is perceived as a healthier and more sustainable alternative. Sweden is also one of the countries in Europe, after Cyprus, that buys the most halloumi.

The concept came about in 2019, the year the nation really embraced the cheese, when the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) criticized Cyprusthe home country of this cheesefor using large quantities of preventative antibiotics in animal husbandry.

As a result, sales of halloumi-like cheese made by small Swedish farm dairies skyrocketed.

"Rather than basing their choice in the grocery store on rational facts, the individual must now also relate to their choices more emotionally. This is a development that applies not only to the grocery store, but also to holiday trips or the purchase of clothes.

"Concepts such as flying shame, fast-fashion shame and halloumi shame can be said to illustrate this individualisation of complex problems," says Hansson, who studied the notion in connection with a research project about antibiotic resistance.

Hansson also observed how the newfound Swedish shame was used as a way of poking fun at themselves. He uses a Batman meme from a satirical Twitter account as an example. The message from the image was: 'the sick thing about Sweden is that halloumi cheese got more news time on national television than a double murder."

"It was noted that a double murder did not get enough attention in the news due to the discussion about halloumi cheese and associated shame during the summer of 2019. But it could also be read as an irony of the Swedes' relationship to the idea of halloumi shame and a fear of making the wrong choice," says Hansson, who adds:

"It is as if the individual, no matter what they do, cannot really do the right thing. There will be a gap between those who suffer from the shame they feel and those who can laugh it off with a "I am feeling halloumi shame tonight" remark at the same time as they put halloumi cheese from Cyprus on the grill."

Explore further Shameful secrets bother us more than guilty secrets

Provided by Malmo University
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Cornell University have collaborated to implant insulin-secreting beta cells grown from human stem cells into mice with diabetes, to normalize their blood sugar. The cells pictured (in purple) are inside a tiny implant that is porous enough to allow these cells to secrete insulin -- yet small enough to prevent immune cells from accessing and destroying them. Credit: Xi Wang

A team of researchers led by diabetes specialists and biomedical engineers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Cornell University has demonstrated that, using a miniscule device, they can implant insulin-secreting cells into diabetic mice. Once implanted, the cells secrete insulin in response to blood sugar, reversing diabetes without requiring drugs to suppress the immune system.

The findings are published June 2 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

"We can take a person's skin or fat cells, make them into stem cells and then grow those stem cells into insulin-secreting cells," said Jeffrey R. Millman, Ph.D., an associate professor of medicine at Washington University and one of the study's co-senior investigators. "The problem is that in people with Type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks those insulin-secreting cells and destroys them. To deliver those cells as a therapy, we need devices to house cells that secrete insulin in response to blood sugar, while also protecting those cells from the immune response."

In previous research, Millman, also an associate professor of biomedical engineering, developed and honed a method to make induced pluripotent stem cells, and to then grow those stem cells into insulin-secreting beta cells. Millman previously used those beta cells to reverse diabetes in mice, but it was not clear how the insulin-secreting cells might safely be implanted into people with diabetes.

A schematic showing the structure and function of the NICE device, along with microscopic and macroscopic images. Credit: X. Wang et al., Science Translational Medicine (2021)

"The device, which is about the width of a few strands of hair, is micro-porouswith openings too small for other cells to squeeze intoso the insulin-secreting cells consequently can't be destroyed by immune cells, which are larger than the openings," said Millman. "One of challenges in this scenario is to protect the cells inside of the implant without starving them. They still need nutrients and oxygen from the blood to stay alive. With this device, we seem to have made something in what you might call a Goldilocks zone, where the cells could feel just right inside the device and remain healthy and functional, releasing insulin in response to blood sugar levels."

Millman's laboratory worked with researchers in the lab of Minglin Ma, Ph.D., an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Cornell. Ma has been working to develop biomaterials that can help implant beta cells safely into animals and, eventually, people with Type 1 diabetes.

Several implants have been tried in recent years, with varying levels of success. For this study, Ma, the study's other co-senior investigator, and his colleagues developed what they call a nanofiber-integrated cell encapsulation (NICE) device. They filled the implants with insulin-secreting beta cells that had been manufactured from stem cells and then implanted the devices into the abdomens of mice with diabetes.

A researcher bending and twisting the NICE device. Credit: X. Wang et al., Science Translational Medicine (2021)

Video of bioreactors. Credit: Washington University School of Medicine

"The combined structural, mechanical and chemical properties of the device we used kept other cells in the mice from completely isolating the implant and, essentially, choking it off and making it ineffective," Ma said. "The implants floated freely inside the animals, and when we removed them after about six months, the insulin-secreting cells inside the implants still were functioning. And importantly, it is a very robust and safe device."

The cells in the implants continued to secrete insulin and control blood sugar in the mice for up to 200 days. And those cells continued to function despite the fact that the mice were not treated with anything to suppress their immune systems.

"We'd rather not have to suppress someone's immune system with drugs, because that would make the patient vulnerable to infections," Millman said. "The device we used in these experiments protected the implanted cells from the mice's immune systems, and we believe similar devices could work the same way in people with insulin-dependent diabetes."

Millman and Ma are reluctant to predict how long it might be before such a strategy could be employed clinically, but they plan to continue working toward that goal.

Explore further New hope for stem cell approach to treating diabetes

More information: X. Wang el al., "A nanofibrous encapsulation device for safe delivery of insulin-producing cells to treat type 1 diabetes," Science Translational Medicine (2021). Journal information: Science Translational Medicine X. Wang el al., "A nanofibrous encapsulation device for safe delivery of insulin-producing cells to treat type 1 diabetes,"(2021). stm.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/  scitranslmed.abb4601
Ambassador of Belarus P.Vzyatkin presents Credentials to the President of Ethiopia

On June 1, 2021, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Kenya and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia concurrently Pavel Vzyatkin presented his Credentials to the President of Ethiopia Sahle-Work Zewde.

During the conversation within the framework of the ceremony, the Ambassador of Belarus expressed interest in maintaining and strengthening friendly and mutually respectful relations between Belarus and Ethiopia, as well as in developing bilateral political dialogue.

The Belarusian diplomat noted the presence of significant potential for the development of trade and economic cooperation between the countries and expressed an opinion about the prospects for the implementation of joint projects in the field of agriculture and industry. P.Vzyatkin stressed that Belarusian agricultural machinery and trucks are well known to consumers in Ethiopia.

President S.-V.Zewde welcomed the appointment of the Belarusian Ambassador and expressed her readiness to contribute to the development of strong relations between the countries in many areas. The President of Ethiopia conveyed her best wishes to the President of the Republic of Belarus and the Belarusian people.

print version
Cooke Media Group Wins Telly Awards for Documentaries on Spread of Christianity and Global Water Crisis

NEWS PROVIDED BYJune 2, 2021LOS ANGELES, June 2, 2021 / Standard Newswire / -- Honoring excellence in video and television, The Telly Awards have announced this year's winners with Cooke Media Group receiving four Silver Telly Awards. Winning entries were Episode 5 of the TBN documentary, "Inexplicable: How Christianity Spread to the Ends of the Earth" titled "Asia: The Great Wall and Beyond" and the video titled "The Global Water Center.""When your media project is in competition with major companies like HBO, The Discovery Channel, PBS and others, winning four Telly Awards says something about the quality and impact of our work," commented Phil Cooke. "We're grateful for the honor and for the attention it brings our clients."Hosted by Golden Globe nominated actor Dennis Haysbert, Cooke Media Group was one of six producers brought in by TBN Network to produce the 6-episode "Inexplicable" series. Cooke and his film crew traveled to India, China, Mongolia, South Korea and Japan to film episode 5 covering the spread of Christianity across Asia. The documentary won Silver Telly Awards in three categories: Television Documentary, Videography/Cinematography, and Editing.Cooke Media Group won a fourth Silver Telly Award in the Non-Broadcast category for helping tell the story of the global water crisis in the short video "The Global Water Center." Filmed in locations across the U.S. and in Denmark, the video featured the world's top safe water experts as an effort to help the world's 2.1 billion people get access to safe, clean drinking water.Find out more about Cooke Media Group at https://cookemediagroup.com View the winners of The 42nd Telly Awards at https://www.tellyawards.com/winners/2021/ Founded by producer and media consultant Phil Cooke with Kathleen Cooke in 1991, the award winning team of experts at Cooke Media Group has produced many of the most influential Christian TV programs in history with a client list that includes Walt Disney and Dreamworks as well as Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, The Museum of the Bible and The Salvation Army. Through branding and communication strategies, video, film, broadcast television, book publishing and church media, Cooke Media Group can amplify your message and inspire your followers and audience to act. For more information visit https://cookemediagroup.com or to request a speaker for your next media event contact: info@cookemediagroup.com Founded in 1979, The Telly Awards honors excellence in video and television across all screens and is judged by The Telly Award Judging Council, a group of leading video and television experts from some of the most prestigious companies in entertainment, publishing, advertising, and emerging technology, such as WarnerMedia, NBC News, Framestore NY, and Vimeo.SOURCE Cooke Media GroupCONTACT: Laura Woodworth, 818-303-2424, laura@cookemediagroup.com
In 1967, Frazer invested in a central sewage system, which took all the gray and black wastewater produced from the buildings in town. The pipes all led to a 4-acre, open-air lagoon made out of clay and rock 500 feet away from the school and some houses.

Tom Daugherty, a licensed lagoon operator and adjunct professor at Gonzaga University, said lagoons have long been the preferred way to treat waste for small, spread out communities.

They are low-cost and high-lifetime, Daugherty said.

But they do wear out. Many built in the 60s run on basic clay liners, which he said break down over time. The lagoons holding space was supposed to fill up by 2020. However, the tribes realized something was wrong as early as 1994. Sewage was leaking through the clay lining.

The only reason the current lagoon still functions is because it leaks, said Ryan Kopp, head engineer on the project.

For at least 20 years, the water has leaked over 48 gallons per person per day, adding up to over 7 million gallons per year. Kopp attributed it to a weakening of the clay liner.
As we age, we feel there is a disconnect sometimes that can happen when there is a lack of mobility," Brickler said. "We can't travel as much as we want, we can't connect with nature as much as we want, can't have connections with animals. All sorts of connections get lost and our four walls start shrinking in. What we have tried to do is create a platform where we can bring the world back.

Monica McAfee, John Knox's chief marketing and innovation officer, said the community's administrators believe VR helps residents  it's been used on a limited basis there for three years  but Stanford's study will provide the empirical data. For example, she said, they want to know if VR can help residents with dementia who suffer from sundowning  severe mood downswings that begin at dusk.

Is this a way to redirect them to enjoy something? she said.

Northern Ohio University associate philosophy professor Erica Neely, who studies the ethics of technology, said it's important that Stanford is getting fully informed consent, screening participants and making sure they aren't using VR alone, especially at first. She is not involved in the study.

We definitely dont want anyone to get stuck in the experience if they become distressed and cant figure out how to turn it off, she said. The fact that there is a companion/caretaker who can go with (the participant) is utter genius. ... The idea of Well, we dont necessarily have people with diminished capacities wandering around by themselves through physical space  maybe we can do the same for virtual space was a really good one.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

You must be logged in to react.

Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Justice Department said Tuesday that it has seized two domain names used in a cyberespionage campaign that targeted U.S. and foreign government agencies, think tanks and humanitarian groups.

The campaign was disclosed last week by Microsoft, which linked it to the same group of Russian intelligence operatives responsible for the massive SolarWinds intrusion that breached federal agencies and private corporations.

The company said over the weekend that it was still not seeing evidence of any significant number of compromised organizations at this time." The White House on Friday similarly downplayed the cyber assault as basic phishing, in which hackers use malware-laden emails to access networks, and said U.S. agencies had largely fended it off.

Still, officials say the U.S. government's action on Friday was aimed at preventing any further exploitation of victims, though the Justice Department also warned that the hackers may have used additional backdoor accesses to get into networks between when the hacking first began and the time that the domains were seized.
PHILADELPHIA (AP)  The Philadelphia police department has reinstated an officer fired in 2019 over Facebook posts saying among other things that refugees should starve to death."

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that officer Christian Fenico was reinstated with full back pay after an arbitrator in a grievance filed with the police union ruled Fenico's social media posts did not prevent him from being a valuable officer. Fenico's posts were among hundreds from Philadelphia officers published in June 2019 to a public database by the Plain View Project, which looked at seven other police departments as well.

The reinstatement and arbitration hearings come as the city grapples with public perception of its officers after several violent altercations with marchers protesting police brutality and racist police practices in the wake of George Floyds killing by Minneapolis police a year ago.
Our institutions arent what they once were. Opinion polls show overwhelmingly that trust in the government, in Congress and in business has fallen in previous years and remains low. One exception is the military, which is consistently among our most respected institutions. This reputation has been hard-won, over decades of apolitical service to the nation. Americans recognize that service by honoring our servicemen and -women, and extending our armed forces enormous respect and deference.

That legacy, however, is under attack. Our servicemen and -women are the same selfless servants of the republic that they have always been, but there is a growing movement among the climbers and the bureaucrats at the Department of Defense to turn the military into a tool of left-wing ideology. Leftists have completed their long march through the universities, through large corporations, and through our primary and secondary education systems. They see the military as one of the last bastions to storm in order to make their cultural control over our society complete.
The 2021 Legislature has adjourned, but legislators face one last important vote. The secretary of state has mailed out ballots to override Gov. Greg Gianfortes veto of an important, bipartisan bill giving state tax credits to builders who construct affordable housing. Recognizing the critical importance of affordable housing, Missoula legislators were unanimous in their support for the bill with one notable exception: Rep. Brad Tschida.

Tax credits are a powerful policy tool, putting money in the pockets of those who support a policy by reducing individual and business tax bills. In passing the tax credit bill, the Legislature recognized the acute shortages of affordable housing in Montanas fastest-growing communities and sought to reward builders that addressed this critical need.

Few issues are more pressing in communities such as Bozeman and Missoula than building homes and rental units that lower- and middle-class Montanans can afford. As more affluent individuals move to our urban areas, older rental units are being snapped up and upgraded, and new housing starts and apartment projects are focused on higher-end buyers. In the meantime, Montanas homeless population now includes many people who once rented low-cost apartments that simply dont exist anymore or who were able to buy small, affordable homes that arent available in the numbers needed.
Do you remember reading "The Emperor's New Clothes" in grade school? It was about a vain emperor who gets exposed to his subjects.

The same thing is happening in Montana right now with our Supreme Court. The vain justices are trying to make us all believe that they are nonpartisan. It was exposed by the Republican Legislature when asking for e-mails regarding legislation during the last session.

When their administrator admitted she deleted emails of intense legislative, legal and public interest, what did the newspaper editorial boards, journalism professors, attorneys and right-to-know interest groups do? They all pretended the emperors had new clothes and never questioned a thing. Not one of them suggested otherwise, unlike the young boy in the book.

The very groups of journalists who routinely have FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests of legislators have remained mum on the misconduct by the judicial branch. Only the editorial board in Butte has said anything about the "clothes." They went in the total opposite direction, however, and told the legislature to "knock it off" (You subjects hush your mouth!), i.e., theres nothing to see here!
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty

As the feds expand their probe into Rudy Giuliani, investigators have homed in on Giuliani Security & Safety, a consulting firm that has done business with various governments and organizations around the world, according to two people briefed on the matter and another source familiar with the situation.

In recent months, the investigators have asked questions about and examined documents related to Giuliani Security & Safety (GSS). Their interest comes at a time when the feds have ramped up their scrutiny of Giulianis work, including his Ukraine-related efforts, to determine whether or not the former New York City mayor engaged in unregistered and illegal lobbying on behalf of foreign figures. Giuliani has repeatedly denied engaging in any unregistered lobbying or committing any FARA violations, and so far no charges have been brought against him in this matter.

It is unclear exactly why federal investigators have been taking a look at Giulianis security and consulting business. However, during the first year of the Trump administration, Giuliani Security & Safety was hired by the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The deal was reportedly the result of the local influence of the Ukrainian-Russian real estate developer Pavel Fuks, an ally of the towns Moscow-friendly mayor. Fuks was previously engaged in negotiations to construct the never-realized Trump Tower Moscow.

A 2018 press release purported that the firm was working to establish a Kharkiv Office of Emergency Management modeled on New York Citys. But in an interview with the New York Times, Fuks characterized Giulianis role as that of a lobbyist. Giuliani has disputed this description, but the deal subsequently drew criticism as the lawyer gallivanted about Eastern Europe attempting to prop up conspiracy theories about now-President Joe Bidens son, Hunter.

Giuliani has insisted that the work in Ukraine was all done on behalf of his client, then-President Donald Trump, and therefore could not have been part of a foreign lobbying effort. The extension of the federal investigation into Giuliani Security & Safety, with its numerous foreign clients, could complicate that assertion.

Story continues

Whats more, Trump himself has been unwilling to publicly back up Giulianis claim; in private, the former president has said in recent weeks that hes hesitant to get involved, largely because he didnt always know what Giuliani was up to during the Trump-Ukraine scandal.

Accused Russian Agent Says Giuliani Was Very Useful

That workand his overseas operations, more generallydrew frequent criticism from his detractors, as well as Democrats on Capitol Hill, who expressed concern that governments were trying to do business with Trumps personal attorney as a way to surreptitiously influence U.S. policy.

In May 2019, when Giuliani, then repping Trump, told The Daily Beast that he and GSS had landed a contract with the Kingdom of Bahrains Ministry of Interior to train its police, he emphasized that the work doesnt involve any lobbying, and does not include giving policy advice.

[Our GSS] contract has clauses in it that say no lobbying, no foreign representation, the Trump attorney added. Giuliani said at the time that he could provide The Daily Beast with a copy of the contract to corroborate this, but ultimately never sent along a copy.

Giulianis lawyers did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorneys Office in the Southern District of New York declined The Daily Beasts request for comment. Various former and current members of Giuliani Partners, which is the controlling entity that includes GSS, did not respond to inquiries from The Daily Beast, or declined to comment on the record.

In late April, federal authorities in New York raided Giulianis office and apartment, seizing a trove of electronic devices. Giuliani and his legal team subsequently claimed that the U.S. Attorneys office had informed them that the feds had already secretly seized communications and documents from Giulianis iCloud account, all the way back in 2019.

The global security and consulting firm has been a key part of Giulianis money-making enterprise, long before President Trump came along. Giuliani launched his eponymous group, Giuliani Partners, in January 2002, near the peak of his post-9/11 acclaim as Americas mayor. The subsidiary, Giuliani Security & Safety, came into being 10 months later.

Controversy attended the mayors new career as a consultant from almost the start. One of his partners in the new business, ex-NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik, came under scrutiny when then-President George W. Bush nominated Kerik to head the Department of Homeland Security. It emerged first that Kerik had employed an undocumented housekeeper, kneecapping his confirmation, and later that he had lied to Congress and tax authorities and had received unreported and unauthorized payments.

Nonetheless, Giuliani acquired powerful clients such as Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma and energy giant TransCanada, the company behind the controversial Keystone Pipeline project. He even moved into investment banking in 2004, when Giuliani Partners purchased a corporate finance entity from Ernst & Young and renamed it Giuliani Capital Partners. The former mayor resold that entity in early 2007, as he prepared to run for president.

But it was Giuliani Security & Safety that attracted the most unwanted attention during the Republicans failed bid for the 2008 GOP nominationparticularly over its contracts with the government of Qatar, which had brought the self-styled anti-terrorism crusader into cooperation with an al Qaeda-linked member of the Gulf states royal family. The Chicago Tribune also reported that the mayors business was entangled in the development of a Singapore casino with the son of a gambling mogul tied to the regime in North Korea.

In interviews, Giuliani huffily refused to disclose all his clients, even as he insisted on the absolute uprightness of all his corporate affairs.

"Everything I did at Giuliani Partners was totally legal, totally ethical," he told the Associated Press during the failed campaign. "There's nothing for me to explain about. We acted honorably, decently.

The ex-mayor maintained his relationship with the Qataris even after his presidential hopes withered and his ambition to join the Trump administration died. As late as April 2018just weeks before he became Trumps personal lawyerGiuliani was photographed accompanying the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, during his visit to Miami. He would later claim he had completed a contract with the countrys government and visited its capital of Doha around that time.

With additional reporting by Adam Rawnsley

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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.
Getty

DISGUSTING & DANGEROUS, screamed the banner headline at the bottom of the television screen, just under the blonde-sheathed visage of Fox News Laura Ingraham. GREENWALD BLASTS INTERCEPT FOR SMEARING INGRAHAM GUESTS.

And so during a recent episode of The Ingraham Angle, Glenn Greenwaldwho is so familiar to the top-rated cable channels millions of viewers that he requires only a surnameput on a suit and tie in Rio de Janeiro, where he lives, to continue doing what has occupied his energies for much of the past month.

Thats deploying every conceivable platformfrom Twitter (where he has 1.6 million followers) to YouTube to Substack to an array of popular conservative websites to the very top of the ziggurat, Rupert Murdochs corporate cash cowto denounce former friends and colleagues at The Intercept, the left-leaning digital news and opinion site he co-founded with Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill in 2013.

These millennial digital liberal outlets like the Intercept, BuzzFeed, the Huffington Post, so many of themthey think that if youre a conservative, youre not really a journalist, the 54-year-old Greenwald intoned (a tad weirdly, because most of his targets are in their late forties and fifties), while Ingraham could barely contain a gleeful grin. They think that youre part of this crypto-fascist movement, that youre the enemy, he addedreferring to two young conservative videographers whose coverage of Black Lives Matter and other protests came under The Intercepts withering scrutiny.

This past month has occasioned spectacular success, of a sort, for the pugnacious contrarian pundit, an erstwhile leftist journalist-turned-Donald Trump defender who once again is proving his mastery of the right-wing media ecosystem.

Indeed, in a self-perpetuating feedback loop that runs from Twitter to Fox News and back again, Greenwald has managed, like Trump before him, to orchestrate his very own news cycles.

Last year, following his exit from The Intercept, Greenwald admitted to The Daily Beast that Fox News airs its share of horrific, toxic, damaging, destructive, and bigoted content. However, he defended his frequent Fox hits, saying, I have no doubt that some people at the Intercept were upset that I was going on Fox, but I would no sooner allow anyone to dictate to me which shows I can go on than I would allow anyone to censor my opinions.

Story continues

And now he is effectively operating as something of a Fox News assignment editor, as indicated by The Daily Beasts spot check of the frequency with which Greenwalds online musings on social media and elsewhere, especially his Substack page, have served as the basis for dozens of articles on Fox News website.

For the most part, the FoxNews.com stories have tended to celebrate Greenwalds slashing critiques of non-Fox media personalities, such as a recent article inspired by his tweet trashing MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace for misreporting, along with other media outlets, that Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani was warned by the FBI that he was the target of a Russian disinformation campaign. (MSNBC and other outlets ultimately corrected the error.) A similar piece, written a couple weeks later, highlighted Greenwalds Substack post in which he blasted resistance journalism. Of course, Fox News made sure to identify Greenwald as a progressive journalist, apparently to enhance the man-bites-dog credibility of his claims.

Besides obsessively repurposing Greenwalds complaints about other media personalitiessometimes publishing multiple Greenwald-related pieces in the same daythe network also creates entire outrage cycles from Greenwald tweets, transforming tiny kernels into the media equivalent of a bag of popcorn.

For instance, a January tweet about what Greenwald called the monster of so-called cancel culture not only prompted his appearance on the Fox News Channel but also an online article about him sounding the alarm on the cancel culture mob.

The March 7 episode of MediaBuzz, the networks Sunday media analysis show, provides another example of Greenwalds Twitter feed inspiring Fox News segmentsessentially a programming pipeline from social media-to-cable channel. Fox News digital media team had written multiple articles about Greenwalds online complaints concerning CNNs junior high hall-monitor tattling reporters, New York Times tech reporter Taylor Lorenz, and MSNBC host Joy Reids criticism of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Greenwald was then brought on by host Howard Kurtz to weigh in on all three subjects across multiple segments.

And just days after the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, Fox News devoted multiple on-air segments across both its opinion and so-called hard news programming to discussing a lengthy Greenwald Twitter thread that slammed liberals for being overwhelmingly supportive of Big Tech censorshipspecifically over the social media bans of Trump and the shuttering of Parler. And, inevitably, Greenwalds online comments warranted their own FoxNews.com piece.

Fox News in general, and Laura Ingrahams and Tucker Carlsons primetime shows in particular, have also provided Greenwald with a vital perch from which to stir the right-wing media cocktail. A review of television transcripts indicates that Greenwald has racked up at least 72 appearances on Fox since December 201740 of them on Tucker Carlson Tonight.

Ingraham, meanwhile, has booked him on 14 different episodes, followed by nine appearances on Fox News Primetime, three on Kurtzs MediaBuzz, two each on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo and Martha MacCallums now-defunct The Story, and one booking each on Watters World, the defunct Bill Hemmer Reports and the now-cancelled midnight show, Fox News @ Night. (Those figures do not include insomniac-friendly replays of Greenwalds segments.)

I did not see this coming, said The Nations national affairs correspondent, Joan Walsh, who was editor-in-chief of Salon more than a decade ago when Greenwald gave up practicing law to spend five-and-a-half years as a star writer there. Its kind of sad. He won awards for us. He was a beacon during those dark days [of the Bush-Cheney military adventures and Barack Obamas first term]. He was a lovely colleague, he really was. The difference between the cantankerous guy we sometimes had to wrangle withit wasnt all rosesand this person? Whos this?

Since Greenwald left Salon for The Guardian in 2012, he and Walsh have tangled on Twitterbitterly at times. Last year, when Walsh was skeptical concerning the claims of Tara Reade, Joe Bidens sexual-assault accuser, Greenwald couldnt resist calling his former editor a partisan opportunistic hack sent out to try to smear, demean & discredit her.

Intercept Staffers Roll Their Eyes Over Glenn Greenwalds Censorship Claim

Greenwalds latest media campaign is ruthlessly marshaling the armies of Twitter, Substack, YouTube and his home away from home, Fox News, to stoke fury against The Intercepts investigation of the far-right social media platform Gab, as well as the news sites documentary short exploring the questionable tactics and deceptive editing of two young videographers for conservative outlets who call themselves the riot squad.

Hes reaping rich rewards in attention and publicity from the right-wing media ecosystem by targeting his erstwhile Intercept comrades in remarkably personal terms.

During a recent appearance on YouTubes The Jimmy Dore Show, where he prosecuted his indictments against the Intercepts reporting, Greenwald called out editor-in-chief Betsy Reed as an example of the shit liberals and liberal DNC hacks who crave nothing more than mainstream media approval; Reeds deputy editors Roger Hodge and Peter Maass, meanwhile, are those little eunuchs she has working under her, he claimed.

This is a totally made-up controversy. Its manufactured. Theres no there there, said Reed, who joined The Intercept from The Nation in late 2015 with Greenwalds blessing. Theres no kernel of truth to Glenns crusade. That is what I think is fundamentally different from the old Glenn, who would often kind of overstate the case, and fall into hyperbole, but there was usually a kernel of truth. And I would say this time, he lost the kernelor he doesnt care about having that kernel. Hes become a practitioner of manufactured controversy in the service of the hard right in this country.

Former New York Times journalist and Riot Squad author Robert Mackeywhom Greenwald had personally recruited to The Intercept on the strength of his Times work live-blogging major news events, making documentaries, and analyzing social mediapractices his journalism while sitting on his fat white ass on the couch, Greenwald told Dore.

That was his reportinghere, Greenwald gestured scare quotes"that was so innovative and that led The Intercept to hire him, he added sarcastically. (Needless to say, Greenwald didnt mention his key role in eagerly lobbying Mackey to leave the Times in 2016.)

In another curious omission on The Jimmy Dore Show, Greenwald went after one of his favorite targets, Times tech reporter (and former Daily Beast staffer) Taylor Lorenz, for her unhealthy fixation on billionaire Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessenbut failed to mention that Andreessen is a major investor, to the tune of $15 million, in Substack, and is leading a new fundraising round of $65 million for Greenwalds latest journalistic platform.

Hours later on the same day of his Dore guest-shot, Greenwald donned a suit and tie in Rio de Janeiro to trash Mackey some more on The Ingraham Angle and accuse The Intercept of deliberately inciting antifa members to physically assault TownHall.com videographer Julio Rosas and his Daily Caller counterpart, Jorge Ventura, by dragging their faces into the light. Never mind that the two young men, who clearly revel in the attention, had just appeared on Ingrahams show before millions of Fox News viewers.

I dont pretend that my life is some avatar of working class values, Greenwald elaborated in an email to The Daily Beast. I do, though, think thats true of Julio and Jorge. And thats why I find it so repellent to watch a bunch of coddled, highly paid editors and journalists using a billionaires money from their $3 million/year office on the 18th floor of a Park Avenue tower to target actual working class journalists doing dangerous reporting about a violent group (Antifa) with which the Intercept ideologically identifies.

Greenwalds most astonishing verbal assault, however, was aimed at computer security engineer Micah Lee, director of information security for the Intercepts parent company, First Look Media, and author of the Gab story. Lee had been essential to Greenwalds two greatest journalistic triumphs.

As a staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 2013, Lee connected Greenwald, then at The Guardian, with National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden (after Greenwald hadnt responded to Snowdens attempts to contact him), teaching him how to use encrypted communication and helping him navigate Snowdens classified data dump that revealed the NSAs widespread surveillance of private citizensreporting for which The Guardian shared the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. (The Washington Posts Barton Gellman, whose Snowden reporting also won the 2014 public service Pulitzer, recounted in Dark Mirror, his book about the episode, several instances of Greenwalds alleged duplicity in the throes of competition as the two jousted for scoops and creditoozing charm in a conciliatory email and then bad-mouthing him behind his back to a New York Times reporter.)

In 2019, Lee was instrumental in the Intercepts blockbuster Operation Car Wash series exposing official corruption and wrongdoing by powerful politicians in Brazil. (According to knowledgeable sources, after Greenwald began getting serious death threats from supporters of Brazils right-wing populist president Jair Bolsonaroto say nothing of official prosecutorial harassmentFirst Look Media spent lavishly, in the six-figure range, to provide him with a team of bodyguards and an armored vehicle. That was in addition to Greenwalds eye-popping salary of more than $500,000 a year.)

A collaborative project involving Brazilian journalists and Greenwald, who is fluent in Portuguese, the Car Wash series depended largely on a massive secret archive (secured, made searchable, and administered by Lee) of private chats, audio recordings, videos, photos, court proceedings, and other documentationprovided to us by an anonymous source, as Greenwald, Reed, and Leandro Demori, the executive editor of The Intercept Brasil, wrote upon publication.

Yet after the release of Micah Lees Gab storywhich, contrary to Greenwalds indignant claims, doxed no one and simply documented that the platform hosts a range of Jan. 6 insurrectionists, anti-Semites, QAnon conspiracy theorists, white supremacists, and other extremistsGreenwald tweeted a photo of Lee, along with the warning: If you, your relatives, or your friends are Gab users, remember that @micahflee is spending his days and nights trolling through your/their personal data with the intentto expose them if they have the wrong ideology.

Lee and members of his family had already been hassled by an Internet stalker with a criminal record soon after the Gab story was posted in early May, but in due course the stalking had fizzledthat is, until Greenwalds tweet which, predictably, inspired a new wave of online harassment.

Internet trolls tried to uncover the personal data of Lees sister, and succeeded in doxing Lee and his wife, who were targeted by antisemitic and homophobic slurs and threats; they contacted local and federal law enforcement officials but ultimately decided to hire private security and change their phone numbers, especially after Lee received this voicemail message from an anonymous male: Hey faggot. You do understand that doxing works both ways. So go ahead and paint a target on your back and theres lots of people who are willing to take shots at you. You want war? Fine.

Glenn Greenwald Speaks: Bolsonaro Is Trying to Silence Me

Glenn and I have always disagreed on some things, but at least he used to have consistent principles and respect for basic facts, Lee told The Daily Beast. Its disappointing and tragic that hes gone so far off the deep end, from what seemed to be an honest and fearless journalist into a conspiracy-peddling pundit that spends all his time misleading people.

In an email exchange with The Daily Beastwhich Greenwald posted preemptively in its entirety on Substackhe was unapologetic about his attack on Lee because, Greenwald complained, he started it. (He was apparently referring to a May 5 tweet in which Lee mercilessly mocked Greenwalds outrageduly splashed on Fox News websiteat an Intercept fundraising letter touting the Gab investigation.)

Precisely because of my long work relationship and friendship with Micah, Greenwald wrote to The Daily Beast, I would never have criticized him personally or even by name under any circumstances. When I co-founded the Intercept back in 2013, Micah was one of the first if not the first people we hired. Thats why I was so disappointed when he decided to start publicly criticizing me by name. After having chosen to do that to great applause from his liberal following, helike the Intercept generallywants to play the victim and whine about how hes being persecuted for something that he himself did.

Peter Maass, a noted author, experienced war correspondent and Greenwalds former editor at The Intercept, told The Daily Beast: Glenn can act in the most vicious ways against people who were loyal to him and essential to his best work. He has to know that his attacks on Micah are going to lead to intimidation and threats.

Indulging his fondness for insult, Greenwald fired back: Its quite hilarious to hear lectures about loyalty from Intercept editors like Peter, making $300,000/year for nothing, when none of them would even [have] jobs if it werent for me and my work in creating the news outlet that they now all leech off of.

As for Walsh, she is a Democrat who still cries every night that Hillary Clinton isnt President. Shes just angry that I dont like Democrats, Greenwald emailed.

Betsy Reed comes in for the most severe thrashing. [S]hes a pathological liar who makes everyone she works with hate her, Greenwald emailed.

I have zero respect for the senior editorial leadership of the InterceptI have contempt for them which I have made quite publicly clearso its hardly a surprise that theyre sniping at me in ways they never had the courage to do when I was there, he added.

Seven years after eBay chairman Pierre Omidyar enlisted him to help start the web site and pledged $250 million to the project, Greenwald quit The Intercept in a blaze of acrimony last October, days before the presidential election, claiming Maass, Hodge, and Reed had censored his reporting on the presumed contents of Hunter Bidens laptop to protect their preferred candidate, Joe Biden, and defeat Donald Trump.

Greenwalds tabloid-ready departurecoupled with a lengthy manifesto-and-denunciation posted on Substackquickly took on the trappings of a carefully-choreographed media event staged not only for the New York Post, which devoted 1,160 words to the liberal establishments attempt to muzzle a truth teller, but also for such Trump-friendly outlets as The Daily Caller, TownHall.com, Newsmax, The Washington Examiner, The Federalist, and of course Fox News, all of which credited Greenwalds narrative of liberal hypocrisy and suppression.

Greenwald celebrated his exodus with a seven-minute appearance on Tucker Carlsons show, where he claimed The Intercepts alleged shielding of Joe Biden from scrutiny was all of a piece with an anti-Trump conspiracy in which the CIA and the Deep State operatives became heroes of the liberal left, the people that support the Democratic Party, [and are] now in a full union with the neocons, the Bush-Cheney operatives, the CIA, Silicon Valley and Wall Street. That is the union of power, along with mainstream media outlets, that is fully behind the Democratic Party.

I totally agree, Carlson declared. And Im ashamed of the times I made apologies for those agencies or this behavior. I really am. You are telling the truth Glenn Greenwald! Congratulations on getting out of there.

The real story of Greenwalds Biden screed and his abrupt departure from the Intercept, however, is a little more complicated. According to several of Greenwalds former colleagues, he had been musing since last July about the possibility of leaving for the richly financed Substackwhere, hed heard, his close friend and former Intercept colleague Matt Taibbi was earning close to a million dollars a year. (It would be inaccurate to say I made anything close to a million, Taibbi told The Daily Beast. I dont know what Glenn told others.)

It is absolutely true that I had been talking about leaving the Intercept since at least mid-2020, because I had become disgusted with its servitude to the Democratic Party and the resulting corruption of journalism that that produced, Greenwald told The Daily Beast. However, he wrote, its absolutely false that I was considering going to Substack until 24 hours before making the jump.

When Hunter Bidens long-lost laptop became a public issue after Rudy Giuliani shared it with the New York Post, Greenwald proposed writing about it and Betsy Reed agreed on condition that the piece would contain actual reporting, not just opinion, and that Greenwald would submit it to an editing process before publicationterms he accepted. However, after he filed the piece to Maass, his nominal editor, Greenwald strenuously objected to Maass extensive notes (also posted on Substack) calling for changes, deletions and more facts.

At that point, according to three sources, Greenwalds Intercept co-founder Jeremy Scahill read the draft of the Biden piece and made detailed recommendations of revisions designed to satisfy the concerns of both Maass and Greenwald. The sources said Greenwald largely agreed with Scahills suggestions to fix the piece, but instead of submitting a new version, he simply withdrew it, explaining that he had already made the decision to leave the Intercept for Substacka move he announced the same day as his resignation, leaving former colleagues to believe he had been secretly negotiating a lucrative deal with Substack all along. Scahill declined to comment.

Welcome to Glenn Greenwald, Inc.?

In an email to The Daily Beast, Greenwald confirmed that Betsy was demanding that I submit my article to an editorthe first time in 7 years that she did so, and that Jeremy voluntarily went and made suggestions to the article, all of which I told him were acceptable. But Betsy was furious with Jeremy for doing that, telling him that his suggestions were nowhere near sufficient to render the article publishable.

Reed, who said she was not furious with Scahill for trying to broker peace, added that Greenwald abruptly withdrew the piece before she or Maass had the chance even to see Scahills editing suggestions.

Greenwald added: I never talked to the Substack people until the day before I announced my resignation from the Intercept - less than 24 hours in advance...And that happened only because it was obvious that they [The Intercept] would only publish my article if I first removed all the parts critical of Joe Bidenthe candidate they were desperate to win the electionand only leave the sections about media criticism.

Meanwhile, readers can subscribe to Greenwalds Substack writing under a variety of plans ranging from $5 a month to $50 a year to $150 to become a founding member. Greenwald has already lined up between 20,000 and 40,000 paid subscribers, according to an estimate by the Financial Times that Greenwald said was accurate, and is reportedly on course to earn up to $2 million a year.

Not bad for a guy who, as Greenwald put it in his email, grew up in a working-class neighborhood raised by a single mother who worked hourly-wage jobs as a McDonalds cashier and a defensive driving instructor and went to public schools and only could go to college and law school because of a full-time scholarship from the debate team and student loans.

Intercept editor Roger Hodge theorizes that money is probably behind at least some of Greenwalds adventures in right-wing media.

He needs subscribers and hes giving people what they want, which is hatred and rage, Hodge told The Daily Beast. Hes tapped into the rage machine. He understands that theres no engagement like rage engagement.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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.
As high schools across the country resume traditional graduation ceremonies following a pandemic-imposed hiatus, it was only a matter of time before a commencement speech controversy made national news.

A Michigan principal wisely reversed course after telling Hillsdale High School co-valedictorian Elizabeth Turner to omit remarks about her Christian faith from a draft of her speech submitted for review. When Turner takes the podium on June 6, her message to fellow graduates wont be censored.

Administrators dropped their demand that Turner revise the speech a day after the First Liberty Institute, a conservative Christian legal group, intervened on her behalf. A letter from First Liberty attorneys Mike Berry and Keisha Russell warned Principal Amy Goldsmith that barring religious references would violate Turners First Amendment rights.

In a Google Docs file, Goldsmith highlighted two paragraphs in Turners speech as inappropriate for a public school. The selected portion begins: For me, my future hope is found in my relationship with Christ.

A note Goldsmith added to the document indicates the text had already been sanitized once.
Caribbean

A police officer who was the chauffer of Barbados' Commissioner of Police was fatally shot while responding to a robbery in his neighbourhood last Saturday.



The Nation newspaper reported that Station Sergeant Newton Lewis, the driver assigned to Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith, encountered a group of armed men who were attempting a robbery at a shop in Rose Hill in the northern parish of St. Peter.



According to the newspaper, the owner of the shop went to Lewis' nearby home for assistance when several armed men were about to rob his shop. The off-duty officer left home, got assistance from a neighbour and went towards the shop.



"On nearing the establishment, he was confronted by the said armed men who opened a hail of gunfire at him. He was struck and fell to the ground and died on the said spot," a statement from the Barbados police force said.



The assailants took his police issued service firearm which fell on the ground next to him and made good their escape.



Personnel from the Barbados Ambulance Service responded to the scene. After an examination, they found no signs of life from the body. He was pronounced dead by a medical doctor who visited the scene.



The Nation newspaper also reported that retired police inspector Lionel Ward, the neighbour who Lewis called to help him, said they were blind-sided when they were approaching the crime scene.



I went there and saw him, we spoke. He told me there were three people in the house but I told him I couldnt see anyone. But then quick so, we heard explosions and I looked for cover because no cover was there, Ward recalled. After taking cover, the former inspector said when he got up, he noticed his friend had been shot, but there was nothing he could do to help him.



In looking for cover, I turned and fell. I got up while the explosions were still going on and I ran to my mothers gallery. While running I looked back and I saw him stumbling and falling.



He fell to the ground and I saw his head and I know he was dead.

I dont know if anything could have been done at that stage. We were approached from a blind side, we were expecting the persons would have exited from where we believed they entered, but they exited from another side of the house which was our blind side. So when we were running away, we ran into fire, its sad, he added.






Buttes beloved Fourth of July parade will return in 2021 after a year-long hiatus.

The parade will start on Sunday, July 4 at 10 a.m. at the Butte Civic Center, and will proceed about two miles down Harrison Avenue to the Wells Fargo. Matt Boyle of the Butte America Foundation anticipates about 100 floats and attendance of over 10,000 people, similar to past years.

Butte was deprived of 2020s parade due to COVID-19. From the moment the county health department rescinded their event restrictions earlier this year, Boyle started getting the event in motion. He doesnt think that COVID-19 concerns will throw a wrench in things, as he ran his planned events by the department.

I know the health department is looking forward to the event themselves, Boyle said.

The event will be outside and Butte-Silver Bow County has one of the highest vaccination rates in the state. Boyle cited these factors as alleviating his worries about COVID-19.

Boyle urged folks who arent vaccinated to take the time and consideration to wear a mask.
Benjamin Curtis OConnor, 25, of Butte was jailed Sunday night for misdemeanor disorderly conduct. According to police documents, OConnor, who was reportedly highly agitated, was causing a disturbance at the intersection of Montana and Porphyry. He refused to leave the area and so was transported to the Butte Detention Center.

Just before 9:30 a.m. Friday, officers were getting ready to check on a suspicious vehicle at the Town Pump in Rocker. When they arrived, the driver took off and ended up driving on the walking trail. At that point, officers retreated and went to Steel Street to see if the vehicle would exit from there. It did. The driver, Derek Stephen Bumgardner, 41, of Butte exited from that location but was stopped at Montrose Street. Bumgardner then jumped from the vehicle and then tried to flee on foot. His vehicle then began to roll backwards toward the patrol car. Bumgardner was arrested and transported to the Butte Detention Center for felony criminal endangerment and misdemeanor fleeing or eluding a peace officer.
The exact location of the new reactor is still up in the air. The plant will replace a current coal-fired plant operated by PacifiCorp. Gary Hoogeveen, president and CEO of PacifiCorp division Rocky Mountain Power, said the goal is to decide by the end of 2021 which of the utility's four plants will house the nuclear power plant: Jim Bridger near Rock Springs, Naughton in Kemmerer, Dave Johnson in Glenrock or Wyodak near Gillette.

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who also spoke remotely at the event, said the new reactor will produce 345 megawatts of power.

"We are ready to make investments in advanced nuclear technology so that communities all over the country can enjoy the benefits of safe and reliable and clean power that will leave them with lower energy bills and greater opportunities," Granholm said.

The reactor will use small, modular reactors as opposed to the traditional larger ones. These smaller modular reactions can be used individually or combined to create a single large power plant.

TerraPower was one of two companies to receive an $80 million Federal Energy Department grant in late 2020, the first installment to put toward establishing a nuclear power plant.
Thus, the Montana Constitution set in motion the development of curriculum, professional development, content standards, licensure standards, and related content rich language/cultural programs that are managed and monitored by both the state Board of Public Education and Office of Public Instruction. As designed, developed, and implemented in 1999, Montanas Indian Education for All Act (IEFA) is a powerful tool. According to the MT Office of Public Instruction website, IEFA is part of a content rich landscape, which seeks to provide schools and staff with knowledge, skills, and content to ensure Indian Education for All means cultural enrichment, academic engagement, and equitable pedagogy for students. Providing a relevant and historically accurate education is what the state of Montana has been doing with IEFA for over two decades. In fact, Montana is considered a leader in the nation with regards to our IEFA law and other states have followed suit and used our model. We are a unique state that does not fit into the box that the discourse on national politics wants us to fit into.
We are encouraging people to learn everything they can about the COVID vaccines, and to get fully vaccinated, Sullivan said Tuesday. This is about our personal health and our communitys collective health. But its also about the chance to win significant cash awards over the late spring and summer. We are hoping to have fun with this.

Butte-Silver Bow residents who have been vaccinated outside of the county  for example, snowbirds  are also eligible. Those vaccinated outside of the county are asked to visit the Butte-Silver Bow Health Department at 25 W. Front St., with a vaccination card and identification proving county residence. These individuals will then be entered into the vaccine sweepstakes.

Pharmacies continue to be locations where COVID vaccines can be scheduled and obtained. More information may be found at https://vaccinefinder.org. All Butte-Silver Bow residents who have been vaccinated at the Civic Center, at pop-up clinics and at pharmacies are eligible for the sweepstakes winnings.

Weekly COVID report

For the week of May 22-28, the health department reported six newly confirmed cases of COVID, the same number of cases reported during the week of May 15-21.
SHELBYVILLE, Ky. (AP)  Kentuckys acceptance of extra jobless benefits is hampering efforts by businesses to find help as the economy moves beyond the pandemic, Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said Wednesday, in a dig at the Democratic governor.

Gov. Andy Beshear says the weekly $300 federal unemployment payments have contributed to surging consumer spending that benefits Kentucky businesses. The federal enhancement  coming on top of state jobless benefits  is set to expire in September.

McConnell, the Senate's top GOP leader, said the extra benefit puts Kentucky at a competitive disadvantage with states that opted to cut off the supplemental payments.

After meeting with local employers Wednesday in Shelbyville, McConnell said he hears ongoing complaints from Kentucky business operators struggling to lure back workers. Employers link their workplace shortages to the federal jobless bonus, he said.

This issue is keeping them from getting people back to work," McConnell told reporters. "The coronavirus is behind us. We need to get back to work. We need to do things productively. And I do disagree with the governors position.

Beshear has steadfastly defended the extra payments, saying Kentucky's economy has benefited.
Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid party, delivers a statement to the press before the party faction meeting at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem May 31, 2021.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank Group (WB), World Health Organization (WHO) and World Trade Organization (WTO) have called for $50 billion investment to generate $9 trillion in global economic returns by 2025.



In a statement published by newspapers around the world, the leaders of the four agencies said governments must act without further delay or risk continued waves and explosive outbreaks of Covid-19 as well as more transmissible and deadly virus variants undermining the global recovery.



By now it has become abundantly clear there will be no broad-based recovery without an end to the health crisis. Access to vaccination is key to both, they added.



The joint statement draws on a recent IMF staff analysis, which stated that $50 billion in new investment is needed to increase manufacturing capacity, supply, trade flows, and delivery, which would accelerate the equitable distribution of diagnostics, oxygen, treatments, medical supplies and vaccines. This injection would also give a major boost to economic growth around the world.



At an estimated $50 billion, it will bring the pandemic to an end faster in the developing world, reduce infections and loss of lives, accelerate the economic recovery, and generate some $9 trillion in additional global output by 2025," said the leadership.



Increasing our ambition and vaccinating more people faster: WHO and its COVAX partners have set a goal of vaccinating approximately 30% of the population in all countries by the end of 2021, said the four leaders. But this can reach even 40% through other agreements and surge investment, and at least 60% by the first half of 2022.



Governments are urged to act on the investment opportunity to boost supplies of vaccines, oxygen, tests and treatment. The IMF, WBG, WHO and WTO leaders issued their joint statement as the World Health Assembly drew to a conclusion and a round of G7 meetings were set to start, beginning with a Finance Ministers convening later this week, and following a Global Health Summit co-hosted by the EU and Italy, which chairs the G20.



To urgently get more shots in arms, doses need to be donated immediately to developing countries synchronized with national vaccine deployment plans, including through Covax, said the four leaders. Cooperation on trade is also needed to ensure free cross-border flows and increasing supplies of raw materials and finished vaccines.  TradeArabia News Service
To take a typical household completely off the grid using solar panels, battery backup, and an inverter will cost between R200,000 and R220,000. This investment will, however, pay for itself in electricity savings.

Many South African households and businesses are looking for ways to protect themselves against blackouts after the latest bout of Eskom load-shedding.

While the power utility promised a reduction in load-shedding from September, it lost the trust of South Africans years ago.

Former Eskom CEO Brian Dames, former President Jacob Zuma, and even President Cyril Ramaphosa have previously promised load-shedding would be a thing of the past.

It always returned, and South Africans had to endure the worst blackouts the country has ever seen in recent years.

In response to these blackouts, energy expert Chris Yelland said that South Africans must take control of their own energy future as they cannot rely on the government and Eskom.

This is exactly what is happening, with people looking beyond Eskom and the governments promises for more permanent solutions.

A good solution to protect against load-shedding is a solar installation. NuPowers Murray van Graan said solar power with battery backups is a great option in South Africa which has lots of sunshine.

Apart from kissing load-shedding goodbye, such an installation will also save people money.

NuPower has run a simulation on a typical household that goes completely off-grid and cut off their Eskom supply, and the numbers look good.

A standard solar installation yields a return on investment of between 9% and 12% in the first year.

After 20 years of operation the levelised cost of electricity comes in at less than R1 per kWh. This is roughly half of what households currently pay.

Generating enough electricity to remove the need for Eskom power does, however, carry a large upfront cost.

A typical household uses roughly 30 kWh to 40kWh per day. This means it will require a setup with an average daily solar production of over 40kWh.

One such setup  a Sunsynk 8kW Hybrid PV Kit  is available from Solar Shop for R174,690.

This setup includes a Sunsynk 8kW hybrid inverter, 4 x PylonTech 3.5kWh batteries, and an 8.4kW solar array.

The system delivers up to 8kW of discharge power which is big enough for most households.

To make the battery backup last longer, it is advisable to replace your electric geyser, which typically accounts for 30% to 40% of monthly electricity usage, with a solar version.

A fully installed 200-litre solar geyser costs around R27,000.

Further energy efficiency measures are also advised to limit your households reliance on electricity.

This includes replacing electric stoves and hobs with gas appliances, using LED lighting, and opting for energy-efficient fridges, freezers, and washing machines.

The table below provides an overview of the cost to generate enough power to only use Eskom in emergencies, like when the sun does not shine.
Simultaneous breaks in two critical undersea cables that connect South Africa to the Internet were likely caused by a massive mudslide that originated at the mouth of the Congo River, new research has found.

South Africans found their Internet speeds to overseas services dramatically slowed down at the start of last year when breaks occurred in two undersea cables off the western coast of Africa  SAT-3/WASC and WACS.

These simultaneous cable breaks left many Internet service providers scrambling to activate backup bandwidth to ensure customers remain connected during the disruption.

On 16 January 2020, the South Atlantic 3/West Africa (SAT-3/WASC) cable and the West Africa Cable System (WACS) were hit by cable breaks.

SAT-3, which links Africa to Portugal and Spain was hit by a breakdown in Gabon, while WACS, which connects South Africa to the United Kingdom, saw an outage off the coast of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Researchers noted that the mudslide happened ten days after the Congo River was hit by the largest flood since the 1960s.

Prof Peter J. Talling from the Department of Earth Sciences and Geography at the University of Durham in the UK led the team of researchers who conducted study.

The research was co-led by Angola Cables and supported by the Vodafone Group, British Telecom, and NERC Environmental.

According to the researchers, sand and mud from the river flood was presumably remobilised and triggered a submarine mudslide that flowed through the offshore Congo Canyon.

The canyon is one of the largest underwater canyons on earth, cutting across the continental shelf of West Africa for 85 kilometres until it reaches the shelf edge, then continues down the slope and ends 280 kilometres from its origin.

At its deepest point, the V-shaped canyon walls are 1100 meters in height.

These powerful mud slides that damage seabed cables are notoriously difficult to measure in action, and are therefore poorly understood, the researchers said.

They explained that this study involved the placement of a series of sensors along the canyon, and that these sensors recorded unique information on this type of mud slide.

The mudslide in January 2020 caused nine of the oceanographic moorings to surface. By combining the timings of when moorings reached the sea surface and the cable breaks, Talling and his team were able to calculate the flow speed of the massive undersea avalanche.

They estimated that following the initial mudslide in the canyon, the moving sediment increased in speed from 5 meters per second (m/s) in Angolan waters in the upper canyon, to reach 8m/s in the deep ocean, at water depths of 4-5 km  running out some 1,200 km from the river mouth.

The data that we recovered from the seabed sensor and mooring data sets within the Congo Canyon have revealed that the undersea mudslide is possibly the longest recorded sediment flow yet measured in action on our planet, the researchers stated.

The evidence gathered provided valuable scientific insights into how major flows are triggered; the frequency, speed and potential impact of mudslides or runout events.

The longer the runout, the more hazardous these mudslides can be for undersea cables, the researchers warned.

Another important conclusion was that although cables do not break during the mudslide, adjacent cables can experience faults if they are next to deeply eroded knickpoints.

Depending on the proximity of cable repair vessels, outages can often take a number of weeks to repair resulting in costly losses to economies impacted by such breaks, Talling said.

Gathering evidence and the recorded data in studies such as these are critical to understanding the nature of such subterranean events, and how the subsea cable industry can better provide more durable solutions in keeping the cables  and the world connected.

Now read: Angola Cables signs deals with several South African ISPs
A Croatian manufacturer backed by Porsche has unveiled an electric hypercar with big claims for speed and power.

On Tuesday, Rimac Automobili announced the Nevera, the production version of the C Two electric concept car that Rimac debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in 2018.

The name of the new car refers to a quick, powerful, and unexpected lightning storm that races across the Mediterranean Sea off the Croatian coast.

This is it, said Rimac founder and Chief Executive Officer Mate Rimac of the C Two in a press statement.

This is the car I had in mind when I embarked on the impossible journey 10 years ago. Rimac said his eponymous company will deliver 150 units of the $2.4 million hypercar starting this year. He said the car will have 1,914-horsepower and 2,360 newton-meters (1,740 pound-feet) of torque.

With butterfly-style doors, aggressive air diffusers, and an air intake shaped like a cravat along each side, the Nevera combines many design elements found in other electric and hybrid hypercars like the Pininfarina Battista, Lotus Evija, and Koenigsegg Gemera.

It also incorporates well-proven technologies like lightweight, forged alloy wheels, Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes, and an active rear wing. Inside, the cockpit has room for two; digital screens predominate, with only essential functions left to tactile controls.

New details provided by Rimac claim that the Nevera would beat virtually all comers in performance tests during a period of upheaval in the supercar world.

According to Rimac, it will go to 60 mph in 1.85 seconds and reach top speeds of 258 mph.

By comparison, the $3.6 million Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport does zero-to-60-mph in 2.3 seconds; the $1.8 million Koenigsegg Gemera hybrid is expected to do it in 1.9 seconds.

A spokesman said the company will not vie for the top-speed title but did not say it wouldnt go for a fastest-acceleration record.

We are already the fastest-accelerating production car in the world  we just havent had it officially measured by any organization, he said in an email, referring to a pre-production prototype Nevera that ran an 8.6-second quarter-mile last week without launch control and with about 90-95% full power.

The world record for top speed in a production car belongs to the $1.9 million SSC Tuatara, which hit an average top speed of 282.9 mph in the desert earlier this year.

The announcement comes soon after news that Porsche had agreed to buy more of the Zagreb, Croatia-based company and had already placed its first orders with Rimac to develop high-tech components.

Porsche will invest 70 million ($84 million) to raise its stake in Rimac to 24%, from 15%, the German manufacturer said on March 8. Insiders have said the move could pave the way for parent Volkswagen AG to spin its ultraluxury French Bugatti brand into a joint venture between Porsche and Rimac.

Meanwhile, the 12-year-old Croatian company has been expanding operations at the manufacturing facility where it will build most of the components for the Nevera. In April, it announced it would build a 200 million campus capable of accommodating 2,500 employees, up 1,500 from the 1,000 who currently work at headquarters.

Rimac develops high-performance electric drivetrains and battery systems for customers that include Aston Martin, Porsche, Pininfarina, Hyundai, Kia, Koenigsegg, and Renault.

Production on the Nevera has already begun, the spokesman said. Deliveries will start by the end of 2021.

Now read: Musk losing his mojo as Tesla slides
Samsung South Africa has launched a new door-to-door repair service for smartphones, tablets, and wearables.

Instead of visiting one of the companys customer care centres, Samsung device owners will now be able to request a repair online, have their device collected at home or their office, and then returned again once it is fixed.

The pick-up and return service is priced at R330, not including the cost of the repair itself.

Samsung said the service will be available to addresses within 40km of one of its customer care centres.

To use the service, follow these steps:

Fill out the form on this page to provide your and your devices details.

to provide your and your devices details. Samsung will then arrange a collection time.

The device will be picked up and you will be able to track the repair progress.

You will be notified when the repair is completed.

A delivery time will be arranged with you.

Due to COVID-19 regulations, the product will be sanitised and packaged before the customer.

Supported devices

Samsung said the following devices will be eligible for repair via the service:

Smartphones

All Samsung Galaxy A models

All Samsung Galaxy J models

All Samsung Galaxy S models

All Samsung Galaxy Z models

All Galaxy Note models

Tablets

All Galaxy Tab A models

All Galaxy Tab S models

All Galaxy Tab active models

Wearables
The entries were judged blindly by a panel of volunteer judges (not park staff) who were not given the names or locations of the authors.

Each of the judges expressed how impressed they were with the level of writing from all contestants this year.

At the May 29 awards celebration, author Bo Kearns said in his opening remarks, "It's a pleasure to be among fellow writers. Jack London won his first contest at 17. You're already ahead of him."

This years theme was Coping with Isolation, an apt topic for kids navigating through the rigors of the pandemic. In Jack Londons famous short story To Build a Fire, the main character battles the fierce winter landscapes of the Yukon with only a few supplies and his wit and will to guide him. Even with the obstacles and pitfalls in his way, the greatest challenge is being alone on the journey with only the company of a wary dog.

Students entering the contest were instructed to create a fictional story in which their character takes a journey through an unknown land alone.
The City of St. Helena raised the Progress Pride Flag on its ceremonial flagpole Tuesday in celebration of Pride Month, which is celebrated in June and dedicated to inclusion, diversity, and the uplifting of LGBTQ voices and the support of LGBTQ rights.

The Progress Pride Flag is an evolution of the traditional Rainbow Pride Flag and incorporates a chevron containing stripes that represent the transgender community and people of color.

Vice Mayor Paul Dohring offered these words to the occasion: "As we raise this beautiful Progress Flag for the first time, let us see it not only as a symbol of pride and celebration but also one of resistance and solidarity."

No large gathering was planned due to COVID-19 restrictions, but in attendance were Dohring, Mayor Geoff Ellsworth, City Councilmember Anna Chouteau, City Clerk Cindy Tzafopoulos, community member Anne Wheaton and Anne Sutkowi-Hemstreet from Rainbow Action Network.

Ellsworth referenced the flag as a symbol of St. Helena's inclusiveness as a community and its ongoing commitment to civil rights and human dignity for a full-spectrum community.

Ellsworth read an excerpt of a poem by Denise Shelton recognizing the intent of the original designer of the Pride Flag, Gilbert Baker:
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Ukraine's president said Wednesday that Russia has maintained a massive military presence near his country's borders.

Speaking during a meeting with a group of visiting U.S. senators, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy charged that Moscow had withdrawn only a fraction of the forces it concentrated near Ukraine in April, a buildup that worried the West as well as Ukraine.

The Russian buildup came amid regular cease-fire violations in the conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, and fueled fears that full-scale hostilities would resume.

The Russian military announced a pullback of its troops following the completion of drills in late April. But it ordered the troops to leave their weapons behind in southwest Russia near Ukraine for another big military exercise set for September.

Zelenskyy claimed Wednesday that Russia so far has withdrawn just a fraction of the more than 100,000 troops that Ukrainian officials said had been deployed near the border earlier in the spring.

They only have pulled back about 10,000 soldiers, Zelenskyy told the three U.S. senators in Kyiv. The Russian forces' pullback is just a declaration.
The wonder of May 2021 was conversation, as talking face-to-face, some masked some not, returned.

On Tuesday, I sat with four old friends as one of them went through boxes of memorabilia, trying to reduce a lifetime to something her adult children might want. A candid photo from her wedding, a childs ribbon, and an article about a dependents trip home on the Little Rock, a guided-missile cruiser, from the Mediterranean to Rhode Island.

There was much friendly joshing and lament about collectibles of our era. Mothers day plates, forget it. And dont bother with a box of framed family photos, our hostess said.

The only good thing about our COVID year was that it gave us in Northern California the opportunity to worry about something else other than wildfires.

The county of Sonoma is on water rationing. The Russian River, which supplies a majority of the population is down so low, You can walk across it. The Napa River which supplies only groundwater replenishing is at its August trickle.
Growing up in Monterey County in the 1950s, I rode with my family in our 1936 Chevy on the two- and three-lane highways. When the miles per hour hit 55, we all cheered. At that slow speed, we could enjoy the scenic roads covered with golden poppies and their companion, purple lupine.

Gen. Fremont camped on nearby Fremonts Peak on his exploratory trip to California, which led him to the Bay Area, where he named the water between San Francisco and Marin the Golden Gate.

After World War II, the California highway system expanded. Little country roads became four-, six-, and eight-lane highways. Dirt and wildflowers were replaced by cement, asphalt, and sculptures, as we can observe in local Jamison Canyon. Speed was the major concern of the construction crews.

To honor our state flower, the golden poppy, I would propose that we enhance our local mountains and hills with poppies. Perhaps we can ask tourists and local residents to donate money and poppy seeds to fund our new Napa Vine Trail which will go from Vallejo to Calistoga. Like the Flanders fields in Europe, we can plant poppies to honor so many people lost to our tragedies: gun violence, COVID-19, and ongoing wars. Local victims of wildfires are another group we should remember.
Global engineering giant WSP said its Middle East services unit has been signed up by The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) to provide sustainability services for its visionary Coral Bloom resorts at Shurayrah Island on the kingdoms west coast.

As per the deal, WSP will also take forward the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) process throughout the concept design, schematic design, and final design stages of the project.

This is the latest in a series of ESIA appointments for WSP Middle East at The Red Sea Project and demonstrates TRSDCs confidence in the multi-discipline consulting firms ability, having qualified as one of TRSDCs initial shortlisted framework consultants.

The Shurayrah Island resorts make up the majority of the 16 hotels in Phase One of The Red Sea Project, which is due to welcome its first guests by the end of 2022 and complete in 2023.

Development on the island, which is situated in the Al Wajh lagoon - home to one of the world's largest barrier reef systems, untouched corals and a number of endangered species - will see the construction of a series of iconic resorts and associated facilities.

WSP Middle East is set to help drive TRSDC's pioneering vision for sustainable tourism in Saudi Arabia following a new appointment to provide an ESIA for the regenerative tourism destinations 11 unique Coral Bloom resorts at Shurayrah Island on the nations west coast, said a senior official.

"Were excited to be playing a pivotal role in the kingdoms mandate for economic diversification as TRSDC embarks on turning its vision for regenerative tourism into reality," noted May Faraj, Head of Environment & Sustainability at WSP Middle East.

"As a destination that is grounded in sustainability, WSP Middle East is proud to be delivering world-class environmental expertise that will underpin The Red Sea Project as a global model for sustainability, environmental protection, and nature conservation for generations to come," noted Faraj.

The project incorporates biodiversity considerations into the core of its design and has been planned to avoid disruption to the islands mangroves and other sensitive ecological habitats.

This appointment also includes a considerable ecosystem services scope of work which will comprise the identification and evaluation of habitats lost and/or created during the project's lifecycle, he noted.

This will also support TRSDC's overall aim in creating a net positive conservation benefit of 30% for The Red Sea Project area within the next two decades, he added.

Raed Albasseet, Head of Corporate Environment and Sustainability, TRSDC, said: "In order for The Red Sea Project to be a world leader in environmental sustainability across planning, construction and operation, we need to build sustainability into the DNA of our project from the onset."

"Engaging an industry changemaker such as WSP Middle East will enable us to achieve this through the provision of quality services that assess and predict potential adverse social and environmental impacts and also devise suitable mitigation measures to ensure seamless development and future operation of the 11 iconic Coral Bloom ecotourism resorts at Shurayrah Island," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
YEREVAN.  Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday met with representatives of the Armenian community in France at Armenias Embassy in Paris, the press service of the government informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The Acting Prime Minister first had a separate meeting with Co-Chair of the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations of France Ara Toranian, and member of the Board of Trustees, secretary of the local office Bedros Terzian.

During the meeting Nikol Pashinyan touched upon the results of his talks with President Emmanuel Macron, the circumstances of the 44-day war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), the steps taken to resolve the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the resumption of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process within the OSCE Minsk Group framework and the need to tap the potential of the Armenian Diaspora. In this context, Nikol Pashinyan appreciated the consolidation of Diaspora-based Armenians, especially during the war, and the invaluable support rendered to the homeland.

The Acting Prime Minister answered in detail all the questions of interest to the audience.
When you determinedly, do something with enthusiasm and it seems to you that your resources are not enough, but resources are gathered on you doing that. When we were dealing with the [1988 earthquake] disaster zone, I got a call from Huntsman that, "I want to do a project [in Armenia]." I said, "Please. And I am waiting for people like you." Second President Robert Kocharyan, the leader of the "Armenia" bloc that will run in the snap parliamentary elections on June 20, stated this at a meeting with the residents of Shirak Province and the active members of this blocin Gyumri.

"We immediately flew [there], he [Huntsman] built a district, a school, and so on [there]. There are many such examples. Gyumri became so dear. When I came to Gyumri when I was still the Prime Minister, it was very problematic; there was no center, there were shacks [there]. I said, 'If nothing has changed the second time I come, they will beat me here' because I know that the previous authorities were coming with quite a fear.

A goal was set that something should change, something should be added in Gyumri from visit to visit. After that, Gyumri has become the city where visiting was the most pleasant. During those years, about 20,000 families in Gyumri received new apartments," Kocharyan added.
YEREVAN.  Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday met with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo at Paris City Hall, the press service of the government informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Welcoming Nikol Pashinyan to France, the Mayor of Paris said: Mr. Prime Minister, we have always stood by Armenia and we will continue to maintain close contacts. We have adopted a clear position in this difficult situation. Please rest assured that we will not leave Armenia and the Armenian people alone.

Noting that he had kept fond recollections of their first meeting, Nikol Pashinyan said that the arrangements made at the previous meeting had been implemented. The Acting Prime Minister evoked the inauguration of a TUMO center in Paris. Madam Mayor, we look forward to seeing you in Yerevan this October; we will discuss our future plans during your visit. I would like to thank you for your initiative to name a square in honor of Armenia in Paris. This is an important initiative that warms our hearts. I hope that the ongoing cooperation between our capital cities will deepen ahead, especially in the fields of education, infrastructure and tourism, Nikol Pashinyan said, confident that with the support of its friends, Armenia will overcome the crisis and the population will regain its optimism.

Anne Hidalgo expressed confidence that she will be able to discuss and implement new initiatives with the mayor of Yerevan during her next visit to Yerevan. Speaking about the situation established following the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war, the Mayor of Paris assured that France will continue to be sensitive to Armenia. It is not only the fate of Armenia; our fate and the fate of Armenia are interconnected. We will be consistent in our efforts aimed at criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide, Anne Hidalgo said.
EU President: I applaud Azerbaijans & Armenias parallel humanitarian gestures

Georgia is ready to participate in settlement of humanitarian issues between Baku and Yerevan

Aliyev: If Armenia wants peace, they should start negotiations with us on delimitation

Kocharyan intends to turn government dachas into rehab center

Baku says it handed over 15 POWs to Armenia in exchange for map of minefields

Nikol Pashinyan shares photo of Armenian POWs returning home

Eight more remains found in Artsakh search operations Saturday

Armenia MOD refutes reports on deployment of Turkey army units in Sev Lake region

Armenia MP candidate charged with bribery is remanded in custody

Armenia acting PM on border situation: Our Russian partners have come, looked at areas where they can be deployed

Armenia acting premier: This election battle has already turned into class struggle

20 Afghanistan security force members killed in clashes with Taliban

Armenia acting PM supporters give kids instructions in Gegharkunik Province village

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: We reject vendettas

Armenia ex-President Serzh Sargsyan pays tribute to late PM Andranik Margaryan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Maybe 2018 evens would not have happened if they had kept level of education

Bright Armenia Party MP: Our prime ministerial candidate is Edmon Marukyan

Armenia former President Kocharyan: I want to be proud of my homeland

One person on Armenia ruling party electoral list also has Iran citizenship, his registration is declared invalid

Armenias Pashinyan congratulates Boris Johnson on Queens Birthday

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan in Spitak town, pays tribute to victims of 1988 earthquake

Acting premier: Corrupt clergymen discredit Armenian Apostolic Church, traditional values

Armenia, Georgia customs officials meet at Bagratashen border checkpoint

One new case of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Armenia acting deputy PM signs new decision

Sarkissian to Putin: Armenian-Russian cooperation is developing confidently in all directions

8 dead in China factory chemical leak

Putin notes differences between "outsider" Trump, "career man" Biden

88 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

President: Karabakh has always underscored Russia's invaluable place, role in our region

Security Council chief: We have had Russias support in Artsakh for centuries

Pashinyan to Putin: I am convinced that Armenian-Russian interstate relations will continue to develop

Armenias Pashinyan congratulates Mishustin on Russia Day

Newspaper: Armenia criminal authorities take neutral position in current electoral process

Newspaper: Real "war" behind scenes of Armenia authorities after every provincial visit of acting PM

Armenia acting PM Pashinyan tells details from his talk with army General Staff former chief Gasparyan

Man found dead in Armenia canal

NATO Secretary-General affirms willingness for cooperation with Russia

Armenia Special Investigation Service charges political party member for giving electoral bribe

Armenia Central Electoral Commission grants motion to launch criminal prosecution against MP candidate

"I Have the Honor" bloc member: Coronavirus and 'nikolavirus' (Nikol Pashinyan) are both lethal

Greek PM: Greece willing to back positive EU agenda for Turkey

Russia Deputy FM, France Ambassador discuss settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

CoE: We are engaged in a dialogue to develop a set of confidence-building measures between Armenia, Azerbaijan

Armenia 3rd President states when country's security system began to collapse

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff ex-deputy chief on acting PM's statement on his "National Hero" title

Armenia Arevik National Park director dismissed for being a friend of Meghri mayor

Reuters: Erdogan's summit with Biden clouded by bitter disputes

Armenia acting MOD receives Head of ICRC Delegation

Gagik Tsarukyan: Armenia needs to develop the economy by using resources of country and people

Gagik Tsarukyan: Russia is Armenia's main ally, and this can't be altered

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijanis try to carry out engineering works in Kut border section, Armenian side counters

Armenia 1st President's nephew and his son involved in brawl in Yerevan

Snap elections online voting starts, Azerbaijan continues 'trial' of Armenian POWs, Jun 11 digest

Armenian former high-tech industry minister, member of ruling party on June 9 brawl in Yerevan

Robert Kocharyan: If Armenia wants a peaceful settlement of Karabakh conflict, it needs to give Azerbaijan hope

Armenia acting PM: During campaign meetings hundreds of mothers thanked me for signing Nov. 9 document

Citizens are demanded to applaud Armenia acting PM

Armenia ruling party lawmaker, MP candidate: Civil Contracts election promises are continuation of 2018 promises

Armenia villager to Nikol Pashinyan: Yard of Turk's house is in front of our military post

Opposition Prosperous Armenia Party assures that it's not expecting ministerial positions

Robert Kocharyan: "Armenia" bloc will restore and deepen country's ties with allies

Czech Rep. parliament committee calls on Azerbaijan to release all Armenian captives immediately

"Armenia" bloc member Armen Gevorgyan holds meetings with diplomatic corps and international organizations

Dollar still dropping in Armenia

Azerbaijan announces names of 26 Armenian servicemen it intends to "put on trial"

Armenian publishing house to print 66,925,000 ballots for upcoming snap parliamentary elections

"Armenia" bloc member: There are reports that over 10 police buses escorted acting PM yesterday

Gallup: "Armenia" bloc records slightly higher indicator than ruling party

Armenia acting PM has been obligated to publicly apologize to Khachatryan family

"Armenia" bloc: Robert Kocharyan and ARF-D resolved crisis that Levon Ter-Petrosyan created in 1998

Intellectual Armenia Party to support "Armenia" bloc in snap parliamentary elections

Armenia ruling party MP's powers terminated

Brawl takes place during Armenia ruling Civil Contract Party's campaign meeting, case launched

Armenia acting premier: We also have enclave under Azerbaijan rule

Holy Etchmiadzin: We express regret for unwise, inappropriate statements of acting PM

"I have the honor" bloc member: Armenia acting PM has instructed his voters to go to polls by afternoon

Prosperous Armenia Party MP: Enemy does not divide Armenians into "blacks" and "whites"

Bright Armenia Party leader: Acting premier will not be able to get 60% of votes

Armenia acting PM: There are people in media who are more like "killers" than journalists

Ex-President Kocharyan: 2009-2018 I did not agree with Armenia authorities on many issues

Armenia has new millionaires

Armenia President visits Russia embassy, meets with ambassador

Artsakh search continues Friday for remains of Armenian soldiers killed in war

Armenia ruling party election offices heads being paid by provincial halls?

Armenia emergency ministry preparing for a new cooperation with USAID

US, Turkey top defense officials discuss regional issues

95 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

G7 leaders pledge to share 1bn doses of coronavirus vaccine with world

Armenia snap parliamentary elections online voting starts

Trump tells Biden to give Putin his warmest regards

Newspaper: Pashinyan is both Armenia acting PM and not

Newspaper: Why is Armenia arms dealer released from custody?

National Geographic officially announces 5th ocean

Armenia MP candidate is detained

Armenia Prosecutor General receives OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission's delegation

France's Macron intends to discuss situation in Nagorno-Karabakh with Turkish counterpart

Armenia 3rd President on Nikol Pashinyan: People look at him and say 'greetings, son of a b**ch'

US Department of Commerce intends to impose sanctions against Armenia's Armenal aluminum foil producer/exporter

Armenia 1st President recalls his "remedial secession" formula for Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement
WHO has validated the Sinovac-CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use. It thereby gives countries, funders, procuring agencies and communities the assurance that it meets international standards for safety, efficacy and manufacturing. The vaccine is produced by the Beijing-based pharmaceutical company Sinovac.

The world desperately needs multiple Covid-19 vaccines to address the huge access inequity across the globe, said Dr Mariangela Simao, WHO Assistant-Director General for Access to Health Products. We urge manufacturers to participate in the Covax Facility, share their knowhow and data and contribute to bringing the pandemic under control.

WHOs Emergency Use Listing (EUL) is a prerequisite for Covax Facility vaccine supply and international procurement. It also allows countries to expedite their own regulatory approval to import and administer Covid-19 vaccines.

The EUL assesses the quality, safety and efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, as well as risk management plans and programmatic suitability, such as cold chain requirements. The assessment is performed by the product evaluation group, composed by regulatory experts from around the world and a Technical Advisory Group (TAG), in charge of performing the risk-benefit assessment for an independent recommendation on whether a vaccine can be listed for emergency use and, if so, under which conditions.

In the case of the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine, the WHO assessment included on-site inspections of the production facility.

The Sinovac-CoronaVac product is an inactivated vaccine. Its easy storage requirements make it very manageable and particularly suitable for low-resource settings.

WHOs Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (Sage) has also completed its review of the vaccine. On the basis of available evidence, WHO recommends the vaccine for use in adults 18 years and older, in a two-dose schedule with a spacing of two to four weeks. Vaccine efficacy results showed that the vaccine prevented symptomatic disease in 51% of those vaccinated and prevented severe Covid-19 and hospitalisation in 100% of the studied population.

Few older adults (over 60 years) were enrolled in clinical trials, so efficacy could not be estimated in this age group. Nevertheless, WHO is not recommending an upper age limit for the vaccine because data collected during subsequent use in multiple countries and supportive immunogenicity data suggest the vaccine is likely to have a protective effect in older persons. There is no reason to believe that the vaccine has a different safety profile in older and younger populations. WHO recommends that countries using the vaccine in older age groups conduct safety and effectiveness monitoring to verify the expected impact and contribute to making the recommendation more robust for all countries.

WHO EMERGENCY USE LISTING

The emergency use listing (EUL) procedure assesses the suitability of novel health products during public health emergencies. The objective is to make medicines, vaccines and diagnostics available as rapidly as possible to address the emergency, while adhering to stringent criteria of safety, efficacy and quality. The assessment weighs the threat posed by the emergency as well as the benefit that would accrue from the use of the product against any potential risks.

The EUL pathway involves a rigorous assessment of late phase II and phase III clinical trial data as well as substantial additional data on safety, efficacy, quality and a risk management plan with a focus on low- and middle-income country needs. These data are reviewed by independent experts and WHO teams who consider the current body of evidence on the vaccine under consideration, the plans for monitoring its use, and plans for further studies.

As part of the EUL process, the company producing the vaccine must commit to continue to generate data to enable full licensure and WHO prequalification of the vaccine. The WHO prequalification process will assess additional clinical data generated from vaccine trials and deployment on a rolling basis to ensure the vaccine meets the necessary standards of quality, safety and efficacy for broader availability.

WHO has already listed the Pfizer/BioNTech, Astrazeneca-SK Bio, Serum Institute of India, Astra Zeneca EU, Janssen, Moderna and Sinopharm vaccines for emergency use.-- TradeArabia News Service
The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) continues to provide a number of medical examination services, including pre-university fitness screening, pre-employment fitness screening, and medical examination for residency.

The ministry also provides the premarital screening and counselling service, with the possibility of issuing a replacement for a lost disease-free certificate for a pre-marital examination.

The aforementioned services, which are part of the ministrys commitment to continuing the provision of comprehensive, innovative, and outstanding healthcare services, are being made with the implementation of strict precautionary measures to immunise society against infectious diseases.

This is achieved by speeding up medical examination procedures with high accuracy to ensure the happiness of community members using innovative and leading work mechanisms.

The pre-university fitness screening is a service provided to students that are attending universities in the UAE. It enables students to request a fitness medical certificate by undergoing a medical examination that includes a general examination and blood test.

The pre-university fitness screening is a service provided to students that are attending universities in the UAE. It enables students to request a fitness medical certificate by undergoing a medical examination that includes a general examination and blood test.

Pre-employment medical fitness is a service provided to new employees who are going to work in governmental, semi-governmental, and private entities in the UAE.

This service enables new employees to request medical fitness certificate by undergoing a medical examination to ensure that he/she is medically fit for the proposed job.

MEDICAL EXAMINATION FOR RESIDENCY

This service is one of the priorities of the ministry to immunise society against infectious diseases, speed up medical examinations procedures with high accuracy and help obtain the residence-visa swiftly and ensure the happiness of the community members using innovative and leading work mechanisms.

The medical examination centres for residency offer several services including printing of residence visa forms and conducting a medical examination. To obtain the service, he/she needs to provide a copy of valid personal documents.

This service enables individuals to request the necessary medical counselling for a premarital examination to ensure that they are free of genetic blood diseases, and infectious or sexually transmitted diseases. It aims to offer advice and recommendations for a healthy community with children free of genetic blood diseases, infectious and sexually transmitted diseases.

Premarital screening and counseling services are provided in 25 healthcare centres. The period required for service completion depends on the outcome of the medical condition of the couple and varies from 3 to 10 working days, while reports are issued with a validity period of three months. MoHAP also provides the issuance of a replacement for a pre-marital screening certificate, which enables customers to apply for the replacement of a previously issued pre-nuptial certificate confirming that they are free of any disease.

INNOVATIVE HEALTH SERVICES

Dr Hussein Abdul Rahman Al Rand, Assistant Undersecretary of Health Centres and Clinics Sector said these services fall within the ministrys strategy to provide comprehensive and integrated healthcare services in innovative and sustainable ways to ensure health and safety of community members and prevent diseases in society. He pointed out the ministry, as part of its customer-centric approach, is keen to diversify the medical examination services and ensure that they are being provided as per the highest standards of excellence and accuracy in procedures, data, and results.

HIGHEST QUALITY STANDARDS

Al Rand pointed out that the medical fitness centres are equipped with the latest equipment and devices necessary for medical tests such as blood and radiation testing devices.

The medical and technical staff are well-trained and were qualified to perform up-to-date procedures to achieve quick and outstanding results in accordance with global specifications and standards, he said.

The ministrys efforts in this respect are being doubled to facilitate customers journey, reduce the waiting time, provide medical examination services following the best methods, electronic systems, and smart technologies.

The Medical examination service for Residency can be availed at the Preventive Medicine Centres at Kuwait Hospital in Dubai (previously known as Al Baraha hospital), Al Ghubaiba, Kalba, Dibba Al Hasan, Khorfakkan, Al Dhaid, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain and the Examination Centre of Expatriate Labour in the Sharjah Industrial Area.

The Medical examination service is also available at medical centres at shopping malls including Ibn Battuta Mall, Dragon Mart 2, TECOM, Spring Oasis Area, Salah El-Deen and Al Khobaisi.

--TradeArabia News Service
Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 02.06.21:

Armenian acting PM Nikol Pashinyan is paying a visit to France.

Pashinyan was hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace. After the welcoming ceremony, the two leaders made statements to the media.

The two touched upon the Azerbaijani troops' invasion into the Armenian territory.

Macron noted that the Azerbaijani soldiers must leave Armenias sovereign territory.

"I call on the parties to return to the positions they stood at as of May 11. We will try to help establish a dialogue," he said.

https://news.am/eng/news/646638.html

Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday also met with representatives of the Armenian community in France at Armenias Embassy in Paris.

The area of Sev Lake of Armenia's Syunik Province has been relatively stable in recent days.

Although the Azerbaijanis continue to remain in their occupied positions and have deployed 4 positions25-30 servicemen in each, it is reported from Syunik Province that the enemy does not increase its number, does not undertake other actions.

The only strange thing is that they take turns of duty more often than the set timeframe, Hraparak daily reported.

"By the way, a large number of volunteersfrom our sidecontinue to stay in Syunik; although they have not been mobilized at the moment, they are ready waiting for an instruction at any moment," the newspaper said.

The judicial farce against the Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) has started Wednesday in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

According to Azerbaijani media, Armenian POWs Ludvig Mkrtchyan and Alyosha Khosrovyan are on trial. Both are veterans of the first Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war in the early 1990s, and absurd charges have been brought against them.

Azerbaijani media report that trials are being prepared against 14 Armenian POWs, and on similar charges

Thus, Azerbaijan brazenly ignores all calls of the international community to immediately release the Armenian captives.

Baku's actions violate the November 9, 2020, trilateral statements section on the exchange of all detainees.

Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Popov (Russia), Stephane Visconti (France), and Andrew Schoffer (USA) might agree over the possibility of visiting the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia soon.

According to a Russian representative to the OSCE Aleksandr Lukashevich, it's very important that the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group manage to reach the region soon and clarify the situation on the spot and talk to the sides on the spot.

As of Wednesday morning, 92 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 222,870 in the country.

Also, one more death from COVID-19 was registered, making the respective total 4,446 cases.

The number of people who have recovered over the past one day is 149, the total respective number so far is 213,578.
Siemens has announced its AI Anomaly Assistant Industrial App, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to detect anomalies in the process industry and assess their business relevance.



This gives companies new opportunities for the economical optimization of their processes. The app analyzes process events that affect parameters such as productivity, availability, and quality, and alerts the plant operator to any anomalies. These events and anomalies are no longer simply identified, but also scrutinized for their business relevancean assessment which was previously only possible based on previous experience.



To enable the AI to detect and evaluate business-relevant anomalies, the machine-learning algorithms are trained on the basis of process data and then concentrated to determine which anomalies have an impact on the economic efficiency of the plant. The plant operator themself then defines the further focus of the AI using the app dashboard, where anomalies can be selected, evaluated and commented. This evaluation phase is accompanied by several feedback loops, so that the plant operator ends up with well-trained, focused AI that is able to evaluate anomalies, based on the process data, for their business relevance.



The AI Anomaly Assistant app is installed either as a cloud application or within the user's own infrastructure, for example on a Simatic Box PC or a virtual machine. The cloud-based solution is particularly advantageous during the training and evaluation phase, since it supports efficient collaboration between data analysts and plant operators.



In addition, it also allows the results of anomaly detection to be combined with other services, such as predictive asset management, as part of the Asset Performance Suite (APS).  TradeArabia News Service
President of the European Council Charles Michel calls on Armenia and Azerbaijan to resume constructive negotiations.

In today's phone call with President Aliyev of Azerbaijan and meeting with Acting PM Pashinyan of Armenia, President Michel of the European Council stressed the importance for the EU of stability and prosperity of the South Caucasus and of deepening relations with the two partner countries.

He recalled that the full implementation of the 9 November 2020 ceasefire declaration by Azerbaijan and Armenia is essential for regional security and stability. The EU is ready to provide expertise on border delimitation and demarcation and to support confidence building.

The European Union also encourages both parties to cooperate, as matter of urgency, on the return of detainees and full transparency with regard to mine fields, and other important humanitarian issues. The EU is providing almost 20 million EUR in humanitarian assistance and will continue to be engaged.

Addressing these immediate challenges is, however, only a first step towards a sustainable peaceful settlement. The PEC called on both sides to engage in renewed negotiations in a constructive spirit.

The European Union has a profound interest in the security, stability and prosperity of the South Caucasus region as an integral part of the EU's Eastern Partnership, the European Councils press release reads.
Salalah Mills Co, a publicly traded company listed on the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSE), plans to set up a new food industries centre at Khazaen Economic City with an investment of RO10 to 12 million ($26 million to $31.2 million).

An initial agreement to this effect will be signed by the Dhofar-based flour mill company for the lease of a 20,000 sq m plot in Khazaen, said an Oman Observer report.

The proposed Food Industries Centre will include an industrial bakery and production lines for frozen and semi-cooked pastries in the first phase, followed by frozen cakes, snacks, noodles and biscuits in the second phase.

In a filing to the Capital Market Authority, Salalah Mills CEO Ahmed Alawi al Dhahab said the new venture is in line with the companys strategy to expand its flour-based food activities. The project, financed with the support of commercial loans, will come into production before the end of 2022. Internal Rate of Return (IRR) is projected at 18 per cent, with the complex expected to turn a profit from the second onwards, the CEO noted, citing feasibility studies.

One of the largest millers in the Sultanate, Salalah Mills operates a 1,500 tonnes per day capacity four mill in Raysut Industrial City. A wholly owned subsidiary also produces 432 tonnes per day of macaroni. A plastics manufacturing unit, currently producing 250,000 bags per day, is being expanded to reach a capacity of 350,000 bags per day by the end of 2022, according to the company.

Additionally, Salalah Mills plans to commence trial production of its concentrated animal feed manufacturing unit by the end of this month, with a production capacity of 240 tonnes per day. Likewise, Salalah Laboratories Company, a new subsidiary focusing on providing physical and chemical analysis of grains and foodstuffs, will be launched this year.

Going forward, Salalah Mills has plans to diversify its product portfolio and revenue sources, said Al Dhahab. Over the 2022  2025 timeframe, the company aims to expand into a number of food related fields, notably food grain trading and storage, manufacture of flour blends, improvers, vitamins and minerals for bakeries, flour mills, fodder factories, starch production, fish and pet feed, production of grass capsules, and manufacture of flexible packaging films and FFS bags. Besides, the company is weighing partnerships for the production of plastic medical supplies, he added.TradeArabia News Service
Untraceable case snaps Hong Kong's 38-day streak

Untraceable case snaps Hong Kong's 38-day streak

Damon Pang reports

Hong Kongs 38-day streak without an untraceable Covid-19 case was snapped on Tuesday, as health officials confirmed the infection of a 35-year-old police constable.



The Centre for Health Protection said the officer, who lives in Yau Tong and is based out of the forces Wan Chai headquarters, started feeling unwell on Friday and was found to have a high viral load.



Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the CHPs communicable disease branch, said the officer tested negative while in hospital, but there's no evidence that the case involves a contaminated specimen, which has happened before to other confirmed patients.



"After hospital admission, repeated samples may turn negative, she said. We understand that the specimen taking and testing, they may vary, in different times and locations. A small proportion of cases may not have antibodies.



A microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong, Siddharth Sridhar, said this was unusal and further investigations should be carried out.



We have had so-called false positive cases in the past, but most of them have had a very low viral low which might be compatible with a laboratory contamination, he said.



It would take quite a gross mishap on the laboratorys side for a negative sample to become a high viral load sample, so further investigations are required to see if he actually is a genuine case or a false positive case. I understand he had symptoms, so we do have to look for alternate causes for his symptoms as well, Sridhar added.



He said Hong Kong should remain watchful before jumping to conclusions or panicking about this particular case.



The policeman normally works on a patrol squad, and had accompanied arrested persons on May 21 to the Chai Wan police station, and to the Lai Chi Kok detention centre on May 24.



Chuang said there is a mechanism in place to guard against the spread of Covid-19 among detainees.



"I understand all [new] detainees will be separated from other detainees, at least for the initial days. They'll be tested regularly," she said.



"Of course, there's still risk of spread, that's why we have to put them into quarantine, she added."



Chuang said the officer has recently been to a number of restaurants as well as the food court in Lok Fu Place.



His two children have tested negative for the virus, and the schools they attend have suspended classes for a few days pending test results on others.
Military flight off Malaysia was 'routine training'

Malaysia scrambled jets to intercept the Chinese air force transport planes. Photo: AP

China said on Wednesday a flight by 16 military aircraft over hotly contested waters off Malaysia was routine training, after the Southeast Asian nation accused Beijing of breaching its sovereignty.



Malaysia scrambled fighter jets on Monday to intercept the Chinese air force transport planes that appeared off Borneo over the South China Sea, where it has overlapping territorial claims with Beijing.



The Malaysian foreign minister criticised the flight as an "intrusion" and said the government would lodge a protest with Beijing and summon the Chinese ambassador.



But a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Kuala Lumpur said the "activities are routine flight training of the Chinese air force and do not target any country".



"According to relevant international law, Chinese military aircraft enjoy the freedom of overflight in the relevant airspace," he said.



The planes had not entered any other country's territorial airspace, the spokesman added in a statement.



The aircraft came within 60 nautical miles (110 kilometres) of the Malaysian part of Borneo, and did not respond to attempts to contact them, prompting Malaysia to scramble jets, according to the country's air force.



They turned back before entering Malaysian airspace over its territorial waters.



But Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said they had entered the country's "maritime zone"  an area that extends much further from the coast  and described the incident as a "breach of the Malaysian airspace and sovereignty".



China has laid claim to nearly all of the South China Sea and has built numerous military outposts on small islands and atolls, angering other countries with competing claims to the waters.



Malaysia-China relations are usually warm but Monday's incident comes after a build-up in tensions over the sea, which is home to key shipping lanes and is believed to harbour rich oil and gas deposits. (AFP)
The LGBTQ community celebrates every year at gay pride marches. Spencer Grant/ Getty

June is Pride Month, a time to honor and recognize the impact of LGBTQ people.

Photos of drag queens in the '60s and pride marches in the '70s show people celebrating acceptance.

Other images show more intimate moments between couples at home.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

After the Stonewall Riots in New York City, people celebrated with gay pride marches in the 1970s.

Gay pride in 1970. Spencer Grant/ Getty

The Stonewall Uprising in June 1969 was a pivotal moment in the fight for LGBTQ rights.

Pictured, people take to the streets in 1970.

In 1971, the streets were filled with people celebrating the LGBTQ community.

Gay pride in 1971. Michael Ochs Archives/ Getty

Pictured, people take part in a gay pride march in 1971.

Gay pride marches across the country quickly became a celebration that welcomed people of any color, religion, or sexual orientation.

Gay pride. Barbara Alper/ Getty

Members of the Jewish community pose for a photo at gay pride.

The parade was also a time to celebrate gender - and blurring the lines of gender expression.

Gay pride. Steve Eason/ Getty

Throughout the 1960s and '70s, LGBTQ people held rallies in San Francisco.

A couple in the 1960s. Ted Streshinsky Photographic Archive/ Getty

They demonstrated the power of the community.

Gay pride wasn't only held in the US, however.

London. Evening Standard/ Getty

London held its own march for the LGBTQ community in 1977.

This couple celebrated the 1971 parade in New York City with a kiss.

A couple in 1971. Michael Ochs Archives/ Getty

Source: NYC Pride

Throughout LGBTQ history, kissing has been a sign of love between friends, partners, and lovers.

Couple kissing. Ron Frehm/ AP

A couple is pictured kissing in 1971.

Similarly, in 1975, LGBTQ couples celebrated their love at the pride parade in New York's Central Park.

Couples at gay pride. Allan Tannenbaum/ Getty

That same year, members of the LGBTQ community embraced each other along the parade route in New York.

Pride march in New York City. Peter Keegan/ Getty

Some held hands while strolling through the parade streets.

A couple at a lesbian march. Fairfax Media Archives/ Getty

It was even common for parents of LGBTQ children to come out to the parade to support their children and show love.

A mother at gay pride. FPG/ Getty

This mom's sign reads, "My gay son is the greatest."

Here in 1974, fathers and mothers walked alongside their LGBTQ children at the parade in New York City.

Parents at gay pride. Bettmann/ Getty

Their signs express their pride for their children.

Story continues

Pictures from these events show how the marches were a celebration of love, companionship, and acceptance.

Pride march. David Fenton/ Getty

Friends celebrate together.

But these moments of queer celebration weren't just saved for marches.

A couple in 1981. Fairfax Media Archives/ Getty

In 1981, this couple was caught in a blissful embrace.

Gay bars and clubs were also a safe haven for the LGBTQ community.

Gay club in 1977. Bettmann / Getty

Here, four gay men dance in a San Francisco club in 1977.

Whether at a bar or a club, dancing has always been a major form of expression in the LGBTQ community.

Dancing. George Rose/ Getty

Dancing at marches was also common.

Dancing in 1989. Scott McPartland/ Getty

Here, a group dances in 1989.

Although drag queens have broken into mainstream culture today, they have been around for generations.

A drag queen in 1966. ullstein bild/ Getty

Here, a drag queen entertains guests in 1966.

Although same-sex marriage wasn't yet legalized, that didn't stop LGBTQ couples from tying the knot at special ceremonies.

Engaged couple in 1971. ullstein bild / Getty

An engaged couple is pictured in 1971.

In 1976, this gay couple celebrated their new union.

Newlyweds in 1976. Jack Mitchell/ Getty

Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage following a ruling in 2003.

Photos also captured more intimate moments at home.

Armistead Maupin and his lover. Kim Komenich/ Getty

In 1989, for example, writer Armistead Maupin was photographed with his lover, who was living with AIDS.

That same year, a photographer captured this tender moment between two men.

A couple in the '80s. Leon Morris/ Getty

They are pictured in 1989.

From marches to gay bars and public displays of affection, the history of the LGBTQ community has given strength and inspiration to the generations that followed.

Gay pride. Barbara Alper/ Getty

Read the original article on Insider
Baltimore Police said a 40-year-old Baltimore man was found in Atlanta and charged in connection with two fatal shootings in May.

Gerald Smith was extradited from Georgia to Baltimore and has since been charged with first- and second-degree murder in both cases, along with several other charges, according to online court records. He is being held without bail.

Police allege that Smith killed Marvis Pollock, 39, on May 2 in the 2600 block of W. Fairmount Ave. and Brittaney Hayes-Smith, 30, on May 3 in the 2800 Clifton Park Terrace.
Venice. (Los Angeles Times)

Maybe it was the house fire near a homeless encampment off Main Street in Venice that killed a beloved family dog.

Maybe it was the blaze that leaped from one of an estimated 223 tents on the Venice Boardwalk and destroyed a commercial building on Ocean Front Walk.

Or maybe its the surge in violent crime, the rash of stolen bicycles or videos of RVs dumping their sewage in the streets.

But Venice Beach, where I live, is on edge these days.

Next to downtowns skid row, Venice has the largest population of unhoused people  an estimated 2,000 in three square miles. Their presence has become more visible over the last year because of the citys decision not to enforce codes that forbid camping on sidewalks during the pandemic.

Homeowners and renters say they feel vulnerable, and they certainly have to cope with a lot. But no one is more vulnerable to catastrophic outcomes than the folks who through addiction, mental illness, sheer bad luck or choice sleep outside.

Part of the solution has got to be more housing, but that's complicated in Venice. In 2017, the neighborhood was declared by the Wall Street Journal as one of the most difficult places in the country to add new housing units.

The ZIP Code 90291, said the Journal, had about 700 fewer housing units in 2015 than in 2000, as apartment development stalled and wealthy homeowners gobbled up adjacent properties and leveled them. Home prices in the ZIP Code have more than tripled in those 15 years, rising 246% compared to the national average of 52% in the period.

And never mind how many rental units had been taken off the market to be used as short-term rentals in the last few years. According to the website InsideAirbnb, the Venice Beach area has 2,053 short-term rental units, about 1,668 of which are entire homes or apartments.

This rendering shows the proposed Reese Davidson Community, between North and South Venice boulevards, along Pacific Avenue, one block from the beach. (Eric Owen Moss Architects)

You might think a proposal to build dozens of affordable apartments near the beach would be met with open arms by socially conscious Venice denizens. But that's not what happened last week when the Los Angeles Planning Commission held a contentious public hearing on a new housing project one block from the beach. A collaboration between the Venice Community Housing Corp. and the Hollywood Community Housing Corp., the $75-million project would consist of a low-rise complex of about 140 apartments for formerly homeless and low-income people, as well as some work/live spaces for low-income artists, support staff for tenants, a coffee shop on the ground floor and a 3,000-square-foot performance space/community room named for the late, great dancer and actor Gregory Hines, a longtime Venice resident.

Story continues

At the hearing, one neighbor compared the blocky-looking building to the U.K. Brutalist architecture movement of the 1950s, which he claimed was linked to suicides. Others claimed the location is in a flood zone. Commissioners, saying this is exactly the kind of project the city needs, voted unanimously to approve it, and it could break ground a little over a year from now if the L.A. City Council and California Coastal Commission approve it  and it doesn't get tangled up in lawsuits.

Venice Community Housing Executive Director Becky Dennison is hopeful: "I think the city and the Planning Commission have been pretty strong the last few years in acknowledging the level of crisis," she told me Tuesday. "They have been committed to affordable housing, and the use of city land is a key piece of addressing the crisis."

Situated on the banks of the famous Grand Canal, sandwiched between North and South Venice boulevards at Pacific Avenue, the 2.6-acre city-owned site is currently a flat beach parking lot.

And though the parking lot is nothing special, like any expanse of open space, it offers a visual respite at a crowded intersection.

But increasingly, open space is an unaffordable luxury, as housing prices have skyrocketed, and Los Angeles has become crowded with homeless encampments.

Straddling the Grand Canal, which frankly is not so grand looking right now, the project would also provide parking for its residents, as well as a separate parking structure that will replace the lost surface beach parking lot.

Designed by the celebrated architect Eric Owen Moss, the complex would be typical of his work: harsh looking and somewhat bunker-like.

Moss is perhaps most famous for designing Culver Citys Hayden Tract, a jumble of eclectic and adventurous experimental buildings that replaced a bunch of decaying warehouses as part of that citys redevelopment effort.

The Los Angeles Conservancy describes Moss as a deconstructivist, whose designs are striking and distinctive sculptures of metal, cement, and glass that almost defy categorization.

During the public comments portion of the Planning Commissions meeting last week, opponents were far less flattering. They described the design as hideous, a looming mass and atrocious.

Brian Averill of the Venice Neighborhood Council told commissioners that his group unanimously opposed the project, which he described as a remarkable feat for a group that rarely agrees on anything. A group called Fight Back Venice has dubbed it the Monster on the Median and has vowed to take legal action, challenging the claim that the project is exempt from environmental review under a 2019 state law that was enacted to bypass onerous development requirements in the midst of an affordable housing crisis.

And yet, just as many Venetians spoke out in favor of the project as spoke against it.

We are in a dire housing crisis, said Linda Lucks, a local housing activist and former president of the Venice Neighborhood Council.

As for the design, she told me, Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the one thing about design is you cant legislate taste.'

That is certainly true.

And as ungainly as I find the design, I find the sight of human beings living on the streets far, far uglier.

@AbcarianLAT

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Activist investor fund Engine No. 1 stands poised to fill three board seats at ExxonMobil following a hotly-contested shareholder vote, the company said Wednesday.

The announcement is a victory for the fund that has pushed the company to do more to address climate change.

The oil giant, which defended its policies against criticism from Engine No. 1, released "updated preliminary results" after an earlier tally was too close to call and indicated a gain of at least two spots

The result, which still must be certified, means Engine No. 1 nominee Alexander Karsner will join fellow candidates Gregory Goff and Kaisa Hietala on the board of ExxonMobil.

The company last week announced the election of Goff and Hietala, along with that of several incumbent directors.

"We are grateful for shareholders' careful consideration of our nominees and are excited that these three individuals will be working with the full board to help better position ExxonMobil for the long-term benefit of all shareholders," Engine No. 1 said in a statement.

ExxonMobil Chief Executive Darren Woods said he looked forward to working with all directors "to build on the progress we've made to grow our long-term shareholder value and succeed in a lower-carbon future."

Long criticized over its policies on the environment, ExxonMobil had sought to persuade shareholders of its commitment to address climate change by establishing in January a new "low carbon solutions" business to commercialize carbon capture technology and announcing two new board members in March.

But Engine No. 1 criticized those steps, saying they were insufficient to prepare the oil giant for an era when more aggressive climate mitigation policies are expected to lessen dependence on oil and natural gas.

The outcome of the vote was an indication of how climate change has become a mainstream issue for investors.

Asset management giant BlackRock voted for all three of the successful Engine No. 1 candidates, saying they would "bring the fresh perspectives and relevant transformative energy experience to the board."

jmb/hs
In the latest trading session, Adobe Systems (ADBE) closed at $495.77, marking a -0.03% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.15%.

Heading into today, shares of the software maker had gained 1.06% over the past month, outpacing the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 0.49% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.58% in that time.

ADBE will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.81, up 14.69% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $3.73 billion, up 19.31% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $11.88 per share and revenue of $15.49 billion. These totals would mark changes of +17.62% and +20.4%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for ADBE. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.02% higher. ADBE currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that ADBE has a Forward P/E ratio of 41.73 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 35.93, which means ADBE is trading at a premium to the group.

Story continues

We can also see that ADBE currently has a PEG ratio of 2.28. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Computer - Software stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.37 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Computer - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 132, putting it in the bottom 49% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



Adobe Inc. (ADBE) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
Construction has begun on a first-of-its-kind electric vehicle (EV) battery R&D centre and pilot line in Slovakia, integrating proprietary R&D activities together with battery cell-manufacturing capabilities under one roof.

Set to be operational in early 2022, the new battery centre is being built by leading European electric vehicle battery developer and producer, InoBat Auto (InoBat), who is developing premium batteries which can be quickly and efficiently tailored to meet the specifications of any electric vehicle.

Powered by green energy through grid electricity and solar panels, the 290,000 sq ft (27,000 sq m) site will create up to 150 skilled jobs, and will include a technical training centre, modern office space, research labs and manufacturing line. InoBat, who purchased the existing brownfield site to reduce the need for carbon intensive construction methods, will use the new battery centre, to identify the optimum cell chemistries to meet the exact requirements of any vehicle maker or manufacturer faster and more efficiently than competitors.

Co-Founder and CEO of InoBat Auto, Marian Bocek, celebrated the groundbreaking ceremony alongside Boris Kollar, Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, Maros Sefcovic, Vice-President of the European Commission, Vazil Hudak, the EU SME Convoy, Faysal Sohail, InoBats Chairman, and InoBats Vice Chair, Andy Palmer, who was responsible for building the UKs first electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in 2009 during his time as Chief Operating Officer of Nissan.

European Commission Vice-President, Maros Sefcovic, in charge of the European Battery Alliance, said: I am delighted that the private sector is maintaining the momentum built up by the European Battery Alliance. This ambitious new InoBat Auto project represents another significant stepping stone towards building a competitive, innovative and sustainable battery value chain here in Europe. This will help bolster our strategic autonomy and protect millions of jobs in the face of increasing global competition  particularly important in Central Europe.

The European Commission will therefore continue to mobilise all industrial actors, Member States and the European Investment Bank to shift things into a higher gear  leveraging investment, establishing a fit-for-future regulatory framework, building our raw materials resilience and upskilling people to meet the fast-growing needs of the battery ecosystem  so that our automotive industry can stay out in front.

The site, located 40 km outside of Bratislava in Voderady, is situated in the centre of Central Europes automotive hub, with more than 4.25 million vehicles produced annually in a 500 km radius from the facility. InoBat is also preparing to build a 1GWh Gigafactory in Voderady, Slovakia before scaling up to a 32GWh Gigafactory to support and serve the international market at scale.

Marian Bocek, Co-Founder and CEO of InoBat, commented: On behalf of InoBat, our partners and our dedicated investors, we are thrilled construction is now underway and look forward to rapidly developing the newest battery technology to help accelerate the much-needed electrification of all forms of transport from our world-class hub here in Slovakia.

Our new home, which sits in the heart of the European vehicle and automaker ecosystem, will become a centre of excellence for battery development, and we look forward to working with current and future partners to deliver the best batteries customised directly to meet exact specifications for electric vehicle in the automotive, aviation, commercial and industrial sectors.

The landmark event comes just five weeks after InoBat signed a landmark agreement with SOR, one of the largest producers of city and intercity-buses in Central Europe, with the intention to design, develop and supply batteries for a new urban, intercity and long-distance electric bus fleet.

InoBat has also announced a strategic partnership with leader in automation, industrial software and intelligent infrastructure, Siemens, to digitalise InoBats entire value chain for electric vehicle battery production. InoBat will use Siemens solutions to develop a holistic digital factory approach throughout its R&D battery centre and production line, which was designed by architectural firm, Takenaka.

InoBat is backed by a strong consortium of investors and technology companies, including lead investor IPM Group (IPM)  the fastest growing InfraTech asset managers who specialise in bringing ground-breaking technologies from Silicon Valley to Europe  strategic investors and partners include CEZ Matador, AEN, MSM Group, Across and Wildcat Discovery Technologies. -- TradeArabia News Service
Reuters

The northern highlands of Ethiopia became a global byword for famine in the mid-1980s, when drought and conflict combined to create a disaster that killed as many as one million people. Now hunger is stalking the Tigray region again, and a senior UN official alleges that starvation is being used as a weapon of war. More than 350,000 of Tigray's nearly 6 million people are living in famine conditions, according to an analysis by United Nations agencies and global aid groups first reported by Reuters on Thursday.
(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc said on Tuesday it supports a proposed U.S. legislation to legalize cannabis at the federal level, and would drop weed-testing requirements for some recruitments.

The e-commerce company's public policy team will be actively supporting The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE Act), which seeks to legalize marijuana at the federal level, its consumer boss Dave Clark said in a blog post.

Amazon will also no longer screen its job applicants for marijuana use for any positions not regulated by the Department of Transportation, Clark added.

While many U.S. states have legalized marijuana use, employers have so far largely refused to work with the industry as cannabis is still a classified substance at the federal level.

"In the past, like many employers, we've disqualified people from working at Amazon if they tested positive for marijuana use," Clark said. "However, given where state laws are moving across the U.S., we've changed course."

Amazon was hit with a proposed class action suit, which claimed that the company was violating a New York City law by testing applicants for jobs at local facilities for marijuana, according to a Westlaw report. https://reut.rs/3uHPxM6

The company does not allow marijuana sales on its platform.

Amazon also said it is tweaking its worker productivity tracking tool, "Time off Task."

"Starting today, we're now averaging Time off Task over a longer period to ensure that there's more signal and less noisereinforcing the original intent of the program," Clark said.

(Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
Amazon's worldwide consumer CEO Dave Clark announced in a blog post Tuesday that the company has endorsed a federal bill to legalize marijuana and will no longer screen certain workers for the drug.

Why it matters: Amazon is the second-largest private employer in the U.S. behind Walmart. Its drug policy change use may nudge other employers into adopting similar policies.

Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.

What they're saying: "In the past, like many employers, weve disqualified people from working at Amazon if they tested positive for marijuana use. However, given where state laws are moving across the U.S., weve changed course," Clark wrote.

"And because we know that this issue is bigger than Amazon, our public policy team will be actively supporting The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE Act)  federal legislation that would legalize marijuana at the federal level, expunge criminal records, and invest in impacted communities," he added.

The company will still screen workers in positions regulated by the Department of Transportation, such as drivers, for the drug and will treat it the same as alcohol use.

"We will continue to do impairment checks on the job and will test for all drugs and alcohol after any incident," Clark said.

The big picture: Multiple states, including New York, have legalized marijuana this year.

However, any federal legalization bill will need a minimum of 10 Senate Republican supporters to pass through the normal legislative process during this Congress.

Go deeper: Amazon plans to connect devices by default

Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free.
The Chicago Cubs are riding hot bats behind another quality start from right-hander Kyle Hendricks.

Third baseman Patrick Wisdom hit his third home run in two games in the Cubs 4-3 win Tuesday against the San Diego Padres. Wisdoms two-run homer in the second inning was part of a 2-for-4 night, continuing his hot stretch since getting called up last week.

Willson Contreras two-run homer in the fifth  a 445-foot shot to center off Padres starter Ryan Weathers  represented the rest of the Cubs offense in the victory.

The Cubs secured their sixth consecutive series win and have won 10 of their last 12 games. Hendricks went six innings, keeping the Padres in check until the fifth. Four consecutive two-out hits, including home runs by Victor Caratini and Tommy Pham, put the Padres ahead until Contreras answer in the bottom of the inning.

Cubs closer Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the ninth to secure his 13th save.

First baseman Anthony Rizzo was back in the lineup after being sidelined the previous six games because of lower back tightness. Rizzo had been itching to get back into the batters box, begging manager David Ross to give him an at-bat during the Cubs 7-2 win Monday.

Thats always a good sign, Ross said Tuesday.

The Cubs went 5-1 during Rizzos absence, aided by Kris Bryants versatility and ability to play first base and call-ups Wisdom and Rafael Ortega complementing a lineup that has found a groove since its early season slump.

Given Rizzos back issues throughout his career, its encouraging this ailment didnt require a stint on the injured list. As with any player, the Cubs will continue to monitor Rizzo and his back. He singled in his first at-bat and went 2-for-4 in the win.

If guys are sore, we have to give them days and we have to listen to their bodies, Ross said. Rizz has established himself as an everyday player through his career. As long as hes healthy and feeling good, well listen to that and let him play.

Story continues

If theres days where (his backs) barking, hell come in and talk to me. If I see body language where it feels like he cant get down and get ground balls or get off his A swing, then we will monitor that accordingly.

Once I put them in the lineup, I feel free that theyre able to play until they tell me theyre not.

The Cubs are close to getting more offensive reinforcements. Outfielders Jason Heyward and Jake Marisnick, who are both on the IL with hamstring injuries, will join Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday for a rehab assignment with the hope they can join the Cubs during their four-game series in San Francisco that begins Thursday.
A partisan audit of the 2020 election in Arizona continued this week, with further accusations of ineptitude against the firm running it and a gubernatorial campaign launch from a top Democrat opposing it.

The audit of votes in Maricopa County, which has drawn criticism from a number of local Republican officials, will not affect the actual results of Novembers election but has been used in right-wing media to justify the widespread belief among Republicans that the 2020 results were fraudulent. Its being spearheaded by Cyber Ninjas, an obscure Florida-based cybersecurity firm whose CEO has promoted election conspiracies, and which was hired by the GOP-controlled state Senate to handle the process.

On Tuesday, the office of Secretary of State Katie Hobbs released a report detailing what it described as serious problems with the audit that had arisen over the last week. Among the issues listed were a Monday software update that created so many errors and problems during the first shift that they stated they were going to roll back to the old software during the afternoon shift and the fact that copies of voting system data [were] sent to a lab in Montana.

Per Hobbss office, there were no specifications on what security measures were in place, or what the lab in Montana will do with the data or how long it will be in possession of the copies.

Contractors working for Cyber Ninjas recount ballots from the 2020 election in Phoenix after two election audits found no evidence of widespread fraud. (Courtney Pedroza/Getty Images)

Observers saw that at least three people who are not residents of Maricopa County rifling through thousands of military and overseas ballots, read the report. Observers had been previously told that only Maricopa County residents would be allowed to handle any ballots, yet all three people were not residents.

The report accused workers of carrying black pens on the floor, which is not allowed because the pens can be used to alter ballots. Observers quoted in the report also stated that audit co-chair Randy Pullen told an observer that the shirt he was required to wear on the floor made him look like a transgender because of the color of his shirt.

Story continues

Maricopa County  the states largest  is where the most Arizonans reside. Biden narrowly won Arizona in November, becoming the first Democrat to do so since Bill Clinton took the state in 1996.

With the highly suspect audit stretching past the initial deadline set by Cyber Ninjas, the stadium where it is taking place has been visited by Republicans who are promoting former President Donald Trumps baseless claim that the election was stolen from him.

This week, three Republican state legislators from Pennsylvania, including one who had been a leading advocate for Trumps false allegations, visited the stadium. Last month, embattled Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., held a rally in Maricopa County, where the audit was a key topic of discussion. The actual process was on pause at the time because the building was being used that weekend for high school graduations.

So, let me just check and make sure with all of you: Who do you think won in Arizona on Nov. 3? Greene asked, with Gaetz adding, We are here in solidarity with the Arizona election audit.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs watches as Gov. Doug Ducey signs documents to certify election results, Nov. 30, 2020. (Ross D. Franklin/Pool/AP)

Hobbs has been expected to announce her candidacy for next years gubernatorial race and did so on Wednesday, centering election integrity in her announcement video.

Theres real harm going on for many, and the other side isnt offering policies to make our lives better  theyre offering conspiracies that only make our lives worse, Hobbs said.

Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, who cannot run for reelection due to term limits, has largely refrained from discussing the audit and certified the election results in November. Ducey dispatched police protection for Hobbs and her family this year after they received death threats tied to the audit.

On Wednesday, Trump criticized Ducey for vetoing a number of bills as he awaits a budget proposal from the Legislature, including one that would have required voters to request an absentee ballot before they receive one.

For those of you who think Doug Ducey is good for Arizona, you are wrong, the former president said in a statement.

____

Read more from Yahoo News:
Nicaraguan police on Wednesday placed opposition figure Cristiana Chamorro -- a possible challenger to President Daniel Ortega in November elections -- under house arrest, her family said, after government claims that she was guilty of money laundering.

Chamorro, a 67-year-old journalist, is regarded as a serious challenger to Ortega, though he has not confirmed he will seek a fourth term.

Her mother, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, defeated Ortega for the presidency in 1990 to become the first elected female head of state in the Americas.

Earlier, police had raided Chamorro's home in the capital Managua. After being on site for more than five hours, they placed her "under house arrest, in isolation," her brother Carlos Fernando Chamorro said on Twitter.

"Police are still in her home," he added.

A Managua court said earlier it had ordered her detention on accusations of "abusive management, ideological falsehood" and "the laundering of money, property and assets, to the detriment of the Nicaraguan State and society."

Press reports said police forcefully kept friends and family of Chamorro, as well as journalists, away from the scene.

On Tuesday, prosecutors had accused Chamorro of an array of crimes, and asked for her to be barred from public duties given that she is facing criminal proceedings.

Legal experts have denounced an "illegal" procedure, given that the electoral council has made no ruling on her eligibility.

- 'Farce' -

The accusations arise from Chamorro's role as the head of a foundation for press freedom, with prosecutors claiming accounting "inconsistencies."

Chamorro quit the foundation in February, refusing to comply with a new law obliging any person receiving money from abroad to declare themselves to the government as a "foreign agent."

The prosecution opened an investigation against her on May 20 at the request of the government.

Story continues

She has rejected the accusations against her as a "farce" meant to prevent her from running in the November poll, which Ortega is widely expected to contest.

Chamorro, who does not belong to a political party, on Tuesday announced she would seek a nomination from the opposition.

Shortly before police entered Chamorro's home Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced the Ortega government's moves against Chamorro, and said the Central American country deserved "real democracy."

"Arbitrarily banning opposition leader @chamorrocris reflects Ortega's fear of free and fair elections. Nicaraguans deserve real democracy," tweeted Blinken, on a visit to Latin America.

The Organization of American States, for its part, warned Nicaragua was "heading for the worst possible elections."

It added in a statement: "This process of systematic and repeated violations of the rule of law and of fundamental freedoms delegitimizes the electoral process even before it takes place."

The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights denounced a "violation of human rights."

- 'Witch hunt' -

Opposition parties in a joint statement accused Ortega of "unleashing a witch hunt" against candidates because he "fears going to a free, transparent and observed" election.

Last month, Nicaragua's legislature appointed a majority of governing party-aligned magistrates to the election body that will oversee the November elections.

It has since disqualified two parties.

In December the legislature approved a law critics say is aimed at preventing opposition politicians from standing in the election. Sponsored by Ortega, it bars "those who ask for, celebrate and applaud the imposition of sanctions against the Nicaraguan state."

Ortega, an ex-guerrilla who governed from 1979 to 1990, returned to power in 2007 and won two successive reelections.

Since 2018, the 75-year-old leader has faced a political crisis triggered by massive protests against the policies of his government.

The demonstrations have left 328 dead and thousands in exile, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Ortega blamed a failed coup attempt backed by Washington.

bur-mav/mlr/sst/ch
The Black Lives Matter reckoning has mainly focused on the too-high probability that African-Americans will be on the receiving end of deadly police force. But other racial inequalities  in health care, education, housing and broader economics  are equally entrenched in this country, demanding powerful correctives by our government. Tuesday, President Biden made a good start.

It is an insult to the American values we purport to hold dear: The net worth of a typical white family is nearly 10 times greater than that of a typical Black family. Nor can that gap be closed merely by equalizing educational opportunity, or expanding homeownership, or helping young people accumulate savings, or helping strengthen family structures, or helping promote entrepreneurship. Control for all those factors, and the chasm remains.

Only an approach that attacks the problem from every angle can begin to build a country where Black and white children have genuinely equivalent chances to excel. So applaud Biden for Tuesday launching, as he marked the centennial of Tulsas Black Wall Street massacre, a first-ever interagency effort to probe inequities in home appraisals and issue new rules to combat housing discrimination. As our friends at Newsday discovered in their groundbreaking Long Island Divided series, bias built into real estate, even when subtle, keeps neighborhoods split along color lines.

In Bidens infrastructure plan, $14 billion in grants would be aimed at combating transportation-related barriers to mobility, which is inextricable from economic mobility. In his jobs package, more than $30 billion would go toward increasing access to capital for small businesses, with special priority on those owned by people from disadvantaged communities.

And because the federal government is the worlds top purchaser of products and services, Biden would use the bully wallet to direct far more federal contracting dollars toward minority-owned businesses.

Some Americans want to turn every mention of systemic racism into a new chance to supercharge white grievances. Ignore them. The racial opportunity gap is real. It demands a battle plan.
BAKU (Reuters) -Azerbaijan's defence ministry on Wednesday said around 40 Armenian military personnel had crossed into Azeri territory on Tuesday evening and were forced to retreat, allegations denied by the Armenian side.

Both countries accused each other last month of sending troops across the border in separate incidents, highlighting the fragility of a Russian-brokered ceasefire that halted six weeks of fighting between ethnic Armenian forces and the Azeri army last year.

"As a result of urgent actions taken by the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Armenian armed forces were withdrawn from the territory of our country," the Azeri defence ministry said in a statement.

"No weapons were used by our armed forces during the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces...," it added, describing Armenia's move as a "provocation".

Armenia rejected the accusations, describing its neighbour's claims as "disinformation".

"Such disinformation is disseminated by Azerbaijan's military and political leadership to impress the international community," Russia's TASS news agency cited Armenia's defence ministry as saying.

Last year's conflict saw Baku drive ethnic Armenian forces out of swathes of territory they had controlled since the 1990s in and around the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; Writing by Alexander Marrow; editing by Mark Heinrich)
A man in Colorado was seriously injured Sunday night when a bear attacked him in his own garage, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials say.

Around 11 p.m., the man noticed the garage door at his Steamboat Springs home was open, and went to close it, officials said in a news release.

In the garage  where the homeowner stores birdseed and other attractants  he came face to face with a mother bear and two cubs.

The man tried to slowly back away, but the bear attacked, seriously injuring him, officials say.

He suffered lacerations to his head and legs that required surgery. Officials say his injuries arent life-threatening and that hes in stable condition.

CPW officials responded to the scene and soon found the bear near the home. It was euthanized and its remains were sent to a lab for a necropsy.

Officials are still searching for the two cubs.

When theyre found, officials plan to trap the cubs and send them to a rehabilitation facility.

This is the first bear attack in Steamboat Springs this year. Officials warn homeowners to keep anything that could attract bears safely stored away.

Easy access to food will always override a bears natural fear of people, Kyle Bond, CPW district wildlife manager, said in a statement. So we humans have to stay on top of keeping all food sources secure.

While bear attacks are rare, the National Park Service warns people to not get between a mother and her cubs. The chances of an attack escalate greatly if she perceives you as a danger to her cubs, NPS says.

Steamboat Springs is roughly 150 miles northwest of Denver.

Read next:

Solo Yellowstone hiker came face-to-face with grizzlies before bear attack, park says

Bear abandoned during storm dies after Colorado wildlife officials try to save her
Largest-Ever Bible Translation Effort Demonstrates 'Power of One Verse' illumiNations' 'I Want to Know' campaign gives everyone the opportunity to sponsor the translation of one 'life-changing' Bible verse





THE POWER OF ONE VERSE: The "I Want to Know" campaign  what may be the largest-ever Bible translation effort on social and digital media -- gives people the opportunity to sponsor the translation of one "life-changing" Bible verse into a language that doesn't yet have a complete Bible. The campaign is spearheaded by illumiNations, an alliance of the world's leading Bible translation organizations. Visit illuminations.bible/know to learn more.



NEWS PROVIDED BY

illumiNations

June 2, 2021



DALLAS, June 2, 2021 /Christian Newswire/ -- What may be the largest-ever Bible translation campaign on social and digital media is inviting people to join one of the most inspirational "crowd-funding" opportunities in the world -- and demonstrate the "power of one verse" to change a life forever.



The "I Want to Know" campaign gives everyone the opportunity to sponsor the translation of one "life-changing" Bible verse. It's spearheaded by illumiNations, an alliance of the world's leading Bible translation organizations.



Translators say 3,800 "language communities" worldwide currently don't have a complete Bible -- and more than 2,000 of them don't yet have a single verse of Scripture.



One Verse Changes Everything

"One billion people still don't know what God's Word has to say to them," said Mart Green, ministry investment officer at Hobby Lobby and an avid illumiNations supporter. "You and I have the opportunity to change someone's life forever, because just one verse has tremendous power."



For $35, people can sponsor the translation of one verse of Scripture. They can also advance the cause by sharing their favorite verse with others on social media using the hashtag #IWTKBible.



According to Christian Today, the three most popular Bible verses in America are: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16, NIV)



"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV)



"I can do all this through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13, NIV) The illumiNations partner agencies have thousands of real-life stories showing how Bible verses continue to create shockwaves around the world, transforming lives on every continent. Stories include: In Ukraine, Oleksandr and his wife were told they'd never be able to have children. When she miraculously became pregnant, the couple read Bible verses to their unborn child. Later, doctors told the amazed couple: "You're having twins!"



In Uganda, Tomson heard a Bible verse in his own language for the first time: "What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?" (Matt.16:26, NLT). He fell to the ground, hugging the Bible. "I've done so many bad things in my life, but now salvation has come to me."



In Colombia, Christian and Milena -- a Deaf couple -- were on the brink of divorce when a pastor shared Bible verses with them in their own sign language. Tears flowed as the couple realized the depth of God's love for them. They restored their relationship -- and now help others experiencing marriage difficulties.



In Suriname, Medai battled depression and fear. After hearing verses from the Bible in her own language for the first time, she said: "The fear inside me [is] gone." Inspired by the Scriptures, she wrote worship songs that God used to help fan the flames of a spiritual revival.



In Nigeria, Solomon described what it meant to have the Bible -- and verses like John 3:16 -- in his own language for the first time. "Without this Bible, it was like we lacked God's presence; but with it, we have reached the Promised Land." 'Bible For All' in 12 Years

illumiNations says it wants everyone to have access to the Bible by 2033 -- a target the group calls its "All Access Goals."



It means 95% of the world's population will have access to a full Bible, 99.96% will have access to a New Testament, and 100% will have access to at least some Scripture.



Visit illuminations.bible/know and follow illumiNations on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to join the campaign.



illumiNations is an alliance of 10 Bible translation organizations committed to providing all people access to Scripture by 2033. Partners include American Bible Society, Biblica, Deaf Bible Society, Lutheran Bible Translators, Pioneer Bible Translators, Seed Company, SIL International, United Bible Societies, The Word for the World and Wycliffe Bible Translators USA. Learn more at illuminations.bible.



Press Kit: https://illuminations.bible/know-presskit



SOURCE illumiNations



CONTACT: Gregg Wooding, 972-567-7660, gwooding@inchristcommunications.com



Related Links



https://illuminations.bible/know-presskit



Share Tweet
Moro Hub (Data Hub Integrated Solutions LLC), a subsidiary of Digital Dewa, the digital arm of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), has signed a Global Service Provider Agreement with Cisco AppDynamics.

The partnership will provide Moro Hub with a unique opportunity to be the first and only Managed Services Provider for AppDynamics in the MEA region.

This will provide Moro Hub customers with access to the Cisco AppDynamics Business Observability platform to monitor application and user performance. It also allows them to have in-depth real-time visibility into end-user transactions, network, and SaaS media platforms, while enhancing application security, through Moro Hubs cloud platform, its data centres, and cloud hosting services.

The agreement was signed by and between Marwan Bin Haidar, Vice Chairman and Group CEO of Digital Dewa and Shukri Eid, Managing Director, Cisco Gulf Region.

The agreement supports our efforts to make Moro a digital transformation hub in the region which is aligned with the vision and directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to enhance the UAEs position as a global destination for digital technology. Being the first and only Managed Services Provider for Cisco AppDynamics in the MEA region, with a local data centre in the UAE is a token on our commitment to develop the technology infrastructure, provide state-of-the-art data centres and upscale digital solutions to help customers make informed decisions, said Eng Marwan in Haidar, Vice Chairman & Group CEO of Digital Dewa.

We are thrilled to be partnering with Moro Hub  an organisation renowned for its state-of-the-art digital transformation services across several data centres.

We can enhance our offering to local customers through this agreement as they invest in digitisation, and delivering best-in-class services to power success in a multi-cloud world. This is a moment of great pride, as we strengthen our portfolio and also continue supporting Moro Hubs ambition of delivering innovative solutions and superior user experience to its customers, said Shukri Eid, Managing Director, Cisco Gulf Region.-- TradeArabia News Service
Anti-Lukashenko protesters. Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images

On Tuesday, a Belarusian activist accused of organizing protests and resisting arrest stabbed himself in the throat during a court hearing in Minsk, the human rights watchdog Viasna 96 said.

Before the stabbing, the activist, Steffan Latypov, said government authorities "came to me and warned that if I can't admit my guilt, then I would be thrown in a cell with hardened criminals and criminal cases would be launched against my relatives and neighbors." Viasna 96 said Latypov underwent surgery, and none of his vital organs were damaged.

This comes a week after Belarus' authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, ordered a fighter jet to divert a Ryanair flight bound for Lithuania to the Minsk airport. Once the plane was grounded, authorities went on board and arrested Roman Protasevich, a 26-year-old dissident journalist living in exile in Lithuania.

Belarus' 2020 presidential election was viewed as fraudulent by the United States and European Union, after Lukashenko claimed he won more than 80 percent of the vote. Protesters gathered across the country, with the government violently cracking down on dissenters. Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who fled Belarus amid the protests, tweeted on Tuesday that Latypov was "threatened with the persecution of his family if he didn't admit himself guilty. This is the result of state terror, repressions, torture in Belarus. We must stop it immediately!"
(Reuters) - A Belarusian man who tried to cut his own throat during a court hearing has likely been taken back to prison after undergoing emergency treatment in hospital, local independent media outlet TUT.BY said on Wednesday, citing relatives.

Stepan Latypov, 41, was last seen being carried out of a courtroom into a waiting ambulance in Minsk on Tuesday.

Latypov had been arrested last September during an intensifying crackdown on protests by security forces loyal to President Alexander Lukashenko after a contested election.

He tried to cut his own throat after complaining of torture and threats to his family and neighbours during his trial, activists, local media and a witness reported.

The government said he was in a "satisfactory" condition after the hospital treatment, but has not confirmed his whereabouts.

TUT.BY said Latypov had been taken to a pretrial detention centre.

The human rights group Viasna-96 has recognised Latypov as one of more than 450 political prisoners in Belarus.

He was charged with organising riots, resisting police and fraud, and also accused on state television of planning to poison the police. He denies any wrongdoing.

In May, Lukashenko's government was condemned by Western countries when a 26-year-old dissident blogger was arrested after the Belarusian authorities grounded a Ryanair plane travelling from Greece to Lithuania.

(Editing by Matthias Williams and Mark Heinrich)
Bipartisan House lawmakers are doubling down on America's "ironclad" support for Israel in the aftermath of the deadly Gaza conflict and are urging support for more federal funds to replenish Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system.

At least 55 House members, both Democrats and Republicans, wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday urging the Pentagon to quickly work with Congress on fulfilling any request to restock Israel's supply of interceptors for the Iron Dome system.

During last month's 11-day violent conflict with the terrorist group Hamas, the missile defense system was critical in intercepting about 90 % of the 4,500 incoming rockets, the lawmakers said.

"Even though the attacks from Gaza have halted, we remain clear-eyed about the threats Israel continues to face, not only from Gaza, but also along its northern border," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Austin, shared with Fox News.

"We must ensure that the Iron Dome remains able to protect Israel without running the risk that its stockpile of interceptors becomes depleted. Israel must always have the resources it needs to defend itself from incoming rockets when it is targeted again."

DEM CONGRESSMAN CHIDES PROGRESSIVES FOR PROVOKING ANTI-SEMITISM BY CALLING ISRAEL 'APARTHEID STATE'

Israel Defense Minister Benny Gantz is slated to arrive in Washington this week to meet with Austin. He's expected to request additional aid of $1 billion to restock the Iron Dome, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said after traveling to Israel and meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.

The lawmakers, led by Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, said they support such supplemental appropriations requests to ensure Israel's ability to defend itself from any attack.

"We write to express our strong support for the Biden Administrations ironclad commitment to Israels safety and security, including replenishing Israels stock of interceptors for the Iron Dome missile defense system and other important matters," the lawmakers wrote to Austin. "We ask that you continue urgently engaging with Israel on this request, and that you please report to Congress regarding Israels needs as soon as possible."

Story continues

BERNIE SANDERS MAY FORCE VOTE TO BLOCK ISRAEL WEAPONS SALE, AS DEMOCRATS SPLIT OVER GAZA CONFLICT

The strong showing of bipartisan support for Israel counters a growing movement among the progressive wing of the Democratic Party to call out Israel for its retaliatory airstrikes that killed many Palestinians and to urge the Biden adminstration to stop sending arms to its Middle East ally. Both Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,. and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., have led efforts in Congress to urge Biden to cancel the recent sale of $735 million in weapons from the U.S. to the Israel Ministry of Defense.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"The United States should not be rubber-stamping weapons sales to the Israeli government as they deploy our resources to target international media outlets, schools, hospitals, humanitarian missions and civilian sites for bombing," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted last month during the height of the Gaza conflict.

Fighting between Israel and Hamas ended with a cease-fire agreement on May 21. In the end, the war left more than 250 dead, the vast majority Palestinians.

The letter was signed by 55 lawmakers: Reps. Josh Gottheimer, Hakeem Jeffries, Ted Deutch, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Tom Suozzi, Darren Soto, Tom Malinowski, Vicente Gonzalez, Stephanie Murphy, Lucy McBath, Chris Pappas, Brad Schneider, Ritchie Torres, Elaine Luria, Kathy Manning, Grace Meng, Sharice Davids, Colin Allred, Haley Stevens, Jake Auchincloss, Conor Lamb, Chrissy Houlahan, Lou Correa, Elissa Slotkin, Susan Wild, Brendan Boyle, Tom OHalleran, Andy Kim, Abigail Spanberger, Susie Lee, Charlie Crist, Lizzie Fletcher, Abigail Spanberger, Scott Peters, Dean Phillips, Jared Golden, Ted Lieu, Kim Schrier, Lois Frankel, Albio Sires, Frank Pallone, Jr., Kathleen Rice, Tom Reed, Fred Upton, Brian Fitzpatrick, Anthony Gonzalez, Andrew Garbarino, Dave Joyce, Jaime Herrera Beutler, Dusty Johnson, Dan Meuser, Peter Meijer, Bill Johnson, Don Bacon, Nicole Malliotakis and Brad Sherman.
Get essential education news and commentary delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here for The 74s daily newsletter.

When New York Mayor Bill de Blasio last month said hes requiring all city students, teachers, and staff to show up to school this fall in-person, no exceptions, he stunned longtime observers of the nations largest public school system.

You would think that online learning was some new frontier for the New York City Department of Education that had never been tried before, said Tom Liam Lynch, a former teacher who is editor-in-chief of the parent-focused city website Inside Schools.

The reality, he and others say, is that the city has spent millions of dollars and much of the last decade leading the way on innovations in the realm of remote, blended, and personalized learning. For de Blasio to push for 100 percent in-person schooling, Lynch and others say, is a significant turnaround.

At the moment, more than six in 10 New York City students are still learning from home, but de Blasio on May 23 said that will soon come to an end, telling MSNBCs Morning Joe, You cant have a full recovery without full-strength schools, everyone back, sitting in those classrooms, kids learning again.

Mayor Bill de Blasio greets students during visit of Bronx Leaders of Tomorrow Richard R. Green Middle School on reopening day in February. (Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket / Getty Image)

The change will affect about 1 million students.

For Lynch, who also directs education policy for the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School, the announcement seemed to ignore educators efforts to strengthen the citys distance learning capabilities  work that could have given students a leg up during the worst of the pandemic.

In 2010, under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and schools Chancellor Joel Klein, the citys Innovation Zone, or iZone, debuted with a ton of fanfare. At its heart was an experimental effort called iLearn, a blended learning system that sought to personalize instruction by allowing students in selected schools to learn remotely in many cases  schools used the system for everything from occasional online credit recovery to full-blown blended learning and flipped-classroom models, according to one analysis.

Story continues

It debuted with 81 schools, a number that soon doubled.

iZone also gave 50 middle- and high-school leaders an opportunity to redesign their schools. And it incubated a middle-school math program, known as School of One (now called Teach to One), that allowed students to work independently online from within their school. A digital display, reminiscent of an airport arriving flights screen, directed students to individualized lessons from dozens of providers.

Related: Returning this Fall, By Popular Demand: Virtual School. For Communities of Color, its Largely a Matter of Trust

Among School of Ones most significant innovations was a back-end data system that gave teachers real-time reports for each student, guiding upcoming assignments and directing them to small groups for help. Its a model that seems certain to make us question assumptions about how we organize classrooms and schools, the journal Education Next noted in 2011.

iZones high-tech appeal was the easiest to grasp  and iZone had i in front of the name, said Steven Hodas, who led the program until 2014. But that was really just part of a theory of action that was about fundamentally rethinking time, space, and place.

Sea change under de Blasio

iZone was expected to grow to 400 schools, but the program underwent what can only be described as a meltdown in 2014, after federal innovation grants dried up and de Blasio, a Democrat, became mayor. New Chancellor Carmen Farina disbanded the office that oversaw the program, and soon several directors and staffers, including Hodas, resigned.

Simultaneously, Farina worked with the citys teachers union, United Federation of Teachers, to bring in its own innovation program, dubbed Progressive Redesign Opportunity Schools for Excellence, or PROSE.

Related: New York City Will Not Offer Remote Learning in the Fall: Why Mayor De Blasio Says Americas Largest School District Must Prioritize In-Person Learning

The result: iZones budget shrank from $47 million in 2013 to $3.2 million in 2017, EdSurge reported. It went from a staff of 65 to just 14.

Today, clicking on iZones URL delivers a 404 error message saying it doesnt exist.

Research on remote schooling is mixed. A 2019 literature review by researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulders National Education Policy Center found that graduation rates at virtual and blended-learning schools were far lower than the national 85 percent average for public schools.

While a few scholars have said iZone and similar ideas are promising for big-city systems, no large-scale evaluations of iZone have emerged since 2014. One small 2017 study by a graduate student at New Yorks St. Johns University found that students in iLearn blended learning programs did not have statistically significant greater mean scores in Algebra I Regents exams than their peers in traditional schools.

A few of the efforts, such as the personalized system under School of One, are still operating in a handful of schools, but observers say the effort has diminished in importance in the face of de Blasios new priorities, such as community schools and universal pre-K.

As for PROSE, a 2017 report by the advocacy group StudentsFirstNY found that schools in the program displayed limited innovation, as well as lackluster improvement, producing lower reading and math scores than others in the city. It also said the program suffered from poor transparency, noting that the city took 14 months to respond  incompletely, as it turns out  to a public records request.

Tom Liam Lynch (Declan Lynch)

For Lynch, a parent of a city middle-schooler, the shift that took place around 2014 helps explain why New York, like other districts, has struggled to meet kids needs over the past year.

This is not just a story of another big school district [that] just scrambled and tried to figure out online learning as best they could, he said. This was a system that had actually, infrastructurally been set up for online learning  and to scale it. Who made the call to essentially disempower and, if not defund that work, to really just relegate it to the periphery? Because that makes what happened last March even more inexcusable. And it makes this announcement even more unacceptable.

Sarah Cohodes, an economics and education professor at Columbia Universitys Teachers College, said whats most striking about de Blasios announcement is that it follows the citys huge investment in getting devices and Internet access into students hands over the past year, even announcing a virtual end to snow days. In my imagination, that was happening in the context of having some sort of remote infrastructure that could be turned on or off for more or fewer kids depending on the circumstances. So Im not sure exactly what they are expecting those days to be like, she said.

Related: The Pandemics Remote Learning Legacy: A Lot Worth Keeping

Longtime education researcher Paul T. Hill said losing remote learning will take a toll: The great thing about New York has been that many different things have been available  alternative schools and alternative pathways to graduation. And some of those have actually been helped along by the development of pretty good online materials.

Asked whether any schools would be allowed to operate remotely in the fall, city schools officials referred to the citys reopening announcement. In it, United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew says the union welcomes the return to in-person instruction for all students in September. But even Mulgrew has pleaded for a remote option, writing in an op-ed last month that the city should create a small but efficient remote alternative for parents who still feel they need it.

De Blasio isnt the only leader cutting off remote learning this fall. Across the Hudson River, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on May 17 announced that the states public schools would similarly return to in-person instruction. In Connecticut, officials have said they do not anticipate the need to mandate remote learning in the fall.

I think its crazy

Meanwhile, at least six states have created iZones of their own, according to Education Week.

Related: 74 Interview: Joel Rose on Personalized Learnings Overdue Transition, Building Better Tests  and Meeting Kids Where They Are

Around the country Im hearing about more states, and more districts, that are really integrating innovation into their core strategy, said Joel Rose, who founded and led School of One in its heyday. Theyre saying, Look, remote learning didnt work for everyone, but it did work for some kids. And the question is, What can we learn from those experiences for when kids come back?

He noted that so-called Math Innovation Zones, modeled after iZone principles, have taken root in Texas and are growing quite a bit in popularity.

Rose, who now runs New Classrooms, a nonprofit that is working to expand the School of One model nationwide, said the organization has seen a significant uptick in demand for what we do since the pandemic began.

Hill, who founded the Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) at the University of Washington-Bothell, said many students have realized during the pandemic that school is a pretty tough place for them to be. And to kind of ignore all that, I think, is going to further weaken the support base of public education.

After his Morning Joe announcement, de Blasio told a news briefing, Its time for everyone to come back, its time for us all to be together, time to do things the way they were meant to be done. But iZones Hodas, now a senior fellow at CRPE, took issue with the idea that online learning is somehow inferior.

I think its crazy that its being positioned as purely a negative space, he said. In New York as elsewhere, many students arent thrilled with the prospect of schlepping back to these shitty, oppressive environments five days a week to do pretend life.

Older students, he said, could be working or helping out with family duties. They could be progressing at their own pace at different subjects, and they can do something thats much more competency-based. And its just nuts that de Blasio is acting as if, again, for high school kids, being back in school is like the Holy Grail. Its not, for a lot of people.

Related: Sign up for The 74s newsletter
Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits Colchester hospital - Reuters

Boris Johnson faces growing pressure from Tory MPs to push ahead with unlocking on June 21, as scientists remain split on whether they believe it should be delayed.

Senior Conservatives warned that unless the data on the Delta variant of coronavirus - the renamed strain previously known as the Indian strain - worsened significantly, it would be hard to justify postponing the final step in the roadmap out of restrictions.

They urged the Prime Minister to think carefully before deviating from his blueprint, as new cases surged but no deaths were recorded in England from the virus on Monday.

Scientists are divided on whether the final tranche of restrictions should be lifted later this month. Nightclubs are due to reopen and all legal limits on social interaction are due to be abolished, including caps on attendees at large events, at step four of the roadmap.

Professor Robert Dingwall, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) that advises Government, suggested there would be little value in delaying moves to scrap social distancing restrictions on June 21.

He told Times Radio: There is no realistic prospect of the NHS facing the sorts of pressures that it faced in January and February, and that's why I think we have to push on with this.

The sociology professor added: Its not clear what the value of that would be and the critics cant even agree on what sort of delay theyd like. Its a couple of weeks, three or four weeks, a couple of months. At the margins, these things make very little difference.

His view contrasted markedly with that of an immunisation expert, who warned that the Covid-19 vaccination programme has some way yet to go.

Professor Adam Finn of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said there are still many people who are vulnerable to the effects of coronavirus as he warned the idea that somehow the job is done is wrong.

He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: Theres vulnerability across the country. The idea that somehow the job is done is wrong.

Story continues

Weve still got a lot of people out there who've neither had this virus... nor yet been immunised, and thats why we're in a vulnerable position right now.

Speaking to LBC, Prof Finn said that pressing ahead with the easing of restrictions on June 21 may be a bad decision.

Professor Ravi Gupta, another member of Nervtag, said a delay of a few weeks could have a significant impact on Britains battle against the pandemic and recommended it should be made clear to the public that it would be a temporary measure based on the surge in cases of the new variant.

Even a month delay could have a big impact on the eventual outcome of this, Prof Gupta told ITVs Good Morning Britain.

Meanwhile Professor Sir Mark Walport, former chief scientific adviser to the Government, said he hoped that the nation was not in the foothills of a third wave of the pandemic, but added: I hope not, but its not impossible.

He said Britain was at a quite perilous moment, but highlighted that while infections were rising, on the much better news side is the fact that hospital admissions are not surging and overall were coming down.

The situation is genuinely very, very finely balanced, he concluded.

The varying scientific views emerged as Peter Bone, a member of the lockdown-sceptic Covid Recovery Group (CRG) of Tory MPs, told The Telegraph: There would have to be really strong evidence to delay it in my view. We're not just talking about the illness, but weve got the issue with the economy, and the mental health issues are huge ones.

He added that to take away the freedoms of the British people, including the freedom to gather in large numbers, there has to be a fundamental, real, serious reason for doing it - not just because something might happen.

While Mr Bone said it was proper for the Government to wait until June 14 to make a decision because something could happen in the next few weeks, he stressed that as we sit now, I cant see why we wouldnt unlock on June 21.

William Wragg, another member of the CRG, warned: Rather than delaying, Id sooner see absolute and continued focus on getting the vaccine into people as soon as possible.

Another Conservative MP, who asked to remain anonymous, said: You can take it as read that there are many of us who are concerned by this coordinated crescendo of warnings and noise from scientists speaking in a personal capacity.
Brazilian police carried out raids Wednesday targeting top officials suspected of embezzling pandemic emergency funds in Amazonas state, where there have been gruesome scenes of overflowing hospitals and Covid-19 patients left to suffocate.

"Investigations uncovered evidence that high-ranking officials in the Amazonas state health ministry used a fraudulent tender process to favor a group of local business owners to build a field hospital, under the orders of the highest levels of the state government," federal police said in a statement.

Police did not say who was targeted in the 19 search and seizure operations, but Brazilian media reports said officers had searched the home of Governor Wilson Lima, an ally of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, and had a warrant to arrest state health minister Marcellus Campelo.

Police said they had six arrest warrants in all.

The field hospital in question was shoddily built and "failed to meet the basic needs of the population affected by Covid-19," police said.

The Amazonas state capital, Manaus, has been hit hard by the pandemic, which has claimed more than 465,000 lives in Brazil, second only to the United States.

Manaus, dubbed the "capital of the Amazon rainforest," saw haunting scenes last year and early this year of overflowing hospitals, mass graves and corpses piled in refrigerator trucks.

Severe shortages of medical oxygen left dozens of Covid-19 patients to suffocate to death.

There have been allegations of massive corruption with pandemic emergency funds in several Brazilian states, including Rio de Janeiro, whose former governor Wilson Witzel was impeached over the charges.

Bolsonaro meanwhile faces mounting criticism and a Senate inquiry into his government's controversial coronavirus response.

The president has fought lockdown measures, snubbed face masks, refused offers of vaccines and touted ineffective medications such as chloroquine against Covid-19.

pr/jhb/bgs
Britain's Queen Elizabeth visits Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth at HM Naval Base in Portsmouth, Britain May 22, 2021. Steve Parsons/PA Wire/Pool via REUTERS

Buckingham Palace once banned "colored immigrants or foreigners," The Guardian reports.

The palace wouldn't answer the newspaper's questions about when the ban was revoked.

The newspaper also reports that the Queen is exempt from racial and gender equality laws.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Buckingham Palace banned "colored immigrants or foreigners" from being employed in office roles until at least the late 1960s, according to documents obtained by The Guardian.

The Guardian discovered the royal family documents at the National Archives as part of a larger investigation into the Queen's role in the British government.

According to the documents, the Queen's chief financial manager said in 1968 that people from ethnic minority backgrounds were allowed to be employed as domestic servants in the royal household, but were banned from holding clerical jobs.

The Guardian reported that Buckingham Palace wouldn't answer questions about when the ban was revoked.

The report also stated that the Queen has been exempt from race and gender equality laws since they were introduced in the UK in the 1970s. This means women and people from ethnic minorities working for the royal household have been unable to complain to the courts if they believe they have been discriminated against.

Buckingham Palace told The Guardian that it has a separate process relating to complaints of discrimination, however it did not elaborate on what this process consists of.

A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace told Insider that the household complies with the provisions of the Equality Act, which protects people from discrimination in the workplace and wider society.

"Claims based on a second hand account of conversations from over 50 years ago should not be used to draw or infer conclusions about modern day events or operations," a palace spokesperson said in a statement sent to Insider. "The principles of Crown Application and Crown Consent are long established and widely known."

Story continues

"The Royal Household and the Sovereign comply with the provisions of the Equality Act, in principle and in practise. This is reflected in the diversity, inclusion and dignity at work policies, procedures and practises within the Royal Household," the statement added. "Any complaints that might be raised under the Act follow a formal process that provides a means of hearing and remedying any complaint."

The Queen faced criticism last year due to her failure to provide a statement in response to the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests that were held across the US, UK, and other countries throughout the world.

The monarch has also failed to acknowledge the royal family's involvement in Britain's slave trade in the 1500s. Queen Elizabeth I publicly supported Captain John Hawkins, who captured 300 Africans and exchanged them for hides, ginger, and sugar in 1562.

The Sunday Times reported in March that the palace is planning to appoint a diversity chief, who will encourage palace aids to take part in "listen and learn" exercises with the aim of being more inclusive to ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ+ communities.

"This is an issue which has been taken very seriously across the Households," an unnamed royal source told the newspaper. "We have the policies, procedures, and programs in place but we haven't seen the progress we would like and accept more needs to be done. We can always improve."

The source added that this has been in the making for a while. '"The work to do this has been underway for some time now and comes with the full support of the family," they told The Mail.

Read the original article on Insider
(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

As part of Joe Biden's "month of action" encouraging Americans to get the coronavirus vaccine, Anheuser-Busch, the company that brews Budweiser, announced it would give away free alcohol if the nation reaches the president's goal to reach a 70 per cent vaccination rate among Americans by 4 July.

The company announced the partnership in a news release.

"Anheuser-Busch will buy America's next round of beer, seltzer, non-alcoholic beverage or other A-B product" if the nation hits the vaccination goal, according to the release.

In order to qualify to win the free booze, adults over 21 are encouraged to upload a picture of themselves at their favorite bar or restaurant.

"At Anheuser-Busch, we are committed to supporting the safe and strong recovery of our nation and being able to be together again at the places and with the people we have missed so much. This commitment includes encouraging Americans to get vaccinated, and we are excited to buy Americans 21+ a round of beer when we reach the White House goal," Michel Doukeris, CEO of Anheuser-Busch, said.

Mr Biden stressed it would take "everyone" to cooperate in order to hit the goal.

"It's going to take everyone, everyone  the federal government, the state governments, local, tribal and territorial governments, private sector, and most importantly the American people  to get to this 70% mark so we can declare our independence from Covid-19 and free ourselves from the grip it has held over us, our lives, for the better part of a year," Mr Biden said from the White House.

The president impressed the need for vaccinations on the public, reminding them that "all over the world, people are desperate to get a shot that every American can get at their neighborhood drug store at no cost with no wait."

He promoted a "summer of freedom, a summer of joy, a summer of get-togethers and celebrations" for Americans "after a long, long dark winter that we've all endured" if the nation can hit the goal.

Story continues

In addition to the partnership with the brewery, Mr Biden also announced a new round of vaccine incentives and outreach efforts.

At present, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 62.8 per cent of the US adult population has been vaccinated. More than 133.5m American adults have been fully vaccinated.

Some of those incentives include childcare offered by four of the nation's largest providers of the services.

Between now and 4 July, Americans who are getting their vaccines or are recovering from side-effects that some people have after getting the shot can take advantage of free, drop-in care at KinderCare and Learning Care Group locations. More than 500 YMCAs and Bright Horizons will also offer free childcare to support adults trying to make vaccination appointments.

Major pharmacies, including Albertsons, CVS, Rite-Aid and Walgreens will stay open late on Fridays in June for the purpose of allowing more Americans to get their vaccinations.

At the same time, Vice President Kamala Harris will be touring the nation to encourage Americans o get vaccinated, and mayors across the country will participate in the "Mayors Challenge" to see which city can increase its vaccination rate the most by Independence Day.

Efforts are also being made to reach out directly to Black communities through partnerships with the Black Coalition Against Covid, the University of Maryland Centre for Health Equity, and SheaMoisture. The groups will launch "Shots and the Shop," which is meant to encourage Black-owned barbershops and beauty salons to use their spaces to conduct outreach and educate their customers about the vaccines.

Read More

Watch live as Joe Biden commemorates Tulsa race massacre

Beer is latest vaccine incentive for Biden 'month of action'

Arizona Democratic secretary of state joins governor race
Legislative Democratic leaders unveiled a state budget plan in advance of negotiations with Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

Democratic leaders of the California Legislature unveiled a state budget blueprint on Tuesday that would boost public schools and small businesses beyond the proposal made last month by Gov. Gavin Newsom, a move that is likely to set the stage for friendly but detailed negotiations before the June 15 constitutional deadline for action.

The $267-billion legislative plan largely aligns with Newsom's proposal, constructed with the expectation of a short-term tax revenue windfall of more than $75 billion. But it adds substantial funding to help those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and those who face ongoing, systemic challenges such as finding affordable child care and access to grants that cover a portion of the costs to attend college.

"I'd say that we restructured a few things" in the governor's plan, said state Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee.

In one key part of those provisions, lawmakers want to rethink Newsom's plans for almost one-fourth of the $27 billion in federal funds the state is slated to receive under the relief law approved this year by Congress and President Biden. That change would free up additional state funds to use on programs or to pay off debts such as state bond obligations and pension payments owed by K-12 schools.

Legislative leaders also believe state tax collections will be slightly higher in the next few years than the projections used by Newsom, another way to help finance some of their plans for additional spending.

In some cases, spending would increase more slowly under the proposal by legislative Democrats. Their plan would delay full implementation of the governor's promise to offer transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds in California until the 2025-26 school year.

A few of Newsom's most ambitious proposals would be curtailed. Last month, the independent Legislative Analyst's Office pointed out that the governor's budget called for large amounts of near-term spending on proposals that weren't fully detailed. As a result, the analysts wrote, the programs might be hard to implement in a short time frame.

Story continues

"There are a number of new programs, new initiatives that have pretty large price tags that we got very little detail on," said Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee. "So rather than spend money in those areas, we decided to prioritize healthcare, prioritize higher education, child care and transitional kindergarten."

The legislative plan seeks a significant boost in child care services for lower-income families, proposing to boost the rates paid to providers and the number of available slots for children.

Expanding child care services has been on the to-do list of legislative Democrats for several years. So, too, has an effort to remove immigration status as a condition of eligibility for full access to Medi-Cal, the state's healthcare program for low-income adults and families. Access is currently given to any income-eligible Californian up to age 26. While Newsom's plan adds all immigrants age 60 or older, the legislative plan would set the threshold at age 50.

Other changes to Newsom's budget reflect anger over what was missing in his May proposal. The Legislatures budget proposal includes $200 million in ongoing funding for local public health agencies, a provision pushed by healthcare advocates after Newsom's spending plan offered no similar assistance. Instead, the governor proposed a $3-million study of the needs faced by public health programs  a wait-and-see approach that healthcare officials said would follow a dangerous pattern in previous state budgets of underfunding local public health agencies.

The proposal unveiled Tuesday also seeks to address two issues that have been left out of budget deals in recent years: a full restoration of cash grants to aged, blind and disabled people that were cut during the Great Recession and an eventual boost in the rates paid to providers who work with developmental disabilities.

Democrats are also backing an expansion of the Cal Grant program that would remove rules excluding some college students who are older and have been out of high school for a longer time period. More nontuition costs would also be covered by state grants under the legislative plan.

Lawmakers said Tuesday that they want to revamp Newsom's plans to offer tax relief for businesses that will otherwise face higher payroll taxes in coming years to cover the pandemic's costs in unemployment insurance  offering $2 billion in assistance over the coming decade to small businesses across California.

Budget committees in both legislative houses are expected to approve the plan during public hearings Wednesday. But it's unclear to what extent Newsom will sign on. A budget spokesman for the governor said Tuesday that the administration is concerned about some of the long-term spending pressures the legislative budget could create, while Skinner told reporters that the effort to pay down existing debts would serve to lessen those pressures.

"Responsible budgeting was one of our top priorities," she said.

The budget proposal outlined Tuesday largely reflects the priorities  and differences  expressed by Democrats who serve in Sacramento.

For the last decade, California budgets have been crafted almost exclusively by Democratic lawmakers and governors under voter-approved rules that require only a simple majority in each house for passage. Republican lawmakers participate in budget hearings and often make their own proposals but because Democrats hold a supermajority of seats in the Legislature, GOP votes are not needed to ratify spending plans.

Times staff writer Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
James Burton McGrew lifts his shirt while participating in the Capitol riot on 6 January (FBI)

A suspect in the Capitol riot was arrested after investigators identified him using a giant tattoo on his stomach.

Investigators used police bodycam footage from the Capitol riot allegedly showing James Burton McGrew lifting his shirt to cover his face, revealing a tattoo across his belly that reads "King James" to identify him.

He was arrested on Sunday in Arizona on charges including entering restricted grounds without lawful authority, impeding government business, engaging in violence on restricted grounds and obstructing law enforcement.

Police affidavits claim that Mr McGrew aggressively confronted police during the attack on the Capitol.

"We're coming in here, whether you like it or not," he allegedly told one officer.

He reportedly implored another to "fight with us, not against us."

Photos shared by the FBI appear to show Mr McGrew throwing a punch at a police officer during the skirmish with law enforcement in the Capitol rotunda.

He was accused of striking police twice and of trying to steal an officer's baton.

A day after the riot, a tipster identified Mr McGrew to the FBI.

That individual said Mr McGrew had previously discussed traveling to Washington on 6 January to "protest" the "stolen vote."

Another person contacted the authorities after they saw Mr McGrew in photos of the insurrection.

More than 400 alleged Capitol rioters have been arrested since 6 January, with more likely as law enforcement continues its probe into the events.

While many of the alleged rioters face individual charges, the US Justice Department is building a conspiracy case against members of right-wing extremist groups like the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.

The arrests have dealt a heavy blow to extremist right-wing groups who allegedly had members present at the riot.

On Wednesday, the Associated Press published an analysis of how the insurrection and the subsequent arrests have impacted the extremist groups.

Story continues

"More than three dozen members and associates across both the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers have been charged with crimes," the report claims. "Some local chapters cut ties with national leadership in the weeks after the deadly siege. The Proud Boys' chairman called for a pause in the rallies that often have led to clashes with anti-fascist activists. And one Oath Keeper has agreed to cooperate against others charged in the riot."

The report also revealed that the Oath Keepers had prepared a quick reaction force outside Washington DC, which was supposedly meant to provide them with weapons.

Read More

Kyrsten Sinema skipped Capitol riot commission vote for personal family matter

First Capitol riot case collapses as charges dropped against suspect

Brian Sicknicks mother attacks Trump for watching Capitol Riot like a soap opera
Bahrains high-end shopping destination Moda Mall today (June 2) announced Noof Albuainain as the winner of its Precious Month Ramadan campaign. Albuainain was handed over the grand prize of the new Lotus luxury model - GT Evora.

The high-end shopping mall had partnered with Adamas Motors for the Ramadan campaign and to celebrate the arrival of the Lotus brand in Bahrain.

The Lotus brand will be making its debut in Bahrain later this year, and Moda Mall will be home to its state-of-the-art showroom.

Chris Gibson, Deputy General Manager of Bahrain World Trade Centre and Moda Mall, and George Duncan, Group Country Manager of Adamas Motors, handed over the keys to an ecstatic Albuainain at a presentation ceremony held at the mall.

In addition to this, Moda Mall also picked up another lucky winner, Ahmed Alabbasi, who got to take home items from his personalized luxury Gift List, which included items from brands such as Bang & Olufsen, Tag Heuer, Versace, Bottega Veneta, Kooheji Jewellery, and many others.

Lauding the winners, Gibson said: "This is the first time that any shopper in Bahrain has been presented with a Lotus supercar - an amazing feat of British engineering. Duncan and I are delighted to hand over the keys of the Lotus Evora GT to the deserving winner."

"We rewarded shoppers during our Precious Month campaign, setting Moda Mall apart in providing them with unique opportunities to avail of brands that cant be found anywhere else on the island," he added.

Also during the entire campaign, winners were chosen every week who were given D500 gift cards.
Casey Anthony is in the news again, and not for the right reasons.

The infamous Florida woman  acquitted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee a decade ago in Orlando  had a bust-up with another woman at West Palm Beach bar OSheas Irish Pub and called cops.

Casey Anthony, Private Eye? She just registered a new business in South Florida

In a 911 call first published by TMZ, the 35-year-old tells the dispatcher that her rival, later identified as Thelma Moya, harassed her over a longtime beef.

It was a repeated incident, it was harassment, on top of the repeat offense, Anthony is heard saying on the May 23 call. It was a verbal assault outside and a thrown drink inside. I would like to make an official report.

According to an event report from West Palm Beach police, officers made contact with Anthony who alleged that Moya, while sparring over an ex-boyfriend, spilled water on her left leg.

The so-called Tot Mom said she only wanted the incident documented in case she wanted to file a restraining order down the road.

Moya later told Fox News that the altercation had zero to do with an ex-boyfriend. Theres more to it I wish to not say.

No arrests were made.

In July 2011, Anthony, an Ohio native who now calls South Florida home, was sentenced to four years for lying to the police, but was released weeks later for time served.
A couple, charged in connection with four murders in South Carolina and Missouri, now are suspects in a Tennessee killing, officials said.

Tyler Donnet Terry, 26, and Adrienne Roshea Simpson, 34, are suspects in the May 17 shooting death of an unidentified man in Memphis, Tn., said Chester County Sheriff Max Dorsey.

Both are suspects in a homicide in Memphis. (Memphis) detectives came here to talk with our people and SLED about it, Dorsey said.

Dorsey told The Herald in a phone interview Tuesday evening that Memphis Police Department detectives came to Chester County on Friday to meet with detectives and State Law Enforcement Division agents investigating cases against Terry and Simpson. Dorsey told The Herald that Memphis police identified Terry and Simpson as suspects in the May 17 killing.

The shooting in Memphis happened around 2 a.m., Dorsey said. Memphis police on Twitter on May 17 said a man was found dead on a road.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

A spokesperson for the Memphis Police Department declined comment late Tuesday. Efforts to reach officials with the Memphis Police Department Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Memphis is on the route from Missouri, where Terry and Simpson are charged with two May 15 murders, to South Carolina where both are from and each faces multiple charges.

Around 11:30 p.m. on May 17 in Chester County, deputies saw Terry and Simpson outside a closed restaurant near Interstate 77 and attempted a traffic stop, Dorsey said. The couple fled in a vehicle and Terry fired a gun at deputies during a 20-mile chase through York and Chester counties, Dorsey and SLED agents said. No one was injured. The car crashed and Terry fled on foot.

Tyler Donnet Terry

Terry and Simpson both are now in the Chester County jail. Terry was caught May 24 after a six-day manhunt. Simpson, the driver in the chase, has been in jail since the chase ended. Terry was denied bail at his first court appearance. Simpson also has been denied bail.

The naming of Terry and Simpson as suspects in the Mpmhis case also was reported Wednesday by other media outlets including the Chester News and Reporter, WSOC-TV, WJZY-TV, and WCNC-TV.

Story continues

Adrienne Simpson

Charged with murders, shootings

Terry and Simpson are both charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Simpsons husband, Eugene, in Chester County. Terry also is charged with two city of Chester shootings and killing Thomas Hardin in the city of York, court records show.

Terry is charged in South Carolina with 11 counts of attempted murder, and other weapons violations and burglary crimes related to incidents that extend from May 2 through May 18.

Simpson is charged with accessory to murder and other violations connected to the May 2 killing and shootings in the cities of Chester and York.

Missouri charges

Terry and Simpson each are charged with two counts of murder and 13 other charges, according to Missouri prosecutors and court records.

Seventy-one-year-old Barbara Goodkin and 58-year-old Dr. Sergei Zacharev were fatally shot in unrelated incidents about an hour apart, St. Louis County prosecutors said. Zacharev was robbed, prosecutors said.

Goodkins husband was shot at, but a cellphone in his shirt pocket deflected a bullet and saved his life, Bell said.

Terry and Simpson also are charged with a road rage shooting on I-170 in St. Louis County where a car was shot multiple times, prosecutors said.

Check back for updates.
Church and civil rights activists held seven rallies across North Carolina late Tuesday afternoon, calling for spiritual warfare as they seek justice and answers in Andrew Brown Jr.s fatal shooting.

In Raleigh, the clergy pressed for a special prosecutor to handle the case in Elizabeth City, noting that Pasquotank County District Attorney Andrew Womble is too close to deputies who shot Brown, working out of the same building and collaborating daily.

They also continued to push for the full body-camera videos to be released to the public, arguing that the snippets shown so far contradict Womble on Browns death being justified.

I come today as a Black man, said the Rev. Dr. Louis Threatt. A Black man in his 40s. I come as a veteran, a pastor, a father, a husband and as a concerned citizen. A concerned citizen who knows some things. I am Andrew Brown. If it happened to him, it can happen to me.

Brown, 42, died on April 21 when Pasquotank County sheriffs deputies fired at his fleeing car, hitting him in the back of the head.

Womble declined to charge any deputies involved, calling the shooting justified. At the time, deputies were serving warrants in a drug investigation, and they told agents with the State Bureau of Investigation that they feared Brown would run them down.

Browns death has prompted more than a month of peaceful protests in Elizabeth City, drawing hundreds into the streets to call for an end to brutal and racist police tactics.

Clergy also rallied Tuesday in Elizabeth City, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Asheville. A mass rally is scheduled for June 12 in Elizabeth City.

Speakers said they are determined to keep the case alive and will not let up their demands now that the district attorney has decided against charges. Faisal Khan, founder of the Carolina Peace Center, described the case as a cover-up.

The Rev. William Barber II and Rev. T. Anthony Spearman, president of the NC NAACP, will press U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland for a federal investigation into both the sheriffs and district attorneys office.

It is our laws that help maintain the silence, said Jennifer Copeland, director of the NC Council of Churches. The law allows us to keep from seeing the truth. ... The law allows the district attorney to tell the story. Thats a lot of power for someone who works on the same side as law enforcement.
In a further blow to Exxon management, updated shareholder vote tallies showed that an activist investment firm scored a third board seat at the company's annual shareholder meeting on May 26, Exxon announced Wednesday.

Why it matters: The hedge fund Engine No. 1, which owns less than 1% of Exxon's stock, succeeded in its bid to install board members who will push Exxon to more aggressively consider climate change in its business planning.

Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.

Details: The newest Engine No. 1-sponsored board member will be Alexander Karsner, a senior strategist at X (formerly Google X), which is Alphabet Inc.'s innovation lab. Karsner has experience as an energy investor and served a stint at the U.S. Energy Department.

Of the four candidates the activist fund nominated, only one, former wind energy executive Anders Runevad, didn't make it onto the board.

The fund succeeded in its efforts in large part because of the backing of institutional investors, such as State Street and BlackRock, that are major shareholders. The company's uneven financial performance over several years and other factors also came into play.

Exxon's management had mounted a vigorous campaign right up to the vote to defeat Engine No. 1's candidates.

What they're saying: A spokesperson for Engine No. 1 said in a statement: We are grateful for shareholders careful consideration of our nominees and are excited that these three individuals will be working with the full board to help better position ExxonMobil for the long-term benefit of all shareholders.

Darren Woods, Exxon's chairman and CEO, welcomed the board members in a statement, and referenced the climate issue.

We look forward to working with all of our directors to build on the progress weve made to grow long-term shareholder value and succeed in a lower-carbon future, Woods said. We thank all shareholders for their engagement and participation, and their ongoing support for our company.

Of note: Exxon is widely viewed as being more enthusiastic about the continued global thirst for fossil fuels looking forward when compared to European-based oil majors, such as Shell and BP.

Story continues

The Texas-based company is still developing new oil and gas resources, including a massive project off the coast of Guyana.

Meanwhile, a report released by the International Energy Agency on May 15 found that to limit global warming to the Paris agreement target of 1.5C above preindustrial levels, no new oil and gas projects should be "approved for development."

Go deeper: Big Oil's climate earthquake

Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free.
Jen Chase

I cant plan anymore. The only thing I know how to do is react.

Planning requires stability and the past 13 months have been anything but stable for my world, the hospitality industry. Somehow even during the worst periods of history, time passes, life moves on and there are silver linings. All that being said, I have been a part of three restaurant and bar openings, since the pandemic hit.

Has the Coronavirus Pandemic Destroyed American Bar Culture?

Any reasonable person would ask why someone would possibly open new hospitality businesses during the pandemic? And the answer is simple: these projects (like so many others across the globe) were in progress pre-pandemic. The financing was secured, money was spent, commitments were made. So what do you do when there is no turning back? You push forward instead of listening to every fiber of your being that is saying, youre screwed.

When the shutdown occurred in New Orleans on March 16, 2020, I had to lay off the teams at my New Orleans bars Cure and Cane & Table as well as the staff at our parent company CureCo (including myself). The next morning, I walked out of my house and found my car window shattered. All that I could think was that I deserved it. As we were taking stock of what it meant to close businesses that can only exist with steady revenue, we quickly evaluated our debts and cash on hand. During that process, it became abundantly clear that our newest venture, a Mexican restaurant and agave bar, VALS, which had been scheduled to open in New Orleans in April of 2020, was substantially over budget.

VALS (named after the original service station that the building housed) was a project that took us years of planning and negotiation to open. Since 2009, when we opened Cure, we have looked out of our window at the site longingly. We have been talking on and off with the owner for almost as long, because we believed (and still believe) that it is one of the strongest locations on our commercial corridor. Finally, we made headway in 2018 when we signed our lease and began working on turning our dream of running a relaxed Mexican-inspired taco spot with a serious agave bar, a reality. VALS was a risky endeavor because the owner wouldnt sell the location and it needed everything, which really turned it into a development and restaurant project. There are also potential environmental problems using a former garage space, so we had to be extremely cautious with our contracts going in. Luckily, all of the environmental tests checked out and we were able to secure the financing and started moving ahead with the development. Little did we know that our big gamble would come at the absolute worst time ever to open a restaurant.

Story continues

Ill never forget having to relay the bad news to my wife that we were leveraged to the hilt at the exact wrong time. I felt better after getting it off of my chest; she doubtlessly felt a whole lot worse. Who would possibly loan us money during a time that our businesses were shut down and I was collecting unemployment? I wont embarrass my friend by mentioning him in an article, but without this good friend willing to lend us a helping hand, we would have been sunk. I am forever grateful to this person and I wouldnt be writing this article without him. Instead, Id be writing an article about losing everything I had during COVID.

Courtesy VALS

In the lead up to opening VALS, we were concerned that there would be little to no demand, so we put together a plan with as little staff and service infrastructure as possible. Through a ton of hard work and ingenuity by my partners, VALS opened up with just a to-go window and a few outside seats on a rainy Tuesday in late June. Quickly, we realized that a window wouldnt cut it, so we hired a few more people and rented more tables and chairs and were a full-service outdoor-only restaurant by day three. We were squarely off plan at this point, and I was totally terrified and exhilarated at the same time. Every day we made a new plan. Every night we evaluated what went right and what went wrong during service. Our pivots included adding a robust online ordering system, leaning heavily on our to-go window, adding seats where we had never intended for them to go, implementing a service charge on all dine-in guests, making our ordering system low-interaction for servers and guests, implementing QR code contact tracing and, lastly, keeping the food and drinks menus streamlined.

Oh, and did I mention that we were enforcing strict COVID guidelines with a line wrapped around the corner? A new business typically welcomes being busy, because cash is always strapped by opening and while we were no different, but during the pandemic we were concerned about being too busy because of health concerns. On one hand, I was relieved that we could pay the bills, but on the other hand, I worried that our strict safety guidelines still couldnt guarantee the safety of our teams and guests. VALS hasnt had any major issues, but the worrying persists. I am proud to say that our success has continued beyond the opening.

Before COVID, I had also been in the early stages of working on a very exciting project in Washington, D.C., with my friends/partners at Long Shot Hospitality called Dauphines. The project has been personally exciting for a number of reasons, but most importantly I consider it a great honor to try to export a version of my home city, New Orleans, to another city. My partners and I feel a great sense of responsibility to get it right and to not create a caricature of the city that we all love.

Like VALS, Dauphines has been severely affected by COVID. When is the right time to open a restaurant that requires so many people working at a high level? When will city regulations and safety concerns allow for the right volume of diners to support this type of restaurant?

The kitchen at Dauphines is led by critically acclaimed Chef Kristen Essig and is inspired by the playful spirit and iconic cuisine of New Orleans. Dauphines is located within D.C.s Midtown Center, a new development at the site of the former The Washington Post building at 15th and L Streets, and the design was done by Grizform. The drinks are centered around refined iconic New Orleans cocktails, in addition to thoughtful, innovative riffs on classics that draw inspiration from Stanley Clisby Arthurs 1937 book, Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix Em,

James Beard Award-Winning Bar Cure Turns 10

Comparatively, VALS was small potatoes, because its a casual taco spot in a small city with a relatively cheap cost of doing business. But Dauphines is an interpretation of a grand New Orleans restaurant in a major city, and because of that, the expectations are exponentially greater. There is no taco window or bare bones operation at Dauphines; we have to do it all the way or not at all. The partners were left to try to read the tea leaves as to when was the right time to begin operations.

Dauphines was initially supposed to open in the fall of 2019, but it was pushed to spring of 2020, and we all know what went down last spring. Smartly the partners decided to delay the launch a year, and once again, without goodwill and generosity (in this case from investors and property owners) the situation could have easily turned into a terrible outcome. Through patience and persistence the restaurant turned out significantly better than I could have imagined, and so many of these positive outcomes were a direct result of the extra time that we had to work on all facets of the concept and the team. As I write this, we have just begun operations and have the beginning of an outstanding team, but like so many other hospitality businesses across the country finding qualified people is a stretch right now for a myriad of reasons.

The weekend before Mardi Gras 2020, I met a friend of a friend along the parade route and we chatted about a bar that was opening in his historic French Quarter property. I didnt think much of it at the time, but that casual chat would turn into a COVID created opportunity around May when the tenant pulled out of the lease. I have to say that I was on the fence about taking on a new project in the French Quarter, because the neighborhood was completely devastated by the economic effects of COVID. But, as I started researching the property it quickly became apparent that it was the home of a seminal figure in New Orleans cocktail history. The home belonged to Antoine Amedee Peychaud, who was a 19th century pharmacist that invented a concoction at his Royal Street apothecary that eventually would be used as a cocktail bitter. (He was so famous and his eponymous bitters so renowned that for a while he was erroneously thought to be the inventor of the cocktail.) Today, his Peychauds Bitters is featured in almost every influential New Orleans cocktail.

So, for a drinks nerd and native New Orleanian, opening a bar in Peychauds house was essentially building a shrine to him. So, naturally, I enthusiastically signed on to the project.

Once again opening a new bar during a pandemic has been a challenge, but this establishment presented a different set of hurdles, because bars were highly restricted businesses under COVID guidelines. For example, for most hospitality businesses there are specific deadlines that the construction has to meet in order to make the opening date, but since bars were unable to operate for most of this past year the construction languished because there was no line in the sand. Throw in the fact that Peychauds is smack in the middle of our tourist district and youve got a spot that most professionals who work for tips just arent super interested in at the moment. Luckily, weve been able to field an excellent team and longtime Cure bartender, Nicholas Jarrett, agreed to run the bar program, which has been a godsend.

We did our best to slowly work on the project not knowing when it would actually be legal to open. We suspected that when outdoor-only bar service was allowed that wed be able to begin operations, because of our large courtyard. That said, ultimately the French Quarter serves tourists, and the visitor activity would have to increase to a sustainable level in addition to the restrictions decreasing. A few weeks ago, we opened the door to a nice reception and we are bullish on the long-term prospects of the bar, but we know that it will be a long road to stabilization in the French Quarter.

There is no way to sugar coat it: despite some silver linings, COVID has been the absolute worst year of most of our lives. If you have your health and youre not on the street, then you should be counting your blessings. I hope that it is apparent that the common thread of these three new ventures is that our new projects came to fruition because of the kindness and generosity of the support systems that surround us.

But Id be remiss if I didnt mention how grateful I am to our teams for keeping the faith and working harder than ever under significantly greater pressure. Right now, it is hard for existing and new places to find people to work; literally everyone in the industry across the entire country is hiring. At the end of the day, hospitality is about the relationship between guests and hosts. In most cultures that bond is sacred, and this past year has reinforced that notion for me.

Mission Impossible: Reinventing the Pina Colada

Christopher Kimball & the Grateful Dead School of Bartending

Can the Roaring Twenties Teach Us About Post-Pandemic Life?

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock delivers a speech on the Covid-19 vaccine programme at the Jenner Institute in Oxford. - Jacob King/PA

06:10 PM

What happened today?

Good evening, that's all for now. Here's a roundup of UK coronavirus developments:

More than three quarters of all adults have now received a first vaccine dose, and nearly half are fully vaccinated with two shots

The Prime Minister threatened to put more countries on the "red list" for international travel - requiring hotel quarantine on return - and the "amber list" as he vowed to have "no hesitation" in re-imposing curbs on green countries

But Boris Johnson gave the best indication yet that the final stage in England's roadmap will go ahead on June 21, as he reiterated there was"nothing in the data at the moment" to delay

The Government's education catch-up tsar quit after his proposals for a 15bn rescue package to help schools recover from the Covid-19 pandemic was watered down by the Treasury

The speed of misinformation about vaccines is a "deadly threat" and "fake news travels fast", Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned, calling jab hesitancy an "international challenge" but praised the UK's role models such as 'JVT' for helping lift Britain's vaccine confidence to "sky high" levels

Nearly 40 per cent of recently registered Covid deaths in England and Wales were people who died primarily from another condition, latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed

The country cannot "scamper down a rabbit hole" with every new variant, leading Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine team member Sir John Bell warned, after the UK recorded zero daily Covid deaths for the first time in the pandemic on Tuesday.

06:00 PM

Nearly a quarter of restaurants, pubs and bars remain closed

Almost a quarter of restaurants, pubs and bars have yet to reopen, with 8,500 closing their doors for good, new analysis has found.

Close to 25,000 licensed premises remain shut, with the current social distancing rules making it unviable for many to reopen their doors, according to research from the Market Recovery Monitor.

Story continues

Industry leaders described the figures as "alarming" and called for greater financial support to save "thousands of vulnerable businesses and jobs".

Many venues have found it difficult to hire front of house staff and chefs, with a shortage of 188,000 workers, according to UKHospitality. Kate Nicholls, the body's chief executive, said the uncertainty surrounding the restrictions had made the industry less appealing.

05:55 PM

Here's a reminder of Boris Johnson' travel list warning earlier

05:53 PM

Reaction to education catch-up tsar quitting

Here's how various education leaders are reacting to Boris Johnson's schools catch-up tsar quitting amid a row over funding for a Covid rescue package.

Chair of the Education Select Committee, Robert Halfon, said on Twitter: "To lose someone of the stature of Sir Kevan Collins is a real blow. Whilst today's catch up money is hugely welcome, to repair damage of school closures, to improve attainment & outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, we need a properly resourced, radical long-term plan & funding."

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "We are sad but not surprised that Sir Kevan Collins is reported to be standing down as education recovery commissioner following the Government's announcement of a recovery package which clearly falls a long way short of what he had in mind.

"We know that Sir Kevan had much bolder and broader plans but that these required substantially more investment than the Government was willing to provide.

"He's tried his hardest on behalf of children and young people, but, in the final analysis, the political will just wasn't there to support him."

Shadow education secretary Kate Green said: "Kevan Collins' resignation is a damning indictment of the Conservatives' education catch-up plan.

"He was brought in by Boris Johnson because of his experience and expertise in education, but the Government has thrown out his ideas as soon as it came to stumping up the money needed to deliver them."

05:28 PM

Education catch-up tsar quits after Treasury watered down his 15bn rescue package

Boris Johnsons education catch-up tsar has quit after his proposals for a 15bn rescue package to help schools recover from the covid-19 pandemic was watered down by the Treasury.

Sir Kevan Collins, who was appointed by the Prime Minister last year to help students recover after months of disruption from school closures, had put forward a series of proposals including extending the school day.

However, after the Government on Tuesday announced a 1.4bn funding package for teacher training and pupil tuition - a tenth of what he had recommended - Sir Kevan last night decided to resign in protest.

In a resignation letter sent to Boris Johnson on Wednesday, seen by TES, Sir Kevan said: Prior to my appointment you announced the ambition that lost learning caused by the pandemic be recovered within this Parliament.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

05:26 PM

Vaccinate teenagers, says Blackburn health chief

Covid vaccines for 12-18 year olds are "desperately needed" to fight case numbers, the public health director for Blackburn with Darwen says.

Professor Dominic Harrison wants the Pfizer vaccine approved for the age group, saying that rates are "exceptionally high" among 17 and 18 year olds in the area.

He says there is a "very big shift" from the previous waves of the virus, with 13 out of the 21 people currently being treated in local hospitals aged below 55.

The latest government figures show that Blackburn with Darwen has the highest rate of cases in the country, with 416.2 cases per 100,000 residents in the week leading up to 31 May, an increase of 135 on the figure from seven days before.

04:35 PM

Covid vaccine expiry dates could be extended as African nations forced to dump doses

Covid-19 vaccine expiry dates may be extended amid growing frustrations that countries in Africa are being forced to dump jabs because they have a short shelf-life.

Last month, Malawi incinerated 20,000 expired doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine.

The manufacturer said they would be safe to use for another three months, but ministers were concerned that using them would hit already shaky vaccine confidence.

Both the AstraZeneca and Pfizer jabs have shelf lives of six months, although once the Pfizer vaccine is taken out of its deep-freeze storage conditions it must be used within a month.

Now there is a push to extend these timelines, particularly considering the fact that many other vaccines have three-year use-by dates.

Read the full story: Push to extend Covid vaccine shelf-life as African nations forced to dump doses

04:29 PM

Moderna gears up to halve Covid vaccine dose

Moderna is preparing to halve the dose of its Covid-19 vaccine, the US pharmaceutical company said on Wednesday, so that it can also be used to combat variants and inoculate children.

It has agreed a deal with Swiss-based drugmaker Lonza which said a new drug substance production line in Geleen, Netherlands, will have capacity to make ingredients for up to 300 million doses annually at 50 micrograms per dose.

Moderna, which has been studying lower-dose versions to help stretch supplies of its vaccine, has been delivering an approved 100-microgram dose to date.

The drugmaker has said early booster shot data for a 50-microgram version showed it helped protect against emerging virus variants. Lower-doses may also be given to children who may not require a full one.

Combined with a previous deal with Spain's Rovi, Moderna's pact with Lonza brings 50-microgram production in Europe to up to 600 million doses annually, with the capacity due to come on line this year.

04:24 PM

US state offers prize lottery for vaccinated - including guns

In West Virginia in the US, anyone who has been fully vaccinated can sign up to win prizes including a $1.588 million grand prize, $588,000 second prize, school scholarships, custom-outfitted trucks and weekend breaks at state parks.

In addition to money and holidays, the prizes also include lifetime hunting licenses, hunting rifles and shotguns.

Governor Jim Justice said the vaccination push is crucial for saving lives, telling a news conference that "we have to get all of our folks across the finish line."

04:18 PM

Many GP practices 'not safe' for walk-in patients, claims British Medical Association

Many GP practices are not safe for walk-in patients, the British Medical Association has said, in a continued backlash against NHS guidance to hold appointments in person.

Last month health officials said all patients should have the right to see a GP in person. The guidance stressed that people should be able to visit their surgery, in order to secure an appointment.

But the doctors union has repeatedly objected to the guidance.

Its latest GP committee bulletin says: "With social distancing and infection protection and control measures still necessary, patients should only receive a face-to-face appointment if they need one, not simply because they demand one.

Many surgeries have restricted and unventilated reception areas and are not yet safe for patients to walk in without an assessment.

04:09 PM

Vietnam reverses international flight suspension

Vietnam will resume international flights to its two biggest cities, officials said on Wednesday, reversing a short-lived ban imposed over fears of a new Covid-19 wave.

As the country struggled to contain a virus outbreak in more than half of its territories, the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam announced on Monday a temporary suspension for international passenger arrivals at Hanoi's Noi Bai airport from June 1-7.

A similar order was in force for the airport in commercial capital Ho Chi Minh City until June 14.

But on Wednesday the aviation authority told airports and airlines that it had reversed the suspension, without mentioning a timeframe or giving an explanation.

The country's Covid-19 cases have more than doubled in the past month, causing bars, restaurants and schools to close and a rush to secure vaccines.

04:00 PM

Portugal takes next steps to ease Covid rules

Portugal will allow restaurants to stay open past midnight from mid-June and will lift its work from home order, as it takes its next steps towards easing Covid-19 restrictions.

From June 14, restaurants, cafes and pastry shops, which must currently close at 10.30 p.m, will be able to keep doors open until 1 a.m, and most public transport can return to operating at 100 per cent capacity.

Bars and nightclubs will stay shut until at least the end of August and masks remain mandatory outdoors in crowded places. There are no more restrictions on retail opening hours and cultural shows can run until midnight under capacity restrictions.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Wednesday that "British tourists continue to be welcome" in Portugal despite concerns about the spread of the Indian, or Delta, variant.

03:49 PM

Greek islands, Malta and parts of Caribbean could soon be on the green list, says industry expert

Several Greek islands, Malta and parts of the Caribbean could be added to the green travel list on Thursday, according to an industry expert.

Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said a number of popular holiday destinations "really deserve" to be moved to the low-risk tier.

Mr Charles told the PA News Agency that he expects additions to the list to include the Greek islands of Zante, Rhodes and Kos, the Caribbean islands of Grenada and Antigua, plus Malta and Finland.

"It would be a boost to see those added. I still think we're going to get the majority of European countries added at the end of June, but it would be an encouraging step forward," he said.

Holidaymakers returning to the UK from green locations are not required to self-isolate, and only need to take one post-arrival coronavirus test. Assessments are based on a range of factors, including the proportion of a population that has been vaccinated, rates of infection, emerging new variants, and access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing.

03:38 PM

Six more Scotland players to miss game following positive test

Six more Scotland footballers will miss Wednesday's friendly against the Netherlands, due to Covid-19 fears following John Fleck's positive test.

David Marshall, Stephen O'Donnell, Nathan Patterson, Grant Hanley, John McGinn and Che Adams are not travelling with the rest of the squad to Portugal.

They have all tested negative but have been kept back as a precaution. Fleck is currently self-isolating at Scotland's training camp in Alicante.

Scotland midfielder John Fleck is self-isolating after testing positive for coronavirus on Tuesday - Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

03:31 PM

Free circus tickets for vaccinated Russians - lions and all

A region of Russian Siberia is giving away 1,000 circus tickets to locals who agree to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

The health ministry in Russia's Omsk Region has announced residents may claim a free ticket to the Omsk State Circus in exchange for getting their jab at a newly-set-up vaccination site on the circus premises, to try and boost uptake.

Those who get vaccinated there will receive a certificate which can be exchanged at the box office for a ticket to the next lion show performance, Interfax news agency reports.

Tatyana Kazantseva, head doctor at Omsk city clinic Number 10, suggested the move may be popular among Russians who have been reluctant to book a vaccination in a medical setting, adding the new site is well stocked with Russia's Sputnik V and CoviVac vaccines.

03:19 PM

UK reports 12 more Covid deaths

The government said a further 12 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday, bringing the UK total to 127,794.

Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have now been 153,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

The government also said that, as of 9am on Wednesday, there had been a further 4,330 confirmed cases in the UK.

03:12 PM

'Speed is of the essence' as variant cases surge in North Wales

Health bosses in North Wales are urging people to get tested, even if they have no symptoms, following a surge in the Indian variant, now known as the Delta variant by the WHO.

A further 35 confirmed or presumptive cases of the variant were found in the area over the Bank Holiday weekend.

People living in Llandudno Junction, Llandudno and Penrhyn Bay were urged to get tested, in a joint statement from Public Health Wales, Conwy County Borough Council and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

Richard Firth, consultant in health protection for Public Health Wales, and chair of the multi-agency incident management team, said: "Speed is of the essence. The sooner we act, the better, so please, come forward for testing as soon as you can.

"The emergence of so many new cases of this transmissible new variant of coronavirus in the Llandudno Junction, Llandudno and Penrhyn Bay areas is a reminder that we should not become complacent, even as rates of the virus across Wales remain low."

03:07 PM

Everest climbers struggle to find return flights amid Nepal travel curbs

Climbers returning from Mount Everest and other Himalayan peaks are struggling to find return flights back home after Nepal banned most air travel from the country to try and contain a surge in Covid-19 cases.

Nepal issued 742 permits  408 of those to climbers aiming to reach the top of the world's highest peak, Mount Everest - in the April-May climbing season. Now, hundreds of climbers are returning from the mountains before the onset of the annual monsoon season, but international flight restrictions throughout June are making it difficult for some climbers to get home.

Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, a senior official at Kathmandu-based private firm Seven Summit Treks, said climbers were finding it difficult to get home as only five weekly flights - to India, Qatar and Turkey - were operational.

"The situation could worsen as more climbers wind up their expeditions and return to Kathmandu in the next few days," Sherpa told Reuters.

Andrew Hughes, from the US, said he had to pay for an expensive seat on a chartered flight to Qatar on Wednesday night due to the shortage of regular flights. Mexican climber Viridiana Alvarez, who had been stranded in Nepal for nearly three weeks after climbing Mount Annapurna, said she was lucky to find a seat on a chartered flight, also to Qatar.

US climber Arthur Muir became the oldest American climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest on 30 May 2021 - NARENDRA SHRESTHA/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

02:43 PM

Pledging conference secures extra $2.4bn for Covax vaccine sharing scheme

A pledging summit for the Covax vaccine distribution scheme has generated almost $2.4 billion in new contributions, bringing the total funding for the initiative to nearly $9.6 billion, Sarah Newey reports.

The conference came at a critical moment for vaccine rollout, with just 0.4 per cent of the 1.8 billion shots administered worldwide going to low income countries - a disparity that has been called a "vaccine apartheid".

Today, Japan's prime minister announced another $800 million to the UN.-backed Covax program, taking the country's total contribution to $1 billion.

Leaders from Australia, Austria, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland were also among those citing their efforts to build momentum for greater vaccine equity.

Speaking at the event Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, added: "Restrictions in international trading create ripple effects in the supply chain. It is also clear that vaccine donations are essential; we are working with Covax and other governments to unlock further supplies."

02:37 PM

More than 75pc of UK adults get first dose of Covid jab

More than three quarters of UK adults have received a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, the latest figures published on Wednesday show, as the vaccination programme continues at pace.

Health services across the UK have now administered over 65.6 million vaccines between December 8 and June 1, including over 39.5 million people with their first dose (75.2 per cent) and over 26 million with both doses (49.5 per cent) ensuring they have the strongest possible protection against Covid-19 from a second dose.

The G7 Health Ministers summit this week follows the announcement last week that Janssens single-dose Covid-19 vaccine has been authorised for use by the UK medicines regulator, the MHRA.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was an "incredible step forward in the largest and most successful vaccination programme in our history".

Although weve come so far in less than six months since the worlds first authorised jab was given in the UK, our vital work is not done," he said.

"We must redouble our efforts on the second dose to ensure as many people as possible have maximum protection.

Weve brought forward appointments from 12 to 8 weeks for a second dose, and all over 30s are now eligible for the jab. I encourage everyone to come forward when the offer comes and play a part in getting us back to normality.

02:30 PM

500,000,000 AstraZeneca doses released for supply globally - Hancock

Half a billion doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine have been released for supply globally, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.

Speaking at the Jenner Institute in Oxford, he said: "The Oxford vaccine, developed by brilliant science here in Oxford, linked with AstraZeneca's industrial might, backed by the support of the UK Government, together, make it available at cost, this is in my view the greatest gift that this nation could give the world during this pandemic.

"A vaccine that's available at cost - with no charge but intellectual property - and that because it can be stored simply offers hope for the developing world.

"So, as well as the money that we've donated - giving half a billion pounds to Covax (the global vaccine sharing facility) - we've also given the world the vaccine, which makes up 96% of those Covax doses.

"As of today, I can confirm that over half a billion doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine have now been released for supply globally, the majority of them in low and middle income countries."

02:20 PM

UK Government in talks for 'variant vaccine' to tackle South African strain

The Government has started commercial negotiations with AstraZeneca to secure a "variant vaccine" adapted to tackle the variant first identified in South Africa, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.

In a speech delivered at the Jenner Institute in Oxford, he said: "There is yet more to do, the work isn't over yet - we're still procuring all the time and planning what we need to keep this country safe, including new vaccines specifically targeted at variants of concern.

"I can tell you today that we've started commercial negotiations with AstraZeneca to secure a variant vaccine - future supplies of the Oxford /AstraZeneca vaccine that have been adapted to tackle the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa.

"Once again, we're leading the way and backing projects with potential, so we can keep our vaccination programme one step ahead of the virus and protect the progress that we've all made."

02:03 PM

Vaccines 'breaking the chain' between infection and serious illness

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, described the latest vaccination rollout milestones as an "incredible achievement", with three-quarters of adults in the UK having received a first dose and 50 per cent of adults in England having been given both jabs.

He added: "We know vaccines are breaking the chain between infection rates, hospital admissions and death. But we also know two doses are better than one, particularly in our fight against the Delta (Indian) variant.

"So while there's a lot to celebrate, we've still got a way to go before people have had both jabs. We also know it takes three weeks for doses to be fully effective.

"We urge everyone to get their jabs when they're offered them."

01:58 PM

Global vaccine rollout continues, in pictures

A Palestinian nurse prepares to give a shot of the Covid-19 AstraZeneca vaccine, in a cultural hall in the village of Dura, on June 2, 2021. - Hazem Bader/AFP

A youth receives a dose of the Covid-19 Sinovac vaccine at a vaccination camp in Karachi, Pakistan, on June 2, 2021. - Rizwan Tabassum/AFP

People register to get vaccinated against Covid-19 in a cinema-turned-vaccination site in San Juan City, Metro Manila, Philippines, on June 2, 2021. - Eloisa Lopez/Reuters

01:39 PM

AstraZeneca row hit vaccine confidence across Africa, says continent's CDC

Vaccine confidence has dropped substantially across Africa since the start of the pandemic, according to Dr John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC).

Speaking at a summit on Wednesday, Dr Nkengasong said a survey of 15,000 people from 15 countries before Covid vaccine rollout found vaccine acceptance ranged from 60 to 95 per cent.

"But over the subsequent months, when the vaccines became available, I think we have seen that in some countries that confidence in vaccines has fluctuated significantly."

He said part of this was due to concerns around the AstraZeneca shot and blood clots across Europe - at times, Dr Nkengasong said, the Africa CDC has had to convince political leaders and ministers to continue vaccinations.

"So each time you have a hit on any vaccine, whether it's because of variants, or any other factors, it has a serious effect on the ability for the population to continue to accept those vaccines."

01:38 PM

Nearly 40pc of recent Covid victims died primarily of other conditions

Nearly 40 per cent of recently registered Covid deaths in England and Wales were people who died primarily from another condition, latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.

Out of 107 Covid deaths registered in the week ending May 21, just 66 had coronavirus recorded as the underlying cause of death, 61.7 per cent.

For the rest of the cases, although coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate, it was not a major cause.

It is the lowest number of deaths with Covid as the underlying cause since the week ending March 13 2020, the first week that deaths involving Covid-19 were registered in England and Wales, when just five registrations were listed.

Sarah Knapton has the full report: Nearly 40pc of recent Covid victims died primarily of other conditions

01:35 PM

At current rates, it will take a decade to reach herd immunity in parts of Africa

At the current rate, it will take a decade for some African countries to reach herd immunity through vaccination, according to Helle Thorning-Schmidt, co-chair of Facebooks Oversight Board and former Prime Minister of Denmark.

Speaking at a conference on vaccine hesitancy, Thorning-Schmidt said that high access to shots mean that people will only die from Covid in richer countries if they are frail or have not had a shot.

"But we will still see people dying from Covid in poorer countries for a long time," she said. "Only 2% of the African population has been vaccinated, and with the speed of vaccination in some African countries, it will take a decade to get herd immunity."

She added that vaccine hesitancy is rising sharply across the continent, fuelled by a "lack of information, lack of trust, concerns about vaccine safety, and a lot of conspiracy theories".

This has also been "exacerbated by the confusing global debate about safety and efficiency of various vaccines, and some wealthier countries being very vocal and rather coy about avoiding certain vaccines", she said.

01:20 PM

Hancock: 'You can't buy your way into the vaccine queue'

The Health Secretary has defended the order of priority for coronavirus vaccines, not just clinically for saving lives, but for encouraging vaccine uptake.

Matt Hancock told the Global Vaccine Confidence Summit that in the UK it was important for people to know that people couldn't "buy their way up the queue".

"In fact, you can't buy your way into the queue at all," he said at the Science Museum in London. "The private jets haven't all lined up at Heathrow Airport to get it.

"Not far from where you're sitting (at the Science Museum in London), was where I got in the queue to get my jab a month ago, and Prince William, our future king, waited in that same line for his jab a couple of weeks after me - no special treatment, no queue-jumping.

"And I think that's one of the things that make people feel that the vaccine is for them, and that the programme is being delivered fairly according to need."

01:11 PM

Chris Whitty: People have 'perfectly reasonable questions' about vaccines

Most people cautious about vaccines are starting from a "perfectly rational position", according to England's chief medical officer.

Sarah Newey reports that, speaking at a conference on vaccine hesitancy, Prof Chris Whitty said people are keen to understand three factors before they take any shot: whether the vaccine work; whether the disease is serious enough to need vaccinating against; and the side effects.

"Most people who are a bit cautious actually have got perfectly reasonable questions. They want the best for them, their families, their children and their communities."

He added that tackling hesitancy must be viewed as part of a "wider engagement on health" to normalise vaccinations.

"Whether it's Covid in London, or polio in northern Nigeria or Pakistan, I think the end point you have to look to, is that people don't see vaccination as a one off.

"If the only time people engage with them are when the white Land Rovers are sweeping through for a polio vaccination campaign, or from the government in London on a vaccination campaign, and otherwise there is no interaction, understandably people's concerns are actually magnified, rather than reduced."

01:05 PM

Openness and honesty critical for tackling 'deadly threat' of vaccine fake news

The speed of misinformation about vaccines is a "deadly threat", the Health Secretary has said.

Matt Hancock tells the Global Vaccine Confidence Summit: "The speed of misinformation is a deadly threat.

"So we've had some of our best people on the case from the beginning, long before there was a licensed vaccine, countering the myths, countering the lies, treating people with respect, taking respectful hesitancy and giving respectful answers.

"A crucial component of that confidence, which is openness and honesty.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has warned vaccine fake news is a 'deadly threat' - David Cliff/Anadolu Agency

"Because it's not just been about getting all those positive facts to people but being honest and transparent about the difficult ones too - being upfront and completely transparent, for instance, about side effects, levelling with people that our supply will be lumpy and changing from week to week.

"And being open, when we haven't known the answer, like for instance we took time to find out the impact of new variants. So we didn't jump on the answers people wanted to hear."

01:02 PM

Hancock: 'We don't give anti-vaxxers the oxygen of publicity'

Matt Hancock said that ministers attending the G7 health summit next week will discuss how to tackle the coronavirus pandemic worldwide, and will also address the "worldwide pandemic of misinformation".

The Health Secretary said that ministers would be launching a global vaccination confidence campaign.

"We've made the argument that the jab is our way out of these restrictions, and everyone has a part to play," he tells the Global Vaccine Confidence Summit.

"We don't give anti-vaxxers the oxygen of publicity.

"Instead, we built a counter-narrative - scientifically rigorous, yet harnessing the really human emotions of joy and of community spirit that the vaccination programme can bring, and that positive tone has led to this spectacularly high take-up that we've seen."

12:55 PM

JVT has become a 'household name', says Hancock

Britain has harnessed influential voices from "across the board" to encourage vaccine take-up, Matt Hancock has told the Global Vaccine Confidence Summit.

The Health Secretary said: "Figures from cricket to comedy to cookery, and things like the NHS campaign that resulted in a sharp uptake in vaccine take-up, including around a 20 per cent increase in Asian communities.

"We use trusted voices in a cheerful, positive way, from Her Majesty the Queen to Sir David Attenborough, they publicly made it known that they'd got the jab, and they played their part in normalising the acceptance of the vaccine."

He added: "Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, our deputy chief medical officer, who's lead on the vaccine project, has become a household name, with people people getting T-shirts and mugs with his face on.

"Because people admire his straight-talking approach, and that I think has helped to build confidence."

England's Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jonathan Van-Tam is known for his analogies - Tim Hammond / No 10

12:47 PM

UK will not hesitate to move green list countries to amber or red lists, says PM

The UK will not hesitate to move countries from the holidays green list to its amber and even red lists if necessary, "to protect the people of this country," said Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Asked whether more countries will this week be added to the green list, as is hoped by British holidaymakers and the travel industry, Mr Johnson said he was sympathetic to Britons wanting foreign holidays, but added: "We have got to be cautious and we have got to continue to put countries on the red list, on the amber list, when that is necessary.

"We will have no hesitation in moving countries from the green list to the amber list, to the red list, if we have to do so.

"The priority is to continue the vaccine rollout and to protect the people of this country."

12:41 PM

Still 'nothing in the data' to postpone June 21, says PM

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said there is still "nothing in the data at the moment that means we cannot go ahead with Step 4" of lifting coronavirus restrictions on June 21.

But the Prime Minister said we must remain "cautious" as infection rates are increasing.

"We always knew that was going to happen," he said.

"What we need to work out is to what extent the vaccination programme has protected enough of us, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, against a new surge, and there I'm afraid the data is still ambiguous.

"The best the scientists can say at the moment is we just need to give it a little bit longer."

12:38 PM

Vaccinations turning the tide on the pandemic, says WHO

Vaccinations are starting to "turn the tide on the pandemic", the head of the World Health Organization has told a Vaccine Confidence Conference in London.

Speaking via a virtual link, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that "the countries with the highest vaccination coverage are now seeing a significant decline in cases".

But he warned that a stark global imbalance in access - of 1.8 billion doses administered, just 0.4 per cent have been given in low income countries - is "ethically, epidemiologically and economically unacceptable".

He also said that tackling vaccine hesitancy will be critical to bring the pandemic to a close. Alongside the UK and Google, the WHO is also developing a cloud-based platform to provide real time insights on Covid-19 misinformation across the globe and counter it.

The UK government is pushing ahead with its vaccination program in its fight against the Indian variant - ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

12:35 PM

Israel reports link between Pfizer shot and male heart problem

Israel's Health Ministry said on Tuesday that the small number of heart inflammation cases observed mainly in young men who had received Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine were likely linked to their vaccination.

In Israel, 275 cases of the condition - know as myocarditis - were reported between December 2020 and May 2021, among more than 5 million vaccinated people, the ministry said.

In a study commissioned by the ministry, it found "there is a probable link between receiving the second dose (of Pfizer) vaccine and the appearance of myocarditis among men aged 16 to 30."

Most patients who experienced heart inflammation spent no more than four days in the hospital and 95 per cent of the cases were classified as mild, according to the study, which the ministry said was conducted by three teams of experts.

Pfizer said in a statement that it is aware of the Israeli observations of myocarditis and said no causal link to its vaccine has been established.

12:23 PM

'Reasonable' to require care home staff to be vaccinated, says EHRC

It is "reasonable" to legally require all care home staff to be vaccinated against Covid-19, said the UK's human rights watchdog.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said a proportionate approach to mandatory vaccination for care home workers could help to ease restrictions, allowing staff to work safely while giving residents more freedoms.

The government should include safeguards and minimise the risk of discrimination by including exemptions in legislation, such as for people who cannot have the jab for medical reasons. Any legislation should also have a sunset clause and be regularly reviewed, it added.

An EHRC spokesman said: "Requiring care home staff to be vaccinated offers a way of protecting older residents who are most at risk of severe illness and death due to Covid-19. This would support their right to a private and family life, to health, to live independently, as well as reducing the risk to workers.

"Mandatory vaccination it is not a new idea, as some NHS Trusts do require staff to have hepatitis B vaccines.

12:11 PM

Germany to build up reserve vaccine capacity to fight future pandemics

Germany plans to pay vaccine manufacturers an annual reservation fee to build up reserve capacity of 600-700 million doses per year to help it fight future pandemics, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Wednesday.

The government plans to launch a call for tenders for so-called pandemic preparedness contracts with a five-year term, he told a news conference.

"We in the government have agreed that we want to provide capacity for production of vaccines in and for Germany," Spahn said, adding this could be activated very quickly so that vaccine production could start at short notice.

Manufacturing setbacks and an over-reliance on European Union approval for supplies slowed Germany's rollout of Covid-19 vaccines. It wants to boost domestic production to ensure it is not deprived of shots in future pandemics.

Germany will also set up a centre for pandemic vaccines at its vaccine regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute.

12:04 PM

Singapore grants China's Sinovac Covid vaccine special access

Singapore will allow usage of the coronavirus vaccine of China's Sinovac Biotech under its special access route, the city-state said on Wednesday, following its approval by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Singapore had this week said it would allow private healthcare providers to access Covid-19 vaccines not approved by Singapore but on the WHO's emergency use listing. Sinovac was added to the WHO list on Tuesday.

The health ministry said it was studying the possibility for private healthcare institutions to access Singapore's current stock of 200,000 Sinovac doses, which it received in February.

The ministry said Sinovac's CoronaVac was not part of the national vaccine programme, under which Singapore is using shots of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.

11:48 AM

BLM protesters in Northern Ireland will not be charged for Covid breaches

No prosecutions are to be taken against Black Lives Matter demonstrators who participated in protests in Northern Ireland when strict coronavirus rules on public gatherings were in place.

The Public Prosecution Service said it has decided not to take action over 14 suspects reported to it for potential offences under Stormont's Covid-19 regulations.

The decisions relate to three protests that occurred last June - two in Belfast and one in Londonderry.

Officials concluded that the test for prosecution was not met because the suspects would have been able to successfully argue a defence of reasonable excuse.

11:34 AM

Scottish Conservatives leader goes into self-isolation

The leader of the Scottish Conservatives is self-isolating after coming into contact with someone who had Covid-19.

Douglas Ross was in the Scottish Parliament this morning and questioned First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in Holyrood on Tuesday when she announced a delay to lockdown easing for three million Scots amid the spread of the Indian variant.

He is now self-isolating at an Edinburgh hotel and will be tested for coronavirus as soon as possible, a statement from his party says.

Four other MSPs and five members of staff will be tested as a precaution.

More details here:

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

11:19 AM

Cyprus checkpoints sealed by Covid-19 to reopen June 4, says UN

Checkpoints between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides of Cyprus are to reopen on Friday, the United Nations has said, marking the first time restrictions have been eased since December 2020 because of the pandemic.

Cyprus is split between its Greek and Turkish Cypriot populations, with a number of designated checkpoints controlling movements between the north and south of the island.

"The reopening of all crossing points will facilitate free movement, promote people to people contacts, build trust and have an overall positive socio-economic impact across the island for the benefit of all Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots," the United Nations mission on Cyprus said in a statement.

A committee of health experts from both sides would be assessing the situation on a bi-weekly basis.

Vehicle and pedestrian crossings have been subject to on-and-off closures since February 2020, when the Greek Cypriot side shut the checkpoints for the first time in decades to quell Covid-19.

11:07 AM

UK vaccine rollout continues at pace, in pictures

The UK government is pushing ahead with its vaccination program in its fight against the Indian variant - ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Covid vaccination staff with a Pfizer jab at Twickenham rugby stadium in London - ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Staff and volunteers in action at a coronavirus vaccination centre at Twickenham rugby stadium - Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

10:42 AM

China reports first human case of rare H10N3 bird flu strain

A 41-year-old man in China has been confirmed as the first human case of an infection with a rare strain of bird flu known as H10N3, in a vivid reminder of the continued threat of influenza.

Beijings National Health Commission (NHC) said on Tuesday that the man, who lives in the eastern province of Jiangsu, was hospitalised on April 28 and diagnosed with H10N3 on May 28.

Officials did not offer details about how the man became infected, but it is currently thought that the H10N3 strain does not spread easily between humans.

There are many strains of bird flu circulating across China which sporadically infect people, usually those who work with poultry.

The 41-year-old man has now fully recovered from the infection and is ready to be discharged, the NHC said, adding contact tracing found no other cases.

10:30 AM

We patients protected the NHS  now it's blaming us for its own failings

As thousands of patients with advanced cancers come to light, it takes some nerve to suggest they're the reason hospitals are struggling, Allison Pearson writes.

Back at the start of the first lockdown, all those aeons ago, a doctor gave me a piece of advice. Dont get ill, Allison, he said. But Im not really at risk from Covid, am I? Forget about Covid, he said, Just dont get ill from anything else for a year or two. I thought he was joking. I didnt know. Well, I do now.

10:13 AM

Poll: Can we get our freedoms back on June 21?

Boris Johnson is under mounting pressure to push ahead with lifting England's remaining Covid restrictions on June 21 after Nicola Sturgeon delayed the easing of lockdown in Scotland.

The First Minister's decision came despite the Government declaring zero Covid deaths in the UK for the first time since the pandemic began  a significant milestone that was cautiously welcomed by ministers and health chiefs.

It also comes despite the fact that Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, will announce that 75 per cent of adults in the UK are expected to have received their first jab by the end of Wednesday as the nationwide vaccine rollout continues apace.

But what do you think?

10:06 AM

Coronavirus around the world, in pictures

A truck sprays disinfectant against coronavirus, catching a passing motorcyclist off-guard in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam - Stringer/REUTERS

A person dressed in protective suits is seen walking down the street following the recent surge of coronavirus infections in Taipei, Taiwan - ANN WANG/REUTERS

Artist and sculptor Chen Weiming walks beside his latest sculpture "ccp virus" on display at Liberty Sculpture Park in the Mojave desert town of Yermo, California - FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP

09:53 AM

Poland to raise limit for wedding guests as Covid-19 cases fall

Poland will triple the number of guests allowed at large gatherings like weddings, the health minister said on Tuesday, as the country eases Covid-19 restrictions further due to a falling number of cases.

With restaurants open for business and children back in schools, Poland has already lifted many of the restrictions it put in place to contain the virus in spring, and with cases decreasing authorities say further easing can be put in place for the summer.

"We can see a further decrease in the daily number of infections and beds occupied, despite the increasing mobility of Poles," Adam Niedzielski told a news conference. "This is why we are proceeding with further easing of restrictions."

The number of guests allowed at large gatherings will rise to 150 from 50 as of June 6, Niedzielski said, adding that people who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus will not be counted as part of this limit.

09:40 AM

Proportion of deaths involving Covid at lowest level for eight months

The proportion of deaths involving coronavirus in England and Wales is at its lowest level for more than eight months, figures show.

There were 9,860 deaths from all causes registered in the week ending May 21, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Of these, 1.1pc (107 deaths) had coronavirus mentioned on the death certificate.

The last time the proportion was so low was in the week ending September 11, when the virus accounted for 1pc of deaths.

At the peak of the second wave, in the week ending January 29, Covid-19 accounted for 45.7pc of registered deaths.

09:20 AM

1.4 billion pupil catch-up cash branded 'pitiful' as recovery tsar admits more needed

The coronavirus catch-up tsar has said "more will be needed" to help children recover learning lost during the pandemic as school leaders branded the Government's extra 1.4 billion funding "pitiful".

The money, announced by the Department for Education on Wednesday, will be used to offer pupils up to 100 million hours of tuition as part of the Government's catch-up programme for children in England who have faced disruption due to Covid-19.

But the 1.4 billion - made available on top of 1.7 billion already pledged - has come under fire following suggestions that the Government's education recovery commissioner called for 10 times as much to be invested.

08:49 AM

Lowest number of weekly Covid deaths recorded since September 2020

A total of 107 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending May 21 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics, which is the lowest number since the week ending September 11 2020.

The figure is down 29pc on the previous week.

Some 25 care home resident deaths involving Covid-19 in England and Wales were registered in the week to May 21, down 17pc on the previous week.

08:30 AM

'I see the benefits directly' of a longer school day, says Education Secretary

Gavin Williamson said the Government would be reviewing school hours as part of "further improvements" to England's teaching system.

The Education Secretary told Sky News: "Longer term, we do want to see further changes and further improvements.

"That's why we are doing a review in terms of time within schools, how best we can use it.

"I think there is a debate to be had whether children should be exiting the school gate as they do in some schools at 2.45pm, or whether they should be in school later.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

08:12 AM

Engineered pandemic as big a threat as nuclear war

The threat of an "engineered pandemic" on a scale many times worse than the global Covid outbreak needs to be treated with the same level of urgency as the threat of nuclear war, experts have warned.

In a stark report the Centre for Long-Term Resilience warns that biological warfare, a leak of a virus from a lab and out-of-control artificial intelligence pose an extreme threat to humanity's very existence. Yet they are being ignored by policy makers in the UK and across the world.

The report, entitled Future Proof, calls on the government to learn lessons from Covid-19 and seize a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" to prepare for these and other extreme risks.

It says the "tragic events" of the pandemic have highlighted the need for the UK to transform its preparedness against biological threats. And it warns that the threat of diseases bio-engineered by humans  either by accident or by design  is growing "in step with the rapid march of biotechnological progress".

Read the full story from Anne Gulland, our Global Health Security Deputy Editor: 'Engineered pandemic' as big a threat as nuclear war, report warns

The theory that Covid escaped from a lab in Wuhan has been gaining increased credibility - Hector Retamal /AFP

08:02 AM

More money 'required' for lost pupil learning during pandemic, says Cabinet minister

Cabinet minister Gavin Williamson suggested more money will be "required" as the Government tackles lost pupil learning during the pandemic.

Put to him that an extra 1.4 billion amounted to 50 per pupil in England, the Education Secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It is quite unprecedented to be getting this quantum of money outside of a spending review.

"But what we decided we needed to do was deliver interventions and support and invest in children immediately."

Asked whether the Department for Education had not announced longer learning hours...due to a lack of extra funding, Mr Williamson said: "I have no doubt that in order to deliver everything we have ambitions for, for our children, there will be more that is required."

07:26 AM

Recording zero Covid deaths on Tuesday 'promising', says Gavin Williamson

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said recording zero deaths from coronavirus on Tuesday was "promising" but urged the public not to be complacent.

Speaking to LBC radio, he said: "It shows that the enormous sacrifices of the British people are starting to really deliver.

"The fact that the British people have gone out there with verve and gusto and actually got vaccinated when so many other nations have not had that same level of take-up is a real credit.

"It is promising what we've seen in terms of zero deaths but we can't be complacent."

Mr Williamson added that was a sense in Government that there had been "really promising progress" towards scrapping all restrictions on June 21.

He said: "The vaccines are having an impact in terms of actually reducing transmission, reducing the number of people in hospital and it is these factors that are going to guide the decision."

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

07:17 AM

The 1.4 billion for pupil Covid catch-up is 'part of process' of recovery, says Education Secretary

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said the 1.4 billion announced for pupil Covid catch-up was "part of a process" of recovery.

The Cabinet minister also said that he had been "working closely" with the Government's catch-up tsar on the plan, following reports Sir Kevan Collins had called for 15 billion of investment to increase learning opportunities.

Mr Williamson told Sky News: "It is a lot of money and it builds on 1.7 billion that we've already committed in terms of actually delivering for children - it is an extra 100 million hours of tutoring.

"It is making sure that children who need that help, who need that support, that we're delivering that tutoring revolution to help them get it.

07:14 AM

We started work on a vaccine before UK's first case, says Matt Hancock

The biggest risk during the pandemic was not to find a vaccine at all, Matt Hancock is expected to reveal, as he delivers a speech on the lessons learned from the response to coronavirus.

Speaking at the Jenner Institute in Oxford ahead of the UK-hosted G7 Health Ministers' Meeting this week, Mr Hancock is expected to say: "Even before the first Covid-19 case arrived in the UK we'd started the work on how to develop, procure and roll out the vaccines that would ultimately make us safe.

"I was told a vaccine had never been developed against any human coronavirus. We dared to believe ... and we started early.

"By March, we were supporting six different projects, including the Oxford vaccine, alongside the vital work on treatments - including the Recovery trial, which led to the discovery of dexamethasone, the first proven treatment to reduce coronavirus mortality. These two projects, together, have already saved over a million lives."

He will say: "The biggest risk would have been the failure to find a vaccine at all. So we explicitly embraced risk early on. So we backed lots of horses and invested at risk."

Matt Hancock arrives on Downing Street in London - David Cliff/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

07:01 AM

DVLA staff begin strike over Covid-related safety

Hundreds of workers at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency have launched fresh industrial action in a long-running dispute over Covid-related safety.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union at the DVLA site in Swansea went on strike on Wednesday until Saturday.

The union warned it was entering a new phase of "sustained and targeted" industrial unrest for months to come.

The latest strike is the third time staff have walked out over demands for more safety measures.

The DVLA insists it has done everything possible to keep workers safe and has followed official guidelines.

06:33 AM

Taiwan reports rise in new domestic Covid-19 cases

Taiwan reported 549 domestic Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, including 177 cases added to the totals for recent days as it continues to readjust its infection numbers following delays in reporting positive tests.

That was up from the 327 domestic infections reported on Tuesday.

06:25 AM

Scotland fans warned not to travel to London without Euro 2020 match ticket

Scotland fans without a ticket to their team's Euro 2020 match with England have been warned not to travel to London by mayor Sadiq Khan.

There will be nowhere for large groups to gather in the capital for the match at 8pm on Friday June 18, with the traditional Trafalgar Square meeting place being used as a socially-distanced fan zone for key workers.

About 2,600 tickets have been allocated for Scotland supporters in Wembley, with pubs and bars also expected to limit the number of football fans allowed in during the European Championship, which was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Khan has joined the Scottish Government and Scottish Football Association to ask fans not to travel to the city unless they have a ticket, or a safe place to watch the match.

He said: "I am today urging all fans to only come to London if you have a ticket for the match or if you have arranged a safe place to watch it from, in compliance with Covid-19 guidelines."

06:07 AM

Today's front page

Here is your Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, June 2.

tel front page

05:31 AM

Israel sees link between Pfizer vaccine and myocarditis

Israel's Health Ministry said that the small number of heart inflammation cases observed mainly in young men who received Pfizer's vaccine were likely linked to their vaccination.

Pfizer has said it has not observed a higher rate of the condition, known as myocarditis, than would normally be expected in the general population.

In Israel, 275 cases of myocarditis were reported between December 2020 and May 2021 among more than five million vaccinated people, the ministry said in disclosing the findings of a study it commissioned to examine the matter.

Most patients who experienced heart inflammation spent no more than four days in hospital and 95pc of the cases were classified as mild, according to the study, which the ministry said was conducted by three teams of experts.

The study found "there is a probable link between receiving the second dose (of Pfizer) vaccine and the appearance of myocarditis among men aged 16 to 30".

According to the findings, such a link was observed more among men aged 16 to 19 than in other age groups.

Pfizer said in a statement that it is aware of the Israeli observations of myocarditis, noting that no causal link to its vaccine has been established.

05:01 AM

Longer school day for catch-up in doubt

Proposals to extend the school day risk being shelved amid a government row over the multi-billion pound price tag, The Telegraph understands.

Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, has announced that disadvantaged children who need help to catch up will be offered tuition as part of a multi-billion pound Covid recovery programme. He also pledged millions for teacher training.

However, he stopped short of an expected announcement that the school day will be lengthened.

READ MORE: Proposals to extend school day risk being shelved amid row over multi-billion pound price tag

04:41 AM

UK set to reach vaccine milestone

The UK is on the brink of reaching the milestone of three-quarters of adults receiving their first Covid-19 vaccine, amid debate over ending restrictions.

It is expected to come the day after no deaths within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 were reported for the first time since July 30 last year.

Latest Government data suggests that more than 39.4 million people have received their first dose - equating to 74.9pc of adults.

In a speech on Wednesday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock will praise the central role of the NHS in the vaccine rollout and say the Government "backed lots of horses", investing "at risk" in different projects.

02:38 AM

Melbourne extends lockdown

A coronavirus lockdown of Australia's second-biggest city will be extended by another seven days, authorities announced on Wednesday, as they attempt to stamp out a cluster of cases in Melbourne.

"We have right now 60 cases and over 350 exposure sites and a variant of the virus that is quicker and more contagious than we have ever seen before," said James Merlino, the acting premier of the state of Victoria.

"I know that this is not the news that everyone wants to hear."

Victoria had imposed a seven-day "circuit-breaker" lockdown to fight a growing Covid cluster in northern Melbourne.

But after six new cases were recorded in the past 24 hours, Mr Merlino was forced to extend the temporary shutdown.

He said: "If we dont do this... this thing will get away. This variant of concern will become uncontrollable and people will die. No one - no one - wants to repeat last winter."

Central Melbourne was almost deserted on Tuesday - EPA

02:05 AM

Today' top stories
Watch: UK has officially reported zero COVID deaths

The whole country will be so glad, Matt Hancock said on Tuesday.

The health secretary was commenting on Twitter following the news that zero COVID deaths had been recorded in the UK on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, at least six national newspapers put the story on their front pages.

The arrival of the first day of zero reported COVID deaths since the pandemic began is undoubtedly good news. But a number of scientists have urged caution over the data.

For a start, the daily death data are based on the date a death is recorded by the authorities, as opposed to the date a death actually happened.

'Zero': UK national newspaper front pages on Wednesday.

Deaths can take several days to be confirmed and officially recorded in the daily figures.

The fact that Tuesdays data followed a bank holiday weekend also means people should not get too excited, Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said.

He explained: Several of the sources of data on deaths are not searched on bank holiday weekends and so bank holiday Mondays and the following Tuesdays always report lower results than expected.

Wednesdays then see more deaths reported than expected.

Kevin McConway, professor of applied statistics at the Open University, added: I think you cant read much into one day with no deaths reported.

For example, there were only four deaths reported on 4 May, the day after the May Day bank holiday, even though for most days around then, deaths were in double figures.

While scientists were guarded in responding to Tuesdays zero reported deaths, they were happy to acknowledge the low numbers.

Forty-three deaths have been reported in the past seven days. At the peak of the second wave in January, there were two seven-day periods where more than 8,000 deaths were reported.

Read more:

Country with one of worlds highest vaccine rates battling record COVID outbreak

Could pupils be facing a longer school day? The key arguments explored

Story continues

Dr Nathalie MacDermott, clinical lecturer in infectious diseases at Kings College London, said: What is apparent is the marked reduction in daily deaths from COVID-19 over the last couple of months, which is representative of the significant reduction in daily case numbers of infections over the last five months and the impact of the vaccination programme providing a level of protection to older and more vulnerable individuals.

There was more good COVID news on Wednesday, when new Office for National Statistics data showed the proportion of deaths involving the coronavirus in England and Wales is at its lowest level for nine months.

There were 9,860 deaths from all causes registered in the week ending 21 May. Of these, 1.1% (107) had novel coronavirus mentioned on the death certificate: the lowest since September last year.

However, the impact of the more transmissible Indian variant  renamed the "delta" variant by the World Health Organization  remains to be seen amid continued debate over whether or not the government should end England's lockdown as planned on 21 June.

Sir John Bell, professor of medicine at Oxford University, told BBC Radio 4s Today programme that current figures dont look too intimidating but they still need to play out for a couple of weeks before a decision is made.

Watch: No decision made on June 21 lockdown lifting, minister says
PRAGUE (Reuters) -Czech restaurants, bars and nightclubs can serve customers indoors from Monday, Health Minister Adam Vojtech said, announcing a quicker-than-planned easing of COVID-19 restrictions following a court ruling.

The Czech Republic will also open up to tourists from some European and overseas countries who have at least had their first COVID-19 shot, effective Tuesday.

The Czech government, which has been battling one of the world's most severe second waves of the pandemic, had planned to open indoor facilities from mid-June.

But last week the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that blanket restrictions on restaurants were illegal, acting on a complaint filed by a customer.

"I am not entirely happy that we have to make such a radical easing in one moment. If it were not for the court ruling, then I would suggest sticking to the June 14 date (planned for reopening)," Vojtech told a televised news conference on Friday.

Restaurants have been allowed to serve customers outdoors since May 17. Schools have also reopened.

From Monday, swimming pools, saunas and casinos will also be allowed to reopen, while the numbers allowed at shows and sports events will rise.

For restaurants, self-tests for COVID-19 will suffice, while for all other venues that are allowed to reopen people will have to get tested professionally, Vojtech said.

As of Tuesday, the country will let in vaccinated visitors from Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Austria, and Germany, as well as Australia, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. Croatia should join the list too, but the deal has yet to be finalised, the foreign ministry said.

As of Friday morning, the seven-day number of reported cases per 100,000 dropped to 34. Earlier this year, the Czech Republic had one of the highest per capita COVID-19 infection and death rates in the world.

The number of daily vaccinations has reached around 100,000. The country of 10.7 million has distributed 5 million doses of vaccines in total so far, and 1.37 million people have now received two doses.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Robert Muller, writing by Jason Hovet; editing by Gareth Jones and Nick Macfie)
Jun. 2Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, in her bid to become Ohio governor, released a plan Tuesday that she says would dismantle the "culture of corruption" in state politics.

The four part plan includes:  Creating a new Public Accountability Commission to oversee the Ohio Inspector General's Office and refer investigations to other state watchdog agencies. The commission's first task would be assessing and recommending closure of loopholes to Ohio ethics law.  Increasing funding for watchdog agencies such as the Ohio Ethics Commission, which has seen stagnant funding amid a growing caseload.  Issuing an executive order prohibiting lobbying within two years of leaving office for people appointed to boards and commissions, disclosing reasons for non-competitive bids and adding ethics officers to every state agency.  Passing legislation, such as House Bill 306, to add transparency to campaign finance and close dark money loopholes.

"The biggest thing we are trying to do is we're trying to take the power to investigate politicians out of the hands of the same politicians and give it back to the people," Whaley said.

Whaley announced the plan on the steps of the Ohio statehouse, joined by state Rep. Willis Blackshear Jr., D-Dayton. Blackshear said that state lawmakers have shown little appetite to address these issues because many of them benefit from dark money and loopholes.

"We need to hold our elected leaders accountable," he said. "People in my community, the people I talk to when I'm on the ground, they have lost faith in our government because of the corruption they see. How can they believe the government works for them when they see so many political leaders who are just out for themselves?"

Whaley's proposal follows a series of high-profile statewide scandals in recent years. This includes the recent indictments of the Ohio House speaker and others in what federal prosecutors call a $61 million bribery scheme linked to the nuclear energy bailout House Bill 6.

Story continues

Whaley said the perception that Ohio leads the nation in political corruption puts pressure on lawmakers, who would have to approve the parts of her proposal that can't be accomplished by executive order.

The Ohio Republican Party issued a statement Tuesday noting that an FBI agent in 2019 said there was a "culture of corruption in Dayton-area politics" when announcing a corruption probe that resulted in convictions of a former city councilmember, former state lawmaker and city employee.

"While Nan Whaley is holding a press conference to launch cherry-picked partisan attacks, Republicans are focused on getting Ohioans back to work," said Ohio Republican Party Executive Director Justin Bis.

"Instead of holding perfunctory press conferences, Mayor Whaley should work on fixing the 'culture of corruption' in Dayton's City Hall."

Whaley said that in the wake of the Dayton corruption probe, the city hired an independent firm to conduct an audit and revised city policy to increase oversight.

"Unlike (Ohio Gov.) Mike DeWine and this legislature we actually took action," she said.

Whaley and other city leaders refused to release the full findings of the audit but in January released an executive summary saying city staff operated with too little oversight but there was no evidence of widespread impropriety.
A drunk man in Wisconsin got quite a surprise when he reportedly woke up in an Airbnb full of sheriffs deputies.

Deputies with the Flathead County Sheriffs Office in Montana rented a house in Milwaukee while they were in town for police training, KULR reported.

About 2:30 a.m., one of the deputies heard some crashing upstairs but thought it was one of this colleagues, he said in a video posted to TikTok.

The next morning, the group found one of the doors to the property open and started scouring the house.

Eventually they found a drunk dude had broken in during the night and was asleep in a bed, they said in the video.

This silly guy found the one Airbnb in all of downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, loaded with cops, one deputy said. He woke up in handcuffs.

The deputy said the group called police. Officers arrived and took the man away, and then the group headed to training.

He had no idea where he was. He had no idea where he thought he was, and he didnt know where he came from, a deputy told WISN.

Police told the outlet the man wasnt cited or charged  he was drunk and went into the wrong house.

The TikTok has been viewed more than 1 million times as of May 31.

One deputy said its important to him to stay active on the platform.

I try to make everything a TikTok video. Part of what I do in our community is put myself out in front of people to be a real person, he told WISN, adding that its good for people to see were still having fun and still real people.

Editors note: McClatchy News is not linking to the TikTok video because it clearly identifies the accused.

Read next:

A ghost town went viral on TikTok  but dont try to visit, Missouri sheriff warns

YouTuber filmed himself at SpaceX launch site in Texas. Now, hes wanted by police
AutoCentral, the multi-brand service and repair centre under Al Masaood Group, has signed a service agreement with Beijing Automotive Industry Holding (BAIC), one of Chinas largest automakers by volume.

Under the terms of their partnership, AutoCentral will handle all general and mechanical repairs of BAICs passenger vehicles in the UAE with a provision for auto body insurance coverage. Following this agreement, owners of BAIC-branded vehicles now have a trusted service agency to carry our quality auto repairs.

This new cooperation encompasses a range of services, including quick lube, periodic maintenance, tyre change and servicing, and battery replacement. AutoCentrals team of experienced and qualified technicians will also extend brake and suspension repairs, engine repairs, electrical repair service, A/C maintenance and repair, troubleshooting and diagnostics, body and paint repairs, SMART repair, and value-added services.

Mirsad Nezirevic, General Manager  Service, AutoCentral, said: Our new ties with BAIC are the latest positive result that has come out of our continuing endeavours to build new partnerships and alliances. It serves as an opportunity for us to showcase the reliability of our solutions and the skills of our team to the renowned automotive manufacturer BAIC. We will ensure that we continuously enhance our value proposition to meet our goal of becoming one of the most reliable automotive service providers in Abu Dhabi and the UAE.

The service centre offers a premium experience integrated with other various facilities. Employing experienced, qualified technicians as well as well-trained experts in periodic mechanical services and body and paint repairs, AutoCentral is committed to providing high-quality services at competitive rates according to the best dealership standards.

This collaboration is the newest passenger-car venture of the Beijing-based state-owned enterprise and holding company with a foreign firm in the UAE. Al Shaali Moto Trading is the partner distributor of BAIC units in the Gulf state.-- TradeArabia News Service
(VIA REUTERS)

Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, is apparently unable to afford to hire an attorney to defend him against civil rights charges stemming from the incident.

Insider reports that a federal judge deemed Chauvin "financially unable" to fund his defense in a ruling on Tuesday.

US Magistrate Judge Beck Thorson wrote in a court filing that she would be appointing Eric Nelson, who acted as Chauvin's defence attorney in his state murder trial.

Chauvin made his first appearance in federal court on Tuesday where he stands accused of using his power as a law enforcement officer to violate Mr Floyd's civil rights, which are protected under federal law. He is also facing charges he did the same to a 14-year-old boy he is accused of restraining in 2017.

A grand jury voted to indict Chauvin and three other former Minneapolis police officers involved in Mr Floyd's death on the federal charges last month.

The former police officer is facing up to 40 years in prison. His sentencing hearing is slated for 25 June.

Chauvin waived his right to a detention hearing on the civil rights charges, saying "in light of my current circumstances, I think that would be a moot point.

During the procedural hearing, Chauvin said he understood his rights and the charges that were being brought against him. He also confirmed that he wished to be represented by Mr Nelson.

Though Chauvin's deadly encounter with Mr Floyd is well known, his incident with the teenager has largely flown under the radar.

Prosecutors claim that videos from the 2017 arrest show Chauvin striking the teenager in the head and then pinning him to the ground using his knee, ignoring the teen's complaints that he could not breath.

Chauvin has yet to enter a plea regarding his civil rights charges and an arraignment has not yet been scheduled.

According to court documents, Mr Nelson is seeking a downward sentencing departure from Judge Peter Cahill, who will decide Chauvin's sentencing in his state case.

Story continues

Mr Nelson arged that "the requisite substantial and compelling circumstances for a downward dispositional departure are present in this case and urges this court to grant its motions and impose a probationary sentence, limiting his incarceration to time served, or in the alternative, a downward durational departure in crafting its sentence for Mr. Chauvin."

J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao  all former Minneapolis officers who were present during Mr Floyd's death  made their first appearances in federal court on 7 May. They are preparing to go to trial over charges of aiding and abetting the murder and manslaughter of Mr Floyd, which is scheduled for March 2022.

Read More

Prosecutors want more time for federal trial in Floyd death

Chauvin faces hearing on federal charges in Floyd's death

Biden to honor forgotten victims of Tulsa race massacre
YouTube is full of videos promoting 10-step skincare routines, and supermarkets are stocked with serum-soaked sheet masks  all while gua sha results go viral on TikTok. But do you know the origins of these products and practices? Maybe not. And that's a problem.

As beauty routines like these surge in popularity in the U.S., their rich Asian history often gets erased or the products are whitewashed, which is harmful to the communities who created them.

Charlotte Cho, co-founder of Soko Glam, a company that specializes in Korean beauty products from sheet masks to cleansing balms, has been helping to introduce Korean beauty to the U.S. for almost nine years.

As time goes on, I think people are forgetting that these innovations are coming from Korea," she says. A lot of the Western and American brands are adopting these ingredients and products into their own product line, but oftentimes the way in which they introduce a product doesn't shed light on the origin story of the innovation that they adopted from."

It's important to not only understand but to celebrate the origins of Asian beauty tools, says Lin Chen, CEO and founder of Pink Moon, which sells gua sha tools, a Traditional Chinese Medicine-rooted practice, as well as other wellness products.

"These products and practices are actually manifestations of diverse Asian cultures," she adds. "Our voices have long been marginalized in the mainstream beauty industry, and it is essential that our largely growing contributions be recognized for both their historical and contemporary significance."

Erasure is hurtful,' 'frustrating'

Not highlighting or respecting the origins of Asian beauty innovations is hurtful, Chen says.

Gua Sha as a practice is thousands of years old and was used to promote healing in the body. To see it discussed as Asian botox is disconcerting and disappointing, she says. Seeing brands cheapen the legacy of something that has been a mainstay of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for millennia is frustrating.

Story continues

Sandra Lanshin Chiu, a licensed acupuncturist who founded the healing studio Lanshin, says not giving proper credit is also offensive.

It offends me when brands profit from ingredients or traditions like gua sha without deep reverence for the culture and respect for Asian people who have been carrying the traditions for generations and centuries, Chiu says. It would mean a lot to the community to see our culture properly represented and our traditions communicated as intended.

What is gua sha? Everything you need to know

Gua sha tools from Lanshin.

Angela Chau Gray, co-founder of skincare line Yina, says not sharing the origins stories of Asian products marginalizes a huge population.

Chiu says people are erasing Asian culture" by whitewashing some of these practices.

"Its easy to call something a trend and offer it in a watered down way thats disconnected from the more complex  and rewarding  aspects of the tradition, she says, explaining that misinformation risks degrading a practice's efficacy.

"When brands and influencers make claims and provide uninformed support, it inevitably leads to disappointed consumers who question the credibility of TCM," she added.

That's why learning from people who understand the background and best techniques for a product is important

Jennifer Lee, vice president and co-founder of K-Beauty brand LAPCOS, said she saw this happen when educating people about sheet masks.

"People would use it and then wipe everything off, and I was like, 'No, no, don't do that,' you want to let it soak in," she explained.

LAPCOS sheet masks

Not getting proper guidance can sometimes cause more harm than good. Such is the case with ingesting TCM herbs without guidance from a licensed practitioner, Gray warns.

"Ive cringed at the reishi and astragalus powders being dumped into smoothies and coffee," she explains. "This is not how these herbs were meant to be used.

Balancing accessibility and respect

While Cho is "really excited" to see Korean beauty part of the mainstream and is "very hopeful for the future," she says brands can be more mindful.

"It's not about shaming companies or brands, I think it's just about sharing this information," she says. "There's nothing wrong with using ingredients that are traditionally from different cultures... The intent is show respect for all of these traditions, don't pass them off as your own."

Chiu says "its critical" for brands and individuals profiting from Asian heritage practices or products to actively share and educate consumers about the origins.

More: This unconventional tummy workout is viral on TikTok, but fitness experts warn people to 'be careful'

"Otherwise, it simply erases the culture," she says.

Cho also thinks it's a "win-win" for brands and consumers to be more transparent because "customers actually love hearing the origin stories."

For example, people may not know that cushion compacts used for foundation were inspired by the Korean tradition of stamping official documents with red ink and a jade stamp.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

"This innovation is trending outside of Korea now, because it is such an easy seamless way to apply foundation," Cho explained.

The popular pimple patches seen on the market today, which use hydrocolloid to help clean out impurities and heal acne, also have roots in Korea.

"It's not like Koreans invented hydrocolloid, (but) they were smart enough to tackle acne as a wound," Cho says.

Lee thinks bringing "any type of accessibility of skincare to the world is beneficial for everyone."

Two-toned lips for summer? How to create a perfect ombre lip (because TikTok made us do it)

Consumers can also do their part, Lee says, by purchasing from Asian-owned brands.

"Seoul is one of the capitals of the beauty world and Koreans know what they're doing," she laughed.

Chiu says consumers looking to learn about a TCM practice like gua sha should also "turn to the people who grew up with it and understand it on a deeper level."

More: Chuck Lorre's new CBS sitcom 'United States of Al' faces backlash over Afghan representation

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gua sha, sheet masks and why it's important to celebrate Asian beauty
Sir Kevan Collins was leading the effort to help children catch up on missed schooling - Alamy

Boris Johnson's education catch-up tsar resigned on Wednesday night as he accused ministers of a "half-hearted" approach to helping thousands of schoolchildren whose learning has been disrupted by the Covid pandemic.

Sir Kevan Collins warned that the current funding allocated "does not come close to meeting the scale of the challenge" posed by months of school disruption and said he had "no option" but to quit.

In a scathing statement, Sir Kevan  appointed just four months ago  added that the rescue package announced on Wednesday betrayed "an undervaluation of the importance of education".

His resignation came less than 24 hours after Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, announced a new 1.4 billion cash injection for pupil tuition and teacher training but failed to give the green light to Sir Kevan's call for a more radical extension of the school day.

It represented just one-tenth of the 15 billion funding that Sir Kevan said was necessary to help students catch up, with friends revealing that he had privately expressed dismay on Tuesday evening and feared he had "let down" the sector.

He said the money was just 6,000 in direct funding to the average primary school  equivalent to 22 per child.

Critics have also pointed to an analysis by the Education Policy Institute, which claims that the 3.1 billion of catch-up funding announced in total since the pandemic began amounts to just 310 per pupil over three years, compared with 1,600 in the US and 2,500 in the Netherlands. Teaching unions called the promised recovery fund a "damp squib".

On Wednesday night, Whitehall insiders reacted with fury to the news, with one describing the Government's current funding package as a "joke" and warning that staff morale in the Department for Education (DfE) had hit "rock bottom". They said numerous officials felt "the department and Government are fundamentally failing kids".

Story continues

The departure will be seen as an embarrassing setback for Mr Johnson, who only hours beforehand had defended the funding settlement and said he was "hopeful" that more was coming "down the track".

It will also heap further pressure on Rishi Sunak, after allies of Sir Kevan accused the Chancellor and Treasury officials of being "completely in denial" and refusing to sign off on a more ambitious package that included lengthening the school day.

Negotiations over extending the school day are expected to resume in the coming months ahead of the Chancellor's spending review.

Sir Kevan on Wednesday confirmed reports that he had put forward proposals for "significant funding for a flexible extension to school time, equivalent to 30 minutes extra every day".

Mr Williamson had backed Sir Kevan's calls for a bigger settlement, saying on Wednesday he was in "no doubt" that "there will be more that is required... in order to deliver everything we have ambitions for".

However, he also conceded that he had for the time being lost the battle with Mr Sunak, who is said to have ultimately won out after Mr Johnson agreed to a watering down of the proposals.

Sir Kevan Collins' resignation will increase pressure on Rishi Sunak for a bigger settlement - Dan Kitwood/ Getty Images Europe

As a result, ministers have committed only to holding a review into lengthening the school day, which The Telegraph understands will look at whether head teachers should be prevented from sending pupils home earlier than 3pm.

It is understood that officials will examine successful academies and private schools, which already run longer school days and fill the extra time with more extracurricular activities, to see what can be achieved under existing frameworks.

The review is also expected to consider whether an hour-long lunch break should be compulsory after Mr Williamson signalled alarm that some schools had cut lunchtime breaks to just 30 minutes, with others sending pupils home as early as 2.45pm.

"Clearly, sending pupils home at 2.45 doesn't sound great on the face of it," a Government source said on Wednesday night. "If schools which have a slightly longer day see their results improve after doing that, then we've got an example of good practice."

However, arguing that far more ambitious reform was needed, Sir Kevan said in a resignation statement: "A half-hearted approach risks failing hundreds of thousands of pupils. The support announced by Government so far does not come close to meeting the scale of the challenge and is why I have no option but to resign from my post.

"One conservative estimate puts the long-term economic cost of lost learning in England due to the pandemic at 100 billion, with the average pupil having missed 115 days in school. The pandemic has affected all pupils, but hit disadvantaged children hardest. A decade's progress to narrow the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers is estimated to have been reversed.

"The package of support announced yesterday falls far short of what is needed. It is too narrow, too small and will be delivered too slowly. The average primary school will directly receive just 6,000 per year, equivalent to 22 per child. Not enough is being done to help vulnerable pupils, children in the early years or 16 to 19-year-olds.

"Above all, I am concerned that the package announced yesterday betrays an undervaluation of the importance of education, for individuals and as a driver of a more prosperous and healthy society."

Sir Kevan said 'one conservative estimate puts the long-term economic cost of lost learning in England due to the pandemic at 100 billion' - Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

In an apparent swipe at Mr Johnson, who has made "levelling up" his primary agenda, Sir Kevan added: "In parts of the country where schools were closed for longer, such as the North, the impact of low skills on productivity is likely to be particularly severe."

Tory MPs expressed deep unease at Sir Kevans resignation, which some fear has shattered the credibility of the catch-up programme.

Robert Halfon, the chairman of the Commons education committee, told The Telegraph: "It's incredibly sad that Sir Kevan Collins has resigned and I hope his work will live on.

"While the 3 billion is very welcome, we do need a very serious long-term plan to repair the damage from Covid, increase educational attainment from pupils and to ensure good educational outcomes.

"There needs to be a properly resourced, properly funded plan for education. His departure is clearly a blow."

Meanwhile, a major blame game was underway in Whitehall, with officials taking aim at the Department for Education's permanent secretary, Susan Acland-Hood, who is said to have used an all-staff departmental meeting to applaud the latest funding despite a widespread backlash.

One source accused her of "celebrating the triumphant catch-up package, only for Sir Kevan to resign".

Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "We are sad but not surprised that Sir Kevan Collins is reported to be standing down as Education Recovery Commissioner following the Government's announcement of a recovery package which clearly falls a long way short of what he had in mind.

"We know that Sir Kevan had much bolder and broader plans but that these required substantially more investment than the Government was willing to provide. He's tried his hardest on behalf of children and young people but, in the final analysis, the political will just wasn't there to support him."

Hitting back at critics, Nazhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, told ITV's Peston programme that the teaching unions attacking the Government's plans were the ones "who resisted the idea of extending the school day in the first place".

However, Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the National Education Union, dismissed his claims as a "big fat Tory lie", adding that unions had backed Sir Kevan's "vision of education and recovery".

"We all knew, each union knew, that this was our best chance to get significant funds into education and we were prepared to be flexible and work with him," she said.

A Number 10 spokesman said: "The Prime Minister is hugely grateful to Sir Kevan for his work in helping pupils catch up and recover from the effects of the pandemic. The Government will continue to focus on education recovery and making sure no child is left behind with their learning."

A DfE spokesman said: "The permanent secretary, with ministers and the wider department, is focused on delivering the Government's levelling up agenda so that no child is left behind with their learning, including through the 3 billion recovery package we have committed so far."
Betsy DeVos, then the secretary of education, at a White House coronavirus press briefing on July 8, 2020. Alex Wong/Getty Images

USA Today last year found that an educational agency accredited a school that seemed to be fake.

The agency, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges & Schools, lost recognition Wednesday.

It had also accredited now-defunct for-profit schools that were accused of defrauding students.

See more stories on Insider's business page.

The Education Department on Wednesday canceled its recognition of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges & Schools for approving a school that appears to have no faculty or students but received federal funds anyway.

USA Today conducted an investigation last year that found that although approved by ACICS, Reagan National University in South Dakota did not house any faculty, students, or staff members. And while the agency said Reagan had met its standards during the accreditation process, it declined to say specifically how it verified the college had students and faculty.

This caused the Education Department on Wednesday to remove ACICS' recognition, given its inability to deliver sufficient evidence as to why it accredited Reagan in the first place.

"ACICS's significant and systemic noncompliance with multiple regulatory recognition criteria leaves me no reasonable option but to terminate its recognition, effective immediately," Jordan Matsudaira, the deputy undersecretary for education, wrote in a notice posted to the department's website.

Schools that are approved by accreditors are given access to federal grants and student loans, so even though Reagan appeared to be nonfunctioning, it still could access federal funds.

Reagan ended up being stripped of its recognition, but Betsy DeVos, the education secretary for nearly all of the Trump administration, stood by ACICS and said the agency had followed proper procedure when choosing to accredit the school.

But Reagan was not the first questionable school to fall under ACICS' jurisdiction. The agency has accredited more than 60 for-profit schools, and several of those schools - including Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institutes - have shut down in the past decade amid allegations of fraudulent behavior, including engaging in misleading marketing practices and persuading students to take out loans they would never be able to pay back.

Story continues

Specifically, in 2014, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accused Corinthian of illegally collecting high-interest private loans that it marketed to students. And in 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission took ITT Tech to court over accusations it deceived investors about high rates of late payment and defaults on student loans.

The Education Department's decision to remove ACICS' recognition follows a series of actions already taken to reverse Trump-era rules. For example, last week, the department announced plans to start tackling flaws in the student-loan system, including by changing DeVos' method to forgive student debt for borrowers defrauded by for-profit schools.

President Barack Obama established the borrower defense to repayment to forgive student debt for eligible defrauded borrowers, and, under him, the program had a 99.2% approval rate, but when DeVos took over, 99.4% of eligible borrowers were denied from the program. President Joe Biden's education secretary, Miguel Cardona, canceled $1 billion in student debt for defrauded borrowers in March, and DeVos is soon set to testify over why so many eligible defrauded borrowers never received relief.

Read the original article on Business Insider
HOUSTON (AP)  A former Houston police officer has pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with a 2019 drug raid that killed both homeowners.

Steven Bryant admitted in his guilty plea Tuesday that he lied and obstructed the resulting investigation in the raid, the Houston Chronicle reported.

His plea was the first time a law enforcement officer connected to the raid has pleaded guilty or been convicted.

Bryant was charged last August with tampering with a government record. He was accused of providing false information in a report after the raid that supported the story of his partner, Gerald Goines, about a confidential informant.

Goines was also charged with two counts of felony murder after police accused him of lying in a search warrant about having a confidential informant buying heroin at the home. He later acknowledged there was no informant and that he bought the drugs himself, authorities said.

The fabricated drug deal was part of the justification for the raid, which ended in gunfire that killed Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas and injured five police officers.

After Tuesday's hearing, Bryant's attorney, Andy Drumheller, declined to discuss the case. In a brief statement, he said Bryants plea was a reflection of his decision to take responsibility for his conduct.

He very much regrets what happened, Drumheller said.
By William Schomberg

LONDON (Reuters) - British finance minister Rishi Sunak said a U.S. proposal to focus on the world's 100 biggest and most profitable firms as part of a global tax deal could work but he insisted that big tech firms must pay more tax in countries where they operate.

Sunak told Reuters that the Group of Seven was making "really good progress" on the long-disputed reform before finance ministers from the group of rich economies fly to London for talks on Friday and Saturday.

The meeting will be their first face-to-face encounter since the COVID-19 pandemic struck. It is also the first since Joe Biden replaced Donald Trump as U.S. president, raising hopes for more cooperation between Washington and the rest of the world.

"It's certainly something we can work with as long as it meets our objectives of getting at the right companies and on the face of it, it can," Sunak said in an interview, conducted at his office at Number 11 Downing Street, when asked about the U.S. proposal. "We just need to work through the details."

The plan would simplify the approach to taxing multinational corporations. It would focus on the profits of the 100 biggest companies that have benefitted most from globalisation, chief among them tech giants, which have seen their businesses boom during the pandemic.

Britain and other countries have worried that it might not offset the possible impact of a parallel plan for a global minimum corporate tax rate that could funnel more money into U.S. coffers at their expense, just as they face up to the huge costs of steering their economies through the COVID-19 crisis.

Britain, which is chairing the G7 this year, is particularly concerned about missing a chance to tackle how global companies move profits into low-tax countries, after eight years of negotiations that were stopped by the Trump administration.

But Sunak, a 41 year-old former Goldman Sachs analyst whose meteoric rise in government had made him a possible contender for prime minister in the future, praised his U.S. opposite number Janet Yellen for "changing the dynamic" and said there was a way forward based on the U.S. proposal.

Story continues

He cautioned that key points were still being hammered out:

"I can't get into the detail but my broad point is that the approach that they've set out in principle is something that we can work with."

"REALLY STRONG SIGNAL"

In the absence so far of a global deal on how to split up tax rights, Britain and other countries have imposed taxes on digital services targetting the revenues of technology firms.

Those taxes angered the Trump team which kicked off a process that could lead to trade tariffs.

Biden's administration put the process on hold earlier this year. On Wednesday it announced 25% tariffs on over $2 billion worth of imports from six countries, including Britain, but suspended them for 180 days to focus on the international talks.

Sunak, speaking before the tariff announcement in Washington, said the 500 million pounds that Britain expects to raise this year with its digital services tax "gives you a sense of what's appropriate" for the outcome of a global deal.

Sunak said he remained "confident and optimistic" that a tax deal could be agreed by the G7 in time to be put to finance ministers from the broader Group of 20 economies in July, the target date for a global agreement.

Germany's finance minister, Olaf Scholz, told Reuters in a separate interview he expected "significant progress" on tax in the talks in London but said all large digital companies had to be covered by the new rules.

Some European officials are concerned that retailer Amazon, which has relatively low operating profit margins, might not be covered depending on the agreed definition of profitability.

Sunak said beyond the numbers, reaching a tax reform deal - and progress on aligning the financial system more closely to the fight against climate change - would show that international cooperation was working again.

"I think it sends a really strong signal that large economies, the G7, are able to come together to work through difficult problems...and figure out how to solve them," he said. "We haven't seen that for a little while."

(Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
By Hyunjoo Jin

(Reuters) - Tesla Inc has dropped radar sensors from its semi-autonomous driving system, Autopilot, raising concerns over the safety of the camera-only version, Tesla Vision.

Tesla aims to make the driver-assist system fully self-driving, and many in that young industry are skeptical that a vision-only system will work, saying such systems face challenges in darkness, sunny glare and poor weather conditions.

Safety ratings groups have dropped their labels until they test newly configured cars.

Still, Tesla's chief executive, Elon Musk, has surprised the industry before - first and foremost by turning the electric vehicle maker into the world's most valuable car company.

Here are some questions and answers about Tesla's bet on a camera-based system.

HOW DOES TESLA'S SYSTEM WORK, WITH AND WITHOUT RADAR?

Tesla in May started delivering Model 3 and Model Y with a driver-assist system based on eight cameras mounted around the car and with no radar. The cameras, like eyes, send images to computer networks, like the brain, which recognize and analyse objects.

Over the years, Tesla's view of radar has changed.

In May 2016, a Tesla car crashed, killing the driver, when Autopilot failed to detect a white semi-truck crossing in front of it.

Later that year, Tesla announced a plan to give radar a primary role in navigation while describing a false-alarm problem with some radar systems that needed to be fixed.

"Good thing about radar is that, unlike lidar ... it can see through rain, snow, fog and dust," Musk tweeted in 2016. Tesla also said radar "plays an essential role in detecting and responding to forward objects." Tesla does not use a more expensive lidar sensor, which gives more precise shape information of an object than radar.

Tesla drivers complained of "phantom braking" when their cars stopped abruptly on highways under an overpass or a bridge.

Musk said the new camera-only system will likely be safer than radar because of less "noise" or confusing signals, industry news site Electrek reported.

Story continues

After the May 2016 crash, Tesla had similar accidents of cars crashing into semi-trucks and stationary police cars and fire trucks. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently investigating 24 accidents involving Tesla cars.

HOW DO OTHER SELF-DRIVING TECHNOLOGIES WORK?

Most automakers and self-driving vehicle companies such as Alphabet Inc's Waymo use three types of sensors: Cameras, radar and lidar.

Radar systems, like cameras, are relatively inexpensive. They work in poor weather but lack resolution to accurately determine the shape of objects. Lidar has higher resolution, but is vulnerable to weather conditions.

"You need to use all the different kinds of sensors and then combine them," said Raj Rajkumar, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, reflecting a common industry view.

Tesla's camera-centric system is "much harder to design, but it is also much cheaper" than Waymo's laser-based lidar approach, enabling the electric car maker to scale up and further improve its technology, Tesla's artificial intelligence director, Andrej Karpathy, said in a Robot Brains podcast in March.

WHAT DOES TESLA LOSE BY GIVING UP RADAR?

There is a lot of debate on this issue.

The loss of radar degrades driver-support features enough "to render them less usable to unusable in adverse weather conditions," Steven Shladover, a research engineer at Berkeley University of California.

"It makes no sense whatsoever technologically - only a way of reducing cost of components," he said.

Since radar is good at measuring distances accurately, its loss could affect emergency braking to avoid collisions with slowed vehicles, said Ram Machness, chief business officer of advanced radar maker Arbe Robotics.

"If you drop radar without proving vision alone does that job as well, then you're compromising safety," Telanon, a developer of a driver support system, said on Twitter.

Tesla said some driver-assistant features including its ability to maintain speed at the pace of the car ahead may be temporarily limited or inactive upon delivery. It said it would start restoring the features via software updates in the weeks ahead.

Musk told Electrek that the vision system had improved so much that it was better off without radar.

Last week, NHTSA withdrew its advanced safety features label for new Model 3 and Model Y vehicles and Consumer Reports dropped its "top pick" label. Both intend to test the vision-only system.

WHO KNOWS BEST?

Tesla's plan runs counter to most of the self-driving industry, but it is difficult to say who is right. No company has yet deployed a fully functional self-driving system in scale, and the entire industry is years behind initial projections.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in Berkeley, Calif.; Additional reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Peter Henderson and Matthew Lewis)
Relatives of scores of schoolchildren kidnapped by gunmen from an Islamic seminary over the weekend have appealed to the government to help free them, after the latest mass abduction to target a Nigerian school.

Some 200 children were at the school in Tegina, central Niger state, when it was raided on Sunday, the local government said, without confirming the exact number abducted.

Niger state police said attackers had arrived on motorbikes and started shooting indiscriminately, killing one resident and injuring another, before snatching the children from the Salihu Tanko Islamic school.

"My appeal to the government is that they should try to protect our people first and our children first," Sa'idu Umar, whose child was among those abducted, told AFP on Tuesday.

"We are hoping that they are going to try harder to bring back our children successfully."

Mothers and other relatives crouched, weeping and waiting for the missing children outside the school.

The Tegina attack marked the latest mass kidnapping in central and northwest Nigeria, where armed criminal gangs often raid villages to loot, steal cattle and kidnap for ransom.

Nigerian state authorities have said they are negotiating to bring the children back safely, though said they refused to pay ransom.

One school official said more than 100 children were taken though gunmen soon let a few go because they were "too small and couldn't walk".

"The authorities have done well, but we want them to do more, because as we are here, all the security, both the civil defence, and the army, and the police, they are there with us since yesterday," said Muhammed Garba, another parent.

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the security and intelligence forces to step up efforts to rescue the children.

Mass kidnappings in northwest and central Nigeria are complicating challenges facing Buhari's security forces, who are also battling a more than decade-long jihadist insurgency in the northeast of the country.

Story continues

Since December 2020, before the attack on Sunday, 730 children and students had been kidnapped.

Gangs often target schools in remote areas, where pupils live in dormitories with little security protection, before taking their victims deep into nearby forests to negotiate.

str/pma/ri
A 70-year-old California man was beaten to death outside his own home  a tragedy his family said has left them shattered.

Anaheim police said Rahmatolah David Yaghoubi, 70, was attacked Monday afternoon outside his home at the intersection of Catalpa Avenue and Falmouth Avenue. Yaghoubi had severe head trauma and was taken to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries.

David Steven Abbott, 30, was arrested and is being held at Anaheim Jail on $2 million bail, police said. Abbott is also accused of attacking a 60-year-old man 20 minutes before he fled the scene and assaulted Yaghoubi.

I cant believe he just, from nowhere, comes and do this, and thats it, Yaghoubis brother, John Yaghoubi, told KTLA. Our whole life is shattered. My whole family is just falling apart right now.

Rahmatolah David Yaghoubi had lived in the neighborhood for around 30 years and worked at Caltrans as a civil transportation and environmental engineer for more than 17 years, The Orange County Register reported.

He was a gentle and kind soul who always went the extra mile, Caltrans said, according to the publication. We are hurt, we are sad, we are angry, but we are happy, too. Happy that we had the opportunity to know David.

One of Rahmatolah David Yaghoubis seven siblings, Jahangir Yaghoubi, told the publication that the 70-year-old visited their 90-year-old mother multiple times a day to check up on her.

Shes crying, she knows something happened, Jahangir Yaghoubi said.

Rahmatolah David Yaghoubis neighbor described the man as very sweet, CBS Los Angeles reported.

He was a friend of mine, was a very sweet older gentleman, the mans neighbor, Danni Harrower, told the station. He would always greet me when I was walking my dogs and my child. He would always give me figs from his fig tree.

At the time of the attack, police said, Abbott was out on bail from a May 15 arrest after being charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

Story continues

Off-duty firefighter shot 2 coworkers, killing 1, at CA fire station, officials say

College student vanishes on Hawaii camping trip as Nebraska family holds out hope

California cafe charges customers extra if they wear a face mask
Shargi Family From left: Ariana, Bahareh, Emad, and Hannah Shargi

For most of the last three years, Bahareh Shargi's watch has been set to Iranian time.

And when she checks the clock hands ticking away, the Washington, D.C., mother of two imagines how her husband of 32 years is managing life as an American captive overseas.

"What's he doing and where is he at?" Bahareh, 54, wonders aloud about Emad Shargi.

Husband and wife can only speak sporadically while he is detained. Their last conversation  just minutes long  was on May 23. Before that, it was April 28.

Sometimes Emad's family goes months without hearing from him as they worry how he is surviving life in an Iranian prison, where he is held after being convicted of espionage  an accusation the family adamantly denies and says they barely understand.

"An innocent man being detained for no good reason at all for the past three years, not being able to hug his family and be there with us  it's hard to really wrap your head around," Bahareh tells PEOPLE.

The saga of Emad's captivity is complicated and years-long, with more questions than answers. But it began simply enough, the family says.

In 2017, Bahareh and Emad, a 56-year-old American-Iranian businessman, traveled to Iran once daughters Ariana and Hannah were both off to college.

Emad's father had warned them about traveling back to Iran, an adversarial country with a history of detaining Westerners, just as the U.S. State Department warns Americans. But the Shargis went anyway, looking to reconnect with family and their roots  and to return to the early days of their relationship, when they traveled the world freely and often.

"There was really no specific plan. We thought we would just go as a visitor and visit sites and come back home to this house in Washington, D.C.," Bahareh says now, tearfully remembering the middle-of-the-night chaos that cut short their trip.

Story continues

Shargi Family From left: Bahareh and Emad Shargi

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free weekly newsletter to get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.

Shargi Family The Shargi Family

She says there were somewhere around "15, 16, 17" people raiding her mother's house, where they were staying, around 2:30 a.m. on April 23, 2018.

Iranian authorities went through "every single drawer, every single cabinet, everything," before turning their attention to her husband, Bahareh says. "They took Emad with them, without any explanation," she says. (Iran's Foreign Ministry did not respond to questions for this article.)

Emad was sent to Tehran's infamous Evin prison, where several other Americans have been held. It took 10 days for authorities to even admit he was inside, Bahareh says  and it took much longer for her to even see him.

Still, she continued going back for two months, "begging to see him" each time. After eight months and repeatedly being told to "go away, go away," she successfully got her husband out on bail.

Temporarily freed, Emad encouraged Bahareh to return to the U.S. while he waited to recover his passport and follow "right behind me," she says.

But Emad's passport was never returned, blocking his ability to return to America, where he has lived since he was a child  where he graduated in economics from the University of Maryland and got his masters at George Washington University; where he met Bahareh by chance on a family vacation to Lake Tahoe, when he was 24 and she was 21; and where the couple raised their girls, Ariana and Hannah, now 24 and 22.

"He is the dad who was always there at Hannah's soccer games and my choir concerts, no matter how boring they were," Ariana tells PEOPLE.

He would arrive to her concerts with a bouquet of flowers, and he chaperoned her and her sister and their classmates on field trips  waking them up in the mornings with English breakfast tea, singing while he cooked his family-famous lasagna and giant empanadas at night.

"Whenever I need advice, I usually go to him first," Ariana says. "He's the person we all go to for everything."

Then he was gone. "We're just missing a huge chunk of our family and ourselves," Ariana says.

Shargi Family The Shargi Family

For two years after his 2018 release, Emad waited in a kind of de facto detention for Iranian officials to give back his passport. He lived at Bahareh's mother's house and took care of the neighborhood cats, nursing one back from sickness with the help of a local animal hospital.

Half a world away from his family, they would regularly FaceTime.

And then, weeks after the 2020 presidential election, a sudden change: Believing he had already been cleared of the accusations, Emad was summoned to court to find he had been convicted in absentia and sentenced to a decade in prison, according to the Associated Press.

The AP and The New York Times report that Emad was not told of a trial and had no chance to defend himself.

He was sent back to Evin, in Tehran, where he now hopes for his second release.

"The charges all just seem to be absurd," says John Bellinger, the family's attorney and a legal adviser for the U.S. State Department and the National Security Council under former President George W. Bush.

"In this case, he was actually previously cleared," Bellinger tells PEOPLE. "When he was released [in late 2018], he was cleared of anything. So, when he was taken again in December, we don't really know" why.

Months later, in February, Emad was finally allowed to call Bahareh from prison.

Bellinger says that while he is "suffering both physically and psychologically," there are no signs he has been tortured or physically harmed.

Nonetheless, "the interrogations have been quite difficult," he says.

There are other concerns: His family says he has high blood pressure and cholesterol and he has been denied access to a COVID-19 vaccination even though he has risk factors.

Bahareh and her daughters have still been able to connect with him on FaceTime once and have spoken via phone on a few occasions, though a guard is never too far away.

"We just saw his face for, I would say, a couple of minutes," Bahareh says of a late-April call Emad was able to make on Hannah's birthday. "All conversations are monitored. There are no real conversations."

Hannah was elated to hear her father's voice that day. "It was really nice," she says, hoping that by the next one Emad will be home to celebrate.

"We just never know when those calls are going to happen, how long they're going to be, if it's going to be a month or two months until the next one," his younger daughter says.

The waiting wears them down: Bahareh, Ariana and Hannah say they have trouble sleeping and going about their days  their thoughts unable to stray too far from Emad's return.

Bahareh struggles through tears when she talks about how her husband told her he has only been in fresh air for two days since being imprisoned again.

She cries harder when she describes the guilt she feels lying in bed without him.

"It's hard not to feel guilty," Hannah says, stepping in to finish her mother's words. "Meanwhile our father  the one who built this all for us and made this all possible  is in a cell and sleeping on the ground when he should be here with us."

Shargi Family Emad Shargi

Want to get the biggest stories from PEOPLE every weekday? Subscribe to our new podcast, PEOPLE Every Day, to get the essential celebrity, entertainment and human interest news stories Monday through Friday.

Shargi Family Emad Shargi

Hope rests largely with the U.S. government. Emad's case is not unprecedented, and there is a history of detainees being included in larger negotiations between the two countries. Indeed, Emad is currently one of a handful of American citizens currently held in Iran.

The State Department has described its talks with Iran about him as "ongoing," with eyes on an upcoming window of opportunity to strike a deal before the country's general election on June 18.

America does not maintain an official diplomatic presence in Iran, but officials from both countries have been meeting in Vienna in recent months.

Those discussions center on the possibility of restarting the 2015 nuclear deal  approved under Barack Obama and rejected by Donald Trump  but also include negotiations for the release of American like Emad, former UNICEF official Baquer Namazi and his son Siamak as well as environmentalist Morad Tahbaz.

Bellinger, the Shargis' attorney, believes Emad has "clearly been taken as a pawn on the international chess board as a hostage to give the Iranians leverage. It's now one more thing the U.S. has to insist on to do a deal with the Iranians."

Shortly after taking his post in President Joe Biden's cabinet, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was "determined" to bring Americans including Emad home safe. A senior State Department official, who is part of the Vienna negotiations, recently called the use of hostages as bargaining chips "the height of cruelty."

Biden, 78, has pledged to rejoin the nuclear agreement with Iran, and one senior State Department official expressed hope in mid-May that the two countries could strike a deal  and could agree on the release of Americans like Emad.

So far the administration, Hannah says, "has been incredible."

Shargi Family The Shargi Family

Shargi Family The Shargi Family

"I sleep better at night knowing they will do everything they can and they are doing everything they can to help bring our dad home," she says.

Bahareh, who has lived in the U.S. for more than 40 years, echoes that: "It's been truly in the past year where I've fully understood what holding this passport means."

"The support we are getting from the government, from the administration, from the State Department feels really like there is a mountain behind me, supporting our family until Emad comes home," she says.

Now with Bahareh's watch set to Emad's, the Shargis are counting down the days until her "best friend"  and Ariana and Hannah's "dad-mom"  can finally come home.

"I want to hold my dad and never let him go," Hannah says. "Ever."
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has announced that the work progress at Hatta hydroelectric power plant has reached 23%.



The plant production capacity is set to reach 250 megawatts (MW) with a storage capacity of 1,500 megawatt hours and a lifespan of 80 years. The plant, which is the first of its kind in the Gulf region, has investments of around AED1.421 billion ($386 million).



The pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant at Hatta is part of our efforts to increase the share of clean and renewable energy in Dubais energy mix and contribute to promoting the Emirates position as a global hub for clean energy and green economy. It also enhances Hattas position as one of the most prominent tourist attractions in Dubai, said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dewa.



This strategic project supports the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 to provide 75% of Dubais total power capacity from clean energy sources. The project is part of Dewas initiative to provide innovative job opportunities for the people of Hatta, in addition to developing the area to meet its social, economic, and environment needs.



Al Tayer said that construction of the hydroelectric power plant uses the latest and safest drilling technologies to fit Hattas geological features while following the highest international environmental standards to protect the Hatta Natural Reserve. He noted that the service tunnelling operations were complete. Each tunnel is 500 metre long. The project has so far recorded more than 3.5 million safe working hours without injuries.



Al Tayer noted that Dewa is implementing two pioneering projects in Hatta; Dubai Summit and Hatta Sustainable Waterfalls. The Dubai Summit project includes the construction of a 5.4 kilometre cable car to transport tourists to the summit of Um Al-Nesoor. At 1,300 metres above sea level, it is the highest natural summit in Dubai. The project is expected to be a major tourist attraction in the UAE. The cable car route passes over the Hatta Dam Lake and the Upper Dam Lake for the hydroelectric power station, as well as through mountains, ending at the summit of Um Al Nesoor mountain.



The Hatta Sustainable Waterfalls project will use the slope of the upper dam to create a natural waterfall. A waterway will be built along the parking area below the dam. The water used in the waterfall will be collected at the end of the stream, recycled and pumped back to the top of the dam. Fish bred in the stream will provide an additional attraction for tourists and families. The area will be developed to create recreational spaces and restaurants.



Nasser Lootah, Executive Vice President of Generation at Dewa, explained that the hydroelectric power station will use water in the Hatta dam and an upper reservoir that is being built in the mountain. The hydropower plant mechanism includes the use of advanced turbines that run on clean energy generated at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, to pump water from the dam to the upper reservoir.



Turbines operated by the speed of waterfall from the upper reservoir will be used to generate electricity through a 1.2 kilometre subterranean water canal, with high efficiency in power generation and storage of up to 78.9% and with a 90-second response to demand for electricity.  TradeArabia News Service
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on June 30, 2020 in Washington, DC. Top federal health officials discussed efforts for safely getting back to work and school during the coronavirus pandemic. Al Drago/Getty Images

Dr. Anthony Fauci got his start as a public health expert during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.

Fauci told Today he never wanted to become director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), but was motivated by the lack of attention the HIV/AIDS crisis received.

He believes there is much to be learned from the COVID-19 vaccines that could possibly lead to a vaccine for HIV.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is one of the nation's leading experts on the novel coronavirus pandemic. Nearly four decades before COVID-19 spread around the world, he tackled another deadly and less publicized epidemic.

Fauci told Today about his early career experience working as senior investigator for the National Institutes of Health, as the HIV/AIDS crisis hit in 1981. He became one of the country's lead HIV/AIDS researchers as the deadly epidemic took the lives of 700,000 people in the US.

"It was a particularly transforming time," he told Today. "I can remember very distinctly sitting in my office outside my lab in the clinical center hospital where I saw the first (report) describing the first five patients from Los Angeles with this curious new disease, with nobody knowing what was going on."

He spent much of his career trying to find solutions to the HIV/AIDS crisis, which motivated him to become director of the NIAID.

"I never really had any aspirations to be the director of the institute, but it was clear to me that we were not paying as much attention to infectious diseases in general, but specifically to HIV," he told Today.

HIV/AIDS research and treatment has grown rapidly since the 1980s

HIV/AIDS treatments have vastly improved since Fauci first learned of the virus in the 1980s.

In 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated people living with HIV, who have taken anti-viral medication regularly for at least six months, have undetectable viral loads, meaning they cannot pass it on to other people.

Story continues

People looking to protect themselves from HIV also now have the option of taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a medication that greatly reduces the chance of someone contracting the virus through sex or sharing needles. According to the CDC, taking PrEP can reduce someone's chance of contracting HIV through sex by 99%.

Scientists have yet to develop a vaccine for HIV, but Fauci is hopeful. While HIV attacks the body differently than COVID-19, the process of developing vaccines for COVID-19 has taught specialists ways to reimagine vaccine development.

"Hopefully some of the things we've learned from the COVID-19 vaccines will ultimately help us to develop a successful and highly effective HIV vaccine," Fauci said. "So we're still hoping that that's going to come to pass."

Read the original article on Insider
Jun. 1A large fire at a homeless encampment early Monday morning was determined to be accidental, according to the Vancouver Fire Marshal's Office.

The fire started inside the tent of man who smokes and was also using canned heat canisters for cooking. The man was outside of his tent when the fire started, and he did not know which caused the fire, according to Assistant Fire Marshal Chad Lawry.

There was no evidence to support that the fire was arson, Lawry said.

Vancouver firefighters were dispatched to the blaze at about 12:15 a.m. at the end of Northeast 51st Circle, near the intersection with Northeast 112th Avenue. The encampment is near the Clark County Family YMCA.

Roughly 100 people were present when the fire started, according to Vancouver Fire Capt. Raymond Egan.

There were no reported injuries.

Petra Pandora, who lives near the encampment, told The Columbian in an email that she received a phone call from a camp resident asking her to call 911. After placing the call, she walked out her front door to see tall flames coming from the direction of the camp.

She said some people "lost everything they own because of the fire."

Crews had the fire under control in about 15 minutes, Egan said. Firefighters stretched hoses several hundred yards past a barricade in the road leading up to the camp.

A brush rig, one truck, four engines, a battalion chief and a fire marshal all responded. A total of 18 Vancouver fire personnel were on scene, along with two Vancouver police officers.
A Florida man faces charges after leading several police agencies on a 100-mph chase in a Maserati through three counties and hitting a S.C. Highway Patrol troopers vehicle.

SCHP charged the 33-year-old man with one count of failure to stop for blue light, one count of driving without a license, and one count of resisting arrest, according to the Beaufort County jail log.

The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette newspapers do not typically name individuals charged with misdemeanors.

When we publish mugshots

The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette publishes police booking photos, or mugshots, in the following instances:

In situations where a public figure or someone in a position of public trust is arrested

In cases where there is an immediate and widespread threat to public safety

In cases where the arrested person is accused of a crime reporters have evidence to believe involved numerous, unknown victims

Reporters will avoid using mugshots as lead images for online articles in order to limit their circulation on social media, except in cases where the public is served by the immediate identification of the accused. Reporters and editors may use discretion in situations that dont meet the criteria outlined in this policy but still present a compelling reason to publish a mugshot.

At 8:24 p.m. on Tuesday, the chase started on I-95 in Colleton County between the Walterboro and Branchville exits, according to S.C. Highway Patrol Trooper Nick Pye.

Pye said a trooper attempted to stop a Maserati heading south at speeds of 100 mph in a 70-mph area.

A pursuit began, picking up Sheriffs Office deputies from each county the chase entered. Deputies with the Colleton County Sheriffs Office, Jasper County Sheriffs Office, Beaufort County Sheriffs Office and officers with the Hardeeville Police Department all assisted.

The chase continued from Colleton County into Jasper County, where the driver got off at exit 28 near Ridgeland, then headed east on S.C. 462 and eventually stopped in Beaufort County near U.S. 278 and S.C. 170, Pye said.

Pye said his agency would not release information about where the Maserati hit the troopers vehicle. Pye said he did not have any information about officer injuries.

After the drivers car came to a stop, Beaufort County Sheriffs deputies transported him to the detention center, Maj. Bob Bromage with the agency said.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  The former CEO of Make-A-Wish Iowa has pleaded guilty to charges of embezzling tens of thousands of dollars from the charity that supports sick children and their families.

Jennifer Woodley admitted in a written guilty plea last week that she made unauthorized charges on a foundation credit card, gave herself an unapproved bonus and salary increases and made false entries into foundation records related to those expenses.

Woodley, 40, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree theft and one count of fraudulent practices, all felonies. Under a plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend a sentence of five years of probation, along with fines and restitution.

A charging document alleges that Woodley's embezzlement totaled nearly $41,000, but restitution has not yet been set.

Judge Scott Beattie accepted the guilty pleas Tuesday and scheduled a sentencing hearing for July 20.

Woodley's attorney, Nicholas Sarcone, said that he would ask for a deferred judgment at sentencing. If granted, that means the case would be expunged from her record, as long as Woodley completes her probation and the other parts of her sentence.

Based in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale, the Iowa group is one of 60 chapters of Make-A-Wish America, which provides support and memorable experiences for children with critical illnesses and their families.

The theft began shortly after Woodley became the group's president and CEO in 2019 and continued until the group discovered financial irregularities during an internal compliance review last summer. That's when the organization fired Woodley and sought a criminal investigation.

Woodley turned herself in to face the charges in January and has been free on bond. Jail records listed her new address as Winston Salem, North Carolina.
A French heiress has given up her legal fight with an American university to retrieve a painting that was stolen from her adoptive parents by the Nazis during World War II.

Leone-Noelle Meyer, 81, said on Tuesday that she had been left with no other choice but to drop her effort to recover the painting by Danish-French artist Camille Pissarro, after being threatened with heavy fines if she continued her struggle with the University of Oklahoma.

The announcement seemingly puts an end to a yearslong transatlantic legal battle over the work  Pissarros "La Bergere Rentrant des Moutons" (Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep)  that has brought renewed attention to the fate of Nazi-looted art.

Related:

This work of art, which belonged to my adoptive parents, Yvonne and Raoul Meyer, was stolen from them by the Nazis during the occupation of France in 1941, Meyer, a Holocaust survivor, said in a statement.

Meyer lost her mother, grandmother and older brother at Auschwitz when she was a child. She was adopted by Raoul and Yvonne Meyer at the age of 7 from a Paris orphanage.

Her adoptive parents had fled Paris during the Nazi occupation and were forced to hide the artworks they had acquired  including the Pissarro, as well as a Picasso and Renoir  in a bank vault.

The collection was seized by the Nazis, however, with the Pissarro ending up with an art dealer in Switzerland.

Raoul Meyer fought unsuccessfully in Swiss court after the war to win back the painting. Now, decades later, his adopted daughter has lost the same fight.

Meyer said she was left with no other choice but to take heed of the inescapable conclusion that it will be impossible to persuade the different parties to whose attention I have brought this matter.

I was heard, but not listened to, she added.

The admission of defeat comes after a Paris court ruled last month that a contract Meyer had signed five years ago to share the Pissarro with the University of Oklahoma superceded a 1945 French law requiring the restitution of Nazi-looted works to their rightful owners.

Story continues

It also came a day before a court was due to rule on the case again on Wednesday.

As part of the deal the 1886 painting, which is worth an estimated nearly $2 million, is on display in Paris Musee dOrsay, but is set to return to Oklahoma this summer.

While Meyer has acknowledged that she did sign the agreement, which would see the painting rotate between the two countries every three years, she previously said that she did so under duress. I was called at 2 a.m. and my American lawyer put me under strong pressure to accept this deal. I didnt have the choice, she told the French outlet Le Monde this year.

Meyer had been fighting to keep the painting in France.

But she faced legal threats from the University of Oklahoma if she did not end her bid, with a federal judge ruling last November that she was in violation of the deal she had herself signed.

The university has argued that the painting was donated to its Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art after being purchased in good faith from a New York art gallery.

With Meyer having renounced her rights, the university confirmed in a joint statement that it would uphold its commitment to rotate the work between the U.S. and France. It said it would continue to display the piece with a provenance plaque sharing the story of Meyers family.

The university said it was also committed to eventually identifying and transferring ownership of the piece to a French public institution or to the U.S. Art in Embassies program.

The saga has been one of many in recent years around the fate of artwork stolen by the Nazis.

Christopher Marinello, a lawyer and CEO of Art Recovery International  a firm specializing in securing the return of looted art  said he sees cases like Meyers on a regular basis.

Its unfortunately extremely difficult to obtain restitution of Nazi-looted works of art, he told NBC News.

Much of the difficulty, Marinello said, lies in countries prioritizing the rights of the citizen over those of the victims of Nazi looting.

Even if victims have clear evidence that artworks were stolen from their families, he said it can be incredibly difficult to force new owners who may not have known that it was looted to return the pieces.

In Meyers case, Marinello said that while her situation was sad and unfortunate, since she had signed an agreement to share the Pissarro, she would have to abide by its terms.

Marinello added that he believes laws need to be strengthened to ensure that victims of Nazi-looting can see some small form of justice with the return of their family heirlooms.

They faced incredible horrors during the Holocaust, he said. Why should it be so difficult for them to recover what is theirs?
BERLIN (Reuters) -Flights between Russia and Germany were briefly suspended on Tuesday after Russia declined to renew Lufthansa's permit to fly to Moscow on time, prompting a tit-for-tat response from Berlin.

Frankfurt Airport's website showed two flights, one operated by Lufthansa and one by Russia's Aeroflot, had been cancelled on Wednesday, though an evening Lufthansa flight to Moscow was listed as having departed.

"Russian authorities have issued permission for passenger flights to Russia in June," Lufthansa said in a statement. "Scheduled Lufthansa flights to Moscow and St. Petersburg can therefore proceed."

The dispute followed European Union moves to stop Russia-bound flights from crossing Belarusian air space after Minsk used an apparent fake bomb threat to force an intra-EU flight to land and then arrested a dissident journalist on board.

Subsequently, Moscow refused to approve updated flight plans from several European airlines that were designed to let their aircraft reach Russia without crossing its close ally Belarus.

The German transport ministry said it had responded after Russia's aviation authority FATA failed to renew Lufthansa's flying rights for June on time, meaning a flight that had been due to depart early on Wednesday had to be cancelled.

"On the basis of standard reciprocal practice, the Federal Aviation Office has not provided any further approvals for flights by Russian airlines," the ministry said earlier on Wednesday, adding that it would allow Russian airlines to resume flying as soon as Lufthansa routes were approved.

Lufthansa did not say whether or not the resumption of its service to Moscow on Wednesday evening meant those flights were now avoiding Belarusian air space.

(Reporting by Thomas EscrittEditing by Mark Heinrich)
By Caroline Copley

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany plans to pay vaccine manufacturers an annual reservation fee to build up reserve capacity of around 600-700 million doses per year to help it fight future pandemics, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Wednesday.

The government plans to launch a call for tenders for so-called pandemic preparedness contracts with a five-year term so that vaccine doses "can be activated quickly if the worst comes to the worst," Spahn told a news conference.

Manufacturing setbacks and an over-reliance on European Union approval for supplies slowed Germany's rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. It wants to boost domestic production to ensure it is not deprived of shots in future pandemics.

To that end, it set up a vaccine task force in February that aims to reduce bottlenecks by ensuring production of vital products in the supply chain like glass vials and lipids.

The stand-by contracts will help maintain know-how acquired during the COVID-19 crisis so that next time "we don't have to ramp up production from zero to 100," Christoph Krupp, head of the vaccine production task force told reporters.

"We want to bet on several companies and several vaccine types and not just one," Krupp said.

The contract terms include having production capacity in Germany and being able to manufacture active ingredients as well as converting them into drug substance for a fast scale-up of vaccines, he added.

The contracts will be activated if necessary, in which case they will become supply deals, and Germany expects to be able to deliver vaccines to Europe and the rest of the world, he said.

Germany is home to BioNTech and CureVac, two of the leading developers of mRNA vaccines for COVID-19, as well as pharmaceutical giants Bayer and Merck and many small-and-medium-sized suppliers.

The German plan is one of more than half a dozen by governments around the world to avert shortages by supporting drug companies' local production.

Story continues

Some, including Australia, Brazil, Japan and Thailand, are setting up manufacturing partnerships with drugmaker AstraZeneca PLC.

Elsewhere, Italy has pledged state backing for a public-private vaccine production centre, while Austria, Denmark and Israel plan a joint research and development fund and will explore whether to produce their own next-generation vaccines.

(Reporting by Caroline CopleyEditing by Clelia Oziel)
Oman has announced the formal launch of operations of its newly restructured and integrated water and wastewater services unit. The restructuring exercise had resulted in the creation of two new entities under Nama Group, the holding company of state-owned power and water utilities and service providers, said a report. The new entities are Oman Water and Wastewater Services Company (OWWSC) and Dhofar Integrated Services Company (DISC), reported Oman Observer, citing the Nama Group, a part of Oman Investment Authority (OIA), the integrated sovereign wealth fund of the sultanate. OWWSC has been formed out of the merger of Diam, hitherto the sole distributor of potable water services across Oman (with the exception of Dhofar Governorate), and Haya Water, the sole entity responsible for wastewater management in Oman (with the exception of Dhofar Governorate).

The second new entity DISC is now in charge of potable water distribution and wastewater management in Dhofar Governorate. It has been created out of the merger of three existing entities: Dhofar Power Company, Directorate General of Water  Dhofar, and Salalah Sanitary & Drainage Services.

Regulation of the integrated sector is now the responsibility of the Authority for Public Services Regulation (APSR), while the policymaker is the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, stated the report.

OWWSC affirmed its commitment to building on the achievements of the predecessor entities  Diam and Haya Water  in delivering high quality services to the general population.

Qais al Zakwani, OWWSCs newly appointed CEO, said: "Following an ambitious strategy and clear goals, we will endeavour to achieve 98 per cent water network coverage by 2040 in order to provide safe drinking water to all governorates (except Dhofar), and expand our sanitation services to include the rest of the governorates."

"We will also seek out the most adaptable and creative digital technologies for reliable and sustainable services that meet the needs of our valued subscribers," he added.
May recognized National Travel & Tourism Month, marking the unofficial start to summer. At the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau (GMCVB), we reflected on the general state of the travel and tourism industry.

On May 6, the GMCVB hosted 300 business and community leaders at its annual State of the Tourism and Hospitality Industry Breakfast at the reimagined Miami Beach Convention Center (MBCC). The mood was cautiously optimistic, with one overall takeaway: Recovery is well under way despite the unexpected blow of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is good news for all Miami-Dade County, as tourisms impact ripples across the region and affects everyone in our community.

Part of this success can be attributed to GMCVBs early efforts to support Miami-Dades tourism and hospitality businesses through our Miami Shines campaign, a comprehensive travel and tourism recovery program to stimulate business for the hard-hit industry. The program offers incentives for restaurants, hotels, museums, spas and other attractions. The GMCVBs Multicultural Tourism & Development Department works closely with small, minority-owned businesses, providing tools and access to these tourism recovery efforts. Also, the GMCVB used a $5 million grant approved by Miami-Dade County, through CARES Act funding, to launch MIAMILAND, a campaign promoting Miami-Dades great outdoors and to position Miami as a leading destination for safe and enjoyable travel.

The return of travel and tourism to Greater Miami is due in part to the resumption of in-person trade, business and lifestyle events. The Jewelry International Showcase (JIS) was held at the Miami Beach Convention Center in March with numerous safety protocols to protect participants and exhibitors. It was a safe  and resounding  success, with 170 exhibiting brands and almost 3,000 buyers in attendance. In April, the Aesthetic Society held its annual meeting at the convention center, sharing the latest techniques and research among the countrys top plastic surgeons. The event was similarly successful, safely hosting more than 700 participants in person. We can now add the South Beach Wine & Food Festival to the list of successes and look forward to several more safe, in-person events, including the Hyundai Air and Sea Show, Bitcoin 2021, American Black Film Festival (ABFF), Florida International Medical Exposition, LE Miami and Seatrade Cruise Global.

Story continues

More encouraging, GMCVB data indicates we are quickly catching up to 2019 tourism levels. Current average daily rates for local hotels are surpassing 2019 figures, and we expect occupancy will be up to par with 2019 figures by July  with the upward trend likely to continue. Dining is also seeing an uptick far beyond 2019, with an increase of nearly 30 percent in reservations alone.

The increase in air travel and the return of cruising are key to our recovery. Miami International Airport is experiencing the highest number of passengers since the start of the pandemic. And, our hometown carrier American Airlines, as well as JetBlue, Southwest, and Frontier, are adding new routes, making it even easier for visitors to fly into Miami. Based out of PortMiami, our cruise industry is one of the countys most important economic engines. As the Cruise Capital of the World we are encouraged by news from our cruise lines showing signs that the industry will soon be coming back online.

The data is encouraging not only for hotels, restaurants and other tourism-related businesses, but for the entire community. Tourism is Miamis No. 1 job creator, historically supporting almost 144,800 jobs annually and saves Miami-Dade households as much as $1,744 in taxes annually. In 2019, tourism generated more than $1.5 billion in tax revenue, providing funding for critical services such as transportation and healthcare. At the state level, 38 percent of all sales taxes are paid by visitors, generating $1.4 billion in tax revenue annually.

The return of international visitors to our destination also plays a vital role in making a full recovery. The U.S. Senate Tourism, Trade and Export Promotion Subcommittee is considering policies and measures to revive international travel. On May 18, at the subcommittees invitation, I providing testimony on the importance of foreign visitors to Greater Miami and Florida  and the critical role it will play in our nations economic recovery.

Over the years, Miami has experienced hurricanes, oil spills, the Zika pandemic and other crises. But we are a resilient bunch and consistently rise above every obstacle that comes our way. If everyone does their part  government agencies, private businesses, residents and visitors  our community once again will prevail and come out stronger than ever.

William D. Talbert III, CDME, is president and CEO of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The deputy alleges she and others were subjected to "disgusting abuse" during "bachelor party" prostitution stings by the precinct's human trafficking unit.

Video Transcript

- Yeah, we spoke with Lieutenant Shane Rigden He is one of the men accused. We talked to him on the phone. He said, at the time, he had not read the lawsuit. He was actually working today. When we described, though, the allegations that were laid out in the lawsuit, he said, they were not true, and he says, he's looking forward to clearing his name.

JACQUELYN ALUOTTO: We are here to speak truth to power.

- Jacqueline Alluotto has been deemed the whistleblower, a voice for the two women standing beside her, who say they were victimized by the very agency they served.

JACQUELYN ALUOTTO: We want to send a message. This can never happen again.

- Constable Alan Rosen, Assistant Chief Chris Gore, and Lieutenant Shane Rigden are listed in the suit. The attorneys say, Precinct 1 formed a human trafficking unit in 2019 ran by Assistant Chief Gore and had sting operations deemed as, quote, "bachelor parties."

- The idea being that when the actual sex worker came in, they would be more likely to agree to sex for a fee, an arrest could be made, interviews can be done, and arrests up the chain could be made.

- But attorneys say, the stings turned into booze filled parties, where female deputies were encouraged to drink a lot to, quote, "loosen up." From there, they claim the women were touched inappropriately.

- These brave women were ordered. Ordered by their commanding officer that, your job in my unit in an undercover capacity is to dress in scandalous clothes, to allow me to kiss you, to allow me to fondle you. Essentially, to be molested by their commanding officer.

- Aluotto, who worked for the unit, got word of what was happening and says, she reached out to Constable Alan Rosen himself. She says nothing changed.

JACQUELYN ALUOTTO: We expect our deputies to be able to go to work, especially with a complex crime like human trafficking, and to be able to do their job. And to not be able to do their job because you're being exploited and oppressed at your workplace can never happen again.

- We reached out to Constable Rosen's office who sent this statement. Quote, "We look forward to making sure the truth is revealed."

And in just the past 15 minutes, we did get a new statement from Constable Alan Rosen. He said, they were made aware of those concerns several months ago. How Rosen instructed internal affairs to conduct an investigation based on the conclusion of that investigation. No violations of policy or law were found. He says, not one of these plaintiffs have made a formal complaint.
By Nandita Bose and Ted Hesson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Kamala Harris' first trip to Guatemala and Mexico, which aims to lower migration from the region, will focus on areas such as economic development, climate and food insecurity and women's issues, her advisers said.

Harris will land in Guatemala on Sunday and be in the country until Monday evening, senior adviser Symone Sanders told reporters on a call. She will then fly to Mexico on June 8, where she will spend the day before returning to Washington in the evening, Sanders said.

Harris will build on topics previously discussed with leaders in Guatemala and Mexico such as securing the border and leading trade missions to the region, her advisers said.

Sanders said there are "three key focuses we will lay out: economic development, climate and food insecurity and women and young people."

The vice president has not yet spoken with leaders from El Salvador and Honduras, other countries in the region with significant migration to the United States.

In May, some Central American leaders pushed back on the Biden administration's anti-corruption strategy, which included releasing a list labeling 17 regional politicians as corrupt.

President Joe Biden has faced pressure from Republicans and some Democrats in recent months as the number of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border has risen to the highest level in two decades.

In March, Biden entrusted Harris with leading U.S. efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador aimed at improving conditions and lowering migration from the region.

Harris has since taken steps including speaking with policy experts, members of Congress and various stakeholders in the Northern Triangle countries. She also announced an additional $310 million in U.S. aid to Central America and recently secured investment commitments from 12 companies and groups including Microsoft Corp, Mastercard Inc and Nestle's Nespresso.

Story continues

The United States will send more border security officials to Guatemala to provide training in that country.

Washington is also working to open the first of several centers to provide resources to migrants in Guatemala, said Mazin Alfaqih, special adviser to the vice president for the Northern Triangle.

The centers will offer services to people seeking lawful pathways of migration to the United States as well as those in need of protection, asylum referrals and refugee resettlement.

Harris will also discuss "COVID cooperation" with both countries during her trip, said Sanders, who did not share details on whether that would include the sharing of vaccines.

On Tuesday, the United States formally ended the Trump-era "remain in Mexico" policy, which forced tens of thousands of Central American asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for U.S. court cases.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Dr. Anthony Fauci. Al Drago/Getty Images

The Washington Post obtained Dr. Anthony Fauci's emails from March and April 2020.

In one, a US health official told him that "doggie cones" could be used as PPE.

At the time the US was scrambling to source enough PPE for frontline medical workers.

See more stories on Insider's business page.

A US health official suggested to Dr. Anthony Fauci early in the pandemic that medical workers could use "doggie cones" instead of personal protective equipment, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post.

On Tuesday, The Post published 860 pages of emails sent and received by Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, spanning March and April 2020.

BuzzFeed News has also published 3,200 pages of Fauci's emails from January 2020 to June 2020. Both outlets said they obtained the emails through Freedom of Information Act requests.

In response to the suggestion from the Department of Health and Human Services official that dog cones - used to stop dogs from scratching dressings or wounds - could be used as PPE, Fauci replied with a polite thank you, The Post said.

Insider has contacted the Department of Health and Human Services for comment.

At the time of the emails, the US was struggling to provide doctors, nurses, and other frontline workers with enough PPE.

In April, members of National Nurses United - the largest nurses' union in the US - protested outside the White House and called for President Donald Trump to take action.

Even one year into to the pandemic, supplies of PPE still appeared to be inconsistent.

A survey conducted by National Nurses United in February 2021 found that 81% of nurses said they had reused single-use PPE.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Maryland will end enhanced federal unemployment benefits next month, Gov. Larry Hogan said, and require people getting unemployment checks to prove they are looking for new jobs.

Hogan, a Republican, cited the widespread availability of vaccines and a tight labor market in explaining his decision, which according to the most recent unemployment filings would affect about 15,000 people.

Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post.

He said the benefits, which add $300 a week, provided "important temporary relief" during the coronavirus pandemic but are no longer necessary.

The American Rescue Plan provides funding for the benefits through Sept. 6, with Democratic leaders stressing the importance of fully reopening schools and child-care centers - and more people being vaccinated - before many adults can resume full-time work. But at least 24 other states - which also have Republican governors - are similarly taking steps to end the funding early.

"We have a critical problem where businesses across our state are trying to hire more people, but many are facing severe worker shortages," Hogan said in a statement, noting that at least 70 percent of adults in Maryland are now vaccinated. "We look forward to getting more Marylanders back to work."

Neither the District of Columbia nor Virginia has moved to end the enhanced unemployment benefits. The Biden administration sought a way to keep paying the benefits to an estimated 3.6 million Americans who stand to lose them soon in Republican-led states, but administration officials concluded that they cannot legally do so.

Hogan's decision was sharply criticized by Democratic state lawmakers. Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, said in a statement that the "rash and rushed decision will hurt Marylanders who have been hit the hardest during the pandemic, having lost jobs through no fault of their own."

Story continues

"It feeds into a hard right-wing narrative that denies human dignity, puts profits over people, and puts politics over sound economic research," Ferguson said, adding that he was urging Hogan to reverse or delay his decision.

Del. Dereck Davis, D-Prince George's, who chairs the House Economic Matters Committee, said he understands that some people believe the enhanced benefits have led residents not to want to reenter the workforce. But Davis said it is "really unfortunate" that Hogan would end the benefits early, especially given how much difficulty some Marylanders had accessing them.

Many residents said they waited for months to have their claims filled, waiting on the phone for hours, sending emails that went unanswered and responding to dozens of questions that resulted in error messages.

"We made a commitment to the people of the state of Maryland," Davis said. "They made plans accordingly. For the state to do an about-face . . . it is really unfortunate."

Hogan said that since March 2020, Maryland has paid out more than $12.3 billion in unemployment benefits to 730,759 recipients, resolving more than 97% of claims.

The state alerted the federal government of its decision earlier Tuesday, as required by law. After July 3, Marylanders will not be able to apply for programs including mixed earners unemployment compensation, pandemic emergency unemployment compensation and pandemic unemployment, which was for gig workers and others who would not usually qualify for aid.

The Maryland Department of Labor will again require applicants for unemployment to search for a new job. Applicants must engage each week in three re-employment activities - such as attending a job fair or completing a workshop at the American Job Center - to be eligible to receive benefits.

- - -

The Washington Post's Ovetta Wiggins contributed to this report.

Related Content

Bird lovers are grappling with honorary names linked to racists. Audubon tops the list.

In Peru's pandemic election, a rural schoolteacher challenges a political dynasty

Wolfgang Van Halen shares a famous name, but his music is his own
The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor pressed Sudan Wednesday to hand over Ahmed Haroun, accused of war crimes in Darfur, to face trial alongside a fellow ex-regime figure.

Fatou Bensouda made the call during a press conference in Khartoum after concluding a landmark visit to Darfur, the first by an ICC prosecutor since the UN tasked the court to probe the conflict there 16 years ago.

The United Nations says 300,000 people were killed and 2.5 million were displaced in the conflict.

Haroun is one of several former regime heavyweights charged by the ICC in connection with Darfur, including ex-president Omar al-Bashir, who is indicted for crimes including genocide, and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, leader of the notorious Janjaweed militia.

Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, was charged in 2007, the same year as Haroun. He handed himself in last year after years on the run and appeared in court in the Hague last month.

"Just last week, we finished the confirmation of charges" against Ali Kushayb, Bensouda told reporters Wednesday.

"And these charges were against both himself and Ahmed Haroun," she added. "So the ideal situation is that they are tried together."

Fighting broke out in Darfur in 2003 when African minority rebels, complaining of systematic discrimination, took up arms against Bashir's Arab-dominated regime.

Khartoum responded by unleashing the Janjaweed, recruited from among the region's nomadic tribes.

Haroun's arrest warrant lists 22 counts of alleged war crimes and 20 counts of alleged crimes against humanity.

He held several top government positions under Bashir, who was toppled by the army amid enormous protests against his iron-fisted rule in April 2019.

Sudan's subsequent transitional administration has been in talks with the ICC about options for trying the former president and his aides.

Haroun was arrested in the wake of Bashir's fall from power and said last month he would prefer to face trial at the Hague rather than in Sudanese courts, which he said were "not be able or willing to ensure justice".

Story continues

"The judges who are hearing the confirmation of charges should give their decision by the end of July," Bensouda said. "This is the window of opportunity that we have with respect to Haroun."

Bensouda also said on Wednesday she held "positive" and "constructive" talks with top Sudanese officials over the transfer of Bashir and his aides to the Hague-based court to face trial.

The ex-president has been in custody in Khartoum's Kober prison since he was deposed and has been on trial in the Sudanese court system since July last year for the Islamist-backed 1989 coup which brought him to power.

"If Sudan is... saying that they want to try Omar al-Bashir here in Sudan, they also have to demonstrate concretely that this is possible," Bensouda said, without elaborating.

mz/dwo
Zurich International Life in the Middle East (Zurich) has revealed some key insights for the future of the industry in the UAE, thanks to the Shaping a Brighter Future of Work report just published in collaboration with Oxford University.

The study distilled local market nuance and texture from 17 of Zurichs markets across five continents, gathering insights about national economic responses to the pandemic and how the future world of work and social protection has in many ways already arrived.

Zurich also gathered up-to-the-minute, on-the-ground views from the UAE on five topics: how Covid-19 is reshaping the landscape of reskilling efforts in the insurance industry; pension provision; insurance and protection trends; Covid-19 vaccination impact as well as duty of care as a concept.

Reskilling in the UAE  a more systematic, holistic approach?

Research in the UAE reveals that most large insurers do contract third-party providers for upskilling and retraining for a range of expatriate staff, but mostly on an ad hoc basis. We predict a wider, more systematic approach to upskilling in the future. A good indicator is watching the approach of forward-thinking organisations such as the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), which through its FinTech Hive, is not only actively looking at promoting companies in this space, but is proactively upskilling and mentoring staff.

In terms of Emirati development, the Central Bank of UAE is pushing insurers to recruit Emirati talent to develop and upskill this home-grown workforce, particularly actuarial staff.

Pensions  a move towards more flexible End of Service (EOS) schemes?

Currently, end-of-service benefits in the UAE are given to employees as a lump sum payment, in lieu of other financial benefits that expat residents might expect in their native countries. The final settlement amount is a function of the employees final basic salary, contract type and amount of years served in the role and is defined under the UAE Labour Law.

Marking an innovative development, DIFC announced its DIFC Employee Workplace Savings (DEWS) initiative, which sees a gratuity paid by the employer monthly. The monthly gratuity goes into a trust under the independent legal ownership of a master trustee and operates under supervision by a financial regulator. After a thorough research and selection process, DIFC selected Zurich Workplace Solutions (Middle East) Limited (a subsidiary of Zurich International Life Limited) as the scheme administrator to manage enrolment, contributions, withdrawals, etc.

Offering unique flexibility, the total gratuity paid this way is put into low-cost, long-term investments with the goal of growing employees wealth. It also allows employees to have more control over their long-term savings through their own voluntary contributions to the fund.

With DIFC offering an alternate model with its DEWS scheme, which sees employees actively contributing to their EOS benefits, while offering complete transparency, its a reasonable assumption that such innovations may lead to wider EOS benefit changes in the UAE market across a range of industries and sectors in the future.

Insurance and protection trends  a transition to new flexible business models?

With life insurance penetration in the UAE currently at 0.5 per cent, there will likely be a growth in the life insurance segment, especially when one considers that Covid-19 has increased awareness of financial and health risks among consumers. This has resulted in increased demand for life insurance and related products.

Despite the increase in demand, Covid-19 has significantly impacted distribution capabilities on the intermediated side of the industry, which relied on face-to-face contact - an obviously unworkable model during the past 15 months. As a result, the pandemic has ushered in a renewed focus on the ability to reach consumers directly via digital means.

On the macro-economic level, the UAE is currently projecting normal rates of growth, which would support demand growth across both the insurance retail and group segments.

Covid-19 impact trends  no material change to related risk calculations or pricing anticipated

It is unlikely that preferential health-related insurance contracts will be offered to individuals on the basis of vaccination against Covid-19. Without long-term scientific data on longevity and impact, and with a need to account for several different types of vaccines and their efficacy rates, pricing these risks is not possible.

In practical terms, everyone is expected to be vaccinated in the UAE within the next year, so a material pricing difference is unlikely. Deaths per capita of the infection rate are very low in the UAE, so vaccination would not materially change risk calculations.

Duty of Care  a substantial corporate shift towards the international model?

The idea that employers owe their workers a duty of care is clearly represented in large multinationals operating in the UAE. It is recognised from an ESG (environmental, social and governance) perspective as having a positive impact on profitability. Companies that look after their staff will benefit in the longer term through better retention, engagement, and happiness scores.

Walter Jopp, CEO of Zurich in the Middle East, said: While its a challenge to predict trends, one thing is certain  the pandemics economic impact has given rise to different innovations in business systems, their coordination, and labour productivity. One particular insight gleaned from our research is that the digital revolution has provided employees and businesses opportunities to adapt and indeed even prosper during the pandemic.

While it remains to be seen how the regional industry overall adapts and evolves in response to recent challenges and opportunities, at Zurich, we remain committed to offering our customers world-leading products and services at a local level across the Middle East.-- TradeArabia News Service
Photograph: Robert Bumsted/AP

From 2016, Rishab Gupta worked to set up a life for himself in the United States, completing his medical residency in New York before moving to Boston with his wife Vandita for a neuropsychiatry fellowship last year. But when Gupta flew home to India to care for his dying mother amid the countrys devastating wave of Covid earlier this year, he knew he was leaving that life behind.

I didnt have any choice. I knew it was a risk, but I just had to, he said from his home town, Ludhiana. She fought bravely, but unfortunately that could not save her. As he grieves, Gupta is now indefinitely separated from Vandita, who stayed in Boston.

Related: Human rights groups call for an end to digital surveillance of immigrants

The pandemics surge in India led Joe Biden in April to impose a ban on most travel from the country, which has seen more than 10m new cases and at least 100,000 deaths due to the coronavirus. Bidens travel restrictions have left many like Gupta in a bind, largely because of the tenuous visas that they rely on to practice medicine in the US.

Guptas J-1 visa, issued to many foreign doctors, isnt exempted from the travel ban, and even if he were to apply for an exemption, his visa needs to be revalidated at the embassy first. With consular services rolled back due to the pandemic, appointments are scarce. But foreign medical workers like Gupta and their advocates say they wouldnt be in this situation if they had more permanent and flexible visas.

The role played by foreign doctors has never been more apparent than over the past year, when so many have put themselves at risk while fighting on the frontlines. Over a third of the 3,600-plus US healthcare workers who have died from Covid were immigrants, and many of them served in safety net hospitals and clinics.

The battles immigrant physicians face, however, started years before the pandemic. J-1 and H1-B visa holders are often tied to their employers and unable to switch jobs easily, let alone move locations within the country while they experience decades-long waits for green cards, which offer more flexibility.



Meanwhile, these doctors are crucial for the functioning of the US health system: according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the US will have a shortage of up to 139,000 physicians by 2033. And though thousands of foreign doctors come to the US for medical training each year, many arent able to stay in the country long-term because of immigration rules.

Story continues

But there is renewed hope that proposed legislation before Congress will help address the issue, and secure much-needed doctors for Americas healthcare system.

The Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act (S.1024), which has 13 bipartisan co-sponsors in the Senate, would provide green cards  or permanent residency  to 40,000 foreign medical professionals. With permanent residents exempt from the India travel ban, the value of having one is particularly stark right now.

But beyond the human impact permanent residency would have on foreign doctors lives, advocatessay its crucial for addressing gaps in the health system.

Theyre going to go to one of our competitor countries like Australia, the UK or Canada that love American training, said Greg Siskind, an immigration lawyer who advocates for foreign physicians as a member of the International Medical Graduate Taskforce.

Such migration can be a waste of US tax dollars  medical residents salaries are subsidized by Medicare, regardless of nationality.

When these doctors are pushed out of the country  it essentially becomes the US subsidizing doctors in countries perfectly capable of affording to train doctors themselves, said Siskind, who is also concerned the travel ban will prevent about 2,000 trainees from starting residency programs this summer.

Physician shortages are especially acute in rural America. As a result, despite the prevalence of anti-immigration sentiment among many Republican lawmakers, S.1024 has significant support from Republican senators who represent large rural and medically underserved areas.

Awareness of the role foreign physicians play in rural communities isnt new. Raghuveer Kura, a nephrologist who has lived in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, for the past 10 years says that when he was stuck in Canada over a visa issue in 2019, he only got back in after enlisting government support.

Its up to you to decide how you want to get me back  If I dont reach Poplar Bluff in the next three days, people will die because theres nobody to do their dialysis. Kura, who is the founder of Physicians for American Healthcare Access, said he told government officials.

Its in our self-interest to pass this bill as Americans  it's win-win Greg Siskind

In Missouri, Kura believes the fact that S.1024 is co-sponsored by a senior Republican like Senator Roy Blunt, is a sign of the growing extent to which contributions of foreign doctors are being acknowledged. Still, he recognizes there are still pockets of resistance to the legislation.

Josh Hawley and others dont get it, said Kura, referring to Missouris junior senator. They think were snatching jobs. Nobody is snatching jobs. Were providing a service. If these international physicians are not here, whos going to take care of those people? Were trying to help.

Siskind believes S.1024 should be passed for both moral and practical reasons, and that it could be the first immigration bill to become law under Biden.

Its in our self-interest to pass this bill as Americans, and its actually in the interest of people who really deserve the relief as well  its win-win, he said. Weve invested in these doctors for decades in some cases, and theyre providing services to the populations that are in more need than anyone.

Though Kuras green card means he isnt limited by the travel ban, he still worries hed get stranded if he went to India right now if he contracted Covid. Its a concern born out of responsibility to the community he serves, and underlines how dire Americas doctor shortage is.

Within a span of 10 days there would be nothing which can be done [in Poplar Bluff] because I have 90 dialysis patients. I have to take care of the hospital all alone.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Indonesias foreign minister on Wednesday urged the Association of Southeast Asia Nations to immediately appoint a special envoy on Myanmar in response to its military coup, and reiterated a call for the safety of civilians as the ruling junta cracks down on opposition.

After holding talks with EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell in Jakarta, Retno Marsudi said Indonesia is continuing to communicate with the ASEAN chair and other member countries following their demand for an immediate end to killings and the release of political detainees in Myanmar.

ASEAN leaders met in April in Jakarta with Myanmar's coup leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. They also agreed that a dialogue between parties in Myanmar should immediately start, with the help of the ASEAN envoy.

The special envoy appointment must be completed immediately, Marsudi said. The safety and well being of the Myanmar people must continue to be a priority."

An Indonesian diplomat familiar with the Myanmar issue said Wednesday that Brunei, which currently holds ASEAN's rotating chairmanship, will send Second Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof to meet the junta on Saturday.

The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media on the issue, said the visit is aimed at seeking Myanmar's approval of the ASEAN envoy. Myanmar is a member, and traditionally members of the bloc have refrained from interfering in each other's affairs amid criticism that its divisions and alignment with either the U.S. or China are weakening its position.

He said that naming the envoy involves both sides in Myanmar, making progress in the process slow.

According to Myanmars Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which has kept a detailed tally of arrests and deaths since the February military takeover, 818 protesters and bystanders have been killed by security personnel since the coup. More than 4,300 people are in detention, including 104 who have already been sentenced.

Story continues

Min Aung Hlaing said in an interview last week with Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television that the death toll had been exaggerated and was actually about 300, and that 47 police had been killed and more then 200 injured.

___

The attribution of comments on naming an envoy has been corrected to the Indonesian diplomat instead of Marsudi.
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz was heading to the United States for a one-day visit on Thursday to discuss ongoing efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal, which Israel opposes.

He was to meet his counterpart Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan "for strategic dialogue on the emerging nuclear agreement with Iran," his office said.

Global powers have been meeting in Vienna since early April in a bid to bring Washington back to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which the United States left under then president Donald Trump in 2018.

The US withdrawal and re-imposition of sanctions led to Iran stepping up its nuclear activities.

US President Joe Biden, has signalled his readiness to revive the nuclear deal.

Israel opposes the deal, which it says could enable the Islamic republic to develop nuclear arms.

Tehran maintains that its nuclear programme is peaceful.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday reiterated that Israel would not hesitate to risk its good ties with its closest ally the US to defend itself against a nuclear-armed Iran.

"If we need to choose - and I hope it will not happen - between friction with our great friend, the US, and getting rid of an existential threat, getting rid of an existential threat will prevail," he said.

Following Netanyahu's remarks, Gantz said that while Iran was a "threat to regional security and global peace," the United States was "Israel's most important ally".

Gantz -- who is now part of an alliance of Israeli politicians seeking to topple Netanyahu -- added in a statement: "Even if differences arise, they will be resolved through direct dialogue, behind closed doors, not through provocative statements that serve to harm Israeli security."

During his Washington trip, Gantz was also to discuss Israel's "qualitative military edge" and maintaining "Middle East stability", the defence minister's office said.

Story continues

"The officials will further review the Israel ministry of defence's plan for achieving long-term quiet in Gaza" and recovering Israel's soldiers missing in action and hostages, his office said.

In the latest 11-day flare-up between Israel and the Islamist rulers of the coastal enclave, Hamas, Israeli strikes killed 254 Palestinians, including 66 children, health officials there said.

Rockets and other fire from Gaza from May 10 to 21 claimed 13 lives in Israel, including one child and an Arab-Israeli teenager, medics said.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is planning to pledge an additional $800 million to the World Health Organisation's COVAX programme, which provides COVID-19 vaccines to countries in need, the Mainichi newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Japan has already pledged $200 million to COVAX, and the country is expected to announce donations of vaccine doses to the programme, the newspaper said without citing a source.

Suga will serve as host for an online COVAX summit on Wednesday, which will also be attended by United States Vice President Kamala Harris, philanthropist Bill Gates, and representatives from Group of Seven nations.

The summit is intended to fill a $1.7 billion funding gap, and it is hoped that countries and organisations will boost their pledges of money and vaccine doses, a Japanese government official told reporters on Tuesday.

Japanese lawmakers have urged giving supplies of AstraZeneca Plc's vaccine to Taiwan, which is dealing with a spike in domestic infections and has vaccinated less than 2% of its 23.5 million population. Japan has no immediate plans to use the AstraZeneca doses it has on hand and has secured enough supplies of other types of vaccine for its entire population.

(Reporting by Rocky Swift. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
Watch: John Barrowman has been 'viciously attacked' by trolls over inappropriate behaviour claims

John Barrowman's husband says the actor has been "viciously attacked by trolls" after admitting to exposing himself to colleagues.

Former Doctor Who star Barrowman has been caught up in controversy after Noel Clarke was accused of sexual misconduct.

A video has emerged of Clarke joking at a convention about Barrowman exposing his penis every five seconds on the Doctor Who set and hitting it on everything.

Barrowman's husband of 14 years Scott Gill wrote on Instagram: "Its been a challenging' 3 weeks for both of us, watching @JohnScotBarrowman get hounded in the press & viciously attacked by trolls, but mostly its been amazing how many wonderful people have rallied around in support."

Read more: Torchwood audio drama axed amid John Barrowman exposure row

He went on: "To all of you who have sent us lovely messages - THANK YOU! A special shout out goes to the true hero of the story : Gareth David-Lloyd who selflessly ran into the burning building to save his buddy John Barrowman. Gareth - Youll get a big kiss from me too when I see you! #TrueLoyalty #MyHero."

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

Barrowman's Torchwood co-star Gareth David-Lloyd spoke out in support of the 54-year-old Scottish-American actor.

David-Lloyd told Metro.co.uk: "In my experience on Torchwood Johns behaviour on set was always meant to entertain, make people laugh and keep their spirits and energy high on what were sometimes very long working days.

"It may be that because we were so close as a cast that professional lines were sometimes blurred in the excitement  I was too inexperienced to know any different but we were always laughing.

John Barrowman's husband Scott Gill says the actor has faced 'vicious' trolling. (Getty Images)

"The John I knew on set would have never behaved in a way he thought was affecting someone negatively. From what I know of him that is not his nature."

Barrowman has also spoken out to thank fans for their support.

Story continues

John Barrowman with Torchwood co-stars Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd. (Getty Images)

Posting a video on Instagram, the Dancing On Ice judge said: Hi everybody, its John here and I just want to say thank you very much to all of my fan family and everybody who has reached out with the countless messages of support over the last few weeks.

It has meant such a great deal to me and has really touched me to know that people are supporting me and standing by me and sending their love and all of their appreciation and kind words.

Read more: Entertainment industry pens letter calling for change after Noel Clarke allegations

Last month Barrowman, who played Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who and Torchwood, was removed from an interactive Doctor Who experience due to the controversy.

Watch: John Barrowman thanks fans for their support
By Stephen Nellis

(Reuters) - A court in California on Tuesday dismissed bribery charges against Apple Inc's security chief, writing that a key element of the case was "pure speculation" by prosecutors and unsupported by evidence.

The Santa Clara County District Attorneys Office in November had said a grand jury indicted Apple Chief Security Officer Thomas Moyer and two officers in the Sheriffs Office.

Prosecutors alleged that Moyer had offered to donate iPads to the Sheriff's Office after a 2019 meeting in exchange for help getting concealed-weapons permits for the company's executive protection team.

It is illegal to carry a concealed weapon without a permit in California, and county sheriffs have wide discretion over whether to grant them.

Judge Eric S. Geffon of the Superior Court of Santa Clara County found on Tuesday that Moyer had been in talks with the Sheriff's Office about permits for more than a year by the time of the 2019 meeting. By then, Geffon wrote, the evidence suggests Moyer believed the permits were already approved and would be issued soon.

Geffon said prosecutors erred in alleging that Moyer had any corrupt intent in offering to donate the iPads.

This argument is pure speculation, and is not supported by the evidence presented to the grand jury," Geffon wrote.

Moreover, Geffon wrote that Moyer's offer to donate the iPads to the Sheriff's Office, rather than any specific officer, and the fact that Moyer followed all of Apple's internal rules for requesting a donation, showed a lack of corrupt intent.

Apple said in November that it had already conducted an internal investigation and found no wrongdoing.

"I thank the Court for giving this case such careful consideration, and for allowing me to move forward with my life," Moyer said in a statement. "I also want to thank Apple, my friends and family for their unwavering support.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Stephen Coates)
After Missouri lawmakers agreed to Kansas Citys call last year for a state-financed witness protection fund to support violent crime investigations, the KCPD has tapped the $1 million available just once.

For $116.68.

Missouri Department of Public Safety spokesman Mike OConnell said thats the only time any police department has used the fund, which became available four months ago. Four other departments have registered with the state to use it.

The bill Kansas City police submitted for reimbursement was paid on April 30, OConnell said, for a shelter expense.

The fund was created by the Missouri General Assembly in 2020 during a special session on violent crime called by Gov. Mike Parson, in response to a record year for killings in Kansas City. Mayor Quinton Lucas had asked for such a session last year, specifically seeking state funds to protect witnesses, whose hesitancy or resistance to cooperation has long been a barrier in investigations.

KCPD solved 53% of the killings that occurred in the city in 2020. The clearance rates are lower for other crimes: 20% of rapes, and 22% of aggravated assaults, which could include non-fatal shootings.

Last May, Police Chief Rick Smith complained that in one week, eight of 10 surviving shooting victims declined to cooperate in the investigation or press charges. The same was true of two-thirds of survivors in past investigations, he wrote on his blog.

A majority claim they dont know who shot them or why. Investigation usually shows thats not true, Smith wrote. They either want to retaliate, were involved in illegal activity at the time of the shooting they dont want to disclose, or fear retaliation. If shooting victims dont help police stop shooters, the shooters remain in the community and remain readily capable of deadly violence.

Sgt. Jake Becchina, KCPD spokesman, wrote in an email that the department requested the $116 in March. KCPD will apply for witness protection funds when applicable, he said.

Story continues

There are certain parameters that a case and witness must meet, Becchina wrote. Our investigative staff weigh the possibility of applying when cases with witnesses that need protection come along.

The Department of Public Safety allows the money to be used on a variety of victims services, as long as the crime was violent or involved threats of violence, the victim was a Missouri resident and was not a perpetrator or accessory in the act.

Lucas said Wednesday he was frustrated to learn the fund hasnt been utilized more. He said the fund has not been discussed in meetings of the state-appointed board of police commissioners, on which he has the sole seat held by a local elected official.

I thought it would be a substantial tool in unlocking more of our vexing homicide cases and helping us address some of the long-term conspiracy-like drug dealing cases, he said. I think its imperative upon our police department to make sure we are availing ourselves of these resources.

This year, in response to Lucas moves to take local control of 18% of the Kansas City police budget, Republican lawmakers are calling for another special session on police funding.

Violent crime, a group of Northland Republican representatives wrote to Parson last week, has put the city in a crisis. On Wednesday, OFallon Rep. Nick Schroer scheduled a press conference in St. Louis asking Parson for a session in order to address how police departments within high-crime areas in our state are being defunded.

In 2019, The Star reported that an external assessment of the Kansas City Police Department found detectives had used their own money to put witnesses in hotels. The department declined to join the Jackson County Prosecutors Office in seeking federal grant money for witness protection, but police said Smith spoke with Parson to ask for a state fund.

The fund was one of two proposals from Parson that lawmakers passed before they abruptly ended the violent crime session last September. They left at least four other measures on the table.

But the fund remained empty until lawmakers put money into it in December. There is currently $1 million available, according to the Department of Public Safety. Lawmakers this year made an additional $1 million available for the fiscal year that starts next month.

The state allows departments to use the money to protect victims of violent crime whether or not they are expected to testify or provide evidence. If they are, the department must submit a summary of their anticipated testimony to the state to get the funds. Its available on a reimbursement, first-come first-served basis.

The money can be used on security for victims or witnesses, burner phones, food and housing, storage of belongings, legal fees to file for restraining orders and for therapy or counseling.

OConnell said he did not know why police have not used the fund more. The department told police across the state the money was available after lawmakers approved it, he said.

Maybe ask the police departments, he said. We just know the funds are available.

The fund was one of the few victories Kansas City officials have scored in Jefferson City in recent years. Lucas and other local officials lost in their effort this year to stop lawmakers from lifting the KCPD residency requirement. And theyve long wanted local control of KCPD, an idea that the legislature is sure to soundly reject amid backlash toward Lucas police budget re-allocation.

You only get so many bites of the apple, he said. I hope in the future were able to tell Jefferson City weve used this fund to success and its helped us to solve crimes.
By Hyonhee Shin and Joyce Lee

SEOUL (Reuters) -Leaders of South Korea's largest conglomerates urged President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday to pardon Jay Y. Lee, the jailed vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, to maintain the country's edge in the chip industry.

The plea was made during a luncheon between Moon and chiefs of four major business empires - Samsung, Hyundai, LG and SK - designed to boost economic cooperation after Moon and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to bolster the global supply chain for high-tech manufacturing.

Lee, the 52-year-old heir of the world's biggest memory chip maker and second-largest contract chip manufacturer, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison after being convicted of bribery, embezzlement and other offences.

SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won asked Moon to consider a petition for Lee's release that was submitted in April jointly by five business lobbies including the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry headed by Chey, according to Moon's spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee.

Moon replied that he "understood" difficulties for the companies, Park said. He did not elaborate, but appeared more open to the idea after simply saying at a news conference in March that he would consider public opinion before deciding.

Moon had vowed to not pardon serious economic crimes such as bribery and embezzlement before taking office in 2017.

Legal experts believe Lee is eligible for parole, as he has served more than half of his 30-month sentence. South Korean law allows parole to be granted after one-third of the sentence has been served, with the detainee showing exemplary behaviour.

Business leaders have highlighted the need for Lee to be active to retain South Korea's leading position in the chip industry amid global shortages.

"Semiconductors require large-scale investment decisions, and leaders can only make such decisions in a swift manner," said Kinam Kim, vice chairman and CEO of Samsung's device business.

Story continues

Biden has called for greater South Korean investment, and Samsung confirmed a plan to funnel $17 billion into a new plant for chip contract manufacturing in the United States during Moon's trip to Washington.

Lee is in a unique position overseeing all three of Samsung's divisions -- chips, smartphones and home appliances, said Park Jea-gun, a professor at Hanyang University in Seoul.

"It's hard to make big business decisions if not the owner," Park said.

But the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, an activist group that resists pardoning chaebol chiefs, issued a statement saying releasing Lee would "abuse the legal system to justify corporate crimes."

(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Kim Coghill)
Dubai Airports has hailed the decision of the Italian government to waive the 10-day quarantine requirement for all categories of traveller from the UAE, in favour of test-based travel protocols, with effect from June 2.

All passengers arriving on flights from the UAE to the Italian airports of Rome/Fiumicino, Milan/Malpensa and Venice/Marco Polo will be able to travel to Italy for any purpose. A negative Covid-19 test result will be required 48 hours before departure from the UAE and, upon arrival in Italy, all passengers over the age of two years will be required to take a rapid antigen test. Provided the test result is negative, travellers are then free to circulate throughout the country without restriction, whereas those testing positive will have to undergo a period of isolation at a Covid-19 approved hotel local to their point of arrival, in accordance with the prevailing Covid-19 protocols.

Praising Italy's decision as a pragmatic and practical move, Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said: "This is an important step towards recovery from the global pandemic and will give travellers to Europe the opportunity to plan long-anticipated trips to one of the world's most popular destinations. It demonstrates the confidence that both countries have in their approach to overcoming the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and is one of the most significant bilateral travel corridors which are vital to reboot travel. We hope that other countries will follow Italy's example in leading the global recovery"

Griffiths added: "The pandemic has caused a lot of social and economic damage and devastated millions of jobs across so many industries over the past 14 months. What the world desperately needs now is a safe return to the mobility and connectivity to aid the momentum of economic recovery, based on prudent risk management rather than risk avoidance."

The UAE-Italy corridor is the latest in a series of travel corridor agreements signed by the UAE including with Greece, Serbia, Seychelles and Bahrain. - TradeArabia News Service
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron filed a lawsuit against pharmacy chain CVS Health Corporation Wednesday, accusing the pharmacy giant of fueling the states opioid addiction epidemic.

CVS is the latest of several pharmaceutical companies sued by Kentucky for inflaming the states crisis of drug addiction and overdose deaths. The companies flooded the state with pills while ignoring red flags that powerful painkillers were being diverted to illegal sales, Cameron and his predecessor, Andy Beshear, have argued in multiple lawsuits.

The lawsuit alleges CVS played a duel role in creating, fueling, and maintaining the opioid epidemic within Kentuckys borders by using its retail pharmacies as dispensers of opioids and taking and shipping orders to and from those pharmacies as a wholesale distributor.

During the height of the opioid epidemic, CVS allowed millions of dosage units of opioids to flood Kentuckys borders, fueling the crisis and devastating thousands of families and communities across the commonwealth, Cameron said in a statement. As both distributor and pharmacy, CVS was in a unique position to monitor and stop the peddling of these highly-addictive drugs from their stores, yet they ignored their own safeguard systems.

Cameron said the lawsuit holds CVS accountable for its actions, which contributed to a crisis that has killed thousands of Kentuckians.

A spokesman for CVS Health said the company is prepared to defend against Camerons allegations.

Michael DeAngelis, senior director of corporate communications, said in an email that opioids are made and marketed by drug manufacturers, not pharmacies, and pharmacists dispense opioid prescriptions written by licensed physicians.

According to the lawsuit, the pharmacy had more than 100 separate licenses in the state as a wholesaler, out-of-state pharmacy and retail pharmacy. From 2006 to 2014, CVS pharmacies purchased more than 151 million doses of oxycodone and hydrocodone  6.1% of the total dose units in Kentucky  from its distribution center or third-party distributors.

Story continues

The lawsuit offers the example of a CVS pharmacy in Hazard that bought 6.8 million dosage units of oxycodone and hydrocodone from 2006 to 2014, which was enough for every resident in Perry County to have more than 26 pills each year. A CVS in Marion bought 2.8 million doses of opioids in eight years, which was enough for everyone in Crittenden County to have 34 pills per year. A Princeton CVS supplied enough of the drugs to provide 24 pills for every Caldwell County resident each year for those eight years.

Between 2007 and 2014, CVS reported zero suspicious orders from its Kentucky stores, according to the lawsuit. In 2015, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified Kentucky as having a statistically significant drug overdose death rate increase from 2014 to 2015. In 2015, drug overdoses accounted for more than 59% of Kentuckys statewide accidental deaths, which is more than motor vehicle accidents, fire, drowning, and gunshot wounds combined, according to the lawsuit.

The opioid epidemic is more than just a body count to Kentucky. It has plowed through graduating classes, work forces, and entire families, orphaning or separating children who have lost parents, aunts, uncles, and even grandparents to addiction, the lawsuit states. The Commonwealth of Kentucky has been left  in the wake of CVSs actions  to restore order and remedy this public health crisis.

DeAngelis said CVS Health has been a leader in fighting prescription opioid misuse and abuse, developing effective educational programs for patients and providers, creating thousands of safe medication disposal sites and expanding access to life-saving overdose reversal drugs.

In recent years, a rise in fentanyl use has caused overdose rates to increase. The lawsuit contends the increased opioid prescribing eventually led to a rise in heroin and fentanyl abuse for Kentuckians who could no longer legally acquire or afford prescription opioids.

The lawsuit stated CVS was not alone in causing and maintaining the opioid epidemic in the state.

Former Attorney General Andy Beshear, who is now governor, filed a lawsuit against Walgreens in 2018 for unfair, misleading and deceptive business practices. He also sued Endo Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceutical, Cardinal Health and McKesson Corporation seeking damages based on their alleged improper drug distribution in Kentucky.

Cameron continues to pursue litigation against Walgreens, Endo Pharmaceuticals, and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Inc. for each companys alleged role in the opioid crisis. Settlement discussions are ongoing with Johnson & Johnson, McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen for allegedly failing to maintain effective control over their narcotics. Claims against two other opioid producers in bankruptcy, Purdue Pharma and Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, are progressing toward resolution later this year.

Earlier this year, Cameron announced a multi-million dollar settlement with McKinsey & Company for its role in the opioid crisis with Purdue Phrama.

The lawsuit was filed in Franklin Circuit Court by lawyers in the attorney generals office and several others from the private firms of Motley Rice LLC and Morgan & Morgan. Beshear originally hired Morgan & Morgan to go after drug manufacturers in 2017. Then-Gov. Matt Bevin called Beshear out for taking campaign contributions from their lawyers and said Beshear did not award the contract properly.
Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell were indicted earlier this month in Idaho on murder and conspiracy charges, among others, in connection with the deaths of several people, including Loris two children, officials have said.

The Daybells are at the center of a tangled case that involve several suspicious deaths as well as a bizarre apocalyptic religious belief that prosecutors claim the couple designed to justify the murders of 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow, 17-year-old Tylee Ryan and 49-year-old Tammy Daybell.

Chad and Lori were each indicted by a grand jury last week on multiple counts each of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft by deception, first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder related to the deaths of JJ and Tylee, officials announced Tuesday.

'CULT MOM' LORI VALLOW DAYBELL DEEMED UNFIT TO STAND TRIAL IN MURDER CASE

Chad also faces a first-degree murder charge for Tammys death, and two counts of insurance fraud, while Vallow was also hit with a grand theft charge related to the Social Security benefits for her children, according to court papers shared online by EastIdahoNews.com.

LORI VALLOW, CHAD DAYBELL INDICTED ON MURDER CHARGES IN CONNECTION TO HER CHILDREN'S DEATHS

At one time, Lori Vallow Daybell reportedly believed she was "a god assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christs second coming in July 2020," according to divorce documents Charles Vallow, Loris estranged husband, filed before his death. Chad Daybell has written several apocalyptic novels based loosely on Mormon religious theology. Both were involved in a group that promotes preparedness for the biblical end-times.

Both Vallow Daybell and Daybell have maintained their innocence.

While the murder charges might be new, they are only the latest in a bizarre case that dates back to 2018, if not further, and involves other suspicious deaths and alleged co-conspirators, according to court papers, officials and past reports.

Story continues

Oct. 26, 2018

The indictment related to this weeks murder charges describes how the complex case began in 2018, when Chad and Lori, who were both still married to other people, began espousing their apocalyptic system of religious belief. The indictment, which was shared online by EastIdahoNews.com, describes how they began to "endorse and espouse" the beliefs from Oct. 26, 2018, through June 9, 2020, "for the purpose of encouraging and/or justifying" the murders of Tylee Ryan and Tammy Daybell.

Meanwhile, Chad allegedly taught the religious beliefs "for the purpose of justifying" the murder of JJ Vallow.

January 2019

Charles Vallow calls Gilbert, Arizona, police after he hasnt heard from the children in two days, according to local news station KUTV. Charles allegedly told police his then-estranged wife threatened his life because he was possessed by someone named "Nick Schneider," according to the report.

In police body camera video from the 911 call, which was obtained by EastIdahoNews.com, Charles can be heard telling officers her odd behavior has being going on for four to five years and had "gotten really bad lately."

When asked how Lori poses a threat to the children, Charles tells the officer: "I dont know what shes gonna do with them. I dont know if shes gonna flee with them. If shes gonna hurt them," he says.

July 11, 2019

Lori Vallow's brother, Alex Cox, shoots and kills Charles Vallow in Arizona, according to multiple reports. Cox allegedly claims the shooting was carried out in self-defense.

Later in the day, neighbors report hearing the sounds of a party at Loris home, with "loud music and lots of people swimming," the Vallows property manager says, according to the Post Register.

Charles was seeking a divorce at the time, saying Lori believed she had become a god-like figure who was responsible for ushering in the biblical end times.

July 30, 2019

According to the indictment, Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow exchange text messages "regarding death percentages for Tammy and JJ."

Undated text messages between the couple also describe how Tammy Daybell was "in Limbo" and was "possessed by a spirit named Viola," the indictment alleges.

Aug. 16, 2019

Lori Vallow changes the banking information related to Tylee Ryans Social Security benefits, so that any proceeds would be deposited into Loris bank account, instead of her daughters, the indictment alleges.

Around Sept. 1, 2019

Vallow moves to Rexburg, Idaho, from Chandler, Arizona, with her brother, Alex Cox, and her two kids, according to the indictment.

Sept. 8, 2019

Chad Daybell conducts a Google search apparently for wind direction, searching for "ssw wind" and visiting a website called, "What is the definition of SW wind direction?" the indictment alleges.

Tylee Vallow is last seen with her brother, mother and Alex Cox while visiting Yellowstone National Park, according to multiple reports.

According to the indictment, Chad and Tammy Daybell sign an application "to increase her LifeMap insurance to the maximum allowed under her policy."

Sept. 9, 2019

Multiple reports indicate Tylee Ryan is suspected of being killed on this day.

Alex Cox goes to Lori Vallows home around 3 a.m. and is later tracked via cell phone date to Chad Daybells property, according to the Post Register.

Investigators say Chad texted Tammy Daybell, reportedly telling her that he decided to burn some plants and also had shot a raccoon, which he buried in an area of the property where the family had previously buried dead pets, according to the court documents.

The detective said in the documents that he was suspicious because raccoons are normally nocturnal and the text said the animal had been shot during the day.

From Sept. 9, 2019, through Feb. 1, 2020, Vallow collects four Social Security survivors benefits on behalf of her son and four Social Security Child-in-Care payments, indictment alleges.

Sept. 18, 2019

Chad Daybell gets a burner phone, the indictment alleges.

Sept. 19, 2019

Lori Vallows best friend, Melanie Gibb, visits Loris Idaho home from Arizona.

Gibb later told authorities that when she arrived in Rexburg, Lori "informed her that JJ Vallow had become a zombie."

"Gibb further reports that the term zombie refers to an individual whose mortal spirit has left their body and that their body is now the host of another spirit. The new spirit in a zombie is always considered a dark spirit," officials said.

It wasnt the first time Gibb said she heard her friend talk about zombies, according to the statement. Gibb said Lori Vallow had called Tylee a zombie in spring 2019 when the teen didnt want to baby-sit her little brother and that Vallow had first learned the concept from Chad Daybell at the start of that year.

Gibb said the couple believed that when a zombie takes over a persons body "the persons true spirit goes into limbo and is stuck there until the host body is physically killed," the court document said. "As such, death of the physical body is seen as the mechanism by which the bodys original spirit can be released from limbo."

Gibb said she was told Tylee was attending school at a nearby college, though investigators later found the teen had never been enrolled. Gibb also said JJs behavior appeared to be typical, despite his mother claiming he was acting strangely.

Sept. 22, 2019

The last time Gibb saw JJ was Sept. 22 at Lori Vallows apartment, according to authorities. Alex Cox left with his nephew for his apartment nearby, Gibb told police, and when they returned, JJ appeared to be asleep, with his head on Coxs shoulder.

The next morning, Gibb said JJ was gone and Lori said Cox had taken him for a while, according to the document.

An analysis of Coxs cellphone records that day show that his phone pinged at locations on Chad Daybells property where the childrens remains were later found, police said.

Starting Sept. 25, 2019

From Sept. 25, 2019 through Jan. 22, 2020, Lori Vallow collects at least five Social Security survivors benefits on behalf of her daughter.

Oct. 8, 2019

From Oct. 8, 2019, through Oct. 12, 2019, Alex Cox allegedly "conducted multiple internet searches" related to "Grendel drop and shooting through a Dodge Dakota," indictment alleges. Grendel can refer to a kind of ammunition.

Before Oct. 9, 2019

Alex Cox visits gun range for several months before attempted shooting of Tammy Daybell, the indictment alleges.

Oct. 9, 2019

Alex Cox obtains a burner phone, the indictment alleges. He travels to the area of the Daybell home from Sportsmans Warehouse, though the indictment does not indicate what Cox does at the sports store, if anything.

According to EastIdahoNews.com, Tammy Daybell calls police to report a masked man fired a paintball gun at her in the driveway of her Salem home. She later reportedly posted on Facebook about the incident, writing that she did not know why she was targeted, or by whom.

The indictment identifies Cox as being Tammys attempted shooter.

Oct. 18, 2019

Alex Cox is seen approximately 2.5 miles from the Daybells' residence on the day Tammy died, according to the indictment and EastIdahoNews.com. Chad Daybell reportedly said at the time that Tammy died in her sleep, according to EastIdahoNews.com.

Tammy dies of what her obituary describes as natural causes, according to reports.

Nov. 5, 2019

According to EastIdahoNews.com, Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell tie the knot in Hawaii just weeks after Tammy Daybells death.

Nov. 26, 2019

JJ Vallows grandparents call police to request that officers conduct a welfare check at Lori Vallows home, out of concern for JJ, according to EastIdahoNews.com. Lori allegedly tells officers the kids are not home, but lies about where they actually are.

Lori provides a "false and/or misleading physical location of JJ Vallow to law enforcement" during an investigation, the indictment states.

"Theyve told us several stories about where the children are, but when we investigate, the children dont exist where they say they should," Rexburg Police Chief Shane Turman told the news site at the time. "We dont know where they are at, but we think they are in pretty serious danger."

The couple leave town before police return the next day, according to reports.

December 2019

Lori and Chad Daybell move to Hawaii, according to EastIdahoNews.com.

Dec. 11, 2019

Tammy Daybells body is exhumed, according to multiple reports, as law enforcement grow suspicious of the circumstances surrounding her death.

Dec. 12, 2019

Alex Cox, 51, is discovered gasping for breath and vomiting in the bathroom in his Gilbert, Arizona, home, according to EastIdahoNews.com. He is taken to a local hospital but could not be saved.

Local affiliate FOX 13 Salt Lake City reported that the timing of his death made it seem suspicious. An autopsy found "no obvious signs of trauma to his person or outstanding evidence discovered during the exam," according to FOX 13.

Coxs death was later listed as being caused by "Bilateral Pulmonary Thromboemboli" and "Atherosclerotic and Hypertensive Cardiovascular Disease," according to the report.

Jan. 26, 2020

Kauai police serve a search warrant on a rented vehicle and condo they were renting in Princeville, a resort town on Kauais north shore.

Jan. 30, 2020

Lori Vallow fails to comply with a court order to produce her children before authorities in Madison County on Jan. 30, authorities say.

Feb. 20, 2020

Lori Vallow is arrested on a warrant issued in Madison County, Idaho, and held on $5 million bail, Kauai police said at the time. She was ultimately returned to Idaho.

In February, Rexburg police said they "strongly believe that Joshua and Tylees lives are in danger."

Police said Vallow and Chad Daybell, who was her new husband at the time, lied about the childrens whereabouts and even about their existence. Daybell allegedly told one person that Vallow had no kids, and Vallow allegedly told another person that her daughter had died more than a year earlier.

Vallow is charged with two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children, Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood said in a prepared statement at the time. Shes also charged with obstructing a police investigation, asking a friend to lie to police on her behalf and contempt of court for failing to follow an order to produce the kids.

June 9, 2020

Investigators discover human remains while searching Chad Daybells property.

June 10, 2020

Relatives announce that the remains found on Chad Daybells Idaho property were those of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow. JJs grandfather, Larry Woodcock, tells the Post Register in Idaho Falls that "both children are no longer with us."

Prosecutors charge Daybell with destroying or concealing two sets of human remains. A judge sets bail at $1 million.

In court documents at the time, Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood said he believes Daybell either concealed or helped hide the remains knowing that they were about to be used as evidence in court. Wood said the first body was hidden or destroyed sometime on or after Sept. 8  the last known day that Tylee was seen  and the second on or after Sept. 22, the last known day that JJ was seen.

June 29, 2020

Prosecutors hit Lori Vallow Daybell with new felony charges alleging she had had conspired with her new husband to hide or destroy the kids bodies.

Court documents suggest JJ was buried in a pet cemetery on Chad Daybells property and that Tylees remains were dismembered and burned.

Rexburg police Lt. Ron Ball wrote at the time that Alex Cox also was involved in the conspiracy to hide the kids remains by taking JJ to Daybells property the day the child was buried and by later telling police the boy was visiting his grandparents in Louisiana.

May 24, 2021

Grand jury convenes and returns indictments against Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell on multiple counts each of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft by deception, first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder related to the deaths of Vallow Daybell's two children.

Daybell also faces a first-degree murder charge for the death of Tammy Daybell, and two counts of insurance fraud. Vallow was also hit with a grand theft charge related to the Social Security benefits for her children, according to court papers shared online by EastIdahoNews.com.

May 26, 2021

Chad Daybell makes his initial appearance in court for his latest charges  and appeared to smile and laugh as the judge asked if he could hear him. He waived a formal reading of his indictment and was not offered bail. His official arraignment is scheduled for the morning of June 9.

Lori Vallow Daybell was also scheduled to make her initial appearance, but the hearing was cut short due to "exigent circumstances" brought to the judge beforehand, the jurist told the court.

May 27, 2021

Lori Vallow Daybell is deemed mentally unfit for trial, according to multiple local news outlets.

Chad Daybell is declared not competent to stand trial in Idaho, according to an order filed in a Fremont, Idaho, County court. The Idaho Statesman reports Daybell needs restorative treatment and must be returned to competency before her criminal case in Idaho can move forward. The order notes that prosecutors are contesting the outcome and a hearing will be needed.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Investigators also recommend Vallow Daybell face an additional criminal charge in suburban Phoenix in the 2019 killing of her estranged husband.

Fox News' Paul Best contributed to this report, as well as The Associated Press.

If you've got a tip, you can reach Stephanie Pagones at stephanie.pagones@fox.com.
The nine babies born to a Malian woman on May 4 are doing well but need to remain under observation for up to two more months, the Moroccan clinic where she delivered said Wednesday.

Abdelkoddous Hafsi, spokesman for Ain Borja clinic in the city of Casablanca, said the nonuplets were now breathing without assistance as they had "crossed the stage of respiratory distress".

They are being tube-fed and their weight has "significantly" increased, to between 800 grammes and 1.4 kilogrammes (1.7 and three pounds), he told AFP.

The mother, 25-year-old Halima Cisse from Timbuktu in northern Mali, is staying near her five baby girls and four boys.

They still need "another month and a half or even two months to be able to face life" without the clinic's assistance, said Hafsi.

A medical team of 10 doctors assisted by 25 paramedics was mobilised for the multiple births by caesarian section.

Mali's government flew Cisse from the West African nation to Morocco for better care on March 30. She was initially believed, after ultrasounds, to have been carrying septuplets.

Cases of women successfully carrying septuplets to term are rare -- and nonuplets even rarer.

The verified world record for the most living births is eight, born to an American woman, Nadya Suleman, nicknamed "Octomum", in 2009 when she was 33.

ko/sof/hc/pjm
Maryland officials are beginning to wind down some of the mass coronavirus vaccination sites, beginning with the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore and Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen.

Ripken Stadium will close this month and M&T will close next month, according to officials with Harford County and the Maryland Stadium Authority.

The closings are not unexpected, as Gov. Larry Hogan has said in recent news conferences that demand for COVID-19 vaccines at the sites has dropped and officials would concentrate more on smaller, targeted clinics to continue tackling the pandemic.

The demand is not there anymore, said Molly Mraz, Harford County Health Department spokesperson.

Officials with the Maryland Department of Health wouldnt provide details Wednesday and said more information would be coming Thursday.

Ripken Stadium is slated to close June 19, county health officials said. M&T Bank Stadiums date was unclear. During a Stadium Authority board meeting held Tuesday, officials said the closure would be July 15, but an informational website for the site had said it would close July 2 and dispense its last first doses June 10, though that information was taken down Wednesday afternoon.

There were no appointments listed online for the M&T Bank Stadium site on the buildings club level after June 10.

The Stadium Authority board said the sites hours already had been reduced after an estimated 200,000 doses were administered.

The state has been operating more than a dozen mass sites around Maryland with various partners for months to vaccinate thousands of people a day.

About 3.2 million people have gotten at least one dose of the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna and an additional 237,000 have gotten the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, combining to at least partially vaccinate 70.3% of the states adults. About 56.5% have been fully vaccinated.

State health officials, hospitals and health departments around Maryland have been ramping up smaller, targeted clinics, taking supplies directly to apartments, churches and other venues, hoping to get those who couldnt or wouldnt go to a mass site.

Story continues

Vaccine is also available in pharmacies, doctors offices and elsewhere now.

The drop in demand at mass sites marks a stark change from months ago when there werent enough appointments to go around, and various citizen-run groups popped up to help get people a shot.

The state has taken to offering incentives to get more peoples attention, including a lottery with cash prizes for getting vaccinated and paying $100 to state employees who get a shot.

Shutting down some or all of the mass vaccination venues isnt necessarily the wrong decision, so long as resources are redirected to other avenues to vaccine people, said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a former Maryland health secretary and vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The key is this does not signal a decline in demand for vaccine, its just a decline in demand at these places, Sharfstein said. So you have to find the demand and meet it where it is.

Capitalizing on demand will be important to keep COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations at bay. Cases have dropped substantially since a January peak, but if vaccinations dont continue, there could be a fall surge, he said.

Sharfstein pointed to the Scenario Modeling Hub, which is a group of scientists, including those from Hopkins, who regularly game out cases, hospitalizations and deaths from the pandemic.

At just under 70% fully vaccinated, the nation could see another wave, but over 80% could forestall that outcome, the modelers found.

The modelers around the country show how important vaccinations are, Sharfstein said. If we let up on this effort the virus is totally waiting for the fall.

Baltimore Sun Media reporter S. Wayne Carter Jr. contributed to this article.
Matthew Perry just starred in the "Friends" reunion special. Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Matthew Perry told People that his engagement to Molly Hurwitz has been called off.

The announcement came days after the "Friends" reunion aired.

"Sometimes things just don't work out and this is one of them," Perry said in a statement.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

"Friends" star Matthew Perry has called off his engagement to fiancee Molly Hurwitz, People reported.

In a statement provided to People, Perry said: "Sometimes things just don't work out and this is one of them."

He added: "I wish Molly the best."

Perry, 51, and literary manager Hurwitz, 29 started dating in 2018 according to People, and the pair became engaged in November 2020.

Molly Hurwitz. Uptomyknees / YouTube

Perry told People at the time: "I decided to get engaged. Luckily, I happened to be dating the greatest woman on the face of the planet at this time."

Perry had previously been in a long term relationship with "Mean Girls" actress Lizzy Caplan from 2006 to 2012. Before this, he briefly dated high profile stars including Julia Roberts and "Baywatch" actress Yasmine Bleeth.

Perry's announcement to People calling off the engagement came days after the "Friends" reunion aired. The special episode featured all six main cast members of "Friends" looking back on their time on the show together for the first time ever and was well received by fans.

However, some concern was raised for Perry after the actor seemed to slur his words when speaking during the reunion and in interviews promoting the special. However, the "Friends" reunion director Ben Winston told the Hollywood Reporter that Perry was healthy.

"He was great. People can sometimes just be unkind. I wish they weren't," he said. "I loved working with him. He's a brilliantly funny man and I thought he had some great one-liners in the show.

Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc in HBO Max's "Friends: The Reunion." Courtesy of HBO Max

Winston continued: "I felt just happy and lucky to be in his presence and directing him on something like this."

Story continues

Perry has spoken candidly about his struggles with alcohol and substance abuse in past, saying in 2016 that he doesn't remember shooting three seasons of "Friends" ("somewhere between seasons three and six") as he was "a little out of it."

In 2013, Perry told People: "I had a big problem with alcohol and pills and I couldn't stop. Eventually, things got so bad that I couldn't hide it, and then everybody knew."

The "Friends" reunion was Perry's first television appearance since 2017, when he played Ted Kennedy in "The Kennedys: After Camelot."

Perry will next be seen in Adam McKay's star-studded Netflix comedy "Don't Look Up," which will be Perry's first film role since he appeared in "17 Again" opposite Zac Efron in 2009.

Insider has contacted Perry's representatives for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
More than 120 high school seniors from Broward and Miami-Dade counties will participate in the the 10th annual High School Baseball Network Miami Marlins Senior All-Star Games at loanDepot park on Thursday.

In the first game, Broward Private School Senior All-Stars, managed by Gil Morales from Calvary Christian, will take on the Miami-Dade Private School Senior All-Stars, managed by Jerry Albert from Belen Jesuit.

The second game will feature the Broward Public School Senior All-Stars, co-managed by Todd Fitz-Gerald from Stoneman Douglas and Joe Giummule from Taravella, and the Miami-Dade Public School Senior All-Stars, managed by Wesley Morejon from Braddock.

There is no better way for the HSBN Miami-Dade and Broward Senior All-Stars to close out their season than with a memory that will stay with them for a lifetime, Sarah Garcia, Marlins Director of Foundation & Community Initiatives, said in a press release.

The High School Baseball Network will present All-American awards for first and second team selections. Awards will also go to top pitcher, hitter, coach and player of the year.
A group of conservative business owners on Monday filed a lawsuit against Major League Baseball (MLB) and the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) over the decision to move the 2021 All-Star Game out of Georgia because of the state's controversial new voting law. Job Creators Network (JCN) is seeking the return of the game to Atlanta, $100 million in damages and a punitive award of up to $1 billion.

The JCN said that the league "decided to punish the people and small businesses of Atlanta purposefully and maliciously" by moving the game, rather than appealing to state lawmakers.

Among the claims leveled against the defendants in the 21-page lawsuit is that they violated a 150-year-old civil rights law known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, which is "intended to protect against conspiracies resulting in damages to another in his person or property." The lawsuit also accuses MLB of violating the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The lawsuit also claims the withdrawal of the All-Star game from Truist Park forced the JCN to pay for "signs in New York's Times Square and advertising in The New York Times" criticizing the league and to "divert personnel from its fundraising efforts resulting in lower receipts" and that, "together, these costs amount to over $1.6 million."

The lawsuit was filed in New York City by attorney Howard Kleinhendler, who was also involved in several failed lawsuits seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The JCN, headquartered in Addison, Texas, describes itself as a "nonpartisan organization founded by entrepreneurs like The Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus who believe that many government policies are getting in the way of the economic freedom that helped make this country prosperous." Marcus, who retired in 2002, is a supporter of former President Trump.

"MLB robbed the small businesses of Atlanta  many of them minority-owned  of $100 million, we want the game back where it belongs," Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of the Job Creators Network, said in a statement. "This was a knee-jerk, hypocritical and illegal reaction to misinformation about Georgia's new voting law which includes Voter-ID."

Story continues

The Republican-backed bill, signed into law by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp at the end of March, puts into effect new restrictions on absentee voting, expands early voting opportunities, introduces stricter ID requirements for both in-person and mail-in voting and, contentiously, bans food and drinks from being distributed to voters standing in line.

Almost immediately, major corporations with headquarters in Georgia, including Delta and Coca-Cola, spoke out in opposition to the bill. Actor Will Smith announced he was moving production of a film shoot out of the state, while other politicians and influential figures criticized the law.

MLB announced it was pulling the All-Star Game out of Atlanta in early April. At the time, Commissioner Rob Manfred had said, "the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year's All-Star Game and MLB Draft."

The All-Star Game is set to be played in Denver, Colorado, on July 13.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signs transgender athlete bill into law

U.S. officials push for COVID vaccinations as experts warn of potential risk of new outbreaks

Pandemic worsens pre-existing mental illness
Spain will allow cruise ships to dock in its ports from June 7, said a report citing the country's transport ministry.

Spains maritime authorities approved the reopening because of falling Covid-19 incidence rates and an increase in vaccinations, Euronews reported citing an order in Spains state gazette published on Saturday.

Spain banned cruise ships from docking in its ports in June 2020 as the pandemic ripped through Europe. A number of high-profile spreader events were linked to cruise liners around the world., the report said.

Shipping companies will have to comply with measures established by the health ministry  to guarantee total security, both for cruise passengers and for the cities where they land, the transport ministry tweeted on Saturday.

Last week Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced Spain would allow people from anywhere in the world to enter the country from June 7, provided they are vaccinated.
A Muslim woman from Texas has filed a complaint with the Department of Transportation, saying she was not allowed to sit in an emergency exit row on a Southwest Airlines flight because she was wearing a hijab, but her sister was allowed to sit there without one. Southwest says it's not what it seems.

Fatima Altakrouri and Muna Kowni were traveling from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Dallas on May 22, when they spotted the last two seats together in the emergency exit row.

Altakrouri said that at first, she didn't think anything of it when she asked a flight attendant if they could sit there and was told no.

Banned for life: Southwest Airlines bans passenger who 'seriously assaulted' flight attendant

Alcohol service postponed: Southwest Airlines delays return of alcohol sales after incidents with unruly passengers

"As I was walking, I overheard her saying to the passengers in the seats that were around that area, laughing, saying that 'If we sat her there, she'd bring down the plane in an emergency," said Altakrouri, who wears a hijab. "You can imagine the shock I was in at that time."

Altakrouri said she wasn't sure she heard that right, but then her sister followed up.

Sisters Muna Kowni and Fatima Altakrouri.

"She asked her, 'Why can't my sister sit here?'" Altakrouri said the flight attendant responded, "She cannot sit here because she can't speak English."

"I told her twice, 'She speaks English," Kowni added. "She's spoken English in front of her."

In a statement to USA TODAY, Southwest spokesperson Brandy King said: "Our internal reports from the flight do not support claims made by the passenger regarding comments or decisions being made based upon appearance. The safety of our passengers is paramount, and individuals seated in an exit row are required to verbally indicate that they can perform certain duties in flight. Our Crew is responsible for getting that confirmation from a passenger before seating them in an overwing exit row and was unable to gain acknowledgment from the passenger during boarding. Therefore, as a courtesy, the Crew offered her an alternate seat."

Story continues

Muslims to Biden: Fighting Islamophobia requires more than lifting Trump's travel ban

'I felt like I was not American at all'

The sisters, who were born and raised in the U.S., said they didn't want to make a scene and get kicked off the flight, but they noted that the flight attendant had several opportunities to confirm Altakrouri spoke English.

"We both spoke Arabic; we both spoke English," said Kowni, who is also Muslim but does not wear a hijab. "So, why didn't you tell me I don't speak English? I spoke Arabic like her, too. ... So it couldn't be any more clear than that when it comes to discrimination."

"I felt like I was not American at all," Altakrouri said.

"Southwest neither condones nor tolerates discrimination of any kind," King said. "Since Southwest Airlines' inception, we have put people first and maintain a mutual respect for our fellow Southwest Airlines Employees, our Customers, and the diverse communities that we serve."

What to know about summer flights: Yes, airports will be mobbed. No, masks aren't optional.

The sisters said they tried to talk to the flight attendant one last time as they were leaving the plane upon arrival.

"All she does is scream at us, 'Get off the plane,' and she pointed out towards the door," Kowni said.

The sisters said they were able to speak to a Southwest supervisor at Dallas Love Field Airport, but have yet to hear from the airline directly.

"I would like for them to at least reach out, you know, show that they, you know, apologize," Kowni said.

They said they fly Southwest frequently and had never had anything like this happen.

"I realize that the actions of one employee should not make a whole airline bad, but I would appreciate that Southwest comment and admit that this was a mistake that shouldn't have happened and they have taken actions to prevent it from happening again," Altakrouri said.

The sisters said they plan to keep flying Southwest.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Southwest passenger says flight attendant discriminated based on hijab
ALBANY  Democrats in the State Senate approved a bill Wednesday that could make construction contractors responsible for wage theft committed by subcontractors.

The measure, which passed the Assembly and now goes to Gov. Cuomos desk, means general contractors could be held liable or even face civil violations if a subcontractor on a job site stiffs workers.

An honest days pay for an honest days work, said sponsor Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens). Under the incredible leadership of our Senate Majority Leader, the New York State Senate is taking action to protect construction workers from the hundreds of millions of dollars that are stolen from them every year by unscrupulous contractors and subcontractors.

Union officials representing construction workers across the city have championed the measure as a way to hold unscrupulous contractors accountable.

Under the measure, general contractors will gain new authority to oversee the books of subcontractors in order to better ensure that workers are being paid all-owed wages.

This landmark anti-wage theft victory will make it easier to hold bad contractors accountable for stolen wages, while protecting exploited workers, returning much-needed tax revenue to the state, and creating a fairer, safer playing field for all hardworking New Yorkers, said Joseph Geiger, the executive secretary-treasurer of the New York City District Council of Carpenters.

The bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Latoya Joyner (D-Bronx), was originally approved by the Assembly in January but was recently recalled and amended.

Senate Dems also approved a host of gun-related measures on Wednesday, including a piece of legislation that would allow families of gun violence victims to sue firearm manufacturers.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn), would clarify that the states criminal nuisance law applies to the manufacture and sale of dangerous weapons.

Assemblywoman Pat Fahy (D-Albany) is sponsoring the bill in her chamber, where the measure is winding its way through the committee process.

Story continues

Similar efforts to target firearm makers through the courts have been stalled by a 2005 federal statute, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which shields the industry from most lawsuits.

The Supreme Court poked holes in the blanket protections two years ago by allowing relatives of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook tragedy to sue the Remington Arms Company, which manufactured the weapon used in the massacre.

Communities like the ones I represent have been ravaged by a dramatic increase in shootings over the past year, Myrie said. Im proud to have authored legislation to hold the worst actors in this industry responsible for their irresponsible behavior in the marketplace.

Other measures included in the package passed Wednesday would require the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services to release quarterly reports regarding gun violence data and prevent the sale of so-called ghost guns, untraceable firearms often made from 3-D printed materials.
The publisher of the National Enquirer agreed to pay a $187,500 fine after the Federal Election Commission found that it "knowingly and willfully" violated campaign law by paying $150,000 to a model who said she'd had an affair with Donald Trump to keep quiet during the 2016 presidential election, according to records released by a campaign finance watchdog group.

The FEC revealed the penalty in correspondence Tuesday with Common Cause, which had filed a complaint against Enquirer publisher AMI, Trump and the Trump campaign about the hush money payout to Karen McDougal after word of the supermarket tabloid's unusual payment to silence a salacious story  dubbed "catch and kill"  became public.

The complaint alleged that the payment was made "for the purpose of influencing the 2016 presidential general election."

In a letter to Paul S. Ryan, Common Cause's vice president of policy and litigation, the FEC said the board had found "reason to believe" that AMI had violated campaign law but that there "were an insufficient number of votes to find reason to believe that the remaining respondents"  Trump and the Trump campaign  "violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971."

In a signed agreement with the FEC that was forwarded to Common Cause, an attorney for AMI's successor company, A360 LLC, agreed that the company would pay the fine. It acknowledged "the Commission's reason-to-believe finding that these violations were knowing and willful," but it said it "does not admit to the knowing and willful aspect of these violations."

The FEC is expected to make its findings public within 30 days. The agency would not comment about the documents Wednesday.

Representatives for A360 and Trump did not respond to requests for comment.

Ryan hailed the fine against AMI as "a win for democracy" but said "the FEC's failure to hold former-President Trump and his campaign accountable for this violation lays bare the dysfunction at the FEC."

Story continues

"All the other actors have been held accountable, but still no accountability for former President Trump," he said.

AMI had previously acknowledged paying McDougal, a Playboy model, as part of a non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors who were investigating allegations that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen violated campaign law.

Cohen eventually pleaded guilty to having helped orchestrate the payment to McDougal, as well as a payment to another woman, porn star Stormy Daniels, who said she had slept with Trump, as part of a federal criminal case that sent him to prison.

Last month, the FEC dropped an inquiry into whether Trump should face sanctions for the payment to Daniels after two Republican commissioners voted against proceeding and a third recused himself. The commissioners who voted against moving forward noted that the commission is dealing with a substantial backlog and argued that the case was "statute of limitations imperiled" and "not the best use of agency resources."

In an op-ed last month in The Washington Post, one of the Democratic commissioners, Ellen Weintraub, agreed that the agency had a large backlog to catch up on but said: "Are we too busy to enforce the law against the former president of the United States for his brazen violation of federal campaign finance laws on the eve of a presidential election? No."

Trump has denied having had relationships with McDougal, and he defended the payments in a 2018 interview with Fox News.

"They weren't taken out of campaign finance," he said, adding: "They didn't come out of the campaign. They came from me."

The Manhattan district attorney's office is believed to be scrutinizing the payments as part of its investigation of the finances of Trump's company, the Trump Organization.

The six-member FEC board is made up of three Republicans, two Democrats and an independent. Four commissioners have to agree for a case to proceed.

Ryan said he was baffled by how the commission could vote to fine the Enquirer and not Trump.

"It's a good use of resources to hold a tabloid accountable but not a former president. That's an astounding and absurd outcome," he said.
Key Republicans in North Carolinas state House are pushing to end extra federal unemployment benefits for workers in the state.

The program offers an additional $300 a week to North Carolinians who cant find work because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A proposal to remove the state from the pandemic unemployment compensation agreement emerged in a House committee meeting Wednesday evening.

Were hearing from our employers as the economy gets back and churning that they are looking for folks to get back to work, said Rep. Jason Saine, a Republican from Lincolnton, and this will help speed that up.

State legislative Republicans are echoing North Carolinas U.S. senators, Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, who called on the Democratic governor to end the program last week, saying that the program is causing a workforce shortage in the state.

A state House finance committee passed the bill Wednesday evening. It would have to be approved by the full House before consideration by the Senate and then Gov. Roy Cooper, who has pushed back against the idea of cutting benefits.

North Carolina has among the stingiest and shortest unemployment benefits in the country and many families are dealing with issues such as lack of affordable child care and finding jobs with livable wages, Cooper said in a statement responding to Burr and Tilliss letter.

During the finance committee meeting Wednesday, some House members agreed with Burr and Tillis that the program is causing unemployed workers to remain home.

Others questioned whether taking money from the unemployed would harm them, while also saying that taking that money out of North Carolinas economy could affect spending in the state.

Saine put forward a new Senate Bill 116, now known as the Get North Carolina Back to Work Act.

The bill replaces the Let them Play, Let us Watch bill that was passed by the Senate and would have allowed more people to attend events at public and private high schools.

Story continues

That version of the bill has become a moot point now that Cooper has lifted gathering restrictions from his COVID-19 emergency orders.

The Houses proposal differs from the N.C. Senates unemployment bill. The Senates bill would keep the federal program intact but add bonuses for people who find new employment.

For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at link.chtbl.com/underthedomenc or wherever you get your podcasts.

Under the Dome

On The News & Observer's Under the Dome podcast, were unpacking legislation and issues that matter, keeping you updated on whats happening in North Carolina politics twice a week on Monday and Friday mornings. Check us out here and sign up for our weekly Under the Dome newsletter for more political news.
New high school social studies documents for North Carolina students were changed because of concerns they focused too much on the perspectives of Black people compared to other minority and marginalized groups.

The state Department of Public Instruction is working on documents that will help teachers use new K-12 social studies standards that focus more on racism, discrimination and the perspectives of marginalized groups.

State Superintendent Catherine Truitt said Wednesday she had worked to change the high school documents because the examples for marginalized groups were too focused on one group  African Americans.

There were a disproportionate number of topics for any given standard and objective that had to do with one community over another, Truitt said at Wednesdays State Board of Education meeting. So I asked the team to go back and have more proportionality of topics to go with specific standards and objectives.

The state board will vote in July on the unpacking documents that suggest how high school and middle school teachers can teach the new standards. On Thursday, the board will vote on the documents for elementary schools and a glossary of social studies terms.

Disproportionate discussion of Black topics

State board member James Ford, a supporter of the new social studies standards, questioned Truitt about which group she felt had been disproprortionately represented.

Truitt, a Republican, said she became concerned about the lack of diversity in the examples included in initial drafts for the high school American History class. For instance, she said all but one of the examples of reading assignments and topics about the experiences and achievements of minorities and marginalized peoples related to African-American culture.

There was nothing about European discrimination of various groups, anti-Semitism, Asian slavery, etc., Truitt said.

Another American History standard looks at how slavery, xenophobia, disenfranchisement and intolerance have affected individual and group perspectives of themselves as Americans. But Truitt said 13 of the 17 suggested resources dealt with African American topics.

Story continues

Truitt said 13 of the 25 example topics for how racism, oppression and discrimination of indigenous peoples, racial minorities and other marginalized groups were African American.

Thats the disproportionality that I was referring to, she said.

Lori Carlin, DPI section chief of social studies and arts education, said theyve fixed that problem.

Black minister and Durham social justice activist Paul Scott charged that Truitt seems to fear that the curriculum will be too Black.

How dare she further marginalize the descendants of Africans who were brought here in chains! Scott said in an email Wednesday. Our children deserve better!

Including that America is a great nation

The new social studies have been a source of controversy even before their adoption in February in a split 7-5 vote by the boards Democratic majority.

Critics accused the social studies standards of incorporating Critical Race Theory, a scholarly framework that describes how race, class, gender, and sexuality organize American life, according to the UNC-Chapel Hill history department. This view holds that systemic racism has been and continues to be a part of the nations history.

Critics call it Marxist, anti-American, racist and destructive. Concerns about Critical Race Theory led state Republican House lawmakers to pass a bill last month that puts new rules on how schools teach about race and history, including not promoting teaching that would make students feel guilt or discomfort due to their race or sex.

Some of the concerns were echoed Wednesday by the state boards Republican members. Board member Amy White asked about including in all the social studies documents a statement about how America is a great nation.

Through our challenges, through sacrifices, through our triumphs that America is the nation today that we should be proud of and blessed to live in, White said.

Board member Jill Camnitz, who chairs the board committee working with the new standards, said they can discuss Whites concerns at the July board meeting.

Local control over social studies

Board member Olivia Oxendine said shes concerned that the new middle school standards about innovation might not discuss the contributions of famous 20th century inventors like Henry Ford, the Wright Brothers and William Boeing.

Weve got a lot in there, rightfully so, on the contributions of women, Oxendine said. I know the names that I brought up are men, and theyre white men, but they still are heroes in the narrative of America.

And Im not saying that were trying to avoid that. I just feel the need to raise that up because these are such rich topics and our students are going to be deprived if theyre not presented.

DPI staff stressed Wednesday that they cant list every example because there are so many. In addition, the new standards are not a curriculum.

As a local control state, each school and teacher will make final determinations about which, if any of these examples, to use, Carlin said. The idea is to provide teachers with a starting point and then they make a professional judgment about how best to engage their students with the materials they choose to use for the objective.

Camnitz asked her colleagues to put aside their differences to adopt the new materials.

Our vote tomorrow should not be based on whether we agree with the approved standards but rather on whether the support documents align with the standards, Camnitz said.
By Ismael Lopez

MANAGUA (Reuters) -Nicaraguan police stormed into the home of opposition leader Cristiana Chamorro on Wednesday, escalating a political battle ahead of elections later this year in which longtime leftist President Daniel Ortega is seeking to hold on to power.

The police placed Chamorro under house arrest, according to Chamorro's brother, journalist Carlos Chamorro, and continued to occupy the property in the capital Managua after raiding it more than five hours earlier, he wrote in a post on Twitter.

Social media and local television broadcast live images of police entering and surrounding Chamorro's home earlier on Wednesday, in which police could be seen using force to eject other journalists who had arrived to cover the scene.

The police action comes in the wake of prosecutors seeking Chamorro's arrest for money laundering and other crimes, according to judicial authorities.

A source close to Chamorro's family said the 66-year-old vice president of Nicaragua's biggest newspaper, La Prensa, was inside her home and could be arrested at any time.

In a statement, Nicaraguan judicial authorities said prosecutors wanted Chamorro detained on suspicion of crimes including money laundering, plus a lesser citation for misrepresentation.

Neither Chamorro nor her representatives could immediately be reached for comment.

A judge in the capital Managua put out the arrest order, acceding to the attorney general's request, the statement said.

The attorney general on Tuesday formally sought Chamorro's disqualification from holding public office due to the criminal investigation launched against her.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken blasted the move in a post on Twitter on Wednesday, saying preventing Chamorro from competing "reflects Ortega's fear of free and fair elections."

She had recently emerged as a possible unity candidate who could possibly rally a fractured opposition to defeat Ortega in the November vote.

Story continues

The United Nation's human rights chief has accused the attorney general's office of fabricating false allegations against Ortega's critics.

Chamorro is the daughter of Violeta Chamorro, who became president of Nicaragua in a 1990 election, ousting current president Ortega after his first stint in power.

(Reporting by Ismael Lopez; Writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Grant McCool, Alistair Bell and Richard Pullin)
Nigerian police are trying to track the route kidnappers took with about 200 children that were seized in a raid on an Islamic school.

The attack took place in north-central Niger state, the authorities have ruled out paying a ransom.

Officials say a warplane was also flying over the area to try to spot them while worried parents waited for news.

Gunmen on motorbikes attacked the town on Sunday afternoon.

One person was shot dead during the attack and another seriously injured.

A local governor said they were trying to negotiate to see if the children could be returned.

More than 700 students have been kidnapped for ransom since December.

Taken by armed groups after raids on schools and universities in Nigeria's violent north.

While the government denies paying ransoms it is widely believed they have in the past.

Video Transcript

[HONKING]

- Nigerian police are trying to track the route kidnappers took with about 200 children that were seized in a raid on an Islamic school. The attack took place in north-central Niger state. The authorities have ruled out paying a ransom. Officials say a warplane was also flying over the area to try to spot them, while worried parents waited for news. Gunmen on motorbikes attacked the town on Sunday. One person was shot dead during the attack and another seriously injured.

A local governor said they were trying to negotiate to see if the children could be returned. More than 700 students have been kidnapped for ransom since December, taken by armed groups after raids on schools and universities in Nigeria's violent north. While the government denies paying ransoms, it is widely believed they have in the past.
A second and third teenager have been taken into custody in North Carolina in connection to the murder of a 69-year-old man found suffering from fatal injuries in a cemetery in the state capital of Raleigh over the Memorial Day weekend.

A 911 caller described seeing blood and clothes across the ground near the entrance of Mt. Olivet Cemetery at approximately 10:05 p.m. Friday, as who he believed to be two males and one female first fled on foot before hopping into two separate vehicles and peeling off.

Maria Elizabeth Pena-Echeverria, 18, was first charged Saturday in connection to 69-year-old James Lacy Taylor's death. Both Taylor and Pena-Echeverria lived at Raleigh addresses, police said.

NORTH CAROLINA CEMETERY MURDER: 18-YEAR-OLD WOMAN CHARGED AFTER MAN FOUND FATALLY INJURED

Raleigh homicide detectives by Tuesday had charged 19-year-old Johnathan Daniel Villanueva-Galer with murder in connection to Taylors death. And juvenile petitions have also been obtained for a 16-year-old who has been taken into custody, Fox News has learned.

"This was not a random act," Raleigh police spokeswoman Laura Hourigan told Fox News. Hourigan declined to provide more details regarding potential motives, adding that she does not have information about Pena-Echeverria's legal status or if she has any gang affiliation.

Raleigh Police Department officers on Friday were dispatched to the 2200 block of State Farm Road, where they located an adult male suffering from serious injuries. The man, later identified as Taylor, was transported to the hospital where he was declared deceased, police said.

Hourigan declined to clarify how Taylor was fatally injured, as autopsy results have not been finalized.

In a recording of the 911 call provided to Fox News, a man who identifies himself as a worker for the North Carolina State labs tells a dispatcher that he saw three people two males and one female, all of Hispanic descent  running out of the cemetery.

Story continues

He says they hopped into two separate vehicles, one a sedan, the other a pickup truck, and left in a hurry. The caller, who says he drove to the area to check on his animals, tells the dispatcher he also sees clothes and blood across the ground leading the cemetery.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

He further describes seeing black latex gloves, two shoes, a pair of pants and blood spattered across the ground and agrees to wait in his vehicle until officers are able to respond to the scene.

The cemetery is adjacent to Schenck Forest, which is managed by North Carolina State University. Campus police also put out an alert Friday night saying witnesses saw a woman and two men leaving the scene. Two separate vehicles fled toward Reedy Creek Road, according to initial reports.

Both Villanueva-Galer and Pena-Echeverria have been transported to Wake County Detention Center.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jun. 1North Huntingdon police are asking the public's assistance for information on a two-vehicle crash Monday on Route 30 that sent three people to an area hospital, including one in critical condition.

Chief Robert Rizzo reported the crash occurred about 12:24 p.m. Monday at the intersection of Route 30 at Norwin Avenue.

Rizzo said a black Chevrolet Avalanche, driving by a minor, was turning from Route 30 on to Norwin Avenue and collided with a black Honda Fit with three occupants that was driving in the slow lane eastbound on Route 30. None of those involved were identified by police.

Rizzo said the three occupants of the Honda were transported to Forbes Regional Hospital, including a rear seat passenger who was reported in critical but stable condition.

The accident remains under investigation. Anyone who may have seen the accident is asked to call police at 724-864-8800.

Paul Peirce is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at 724-850-2860, ppeirce@triblive.com or via Twitter .
An Oklahoma City imam highlighted interfaith unity in his community after a teenage girl, who identified as Jewish, asked him at his mosque to donate her babysitting money to help Palestinians.

The imam, Imad Enchassi, said he was working outside his mosque last week when a car dropped off a teenager in search of the imam.

She arrived Wednesday between prayers before sunset, and the only person there was Enchassi, who was wearing gym clothes and a cap while he did yard work.

"Apparently, I was not dressed as an imam," Enchassi, 56, said with a laugh. "And then I said: 'Yes, I'm the imam. Can I help you?'"

He said the teenager was carrying an envelope with $80 and told him that she wanted it to help a family in Gaza.

"I want you to tell them this is from a young Jewish girl that worked all week babysitting. And that we love them and feel their pain," Enchassi said she told him.

The gesture, which caught Enchassi off guard, inspired him to write about it in a Facebook post that has been shared 4,400 times and has received hundreds of comments.

"Humanity is marvelous indeed," he wrote.

"Your post made me cry," a Facebook user wrote in response. "Crying with you," Enchassi responded.

"Kindness, humility and love has no boundaries of religion, race, ethnicity or nationality," another wrote.

IMAGE: Imam Imad Enchassi and his family at a prayer vigil (Courtesy Imam Imad Enchassi)

Enchassi, who is Palestinian American, said one of his congregants lost several relatives in Gaza during violence between Israel and Hamas before the cease-fire.

So when Enchassi was given the gift, it left him "emotional," he said, and he told the teen her act was "awesome."

The imam said the teenager didn't give her name when he asked, which he interpreted to mean she wanted to remain anonymous.

"For this young lady to come  I'm just imagining my teenager, my teenage kid and their strong sense of social justice and their strength," Enchassi said. "So I can see that it's ... her heart being poured out for the people of Gaza."

Story continues

Enchassi said that he didn't get a chance to ask but that he believes the donation was prompted by a recent rally the mosque hosted where a member of his congregation spoke about losing 14 of her family members in Gaza.

"You know, losing 14 members of your family is extremely hard," Enchassi said. "So she was shaking, and her voice was breaking, and it affects everybody's heart. I mean, it was a speech that spoke to people's heart and to people's humanity."

The teenager's act of kindness came after airstrikes between the Israeli government and Hamas last month. Violence erupted after Palestinians protested the removal of Palestinian families from land claimed by Jewish settlers in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

Reports of antisemitic attacks increased over that time and after the cease-fire. The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights group, said its preliminary research found an increase in online and real-world incidents of antisemitism during that time.

It's not unusual for local Jewish and Muslim residents to come together to raise money for groups, but it did stand out when the teen took action on her own, Enchassi said, noting that the Oklahoma City community is home to an interfaith alliance.

Enchassi wanted to share the anonymous donation in the wake of antisemitic sentiment to distinguish between religious identity and political norms.

"My heart breaks for any violence against any religion in the United States that is perpetrated by hate," he said. "So, as Muslims, we know the feeling, and we know how bad it is to generalize about a certain religion ... and definitely, we could relate to antisemitism from that perspective."
On the back of quarantine free travel to Morocco, and back into the emirate of Abu Dhabi, Etihad Airways has announced plans to restarting services to Rabat on June 23.

As Phuket prepares to reopen to international vaccinated travellers, Etihad is recommencing services to the popular holiday destination on July 1.

Fares from Abu Dhabi to Rabat and Phuket start from just AED995 return in Economy. This fare is limited on a first come first served basis. The sale starts today (June 2) and ends on (June 4), the airline said. Guests who book between June 5 and 9 will enjoy return fares to Rabat starting from AED1,995 in Economy and Business fares from AED9,495. Travellers can jet off to Phuket in Business from AED6,995. Sale fares are valid for travel until November 20, it said.

The Rabat service will operate with an initial twice weekly flight and Phuket will be three times a week, using a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, offering Economy Space and Neighbour-free seating options.

To simplify the travel experience and provide additional peace of mind, Etihad recently launched Verified to Fly, allowing guests to validate their Covid-19 travel documents before arriving at the airport. Travellers who use Verified to Fly can enjoy fast track check-in at the airport by going to the dedicated Verified to Fly desk for a quicker and smoother experience. To use the Verified to Fly service, guests can sign-up by visiting Manage my Booking and will receive further information on how to submit their documents.

For more convenient travel options, guests can also check in for their Etihad flight from the comfort of their own home by visiting etihad.com/homecheckin up to seven hours before their flight. This means passengers can check in their bags, choose their seat and collect their boarding pass and luggage tags from their home in Abu Dhabi. Once at Abu Dhabi International Airport, all non-transit passengers who have used the home check-in service can skip the queues bag-free, making the airport journey seamless. Luggage will need to be collected at the destination baggage belt, the airline said.

Flying to, from, and via Abu Dhabi is supported by the airlines fully redesigned sanitisation and safety programme, Etihad Wellness, which ensures the highest standards of hygiene are maintained at every stage of the customer journey. - TradeArabia News Service
Shafiq Ahmed was walking near his home when a group of masked men bundled him into a car

Walking to the barber's one evening, Shafiq Ahmed began to suspect he was being followed. The 37-year-old lawyer and social media activist in Pakistan worried he was about to be abducted.

A few seconds later, a group of men grabbed him and forced him into the backseat of a waiting car.

The kidnapping in December 2019, in the eastern city of Okara, was captured on CCTV. Mr Ahmed can be seen desperately trying to fight back, while his attackers appear to threaten bystanders against intervening.

After Mr Ahmed was bundled in the car, no-one would hear from him for weeks.

He believes that the men who abducted him worked for Pakistan's intelligence services. Mr Ahmed was a forthright critic of the government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan, as well as of the country's powerful military, which many allege plays a controlling role in politics from behind the scenes.

Mr Ahmed's disappearance and torture appear to be part of a wider crackdown in the country on dissenting voices, designed to suppress allegations that Pakistan's military is interfering in the political system and helped manipulate the 2018 elections in Mr Khan's favour - allegations the military and Mr Khan deny.

Speaking from the hospital room where he was recovering, Mr Ahmed told the BBC what happened after he disappeared from the frame on the CCTV footage.

"They put handcuffs on and blindfolded me," he said. He was then taken to an unknown location. "They dragged me out of the car and threw me into a room and started torturing me. They didn't ask me anything, they just stripped me naked  and began beating me continuously with leather belts and wooden sticks, on my back and the soles of my feet."

The kidnapping was captured on CCTV

The beatings lasted for five to six days in small, windowless cell, Mr Ahmed said. He didn't think he would survive. "They told me, 'We will throw your body into the river.'" Video filmed by Mr Ahmed of his injuries after his release shows extensive bruising on his body.

Story continues

Since then, the crackdown appears to have only intensified. Last week, a journalist was tied up and beaten at gunpoint by men identifying themselves as members of Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI. In April, a commentator was shot and injured while walking in a park. Pakistan is currently ranked 145 out of 180 countries on a Press Freedom Index compiled by the charity Reporter's Without Borders. Neither the army nor the government responded to requests to comment from the BBC about allegations intelligence officers have targeted journalists and activists although the ISI has publicly denied involvement in last week's assault.

According to Mr Ahmed, during his interrogation the men holding him asked: "Who is really behind the posts you put up on Facebook and Twitter?"

"I told them, 'No-one is telling me to write them. I have my own independent beliefs about the importance of civilian rule.' But they weren't prepared to listen to me."

The kidnappers read out statuses Mr Ahmed had posted that were critical of Prime Minister Imran Khan

He said he was also asked about who was "funding" him; and what his links were to other liberal activists and the Pashtun Protection Movement, which has held large demonstrations accusing the military of human rights abuses.

It sounded to Mr Ahmed like his interrogators had printed copies of his social media posts. "I was blindfolded, but could hear pages turning as they said, 'What have you written here about the military spokesman? You've said this or that about the army chief and Prime Minister - why are you criticising them?'"

Mr Ahmed had been targeted before in a similar fashion. In April 2019, he was formally accused of uploading "defamatory posts against Agencies of Pakistan", but the court case against him stalled. Then in June he was abducted, beaten, and warned to stop his social media activity before being dumped by a road around 50km away from his home in the early hours of the morning, he said.

Prior to letting him go, he said, his abductors shot a video of him while he was naked, forcing him to declare: "I won't criticise anyone on social media again." He alleges that they threatened to make the video viral and then kill him if he resumed his activism. When he did just that, he was detained again in December, this time for two weeks.

Pressing mute on dissent

Others have apparently also been targeted for their online activity. The journalist Asad Ali Toor began posting videos on YouTube to bypass the largely unofficial censorship on what local TV channels can broadcast. Most "live" TV political talk shows in Pakistan are in fact transmitted with a slight delay, allowing producers to mute guests who stray too far in their criticism. In one programme last year, a commentator was even muted while criticising the lack of press freedom in the country.

A legal notice was filed against Mr Toor for using "derogatory language" about the army. The case was dismissed in court in November, but last Tuesday three men barged into his apartment in Islamabad, Mr Toor told the BBC.

After tying him up, one of the men began hammering violently on his elbows with a pistol, Mr Toor said. When the BBC visited his home, there were bloodstains on the floor of his bedroom. Mr Toor said the men forced him chant, "Long Live the ISI, Long Live the Pakistani Army." CCTV later captured him staggering out of the apartment and collapsing. Police are investigating the case. The ISI has denied involvement, describing the allegations as a "conspiracy".

When the BBC approached Pakistan's Information Minister Fawad Chaudry to ask about the alleged attacks on journalists and activists, he said he would only agree to an interview if the BBC also devoted a programme to Pakistan's "great success in war against Covid," dismissing media coverage of the issue as being agenda driven.

Press freedom has long been a problem in Pakistan, but the situation appears to be deteriorating under Prime Minister Imran Khan. He has dismissed allegations of attacks on the Pakistani press as a "joke" and claimed he faces "unprecedented criticism" from the media.

Some government figures have condemned individual incidents, but the same officials have also frequently attempted to downplay abductions and assaults, suggesting the intelligence services are not to blame. In an interview with the BBC's Hardtalk programme, Information Minister Mr Chaudry claimed that there was a "history" of people "using" the name of the intelligence agencies in order to get asylum abroad.

Despite CCTV evidence, no culprits have been identified in a host of previous incidents. In April, Absar Alam, a prominent commentator survived a shooting by an unknown gunman, and last year an established journalist, Matiullah Jan, was abducted for a number of hours by unidentified men. Many in Pakistan bitterly joke that "everyone knows" who such "unknown" figures really are. Leading TV anchor Hamid Mir, shot twice in 2014, told the BBC, "We are losing our freedom very fast". After making a fiery speech at a protest last week, criticising the military and calling for an end to attacks on journalists, Mr Mir was taken off air.

Opposition politicians do regularly appear on Pakistani TV. But a leading media analyst, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the BBC he believed they were permitted in order to retain a superficial appearance of democratic values, but that clear "red lines" existed that must not be crossed.

Interviews with opposition politicians have been pulled off the air

Among those red lines, undoubtedly the most sensitive is criticism of the army, which has ruled Pakistan directly for nearly half of its existence, and is widely believed to continue to play a key role in politics.

When Gulalai Ismail, an award-winning women's activist, joined the Pashtun Protection Movement (PTM), which strongly criticised the military's record on human rights, she was accused of "anti-state" remarks. She has alleged that intelligence agents tortured people close to her in an effort to track her down and arrest her.

In fear of her life, Ms Gulalai fled the country in 2019, seeking asylum in the US. But her elderly parents remain in Pakistan. Despite being well known for their liberal and progressive views, they have been charged with providing support for deadly terrorist attacks by extremist groups. Ms Ismail described the court case as an example of "collective punishment". The aim, she said, was to demonstrate "that if parents are to raise a daughter who will speak truth to power  then this will be the fate. Not just the daughter will suffer but the parents will also suffer".

The increasing pressure on those who criticise the government has coincided with a push by Pakistani officials to improve the country's troubled relations with its external neighbours. That includes a role in helping persuade the Afghan Taliban to reach a negotiated settlement, and jailing a number of anti-India militant figures. Some, like Ms Gulalai, worry that those developments, coupled with the global aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, will lead western countries to largely "turn a blind eye" to domestic human rights abuses by the state.

Shafiq Ahmed, the lawyer and social media activist, said he was being hounded by intelligence agents to such an extent that clients no longer approach him for work and neighbours in his hometown are afraid of being associated with him. But he vowed to continue speaking out. "How long can I just sit here silently?" he said.

You may also be interested in:
Hamas staged an anti-Israel rally in the northern Gaza Strip, a parade with weapons in the streets of Gaza city more than a week after a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine. Ahmed Zakot/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

A Hamas official said the militant group has seen a spike in crypto donations, the WSJ reported.

"Some of the money gets used for military purposes to defend the basic rights of the Palestinians," they said.

It isn't clear when Hamas began receiving these donations.

Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.

Hamas said it has seen a rise in cryptocurrency donations since violent clashes with Israel broke out in May, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing a senior official of the militant group.

The escalation in armed conflict began on May 7, when Israeli police stormed the Islamic holy site al-Aqsa Mosque during the period of Ramadan and injured over 200 people. Palestine's Islamist group retaliated by firing rockets into Israel from Gaza, after which Israel struck back with its own airstrikes at Gaza.

Both sides eventually agreed to a ceasefire on May 20, after 11 days of the bloodiest fighting seen in the region in seven years.

The conflict drew widespread international attention, not just to the chaos of the situation, but also to websites run by the group's armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, WSJ said. Heightened interest led to increased donations that are facilitating its operations.

"There was definitely a spike" in bitcoin donations, the Hamas official told the Journal. "Some of the money gets used for military purposes to defend the basic rights of the Palestinians."

Palestinians dance as they wave green Hamas and their national flags while celebrating the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza City. Adel Hana/AP

It isn't clear when Hamas began receiving crypto donations. But its designation as a terrorist group by Israel, the United States, the European Union and Britain means that it had to turn away from the global financial system to rely on other complex networks for funding.

The group has especially benefited from the anonymity of crypto transactions, WSJ said. Last year, US federal authorities seized $1 million in cryptocurrencies tied to the group's armed wing. A previous investigation by the Journal found al-Qassam converted most of its bitcoin into cash, or gift cards, aided by two Turkish intermediaries.

Story continues

The Hamas official didn't mention the amount of cryptocurrency it had received, but said overall revenue has been rising. It has also been collecting other forms of donations from supporters.

In one instance, a branch of the Iranian armed forces sent more than $200 million to the group between 2015 and 2019, the WSJ said, citing data from the US Treasury. Iran does not recognize the legitimacy of Israel as a state. Its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, called the predominantly-Jewish state "not a country, but a terrorist base" last month.

For the Palestinian organization, cryptocurrencies offer an easier method of making sure transactions go undetected as they are untraceable.

"Our fundraising strategies keep on evolving as more restrictions are being placed on us," the Hamas representative said.

Read More: Financial researcher Nik Bhatia explains why asset managers with a growth focus could be violating their fiduciary duty if they don't consider bitcoin - and compares the crypto to Amazon's stock 20 years ago

Read the original article on Business Insider
A pick-up truck, a hunting license or a rifle: the US state of West Virginia is launching a lottery for vaccinated people to boost its flagging Covid-19 immunization campaign.

After a strong start, Covid-19 vaccination rates stagnated in the rural state in the heart of the Appalachian mountains in the eastern United States, where only 41 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.

To get a jab into still hesitant residents, the state will run a lottery every week between June 20 and August 4, with prizes for residents who have received at least one vaccine dose, the state's Republican governor Jim Justice announced Tuesday.

Among the prizes to be won on June 20, then every following Wednesday, are two pick-up trucks, five lifetime fishing and hunting licenses, ten hunting rifles, and 25 weekend stays in the state's natural parks.

There will also be a $1 million money pot, and for people between the ages of 12 and 25, two full four-year scholarships at a state university.

"We still have a substantial part of our state that has not chosen to be vaccinated," said Clay Marsh, chief health officer at West Virginia University.

In recent months the state has already offered people between the ages of 16 and 35 -- the age group most reluctant to vaccination -- $100 savings certificates or gift certificates, if they got vaccinated.

Started by the state of Ohio, lotteries with million of dollars at stake for people who get vaccinated are being used to revive vaccination campaigns in the United States.

Other states also trying to attract vaccine holdouts by offering beer, pizza, or tickets to sporting events.

President Joe Biden wants 70 percent of US adults to have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose by US independence day on July 4. The 50 percent milestone was crossed on May 25.
It's the second year for Pies for Justice, which was founded by Stephanie Chen and Sherry Mandell of Gather for Good and raised more than $26,000 in 2020. (Jean Wei / For The Times)

Pies for Justice

Pies for Justice is returning for Juneteenth (June 19), raising money for the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter and Suprmarkt, which provides affordable organic produce to communities in South L.A. It's the second year for the bake sale, which was founded by Stephanie Chen and Sherry Mandell of Gather for Good and raised more than $26,000 in 2020. Each chef and restaurant will prepare a unique pie for the 2021 fundraiser; some will sell whole pies, hand pies or slices; others will host raffles. Chefs and contributors include Shannon Swindle from A.O.C., Zarah Khan from Botanica, Valerie Gordon of Valerie Confections, John Cleveland and Martin Draluck from Post & Beam, and Hannah Ziskin and Aaron Lindell from House of Gluten and Quarter Sheets. Customers will be able to order through participating chefs and restaurants.

Check andgatherforgood.com/piesforjustice and instagram.com/andgatherforgood for updates and information on how to order.

Agnes

Old Town Pasadena has a new restaurant and cheesery. Agnes, from the husband-and-wife team of Vanessa Tilaka and Thomas Kalb (their combined experience includes Flour + Water, M. Georgina, Octavia Bar Agricole and others), opened Tuesday to offer sandwiches, salads, bottles of wine, market goods and cut-to-order cheeses during the day. In the evenings, a fuller dinner menu includes fresh pastas, hearth-cooked seasonal vegetables and other dishes within the dining room and private back patio. Dinner service is offered Tuesdays through Saturdays, with Sunday brunch to follow.

40 W. Green St., Pasadena, (626) 389-3839, agnesla.com

Agnes, from husband-and-wife team Thomas Kalb, left, and Vanessa Tilaka, will feature a cheese counter, market goods and a full restaurant. (Stefan Merriweather)

ROCA Pizza

ROCA Pizza, from California Pizza Kitchen co-founder Rick Rosenfield and his wife, Esther Rosenfield, has opened as a pop-up at the Americana at Brand in Glendale. The kitchen is led by executive pizza chef Luigi Roditis, known for his former El Segundo restaurant, Il Romanista, noted for its Roman-style pizza. Roditis uses organic, stone-milled flour from Central Milling Co. in Utah. The dough is cold fermented for up to 72 hours, which creates an airy, puffy, soft rise in the dough, which, when baked, achieves a notable crunch. ROCAs pizzas are available by-the-cut, with half- or full-pan options as well. In addition, the pop-up features a grab-and-go section with pre-packaged salads and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as sandwiches. Menu highlights include squash blossom, Calabrian meatball, BBQ chicken, asparagus and goat cheese, potato and porcini mushroom pizzas and kale and almond and Italian chopped salads.

Story continues

769 Americana Way, Glendale, rocapizza.com

Bar Sala at NeueHouse

In collaboration with chef Ray Garcia, NeueHouse, the private work and social space in Hollywood, will open a pop-up bar on June 4. Bar Sala is conceived as a speakeasy-style mezcal bar with a curated agave cart featuring tableside mezcal and tequila tastings. The menu will include an agave list, house-made agua fresca, Mexican craft beers and small plates from Garcia's Broken Spanish residency at NeueHouse. The bar, open Fridays and Saturdays 8:30-11 p.m., and the restaurant will run in tandem until the end of July. Reservations for the bar are not required.

6121 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 337-1420, neuehouse.com/houses/hollywood

Pops Bagels Brentwood

The New York-inspired bagel operation is now open in Brentwood. The second Pops Bagels location expands on the Culver City originals bagel-and-schmear menu with new griddled, hot items such as egg sandwiches, babka French toast, and tuna melts. Its open Tuesdays through Sundays for breakfast and lunch.

11928 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, popsbagelsla.com

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
L.A. County Fire trucks. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

A Los Angeles County Fire Department firefighter was killed on Tuesday morning when an off-duty colleague began shooting inside an Agua Dulce, California, fire station, officials said.

The deceased firefighter, whose name has not been released, was a 44-year-old father of three daughters who had been with the department for more than 20 years. A 54-year-old fire captain was also injured in the shooting, and is in critical but stable condition at an area hospital.

This was "a tragic day for the Los Angeles County Fire Department," Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Daryl L. Osby said. "As a fire chief, I never thought that when our firefighters face danger, that they would face danger in one of our community fire stations."

Officials said that after leaving the fire station, the suspect went to his home about 10 miles away, and within minutes, the house was on fire. A person believed to be the suspect was found dead in a small pool on the property, with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. A person with knowledge of the matter told the Los Angeles Times that the gunman and the firefighter who was shot and killed worked different shifts, but lived near each other and were involved in an ongoing dispute.
Jun. 1Chickens checked traffic at a busy intersection in downtown Goshen for a few hours Tuesday.

A northbound Miller Poultry tractor-trailer lost its load of chickens as the driver, Robert Taylor, turned left from Main Street onto Madison Street around 11:25 a.m.

The load of 22 modules had shifted in the turn for an undetermined reason, and they slid to one side, causing the trailer to lean and snapped the retaining straps, according to the police report. The cages then fell off the truck and spilled onto the side of the road, said Kevin Diehl, Miller's chief operations officer.

Diehl estimated the modules carried about 6,400 chickens. Some of the animals died at the scene, he said, but he couldn't provide an estimate until the load from the trailer could be processed.

The incident shut down the northbound lane of Madison Street (which becomes Third Street) at the intersection while crews worked to recover and reload chickens into the modules. Diehl said the poultry modules were stacked back onto the trailer with new securing straps put in place.

The chickens were then transported to Miller's processing plant in Orland. The scene was cleared by about 3:30 p.m., Diehl estimated.

The driver was not injured.

BATTERY

Bryce Conwell, Warsaw, reported to Goshen police he was struck by a man at the Best Western Inn, 900 Lincolnway East, around 11:30 p.m. Monday. Conwell reported head pain, but refused medical attention, police said in a report.

Three people reported minor injuries after police responded to a fight at a home, 302 Stone Drive, around 10:55 p.m. Monday.

ARRESTS

Brittney Hanna, 27, Goshen, was arrested by Goshen police and jailed on a warrant out of St. Joseph County, Michigan, after police responded to a call to Mega Blast, 2624 Peddler's Village Road, around 5:05 p.m. Monday. Hanna had called police to report her car was taken from the lot. During the response, a police report shows marijuana was found, and a possession of marijuana charge against Hanna will be filed with the Elkhart County Prosecutor's Office.

Story continues

Amber Lard, 38, Three Rivers, Michigan, was arrested by Goshen police and jailed on a charge of theft after police responded to Meijer, 4522 Elkhart Road around 8:25 p.m. Monday.

Miguel Ortega-Batrez, 41, 57601 Frances Ave., Elkhart, was arrested by Elkhart County police and jailed on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and driving without a license following a traffic stop at Ind. 15 and C.R. 29 around 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

Michael Rumph, 32, 406 Brookside Manor, Goshen, was arrested by Elkhart County police and jailed on a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated after police responded to a crash at Old C.R. 17 and C.R. 36 around 8:05 p.m. Saturday.

Dominique Mack, 28, 1305 W. Vistula St., Bristol, was arrested by Elkhart County police and jailed on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and resisting law enforcement following a traffic stop at Ind. 120 and Bay Ridge Drive around 1:40 a.m. Saturday.

Ryan Ntende, 27, 1105 Egbert Ave., Goshen, was arrested by Elkhart County police and jailed on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated following a traffic stop at Ind. 15 and Saint Joseph Street in Bristol around 11:15 p.m. Friday.

THEFTS

Deanna Alerding, Goshen, reported to Goshen police a theft that occurred at Dollar General, 1075 N. Main St., around 2:35 p.m. Monday.

Jay Munoz, New York, reported to Goshen police his wallet was stolen from his vehicle while it was parked at Shanklin Park, 411 W. Plymouth Ave., Sunday evening.

Staff at BP reported to Elkhart County police a male stole a donation can containing about $300 for Riley's Children's Hospital from the business, 21870 Ind. 120, around 4:45 a.m. Friday.
(Reuters) - Police on Tuesday released body-camera footage from the California rail yard shooting last week in which an employee gunned down nine co-workers and then killed himself, showing officers entering a building and finding the dead gunman.

The footage is about four and a half minutes long and is from a deputy who arrived minutes after the first shooting reports.

A "contact team" of deputies and San Jose police officers was formed to find the gunman, who was reported to be inside a building and armed with a handgun.

The footage shows the team cautiously climbing stairs to the third floor of the building, where a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority supervisor emerges with arms raised and hands over his keycard so officers can get inside.

The five-member team sweeps into the building, guns raised and using gun-mounted flashlights, according to the footage. They pass through rooms and corridors to a dispatch center.

Four gunshots are heard. Reaching a door, one of them looks through a window and says: "I've got somebody down" inside.

The footage shows a man slumped in a chair with a gun in his hand.

The gunman was "highly disgruntled" long before carrying out the rampage, according to the county sheriff.

The attack was among at least nine U.S. mass shootings over the past three months that each claimed four or more lives. The United States saw at least 200 such shootings in the first 132 days of this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit research group.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Jun. 1KINGWOOD  The Preston County Health Department is researching the possibility of building a new health department facility.

At the commission's Tuesday meeting, PCHD Director V.J. Davis told commissioners his department is researching grant possibilities to fund the facility. He said if built, the building would house the health department and possibly other entities.

"If there was ever a time to find funding, it's now, " Davis said. "Before we get into the project plan, we wanted to ask the commission to consider a donation of land for the projectsomewhere in the hospital or E911 area."

Davis told commissioners he believes it will be easier to get grant funding if the project is shovel-ready.

Commission President Don Smith said he didn't think donating the ground would be a problem. He said the commission has properties in the areas Davis indicated that have utilities ready for hook up going to them.

County Administrator Kathy Mace said parcels of land in the area indicated have already been mapped out.

"I'd like to share that information with the health department, " she said to the commission. "He (Davis) could look at the parcels in the master plan. It would be a partnership between the health department and the county."

PCHD Board President Jim Fields said he believes building the facility will be a win-win for everyone involved.

During his COVID update, Davis said the health department is reporting 1 to 3 COVID cases per day. He said requests for vaccination have also dropped off, and the PCHD is turning its attention to educating the public about the virus.

"We're still offering vaccinations for anyone who wants them, " he said. "We did a clinic at Cathedral State Park and assisted in one at Coopers Rock."

Davis said the PCHD did 924 vaccinations during the clinics held at the civic center. He said that number included first and second shots.

Story continues

"We're ready to do booster shots if necessary, " he said.

Commissioner Samantha Stone extended a "thank you " to the staff of the PCHD. She said there was not enough thanks for all Davis and his staff has done.

Fields said he would like to thank the commission for its help in making Monday's Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedication a success.

TWEET @DominionPostWV
Amadou Keita/Reuters

ABUJA, NigeriaIt looked like an impromptuif bizarreprotest by desperate citizens demanding some stability at home but The Daily Beast can reveal that a pro-Russian demonstration held in Mali last week was a false flag operation staged by a group of serial coup plotters within the military.

Members of a military junta that detained the president and prime minister last weekless than a year after ousting the previous governmentwere behind Fridays protest in Bamako, which also professed support for the coup. The Daily Beast identified at least six people in the crowd of supposed civilians as close associates of the military.

Two people who participated in the protest admitted that some of the demonstrators had met the previous day at a military base in Kati, 10 miles northwest of Bamako, to plan the event. The Kati military barracks is the home of the insurrectionists, and where both of Malis last two presidents were detained after being removed from office.

Mali Coup Leaders Seized Power Days After Returning From Military Training Camp in Russia

One of the protesters is the cousin of a senior military officer in Kati. When The Daily Beast contacted him, he admitted that the demo was planned at the barracks.

Yes, its true that we met in Kati to plan [the demonstration], but we did it because we believe the army means well for Mali and deserves the support of every Malian, said Moussa Troure. Russia loves us and thats why we are asking for their help.

Military officers detained Malis transitional President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane last week before stripping them of their powers and taking control of the government. The junta is seeking closer relations with the Kremlin as it bids to shore up power in the midst of international condemnation.

The demonstration was clearly aimed at catching Russias attention. It involved hundreds marching under a huge portrait of new interim President Assimi Goita, waving Russian flags and toting placards attacking France, which has more than 5,000 troops deployed across Africas arid Sahel region as part of its anti-jihadist force.

Story continues

The protesters gathered in a central square in Bamako early in the day and then marched to the Russian embassy to demonstrate their love. Unlike the protests that took place last year in Bamako, where thousands, including trade unions and civil society groups, stormed the streets of the capital city to demand the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, which eventually led to his demise, the few hundred who protested on Friday are mostly believed to have done so at the behest of soldiers.

Some of the soldiers involved in the coups already have known links to Russia. Last August, The Daily Beast reported that army colonels Malick Diaw and Sadio Camara, two members of the military junta, had trained for months in Russia. They planned the coup on Russian soil, before returning to chase Keita, 75, out of power and pave the way for the Ndaw-led transitional government.

Russia has a reputation for swooping into African countries and hoping to reshape their politics for material gain. A candidate backed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian financier indicted in the U.S. for targeting the 2016 presidential election, has emerged as the president of Madagascar; a former Russian intelligence officer is now the top security adviser to the president of the Central African Republic; and the Kremlin has been caught interfering in the domestic politics of eight African countries through social media networks traced to entities tied to Prigozhin.

Like those social media campaigns, the protest in Bamako was supposed to fool people into believing this was a spontaneous expression of popular sentiment. But at least six of the demonstrators reached by The Daily Beast were related to military officerseither siblings or cousins. One woman named Rokia Toure told the French news agency AFP that she joined the protest to ask Russia to come and help us but she is also the wife of a soldier. There were many like her who are closely connected to the military in the crowd.

There were many wives, children and friends of soldiers among the demonstrators, one military officer in Kati told The Daily Beast. The military was part of the movement.

It was the first time since the coup on May 24 that any group publicly showed support on the streets for the military, which has faced criticism from home and abroad for its action and has caused Mali to be suspended from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a 15-member regional bloc whose leaders met on Sunday to condemn the coup.

Even among the demonstrators, people admitted the intentions of the military were not entirely clear, despite assurances that there would be a smooth transition to democratic rule.

Honestly, I'm no longer sure if general elections are going to take place next year as previously promised, said Mamadou Diarra, one of Fridays protesters whos related to a military officer in Kati. Im only hoping that the army will perform better than the previous civilian leaders.

Before Goita and his military colleagues seized power last week, Mali had been under a transitional government headed by Ndaw, with Goita himself as vice-president, for 18 months. Ndaw's decision to announce a new cabinet in which only four of the 25 proposed ministers were military officers angered Goita. The president proposed removing the former defense minister Sadio Camara and security minister Modibo Kone, both of whom took part in the 2020 coup.

Goita claimed he wasnt consulted about the new cabinet and ordered the military to seize power yet again.

Fears that Mali could be isolated by the international community seem to have pushed the new government into seeking even closer ties to Russia. Already, France, Malis biggest supporter in the fight against insurgent groups terrorising large parts of the country, has vowed to pull its troops out of the West African nation if it lurches towards what President Emmanuel Macron referred to as radical Islamism following the coup, and the ECOWAS suspension could hamper regional efforts to address terrorism in the country.

Russia will clearly be happy with the situation in Mali and is very likely to jump at the opportunity to step in, said Okon Nya, a West African security analyst and director of one of the regions leading media consulting agencies, Tre Gong. This is exactly what Russia has been hoping for.

If Russia gets involved it is likely going to replicate the role it is playing in the Central Africa Republic, where it is offering security in exchange for mineral resources, he said. But that wouldn't help Mali. Its rather going to create an environment of hostility and resentment.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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.
Help India!



The Indian American Muslim Council said the federal governments order is nothing but a deceitful means to bring in from the backdoor the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the infamous law that Parliament enacted in 2019 that convulsed Indian society and that has been challenged in Indias Supreme Court.

TCN NEWS

Support TwoCircles



The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding Indias pluralist and tolerant ethos, Tuesday condemned the Indian Governments move to press ahead with its plan for inviting applications for citizenship from non-Muslim foreigners despite there being a challenge to the law pending before the courts.

The order from Indias Ministry of Home Affairs last week directing officials in five states to accept applications for citizenship from non-Muslim migrants from the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan violates the ethos of Indias Constitution which guarantees equality before the law regardless of religion, IAMC said.

The federal governments order is nothing but a deceitful means to bring in from the backdoor the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the infamous law that Parliament enacted in 2019 that convulsed Indian society and that has been challenged in Indias Supreme Court, the IAMC said.

Instead of focusing on saving lives of all Indians from the scourge of Covid-19, the Government is busy implementing its supremacist agenda by subverting Constitutional secularism that has long guaranteed equal rights for Indias 280 million non-Hindu minorities, said Rasheed Ahmed, Executive Director. The Government should withdraw this order and wait for the Supreme Court of India to rule on the various legal challenges to the CAA that have been brought before it, added Mr Ahmed.

The federal governments order of May 28 is the second such decision. In 2016, the government had similarly ordered officials to accept such applications from non-Muslim migrants. With Fridays order, 29 districts (administrative units) in nine states are processing such applications.

According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), the CAA and the NRC, that will require all residents to provide documentation of citizenship could subject Muslims, in particular, to statelessness, deportation and prolonged detention.

Mr Ahmed said the Governments true intent in bringing the CAA, which the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has described as fundamentally discriminatory,, is to combine it with the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) to have Indias 200 million Muslims fear for their citizenship, lest the government turn them into foreigners in their own country.

This scenario has already played out in the northeastern state of Assam, providing a chilling example: in 2019, a statewide NRC was implemented in Assam that ultimately excluded 1.9 million residents including, in some cases, families who had resided in India for generations, according to the USCIRF report released earlier this year.
The American Red Cross and American Cancer Society have partnered to promote blood and platelet donations nationwide in the wake of the resumption of cancer treatments as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes in the United States.

The Red Cross has an emergency need for platelet donations in the Chicago area as it sees fewer blood and platelet donations even as Chicago moves toward full reopening, according to Red Cross Illinois spokesperson Joy Squier.

Early on in the pandemic, hospital visits and procedures for cancer patients were delayed or canceled because of the risk of exposure to COVID-19, according to the American Cancer Society. Now, as cancer treatments resume, hospitals are seeing a strong demand for blood products, including platelets to ensure cancer patients can undergo treatment.

Many cancer patients, especially those going through chemotherapy, will have a need for blood products during treatment, Red Cross medical director Dr. Baia Lasky said in a news release. When someone donates blood or platelets, they may not only help prevent life-threatening bleeding that can cause stroke or relieve some symptoms, like shortness of breath and headaches, but also give patients and their families the time and hope they need to fight back.

Blood donation opportunities are available at various locations in Cook, DuPage, Lake and Will counties.

Donors must be in generally good health, weigh at least 110 pounds and be at least 17 years old, or 16 years old with parental consent.

Donors can schedule a blood or platelet donation appointment at GiveBloodToGiveTime.org.
Dormeshia dances as part of the "Super Villainz" show over the holiday weekend, when the Music Center hosted its first live performance after 14 months of pandemic closures. (John McCoy / The Music Center)

About halfway through a tap dance performance on the Music Center plaza in downtown Los Angeles, the Department of Water and Power building behind the outdoor stage lights up like a lantern. Each empty office, blazing electric orange, is a reminder of how the citys core hollowed out during the pandemic.

On this Sunday night, however, the Music Center stages its cautious return to live performance with its fifth and final Dance at Dusk show featuring queen of tap Dormeshia. The Super Villainz: A Tap Dance Act for the Modern Age awakens L.A.s cultural nerve center, which crackles with energy.

About 150 audience members sit in 39 pods, each with up to four people. The pods are staggered in taped-off yellow squares across the plaza. A bottle of water has been placed by each metal folding chair, and no other refreshments are allowed or provided. This last part doesnt seem to bother the audience, most of whom appear content just being there  in a public space, surrounded by others, experiencing a live performance after a 14-month pandemic-induced drought.

A socially distanced audience took in a live dance performance on the Music Center Plaza in May 2021. (John McCoy / The Music Center)

Before the dancing begins, a recorded voice greets the audience and explains the safety protocols. Cheers and hollers ring out. Signs encourage audience members to text dance to 55741 to receive a program on their device.

The performance is a joyful eruption of movement and sound, punctuated by the rhythmic tippity-tap-tap of amplified metal-soled shoes against the propulsive tempo of a live jazz quartet. Dormeshia, Jason Samuels Smith and Derick K. Grant electrify the crowd with jaw-dropping, complex footwork that looks impossibly effortless.

The socially distanced nature of the performances  with echoes of the May reopening of the Hollywood Bowl, which welcomed 4,000 audience members in its 17,500-seat venue  is poised to be an anachronism as low infection rates vault the state toward Gov. Gavin Newsoms proposed full reopening by June 15.

But for this moment in time, as a weary public takes its first tentative steps back to collective interaction, the familiar safeguards feel just right. Masks are worn onto the plaza and taken off without fear as audience members chat with their pod mates, sip water and crane their necks to observe the unfamiliar social scene.

Story continues

Smiles warm faces used to being covered in cloth. Children giggle and bounce, couples wrap arms around each other. Conversation bubbles and laughter rings out  each welcome sound providing confirmation that life is moving on and the city is opening up.

The Super Villainz, a tap dance act for the modern age, performed at the Music Center in May 2021. (John McCoy / The Music Center)

As the sun kisses the buildings on the western horizon, the city blushes bright pink. The color fades to gentle black as night makes its entrance. The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to the left, its decadent chandeliers dripping light, awaits its debut Sunday when Los Angeles Opera returns inside for Oedipus Rex.

The Mark Taper Forums curves are bathed in shadow to the right, and the Ahmanson peeks out from around the corner. City Hall stands at attention behind it all, silently observing the action.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Viola Fletcher and Hughes Van Ellis, two of three living survivors of the 1921 race massacre, listen to Joe Biden speak in Tulsa on 1 June. They are among plaintiffs suing the city and Oklahoma for reparations. (AFP via Getty Images)

When Joe Biden visited the city to commemorate the 100th anniversary of a racist massacre that displaced thousands of Black residents and killed as many as 300, Tulsa civil rights attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons said he told the president that we dont need any more studies, we dont need any more commissions, we dont need any more meetings.

Our people have been clear, Mr Solomon-Simmons told reporters on 2 June. We need reparations, and we need reparations now.

The attorney represents the massacres three known survivors, an historic African American church and descendants of victims seeking reparations from the city and state after decades of neglect and festering racial disparities that followed 14 hours of violence in 1921.

The city, state and other defendants, including the Chamber of Commerce and county sheriffs office, have filed several motions to dismiss the lawsuit in Tulsa County District Court.

Lawsuits seeking reparations for the victims of the massacre were also dismissed in 2003 and 2004.

Now, attorneys are pointing to a public nuisance statute that the state invoked in its own lawsuit against drugmakers for the opioid crisis.

Decades of harmful urban renewal initiatives that squeezed Black residents from their neighbourhoods, construction of a federal highway that segregated north Tulsa from its largely white southern districts, and lingering health disparities and other discriminatory policies can be traced to the racist violence that fuelled a white mob in 1921, attorneys argue.

All of these things are part of a public nuisance that continues today, said MacKenzie Haynes of the law firm Schulte Roth & Zabel.

Attorneys intend to use the exact same methodology and principles the state used in its litigation against pharmaceutical companies, she said.

A 2001 commission tasked with investigating the massacre said the mob set fire to practically every building in the African American community, including a dozen churches, five hotels, 31 restaurants, four drug stores, eight doctors offices, more than two dozen grocery stores, and the Black public library.

Story continues

Our survivors were victims and witnesses to the worst act of domestic terrorism this country has ever seen, Ms Hayes said. They were witnesses to murder, to arson, to other heinous crimes.

Michelle Brooks, communications director for the mayors office, told The Independent that the city does not comment on pending litigation.

Asked during a press conference on Tuesday what is complicated about reparations for the survivors and the families, Mayor GT Bynam said: Whats complicated about it is, where does the money come from, whats the source of it, who does it get paid to, how do you calculate who it gets paid to?

He added: This is not something that there is a tremendous track record in our history around.  Should this generation of Tulsans be taxed for something that criminals did 100 years ago?

A commission appointed by the Oklahoma state legislature in 1997 spent nearly four years investigating the massacre before issuing four major recommendations to state and local governments, including guidance to make direct payments to survivors and their families.

Most of the recommendations never fully materialised, or have fallen short of community demands and expectations. None of the survivors or their families have received any direct payment.

The failure to provide comprehensive reparations  and efforts from city and state officials to raise millions of dollars for museums and tourist attractions that profit from the atrocities  have only compounded the harms, according to attorneys and advocates for the survivors.

Advocates for the survivors have accused city officials of misappropriating survivors images to promote the massacres centennial.

A Centennial Commissions fundraising efforts collected more than $30m to commemorate the massacre, with $20m to construct a centrepiece Greenwood Rising History Center.

The people who suffered are not reaping any of the benefits, Ms Haynes said. There is cultural tourism being created in Tulsa, and thats wrong. People should be compensated if their stories and images and likenesses are being used.  We are asking our defendants to stop, to give up the resources they have received or achieved as a result of using the likenesses and names and images of survivors and descendants, and giving it back to the people it belongs to.

Human Rights Watch has issued several reports about the calls for reparations and the persistent economic and health disparities among Black Tulsa residents compared to white residents.

The president did not bring up reparations during his emotional remarks in Tulsa on 1 June. Instead, he discussed the administrations wide-ranging economic agenda and efforts to combat racial disparities and discrimination.

The House of Representatives will consider a measure from US Rep Sheila Jackson Lee to form a commission to study reparations, marking a milestone recognition from the federal government to recognise slaverys legacy and apologise for it.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus discussed reparations with the president during a recent meeting, but its unclear how much the administration will commit to the commissions passage, and beyond.

Before the presidents remarks in Tulsa, White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that he supports a study but believes that, first and foremost, the task in front of us ... is to root out systemic racism where it exists right now.

Human Rights Watch researcher Dreisen Heath said she was extremely disappointed at the calls for reparations from survivors and the Greenwood community were largely ignored [and] unfulfilled by the president in his remarks.

Its not enough to reiterate the truth, she said.

Narrative change is good, but these statements fall on deaf ears amidst the visible intergenerational pain [and] trauma survivors [and] descendants of the massacre are experiencing, she added.

The call for justice is reparations and nothing less, she said.

Read More

A white mob killed hundreds of Black people in Tulsa 100 years ago. Survivors still demand justice

This was not a riot, this was a massacre: Biden calls on US to reckon with history of racist violence in Tulsa speech

The big problem with Bidens speech in Tulsa

Tulsa race massacre: Biden urges Americans to reflect on deep roots of racial terror amid calls for reparations

Biden unveils new plans to close racial wealth gap ahead of Tulsa visit
A bipartisan deal for police reform is close to done among key negotiators on Capitol Hill, according to those familiar with the discussions.

But the politics of police reform have shifted from a year ago, and violent crime has surpassed racial justice as a top concern for many voters. That has created negative incentives for Republican lawmakers who supported a reform package last year but now dont want to be tagged as soft on crime.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., has said he wants a deal on police reform by the end of June. Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, is confident he can bring at least 10 of his GOP colleagues along with him to support a bill and break a potential filibuster.

From left, Rep. Karen Bass, Sen. Tim Scott and Sen. Cory Booker after a meeting with Rep. James Clyburn about police reform legislation on May 18. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., have negotiated with Scott but face pressure from progressive groups to push for measures that, if left out, could make it hard to get enough Democratic votes for a compromise.

Pressure from the Biden White House on Democratic lawmakers will likely be crucial in getting a final deal over the finish line. To date, the administration has been happy to let Scott serve as the public face of the bill, since that increases the chances Republicans might vote for it, even as Booker has kept a direct line of communication open with President Biden and with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Scott, Booker and Bass have reached agreement on a number of issues about how to provide better training to police to help them deescalate situations and avoid violence, virtually eliminate chokeholds and no-knock warrants, and a host of other issues.

The two most difficult issues outstanding  qualified immunity and whats known as Section 242  have to do with how police officers are held accountable for bad actions. But there is also a clear road map for lawmakers around these two roadblocks, if they can get their respective sides to sign off.

On the issue of qualified immunity, which protects police officers and other government officials from most civil lawsuits, there are many signs that a compromise proposed by Scott would be enough to get most Democrats onboard if Booker and Bass endorse it. Scotts idea is to make it easier to sue police departments in civil court, but not individual officers.

Story continues

Even the Fraternal Order of Police, the biggest police union in the country, has signaled that it would accept a deal with Scotts compromise proposal.

If police officers are protected by the doctrine of qualified immunity and others have to deal with the lawsuits, not the officers, then were fine with it, Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, told CNN last week.

A protest for racial justice at the Ohio statehouse in Columbus on May 6. (Gaelen Morse/Reuters)

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has said he would support Scotts bill as well. And Scott has the backing of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., which goes a long way with Republican senators.

Scotts compromise proposal has been commended by some experts who study qualified immunity, but criticized by others as insufficient. Nonetheless, Biden clearly wants to get a deal signed into law, and the influential House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., has said he would be willing to support a bill that does not address qualified immunity.

A challenge for Democratic lawmakers is that left-wing advocacy groups will be angered by anything less than a full demolition of qualified immunity. A group of 10 progressive Democratic House members wrote a letter in May arguing that there can be no true accountability in America if we do not eliminate qualified immunity.

But there is less wind in the sails for police reform than a year ago. There is growing worry about the increase in violent crime, which is now the top concern for the public, according to a recent Yahoo News/YouGov survey. The poll found that racial justice is a much lower concern for the public than it was a year ago.

Just 32 percent of Americans in the survey described COVID-19 as a very big problem, down from 61 percent last July. The share who said they consider violent crime a very big problem, however, has ticked up slightly  to 49 percent  over the same period, making it the top concern ahead of the economy (39 percent), political correctness (39 percent) or race relations (41 percent).

A vigil on May 27 for the victims of a mass shooting in San Jose, Calif. (Amy Osborne/AFP via Getty Images)

In 2020, the murder rate in the U.S. spiked at a historic rate of between 25 and 40 percent, according to preliminary statistics. Thats the biggest jump since national data was first collected in 1960.

In that context, Republicans will not want to do anything that could be portrayed as making it harder for police officers to do their jobs. But its arguable that Democrats need a police reform bill now much more than Republicans do, to reassure moderate voters spooked by activist calls in 2020 to defund the police.

Pasco, the police union chief who has signaled support for Scotts compromise on qualified immunity, said that getting rid of liability protections for individual cops would in fact lead to more crime.

It would have a really chilling effect on the likelihood that officers will act in the appropriately aggressive way that has resulted in an approximately 25-year decline in violent crime, he told Yahoo News.

Pasco also said removing liability protections for individual officers would make it harder to recruit new officers.

When it comes to Section 242 of Title 18 under U.S. Code  the federal statute governing police misconduct  Democrats want to change the standard for proving criminal liability. As it stands, Section 242 allows prosecution of officers only if it can be shown that they willfully broke the law, which is often difficult to prove in court.

Scott has said he is opposed to modifying the statute, but if Democrats accept his compromise on qualified immunity, the 242 provision may be a place where the Republicans may be able to give a little.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Theres also another potential obstacle to getting a deal in June. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said last week that he will bring the For the People Act, a sweeping voting rights package, to the Senate floor in the last week of June.

We will not wait for months and months to pass meaningful legislation that delivers real results for the American people, Schumer said. Looking ahead, the June work period will be extremely challenging. I want to be clear that the next few weeks will be hard and will test our resolve as a Congress and a conference.

If lawmakers can pass a police reform bill before the last week of June, they could avoid getting bogged down in a fight over voting rights that promises to be acrimonious.

But given opposition to a bipartisan package from the right and left, in addition to the Senates already busy summer schedule, there may be no deal at all if one cant be agreed to in the next three weeks.

____

Read more from Yahoo News:
Diving into the crowded snack-bar market wasn't on Max Broich's mind when he started making them a few years ago in the kitchen of Max's Cafe, his downtown Minneapolis restaurant.

"I was looking for something that was healthier that would look good and taste good that I could put in my bakery case that wasn't a muffin," he said. "I was eating too many muffins myself."

Armed with a food processor, rolling pin, cookie sheet and seven ingredients he had on hand, he went to work creating Max's Bars.

"They sold really well," Broich said. He eventually took things a step further and began wrapping the bars in plastic, topping them with custom-made stickers and displaying them by the register, where temptations tend to find their way into customers' hands. He was encouraged, and so were some of his regular customers.

"I had some businesspeople who were telling me, 'You might have something here,' " Broich said. "And I had a lot of encouragement from some regular customers telling me I should see what I can try to do with them."

One thing led to another, and Broich rented commercial kitchen space to ramp up production, worked with a neighboring business to design packaging and started to sell Max's Bars to small local businesses. What he didn't know at the time was that the snack bars would become an integral part of his business plan after the pandemic-induced exodus of downtown workers slowed his once-vibrant business to a crawl.

"Because of the pandemic, it pushed me to get them going," Broich said. "Partly because I had time to do it, and partly because I just don't know what's going to happen to my restaurant."

Cautiously optimisticAt the start of the pandemic, Broich reopened the first day he could, but for breakfast only. Although he normally has five employees, he ran things by himself until February, when he brought one employee back so he could dedicate more time to the snack bars.

Story continues

That part of his business was growing, and Broich needed to find a way to make it scalable  he couldn't continue to make them all by hand.

"The natural progression was to find a co-packer to make them for me," he said. "So I kept the same recipe and I worked with people to rebrand them, and now I'm set up for success, where I can sell to anyone. No customer would be too big now."

The timing is fortuitous.

Last month, the Lakewinds co-op started carrying Max's Bars, complete with its new packaging, and he's waiting for details on a deal to be in select Minnesota Whole Foods stores. That's in addition to several local shops, from Midwest Mountaineering and a canoe outfitter to bike shops and Settergren's Hardware in Minneapolis and Minny Row market in Hopkins. (They're also available online at maxsbars.com.)

"I feel like celebrating when I get into new stores, and that's a great one," he said of his entry into Whole Foods. "But it kind of makes me anxious. People have to buy them, too."

An all-purpose barBroich designed Max's Bars to go with coffee, but he maintains that they really are an anytime snack. They are filling and portable, making them popular for camping and hiking, and Broich likes to put them in smoothies (see recipe). He said the bars' sweet-salty combination also makes them an unlikely pairing with beer, a theory you can test at 612 Brew in Minneapolis, which also carries the bars.

"A lot of other bars are designed backward, designed to meet a specific nutritional benefit first, and then the flavor maybe comes somewhere down the line," he said. "Mine were purely designed to taste good and use simple ingredients. Everything that's in them you probably have in your kitchen."

The ingredient list is short: whole grain oats, dates, honey, almond butter, sunflower seeds, almonds, raisins and sea salt. Broich is working on developing more flavors, including one with chocolate. He said he realizes the higher calorie count (310 calories in a 2.6-ounce bar) might not be for everyone, but they do fill a niche.

"To me, they have the potential to be a mainstream bar. Everyone likes the bars, they taste good," he said. "I think people can eat them for energy, or might eat them as a meal replacement."

The cafeBroich is still a steady presence at his skyway cafe, which is currently open from 7 to 10 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays, with limited offerings. He said it has been hard to get a pulse on the downtown scene.

"One or two days a week it seems like things are picking up," he said. "But the next day it's empty again. It's so hard to figure out what's going to happen."

But Broich is moving forward. Max's Cafe will open for lunch service on June 21  the cafe's 10th anniversary.

"I think things will come back eventually," he said. "Maybe it won't ever be as busy downtown, but when people are working downtown, even if they're working two or three days a week, I hope they're going to do downtown when they are there and go out to eat, and do all the things they can't do at home."

About Max's Cafe:Address: 250 2nd Av. S., Mpls., maxscafempls.com.

Max's Bars: Available in the cafe, several local shops and online at maxsbars.com.

Cost: Online cost is 12 for $30 or four for $12. Prices may vary in stores.

Max's Carrot Cake SmoothieServes 1.

Note: If you thinly slice the banana before freezing, it will freeze in less than an hour. From Max Broich of Max's Cafe.

 1 Max's Bar, cut into pieces

 1 c. vanilla nondairy milk

 2 carrots, roughly chopped

 1 banana, frozen (see Note)

 1 tbsp. ground flaxseed

 1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon

Directions

Combine the bar, nondairy milk, carrots, frozen banana, flaxseed and pumpkin pie spice in a blender and blend until smooth.
A 44-year-old man is facing murder charges after his mothers dead body was found partially covered by clothing in the back bedroom of a home they shared in Tennessee, according to police.

Several dead cats were also reportedly found.

Brian Atchison was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and aggravated animal cruelty, The Tennessean reported, citing a news release from police. The mother and son lived together in Portland, about an hour north of Nashville near the Kentucky border.

Doris Atchison, 69, had not been heard from since March 2020, and someone who knew her contacted the Tennessee Department of Adult Protective Services last month, WKRN reported.

Police went to the home she shared with her son on South Broadway in Portland on May 25, according to the TV station.

When they arrived, WZTV reported Brian Atchison answered the door and allowed them inside. He told the officers his mother was out of town.

But police soon found her body partially concealed with clothing and other items, WZTV reported. They said it had been there for an extended period of time. There were also several dead cats on the property, police said.

Brian Atchison implicated himself in his mothers death while being questioned by investigators, according to The Tennessean.

Hes being held without bail at the Sumner County Jail, media outlets report. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is also helping investigate.

Miami dad takes 10-year-old son to do paint ball drive by. Boy shot by scared resident

Rapper Wisdom charged in South Beach shooting. Cops release DaBaby after questioning

Drunken driver plows into veterans gravestones on Memorial Day, Colorado cops say
Jason Dwayne Campbell, the 23-year-old son of former state Sen. Daphne Campbell, was found shot to death early Tuesday morning in the parking lot of an apartment complex in North Miami-Dade County.

By Wednesday afternoon police had released little information on the shooting, only issuing a flier saying Campbell was killed near the Monte Carlo Apartment complex at 494 NW 165th St., and asking for the publics help in solving the crime.

But Campbell, a former state senator and three-term house member, posted about her son on her Facebook page.

I did not know a mother should bury a child, rather a child should bury their parents, she said.

Community anti-violence activist Tangela Sears reached Campbell Wednesday and said she was too devastated to speak about the death of her son. Police say Jason Campbell was shot once in the chest.

According to a law enforcement source, police are seeking to arrest a 24-year-old Miramar woman who is the ex-girlfriend of Campbells current girlfriend. The woman was seen on video surveillance entering the apartment complex, and was also identified by a witness entering his apartment. She is expected to be charged with murder.

Campbell, whose state senate district ran from North Miami Beach to Miami Shores, had a controversial eight-year career in Tallahassee peppered with financial and other scandals. She lost her seat in the 2018 Democratic primary, losing to Jason Pizzo.

Campbells shooting death came in the middle of a wave of gun violence in Miami-Dade since late last week that has left more than three dozen shot and at least six people dead.

Anyone with information should call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
Omnisun Azali, who worked for Cuyahoga County and was the son of a local judge, is accused of killing his wife, according to police.

Video Transcript

CASSANDRA COLLIER-WILLIAMS: There may be a person there that's wounded. I am on my way back there now.

PEGGY GALLEK: This is Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Cassandra Collier-Williams talking to a 911 dispatcher shortly after her son, Omnisun Azali, told her he may have been involved in a shooting with his wife, Mwaka, at their Euclid home.

CASSANDRA COLLIER-WILLIAMS: I guess they were both shooting at each other.

- They were shooting at each other?

CASSANDRA COLLIER-WILLIAMS: Right, right.

PEGGY GALLEK: Euclid municipal court records obtained by the I-Team state officers found multiple bullet casings from two different guns inside the home. Omnisun Azali has been arrested on a murder charge. Euclid police and court records say the mother of two was killed inside her Euclid home Wednesday.

CASSANDRA COLLIER-WILLIAMS: I'm a judge. Tell them I am a county judge.

- OK, alright. Just keep your hands up and you guys will be alright, OK?

PEGGY GALLEK: Williams told the dispatcher her son had called her and came to her house. She drove him back to his home and they met police outside of the house. According to court records, the 37-year-old mother was shot several times in the head. Euclid police tell us they are continuing to investigate.

A Euclid municipal court judge set Omnisun Azali's bond at $1 million. Azali had worked in the IT department for Cuyahoga County, but a spokeswoman told us he was fired Friday.

MITCH HOUSER: Every single detail, every single element.

PEGGY GALLEK: Euclid Police Captain Mitch Houser said agents with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation are assisting detectives.

MITCH HOUSER: We're not going to leave any stone unturned at all. In the interest of justice for her, her loved ones, her family, all hands on deck for this investigation.

PEGGY GALLEK: In Euclid, Peggy Gallek, Fox 8 I-Team.
Click here to read the full article on SPIN.

Vetta Borne has undergone a complete metamorphosis and is ready to unleash the artistry of it all. The rising R&B/pop princess is getting vulnerable in her latest project Emelia, where she vibrantly explores the emotions brought on by a whirlwind of hardships in the midst of the pandemic. Coming out on top, she was able to conquer and defy existing limiting beliefs by continuously rising up to each challenge presented along the way  whether thats pushing herself as a producer, teaching herself how to play the bass in order to add more dimension to her sound, or sitting through the discomfort of exploring complex inner thoughts/emotions. One things for sure, Vetta Borne is a testament for all those who embark on the journey towards self-enlightenment. The Aussie R&B songstress took a moment to speak with SPIN about creating her new EP Emelia, the quest in rediscovering her voice, and finding empowerment through self-love and self acceptance.

Who is Vetta Borne and how did you come to life?

The name Vetta Borne comes from my grandmother Violeta Sherborne. When I lost her, it forced me to really look at myself in the mirror and remember who I am and who I want to be. I had previously released music under Maribelle, and was using that name with music since I was 13. It was time for a fresh start and a new life.

Tell us about your sound  where does your style originate from and what have been your biggest visual, social, and sonic influences?

Ive grown up listening to 90s rnb/pop. My biggest inspirations have been artists like Janet Jackson, Ryan Leslie, Ne-Yo, Mariah Carey, etc.

What does your typical songwriting/production process look like? Is there a set formula or does it consistently evolve and shape-shift along with your ideas?

It always starts with me sitting on my laptop trying to feel out the session. If I cant come up with any nice chords/vibes production wise, Ill go through my phone voice notes and see if I have any lyric/melody ideas that will spark something. Ill usually have a very rough beat down and then finish the lyrics/melodies of the song. Once the vocals are completely recorded I go back and produce the song.

Story continues

Was there a definitive turning point in your career? When did you realize the magnitude of your impact within the industry/community?

I honestly didnt expect so many people to follow my journey from Maribelle to Vetta Borne. Obviously it was a fresh start, but people still recognise my previous work. I think I noticed that when I started producing for myself and others, I really started having an impact on some people who wanted to produce too.

In the midst of all the pandemic chaos, youve managed to birth a new project  Talk to us about your recently released EP, EMELIA. Where did this concept begin? How did the pandemic shift this process for you?

I live in Melbourne, Australia. We were in a lockdown for around 6-8 months. We werent allowed to go outside for more than a couple hours which forced me to really sit with myself and do a lot of self work. Spending so much time on my own and not being able to work with other people in real life, it forced me to push myself as a producer. Unfortunately, during the lockdown I had lost somebody very important to me, my grandmother Emelia. Music was something that saved me during that hard time.

Which track challenged you the most in recording but gave you the most creative growth/accomplishment?

Kissing Strangers was definitely a challenge to record. I remember it being really hot in my studio which I dont have any aircon in, so I was sweating, my voice kept cracking, my laptop and equipment kept heating up and freezing. I got really frustrated but we got there in the end haha. I havent really produced a song to that level of pop before, so that was also a challenge.

Youve described the lyrical process of making this album as an emotional rollercoaster, coming from a place that desired to validate your emotional experiences. Where were you before making this project and where are you now, after releasing the EP?

I was a mess before this EP. I had a lot of feelings I hadnt dealt with, a lot of self work that I had put off because I didnt want to admit things to myself. Writing the EP was literal therapy for me. It helped me understand my experiences and how I really feel about events in my life. I grew so much as a person through writing the EP.

In what ways do you wish to inspire up and coming artists/producers that are aiming to get their chance in the spotlight?

I hope through me, everybody can see that they can do literally anything. I started learning bass in lockdown, and picked it up really quickly. I started producing for myself during lockdown, and now I have a whole EP that is self-made. If I can do it, you can too.

Whats one piece of advice youd like to give aspiring creatives that you either got from a mentor or that you wish you wouldve gotten?

One of the best advice Ive ever relied was to completely focus on myself and my own journey. We all have our own journeys, and its easy to fall into the trap of thinking youre not good enough when you watch everybody around you getting the love that they truly deserve. Keep focused on what youre doing and what your goals are, and be nothing but supportive of everybody whos doing it too!

As were looking ahead seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, how are you planning to propel your career forward in 2021?

I plan to keep going. More music, more videos, more live shows, more live content. Everything and more! Its a journey, and Im going to keep growing through every piece I put out.

Is there anything on the horizon that you can share with us?

Ill be playing some live shows in August. I will also have another EP to come

Take a chance now and manifest something: ______________.

I will be writing and producing with/for some of the biggest artists in the world soon.

Any last words for the SPIN-verse?

I hope you enjoy the live spin sessions from my bedroom! And thank you Spin for having me <3

Check out Vetta Bornes sultry bedroom session below. For more SPIN Sessions, head over to SPIN TV.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest guitarists of all time, click here.
Help India!

According to the letter by the Director of Prisoner Rights Forum, P. Pugalenthi, 38 Muslim life convicts from Coimbatore central prison, Vellore central prison, Palayamkottai central prison, Cuddalore central prison and Puzhal central prison in Chennai, Tamil Nadu are prescribed as eligible for premature release. The letter has raised the question of Muslim life convicts facing religious discrimination in legally claiming a premature release in the state. The letter has appealed the Tamil Nadu government to release these Muslim life convicts on the eve of the birth anniversary of former Chief Minister of the state M. Karunanidhi, popularly known as Kalaignar.

Support TwoCircles



Shalini S | TwoCircles.net

TAMIL NADU  In a representative letter to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin, the Director of Prisoner Rights Forum, P. Pugalenthi had requested the newly elected government to release 38 Muslim life convicts languishing in Tamil Nadu prisons for the last 22 years.

The letter has raised the question of Muslim life convicts facing religious discrimination in legally claiming a premature release in the state.

According to the letter, 38 Muslim life convicts from Coimbatore central prison, Vellore central prison, Palayamkottai central prison, Cuddalore central prison and Puzhal central prison in Chennai are prescribed as eligible for premature release.

In 2008, the then ruling DMK government released 1405 life convicts who served 10 years in prison by passing the G.O. (Ms) No. 1115 Home (Prison  IV) Department Dated 11.09.2008 to mark the birth centenary of Arignar Anna. Again in 2018, the AIADMK government released 1750 life convicts who served 10 years in prison by passing the G.O. (Ms) No. 64 Home (Prison  IV) Department Dated. 01.02.2018 to mark the birth centenary of MGR. Arignar Anna (CN Annadurai) and MGR (MG Ramachandran), who were former Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu.

Pugalenthi, in the letter, refers to the scheme introduced in the year 1994 for the premature release of life convicts (Letter (FS) No.1358 Home, Dated 10.11.94) who have served 20 years of imprisonment on humanitarian grounds under article 161 of the Indian constitution.

But Muslim prisoners who served a lifetime of 20 years in the prison did not get released in the year 2018. The only reason why they werent released is that they are Muslims, writes Pugalenthi.

Kadhar, a relative of one of the Muslim life convicts and an advocate, in a debate on Sathiyam TV said, Muslim prisoners issue is treated with discrimination everywhere. Not a single Muslim life convicts were released in the year 2008 and 2018. The issue was raised (sic) in 2008 by Muslim politicians and the Muslim population. Followed by this, in 2010, over 10 Muslim prisoners were released, but those prisoners sentence was going to end in a short period of time anyways. It was an eyewash.

He further questions, In the year 2008, convicts involved in Leelavathi murder case were released, one should check if they meet the eligibility criteria as mentioned in the GO. In the same year, an order was passed to release Zahir, a Muslim convict, who met the eligibility criteria for premature release, but immediately an SLP (Special Leave Petition) was filed against him in the Supreme Court. He is still in Puzhal jail. If there is no religious bias, shouldnt he be released by now?

He points out the release of ineligible life convicts involved in Dharmapuri bus burning case in 2018 and the release of convicts who have committed the horrendous crime as in the Melavalavu case in the same year.

Kadhar also said that Muslim life convicts are not given the legal privilege to get parole without an escort. Prison should be a place for rehabilitation, not retribution. We are hoping that the DMK government will release these Muslim life convicts marking the 97th birth anniversary of Kalaignar (M. Karunanidhi, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu).

Pugalenthi too conveys the same in his letter.

If the prisoners are released, they will live with their family and will not indulge in any criminal activities. Prisoner Rights Forum provides assurance on behalf of them, reads the letter.

Kadhar had also cited instances of Muslim convicts now leading a life of good conduct following their release.

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchigal (VCK), a political party in Tamil Nadu that widely combats caste-based discrimination in a statement on June 1, requested the Tamil Nadu government concerning the same.

Life convicts including Muslims should be released. The government should also release the elderly, prisoners with acute illness, convicts who cant afford a lawyer to plead their case, women prisoners and Eelam Tamil life convicts including Perarivalan, Murugan and Nalini to mark the birth anniversary of Kalaignar, the statement said.
A customer walks behind a sign at a Nordstrom store seeking new workers on May 21 in Coral Gables, Fla. (Marta Lavandier / Associated Press)

California and other states struggled to provide expanded unemployment benefits during the pandemic, resulting in "millions of Americans waiting weeks to months for their first unemployment checks," a Labor Department watchdog confirmed Wednesday.

States also failed to adequately prevent massive fraud and improper payments, or to collect necessary data to determine the scope of the problem, the report found.

In the early days of the pandemic, Congress dramatically scaled up unemployment insurance funding and expanded the pool of who would qualify for cash as much of the economy shuddered to a halt.

But states were unprepared to handle the onslaught of new claims from millions of desperate Americans who had lost their jobs when the government ordered businesses to close and people to remain in their homes and avoid public spaces.

It was clear to anyone who had to apply for unemployment after March 2020 that states struggled to distribute the billions in additional aid during the pandemic, implement three new unemployment programs and deal with an unprecedented number of claims.

The Department of Labor's inspector general warned of problems repeatedly in the last year, but Wednesday's report was the most comprehensive examination to date of how states did.

Congress is already weighing changes to how unemployment aid is distributed as a result of the missteps during the pandemic. California lawmakers continue to push for an overhaul of the state Employment Development Department, which still is facing delays in approving benefits, and dealing with technology glitches, jammed phone lines and fraud.

The state government completely failed its unemployed citizens this past year, said state Senate Republican leader Scott Wilk of Santa Clarita. It is just heartbreaking to hear from families teetering on the edge simply because their claims are lost in some bureaucratic black hole.

California was one of 12 states closely examined in the report, which blamed the nationwide backlog on antiquated state IT systems, insufficient staff to manage the increased number of new claims, and unclear or untimely guidance from the Labor Department.

Story continues

States and territories run and maintain their own unemployment systems according to state law, but they receive guidance from the federal government.

A representative for the state Employment Development Department said Wednesday that the federal watchdog agency confirmed what officials have said all along: that California was not alone in facing difficulty in responding to the record caseload of unemployment benefit claims.

The report makes clear that every state struggled through unprecedented challenges of pandemic-triggered demand for unemployment benefits, said Aubrey Henry, an agency spokesman. During the worst year of the Great Recession there were 3.8 million claims for unemployment benefits in California compared with over 22 million during this pandemic.

Henry said the agency has taken steps to improve services and increase efficiency.

EDD has ensured millions of Californians continue to receive federal benefits, he said.

California has received a record 22.5 million unemployment claims since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020 and has paid an unprecedented $147 billion in benefits. It has determined that at least $11 billion in benefits paid involved fraudulent claims, and it is investigating suspected fraud in another $19 billion in claims, including thousands made in the names of prison inmates.

State audits have shown that poor planning by the agency slowed the approval of millions of claims and made it vulnerable to widespread fraud.

The Labor Department inspector general found that most states took more than 30 days to expand unemployment benefits to the new pools approved by Congress, a timeline the report calls an unreasonable length of time for UI claimants experiencing financial hardships as they struggled to pay bills and satisfy basic needs, such as food and housing.

California took 32 days to set up the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which provides money to those who haven't previously qualified for unemployment, including the self-employed and gig workers. The state took 61 days to implement the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which gives money to people who have exhausted benefits provided by the state but are still unemployed because of the pandemic.

The inspector general also found that states did not perform the checks required or recommended to prevent fraud and other improper payments, such as verifying an applicants previous work history or identity. The report found that 19 states did not attempt to reclaim improper payments, such as payments to someone who had returned to work.

The watchdog estimated in January that at least 10% of the $392 billion Congress provided was improperly distributed, and it has warned that, when the expanded benefits expire at the end of the summer, the total of improperly distributed money could be closer to $87.3 billion out of $872.5 billion.

Fraud experts have estimated the amount is likely much higher because states and the federal government werent collecting necessary data or doing proper identity checks until late last year.

Wednesday's report recommended a nationwide study of the technological needs of state unemployment systems, and that the federal government help states modernize those systems. It also urged the Labor Department to assist states with claims, overpayment and fraud reporting, and to develop standards for what guidance to provide to states in case temporary unemployment systems need to be put in place again.

The Labor Department agreed with the recommendations and said some were already being put into place.

Congress is expected to weigh measures to overhaul unemployment later this year. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has proposed bringing the 53 separate state and territory systems under the technological umbrella of the federal government. States would still run their own programs and have their own state laws but would all be subject to the same federal standards for wait times and identity verification.

"A complete overhaul of unemployment administration is critical here," Wyden said in a statement Wednesday. "If we dont do this now, we will see the same problems during the next recession, with unacceptable levels of fraud, and jobless workers waiting months and spending hours and hours on the phone to get the benefits they have earned.

In the last week, California state legislators have approved a raft of bills to force change at the state agency, including requirements to speed up processing of claims and check to make sure people filing claims are not incarcerated.

California's backlog of claims awaiting action for more than 21 days has grown from 1.02 million on April 10 to 1.13 million, according to a report by the EDD released May 22. The agency answered less than 6% of the 3.95 million phone calls to its call center during the week ending May 22, according to its report.

The EDD has hired contractors to staff phone lines and provide computer verification of the identities of claimants, but problems at the agency have become one of the issues cited by those seeking to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom from office.

Newsom proposed in his state budget spending tens of millions of dollars to upgrade EDD systems and technology. The governor noted that many other states had the same difficulty processing the flood of claims.

It was just not designed for the challenge that this nation, this state has faced," Newsom said, "so we have to reimagine it, we have to support it.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Half of the states planning to cancel the extra $300 in weekly unemployment benefits this month could cost their local economies $12.3 billion, according to a new study. The analysis comes a day after Maryland became the latest GOP-led state to opt out of the jobless program.

"There is little evidence that enhanced UI is holding back employment. In fact, ending it could cost local economies more than $12 billion," Chairman Don Beyer (D-VA) said in a statement on Wednesday following the release of the analysis by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC). "If states proceed with their plans to end these critical programs, they will be ripping the rug out from under millions of Americans and further hindering our economic recovery."

The analysis uses a multiplier effect that shows every $1 in unemployment benefits generates $1.61 in local spending based on estimates by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

The cost to local economies is likely higher when the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) programs are factored in. PUA provides benefits to workers who don't usually qualify for unemployment insurance, while PEUC provides additional weeks of benefits.

Twenty of the 25 states are opting out of PUA and PEUC, too, while Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Ohio, and West Virginia are only pulling out of the extra $300 weekly supplement.

Maryland is the latest Republican-led state to opt out of federal unemployment programs early, increasing the total number of states to 25 that will leave 4.5 million workers with little to no benefits next month.

"While these federal programs provided important temporary relief, vaccines and jobs are now in good supply, Governor Hogan said in a statement on Tuesday. "And we have a critical problem where businesses across our state are trying to hire more people, but many are facing severe worker shortages."

Story continues

Maryland's unemployment rate remained at 6.2% in April, down from its pandemic peak of 9% but higher than its pre-pandemic level of 3.5%. Starting July 3, around 300,00 workers in Maryland will lose at least $3,000 in additional unemployment benefits. The federal programs are set to expire on September 6 nationwide.

'If you lost your job last year there's nothing for you'

A man wearing a face mask walks past a sign "Now Hiring" in front of a store amid the coronavirus pandemic on May 14, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

The move to cancel federal programs gained steam among Republican governors following April's disappointing jobs report. House Republicans including House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) urged all GOP governors to opt out of the federal programs in a letter earlier in May.

Massachusetts and Vermont are the only states with GOP governors that have not yet canceled the federal programs.

The workers in those 25 states stand to collectively lose $25.2 billion in benefits, averaging out to potentially thousands of dollars per worker, according to an analysis by the Century Foundation.

"By pulling out these benefits in those states, there's basically nothing there for most people," Andrew Stettner, an unemployment insurance expert and senior fellow at the Century Foundation, told Yahoo Money. "The state benefits only last as much as 26 weeks. In some states it lasts even less. So if you lost your job last year, there's nothing for you from the state program."

Yahoo Money sister site Cashay has a weekly newsletter.

Denitsa is a writer for Yahoo Finance and Cashay, a new personal finance website. Follow her on Twitter @denitsa_tsekova

Read more:

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, SmartNews, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Reddit.
MoMo Productions/Getty Images

As offices transitioned to online in the pandemic, email and instant messaging became essential.

Communication platforms can leave you feeling distracted and stressed.

Psychologists recommend unitasking to avoid tech-related stress during the workday.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

The red dot on your tab, a loud ping from an email, or a startling ring tone - the constant noises and notifications throughout the workday may leave you feeling scattered, stressed, and pull you away from getting work done.

"Our reliance on technology is obviously enormous and has moved pretty quickly, but the pandemic has probably vastly accelerated that," Saul Rosenthal, a psychologist based in Boston, told Insider.

Rosenthal said humans have evolved to turn their attention to interruptions, and we're instantly on alert after an email or instant message. A notification can feel threatening, too, if the work task associated with the message is unmanageable.

But psychologists say there are steps you can take to handle technology stress and digital chatter during the workday.

Avoid multitasking at work

Whether you're texting on your cell phone or sending an email during a meeting, multitasking diminishes your productivity.

"Multitasking kind of reduces the focus and the efficiency and the concentration and the enthusiasm for whatever is the main thing that's going on," Jasmin Tahmaseb-McConatha, a professor of psychology at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, told Insider.

Rosenthal said multitasking depletes your energy, too. "It takes a lot more resources to move back and forth, and that's exhausting."

Pouring all of your energy into one project is more efficient than hopping from task to task, he said.

Time block and communicate with your team

Tahmaseb-McConatha said it's important to set expectations for when you'll be available to your team. Otherwise, the blurred lines will make you feel obligated to respond all day when your time can be better spent on a project that requires attention.

Story continues

In fact, Tahmaseb-McConatha tells her students she's only available to answer emails during a set time. "People need to be very disciplined about setting those limits for themselves," she said.

Organizations should allow for workers to have uninterrupted, focused periods of work, Rosenthal said. "You'll have workers that are more productive and more connected to the organization itself."

Take a break, even if it's just five minutes

If you weave in five-minute breaks a couple of times a day, it will help with your wellbeing, Tahmaseb-McConatha said. Disconnecting can ultimately make you more productive, too.

"If you sit at your computer for four hours, or if you sit at your computer for two hours, you probably get the same amount of work done because at some point your brain just starts going around in a circle," Tahmaseb-McConatha said.

Rosenthal also recommends moving around during a five-minute break.

"Our bodies are really evolved to move around. And so when you're stuck in one position that stresses the body out," Rosenthal said.

Read the original article on Insider
TAMPA  State of the City speeches are usually long, detail-oriented and adulatory.

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman does one every year. So did former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

But Mayor Jane Castor went Hollywood.

Skipping a live speech in front of supporters and reporters, Castor released an 8 minute, 34 second Facebook Live premier Wednesday morning, taking viewers on a drive outlining Castors priorities and accomplishments  literally.

The spoiler should be obvious from the opening scene, when the mayor answers a call at her desk to go pick up mystery guests from Tampa International Airport.

Grab your popcorn or Twizzlers. Youll want to watch this performance.

After getting the pick-up call, Castor drives herself to TIA. At this point, Im asking: Wheres her driver, Mike Victor?

But no time to quibble over poetic license. The mayor is on the move.

She points out all the piled-up dirt and construction sites on the way to retrieving her guests. She glides into Arrivals and handles the luggage like a pro.

Then, the travelogue portion of the movie begins.

After a nod to Buckhorns eight years at the helm (the popular former mayor endorsed her and campaigned hard for her 2019 win), Castor says: The city has changed so much in really the last decade.

How so? Well, a construction boom spawned the $3 billion Water Street project, she informs us. And there are new Publix Supermarkets popping up everywhere.

I love my Publix, the mayor says.

Still piloting her mystery guests through Tampa, with an eye on the road and two hands on the wheel (mostly), Castor sings a song of diversity and unity through the citys many neighborhoods.

West Tampa? Lots of new residential units and good restaurants.

East Tampa? Rehab and repair of older homes is a priority.

A great sign of the growth in Tampa, Castor says about West Tampa. But, really, it was her point all along the way.

And theres also slow motion footage of young adults playing ping pong to drive home the point: Millennials love Tampa, too.

Story continues

Next up? Ten thousand new units of affordable housing. Or, workforce housing. But,10,000 units by 2027, and theyll be affordable, Castor promises.

The mayor wraps it up with an appeal to newcomers, or maybe those contemplating an escape from state income taxes  not to mention cold winters.

Tampas quality of life and cost of living are draws, sure, Castor says.

But the real secret, she tells her mystery guests?

Tampa is the friendliest city in the nation.

Tour over. And Castor does the big reveal.

Shes been driving the Stanley Cup and the Super Bowls Lombardi trophy the whole time!

Plus, the American League Championship trophy (or is it a samovar?) and the Tampa Bay Rowdies Eastern Conference Champions trophy, all sharing the back seat in her SUV.

Again, check out Mayor Jane Castors movie, 2021 State of the City.

Its got everything: driving, milestones and trophies. And the mayor.
A pair of men's dress shoes. iStock

When Daverius Peters learned he didn't have the right footwear for his graduation, his mentor stepped up and saved the day, giving him the shoes off his feet.

Last month, Peters arrived at his high school graduation ceremony with black leather sneakers with a white sole. He was told he needed dark dress shoes, but with the event starting in just minutes, Peters didn't have enough time to rush out for new shoes. When he saw John Butler, a paraprofessional educator and his mentor, he ran over and explained what was happening.

Butler tried to get Peters into the ceremony with his shoes, but when that didn't work, he took off his loafers and handed them to Peters. "It was a no-brainer," Butler told The Washington Post. "This was the most important moment in his life up to that point, and I wasn't going to let him miss it for anything."

They don't wear the same shoe size, and Butler said they got a good laugh over the way Peters shuffled in the larger shoes. Peters said he wasn't surprised that Butler offered his shoes, because he's "that type of person. At school, if you're having a bad day, he'll be the one to take you out of class, walk around the school with you, and talk to you."

The switch-up caused some confusion at first  Peters' family didn't know where his new, large shoes came from, and no one could understand why Butler was only wearing socks. Once the situation was explained, Peters' mom, Jima Smith, expressed her gratitude for Butler. "I pray he will continue to work in the public school system because we need more teachers like him," she told the Post. "Our young Black men need good role models and mentors like Mr. Butler."

He was able to help Peters, and Butler intends on doing something for all students  he will meet with school administrators to go over the dress code and guidelines for future graduation ceremonies, because something as small as the type of shoe worn to the event "shouldn't rob a kid from experiencing this major moment," he told the Post.
Authorities in Jasper, Texas, were investigating Tuesday evening after the body of a young boy was discovered in a motel room, according to reports.

Preliminary findings indicate the body is likely that of Samuel Olson, a 6-year-old who was reported missing from the Houston area late last week, Jasper police Chief Gerald Hall and others believe, the chief told FOX 4 of Beaumont, Texas.

The boy's body was found inside a tote bag and appeared to have been there for some time, the chief told FOX 4. He would not comment on the cause of death.

Meanwhile, the fiancee of the boys father also has gone missing, FOX 26 of Houston reported Tuesday.

Tonya Olson, the boys grandmother, told the station that a woman named Theresa Balboa  the fiancee of Samuels father  seems to have disappeared.

LAS VEGAS POLICE RELEASE ENHANCED PHOTO AFTER MURDERED BOY FOUND BY HIKERS MISIDENTIFIED

The boys father, Dalton Olson, told FOX 26 that Theresa hasnt been seen since Monday, when the couple headed out to post flyers about Samuels disappearance.

The grandmother claimed she last saw the boy early last month, when he visited her house.

"May 2 is the last time I physically had my hands on Sam," the father told FOX 26.

She said Dalton Olson later came and picked up the boy. But she insisted the father had nothing to do with the boys disappearance.

"Dalton is not a bad father," she said. "He would never harm that baby. He loves him to death. He would die for him."

Prior to news that a body was found in Jasper, an attorney representing the boy's mother, Sarah Olson, spoke to reporters about the case.

Attorney Marco Gonzalez claimed the mother had primary legal custody of the child but hasn't seen him since January 2020, according to KPRC-TV of Houston.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The mother also denied claims by the father and his fiancee that the mother and a man dressed as a police officer had picked up the boy last Thursday, the attorney said, according to the station.

Story continues

The state Department of Family and Protective Services would not confirm which parent had custody of the boy, KPRC reported.

The attorney claimed there were "too many holes" in the story put forth by the boy's father and grandmother.

Anyone with information on the case was asked to call Houston police or Texas Equusearch.
Jun. 1A Toledo man accused of assaulting an Oregon police officer last year during an incident in which he was shot several times pleaded not guilty Tuesday to felony charges in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.

Victor Dale, Jr., 31, of the 3900 block of Airport Highway, pleaded not guilty to assault, a fourth-degree felony, and felonious assault, a first-degree felony, for accusations that he struck Oregon Police Officer Joel Turner with his vehicle June 13 at the Kingston Court apartment complex on Navarre Avenue.

Judge Eric Marks accepted the advice from both the defense lawyer and a special prosecutor handling the case that Mr. Dale be released on a recognizance bond, but ordered Mr. Dale have no contact with the officer and submit to random drug and alcohol screenings, as he was allegedly intoxicated during the incident.

Defense attorney Joseph Westmeyer, III, told the judge his client was shot at least four times by the officers during the incident and is an unlikely flight risk given that he appeared in court in response to a summons, is employed full-time, and has connections to the community.

Henry County Prosecutor Gwen Howe-Gebers, the case's special prosecutor, concurred with the defense lawyer's recognizance-bond request so long as the other conditions also were imposed.

Oregon police sent to the apartments for an unrelated matter were flagged down by a bystander to report a couple fighting. Officers approached Mr. Dale and his girlfriend, who indicated there was no problem, but Mr. Dale got into his vehicle and started the car when Officer Turner positioned himself in front of the vehicle prior to the car lurching forward.

A grand jury previously issued no-bills against the involved officers, Officer Turner and Logan Nitkiewicz, who fired a combined 21 shots at the car over the span of five seconds. The Oregon Police Department in November suspended both for 30 days without pay, with 15 days for each held in abeyance for a year.

A pretrial hearing is scheduled for July 27.

First Published June 1, 2021, 5:50pm
TORONTO (AP)  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that residential schools for Canada's Indigenous children were part of a larger colonial policy designed to erase language and culture and to assimilate those groups so they no longer existed as distinct peoples.

Trudeau said the discovery of 215 children found buried at a former Indigenous residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia, is part of a larger tragedy. The institutions held children taken from families across the nation.

Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tkemlups te Secwepemc First Nation in British Columbia said the remains of 215 children were confirmed last month with the help of ground-penetrating radar.

Children should never have been sent to those so-called schools  places where they were separated from their families and their communities, places where they faced terrible loneliness, places where they suffered unthinkable abuse, Trudeau said in an emergency debate in Parliament.

That is the fault of Canada."

From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 First Nations children were required to attend state-funded Christian schools as part of a program to assimilate them into Canadian society. They were forced to convert to Christianity and not allowed to speak their native languages. Many were beaten and verbally abused, and up to 6,000 are said to have died.

The Canadian government apologized in Parliament in 2008 and admitted that physical and sexual abuse in the schools was rampant. Many students recalled being beaten for speaking their native languages. They also lost touch with their parents and customs.

Indigenous leaders have cited that legacy of abuse and isolation as the root cause of epidemic rates of alcoholism and drug addiction on reservations.

Plans are underway to bring in forensics experts to identify and repatriate the remains of the children found buried on the Kamloops site. Perry Bellegarde, chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said he spoke with Trudeau on Tuesday and urged him to work with First Nations to find all the unmarked graves of out stolen children" in Canada.

Story continues

A National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up as part of a government apology and settlement over the schools, issued a report in 2015 and Bellegarde urged Trudeau to accelerate implementing its recommendations. Trudeau has said he would implement them and said government has put in place the legislation to strengthen Indigenous languages and culture.

Murray Sinclair, the former chair of the reconciliation commission, said more sites will be found.

We know there are lots of sites similar to Kamloops that are going to come to light in the future. We need to begin to prepare ourselves for that, Sinclair said.

Sinclair said the stories about children who died in the schools during the commission's work was shocking and said survivors talked about children being buried in large numbers into mass burial sites.

The reconciliation commission has records of at least 51 children dying at the school between 1915 and 1963. It identified about 3,200 confirmed deaths at schools throughout Canada but noted the schools did not record the cause of death in almost half of them. Some died of tuberculosis.

The commission said the practice was not to send the bodies of the students who died at the schools to their communities. It also said the government wanted to keep costs down so adequate regulations were never established.

The Kamloops Indian Residential School was Canadas largest such facility operated by the Roman Catholic Church between 1890 and 1969 before the federal government took it over as a day school until 1978, when it was closed.

It was the most horrible pain in the world to be a native, to be an Indian back then, said Clayton Peters, who spent seven years at the school.

Peters and his brothers were forcibly taken to the school in 1967. He remembers thinking that kids who suddenly disappeared from there were lucky because they had managed to escape, saying his unsuccessful attempt to get away led to harsh consequences.

I always thought they ran away like I did, that they made it, that they were free, he said crying.

Now, he thinks some of the children he knew may be buried at the site.
(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said its moving forward with plans to build a $12 billion chip plant in Phoenix, a step toward addressing U.S. concerns over reliability and security in the tech supply chain.

Construction is well under way, Chief Executive Officer C.C. Wei said during a pre-recorded presentation at the companys annual technology symposium for North America on Tuesday.

Phoenix city officials approved financial incentives and government support for the project in November. The city agreed to provide about $200 million to develop roads, sewers and other infrastructure, according to a notice from the city council. Wei also reiterated a previously announced plan to mass produce advanced 5-nanometer chips by 2024 in the state.

As semiconductor shortages have squeezed automakers and other customers this year, governments around the world are looking to build local chip capacity to solidify their supplies. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said last month that while the Biden administration is working with Taipei and TSMC to address the chip crunch, its also looking to reduce U.S. dependence on Taiwan. It has proposed allocating $52 billion to strengthen domestic semiconductor manufacturing.

Raimondo has said the money would help to build another six or seven chip plants, so we wont be so vulnerable to relying overly on one company or one country. TSMC may be the company shes referring to, but it could also be part of the solution for the U.S.

TSMC is the worlds most advanced manufacturer of chips, with customers such as Apple Inc., Nvidia Corp. and Qualcomm Inc.

American, European, Japanese, and Korean officials have all called on Taiwan to help address their potential economic vulnerabilities, stemming from shortages of chips for automobiles. The auto industry alone is projected to lose $110 billion in sales this year because of the chip crunch.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.

2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Jun. 1Two men were arrested Saturday night in Dalton, Georgia, after a fight that involved gunshots broke out in the parking lot of the North Georgia Agricultural Fair grounds.

About 9:35 p.m., officers with the Dalton Police Department were on another call when they heard gunshots coming from the parking area at the fair. Officers ran toward the area and found a group of people arguing.

When officers announced themselves, one man  22-year-old Dylan Hall  looked at the officers and ran. Officers and an off-duty Georgia State Patrol trooper ran after him. A woman in the group knocked the trooper down before he identified himself as a law enforcement officer, authorities said.

The trooper was then hit from behind multiple times by the woman's cousin, 18-year-old Gabriel Adams, authorities said. Adams then fled from other responding Dalton officers and was eventually caught after a long foot chase.

The investigation found the fight started between an ex-boyfriend and ex-girlfriend. Other family members became involved, and Adams fired a handgun multiple times. When Adams saw the officers, he started to walk off as the foot chase for Hall started but stayed when his cousin started fighting the off-duty trooper.

The off-duty trooper was treated for his injuries at Hamilton Medical Center.

Officers found several pieces of evidence, including a hand gun, at the scene. Detectives were able to interview the people involved and said Adams admitted to firing shots during the disturbance and also admitted to fighting with the off-duty trooper. Adams also said he didn't know the person was an officer.

Adams was charged with aggravated assault, reckless conduct, battery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and willful obstruction of law enforcement officers.

Hall was charged with willful obstruction of law enforcement officers and probation violation.

Nobody was hit by the gunfire, and there were no injuries.

The case is still an active investigation. Anyone with information on this incident is asked to call Detective Tommy Ensley at 706-278-9085, ext. 157.

Contact Patrick Filbin at pfilbin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickFilbin.
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
By Humeyra Pamuk

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) -The United States will announce in the next two weeks how it plans to distribute 80 million COVID-19 vaccine doses it has pledged globally, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado, Blinken said the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden would focus on equitable distribution of the vaccines and not tie political strings to the process, a criticism at times directed at China.

"Sometime in the next week to two weeks  we will be announcing the process by which we will distribute those vaccines, what the criteria are, how we will do it," Blinken said during his first trip as secretary of state to Latin America, which is fighting to contain COVID-19.

"We will distribute vaccines without political requirements of those receiving them."

On Monday, Biden said his administration would send at least 20 million doses of the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE, Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, on top of 60 million AstraZeneca Plc doses he had already planned to give to other countries.

The Biden administration has been under pressure to share vaccines to help curb worsening outbreaks from India to Brazil, where health experts fear new, more contagious coronavirus variants could undermine the effectiveness of available shots.

Blinken said the announcement would reveal the criteria and details of the process but that the United States would focus on the equitable distribution and work in coordination of the COVAX vaccine sharing facility.

As the pandemic outlook within the United States brightens with advancing vaccinations, the aid pledge is central to the administration's drive to use U.S. vaccine supply as a tool to counter Chinese and Russian vaccine diplomacy.

A senior State Department official, when asked if the United States during this trip made vaccine commitments, to Central America or Costa Rica specifically, said no region or country specific pledges had been made.

Story continues

"We don't know what the final distribution is going to be. A lot of it has to do with essentially epidemiology and where the science says that we should be dedicating those vaccines to prevent further spread," the official told reporters in a briefing.

Biden, who has loaned some unused vaccines to Canada and Mexico and donated funds to a multilateral vaccination effort for poor countries, in April said the White House was still looking at its options for eventually sending vaccines to Canada, Central America and elsewhere.

Costa Rica's Alvarado stressed that his country was hoping for prompt news on vaccine distribution.

Earlier on Tuesday, the World Bank urged the United States to free up excess vaccines.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in San Jose, Costa Rica; Additional reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher in Mexico City;Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Michael Perry)
(Bloomberg) -- Supply Lines is a daily newsletter that tracks trade and supply chains disrupted by the pandemic. Sign up here.

Member nations of a Pacific regional trade deal agreed Wednesday to allow the U.K. to begin the process to join in a potential boost for the countrys trade following Brexit.

Japanese Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said the move would strengthen economic ties between the U.K. and Japan, as well as making the zone covered by the deal equal to the EU in terms of economic size. He spoke to reporters after hosting an online meeting of ministers and officials from the 11 countries who make up the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The commencement of an accession process with the United Kingdom and the potential expansion of the CPTPP will send a strong signal to our trading partners around the world of our commitment to support a free, fair, open, effective, inclusive and rules-based trading system, the ministers said in a joint statement.

While the grouping was at one point seen as a way for the U.S. and Japan to counter the growing economic might of China, former President Donald Trump withdrew from negotiations when he took office in 2017 and his successor Joe Biden hasnt indicated any reversal is likely.

CPTPP membership is a huge opportunity for Britain, U.K. International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement. It will help shift our economic centre of gravity away from Europe towards faster-growing parts of the world, and deepen our access to massive consumer markets in the Asia Pacific.

She added in a tweet the government will present its plans on the deal to parliament in the coming weeks.

More recently, China itself has shown interest in joining the pact, following its signing of the separate Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a less demanding agreement covering some of the same nations.

A working group on the U.K.s accession has been set up with Japan as the chair and Singapore and Australia as vice-chairs.

Story continues

Japan has been supportive of the U.K.s efforts to seal global trade deals as it seeks to carve out a bigger role in Asia following its exit from the EU. The two countries reached a bilateral trade agreement last year. The U.K. also has separate pacts with other member countries including Canada, Singapore and Vietnam and is pushing for one with Australia. Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, and Peru are also part of CPTPP.

The U.K. made its formal application to join CPTPP in February. Becoming a member would accelerate the U.K.s growth in export trade with faster-expanding Asian economies, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mike Dennis. The U.K. recorded a trade surplus with CPTPP countries in the first quarter of 2021, he added.

(Adds comment from U.K. trade secretary in fifth paragraph.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.

2021 Bloomberg L.P.
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is in talks with Oxford and AstraZeneca for additional doses of their COVID-19 vaccine that has been changed to better target the "beta" coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa, health minister Matt Hancock said on Wednesday.

"We've started commercial negotiations with AstraZeneca to secure a variant vaccine: future supplies of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine that have been adapted to tackle the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa," Hancock said in a speech at Oxford University.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Costas Pitas)
Joe Biden

President Joe Biden has ramped up pressure on Britain to back a global deal on taxes after announcing steep tariffs in retaliation for measures targeting US tech.

The White House has said it will slap new trade duties on six countries including the UK, India, Spain and Italy, but is suspending them for six months as officials attempt to thrash out a deal on a global minimum corporate tax rate.

Unless an agreement is reached, America will introduce a 25pc tariff on UK goods worth $887m (626m), including types of clothing, footwear and furniture.

The Treasury angered the US by going alone with a digital services tax targeting revenues generated in Britain by the likes of Facebook and Google.

Taxing tech giants fairly is Britain's key demand in wider negotiations on global tax as the US pushes for a minimum corporate rate of at least 15pc.

US trade representative Katherine Tai said America is focused on finding a solution over global tax, including on digital services.

She added: "Todays actions provide time for those negotiations to continue to make progress while maintaining the option of imposing tariffs."

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has urged the White House to agree a deal that will hit Silicon Valley businesses as the UK threatened to hold up a wider agreement.

With the topic set to be discussed at G7 meetings in the UK this month, Mr Sunak said he is hoping to help the US "understand why fair taxation of tech companies is important to us".

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, he said: "There's a deal to be had, so I'm urging the US, and all of the G7, to come to the table next week and get it done."

Following the US tariffs announcement, a Treasury spokesman said the digital services tax was "reasonable, proportionate and non-discriminatory".

He added: "Its also temporary and were working positively with international partners to find a global solution to this problem. We will remove the [tax] when that is implemented."

Story continues

It came as Liz Truss, the Trade Secretary, vowed to shift Britains economic centre of gravity to fast-growing Asia after taking a stride towards entering a huge Pacific rim free trade bloc.

The 11 nations in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) have agreed to start talks with the UK, which has made the bloc a top target in its post-Brexit trade strategy.

Negotiations will begin within weeks after Britain has published its approach, economic assessment and consultation response, the Department for International Trade revealed.

Allowing the UK to join the bloc - whose members include Australia, Canada and Japan - would boost its combined GDP close to that of the European Union, according to Japanese economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura.

The CPTPP also includes Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam, with the huge free trade area accounting for 13pc of global GDP.

The deal removes 95pc of tariffs between members, but unlike the EU it does not seek to create a single market or customs union. DIT insiders are hopeful that a deal to include the UK could be struck in 2022.

Ms Truss said that membership is a huge opportunity for the UK to tap rapidly growing countries.

She said: It will help shift our economic centre of gravity away from Europe towards faster-growing parts of the world, and deepen our access to massive consumer markets in the Asia-Pacific.

We would get all the benefits of joining a high-standards free trade area, but without having to cede control of our borders, money or laws.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

The UK is seeking to move negotiations forward as quickly as possible, officials said, after CPTPP members formally agreed to starting the joining process.

About 110bn of the UK's trade was with countries in the pact in 2019 - some 8pc of Britain's total. A source said the Government wanted to take advantage of the CPTPP's ties in services and digital trade in particular to secure opportunities British firms were unable to access in the EU.

The CPTPP deal came into force in late 2018 and Britain formally applied to join the bloc in February.

The UK is also continuing separate trade talks with a number of members such as Australia and New Zealand, while ministers are also eyeing deals with India and the Gulf states.

The pact's members said: The United Kingdoms potential membership would support the mutual interests, common values and commitment to upholding the rules-based trading system shared by the members of the CPTPP.

A deal with the UK would also promote market-oriented principles and help to counter protectionism and the use of unjustified trade restrictive measures, they added.
BEIRUT (AP)  A U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri said Wednesday that it is facing a severe funding crisis and will not be able to operate beyond July without immediate assistance.

The announcement by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon came as the country is in the grips of an unprecedented economic crisis  a culmination of decades of widespread corruption and mismanagement.

Although the tribunal's verdict issued last August, 15 years after Hariri's killing, was disappointing for many Lebanese, ending its work would raise concerns in the tiny country where political killings have gone without punishment for decades.

Separately, some Lebanese are demanding an international investigation into the Aug. 4 blast at Beiruts port that killed 211 people, injured more than 6,000 and damaged nearby neighborhoods.

The Netherlands-based said it has formally notified U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of its financial situation, which will result in the Tribunals inability to complete its work if no contributions are forthcoming prior to the end of July.

Guterres is deeply concerned over the tribunals financial difficulties and has appealed to U.N. member states, the international community and the General Assembly for funds, his spokesman said Wednesday.

The U.N. chief stresses that continued financial support by the international community is vitally critical to ensuring justice for the victims in Lebanon, said the spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.

According to the U.N., the tribunal received $15.5 million in March from Guterres' efforts, which helped pay about 75% percent of the Lebanese governments 49% share for expenses. But the tribunal says it lacks money from donors who are to pay the other 51% of the budget.

The tribunal also said that given the challenging circumstances generated by the global COVID-19 pandemic and Lebanon's economic crisis, it had already reduced its budget by approximatively 37% for 2021, compared with the previous years.

Story continues

Lebanons economic crisis began in late 2019 and has intensified in recent months. The World Bank said Tuesday the crisis is likely to rank as one of the worst the world has seen in more than 150 years, adding that the economy contracted 20.3% in 2020 and is expected to shrink 9.5% this year.

In March 2020, Lebanon defaulted on paying back its debt for the first time in its history as the local currency lost more than 85% of its value. Tens of thousands have lost their jobs while many others left the country seeking opportunities abroad. Nearly half the countrys 5 million people live in poverty.

Despite taking significant cuts of staff and across the board reductions, without additional funding, the Tribunal will be forced to close its doors in the coming months, said the tribunal's Registrar David Tolbert. He added that this will leave important cases unfinished to the detriment of victims, the fight against impunity and the rule of law.

The 2005 Valentines Day truck bombing on Beiruts seafront that killed Hariri and 21 others sparked huge protests against Syria, which was widely seen as culpable. Damascus denied involvement but was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after 29 years there.

The U.N. investigation into Hariris assassination was broadened to include 14 other Lebanese killings.

In December, the Netherlands-based tribunal sentenced Salim Ayyash, a member of the Hezbollah militant group, in absentia to life imprisonment for his involvement in Hariris assassination. Ayyash has never been arrested. Three other Hezbollah members tried with him were acquitted.

___

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The U.S ambassador to the United Nations headed to Turkey late Tuesday seeking to ensure that humanitarian aid can be delivered to Syria across borders, a program Russia has severely limited in recent years while insisting the Syrian government should control all assistance to millions in need.

Linda Thomas-Greenfields visit comes ahead of the July 10 expiration of the U.N. Security Council mandate for humanitarian aid deliveries, now reduced from four initial international crossing points to a single border crossing from Turkey to Syrias rebel-held northwest at the insistence of Russia, Syrias closest ally.

The trip also comes ahead of U.S. President Joe Bidens first meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels on June 14.

Ties between Ankara and Washington, which once considered each other as strategic partners, steadily deteriorated in recent years over differences on Syria, Turkeys cooperation with Russia and Turkish naval interventions in the eastern Mediterranean, which U.S. officials have described as destabilizing.

Erdogan toned down his anti-Western and anti-U.S. rhetoric in an apparent effort to reset the rocky relationship with his NATO allies, but the Turkish leader was met with silence from Biden until they spoke April 23 and agreed to this months meeting. By comparison, he spoke to President Donald Trump just days after the 2016 election.

The U.S. Mission to the United Nations said in an announcement Tuesday that Thomas-Greenfield would meet with senior Turkish officials during the Wednesday-Friday visit to discuss opportunities to strengthen the U.S.-Turkey relationship, work with our NATO ally to address global challenges (and) improve cooperation on Syria.

A senior official at the mission called this a moment of intense engagement with senior Turkish officials, pointing to Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Shermans visit last week ahead of the Biden-Erdogan meeting. But the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, would not say whether Thomas-Greenfield would meet with the Turkish president.

Story continues

Turkey is a critical NATO ally, and we have a strategic relationship that spans an enormous breadth of issues and concerns, including global and regional security issues, obviously, economic issues related to democracy and human rights, the official said, saying the U.S. expects all these issues to be discussed in Thomas-Greenfield's meetings.

The mission said the talks on Syria would include managing the refugee crisis -- Turkey hosts almost 4 million Syrian refugees -- and recognizing Turkeys crucial role in the facilitation of cross-border assistance.

Thomas-Greenfield plans to travel to the Turkey-Syrian border to meet with a group of refugees, and she will also meet with humanitarian organizations and United Nations agencies working to assist millions in Syria, the mission said.

The U.N. special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, told the Security Council last week it is a tragic irony that ordinary Syrians are facing immense and growing humanitarian suffering at this time of relative calm in the more than 10-year conflict. He also lamented the stalled political process, including the failure to start drafting a new Syrian constitution.

Last July, Russia scored a victory for Syria by forcing the Security Council to limit humanitarian aid deliveries to just one crossing point, from Turkey to northwest Idlib at Bab al-Hawa.

The U.S. and many other countries had argued for restoring the Al-Yaroubiya crossing point from Iraq in the northeast that was closed in January 2020. It had been a primary delivery point for health and medical supplies, especially needed during the COVID-19 pandemic. But Russia argued that aid should be delivered from within Syria across conflict lines, and threatened to veto more than one crossing point.

The U.S. Mission said Thomas-Greenfield will emphasize the urgent need for additional crossings and stepped-up international assistance, as there is no viable alternative to alleviate the vast needs of vulnerable populations in northern Syria  needs that have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Estonias U.N. ambassador, Sven Jurgenson, who took over the council presidency Tuesday, indicated at a news conference that Russia is already being difficult.

The talks are starting already, he said. At one of the last meetings, weve heard that one of the members is planning to make things difficult again, like theyve usually done."

Jurgenson said past negotiations show that at the very end they give in, but they want to cut off something.

U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told the Security Council last week that delivering aid across conflict lines cannot replace cross-border deliveries and called the cross-border operation at Bab al-Hawa a lifeline.

If it isnt reauthorized, he warned, food deliveries for 1.4 million people every month, millions of medical treatments, nutrition for tens of thousands of children and mothers and education supplies for tens of thousands of students will stop.
A week long investigation led to the arrest Friday of a man who had plans for a mass shooting at a Walmart, Texas officials say.

Coleman Blevins, a 28-year-old man from Kerrville, was charged with making a terroristic threat. The Kerr County Sheriffs Office says federal charges are possible against Blevins, who is believed to hold extremist ideologies.

The sheriffs office teamed up with the Texas Department of Public Safety and FBI in its investigation. Authorities intercepted a message in which Blevins indicated he was preparing for a mass shooting, according to the sheriffs office.

He made a specific threat toward Walmart in the message, but its unclear which Walmart location he was referring to, the sheriff said. Authorities quickly moved to arrest Blevins when they found out he was capable of committing the attack.

Investigators found guns and ammunition at Blevins home, as well as radical ideology paraphernalia that included books, flags and handwritten documents, the sheriff said.

One of the books shown in a picture released by the sheriffs office was The Turner Diaries, which was published in 1978 by the leader of the neo-Nazi National Alliance.

Blevins was believed to be acting alone and Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said he wanted to die for the cause by taking out some people at a Walmart, KENS reported.

This case reminds us that we need to always be vigilant. Many think that cant happen here, and it was well on the way to happening, Leitha said in a statement on Facebook Our investigators did outstanding work in this case, and possibly saved many lives. The plot interrupted in this case is unthinkable.

Blevins has been put in the Kerr County Jail on a $250,000 bond, the sheriff said. He was serving a felony probation and was not allowed to have guns at the time of his arrest.

10-pound log of meat used as weapon during fight in Walmart chip aisle, Ohio cops say

Video shows officer shoot and kill man wielding a bat inside a California Walmart
Over 35 local clergy members held up signs in front of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center on Tuesday that read truth, transparency and accountability  what theyre demanding from the Pasquotank Countys Sheriffs Office and District Attorney Andrew Womble within the next two days.

Two weeks ago, Womble announced that the deputies involved in the fatal shooting of Andrew Brown Jr. in Elizabeth City wouldnt face charges because an investigation showed that their actions were justified.

The deputies shot and killed Brown in the Eastern North Carolina city April 21 while serving search and arrest warrants in a drug investigation. Womble said the officers feared that Brown would hit them or others with his car while trying to flee.

Since then, there have been daily protests in Elizabeth City, and Browns family has led the chorus of demands for the release of all of the policy body camera footage from the incident.

Tuesday, clergy members gathered at seven rallies across North Carolina that were organized by nonprofit Repairers of the Breach. All of the rallies began at the same time in Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Winston-Salem, Asheville, Fayetteville and Elizabeth City.

We need to know why Andrew Brown took a kill shot at the base of the neck and the back of the skull, said Rev. Paul McAllister. Even though he had no weapons, why did Andrew Brown Jr. have to be killed?

Clergy members statewide are calling for the release of two hours of unedited and unredacted police body camera footage within the next 48 hours, said McAllister, who is the racial equity committee chair on the North Carolina Council of Churches.

McAllister said the clergy also is seeking a U.S. Department of Justice pattern-or-practice investigation into the Pasquotank Countys Sheriffs Office and Wombles office.

Justice for Andrew Brown Jr., thats why were here this afternoon, he said. We want truth, we want transparency and we demand accountability.

Story continues

Rev. Paul McAllister speaks at a rally for Andrew Brown Jr. rally, which took place in front of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center on Tuesday, June 1, 2021. Clergy members gathered at seven rallies across North Carolina that were organized by nonprofit Repairers of the Breach.

We pay for it, we cant see it

Robert Dawkins, the state organizer for SAFE Coalition NC, said people are going to have to make a choice about whether they want to change the judicial system.

If you think that youre just going to get justice from a judge, then I hope Andrew Brown woke you up because judges are also partial, he said. They run on a ticket, and while they may not call themselves a Democrat or Republican, they have an agenda.

Dawkins said he wants judges to give the community members their public records because they pay for body cameras, police cars, firearms and other law enforcement equipment.

We pay for it, we cant see it, he said. Something has got to change.

Dawkins referenced how difficult and strenuous the process was to get the video footage of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police killings of Delano Williams, Jonathan Ferrell and Keith Lamont Scott released to the public.

For all of the names, when are you tired? he said. Were not going to keep coming out here standing and talking.
Protester hold signs as they confronts a line of police at the former location of the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) following a Youth Day of Action and Solidarity with Portland demonstration in Seattle, Washington on July 25, 2020. (AFP via Getty Images)

The Washington state county thats home to both Amazon and Microsoft just banned government use of facial recognition technology, a highly symbolic action in the backyard of the two tech giants, both of which manufacture such software.

On Tuesday, King County, home to Seattle and 2.3 million or so people, unanimously voted to curtail use of facial recognition, which is increasingly being criticized for proven bias towards people of colour.

"The use of facial recognition technology by government agencies poses distinct threats to our residents, including potential misidentification, bias, and the erosion of our civil liberties," county council member Jeanne Kohl-Welles, who sponsored the effort, said in a statement. "The use or misuse of these technologies has potentially devastating consequences which the new ordinance will help to prevent."

Pressure has been building in recent years to limit the use of facial recognition technology, seen as a powerful surveillance tool with equally powerful biases. Studies in the US and UK have shown popular facial recognition software is often less accurate with the faces of people of colour. Last summer, for example, a Black man in Michigan was wrongfully detained when a facial recognition program misidentified him as a shoplifting suspect.

In more extreme examples, authoritarian governments like China use the software as a key tool in repression and surveillance efforts like the crackdown and mass imprisonment in Xinjiang against Chinese minority groups.

Scrutiny of the software became especially acute during last summers widespread civil rights protests in the US, and Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM all announced various changes and limits to their facial recognition business with governments.

Amazon, among the largest providers of facial software to law enforcement, was seen as a particularly significant change, after it put a one-year pause on the police use of its software.

Story continues

A year is a start, Kade Crockford, the director of the technology liberty program at the ACLU of Massachusetts, told the MIT Technology Review last summer, when the pause went into effect. It is absolutely an admission on the companys part, at least implicitly, that what racial justice advocates have been telling them for two years is correct: face surveillance technology endangers Black and brown people in the United States. Thats a remarkable admission.

Sensitivities around police overreach are particularly visceral in Seattle, where heavily armed federal troops were sent to quell Black Lives Matter Protests in the city and accused of abuses, though local police havent used facial recognition since 2018.

Liberal urban areas around the country have been at the forefront of banning the practice, with cities like Oakland, San Francisco, and Boston banning facial recognition.

Read More

Amazon to extend pause on police use of facial recognition

States push back against use of facial recognition by police

Facebooks smart glasses may have facial recognition built-in  but employees are worried about stalkers
The logo for the Washington Post is displayed outside of its offices on May 1, 2009 in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty Images

The Washington Post has corrected a 2020 article about the theory COVID-19 escaped from a lab.

The article explored Sen. Tom Cotton's defence of the theory, which it described as "debunked."

Once dismissed by experts, the lab leak hypothesis is now regarded as a credible possibility.

See more stories on Insider's business page.

The Washington Post on Tuesday corrected a 2020 article which criticised Republican Sen. Tom Cotton for defending the claim that the COVID-19 virus may have escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan China.

The article had described the claim as "debunked" and a "conspiracy theory."

The original headline of the February 2020 story read: "Tom Cotton keeps repeating a coronavirus conspiracy theory that was already debunked"

The headline was corrected on Tuesday to read: "Tom Cotton keeps repeating a coronavirus fringe theory that scientists have disputed."

In a note explaining the corrections, editors wrote: "Earlier versions of this story and its headline inaccurately characterized comments by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) regarding the origins of the coronavirus. The term 'debunked' and The Post's use of 'conspiracy theory' have been removed because, then as now, there was no determination about the origins of the virus."

Insider has contacted Cotton's office for comment.

The correction comes after multiple scientists said it was not possible to rule out the theory that the coronavirus may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The exact origin of the virus is not known. The genetic evidence so far suggests it emerged in bats and was transmitted to humans, the way many diseases are. (Most scientists have dismissed the notion that the virus was synthetically engineered.) The unanswered question is whether coronavirus jumped into the human population because it escaped from a research lab or whether humans encountered it in the wild.

Story continues

Facebook has reversed its policy of removing posts claiming the virus escaped from a lab in light of new evidence emerging.

In May, President Joe Biden ordered a 90-day review of intelligence about the likely source of the virus. It came after the Wall St Journal reported that three workers at the Wuhan lab had fallen in and been hospitalized with a mysterious illness weeks before the first recorded cases in a market in the city in November 2020.

In March, a group of prominent scientists in an open letter to the World Health Organization called for a new investigation into the source of the virus. In a report co-authored with Chinese scientists earlier that month the WHO had described the lab leak theory as "extremely unlikely" to be true.

Back in February 2020 some Republicans, including Cotton and former President Donald Trump, had pushed the lab leak theory as they attacked China and its response to the pandemic.

The Post report that was corrected Tuesday had cited a Fox News interview with Cotton in which he pointed out that close to the market where the first cases were recorded was "China's only biosafety level 4 super laboratory that researches human infectious diseases." He had also defended the hypothesis in Congress in early February, leading to criticism from China's ambassador.

In response to the Post's article that month, Cotton spelled out a number of different possible sources for the virus.

"None of these are 'theories' and certainly not 'conspiracy theories.' They are hypotheses that ought to be studied in light of the evidence," he wrote.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(Photo: WePlay Esports)

The WePlay AniMajor is the second and final Major tournament of the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC), featuring 18 of the best teams from the circuit's six regional leagues competing for the lion's share of a US$500,000 prize pool and 2,700 DPC point pool.

The event will be held from 2 to 13 June in Kyiv, Ukraine and will be the final opportunity for many teams in the circuit to earn all-important DPC points to go towards securing a direct invite to The International 10 (TI10), which will be held in Stockholm, Sweden this August and will feature a US$40 million prize pool.

Read our WePlay AniMajor daily recaps:

WePlay AniMajor Day 1: Emo shines as Invictus Gaming start strong

WePlay AniMajor Day 2: Vici Gaming, Team Nigma advance to Group Stage

WePlay AniMajor Day 3: Arteezy, Miracle shine in Group Stage opener

WePlay AniMajor Day 4: TNC Predator rampage through Beastcoast, Nigma

WePlay AniMajor Day 5: PSG.LGD dominate TNC, EG to secure upper bracket berth

WePlay AniMajor Day 6: Nigma make upper bracket while Beastcoast, Liquid go home

WePlay AniMajor Playoff Preview: The race for TI10 direct invites

WePlay AniMajor Day 7: PSG.LGD, Nigma dominate in first day of Playoffs

WePlay AniMajor Day 8: Top seeds Aster, Alliance, VP, NoPing out

WePlay AniMajor Day 9: PSG.LGD, T1 to face-off at upper bracket finals

WePlay AniMajor Day 10: EG conquer Nigma, VG to join PSG.LGD and T1 in top 3

Here's everything you need to know about the WePlay AniMajor:

WePlay AniMajor Format

As with all Major tournaments under the new DPC format, the WePlay AniMajor is split into three stages, with six teams starting the tournament in each stage. The three stages are the Wildcard Stage, the Group Stage, and the Playoffs.

Wildcard

The Major will open with the Wildcard Stage, scheduled from 2 to 3 June, where six teams will fight for the chance to advance to the Group Stage. The six Wildcard teams will compete in a single round-robin, with all the teams taking turns to face one another in a best-of-two match. Once all the Wildcard matches are done, the two teams with the best record will advance to the Group Stage while the four others will be eliminated early.

Story continues

Group Stage

Up next will be the Group Stage, scheduled from 4 to 7 June, where eight teams will fight for the chance to advance to the Playoffs. The eight teams in the Group Stage are comprised of the second-placed teams of the DPC's six regional leagues as well as the two teams that advanced through the Wildcard Stage.

The Group Stage will follow a single round-robin format, just like the Wildcard, where all the teams will take turns facing one another in a best-of-two match. At the conclusion of the Group Stage, six teams will advance to the Playoffs.

The top two teams of the Group Stage will start the Playoffs in the upper bracket while the third to sixth-placed teams will have to start the Playoffs from the lower bracket. Meanwhile, the two bottom teams will be eliminated.

Playoffs

After a one-day break following the conclusion of the Group Stage, the Major playoffs will take place from 9 to 13 June and will follow a double-elimination format. Eight teams will start from the upper bracket while four others will start from the lower bracket. The upper bracket teams are comprised of the top seed of the DPC's six regional leagues as well as the top two teams from the Group Stage, with the lower bracket teams comprised of the third to sixth-placed teams of the Group Stage.

The first round of the Playoffs will start in the upper bracket, with the eight upper bracket teams being paired off across four matches. The winners of each upper bracket match will advance to the further rounds of the upper bracket, while the losers will drop down to the lower bracket.

The lower bracket will open with the four initial lower bracket teams taking on the losers of the first round of upper bracket matches. The winners of each lower bracket match will advance to the further rounds of the lower bracket, while the losers will be eliminated.

Each match in the Playoffs will be a best-of-three, except for the Grand Finals which will be a full best-of-five series.

WePlay AniMajor Prize pool

While the WePlay AniMajor features eighteen participating teams, only eight of them will be able to earn a cut of the US$500,000 prize pool and 2,700 DPC point pool.

The champions of the WePlay AniMajor will receive the grand prize of US$200,000 and 500 DPC points, though each team that manages to get a Top 8 placement will earn at least US$12,500 and 200 DPC points.

Here's the full prize and DPC point pool breakdown for the Major:

Placement Prize money DPC points 1st US$200,000 500 2nd US$100,000 450 3rd US$75,000 400 4th US$50,000 350 5th-6th US$25,000 300 7th-8th US$12,500 200 9th-18th N/A N/A

Participating teams in the WePlay AniMajor

The 18 participating teams in the WePlay AniMajor are comprised of the best teams from the DPC's six regional leagues in Europe, China, Southeast Asia, the CIS, North America, and South America. Europe and China each have four representatives, Southeast Asia and the CIS each have three, while North America and South America each have two.

The top teams of each regional league have been directly seeded to the Major Playoffs, the second-placed team of each league will start from the Group Stage, while two teams each from Europe and China as well as one team each from Southeast Asia and the CIS will start from the Wildcard Stage.

WePlay AniMajor Wildcard teams

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

Europe 3rd seed: Team Nigma

Europe 4th seed: Team Secret

China 3rd seed: Vici Gaming

China 4th seed: Invictus Gaming

Southeast Asia 3rd seed: Execration

CIS 3rd seed: AS Monaco Gambit

WePlay AniMajor Group Stage teams

(Photo: WePlay Esorts)

Europe 2nd seed: Team Liquid

China 2nd seed: PSG.LGD

Southeast Asia 2nd seed: TNC Predator

CIS 2nd seed: Team Spirit

North America 2nd seed: Evil Geniuses

South America 2nd seed: Beastcoast

WePlay AniMajor Playoff teams

(Photo: WePlay Esports)

Europe top seed: Alliance

China top seed: Team Aster

Southeast Asia top seed: T1

CIS top seed: Virtus.pro

North America top seed: Quincy Crew

South America top seed: NoPing Esports

Health and safety protocols at the WePlay AniMajor

The WePlay AniMajor will be played live and in-person but will not have fans in attendance due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the "the epidemiological situation" in Kyiv.

"Unfortunately, the epidemiological situation in Kyiv does not allow us to receive guests: the tournament will be closed to spectators, as the players and employees safety is our highest priority," said WePlay Esports.

WePlay Esports has also released a breakdown of the health and safety protocols being observed during the Major which you can find here.

How to Watch the WePlay AniMajor

The WePlay AniMajor will be streamed live in English on the official WePlay Esports Twitch and YouTube channels. Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese, and Spanish-speaking broadcasts are also available.

There will also be a secondary stream on WePlay Esports' second Twitch channel in order to accommodate the large number of games to be played during the Major Wildcard and Group Stage.

WePlay Esports will also be giving away prizes if the WePlay AniMajor is able to break concurrent viewership records set by previous Dota 2 Major tournaments. For more information on this promotion, check here.

For more esports news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooEsportsSEA and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asias Facebook page and Twitter.

Check out esports videos from Yahoo TV:
MADRID (AP)  The leader of a movement seeking independence from Morocco who is at the center of a diplomatic row between Rabat and Madrid flew out of Spain to Algeria on Tuesday night, his group said.

Brahim Ghali was released from a hospital in northern Spain following more than six weeks of treatment after contracting COVID-19, according to a statement sent to The Associated Press by the self-declared Sahrawi Democratic Arab Republic, which is based in refugee camps in western Algeria.

Ghali heads the Sahrawi Democratic Arab Republic and the Polisario Front. Morocco annexed Western Sahara in the 1970s, and the Polisario Front has long tried to end Moroccan rule over the region.

Ghali departed hours after testifying via videoconference in a Spanish investigation into allegations against him of torture, genocide and other crimes. A Spanish magistrate ruled after Ghalis testimony that he should remain free while the investigation continues.

Ghali, 71, flew out of Pamplona airport overnight and will continue his recovery in Algeria, the statement said.

His presence in Spain infuriated Morocco and triggered a diplomatic crisis between the two countries, which have been cooperating in fighting terrorism, drug smuggling and migration into Europe. Amid the dispute, thousands of migrants crossed the border from Morocco into Spain as Morocco apparently relaxed border controls. Moroccan authorities also questioned publicly whether Spain could be trusted.

Ghali checked into the Spanish hospital under a false identity after arriving in the country by plane last month with an Algerian diplomatic passport and with the consent of the Spanish government, which said it acted on humanitarian grounds.

Rabat has withdrawn its ambassador to Madrid and has said it wouldnt fill the position if Ghali left Spain under the same cloak of secrecy.

There was no immediate reaction Wednesday from Morocco.
PAMPLONA/ALGIERS (Reuters) -The leader of the Western Sahara independence movement, Brahim Ghali, returned to Algeria on Wednesday after spending more than a month in hospital in Spain - a stay which triggered a diplomatic row between Spain and Morocco.

"He arrived safe and sound," said Jalil Mohamed, the Polisario Front's spokesman in Spain.

Algerian state television later showed President Abdelmadjid Tebboune visiting Ghali in hospital, but gave no details of their discussion.

Rabat has not yet commented on Ghali's departure from Spain but had previously said that it would not alone resolve the dispute.

The Algeria-backed Polisario Front is fighting for the independence of Western Sahara, which was a Spanish colony until the mid-1970s and is claimed by Morocco.

Ghali flew to Algeria from Pamplona in northern Spain at 1:40 a.m. local time on Wednesday on an officially chartered private plane, the spokesman said.

Ghali, who was suffering a serious bout of COVID-19, had been admitted to a Spanish hospital in April on humanitarian grounds, the Madrid government said.

He left Spain several hours after appearing remotely in a hearing with Spanish high court on a war crimes case. Following the hearing, judges did not impose any restrictions on the Polisario leader and allowed him to leave the country.

Spain's decision to admit Ghali to a hospital in the northern Spanish city of Logrono, on Algerian papers and without informing Rabat, infuriated Morocco.

Moroccan officials suggested that last month's sudden influx of migrants to Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta after security forces appeared to loosen border controls was a form of retaliation.

Algerian support for the Polisario Front independence movement is a also source of anger in Morocco.

(Reporting by Inti Landauro in Madrid and Vincent West in Pamplona; additional reporting by Lamine Chikhi in Algiers; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Once the epicenter of the pandemic, New York recorded the lowest COVID-19 positivity rate in the country this week as Gov. Cuomo hopes to entice tourists to return to the Empire State.

New Yorks seven-day coronavirus case rate stood at 0.64%, a major milestone for a state that suffered the worst of the outbreak last year and is now on the cusp of a comeback, the governor announced Wednesday.

Our message is simple. Its time to reenter society  theres no place to do that like the state of New York, Cuomo said during a press event at the recently renovated Jacob Javits Center. This state has everything that you could possibly want to do and staying in New York and vacationing in New York is smart and safe. You know this state is responsible when it comes to handling COVID.

The state is launching a new $40 million global campaign aimed at revitalizing New Yorks tourism industry. The first phase of the marketing campaign will focus on the city and will run in multiple states and countries. Spots in the campaigns second phase will focus on upstate.

New York, our arms are open and we welcome international tourists, the governor said. Today you can land at an airport in New York; theres no testing, theres no quarantine, theres no checking. You can come to New York.

Along with the low positivity rate, hospitalizations in the state have dropped to 1,007, the lowest since Oct. 21. Another 11 New Yorkers died from the virus on Tuesday.

Cuomo continued to encourage New Yorkers to get vaccinated against the deadly virus, touting venues and sports arenas that have opened up at near full capacity for inoculated attendees.

The Mets will increase the number of fans in the stands starting next week when they go to a 90% vaxxed crowd. Citi Field will have 29,500 seats for vaccinated and 3,000 for unvaccinated fans.

According to the governor, 57.3% of New Yorkers over the age of 18 are now fully immunized. The state is still trying to increase the number of teens getting vaccinated, touting a raffle program that includes a free ride to public colleges and promising a return to normal for those who roll up their sleeves.

The priority remains to get shots in arms, Cuomo said. We are working very hard to get younger people interested in taking the vaccine. Its smart, its right there, theres very little risk  so were focusing on that population.
A journalist takes a photo of Retired Gen. Michael Flynn, former National Security Advisor under President Donald Trump, as he takes part in the announcement for Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer's run for the United States Senate, Tuesday, March 16, 2021 in Jenks, Okla. Credit - Mike SimonsTulsa World/AP

Five years ago, would you have imagined that a retired three-star general would be calling for a coup in America at a convention of conspiracy theorists in Texas?

This weekend, former Trump National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, called for a military coup against the U.S. government. He argued that, just like what happened in Myanmar, our military should seize power and overthrow our democratically elected government. We should all be alarmed when a former presidential appointee so blatantly turns his back on American democracy.

If these were normal times, wed say we were shocked and Flynn would be universally condemned and marginalized. But these are not normal times.

Flynns comments are just the latest in a deliberate string of attacks against democracy and our rule of law, furthering dangerous conspiracy theories. None of this is an accident; its part of a strategy to erode the democratic safeguards that undermine our democracy. The timeline and coordination speak for themselves.

Trump supporters participate in a rally in Washington on Jan 6. John MinchilloAP

On January 6, former President Donald J. Trump incited an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the election. A police officer was killed and about 140 others injured. As the terrorists prepared to attack from the outside, Trumps enablers in Congress were spewing his lies in debate.

On January 13, 197 GOP members in the House of Representatives voted against holding President Trump accountable for the insurrection. A month later, 43 GOP senators followed suit.

While some members of Congress admit to his culpability privately, theyve publicly bowed down to Trump and his baseless conspiracy theories. In the military, and in Congress too, you swear an oath to put your country first. Its an oath that should mean the same thing in public as it does in private.

Story continues

In recent months, the Big Lie has metastasized, leading to a rash of voter suppression laws across the country. In March, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed into law a sweeping voter-suppression bill that will erect a myriad of obstacles to the ballot, and in May, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis followed suit. State by state, Republican legislatures are now launching salvo after salvo on our democracy, using Trumps Big Lie as a battle cry, the same battle cry shouted by rioters who brought the Confederate flag into the U.S. Capitol for the first time ever on January 6.

These bills didnt come out of nowhere. Their genesis was Trumps conspiracy theory about a stolen election, a theory that was flat out rejected by every court it was brought in front of. When the attack on the Capitol didnt work, Republican legislatures shifted their tactics  subverting democracy by making it harder for people to vote. This is our most sacred right as Americans, a right that countless who have worn the uniform have died defending.

Last week, 175 of our GOP colleagues, including all of their leadership, voted against creating a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 attack. And then Senate Republicans staged their first filibuster of 2021, using it to shut down a vote on the commission.

On Jan 6, The United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. was breached by thousands of protesters during a "Stop The Steal" rally in support of President Donald Trump during the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. zz/STRF/STAR MAX/IPxAP

That brings us back to Michael Flynn, that former national security adviser who, on May 30, argued that the U.S. military should stage a coup.

Let us be clear  this assault on democracy is as intentional as it is insidious. Flynns comments are shocking only to those who havent been paying attention. Both of us, like Flynn, served in the U.S. Armed Forces, where we each swore to defend our country from all enemies, foreign and domestic.

But all Americans, not just those who have sworn the oath, have the responsibility to stand up to and condemn those who would so blatantly turn their back on democracy.

The choice is yours. For us, though, its always been clear  American democracy is worth fighting for.
NHK has learned that doctors in charge of medical service at competition venues in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics are withdrawing. Some of them have cited their busy work schedule.

The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee plans to assign doctors called Venue Medical Officer, or VMO, to each site.

Members of VMO, including emergency medical doctors at university hospitals, supervise medical staff in treating athletes and spectators in case of developing fevers, or in the aftermath of disasters and acts of terrorism.

The organizing committee is working to secure doctors who will cover those who have pulled out.

In May, it asked the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine to recommend about seven doctors who will cooperate.

At competition sites during the Tokyo Games, medical rooms for athletes and separate ones for spectators are to be set up. Tents are also to be prepared for isolating people with a fever.
Bank of America has named Kevin Tracy as President of Bank of Rhode Island. Tracy succeeds Bill Hatfield, who has served as Rhode Island market president since 2004 and market executive for Bank of America Private Bank in Rhode Island, announced his retirement last month.

During his time as president in Rhode Island, Hatfield has been a critical leader in the community focused on leading and delivering for our employees and clients, while acting as a champion for the companys responsible growth strategy. He has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce and a member (and former Chairman) of its Board of Directors. Hatfield has been a member of the Rhode Island Commodores Board of Governors and served as the founding Board Chairman for Skills for RIs Future.

During Bills 40 distinguished years at our company, he has made a lasting impact on the Rhode Island community and our company, said Brian Moynihan, chief executive officer, Bank of America. We thank him for his leadership and look forward to continued growth and success with Kevin taking on this critical role.

As Rhode Island president, Tracy will be responsible for connecting the banking and investment resources offered through our eight lines of business to people and companies in Rhode Island. He will also lead the effort to deploy Bank of America's resources to address social and economic concerns and build strong communities.

Tracy holds more than 35 years of experience as a leader in the financial industry. Since joining Bank of America in 1985, Kevin held numerous client manager positions. He has served as in Business Banking Market Executive for Rhode Island since 2006, where he manages a team of bankers who provide a variety of solutions, including treasury, credit, investment banking, risk management, international and wealth management, to companies with annual revenues of $5 million to over $50 million.

Tracy is a graduate of Brown University where he serves as long time Treasurer and is a board member of the Brown University Alumni Club of Rhode Island. In addition, he served as chairman of the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce as well as past Chair of Junior Achievement of Rhode Island, where he has been an active volunteer for the past 10 years.

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.

###

Reporters may contact:

Alliccia Hernandez, Bank of America

Phone: 1.646.491.1396

Alliccia.Hernandez@bofa.com
CICERO  A Hobart man was shot in the head while he was driving for Uber in Cicero, Illinois, Monday evening, police said.

The victim has been identified by family as Joe Schelstraete, NBC 5 Chicago reported. He is currently on life support at Loyola University Medical Center, according to authorities.

As of Tuesday evening, Cicero Police Department 1st Deputy Supervisor Luis Gutierrez said the family was making arrangements for his organs to be donated.

The victim was described as a 38-year-old father of three who was "in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Hes a hardworking man he has three young kids and he was just out trying to make a dollar, said Cicero Police Department Chief Jerry Chlada Jr. at a televised press conference.

At 7:35 p.m. Monday the Region man was called to pick up a customer in the area of 23rd Street and 55th Avenue in Cicero, Gutierrez said.

Once there, four armed individuals confronted him.

"It appears to be a robbery," Gutierrez said.

Items were taken from Schelstraete and he was then shot in the head, police said.
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.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP)  Ann Tillery could see by her own image on the Zoom screen that something was wrong when the left side of her face began to droop.
Itll be the showcase among an expected 11 new outbuildings at the mall, which also will see three of four existing outbuildings razed and the main mall converted into an outward-facing strip mall.

Works, Revs managing partner who had been present or given presentations at earlier votes and public hearings hearings, was absent. His partner, Hernandez, was present but deferred comment to Works.

But the community just hit a home run tonight, said a happy Gary Person, president and CEO of the North Platte Area Chamber & Development Corp.

This will be a major pull bringing regional shoppers back to North Platte, he said. It just has success written all over it. But it took a lot of financial commitment and a developer willing to do it, because weve seen whats happened in the deterioration of the last 10 years at the mall.

More than three dozen community supporters of the mall project again filled most audience chairs in the City Hall council chamber, breaking into applause as the last successful 4-3 vote was posted.

Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

One audience member, Chuck Matson of 914 East C St., told council members before the final vote they should back off.
A 17-year-old was hit by a car on 27th Street around 12 p.m. Tuesday while he was allegedly running from the Lincoln Police Department's Gang Unit.

Officer Erin Spilker said the teen, who was wanted, was carrying a loaded Glock handgun and 112 grams of suspected methamphetamine as he tried to run from investigators.

Officer Erin Spilker said the teen was a suspect in a weapons violation from May 26, when police believed he was driving a 2005 BMW that was stolen in Grand Island.

Spilker said investigators spotted the BMW near 27th and N streets before it parked in the 200 block of South 27th Street, when officers saw the teen, who was driving, exit the car and enter a nearby house.

While the teen was in the residence, Spilker said investigators confirmed the BMW matched the one reported stolen last week. When the 17-year-old exited the house, Spilker said he walked toward the car before he spotted LPD officers and ran the other way.

As he ran, Spilker said the teen was hit by a 2009 Hyundai driving south on 27th Street, knocking him off his feet. Spilker said officers called for medical assistance and approached the teen, who got up and ran.
Im excited the governors office decided to honor the will of the people after three years, he said.

The Trump administration gave initial approval to Ricketts two-tier plan in October last year.

But President Joe Bidens administration made clear early this year that it would not approve the community engagement requirements.

In a Feb. 12 letter, federal Medicaid officials said the community engagement requirements would not promote the objectives of the Medicaid program and that the other requirements were under review.

At the time, state Medicaid Director Kevin Bagley said the state would halt implementation process for the requirements. That left the majority of Medicaid expansion patients with no way to get the additional benefits.

The same day as Bagleys announcement, Nebraska Appleseed filed a lawsuit on behalf of two Nebraskans challenging the two-tier system. Nebraska Appleseed attorney Sarah Maresh called the system unlawful because it created barriers and burdens for enrollees, in violation of the Medicaid expansion law passed by voters. A key hearing in the lawsuit has been set for Monday.
Writer Beer & Society

There is nothing that cannot be discussed and worked out over a beer. Join me as I explore local beer, breweries and how they can civilize us.
Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden traveled to Oklahoma to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa massacre of 1921, where a white mob attacked African-American residents and firebombed the Black-owned Greenwood District, resulting in as many as 300 deaths and 35 blocks destroyed.

For much too long, the history of what took place here was told in silence, cloaked in darkness, Biden said, becoming the first president to travel to Tulsa to observe the anniversary. But just because history is silent, it doesnt mean that it did not take place.

While the president toured the Greenwood Cultural Center and met with survivors of the massacre  including the 106-year-old Lessie Benningfield Randle  Biden also looked forward on Tuesday, vowing to pursue several initiatives to cut the racial wealth gap and ensure voting rights for all Americans. It did not go perfectly for the gaffe-prone president:

Biden, speaking in Tulsa, is talking about how many commercials have interracial couples in them. Theyre selling soap, man! He said its a sign of hope, particularly for young people.  Kimberly Atkins Stohr (@KimberlyEAtkins) June 1, 2021

Putting aside the latest trends in the marketing of cleaning products, Biden announced a federal initiative to boost the percentage of federal contracts going to small, minority- and women-owned businesses by 50 percent by 2026; the administration has estimated that such an increase would provide $100 billion in contracts to qualifying firms. Biden also reiterated his pledge to use $10 billion in infrastructure funds to rebuild underserved communities throughout the U.S., and promised to enhance the Fair Housing Act so that the federal government can more vigorously enforce the law first passed in 1968.

With the effort to secure voting rights stalled out on Capitol Hill, Biden also announced a renewed legislative push to enfranchise Americans  just as Republican state lawmakers chip away at ballot access throughout the country. After identifying state laws passed in the wake of Trumps loss an unprecedented assault on our democracy, he said that Vice-President Kamala Harris will lead the movement to secure votes to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. With her leadership and your support, were going to overcome again, Biden said. I promise you. Its going to take a hell of a lot of work.

Notably, the president also called out members of the Democratic Senate caucus who have been reluctant to do that work. I hear all of the folks on TV saying why doesnt Biden get this done? Biden said. Well, because Biden only has the majority of effectively four votes in the House and a tie in the Senate  with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends. For Harris to whip up the support to pass a new Voting Rights Act, shell need more than just the support of Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, the Arizona and West Virginia Democrats who were referenced by Biden and have been reluctant to sign on to different aspects of his agenda.

Unlike the American Recovery Act passed by reconciliation, a voting rights agenda would need the support of 10 senators from the party actively trying to erode voting rights in the United States. Despite this challenge  and the stalled talks on an infrastructure bill  Biden anticipated that June will be a month of action.

Sign Up for the Intelligencer Newsletter Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world. 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.
All graduates participating in their school or colleges ceremony will receive a ticket to enter Jordan-Hare Stadium after the event to take a photograph with Aubie the Tiger and a photo under the Jumbotron with their name displayed on the screen. Family can enter the stadium as well.

There will not be a limit on the number of guests a graduate can bring, according to the universitys graduation website. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. All ceremonies can be viewed live on the Auburn University Commencement website at auburn.edu/commencement.

The Arena lot will act as accessibility parking, and the Coliseum parking lot and parking deck will serve as the main parking areas nearby.

There will be no physical contact such as a handshakes between graduates and any stage party. Fully vaccinated graduates and guests can forgo masks, and the university encourages those not vaccinated to wear masks.

Concession stands in Auburn Arena will be open, and guests may bring one unopened, factory-sealed water bottle up to one liter in size.

The #AUBURNGRAD sign will be available for photos on Samford lawn on Aug. 7 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
She comes back a second time, and thats when deputies open fire and she takes multiple rounds, Chitwood said.

Chitwood said the 12-year-old boy, had told investigators that they had planned to roll like it's GTA," referring to the videogame series Grand Theft Auto. The often violent videogame series tracks characters as they rise through a criminal underworld.

In body camera video released Wednesday, a deputy can be seen yelling, Put the gun down now! as shots are fired at him repeatedly while he takes cover behind a tree in the yard.

A commander over the radio tells deputies not to challenge them. Lets not engage them, the commander said. Lets just hang out here.

But several minutes later, a barrage of shots echoes across the lawn. Theyre shooting at me, the deputy says in the video. A little bit later, deputies report that the 14-year-old girl is down. Then the 12-year-old boy, who authorities said had been armed with the AK-47, comes outside with his hands raised.
Brigham, the study's lead author, cautioned that the numbers are preliminary and the research paper has yet to be peer reviewed. Beginning next week, teams of scientists will hike to the groves that experienced the most fire damage for the first time since the ashes settled.

I have a vain hope that once we get out on the ground the situation wont be as bad, but thats hope  thats not science, she said.

The newspaper said the extent of the damage to one of the worlds most treasured trees is noteworthy because the sequoias themselves are incredibly well adapted to fire. The old-growth trees  some of which are more than 2,000 years old and 250 feet (76 meters) tall  require fire to burst their pine cones and reproduce.

One-hundred years of fire suppression, combined with climate change-driven hotter droughts, have changed how fires burn in the southern Sierra and that change has been very bad for sequoia, Brigham said.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon have conducted controlled burns since the 1960s, about a thousand acres a year on average. Brigham estimates that the park will need to burn around 30 times that number to get the forest back to a healthy state.
sometimes I wonder wtf i moved to London

Reply

Thread

Link

Real talk, how is it there?



Where are you originally from?



Asking for myself

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Not OP but I moved to London from the US in 2016. I don't plan to stay much longer but pre-pandemic it was an amazing city to live in IMO (probably still will be post-pandemic, it's just less fun to be paying London rent when you can't really enjoy most of what the city has to offer).

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

Sure! I can only speak from experience, but I would say its OKAY. I only moved here to further my career as there are more job opportunities in my field. There also seems a ton of things/ events/ cultural stuff going on, which I love.



As everyone has mentioned, its super expensive My rent is OK, I think I got lucky. The transport is so fucking expensive. You have to use it because there is no way of walking around unless you're willing to walk for 2+ hours. Kind of a nightmare. ALSO, it's so elitist. Sometimes the snobbery is so intense I just want to fucking scream and leave, but I wont. I used to think I had good education but the British seem to be unaware that good education exists beyond Oxbridge (barf), or *gasps* maybe education does not equate qualified candidate. ALSO, I did not expect to find British people so imperialistic in their thinking. Ive heard the most outrageous things out of these so called oxbridge idiots. They are also hella classist. This is not to say there aren't amazing people... and obviously the city is beautiful.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

Just jumping in as another American who moved to London. I was meant to stay a year and Ive been here for seven now, and have no intention of moving back to the US.



Its expensive, its standard big city living. If youre used to apartments or homes in the US (outside of maybe New York and Chicago - only other major cities Ive lived in, so can only speak on those), London apartments will be quite a shock. You get used to some things (drying clothes on racks, no dishwashers) and not others (still not used to lack of AC - the summers are getting hotter here!).



The most important thing to me is that the work-life balance and general lifestyle here are much better imo.



Free healthcare, never have to worry about seeing a doctor, although because the healthcare system in general and particularly in London is overloaded and underfunded sometimes there are long wait times for anything outside of a regular appt. Never an issue to leave work early, come in late, take time off for dr appts without needing to make up the time. (In the US I was scared to ask or had to make up the time, but maybe that was just the jobs I had.)



A lot more holiday per year. Ive never had fewer than 25 days per year and Ive worked at places with as many as 40 days per year, and this did not include additional time off given for Christmas, Easter, etc.! And you take your days - going on holiday, even for consecutive weeks at a time, is very normal.



So easy to travel. Prior to Covid I could hop all over Europe for very cheap. Even traveling elsewhere, like flying to East Asia from here, for example, I find to be much cheaper than the US.



Transport is expensive but so convenient, although its worth mentioning the tube isnt 24/7. Tons of night buses, though.



Overall I probably have a moment every day (well, prior to Covid) where I stop and look around me and think holy shit, I live in London.



Happy to answer any specific questions if you have them. And ofc, best of luck with whatever you decide now or in the future!

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

For the two days of nice weather a year?

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

why is everyone acting brand new about the Royals being racist recently? did they all forget the reason English is so widely spoken or what?

Reply

Thread

Link

But baldy Willy has bare minimum guns and Katie went to a vigil of a murder victim without a mask so everyone knew it was her! Charlies got himself a friend, miracle enough. Oh yes and hes black!



So there ya go Puke told us, royals cant be racist!!





Reply

Thread

Link

Katie went to a vigil of a murder victim without a mask



i can't believe more people didn't comment on this at the time. it was so OBVIOUSLY a PR stunt that was totally unnecessary and i know masks outside aren't mandatory but in a crowded place like the memorial site it seemed the responsible thing to do, and she didn't. hmmmmmM

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Truly can't believe that a major institution of centuries of colonialism and racism is institutionally racist?!



What were the odds?

Reply

Thread

Link

I know. Who is gonna be surprised or shocked by this? Lol Not that acknowledging it isnt important but its like not some bombshell secret.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Hmmmmm colonizers gonna colonize

Reply

Thread

Link

Not even remotely surprising.

Reply

Thread

Link

British colonization and independence is in living memory for a lot of people today and these civil servants were actively involved in administering it so of course lol the royal family is such trash, I honestly don't know what it will take for them to be done with... like they have done every terrible thing that is humanly possible

Reply

Thread

Link

Even more evidence these cousin fuckers are racist shitbags, surprising no-one.

Reply

Thread

Link

Pass the smelling salts i may faint from the shock

Reply

Thread

Link

Salt? Quite spicy for these surroundings!

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

The smelling flours it is then!

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

shook

Reply

Thread

Link

this is not surprising. britain only officially acknowledged the existence of black people in 1972.

Reply

Thread

Link





https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a20090038/princess-michael-of-kent-racist-past/



https://nypost.com/2004/05/27/princess-mike-denies-making-racist-remark/



A British princess has denied telling a boisterous group of influential black New Yorkers to go back to the colonies during a fracas in a West Village restaurant  while witnesses and the eaterys owner insist she uttered the bigoted remark Here's a friendly reminder that Princess Michael of Kent lived in a rent controled palace for most of her married lifeA British princess has denied telling a boisterous group of influential black New Yorkers to go back to the colonies during a fracas in a West Village restaurant  while witnesses and the eaterys owner insist she uttered the bigoted remark

Reply

Thread

Link

If anyone believes her, I assume its the same idiots who believe theres any way that racist brooch she wore to meet Meghan wasnt intentional (in that family where the provenance and symbolism of jewellery are a huge part of what they wear to what occasion)

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

The whole brooch thing is a nonstory honestly compared to the things she and her husband have actually said and done

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link
Veneno is the (mostly) true story of the 90s Spanish trans icon Cristina la Veneno. Growing up in the US, I had never heard of her before scrolling through HBOMax one night in December 2020 and seeing the striking beauty of Daniela Santiago as the titular character. La Veneno shot to fame when she was interviewed in Parque del Oeste, where she worked as a sex worker. It was created by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who will be judges on Drag Race Espana!

OP is glad I hit PLAY because it is seriously one of the most underrated, underwatched and underpublicized queer masterpieces of the last 20 years and I can't stop thinking about this show!

Care to learn more about this icon?

Ven comingo...

WHAT: Veneno is a series (currently streaming on HBOMax) based on Digo! Ni puta ni santa. Las memorias de La Veneno, a biography of the subject written by Valeria Vegas. It will make you laugh and it will break your heart.





Cristina la Veneno en realidad on the show that discovered her: Esta noche cruzamos el Mississippi

After being interviewed on the show, she became a regular guest and even released a song: Veneno Pa Tu Piel.

Veneno stands out for how it centers trans and non-binary characters and their stories. What is truly special about the show is the way it revisits Cristina's narrative from the problematique 90s and the media's treatment of her as a salacious tabloid oddity. In Veneno, you get to see a fully realized, flawed and yet flawless human being.



JEDET, Daniela Santiago and Isabel Torres

WHO: (From left to right) Scarlett Johansson, Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Huffman. Just kidding! Actual trans and non binary actors play the roles in Veneno. 3 different gender non-conforming/trans characters play Cristina at various stages of her life and they all pull it off masterfully.

JEDET plays young Veneno.

Daniela Santiago plays midlife Veneno.

Isabel Torres plays later in life Veneno.





DID YOU KNOW? JEDET portrayed Cristina's transition in the show. Notably, it was filmed during JEDET's own transition, giving authenticity to the character's own transition on many levels.

ALSO: Veneno's real life friend and confidant, Paca La Pirana, a legend in her own right, plays herself and completely steals the show. OP doesn't know as much about her, but desperately wants to if any of our Spanish/more knowledgable friends can help in the comments.







Paca La Pirana

WHY HAVEN'T WE HEARD MORE ABOUT IT? Truly, it's a wonder why this show hasn't broken through as a smash success. You'd almost think the GP and mainstreamers still don't know what to do with trans stories, especially ones that aren't in English!

Creator Javier Calva recently spoke to GayTimesUK about the scarcity of stories and publicity and how that is perhaps changing:

We come from a reality with a scarce presence of LGBTQI+ actors and characters in Spanish television to suddenly celebrating two great successes like Veneno and Drag Race. What was it that made such a radical change possible?

I feel that it has not been quick, it has been many years of struggle, counting with the fingers of our hands the LGBTQI+ presence in series and movies. We are a generation lacking references in our childhood, we have looked for LGBTQI+ references turning every stone, this is why whenever a series shows a gay love story it has travelled perfectly anywhere in the world. A series like Veneno, or Drag Race, immediately became a boom internationally because we are hungry for such stories. Added to the fact that we have a lot of talent and that we can conquer the public beyond the LGBTQI+. This is what has made Veneno or Drag Race not only a success within the LGBTQI+ community but also beyond.

You can read more about the story and the show in Time's article from 2020.



Mods: This is my first post after lurking/loving ONTD since like the beginning. Please let me know if I need to edit/change anything.

SOURCE (Cristina La Veneno), SOURCE (The Show), SOURCE (Paca!) SOURCE, SOURCE, SOURCE, SOURCE, SOURCE, SOURCE



ONTD, have you had the distinct pleasure of feeling veneno pa tu piel? What are you waiting for?
If there is one thing everyone knows about the tiny northern nation of Iceland, it is that it has plentiful geothermal resources. Europe's northernmost independent state satisfies a solid portion of its energy needs with local renewable geothermal power. And these resources could now help Iceland become the world's first fully green hydrogen economy. Geothermal, according to Iceland's National Energy Authority, accounts for a quarter of the country's power generation and as much as 66 percent of Iceland's total primary energy use. Geothermal is also used to heat 90 percent of Icelandic households. And it is renewable.

Iceland is also ahead of other countries in utilizing hydrogen. With early plans to become oil- and gas-free by 2050, the country started using hydrogen buses in Reykjavik back in the early 2000s. Yet buses could be only the start of what could become the world's first hydrogen economy.

It is worth noting that Iceland is unique, and if it succeeds with its net-zero plans with hydrogen, it will hardly be possible to replicate it anywhere else. For one thing, it has unlimited geothermal resources and also abundant hydropower resources. For another, it is a tiny nation of fewer than 300,000 people. This means a lot lower energy demand than other countries. So, a technology as expensive as green hydrogen production has a better chance of being commercially viable in Iceland than virtually anywhere else.

"People say Iceland is a very small country and can't be copied. But it's a real society, with infrastructure similar to big societies," chemistry professor Bragi Arnason from the University of Iceland said back in 2005. "We can start in Iceland on a small scale," he added. Arnason has been called Professor Hydrogen for his work in the field. According to Arnason, when it comes to transport in particular, engine efficiency could offset the energy losses during the process of producing green hydrogen, thus offsetting part of the costs.

Theoretically, all this sounds very promising. In truth, the first attempt of Iceland to introduce hydrogen buses was scrapped shortly after its start because the technology had yet to be developed enough to make hydrogen buses viable. It did develop eventually, and in 2018, the EU provided funds for Iceland to purchase a number of hydrogen buses for its public transport system.

But hydrogen buses are only the start. In a 2009 paper for the International Association for Energy Economics, oil economist and consultant Mamdouh Salameh noted Professor Arnason's plan to make all vehicles and vessels in Iceland run on hydrogen, which can be produced locally at a cost considerably lower than in most other developed countries. He also noted a few challenges for the hydrogenization of the Icelandic economyand any other economy, for that matterchief among them which was cost.

Related: IEA Backpedals, Says Oil Demand Will Soon Reach Pre-Crisis Levels



Since 2009, the costs of producing most forms of renewable energy have fallen considerably, making them a lot more viable alternatives to fossil fuels than before. With hydrogen, however, things have moved more slowly because green hydrogen production is a picky technology that needs an optimal location for an electrolyzer near a water source and with good wind or solar energy generation potential.

With Iceland, this would be easier than in most other countries, thanks to its geothermal and hydropower resources and its small population. But the country has bigger plans than just domestic supply. Last year, Icelandic media reported the national power utility, Landsvirkjun, and the port authorities of Rotterdam had inked a deal for cooperation on hydrogen-related matters to find ways to make exports of green hydrogen from Iceland to Europe a reality.

While the agreement is quite general, it may be the latest indication that hydrogen, and especially green hydrogen, is moving nearer to becoming economical enough to produce on a large enough scale to export it.



By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Its a tough time being in the oil and gas business. Big Oil has lately come under a plethora of attacks from all directions, ranging from uncooperative financiers and investors amidst a global shift to renewable energy to hostile governments and hardline climate activists.

And although the major oil-exporting economies of the world werent necessarily in the environmental crosshairs like Big Oil was, the shift could have a devastating effect on those oil-dependent economies.

In a virtual climate summit with 41 world leaders last month, President Joe Biden unveiled an ambitious ten-year Climate Plan that has proposed cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52% by 2030. That represents a near-doubling of the U.S. commitment of a 26-28% cut under the Obama administration following the Paris Agreement of 2015.

Just last week, some of the biggest names in the business suffered a trifecta of blows after Chevron (NYSE:CVX) shareholders voted to further cut emissions; Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) lost at least two board seats to an activist hedge fund while a Dutch court ordered Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) to cut its greenhouse gas emissions harder and faster than it had previously planned. Never mind the fact that Shell already had pledged to cut GHG emissions by 20% by 2030 and to net-zero by 2050. The court in The Hague determined that wasnt good enough and demanded a 45% cut by 2030 compared to 2019 levels.

Things are looking decidedly murky at a granular level, with environmental activists taking advantage of the clean energy momentum and major policy changes by the worlds governments to turn the screw on Big Oil.

But what happens when you zoom out and look at the bigger pictureEntire nations that depend on oil to power their economies. How will economies that are heavily dependent on oil exports cope with the shift to low-carbon fuels?

In 2019, 40 countries across the globe exported crude worth $1 billion or more, with some like Iraq depending on oil sales to finance upwards of 90% of their budgets. Fossil fuel-dependent economies represent almost one-third of the worlds population and are responsible for a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions.

And now the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that pursuing net-zero emissions target is likely to be catastrophic for many oil exporters.

Source: The Financial Times

A Looming Catastrophe

Pursuing a net-zero emissions target by 2050 would see OPEC become even more dominant and end up accounting for more than 50% of world production as supplies become concentrated among a smaller number of countries. Unfortunately, it would also mean theres a lot less pie to go around, with annual per capita income from these commodities predicted to fall by as much as 75% in little more than a decade.

According to the IEA, countries where hydrocarbon exports make up a large part of GDP are likely to be the hardest hit.

However, countries that are the least resilientwhere the revenues from the sale of fossil fuels have not been adequately managed by means such as using the cash to diversify into other domestic industries or create sovereign wealth funds that invest abroad to secure long-term revenueswill also bear the full brunt of the energy transition.

One such country is Iraq.

Despite harboring ~145bn barrels of proven crude reserves, Iraqs finance minister Ali Allawi recently warned that pursuing a net-zero target by 2050 could be catastrophic for the country. Allawi has been desperately trying to push sweeping state and economic reforms in a bid to avert this eventuality, but has seen his efforts thwarted by a government more concerned with more prosaic matters.

The World Bank has named Iraq, Libya, Venezuela, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Iran, Guyana, Algeria, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan as the most vulnerable oil-producing countries due to their high exposure to the oil and gas sector and relative lack of diversification.

On the other hand, some oil giants such as Saudi Arabia and Russia are seen as being less vulnerable thanks to their more complex economies and bigger financial buffers.

A good case in point: When it comes to embracing the energy transition, Saudi Arabia appears to be ahead of most of its OPEC peers.

The Saudi government is building a $5 billion green hydrogen plant that will power the planned megacity of Neom when it opens in 2025. Dubbed Helios Green Fuels, the hydrogen plant will use solar and wind energy to generate 4GW of clean energy that will be used to produce hydrogen.

But heres the main kicker: Helios could soon produce clean hydrogen thats cheaper than oil.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) estimates that Helios costs could reach $1.50 per kilogram by 2030, way cheaper than the average cost of green hydrogen at $5 per kilogram and even cheaper than gray hydrogen made from cracking natural gas. Saudi Arabia enjoys a serious competitive advantage in the green hydrogen business thanks to its perpetual sunshine, wind, and vast tracts of unused land. Related: IEA Backpedals, Says Oil Demand Will Soon Reach Pre-Crisis Levels



During the companys latest earnings call, Saudi Aramco CEO told investors that Aramco had abandoned immediate plans to develop its LNG sector in favor of hydrogen. Nasser said that the kingdoms immediate plan is to produce enough natural gas for domestic use to stop burning oil in its power plants and convert the remainder into hydrogen. Blue hydrogen is made from natural gas either by Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) or Auto Thermal Reforming (ATR) with the CO2 generated captured and then stored. As the greenhouse gasses are captured, this mitigates the environmental impacts on the planet.

Last year, Aramco made the worlds first blue ammonia shipmentfrom Saudi Arabia to Japan. Japana country whose mountainous terrain and extreme seismic activity render it unsuitable for the development of sustainable renewable energyis looking for dependable suppliers of hydrogen fuel with Saudi Arabia and Australia on its shortlist.

Dwindling reserves

Big Oil, however, faces a bigger existential crisis that could hit home even sooner: Rapidly dwindling reserves.

Massive impairment charges saw Big Oils proven reserves drop by 13 billion boe, good for ~15% of its stock levels in the ground, last year. Rystad now says that the remaining reserves are set to run out in less than 15 years, unless Big Oil makes more commercial discoveries quickly.

The main culprit: Rapidly shrinking exploration investments.

Global oil and gas companies cut their capex by a staggering 34% in 2020 in response to shrinking demand and investors growing wary of persistently poor returns by the sector.

The trend shows no signs of moderating: First quarter discoveries totaled 1.2 billion boe, the lowest in 7 years with successful wildcats only yielding modest-sized finds as per Rystad.

ExxonMobil, whose proven reserves shrank by 7 billion boe in 2020, or 30%, from 2019 levels, was the worst hit after major reductions in Canadian oil sands and US shale gas properties.

Shell, meanwhile, saw its proven reserves fall by 20% to 9 billion boe last year; Chevron lost 2 billion boe of proven reserves due to impairment charges while BP lost 1 boe. Only Total (NYSE:TOT) and Eni have avoided reductions in proven reserves over the past decade.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Brazil thinks it can do it all as it refuses to curb fossil fuel production, despite IEA warnings, while expecting to still meet environmental goals. Meanwhile, Equinor, ExxonMobil, and Petrogal Brasil agree on the huge phase one development of Brazils Bacalhau oil field.

This week, Norways Equinor, ExxonMobil, and Petrogal Brasil have announced an $8 billion phase one development of Brazil's Bacalhau oil discovery. The former two oil majors have a 40 percent stake each in Bacalhau, with Petrogal holding 20 percent.

The Bacalhau oil field contains light oil with minimal contaminants. It is situated around 185km off the Ilhabela, Sao Paulo coast at a depth of 2,050m.

Equinor will manage operations at the oil field, with first oil expected by 2024. Output could be as high as 220,000 bpd in the major discovery, according to the companies. The break-even price of the oil is an optimistic $35 per barrel, just half the current brent benchmark price for crude at present.

Equinor Executive Vice President Arne Sigve Nylund stated of the development, This is an exciting day. Bacalhau is the first greenfield development by an international operator in the pre-salt area and will create great value for Brazil, Equinor and partners. Going on to say, "Estimated recoverable reserves for the first phase are more than one billion barrels of oil".

Phase one will consist of the drilling of 19 subsea wells, which will be tied back to a floating production, storage, and offloading unit (FPSO), one of the largest FPSOs in Brazil. Stabilized oil will be offloaded into shuttle tankers while gas will be re-injected in the reservoir.

The project, which has several international investors, is expected to have ripple effects in the supply chain and local job creation, according to Veronica Coelho, Equinors country manager in Brazil.

According to Equinor, the Bacalhau development not only offers low breakeven but also low carbon emissions. The three companies have made efforts to reduce emissions throughout the production phase by implementing a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine system to increase the energy efficiency of the power station, to provide an efficient electrical power production and flexible heat supply.

The lifetime average CO2 intensity in an anticipated 9kg per barrel produced. This is substantially less than the global average of 17kg per barrel. In addition, the companies are committed to implementing the latest carbon emissions-cutting technologies in the field as the project evolves.

Related: Oil Rises After Cataclysmic Boardroom Showdown

This is important as Brazils Energy Minister, Bento Albuquerque, has stated net-zero aims despite the governments unwillingness to curb hydrocarbon exploration and oil production.

In May, the International Energy Agency (IEA) called on countries around the world to halt their fossil fuel exploration and production projects as a means of cutting carbon emissions and meeting green goals. However, Albuquerque says this is not necessary for Brazil to achieve net-zero by 2050. I understand this is desirable but at the moment its not possible, Albuquerque stated.

The Minister went on to say, In Brazil, we will keep on with our exploration and mainly production programme of our hydrocarbon reserves, and we will keep on in parallel with the expansion of our energy matrix, making it more and more clean and renewable.

Brazil, the worlds eighth-biggest oil-producing state, is optimistic in its ability to achieve landmark green goals while continuing to develop its oil and gas industry, as seen through the major new investment in the Bacalhau oil field by both foreign and national players.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The states last directed health measure  a requirement that people isolate and quarantine if they become infected with COVID  expired at 11:59 p.m. Monday.

Omahas mask mandate ran out a week ago; Lincolns the week before. In Omaha, traffic has picked up on the citys streets and at its venues. Visitors filled the sidewalks in the Old Market over the holiday weekend, with at least one eatery turning away would-be diners seeking a table without a reservation.

Vaccine uptake, on the other hand, continued to slow. Nebraska administered 44,000 doses for the week ending Saturday, according to CDC data, down from 65,000 the previous week and a far cry from the peak of nearly 150,000 shots injected seven weeks ago.

Vaccination fell across all age groups, with even the newly eligible 12- to 17-year-old group receiving 8,500 new shots compared with 15,000 the previous week.

But it appears the state may be vaccinating some people who waited to get shots. Last weeks vaccination tally included almost 4,000 new shots for those 65 and older. Still, that figure was down from 5,400 the previous week.
Investigators found two 9 mm and three .40 caliber shell casings in the area but did not recover any guns there.

Wucher said detectives think Miller died from a .40 caliber bullet because fragments of that type of bullet were found during the autopsy. Officials dont know which type of bullet Dat was shot with because the bullet went all the way through him.

Omaha police interviewed Mut the next day in a Lincoln Police Department office. He told them that he realized a fight was occurring in the street, but his back was turned when the shots were fired. He said he then saw Miller lying on the ground.

Mut told police that his sister, who was kneeling near Miller, took Millers gun and handed it him.

Authorities later found the 9 mm handgun at another mans home.

In February, Millers mother told Wucher that Mut disclosed to her the day after the shooting and on Dec. 29 that he had shot Dat but not Miller.

Mut was interviewed again in March after he was taken into custody on suspicion of tampering with evidence.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)  Decades-long political and legal battles over drilling in Americas largest wildlife refuge took another turn when the Biden administration suspended oil and gas leases in Alaskas Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The move Tuesday was a blow to oil and gas proponents, who came as close as they ever have to starting a drilling program after the refuge was expanded 40 years ago to include the oil-rich coastal plain. The refuge was nearly opened to drilling in 1995 until President Clinton vetoed a bill sent to him by Congress. Here is a look at the administration's decision and how it got there.

DIDNT BIDEN DO THIS ALREADY?

Sort of. President Joe Biden issued a temporary moratorium on drilling in the refuge on his first day in office. The executive order suggested a new environmental review was necessary to examine possible legal flaws in the program approved by Trump administration.

The review, conducted by the Department of Interior, found defects in the underlying record of decision supporting the leases, prompting Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to suspend them.

DID THE MOVE STOP DRILLING IN THE REFUGE?
Also hanging on the wall is a painted picture by children of the temple in commemoration of Aug. 3, 2014, the day of the Yazidi genocide. A poster created by a refugee shows pictures of her family, missing since the genocide.

In 2019, Yazada performed 794 services, including helping people pay bills or apply for jobs. By the end of 2020, that number had more than doubled to 1,917.

Brothers Falah and Hazim are building a life in the U.S. despite being separated from some of their close family members.

Hazim, who was a doctor when he lived in Iraq, is close to becoming a doctor in the U.S., and Falah is a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who has published research papers related to how the community has adapted to the pandemic.

The brothers live in the same apartment complex as their mother. Cell service at the refugee camp is unreliable, but Falah said his mother tries to call family members once a day. She wanted to go back to Iraq during the pandemic, but her sons talked her out of it.

They had kept their distance from her and avoided going out in public until they were vaccinated. But on the Yazidi New Year in April, they chatted and dyed eggs, celebrating after a complicated year.
Livestock production is a major part of Nebraskas economy and the shutdown of JBS was being closely watched by the cattle industry.

Pete McClymont, executive vice president of the Nebraska Cattlemen, said cattle producers have been eager to recover from a tough year given slowdowns in production and depressed demand caused by COVID-19. A prolonged shutdown from a cyberattack would only make things worse, he said.

U.S. meat prices have been rising due to coronavirus shutdowns, bad weather and high plant absenteeism. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has said it expects beef prices to climb 1% to 2% this year, poultry as much as 1.5% and pork between by from 2% and 3%.

JBS is the second-largest producer of beef, pork and chicken in the U.S. If it were to shut down entirely for even one day, the U.S. would lose almost a quarter of its beef-processing capacity, or the equivalent of 20,000 beef cows, according to Trey Malone, an assistant professor of agriculture at Michigan State University.

JBS has not said which North American plants were shut down. Nationally, the union has said that all its JBS beef plants were shuttered by the attack and all other meat-processing plants were affected in some way. The union has 25,000 members working for JBS.
State Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln, who led the petition drive that put Medicaid expansion on the ballot, welcomed the announcement but noted the delay in reaching that point.

Im excited the governors office decided to honor the will of the people after three years, he said.

The Trump administration gave initial approval to Ricketts two-tier plan in October last year.

But President Joe Bidens administration made clear early this year that it would not approve the community engagement requirements.

In a Feb. 12 letter, federal Medicaid officials said that the community engagement requirements would not promote the objectives of the Medicaid program and that the other requirements were under review.

At the time, state Medicaid Director Kevin Bagley said the state would halt implementation process for the requirements. That left the majority of Medicaid expansion patients with no way to get the additional benefits.
WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Three members of the ethnic Polish minority in Belarus who had been imprisoned by the country's authoritarian regime are now free and in Poland.

The three women arrived in Poland on May 25 but details of them being freed and brought out of neighboring Belarus were only made public Wednesday.

Irena Biernacka, Maria Tiszkowska and Anna Paniszewa spoke to reporters, and while they said there were details about their liberation that they were not allowed to discuss, they expressed their thanks to Poland and described conditions in Belarusian prisons as harsh.

I would like to express my thanks to the Polish state that saved me from prison, Paniszewa said, describing how she was beaten, subjected to psychological torture and denied medical treatment for a spine injury and a broken wrist during the two months of her detention.

She said they were cruel days for innocent people who were brought to prison on trumped-up charges."

Paniszewa said she had been accused of glorifying Nazism, which was for her a cruel and absurd charge because her family had been targeted by Nazi forces during World War II.

The three were arrested as part of a crackdown on ethnic Poles in Belarus opposed to Lukashenko.
Wang has been in custody since his arrest. Durbajlo, a former cybersecurity expert for government agencies including the Internal Security Agency, was released on bail after six months in custody.

According to the Gazeta Wyborcza daily, the indictment is partly classified, but its public section alleges that Wang is a Chinese intelligence agent and from 2011-2019 sought high-ranking contracts for Huawei that would give the Chinese company insight into, and influence over, state and local government data systems in Poland.

Both men face criminal charges of taking part in a foreign intelligence operation and threatening Poland's interests. If convicted, they face a minimum of three years in prison.

Wang studied in Poland and later served at the Chinese Consulate in Gdansk before moving over to a senior position at Huawei. He is also known by a Polish first name, Stanislaw.

The Pole is suspected of helping him establish contacts and providing him with documents. Some observers say the documents were public and not classified.

The trial is expected to take months and there is no date yet for the final verdict.
Theyre professionals

In the April 26 issue of the OWH, in the article regarding what the Legislature is doing in regards to police reform, Senator Lathrop stated, We are going to professionalize the law enforcement officer and the agencies they work for. As a retired officer of 35 years, I am insulted that he apparently decided that those who are in the profession or have been are not professional nor their agencies. I have always considered myself to be so as well as the agency I worked for. There will always be bad apples, who are usually weeded out, but please, Sen. Lathrop, do not insult the ones who have held their professional standards high.
The Chief Executive Officer of leading steel manufacturing company in West Africa B5 Plus Limited, Mukesh Thakwani has been named the Industrialist of the year at this years Ghana Manufacturing Awards.



The fifth edition of the awards was held at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra on May 28, 2021 with stakeholders in the business industry in attendance.



The awards is to identify projects and individual achievements that have enabled manufacturers to set themselves apart from their competitors and produced clear and compelling value, return on investment, and other relevant results.



The event which is organised by Xodus Communications in partnership with the Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Business Development brought about over 200 manufacturers together at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra.



With his enormous contributions to the manufacturing sector, Mr. Thakwani has bestowed the honour after beating off competition from other notable nominees.



Receiving the awards, the astute businessman was grateful to the organizers for the recognition and believes the award will go a long way to keep him on his toes to do more for the sector.



He was also grateful to workers at B5 Plus Limited for their dedication to the growth of the company and urged them to continue working harder for the betterment of Ghana.



He dedicated the awards to the entire staff at B5 Plus Limited who have been behind the company through tick and thin.



Mr. Mukesh Thakwani is considered to be one of the leading businessmen in Ghana, endowed with an enterprising spirit and the ability to discern future trends.



Being a visionary, he made B5 Plus grow by leaps and bounds within a short span of time. As such, Duke of Edinburghs International Awards Association has honoured Mr. Mukesh V. Thakwani for his generous contribution towards the socio-economic development of Ghana.

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
Ghanaian-based steel manufacturing company, B5 Plus Limited have been named as the best investment company of the year at the West Africa Regional Magazine Awards (TWARM).



The awards night held at the Volta Serene Hotel in the Volta Regional capital, Ho saw some highly rated Ghanaian entrepreneurs and business owners honoured for their extraordinary contributions to the growth of the countrys economy.



The West African Regional Magazine (TWARM) Achievers, Business and Leadership Awards celebrates individuals and organisation for their achievements and excellence in various sectors. The event was rebranded as TWARM with the inclusion of awardees from across the continent.



The event brought together some movers and shakers in the manufacturing, real estate, digital and electronic, hotel and tourism sectors among others.



The awards ceremony was organised to celebrate Africa leading lights and Achievers. The TWARM achievers awards is presented to individuals and corporations in the business and political arena who have stood out in excellence in their various fields of endeavour.



B5 Plus Ghana Company Ltd is a West African, manufacturing, fabricating, and trading enterprise with the vision to become the worlds steel industry benchmark through the excellence of its people, its innovative approach and overall conduct.



With corporate headquarters in Tema Ghana, today, B5 Plus Limited operate in all the ECOWAS Countries, with a significant presence in African steel as an integrated manufacturer of steel and finished steel products.



The principal product is steel products which come in seven major categories: Mild Steel, High Tensile & Iron Rods, Galvanized Products, Stainless Steel, Marine & Mining, Roofing & Nails and Concrete & Fencing.



As a supplier, B5 Plus Limited are an accessible business partner who can ensure quality and security of supply, and value strong relationships with their customers and believe that commercial relationships are a learnt skill.

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
Abossey Okai Spare Parts dealers have clarified that the intended relocation of their centre was as a result of a demand made by the association to government.



Plans are underway for the relocation of all spare parts dealers from Abossey Okai in Accra to Afienya.



According to the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Henry Quartey, who has initiated a campaign to Make Accra work again, the government has identified a land in Afienya and was working towards allocating it to the spare parts dealers.



Meanwhile, the Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers in a reaction have denied claims that they are forcibly being removed from the enclave by the Regional Minister.



Our attention has been drawn to a lot of misinformation being banded around in the press that the Gt. Accra Regional Minister, Hon. Henry Quartey is ejecting us from our present location to Afienya.



We want to refute this allegation and set the records straight: That the relocation was part of our request put before the President when he visited us as part of his Gt. Accra Regional tour in November, 2020 in the round up to the election, the association said in a statement on Wednesday.





Source: kasapafmonline.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
Armed robbers have attacked a shop at Buokrom Estate in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region making away with GHC140,000 in broad daylight. Reports say one of the two robbers stood in front of the shop while the other entered and attacked one of the clients.



The robbers then held some staff hostage amid sporadic gunfire. One person who attempted to enter the shop to help the workers was shot at the entrance of the shop by the robbers leaving him with wounds.



The robbers after their successful operation sped off on motorbikes amid gunshots to ward off people who attempted to chase them.



No arrest has been made yet.



Police have commenced investigations into the incident.

Source: kasapafmonline.com









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

Featured Video
The prophetess at the centre of the suspected burying of a disabled child alive at Breman Brakwa in the Central region has been arrested.



Sixty-four-year-old Ama Nkansah, the Presiding Prophetess of Christ First Word Church International at Gomoa Eshiem was arrested by some opinion leaders at her hideout at Gomoa Ajumako on June 1, 2021, and handed over to the Breman Asikuma police.



She was detained to assist in the case of murder of Kwame Adobaw



Preliminary investigations



Preliminary police investigations revealed that Adobaw was married to one Yaa Atta at Brakwa and they had five children with the deceased Yaw Adobaw being their fourth child.



Disabled since birth



Reports gathered according to the Central Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police Irene Oppong further indicated that the deceased from the time of his birth was not able to walk on which basis the father, Adobaw consulted Prophetess Ama Nkansah at Gomoa Eshiem.



She was said to have told Paul Adobaw that if he did not return the child to the gods he Adobaw would keep giving birth to such children.



On May 31, 2021, the Breman Asikuma Magistrate court remanded father of five, Paul Adobaw alias Kojo Okor in police custody. He would appear again before the court on August 31, 2021.



Police said investigations into the case indicated that Paul Adobaw with Ama Nkansah had buried the one and half a year old child, Yaw Adobaw because Nkansah insisted the child was a spirit child.



Police report



According to Ms Oppong, on May 27, at 3.30 pm, one Abubakari Mohammed accompanied one Kwesi Afriyie to make a report at the Brakwa Station on the same day at about 12.30am, that he (Mohammed) woke up from bed and saw Adobaw, (who was Mohammed's landlord) together with two women, one holding a child, digging the ground behind their house.



According to the police, Mohammed said when he enquired about what they were doing, Adobaw told him they were carrying out a traditional rite.



Mohammed however discovered later that the trio had buried the child at the spot.



Arrest



The Central Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police Irene Oppong, said police arrested Adobaw and together with Mohammed they went to the scene of the incident.



Ms Oppong said police found behind the said building a covered grave.



She said the police instructed the Adobaw to open the grave and the body of the deceased, Yaw Adobaw aged was found lying naked in a prone position in the grave.



Exhumation



She said when the body was exhumed and washed. Upon careful inspection by the police, they found blood had oozed out of the nostrils and mouth.



The body has since been deposited at Our Lady of Grace Hospital Mortuary at Breman Asikuma for preservation and autopsy.



Preliminary investigations



Preliminary police investigations revealed that Adobaw was married to one Yaa Atta at Brakwa with whom he had five children.



Eighteen months old Yaw Adobaw was their fourth child.



Disabled since birth



However, Yaw had not been able to walk since birth for which basis the father, Adobaw consulted Prophetess Ama Nkansah at Gomoa Eshiem.



The police said Nkansah was said to have told Adobaw that the baby was spirit child from a river and that if he did not return the child to the river gods he would continue to give birth to such babies.



Ms Oppong said on the day of the incident, Adobaw and the Prophetess sent the baby to the backyard of the house near the Gyankobeng stream, dug a grave, performed some rituals on the child and buried him alive.













Source: graphiconline.com









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

Featured Video
The trial of the 10 people charged with treason on accusation of plotting to overthrow the government is expected to fully begin on June 8 when the prosecution calls its first witness.



The first prosecution witness to mount the witness box is expected to be an officer in the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).



State prosecutors have indicated that they would rely on 19 witnesses and other pieces of evidence to make their case.



The prosecutor, Ms Hilda Craig, a Senior State Attorney, made this known to a three-member panel of the Accra High Court last Tuesday.



Not guilty



The 10 accused persons are alleged to be part of Take Action Ghana (TAG), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) which the prosecution argues had been planning to destabilise the country and take over the government.



They are Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Dr Benjamin Agordzo, Colonel Samuel Kodzo Gameli, and Dr Frederick Mac-Palm, the Director of Citadel Hospital in Accra.



The others are Donya Kafui, a blacksmith; Bright Alan Debrah Ofosu, a fleet manager, and Johannes Zikpi, a civilian employee of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).



The rest  Corporal Seidu Abubakar, Lance Corporal Ali Solomon, Corporal Sylvester Akanpewon, and Warrant Officer II Esther Saan Dekuwine  are all soldiers.



ACP Dr Agordzo and Col. Gameli have pleaded not guilty to abetment of high treason, while the rest have pleaded not guilty to high treason and conspiracy to commit high treason.



Per Section 180 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), the punishment for high treason is death.



The two senior security officers are on bail in the sum of GH1 million, with two sureties, one to be justified, with the rest on bail in the sum of GH2 million, with two sureties, both to be justified.



Bail variation



Meanwhile, the court yesterday struck out an application for variation of the bail terms for six of the accused persons who are finding it difficult to execute their bail.



The six accused praying the court to vary their bail conditions are Kafui, Zikpi, Corporal Abubakar, Lance Corporal Solomon, Corporal Akanpewon and Warrant Officer II Dekuwine.



The court struck out the application after it was withdrawn by lawyer Victor Adawudu.



Mr Adawudu, who is counsel for the accused persons with the exception of WO II Dekuwine, made the application on behalf of all of them.



The court, however, reminded counsel that he could make the application in respect of only his clients.



Mr Adawudu, subsequently, withdrew the application, with the explanation to come back properly.



Prosecutions facts



It is the case of the prosecution that the accused persons used TAG as a platform to mobilise in order to destabilise the country and overthrow the government.



It said as part of the plot, Dr Mac-Palm, who is accused of being the mastermind, along with Kafui and Debrah, had planned kidnapping the President, the Vice-President, the Speaker of Parliament and the Chief of the Defence Staff and force the President to announce his overthrow.



Again, there were discussions on whether or not to kill the President in the process of overthrowing the government, the prosecution said.



With regard to ACP Agordzo, the prosecution said he joined a WhatsApp platform of TAG created by Dr Mac-Palm, where the group discussed a planned demonstration which was likened to the Arab Spring.



He said ACP Agordzo donated GH2,000 to TAG to aid its cause and also drafted a speech for Dr Mac-Palm to be read at the planned demonstration by TAG.













Source: graphiconline.com









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

Featured Video
The Ministry of Education has rolled out two ranking schemes for all senior high schools (SHSs) in the country to place each institution in its proper perspective and to fully assess the free SHS policy.



The first, which is to be the national ranking, is expected to rank each school on the scale of one to 10 with 10 being the highest score while the second dubbed: "Similar Schools Ranking" will place schools with equal infrastructure and grading in the same category for fair assessment.



Occasion



The Minister of Education, Dr Osei Yaw Adutwum, announced this in Kumasi on Monday during the recognition and award ceremony of the "10 per cent Top 10 Schools" in the Ashanti Region.



The 10 represented 10 per cent of the 135 schools in the region whose general performance between the score of A1 to C6 were assessed.



Per the criteria, if a school scores 100 per cent at the WASSCE exams but most of its students score lesser grades such as C6 while another school scores 90 per cent but with stronger grades such as A1, the latter would be ranked higher because of its superlative aggregate.



Top schools



Currently, the top-performing schools in the Ashanti Region per the criteria is Tepa SHS followed by Saint Louis, Toase SHS, Kumasi High, Ghana Muslim Mission SHS and Prempeh College.



The rest, which were all decorated at a ceremony in Kumasi were Kumasi Wesley Girls, TI Amass, Opoku Ware School, Pentecost SHS, Mankraso SHS, and Osei Adutwum SHS established by the minister and handed over to government.



Ranking



In line with the two new ranking systems, the minister said researchers were to be sent to each school for data and assessment which would be collated for both ranking systems.



The national ranking is expected to take off once the current regional assessment and ranking are completed.



Dr Adutwum commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo highly for providing a level playing field for students to develop their potential under the free SHS.



Minister



Earlier, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Simon Osei Mensah, said there were 278 educational infrastructures ongoing in the region with some of them at various stages of completion.



He said all those were part of processes that would lead to the abolishing of the double track system once they were completed.



The regional minister commended Dr Adutwum for his exemplary leadership and for rolling out a national strategic plan to transform the educational sector.













Source: graphiconline.com









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

Featured Video
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has commended the media for its role in the coordinated fight against the coronavirus pandemic across the continent.



According to President Akufo-Addo, we have recently had a good example of how the media can be a force for good, and that was manifested in how we have been dealing with COVID-19.



Without a lively press that worked hand-in-hand to deliver not only the news about the outbreak of COVID-19, but also to communicate the strategies and public health messages that had been put in place around the continent, the President added that Ghana, and, indeed, Africa, would be telling a different story today.



Journalists did and continue to do a yeomans job in the public education of the citizenry about COVID-19 and vaccination efforts across the continent. Journalists, in this instance, were, and are partners, to governments across the continent, and, through this joint effort, have helped save the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of African citizens. I pay homage to the efforts of journalists, he added.



President Akufo-Addo made this known on Tuesday, 1st June 2021, when he delivered the keynote address at the Africa Journalists Leadership Conference, organised by the Federation of African Journalists, at the Alisa Hotel, in Accra.



With the diversity and free flow of news and information being fundamental to the healthy workings of any democracy, the President thanked journalists in Africa for keeping our governments accountable. It is the media, above all, that has encouraged our people to become more and more discerning, vocal, and questioning as a civic public.



In addition to this, the President outlined three other matters of continental and national significance, for which he appealed for the committed partnership of governments and the media.



These, he said, are the fight against terrorism and violent extremism, the fight against Climate Change, including the preservation of the integrity of our environment and the sanctity of water bodies; and the fight against the illicit flow of funds from Africa.



These are all menaces to the health, progress and stability of our nations and continent. We should stand shoulder to shoulder in ridding our continent and nations of them, he added.

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
The National Ambulance Service says it intends to report to the police on Wednesday, the conduct of staff of a garage engaged to repair the gear box of an ambulance seen in a viral video being used to cart cement.



A concerned member of the public had recorded the shocking video of the ambulance being loaded with bags of cement at Buduburam near Kasoa in the Central region, to be carted to an undisclosed destination.



The ambulance is originally assigned to Sege, Ada West of the Greater Accra Region under the One Constituency, One Ambulance programme of the government.



Expressions of public indignation have trailed publications of the video, and the Ambulance Service says it was supposed to be parked after undergoing repairs at a garage in Mamprobi, Accra, in March of this year.



The abuse of the ambulance only came to the notice of the Service on Tuesday, June 1, 2021 following the publication of the video, recorded on March 26, this year.



Public Relations Officer of the National Ambulance Service (NAS), Simmons Yussif Kewura on Citi FM Tuesday evening, said the ambulance was not in the care of NAS at the time of the scandalous abuse but in the hands of the suppliers who were required to service it under warranty and had sublet it to the private garage.



This sounds very scandalous, isnt it?, his host on the radio show, Umaru Sanda suggested, to which he responded It is, it is, and currently management is planning or tomorrow we are going to report this matter to the police because the ambulances are not meant to carry cement or any other hardware. It is purposely for conveying patients to the hospital



So how did a vehicle being fixed at Mamprobi in Accra end up at Buduburam which is beyond Kasoa, Umaru quipped, and Kewura replied; I told you earlier, after they had fixed the gear box, they went on test drive to find out whether the gear box is working or not, so on their wayyes outside Greater Accra, because they know what they were (ostensibly) using it for.



Kewura said there were two people on board - the mechanic and driver - and they carried 15 bags of cement suspected to belong to the mechanic, adding also that further police interrogation may elicit further facts.





Source: graphiconline.com









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

Featured Video
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged journalists to ensure that they do not sacrifice integrity and the future of society on the altar of an instant scoop or ill-considered publication.



He explained that the media should only be concerned about reporting the facts and not lend themselves to being bought or used to destroy the reputation of others.



President Akufo-Addo made the call when he opened a two-day African Journalists Leaders conference in Accra yesterday.



Conference



The conference, being organised by the Federation of African Journalists and hosted by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), is on the theme: Building stronger unions to enhance journalism and media freedom.



Delegates are drawn from the leadership of regional and national media organisations in Africa and they are, among other things, discussing strategies to shape the media industry on the continent, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic which has dealt a terrible blow to jobs and media sustainability.





They will also examine the worrisome erosion of media freedom in many countries in Africa and propose practical measures to reverse the trend.



Delegates will also discuss the precarious working conditions of journalists, explore viable options to strengthen the bargaining capacity of journalist unions in Africa and come up with the Accra Declaration that will articulate the future direction of journalism in Africa.



Power



President Akufo-Addo gave the example of how a radio station in Rwanda fomented trouble and sustained it, leading to the killing of over 800,000 Rwandans.





He appealed to media practitioners in Africa to take a second look at the immense power they wielded and the responsibility they owed their societies and ensure that they do not sacrifice integrity and the future of our societies on the altar of an instant scoop or ill-considered publication.



Misinformation



The President urged the members of the inky fraternity to address the phenomena of misinformation campaigns and fake news which were, sometimes, unfortunately propagated by some in the mainstream media.



He also advised against the tendency to report on only one side of a story and pass judgement on it, without wanting to learn or give a fair amount of reportage to the other side, a move which stifled the truth.



Attack



President Akufo-Addo further expressed concern about what he called emerging challenges to media freedom, one of which was the attack on media freedom.



It cannot be right, no matter where in the world, that journalists are physically attacked or prevented from doing their work. Once that happens, it is an attack on media freedom, and it must be roundly condemned by all, he added.



He quoted the literary giant, George Orwell, who said: Freedom of the press, if it means anything at all, means the freedom to criticise and oppose, saying, however, that there seemed to be an emerging narrative which was being proffered by some in Ghana.



President Akufo-Addo said the trend included critiquing the work of a journalist, which had been misconstrued as an attack on media freedom, adding: That, certainly, cannot be described as an attack on media freedom.



He said having the freedom to criticise and oppose should also mean that the media were ready to accept and work with criticisms of their work by the citizenry or officialdom.



That, for me, is one of the surest ways of improving the public discourse, he said.



Fight together



President Akufo-Addo commended the media on the African continent for the good job they had been doing during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic by informing the people, educating them and ensuring that they took the jabs.



He urged journalists to partner their governments to deal with issues such as terrorism and violent extremism, climate change and illicit flow of funds from Africa, estimated at $80 billion per annum.



He reiterated his belief that a vibrant and unfettered media was the most effective way to hold governments and society to standards of honesty, self-discipline and delivery.



Strategic



The President of the Federation of African Journalists, Mr Sadig Ibrahim, said a recent survey by the federation showed that African governments response to the economic impact of the pandemic had had a negative impact on the media sector and lacked specific measures to support media workers.



To ensure that the media emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic stronger and more resilient, he said, there was the need for strategic alliances













Source: graphiconline.com









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

Featured Video
Lawyers for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North, Mr James Gyekye Quayson, have petitioned the Chief Justice, Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah, to remove the judge hearing the petition challenging the election of the MP.



A member of the NDC legal team, Mr Sammy Gyamfi, told the media after yesterdays hearing that the legal team was praying the Chief Justice to remove Justice Kwasi Boakye over what he described as lack of fairness in the case.



Withdrawal



It would be recalled that lead counsel for the MP, Mr Abraham Amaliba, urged Justice Boakye to recuse himself over certain alleged comments that he (Justice Boakye) made.



Justice Boakye denied making any such comments, and dismissed the oral application for him to recuse himself.



Right after that move, Mr Amaliba withdrew his services as counsel for the respondent (MP).



The petitioner, Mr Richard Takyi Mensah, and his lawyers described the attempt by the respondent to have the presiding judge removed from the case, as well as Mr Amalibas withdrawal of his legal services, as a calculated move to delay the petition.



At yesterdays hearing, it was revealed that Mr Amaliba had not served the MP the notice to withdraw his legal services, to enable the MP to appoint a new lawyer.



Justice Boakye therefore directed Mr Amaliba to serve the notice about his intention to withdraw his legal services to the MP in order to expedite the hearing of the petition.



Election petition



Mr Quayson polled 17,498 votes as against 14,793 by the New Patriotic Partys (NPPs) Ms Abena Durowaa Mensah, in the December 7, 2020 parliamentary election.



However, on December 30, 2020, a resident of Assin North, Mr Michael Ankomah-Nimfah, filed a parliamentary election petition at the Cape Coast High Court challenging the eligibility of Mr Quayson to be a Member of Parliament.



He contended that the MP was not eligible on the basis that at the time he (Quayson) filed his nomination to contest as a parliamentary candidate, he was still a citizen of Canada.



Such an act, he argued, was against the express provision of Article 94 (2) (a) of the 1992 Constitution and Section 9(2) of the Representation of the People Act 1992 (PNDCL 284).



Among other reliefs, the applicant wanted the Cape Coast High Court to declare the nomination filed by Mr Quayson as illegal, void and of no legal effect.



He also sought a declaration that the decision by the EC to clear Mr Quayson to contest as a parliamentary candidate was illegal, void and of no legal effect.



Another relief sought by the applicant was an order restraining Mr Quayson from holding himself as the MP-elect for Assin North and another order cancelling the parliamentary election that took place in Assin North on December 7, 2020.













Source: graphiconline.com









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

Featured Video
The Ministry of Energy has given an assurance that Ghanas upstream petroleum industry remains inspiring and attractive to investors, in spite of the exit of ExxonMobil.



It said ExxonMobil, which had interest in the Deepwater Cape Three Points (DWCTP) block in the Tano Basin, withdrew, citing investment requirements for developing the ultra-deep oil infrastructure and corresponding resource accumulation, even though the area has high prospects.



Giant basin



Speaking to the Daily Graphic yesterday, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Energy, Mr Lawrence A. Apaalse, explained that ExxonMobils area was just a minute fraction of the entire segment of vast basins across the countrys coastline, stretching more than 5,000 metres in depth.



He said Ghanas basins held great prospects, and that the reason for the exit, ExxonMobil says, is not that there is no hydrocarbon deposit in the DWCTP block; oil exists, but economically, the geo-bodies are not huge enough to warrant investment, considering the water depth.



Ultra-deep & Kosmos Energy



Mr Apaalse said the company attributed its withdrawal to the huge cost of investment and the ultra-deep nature of the block.



Withdrawals are normal industry practice, and in the case of the countrys premier field, Jubilee, the initial company allocated the block left, citing similar reasons.



However, when Kosmos Energy came with the technology and took the same block, it made a huge discovery, he said.



Mr Apaalse said in the case of Jubilee, after the discovery by Kosmos Energy, it invited Tullow Ghana to join in the investment, paving the way for global majors and giants to enter the country and things were going very well.



Scientific data



While emphasising that developments such as the exit of ExxonMobil happened in the industry, the chief director said what was important in the current situation was the continued promotion of the DWCTP block and other areas of the country's upstream sector to attract more investors.



He said even though ExxonMobil was exiting, it would leave behind a lot of scientific data which could be used to better model the basins and make better packages for the second round of licensing or for direct negotiation with prospective investors.



COVID-19 angle



Sharing his perspective on ExxonMobils exit, the Executive Director of the Institute of Energy Security (IES), Nana Kwesi Amoasi VII, said he was not surprised, considering the ravaging nature of the COVID-19 pandemic.



He said though the withdrawal of the company was expected, more needed to be done to promote the prospects of the country, which were good.



Background



ExxonMobil acquired rights in 2018 to explore the ultra-deepwater block DWCTP.



The associated petroleum agreement was ratified in April 2019, leading to the opening of a venture office in the country in June, 2019 to undertake exploration activities.



The company, which has the controlling interest and was the operator, entered into an agreement to licence data from a multi-client seismic survey over a 3,300 square kilometre area covering the DWCTP block.



Once the seismic programme was completed, ExxonMobil, together with its partners  GNPC and GOIL Offshore Limited  was to evaluate the potential for drilling its first exploration well in the country.

Source: graphiconline.com









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

Featured Video
Work on five sea defence projects in some communities in the Central Region is progressing steadily.

It will take the projects between one and two years to be completed.



All of them have between 60 and 75 per cent of work already done.



Working visit



The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Francis Asenso-Boakye, visited the various project sites as part of a working visit to the Central Region.



He visited Anomabo, Cape Coast, Komenda and Elmina.



At Anomabo, where about 65 per cent of work had been done, the Paramount Queenmother, Nana Mbroba Dabo I, commended the government for the effort to safeguard the coastal communities.



She also commended the contractors for their collaborative engagement with the community.



While some of the communities heartily welcomed Mr Asenso-Boakye and his entourage, the people of Egyaa Number One and Two met the minister at the Anomabo project site in red armbands.





They complained that raging tidal waves were increasingly becoming a threat to life and property in the communities, and also affecting the activities of fishermen.



Mr Asenso-Boakye gave an assurance that the government would work to ensure that all coastal communities were protected.



He explained that about two thirds of Ghana's 550-kilometre coastal line needed some form of protection against the sea.



He reiterated the governments commitment to seek more funding to support the execution of projects in all communities that were in urgent need of protective infrastructure.



Tours



At Komenda, Amandi Construction Company is undertaking the five-kilometre project there.



The Omanhen, Nana Kwadwo Kru, told the minister that the community could have been wiped away in about 20 years had it not been for the project.



In Cape Coast, Vuluxx Construction Company Limited is undertaking the five-kilometre sea defence project, which includes two breakwater sites, which will allow fishermen to safely dock their canoes, with work 60 per cent complete.



The Omanhen of the Oguaa Traditional Area, Osabariba Kwesi Atta II, commended the government for the project.



At Elmina, the Paramount chief of the Edina Traditional Area, Nana Kwadwo Conduah, expressed happiness with the progress of work, and appealed for the dredging of the silted Fosu Lagoon in Cape Coast.



After the tour, Mr Asenso-Boakye, said he was impressed with the Cape Coast project, and commended the contractors for the pace and quality of work executed so far.



He said the government found it important to undertake the project to protect the Cape Coast Castle, the livelihoods of fishermen and Cape Coast in general as a major tourist town.



He gave the assurance that the government would continue to embark on projects that would protect the lives and properties of communities along the coast, emphasising that if nothing was done, the coastal communities might be washed away in a few years.



Projects



The implementation of the coastal erosion project is aimed at protecting beaches and their environs against encroachment by the sea, arresting environmental deterioration, as well as mitigating the negative social and economic consequences of beach erosion.



The Anomabo Coastal Protection project is envisaged to curtail ongoing erosion of the beach.



The Elmina sea defence project in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Municipality is part of Phase III of the Takoradi/Elmina emergency sea protection project by the Government of Ghana under the Ministry of Works and Housing.













Source: graphiconline.com









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

Featured Video
The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum says the Board of Achimota School does not have the power to unilaterally decide to appeal a ruling of the Human Rights Court ordering it to admit two Rastafarian students.

According to him, any such important decision should have been advised by the Attorney General who represented both the school in the landmark case.



Commenting on the development on the Good Evening Ghana television show on Metro TV Tuesday night Dr Osei Adutwum asked the Board of the Achimota School Board not to go ahead with the appeal.



I am very surprised, the Board cannot take that unilateral position to go back to court, Dr Adutwum said.



Rules, Rights and Rastafarians



Whos the Attorney General, he acts on behalf of the government of Ghana, hes the one that should say Minister of Education lets sit down, where do we go from here. So nobody can preempt us.



Achimota School Board chill They should understand that they act at the behest of the Ghana Education Service under their rules and guidance and the Board is constituted by the Minister of Education. Im waiting for the Attorney General to get the certified copy of the ruling, to explain to me what the basis is and what I need to do as the Minister for Education and what the Ghana Education Service needs to do through the Director-General of Ghana Education Service.



The Minister added that he will be meeting with the Headmistress and Board of Achimota School on Wednesday, June 2, 2021, to deliberate over the matter.



His pronouncement came hours after the Board in a June 1 statement said it disagreed with the May 31 ruling of the Human Rights Court in Accra and was going to appeal.



The Governing Board of Achimota School was represented in court yesterday 31st May 201 and has learned from the outcome of the case brought against it by two persons who had earlier applied to be admitted to the school.



The court ruled that the religious rights of the two applicants had been violated by the school management as they sought to enforce the time-tested and well-known rules of the school.



The court further directed the school to admit the two applicants. The school board disagrees with the ruling of the court. The school board has therefore directed its lawyers to appeal against the ruling.













Source: graphiconline.com









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

Featured Video
A two-time best vegetable farmer and a lead farmer for 2019 and 2020, Mr Benjamin Afrane, has appealed to the government under its "halt galamsey" operation to divert all seized water pumps and excavators to farmers to assist in irrigation.



He said rather than burning the equipment, they could be of great help to vegetable farmers in promoting all-year-round productivity.



"Come to think of it, government can even use these equipment to enhance its flagship programme, Planting for Food and Jobs," he said.



Occasion



Mr Afrane made the appeal during a visit by a team from the European Union to the Kwadaso Agric College under its "EU Archipelago Project, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and Kwadaso Agricultural College."



The team is in Ghana to help improve entrepreneurial and horticultural education and create jobs in the horticulture sector.



The partnership is focused on the Kwadaso Agricultural College and supported by TU Delft for the entrepreneurial skills and supported by the private sector and Holland Greentech.



Vision



The vision is to turn Kwadaso Agric College into a Centre of Excellence for horticulture and an example for other agricultural colleges.



They do this by partnering lead farmers, value chain stakeholders and knowledge institutes.



Fertiliser



Mr Afrane appealed to the government to supply subsidised fertilisers and other farm inputs throughout the year to increase farm produce.



He promised to train other farmers under the programme to enhance the horticulture industry.



Director



The Oforikrom Municipal Director of Agriculture,Mr Samuel Kofi Tekpor, urged graduates in the sector to create their own businesses and stop relying on the government for jobs.



He tasked the youth to see farming as a sustainable and profitable venture, and urged the youth to consider farming as a business venture which required in-depth knowledge to remain relevant.



Field visit



The team visited the lead farmer, Mr Benjamin Afrane's, farm located at Boadi (Oforikrom District).



Crops planted included broccoli, sweet pepper, cucumber and cauliflower on his demo-plot.



The project is being funded by the European Union's Archipelago programme.



Background



Working together with lead farmers is part of the four-month training module that has been developed by the EU.



It involves lead farmers because they can provide internships and future employment to the participants.













Source: graphiconline.com









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

Featured Video
Former Central Regional Minister, Kwamena Duncan, has taken a swipe at the management of Achimota school over their statement to seek an appeal on the High Court ruling that the two Rastafarian students they disallowed entry into the school must be admitted.



The students, who were initially refused enrollment for refusing to shave their dreadlocks, sued the school praying the Human Rights Division of the High Court to declare that the failure and or refusal of the 1st Respondent (Achimota School Board of Governors) to admit or enroll the Applicant on the basis of his Rastafarian religious inclination, beliefs and culture characterized by his keeping of Rasta, is a violation of his fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed under the 1992 constitution''.



They also asked the court for an "order directed at [Achimota School] to immediately admit or enroll the applicant to continue with his education unhindered".



The court, after hearing the case, ruled on Monday, June 1, 2021 that Achimota School must admit the students with their dreadlocks.



But the Achimota school has issued a press statement dissenting to the court ruling.



"The Governing Board of Achimota School.... has learned of the outcome of the case brought against it by two persons who had earlier applied to be admitted in the school. The school board disagrees with the ruling of the court. The school has therefore directed its lawyers to appeal against the ruling," the school's statement read.



Reacting on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo', Kwamena Duncan replied the Achimota school authorities saying, "going to appeal or seeking to appeal doesn't mean it's a stay of execution''.



He explained that the court ruling holds and so the children must be allowed to attend the school whether or not it proceeds to the Court of Appeal.



"The school must open its doors . . . These are Ghanaian kids in the dreadlocks. Let us not regret in the future. Their future is as critical to this country as any other Ghanaian child. So, if the school will go for an appeal, when they will not do it unilaterally and will have to do it conjunctively with the Ministry or GES, in the interim quickly the kids must be admitted," he stressed.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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

Featured Video
Seasoned Journalist, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, has advised the management of the Achimota School not to seek appeal over the High Court ruling that two Rastafarian students must be admitted into the school.



The Rasta students were asked to shave their dreadlocks before they gain enrollment but they sued the school, asking the court to declare that the failure and or refusal of the 1st Respondent (Achimota School Board of Governors) to admit or enroll the Applicant on the basis of his Rastafarian religious inclination, beliefs and culture characterized by his keeping of Rasta, is a violation of his fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed under the 1992 constitution particularly Articles 12(1), 23, 21(1)(b)(c).



They further prayed the court for ''an order directed at [Achimota School] to immediately admit or enroll the applicant to continue with his education unhindered'' and also sought compensation for the ''inconvenience, embarrassment, waste of time, and violation of his fundamental human rights and freedoms''.



The Human Rights Division of the High Court, on Monday, June 1, ruled that the students should be admitted into the Achimota school.



But the Achimota school Board says they disagree with the court ruling and has therefore ''directed its lawyers to appeal against the ruling''.



"The Governing Board of Achimota School . . . has learned of the outcome of the case brought against it by two persons who had earlier applied to be admitted in the school. The school board disagrees with the ruling of the court," the school further said in a press statement copied to Peacefmonline.com.



To Kweku Baako, the Achimota school and Rastafarian students' brouhaha is a non-issue.



"I thought this whole thing was overblown. I didn't get the point. If they have the Rasta and they come to misbehave, yes, then you take action. But the mere fact that they have dreadlocks and so they will inspire other students to do same or something else, I was finding it very difficult to appreciate the logic behind the school's position that their rules and regulations, some of which do not allow for you to grow your hair that way," he told host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo''.



He therefore asked the school Board to drop their appeal.



''To be honest with you, left for me, they should forget the appeal for us to move on.''





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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

Featured Video
Barbara Mahama has left many Ghanaians in tears as she drops a full note of the latest in her family. She shared an emotional message about the death of her husband.

The wife of the late soldier, Major Maxwell Mahama, released this note to mark the fourth anniversary of her late husband, reports in the media indicate.



Barbara Mahama, as she is mostly known, took to her official Facebook wall to share the notes. According to her, the children left behind by her late husband are growing.

She added that the children are doing well and indicated that anytime she sees them, the memories of her late husband reflect.



Wife of late Major Mahama marks birthday with hot photos



Major Mahamas wife marks 4th anniversary with touching photo



She adds that one of the kids walks like the late husband whilst the other speaks just like him. Barbara Mahama adds that she always enjoys listening to the children just like the late husband.



Dear Maxwell, your boys are growing, they are doing well. It amazes me the kind of things that can be inherited, sometimes its funny. One walks and I see you in him, the other talks and its so like you. I enjoy listening to them just as I enjoyed listening to you, I end up saying to myself you never went, parts of the notes indicated.



She further indicated that though it is already four years, the late husband is still with the family. She says Major Mahama should have been alive to be part of their lives.



Barbara Mahama added that it is already four years since the husband died and the family will make the day count.



I will laugh unapologetically, I will dance unapologetically, I will cry when I want to cry, there is no timetable in this journey. Its okay to be okay and its okay not to be okay, she added.



On May 29, 2017, Major Mahama was painfully killed at Denkyira Obuasi in the Central Region of Ghana.



His death was announced one early morning when he was exercising through the town. The community members mistakenly lynched him after he was wrongly accused of being an armed robber.



The entire Denkyra Obuasi community turned into a ghost town after his death. Heavy Military personnel were dispatched to the community and residents had to run for their lives. Some persons were subsequently arrested and are standing trial.



Read below:-















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
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the president, says a vibrant and unfettered media is the most effective way to hold government and society to the highest standards of honesty, self-discipline and delivery.



According to President Akufo-Addo, a historic victory was won in the struggle of the Ghanaian people for liberty and, especially, for freedom of expression by the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law, which brought to an end more than a century-old regime of colonial laws repressive of free expression.



I am proud of the modest role I played in the process of the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law. As the Attorney-General, who piloted the repeal through Parliament, I was also responsible for the discontinuation of the then pending prosecutions, under the Criminal Libel Law, of notable Ghanaian journalists Tommy Thompson, Kofi Coomson and Eben Quarcoo for publications against personalities of the then government, Akufo-Addo said.



Positive impact on the development

He noted that the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law has had a very positive impact on the development of the Ghanaian media, freeing it from unnecessary self-censorship, and promoting a robust and critical media culture.



In the process, (the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law) has contributed to the growth of a vibrant media that has won Ghana the reputation of having one of the most media friendly and liberal climates on the continent. It has also contributed significantly to the deepening of democracy in our country, enhancing public accountability as a strategic goal of public policy, he said.



President Akufo-Addo made this known on Tuesday 1 June 2021, when he delivered the keynote address at the Africa Journalists Leadership Conference, organised by the Federation of African Journalists, at the Alisa Hotel, in Accra.



As President of the Republic, the President told the gathering that he has seen to the passage of the Right to Information Act, which is meant to give effect to Article 21(1)(f) of the Constitution of the Republic.



Dynamic media

The culmination of all of these, he said, have meant that the Ghanaian citizen, through the presence of a dynamic media, is able to give boldly and freely his or her feedback on policies and programmes of government.



Civil society groups, President Akufo-Addo added, are able to interrogate fearlessly government actions and positions, compare them to global best practices, and offer views and critiques aimed at complementing the efforts of government; and the political opposition is able to raise dissent openly, canvass for alternate view points, and, by so doing, offer our citizens alternatives to consider on all key issues of our national discourse.



Even as one of the public figures most persistently vilified in sections of the Ghanaian media, who, ironically, was a principal actor in the repeal of the law, I continue to insist that its repeal was necessary in the public interest in our emerging democracy. I maintain that I prefer a boisterous, reckless media, to a supine one, he added.









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

Featured Video
A complaint of assault has been reported to the police at East Legon against dancehall artiste, Shatta Wale.



The road contractor whose project manager, Kennedy Acquah was reportedly assaulted by Shatta Wale at Adjiringanor in Accra has given a 24-hour ultimatum for Shatta Wale to to apologize publicly.



He says a failure to apologize publicly will result in the artiste facing his wrath till the case is pursued to its logical conclusion.



Shatta Wale is also to report himself to the East Legon police in 24 hours or face arrest.



Giving details of what happened, Kennedy Acquah said Shatta Wale and his team stormed the Adjiringanor project site and assaulted him because he wanted an extension of the road to his SM secretariat.



According to him, he referred Shatta Wale and his team to the Urban Roads Department since they were working based on the contract the Urban Roads had given them.



But Shatta Wale and his team refused to understand and assaulted him, he alleged.



Speaking in an interview with Graphic Showbiz, the businessman [name withheld] said he has reported the case to the East Legon Police station and if Shatta Wale fails to publicly apologise to his worker then he should be ready to face all the consequences.



Shatta Wale is not above the law and he cannot just do anything he wants. I am not letting the issue rest until he comes out publicly to apologise to my project manager or be ready to face me in court. When the incident happened I personally went to his house and ask that he comes to apologize to my project manager which he did but that alone is not enough I want him to do a live video and apologize for his misconduct he said.



The Divisional Commander at the East Legon Police Station, Mr Kwame Gyasi has confirmed to Graphic Showbiz that the case has been reported at the police station indicating that Shatta Wale is to report to the police station in 24 hours.



If he fails to do so, he will be arrested, he said.









Shatta Wale reported to East Legon police for assault https://t.co/dczudFxsC6 pic.twitter.com/LnDJJIGeZI

 GraphicOnline (@Graphicgh) June 1, 2021

Source: graphiconline.com









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

Featured Video
" " Why is the Republican Party also known as the GOP? Postmodern Studio/Shutterstock

In 1884, newspaper printer T.B. Dowden ran out of space at the end of an article for the Cincinnati Gazette about Republican politician James Gillespie Blaine, who had just been nominated for the U.S. presidency. Dowden's copy ended with the phrase "Grand Old Party," and up against a deadline and a line count, he had to get creative to make the copy fit.

And so, the next morning, the front page of the Cincinnati Gazette read "The Hon. James G. Blaine will address the meeting on 'the achievements of the Gop.'" Dowden is credited as the first person to use "GOP" in print.

The story of the first use of the now-ubiquitous acronym is a neat part of the Republican Party's history, but it's hardly the whole story. "GOP" stands for Grand Old Party, but why?

Advertisement

The Democratic-Republican Party

For that we have to talk about the history of the two main political parties' origins. Democrats and Republicans were both born from the Democratic-Republican Party (also known as Jeffersonian Republicans), which was founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the 1790s. The party favored political equality, expansionism and the philosophy of republicanism, which holds liberty, individual rights and the power of the people as central values.

The Democratic-Republican Party eventually broke into factions during the 1824 presidential election. Splintering was only a matter of time as four Democratic-Republicans sought the presidency, including Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay. No candidate won the electoral vote, and the House of Representatives held a contingent election to choose the president. Adams eventually won.

Eventually, the Democratic Party took its name in 1844 and the Republican Party took its name in 1854, uniting former Whigs (those who favored higher tariffs, distributing land revenues to states, and passing economic relief legislation), like-minded Democrats and abolitionists.

Advertisement

Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854

This fusion of ideologies in the newly formed Republican Party was, ironically, primarily driven by a Democratic-supported effort. Namely, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, a piece of legislation that allowed slavery to expand into western territories. After it passed, a period of violent anti- and pro- slavery confrontations arose known as Bleeding Kansas  an antecedent to the Civil War.

The debate over slavery intensified over the next several years as a young Abraham Lincoln was beginning to get his political footing. Lincoln vehemently opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and would steadily bring his anti-slavery rhetoric into his political speeches in ensuing years. By 1860, Lincoln won the Republican Party's presidential nomination and soon the presidency. Then in 1861, seven states declared secession, with four more states joining the Confederacy several months later. You know the rest. The Civil War ended in 1865 when Confederate generals surrendered.

But back to the GOP. A few years earlier in 1859, Kentucky's Democratic Governor Beriah Magoffin  a staunch neutralist during the Civil War  harkened back to his party's Democratic-Republic Party origins in his inaugural address by saying, "The Grand Old Party has never changed its name, its purposes or its principles, nor has it ever broken its pledges."

And in 1858, a Democratic newspaper in New Haven, Connecticut, also alluded to the Grand Old Party in reference to Democrats, publishing the phrase "this Grand Old Party is divided and in danger of defeat."

But by the 1870s, the moniker had become solidified to the Republican Party. Politicians and newspapers began referring to the Republican Party as the Grand Old Party and the gallant old party  a salute to its role in preserving the Union during the Civil War.

Now That's Interesting Many individuals opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act because of the human rights issue of slavery, but the truth is that a number of politicians at the time were primarily concerned with the expansion of slavery into western territories because it would grant slaveholding states too much power in the Senate and Electoral College.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A new report by Deloitte Access Economics has found every $1 invested in discovering all remaining Australian species will bring up to $35 of economic benefits to the nation.

The cost-benefit analysis of the value of discovering new species has never before been attempted in Australia. It comes as scientists launch a new mission to discover and document all Australian species that remain undiscovered and unnamed within a generation.

The 25-year mission being launched today is led by the Australian Academy of Science's Director of Taxonomy Australia, Adjunct Associate Professor Kevin Thiele.

He says many Australians would likely be quite surprised to know that after more than 300 years of Western scientific exploration of Australia's rich biodiversity, only 30% of Australia's estimated 750,000 species have been named and documented so far.

"Without this mission, it's likely to take more than 400 years to discover all remaining Australian plants, animals, fungi and other organisms. A 16-fold increase in the annual rate of discovery is required over the next 25 years to meet this ambitious goal.

"Combining the skills of our current and future scientists with new technologies such as genome sequencing, artificial intelligence, and supercomputing makes this ambitious goal achievable by 2050.

"The successful completion of this mission will help build a path to a sustainable and prosperous future and place Australia among the first nations in the world to benefit from a fully documented biodiversity.

The mission is also expected to:

reduce green tape by providing more certainty to the resources sector;

help protect Australia's agriculture and the environment from imported pests and diseases by reducing biosecurity risks;

stimulate new opportunities in agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture, pharmaceuticals and environmental management;

help ensure that conservation investments are targeted and effective; and

lead to new industries in emerging fields such as industrial food technologies and bioengineering.

The estimated cost of building capability needed to document the remaining estimated 600,000 Australian species yet discovered in a generation is $824 million over 25 years.

The mission's initial focus will be to develop assets, including a national biobank and DNA sequence library, to ensure DNA sequences are available for all known Australian species. This would unlock enormous potential, from eDNA sequencing for environmental monitoring to bioprospecting, bioindustries and bioengineering.

Adjunct Associate Professor Thiele says the collection of more than 70 million scientific specimens in museums and herbaria in every Australian state and territory represents a $7 billion national science infrastructure and a solid foundation on which to build such a national biobank.

Insect expert Dr. Erinn Fagan-Jeffries from The University of Adelaide is one of the Australian scientists involved in Taxonomy Australia's new mission. Dr. Fagan-Jeffries is researching the biodiversity and taxonomy of parasitoid wasps in Australia. She recently discovered and named four new species of wasp in collaboration with primary schools in regional South Australia.

Deloitte Access Economics partner and principle report author, Matt Judkins, says the modelling and analysis indicate that Taxonomy Australia's mission is both ambitious and has strong potential to create significant economic and social benefits for the country.

"Benefits in the sectors of biosecurity, biodiscovery, agricultural R&D and biodiversity conservation attributable to accelerated taxonomic discovery range from $3.7 billion to $28.9 billion over a 25-year period to 2045, depending on the low, medium or high scenario cases defined for each benefit stream. This compares to the costs of investment in seven key categories estimated at $824 million over the same period.

"While a significant investment, and a lot of good will, will be required, Australia will have access to a much better understanding of its biodiversity and the risks it faces."

Background informationWhat is taxonomy?

Taxonomy is the science of classifying living organisms and arranging them into groups to understand relationships between species. Taxonomists discover, discern, describe, name, classify, study, compare and identify the world's living and extinct species and other taxa. Their core task is to document the living world.

The discipline provides the foundational 'map' of biodiversity: taxonomic names and classifications are the key framework around which global knowledge and understanding of biodiversity can be organised and accessed.

Francesco Martoni, an early career Entomology Research Scientist working for Agriculture Victoria, says, "From an entomological point of view, discovering and describing new insect species is of paramount importance not only for a better understanding of Australian biodiversity but also to protect its agriculture and biosecurity.

"Indeed, undescribed species may risk triggering expensive biosecurity responses if mistakenly identified as similar-looking pests. On the other hand, insect pest species may hide in plain sight, because too similar to harmless endemic groups and therefore hard to be targeted by pest management operations. This is due to the fact that describing and naming a species is the first step to further study its biology, in fact we often lack ecological and behavioural information on a species that has not been described.

"Discovering a new species can provide the tools for its identification and enable to understand how to protect it, if a threatened endemic species, or how to fight it, if a newly emerged pest. Ultimately, described species bear a name that can be used by policymakers to determine the real biosecurity risk associated with a species, distinguishing it from closely related, harmless, native groups that need our protection."

Dr. Leanda, a Higher Education Academy Fellow and IUCN Young Fellow at Curtin University, says, "Many thousands of Australian species are estimated to have gone extinct in the last few hundred years, without ever being formally recorded. Recent history has seen an increasing dependence on metrics such as GDP and population growth as measures of success in a global context, often with reckless abandonment for natural environments and species.

"The economic benefit of natural environments and species is very difficult to measure because monetary value cannot be directly given and thus undervalued. Instead, value is measured ethically, morally or intrinsically such as with known benefits to disease control, mental health, climate and ecosystem stability. However, these indirect benefits are undervalued when the feasibility of economically driven projects are deliberated. Indeed, permanent costs to our natural environment and native species through land clearance are perceived as unfortunate, but necessary losses for economic productivity.

"Ideally, providing a detailed account of how the discovery of new species may provide economic benefit may slow and eventually stop unsustainable developments that lead to species extinctions. However, it may be some time before traditional metrics of societal success become replaced with those that align with sustainable and equitable development. Until then, providing a tangible estimate to our economy will reflect at least a small proportion of the immense intrinsic worth of species discovery."

Explore further How best to focus efforts on classifying new species to prevent their extinction?

More information: Jane Melville et al, A return-on-investment approach for prioritization of rigorous taxonomic research needed to inform responses to the biodiversity crisis, PLOS Biology (2021). Jane Melville et al, A return-on-investment approach for prioritization of rigorous taxonomic research needed to inform responses to the biodiversity crisis,(2021). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001210 Cost benefit analysis of a mission to discover and document Australia's species: www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/  s-mission-060521.pdf Journal information: PLoS Biology

Provided by Australian Academy of Science
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Does it matter where the virus that causes COVID-19 came from? In terms of frontline medicine, perhaps notpatients still need to be treated and the public health crisis managed.

But when it comes to geopolitics, it matters greatly, particularly to the United States and China. So, a new investigation into the origins of the virus must be seen in the context of a long-running blame game between the U.S. and China.

Biden's latest move

Last week, President Joe Biden announced he had ordered a further U.S. intelligence investigation into the origins of COVID-19, asking for a report back in 90 days.

He revealed the U.S. intelligence community is split between two likely scenarioshuman contact with animals or a lab accidentand could not assess whether one was "more likely than the other".

This is a significant shift from early skepticism about theories involving the Wuhan Institute for Virology. Last year, The Lancet published a statement from health scientists, who said: "We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin."

Why is the U.S. stirring up the investigation now?

The lab accident theory has moved from the fringe to become much more mainstream in the U.S., most recently with a Wall Street Journal article last month, reporting illness among Wuhan lab workers shortly before the first cases of COVID-19.

With the Biden administration doing an excellent job bringing the COVID crisis under control in America, the fact he is still focusing on the origin of the virus is a reminder of the domestic politics around the issue. Donald Trump promised a conclusive report and Biden can't afford to be seen as any less tough.

'Victims' versus 'saviours'

When it comes to the pandemic disaster, the U.S. wants history books to show it as the victim of external forces, rather than its own mismanagement.

This was particularly the case during the Trump administration. In the face of the unfolding health crisis, it emphasized the origin of the virus, with Trump and officials referring to the "Chinese Virus" and even "Kung Flu".

The U.S. rightly criticized early Chinese mishandling, with former secretary of state Mike Pompeo vocal about China's suppression of early warnings and lack of transparency. The consistent message was the pandemic was "made in China".

From the Chinese side, it wants to be remembered as the regime that showed the world how to overcome the virus, not the one that unleashed it. China has already tried to muddy the waters around the origin of the virus, even suggesting "it might be [the] U.S. army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. "

It has emphasized its success in battling COVID-19 with enviably low case numbers.

Domestically, this is used to show the superiority of China's political and governance system. Internationally, China is trying to position itself as a responsible, humanitarian global power, a country that helps others with medical supplies through its "mask diplomacy".

What do international investigations say so far?

In 2020, the 194 member states of the World Health Assembly tried to get an independent and comprehensive evaluation of the international health response to COVID-19. This was through an Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, headed by former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

In its May report, the panel was critical of China's early handling and the World Health Organization's delay in declaring an emergency. But it did not make a finding on the origins of the virus, saying the exact transmission cycle remains unknown.

The task of investigating the origins of the virus was given to a joint World Health Organization-China technical mission.

The mission found the lab scenario was "extremely unlikely". But it was criticized when it came to the data made available. The U.S. said the report provided a "partial and incomplete" picture. Despite China's hopes, the report did not resolve questions about where the virus began.

Washington, D.C., called on the WHO to open a second phase to its investigation, which China rejected. With this avenue blocked, the Biden administration has said it will publish the results of its own inquiry.

What does this mean for Australia?

In the immediate term, there are no obvious ramifications for Australia. The shape of U.S.-China relations under Biden is clear: competitive when it should be, collaborative when it can and adversarial when it must.

The latest inquiry may bring up memories of Australia's push for an international inquiry last year, which China saw as "dancing to the tune" of the U.S. If Australia is seen to get behind the lab leak theory, this will likely be framed by China as "Canberra trying to please Washington".

So far, foreign minister Marise Payne has simply welcomed Biden's announcement while prime minister Scott Morrison has placed it within the context of the independent panel's work. We will see if defense minister Peter Dutton is more fiery, having previously talked up the lab theory after contracting the virus (ironically during a visit to the White House).

While some might say we should wait until the crisis is over to assign fault, this is never going to happen when the U.S. and China are concerned. The battle to control the COVID-19 narrative started the same day as the battle against the virus itself.

Explore further Biden orders more intel investigation of COVID-19 origin

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
In this April 23, 2021, file photo, California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks in Sacramento, Calif. Officials from California, New York and other states urged the Environmental Protection Agency June 2, to allow California to set its own automobile tailpipe pollution standards. Credit: Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP, Pool, File

Officials from California, New York and other states urged the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday to allow California to set its own automobile tailpipe pollution standards, an action that would reverse a Trump administration policy and could help usher in stricter emissions standards for new passenger vehicles nationwide.

The Biden administration has said it will withdrew Trump-era restrictions on state tailpipe emission rules and has moved to grant California permission to set more stringent pollution standards for cars and SUVs. That would give California greater leverage in discussions with automakers as states and federal officials seek a climate-friendly agreement on emissions standards.

At least 13 states and the District of Columbia have signed on to California's vehicle standards, which were established decades ago under a special waiver that the Trump administration revoked in 2019. Collectively they represent 36 percent of the U.S. auto market.

Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board, said at a public hearing Wednesday that the Trump administration's withdrawal of California's long-standing waiver was "ill-advised and illegal.''

Addressing EPA officials at an online hearing, Randolph said, "Time has continued to prove the importance and good sense of our program'' to restrict vehicle emissions. "We know the air quality in California is cleaner today than in decades. Californians can see mountains in the Los Angeles area, no longer shrouded by smog. And the air quality continues to improve because of our program.''

California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the state's vehicle-emissions standards "critical to the fight against climate change'' and crucial to improve air quality, protect public health and drive technological innovation.

"Despite decades of effort and significant improvements, the unfortunate reality is that too many Californians still breathe dirty air and suffer from the resulting health consequences,'' Bonta said. According to the American Lung Association, seven of the 10 U.S. cities with worst ozone pollution are in California, along with six of the 10 most polluted cities measured by year-round particle pollution.

"Bad air quality means more premature deaths or respiratory ailments and more asthma cases,'' Bonta said. "And as the dire realities of the climate crisis grow increasingly apparent, we're seeing the number of bad-air days in California go up, not down. From record heat waves to wildfire seasons that are increasingly long and severe, the existential threat of our time is less and less difficult to imagine.''

President Joe Biden has made slowing climate change a top priority, and his nearly $2 trillion infrastructure proposal includes 500,000 new charging stations for electric cars and trucks. Fully electric vehicles represent just 2% of new vehicle sales in the U.S., but analysts expect that to rise rapidly in coming years. Major automakers, including General Motors and Ford, are pledging billions to develop electric cars and trucks, and GM has gone so far as to announce a goal of ending gasoline-fueled passenger vehicles entirely by 2035.

In this May 12, 2021, file photo, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Michael Regan speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington. Officials from California, New York and other states urged the EPA on June 2 to allow California to set its own automobile tailpipe pollution standards. Credit: AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File

The EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have proposed withdrawing Trump-era rules meant to stop states from setting their own requirements for greenhouse gases, zero emissions vehicles and fuel economy.

The changes, if approved after the agencies take public comments, would allow California and other states to set their own rules for vehicle emissions. Biden has said he will seek one national standard, as was the case under President Barack Obama.

Carmakers, autoworkers and environmental groups are eager for the federal government and California to reach a deal that creates a single nationwide standard for tailpipe emissions. EPA Administrator Michael Regan has said he expects to propose a tailpipe emissions rule in July.

"I am a firm believer in California's long-standing statutory authority to lead,'' Regan said in April. "The federal government can indeed learn from states, and that's what we plan to continue to do."

Gavin McCabe, a special assistant New York attorney general, said the 2019 rollback of California's emissions standards was "among the worst and most cynical actions by the Trump EPA.''

"Arbitrarily weakening federal standards ... was bad enough,'' he said, "but it was truly unconscionable for EPA to attempt to block states from doing what the law plainly allows them to do to protect their residents.'' New York has followed California standards for more than 30 years.

Other states that follow California include Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Several other states are moving to adopt the California standard.

Trump's move to revoke the state waivers split the industry, with most automakers behind him while Ford, Honda, BMW, Volkswagen and Volvo decided to go with California standards. After Biden was inaugurated, automakers began withdrawing support for Trump's decision.

Trump officials argued that California's use of its waiver effectively set national policy on auto emissions, increasing the cost of vehicles sold in states with less pollution.

Trump also rolled back Obama-era fuel efficiency and emissions standards, and it's likely the Biden administration will reverse those as well, replacing them with more stringent requirements.

Explore further Biden administration proposes restoring California's right to set car pollution rules

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Each year, thousands of Matamata turtles end up in the hands of traffickers. They are a very lucrative find for pet markets in the United States, Europe and Asia where they can be sold, sometimes costing upward of $300. Credit: Florida International University

Using a rapid DNA testing toolkit developed by FIU researchers, Colombian officials stopped an illegal shipment of 2,200 Matamata turtles and returned them to the Orinoco river basin.

Diego Cardenosa, FIU postdoctoral researcher in the Institute of Environment at the College of Arts, Sciences & Education, worked with a collaborative team of Colombian scientists and authorities at the International Airport Alfredo Vasquez Cobo in Leticia, Colombia to test the shipment of freshwater turtles. The DNA testing toolkit developed by Cardenosa and FIU marine scientist Demian Chapman is fast, portable, easy to use and highly accurate in identifying species.

Matamata turtles are native to South America and are most recognizable by their rough, knobby shell and snorkel-like snout. Each year, thousands of these unique, bizarre-looking animals end up in the hands of traffickers. They are a very lucrative find for pet markets in the United States, Europe and Asia where they can be legally sold, sometimes costing upward of $300. It is illegal to trade Matamata turtles in Colombia, where they are currently listed as a near threatened species.

When the shipment of baby Matamata turtles was found with their alien-like features, customs officials didn't need a DNA test to know they were looking at a protected species. What they didn't know is what species of Matamata they were looking at. Originally thought to be a single species, a recent discovery revealed there are actually two genetically distinct species of Matamata turtles. Virtually identical in appearance, one species exclusively resides in the Orinoco river basin and the other in the Amazon River basin.

When a shipment of illegally trafficked live Matamata turtles is found, it is important to quickly identify the species so they can be returned to the correct river basin. Introducing an Orinoco turtle to the Amazon River basinor vice versacould have negative effects that would ripple throughout that entire native turtle population, affecting evolutionary processes and its genetic health.

Traditionally, customs officials transport a few confiscated turtles to a lab for DNA testingnot quite an expeditious endeavor. While the officials would wait for results, they are usually also trying to keep thousands of turtles alive.

With the DNA testing toolkit, officials on the ground can accurately identify the species on-site in about two hours, quickly giving them the information they need to significantly reduce stress on the animals and return them to the wild. The cost for the test is about $1 per sample.

"When our test was used to identify and make sure those turtles were returned to the wild, it felt great," Cardenosa said. "What feels even better is that now we can use these tools to help many other species that are subject to crimes against wildlife, including the illegal pet trade."

With funding from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Cardenosa and Chapman initially created the toolkit to help customs officials differentiate between illegal shipments of shark fins and meat and those containing protected species in the fin trade. In 2020, the toolkit led to a historic seizure of illegally trafficked fins in Ecuador. It has also helped detect other illegal trade. When Cardenosa was living in Hong Kong, officials asked him for a test to detect European eels leading to the first prosecution of European eel smugglers in Hong Kong history.

The Matamata were a natural next step for the DNA toolkit. Afterall, as Cardenosa points out, its applicability is endless.

"My goal is to bring this DNA toolkit to as many countries as I can and make in-port inspections using DNA part of the daily routine of law enforcement agencies around the world," Cardenosa said. "This technology can help us to enhance our capacity to act in a timely manner against illegal trade in sharks, eels, freshwater turtles and many other threatened species."

The findings were recently published in Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems.

Explore further New DNA test stops illegal shipment of endangered eels

More information: Diego Cardenosa et al, Rapid species and riveroforigin determination for matamata turtles ( Chelus sp.) using realtime PCR: Facilitating rapid return of trafficked specimens back to the wild, Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems (2021). Diego Cardenosa et al, Rapid species and riveroforigin determination for matamata turtles ( Chelus sp.) using realtime PCR: Facilitating rapid return of trafficked specimens back to the wild,(2021). DOI: 10.1002/aqc.3613
The small community of Berry Creek lies on a California hillside charred by the huge September 2020 fire, which devastated the area and killed 15 people in the blink of an eye.

"Now, when there's smoke here, everybody panics," said Steve Crowder, mayor of the small town of Paradise that was almost wiped off the map by California's deadly 2018 wildfires.

The former police officer still struggles to hold back tears when talking about the blaze that claimed dozens of lives and engulfed 95 percent of his community's buildings.

"It's still hard to get over the 85 people that didn't get out," he told AFP.

"It's the most horrific thing that I've ever experienced in my life... I think fire terrorizes everybody here."

Across California, deadly infernos have only expanded in size since that traumatic yearin 2020, some 4.3 million acres went up in smoke.

Now, the western US state is bracing for the worst as yet another dry summer approaches. Already five times more vegetation has burned this year compared to the same time last year.

"In the last 25 months, we've had 101 civilians perish in wildfires with over 21,000 structure destroyed within Butte County," said John Messina, fire chief of the county where Paradise is located.

"That supersedes anything that California has seen in modern times" and serves as a warning, or "ground zero," for what could lie ahead of the rest of the state, according to Messina.

"In the past, we may have had one fire in the summer that was notable," he said. "Now 50 percent of our fires are notableand what I mean by notable is something that really, really exceeded our expectations on growth and intensity."

Fire chief John Messina said Butte County serves as a warning, or "ground zero," for what could lie ahead of the rest of the California.

'No reset'

While fires are part of the natural cycle of California's forests, the fire season is starting earlier and ending later each year.

Climate change is "is considered a key driver of this trend," state fire officials note in their 2021 forecast, with the fire season lengthened by an estimated 75 days in part of the state.

For Messina, the concept of a summer and fall "fire season" is no longer meaningful.

"Fire season's year roundwe're busier during a specific time, but the potential for wildfire exists throughout the year," he said.

"We work our employees extremely hard in the summer for four, five, six, seven months, under the expectation that we're going to give them a break in the wintertime and kind of reset.

"There is no reset any more in California."

'Tinderbox'

Making matters worse is the chronic lack of rainfall affecting California, in particular its northern counties.

In a sign of California's drought, Lake Oroville in May 2021 was at half its normal water level for the time of year.

"This year is another exceptional year when it comes to the potentialwe are in a fairly significant drought," said Messina, noting that vegetation is already extremely dry for so early in the year.

"All we need is the ignition now and then we have a problem. So we're on high alert," he said.

According to Crowder, vegetation around Paradise is like "a tinderbox," having dried out months earlier than usual.

His town in northern California has taken several steps to avoid a repeat of the tragic 2018 "Camp Fire," with homeowners required to clear brush, particularly around buildings, and to keep grass lawns cut to below four inches.

Firefighters are stepping up inspections to ensure the rules are being followed.

But the effort is made more difficult because only a few thousand of the town's former 26,000 residents have moved back to Paradise since 2018's mass evacuations. Many landowners are hard or impossible to reach.

"I've asked each one of them, if not for yourself, do it for your neighbor who's left behind... we're trying everything we can to make it a fire-safe town," said the mayor.

While the area's levels of flammable vegetation are well below pre-2018, "if we do nothing for the next 10 years, we're going to be right back where we were," he added.

Paradise mayor Steve Crowder still struggles to hold back tears when talking about the blaze that claimed dozens of lives and engulfed 95 percent of his community's buildings.

'Tired'

A short drive from Paradise, the small community of Berry Creek lies on a hillside now charred by last September's huge fire, which devastated the area and killed 15 people in the blink of an eye.

Unlike many other residents who lost everything to the flames, Jimmy has decided to move back to the town he first settled in 44 years ago.

The survivor, in his 60s, has spent nine months since the fire preparing to construct a pre-fabricated home, where he wants to live out his days.

He recently moved into a nearby trailer, and has carefully cleared away the brush as work on the foundations advances, using water from a borehole.

He has taken all possible measures to ensure that the new construction will be "a fire resistant house, with a metal roof and everything," but admitted the events have taken a severe emotional toll.

"It's taking years off my lifeI'm tired."

Explore further Fast-moving fire scorches northern California

 2021 AFP
Andrew Schulz led the study as a Georgia Tech mechanical engineering Ph.D. student. Credit: Andrew Schultz, Georgia Tech

New research from the Georgia Institute of Technology finds that elephants dilate their nostrils in order to create more space in their trunks, allowing them to store up to nine liters of water. They can also suck up three liters per seconda speed 50 times faster than a human sneeze (150 meters per second/330 mph).

The Georgia Tech College of Engineering study sought to better understand the physics of how elephants use their trunks to move and manipulate air, water, food and other objects. They also sought to learn if the mechanics could inspire the creation of more efficient robots that use air motion to hold and move things.

While octopus use jets of water to move and archer fish shoot water above the surface to catch insects, the Georgia Tech researchers found that elephants are the only animals able to use suction on land and underwater.

The paper, "Suction feeding by elephants," is published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

"An elephant eats about 400 pounds of food a day, but very little is known about how they use their trunks to pick up lightweight food and water for 18 hours, every day," said Georgia Tech mechanical engineering Ph.D. student Andrew Schulz, who led the study. "It turns out their trunks act like suitcases, capable of expanding when necessary."

Schulz and the Georgia Tech team worked with veterinarians at Zoo Atlanta, studying elephants as they ate various foods. For large rutabaga cubes, for example, the animal grabbed and collected them. It sucked up smaller cubes and made a loud vacuuming sound, or the sound of a person slurping noodles, before transferring the vegetables to its mouth.

To learn more about suction, the researchers gave elephants a tortilla chip and measured the applied force. Sometimes the animal pressed down on the chip and breathed in, suspending the chip on the tip of trunk without breaking it. It was similar to a person inhaling a piece of paper onto their mouth. Other times the elephant applied suction from a distance, drawing the chip to the edge of its trunk.

An elephant grabs lettuce in water. Credit: Andrew Schulz, Georgia Tech

"An elephant uses its trunk like a Swiss Army Knife," said David Hu, Schulz's advisor and a professor in Georgia Tech's George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. "It can detect scents and grab things. Other times it blows objects away like a leaf blower or sniffs them in like a vacuum."

By watching elephants inhale liquid from an aquarium, the team was able to time the durations and measure volume. In just 1.5 seconds, the trunk sucked up 3.7 liters, the equivalent of 20 toilets flushing simultaneously.

An ultrasonic probe was used to take trunk wall measurements and see how the trunk's inner muscles work. By contracting those muscles, the animal dilates its nostrils up to 30 percent. This decreases the thickness of the walls and expands nasal volume by 64 percent.

"At first it didn't make sense: an elephant's nasal passage is relatively small and it was inhaling more water than it should," said Schulz. "It wasn't until we saw the ultrasonographic images and watched the nostrils expand that we realized how they did it. Air makes the walls open, and the animal can store far more water than we originally estimated."

Based on the pressures applied, Schulz and the team suggest that elephants inhale at speeds that are comparable to Japan's 300-mph bullet trains.

Schulz said these unique characteristics have applications in soft robotics and conservation efforts.

"By investigating the mechanics and physics behind trunk muscle movements, we can apply the physical mechanismscombinations of suction and graspingto find new ways to build robots," Schulz said. "In the meantime, the African elephant is now listed as endangered because of poaching and loss of habitat. Its trunk makes it a unique species to study. By learning more about them, we can learn how to better conserve elephants in the wild."

Explore further Scent trails could boost elephant conservation
One of the rabbit bones dated for the study. Credit: Andrew Somerville, Iowa State University

An unexpected discovery by an Iowa State University researcher suggests that the first humans may have arrived in North America more than 30,000 years agonearly 20,000 years earlier than originally thought.

Andrew Somerville, an assistant professor of anthropology in world languages and cultures, says he and his colleagues made the discovery while studying the origins of agriculture in the Tehuacan Valley in Mexico. As part of that work, they wanted to establish a date for the earliest human occupation of the Coxcatlan Cave in the valley, so they obtained radiocarbon dates for several rabbit and deer bones that were collected from the cave in the 1960s as part of the Tehuacan Archaeological-Botanical Project. The dates for the bones suddenly took Somerville and his colleagues in a different direction with their work.

The date ranges for the bone samples from the base of the cave ranged from 33,448 to 28,279 years old. The results are published in the academic journal Latin American Antiquity. Somerville says even though previous studies had not dated items from the bottom of the cave, he was not expecting such old ages. The findings add to the debate over a long-standing theory that the first humans crossed the Bering Land Bridge into the Americas 13,000 years ago.

"We weren't trying to weigh in on this debate or even find really old samples. We were just trying to situate our agricultural study with a firmer timeline," Somerville said. "We were surprised to find these really old dates at the bottom of the cave, and it means that we need to take a closer look at the artifacts recovered from those levels."

Somerville says the findings provide researchers with a better understanding of the chronology of the region. Previous studies relied on charcoal and plant samples, but he says the bones were a better material for dating. However, questions still remain. Most importantly, is there a human link to the bottom layer of the cave where the bones were found?

To answer that question, Somerville and Matthew Hill, ISU associate professor of anthropology, plan to take a closer look at the bone samples for evidence of cut marks that indicate the bones were butchered by a stone tool or human, or thermal alternations that suggest the bones were boiled or roasted over fire. He says the possible stone tools from the early levels of the cave may also yield clues.

"Determining whether the stone artifacts were products of human manufacture or if they were just naturally chipped stones would be one way to get to the bottom of this," Somerville said. "If we can find strong evidence that humans did in fact make and use these tools, that's another way we can move forward."

Year-long journey to even find the bones

Not only was this discovery unexpected, but the process of tracking down the animal bones to take samples was more than Somerville anticipated. The collection of artifacts from the 1960s Tehuacan Archaeological-Botanical Project was distributed to different museums and labs in Mexico and the United States, and it was unclear where the animal bones were sent.

After a year of emails and cold calls, Somerville and his collaborator, Isabel Casar from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, had a potential lead for a lab in Mexico City. The lab director, Joaquin Arroyo-Cabrales, agreed to give Somerville and Casar a tour to help search for the missing collection. The tour proved to be beneficial. Among the countless boxes of artifacts, they found what they were looking for.

Andrew Somerville made an unexpected discovery while studying the origins of agriculture. Credit: Christopher Gannon, Iowa State University

"Having spent months trying to locate the bones, we were excited to find them tucked away on the bottom shelf in a dark corner of the lab," Somerville said. "At the time, we felt that was a great discovery, we had no idea it would lead to this."

Once he located the bones, Somerville got permission from the Mexican government to take small samplesabout 3/4 inch in length and 1/4 inch in widthfrom 17 bones (eight rabbits and nine deer) for radiocarbon dating. If closer examination of the bones provides evidence of a human link, Somerville says it will change what we know about the timing and how the first people came to America.

"Pushing the arrival of humans in North America back to over 30,000 years ago would mean that humans were already in North America prior to the period of the Last Glacial Maximum, when the Ice Age was at its absolute worst," Somerville said. "Large parts of North America would have been inhospitable to human populations. The glaciers would have completely blocked any passage over land coming from Alaska and Canada, which means people probably would have had to come to the Americas by boats down the Pacific coast."

Explore further Mexico cave with evidence of early humans closed to visitors

More information: Andrew D. Somerville et al, New AMS Radiocarbon Ages from the Preceramic Levels of Coxcatlan Cave, Puebla, Mexico: A Pleistocene Occupation of the Tehuacan Valley?, Latin American Antiquity (2021). Andrew D. Somerville et al, New AMS Radiocarbon Ages from the Preceramic Levels of Coxcatlan Cave, Puebla, Mexico: A Pleistocene Occupation of the Tehuacan Valley?,(2021). DOI: 10.1017/laq.2021.26
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Do firms respond to tougher competition by searching for completely new technological solutions (exploration), or do they work to defend their position by improving current technologies (exploitation)?

Competition from increased import penetration generally results in tight profit margins, low prices, and strong efficiency pressures, immediately affecting firms' bottom lines in the form of reduced profits and increased bankruptcy risk.

A firm's R&D strategy is one of the fundamental determinants of success or failure when responding to competitive threats. To ensure both short-term performance and long-term survival, firms have two basic R&D options: Explore new knowledge or exploit existing knowledge bases.

A new study published in the Strategic Management Journal (SMJ) examines how firms change the knowledge sources used in their R&D efforts in response to substantial increases in import penetration in their domestic market. The study was conducted by Raffale Morandi Stagni, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain, Andrea Fosfuri, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy and Juan Santalo, IE University, Madrid, Spain. They studied a sample of U.S. manufacturing firms over the years 1989-2006.

"Our focus on technology reflects both its increasing importance for firm survival and competitive advantage," write the authors. "Specifically, we study competition created by import penetration, which has increased steadily in recent years to become a central concern for companies, for example, dealing with imports from China.

"We find that in the years that immediately follow an increase in import penetration, firms tend to rely more on familiar knowledge in the development of innovations and less on knowledge sources that were not previously used. This switch in R&D strategy also appears to be temporary (reversed in later years), and it is positively associated with an increased likelihood of survival."

The researchers argue that while exploration is riskier and costlier than exploitation, it also requires a longer time horizon to produce results due to its slower learning pattern.

They also tested the effects of import penetration according to the type of competition and the type of industry affected. They separated imports from low-technology countries from imports from high-technology countries.

"If technological competition has a different effect on search strategies than price-based competition, we might expect the results to differ," write the researchers. "Instead, the effects of the two types of import penetration are qualitatively similar.

"We also performed a sample split of industries in which the primary customers are other businesses (B2B) or those in which the primary customers are final consumers (B2C). Consistent with the intuition that import penetration issues a greater threat to firm survival in B2B industries, we find that the effect of import penetration on technological exploration and exploitation is stronger for that group than for B2C industries."

The final variable they researched was whether technology search strategies are moderated by factors that might alleviate or increase concerns about firm survival.

"The findings show that the negative relationship between competition and exploration is magnified for firms that are relatively more vulnerable, because they have greater degrees of operating leverage and lower degrees of product diversification," the researchers write.

Explore further Innovation gets a boost with the right competition

More information: Raffaele Morandi Stagni et al, A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush: Technology search strategies and competition due to import penetration, Strategic Management Journal (2021). Raffaele Morandi Stagni et al, A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush: Technology search strategies and competition due to import penetration,(2021). DOI: 10.1002/smj.3277

Provided by Strategic Management Society
Banner image: 2021 Spring Scenic photos on the CU Boulder campus. (Credit: Glenn Asakawa/CU Boulder)

2021 is now one of the 10 wettest years on record since 1872 in the Denver area, with almost 10.5 inches of rain having fallen since the start of the year, according to the National Weather Service. That's more than half what the city gets on average in an entire year (14.3 inches annually) and more rain than Denver received in all of 2020 (8.74 inches), making it the wettest year since 1983 (10.5 inches).

Yet for much of western Colorado, this has been the driest April on record. What could these wide ranging conditions mean for the rest of the year across the state?

Chelsea Nagy is a research scientist in the Earth Lab at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and CU Boulder. She studies how changes in land use, fire, and invasive plants across the U.S. and Brazil affect landscapes' carbon storage.

Chelsea Nagy, research scientist in the Earth Lab at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and CU Boulder. Credit: University of Colorado at Boulder

CU Boulder Today spoke with Nagy about what a wet spring and resulting plant growth in the Front Range could mean for the rest of 2021.

Does all this rain mean that the Front Range has a buffer against fire this fall?

In Boulder, we now have a bunch of vegetation that's built up, grasses and shrubs and drier vegetation generally, due to above average precipitation. But if we then get hotter temperatures and dry conditions over the summer, then we are primed for a bad fire season. And we are predicted to have drought this summer, according to the latest projections from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It's supposed to be hotter and drier than average. Once we have this extra fuel that builds up and dries out, then we have the potential for a human ignition of any kindthat could be a campfire, that could be fireworks on the Fourth of Julyto potentially spark a worse fire than you would have had in the absence of a wet spring.

Wait, so is a wet spring bad?

There are a lot of reasons why a wet spring is really good. One is that it reduces the likelihood of a fire in the spring: The vegetation is wet and less likely to burn. However, I do think that it means we have to be more proactive, because a lot of the ignitions, at least the ones that we can control, are human started. We can't control where lightning happens. But we can control things like our campfires, fireworks and all of that.

What can residents do to reduce their risk?

One thing that people can do to be proactive, given that so many people live in these fire prone zones, is to remove some of the vegetation that's right up against their house. In case a fire comes through, then their house might not burn.

What should we keep in mind as we travel and recreate in the mountains this year?

People are going out to these places because they love them, and they want them to be around in the future. We definitely want to make sure that we do our best to take care of these resources so that they're there for us and others to enjoy. I think being aware of your actions is key, as a lot of times it's a lack of awareness that causes these things to happen.

In the U.S., humans start more than 80% of fires, which is just wild. And of course, that varies quite a bit based on where you are. In the western U.S., we get more lightning caused fires. And human ignitions can be from things like power lines as well as campfires. But anywhere that you have humans interacting with the landscape, where there's a lot of fuel to burn, then you get more opportunities for intentional or unintentional fire starts.

Explore further Grim western fire season starts much drier than record 2020
Credit: Effective stock photos/Shutterstock

According to the Paris Agreement, the world needs to limit global warming to well below 2C and to strive toward a 1.5C increase above pre-industrial levels. How can we meet this goal at the lowest cost? In a May 2021 study, we try to answer this question. Our research found that we can meet the goals at a lower cost if we change how we value different greenhouse gases.

Not all greenhouse gases affect global temperature in the same way. Long-lived gases build up in the atmosphere over a long period while short-lived ones will disappear relatively soon from the atmosphere after they are emitted.

Carbon dioxide is an example of a long-lived climate gas and methane is an example of a short-lived one. Emissions of carbon dioxide cause an increase in temperature that lasts for centuries. Methane emissions, on the other hand, affect the temperature for just a few decades. This means we need to value them differently over different time periods.

The cost of climate actions per ton of reduced emissions depends on the type of action taken and when it is put into place. For example, you might consider choosing either to insulate your house (a mature technology) or to switch to an electric car (a less mature and still expensive technology). It is less costly to choose the first option today, and do the second later. New technologies become both cheaper and more efficient as they mature and that's why we need to properly analyse when it is appropriate to do what.

The same can be said for different greenhouse gasesthe value of carbon dioxide and the value of methane should change based on the time period and the different global warming scenarios we are facing.

There is no argument that carbon dioxide emissions need to be cut significantly to achieve the long-term temperature goal of the Paris Agreement. But our study shows that, during certain periods, it may be useful to focus more on reducing short-lived climate gases.

Global warming potential

The current metric used to compare the effects of different greenhouse gases is known as global warming potential, or GWP. It helps us understand how the earth's energy balance is affected by emissions of each greenhouse gas over a given timeframe. Depending on the timeframe, the scale can flip in favour of short-lived or long-lived greenhouse gases.

The current timeframe for global warming potentials is 100 years has been criticized since it does not relate unequivocally to the goals of the Paris Agreement.

In our study, we found that we don't need to fundamentally change the concept of how to value greenhouse gases. It's instead enough to change the timeframe used for global warming potential as we go, rather than keeping it fixed at 100 years.

Overshoot scenarios

Our finding are most relevant if we enter an "overshoot scenario." Such a scenario is one where we don't manage to hold the global temperature increase to below 1.5C (or 2C), overshooting the target during a certain period before we bring the increase back down.

Emission reductions of methane and other short-lived climate gases could play an important role in such a scenario, especially when the temperature needs to be lowered. That's because methane has a greater short-term effect on temperatures than carbon dioxide.

The figure below shows five pathways for the global mean temperature (the first panel). The 1.5 degree C medium overshoot and 2 degree C stabilization can be considered in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement, while the remaining overshoot scenarios show cases where those goals are not met. We covered a wide range of future scenarios, including a case with a peak warming up to about 3C, reflecting the current climate policies. The figure shows the adopted timeframe that would achieve each pathway at the lowest cost (the second panel).

We see a gradual shift from using the 100-year timeframe to a 20-year timeframe as we approach the year when the overshoot has passed. We would use the methane to bring the temperature level back down after overshooting the target. This is done by giving the gas a higher value during that period (one ton of methane is worth 28 tons of carbon dioxide for the 100-year timeframe but as much as 84 tons of carbon dioxide for the 20-year timeframe). Giving methane a higher global warming value will mean we emit less of it during the overshoot period, which will bring temperatures back down more quickly.

We found that the 100-year timeframe works pretty well for the coming decades in all scenarios that we analyzed. So, this is not an urgent matter. But it is an important safeguard for us to get back on track at a relatively low cost in case we do enter an overshoot scenario.

Changing timeframes

One of the important stepping stones in getting there was the adoption of the Paris Rulebook at COP24 in Katowice. The rulebook essentially lays out how countries should work together in order to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. One of the rules is which method to use when weighing different greenhouse gases, known as "common metrics" in climate circles.

The common metrics that countries decided on are the 100-year time-horizon global warming potential values from the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. The method is not only used for statistics but also when designing future scenarios, countries' plans for reducing emissions, and in implementing climate policies, for example the EU Renewable Energy Directive.

The fact that the method is common to all countries is an important step forward to make it easier to compare emissions and actions between countries. Therefore, this rule might be tricky to change in the future without opening a new discussion.

Instead, we suggest to assess the costs of using different timeframes for global warming potentials as our future temperature pathway unfolds. This could be part of the technical assessment of the five-year cycle for increasing ambition. The five-year cycle is a cornerstone of the Paris Agreement and includes the "global stocktake" where countries meet to discuss their collective progress toward the goals.

This would be a great opportunity to also discuss whether the timeframe of the "global warming potential" for the possible temperature pathway is suitable and suggest adjustments accordingly. An adjustment of the timeframe, if it is made at right time, will save costs and allow us to more effectively manage the effects of climate change through mitigation.

Explore further Lessening the cost of strategies to reach the Paris Agreement

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
A scanning electron microscope image shows branched cracks in a single crystal of 2D hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). Experiments and computational modelling by Rice University and Nanyang Technological University showed h-BN lattice asymmetry allows cracks to follow branching paths, which effectively toughens the 2D material by making it more difficult for cracks to propagate. Credit: J. Lou/Rice University

It's official: Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is the iron man of 2D materials, so resistant to cracking that it defies a century-old theoretical description engineers still use to measure toughness.

"What we observed in this material is remarkable," said Rice University's Jun Lou, co-corresponding author of a Nature paper published this week. "Nobody expected to see this in 2D materials. That's why it's so exciting."

Lou explains the significance of the discovery by comparing the fracture toughness of h-BN with that of its better-known cousin graphene. Structurally, graphene and h-BN are nearly identical. In each, atoms are arranged in a flat lattice of interconnecting hexagons. In graphene, all the atoms are carbon, and in h-BN each hexagon contains three nitrogen and three boron atoms.

The carbon-carbon bonds in graphene are nature's strongest, which should make graphene the toughest stuff around. But there's a catch. If even a few atoms are out of place, graphene's performance can go from extraordinary to mediocre. And in the real world, no material is defect-free, Lou said, which is why fracture toughnessor resistance to crack growthis so important in engineering: It describes exactly how much punishment a real-world material can withstand before failing.

"We measured the fracture toughness of graphene seven years ago, and it's actually not very resistant to fracture," Lou said. "If you have a crack in the lattice, a small load will just break that material."

In a word, graphene is brittle. British engineer A.A. Griffith published a seminal theoretical study of fracture mechanics in 1921 that described the failure of brittle materials. Griffith's work described the relationship between the size of a crack in a material and the amount of force required to make the crack grow.

Lou's 2014 study showed graphene's fracture toughness could be explained by Griffith's time-tested criterion. Given h-BN's structural similarities to graphene, it also was expected to be brittle.

That isn't the case. Hexagonal boron nitride's fracture resistance is about 10 times higher than graphene's, and h-BN's behavior in fracture tests was so unexpected that it defied description with Griffith's formula. Showing precisely how it behaved and why took more than 1,000 hours of experiments in Lou's lab at Rice and equally painstaking theoretical work headed by co-corresponding author Huajian Gao at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore.

"What makes this work so exciting is that it unveils an intrinsic toughening mechanism in a supposedly perfectly brittle material," Gao said. "Apparently, even Griffith couldn't foresee such drastically different fracture behaviors in two brittle materials with similar atomic structures."

Lou, Gao and colleagues traced the wildly different material behaviors to slight asymmetries that result from h-BN containing two elements instead of one.

"Boron and nitrogen are not the same, so even though you have this hexagon, it is not exactly like the carbon hexagon (in graphene) because of this asymmetric arrangement," Lou said.

Computational simulations at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore helped explain the unexpected fracture toughness of 2D hexagonal boron nitride. The material's intrinsic toughness arises from slight asymmetries in its atomic structure (left), which produce a permanent tendency for moving cracks to follow branched paths (right). Credit: H. Gao/NTU

He said the details of the theoretical description are complex, but the upshot is cracks in h-BN have a tendency to branch and turn. In graphene, the tip of the crack travels straight through the material, opening bonds like a zipper. But the lattice asymmetry in h-BN creates a "bifurcation" where branches can form.

"If the crack is branched, that means it is turning," Lou said. "If you have this turning crack, it basically costs additional energy to drive the crack further. So you've effectively toughened your material by making it much harder for the crack to propagate."

Gao said, "The intrinsic lattice asymmetry endows h-BN with a permanent tendency for a moving crack to branch off its path, like a skier who has lost her or his ability to maintain a balanced posture to move straight forward."

Hexagonal boron nitride is already an extremely important material for 2D electronics and other applications because of its heat resistance, chemical stability and dielectric properties, which allow it to serve as both a supporting base and an insulating layer between electronic components. Lou said h-BN's surprising toughness could also make it the ideal option for adding tear resistance to flexible electronics made from 2D materials, which tend to be brittle.

"The niche area for 2D material-based electronics is the flexible device," Lou said.

In addition to applications like electronic textiles, 2D electronics are thin enough for more exotic applications like electronic tattoos and implants that could be attached directly to the brain, he said.

"For this type of configuration, you need to ensure the material itself is mechanically robust when you bend it around," Lou said. "That h-BN is so fracture-resistant is great news for the 2D electronic community, because it can use this material as a very effective protective layer."

Gao said the findings may also point to a new route to fabricate tough mechanical metamaterials through engineered structural asymmetry.

"Under extreme loading, fracture may be inevitable, but its catastrophic effects can be mitigated through structural design," Gao said.

Lou is a professor and associate department chair in materials science and nanoengineering and a professor of chemistry at Rice. Gao is a distinguished university professor in the schools of both engineering and science at NTU.

Rice-affiliated co-authors are Yingchao Yang, now an assistant professor at the University of Maine, Chao Wang, now at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China, and Boyu Zhang. Other co-authors include Bo Ni of Brown University; Xiaoyan Li of Tsinghua University in China; Guangyuan Lu, Qinghua Zhang, Lin Gu and Xiaoming Xie of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Zhigong Song of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore and formerly of Tsinghua and Brown.

Explore further New study shows nickel graphene can be tuned for optimal fracture strength

More information: Intrinsic toughening and stable crack propagation in hexagonal boron nitride, Nature (2021). www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03488-1 Journal information: Nature Intrinsic toughening and stable crack propagation in hexagonal boron nitride,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03488-1
Credit: E Vanderduys, Fourni par l'auteur

Most of the incredible diversity of life on Earth is yet to be discovered and documented. In some groups of organismsterrestrial arthropods such as spiders and scorpions, marine invertebrates such as sponges and molluscs, and othersscientists have described fewer than 20% of species.

Even our knowledge of more familiar creatures such as fish and reptiles is far from complete. In our new research, we studied 1,034 known species of Australian lizards and snakes and found we know so little about 164 of them that not even the experts know whether they are fully described or not. Of the remaining 870, almost a third probably need some work to be described properly.

Documenting and naming what species are out therethe work of taxonomistsis crucial for conservation, but it can be difficult for researchers to decide where to focus their efforts. Alongside our lizard research, we have developed a new "return on investment" approach to identify priority species for our efforts.

We identified several hotspots across Australia where research is likely to be rewarded. More broadly, our approach can help target taxonomic research for conservation worldwide.

Why we need to look at species more closely

As more and more species are threatened by land clearing, climate change and other human activities, our research highlights that we are losing even more biodiversity than we know.

Return on investment for taxonomic research on lizards and snakes in Australia. Red areas have high numbers of species and high conservation value. Hotspots include the Kimberley in WA, northern tropical savannas and also far north eastern QLD. Credit: R. Tingley, Author provided

Conservation often relies on species-level assessments such as those conducted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, which lists threatened species. Although new species are being discovered all the time, a key problem is that already named "species" may harbor multiple undocumented and unnamed species. This hidden diversity remains invisible to conservation assessment.

One such example are the Grassland Earless Dragons (Tympanocryptis spp.) found in the temperate native grasslands of south-eastern Australia. These small secretive lizards were grouped within a single species (Tympanocryptis pinguicolla) and listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

But recent taxonomic research split this single species into four, each occurring in an isolated region of grasslands. One of these new species may represent the first extinction of a reptile on mainland Australia and the other three have a high probability of being threatened.

Scientists call documenting and describing species "taxonomy." Our research shows the importance of prioritizing taxonomy in the effort to conserve and protect species.

The Roma Earless Dragon (Tympanocryptis wilsoni), described in 2014, lives only in grasslands in the western Darling Downs QLD and has recently been listed as Vulnerable in Queensland. Credit: A. O'Grady, Author provided

Taxonomists at work

Many government agencies do take some account of groups smaller than species in their conservation efforts, such as distinct populations. But these are often ambiguously defined and lack formal recognition, so they are not widely used. That's where taxonomists come in, to identify species and describe them fully.

Our new research was a collaboration of 30 taxonomists and systematists, who teamed up to find a good way of working out which species should be a priority for taxonomic research for conservation outcomes. This new approach compares the amount of work needed with the likelihood of finding previously unknown species that are at risk of extinction.

The research team, who are experts on the taxonomy and systematics of Australia's reptiles, implemented this new approach on Australian lizards and snakes. This group of reptiles is ideal as a test case because Australia is a global hotspot of lizard diversityand we also have a strong community of taxonomic experts.

Barrier Range Dragon (Ctenophorus mirrityana), described in 2013, is restricted to rocky ranges in western NSW and is listed as Endangered in NSW. Credit: S. Wilson, Author provided

Australia's lizards and snakes

Of the 1,034 Australian lizard and snake species, we were able to assess whether 870 of them may contain undescribed species. This means we know so little about the remaining 164 species that even the experts could not make an informed opinion on whether they contain hidden diversity. There is so much still to learn!

Of the 870 species experts could assess, they determined 282 probably or definitely needed more taxonomic research. Mapping the distributions of these species indicated hotspot regions for this taxonomic research, including the Kimberley, the Tanami Desert region, western Victoria and offshore islands (such as Tasmania, Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands). Some areas in the Kimberley region had more than 60 species that need further taxonomic research.

We found 17.6% of the 282 species that need more taxonomic research contained undescribed species that would probably be of conservation concern, and 24 had a high probability of being threatened with extinction. Taxonomists know that there are undescribed species because there is some data available already but the description of these speciesthe process of defining and naminghas not been done.

These high-priority species belong to a range of families including geckos, skinks and dragons found across Australia.

The high number of undescribed species, especially those with significant likelihood of being endangered, was a shock to even the experts. The IUCN currently estimates only 6.3% of Australian lizards and snakes require taxonomic revision, but this is obviously a significant underestimate.

In this map, red hotspot areas have lower species diversity but still a very high average return on investment. National hotspots include Tasmania, western Victoria and the Tanami Desert region in WA and NT. Credit: R. Tingley, Author provided

A race against extinction

Beyond lizards, there is a huge backlog of species awaiting description.

Recent projects have used genetic analyses to discover unknown species, including a $180 million global BIOSCAN effort aiming to identify millions of new species. However, genetics is only a first step in the formal recognition of species.

The taxonomic process of documenting, describing and naming species requires multiple further steps. These steps include a comprehensive diagnostic assessment using a combination of evidence, such as genetics and morphology, to uniquely distinguish each species from another. This process requires a high level of familiarity and scholarship of the group in question.

Among the Australian lizards and snakes alone, there is a backlog of 59 undescribed species for which only the final elements of taxonomic research are awaiting completion.

The Mt Elliot Sunskink (Lampropholis elliotensis), described in 2018, is found in leaf litter of highland rainforest above 600m on Mt Elliot in Bowling Green Bay National Park. Queensland, and is probably Vulnerable. Credit: C. Hoskin, Author provided

To work through these taxonomic backlogslet alone species that are so far entirely unknownresources need to be invested in taxonomy, including research funding and increased provision of viable career paths.

Without taxonomic research, the conservation assessment of these undocumented species will not proceed. There are untold numbers of species needing taxonomic research that are already under threat of extinction. If we don't hurry, they may go extinct before we even know they exist.

Explore further How best to focus efforts on classifying new species to prevent their extinction?

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Research from the University of Illinois shows male piglets whose mothers were ill during pregnancy show genetic changes in the amygdala and are less resilient to a second stressful event, weaning, than females and piglets whose mothers weren't ill during pregnancy. From left: Sandra Rodriguez-Zas, Laurie Rund, Courtni Bolt, Olivia Perez, Haley Rymut, and Marissa Keever-Keigher. Credit: University of Illinois Members of the research team. From left: Sandra Rodriguez-Zas, Laurie Rund, Courtni Bolt, Olivia Perez, Haley Rymut, and Marissa Keever-Keigher. Credit: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

When pigs get hit with significant illnesses during key stages of pregnancy, their immune response may negatively affect developing piglets, making them less productive on the farm. New research from the University of Illinois shows that when those pigletsespecially malesexperience a second stressor in early life, they are at higher risk of neurodevelopmental and other neurological anomalies, putting them at an even greater disadvantage in production settings.

"With more information about maternal illness, what we call maternal immune activation, we can make better decisions about how to handle these types of immune challenges within animal production settings," says Marissa Keever-Keigher, doctoral student in the Department of Animal Sciences at Illinois and lead researcher on the study.

Studying brain development in the domestic pig is relevant on the farm, of course, but pig studies can also inform human neurodevelopmental research. That's because the pig's development, genetics, brain structure, and more are very similar to our own.

In previous pig studies looking at the effects of maternal immune activation, Keever-Keigher and her colleagues showed important genetic changes occur in the piglet amygdala, a brain structure that plays an important role in learning, social behavior, and stress response in both humans and pigs.

The researchers also knew from primate and rodent studies that a second immune challenge, known as a double hit, can further disrupt typical brain development in young animals. To test the double hit hypothesis in pigs, the team chose weaning as the second challenge.

"While weaning is not itself an immune challenge, it is an extremely stressful time during a piglet's life and can elicit an immune response," says Haley Rymut, doctoral student in animal sciences and co-author on the study. "Piglets have to deal with a broad array of stressors, including physical stressors from being handled and moved, and emotional stressors from being taken away from the mom and placed with their peers. Any of those physical or emotional stressors can kick off an immune response."

The researchers looked at a combination of factors for piglets in the study: whether or not their moms were infected with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) during gestation, and whether or not they were weaned at 21 days of age, the typical age in production settings. They also noted the sex of the piglets, as their earlier research indicated male piglets showed more changes in the amygdala as a result of maternal illness.

"Using high throughput sequencing technologies, we were able to monitor the levels of more than 16,000 genes in the pigs. We uncovered more than 100 genes and molecular pathways affected by either maternal immune activation, weaning, sex, or a combination of factors in the amygdala on day 22 for all piglets. The effect of pre- and postnatal stressors on neuropeptide genes confirms the plasticity of the infant brain during development to respond and adapt to challenges," says Sandra Rodriguez-Zas, professor in animal sciences and faculty advisor to Keever-Keigher and Rymut. Rodriguez-Zas is principal investigator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded study.

Many of the genes expressed at higher or lower-than-typical rates in weaned piglets from virus-infected mothers have been associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) in previous studies. But genes relevant to other neurological disorders were affected too.

"We also found changes in expression of genes associated with neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington's and Alzheimer's disease," Keever-Keigher says.

As in the scientists' previous work, the double hit affected male piglets more than females, with greater dysregulation of genes in the amygdala. The researchers found evidence of more protective pathways in female brains, giving them an advantage in handling stressful events.

The study provides valuable clues for researchers studying ASD, SSD, and neurodegenerative disorders in humans, even though some aspects might not translate directly.

Rymut says, "For most children, weaning isn't nearly as stressful as it is for pigs in a production setting. But many other traumatic events early in childhood could set up that double hit."

On the farm, pigs from virus-infected mothers often show anti-social behaviors. Because pigs are typically group-housed and fed via communal feeders, pigs that don't like being around their peers are often last to feed and generally more stressed, leading to slower growth rates and lower overall body condition scores.

"The lesson for swine producers, I think, is to be really mindful of stressful conditions in the production cycle, and try to mitigate those as much as we can in order to create the most productive and healthy livestock animals and benefit producers' bottom lines," Keever-Keigher says.

Rymut adds, "Also, knowing how the different sexes respond could help producers manage animals that are less likely to be productive as a result of maternal immune activation."

The article, "Interacting impact of maternal inflammatory response and stress on the amygdala transcriptome of pigs," is published in G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics.

Explore further Antibiotic alternative scores well in second round of swine trials

More information: Marissa R Keever-Keigher et al, Interacting impact of maternal inflammatory response and stress on the amygdala transcriptome of pigs, G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics (2021). Marissa R Keever-Keigher et al, Interacting impact of maternal inflammatory response and stress on the amygdala transcriptome of pigs,(2021). DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkab113
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Advocates for people living in rural communities this week organized a statewide effort to get agriculture commissioners in Fresno and surrounding counties to begin notifying residents before pesticides are sprayed nearby.

Organizers held news conferences in Modesto, Salinas, Shafter and Tulare, and others organized in Fresno, Los Angeles and many more cities to raise concerns over chemicals that can cause respiratory irritation, kidney effects and convulsions, among other illnesses.

Agriculture is big business in the central San Joaquin Valley, and Fresno uses the most pesticides of any county, according to advocates. Fresno County's agricultural and livestock production of $7.7 billion for 2019 also topped all others in production.

The fix is a simple one, according to Lupe Martinez, a retired organizer formerly with the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment and the United Farm Workers.

The advocates said they want local ag commissioners to post on their websites each day where the pesticides will be applied. That way, residents can take whatever precautions they can to protect themselves and their childrenplus reduce their exposure to chemical sprays.

"This is a very simple demand," Martinez said. "We want the ag commissioners to post on a website the notices of intent to apply pesticides. This requires nothing new or more work from the growers. We also think it means very little work for the ag commissioner."

More than 200 million pounds of pesticides are used in California every year, according to advocates.

Since 2018, pesticides cannot be sprayed within a quarter-mile of a school or day care from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. But, advocates say the new protections for which they are asking are much less onerous.

Pesticides are known to drift up to a mile from where they are sprayed, according to Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Studies have repeatedly shown that communities near pesticide use have increased cases of cancer, Parkinson's disease, learning disabilities, birth defects and autism, Rotkin-Ellman said. Those studies include routine pesticide sprays, not those using illegal methods or chemicals, she stressed.

"The communities are kept in the dark about the poison sprayed near their homes because the local agricultural agencies keep information about planned spray events secret," she said.

Tulare County Assistant Agriculture Commissioner Christopher Greer said the local county office operates off of state standards, noting most of the more than 70,000 types of pesticides used only require farmers to report their use the following month.

Counties across the state use the same standards, he said.

The most toxic pesticides do require the farmer or other type of user to notify the commissioner at least 24 hours before its use, he said. But, the user has up to four days after the proposed date to use it to make up for any unforeseen delays.

About 3,800 permits to use pesticides are on hand with the Tulare office. Many of them require continued education, licenses and training to ensure the sprays are used properly.

Greer said for the office to be able to report pesticidesas the advocates are asking forwould take a significant change to state guidelines.

Gov. Gavin Newsom in his May revised budget earmarked $10 million for the infrastructure toward such a notification system for which advocates are asking.

Advocates argued that the implementation could take years and that local ag commissioners should implement a system immediately with little effort, according to Nayamin Martinez, executive director of Central California Environmental Justice Network.

"We don't need to wait until 2024 or even later for these statewide programs to be a reality," she said. "Ag commissioners can do something and what they can do is easy."

Explore further California state and county officials falling short in evaluating use of agricultural pesticides

2021 The Fresno Bee. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Co-first author Christopher Go surveyed the human cell landscape using 192 markers for proteins known to reside in specific organelles that can "tag" neighboring proteins in the same compartment. Credit: Sinai Health

Researchers from Sinai Health have published a study providing an ultra-detailed look at the organization of a living human cell, providing a new tool that can help scientists around the world better understand what happens during disease.

The new study, out today in the journal Nature, was conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Anne-Claude Gingras, a senior investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute (LTRI) and professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto.

Co-first authors Christopher Go and Dr. James Knight surveyed the human cell landscape using 192 markers for proteins known to reside in specific organelles that can 'tag' neighboring proteins in the same compartment.

"The Human Cell Map was able to predict the localization of 4,000 proteins across all compartments in living human cells," said Go. "We sampled all the major organelles of the human cell and used innovative analysis to create the highest resolution map to date, with high accuracy in predicting novel localizations for many unmapped proteins."

The human body is composed of trillions of cells that are each further separated into different compartments with dedicated functions, much like a house has different rooms for sleeping or preparing food. These compartments, called organelles, each contain different proteins that perform specific activities associated with the compartment. The mitochondria, the so-called powerhouse of the cell, is one example of an organelle.

The scientists said knowing which proteins are residing in which organelles is an important first step towards understanding the role of each cellular protein. Earlier approaches often used methods that first kill the cells before trying to separate the organelles from one another.

"Previously, it was like taking the house apart to isolate each of the individual rooms," said Go. "These approaches tend to provide only crude views of the organization of a cell."

The Gingras lab develops tools to detect proteins using instruments known as mass spectrometers. In the new research, they purified the proteins that are "tagged" by organelle markers and identified each of them by mass spectrometry. The team then used Computational tools to reconstruct the human cell.

"Through our research, we have shown that we can precisely localize thousands of proteins at a time with relatively little effort," said Dr. Knight, a bioinformatician in the Gingras Lab at the LTRI. "Previous methods for localizing a protein required each protein to be investigated individually, or required a limited focus."

Given the expansive nature of the Human Cell Map, the team also created an analysis portal to allow researchers around the world to delve deeper into the data. Users can scan each of the 192 markers in detail and compare their own data on protein localization to predictions made in the Human Cell Map.

Knight said while this work provides a greater understanding of the organization within the human cell, it also can be leveraged to better understand what happens during disease.

"Human diseases are typically characterized at the molecular level by proteins with aberrant behavior that cause the cell to behave in pathological ways. In these situations, proteins will often change where they reside in the cell," said Dr. Knight. "Our research is a first step in addressing this challenge in normal cells and we can use it for comparisons against altered cell states, such as disease conditions, to identify proteins with unexpected localizations that may help us understand a diseased cell better."

The team said the map will now be used in a variety of projects to help shed additional light on protein localization in human cells. Future efforts will include using chemical, viral and disease conditions to better characterize how cells adapt structurally to these stressors. This can inform future research efforts towards a mechanistic understanding of diseased states and the development of future therapeutics.

Explore further Cancer research to gain from identification of 300 proteins that regulate cell division

More information: Go, C.D., Knight, J.D.R., Rajasekharan, A. et al. A proximity-dependent biotinylation map of a human cell. Nature (2021). Journal information: Nature Go, C.D., Knight, J.D.R., Rajasekharan, A. et al. A proximity-dependent biotinylation map of a human cell.(2021). doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03592-2
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Conservatives are less able to distinguish political truths from falsehoods than liberals, mainly because of a glut of right-leaning misinformation, a new national study conducted over six months shows.

Researchers found that liberals and conservatives in the United States both tended to believe claims that promoted their political views, but that this more often led conservatives to accept falsehoods while rejecting truths.

One of the main drivers of the findings appeared to be the American media and information environment.

"Both liberals and conservatives tend to make errors that are influenced by what is good for their side," said Kelly Garrett, co-author of the study and professor of communication at The Ohio State University.

"But the deck is stacked against conservatives because there is so much more misinformation that supports conservative positions. As a result, conservatives are more often led astray."

Garrett conducted the study with Robert Bond, associate professor of communication at Ohio State. Their results were published today (June 2, 2021) in the journal Science Advances.

The study involved 1,204 American adults who participated online between January and June 2019.

Every two weeks, the researchers identified viral political news stories, 10 true and 10 false, that received high social media engagement.

The researchers then asked participants to assess a series of 20 statements that were based on these stories. Participants labeled each one as true or false and indicated how confident they were in their label.

In the end, participants had evaluated as many as 240 statements on a broad range of topics and representing many different viewpoints.

A separate group of people, recruited online, were surveyed to determine whether the claims, if true, would be better for liberals or for conservatives, or if they were neutral.

Overall, both liberals and conservatives were more likely to believe stories that favored their sidewhether they were true or not.

The differences in beliefs were often stark, Garrett said.

For example, participants rated this true statement that received widespread social media engagement when it came out: "Investigators for the DHS Office of the Inspector General have identified poor conditions in several Texas migrant facilities, including extreme overcrowding and serious health risks."

Results showed that 54% of Democrats correctly said that the statement was "definitely true"compared to only 18% of Republicans.

Another statementa false onewas "While serving as Sec. of State, Hillary Clinton colluded with Russia, selling 20% of the U.S. uranium supply to that country in exchange for donations to the Clinton Foundation."

Here, only 2% of Democrats said this was "definitely true," but 41% of Republicans did.

"These are important factual claims, yet we see vast partisan differences in belief," Garrett said.

One of the major issues identified in the study was that these widely shared truths and falsehoods have different implications for liberals and conservatives.

Two-thirds (65%) of the high-engagement true statements were characterized as benefiting liberals, while only 10% of accurate claims were considered beneficial to conservatives. On the other side, 46% of falsehoods were rated as advantageous to conservatives, compared to 23% of false claims benefiting liberals.

"We saw that viral political falsehoods tended to benefit conservatives, while truths tended to favor liberals. That makes it a lot harder for conservatives to avoid misperceptions," Garrett said.

Although the information environment was the primary reason conservatives were susceptible to misinformation, it may not be the only one.

Results showed that even when the information environment was taken into account, conservatives were slightly more likely to hold misperceptions than were liberals.

"It is difficult to say why that is," Garrett said. "We can't explain the finding with our data alone."

Results did show further distinctions between how conservatives and liberals approached the political claims in the viral stories they evaluated.

Liberals showed greater overall sensitivity, which characterizes an individual's ability to distinguish truths and falsehoods. Conservatives and liberals were equally good at detecting truths and falsehoods when most true stories were labeled politically neutral.

But if more of the factually accurate stories were labeled politicalbenefiting either liberal or conservative positionsliberals became better than conservatives at distinguishing true from false statements.

"Conservatives did not get any worse, but they did not keep up with liberals who were getting better at discerning truths and falsehoods," Garrett said.

Conservatives also showed a stronger "truth bias," meaning that they were more likely to say that all the claims they were asked about were true.

"That's a problem because some of the claims were outlandishthere should have been no ambiguity about whether they were true or not," he said.

Garrett said a strength of this study, compared to many previous ones, is that it analyzed a wide range of political claims, reflecting the diversity of the media environment that Americans are exposed to. It clearly confirms the point made by many media commentators that conservatives are awash in false statements that support what they want to believe.

"We show that the media environment is shaping people's ability to do this very basic, fundamental task. Democracy depends on people being able to tell the difference between what is true and false and it falters when people have difficulty agreeing on what's real," he said.

Explore further People follow a crowd, no matter its politics
An illustration of Paris, France's economic composition, as displayed in Metroverse. Credit: Metroverse/Growth Lab

The Growth Lab at Harvard University is announcing the launch of Metroverse, an Urban Economy Navigator designed to provide policymakers, entrepreneurs, investors, business organizations, civil society, and the general public with unprecedented economic data for more than 1,000 cities in 79 countries. The platform vividly illustrates the technological capabilities that underpin a city's economy and its' opportunities for future growth and diversification.

This tool builds upon the Growth Lab's Atlas of Economic Complexity, which maps the productive capabilities of about 200 countries and helps identify paths for growth and diversification. Metroverse takes the research to the city level, providing answers and insights to these questions:

What is the economic composition of this city?

What does this city specialize in?

What cities are similar to this city?

What is this city's position in the Industry Space?

What are the growth opportunities for this city?

"For more than a decade, the Growth Lab has mapped productive capabilitiesthe knowhow and technology that support an economy's capacity for growthat the national level," said Ricardo Hausmann, faculty director at the Growth Lab and the Rafik Hariri Professor of the Practice of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School. "With the launch of Metroverse, we deepen our understanding of industrial composition and growth opportunities at the level where many of a nation's economic capabilities reside: its cities and their local workforces."

"For most cities, it is incredibly hard to know who they are, and therefore to know what they can be. Policymakers often struggle to figure out what other cities to compare themselves to when considering growth opportunities. But that's what this tool is going to do," said Frank Neffke, research director at the Growth Lab. "It gives citiesits public leaders and economic actorsa quick sense of who they are and what they can become."

To translate these insights into a user-friendly online tool, researchers worked in close collaboration with the Growth Lab's Digital Development and Design team, led by Annie White. Over the course of a year, the digital team implemented best practices in information design, rapid prototyping, and data architecture, resulting in a visually stunning interface with city-to-city comparisons at the heart of the experience. In recent months, the team also piloted the application with a global group of city leaders to ensure data integrity and viability of the user interface.

"Metroverse provides fascinating clarity on what city your community may be similar to, in terms of economic performance, and that can help shape your community's competitive advantage," said Dr. Eric Anthony Johnson, Chief of Economic Development, Housing and Neighborhood Services for the City of Dallas, Texas and a member of the pilot user group. "You may be surprised to discover what cities your community is most similar to. It may not even be in the United States."

"International benchmarks are a useful means of measuring a city's economic performance relative to its peers, and Metroverse is an innovative way of doing this," said Juliet Passmore, an economist with the Economic Development Office in Dublin, Ireland, who is also a pilot user. "The platform is visually appealing, and its ease of use will help cities identify their strengths and weaknesses against similar cities worldwide."

Metroverse introduces the concept of the Industry Spacea graph that showcases the technological relatedness between all industries and groups them into knowledge clusters. Industries that are near each other in the Industry Space typically require similar knowhow and are therefore prone to feed into the growth potential of other nearby industries.

"Think of the Industry Space as a map of the technological landscape in which economies live. If you project a city's economy onto that map, you can quickly grasp the knowledge base that supports this economy today, but also which activities the city could develop tomorrow," said Frank Neffke.

As with the Atlas of Economic Complexity, Growth Lab researchers will continue to update Metroverse with the latest available data and visualizations to ensure its currency and applicability for free and highly functional use in cities and regions worldwide.

Explore further New study targets secrets of great entrepreneurial cities

Provided by Harvard Kennedy School
A 1924 photo shows the oil derricks on Signal Hill. Credit: Water and Power Museum Archive

When California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a goal to phase out oil drilling statewide by 2045, he focused on its impact on climate change. But oil drilling is also a health problem, particularly in Los Angeles, where thousands of oil wells still dot the city.

These wells can emit toxic chemicals such as benzene and other irritants into the air, often just feet from homes, schools and parks.

As environmental health researchers, we study the impacts of oil drilling on surrounding communities. Our research shows that people living near these urban oil operations suffer higher rates of asthma than average, as well as wheezing, eye irritation and sore throats. In some cases, the impact on residents' lungs is worse than living beside a highway or being exposed to secondhand smoke every day.

LA was once an oil town with forests of derricks

Over a century ago, before Hollywood, the first industry to boom in Los Angeles was oil.

Oil was abundant and flowed close to the surface. In early 20th-century California, sparse laws governed mineral extraction, and rights to oil accrued to those who could pull it out of the ground first. This ushered in a period of rampant drilling, with wells and associated machinery crisscrossing the landscape. By the mid-1920s, Los Angeles was one of the largest oil-exporting regions in the world.

The view across The Pike amusement park and downtown Long Beach, California, in 1940 shows a forest of oil derricks in the background. Credit: Water and Power Museum Archive

Oil rigs were so pervasive across the region that the Los Angeles Times described them in 1930 as "trees in a forest." Working-class communities were initially supportive of the industry because it promised jobs but later pushed back as their neighborhoods witnessed explosions and oil spills, along with longer-term damage to land, water and human health.

Tensions over land use, extraction rights and subsequent drops in oil prices due to overproduction eventually resulted in curbs on drilling and a long-standing practice of oil companies' voluntary "self-regulation," such as noise-reduction technologies. The industry began touting these voluntary approaches to deflect governmental regulation.

Increasingly, oil companies disguised their activities with approaches such as operating inside buildings, building tall walls and designing islands off Long Beach and other sites to blend in with the landscape. Oil drilling was hidden in plain sight.

Today there are over 20,000 active, idle or abandoned wells spread across a county of 10 million people. About one-third of residents live less than a mile from an active well site, some right next door.

Since the 2000s, the advance of extractive technologies to access harder-to-reach deposits has led to a resurgence of oil extraction activities. As extraction in some neighborhoods has ramped up, people living in South Los Angeles and other neighborhoods in oil fields have noticed frequent odors, nosebleeds and headaches.

Oil drilling in Los Angeles.

Closer to urban oil drilling, poorer lung function

The City of Los Angeles currently requires no buffers or setbacks between oil extraction and homes. Approximately 75% of active oil or gas wells are located within 500 meters (1,640 feet) of "sensitive land uses," such as homes, schools, child care facilities, parks or senior residential facilities.

Despite that proximity and over a century of oil drilling in Los Angeles, there have been few studies on how it affects residents' health. We have been working with community health workers to gauge the impact oil wells are having on residents, particularly on its historically Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

The first step was a door-to-door survey of 813 neighbors from 203 households near wells in Las Cienegas oilfield, just south and west of downtown. We found that asthma was significantly more common among people living near South Los Angeles oil wells than among residents of Los Angeles County as a whole. Nearly half the people we spoke with, 45%, didn't know oil wells were operating nearby, and 63% didn't know how to contact local regulatory authorities to report odors or environmental hazards.

Next, we measured lung function of 747 long-term residents, ages 10 to 85, living near two drilling sites. Poor lung capacity, measured as the amount of air a person can exhale after taking a deep breath, and lung strength, how strongly the person can exhale, and are both predictors of health problems including respiratory disease, death from cardiovascular problems and early death in general.

Lung strength is how strongly a person can exhale. Lung capacity, shown here as the difference in forced vital capacity compared to average, is the amount of air a person can exhale after a deep breath. The average forced vital capacity for a healthy man is about 4,800 milliliters, and about 3,700 ml for a healthy woman. Credit: Chart: The Conversation/CC-BY-ND Source: Johnston, et al 2021

We found that the closer someone lived to an active or recently idle well site, the poorer that person's lung function, even after adjusting for such other risk factors as smoking, asthma and living near a freeway. This research demonstrates a significant relationship between living near oil wells and worsened lung health.

People living up to 1,000 meters (0.6 miles) downwind of a well site showed lower lung function on average than those living farther away and upwind. The effect on their lungs' capacity and strength was similar to impacts of living near a freeway or, for women, being exposed to secondhand smoke.

Using a community monitoring network in South Los Angeles, we were able to distinguish oil-related pollution in neighborhoods near wells. We found short-term spikes of air pollutants and methane, a potent greenhouse gas, at monitors less than 500 meters, about one-third of a mile, from oil sites.

When oil production at a site stopped, we observed significant reductions in such toxins as benzene, toluene and n-hexane in the air in adjacent neighborhoods. These chemicals are known irritants, carcinogens and reproductive toxins. They are also associated with dizziness, headaches, fatigue, tremors and respiratory system irritation, including difficulty breathing and, at higher levels, impaired lung function.

A state app called well finder locates active oil wells, including in Los Angeles County. Credit: State of California

Vulnerable communities at risk

Many of the dozens of active oil wells in South Los Angeles are in historically Black and Hispanic communities that have been marginalized for decades. These neighborhoods are already considered among the most highly polluted, with the most vulnerable residents in the state.

But while the governor declared that "California needs to move beyond oil," his current timeline would allow oil wells to continue operating for the next two decades. A variety of policies, including buffers, phaseouts and emissions controls, will need to be considered to protect public health and accelerate the transition to cleaner energy sources.

Explore further L.A.'s legacy of oil drilling impacts lung function in residents living near active and inactive wells

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

A team of researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the University of Bergen, the Institute of Marine Research and PatoGen ASall in Norwayhas found that the widespread use of chemicals to combat aquatic lice in fish farms has led to resistance in aquatic lice in other parts of the North Atlantic.

Over the past several decades, many fish farms have been established in parts of the northern Atlantic Ocean. Not long after their inception, fish farmers found that their fish were being killed by aquatic lice. Also known as the salmon louse, the species is paddle-footed and clings to fish with tiny hooks and feeds on their blood. The lice create sores that very often become infected, which can lead to fish death. Over the years, fish farmers have used a variety of drugs to rid their fish of the licestarting with phosphorus-organic pesticides. But the lice grew resistant to them. They then tried pyrethroids, hydrogen peroxide, benzoate emamectin and diflubenzuron. Each time, the lice grew resistant. Today, fish farmers use a combination of the chemicals and worry that soon, they will have no tools left, leaving their fish at the mercy of the lice. In this new effort, the researchers wondered what the impact of all the chemicals has been on the aquatic lice. To find out, they began collecting lice specimens from fish farms on both sides of the Atlantic. They also collected specimens taken from wild fish. In all, they collected over 2000 specimens, subjecting each to genetic testing to learn about its mutation history.

The researchers found that over half of the lice collected from fish farms had developed resistance to both organophosphates and pyrethroids. They noted that in some of the fish farms, they had difficulty finding any specimens that were not resistant to at least one of the chemicals. The researchers found that as the lice became resistant, they migrated in the ocean, resulting in resistant populations far from the fish farmsthey found that the lice had spread all across the North Atlantic Ocean. They even found resistant lice on fish farms that did not use chemicals.

Explore further Selective breeding can produce salmon resistant to sea lice

More information: Helene Brretzen Fjrtoft et al, Losing the 'arms race': multiresistant salmon lice are dispersed throughout the North Atlantic Ocean, Royal Society Open Science (2021). Journal information: Royal Society Open Science Helene Brretzen Fjrtoft et al, Losing the 'arms race': multiresistant salmon lice are dispersed throughout the North Atlantic Ocean,(2021). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210265

 2021 Science X Network
The recommendations include a marketing campaign, creation of co-work spaces in the towns where there is strong cellphone and broadband access and outreach to the Capital Regions high-tech employers about the high-quality local lifestyle.

I hope this report will help people see what we know: These communities are gems waiting to be discovered, said Corinth Supervisor Richard Lucia.

The towns used $12,000 in Saratoga County economic development funds to commission the report, which looks at the kinds of people who have moved from elsewhere in recent years and ways that more of them could be drawn to the southern edge of the Adirondacks.

It was Wright who pushed for the four towns to pool economic development funding each could have spent individually.

The report really emphasizes how were all in the same boat, he said.

Edinburg Supervisor Jean Raymond, who moved to the Sacandaga region decades ago from suburban Connecticut, said the region still needs better cellphone and broadband internet service if more people are going to work remotely.

There are also opportunities to attract more Capital Region day trippers to see the scenery and appreciate the history, she said.
A similar wall will be installed to divide the current ballroom from the new area, allowing the hotel to host up to three events at a time. The walls can be removed to accommodate one large event, Herrick said.

Plans also call for renovating the current ballroom to match the new space.

Theyre all going to be renovated in like kind. Whatever the new design, were going to use that  so when we open up all the air walls and want to do a dinner for 400, the space all matches, he said.

A banquet kitchen will be added just off the new ballroom space, allowing the hotel to show off some of its culinary prowess, Herrick said.

The hotel now uses the same kitchen to serve guests seated in its ballroom, Fenimores Pub and Park 26 restaurant.

Its going to make everything better and allow our culinarians to really shine, Herrick said.

The ballroom extension will have a white facade to match the entrance off the hotels parking lot. The banquet kitchen will have red brick that matches the rest of the hotels exterior.

Two entrances will let out onto a small patio, and large windows will match those found along the hotels Maple Street entrance, according to the plans.
"She could get up and walk a very small distance around the room to move to the bed to a chair or whatever, she said. Shes not longer able to do that.

That's a similar experience for Wells, who said the nursing home where her mother lives still has no communal dining, group activities or hairdressing services. Wells, who lives in Rochester, said it was only last week that she was offered the opportunity to meet with her mother outside and without masks. But after spending so much time isolated during the pandemic, Wells said her mother no longer knows who she is, other than someone who cares about her.

She said it pains her to see her mother, who used to get her hair done weekly, looking unkept, with bangs hanging in her eyes and hair down to her shoulders.

This nursing home never allowed us into their rooms. We have to stay in an ugly dining room thats been stripped and all the furniture stacked in the corner and in four little pods of tables pushed together and staff staring at you the whole time, she said, adding: None of that has changed because theyre allowing nursing homes to do their own thing.



Associated Press Writer Marina Villeneuve in Albany, N.Y. contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
CANAJOHARIE  Operators of the proposed cannabis business at the old Beech-Nut site have spelled out in more detail both how the business will work, and what job opportunities will look like for local residents.

Up to 500 workers could be employed at the site by the third phase of the rollout, and those jobs  ranging from management and inventory positions to lab techs and agricultural experts  will come mostly with daytime hours and benefits.

Representatives of E29 Labs met with community members, as well as federal, state, county, village officials and business leaders Thursday to familiarize the community with what they are planning to do at the old baby food manufacturing plant at Exit 29 on the Thruway. Specific attention focused on the impact on the village of Canajoharie.

Most of the jobs at the plant, ranging from entry-level through higher-skilled employees will mostly be full-time and workers will be trained in their specialties. The multi-year plan calls for 125 jobs in phase one, with an additional 150 added in phase two, and another 125 in the third phase.

I think there is a wonderful opportunity here for synergy with the community in that respect, said attorney Michael Dundas, vice president at E29. He has experience with other similar projects in Massachusetts.
TRENTON  Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy has spent more in the primary than all the GOP potential opponents combined, new figures from state regulators showed Wednesday.

Murphy, who is running unopposed in Tuesdays primary, has spent $7.2 million so far, according to a report from the Election Law Enforcement Commission, which offered a snapshot about a week out from the contest.

Five Republican candidates  including one who has since dropped out of the race  have spent $7.1 million in their effort to take Murphy on in the fall election.

New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states electing a governor this year.

So far, Murphy has raised about $7.8 million and has $584,000 cash on hand. Former Republican Assembly member Jack Ciattarelli has raised $6.9 million and spent about $5.9 million, according to the commission. He has more than $900,000 cash on hand.Ciattarelli faces Linwood engineer and previously unsuccessful candidate Hirsh Singh, Hudson County pastor Phil Rizzo and former Somerset County official Brian Levine.

Ciattarelli is a former Assembly member who ran and lost the Republican gubernatorial nomination four years ago. Hes a certified public accountant and founder of a medical publishing company.

Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}
ATLANTIC CITY  In an effort to provide the resorts Asian community  which represents one of every six residents  with access to a variety of services, the city hosted an Asian Consulate and Resource Day at the Convention Center on Wednesday.

Through the event, the first of its kind in Atlantic City, residents were able to access passport and citizenship resources from the consulates of India and Bangladesh as well as health care, education and housing services from different local organizations.

The purpose of this event is to build a strong, positive and productive relationship between the consulates, local government and agencies to better meet the needs of our beautiful Asian community, said Mimi Nambo, a community social worker for O.C.E.A.N. Inc. and the main organizer of Wednesdays event. This will allow us to provide services, resources and the necessary tools to improve the quality of life.

O.C.E.A.N. Inc., a community action agency based in Toms River, partnered with the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority and the Mayors Office to make the event possible.

My administration is a huge supporter of the Asian community, Mayor Marty Small Sr. said.

+8 Crowds return to Atlantic, Ocean City Boardwalks for mask-free Memorial Day After Memorial Day weekend was off to a dreary start, crowds of eager visitors descended ont
In the spring of 2020, as the pandemic spread uncontrolled across the United States, Trump began to blame Beijing for what he called the China plague.

He told reporters that he had seen secret intelligence suggesting the virus came from a lab. I think they made a horrible mistake and they didnt want to admit it, he said.

I think Trump had an obvious political motive. He was under media fire for his administrations response to the pandemic and he needed someone to blame. Its Chinas fault, he said.

And after years of outlandish falsehoods from the president, it was difficult for Trumps critics to believe him, especially in the absence of any evidence, which was being withheld by China.

There was little direct evidence to support either the lab-leak or the wet-market hypotheses. The virus origin remained ignored in the media and stubbornly undetermined  a frustrating fact for those who yearned for a clear, uncluttered narrative.

After Trumps term ended, the absence of new evidence shifted the scientific debate. Researchers had spent months trying to determine what species had spread the coronavirus to humans, and came up empty-handed. Now many admitted that maybe the lab-leak theory wasnt so unlikely after all.
All of this begs the question: Now what? If the U.S. government believes the Earth is being monitored by aliens with vastly superior technology, how should it respond? How can it respond?

If the evidence gets stronger, will the Pentagon seek an even bigger budget? If the aliens are so much more advanced, that doesnt make sense.

If the evidence gets stronger, will the nations of the world unite to confront the potential alien threat, as President Ronald Reagan suggested in a 1987 speech to the United Nations? Given how divided the world is  only starting with the U.S. and China  that doesnt seem likely.

And bad things could happen if the evidence gets stronger, even if the UFOs remain benign  starting with a super-charging of the fake news narrative. We already live in an age of conspiracy theories, Klein wrote. Now the guardrails would truly shatter, because if UFOs were real, despite decades of dismissals, who would remain trusted to say anything else was false?
Last year was a bad time to be in prison or in a nursing home, where indoor concentrations of people placed them at greater risk of COVID-19. Nationwide, a fifth of state and federal prisoners tested positive for the novel coronavirus, four times the rate of the general population.

New Jersey, as part of the first and hottest U.S. pandemic hotspot, early on had 800 inmates test positive and 51 die from COVID. In May 2020 it had the highest state rate of inmate deaths. Treatment of the new illness was less effective early in the pandemic and the methods to best reduce its transmission were poorly understood.

In June 2020, the inmates of the Cumberland County Jail filed a federal lawsuit, seeking improvements in its pandemic response. They asked a judge to order the jail to provide every inmate with an N95 mask and perform testing immediately for all inmates and staff.

A law firm was appointed and the suit was amended in January. The county and inmates agreed that a monitor should oversee the COVID response and conditions at the jail, and this month U.S. Judge for the New Jersey District Noel L. Hillman ordered the appointment of a special master for the job. The monitor will examine testing for the coronavirus and contact tracing, quarantining practices and other related issues at the jail.
On April 28, 2015, Lisa Koster called Glenn and stated a young female family member had alleged her husband had touched her under her underwear. Lisa Koster immediately obtained a protective order against her husband and then sent emails to church staff about the alleged sexual abuse, which turned out to be groundless.

An investigation by the Iowa Department of Human Services concluded the allegations of child sexual abuse were not founded. Lisa Koster later filed two additional reports of child sexual abuse. DHS investigated and likewise did not substantiate either report. Law enforcement also declined to pursue criminal charges against Ryan Koster, who in a "fractious divorce" was awarded physical custody of the children, with the court finding Lisa Koster lacked credibility, according to the court opinion.

Their pastor, however, believed the allegations and sent emails to fellow HBC pastors, church staff and the discipleship group informing them of the protective order. The emails repeated the allegations of abuse to some extent, while also expressing support for Lisa Koster. The church also posted a "Security Alert" flyer with Ryan Koster's photograph in an area of the church accessible to HBC staff, stating a court found Lisa Koster and her children were in danger of physical harm from Ryan Koster, court documents state.
DETROIT (AP)  The world's largest meat processing company has resumed most production after a weekend cyberattack, but experts say the vulnerabilities exposed by this attack and others are far from resolved.

In a statement late Wednesday, the FBI attributed the attack on Brazil-based meat processor JBS SA to REvil, a Russian-speaking gang that has made some of the largest ransomware demands on record in recent months. The FBI said it will work to bring the group to justice and it urged anyone who is the victim of a cyberattack to contact the bureau immediately.

REvil has not posted anything related to the hack on its dark web site. But thats not unusual. Ransomware syndicates as a rule dont post about attacks when they are in initial negotiations with victims  or if the victims have paid a ransom.

In October, a REvil representative who goes by the handle UNKN said in an interview published online that the agriculture sector would now be a main target for the syndicate. REvil also threatened to auction off sensitive stolen data from victims who refused to pay it.

The attack targeted servers supporting JBSs operations in North America and Australia. Backup servers werent affected and the company said it was not aware of any customer, supplier or employee data being compromised.
In the Quad-Cities, no one could have been fully vaccinated until the middle of January. Over the course of the roughly six months since full vaccination was possible, an average of 20,131 people have been fully vaccinated every month.

COVID-19 in the Q-C, by the numbers

Encouraging news continued Wednesday, as just 29 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the Q-C.

The Rock Island County Health Department reported six new cases, raising the total number of cases confirmed since the start of the pandemic to 14,954. The death toll remained 328.

Illinois' new case numbers also stayed low. The state reported 478 new infections Wednesday.

The Iowa Department of Public Health reported 23 new cases Wednesday, giving the county 21,686 cases since the start of the pandemic. The total number of deaths in county linked to the virus remained 244.

A total of 192 new cases were reported across Iowa.

Walk-in vaccinations in the Q-C
A good Wednesday to all. It's Hump Day already. Another warm, dry day is shaping up for the Quad-Cities.

Here's the latest forecast from the National Weather Service.

1. Mostly sunny today

Today will be mostly sunny with a high near 78 degrees and a low around 58 degrees.

Thursday will be sunny with a high near 83 degrees and a low around 63 degrees.

2. Parts of Butterworth Parkway closed today

Moline officials report that the bicycle/pedestrian trail along Ben Butterworth Parkway will be closed today from the 4300 block to the East Moline border for seal coating.

The trail will reopen on Friday.

The Parks Department is asking that the public refrain from using the trail during this time.

3. Arch floor, bike path to be set on new I-74 bridge later this month

As Interstate-74 bridge construction nears the homestretch, major progress should become increasingly visible this month.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  Democrat Melanie Stansbury won election to Congress for New Mexico on Tuesday with a campaign closely tied to initiatives of the Biden administration.

Stansbury prevailed in an open, four-way race to fill a vacant seat previously held by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. The 42-year-old state legislator outpaced her Republican rival by more than 30,000 votes, garnering roughly six of every 10 votes as ballots were tallied into the night.

Stansbury closely tethered her bid for Congress to proposed and enacted Democratic legislation on pandemic relief, infrastructure spending and interventions to slow climate change. Her victory shores up the Democratic majority in Congress ahead of 2022 midterm elections.

She strode on stage in Albuquerque with both arms raised high, in celebration of her win. Thanking supporters and volunteers, she said the grit and determination that fueled her campaign was learned from her own mother, who worked in a denim factory and later as a crane operator.

When the moment demands it, when our families and our communities demand it, when our country demands it, we step up and find the solutions for communities and we figure it out, Stansbury said. And that is exactly what we did in this campaign and that is why I am standing before you tonight.
Prichard, who did not immediately respond to requests for an interview, has been critical of Republican leadership  or in the case of Reynolds, a lack of leadership.

Hours before lawmakers adjourned their 2021 session, Prichard said that 1,875 Iowans had died as a result of COVID-19 since the session began in January. But rather than work with lawmakers on an aggressive recovery plans in the middle of this life-changing pandemic  (Reynolds) chose a partisan agenda that by and large ignored the pandemic.

Reynolds, he said, put headlines and impressing viewers of Fox News over being a leader for Iowa.

Every decision has been an avoidance of dealing with the tough issues in front of the state, said Prichard, who briefly ran for governor in 2018.

A Davenport native and lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, Prichard is one of the few rural Democrats in the Legislature and the only one who represents an entirely rural House district, he said.

In 2018, Prichard succeeded former Marshalltown Rep. Mark Smith and was reelected minority leader ahead of the 2021 session, despite Democratic loses in the 2020 elections.
The legislation also does not address the fact that City Hall subsidizes CPS with payments of some $500 million per year, much of it going toward pensions.

The city of Chicago, which has the worst rated credit of any major city in the country, and the Chicago Public Schools, which has one of the lowest credit ratings, theyre vulnerable to further financial downgrade, said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a government budget watchdog group. If the goal here is to treat CPS and the city of Chicago like all other cities in the state of Illinois and all other school districts, youll have to find a way to make up that approximately half a billion dollars the city gives to the district.

Lightfoots administration also made a late effort to subject school board races to public funding in an attempt to reduce the influence of outside money.

Martwick said he would work on follow-up legislation to detangle city finances from CPS and to work on campaign finance reform for the school board races. He also committed to a more thorough debate on allowing noncitizens to run for the seats.

All of it was enough to receive support from Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago, the sponsor of the House bill that created an elected board without a transition period.
South Dakota's top health official told lawmakers Wednesday she is trying to avoid missing a November deadline to start issuing medical marijuana ID cards by holding a series of meetings to head off any objections to its proposed rules.

As the state prepares for medical marijuana to be legalized this year, the Department of Health has found itself balancing concerns from medical pot advocates, physicians, law enforcement and government bodies. The department, which has been tasked with setting up much of the state's pot program under a law passed by voters last year, will hold a series of meetings and a telephone town hall as it seeks to address concerns before its rules go into effect.

During a legislative meeting Wednesday, Republican Sen. Lee Schoenbeck questioned whether objections to the rules could result in a delay of weeks or months, but Secretary of Health Kim Malsam-Rysdon said she is hoping to avoid delays.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

The department is aiming to have a solid set of rules in place by the fall, but expects them to change over the next few years, she said. A legislative committee is also studying the issue to look at changing the law during coming sessions.

Well have a continual process of refinement, Malsam-Rysdon told lawmakers.
The ordinance states that businesses that apply for a license will be denied prior to state regulations being established.

Landeen said when regulations do come out, there will be a public hearing process before the council approves any new ordinances.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Fisher said her department is working to identify zoning districts.

The moment that this was approved by the voters of our state, planners across the state didnt waste any time, she said. We started doing Zoom meetings and talking about what this will look like in our communities. We wanted to ensure we werent missing anything, we were challenging each other.

The four areas of use that would be regulated are the dispensaries, testing, cultivating and manufacturing facilities. Fisher said zoning requirements for the facilities may be compared to regulations for liquor sales.

Fisher said theyve contacted other municipalities and an agency in Minnesota has offered to provide hands-on training.

She also said the city is paying attention to concerns about odor for manufacturing and cultivation of medical cannabis and may want to require enclosed buildings and air filtration systems.
A South Dakota nonprofit is again accusing Gov. Kristi Noem of stoking "racial fears" through comments about refugee and unaccompanied minor scenarios it says don't exist in the state.

"The governor has created a problem where there never was one," South Dakota Voices for Peace said in a Wednesday news release.

SDVFP sent its release in response to comments Gov. Kristi Noem made during a May 26 episode of The Sean Hannity Show that featured Noem and other Republican governors.

"Is there any recourse for all of you to not facilitate lawbreaking and then have to bear the burden of the financial costs of (the federal government's immigration) policies?" Hannity asked Noem.

"Well, we were very bold about telling them do not send us unaccompanied children, and very bold in telling the federal government that we did not want to participate in what they're doing to threaten our national security," Noem responded. The federal government doesn't "have to notify us. They don't have to get our approval as governors to put these children or put unvetted refugees into our states."
WASHINGTON | The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that tribal police officers can stop and search non-Indians on tribal lands for potential violations of state or federal law.

The justices unanimously reversed an appellate ruling in favor of a non-Native motorist who was charged with drug-related crimes after a tribal officer searched his pickup truck on a public road that crosses the Crow reservation in Montana.

The Supreme Court has previously held that tribal police have little authority over non-Indians, but Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the court that allowing a temporary stop and detention  so that state or federal authorities can be called in  enhances public safety.

To deny a tribal police officer authority to search and detain for a reasonable time any person he or she believes may commit or has committed a crime would make it difficult for tribes to protect themselves against ongoing threats, Breyer wrote.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

The case involved a traffic stop in 2016 in which Officer James Saylor of the Crow Tribe Police Department came upon a pickup truck with its headlights on and motor running, parked on the shoulder of U.S. Route 212.
Despite Biden's pledge to keep fighting to pass legislation protecting voting rights, he acknowledged that his biggest obstacle may be within his own party.

Biden called out two fellow Democrats in explaining why he hasnt enacted some of the most ambitious elements of his agenda, noting that slim majorities in the House and evenly divided Senate have hamstrung legislative negotiations around key issues like voting rights.

Responding to critics who question why he hasnt been able to get a wide-reaching voting rights bill passed, Biden lamented, Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House, and a tie in the Senate  with two members of the Senate who voted more with my Republican friends."

It appeared to be a reference to Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both of whom have frustrated Democrats with their defense of the filibuster. The rule requires most legislation to win 60 votes to pass, making many of Democrats biggest priorities like voting rights and gun control dead on arrival in the 50-50 Senate. While Sinema is a sponsor of the voting rights bill that passed the House, Manchin has refused to sign on, calling the measure too broad."
It was a major theme of the private talks Blinken had late Tuesday with the foreign ministers.

The U.S. hopes Mexican and Central American officials can do more to impede the trafficking of migrants, especially children. The Biden administration has been expelling single adults who cross the border and most families but it allows unaccompanied minors to enter the United States and pursue asylum or other legal claims for residency. U.S. authorities encountered more than 17,000 children traveling alone along the border in April, compared with a record 18,960 a month earlier.

There are limits, however, to what Mexico and Central America can do amid the economic devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders made it clear they hope for some of the 81 million vaccines that President Joe Biden has said he will distribute around the world. Details of the distribution plan are expected this month.

Alvarado, whose nation has attracted admiration for its stability, relative affluence and environmental protection, made it clear that Costa Rica would accept only vaccines that have no political strings attached.

Were talking about saving lives, but that doesnt mean in receiving a donation we will compromise our dignity as a nation, he said at the news conference.
A court in the town of Petushki, in the Vladimir region east of Moscow, on Wednesday rejected Navalny's appeal asking to halt the hourly night-time checks he has been subjected to in his penal colony.

Speaking to the court in a video link from prison, Navalny charged that the checks effectively amount to torture and argued that he has done nothing that would warrant the authorities decision to designate him as a flight risk that has resulted in checks.

He went on a 24-day hunger strike in prison to protest the lack of medical treatment for severe back pain and numbness in his legs, ending it last month after getting the medical attention he demanded.

In remarks given to his lawyers and posted on his Instagram account Wednesday, Navalny denounced the criminal charges against Pivovarov and Gudkov as "a sham and a crime."

This disgusting deceitful government is also quite cowardly, and it's going to gobble people up one by one to scare all others, he said, urging Russians not to be afraid of repression. They live by our fear, don't feed them, he added.
On Thursday, May 27th, Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXc MJ755 arrived home in Greece following a three year restoration stint within the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar at former RAF Biggin Hill near London, England. MJ755 is the only ex-Hellenic Air Force Spitfire extant, and had not flown over Greece since her retirement from military service on December 8th, 1953, so her homecoming garnered significant attention, both domestically and overseas!

MJ755 set out from Biggin for Greece on May 25th, making stops in France and Italy on the way. Upon entering Greek airspace last Thursday, two Hellenic Air Force F-16s from 335 Squadron, a unit within which MJ755 once served, gave her an honorary escort. The Spitfire first landed upon Greek soil at the nations most westerly terrain, the Island of Corfu. She then made her way to Ioannina and from there to Tatoi, just north of Athens.

On Tuesday, June 1, 2021, a formal arrival ceremony for MJ755 took place at Dhekelia Air Base, in Tatoi, home to the Hellenic Air Force Museum Museum. It was a significant enough occasion for numerous high-level governmental and military officials to attend. This included the Greek Minister of National Defense, Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, the Deputy Minister of National Defense, Alkiviadis Stefanis, the Chief of the General Staff of National Defense, General Konstantinos Floros, the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Greece, The Honorable Kate Smith, the Chief of General Staff, Brigadier General Aeroporos, the Chief of General Staff of the Army, Lieutenant General Charalambos Lalousis, the Chief of General Staff of the Navy, Rear Admiral Stylianos Petrakis PN, Honorary Chiefs, Mr. Peter Libos (President of the Ikaros Foundation which enabled the restoration), Brigadier General Konstantinos Hatzilakos, representatives of the Panhellenic Association of Aviation Veterans, as well as the Presidents and Members of the Associations of Apostates and the Alumni Associations of Productive Schools of the Air Force.

After the ceremony, attendees were able to inspect the Spitfire close up and then witness the fighter perform in the skies. It was a magnificent occasion.

MJ755 has an interesting history. She rolled off the production line at Supermarines shadow factory in Castle Bromwich during late 1943, arriving with 33 Maintenance Unit at RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire that December. In early 1944 the Spitfire received its first combat assignment, joining the RAFs Middle East Air Force, arriving in Casablanca aboard the SS Fort Liard on March 13th. MJ755 joined No. 43 Squadron, the Fighting Cocks, and took part in Operation Dragoon, flying cover for the Allied forces landing in the south of France in mid-August, 1944. 43 Squadron hopped from airfield to airfield as the invasion progressed across France, extending into Peretola, Italy during October, 1944. She finished up in Klagenfurt, Austria at wars end in May, 1945.

Following the war, the RAF transferred 77 Supermarine Spitfires, a mixture of Mk.IX and Mk.XIVs to Greece to help the nation rebuild the Hellenic Air Force. MJ755 was one of these airframes, arriving in Greece on February 27th, 1947, and joining 335 Squadron at Sides that April. By 1949, MJ755 had been relegated to the Air Force Pilots School at Tatoi Air Base in Dekeleia to become a part of the Reserve Pilots Training Center. The Spitfire journeyed to Athens in 1950 for a full overhaul at the State Aircraft Factory, being fitted with two cameras for aerial reconnaissance missions. As already noted, her last flight took place on December 8th, 1953. She then entered storage with the Aircraft Storage Squadron at Hellenikon Air Base, but later returned to Tatoi for gate guard duties. The Spitfire later became a part of the Hellenic War Museum in Athens, sitting on external display for several decades before formal transfer to the newly-formed Hellenic Air Force Museum at Dekeleia in 1995. In 2008 the museum removed MJ755 from display, and disassembled her for a planned airworthy restoration effort. Other than disassembly and paint stripping, however, little substantive restoration work appears to have taken place until a decade later when financing became available to fund her restoration in England. Once that was in place, progress towards first flight occurred rapidly. She arrived at Biggin Hill for restoration in early 2018, which we covered HERE, and made her first flight less than two years later. Had it not been for the pandemic, it seems certain that her return home would have taken place last Spring.

Regardless, it was magnificent to see this precious aircraft in the skies over Greece again, and heres to many years of safe operation to come for MJ755!
On May 10, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the launch of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, established by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The bill passed the House by a vote of 219212 on February 27 and was signed into law by President Biden on March 11, 2021, which was the first anniversary of COVID-19 being declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization.

This a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill when implemented, provides $350 billion in emergency funding for state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments. Treasury also released details on the way funds can be used to respond to acute pandemic-response needs: fill revenue shortfalls among state and local governments, and support the communities and populations hardest-hit by the COVID-19 crisis. Eligible state, territorial, metropolitan city, county, and Tribal governments will be able to access funding directly from the Treasury Department in order to assist communities as they recover from the pandemic and bring back jobs.

The plan also included a third round of Economic Impact Payments, Child Tax Credits, Homeowners Assistance Fund, Emergence Rental Assistance, State Small Business Credit Initiative, Employee Retention Credit and Paid Leave Credit Programs, and Unemployment Compensation... and a partridge in a pear tree!
With a City Manager, those departments make their recommendations to their boss, the City Manager, then as a team, they work to consolidate one proposal to the City Council. This process would require team work to benefit all aspects of the City. The City Council could then make a decision based upon the merits of a comprehensive use of the funds.

Stop politicizing important issues

I suggest you take a long hard look at your homeowners, automobile, and other property insurance premiums. Surely your premiums are increasing. Your insurance company takes notice when claims increase. In my neighborhood, numerous homeowners have made claims for roof and siding damage. In fact, many of the homes in my area have new roofs and siding. There are studies on property insurance that predict climate change will eventually make property insurance unaffordable for the average homeowner. But, this is only the tip of the iceberg (or firestorm) heading toward us. Numerous studies also indicate that millions will be migrating from areas more susceptible to climate change disasters. The recent storms and hurricanes in Central American countries certainly contributed to the current border crisis. Of course, this is a highly politicized issue and many are blaming the current administration, but ask yourself, do you truly believe that the migration issue can be resolved by law enforcement?
The attorney responded that the plain language of the Constitutional provision and the Constitutional Convention transcripts seem to prevent a member of the Legislature from taking any civil office during the length of the term, regardless of whether the member resigns.

The next step, the attorney wrote, would be to determine if a member of the parole board has a position of civil office.

Gianforte's spokesperson, Travis Hall, told NBC Montana that Patelis expressed interest in the appointment in November 2020.

The Department of Corrections advisory council advised the governor that while "Patelis was highly qualified, he was not eligible because he was a sitting legislator," Hall said.

The governor-elect advised Rep. Patelis that he could not and would not be appointed to a position on (the board) unless and until he resigned from his position as a legislator, being fully aware of the laws prohibiting legislators from serving as a civil officer on boards," Hall said.

However, transcripts of the 1972 Constitutional Convention show a conversation among delegates about the issue, with then-Delegate Noel Furlong asking if lawmakers could resign to accept such an appointment.
I often think the Montana homesteaders have similarities to the Vikings, Watson said. Both were trying to gather resources to feed their community while exploring new areas. The Vikings did things a little differently.

The Vikings are notorious for raiding and pillaging rival villages. Some in the scientific community say the Vikings were forced to scavenge for resources after a blight on crops struck the area. Price said that during this time the image of the Viking was forming.

One of the main topics in current scholarly debates in Scandinavia is the impact of a terrible climate crisis in the 500s A.D., the damage caused by a volcanic dust veil that blocked the light of the sun and devastated the harvest for years, Price said. Its in the long recovery from that difficult time that we can see the emergence of a distinctive culture of the Viking Age.

Watson said the geography of the region, filled with hills and shaded valleys, made the search for resources different for each village. And while there was a Viking culture in Northern Europe, not everyone was a Viking.

More than a racial distinction, being a Viking is more of a lifestyle choice.
Female cadets told investigators that they felt like their complaints arent or wouldnt be taken seriously by the VMI administration or that the women would suffer retaliation for reporting them. They said members of the administration have actively dissuaded victims from making reports, telling them that the career of their assailant would be ruined.

Cadets, alumni, and faculty repeatedly described the culture at VMI as one of silence, fear, and intimidation, especially as it relates to the reporting of problems or issues that reflect negatively on the institute or its leadership, the report states.

The Barnes & Thornburg team made eight recommendations for what VMI should do to address racism and sexism. The team did not suggest getting rid of any of the practices and traditions on campus that VMI supporters say are crucial to the VMI experience.

Recommendations include creating a plan to increase diversity among the cadets and faculty, improving diversity in leadership roles, and evaluating its institutions and traditions where there are racial disparities.
This is the essential argument on which the court must decide: whether or not the officers actions were within or outside of their duties as law enforcement officers at the time.

The defense team cites a Virginia law that provides immunity for police officers tasked with quelling an unlawful assembly and/or riot, Reiner wrote.

In rebuttal, and citing the same law, Hollomon wrote: Of the five elements that the court is required to find before granting the defendants immunity from criminal prosecution under Virginia Code Section 18.2-412, only the first element can arguably be found to having been satisfied by the facts of this case. The facts and evidence fall well short of satisfying any single one of the remaining four elements, let alone all of them. Therefore, the court should find that the actions of the defendants under the circumstances do not meet the required threshold for the granting of immunity.

But the protection that the state code provides to officers has been so effective in this purpose that there is no appellate case law in Virginia where it has documented that the immunity was not upheld, Baruch and Nickel wrote in their filing.
Legal marijuana sales in Virginia are expected to begin in 2024.

Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax said reforming the way history is taught in schools is important, but emphasized that children are taught racial injustice by the structures that are in place that bear the markings of racial oppression and injustice.

He pointed to dilapidated schools serving children of color and the disparate rates of incarceration among Black Virginians.

These are the monuments that have to be taken down  thats the education that people get every day, Fairfax said.

Asked whether the state needs further police reform, which Democrats took up during a special session last summer, all candidates agreed, offering similar answers on the need to diversify police forces and expand accountability. Carter has continued to stand out by rejecting further pay increases and training dollars for law enforcement.

The final question of the night focused on recent comments by Vice President Kamala Harris, who said there are stark differences in how Americans of different races experience the U.S.
Much of that growth can be attributed to the VCEAs policies to incentivize the installation of solar on homes, schools and businesses  known as distributed generation or DG solar.

DG solar continues to soar in popularity as more households and businesses choose to generate their own electricity from their rooftops. Distributed generation employs more than half of the nations entire solar workforce and mainly consists of locally owned small businesses.

As Virginia becomes a leader in solar, we must attract students from all backgrounds to the solar workforce, retain talent to keep up with demand and reflect all communities in the commonwealth.

Since 2015, the national solar industry has seen a 39% increase in representation for women, a 92% increase for Latino workers, an 18% increase for Asian American and Pacific Islander workers, and a 73% increase for African American workers.

In an effort to address economic disparity, drive workforce development and increase the diversity of the solar industry, the VCEA gives first preference to economically distressed communities for both job training programs and the siting of renewable energy facilities.
Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the UN. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's permanent representative to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, on Monday said that China practiced true multilateralism, as he reviewed the Security Council's work during China's presidency.

It is of great significance for China to assume the rotating presidency of the Security Council at this historic year, Zhang said in a news briefing.

He noted that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the People's Republic of China's lawful seat at the UN.

Zhang reviewed eight achievements the Security Council reached during China's presidency in May.

First, the Security Council reiterated its commitment to multilateralism and clarified the right direction for adhering to true multilateralism, he said.

Zhang emphasized that the only correct way to deal with global challenges is to maintain and practice multilateralism. He noticed that all parties are now emphasizing their support for multilateralism, but unilateral actions and hegemony haven't disappeared.

He mentioned that in a telephone conversation with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on May 6, President Xi Jinping pointed out that the world needs true multilateralism.

Countries should act in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, Zhang said. They shouldn't engage in unilateralism and hegemonism, and they shouldn't engage in ideological confrontation in the name of multilateralism, he added.

The Security Council held a high-level meeting on "upholding multilateralism and the UN-centered international system" on May 7 under China's initiative.

Chaired by China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the foreign ministers or deputy foreign ministers of 15 members of the Security Council attended the meeting, setting a record level of attendance for the council's meeting since the pandemic.

Second, the Security Council promoted unity and cooperation to fight the pandemic and supported post-pandemic recovery and reconstruction in Africa, Zhang said.

"Supporting Africa, promoting peace and development in Africa and removing the root causes of conflicts in Africa has always been the priority of China's diplomacy," he said.

The council held a high-level meeting on "Addressing root causes of conflict while promoting post-pandemic recovery in Africa" on May 19.

Chaired by Wang, the meeting drafted the first document of the Security Council on post-pandemic reconstruction, putting forward specific ideas and suggestions on supporting Africa's COVID-19 response, eliminating the root causes of conflict and promoting post-pandemic recovery in Africa.

During the meeting, China and African countries also launched the initiative on partnership for Africa's development, calling on the international community to give stronger support to Africa in multiple areas.

Third, the Security Council actively responded to hot spot issues and promoted political settlement of conflicts and disputes, said Zhang.

As president of the Security Council in May, Zhang said China pushed the Security Council to meet four times within 10 days to urgently review the Palestinian-Israeli situation, reaffirming a two-state solution and forming a strong voice calling for an immediate ceasefire.

After the ceasefire, with China's full promotion and the joint efforts of all parties, the Security Council issued a presidential media statement, calling on parties concerned to abide by the ceasefire agreement and restore calm in full, Zhang said. It is the first Security Council presidential media statement on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict since 2014.

Fourth, the Security Council improved the safety of peacekeepers and supported the UN to strengthen capacity building, said Zhang.

The Security Council held an open debate on "Improving safety and security of peacekeepers" on May 24. The meeting adopted the Security Council presidential statement drafted by China, which is another important document of the Security Council on the safety of peacekeepers following Resolution 2518 adopted by the council last March.

Fifth, the Security Council raised the awareness of the development of emerging technologies and actively respond to the challenges of emerging technologies in the field of international security, said Zhang. Chaired by Zhang, "The Impact of Emerging Technologies on International Peace and Security" informal meeting was held on May 17, which was the first time in the history of the Security Council to discuss emerging technology issues.

Sixth, the Security Council attached great importance to the protection of civilians in armed conflicts and promoted all parties to implement the Security Council resolutions and the provisions of international humanitarian law, said Zhang.

He said that the Security Council issued two presidential media statements to send out a strong voice condemning the attacks in Afghanistan and the Palestinian-Israeli region, calling for the protection of civilians.

Seventh, the Security Council performed the duties to advance the work of the Secretary-General election, said Zhang. The term of UN Secretary-General Guterres will end at the end of this year. On May 18, China organized an informal dialogue between members of the Security Council and the candidate for the next secretary-general. Guterres is the only candidate.

Eighth, the Security Council has improved working methods to increase efficiency, transparency and inclusiveness, said Zhang.

"We adhere to the 'mass line'  extensively listen to the opinions of all parties, and value the legitimate concerns of the countries involved," Zhang said. "We try to arrange for the countries involved to speak ahead of the members of the Security Council, listen to their opinions, and improve the pertinence of discussions at the meeting."
The current COVID-19 fuss has caused adverse effects on the business industry. However, as businesses transform seamlessly to accommodate changes caused by the pandemic, the e-commerce industry has experienced a boom for a niche of products. Even in a marketplace platform such as Amazon, sellers have noticed at least 8 products that customers frequently add to their carts.

Buying Trends in 2021

Industry influencers often determine buying trends, and the current customer behavior is fast shifting towards trending products. Thankfully, social media has a hand in promoting buying trends for most products in 2020 and 2021.

8 Amazon Items That Are Flying Off The Shelves

With thousands of products today, some people rely on social media recommendations and reviews that back bestsellers in the online market. In this regard, let us explore 8 Amazon Items you can feel confident purchasing this spring.

1. Little Green Machine
Following a dramatic decline in births in the worlds most populous country, Beijing in 2016 scrapped its decades-old one-child policy, replacing it with a two-child limit in a bid to control the swelling population and stave off risks to its economy from a rapidly aging population. Unfortunately, that largely failed to boost child births thanks to the high cost of raising children in Chinese cities.

And now the worlds most populous country has pushed the birth cap even further by allowing married Chinese couples to have up to three children, China announced on Monday.

Following a politburo meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping, the official Xinhua news agency says the policy change will come with "supportive measures conducive to improving our country's population structure, fulfilling the country's strategy of actively coping with an ageing population."

As of late last year, fines of 130,000 yuan ($20,440) were being imposed on people for having a third child.

Population decline

For years, experts have warned that its only a matter of time before China records its first population decline since the famine that accompanied the Great Leap Forward following Mao Zedongs disastrous economic policy in the late 1950s that resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese people.

The latest census shows that the country has once again avoided that fate--but only barely.

The once-a-decade census results released a few weeks ago show that China's population grew at its slowest pace in decades, with the average annual growth rate clocking in at 0.53% over the past 10 years, down from a rate of 0.57% between 2000 and 2010. Chinas population now stands at 1.41 billion.

According to Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, 12 million babies were born last year in China, marking a significant decrease from 18 million newborns just four years prior.

Mr. Ning says that the lower births are a natural result of China's social and economic development, a trend consistent with other developed nations where birth rates tend to fall due to education or other priorities such as careers.

China is not alone: Neighbouring countries including Japan and South Korea, for example, have also seen birth rates fall to record lows in recent years despite various government incentives to encourage couples to have more children.

Last year, South Korea recorded more deaths than births, marking the first population decline in the countrys modern history.

Shrinking populations tend to be problematic due to the inverted age structure, with more old people than the young.

Beijing fears that an aging population may mean that there won't be enough workers in the future to support the elderly in the near future.

The Chinese State Council launched the one-child policy in 1979 in a bid to bring under control a high population growth rate in contrast to Mao Zedong's ideology in the 1960s that the more people, the stronger we are. Fearing a population explosion, Beijing implemented its one-child policy, which not only succeeded in curbing population growth but also led to coerced sterilizations and sex-selective abortions that exacerbated a gender imbalance with many couples preferring male children.

Deng Xiao-ping, the acknowledged architect of China's contemporary economic miracle, was a major sponsor of the one-child policy. Xiao-ping warned that China would be unable to develop its economy and raise the living standards of its people unless the birth rate fell rapidly.

Economists and demographers now agree that a falling birth rate offers a demographic dividend, as the economically productive proportion of the population grows more rapidly than the general population. Most agree that China's economy would not have grown by 7-8% a year over the past decade, lifting an unprecedented 150 million people out of abject poverty, had the population maintained its earlier growth rate.

Unfortunately, the pendulum has now swung too far in the opposite direction.

The latest data shows that China now has a fertility rate of just 1.3 children per woman, on par with aging societies like Japan and Italy and way below the ~2.1 needed for replacement level.

Despite the recent move by Beijing to lift the birth cap, few people are under the illusion that it will tilt anyone's calculus in a meaningful way.

As Yifei Li, a sociologist at NYU Shanghai, has told Reuters, most people are held back not by the two-children limit, but by the incredibly high costs of raising children in today's China including housing, food, and extracurricular activities.

The majority of Chinese clearly have no intention to start having more children.

In a recent poll on Xinhua's Weibo account asking #AreYouReady for the three-child policy, about 29,000 of 31,000 respondents responded by saying they would never think of it while the remainder either said "I'm ready and very eager to do so", "it's on my agenda", or I'm hesitating and there's lot to consider.

By Alex Kimani for Safehaven.com
Letters to the Editor: Floyd was a victim, and a human being; The greatest threat comes from within
HARTSVILLE  The annual joint meeting of the civic organizations  Rotary, Kiwanis, Sunrise Rotary and Lions  was held May 25 at the Hartsville Country Club.

It was sponsored by the Greater Hartsville Chamber of Commerce. The guest speak was U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein Edward T. McMullen Jr. who served under President Donald Trump.

Justin Evans introduced McMullen. Evans said McMullen has been a mentor to him and a friend.

McMullen said he immediately started traveling around the country when he arrived in Switzerland.

McMullen said one reason he chose Switzerland was because of its business relationship with the United States. McMullen said President Trump wanted to improve business relations with the Swiss people. He said Trump traveled to Switzerland twice, and the Swiss president made the countrys first visit to the Oval office.

McMullen said, While the country is less than 1% of the U.S, in size, Switzerland is the sixth largest foreign direct in the United States. He said more than 500 Swiss companies are active in the United States and more than 25 in South Carolina. He said Swiss investment in the U.S. has created more than 500,000 jobs.
Being in your presence has made each of us a better leader, a better person, Braddy said.

Lusk said Colones dedicated himself to a mission, a vision for McLeod.

Isgett said Colones continues to challenge them every day to be better caregivers, employers and employees.

Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

She said Colones wife, the late Deb Colones, worked with the artist every step of the way to make sure the portrait captured those characteristics he embodied most.

Colones, however reluctant to have a portrait done of himself, was pleased with the end result. He said, I like it.

He said the portrait unveiling was an opportunity to celebrate as a team, to continue the process of growing and moving forward.

McLeod acknowledges the lifetime achievements of McLeod physicians, staff/volunteers and administrators/board members for their leadership through portrait unveilings, one of the most significant opportunities for recognizing meritorious service and paying tribute to the fine character of these individuals. The artists renderings of these individuals are placed on permanent display in areas representative of both the location of their service as well as commemorating their expertise in the field.
 Interesting account of "Five myths about white collar crime" | Main | Another notable set of Election Day results for the criminal justice reform movement 

The title of this post is the title of this big new report from the Drug Policy Alliance. Here is part of its extended executive summary:

The country is in the middle of a tragic increase in drug overdose deaths. Countless lives have been lost  each one leaving an irreparable rift in the hearts and lives of their families and friends. These tragedies are best honored by implementing evidence-based solutions that help individuals, families, and communities heal and that prevent additional avoidable deaths. This report examines one strategy that the evidence suggests is intensifying, rather than helping, the problem and calls for leaders to turn towards proven measures to address the increasing rates of overdose deaths.

In the 1980s, at the height of the draconian war on drugs, the federal government and a host of states passed drug-induced homicide laws intended to punish people who sold drugs that led to accidental overdose deaths with sentences equivalent to those for manslaughter and murder. For the first 15-20 years, these laws were rarely used by police or prosecutors, but steadily increasing rates of drug overdose deaths across the country have led the law enforcement community to revive them. Currently, 20 states  Delaware, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming  have drug-induced homicide laws on the books.

A number of other states, while without specific drug-induced homicide statutes, still charge the offense of drug delivery resulting in death under various felony-murder, depraved heart, or involuntary or voluntary manslaughter laws. These laws and prosecutions have proliferated despite the absence of any evidence of their effectiveness in reducing drug use or sales or preventing overdose deaths. In fact, as this report illustrates, these efforts exacerbate the very problem they seek to remediate by discouraging people who use drugs from seeking help and assistance.

Although data are unavailable on the number of people being prosecuted under these laws, media mentions of drug-induced homicide prosecutions have increased substantially over the last six years. In 2011, there were 363 news articles about individuals being charged with or prosecuted for drug-induced homicide, increasing over 300% to 1,178 in 2016.

Based on press mentions, use of drug-induced homicide laws varies widely from state to state. Since 2011, midwestern states Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, and Minnesota have been the most aggressive in prosecuting drug-induced homicides, with northeastern states Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York and southern states Louisiana, North Carolina, and Tennessee rapidly expanding their use of these laws. Further signaling a return to failed drug war tactics, in 2017 alone, elected officials in at least 13 states  Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia  introduced bills to create new drug-induced homicide offenses or strengthen existing drug-induced homicide laws.

Prosecutors and legislators who champion renewed drug-induced homicide enforcement couch the use of this punitive measure, either naively or disingenuously, as necessary to curb increasing rates of drug overdose deaths. But there is not a shred of evidence that these laws are effective at reducing overdose fatalities. In fact, death tolls continue to climb across the country, even in the states and counties most aggressively prosecuting drug-induced homicide cases. As just one example, despite ten full-time police officers investigating 53 potential drug-induced homicide cases in Hamilton County, Ohio in 2015, the county still recorded 100 more opioid-related overdose deaths in 2016 than in 2015.

This should be unsurprising. Though the stated rationale of prosecutors and legislators throughout the country is that harsh penalties like those associated with drug-induced homicide laws will deter drug selling, and, as a result, will reduce drug use and related harms like overdose, we have heard this story before. Drug war proponents have been repeating the deterrence mantra for over 40 years, and yet drugs are cheaper, stronger, and more widely available than at any other time in US history. Supply follows demand, so the supply chain for illegal substances is not eliminated because a single seller is incarcerated, whether for drug-induced homicide or otherwise. Rather, the only effect of imprisoning a drug seller is to open the market for another one. Research consistently shows that neither increased arrests nor increased severity of criminal punishment for drug law violations results in less use (demand) or sales (supply). In other words, punitive sentences for drug offenses have no deterrent effect.

Unfortunately, the only behavior that is deterred by drug-induced homicide prosecutions is the seeking of life-saving medical assistance. Increasing, and wholly preventable, overdose fatalities are an expected by-product of drug-induced homicide law enforcement. The most common reason people cite for not calling 911 in the event of an overdose is fear of police involvement. Recognizing this barrier, 40 states and the District of Columbia have passed 911 Good Samaritan laws, which provide, in varying degrees, limited criminal immunity for drug-related offenses for those who seek medical assistance for an overdose victim. This public health approach to problematic drug use, however, is rendered useless by enforcement of drug-induced homicide laws.
 Lawyer asks law profs: "Looking for a chance to persuade the courts that man-mins are unconstitutional?" | Main | "The Myth of the Playground Pusher: In Tennessee and around the country, 'drug-free school zones' are little more than excuses for harsher drug sentencing." 

This morning's Wall Street Journal has this new article on the (not-all-that) new trend of considering homicide charges in response to drug-overdose deaths. The full lengthy headline of the lengthy article is "Prosecutors Treat Opioid Overdoses as Homicides, Snagging Friends, Relatives As U.S. drug deaths hit record levels, prosecutors and police are trying a tactic that echoes tough-on-crime theories of the 1990s." Here are excerpts (with a few lines emphasized for follow-up commentary):

After Daniel Eckhardts corpse was found on the side of a road in Hamilton County, Ohio, last year, police determined he died of a heroin overdose. Not long ago, law enforcements involvement would have ended there. But amid a national opioid-addiction crisis fueling an unprecedented wave of overdose deaths, the investigation was just beginning.

Detectives interrogated witnesses and obtained search warrants in an effort to hold someone accountable for Mr. Eckhardts death. The prosecutor for Hamilton County, which includes Cincinnati and its suburbs, charged three of Mr. Eckhardts companions, including his ex-wife and her boyfriend, with crimes including involuntary manslaughter, an offense carrying a maximum prison sentence of 11 years.

Mr. Eckhardt voluntarily took the heroin that killed him, but prosecutors alleged the trio were culpable because they bought and used heroin with him that they knew could result in death. The indictments were part of a nationwide push to investigate overdose deaths as homicides and seek tough prison sentences against drug dealers and others deemed responsible. Its an aggressive tactic law-enforcement officials say theyre using in a desperate attempt to stanch the rising tide of overdose deaths.

Fueled by a flood of heroin laced with fentanyl and other powerful synthetic opioids, the overdose death rate in Hamilton County more than tripled between 2006 and 2016 to 50 per 100,000 people, or four times as many as those killed in traffic accidents. Nationally, some 64,000 Americans died from overdoses last year, up 86% from 2006, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A newly created heroin task force in Hamilton County has investigated hundreds of deaths in the past two years, resulting in a dozen involuntary manslaughter indictments in state court and 13 federal indictments for distribution of controlled substances resulting in death. The deathsthats why. All the people dying, Cmdr. Thomas Fallon, who leads the Hamilton County task force, says of the prosecution push. Even in the cocaine and crack days, people didnt die like this.

At least 86 people nationwide received federal prison sentences last year for distributing drugs resulting in death or serious injury, up 16% from 2012, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, a federal agency that determines sentencing guidelines for judges. An analysis of news reports found 1,200 mentions nationally about drug-death prosecutions in 2016, three times the number in 2011, according to a recent report by the Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit group that supports decriminalizing drug use.

The prosecutions often employ tough-on-crime legislation born of the crack-cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s. These state and federal laws hold drug distributors liable for overdose deaths. Selling even small amounts can result in decades or even life in prison.

In some states, such laws were rarely enforced until recently. Benjamin J. Agati, a veteran prosecutor in the New Hampshire Attorney Generals office, has helped train police departments throughout the state in how to build cases under the states drug-induced homicide law, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. The law was enacted in the late 1980s but was rarely applied before the surge in opioid deaths, Mr. Agati says....

The prosecutions sometimes nab members of drug-distribution gangs like that of Navarius Westberry. Last year, Mr. Westberry pleaded guilty in federal court in Kentucky to operating a drug-trafficking ring that distributed up to a kilogram of heroin and 50 grams of fentanyl over an 18-month period that killed at least one person. He was sentenced to life in prison. But in courtrooms around the country, prosecutors are also sweeping up low-level dealers who are addicts trying to support their habit, as well as friends and family members of overdose victims who bought or shared drugs with the deceased. Some critics of the prosecution tactic say these users need treatment, not harsh prison sentences.

Critics see the prosecutions as more of the same drug-war tactics that have filled Americas prisons with nonviolent criminals but done little to stop illicit drug use. Theres scant evidence that fear of prison deters addicts from using, and for every dealer put behind bars, another is ready to take his place, says Lindsay LaSalle, an attorney with the Drug Policy Alliance.

Law-enforcement officials say theyve seen some signs the prosecutions may be deterring dealers, including jailhouse phone calls they say theyve overheard in which inmates warn associates that police are pressing homicide charges against drug traffickers. They say drug-death prosecutions are just one piece of a broader strategy to combat the crisis, including urging addicts into rehab and taking down large-scale traffickers....

A two-hour drive south from Hamilton County, Kerry B. Harvey, the mustachioed U.S. attorney for eastern Kentucky from 2010 to early 2017, made prosecuting drug-deaths a priority around 2015. He used a 1986 federal law that had rarely been applied in the district, which established a mandatory 20-years-to-life sentence for distributing drugs that resulted in death or serious injury. The penalty grew to life in prison for defendants with prior felony drug convictions.

He saw the approach as a way to bring solace to families devastated by the increasing number of heroin-related deaths in the area. Plus, the laws stiff penalties helped persuade dealers to cooperate against bigger suppliers, he said. When someone is looking at 20 years to life, theyre gonna tell you whatever they know to save themselves, he said.

Mr. Harvey assigned three prosecutors to work on the cases and began working with local police to investigate overdose deaths as homicides. Since 2015 one of the prosecutors, Todd Bradbury, has convicted 16 people for selling drugs that resulted in death, two of whom received life sentences. One of those convicted was Fred Rebmann, who in 2016 sold $60 of fentanyl to Kathleen Cassity. Ms. Cassity was six months pregnant and died within hours of buying the drugs. Doctors performed an emergency C-section, but failed to save the life of her unborn child.

At the time, Mr. Rebmann was 31 and spent his days scheming to obtain enough heroin to avoid withdrawal. I would work odd jobsstealhold up signs for money, he said in an email from prison. He also dealt drugs. There were days Id sell heroin to get my own, and there were days I sold scrap metal, he said in a telephone interview. Addiction doesnt disqualify small-time dealers like Mr. Rebmann from prosecution, says Mr. Bradbury, the prosecutor. He knew he was selling something extremely dangerous to a pregnant woman, he says. Mr. Rebmann says he didnt know Ms. Cassity was pregnant.

Mr. Bradbury offered him a deal. If Mr. Rebmann pleaded guilty, prosecutors would recommend a 20-year sentence that, with credit for good behavior, could be reduced by three years. If he went to trial and lost, Mr. Rebmann faced mandatory life in prison because of a 2012 heroin-possession conviction.

Mr. Rebmann took the deal and pleaded guilty in August 2016, but U.S. District Judge Joseph M. Hood, a Vietnam War veteran appointed to the bench in 1990, rejected Mr. Bradburys sentencing recommendation. Ms. Cassity died because you wanted to stick a needle in your arm, Judge Hood told Mr. Rebmann, according to a transcript of the hearing. He sentenced Mr. Rebmann to 30 years in prison. I want it to be known here in Lexington if you get convicted of dealing in heroin and a death results, 20 years isnt enough, Judge Hood said. Time for coddling is over.
Stressing multilateralism, envoy points to Security Council's achievements

China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Zhang Jun on Monday said that China practiced true multilateralism, as he reviewed the Security Council's work during China's presidency.

It is of great significance for China to assume the rotating presidency of the Security Council in this historic year, Zhang said in a news briefing.

He noted that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the People's Republic of China's lawful seat at the UN.

Zhang reviewed eight achievements the Security Council reached during China's presidency in May.

First, the Security Council reiterated its commitment to multilateralism and clarified the right direction for adhering to true multilateralism, he said.

Zhang stressed that the only correct way to deal with global challenges is to maintain and practice multilateralism. He noticed that all parties are now emphasizing their support for multilateralism, but unilateral actions and hegemony haven't disappeared.

He mentioned that in a telephone conversation with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on May 6, President Xi Jinping pointed out that the world needs true multilateralism.

The Security Council held a high-level meeting on "Upholding Multilateralism and the UN-centered International System" on May 7 under China's initiative.

Chaired by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the foreign ministers or deputy foreign ministers of 15 members of the Security Council attended the meeting, setting a record level of attendance for a council meeting since the pandemic began.

Unity promoted

Second, the Security Council promoted unity and cooperation to fight the pandemic and supported post-pandemic recovery and reconstruction in Africa, Zhang said.

The council on May 19 held a high-level meeting on "Addressing Root Causes of Conflict while Promoting Post-pandemic Recovery in Africa".

Chaired by Wang, the meeting drafted the first document of the Security Council on post-pandemic reconstruction, putting forward specific ideas and suggestions on supporting Africa's COVID-19 response.

Third, the Security Council actively responded to hot-spot issues and promoted political settlement of conflicts and disputes, said Zhang.

Zhang said that China, as president of the Security Council in May, pushed the council to meet four times within 10 days to urgently review the Palestinian-Israeli situation, reaffirming a two-state solution and forming a strong voice calling for an immediate cease-fire.

Fourth, the Security Council improved the safety of peacekeepers and supported the UN to strengthen capacity building, said Zhang.

The Security Council held an open debate on "Improving Safety and Security of Peacekeepers" on May 24. The meeting adopted the Security Council presidential statement drafted by China, which is another important document of the Security Council on the safety of peacekeepers following Resolution 2518 adopted by the council last March.

Fifth, the Security Council raised awareness on the development of emerging technologies and actively responded to the challenges of emerging technologies in the field of international security, said Zhang. Chaired by Zhang, "The Impact of Emerging Technologies on International Peace and Security" informal meeting was held on May 17, which was the first time that the Security Council discussed emerging technology issues.

Sixth, the Security Council attached great importance to the protection of civilians in armed conflicts and called on all parties to implement the council's resolutions and the provisions of international humanitarian law, said Zhang.

Seventh, the Security Council performed duties to advance the work of the secretary-general election, said Zhang. The term of UN Secretary-General Guterres will finish at the end of this year.

Eighth, the Security Council has improved working methods to increase efficiency, transparency and inclusiveness, said Zhang.
 Exploring what neuroscience may mean for criminal justice | Main | Texas jury convicts doctor of raping incapacitated patient ... then sentences him to probation for 10 years 

August 20, 2018

"Americas Favorite Antidote: Drug-Induced Homicide in the Age of the Overdose Crisis"

The title of this post is the title of this notable and timely new paper authored by Leo Beletsky and now available via SSRN. Here is its abstract:

Nearing the end of its second decade, the overdose crisis in the United States has gone from bad to worse. Despite the advent of a supposed public health approach to this epidemic, progress on scaling up evidence-based prevention and response measures remains slow. Meanwhile, criminal law and its enforcement continue to dominate the arsenal of policies invoked to address the crisis. This Article examines the surging popularity of one such approach. Now on the books in the majority of U.S. states and federally, drug-induced homicide laws and their analogues implicate dealers in accidental overdose fatalities. By engaging criminal law theory and empirical legal research, I articulate an interdisciplinary instrumentalist critique of these measures in response to the overdose crisis. Data systematically extracted from reports on 263 drug-induced homicide prosecutions informs concerns about facial and as-applied defects. Patterns identified suggest rapid, accelerating diffusion in these prosecutions in many hard-hit jurisdictions; pronounced enforcement and sentencing disparities by race; and broad misclassification of drug-using partners, family members, and others as dealers. Aside from crowding out evidence-based interventions and investments, these prosecutions run at complete cross-purposes to efforts that encourage witnesses to summon lifesaving help during overdose events. This analysis illustrates an urgent opportunity to critically re-assess the architecture and mechanisms of drug control in the U.S., reframing criminal justice reform as a public health imperative vital to improving the response to the worst drug crisis in Americas history.

UPDATE : Over at The Crime Report, this short report discusses this article under the headline "Prosecuting Dealers for Opioid Deaths Called Bad Justice Policy."

August 20, 2018 at 09:37 AM | Permalink

Comments

You might find this story of an Atlanta judge dismissing a heroin overdose murder indictment relevant to this. https://www.ajc.com/news/local/fulton-judge-dismisses-murder-indictment-heroin-overdose-case/8F9ILAt5tO5dcbGeNPs0aJ/



Posted by: Cameron Roberts | Aug 21, 2018 6:53:22 AM

Post a comment
Presidential hopeful Cristiana Chamorro leaves the Nicaragua's Attorney General of the Republic office, in Managua

By Ismael Lopez

MANAGUA (Reuters) -Nicaraguan police stormed into the home of opposition leader Cristiana Chamorro on Wednesday, escalating a political battle ahead of elections later this year in which longtime leftist President Daniel Ortega is seeking to hold on to power.

The police placed Chamorro under house arrest, according to Chamorro's brother, journalist Carlos Chamorro, and continued to occupy the property in the capital Managua after raiding it more than five hours earlier, he wrote in a post on Twitter.

Social media and local television broadcast live images of police entering and surrounding Chamorro's home earlier on Wednesday, in which police could be seen using force to eject other journalists who had arrived to cover the scene.

The police action comes in the wake of prosecutors seeking Chamorro's arrest for money laundering and other crimes, according to judicial authorities.

A source close to Chamorro's family said the 66-year-old vice president of Nicaragua's biggest newspaper, La Prensa, was inside her home and could be arrested at any time.

In a statement, Nicaraguan judicial authorities said prosecutors wanted Chamorro detained on suspicion of crimes including money laundering, plus a lesser citation for misrepresentation.

Neither Chamorro nor her representatives could immediately be reached for comment.

A judge in the capital Managua put out the arrest order, acceding to the attorney general's request, the statement said.

The attorney general on Tuesday formally sought Chamorro's disqualification from holding public office due to the criminal investigation launched against her.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken blasted the move in a post on Twitter on Wednesday, saying preventing Chamorro from competing "reflects Ortega's fear of free and fair elections."

She had recently emerged as a possible unity candidate who could possibly rally a fractured opposition to defeat Ortega in the November vote.

Story continues

The United Nation's human rights chief has accused the attorney general's office of fabricating false allegations against Ortega's critics.

Chamorro is the daughter of Violeta Chamorro, who became president of Nicaragua in a 1990 election, ousting current president Ortega after his first stint in power.

(Reporting by Ismael Lopez; Writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Grant McCool, Alistair Bell and Richard Pullin)
Malaysias Foreign Affairs Ministry is expected to meet with Chinas ambassador after 16 military aircraft from the latter purportedly intruded Malaysian airspace on Monday.

Malaysia is seeking an explanation from China and plans to issue a note of diplomatic protest after the breach of the Malaysian airspace and sovereignty, the ministry said yesterday. An unnamed spokesperson from the Chinese embassy in Malaysia said that the Peoples Liberation Army Air Force planes, which were flying in tactical formation towards Sarawak, were deployed as part of routine flight training.

Malaysias stand is clear  having friendly diplomatic relations with any countries does not mean that we will compromise on our national security, Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysias Foreign Affairs Minister, said in a statement yesterday. It is not known when the meeting will take place.

The Chinese spokesperson quoted in several local news reports said that the aircraft, which were detected by the Air Defence Centre in Sarawak at 11:53am, were not targeting any country, adding that China and Malaysia were friendly neighbors.

Chinese military aircraft enjoy the freedom of overflight in the relevant airspace, the person reportedly said. During this training, the Chinese military aircraft strictly abided by the relevant international law and did not enter the territorial airspace of any other country.

The Royal Malaysian Air Force, or RMAF, said yesterday that the Malaysian Air Traffic Control had instructed Chinas Ilyushin Il-76 and Xian Y-20 strategic transport planes to turn back, however, the suspicious aircraft went on to fly towards Sarawak waters. The RMAF then scrambled Hawk 208 fighter jets from the 6th Squadron of the Labuan Air Base to intercept the foreign planes, which eventually turned around and left in the same direction they entered the Malaysian Maritime Zone.

RMAF noted that the Chinese planes, which can be used to carry out various missions, were detected flying between 23,000 feet and 27,000 feet above sea level at a speed of 290 knots.

Story continues

Last year, it was reported that the Chinese coast guard and navy ships intruded Malaysian waters 89 times between 2016 and 2019. The intrusions happened in the hotly disputed South China Sea.

Other stories:

Malaysian university founder Lim Kok Wing dies at 75

Malaysias National Zoo welcomes third giant panda cub

This article, Routine flight training or intrusion? Malaysia wants to meet with China over airspace breach, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company.
SIOUX CITY -- A Sioux City teenager avoided a potential lifetime prison sentence for his role in a fatal shooting at a Morningside home, pleading guilty Wednesday to lesser charges that ensure he'll someday be released from prison.

Anthony Bauer, 18, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder and three charges of reckless use of a firearm. According to terms of a plea agreement spelled out in court by Woodbury County Attorney Patrick Jennings, Bauer will be sentenced to 50 years in prison and must serve 35 years before he's eligible for parole.

Bauer had been charged with first-degree murder, and had he been found guilty at trial, he would have received a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. Two of the firearms charges were reduced from felonies to misdemeanors, and a charge of going armed with intent will be dismissed. Bauer had been scheduled to stand trial on July 6 in Woodbury County District Court.
The port can load and unload six to nine barges at a time. There have already been eight barges in and out within the last six weeks, NEW Cooperative general manager Dan Dix said. Two more were expected to arrive Wednesday night.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Each barge has the capacity to haul 50,000 bushels of grain. Plying the river with 72 barges per year eliminates the need for 80,000 semi-trailer trucks of grain, Dix said.

The port gives the co-op direct access to export markets and provides a third option for transporting grain, beyond the current rail and trucks.

Because water navigation is more cost-effective than truck or rail, the barge terminal allows the co-op to reduce its freight expenses, Dix said.

While Wednesday's festivities marked the formal opening of the port, there are still a few related projects at the terminal to be completed.

The Monona County Board of Supervisors successfully applied for a state RISE grant of over $1 million to pave a gravel road from Blencoe, pop. 224, to the port, which is west of Interstate 29.

Dix said the road construction is expected to begin this fall.

Two other future projects include a scale and office facility, and a new commodity building.
Meis's "Free Little Grocery" was installed on the lawn of St. Thomas, at 12th and Douglas streets, around Easter weekend. Initially, the response was slow.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

"It kind of took a little while to, you know, make people aware that it was there, because it's just this box kind of out there on the grassy patch of lawn out in front of the church. But I do have a plaque on it that says, 'Free Little Grocery, help yourself, please save some for your neighbor,'" Meis said. "After a while it was just needing to be filled every day."

Meis fills the box with non-perishable foods that can withstand outside temperature -- cereal, peanut butter and jelly, bread, macaroni and cheese, canned foods, snacks, fruits.

In keeping with the Little Free Library concept -- anybody is free to drop off a book, just as they're free to take one -- passersby who would like to give food are welcome to drop some off at the box.

"I would definitely welcome support," Meis said.

Meis described the Free Little Grocery as an "emergency" and "immediate" source of food, suitable perhaps for the times when other food banks are closed or a person or family might be going to bed hungry for whatever reason.
You cannot hinge a permit itself or the parade route on opinions of private business  thats unconstitutional, Welborn said. The criteria for the permit must be specific and clearly outlined before the process starts. You cannot have ad hoc requirements that are added halfway through the process. No. 3, you cannot treat some parades differently than others, based on what the parade is about.

Police Chief Will Benny cited municipal codes that state that no parade can be held on Main Street without prior commission approval, except for the National Peanut Festival, the Christmas parade and the Veterans Day parade.

He also said it would take double the amount of police officers currently on duty to assist with the parade as well as emergency medical services on stand-by.

Welborn insisted the municipal codes as they are written are unconstitutional and warned that denying the permit on those grounds could result in messy, costly litigation for violating the First Amendment.

Commissioners Kevin Dorsey and Janasky Fleming voted to approve the groups appeal, while commissioners John Ferguson, Albert Kirkland and David Crutchfield voted no. Commissioner Beth Kenward was absent.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  The former CEO of Make-A-Wish Iowa has pleaded guilty to charges of embezzling tens of thousands of dollars from the charity that supports sick children and their families.

Jennifer Woodley admitted in a written guilty plea last week that she made unauthorized charges on a foundation credit card, gave herself an unapproved bonus and salary increases and made false entries into foundation records related to those expenses.

Woodley, 40, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree theft and one count of fraudulent practices, all felonies. Under a plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend a sentence of five years of probation, along with fines and restitution.

A charging document alleges that Woodley's embezzlement totaled nearly $41,000, but restitution has not yet been set.

Judge Scott Beattie accepted the guilty pleas Tuesday and scheduled a sentencing hearing for July 20.
As the state's chief election officer since winning office in 2018, Hobbs' defense of the state's election systems after the 2020 election has been broad and vocal and has included frequent appearances on national media.

She has heavily criticized the unsubstantiated allegations that Biden won in Arizona because of fraud or other problems and brought in independent observers to view the partisan recount now underway. She said she expects Trump and his backers to continue to raise doubts but said she'll continue to tell the truth about the election, which that is that it was a free and fair election.

It is a partisan attack on free and fair elections, and reasonable people understand that, Hobbs said. The folks who dont, are never going to believe anything I say.

Hobbs also was a defendant in a series of lawsuits brought by Trump backers seeking to overturn the 2020 election results, putting her at odds with the Republican attorney general and some GOP lawmakers. The Republican-dominated state Legislature has moved to strip her of the means to defend lawsuits by removing her ability to hire outside lawyers. She vowed to fight that effort if it is included in the final state budget proposal.
DeSantis said the state continues to far exceed revenue projections, helped in part by tourism.

You had a lot of these other states that just kept locking people down. We were the state lifting people up. That was good for Floridians, but we were also the landing spot for a lot of people that wanted to escape the insanity and come and get recharged. DeSantis said.

Of the federal money rejected by DeSantis, $1 billion was supposed to go to an emergency response fund set up by the Legislature. DeSantis said that while he supports such a fund, the federal government set conditions on it that didn't make sense for the state.

Part of it was because the money would come in the form of grants and the state would have to go through normal bidding process to spend it.

In an emergency situation, you don't have the time to do the normal procurement. You've got to do this very quickly. It would defeat the purpose to try to use it for emergency response if you have to go through all that bureaucracy, DeSantis said.

He said the state also wanted to use the relief money to meet future emergency needs, and the federal government said it couldn't be used for those purposes.
Arab Council of Australia Calls for Recognition of Armenian, Assyrian, Greek Genocide

Following the 106th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's statement falling short of accurately characterising the events of 1915, the Arab Council of Australia has joined a growing number of community organisations in calling for the Federal Government to recognise the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).

The Arab Council of Australia is a secular, not-for-profit independent community organisation representing the interests of Australians from 22 Middle Eastern countries. It works to bring about social justice and improve the lives of the most vulnerable people in their community.

The CEO of the Arab Council of Australia, Ms Randa Kattan wrote in support for the ANC-AU's calls for recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

In her letter addressed to Prime Minister Morrison, she wrote: "We call on Australia to join the many countries that have taken steps in recognising the Armenian Genocide."

"The act of formally recognising events of mass atrocity as experienced by the victims affords them dignity. This acknowledgement of history supports the healing of a community and is inclusive of those many generations living with inherited trauma," the statement added.

The ANC-AU expressed their sincere gratitude to the Arab Council of Australia and the countless other community organisations who have expressed their support as they continue to advocate for Federal recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides.

"The Armenian-Australian community thanks the Arab Council of Austria for their support as we believe that their voice amplifies our calls for justice and recognition. We thank you for standing in solidarity with our community," said ANC-AU Executive Director, Haig Kayserian.

"Following the Prime Minister's failure to call the Armenian Genocide by name despite his previous appeal for national recognition, our community will continue to work in collaboration with several religious, ethnic, political and youth organisations who have shown their support until we ensure that Australia joins the growing list of nations who stand on the right side of our ancestors history," Kayserian added.

In addition to the Arab Council of Australia, prominent religious, political, ethnic and youth organisations have written to Prime Minister Scott Morrison calling on him to stand on the side of truth and justice on the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides, including the Jewish Australian community, the New South Wales Young Liberals, the New South Wales Ecumenical Council representing 16 churches, Christian Charity Barnabas Fund Australia, Kurdish Lobby Australia, as well as from numerous prominent academics and former politicians.

In addition, over 20 ministers, shadow ministers and parliamentarians representing all sides of politics conveyed condolence messages to the Armenian-Australian community. Their messages contradicted Prime Minister Scott Morrison's statement that recognised "dispossession, deportations and death" -- as well as Australia's first international humanitarian relief effort to assist surviving orphans -- but failed to correctly characterise as genocide the 1915 murders of over 1.5 million Armenians, and over 1 million Assyrians and Greeks.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  An Indiana man accused of throwing an explosive toward police and smashing windows during protests in Portland, Oregon, appeared Tuesday in federal court and was detained pending further proceedings.

Malik Fard Muhammad, 24, of Indianapolis was taken into custody on a U.S. Marshals hold Friday after being released from state custody when the Portland Freedom Fund posted 10% of his state-ordered $2.1 million bail in a Multnomah County case stemming from the same allegations.

The Portland Freedom Fund takes donations to post bail for minority defendants.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Muhammad appeared in U.S. District Court in Portland on charges that include possession of unregistered destructive devices, engaging in civil disorder and obstructing law enforcement, and using explosives to commit a federal felony.

The count of carrying and using an explosive to obstruct law enforcement could bring a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years if he is convicted.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  An Australian court on Tuesday rejected a challenge to the federal governments draconian power to prevent most citizens from leaving the country so that they dont bring COVID-19 home.
Alli testified he signed the acknowledgment of a  ceremony because Seivert asked him to but it was a lie, the high court wrote.

In finalizing their divorce, Douglas County District Judge Russell Bowie said that he did not have enough evidence to establish that the couple were married in Hawaii in 1996. However, the judge ruled, he did have enough from January 2012 to declare them officially, legally married. He then computed how much each party should receive  awarding Seivert $2 million plus $5,000 a month in alimony and $8,400 a month in child support.

Seivert suggested that she should have received more but was penalized by the court not recognizing the marital relationship as having started in 1996.

Attorneys for Alli, meanwhile, argued that Bowie awarded Seivert too much.

Kinney said the divorce shows that the law can be hypertechnical and it can be harsh.

The bottom line is, if you want the marriage to be recognized, youre going to have to jump through these hoops, he said. We all want to be in love and we want to have fun. But you have to take something like getting married pretty darn seriously.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Ending extended unemployment benefits might push some back into the work force, but it isnt going to bring 8,600 more employees out of the woodwork  especially considering that Lincoln has been at or above full employment for nearly all of the past decade.

Sure, the shock of a sudden free-fall into a pandemic-fueled recession that cost tens of thousands of jobs in the state  plus a bounce-back that was equally rapid  will take some time to work out. Many other laid-off workers jumped into fields where immediate demand was high, such as grocery stores, and/or began training for new careers.

In the end, though, it seems as if the governors choices have been based on his theory that reducing the social safety net will "help people get to work and increase their income," as he said defending his vetoes of legislation.

But that doesn't address the underlying problem.

Rather than voluntarily ending participation in a federal program, Nebraska must continue to address the problems the state continues to face, especially in regards to geographic disparities in joblessness and helping working families afford safe child care  a real problem during the pandemic  while still earning an income, as some stayed home to tend to family instead.
On this weeks episode of Working, producer Cameron Drews spoke with Erin Tomasello, a casting director for reality TV who has worked on shows like The Circle, Americas Got Talent, The Bachelor, and Master Chef. They discussed what she looks for in contestants, how The Circle is different from other reality shows, and how the genres style has changed over the years. This partial transcript has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Cameron Drews: What are some of the biggest creative challenges of working in casting, whether youre at the director level or the recruiting level?

Advertisement

Erin Tomasello: There are hundreds of thousands of people that are dying to be on TV, but the hard part of our job is finding the stars among all of those hundreds of thousands, and weeding through and really finding true great ones. Who would expect Shubham Goel [a contestant on Season 1 of The Circle], for example. Shubhams not applying to every reality show. Hes at his desk job. Thats the magic that happens. Thats when the cast in the shows are really fabulous, when we find those hidden gems out there. Chris Sapphire [from Season 1 of The Circle] was found after a drag show in Dallas. One of my producers was walking down the street and saw him, and he was just fabulous and glowing. So its really about weeding through.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

We get hundreds of thousands of applicants, and its about finding those ones that will touch the hearts of Americans. Relatability, right? I want to watch a show, and I want to relate to someone on that show. For me, watching The Bachelor, I dont relate to those girls. I dont look like those girls. I want to watch a show and have something in common with them and relate to them and have a little heart as well. I think thats whats special about The Circle. Theres a little bit of everything for everyone.

When you have this giant pool of people who want to be on TV, as you just mentioned, what do people get wrong during that time? What do they think you want, and where do they miss the mark?

Advertisement

I totally have an answer for that because Ive actually done it myself.

Really?

As a casting producer, I was asked to go interview for this company to be on a Kirstie Alley show. They wanted me to be on an episodeI think it was a weight-loss competition show.

I got so excited. I was like, Oh my gosh, my chance to be in front of the camera. Im going to love this. Im going to go apply. Im going to nail this. So I went down, and for the first time, I was in front of the camera instead of behind the camera, and I wasnt Erin. I wasnt myself. I was putting on a show. I was telling them everything I thought that they wanted to hear.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Based on your knowledge as someone who does this?

Yeah. So my biggest advice to your listeners is dont pretend to be anybody but yourself. Dont put on a show. Dont say things you think we want to hear because you think its going to help your chances. The magic happens when youre speaking from the heart and youre just truly being yourself. I walked out of that interview, and I knew I blew it. I know that if I just wouldve spoken from the heart and been real Erin that they wouldve seen that in me. I can tell when Im interviewing people when its real and theyre really speaking from the heart, or when theyre telling me what they think I want to hear.

To listen to the full interview with Erin Tomasello, subscribe to Working on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or listen below.
Care and Feeding is Slates parenting advice column. Have a question for Care and Feeding? Submit it here or post it in the Slate Parenting Facebook group.

Dear Care and Feeding,

My husbands closest friend from childhood is Japanese American, and although he moved back to Japan after college, they are still very close. Hes our daughters godfather, and they think of him and his wife as another uncle and aunt (were also called Uncle and Auntie by his kids). For our daughters fifth birthday, they sent her a sweet gift of a box full of Japanese candies, a stuffed toy, and a kimono in her size. Its absolutely gorgeous, but Im hesitant to let her wear it, as much as shes begged us to let her dress up and show it to her friends. I know how big of an issue cultural appropriation is, and I dont want to let her think that somebody elses culture is a costume. She has a lot of anti-racist childrens books, and books about kids from other cultures celebrating holidays and traditions, and this could be a great way for us to talk about the problem of white people appropriating other cultures and using them as costumesbut also, our friends have been asking us if she liked her kimono, and I dont know what to tell them! I will confess: I dont want to be thought of as another insensitive white lady who lets her kids dress up as stereotypes of other cultures, and that may be part of whats holding me back from letting her wear it, so I think an outside perspective might help. What should I dolet her wear it, or talk to her about why she cant?

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

To Wear or Not to Wear

Dear TWoNtW,

Your question made me think of a couple of not-the-same-but-similar situations in my own family. The closest comparison might be when my birth father returned from a trip to Korea and gave hanbok to everyone in the family, including the non-Koreans. As in your case, an individual was the giver of a cultural item they really wanted to share in the spirit of family/friendship. I dont think its wrong for your child to wear a gift from close family friends, especially because you know they would like her to enjoy it. If she can do so respectfully and with care, Id probably tell her its fine to wear her kimono at home, show it to friends, etc. But I do think its important that she not be encouraged to wear it flippantly, or to think of it as just playing dress-upI wouldnt have her wear it as a Halloween costume, for example.

Advertisement

I talked this through with a Japanese American friend, who reminded me that theres a correct way to tie and wear different types of kimono. If your child is going to wear hers, you should help her learn to do so properly, in part so its not viewed as just another robe or dress-up outfit. Its up to you, but if your friends ask about the kimono again, it could also be worth talking with them about this. Depending on your friendship, there may be room to let them know that youre very grateful for their beautiful gift, and you also want to be sure that your child is taking care of and being respectful of it.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Many people are mocked or stereotyped or slotted into some foreigner category for wearing clothing that honors our cultures. Sometimes, for one reason or another, it can also be difficult for us to feel we have a right to these things. (As a Korean adoptee, I didnt get my first hanbok until I was in my 30s, and it was hard to feel like I deserved to wear it.) On the flip side, white people are often entitled or just plain careless in their appropriation, treating our cultural identities like fun trends or costumes without having to endure any of the prejudice, doubt, or othering we do. So I do think its really important to talk with your daughter about why cultural appropriation is not OKand that was always going to be important, whether or not she received a kimono from her godfather and his wife. I dont think having this discussion and letting her occasionally wear the kimono she was given need to be mutually exclusive.

Advertisement

Help us keep giving the advice you crave every week. Sign up for Slate Plus now.

Dear Care and Feeding,

My best friend has an almost-4.5-year-old daughter. It seems as if the only people who can understand her speech are her parents. Shes a great kid and fun to be around, but looking back at my own daughters speech at that age, the pronunciation and grammar skills just are not there. I dont want to be the type of person who compares my own child to other childrens progress, but at this point Im fairly concerned. Her parents sometimes correct her, but usually just try and translate for anyone else that might be interacting with her. She gets very frustrated when you tell her that you couldnt understand what she said. The only pronouns she uses for other people are her and him, so a sentence would be: Her using the iPad when we watching TV! Sentences are mostly full of slurring/mispronunciation. For example, she calls a backpack a packpack, and when she told me to pretend to be a unicorn it sounded like glue-gun. When we visit, I always try to gently correct her and make sure I speak clearly.

Advertisement

Advertisement

The parents are expecting a second child in June, so they will have less time to work on speech/grammar once the baby is born. Should I be concerned with these things given their daughters age? If I should be, is there a good way to point this out to her parents without making them upset? No one likes hearing anything negative about their child, and I certainly dont want to upset a pregnant woman (which is why I havent broached the subject with them).

Unclear in NJ

Dear Unclear,

I really dont think you always need to point out your friends childs errors or correct her speech, especially when her parents are right there. Even if you mean well, it could still be hurting her feelings or contributing to her frustration. If youre not sure what she meant by something, you can politely askor it sounds like her parents might sometimes explainbut ideally, your friends kid should just get to relax and be herself when shes around you, not worry about having her speech corrected.

Advertisement

Im not a speech therapist, and even if I were, I think it would be tough to reach any definitive conclusions about a childs needs based on a couple of written examples. I want to point out that its very possible that your friends are already pursuing evaluation or trying to get speech services for their child and just havent mentioned it to you. Even if they hadnt noticed anything themselves, these issues are often flagged by health care providers or teachers. Its also possible that theyve consulted their pediatrician and/or others and been told not to worry too much about it for now. Best friends or no, this isnt something theyre obligated to tell you about, and I wouldnt assume theyre not looking into it just because they havent looped you in.

Advertisement

Advertisement

I think the question of whether or not you could say something may partly hinge on determining what sort of friendship you have. I dont know if you can think of any comparable conversations from the pastany sensitive kid/parenting issues youve discussed in detail, in which youve both been more open and frank than you would with casual friends? If you routinely confide in and seek advice or support from each other on bigger, tougher issues, then you might have the sort of friendship where you could ask whether this is something your friend is concerned about, too. Even then, though, I would only consider doing so if you really have reason to believe they arent already on it, with the acknowledgment that youre not trying to pry and you know you arent entitled to an explanation.

Advertisement

I dont think its a negative thing for a kid to need more support in a given areaif you decide to ask about it, you definitely shouldnt frame it that way. You could try opening with something like Have you ever thought about discussing her speech development with your pediatrician? As the parent of an autistic child, I can discuss these things with my closest friends, in part because I know that they care about and appreciate my child as she is. And if my spouse and I hadnt already realized that she would benefit from extra support in some areas, I might have preferred to get a question from a trusted best friend or family member than risk her missing out on that help for years.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

But Im just one data pointI obviously dont know your friends, and Im afraid there is no way for me to promise you that they wont be upset. I do know that its a lot harder to hear any concerns about your child from someone who seems to be judging them or withholding their acceptance. So, if you decide to say something, and you really want your friend to be able to hear your concerns, I think its very important to make sure that youre being consistently affirming and supportive of both her and her child in all your interactions.

 If you missed Tuesdays Care and Feeding column, read it here.

Advertisement

 Discuss this column in the Slate Parenting Facebook group!

Dear Care and Feeding,

We have three kids between the ages of 5 and 9. Thus far, the only family vacations weve taken have been (1) to the beach or (2) Disney. This is totally fine with me and with the three kiddoseverything is safe and family-friendly, theres plenty to keep the kids entertained and food for picky eaters. My husband is NOT happy with the status quo. He yearns for adventure and wants 2022 to be the year we branch out. He pictures children with eyes filled with wonder soaking in foreign cultures on a grand tour of Europe, East Asia, or Central/South America, with no advance planning beyond showing up at a location with a hotel reservation, because having plans/itineraries would take all the fun out of it.

Advertisement

Advertisement

I picture long, expensive flights, jet-lagged children too tired to walk, and kids getting bored and fighting or making a scene at museums or restaurants where there is nothing they will eat. I honestly dont know any real-life parents who have ever traveled on the kinds of vacations he proposes, though I know they exist from all the travel blogs (I suspect there were a lot of behind-the-scenes tantrums that didnt make it into those blogs). I feel like this is what teenage years are forwait until they can handle the long trip and actually appreciate it. He refuses to wait that long and insists Im stifling their development. Is this world-traveler-with-little-kids concept absolutely insane, or am I being a stick in the mud?

Advertisement

Have Kids, Will Not Travel

Dear Will Not Travel,

As with many parenting and travel experiences, your mileage will vary. Do I think its strange that your husband is leaping all the way to youre stifling the kids development! because youre anxious about the idea of this trip? A little bit! But then again, Im not sure if you actually told him that you think hes insane.

Advertisement

I just dont see this question as cut and dried, and cannot tell you to never under any circumstances travel abroad with younger children. It really depends on the family, the kids, and the parents. Age is one consideration, but it doesnt have to be the deciding one. (For most families, of course, the biggest issue is money.) Some younger children are great travelers, while there are plenty of teens you might struggle to take anywhere. So you have to think about your children, specifically, not the kids in the travel blogs. Are your kids excited about the idea of far-flung travel? (Are you, even in the abstract? That matters too!) Are they very anxious about it? Are they able to go with the flow (some kids really can!) and adapt to surprises or quickly changed plans? Could they give some input into things theyd like to do or try, if you gave them options? Will they eat anything besides chicken fingers and fries? etc.

Advertisement

I dont blame you for not loving the idea of just showing up in another country with no plan whatsoever; I imagine that would add tremendously to the stress of traveling long distances with children. If you were to go, Id recommend making some plansperhaps a flexible itinerary with a few built-in options each day (fine if you dont get to any of them or change plans on the fly) just so youre not going in completely unprepared. I do think trips of the type your husband is proposing can prove stressful at times, even if both parents agree that any challenges are absolutely worth itand thats not how you feel right now. So, since you dont have to decide today, for now Id probably just keep discussing your options and possible plans, and not rush into any decisions when youre nowhere close to being on the same page.

Advertisement

Dear Care and Feeding,

I have a beautiful 1-year-old granddaughter who is the light of my life. Shes excelling at and exceeding all of her motor skills and is extremely bright. Im regularly astounded at all of the things she can already do. (I realize all grandparents say this, but as a former day care teacher and preschool instructor, Ive been around plenty of babies.) My son and daughter-in-law are wonderful parents. I know that they do things differently now, baby-led weaning and gentle parenting have been quite a shock for me, but theyve done their best to keep us included and seek advice.

My one contention is that my granddaughter sleeps well, but only if she sleeps next to my daughter-in-law. This has been the scenario since she was 5 months old. They refuse to do sleep training, claiming theyve tried gentle versions to no avail, and they refuse to do a cry-it-out method. My son told me that the few times they tried letting her cry, she cried so hard she threw up. He tells me hes not worried because shell eventually sleep on her own. I think this is nuts. They are coddling the baby, and its ridiculous to keep this up, especially when its gone on for so long. I think they are setting a bad precedent with the sleep situation, and they should just continue to let her cry until this is all resolved. Am I wrong? What should I do to convince them they need to stop this?

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Slippery Sleep Slope

Dear SSS,

The baby is healthy, well cared for, and safe. Her sleep training/situation is not yours to determineits up to your son and daughter-in-law, and with all the discourse around baby sleep out there, believe me, you are not going to supply any arguments they have not already seen or heard. Where your grandchild naps affects you not a whit, as you are not her parent. Enjoy being a grandparent, and let this go.

Nicole

More Advice From Slate

I am an only child to a mother who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. My wife and I would like to put her in some kind of out-of-home care, but we cant afford it. The most we can manage is in-home health care, essentially hospice, which is covered by her insurance. For a variety of reasons, my mother can no longer stay alone in her home across the country, and it would be best if she came to live with us and received this care in our home. We have two kids, ages 3 and 5, and we worry about the impact of this experience on them. Will they be traumatized or horrified by seeing the end of life?
Democrat Melanie Stansbury won overwhelmingly in a special election for a suburban House seat in New Mexico on Tuesday, tallying 60 percent of the vote en route to a 25-point win over Republican state Sen. Mark Moores. That a Democrat won the race to fill the seat vacated by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is hardly surprising; the district swung to the left in 2008 and has turned out increasingly uncompetitive races over the past decade, including in 2020 where President Joe Biden carried the district by 23 points and Haaland won by 17 points. The timing of the race, however, gave the contest special importance as a potential barometer of support for the Biden agenda in a suburban district in a competitive presidential state far from Washington. National onlookers saw the margin of victory, rather than victory itself, as a key indicator of how the Democratic presidents policies were playing in the field.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Here's my line on the #NM01 special tonight (district was Biden +23, Haaland +16 in '20). Melanie Stansbury (D) by...



>15: Dems should be very happy

10-15: about what we might expect

<10: sign of a Dem turnout problem post-Trump  Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) June 2, 2021

The 25-point walloping appears to show that Democratic support for Biden is holding, as the party tries to hold onto its slim advantage in the House while simultaneously fighting against the American electorates habit of returning the opposition party to power in the House in the cycle after a newly elected president takes office. Stansburys opponent ran almost entirely on the rise in crime in the Albuquerque-based district in an effort to make the race a referendum on crime, a line of attack that is surely going to be front and center of the Republican election effort in 2022 amid elevated national crime rates on the tail of the pandemic.

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.

DC Pundits: Is the Biden agenda TRULY popular? Can Dems generate enthusiasm?



Voters in NM-01 tonight: pic.twitter.com/dUdSuaQV2o  Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) June 2, 2021

Tuesdays margin will calm Democratic nerves on the popularity of its agenda and the partys vulnerability to crime-related campaign tactics, but the win does come with a number of caveats that make universal lessons a bit harder to parse. Democrats took far more interest and invested far more resources in the race as national Republicans largely stayed on the sidelines. Stansbury raised three times more money, allowing her to blanket the local airwaves, while receiving a wave of visits from high-profile Democrats to maintain enthusiasm.
Update, June 2, 2021, at 9: 30 p.m.: Stanford has concluded that Nicholas Wallace engaged in protected speech, dropped its investigation, and lifted the hold on his diploma. Wallace has confirmed that he will be allowed to graduate.

On Jan. 25, Nicholas Wallace, a third-year student at Stanford Law School, sent a satirical flyer to a student listserv reserved for debate and political commentary. The flyer promoted a fake event, The Originalist Case for Inciting Insurrection, ostensibly sponsored by the Stanford Federalist Society. It advertised the participation of two politicians who tried to overturn the 2020 election, Missouri Sen. Joshua Hawley and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Violent insurrection, also known as doing a coup, is a classical system of installing a government, the flyer read, adding that insurrection can be an effective approach to upholding the principle of limited government.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Wallaces email was designed to mock the Stanford Federalist Society for refusing to disavow the many Federalist Society luminaries who fomented the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, including Hawley and Paxton. It worked: The flyer went viral, prompting USA Today to confirm that it was, indeed, satire. But the Stanford Federalist Society was not amused. In March, one of the groups top officers filed a complaint against Wallace with Stanfords Office of Community Standards. (This persons name has been redacted from all documents.) The student alleged that Wallaces satire defamed the Stanford Federalist Society, causing harm to the student group and to the individual reputations of the officers.

Then, on May 22, with graduation looming, the Stanford Federalist Society officer pushed the school to initiate a formal investigation. Wallace did not receive the complaint against him until May 27, his last day of classes. Stanford then placed a hold on his degree, prohibiting him from receiving his actual diploma at graduation on June 12. It has continued to investigate him for a possible violation of the Fundamental Standard, the schools code of conduct, subjecting him to the same procedures that suspected plagiarists must undergo. The hold on his diploma has jeopardized Wallaces plans to take the Michigan bar exam this summer; the state bar requires applicants to send their diplomas immediately upon graduation, which he will not be able to do.

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.

On Tuesday, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education sent a letter to Stanford urging the school to immediately abandon its investigation and commit to procedural reforms to protect the expressive rights Stanford promises to its students. FIRE pointed out that Californias Leonard Law requires private universities to comply with the First Amendment, and there is no real question that Wallaces email is shielded by the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has held that satire, including offensive and hurtful expression, constitutes protected speech, and Wallaces email is obviously satirical. No reasonable person familiar with the emails context would understand it to be sincere, FIRE wrote, noting that it advertises an event that occurred 19 days earlier and is laden with figurative language intended to impugn national political figures.

Advertisement

Here is the flyer that led Stanford to place a hold on Wallace's diploma following a complaint by a Stanford Federalist Society leader. pic.twitter.com/sUg3Jvta3I  Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) June 2, 2021

Advertisement

Because Wallaces email is free speech shielded by the First Amendment, Stanford has no authority to punish him. In fact, Wallace can sue in state court to prevent the school from taking any adverse action against him, and collect attorneys fees if he prevails. While Stanford has not yet issued any formal punishment, FIRE alleges that Stanfords investigation itself creates a chilling effect in violation of the law. (The school did not return my requests for comment on Wednesday.)

Advertisement

Indeed, the Federalist Societys complaint has already imposed a severe burden, forcing Wallace to navigate a complex disciplinary process in the midst of finals. On Wednesday, Wallace told me that the Stanford Federalist Societys complaint feels retaliatory in light of his public opposition to the group. In March, Wallace helped to plan a virtual event at which I spoke about the Federalist Societys many links to the insurrection. The Stanford chapters officer filed the complaint several weeks laterat which point two months had passed since Wallace created the satirical flyer.

This retaliation against Wallaces speech marks the height of hypocrisy for a member of the Federalist Society, which regularly champions free speech on campusthough usually for conservatives. In November, for instance, Justice Samuel Alito delivered a speech to the organizations annual convention railing against campus censorship as well as the alleged effort to hobble the debate that the Federalist Society fosters. Alito also claimed that law school students who are members of the Federalist Society tell him they face harassment and retaliation if they say anything that departs from the law school orthodoxy.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Now, however, it is Wallace who faces harassment and retaliation. A leader of his own schools Federalist Society chapter has responded to political commentary by imperiling the speakers ability to graduate and take the bar. And rather than reject the complaint outright, Stanford is investigating his legally protected speech as a possible violation of the universitys rules.

It has been a pretty awful way to close out my career at Stanford, Wallace told me. Instead of studying for finals, Im trying to figure this out. I just sent an email to my family trying to reassure them that I havent blown it in my last few days at Stanford.
This article is part of the Free Speech Project, a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law, & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law that examines the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech.

There was no reason to think Nikole Hannah-Jones tenure wouldnt come through. Hannah-Jones, an acclaimed journalist, was recruited for a tenured Knight chair in race and investigative journalism in the University of North Carolinas Hussman School of Journalism and Media, a position designed to bring professionals to campus. With 20 years of newsroom experience, a Pulitzer Prize, and a MacArthur genius grant, Hannah-Jones case sailed through the lengthy and rigorous tenure process and was approved by the school, the university, and the provost. We both teach at UNCDaniel at the Hussman schooland were thrilled to have Hannah-Jones on campus.

Advertisement

But then her tenure case reached the universitys conservative majority board of trustees, where it apparently lingered without action in a subcommittee. In the end, the board took the unprecedented step of refusing to hear the case at all. When the news became public, there was a large outcry. Hannah-Jones legal team gave the board of trustees until Friday to reconsider tenure. Why, despite all her qualifications, did the board of trustees refuse to grant Hannah-Jones tenure?

Advertisement

Advertisement

The answer seems to lie in conservative disinformation campaigns against Hannah-Jones, her influential 1619 Project, and the very idea of critical race theory. These disinformation campaigns muster false information, distorted stereotypes, and mischaracterizations as part of a long-term conservative battle against public higher education and the teaching of American racial history. Only by identifying these campaigns as disinformation can we counter them.

Advertisement

Debate and disagreement are at the heart of academiabut conservative disinformation campaigns are deliberately spread to advance particular political and ideological goals. In the Hannah-Jones case, the board was under tremendous pressure from local conservative groups and wealthy donors to intervene in the appointment. Hannah-Jones founded the New York Times 1619 Project, an effort to center the history and legacy of slavery and the experiences of Black Americans in U.S. history.

The 1619 Project is a pet target of right-wing media, who imagine it at the center of its latest liberal boogeyman, critical race theory. Critical race theory is a decades-old branch of scholarship that analyzes the role of race in American society. It tells us that racism is not simply a matter of individual prejudices or attitudes, but something structural and systemic, underpinned by institutions. Work that is informed by critical race theory, and the 1619 Project, asks us to hold broader systems accountable for the historical legacy of slavery in the United States, and understand how laws were created to maintain racial division and inequality.

Advertisement

Advertisement

In the past six months in particular, conservative think tanks, commentators, and news media have waged an all-out disinformation war on their version of critical race theory, which is a catch-all for diversity efforts, anti-racist education, cancel culture, and unconscious bias trainingor any talk of racial inequality at all.

Conservatives have also cynically embraced widespread social concern over polarization and declining trust to cast Nikole Hannah-Jones, the 1619 Project, and critical race theory as grave threats to American society. According to conservatives, critical race theory is a racist (aka anti-white) and divisive ideology that is so dangerous that it needs to be banned from K12 classrooms. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stated in March that it is teaching kids to hate their country and to hate each other. According to the Heritage Foundation, critical race theory undermines the United States by transforming it into a nation riven by groups, each with specific claims on victimization, which will weaken the public and private bonds that create trust and allow for civic engagement.

Advertisement

Unsurprisingly, these claims about critical race theory are wrong or exaggerated. They are often based on quotes taken out of context or from poorly conceived diversity training effortsnot the extensive body of serious scholarship about race and American history, institutions, and inequalities. Many of them build on long-standing antisemitic conspiracy theories about Marxism and the Frankfurt School (the group of German emigre intellectuals who were leading critical thinkers of mass culture, authoritarianism, and antisemitism during the WWII and postwar eras). And they tie into a much longer history of right-wing campaigns to undermine publicly funded higher education. In fact, one of the conservative organizations pressuring the UNC board of trustees about Hannah-Jones is devoted to scrutinizing North Carolina higher education for ideological bias, while promoting conservative free market ideology.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Right-wing think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation and the Manhattan Institute, which count among their contributors conservative critic Christopher Rufo, helped engineer the campaign against critical race theory. Think tank and media strategists talking points are echoed in Trumps 2020 executive order Combatting Race and Sex Stereotyping, which forbid federally funded diversity training. Calling critical race theory a destructive ideology, Trump claimed that racial sensitivity trainings are racist, and that understanding systemic racism will divide us and  prevent us from uniting as one people in pursuit of one common destiny for our great country. The order was reportedly inspired after Trump saw Rufo on Tucker Carlson. Since Biden reversed Trumps executive order, Republicans in at least nine states, including Texas, Arizona, Tennessee, and, of course, North Carolina have introduced or passed bills to ban teaching critical race theory in the classroom, parroting the same disinformation. An Oklahoma community college instructor recently told local news outlets that her summer class on race and ethnicity was canceled because of one such bill.

Advertisement

The 1619 Project is perhaps the most frequently mentioned target of conservative attacks on critical race theory. They use scholarly debates about and critiques of particular claims in the project to discredit it as a complete fraud and work of unfounded lies. An oft-repeated sentiment is that the 1619 Project will make white children regard their identities as something abhorrent, rather than disinvest from their racial privilege. Conservative pundits and publications have constructed a false narrative that claims the 1619 Project is fabricated to hurt and punish white people, and white children in particular.

Advertisement

Our research has repeatedly shown that these types of lies, moral accusations, misrepresentations, and white racial appeals are often used to justify hate and harassment. In this case, disinformation is being used to deny a decorated Black journalist tenure and ban the teaching of Americas racial history in our schools.

Advertisement

Of course, its possible that some people repeating these talking points are doing so in good faith. But what distinguishes disinformation from its less malevolent cousin misinformation is an unwillingness to acknowledge when one is wrong; in the latter case, a newspaper printing a retraction, for instance. Even given copious evidence that their characterization of critical race theory often isnt correctand that their targets often arent even examples of critical race theorymuch of the conservative establishment has doubled down on its campaign. This serves conservatives well. Overly broad interpretations of critical race theory instill fear in educators and close off much discussion of white supremacy, even as these appeals to whites shore up the conservative base against the common enemy of liberals. The repetition of the same talking points by pundits, think tanks, and policymakers alike also speaks to a strategically engineered, coordinated campaign.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

It is unsurprising that the disinformation campaigns against the 1619 Project and critical race theory come directly after 2020, a year in which many Americans explicitly grappled with police brutality, anti-Blackness, and white privilege. They directly construct and reinforce the idea that traditional white American identity and whites status at the top of the economic, political, and cultural hierarchy in the U.S. is under threat, which many political scientists argue led to Trumps Electoral College victory in 2016. And, like many other disinformation narratives, they build on preexisting conservative white beliefs about race and inequalitythat to talk about race is to be divisive, that critiquing the United States is unpatriotic, and that racial inequality is due to individual failings rather than systemic inequalities.

And yet it is precisely actions, or more accurately inactions, like those taken by the UNC board of trustees that demonstrate that systemic racism exists and the 1619 Project is vital.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
by Sumon Corraya

Flooding caused by Cyclone Yass wrecked havoc in an area where 30,000 people live. Because of damages to crops and fish ponds, many residents have lost their jobs and aid is slow in comping.

Dhaka (AsiaNews)  Cyclone Yass swept across India and Bangladesh in late May killing at least six people and leaving a trail of destruction.

In Khulna, a region in southern Bangladesh, cropland, farms and houses were submerged. Large swaths of the coastal region is now without food and drinking water.

"As a result of Cyclone Yass, all ponds have been flooded with saltwater. This has forced us to get water seven kilometres from here, said Shuda Mondol, a housewife from the village of Ghigrakhati, speaking to AsiaNews after she returned from another village, Kolaputa.

Water is also a problem for Shila Rani, a woman with a family of six. Every day it takes me five or six hours to collect water from a neighbouring village, she explained. A water jar will last one day; so we are drinking less.

By destroying the crops and fish farms in the Khulna region, the cyclone has left residents not only without water and food, but also without work since many of them are daily labourers.

Finding water for animals like cows and chicken is also a challenge; and sanitation is a major issue because of the loss of toilet facilities. About 30,000 people in 26 villages are in this situation.

Animesh Biswas, a local government official, admitted that food was in short supply and that the government was not providing aid. Several local NGOs have been asked to help cope with the emergency.

Daud Jibon Das, regional director of Caritas Khulna, said that the Catholic charity has already appealed to a number of donors to help the victims.

Khulna is a low-lying district prone to environmental disasters. Most houses are made of mud bricks and in recent years storms have destroyed thousands of them, uprooted trees and wiped out crops.
King of Spain visits replica of tiny cell where ETA kidnap victim spent 532 days



Felipe VI opens a Memorial Memorial Centre dedicated to the Victims of Terrorism in Vitoria

King Felipe VI of Spain paid an emotional visit to on Tuesday to Vitoria, the administrative capital of the Basque Country, to officially open a Memorial Centre dedicated to the Victims of Terrorism and in particular to those of the Basque separatist movement ETA.

Among the features of the museum is a reconstruction of the tiny underground cell in which Jose Antonio Ortega Lara, who was employed as a prison officer, spent 532 days as a captive of the terrorist group before being rescued in July 1997. Sr Ortega Lara was held in a space measuring just 3 x 2.5 x 1.8 metres in which he could take no more than three steps, and by the time of his release had lost 23 kilos as well as suffering from numerous physical conditions.

Accompanied by his wife, Queen Letizia, the King had to stoop to inspect the interior of the cell  he is almost 2 metres tall  as he revisited one of the darkest episodes of Spains recent history. During his visit he stated that the memory of the victims of terrorism is an essential element to avoid legitimizing terrorism, and in ensuring that the unjust pain caused by it is not repeated, and a minutes silence was observed in memory of those to whom the centre is dedicated.

During its long period of activity, which is now over, more than 850 people lost their lives due to the attacks carried out by ETA, and the suffering of Jose Antonio Ortega Lara was in some ways a turning point in the groups history. Just a few days after his release ETA retaliated by kidnapping and subsequently murdering a 29-year-old councillor in Ermua named Miguel Angel Blanco, sparking mass expressions of outrage and disgust throughout Spain: the spirit of Ermua is still invoked in denouncing acts of terrorism.
V4 Family Declaration seen as vehicle for social conservative drive in EU

It looks like a benign, if rather anodyne, document expressing support for families. But the Declaration Pro Familia signed by Central European governments in May could be used to push an ultra-conservative agenda at the EU level.

Font size: A - | A +

We underline that the family is the primal community  it was the first to develop in the history of mankind, before the first states were formed. From the dawn of humanity until today, it is a community through which the social tissue is recreated, reads the text of the Declaration Pro Familia, signed on May 13 in Warsaw by ministers responsible for family affairs of the four Visegrad states  Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

It is families that provide society with the greatest gift: its new members. So far, no better environment for the growth of children has been developed Therefore, we are committed to supporting the family  mankinds fundamental idea, continues the one-page text, an initiative of the rotating Polish presidency of the Visegrad Group, the text of which was provided to BIRN by the Polish Ministry of Family and Social Policy.

We declare the taking of all possible measures  including those to be undertaken in cooperation with the Visegrad Group  in order to provide families with the best possible conditions for functioning, it concludes.

While the focus of the communication around the launch of the Declaration Pro Familia has been on fairly uncontroversial government actions, the V4 countries plan to improve exclusively the economic situation of heterosexual families, primarily those with multiple children, and the fact the text is the initiative of Polands nationalist-populist government, which has been carrying out a concerted campaign against womens and LGBT rights, raises many questions.

Do all V4 countries that signed the Declaration Pro Familia share the current Polish governments understanding of family, i.e. the traditional family of a married heterosexual couple and their children? Will the Declaration lead to other joint actions by the V4 to restrict womens and LGBT rights, as Poland might intend? And what will be the long-term impact of such coordination on wider EU policymaking in the areas of reproductive and gay rights?

Family mainstreaming

During the May 13 launch event in Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spelled out at least his governments intentions on the further use of this initiative.

We put enormous effort into further ensuring that the basic needs of families are met  in the budget, but also in regulations and policies, national and European. We want to promote the family within the EU  this is for us one of the basic goals of our social policy at the EU level, he told reporters.

Elzbieta Korolczuk, a sociologist and gender issues expert working at the Sodertorn and Warsaw Universities, said Polands social and religious conservatives are attempting to swap gender mainstreaming  a strategy to achieve equality between women and men though policies, programs and projects  with family mainstreaming, which in the hands of illiberal governments becomes an alternative to womens rights and a tool for promoting traditional values.

Its both an ideological and a political project to form a transnational alliance of right-wing populist and extreme-right parties with the help of ultraconservative civil society groups and religious institutions, Korolczuk tells BIRN.

Related article Proposals to ban abortions return to parliament Read more

Over the last year, Polands government  a three-party conservative coalition led by Law and Justice (PiS)  has repeatedly requested the excising of the word gender from EU documents. At the same time, it has pushed countries in Central and Southeast Europe to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention on combating domestic violence and violence against women, in order to replace it with an alternative treaty that would ban abortion and homosexual marriage.

At home, the government has practically banned abortion and supported municipal resolutions passed against LGBT ideology, which were widely criticised internationally. Its all part of a worldview which claims that international bodies and supranational law are forcing countries into accepting modern human rights at the expense of the traditional, Christian-centred family model  a process which needs to be reversed.

Pushed by ultra-conservative groups from both inside and outside the government, the Polish proposals have oftentimes proved too reactionary for other countries in the region: the call to reject the Istanbul Convention has been met with a meek response from many neighbouring states.

Against this background, promoting the family could turn out to be a much more digestible concept.

Welfare chauvinism

Support for families has been a hallmark of illiberal governments in both Hungary and Poland for years. Pro-family policies are not only popular with voters, but they also match conservative social and religious agendas, with leaders explicitly saying they want to deal with the demographic crisis by raising domestic birth rates rather than encouraging migration.

Since 2010, the Viktor Orban government in Hungary has introduced multiple financial and tax incentives to encourage couples to have kids. Married couples can get up to 10 million forints (30,000) in benefits if they produce three children within ten years. Working mothers with four children are exempt from personal income tax and families can even get taxpayer-funded assistance for purchasing a new car. A recent measure gave away 3 million forints (8,500) to each family with at least one child to finance housing repairs and another 3 million forints in cheap loans.

The Hungarian government spends a generous 4 per cent of GDP on family assistance, albeit targeting mostly working families rather than those in marginalised communities like Roma. Nevertheless, it can now brag about having raised the birth rate from 1.23 per woman in 2010 to 1.55 today.

Like Warsaw, Budapest bases these policies on a very restrictive  hence discriminatory  definition of family. In May 2020, in the middle of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hungarys parliament passed a bill that banned transgender people from changing their gender in official documents. Then in December, under the coronavirus state of emergency, it passed another bill that made adoption for same-sex couples practically impossible. Same-sex marriage is illegal in Hungary, but couples had been able to adopt if one of them applied as a single partner. Single people will now need special approval from the minister of family affairs to do so.

Experts like Katalin Kevehazi, president of the Budapest-based JOL-LET (Well-Being) Foundation and a prominent expert on women in the labour market, argue that the support for traditional families has a political dimension beyond fertility rates. In general, all V4 governments have a very conservative approach toward women, seeing their central role as mothers and child-bearers, Kevehazi told BIRN in an earlier interview.

But in Hungary, the government and the prime minister himself go a step further and talk about saving the nation and family and preserving the Hungarian nation for the future. Its not only a family support program, but part of a nation-building agenda, she said.

Hungarys Ministry of Family Affairs did not respond to BIRNs questions concerning the Declaration Pro Familia, though Family Minister Katalin Novak, a star of the international anti-gender equality movement, proudly announced her endorsement of the document on social media.

The Visegrad Group is setting an example to Europe in terms of demography and demonstrates that working solutions can be based on internal resources. A lot of inspiration and great ideas can be found in the group, for example Poland inspired us to introduce a personal income tax exemption for young adults, she tweeted.

In Poland, PiS came to power in 2015 with an irresistible offer to voters: a monthly benefit of 500 zloty (over 100) per child to families with kids. Just days after the Declaration Pro Familia was signed, the government on May 15 launched a new package dubbed the Polish Deal, which included further financial help for families with children, who are set to get over 2,600 for the care of their second child between the first and third year of life. PiS also promised guarantees for mortgages and freeing house construction from bureaucratic burdens.

Related article Families set to receive hundreds of euros. Who is entitled? Read more

Scholar Elzbieta Korolczuk calls this welfare chauvinism and argues that, combined with what could be called a cautious, ultra-conservative agenda, it is becoming a popular model not just in Central Europe, but elsewhere in places like Italy and Sweden.

Korolczuk says this is exactly the effect Poland is looking to achieve as it casts about for allies in Western Europe in its attempt to mainstream the conservative agenda in a package with welfare chauvinism across the EU.

The increasing popularity of this model can already be seen in Slovakia, the third signatory to the Declaration Pro Familia. In early May, the former prime minister and current finance minister, Igor Matovic, announced during a press conference that Slovakia is aiming to become the European leader in pro-family policies by raising support and tax allowances for families with children. Politicians in the ruling coalition have since been competing to outdo each other in pro-family policies.

Related article Conservative NGOs received gender equality subsidies despite experts' recommendations Read more

In a response sent to BIRN about the implications of the Declaration Pro Familia, the Slovak Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family said, the government views family support as a priority tool to solve the problem of unfavourable economic development. As such, the government would soon announce a national strategy for families, including support for housing, direct transfers to families and building a new model of family politics that requires measured investments in the family, it said.

Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Family Milan Krajniak, whose signature is on the Declaration Pro Familia, is a notorious populist conservative Christian, representing the Sme Rodina party. As a minister, he has been busy erasing the term gender equality from legislation and strategic documents. Feminist groups have not received any funding from his ministry, even though many achieved top expert rating.

Related article Gender equality department director quits: Slovakia set out for Polish and Hungarian example Read more

In April, Krajniak was a keynote speaker at an online conference on the Geneva Consensus Declaration, an global anti-abortion initiative of Mike Pompeo, the former US secretary of state. Organised by high-profile Polish ultra-conservative legal group Ordo Iuris, which is behind many of the Polish governments proposals to restrict womens and LGBT rights, the conference gathered politicians and activists from across the world to discuss how to fight back against what it calls gender ideology.

In his speech, Krajniak said that Central Europe was thankful to the West for freeing it of communism and now it was the responsibility of Central Europe to save the West from liberalism.

The minister added that it should be the regions moral commitment to remind Western Europe that boundless liberalism, individualism, and the destruction of social cohesion and bonds, such as the family, will lead to catastrophe.

A regional outlier

Czechia is the only one of the V4 to be clearly moving in a different direction on womens and LGBT rights  even if it still has plenty of progress to make. Hence, its participation in the Declaration Pro Familia is all the more surprising.

In response to an inquiry from BIRN, the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs said it made it clear to the Polish V4 presidency that it does not in the least share its views on the traditional family model, LGBT rights, gender issues or reproductive rights.

The underlying principle is to allow for families to choose to have children if they want, the ministry told BIRN. We addressed obstacles such as lack of childcare facilities, flexible working arrangements and improved financial security. The governments of Poland and Hungary seem to approach the family rather from the point of demographic developments (i.e. their goal is to increase the fertility rate), while we emphasise the freedom of choice.

Of late, the Czech government has become increasingly vocal in expressing support for gender and sexual minority rights, even if concrete legal advances  such as the ratification of the Istanbul Convention  are slower to be implemented. Its a stance that LGBT rights campaigners link to Pragues stronger orientation towards liberal democracy and a pro-Western stance.

The Czech Republic clearly opposes any discrimination on the basis of different sexual orientation or gender identity, Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek wrote on Twitter on May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.

Considering the governments populist outlook, such outspoken support is also likely the result of a lack of active discrimination among the population, which stems to a degree from a distinct lack of religious fervour. A 2018 survey conducted by the Czech Ombudswoman and the Prague Pride Association found that although discrimination still exists, members of the Czech LGBT+ community generally assess their position in society rather positively.

Campaigners are now pushing to exploit the relative tolerance. Claiming that nearly 70 percent of Czechs support the legalisation of gay marriage, they celebrated in April as a bill to open the way to marriage equality passed a first reading in parliament. That said, it was only just. There are still powerful reactionary forces in Czechia, led by populist President Milos Zeman.

Czechia has also shown its ready to confront its more conservative neighbours. Recently, having banned practically all forms of abortion at the start of the year, Poland called on Prague to stop Polish women accessing such services in Czechia. It received short shrift.

Pragues decision to join the Coalition Pro Familia looks a little odd, therefore, although the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs insists that the V4 have much to learn from each other and that cooperation is to be focused on the practical side of family policies.

The discussion has focused on non-controversial issues: pro-family measures, demographics and policies regarding the elderly, the ministry spokesperson told BIRN. We do not expect issues [such as LGBT, reproductive rights and gender] to be opened, but if they are, we are going to voice the difference in our views.

Minister Jana Malacova, who signed the declaration on behalf of the Czech government, expressed her views on the developments of Polish law and policies with regard to reproductive rights last year, the spokesperson noted. Malacova had described efforts to deprive Polish women of their right to decide on the future of pregnancies as a return to the Middle Ages.

The Czech position notwithstanding, Poland has stated that it, at least, will try to use the Declaration Pro Familia to pursue its interests at the EU level.

Within the European Union, family policy is under the competence of member states  the EU has no competences in shaping or designing the national family policy, a spokesperson for the Polish Ministry of Family and Social Policy told BIRN. However, this is the area where the member states can exchange experiences, good practices and share opinions.

V4 countries share the opinion that it is the duty of the state to strengthen families, in full trust and respect for its subjectivity. These values  as well as its dignity and respect for freedom  are the foundations on which we base the pro-family policy. We would like to promote this view of the family and value of the family, also in discussions with other Member States, the spokesperson said.

However, Neil Datta, secretary of the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights and an expert in the global ultra-conservative movement, told BIRN that, upon reading the text of the declaration, he has worries about its eventual use within the EU.

It seems like at least three of the four ministers/countries are using this Declaration to lay the foundation to advance their regressive agenda within the EU in the medium term, he said. Polands diplomatic efforts to have other countries exit the Istanbul Convention together didnt work, and Hungary has been leading soft diplomatic efforts on demography for a couple of years.

Therefore, it looks like the beginnings of an effort to re-package an ultra-conservative agenda into something that looks more innocuous  i.e., the family  to then enter into policy discussions into a range of areas. It seems that such an approach would have the full backing of Hungary and Poland, while Im not sure about Slovakia or whether this is a personal ambition of the minister [Krajniak].

Perhaps a sign of things to come is that on the same day the Declaration was signed by the V4 countries, the ultra-conservative Polish institute Ordo Iuris  together with partner organisations from across Europe  launched an international petition against the European Commissions plans to have member states recognise adoptions by LGBT couples contracted in other EU countries.

This article was produced by Reporting Democracy, a cross-border journalism platform run by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.

2. Jun 2021 at 9:10 | Claudia Ciobanu, Tim Gosling, Edit Inotai, Edward Szekeres
Only 3,000 people have registered for Sputnik V so far. InoBat Auto launches works on R&D centre.

Font size: A - | A +

This is the Wednesday, June 2, 2021 edition of Today in Slovakia.

Za Ludi could split soon

Veronika Remisova (Source: TASR)

The smallest coalition party, Za Ludi, might split.

Several party members have been critical of its chair, Investments Minister Veronika Remisova, for some time already, pointing to her somewhat lukewarm attitude during the coalition crisis and her support for party colleague Maria Kolikova, who recently faced an attempt to oust her from the justice minister post.

Today in Slovakia news digest is a free-of-charge service for our readers. If you want to support us, become a subscriber and get access to more detailed news and interesting feature stories from Slovakia.

Several representatives are calling for a national assembly meeting, at which Remisova might face a vote to be replaced as the party's head. Yet, the recent meeting of the chairmanship members did not bring any resolution.

Following the decision to remove Roman Krpelan, former advisor of ex-president and Za Ludi founder Andrej Kiska, from the post of the partys general manager, a group led by Kolikova left. The justice minister even mentioned the possibility of creating some kind of faction that will work within the party.

The situation even worsened after Remisova decided to withdraw the nomination of Tomas Lehotsky to become new deputy chair of the parliament.

Slovakia needs to fix problems with data

The map of districts from June 7, 2021. (Source: Health Ministry)

Slovak authorities are emphasising that the situation in the country keeps improving. Starting next Monday, two districts will even switch to the green, monitoring tier, with several areas following very relaxed anti-pandemic measures. Most of the country is in the yellow or orange tiers, where more relaxed measures are followed, too.

Still, the country remains in the red tier on the European level. The Dennik N daily has meanwhile reported that the Public Health Authority (UVZ) sent the wrong data to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and as a result, stricter travelling rules have been applied to Slovakia.

UVZ admitted to the mistake and said it would fix the problem so that Slovakia can switch to the orange tier starting next Monday. Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky (OLaNO nominee) wants to discuss the situation with chief hygienist Jan Mikas. For now, he does not want to talk about potential consequences.

More Covid and vaccination developments

124 PCR tests out of 5,256 carried out on June 1 were positive (2.36 percent), and so were 118 out of 41,840 a ntigen tests . 13 more people died of Covid, increasing the total number to 12,366.

out of 5,256 carried out on June 1 were positive (2.36 percent), and so were out of 41,840 a . of Covid, increasing the total number to 12,366. Some 3,000 people have registered for the Sputnik V vaccine jab since the registration was launched yesterday; Slovakia has 200,000 doses of the vaccine at its disposal. Finance Minister Igor Matovic, who negotiated the purchase, said that the health minister should come up with a plan in case not all vaccines are used by Slovakia.

vaccine jab since the registration was launched yesterday; Slovakia has 200,000 doses of the vaccine at its disposal. Finance Minister Igor Matovic, who negotiated the purchase, said that the health minister should come up with a plan in case not all vaccines are used by Slovakia. The Health Ministry will introduce mass vaccination in big companies that request it. It also plans to motivate people to get a jab through a mobile vaccination team and is working on a system enabling general practitioners to administer the vaccines.

First electric batteries expected in a year

Marian Bocek, CEO of InoBat Auto, during the official launch of reconstruction works of the new facility. (Source: Courtesy of InoBat Auto)

Electric vehicle (EV) battery developer and producer InoBat Auto has launched works to transform a brownfield in Voderady into an EV battery R&D centre and pilot line. It should be completed in the second quarter of 2022.

Powered by green energy through grid electricity and solar panels, the 27,000 square metre site will create up to 150 jobs and will include a technical training centre, office space, research labs and manufacturing line.

InoBat will use the new battery centre to identify the optimum cell chemistries to meet the exact requirements of any vehicle maker or manufacturer.

Picture of the day

12 historical pictures by Anton Smotlak were installed in the capital as part of the Black-and-white Bratislava exhibition, which compares its landmarks to how they looked in the 1950s and 1960s.

Feature story for today

The labour market will see the arrival of many secondary-school graduates who opt not to continue their studies at university this summer.

Similar to students from the previous 2019/2020 school year, they will not face the final school-leaving exam, the maturita, before they formally graduate from school and start their first full-time jobs. And, unlike their predecessors whom the pandemic caught in a situation for which they were unprepared but only lasted a few months between March and June, the 2020/2021 cohort of secondary school graduates spent most of their last school year in remote learning.

Pandemic graduates arrive to the labour market. How can they succeed? Read more

In other news

The Defence Ministry will buy two more Black Hawk helicopters with equipment for special operations for $111.4 million excluding VAT . Slovakia will pay $61.4 million excluding VAT (about 50 million) and another $10 million after delivery, and the rest should be paid by the US.

with equipment for special operations for . Slovakia will pay $61.4 million excluding VAT (about 50 million) and another $10 million after delivery, and the rest should be paid by the US. Nitra-based entrepreneur Norbert Bodor will stay in custody after the Specialised Criminal Court turned down his request to be released. Bodor was detained in early July 2020 and charged with money laundering.

after the Specialised Criminal Court turned down his request to be released. Bodor was detained in early July 2020 and charged with money laundering. The Economy Ministry submitted criminal complaints concerning subsidy fraud in the case of rental subsidies. Minister Richard Sulik (SaS) admitted that about 1 percent of more than 80,000 agreements are suspicious.

in the case of rental subsidies. Minister Richard Sulik (SaS) admitted that about 1 percent of more than 80,000 agreements are suspicious. Slovakias economy should grow 1.5 percent quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of 2021, according to the Council for Budget Responsibility (RRZ). In the first three months of the year, the GDP dropped by 1.8 percent q-o-q.

More on Spectator.sk today

V4 Family Declaration seen as vehicle for social conservative drive in EU Read more

A unique national emblem made of trees Read more

If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk.

2. Jun 2021 at 17:56 | Radka Minarechova
For many years after Prohibition the laws favored only those who could afford to pay high taxes and salaries for certain positions required by the new laws, making it impossible for smaller operations to compete. But in 1980, the government decided they wanted to be a little more friendly, Miller said, and changed those laws.

We got wind of it and applied formally to open our distillery in 1987, then in 1989 they gave us our permitthe first permit in the United States for a craft whiskey producer, Miller said. Now, there are 70 craft whiskey producers in Virginia and roughly 2,000 across the nation, he said. That was a big event.

In order to sell their product, one more step had to happen. We got together with our local delegate, wrote up a bill and took it to the General Assembly, the brewer said. Theres all these delegates and senators sitting around, all formal. The guy read it, that we wanted to be able to sell it at our farm, and he asked, Any objections? And some guy calls out, Did they bring any samples?

After the laughter died down, Miller said, Then the guy in charge gaveled and said Pass! and that was it.
My goal with each piece of artwork is to present traditional and well honored western subject matter, Stroh said. Im hoping to get the viewer to have a feeling of having been there. I try to use the intensity of light on my subjects to portray the people or animals that grace these western states. I want my drawings and paintings to tell a story in every detailed line or brush stroke of color. I find beauty in the simplest pose because of the interplay of light and shadow. It is so exciting.

Jory Zurcher was born in Scottsbluff and grew up in the small town of Mitchell, Nebraska. At the age of two he could be found drawing circles instead of scribbling. Local artist and friend, Michelle Denton discovered his talent in pre-school. He then spent several days during the summer having his first art classes at her home. Traveling with his family to rodeos, he was never without paper and pencils to draw. Chapmaker Tim Bath would give Jory bags of scrap leather when his dad was picking up his rodeo chaps. This would become another medium Zurcher would pursue with the help of Bath. He did not know it at the time, but these life experiences set the foundation for his journey as an artist.
Health and Human Services has refused access to news media once children are at the facilities, citing the pandemic and privacy restrictions. Advocates and lawmakers who have been allowed to visit have expressed concerns about children's mental health at the sites where hundreds can sleep in cots in large tents. These facilities require fewer youth care workers and clinicians per child and no traditional legal oversight, skirting state regulations.

The Biden administration has maintained that the sites provide lifesaving services for children, with officials assuring lawmakers that minors would be kept in large-scale settings no more than two weeks, then placed with family in the U.S. or sent to a permanent licensed facility. But some children have been at the large venues much longer.

Doing away with more state-licensed shelters is a wrongheaded approach, said Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense, which provides legal services to immigrant children.

At a time when the United States needs far more licensed placement settings for unaccompanied migrant children, the order threatens to leave the nation with far less," Young said.



Gomez Licon reported from Miami. Coronado 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.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Submit Your News We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form
Alli testified he signed the acknowledgment of a  ceremony because Seivert asked him to but it was a lie, the high court wrote.

In finalizing their divorce, Douglas County District Judge Russell Bowie said that he did not have enough evidence to establish that the couple were married in Hawaii in 1996. However, the judge ruled, he did have enough from January 2012 to declare them officially, legally married. He then computed how much each party should receive  awarding Seivert $2 million plus $5,000 a month in alimony and $8,400 a month in child support.

Seivert suggested that she should have received more but was penalized by the court not recognizing the marital relationship as having started in 1996.

Attorneys for Alli, meanwhile, argued that Bowie awarded Seivert too much.

Kinney said the divorce shows that the law can be hypertechnical and it can be harsh.

The bottom line is, if you want the marriage to be recognized, youre going to have to jump through these hoops, he said. We all want to be in love and we want to have fun. But you have to take something like getting married pretty darn seriously.

Submit Your News We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form
Its been a given that Democrats would benefit from an official probe into the Jan. 6 rampage on the Capitol and Republicans would not. The thinking goes that Democrats would use a commission report to bash Republicans in the 2022 midterm elections. It would certainly detail how former President Donald Trump incited his supporters to commit the outrage.

FROMA HARROP Froma Harrop is a syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate and contributor to CNN Opinion. Follow her on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be 

Where Republicans err is believing that without a report, Democrats wont have the ammo to bash them effectively. But the trauma of that day is already seared in the American brain.

Legislation passed by the House would establish a 10-member commission appointed equally by Democrats and Republicans. Without Republican input, the official story of Jan. 6 will be told by historians, journalists and the courts.

That was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnells argument. Its not at all clear what new facts or additional investigation yet another commission could lay on top of the existing efforts by law enforcement and Congress, he said.

Hes missing something. The trials of those who ransacked the Capitol will hardly help the Republican cause. And with Trump and many in the party continuing to reject the outcome of the election, Republicans would lose another chance to turn around the publics perception that theyve got a screw loose.
You must be logged in to react.

Click any reaction to login.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
by A.M.A.*

Ten years after the Arab Spring, the land of the pharaohs has gone through an upheaval: the end of Mubarak's regime, the brief interlude of the Morsi presidency and Muslim Brotherhood rule, and the militarys intervention. Both population and prices have risen. Construction is happening everywhere, from archaeological sites to the desert, marking the end of a rural nation.

Cairo (AsiaNews)  In 2011, a vast popular uprising successfully brought to an end 30 years of absolute rule under Hosni Mubarak. The main slogan of the grassroot movement was Bread, liberty, Social Justice.

The whole system was shaken by 18 days of a real peoples revolution. Egyptians showed courage, faith and determination. Midan at-Tahrir, Liberation Square, was the eponymous epicentre of events.

Now, in the northern part of the square, next to the Egyptian Museum, the building that served as headquarters for Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP) is no more. Party leaders set fire to it in order to destroy all documents and avoid providing any evidence to the revolutionary movement.

To the south of the square lays the Omar Makramm Mosque located between the old Foreign Affairs building and the giant Mogamma administrative complex, which is in front of the Evangelical Church.

Both mosque and church served as field hospitals during the uprising. The two worked together, with the imam of the mosque praying in church and the Protestant pastor doing the same in the mosque, a remake of Saad Zaghloul's 1919 revolution against the British occupier, whose famous slogan was Religion is for God and the homeland is for all.

Now, the monumental Mogamma building has been emptied of its many government administrative offices and is likely to become a hotel.

To the west, along the bank of the Nile, in front of the Foreign Affairs building, stands the Arab League headquarter and the Nile Hilton, once Nasser's pride, now replaced by the Ritz Carlton Hotel next to the museum.

In the middle of the traffic circle, where revolutionaries bivouacked, an obelisk stands proudly surrounded by four pharaonic rams from the Temple of Karnak in Luxor.

On the far south-eastern limits of the square is the beautiful Islamic architecture of the American University in Cairo, founded in 1919 in a palace once built by a Greek who owned vineyards and a cigarette factory.

The American University in Cairo kept its library and printing house there, as well as its famous theatres and exhibition halls, Arabic and English language courses, whilst moving its headquarters to a huge complex in the New Cairo area northeast of the capital.

The entire eastern part of the square is surrounded by residential buildings and streets leading to the heart of the city.

A large underground multi-storey parking lot was built in front of the Museum, covered with palm trees. The whole square is illuminated again at night. As one can imagine, it is no longer possible to hold any public demonstration in the famous square.

We all know that the Muslim Brotherhood succeeded in taking over the peoples revolution 10 years ago, infiltrating all strata of civil society and state administration, until they managed to take power in 2012 with Mohammad Morsi as Egypt's president.

Western media still persistently and obstinately claim that Morsi was the first democratically elected president in Egypt.

Egyptians know that his election, like all elections of the last 60 years, was a fake. In fact, his opponent won more support, but the US administration insisted on Morsi's election and it took 10 days before the results were published giving the victory to the Muslim Brotherhoods candidate.

We all witnessed election boxes delivered to election offices full of ballots before the election even started. The same thing happened in Upper Egypt, where the Christian presence is greater than elsewhere, and where Christian voters were prevented from reaching polling stations.

The absolutist and catastrophic reign of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, with a four-year term renewable once, lasted only a year.

On 30 June 2013, more than 30 million Egyptians demonstrated across the country, from Aswan in the south to Alexandria in the north, and in Cairo as the main epicentre, calling for an end to the loathed Morsi regime. On 3 July 2013, the military, in view of the peoples tsunami, deposed Morsi.

Much has been said and discussed about the closure of the two squares where the fundamentalists gathered, to the south, near Cairo University, and to north at Rab'a Square, but in fact the Egyptian people felt a real charge of oxygen.

A year later, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi swapped his military uniform for a civilian suit and was unanimously picked as head of state for a four-year term, clumsily renewed in 2018.

Many achievements must be acknowledged, but the main change is Egypts huge population growth. Today, there are 110 million Egyptians, 10 million of them expatriates in Arab countries but expected to come home someday. About 30 million live in the megacity of Cairo, about a third of the total, while the population of Alexandria stands at 7 to 8 million.

Known as a rural nation, Egypt is becoming increasingly urban. The capital and the big cities are expanding not only into the desert, but also into farmland. Cairo and Alexandria, as well as the other governorates main cities, are surrounded more and more by satellite cities and residential compounds.

The Egyptian currency had to be devalued. The Euro, which was worth 7 and 8 Egyptian pounds, now buys 22 pounds; the value of the US dollar went from 7 to 21 Egyptian pounds. Now the Euro and the US dollar have stabilised around 20 and 18 Egyptian pounds respectively.

The cost of living has risen enormously in all areas: housing, food, transportation, healthcare, etc. In the past two years, the cost of some basic drugs has increased tenfold. The subway ticket went from one pound to 3, 5, and 7 pounds depending on the length of the trip. The price of train, bus, and plane tickets is also quite high.

Since rents are blocked in Egypt, owners are selling their properties to developers, and many small buildings and villas are increasingly being replaced by condo towers. Their prices can reach up to two million pounds or more in the best areas.

The system of 'new rents' with limited contracts is taking off, while old rents are blocked and attempts to renew the system have gone nowhere in Parliament. In view of all this, the government is building many new homes for young people at much lower prices, helping them cover the cost with long-term loans.

Egypts real estate market is crazy with development fever everywhere, sometimes even on farmland and archaeological sites, like new city of Alamein; however, the expansion is mostly into desert land. New settlements have also popped up along the Red Sea and Mediterranean coasts.

End of Part One

* Anonymous and modest witness analyst, pseudonym of a leading scholar and expert on Middle Eastern issues.
We are so grateful that you care enough about your employees and your community, Cooper said during a news conference at PHB, where local officials joined.

Because you know that makes for a safer workplace, safer family life (and) makes for a safer community. Sometimes people are on the fence about whether to get a vaccine and a little incentive can get people to step over the line, Cooper said.

"We want you to know that we believe we are emerging from this pandemic even stronger than before, and the key to it all is vaccinations,'' said Cooper, noting nearly 80% of North Carolinians age 65 and older have been fully vaccinated.

"I think people are feeling better about themselves and their communities, Cooper said. "What we do know, however, is that people who are not vaccinated are still at risk. We are still in a pandemic.''

On Thursday, more than 600 people across the state were hospitalized with COVID-19, while about 13,000 in N.C. had died from the novel coronavirus since the first state cases were reported in March 2020.
Slemp said he has already found that Bucklands actions were not justified and constituted various criminal violations, which are pending in court.

When an individual threatens officers with death or serious bodily harm and inflicts serious bodily harm upon one of the officers, they acted in an appropriate manner, Slemp said. The prosecutor and the city have concluded their investigation and recommend that both officers return to duty as soon as they are medically able to do so.

Slemp said the investigation was based on body-worn camera footage of both officers, the officers voluntary written statements and witness statements.

In Virginia, all citizens, including law enforcement, have the right to defend themselves when attacked, Slemp said.

When a suspect poses a threat of serious physical harm, either to an officer or others, it is legally permissible for the officer to use deadly force to prevent harm to himself or others and to prevent escape, he added.
I cant remember when I wasnt talking about the Fowler family and Bristol, she said.

Isaac Chapman Fowler was from Tazewell, Virginia, but moved to Goodson, which became Bristol, Virginia, soon after the end of the Civil War.

Donald Springer, Ritas son, said the Mitorajs efforts have brought back some of Fowlers vision for Bristol.

Having done what theyve done to this house, youre now going to see other homes [restored]. Its going to change the neighborhood, he said. Youre going to see other homes get developed, which is what I.C. would have wanted more than anything.

The house was built by Fowler in 1867. It is the oldest standing structure from the original town limits of Goodson, Virginia. The home has had many owners, but it eventually was donated to the Bristol Historical Association, which then sold it in 2009 to neighbor Scott Otis. After Otis spent years working on restorations, he sold the home to the Mitorajs.

Fowler purchased the Bristol News  in conjunction with his brother, Elbert  and became the editor. He also served as an elected official, as mayor of Goodson and at the state level for many years.
What might be two more shots are heard.

The footage shows a man slumped in a chair near a stairwell with a gun in his hand. He is across from a dispatch center door with a window shattered by gunfire.

The gunman had shot himself under the chin then put the gun to the side of his head, the sheriff said.

It wasn't clear whether Cassidy knew that law enforcement officers were closing in on him or not, but he may have seen their flashlights and heard them yelling to each other as they determined where the shooter and victims were as they moved through the building, Smith said.

Smith said her office used an active shooter protocol advocated by a lieutenant who had been in Colorado during the 1999 Columbine school mass shooting there. Smith said law enforcement had been training together.

The deputies and officers hardly spoke a word to each other" when they entered the building because they knew what their job was, she said, adding that they showed extraordinary courage.

There were over 100 VTA employees on site that morning, and I believe the bravery of all of law enforcement personnel really prevented the loss of additional life," she said.
Then came other controversial releases, a broader investigation that found violations of law and policy in the release of at least eight other convicted killers, the firing of the lead investigator and the revelation that the parole board chair emailed a staffer to say: Wave that wand of power, and lets cut them loose. There needs to be a silver lining to all this! Give me more!!! Actually, thats not finally, the Richmond Times-Dispatch discovered that on the parole board chairs last day on the job, she released more than 100 parolees from supervision without any recommendations from local parole officers and  and recently its been reported that the former parole board chair, now a judge, is on a mysterious leave of absence.

All this adds up to a scandal that has Republicans salivating  and should have Democrats worried as they go into the fall elections.

But wait! Theres more!

The more is the aforementioned case of one David Allen Simpkins of New Castle. The astonishing fact that came out in court wasnt simply that Simpkins was on parole when he held up that gas station  he had previously been convicted of, wait for it, 56 felonies.

56!

Were all for giving people second chances, but here the parole board gave Simpkins a 57th chance.
Editors note: Information is provided by the Cowlitz County Corrections Department and local law enforcement agencies. Each individual named in this report is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Burglary  Woodland police officers Tuesday arrested Justin Robert Buck, 40, of Woodland, on suspicion of second-degree burglary and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Theft of a motor vehicle  Cowlitz County sheriffs deputies Tuesday arrested Destinee Marie Dozier, 23, of Longview, on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle.

Burglary  Cowlitz County sheriffs deputies Wednesday arrested Stefanie Amanda Lofgren, 33, of Kelso, on suspicion of residential burglary, violating a no contact/protection order and resisting arrest.

Theft of a motor vehicle  Longview police Tuesday arrested Ytwoone Inoske Pillias, 20, of Longview, on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle.

Burglary

100 block of Triangle Center, Longview. Tuesday. Suspect caught on video trying to break into cash drawer with a crowbar, but wasnt successful.

Thefts
Longview resident and Wahkiakum County District Court administrator Kristy Hendrickson is one of several people who received an Innovative Justice Award from the Washington State Board for Judicial Administration for her work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The awards were given to recognize people for creative problem solving for local courts and families, according to a press release on the Washington Courts website at www.courts.wa.gov/newsinfo/.

Because of the lack of broadband service in many areas of Wahkiakum County, it was challenging to establish remote connections for people who didnt have access, according to a press release from the Wahkiakum County Courts office.

Hendrickson set up remote options for those people, worked with stakeholders to add dockets to clear caseload backlogs; and she developed procedures for interpreter access, access to counsel at hearings and a digital exhibit exchange, according to the release.
It requires that firearms be secured with a trigger or cable lock, in a locked container or gun room.

Opponents said a delay in accessing a firearm for self-defense could cost lives.

Jim Mischel, of Sheridan, Oregon, provided written testimony to lawmakers describing how his wife woke up when he was away one night in 1981. She heard a noise, went to investigate and saw a stranger in their home.

She tried to get a pistol that was in a locked gun box in the nightstand out but was unable to before the man got into the bedroom and threatened her with his gun, Mischel said.

She has never recovered, he said.

The bill also bans guns from the Oregon Capitol, changing a law that allowed concealed handgun licensees to bring firearms into the building.

In a related development, an interfaith movement plans to present signatures Wednesday to the staff of Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, a step in an attempt to get two initiative petitions onto the ballot.

IP 18 would ban the sale of assault-style weapons in Oregon. IP 17 would ban the sale of large-capacity magazines and require a permit to purchase any gun and a completed background check before a firearm is purchased.
There are fears that hundreds of tons of oil from the vessel's fuel tanks could also leak into the sea if it sinks, devastating nearby marine life.

Environmentalist Ajantha Perera said the incident could cause a terrible environmental disaster.

She said the ship is believed to have been carrying 81 containers of hazardous goods and about 400 containers containing oil.

All these would mix with the sea water and would destroy the marine environment and would have an adverse impact on the fishing industry, she said.

As a precautionary measure, the authorities reimposed a fishing ban along about 80 kilometers (50 miles) of the coast.

Charitha Pattiaratchi, a professor of oceanography at the University of Western Australia, said the ship was carrying 78 tons of plastic pallets called nurdles, a raw material used to make plastic bags.

Writing on his Facebook page, he said the incident had released potentially close to 3 billion nurdles into the ocean that are washing up on beaches.

He said the nurdles will persist in the marine environment forever as they are not biodegradable.
Various Lebanese Christian groups will meet in the Vatican on 1 July to reflect on the situation in their country and pray for peace. Love, in fact, is essentially a gift of oneself, and in its original and infinite reality, it is the Father who gives himself by generating the Son, who in turn gives himself to the Father, and their mutual love is the Holy Spirit, the bond of their unity. It is not easy to understand, but one can experience this mystery.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Christians must show love through their conduct, the love that is the reality of God, the essence of the Trinity, the mystery of the one God in three Persons since God, despite being one and unique, is not loneliness but communion, said Pope Francis before the recitation of the Angelus on the day in which the Church celebrates the Most Holy Trinity.

After the recitation of the Marian prayer, speaking once again before several thousand faithful in St Peter's Square, Francis announced that on 1 July various Lebanese Christian groups will meet in the Vatican to reflect on the situation in their country and pray for peace.

Before the recitation of the Angelus, Francis spoke about the Most Holy Trinity, the mystery of the one God in three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The mystery that Jesus gave us, emphasising that people are not the emanation of God, they are people.

It is an immense mystery, which surpasses the abilities of our mind, but which speaks to our hearts, because we find it enclosed in the expression of St John that sums up all Revelation: God is love (1 Jn 4:8-16).

As love, God, while one and unique, is not loneliness but communion. Love, in fact, is essentially a gift of oneself, and in its original and infinite reality, it is the Father who gives himself by generating the Son, who in turn gives himself to the Father, and their mutual love is the Holy Spirit, the bond of their unity. It is not easy to understand, but one can experience this mystery.

Jesus himself revealed to us the mystery of the Trinity. He showed us the face of God as a merciful Father, introduced Himself, a real man, as the Son of God and the Word of the Father; he spoke of the Holy Spirit that comes from the Father and the Son, Spirit of Truth, Paraclete Spirit, who is our Comforter and Advocate. And when Jesus appeared to the Apostles after the Resurrection, he sent them out to evangelise all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19).

Therefore, today's feast enables us contemplate this wonderful mystery of love and light from which we come and towards which our earthly journey is oriented.

After the Angelus, the Pope mentioned yesterdays beatification of three nurses in Spain  Maria del Pilar Gullon y Turriaga, Olga Perez-Monteserin Nunez and Octavia Iglesias Blanco  killed in hatred of the faith during the Spanish Civil War.
What needs to happen is all rail traffic into the Longview industrial area should be routed south of Industrial Way through the Port of Longview. Trains bound for west Longview could then easily be directed under the Lewis and Clark Bridge ramps to join the Reynolds Lead tracks in front of the Weyerhaeuser Co. log yard.

This strategy would eliminate all major crossings through the south part of town and capitalize on the ports vision years ago to build its rail corridor. The port already is planning for a large rail expansion, and the $85 million earmarked for the Oregon Way/Industrial Way project could be shifted there. That way the money would do double duty: Help the port with its rail plans and eliminate all the crossings at Oregon/Industrial ways. And it would buy time to address the remaining vehicular issues at that junction.

Shifting the money likely would need legislative approval. Local officials might balk at the attempt, especially now that the area does not have a single legislator from the ruling Democratic majority. However, going back to the drawing board might become necessary if Longview fails in its grant application to fund WSDOTs plan.

One hundred million dollar transportation projects dont come along often, and this would be one of the largest in area history. It would be a shame to spend that money without solving all the industrial areas critical mobility needs.

Andre Stepankowsky retired in August after a 41-year career as a reporter and city editor at The Daily News. He has won or shared in many prestigious journalism awards, including the staffs 1981 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Mount St. Helens. His column will appear on the editorial page every other Wednesday.

Love 3 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
The much-awaited 5G services roll-out is expected to spur telecom contractual staffing over the next two years and will emerge as a key driver for hiring activities in the sector, according to a senior official at TeamLease.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) already set the ball in motion for 5G trials earlier this month, when it approved applications of telecom companies including Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea for conducting the trials.

According to Deval Singh, Business Head- Telecom, IT and ITES, Media and Government, TeamLease Services, the outlook for contractual hiring in the sector remains positive, notwithstanding some ambiguities on account of the second severe wave of COVID-19.

"Telecom vertical is one of the biggest markets for staffing industry...this was one of the verticals which grew even during the COVID times, and I believe that trend will continue in 2021," Singh told PTI.

The 5G roll-out in future will offer a boost to the economy and to the labour market, Singh said.

"The second wave is a little ambiguous, so no one knows how the growth will be shaped. Having said that, there will be a clear impact for the next two years in telecom industry in a positive way with launch of 5G services, when it comes to economy and when it comes to labour market," Singh noted.

As per TeamLease, the talent requirement by the industry is expected to see 18 per cent growth this year, with profiles ranging from technicians to installation engineers, and from civil engineers to project managers, in demand.

The growth would have been more pronounced but for the second wave of pandemic. The industry is, however, optimistic that once the overall situation improves, 5G would galvanise job opportunities in the sector.

The demand for contractual staff in the telecom sector surged in 2020 despite the backdrop of lockdown and movement curbs, as remote working and social distancing norms drove data usage to new highs, pushing players to invest in network capacities.

Telecom services have been categorised as 'essential services' amid lockdown.

Singh said telecom companies have not put brakes on hiring, and with the government approving applications for 5G trials now, the hiring confidence is "even more".

It is pertinent to mention here that the list of telecom gear makers approved by DoT for trials include Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, C-DOT and Reliance Jio's indigenously developed technologies. The duration of the trials, at present, is for a period of six months, including a time period of two months for procurement and setting up of the equipment.

The permission letters specify that each operator would have to conduct trials in rural and semi-urban settings in addition to urban settings so that the benefit of the 5G technology proliferates across the country.

According to Ericsson ConsumerLab report, consumers have shown willingness to pay 50 per cent more for 5G plans bundled with digital services while they want to pay only 10 per cent more for just 5G connectivity.
Japan has signed off on a $338 million semiconductor research project to develop cutting-edge chip technology in the country with the market-leading Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Taiwan's chip-making plants are among the largest and most advanced in the world, and the project is intended to boost Japan's competitiveness in a key sector.

The move comes as the industry grapples with a global semiconductor shortage that has hampered the manufacturing of numerous products, particularly autos.

Around 20 Japanese companies will work with TSMC in the project worth 37 billion yen, with the government paying just over half of that, an official from Tokyo's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry told AFP on Tuesday.

The research will focus in particular on tech for 3D chip assembly, allowing the creation of components that are more dense but still small.

A pandemic-fuelled surge in demand for home electronics that use semiconductors has throttled chip supplies -- a crisis deepened by a US cold snap, a drought in Taiwan and a fire at Japan's Renesas manufacturer.

Semiconductors are an essential part of modern tech from smartphones to games consoles and new cars, with the auto industry one of the hardest hit by the shortage.

Construction will begin this summer on research facilities at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba, near Tokyo, the official said, with the project due to kick off in 2022.

Among the Japanese companies involved are chemicals firms Asahi Kasei, Mitsui Chemicals and Sumitomo Chemical
LG has shut down its payment service, LG Pay. The shutdown weeks comes after the company announced the closure of its smartphone business.

Thank you for being a valued customer of LG Pay! We regret to inform you that LG Pay will be phasing out and discontinued over the remainder of 2021. More specific details will follow, the company said on its website.

LG is likely to announce more details about the service closure in the coming days. Going forward LG Pay users may switch to other payment services on their LG devices. According to GSMArena, the magnetic stripe feature that LG smartphones supported for LG Pay will no longer work on Google Pay either.

LG had launched the payment service in 2017. The service followed the launch of payment services from Google and Samsung. The company, however, did not roll out the service to all at once. Almost one and half years of its announcement, it was made available in the US with support for magnetic stripe terminals.

The shutdown announcement isnt surprising as LG is no longer making smartphones. In April this year, LG had said it would exit the smartphone business following multiple quarters of financial decisions for the unit.

Earlier this week, LG reportedly stopped manufacturing phones. The company was continuing to manufacture and sell phones to fulfil the contracts and clear the inventory. The company has decided to convert a factory in Vietnam, where many of its phones are manufactured, into a household appliance manufacturing unit.

For LGs existing users, the company will continue to provide after-sales support and software updates. All premium LG smartphones currently in use would receive up to three iterations of Android updates from the year of the purchase. The three-year OS update guarantee applies to LG premium phones released in 2019 and later (G series, V series, VELVET, Wing).
Netflix has started testing a new feature called Fast Laughs in India. This feature will show users funny clips from different Netflix series and films. It will also show clips from stand-up specials. The test is rolling out on Android and iOS for select users in India. Fast Laughs launched in March this year in select countries including Australia, Canada, US, and UK.

Select Netflix users in India should start seeing the new feature today. A new Fast Laughs tab will appear on the bottom navigation menu of the Netflix app. Once you tap on Fast Laughs, clips will automatically start playing, and it will continue showing the next clip when one ends. Thats not all. The Fast Laughs screen comes with options to share the video clip on WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. You can also start viewing the series or film immediately by tapping the play button, or add them to your list.

Fast Laughs will be visible as a new tab on the Netflix app. (Netflix)

"Were always looking for new ways to improve the Netflix experience. A lot of our members love comedy so we thought this would be an exciting new way to help them discover new shows and enjoy classic scenes. We experiment with these types of tests in different countries and for different periods of time - and only make them broadly available if they improve the member experience, a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement.

ALSO READ: How to choose the right Netflix plan for yourself

The new Netflix test should start appearing to select new and existing users. Fast Laughs looks like another attempt by Netflix to help improve content discovery on the platform. Netflix has a ton of content for users to watch but it can sometimes get difficult to find what you want to watch. It recently started testing the Play Something feature on Android, a feature that plays different series or films based on your interests.
Nvidias Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said he is still confident regulators will green-light its $40 billion acquisition of SoftBank Groups Arm Ltd., despite growing scepticism about the deals prospects.

Government approval in China and elsewhere may come later this year or in 2022, Huang said over video at the Computex conference in Taipei on Wednesday. He pointed out that an earlier acquisition took about a year and a half so it is likely the current process will be similar.

Also read: Researcher uncovers flaw on M1 chips, but you probably shouldn't be worried

I expect this one to take 18 months so thats later this year, early next year. I am confident about the transaction, he said. Our companies are complementary so well bring, by nature, innovations that come as a result of companies that come together and offer complimentary things.

The comments come as the semiconductor industrys biggest-ever acquisition faces increasing headwinds from regulators in China and the UK Chinese technology companies including Huawei Technologies Co. are lobbying their government against the transaction, while a regulator in the UK, where Arm is based, said it plans to intervene on national security grounds. At the same time, Arm is mired in a legal battle for control of its China unit with the CEO, who was fired by SoftBank but has refused to leave.

Arm designs the processors and architecture used by the vast majority of mobile electronic devices, underpinning Apple Inc.s in-house M1 chips and Samsung Electronics Exynos silicon, among others.

Read more: Zeta raises $250 million from Softbank at $1.45 billion value for fastening global play

Nvidia is committed to paying Masayoshi Sons SoftBank $2 billion whether the deal goes through or not. The US chipmakers stock has climbed more than 25% since the acquisition was announced last September.

The regulators are looking for: Is this good for competition? Is this pro-competitive and brings innovation to the market? Does it give customers more choice, does it give customers more offerings and more choice? he said. You could see that on the first principle that our companies are completely complementary.
An espionage trial involving a former Polish secret services agent and an ex-employee of Huawei begins in a Warsaw court on Tuesday as some European states consider whether to exclude the Chinese group's equipment from their 5G telecom networks.

Poland arrested the two men in January 2019 on suspicion of spying for China, in a move that has ramped up international debate over the potential security risks of using Huawei equipment in communications networks.

Huawei has repeatedly denied its equipment can be used for espionage by authorities in Beijing, but the United States has been pressuring countries to ban it. In Europe, only Britain and Sweden have so far done so.

Polish prosecutors allege that Wang Weijing, 39, using the cover of being a Huawei executive, spent more than seven years spying for China trying to bolster the company's ability to influence the Polish government and "enable it to... manage the state... technology infrastructure", court documents show.

The court closed the case to the public on Tuesday after a request from the prosecution. Prosecutor Anna Karlinska told the court this was necessary to protect the methods used in Polish counterintelligence operations.

Wang, who has been in detention since his arrest, is also charged with recruiting a former Polish secret service agent who, prosecutors say, informed him about ways of influencing the country's rescue and public safety services radio networks.

The Polish defendant, Piotr D., who had been released upon paying bail after six months and had worked for years in the top echelons of government, is accused of "offering himself as a source of information" regarding public administration.

Both men deny any wrongdoing.

Prosecutors say that the cybersecurity specialist, who has asked that his last name be withheld under privacy rules, informed Wang of a monitoring system to guard against intruders accessing classified information sent through fibre optic communication networks created by Warsaw military university.

Wang's lawyer, Bartlomiej Jankowski, said prosecutors had no proof of any spying activity by his client.

"There is no evidence of anything illegal," he told Reuters.

Huawei, which fired Wang after his arrest but has helped finance his legal fees, told Reuters in a statement last month that its activities are "in accordance with the highest standards of transparency and adherence to laws and regulation."

Jankowski told Reuters he planned to file a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights against Poland in the coming days.

U.S. RELATIONS

The administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump had praised Poland for the arrests, with former vice-president Mike Pence saying in 2019 that they demonstrated Warsaw's commitment to ensuring the telecommunications sector was "not compromised in a way that threatens our national security".

At the time, Warsaw was seeking to convince the United States to increase its military presence in Poland, alarmed by increased Russian assertiveness.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's government proposed draft legislation last year that could lead to a de facto exclusion of Huawei from building 5G networks, but the proposal has yet to be discussed by parliament.

European mobile operators have long been reluctant to start investing in 5G networks, which could support smart factories and self-driving cars, because of a lack of political clarity about whether they must accede to US demands to exclude leading equipment supplier Huawei and other Chinese vendors.

Huawei said that its exclusion from 5G would mean an almost 44 billion zlotys ($12 billion) loss for the Polish economy and a delay of 5G rollout by a few years.

It has challenged Sweden's ban on its equipment in 5G networks, where a verdict is awaited from a local court.

Romania's government also approved a bill that effectively bars China and Huawei from taking part in the development of its 5G network in April, but it still needs parliament's upper house approval, considered to be a rubber-stamp.
Updated: Disney+ Malaysia has reached out to us to clarify the confusion. They said at present, there is only one plan for consumers in Malaysia who are subscribing directly from Disney+ Hotstar, which is RM54.90 for three months. The monthly and annual pricing reflected in the app is the pricing for Indonesia. Since Indonesia is also using Disney+ Hotstar, their monthly and annual package plans are also reflected in the Apple App Store.

As most Malaysians know by now, Disney+ Hotstar has been officially launched in Malaysia on 1 June 2021. While there were several complaints of server load for registration (as seen in the official Facebook page comments), we also found out that Disney+ Hotstar may have two more hidden subscription plans.

Spotted by a local movie reviewer, @zhafvlog on Twitter, he shared that the Apple App Store has listed the In-App Purchases pricing which includes the quarterly promotion that was originally promoted. However, the section also showed us two more plans which are Monthly and Annual that cost RM11.90 and RM62.90 respectively. This apparently made the poster upset and more questions from us.

A month ago, we have been told by Disney+ Hotstar that this was the only plan introduced for the Malaysian market (also stated in the FAQ). Back then, we were wondering if there would be any other plans which seemed to be the case until the app released. So this proposes two possibilities:

The Disney+ Hotstar Quarterly subscription plan is only temporarily The two unannounced subscription plans will be revealed at a later date

While we are fine with the two unannounced subscription plans, it does feel like Disney+ Malaysia "forced" the customers to do so. This is because if you compare all the plans, the Annual package is definitely the most cost-efficient only because it only cost RM5+ per month (definitely the preferred option for most Malaysians). Moreover, customers may want to have a trial run first before deciding, which both Netflix and Apple TV offer.

Perhaps Disney+ Malaysia will address this hidden cost soon but for now, we can only choose the quarterly subscription plan. By the way, if you are wondering which TV streaming service should you subscribe to, we made a comparison list of all the popular ones in Malaysia here. Stay safe and stay tuned for more trending tech news at TechNave.com.
Back in December 2020, vivo launched the X60 series in China before it arrived in Malaysia in March 2021. It hasn't been that long since, but the company is already planning to launch the vivo X70 series. That's right, the new series may launch before a year has even gone by.

According to Gizmochina, the vivo X70 series will be launching in September 2021 in India. It's part of a sponsorship deal with the Indian Premier League. The league should be resuming sometime in September to October 2021, hence the rumoured launch window. Besides that, no other details were given.

Surprisingly, the source suggests that there won't be any significant improvements in specs. In China, the vivo X60 and X60 Pro launched with the Exynos 1080 chipset but used the Snapdragon 870 in other regions. As for the more powerful X60 Pro+, it came with the Snapdragon 888 chipset. Of course, we're still expecting to see some form of upgrades, especially in terms of the camera and software.

However, we don't have any solid news on the phone yet, so take the news with a grain of salt. With that said, what do you think about a new vivo X series coming so soon? Would you be interested to upgrade? Let us know in the comments, and stay tuned to TechNave for more updates about this.
Samsung logo. Credit: Unplash

Computex Taipei announced on June 2, 2021 that the graphics and processors company AMD has collaborated with Samsung to develop RDNA 2 graphics technology for an Exynos mobile system-on-chip, with the goal of enhanced Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) performance in classic Samsung phones.

While not many details have yet emerged as to the chip itself, nor the products in which it will be implemented, AMD refers to the chip as a "next-generation Exynos SoC," stating that Samsung will offer additional information later in 2021. For now, we know that the GPU will use AMD's RDNA 2 architecture, giving rise to features such as ray tracing and variable rate shading. From here, AMD plans to install the chip in flagship mobile devices.

Overall, the two companies aim to expedite graphics innovation in the mobile product market for all-around higher performance. As for Exynos, this is the name used to refer to Samsung's own in-house processors. In the United States and various other markets, Samsung's flagship Galaxy phones come with Snapdragon SoCs from Qualcomm, leaving the rest of the world with Exynos chips.

While Exynos models have historically been considered as performing lower than their Qualcomm counterparts, Samsung unexpectedly decided to switch to the Snapdragon alternative of the Galaxy S20 back in its home market, South Korea.

Although AMD's potential advantages over Qualcomm's Adreno GPUs have yet to be determined, capabilities such as ray tracing and utilization of the latest RDNA 2 architecture definitely makes for some lofty expectations.

Explore further Mark your calendars: Samsung preps for Galaxy S9 launch

 2021 Science X Network
Interview: Always staying with the people is secret of CPC's great achievements -- former Japanese PM

Xinhua) 08:24, June 02, 2021

TOKYO, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The secret of the Communist Party of China (CPC)'s great achievements over the decades is that it has always stayed with the people, said former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

"Looking back over the one hundred years of history, always staying with the people is the secret of the Communist Party of China's great achievements in the annals of history," Hatoyama told Xinhua in a recent written interview.

"In the past century, China has suffered many misfortunes and difficulties, including the aggression caused by Japan, but the CPC has always worked with the people to overcome many difficulties. In particular, the reform and opening up has become a huge engine for China's economic development. These great achievements will go down in the annals of history. For that, I have great respect," Hatoyama said.

In the interview, the former prime minister recalled his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 2019 Imperial Springs International Forum held in the Chinese city of Guangzhou. Hatoyama said he has been promoting the spirit of "fraternity" for many years, and was "deeply moved" when he knew "that Xi also cherishes the spirit of 'fraternity,' and will work hard to strengthen exchanges with Japan and the world."

During their meeting, Hatoyama recalled, Xi mentioned many times that he attaches great importance to multilateral cooperation, and particularly hopes to establish good relations with neighboring countries.

"At the same time, the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind advocated by Xi has something in common with the vision of an 'East Asian community' that I have been advocating. So I will do my best to support it," he said.

Hatoyama said China not only brought the COVID-19 pandemic under control early in the past year, but also achieved a 2.3-percent GDP growth, making great contributions to supporting the global economy.

China has also successfully developed COVID-19 vaccines at an early stage, and provided them to other countries, which is not only saving the lives of the Chinese people, but also the lives of the rest of the world, he said.

Besides, China's success of lifting nearly 100 million people out of poverty in the past eight years is unparalleled in the world, he said.

Hatoyama noted that China has set a GDP growth target of more than 6 percent this year, and institutions like the World Bank also think China's economic outlook is bright.

There is no doubt that China will lead the development of the global economy this year, when the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet subsided, and in the post-pandemic era, he said.

(Web editor: Meng Bin, Du Mingming)
Even if our prayers were only stuttering, if they were compromised by a wavering faith, even when our timid prayers rest on eagle wings and soar up to Heaven [. . .] It is necessary to pray more intensely, every time the road takes an uphill turn.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis continued his catechesis on Christian prayer in todays General Audience, dedicated to Jesus as the model of prayer for his disciples

In it, the pontiff said that Jesus prays for each of us, always, even in the moment of sin, even if our prayers were only stuttering, if they were compromised by a wavering faith, even when our timid prayers rest on eagle wings and soar up to Heaven. Do not forget: Jesus is praying for me. Now? Now.

The weekly meeting began a few minutes late because it took a bit longer for Francis to make his way among the faithful gathered in the San Damaso courtyard.

Francis spent more than 20 minutes walking among those present who included a group of Argentines. He shook hands, blessed people, patted children, signed pictures, notebooks, and even a Japanese flag. Some asked him to bless or at least touch their mobile phone.

The Gospels, Francis said,  show us how prayer was fundamental in the relationship between Jesus and His disciples. This already appears in the choice of who would then become the Apostles. Luke places their election in a precise context of prayer.

Judging from how those men were to behave, it would seem that the choice was not the best, as they all fled, they left Him alone before the Passion; but it is precisely this, especially the presence of Judas, the future betrayer, that demonstrates that those names were inscribed in Gods plan.

Prayer on behalf of His friends continually reappears in the life of Jesus. The Apostles sometimes become a cause of concern for Him, but Jesus, as He received them from the Father, after prayer, thus He carries them in His heart, even in their errors, even when they fall. In all this we discover how Jesus was both teacher and friend, always willing to wait patiently for the conversion of the disciple.

The highest point of this patient waiting is the web of love that Jesus weaves around Peter. At the Last Supper he says to him: Simon, Simon, behold - the word we heard at the beginning of the audience  Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren (Lk 22:31-32). It is impressive to know that at that moment, during the time of weakness, Jesus love does not cease.

Jesus love, Jesus prayer for each one of us does not cease, it does not cease, but rather becomes more intense, and we are at the centre of his prayer! [. . .] But in this moment, each one of us, let us think: in this moment, is Jesus praying for me? Yes. [. . .] Jesus prayer returns punctually in a crucial moment on His journey, that of the verification of the faith of His disciples.

That is, the great turning points of Jesus' mission are always preceded by prayer, but not just in passing, by intense, prolonged prayer. There is always prayer in those moments. This test of faith seems to be a goal, but it is instead a renewed starting point for the disciples, because from then on, it is as if Jesus took on a new tone in His mission, speaking openly to them of His passion, death and resurrection.

With this prospect, that gives rise instinctively to repulsion, both in the disciples and in we who read the Gospel, prayer is the only source of light and strength. It is necessary to pray more intensely, every time the road takes an uphill turn, as indicated by the transfiguration episode that follows the announcement to the disciples of what will happen to him in Jerusalem.

[T]his anticipated manifestation of the glory of Jesus took place in prayer, while the Son was immersed in communion with the Father and fully consented to His will of love, to His plan of salvation. And out of that prayer came a clear word for the three disciples involved: This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to Him (Lk 9:35).

From this quick journey through the Gospel, we learn that Jesus not only wants us to pray as He prays, but assures us that, even if our attempts at prayer are completely vain and ineffective, we can always count on His prayer. We must be aware of this: Jesus prays for me. [. . .] In this moment [. . .] He said it Himself.

To French-speaking faithful, he said: In these difficult times, I invite you to pray for people who doubt and to bear witness to them that Jesus never abandons us and does not cease to intercede for us with the Father.
Researchers combined satellite images of Tacoma, Washington, with Seattle and Beijing to create a composite image, and then identified differences between the false and true images. Credit: Chengbin Deng

Can you trust the map on your smartphone, or the satellite image on your computer screen?

So far, yes, but it may only be a matter of time until the growing problem of "deep fakes" converges with geographical information science (GIS). Researchers such as Associate Professor of Geography Chengbin Deng are doing what they can to get ahead of the problem.

Deng and four colleaguesBo Zhao and Yifan Sun at the University of Washington, and Shaozeng Zhang and Chunxue Xu at Oregon State Universityco-authored a recent article in Cartography and Geographic Information Science that explores the problem. In "Deep fake geography? When geospatial data encounter Artificial Intelligence," they explore how false satellite images could potentially be constructed and detected. News of the research has been picked up by countries around the world, including China, Japan, Germany and France.

"Honestly, we probably are the first to recognize this potential issue," Deng said.

Geographic information science (GIS) underlays a whole host of applications, from national defense to autonomous cars, a technology that's currently under development. Artificial intelligence has made a positive impact on the discipline through the development of Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI), which uses machine learningor artificial intelligence (AI)to extract and analyze geospatial data. But these same methods could potentially be used to fabricate GPS signals, fake locational information on social media posts, fabricate photographs of geographic environments and more.

In short, the same technology that can change the face of an individual in a photo or video can also be used to make fake images of all types, including maps and satellite images.

"We need to keep all of this in accordance with ethics. But at the same time, we researchers also need to pay attention and find a way to differentiate or identify those fake images," Deng said. "With a lot of data sets, these images can look real to the human eye."

To figure out how to detect an artificially constructed image, first you need to construct one. To do so, they used a technique common in the creation of deep fakes: Cycle-Consistent Adversarial Networks (CycleGAN), an unsupervised deep learning algorithm that can simulate synthetic media.

Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) are a type of artificial intelligence, but they require training samplesinputof whatever content they are programmed to produce. A black box on a map could, for example, represent any number of different factories or businesses; the various points of information inputted into the network helps determine the possibilities it can generate.

The researchers altered a satellite image of Tacoma, Washington, interspersing elements of Seattle and Beijing and making it look as real as possible. Researchers are not encouraging anyone to try such a thing themselvesquite the opposite, in fact.

"It's not about the technique; it's about how human being are using the technology," Deng said. "We want to use technology for the good, not for bad purposes."

After creating the altered composite, they compared 26 different image metrics to determine whether there were statistical differences between the true and false images. Statistical differences were registered on 20 of the 26 indicators, or 80%.

Some of the differences, for example, included the color of roofs; while roof colors in each of the real images were uniform, they were mottled in the composite. The fake satellite image was also dimmer and less colorful, but had sharper edges. Those differences, however, depended on the inputs they used to create the fake, Deng cautioned.

This research is just the beginning. In the future, geographers may track different types of neural networks to see how they generate false images and figure out ways to detect them. Ultimately, researchers will need to discover systematic ways to root out deep fakes and verify trustworthy information before they end up in the public view.

"We all want the truth," Deng said.

More information: Bo Zhao et al, Deep fake geography? When geospatial data encounter Artificial Intelligence, Cartography and Geographic Information Science (2021). Bo Zhao et al, Deep fake geography? When geospatial data encounter Artificial Intelligence,(2021). DOI: 10.1080/15230406.2021.1910075
Text2App creates a functional Android application from specification provided in English. Credit: Hasan et al.

Researchers at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and University of California- Los Angeles (UCLA) recently developed a framework that can create Android applications from text descriptions. This new app was presented in a paper pre-published on arXiv.

"Our research group at the Department of CSE, BUET works on bridging the gap between human language and programming language to make computer programming more accessible," Masum Hasan, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told TechXplore. "We have previously worked on natural language-based program repair, language-based code search, code document generation, etc. In continuation, we wondered if fully functioning software could be built from natural language specification."

Most existing models for creating software based on text descriptions are based on end-to-end neural machine translation (NMT) models, similar to the one underpinning Google Translate. These models utilize NMT frameworks to translate human language into source code.

While some NMT-based techniques for text to app translation have achieved promising results, most of them are unable to generate large programs with hundreds of lines of code. To overcome this limitation, Hasan and his colleagues created a new formal language that captures the complexity of app source code, representing it in a highly compact form.

"We designed an intermediate formal language that can represent a user specified app in a fraction of the tokensas much as 20 times less," Hasan said. "We then developed a compiler that can convert the compact representation into actual source code and trained a neural machine translation model to translate natural language to this intermediate format, which can then be compiled into an app."

Essentially, the researchers trained a translation model to generate representations in the intermediate language they created, rather than creating raw source code, as most existing text to app techniques would. By transforming text descriptions into this formal language, their framework allowed them to create fully fledged mobile applications, which proved unfeasible using previously proposed methods.

"Generating long sequences is a known limitation of current sequence generation models," Hasan explained. "Source code is usually much longer than natural language and the current best models still struggle to achieve 20% accuracy in generating short code snippets. This makes it impractical to create large software, such as mobile applications consisting of hundreds of lines of codes, with current sequence generation networks."

The framework created by Hasan and his colleagues, dubbed Text2App, can create Android applications using instructions in English. To use the system, users simply need to describe a mobile application with a specific scope and the framework automatically creates it for them. A video demo of Text2App is now available on GitHub, at: https://text2app.github.io/

Hasan said. "Imagine you want to memorize your grandmother's special recipe for pasta. Instead of remembering the entire recipe step by step, you can only learn the steps that are unique, and look up the rest of the steps from a cookbook. This will significantly reduce the amount of effort you would have to spend. Similarly, our intermediate app representation only captures the specific requirements provided by the user through the natural language instruction and the compiler fills in the rest."

The recent work by Hasan and his colleagues could allow researchers to re-think program and app generation, by introducing a new way through which programs can be summarized or represented that is easier for AI technology to understand. Notably, the AI models trained by the researchers exhibited a far higher capacity than other techniques to convert natural language into apps.

"If we design programming languages or frameworks with AI in mind, our current AI technologies can perform remarkably better in code generation from human language," Hasan said. "Additionally, programming languages are made to be understood by compilers, and not entirely by AIs. We demonstrate that relying on AI models alone for complex tasks like code generation is not adequate, and additional support from components like compilers can help a great deal."

The most notable achievement of the study carried out by this team of researchers is the development of the intermediate formal language that enables the conversion of text into an app, as well as a compiler that ultimately creates the app. So far, Hasan and his colleagues explored a mere fraction of its capabilities, but they are now also asking the open-source community to contribute to its further evaluation and development.

"With more development efforts, Text2App can become a full-fledged natural language- based app development platform," Hasan said. "In our work, we also show that it is possible to create applications from surprisingly complex instructions with our system with the help of a large language model, GPT-3. However, more thoughts in this direction are necessary to make it fully reliable."

Explore further An artificial neural network to acquire grounded representations of robot actions and language

More information: Text2App: a framework for creating android apps from text descriptions. arXiv:2104.08301 [cs.CL]. Text2App: a framework for creating android apps from text descriptions. arXiv:2104.08301 [cs.CL]. arxiv.org/abs/2104.08301 Review4Repair: Code review aided automatic program repairing. arXiv:2010.01544 [cs.SE]. arxiv.org/abs/2010.01544 Language models are few-shot learners. arXiv:2005.14165 [cs.CL]. arxiv.org/abs/2005.14165 CoDesc: A large code-description parallel dataset. arXiv:2105.14220 [cs.CL]. arxiv.org/abs/2105.14220

 2021 Science X Network
Credit: University of Eastern Finland

Forest road quality control is a time-consuming task, but it can help reduce road management costs and allocate resources to the most urgent renovation needs. While in Finland the aging forest road network requires extent maintenance in the upcoming year, in Canada one of the biggest challenges to assess the existing road network system before building new forest roads.

Although bearing capacity cannot be assessed without field measurements, other trafficability criteria can be derived and assessed from remote sensing data. The road quality properties assessed here include the vegetation cover, ditch system and road surface conditions. Both in Finland and in Canada the research made use of the same ALS dataset as had been acquired for forest inventory purposes. The quickly developing technology enables new tools, such as airborne laser scanning to use for unpaved forest road quality assessments, and this thesis presents methods how this can be carried out. The laser scanning data is usually collected when forest management plans are prepared and road quality maps can be byproducts that forest managers could receive alongside an ALS-based forest inventory. Also, depending on the future cost structure, drone-based data collection systems might also provide a feasible alternative source of data for these techniques,

The low and high pulse density ALS data were first processed and digital elevation model created at several resolutions from 0.2 m to 1 m and different interpolation methods were also compared in this. The work focuses on road quality properties such as surface flatness, surface wear quality, road structure, ditch quality, road drying properties and water accumulation, and also the vegetation cover on and beside the road.

The roads were divided into three categories using the Metsateho forest road quality assessment system, and active and deactivated road status was assessed on Vancouver Island, Canada. Linear discriminant analysis was used to find the best predictors of the road quality classes, the result being validated using confusion matrices and kappa values. A combination of surface indices, the topographic wetness index and soil information provided high precision information about unpaved forest road quality. Simultaneously, the indices individually showed promising results when applied to high pulse density data. The classification based on vegetation growth and the presence of a ditch system and its status gave reliably results as well.

The findings indicate that the use or airborne laser scanning data can help forest managers gain more information about the quality and status of forest roads in remote areas without spending extra resources (time, transportation costs, personnel) on checking the road network manually, although cannot yet replace field visits, it opens up possibilities for further research and offer the option of combining these novel approaches with other road assessments.

The doctoral dissertation of MSc Katalin Waga, titled "Unpaved forest road quality assessment using airborne LiDAR data," will be examined at the Faculty of Science and Forestry on the 4th of June at 12 noon online.

Explore further Vegetation succession affects soil quality in subtropical China karst landscape

More information: Katalin Waga, Unpaved forest road quality assessment using airborne LiDAR data, Dissertationes Forestales (2021). Katalin Waga, Unpaved forest road quality assessment using airborne LiDAR data,(2021). DOI: 10.14214/df.316
A Volkswagen ID.4 electric car of the Civil Aviation is parked on the Aegean Sea island of Astypalea, Greece during the official launch of a project to introduce and test electric vehicles and sustainable energy systems on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. The government has partnered with the German carmaker on the island project aimed a switching to electric vehicle use over the next five years. Credit: Alexandros Vlachos/Pool via AP

German carmaker Volkswagen launched a five-year project Wednesday on the small Greek Aegean island of Astypalea to test the adoption of electric vehicles in areas switching to sustainable energy generation.

The 20-million-euro ($24.4 million) initiative will receive financial support from the Greek government. It will offer residents purchasing incentives to swap conventional vehicles for electric cars and scooters, and test ride-share applications and public transport models driven by customer demand instead of using fixed schedules and routes.

"This is very valuable knowledge because what we are going to see on this island in the next five, six, or seven years will probably last in the rest of Europe for 20 years or three decades," Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess said during a presentation on the island.

Volkswagen has stepped up its plans to produce electric vehicles in recent years, in the wake of a major emissions scandal first discovered in the United States. The company eventually admitted installing deceptive software in millions of its diesel vehicles to make emissions appear less harmful when placed on a test machine.

Greece is keen to develop power generation from renewable energy sources on its islands to replace expensive locally produced electricity, mostly using diesel.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis opens the door of an electric car as he accompanied by Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess during the official launch of a project to introduce and test electric vehicles and sustainable energy systems on the Aegean Sea island of Astypalea, Greece,on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. The government has partnered with the German carmaker on the island project aimed a switching to electric vehicle use over the next five years. Credit: Alexandros Vlachos/Pool via AP

Volkswagen ID.4 electric cars of the Coast Guard and Police are parked on the Aegean Sea island of Astypalea, Greece during the official launch of a project to introduce and test electric vehicles and sustainable energy systems on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. The government has partnered with the German carmaker on the island project aimed a switching to electric vehicle use over the next five years. Credit: Alexandros Vlachos/Pool via AP

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, right, listens Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess, center, during the official launch of a project to introduce and test electric vehicles and sustainable energy systems on the Aegean Sea island of Astypalea, Greece, on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. The government has partnered with the German carmaker on the island project aimed a switching to electric vehicle use over the next five years. Credit: Alexandros Vlachos/Pool via AP

The government plans to use wind and solar power for the Astypalea project. Officials said researchers from the Universities of the Aegean in Greece and Strathclyde in Scotland were also participating in the program.

Explore further Volkswagen hoaxes media with fake news release as a joke

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Looking for in-depth reporting on labor issues? You're in the right place.

Subscribe to The Chief and get stories that cover every side of civil service in New York City and beyond. You can sign up in minutes for immediate access.
Friday is National Donut Day and The Salvation Army is once again partnering with the four local Shipley Do-Nuts locations to celebrate by giving customers one free glazed donut from 6 to 10 a.m.

The Salvation Armys red kettles will be set up at all four Shipleys locations to collect donations for a summer feeding program in Bryan-College Station. Shipleys will also be serving a special donut of the day for The Salvation Army.

Aggieland Outfitters has also partnered with The Salvation Army and Shipleys for Fridays National Donut Day. Aggieland Outfitters locations on University Drive and George Bush Drive will be holding profit shares for The Salvation Army, and customers will receive a free donut at the store from 10 a.m. to noon.

Since 1938, The Salvation Army has celebrated National Donut Day on the first Friday of each June to honor the soldiers of World War I. In 1917, around 250 volunteers and officers from The Salvation Army traveled to France to serve American soldiers fighting in World War I. Women called doughnut lassies hand-delivered donuts to soldiers, nicknamed doughboys, on the front lines and are often credited with popularizing doughnuts in the United States.
Lees appearance Tuesday came just over 14 days after his diagnosis. The 65-year-old cancer survivor said that he was fine two days after his diagnosis and his health is now great.

Lee said he had waited to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which has been available to those 65 and older since late February, because he didnt think it had been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA issued emergency use authorizations for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines in December, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in February. The FDA can give emergency authorization for medical products to address a public health crisis, in this case the pandemic, as long as the benefits outweigh the risks.

The vaccines that received emergency use authorization are also expected to receive full licensure by the FDA after submitting six months of safety follow-ups. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have started the process of seeking full approval FDA approval for their vaccines.

Lee said he considered himself a pretty strong guy and in lieu of getting the vaccine, he planned to instead take precautions like wearing a face mask, but he caught COVID-19 anyway. He said he plans to get the vaccine in the coming months.
In response to Democrats questions about the ways the bill could narrow access for voters of color, Hughes repeatedly said the provisions of SB 7 apply equally across the board and argued the bill was aiming for a standardization of elections.

One county doesnt get to make up the rules, Hughes said. The state gets to decide what the election code is and then the counties have to follow that.

While the legislation in the Senate partly targeted Harris County, SB 7 carried the potential to alter the voting process across the state. Beyond banning extended early voting hours, it enhanced the freedoms of partisan poll watchers, set new rules for removing people from the voter rolls and further tightened vote-by-mail rules. In early May, lawmakers in the House negotiated a significantly slimmed down version of the bill that was narrower in scope and included a series of Democratic amendments. In recent days, some Democrats have indicated that version wouldnt have prompted a walkout, though they wouldnt have supported it.
Abbotts vow came after a Democratic walkout in the House late Sunday night blocked passage of Senate Bill 7, his priority elections bill that would overhaul voting rights in Texas.

No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities, Abbott said in a tweet.

Phelan also said he thinks that, under the Constitution, lawmakers would still have to be paid even if Abbott carried out his veto. Lawmakers are paid $600 a month in addition to a per diem of $221 every day the Legislature is in session, both during regular and special sessions.

The governor has said he will summon the Legislature back to Austin for an overtime round to pass the legislation, though he has not yet specified when he plans to do so. Lawmakers are already expected to return this fall for a special session to redraw the states political maps.

Phelan said if Abbott carries out the veto, which he has until June 20 to do, lawmakers could be back for an earlier-than-anticipated overtime round to deal with the issue, since the budget at issue covers the fiscal year starting Sept. 1.
Before vaccines were available, Hogan called sufficient protective equipment one of four pillars to lift restrictions and reopen the state, along with adequate testing and contract tracing. Adequate levels of testing equipment such as syringes and reagents also have remained a challenge through much of the pandemic. The state never ran out of hospital beds, as Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, ordered thousands to be added inside and outside existing hospitals.
The final weekend of the 87th Legislature, that ended Monday, was part climax and part anti-climax.

At stake was the effort by the Republicans to make it tougher to vote, an effort that had drawn criticism on Saturday by Democratic President Joe Biden.

He called it un-American and part of an assault on democracy.

He was talking about Senate Bill 7, whose House counterpart was House Bill 6.

Republicans call it an election integrity bill. Democrats refer to it as a voter suppression Bill.

Biden said the effort was like several others around the country.

Today, Texas legislators put forth a bill that joins Georgia and Florida in advancing a state law that attacks the sacred right to vote,  Biden said in a statement.

Its part of an assault on democracy that weve seen far too often this year  and often disproportionately targeting Black and brown Americans.

The dramatic climax/anti-climax of the legislatures final weekend of its session was on Sunday night in the House , which had before it the latest bedraggled version of SB 7.
Thank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
A former Navy Secretary under Richard M. Nixon, he won his Senate seat in 1978 and dutifully hewed to the GOP line most of the time. But in that era when it was still possible for a Republican to put country first, he did so without quaking in his boots.

When it became clear that gun violence was a national epidemic, he infuriated the rabid right by voting for gun-safety measures and trying (without success) to extend the federal ban on assault weapons. He voted for some restrictions on abortion, but accepted that Roe v. Wade was the law of the land.

Warner had supported George W. Bushs decision to invade Iraq, but in 2007 he called for Bush to start bringing the troops home, and he compelled Pentagon officials to testify about the torture of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison. He opposed gay marriage, but when the chairman of the Joint Chiefs denounced gays in the military, Warner said: I respectfully, but strongly, disagree with the chairmans view that homosexuality is immoral.

But arguably Warners most laudable moment came in 1994, when it appeared that Oliver North would become his Virginia colleague in the Senate. North, you may recall, was the key Iran-Contra scandal operative whod been criminally convicted for lying to Congress; naturally, Virginia right-wingers deified North as a hero and rewarded him with a Senate GOP nomination.
Make no mistake: Warner was a committed Republican, one who played a role in building a two-party state. But in his latter days he endorsed Democrats Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020 because he saw Donald Trump perverting the values of his party  and threatening the values of the nation he had served.

In hindsight, it should be clear that Warner was always a serious man even before he was legally one: He volunteered for the U.S. Navy during World War II before he even turned 18. He came back from war, went to Washington and Lee University and the University of Virginia Law School  then went to war again, as a Marine in Korea. And yet somehow Warner was considered a dilettante.

He married into money, gave a lot of it to Richard Nixons presidential campaign, and was named Under Secretary, and eventually Secretary of the Navy. That was seen as a political payoff. Later, Gerald Ford named him head of the Bicentennial Commission, which further shaped Warners public persona as a little more than a wealthy glad-hander. Oh how wrong we all were.
A North Korean threat actor active since 2012 has been behind a new espionage campaign targeting high-profile government officials associated with its southern counterpart to install an Android and Windows backdoor for collecting sensitive information.

Cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes attributed the activity to a threat actor tracked as Kimsuky, with the targeted entities comprising of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador of the Embassy of Sri Lanka to the State, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Nuclear Security Officer, and the Deputy Consul General at Korean Consulate General in Hong Kong.

The attacks also involved collecting information about other organizations and universities in the country, including the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA), Seoul National University, and Daishin Securities. Malwarebytes, however, noted that there is no evidence of active targeting or compromise by the adversary.

The development is only the latest in a series of surveillance efforts aimed at South Korea. Believed to be operating on behalf of the North Korean regime, Kimsuky (aka Velvet Chollima, Black Banshee, and Thallium) has a track record of singling out South Korean entities while expanding their victimology to the U.S., Russia, and various nations in Europe.

Last November, the adversary was linked to a new modular spyware suite called "KGH_SPY," which allows it to carry out reconnaissance of target networks, log keystrokes, and steal confidential information, as well as a stealthy malware under the name "CSPY Downloader" that's designed to thwart analysis and download additional payloads.

Kimsuky's attack infrastructure consists of various phishing websites that mimic well known websites such as Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, and Telegram with an aim to trick victims into entering their credentials. "This is one of the main methods used by this actor to collect email addresses that later will be used to send spear-phishing emails," Malwarebytes researcher Hossein Jazi said.

In using social engineering as a core component of its operations, the goal is to distribute a malware dropper that takes the form of a ZIP archive file attached to the emails, which ultimately leads to the deployment of an encoded DLL payload called AppleSeed, a backdoor that's been put to use by Kimsuky as early as 2019.

"Besides using the AppleSeed backdoor to target Windows users, the actor also has used an Android backdoor to target Android users," Jazi noted. "The Android backdoor can be considered as the mobile variant of the AppleSeed backdoor. It uses the same command patterns as the Windows one. Also, both Android and Windows backdoors have used the same infrastructure."

AppleSeed has all the hallmarks of a typical backdoor, with myriad capabilities to record keystrokes, capture screenshots, collect documents with specific extensions (.txt, .ppt, .hwp, .pdf, and .doc), and gather data from removable media devices connected to the machine, all of which are then uploaded to a remote command-and-control server.

But perhaps the most interesting discovery of all is that the threat actor calls themselves Thallium in the malware source code, which is the moniker assigned by Microsoft based on its tradition of naming nation-state hacking groups after chemical elements.
Thank goodness the back of the OfficeNet building was never covered in stucco.

For more than a century, people carved their names and initials into the exterior brick wall of the building, which is at the corner of North Locust and West South Front streets. Some of the people who left their marks were soldiers who were departing Grand Island.

Some of those soldiers didnt know if theyd ever return, noted Mark Tracy, a member of the Hall County Historical Society board of directors.

Tracy, 57, is a lifelong Grand Island resident. His family came to the city in 1880. Even with that deep background, he didnt know about the etchings until recently. Tracy, who graduated from Grand Island Senior High in 1981, heard about them from Herb Schwieger, a childhood friend.

Tracy is excited about what he found.

Looking at the names, he said, is looking at history right there in front of you, he said.

Many of the carvings are from the 1930s and 40s. But some go back to 1905 or before, and some were written in the 1960s and later.
Livestock production is a major part of Nebraskas economy and the shutdown of JBS was being closely watched by the cattle industry.

Pete McClymont, executive vice president of the Nebraska Cattlemen, said cattle producers have been eager to recover from a tough year given slow-downs in production and depressed demand caused by COVID-19. A prolonged shutdown from a cyberattack would only make things worse, he said.

U.S. meat prices have been rising due to coronavirus shutdowns, bad weather and high plant absenteeism. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has said it expects beef prices to climb 1% to 2% this year, poultry as much as 1.5% and pork between by from 2% and 3%.

JBS is the second-largest producer of beef, pork and chicken in the U.S. If it were to shut down entirely for even one day, the U.S. would lose almost a quarter of its beef-processing capacity, or the equivalent of 20,000 beef cows, according to Trey Malone, an assistant professor of agriculture at Michigan State University.

JBS has not said which North American plants were shut down. Nationally, the union has said that all its JBS beef plants were shuttered by the attack and all other meat-processing plants were affected in some way. The union has 25,000 members working for JBS.

The company said there had been no evidence that customer, supplier or employee data had been compromised.

This report includes material from the Associated Press
Stumo and relatives of other passengers blamed Bahrami and other FAA leaders for not grounding the plane after the first crash five months earlier.

An investigation led by House Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio said Bahrami didn't know details about an FAA analysis after the first crash that predicted more accidents if a key flight-control system wasn't fixed. The problem wasn't addressed until after the second crash.

Bahrami repeatedly defended the FAAs practice of delegating much safety analysis to Boeing. However, Bahrami was not working at FAA when the agency certified the Max, and a former colleague said he has been treated unfairly.

This was a professional who had a long, distinguished career in aviation, and this position was a capstone to that career," said former FAA chief counsel Arjun Garg. "A problem got thrust on him that was not of his own making, but he ended up being the face of complaints about the FAA from the families and from Chairman DeFazio.

In an internal memo to FAA employees Wednesday, Bahrami, who is in his mid-60s and started his career as an aircraft engineer, said retiring was not an easy decision, but that he wants to spend more time with family and focus on my next chapter. Among the accomplishments he cited were returning the Max to service after a 20-month grounding.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Nebraskas farmers and ranchers are our states original conservationists, Ricketts said in an earlier news release. They work day in and day out to cultivate the land and manage water theyve known for generations in a way that helps grow our state.

With a new administration, Nebraskans should be on the lookout in their communities for attempts by federal agencies and their partners to regulate land and water use, he said in that news release. We are already seeing big changes in how the federal government is approaching energy, climate and conservation issues.

During earlier meetings, the county commissioners noted that they have been contacted by county residents who are concerned about this perceived possible land grab in the future.

We have talked about concerns regarding this 30x30 situation, Commissioner Bill Bamesberger said this week during the county boards committee reports. It looks like Hamilton County did take formal action against 30x30, with a proclamation. I think it would be good for us to take some action on it as well.
The youthful faces look back from the Remembering Our Fallen towers, a mix of uniformed portraits and smiling snapshots of more than 5,000 lives cut short by the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

One tower in the traveling monument to America's post-9/11 military dead looks slightly different, the photos arrayed on a deep blue background instead of white.

The blue-backed pictures are of 183 young men and women who returned from battlefield deployments to hugs and kisses from relieved parents and spouses and kids  then weeks or months or years later, suffering from often invisible pain, they took their own lives.

The monuments creators, Bill and Evonne Williams of Patriotic Productions, call it the PTS tower, for post-traumatic stress. They dont use the word suicide.

Its heartbreaking to look at that tower, Bill Williams said. All of them are hard, but that one is the hardest.

Tom and Donna Nicholson of Gretna saw the towers again at the event this past weekend in Omahas Old Market, and they know that feeling well. Their son, Marine Capt. Kevin Nicholson  who died Sept. 2, 2014, after four deployments to Afghanistan in five years  is on the blue tower.

To see all the faces, the beautiful-looking people, Donna said. I think, What a loss. What a waste.

Remembering Our Fallen is one of the few war memorials that honors warriors who succumbed to PTS alongside those who died on the battlefield.

Candy Martin, former president of American Gold Star Mothers, is an Army veteran whose son was killed in combat in Iraq in 2007. She agrees that those who died of PTS deserve recognition, too.

We recognize that they died in service, or as a result of service, said Martin, who marched in Omahas Memorial Day parade Friday, along with the Nicholsons. Its not how your child died. We focus on continuing the service that their sons and daughters didnt finish.

During the 2010s, the Williamses had created 14 traveling memorials for individual states with portraits of those killed in post-9/11 combat. From time to time, Evonne Williams said, they would get queries from Gold Star parents about including their sons and daughters who died of PTS.

When they created the national Remembering Our Fallen memorial towers in 2017, they created panels for PTS deaths as well as deaths in training accidents.

The top of the first blue panel describes post-traumatic stress: Debilitating anxiety occurring after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event; symptoms can include flashbacks, emotional detachment and jumpiness; bio-chemical changes in the brain and body.

Ross Wimer, 32, of Omaha served four years in the Marine Corps and deployed with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment  famous as the Darkhorse battalion  during a brutal 2010-11 deployment to Afghanistans Sangin province. The unit lost 25 dead and had 200 wounded, a higher rate than any other unit during the war.

Many Darkhorse veterans, Wimer said, have been afflicted with survivors guilt. Over the years, suicides have mounted.

Ive honestly lost count, he said.

Members of his unit reach out to one another for buddy checks, an informal way to keep tabs on fellow veterans who may be in trouble.

Wimer does see a distinction between those who died in battle and those who died later, at home, but only a slight one. Hes glad the Remembering Our Fallen towers recognize both types of casualties of war.

Its great that Bill and Evonne are doing this, he said. Their heads are in the right place.

The Williamses do not contact families of veterans who have taken their own lives because suicide remains a highly sensitive topic, but they will add the names and photos of those who died from the effects of PTS if families request them. Six of the deceased on the PTS panels are from Nebraska.

To be included in the memorial, the veteran must have served after Sept. 11, 2001, and they must have served in a combat zone.

They get lost. Their service feels like it does not count, Evonne Williams said. They deserve this.

Last years Department of Veterans Affairs annual suicide prevention report counted 6,435 veterans who took their own lives in 2018, the latest year for which statistics were available.

The numbers have risen about 6% since the Department of Veteran Affairs started counting suicides in 2005  an unhappy trend, but a far smaller increase than the 47% increase in all adult suicides in the U.S. during the same period.

In the years since, there have been aggressive campaigns by both the military and the VA to prevent suicides, and to make it easier for veterans to receive treatment for post-traumatic stress.

Still, in 2018 veterans were slightly more likely than other Americans to die by their own hand. Veterans represented 8% of the U.S. adult population but 13% of the suicides.

Well over half of the veteran suicides last year were among vets over age 55. The 18-34 age group had the smallest number of suicides (874) but the highest rate.

Tom and Donna Nicholson had no idea the pain Kevin was in when he visited them in July 2014 for what turned out to be the last time.

We were glad to have him home. We tried to do special things, Donna said.

He was only 31. They didnt see it coming.

Over the years, he had grown more subdued compared with the cheerful youth Donna described as very independent, very smart. He was active in their church and liked to memorize Bible verses, and he built models and rockets in 4-H.

Kevin graduated from high school in 2001, attending Kansas State and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before transferring to the University of Nebraska at Omaha and graduating in 2007.

While at UNO, he became interested in the military and joined the Marines. He arrived as the Corps ramped up its operational tempo to support two simultaneous wars. He deployed for seven months to Afghanistan, then came home for 12 months before returning to the theater  four cycles in five years.

He was pretty proud of what he did, but he never talked about it, Tom Nicholson said. They felt awkward asking, so typically they didnt.

As the deployments ground on, Donna noticed Kevin seemed distant.

I noticed changes in his eyes. There was something about his stare, she recalled.

Donna called him in mid-August 2014, just to visit. She asked him what kind of things he would like her to include in the next care package she sent him.

The conversation still disturbs her.

He just told me, I always send him junk, she said. It was hurtful  I dont think he really meant it. I think he was not in a good place.

Two weeks later, the doorbell rang at the Nicholsons' Gretna home about 6 oclock one evening. Donna answered.

Three men in uniform stood on the porch.

Donna knew instantly what that meant, but she was confused. Kevin was at home in North Carolina, not in Afghanistan. She shouted her husbands name.

I knew something was wrong, Tom said.

The rest hurts too much to talk about. Tom remembers numb shock, a sense of going through the motions while planning a burial.

That was the worst week of my life, Donna said.

Learning how Kevin died hurt. It left questions, but they drew support from family and friends, and their church.

I called our siblings and others and told them what happened, Tom said. You cant just pretend he fell out of a tree.

They came to accept that their son suffered invisible wounds, devastating ones.

Bodies get injured  arms, legs. The brain gets injured, too. You just cant see it, Tom said. You dont find out some things until its too late.

The Nicholsons also found comfort in support groups like the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), which has special groups for those whose loved ones took their own lives.

It helps being with other families who know what theyve gone through, and to tell his story. They were happy to join in Fridays Memorial Day event, which included a concert, parade and giveaways.

I just try to focus on things that bring happiness, Donna said. I dont think theres anything wrong with being happy.

The way Kevins life ended, Tom said, Is just a small part of a big picture. Id like to think that its not the biggest part of the picture.

I look at all the good he did. He served our country, Tom added. What more would he have done?

Kevin Nicholsons picture is right there on the first of the blue panels, in the top row.

One photo shows him in full battle rattle at a base in Afghanistan, eyes hidden behind dark shades and a gloved hand resting casually on the grip of his M-16 rifle. In the other hes standing in a driveway, dressed in polo and khakis.

In neither picture does he smile.

But above Kevins photos is a message:

May these Warriors, at last, Rest in Peace.

The number for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. If you are a veteran in crisis, or a person concerned about a veteran in crisis, dial the number and press 1 to connect with the veteran crisis line, available 24 hours a day. Additional information can be found at www.veteranscrisisline.net.
The obligation does not apply to those who are sick, those who were recently exposed to the coronavirus or another contagious illness, those with serious underlying health conditions and those who are confined to their home, a hospital or nursing home, according to the release.
The idea for the Grain Weevil came from a family friend of Johnsons who didnt want himself or any of his children to face the danger of climbing into a grain bin ever again.

It really started as just a fun project for a family friend and then the more we learned and the more we talked to other farmers, we realized that this could really be something special that could help a lot of people, Ben Johnson said.

Johnson has been working with robotics since high school and he brought Zents onto the team to help with the software and data collection side of things.

After talking to hundreds of farmers, Johnson and Zents found that almost every farmer they met knew someone hurt or killed in a grain bin accident.

It's been a problem for as long as there have been grain bins, Johnson said.

When inside a bin, farmers can quickly become trapped because of the unstable nature of grain inside the bin, especially the funnel shape created when grain is being extracted with an auger.

Working in grain bins can also lead to long-term health conditions such as farmer's lung disease.
The Upper Big Blue NRD is partnering with other agencies to protect this spot and use it to educate the public on the importance of wetlands in Nebraska.

The Teal View property was purchased through the Ducks Unlimited revolving lands program, which takes ownership of properties temporarily while they are being restored, then gives them to entities like the Upper Big Blue NRD to manage for public benefit or sells them to private owners who will maintain them as wetlands. Ducks Unlimited, the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS-USDA) offer a variety of programs to help landowners restore and protect wetlands.

When it is more established, Teal View will be a good spot for hunting in fall and early winter. Tim Horst, Ducks Unlimited land manager for Nebraska and Kansas, is eager to see the area maintained for conservation purposes. The property was of interest to Ducks Unlimited in large part because of its location. This is an underserved area for public wetlands, Horst said. We wanted to make it available to the public for recreation.


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.
The Texas Legislature wrapped up this years lawmaking session on Sunday. Although members of the House and Senate touted wins for both Republicans and Democrats, tensions are rising between the legislative bodies amid criticism from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. What would you grade this years legislative session?

You voted:
MARION  Special Olympics Illinois Region K and Southern Illinois Bass Busters will head back to Crab Orchard Lake on Saturday for the second annual Buddy Bass Tournament to benefit Special Olympics Illinois.

Kim Talley, director of Special Olympics Illinois Region K, said last years tournament was one of the first events allowed on the lake last year after COVID-19 hit.

We were able to put two people in each boat and have the tournament, Talley said.

Teams will compete in pairs to bring home first place, and the top five teams will be recognized. Additional honors and awards will also be given to participants.

A mandatory, pre-tournament meeting for all teams will take place at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the Knights of Columbus Hall at 213 N. 16th St. in Herrin. Tournament applications will be accepted at the meeting.

Everyone who wants to fish really needs to show up at the captains meeting," Talley said.

Proceeds from the tournament will benefit Special Olympics Illinois Region K which serves more than 1,600 athletes with intellectual disabilities in 24 counties of Southern Illinois.
A man wanted for the 2020 murder of a West Frankfort woman has been arrested in Florida and indicted.

Michael L. Moore, 44, of Franklin County, was arrested earlier this year in the South Florida Reception Center in Doral, Florida. Moore is serving a sentence for drug charges.

He has been arrested for murdering 41-year-old West Frankfort resident Robin Renee Williams.

The Carbondale Police Department began investigating a missing persons case on Sept. 21 and located a body in an abandoned house in the 600 block of East Park Street.

A subsequent autopsy determined her death was a homicide, and DNA evidence was collected.

Moore, a known associate of Williams, was identified as a suspect, according to a Wednesday news release from Jackson County States Attorney Joseph Cervantez.

Cervantez filed a four-count information Jan. 20, charging Moore with first-degree murder and aggravated domestic battery. Carbondale Police detectives then traveled to Florida to arrest Moore.

Cervantez presented the case to a grand jury on May 20, and then returned a bill of indictment for all counts.
A Southern Illinois man who once claimed he planted two bombs at area schools and sent threatening letters to government officials has pleaded guilty in federal court to the crimes.

Jonathan Wade Bohn, who is serving a time in prison for a 2010 bank robbery charge, pleaded guilty on May 26 to charges of mailing threatening communications and interstate threat to use destructive devices, according to federal court documents.

The charges stem from 2014 when Bohn mailed letters to the Franklin County States Attorneys Office threatening violence against specific law enforcement officers and county officials, court documents state. Bohn was incarcerated at a federal prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania when he sent a letter, according to authorities.

Two weeks later, Bohn sent a letter to the Franklin County Circuit Clerk, which claimed there was a bomb inside a Franklin County school that would detonate the next day.

The threat closed nine schools in Franklin County.

He mailed the letters from prison but used the "legal mail" system that is not reviewed by prison staff, court documents say.
The indictment alleged that beginning in 2011, the defendants arranged for various associates of Madigan  including his political allies and campaign workers  to obtain jobs, contracts and monetary payments from ComEd even in instances where they did little or no actual work.

McClain and the other defendants also conspired to have ComEd hire a Madigan-favored law firm and lawyer, previously identified in public testimony as Victor Reyes of Reyes Kurson, and to accept into ComEds summer internship program a certain number of students who lived in Madigans 13th Ward, according to the charges.

Pramaggiore, the onetime CEO of ComEd, and McClain also allegedly took steps to have Juan Ochoa, the former head of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority of Chicago, appointed to ComEds board of directors at the request of Madigan and McClain, the indictment stated.

The motion filed Tuesday asked Leinenweber to toss the specific counts related to Reyes and Ochoa, as well as a count alleging the defendants conspired in 2019 to pay key members of Madigans 13th Ward operation $5,000 a month in consulting fees through Dohertys firm, Jay D. Doherty & Associates.
Local

editor's pick

No sale: Santee Cooper's future is reform, not private owner

Jeffrey Collins, AP Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, listens online during a meeting over a Santee Cooper overhaul bill on Tuesday, June, 1, 2021, in Columbia, S.C. Powerful legislative leaders reached a compromise on the bill that will be considered at a special session.

COLUMBIA  The South Carolina legislative leaders most ardent about selling state-owned utility Santee Cooper said Tuesday it's obvious there are no interested buyers and signed off on an overhaul proposal that leaves the utility publicly owned.

Both the House and Senate will need to approve the compromise reached by some of the state's most powerful lawmakers during a special session later this month.

But with House leaders abandoning their push to sale, the bill should easily get General Assembly approval and apparently end a reform-or-sell saga that started in 2017 when Santee Cooper found itself billions of dollars in debt after its minority partnership in a pair of nuclear reactors that South Carolina Electric & Gas never finished building.

House Speaker Jay Lucas said the changes in how Santee Cooper operates were too critical for his chamber to dig in its heels on the sale issue. The Senate voted 36-8 in April to reject a version of the committee the House wanted.

Santee Cooper is ready to offer broadband on its extra lines MONCKS CORNER (AP)  Santee Cooper is taking applications from companies that want to use its extra fiber and transmission lines to bring broadband internet to rural areas.

"I want these reforms to work. This is a really good bill," Lucas said.

But Lucas said he wishes senators would have at least kept in place a committee the House wanted to hear any potential offers down the road. Otherwise, prospective buyers can approach any lawmaker or the governor with either an honest offer or something more nefarious and below board.

"These issues are going to come up again and what I worry is we will be right back in the same chaos," said Lucas, a Republican from Hartsville, who said last year he would applaud the removal of every Santee Cooper board member.

The compromise bill nearly gives Lucas his wish. Over the next four years, it kicks off nine people on the 10-member Santee Cooper board, all of whom were serving before the nuclear reactors were abandoned in 2017.

The proposal gives state regulators more power over the utility, from requiring them to review the utility's future plans to generate power and their forecasts for power use to requiring public hearings and a watchdog to question utility executives about rate increases.

The Senate also agreed with almost all the House's wishes to keep special oversight of Santee Cooper through the end of this year when regulators with the Public Service Commission and public watchdog group the Office of Regulatory Staff should be ready for their additional control and oversight of Santee Cooper.

Powerful SC lawmakers close in on Santee Cooper compromise COLUMBIA  A powerful group of South Carolina House and Senate leaders met Wednesday, pledging to take differences in each chamber's proposal to overhaul state-owned utility Santee Cooper to their members before getting together again next week to vote on a compromise.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Luke Rankin called the years of back and forth on Santee Cooper a "slog," but said it was needed because the issue was so important.

"I hope and pray again we don't revisit the chaos that we had in the past. And this strategy is one that if we decide in future legislatures to sell it, it will be a hell of a lot more valuable to the people of South Carolina," said Rankin, a Republican from Myrtle Beach.

South Carolina spent $15 million trying to sell Santee Cooper with a intricate bid process that attracted 10 companies. NextEra Energy of Florida was picked as the best bid, but lawmakers rejected it, calling the offer underwhelming. Lucas and others said Santee Cooper was in such bad shape they couldn't get better offers.

Tuesday's compromise makes it likely Santee Cooper will survive as a public utility. It was founded during the Great Depression to bring power to rural sections of South Carolina  Rankin told Lucas that "your area and mine would not have power but for Santee Cooper's creation."

Gov. Henry McMaster has pushed for the sale since the nuclear project collapsed. Fifteen years ago, Santee Cooper survived another push to sell it to a private company by then-Gov. Mark Sanford.

Santee Cooper provides power to about 2 million of the state's 5 million people either directly or through selling power it generates to about two dozen electric cooperatives and local governments.
In sum, about 6.17 million vaccine doses have made their way into arms in Maryland. Meanwhile, 2.93 million have been fully vaccinated either by receiving the single-shot inoculation or finishing a two-dose schedule. That amounts to about 70.3% of the states adult population, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to SLED records, the FBI also was conducting a probe in Wagener  which included a forensic audit  during SLEDs investigation, and the two agencies worked together.

We really cant deny or confirm an actual, specific FBI investigation, said Don Wood, the public affairs officer for the FBIs field office in Columbia.

He recommended that the newspaper file a FOIA request, and the Aiken Standard did so May 18.

Salley spoke briefly on the record to the Aiken Standard.

I was investigated by SLED and the conclusion was that there was no wrongdoing on my part, she said, adding that the FBI came to the same conclusion.

Buck stops with you, Mr. Mayor

Salleys son, Christopher, organized Novembers sit-in at Wagener Fire Department. He contends Miller is the problem in Wagener and has announced his plans to run for mayor this year.

In a Facebook Live video created May 17, he said Redd and Day were ousted because they didnt like what the mayor was doing and the mayor didnt agree with them.

Christopher Salley also criticized Miller for failing to keep track of Wageners finances.
Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

We see biotechnology as a program that will strengthen our relationship with Claflin, Mageto said. We also see this as an opportunity to develop an international program that will attract students from beyond our borders and impact how governments will begin to think about biotechnology and climate change.

Africa University, located in Zimbabwe, is the first and only fully accredited institution of higher learning established on the African continent by the General Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Both Claflin and Africa University are affiliated with the United Methodist Church.

Although COVID-19 has interrupted the partnership's faculty/student exchange initiative, Africa University and Claflin administrators continued their strategic planning through virtual communications platforms.

Africa Universitys online enrollment increased as it transitioned its academic programs to 100 percent online during the pandemic.

According to Mageto, enrollment grew from 2,400 to 3,000 students.

We see ourselves as a learning, teaching and research center that benefits tremendously from this partnership, Mageto said. Everyone is very excited about the M.S. in biotechnology program. The enrollment numbers will be shocking because the program is both historic and unique.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Today is Tuesday, June 1, 2021. Let's get caught up.

These headlines are in the news this morning: President Biden will visit Tulsa today to honor the victims of the race massacre that destroyed a Black community 100 years ago; the Vatican is criminalizing the abuse of adults by priests and laity; police are still looking for 3 gunmen in a mass shooting in Miami over the weekend that killed two and injured 21.

Read on for these stories, other top headlines, celebrity birthdays and more.

TOP STORIES

Biden to honor forgotten victims of Tulsa race massacre

WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden will take part in a remembrance of one of the nations darkest  and largely forgotten  moments of racial violence when he helps commemorate the 100th anniversary of the destruction of a thriving Black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Bidens visit Tuesday, in which he will grieve for the hundreds of Black people killed by a white mob a century ago, comes amid a national reckoning on racial justice. And it will stand in stark contrast to the most recent visit to Tulsa by a president, which took place last year.
I want these reforms to work. This is a really good bill," Lucas said.

But Lucas said he wishes senators would have at least kept in place a committee the House wanted to hear any potential offers down the road. Otherwise, prospective buyers can approach any lawmaker or the governor with either an honest offer or something more nefarious and below board.

These issues are going to come up again and what I worry is we will be right back in the same chaos," said Lucas, a Republican from Hartsville, who said last year he would applaud the removal of every Santee Cooper board member.

The compromise bill nearly gives Lucas his wish. Over the next four years, it kicks off nine people on the 10-member Santee Cooper board, all of whom were serving before the nuclear reactors were abandoned in 2017.

The proposal gives state regulators more power over the utility, from requiring them to review the utilitys future plans to generate power and their forecasts for power use to requiring public hearings and a watchdog to question utility executives about rate increases.
When SnapChat introduced story features, allowing for pictures to be shown for 24 hours before disappearing, Facebook, Twitter, and other companies quickly added similar features to their platforms. Now, with Clubhouse, a new audio-only social media app, other technology companies are looking to incorporate something similar.

Competitors and incumbents are forced to rapidly innovate or fall by the wayside. Its understandable why some in the industry would look to utilize the fervor surrounding a few large technology companies to kneecap those with greater resources, capital, and experience. Roku and Google, Spotify and Apple, and even Apple and Facebook have aired their grievances publicly and some lawmakers have eagerly used these accusations to make their case against American technology companies. But what does the consumer welfare standard tell us?

Consumers are benefiting from the aggressive dog-eat-dog technology market. An innovative technology sector has made the last two years more bearable as Americans transition from in-person events to online communications. Similarly, polling shows consumers view many of these major technology companies positively. Amazon, Google, Youtube, Netflix, Microsoft, Apple, and Sonos all enjoy approval ratings of over 80 percent, according to a 2020 survey. Consumers choosing to use a service en masse should not be conflated with monopoly power.
Less than a year after the pandemic began, Americans had access to three highly effective vaccines that are paving the way forward and away from COVID-19, and that number could soon rise, as the FDA considers promising candidates from AstraZeneca and Novavax.

The groundbreaking pace of COVID-19 vaccine development exceeds most health experts' wildest dreams. Last July, Dr. Anthony Fauci predicted that the first Americans would have access to a vaccine in summer 2021. Just four months later, he received his first dose on live television.

I couldn't be happier to have been proven wrong, and one group in particular deserves a significant portion of the credit -- the biopharmaceutical industry. The industry -- and the research scientists it employs -- defied all expectations thanks to a robust ecosystem that incentivizes innovation.

For any new vaccine, it used to take years -- sometimes decades -- to go from initial research to FDA approval. Researchers began investigating both influenza and polio in the 1930s, but it wasn't until 1945 and 1953, respectively, that the first vaccine for each was approved. In fact, the fastest vaccine development, prior to COVID-19, was for the mumps, which took four years and reached patients in 1967.
This subscription will allow existing subscribers of The World to access all of our online content, including the E-Editions area.

NOTE: To claim your access to the site, you will need to enter the Last Name and First Name that is tied to your subscription in this format: SMITH, JOHN

If you need help with exactly how your specific name needs be entered, please email us at admin@countrymedia.net or call us at 1-541 266 6047.
In the same press conference, McPheeters showed footage of the shooting and said Oneyear suffered from unspecified mental illness and had both prescription and illegal drugs in his system at the time of his death.

The suit, filed in February 2019, was initially brought against Schlager and Meyer, CPD, the city of Casper and the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy for claims of insufficient training. The police department and WLEA were dropped as defendants two months later.

Court filings indicate confusion over the defendants legal representation and filings, as several documents and motions were filed twice  both by attorneys for the city and for the officers.

Many of the documents in the case, including an extensive list of exhibits supporting the defendants motion to settle the case before trial, are not available to view. In October 2019, a judge granted a motion by an attorney for Schlager and Meyer to make certain sensitive documents and information private, viewable only by those involved in the case.
A Red Lodge man has been cited for hunting during a closed season after shooting a yearling black bear inside city limits on May 26.

The black bear season in the area closes when the quota of 12 bears are killed or on May 31, whichever comes first. Hunters are required to self-report their kills.

Mike Ferguson was cited by a Fish, Wildlife & Parks warden on May 27 and faces a $535 fine.

His actions have riled some of his neighbors on the south side of the small community at the base of the Beartooth Mountains who enjoy seeing wildlife that can include bears, white-tailed deer, moose, bobcats, mountain lions and wild turkeys.

FWP has taken precautions to keep residents and wildlife safe by making the community less bear friendly, including encouraging residents to not leave pet food, bird feeders or barbecues outdoors as attractants, as well as asking them to pick up fruit from trees in the fall.
Wake up, Wyoming! Coal country needs help, and help has not been forthcoming from industry or from our politicians.

A much bigger illness than COVID-19 faces our coal industry, but no vaccine can stop it. And no one seems to be seriously seeking a cure. Companies are struggling, productions sharp decline has steepened, rail traffic is down, layoffs and furloughs abound. These symptoms began way before 2020. Believe what you will about climate change or a war on coal, the simple fact is coal is no longer cost competitive with renewable energy or natural gas. Coal will keep losing market share, more coal power plants will close, and those that are left will burn less coal.

Ask Peabody and Arch, the last giant coal companies still in the Powder River Basin. They pled lack of price competitiveness to argue at the Federal Trade Commission for a joint venture to operate their mines. They lost, and now Arch have announced their plans to shut down their Coal Creek Mine and scale back Black Thunder Mine, which a few short years ago produced roughly 10% of the nations coal. Now, they are planning to leave the Powder River Basin entirely. Lighthouse Resources bankruptcy caused the first complete and permanent closure of a major Powder River Basin coal mine (Decker) earlier this year.
The agency is still getting about 1,700 second doses weekly, which will be the focus of its next clinic Tuesday at the Woodbridge Shopping Center in Edgewood. It still has a few first doses of the vaccine in storage, capped at 15 per week, for any walk-ins requesting the vaccine.
JACKSON (May 26)  Jackson Hole has been slow to act when it comes to solving water quality problems brewing for decades.

Now the Teton County Board of County Commissioners is eyeing another half measure.

Commissioners voted in a soft, non-binding straw poll to hire a project manager to manage a water quality planning initiative. Two commissioners objected because the project manager might have zero expertise in water quality and be given competing duties focusing on unrelated public works projects.

The county is sitting on millions in revenue that poured in at a faster clip than anyone could have predicted given the pandemic. So why be stingy when it comes to protecting water quality? As a headwaters, home to Wild and Scenic Rivers and world-class fishing, we should go above and beyond to sustain the pristine health of our waters and the health of our citizens, including those who have undrinkable water.

In 1978 the first Jackson/Teton County Comprehensive Plan recognized the threats of unregulated septic systems and other development to water quality in Jackson Hole. That problem has only accelerated. But little was done, and a 1994 plan revision dropped the clean water section altogether.
FINANCE Minister Colm Imbert said yesterday that the proposal to increase the retirement age to 65 from the current age of 60 is under active consideration, but he said the Government has not made a firm decision on the matter as yet.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has apologised for the vaccine fiasco last week, but said it was just one bad day.

After more than a year of managing and attempting to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus in Trinidad and Tobago, Rowley admitted that the Government made a blunder by allowing walk-in vaccinations at health centres across the country.
Do you have a news tip?

Want to share good news story, or do you have information that should see the light of day? Then we want to hear from you.

More here
The sequence of events in the case has been highly controversial, beginning when multiple Baltimore Police officers opened fire on Davis in a Northwest Baltimore garage in June 2015, striking him in the face and neck. Police said they chased him following the attempted robbery of a hack cab driver and found a gun in the garage; Davis said he was unarmed and wrongly pursued by the officers.
After 15 months of living with Covid-19, it is clear that uncertainty is the only certainty.

A week ago, T&T was flush with the expectation of mass vaccinations and the re-opening of the countrys borders. A week later, elation has been quelled by the sober realisation that the vaccination route out of this pandemic is not assured for the foreseeable future given the realities of global supply.
Chef Laurel Burleson vividly remembers the most glorious jam she ever had. She was in college, studying abroad in France, and her host mom participated in a jam and jelly exchange with friends.

Everyone made, like, two dozen jars and traded with everyone else, Burleson says. One of her friends made this  she called it Mirabelle. I dont know if they exist in this country, Ive never found them, but they were these little, almost apricot-size yellow plums, halved and in syrup.

They were the most perfect preserved fruit Ive ever had. We would eat it with ice cream, and it was my favorite thing.

Burleson makes lots of jams, jellies, marmalades and preserves these days as the owner of Ugly Apple Cafe, her food cart in Madison, Wisconsin, that focuses on breakfast. Burleson started the cart in 2016, in part to address the perfectly good produce that goes to waste every day in this country. Shes passionate about the cast-offs, ugly fruit that would end up in a compost pile or landfill.

Those homely fruits are excellent candidates for Burlesons fruit leathers  dehydrated apples, grapes, bananas and cranberries in snackable strip form  and the preserves she pipes into paczki (Polish donuts). Preserving fruit is a Midwestern tradition, one that Burleson appreciates during long Wisconsin winters.

Over the winter, its easy to feel like youre in a rut. When you can grab something that you made in-season, it gives you a little refresh, she says. It sounds silly to say its like a little vacation, but it is comforting. Its a little memory  Remember when we got these great strawberries?

Burleson shares three recipes for jam, accompanied by a way to use each one. Or feel free to make just the jam, or use a premade or purchased preserve for these delectable creations.

+2 Pan-Seared Halibut with Tomato-Onion Jam Scratched or dented tomatoes are perfect for this tomato jam recipe, which can be served on halibut or cod.

Strawberry Caprese Canapes with Strawberry-Basil Jam Tart strawberry-basil jam is offset by creamy mozzarella in this sweet take on a classic caprese salad.

+3 Thumbprint Cookies with Rhubarb-Bourbon Jam Thumbprint cookies can be filled with any jam, but be sure to try this rhubarb-bourbon jam with cracked black pepper.
PHOENIX  Another candidate has declared for governor, using the same tactics as two others already in the race: a press release and no media interviews.

But the latest entry has at least some name ID: Kari Lake, former news anchor for Fox-10 Phoenix, who quit the station after 22 years with a video saying she did not like the way journalism has changed since she had been in the business.

She repeated the theme on her newly posted website, saying she has seen a disturbing shift in journalism.

Efforts to reach Lake through social media and emails were not successful.

Lakes website does not specify her party affiliation, though it is presumed she wants to be the Republican nominee. She would join two other higher-than-normal profile contenders for the nod: State Treasurer Kimberly Yee and Karrin Taylor Robson, a member of the state Board of Regents.

In the 2-minute video about her resignation, Lake said she did not agree with some of the stories she was being asked to read on the air.

I found myself reading news copy that I didnt believe was fully truthful, or only told part of the story, she said.
She said they were conducted in the face of unprecedented challenges.

We were in the middle of a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic, Hobbs said.

Add to that, she said, misinformation about the accuracy of elections that came out of the Trump White House.

We made sure that Arizonans didnt have to choose between their freedom to vote and their health and safety, Hobbs said. And thats what Ill bring to the governors office.

She acknowledged that the duties of governor involve a wider scope of issues than those of secretary of state. But Hobbs said she dealt with those during her eight years in the Legislature, including a stint as minority leader, and that she has shown she can work in a bipartisan fashion.

Among her priorities as a legislator was pushing for the state to do something about its backlog of untested rape kits. The number was 3,000 when she first raised the issue in 2012. By 2016, when it topped 6,000, she got Republican Gov. Doug Ducey to agree to legislation.

She also was instrumental in approval of the bipartisan Opioid Epidemic Act that put limits on the use and prescription of the addictive drug and provided money for treatment.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP)  The owner of a small sunflower oil factory in Bulgaria has accused U.S. soldiers of illegally storming his facility during a NATO military exercise last month.

Marin Dimitrov told reporters Wednesday that he had filed a lawsuit against those responsible for the May 11 incident.

Swift Response 2021 was a U.S. Army-led multinational exercise held across Estonia, Bulgaria and Romania and involving more than 7,000 paratroopers from 10 NATO countries. During the drill, members of the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade simulated seizing and securing the decommissioned Cheshnegirovo Air Base in southern Bulgaria by clearing bunkers and other structures, a U.S. Army statement said.

On May 11, American soldiers entered and cleared a building next to the airfield that they thought was part of the training area but turned out to be occupied by Bulgarian civilians operating a private business, according to the statement.

No weapons were fired at any time during the interaction, the Army statement said.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said it was absolutely unacceptable to have the life and calm of Bulgarian citizens put at risk by military units, be they part of the Bulgarian or foreign armed forces.
Gerald Smith was extradited from Georgia to Baltimore and has since been charged with first- and second-degree murder in both cases, along with several other charges, according to online court records. He is being held without bail.
However, Noem's lawsuit also reignited legal skirmishing between her and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, which opposed the event on the grounds that the Black Hills, which contain Mount Rushmore, are sacred to the Lakota people.

In a statement responding to the judge's decision, Noem blamed President Joe Biden's administration for cancelling the fireworks, saying it was on completely arbitrary grounds.

But rest assured, this fight is not over, she said, promising to appeal the decision in an effort to restore the event next year.

In a 36-page opinion and order, Lange, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, wrote that he liked the idea of having a fireworks display to celebrate Independence Day, but declined to order the National Park Service to allow it because it would be improper judicial activism for this Court to disregard settled law on how federal agencies are allowed to make decisions.

Lange wrote: This country could use a good celebration of its foundational principles of democracy, liberty, and equal protection of law, after a pandemic that has disrupted society and business and has killed nearly 600,000 United States citizens to date, after an insurrection and physical incursion of the United States Capitol while Congress was convening to certify the outcome of the presidential election, and after this nation has become so sadly divided by the politicization of so many issues, likely to include even the outcome of this case."

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP)  A Florida school board has voted to rename six schools named for Confederate leaders, but will keep three others named for a French colonizer and a U.S. president who supported slavery and forced Native Americans to move west along the Trail of Tears.

Following a months-long debate, the Duval County School Board decided on the names Tuesday night, news outlets reported.

The result: Joseph Finegan Elementary will become Anchor Academy; Stonewall Jackson Elementary will be Hidden Oaks Elementary School; Jefferson Davis Middle will become Charger Academy; Kirby-Smith Middle will be named Springfield Middle School; J.E.B. Stuart Middle will be Westside Middle School and Robert E. Lee High will become Riverside High School.

Three Jacksonville-area schools will keep their names: Jean Ribault Middle and High School and Andrew Jackson High School.

Some school board members wanted to nix the name of the 7th president, but their amendment failed.

The changes won't come quickly, since the school's signs and uniforms have to be updated.
ATLANTA (AP)  Georgia's governor on Wednesday suspended a sheriff accused of violating the civil rights of several people in his custody by ordering them unnecessarily strapped into restraint chairs and left there for hours.

A federal grand jury in April indicted Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill. The indictment accuses the sheriff of improperly using restraint chairs at the county jail for punishment.

Gov. Brian Kemp last month appointed a review panel made up of the state attorney general and two other sheriffs to determine whether the charges in the indictment were would affect Hill's ability to do his job in a way that adversely affects the public.

The commission found that to be the case and recommended that Hill be suspended, Kemp wrote in his executive order. The suspension is immediate and will remain in effect until the charges against him are resolved or until his term of office is over, whichever comes first, the order says.

Drew Findling, a lawyer for Hill, said his client is disappointed by the governor's order.
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP)  A Los Angeles County firefighter appeared to have a longstanding job-related dispute with the colleague he fatally shot at their small, rural fire station in what was Californias second deadly workplace shooting in less than a week, authorities said Wednesday.

The gunman also critically wounded a fire captain at the station about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Los Angeles on Tuesday before setting his house on fire in a nearby community and apparently killing himself, officials said.

Preliminary interviews with other employees at Fire Station 81 indicate the shooter and the fellow veteran firefighter who was killed had some workplace beef, said Los Angeles County sheriffs Lt. Brandon Dean, who is overseeing the homicide investigation.

It sounds like they didnt like each other, Dean told The Associated Press, without elaborating.

He said investigators will review the Fire Department's personnel files to see if any official complaints had been made or disciplinary actions had been taken before the bloodshed. It was not immediately clear how long the two had worked together at the station in Agua Dulce, a rural community of about 3,000 people in the desert of northern Los Angeles County.
Federal prosecutors have dropped the criminal case against a New York man who was accused of participating in the riot at the U.S. Capitol, in what appears to be the first such move by the Justice Department in its sprawling Jan. 6 prosecution.

The dismissal of the case against Christopher M. Kelly was disclosed on Wednesday, the same day prosecutors secured a second guilty plea by one of the more than 450 Capitol riot defendants.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui agreed to dismiss the case against Kelly after prosecutors said in a court filing on Tuesday that they discussed the merits of the case with Kelly's lawyer and decided that ending the prosecution serves the interests of justice based on the facts currently known to the government.

The filing doesn't elaborate on the decision, and the Department of Justice refused to provide more information. An attorney for Kelly didnt immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Faruqui agreed to dismiss the charges without prejudice, which means the Justice Department could attempt to revive the case.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP)  The U.S. government on Wednesday sanctioned six Bulgarian public officials and businessmen, as well as their networks encompassing 64 entities, for their allegedly extensive roles in corruption.

The State Department announced the public designation of former public officials Alexander Manolev, Petar Haralampiev, Krasimir Tomov, and Delyan Peevski, as well as current official Ilko Zhelyazkov.

In Sofia, Bulgarian interim Prime Minister Stefan Yanev said he was informed about the act by U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland by telephone.

The sanctions on the people and companies effectively prevent them from accessing the U.S. financial system, freeze any of their U.S. assets and bar Americans from dealing with them.

European Union member Bulgaria has repeatedly been reprimanded by Brussels for a lack of efforts to effectively fight corruption, and the Transparency International watchdog has declared it the most corrupt country in the EU.
Antibodies that form after vaccination or natural infection do wane naturally, but there's evidence that those levels remain strong for at least six to nine months after mRNA vaccination and possibly longer. They also appear effective against worrisome virus mutants, at least for now.

Scientists do not yet know what's called the correlate of protection, the level below which antibodies cannot fend off the coronavirus without additional help.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. governments leading infectious disease expert, told a Senate subcommittee last week that vaccine protection would not be infinite.

I would imagine we will need, at some time, a booster, Fauci said. What were figuring out right now is what that interval is going to be.

To date, 62.8% of the adult U.S. population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 133.6 million, or more than 40 percent, are full vaccinated. The rate of new vaccinations has slowed to an average below 600,000 per day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats closing in on President Joe Bidens goal of 70% with at least one inoculation by July 4.
A nation slowly emerging from social distancing measures imposed by the coronavirus pandemic honored generations of U.S. veterans killed in the line of duty on a Memorial Day observed without the severe pandemic restrictions that affected the day of tribute just a year ago.

Memorial Day parades and events were held in localities large and small across the country Monday, many resuming after being canceled last year as the pandemic hit with full force.

At Arlington National Cemetery's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, President Joe Biden delivered a solemn speech honoring the 1 million Americans killed in service of the nation  and challenged that nation to carry on that fight by defending its democracy.

This nation was built on an idea, Biden said. We were built on an idea, the idea of liberty and opportunity for all. Weve never fully realized that aspiration of our founders, but every generation has opened the door a little wider.

The struggle for democracy is taking place around the world  democracy and autocracy. The struggle for decency, dignity, just simple decency, Biden declared.
Since the Belair-Edison site opened in June 2019 in Northeast Baltimore, there have been 8 homicides, and zero since December, Johnson said. There has only been one shooting so far this year, Johnson said, and the group has overseen 679 conflict resolutions.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP)  Budapest city officials are planning to rename streets in an area where a Chinese university loyal to China's Communist Party is due to open a branch, in a signal of protest and solidarity with the victims of human rights abuses by Beijing.

The new names will be Uyghur Martyrs Road, Free Hong Kong Road, Dalai Lama Road and Bishop Xie Shiguang Road, and they are expected to receive formal approval by the city in the next few days, according to the MTI news agency.

Budapest's liberal Mayor Gergely Karacsony said Krisztina Baranyi, the mayor of the citys 9th district, where the Chinese university is to be built, announced the plans on Wednesday, saying they sought to honor those who have suffered at the hands of the Chinese state.

The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibet, the Uyghurs are an ethnic Muslim group that some Western countries say is the victim of genocide and the late bishop was the target of religious repression.

The move comes as part of a larger effort to oppose plans by conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban to host an elite Chinese university campus in the nation's capital.
For Tucson tweens and teens who are too old for summer camp, but not yet old enough or ready for a summer job, there are still a few, fun options for beating boredom this summer.
Available on YouTube, an April 8 episode of SeneGence Internationals Billion Dollar Lips was titled Hometown Makeover Takeover and it features Rogers-Kante talking with Shirey about various projects in Sapulpa, including plans for the drive-in.

I grew up here and I remember many, many weekends spent at the TeePee Drive-In in the car with either my mom or my dad or both, Rogers-Kante said. Those memories are some of my most cherished memories, so we were thrilled to get ahold of the property and know that we can restore it and bring it back to life and do it in a way that can be enjoyed by even more people today.

Rogers-Kante said the drive-in has been neglected for about 40 years, so there is much work ahead, but she wants to reintroduce it to moviegoers in the spring of 2022 and emphasize a 1950s theme. In the episode, she talked about having immobile bodies of 1950s cars on site so people who arent old enough to drive can watch movies from the vehicles.

She also mentioned having refurbished 1950s travel trailers (equipped with viewing windows) on site so guests can watch movies or, if they choose, spend the night in them.
We were excited to launch Born & Raised in 2020, and to say were even more excited in 2021 is an understatement, Mike DuCharme, festival producer for AEG Presents, said. This region lives and breathes outlaw, Texas, Red Dirt country. We cant wait for fans to walk through the doors and experience what we have put together.

Pre-sale passes will be available beginning 10 a.m. Saturday, June 5 via Tunespeak. Fans can register for the pre-sale at bornandraisedfestival.com.

Passes go on sale to the general public 10 a.m. Monday, June 7. Weekend general admission passes start at $99.50 with reserved seating starting at $235.50. VIP packages, starting at $489.50, will include up-close reserved seating, VIP parking, private viewing areas and beverage service plus access to the Red River Saloon with private, unplugged sessions with select artists (to be announced) and catering, water and soft drinks throughout the weekend. Tent and RV camping options are available.

Born & Raised has partnered with GovX to provide discounted passes for military and military veterans starting at $89.50.

The Friday night pre-party will be available to anyone with a weekend pass. Lineup details are pending.
Almost no one had more one-on-one time with the president during his visit than Michelle Brown-Burdex. The long-time Greenwood Cultural Center program director spent about 15 minutes showing the president around the facility.

I was surprised that he was so well-informed that he really knew the history of the Greenwood District and he even asked a few questions, Brown-Burdex said.

Biden referenced that Interstate 244 cuts through Greenwood and its detrimental effects on the neighborhood, Brown-Burdex said.

He even discussed the possibility of reversing that and perhaps removing the expressway through the heart of the Greenwood District, Brown-Burdex said.

Brown-Burdex has given countless tours of Greenwood Cultural Center in her 25 years with the organization, but never anything like what she experienced Tuesday.

I was extremely nervous and I had been waiting there for several hours. I didnt have the exact time of his arrival and I thought I was going to faint, she said. I hadnt eaten all day, and so I was just terrified that I would say something or do something and I would be a meme on Facebook right now.

But after a few minutes with the president, all her anxiety vanished.
Asked about the message on the T-shirt, Buck said after a court appearance in August, If it furthers the cause for racial equality, Im all for it. She said then she was flabbergasted by the idea that the then-president had me arrested and took away my rights before his event.

Smolen contended in the lawsuit that the city also has liability because it enforced the Trump campaigns request to remove Buck from a city-managed street, even though he learned the campaign did not have a permit to designate the area as private. As proof, he pointed to what he said was a statement from Tulsa Police Capt. Richard Meulenberg indicating the campaign can pick and choose whom they want to allow access to the fenced area around the BOK Center.

Police also released footage from Parkers body camera, which showed him telling Buck the campaign had a permit that allowed it to control access to the perimeter.

However, a city spokeswoman has said the campaign would not have needed a permit because of an exemption within city ordinances on special events for activities by a government agency acting within the scope of its authority. The city told the Tulsa World last year that the rally for Trump, who was president at the time, had been considered a private campaign event and also a federal government activity.
Matthews held her cellphone close up to one ear so she could hear Bidens every word, as her adult daughter Jennifer Matthews held her own phone in the palm of her hands so they could both see him speak.

The fact that the president of the United States showed up  its important, said Erma Matthews. Its what weve always known in our community, but now the whole world knows.

Media crews and other spectators began gathering along Greenwood Avenue about 10 a.m.

Latesha Edwards life-size cutout of President Biden was the next-best-thing for the patient group gathered in front of and along both sides of Vernon AME Church.

We like the fact that he is wanting to be president for everyone and not just one certain base or group of people, Edwards said.

Edwards husband, Billy Edwards, is a Biden fan as well.

He seems to be in touch with those of us who are not as fortunate in our country right now, Billy Edwards said. Thats very important to understand that everybody is not doing well all the time.

Up the street a hundred feet, Oologah resident Elizabeth Brewer was not as enamored with the president.
Fellow Americans, this was not a riot, he said quietly. This was a massacre.

For more than 50 years, Tulsans tried to suppress the memory of what happened in Greenwood; only in the last 25 has it become a matter of broad public discussion.

Biden drew it into the broader context of 20th century American vigilantism, exemplified by the second Ku Klux Klan and its attacks on not only racial minorities but Catholics, Jews and anyone deemed insufficiently patriotic. He roared as he recited the number of congressmen and senators who proudly claimed Klan membership during the 1920s.

That hate became embedded systemically in our laws and in our culture, Biden said. We do ourselves no favors by pretending none of this ever happened.

Those who hoped for an endorsement of reparations, however, were left waiting. Biden never uttered the word, at least not in public, but instead talked about finding ways to help Blacks and other minorities achieve financial equality even as the racial wealth gap appears to be growing for most people.

Prior to the speech, White House officials said Biden would be unveiling policy initiatives intended to bolster minority businesses and household wealth.
Felty said the anticipated claims include abuse of process, liable, slander and possibly a civil rights violation.

Felty said the action taken by Hunter against Ostrowe was politically motivated, adding that Hunter was trying to settle a political score concerning Kim Bailey.

Bailey is general counsel at the Oklahoma Insurance Department. Bailey could not be reached for comment.

The Oklahoman reported that Hunter was having an affair.

Felty said the first step will be filing a tort claim act against Hunter.

Felty said that Tuesday evidence preservation letters were sent to Hunter and Bailey and several other agencies in anticipation of litigation.

The letters require the preservation of cell phones, including burner phones, computer hard drives, computer tablets and computers servers, Felty said.

Contacted Wednesday, a spokesman for Hunter said the former attorney general referred to the notice of dismissal of the indictment.
But that didnt happen Wednesday because Charm TV was carrying the second day of the citys annual budget hearings, which also started at 9 a.m. A link to join the Board of Estimates meeting on the citys online meeting platform was not provided on the comptrollers website nor on the citys online legislative calendar. A code to call into the meeting was provided, but it didnt work.
One hundred years to the day after white mobs burned Tulsas thriving Black Greenwood neighborhood, the citys effort to identify potential mass graves from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre resumed Tuesday at Oaklawn Cemetery.

Crews focused on better defining the boundaries of potential mass graves identified during a test excavation late last year.

Researchers in October found what they said appear to be 12 badly decomposed coffins fitted tightly into a trench in what was once Oaklawns Black paupers field.

Scientists believe that based on written evidence, the manner of the burial and two nearby tombstones, the remains are likely those of Black men killed in Tulsas African American Greenwood section on May 31-June 1, 1921.

Using a track hoe, researchers on Tuesday began to remove the soil that had been placed over the text excavation site.

It is believed remains are located anywhere from 3-5 feet below the overburden, and crews are working to remove a few inches of soil at a time to uncover those remains so further analysis can be conducted, the city said in a news release.

Excavation and exhumation work is scheduled to continue Wednesday morning. Researchers plan to work from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
But the speaker said she believed a commission appointed by Biden  an idea pitched by some in her caucus after Fridays Senate vote  was not a workable idea in this circumstance" because Congress would still need to approve money and subpoena authority for the panel.

Pelosis comments come as members of both parties have pushed for a deep dive into the insurrection, which was designed to interrupt the presidential electoral count and was the worst attack on Congress in two centuries. Four rioters died in the attack, including a woman who was shot by police as she tried to break into the House chamber while lawmakers were still inside. The rioters brutally beat police and broke in through windows and doors as they hunted for lawmakers and called for Trumps defeat to be overturned.

The White House has not yet said whether Biden would try to appoint a commission without Congress. On Friday, White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the president has been clear that the shameful events of Jan. 6 need to be independently and fully investigated and that he remains committed to that.

We will continue to work with Congress to find a path forward to ensure that happens, she said.

After the Senate vote, some Democrats urged Biden to move on his own.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  Louisiana won't be making changes to its system for electing members of Congress, after state senators rejected the last pending proposal about the congressional elections calendar Wednesday.

Republican Rep. Barry Ivey was trying to ensure the state is no longer electing its congressional members later than the rest of the country by shifting the election dates to earlier in a year. The House had unanimously agreed to the idea, but senators questioned Ivey's approach and the risk of litigation.

The Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee killed Ivey's proposal without objection, ending the discussion for the legislative session, which ends next week. Senate Republican leader Sharon Hewitt, of Slidell, earlier in the session scrapped her closed primary bill to shift the elections calendar because of sharp disagreements among GOP officials about the idea.

In Louisianas current open primary system, all candidates regardless of party run against each other for elected office. If no one candidate tops 50% in that primary, the top two vote-getters advance to a head-to-head runoff.
We dont have any problem with honoring Inhofe while he is still living. Inhofe is a transportation hero. The fifth and sixth lanes of Interstate 44 in Tulsa are a testament to the senators clout and his willingness to use it for his hometown.

The expensive I-44 project never would have happened except for Inhofes efforts as a senior member of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, but that road is already named for someone else, W.G. Skelly. Choosing a road close to Tinker Field is appropriate, too. As a member, chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Inhofe has always been a champion of the American military.

Naming a piece of Oklahoma highway after Trump accomplished its primary intent, which was to provoke Democrats and others whose blood pressures rise at the thought of Trump. It was an alpha dog legislative tactic meant to own the liberals, and gauging from the reaction it has received, it worked. The road will probably get more letters to the editor than it gets traffic.
The four biggest players in Vietnams film distribution industry have called on the prime minister to classify the sector as essential since they want to reopen their cinema systems as soon as possible to overcome coronavirus hardship.

The appeal, signed by CJ CGV, Lotte Cinema, Galaxy Cinema, and BHD Cineplex, was sent to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, the Ministry of Finance, and the State Bank of Vietnam in the middle of last month.

The document highlighted the rapid growth of Vietnams film industry from 2010 to 2020, with the number of modern movie theaters increasing from 90 to 1,096 nationwide and the quantity of annual moviegoers also soaring from seven million to 57 million.

However, complying with the governments orders for COVID-19 prevention, the cinema operators have turned off their screens across the country for most of the time since January 2020 under the classification as a non-essential business.

The repetitive suspension has left great impacts on all of the cinema operators, film producers, and customers in the industry, they said in the appeal.

Film enterprises have generated almost zero revenues from movie screening and distribution, while still bearing the costs of venue rentals, salaries, and benefits for employees.

The document asserted that if the current situation continues, all businesses in the film industry, large or small, could fall into bankruptcy, leading to the mass lay-offs of more than 10,000 employees and the downturn of the sector in the future.

The industry enterprises thus pleaded with the government for a number of types of support, including recognizing the film screening industry as an essential business that should be promoted in order to improve the quality of life, reduce health problems caused by psychological issues, and contribute to easing pressure on the health sector in the current COVID-19 context.

They particularly hoped that the recognition would pave the way for the reopening of cinemas soon, as long as the operators ensure coronavirus prevention measures as required by the Ministry of Health.

They affirmed that safety measures can be easily applied at cinemas as moviegoers only focus on watching movies without talking, popcorn and other beverages are served according to individual portions, seats can be kept at a distance, and electronic ticket technology can prevent congregations.

In addition, CJ CGV, Lotte Cinema, Galaxy Cinema, and BHD Cineplex are also seeking policies for loan rescheduling or new preferential credit packages from the national government.

They hope the government extends the deadline for paying social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance, and labor union dues for all film businesses until December 31 this year.

They also expect that the government will halve the value-added tax and postpone the payment of payable value-added tax until the end of December 31, and exempt or reduce personal income tax for employees of film enterprises.

Through the government, the enterprises also want real estate firms to create preferential conditions for them, including exempting or reducing rental and service fees during the cinema closure due to the COVID-19 outbreaks and at least six months from the opening of the cinemas.

CJ CGV, Lotte Cinema, Galaxy Cinema, and BHD Cineplex said they understand and respect the governments pressure in the current battle against COVID-19.

Both from South Korea, CJ CGV claimed on its website that it is the largest film distributor and cinema operator in Vietnam and one of top five cinema chains in the world, while Lotte Cinema is among its rivals.

Galaxy Cinema and BHD Cineplex are both private Vietnamese cinema systems.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
There is no road in Da Nang's Son Tra Peninsula that Nguyen An Binh, 48, and Cao Thi Kim Tuyet, 36, have not set foot on.

The two amateur conservationists are saviors of wounded wild animals on the peninsula.

It was twilight when the hotline of the Son Tra Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Group rang.

On the other end, a young couple said they had just seen a severely injured pigtail monkey.

Immediately, Binh and Tuyet put first aid kits into their backpacks, heading to the forest.

In the dark, it was impossible to search for the wounded primate.

They had to come home and return to the woods the day after. Fortunately, the monkey was found after two days and delivered to a local veterinary hospital for treatment.

As the ape looked taciturn, they called him 'Cu Ly'  'Cu' as the way adults call a baby boy and 'Ly' for those who are reserved.

Cu Ly was badly injured. His right shoulder blade and jawbone were broken, puncturing his cheek.

Without care, the wounds had become infected.

When we found him, his neck hair looked like it had been shaved, meaning he might have been caged for a long time," said Binh.

"We supposed that his owner could have felt bored and let him go."

As the monkey lost his natural instincts, after being released, he could not gather food and integrate with indigenous monkeys of the Son Tra forest.

After a month of treatment, Cu Ly was gradually healthy again.

A small injured monkey is hospitalized for treatment. Photo courtesy of Son Tra Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Group

Binh and Tuyet then started a new journey to help him adapt to the natural environment and track his physical status in a long period of time afterward.

When he completely regained necessary skills to survive in nature, Cu Ly was brought back to the forest where he truly belongs.

Tran Tram, 39, the person who made the call, was inspired by how dedicated these voluntary conservationists were in rescuing and taking care of the poor animal.

They have changed my mind about who can take responsibility for protecting wildlife," she said.

"Son Tra Peninsula is ours and we have to do our jobs to conserve nature."

Cu Ly is not the only case Binh and Tuyet have handled.

They have rescued many wounded monkeys and helped bring them back to their habitat.

All of these monkeys are named for Vietnamese childrens nicknames as they consider them their own babies.

The conservationists team also admits snakes, squirrels, owls, iguanas, langurs, and other wild animals that get lost in residential areas, are held captive or being served at restaurants.

Group members and forest rangers release a python caught in a residential area to the Son Tra forest in Da Nang, Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Son Tra Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Group

Trap tracing

Patrolling in Son Tra forest is their side job. Holding a stick, Tuyet traces for traps left by hunters.

A lot of times, they find animals trying to escape in vain.

Tuyet said despite efforts of the local forest rangers and Son Tra Peninsula Management Board to remove traps, many wild animals still get caught.

Therefore, they decided to learn how to do the job by themselves and go to the forest removing traps whenever they have time.

We collect small traps and bring them back to the forest rangers," said Tuyet.

"For big and complicated ones, we mark the location then report them to do the rest.

A mere chance led Binh to the path of becoming an amateur conservationist.

Wandering around Son Tra to take pictures, she bumped into injured monkeys many times.

Being hurt by how cruel people can be toward animals, Binh poured her heart and soul into helping vets take care of them.

The love grew deeply and she finally realized Son Tra could be her second home.

Nguyen An Binh and Cao Thi Kim Tuyet (front) search for traps in the Son Tra forest of Da Nang, Vietnam on their free day. Photo: Doan Nhan / Tuoi Tre

A year ago, Binh met Tuyet, another wanderer.

As the two women shared the common love for wildlife and passion of protecting the coastal citys green lungs, they decided to do something together.

Despite being busy with their office jobs, they are always ready to go on a rescue trip when injured wild animals are reported, no matter the time.

They say animals are just like humans. Both might not be able to save them if they are late.

At first, they learned about nature and wildlife on the Internet, then they sought advice from international experts to better perform conservation.

It takes weeks to just monitor the condition of an injured monkey before reporting to local authorities to deal with the case.

Some people tell them to not bother doing 'other peoples jobs' yet they believe in their good deeds.

Pictures of trapped animals and their recovery are shared on the groups Facebook fan page, delivering strong messages about protecting wildlife in the hope of changing peoples behaviors toward wild animals, especially those living on and creating the priceless biodiversity of Son Tra Peninsula.

Duong Thi Xuan Lieu, head of the Son Tra Tourism Management Department, appreciated the collaboration of the group with local authorities in implementing projects raising public awareness, providing information about wounded animals as well as reporting illegal wildlife trade and poaching.

They also give aid to help rescued animals re-adapt to their original habitats and collaborate with the local forest rangers to release them back to the forest.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
More than 100 direct contacts of a foreign teacher at an international school in Ho Chi Minh City have been quarantined after he was confirmed as a coronavirus patient.

A spokesperson of Vietnam Australia International School (VAS) told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday that a foreigner who teaches Cambridge programs at its campus on 3-2 Street in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City had been diagnosed with COVID-19.

More than 100 of his direct contacts, mostly students and his co-workers, have been quarantined.

The teacher lives on the same floor of an apartment complex in District 7 as a case announced on Saturday last week.

VAS immediately worked with local authorities on tracing his direct contacts, most of whom were students and teachers getting exposed to him on May 19, the spokesperson said.

The school switched to remote learning as directed by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training on May 10 but its students had to take the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) exam already scheduled by Cambridge University at a VAS campus on 3-2 Street in District 10 on May 19, 21, and 26.

Students were spaced 1.8 meters apart during the exam, with face mask donning, temperature checks, and hand sanitizing mandatory.

However, the infected teacher failed to wear a face mask during his supervision of the exam, the VAS spokesperson admitted.

The school will take appropriate disciplinary action against him when he finishes treatment.

VAS is appealing to local authorities for the exposed students to be quarantined at hotels instead of concentrated centers.

The school said in a notice to parents on Monday that it would be liable for all quarantine fees charged by the hotels designated by VAS and approved by local authorities.

An official from District 10 confirmed the case to Tuoi Tre, saying the school has been isolated for fumigation and contact tracing.

Vietnam announced 53 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday morning, taking its cumulative tally to 7,625 patients, according to the Ministry of Health.

Recoveries have reached 3,043 while the death toll has hit 48, including one logged on Tuesday.

Vietnam has fought four virus waves so far, the latest being the worst.

The country has been struggling with the fourth wave since April 27, with 4,549 domestic cases reported.

Ho Chi Minh City has logged 227 infections in this round, 219 of which were traced back to a religious mission in Go Vap District.

The southern city reinstated enhanced social distancing on Monday, slated to last for 15 days. Non-essential businesses have been closed while the elderly are advised to stay home.

The nation confirmed 106 community cases in the first wave from January 23 to April 16, 2020, 554 in the second from July 25 to December 1, 2020, and 910 in the third from January 28 to March 25, 2021.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Ho Chi Minh City documented on Wednesday the first-ever coronavirus-related death, a woman who had suffered end-stage chronic renal failure.

H.T.M., a 37-year-old patient, was pronounced dead at the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases on Wednesday, Dr. Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, director of the hospital, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

The cause of her death was confirmed as serious COVID-19, septic shock, heart failure, hypertension, and end-stage chronic renal failure.

This is the first virus-related fatality the city has ever recorded since the pandemic first hit Vietnam on January 23, 2020.

M. belonged to an infection cluster of five patients detected on May 21, including a noodle soup vendor in District 3, three of her children, and a grandchild.

She tested positive on May 24 before being admitted to the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases one day later.

Local health authorities have tested 1,382 in relation to this cluster but found no more transmission from it.

The UK variant of the coronavirus was detected in this infection chain, according to genome sequencing results.

Vietnam announced 53 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday morning, taking its cumulative tally to 7,625 patients, according to the Ministry of Health.

Recoveries have reached 3,043 while the death toll has hit 48. The health ministry has yet to count M. in the death toll.

Vietnam has fought four virus waves so far, the latest being the worst.

The country has been struggling with the fourth wave since April 27, with 4,549 domestic cases reported.

Ho Chi Minh City has logged 227 infections in this round, 219 of which were traced back to a religious mission in Go Vap District.

The southern city reinstated enhanced social distancing on Monday, slated to last for 15 days. Non-essential businesses have been closed while the elderly are advised to stay home.

The nation confirmed 106 community cases in the first wave from January 23 to April 16, 2020, 554 in the second from July 25 to December 1, 2020, and 910 in the third from January 28 to March 25, 2021.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Starting from Wednesday, people in Ho Chi Minh City will incur civil penalties if they are spotted not wearing face masks in public, said leaders of the traffic police bureau in Ho Chi Minh City.

Specifically, traffic police will levy a fine of VND1-3 million (US$43-130) on individuals who fail to comply with face mask donning laws in public.

Inter-provincial bus routes will also be subject to a penalty if they fail to keep a safe distance between passengers, or exceed the passenger number cap stipulated by law.

Traffic police will also keep an eye on criminal violations, or complications out of their authority, before reporting them to related forces for further handling.

According to a government decree that took effect from September 28, 2020, failure to practice personal protection measures as instructed by health authorities among those at risk of catching diseases shall carry a fine of VND1-3 million.

Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City had announced they would fine people for failing to wear a face mask in public from August 5, 2020 as one of their COVID-19 prevention and control measures and have yet to scrap the regulation.

As the fourth wave of the coronavirus epidemic wreaks havoc, Ho Chi Minh City is doubling down to curb the spread of the pathogen.

On Wednesday, the city documented its first-ever coronavirus-related death -- a woman who had suffered end-stage chronic renal failure.

Ho Chi Minh City has logged 227 infections in this round, 219 of which were traced back to a religious mission in Go Vap District.

The southern city reinstated enhanced social distancing on Monday, slated to last for 15 days.

Non-essential businesses have been closed while the elderly are advised to stay home.

Vietnam has logged 7,673 patients as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Ministry of Health.

Recoveries have reached 3,043 while the death toll has hit 49.

Vietnam has fought four virus waves so far, the latest being the worst.

The country has been struggling with the fourth wave since April 27, with 4,597 domestic cases reported.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
The policy now before the Board of Estimates would require elected officials to seek approval for travel valued at $100 or more if it is paid for by a third party. The proposed rule change also would require such officials to disclose details about their destination, as well as the purpose and cost of a trip and who is paying for it.
More than 4,000 children across Vietnam are being quarantined at centralized facilities without the care of their parents, according to the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs.

Since the fourth wave of COVID-19 transmissions broke out in the country on April 27, over 4,000 children in multiple localities have been brought to quarantine venues, Dang Hoa Nam, head of the Department of Children's Affairs under the labor ministry, said during an online discussion on Tuesday.

Due to the absence of their parents, such an experience can result in psychological trauma for these kids, Nam added.

Children suffer a lot of negative impacts brought about by the pandemic, Tran Xuan Bach, vice-president of the Vietnam Youth Federation, stated, adding that there are three groups of children who are the most vulnerable.

The first group includes children who are infected with COVID-19 or required to stay at concentrated quarantine facilities, Bach elaborated.

The second is comprised of children who face a lot of difficulties after their life and studies are affected by the pandemic, or those separated from their parents who are frontline workers.

The third includes disadvantaged or disabled children, or those living in remote areas.

To provide necessary support for children impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs has decided to pay for their 21-day quarantine period with the National Fund for Vietnamese Children, Nam stated.

Kids who have to be quarantined during the period from April 27 to December 31 are eligible for this assistance, the official added.

Nam also called on businesses, organizations, benefactors, and the community to contribute to the provision of essential items for children at quarantine centers, namely face masks, utensils, toothbrushes, toothpaste, toys, and books, as well as two boxes of milk per day to help boost their nutrition and immune system.

Such children will be given favorable conditions to contact Call Center 111 for psychological counseling.

Vietnam has documented 7,675 coronavirus cases as of Wednesday afternoon, with 3,043 recoveries and 49 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

The country has recorded 4,597 local infections in 37 provinces and cities since April 27.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has decided to limit domestic flights to and from Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City for two weeks as COVID-19 infections surge in the southern metropolis.

From June 1 to 14, five Vietnamese airlines are only allowed to operate a total of 63 flights to and from Tan Son Nhat every day, the CAAV said on Tuesday.

National carrier Vietnam Airlines is permitted to operate 28 flights, followed by budget carrier Vietjet Air with 20 flights, hybrid airline Bamboo Airways 11, Pacific Airlines three, and newcomer Vietravel Airlines one.

The CAAV also required airlines and airport authorities to continue strictly implementing COVID-19 prevention measures at airports and on aircraft.

Normally, Vietnamese carriers operate hundreds of domestic flights to and from Tan Son Nhat every day.

The Ho Chi Minh City-based airdrome also suspended foreign arrivals from May 27 until June 14.

These flight restrictions and immigration suspensions were prompted by the emergence of numerous infections mainly linked to the Christian congregation Revival Ekklesia Mission in the citys Go Vap District over the past few days.

Since May 27, the religious mission has been associated with 219 COVID-19 cases in Ho Chi Minh City, eight in Long An, three in Binh Duong, one in Bac Lieu, two in Tra Vinh, one in Tay Ninh, one in Dak Lak, and one in Dong Thap, according to an update from the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control.

Ho Chi Minh City began 15 days of enhanced social distancing on Monday.

The citys infection tally stood at 227 on Wednesday morning.

Nationwide, the caseload mounted to 7,625, with 3,043 recoveries and 48 virus-related deaths as of the same morning.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Vietnam Vaccine Joint Stock Company (VNVC), which successfully secured a deal of 30 million doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, was granted a certificate of merit by the prime minister of Vietnam on Tuesday.

The presentation ceremony took place at the companys office in Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam approved AstraZeneca for emergency use on February 1.

So far, thanks to VNVCs contract, a total of 405,200 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine have arrived in Vietnam.

To fight COVID-19 in Vietnam, the company transferred the vaccines it received to the Ministry of Health without profit to quickly vaccinate frontline staff.

All the other related expenses, including risk coverage, delivery, and storage costs were donated by the firm to the Vietnamese government.

The first batch of 117,600 doses was administered to frontline staff, including doctors, nurses, soldiers, and police officers beginning on March 8, just before the fourth wave of COVID-19 hit the Southeast Asian country in late April.

The second batch of 287,600 doses arrived at Ho Chi Minh Citys Tan Son Nhat International Airport on May 25.

It is crucial to help boost the vaccine rate in Vietnam as the newest outbreak has put millions of people in the country under strict social distancing measures.

Along with these doses, Vietnam has received 2.6 million free doses from COVAX, a global vaccine manufacturing and distribution program, and used them to vaccinate frontline doctors, border guards, COVID-19 control teams, and other priority groups, including workers in Bac Giang and Bac Ninh Provinces, the two largest clusters in the nation.

Together with the AstraZeneca deal, Vietnam has received around 2.9 million doses of the British-Swedish vaccine.

Nitin Kapoor (C), chairman and general director of AstraZeneca Vietnam, and Ngo Chi Dung (R), CEO of Vietnam Vaccine Joint Stock Company, are seen in a conversation. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre

Still, this is far below its goal to obtain a total of 150 million shots to cover 70 percent of the population.

While the production of domestic vaccines is underway, Vietnam has sped up foreign procurement to inoculate prioritized groups.

The government has said it is stepping up negotiations with vaccine manufacturers in the U.S., Russia, and some other countries to secure more jabs.

Vietnam has logged 7,673 patients as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Ministry of Health.

Recoveries have reached 3,043 while the death toll has hit 49.

Vietnam has fought four virus waves so far, the latest being the worst.

The country has been struggling with the fourth wave since April 27, with 4,597 domestic cases reported.

The nation confirmed 106 community cases in the first wave from January 23 to April 16, 2020, 554 in the second from July 25 to December 1, 2020, and 910 in the third from January 28 to March 25, 2021.

The Southeast Asian country has administered 1,102,099 coronavirus vaccine shots to medical staff and other frontline workers since it rolled out inoculation on March 8.

About 30,600 people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

To prepare for the mass COVID-19 vaccine drive in the future, VNVC has invested in its logistics system, including cold chain storage, while recruiting and training new staff, opening new vaccine centers, and distributing to 50 vaccine centers in the country.

Currently, the company is ready to vaccinate three to five million people per month.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
A man from Ho Chi Minh City has been arrested for locking up a married couple inside their house and setting it on fire, killing the husband and severely injuring the wife.

Tran Hieu, 30, who hails from south-central Binh Thuan Province, was captured by police in Thu Duc City under Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday night.

The two victims were P.L., 32, and his wife, 27-year-old N.T.B.L., who rented a house on Nguyen Van Thanh Street in Long Thanh My Ward, Thu Duc to live and sell flowers.

According to preliminary investigation and Hieus statement, he locked the door of L.s house from the outside at around 0:50 am on Tuesday.

The suspect then went to the back of the house, poured gasoline through the window, and set it on fire.

Police officers probe the case in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, June 1, 2021. Photo: Minh Hoa / Tuoi Tre

As the victims screamed for help, local residents tried in vain to open the locked door.

The married couple could only get out when firefighters arrived at the scene and forced open the door.

They were rushed to the hospital with severe burns.

The husband succumbed to his serious injuries later the same day.

Hieu claimed to sell flowers in the area, adding that he committed the crime due to a business conflict between him and the married couple.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
SBS and NITV have announced Curious Australia a new, nationwide initiative seeking submissions for standalone, half-hour documentaries reflecting the diversity of people and experiences of contemporary Australia.

In partnership with Screen Australia, and state and Territory agencies Film Victoria, Screen NSW, Screen Queensland, Screen Tasmania, Screen Territory, Screenwest and the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC), Curious Australia will support screen practitioners from under-represented backgrounds, mid-career practitioners working on lower-budget, exciting and risk-taking projects. Documentaries will screen on SBS platforms, including SBS VICELAND, NITV, and SBS On Demand.

Susie Jones, Commissioning Editor, Documentaries, at SBS, said: Through Curious Australia, weve partnered with Screen Australia and screen agencies around the country to seek out documentaries which put the spotlight on those things that make Australia unique, the people that inspire us to see things from a different perspective, and authentic stories that spark curiosity, enlighten and engage audiences in powerful and entertaining ways. Its an exciting new addition to our factual offering across the network, providing a unique opportunity for documentary-makers to tackle contemporary Australian stories and issues while also supporting the development of diverse creative talent in the sector.

Kyas Hepworth, Head of Commissioning and Programming at NITV, added: Were really looking forward to seeing bold and unique stories from First Nations documentary makers across Australia uncovered through this initiative, exploring and reflecting the diverse experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.

Screen Australias Head of Content, Sally Caplan, said: Curious Australia aims to discover exciting, new content from documentary filmmakers with genuine and powerful Australian stories to share and explore. We are thrilled to be partnering with SBS, and state and territory agencies to bring these captivating projects to audiences around the country.

Film Victoria CEO, Caroline Pitcher, said: Victoria is home to a wonderful diversity of people and communities  each with their own story to tell. Alongside SBS, Film Victoria is proud to be backing our local creators to share and celebrate their diverse screen stories with audiences around Australia.

Grainne Brunsdon, Head of Screen NSW, said: Screen NSW is committed to levelling the playing field and sharing the stories of screen practitioners from under-represented backgrounds. We are pleased to partner with SBS, Screen Australia and other state and territory agencies on the Curious Australia initiative and look forward to seeing these diverse stories brought to life on screen.

Kylie Munnich, CEO at Screen Queensland, said: SBS has long been at the forefront of diverse commissioning and programming. As part of our core commitment to identifying and supporting diverse Queensland-made screen stories, Screen Queenslands goals are aligned with those of SBS. We are proud to partner in this career-building opportunity for under-represented screen creatives working in factual storytelling.

Screen Tasmania Executive Manager, Alex Sangston, said: Screen Tasmania is committed to supporting Tasmanian screen practitioners to develop and produce stories that reflect the diversity of people and experiences within our community. We are proud to be supporting this new groundbreaking initiative from SBS, which will provide a powerful storytelling platform for practitioners from under-represented backgrounds to inspire, intrigue and entertain audiences.

Jennie Hughes, Director of Screen Territory, said: Screen Territory is delighted to be a part of the Curious Australia initiative. The Northern Territory is a unique and diverse place where Indigenous languages are still widely spoken and First Nations culture is interwoven intrinsically in the fabric of our multicultural society. Screen Territory looks forward to continuing to build on our strong relationship with SBS and for Territory screen practitioners to have the opportunity to contribute to the national story in adding their voices to this important initiative.

Screenwest CEO, Rikki Lea Bestall, said: Screenwest is committed to developing the talented pool of diverse storytellers in Western Australia and providing opportunities for their stories to be showcased to the rest of Australia.

South Australian Film Corporation CEO, Kate Croser, said: The SAFC is committed to supporting and promoting South Australian screen practitioners with diverse experiences, cultures and backgrounds who can tell compelling stories on screen that reflect the enormous diversity of their audiences, and engage them in new and exciting ways. We are proud to partner with SBS on this exciting national initiative.

Criteria for Curious Australia applications includes two key creative roles on a project being held by people from an under-represented background, including those identifying as First Nations Australians; women, those with diverse age backgrounds; people from cultural and linguistically diverse backgrounds; people living with disability; people of diverse sexuality and gender identities including LGBTQIA+; people from under-represented locations (including regional and remote areas); and people from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. Projects must be stand-alone unscripted documentaries suitable for a half hour television slot, and they should reflect SBSs Charter and explore issues relevant to contemporary Australia in an innovative way.

Submissions can be made directly with relevant local screen agencies in each state or the Northern Territory. Applications will close 12 July 2021.

Related
Q+A is Live from Wollongong this week with guest host Stan Grant.

This week Q+A heads to the Illawarra, looking at all the big issues of the week including the latest Covid-19 crisis unfolding in Victoria.

More than 50 cases have now been linked to the latest outbreak, including three at an aged care facility in Melbournes north west. So what have we learned from the last twelve months? And will the current pace of the vaccine rollout be enough to prevent more outbreaks?

The latest lockdown in Victoria is another blow for many businesses, without JobKeeper, will they survive?

Well also explore the challenges facing our universities, with international borders likely to remain closed for at least another year and foreign students choosing to study elsewhere.

Well look at whether the ALP can reinvent itself in NSW following the resignation of Opposition Leader Jodi Mackay. The recent Upper Hunter by-election result caused discontent within Labors ranks, raising questions about how the political landscape is changing in communities outside the big cities.

And as more people move out of our major metropolitan centres, what does the growing urban sprawl mean for rural and regional towns when it comes to infrastructure, jobs and property prices?

Joining Stan Grant on the panel:

Tim Wilson, Liberal MP for Goldstein

Stephen Jones, Labor MP for Whitlam

Diane Smith-Gander, National Chair, CEDA

Gordon Bradbery, Lord Mayor of Wollongong

Lisa Jackson Pulver, Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Sydney

Thursday, June 3 at 8.30pm on ABC.

Related
7NEWS Spotlight this Sunday is Ride of Your Life, a look into the highs and lows, twists and turns of the multi-billion-dollar global theme park industry.

Pushing the limit for thrills. Nothing makes you feel more alive than the visceral feeling of fear itself.

Whether youre upside down, down under or right side up, dangling in weightless suspension or bracing for the sharp drop, theres a kind of rush all over the world and its name is terror.

This Sunday, Sunrises Natalie Barr goes to the edge in a 7NEWS Spotlight special investigation as she reveals the highs and lows, twists and turns of the multi-billion-dollar global theme park industry.

From an Aussie coaster thats as old as the Titanic, to the newest, most hair-raising and death-defying contraptions on earth, 7NEWS Spotlight crosses continents in a wild roller coaster ride across Australia and the United States to uncover the very best and the worst.

Meet the families who cant get enough chasing the greatest thrill on earth, and the people whose lives were tragically and inextricably changed in an instant.

Plus shocking revelations about Australias biggest ride disasters and how an industry locked down by COVID plans to rise again.

Pull down your safety harness and buckle up as 7NEWS Spotlight goes behind the screams to bring you the ride of your life.

7pm Sunday on Seven.

Related
Parliament yesterday debated a proposal to reduce Foxtels investment in Australian drama.

Tony Burke, Manager of Opposition Business in the House and former Minister of the Arts, delivered a passionate defence of maintaining Australian quotas.

Commending Foxtels history of local drama, he said the way to achieve a level playing field was to add quotas to Streaming platforms, not to diminish obligations on Subscription and Free to Air Television.

Whats the governments solution when they say, Oh, well, Foxtel is now at a competitive disadvantage to the free-to-airs, where we cut their drama quotas? The solution is, Oh, well, lets keep the race to the bottom going and lets make the cuts apply to Foxtel as well,' Burke said.

What sort of government attacks workers in the middle of a pandemic? Because whats in front of us now is nothing more than an attack on people who work in creative industries. Lets not gloss it over. This is not like what we were dealing with when we were arguing they needed to redesign JobKeeper to make sure people who were actors and creatives got access to it.

Mr Burke (WatsonManager of Opposition Business)

This is not negligence on the governments part. Whats in front of us right now is a direct attack to halve the contribution to Australian drama from Foxtel. Thats whats in front of us.

If youre working in television, if youre working in scripted drama, whether youre an actor, whether youre a scriptwriter, whether youre a producer, whether you hold the camera, whether youre a make-up artist, whether youre one of the many people employed in this area, have a think about the number of attacks that are on from this government right now. First of all, youve got the lack of protection in terms of support during the pandemic itself, and weve canvassed that many times in this chamber. But then you have direct attacks from this government. They chose now to reduce the obligation on free-to-air television for scripted drama. Now! During a pandemic, when people are already out of work, when people are already struggling to make a living, they decide now is a really good time to say to free-to-air TV, Oh, you dont have to do as much scripted drama as you used to. Of all the times!they wait until an industry is on its knees and then say, Oh, nows a good time to attack them. They do that for free-to-air TV, they do that in cuts to the ABC and then they use the fact that these cuts have been made to say: Oh, now Foxtel is at a competitive disadvantage. We need to reduce their obligation.

Foxtel has been a good citizen when it comes to Australian drama

Ive got to say our opposition to this bill is not a criticism of Foxtel in any way, shape or form, because I will say Foxtel has been a good citizen when it comes to Australian drama, for their whole history. Productions like Love My Way, starring Claudia Karvan, Asher Keddie and Dan Wyllie, really show Australians doing the kind of complex long-form drama which the Americans pioneered with shows like The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. The Kettering Incident is an unsettling, brilliant, horror drama set in Tasmania. Wentworth is a gritty Australian drama inside a womens prison, with actors like Pamela Rabe, Danielle Cormack, Susie Porter and, this year, Marta Dusseldorp joining the cast. Its good drama coming from Foxtel.

Whats the governments response? Well cut it in half.'

Whats the governments response? Well cut it in half. You think that doesnt mean jobs? You think that doesnt make a difference to all the small businesses that proliferate in this industry? And theres all of this in the context of a change that needed to be made that the government has refused to make, because there is a competitive disadvantage that Foxtel is in at the moment.

There is, in fact a competitive disadvantage that free-to-air TV is in as well at the moment, and its a competitive disadvantage that should have been fixed eight long years ago. Its this: the streaming companies have come through with absolutely no requirement for Australian contentand Australian content is more expensive.

We get that. But it will always be so for a very simple reason. We are a population where, predominantly, English is the first language of most of the country. That means that when you produce drama in this country you are competing for stories with all the other English-speaking countries of the world, many of whom have a population base way in excess of ours.

Thats why the Foxtel scripted drama rule was put in place.

So we have a competitive disadvantage when it comes to scripted drama, and quotas are the only way you can make sure that Australian stories will be told. Thats why we have quotas. Thats why the Foxtel scripted drama rule was put in place. Thats why we need to have a system put in place for the streaming services. Every year of inaction makes it harder to do this. Why is it getting harder now? Its because, in the face of complete inaction from the government, some of the free-to-airs have now got their own streaming services. Now theyre in both camps, which means there will be a level of resistance that would not have been there eight years ago if action had been taken at the start. But the inaction from this government is the reason we are in this mess now. Whats the governments solution to an inequity? Whats the governments solution when they say, Oh, well, Foxtel is now at a competitive disadvantage to the free-to-airs, where we cut their drama quotas? The solution is, Oh, well, lets keep the race to the bottom going and lets make the cuts apply to Foxtel as well.

What we see today will be the beginning of a continued process of taking away obligations on free-to-air TV and taking away obligations on Foxtel

When we started with a situation where Foxtel had good obligations and free-to-air had good obligations but there were no obligations for scripted drama on the streaming services, the governments approach, instead of having the guts and the policy and the intellect to do something about raising streaming services obligations to provide Australian content, was, Well, lets just lower everything else. Whats in front of us now? Lets not pretend that this will be the end of the story, because as long as there is no obligation for Australian drama on the streaming services the objective of this government will be to lower and lower and lower the obligations. What we see today will be the beginning of a continued process of taking away obligations on free-to-air TV and taking away obligations on Foxtel, and the outcome will be simple

(Mr Fletcher interjecting)

Mr Burke:

I hear the minister say, Oh, thats a small blessing. I hear the minister refer to the fact that his colleague gets to leave and hes stuck here. Its about time he listened to what is happening in the sector, because in a moment hes going to vote to cut the contribution to Australian drama in half. Do you reckon that doesnt affect half the jobs? Do you reckon that doesnt affect half the businesses? Of course it does. But lets not pretend that the government sort of stumbled into this. This is eyes wide open. This is a deliberate strategy of not caring about Australian stories being told.

Australians should be able to watch stories that are set in their own country

As I said, we dont criticise Foxtel. Foxtel has been a good player. But there is a way of delivering a fair playing field here. Its to look at the section which has no obligations and put obligations in that areaand to get back to the first principles of it all. Why do we have quotas in the first place? We have them because there is a belief that seeing our stories on screen matters, that Australians should be able to watch stories that are set in their own country, that they should be able to watch stories where the accents and the voices and the language that they hear from the screen are the same as what they hear in their community.

Not every one of these productions is going to be commercial without quotas or funding obligations. Thats okay, because the alternative is that we end up in a situation where we only judge success in scripted drama by whether it ends up being a big profit-making activity. I dont want us to continue to be in the world that we were in 20 years ago, where you could have a show like The Man From Snowy River but Kirk Douglas had to be one of the main actors in it, where the only way you could tell an Australian story was if you got the foreign buy-in, because then you could legitimise it and turn the thing into a commercial success overseas.

If a show only talks to our own people, it is still a story worth telling. Most people here would have watched Secret City, set in this building. It was a partnership with Foxtel. The people who got work from that werent just the actors on the screen. There was the soundtrack for that show, with music by David Bridie. Some of you would know him from My Friend the Chocolate Cake. Hes a serious composer. The work of a whole lot of creatives is delivered by quotas. Thats where it comes from. The Devils Playground, one of the iconic Australian stories, had a complete long-form drama on Foxtel. The actor Simon Burke not related to me played the child in the original movie and then played the same character years later in a new Australian story, speaking so directly to a whole lot of the stories of abuse that came out of the royal commission. These stories dont get told because theyre automatically commercially viable. They get told because there is a guarantee of investment.

There is no way of looking at this bill other than to say that, for one of the good corporate citizens, Foxtel, that obligation gets cut in half. When you move from 10 per cent to five per cent, thats half. There is no other way of looking at this. This is an appalling decision, and its no wonder they took the word arts out of the name of the department. Its no wonder that for eight years weve been without a cultural policy in Australia. George Brandis a lot of criticisms of him, but at least he wanted the portfolio. Since then weve had people who just get it because its lumped in with something else. Theres been no commitment to making sure that our stories are told.

This bill is part of the race to the bottom. Lets not pretend that what was done to free-to-air TV, under the cover of the pandemic, will be the last thing that this government does with respect to Australian content quotas.

Does this hit scripted drama? Yes. It cuts it in half.

As to what theyve already done, does that hit scripted drama? You bet it does. And does this hit scripted drama? Yes. It cuts it in half. It cuts in half the obligation on Foxtel, and, all the while, a government that seems very happy to be asleep at the wheel does nothing on streaming services. I want Foxtel to be on a level playing field, and the way to do that is for the streaming services to have an obligation as well. It is a ridiculous situation at the moment. If you use a smart TV and you go through Binge or one of the Foxtel apps, or through Foxtel itself on a cable connection, there is an Australian content obligation, but, if on the same TV you shift your remote control to a different icon, suddenly theres no Australian obligation.

The reason that we have quotas is not that were obsessed with the measure of bandwidth and how something comes to our home, whether its via Foxtel cable or whether it comes through the sky. We dont care if it comes through an internet connection. Its because we care about our stories going from the screen to whoever is sitting on the lounge. If the government believes that those stories should be cut in half, it should have the guts to explain why. Front the small businesses that rely on these quotas and tell them that you think they should have only half the profit or that only half the company should be there. This government understands jobs in film when its a Hollywood production.

Australian stories create jobs too

This government understands that you get a whole lot of extra businesses involved if its a Hollywood story being told on the Gold Coast or at Fox Studios. And we have supported those processes and those policies because of the jobs that they create. But Australian stories create jobs too.

How on earth does a government get it into its head that it will put taxpayers dollars behind the jobs that come from the telling of American stories and, in the same year, during the same pandemic, at the same time the sectors being smashed, decide its time to cut the obligations for Australian stories being told? Maybe they just like it, when they go to a Hollywood set, that they get photographed with people who are more famous around the globe and that makes a better Instagram pic. I dont know. But, I tell you what, it means nothing to people who want to see their stories being told. It means nothing to people who, when they turn on the television in Australia, want there to be a decent chance of the story being an Australian story. And, please, never come back with some jingoistic pride in the country, when as a government you have made deliberate decisions to cut the telling of Australian stories in half.

Mr Fletcher (BradfieldMinister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts):

I would like to thank the members who have contributed to the debate on the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (2021 Measures No. 1) Bill 2021. This bill will make amendments to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and the Radiocommunications Act 1992 to reduce regulatory burdens, reform outdated regulations and assist Australias media industry to keep providing content valued by Australians.

Subscription broadcasters have been significantly impacted by digital disruption

The amendments to the drama expenditure obligations on subscription broadcasters and their channel providers are an important part of the governments broader reforms to the regulation of Australian content. Subscription broadcasters have been significantly impacted by digital disruption and the shift of audiences to other, unregulated services. With falling revenues and audiences, it is important to recalibrate the regulatory burden on this sector and create a level playing field in terms of the obligations imposed on traditional and new media. These amendments continue the governments efforts to simplify regulations, provide effective support for the production industry and enable Australians to have access to Australian content across a range of media.

Source: Parliament of Australia .

Related
Travel Guides this week discover the historical wonders of Mexico City and the southern region of Oaxaca.

Arriving in huge and chaotic Mexico City, our travellers attempt to escape the traffic with an e-bike tour. Some of our Guides struggle to ride a bike at the best of times. Once they figure it out, rich Aztec and Spanish historical sites and cultural re-enactments await, including the death-defying Dance of the Flyers.

Swapping their peddles for paddles, our Guides discover the canal crossed landscape of Southern Mexico City. Joining the locals, our travellers order drinks, takeaway quesadillas and dancing Mariachi bands for a floating fiesta.

Mexico City is the best place in the world to try tacos  but are our Guides ready for the unfamiliar ingredients? With tummies full of offal, our Travel Guides don masks and step into the ring to learn Mexicos most popular sport, Lucha Libre, known to gringos as Mexican wrestling.

Heading six hours south to the traditional region of Oaxaca, our Guides make their base in Oaxaca city, staying in family-run guesthouses. Unfortunately, sharing with others is not for all of our intrepid Travellers.

The Oaxaca region is known for pottery, so our Guides join in a pottery workshop before visiting the famous food markets. Trying Mexican style barbecued meat with enough guacamole for a house deposit has our Guides in love with the local culture.

7:30pm tonight on Nine.

Related
NATO ministers agree on continued support in Afghanistan after military withdrawal

Xinhua) 08:29, June 02, 2021

BRUSSELS, June 1 (Xinhua) -- NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) foreign and defence ministers agreed on Tuesday to continue supporting the Afghan community even after the withdrawal of forces from Kabul, according to the alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Addressing a press conference following a virtual meeting of NATO defence ministers, Stoltenberg said "ministers agreed that this continued support is the best way in which we can all contribute to peace efforts in Afghanistan."

He said NATO will keep a civilian diplomatic presence in Kabul following the drawdown of its forces, which, according to him, is progressing "in an orderly and coordinated way."

"We are ending our military mission, but we are not ending our support to the Afghans. So today, defence ministers discussed the way forward. We will continue to provide funding to the Afghan security forces (and) provide advice and capacity-building support to Afghan security institutions," Stoltenberg said.

After almost two decades in Afghanistan, NATO allies decided in the middle of April to start withdrawing forces from the central Asian country by May 1, with plans to complete the drawdown of all troops within a few months.

Stoltenberg added that NATO was also looking at how it can provide military education and training outside Afghanistan, focusing on Special Operations Forces. "And we are working on how to fund the provision of services enabling Allies and the international community to stay in Kabul, including support for the airport," he noted.

The meeting, including one with foreign ministers earlier in the day, focused on NATO's 2030 agenda to strengthen the alliance for the future ahead of the summit scheduled for June 14 in Brussels.

"Ministers agreed that we need to take ambitious decisions to show that Europe and North America stand together in an age of global competition. And that we need to show transatlantic unity not just in words, but also in deeds," he added.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Du Mingming)


remaining of

Thank you for supporting local, independent journalism! 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.
FILE PHOTO: An Exxon sign is seen at a gas station in the Chicago suburb of Norridge

(Reuters) - Africa-focused Savannah Energy and Exxon Mobil Corp are in exclusive talks over the sale of Exxon's interest in energy assets in Chad and Cameroon, the companies said on Wednesday.

The British oil and gas producer is proposing to buy a 40% operated interest in the Doba oil project in Chad, and a 40% interest in the Chad-Cameroon oil transportation pipeline.

The company's London-listed shares were last up nearly 7% at 19.25 pence.

An Exxon representative confirmed the two parties have entered exclusive negotiations and said there was a possibility that the talks may conclude without an agreement.

"We continue to high-grade our portfolio by divesting non-core assets that no longer compete for capital within our industry-leading portfolio of opportunities," Exxon said in an emailed statement.

The energy sector is seeing a wave of merger and acquisition activity as companies cut back their oil and gas portfolios to keep only the assets most likely to be profitable and redeploy capital for a transition to clean energy as uncertainty mounts over future demand for fossil fuel.

Savannah Energy, which only operates in Nigeria and Niger, did not disclose the financial terms being discussed.

Savannah Energy on Wednesday asked for trading in its shares to be suspended until it publishes details of the proposed deal or confirms that the talks have ended.

The Doba oil project produced gross 33,700 barrels of oil per day (bopd) on average, while the Chad-Cameroon pipeline transported gross 129,200 bopd last year, the British company said.

(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Barbara Lewis)
Latushko, a prominent member of the Belarusian opposition council, looks on during interview with Reuters in Warsaw

WARSAW (Reuters) - Belarusian opposition politician Pavel Latushko said on Wednesday he would file a complaint with the Polish prosecutor's office against President Alexander Lukashenko and other officials due to threats of physical violence against him.

Belarusian dissidents abroad say they have faced a new wave of threats since Minsk provoked international outrage by scrambling a warplane to intercept a Ryanair aircraft and arrest a dissident journalist in May.

"I want to tell prosecutors that crimes may be committed against me including kidnapping, unlawful deprivation of liberty and even killing me and other Belarusian opposition activists who emigrated," Pavel Latushko said.

"I constantly receive threats from the Belarusian regime, threatening my life, health and safety."

Latushko said he believed there is a "real threat" Belarus may conduct actions against opposition politicians in Poland and other European Union member states, adding he hoped the EU would introduce effective sanctions against Alexander Lukashenko's regime.

Asset freezes and travel bans are part of a package of new sanctions on Belarus from EU states, after a Ryanair flight was urged to land in Minsk on May 23, where dissident journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend were arrested.

"This act of state terrorism which took place in the airspace is just a harbinger of what awaits (Belarusian) democratic leaders on EU territory," said Michal Szczerba, a member of the Polish parliament's committee on Belarus.

Belarusian authorities say they are battling foreign-backed terrorists and plotters intent on revolution and regime change.

(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska; writing by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Alan Charlish; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Kate Winslet in the HBO series ( 2021 Home Box Office, Inc. Al)

Kate Winslet said she refused to let the director of Mare of Easttown edit out a bulgy bit of belly during a sex scene in the series.

The Oscar-winning actor, 45, claimed Craig Zobel, the director of the hit new HBO series, had offered to show her body in a more flattering light during an intimate scene.

Winslet, who plays Pennsylvania detective Mare Sheehan, who is investigating the murder of a local teenage mother Erin McMenamin in the show, said she told Zobel: Dont you dare [edit the scene].

The star also said she sent back the promotional poster for the show - the finale of which was wired in the UK on Monday - as it had been altered too much.

Im like: Guys, I know how many lines I have by the side of my eye, please put them all back, Winslet told the New York Times.

I said to my husband [Edward Abel Smith]: Am I OK with that? Is it all right that Im playing a middle-aged woman who is a grandmother who does really make a habit of having one-night stands? Hes like: Kate, its great.

(Sky)

The actor added: Listen, I hope that in playing Mare as a middle-aged woman  I will be 46 in October  I guess thats why people have connected with this character in the way that they have done because there are clearly no filters.

Shes a fully functioning, flawed woman with a body and a face that moves in a way that is synonymous with her age and her life and where she comes from. I think were starved of that a bit.

In the scene in question, Winslet remains partially clothed while with love interest Richard Ryan, played by Guy Pearce.

Mare of Easttown has gripped viewers across the world.

Many fans have predicted that Winslet will win a number of awards for her performance.

Read More

Kate Winslet shouldnt have to explain her bulgy bit of belly

Camilla shares her passion for Hay Festival as she opens literary celebration

Who killed Erin in Mare of Easttown? These are the prime suspects
Alex Foxen Outfoxes Mattsson to Win WPT Online Series High Roller Title

June 02 2021 Matthew Pitt

Alex Foxen added yet another major poker title to his long list of accomplishments after taking down the WPT Online Series High Roller event.

The 38th event on the WPT Online Series schedule was a $10,300 buy-in affair that attracted 101 players to the partypoker virtual felt. Those entrants created a $1,010,000 prize pool that the top 17 finishers shared.

WPT Online Series Event #38: High Roller Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize 1 Alex Foxen Canada $252,288 2 Simon Mattsson Sweden $168,093 3 Elio Fox Mexico $117,344 4 Samuel Vousden Finland $80,847 5 Leon Sturm Austria $59,649 6 Shawn Daniels Canada $46,986 7 Rok Gostisa Slovenia $38,052

Day 1 ended on May 30 and saw the 101 starters whittled down to a more manageable 17. Ali Imsirovic busted in 18th place, bursting the money bubble, and bringing the curtain down on proceedings.

The 17 surviving players returned to their seats on May 31 with Simon Mattsson leading them back into battle.

Leonard Oliver Maue was the first casualty of Day 2. Joao Vieira, who started the evening eighth in chips, crashed out in 16th place. Team partypokers Kristen Bicknell ran out of steam in 15th place; Bicknell was the last surviving member of partypokers stable.

Simon Mattsson Wins WPT Online Series Event #23: $10,300 WPT High Roller

Sosia Jiang, Dario Sammartino, Enrico Camosci, Swedish legend Niklas Astedt, Roman Moroziuk, and Daniel Smiljkovic all bust in succession, before Sam Greenwood bowed out in eighth place to set the final table.

The final table read like a whos who of the poker world, as you would expect from such a prestigious tournament. The waters grew less shark-infested with the eliminations of Rok Gostisa and Shawn Daniels, but there were still some elite players in the hunt for the quarter of a million dollars top prize.

Leon Sturm and Samuel Vousden crashed out, the latters elimination awarding $80,847, the last prize not to be worth six figures.

Elio Foxs tournament ended in a third-place finish worth $117,344, and left start-of-the-day chip leader Mattsson heads-up against Foxen. The two poker Goliaths fought tooth and nail in their one-on-one encounter, but only one man could emerge from the battle victoriously.

Foxen was that man. His reward was a place in the WPT Online Series history books plus a cash prize weighing in at a cool $252,288. Mattsson headed into the night with a $168,093 consolation prize nestled safely in his partypoker account.
A group of some of the worlds most powerful oil producers agreed on Tuesday to continue gradually easing production cuts amid a rebound in oil prices. OPEC and its oil-producing allies, known as OPEC+, will boost output in July, in accordance with the groups April decision to return 2.1 million barrels per day to the market between May and July.

The alliance announced massive crude production cuts in 2020 in an effort to support prices when the coronavirus pandemic coincided with a historic demand shock, CNBC writes. Worldwide benchmark Brent crude futures traded at $71.17 a barrel on Tuesday, up round 2.7%, whereas West Texas Intermediate crude futures stood at $68.65, for a achieve of greater than 3% and the contracts highest stage in additional than two years. Oil costs have climbed greater than 30% this 12 months. Ahead of the meeting, analysts expected the group to keep output steady.

I think the event itself is going to be a nonevent. We expect them to basically reconfirm the plan that they laid out on April 1, Jeffrey Currie, global head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, told CNBCs Street Signs Europe on Tuesday. I think the bigger issue underlying this is: How are they going to deal with Iran? Iran is in discussions with six world powers to revive its 2015 nuclear deal. The restoration of a deal could lead to more oil on the global market in the coming months.

Its too early to give specific numbers around Iran, Currie said. So I think the best you can hope for in terms of how they are going to deal with Iran is the indication that they are willing to offset any increases in Iran. That could be the positive upside surprise coming out of this meeting.

OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said Monday that he did not believe higher Iranian supply would be a cause for concern. We anticipate that the expected return of Iranian production and exports to the global market will occur in an orderly and transparent fashion, Barkindo said in a statement.

I think everybody is expecting Iran to add a lot of volume. So beyond the July increase, they arent likely to come out with any commitment, Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects, told CNBCs Squawk Box Europe on Tuesday. We know that as demand rises, we will need more OPEC barrels, but I think Iran is going to be the big question mark for them, Sen said.

OPEC+ initially agreed to cut oil production by a record of 9.7 million barrels per day last year as global fuel demand collapsed, before easing cuts to 7.7 million and eventually 7.2 million from January. By July, the groups production cuts will be on track to stand at 5.8 million.

The most consequential issue for OPEC+ over the short term relates to the potential rise of Iranian production as a result of the US and Iran returning to JCPOA compliance, Eurasia Group analysts said in a research note, referring to the acronym for the nuclear deal: the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Analysts at the risk consultancy said it believed progress in successive rounds of talks made a return to the deal likely in the third quarter of 2021.

Over the medium term, OPEC+ will most likely adjust its policy to prevent the addition of Iranian barrels from derailing its market balancing strategy, they continued. Saudi Arabia will likely lean on Russia to better understand the scope of Iranian policy to work on adjustment plans. Iran would also probably act constructively as higher oil prices serve its own interests.
Once widely dismissed as a conspiracy theory, the allegation that Covid-19 originated in a Chinese government laboratory in Wuhan is gaining renewed attention. As Asia Times writes, according to this theory, Chinese scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) engineered the virus as part of a biological weapons program and the pandemic started when the virus escaped into the surrounding community.

On May 11, celebrated US immunologist Dr Anthony Fauci publicly suggested that the lab-leak theory is plausible, a shift from his 2020 opinion that the theory lacked credibility. On May 23, a report emerged that US intelligence concluded three staff members at the WIV had been sick with Covid-19-like symptoms in November 2019, a few weeks before the outbreak in China was publicized.

Most importantly, on May 26, US President Joe Biden announced he was ordering the US intelligence community to determine which of two competing explanations is more believable  the lab-leak theory or the zoonotic theory that the virus originated in nature and jumped from an animal to a human.

Beijings behavior up to now indicates that avoiding embarrassment to the regime is a higher priority than global health. While claiming to be cooperative and fully transparent, Chinese officials have hidden some important details of the outbreak.

In particular, the Chinese government is extraordinarily sensitive to the lab-leak theory. Chinese officials have consistently and vehemently denied the virus came from the WIV.

One of the key events that contributed to the deterioration of US-China relations in 2020 was US Secretary of State Mike Pompeos claim in May 2020 that the pandemic started in the Wuhan lab.

Chinese official spokespersons retaliated with a sharp counter-narrative: the United States has a history of conducting biological warfare; the virus originated in the United States; and a likely source was a US Army laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland.

Last year, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian suggested on Twitter that US army members first brought the disease to Wuhan in October 2019.

In particular, the Chinese government is extraordinarily sensitive to the lab-leak theory. Chinese officials have consistently and vehemently denied the virus came from the WIV.

One of the key events that contributed to the deterioration of US-China relations in 2020 was US Secretary of State Mike Pompeos claim in May 2020 that the pandemic started in the Wuhan lab.

Chinese official spokespersons retaliated with a sharp counter-narrative: the United States has a history of conducting biological warfare; the virus originated in the United States; and a likely source was a US Army laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland.

Last year, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian suggested on Twitter that US army members first brought the disease to Wuhan in October 2019.

The lab-leak theory is far from proven. The increased interest is not based on a corresponding influx of scientific evidence. Nevertheless, the resurgence of the theory by itself has several important political implications.

First, if the lab-leak theory turned out to be true, China would be caught in violation of yet another international agreement it has signed onto. The United Nations Biological Weapons Convention prohibits not only the use, but also the development and production of biological weapons. China acceded to the Convention in 1984.

Second, the refocus on the Wuhan lab theory will impede international cooperation on epidemic disease research. With millions of lives at stake throughout the world, and with the populations everywhere at risk, nothing should stand in the way of maximum international cooperation to better prepare for inevitable future virulent epidemics.

Unfortunately, however, the Chinese government will withhold any collaboration and block the release of any information that might corroborate either the lab-leak theory or any other assertion that the performance of Chinese officials during the initial outbreak in China was imperfect.

This will inevitably restrict the dissemination of at least some data that would otherwise strengthen the collective understanding of how the Covid-19 pandemic started and how to better mitigate other similar outbreaks.

Third, Bidens seeming legitimization of the lab-leak theory indicates a willingness to antagonize Beijing and a lack of urgency to restabilize badly-frayed US-China relations.

Bidens action is somewhat surprising, given that in March of this year his own administration reportedly shut down an investigation into the lab-leak theory started by the Trump team because the investigative work was shoddy and biased.

It is indeed a nasty surprise for Beijing, whose officials have been urging Washington to take a more objective and rational approach to relations  in contrast to Pompeos demonization of the Chinese Communist Party  and to avoid confrontation.

The fact that Biden publicly announced his instructions to his intelligence agencies in this matter strongly suggests a domestic political angle.

As the news media primed new public interest in the Wuhan lab story, Biden saw a need to demonstrate responsiveness. With his May 26 order, Biden has taken yet another step toward undermining the rival Republican Partys argument that he is weak toward China compared with his predecessor Trump.

Predictably, Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs was quick to react to Bidens announcement by re-asserting that the virus started in the US Army lab in Fort Detrick.

Finally, the return of the lab-leak theory reinforces the rift that grew between China and the liberal democracies during the pandemic. This plays into a structural problem.

On one side are the peculiarities of the Chinese government. The Chinese Communist Party believes maintaining the appearance of a virtuocracy is essential to the regimes legitimacy. The party leadership is hypersensitive to accusations of dishonorable behavior.

Once Beijing has committed itself to a particular position and narrative seen as necessary to save face, backing down is unlikely, even when there is considerable contrary evidence. The Chinese governments denial of large-scale religious and cultural persecution and mass incarcerations in Xinjiang exemplifies this pattern.

When the regime perceives it has been insulted by a foreign government, Beijing is scarcely able to carry on with normal bilateral relations. For example, China embarked on a course that has seriously damaged its relationship with Australia because Canberra called for an international investigation into the origin of the pandemic, a move that offended Beijing.

On the other side are the liberal democracies. Neither their governments nor their societies will refrain from criticizing certain Chinese government policies. This dynamic was at play during the first year of the pandemic.

Free media in the liberal democracies criticized China to the point that Chinese officials hit back with shrill, counterproductive Wolf Warrior diplomacy. Chinas image in North America, Western Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand plummeted in 2020.

This negative spiral will recur regularly as long as China and the liberal democracies maintain their respective political systems. The resurgent lab-leak theory threatens to be the latest issue to trigger a new round.

The international community should of course pressure Beijing to yield what it knows about the outbreak of the pandemic. Further exploring the lab-leak theory might be a necessary part of that process.

Unfortunately, due to pre-existing political tensions, this process will be painful and its ultimate success limited, while it is sure to prolong the downturn in US-China relations.
On the International Children's Day in Moscow, the Russian Cultural Foundation (RCF) hosted a children's holiday journey "We are going, we are going, we are going ... Hurray - holidays!" The holiday was held within the framework of the RCF project "Today - Children, Tomorrow - People" in cooperation with the Representative Office of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in Russia. The organization of the event was carried out in association with the Lestnitsa film studio, the Yunarmiya Military-Patriotic Education Center, the Detikino school studio, and the Moscow Musical Cadet Corps.

"On June 1, we celebrate International Children's Day. For 71 years now, the first day of the calendar summer reminds us that our little citizens have the right to life, education and protection. In short - to happiness! Today's children tomorrow will decide the fate of countries, the planet, all mankind! Our meeting is held under the motto Today - children, tomorrow - people! Today's world belongs to adults. Great that we have this day when we can put all our problems aside and address the most important task - to listen and hear our children. After all, we must leave the Earth as a legacy. Children are the future of our planet, Tamilla Akhmedova, the head of humanitarian programs of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation's representative office in Russia, said.

"Problems of children never go unnoticed by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, this is one of the main activities of the Foundation, led by First Vice-President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva. Vice President of the Foundation and the head of its Russian representative office Leyla Aliyeva invariably supports all projects in all countries, designed to help children, make their lives brighter and happier. We sincerely hope that this is the first, but far from the last joint initiative of the Russian Cultural Foundation and the Representative Office of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Tamilla Akhmedova said. Russia and Azerbaijan have always been and remain good neighbours and partners in politics, economy, science, culture. It is gratifying that the children of our countries and peoples grow up under the reliable protection of the state and society, in an atmosphere of mutual respect for each other. The strongest and most sincere friendships are established precisely in childhood. And if we say: "Today - children, tomorrow - people", it will be quite fair to note: today - children's friendship, tomorrow - friendship between nations. "

Producer of the Kinolestnitsa creative association Nina Komarova noted that the Russian Cultural Foundation named after Sergei Vladimirovich Mikhalkov and the Representative Office of the Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev Foundation in Moscow have united to organize the event. This is the initial event, we are making acquaintance and laying the foundation for further cooperation. Today we have met very talented children. We are especially impressed by the student of the Kara Karayev Moscow music school, pianist Elisey, who was invited by the Representative Office of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. "

Everyone is so talented! They sing brilliantly, and read poems! It is very important to exchange cultural codes! We cannot separate from each other as we lived side by side in cooperation, friendship, peace. Thus, we need to continue such a tradition. The beautiful script was written by Elena Tverdokhleb. Composer-arranger Alexander Myasnikov presented today the anthem that he wrote for Russian children. In this song, there are very important words, "today children, tomorrow people", belonging to Sergei Mikhalkov. in fact, it means dealing with the people," Komarova noted.

7-12 years children were guests of the Russian Cultural Foundation on June 1. A joyful summer is ahead, but it is important not to forget the school curriculum. To this end, the organizers prepared a festive journey for the children to help them consolidate the knowledge gained during the year. Illustrations for stories by Sergei Mikhalkov were shown on the screen.

The poetic journey in the "Train of Friends" had a figurative character. The children sitting in the hall enthusiastically travelled through the legendary works of Sergei Mikhalkov.

On the way to the holidays, "Train of Friends" made the most unusual stops. For example, at the School station, kids waved their hands to the school: "Goodbye, until autumn!" At the Musical station, they found out about their new children's anthem "Today - children, tomorrow - people" (music and lyrics by Igor Shevchuk). The Teatralnaya station surprised everyone with young talents, who prepared poems, theatrical, musical and dance performances.

At the Be healthy! station children were taught not to be afraid of vaccinations and jabs, at the Laughter station they had a fun quiz with Smeshariki. At the Cartoon station boys and girls saw the premiere - Rustam Kornaushkin's cartoon Pretender based on the fable by Sergei Vladimirovich Mikhalkov.

The host of the event was children's poet and writer Igor Shevchuk. Our main goal is to hear the feedback of a child's soul on what we are doing for them. Although this is a bit of an official event, and the reason was quite official, but for the person who participates in this, the main goal is to see a response. All guys are musical, everyone sang along, this means that the anthem is not completely divorced from the people, " Shevchuk said.

The author of the programs script, film producer of the Kinolestnitsa creative association Elena Tverdokhleb noted that "International Children's Day has been celebrated since 1950, and the fact that today we have gathered in a wonderful, friendly and close company suggests that the issue of childhood is the most important. it is impossible neither to outplay it, nor to beat, nor to alter. Todays children are tomorrows people. It does not matter in what country we live, what gods we worship, the main thing to maintain peace so that the children can always laugh and enjoy the sun shining bright

"We must return to our roots, to the primary sources. To the bookshelves. The task of parents, us as adults, to ensure that children do not forget that they are children. After all, digital technologies do not shape a person, they shape skills, motor skills, the ability to quickly press buttons. And books are the soul. Therefore, we want children to read and study the classics. Such authors as Sergei Vladimirovich Mikhalkov, in fact, should be acknowledged as a leading author for children, Elena Tverdokhleb said.

People say, the better you meet summer, the better you spend it! Thus, for the children gathered today at the Culture Foundation, summer vacations should become colourful and creative.
Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry on Wednesday said around 40 Armenian military personnel had crossed into Azerbaijani territory on Tuesday evening and were forced to retreat.

According to the ministry, Azerbaijan has expelled around 40 Armenian forces that illegally entered 400 meters into the countrys territory.

The incident occurred in the direction of Kalbajar regions Armudlu village on the border on June 1 at 8 PM.

The units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces did not use any weapons during the operation.

The ministry described the incident as "another provocation" and warned that Armenia carries full responsibility for this provocation.

"The incident demonstrates once again that Armenia aims to aggravate the situation along the state border of the two countries, contrary to the calls on of the international community and the Azerbaijani side to resolve border issues through negotiations and dialogue," the statement reads.
At least 23 migrants from Africa drowned in a shipwreck off Tunisia as they tried to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy, and 70 were rescued, the Tunisian Red Crescent humanitarian organisation said on Tuesday.

More than 120 migrants have died in recent weeks in similar incidents off the Tunisian coast, as improved weather has increased the number of trips from Tunisia and Libya towards Italy to reach Europe.

"(The Tunisian) navy rescued 70 migrants, as 23 others drowned in a boat carrying more than 90 migrants that set off from Libya towards Europe," Reuters cited Red Crescent official Mongi Slim as saying.

The navy also rescued 39 other migrants who were on another boat that sank off the coast of Sfax.
The European Union is preparing sanctions on Belarus' national airline and around a dozen top Belarusian aviation officials, three diplomats said, a stop-gap measure before economic sanctions following the forced landing of a passenger plane.

The proposed asset freezes and travel bans are part of a package of new sanctions on Belarus from EU states, which are outraged that a Ryanair flight was pressed to land in Minsk on May 23 to arrest a dissident journalist and his girlfriend.

EU governments, which described the incident as state piracy, say they are looking at targeting sectors that play a central role in the Belarus economy, to inflict real punishment on President Alexander Lukashenko. They could include bond sales, the oil sector and potash, a big Belarusian export.

Before imposing such economic sanctions, the bloc is expected to agree by June 21 - when EU foreign ministers meet - a smaller sanctions list on individuals and two entities as a quick, intermediary response, the diplomats said.

"All EU states agree with this approach," one diplomat said. A second diplomat said there would be "a clear signal for Lukashenko that his actions were dangerous and unacceptable".

While the sanctions are still under discussion, EU ambassadors as early as Friday could pre-approve banning overflights and landing in EU territory by Belarus airlines, allowing EU ministers to formally sign off on them later in the month.

Britain, no longer part of the EU, has suspended the air permit for Belarus' national carrier, Belavia. The EU is expected to do the same, the diplomats said.

The names are expected to include top Belarus' defence and transport ministry officials, military from the airforce, a top Minsk airport official and a senior civil aviation official, the diplomats said.

Also to be blacklisted and banned from business with the EU is another state-owned enterprise from the aviation sector, Reuters reporeted.
Jewish Agency chairman Isaac Herzog was elected Israeli president. The anonymous vote was held among the 120 members of the Knesset, or parliament.

Herzog will be Israel's 11th president, succeeding Reuven Rivlin, who is set to leave office next month after seven years in office.

Herzog, 60, is a former head of Israels Labor Party and opposition leader who unsuccessfully ran against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the 2013 parliamentary elections.

He is scion of a prominent Zionist family. His father, Chaim Herzog, was Israels ambassador to the United Nations before being elected president. His uncle, Abba Eban, was Israels first foreign minister and ambassador to the United Nations and United States. His grandfather was the countrys first chief rabbi.

Herzog defeated Miriam Peretz, an educator who is seen as a down-to-earth outsider. She was also seen as closer to the country's dominant conservative and nationalist political camp.

Herzog has served as head of the Jewish Agency, a nonprofit that works closely with the government to promote immigration to Israel, for the past three years since resigning from parliament. He was widely seen as the favorite because of his deep ties to the political establishment. He will hold office for a single seven-year term starting July 9.

The president, while largely a ceremonial head of state, is tasked with tapping a political party leader to form governing coalitions after parliamentary elections. Israel has held four national elections in the past two years amid a protracted political crisis.

Netanyahu's opponents faced a midnight deadline Wednesday to put together a new coalition government. If they fail, the country could be plunged into another election campaign.

The president also has the power to grant pardons - creating a potentially sensitive situation as Netanyahu stands trial for a series of corruption charges, The AP reported.
Moscow is realistic about the upcoming meeting between Russian and U.S. Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, in Geneva on June 16 and doesnt expect it to yield any breakthroughs, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.

"We are not indulging in illusions and are not seeking to convey the impression that it [the summit] would yield any breakthrough or historical decisions. But, naturally, the very fact of a meeting between the leaders of the two great nuclear powers is important and it should be supported," TASS cited him as saying.

"They should exchange views about which threats each of the sides sees around it and on the global arena in general," Lavrov added.

Putin and Biden are expected to meet in Geneva on June 16. It will be the first Russian-U.S. summit after Putins meeting with 45th U.S. President Donald Trump in July 2018. According to the Kremlin press service, the presidents will discuss the current state of and prospects for further development of Russian-U.S. relations, problems of strategic stability, as well as current issues of the international agenda, including cooperation in combating the coronavirus pandemic and settlement of regional conflicts. The U.S. president said on May 30 he planned to raise the topic of human rights violations as well.
Members of the Vienna talks aimed at reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear deal have reached significant progress but the final decision is yet to be made, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference on Tuesday.

"The talks are ongoing and significant progress was reached. However, a final decision has not been made yet. Issues remain there that demand political decisions in capitals of the most invested countries, primarily the US and Iran," he answered a TASS question.

"Just like other parties to the JCPOA, we are trying to create conditions that are as favorable as possible to reach ultimate resolutions. I believe it is counterproductive to guess whether it will happen in the next few days or in a couple of weeks. Negotiators in Vienna are working with a view to reach results as soon as possible," Lavrov underlined.

Vienna has been hosting meetings of the Joint Commission of Iran and its five international partners (Russia, the UK, Germany, China and France), while experts are also engaged in talks in three working groups to address practical issues with the aim to revive the JCPOA. The revival would mean that Washington lifts its sanctions against Tehran, the U.S. will rejoin the deal and Iran will implement its nuclear obligations.

Representatives of the parties to the deal continue to carry out consultations with the US delegation as well. There are no direct talks between U.S. and Iranian envoys in Vienna. All parties note that there is sustainable progress in their work. Experts also continue drafting the text of a future agreement.
France will contribute to the restoration of peace and the development of dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan, French President Emmanuel Macron said at a meeting with Armenias acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Paris.

"As a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, together with Russia and the U.S., France will spare no efforts to achieve de-escalation and restoration of dialogue, including direct one, between the parties," Macron said.

The French president stressed that with regards to the recent events on the [Armenian-Azerbaijani] border, the delimitation of the dialogue should be carried out only through negotiations and without the use of force.

Macron also stressed the importance of preserving cultural heritage sites in Nagorno-Karabakh, TASS reported.
At present, Russia is not ready to discuss making any changes to its list of unfriendly states, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.

"We do not consider the list approved by a corresponding government act as a conjunctural thing or a means of aggravating tensions. This is a legal act. This is a platform for implementing certain decisions that we took earlier, which wasnt here before. So it is not worth discussing whether we need to add or exclude someone from this list only due to political signals that we hear - these signals are changing, they are coming in," he said.

"There is no reason to think that there are some additional decisions in the works regarding this list. This issue is too serious. And the situation in our relations with the U.S. and the Czech Republic is very difficult, which is what triggered the creation of this instrument. But we are not ready to deliberate over when any changes are possible, and whether they are possible at all, not even very tentatively," TASS cited Ryabkov as saying.
Russia confirmed 8,832 new COVID-19 cases over the past day, bringing the total case tally to 5,090,249, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Wednesday.

The number of COVID-19 cases grew by 0.17% in relative terms.

The lowest growth rates were registered over the past day in the Chukotka Autonomous Region (0%), the Jewish Autonomous Region (0.02%) and the Tuva Republic (0.04%).

Some 828 COVID-19 cases were registered in St. Petersburg, 761 in the Moscow Region, 160 in the Rostov Region, 151 in the Nizhny Novgorod Region and 137 in the Voronezh Region.

Currently, 265,383 people are undergoing treatment in Russia.

The number of coronavirus infections in Moscow has increased by 2,842 over 24 hours. In all, 1,186,481 infections have been detected. According to the crisis center, the relative increase of new infections is at the level of 0.24%. A day earlier, 3,669 cases were detected.

Over the past 24 hours, Moscow has documented 60 deaths caused by the coronavirus infection with their total count amounting to 20,237.

Having recovered, 2,567 patients have been discharged in the past 24 hours with the total of 1,067,425 recoveries since the beginning of the pandemic. Currently, 98,819 people continue treatment in the capital.

Russia recorded 394 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, up from 372 the day before. The total death toll has reached 122,267.

According to data from the crisis center, 2.4% of coronavirus patients have died in Russia, TASS reported.

In particular, 36 fatalities were reported in St. Petersburg in the past day, 18 in the Nizhny Novgorod region and 15 in the Voronezh region. The Rostov and Samara regions reported 16 coronavirus deaths each.

Russia has documented 9,020 recoveries from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing total recovery count to 4,702,599. The share of recovered patients has reached about 92.4% of the total case count.

In the past 24 hours, 1,000 patients recovered in St. Petersburg, 733 in the Moscow Region, 265 in the Rostov Region, 244 in Yakutia, 133 in the Voronezh Region.
Russia is eyeing "many ideas" in the context of the forthcoming Putin-Biden summit, however, it is too early to talk anything concrete, for example, a possible joint statement, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters on Wednesday.

"Im not ready to comment on the content of the planned summit. There are many ideas, and we are working on all of them. So far, it is too early to talk about anything concrete," he emphasized when asked about a possible joint statement on the outcome of the Russian-U.S. summit.

Earlier, the Kremlin and the White House announced that the much-awaited summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden would take place in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 16, TASS reported.

This will be the first face-to-face meeting between Putin and Biden since the 46th U.S. president took office. It will also be the first Russian-U.S. summit since July 2018, when Putin met with then U.S. President Donald Trump in Helsinki, Finland.
Serbia views Russia as a partner and a friend and has no plans to impose sanctions on Russia, Serbian parliament speaker Ivica Dacic said, addressing the Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament) on Wednesday.

"Serbia will not impose sanctions on Russia, our major partner and friend. We have faced such actions ourselves and we know how unfair and ineffective they are," TASS cited him as saying.

"Russia is one of those that we rely on in todays world," Dacic added.
The process to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan by September is up to 44% complete, Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Tuesday.

The military gave the range between 30 -44% due to security concerns amid the pullout. CENTCOM said 300 C-17 cargo planes of material have departed Afghanistan while 13,000 pieces of equipment have been marked for destruction.

An additional military facility has been handed over to Afghan forces in the past week, bringing the total to six. CENTCOM said it expected "additional transfers of bases and military assets in the future" to bolster Afghan forces.

CENTCOM has been providing weekly updates on the process to meet US President Joe Biden's commitment to end the US's longest war by Sept. 11.
The White House will ask that all employees return to the office for in-person work in July, a source said Tuesday.

White House employees received a memo from the office of Management and Administration instructing them to "transition to full time on campus work during the window of July 6 to July 23," Axios first reported.

Employees with an "extenuating circumstance" can request to continue working from home.

Last monthafter the Centers for Disease Control loosened its guidance on masksthe White House sent an advisory to employees stating that a "maximum telework" policy remained in place.

Most White House employeesabout 80-90%have been working from home since President Joe Biden took office in January, the source estimated to Forbes.

On January 25, the Office of Management and Budget urged employees to make every effort to work remotely and restricted the number of workers allowed in federal buildings to 25%.

The staffing arrangement was a departure from the Trump administration, which had more employees working in-person. About 60% all federal employees reported working remotely during the peak of the pandemic last year in the 2020 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.

In April 2020, Trump called on agencies to begin drafting plans for workers to return to the office.
The local authorities of many cities and provinces, including Hanoi, Bac Ninh and Quang Ninh, have instructed people to apply technological solutions to fight the Covid-19 pandemic as recommended by MIC.

In Hanoi, people going to public places such as supermarkets, restaurants, parks, stations and hospitals are required to scan QR code. This gives a record of epidemiological landmarks that help trace people suspected of having Covid-19.

The recording of close contacts with Bluezone, a smartphone app, is also done at the same time.

In Bac Ninh, the provincial Peoples Committee has instructed the Department of Information and Communications to urge people to install and make health declarations on the apps NCOVI, Bluezone or on tokhaiyte.vn.

In Lang Son, according to Ho Tien Thieu, Chair of Lang Son Peoples Committee, the local Department of Information and Communications has created CovidMaps, a digital map system with real-time updated figures provided by the local health department.

However, experts have pointed out that while there are many IT apps serving pandemic prevention and control, the data are not well connected and shared by relevant agencies.

Regular data updating and sharing is very important.

To date, Vietnam has experienced four pandemic outbreaks. The Prime Minister has said that the emphasis needs to shift to more technology applications, more rapid testing, and a higher vaccination rate.

After people make declarations and update their personal information on the apps, the data must be handled centrally among connected apps. With such data, tracing of infected cases can be hastened.

The local authorities of many cities and provinces, including Hanoi, Bac Ninh and Quang Ninh, have instructed people to apply technological solutions to fight the Covid-19 pandemic as recommended by MIC.

The software needs to be written in a way so that it can be used by 63 provinces, 700 districts, tens of thousands of communes and residential quarters, and all medical workers.

To protect privacy, personal data should be erased after one month of storage.

The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has released a document guiding the use of a set of solutions to prevent and trace infection cases in the community. Different solutions are required to be used at the same time.

The solutions include the installation of apps, and low-energy Bluetooth positioning technology.

Smartphones installed with the app can communicate with each other within a distance of two meters, and record close contacts, the time and the duration of contacts. Experts say that apps like Bluezone will only be effective if they are used by more than 60 percent of population.

A report of MIC showed that the number of downloads for Bluezone app is high, but the number of active accounts is not high.

NCOVI is a voluntary medical declaration management system developed by MIC, the Ministry of Health (MOH), VNPT (the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group) and telecom carriers, which allows people to make medical declarations and quickly access information about Covid-19.

The Health Declaration app is specifically designed for foreign travelers to Vietnam. All people entering the Vietnamese territory must make declarations via this app.

Vietnam has recently put another app into use  scanning of QR Codes at destinations. If an individual is found positive for Covid-19, agencies will analyze the person's epidemiological landmarks to find close contacts.

The CovidMaps app provides epidemiological information that warns people against traveling to hot spots. People can check concentrated quarantine areas, medical isolation areas, and check-in points on the map.

The National Committee on Covid-19 Prevention and Control has asked concentrated quarantine areas to have enough cameras to supervise quarantined people. The cameras must connect with the monitoring system appointed by MOH.

Vietnam now has software to collect data on testing and information about people coming to hospitals, which can help discover F0 patients who visit hospitals.

MIC recently suggested using a dedicated bracelet to help supervise people under quarantine and after quarantine.

Nguyen Thai

Authorities urgently tracing contacts of new COVID-19 patients Authorities of Ho Chi Minh City and northern Hai Phong City are hastening actions to seal off the places related to the new COVID-19 patients who illegally entered Vietnam, and trace their contacts.
The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has asked provincial and municipal authorities to strengthen management and handle violations of information on social networks.

Timmy TV channel provided superstitious information

Social networks, especially the cross-border platforms of Facebook and YouTube, attract a high number of internet users.

According to MIC, the strong development of social media has brought both positive and negative effects to society.

In an effort to mitigate negative effects, MIC has strengthened management and joined forces with local authorities to promptly handle violations.

Since 2017, MIC has instructed local information and communications departments to punish YouTube and Facebook users who violated the laws. Hoang Anh  Timmy YouTube channel, Hung Blog, Hung Troll and Tho Nguyen were among them.

Most recently, the inspectors of the HCM City Department of Information and Communications on May 27 signed a decision on imposing a administrative fine of VND15 million on the creator and provider of Timmy TV channel.

The owner of the channel, N.H.H.A, born in 1998, was fined for providing bad content on internet, affecting the healthy development of children. The information was superstitious and contrary to the nations habits and customs.

H.A was asked to close a channel prior to May 28, 2021. Prior to that, on May 19, the owner of Timmy TV posted a video clip apologizing for the behavior and hid the video on the channel.

YouTuber Tho Nguyen has been imposed the fine of VND7.5 million by the authorities of Binh Duong province for posting superstitious content.

Until the channel was forced to shut down, Timmy TV, operational since February 20, 2018, had posted hundreds of videos targeting children. It had 775,000 subscribers and had attracted 141 million.

MIC has also asked Google to shut down many YouTube channels owned by Vietnamese users which posted illegal content.

As the state management agency in charge of information on the internet, MIC has found that a lot of people using social media features have published illegal content.

This includes content that offends the honor and dignity of organizations and individuals, uses offensive language, violates fine customs and traditions, spreads fake news, and advertises services illegally. These actions have caused anger among the public and affected social order and safety.

Local information and communication departments and the police need to strengthen inspections to timely discover violations on the internet, especially on social media, and strictly punish the violators, MIC said.

If they cannot detect the identities of the violators, they need to cooperate with MIC and Ministry of Public Security to develop reasonable solutions.

Trong Dat
The data on electronic health declaration and entries and exits at public points taken via QR Code scanning have been put under control by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC).

The Covid-19 fighting strategy in the new period has been defined by the Government and PM with three directions of attack: active testing, mandatory technology use, and vaccinations.

Closing the meeting on May 26, PM Pham Minh Chinh asked MIC to immediately implement the regulation on mandatory technology application in Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces before implementing it nationwide.

According to MIC Deputy Minister Nguyen Huy Dung, technologically, attack means compulsorily using some key technologies and processing data in a concentrated way.

MIC has said that workers in IZs and factories must use Bluezone to make health declarations.

Meanwhile, people using smartphones have to install Bluezone and run the app that detects close contacts when they are in public crowded places. At public places, office buildings and agencies, entries and exits are supervised with QR Code scanning.

The use of Bluezone with Bluetooth on smartphones allows authorities to quickly zone created areas, trace F0 cases and stamp out epidemic outbreaks.

When new infection cases are found, only people at high risk would be put under quarantine, instead of high numbers of people. If the prevention is effective, agencies and businesses can maintain their production and business activities.

Information sharing

The electronic health declaration is at https://tokhaiyte.vn , the website run by MOH, or through the apps Bluezone, To khai y te (Vietnam Health Declaration) or NCOVI. The apps are also used to scan QR Codes to recognize people checking in and out at public places.

Previously, the users data was under the management of different agencies and was not shared. But now it is shared among agencies.

Under the request of the National Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control, MIC and MOH have decided that all data needs to be updated and put under 'concentrated' control to better serve research and analysis for pandemic control.

The design of the overall data synchronization among apps, the data packet structure, and the connection standards have been completed.

A representative of the Authority of Information Technology Application (AITA) on May 27 told VietNamNet that all the electronic medical declaration data from the systems have been linked in the system managed by MOH and MIC.

On May 22, AITA said the agency was joining forces with relevant agencies to upgrade the apps for concentrated data exploitation and has provided accounts to medical units to exploit the data.

On May 25, MOH asked provincial and municipal authorities to strictly implement the compulsory health declaration, with expanded subjects required.

Van Anh

Hanoi requires returnees to make health declaration after public holiday People returning to Hanoi are subject to compulsory medical declaration after the four-day public holidays, according to a document on COVID-19 prevention and control work issued on May 2 by the Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee.
The Vietnam CITES Management Authority and the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources handed over 56 rhino horn DNA samples to the South African Embassy in Vietnam on June 1.

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

This is the fifth time Vietnam has handed over such samples to South Africa, which were seized by local authorities in illegal wildlife trafficking cases.



Pham Van Dien, deputy head of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST), said the sample handover is part of Vietnams responsible implementation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), including Resolution Conf.9.14 (Rev. CoP15) on the Conservation of and trade in African and Asian rhinoceroses.



It also shows the close cooperation between Vietnam and South Africa in fighting illegal wildlife trafficking, he said.



South African Ambassador to Vietnam MK Lekgoro said the handing over of the rhino horn samples to the CITES Management Authority of South Africa is a practical manifestation of the joint commitment of the two countries to fighting wildlife trafficking and also contributes to protecting the animal.



The rhino horn DNA samples, which are from illegal importing and trafficking cases, are expected to support authorised agencies in determining their origin and identifying those responsible.



Vietnam has uncovered many wildlife trafficking cases in recent years, including two in 2020. On December 22, authorities at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCM City seized 93 kg of rhino horn, while authorities at the Van Don International Airport in Quang Ninh province confiscated 7.8 kg on December 12.

VNA
The Noi Bai international airport in Hanoi and Tan Son Nhat international airport in Ho Chi Minh City will continue receiving passengers from abroad.

The Noi Bai international airport in Hanoi and Tan Son Nhat international airport in Ho Chi Minh City will continue receiving passengers from abroad.

International arrivals at the Noi Bai international airport. (Photo:VNA)

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) informed the latest decision in an urgent dispatch sent to airlines, the airports, and the Southern and Northern Airports Authorities, which replaced the decision on suspending the reception of foreign arrivals at the two airports under document 2276/CHK-VTHK dated May 31.

Accordingly, the process of reviewing and deciding on flight permits is the same as before.

Previously, document 2276/CHK-VTHK required Noi Bai to suspend the reception of foreign arrivals from June 1 to 7 and expanded the similar suspension at the Tan Son Nhat airport to June 14.

Domestic flights to HCM City reduced amid COVID-19



The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has asked airlines to reduce their domestic flights to Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City as part of efforts to prevent the spreading of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Airplanes at Tan Son Nhat International Airport. (Photo: VNA)

In a document signed by CAAV Vice Director Vo Huy Cuong, Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet, Pacific Airlines, Bamboo Airways and Vietravel Airlines are asked to comply with the plan on domestic flights that was issued on May 31.

Accordingly, the airlines are allowed to operate a total of maximum 63 two-way flights to Tan Son Nhat International Airport each day from June 1-14. Of the number, Vietnam Airlines can operate 28 flights each day, Vietjet 20, Jetstar three, Bamboo Airways 11, and Vietravel Airlines one.



The CAAV also requested the airlines to continue strictly implementing COVID-19 prevention and control measures during flights and at the airport.



The COVID-19 pandemic has been spreading in HCM City in recent days. From May 27, the city has detected 200 locally-transmitted COVID-19 cases.

VNA
At 11 am on June 1, the temperature measured in many places across the country was more than 40 degrees Celsius. The heat wave is expected to continue for the next few days.

The northern and central regions of Vietnam, including Hanoi, are forecast to continue enduring extreme heat until June 5 due to the arrival of a hot low-pressure area originating from the west.

According to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, the hot spell is likely to see lows of between 29 degrees Celsius and 31 degrees Celsius, with highs reaching up to 40 degrees Celsius.

Both northern and central regions will experience a period of low humidity at between 40% and 60%, while temperatures will climb above 35 degrees Celsius from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

In Hanoi, temperatures are set to hover around 36 and 38 degrees Celsius, or even go up to 40 degrees Celsius in some places.

There will be a slight chance of thunderstorms and rain to occur during the evenings, said meteorologists.

The weather forecast authority has warned people of the dangers of exhaustion and heat stroke, especially for those working outside for a long period of time.

The hot weather poses risks of explosions and fires in residential areas due to the increasing demand for electricity, along with the added risk of forest fires breaking out in the central region.

VietNamNet reporters captured images of people struggling in the heat wave on June 1.



In Hanoi:

A man takes a nap under the shadow of a pillar on the elevated road at the intersection of Pham Hung - Tran Duy Hung.

A security staff pumps water onto the sidewalks and roadbeds of Nguyen Luong Bang road in order to cool down the temperature.

Motorbike drivers cover themselves from top to toe to avoid harsh sunlight.

A ride-hailing motorbike driver rests after a trip.

In the central city of Da Nang:

Nguyen Thanh Tuan, a construction contractor, said to limit the impact of severe heat on workers health, he allowed them to work from 6:00 am to 10:00 am, and from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

Workers hide from the sun under bridges across the Han River.

Da Nang resident cover up when going out.

In the central province of Nghe An:

At 10:30 a.m., the outdoor temperature measured at the General Hospital of Tuong Duong district was 46 degrees Celsius.

Hoa Binh town in Tuong Duong district was deserted at noon.

On a street in Vinh City.

The temperature measured in Hoa Binh town in Tuong Duong district at 10:30 am was 46 degrees Celsius.

At 10am in the morning, construction workers on Ly Tu Trong Street, Vinh City could no longer work because of the heat.

Ms. Phan Thi Hanh in Vinh City said that because of hot weather, she had sold many water fans in recent days.

In the central province of Ha Tinh:

The heat is intense, with the highest temperature from 38 - 40 degrees Celsius.

Farmers stretch canvas in the middle of the field to harvest peanuts.

Farmers in Huong Khe District are in the harvest season for peanuts. To avoid the heat, they go to the fields early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

Mr. Tran Thanh Linh, a farmer in Loc Yen commune, Huong Khe district, said that his family members had to get up at 3 am to go to the fields to harvest peanuts. They work from 3 am to 9 am in the morning and from 3 pm to 6 pm in the afternoon.

In Quang Loc commune, Can Loc district, Ha Tinh province, farmers had to wear palm-leaf raincoats to work on the fields.









In the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh:

Fishermen avoid the heat under Bai Tho 1 bridge.

Some people bring hammocks to a park to take a nap.

A park is an ideal place for workers to avoid the heat.

People choose the square and Quang Ninh museum as places to avoid the heat.

Pham Hai - Ho Giap - Quoc Huy - T.Luong  P. Cong
Understanding the difficulties of the poor, a car mechanic in Kien Giang and a young man in Can Tho have bought ambulances to take patients to the hospital for free.

Thang's ambulance car bought with money borrowed from relatives and banks

Ngon Duc Thang, 33, in Can Tho City, owns an ambulance worth VND800 million, made in South Korea, bought with money borrowed from relatives, friends and banks.

Thang is facing difficulties as his income from his job at a logistics company has been affected by Covid-19. However, he still wanted to help the poor.

Asked about bank loan payments, he said: No worries. I still have income from online sale of goods. I will help people in distress if I can."

Thang has been doing charity for many years, helping disadvantaged people in Can Tho and Mekong Delta provinces.

The words Xe chuyen benh mien phi. Khong nhan tien voi moi hinh thuc" (Free ambulance. No money accepted under any form) are clearly printed on his car. There is also a mobile phone number for people to call for help and make suggestions.

Thang is also the founder of Common House, a facility that supports elderly people in need. Every month, Thang gives them VND500,000.

Thang has raised VND200 million during Covid-19 and forwarded the money to lottery ticket sellers and poor people to help them overcome difficulties.

He is also the organizer of the Singing for Smiles shows that bring joy to the unfortunate.

Another ambulance available in Go Quao district in Kien Giang province is run by Nguyen Hoang Giang, 40.

Giang and his wife have two children. They earn their living by repairing and washing cars and motorbikes on land they borrowed from relatives.

Although he is busy, Giang still spends time to help people in his hometown. Giang said 13 years ago, he witnessed local patients dying just because they could not be brought to the hospital during the golden hour. He said he then wanted to buy an ambulance that could carry patients to the hospital for free.

With the money he saved from his job and donations from relatives, Giang bought a car worth VND85 million and then turned it into an ambulance.

As the old car broke down all the time, he decided to sell it after several years and bought a 16-seat vehicle to use as an ambulance.

To be sure that the car could carry patients to hospital safely, Giang sought medical advice from hospitals. The hospitals helped Giang by equipping the car with oxygen machines and necessary medical equipment.

Giang has provided 726 free trips so far.

Thien Chi

Forgotten leprosy patients The Director of the National Hospital of Dermatology said that leprosy patients need special care. They cannot survive if we stop caring for them.
HONG KONG (AP)  A Hong Kong museum commemorating China's deadly 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests closed Wednesday three days after opening as the ruling Communist Party tries to stamp out the last traces of public discussion of the event.

Hong Kong was the last place on Chinese soil where the party's attack on protests centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square was commemorated with candlelight vigils and other events. But authorities have banned public ceremonies for the second year amid a campaign by Beijing to crush pro-democracy activism in the territory.

Organizers of the June 4 Museum said it closed after authorities investigated whether it had licenses to conduct public exhibitions. The Hong Kong Alliance of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China said it wanted to protect staff and visitors while the group sought legal advice.

Public memorials have long been banned on the mainland. Relatives of people who were killed in the crackdown often are detained or harassed by authorities ahead of the anniversary.

The group, which has organized candlelight vigils in Hong Kong in past years that attracted thousands of people, said the museum received more than 550 visitors since it opened Sunday.
Felton said something that is not in play is the construction of a new criminal justice center, as some longtime county officials have lobbied for.

The visiting courtroom in the annex could be used, and existing courtrooms possibly could be used when current judges are not using them, he said.

While commissioners begin to accept applications for County Court-at-Law No. 3, at least three candidates have said they are interested in the appointment, including retired state district judge Ralph Strother and Waco attorneys Will Hutson and Ryan Luna.

Strother, 77, retired in January after serving 22 years as 19th State District Court judge in McLennan County. He was forced out of office by state-mandated age limitations. However, there are no such age limits for county positions, and Strother has said he would like to continue to serve.

Hutson, 54, also serves as municipal judge in Crawford and associate municipal judge in Hewitt. He is a former registered nurse who might be better known as a YouTube sensation for his songs with his law partner, Chris Harris. Their original songs offer light-hearted legal advice in two-part harmony, such as Dont Eat your Weed, Please Shut Up and Miranda.
A remarkable consensus has emerged in the last few weeks: Its no longer crazy to think that the COVID-19 pandemic was the result of a lab leak in Wuhan, China.

Just to set the stage, the lab-leak theory isnt that China deliberately unleashed the virus as some sort of biological attack. If that were the plan, it seems unlikely that Chinese leaders would deploy this bioweapon on their own people first.

No, the theory is that this was some sort of accident  quite likely the deadliest and most costly accident in all of human history  and that the Chinese government covered it up. While not as villainous as a deliberate release, that would nevertheless be a monumental outrage because it would mean precious time was squandered that might have been better spent containing the outbreak before it became a pandemic. The death toll as of now is at least 3.5 million worldwide and roughly 600,000 in the U.S.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the lab-leak theory was dismissed by most of the media, public health officials (at home and abroad) and virtually the entire Democratic Party as a dangerous and debunked conspiracy theory.

Media groupthink
As tempting as it is to focus on stubborn or ignorant individuals, the real problem is twofold. First, we have a health care system that fails to engender trust. Second, the frenzied circumstances of the pandemic have led many to the unfortunate (and wrong) conclusion that listening to people is a luxury they cant afford.

Another way is possible. We have an opportunity to design solutions that meet people where they are. The solutions that are working are the ones that recognize the disparities that exist and innovate ways to break down those barriers. Mobile vaccination sites, outreach through local churches and other grassroots, community-based efforts are among the most effective ways we have seen of helping people overcome their issues of access and trust.

Mount Pleasant in the northeastern part of our state near Texarkana illustrates what we can do once we make mobilizing community resources the main focus. Residents of this town of 16,000 were not the most receptive to vaccination  at more than 40% Hispanic, with many people undocumented, fear and mistrust of government was a barrier to vaccine acceptance.
The most frequently booked international destinations on Hopper are cities in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean already open to tourists. But the day after Iceland announced it would open to all vaccinated tourists in March, searches for flights from the U.S. to the country jumped 93%, and searches for European countries have been trending higher since late April, according to Hopper.

United Airlines said searches for flights to Europe were up 19% the day after reports first surfaced in April that Europe would soon reopen. The airline is starting new flights between New York and Dubrovnik, Croatia, a week earlier than expected and adding a fourth weekly flight. The Croatia flights will start July 1, the same day as two other recently announced flights from Chicago to Reykjavik, Iceland, and Washington, D.C., to Athens, Greece. United also said it will resume service to Barcelona and Madrid and add additional flights to Italy in July.

American Airlines said last month it expects to fly about 80% of its 2019 international capacity this summer and will have more seats available to destinations like Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still advises people to avoid travel until fully vaccinated and says even fully vaccinated people should monitor the spread of new variants and global impact of COVID-19.
Chief Public Defender Aaron Hawbaker said he had booked a May 19 visit with Lang and defense investigators in the deposition room. But when the attorneys arrived, Lang was escorted in by two deputies who refused to leave.

Hawbaker said the barrier-free and confidential access to his client is needed for the defense team to build a rapport with Lang, freely discuss issues in the case and review photos, videos and other evidence.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Confidential and barrier-free contact with Mr. Lang is essential in developing the attorney-client relationship that is a predicate to effective representation, Hawbaker wrote in a motion to the court last week.

He is asking the court to order the sheriff to allow confidential access to Lang in the deposition room or for the court to dismiss the case.

A Wednesday hearing has been scheduled.

Black Hawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson said the jails policy doesnt allow people charged with forcible felonies to be alone with visitors for safety reasons. He said the defense team can use rooms with the glass barriers.
WATERLOO  A Waterloo man has been arrested for allegedly using an ad in The Courier to harass a KWWL news anchor.

Waterloo police arrested Steve Wayne Wilcox, 67, of 216 Brookeridge Drive, on Friday for one count of third-degree harassment, a misdemeanor, in connection with a legal advertisement that ran in the May 27 issue of the newspaper.

He was later released from jail.

According to court records, this isnt the first time Wilcox has been arrested for harassing TV anchor Olivia Schmitt.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

In December, police were called when Wilcox allegedly sent Facebook messages, mail and packages to Schmitt at KWWL. Some of the messages talked about being unable to find her personal phone number. Officers told Wilcox to quit contacting her, and he was arrested when he allegedly continued.

A trial date was set for November.

Then last week, Wilcox allegedly took out a legal ad in The Courier seeking witnesses who might have seen him and the anchor talking live on the air in December. The ad mentioned the arrest and the upcoming trial.

The whole thing was a hoax, the ad stated.
Herrera, 53, has been provost and vice president for academic affairs at the private Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., since 2017. Over the previous two decades, though, his career was at public institutions.

He was excited about seeking the job at UNI to return to a public university and the Midwest.

UNI is a great institution for the state that Herrera first became familiar with a decade ago during the 17 years he worked for what is now Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo. At the time, he was chairman of Truman States biology department and served as an external reviewer of the same department at UNI, interacting with the dean.

I remember thinking as I wrote up the reviews that this is a great school, he said. I still think of that today.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

He noted that the two universities have a friendly rivalry about how they are typically ranked on the U.S. News Best Colleges list. Last year, they were the top two regional universities in the Midwest, with Northern Iowa being second.

Herrera will be moving to the Cedar Valley with his family. He and his wife, Becky, have two sons, Lincoln, 20, and Samuel, 11, and a daughter, Cielo, 17.
WATERLOO  Electric scooters rentals are set to hit the streets of Waterloo next week thanks in part to City Council members tweaking the citys vehicle and traffic ordinances.

On Tuesday, the council approved the changes so Bird, the California-based company that is bringing a fleet of the E-scooters, can launch its program in time for the My Waterloo Days festival and to coincide with the citys Spark event.

Our hope is to launch next Tuesday, June, 8, immediately following the citys Spark event, said Jessica Rucker, executive director with Main Street Waterloo.

The ordinances passed Tuesday include rules to create a license of operators of shared mobility devices  setting fees, insurance requirements and customer service standards  as wells as adding electric scooters into the citys existing bicycle ordinance.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Also passed was a resolution setting zones where shared mobility devices can be used. It covers the downtown area and just beyond  roughly west to the John Deere Foundry/TechWorks area, the Conger Street Bridge and the tip of Sans Souci Island, north to Franklin Street, east to a few blocks beyond the 18th Street Bridge and south a few blocks past the U.S. Highway 218 overpass.
After Carr spoke to the Secretary of States Office, she told the group she needed to consult with the Floyd County Attorneys Office. In the meantime she put giant Xes in yellow highlighter on pages that didnt contain the petition language, as coalition members talked about stapling or taping pages together.

Carr told the group, and attorney Byrne, who was listening by speaker phone, the Secretary of States Office said the same part of Iowa code that governs petitions to nominate an individual for elected office  Chapter 45  applies to petitions for special elections. That chapter indicates every page of the petition containing signatures must also carry specific language indicating the candidates name, office sought, name and date of the election, that all who signed are eligible voters and that the candidate resides in the appropriate district.

Byrne disagreed, arguing petitions for special elections related to county supervisor districts are covered by Chapter 331.207 in Iowa Code. It makes no mention of whether the ballot question needs to be on every page of the petition.

Byrne threatened a court battle. No final decision was made, but both Byrne and Carr agreed to speak again after consulting with the county attorney.
DES MOINES  A correctional officer was assaulted by an inmate Wednesday at the Anamosa State Penitentiary, the scene of a deadly attack earlier this year.

The Iowa Department of Corrections said an inmate, secured in restraints, was being supervised by the officer during a virtual disciplinary hearing with an administrative law judge.

About 9:09 a.m., the inmate became upset and began acting out in a violent manner. The officer tried to restrain him and another officer arrived to assist.

The assisting officer suffered an injury to his arm and was taken to the Anamosa hospital, where doctors determined he had a soft-tissue injury. The other officer, also examined at the hospital, was not injured, nor was the prisoner, corrections officials said.

Wednesdays assault came nearly two months after two inmates attempting to escape from the same prison used hammers to bludgeon to death nurse Lorena Schulte and Corrections Officer Robert McFarland, authorities say.

The March 23 deaths have prompted multiple investigations and brought sharp criticism from the union representing workers in Iowa penitentiaries that the state has allowed staffing levels to dip to dangerous levels.
Authorities said the children fired at the deputies four separate times over the next 35 minutes. At one point, Chitwood said, an officer went close enough to the home to toss a cellphone inside to try to talk to them.

"They were traversing the length of that house and opening fire on deputies from different angles," Chitwood said. "They were out on the pool deck, they shot from the bedroom window, they shot from the garage door. This is like Bonnie and Clyde at 12 years old and 14 years of age."

The girl eventually came out of the garage with the shotgun and pointed it at deputies. They repeatedly asked her to drop the weapon, Chitwood said. She walked back into the garage.

"She comes back a second time and that's when deputies open fire and she takes multiple rounds," Chitwood said.

As the deputies provided medical aid to the girl, the boy, who was armed with the AK-47, surrendered, the release said.

"Deputies did everything they could tonight to de-escalate, and they almost lost their lives to a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old," the sheriff said. "If it wasn't for their training and their supervision Somebody would have ended up dead."
Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who as a state assemblywoman authored the state legislation creating the task force, noted the solemnity of the occasion as well as the opportunity to right an historic wrong that continues today, in the form of large racial disparities in wealth, health and education. African Americans make up just 6% of Californias population yet were 30% of an estimated 250,000 people experiencing homelessness who sought help in 2020.

Your task is to determine the depth of the harm, and the ways in which we are to repair that harm, said Weber, whose parents were sharecroppers forced to leave the South.

Critics have said that California did not have slaves as in other states and should not have to study reparations or pay for it. But Weber said the state is an economic powerhouse that can point the way for a federal government that has been unable to address the issue. It would not replace any reparations agreed to by the federal government.

Members of the task force pointed out that Black Americans have heard all their lives that they need to improve themselves, yet the truth is that theyve been held back by outright racism and discriminatory laws that prevented them from getting conventional bank loans and purchasing homes. Their neighborhoods in San Francisco and Los Angeles were razed in the name of development.
In bringing the federal charges, authorities pointed to the dual sovereignty doctrine, which allows state and federal officials to prosecute the same defendant for the same actions without infringing on double jeopardy protections, said law professors at the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky.

Baker's pardon was among hundreds Bevin issued in the time between his electoral defeat in November 2019 and his final day in office a month later. It drew widespread attention after the Courier Journal reported that Bakers family held a fundraiser at their home for Bevin in 2018 and that another GOP donor who gave thousands to Bevin urged the former governor to pardon Baker.

Bevin wrote in his pardoning order that Bakers drug addictions led him to fall in with the wrong people and that the evidence against Baker was sketchy at best.

After the pardon, Baker released a statement declaring his innocence and defending Bevin's decision to grant him clemency.

I did not kill Donald Mills and my family did not pay for my release, he said.

The Kentucky Court of Appeals reviewed Bakers case and ruled that there was overwhelming evidence to convict him.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Women and girls from Oklahoma and Texas had 566 abortions in Kansas in 2020, up from 110 in 2019. The additional 456 abortions were the bulk of the total increase in abortions in Kansas.

The Kansas health department said 3,901 abortions, or nearly 52%, were for patients from outside the state. The last time the department had reported that more abortions were performed on patients from outside Kansas than on patients from Kansas was 1973, the same year that the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide.

Gov. Kelly owns this increase, said Jeanne Gawdun, senior lobbyist for Kansans for Life, the states most politically influential anti-abortion group. We can now consider her the abortion-industry governor.

The report on abortions, release late last week, came as both sides prepared for an August 2022 statewide vote on a proposed anti-abortion amendment. The measure would overturn a 2019 decision by the Kansas Supreme Court declaring access to abortion a fundamental right under the Kansas Constitution.
There were some signs Republicans might back off some of the new, strict measures. Republican state Rep. Travis Clardy, one of the negotiators on the final version of the Texas bill, told NPR on Tuesday that banning early Sunday morning voting was essentially a typo -- that instead of starting voting no earlier than 1 p.m., the bill was supposed to say 11 a.m.

Thats one of the things I look forward to with fixing the most. Call it a scriveners error, whatever you want to, Clardy told NPR.

But the Senate author of the bill, Republican Bryan Hughes, made no mention of such a mistake over the weekend while defending the new Sunday limits. Election workers want to go to church, too, Hughes said.

It the new bill is not acceptable to Democrats  and they were to walk out again  Republicans don't have to stand pat. State troopers could be mobilized to try to forcibly bring lawmakers back to the House, as was the case in 2003, when Texas Democrats fled to Oklahoma and New Mexico to try and block new voting maps.
The whole world has placed MaKhia on trial based on this one incident where they see her swinging a knife, the family's attorney Michelle Martin said in late April. But why arent we looking further and figuring out who were those girls? How did they get there? How did this develop so quickly?

What trauma was not being addressed within the home?" she added. "I mean so many questions that have to be answered.

Days after Bryant's shooting, Franklin County Children Services said it had an obligation to make changes.

We are committed to ensuring that our programming and services most appropriately address the needs and concerns of those we serve, the agency said.

Requests for comment were sent to HHS, Franklin County Children Services and the state.

But the lawmakers who penned the letter, as well as child welfare advocates, say the foster care system in Ohio  and nationally  is broken, especially when it comes to the treatment of Black children.
With Washington deadlocked, much of the debate over abortion policy would move to the states. Some states would move to ban nearly all abortions, others to ban most of them, still others to ban them after the first trimester. Pro-lifers would not win all of these fights. But since the courts decisions in Roe and other cases have effectively required that abortion be legal at any stage of pregnancy, they will have plenty of room to make progress.

When conservative states have acted on legislation about controversial social issues in recent years, they have often faced a buzz saw of negative press and corporate pressure. Think of Indianas attempt to protect religious freedom in 2015, which ended with the states then-governor Mike Pence backing down. In the aftermath of a decision overturning Roe, however, several states would be moving against abortion, with support from local voters. No state would have to stand alone against a national campaign of intimidation.

All of these features of a possible post-Roe landscape  the complexity of public opinion, the closely divided national government, the dynamics of federalism  would tend to defuse any sense that the Supreme Court had dropped a bomb. They would also work against complacency on the part of pro-life citizens, who have usually been more likely to vote based on their views on abortion than their opponents have.
REI Co-op, the specialty outdoor retailer with 15 locations in Northern California and Reno, is launching Dirt, Sweat & Beers, a 5K/10K run and do-it-yourself cleanup series featuring eight events from June through November.

Why? So you can feel good and do good.

It's no surprise REI created an event series that not only gets people outside to enjoy local parks but also encourages participants to care and give back to these outdoor spaces that have been an outlet for many of us this past year. REI is a co-op that gives 70 percent of its profits back to local communities, employees, and members. In 2021 alone, REI has already given nearly $300,000 in grants to Bay Area and Sierra local nonprofit groups and recreation areas.

So let's dive into these event details.



Each Dirt, Sweat & Beers event is open for 60 days and features both a 5K and 10K open course as well as a DIY cleanup. Participants can run, walk, hike or plog the courses on their own schedule within the 60-day event period. Runners can also run the course as many times as they'd like within the event duration to get their best time. Results are tracked on a leaderboard, and runners' fastest time will be counted. Before, during, or after completing the course, participants are encouraged to pick up trash along the trail or surrounding area to care for the lands where we recreate.

How exactly does an open course work?

REI is working with the Bay Area's Trail Portal, which has created a new concept for racing through an "open course," a designed GPS course at a set location that allows runners to complete courses on their own schedule while still competing against other runners. All Dirt, Sweat & Beers courses are powered through the RunGo App and course access is provided to participants once they register. Just like a live race, runners' times are validated, and names are populated onto the RunGo App's leaderboard.

Where you can expect to run.

From June through November, REI will host eight Dirt, Sweat & Beers events that span the Bay Area, Sacramento, and Truckee. The series will travel to Sanborn County Park (June and July), Mount Sutro (July and August), Sonoma County Parks (August and September), American River Conservancy (August and September), Half Moon Bay State Beach (September and October), Glen Park Greenway (October and November), Sacramento Valley Conservancy (October and November) and Truckee Meadows parks (October and November). The courses will be mostly trails; however, some will feature a mix of trail and road so there's a little something for everyone.

How and when can I register?

Registration is open now for the first four events in the series. The next four events will open for registration on July 1st. Participants can run and clean up all trails or select a few in the series. Three competition categories are available for runners when signing up: women, men, and open gender. Each 5K and 10K course requires separate registration and participants must be 21 and up to participate. Registration ranges from $25 to $50.

The swag and prizesall the goods.



In partnership with event sponsors Sierra Nevada, Salomon, Kuju Coffee and HydraPak, REI is providing multiple run and DIY cleanup kit options at registration to meet the needs of first-time and returning runners. And who could forget the plethora of prizes! There are multiple prizes available for participants to win throughout the entire series. Top time finishers with verified times of each course in the three competition categories will receive gear from REI, Salomon, Sierra Nevada and Hydrapak. At the end of the series, one overall winner for each category, who completed the most verified 5K and/or 10K courses will receive a Dirt, Sweat & Beers package with swag, gift cards and head to toe gear from REI and sponsors. And knowing REI, there will probably be more surprises along the way.

The first event will open at Sanborn County Park in June. You in? Cheers, and see you out on the trails!

// Dirt, Sweat & Beers registration for the first four events is now live. Find the full calendar and register at reidirtsweatandbeers.splashthat.com.
Plus, the Patchwork Show goes on in Santa Rosa this weekend, and new website Consciously curates the best sustainable brands for your ethical shopping pleasure

Harwell Godfrey's latest charity pendant is bursting with Pride!

The back of Harwell Godfrey's Rainbow Heart Talisman.

(Courtesy of Harwell Godfrey)

The third time's most definitely the charm when it comes to designer Lauren Harwell Godfrey's new Rainbow Heart Talisman. Released just in time to kick off Pride Month, 100 percent of the profits of the beautiful piecedesigned as a healing talismango to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Handcrafted from pink, orange, yellow and blue sapphires, green tsavorite, amethyst, and diamonds and set in 18-karat yellow gold, the detachable pendant joins three older siblings created for charitable causes: the Black Onyx Heart for NAACP, a Malachite Heart for World Central Kitchen, and Chalcedony Heart for Futures Without Violence.

"I personally chose HRC as the organization whose good work I want to support with the proceeds from this heart," says Godfrey. "I believe in equality for all and until the LGBTQ+ community is treated justly under the law, their human rights and freedom are in jeopardy. I created an heirloom-quality version of the iconic rainbow so that we can visibly show our support everydayfor Pride and beyond."

Even if you can't splurge on the $3,500 beauty, you can appreciate her brilliance and absorb her message.

// The pendant is available exclusively at harwellgodfrey.com.
After a year of in-person event cancellations, what will this year's Pride event look like?

With mass vaccinations underway and new COVID-19 infections falling, states are opening and easing up on their pandemic policies. While the idea of being able to return to "normal" may be exciting to some, many are also coming out of this somewhat traumatized by the impact on our communities wondering if going back to normal is even what we want.

San Francisco Pride was considered one of the largest Pride events in the country, attracting millions to the beautiful City by the Bay. SF historically was considered a beacon of light for many LGBTQIA+ people, but also seen as an iconic and world destination for travelers, the curious, voyeurs, foodies, and those looking to freely express themselves. As the event itself grew in population and popularity, the city's microcosm of diverse communitiessuch as the tech communityalso grew. This would lead to certain criticisms from community members that the celebration had outgrown its own LGBTQIA+ community. Perhaps the sudden and abrupt interruption of the pandemic was the pause button we needed to think deeply about what Pride means to usand what it should be 51 years after it began as a protest.

During the pandemic, our communities came together and mobilized. Drag queens started a nightlife fund to save our bars, nightclubs, entertainers, and artists. Leaders fought for funds directly for the LGBTQIA+ community. Friends and neighbors donated food, masks, and health-care supplies. Community members got on Zoom every day for constant connection. We forged ahead regardless of a pandemic.

Each year, members of the public select the SF Pride Community Grand Marshals, and this year they have chosen sisters Melonie Green and Melorra Green, co-executive directors of the African American Art & Culture Complex (AAACC), in SF.

Sisters Melonie Green (left) and Melorra Green, 2021 SF Pride Community Grand Marshals. (Photo by Annie Sprinkle)

Melonie tells SF/Arts that the pandemic proved to be a time of connection and service.

"To be honest, our core motivation is driven by the commitment of team members, our vision, and knowing that if we keep moving we'll always find a way. Being a stand for love, community, and connection has been key as we figure out how to move forward."

"We literally went to work when things shut down," Melorra adds. "We advocated for our funding to go to a general operating fund and we took a percentage of that to pay our artists to learn, to cope, to heal, to vibe and all of that. It's one of my proudest accomplishments. We built an open-air gallery in our parking lot. We commissioned 30 Black creators to share anything in a mural: the pandemic, mental health and wellness, grief, healing, graduationanything; even painting the Black Lives Matter mural. We just kept going to work. If it was going to bring in sustainability, then that's what we were going to do. It empowered us to have conversations with other cultural centers and other organizations to do the same."



Now, as we approach a Pride season with more opportunities for in-person gathering and innovations, perhaps Pride 2021 will shift in focus to highlight the voices of our LGBTQIA+ people and prioritize the needs of our local communities.

This year, SF Pride's main event is in partnership with Frameline, the SF International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, and the SF Giants, who are providing two movie nights at Oracle Park. The world's longestrunning and largest showcase of queer cinema takes place June 1027 and is expected to be the most attended and longest festival in Frameline's history. In addition to Oracle Park nights, this year's offerings also include a mix of inperson and virtual offerings for the duration of the festival.

Frameline's new director of programming, Allegra Madsen, says that finding a space big enough for so people can be together safely and have a good time has been a real blessing.

"We get to recognize a moment of transition and we get to do that with community. This moment to be together as a local SF Bay Areafocused queer community is something special that we might not get again. It's a moment of healing for us."

'In the Heights' will screen at Oracle Park on June 11th. (Courtesy of Frameline)

There will also be a special Juneteenth event with the African American Art and Culture Complex, celebrating the intersection of Black history and LGBTQIA+ culture.



We're here at this moment to heal, the hope being we take the ongoing fight for equality in our community to a level of actual change, especially around racial injustice and issues affecting our LGBTQIA+ communities.

Our 2021 Community Grand Marshalls reflect that hope.

"When we're celebrating without a real victory, we question what we're celebrating," says Melonie Green. "But collectively, what have we done that we can celebrate once a year? Did we take care of our queer elders? If so, then yes, let's celebrate! Are young people safer in the streets? If so, then yes, let's celebrate!"

"Until our actions change, the whole conversation about the reset button means nothing," adds Melorra Green. "The universe brought me and Melonie to the table, because if there's one thing we do, we show up. We don't mind the uncomfortable conversations, we don't mind being wrong. We don't mind failing. We just want to love. We want to provide opportunities. We want people to be seen. I think we are the right people to figure it out. Are you ready? Are you ready for us?"

In the five decades since Pride marches, protests and parades first broke out on the nation's streets, maybe parts of Pride celebrations had become more mainstream. But one thing is certain: nothing has changed about the fact that we are activists and advocates in our community who are fighting for liberation by taking care of our communities, especially BIPOC liberation. As Melonie and Melorra Green ask, who are you in the "we?" Perhaps this is the moment for us all to come together in the most meaningful ways possible.

Happy Pride!

// For a full list of Pride month events, visit sfpride.org.

This article was written by Michelle Meow for SF/Arts Monthly. Meow is the producer and host of "The Michelle Meow Show" and the former president of San Francisco Pride.
Nationwide, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of more than 180,000 residents and staff of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. There are roughly 550,000 CNAs working in nursing homes across the United States, providing over 90 percent of the direct patient care, according to the National Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA).

An informal survey of CNAs conducted late last year, before the vaccine rolled out, showed 72 percent were skeptical about getting vaccinated, says Lori Porter, CEO of the NAHCA. But more recent reports show a growing acceptance. A survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation and The Washington Post, for instance, showed that by early March, half of health care workers in nursing homes or assisted living facilities had received a COVID-19 vaccination.

But there's still a long way to go to vaccinate the rest, leaving long-term care facility residents vulnerable in the meantime. A March outbreak at a Kentucky nursing home killed three residents, including one who was vaccinated, and was traced to an unvaccinated employee. Now, a growing number of facilities have started requiring workers to get vaccinated; those who don't face termination.

'I want to protect them'

As a woman of color and an immigrant, Ramos can relate to her coworkers fears of being used for experimentation. The pace of the vaccine's development made her nervous, too. Politics bleeding into science and mixed messages from top officials stoked her doubts. And the misinformation that spread online, no matter how outlandish  The vaccine will affect your DNA! she laughingly recalls  didn't help.

What did help was her hunger to get informed. She paid attention to the news and tuned in to the Netflix docuseries Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak. She blocked out the noise swirling on social media and, instead, listened to experts like Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. She realized the battle against COVID-19 began long before she heard about it and before it ravaged Greenville Center.

Seventy-six residents in the 125-bed facility contracted the virus, and 24 died in the span of about six weeks last spring, says Lori Pendleton, the nursing home's executive director. More than 30 employees also tested positive, including Ramos  who was asymptomatic  and one CNA died.

"It was traumatizing, something that we never lived through before, says Ramos, who's worked in the field for more than a decade. We're used to our residents passing away. But the way they died  so many of them, and so many were sick at the same time  you could not keep up with it. It was horrifying."

She would have liked to have held the hands of those who were dying for a little longer, but there was too much to do. The nursing home was short-staffed before COVID hit. The pandemic made matters worse, as employees tested positive and older staff members with preexisting conditions retired early to protect themselves, Ramos says. Her usual 32-hours-a-week schedule morphed into 16-hour days, up to seven days a week. Whenever she thought she couldn't take it anymore, she stepped outside to scream or cry. Then she'd think about the residents who never needed her more.

The experience left them all with a form of PTSD, Ramos believes. She doesn't think they'll ever get back to what she calls normal normal. But one key to moving forward, she now says, is the vaccination.

"I don't want to be the reason why our residents get infected or my family gets infected, says Ramos, who's married and has a 15-year-old son from a previous relationship and a 14-year-old stepdaughter. I want to protect them.

Nursing home vaccination numbers creep up

By the time the vaccine arrived at Greenville Center in January, Ramos was ready. Many of her coworkers opted out, adding to their list of concerns a mounting fear of side effects. I'll be the guinea pig for y'all, she told them.

Ramos has been a union delegate for three years with the Service Employees International Union District 1199 New England. The union tapped her to speak with coworkers individually about the vaccine's safety while sharing her own experiences. She also testified in March before the Senate Finance Committee during a virtual hearing on the impacts of COVID-19 in nursing homes, during which she spoke about a lack of vaccine education for CNAs.

"We all have different backgrounds. We all speak different languages. We come from everywhere, says Ramos, who moved to the U.S. more than 20 years ago from Cape Verde, a former Portuguese colony off the coast of West Africa. So if there's more resources in the community and leaders that they trust, it would be easier for them to get vaccinated, she told lawmakers.

Consistent, clear and accurate messaging is key, whether from religious leaders, political officials, employers or others, she says. So far, Ramos has helped convince 10 coworkers to get their shots and encouraged at least five family members to get inoculated. And she's become the vaccination point person for friends  and friends of friends  of her parents, having helped to register about 20 people for vaccine appointments.

It's local efforts like these that are helping boost the national vaccination rate.

"Vaccine confidence among CNAs has grown since our initial survey, says the NAHCA's Porter, thanks to enhanced education efforts by her group, other organizations and the passage of time. There's been a lot of folks that waited to see [what would happen with the vaccine], and no one grew a third arm.

The vaccination numbers are creeping up at Greenville Center. At least 68 percent of staff members are now fully vaccinated, with more heading that way with one shot to go, says Greenville's executive director Pendleton.

"Not only are they helping themselves and their family members, but they are helping all of our residents stay safe, she says. This is very encouraging to all the family members who rely on us to care for their loved ones. For that, I am truly grateful.

If Ramos has her way, those vaccination numbers will keep going up, one conversation at a time.

Jessica Ravitz is a contributing writer who covers nursing homes and human-interest stories. She previously wrote for CNN Digital and The Salt Lake Tribune, and her work has also appeared in Smithsonian magazine, The Washington Post and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
evgenyatamanenko/Getty Images

En espanol | For parents, the months before your high school graduate leaves home for their college move-in may be filled with every emotion, from pride and excitement to worry and confusion about your child's changing moods.

While you may want to spend as much time as possible with your soon-to-be college student before he or she leaves, your child may be putting as much space between the two of you as possible, spending fewer hours at home and behaving badly when there.

Like the guides to the ages and stages of baby and toddler behavior, written about in bestsellers What to Expect When You're Expecting and What to Expect: The Toddler Years, an emerging adult's pre-college conduct also can be predictable, experts say.

These behaviors are among the ones you can expect from your young adult in the months before college.

Increased anxiety or stress

As young adults prepare for the transition, it's normal for them to show signs of stress or anxiety, says Stephanie Pinder-Amaker.

"There's a lot of uncertainty as children are preparing to move from the structure and support that they know at home to many things that are unknown, says Pinder-Amaker, director of the College Mental Health Program at Harvard's McLean Hospital. How your child historically responds to stress is normal; it's the unusual responses to stress you should look out for, she says.

Nerves can fray when young adults face separation, says Amanda Fludd, a licensed clinical social worker and executive director of Kensho Psychotherapy Services in New York. As they go from a supportive home environment to navigating academic and social pressures firsthand, Fludd says, young adults can worry about letting their families down or fear not meeting expectations.

Pinder-Amaker says parents need to be wary of symptoms of depression such as irregular sleep patterns, inability to focus or concentrate, or disinterest in things they love. It's really important to pay attention to what's going on emotionally, Fludd says. As much as we pack them up to leave, and cover the dorm list and what's needed for the syllabus, I think we also have to check-in and make sure they're ready."
OIX offers free tickets to celebrate Juneteenth

In celebration of Juneteenth, the Office of Inclusive Excellence is offering free tickets for UB faculty, staff and students to visit two institutions that explore the history of Black leadership, resistance and resilience in Buffalo and Western New York.

The tickets are good for a free visit to either the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor or the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center anytime during the month of June 2021. Both can be visited in person, and Michigan Street also offers a virtual tour option.

Those interested in obtaining tickets can email vpix@buffalo.edu and specify the site they would like to visit and the number of tickets requested. There is a limit of two tickets per person.

In addition, many local organizations will be holding Juneteenth celebrations on June 19. The Juneteenth Festival will hold a virtual parade. The Michigan Street Baptist Church and the Nash House will be open and admission is free. The FreeTHEM Walk will hold several events. Consult the organizations websites for details.


Nangwarry Update

Melbourne, June 2, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Vintage Energy Limited ( ASX:VEN ) provides an update on the Nangwarry CO2 field in the onshore Otway Basin.- Commercial flow rates and mid to high case volumes confirmed by production test- Resource estimate revision underway- PRL 249 (ex PEL 155): Retention licence granted over Nangwarry discoveryNangwarry-1 was perforated across the Top Pretty Hill Formation and produced gas at higher than anticipated flow rates of 10.5-10.8 million standard cubic feet per day ("MMscfd") through a 48/64" choke at a flowing wellhead pressure of 1,415 psi over a 36-hour period. This flow was measured through a 3" orifice plate and choked back to analyse the well over this extended flow period with stable conditions. The well is very productive, with this flow rate well in excess of previous commercial flow rates in the region.The current gross recoverable estimates for Nangwarry-1 carbon dioxide are: Low of 7.8 Bcf (3.9 Bcf net), Best of 25.1 Bcf (12.6 Bcf net), High of 82.1 Bcf (41.1 Bcf net) (refer ASX release dated 31 August 2020). These estimates were certified by ERC Equipoise (ERCE).ERCE's estimates were made prior to the production test, using a gas column of 98 metres, but recognising that this column could be greater. The Joint Venture is extremely pleased that the latest testing confirmed a gas column of at least 120 metres, which should result in increased recoverable estimates. This update is in progress, with data already provided to ERCE.Following analysis of the main flow test data, and pressure build-up data after an extended shut in of the flow, Vintage has interpreted that there was no significant pressure drop in the reservoir as a result of the flow. As the flow test had negligible impact on the reservoir pressure, this indicates a sizeable volume of CO2 is present in the field. Based on this interpretation of the data, and the volume of gas produced during the test, it is considered that Nangwarry-1 has accessed a volume of CO2 greater than the low estimate (detailed above) and falls in the mid or higher end of the pre-test volumetric estimates. This provides the high level of confidence needed to commence planning for development of this resource.Since the successful drilling and testing of Nangwarry-1, the Department of Energy and Mining approved an application for a retention licence over the Nangwarry CO2 discovery, prior to expiry of PEL 155 on 5 May 2021. As a result, the Joint Venture retains a significant amount of land around the Nangwarry Field while it establishes a case for commercial development (see diagram* below for new PRL 249 location).*To view figures, please visit:About Vintage Energy Ltd

Vintage Energy Ltd (ASX:VEN) has been established to acquire, explore and develop energy assets principally within, but not limited to, Australia, to take advantage of a generally favourable energy pricing outlook.


to Commence 2021 Field Season

Sydney, June 2, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Vango Mining Limited ( ASX:VAN ) is pleased to announce details of its 2021 field season at the Company's flagship Marymia Gold Project (Marymia, the Project) in the Mid-West region of Western Australia (Figure 1*).Vango is focused on exploring and developing the Marymia Project, and its near-term objective is to expand the Project's high-grade resource base to support its plans to become a significant gold mining and production company.The Company plans to undertake an extensive Resource expansion drilling campaign in 2021, which will focus on 11 priority open-pit targets, not currently part of the Marymia JORC 2012 resource base. The Company plans to drill a minimum of 15,000 metres in the 2021 field season, and drilling is expected to commence next month.Drilling will be designed to add significant, near-surface resources amenable to open pit mining as part of any future mining operation at the Marymia Project.Details of 2021 Drilling Campaign - To define open-pit ResourcesVango plans to complete a minimum of 15,000 metres of reverse circulation (RC) drilling in up to four phases of drilling in its 2021 field season (subject to results).Drilling will target 11 priority open-pits, and is specifically designed to deliver a substantial (Indicated and Inferred) resource increase to the existing Marymia resource base. It will also enhance the understanding of the mineralised zones within the targeted open pits for the benefit of Vango's mine planning, and for assessing funding requirements for the Company's proposed stand-alone mining operation.This campaign is also designed to deliver 'critical mass' to increase the mine life of a proposed future mining operation from Marymia's resource base, specifically targeting an increase in total ounces to ensure that mill capacity of any future mining operation is maximised over the Project's total mine life.The drilling is planned to be conducted on a nominal 20m by 40m drill spacing, which will give appropriate coverage of mineralised zones to determine the tenor of the mineralisation at depth and facilitate the calculation of Indicated and Inferred resources. Drilling is planned to a nominal depth of 160 metres, angled to approximately 60deg, testing to 120 metres vertical below surface.The 11 open pit targets have been rated and ranked in order of priority, based on historic gold inventory and a review of historic drilling, and the proposed drillholes at each target have been designed.The 11 open pits to be targeted are; Apollo, Exocet, Ibis, Kookaburra, Parrot, Pigeon, Prickleys, Redfin, Rosella, Skyhawk and Speckled are shown on Figure 1*. The Skyhawk, Parrot and Apollo open pits have been assessed as the highest priority targets, and the first phase of drilling is planned to commence at these targets.The drilling has been designed with the flexibility to focus on specific targets dependent on results. Similarly, the progression of the drilling campaign through all four phases of planned drilling will also be dictated by results of the previous phases of drilling.Trident-Marwest CorridorDrilling will also be undertaken at the north-eastern section of the Trident Deposit, the 'Crown Jewels' of the Marymia Project, in the 2021 drilling campaign.This targeted drilling will be designed to identify further-high grade extensions of the area between the north-eastern sector of Trident and the southern extent of the Marwest target.Background to 2021 Field SeasonVango completed an extensive 20,000 metre reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling drill campaign in 2020, and all results from this campaign have been released to the market. The program focused on priority targets at the Trident gold corridor and PHB gold corridor at Marymia.Vango has compiled all results from the 2020 drilling campaign into the Marymia Project's resource model, and has completed an extensive geological review and modelling of the Marymia Project. The results of this work have formed the basis of Vango's 2021 field season, focusing on open-pit targets designed to add significant, near-surface resources to the existing Marymia JORC resource base.The Company plans to release an updated and expanded JORC 2012 resource for the Marymia Project, including results from the 2020 and 2021 drilling campaigns, in the second half of calendar 2021.The Marymia Project's current JORC 2012 resource is 10.38Mt @ 3.0 g/t Au for 1.02Moz Gold, announced on 20 May 2020.Ned's Creek Joint Venture with Lodestar MineralsVango, in conjunction with its Farm-in Joint Venture partner Lodestar Minerals ( ASX:LSR ), has commenced an aero magnetic survey and ground magnetic survey to close existing gaps in Lodestar's data base. Upon completion of the surveys, Vango plans to finalise drilling plans for the Ned's Creek and Contessa targets at the JV project area, for the next phase of drilling which is expected to commence next month.*To view tables and figures, please visit:About Vango Mining Ltd

Vango Mining Limited (ASX:VAN) is an exploration mining company with ambitions of becoming a high-grade WA gold miner by developing the 100% owned Marymia Gold Project (Marymia) located in the mid-west region of Western Australia, consisting of 45 granted mining leases over 300km2.

Marymia has an established high-grade resource of 1Moz @ 3 g/t Au, underpinned by Trident - 410koz @ 8 g/t Au, with immediate extensions open at depth/along strike.
Videos

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.
Instagram Celebrity

As the United States starts to celebrate Pride Month on June 1, the 'Ah Ah Ah' rapper takes to her social media accounts to reveal her sexual orientation to her online devotees.

Jun 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - DreamDoll is coming out on the very first day of Pride Month. As the United States starts to celebrate Pride Month on June 1, the rapper took to her social media accounts to reveal her sexual orientation to her online devotees.

The "Different" spitter shared on Instagram a slew of racy pictures featuring her naked while on top of a white fake horse. The horse, however, had been painted in rainbow colors to match the Pride Month. "Happy Pride Month," the rapper wrote alongside rainbow emojis, before adding, "I'm proud to announce that im Bisexual [double heart emoji]."

Following the coming out, fans and friends offered support in the comment section. Brittany Banks wrote, "top tier." Meanwhile, Dreezy playfully commented, "Sis we knew."

One fan added, "I assumed this already , y'all see how I said 'ASSUMED' you never 'know' someone was gay you just highly assume it until they come out it's on their time not yours !!! YASS to you." Loving the information, another fan also wrote, "Be my girlfriend."

The support apparently doesn't only come from her Instagram followers. Fans on Twitter also swarmed her with love as she gushed in a tweet, "I've been getting so much love and comfort in my dms. I love it here [a heart emoji]."

Back in 2018, DreamDoll discussed about sexual orientation in an interview with DJ Smallz. "I love bad b****es and beautiful women and big butts and beautiful faces," the raptress said at the time. Despite that, she noted, "But for the most part, I can only see myself dating a guy. No, I'm not bisexual, but I like beautiful women, like, you know."
Instagram Celebrity

The 'Rockstar' hitmaker was previously detained by cops after two people were shot in an altercation that allegedly involved his entourage near Ocean Drive.

Jun 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - DaBaby may now breathe a little easier. After being detained by Miami Beach Police Department for questioning in a shooting incident, the "Rockstar" hitmaker has reportedly been released without any charges.

The 29-year-old, whose real name is Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, was released from police custody on Tuesday afternoon, June 1. Confirming the news was his attorney Drew Findling who told TMZ, "Mr. Kirk has been released by the police. No criminal charges have been filed against him."

DaBaby was said to be "one of the many individuals" being held and quizzed following the shooting that took place near the corner of South Beach's Ocean Drive and First street, near Prime 112 Steakhouse just after 11:30 P.M. on Monday. The incident allegedly occurred during an altercation that reportedly involved his entourage.

"DaBaby and his crew had an issue with people right next to them in the car," a source told Page Six. "DaBaby and his crew were traveling in around six SUVs, and either a car pulled up on them and started something or their doors hit each other and they got in a fight. Rumor has it that DaBaby and 10 to 12 members of his entourage have been detained by police."

Offering more details about the shooting was Fox-7 News. An eyewitness told the outlet, "I probably heard like 50 [gunshots] maybe... It was wild. Everybody started shooting."

The incident left two people suffering gunshot wounds. One person was shot in the shoulder while the other in the leg. While one victim has been treated and released from Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, another one remains in the hospital.

Police have yet to unveil the identities of the suspects and the victims. They stated, "Arrest details and subject information will be shared once reports are completed. We are incredibly proud of our officers, detectives, and crime scene investigators for their efforts in this complex investigation."
Instagram Celebrity

In response to Sienna's denial, Jack takes to his Instagram account to share his own statement which read, 'Sexual assault is a serious matter that has real consequences that has real consequences.'

Jun 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - TikTok personality Sienna Mae Gomez has addressed the sexual assault allegations that are leveled at her. On Tuesday, June 1, the 17-year-old social media star's rep issued a statement in which Sienna denied that she had sexually assaulted her friend and "Hype House" co-star Jack Wright.

"Sienna unequivocally denies the charges made by Mason [Rizzo] and amplified by James [Wright], which have since been taken down," the statement read. "She has never sexually assaulted anyone nor have she or Jack ever had sexual relations together. Period."

Sienna's rep went on to share, "Jack is part of her extended family and clearly there are issues causing him pain right now in his personal life. She hopes Jack gets the peace of mind he needs to move forward beyond these challenging times, but she is in no way responsible for these issues and is comfortable in the fact that she has been nothing but a good and loyal friend to Jack since they were young."

Sienna then doubled down on her statement in an Instagram video where she insisted that she and Jack "never had sex." In the video, she explained, "It feels so uncomfortable to have to disclose this part of my life to the internet, especially because I'm a 17-year-old girl."

"For so long I was strung along and mislead by Jack. It's honestly really embarrassing for me because I gave my entire heart and all of my love for nine months so vulnerably on the internet and everyone can go and look at these videos and see how invested I was in our relationship," she added.

Sienna also said that Jack only needed her for a "TikTok kiss" video, adding, "I wasn't important to him." Now that they called it quits, she shared that her love and passion for him was "newly regarded as possessive or desperate. That is so frustrating to me and after everything that I did for him, after all the love that I gave him, I feel so stupid. That's the only way I can explain it." Sienna also shared that she asked Jack to make a video with her to tell fans that they were no longer dating, though she claimed that Jack refused to do so.

Later in the video, Sienna addressed Mason Rizzo, who first made the sexual assault allegations against her. "None of this is true," Sienna insisted. She also shared that she was "surprised" to see Jack's twin brother James Wright backing Mason's statement by saying, "This is why I 'couldn't just let it go and stay out of it.' "

In response to Sienna's denial, Jack took to his Instagram account to share his own statement. "While I love sharing my life with all of you, some parts are deeply personal and I have been hesitant to share for my on emotional and mental wellbeing. But I will say this. Sexual assault is a serious matter that has real consequences that has real consequences," he opened his statement on Tuesday.

"But I will say this. Sexual assault is a serious matter that has real consequences that has real consequences. Mason and James' only intention was to protect me with the truth, and I really value their enormous support through this extremely difficult time," he continued. "I truly encourage my childhood friend Sienna to get the support and help that she needs. I don't want to tear anyone down and only with healing for everyone involved."
Instagram Celebrity

The former 'Friends' star confirms his split from his literary manager fiancee after six months of engagement, following concerns over his appearance in the show's reunion special.

Jun 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - Matthew Perry is seeing no wedding bells anymore. The actor and his fiancee Molly Hurwitz have called it quits after dating for more than two years and six months of engagement. It's the "Friends" alum himself who confirmed the news on Tuesday, June 1.

Offering a brief explanation to the end of his relationship with Molly, the former Chandler Bing depicter said in a statement to PEOPLE, "Sometimes things just don't work out and this is one of them." Remaining friendly, he added, "I wish Molly the best."

Matthew and Molly began dating in 2018 and he decided to proposed to her in November 2020. "I decided to get engaged," he told PEOPLE at the time. He then raved about the literary manager, declaring, "Luckily, I happened to be dating the greatest woman on the face of the planet at this time."

Earlier in the same year, Molly gushed about the actor in a sweet Valentine's Day post. "Second year being my valentine, but his first as an Instagram influencer," she wrote on her Instagram account, seemingly referencing Matthew's then-new Instagram account. "HVD to my favorite."

The couple's breakup news arrives just days after Matthew sparked concerns anew following his appearance in "Friends" reunion special, which premiered on HBO Max on May 27. Fans noticed that he slurred his words, pronouncing an "s" as a "sh."

"Friends" producer Kevin Bright, however, has jumped to the actor's defense, insisting the 51-year-old, who has battled drug and alcohol abuse issues for years, is fine. "I talked to him [Matthew]. It was great seeing him again," Kevin told The Hollywood Reporter.

"What people say is what people say. I don't have any[thing] to say about that, except it was great to see him. And I think he's very funny on the show," he responded to fans' speculation. He then reiterated, "I think he's OK. He seems stronger and better since the last time I saw him, and excited about going forward."
Instagram Music

Having executive produced the late rapper's debut album 'Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon', Fiddy hints some issues behind the scenes with the creative team has led him to his doubt.

Jun 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - Rapper 50 Cent has cast doubt on whether or not he will be involved in Pop Smoke's next posthumous album.

The musician, real name Curtis Jackson, executive produced Smoke's debut album "Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon" - released five months after Smoke was shot and killed in a home invasion in February 2020 - but he told Kris Kaylin he's unsure whether he'll be involved for the next record.

"Steven [Victor] was originally Pop's manager and the label person that he was signed to," he said. "He talked to me about the new record, and I'm not sure if I'll participate with this, that record."

"I just wanted to make sure that his record did what it was supposed to. My interaction with Pop was like he was looking at me like I could tell him the right way to go, and that everything would work based on what I was saying."

The album was a commercial success, debuting at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and giving Pop Smoke his first U.S. number-one hit.

50 went on to hint that some issues behind the scenes with the creative team working on "Shoot for the Stars..." had forced him to make the decision regarding any later posthumous work.

"It's unfortunate that it actually happened. It's like the other side of it - when I'm coming up early on, I'm so connected to the environment that everything in the environment, I'm subjected to the same," he said. "Outside of producing the record and having it perform well, I did all the promotion for that record to have it work. They would have put it out and you'd have to find it out of basic interest."

Los Angeles Police Department Detective Carlos Camacho testified in court last month that the rising star was targeted, by the four defendants charged with murder and robbery, for the jewellery he was wearing in social media posts.

He claimed the youngest of the suspects, a 15-year-old, was the one who snatched Pop's watch - which was later sold for just $2,000 (1,400).
Instagram Celebrity

The 'Jersey Shore' alum, who got engaged to Christian Biscardi in March 2019, adds fuel to their split speculations after changing her YouTube account to her own name.

Jun 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola is apparently back on the single market. Having been engaged to Christian Biscardi for more than two years, the "Jersey Shore" alum sparked breakup rumors with her fiance after they were caught unfollowing each other on Instagram.

The 34-year-old's last photo with her beau dates back to February 2020, in which they were seen locking lips in front of a pink building. The 31-year-old hunk, on the other hand, appeared to have deleted all photos of the reality star from the past two years.

Sammi further fueled the split speculations after she changed her YouTube account "Sam and Christian TV" to her own name Sammi Sweetheart. Though so, she hasn't deleted a December 2020 video entitled "Sammi's Favorite Holiday Traditions", which featured some pictures of her and Christian.

Sammi and Christian got engaged in March 2019 after about two years of dating. Announcing the happy news on Instagram, Sammi treated her fans to a picture of the proposal and wrote, "I'm completely overwhelmed with happiness. Yesterday was the best day of my life! I get to marry my other half, best friend and soulmate. I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you @_biscardi I love you!! #Fiance #MrsBiscardi #Stillcryingtearsofhappiness."

Before being an item with Christian, Sammi was in an on-and-off relationship with former "Jersey Shore" co-star Ronnie Ortiz-Magro. Confirming the split was Ronnie who told Us Weekly in 2014, "Me and Sammi aren't together anymore... We just grew our separate ways. She's still a great person. I love her as a person and I care about her but we went our separate ways. That's it."

In 2017, it was revealed that Sammi was absent from "Jersey Shore Family Vacation" because of Ronnie. "Everyone was invited to come on the show but Sammi was the only one who didn't want to. A big reason for that was because she didn't want to be around Ronnie," an insider spilled to the outlet. "She has been enjoying her life off of TV and didn't want to change that."
British GQ Magazine Celebrity

During a new magazine interview, the actor playing Greg Hirsch in 'Succession' confesses that in a social context, he can often feel uncomfortable around unfamiliar people.

Jun 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - Nicholas Braun struggles to feel "instantly comfortable" with strangers.

The Emmy nominated actor - who stars as Greg Hirsch in the HBO series "Succession" playing - has admitted to struggling with anxiety and lacking self-esteem.

"I do love when people love the show, but if it makes me feel so much better about myself that someone said this to me, I think I need to work on my self-esteem more," the 33-year-old told Britain's GQ Magazine.

Nicholas admitted that, in a social context, he can often feel uncomfortable around unfamiliar people.

"I guess I'm one of those people who is not, like, instantly comfortable with people; it takes me a while to know what version of myself I'm going to be with somebody," he explained, before adding that he also finds it hard forging romantic relationships too.

"I kind of run away from relationships where I know, 'OK, I care too much about this. They don't care as much as me. I gotta get out'," he shared.

By contrast, the actor feels free and at ease when he's shooting scenes for "Succession".

"It's not a one-minute take, it's a six-minute take, so you can't leave your headspace and everyone is sort of forced to stay super present for the entirety of the scene," he explained.

See the full feature in the July issue of British GQ available via digital download and on newsstands Friday, June 4.
NBC TV

In the new season of the hit talent show, Simon Cowell joins fellow judges Howie Mandel, Sofia Vergara and Heidi Klum as he returns to his seat after missing half of the last season due to injury.

Jun 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - "America's Got Talent" has returned with a brand new season. As season 16 with a two-hour season premiere on Tuesday, June 1 on, it promised the best, biggest and most surprising moments for the viewers. Joining fellow judges Sofia Vergara, Howie Mandel and Heidi Klum, Simon Cowell returned after missing half of the last season due to injury.

Season 16 started with an adorable dog act. The act was quite unique as each of the judges was represented on stage by a dog in a suit behind a judges panel. "This is genius. I mean, seriously genius," Simon gushed, while Sofia admitted that the performance was "so much fun." The first act went to the next round.

Later, 10-year-old Peter Rosalita hit the stage to sing Celine Dion's classic "All by Myself" in a white suit. Thanks to his amazing vocals, he got a four-chair standing ovation. "I predict that you're going to go far in this competition," Howie said.

Following it up was an aerialist Aidan Bryant who taught himself acrobatics and aerialist tricks based on YouTube videos. "I mean, it's amazing that you can do something like this in two years," Sofia praised him, adding, "I mean, this looks like something that you've been doing, you know, generations in a family." Aidan moved on.

Mr. Cherry and Chikki called themselves "record breakers." Hitting the stage, they were determined to set the world record for cracking walnuts on Mr. Cherry's butt. They got to crush 71 nuts to set the world record and they managed to sit on and crush 72 walnuts in 30 seconds. Despite that, Howie and Heidi said no to them so they had to go home.

Northwell Health nurse choir offered an impressive stage performance as they belted out "Stand by Me" which successfully earned them standing ovation from the judges as well as the Golden Buzzer. "I got to say that you are the most inspiring moment that I have had in the last year, not only for who you are, but for what you do," Howie told the group, who was unsurprisingly sent to the next round.

Keith Apicary hoped he would go to the next round by performing a high-energy dance. It was a rather comedic act but Simon "loved every second of it." Sofia also said that she loved it since it was "unexpected." All four judges voted yes for Keith.

Later, Gerald Kelly and his son Hunter attempted to bring laughters with their stand-up material with Gerald performing first. Sofia loved it, noting, "That was a lot of fun." He moved on. It was then time for Hunter to shine. He told jokes about being taller than Kevin Hart among others, though the judges noticed that he "went blank" for a minute during his performance. Despite that, Howie praised him over how he handled it. He was also sent to the next round.

1aChord wowed the judges with an emotional cover of "Fix You" by Coldplay. The trio, who just met a month and a half ago, stunned the judges with the harmonizations as they earned standing ovations from the four judges. "I have a feeling this is the beginning of an amazing journey for the three of you right here," Heidi shared. Meanwhile, Howie marveled, "You're like a three-man choir. I've never been to church but I feel like I just went."

Magician Dustin Tavella took the stage to not only showcase his magic trick but also happiness, warmth and inspiration. "This was all-encompassing of emotion, inspiration, magic. You checked every box," Howie said of the performance. The performance also rendered Heidi "speechless." Rounding out the night was a bizarre performance from a guy who donned in a giant, terrifying peacock outfit. Simon and Heidi hit their buttons before he event got to finish. However, Howie and Sofie gave him a yes, so did the audience. He moved on.
Instagram Celebrity

A man named Christopher Urena was also arrested and slapped with a series of charges after allegedly shooting one of the victims, who is currently hospitalized in critical condition following the incident.

Jun 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - DaBaby might be clear from the shooting incident in Miami, but not his entourage. Rapper Wisdom Akornuche Awute, who is signed to the "Rockstar" hitmaker's label, was reportedly arrested on an attempted murder charge in the wake of the ordeal.

The 21-year-old was also slapped with a charge of aggravated assault with a firearm, per TMZ report. He was said to be a part of a group of males who was involved in an altercation with the alleged victims outside a Miami restaurant. While the victims tried to escape, the MC allegedly fired a bullet that eventually striked one of the men's leg.

In addition to Wisdom, the Daily News claimed a man named Christopher Urena was also arrested on charges of first-degree attempted murder, aggravated assault, third-degree grand theft and weapons possession in connection to the Monday, May 31 shooting. The 29-year-old reportedly shot one of the victims in the back. The alleged victim reportedly remains in the hosptial with critical condition.

DaBaby himself was previously detained by Miami Beach Police Department for questioning. Luckily, he was released on Tuesday afternoon, June 1 following the interrogation. His attorney Drew Findling confirmed to TMZ, "Mr. Kirk has been released by the police. No criminal charges have been filed against him."

The shooting occurred near the corner of South Beach's Ocean Drive and First street, near Prime 112 Steakhouse just after 11:30 P.M. on Monday. At that time, DaBaby's entourage and the alleged victims were caught in an argument.

"DaBaby and his crew had an issue with people right next to them in the car," a source told Page Six. "DaBaby and his crew were traveling in around six SUVs, and either a car pulled up on them and started something or their doors hit each other and they got in a fight."
Instagram Celebrity

In the now-deleted GoFundMe page, the reality TV star's cousin tries to raise $2.5 million to help her and her family cover her legal fees as she's currently facing fraud charge.

Jun 3, 2021

AceShowbiz - Jen Shah apparently failed to gain public's sympathy amid her current legal issue. A GoFundMe page, which was set up on behalf of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" star, has been removed following backlash.

On the now-delete page, Jen's cousin Danny Filipe pleaded with "10,000 caring souls to donate $2.5 million" to help cover the reality TV star's legal fees. Insinuating that his cousin is innocent, he wrote, "Each year in the United States, more than 10,000 people are falsely accused and wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit."

"Simply because you are charged with a crime, does NOT mean you are automatically guilty," he noted. "On April 2nd, Jen proclaimed her innocence by entering a plea of 'not guilty,' and hired an experienced team of New York lawyers that have begun aggressively defending her and fighting the governments case."

"Jen is facing decades incarcerated in prison separated from her family if she's [unable] to mount a competent and well thought out the defense," Danny went on claiming. "In seven weeks, Jen and her family have spent over $138,000 in legal fees and costs. My family is asking for your help for Jen and the Shah family."

In an interview with The Sun, Danny went on defending his cousin, "It's what we do as a family, stick together. Her plea was not guilty. She is innocent. Enough said."

However, the GoFundMe page prompted complaints from other users of the site, which has since removed it. In a statement announcing the decision, GoFundMe said that "the fundraiser violates our Terms of Service. The fundraiser has been removed from the platform." Under Section A of the site's Prohibited Conduct terms, subsection 9 prohibits donations used "for the legal defense of alleged crimes associated with  financial crimes or crimes of deception."

Before it was taken down, the page raised just $225 of its $2.5 million goal.

Jen was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering on March 30. She and her assistant Stuart Smith, who faces the same charges, are accused of running a massive telemarketing scheme which has victimized 10 or more persons over the age of 55 in six states, New York, New Jersey, Arizona, Nevada and Utah. She was released on the same day after posting a $1 million bond.
Music

In the visuals, the rapper and his collaborator Dee Rogers can be seen rhyming their verses around several guys who hold guns and proudly wave them in the air.

Jun 2, 2021

AceShowbiz - Boosie Badazz, who was previously known as Lil Boosie, proved that there's nothing that can stop him when it comes to his musical projects. Just days after one person was fatally shot during the filming of "Clutchin" music video, the rapper surprised his fans with the visuals.

The music video was published on YouTube on Tuesday, June 1. In the clip, the 38-year-old MC and his collaborator Dee Rogers can be seen rhyming their verses while being surrounded with dozens of guys who hold guns and proudly wave them in the air. The video ends with a message that reads, "Love Live Lil Ran."

While most fans are excited with the video release, some others find it unwise that Badazz and Rogers proceeded with the rollout for the music video after the shooting. One person in particular argued, "Its all fun and dancing with guns unless someone gets shot." Another individual added, "Dam I thought they wasn't finished someone started shooting."

The incident in question took place in Huntsville, Alabama on Saturday, May 29. While Badazz was left unharmed, a 20-year-old man named Randall Strong Jr. died from the ordeal. Police found Randall lying on the ground with a gunshot wound before EMTs rushed him to the local hospital. He, however, was later declared dead from his injuries.

Christopher Kwan Freeman then turned himself in to the police. The 22-year-old admitted that he was the one who shot Randall after they were caught in an altercation. He was then arrested and charged with murder.

Boozie himself has broken his silence in the wake of the shooting. Insisting that he was not the target, the "One of Them Days Again" spitter wrote on Twitter, "AINT NOBODY TRY TO KILL ME N HUNTSVILLE AL. YALL MFS BE HAPPY TO SPREAD LIES ON ME #LOL."
Instagram TV

The comic book author has fiercely defended the casting of black actress Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death in the television adaptation of his graphic novel.

Jun 3, 2021

AceShowbiz - Neil Gaiman has slammed those who have criticised the casting of Black actress Kirby Howell-Baptiste in his new Netflix series "The Sandman".

The author took to Twitter to respond to the backlash surrounding the announcement that Kirby would be playing Death - a character depicted as white in Gaiman's comics of the same name - in the programme.

When one critic suggested that Gaiman had "sold out" by casting Kirby in the role and accused him of giving "zero f**ks" about his work, he responded, "I give all the f**ks about the work. I spent 30 years successfully battling bad movies of Sandman."

"I give zero f**ks about people who don't understand/haven't read Sandman whining... Death isn't white enough. Watch the show, make up your minds."

Another accused Gaiman of choosing a Black actress just for the sake of it, to which he replied, "The ability to give us the great personality was important. The skin colour of the actresses auditioning for the role was not."

"Hundreds of talented women from all around the planet auditioned, and they were brilliant, and none of them were right, he tweeted. "Someone who could speak the truth to Dream, on the one hand, but also be the person you'd want to meet when your life was done on the other. And then we saw Kirby Howell-Baptiste's (she/her) audition and we knew we had our Death."

When someone else tweeted that their friend liked Kirby as an actress, but not as Death, Gaiman hit back, "Was there something specific in Kirby's audition your friend felt didn't work? Because I saw a lot of auditions from several hundred women of all skin colours, and picked Kirby for a reason. If there's something I missed I'd love to know."

The writer has also faced backlash for casting non-binary actor Mason Alexander Park as Desire - despite the fact that Desire is also depicted as non-binary in the comics.
Comment Policy Calaveras Enterprise does not actively monitor comments. However, staff does read through to assess reader interest. When abusive or foul language is used or directed toward other commenters, those comments will be deleted. If a commenter continues to use such language, that person will be blocked from commenting. We wish to foster a community of communication and a sharing of ideas, and we truly value readers' input.
BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. - Three people will be going to trial for the murder of 41-year-old John David Noonan on Jan. 23, 2020, Butte County District Attorney said.

37-year-old Eric Allen, 34-year-old Justin Cozakas and 35-year-old Monica Ruggiero are going to trial for the shooting death of Noonan.

District Attorney Mike Ramsey said Noonan stole drugs from his then-girlfriend Ruggiero in Jan. 2020, which ended their relationship.

Ramsey said Ruggiero told Cozakas and Allen to find Noonan and get the money and drugs back or to get revenge on him.

Ruggiero sent texts to Noonan to get him to the parking lot of the Motel 6 on Manzanita Court in Chico around 12:23 p.m. on Jan. 23, 2020.

Noonan arrived and the three others arrived in a different vehicle. The two vehicles parked side-by-side.

RELATED: Chico Police: Third person arrested in connection to Motel 6 murder investigation

Noonan got out of his vehicle and approached the vehicle driven by Cozakas.

After a verbal argument, Cozakas rolled up the drivers window and the rear window rolled down at the same time.

Allen was in the back seat and fired a handgun which hit Noonan.

The three fled the scene as Noonan died in the parking lot of Motel 6.

The three people were found in Feb. 2020 by Chico Police.

When Ruggiero was arrested, she had over $10,000 and more than an ounce of heroin. She was charged for possession of heroin for sales, to a murder charge, and held to answer for the murder charge, Ramsey said.

Ramsey added Cozakas and Allen were charged and held to answer as felons in possession of firearms.

The three will be arraigned on June 16 at 8:30 a.m. and remain in custody with a bail of $1 million.
CHICO, Calif. - In two weeks, pandemic restrictions across the state will lift and businesses are preparing for an increase in business and sense of normalcy.

Cal Skate Funland

At Cal Skate Funland in Chico, they've been following all of the guidelines since the pandemic began and they are ready to lift all restrictions in two weeks once they get the green light from the state.

Like many other businesses, Cal Skate at Funland was hit hard by the pandemic as it was shut down for months.

General Manager Scott Andrews said the most difficult part has been keeping the lights on and the bills paid.

However, he said thanks to money from the Aaron Rodgers Small Business, COVID-19 Relief Fund and other federal programs, they've been able to get through it.

Once the state allows them to reopen fully and lift restrictions they will be ready to go.

Andrews said this month they also plan to reopen their birthday party rooms and their summer camps will be back.

He said they are excited to be a place where people can come and celebrate once the restrictions lift.

They are operating at 25% capacity but are ready to reopen fully once it's allowed.

They have about 25 employees and they will not be required to get vaccinated.

Casino 99

At Casino 99 in Chico, they are also ready to lift all the restrictions in two weeks, they are just waiting for the state to give them the go-ahead.

Employees at the Casino tell Action News Now that the last year has been a roller coaster. They shut down when the pandemic first hit.

Months later the state let them reopen outdoors but shut them down again shortly after that.

They've been open indoors for only a couple of months and are strictly following all state guidelines

One customer said she cannot wait for everything to open back up fully this month. However, she still plans to wear her mask even after the restrictions go away.

"I'm still going to wear my mask I'm recovering from cancer surgery so I'm very vulnerable to any germs, so I'm probably gonna wear it for about 6 months. It's easier to do some prevention rather than suffer the consequences of getting sick," said Phillis Mildice.

The casino said customers and employees would only wear masks if they choose to.

They are not planning on requiring their employees to get vaccinated unless the state were to require it.

Right now the casino is operating at only 25% capacity but they are ready to open fully and lift restrictions on June 15.

The casino said it has about 25 employees and the majority of them are vaccinated.

Upper Park Clothing

At Upper Park Clothing in downtown Chico, they ready to welcome customers back at 100% capacity.

Employees tell Action News Now that they are excited to get back to feeling a sense of normalcy.

Upper Park Clothing has been a part of the Chico community for about six years.

Theyve been adjusting to all of the pandemic guidelines as they have kept changing throughout the last year.

In two weeks, once those restrictions lift, they will no longer be requiring customers to wear masks.

Action News Now spoke with Christian Garcia, an employee, who said hes vaccinated and he would feel safe interacting with customers without the face coverings.

Im honestly excited, I know myself that I want get back to some sort of normalcy and I think that people will feel a little more comfortable and I know Butte County itself has done pretty well on getting vaccinated, said Garcia.

Upper Park Clothing owner, David Selkirk said he has about 12 employees at the shop.

I think its really nice, its great to be getting closer to normal. There are other places that feel normal as well and were kinda just going along with it, said Selkirk.

He said he will not be requiring them to get vaccinated as it will be their choice whether or not they want to.

Even though they won't be requiring masks, employees and customers can still wear them if they choose to.
CHICO, Calif. - A Chico-based company is offering a non-toxic alternative to fire retardants and foams.

"You know they mention how many people they have out because of cancer and it is really affecting people worldwide, said Brandon Miller, CEO of Greenfire.

Greenfire products work to put out and prevent fire with products that do not contain any toxic chemicals.

"The Greenfire wetting agent blend has evolved into 7 different products that we have researched and developed right here in Chico, Miller told Action News Now.

Planes dump retardants in front of fires and foams suppress active flames, but the chemicals from these products sometimes show up in our waterways.

Beginning January 1, 2022, California Senate Bill 1044 will put a ban on harmful toxins inside firefighting foams such as AFFFs and PFAs.

"Really especially here at Chico Fire we are making a move to make our troops as safe as possible by mitigating their exposure to any kind of cancerous elements," said Deputy Chief Chris Zinko of Chico Fire.

In addition to the nontoxic chemicals, foam can also help with conserving water as it breaks down surface tension.

Safety remains most essential for firefighters across the board.

"It's very high on the priority list not only with our personnel but the public," said Captain John Gaddie, from Cal Fire Butte County.

Greenfire also creates products that are safe to use for wetting agents, defensible space and industrial defense.

Our products are ok to use in any food production facilities and that is unique to us and something only we have, said Miller.

With the bill that will ban the usage of foams with toxins, Miller hopes his local company will be on the forefront of safe and effective firefighting agents.

"It's vitally important that these changes are made and these old chemicals get off the market, said Miller.
REDDING, Calif. - A new airline connection could be flying into Redding.

The Redding to Seattle flight would be operated through Alaska Airlines and its an agreement that has been in the works for a while.

We'll have much more access to rewards programs and other services, said Chuck Auckland, the Director of Public Works. It brings other people from around the country into Redding and it's really easy to fly in and out of Redding.

If the city council approves this, it would start off as a one-year agreement beginning in June 2021 to June 2022. The city needs to guarantee a $400,000 revenue in that one year.

People tell Action News Now they want to see this new flight addition.

I think it would be a good thing for our economy as well the tourism and business traveling, said Gary Taylor of Redding. The more airlines we can get in here, it's going to help our economy.

If approved, the Seattle connection would take off around June 18.

Back in May, Avelo Airlines started operating out of the Redding Airport.

Also up for discussion on the City Councils agenda, a plan to make it easier to build emergency shelters.

If approved by the Redding City Council, there would be some exceptions to the current building code. Such as loosened energy and snow load requirements.

But that's only if the Council declares a shelter crisis.

The plan would allow companies to create more transitional housing for less money. They would also be built even smaller.

The allowance of the code to get down to eight-by-eight shelter for a single individual or for two people it could go up to a 100-by-120-square foot, explained Barry Tippin, Reddings City Manager. These would be much smaller than you would typically see and it provides for faster and quicker access.

Tippin said the change would allow as many as 15 to 20 units. But it depends on where the cabins would be built.

Monday nights meeting is the first reading of the ordinance. If approved, a second reading would take place at the next council meeting. Afterward, it would take 30 days for the ordinance to take effect.
Good morning, North State. Here's what you need to know to start your day on June 2.

Commercial cannabis one step closer to coming to Chico

The application process has reopened for potential cannabis businesses in Chico. The council voted to reopen the applications last night. The council put a pause to cannabis business applications in December 2020. The state will have its own review process for approved chico applicants.

Chico City Council formally approves funding local homeless non-profit

The Chico City Council approved more funds to support one local non-profit. Using the community development block grant for coronavirus funding. The council voted unanimously to slate $280,000 for the Chico Housing Action Team. Chat organizers said the funding will go straight to families who don't have jobs and help them with housing costs and other services.

Chico City Council to discuss allocating COVID-19 fund towards homeless solutions

The Chico City Council also voted unanimously to change the existing false alarm code. The code will now include collecting fines for public entities like Chico State. Council members say this will help reduce the number of false alarm calls reported to the university. There were 282 in 2019.

Accused street racer appears in court for fifth time

Continuation of arraignment and a possible plea from accused street racer - Carlos Hill. Hll is facing 3 counts of manslaughter. Prosecutors said Hill was a part of an illegal street racing crash that ended in a crash, and the deaths of two men and a 2 year- old girl. Hill first appeared in court on May 5 but did not enter a plea. Today will be his fifth scheduled appearance as the judge has continued the case several times.

A federal judge said Bank of America must reopen investigations into stolen EDD benefits issued on prepaid bank debit cards. Its part of an agreement with plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the bank. Thousands of benefit recipients reported a slew of problems, including unauthorized transactions on their EDD bank of America debit cards. Many said their claims were denied without an investigation, sometimes a day after calling the bank.

1 dead, 1 injured in shooting at fire station in California

Investigators are searching for a motive after a shooting that killed a firefighter. Los Angeles deputies say the shooter was an off-duty specialist for the fire station and he shot two people in the station - one died -- the other is in stable condition. Police say the suspect took his own life.
This month, enjoy the immersive and exciting stories from across genres, brought to you by Amazon Prime Video. The much-awaited new season of Amazon Original-The Family Man 2 is all set to premier on 4th June. The series follows the life of Srikant Tiwari as he makes a major career change but has left his heart back at the National Investigation Agency and is now suffering from the infamous FOMO. As he juggles his personal life and relationships, there are new enemies waiting for him just around the corner. Created by renowned filmmakers Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. , the series stars Manoj Bajpayee, Samantha Akkineni, Priyamani, Shreya Dhanwanthary, and Sharib Hashmi in prominent roles.

DOM, is a crime drama inspired by the true story of Victor, a police officer who has dedicated his life to the war on drugs, and his son Pedro, a drug addict who became one of the most wanted criminals in Rio de Janeiro. . One is a dedicated police officer fighting against the narcotraffic war and the other, a wanted criminal gang leader. Watch as their lives reflect and often complement one another as they both face situations that stretch their definitions of right and wrong. Binge on this action packed Brazilian Amazon Original Series, DOM Season 1 created by Breno Silveira and featuring Gabriel Leone, Flavio Tolezani and Raquel Villar among others. The series will be available to stream in Portuguese, English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu starting 4th June.

Split your funny bones as the fourth season of Amazon International Original show Documental, unleashes a barrel of laughs with 10 entertainers locked in a room ready to wage the ultimate war of wits. Once they enter the room, the goal is keep oneself from laughing while simultaneously making other occupants of the room laugh. The last person with a straight face gets bragging rights as the funniest comedian and 10 million Japanese Yen. The show stars Hitoshi Matsumoto, Toshifumi Fujimoto and Jimmy Ohnishi among others and viewers can binge-watch it on Amazon Prime Video 3rd June onwards.

Starring Khanh Trieu, Christopher Stollery, Clare McCann and Nicolette Minster among others, Writer- Director Connor Fairclough takes his viewers on a journey to the seashore with this fictional documentary that follows the craziest of adventures and rivalries in Australian surfing history. Catch the waves of action with Head Above Water on Amazon Prime Video on 4thJune.

When Mohamedou Ould Slahi is detained and imprisoned without charges by the U.S government his fight for freedom and justice begins. He turns to his defense attorney Nancy Hollander and her associate Teri Duncan who battle the government for the justice he deserves. The drama-thriller directed by Kevin Macdonald, stars Tahar Rahim, Jodie Foster and Shailene Woodley among other talented actors. Follow the journey uncovering the truth and the tale of the human spirit in The Mauritanian streaming on Amazon Prime Video from 1st June.

Bringing the characters of Roald Dahls much-loved story to life for the audience of today, The Witches narrates the heartwarming story of an orphan boy and his grandmother. Set in 1967, things take a turn when the boy and his grandma have a run-in with real-life witches in an otherwise luxurious sea-side resort. The tale unfolds as they must dodge these despicable creatures in order to ascertain their own safety. Directed by Robert Zemeckis with a star cast of Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci and others, get ready to be spell-bound by the magic on 4th June only on Amazon Prime Video.

HIGHLIGHTS

The Family Man - New Season - 4th June

The Family Man is an edgy, action-drama Amazon Original Series, which tells the story of a middle-class man, Srikant Tiwari, who works for a special cell of the National Investigation Agency. The series explores Srikant's tight-rope walk as he struggles to strike a balance between his secretive, low paying, high-pressure, high-stakes job and being a husband and a father. This is as much a satirical take on the geopolitics of the region as it is the story of a middle-class guy who is a world class spy.

Dom Season 1 - 4th June

Dom tells the story of Pedro, a handsome boy from Rio de Janeiros middle class who is introduced to cocaine in his teen years, eventually becoming an addict and eventually emerging as the leader of a criminal gang that dominated the tabloids in Rio in the early 2000s. Shifting between action, adventure and drama, Dom also tells the story of Pedros father Vitor Dantas, who as a kid, makes a discovery at the bottom of the sea, reports it to the authorities and ends up joining the police intelligence service. The series shows the journey of father and son living opposite lives, often mirroring and complementing each other, while at the same time, being in confronting situations which blur the lines between right and wrong.

Documental Season 4 - 3rd June

Hitoshi Matsumoto presents a closed-door laughter survival show. Ten comedians shoulder the participation expenses of 1 million yen on their own and put their pride as performers on the line for the chance to win the 10-million-yen prize. The winner will be that individual who does not laugh until the end.

Head Above Water - 4th June

Head Above Water is a fictional documentary that follows the most insane rivalries ever witnessed in the Australian surfing history!

The Mauritanian - 1st June

Based on the NY Times best-selling memoir "Guantanamo Diary'' by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, this is the true story of Slahi's fight for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S.

The Witches - 4th June

A young boy and his grandmother have a run-in with a coven of witches and their leader.
BFSI ad volumes grew by 2% in Jan-Apr21 over same period in previous year; compared to this, during the same period Digital ad insertions grew significantly by 84% over Jan-Apr20. Advertising growth of 49% was seen for the BFSI sector in Print in Jan-Apr21 over Jan-Apr20, while BFSI ad volumes on Radio grew by 27% in Jan-Apr21 over Jan-Apr20. This was revealed in the TAM AdEx report on advertising by the Banking Finance Investments (BFSI) sector across TV, Digital, Print and Radio during the January-April 2021 period.

Television

The Top 10 advertisers accounted for more than 50% share of ad volumes during Jan-Apr21, with LIC of India leading the list with 18% share of the TV ad volumes. Life Insurance had 33% of the ad volumes, the highest among BFSI categories. More than half of the ad volumes in the sector were covered by the Top 3 categories solely.

More than 150 new brands were present in the sector during Jan-Apr21 over Jan-Apr20. UPstox was the top new brand, followed by the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI), LIC SIIP, Liberty General Insurance and Bharti Axa Life Guaranteed Income Pro during Jan-Apr21, compared to Jan-Apr20.

The News genre alone had nearly 70% of the sectors ad volumes, followed by GEC in the 2nd position with 11% share and Movies in the 3rd position with a share of 10%. The Top 3 channel genres grabbed 90% of the ad volumes share for the BFSI sector during Jan-Apr21.

With a share of 43%, News Bulletin was the most preferred program genre to promote BFSI brands on Television. The Top 2 program genres  News Bulletin and Feature Films  together added more than 50% of the sector ad volumes.

On TV, Prime Time was the most preferred time-band, followed by Afternoon. Together, the Prime Time, Afternoon, and Morning time bands combined for more than 70% of the ad volumes. Advertisers of the BFSI sector preferred 20-40 seconds ad size on TV. 20-40 seconds and <20 seconds ads together covered 89% share of the ad volumes during Jan-Apr21.

Digital

On the Digital medium, ad insertions increased significantly by 84% during Jan-Apr21, compared to same period in last year. Life Insurance category was on top with 35% share of the sectors advertising. A distant second was Securities/ Sharebroking Organisation with a share of 18%.

The Top 10 categories added 97% share of the sectors ad insertions on Digital. The Top 10 Advertisers had 61% share of ad insertions during Jan-Apr21, with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co on top of the list, adding 21% share.

The Ad Network transaction method topped with 45% share of BFSIs ad insertions on Digital during Jan-Apr21, closely followed by Programmatic/ Ad Network with 43% share.

Print

When comparing Jan-Apr21 to Jan-Apr20, there was a noticeable rise of 49% in BFSIs ad space in the Print medium. The Top 10 advertisers accounted for more than 40% share of the print ad space. Life Insurance topped among the categories of BFSI sector in Print with 1/4th of the ad spaces share. The Top 10 categories added more than 80% of the sectors ad space during Jan-Apr21. LIC of India was the top advertiser in the sector with 30% share of ad space during Jan-Apr21.

In Print medium, more than 2,000 new brands seen during Jan-Apr21. ICICI Bank InstaBiz was the top new brand, followed by RailTel Corporation of India-IPO. Four out of the Top 10 new brands were from LIC of India during Jan-Apr21.

English language was on top with 52% share of ad space, followed by Hindi language with 21% share. The Top 5 Publication languages together added 87% share of the sectors ad space. General Interest publication genre had 56% share of sectors ad space in Jan-Apr21.

Among the four zones, South Zone topped in BFSI advertising with 35% share during Jan-Apr21. North Zone had a share of 27%, closely followed by West Zone with 26% share and East Zone was placed in the fourth position with a share of 12%. Mumbai and New Delhi were Top 2 cities in overall India for advertising in the BFSI sector.

Radio

Indexed growth in Radio ad volumes for BFSI grew by 27% during Jan-Apr21, compared to Jan-Apr20. On Radio, Life Insurance category topped with 33% of the total BFSI ad volumes. Housing/ Construction Loans was a distant second with a share of 19%. The Top 10 categories added more than 90% share of the sector ad volumes on Radio. The Top 10 Advertisers added 88% share of the ad volumes during Jan-Apr21, among which LIC of India led the list with 32% share, followed by State Bank of India with 20% share.

On Radio, more than 100 new brands were present during Jan-Apr21, over Jan-Apr20. SEBI (Securities & Exchange Board of India) was the top new brand on Radio medium, followed by LIC SIIP on the 2nd position.

On Radio, the Top 2 states occupied more than 1/3th of the ad pie for the BFSI sector. Maharashtra state was on top with 19% share of ad volumes followed by Gujarat with 16% share.

Advertising for the BFSI sector was preferred in the Evening and Morning time-bands, combining 87% share of the sector ad volumes on Radio.
BYJUS, the worlds leading education technology company, with 95 million registered students on its flagship learning app, today announced a partnership with Google to aid continuity of online learning for both teachers and students. This integration of Google Workspace for Education with BYJUS will offer a collaborative and personalised digital platform for classroom organisation, available for free to participating educational institutions.

With a commitment to digital education, Google Workspace for Education will combine BYJUS unparalleled pedagogy to empower educators in their journey towards digital transformation. Built on the Vidyartha platform, this partnership will provide direct access to BYJUS extensive math and science pedagogy and visually-rich learning solutions, including chapter-wise slides, readymade assignments, data banks, summary docs, handouts, tests, and more.

Mrinal Mohit, Chief Operating Officer, BYJUS, The significant rise and acceptance of online learning in the last one year has led to the swift digitisation of our education system. Teachers and students had to adapt to online learning overnight and are now rapidly discovering its potential. Through our partnership with Google, we are aiming to aid this digital revolution and equip our educators with the necessary technological and learning assets to ensure continuity of education. We are truly excited to collaborate with Google and believe that our partnership will be a key facilitator in the new wave of re-defining the future of learning.

Designed to enable seamless and convenient learning, the platform also features Google Classroom, offering simplicity and flexibility, along with a security experience for all educators. Besides the Google Workspace for Education features that include Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms, teachers will get access to Google Meet  Googles premium video conferencing solution  where up to 100 people can participate using Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, for free.

Bani Dhawan, Head of Education - South Asia, Google said, This past year, we at Google have been especially vested in using our technology and platforms to help extend quality learning experiences to students everywhere. We are thrilled to partner with Byju's in reaching out to schools across the country to bring rich and interactive English-based learning solutions that complement school curriculum, and look forward to working to make this offering available in Indian languages later. With the rapid move to online learning and teaching, educators today are increasingly looking for more meaningful ways to bring their lessons to life, and we hope this offering makes online classes that much more engaging and fulfilling.

This solution aims at empowering educators to provide a comprehensive solution for their students including messaging, test conduction, daily classes and well-made pedagogical content from BYJUS. This digital ecosystem will empower educators to create engaging and personalized education that is well integrated with curriculum, based on Googles world-class security.

Every school that signs up on the platform will get official email IDs for all faculty, students and admin staff, powered by Google Workspace for Education. To aid effective learning at school, this learning solution will facilitate end-to-end Classroom management and will help organise, access, and track classroom learning.
To celebrate and support the LGBTQIA+ community, Instagram today announced a partnership with The Queer Muslim Project, to present the second edition of the Digital Pride Festival. Instagram also announced new features - a new sticker pack, rainbow gradient hashtags and a rainbow gradient story ring.

While LGBTQIA+ communities have always been a celebrated part of Facebook and Instagram, it's the people within these communities and their allies who make Pride what it is. The Queer Muslim Project (TQMP), which is South Asias largest virtual network of Queer, Muslim and allied individuals, is one such community. TQMP conceived the Digital Pride Festival in 2020 to virtually celebrate LGBTQIA+ rights, take digital actions and demonstrate allyship. Now in 2021, Instagram has partnered with the community for the second edition of the festival, with the aim of inspiring creativity, self-care, well-being and connectedness during the pandemic.

The festival will begin on June 11th and will go on till June 27th. It will consist of 5 segments, including creator panels, performances, panels on online safety, mental health, and a masterclass on new tools of expression such as Reels. Some of the confirmed speakers include ace filmmaker Zoya Akhtar (@zoieakhtar), illustrator and designer, Sonaksha (@sonaksha), creators Roshini Kumar (@rosh93) and Durga Gawde (@durgagawdestudio), Sangaths Its Ok To Talk (@itsoktotalk) programme director, Pattie Gonsalves, creator Prajakta Koli (@mostlysane) and mental health advocate and the co-founder of Yuvaa (@weareyuvaa), Nikhil Taneja. Two of the events will also be co-presented by the British Council, who continue to showcase their commitment towards LGBTQIA+ art and culture in India from the first edition of the festival.

Rafiul Alom Rahman, Founder and Executive Director, The Queer Muslim Project said, Digital Pride Festival 2.0 is a celebration of love, equality and freedom in these times of a global pandemic. With our tag #PrideAtHome, we honour contemporary LGBTQIA+ art and artists for all they offer to us within the comforts of our homes. Together with Instagram, we have scaled the festival this year and included an array of creator voices from the community as well as celebrated names such as Bollywood filmmaker, Zoya Akhtar. The festival will promote safety and care online and build transformative conversations on representation, visibility and well-being of LGBTQIA+ persons - all the while showcasing the beauty and power of Queer art, storytelling, and culture and community through the month of June.

Tara Bedi, Public Policy and Community Outreach Manager, Instagram, India, said, "Through these difficult times, we've seen our community use Instagram in incredible ways as a space for connection, support and community action. The Digital Pride Festival with TQMP will include conversations to address safety, well-being, allyship, but most importantly, represent and amplify the voices of diverse, immensely talented LGBTQIA+ creators and activists, and help us continue our journey to make Instagram more inclusive. Were also updating some of our favorite creative tools and releasing new features that colorfully highlight LGBTQIA+ expression across Feed and Stories.

Updated features from Instagram:

New LGBTQ+ Sticker Pack: Created by LGBTQIA+ artists from our global community, we're expanding our Pride Stories stickers for a visual celebration of our LGBTQIA+ community. Once placed on a photo or video, tap on the sticker to reveal further designs. This sticker pack is the most representative of our global LGBTQIA+ community that weve ever launched, including gender non-conforming, asexual, trans and gender-fluid.

Created by LGBTQIA+ artists from our global community, we're expanding our Pride Stories stickers for a visual celebration of our LGBTQIA+ community. Once placed on a photo or video, tap on the sticker to reveal further designs. This sticker pack is the most representative of our global LGBTQIA+ community that weve ever launched, including gender non-conforming, asexual, trans and gender-fluid. Rainbow hashtags and Story ring: Weve partnered with key policy partner, GLAAD, again this year to update our 2020 list of prominent hashtagssuch as #genderfluid, #pridefamily, and #gayvisibilityused throughout the LGBTQIA+ community. When used in a Feed or Stories post, these hashtags will be displayed in a rainbow gradient. Additionally, when you use one of these hashtags in a Story, your Story ring will turn rainbow while the photo or video is live for 24 hours.

Know more about the Digital Pride Festival on The Queer Muslim Projects Instagram account, follow updates on the festival with #PrideAtHome and global updates on the month of Pride, with #ShareWithPride.
While the global pandemic has bought economies to a halt and massively disrupted businesses, it has also fuelled start-up dreams and we even saw several Indian start-ups achieve Unicorn status during the pandemic period. The times have never been better for the budding entrepreneurs to give wings to their start-up dreams.

The Government, too, has come up with various schemes to support its Vocal for Local drive. A case in point is the recent Rs 1,000 crore Start-up India Seed Fund announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Start-up India International Summit 2021 held earlier this year.

Adgully is turning the spotlight on the entrepreneurs who fought against all odds to bring their dreams to fruition in our special series  START-UP STARS. We at Adgully wholeheartedly support the Vocal for Local movement and over the next few months will be featuring all local/ homegrown businesses, brands and Apps.

Aaron Fernandez found his first fortune, and a sense of purpose too in Goa. In 2002, Fernandez was on a summer break after completing his final year at high school, and grabbed an offer from his fathers friend to distribute flyers along Goas gold coast  the Sinquerim-Baga beach stretch  to promote a restaurant. Fernandezs first brush with entrepreneurship earned him $13 a week, good money for someone just out of high school. He roped in a friend into the venture because the beach stretch was a long one and he could do it with help. While the entrepreneur in him was still coming to the fore, back then, the word company meant companionship and not a business enterprise; many of which he would come to start years later.

End of college and the salad days brought along new opportunities with potential to broaden his professional horizon. Fernandez moved to Norway to work as a graphic designer  a new country, with new ways. He adapted to the new environment. Some years later, the media company he was employed with at the time, as part of his day job, had a large requirement of design and development chores. Fernandez stepped in and pitched them design services by outsourcing them from India, which was already a world renowned BPO market. The media company agreed and became his first client. What followed was one of the most successful start-up stories Goa has witnessed.

They started with KodeWork, a website development firm that was born out of Indias city of dreams, Mumbai, in 2014. Despite being a metropolitan city, establishing a dedicated team in Mumbai turned out to be a challenge due to several reasons. They then decided to move the entire team to Goa in 2015 and started afresh. It took a while to even out the transcontinental chinks. Work cultures in India and Norway were different, so were expectations in terms of quality and meeting deadlines. But over time, things fell in place.

In late 2020, the various companies established by Fernandez with his siblings, Judah and Caleb, were consolidated and brought under a single banner  Kilowott. The company today has partner deals in Norway, Holland, India, France, Switzerland and the US.

In conversation with Adgully, Aaron Fernandez, Founder, Kilowott, narrates the fascinating story behind Kilowott, how the company is overcoming the gap created by the lack of full-service companies within the technology sector, growing clients organically in Europe and much more.

What need gap did you want to fulfil with your start-up? What is the core business proposition?

Kilowott was launched to overcome the gap created by the lack of full-service companies within the technology sector. The company has consolidated diverse products and offers customers impeccable insights, which our in-depth market understanding provides. We are not a generalist, but a specialised firm offering customised digital interfaces and operational solutions featuring design elements such as CX, AR and VR and also technologies such as analytics, AI, IoT and other such tools to improve customers business and profit growth.

How did you identify your TG? Did you carry out any feasibility study prior to starting your business?

Not really.The media company I was employed with in Norway, as part of my day job, showed me the way and paved the path for my entrepreneurial journey.

Our first major website development firm was KodeWork. Me and my brothers, Judah and Caleb, relocated the company to Goa in 2015 and started operations from scratch from a 700 sq mtr office space in Porvorim. Our clients grew organically across Europe. As our client-base spread across continents, we started a clutch of other IT firms like Nine Stack, an app development agency; Creometric, a digital marketing agency; Bootcamp, a mentoring and training firm; Fat Hamster Studio, an animation and virtual reality studio, etc., as well as Nordic Hub India, a start-up accelerator, in 2018.

In 2020, the world changed and we decided to realign some of our verticals into a single entity  Kilowott. Our core philosophy, however, stays the same  to offer cutting-edge digital solutions in a global marketplace to enhance digital customer experience.

What were the challenges that you faced in your start-up journey and how did you overcome them?

I had been working in Norway for a number of years, and when I launched my start-up in India, the transcontinental differences had to be dealt with. The work culture and approach in India is very different from Norway, and there were challenges in terms of quality and timelines.

We started off by hiring freelancers from various locations  Israel, Ukraine, Vietnam, Poland and India. What we noticed is that communication with resources from countries other than India as well as deliverables was a constant challenge. We then moved to working largely with Indian resources on technical aspects.

However, things have since fallen in place.

What were the clearances that you required for your venture from various authorities?

My brother Caleb has a Commerce background and took charge of the companys back-end operations like administration, finance, taxation, legal & compliance aspects. He is meticulous and ensures all compliances are in place.

Funds/ finance is the prime issue of almost all start-ups. What can the industry and the Government do to address this issue and ease the capital requirements of start-ups?

The Government of India has taken some steps in easing the situation, however, the ease of access to finance remains a challenge for start-ups. India is a huge country with incredible entrepreneurial potential. If the conditions for institutional financing are made less stringent for start-ups, then it would become easier for the budding entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into successful businesses. This would not only help in economic growth, but also greater employment generation across the country.

Prime Minister Modi announced the Start-up India Seed Fund earlier this year. How do you see start-ups benefiting from it?

The Start-up India Seed Fund is a step in the right direction. As I had mentioned, despite the great potential, start-up founders in India have to face a lot of challenges in securing institutional funding. Through this fund, a number of highly promising start-ups will get seed stage funding to fuel their early-stage growth.

How is digital helping you further your business?

Kilowott is a purely digital firm and right from the outset, we have used cutting-edge technology to run our operations and cater to a clientele which is mostly located overseas. We use advanced digital design elements such as CX, AR and VR and technologies such as AI, IoT, and others to help our clients grow their business and profitability.

We use technology and innovation in our consulting and strategy services such as customer journey mapping, customer experience process assessment and surveys consulting, assessment, roadmap ideation and modelling with use cases, brand positioning, go-to-market strategy, brand identity development, concept design and prototyping, etc.

What were your key learnings from 2020? How do you see the start-up ecosystem progressing in 2021?

The year 2020 was a highly disruptive one for most businesses. It underscored the importance of technology in everyday business operations. Todays business landscape has been transformed into a digital-first environment with remote working and automation being the standard processes. Since Kilowott is a technology driven business, we didnt face many challenges as far as operations are concerned.

India is already an IT powerhouse and there is a robust presence of skilled professionals, innovators and access to the most advanced technologies in the world. The start-up ecosystem has not lost momentum even after the pandemic outbreak, and it is going to evolve rapidly in the new normal. Even during the pandemic times, we have seen a large number of new start-ups come up and many of them join the unicorn club. The start-ups will contribute significantly to help India achieve the goal of becoming a $5 trillion economy in the years ahead.

What would be your message for the budding entrepreneurs?

I would advise the future entrepreneurs to believe in their dreams. The journey to building great businesses will always have a number of challenges. However, once you believe in what you are doing, you will find it easier to work around the challenges and create success for yourself as well as your team and overall community.
Interview: Liechtenstein's construction giant Hilti Group cements China business

Xinhua) 08:30, June 02, 2021

SCHAAN, Liechtenstein, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Construction and technology multinational Hilti Group, Liechtenstein's biggest employer, is upbeat on the industry's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks partly to an improving building quality in China, its CEO said.

"The quality of construction, the digitization of construction, and the safety requirements of construction, they all increased significantly in China," CEO Christoph Loos told Xinhua in an interview at the firm's headquarters. "For us, China is an inspiration in many ways for how construction also will develop in other parts of the world."

Hilti is based in Schaan, Liechtenstein's largest municipality, and is the principality's largest employer. The company employs around 30,000 people in more than 120 countries worldwide.

China is the group's largest sourcing and production market, where Hilti counts 2,000 employees in five and soon six production locations, an important research and development (R&D) center as well as a sales and engineering team.

Asked about the business outlook in China, Loos said: "We expect significant growth from the core business that we have, we are involved in nearly all larger infrastructure and energy projects across the country."

"Next to sourcing and production and sales expansion, we've also invested significantly into our research and development setup in China, our R&D center in Shanghai is the third largest for us in the world."

Hilti supplies technological products to the construction industry and offers products for measurement, drilling, demolition, sawing, grinding, screw, direct mounting, battery technology, fire protection, and installation technology.

Doubly landlocked, Liechtenstein is the fourth-smallest country in Europe and lies in the heart of the Alps between Switzerland and Austria. Its population of around 38,000 people has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world.

The country's industry is heavily export-oriented and focuses on high-quality goods and services. Manufacturing, machine and plant construction, precision tools, dental instruments and the food industry are the main areas of activity.

The Hilti Group's sales for 2020 were 9.6 percent lower than in the previous year, totaling 5.3 billion Swiss francs (around 5.9 billion U.S. dollars). The operating profit decreased by 7 percent to 728 million Swiss francs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's true, 2020 was a challenging year especially in the first half. Only a few markets were able to show growth, among them China. But now things are getting better, construction is recovering," Loos said.

"The biggest challenge that we see at the moment is the shortage of supply globally which many industries experience. From, you know, steel to chemicals, all the way to electronic components," he said.

In the first four months of 2021, the Hilti Group increased sales by 14.7 percent to 1,925 million Swiss francs.

The CEO also reiterated the target for CO2-neutrality planned for 2023 with a focus on circularity and the conversion of the worldwide vehicle fleet to more environmentally friendly drive systems.

"We have always acted responsibly, but we felt that this is no longer good enough and therefore we've developed a new significant ambition for us. And that includes this commitment to being neutral by 2023 on the carbon footprint," Loos said.

"We've converted to 100 percent green energy across the world, and we are in the process of converting our 14,000 vehicle fleet to electric and hybrid and natural gas, and the remaining 50 percent we will compensate with own projects that we are developing at the moment in India and in Africa," he added. (1 Swiss franc = 1.113 U.S. dollars)

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Du Mingming)
Dakota graduated from Bret Harte in 2013 and went to Davidson College, NC where she earned a bachelor's degree in Arab studies. After spending time studying in the Middle East and Europe, she is happy to be home, writing about the community she loves.

Comment Policy Calaveras Enterprise does not actively monitor comments. However, staff does read through to assess reader interest. When abusive or foul language is used or directed toward other commenters, those comments will be deleted. If a commenter continues to use such language, that person will be blocked from commenting. We wish to foster a community of communication and a sharing of ideas, and we truly value readers' input.
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

Bern, 02.06.2021 - In line with its support for the UN peace process in Libya, on Wednesday 2 June Switzerland and the UN co-hosted a conference of representatives of the member states engaged in the Berlin process on Libya. Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis called on all parties involved to bring about a political solution to the conflict, which began in 2011.

Mr Cassis, the head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), opened the conference, which was held virtually due to the pandemic. He urged all the parties involved to help bring about a political solution to the conflict in Libya, stating that "The holding of free and fair elections in December this year will be the next crucial step. Only a government democratically elected by the Libyan people will enable real reforms and a sustainable reunification of institutions."

The conference, which was co-chaired this month by Switzerland and moderated by Simon Geissbuhler, head of the FDFA's Peace and Human Rights Division, gave participants the opportunity to share and coordinate the progress that has been made by the four working groups which make up the international committee to monitor Libyas ceasefire. Another goal was to prepare for the Berlin II ministerial conference to be held on 23 June 2021.

The Berlin process was launched in January 2020 with the aim of achieving a permanent ceasefire in Libya. Its objective is to ensure international coherence in creating the conditions necessary for intra-Libyan dialogue on peace.

Swiss engagement for Libya since 2011

Peacebuilding is a strategic priority for Switzerland, which has co-chaired the working group on international humanitarian law and human rights (IHL-HR) together with the Netherlands since 2020. Switzerland's commitment to peace, security and human rights is anchored in the Federal Council's Foreign Policy Strategy 20202023.

In the MENA Strategy 20212024, which was adopted by the Federal Council in October 2020, Swiss engagement in the peace and stabilisation process in Libya has been identified as a clear priority. Switzerland has been active in Libya since 2011 through its peacebuilding, humanitarian aid and migration-related projects. At multilateral level, it also supported the creation of the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya, which was set up in June 2020 by the Human Rights Council. Furthermore, Switzerland plays host to the intra-Libyan peace talks under the auspices of the UN.

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




'I thought I was going to die right there'
The popularity of an Illinois incentive program to plant cover crops is growing so rapidly, the funding is having a hard time keeping up.

Illinois crop insurance discount program for cover crops, patterned after the one in Iowa, started a couple years ago and is so popular it is seeking to quadruple the number of acres eligible for the discount.

Iowa started offering a $5 per acre discount on cash crop insurance premiums for those trying cover crops in 2017. To date, nearly 2,000 Iowa farmers and approximately 700,000 acres of cover crops have been enrolled in the program, said Keely Coppess, communications director for the Iowa Department of Agriculture.

Currently, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has been able to fund all the applications that are determined to be eligible for the program, she said.

However, Illinois counterpart, the Fall Covers for Spring Saving program, is so popular that the demand for it is far outpacing the funds available.

For the last two years, the Illinois Department of Agriculture program has allocated $300,000 to provide the $5/acre discount on crop insurance premiums for farmers who plant those acres in cover crops between growing seasons. It has funded 50,000 acres of cover crops both years, but the demand is much higher, said Maxwell Webster with American Farmland Trust, an organization which works to conserve farmland.

In its first year in 2020, in only 12 days, Illinois farmers representing 113,000 acres applied for the 50,000 acres available in the Fall Covers for Spring Savings program.
Jaclyn Wilson Jaclyn Wilson raises Red Angus cattle at Wilson Ranch near Lakeside, Nebraska. Send comments to her at jaclyn@flyingdiamondgenetics.com. Follow Jaclyn Wilson Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

But  can you prove it?

This has been a question that I have contemplated more then any other in our direct beef business this last year. If you head over to our website, it talks about our 133-year-old ranching operation, and the Red Angus genetics that we are using, and it implies to our consumers that is what we are selling. But, if one really wanted to question it  can we prove it?

I have talked numerous times about our data collection. How for decades we have collected data from the time that calf hits the ground to the time of harvest, and sometimes even after. I have talked about the multiple forms of identification that our cattle carry: dual panel tags, ear tattoos, brands, EID tags, all of which are entered into a software program whether it be in the field, chute side or in the office. I can count that number of times since Ive returned home in 2002 that we have not known who an animal is. But if Im delivering a box of beef to a consumer, can I prove to that consumer that that animal was raised on our operation?

Ive been a little bit secretive about a project that we have been working on lately. Next week is the roll-out, and to say that we are excited about it may just be the understatement of the year. Next week we are tokenizing a group of feeder steers. In our understanding this has not been done before.

Let me start at the beginning.

This crazy P.T. Barnum story started a couple of months ago when my partner in the beef business called to discuss an out there idea that she had been approached about with one of her industry acquaintances. Any project that involves technology and our industry, Ill always take a minute to contemplate, and I will admit I started laughing when I heard this one.
Locally, crops look good with soybeans having emerged, unifoliate leaves are out on the way to trifoliate. Spraying herbicide on corn started a few days ago. I plan to put my single pass products on next week after we warm back up.
The real estate markets in Ahwatukee Foothills and the rest of the Phoenix Metro region have
* Username

This is the name that will be displayed next to your photo for comments, blog posts, and more. Choose wisely!
"We like to grow our people, anyone that has a desire to do more always has potential here," said Mike Donsky, director of operations for Bob Evans.
Pay the bill or face ramifications

The Kiowa City Council chose to pause before paying their entire near $135,000 bill to the Kansas Municipal Energy Agency (KMEA) from the Arctic Blast in February, which caused their bill to skyrocket. Kiowa's monthly electricity bill to KMEA is typically from $20,000 to $30,000.

May 25 the city council held a special meeting with KMEA officials present. One was General Manager Paul Mahlberg who said he started just before KMEA brought Kiowa in to the EMP3 group. The other was KMEA President Greg DuMars, who has been the city administrator at Lindsborg, Kansas, for 23 years. Also attending was Energy Management Project No. 3 (EMP3, which delivers electricity) Chairman Lucas Neece.

Mayor Bill Watson was present with all councilmembers including: B.J. Duvall, Brian Hill, R.L. Simpson, Jason Thayer and Tom Wells. City Administrator Sam Demel and City Clerk Kady Tucker also attended. City Attorney Brandon Ritcha joined by speaker phone.

DuMars said, We (Lindsborg) started taking all our power from KMEA June 1, 2020. In that first six months we saved over a half million dollars. It was an excellent, excellent move for us, he said.

He said the group meets monthly to review resources. They see how each city is managed. It's a great opportunity to transition our resources and have better savings  to work together and help each other, DuMars said.

Mahlberg gave some background information regarding Kiowa's membership. He said Kiowa moved to KMEA in 2015-16. KMEA existed since 1980. Kiowa joined EMP3 Jan 1, 2016. You were going to have your rates raised by Western Farmers/AEC so you looked at other options and picked us, Mahlberg said. Kiowa's new contract was January 1, 2021. We estimated you'd save 1 to 1  cents per kilowatt hour.

Kiowa is one of the 22 cities in EMP3. Kiowa buys capacity. That market started in 2014. Mahlberg explained all your load is bought from the market at market price that's set by SW Power Pool based on the utilities offering in generation. Then you get compensated with the resources you have. With your energy contract, you pay a fixed rate, you get paid whatever those market prices are. If you run your generator you get paid whatever those price are for the kilowatt hours you are producing.

The SW Power Pool covers the midwest from Texas up to North Dakota and all of Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska, and part of Arkansas and Missouri. All utilities have to participate in the SW Power Pool market.

So when this event in February happened natural gas prices spiked. Mahlberg said in Kansas they went to over $600/unit of gas. We heard in Oklahoma it was over $1,000. In our careers the highest price we've heard is only $30 over so it was 20 times higher than it's ever been. That gas price whittled down to the big gas units that produce electricity so they were paying those higher gas prices which created these high electric prices.

He continued, The SW Power Pool has a soft cap of $1,000. So you can't offer generation over $1,000 per megawatt hour. Unless your costs are over that. So when these generators bought gas at these high prices, the cost to produce this electricity went to $3000 to $4000/megawatt hour. They are allowed to do that because that's what their costs were. So they are not profiting, supposedly, somebody else is  the gas supplier? So when this cold weather hit, we saw those $3000 and $4000 prices. Kiowa and all our members were paying that price for their load.

When we saw these high prices we went to weekly invoicing  requiring cities to pay us weekly. So we could pay the gas bill. During this two week period our bill for our 42 city members was $20 million dollars. So we were hanging by the cliff, hoping our cities could pay so we could pay the SW Power Pool.

All the cities paid but three including you. Those two paid shortly thereafter so Kiowa is the only one who hasn't paid. Kiowa's bill is $135,000. We're looking to you to pay your share of the bill. The burden of Kiowa not paying is on the rest of the membership.

Mahlberg reiterated that KMEA is taking steps to get Kiowa to pay. The ramifications for not paying the bill are very severe.

Councilmember Simpson said why the council paused and didn't pay their bill: because something was seriously wrong. Wait a minute, the little man is getting hit hard.

Councilmember Hill said another concern regarded whether the city should be generating their own electricity at that time with Kiowa's generator because of the high-priced gas. Hill said there was a real communication problem between the city and KMEA. They didn't know we were generating electricity when we were.

Demel explained there are three electric rates  the contracted amount (Kiowa will purchase this much every day at this rate); the day ahead price; the real time purchase price if Kiowa goes over what they purchase.

Mahlberg admitted, There was a big breakdown in communication. He said that KMEA can't see the city's generation of electricity. He said KMEA is working to fix that. Hill said they must streamline the communication process. Demel confirmed there was a definite communication problem. He said KMEA's staff did not talk to each other. Part of their staff was purchasing the 'day ahead price' for us and we did not need it. But we were not charged for that, Demel said. He explained, At one point they told us not to run our generator and we should have been. There was a question with one KMEA employee regarding the correct phone number for the City of Kiowa's office phone number.

Councilmember Wells asked if they can drop the interest charge if Kiowa pays the bill. Mahlberg said he'll take it to the executive committee in June.

After hearing KMEA's presentation, the council voted 5-0 to pay their outstanding bill in full to KMEA.

Kiowa's Burn Site and Eyesore Properties

Former Kiowa Mayor Brandon Farney approached the council. He told them he was the one who disposed of old wooden fence posts and railroad ties in Kiowa's Burn Site. It's all wood, Farney said of the old wooden posts and railroad ties that were on his family farm dating back to his grandfather's time. Realizing the burn site is for tree limbs and grass clippings, Farney said, If that's a violation I'm sorry. We weren't trying to pull anything. I wouldn't do anything to hurt the city. I spent too much time here, the longtime mayor and councilmember, said which brought laughter among the group.

Hill said the city does need to have a citation for illegal dumping. The council authorized Demel to research what the city has on the books or if they need to take action about creating one.

At the regular May meeting of the council, a group of citizens led by Brenda Myers addressed council about eyesore properties throughout the community. Demel said citizen Jeff Bryan told him he has some people, who wish to remain anonymous, and are willing to help financially for the clean-up of these properties. Demel said Bryan is also asking the city to contribute financially toward the clean-up. The tentative plan is to split the cost into thirds among the city, donors and property owners. Demel said at the June meeting, the council will vote on this and the amount of money the city will put toward the clean-up efforts.

Demel confirmed the city had four applicants for the two open positions for summer help. Demel said he's hired one person who will start soon. He's still in the process of interviewing and hiring the second position.
A motorcycle rider was flown to a Wichita hospital after he encountered a cow on a road near Freedom. Keith Allen Sparks, 39, of Collinsville, was flown by AirEvac to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas, where he was admitted in guarded but stable condition for trunk internal and trunk external injuries.

According to the report from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the collision occurred at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, May 29, on Noble Road 78 feet east of the intersection with County Road 140. The location is approximately 13 miles north and six miles west of Freedom in Woods County.

Sparks was riding a 2018 KTM motorcycle westbound on Noble Road when he topped over a hill and struck a cow that was standing in the roadway. The motorcycle departed the roadway to the left and struck a fence.

Trooper Justin Barney investigated, assisted by AirEvac, Woods County Sheriffs Office and Freedom EMS.
Anna Istre, a second grade teacher at Lake Charles Charter Academy, had two very unusual starts to her career. She graduated McNeese State University and began teaching right before the March 2020 COVID-19 shutdowns and then began again with the difficulties of the storm ridden 2020-2021 sch
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed into law a measure that allows some people convicted of felonies in Louisiana to be able to serve on juries for civil and criminal cases.
We are told every day that in America we follow the science. If that is so, how can it be that government officials are encouraging pre-pubescent children, with or without parental consent, to make life-altering decisions that lack a firm scientific foundation? It all starts in schools where children declare their pronouns. Some declare minority sex pronouns due to peer pressure or because its cool or rebellious. Kids do that. Now the habitual reaffirmation process begins, and it can involve mandatory parental counseling to ensure compliance with the process. With a superficial transgender diagnosis, public schools on the West Coast can already prescribe puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones without parental consent. Blockers must be prescribed at puberty (8-14) to be most effective. In Oregon, schools can authorize a sex change without parental consent.

The FDA has not licensed puberty blockers for trans youths, and no clinical trial has been conducted for this purpose. Literature aplenty states that puberty blockers are mostly safe, with the not incidental caveat of unknown long-term effects. Available science shows that puberty blockers cause lower bone density and may affect brain development. Cross-sex hormone therapies can cause irreversible changes, including infertility, and may contribute to forms of cancer. Like puberty blockers, they are not FDA approved for transgender youth.

Blockers and hormone therapies are leveraged because gender dysphoria can cause depression, but taking these drugs, or even engaging in social transitioning, for example, cross-dressing and name and gender changes, also leads to increased use of drugs and depression as trans youth wrestle with an imposter syndrome. After gender reassignment surgery, the depression obviously doesnt go away. In this population, one study showed that suicide attempts were 4.8X higher than a control group, suicides 19X higher, and psychiatric hospitalizations 2.8X higher. Trans advocates have discounted the outcomes and pointed to other research that shows positive outcomes, but these studies are qualified with comments like, the evidence base for sex reassignment is of very low quality due to the serious methodological limitations of included studies, and research limitations preclude solid and generalizable conclusions. The solution is to increase the number of people that have taken cross hormones and had gender reassignment surgery. The problem with this is that these actions should never be encouraged, even for the admirable aim of advancing science.

How many gender dysphoric children today and tomorrow will be encouraged to undergo detrimental experimental medical therapies because they were prescribed the wrong cure by social justice government advocates blazing blindly forward on a path to sexual-orientation equality? Potentially millions. According to a 2021 Gallup survey 1.8% of Gen Zers (19-24) identify as transgender. With an 80% desistence rate, for youth (under 18) the percent of youth transgenders is likely to be 9%. This compares with 0.3% to 0.6% for the general population.

The vast majority of trans youth later decide they are comfortable in their birth bodies. In eleven studies conducted between 1972 and 2013, 20% of trans youth chose to continue their transgender transition as adults or to be crossdressers, 12% specifically chose to be homosexuals, 6% to be straight, and 55% to be cisgender without specifying sexual orientation.

In most of the world, it is legally forbidden to change your gender. Many forbid changing your name to one that reflects a non-birth sex. Some permit both if you have undergone gender reassignment surgery, and some require sterilization with surgery. However, many nations forbid this surgery, of which 2/3rds criminalize changing your sex, people that identify as transgender without reassignment surgery, or cross dressing. Americas vigorous approach to reaffirming a youths choice of gender and later sex is quite different in the world. A story on the May 23 edition of Sixty minutes on Sunday illustrated that for some youths, the approach causes debilitating outcomes.

There is so much unknown about the medical and social side effects of transgender therapies, social transitioning exercises, and reassignment surgeries. Or even why children choose to identify as trans youth. It would be a tragedy if children who once declared a cross-sex pronoun but later desisted, in the interim were diagnosed transgender and encouraged by government officials to undergo experimental medical therapies or social conditioning, or to experiment with sex, with results that impacted their mental or physical health, ability to procreate, chance of dying, living on the street, or being sexually assaulted.

The House of Representatives has passed H.R. 5, the so-called Equality Act and H.R.7, the Paycheck Fairness Act. The MOMMIES (Maximizing Outcomes for Moms through Medicaid Improvement and Enhancement of Services) Act is up for a vote. All these acts provide encouragement for transgender people by saying that the government reaffirms your choice. President Biden lets trans youth know that your President has your back. But does he? Does Congress? They dont know enough to have their backs. But they know enough to say that what we are doing in schools to encourage transgender youth can have many dangerous consequences; and we need to exercise extreme caution until we have more data, and this cannot mean using our children as guinea pigs. Even in the interest of science.

Image: Pixabay

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
In a recent interview, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stated that the pressure President Biden put on Israel for what he called the premature cease-fire announced May 20th was due to the fact that at least half the Democrats are hostile to Israel, while the other half are afraid of those hostile to Israel. Earlier on, U.S. Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn had tweeted that the conflict in Israel would not be happening if President Trump were in office.

It is of course impossible to prove historical what-ifs. Nor are correlations proof of causation. One can only note that the Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians  in which about 4,000 missiles were launched from Gaza on cities in Israel over 11 days  took place after President Bidens abrupt reversals in U.S. policies towards Israel and the Middle East of the previous administration. If the unconditional Egypt-brokered ceasefire holds, commentators on Middle East affairs will be busy with assessments as to who has come out of this better off on Bidens watch.

It was unquestioningly assumed that the regional order in the Middle East resulted from Arab states unwilling to normalize relations with Israel without first resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict. This presumption was ditched when the Abraham Accords saw a strategic realignment of the moderate Gulf states against Iran.

Arguably, the accords were the most significant breakthrough in Middle East diplomacy in over four decades. The announcement of the UAEs agreement to establish full diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations with Israel in August 2020, followed by Bahrains announcement of a similar agreement less than a month later, brought about a rapprochement between Israel and the moderate Gulf Sunni states that was inconceivable to most observers just a few months before the accords. Sudan and Morocco later signed on to similar agreements with Israel in the months that followed at the tail end of the Trump presidency.

President Biden is eager to resurrect the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to clean up the mess created by President Trump in the Middle East, according to the narrative favored by leaders of the Democratic party and mainstream U.S. media. Perhaps most striking to observers of the ongoing U.S.-Iran indirect negotiations in Vienna is the impression that it is the U.S. that is desperate to conclude a resumption of the nuclear deal even though it is Iran that is at the edge of economic bankruptcy. President Trumps harsh economic sanctions had brought the Iranian economy to the brink of financial collapse. The value of the Iranian rial currency fell by more than half in 2020 alone. Iran faces one of its worst budget deficits since the theocracy came into power four decades ago.

Spending vast sums of money on supporting proxy militias in Palestine, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere, together with developing programs on nuclear enrichment and ballistic missiles, Iran drastically depleted its foreign reserves. According to the IMFs latest regional economic survey, the Islamic Republic had only $4 billion of foreign exchange reserves in 2020, down from $122.5 billion in 2018. The IMF report is perhaps the clearest evidence to date about the dire state of Irans economy.

In its zealous desire to resume the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran which President Trump left in 2018, the Biden administration has been engaged in negotiations with Iran in Vienna and openly discussing the lifting of sanctions while Hamas, the Iranian-supported terrorist militia in Gaza, was attacking Israeli civilians with missile barrages. It is remarkable that these in-direct negotiations continue even as Iranian leaders praise Hamas for having launched its attack on Israel  using missiles and rockets supplied by Iran.

It would seem that the Biden administration is fully committed to continuing President Obamas project to create a new Middle East political order which places Iranian interests above that of Americas traditional Middle East allies and seeks to create daylight between Israel and the U.S. While President Biden has stated that he supports Israels right to self-defense, he has also shown sympathy to the rabid anti-Israel left-wing of the Democratic party.

If actions speak louder than words, it is instructive to note that among President Bidens first executive orders in office was the order to revoke the previous administrations designation of Houthis in Yemen as a terrorist organization. This was followed in short order by Houthi attacks on civilian infrastructure and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. If the Houthis can attack the Saudis with impunity, the logic surely follows, why not Hamas attacks on Israelis? The message to Iran is not lost: Aggressions by its proxy militias in the region bear little consequence under a Biden administration intent on assuaging the Iranian leadership for a resumption of the 2015 nuclear deal.

For the Iranian leadership, the prize is around the corner. The unconditional ceasefire between Hamas and Israel leaves open the pathway for the erosion of the Abraham Accords as Saudi Arabia and the UAE are pushed to negotiate with Iran on the latters terms. As U.S. sanctions on Iran are lifted, financial and military aid to terrorist militias in the region will once again resume while the U.S. itself maintains its freeze on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Melanie Phillips, a veteran journalist of Middle Eastern affairs, in noting President Obamas visceral hostility to Israel, pointedly asks, might Biden be turning America into Israels foe? Obamas hubristic vision  a U.S. disengaged from the Middle East as a legitimized Iran and the Gulf Sunni states share the Persian Gulf while Israel finds its rightful if passive place as just another state in the region with no special relationship with America  seems to be shared by the Biden administration. In pursuing the resumption of the nuclear deal with Iran at all costs, it risks making the Middle East geopolitical order even more unstable than it already is. This could well be Bidens Chamberlain moment, promising peace in our time but failing tragically. The advantage is now with Iran.

Tilak K Doshi is a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore. The views expressed in the article are those of the author alone and not of the institution to which he is affiliated with.

IMAGE: Protest in Iran, 2019. YouTube screengrab.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
To my Jewish brethren who in their heart of hearts think they are being virtuous, you must understand that the Black Lives Matter movement that so many of you marched for, sent money to, and still support with admiration has at its core the deep desire to annihilate Jews and destroy Israel. Here is the proof. In 2015 at a panel discussion at Harvard Law School, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors called for the end of Israel.

It does not matter what denomination of Judaism you belong to or if you even believe in G-d but as a thinking being you must begin now to acknowledge that supporting a group that calls for the annihilation of your fellow Jews should go against every fiber of your moral compass.

There is no distinction between hating a country and seeking to wipe out its inhabitants. Israel is always the target with leftist groups like Black Lives Matter.

In fact, the latest form of Jew hatred is the delegitimization of the Jewish people. It "represents a fundamentally different set of characteristics from prior expressions of hate" and it operates "differently from prior forms of anti-Jewish expression."

Historically, the Anti-Defamation League's 'model of measuring anti-Semitic attitudes focused on group traits and individual behaviors. This approach, developed in the post Second World War era, does not take into account how as a people and nation-state, Jews today are being re-defined and demonized.' The 'global Jew' is being identified as destroying established cultural and religious norms while promoting Jewish influence and control. The other objective, in connection with this new assault, is the delegitimization of the State of Israel.

In particular, the left-wing Jew hater is now using "whiteness" as a part of the new Jew hatred -- race being a core belief of Critical Race Theory taught in many schools in the United States.

Todays anti-Semitism has a different set of 'influencers' as social media provides the key delivery system of hate messaging. 'Whiteness' and 'Delegitimization' are the new standards by which Jews and Judaism are being judged. For the anti-Semite, Israel serves as the collective embodiment of the 'international' Jew. These ideas are being constructed and introduced on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Messenger, and various other social media platforms.

Zionism is not racist. Hatred of a people and a desire to commit genocide of them is racist. It was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who stated: "When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You're talking anti-Semitism."

As alleged People of the Book, far too many Jews have ignored the importance of words. Thus equity seems to mean equality. So progressive Jews argue that rights should be afforded to one group of people but not to another by dint of their race. And they disingenuously deem this the banner of inclusion and equity.

Do they not see the illogic, the hypocrisy, the hatred?

When you left your kippah at the synagogue, did that mean you abandoned common sense? To paraphrase Hillel, if you are not for yourself first, you are actually not for anybody else. Do you not realize you are being used, in fact, abused as a tool of the Left who simultaneously seeks to wipe you out?

You ignore the fact that "in the critical social justice paradigm, Jews, who have never been seen as white for those for whom being white is a moral good, are now seen as white by those for whom whiteness is an unmitigated evil."

You who keep watering down Jewish education, have accepted that social justice is the same as tzedakah or true righteousness. They are not. Thus, you allow ignorance of Judaism as well as cultlike acceptance of Critical Race Theory to muddy the waters.

You would not be indifferent to the ethical beliefs of business partners, yet you ignore the present administration's anti-Israel staffers -- who publicly show their animus to Jews and the State of Israel. What you probably don't know about 'Joe and the Jews' should truly shock and worry you!

You continue to subscribe and read the New York Times despite its massive fabrications about Israel.

You send your children to universities that teach the most heinous lies about Israel. Why are you not up in arms that ill-educated students proudly claim to be woke as they send money to terrorists whose goal is to blow up Israeli kindergartens? Why are you not banging on the doors of administrators demanding that your Jewish children be safe at college?

Why is American Jewry closing its eyes to the calamitous events that directly impinge on them? Jew hatred attacks are on the rise in the country but too many Jews do not want to investigate the Jew hatred teachings of Islam or acknowledge that the Left has always despised Israel.

Instead, they continue to vote Democrat even though there is "the emergence of a new sort of anti-Semitism in the Democratic Party. The new form of Jew-hatred is a combination of anti-Zionism and identity politics. It is convoluted and hard to follow. But contradictions and all, it has arrived."

Consider that "logic is itself seen as a tool of white supremacy, thereby invalidating it as a legitimate way of making a case. Perhaps this is how people who subscribe to critical social justice ideology can be blind to the inherent anti-Semitism within it. They must adopt the doctrine as a belief system rather than doing the critical thinking necessary to work through its internal logic."

The upshot is that progressive rabbis will absolve Rev. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, for his Jew hatred language demonizing Israel just after the Trump administration opened the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

Moreover, progressive Jews accommodate the Democrats' new Jew hatred as they agree "to redefine Judaism as progressivism and anti-Semitism as everything that isn't progressive. And if Democrats express anti-Semitism, and even build themselves up on the basis of such expressions, as Tlaib and Beinart and Warnock do, then that's a good thing" because that is what progressives do -- they assert their hatred of Jews, Judaism, and Israel.

So to be a good progressive Jew, you must despise Israel, denigrate Judaism, and ignore attacks on Jews.

Where are the million-people marches to support Israel, to push back on the Jew hatred of Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and foes of Israel like Elizabeth Warren, who call for Israel to be banned from obtaining U.S. military aid? Never once is the issue of Palestinian Jew-hatred raised.

American Jews, where is your indignation when "no one notices or cares about the blinding Jew-hatred that is at the very core of modern Palestinian national identity? They can only be made in a world where that hatred is the 'elephant in the room' and everyone studiously ignores it, while blaming the consequences of that hatred -- political violence, Israeli counter-terror measures, war -- on the victims of the hatred, the Jews."

In fact, "[t]he key to the world's prolonged success in ignoring the Palestinian [hatred of Jews] is the widespread denial that anti-Zionism, and using a double standard to judge Israel, are forms of anti-Semitism. In a world where it is unacceptable to say that the Jews alone among the people of the earth are to be denied self-determination in their ancestral homeland, it would be similarly unacceptable for the Palestinians to define their national identity through their rejection of the Jews and co-opting of Jewish history."

Leftist Jews see Israel as a cause of Jew hatred, not a response to it. Where are the Jewish leaders who speak out against the demonization of Jews? When will Jews stop supporting nongovernmental organizations such as Human Rights Watch that lie and claim that Israel is an apartheid state? Nothing could be further from the truth.

As George Orwell asserted "During the times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." American Jews need to seek the truth and throw off the cape of left-wing treachery. It will be truly liberating to be freed from the House of Bondage of leftist and progressive ideology.

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com

Image: Danny Hammontree

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
The GOP must die. The Grand Old Party is over and unsalvageable. The name finds its origin in the post-Civil War era as the party that saved the Union, but whatever positive connotations may have come with the GOP moniker are dead and gone now. Today, GOP conjures images of gray hairs at the country club and board meetings at Halliburton, and it seems the only thing it is interested in saving is the status quo. There was a time when these perceptions could be dismissed as partisan pejoratives, but at some point, Republican Party leadership chose to embrace and embody the characterization. Fool me twice, shame on me.

As of late, GOP legacies like Paul Ryan and Liz Cheney have decided that they will draw a line in the sand and say "you're either with us or against us." Denouncing the effective but unpolished populism of Donald Trump, they paint the future of the Republican Party as bleak should it continue down this path of uncouth but wildly successful policy. The answer, of course, is a resounding "bye Felicia!" Believing themselves the arbiters of conservatism, they have determined that populism has no place in the Republican Party. By their standards, conservatism amounts to congeniality and infinite surrender. Like a toothless dog that threatens to gum you to death, the GOP has no bite. And I'm left questioning whether it wants to?

Time and again the GOP is swift to embrace the grassroots enthusiasm, fundraising, and voter recruitment efforts, but want none of the policy demands of the foot soldiers of the party. With Joe Biden's paint still fresh on the walls of the White House in January, the RNC began sending out fundraising emails imploring party members to fund the advancement of Trump's America. Trump for his part sent a cease and desist to the RNC demanding they divest from the Trump name in their efforts. The party that couldn't be bothered to mount a legitimate defense of Trump or his supporters is happy to solicit funds to advance candidates who will toe the party line and extinguish the torch of America First. This GOP feels a lot more like controlled opposition than a legitimate alternative to the statism of the Left.

Populism is not foreign to the Republican Party. In its history, perhaps only Teddy Roosevelt and Donald Trump have been elected on the Republican ticket. Still, other candidates like Ron Paul or Pat Buchanan wielded effective ideological influence on the party's grassroots members. Given the active nature of the grassroots, a party that wishes to exert influence in the national conversation cannot ignore its most politically active members. Because populism is beholden first and foremost to the people and not the party, there is a measure of fluidity that allows the candidate to bring new voices into the fold that strict adherence to party platforms does not. The downside to the populist proposition is question marks around adherence to ideological tenets of the party. Considering the nature of the politicians and their duplicitous tendencies, this does not seem much of a departure from the status quo.

The grassroots of the Republican Party are nothing if not tenacious. Like a predator testing the electric fences for weak spots, the grassroots have consistently mounted offensives against the GOP establishment, only to be rebuffed by the deep pockets and entrenched bureaucracy of Washington, D.C. At times they have found a measure of success in elevating their strongest dark horse candidates such as Ronald Reagan or Donald Trump. Re-emerging from the Paleoconservative/Neoconservative schism was the Tea Party movement of the 2010s, which sought a renewed commitment to fiscal conservatism and a rejection of the offensive wars of the George W. Bush era. From that class of politicians, we saw the rise of several Goldwater-style conservatives, who by remaining true to themselves have seen a measure of success and staying power. Conservatives like Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Ron Johnson have pushed to the head of the influence pack in terms of the public conversation, though Johnson emerged as a vocal leader later in the Trump years and has yet to declare for re-election in 2022.

Still, others have reverted to their natural roots and find themselves on the waning end of political sway. Scott Brown of Massachusetts lasted a mere three years in office. The anti-Trump Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania has declared his retirement, and Marco Rubio finds himself on the outs with strict Constitutionalists who prefer less of a war hawk. #NeverTrump moderates like Jeff Flake and Bob Corker saw their flames extinguished, and some milquetoast moderates who remain, like Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, or Lisa Murkowski, find themselves increasingly at odds with their own party. The emergence of MAGA has done nothing if it has not exposed the establishment for what it is: a dying power structure lashing out in self-defense.

Having exhausted their support from corporations and the religious right, the GOP establishment is now in a race to the bottom of identity politics. They call it recruitment, but I call it debasement. Whether promoting record numbers of female or minority candidates or elevating the Caitlyn Jenners of the political world, the GOP has lifted a page from the Democrat playbook. The American Left is quick to pounce on conservative minority candidates as tokenism, and, the way in which they are paraded around specifically on their minority status, I have a hard time disagreeing with the label. Identity politics is the entire electoral strategy of the American Left, so if anyone knows tokenism it's the Left. All of this is not to say that all minority candidates of the conservative persuasion are token candidates, but touting ethnicity, gender, or sexuality as an electable virtue certainly fits the definition. The GOP wants to emulate the success of Donald Trump's appeal to minorities, which saw the highest minority Republican support since 1960. They are engaging classes of people based on identity instead of promoting good policy. In doing so, the GOP eliminates any modicum of separation between themselves and their counterparts on the Left.

With razor-thin margins for error in government, the current class of GOP establishment consistently fails their constituents. Whether it's a failed impeachment born of the opposition, or a last-act thumbs down by John McCain on the repeal of the ACA, what remains of the GOP establishment lashes out like a cornered dog. It's past time to put Ol' Yeller down. If the Republican party is to survive, it needs to return to its ideological roots and put personal animus aside. It must weed out its phonies and frauds and empower its grassroots to take up its cause. It must listen to its devotees and adapt accordingly. The Republican Party has always been a party of superior ideas, only lacking effective voices to see them to fruition. If the Republican Party is to survive, the GOP must die.

Brian Parsons is a digital marketing consultant by trade, a proud husband and father, saved by grace & an unabashed paleoconservative. You can follow him at WithdrawConsent.org or find his weekly opinion column in the Idaho State Journal. Gab, MeWe, Email

Image: Julian Hochgesang

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
In 2021, if you are a pessimist and a cynic, you will invariably be proven right. I mention this because in April I wrote that Californias new law placing so-called transgender women in womens prisons put women at risk. Abigail Shrier, who has written about transgender pressure on girls, reports that women in Californias prisons who have had to share space with so-called transgender women have indeed felt at risk. This matters to everyone because, if the Democrats do away with the filibuster, they will pass the Equality Act which, in turn, will place all women in America at risk, whether in prisons, in locker rooms, and in restrooms.

Preliminarily, something needs to be done about those men whose gender dysphoria genuinely seems them believing they are women. Placing these men in a mens prison is so cruel it violates the Eighth Amendments prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, for these mens fellow inmates subject them to horrific sexual assaults. However, placing men who claim to be transgender in the womens prison population is not a solution.

Abigail Shrier, who has come under withering fire for writing that theres enormous societal pressure on American girls to declare themselves transgender, has an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal (behind a paywall) explaining that the influx of men into Californias womens prisons is genuinely dangerous for the women inmates. To put a human face on the problem, Shrier spoke with five current and former inmates in Californias womens prison system.

Shrier explains that, in California, men who claim to be women must be treated as women  which means they get housed in the womens rooms, regardless of their surgical or hormonal status. While the women Shrier spoke with were sympathetic to the plight of so-called transgender in mens prisons and were amenable to sharing prison space with men who had been surgically emasculated, the problem arises with those men who come equipped with male parts and hormones  and male height and strength. Additionally, Shrier explains that, even if these men genuinely believe that they are women, the majority of them are not innately homosexual. Instead, theyre still heterosexual, although they class themselves as lesbians.

In Californias Chowchilla, women prisoners are all mixed together, regardless of the severity of their crime. Additionally, rather than two prisoners to a cell, eight women will share a room. Therell be a sink and toilet inside the cell, separated from the room by a cowboy (or saloon) door.

Tyrina Griffin, a woman who spent 20 years in the womens prison at Chowchilla, described the problem:

Theyre getting a full erection, she said. So youre locked in this room, 24/7, with a man and theres nothing you can do about it. If you tell the police you dont want to live with a man, or youre afraid or whatever, youll get a disciplinary infraction. So youre basically punished for being scared. [snip] She added that women inside the prison are looking for ways to arm themselves. They made it into a more of a war zone, to me, because I know women who are like, I refuse to live with a man, and if I have to make me a prison knife to defend myself, then Im going to do that. . . . I mean, you know how strong men are. Imagine one woman trying to defend herself against this big ol man, and the men coming in, they are like 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6, 300 pounds. These men look like Hercules compared to these little women. Can you fault the woman for actually trying to defend herself?

The women arent the only ones who are scared. The female guards in Chowchilla are afraid, too, because men are more violent  and, unlike the guards in mens prisons, the guards at Chowchilla have only batons and pepper spray. They also may be called upon to cavity search a transgender woman because prisoners are entitled to ask for a woman to conduct such a search.

If California, which has a supermajority of Democrats in its Assembly, wants to go down this path, it can. Its one state out of many, which means that those who dont want to live the California way can, at least in theory, leave. (Sadly, family commitments or economics leave many conservatives trapped in the state.) However, if the Democrats kill the filibuster and pass the Equality Act, there is no escaping. The California experiment will become the law of the land and everyones wives, daughters, and mothers will be at risk.

Americas prisons must protect vulnerable men who think theyre women  but they need to figure out a better way to do it than to put actual women at risk.

IMAGE: Mug shot of Andre Patterson.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
See also: Bidens Big Lies in Tulsa

See also: Dems court-packing threats may be backfiring

I was utterly disgusted yesterday watching President Biden speak in Tulsa on the solemn occasion of the 100th anniversary of race riots there that cost lives and destroyed a community of African Americans. Biden dishonored the memory of the victims by politicizing the event, primarily directing his bile against Republicans, whom he lied about and demonized as racists. I turned off the coverage and missed Biden very foolishly turning his lies into an attempt to bully fellow Democrats whose support he badly needs.



YouTube screen grab.

Landon Mion reports in Townhall:

Biden said during a speech memorializing the Tulsa Race Massacre: I hear all the folks on TV saying, 'Why doesn't Biden get this done?' Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House and a tie in the Senate, with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends.

As Mion notes:

 both senators have voted with the president 100 percent of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Nothing quite as good as being lied about, after having loyally supported the liar, to make a senator reconsider the wisdom of unqualified support.

Both Senators Manchin and Sinema face electorates that are not fully blue and benefit from the public perception back home that they are independent enough to stand against Biden from time to time.

Democrats seem to be doing a lot of foolish bullying lately. Maybe this reflects a party that has degenerated into toying with tyranny, in which bullying is the norm. But I suspect that the nearly unanimous media support they receive has deceived them into believing that the public is totally with them the way that the Fourth Estate is.

I don't think that the brainwashing that the education industry has been inflicting on the last three generations of children has been effective enough to counter the natural resistance Americans have toward bullies. My reading both the senators n question is that they cherish their own independence and are more likely to react to oppose Biden than to cave in to him and the pressures his handlers can bring to bear on them.

But I might be wrong...

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
A Reuters account of President Biden's Tulsa talk, June 1, reported that the "Intelligence Community" has "concluded" that white supremacists constitute "'the most lethal threat to the homeland.'"

BIDEN: "According to the intelligence community, terrorism from white supremacy is the most lethal threat to the homeland today." pic.twitter.com/Mm0KISuiyy  Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 1, 2021

We are justified in absorbing this assertion and saying: "Where did we hear something like this before?" How about October 2016, when said "Intelligence Community concluded" that the Russians were behind the hacking of H. Clinton's emails, or concluded that the Russians are trying to make Donald Trump president? Those were all lies, Big Lies.



YouTube screen grab.

All intelligent people of goodwill should have "concluded" by now that when the media or a totalitarian-minded Democrat says the Intelligence Community has concluded something, a Big Lie follows, a Big Lie promoted by the Deep State to turn day into night, red into black, reason into craziness.

The Reuters account further reported that Biden declared that "the deadly attack" on January 6, on the Capitol, and state efforts to limit voting, are "echoes of the same problem"  the "lethal threat" to the country from white supremacists, apparently.

How dare Biden the Big Liar refer to Jan. 6 as "a deadly attack" when the only person killed was an unarmed civilian named Ashli Babbitt, shot by an unidentified Capitol cop? How dare Biden accuse states that enact laws, to ensure that voting will be fair and honest, of echoing white supremacist notions!

Republicans in Congress must respond immediately and forcefully to Biden's Big Lies, or some GOPers may find themselves targeted for arrest, accused of "hate crimes." Republicans must speak out forcefully against this blatant demagogue now ensconced in the White House, or we slide down the slippery slope to dictatorship.

And in responding, a Jim Jordan, say, or an Elise Stefanik might point to recent homicide statistics in Chicago this year, where, according to the Chicago Tribune, through May 18, 227 mostly young black men have been killed. Rep. Jordan or Rep. Stefanik might then inquire: were the majority of black victims of homicides in Chicago gunned down by white supremacists?

Biden is clearly conjuring up an imaginary "white supremacist" as bogeyman, just as anti-Semites in Europe conjured up images of Jews as bogeyman.

Something evil is occurring in the Biden administration. Bogeymen are generally used as distractions from forthcoming abusive measures to be taken by a government intending to amass oppressive powers for tyrannical aims. Biden, by his remarks on the centennial of the Tulsa tragedy, has made it perfectly clear that, in his dotage, he has become a demagogue  or else is fronting for a demagogic cabal. As Hamilton makes clear in the middle of Federalist No. 1, rulers who are demagogues end up as tyrants.

Biden's remarks are alarming and threaten our democratic institutions, indeed. One fears that the failure to respond immediately and forcefully to Biden's demagogic Big Lies will lead, before November 2022, to mass arrests of conservatives and the use of the "hate crime" cudgel to ban conservative talk radio and websites.

Conservative populists must declare, now, "We will not be browbeaten by Biden."

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
We all thought Obama was the radical leftist president, but, compared to Biden, he was a piker. It seems that there are no limits to what Biden will do to destroy America. Based upon an election of dubious integrity and a razor-thin margin in Congress, Biden is acting as if he has a massive mandate to turn America into a different country entirely by destroying the economy, turning the military into a leftist college campus, and abandoning allies and embracing enemies. His most significant act to date, though, is his erasure of the southern border, turning it into a glide path for illegal aliens to flood the country.

On Tuesday, Biden ended Trump's "Remain in Mexico" policy, which allowed for an orderly amnesty process. Via a memo from Alejandro Mayorkas, who makes a joke out of his title as Homeland Security secretary, we've returned to the system by which everybody enters America illegally; the administration smuggles them all over the country, overwhelming and destroying existing communities; and the illegal aliens vanish, never to appear for their amnesty hearings.

Ostensibly, Biden is just shifting administrative rules around a bit. A little of this, a little of that. An order to ICE or border patrol, a redefinition of refugee to include anyone who is poor, a new policy for amnesty claims, a nice little speech here and there  what's the big deal? In fact, though, what Biden has done is to erase entirely America's immigration policy and sovereignty.

The problem is that the occupant of the White House doesn't get to do what Biden is doing. While a president has some discretion in enforcing America's laws (he may press harder on some than on others), he does not have the right to erase them. Biden is doing the equivalent of those anti-gun activists who think they're being clever when they say, "Well, if we can't ban guns under the Second Amendment, there's nothing to stop us from banning bullets." Yes, there is. You cannot vitiate constitutional principles or legislative actions by undermining them to the point of meaninglessness.

Biden put his hand on the Bible on January 20, 2021 and swore, "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." That Constitution says it's Congress that makes the laws, not the person in the White House. And Biden, by vitiating our immigration laws, is infringing on legislative prerogatives.

Lawlessness breeds more lawlessness. Biden's conduct has opened the door to traffickers, smugglers, and coyotes. Three weeks ago, smugglers dumped two little girls over a wall; abandoned a six-year-old boy in the desert; and left five little girls, one a crawling baby, in the dirt. Yesterday, it was another terrified child abandoned by smugglers. Listen to his screams, and remember that Joe Biden brought them to you:+

Smugglers abandoned a 5-year-old boy just steps away from the Texas border because they expected his parents to pick him up, leaving the wailing tot to beg them, "Don't leave," according to a report. A man and a woman were caught on cellphone video obtained by Agence France-Presse helping the young boy across the Rio Grande river but then leaving him by a barbed-wire wall at an underpass marking the border between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas, last Thursday. The couple then turn around and walk back across the river, leaving the boy alone. The boy, holding a teddy bear, screams amid his sobs, "Where are you going? ... No, no, no. Don't leave." The woman told AFP that the child's parents live in the US and that the boy is from Mexico.

And just to pile on the insult to America, Biden, after giving amnesty to 100,000 Haitians, is demanding amnesty for 11 million people who came here illegally. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I don't think people who sneak into a country illegally should be rewarded. They shouldn't get free education, free medical care, or welfare, and they definitely shouldn't be given a green card, which is the first step on the path to voting. (And you know that the Democrats will soon ensure that a green card is all that's needed to vote.)

Despite being a Catholic, Biden supports unlimited abortion (and is trying to make taxpayers fund it), and he lied when he swore his oath. I hope he wakes up in a cold sweat at night, every night, worrying about the state of his soul and the eternal price he's going to pay.

Image: Video screen grab.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
To date, 62.8% of the adult U.S. population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 133.6 million, or more than 40 percent, are fully vaccinated. The rate of new vaccinations has slowed to an average below 600,000 per day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats closing in on President Joe Bidens goal of 70% with at least one inoculation by July 4.
Alana Goodman of The Washington Free Beacon has uncovered a revealing blog entry dating from 2007, posted by Kamau Bobb, who currently serves as Google's head of diversity strategy. At the time, Goodman writes, Mr. Bobb was "a research associate in technology at Georgia Tech, according to his LinkedIn."

The post, which can be read in its entirety here, feigns sympathy for Jews as historic victims of oppression but castigates Israel's self-defense against attacks then, just as Israel is derided for "disproportionate" self-defense efforts against rocket attacks on civilians coming from Gaza last month (and maybe this month after Hamas rebuilds its stockpile, courtesy of the mullahs of Iran).

Here is the concluding paragraph:

If I were a Jew I would be concerned about my insatiable appetite for war and killing in defense of myself. Self defense is undoubtedly an instinct, but I would be afraid of my increasing insensitivity to the suffering others (sic). My greatest torment would be that I've misinterpreted the identity offered by my history and transposed spiritual and human compassion with self righteous impunity.

Read the whole thing for yourself and decide if Google's commitment to diversity entails bigotry.

As Ms. Goodman notes, Google has so far not responded to inquiries for comment.

Photo credit: Twitter icon.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
As we move into the summer months, it's a time for some random thinking:

While Democrats deny it, there is a labor shortage because government agencies are paying people not to work. Could another cause be that some individuals would be happy to stop their government handouts but cannot stand the thought of having to wear a mask all day as many employers still require?

For many, there is a question mark about whether or not Joe Biden is legitimately the president. Since most of Congress accepted the Electoral College vote results, Biden is legally the president  much as O.J. Simpson is legally not a murderer

Bill Gates wants privacy for his divorce but wants to interfere in the lives of everyone else.

Want to get an idea of what might be true? Watch what's being censored.

Thought so all along: the wearing of masks truly is political. Some wear masks so they will not be mistaken as Republicans.

Christian people cite the admonitions of Romans 13 regarding the obligation to obey government. It is important to note that God ordained government to enforce good and punish evil. Increasingly, government is rewarding evildoers and punishing those who do good.

Classicist scholar, public commentator, former farmer, and all-around Renaissance man Victor Davis Hanson says academics used to be like medieval court jesters: they could mock the king and society, but they had no power. They were harmless. Now, he says, academic nonsense has escaped the campus and is directing public policy.

Cleaning out some old books lately, I came across a photo of "Tank Man," the dissident who, during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, brought a column of Chinese tanks to a stop merely by standing in front of it. I took a picture of it. Given increasing censorship and Communist Chinese power (am I repeating myself?), I felt a need to preserve this image before it disappears.

Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors and former executive director says white supporters of BLM should "infiltrate white supremacist groups." And such allegedly universal groups can be found where?

A practice by the professional educator class that has long grated on me is the substitution of the word "learners" for "students." My gripe: Who says those formerly known as students are learning? And how can one learn without being a student?

As mask mandates recede around where I live, it's a joy to wander about engaging in mutual smiling and joking with strangers. In their efforts to save our lives, how have we allowed misguided public policy-makers to destroy living?

The 1960s civil rights movements had clear goals: end segregation and provide advanced opportunities in employment, housing, and more  objectives that were generally met. One problem with Critical Race Theory is that it presents nothing measurable  which means that it can be anything its proponents want it to be. That might be the whole idea, right?

A retired marketing professor, broadcaster, and journalist, Mike Landry is a freelance writer in Northwest Arkansas. He can be reached at landry_74464us@yahoo.com.

Image: Marko Milivojevic.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
When my children were under five and underfoot, I would occasionally use the original Blue's Clues as a babysitter. It was a safe, sweet show for little ones, who watched Blue give Steve clues about finding a scarf or apple. The 21st-century reboot, Blue's Clues & You, is a whole new ballgame. Based on its latest video  The Blue's Clues Pride Parade sing-along featuring Nina West  it's a babysitter if your sitter is a sex fiend.

Gay Pride (which celebrates a gazillion non-normative sexual orientations and "identities") is an inappropriate topic for preschoolers. The only thing that distinguishes LGBTers from other people is sex. Take away their sexual practices or sexual identities, and suddenly there's no Pride. They're just ordinary people.

Preschoolers shouldn't be forced to focus on or think about sex. They're curious about the difference between what boys and girls have in their pants, but once you name the parts, you're done. Indeed, one of the classic ways to tell if a child was a victim of pedophilia was if that child was too sexually precocious. That precocity was a sign of abnormal adult behavior toward the child. By inundating children with sexual material, the pedophiles are creating haystacks in which they can hide their needles.

That's why no one should be inundating three- to five-year-olds (the Blue's Clues & You demographic) with sexuality  and that's true whether it's the bell curve of heterosexuality or the noisy, demanding long-tail non-standard sexual deviations. Nevertheless, the video assures the tots that two mommies; two daddies; two non-binaries; aces (asexuals), bis (bisexuals), and pans (pansexuals); and a family of kings and queens are all perfectly wonderful because of "love."

The video is part of the LGBT crew's using drag queens to attract children by putting a shiny object in front of them. Drag queens, however, are not cute or friendly. They are fundamentally misogynistic representations of women courtesy of men who think they're better women than actual women. Think of it this way: drag queens are to women what blackface performers are to Blacks.

"Nina West" is a 42-year-old man named Andrew Levitt. If you listen to or watch his performances, you realize his fame is based on his shtick, not any discernible talent. Were he to perform as Andrew Levitt, he'd be the "live show" in the worst dive in Vegas. Moreover, his interest in children should be disconcerting, not celebrated.

The song, which Levitt sings dreadfully, is a bastardized version of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again." Patrick Gilmore wrote it in 1863 as a song of hope for soldiers to return from the Civil War's battlefields. I know that 99% of people don't care, but I find it offensive that this song is being reduced to a Gay Pride celebration.

(Although I guess when one considers that we are waging a cultural civil war, having the left co-opt this song is the mirror version of Allied troops taking for their own the German song Lili Marlene. My father, a German Jew who fought with the British in North Africa, always choked up whether he heard the song in German or English.)

We've only just started June, so it's not clear yet what the remainder of the month will bring. I still have no idea why heterosexuals need to be inundated with Gay Pride. I don't care how people live their personal lives. I care a great deal, though, when they saturate the culture and target children with their sexuality. I'll quote myself from more than a decade ago:

Those of us who came of age before the 1980s, when the Judeo-Christian, Western tradition, though battered, was still ascendant, view our sexuality as a private matter. We believe that our bodies are our own property, which means that we should not be touched or controlled sexually without our consent. A person raised with this worldview inevitably believes as well that his ability to control his body is the essence of his individuality. This physical individuality is the antithesis of slavery, which represents a person's ultimate lack of control over his body. Statist regimes, of course, cannot tolerate self-ownership, which is the natural enemy of government control over the individual. [snip] The practical problem for the Left when it tries to attack individuality as expressed through sexuality is the fact that a person's sense of an inviolate physical self develops quite early, during childhood: Once a child individuates, he becomes aware of being his own self. ... The most basic thing one can own is one's own self, and not letting others touch that self in ways you don't like is an exercise in self-ownership. (Emphasis mine.) The Left, therefore, needs to decouple self and body as early as possible in a person's development -- and it does this by bringing its own peculiar notions of sexuality into the realms of child-rearing and education.

Image: Blue's Clues & You screen grab.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
The public now has access to thousands of pages of official digital correspondence of Dr. Anthony Fauci that were obtained by BuzzFeed through a FOIA lawsuit and the Washington Post via a FOIA request. Naturally, it will take some time to work through them all, but already some interesting tidbits are grabbing attention.

BuzzFeed's own first article on the trove disparages Trump right away but nonetheless contains some gems. They reveal, for instance, that Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, which acted as censor on Wuhan lab origins of COVID, was actively corresponding with Fauci, who received

an update from Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook's plans for a coronavirus "information hub." Zuckerberg also asked whether the social media company could provide resources to accelerate vaccine testing.

Tamping down the lab origins also shows up, with some interesting redaction:

The emails show Fauci received a flurry of correspondence about the theory that coronavirus leaked from a lab in Wuhan. One such email sent to Fauci on April 16, 2020 by Francis Collins, the director of the National Institute of Health, under the subject line "conspiracy gains momentum" contained a link to a news story highlighting a Fox News report that said the allegation had merit. Fauci's response to Collins is entirely blacked out.

Interestingly, BuzzFeed notes that Fauci denied being muzzled by the Trump administration:

"I understand Vice President Pence has ordered you to not inform the public about Coronavirus without approval. This is quite terrifying, especially since Trump has already shown his desire to spread false or incomplete information about this public health crisis," [a] woman wrote. She had tracked down Fauci's email, which is not easily accessible on government websites, because she had a pressing question: "I'm planning to fly domestically TOMORROW [REDACTED]. Is it safe??" Of course, Fauci had urgent matters of his own to attend to, but he replied to the stranger anyway the next day. "There is much misinformation," he wrote back. "I actually have not been muzzled at all by the Vice President. And BTW, it is safe to fly domestically [REDACTED]."

Buzzfeed's selections generally reflect positively on Fauci. Others are less generous. Alex Berenson, for instance:

Oops. On March 2, Fauci estimates a 2% mortality rate from the virus. Hes off by a factor of 10, give or take.



This was the mistake that drove all the others. pic.twitter.com/onGRI5IXKa  Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) June 1, 2021

A separate tranche of 866 pages of Fauci's emails from March and April 2020 were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Washington Post, and the New York Post highlights some odd language:

Dr. Anthony Fauci corresponded with a Chinese health official early in the pandemic, acknowledging the "crazy people in this world" and vowing to "get through this together," a new report revealed Tuesday.

As President Trump was (correctly) blaming China for the spread of the virus (recall that China allowed foreign travel from Wuhan while banning domestic travel), Fauci got very chummy with the virus-creators and spreaders after receiving

an email March 28, 2020, from George Gao, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in which Gao apologized for saying the US and other countries were making a "big mistake" by not encouraging people to wear masks from the get-go, according to correspondence obtained by the Washington Post. "How could I say such a word 'big mistake' about others? That was journalist's wording. Hope you understand," Gao wrote Fauci. "Lets work together to get the virus out of the earth." The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases responded, "I understand completely. No problem. We will get through this together."

Update: Zachary Evans in National Review discovers that Fauci was thanked for dismissing the lab origins theory by none other than Peter Daszak, whose nonprofit was the cutout Fauci used to evade federal restrictions on funding gain of function research.

Peter Daszak, a zoologist whose non-profit steered U.S. funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, thanked Dr. Anthony Fauci for pushing back on the theory that the coronavirus leaked from a lab, in an April 2020 email published as part of a FOIA request by Buzzfeed. Daszak's organization, the EcoHealth Alliance, funneled $3.4 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health to the WIV to study bat coronaviruses between 2014 and 2019. While politicians and scientists in the U.S. have suggested that the novel coronavirus initially leaked from the WIV before spreading across the globe, Daszak has vehemently denied the allegation. "I just wanted to say a personal thank you on behalf of our staff and collaborators, for publicly standing up and stating that the scientific evidence supports a natural origin for COVID-19 from a bat-to-human spillover, not a lab release from the Wuhan Institute of Virology," Daszak wrote to Fauci on April 18, 2020.

I am no lawyer, but I wonder if this correspondence could be used to substantiate a charge of conspiracy if civil litigation or even criminal charges result from Fauci's potential role in creating this pandemic.

Update: Speaking of conspiracies, via the New York Post, we learn that the head of the NIH dismissed the lab origins as a "conspiracy."

The theory that the coronavirus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China was dismissed as a "conspiracy" by National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins in April of last year, newly released emails show.

Dr. Collins used the term "conspiracy" in an email responding to an appearance by Bret Baier on Sean Hannity's Fox News show. Isn't it fascinating that top health officials are monitoring Fox News and trying to disparage its (accurate) coverage?

The following day, April 16, Collins forwarded a link to a Mediaite writeup of Baier's "Hannity" appearance to Fauci, NIH Deputy Director Dr. Lawrence Tabak, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Deputy Director Clifford Lane, and NIH spokesperson John Burklow under the subject line "conspiracy gains momentum". The rest of the message is redacted. Fauci sent a reply to Collins at 2:45 a.m. April 17. That response is also redacted.

Hat tip: Roger Luchs.

Caricature by Donkey Hotey (cropped) CC BY-2.0 license.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
I'm not a Catholic, but I know that Catholic doctrine does not approve of homosexuality  something that is true for all of the traditional Judeo-Christian faiths. Thankfully, modern religious doctrine does not require persecuting gays, but it certainly doesn't include condoning deviations from the biological and religious norm of monogamous heterosexual relationships. That's why the decision by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See to fly a huge gay pride flag is a slap in the face to all practitioners of traditional religion in America.

Catholicism considers homosexual activity a sin:

Every human being is called to receive a gift of divine sonship, to become a child of God by grace. However, to receive this gift, we must reject sin, including homosexual behavior  that is, acts intended to arouse or stimulate a sexual response regarding a person of the same sex. The Catholic Church teaches that such acts are always violations of divine and natural law. Homosexual desires, however, are not in themselves sinful. People are subject to a wide variety of sinful desires over which they have little direct control, but these do not become sinful until a person acts upon them, either by acting out the desire or by encouraging the desire and deliberately engaging in fantasies about acting it out. People tempted by homosexual desires, like people tempted by improper heterosexual desires, are not sinning until they act upon those desires in some manner.

(The quoted language is from a longer tract at Catholic Answers that explains the principles clearly, tracing them back to Sodom and Gomorrah and addressing natural law and objections from the LGBT community.)

Whether you believe in this or not, it is standard Church doctrine. Even though Pope Francis has shown himself to be very gay-friendly (and, indeed, there are claims that he is a creature of a secret Vatican cabal known as the "Lavender Mafia"), he still stands behind the Church's teachings about homosexuality. Again, I am not debating the merits of those views; I am simply stating them.

Given the Church's stand on homosexual conduct, a position that Catholics across America espouse, what are Catholics to make of this?

The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See celebrates #PrideMonth with the Pride flag on display during the month of June. The United States respects the dignity and equality of LGBTQI+ people. LGBTQI+ rights are human rights. pic.twitter.com/Xentlnr16E  U.S. in Holy See (@USinHolySee) June 1, 2021

.@SecBlinken: As we celebrate Pride Month this June, let us not only observe how far we have come in the struggle for the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons, but also acknowledge the challenges that remain. Read Secretary Blinkens statement: https://t.co/Gdopgeceor pic.twitter.com/RbMH41opHt  U.S. in Holy See (@USinHolySee) June 1, 2021

Gay Pride is not about just being gay; it's about acting gay  which is exactly what the Church opposes. Hanging a huge flag in front of the embassy seems like a deliberate insult. Those who commented on Twitter were not impressed:

Now do Saudi Arabia  Ron Coleman (@RonColeman) June 1, 2021

Pope Francis is about as sympathetic as a Holy Father can be to the political left and this is how they treat him?



Its entirely possible that the Red Hats see this, decide no compromise with the left will ever be enough, and give up entirely on trying to please the left.  Hans von Rohr (@Roadants) June 1, 2021

The only flag being flown above any US Embassy should be the American Flag.  Douglas (@OoglerE5) June 1, 2021

While the embassy apparently did not go so far as to hang the Black Lives Matter flag on the anniversary of George Floyd's death, it took the time to post an homage to Black Lives Matter, a Marxist movement that seeks to break America by dividing it along racial lines  and that former believers have discovered is a giant fraud:

.@POTUS: "'I cant breathe.' Those were George Floyds last words. We cannot let them die with him. We have to keep hearing them. We must not turn away. We cannot turn away." #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/dxIQQRsN8W  Department of State (@StateDept) May 25, 2021

What the Biden administration is doing is neither normal nor unifying. And there was nothing abnormal about the Trump administration other than the Democrats insane rage and the media's lies.

Image: Twitter screen grab.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
(Image source from: thehindu.com)

11,303 new coronavirus cases reported in Andhra Pradesh:- After a steep decline of the new coronavirus cases in Andhra Pradesh, the new cases saw a slight rise today. A total number of 11,303 new cases reported in India in the last 24 hours out of the 93,704 samples that are tested in the country yesterday. The total number of cases reached 17,01,493 and the total number of people who recovered from coronavirus reached 15,43,722. With 104 new deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the total death tally in the state reached11,034. The total number of active cases for coronavirus in Andhra Pradesh are said to be 1,46,737. A total number of 18,257 people recovered from coronavirus in the last 24 hours in Andhra Pradesh.

The districts of Anantapur, Chittoor, East Godavari, Prakasam, Visakhapatnam and West Godavari reported high number of cases in the last 24 hours. The total number of samples that are tested in Andhra Pradesh till date are said to be 1,95,50,008. Andhra Pradesh is one of the most impacted states of the country due to coronavirus and the government of Andhra Pradesh imposed lockdown to bring situations to a control. A total number of 1,27,510 new cases of coronavirus are reported in India in the last 24 hours. The total caseload stands at 2,81,75,044 and the total number of people who got discharged from coronavirus are 2,59,47,629. With 2795 new deaths in the country, the total number of deaths reported in India till date are said to be 3,31,895.
Telangana celebrates its seventh formation day in a low key affair:- The state of Telangana was merged with Andhra Pradesh in the year 1956 in November after the people of Telugu got separated from Madras. The people and leaders of Telangana have fought for a separate state for years and the state of Telangana was formed on June 2nd, 2014 and today marks the seventh formation day of the state. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao extended his wishes to the people of the state on the occasion after many battles and sacrifices. It is heard that the struggle for the separate state started in 1955 even before the state got separated from Madras. Violent protests took place in 1969 and 1972. The protests gained momentum in the year 1997 after BJP extended their support for the movement.

KCR formed Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS) in the year 2001. Congress President Sonia Gandhi announced a separate state respecting the sentiments of the people of Telangana. With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the state government decided to celebrate the occasion in a low key affair. The Telangana government issued a series of instructions about the celebrations of the Formation Day. Any event celebrated should not exceed more than 10 people. The Flag Code 2002 will be followed and there should be no use of plastic flags informed the government. KCR, KTR, Harish Rao, Talasani Srinivas Yadav and others hoisted the national flags in their respective constituencies following all the issued guidelines.

(Video Source: NTV Telugu)
Huawei has launched a series of new tablets with HarmonyOS to expand its device lineup with a native OS. So HarmonyOS, Huaweis exclusive operating system, wont be limited to smartphones and watches anymore.

Huaweis new tablets are the MatePad 11, 10.8-inch MatePad Pro, and a 12.6-inch MatePad Pro. What makes these devices so special is HarmonyOS as an operating system. After a lengthy legal dispute with the Trump administration, all American companies were banned from doing business with Huawei, and Google stopped offering Android to the Chinese company.

Huaweis tablets with HarmonyOS are a response to Google

Everyone may have thought that not releasing Android to Huawei would lead to the death of the company and its products, but HarmonyOS was the trump card that kept Huawei alive. Moreover, it is unlikely that the Biden administration will lift Huaweis sanctions any time soon.

Advertisement

HarmonyOS offers an intimate experience to Android, and even some rumors claimed that it had shared code with Android that allow users to install Android apps on HarmonyOS devices.

Users will have access to the required application through Huaweis AppGallery. However, there is no denying the fact that HarmonyOS is not yet as rich as Android. Also, the number of applications supported in it may not meet the needs of some professional users.

Huawei used a Snapdragon SoC instead of its own Kirin chip

The 12.6-inch MatePad Pro, as the flagship device in the lineup, features the Kirin 9000E processor. But 10.8-inch MatePad Pro and MatePad 11 come with Snapdragon 870 and Snapdragon 865.

Advertisement

Huawei still hasnt released detailed specifications of the MatePad Pro or the MatePad 11, but there is some good information about 12.6-inch MatePad Pro thats popped up.

The biggest in the lineup comes with a 1600 x 2560 OLED screen, which shows a significant improvement, and it even mocks Apples iPads with LCD panels. Moreover, the design is impressive, and it has some smooth bezels that encompass the webcam on the top edge. You can also find three-camera at the back, according to leaks from Evan Blass.

As for the battery life, the 12.6-inch MatePad Pro features a 10,050mAh battery. According to Huawei, it can support 14 hours of video playback with a single charge. The battery supports 40W fast-charge with cable and 27W on wireless. The reverse wireless charging is set at 10W. The device also supports an M-Pencil stylus and keyboard.

Advertisement

The price and release date of these devices are unknown yet, and we have to wait for the Huawei announcements.
TSMC has reportedly begun the construction of its $12 billion chip factory in Phoenix, Arizona. The Taiwanese company plans to produce 5nm computer chips at this factory starting in 2024, Reuters reports. It is reportedly on track to achieve that target.

In April this year, TSMC announced that it will invest a whopping $100 billion over the next three years to increase chip manufacturing capacity. Around $30 billion of that spending will come this year. The investment is part of a combined effort to resolve the ongoing global semiconductor chip shortage.

That [$100 billion investment over the next three years] will give us enough manufacturing capacity to support the growth of our clients, TSMC CEO C.C. Wei said during the companys annual technology presentation to clients and investors earlier this week. The event was held online for the second year running because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Advertisement

The other two big chip manufacturers, Samsung and Intel, have also announced similar investment plans to increase their respective production capacity. All three companies are working on setting up new factories in the US. The American government has offered $54 billion in subsidies for the chip industry to lure more companies to its soil. The Biden administration is aiming to make America self-sufficient in terms of chip production by setting up more fabs in the country.

TSMC says construction of Arizona chip factory is on track

A report last month said that TSMC plans to build as many as six chip manufacturing plants in the US over a period of 10-15 years, including the one that is currently being set up in Phoenix. The worlds largest contract chip manufacturer is leading the fightback to mitigate the ongoing chip shortage. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the Taiwanese firm has grown into Asias most valuable manufacturing company. Its market capitalization of $563 billion is more than twice that of Intels.

Intel, though, is stepping up its chip manufacturing game as well. It recently announced a $20 billion investment to expand its chip production capacity to address shortages at US car plants. The company plans to set up two factories in Arizona.

Advertisement

The ongoing chip shortage problem has particularly affected the automobile industry. The shortage is of less advanced chips. However, TSMC isnt slowing down the development of its advanced 5nm and 3nm chips either. The company has reportedly developed a new version of its 5nm chip technology for automobiles.

Moreover, it is on track with the development of its 3nm chip technology as well. The company aims to start the mass production of 3nm chips in the second half of 2022.
Purchase an online subscription to our website for $7.99 a month with automatic renewal. Each online subscription gives you full access to all of our newspaper websites and mobile applications. To cancel you may contact Customer Service @ 256-235-9253 or email JPAYNE@ANNISTONSTAR.COM



For a limited time, for NEW SUBSCRIBERS ONLY a NEW ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION is just $59.99 for the first year. Existing customers do not qualify for the specials!



After the first year, well automatically renew your subscription to continue your access at the regular price of $69.99 per year. Please note *Your Subscription will Automatically Renew unless you contact Customer Service To Cancel*


There was no consistency or knowing what we would walk into every day and sometimes our unit would be turned upside down to prepare for an overflow, she said. Whenever I wasnt at work, I was usually taking pictures to get my head back into a safe space, so that I could prepare myself for the unknown.


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.
Officials said in the announcement that the state labor department would process all federal claims received before July 3. If someone is waiting for an eligibility determination for the programs that are ending, the department will ensure that they receive all payments owed to them for all weeks prior to July 3 that they are determined eligible for, they said.
A solicitor who watched the aftermath of the Fishmongers Hall terror attack warned that the police will kill him if he moves much more in a text message to his wife, shortly before suspect Usman Khan was shot dead.

Ian Waring observed events from his office window on London Bridge as 28-year-old convicted terrorist Khan was pinned to the ground by bystanders after he had killed two Cambridge graduates at a prisoner education event nearby.

Mr Waring said he began looking out of his office window to see the commotion below, at around 2pm on November 29 2019, and saw what he said looked like a bit of a pub fight.

Moments later, Khan was shot, initially twice, by police arriving at the scene, but continued to wriggle on the ground, Mr Waring said.

Usman Khan (West Midlands Police/PA)

Giving evidence at the inquest into Khans death on Wednesday, Mr Waring said police fired twice very rapidly, with the terrorist appearing to be struck in his chest.

Jonathan Hough QC, counsel to the inquest, recalled two texts Mr Waring sent to his wife, a minute apart, as the standoff reached its climax.

The first text read: All kicking off here. Weve just witnessed someone get shot by the police.

He had knives and was tackled to the ground by passes by.

The second text read: Hes moving around but police will kill him if he moves much more.

Office workers watching police near the scene of an incident on London Bridge in central London (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

Mr Waring told the inquest: He was lying down but moving, visibly wriggling around.

He was fidgeting, his jacket was slightly coming off.

Mr Hough asked: Is there any reason you wrote that police would kill him if he moved more?

Mr Waring replied: The way the situation was developing it wasnt going to end peacefully, as far as I could see.

The inquest previously heard there was a gap of just under 10 minutes between the first two shots and another 18 fired as Khan attempted to get up.

He was pronounced dead roughly an hour later once the scene had been declared safe.

Witnesses who saw knifeman Khan emerge from Fishmongers Hall and his subsequent standoff recalled initially being unaware of the seriousness of the situation.

Photographer Richard Cains, who was on the central reservation of London Bridge near the hall at the time, told the inquest: Ive been in town so often when movies are being shot, at first I thought they were filming a movie over there and didnt think more of it.

It wasnt something I was overly concerned with at that point.

And businessman Benjamin Tindall, who was further down the bridge towards Borough Market, said: They (Khans knives) looked almost fake, like a child had made them from tin foil, they looked so shiny.

It looked like a sketch show, then I realised the severity as it unfolded.

Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones (Family handout/Metropolitan Police/PA)

Khan killed Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, with knives strapped to his hands after being invited to an event for Learning Together at Fishmongers Hall.

The attacker, from Stafford, had been released from prison in December 2018 after serving eight years for plotting a terror training camp in Pakistan.

Khan was chased from Fishmongers Hall by three Learning Together attendees, who pinned him to the ground at London Bridge, where he revealed a suicide belt.

The inquest continues at Guildhall in the City of London.
Sanctions against Belarus for the hijacking of a passenger plane carrying a journalist who had been critical of the Lukashenko regime must be fully implemented, the head of Nato has said.

Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg met Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Downing Street on Wednesday and the pair discussed the future of the alliance ahead of a leaders meeting in Brussels on June 14.

Speaking to journalists afterwards, Mr Johnson suggested standing together against threats from the east is likely to feature heavily on the agenda for the summit, as the Nato chief said the Belarus incident had ties with the assertive behaviour of Russia.

Mr Stoltenberg said the arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich was absolutely unacceptable and added that Nato has called for him and his girlfriend to be released as well as for an impartial international investigation to be carried out.

He said: I welcome sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom and other Nato allies and the EU.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomes Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg to 10 Downing Street (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

And he said those steps send a message that there are consequences when the regime in Minsk behave the way they did.

But he added: I think the most important thing now is to make sure that those sanctions that are agreed are fully implemented, and I also know that the other allies are looking into whether they can step up further.

It has to be clear that, when a regime like the regime in Minsk behaves the way they did, violating basic international norms and rules, we will impose costs on them.

And Im also sure that the Nato leaders when they meet, this will be an issue they will discuss.

To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here to do so.

He said that, while this will focus on the behaviour of Belarus, it is also part of their response to a more assertive Russia.

He said: We also see Russia and Belarus are working closely together.

It comes after Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab urged Nato to work together to tackle the threat of hostile states like Russia.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Mr Raab spoke with their allied counterparts on Tuesday.

And Mr Raab, who also met Mr Stoltenberg on Wednesday, used Tuesdays meeting to reiterate his concerns about Russia, including the situation in Ukraine, GRU military intelligence officers being behind the deaths of two civilians and an explosion in the Czech town of Vrbetice, and the limiting of staff at the US and Czech Embassies  defying the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

He said: The UK is supporting and reinforcing Nato as we rise to the challenge of tackling hostile states like Russia, whilst also adapting to face new threats  from dangerous cyber attacks to poisonous misinformation, put about by those who want to undermine our way of life.

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said the arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich was absolutely unacceptable (Justin Tallis/PA)

Mr Johnson said Nato has been really outstanding in supporting the UK against Russian aggression, pointing to the Salisbury poisonings in 2018.

You will remember a lot of Nato allies came together and expelled diplomats in sympathy with the UK for what happened (with the) the assassination attempt on the Skripals, he said.

But what we want to do is make sure that we work together to defend, protect ourselves against cyber threats, against all the kinds of intimidation that some Nato members still feel there on Natos eastern borders, and we work together to protect against that.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Nato has been really outstanding in supporting the UK against Russian aggression (Justin Tallis/PA)

A Downing Street spokesman said: The Prime Minister stressed the UKs commitment to Nato as demonstrated through our record investment in defence spending and our commitment of cutting-edge technology, including the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier, to the alliance.

The leaders discussed a number of issues affecting Nato, including the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. They agreed on the need to ensure Afghanistan has a long-term peaceful and democratic future.

They also condemned the recent actions taken by Belarus to arrest Roman Protasevich and Sofia Sapega. They agreed the Belarusian regime must release political prisoners and provide a full explanation for what happened.

The Prime Minister emphasised his support for the secretary-generals vision for Natos future. The leaders agreed that Nato is essential to transatlantic security and has an important role to play in tackling wider geopolitical challenges like climate change.
One of Waless most notorious murderers is not suitable to be released from prison, according to the parole board.

Jeffrey Gafoor was sentenced to life in 2003 after advances in DNA technology linked him with the 1988 murder of sex worker Lynette White, 20, who was stabbed more than 50 times at her docklands flat in Cardiff.

A summary of a Parole Board hearing from May 21 this year states that, while Gafoor had been making progress since transferring to an open prison last year, Covid-19 restrictions prevented him making as much progress as hoped.

Gafoor has also been unable to undertake any temporary releases from prison because of the pandemic.

Sex worker Lynette White was stabbed to death in Cardiff in 1988 (South Wales Police/PA)

The document states: After considering the circumstances of his offending, the progress made while in custody, and the other evidence presented in the dossier, the panel was not satisfied that Mr Gafoor was suitable for release.

However, on assessing the benefits and risks of Mr Gafoor remaining in open conditions, the panel recommended that he should do so.

He had made considerable efforts to address his areas of risk and had demonstrated steady progress.

It is now for the Secretary of State to decide whether he accepts the Parole Boards recommendation.

Mr Gafoor will be eligible for another parole review in due course.

The review was told the probation service had yet to fully develop a release plan for Gafoor but would likely involve him living in supported accommodation with strict limits placed on his movements, contacts and activities.

The panel concluded this outline plan was not ready to manage Mr Gafoor in the community at this stage, they said.

His probation officer advised that a gradual return to the community would be needed, using temporary releases to allow Mr Gafoor to be thoroughly tested and to accommodate to the eventual needs of release on life licence.

The hearing was told that Gafoors risk factors at the time of the murder included a loss of control when angry or feeling under threat.

There had also been concerns about his emotional wellbeing, and he had been willing to use violence and weapons and had given insufficient thought to his victims.

While in prison Gafoor had undertaken accredited programmes to address his decision making, better ways of thinking and tendency to use violence.

Gafoor was jailed for life with a minimum of 13 years at Cardiff Crown Court in July 2003 after pleading guilty to murder when he was 38, confessing to stabbing Ms White with a knife more than 50 times following a row over 30.

At his sentencing, Patrick Harrington QC, prosecuting, told the court: He did not simply kill, he attacked in a barbaric manner, cutting, stabbing and slashing his victim over 50 times, cutting her throat, slashing both wrists, cutting, stabbing and slashing her face, arm and especially the torso.

It is tempting to talk of the defendant having attacked in a frenzy, but the pattern of distribution of injuries suggests a particular mindset.

Ms Whites murder originally resulted in three innocent men being jailed in 1990 before their convictions were quashed on appeal in 1992, and a reopening of the case led police to Gafoor 11 years later.

A 30 million investigation, Britains biggest police corruption probe, was launched into whether 13 South Wales Police officers perverted the course of justice in manipulating evidence, but in 2011 a trial of eight officers collapsed when documents went missing.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's opposition leader moved closer to unseating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday and forming a new government after agreeing terms with several parties including one led by Defence Minister Benny Gantz, a spokesman said.

During a 12-year run in top office, Netanyahu has been an often polarising figure at home and abroad. An end to his tenure may bring reprieve from domestic political turmoil, but major shifts in Israel's foreign policy appear less likely from the staunch U.S. ally.

Yair Lapid, a centrist tasked with forming the next governing coalition after the conservative Netanyahu failed to do so in the wake of an inconclusive March 23 election, has until midnight (2100 GMT) on Wednesday to present a final slate.

Lapid, a 57-year-old former TV host and author, has yet to clinch a deal with his main partner, nationalist Naftali Bennett, who would serve as premier first under a proposed rotation between the two men.

Lapid's Yesh Atid party and Gantz's centrist Blue and White said in a joint statement they had "agreed on the outlines of the government and core issues relating to the strengthening of democracy and Israeli society".

Gantz would remain defence minister in the new cabinet, the parties said.

MAY 30th 2021: Israeli opposition parties reach an agreement to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. - File Photo by: zz/Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx 2017 9/19/17 Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, speaks during the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 19, 2017 at the United Nations Building in New York City. (NYC)

Netanyahu, 71, has sought to discredit Bennett and two other rightists negotiating with Lapid, saying they were endangering Israel's security - an allusion to efforts to curb Iran's nuclear programme and manage ever-fraught Palestinian ties.

Keeping the door open to them, Israel's longest-serving leader, who was first elected prime minister a quarter-century ago, says he is still capable of forming the next government.

Deals have also been reached with the left-wing Meretz and centre-left Labour parties as well as with former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman's nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, a Lapid spokesman said.

The United Arab List was also negotiating to join the coalition. If it does, it would be the first time in Israel's history that an independent Arab party becomes a member of the government.

A source involved in the Lapid-led talks said the proposed new government would try to retain consensus by avoiding hot-button ideological issues such as whether to annex or cede occupied West Bank territory that Palestinians want for a state.

If Lapid misses Wednesday's deadline - marking the end of a 28-day presidential mandate to put together a coalition - parliament will have three weeks to agree on a new candidate.

Should that fail, Israel will hold another election, its fifth in some two years.
Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine has been given approval by the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency use.

The decision gives countries, funders, procuring agencies and communities the assurance that it meets international standards for safety, efficacy and manufacturing.

"The world desperately needs multiple COVID-19 vaccines to address the huge access inequity across the globe," said Mariangela Simao, assistant director-general for access to health products at the WHO.

"We urge manufacturers to participate in the COVAX facility, share their knowhow and data and contribute to bringing the pandemic under control."

It is the second Chinese vaccine to gain approval from the WHO, after Sinopharm was given the global body's official support on May 7.

It means that two of the eight vaccines on the international vaccine program known as COVAX, have been produced and developed in China. The primary aim of the program, overseen by the WHO, CEPI and the GAVI alliance, is to provide doses for at least 20 percent of all nations' populations.

The main trials for Sinovac's vaccine, called CoronaVac, took place in Chile, Turkey, Indonesia and Brazil.

Results in Chile showed the vaccine provides significant protection against COVID-19 infection and is more effective in preventing severe cases. Of those who were given the drug, 67 percent avoided symptomatic infection and it was 80 percent effective in limiting the number of deaths from the disease, according to a report released by Chile's Ministry of Health.

The vaccine is an inactivated vaccine. Its easy storage requirements make it very manageable and particularly suitable for "low-resource settings," the WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said as he announced the approval:

The organization's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization recommends the vaccine for use in adults 18 years and older, in a two-dose schedule with a spacing of two to four weeks.

The WHO said efficacy results showed the vaccine prevented symptomatic disease in 51 percent of those inoculated and prevented severe COVID-19 and hospitalization in 100 percent of the studied population.

The chairman of Sinovac Biotech, Yin Weidong told CGTN Europe that switching from one dose per vial to two has had a significant impact on production capacity.

"We will be able to increase the supply to at least 2 billion doses this year," Yin explained. "This will hopefully mean wider use in China and that more countries and international organizations will have access to the vaccine."

Sinovac has said it has supplied more than 600 million doses of its vaccine at home and abroad by the end of May, with more than 430 million of those doses administered.

China's global vaccine success

Low- and middle-income countries will be the main benefactors of China's vaccine production as rich nations scooped up most of the more expensive candidates produced by the likes of Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna.

Like many countries, Chile struggled to get hold of vaccines in the early part of 2021, with only 150,000 doses of the 10 million it had ordered from Pfizer arriving in January.

But by May 20 and it had the fourth highest vaccination rate per capita, according to Our World in Data. That turnaround is down to Sinovac, which provided Chile with 4 million doses in late January.

(CGTN)
Not at all. It just seems like a lot of back-and-forth talk.

Yes. I'm growing very worried over what might happen.

If it keeps up, I might be a little more concerned.

I think there are much larger things to concern us as a country.

It's hard to tell; I can't take the leader of either country seriously.

Vote

View Results
Last week marked the fourth consecutive week and seventh out of the past eight that Carrolls weekly total of COVID-19 cases has decreased. The county had seen at least 100 cases of COVID-19 for 28 consecutive weeks before the number dropped to 91 the week of May 9 and then 77 the week of May 16 before plummeting to 21 last week. Carroll had at least 200 cases in 16 of those weeks, including a record 534 the week of Jan. 3.
Express your opinion! Fill out this form to submit a Letter to the Editor.

Submit
As we head into the last two weeks of spring term at Treasure Valley Community Col
Support local journalism

Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution.
A video of the attack showed a person being assaulted by a group of people, including women

Three persons were arrested in this connection. (Photo: Screengrab/Twitter)

Guwahati: A group of people assaulted a doctor at a hospital in Hojai district of Assam following the death of a Covid-19 patient on Tuesday, police said.

Three persons were arrested in this connection.

Hojai Superintendent of Police Barun Purkayastha said that a critically ill Covid-19 patient succumbed to the disease at Udali Covid Care Centre on Tuesday afternoon.

"Immediately after that, the relatives and a group of people known to the victim arrived there and started beating up the doctor. After getting the information, our team reached there and arrested three persons. Further investigation is on," he told PTI.

A video of the attack which has gone viral on social media showed that a person, apparently looked like the doctor, was being assaulted by a group of people, including women.

Reacting to the incident, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "Such barbaric attacks on our frontline workers won't be tolerated by our administration."

He asked the Special DGP (Law and Order) Gyanendra Pratap Singh to ensure that the culprits are brought to justice.

Singh said in a tweet that instructions have been given to the Hojai SP to arrest all persons involved in assaulting the doctor, identified as Seuj Kumar Senapati.

Local Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi said, "The incident of assaulting a doctor at Udali is unacceptable. I have strongly taken up with the district administration to take swift action and bring the culprits to justice."
Singh said it was not necessary to enter into a treaty with a country for deportation or extradition of criminals/fugitives

New Delhi: Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi being held in police custody in Dominica, is fit to be deported to India according to former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director AP Singh, who said the businessman held no legal rights in the East Caribbean Island nation to which he had attempted to allegedly escape from neighbouring Antigua, where he had been living since 2018.

The former CBI director Singh told ANI: "It is possible for Dominica to deport Mehul Choksi to India as he has no legal rights in Dominica. But he alleged before the court that he was kidnapped and brought to a third country (Dominica) against his will. Now the court will decide his deportation."

He further stressed that deportation is an easier process than extradition.

"If a criminal or a wanted fugitive is living in a country where they have legal status as a citizen, only an extradition process is left... For deportation, if someone enters a third country illegally and is caught, the country concerned must deport to India. The CBI has many deportation experiences under Interpol's Red Corner notices," the ex-CBI director told ANI.

Singh said it was not necessary to enter into a treaty with a country for deportation or extradition of criminals/fugitives, stating that there has been many deportations from a third-party country based on Interpol's Red Corner notices.

Interpol had issued the Red Notice against Choksi in December 2018.

According to Choksi's lawyers, the jeweller had not fled Antigua but was forcibly abducted and allegedly beaten up and taken to Dominica.

According to former CBI director Singh, "If the Dominica court finds that Choksi was kidnapped and forcibly taken to Dominica, he would be deported to Antigua as his country of origin."

Choksi, is a key accused in the Rs 13,000 crore Punjab and National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case and is wanted in India on bank fraud charges, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and money laundering. He acquired Antigua and Barbuda citizenship through the Citizenship by Investment Program in 2017 and had been living in Antigua since 2018. The jeweller is opposing court action to revoke his Antiguan citizenship and have him extradited to India.

Choksi's lawyers have approached Dominica's Supreme Court in the case pertaining to deporting him to India. The court has put a stay on his movement out of Dominica and is set to hear the matter today, June 2.

India has to present a tough case for against Mehul Choksi in the Dominica Court. India to present relevant papers and evidence in court as per the practices of the agencies.

Former CBI director Singh, when asked if a team from India has sent Dominica for a court hearing, he cited reports in local media.

"I have seen in the media that India has sent a team of officials who will present the case papers and evidence in the court. They will have to present the documents in the court through a lawyer and the local embassy will assist them, as per protocol," Singh said.

Meanwhile, Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne had earlier told ANI that Dominica has agreed Choksi's repatriation and Antigua will not accept him back.
A: Attending an Ivy League school is going to push me to achieve more in life and will create opportunities for my future, however without the support from my teachers and counselors to push myself in high school I could never have gotten to where I am today. Four years ago, I still wanted to be an engineer and I had no serious plans after high school; I hadnt thought too much about my career options and I was kind of going with the flow. The advice and encouragement my teachers gave me created a future in which anything I set my mind to was possible. They made me feel like I could take that next step in life and I welcome the challenges that college will provide me.
You are the owner of this article.
This manse is as real as it gets, but it would still appeal to the baddest super-villain ever birthed from a creators mind. Its flashy, decadent, not necessarily ugly, and its got not one but two tunnels running underneath it. Oh, and it sits on its own island on a lake; how on earth could anything else top this?This is Windermere, a property located in St. Albans Bay on Lake Minnetonka in Greenwood, Minnesota. The mansion sits on its own island and is isolated from the rest of the world in the name of privacy and security. Access to the island is via a single driveway, which then leads to two secret tunnels. Guests arriving by car will take one of them and head down into an underground garage that also houses a drive-through car wash. Who wouldnt want their car to be serviced when arriving at their destination of choice, right?Windermere was listed last month with an asking price of $15 million. While the listing makes it clear that the 8-car garage, which is also insulated and heated, is one of the highlights of the property, no photos of it are provided. Go ahead and assume that some type of secret Batman cave must also be featured in that area, especially if you consider the existence of older reports mentioning plans for a 15-vehicle garage.Guests arriving into the garage are then whisked away to the surface in an elevator into the main building. And what a sight theyre treated to as they come up! Built according to the principles of Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, one of the most influential individuals in the history of architecture, the 4-story building was completed in 2004. It comes with a history as rich as its furnishes, including how the first owner, developer Jeffrey Wirth, was charged with and sentenced for fraud after pouring $5 million of illegal funds into it.When Wirth was sent to prison for tax evasion and wire fraud in 2012, the building had already sat unoccupied for years, allowing another developer, Kam Talebi, to snap it up for a meager $1.88 million in 2013. He spruced it up by investing $5 million more into it, and its now for sale for a whopping $15 million.The mansion looks exactly like youd expect a mansion with secret tunnels and a sizable underground, custom garage to look. Its all decked in marble, black wood, and gold polish, recalling all those cinema tropes about bad guys preference for this particular combination. Featured art includes Scarface posters, abstract paintings, and sculptural light fixtures that dazzle but never engage emotionallyanother movie cliche that feels right at home. It is the kind of residence thats all about look at me how fancy and rich I am.The amenities are astounding, as expected, starting from the atrium, which is described as one of Minnesotas largest residential glass enclosed atriums. You have a double wine room, a 12-person cinema, a cigar room and a poker room (theyre separate), a recreation room that serves non-descript recreation purposes, a spa with a sauna and fully-equipped gym, a bar, and a grotto with gold tiles. The second tunnel leads to this grotto because, presumably, you want to be able to go for a dip without everyone else knowing it. If you dont mind walking in plain sight, a sizable outdoor pool, also heated, is available.With nearly 14,000 square feet (1,300 square meters) of living space, this mansion has only five bedrooms, one less than the number of fireplaces. Its a single-family residence and, while it can accommodate large parties, its not exactly ideal for large sleepovers. In keeping with the running joke, villains are occasionally known for throwing massive bashes, but they don't exactly welcome overnight guests.
Continued steering wheel movement may wedge the steering gears balls and displace the retainer, a condition that results in balls that may not transition back into the return guides. The ball nut, therefore, may not operate, locking the steering wheel in place. According to Ford, three warranty claims were identified at the beginning of May 2021 over this problem.The Critical Concern Review Group points the finger at the supplier, Nexteer Automotive of Auburn Hills, for this worrisome issue. Broken steering assemblies were traced by serial number to specific VINs, and thankfully for all parties involved, there are no reports of accidents.According to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration , the vehicles in question were produced from October 29th to May 20th. Approximately 90 percent of them are estimated to exhibit the aforementioned issue, which will be rectified with all-new steering gear assemblies.Ford specifically highlights that replacement parts will have undamaged internal components, which is exactly what F-150 customers were expecting from their pickups in the first place. Of course, there will be no charge for this service, and Ford excludes reimbursement because the original warranty program provides a free repair. The Dearborn-based automaker will inform dealers of the recall no later than June 3rd, while owners can expect to be notified by first-class may on June 8th at the latest.The steering gear blunder follows two earlier recall campaigns over disconnecting driveshafts and inadequate windshield bonding , conditions that affect 4,436 and 79,017 vehicles. In both instances, the suppliers (Neapco Drivelines and Axalta Coating Systems) were found at fault.
EV

SUV

Believe it or not, Toyota , the carmaker that started the whole electrification for the masses craze with the Prius all those years ago, lacks a full-blownin its range today. That will change come next year, when a RAV4-sized, built on an entirely new, dedicated platform, will hit the market.Its the production version of this here bZ4X concept, first shown by the Japanese in April this year at Auto Shanghai and brought for the first time on U.S. soil this week.Developed together with Subaru, the bZ4X rides on a dedicated EV platform called e-TNGAand that's about all the info available for now, as the carmaker still hasnt shared additional info on the thing.Given how this is the first in the new bZ line of electric Toyotas cars, interest in it is, of course, very high. Luckily, the Japanese are telling us we should get the first details on the production version by the end of 2021.Even if theres a lot riding on the success of the bZ4X , Toyota is probably not worried. As one of the planets largest carmakers, the Japanese have rarely screwed up, and there are slim chances of them doing so now. That is why the expansion of the brand into the electric vehicle market is a gargantuan plan.Toyota said not long ago it should have no less than 15 full EVs by the middle of the decadethats only four short years from nowso expect the market, as soon as the bZ4X here gets rolling, to be literally flooded with other Japanese-made cars as well.
So most people give Apple Maps a try because its the native navigation app, though some end up disappointed upon learning that their regions are missing out on the latest updates announced by Apple.And its all because until now, the rollout of the new Apple Maps experience and the modern feature arsenal is still painfully slow, with the Cupertino-based tech giant still focusing mostly on the United States. Starting mid-2020, however, Apple has slowly been working on expanding Apple Maps to more non-U.S. regions too, and this week, cars used to collect data for Look Around landed in Poland.A photo published on Facebook shows an Apple Maps car in Poland, and Apple too has updated its list of countries currently being surveyed with several cities in the European country. According to the company, the data collection should then come to an end in August.As for when Poland could finally become available with Look Around data on Apple Maps, thats pretty impossible to estimate. That's simply because it could take from several months to forever for Apple to process the data because, as we said earlier, the company has never been in a major rush to update non-U.S. locations.That is quite a shame, actually, as Apple Maps is seen by many as the only application that can serve as a full replacement to Google Maps. And while Apple struggles to bring its new-generation features to more locations, Google Maps is already available nearly everywhere, and just as expected, Google itself is also working around the clock on bringing additional functionality to its app.Google Maps will soon be able to figure out hard-braking roads , therefore providing users with safer routes that come with a reduced likelihood of accidents.
A: I can initially remember switching into virtual during the latter half of my junior year and it was very weird at first. And adjusting to this new format was difficult. I was naive to think that virtual learning would just last until the two weeks it was initially called for. Little did I know that wed still be faced with the same circumstances a year later. After each and every extension I realized that it would be permanent, and began to attempt to adjust accordingly during the end of my junior year. It was hard because I think the best thing about school was the classroom environment, and that was obviously lacking.
In a recent announcement, U.K.-based helicopter provider Halo is focusing on developing Urban Air Mobility (UAM) products and services for the U.S. and the U.K. The company placed an order of 200 electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLs), planning to start zero-emissions operations in New York and London.To deliver the aircraft, Halo teamed up with Eve, Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer's first spin-off that is addressing eVTOL s and infrastructure for the UAM sector. The company has previously collaborated with the U.K. government on airspace management and aviation rules in order to address the legislative and operational difficulties that would allow eVTOL operations to begin in London.Before being chosen as Halo's launch partner, about a dozen Eve eVTOL designs were evaluated. The next step for both companies is to work things out with U.K. Civil Aviation Authority and U.S. regulators in order to advance their plan of urban air mobility services.According to Halo, 100 vehicles will be used for operations in the U.S., and 100 will operate in the U.K. Delivery for the first aircraft is expected to take place in 2026, and no price has been disclosed for the products yet.Until were going to see the eVTOLs buzzing above our heads, Eve and Halo will collaborate on the development of the Eve Urban Air Traffic Management system, as well as the fleet and products that Eve offers for UAM operations.This vertical lift service can be challenging to put into practice, especially when the infrastructure for air taxi s is not fully established. We are yet to see if the companies will succeed in turning the dream of flying cars into a reality.
The traffic stop and the ensuing conversation with the police concluded without incident. Despite Machine Gun Kellys media stunts and past public antics , he did not kick up a stink. If anything, this celebrity story is here to prove that, despite appearances, celebrities dont always get preferential treatment.The two celebrities, who started dating in May 2020 and have been inseparable since, were on one of MGKs bikes when a police officer initiated a traffic stop. MGK was not wearing a helmet , and that was the reason offered for the traffic stop, according to celebrity publication TMZ . Fox, who was riding in the back, was wearing hersas a matter of fact, she kept it on throughout the traffic stop, presumably to deter paparazzi from taking a clear picture of her.According to the same media outlet, the officer also discovered MGK didnt have the proper endorsement to operate a motorcycle on his drivers license, so he was issued a separate ticket for that. He was friendly and cooperative and was allowed to ride off into the sunset with his damsel.Machine Gun Kelly (Richard Colson Baker by his real, less badass birth name) has solidified his status as an A-lister after transitioning from rapper to pop-rocker and overall awesome individual slash viral star. To car enthusiasts, his name probably rings a bell for his incredible good luck he had when his brand new Aston Martin DB11 was recovered intact one week after it was stolen from his driveway. Well, that and getting Transformers babe Megan Fox as a girlfriend.
Prices differ based on the market, where for example, UK buyers will be able to land a PureTech 83 S&S 5-speed manual model from 16,755 ($23,685). In contrast, France only gets PureTech 110 S&S versions, priced from 21,600 ($26,300) if you want a six-speed manual, or 23,000 ($28,000) if youd rather have the automatic.Visually, the limited-edition Saint James spec comes with a two-tone roof (black or white), combined with a White Color Pack. In terms of exterior colors, you can choose between Soft Sand (standard in the UK), Elixir Red, Perla Nera Black, Steel Gray, Platinum Gray, and Polar White.Other exterior highlights include the 16-inch Hellix Diamond Cut wheels, the blue, white and red roof sticker (signed by Saint James), a specific rear window sticker in the Normandy brand's colors, and signed exclusive metal plate badges under each side mirror.Inside, you get the carmakers Advanced Comfort seats with decorative chevron Saint James bands on the seatback, white contrast stitching that can also be found on the dashboard, a decorative blue and red door strap with a Saint James push-button on the drivers door panel, and a plaque under the gear lever featuring the Saint James logo.Aside from all the driving aids already available in the Shine specification, this limited edition C3 also comes with a rear-view camera to go with its five connectivity technologies, such as the Citroen Connect Nav system, available on a 7-inch touchscreen display.The Citroen C3 Saint James will be available in France (in showrooms come September), the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and Japan.
Despite their cute name, water bears are nasty-looking creatures that will probably make you cringe. But theyre also an oddity of nature, being among the most resilient beings. They can cope with extreme cold, heat, and radiation. That is why NASA is trying to find out if they can also tolerate more stressful environments, so theyre flying them into space.Researchers hope that the results of their experiment can also help them understand how stress factors can affect humans in space. By figuring out how tardigrades are surviving and reproducing in these environments, scientists hope to learn what tricks they are using and adapt them to safeguard astronauts, as explained by principal investigator Thomas Boothby, from the University of Wyoming. Bobtail squid on the other hand will take part in the mission so that scientists can study symbiotic relationships between two species, them and microbes. They want to see how spaceflights can affect the molecular and chemical interactions between beneficial microbes and their animal hosts, as explained on the NASA website.After they get to the Space Station, the onset of the symbiosis will be monitored for 12 hours. The bobtail squid will then be frozen at -80C (-112F) and will head back home.The lifeforms will be aboard the Dragon capsule, which is scheduled to launch tomorrow, June 3, from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. You can watch them take off on NASA TV with the coverage starting at 10 a.m. PT (Pacific Time). Liftoff is scheduled for 10:29 a.m. PT.
Exactly 75 years ago, the 190th Fighter Squadron became active as part of the Idaho Air National Guard's 124th Fighter Wing, so the guys who are now part of the unit are obviously in a celebratory mood. Proof of that: this specially-painted A-10 Thunderbolt II.

1 photo
Russia begins production of high-end sedan promoted by Putin https://t.co/bjy63xj8Hw pic.twitter.com/9p8lDJXyUk  Reuters (@Reuters) May 31, 2021

The Aurus Senat is also known as Putins limousine . Its actually an entire line of luxury sedans comprising various body styles (normal wheelbase, long wheelbase, and two-door drop-top cabriolet) in either full armor and no armor at all, used by the Russian President himself. He turned the long-wheelbase version into his own Beast, showing it off for the first time at the 2018 Inauguration.That the Senat would become publicly available was the plan all along since Putin is hellbent on promoting local makers and showing the rest of the world that he and Russia can do very well (thank you very much) without capitalist brands. At one point in 2019, orders for the Senat were possible, though there was no word on when deliveries would be made.A new Reuters report notes that, as of May 31, 2021, the Senat has officially started production at the Aurus manufacturing plant in the town of Yelabuga in the Republic of Tatarstan. Production for the first year will only yield 200 or 300 luxury sedans, but the report doesnt mention whether all body styles will be made right off the bat. It does say this, though: the most basic version starts at around $245,000. Aurus is making sure to put the luxury in the luxury sedan description alright. The Aurus Senat , which has often been described as the baby of a Rolls-Royce Phantom and a Bentley Continental Flying Spur , is made by the Central Scientific Research Automobile and Automotive Engines Institute in Moscow (NAMI), with an engine supposedly developed with input from Bosch and Porsche.The Senat is a hybrid, packing a twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8 engine with 598 horsepower and 880 Nm (649 pound-feet) of torque and a 56 hp electric motor for backup. It goes from 0 to 60 (96.5 kph) in 4.9 seconds, and maxes out at 250 kph (155 mph).The video below of the Aurus Senat uses the phrase unique design in the description. The video itself shows the contrary: the Senat is definitely a looker (and its flashy enough to be memorable), but there is truth to the joke that this is Rolls-Royce and Bentleys out of wedlock child.
AMG

Being a Mercedes and all, the C-Class is not particularly affordable, but not prohibitively expensive either for a Benz. However, things change when one chooses theversion, as these things are sure to put a dent in anyones bank account.June is AMG Month here at autoevolution, and weve already started our trek through the world of the German performance brand with a look at what is on the table on the A-Class front. Theres only one of them available for the American market for what its worth, the A 35 4MATIC sedan . In its case, the highest you can go, price-wise, is around $70,000.Not the same can be said about the C-Class. First of all, we got three body styles available, namely sedan, coupe, and cabrioletyou cant have the estate here in America. Each comes with three engine choices, which means there are nine C-Class AMGs to choose from. And the most expensive one truly is, well, expensive.But lets take things slowly. The most affordable C-Class AMG you can get in the U.S. is the C 43 sedan, which kicks off at $56,500. For that, one is treated with 385 hp, an exterior body in black or white, 18-inch wheels, black upholstery, plus wood and aluminum trim.The sedan body style also includes the C 63 (469 hp), kicking off at $68,600, and the mighty C 63 S (503 hp), which starts about where the A 35 ends, at $76,200.Moving on to the coupe versions, the same options are on the table, only with slightly higher prices, called for by the fancier lines of the body, as there is no difference in power levels. The entry-level C 43 goes from $59,000, the C 63 calls for $70,650 just to get you started, while the C 63 S comes in at $78,250.It is the cabriolet C-Class that sells for the highest sums, though. The C 43 has a starting price of $65,500, the C 63 kicks off at $78,000, while the C 63 S , well, that one sells for about as much as people in Eastern Europe pay for a three-bedroom apartment: $85,600.Being the most expensive, we chose this last one for our little experiment, as we set out to see just how high the price of a fully-loaded Mercedes-AMG C 63 S Cabriolet can get.We started with the exterior, and added the most expensive color, Cashmere White Mango. 20-inch AMG 5-spoke wheels were our next choice, as were the Exterior Lighting Package, the AMG Night Package, and the AMG Exterior Carbon Fiber Package 2. For good measure, we threw in some chrome trim here and there.Were now at $98,050, and we havent even started to play with the interior and options.Luckily, no matter the upholstery or trim you choose for the cars interior, they all come at no extra cost. But there are things one might need to fully feel like the king of the road, such as special seats or a fancier steering wheel, and here we are, jumping over the $100k mark.It is only when you get to the options section that the strain on the bank account really starts to feel strenuous. There are so many exciting gizmos we couldnt say no to, so weve chosen them all: the Multimedia Package with COMMAND navigation, a heads-up display, and inductive charging. There are a couple of safety packages on the table (parking and driver), and we checked those boxes too.All in all, having started our adventure at $85k, we ended up configuring an AMG C-Class that is worth exactly $106,000 (check gallery for the options weve selected). We dare you to beat that.
HP

CVT

AWD

FWD

Slotting between the C-HR and RAV4 in the brands U.S. lineup, the 2022 Corolla Cross is built around the TNGA-C platform of its sedan and hatchback brethren, in turn shared with other Toyotas. Pricing will be announced in due course, but it will cost more than the C-HR ($21,595 MSRP for the 2021MY) and less than the RAV4 ($26,250 for 2021MY).Available with front- and all-wheel-drive, the Japanese companys new compact crossover uses the 2.0-liter Dynamic Force Engine of the Corolla S, making 169and working in conjunction with a(continuously variable transmission).Themodels get the brands Dynamic Torque Control system that can channel up to 50% of the thrust to the rear wheels when needed and disengage it altogether when the vehicle does not need the extra traction. This helps improve the fuel economy, with Toyota estimating it to return 32 mpg (7.4 l/100 km) combined for theand 30 mpg (7.8 l/100 km) for the AWD model. The towing capacity is rated at up to 1,500 lbs (680 kg).Up front, the 2022 Corolla Cross features a prominent grille flanked by LED headlights. Plastic cladding was used on the lower parts of the body, highlighting its more utilitarian nature. The roofline is slightly arched towards the rear and ends with a spoiler, whereas at the back, it has a pair of horizontal taillights, the corporate logo in the middle of the tailgate, and its name on the left side of the license plate holder, with the trim level and drivetrain highlighted by additional badging on the right side. Depending on the selected specification, wheel options range from 17-inch steel to 18-inch alloys.The cockpit design soldiers on with minimal changes over the hatchback and sedan, though occupants will sit higher. The model can be had with single- or dual-zone A/C, power moonroof, SofTex upholstery, 10-way, power adjustable drivers seat, heated front seats, 8-inch infotainment system and 7-inch multi-info display. The Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration will be standard across the range, which includes three trim levels named the L, LE and XLE. The latter two will feature a wireless charging pad, and two additional USB ports for the rear passenger compartment. Amazon Alexa will be on deck, and customers will be able to spend more on the JBL premium sound system.Toyotas 2022 Corolla Cross will launch with the brands Safety Sense. The suite of driver assistance gear will make the daily commute more pleasant, featuring blind spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert on the LE and XLE, and front and rear parking assist with automatic braking on the range-topper.
Copyright  2020 by Mountain Times Publications. Digital or printed dissemination of this content without prior written consent is a violation of federal law and may be subject to legal action.
A single wildfire that burned through the southern Sierra Nevada last year destroyed anywhere from 10%-14% of Earth's mature redwood trees, according to a draft report from National Park Service scientists obtained by the Visalia Times-Delta.

The big picture: Some of the biggest wildfires in modern California history took place last year. California's 2021 wildfire season is already looking grim, as extreme drought grips much of the state and temperatures rise.

What they're saying: "I cannot overemphasize how mind-blowing this is for all of us. These trees have lived for thousands of years. They've survived dozens of wildfires already," Christy Brigham, chief of Resources Management and Science at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, told the Times-Delta.
New York City and 21 New York counties on Tuesday sued McKinsey & Company, alleging the global consulting firm contributed to the opioid crisis by helping drug companies increase prescription drug sales, AP reports.

Why it matters: The company earlier this year reached deals with all 50 states to pay more than $600 million in settlements for its role in advising OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma.

What they're saying: The lawsuit alleges that drug companies were able to increase sales by using deceptive marketing tactics devised by McKinsey.

In a statement to AP, McKinsey said its settlements with states resolved any municipal claims and the funds provided by this settlement will be used by the state governments to support communities throughout those states."

The company added that it would fight cases that are designed to double-dip on the state settlements.

The big picture: Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson both hired McKinsey to boost opioid sales.

Go deeper: Deaths due to drug overdoses hit 88,000 during pandemic
At least 3,800 of them died during six weeks of heavy fighting with Azerbaijani forces stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire in November. Hundreds of others remain unaccounted for.

Their relatives have regularly staged protests in recent months to demand that the Armenian government do more to recover the bodies of their loved ones or shed more light on their whereabouts. Many of them distrust official data on still unidentified bodies of dead soldiers kept at Armenian morgues.

On Monday, some angry relatives forced their way into the mortuaries to count the number of corpses and body parts stored there. They took pictures inside a morgue in Abovian, a town 15 kilometers north of Yerevan.

The photographs circulated on social media showed plastic bags filled with human remains lying on the ground in its basement, which was not refrigerated to prevent their decomposition. They caused uproar in the country, with many accusing the authorities of dishonoring the Armenian soldiers killed in action.

The Armenian Ministry of Health initially denied that their remains are kept in degrading conditions. But Health Minister Anahit Avanesian publicly apologized to soldiers families on Tuesday, saying that she was wrong not to have personally inspected the Abovian morgue.

The scandal continued unabated, however. One of the relatives publicized on Tuesday night a short video of the morgue basement.

Avanesian formally reprimanded Mher Bisharian, the head of a state center of forensic medicine overseeing the Armenian mortuaries, the following morning. Bisharian in turned sacked the director and two other workers of the Abovian morgue.

We fired them because they didnt perform their duties properly, Bisharian told RFE/RLs Armenian Service. He said they should have placed the remains on stretchers and stored them in a more orderly way.

Bisharian said that the remains were taken to the Abovian facility because a refrigerated morgue truck where they were kept until May 28 broke down. He said they were temporarily stored in the basement due to a lack of space in the morgues refrigerated rooms.

The official added that the remains were transported on Tuesday to a refrigerated facility in Martuni, a town 130 kilometers north of Yerevan.

Sofia Hovsepian, an independent member of Armenias outgoing parliament critical of the government, dismissed the authorities response to the scandal which she said highlights their impunity and lack of empathy for the families of the war dead.

Instead of firing the three individuals they should have sacked and prosecuted the health minister and the former health minister [Arsen Torosian, the current chief of the Armenian governments staff,] she told RFE/RLs Armenian Service.

Hovsepian claimed that many bodies of the deceased soldiers were for months kept at another morgue not equipped with refrigerators and that the authorities transported them to more suitable facilities only after her persistent complaints.

According to the authorities, 200 corpses and 400 body parts of dead soldiers are currently kept there. Officials say that DNA samples taken from them match those of nearly 100 families of the missing soldiers. They say those families refuse to take and bury the corresponding remains because they do not trust the results of the forensic tests.

About 70 other families are said to have refused to give their DNA samples to the authorities for the same reason.
European Council President Charles Michel called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to fully comply with a Russian-brokered agreement that stopped their war over Nagorno-Karabakh last November.

A spokesman for Michel said he also told Pashinian and Aliyev that the EU is ready to provide expertise on border delimitation and demarcation and to support confidence building.

The European Union also encourages both parties to cooperate, as matter of urgency, on the return of detainees and full transparency with regard to mine fields, and other important humanitarian issues, the official, Barend Leyts, added in a statement. The EU is providing almost 20 million euros ($24.4 million) in humanitarian assistance and will continue to be engaged.

According to an Armenian government statement on Pashinians talks with Michel, the head of the EUs main decision-making body welcomed Yerevans efforts to find a peaceful solution to the dispute that broke out after Azerbaijani troops reportedly crossed several sections of the border and advanced a few kilometers into Armenian territory three weeks ago.

The statement cited Pashinian as calling for an adequate international reaction to Azerbaijans provocative actions. It said he also discussed with Michel the possible deployment of international observers along contested sections of the border which he proposed on May 27.

An EU foreign policy spokesman welcomed Pashinians proposal on May 28. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry effectively dismissed it earlier this week, however.
The Phoenix Police Foundation has set up an account to support the fallen officer's family. Click here to donate.

UPDATE: As of Wednesday morning the Arizona's Family fundraiser had raised more than $50,000.

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- A police officer has died after a crash in north Phoenix late Monday night.

Phoenix police said the officer, 27-year-old Ginarro New, was involved in a crash around 10:45 p.m. on Monday at the intersection of Cave Creek Road and Greenway Parkway.

Chief Jeri Williams told the media early Tuesday morning that Officer New was transported to an area hospital but later died from his injuries.

I want to express my deep thanks and appreciation to HonorHealth. The doctors, the nurses, the surgeons, who tried to save Officer New. As well as the Phoenix Fire Department that did everything possible to try to preserve his life," Williams said.

According to Phoenix police, a witness told police the driver that smashed into the New's vehicle was reportedly traveling at a high rate of speed and ran a red light. The driver of that vehicle, 31-year-old Christopher Castro, died at the scene. Police say speed and impairment by Castro are believed to be contributing factors to the crash.

Preliminary information from Phoenix police indicates Officer New was traveling southbound on Cave Creek Road, entered the intersection at Greenway Parkway and was hit by a car that ran the red light. The force of the crash caused the officer's vehicle to crash through a brick wall and into a gas station parking lot.

Officer New started with Phoenix police in July 2019 and is survived by his wife, mother, brother and grandmother. The Phoenix Police Foundation has set up an account to support the fallen officer's family. Click here to donate. 100% of donations received for Officer New through the Phoenix Police Foundation will benefit the family.

Mayor Gallego released the following statement on Tuesday morning:

Our community is grieving the loss of Phoenix Police Officer Ginnaro New. On behalf of the City of Phoenix, we thank Officer New for his service and commitment to keeping us safe. We hold his family in our hearts, and will keep his memory in our minds.

I invite our community to thank his Phoenix Police colleagues who face these kinds of dangers daily. Our thoughts are with them today, as are our condolences for this terrible loss. Deep gratitude also goes to the Phoenix Fire Department and Honor Health for their heroic efforts to save Officer News life."

Colleagues shared their memories of Officer New with Arizona's Family. Before becoming a police officer, New was a nurse at Longview Elementary School. He was known as "Dr. Gino," and his co-workers say kids loved him.

"He was amazing with the kids; he was a kid at heart himself," said administrative assistant Elaine Marxer. "He'd walk through the halls and the kids would run to him because he was so amazing and they loved him so much."

"He had a way of stopping them from crying and not thinking about their pain, because they were thinking about the silly things that he was saying and doing," Marxer continued.

"My first impression seeing him on his very first day walking into the academy, we immediately noticed that though he was small in stature, his heart was gigantic, very anxious and eager to do his job," said Sgt. James Byrd, New's training officer in the academy. "I think if you look back since day 1, there's been a history of service that he's done so I think it's just one more step that he took and left the ambulance service to be a police officer."

Phoenix police Officer Thomas McKee was the first to take Officer New out on patrol. "He had a just a way of being naturally nice to people," he says. To McKee, he was more than a trainee; he was a friend. McKee also says that New was happy to be an officer. "I know he made other people happy and a lot of people love him," he said.

Friends say Officer New grew up in Coolidge and was someone you would want in your corner.

"He's helped my family out quite a bit, he's been there to help my sisters out and whatnot when they needed it," said Christian Corrente, Officer New's childhood friend. "They lived just around the block on the same street, we'd go over there, hang out all the time, we'd walk to school together all the time. He was very protective of his family, he was very much so the person that was--hey look, you're doing the wrong thing, this is the right way to do it."
BUCKEYE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) - Police say a pregnant 18-year-old who was injured in a fiery crash in Buckeye Sunday night has died.

The crash also left two other people dead. The woman has been identified as Mercedes Cabrales of Buckeye. Police say she was about five months pregnant at the time of the accident. The baby did not survive. The identities of the two others who died in the crash have not yet been released.

Family told Arizona's Family that Cabrales and her boyfriend, Joshua Franco, weren't on the right path until Cabrales got pregnant. Then, they said they turned their lives around to give their baby a good upbringing. "I wanted to do the best for my kid," said Franco.

Now, he remembers the last phone call he had with Cabrales. "Last thing I said was, 'OK,'" said Franco, but he wished he said more. "I wish I could have said I love you one more time."

The crash happened around 10:30 p.m. near Verrado Way and Van Buren Street. Buckeye police say when officers got to the scene, they found one car engulfed in flames. Cabrales was in a second car, and was trapped in the vehicle. A man was behind the wheel of a third vehicle had rolled several times, landing in a nearby field. Officers were able to free Cabrales from her car. She was rushed to the hospital, but later died. The driver of the third car that had flipped was also taken to a hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.

"It was my first grandson I was going to have, I was so excited," said Cabrales' mother, Veronica Sanchez. She was looking forward to a gender reveal party; now she's planning a funeral. Sanchez and her husband found out the gender of the baby from nurses at the hospital, who gave them a small box. "When she opened it, there was a little heart, blue, with little little handprints and footprints," said Joey Sanchez, Cabrales' step-father.

The child's father wishes he could have told Cabrales more than the last phone call he had with her on the night of the crash. "I wish I could have had my little family, because I was really excited. She was my everything; I lost my soulmate now," said Franco. Now, he will live on the way Cabrales wanted him to, even though he doesn't have a child on the way. "I know she's going to be by my side when I do it," said Franco.

If you would like to help Cabrales' family with funeral expenses, click here.
RTHK: Burnt-out ship sinking off Sri Lanka coast

A burnt-out container ship that has already caused Sri Lanka's worst maritime environmental disaster was sinking Wednesday with several hundred tonnes of oil still in its fuel tanks, the navy said.

The MV X-Press Pearl, carrying hundreds of tonnes of chemicals and plastics, burned for 13 days within sight of the island's coast before rescue workers finally managed to extinguish the blaze on Tuesday.

A huge amount of plastic debris has already inundated beaches, and authorities now fear an even greater disaster should the 278 tonnes of bunker oil and 50 tonnes of gas in the Singapore-registered ship's fuel tanks leak into the Indian Ocean.

As tugs on Wednesday began trying to tow the ship further out to sea, navy spokesperson Indika de Silva said it was slowly sinking.

"The stern of the ship is under water, the water level is above the deck," de Silva said. "The ship is going down."

Some oil was already visible near the beaches of Negombo, about 40 kilometres from Colombo, an AFP photographer said, although it was not clear if it was from the stricken ship.

De Silva said the navy helped Dutch salvage firm SMIT to board the vessel and establish a tow connection after several attempts overnight failed due to bad weather.

"The ship will be towed as further away from the coast as possible before it goes down completely," he added.

Fisheries minister Kanchana Wijesekera tweeted that the salvage company involved in the operation "has indicated that the vessel is sinking at the current location".

An official involved in the mitigation efforts said earlier that local experts feared the vessel was unstable.

"The fire-fighting efforts also saw a lot of water sprayed onto the decks. Much of that water has settled in the stern," the official told AFP.

Officials had planned to pump contaminated water from the ship onto barges but the operation has been abandoned.

The navy said an Indian coast guard vessel in the area had the equipment to deal with an oil slick if necessary.

The inundation of microplastic granules from the ship's containers has already forced a fishing ban and prompted concern for the wildlife and environment.

Officials believe the blaze destroyed most of the nearly 1,500 containers onboard.

Marine Environment Protection Authority chief Dharshani Lahandapura said the ecological damage is still being assessed, but he believed it was the "worst ever in my lifetime".

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa asked Australia on Monday to help evaluate the ecological damage to the island, one of the most bio-diverse countries in South Asia.

Sri Lanka has launched a criminal investigation.

The authorities believe that the fire was caused by a nitric acid leak which the crew apparently knew about from May 11, nine days before the blaze started.

Police said that the captain and chief engineer, both Russian nationals, as well as a third officer have been questioned.

A court had ordered Tuesday to impound the passports of all three pending investigations.

The ship was heading to Colombo from Gujarat, India, when the blaze started, having previously visited Qatar and Dubai where the containers of 25 tonnes of nitric acid were loaded. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2021-06-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The West should have the courage to know how the China model works: Zhang Weiwei

People's Daily Online) 08:37, June 02, 2021

On May 31, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a group study session on improving China's capacity for engaging in international communication. Professor Zhang Weiwei, director of the China Institute of Fudan University, offered some explanations on this topic and put forward some suggestions during the session.

In an exclusive interview conducted recently with People's Daily Online, Zhang shared his insights on the misunderstanding and misperception of China in the West and the continued development of China-US relations.

"It is in the interest of the West itself to understand China. They should have the courage to come to China to know how the China model works and how most Chinese feel about their country," said Zhang.

According to the professor, there is no way to contain a country like China and the best way forward is to engage in win-win co-operation.

"The Cold War was based on the concept of 'mutually assured destruction (M.A.D.) ', but China and the United States have every reason to embrace what I call 'mutually assured prosperity (M.A.P.)'," Professor Zhang said.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Hongyu)
Using vaccination records, the health department assigns numbers randomly to people whove been vaccinated in the state and the winners are picked from a random number generator. Eagan is the first winner to be identified in the state. However, winners can remain anonymous if they choose, according to the Maryland Lottery.
GLENDALE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) -- A man was arrested in Glendale for his alleged involvement in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Glendale resident James McGrew participated in storming the U.S. Capitol building during a joint session of Congress. Members of the House and Senate were in the process of certifying the vote count of the Electoral College for the 2020 Presidential Election.

In the federal complaint, a Task Force Officer with the Joint Terrorism Task Force collected evidence and received tips from two concerned citizens regarding McGrew's actions at the Capitol. Federal authorities have access to hours of video footage from national news coverage and from social media accounts from the day and were able to identify McGrew at several points.

The federal officer reviewed photos and video showing a man wearing a white t-shirt and a gray/white/black "Colombia" jacket. The man, identified as McGrew, was seen in the images on the steps of the Capitol and inside the Rotunda. Authorities identified McGrew because of a tattoo he has across his stomach that reads "KING JAMES." The FBI compared a previous 2012 booking photo of McGrew showcasing the tattoo with a still image from a body-worm camera inside the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Court documents state that McGrew was aggressive toward law enforcement officers, yelling things like "We're coming in here, whether you like it or not," and "Fight with us, not against us." McGrew also reportedly held up his phone and began to name officers standing in front of him and their badge numbers. Shortly after and seen in multiple videos, officers tried to push back rioters toward an exit door. As McGrew was pushed back with the crowd, he is seen on video jumping forward to strike an officer. Afterward, McGrew stepped back.

Within seconds, the FBI says McGrew ignored commands and walked toward officers and screamed at them. An officer told McGrew, "Just leave, just leave man, come on," to which McGrew repeatedly screamed back "You leave. You leave. This is our house!" As officers pushed rioters back, McGrew allegedly struck another officer and then tried to grab another officer's baton.

On Jan. 7, a concerned citizen contacted the FBI regarding McGrew, saying McGrew intended to attend the "stolen vote protest." The tipster said McGrew also showed an employee a video on his cell phone of himself inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Several weeks later on Feb. 26, a second concerned citizen contacted the FBI National Threat Operations Center and said McGrew assaulted Capitol Police Officers during the Jan. 6 attack. Days later, that tipster emailed several photos showing McGrew fighting with officers inside the Rotunda.

McGrew faces multiple charges including assaulting an officer, civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, knowingly entering/remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority to do so, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings, and demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. McGrew was arrested on May 28, Friday, and had his initial appearance in front of a judge Monday.
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - Far right State Rep. Mark Finchem slammed Gov. Doug Ducey for vetoing nearly two dozen bills last week, accusing the state's chief executive of throwing a "man style temper tantrum.

The outspoken lawmaker from southern Arizona made his comments during an appearance on the "War Room,' which is hosted by President Trump's former political strategist, Steve Bannon.

On Friday, the Republican governor vetoed 22 pieces of legislation in an effort to pressure the GOP-controlled legislature to pass a near $13 billion budget that includes a $1.5 billion tax that largely benefit the wealthiest Arizonans.

Gov. Ducey won't sign any additional bills until budget is passed Gov. Doug Ducey announced Friday that he won't sign any bills until a budget reaches his desk as the end of the fiscal year approaches.

"He is attempting to act as a petty dictator, which by the way, seems to be his M.O. since the beginning of the year."

In particular, Finchem expressed his frustration that Ducey killed a bill that bars the delivery of early ballots to those who didn't request one and another proposal that bars teaching critical race theory to public workers.

Finchem is running for Arizona Secretary of State and gained a lot media attention because he was of his strong support for the "Stop the Steal" movement, which falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged against Donald Trump.
Elkhorn Drive Scenic Byway open from Anthony Lakes to Granite

Crew from Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort plowed through lingering snowdrifts to open the paved road earlier than usual
Muslim woman on flight told she would bring the whole plane down, advocacy group says
When you take a large step forward, you look back on it, and you realize that ... it was just a step, Pittman said. Were still working in this county to on getting to the point where we really do feel like we have the full part of liberty and justice for all.
FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, file photo, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice delivers his annual State of the State address in the House Chambers at the state capitol, in Charleston, W.Va. Gov. Justice confirmed on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, that he is personally liable for $700 million in loans taken by his coal companies from a lender in the United Kingdom that went bankrupt. The Republican governor took shots at the bankrupt Greensill Capital U.K. and said it is a burden on our family beyond belief.
The absence of her name on these memorials is most likely a function of the disruption caused by the arrival of the pandemic in March 2020, about the time the county would normally realize yet agai have been realizing that it needed to take the somber step of adding another name and another tree.
Stay up to date on COVID-19

Get Breaking News

Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox.
JASPER, Texas (AP)  A child found dead in a Texas motel room is believed to be a boy reported missing in Houston and a suspect has been arrested in the case, police said Wednesday.

Authorities had been searching for Samuel Olson, who was reported missing May 27. On Tuesday night, police recovered a child's body from a motel room in Jasper, about 135 miles (215 kilometers) northeast of Houston.

Investigators believe that the body belongs to Samuel but are awaiting official confirmation from a medical examiner who will also determine how and when the child died, Assistant Police Chief Heather Morris said.

The boy would have turned 6 over the weekend, family members said.

The boy was reported missing by his father's girlfriend, Theresa Balboa, who told officers that Samuel's mother and a police officer showed up and took the boy from the home, Morris said. On Tuesday, police in Jasper, Texas, received an anonymous tip and searched the motel room, where they discovered the body.

Balboa was also at the motel and was taken into custody, Morris said. Prosecutors in Houston have authorized a charge of tampering with evidence against Balboa, but Morris said more charges are possible once an autopsy is complete.

Balboa was being held Wednesday at the Jasper County jail. It wasn't clear whether she had an attorney who could speak on her behalf, but earlier in the week she told Houston TV station KTRK that the boy's mother took him. Police said Wednesday they don't believe that's true.

Authorities are now investigating how long Samuel may have been missing and how he ended up in Jasper. Morris said the last confirmed sighting of the boy was at school on April 30.
JASPER, Texas (AP)  A child found dead in a Texas motel room is believed to be a boy reported missing in Houston and a suspect has been arrested in the case, police said Wednesday.

Authorities had been searching for Samuel Olson, who was reported missing May 27. On Tuesday night, police recovered a child's body from a motel room in Jasper, about 135 miles (215 kilometers) northeast of Houston.

Investigators believe that the body belongs to Samuel but are awaiting official confirmation from a medical examiner who will also determine how and when the child died, Assistant Police Chief Heather Morris said.

The boy would have turned 6 over the weekend, family members said.

The boy was reported missing by his father's girlfriend, Theresa Balboa, who told officers that Samuel's mother and a police officer showed up and took the boy from the home, Morris said.

But Olsons mother said the child was not with her, Morris said, according to the Houston Chronicle. And evidence showed that the mother was home on the morning of May 27, the assistant chief added.

On Tuesday, police in Jasper, Texas, received an anonymous tip and searched the motel room, where they discovered the body.

Balboa was also at the motel and was taken into custody, Morris said. Prosecutors in Houston have authorized a charge of tampering with evidence against Balboa, but Morris said more charges are possible once an autopsy is complete.

Balboa was being held Wednesday at the Jasper County jail. It wasn't clear whether she had an attorney who could speak on her behalf, but earlier in the week she told Houston TV station KTRK that the boy's mother took him. Police said Wednesday they don't believe that's true.

Authorities are now investigating how long Samuel may have been missing and how he ended up in Jasper. Morris said the last confirmed sighting of the boy was at school on April 30.

Investigators also are interviewing several more people in connection to the case, including the child's father. However, Morris would not say whether the father was a suspect at this time.

Its absolutely heartbreaking, she said.

Balboa was arrested and charged with assault of a family member - impeding breathing on Nov. 29, according to court records obtained by the Houston Chronicle. She was let out on $5,000 bond the next day. A protective order filed in the case prohibits Balboa from directly communicating with that person.

The boys father and mother shared custody, according to police.

The Houston Chronicle contributed to this report.
3 1 of 3 Scott Loar / Jasper Newsboy Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Scott Loar / Jasper Newsboy Show More Show Less 3 of 3





In 1836 Texans won independence from Mexico and the Republic of Texas was born. Texas of course was already settled by many families who had gone west to seek fame, fortune and a new life. One of those settlements was Town Bluff, given the name from an overview above the west side of the Neches River in what is now Tyler County, almost halfway between Woodville and Jasper.

Twenty years later some of those same hearty pioneers gathered in the Town Bluff school house and formed a church. That church, the Fairview Baptist Church, just turned 165 year old last week and the congregation celebrated in a big way as they invited past and present members to a special worship service, dinner on the grounds and the very first flag raising on the churchs newly placed flag poles.
DETROIT (AP)  The world's largest meat processing company has resumed most production after a weekend cyberattack, but experts say the vulnerabilities exposed by this attack and others are far from resolved.

In a statement late Wednesday, the FBI attributed the attack on Brazil-based meat processor JBS SA to REvil, a Russian-speaking gang that has made some of the largest ransomware demands on record in recent months. The FBI said it will work to bring the group to justice and it urged anyone who is the victim of a cyberattack to contact the bureau immediately.

REvil has not posted anything related to the hack on its dark web site. But thats not unusual. Ransomware syndicates as a rule dont post about attacks when they are in initial negotiations with victims  or if the victims have paid a ransom.

In October, a REvil representative who goes by the handle UNKN said in an interview published online that the agriculture sector would now be a main target for the syndicate. REvil also threatened to auction off sensitive stolen data from victims who refused to pay it.

The attack targeted servers supporting JBSs operations in North America and Australia. Backup servers werent affected and the company said it was not aware of any customer, supplier or employee data being compromised.

JBS said late Wednesday said that it expects to resume production at all its plants on Thursday and be running at close to full capacity across its global operations.

It is not known if JBS paid a ransom. The company hasnt discussed it in public statements, and did not respond to phone and email messages Wednesday seeking comment.

The FBI and the White House declined to comment on the ransom. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday the U.S. is considering all options in dealing with the attack and that President Joe Biden intends to confront Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin, about his nation's harboring of ransomware criminals when the two meet in Europe in two weeks.

I can assure you that we are raising this through the highest levels of the U.S. government, she said. The president certainly believes that President Putin has a role to play in stopping and preventing these attacks.

While there is no evidence Russia benefits financially from ransomware crime  which has hit health care, education and state and local governments especially hard during the pandemic  U.S. officials say its practitioners have sometimes worked for Kremlin security services.

Ransomware expert Allan Liska of the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future said JBS was the largest food manufacturer yet to be hit by ransomware, in which criminal hackers paralyze entire networks by scrambling their data. But he said at least 40 food companies have been targeted by ransomware gangs over the last year, including brewer Molson Coors and E & J Gallo Winery.

Food companies, Liska said, are at about the same level of security as manufacturing and shipping. Which is to say, not very.

The attack was the second in a month on critical U.S. infrastructure. Earlier in May, hackers believed to operate with impunity in Russia and allied states shut down operation of the Colonial Pipeline, the largest U.S. fuel pipeline, for nearly a week. The closure sparked long lines and panic buying at gas stations across the Southeast. Colonial Pipeline confirmed it paid $4.4 million to the hackers, who then turned over a software decryption key.

Cybersecurity experts said the attacks targeting critical sectors of the U.S. economy are evidence that industry hasnt been taking years of repeated warnings seriously.

Cybercriminals previously active in online ID theft and bank fraud moved into ransomware in the mid-2010s as programmers developed sophisticated programs that permitted the softwares more efficient dissemination.

The ransomware scourge reached epidemic dimensions last year. The firm CrowdStrike observed over 1,400 ransomware and data extortion incidents in 2020. Most targeted manufacturing, industrials, engineering and technology companies, said Adam Meyers, the companys senior vice president of intelligence.

The problem has been spiraling out of control, said John Hultquist, who heads intelligence analysis at FireEye. Were already deep into a vicious cycle.

Hultquist said ransomware syndicates are going after more critical and visible targets because theyve invested heavily in identifying whales - companies they think will yield big ransoms.

JBS is the second-largest producer of beef, pork and chicken in the U.S. If it were to shut down for even one day, the U.S. would lose almost a quarter of its beef-processing capacity, or the equivalent of 20,000 beef cows, according to Trey Malone, an assistant professor of agriculture at Michigan State University.

Mark Jordan, who follows the meat industry as the executive director of Leap Market Analytics, said the disruption to the food supply will likely be minimal in this case. Meat has around a 14-day window to move through the market, he said. If a plant is closed for a day or two, companies can usually make up for lost production with extra shifts.

Several plants owned by a major meatpacker going offline for a couple of days is a major headache, but it is manageable assuming it doesnt extend much beyond that, he said.

Jordan said a closure that runs closer to a week would be more serious, especially for a company like JBS, which controls around one-fifth of the country's beef, pork and chicken supply.

Critical U.S. infrastructure might be better hardened against ransomware attacks were it not for the 2012 defeat of legislation that would have set cybersecurity standards for critical industries.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups lobbied hard against the bill, condemning it as government interference in the free market. Even a watered-down version that would have made the standards voluntary was blocked by a Republican filibuster in the Senate.

Right now, the U.S. has no cybersecurity requirements for companies outside of the electric, nuclear and banking systems, said David White, president of the cyber risk management company Axio.

White said regulations would help, particularly for companies with inadequate or immature cybersecurity programs. Those rules should be sector-specific and should consider the national economic risks of outages, he said.

But he said regulations can also have an unintentional negative effect. Some companies might consider them the ceiling  not the starting point  for how they need to manage risk, he said.

"Bottom line: regulation can help, but it is not the panacea,"' White said.

JBS plants in Australia resumed limited operations Wednesday in New South Wales and Victoria states, Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said. The company hoped to resume work in Queensland state on Thursday, he said.

JBS, which is a majority shareholder of Pilgrims Pride, didnt say which of its 84 U.S. facilities were closed Monday and Tuesday because of the attack. It said JBS USA and Pilgrims were able to ship meat from nearly all facilities Tuesday. Several of the companys pork, poultry and prepared foods plants were operational Tuesday and its Canada beef facility resumed production, it said.

The plant closures reflect the reality that modern meat processing is heavily automated, for both food- and worker-safety reasons. Computers collect data at multiple stages of the production process; orders, billing, shipping and other functions are all electronic.

___

Bajak reported from Boston. AP Writers Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia; Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia; and Nancy Benac, Eric Tucker and Alexandra Jaffe in Washington contributed to this report.
The Texas Army National Guard is headed to Jefferson County.

For the first time since 2011, the Texas Military Department is inking a deal with local officials in an effort to have a greater regional presence through a local readiness center.

Such a center, then called the Armory, was first constructed in Beaumont in the late 1950s, according to Jefferson County documents. It was occupied and used by the National Guard through the early 2000s.

The Armory was about 20,000 square feet, but it was in poor condition. And in 2011, it was one of dozens of properties the Texas Military Department divested from as a part of an initiative it began in 2005. Similar properties in Port Neches and Port Arthur also were divested.

Related: Old National Guard Armory is demolished

These property disposals resulted in a lack of National Guard presence in that coastal area of Texas, which is prone to storms, the documents said. As such, National Guard soldiers and airmen had to be transported to the area to support the (Tropical Storm) Harvey mission.

With that in mind, the Texas Military Department has identified Beaumont as the highest-priority local in Texas that needs a greater National Guard presence.

To fill that gap, the Jefferson County Commissioners on Tuesday morning unanimously approved an agreement with the Texas Military Department for the use of at least 20 acres of land, among other amenities.

The agreement requires the land to be provided for at least 25 years. Any less time would disqualify the state for federal dollars to fund the construction. The county also must provide flood zone and utility information for the provided land.

Top hits: Get Beaumont Enterprise stories sent directly to your inbox

The Texas Military Department would agree to provide any criteria for the land to the county as soon as possible and cover the costs of all assessments, design and construction pertaining to the project as well as a land/boundary survey of the identified parcel.

At this time, Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick said the county has made preliminary identification of a piece of property at the Jack Brooks Regional Airport that could be suitable for the given conditions.

He said if there ever is a need to use that property for another purpose, the county would have the opportunity to find another parcel.

Airport Manager Alex Rupp said representatives came to look at the property on Friday.

They seem to be pretty excited about the prospect of moving here, he said. I think its just all-around good.

kaitlin.bain@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/KaitlinBain
MADISON, Miss. (AP)  A Mississippi state trooper who was killed on duty last week was determined from childhood to become a law enforcement officer when he grew up, his father said Tuesday during the trooper's funeral.

John Martin Harris, 44, was struck and killed by a vehicle Friday during a traffic stop in Madison County. His death remains under investigation, and nobody had been arrested by Tuesday. Hundreds of law enforcement officers from Mississippi and other states joined other mourners for the funeral at Broadmoor Baptist Church in the Jackson suburb of Madison.

Jimmy Harris of Clarksdale said his son knew his purpose early in life.

I am so proud that my son was a trooper, he said. Y'all are an elite group of individuals that possess character, integrity  all the qualities that you would want your son or daughter to have.

Gov. Tate Reeves said one of Harris' friends described the late trooper as a modern-day Wyatt Earp.

I could never in a million years come up with words adequate enough to properly put into perspective how much John meant to so many, Reeves said during the funeral. But honestly, words really are not even necessary today. All you must do is look around this church and it becomes obvious how much Johns life meant.

Mississippi is a better place because of Trooper John Harris, Reeves said. "And likely more importantly to John, Mississippi is a safer place because of Trooper John Harris.

Harris' survivors include a wife and two children.

Harris was a Clarksdale native. He started his law enforcement career in 1997 in Webb. He was awarded his first purple heart in 2002 during his time as a Friars Point police officer and his second one in 2004 while working for the Madison County Sheriff's Department. Harris also served as a Richland police officer before graduating from trooper school in 2018 and joining the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

Jimmy Harris, who owns an electronics store in Clarksdale, said the son he called John Martin worked for a while as a police officer in that city.

He wrote so many tickets in Clarksdale, I said, Son, youre going to put me out of business, Jimmy Harris said, prompting laughter from people at the funeral. Everybody came to my store, they were having a fit: Man, your son gave me an $85 ticket. I said, Well, what were you doing? I was doing 65 in a 30. I said, Well, you should have got a ticket.

Col. Randy Ginn is director of the Highway Patrol and assistant commissioner of public safety. He said people who knew Harris through his law enforcement career described him as determined, driven and dedicated.

He was determined to do it right, Ginn said. And he wasnt going to quit. He wanted to be a part of the solution to whats going on in society.
The Tyler and Newton County courthouses may soon be getting a facelift.

The Texas Historical Commissions Courthouse Grants program recently awarded Newton County $1.1 million and Tyler County $1 million to devote to courthouse preservation.

Rep. White and I have worked hard to ensure that our historic courthouses in Newton County and Tyler County are preserved, Texas Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, said in a news release. These funds will ensure that any maintenance, renovation or preservation is funded. Our historic county courthouses tell such important stories about Texans who came before us, and these funds will maintain our commitment to preserving that history.

Related: Newton County heralds opening of courthouse years after fire

The Newton County Courthouse is no stranger to grants from the Texas Historical Commission after more than $4 million in grant money funded the majority of the restoration of the courthouse after a devastating fire.

In August 2000, faulty electrical wiring in the bell tower caused a catastrophic fire, which reduced the interior of the landmark, which was completed in 1902, to rubble.

The building currently stands in its 1937 appearance when an annex and exterior plaster were added.

The building originally was constructed by Texas contractors Martin and Moody and included the clock tower, mansard roof and corner quoins, according to Enterprise archives.

Top hits: Get Beaumont Enterprise stories sent directly to your inbox

Newton County also has been working with the state to digitize more than 40,000 pages of government records, which include land and school records; tax rolls; and marks and brands.

The Tyler County Courthouse actually was the second built on courthouse square in Woodville and the countys third courthouse. This iteration was built in 1891, but a massive courthouse remodel was conducted in the mid-1930s.

These funds for the Newton and Tyler County courthouses will play a key part in honoring the history of these two great counties, State Rep. James White, R-Hillister, said in the release. These courthouses are rural community treasures and the funds allocated will facilitate growing our local prosperity.

The Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program was established by George W. Bush in 1999 to restore courthouses to their original splendor and make them safe for Texas communities.

kaitlin.bain@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/KaitlinBain
Should your Administration continue down this path without proper consideration for the negative impacts to Marylanders, our chamber will be forced to consider all other tools at our disposal to ensure our States prosperity, Ferguson wrote in a letter on Wednesday along with Sen. Kathy Klausmeier, a Baltimore County Democrat who co-chairs a General Assembly unemployment committee.
HOUSTON (AP)  Three female deputies filed a federal lawsuit Monday accusing a Texas constable of turning the office's undercover operations into a booze-fueled playground for sexual exploitation."

The deputies, who either work or worked for the Harris County Precinct 1 Constables Office in Houston, alleged women were subjected to unwarranted touching and kissing, molestation and sexual ridicule during their work with the offices human trafficking unit.

The lawsuit alleges the office of Constable Alan Rosen set up undercover sting operations that were supposed to ultimately arrest those behind sex trafficking businesses. But those operations turned more into parties where officers drank heavily and the female deputies, who were given little to no training in undercover work, were fondled and kissed by their supervisory officer or were told to give lap dances to other male deputies.

MORE TEXAS NEWS: GREG ABBOTT NAMES 'OFFICIAL HANDGUN' OF TEXAS FOR SOME REASON

The lawsuit alleges that in another undercover operation at a massage parlor, one of the female deputies was told that to make an arrest she needed to be sexually assaulted by a suspect. The deputy did not get any support from the constables office after her assault, according to the lawsuit.

Cordt Akers, one of the attorneys for the women, called the allegations some of the most unspeakable sexual police misconduct that any of us have ever seen.

The lawsuit alleges Rosen and the Harris County District Attorneys Office were told about what was happening by a victims advocate working with the human trafficking unit, but they took no action.

We need to end corruption and (complicity) in people in power, Jacquelyn Aluotto, the victims advocate and who filed the lawsuit along with the deputies, said at a news conference. Aluotto alleges she was essentially fired as her hours were cut to zero after she told authorities what happened to the deputies.

In a statement, Rosen said an internal affairs investigation his office conducted found no violations of law or policy and the women who filed the lawsuit never submitted a formal complaint in the case.

I have a zero-tolerance stance against sexual assault and sexual harassment and would never allow a hostile work environment as alleged," Rosen said. This lawsuit is an effort to impugn the good reputation of the hard-working men and women of the Precinct One Constables Office. I believe our system of due process works and that justice and truth will prevail as facts in this case come to light."

In this matter, our sex crimes division quickly asked Constable Pct. 1 Internal Affairs to investigate whether there was evidence of a crime and Ms. Aluotto has represented she contacted the Texas Rangers. Nothing has been presented to prosecutors by either agency, said Dane Schiller, a spokesman for the Harris County District Attorneys Office.

Constables and their deputies are licensed peace officers who have the same powers as regular police officers but also have the added responsibility of civil law enforcement. Rosens office covers parts of central and north Houston.

The lawsuit alleges that to make human trafficking arrests, the constables office set up bachelor party stings in which the female deputies would pose as prostitutes in order to arrest sex workers and lead authorities to their handlers.

But the undercover operations became sexually-charged stings and a way for an assistant chief and others to fondle, kiss and ridicule the female deputies, according to the lawsuit.

What began as an idea for bachelor party prostitution stings soon grew into a booze-fueled playground for sexual exploitation in which young, untrained deputies were subject to disgusting abuse, according to the lawsuit.

Aluotto learned the female deputies were being victimized and that the human trafficking unit was not focused on solving cases and helping victims but on organizing the bachelor party stings, according to the lawsuit.

Aluotto said she and the deputies have already received threats to their careers.

We will not be silenced. We will continue to advocate and we will fight for our rights and others, she said.
Senior UNHCR officials Gillian Triggs (center) and Raouf Mazou (left) respond to questions from reporters in Dhaka as Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen looks on, June 2, 2021.

United Nations officials on Wednesday for the first time endorsed Bangladeshs decision to relocate Rohingya to a remote island, but said economic activities should be created for residents of the isolated site in the Bay of Bengal.

The comments came after hundreds of Rohingya protested during a visit by two senior officials of the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR to the island, Bhashan Char, on Monday.

If anyone compares the living conditions in Coxs Bazar and Bhashan Char, (I would say) Bhashan Char is much better, said Raouf Mazou, UNHCRs assistant high commissioner for operations, referring to a district of southeastern Bangladesh where about 1 million Rohingya from neighboring Myanmar are sheltering in squalid and densely populated camps and settlements.

Mazou and his colleague Gillian Triggs, the assistant high commissioner for protection, visited Bhashan Char before traveling to refugee camps in Coxs Bazar on Tuesday as part of a four-day Bangladesh trip, which they wrapped up on Wednesday.

The pair said the international community needed to ensure that those refugees already living on Bhashan Char and more who move there from the mainland camps could live in dignity.

The government has made a very important investment in Bhashan Char. The housing that has been developed by the government is much better, Mazou told a press conference in Dhaka, while noting that those on the island could feel isolated.

The refugee population in and around Coxs Bazar includes more than 740,000 who fled after violent attacks against Rohingya by Burmese military and security forces in Myanmars Rakhine state in August 2017.

About 19,000 Rohingya have relocated since December 2020 to Bhashan Char, a low-lying island where the government constructed a housing complex to accommodate as many as 100,000 refugees. The government says that they moved there voluntarily as part of Bangladeshs efforts to ease congestion in the mainland camps.

Mazou said there must be economic activities for the refugees.

He also said the U.N. would continue to have a presence in the Coxs Bazar camps and work with the government to ensure assistance to refugees, emphasizing economic activities apart from education and health care.

Livelihood and skills training opportunities will provide refugees with a sense of purpose and autonomy while they are in Bangladesh, while preparing them for reintegration when conditions allow them to return home, Mazou said.

Triggs said Rohingya who relocate to the island must do so voluntarily.

Bhashan Char has some potential, though the human and protection elements of refugees living there must be fully considered, Triggs said. They should have freedom of movement on the island and must be granted the possibility to return to Coxs Bazar and to maintain family connections with those in the camps.

Before talking to reporters in Dhaka, the U.N. officials met with Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen.

He noted that Bangladesh had tried to repatriate the Rohingya to Myanmar.

Its almost four years. No one is repatriated, Momen said.

The Bangladesh official urged the U.N. officials to focus on taking Rohingya leaders to Rakhine state to allow them to see the situation there.

Nearly 850 people have been killed and nearly 4,500 have been arrested in Myanmar since Feb. 1 when the Burmese military overthrew the democratic government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner Raouf Mazou (right), joined by other officials from the U.N. refugee agency, listens to Bangladesh Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Shah Rezwan Hayet during a visit to a Rohingya camp in Coxs Bazar, June 1, 2021. [Sunil Barua/BenarNews]

Islanders Dissatisfaction

When Mazou, Triggs and other officials arrived at Bhashan Char on Monday, between 500 and 600 staged a protest that turned violent, according to police.

Some of the protesters wielded brick bats and vandalized buildings and property there, authorities said. Some injuries were reported in clashes between police and protesters.

UNHCR issued a statement about the incident on Monday, expressing concern about reports of violence and injuries.

The safety and wellbeing of refugees is our main priority and we continue to urgently seek additional information on the condition of those affected and urge that they receive adequate medical assistance, Louise Donovan, spokeswoman for UNHCRs Dhaka office, told BenarNews at the time.

According to Rohingya living on the island, the protest occurred because members of the refugee community wanted to vent their frustration over the lack of jobs, money, or adequate medical care while living in confinement on the remote island and being cut off from Bangladeshi society.

We only got the opportunity to fish, Nurul Islam, a Rohingya leader on Bhashan Char, told BenarNews on Wednesday, adding the refugees were led to believe that they could farm cattle and have other agricultural opportunities.

As for fishing, that too has been taken away because some Rohingya had attempted to escape from the island.

Nurul Islam said the Rohingya were promised payments for moving to Bhashan Char, but had received only 5,000 taka (U.S. $59) each.

M. Mahe Alam, the officer-in-charge of the police station on Bhashan Char, told BenarNews that he heard that about 100 Rohingya had fled the island, but he could not be sure if that number was correct.

A very good environment

Meanwhile, Delwar Hossain, an international relations professor at Dhaka University, described the visit to the island by the senior U.N. officials as a plus for Bangladesh.

Bhashan Char is a very good environment. The government kept telling the world this, he told BenarNews. Now by visiting in person, the U.N. officials understand the situation.

Throughout their trip to Bangladesh, Mazou and Triggs reiterated UNHCRs appreciation to the government and the people of Bangladesh for the countrys humanitarian spirit toward the Rohingya.

They also spoke of the urgent need for comprehensive solutions including the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar.

While Bangladesh has shown humanity and solidarity, in line with the guiding principles of the Global Compact on Refugees, the international community must step up and give practical effect to the obligation to share responsibility, and to protect refugees and support the host Bangladeshi government, Triggs said in a statement posted on UNHCRs website.

Sharif Khiam in Dhaka and Abdur Rahman in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, contributed to this report.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi (left) meets her Association of Southeast Asian Nations counterparts ahead of an ASEAN summit on the Myanmar crisis, in Jakarta, April 23, 2021

ASEAN should speed up diplomatic efforts on Myanmar, top U.S. and Indonesian diplomats said Wednesday amid indications that some officials from the Southeast Asian bloc may travel to the strife-torn country this week.

Wendy Sherman, Americas second-highest ranking diplomat, said action by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was urgently needed to deal with the crisis in Myanmar, where the military has unleashed violence on pro-democracy protesters after it toppled an elected government four months ago.

We know that ASEAN is consulting with all in the region as wanting to be successful in the narrative and engagement. They should be in contact with the military leaders in Burma as well as all democratic parties in Burma. We hope that happens as soon as possible, Sherman, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, told reporters in Bangkok.

There is no time to waste, as we all see the humanitarian crisis for the people in Burma, she said at the end of a tour of three Southeast Asian countries  Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand.

During Shermans meetings in Bangkok on Wednesday, the issue of Myanmar came up during her meetings with Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai that touched on a range of bilateral topics, according to the U.S. embassy and Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

While in Bangkok, Sherman also met with representatives of international and non-governmental organizations to discuss humanitarian assistance for people displaced by the post-coup violence in Myanmar, the embassy said in a statement.

As she did in meetings with the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, the Deputy Secretary affirmed the United States call for an end to violence and an immediate return to democracy for the people of Burma at each of her meetings in Bangkok, according to the embassy.

In Jakarta on Wednesday, the top diplomat of ASEAN founding member-state Indonesia said the bloc needed to appoint an envoy to Myanmar quickly to begin implementing a five-point consensus, which leaders of the 10-nation association had reached at a special summit in late April.

The appointment of a special envoy must be immediately made and communication among all parties must start, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told reporters after she met with European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell in Jakarta.

In April, ASEAN leaders agreed to this consensus on Myanmar that, among other things, called for an envoy of the bloc to be sent to the troubled country. But more than a month later, ASEAN has made no visible progress in naming an envoy.

Myanmars military government also has ignored the consensus that it was a party to when Naypyidaws junta chief attended the summit in Jakarta.

The April 24 meeting did not include representatives from the parallel civilian government in Myanmar or any lawmakers from the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government, an omission that human rights slammed.

It is essential that ASEAN representatives meet with civil-society leaders in Myanmar, if a delegation from the bloc visits that country this week, as some news reports indicated, a group of Southeast Asian MPs said.

If ASEAN only meets with the military it risks, once again, playing into the juntas public relations exercise and granting them legitimacy, when all they deserve is admonition, Charles Santiago, a Malaysian lawmaker and chair of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, said in a statement Tuesday.

More than 800 civilians have been killed by military and police in Myanmar during the near-daily anti-junta protests since the Feb. 1 coup, according to rights groups.

Earlier this week, Sherman held talks with Retno and ASEAN officials in Jakarta and supported ASEANs five-point consensus. The EUs foreign affairs chief, Borrell, also told Indonesia on Wednesday that the European bloc backed ASEANs efforts.

I am very sorry that the situation there is not resolved, but if someone can help it is ASEAN, and within ASEAN there is Indonesia, Borrell said.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi (right), talks with European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell in Jakarta, June 2, 2021. [Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP]

Meanwhile, Indonesian officials declined to confirm a report that ASEAN Chair Erywan Yusof, of Brunei, and Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi were planning to travel to Myanmar this week to meet with junta leaders and other stakeholders.

Thats what I heard, but I have no details, Ade Padmo Sarwono, the Indonesian ambassador to ASEAN, told BenarNews on Wednesday.

The Myanmar juntas spokesperson did not return calls for comment from the Myanmar Service of Radio Free Asia (RFA), with which BenarNews is affiliated. A foreign ministry spokesperson told RFA he was not authorized to comment on the matter.

A former NLD lawmaker, Myint Htwe, said he held out no special hopes from a potential ASEAN officials visit to Myanmar.

Since we will continue working with our domestic R2P, we will not ask for any help from any foreign country. We have realized we have to do it unitedly ourselves, regardless of whether ASEAN leaders come or not, Myint Htwe told RFA, referring to the right to protect from crimes against humanity.

Another former lawmaker, Pe Than, from the Rakhine National Party, told RFA he believed a potential visit by ASEAN officials is a step to implement the decision of the ASEAN Summit.

But Evan Laksmana, a senior researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta, said such a trip would not be the start of the five-point consensus implementation.

At best, the visit is a *preparation* to implement the consensus, Laksmana said via Twitter.

Another analyst, Bill Hayton of British think-tank Chatham House, said that if Myanmar had agreed to a visit by ASEAN officials, it was in exchange for what the bloc did for the junta at the United Nations.

So this [visit] looks like the quid pro quo for ASEAN states protecting Myanmar from the arms embargo resolution at the UNGA last week, said Hayton, an associate fellow at the think-tanks Asia-pacific Program.

International rights groups and political analysts roundly criticized ASEAN for trying to water down a U.N. resolution that included a clause calling for a halt to military arms sales to Myanmar, a development first reported by BenarNews last week.

In a letter, ASEAN member states  minus Myanmar  asked countries sponsoring a draft U.N. General Assembly resolution on Myanmar, to omit a sentence that calls for an arm embargo on Myanmar, according to a diplomat from Liechtenstein, a co-sponsor of the document.

Teuku Faizasyah, spokesman for Indonesias foreign ministry, declined to confirm the letter, but acknowledged that ASEAN members had conflicting views on ending arms sales to the Myanmar military.

During the discussions [at the U.N.], it was clear that there were wide differences in views among U.N. member countries, including among ASEAN countries, he told BenarNews on Tuesday.

Similar differences among ASEAN members may be the reason the bloc has not yet named an envoy to Myanmar, Teuku Rezasyah, an international relations lecturer at Indonesias Padjadjaran University, told BenarNews.

The best candidates in the eyes of ASEAN will not necessarily sit well with Myanmar, he told BenarNews.

The Myanmar Service of Radio Free Asia contributed to this report.


This effort will raise donations to help Central Oregons creative artists  musicians, visual artists, performers and creative workers  by offering grants and a platform to bring attention to the talent that needs help to continue thriving in this community throughout the pandemic and beyond.

More Info
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.
Republican Gov. Phil Scott wears a mask as he takes the Oath of Office on the steps of the Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier, Vt., beginning his third two-year term, on Jan. 7. With the pandemic relief law signed by President Joe Biden in 2021, Scott says, I think were in a pivotal time. ... A billion dollars has just fallen from the sky, in some respects. Its here, right in front of us. We have to invest it wisely.
Gov. Charlie Baker is facing increasing criticism of his handling of the COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home that claimed the lives of 76 veteran residents last spring
While an in-person festival has yet to be organized, Berkshire Pride plans to hold a June 26 rally in downtown Pittsfield and is exploring festival possibilities for later in the summer or in the early fall. Berkshire Pride and Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer will kick off Pride month Wednesday, with the raising of the Pride flag at Pittsfield City Hall.
With multiple large properties potentially for sale or targeted for possible development, such as the former DeSisto site at 37 Interlaken Road, a new zoning bylaw proposal in Stockbridge continues to attract strong pro and con reaction from residents.
You have permission to edit this collection.

Edit Close
Tensions between Republicans and Democrats over the use of masks lingered in the Maine Legislature as lawmakers returned to the Maine State House
featured

Hamburg

Two rival gangs meet at Strand for Outsiders Day

Two rival gangs meet at Hamburg Strand for Outsiders Day
A pastor on Chicagos South Side is alerting the press that hes preparing to walk to Washington D.C. in order to demand that President Joe Biden declare violence a national mental health crisis.

On Sunday (May 30), Pastor Anthony Williams of King International Ministry told reporters he sent a letter to Biden, asking him to sign an executive order making all violence a public health crisis.

Williams, who lost a son to gun violence, said if his letter goes unanswered he is prepared to bring a crowd to the nation's capital and ask for his request in person.

RELATED: Texas Pastor Dies From Covid-19 A Month After Powerful Sermon About The Virus

"Violence is a public health crisis. The CDC has called it not just an epidemic, they've called it a pandemic, Williams said, according to WBBM 780.

So we've got to address this issue of violence being a pandemic. It is going to destroy us all. We cannot continue to accept an abnormal behavior as a normal behavior. We can't live like this anymore.

This isnt the first time Williams was willing to go to the maximum for his cause. Last September, WBEZ reports that the pastor went on a hunger strike in order to bring attention to the violence in the Windy City.

It is unknown if Biden received the letter. However, in April, Illinois governor JB Pritzker signed a new law declaring violence a public mental health crisis in the state.
Columbus, Ohio has selected a new police chief who comes in at a time when law enforcement in the town has fallen under scrutiny.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, Elaine Bryant, formerly Detroits assistant chief of police, was selected among four finalists for the position. She will become the citys first person from outside the division in its history to take the reins and the first Black woman to lead the department.

Bryant, 48, was hired after a national search that included 34 applications. While Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther has yet to officially make the announcement, Ivonne Roman, one of the finalists, congratulated Bryant via twitter.

RELATED: Ohio City Council Votes To Pay $475K To Officer Who Says Police Force Discriminates Against Officers
The White House announced a plan to invest billions in order to support Black and minority owned small businesses on Tuesday ( June 1). President Joe Bidens American Jobs Plan will invest in Small Business Administration initiatives that will reduce barriers to small business ownership and success, according to a statement from the administration.

The program will feature a number of platforms to offer economic support to businesses which will address racial discrimination in the housing market, increase federal contracting with small businesses by 50 percent. It will also place focus on the American Jobs Plan by proposing a $10 billion Community Revitalization Fund; supply $15 billion for new grants toward rebuilding the nations infrastructure; and $31 billion for small business programs to increase capital for small businesses.

These initiatives will increase access to capital by establishing a new direct loan program for the smallest businesses, developing new loan products to support small manufacturers and businesses that invest in clean energy, and launching a new Small Business Investment Corporation that will make early stage equity investments in small businesses with priority for those owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, according to the White House.



RELATED: What Black Business Leaders Say Biden-Harris Administration Needs To Address



The announcement came as President Biden visited the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the 100 year anniversary of the racist massacre that took place there. The Biden administration promises that making for a more level playing field for Black businesses is one of their priorities.

The American Jobs Plan will also invest billions of dollars in SBA technical assistance programs that incubate and offer mentoring and technical assistance to 8(a) firms, reinforce the American subcontracting network to create pathways to prime contracting, encourage Fortune 500 firms to diversify their procurements, and bring more socially and economically disadvantaged businesses into federal research and development programs, according to the White House statement. These investments will also include an innovative new $1 billion grant program through the Minority Business Development Agency that will help minority-owned manufacturers access private capital.
Call ahead to confirm events. Due to COVID-19, many events have been canceled but hosting organizations might not have updated their entries.

Email Blast Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. Daily News Headlines & Events Email Blast Would you like to receive a digest of each day's headlines & events from The Daily News by email? Signup today! The Amplifier Headlines & Events Email Blast Would you like to receive a weekly digest of headlines & events from The Amplifier by email? Signup today! Daily News Hosted Events The Daily News is a proud host of community enrichment events. Join our Daily News Events mailing list to learn about the next event we are planning. Sign up now. Manage your lists
BIG RAPIDS  The COVID-19 pandemic has put a major strain on businesses across Michigan, and in the Big Rapids area, many employers are struggling to find enough employees for the busy summer months. The staffing shortages have forced many businesses to adjust and offer additional incentives in an attempt to hire more employees.

According to the Michigan Department of Treasury, in May, the number of employed persons rose by 3.8 million, the labor force increased by 1.7 million persons and the number of persons unemployed fell by 2.1 million. In addition, Michigan payroll employment in May 2020 was 1 million jobs below its May 2019 level. Despite these reported economic improvements, the pandemic is still causing a strain on many local small businesses who are struggling to find enough employees.

Pat Currie, owner of Hooked at Curries, a new business in Big Rapids, said the unemployment stimulus payments that many Michigan residents are getting as a result of the pandemic has impacted peoples willingness to seek out work.

When the pandemic hit, it was really a ghost town especially with the schools closing. We lost a lot of the traffic that normally comes through and that has been difficult, Currie said. We were fortunate that we didnt have to close, but we lost half our staff to people leaving and cutbacks, and right now I just cant afford to pay $15 an hour, and if I wanted to wed be forced to raise our prices and we would get far less customers coming in. When you have people that are able to work making $16 an hour sitting at home on unemployment, people dont want to go back to work where theyd be making less.

For Currie, taking pride in a family owned and run business is a major part of continuing to improve and adjust to challenges the business faces.

My two sons and daughters work for us, and when people come to work here, they see that family atmosphere, and a lot of them really do like that, Currie said. They each have an integral part in the business, and I am very proud of them.

According to the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget, the state workforce fell by 4.7% over the year, a reduction well above the nationwide labor force drop. In May 2020, among all U.S. states, Michigan recorded the third highest unemployment rate, below Nevada and Hawaii.

Jeff Cook, a full-time manager at Ruby Tuesdays in Big Rapids, said the pandemic has taken a toll on both full time and part time employment numbers, and the cutbacks have impacted every worker.

We are having the hardest time finding standard back-of-house employees like cooks, dishwashers, salad bar attendants and hosts because the $10-$14 market for the average 20-30-hour worker doesn't compete with the additional unemployment compensation still being disbursed, Cook said. A lot of these people are making more now than they ever have while working and being undervalued along the way. Also, the fact that the hospitality industry was the hardest hit industry with multiple layoffs forced a lot of them to just find other career paths that weren't as COVID-19 impacted.

Cook said because of the pandemic, their staffing is not near what it normally would be, and the company is looking for more ways to improve staff numbers.

Currently, Ruby Tuesdays is offering a $200 sign-on bonus for new hires that stay for a minimum of 90 days. They have also increased the starting wages of all back-of-house employees by a minimum of $1-$2 dollars to try and compete with other local businesses, as well as offering 50% off any meal during a work day and 25% off if an employee comes in with family or on an off day.

We should staff a total of around 30 employees but right now we are running with about 14, Cook said. They can only work so much, and we lost people from graduation and some going home for the summer. This is a normal thing that happens in a college town, but it hurt so much more this year with the issues we are already having. On weekends, we usually have two to three cooks, up to four servers and one host. With the number of sales we're doing, we could easily staff each position with double the employees if we had them.

'SHUTDOWN HURT US PRETTY BAD'

Many chains in Big Rapids have faced closures during the pandemic including Applebees and Bob Evans as a result of the government mandated dine-in shutdowns, which have also forced temporary or permanent closure of many local businesses in Big Rapids.

Antlers Fireside Grille, a local restaurant in Stanwood, has also faced issues with staffing and challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Laura Rhoades, Director of Marketing for Bollman Plaza and Antlers, said the restaurant is offering a $2,000 bonus for those that are hired in as line cooks or dishwashers.

Finding staff for this summer has been very challenging, especially for back-of-the-house positions such as line cooks and dishwashers, and we have had very few people apply, Rhoades said.

For Antlers, the biggest impact on the business has been being shut down two separate times throughout last year as well as the staffing/hiring process. With the ups and downs through COVID, weve had difficulty hiring and/or keeping staff and the difficulty in hiring still continues.

In the years that I have worked in hospitality, I have never seen such a demand for employees. I am hopeful that things will continue to get back to normal and we will be fully staffed again to serve our loyal customers, said Rhoades.

At Ds Diner in Morley, the COVID-19 pandemic has created new issues for the small business owned and operated by Deerdra Sims. As a new business, Sims said getting the business name out in the community has been difficult during the pandemic, among challenges with staffing and income.

I opened back in August 2020, and have had a hard time finding employees since, Sims said. I started my business at the beginning of the COVID-19 problem and have struggled since. We were the only business open in our area for even take-out for a long time, and during that time it was strictly me and family that worked as we didnt have much business and could not afford the outside help.

"I do my best to rotate days off for the staff so that they can get time off when they need it and a weekend with their families at least once per month. Other than that, I am still trying to come back from this winter and lack of business with the shutdown, so I am unable to offer much.

The shutdown hurt us pretty bad, and of course, being a brand-new business we did not and do not qualify for almost all of the help that is being offered to small businesses like ours. So, we are scraping by and doing the best we can do, Sims said.

James Cranker, owner of Crankers Brewery in Big Rapids, said the pandemic has impacted their staffing numbers as well as the normal number of customers they can allow in the restaurant. To create more space, Crankers will be installing an outdoor location for customers to provide more choices for safer dining.

Weve had a really tough time and for whatever reason, weve seen that there is a shortage of people who want to work, so weve had help wanted information up at our space and online, Cranker said. The capacity limits have hurt us and our revenue, and wait times have sent some customers away.

"We havent been able to provide incentives for hiring, and we lost quite a few employees to the factories who raised their wages during the pandemic. We are focusing right now on our outdoor dining facility installation this Wednesday, so that we can have more options for customers open soon.

While the pandemic has impacted both large and small area businesses, most business owners are hopeful that restrictions on dining and capacity will continue to ease and allow for more normal dining experiences.

For more information on what businesses are hiring locally, position and business information can be found on Indeed and local business Facebook pages. Many area businesses who are seeking employees have now hiring or help wanted signage posted, and individuals are encouraged to stop in or call to inquire about open positions.
You may remember, about 10 years ago, The Factor began spotlighting companies that refused to say the words "Merry Christmas."

In fact, some of those businesses actually ordered their employees not to say it.

Well that culture war issue ignited, and we won. Most companies stopped the nonsense and Merry Christmas became a common greeting once again.

For me, it was interesting to go through that because some on the left actually denied there was any controversy at all - that I fabricated it.

More lies from a crew that is incapable of telling the truth.

Anyway this year, the American Family Association based in Tupelo, Mississippi has issued its annual Naughty or Nice list.

That tells the public which businesses are Christmas-friendly and which are not.

This year the following companies are rated five-star nice: Cracker Barrel, Hobby Lobby, Kirkland's, Lowe's, Michael's Stores and Walmart.

I remember that one time Lowe's was a problem, but obviously that has turned around.

Also on the Christmas friendly list: ACE Hardware, Banana Republic, Bass Pro Shops, Bed Bath and Beyond, Books-a-Million, Dick's Sporting Goods, Home Depot, J.C. Penney, K-Mart, L.L. Bean, Marshall's, Neiman Marcus, ProFlowers, RITE Aid, Sam's Club and Toys R Us.

Again, all of those companies use the word Christmas in their advertising and promotion.

Now for the naughty companies that kind of marginalize Christmas.

Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Foot Locker, The Gap, The Limited, Nordstrom, Office Depot, Office Max, Petsmart, Staples and Victoria's Secret.

According to the AFA, those companies are not in the Christmas spirit.

Kind of bad news for them because Donald Trump is on the case:

TRUMP: We're going to start saying Merry Christmas again. (APPLAUSE) How about all those department stores? They have the bells and they have the red walls and they have the snow, but they don't have Merry Christmas. I think they're going to start putting up Merry Christmas.

Now, does the Christmas deal really matter?

Since the war has basically been won, this is a clean up operation - but the information is valid.

Many Americans celebrate Christmas because they believe that Jesus is the savior and his birth should be honored.

And because it is a federal holiday, there is no reason to diminish Christmas or insult those who believe in it.

Don't like Christmas, ignore it.

So companies and stores that embrace Christmas obviously will attract folks who feel the same way.

As for Talking Points, we're just happy that most Americans see Christmas as a positive experience.

And we're happy we could contribute.

And that's the memo.
One of the reasons Donald Trump won the presidency is that millions of Americans now believe they are being conned on immigration.

Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party had absolutely no interest in being responsible on the issue of people traveling to the USA illegally or even protecting Americans from vicious foreign criminals already here.

In fact, the far-left wing of that party actually wants open borders and blanket amnesty for the undocumented living all across the country.

Never mind that would create a dangerous security nightmare and run up far more government debt.

Liberal zealotry sees America as a nation driven by white privilege and wants to flood the USA with new citizens, the fewer restraints the better.

And it doesn't matter that Hillary Clinton might not be that extreme.

She put forth no vision on immigration other than the status quo, which has been a colossal failure.

Thus, Trump's tough guy approach to enforcing immigration law propelled his campaign despite the unending charges of racism that came his way

So now the question becomes, what is a fair policy in this most emotional of arenas?

For that we turn to Australia, a nation of about 24-million people but with a land mass almost exactly the same as America's.

And we have 325 million people.

So there is plenty of room to roam Down Under.

Australia has a stone-cold policy on illegal entry. If you are caught, you are forcibly taken by the Aussie military to remote locations in the South Pacific, where you can either sit for years or be deported home.

Australia accepts less than 15,000 migrants a year on a humanitarian basis.

Recently it announced it would take 12,000 Syrian refugees on top of that.

But even more recently the Obama administration said it would take more than 2,000 refugees currently languishing in the South Pacific, human beings that Australia refuses to bring to its mainland.

My question is, why not?

Why won't the Aussies take them?

Surely, desperately poor people in South Asia, or Central America for that matter, deserve sympathy.

During my time in El Salvador, I visited folks who were actually living in caves. Dogs in America have more comforts.

Judeo-Christian philosophy compels its followers to embrace the poor, and it seems that rejecting asylum-seekers and migrants goes against that tenet.

Thus, the far-left demonizes those who call for restrictions on illegal immigration, saying they are bad people.

That's what the Sanctuary City movement is all about.

But you don't hear much condemnation of Australia and inside that country both political parties support the tough immigration laws.

There is little moral debate.

By the way, if Perth for example declared itself a Sanctuary City, it would have big trouble with the Aussie military, which as I stated actually enforces immigration law.

And a general reports directly to the government in Canberra.

Australians generally believe that undocumented migrants destabilize the country and put themselves at grave physical risk by crossing oceans to get Down Under.

Also, Aussie politics have created a generous welfare state that works for a small population.

That entitlement culture would be overwhelmed and go broke if mass illegal immigration was accepted as it has been here in the USA.

Simply put, Australians do not want the enormous disruption that immigration chaos causes.

So they are sending more than 2,000 poor souls here, folks they should assimilate. And Barack Obama is happy to take them.

Are we chumps?

Or are we the most compassionate nation on Earth?

President Trump will have his hands full trying to figure out how to get things under control on the immigration front.

Here is what Talking Points recommends.

A moratorium on refugees for one year until Trump's new Homeland Security Department can reorganize and setup intense vetting procedures.

Right now the federal government cannot properly investigate refugees who want to come here. The system is broken.

All undocumented people already here must register with the feds at their local post offices within six months.

It becomes a felony if they fail to do that and immediate deportation if they are caught.

By the way, we told you very early on in the presidential campaign that mass deportations would not take place if Donald Trump were elected president.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan confirmed that yesterday:

PAUL RYAN, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Were not working on a deportation force. Heres what were working on with respect to immigration, securing our border, enforcing our current laws. He talked about criminal aliens. Thats just enforcing laws for people who came here illegally, who came and committed violent crimes. We should enforce those laws.

Once the federal government knows how many undocumented people are here and their circumstance, a fair system of evaluating migrants can take place.

On the borders, all of those caught trying to enter illegally will be bussed back into Mexico or Canada after being fingerprinted.

Second offense -- six months in jail then another bus ride.

A congressional mandate on how many foreign nationals should be allowed into America each year should be agreed upon.

That number should be generous, but legal papers have to be renewed each year and actual citizenship will have to be earned over a substantial period of time.

A new law that suspends all federal transportation money to individual states that tolerate sanctuary cities must be passed.

Texas is in the process of outlawing sanctuary cities, punishing them financially.

Every state should do that.

And if California says no, finance your own infrastructure. Same with all other defiant states.

Finally, build effective barriers along the southern border using the Army Corps of Engineers.

The barriers designed to stop the flow of people and drugs.

Enough is enough.

If I could, I'd help every poor and abused person in the world.

But I can't.

So I do what I can without making things worse by supporting policies that hurt the country at large.

Australia has figured this out.

We can, too.

And that's the memo.
A few months ago we suggested that President Obama might want to take action against Russia for waging cyberwarfare against the USA.

Russia has been hacking into the American system for years, and Mr. Obama has done nothing about it.

Now the situation has reached critical mass because Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election.

And as we all know, WikiLeaks embarrassed the Clinton campaign by making public hacked emails that showed some members of the press secretly helping Mrs. Clinton and other embarrassing facts.

Before that Democrats really didn't care much about Russian hacking. Now they do.

The CIA and the FBI both agree that Russia is involved with breaching U.S. cyber security.

The CIA says it's because they wanted to influence the U.S. election. The FBI says it does not know the motive.

But it really doesn't matter, does it?

If Russian officials are hacking into American systems, that is cyberwarfare.

Enter Donald Trump, who says he does not believe the Russians did anything to influence the presidential vote.

He says the Democrats are just trying to trot out another excuse for losing.

Okay, his opinion; he's entitled to it.

But it might be better if the president-elect avoids the issue all together.

Mr. Trump has nothing to gain here.

Again, this happened on President Obama's watch and he is responsible for holding the Russians responsible.

Going forward, President Trump will have to deal with cyberwarfare, but right now he should sit this thing out.

On another serious note, President-elect Trump is now engaged in a war of words with China.

Mr. Trump telling Chris Wallace the "one China" policy, whereby the USA recognizes the Beijing government as the sole authority where Taiwan is involved, might not be a good thing.

China doesn't like that.

Again, it might be better if Mr. Trump postpones this confrontation until he is in office and fully briefed on the consequences of a war of words with the Chinese.

Plenty of time to make deals with China, why tee them off now?

Finally, Donald Trump's appointments.

To me they look fine.

It's not like any of the cabinet members have tremendous power; they don't.

They do what they are told to do, and all the people appointed so far have skill and experience.

Fox News is now reporting that the CEO of Exxon, Rex Tillerson, is Trump's pick for secretary of state.

I have never met Mr. Tillerson, know little about him, although reports are he has a good relationship with Vladimir Putin.

Maybe Tillerson can neutralize Putin's bad behavior.

That would be a great thing.

I expect Mr. Tillerson to be confirmed in the Senate.

Summing up, Russian hacking happened, President Obama should have dealt with it. He did not.

If it continues, President Trump will have to.

On China, let's all take it easy.

On Trump's appointments, they look good to Americans with no ideological axe.

And that's the memo.
Bill reports on the horrible Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, President Biden's visit to Tulsa, and what the president should do now to counter the current violence that is killing thousands of young black men in cities like Chicago.

While its important for the President to visit Tulsa, Oklahoma and commemorate what happened there 100 years ago, the problem is that some progressives use terrible events in our history like this to condemn the country today.

The left loves to suggest that events like the Tulsa Race Massacre could happen today - and that is just a lie. The real issue is that the left ignores the ongoing massacre in Chicago, where around 3,500 African Americans have been killed in the last 5 years.

Bill goes in depth on tonights No Spin News  sign up here to watch and get Killing the Mob free.
Malaysia's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said it would summon China's Ambassador to explain an 'intrusion' by 16 Chinese military airplanes into its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) after Malaysia's military detected "suspicious" activity over the South China Sea, reported CNN.

This comes after Malaysia's Air Force on Monday said it scrambled jets to conduct visual confirmation after China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) planes flew within 60 nautical miles off Sarawak state of Malaysian Borneo, reported CNN.

It described the incident as a "serious threat to national sovereignty and flight safety", adding that the Chinese planes did not conduct regional air traffic control despite being instructed several times.

Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia will issue a note of diplomatic protest and ask China's ambassador to Malaysia to explain the "breach of the Malaysian airspace and sovereignty."

"Malaysia's stand is clear -- having friendly diplomatic relations with any countries does not mean that we will compromise on our national security," the minister said in a statement.

Meanwhile, China's embassy in Malaysia has said that the planes conducted routine flight training and 'strictly abided by' international law without violating the airspace of other countries.

"China and Malaysia are friendly neighbors, and China is willing to continue bilateral friendly consultations with Malaysia to jointly maintain regional peace and stability," CNN quoted a spokesperson of the embassy.

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea and has overlapping territorial claims with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

China has been increasing its maritime activities in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea over the past few months, partly in response to Beijing's concerns over the increasing US military presence in the region because of escalating Sino-US tensions.

Last year, a Chinese survey ship held a month-long standoff with a Malaysian oil exploration vessel within Malaysia's EEZ, reported CNN.

Meanwhile, the Philippines has lodged protest against China's continuing "illegal presence and activities" near Pag-asa Islands last week.

"The Department of Foreign Affairs lodged a diplomatic protest yesterday against the incessant deployment, prolonged presence, and illegal activities of Chinese maritime assets and fishing vessels in the vicinity of the Pag-asa islands, demanding that China withdraw these vessels. The Pag-asa Islands is an integral part of the Philippines over which it has sovereignty and jurisdiction," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

(ANI)

Also Read: Suez Canal authority plans to widen canal to avoid event like 'The Ever Green'
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

In a vicious, utterly false attack on Senator Marco Rubio, the head of the DNC  Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz  has reached a new low in political attack discourse.

Earlier this week, the senator held a fundraiser at the Dallas home of real-estate guy Harlan Crow.

Mr. Crow has one of the biggest private collections of historical memorabilia in the world.

The collection includes items from the Third Reich, including stuff from Hitler.

Wasserman-Schultz used that historical collection to smear Rubio, quote:

"Rubio is holding this event on the eve of the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur. Holding an event in a house featuring the artwork and signed autobiography of a man who dedicated his life to extinguishing the Jewish people is the height of insensitivity and indifference. There's really no excuse for such a gross act of disrespect. Mr. Rubio, who by the way, represents a sizable Jewish population in our home state of Florida, should cancel this tasteless fundraiser. It is astounding that the presence of these items that represent horror for millions of Jews the world over, would not stop Mr. Rubio or anyone on his team in their tracks when planning this event."

What is truly astounding is the woman's ignorance.

I have been to Mr. Crow's home and seen his collection of history.

It is amazing. Any museum would be proud to display what he has.

Both good and evil are represented in an educational way.

There are documents and letters from crucial moments in American history, as well as world history.

They include items from villains such as Hitler, Stalin, Tojo and Saddam Hussein.

If you follow Wasserman-Schultz's reasoning, no politician could hold an event in the Imperial War Museums for example. Her take is truly insane.

By attacking Rubio using the Holocaust, the head of the Democratic National Committee has shamed herself and her party.

She should immediately resign.

There comes a point when politics gets so dirty it corrupts the nation.

We are at this point.

And it's not just the Democrats who are using despicable tactics, although they seem to embrace them at a high level.

Some Republicans are comfortable using falsehood and innuendo to smear liberals.

And when Talking Points sees that from the GOP, it will be reported.

Summing up, there is no place for defamatory deceit in any political campaign.

The presidential race now underway has the potential to get very nasty.

We will fight against that, and we begin with Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.

And that's the memo.
One thing about Barack Obama, he is a confident guy. He makes me look shy.

Yesterday in Greece, he told the world that he did a heck of a job as president:

OBAMA: "People seem to think I did a pretty good job, and so there is this mismatch I think between frustration and anger, perhaps the view of the American people was, is that, 'just need to shake things up.' ((EDIT)) I think I can make a pretty strong argument that the policies that we put forward were the right ones. That we've grown faster than just about any advanced economy, and the country is indisputably better off."

Now Mr. Obama really believes what he says. In his mind he kicked serious butt as president.

And he has backup: The latest Gallup poll has the president's job approval rating at 57%, a very strong number.

However, some of his support is surely based on personal likability.

But to be fair, he does deserve some policy credit for stabilizing the economy after the mortgage-backed securities fraud almost collapsed it.

Also, for helping Americans with severe health problems -- so called pre-existing conditions -- and for conducting himself with class in the White House, as the recent meeting with Donald Trump demonstrated.

But there are some very important things President Obama did not do in eight years, things I hope President-Elect Trump will consider.

First, targeted tax cuts for businesses while at the same time phasing out deductions that drain tax receipts to the government.

Mr. Trump is an expert at this and he well understands that in order to rebuild the military and roads, bridges, etc., you need cash.

Also, persuading corporations to bring the profits they are hoarding overseas back to invest in America would be a huge economic stimulator that would expand the economy and create well-paying jobs.

If corporations would commit billions to expansion, the financial markets would go wild and the USA would take on tremendous economic momentum.

To be polite, President Obama does not understand macro-economics and generally sees private business as an opponent of social justice.

Now, on the individual tax front surely a fair percentage can be worked out with the goal being to allow American consumers to have more net income, more money in their pockets -- another major economic stimulator.

Barack Obama's philosophy is to give folks stuff rather then setting up a robust private marketplace so they could earn their stuff.

Overseas, the Obama doctrine of containment through diplomacy has not worked.

And the pain has been immense.

Millions of refugees have flooded into Europe, some of them terrorists.

The suffering of poor people in Syria and Iraq is cruel, cruel ... all because Mr. Obama does not act aggressively against the jihad.

Talking Points has put forth a solution -- NATO should formally declare war on Islamic terrorists, set up safe zones for refugees in the Middle East, and punish ISIS any way it can.

Barack Obama would never even think of doing that ... way too confrontational.

Finally President-Elect Trump should accept the Paris treaty on climate to buy some goodwill overseas. It doesn't really amount to much anyway. Let it go.

Mr. Trump should also learn from Mr. Obama's mistakes.

Most Americans want a robust economy and a vibrant national defense, including border protection.

If Donald Trump can make those two things happen, he will succeed in the toughest job in the world.

And that's the memo.
Donates 200 BiPAP machines to state governments apart from 40 cell counters and 30 coagulation analysers

Transasia Bio-Medicals has stepped up its efforts to augment the capacity of various state governments to provide timely oxygen support to their citizens. Transasia has arranged to provide 200 BiPAP machines, to be distributed to various COVID-dedicated hospitals across India. The company has procured BiPAP machines from its global vendors.

Transasia has already pledged the BiPAP machines to several beneficiaries through the state governments in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow and Raebareli), Rajasthan (Jaipur and Ajmer), West Bengal, Assam, Agartala, Maharashtra (Mumbai and Panchgani), Karnataka (Chikkamagaluru, Tumkur, Udupi, Chitradurga and Vijayapura), Telangana and Tamil Nadu. This initiative has been very well received by:

Transasia is also providing 30 coagulation analysers, ECL 105, to the Delhi government. ECL 105 aids in monitoring blood clotting in severe COVID patients.

32 units of H 360 has been donated in Tamil Nadu, a three-part differential haematology analyser and 5 and 3 units of H 560 and Elite 580 respectively, five-part differential haematology analyser. This equipment aids in monitoring disease severity in COVID patients. The total value of the donation from Transasia Bio-Medicals is more than Rs 2.25 crores.

Speaking on the initiative, Vazirani, Founder Chairman, Transasia-Erba Group, said, Transasia remains committed to the health of Indians and through our small effort, we intend to reach out to those severely impacted and in urgent need. This is one of the several few initiatives and we intend to continue to use our resources and technology, to aid the Central and state health ministries.
All vaccine manufacturers are working overtime to meet demands and yet the demand is more than the supply that is available at hand

Once the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved Covishield and COVAXIN, India initiated the worlds biggest vaccination drive. Along with the vaccination drive there were exports of both the approved vaccines to 95 countries. The exports began on January 20, 2021 with an initial supply of one and a half lakh doses (Covishield) to Bhutan which was followed by another supply of four lakh doses (Covishield) on March 21, 2021. The vaccines were exported with good intent and there cannot be two ways about it. Vaccines have been supplied to countries through grants (107.15 lakh doses), commercially (357.92 lakh doses) and through the COVAX programme (198.628 lakh doses). India, till date has supplied a total of 663.698 doses, till exports were put on hold by April 22, 2021 with a consignment of one lakh doses (grant) of COVAXIN to Paraguay. Exports have been stalled currently due to the shortage of vaccines in the country.

The shortage of vaccines in the country could have been managed in a better manner, it is easy to point fingers in hindsight, but quick decisions need to made in times of crisis considering the greater good.

Once the vaccines were approved, frontline workers were the first to get vaccinated, followed by the older population and then it transcended for everybody that was eligible for the vaccine (18 years and above). Once the vaccine drive commenced, reception was mixed and turnout was low. Eventually the drive began gathering steam. Demands for vaccine have seen an upsurge ever since. Supplies are limited and demands keeps surmounting by the day. All vaccine manufacturers are working overtime to meet demands and yet the demand is more than the supply that is available at hand.

Currently there a 17 vaccines that are being used for vaccination (with approval at least in one country) globally for vaccination against COVID-19, World Health Organization (WHO) has granted approvals to vaccines by Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Sinopharm for emergency use authorisation.

The Government of India is answerable to its citizens, but the fact that the world is in need of the vaccines cannot be overlooked. The human race in totality is in danger and this is not the time to be trivial. The war against this pandemic is beyond governments, borders and continents. Each and every human is in this together, to win this war mankind needs to stand united. India as a nation needs to reach out to the needy and help as much as possible.

Every organisation involved with the manufacturing of the vaccines, supply chain, approvals and delivery have been on their feet, they are all trying to fulfil the enormous demands of the vaccines. It isnt going to be an easy task, there are several challenges. This isnt the time to despair, Indians need to hold on tight, to see this pandemic through.

Indians need to pull themselves together and keep fighting. The country needs to reach out to those who really are in need, the nation needs to strengthen its vaccine manufacturing infrastructure by fast tracking it with immediate effect. The world needs India more than ever, India needs to answer the call of the world.

prabhat.prakash@mmactiv.com
Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), Umbrella schemes of Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) and Health Ministers Discretionary Grant (HMDG) now cashless, paperless and Citizen centric

Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare has launched the revamped Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and the Umbrella schemes of Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) and Health Ministers Discretionary Grant (HMDG) on National Health Authority (NHA)s IT platform.

Just like the Technological interventions in opening bank accounts, Public Financial Management System (PFMS), subsidies through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), Ayushman Bharat scheme for paperless treatment of patients, todays initiative of convergence of CGHS, RAN and HMDG with NHA platform is also designed to with the vision of making the healthcare services available transparently and swiftly to the needy citizens, he said.

The Union Health Minister remarked that the CGHS, a comprehensive Health Scheme for Serving Employees, Pensioners, Members of Parliament, ex-MPs, etc., and their dependent family members, during last 7 years has expanded to 72 Cities with more than 38 lakh beneficiaries are covered under the scheme.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan noted that e-referral module developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) has enabled CGHS dispensaries and wellness centres to issue online referral to empanelled hospitals. The hospitals processing of application, submission of claims, CGHS teams sanctioning, release of payment would be done online on the platform henceforth.

He also informed that under RAN, financial assistance up to Rs 15 lakhs is provided to poor patients suffering from major life-threatening diseases/cancer/rare diseases, for medical treatment at Government hospitals. The eligibility criteria to avail services under RAN had been based on State/UT-wise BPL threshold.
CARITEC is indicated for the prevention of excessive bleeding in women after vaginal or caesarean child birth

A wholly-owned subsidiary of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has entered into a license agreement with Ferring Pharmaceuticals (Ferring), a subsidiary of Switzerland-based biopharmaceuticals MNC Ferring Pharmaceuticals, to commercialise a Room Temperature Stable (RTS) formulation of the obstetric drug, CARITEC (Carbetocin RTS) in India. CARITEC is indicated for the prevention of excessive bleeding in women after vaginal or caesarean childbirth. The condition is commonly known as postpartum haemorrhage (PPH).

As per agreement terms, Sun Pharma is granted rights for co-marketing of the drug in India in the private market under the brand name CARITEC. Ferring has developed the drug and received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for introducing the drug in India.

Kirti Ganorkar, CEO-India business, Sun Pharma, said, Through our collaboration with Ferring, we are introducing an innovative medicine that will help in reducing thousands of deaths from PPH every year. We believe this unique RTS formulation of Carbetocin will play an important role in PPH prevention in India.
Covid-19 has ramped up the role digitisation plays in the financial lives of more and more of the world's population, sparking a massive transformation in the financial services industry with electronic payments at the epicentre.

Inclusion and trust

In developing countries, financial inclusion will continue to be driven by mobile devices and access to affordable, convenient payment mechanisms. By 2025, smartphone penetration will likely reach 80% globally, largely via uptake in emerging markets.



In Africa, mobile operators and retailers are taking the lead in equipping customers with cashless means of payment. Theyre also playing a key role in bringing about financial inclusion and trust in digital payments. In addition, regulators are stepping in to drive financial inclusion. It is also being strengthened by the need of many African migrant workers to send money home via affordable cross-border payments. Digital currencies

CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) are predicted to have the biggest disruptive impact over the next 20 years.



South Africa has embarked on its second CBDC project to explore the use of both a wholesale CBDC and wholesale settlement tokens for interbank use. Sarb looks into central bank digital currency The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is conducting a study into the feasibility, desirability and appropriateness of a central bank digital currency (CBDC)... Digital wallets

Looking ahead, 86% of our survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the prediction that traditional payment providers will collaborate with fintechs and technology providers as a main source of innovation.



Alternative closed loop systems such as e-money and telecom-led mobile money solutions will continue to dominate a large proportion of the African continent, especially sub-Saharan Africa, due to the foothold mobile money agent networks have already established. This trend will persist, with more financial-services offerings built on top. Battle of the rails

Senior payment professionals surveyed expect important regional developments towards a payment infrastructure in which card and other transactions run on joint account-based payment rails. Key initiatives in Latin America, South-East Asia and Europe give testimony of this development.



In Africa, account-to-account credit transfers are likely to continue growing given enhancements to the national clearing infrastructure focusing on low-value, high-volume payments such as the Rapid Payments Programme (RPP) in South Africa. Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya have also introduced instant payment solutions. Cross-border payments

In our survey, 42% of respondents said they felt strongly that there would be an acceleration of cross-border, cross-currency instant payments and B2B payments in the next five years. Financial crime

In our survey, security, compliance, and data-privacy risks and related issues were the top concern for banks, fintechs and asset managers in implementing a fully integrated technology strategy.

Payments are increasingly becoming cashless, and the industrys role in fostering inclusion has become a significant priority. As digital money draws a stronger interest, the financial services industry must recognise the entire infrastructure of payments is being reshaped, with new business models emerging.A PwC survey reveals how even before the pandemic, cashless payments like sending a text to pay for a bus ticket in Turkey, or using a QR code to buy groceries in China are evidence of a steady shift to a digital economy - a shift that might ultimately lead to a global cashless society. Global cashless payment volumes are set to almost double from 2020 to 2025, from about one-trillion transactions to about 1.9 trillion.According to findings, Asia-Pacific will grow the fastest, with cashless transaction volume growing by 109% from 2020 to 2025 followed by Africa (78% from 64%) and Europe (64% from 39%), Latin America comes next (52% from 48%), and the US and Canada will have the least rapid growth (43% from 35%)."A cashless world is in plain sight. The Covid-19 pandemic reinforced an already growing shift to digital payments and likely drove a three- to five-year acceleration in their use.The acceleration towards digital payments will create new opportunities for the entire payment ecosystem, including banks. But it will also expose weaknesses for those not prepared to adapt," says Kurtis Babczenko, global banking and capital markets leader, PwC.Covid19 is a catalyst for change  we have seen the rapid deployment of payment services across Africa. Current market conditions have given rise to the need for more financial inclusion, as well as greater innovation and collaboration among financial services players.As an emerging market, unencumbered by large amounts of legacy technology, South Africa has the potential to develop a modern payments infrastructure and a cutting-edge payment platform that places customers at the core," says Chantal Maritz, strategy& payments transformation lead Africa at PwC, says.PwC findings reveal the key themes that are influencing the payments industry and highlights the importance of how the industry responds to these trends. In order to properly plan for their future FS leaders need to fully understand the industry trends:Aside from this shift to a cashless society, we need to also pay attention to a more profound change. Not only are consumers saying goodbye to traditional ways of paying for goods and servicesincluding the humble paper check and analogue invoices, but the entire infrastructure of payments is being reshaped.That reshaping involves two parallel trends: an evolution of the front- and back-end parts of the payment system (instant payments; bill payments and request to pay; and plastic cards and digital wallets); and a revolution involving huge structural changes to the payment mix and ecosystem (emergence of so-called buy now, pay later offerings; cryptocurrencies; and work underway on central bank digital currencies. says Babczenko.
As part of our ongoing #BehindtheBrandManager series, we interviewed some of the Marketing Achievement Awards' Rising Star finalists - said to be the best and the brightest under the age of 35 who have consistently demonstrated excellent performance and who have the potential to become outstanding leaders in their profession.

Bianca de Beer

Bianca, as senior marketing manager at Dialdirect and 1st for Women Insurance, tell, tell us more about your role and what it entails exactly?

Tell us about your career: what you studied and why, and how you ended up where you are today?

What do you enjoy most about marketing and working in the financial services space specifically?

You were recently shortlisted as a finalist for the MAAs Rising Star of the Year Award. Firstly, congrats, and secondly, tell us what this recognition meant to you?

Any other career highlights youd like to share?

What career advice would you give to aspiring young marketing and branding professionals?

How has the pandemic and subsequent national lockdowns affected your work and Telesure Investment Holdings specifically?

Tell us about your latest or most successful campaigns or ads to date, and the rationale behind them?

Bianca de Beer, senior marketing manager at Telesure Investment Holdings refers to herself as a brand-building specialist with an incorrigible passion for all things marketing and communications-related. As a creative thinker with a drive towards making businesses grow with purpose, she enjoys working with developing brands and bringing them to life through true consumer insights, successful product innovations, relevant partnerships and engaging brand communication throughout the value chain.Here, she tells us more about her work as the primary brand custodian of the Dialdirect and 1st for Women Insurance brandsAs senior marketing manager of Dialdirect and 1st for Women Insurance, I am the primary brand custodian to drive the long- and short-term objectives per brand. These include improving brand power and sentiment, and creating performance marketing efficiencies.I knew where I wanted to study more than what I wanted to study, and an open day at the University of Pretoria had me signed up for a BCom in Communication Management. At the time, it was rumoured to be the hardest BCom you could do, which immediately had me interested. After a semester in third year, studying brands, I chose to then head to Vega for my postgraduate studies and practical real-life client experience. Following my studies, I reached out to brands where I wanted to work, and funnily enough, a post on 1st for Womens Facebook page got me the intro I needed to begin my journey at TIH.Its constantly changing. Theres always a new skill required, a new platform to try, a new project to be involved in. In financial services in particular, there is a lot of clutter, it takes a lot to stand out and to do so within regulatory, etc. constraints is an exciting challenge.Thank you! It was great in that it created an opportunity for reflection. To genuinely take a moment and appreciate all the brands, people and experiences along the way. Generally, I dont think people celebrate the wins (big and small) enough.Thereve been some great brand awards along the way, but being part of the team who won the companys annual incentive awards was one to really be proud of, and thats because the awards are centred around delivering above and beyond business results. Brand = business, so to be part of a team whose efforts over-delivered across financial metrics is great.While it is always fun and worthwhile to test out new platforms and tools, never forget that the best marketing often comes from insights and the ability to remember and connect with the fact that we are all human beings.TIH did an incredible job in terms of supporting their customers, employees and communities during this time, which I am extremely grateful for and proud of. Globally, lockdowns caused an increase in domestic violence and abuse and South Africa was not immune. The National GBV Command Centre received triple the amount of calls from women who were trapped with their abusive partners at home during the national lockdown. As long-term advocates in the fight against women abuse, 1st for Women supported the National GBV Command Centre through the provision of debriefing services for social workers and supervisors. We also set up a crowdfunding campaign to support nurses on the frontline of Covid-19, partnering with Gift of the Givers and Vula Mobile. The fundraising effort was kick-started with a R500,000 donation from 1st for Women.The latest would be our Fearless campaign for 1st for Women. The face of the campaign is Miss Universe, Zozibini Tunzi. This campaign reflects the intrinsic fearlessness of South African women. With 1st for Women Insurance as their wing woman, we encourage and support women through their challenges and obstacles with our products and support, specifically designed for women. You can take a look at one of the ads here:
If you are old enough to remember the hit comedy movie of 1980, Caddy Shack, then you will recall that a gopher infestation was threatening a golf course in Nebraska. The somewhat deranged groundskeeper was tasked with getting rid of the pest. His efforts at eradication include shooting, f
China takes precautions as wandering elephant herd marches north

Xinhua) 08:52, June 02, 2021

-- In a rare migration, 15 wild elephants trudged 500 km in southwest China's Yunnan Province, passing through several counties and occasionally wandering into villages and towns to cause panic.

-- The herd is now approaching Kunming, the provincial capital. Wildlife authorities have established an on-site command center to monitor their movements 24 hours a day and prevent them from entering densely populated areas by creating barriers and using food as bait.

-- Experts said the wild elephant population has been growing in China thanks to enhanced protection, but expanding forests also reduced the food supply for the endangered mammals and increasingly drove them out of their habitats to search for food.

Aerial photo taken on May 28, 2021, shows the herd of wandering wild Asian elephants in Eshan County, Yuxi City, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Hu Chao)

KUNMING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- A herd of wild Asian elephants is approaching Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, after trampling crop fields and wandering evacuated streets on a 500-km on-foot journey.

No one knows exactly why the 15 elephants traveled all the way from their forest home in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan, but authorities have mobilized thousands of people to monitor their migration, suspend traffic on roads they marched on and use food to lure them away from human settlements.

The provincial bureau of forestry and grassland said Tuesday that the herd was in the city of Yuxi, only 20 km from Kunming, a city of 7 million people.

The bureau has reminded the government of Kunming to issue timely warnings and take comprehensive precautions. The city has sent staff to Yuxi to learn monitor and intervention measures.

Monitoring images show the herd includes six female adults, three male adults, three sub-adults and three calves.

Aerial photo taken on May 28, 2021, shows the herd of wandering wild Asian elephants in Eshan County, Yuxi City, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Hu Chao)

WHERE ARE THEY GOING?

There were initially 16 elephants in the herd, which left their nature reserve last year to roam in nearby counties under the city of Pu'er. One adult elephant dropped out and two were born in the journey, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Officials became alert in April when the 17-member herd turned north to visit Yuanjiang County under the city of Yuxi. Another two adults left the herd for home while the rest continued to travel north.

On the evening of May 27, they came upon the town of Eshan and walked the streets for six hours after authorities evacuated pedestrians and vehicles and warned residents to stay indoors.

On Monday, the endangered mammals were seen in the Hongta District of Yuxi, where authorities established an on-site command center to monitor their movements 24 hours a day and prevent them from entering densely populated areas by creating barriers and using food as bait.

More than 360 people, 76 police cars and dirt trucks and nine drones were mobilized, and 18 tonnes of elephant food has been prepared, according to the command.

No casualties have been reported so far.

Aerial photo taken on May 28, 2021, shows the herd of wandering wild Asian elephants in Eshan County, Yuxi City, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Hu Chao)

Chen Mingyong, an Asian elephant expert with Yunnan University, said it was the first time that China recorded such a long-distance northward migration of wild elephants.

"Migration of Asian elephants is common, but it usually happens between several habitats in a certain area. It is very rare for them to travel such a distance to the north," Chen said.

"We can't tell what their destination is," he said, suggesting that the migration might not even have a destination. "It is possible that the chief of the herd lacks experience and led the whole group astray."

So far, the giant creatures have wreaked havoc in 412 cases, damaging 56 hectares of farmland in the counties of Yuanjiang and Shiping alone, incurring direct economic losses of about 6.8 million yuan (1.1 million U.S. dollars).

Several trucks block the road to an urban area where the herd of wandering wild Asian elephants might travel to in Luohe Township of Hongta District, Yuxi City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, May 31, 2021. (Xinhua/Hu Chao)

ELEPHANT-HUMAN CONFLICT

Asian elephants are under A-level state protection in China, where they are mostly found in Yunnan. Thanks to enhanced protection, the wild elephant population in the province has grown to about 300, up from 193 in the 1980s.

The growing density of forests, another result of the eco-environment recovery, however, reduced the food supply for the elephants and increasingly drove them out of their habitats to search for food.

Wild elephants mainly feed on understory plants such as wild bananas, which have gradually been replaced by non-edible woody plants amid forest expansion, said Xiang Ruwu, a wildlife official with the bureau.

In recent years, there are growing reports of wild elephants roaming into villages and plundering farm crops.

A staff member uses a drone to track and monitor the wild Asian elephants in Hongta District, Yuxi City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, June 1, 2021. (Xinhua/Hu Chao)

The province, known as the "kingdom of wildlife," has taken a raft of measures to soothe human-elephant conflict, including setting aside land to grow the elephants' favorite foods, indemnifying villagers against wildlife damages and setting up an alert system.

How to cater to the latest "elephant tour," however, has proved particularly challenging.

"For these 15 elephants, all we can do at present is to issue early warnings and evacuate residents in time to minimize losses," said Chen, adding that as the herd showed signs of moving further northward, there is a need for continuous studying and monitoring.

(Web editor: Meng Bin, Bianji)
Block Club Chicago also reported that a luxury watch shop in the Gold Coast, where Ahmed was a frequent customer, improperly received vaccinations. And a Loretto spokeswoman, in March, confirmed that the head of a company that is a hospital vendor requested doses so that 10 people could be vaccinated at a home in late January. That request was approved by a former executive who is no longer employed at Loretto, she said at the time. Carroll declined to comment on whether it was Ahmed who approved the request.
We are not naive enough to think that the mayors plan is the definitive answer. But we needed her to prove that curbing violence is a top priority of her administration and that she is willing to use every resource available to secure the safety of Black and brown children who are most at risk.
This pandemic isnt over and there are many, many people who have not been vaccinated yet, Pritzker said Wednesday. I talked a little bit about the fact that more than two thirds of people in Illinois have been vaccinated, but that leaves a third and we are not at herd immunity, where we need to get to. So were doing everything at the state level to try to incentivize people to go get vaccinated.
Looking ahead to the fall, when schools will reopen, getting information to families and vaccines for children will be important, she said. She is also monitoring whether or when people might need boosters, another moment when information will be key. People might question whether the vaccine was effective if they need a booster, even as health experts have said this is a likely possibility.
When someone goes by the name Meathead, you kind of know what to expect. So even though he went by Craig Goldwyn when he used to write wine columns for the Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post, it makes sense that hes now best-known as the outspoken author and creator of AmazingRibs.com, a site dedicated to the science & art of BBQ and grilling since 2005.
Submit your letter to the editor for publication in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Letters should be no more than 300 words and must include the writer's first and last name (no initials), home address and daytime phone number.

Submit
What's Included

With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 814-368-3173 or email nfinnerty@oleantimesherald.com.
Members of the Manitoba NDP said on Tuesday that the Progressive Conservative government recently asked them to expedite the passage of Bill 64, the Education Modernization Act.

Advertisement Advertise With Us

Members of the Manitoba NDP said on Tuesday that the Progressive Conservative government recently asked them to expedite the passage of Bill 64, the Education Modernization Act.

According to a May 28 letter addressed to Opposition house leader Nahanni Fontaine, government house leader Kelvin Goertzen requested that standing committee hearings on the bill be moved up to September instead of October as originally planned.

This would have required the second reading of the bill to take place on Tuesday, the last official day of the spring legislative session.

Goertzen argued that this new time frame would allow more room for meaningful feedback on education reform since the current trajectory only gives their 300 or so registered presenters around three weeks to speak out on Bill 64.

"The governments desire is to ensure that all presenters can have their say on this bill," Goertzen wrote. "However, without co-operation, this time frame will cause some difficulty for presenters who do not know when they are going to be called upon and who have professional, family or other commitments."

However, Fontaine ultimately denied this request, believing that the PC government is harbouring ulterior motives in trying to fast-track the whole process.

For one thing, the St. Johns MLA pointed out that the beginning of September is one of the busiest times of year for parents and educators, which would make these standing committee hearings way less accessible to the people who are being impacted by this proposed legislation.

"They dont have the time to come to the (legislature) and sit there for hours, waiting for their turn to present," Fontaine told the Sun over the phone. "Its not a good time to force people to come and present on really egregious, repressive legislation."

Bill 64 itself would completely change Manitobas education system if passed, dissolving all of the provinces 37 school divisions  except for the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine  in favour of 15 regions that are governed by a single provincial authority.

This kind of education reform has drawn the ire of many Manitoba educators and parents, especially those living in rural communities who believe their concerns will simply fall through the cracks under this new centralized structure.

In late March, the Manitoba NDP even used their legislative power to delay the second reading on Bill 64 until at least the fall, hoping to give these concerned advocates enough time to read and respond to the 309-page document.

As such, Fontaine sees no reason why they should fulfil the Tories recent request to fast-track the passage of the bill, especially since that request is being submitted at the tail end of the spring legislative session.

"The government is asking us to basically expedite its legislative agenda when there are so many Manitobans who are absolutely opposed to this bill and want the opportunity to be able to present to committee in the format and time frame that is within the rules of procedures of the house," she said.

In an official statement submitted to the Sun on Tuesday afternoon, Education Minister Cliff Cullen maintains that this recent request was made in good faith.

"Clearly the NDP do not want to discuss education reform, improving student outcomes and getting the supports to teachers and front-line educators, but would rather continue their campaign of misinformation for their own political gain," he said.

As it currently stands, the second reading of Bill 64 is scheduled to take place this coming October, with all of the following committee hearings set to be concluded by early November.

Anyone interested in presenting during these hearings can register by contacting the Clerk of the Legislature at 204-945-3636 or committees@leg.gov.mb.ca.

 kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @KyleDarbyson
Advertisement Advertise With Us

Manitoba finished its most "robust and ambitious" legislative session in decades on Tuesday.

At least, thats according to Premier Brian Pallister, who held an afternoon media availability to summarize what his government accomplished as the legislature breaks for summer.

He highlighted the governments spending on personal protective equipment, health care, mental health, education, tax breaks and vaccine deployment among his proudest achievements.

"Our investments in Manitoba, after five years in government, in health, education, and child and family services are the highest per capita of any Canadian province," he said. "Budget 2021 was a significant step in the direction of reinforcing our goal of standing up for our most vulnerable citizens."

The premier gave thanks to Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Ontario Premier Doug Ford for their provinces welcoming in Manitoba ICU patients as Manitoba grapples with the third wave of the pandemic.

"We have doubled the capacity in our province, a significant increase, but its not proving to be enough," Pallister said. "So again, I say thank you to our allies. We would be the first to help them if we could and we have offered in the past and well continue to when we can. But right now, were working as a Canadian federation, as a family should and were appreciative of their help, so I say we very much appreciate the help."

Pallister also thanked the federal government for the resources it has provided to Manitoba so far, noting that other help is on the way.

Asked how hell look back at this part of history in the future, the premier said its difficult to pinpoint a time in his life where more major decisions have had to be made on an almost daily basis.

"Im very, very proud of the people I have the honour to serve with," he said.

"Im very proud of our staff, Im tremendously proud of Manitobans for the way theyve responded. We did better than everybody for a lot of this pandemic and weve done worse than everybody for part of it as well.

"Weve been peak and valley and it isnt for lack of preparation that this happened. I think when the analysis comes through in days ahead, well identify different realities that are true here in Manitoba that arent so true in other parts of the country that have caused some of the negative aspects of COVID that allowed it to spread more rapidly in certain demographics and being able to hold it off for a time was great, but now Im just especially appreciative of all the dedicated people in our province who are following the health orders, that are going out and getting vaccinated, that are just doing the right things to get us through this thing."

Questioned multiple times on if Tuesday might be the last question period of his career, the premier dispelled any rumours surrounding a possible retirement by promising hed be back for the fall session.

On the subject of whether it is appropriate to let some fans attend game one of the Winnipeg Jets second-round playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens tonight, Pallister said he knew that those in attendance would be safe and careful.

"I think we should take that as a sign of some small amount of optimism that we can start to get our lives back here in Manitoba," he said.

The Jets Twitter account announced later in the day that up to 500 fully vaccinated health-care workers would be allowed to attend games one and two at Bell MTS Place.

 cslark@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ColinSlark
Just three weeks shy of graduating, 13 newly minted respiratory therapists will join two hospitals in Winnipeg in response to an extreme need of their skills during the pandemic, the registrar of the Manitoba Association of Registered Respiratory Therapists said Tuesday.

Advertisement Advertise With Us

Just three weeks shy of graduating, 13 newly minted respiratory therapists will join two hospitals in Winnipeg in response to an extreme need of their skills during the pandemic, the registrar of the Manitoba Association of Registered Respiratory Therapists said Tuesday.

"We sent out a request for assistance to all of the jurisdictions realizing the chances were slim as every other province is experiencing similar circumstances," Shane McDonald said.

"Manitoba has received similar requests from other provinces as well during this third wave. The decision was finalized last Friday with graduates applying for licences over the weekend, which were all approved so that they could begin work Monday."

The decision to add the new graduates to the provinces respiratory therapist roster came early after the call out for respiratory therapists (RTs) across the country yielded no response.

Eight graduates have begun orientation at Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg. Five are supporting care for adult patients and three are in pediatric areas. Four are already in orientation at St. Boniface Hospital.

This move will add 304 respiratory therapy shifts to the health systems resource pools over the next six weeks, a statement from Shared Health said.

"Were front-line workers," McDonald said.

"The second the COVID patient is intubated, our responsibility is to manage the mechanical ventilation of these patients."

Respiratory therapists are also on the team that intubates the patient, he added.

The MARRT board of directors, along with the University of Manitoba College of Rehabilitation Sciences and Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, entered into a collaboration as an emergency measure to consider these students completed in their educational program, McDonald said.

"To complete the education program is what makes you licensed to practise."

Students had three weeks left in a 42-week curriculum. The MARRT board of directors agreed on this one-time emergency measure in an unprecedented time of need rather than waiting the three weeks to ensure they had accomplished all of the competencies to be finished.

Most (of the students have) 90 per cent completed the competencies required to graduate. Early accreditation is in direct response to the drastic need for them to enter the workforce, McDonald explained.

"Part of the comfort with the board is the fact that these students had been working under pandemic precautions for a full year now."

The students final year is considered their clinical year and theyre well-versed in the precautions required to work safely, he said. Due to the extenuating circumstances the pandemic has presented, the board signed off three weeks ahead of schedule.

"The emergency measures the MARRT board agreed to take at this time, this year, right now, we consider them completed in their educational program."

"So theyll qualify for a graduate licence and be eligible to challenge the national credential exam on July 5, this year," McDonald said.

He said the board is confident they have the necessary skills and competencies to provide quality respiratory care to Manitobans.

During the second wave of the pandemic, six retired respiratory therapists re-entered the workforce to lend a hand. And, six newly graduated Ontario respiratory therapists will be joining their Manitoba colleagues and receive licensing to practise in the province as well. By press time, McDonald said a respiratory therapist from Ontario had requested licensing in the province. That brings the number of fresh RTs in the province to 20.

Respiratory therapists in the province are regulated by MARRT, the provincially appointed body that oversees the 356 RTs in the province. Licences cost $520, but new graduates pay $260 as they are halfway through the year, McDonald explained.

New graduates work under minimum supervision and generally arent part of the transport team until they have more experience.

"I didnt do my first transport for some time," said McDonald, a former clinical respiratory therapist.

It is mandatory in the province to be licensed through MARRT and practise respiratory therapy in accordance with the Registered Respiratory Therapist Act, McDonald said.

 kkielley@brandonsun.com
A lot of people go into it for the flexibility, the money, the camaraderie and the action  and most of those things are gone and not coming back, said Don Woolf, an off-and-on server and bartender since the late 1980s who worked his last shift in March 2020 and does not plan to return. He wants to put his masters degree in journalism to work in some form of writing, research or communications instead.
When it comes time to make big decisions on how to respond to the pandemic, where is Premier Brian Pallister getting his technical and scientific advice?

When it comes time to make big decisions on how to respond to the pandemic, where is Premier Brian Pallister getting his technical and scientific advice?

There are certainly many qualified experts within government in areas such as public health, epidemiology and emergency management, and they should be applauded for their dedication to the pandemic effort. But if Mr. Pallister is basing all of his pandemic-response decisions on their advice, then why are so many equally qualified experts outside government at odds with those decisions?

Throughout the pandemic, prominent physicians, scientists and other health-care professionals have sounded the alarm about a pandemic response that seems inherently reactive and almost never proactive. As the Pallister government has demurred over lockdowns and instead chosen small tweaks to social and economic restrictions, these outside experts have demanded more be done, much earlier, to stop or moderate the intensity of the various waves of COVID-19 that have crashed upon Manitoba.

To be fair, the province has found itself between an ideological rock and a hard place, with stark choices on either side. Shutting everything down for a third time risks putting the provinces business community in further jeopardy, and for a premier who has promised fiscal stability, this comes as a bitter pill to swallow, and a legacy he does not want.

This reasoning, at least, gives some small explanation as to why the province dragged its feet in responding to the rapid rise of the third wave of this pandemic earlier this spring  and to the fact were still not in lockdown now. Hope that Manitobans would heed government warnings won out.

Perhaps its also a reflection of the premier himself. Renowned for his self-confidence, Mr. Pallister has rarely shown interest in outside advice. The premier has forged ahead with his strategy, seemingly oblivious to the warnings from non-governmental experts.

But heres the thing: in almost every instance, the outside experts have been right in their predictions of the tragic consequences of the Pallister governments pandemic strategy.

The physicians and scientists who have openly challenged government have been batting nearly 1.000 in terms of predicting both the timing and the magnitude of the second and third waves of the pandemic. Mr. Pallister may not listen to them, but there is clear value in what they are saying.

That economic concerns and overtures from lobby groups like the Manitoba Hotel Association have seemingly had this much sway over decisions affecting the health of the population  in spite of the dire warnings from health officials outside his immediate advisers  is especially concerning,

Given that he wont listen to outside experts here at home, its unlikely the premier will look to the example set by other countries. But if he did, for example, look to a country like New Zealand, he would see the enormous value of bringing in the best experts from outside government.

In the first few weeks of the pandemic, the Kiwi government established an independent technical advisory committee comprising the best medical and scientific minds in the country. That committee served as the architect of New Zealands elimination strategy, which has made it one of a handful of countries to truly contain COVID-19.

These experts not only informed government policy. They were allowed to speak openly to the public about their ideas and offer reviews of government performance. That, in turn, helped build overwhelming public support for restrictions and other invasive pandemic-management strategies.

Mr. Pallisters only retort to the outside criticism is to claim, almost always without factual basis, that Manitobas pandemic response is the best, the toughest, the strictest and the best managed in the country. These assertions are demonstrably false. They have been repeatedly undermined by hard epidemiological evidence showing we have suffered more cases and deaths than we should have for a province of this size.

The premier has argued that what his government has done represents its best effort. If thats the case, then he should open his ears and mind to the chorus of outside experts who are telling him, in urgent terms, that his best is not good enough.

Unfortunately for all of us, he likely wont.

 Winnipeg Free Press and The Brandon Sun
Im a few days late in tipping my hat to Bob Dylans 80th birthday. But he has a line to suit most occasions and this week its Ballad of a Thin Mans something is happening here but you dont know what it is. Thats what came to mind when I read about Chinas recent clampdown on alleged speculation, fake news and hoarding in the commodities markets.

Just as Western governments pointed the finger at speculators in 2008 as oil prices spiked to nearly $US150 a barrel, the Chinese authorities are looking to apportion responsibility for costs which threaten to dent the countrys growth as factory gate prices increase at the fastest rate in years. Its understandable but it misses the point. There really is something important going on here, but its not what Beijing thinks.

Workers take a break while sitting on a pile of steel wires in Shanghai. Chinas crackdown on commodities ignores that for the first time global factors are driving prices. Credit:Bloomberg

Speculators are easy to blame. But commodity markets are not the place to make bets that are not backed by a strong economic case. The cost of holding physical commodities is high, so speculation in natural resources takes place in the futures markets and these are efficient. For every long theres a short. Positions will only move prices to the extent that they reflect relevant information about supply and demand. Any that dont will soon be met by a countervailing bet. Bubbles are short and self-defeating.

Far from increasing volatility, speculators actually reduce it by immediately factoring in new information before the official data catches up. Speculation allows small adjustments in price to pre-empt bigger shifts down the track. Goldman Sachs, in an interesting update this week on its commodities supercycle thesis, highlighted the anomaly of onion futures, in which trading has been banned since the 1950s (after suspected manipulation of the market). Volatility in onion prices is consequently much higher than in commodities like corn where there is efficient price discovery.
A warehouse unit in Sydneys south-west where a group of men allegedly held a former bikie captive for several hours before setting fire to the property had been rented to a company for an upfront cash payment of $40,000 last year and was used to store luxury vehicles.

Police were called to a home at Jersey Road in Bringelly about 3am on Tuesday after receiving reports Dillan Mancuso, 37, had been abducted by an armed group of men who also allegedly assaulted his 61-year-old father.

Mr Mancuso, previously linked to the Lone Wolf bikie gang, was forced into a vehicle and taken to the warehouse on Marigold Street, Revesby.

By midday, detectives, heavily armed tactical officers and negotiators tracked the group and descended on the industrial property. Following negotiations, Mr Mancuso was released by his alleged captors.
For 34 years, Raymond Keams family members have lived with the constant shadow of his death lingering over them.

They dont know who was responsible for his brutal bashing in 1987, or why he was taken from them during a dark chapter of hate crimes in Sydneys history.

Raymond Keam and his son Dane.

But a $1 million reward for new clues into his death, announced by police on Wednesday, has given the family hope they can finally get justice for Mr Keam.

Mr Keam, a martial arts expert and father of four, was found beaten to death at Alison Park in Randwick in January 1987.
The Gold Coast will soon receive a boost in tourism as 30,000 travel vouchers for Queenslanders will be up for grabs.

Queenslanders keen to win a travel voucher valued at $100 each for the Gold Coast will have 72 hours to enter the draw from Monday, June 7.

Enter for the chance to win a travel voucher to use on accommodation or tourism experiences. Credit:Glenn Hunt

Gold Coast Holiday Dollars can be used on select accommodation and tourism experiences, in partnership with Destination Gold Coast.

The program had previously targeted Brisbane, the Whitsundays and Cairns.
Sleep deprivation, televisions being drowned out, and high stress levels caused by aircraft noise have driven some Brisbane residents to rally outside Brisbane Airport Corporation headquarters on Wednesday.

The rally drew about 100 people to the BAC office, brandishing placards such as Why destroy our city, Stop the noise atrocity and Fix the flight path.

Brisbane residents protest aircraft noise outside the Brisbane Airport Corporation headquarters. Credit:Jocelyn Garcia

Residents were outraged when they were unable to drop their complaint letters in person to BAC because the main doors had been locked.

However, BAC had set up a table outside to receive written complaints.
Several activists have been arrested after they entered the Land Forces weapons expo at the Brisbane Convention Centre in a protest against the exhibition of military technology.

Disrupt Land Forces activists said they entered the centre through a side door to disrupt the expo and had climbed a Rheinmetall tank.

Police are responding to the incident inside the Convention Centre.

A Queensland police spokesman said officers had responded to an incident inside the expo and, 17 people were later arrested.

Disrupt Land Forces spokesman Jarrah Kershaw said several activists entered the expo about 2.30pm.
Navy divers guided by a private salvage contractor, worked throughout the night to prepare the badly holed 42-metre ship for the rescue attempt.

The navy will try to refloat its $10 million patrol boat. HMAS Wollongong, at dawn today at high tide.

But an overnight gale, forecast for eastern Victoria, could force the ship, wedged on a reef, further on to the rocks, negating 48 hours of intensive salvage work.

The Wollongong ran aground on the north-west tip of Gabo Island at about midnight on Friday. The navy has refused to comment on the possible cause until a board of inquiry is held. It is to begin in Sydney this morning.

The impact broke both the Wollongongs propellers, its three rudders and bent its propeller shaft.

A navy spokesman in Sydney, Commander Goof trey Morton, said the Wollongong had an extensive hole in its right side. The engine room and much of the magazine, which contained ammunition for the boats 40-millimetre Bofors gun, were flooded and safe, he said.

The Gabo Island lighthouse keeper, Mr Chris Richter, said the light on the island was working at the time.
Victorian shoppers have helped drag the economy out of the coronavirus recession with Australia now leading the developed world amid hopes the recovery will step up as cashed-up businesses lift their investment plans.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday reported the economy grew by 1.8 per cent in the March quarter. Over the past 12 months it has expanded by 1.1 per cent, enough to overcome the 7 per cent contraction that occurred in the June quarter of 2020.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg talks through the National Accounts on Wednesday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the Australian economy is now bigger than it had been before the pandemic, which has not been achieved by any other major advanced economy across the world.

Even though my fellow Victorians are going through their fourth lockdown the outcomes of the Australian economy continue to compare very favourably [to] their international peers, Mr Frydenberg said.
A federal assistance package is on the agenda to help Victorians who lose income during extended lockdowns, but it will only go ahead if it can offer equal help to all Australians.

The federal government is canvassing the best way to offer the financial help but is holding out against calls for a substantial package for Victoria, worried that doing so would create incentives for longer restrictions.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will speak with Victorian leaders on Wednesday night. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will discuss the options with Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino on Wednesday night to end days of accusations from the state at a disgraceful federal decision to withhold support.

Mr Morrison told Parliament on Wednesday that decisions on lockdowns were solely and totally the responsibility of the states, which had jealously guarded their powers during the pandemic.
Quarles, 36, is like her work, very chill, yet very full of art speak. She relishes the contradiction in the work, giving you a lot to question. To put it another way, you can imagine her paintings hanging above a couch, but theyre probably best shown in public, where they can challenge larger assumptions. Her big subject is the fluidity of identity and the difficulty of knowing oneself. She may be the perfect 2021 artist. In her practice statement, she writes: The contradiction of my Black ancestry coupled with my fair skin results in my place always being my displace. Her mother, white, was from Champaign-Urbana; her father, black, was from the South Side. She identifies as queer; shes married to filmmaker Alyssa Polk. Her family moved out of Lincoln Park when she was age 4 but she returned often, living a while in Logan Square. Before receiving her MFA at Yale, she was a graphic designer, working on, as she explains, immersive brand integrations.
Jerusalem: On the streets of Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, a foul smell lingers in the air.

Its skunk water, a fluid that smells like a cocktail of rotting carcasses and raw sewage. It is a non-toxic crowd control weapon and is being sprayed across East Jerusalem by Israeli police as it cracks down on protests against the looming eviction of Palestinians from their homes.

The eviction process was a key factor in the wave of violence that spread across Israel and the West Bank in May, while Hamas in Gaza has cited it as part of their grounds for firing rockets at the Jewish state.

Israeli police stand guard at a demonstration in support of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah of East Jerusalem, where dozens of families face imminent forcible eviction from their homes by Israeli settlers. Credit:AP

Sympathetic protests have also broken out worldwide, turning Sheikh Jarrah into an international symbol of Palestinian resistance.
Washington: US President Joe Biden has announced an all-out push to vaccinate more Americans against COVID-19, including offering free childcare for those getting the jab and enlisting social media influencers to sell its benefits.

Biden has designated June a national month of action on vaccines as he tries to meet his goal for 70 per cent of American adults to have received at least one vaccine dose by the Independence Day holiday on July 4.

Sixty-three per cent of American adults have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

A pedestrian walks by a mobile Covid-19 vaccine clinic at Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York. Credit:Bloomberg

While hailing Americas incredible progress at bringing the virus under control, Biden said that unvaccinated Americans still remained at risk of getting seriously ill or dying from COVID-19.
Los Angeles: NASA on Wednesday announced plans to launch two new scientific missions to Venus between 2028 and 2030 - its first in decades - to study the atmosphere and geologic history of Earths closest planetary neighbour.

The US space agency said it was awarding about $US500 million for development of each of the two missions, dubbed DAVINCI+ (short for Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gases, Chemistry and Imaging) and VERITAS (an acronym for Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography and Spectroscopy).

The planet Venus. Credit:NASA

DAVINCI+ will measure the composition of the dense Venusian atmosphere to improve the understanding of how it evolved, while VERITAS will map the planets surface to help determine its geological history and why it developed so differently than Earth, NASA said.

DAVINCI+ is also expected to return the first high-resolution images of unique geological features on Venus called tesserae, which may be comparable to Earths continents and suggest that Venus has plate tectonics, according to NASAs announcement.
New York: Ransomware attackers have hacked into the ferry system between the Massachusetts mainland and its iconic islands in the latest cyber assault on US infrastructure.

The Woods Hole, Marthas Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority has been the target of a ransomware attack that is affecting operations as of Wednesday morning.

As a result, customers travelling with us today may experience delays, the authority tweeted.

A ferry in the Atlantic Sea. Credit:AP

A team of IT professionals is currently assessing the impact of the attack. Additional information will be provided upon completion of the initial assessment.
Lansdale, PA (19446)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable.
An interim peace deal has been signed between the Automotive India Private Ltd and its worker's union India Thozhilalar Sangam (RNITS) to try out the options to maintain social distance at the shop floor, said a top Union leader.

Automotive is a Franco-Japanese car making joint venture near here rolling out Renault and Nissan badged vehicles.

The RNITS has approached the Madras High Court citing non-adherence to the Covid-19 safety protocol while operating the plant.

The court on May 31 had asked the company management and the worker's union to discuss and arrive at a solution in the presence of officials from the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health on June 1.

Accordingly, the management and the union have agreed on Monday to the empty pitch ratio of 3:1 in the trim and chassis and body shop.

"Simply put, after three cars in the conveyor belt, one slot will be empty so that a worker need not move to the next workstation to complete his work," K.Balaji Krishnan, President, RNITS told IANS.

Queried on slowing down the conveyor belt as a solution Moorthy, General Secretary, RNITS told IANS: "That would involve changing the speed in the entire production process and reallocation of work."

Moorthy said as per the current agreement the production per hour will be reduced to 30 cars per hour from 40 cars per hour earlier.

"We will implement this on a trial basis between June 2 to 5 and take a call on the matter later," Moorthy said.

While the management had demanded good worker attendance across the shop floor during the trial period, the union agreed to instruct the workers to follow the Covid-19 safety protocol as laid down by the state and the central governments.

The RNITS also agreed to maintain social distance in canteen, handwash, bus boarding and other areas and ask the workers to wear masks at all times.

Both the parties have agreed to vaccinate all the eligible workers in the camp organised in the factory. The union also agreed to create awareness about the benefits of vaccination amongst its members.

As regards the quantum of solatium to the families of the worker's who died of Covid-19 talks are on.

The Union on Monday decided that the company management's offer of six months salary of the worker's last drawn pay to the family of the worker's who died of Covid-19 was unacceptable.

The RNITS has demanded the company to increase the financial assistance to Rs 50 lakh to the family of the worker's who die of Covid-19.

According to Moorthy, the management has agreed to the compassionate appointment of a family member of a worker who died due to Covid-19 and also to increase the Covid-19 insurance sum by Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)

--IANS

vj/in

(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.)
is gearing up to launch his own drive-in food chain at Supercharger locations as his electric car company has applied for a new trademark for its brand under restaurant services.

According to a report in Electrek, the company has applied for three new trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office that will cover the categories of "Restaurant services, pop-up restaurant services, self-service restaurant services, take-out restaurant services".

"The application is awaiting examination and will be reviewed by an attorney around August 27," the report said on Tuesday.

Tesla's iconic 'T' logo is featured on the application, to be trademarked for use by its branded restaurants.

Way back in 2017, then CTO JB Straubel had said that the company might move into the restaurant business.

In 2018, Musk said in a tweet: "Gonna put an old school drive-in, roller skates & rock restaurant at one of the new Supercharger locations in LA".

A few months later, Tesla applied for building permits for "a restaurant and Supercharger station" at a location in Santa Monica in the US.

The project went into cold storage for about three years and now, a new building application has been submitted earlier this year.

The new development probably means that the company plans for a 'Tesla' branded restaurant chain.

With more than 25,000 Superchargers, Tesla owns and operates the largest global, fast charging network in the world, located on major routes near convenient amenities.

--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.)
Despite the destruction, Huynh said she was heartened when members of the community came out to help clean up broken glass and other debris and also contributed toward a GoFundMe campaign that raised about $5,000. She said the family had insurance but it took a long time before they received enough money to rebuild.
Global technology giant on Wednesday moved (HC), asking for interim protection against its declaration as a 'social media intermidiary'.

petitioned to set aside a part of an April order that "mischaracterises" its search engine as a social media intermediary that has to comply with the new Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2021.

Experts agreed there may be merit in asking not to be identified as a social media intermediary.

" are a reflection of the content and information available on the internet. While we maintain a consistent policy over removal of objectionable content from the search results, the Delhi HC order has cast certain obligations that would wrongly classify as a social media intermediary, said a spokesperson for Google.

The Delhi HC had identified as an 'intermediary' in April as part of a case where a woman's pictures had been uploaded on a pornographic website without her consent. Despite court orders, the content could not be removed in entirety from the worldwide web.

The April 20 order issued a direction "to Google Search, Yahoo Search, Microsoft Bing, DuckDuckGo to endeavour to use automated tools, to proactively identify and globally disable access to any content which is exactly identical to the offending content that may appear on any other websites/online platforms".

Weve filed an appeal against this part of the order and look forward to explaining the steps we take to remove objectionable content from results, the spokesperson added.

Google's contention is that a search engine has a different role compared to a social media intermediary such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. It had also submitted to the court in April that on the issue of removal of content or blocking access, the role of the search engine is reactive and limited to disabling access to specific uniform resource locators from the search results, once these are reported by governmental agencies or ordered by court. do not have a proactive role.

The single judge has misinterpreted and misapplied the new IT Rules, 2021, to the appellants search engine. Additionally, the single judge has conflated various sections of the IT Act and separate rules prescribed thereunder, and has passed template orders combining all such offences and provisions, which is bad in law, Google has said in its appeal against the April 20 judgment.

It further said the April order issued "directions that would empower the local police and the criminal and civil courts to issue directions for take-down of websites and content, overlooking that the IT Act balances the freedom of speech and expression with powers of regulation of content by enacting a comprehensive code".

The court has issued notices to the Centre, Delhi government, Internet Service Providers Association of India, Facebook, the pornographic site and the woman, on whose plea the April ruling had come, and sought their responses to Googles plea by July 25.





The IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, published on February 25, detail new guidelines for platforms identified as intermediaries.

Legal experts said there was some merit in Google's argument.

The new IT Rules, 2021, define a social media intermediary as an entity that primarily or solely enables online interaction between two or more users and allows them to create, upload, share, disseminate, modify or access information using its services.

"The exceptions to this rule are intermediaries, which primarily enable commercial or business-oriented transactions, provide access to internet or computer networks, or is a search engine, online encyclopaedia, online directory or suggestion tool, email service or online storage service," said Sajai Singh, partner, J Sagar Associates.

"If the court was to accept the view being proposed by Google, then, though it may be an intermediary, with a subscription base larger than the thresholds provided, they may have some relief with regard to appointment of various officers, which a significant social media intermediary needs to appoint. I guess, the government may argue on other compliances like due diligence and take-down requirements," added Singh.

Atul Pandey, partner at Khaitan & Co, said, "Googles contention that it is not a social media intermediary under the new IT Rules, 2021, but rather a search engine, may have merit, considering Google cannot be construed to be a social media company having in excess of 5 million registered users (which is the threshold for being treated a social media intermediary. While Google has, in the past, conceded to being an intermediary under the IT Rules, given its role as a search engine, it may not qualify as a social media intermediary."

In the April order, the court noted Google's submission that "intermediaries that run search engines are not publishers and that they merely index existing information online and to that extent have only a limited role, owing to the automated manner of functioning of search engines. It has also been emphasised that the legal framework mandates that the internet be kept free from editorial intervention.
Diversified engineering company Ltd plans a capital expenditure of about Rs 110 crore this year of which majority will be on its electric two wheeler plant at Ranipet in Tamil Nadu, said a top official.

He also said the electric two wheeler plant is expected to roll out its product by the end of this year.

"We plan to invest about Rs 110 crore towards capital expenditure this year. About Rs.70 crore will be for the electric two wheeler plant at Ranipet to be commissioned by the end of this year," Nagesh A. Basavanalli, Managing Director and Group CEO told IANS.

The Rs 1,500 crore turnover group will be funding the out of its internal accruals, he added.

has signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government to invest about Rs.700 crore over the period of 10 years to set up a plant with an annual capacity of one million units.

Initially the production capacity will be about one lakh units per annum and it will be increased to one million units over a period of time and discussions are on for development of vendor base for various components, Basavanalli added.

got into the segment by acquiring the Coimbatore based Ampere Vehicles.

The Ampere Vehicles last year bought 74 per cent stake in the Noida based electric rickshaw maker Bestway Agencies rolling out Ele brand vehicles.

The balance 26 per cent in Bestway will be acquired in 2022.

Basavanalli said the group has no immediate plans of consolidating the electric vehicle's production at Ranipet.

"The E-Rickshaw market is in North and East and we are looking at other products that could be made at Ranipet," he said.

Last year the group sold 27,310 (two wheelers 22,661 units, three wheelers 4,649 units) up from 22,918 units (two wheelers 18,536 units, three wheelers 4,382 units) sold the previous fiscal.

With a market share of 20 per cent in the electric two wheelers segment, Basavanalli said the demand is outstripping the supply after Covid-19 breakout with people opting for personal mobility instead of shared mobility like travelling in a three wheeler.

"One of the Covid-19 impacts is that the shared mobility like three wheelers have taken a hit. Post Covid-19 unlocking the demand for will start increasing," Basavanalli said.

With the sales volumes picking up, the group expanded the two wheeler showrooms to over 300 last year.

The group's electric two wheeler sales clocked Rs 180 crore revenue last year with the demand for high speed scooters picking up.

According to Basavanalli, the group will also come out with electric vehicles for carrying goods.

Speaking about the 1.5 litre multi-fuel engine, he said it is ready and talks are on with automobile makers for their powering light commercial vehicles.

Barring the electric vehicles, the group last year suffered negative growth in the sales of engines for automobiles, non-automobiles, gensets and light equipment due to Covid-19.

However, during the last quarter of last fiscal sales of non-automobile business went up.

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)

--IANS

vj/in

(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 Department of Telecommunications is expected to come out in the next few days with the final details of the Rs 12,195 crore PLI scheme for telecom which is offering incentives of between 4-6 per cent to eligible companies for five years. Confirming the development, HFCL chairman Mahendra Nahata said: We will surely participate in being eligible for the PLI scheme on telecom equipment which is meant to ...

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
Senior bureaucrats Avinash Joshi and Niraj Verma are among the 10 candidates who are in the race to become Chairman and Managing Director of India's largest producer,

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) director-finance Pomila Jaspal and director for technology and field services Om Prakash Singh are the other prominent names in fray for the top job, according to a candidate shortlist by the Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB).

PESB - the government headhunter - will hold interviews to select the new head of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) this week.

Both the bureaucrats are from the 1994 batch of IAS officers belonging to the Assam-Meghalaya cadre. They both are principal secretaries in the government of Assam, according to details available from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) website.

While Joshi, who hails from Gujarat, is 53 years old, Verma is from Bihar and turns 52 next month.

Others on the PESB shortlist are executive directors Sandeep Gupta, Pankaj Kumar and Omkar Nath Gyani, ONGC additional director general Anand Gupta, Security Printing and Minting Corp of India Ltd director-finance Ajay Agarwal and Container Corporation of India director-finance Manoj Kumar Dubey.

PESB will hold interviews to select a replacement for Shashi Shanker who retired after attaining superannuating age of 60 years at March-end this year.

While a replacement is often selected before the incumbent retires, PESB did not hold any interviews for almost seven months as its chairman wasn't appointed. The government in April named Mallika Srinivasan, chairman and managing director of Tractors and Farm Equipment (TAFE) Ltd, as the new chairperson of PESB.

She is the first person from the private sector to be appointed as the head of PESB.

After Shanker retired, Subhash Kumar, director for finance and senior most director on ONGC board, was given the additional charge of chairman and managing director.

Kumar, 59, will retire at the end of December 2021.

Other directors on ONGC board either didn't have the mandatory 2-years of tenure left or were barred by the job hopping rule.

While Akla Mittal, director for human resources and Rajesh Kumar Srivastava, director for exploration, retire next year, Anurag Sharma, director for onshore was appointed to the job only in June last year.

(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.)
has got a letter of award for an order worth Rs 686 crore from state-owned power giant NTPC, according to a statement.

Tata Power Solar, India's largest integrated solar company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Power, has received a letter of award (LoA) to build 210 megawatt peak (MWp) of solar PV projects for NTPC, the statement said.

The total order value of the projects is about Rs 686 crore, it added.

The commissioning deadline has been set as November 2022.

With this addition, the order pipeline of stands at about 2.8 gigawatts (GW) with an approximate value of Rs 13,000 crore, thereby cementing its position as India's leading solar EPC (engineering-procurement-construction) player.

The scope of work includes land, transmission, engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning of the solar projects. The project site is located in Gujarat.

Tata Power CEO and MD Praveer Sinha said, "We are pleased to announce the new win of this large solar EPC contract from is the leader in producing solar energy across the country and this further validates Tata Power Solar's excellent execution skills in solar projects."



Over the years, Tata Power Solar has been India's leading solar rooftop EPC player with compelling economics, especially for the commercial and industrial segment. Favourable government policies, and increased environmental awareness have been the key growth drivers.

Tata Power Solar comes with a successful background of executing large projects such as the 250 MW Ayana at Ananthapur, 50 MW Kasargod at Kerala, 56 MW Greenko, 30 MWp Solar Power Plant in Lapanga, Odisha and 105 MWp of Floating solar at Kayamkulam.

Tata Power Solar has a portfolio of more than 5.4 GW of ground-mount utility-scale, over 515 MW of rooftop and distributed generation projects and installation of over 36,000 pumps across the country till date.

(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.)
Pharmaceutical firm Venus Remedies Ltd (VRL) has recorded a 61 per cent increase in annual sales at Rs 548.12 crore in the financial year 2020-21.

In fiscal year 2019-20, VRL's annual sales stood at Rs 339.33 crore.

Capitalising on its execution of large export orders even in the face of COVID-19 constraints, VRL's annual sales grew to Rs 548.12 crore in 2020-21, a company statement said on Wednesday.

The company reported a net profit of Rs 61.77 crore for the year ended March 31, 2021.

The company's EBITDA grew by 59 per cent in FY 2020-21 to reach Rs 73.40 crore, as per the statement.

Saransh Chaudhary, President, Global Critical Care, Venus Remedies said that while the world reeled under the adverse impact of the pandemic, VRL rose to the occasion by catering to the requirements of COVID-19 patients through medicines addressing the problem of blood coagulation and other critical care antibiotics.

Chaudhary further said that with a recalibrated marketing strategy and a carefully laid out marketing blueprint, VRL has been able to tap into an expansive customer base both within and outside India, which has turned out to be a decisive game-changer for the company.

Embarking on a debt-free future for the company, VRL has repaid its entire debt with banks and financial institutions in FY 2020-21, the company said.

"As on date, there are no secured borrowings from banks or financial institutions in the books of accounts of the company," said Chaudhary.

He further added that "we have been putting in dedicated efforts and resources over the past two years to strengthen our relations with suppliers and customers, which helped us in gaining their confidence and proved to be a key turning point for the company.

(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.)
Army Chief General M M Naravane arrived on a two-day visit to Kashmir on Wednesday to review the prevailing security situation in the union territory as the ceasefire understanding between India and Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) completed 100 days.

On his arrival at Srinagar, the Army Chief, accompanied by Northern Army Commander, Lt Gen Y K Joshi and Chinar Corps Commander, Lt Gen D P Pandey, visited units and formations in the hinterland where he was briefed by the local commanders on the existing security situation, an Army official said.

He said Gen Naravane was also briefed about the measures being taken to identify and target the overground workers (OGWs) network involved in radicalisation and recruitment of youth into terrorist ranks.

Efforts to prevent local recruitment and facilitate the surrender of local terrorists were also discussed, the official said.

The arrival of the Army Chief in Kashmir assumes significance as it comes on a day when the fresh ceasefire between India and Pakistan along the LoC completed 100 days.

India and Pakistan had on February 25 this year released a joint statement announcing a ceasefire along the Line of Control, following talks between their Directors General of Military Operations.

Gen Naravane, while interacting with troops, expressed his appreciation to the jawans and commanders who are relentlessly battling the dual challenges of Pakistan-abetted terror and the Covid pandemic.

He reinforced the need to be prepared to meet emerging security challenges effectively.

Later, the COAS was briefed by the Chinar Corps Commander on the overall situation pertaining to the LoC and the hinterland, the official said



The Army Chief complimented the excellent synergy exhibited by all sections of the civil administration, Police, Central Armed Police Forces and other security agencies in projecting a 'whole of government' approach that has resulted in improvement in the security situation conducive for fostering a new era of development in the UT, he said.

In the evening, Gen Naravane called on Lt Governor Manoj Sinha at Raj Bhavan here and discussed the emerging challenges and roadmap for long-term peace in J-K.

The LG appreciated the role played by the Army in restoring and preserving peace in the UT and providing aid to the civil authorities against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Joshi had on Tuesday said ceasefire understanding between India and Pakistan is being followed in letter and spirit by both sides, but asserted that the is not letting its guard down even for one bit along the border in

(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 authorities cancelled Wednesday's press conference to announce the schedule of class 10 and 12 board examinations in amid the Covid-19 pandemic. No reason was assigned for the cancellation.

An official of the School Education Department said that a committee of experts has been formed to check how to conduct the exams and evaluate papers during the present situation.

"Yes, the press meet to announce the schedule has been cancelled. We cannot say anything else at this juncture. We will discuss," President of Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) Kalyanmoy Ganguly told PTI when contacted.

The WBBSE conducts the Madhyamik (10th standard exams) which was scheduled to be held in the second week of August as announced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee last week.

The President of Council of Higher Secondary Education Mahua Das did not receive calls. Uchcha Madhyamik (12th standard exams), conducted by the Council, was slated to be held in the last week of July.

The School Education Department official said that the committee formed on holding the examinations comprises representatives of the WBBSE, the Council and West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights, besides educationists, teachers and health experts.

The panel has been given three days to look into the measures taken by other boards for conducting exams, get feedback from students and teachers and submit its recommendations, the official said.

"The students and their parents are extremely worried. They cannot live in such uncertainty for a prolonged period. We hope the committee will come up with a decision which will be acceptable to all," said Parimal Bhattacharya, the headmaster of Jadavpur Vidyapith, a school in south Kolkata.

It had earlier been said that both the exams would be conducted in home centres (own schools of candidates) having a shorter duration of 90 minutes each for only compulsory subjects.

Over 12 lakh and 8.5 lakh students are scheduled to appear for the Madhyamik and Uchcha Madhyamik examinations respectively this year.

The CBSE class 12 have recently been cancelled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

(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.)
reported zero daily coronavirus-related deaths for the first time since March last year, according to official figures released on Tuesday.

The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in remains at 127,782. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

Another 3,165 people in have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 4,490,438, according to the official figures, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier Tuesday, a scientist advising the British government said the progress of Britain's vaccination program does not mean that the fight against is over.

Professor Adam Finn from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which advises the government on vaccine priority, said the country remains vulnerable as large numbers of people remain unvaccinated.

More than 39.4 million people, about three-quarters of adults in Britain, have been given the first jab of the vaccine, according to the latest official figures.

"The idea that somehow the job is done is wrong -- we've still got a lot of people out there who have neither had this virus infection nor yet been immunized and that's why we're in a vulnerable position right now," he told the BBC.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced Tuesday that the easing of restrictions will be delayed in much of Scotland, which will remain in Level Two restrictions amid concerns over the spread of coronavirus variant first detected in India.

Experts have warned that coronavirus may continue to evolve for years to come, and eventually it is likely current vaccines will fail to protect against transmission, infection, or even against disease caused by newer variants.

--IANS

int/pgh

(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 Central government on Tuesday defended its move to summon former Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and called its transfer order 'Constitutional', according to sources.

"The order is perfectly Constitutional since Chief Secretary is an All India Services officer. He chose to ignore his Constitutional duties, as a result of which no presentation was given to Prime Minister and no officer of Government attended the Prime Minister's review meeting," Central government sources told ANI.

The former Chief Secretary was summoned for Central deputation after he reportedly failed to give a presentation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Cyclone Yaas review meeting last week. According to sources, he left the meet along with Chief Minister without giving a proper reason.

A day after Chief Secretary Alapan Bandophadyay was asked to report to the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT), New Delhi, Bandophadyay opted for retirement from his position as Chief Secretary and joined the Mamata Banerjee-led government as her chief advisor.

The Centre then accused Mamata of protecting Bandophadhay from disciplinary action.

"Chief Secretary's retirement shows that is on the back foot. She knows that facts of the matter are against the Chief Secretary and his behaviour was such that it will invite strict disciplinary action as he is an All India Services Officer and it was his duty to ensure that the review meeting takes place as scheduled. All India Officers are not expected to be part of politics. Mamata knows all this and his retirement is the last bid to save him," said sources.

" has done a big U-turn in a matter of hours, from requesting Prime Minister to confirm the extension of Chief Secretary for three months to retiring him now," added sources.

Earlier, Chief Minister called the Centre's move regarding Chief Secretary a unilateral order without prior consultation with the State and argued that the order is legally "untenable, unprecedented, unconstitutional".

The Union Ministry of Personnel also issued Bandyopadhyay a show-cause notice for not reporting to the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT).

Mamata also raised questions on the Union government's decision to move the Chief Secretary to Central deputation as he recently got an extension of three months.

Central government sources further said, "The fact that GoI had agreed to extend the service of Chief Secretary shows that it is acting in full co-operation and without malice against West Bengal."

Government sources also countered other allegations leveled by Chief Minister that she was not informed about Prime Miniter's meeting on time.

Sources also said the Prime Minister did not give permission to Mamata Banerjee to leave the meeting as she claimed.

"Mamata Banerjee had agreed to attend the meeting. However, she changed her mind after coming to know that the Leader of Opposition (LoP) was going to be part of the meeting, which she also mentions in her letter. Hence it is clear that her pre-decided schedule was not an issue at all. This was also confirmed by the Governor of West Bengal who has tweeted that Mamata told him that she would boycott the meeting if LoP attends the meeting," added sources.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had held a review meeting at Kalaikunda in Paschim Medinipur district to take stock of the post-cyclonic situation. Mamata Banerjee was supposed to attend the meeting. However, she arrived late by 30 minutes and handed him over reports of damage caused by the impact of Cyclone Yaas. Following this, she and the state chief secretary left for her "pre-scheduled" meeting at Digha.

(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.)
Its that same population that Sunnyside for Moms wants to help too. Sunnyside is an online app that screens pregnant and postpartum women from low-income Chicago neighborhoods for depression. It was created by two members of the University of Illinois Center on Depression and Resilience: Jenna Duffecy, associate professor of clinical psychiatry in UICs Department of Psychiatry, and Pauline Maki, professor of psychiatry, psychology and obstetrics and gynecology, and director of the Womens Mental Health Research Program, also in the Department of Psychiatry.
Chief Minister



Zoramthanga on Wednesday said collective efforts of people and the government are helping the state in overcoming the COVID- 19 challenges despite lacking adequate manpower and facilities.

Highlighting how the state is battling COVID-19, Zoramthanga, in his 12-minute-long video-recorded speech, said the way the government and the people are collectively fighting the Covid-19 is quite interesting as all communities, organisations and people from all walks of life are involved in it.

The chief minister said that when the state fought against the first wave of COVID-19 it was relatively tolerable and "we could somehow manage to tackle it".

"Then came the second wave, which is more problematic and burdensome", Zoramthanga said.

During the first wave of the pandemic, local volunteers in large numbers had stepped up round-the-clock vigil along the borders by setting up makeshift duty posts in the forests for several months even during the rainy season to prevent cross-border movement of people.

shares about 325-km- long inter-state borders with Assam, Manipur and Tripura, and 828-km-long international borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar.

At the onset of the second wave when Covid-19 Care Centres (CCC) were fully occupied following the spike in the number of patients, churches and NGOs came forward to the government's aid by offering their halls to be converted into Community Covid-19 Care Centres (CCCCs), the chief minister said.

"These Community Covid-19 Care Centres are managed and monitored by local people with their contribution much to the relief of the government," he said.

Private nurses, retired doctors, healthcare workers and other unskilled people have volunteered to serve these CCCCs without any remuneration.

Communities, local people and church authorities are providing food and other facilities to the inmates (Covid-19 patients), the chief minister said.

Zoramthanga also said that many organisations, churches and individuals came forward to assist the government by contributing towards the Chief Minister's Relief Fund (CMRF) for Covid-19.

Even children contributed to the fund by opening their piggy banks, he said.

According to officials, over Rs. 23.61 crore has so far been contributed towards the CMRF, of which more than Rs 22.25 crore has been spent in the fight against Covid-19 till Tuesday.

Communities also came together extending help to the needy.

Food, vegetables and other provisions are transported and supplied free of cost from villages to Covid-19 patients and other needy people in cities and towns, who are facing hardship due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, according to Zoramthanga.

takes pride in the existence of hardworking volunteer groups like village task forces and local task forces, who maintain round the clock vigil to ensure that people follow Covid-19 protocols, the chief minister said.

The chief minister also mentioned in his speech that he recently wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a free vaccine supply.

He said that the pandemic has a far more serious impact on a small state like Mizoram, which has limited resources.

Earlier, Zoramthanga had said that the state is facing a financial crunch due to a drop in the quantum of revenue collection at the Centre following the outbreak of Covid-19, which in turn has led to a significant reduction in the state's share of taxes.

He had said that the state's share of taxes had dropped by Rs. 1,500 crore during fiscal 2020-2021.

(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.)
Rajasthan Chief Minister on Wednesday said free universal vaccination is the right of every Indian.

"All previous central governments have been taking this programme forward. Now when the nation is grappling with an unprecedented health crisis, to deny vaccination to all is totally unjust," Gehlot tweeted.

"Let us all raise our voices against this inefficiency and insensitivity of the NDA and demand Free Universal Vaccination," he said in support of the Congress party's online campaign for free anti-Covid jabs for all.

(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.)
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
India on Wednesday reported a net reduction of 101,875 in active cases to take its count to 1,793,645. Indias share of global active cases now stands at 13.08 per cent (one in 8). The country is second among the most affected countries by active cases. On Wednesday, it added 132,788 cases to take its total caseload to 28,307,832. And, with 3,207 new fatalities, its Covid-19 reached 335,102, or 1.18 per cent of total confirmed infections.

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
The Government of Dominica has told a court there to reject the habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of businessman who had claimed that he was abducted and forcefully brought to the Caribbean island nation, local media reported.

The High Court of Dominica ordered that the businessman be produced in a magistrate court to answer charges of his illegal entry into the country and adjourned the hearing on the habeas corpus petition till Thursday, according to local media.

Rejecting the submission of Choksi who is wanted in India in an alleged Rs 13,500 crore loan fraud case in Punjab Bank, the prosecution said the habeas corpus petition does not stand as he had illegally entered the country and was subsequently detained.

"The matter being heard is of habeas corpus petition...and not of his repatriation to India. His citizenship is not in question before the court," Choksi's lawyer Vijay Aggarwal said.

High Court of Dominica Judge Bernie Stephenson heard the matter through video-conferencing with the diamond trader attending the hearing from the hospital where he was admitted recently.

The judge asked authorities to share court documents with Choksi who is admitted at the Dominica-China Friendship Hospital.

His lawyers said that he does not feel safe in police custody and that he should be sent back to Antigua and Barbuda, local media reported.

He also said he would pay for his security.

His lawyers also raised the issue of injury marks found on his body and him being hospitalised.

In case of an adverse order, Choksi has the option of appealing in a higher court.

The diamantaire, who mysteriously went missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda where he had been staying since 2018 as a citizen, was detained in neighbouring Dominica for illegal entry after a possible romantic escapade with his rumoured girlfriend.

His lawyers alleged that he was kidnapped from Jolly Harbour in Antigua by policemen looking like Antiguan and Indian, and brought to Dominica on a boat.

Last week, the Government of Dominica had issued a press statement that it was verifying status of Choksi's citizenship with Antigua and Barbuda.

"Once the information is provided by the Antigua authorities, possible arrangements will be made for Mr. to be repatriated to Antigua," the statement had said.

A team of multi-agency officials led by a CBI DIG has gone to Dominica to bring Choksi to India if court there clears his deportation to India, officials said.

Choksi's arrest has created turbulence in the calm political waters of the neighbouring Caribbean island countries -- Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica --where allegations have been levelled against opposition parties of supporting the businessman having an Interpol Red Notice against him.

Dominican Leader of Opposition Lennox Linton had to issue a denial on the reports of meeting Chetan Choksi, the brother of Mehul Choksi, or receiving any money from him.

"I do not know Chetan Choksi. I have never seen him. I have never spoken to him. I have never met with him," Dominica News Online quoted a video message released by Linton.

Local media outlet Associate Times had alleged that Choksi arrived on a private jet on May 29 and met Linton at his home in Marigot locality next day for nearly two hours where he gave token money of USD 2 lakh and promised funding for elections in return for raising the issue in Parliament.

The outlet alleged that Linton was quiet on the affair till meeting his brother Chetan. After the meeting, he started attacks on the government over the arrest of the fugitive diamantaire.

Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted for allegedly siphoning Rs 13,500 crore of public money from the state-run Punjab Bank (PNB) using letters of undertaking.

While Modi is in a London prison after being repeatedly denied bail and is contesting his extradition to India, Choksi took citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in 2017 using the Citizenship by Investment programme before fleeing India in the first week of January 2018. The scam came to light subsequently.

(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 give a boost to the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination programme, the administration in on Tuesday launched a drive-in vaccination facility for people above 45 years of age.

The people above 45 years can get the jabs at these facilities by sitting in their cars or on two-wheelers. The facility of on-the-spot registration is also made available at these spots.

The drive-in vaccination centres are being run by the Municipal Corporation and the Health Department.

"The only shield for this pandemic is the vaccine. Chief Minister has also urged every individual to get vaccinated for the safety of their family. In Indore, we have opened six drive-in vaccination centres. Also, per day nearly 10,000 people are tested here, which is highest in the state," said Cabinet Minister Tulsi Silawat.

MP Shankar Lalwani said that this drive-in vaccination facility is has been started in every Vidhan Sabha and everyone can avail of this facility.

"COVID-19 testing will also be done at the centres opened in different wards at cheaper rates. The RTPCR test is done for Rs 600, Covid-19 profile test for Rs 1300, CBC CRP blood test for Rs 300 as well as all other blood type tests at cheaper rates," he said.

Pratibha Pal, Municipal Corporation Commissioner said that six drive-in vaccination centres have been opened and they will operate from 9 am to 5 pm.

"The drive-in vaccination centre has been started in every Vidhan Sabha for convince of the people. These six vaccination centres will operate six days a week from 9 am to 5 pm. People above 60-65, who are not able to walk can also get vaccinated by sitting in their cars in 2 to 3 minutes," said Pratibha Pal.

She further said that there are two different lines for 4-wheelers and 2-wheelers. The people who are coming from the car can take the vaccine and can sit for 30 minutes in their car and two-wheelers people can rest in the shed here.

"Apart from this, the COVID-19 test is also being started in 85 wards of the city. Here private labs will do all the blood-related tests at low rates and for this schools will be used," informed Pratibha Pal.

on Tuesday registered 1078 new COVID-19 cases, 45 deaths, and 4120 recoveries in the last 24 hours. There are 20,303 active cases in the state.

(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.)
Amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the Indian-born fugitive diamantaire and demands for his extradition, his wife Priti Choksi on Wednesday said the woman who is rumored to be his girlfriend is known to her husband and to his other acquaintances.

"The woman was known to my husband and to his other acquaintances. She walked with my husband periodically when she was visiting Antigua. From what I have understood from people who have met her, the woman shown on media channels is not the same woman that they knew as Barbara," said Priti Choksi.

This remarks came after Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne last week had said may have taken his girlfriend on a romantic trip to Dominica, where he was busted.

On the reports that fugitive diamantaire was tortured in Dominica, Priti said, "What has brought most anguish to the family is the physical torture and total disregard for the human rights of my husband. If someone really wanted him back alive, why did they need to torture and abuse him physically and mentally? My husband has many health issues."

On the question of Mehul Choki's deportation, his wife said, "He is 63 years old and he is an Antiguan citizen. He enjoys all the rights and protection that the Antigua and Barbuda constitution gives him. I have full faith in the rule of law and the justice system of the Caribbean nations. We await his safe and rightful return to Antigua at the earliest."

Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are accused in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case.

Choksi fled the country was granted citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in January 2018.

Earlier today, Antigua Prime Minister had told ANI that his administration stands by its request for Dominica to extradite Mehul Choksi,directly back to India, "where he is still a citizen."

"Instead of subjecting himself to an inquiry as required by law, he (Mehul Choksi) used the courts to stay the revocation of his citizenship," Antigua PM told ANI.

"My administration stands by its request to Dominica to extradite directly back to India where he is still a citizen," he added.

The Antigua Prime Minister told ANI that Mehul Choksi "changed his lawyer to a well-known member of the UPP who had promised him protection, for campaign funding".

"That's why they want that he shouldn't be deported to India, but back to Antigua where he could continue to hide behind constitutional protections," Browne said.

Associates Times citing sources had reported that Mehul Choksi's brother, who is also a bank defaulter, allegedly promised election funding to Dominica's Leader of the Opposition Lennox Linton in exchange for pushing Mehul Choksi's abduction theory.

The sources said Chetan Chinu Bhai Choksi had met Linton on May 30, where they discussed several aspects related to Mehul Choksi's arrest and agreed on the commitment that in exchange for token money and promise of election donation, the opposition leader will press the matter in Parliament.

They also told Associates Times that Chetan disclosed during the conversation that Mehul had reached Dominica on his own, but they require the assistance of the opposition to tackle the matter in court and against the Dominica government to make them believe that he was abducted by Antiguan and Indian police.

Sources cited by Associates Times also said Chetan gave Linton token money of USD 200,000 and promised him more than a million-dollar of financial assistance in the upcoming general elections and in exchange Linton would issue statements favouring Mehul Choksi.

Meanwhile, a team from India has arrived in Dominica, ahead of a Caribbean court hearing that will decide on whether fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi will be deported to India.

(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.)
Agriculture Minister Kurasala Kannababu on Tuesday said that the state government spent Rs 1,30,000 crore through various schemes for the public welfare in the last two years, unlike the previous government who left a debt of Rs 1,50,000 crore by using for personal needs under the name of public welfare.

"The YSRCP government gave priority to welfare over development and pumped money to revive the state economy and stand by the weaker sections during the pandemic crisis. The State government did not hold back any welfare schemes despite a decline in state revenue, as Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy clearly wanted the government to stand by the people in such tough times," Kannababu told the media personnel.

The state minister said, "The State government went for borrowing to provide promised welfare benefits to the public during COVID-19, unlike the previous government who left a debt of Rs 1,50,000 crore by using for personal needs under the name of public welfare. The state government had spent Rs 1,30,000 crore through various schemes for the public welfare in the last two years."

The Minister criticized Chandrababu Naidu and said that the state was in revenue deficit after bifurcation and alleged Naidu of further pushing the state into debt.

"TDP leaders have misused over Rs 68,000 crore in the name of capital expenditure. The entire state had witnessed how the previous government managed the finances in their five-year term and challenged them to reveal on what welfare schemes they have spent Rs 1,50,000 crore," Kannababu said while slamming TDP leaders Yanamala Ramakrishnudu and Nara Lokesh for spreading false propaganda against the state government.

He said that the previous government had betrayed the public with all fake promises and further proliferated corruption in every village through the Janmabhoomi Committees.

He also alleged Chandrababu Naidu of abandoning the State during the COVID crisis and staying in the neighboring state and misleading people through zoom meetings.

(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.)
Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation Limited (HBPCL), a government undertaking, is preparing for mass production of Covaxin and will have capacity to produce over 22 crore doses of the COVID-19 vaccine every year once the requisite facilities are in place.

The Department of Biotechnology has given permission to HBPCL for producing Covaxin under Mission Covid Suraksha. Covaxin has been developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR.

Sandeep Rathod, Managing Director of HBPCL, told ANI that formalities of technology transfer from Bharat Biotech are being completed.

"We are completing formalities of technology transfer and they will be completed soon. We have signed the confidentiality clause with Bharat Biotech and the finalisation of MoU is under process," he said.

Rathod said bio-safety lab (BSL) for production of COVID vaccines is being established and work for establishing the facilities will take about eight months.

"We are hopeful that everything will be favourable and we will start production within our estimated time. Once the production starts, we will have a capacity for production of 2 crore doses every month. With that speed, we can work 11 months in a year and can produce 22.8 crore doses every year," he said.

"As per the required standards, a BSL-III category production unit will be needed for Covaxin production and we are in the process to establish such a lab in our premises," he added.

The HBPCL official further said that they were getting required funds for the project. The central government, he said, has given permission for production of vaccine and approved Rs 65 crore for the project and the state government is providing over Rs 93 crore for the facility.

(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.)
Over 132,500 fresh cases reported

India reported 132,788 fresh infections on Wednesday, taking the cumulative caseload to 28.3 million, according to central health ministry data. The country saw 3,207 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 335,102. The active caseload is at 1.8 million, while the total recoveries have surged to 26.2 million. As many as 218.5 million shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 2.4 million were given on Tuesday. Read more

India lost 594 doctors during Covid second wave; most deaths in Delhi: IMA

As many as 594 doctors died during the more infectious second wave of Covid across the country, a report in the Hindustan Times said that cited data from the Indian Medical Association (IMA). Delhi, at 107 deaths, saw the most doctors succumbing to the pandemic as the city became one of the worst-hit hotspots in India during this phase. Bihar was the second most affected region at 96 fatalities, the report said. Read more



Bengaluru: Covid trends show a decline after topping all metros

Bengaluru has been registering the most number of fresh Covid cases among the five major metros. Experts from the city, however, indicated that the numbers may not be a cause for concern, noting the decline in cases and demand for hospital beds, a report in ThePrint said. For the last one week, cases have been dropping. It is now showing a declining trend. The same thing had happened in other cities also. In Delhi and Mumbai, it had gone up and started coming down. We are seeing that pattern in Bangalore even now, said Dr Manjunath C.N., who is the nodal officer for testing and state Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). Read more



No need for bridging trials on foreign approved vaccines: Drug regulator

India's drug regulator has said it is dropping the requirement of carrying out post-approval bridging trials for "well-established" vaccines as well as testing each batch of vaccines at the Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) in Kasauli, a report in ThePrint said. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI)s move is based on the fact that millions of individuals have already been vaccinated. Bridging trials are supplementary trials conducted in a new region or country to get more clinical data on efficacy, safety and dose regimen, the report said. Read more

Odisha: WhatsApp helpline gets supports for vaccination information

The Odisha administration's Covid helpline on Whatsapp is getting support for information related to the vaccination programme, a report in The Indian Express said. The helpline will allow citizens access to official updates on Covid and vaccination slot bookings. The service can also guide users through the vaccination process starting with registration on the Co-Win platform to find a vaccine slot and then to get the vaccination certificate. Users can also avail of the service to get other queries answered including safety concerns such as misinformation and rumours about vaccines, the report said. Read more
Chauvin, in his first public appearance since he was escorted out of a Minnesota courtroom following his conviction, was in a small room during the hearing, with a white brick wall behind him and a window in front of him. He wore a surgical mask at first but took it off when U.S. Magistrate Judge Becky Thorson said he could. He sat with his hands resting on a table in front of him and occasionally took notes. He leaned forward and squinted slightly, as if he was listening intently to the judges words, and leaned forward even more when he spoke to answer the judges questions.
A day after reporting lowest cases since April 8, India witnessed a slight increase in Covid numbers with 1,32,788 new infections reported in 24 hours and 3,207 more people succumbed to the pandemic, the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry said on Wednesday.

On June 1, India reported 1,27,510 cases lowest since April 8. On April 8, India had recorded 1,31,968 cases while on April 7, India witnessed 1,26,789 fresh cases.

Most Metro cities are still fighting huge waves, though Mumbai and Delhi have arrested the surge.

Andhra Pradesh on Sunday breached the 15-lakh mark in recoveries.

India's overall tally of Covid-19 cases now stands at 2,83,07,832 with 17,93,645 active cases and 3,35,102 deaths so far.

According to the Health Ministry, a total of 2,31,456 people have been discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the total discharge to 2,61,79,085 in Covid cases till date.

The said that a total of 21,85,46,667 people have been vaccinated so far in the country, including 23,97,191 who were administered vaccines in the last 24 hours.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 35,00,57,330 samples have been tested up to June 1 for Covid-19. Of these 20,19,773 samples were tested on Tuesday.

In the last three weeks, India has recorded over 80,000 deaths. On May 24, India crossed a grim milestone of three-lakh deaths due to the infections, thus becoming world's third country after the US and Brazil to cross three-lakh deaths.

India registered record fatalities due to Covid on May 21 with 4,529 deaths -- the highest from Covid infection in any country in a day since the outbreak was reported in China's Wuhan in December 2019.

It surpassed 4,468 deaths in the US on January 12, and earlier 4,211 in Brazil on April 6.

After battling a brutal second wave for weeks, fresh Covid cases came down below the three lakh-mark for the first time on May 17 after touching record high of 4,14,188 on May 7.

--IANS

aks/skp/

(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 Indian government is expected to grant foreign vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna indemnity against legal proceedings, as part of its bid to ramp up Covid-19 vaccine supply in the country.



Countries like the US have granted these vaccine makers immunity where they cannot be sued for any adverse effects. "It is expected that they will be granted indemnity against legal proceedings along the lines of what has been allowed in other countries for Pfizer and Moderna," ANI on Wednesday quoted government sources as saying.



Pfizer is reportedly in talks with the Indian government for supplying 50 million vaccine doses to the country between July and October but has stressed indemnity as a crucial requirement.



The Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) has also waived the requirement of bridging trials, where these companies were earlier required to test the quality and stability of their vaccines in India, even after approvals from other countries and their health bodies.





In a letter, DCGI Chief VG Somani said this will be applicable for vaccines that have already been approved for restricted use by the US FDA, EMA, UK MHRA, PMDA Japan or listed for Emergency Use by the World Health Organisation.



"Pfizer continues to remain engaged with the Government of India towards making its COVID-19 vaccine available for use in the immunisation program in the country. As these discussions are ongoing, we are unable to share any additional details at this time," ANI quoted a Pfizer spokesperson as saying.



In February, the expert body under Indias drug regulator had declined to recommend emergency use authorisation for Pfizers mRNA vaccine. Pfizer subsequently withdrew its application. However, as Covid cases swelled in India, on April 13, the government waived the condition of phase 2 and 3 clinical trials in the country for vaccines cleared by the US, EU, UK and Japanese regulators and listed by WHO.



Meanwhile, India multinational pharmaceutical company Cipla has said that clarity from the Indian government on four critical points -- price restriction, indemnification, bridging trial waiver and basic customs duty exemption -- will help it make a significant financial commitment of Rs 7310 crores advance to Moderna for its booster vaccine in India.



As India faces a severe shortage of vaccines amid the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Centre has been trying to buy vaccines from foreign manufacturers.



Last month, the joint secretary in the health ministry Lav Agarwal conceded that while the Indian government was trying to buy vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, the order books of these companies were full with several nations ahead of India, waiting for the delivery of their ordered supplies. Medical experts have claimed that the Indian government was too late in initiating negotiations with global manufacturers, leading to a slowing pace of vaccinations in India since April.
and the U.K. are intensifying talks to remove non-tariff barriers and foster greater market access as they work to stitch together the South Asian nations first major in a decade.

The two countries have zeroed in on a list of achievable items that would help the U.K. showcase the benefits of leaving the European Union while also allowing to forge new bilateral ties after Prime Minister Narendra Modis government pulled out of a multilateral Asia trade pact in 2019, according to people with the knowledge of the matter in the capital, New Delhi.

They expect to finalize an interim agreement by the end of the year that would give British medical devices and agricultural products such as apples, quinces and pears access to Indian markets, while widening the scope of employment in the U.K. for Indian seafarers and nurses, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is still under discussion.

Under pressure from exporters, has been in talks over early harvest deals with the U.K., U.S. and the EU -- some of its major trading partners -- but until now, only Britain has shown interest. And unlike many of Indias other trade talks which have lingered for years without an outcome, there is a strong chance of a deal with the U.K. given the needs of both the sides, the people said, noting these negotiations have progressed much faster than others.

A spokesperson at the British High Commission in New Delhi didnt immediately respond to an e-mail and a text message. Call and text messages sent to the spokesman at Indias trade ministry remained unanswered.





ALSO READ: UK kick-starts preparations ahead of talks on trade deal with India

The initial deal would form part of the broader free trade agreement which would slash tariffs on a range of items, facilitate investments and give access to services and goods in a bid to increase bilateral trade. The U.K. and India want to double trade between their two countries by 2030, up from over $15.4 billion in 2019-20.

This would be the first major free trade agreement for India since 2011 when it signed a comprehensive deal with Malaysia, though a minor FTA was inked with Mauritius in February.

Turning Inwards

Despite championing free trade in global forums, the Modi government has been turning inwards over the last few years, first announcing review of all the existing free trade agreements over concerns that they led to more imports than exports, and then raising tariffs to support domestic industries. Soon after being elected for second term with a thumping majority, the Modi government opted out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

Since then, India has worked on reviving bilateral trade relations with major export destinations such as the EU, the U.S., and Australia to offset the expected loss, while it tries to woo investors looking for alternative destinations to China for their supply chains.

Earlier in May, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Modi pledged a quantum leap in their relationship and launched an enhanced trade partnership to boost and resolve market access issues.



ALSO READ: Modi, Johnson hold virtual summit; UK PM announces 1 bn pound trade deal

The proposed agreement, one of the high-priority deals Johnson is hoping to secure -- along with Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. -- is expected to resolve long-pending demands including allowing British legal firms access to the Indian market and a social security pact to ensure Indias skilled professionals dont have to pay certain taxes in the U.K. if theyre being paid domestically, the people said.

Still, contentious issues remain, including high Indian tariffs on alcohol and automobiles. The U.K. wants the removal of tariffs including a 150% levy on whiskey and 125% duty on imported cars, while India is seeking data secure nation status. Areas including e-commerce, public procurement, financial and banking services have yet to be discussed, the people said.
India on early Wednesday received a consignment of 15 ventilators, and 12000 tablets of Favipiravir from as the country combat the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

The information about the consignment was shared by Arindam Bagchi, Spokesperson Ministry of External Affairs, through his Twitter handle.

"Taking forward our warm and friendly ties. Welcome consignment of 15 Ventilators and 12000 tablets of Favipiravir that arrived from early this morning," tweeted Bagchi.

India recorded a single-day rise of 1,27,510 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest in 51 days, taking the country's infection tally to 2,81,75,044, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday.

India is currently dealing with a second COVID-19 wave that has swept through the nation, straining the country's health infrastructure and overburdening frontline medical workers.

Many countries, including US, UK, Canada, France, Germany came to the forefront to give India medical help and assistance in the form of oxygen concentrators, ventilators, raw materials for vaccines, PPE kits.

(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 [India], June 2 (ANI): A team from India has arrived in Dominica, ahead of a Caribbean court hearing that will decide on whether fugitive diamantaire will be deported to India.

Lennox Linton, Leader of the Opposition in Dominica on Wednesday exclusively confirmed to ANI that a team of eight officials from India had landed in Dominica on Monday, May 31.

"Some officials from India arrived in Dominica via business jet on Friday of last week and yesterday some more officials arrived. They'll be helping with the case in the court tomorrow," said Linton.

Sources in the investigating agencies indicated that a team of senior officials of the agencies, and senior officials from the Government of India are in Dominica for the hearing at the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.

"India has to present a tough case against in the Dominica Court. To produce relevant papers and evidence in court as per the practices of the Indian agencies," sources said.

Choksi's Dominica-based lawyer Wayne Marsh earlier told ANI that his client has been abducted from Antigua and taken to Dominica against his will.

"He (Choksi) reported to me that he was abducted at Jolly Harbour in Antigua and brought to Dominica by persons whom he believed to be Indian and Antiguan police on a vessel he described to be about 60-70 feet in length," Marsh told ANI.

Choksi's lawyer has argued earlier in the Caribbean court that, "First of all, Choksi is entitled to a legal representation while he is in Antigua or Dominica. The fact is that he is an Antiguan citizen and not an Indian citizen."

The Dominican court will hear Mehul Choksi's case at 9 am ET (6:30 pm IST) on Wednesday, June 2.

(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 on



Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution demanding that the Centre provide COVID-19 vaccines free of cost to all states.

Minister for Health, Women and Child Welfare, Veena George, moved the resolution in the House as the state reels under acute vaccine shortage.

The resolution also requested the central government for timely distribution of the vaccines.

"In order to fight COVID-19, we need to provide free universal vaccination which will ensure that all sections of the society are protected from the virus," George said.

She noted that the first wave of COVID-19 had weakened the economy and now the country was facing the second wave.

"If we could take necessary steps for speeding up the vaccination, it would help the economy also," she said and urged everyone to join hands to combat the pandemic and ensure universal vaccination.

Setting aside their political differences, the members of the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-headed United Democratic Front unanimously backed the resolution after suggesting minor changes.

(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.)
on Wednesday recorded



15,169 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 57,76,184, and 285 fresh deaths and also added 268 previously unreported fatalities, the state health department said.

The statewide toll rose to 96,751, it said.

The new cases were higher than 14,123 infections registered on Tuesday.

Recoveries far exceeded new infections.

As many as 29,270 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, pushing the number of recovered cases to 54,60,589, a statement from the health department said.

The state now has 2,16,016 active cases, it said.

The COVID-19 recovery rate marginally increased to 94.54 per cent from 94.28 per cent a day ago, while the fatality rate is at 1.67 per cent, the department said.

The statement said 2,36,491 more people were tested for in Maharashtra, taking the number of samples examined so far to 3,55,14,594.

There are 16,87,643 people in home isolation and 7,418 in institutional quarantine across the state, the department said.

Out of the 285 deaths, 211 occurred in the last 48 hours and 74 in the last week, it said.

As many as 268 COVID-19 deaths had taken place before the last week and they have been directly added in the cumulative figures as part of a data reconciliation exercise, the department said.

This means, the cumulative fatality count rose by 553 to 96,751, the department said.

Mumbai city reported 923 new cases and 31 deaths, taking its tally to 7,07,041 and the toll to 14,880, the department said.

The wider Mumbai division, including the city and its satellite towns, reported 2,616 infections and 50 deaths, pushing the caseload to 15,37,397 and the toll to 27,965, it said.

The Nashik division reported 1,670 cases and 54 deaths, of which 21 were from Ahmednagar district, the department said.

The Pune division registered 3,929 fresh cases, 1,461 of them in Satara district. Out of 49 deaths in the division, 15 were from rural parts of Solapur district, while 11 and 10 were reported from villages of Pune and Satara districts, respectively, the statement said.

The Kolhapur division reported 3,876 cases of coronavirus, including 1,114 in Kolhapur district. The division also reported 67 deaths of which 25 were from rural parts of Kolhapur and 13 from villages of Sangli district.

Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts added 11 deaths each, the department said.

The Aurangabad division recorded 379 infections of the deadly disease, the Latur division 839, the Akola division 955 and the Nagpur division 905, the statement said.

In the Latur division, Beed district alone reported 11 deaths out of the total 26, it said.

Maharashtra's COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 57,76,184; new cases 15,169, deaths 96,751; recoveries 54,60,589; active cases 2,16,016; tests so far 3,55,14,594.

(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 Union health ministry on Wednesday termed as "factually incorrect and without any basis" media reports alleging that while the Centre has promised 120 million doses of anti-Covid vaccines in June, only around 58 million doses were administered of the 79 million doses available in May.

According to the ministry's data at 7 am on June 1, between May 1-31, a total of 61.06 million vaccine doses were administered by the states and Union territories.

A total of 16.22 million balance and unutilised doses were available with the states. The total number of vaccine shots available from May 1-31 was 79.45 million, the ministry said in a statement.

The Centre has been supporting the efforts of the states for an effective vaccination drive under the "Whole of Government" approach since January 16.

In order to streamline the availability of vaccine doses, the Centre has been in constant touch with the vaccine manufacturers and has opened up different procurement options for the states and Union territories since May 1.

There have been several unfounded media reports that have peddled misinformation among the masses regarding this exercise of national importance, the ministry said, adding that the total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has reached 21,85,46,667.

"There have been media reports alleging the Union Government promising 120 million doses of vaccines during June 2021 while administering only around 58 million doses from the total of 79 million doses available in the month of May. This report is factually incorrect and without any basis," the statement said.

Some media reports have criticised India's vaccination policy based on unverified quotes, it said, adding that these reports, questioning the prioritisation of population segments, are not supported by full information on the matter.

The National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) was formed in August last year to provide guidance on all aspects of vaccine introduction, including prioritisation of beneficiaries, procurement, vaccine selection and its delivery. The prioritisation of beneficiaries for COVID-19 vaccination was based on a review of available scientific evidence, WHO guidelines, global examples and practices followed in other countries, the ministry said.

In India, the primary objectives of COVID vaccination are to protect the healthcare workers as part of the pandemic response system, prevent deaths and protect individuals at the highest risk and vulnerability of mortality due to the disease.

Accordingly, the vaccination drive has been sequentially expanded to cover the prioritised groups, starting with the healthcare workers (HCWs), followed by the frontline workers (FLWs), then people aged 60 years and above and those aged 45-59 years with 20 identified comorbidities.

Subsequently, from April 1, all citizens aged 45 years and above became eligible for vaccination.

Such an approach has yielded positive results by achieving more than 81 per cent first-dose coverage among the registered HCWs and around 84 per cent first-dose coverage among the FLWs, thereby protecting these cohorts who are involved in providing healthcare services, surveillance and containment activities amidst the second wave of the pandemic.

Also, 37 per cent beneficiaries in the 45 years and above age group have been administered the first dose of the vaccine, whereas 32 per cent of the eligible beneficiaries in this segment have received the second dose, the statement said.

From May 1, all citizens aged 18 years and above became eligible for vaccination. A "Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy" was adopted on May 1 which is guiding the ongoing third phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive.

Under the strategy, every month, 50 per cent of the vaccine doses of any manufacturer cleared by the Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) would be procured by the Centre. It would continue to make these doses available to the states and Union territories for free, as was being done earlier.

The remaining 50 per cent doses are available for direct procurement by the states, Union territories and private hospitals, of which the states' share is on a pro-rata 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.)
Habeas corpus plea for comes before Caribbean court and in Delhi the High Court will hear a plea against 5G network. Here are some key court hearings today.



Choksi pleas comes before Caribbean court

The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court has debarred Dominican authorities from deporting fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, wanted in the Punjab Bank loan fraud case until the matter discussed further in a hearing scheduled for June 2. An eight-member team from India has reached Dominica along with the documents supporting his extradition.

On May 28, the court taking note of the habeas corpus petition filed by Choksi's legal team directed the respondents to not remove the fugitive from the Commonwealth of Dominica until further notice.

Media reports quoting Choksi's lawyer Vijay Aggarwal said the legal team had filed a habeas corpus petition and highlighted deprivation of access and constitutional rights to him for legal assistance.

After Choksi went missing from Antigua, authorities launched a massive manhunt and issued an Interpol Yellow Notice. He was traced and captured in Dominica.

Choksi, along with Nirav Modi, is accused of siphoning off Rs 13,500 crore from PNB using letters of undertaking.

Juhi Chawla vs 5G network

On May 31, actress-environmentalist Juhi Chawla approached the Delhi High Court against the setting up of 5G wireless networks across the country. The case will be heard on June 2.

According to reports, the suit filed by Chawla and two others has said if the telecom industry's plans for 5G come to fruition, no person, animal, bird, insect, and plant on earth will be able to avoid exposure, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to levels of RF radiation that are 10x to 100x times greater than what exists today.

The suit, filed through advocate Deepak Khosla, has sought direction to the authorities to certify to the public at large that how 5G technology is safe to humans, animals and every type of living organism, flora and fauna.

The plea added that in April 2019, Brussels became the first major city in the world to halt any further steps in the 5G rollout on account of health hazards.

Madras Bar Association's challenge against Tribunals Reforms Ordinance

The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned the plea filed by Madras Bar Association challenging the Tribunals Reforms to the extent it amends section 184 and 186 of 2017. The next hearing is now on June 2.

According to the LiveLaw report, a three-judge Bench of Justice Nageswara Rao, Justice Hemant Gupta, and Justice Ravindra Bhat was initially inclined to start hearing the arguments but later decided to adjourn the matter as all the Judges did not have all the compilations filed by the Counsels.

"We have the whole day on Wednesday. Let us get all the papers in order, and we will start at 10:30 on Wednesday," the report said quoting the Bench.

Plea against Tarun Tejpal's acquittal

Post Tarun Tejpal's acquittal in an alleged sexual assault case on May 21, the Goa government filed an appeal in the Bombay High Court against the verdict. The vacation bench of the HC adjourned the hearing to June 2.

The court directed the Additional District and Sessions Court in North Goa to rewrite references that reveal the identity of the victim in its 527-page order that acquitted Tejpal from charges.

The former editor-in-chief of Tehelka magazine was arrested on November 30 in 2013 after allegedly raping his colleague at a five-star resort in North Goa.

Transfer plea hearing in MSCB scam

The petition filed by people seeking transfer of the probe into the Rs 25,000 crore Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank scam allegedly involving Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister to the CBI will be heard on June 2.

The case pertained to loans running into several thousand crore rupees obtained by sugar cooperatives, spinning mills, and other entities from the district and cooperative banks.

The FIR, registered following a Bombay High Court order, had named Pawar and 70 others.

According to the FIR, the state exchequer suffered losses of Rs 25,000 crore between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2017 due to irregularities in the bank.
Fugitive Indian-born jeweller is under arrest in Dominica and will likely be repatriated to India after he went missing from Antigua and Barbuda.

Choksi has said he was abducted from Antigua on the night of May 23 and forcibly taken on a boat to Dominica. The Indian government is reported to have applied for his extradition to India in a Dominican court, which is scheduled to hear the case on Wednesday.

Police in India have filed charges against Choksi his nephew, Nirav Modi, and others in connection with their suspected involvement in fraudulent transactions that led to losses of about $2 billion for state-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB).

Priti Choksi, the businessmans wife, spoke exclusively from Antigua to Ashis Ray in London. Here are extracts:



Q: So, your husband apparently goes out on the 23rd (May) evening for dinner



: At 5:11 pm exactly he left. He wanted to go for dinner, and he left; thats the last time I saw him. At about 8.30 or 9ish I began to get worried. He is normally home by 7 pm. But because he said he was going for dinner, I started trying his numbers. His Antiguan number came as voicemail and his WhatsApp numbers were ringing. I was getting very, very nervous. I was lonely, I dont know many people here (in Antigua).

He (Mehul Choksi) has a friend who comes as a consultant and works with him. So I called him up at about 10 or a quarter to 10. I asked, are you with him? My first thought in my mind was maybe he was walking on the beach and maybe he went to the water and maybe you know something happened, an accident. So this person also went out looking. We have a cook who helps out. I called him up and said, by any chance did sir (Mehul Choksi) call you up? And he said no.

Then he also came across. I asked, can you just go around to the beaches? By 10:30, a quarter to 11, he called to say he could find anything. The other person also said the same thing. Then both of them said, let us go to the police station, because this is not normal. So we went to the police station. There was curfew (because of COVID) from 11 oclock, 11 pm to 5 am is curfew, we had only one curfew pass. So we went in one car to the police station. These two people (the consultant and the cook) they wrote the complaint.

The police were initially like, you should wait for 24 hours. But we said there was no way he wouldnt be home. They did take it seriously, thank God, and filed a complaint. They had cruisers going on the beaches and roads at that time; because of curfew they were making sure the beaches were not packed or people werent partying. They immediately contacted the cruisers and said can you have a look. We went and we also thought well look around if we can see him or the car on which he went. This is about 12 oclock midnight. Police said, we are searching, dont worry, go home, its curfew, you cant be out. They went on their patrol and we went home.

Q: Do you have a copy of the complaint you lodged with the police?



A: We asked for it, but they said you now have to go through the commissioner and a lawyer to get it. I am very disturbed that he (Mehul Choksi) was taken around 5.30 pm on a boat and no one seems to have seen it. None of the video surveillance cameras at Jolly Harbour (a popular part of Antigua) are working.

Q: What about the car on which your husband drove to go for dinner?



A: This is also interesting. Where the car was found at 7.30 the following morning, the police had patrolled the same area at 3 am and it wasnt there. But it was mysteriously found at 7.30 am.

Q: Did you personally know Barbara Jabarika, who is alleged to have lured your husband into her house, from where he claims he was kidnapped?



A: No, I did not.

Q: Have you ever seen her?



A: No I havent seen her, but I knew she had come (to Antigua) in August (2020) and she had walked in to our other house on the island and she befriended the chef there. I knew my husband used to walk with her. On the Friday and Saturday before he was taken, they went to Jolly Beach South for a walk. Thats where my husband would normally go, because there are lots of people there normally and all the houses have cameras.

She (Jabarika) insisted on Sunday they go to the north side of the island. He said he didnt feel like walking, because he was feeling a little tired. He said, Ill just go for dinner. Where she was suggesting it was very secluded.

Q: What can you tell me about Barbara Jabarika?



A: Its not the person who is being shown by the TV media. She looks different. Youve got a sexy femme fatale being shown. Thats not what she looks like. She may have a good body, whatever, whatever, but the thing is its not her.

Q: Has she disappeared? Is she no longer in Antigua?



A: There are rumours surfacing that she may be in Dominica or she may have left.

Q: What about your husband?



A: My husband hasnt left this island in three years. His health is not good. He is 63 years old.

Q: And is his passport, I mean his Antiguan passport, is it with you?



A: Its here.

Q: So, what happened when he apparently arrived in Dominica (on 25 May)?



A: He wasnt allowed to meet a lawyer, get medical attention, nothing. The first time a doctor saw him was when the foreign minister from here (Antigua) arranged it. On Wednesday (26 May) evening a doctor saw him. The lawyers tried to see him on Wednesday afternoon; they were not allowed to. And Thursday (27 May) morning by chance one of the lawyers was able to see him at 7.30 in the morning. My husband was terrified.

He thought he was going to be killed. The narrative being woven is that he absconded, and the first story, the Cuba story, pointed people in that direction. It was very ham-handed. My husband is no longer an Indian citizen as per Section 9 of the Indian constitution. In 2017, he ceased to be an Indian citizen. The safest place on earth for him is Antigua.
Nepal receives more China-donated COVID-19 vaccines

Xinhua) 08:56, June 02, 2021

KATHMANDU, June 1 (Xinhua) -- In a major boost to its faltering vaccination drive against COVID-19, Nepal on Tuesday received more vaccines granted by China.

A Nepal Airlines plane carrying a batch of Chinese vaccine arrived in Kathmandu on Tuesday afternoon from Beijing, Dim Prasad Poudel, managing director of the airline, told Xinhua.

Meanwhile, the Himalaya Airlines, a Nepal-China joint venture based in Kathmandu, announced on the same day that it is bringing another batch of shots donated by China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

"The government of Nepal sincerely appreciates and thanks the government of the People's Republic of China and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China for providing the life-saving vaccines at this trying time," the Foreign Ministry of Nepal said in a press release.

It is the second time that Nepal has got Chinese COVID-19 vaccine in grant. The Himalayan country received a batch of Chinese vaccine in late March.

"Our priority is to give vaccine shots to people aged between 60-65 who were left out from the past vaccination drive," said Tara Nath Pokharel, director at the Family Welfare Division of Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population.

"Our aim is to start the vaccination in most districts with the newly arrived Chinese vaccine," Pokharel told Xinhua.

Nepal has so far had only 2 percent of its some 30 million citizens administered two shots, due to a lack of vaccines. The pandemic has revisited the country since early April and sickened some 8,000-9,000 people in most days in May.

As of Tuesday, Nepal has reported a total of 566,587 coronavirus cases and 7,454 deaths, with 5,285 new infections and 68 fatalities logged in the past 24 hours.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Bianji)
It is my sense that most Floridians would live with the risk of water to preserve their lifestyle, said Cynthia Barnett, a Gainesville, Florida-based environmental journalist who has published books about rain and the fate of the oceans. This idea of working with water rather than always fighting against it is really the lesson of Florida history. If Florida history has taught us one thing, its that hardscaping this water that defines us will bring hardships to future generations.
on Tuesday received a consignment of 800,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from on grant basis as per the commitment made during talks between Presidents of the two nations.

"As conveyed by Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, during the telephone conversation with President Bidya Devi Bhandari on May 26, 2021, a consignment of 800,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Kathmandu today," Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a release.

on May 26, announced a grant of 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for Of the one million doses of China-made vaccines, which were earlier announced to be provided on grants, 800,000 doses arrived at Tribhuwan International Airport on Tuesday.

Earlier, a chartered cargo of Airlines aircraft flew to on Monday to bring COVID-19 vaccines provided by China on grant to Nepal.

"The remaining two hundred thousand doses of the vaccine are being provided to Nepal by the Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Accordingly, 50,400 doses of the vaccine and syringes have been handed over to the officials of the Ministry of Health and Population this morning, and another batch of 50,400 vaccines and syringes is scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu this evening. The consignment of remaining 99,200 vaccines and syringes will arrive in Kathmandu tomorrow," the ministry added.

With the arrival of China manufactured vaccine, Nepal is set to start inoculation drive from June 8 targeting the elderly populations of the Himalayan Nation.

Dr Jhalak Gautam, chief of the vaccination branch under the Department of Health Services, informed that the meeting held on Tuesday decided to start the vaccination campaign from June 8.

"A meeting held at the Ministry of Health Tuesday decided to administer China-donated vaccines from June 8. The meeting also decided to vaccinate people in the age group of 60 to 64 years," Gautam said in a telephonic conversation with ANI.

The Department of Health Services is preparing to dispatch vaccines to all districts following the arrival of one million doses of the vaccine and the decision of running the vaccination drive throughout the country. In mountainous districts, everyone above 18 years of age will be vaccinated given the availability of vaccines, Gautam informed.

Earlier, vaccination had been done in certain parts of the country. This time around the government has decided to expand the campaign across the country.

Chinese vaccines costs are double than the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot developed by Serum Institute of India.

Moreover, Brazil study involving roughly 13,000 people had earlier found the Chinese shot to be just 50.38 per cent effective against symptomatic infections - barely crossing the WHO's 50 per cent standard and way lower than other vaccines in the world.

Brazil recently stopped production of Sinovac vaccine as Beijing is reportedly not sending ingredients due to "diplomatic ill-will" over criticism of China.

(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.)
With 1,843 new infections, on Wednesday reported less than 2,000 cases for the second consecutive day, pushing the national tally to 924,667 countrywide.

The positivity ratio across the country stands at 3.9 per cent. has now reported a positivity ratio below 5 per cent for the ninth consecutive day as the country treads towards recovery.

According to the official data provided by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), about 47,183 tests were conducted during the past 24 hours out of which 1,843 returned positive, the Geo TV reported.

At least 80 people lost the battle to during the last 24 hours, taking the total death toll to 20,930 across the country. The country's single-day Covid-19 daily death toll remains below 100 for the 12th consecutive day today.

The number of active cases stands at 55,052 whereas about 848,685 people have recovered from the virus so far.

According to the official portal, the total number of patients in Sindh has reached 309,647 while 4,920 people have died so far.

In Punjab, the total number of Covid-19 patients is 334,760 and 9,784 people have died so far due to the virus while the total number of patients in Balochistan is 24,583, and death toll has reached 270.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recorded a total of 129,883 virus patients, with 6,202 deaths, while in Azad Kashmir, 18,808 people have been infected with the virus and 532 people have died.

--IANS

int/rs

(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.)
Jaipur: Sohini, 12, and Mohan, 7, lost their father to Covid-19 during India's first wave in 2020. In the second wave in 2021, they lost their mother, also to Covid-19, Sonal Kapoor, founder of Protsahan India Foundation, a Delhi-based non governmental organisation (NGO) working to eradicate child abuse, told IndiaSpend. Sohini and Mohan have grandparents, but they are not well off. Their grandmother, who is in her late fifties, has taken two more jobs as a domestic helper to be able to take care of the

Indian social media has been rife with adoption requests as people amplify pleas on behalf of who, like Sohini and Mohan, have lost both parents to Covid-19. Such pleas, which often come with a phone number to call for adopting the child, are, however, illegal. In India, if there is no family to take care of an orphaned child or a child has been abandoned, the government steps in. Only abandoned children, who cannot be cared for by extended family, can be adopted by strangers. Long-term stay in shelter homes are the last resort.

Estimates of the number of orphaned by Covid-19 vary widely in numerous media articles, some of which have suggested a "tide" and a "surge in abandoned minors". The said on May 25 that 577 children were orphaned across India between April and May 25, 2021. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) told the Supreme Court on May 30 that at least 1,742 children have lost both parents between March 2020 and May 29, 2021, per provisional data. This is likely an underestimate because states are still collecting and uploading data, the NCPCR said.



Read More: SC takes note of children orphaned due to Covid, asks states to give relief

Of the 9,346 children who were abandoned or lost one or both parents between April 2020 and May 29, 2021, only 364 (3.9%) were in a shelter homes, orphanages or under the care of "special adoption agencies", while the rest (96.1%) were in the care of a guardian, family member of surviving parent, per NCPCR data. Further, only 140 (1.4%) were classified as "abandoned". There has not been a substantial increase in the number of children requiring care and support due to both parents passing away from the pandemic, our conversations with staff of state-run adoption centres and non governmental organisations working on child welfare revealed.

In this first part of a two-part series, we put children orphaned by Covid-19 in the context of India's adoption system and explain why the best care for these children often comes from extended family.

Through these conversations, we found that forced child labour, early marriage, child abuse within the home and loss of education during the pandemic were more widespread. We will examine these issues in more detail in the second part of this series.

'Illegal' calls, misplaced sympathy

Law strictly mandates how orphaned or abandoned children are cared for, adopted or placed in institutional care such as shelter homes in India. This is partly to ensure that children are being adopted by prospective parents who really want them, and not performing an act of charity, NGO staff working on child welfare in several states told us. It is also to protect them from the threat of traffickers, who target vulnerable children for the sex trade and forced labour. Social media pleas for children to be adopted are thus illegal. Those with good intentions amplifying such posts or forwarding messages for adoption of children may in fact be doing them a disservice, Kapoor cautioned.

Taking note of such social media posts, the central (WCD) on May 19 advised the public not to "encourage" such messages. If anyone knew of any child who lost both parents to Covid-19 and had no other caregiver, they should contact the central government's Childline helpline 1098, the WCD said. The NCPCR, on May 22, also exhorted social media users not to share photographs and contact details of children in distress, but to protect the child's identity and contact Childline.

The term 'Covid orphans', increasingly being used in the media, is a reminder of other diseases that led to children losing their parents in large numbers, such as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the HIV-AIDS crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa. Kinship care was the first solution in those outbreaks, ahead of adoption by strangers or bringing up orphaned children in shelter homes, according to the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef).

Most parents would want kinship care, i.e. for family who are already known to the child to take care of them in the case of any eventuality, said Kapoor. If Sohini and Mohan had been taken away from their grandparents and placed in a state-run shelter home, it would in fact end up hurting them more, explained Kapoor. "Even with little money, the grandmother was giving Sohini and Mohan sugar-laced roti and constant care. Will the children get such love in a far away shelter home?" said Kapoor. What is important, she said, is to support the grandparents to take care of the children.

Kinship care is also the first solution pursued by India's Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA). Childline places abandoned or orphaned children (including because of Covid-19) without any caregivers in shelter homes under the care of district-level Child Welfare Committees (CWC) while a search for relatives is launched.

"Effort will be made to sustain the children in their family and community environment as far as possible," the WCD ministry said in its guidelines on caring for Covid-19 orphans. If no caregivers are found, children in institutional care are put up for adoption through prescribed procedures. Children who don't get adopted remain in institutionalised care.

Most children who lost parents to Covid-19 in kinship care, say child welfare workers

During the ongoing pandemic, 7,464 children lost one parent and 1,742 lost both parents to Covid-19 and 140 children were abandoned between April 2020 and May 29, 2021, the NCPCR told the Supreme Court in an affidavit on May 31. The Supreme Court had on May 28 ordered all states to upload data on children who have been orphaned post March 2020 'whether it be due to the pandemic or otherwise'. The numbers submitted to the SC were provisional, said the NCPCR, as states were still uploading this information on the NCPCR's Bal Swaraj portal. The SC order had come in response to an application seeking directions from the apex court for the care and wellbeing of such children.



The number of children who need support or adoption has not substantially increased because of Covid-19 as most must be receiving kinship care, staff at state-run adoption agencies and shelter homes also told us. These children and the families that take them in are supported with dry rations and access to government services in anganwadis, schools and health services, they said. In end-May, the Centre and several state governments announced a range of such support and relief measures for children who lost their parents to Covid-19, ranging from free education to stipends for caregivers.

In another case in Delhi, after the mother of three children passed away from Covid-19, the father abandoned his children and ran away. The father's and mother's sisters together take care of the children. "It's not parents' love but it's still better than a shelter home," Kapoor explained.

Sujata Mohanty, programme officer of the Odisha State Adoption Resource Agency, has not seen any significant increase in children needing support or adoption because of Covid-19. In Odisha, the Childline helpline number is put up in hospitals and made known to community self-help groups who can reach out if there is a child in need because of the death of their parents from Covid-19, Mohanty told IndiaSpend. Most children who have to come to shelter homes in the state are those who are abandoned by their families or those rescued by Childline or local child protection officers from situations of abuse within families, she explained.

It is likely that most children who lost both parents to Covid-19 are cared for by extended family, added Ujjwal Kumar, the in-charge of a government-approved adoption centre in Patna. "If the parents are dead, the maternal or paternal grandparents will take the child in. If they are not there, then the mausi (mother's sister), the chacha (father's brother), there is mostly some family to take care of them," he told IndiaSpend.



Read More: PM's announcement will help children orphaned by Covid, says Smriti Irani

If we are taking care of, say, a one-month-old abandoned child, we are not likely to know if the child was abandoned because its parents passed away from Covid-19 unless someone tells us, added Anupama Kumari, in-charge of an government-approved adoption centre in Muzaffarpur. The centre has not seen any cases where children lost both their parents because of Covid-19.

Of the over 650 cases in which Protsahan is trying to help children in distress, around six (less than 1%) corresponding to a total of 10 children, are of those who have lost both parents to the pandemic, Kapoor said.

Shelter homes should be children's last resort

Various studies over the years have shown that children in institutional care are likely to have slower cognitive development, physical growth and attachment, compared to children who are in family-based care. Children in family-based care also face fewer emotional problems than a child who has been brought up in a shelter home or institution, research shows and nonprofit staff confirm.

The trauma a child goes through at the loss of a parent is indescribable, said Kapoor. Adoption into another family provides better care to the child than staying on in an institution, NGO staff told us.

Further, the widespread abuse of children placed in shelter homes is India's worst-kept secret, we had reported in September 2018. There have been reports of abuse from shelter homes in Muzaffarpur in Bihar [separate from the adoption centre mentioned in this article] and Deoria in Uttar Pradesh.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, adoption centres are understaffed, people managing government-approved adoption centres in Bihar told IndiaSpend. "We cannot have staff that visit from outside the adoption centre so we make do with the five in-house staff, including ayahs, to take care of young children, and an auxiliary nurse midwife," said Kumar in Patna. There is a social worker who comes from outside but she does only office work and does not interact with the children. In non-pandemic times, there are 10 staff to take care of 10 children, he said. "We usually have 11 staff members but currently we are making do with six, because of COVID-19," said Kumari from Muzaffarpur. When these six go home, the other five will stay at the centre to take care of the children, she said.

How the adoption process works

CARA regulates all in-country and inter-country adoptions according to provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the WCD ministry reiterated in its May 19 advisory. Only prospective parents registered in CARA's Children Adoption Resources Information and Guidance System (CARINGS) portal can adopt children. CARA matches the parents' criteria for adoption with the children who are eligible for adoption and also registered on CARINGS.

Each state has its own State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA), under which are the District Level Child Protection Units (DCPU). Most districts have one adoption centre under the DCPU for children aged up to six. Bigger districts have more than one adoption centre and each centre has around 10 children, explained Kumar from Patna. Then there are boys' and girls' homes for children between the ages of seven and 18 years, he added.

When an abandoned child is found, a team from Childline or the DPCU rescues the child who is then placed under the care of the district CWC. The CWC, also known as Bal Kalyan Samiti, decides which home or adoption centre the child will first be placed in. It then checks whether the child has been reported missing and can be reunited with family. Within a week to 10 days, the shelter home with the DCPU and CWC publishes a notice in newspapers with a description of the missing/abandoned child and asks the family to contact the shelter home with proof that the child is related to them. "In one case, more than one guardian claimed the child was theirs, so we conducted a DNA test to confirm the veracity of their claim," Kumar said.

If no one approaches the shelter home for two months in case of a child under two years, the child is considered 'legally free' to be adopted. The waiting period is four months for a child above the age of two years, the regulation says. When the prospective parents agree to the match, they reach out to the shelter home, sometimes to see the child on a video call before they confirm the adoption, according to Kumar.

Because of Covid-19, the adoption process is slower than before, Kumar explained. "First we complete the process online and then based on the Covid-19 protocol, we first ask the parents to submit a travel history, get tested for the disease before they travel to the shelter home and then again when they reach the city. They are also quarantined for 15 days in the city and only then can they come to the shelter home and meet the child," Kumar told IndiaSpend.

Between April 2020 and February 2021, 2,160 children were adopted, compared to 3,337 from April 2019 to March 2021, WCD data show.



There is also a bias in adoptions towards younger children, Kapoor said. Few adoptive couples are willing to adopt older children, which means that these children are left behind more often in shelter homes. Over 80% of the children adopted in 2020-21 (82.9%) and in 2019-20 (80%) were between the ages of 0 and two years, per the WCD.

Of 9,860 cases of in-country adoption in the three years to 2018-19, there were 174 cases (1.8%) of disruption (end of an adoption placement that has not yet been finalised) and five of dissolution (end of an adoption after finalisation), the WCD informed Parliament in February 2020. Disruption/ dissolution was mainly observed in cases of placement of older children, primarily due to adjustment issues, said the ministry, adding that counselling of parents adopting older children was being emphasised.

"Technically an adoption agency is only the caretaker of a child, we have no role to play in the actual adoption or in deciding which child goes to whom, we are only mandated to take care of a child's health and needs," said Kumar. "Many people come to us and offer us money to take a child. We tell them this happens only in films that you go to a shelter home, like a child and take them home."

Relief efforts for children orphaned because of Covid-19

An orphaned child living with extended family (first relatives of parents, such as grandparents and siblings of parents), or with an adoptive family or at a shelter home receives Rs 2,000 every month for their care through a sponsorship programme under the central government's Integrated Child Protection Scheme. Lest the stipend become an incentive for caregivers, there are regular follow-ups by the CWC or government authorities to ensure that the child is being taken care of well by first relatives or adoptive families, says Archana Sahay, director of Aarambh, an NGO in Bhopal that also represents Childline in the city. If not, the child can be taken away and placed in government care. "If the Child is restored to any kind of kinship care, CWC will continue to check the well-being of the child on [a] regular basis," per the WCD's May 21 guidelines on care for children orphaned by Covid-19.

On May 29, the Prime Minister announced further relief measures for children orphaned by Covid-19, including enrolment in the nearest central government-run Kendriya Vidyalaya or private school, health insurance, a monthly stipend from age 18 for five years, help with securing an educational loan for higher studies and Rs 10 lakh on turning 23 years old. The costs of the scheme would be supported by the PM-CARES fund. In addition to central government assistance, several state governments have reportedly announced financial assistance and educational assistance for children who have lost parents to Covid-19.

Aarambh gathered the details of five children in the communities where they work who had lost both their parents or the only surviving parent to Covid-19. They tried to help them enrol in a government programme announced for these children, through which their caregivers would receive Rs 5,000 a month until the children are 18 years old, free rations, and school and college education. Four children qualified, Sahay said. They also identified nine other cases in which the child had lost one parent to Covid-19.

One of the problems with accessing these benefits is an understanding of and access to computers. Many children whose parents have died are with their grandparents who find it hard to complete an online process, Sahay explained.
The authorities here have told airlines to ensure that those coming to have a valid negative test report before boarding a flight.

The measure applies on citizens and permanent residents (PRs) too, a Channel News Asia report said.

Previously only long-term pass holders and short-term pass visitors entering were required to present a negative COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test report.

The new directions have come after the Ministry of Health announced last week that Singaporeans and PRs are now required to present a report of the test, taken within 72 hours before departing for Singapore.

"Airlines must not allow a passenger to board the flight to Singapore if that passenger fails to produce the result of the required PCR test or if the result of that PCR test is positive. They will be responsible to carry a person who is denied entry into Singapore back to the point of departure, said Margaret Tan, Security Director at the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.

These PCR certificates should be issued by an internationally accredited or recognised laboratory, clinic or medical facility specified by the Singapore's Ministry of Health, Tan said.

All airlines flying into Changi Airport here have been informed of the new requirement.

Those who arrive without a valid negative test result may be denied entry, the ministry said, adding that PRs and long-term pass holders who fail to comply may also have their permit or pass cancelled.

According to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority's (ICA) SafeTravel website, those travelling by plane or boat will have to present their test result at the air and sea checkpoints upon arrival in Singapore.

Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines (SIA) said passengers will be required to show its service agents a valid negative test certificate.

This test must have been taken within 72 hours of their first point of embarkation, said a spokesperson for the national carrier.

Passengers who are unable to produce a valid certificate will not be permitted to board the flight, the news report quoting airline spokesperson said.

However, those who are unable to get COVID-19 tests done in time will be allowed to book another flight without incurring further penalties, the SIA said.

Complimentary re-booking is available for passengers who are unable to meet the requirements in time, subject to seat availability, said the SIA spokesperson.

Moreover, a growing number of public places, including hotels, eateries and shopping malls are being noted as clusters for spreading COVID-19, according to media reports.

Some of these places have been or are being shut down for sanitisation while people having visited these places are urged to go for tests.

COVID-19 tests are also being carried out on residents of apartment blocks in public housing estates where some infections have been reported and traced while students are being vaccinated as Singapore implements tough safety measures to control the spread of COVID-19.

On Monday, Singapore reported 18 confirmed cases of coronavirus, 15 of which were in the community (local).

The other three were imported cases, one from India and two from the Philippines.

To date, Singapore has recorded 62,069 COVID-19 cases while 61,481 people have fully recovered.

Thirty-three people have died from complications due to the disease, said the Health Ministry.

(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.)
General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir is "saddeneda by India's reaction to his statements on Kashmir, according to his Deputy Spokesperson Amy Quantrill, who has asserted that they were taken out of context.

She said at a news briefing on Tuesday, "The President was saddened to see a press statement from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, which portrays his remarks on from a selective perspective, while they are consistent with the longstanding UN position regarding this issue."

She added, "It is regrettable that the President's remarks were taken out of context."

Referring to at a news conference in Islamabad last week, Bozkir said, "I think it is the duty, especially Pakistan's, to bring this to the United Nation platform more strongly."

Speaking with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at his side, Bozkir also endorsed Islamabad's attempts -- so far unsuccessful -- to link the issue to the Palestine problem.

"As the minister mentioned, and also compared to two important things, I think the two problems are of the same age, Palestine and Jammu and Kashmir, and I fully agree that this is the case," he said.

He also said that the Kashmir issue does not have the "same enlarged political wind behind it" like the Palestine cause.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is one of only two leaders -- other than Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan -- to have raised the Kashmir issue in recent years in the 193-member UN General Assembly where Islamabad's attempts to bring it up have been rebuffed.

Bozkir, who is a former European Affairs Minister of Turkey, is by tradition expected to act independent of his country while the General Assembly president.

Reacting to Bozkir's statements, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said in a strongly worded statement, "When an incumbent President of the UN General Assembly makes misleading and prejudiced remarks, he does great disservice to the office he occupies. The President of the UN General Assembly's behaviour is truly regrettable and surely diminishes his standing on the global platform."

"We express our strong opposition to the unwarranted references made with respect to the Indian union territory of by the President of the Volkan Bozkir during his recent visit to Pakistan," he said.

Explaining Bozkir's position, Quantrill said, "During his joint press engagement with the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, the President also replied to questions from the press members regarding the procedural aspects of a possible consideration of this (Kashmir) issue in the UN General Assembly, while reiterating the UN position, which is governed by the UN Charter and applicable Security Council resolutions."

One of the Security Council Resolution, No. 47 adopted on April 21, 1948, called for Pakistan's complete withdrawal from Kashmir.

Quantrill added, "President also recalled India and Pakistan's Simla Agreement of 1972, which states that the final status of is to be settled by peaceful means, in accordance with the UN Charter."

Under the Simla Agreement signed by Indira Gandhi, who was India's prime minister, and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was Pakistan's president at that time, the two countries agreed to deal with their differences bilaterally, thus excluding any third-party involvement.

Quantrill said that Bozkir had "recalled that throughout his term, and consistent with the UN policy, and applicable UN Security Council resolutions, he encouraged all parties to refrain from changing the status of the disputed territory".

That was a reference to India abrogating Article 370 of its Constitution which gave a special status to Kashmir.

"The President continues to support dialogue and diplomacy and encourage both Pakistan and India to resolve this dispute through peaceful means," she added.

Bozkir also visited Bangladesh during last month's South Asia trip but skipped India because of the virulent second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While announcing the trip, his spokesperson Brenden Varma said that he would travel to India later.

Bozkir was awarded the Crescent of Pakistan, the nation's second-highest civilian honour, during his visit.

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

--IANS

al/in

(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 the next two weeks, the US will detail plans to equitably distribute about 80 million (8 crore) COVID-19 vaccine doses globally without "political requirements" of those receiving them, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.

The Biden administration had been under pressure to send the excess COVID-19 vaccines with the US to nations like India, which are facing severe vaccine shortages.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado in San Jose on Tuesday, Blinken said the US will focus on equity, on the equitable distribution of vaccines.

"We'll focus on science; we'll work in coordination with COVAX and we will distribute vaccines without political requirements of those receiving them," he said.

COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the World Health Organisation.

President Joe Biden on May 17 said the US will share 20 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses with other countries, taking the total number of such shots to 80 million.

Ten million is equal to one crore.

The additional 20 million doses will be of the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech, Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, on top of 60 million AstraZeneca Plc doses he had already planned to give to other countries.

"In March, we shared over four million doses of our AstraZeneca vaccine with Canada and Mexico. At the end of April, we announced that we would provide another 60 million doses of our AstraZeneca vaccine overseas," Biden had said.

AstraZeneca vaccine has not been authorised for use in the US yet, and it is awaiting safety clearance by the US Food and Drug Administration.

"I think you heard President Biden a couple of weeks ago announce that we will be making available globally about 80 million vaccine doses that we have access to between now and the end of June," Blinken said.

"And in the next week or so sometime in the next week to two weeks we will be announcing the process by which we will distribute those vaccines, what the criteria are, how we will do it," Blinken said.

"And so I expect that there will be news in much more detail in within the next two weeks," he added.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who visited the US last month, also said that the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines were an important part of his discussions in the US.

There was also of course the COVID-19 context because of the vaccine partnership between India and the US, and also Quad-based discussions on vaccines. That was also one of the important subjects. In fact, in many ways, I would say the most important subject of my discussion, the minister said.

He also said the endeavour was to expand the production of vaccines in India with assistance from the United States.

(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.)
Vietnam's 'very dangerous' new COVID-19 hybrid variant may be fuelling its worst outbreak so far as it is replicating quickly.

On Saturday, the Vietnamese authorities revealed they had discovered a "very dangerous" new variant that combined mutations first found in India and the UK, and which spreads quickly by air, reported The Telegraph.

Vietnam's plight follows a now familiar pattern of COVID-19 surges across Asia - most alarmingly in countries like Singapore, Laos, Thailand and Taiwan that were praised for beating the virus in 2020, only to be caught out by a global vaccine shortage as new variants ricocheted back from hotspots.

Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said would soon publish genome data of the newly identified variant, which he said was more transmissible than the previously known types, reported UK-based news agency.

He said laboratory cultures of the new variant showed the virus replicated itself very quickly, possibly explaining why so many new cases had appeared in different parts of the country in a short period of time.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is investigating reports of a mutation that spreads extremely quickly - but the country still isn't on the UK's red list, reported The Telegraph.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified four variants of concern - emerging from the UK, India, South Africa and Brazil - is currently investigating Vietnam's findings.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO Technical Lead for COVID-19, said currently the variant detected in was understood to be the B.1.617.2 variant, possibly with an additional mutation, but that more information would be provided when it was received.

On Monday, the WHO, International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank Group and World Trade Organisation (WTO) warned of a "two-track pandemic" where inequitable vaccine distribution was leaving millions vulnerable to the virus and creating deadly variants to boomerang around the world.

Like many other countries in Asia-Pacific region, has struggled to obtain vaccines, and to date has only reached 1 per cent of its 96 million-strong population with a first dose, reported The Telegraph.

This week, the government asked Samsung Electronics Co, and other foreign companies to help source vaccines for their workers.

Abhishek Rimal, the Regional Coordinator for Public Health in Asia Pacific, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said although the full genomic sequence of the potential hybrid was still unclear, initial reports on the ground were worrying.

"What we understand from the field and some of the epidemiologists from the country is that they do suspect it will have even higher transmissibility than the original strain or any of the variants," he told The Telegraph.

"If confirmed, we could see a steep rise of COVID-19 in Vietnam and even beyond around Southeast Asia."

The city has now closed shops, restaurants and suspended religious activities, while restricting gatherings to ten people and enforcing two-metre social distancing rules. People over 60 have been encouraged to stay home as the authorities begin some 100,000 tests a day, reported The Telegraph.

Meanwhile, China has tightened its border security as its neighbour, once considered a pandemic success story, now plans to test all 13 million residents of Ho Chi Minh City and tighten social distancing measures.

According to The Telegraph, Vietnam has so far seen just over 7,100 COVID-19 cases and 47 deaths, but more than 4,000 of these cases have emerged in an outbreak that first came to light on April 27, and which has been detected in 34 cities and provinces.

(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.)
Ports around the U.S. are rolling out vaccines for seafarers, extending a lifeline to thousands of mostly foreign workers whove spent the pandemic isolated aboard ships ensuring goods kept trading across a battered global economy.

From Boston to Houston and Los Angeles, and even in smaller trade gateways like Gulfport, Mississippi, local health officials and nonprofits are boarding container ships, tankers and other cargo carriers to administer Covid-19 shots or, when possible, shuttling crews to nearby pharmacies and clinics.

The preferred vaccine for maritime workers: the one-dose shot because theyre often docked for just a day or two.





In and nearby Long Beach, California, home of the nations largest port complex, a vaccination program that began in mid-May has reached about 500 visiting sailors on 11 container ships as of late last week, city spokeswoman Chelsey Magallon said.

Similar efforts are getting under way at nearly 50 U.S. seaports, according to a list maintained by the North American Maritime Ministry Association.

Throughout the pandemic, seafarers have suffered a doubly harsh form of cabin fever. Travel restrictions prevented crew changes, forcing many to stay aboard beyond their original contracts and the 11-month limit set by maritime law. Theyve also been banned from disembarking in port for fear of spreading Covid or putting their vessel into quarantine for a week or more at the expense of millions of dollars.

Thats a very big deal for sailors because they are essentially stranded aboard ships, said Dick McKenna, president of the International Seafarers Center of Long Beach-Los Angeles, a hospitality club that offers logistics on land like Wifi, shopping or health-care services. Some of these guys have been out there for like a year -- the suicide worry is high. The shots are a really big boost.

Many of the worlds 1.6 million seafarers hail from poor countries like India and the Philippines that have struggled to inoculate citizens as quickly as the U.S., where vaccines remain abundant.



Its a huge welcome relief for these ships because all these foreign countries are having a hard time giving vaccines, said Tom Jacobsen, who runs a pilot service at the Port of Long Beach.

About 400 miles (644 kilometers) north on the California coast, Oaklands port is averaging vaccines for about 80 seafarers a day and offering them either on the ship or in a clinic, said John Claassen, chairman of Oaklands International Maritime Center. Some recipients view their vaccine certificates like a get out of jail free card, he said.

In the Philadelphia area, some 22 crews totaling 258 seamen had been vaccinated as of Saturday, courtesy of rides to local pharmacies, said Helene Pierson, executive director of the Seamens Church Institute of Philadelphia and South Jersey. Im averaging about 20 crew a day and about 10 ships a week, she said.

Some sailors are stepping foot on land for the first time in nine months or longer.

We are on a continuous rotation between six ports in the USA and six ports in Brazil and one in Argentina and Uruguay -- a vaccination would help us a lot, Ingmar Koal, the master on board the container carrier the Northern Majestic, wrote in an email to Pierson on May 18 as the ship approached Philadelphia.

Complicating the local efforts to deliver the vaccines are safety rules that require at least half the crew to remain aboard the ships -- so the shuttles often have to make two or three trips between the port and drugstore. Other potential snags: many workers visas have expired, which prevents them from leaving the ship, or face U.S. Customs and Border Protection rules against the arrival citizens of certain countries.

Despite coordination efforts that are still extremely challenging, 130 seafarers were vaccinated in 10 days in Delaware, according to Christine Lassiter, executive director of the Seamens Center of Wilmington.

For crews who might come from Eastern Europe or Southeast Asia, theres an economic incentive to get a vaccination card.

That card and paperwork are going to make them very marketable, said Stefan Mueller-Dombois, an inspector with the International Transport Workers Federation in Long Beach. Their company will want them back or they can find another ship to work on really easily.

In other parts of the world, more Covid outbreaks have stricken crew on ships and once again closed off some ports, particularly vessels carrying Indian crews or having recently traveled to India.

Thats why a global vaccination program supported by a number of governments is key to resolving the crisis at sea, said Rene Kofod-Olsen, chief executive officer of ship and crew manager V.Group Ltd. The company recently completed its first vaccinations in the U.S. -- 13 Indian seafarers aboard the Cabrera in Port Everglades, Florida, received jabs during a stop there.

This crisis is not over yet and we all need to keep the gas up on this, Kofod-Olsen said.

Whats unique about the seafarer vaccine programs in the U.S. is the broad inclusion of foreign workers, said Jason Zuidema, general secretary of the International Christian Maritime Association, a U.K. organization that represents seafarer centers globally.

China and Russia have offered doses to their domestic maritime industries, and U.K. officials have offered them to British fishermen. The Netherlands is launching a program starting in mid-June, available to seafarers on vessels flying the Dutch flag. Australia has vaccinated a small number of foreign deckhands that transport gas between the nations ports on a ship thats under charter to energy giant Origin Energy Ltd.

This transforms their lives and weve seen that it has almost immediate effect, Zuidema said. He added that a container ship calling on ports along the U.S. East Coast recently rewarded its fully vaccinated crew with something they havent had since the pandemic began: shore leave.
The second Covid wave may push credit costs of the Indian banking system to 2.4 per cent by March 2022, compared to base case of 2.2 per cent, according to Standard and Poors (S&P).

The pandemic may stall a strong recovery in the economy and credit conditions. In a severe downside scenario, the Indian banking systems weak loans should rise to about 12 per cent of gross loans. It may thwart banking system profitability.

In India and Indonesia, banks have suffered higher asset distress in recent years. The credit losses are set to trend closer to our expected long-term average in the coming years, according to its report Intervention Worked: Credit Losses Set To Decline For Most Asia-Pacific Banks.

The credit losses will remain well below expected long-term average in most countries (in Asia-Pacific) despite last years economic hardship. Sturdy provisioning so far during the health crisis helps. In addition, the regions banking asset stress was at historical low levels just before the pandemic struck.
Gasoline sales in India, the worlds biggest market for motorcycles and scooters, collapsed to the lowest level in a year as a devastating second wave of Covid-19 infections savaged consumption.

Average daily sales in May declined by almost a fifth from the previous month as strict stay-at-home orders across large parts of the country crippled demand, according to people familiar with preliminary data from the countrys three biggest retailers. Overall, monthly sales were the lowest since May 2020.

Oil demand across wide swathes of Asia has been hurt by resurgent waves in recent months, clouding a generally positive global picture as sales in the U.S. and Europe pick up. The outbreak in India was particularly severe as hospitals were overwhelmed and many local administrations reinstated movement curbs. Despite the uneven pattern, crude prices have rallied, with global benchmark Brent set for the highest close in two years on Tuesday.

Sales of diesel, which account for more than half of oil consumption in India, were about 20% lower than April, and 30% weaker than the same period in 2019.

The plunging demand forced Indian refiners to ship more fuels out, with exports hitting a 13-month high in May, according to Vortexa Ltd. But that cushion of overseas sales is gone too due to weakness in regional product cracks, and exports are likely to be cut back in June, according to Serena Huang, lead market analyst at the firm.

The crisis in India has begun to ease, with daily infections falling back below 150,000, prompting some states to start relaxing local curbs. Last time around, gasoline sales were the fastest to recover from the lockdowns impact as more people favored private cars and motorbikes over public transport.

Spokespeople for Indian Oil Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp., and Hindustan Petroleum Corp., declined to comment. The three retailers account for more than 90% of the nations fuel sales.




After Hilks father called authorities to say he hadnt been able to reach his son, initial responders found his apartment in disarray, with overturned furniture, boxes everywhere and what police Superintendent David Brown later described as a little bit of a hoarding type of situation. Hilks parents, in from Kansas in an attempt to find their son, had been at the apartment when authorities arrived, but they were kept outside and returned to their hotel after officials told them their son had died, the report said.
In retaliation to Indias (2 per cent) on foreign technology majors, the United States on Wednesday decided to impose additional tariffs on a slew of Indian imports.

However, the tariffs will remain suspended for six months, as Washington hopes for a multilateral solution on the issue of digital taxation during the ongoing talks at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This follows investigation by the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) last year, which concluded that Indias equalisation levy was actionable under Section 301 of the Trade Act for being unreasonable, burdensome, and discriminatory against American companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook, and inconsistent with international tax principles. Thereafter, it held consultations over its tariff proposal with industry, sought comments till April 30 and conducted a hearing on May 10.

The final determination in the investigations is to impose additional tariffs on certain goods from these countries, while suspending the tariffs for up to 180 days to provide additional time to complete the ongoing multilateral negotiations on international taxation at the OECD and in the G20 process, the USTR said in a statement.

Following the consultation, the USTR has decided to impose a tariff of up to 25 per cent ad valorem on aggregate level of trade on a slew of Indian products. These include shrimps, basmati rice and gold, with an aim to mop up around $55 million. This is as much as what India will collect from US companies through the 2 per cent equalisation levy. The US has decided to impose suspended tariffs on five other countries, that is, Austria, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom over the digital services tax imposed by them.

The United States is focused on finding a multilateral solution to a range of key issues related to international taxation, including our concerns with digital services taxes, said Ambassador, USTR, Katherine Tai.

The United States remains committed to reaching a consensus on international tax issues through the OECD and G20 processes. Todays actions provide time for those negotiations to continue to make progress while maintaining the option of imposing tariffs under Section 301 if warranted in the future, added Tai.

The 40 tariff sub-heads that may attract tariffs after six months include Rattan furniture and parts, precious stone articles, gold rope necklaces and neck chains, cultured pearls, yarn, cigarette paper, and corks and stoppers.

The Indian government, in April 2020, widened the scope of the equalisation levy to impose 2 per cent tax on non-resident e-commerce players with a turnover of Rs 2 crore. It earlier only applied to digital advertising services till March 2020 at the rate of 6 per cent.

In fact, India has further expanded the scope of the 2 per cent equalisation levy by way of clarifications in the Budget this year to e-commerce supply or service when any activity, including acceptance of the offer for sale, placing the purchase order, acceptance of the purchase order, supply of goods or provision of services, partly or wholly, payment of consideration, takes place online.
Congress leader P. Chidambaram has slammed the union government for converting the to a bad law, saying it was notified with horrendous rates of tax.

In a statement on Wednesday, Chidambaram said, " started as a good idea, BJP converted it into a bad law. It was notified with horrendous rates of tax."

He said the law was applied as though tax-collecting officers were hounds hunting foxes and every businessperson was suspected to be a tax evader, the Council was reduced to a talking shop.

He also added that the GST Implementation Committee (consisting of officers) became the tail that wagged the dog and the FM treats the GoM as an extension of the NDA and its supporting parties. All FMs who express a contrary view are treated as errant schoolboys."

"And the idea of GST: RIP", he added.

Congress Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel have slammed the Centre for not including members from Congress ruled states in the GoM.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday termed the non-inclusion of members of Congress-ruled states in the panel "against the spirit of cooperative federalism".

"The (GST) Council has constituted an eight-member panel of ministers, which does not include any member from Congress-ruled states, for exemption from tax on essential goods related to Corona," he said, demanding ministers from Congress-ruled states, who are part of the GST Council, be included in the GoM constituted to discuss the GST rates on COVID relief material.

"It is unfortunate not to include any members of Congress-ruled states and is against the spirit of cooperative federalism," Baghel said.

--IANS

miz/skp/

(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 second wave of Covid-19 has had negligible impact on highway projects, said a National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) official, adding that the Authority is monitoring the situation on the ground. Investment in infrastructure is essential to pull the economy out of the Covid-induced trough, say economists.

According to an official, As the country battles the second wave of Covid19, we are constantly taking stock of the situation and are assessing the impact it will have on different projects across states. As of now, there is negligible or minimal impact. All NHAI ...
experts and stakeholders believe the bigger challenge before the CBSE now is coming up with a fair evaluation criteria for class 12 students whose exams have been cancelled and demanded that the policy is notified soon.

The experts hailed the decision to cancel the which were earlier postponed in view of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

Given the current situation, it is the right decision to cancel the There is no way we could have held exams without compromising the safety of children. While we welcome the decision, we hope the modalities would be worked out quickly in consultation with stakeholders, they said.

"Since class marks are important factor that affects students' career, we expect CBSE to ensure students don't get affected with the methodology of awarding marks," said Praveen Raju, Co-Chair, FICCI ARISE, a collegium of stakeholders aimed at promoting quality

In a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, it was decided that the CBSE will take steps to compile the results of class 12 students as per a well-defined objective criteria in a time-bound manner.

"The next step is equally critical and crucial in terms of deciding the process and criteria based on which the children's performance will be gauged. This should be done keeping in mind that many of them make that extra effort during the last mile and hence, should be given due advantage," said Charu Wahi, Principal, Nirmal Bhartia School.

According to Vishnu Karthik, CEO, The Heritage Schools, the decision on cancellation of has provided some clarity and assuaged stress levels among students and parents but the challenge now is for the CBSE to arrive at an alternative criteria to determine grade 12 marks.

"Any delay or any confusion on the new grading criteria will lead to more confusion and stress among students. Clear directions should also be provided to Indian universities to modify their admissions criteria so meritocracy and fairness are not compromised, he said.

Shishir Jaipuria, Chairman of Seth Anandram Jaipuria Group of Educational Institutions believes deserving students must be allocated grades or marks corresponding to their yearly performance.

"It's a challenge that will require a great deal of meticulous thinking for arriving at a just criterion for academic assessment. I'm sure the schools and boards will rise to the challenge and deliver what's best for the students," he said.

Rajiv Bansal, Director-Operations - Global Indian International School (GIIS), said admission in undergraduate courses, across India and internationally, are dependent on class 12 results, therefore, the sooner these details are announced, the better it would be for the students, their parents, and the entire academic community.

Pallavi Upadhyaya, Principal, DPS-RNE Ghaziabad said schools further await the mode of result tabulation and assessment guidelines by the CBSE for fair scores as Class 12th remains a crucial exam in a student's lifetime.

The CBSE had on April 14 announced the cancellation of Class 10 exams and postponement of Class 12 exams in view of the surge in coronavirus cases.

Amid continuing demands for cancellation of exams by a large section of students and parents, the ministry had called a high-level meeting last Sunday to deliberate on the issue which was also attended by state ministers and education secretaries.

The CBSE had proposed two options -- conducting regular exams for only major subjects at notified centres or holding shorter-duration exams at the school where a student is enrolled.

Majority states opted for the second option which included conducting 90 minutes exams for major subjects at students' home schools. Few states also insisted on vaccinating students before going ahead with the exams.

(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.)
Primary and Secondary Minister Suresh Kumar on Wednesday said an appropriate decision will be taken soon on holding in the state.

"Regarding holding SSLC (class 10) and second year Pre-University (class 12) exams, an appropriate decision will be taken at the earliest," the Minister said in a statement.

He said discussions are underway with teachers, experts and parents in this regard and an appropriate decision will be taken soon keeping in mind the health of the children and their future.

The central government on Tuesday had decided to cancel the CBSE Class 12 amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic across the country with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserting that the decision has been taken in the interest of students and the anxiety among students, parents and teachers must be put to an end.

Several states too have cancelled following the centre's decision.

Kumar, during the meeting of Ministers of all states organised by the central government's Ministry of Education last month, had said it was necessary to hold exams for second PU students in some way as they prepare for professional courses.

The state government had earlier postponed the second PUC examinations which were scheduled to begin from May 24, citing a surge in COVID cases as the reason.

It has also postponed the SSLC examinations slated to start from June 21, citing similar reasons.

(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.)
Taking a cue from the Centre's decision to scrap the CBSE class 12 amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, the government on Wednesday decided to cancel the upcoming state for class 12 students.

The state government had recently announced that the class 12 for students of general and science streams will be conducted from July 1 by adhering to the COVID-19 protocol.

"The state government decided to scrap the exams for class 12 of the Secondary and Higher Secondary Board (GSHSB) after taking into consideration the Centre's decision to scrap the exams for class 12 students of the CBSE given the coronavirus pandemic," state Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama told reporters after attending a Cabinet meeting in Gandhinagar.

Approximately 1.40 lakh students of science stream and 5.43 lakh students of the general stream were expected to appear for the board exam.

"As Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced the cancellation of the CBSE exam for class 12 in the larger interest of students, our government has also decided to cancel the state board exam, which was scheduled to start from July 1," Chudasama said.

He said will follow the Union government's guidelines for the future course of action.

The Central government on Tuesday decided to cancel the CBSE Class 12 board exams at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Chudasama said the state government had not taken any decision yet about the "repeater" students of class 10 and class 12.

He said the forthcoming academic session for schools, starting June 7, will be conducted through online mode due to the pandemic situation.

As of Tuesday, Gujarat's tally of COVID-19 cases stood at 8,10,730 while the overall death toll was 9,855, as per the state health department.

(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.)
com Inc. is overhauling a controversial worker-productivity yardstick that has drawn the ire of warehouse employees who say it imposes an unsafe burden on them.



The worlds largest online retailer uses sophisticated algorithms to monitor productivity at its facilities, and employees must explain why theyve been away from their workstations -- what calls time off task. If they reach a certain threshold theyll be issued warnings and even terminated.

Starting today, were now averaging Time off Task over a longer period, Dave Clark, the chief executive officer of Amazons global retail and logistics business, said Tuesday in a post on Amazons corporate blog. Clark also said the company would no longer consider a positive test for marijuana use as disqualifying when hiring new employees and will support proposed federal legislation that would legalize marijuana.



Read More: 8th noose found at Amazon construction site despite additional security

The companys decision to overhaul its productivity targets coincides with a series of news reports that the rate of injuries at warehouses is higher than its peers in the Some employees have identified the fast pace of work as a contributing factor in repetitive stress injuries. Workers have also previously told Bloomberg that sometimes they are considered off task when they are visiting the bathroom.

Regulators in Washington state found there was a direct connection between Amazons employee monitoring and discipline system and musculoskeletal disorders among workers at a company warehouse in DuPont, Washington. Amazon said it would appeal the citation, which included a $7,000 fine, the Seattle Times and Reveal reported. During Amazons Prime Day sales rush last year, workers at a company warehouse in New York said Time off Task protocols made it impossible for them to abide by pandemic safety guidelines.

Clark said that the Time Off Task program was designed to identify defects with workers tools and, secondarily, to identify underperforming employees. The goal is to re-focus the conversations on instances where there are likely true operational issues to resolve, he said. We believe this change will help ensure the Time off Task policy is used in the way it was intended.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will host a trilateral meeting with his counterparts from Pakistan and on Thursday to discuss the Afghan peace and reconciliation process, as Beijing stepped up its diplomacy with the two nations in the wake of the US troops withdrawal from the war-torn country.

Wang will chair the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan trilateral foreign ministers meeting, the fourth such talks, via video link in which his counterparts from Pakistan and Afghanistan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Mohammad Haneef Atmar, would take part, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday.

Last month, offered to host peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban militants to forge peace in view of the US troops withdrawal from by September.

The US Central Command has said an estimated 30 to 44 per cent of American troops have been withdrawn from until last month, inching closer to achieve President Joe Biden's ambitious target of 100 per cent removal of its military from the war-torn country by September 11 this year.

Since Bidens decision, the Department of Defence has retrograded the equivalent of approximately 300 C-17 loads of material out of Afghanistan and have turned nearly 13,000 pieces of equipment to the Defence Logistics Agency for disposition.
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The will support the zone "well into" its recovery from a pandemic-induced double dip recession, ECB chief said on Wednesday, just eight days before a crucial policy meeting.

"Strong policy support will continue to provide a bridge over the pandemic and well into the economic recovery," Lagarde said in a speech. "The ECB is committed to preserving favourable financing conditions throughout this period."

The ECB must decide on the pace of bond purchases at its June 10 policy meeting and hints from policymakers suggest there is little appetite to cut support, even if the bloc is now firmly on the rebound.

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Chris Reese)

(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.)
Japan's prime minister announced another USD 800 million to the UN-backed programme to deploy COVID-19 vaccines for poor countries, a four-fold increase of Japanese funding to the COVAX programme.

Yoshihide Suga spoke as co-sponsored a fundraising event for COVAX with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which helps run the programme.

The programme managers are seeking about USD 2 billion more to reach a target of USD 8.3 billion for its effort to fund free vaccines for low- and middle-income countries around the world.

Now is the time for us to act, said Suga through a translator, leading a parade of world and humanitarian leaders who announced pledges and commitments on Wednesday. He says the additional USD 800 million will bring Japan's contribution to $1 billion.

Leaders from Australia, Austria, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland were among those citing their efforts to build momentum for greater equity in access to vaccines that the World Health Organization -- another key COVAX partner -- says is badly lacking.

Among those facing vaccine shortfalls are many of the 92 low- and middle-income countries and territories in the Advanced Market Commitment part of the COVAX programme.

(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.)
Blagojevich, 64, was arrested in December 2008 on an array of corruption charges, including the proposed sale of President-elect Barack Obamas Senate seat and trying to shake down executives from a childrens hospital and the horse racing industry for campaign contributions in exchange for official acts in office. He was convicted in June 2011 and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
By Nandita Bose and Tom Polansek

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) -JBS SA employees were returning to U.S. meat plants on Wednesday, a day after the company's beef operations stopped following a ransomware attack.

A notorious Russia-linked hacking group is behind the cyberattack against JBS that disrupted meat production in North America and Australia, a source familiar with the matter said.

Brazil's JBS controls about 20% of the slaughtering capacity for U.S. cattle and hogs, so the plants starting to reopen should prevent a severe supply chain disruption although it was unclear when all plants would be operating as normal again.

Plants are expected to return to full capacity in the next couple days, said officials with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union, which represents over 25,000 JBS meatpacking workers.

JBS, the world's largest meatpacker, said on Tuesday night it made "significant progress in resolving the cyberattack." The "vast majority" of the company's beef, pork, poultry and prepared foods plants will be operational on Wednesday, according to a statement.

The cyberattack followed one last month by a group with ties to on Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel pipeline in the United States, which crippled fuel delivery for several days in the U.S. Southeast.

It is the third major attack this year tied to Russia, and press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday the JBS hack was expected be discussed at the mid-June summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"We're not taking any options off the table in terms of how we may respond, but of course there's an internal policy review process to consider that, we're in direct touch with the Russians, as well, to convey our concerns about these reports," Psaki added.

"President Biden certainly thinks that President Putin and the Russian government has a role to play in stopping and preventing these attacks."

The Russian cyber gang goes by the name REvil, the source said.

Cybersecurity investigators have previously said they believe some members of the REvil ransomware team are based in The prolific ransomware group, which is perhaps best known for attacking an Apple Inc supplier named Quanta Computer earlier this year, has previously posted in Russian on cybercrime forums, marketing stolen data.

In the Quanta Computer case, the hackers sent extortion threats and demanded a payment of $50 million for the company to regain access to its systems.

Over the past few years, ransomware has evolved into a pressing national security issue. A number of gangs, many of them Russian speakers, develop the software that encrypts files and then demand payment in cryptocurrency for keys that allow the owners to decipher and use them again.

SCRAMBLING FOR BEEF

With North American operations headquartered in Greeley, Colorado, JBS sells beef and pork under the Swift brand, with retailers like Costco Wholesale carrying its pork loins and tenderloins.

U.S. beef and pork prices are already rising as China increases imports, animal feed costs rise and slaughterhouses have confronted a labor shortage since COVID-19 outbreaks shut down many U.S. meat plants.

"It's probably going to be pretty tight for the next few days because even though they (JBS) are going to start opening they say today, who knows how they are going to run," said Altin Kalo, economist at Steiner Consulting Group. "There's a fair amount of people that are scrambling (for beef supplies)."

U.S. meatpackers on Wednesday slaughtered 12.5% fewer cattle than a week earlier and 8% less than a year earlier, though slaughtering was up about 12% from Tuesday, according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

JBS also owns most of chicken processor Pilgrim's Pride Co, which sells organic chicken under the Just Bare brand.

The company's operations in Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom were not affected by the attack, JBS said.

JBS canceled an early shift on Wednesday at its beef plant in Greeley, but a later shift was scheduled to resume normally, representatives of the UFCW Local 7 union said. Plant security also said the second shift was working.

A JBS beef plant in Grand Island, Nebraska, told its workers on Facebook it would resume normal schedules in all departments.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cattle futures rose on Wednesday after tumbling on Tuesday as the JBS plant shutdowns prevented farmers from delivering their cattle to slaughter plants.

The attack drew attention to the concentrated beef sector in the United States, where four companies including JBS slaughter over 80% of fed cattle and shutdowns of slaughtering plants have a severe impact on prices ranchers are paid for their cattle.

"The Justice Department needs to take a serious look into the meatpacking industry, and if they cannot, Congress needs to pass reforms that protect a fair and open cattle market," U.S. Senators led by Republican Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Democrat Tina Smith of Minnesota wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek and Julie Ingwersen in Chicago and Nandita Bose in Washingon; editing by Steve Orlofsky and Nick Zieminski)

(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 largest warship in the Iranian caught fire and later sank Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, semiofficial news agencies reported.

The Fars and Tasnim news agencies said efforts failed to save the support warship Kharg, named after the island that serves as the main oil terminal for

The blaze began around 2:25 a.m. and firefighters tried to contain it, Fars said. The vessel sank near the Iranian port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran on the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

Photos circulated on Iranian social media of sailors wearing life jackets evacuating the vessel as a fire burned behind them. State TV and semiofficial news agencies referred to the Kharg as a training ship. Fars published video of thick, black smoke rising from the ship early Wednesday morning.

Satellite photos from Planet Labs Inc. analyzed by The Associated Press showed the Kharg off to the west of Jask on Tuesday. Satellites from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that track fires from space detected a blaze at the site of the Jask that started just before the time of the fire reported by Fars.

The Kharg serves as one of a few vessels in the Iranian capable of providing replenishment at sea for its other ships. It also can lift heavy cargo and serve as a launch point for helicopters. The warship, built in Britain and launched in 1977, entered the Iranian in 1984 after lengthy negotiations that followed Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran's navy typically handles patrols in the Gulf of Oman and the wider seas, while the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard operates in the shallower waters of the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. In recent months, however, the navy launched a slightly larger commercial tanker called the Makran it converted into serving a similar function as the Kharg.

Iranian officials offered no cause for the fire aboard the Kharg. However, it comes after a series of mysterious explosions that began in 2019 targeting ships in the Gulf of Oman. The U.S. Navy later accused of targeting the ships with limpet mines, timed explosives typically attached by divers to a vessel's hull.

denied targeting the vessels, though U.S. Navy footage showed members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard removing one unexploded limpet mine from a vessel.

The incidents came amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.

The sinking of the Kharg marks the latest naval disaster for Iran. In 2020 during an Iranian training exercise, a missile mistakenly struck a naval vessel near the port of Jask, killing19 sailors and wounding 15. Also in 2018, an Iranian navy destroyer sank in the Caspian Sea.

(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.)
Malaysia's government will issue a diplomatic protest against an intrusion" by 16 Chinese military aircraft into its airspace, the foreign minister said.

Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said late Tuesday that he will summon the Chinese ambassador to explain this breach of the Malaysian airspace and sovereignty."



Malaysia's air force said its radar picked up the Chinese aircraft Monday near Malaysian-administered Luconia Shoals, a rich fishing ground in the disputed South Sea. The Chinese planes then moved nearly 60 nautical miles (110 kilometers) off the coast of Sarawak on Borneo island.

After attempts to contact the aircraft failed, the air force sent its fighter planes to identify them. It said they were Ilyushin Il-76 and Xian Y-20 strategic transporters, flying at between 23,000-27,000 feet (7,000-8,000 meters) altitude typically used by commercial flights. called the incident a serious threat to national sovereignty and flight safety."



Malaysia's stand is clear having friendly diplomatic relations with any countries does not mean that we will compromise our national security," Hishammuddin said in a statement. He said he will relay Malaysia's serious concern on the matter to his Chinese counterpart.

There was no reaction from Beijing.

claims almost the entire South Sea on historic grounds. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have overlapping claims, and tensions have ramped up since China built several man-made islands and turned them into military outposts.

The strategically important area straddles some of the world's busiest sea lanes and is also rich in fisheries and may hold underground oil and natural gas reserves.

says Chinese coast guard and navy ships intruded into its waters in the South China Sea 89 times between 2016 and 2019. has filed six diplomatic protests to China, including one in 2017 in response to a Chinese note asserting its claim to the South Luconia Shoals.

(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.)
Oil rose on Wednesday, supported by an OPEC+ decision to stick to its plan to restore supply to the market gradually and by the slow pace of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States.

Brent rose 84 cents, or 1.2%, to $71.09 a barrel at 1011 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 69 cents, or 1%, at $68.41.

"The strong demand dynamics and likely delays in the Iran nuclear deal negotiations pushed above the much-watched $70 per barrel level," said Norbert Rucker, analyst at Swiss bank Julius Baer.

"We expect to move well beyond $70 per barrel towards mid-year."

Expecting a recovery in demand, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, together known as OPEC+, agreed on Tuesday to keep to their plan for a gradual easing of supply curbs through July.

The OPEC+ meeting took only 20 minutes, the shortest in the group's history, indicating the unity among its members and their confidence in the market's recovery, analysts said.

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said there has been solid demand recovery in the United States and China and he believes that the pace of COVID-19 vaccine rollouts can only lead to further rebalancing of the global oil market.

"The market is optimistic that growing summer travel and reopening economies will easily accommodate additional OPEC+ production increases and even a possible Iranian return to the market," said Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM.

Analysts also say that the slow progress of Iran nuclear talks provides breathing room for demand to catch up before Iranian oil returns to the market.

Diplomats said the meeting will wrap up the latest round of talks and adjourn discussions for at least a week.

"The delay is pushing the threat of another 2 million barrels per day of oil (returning to the market) to later in the year, when further economic growth should buffer its impact," ANZ Research analysts said in a note.

Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo also played down any potential disruption to the market, saying the group expected any return of Iranian exports to "occur in an orderly and transparent fashion" if and when a nuclear deal is reached.

Investors will also be on the lookout for weekly inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute, due later on Wednesday, and from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Thursday.

(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in LondonAdditional reporting by Shu Zhang in Singapore and Sonali Paul in MelbourneEditing by David Goodman)

(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 People's Party (PPP) Sindh chapter on Monday announced holding protests against Imran Khan's government at the district-level in the Sindh province from June 3 to June 15 against acute water shortage.

It also said that the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) in this regard had done injustice by curtailment of gas to the residents of the province, reported The News

The decision to this effect was made by the executive committee of the PPP Sindh chapter. PPP Sindh President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro chaired the meeting.

Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Khuhro said they would not be silent anymore about the excesses being committed by the federal government and IRSA against the province.

It was announced that protest demonstrations would be held in the Larkana division on June 3, five districts of the Hyderabad division on June 5, Mirpurkhas division on June 7, Sukkur division on June 9, Shaheed Benazirabad division on June 11, the remaining five districts of the Hyderabad division on June 13, and Karachi division on June 15, reported The News

The PPP Sindh president said the executive committee had expressed serious reservations on the water shortage, price-hike, unemployment and curtailment of power and gas supply to the province, reported The News

He added that the agriculture sector of the province had to suffer losses to the tune of billions of rupees due to the worsening crisis of irrigation water. He maintained that the province had been facing the shortage of irrigation water up to 40 per cent.

The Chashma-Jehlum (CJ) and Taunsa-Punjnad (TP) link canals in the upcountry had been unduly opened despite water shortage in the system, he said.

Khuhro alleged that IRSA had been acting in an unjust manner as if it had become a 'B' team of the ruling Tehreek-e-Insaf in the federal government, reported The News International.

He said Sindh was being denied its due water share in violation of the constitution. Pumping machines had been illegally installed in the river system upcountry to steal water of the province, 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.)
SEATTLE/PARIS (Reuters) - Co CEO Dave Calhoun faces a multibillion-dollar dilemma over how to rebuild sales in its core airliner business that has sparked an internal debate and put the future of the largest U.S. exporter on the line, industry insiders say.

is reeling from a safety scandal following crashes of its 737 MAX airliner and an air travel collapse caused by the pandemic. Those crises have overshadowed a deeper, longer term risk to the company's commercial passenger jet business.

Boeing's share of the single-aisle jetliner market - where it competes in a global duopoly with Airbus - has faded from some 50% a decade ago to roughly 35% after the 737 MAX's lengthy grounding, according to Agency Partners and other analysts.

Airbus' single-aisle A321neo has snapped up billions of dollars of orders in a recently booming segment of the market, as the largest MAX variants struggled to block it.

Without a perfectly timed new addition to its portfolio, analysts warn America risks ceding to Europe a huge portion of that market - valued by planemakers at some $3.5 trillion over 20 years.

But is not yet ready to settle on a plan to develop a new plane to counter the A321neo, and two leading options - press ahead now or wait until later - come with financial and strategic risks, several people briefed on the discussions said.

"I'm confident that over a longer period of time, we'll get back to where we need to get to and I'm confident in the product line," Calhoun said in April as Boeing won new MAX orders.

Asked about the company's discussions and options over a potential new airplane, a Boeing spokesman said it had no immediate comment beyond Calhoun's remarks to investors.

OPTIONS

A weakened Boeing has little margin for error, especially as it tackles industrial problems hobbling other airliners.

Boeing's first option is to strike relatively quickly, bringing to market by around 2029 a 5,000-mile single-aisle jet with some 10% more fuel efficiency. That could potentially be launched for orders in 2023.

"There is no better way to fix their image than invest in the future now, pure and simple," said Teal Group analyst Richard Aboulafia.

A new single-aisle jet would replace the out-of-production 757 and fill a void between the MAX and larger 787, confirming a twist to earlier mid-market plans as reported by Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/aircraft-projects-idUSL5N2CF5PN in April last year. The idea took a backseat early in the pandemic, before regaining attention.

It would also be an anchor for an eventual clean-sheet replacement of the 737 family.

An alternative option is to wait for the next leap in engine technology, not expected until the early 2030s. That could involve open-rotor engines with visible blades using a mixture of traditional turbines and electric propulsion.

Wary of letting short-term product decisions drive strategy, Boeing is also prioritizing a deeper dive into investments or business changes needed to regain the No.1 spot, analysts say.

TIMING DILEMMA

Both approaches carry risks. If it moves too quickly, Boeing may face a relatively straightforward counter-move.

Airbus' preference is do nothing and preserve a favorable status quo, European sources say. But it has for years https://reut.rs/3vET9jk harbored studies codenamed "A321neo-plus-plus" or "A321 Ultimate" with more seats and composite wings to repel any commercial attack.

Such an upgrade might cost Airbus some $2-3 billion, but far less than the $15 billion Boeing would spend on a new plane.

For Boeing, a premature tit-for-tat move runs the risk of merely replicating the strategic spot it finds itself in now.

If it moves too slowly, however, investors may have to bear a decade of perilously low market share in the single-aisle category, the industry's profit powerhouse.

Those urging restraint, including soon-departing finance chief Greg Smith, have a simple argument, insiders say.

Boeing has amassed a mountain of debt and burned $20 billion in cash lurching from crisis to crisis.

"It's a different world," one insider said. "How could you possibly be thinking about a new airplane?"

However, some engineers at Boeing's Seattle commercial home are crying out for a bold move to reassert its engineering dominance following the worst period in its 105-year history.

"That should be a priority for Boeing right now," said Tom McCarty, a veteran former Boeing avionics engineer. "To get back in clear leadership of advancing technology."

ENGINE TALKS

As it weighs up when to act, Boeing has sought initial technical data from engine makers Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney and the General Electric-Safran tie-up CFM International, industry sources say.

A firm competition is not expected for a year or more, they add, a delay that illustrates Boeing's bind. Rolls, which has most to gain as it tries to re-enter the lucrative single-aisle market, said last month it would be ready for any new product.

Watching Boeing's decision from the sidelines is China, where state manufacturer COMAC is working on a C919 narrowbody in a potential challenge to the cash-cow 737 and A320 families.

Sitting on $7 billion in net cash and a second-mover's advantage, analysts say Airbus appears most comfortable, though it also faces its share of industrial headaches.

A wild card in the deliberations is growing environmental pressure, mirrored in the priorities of each planemaker.

Airbus has pledged to introduce the first hydrogen-powered small commercial plane in 2035.

The "zero-emission" agenda reflects its CEO's conviction that disruptive technology will play a role in next-generation jets. But industry sources say it is no coincidence that such rhetoric also steers Boeing away from launching an interim jet.

Boeing has emphasized quicker gains from sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Any new 757-style jet would feature the ability to run 100% on SAF, people familiar with the plan said.

While backing the drop-in fuel for technical reasons, Boeing has left itself enough room to argue that a relatively early new plane would still fit the industry's environmental objectives.

Airbus has meanwhile kept up pressure with proposals last week to almost double single-aisle output within four years.

While some suppliers questioned how quickly the plan was achievable https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/airbus-sets-higher-jet-output-targets-recovery-looms-2021-05-27, one industry executive noted it sent a "message that Airbus exits the crisis as No.1 and intends to stay there".

One risk is that anything that looks like a grab for market share could trigger the very Boeing jet Airbus hopes to avoid.

Asked whether he thought Airbus's expansion plans might provoke Boeing into launching a new plane, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury played down the prospect of a new industry arms race.

"If they trust the MAX with the pent-up demand they see for single-aisle then I don't see why they would be in a hurry to replace the MAX. If they are in a different situation they might come to other conclusions," Faury told Reuters.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle, Tim Hepher in Paris; Additional reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bangalore; Editing by Mark Potter)
By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear Johnson & Johnson's bid to overturn a $2.12 billion damages award to women who blamed their ovarian on asbestos in the company's baby powder and other talc products.

The justices turned away a J&J appeal and left in place a Missouri state court ruling in litigation brought by 22 women whose claims were heard together in one trial.

The Missouri Court of Appeals, an intermediate state appellate court, last year ruled against J&J's bid to throw out the compensatory and punitive damages awarded to the plaintiffs but reduced the total to $2.12 billion from the $4.69 billion originally decided by a jury.

J&J, which will make a payment of $2.5 billion this month including accrued interest, said in a statement that there are unresolved legal issues that will continue to be litigated. It previously has said it faces more than 19,000 similar claims.

"The matters that were before the court are related to legal procedure, and not safety. Decades of independent scientific evaluations confirm Johnson's Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer," the company said.

J&J shares were down about 1.2% at $167.23.

J&J has argued that a decision by a Missouri circuit court judge to consolidate disparate baby powder-related claims from the plaintiffs - including 17 women from outside the state - for a trial before a single jury violated the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company's due process rights under the U.S. Constitution. J&J also has argued that the size of the jury's damages award violated its due process rights.

The Missouri Supreme Court, the state's highest court, in November declined to hear J&J's appeal of the Missouri Court of Appeals ruling, prompting the company to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"This was a victory not just for the amazing women and their families who we were privileged to represent, but a victory for justice," said Mark Lanier, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

DISPUTE OVER JURISDICTION

The plaintiffs, nine of whom have died and are now represented by their estates, have argued that Missouri courts have jurisdiction over out-of-state claims like those brought in this litigation. One of the products that the out-of-state plaintiffs said they had used was manufactured in Missouri.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs also have argued that the large punitive damages awarded by the jury in this case were justified by J&J's conduct. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said in court papers it is common practice for courts to consolidate cases at trial when the facts in each claim are essentially the same.

The Missouri Court of Appeals concluded that it was reasonable to infer from the evidence that J&J "disregarded the safety of consumers" in its drive for profit despite knowing its talc products caused ovarian It also found "significant reprehensibility" in J&J's conduct.

In addition to reducing the damages, the Missouri Court of Appeals dismissed two of the 17 out-of-state plaintiffs.

In court papers, J&J said the case followed a "winning formula" devised by plaintiffs' lawyers of bringing claims in jurisdictions where they can get dozens of out-of-state plaintiffs to testify in a single trial, prejudicing the jury and resulting in "outsized" damages awards.

In the Missouri trial, the company said, the jury awarded each plaintiff an identical punitive damages award of $25 million, regardless of the facts specific to each plaintiff or whether they were alive or dead. The company also said the jury awarded punitive damages much larger than the "already staggering" compensatory damages, which J&J has called a further violation of its due process rights.

Justice Samuel Alito did not participate in the Supreme Court's decision not to hear the appeal, likely because he owns J&J stock. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose father - now retired - was a longtime lobbyist for the toiletries industry, also did not take part. The justices do not explain why they step aside in certain cases.

A 2018 Reuters investigation https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/johnsonandjohnson- found that J&J knew for decades that asbestos, a carcinogen, was present in its talc products. Internal company records, trial testimony and other evidence showed that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, J&J's raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos.

The company said in May 2020 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-johnson-johnson-babypowder/johnson-johnson-to-stop-selling-talc-baby-powder-in-u-s-and-canada-idUSKBN22V32U it would stop selling its baby powder talc in the United States and Canada, citing changes in consumer habits and what it called "misinformation" about the product's safety amid numerous legal challenges.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Additional reporting by Manojna Maddipatla and Mrinalika Roy; Editing by Will Dunham and Anil D'Silva)

(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 US special envoy to has expressed Washington's concern over the "devastating humanitarian consequences" of the Houthi militia's offensive in Marib.

US envoy Tim Lenderking was speaking during a meeting with Marib Governor Sultan Al-Arada, that was also attended by Cathy Westley, in charge of affaires for the US Embassy to Yemen, the State Department said, reported Arab News.

Lenderking also called for an increase in "humanitarian aid and other support for the people of Marib."

"US envoy to listened to their concerns about the economic situation, security, the need for diverse voices, and the importance of a transparent peace process. We continue to work with the community to address these concerns as we strive for a ceasefire and political talks," Press Office for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, US tweeted.

The Iran-backed Houthi militia mounted an offensive in February to capture oil and gas-rich Marib from forces loyal to the internationally recognized government.

The campaign has faced condemnation due to Marib also being a safe haven for thousands who have fled the fighting in other parts of the country since the war started in 2014.

Lenderking also held talks with UN envoy to Martin Griffiths in the Jordanian capital, Amman, to discuss his trip to the Houthi-held capital Sanaa.

"Both expressed an unwavering commitment to the principle that a comprehensive, nationwide cease-fire is needed immediately to bring much-needed humanitarian relief to the people of Yemen," the State Department said, as per Arab News.

Lenderking and Griffiths also met with women activists "to discuss the importance of an inclusive peace process" and underlined Washington's commitment to supporting women's inclusion in Yemen's peace process.

"When women play an active role in peace building, resolutions are more durable," the statement said.

"US envoy to Yemen met with women activists to discuss the importance of an inclusive peace process with office of the special envoy Yemen and underlined the US commitment to supporting women's inclusion in Yemen's peace process. When women play an active role in peace building, resolutions are more durable," the US department tweeted.

(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 US ambassador to the headed to late Tuesday seeking to ensure that humanitarian aid can be delivered to across borders, a programme has severely limited in recent years while insisting the Syrian government should control all assistance to millions in need.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield's visit comes ahead of the July 10 expiration of the UN Security Council mandate for humanitarian aid deliveries, now reduced from four initial crossing points to a single border crossing from to Syria's rebel-held northwest at the insistence of Russia, Syria's closest ally.

The trip also comes ahead of US President Joe Biden's first meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels on June 14.

Ties between Ankara and Washington, which once considered each other as strategic partners, steadily deteriorated in recent years over differences on Syria, Turkey's cooperation with and Turkish naval interventions in the eastern Mediterranean, which US officials have described as destabilizing.

Erdogan toned down his anti-Western and anti-US rhetoric in an apparent effort to reset the rocky relationship with his NATO allies, but the Turkish leader was met with silence from Biden until they spoke April 23 and agreed to this month's meeting.

By comparison, he spoke to President Donald Trump just days after the 2016 election.

The US Mission to the said in an announcement Tuesday that Thomas-Greenfield would meet with senior Turkish officials during the Wednesday-Friday visit to discuss opportunities to strengthen the US- relationship, work with our NATO ally to address global challenges (and) improve cooperation on

A senior official at the mission called this a moment of intense engagement with senior Turkish officials, pointing to Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman's visit last week ahead of the Biden-Erdogan meeting.

But the official, who was not authorised to speak publicly, would not say whether Thomas-Greenfield would meet with the Turkish president.

Turkey is a critical NATO ally, and we have a strategic relationship that spans an enormous breadth of issues and concerns, including global and regional security issues, obviously, economic issues related to democracy and human rights, the official said, saying the US expects all these issues to be discussed in Thomas-Greenfield's meetings.

The mission said the talks on would include managing the refugee crisis -- Turkey hosts almost 4 million Syrian refugees -- and recognising Turkey's crucial role in the facilitation of cross-border assistance.

Thomas-Greenfield plans to travel to the Turkey-Syrian border to meet with a group of refugees, and she will also meet with humanitarian organisations and agencies working to assist millions in Syria, the mission said.

The UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, told the Security Council last week it is a tragic irony that ordinary Syrians are facing immense and growing humanitarian suffering at this time of relative calm in the more than 10-year conflict.

He also lamented the stalled political process, including the failure to start drafting a new Syrian constitution.

Last July, scored a victory for Syria by forcing the Security Council to limit humanitarian aid deliveries to just one crossing point, from Turkey to northwest Idlib at Bab al-Hawa.

The US and many other countries had argued for restoring the Al-Yaroubiya crossing point from Iraq in the northeast that was closed in January 2020. It had been a primary delivery point for health and medical supplies, especially needed during the COVID-19 pandemic. But Russia argued that aid should be delivered from within Syria across conflict lines, and threatened to veto more than one crossing point.

The US Mission said Thomas-Greenfield will emphasise the urgent need for additional crossings and stepped-up assistance, as there is no viable alternative to alleviate the vast needs of vulnerable populations in northern Syria needs that have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Estonia's UN ambassador, Sven Jurgenson, who took over the council presidency Tuesday, indicated at a news conference that Russia is already being difficult.

The talks are starting already, he said. At one of the last meetings, we've heard that one of the members is planning to make things difficult again, like they've usually done."



Jurgenson said past negotiations show that at the very end they give in, but they want to cut off something.

UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told the Security Council last week that delivering aid across conflict lines cannot replace cross-border deliveries and called the cross-border operation at Bab al-Hawa a lifeline.

If it isn't reauthorised, he warned, food deliveries for 1.4 million people every month, millions of medical treatments, nutrition for tens of thousands of children and mothers and education supplies for tens of thousands of students will stop.

(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 US Central Command has said that an estimated 30 to 44 per cent of American troops have been withdrawn from until last month, inching closer to achieve President Joe Biden's ambitious target of 100 per cent removal of its military from the war-torn country by September 11 this year.

The US has also officially handed over six facilities to Afghanistan's Ministry of Defence, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in an update on the withdrawal of American forces from till May 31.

US Central Command estimates that we have completed between 30-44 per cent of the entire retrograde process, it said on Tuesday.

President Biden in April announced that all American troops would be withdrawn from by September 11 this year, thus bringing to end the country's longest war, spanning across two decades.

Since the President's decision, the Department of Defence has retrograded the equivalent of approximately 300 C-17 loads of material out of Afghanistan and have turned nearly 13,000 pieces of equipment to the Defence Logistics Agency for disposition, CENTCOM said.

The US and the 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- pact, the US has agreed to withdraw all its soldiers from Afghanistan in 14 months.

There are currently 2,500 American troops left in Afghanistan, the lowest level of American forces in the war-torn country since 2001.

Since the US-led invasion that ousted the 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.)
Ms. Kenworthy, youre not acknowledging me as the credit I am in this situation, youre denying me my right to full faith and credit, he said. I do not consent, I am not contracting with you all in this matter.
As Washington speed-up to complete the withdrawal of its troops ahead of September 11, the US military will be handing over its main Bagram Air Base to Afghan forces in about 20 days, an official said on Tuesday.

"I can confirm we will hand over Bagram Air Base," a US defense official told France-based news agency without specifying when the transfer would take place, reported Times.

An Afghan security official said the handover was expected in about 20 days and the defense ministry had set up special committees to manage it.

The base, the centre for nationwide command and air operations for the past two decades, also houses a prison that held thousands of and terrorists over the years, reported Times.

The vast base, built by the Soviets in the 1980s, is the biggest military facility used by US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, with tens of thousands of troops stationed there during the peak of America's military involvement in the violence-wracked country.

Meanwhile, Washington has already handed over several military bases to Afghan forces before May 1, when it began accelerating the final withdrawal of troops, reported Times.

Last month it completed the withdrawal from Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan, once the second-largest foreign military base in the country.

The US withdrawal comes despite bloody clashes across the country between the and Afghan forces.

Peace talks were launched in September in Qatar, but so far have failed to strike any deal to end a war that has killed tens of thousands of people over nearly two decades.

(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.)
Gold price on Wednesday rose to Rs 46,900 for 10 gm from Rs 46,700 and silver was at Rs 72,600 per kg, according to Good Returns website.

Gold jewellery price varies across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to excise duty, state taxes, and making changes.

In New Delhi, the price of 22-carat gold is at Rs 46,980 per 10 gm, while in Chennai it increased to Rs 46,390. The rate in Mumbai was Rs 46,900 according to the website. The price of 24-carat gold in Chennai was Rs 50,600 per 10 gm.

Gold in the national capital on Wednesday was up by Rs 110 to Rs 46,980 per 10 gram due to rupee depreciation.

In the previous trade, the precious metal had closed at Rs 46,700 per 10 gram. Silver also was up by Rs 600 to Rs 72,600 per kilogram from Rs 72,000 per kilogram in the previous trade. On Tuesday, the Indian rupee ended 28 paise lower at 72.90 per dollar, amid volatile trade seen in the Indian equity market.

In the global market, gold slipped below a near five-month price peak hit earlier in Tuesdays session, as robust US manufacturing data and higher Treasury yields dented its appeal.

Benchmark US Treasury yields rose to a more than one-week high, increasing the opportunity cost of holding gold.

Spot gold was 0.3% lower at $1,902.05 per ounce at 1:41 p.m. EDT (1741 GMT), after touching its highest since January 8 at $1,916.40. U.S. gold futures settled little changed at $1,905.

Among other precious metals, silver was down 0.3% at $27.97 per ounce.
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 22 points lower at 15,609 around 8.25 am, indicating a negative start for the benchmark indices on Wednesday.

Here are the top stocks to track in today's session:

Earnings Today: Motherson Sumi, Muthoot Finance, PVR, MTAR Technologies and Lyka Labs are among 23 companies slated to post their quarterly numbers today.

ITC: The cigarette-to-hotels conglomerate reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 3,755 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 (Q4FY21), down 3 per cent YoY. The FMCG major's consolidated revenue from operations rose to Rs 15,404 crore during the quarter from Rs 12,560 crore in the year-ago period, an increase of 22.6 about per cent.

Infosys: Sebi has barred eight entities, including two employees of Infosys, from the securities market for indulging in insider trading activities in the shares of the IT major. In a statement, said it will initiate an internal investigation into the insider trading matter.

Hero MotoCorp: The country's top two-wheeler maker on Tuesday said it has sold 1,83,044 units last month, down by 51 per cent from 3,72,285 units dispatched in April this year.

Eicher Motors: Mid-sized motorcycle maker Royal Enfield, part of Eicher Motors, on Tuesday said it has sold a total of 27,294 units in May, down 49 per cent from 53,298 units in April this year.

Balrampur Chini Mills: The company reported a 2.46 per cent YoY decline in consolidated profit during the quarter ending March 31, at Rs 235.50 crore compared to the same period of the last financial year.

Ashok Leyland: Hinduja Group flagship firm Ashok Leyland on Tuesday reported a decline of 62 per cent in total vehicle sales at 3,199 units in May. The company had sold 8,340 units in April this year.

Reliance Industries: The company said it will hold annual shareholders meeting on June 24 via video conference. It has set June 14 as record date for dividend.

Fineotex Chemical: The company board approved raising up to Rs 200 crore by way of issuance of securities, through private placement, preferential issue, qualified institutions placement, follow-on public offering or a combination thereof.

NMDC: Total production in May up 21.83 per cent at 2.79 MT from 2.29 MT a year ago. Total sales up 29.41 per cent at 3.30 MT from 2.55 MT YoY.

Gujarat Gas: The company reported 40 per cent YoY increase in its consolidated profit at Rs 350.86 crore in Q4FY21. Revenue jumped to Rs 3,489.31 crore from Rs 2,722.17 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

Route Mobile: The company announced an agreement with Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC)  du, UAE's second integrated telecom service provider, by offering a turnkey solution using Route Mobile's Smart Messaging Hub. This enables du to launch a highly scalable revenue-generating messaging platform to enable A2P wholesale transit business.
Infosys announced that on 01 June 2021, the company was informed of an interim ex-parte SEBI Order where two of its employees, amongst other third parties have been named, in an ongoing insider trading investigation.

Infosys has a well-defined Code of Conduct covering all its employees and an Insider Trading Policy that governs dealing with unpublished price sensitive information.

The Company will extend full cooperation as required to SEBI on the matter. Additionally, as a result of the Order, an internal investigation is being initiated and appropriate action will be taken on conclusion of such investigation.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sterling & Wilson Solar announced that Bikesh Ogra has expressed his desire to assign day to day business operations to next level of leadership teams. Amit Jain will take over the global operations of the Solar business from Bikesh Ogra with immediate effect.

Amit Jain has been working in the capacity of Country Head - US & Australia so far.

Now he has been assigned with higher responsibilities and will take the position of Global CEO - Solar Business and will report to the Board of Directors of the Company. He will continue to operate from the Dubai office and will be on the rolls of Sterling and Wilson International Solar FZCO (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company).

Bikesh Ogra will continue as a Director on the Board of the Company and shall focus more on business strategy and organizational development, which shall include mentoring and guiding the senior executives to ensure sustainability and overall growth of the Company. The Company takes this opportunity to express its sincere appreciation to Bikesh Ogra for bringing the Solar business to the Global level apart from achieving several prestigious national and International awards.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
PDP president on Wednesday lambasted the BJP-led government at the Centre for abandoning people at the crucial juncture and alleged that administrative apathy coupled with mismanagement and nepotism was proving fatal than the coronavirus pandemic.

She also alleged that efficiency, experience and competency are no more yardsticks for posting of officers at key places in Jammu and resulting in complete administrative chaos.

Jammu, in particular, has a mixed population and it has always ensured balanced administration but in the last two years nepotism has resulted in an imbalance in administration, the former Jammu and chief minister said.

Addressing PDP's Provincial Committee Jammu in a virtual meet attended by senior party leaders from across the region, Mehbooba claimed that the Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste population has been victimised in the name of anti-encroachment drives and people have been pushed to the wall to appease some political heavyweights.

All the sections of society including traders, industrialists, transports, farmers, labourers besides others were today at the crossroad due to the official apathy and administrative inertia, she said.

The PDP leader said Jammu in particular was given the impression that Article 370 was the only hurdle in the development and prosperity of the region.

Today even medicine was not available to the people battling the pandemic, she said.

Referring to the COVID-19 situation, Mehbooba said from the rising graph of positive cases and fatalities caused by it, it is clear that the administration in Jammu and Kashmir, like the rest of the country, was caught unprepared to meet the exigencies.

Nepotism and favouritism has crippled entire administrative setup in the erstwhile state compounding miseries of general masses, she said, adding the administration at the district level has been crippled as the ruling dispensation in Delhi is not allowing even the officers to take decisions required for the welfare of people.

The independence and functioning of administration has been made hostage to the political aspiration of BJP and Jammu has been at the receiving end, the PDP chief said.

She said the Mughal Road and Kishtwar-Sinthan highways, alternate routes connecting the Jammu region with Kashmir, remained closed for vehicular traffic despite huge amount spend on snow clearance only because those sitting in Delhi consider surface connectivity of Pirpanchal and Chenab Valley with region as detrimental to their political interests



The closure of these important road links has not only affected the business community but has also restricted options for those who are required to go for specialised medical treatment, she said.

Mehbooba urged the party leaders to formulate emergency response strategy at district level and reach out to the people at the grassroots level.

We must acknowledge non-government and social organisations across Jammu and Kashmir, that played key roles during the current crises. I hope our party leaders will also assist these organisations in reaching out to the people, she said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bharatiya Janata Party's Central leadership has thrown its weight behind Yogi Adityanath, putting a stop to murmurs against the state government months ahead of the Assembly polls.

Knowing that a divided house in can cost the BJP dearly, the party's Central leadership has assured leaders that they will be heard. However, they have also been told that any disagreement can't be at the cost of the party's image amongst the people.

The move to strongly back the Yogi government comes as the party feels that retaining in 2022 would be a crucial landmark for the unit.

The move comes even as General Secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh has been camping in Lucknow deliberating on various issues with party leaders.

Many of these leaders had flagged issues like COVID-19 handling, disenchantment among people and lack of coordination between government and party leaders, among others.

While collating feedback from ministers and party leaders, Santhosh gave leaders a platform to vent their anger. He also sent a message to party leaders that the achievements of the Yogi government should be the focus right now.

Santhosh, throwing his weight behind the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government, reflected in one of his tweets where he praised the state government for reducing the daily COVID-19 count.

"In five weeks, @myogiadityanath's reduced the new daily case count by 93% ... Remember it's a state with 20+ Cr population. When municipality CMs could not manage a city of 1.5 Cr population , Yogiji managed quite effectively," Santhosh tweeted.

In yet another tweet, Santhosh again praised Yogi for his vision.

"UP Govt led by CM Sri @myogiadityanath decides to vaccinate parents of children below 12 years. A wise move considering the logic that if at all third wave comes it may affect children more. Parents will be around to look after more safely," tweeted Santhosh.

The Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections are scheduled to take place in 2022. BJP had stormed back to power in the state in the 2017 Assembly polls. In the 403 member Uttar Pradesh Assembly, among the major parties, BJP has 309 legislators, SP 49, BSP 18, and Congress 7.

(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.)
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief is scheduled to visit the capital tomorrow and is likely to attend a string of informal meetings lined up with top functionaries of the organisation.

"This is a routine visit of Sarsanghchalak ji to Delhi. He will hold several meetings. All sah sarkaryawahs and sarkaryawah Dattatreya Hosable ji will also be present," informed Sunil Ambekar, Akhil Bharatiya prachar pramukh.

Sources told ANI that Hosable, who has closely followed the churnings in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, is likely to discuss issues relating to the state with the chief.

Besides Sangh general secretary Dattatreya Hosable, Bhagwat is likely to hold meetings with sah sarkaryawahs like Krishan Gopal, Manmohan Vaidya, HR Mukunda, Ram Dutt and Arun Kumar in Delhi.

The top leadership of is present in Delhi. Many believe that a detailed analysis of is likely to take place. Bhagwat is expected to stay in the capital for a few days.

The Chief is also likely to be briefed on the handling of COVID by many state governments, especially in poll-bound states, along with relief work done by the Sangh and its affiliates, sources said.

is due to go to polls in early 2022 and Bhagwat's Delhi visit carries much significance in this light.

(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.)
Actress Juhi Chawla, who has filed a lawsuit in Delhi High Court on the health risks associated with 5G telecom technology, has urged netizens to do a bit of research on the ill effects of radiation.

Juhi took to instagram early on Wednesday to talk about how radiation will increase exponentially with 5G and urged people who are interested, to join her in the first virtual hearing being conducted at the Delhi High Court, on June 2.

Speaking in an Instagram video in Hindi and English early on Wednesday, Juhi said: "People are asking me why I woke up suddenly and filed a suit. I want to tell them that I didn't wake up today. I have been speaking about radiation, safe cell phone use, cell phone tower radiation since the last 10 years and tried to spread awareness on the same as much as possible."

"Our phones work on radio waves, which are increasing in our environment. From 1G to 2G to 3G to Now to 5G is a very big leap. Radiation will increase exponentially. See, you know it, everything in moderation is fine but when it is more than required then you get to know the ill effects of it," she added.

Citing an example, the actress further said: "I will give you a simple example. A pharmaceutical drug when introduced in the market, research is done for at least 10 to 15 years to check its side effects and then it finally gets the approval to be released in the market. But this radiation is being spread over the last 20 to 25 years, has anyone studied about this?"

Urging netizens to read and research about radiation, she added: "All of us use technology, so I request you to research about this and see what you get to know about it. I hope that you are convinced and join me. The case has just begun and our first hearing is on 2nd June. I will share the link if you want to join me."

The actress also shared a note for memers who have created memes on her and her case. Addressing them in her video, Juhi said: "I want to thank those who have made memes on me. Because of these memes a lot of people got to know about this. So, keep it coming, let's enjoy the ride."

Alongside her video, Juhi wrote on Instagram: "Hum, tum aur 5G. If you do think this concerns you in any way, please feel free to join our first virtual hearing being conducted at the Delhi High Court, on the 2nd of June, 3:00 PM IST onwards! Link in bio. #5g."

--IANS

abh/vnc

(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.)
Leslie Delles was 21 years old when he was killed Dec. 7, 1941, when the USS Oklahoma, moored at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, suffered torpedo hits from a Japanese aircraft. The attack killed 429 crewmen, including Delles. While They Were Young  A History of St. Charles and Her Service Personnel 1940-1945, by Kevin Gaffney, says that while he was assigned to the Oklahoma, Lester Delles was not aboard the ship at the time of the attack and continued his Navy service.
Global monitor panel shipments declined in the first quarter of the year, a report showed on Wednesday, mainly due to Displays exit from the monitor LCD display manufacturing business and a shortage of semiconductors.

The worldwide monitor panel shipments fell 8.6 percent on-quarter to 39.9 million units in the January-March period, according to the latest report from market researcher TrendForce.

"TrendForce indicates that SDC will exit the monitor LCD panel manufacturing business after it reaches its shipment target of 1.2 million panels in 1H21," it said. "This figure represents a staggering 93.8 percent decline compared to the 19.3 million units of LCD panels that SDC shipped throughout last year."

Display, the world's top mobile display panel maker, has been focusing on its migration to next-generation quantum-dot (QD) displays, while withdrawing from the LCD business, reports Yonhap news agency.

But for large LCD panels for TVs, the company recently said it is mulling extending its manufacturing for one more year due to soaring demand from TV makers and rising panel prices.

TrendForce said the global monitor panel market also suffered a setback in the first quarter due to a shortage of components, such as integrated circuits and timing controllers.

"In addition, since TV and notebook (laptop) panels have higher profit margins compared to monitor panels, panel suppliers generally allocate less of their production capacities for manufacturing monitor panels relative to other products," it said.

However, the market researcher predicted that monitor panel shipments for 2021 will grow 4.2 percent on-year to 169 million units.

"TrendForce believes that panel suppliers will likely in turn allocate more production capacities to clients in the monitor segment in 4Q21," it said.

"More specifically, the current shortage of components in the upstream supply chain, which has been exerting significant downward pressure on monitor panel shipments, will be gradually alleviated in 2H21."

--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.)
By Tom Polansek and Jeff Mason

CHICAGO/ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - Brazil's JBS SA told the U.S. government that a attack on the company that has disrupted meat production in North America and Australia originated from a criminal organization likely based in Russia, the White House said on Tuesday.

JBS is the world's largest meatpacker and the cyberattack caused its Australian operations to shut down on Monday and has stopped livestock slaughter at its plants in several U.S. states.

The attack follows one last month by a group with ties to on Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel pipeline in the United States, that crippled fuel delivery for several days in the U.S. Southeast.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the United States has contacted Russia's government about the matter and that the FBI is investigating.

"The White House has offered assistance to JBS and our team at the Department of Agriculture have spoken to their leadership several times in the last day," Jean-Pierre said.

"JBS notified the administration that the ransom demand came from a criminal organization likely based in The White House is engaging directly with the Russian government on this matter and delivering the message that responsible states do not harbor criminals," Jean-Pierre added.

JBS sells beef and pork under the Swift brand, with retailers like Costco Wholesale Corp carrying its pork loins and tenderloins. JBS also owns most of chicken processor Pilgrim's Pride Co, which sells organic chicken under the Just Bare brand.

If the outages continue, American consumers could see higher meat prices during summer grilling season and meat exports could be disrupted at a time of strong demand from China.

The disruption has already had an impact, industry analysts said. U.S. meatpackers slaughtered 94,000 cattle on Tuesday, down 22% from a week earlier and 18% from a year earlier, according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Pork processors slaughtered 390,000 hogs, down 20% from a week ago and 7% from a year ago.

Prices for choice cuts of U.S. beef shipped to wholesale buyers in large boxes jumped $3.59 to $334.56 per hundred pounds, the USDA said. Prices for select cuts climbed $5.55 to $306.45 per hundred pounds.

The USDA, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies are closely monitoring the meat and poultry supply, a White House official said. The agencies are also working with agricultural processors to ensure products move efficiently and that no price manipulation occurs as a result of the cyberattack, the official said.

AFFECTED SYSTEMS SUSPENDED

JBS said it suspended all affected systems and notified authorities. It said its backup servers were not affected. A company representative in Sao Paulo said there was no impact on Brazilian operations.

The company said Sunday's cyberattack affected its North American and Australian IT systems and "resolution of the incident will take time, which may delay certain transactions with customers and suppliers."

JBS, with North American operations headquartered in Greeley, Colorado, controls about 20% of the slaughtering capacity for U.S. cattle and hogs, according to industry estimates.

"The supply chains, logistics, and transportation that keep our society moving are especially vulnerable to ransomware, where attacks on choke points can have outsized effects and encourage hasty payments," said threat researcher John Hultquist with security company FireEye.

U.S. beef and pork prices are already rising as China increases imports, animal feed costs rise and slaughterhouses face a dearth of workers. Any further impact on consumers will depend on how long production is down, market analysts said.

"If it goes on a week or longer, you've got a major problem," said Dennis Smith, broker for Archer Financial Services in Chicago.

Two kill and fabrication shifts were canceled at JBS's beef plant in Greeley after the cyberattack, representatives of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 7 said in an email. JBS Beef in Cactus, Texas, also said on Facebook it would not run on Tuesday.

The UFCW urged JBS to ensure workers receive their contractually guaranteed pay during the shutdowns.

JBS Canada said in a Facebook post that shifts had been canceled at its plant in Brooks, Alberta, on Monday and one shift so far had been canceled on Tuesday.

The United States Cattlemen's Association, a beef industry group, said on Twitter that it had reports of JBS redirecting livestock haulers who arrived at plants with animals ready for slaughter.

Last year, cattle and hogs backed up on U.S. farms and some animals were euthanized when meat plants were shut during coronavirus outbreaks among workers.

A JBS beef plant in Grand Island, Nebraska, said only workers in maintenance and shipping were scheduled to work on Tuesday.

Over the past few years, has evolved from one of many cybersecurity threats to a pressing national security issue. A number of gangs, many of them Russian-speakers, develop the software that encrypts files and then demand payment in cryptocurrency for keys that allow the owners to decipher and use them again.

(Reporting by Caroline Stauffer, Tom Polansek, Mark Weinraub in Chicago; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason aboard Air Force One and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington, Ana Mano in Sao Paulo and Joe Menn in San Francisco; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Grant McCool)

(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.)
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], June 2 (ANI/PNN): We all have at one point pulled out our dictionaries after reading tweets or listening to speeches of scholars like Shashi Tharoor.

However, cramming a dictionary seems like a humongous task for any individual. Rahul Parashar was on a similar journey of developing his vocabulary when he came across the idea of Vocabmetry. He wanted a mathematical substratum through which words can flow like an algebraic equation.

By applying his ideas and imaginations, he found some of the most unique and eccentric methods for learning English words. He has broken down over 5,500 words into different parts and named them as three different coordinates and associated them with various comic characters. In these 5,500 words, each word has its own short story which simplifies the process of learning. This method of learning is so unique that Rahul even attained a patent for the same.

With the growing competition in 21st Century through exams like UPSE, CLAT, CAT, GRE, etc. a good command of English along with all the other subjects is a must. Considering the workload of a student prepping for competitive exams, they have to work smart and not hard.

This is where Rahul brings in Vocabmetry. One can very easily forget the meaning of a word after reading it from a dictionary in a few days, but when learning a word from Vocabmetry with 110 comic characters and three coordinates, it gets impregnated in the mind of learners.

Rahul while sharing his experience of teaching over 600 students in Bhopal and Delhi felt proud. Many of his students have bagged awards by learning through Vocabmetry. He also shared that one of his youngest students Anmol of KG II was able to pick up so many English words that he has gone into Limca Book of records.

He believes that in the current environment of education, no one can escape from English. If one has to acquire a skill for their lifetime it is only logical that they should be good at the same. Thus, intervention at a ground level is required and for the same Rahul is in the process of tying up with over 10 schools of the city to incorporate Vocabmetry in their syllabus.

Rahul loved mathematics as a student and when he was preparing for the exam of Charted Accountancy, he applied his formulas to understand words. Now that he has successfully done it for the words in English, he plans to simplify concepts of science by his unconventional methods. It will be very interesting to see what Rahul Parashar will bring to us in the future next.

This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)

DISCLAIMER

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Experts from the on Wednesday, slammed the government for poor planning of the home-grown vaccine production and deployment, as a result of which India doesn't have enough vaccines to go around. The target to vaccinate around one billion people may still not be reached this year, the experts said in a commentary published in the online journal BMJ Global Health.

Only around 3 per cent of the population has been inoculated till now.The experts urged the government to expedite the approval of foreign vaccines already deployed elsewhere around the globe.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has done away with specific trials of Covid-19 vaccines that have been approved by other international regulatory bodies - a big move likely to clear the way for foreign vaccines like and Moderna for the country's urgent requirement.

Listen to the podcast to know more
Airtel's African arm has sold Airtel Tanzania's tower portfolio to a joint venture of SBA Communications Corporation (majority stake) and Paradigm Infrastructure Ltd for $175 million.

SBA Communications is an independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure, while the UK-based Paradigm Infrastructure is focused on developing, owning and operating shared passive wireless infrastructure in selected growth markets. Airtel's Africa deals in telecommunications and mobile money services across 14 countries in Africa.

Also read: Reliance Jio to construct largest international submarine cable system connecting India

Airtel Tanzania's tower portfolio comprises around 1,400 towers, which form part of the group's wireless telecommunications infrastructure network. As per the agreement, the group's subsidiary Airtel Tanzania Plc will continue to develop, maintain and operate its equipment on the towers under a separate lease arrangement with the buyer companies.

The transaction is the latest strategic divestment of Airtel's tower portfolio as it focuses on an asset-light business model and on its core subscriber-facing operations. Of the entire deal amount, $157.5 million will be payable on the first closing date, which will be in the second half of the group's current financial year.

The balance amount is payable in instalments upon the completion of the transfer of any remaining towers to the buyer companies. As per Airtel, it'll invest around $60 million from the proceeds on network and sales infrastructure in Tanzania and for distribution to the Tanzania government. The rest of the amount will be used to reduce debt at the group level.

Amid mounting losses due to dirt-cheap data prices and high competition among telcos in India, Bharti Airtel has reported recorded losses in the past two years. During its recently announced quarterly results for Jan-March quarter, Airtel posted a net profit of Rs 759 crore against a net loss of Rs 5,237 crore in the year-ago quarters.

However, the company's consolidated net loss for FY21 stood at Rs 15,084 crore compared to Rs 32,183 crore in FY20.

Also read: Bharti Airtel FY21 net loss narrows to Rs 15,084 crore
Retail mall developer Phoenix Mills Ltd and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC have partnered to establish a $733 million (approx Rs 5,362 crore) investment platform for retail-led mixed-use assets in India.

"GIC and Phoenix Mills to establish a retail-led mixed-use investment platform in India with an initial portfolio of $733 million," the company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

GIC will acquire a significant minority stake in a $733 million portfolio of retail-led mixed-use developments, located in the prime consumption centres of Mumbai and Pune, the company added.

The transaction is subject to relevant regulatory approvals, the filing said.

Meanwhile, in a separate filing, Phoenix Mills said GIC will initially acquire an equity stake of 26.4 per cent in the Phoenix Mills' subsidiaries by investing an aggregate amount of approximately Rs 1,111 crore by way of a combination of primary infusion and secondary purchase of equity shares in the said Phoenix Mills' subsidiaries.

"The platform is valued at a pre-money enterprise value of Rs 5,500 crore. GIC's stake may further increase to 33-36 per cent in the ... subsidiaries through an additional infusion of up to Rs 400 crore within 12-month period from closing," the company added.

Kishore Gotety, Co-Head (Asia ex-China) of Real Estate, GIC said the fund expects continued strong performance in the Indian retail sector as organised retail penetration increases and population density remains high.

"We recognise that the unprecedented global crisis is impacting consumer sentiments and that the necessary lockdown has made it challenging for all businesses, especially those in the retail sector.

"However, the long-term structural growth that the Indian retail industry continues to offer due to favourable demographics, urbanisation, growing middle class, and increasing consumerism trends will still benefit the joint venture," he added.

Atul Ruia, Chairman of Phoenix Mills, said "through this platform with GIC, we intend to jointly explore value-accretive acquisition opportunities. Proceeds from the transaction received by Phoenix Mills will act as growth capital to both Phoenix Mills and its subsidiaries to explore and further enhance our portfolio of annuity income assets.

Also read: Urban Company raises $255 million in latest funding round, valuation crosses $2.1 billion
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear Johnson & Johnson's bid to overturn a $2.12 billion damages award to women who blamed their ovarian cancer on asbestos in the company's baby powder and other talc products. The justices turned away a J&J appeal and left in place a Missouri state court ruling in litigation brought by 22 women whose claims were heard together in one trial.

The Missouri Court of Appeals, an intermediate state appellate court, last year ruled against J&J's bid to throw out the compensatory and punitive damages awarded to the plaintiffs but reduced the total to $2.12 billion from the $4.69 billion originally decided by a jury.

J&J, which will make a payment of $2.5 billion this month including accrued interest, said in a statement that there are unresolved legal issues that will continue to be litigated. It previously has said it faces more than 19,000 similar claims. "The matters that were before the court are related to legal procedure, and not safety. Decades of independent scientific evaluations confirm Johnson's Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer," the company said.

J&J shares were down about 1.2% at $167.23. J&J has argued that a decision by a Missouri circuit court judge to consolidate disparate baby powder-related claims from the plaintiffs - including 17 women from outside the state - for a trial before a single jury violated the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company's due process rights under the US Constitution. J&J also has argued that the size of the jury's damages award violated its due process rights.

The Missouri Supreme Court, the state's highest court, in November declined to hear J&J's appeal of the Missouri Court of Appeals ruling, prompting the company to appeal to the US Supreme Court. "This was a victory not just for the amazing women and their families who we were privileged to represent, but a victory for justice," said Mark Lanier, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

DISPUTE OVER JURISDICTION

The plaintiffs, nine of whom have died and are now represented by their estates, have argued that Missouri courts have jurisdiction over out-of-state claims like those brought in this litigation. One of the products that the out-of-state plaintiffs said they had used was manufactured in Missouri.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs also have argued that the large punitive damages awarded by the jury in this case were justified by J&J's conduct. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said in court papers it is common practice for courts to consolidate cases at trial when the facts in each claim are essentially the same.

The Missouri Court of Appeals concluded that it was reasonable to infer from the evidence that J&J "disregarded the safety of consumers" in its drive for profit despite knowing its talc products caused ovarian cancer. It also found "significant reprehensibility" in J&J's conduct.

In addition to reducing the damages, the Missouri Court of Appeals dismissed two of the 17 out-of-state plaintiffs. In court papers, J&J said the case followed a "winning formula" devised by plaintiffs' lawyers of bringing claims in jurisdictions where they can get dozens of out-of-state plaintiffs to testify in a single trial, prejudicing the jury and resulting in "outsized" damages awards.

In the Missouri trial, the company said, the jury awarded each plaintiff an identical punitive damages award of $25 million, regardless of the facts specific to each plaintiff or whether they were alive or dead. The company also said the jury awarded punitive damages much larger than the "already staggering" compensatory damages, which J&J has called a further violation of its due process rights.

Justice Samuel Alito did not participate in the Supreme Court's decision not to hear the appeal, likely because he owns J&J stock. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose father - now retired - was a longtime lobbyist for the toiletries industry, also did not take part. The justices do not explain why they step aside in certain cases.

A 2018 Reuters investigation found that J&J knew for decades that asbestos, a carcinogen, was present in its talc products. Internal company records, trial testimony and other evidence showed that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, J&J's raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos.

The company said in May 2020 it would stop selling its baby powder talc in the United States and Canada, citing changes in consumer habits and what it called "misinformation" about the product's safety amid numerous legal challenges.

Also read: Moderna files application for full US approval of COVID-19 jab
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, appealing to him to ensure efficient and strong action against healthcare violence.

In a letter written to Shah on Tuesday, the IMA urged him to ratify a uniform, effective and comprehensive law against healthcare violence. The doctor's body further stated in the letter that incidents of healthcare violence have jumped over the years and have become widespread.

Also Read: COVID-19 second wave: India loses 420 doctors so far; Delhi, Bihar, UP report most deaths: IMA

"India needs a comprehensive, uniform, and effective law against healthcare violence. We request you to kindly approve an effective and strong action against healthcare violence. The real size of the problem is largely unknown and recent information shows that the current knowledge is only the tip of the iceberg," IMA noted in the letter to Shah.

"The incidences of healthcare violence have increased over the years and have become widespread and the dreaded entity poses to be threat to the medical practice," it further wrote.

The development comes after a doctor was assaulted by a group of people in Assam's Hojai district on Tuesday, following a COVID-19 patient's death.

Also Read: IMA seeks action against Ramdev for making unscientific statements against allopathy

"While the entire medical fraternity stands with you and is working tirelessly during the pandemic, it is also facing a serious threat from healthcare violence. There are many incidences of healthcare violence taking place across the country," the IMA stated.

The doctor's body added that doctors and healthcare staff are finding it hard to work under the pressure of violence.
Google LLC has contended that Information Technology rules for digital media are not applicable to its search engine, and urged the Delhi High Court on Wednesday to set aside a single judge order which applied the rules on the company while dealing with an issue related to removal of offending content from the internet.

The single judge's decision had come while dealing with a matter in which a woman's photographs were uploaded on a pornographic website by some miscreants and despite court orders the content could not be removed in entirety from the World Wide Web and "errant parties merrily continued" to re-post and redirect the same to other sites.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice to the Centre, Delhi government, Internet Service Providers Association of India, Facebook, the pornographic site and the woman, on whose plea the single judge's ruling had come, and sought their responses to Google's plea by July 25.

The court also said that it was not going to issue any interim order at this stage.

Google has contended that the single judge, in his April 20 judgement, "mischaracterised" its search engine as a 'social media intermediary' or 'significant social media intermediary' as provided under the new rules.

"The single judge has misinterpreted and misapplied the New Rules 2021 to the appellant's search engine. Additionally, the single judge has conflated various sections of the IT Act and separate rules prescribed thereunder, and has passed template orders combining all such offences and provisions, which is bad in law," it has said in its appeal against the April 20 judgement.

Also read: Adani Railways, GMR Enterprises, Oberoi Realty among 9 bidders for Mumbai's CST redevelopment
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is working on a plan to get back more employees to the workplace. In order to evaluate how it will get a certain percentage of people back, TCS has drawn up a risk assessment model, Intelligent Urban Exchange.

The model will look into various factors such as vaccination status, employee's place of residence, risk in the region and locality, and basic health parameters to not only make the offices safe but also to instil confidence in employees to go back to the workplace, said a report in The Economic Times.

But why does TCS want employees to get back to the office? An executive explained to the daily that a host of critical utilities are on the back-end of the company's IT support, including banks, stock exchanges, insurance, healthcare, telecom, consumer goods, retail as well as public services.

Since the pandemic last year, almost all -- 97 per cent -- of TCS employees have been working from home. The company had earlier stated that it would bring back employees to offices in a phased manner, keeping in mind safety and business requirements.

Milind Lakkad, global head, human resources had said that TCS created a blueprint, Vision 25/25 to ensure that 25 per cent of its employees were present only 25 per cent of the time in offices to be 100 per cent productive.

TCS employs over 4.8 lakh people across the globe.

Also read: Customers' focus on transformation to drive strong growth, says TCS CEO

Also read: $6 billion - the hidden cost of 90-day notice period to companies, economy
The city of Chicago, which has the worst rated credit of any major city in the country, and the Chicago Public Schools, which has one of the lowest credit ratings, theyre vulnerable to further financial downgrade, said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a government budget watchdog group. If the goal here is to treat CPS and the city of Chicago like all other cities in the state of Illinois and all other school districts, youll have to find a way to make up that approximately half a billion dollars the city gives to the district.
India's exports grew by 67.39 per cent to $32.21 billion in May driven by healthy growth in sectors such as engineering, pharmaceuticals, petroleum products and chemicals, according government data released on Wednesday.

Exports in May last year stood at $19.24 billion and in May 2019 it was at $ 29.85 billion, the commerce ministry's preliminary data showed.

Imports in May rose by 68.54 per cent to $38.53 billion, from $22.86 billion in May 2020. In May 2019, imports stood at $46.68 billion.

"India is thus a net importer in May 2021 with a trade deficit of $6.32 billion, an increase of 74.69 per cent over trade deficit $3.62 billion in May 2020 and reduction by 62.49 per cent over trade deficit $16.84 billion in May 2019," the ministry said.

Oil imports during the month under review rose to $9.45 billion, as compared to $3.57 billion in May 2020. In May 2019, it stood at $12.59 billion.

Exports during Apr-May this year jumped to $62.84 billion, as against $29.6 billion in the same period last year. It was $55.88 billion in Apr-May 2019, the data showed.

Imports during Apr-May 2021 was $84.25 billion, an increase from $39.98 billion in April-May 2020. In Apr-May 2019 it stood at $ 89.07 billion.

In Apr-May 2021, oil imports aggregated at $20.32 billion from $8.24 billion in Apr-May 2020. In Apr-May 2019 it was $24.16 billion.

Also read: How TCS plans to get more employees back to office
Fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi has to be deported to India and his habeas corpus petition should not be heard, the government of Dominica has told the court hearing the plea.

Dominican Public Prosecution Service submitted before the Dominican High Court that the petition filed by Choksi is "not maintainable" and hence it "should not be heard", according to India Today.

Choksi had vanished mysteriously on May 23 from Antigua and was apprehended by Dominican police for entering the country illegally. His legal team in Dominica had filed a habeas corpus petition and pointed out that he was denied legal rights and was not permitted to meet his lawyers initially.

Also read: How Biological E plans to take on Serum Institute in COVID-19 vaccine production

Choksi has alleged that he was abducted from Jolly Harbour in Antigua and Barbuda by policemen looking like Antiguan and Indian, and taken to Dominica and tortured. However, Antigua and Barbuda's police chief had denied the allegations of abduction and torture.

Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted for allegedly siphoning Rs 13,700 crore of public money from the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB). While Modi is in a London prison after being denied bail repeatedly and is contesting his extradition to India, Choksi took citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in 2017 using the Citizenship by Investment programme before fleeing India in the first week of January 2018.

A team consisting of officials from Indian agencies, including CBI, has already reached Dominica to bring back Choksi if the court allows.

Earlier today, Choksi's wife, Preet Choksi, told India Today that he is ready to join the investigation but Indian agencies don't want to investigate the matter. She said Choksi should be sent back to Antigua from Dominicia and that he doesn't want to return to India.

Also read: RIL created over 75,000 jobs, hired 50,000 freshers in FY21
The first flight from Dubai under the second phase of Vande Bharat Mission will land at Vijayawada International Airport on Wednesday evening.

"First flight will come from Dubai at 6:10 pm on Wednesday. 65 passengers have booked seats. The load may increase due to last-minute bookings," Vijayawada International Airport Director Madhusudan Rao told news agency ANI.

In the first phase of Vande Bharat Mission, 490 international flights had landed at the Vijaywada airport, bringing over 55,000 passengers from different countries, Rao said.

Also read: Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 vaccines likely in India soon; Centre may grant indemnity

"People stranded at various airports were brought, they had landed at Vijayawada airport and reached their places in the state. Same services will be continued in this phase also," he added.

Rao said there will be 10 international services per week under the second phase, with no flights on Sunday. He said all arrangement have been made for passengers and the arrival area has been expanded.

Vande Bharat Mission is a programme by the Indian government to repatriate Indian nationals from around the world amidst the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Till March 2021, over 67.5 lakh Indians were brought back from abroad.

Also read: COVID-19: No salary without vaccination for govt employees in this UP district
The United States will announce in the next two weeks how it will sell and distribute 80 million COVID-19 vaccine doses it has pledged globally, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado, Blinken said the administration of US President Joe Biden will focus on equitable distribution of the immunizations and not tie political strings to the process.

Biden on Monday said his administration will send at least 20 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, on top of 60 million AstraZeneca doses he had already planned to give to other countries.

"Some time within the next two weeks we will be announcing the process by which we will distribute and sell those vaccines," Blinken said during his first trip as secretary of state to Latin America, which is fighting to contain COVID-19.

Blinken said the announcement will reveal the criteria and details of the process.

The Biden administration has been under pressure to share vaccines to help curb worsening outbreaks from India to Brazil, where health experts fear new, more contagious coronavirus variants could undermine the effectiveness of available shots.

As the pandemic outlook within the United States brightens with advancing vaccinations, the aid pledge is central to the administration's drive to use U.S. vaccine supply as a tool to counter Chinese and Russian vaccine diplomacy.

Costa Rica's Alvarado stressed that his country was hoping for prompt news on vaccine distribution.

Earlier on Tuesday, the World Bank urged the United States to free up excess vaccines.

Also read: COVID-19: India's Biological E to manufacture Providence Therapeutics' mRNA vaccine
Sensex and Nifty were likely to open lower today as Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange fell 15 points to 15,616. On Tuesday, Sensex and Nifty ended marginally lower amid profitbooking and positive cues from global markets. Sensex ended 2.56 points lower at 51,934, while the broader Nifty slipped 7.95 points to 15,574.

Here's a look at stocks which are likely to remain in news today.

ITC: The FMCG firm reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 3,816 crore in Q4 against net profit of Rs 3,926.46 crore during the January-March quarter of the previous fiscal.

Infosys: Sebi has barred eight entities, including two employees of Infosys, from the securities market for indulging in insider trading activities in the shares of the IT firm. Infosys will initiate an internal investigation into the insider trading matter, it said in a statement.

Eicher Motors: Mid-sized motorcycle maker Royal Enfield, part of Eicher Motors, said it has sold a total of 27,294 units in May, down 49 per cent from 53,298 units in April this year. The company's domestic sales stood at 20,073 units, down 59 per cent from 48,789 units in April.

Hero MotoCorp: The country's top two-wheeler maker said it sold 1,83,044 units last month, down by 51 per cent from 3,72,285 units dispatched in April this year.

Balrampur Chini Mills: The sugar producer reported a 2.46 per cent fall in consolidated profit in Q4 at Rs 235.50 crore compared profit of at Rs 241.44 crore during the corresponding period of FY20.

State Bank of India: The largest lender of the country will auction two NPA accounts later this month for recovery of dues worth Rs 409.45 crore from the companies -- Kamachi Industries Ltd and Tantia Agrochemicals Ltd. The e-auction will take place on June 25.

Radico Khaitan: The liquor maker reported an over two-fold jump in net profit to Rs 73.53 crore in Q4 against net profit of Rs 32.67 crore in the January-March period a year ago.

Ashok Leyland: The Hinduja Group's flagship firm reported a 62 per cent fall in total vehicle sales at 3,199 units in May against 8,340 units in April this year.

TVS Motor: TVS Motor Company reported sales of 1,66,889 units in May, down 30 per cent from 2,38,983 units sold in April this year.

Union Bank of India: The state-owned lender has nominated A K Vinod as its chief compliance officer. A K Vinod, chief general manager, has been nominated as the chief compliance officer with effect from June 1.

IRB Infrastructure Developers: HDFC Mutual Fund bought additional 24,62,680 equity shares in IRB Infrastructure at Rs 111.34 per share on the NSE. Silvertoss Shoppers net sold 32,74,750 equity shares at Rs 111.86 per share, the bulk deals data showed.

Gujarat Gas: The company reported sharply higher consolidated profit at Rs 350.86 crore in Q4FY21 against Rs 250.46 crore in Q4FY20, revenue jumped to Rs 3,489.31 crore from Rs 2,722.17 crore YoY. The company approved the acquisition or transfer of city gas distribution business for Amritsar and Bhatinda Geographical Area as a going concern, on slump sale basis, from Gujarat State Petronet (GSP) for Rs 163.31 crore.

Route Mobile: The company announced an agreement with Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC) - du, UAE's second integrated telecom service provider, by offering a turnkey solution using Route Mobile's Smart Messaging Hub. This enables du to launch a highly scalable revenue-generating messaging platform to enable A2P wholesale transit business.

NGL Fine Chem: The company reported consolidated profit at Rs 13.83 crore in Q4FY21 against loss of Rs 0.2 crore in Q4FY20, revenue jumped to Rs 71.77 crore from Rs 35.44 crore YoY.
Highlights Krafton may launch the Battlegrounds Mobile India on June 18.

Maxtern has hinted at the June 18 date through a binary code in his tweet.

Some previous reports have also hinted at the June 18 launch of PUBG Mobile's Indian version.

Ever since Battlegrounds Mobile India went up for pre-registration, enthusiasts have been longing for just one thing: When will the Indian version of PUBG Mobile arrive? There have been speculations around the launch date. While the discourse among the community has suggested June 10, some YouTubers have claimed the Battlegrounds Mobile India release will take place on June 18. Now, once again, June 18 has emerged as the tentative date for the launch. Krafton may bring back PUBG Mobile in India later this month.

PUBG Mobile's new avatar Battlegrounds Mobile India release may happen on June 18, if we go by what Maxtern, who is a famous PUBG Mobile content creator and an influencer, tweeted. Maxtern tweeted out a binary code followed by "Enjoy", and if you solve this code, you will get 18062021, which is June 18, 2021. Maxtern's tip goes in line with what some YouTubers previously said. Content creator Abhijit Andhare, who is famous as Ghatak, earlier tipped the launch of Battlegrounds Mobile India could take place in the third week of June. And then, IGN India, citing sources, reported that the launch date for PUBG Mobile's Indian version is June 18.

The speculation that June 18 is when Battlegrounds Mobile India will arrive sits well with the timeline Krafton has been following. The pre-registration for Battlegrounds Mobile India opened on May 18, so it makes sense that the launch happens right after one month, which will fall on June 18. But, on the other hand, the PUBG Mobile India community believes the launch would take place on June 10. That is because Krafton shared a poster last month with the level 3 helmet superimposed over a source of light, supposedly the sun. The community believes this poster represents a solar eclipse, and since the next one is going to fall on June 10, Battlegrounds Mobile India may see a release the same day.

Krafton has so far stayed mum about the launch date of PUBG Mobile's Indian version, but it keeps teasing that the Battlegrounds Mobile India is coming soon.

The wait for the launch of Battlegrounds Mobile India may end soon, probably this month. But until then, the company is accepting pre-registration requests on Google Play Store. The iOS counterpart is in the works, according to Krafton. People who do the pre-registration on Android are eligible for four exclusive rewards. They are a Recon Mask, a Recon Outfit, 300 AG, and Celebration Expert limited title. The company has also teased the level 3 helmet and level 3 backpack that will arrive in Battlegrounds Mobile India. Moreover, the Indian version will feature Erangel and Sanhok maps, the same way as PUBG Mobile, but their names may see a change, just like Battlegrounds Mobile India.
Highlights Delhi Police has issued warning about fake ICICI bank webpage.

Users have received messages claiming to from ICICI Bank asking them to verify their KYC details

The message then directs users to click on a link to submit the details.

Every day scammers are coming with up new ways to dupe people. The recent scam that is doing the rounds involves the ICICI bank webpage about which the Delhi Police has issued a warning. Users have received messages claiming to from ICICI Bank asking them to verify their KYC details in order to save their accounts from getting suspended. The message then directs users to click on a link to submit the details.

Phishing attacks have been on the rise and every day a new scam pops up. The latest scam is targeted at ICICI bank account holders. The scammer will send you an SMS from an unknown number claiming to be from the bank. The message will inform users that their ICICI bank account will get suspended if they do not share the KYC details. There is also a link shared along with the note about account suspension that leads users to a fake banking page. And if you enter your login credentials, the scammers will gain illegal access to your account and rob you off your savings.

The incident came to light after Twitter user Sanjay Jha shared a screenshot of a message he had received from a number claiming to be from ICICI bank. Jha in his tweet had tagged the official Twitter handles of ICICI bank, Delhi crime branch and more. The screenshot shared by Jha reveals that the message was sent from a local user and the message was badly drafted.

If you pay little attention to the message itself, you would be able to figure that ICICI bank has not sent this. The message carries a dishevelled spelling of the bank, only the is capitalised while the other words are in lower case. No company would ever send messages to users in a grammatically incorrect language. Now if you look at the link carefully, it clearly shows that it does not belong to the ICICI bank. Notably, all official websites of the bank have the icicibank.com domain name, and it strictly follows the HTTP protocol. The bank will never send you any message from a random number.

Replying to Jha's tweet, the DCP cybercrime said, "Thanks for sharing. This is a phishing link that takes to a fake @ICICIBank login page designed to harvest gullible user's login credentials.

Getting the site blocked and details checked.

This is not something new. Scammers come up with new and believable ways to steal users' credentials. Such messages are always circulated through the messaging platforms and carry a link. The trick is to never click on any link or share details without verifying the source of the message.
Highlights Facebook employees have posted a petition on an internal forum which reportedly has 174 signatures.

Facebook has been under fire in the recent past for censoring and removing Palestinian posts without explanation.

The social media platforms were widely used by Palestinians to share information from a variety of areas including the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah where people faced eviction.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were under fire for censoring Palestinian posts without explanation. The social media platforms were widely used by Palestinians to share information from a variety of areas, including the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah where families faced eviction. Human rights organisations and users globally reported the deletion of hundreds of posts condemning the eviction of Palestinians. Now, some Facebook employees have come together to condemn the removal of such posts. Facebook's employees have written to the company to address the Palestinian censorship on social media platforms. Israel announced a ceasefire 11 days after Israeli airstrikes claimed over 200 lives in Gaza, which included at least 63 children.

The employees have reportedly posted a petition on an internal forum which reportedly has 174 signatures. The Financial Times first reported about the letter which says, "As highlighted by employees, the press, and members of Congress, and as reflected in our declining app store rating, our users and community at large feel that we are falling short on our promise to protect open expression around the situation in Palestine. We believe Facebook can and should do more to understand our users and work on rebuilding their trust."



A Facebook spokesperson in a statement to The Verge said the company has committed to an audit of its community standards enforcement report. "We know there were several issues that impacted people's ability to share on our apps. While we fixed them, they should never have happened in the first place and we're sorry to anyone who felt they couldn't bring attention to important events, or who believed this was a deliberate suppression of their voice. We design our policies to give everyone a voice while keeping them safe on our apps and we apply them equally, regardless of who is posting or what their personal beliefs are," he said.



Facebook has been under fire in the recent past for censoring and removing Palestinian posts without explanation. According to a report by The Guardian Palestinian digital rights non-profit 7amleh and more than 30 other human rights organizations are calling for greater transparency into the social network's decision making, as part of a campaign titles Facebook, we need to talk. 7amleh also aimed critiques of censorship at Twitter, where 55 cases of Palestinian content being removed were reported. Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice president for global affairs, virtually met with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh in a virtual meeting where he apologized for the company mistakenly labeling some posts as incitement to violence.



A Facebook spokesperson told the publication that there have been recent glitches affecting the ability to share content on Facebook and Instagram, including an error that temporarily restricted content from being viewed on the al-Aqsa mosque hashtag page. He said Facebook had a dedicated team including Arabic and Hebrew speakers closely monitoring the situation on the ground.
Highlights Google has been rumoured to be working on a foldable device for the longest time

As per the latest reports, Samsung plans to begin supplying its ultra-thin glass (UTG) to Google.

Googles rumoured foldable device will use Samsungs Ultra Thing Glass.

Google has been rumoured to be working on a foldable device for the longest time. As per the latest reports, Samsung plans to begin supplying its ultra-thin glass (UTG) to Google. Notably, Samsung supplies its UTG (ultra-thin glass) to smartphone manufacturers who are into producing foldable devices. The UTG is used as the cover window for foldable devices.

As per ET News, Google's rumoured foldable device will use Samsung's Ultra Thing Glass. The report states that Samsung is planning to shop the UTGs to Google and other smartphone companies in the second half of the year. Interestingly, the Galaxy Fold Z Flip was the first foldable smartphone to use Samsung UTG as cover windows. From then on, the other foldable smartphones including the Galaxy Z Fold 2 also got the UTG as a cover window.

Apart from the UTG, Google might also use Samsung Display's foldable OLED panel. Not much has been revealed about the smartphone, but Google is expected to announce the phone at a hardware event along with the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro phones.

Earlier a 9to5 Google report revealed that Google plans to launch three new phones this year and one of them could be the foldable device which has been codenamed Passport. The model numbers of the Japanese variants of the smartphones had surfaced online. The model names are as follows Barbet (Pixel 5a 5G) G4S1M, Oriole (Pixel 6 family) GR1YH, Raven (Pixel 6 family) GF5KQ, Passport (Pixel foldable) GPQ72.

Google Pixel fans were expecting Google to launch the Pixel 5a, Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro at the IO 2021.But a Google spokesperson had stated that the Pixel 5a would arrive during the October event, it will only be exclusive to the US and Japan. The same has not been saying about the Pixel 6 series which is also expected to hit the markets this year. The reports suggest that Google will name them Pixel 6 Pro and Pixel 6 XL, the XL could be the device with a bigger screen.

With Pixel 6, Google might introduce an all-new design something that has never been seen before in Pixel phones. Apart from a new design, Google's own chipset which has been named "Whitechapel" might also debut with the Pixel phones that are slated to launch later this year. Google is yet to issue a statement on the same.
Highlights New speculations reveal more information about the OnePlus 9T.

The smartphone display might support a variable refresh rate.

Leak suggests that it will come with a Samsung display supporting 1080P Resolution.

Like last year, OnePlus might stick to a single variant for the T lineup of its flagship smartphones. Rumours around the OnePlus 9 series have hinted that there is a OnePlus 9T in the make, while there are no OnePlus 9T Pro plans.

The OnePlus 9T will come as a step-up variant to the OnePlus 9 launched in March this year. If the company follows its annual timeline, we can expect to see the smartphone out in the international markets by October this year. Before that, rumours around the smartphone are already making their way to the internet.

A recent one by a post from Weibo, as spotted by TechDroider, suggests that the OnePlus 9T will come with an LTPO display by Samsung. It shares more details on display make but no other information about the smartphone as of now.

As per the Weibo post, the OnePlus 9T will come with a 120Hz LTPO E4 Flexible Screen. This will support a 1080P Resolution as well as a variable refresh rate. This means that the smartphone display will be able to adjust the refresh rate as per the use it is being put through.

On the downside, the post mentions that there will be no OnePlus 9T Pro model available this year. If so, this will follow last year's launch of the T moniker smartphones, having only a single variant - OnePlus 8T.

Though the information shared cannot be confirmed as yet, OnePlus will likely follow this launch cycle to introduce an upgraded version of the OnePlus 9 in a more affordable package than the OnePlus 9 Pro.

As for what to expect on the smartphone, it is likely to come with Qualcomm's top Snapdragon 888 processor, coupled with at least 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. Other OnePlus marquees can also be expected, including a Hasselblad camera setup, 65W fast charging and support for the latest Android versions. Though it will be time before any of this is made official.
If we make a policy change that limits their ability to repay these long-term bonds that theyve entered into, people in those communities will essentially be paying twice for electricity, Demmer said. Theyll be paying once to retire the bonds that they entered into believing the policy was, as it was at the time, and weve changed something on them midstream. If those plants close, they have to go somewhere else to buy electricity.
The company that pioneered the field of virtual orthodontics and has been the market leader since 2014 is revolutionizing the industry once again with the only available AI-based virtual monitoring solution applicable to both aligner and braces treatments of all types and brands.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210601005494/en/

Taking a scan with the DM ScanBox (Photo: DentalMonitoring)

In an industry where a vast majority of practices are mixed users, the DentalMonitorings solution now allows dental professionals  whether in private practices or DSOs  to take full control of not only their aligner and but also all their braces cases. As a result DentalMonitoring expands its addressable market by close to 75%, helping more practices scale up their business, become more efficient and deliver an outstanding patient experience.

Our solution has made yet another major breakthrough, and we are proud to unveil a new suite of functionalities of our platform, says Philippe Salah, CEO of DentalMonitoring. Dental professionals can now monitor all their aligner and braces cases independent of brand with the same, highly scalable AI-driven workflow. In addition to monitoring treatment progress, they can now actively define and monitor clinical goals for each patient. This results in more active control, productivity and a new level of safety and confidence for their practice: a real mindset shift for our industry.

Salah continues: Doctors now have complete control over all orthodontic treatment and can automatically track inter arch parameters such as the overbite, the overjet, the transverse or class correction of patients or detect the archwire and auxiliaries passivity in addition to the intra arch parameters they were already able to track with our solution. Dental professionals can virtualize and automate all non-clinical procedures and schedule appointments only when needed. At the same time, the patients compliance and engagement are improved, thanks to the complete revamping of our highly rated patient app.

As the demand for remote care technology increases within the dental industry, DentalMonitoring continues to lead the way with its virtual practice solutions designed to engage, convert and monitor patients. Powered by AI and a database of over half a billion patient photographs, the virtual practice solutions are designed to give dental professionals the flexibility and convenience they need to safely address all sorts of orthodontic patient cases and optimize chair time.

About DentalMonitoring:

DentalMonitorings promise is to help all dental professionals improve their practice efficiency, optimize orthodontic treatment plans and enhance the patient experience thanks to its virtual practice solutions:

- SmileMate, maximizes lead engagement and patient conversion, with the ability for dental professionals to triage and qualify patients even before they step into the practice.

- DentalMonitoring, its flagship solution, monitors all treatments remotely, from aligners and braces of all brands to retention and hygiene.

DentalMonitoring operates across the United States, Europe and Asia with five offices: in Austin, TX, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Sydney.

To learn more about DentalMonitoring, visit www.dental-monitoring.com

DentalMonitoring, Smilemate and Vision are products designed and manufactured by Dental Monitoring SAS, under the DentalMind branding for Health Care Professional.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210601005494/en/
On November 3, 2020 Hurricane Eta made landfall in Central America as a powerful Category 4 storm. Just two weeks later Hurricane Iota, a Category 5 storm followed nearly the same path through the region, unleashing heavy rains, winds, massive flooding and severe landslides, causing widespread destruction.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210601005255/en/

Replanting bananas in Honduras. Restoring fields and livelihoods destroyed by Hurricanes Eta and Iota in November 2020. (Photo: Business Wire)

Communities and towns in Honduras and Guatemala - many that support Dole farms and workers  were leveled in the wake. Though Dole was able to successfully evacuate its workers and families prior to the hurricanes arrivals, many others were not as fortunate and lost their lives or livelihoods, their possessions and their crops. In the aftermath, water was needed to drink, homes were in need of repair, and clothes, supplies and appliances in need of replacement.

As an organization closely connected to these communities through the banana industry, Dole swiftly moved to lend aid and resources. But not just the company as an entity stepped in, many Dole employees, partners, and public supporters no matter how far physically from these communities  also contributed their own time and their own funds to help.

In these six months since the hurricanes devastation much has been accomplished.

Dole employees, the company and the public together raised, collected and donated a quarter of a million dollars to purchase food baskets of essential food items -- red beans, rice, corn flour, vegetable oil and powdered milk, capable of feeding a family of five for a month. These food baskets were distributed to 10,000 families in-need in communities surrounding our operations and through relief organizations CEPUDO and the Cortes Chamber of Commerce with established distribution networks in other areas.

The Red Cross of Honduras received donations of dozens of boxes of clothing and footwear contributed by Dole employees in North America and Doles Standard Fruit De Honduras. In addition to 500,000 Lempiras ($20,000US) to help those in need and provide support.

Dole provided use of company machinery and heavy equipment to repair public services, bridges, roads, and highways.

Dole allocated space on southbound vessels to humanitarian organizations importing and distributing disaster relief goods and equipment.

With many banana production areas completely destroyed, Dole, as a major employer of choice in the region, has expedited efforts to restore banana plantations to full production. Farm land preparation takes time and is completely tailored to the conditions of each agricultural area, yet returning jobs and paychecks to the areas quickly is critical.

I cannot sufficiently convey the heartbreaking destruction these communities endured, said Nelson Montoya President of Dole Fresh Fruit North America. However, this catastrophe did not defeat them. The compassion, resiliency and camaraderie of all those on our team in Honduras and Guatemala has been inspiring to me. We will continue to invest in getting everyone back on their feet.

The investment reached a significant milestone in the rehabilitation process in Honduras, with the first planting of new banana fields at Mendez Farm, Barimasa Zone on May 4, followed closely with planting at Copote Farm in the Isletas Zone and most recently the Palo Verde farm in the Coyoles Zone.

As the company works to restore production volumes derived from these devastated areas in Honduras and Guatemala, Dole expects customers will begin receiving Dole premium fruit from these regions in January 2022.

About Dole Food Company

Dole Food Company, Inc., is one of the worlds largest producers and marketers of high-quality fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. Dole is an industry leader in many of the products it sells, as well as in nutrition education. For more information, please visit www.dole.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210601005255/en/
Schlumberger announced today an enterprise-scale deployment of advanced digital solutions for PETRONAS enabled by the DELFI* cognitive E&P environment and integrated with the OSDUData Platform. These digital solutions will enable PETRONAS to accelerate its field development planning and optimize production performance of its assets.

The strategic approach to digital transformation, the adoption of the OSDU Data Platform, and the DELFI environment position PETRONAS among the digital leaders of the industry, and we are proud to be supporting them in this journey, said Rajeev Sonthalia, president of Digital & Integration, Schlumberger. Working together, we will liberate access to data and integrate cutting-edge AI into petrotechnical workflows to optimize field development resources, increase efficiency and vastly improve investment decision making.

This enterprise-scale agreement follows the successful deployment of PETRONAS LiveFDP program in Malaysia, which leveraged the DELFI Petrotechnical SuiteSchlumbergers collection of digital solutions for petrotechnical workflowsand the FDPlan* agile field development planning solution. Through this deployment, PETRONAS teams were able to rapidly generate competitive development scenarios across multiple data and functional domains.

About Schlumberger

Schlumberger (SLB: NYSE) is a technology company that partners with customers to access energy. Our people, representing over 160 nationalities, are providing leading digital solutions and deploying innovative technologies to enable performance and sustainability for the global energy industry. With expertise in more than 120 countries, we collaborate to create technology that unlocks access to energy for the benefit of all.

Find out more at www.slb.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws  that is, statements about the future, not about past events. Such statements often contain words such as expect, may, can, estimate, intend, anticipate, will, potential, projected" and other similar words. Forward-looking statements address matters that are, to varying degrees, uncertain, such as forecasts or expectations regarding the deployment of, or anticipated benefits of, digital technologies. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the inability to recognize intended benefits from digital strategies, initiatives or partnerships; and other risks and uncertainties detailed in our most recent Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. If one or more of these or other risks or uncertainties materialize (or the consequences of such a development changes), or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual outcomes may vary materially from those reflected in our forward-looking statements. Statements in this press release are made as of the date of this release, and Schlumberger disclaims any intention or obligation to update publicly or revise such statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

*Mark of Schlumberger

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210601005630/en/
The Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar is meeting with the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, local authorities, TU Dublin and Government agencies today to kick off the development of a new Regional Enterprise Plan for the Dublin region.

There will be nine new Regional Enterprise Plans for the country, as part of the Governments commitment to bring jobs and a strong post-pandemic economic recovery to every part of Ireland. The refresh of the Regional Enterprise Plans to 2024 is a commitment in the Programme for Government and an important element in the Governments National Economic Recovery Plan published yesterday. Nine Plans have commenced preparation around the country.



The new Regional Enterprise Plans to 2024 will see each region delivering a prioritised enterprise action plan over a three-year period. Through these Plans, the Government wants to create the conditions for entrepreneurs to start and scale their businesses, new investment and business growth.

Speaking today, The Tanaiste said, "We are kicking off the process for the Dublin region today. Dublin is internationally recognised as a leader in areas such as digital and internet services, financial services, international education and life-sciences. However, there is no doubt that Covid-19 has had a really negative impact on some businesses with the pandemic having a hollowing out effect on the city centre especially."

He added, "As well as helping businesses rebuild after Covid-19, we also need to look further ahead to the future. Climate action and the rise of digitalisation will continue to have a really transformative effect in the years to come. We need to look at how we stay ahead, make the most of the opportunities available, while also preparing for the challenges they bring."

Source: www.businessworld.ie


The Wexford County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to discuss the hiring of an expert to evaluate the Wexford County Jail based on its design and construction after continued structural issues. The new county jail opened in November 2017.
Chinas Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued new guidelines to tighten scrutiny of new industrial projects with high energy consumption and high emissions

In todays Caixin energy news wrap: Chinas environment authority vows to tighten control on projects with high pollution while Tangshan, the countrys largest steel city, considers easing production cuts; the worlds second-largest hydropower station has its main structure completed; and Qinghai is planning a salt lake industry leader.

China tightens environmental approval for polluting projects

Chinas Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued new guidelines to tighten scrutiny of new industrial projects with high energy consumption and high emissions in a regulatory move to advance the countrys green transition. The guidelines require local environmental regulators to strictly review the environment impacts of industrial projects and tighten control on projects involving high energy use and high emissions. The ministry urged local governments to regard environment quality as a "bottom line," particularly if polluting projects are being expanded or relocated into their jurisdictions.

Tangshan may ease production cuts

Tangshan, Chinas largest steel producing city in the northern province of Hebei, is considering easing steel output limits in the second half this year to increase supply in response to a recent surge in steel prices, Caixin learned. The Tangshan city environmental authority met with local steel companies Monday to discuss relaxation of production limits that were imposed in March, sources with knowledge of the matter told Caixin. The city government ordered local steel mills to slash production by at least 30% between March 20 and Dec. 31 as part of efforts to reduce pollution.

First 110 kilovolt regenerative electric boiler starts transmitting power in Chongli

The Erdaogou heat supply plant in Chongli, Hebei province, successfully completed trial power transmission via a 110 kilovolt solid fuel-fired boiler, part of its coal-to-electricity project. The project will provide important support for the 2022 Winter Olympics. The trial operation marks the worlds first successful transmission of power by 110 kV direct-in electric boiler with thermal storage. The project is expected to provide clean energy to users in 1.54 million square meters of downtown Chongli.

Qinghai plans to revamp bankrupt fertilizer producer into industry leader

The government of northwest Chinas Qinghai province plan to create a leading salt lake resource developer by restructuring the local companies Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co. Ltd. and Qinghai Huixin Asset Management Co. Ltd. The province, home of Chinas largest salt lake, plans to consolidate the business assets under a new company as part of an ambitious plan to develop the province into a world-class salt lake industry base. Qinghai Salt Lake, Chinas largest potash fertilizer company, entered bankruptcy restructuring in 2019.

Main structure completed for worlds second-largest hydropower station

Construction of the main structure of Baihetan Hydropower Station in southwest Chinas Yunnan province was completed Monday, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The hydropower station is expected to put its first generating units into operation by July 1. Upon full operation, it will save nearly 19.68 million tons of standard coal every year. At 16 million kilowatts, Baihetan Hydropower Station ranks second in the world in terms of total installed capacity. Per unit capacity ranks first in the world at 1 million kilowatts.

Hengyi Petrochemicals plans to sell $471 million of convertible bonds

Hengyi Petrochemicals Co. Ltd. said Monday it plans to issue as much as 3 billion yuan ($471 million) of convertible bonds. Proceeds will be mainly invested in a new functional fiber technology renovation project with annual capacity of 500,000 tons and a new environmentally friendly differentiated fiber project with an annual capacity of 1.1 million tons.

Contact editors Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and Bob Simison (bobsimison@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.
Heres todays ranking of the top 10 most-read domestic stories in China, in economics, finance and current affairs. We want to help you get a sense of whats trending in the Chinese language sphere.

Internet users continue to follow Chinas new three-child policy, honing in on coverage of measures being proposed to support the move. They are also concerned about the first human case of H10N3 bird flu identified in the eastern province of Jiangsu as well as the latest Covid-19 flare-up in the southern city of Shenzhen which has forced local authorities to suspend school gatherings.

1. National lawmaker advocates extending womens maternity leave to three years per child

Zhu Lieyu, a member of Chinas top legislature, the National Peoples Congress (NPC), said during an interview Monday (external link in Chinese) that maternity leave should be extended to three years, in response to the announcement of the new three-child policy by the countrys top leadership.

2. China reports first human case of H10N3 bird flu in Jiangsu province

The National Health Commission confirmed (external source in Chinese) Tuesday that a 41-year-old man living in Zhenjiang, East Chinas Jiangsu province, has been infected with H10N3 bird flu. After showing symptoms such as fever, the patient was hospitalized on April 28 and tested positive for H10N3 on Friday.

3. Chinas inactivated Covid-19 vaccine technology can quickly respond to mutations of the new coronavirus

Shao Yiming, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview (external source in Chinese) that China has been investigating new vaccines to tackle variants of the coronavirus, finding that the technical route of current inactivated vaccines is particularly suited to a rapid response in mutated strains.

4. Wang Zhonglin elected governor of Hubei province

Wang Zhonglin was elected (external source, in Chinese) governor of Central Chinas Hubei province during the sixth session of the 13th Provincial Peoples Congress on Sunday.

5. Chinas Politburo sets the tone for gradual retirement with experts suggesting a space for choice in Monday meeting

The Chinese Communist Partys Politburo on Monday suggested (external source, in Chinese) steadily implementing the extension of Chinas statutory retirement age during a meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping. Zhang Yinghua, an executive researcher at the World Social Insurance Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said although its necessary to postpone retirement, people close to retirement age should be given the choice to leave early or leave late.

6. Shenzhen has suspended school gathering activities due to its Covid-19 flare-up

Wang Shuifa, deputy director of the education bureau in Shenzhen, South Chinas Guangdong province, said (external source, in Chinese) at a press conference Sunday that all schools in the city should implement closed management, suspend large-scale gathering activities and carry out social-distancing measures in an effort to curb the local outbreak.

7. Taiwan confirms 355 new local infections

Taiwan reported 266 newly confirmed cases Sunday, all local infections. It also recorded 89 retroactively added cases, all locally transmitted, according to the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (external source).

8. China successfully launches the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft

Chinas cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-2 successfully docked with the space station core module Tianhe on Sunday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The cargo craft was launched Saturday from Chinas southern Hainan province, after a postponement due to technical issues.

9. Popular blogger sentenced to eight months in prison for defaming dead Chinese soldiers in India border clash

Qiu Ziming, an internet user with more than 2.5 million followers on Chinas twitter-like social media platform Weibo, was sentenced to eight months in prison (external source, in Chinese) for infringing the reputation and honor of heroes and martyrs, a court in the eastern city of Nanjing announced Monday. In February, Qiu posted two blogs distorting the heroic deeds of officers and soldiers guarding the border of China, the court said.

10. Chinese expert responds to questions over whether residents need to get vaccinated again after six months of vaccination

Shao Yiming, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview (external source, in Chinese) that relevant data is under analysis. He also said about half of all vaccinated people are estimated to have a certain defence ability against Covid-19.

Read the top 10 global news on the same day.

Translated by reporter Wang Xintong.

The daily ranking of most read news stories among Chinese people, about China and global affairs, is jointly provided to you by Caixin Insight and HANA Data, an artificial intelligence technology team.

The key indicators calculated on the list are based on mass data sourced from Chinas mainstream social media platforms and online news websites. Click here for a detailed introduction of our methodology.
Police later said they were questioning three individuals at the police station, according to a police Facebook post. They said the investigation into the incident is continuing, but there was no longer an ongoing search.
(Nikkei Asia)  Southeast Asian countries are set to expand imports of liquefied natural gas as the depletion of domestic gas reserves looms, setting the stage for a realignment in the global LNG market.

In the Philippines, major power utility First Gen begins construction on a $300 million offshore LNG intake terminal this month in Batangas, a port city in the southern portion of the main island of Luzon. The large-scale project is the first of its kind for the nation.

This is particularly important given the declining supply of the Malampaya resource, which the Philippines relies on for natural gas, said Jon Russell, chief commercial officer at First Gen, in a written interview. Malampaya is expected to run out by 2027.

First Gen will also redevelop an existing jetty into a multipurpose facility that will connect to the floating unit via an onshoring pipeline. LNG imports are slated to begin in the third quarter of 2022.

The LNG may come from many possible locations, including the Middle East, North America, Australia, Africa and Russia, Russell said.

The so-called floating storage regasification unit not only costs less to build than an onshore terminal but takes less time to construct. With an offshore carrying capacity of 162,400 cu. meters, the project will be one of the LNG industrys biggest.

First Gen is partnering with Tokyo Gas on the floating-terminal project. With Japan as the world's top LNG buyer, Tokyo Gas has built up years of expertise in importing the fuel and operating terminals.

Well utilize our strength and track record in the spread of LNG infrastructure in Southeast Asia, said Ken Yoshihara, chief of Tokyo Gas representative office in Manila.

The looming depletion of the Malampaya gas field exposes the Philippines to a risk of power shortages in the future. Natural gas accounts for 20% of the country's power generation, and electricity demand is projected to rise at least 5% a year through 2040.

There are plans to develop new gas fields, but that option is plagued by uncertainties due to disputes over territorial rights in the South China Sea  namely with China.

LNG, on the other hand, is highly anticipated to become a stable source of energy. Russell suggests that First Gen will further expand intake beyond the floating-terminal project.

First Gen will use its experience to introduce LNG to different parts of the Philippines, and is open to the possibility of utilizing its LNG experience and knowledge to develop international LNG projects, he said.

LNG is gaining traction as a fossil fuel of choice, since it emits less carbon dioxide than coal. Thailand is also moving to boost imports of LNG through both the public and private sectors.

State-owned PTT, formerly the Petroleum Authority of Thailand, used to maintain a virtual monopoly on LNG imports, but the government in 2020 awarded licenses to trade in LNG to private-sector utility Gulf Energy Development, as well as B.Grimm Power.

By opening up the LNG market, Thailand seeks to diversify supplies, bring in cheaper fuel and promote the domestic business.

Thailands native production of natural gas is also tracing a path toward depletion. LNG imports began in 2011, and plans are to bring in about 32 billion cu. meters in 2037  more than six times the 2018 volume. The LNG will come from nearby Malaysia as well as the Middle East.

Although Vietnam has yet to import LNG, the Petrovietnam group, the largest state-owned oil company, plans to start up an LNG terminal in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau as early as 2022. The site is among 10 or so LNG terminals in the works.

Southeast Asia accounted for about 5% of global LNG demand in 2020, according to Yutaka Shirakawa of the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. This is seen growing to around 13% in 2030, driving worldwide demand.

For Japan, which consumes around a fifth of the worlds LNG, and China, which is quickly stepping up procurement, Southeast Asia will become too important to ignore.

The region including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, India and Asia-Pacific countries other than China, Japan and South Korea will double LNG imports in 2023 compared with 2017, according to the International Energy Agency. Much of the increase will be driven by Southeast Asia's demand.

The trend will present Asian energy groups with plenty of business opportunities. Tokyo Gas expects to triple profit in overseas operations by 2030. Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines in particular are anticipated to drive earnings.

Such Japanese trading houses as Marubeni and Tokyo-based petroleum company Eneos Holdings are participating in LNG terminal and thermal power plant projects in Southeast Asia as well.

ASEAN will likely have a stronger impact on the LNG market in the future. The Asian LNG spot rate, which closely reflects supply-demand balance, is now 80% above the most recent trough in February.

Although long-term contracts predominate in big LNG contracts, the mounting consumption from Southeast Asia and China will likely lift prices in the overall market. The summer bump in LNG demand will compound the dynamic.

Asian demand as a whole will expand, Jogmecs Shirakawa said.

This story was first published in Nikkei Asia.

Download our app to receive breaking news alerts and read the news on the go.

Get our weekly free Must-Read newsletter.
The first-day gain was the eighth biggest of the year on a U.S. exchange, out of more than 450 listings of $100 million or more

Jun 12, 2021 01:02 PM
St. Johnsbury, VT (05819)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 49F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 49F. Winds light and variable.
Here you'll find our latest collection of Caledonian-Record reports on the coronavirus outbreak and local response, from the beginning of April. Our January, February and March stories are here: https://www.caledonianrecord.com/news/local/our-coronavirus-coverage/collection_5885178c-692e-11e
The video shared on social media, which appears to have been taken by a fellow employee, twice shows the customer on top of the employee, who is on the ground in the drive-thru lane. It also appears to show blood coming from the customers mouth. The beginning of the confrontation is not seen in the recording.
Become A Subscriber

A subscription opens up access to all our online content, including: our interactive E-Edition, a full archive of modern stories, exclusive and expanded online offerings, photo galleries from Caledonian-Record journalists, video reports from our media partners, extensive international, national and regional reporting by the Associated Press, and a wide variety of feature content.
News at 4Cs

Cape Cod Community College to Host Live Pinning Ceremony for 2021 Dental Hygiene Students

Cape Cod Community College will celebrate the 2021 graduates from their renowned Dental Hygiene program tonight, Wednesday, June 2, during a live ceremony on campus in Tilden Arts Center. The event, which will also be lived streamed via the Colleges YouTube channel, is the first face-to-face event on campus in more than a year.

The 2021 class very fittingly has 21 graduates that will be recognized during the pinning ceremony. Along with their pins, the event will also feature remarks from 4Cs President John Cox, Vice President Arlene Rodriguez, Program Director Marianne Dryer, and Student Speaker Riley McKinnon.

While the event is closed to the public, a small number of friends and family members will be in attendance in the Tilden Arts Center Theater for the ceremony following the relaxation on COVID-19 related guidelines by Governor Baker.

What: 4Cs Dental Hygiene Program Pinning Ceremony

When: Wednesday, June 2 at 6:00 p.m.

Where: Livestreaming on the 4Cs YouTube Channel

Who: 21 graduating Dental Hygiene Program students, President John Cox, Vice President Arlene Rodriguez, Program Director Marianne Dryer, Student Speaker Riley McKinnon.


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
Four adults, including Houle, his son and two friends, were in the home on Kara Court at the time of the fire. Houles sons friend heard the smoke detector going off and alerted others, fire officials said. Janozik said someone in the home tried to put out the fire, but were unable to control the blaze.
Do you have an athlete in mind that contributes to the team or sport, holds sportsmanship and team spirit, has epic playmaker moments and/or in general makes the the sports fun? If yes, please make your nominations for our edition of Athlete Spotlight.

CLICK TO NOMINATE
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission asks coastal residents to be on the lookout for chipmunks, like this one, and to report sightings of them on the coast. (Wikimedia photo)
China can play major role in Afghanistan's peace process: Afghan ambassador

Xinhua) 08:57, June 02, 2021

BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- China can play a major role in the peace process of Afghanistan, said Javid Ahmad Qaem, Afghan ambassador to China, Tuesday at a press conference in Beijing.

In a telephone conversation on May 17 with Hamdullah Mohib, national security advisor to the Afghan president, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China is ready to facilitate internal negotiations among various parties in Afghanistan, including creating necessary conditions for negotiations in China.

The ambassador said that Afghanistan appreciated China's offer to facilitate Afghan peace talks in the future.

As the region is more important than before in the peace process of Afghanistan, the ambassador believes that China can do more in helping secure lasting peace in Afghanistan.

China has many advantages that distinguishes it from others, he said.

Regarding Washington's planned withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan by September 2021, the ambassador said that the Afghan government respects Washington's decision.

"We are capable of defending our country and people," he said. "But we keep the doors for talks open."

In addition, the ambassador said Afghanistan is recording more than 900 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 every day and around 25 to 30 new deaths in the past 24 hours.

The Afghan government is closely working with the Chinese authorities to transport 700,000 doses of vaccines donated by China to Afghanistan, said the ambassador.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Bianji)
 Unless such person is again restored to his or her rights of citizenship that may have been forfeited under Illinois law as a result of a conviction, which includes eligibility to hold elected municipal office, by the terms of a pardon for the offense, has received a restoration of rights by the governor, or otherwise according to law, according to the amended bill.
The videos plastic-looking people owed their inspiration to an unlikely source: the last Indiana Jones film. Method & Madness also referenced it in an as-yet-unreleased project from the studio, in which debris bombards Doom Town, a 1950s-style nuclear test site in the Nevada desert that features in Indiana Jones.

We heavily referenced Indiana Jones IV [in both the unreleased project and Wasteminster], said Method & Madnesss cg director Alex Scollay. The idea was that the dummies had been through a few tests and they resembled beaten-up shop mannequins. That also made them easier to animate, because if wed rigged them to be poseable, it would have been a much more complicated endeavor.

The project built on relationships with directors van der Woerd and Dozy: Scollay had previously worked with Dozy in the digital matte painting team at Industrial Light & Magic. The directors gave us a lot of trust, noted Method & Madnesss executive president Wen Hao Tan. The concept developed from Alex [Scollay] playing with technology, which the directors realized could be visualized for the Greenpeace campaign. Studio Birthplace is very interested in the sustainability angle.

The mannequin concept inspired a modular approach to the creation of 150 characters using a mix and match of body parts. Figures were based on three body shapes, one female and one male head, clothed and textured to represent a diverse mix. Multicultural inclusion extended to a pair of pigeons and a brown-and-white tabby representing long-time Number 10 resident Larry the Cat. Scollays tabby, Yoshi, provided Larrys sad meow.

Method & Madness built environments from satellite data. The production used Google Maps to guide proportions and layout, and an online tour of Downing Street for virtual location scouting. Digital artist Pilipino Reyes then used a commercial asset of the location and photo reference to model one interior, with Abdul Rahman handling the texturing and shading of exteriors, working in Adobe Substance and Maxon Redshift.

The 3d environment extended to background trees and St Jamess Park featured in a climactic crane shot. Dozy drew on his matte painting experience to add 2d elements to the London horizon.

To fill the street with trash, Method & Madness referenced statistical breakdowns. Greenpeace gave us a spreadsheet of incredible granularity for the trash, says Scollay. There were beauty products, toothbrushes, shampoo bottles, plastic wrap, plastic films  67.7 million items. When I first tried to simulate 67.7 million assets, my computer died.

To create a manageable pile, Method & Madness incorporated assets into dynamic simulations in Tyflow  a particle animation system developed by Canadian visual effects artist Tyson Ibele  which Scollay choreographed in spherical clusters.

We simulated a trash-ball of 1,000 items, he explains. We then dropped those trash-balls onto Downing Street to approximate the volume. In reality, plastic would compress at that scale, so it was an approximation. But we calculated the volume and worked back from that. Tyflow was amazing. It was like having SideFX Houdini inside of 3ds Max, only it was super-simple to use.

Directing the tumbling morass required a layered approach. Greenpeace had specific requirements as to what we could and couldnt do with Boris and Gove, notes Scollay. We initially had the windows at Number 10 implode and blow Gove away. That was too violent, so we ran a sim to see what the sim would do. We then ran another pass and I hand-animated Gove so he was at the right position.

To plant Johnson in the trash, like a figurehead buoyed on the tide, Scollay keyframe-animated the prime ministers trajectory and dressed cascades around his geometry. I hand-animated Boris, with a bit of a noise control so he had some natural motion. I then re-simmed the sim, so it flowed around Boris. I developed three or four different sim rigs using a fake pile of geometry to bulk it out. It was very controllable and we could respond to specific performance notes.

Adding to the frenetic energy, Method & Madness placed a virtual camera rig in its directors hands and captured compositions with visceral real-time physicality. The rig used an Oculus Rift headset, modified to fit a shoulder-mounted camera rig and other grip equipment, using the Marui Vcat plugin for Autodesk Maya developed by Max Krichenbauer in Osaka, Japan.

Our director ran around Number 10 in virtual reality, Scollay explains. He could see the sim, Gove, and the room in vr while he was in our office, ducking behind cg pieces of furniture, reacting as trash came by. That also gave us depth of field, focus pulls, and motion blur in 3d with physically based values in Redshift at render time. It was as close to physically correct as possible.

The Substance/Redshift pipeline allowed art-direction nuances that embraced a clean and sunny look despite the horrific subject matter. Our early testing dialed in the look, says Scollay. Once we were in production, the only things we changed were certain supermarket brands. We started with Sainsburys bags visible. Greenpeace told us, actually, Sainsburys is doing the right thing with their plastics, so they asked us to take them out. We changed source textures in Substance and exchanged the branding without re-simming. Theres a lot of Tesco in there now.

The production was completed in four and a half months. Ive worked with Jorik since 2014, so we have a shorthand, says Scollay. The notes were very clear. It always helps when your directors understand cgi.

Watch Method & Madnesss making-of video for Wasteminster below:
Photo: The Canadian Press

An internal audit found that federal prison staff improperly intercepted communication between an inmate and their lawyer in 10 per cent of cases reviewed, amounting to possible breaches of solicitor-client privilege.

The newly released Correctional Service of Canada audit also discovered that a lack of guidance and training led to other "significant compliance issues," including failure to support or document grounds for snooping on prisoners' conversations.

In addition, there were insufficient safeguards to ensure legal and policy obligations were met with respect to later notifying inmates that their communications had been intercepted.

The audit says the issues went largely undetected due to poor quality assurance and a lack of monitoring and reporting activity.

The prison service has legal authority in many instances to intercept inmate communications  including letters, telephone calls and conversations during the course of a visit  without receiving prior authorization from a court.

It says lawful monitoring of inmate communications is sometimes necessary in order to maintain the safety and security of prisons.

The auditors stress that given the implications for an inmate's privacy, it is essential the prison service have an effective framework in place to ensure interceptions respect the law.

"We found that several of the key activities associated with the communication intercept process were not always compliant with requirements," the April 2021 audit report says.

The Correctional Service agreed with the audit findings and recommendations and prepared a detailed plan to address the various issues. The plan is slated for full implementation by the end of this month.

The reviewers visited federal institutions in different parts of the country, interviewed staff and examined samples of intercepted communications. The first phase focused on intercepts that were approved and completed from Jan. 1, 2017, to June 22, 2018. A second phase looked at ones between Nov. 1, 2018, and April 12, 2019.

Prison officials are not permitted to intercept privileged communications unless specific legal requirements are met. Privileged communications include correspondence and conversations between inmates and legal counsel, the correctional investigator, various elected politicians, consular officials, the federal human rights commission, and the information and privacy commissioners.

In the first phase of the audit, telephone communication between an inmate and their lawyer "was intercepted without approval" in eight of 79 files reviewed, just over 10 per cent, "resulting in a potential breach of solicitor-client privilege."

The auditors suggest problems stemmed in part from confusion over the need to ensure lawyers' phone numbers were excluded from lists related to potential intercepts.

John Struthers, president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association, called the prison service's unauthorized interceptions involving legal counsel systemic abuse of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"It's outrageous. Heads should roll," said Struthers, whose organization has 1,700 members and serves as a voice for criminal justice and civil liberties.

"Anybody who countenanced this, knew about it, permitted it or encouraged it should be removed from their position immediately," he said.

"It is critically important that people who are charged with crimes have the right to retain and instruct counsel without delay in privacy."
Photo: The Canadian Press

Isaac Herzog, a veteran politician and the scion of a prominent Israeli family, was elected president Tuesday, a largely ceremonial role that is meant to serve as the nations moral compass and promote unity.

Herzog is set to become Israel's 11th president after securing 87 votes in a secret ballot among the 120 members of the Knesset, or parliament. He will succeed Reuven Rivlin, who leaves office next month at the end of a seven-year term.

I intend to be the president of everyone," Herzog said after the votes were tallied. "We must defend Israels international status and its good reputation in the family of nations, fight antisemitism and hatred of Israel, and preserve the pillars of our democracy. 

Herzog, 60, is a former head of Israels Labor Party and opposition leader who unsuccessfully ran against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the 2015 parliamentary elections.

He comes from a prominent Zionist family. His father, Chaim Herzog, was Israels ambassador to the United Nations before being elected president. His uncle, Abba Eban, was Israels first foreign minister and ambassador to the United Nations and United States. His grandfather was the countrys first chief rabbi.

Herzog defeated Miriam Peretz, 67, an educator who was seen as a down-to-earth outsider close to the country's dominant conservative and nationalist political camp.

Herzog has served as head of the Jewish Agency, a nonprofit that works closely with the government to promote immigration to Israel, for the past three years since resigning from parliament. He was widely seen as the favorite because of his deep ties to the political establishment. He will hold office for a single seven-year term starting July 9.

The president is tasked with tapping a political party leader to form governing coalitions after parliamentary elections. Israel has held four national elections in the past two years amid a protracted political crisis.

Netanyahu's opponents faced a midnight deadline Wednesday to put together a new coalition government. If they fail, the country could be plunged into another election campaign.

The president also has the power to grant pardons  creating a potentially sensitive situation as Netanyahu stands trial for a series of corruption charges.

The title of first citizen and the task of guarding the character of the state of Israel, particularly at this point in time, are heavy responsibilities, Rivlin said in a statement congratulating his successor. I have no doubt that you will bear them superbly.
Photo: Marco Verch / Flickr

Are you excited to pack your bags for a holiday in the near future?

While you may not be thrilled to hug a stranger anytime soon (or ever), the prospect of sipping a cocktail on an endless, glistening white sand beach while you watch the ocean waves gently lap the shore might not sound like the worst idea.

At this point, most Canadians who have abided by travel restrictions feel hungry for travel  even if it's just across the country or south of the border.

But not everyone feels thrilled about the prospect of hitting the road early.

Not only will travellers have to contend with new protocols in resorts and on cruises, but they will also likely have to carry a vaccine passport (depending on where they are headed, of course).

Vaccine passports are already required upon entry for several countries around the world; many countries that don't require proof of vaccination plan to in the coming weeks and months, too.

And that's good news for travellers hoping to avoid quarantine.

Travel without quarantine requirements

While not all countries will lift the quarantine exemption, several of them have stated that travellers may skip quarantine requirements with proof of vaccination.

For example, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) recently announced that Phuket will be the first destination in Thailand to reopen to vaccinated foreign tourists without quarantine requirements starting July 1.

Countries in the European Union have also released EU Digital COVID Certificates on June 1. According to the European Commission, this document will become available in all EU Member States as of July 1 and facilitate safe free movement of citizens in the EU. However, it "will not be a pre-condition to free movement, which is a fundamental right in the EU."

Some countries are also already accepting foreign tourists with vaccine certificates without quarantine requirements but still require them to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test.

Barbados now allows fully vaccinated tourists who come with a valid negative COVID-19 PCR test, carried out no more than three days prior to travel; they will also have a standard or Rapid COVID-19 PCR test on arrival at the airport or their approved accommodation.

Is there a standard vaccine certificate?

Countries around the world are issuing vaccine certificates to their citizens, but there isn't a global standard.

According to The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the trade association for the worlds airlines, one of the significant issues future travellers will face with vaccine passports is added time to their journeys.

"Current data indicates that airport processing times have ballooned to [three] hours during peak time with travel volumes at only about [30 per cent] of pre-COVID-19 levels," explains a news release.

IATA found that the most significant increases in travel time happened at check-in and border control (emigration and immigration) "where travel health credentials are being checked mainly as paper documents." Modelling suggested that these wait times could increase to over five hours without improvements, too.

To improve air travel efficiency, the association has created the IATA Travel Pass: a mobile app that helps travellers to store and manage their verified certifications for COVID-19 tests or vaccines.

IATA says "It is more secure and efficient than current paper processes used to manage health requirements (the International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis, for example)." This is important given the potentially enormous scale of testing or vaccine verifications that will need to be securely managed.

The IATA Travel pass is being tested by over 30 airlines globally and aims to "facilitate a global registry of health requirements." Passengers will also find accurate information on travel, health and testing requirements for their journey.

To date, no Canadian airlines have signed on to participate, however, the test phase does include several airlines that serve Canadian airports, including Qantas, British Airways, and Japan Airlines.

There are some ethical considerations with vaccine passports, however. The World Health Organization (WHO) cites vaccine inequality as one of the reasons why they shouldn't be required for entry. That said, the WHO Smart Vaccination Working Group is developing standards for a digital vaccination certificate that would serve current and future requirements.

Reuters reports that there is also growing opposition against the use of vaccine passports within the United Kingdom.

Where to travel in 2021

The Government of Canada continues to advise against travel outside of the country, so it isn't a good idea to book a holiday overseas right now.

But if COVID-19 cases continue to trend down and vaccination levels increase, Canadians might be able to start thinking of travelling outside of the country by the late summer or early fall.

Here are some of the countries that have shared plans to use proof of vaccination to ease tourism in summer 2021.

Barbados

Belize

Croatia

Cyprus

Ecuador

Estonia

France

Georgia

Turkey

Greece

Hawaii (USA)

Hungary

Iceland

Lebanon

Lithuania

Malta

Montenegro

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Seychelles

Slovenia

Spain

Thailand

Note: This is a working list for 2021 that may change over the coming months due to the pandemic.
Photo: The Canadian Press Ayelet Shaked, left, and Naftali Bennett, parliament members from Yamina party, chat during a special session of the Knesset, whereby Israeli lawmakers elect a new president, at the plenum in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. (Ronen Zvulun/Pool Photo via AP)

JERUSALEM (AP)  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus opponents on Wednesday announced they have reached a deal to form a new governing coalition, paving the way for the ouster of the longtime Israeli leader.

The dramatic announcement by opposition leader Yair Lapid and his main coalition partner, Naftali Bennett, came shortly before a midnight deadline and prevented the country from plunging into what would have been its fifth consecutive election in just over two years.

This government will work for all the citizens of Israel, those that voted for it and those that didnt. It will do everything to unite Israeli society, Lapid said.

Under the agreement, Lapid and Bennett will split the job of prime minister in a rotation. Bennett will serve the first two years, while Lapid is to serve the final two years. The historic deal also includes a small Islamist party, the United Arab List, which would make it the first Arab party ever to be part of a governing coalition.

The agreement still needs to be approved by the Knesset, or parliament, in a vote that is expected to take place early next week. If it goes through, Lapid and a diverse array of partners that span the Israeli political spectrum will end the record-setting 12-year rule of Netanyahu.

Netanyahu, desperate to remain in office while he fights corruption charges, is expected to do everything possible in the coming days to prevent the new coalition from taking power. If he fails, he will be pushed into the opposition.

Netanyahu has attempted to put pressure on hard-liners in the emerging coalition to defect and join his religious and nationalist allies. Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin, a member of Netanyahu's Likud party, may also use his influence to delay the required parliamentary vote.

Lapid called on Levin to convene the Knesset for the vote as soon as possible.

Netanyahu has been the most dominant player in Israeli politics over the past three decades  serving as prime minister since 2009 in addition to an earlier term in the late 1990s.

Despite a long list of achievements, including last years groundbreaking diplomatic agreements with four Arab countries, he has become a polarizing figure since he was indicted on charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in 2019.

Each of the past four elections was seen as a referendum on Netanyahus fitness to rule. And each ended in deadlock, with both Netanyahus supporters as well as his secular, Arab and dovish opponents falling short of a majority. A unity government formed with his main rival last year collapsed after just six months.

The new deal required a reshuffling of the Israeli political constellation. Three of the parties are led by hard-line former Netanyahu allies who had personal feuds with him, while the United Arab List made history as a kingmaker, using its leverage to seek benefits for the country's Arab minority.

This is the first time an Arab party is a partner in the formation of a government, the party's leader, Mansour Abbas, told reporters. This agreement has a lot of things for the benefit of Arab society, and Israeli society in general.

Lapid, 57, entered parliament in 2013 after a successful career as a newspaper columnist, TV anchor and author. His new Yesh Atid party ran a successful rookie campaign, landing Lapid the powerful post of finance minister.

But he and Netanyahu did not get along, and the coalition quickly crumbled. Yesh Atid has been in the opposition since 2015 elections. The party is popular with secular, middle-class voters and has been critical of Netanyahus close ties with ultra-Orthodox parties and said the prime minister should step down while on trial for corruption charges.

Bennett, meanwhile, is a former top aide to Netanyahu whose small Yamina party caters to religious and nationalist hard-liners. Bennett was a successful high-tech entrepreneur and leader of the West Bank settler movement before entering politics.

It is far from certain that their coalition will last that long. In order to secure the required parliamentary majority, Lapid had to bring together eight parties that have little in common.

Their partners range from a pair of dovish, left-wing parties that support broad concessions to the Palestinians to three hard-line parties that oppose Palestinian independence and support West Bank settlements. Lapid's Yesh Atid and Blue and White, a centrist party headed by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and the United Arab List are the remaining members.

The coalition members are hoping their shared animosity to Netanyahu, coupled with the agreement that another election must be avoided, will provide enough incentive to find some common ground.

Today, we succeeded. We made history, said Merav Michaeli, leader of the dovish Labor Party.

The negotiations went down to the wire, with Labor and Yamina feuding over the makeup of a parliamentary committee.

Earlier this week, when Bennett said he would join the coalition talks, he said that everyone would have to compromise and give up parts of their dreams. During the recent election campaign, Bennett had publicly vowed never to share power with Lapid or an Arab party. But facing the prospect of another unwanted election, Bennett, like the others, found flexibility.

In order to form a government, a party leader must secure the support of a 61-seat majority in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament. Because no single party controls a majority on its own, coalitions are usually built with smaller partners. Thirteen parties of various sizes are in the current parliament.

As leader of the largest party, Netanyahu was given the first opportunity by the countrys figurehead president to form a coalition. But he was unable to secure a majority with his traditional religious and nationalist allies.

Netanyahu, who in the past has incited against Israels Arab minority, even attempted to court the United Arab List but was thwarted by a small ultranationalist party.

After Wednesday's coalition deal was announced, that party, the Religious Zionists, angrily accused Bennett of betraying Israel's right wing.

We won't forget and we won't forgive, said Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionists.

After Netanyahus failure to form a government, Lapid was then given four weeks to cobble together a coalition. That window was set to expire at midnight.

Lapid already faced a difficult challenge bringing together such a disparate group of partners. But then war broke out with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip on May 10. The fighting, along with the eruption of Arab-Jewish mob violence in Israeli cities during the war, put the coalition talks on hold.

But after a cease-fire was reached on May 21, the negotiations resumed, and Lapid raced to sew up a deal. He reached a breakthrough on Sunday when Bennett, a former ally of Netanyahu, agreed to join the opposition coalition.
Re: Catholic parish sign protested

We recognize that this is an emotional and painful time for many of our Indigenous brothers and sisters and for all of us. We stand in solidarity with them.

It is with sadness that we received the report of a recent discovery of childrens graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School on the Tkemlups te Secwepemc First Nation.



Yesterday, I went to Holy Cross school to pray with the teachers and students. We observed a moment of silence to honour these precious little ones. In solidarity, we all wore orange and our flag was and continues to be flown half-mast.



I had phoned one of the Chiefs at the Penticton Indian Reserve to express our sadness over the tragic event that happened in Kamloops. We stand in solidarity with all our Indigenous brothers and sisters.



The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a statement in which they express their deepest sorrow for the heartrending loss of the children. The letter highlights that the shocking discovery rekindles trauma in numerous communities across the land. Honouring the dignity of these little ones demands that the truth be brought to light, it stresses. The letter concludes thus: We lift up prayers to the Lord for the children who have lost their lives and pledge our close accompaniment of Indigenous families and communities.



Our Bishop, Most Rev. Gregory Bittman, is asking everyone in our diocese to join him in offering our thoughts and prayers to the members of the Tkemlups Te Secwepemc, to pray for spiritual healing and for the repose of the souls of the children.



Please could you join me in prayer:



O God, our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come;

Our shelter from the stormy blast and our eternal home.



Father, forgive us for the mistakes of the past;

Help us to build a future together in which there is no subordination or domination: a future in which the dignity of all is upheld, a future in which we honour, respect and love the other. Help us to start today and not wait any longer.



Heal families that are suffering; families that are traumatized. Heal us for we all belong to one human family. Heal our land. Protect the children of the world.



Give us your Holy Spirit to find a true path to reconciliation and justice.



May the mistakes and evil of the past not close the door to the good that we can do together in the present, to the love that can be lived today. Help us to begin again.



Jesus, give us the strength to gaze on your Cross where forgiveness, healing and mercy begins. May the day of resurrection from pain and sorrow come quickly.



Eternal rest grant unto these precious little ones and let perpetual light shine on them. May they rest in peace

-Father Sylvester Obi Ibekwe, Catholic Parishes of Penticton
Two little girls from Utah miraculously survived after driving their family cars for miles, getting on an expressway, jumping a median, and crashing head-on into a semi-truck. (KSL, CNN)
He brought Silva to the rural Hebron home as backup, in case something went wrong during the robbery for Kerner, Cantrell said. His client got a strange vibe, and went into the basement, then recorded the murders on his phone from there.
Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription, or activate your access, to continue reading.
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
Danville Police arrested a suspect in a pair of armed robberies; The suspect in a bizarre probe in Caswell County is behind bars; Another big vaccination clinic is set for Saturday in Danville; The slate of candidates is decided in this fall's city and county elections.
New vehicle sales in Hamilton County dropped in May with new vehicle sales at 1,255 and used vehicle sales dropped to 3,995, according to figures from the County Clerk's office.

That compares to 839 new vehicles sold and 4,501 used vehicles sold in May, 2020.



Totals for May included 319 new cars and 936 new trucks sold. They included 1,725 used cars and 2,270 used trucks sold.
Its likely because the box is 160,000 square feet. They are going to have to either demolish the building or divide it up until smaller tenants. There are no users looking for that size of space, Sivertsen said.
(John Anthony Smith, president of the fast-growing Conversant Group on the Southside, advises on Internet security after recent attacks by cyber gangs - first on a U.S. pipeline company and now a huge beef producer.)

Just weeks after attackers shut down Colonial Pipeline, JBS, the second largest meat producer of beef, pork, and chicken in the U.S., is experiencing disrupted production due to a recent ransomware attack.





Unfortunately, the world has changed and threat actors are far more sophisticated than they once were. In many cases, the capabilities of the threat actors are outpacing those of the defenders. Conversant Group regularly aids companies, like JBS, in recovery from ransomware and other types of cyber events. It absolutely breaks my heart to see companies and their customers suffer from these heinous crimes.





A JBS shutdown, even for one day, would be equivalent to the loss of 25 percent of the U.S.s beef processing capacity. Any necessary shutdown, or delayed production, will result in increased prices. While the threat actors get rich, their actions compound suffering for low income communities.





It seems, based on public statements, that JBS has protected its ability to recover; however, the ability to recover still, often, doesnt translate to instant or rapid recovery. We, at Conversant Group, are devoted to defending companies from these types of crimes, and our hope is to save as many as possible from this suffering. Defense is always less expensive than recovery.

Our prayers are with the IT and third party recovery and forensics teams as they work endlessly to get their systems back online. We know, first hand, the toll the recovery from these events take on the IT staff involved. We are sure there are many people not sleeping tonight while they put this environment back together.





As business leaders, we must evolve our defenses and continually attempt to outpace the attackers.

* * *

John Anthony Smith can be reached at:
Tracy Lynn Sheldon-Malamphy has been charged by Cleveland Police in the Aug. 24, 2020, drug death of Joseph Thomas, who was found dead at his apartment in Cleveland.

Following a lengthy investigation by Cleveland Police Departments Detective Matt Landolt of the Criminal Investigations Division, it was determined that the victim had died of a drug overdose related to fentanyl.

On May 24, Ms. Sheldon-Malamphy was arrested on an indictment by the Bradley County Grand Jury for second-degree murder, sell/delivery of Schedule II Fentanyl, and conspiracy to sell/deliver Schedule II Fentanyl.

She is currently being held on a $100,000 appearance bond.
The Hamilton County Commission was unable to replace a former Commissioner after no candidate received the necessary five votes on Wednesday morning. The Commission continued the process of replacing former Commissioner Chester Bankston, who recently left for Floridas sunny skies. Chairman Chip Baker said several applied, and more would be able to recommend candidates.

We received responses from eight individuals, said Chairman Baker, who noted that people in the audience could also come up to nominate candidates.

None did though.

Three Commissioners nominated three different candidates, and each candidate was given a chance to speak before the Commission voted on Mr. Bankstons replacement. The first was Jeff Eversole, who cited his business experience.

Ive spent 25 years in the business sector of it, and helped manage almost a billion dollar business. I didnt plan on doing this, but Ill always tell you whats on my mind, do what is right, and take care of the people around me. East Hamilton county needs someone who isnt just thinking about what is happening currently, but where we are going. Not just ten years down the road, but 15 years down the road.

The next candidate was Shannon Stephenson, who also cited her understanding of finances as a strong point on her resume.

It was no lighthearted decision to throw my name in the hat. Im very proud of the community I serve, Ms. Stephenson said. I feel what I have to offer is going to benefit both you and our community. I understand finances, and the budget is one of the largest parts of your job. I would be more than ecstatic to have your vote today, but no matter what you do, please do the best for my district.

The last candidate was Dean Moorhouse, who has ties to the Hamilton County Pachyderm club.

I learned a lot about you, and hopefully you learned about me as well. In a few minutes, youre going to make a big decision about District 9. Unlike those gentlemen (who served before me), I have no desire to seek a higher office. I pledge to the residents of District 9 that I will not seek a higher office.

in 2016-17, I had the privilege of serving on a planning committee for the development of Ooltewah, Apison, and Collegedale. Ooltewah is the crown jewel, but not every part of Ooltewah has been fortunate. I have a plan and I think the HWY 58 area is ripe for development. WE have infrastructure and miles of waterways. I have reached out to people within the community, and theyre willing to take a look at it.

On the first vote, Commissioners Boyd, Fairbanks, and Smedley voted for Mr. Moorhouse, Commissioners Geter, Mackey, and Sharpe voted for Ms. Stephenson, and Commissioners Baker and Martin voted for Mr. Eversole. Because Mr. Eversole only received two votes, he was eliminated from the second round of voting.

Upon the second vote, Commissioners Boyd, Fairbanks, Smedley and Baker all voted for Moorhouse, while Commissioners Geter, Mackey, and Sharpe voted for Ms. Stephenson. Commissioner Greg Martin passed twice, which meant neither candidate received the needed five votes to be appointed as Commissioner.

Commissioner Martin said later, "We need a Conservative Republican to fill the District 9 seat on the County Commission. I believe Jeff Eversole is the best of those that applied."

We had no majority, Chairman Baker said. Were going to go ahead with this process, and since were at an impasse, well move this to our next scheduled meeting. Well take it up next week in our recessed meeting.
In 1971, the Red Bank Jaycees made a proposal for the City to form a fire department and take over fire protection for the community. Prior to 1971, Red Banks fire service was provided by a private company on a subscription basis. The proposal and the funding was approved and today, Red Bank Fire Department marks a milestone by proudly providing 50 years of fire protection services to the City.



Red Banks first fire station was built behind City Hall in 1971 and remained there until 1999 when Fire Station #1 moved to its current location at 3127 Dayton Boulevard. The City purchased its first new fire engine in 1973  a Pierce Pumper with a 750 gallon water tank that could pump 1000 gallon per minute.



The need to provide better fire protection and quicker response time for the community was resolved in 1981 when Fire Station #2 was added at 4901 Dayton Boulevard. Today, the Red Bank Fire Department operates out of both stations which are manned 24 hours a day. The Citys firefighters consist of members who work full-time as their career, those who receive compensation for working part-time shifts and are paid on call, and volunteer members who receive no compensation for services rendered.



One of Red Banks earlier volunteer firefighters, Fire Chief Mark Mathews, began his firefighting career with the City in 1975 before becoming full-time in 1976. He holds the distinction of being only the fourth Fire Chief since the City took over fire protection services. Mathews has been instrumental in the progress and growth of the Department and in 2015, Fire Station #1 was named the Mark A. Mathews Fire Station. He has announced that he will be retiring June 4 after 45 years of service.



I was appointed Fire Chief in 1989, said Chief Mathews, and it has been an honor and privilege to lead the RBFD over the years. When I joined as a volunteer firefighter in 1975, I never would have imagined in my wildest dreams the advancements that have been made in the fire service and the Red Bank Fire Department. Carry on RBFD for another fifty years!



During his tenure, Chief Mathews worked to assure that all members of the Red Bank Fire Department are State Certified Fire Fighters. Included in this membership are Rescue

Technicians, Hazardous Materials Technicians, Paramedics, and Emergency Medical Technicians. As a result from the training and certifications, the Department is able to respond not only to fires, but also provides rescue services, hazardous materials response, service calls and public education programs.



Continuously going through training, the Citys firefighters are abreast of the latest strategies and tactics and are an effective, well-coordinated department with standard methods and procedures of operation. As a result, the Red Bank Fire Department has a Class 3 ISO rating, providing first class fire protection to the community for 50 years.
Marsha seems obsessed with Dr. Fauci. Does it always have to be about her? I wish it was more about us. If it was more about us, instead of Marsha, she would be hard at work finding compromise on the federal infrastructure bill. No other city in the nation would benefit more from the infrastructure bill than Chattanooga. But Marsha has never read the bill and does not ... (click for more)
The Tennessee Supreme Court has determined that the Tennessee statute that limits noneconomic damages in a personal injury action to $750,000 is a single cap for all claims asserted in the personal injury action. The cap, therefore, does not apply separately to a spouse's loss of consortium claim.

This healthcare liability action was brought by Cynthia Yebuah and her husband, Eric Yebuah, against several of Mrs. Yebuahs healthcare providers and their employers. A portion of a Gelport device was unintentionally left inside Mrs. Yebuahs abdomen during kidney surgery. The Gelport device remained inside Mrs. Yebuahs body for eight years until it was discovered during an unrelated gallbladder surgery. Mrs. Yebuah subsequently filed suit seeking only noneconomic damages against certain physicians and their employers. Her husband likewise sought recovery for noneconomic damages in the form of loss of consortium. All defendants except the Center for Urological Treatment (Center) were eventually dismissed. The jury returned a verdict against the Center and awarded Mrs. Yebuah $4,000,000 for pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. The jury also awarded Mr. Yebuah $500,000 for loss of consortium.

The trial court determined that the statutory cap of $750,000 on noneconomic damages applied in this case; however, the court applied the cap separately to each plaintiff. The trial court entered a judgment of $750,000 in favor of Mrs. Yebuah and $500,000 in favor of Mr. Yebuah  for a total of $1,250,000 in noneconomic damages.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial courts decision to apply the statutory cap separately to each plaintiff. The Supreme Court granted permission to appeal to address whether the statutory cap on noneconomic damages applies separately to a spouses loss of consortium claim.

In an opinion released Wednesday, the majority of the Supreme Court held the language of Tennessee Code Annotated section 29-39-102 allows both plaintiffs to recover only $750,000 in the aggregate for noneconomic damages. The Court also determined that any argument by Mrs. and Mr. Yebuah that the statutory cap on noneconomic damages is unconstitutional has been resolved by the Courts holding in McClay v. Airport Management Services, LLC. To that end, the Supreme Court reversed the holding of the Court of Appeals and trial court.

Justice Sharon G. Lee, joined by Justice Cornelia A. Clark, dissented, concluding that the jury did its job by returning a verdict that fairly compensated Mr. and Mrs. Yebuah for their noneconomic losses. The cap on noneconomic damages required the trial court to set aside an arbitrary amount of the jurys verdict, thus violating the Yebuahs constitutional right to trial by jury. According to the dissenting justices, the cap on noneconomic damages, however it is applied, is unconstitutional as explained in their dissenting opinions in McClay v. Airport Management Services, LLC.

To read the opinion in Cynthia E. Yebuah, et.al. v. Center for Urological Treatment, PLC, authored by Justice Roger A. Page, and Justice Lees separate dissenting opinion, visit the opinions section of TNCourts.gov.
A man charged with raping a preteen girl is in custody.

Police responded to a rape report on Monday on an incident said to have occurred two years ago. Police said they spoke to the victim, who was younger than 13, and said she told her sister that she had been raped by Carlos Lopez, 22. She told police that Lopez had offered her money to have sex, and raped her several times on different days.

Lopez was on scene and police said he agreed to answer questions.

Police said they read him his Miranda rights in Spanish and it was recorded on a body camera. Police said Lopez was very sorry for what he did two years ago and admitted to raping the victim twice.

The victims father was on-scene and said he wished to prosecute Lopez.
Dani Soares from Below Deck Sailing Yacht said she looked forward to playdates with Hannah Ferrier from Below Deck Mediterranean and it appears that those mommy meetups are happening immediately.

Ferrier was the special guest on the Below Deck Sailing Yacht Pita Party while Soares recovered from childbirth. Soares delivered a healthy baby girl only days earlier and lives near Ferrier in Sydney, Australia. Ferrier told hosts Alli Dore and Daisy Kelliher she planned to pop over to visit Soares, meet her daughter, and offer help.

Hannah Ferrier from Below Deck Mediterranean appeared on WWHL | Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank

Hannah Ferrier from Below Deck Med plans to give Dani Soares some mommy breaks

Soares made it clear she plans to raise her child alone. Im going to go see [Soares] tomorrow, to drop off a bunch of stuff, Ferrier shared. And to just like give her a little nap and I can take the baby for a bit. Let her wash her hair or something because its so weird when youre used to the life that we live. Or lived  past tense for you honey. Ferrier and the hosts laughed.

But its almost like one of the greatest pleasures I found in the first few months was like washing my hair, Ferrier recalled. And its so weird because a big thing was a girls night out and getting drunk. And getting hungover and ordering Uber Eats. Now youre like, Id just like to shave my legs. That would be my dream.

The only person that will keep my smiling while I travel with a broken foot pic.twitter.com/GSz7UedRR4  Hannah Ferrier  New Online Yachting Course (@hannahferrier_) May 7, 2021

RELATED: Below Deck Captains Reveal Their Wildest Charter Guests  With a Few Surprises

Ferrier told her fiance Josh Roberts she planned to visit Soares. And he knows me so if she needs help Ill be over there all the time, Ferrier laughed. Hes like just please look after yourself as well. Kelliher and Dore, who are close with Soares said the new mom will be super grateful to have the help and support.

Soares is still new to the area and is there without the support of her family. I had my mom, I had Josh, Ferrier said. And I was still like Ill never forget one time at 3 a.m. in the morning I was on the toilet crying, Oh my God youve made such a mistake. Like whats going on, what is your life? Its very fleeting moments, but its a lot at the start.

Dani Soares from Below Deck Sailing says her work friends have been supportive

Soares told Showbiz Cheat Sheet that while her family was still in Brazil and not quite able to travel, she formed a support system at work.

I dont have my family here, unfortunately, Soares said. I couldnt bring my mom because of COVID. And thats really sad because obviously you really want your mom there.

RELATED: Below Deck Sailing Yacht: Erica Rose and Barrie Drewitt-Barlow Were the Toughest Guests, but Who Left the Biggest Tip?

But the place I work at now, people are so amazing, she said. My coworkers are being so supportive. I only work with women and theyre just like, Were here for you and well babysit, well take care of you. And Im like Oh my God, you guys are amazing.

Soares also looked forward to those playdates with Ferrier and her daughter too. Weve talked a little bit, Soares said in early May. Shes been on holiday for a little while. But as soon as shes back well definitely catch up for a coffee or get to exchange those mommy stories.
Rapper Coi Leray is beginning to make a name for herself in music and recently got her first Billboard Hot 100 hit with No More Parties. In the single, she threw shots at her dad. Who is her father?

Coi Leray attends Universal Music Group Hosts 2020 Grammy After Party | Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage/Getty Images

Coi Leray is known for hit song, Huddy

Born May 11, 1997, in Boston, Massachusetts, Brittany Coi Leray Collins is currently 24-years-old. Raised in New Jersey, she began making music at 14 and dropped out of school two years later.

The artist then began working in sales before quitting to focus on music solely. She released her first single, G.A.N., in 2017 on Soundcloud under the moniker Coi Leray, inspired by the Japanese fish koi.

RELATED: Trippie Redd Calls This Lifes a Trip Single His Favorite Song Hes Made in His Career

The rapper began making noise the following year with the hit Huddy and her debut mixtape, Everythingcoz. She released her next mixtape, EC2, in Jan. 2019 before featuring in rapper Trippie Redds Lifes a Trip tour.

In Aug. 2020, she dropped her first extended play, Now or Never, and released the single No More Parties in Jan. 2021, which became her first Billboard Hot 100 song.

In 2019, Leray and Redd announced they began dating and frequently updated their social media accounts with pictures and videos featuring each other. However, they called it quits after a few months.

Following their breakup, Redd threw shots at his ex-girlfriend in two songs included on his Nov. 2019 album, A Love Letter to You 4, titled Coi and Leray. She later responded to the songs on her Twitter by calling him a b***h and then joined the No Jumper podcast, where she discussed her former relationship in more detail.

Trippie Redd and Coi Leray deleted all of their photos together and unfollowed each other looks like theyre broken up pic.twitter.com/HALd1YzxI4  No Jumper (@nojumper) August 25, 2019

While the rapper noted she didnt regret her introduction as Redds girlfriend, noting they had a public relationship and knows hes a big dude out here, she admittedly had a problem with the two songs named after her.

However, the rapper said she respected his ability to channel his emotions into music. In Aug. 2020, Leray dropped a steamy music video to Slide alongside rapper Gunna, causing some fans to believe the two have begun dating.

Benzino is Coi Lerays dad

Rapper, producer, and Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta star Raymond Benzino Leon Scott is the father of Leray, his only daughter. In an Aug. 2020 DJ Vlad interview, the rapper spoke about the relationship with her father.

According to the Better Days artist, her parents separated after her dad resigned from the hip hop periodical he co-owned, The Source, following a public feud with rapper Eminem. She claims he didnt have as much money anymore and had to live with her mom, where she dropped out of school to get a job at the age of 16.

Wait wait wait a damn minute.



So nobody was gonna tell me that @IAMBENZINO is @coi_leray father ????!!!!!



My mind is BLOWN rn lol pic.twitter.com/0oAcxSJKU3  DonYe Taylor (@donyetaylor_) April 19, 2020

RELATED: Former Love & Hip Hop Star Benzino Arrested for Run-In With Ex-Girlfriends New Man

In the 2021 popular single, she threw shots at her dad, rapping she felt let down by him. Benzino responded on Instagram, contending he was a part of her life growing up. He also claimed she never struggled, as she said, insisting his daughter was raised in a mansion.

The two continued going back and forth, with Leray writing, Im embarrassed to be your daughter at one point. He later reported their feud ended by posting a screenshot of messages between them where they seemed to work out their differences.
After appearing in shows such as Lovecraft Country and Once Upon a Time, Jamie Chung is now taking her talents to the Dexter revival. Chung will play Molly, who has been described as a famous true-crime podcaster from Los Angeles. Though the show was on for nearly a decade, this is the first time Chung will appear on the series. Ahead of its premiere, the actor opened up about the reboot and teased that there are a lot of exciting things in store for fans of the Showtime crime thriller.

Jamie Chung on the red carpet at an event in April 2019 in Los Angeles, California | Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for UOMA Beauty

Jamie Chung on the Dexter revival

Chungs casting was announced in February, but as she explained to Pop Culture, shes been a fan of the show for much longer than that. Recalling a conversation 10 years earlier about her career goals, Chung said she admitted her dream was to be on one of her favorite shows. I really want to be a part of a show that I love. One being Dexter, she remembered saying.

And now Im on the show, the revival, and Im so excited, Chung continued. You know, we have the original cast members coming back. It literally picks up from the last season finale.

As fans recall, the show ended with Dexter Morgan exiling himself in Oregon and starting over as a lumberjack. The Dexter finale drew widespread criticism from viewers as many felt he deserved a different ending.

Though the revival wont be undoing the past events, Chung said showrunner Clyde Phillips and actor Michael C. Hall have listened to fan input and plan on providing proper closure this time around. I think theyre definitely gonna get that, she added. I mean, youre in for a ride. If youre a fan of the show, like I was, I read through every episode and I was like, Ooh wow!'

RELATED: Dexter: The Alternate Ending Makes So Much More Sense to Viewers

The Dexter revival will find him in a new place with new people

Sometime over the years, Dexter seemingly relocated to the fictional Iron Lake, New York, a remote area where hes still hiding out. Without saying too much about the plot, Hall told the website Louder Than War that Dexter is leading a completely recontextualized life.

Hes in a different place leading a different life surrounded by different people, he continued. And the fact that Im talking to you from Concord, Massachusetts suggests that its not all going to be sun and sand.

In Iron Lake, Dexter will become enemies with Kurt Caldwell (Clancy Brown), the unofficial mayor of the town. Powerful, generous, loved by everyone  hes a true man of the people. If hes got your back, consider yourself blessed. But should you cross Kurt, or hurt anyone that he cares for, God help you, reads his character description (via TV Line).

Showtime has not yet shared an exact release date for the revival, but it is expected to premiere in the fall of 2021. Stay tuned.

RELATED: Dexter Fans Notice Something Disturbing in Background of Season 9 Teaser
At the invitation of State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Foreign Minister Soroi Eoe of Papua New Guinea will begin his visit to China on June 2.

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will preside over the fourth China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Dialogue on June 3. Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will attend the dialogue via video link. The three foreign ministers will have in-depth exchange of views on the key issues of peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan, the trilateral practical cooperation and anti-terrorism security cooperation.

CCTV: You just announced that State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will preside over the fourth China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Dialogue. Any special background for this meeting? What do you expect out of it?

Wang Wenbin: The China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Dialogue is an important platform for the three parties to enhance mutual trust and promote cooperation. Up till now, three sessions have been held with a host of positive results since the mechanism was set up under China's initiative in 2017. As agreed upon consensus of the three parties, it is China's turn to host the fourth dialogue.

At present, the unilateral withdrawal of US and NATO troops at the critical stage of the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan has brought uncertainties to Afghanistan's domestic situation and regional security landscape. As neighbors, friends and partners sharing not just common mountains and rivers, but also weal and woe, China, Afghanistan and Pakistan all aspire to maintain regional peace and stability. Against this background, the foreign ministers of the three countries decided to hold the fourth dialogue, whereby they will have in-depth exchange of views on the key issues of peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan, the trilateral practical cooperation and anti-terrorism security cooperation. The dialogue is expected to reach positive consensus and inject impetus into regional peace, stability and development.

Bloomberg: Malaysia complained about Chinese military aircraft flying in the South China Sea yesterday. How did the Chinese government respond? Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: To my knowledge, it was a routine training conducted by China's air force over waters to the south of Nansha Islands. It doesn't target any country. During the training, China's air force strictly complied with international law and didn't enter the air space of any other country. The Chinese side has communicated with the Malaysian side over this.

China News Service: State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the BRICS foreign ministers' video conference held on June 1. Could you share more information on that?

Wang Wenbin: On the night of June 1, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the Video Conference of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs/International Relations. The five foreign ministers held an in-depth exchange of views on the COVID-19 pandemic, multilateralism, global and regional hotspot issues and practical BRICS cooperation, reaching broad consensus.

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out at the meeting that BRICS represents a prototype of cooperation between emerging markets and developing nations. In the face of major changes and a global pandemic unseen in a century, BRICS should work to protect people's health, uphold international order, contribute to global development and world peace. BRICS should assume its responsibility in promoting global solidarity, providing wisdom to tackling the governance deficit, and contributing strength to global response to common challenges. China's views and propositions are spoken highly of by other parties at the meeting.

There are two outcome documents from the meeting, namely, a press statement and a joint statement on strengthening and reforming the multilateral system, which send out a strong message of BRICS solidarity and cooperation.

This meeting demonstrates the resilience and vitality of BRICS against the background of the major changes and global pandemic unseen in a century. We stand ready to work in closer cooperation with BRICS partners, uphold the common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom for all mankind, practice true multilateralism, and make new BRICS contributions to regional and global peace and development.

Phoenix TV: It is reported that on June 1, WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) validated the Sinovac-CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use. The vaccine is produced by the Beijing-based pharmaceutical company Sinovac. What is China's comment on this?

Wang Wenbin: The Sinovac vaccine is the second Chinese vaccine to win the WHO listing, after Sinopharm vaccine was granted approval on May 7. This fully attests to the safety and efficacy of relevant vaccines and technical lines that provide more powerful tools for the world to overcome the epidemic at an early date.

China has been acting on General Secretary Xi Jinping's pledge to make COVID-19 vaccines a global public good, and has been encouraging and supporting Chinese vaccine manufacturers to apply for the WHO's Emergency Use Listing. Despite its own huge population and tight vaccine supply, China has provided more than 350 million doses of vaccines to the international community, including vaccine assistance to over 80 countries and vaccine exports to 40 plus countries. In addition, China has also carried out production cooperation with a number of developing countries to promote large-scale production of vaccines at a fast pace. The first batch of Sinopharm vaccines to be provided to COVAX rolled off production line on May 31, representing a real contribution to enhancing the equitable distribution and accessibility of vaccines in developing countries.

China will continue to support its vaccine manufacturers in strengthening communication and coordination with the WHO and the COVAX program, and conducting more joint vaccine R&D and production with foreign partners, as part of our effort to help developing countries obtain vaccines, and strive for an early victory in the global fight against the epidemic.

Global Times: Recently, Chinese media published an open letter in both Chinese and English calling on the WHO to organize an investigation of the US Army's Fort Detrick bio-lab. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: I noted relevant reports. This open letter reflects Chinese people's aspirations. On this podium, we have also repeatedly called on the US to take an open and transparent attitude in telling the international community about the truth of Fort Detrick and its 200 plus bio-labs around the world.

According to US media, Fort Detrick stores large amount of viruses that severely threaten people's safety, such as Ebola, and it has poor safety records. In 2004, 2008, 2011 and 2015, US media gave multiple coverage on the safety risks at Fort Detrick. According to USA Today, an employee at Fort Detrick used safety loopholes of the lab to steal anthrax stored there and launched bio-chemical attacks which resulted in five deaths and 17 illnesses. The report also shows that other safety issues and risks exist in many US virus labs. In the fall of 2019, just months before the onset of COVID-19, Fort Detrick was suspended due to serious risks, according to US media including the New York Times. While clamoring for an investigation in other countries, the US has been refusing to open up its own bio-labs by citing national security as an excuse. How can the US convince the international community?

Besides Fort Detrick, the US has set up over 200 bio-labs in 25 countries and regions. There are many reports saying that the distribution of those labs is similar to the location where some dangerous diseases and viruses were first identified, such as SARS, EBHF and Zika virus. A USA Today Network investigation reveals that since 2003, hundreds of lab incidents have occurred in the US biological laboratories where humans had accidental contact with deadly pathogens. We would like to know when the US will give a reasonable explanation to the international community with regard to the above-mentioned doubts.

But regrettably, the US side has never given any direct response. Is there any inconvenient secrets? We once again call on the US to respond to the concerns of the international community in an open, transparent and cooperative manner.

Bloomberg: On Monday, President Xi Jinping told senior communist party leaders that China needed a grip on its tone in its communication with the world, and should be more open and confident, and also modest and humble. Does this speech mean that China would be taking a different approach in its diplomatic efforts?

Wang Wenbin: On May 31, the CPC Politburo convened its 30th group study session. General Secretary Xi Jinping chaired the session and delivered an address. You may refer to the readout that has been released.

China is committed to an independent foreign policy of peace, firmly upholds national sovereignty, security and development interests, actively promotes the building of a new type of international relations, and joins hands with other countries to build a community with a shared future for mankind. I would like to point out that to strengthen and improve international communication and enhance capacity-building in this regard so as to have a greater voice on the world stage in keeping with China's comprehensive national strength and international standing will foster a favorable external environment in terms of public opinion for China's reform, development and stability, and contribute to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. This is consistent with the need for China's peaceful development, the requirements to advance reform and opening-up in China, and the global trend of peace and development. It benefits both China and the world.

CNR: We've noted that on May 28, WHO presented the Sasakawa Health Prize at the 74th session of the WHA to Chinese expert Wu Hao who assisted Hubei Province in its fight against COVID-19. Dr. Wu is the third Chinese expert to be awarded this prize. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: I also noticed relevant reports. Dr. Wu pioneered an intelligent family physician-optimized collaborative model to ensure easier access to more effective community-level health service. After the epidemic broke out, Dr. Wu Hao went to Wuhan as head of a team of experts on community-level prevention and control under China's central guiding team. There he worked with community-based medical staff to fight the epidemic. He also traveled to 10 localities including Kashgar, Beijing and Shijiazhuang to guide the handling of clusters of cases, making outstanding contributions. As we speak, he is working on guiding community-level prevention and control in Guangzhou. We congratulate Dr. Wu on being awarded the Sasakawa Health Prize.

Dr. Wu is a fine example of the countless community health workers fighting on the frontline in China's battle against COVID-19. Community-level prevention and control played an irreplaceable role in China's rapid containment of the outbreak and later prevention and control on a daily basis. It ensured the early detection and report of infection, reduced the risks of community spread, and tightened the screws on the occurrence of early infection. The work of Dr. Wu and numerous health workers at the community-level is a vivid demonstration of China's effective anti-virus efforts. China stands ready to share its experience in community prevention and control with other countries in a timely manner to contribute to an early global victory over the virus and better global health governance.

CRI: Could you tell us a bit more about the visit by Papua New Guinea's Foreign Minister Soroi Eoe in early June?

Wang Wenbin: Papua New Guinea is a good friend and partner of China in the Pacific island region. At present, our bilateral relations enjoy sound development. President Xi Jinping's successful state visit to Papua New Guinea in 2018 opened a new chapter in the development of bilateral relations. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the two countries have been standing in solidarity with mutual assistance, and our comprehensive strategic partnership has further deepened.

This year marks the 45th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Papua New Guinea. We hope Foreign Minister Soroi Eoe's visit will spur efforts to follow through on the important consensus between the leaders of the two countries, and strengthen strategic cooperation in promoting bilateral relations, conducting anti-virus cooperation and moving forward practical cooperation within the BRI framework, so as to elevate bilateral relations to a new level.

Bloomberg: Can you please tell us how many vaccine shots China has supplied to COVAX so far and how many it intends to supply in the future?

Wang Wenbin: Like I just said, China has provided more than 350 million doses of vaccines to the international community, including vaccine assistance to over 80 countries and vaccine exports to 40 plus countries. China has also carried out production cooperation with a number of developing countries. China has announced to provide the first batch of 10 million doses of vaccines to the COVAX. The first batch of vaccines to be provided to COVAX rolled off production line on May 31. China will continue to work with all parties to enhance the equitable distribution and accessibility of vaccines and make positive contributions to the global anti-epidemic endeavor.

Meanwhile, we also hope that the international community will uphold the spirit of solidarity, and take more concrete actions to increase vaccine accessibility in developing countries so as to secure an early victory in the fight against the epidemic.

Beijing Youth Daily: We've noticed that despite continued US efforts to hype up lies like "genocide" and "forced labor" in China's Xinjiang, more and more media outlets and individuals have spoken out to expose and criticize the political manipulation behind this US move and to call on the international community to see through these lies. How do you see this phenomenon?

Wang Wenbin: We've noticed that Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Business Insider Japan, Danish magazine Reason, Die Weltwoche and Neue Zurcher Zeitung from Switzerland, Brazil's valorglobal and South Africa's Pretoria News have all run objective reports or rational articles on Xinjiang. They point out that the so-called allegation of "genocide" in Xinjiang is based entirely on bias and hostility against China. Relevant people turned a blind eye to the outcomes produced by the Chinese government's Xinjiang policy and wantonly criticized China's human rights conditions. It is driven by political agenda and aimed to conduct propaganda and psychological warfare to their advantage by creating a negative image of China with the political designation of "genocide". The articles also pointed out that large-scale mechanical harvest has been realized across the cotton industry in Xinjiang, so "forced labor" is neither existent nor necessary. Dreams can only be realized through honest work. All hardworking people deserve the respect of the world.

As facts have proven, "forced labor", "forced sterilization", "genocide" and "massive sexual abuse" are all lies fabricated by anti-China forces. There is no factual basis for these preposterous allegations other than the clumsy show of a handful of fake academics and lame actors. There is no serious discussion, only an emotional outpour of bias. There is no respect for the human rights of people in Xinjiang, only political manipulation to undermine Xinjiang's stability and hamstring China's development. Lies may gain brief traction, but eventually they cannot escape the doomed fate of bankruptcy. China, including Xinjiang, is enjoying greater development and there are more and more objective and rational voices in the world debunking the lies and rumors on Xinjiang. Some experts and academics have pointed out very accurately that the hype-up over "genocide" in Xinjiang will only further expose to the world the ignorance and hypocrisy of certain countries' "human rights diplomacy". They also call on the international community to see through the fabrication and hype-up of those driven by ulterior motives.

I would like to stress once again that the door to Xinjiang is always open. We welcome people from all walks of life in other countries to visit the region and get to know the true Xinjiang through first-hand experience.

The Paper: The BRICS foreign ministers' meeting issued a joint statement on strengthening and reforming the multilateral system. Can you comment on that?

Wang Wenbin: Multilateralism is an important cornerstone of the existing international system. This cornerstone is now being encroached upon, as a few countries follow unilateralism and even seek hegemony in the name of multilateralism. All parties are increasingly calling for true multilateralism. On the other hand, the emerging global threats necessitate global response and international solidarity and collaboration. The desire for strengthening multilateral system by all parties is becoming more urgent.

BRICS countries are representatives of emerging markets and developing countries, and models of practicing multilateralism and enhancing multilateral system. It is with this idea that China worked with other BRICS partners to form a joint statement on strengthening and reforming the multilateral system through in-depth discussion.

There are some points in the joint statement that merit attention. First, it reiterated BRICS countries' commitment to multilateralism, and called for upholding international law with the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations as its indispensable cornerstone and the central role of the United Nations in the international system, with the aim to build a brighter shared future for the international community.

Second, it reaffirmed the principles of non-intervention in the internal affairs of States and the resolution of international disputes by peaceful means and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law as well as the inadmissibility of the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State. It rejected double standards and unilateral coercive measures not based on international law and the UN Charter.

Third, it stressed that we need to carry out people-centered international cooperation, strengthen and reform the multilateral system, facilitate greater and more meaningful participation of developing and least developed countries, especially Africa, in global decision-making processes. We should make multilateral organizations more action-oriented and solution-oriented so as to promote cooperation in the spirit of mutual respect, justice, equality, and mutual benefit.

Fourth, it stressed that we need to continue improving global economic governance with extensive consultations and joint contributions for the shared benefits, support the United Nations in making development central to the global macro policy framework and the WTO-centered multilateral trading system.

This statement is timely and necessary. The statement is the result of the efforts of the five BRICS countries and reflects the common aspiration of the vast majority of countries. It should become the consensus of the international community. The essence of multilateralism is that the future of the world should be in the hands of all countries and international affairs should be handled through consultation by all. In particular, it should reflect the views of developing countries and emerging markets, which account for the vast majority of the world's population. So-called "rules" formulated by certain Western countries or groups should not be regarded as "international rules", still less should they be imposed on others. Parties shall jointly uphold and practice the real multilateralism, abide by the purposes and principles of the UN charter, discard exceptionalism and double standards and reject hegemonic bullying and zero-sum game, and refrain from bloc politics and ideological confrontation and work to safeguard the international system with the UN at its core and the international order based on the UN charter and international law.
Good Witch viewers got a special treat in the shows most recent episode. In The Delivery, which aired May 30 on Hallmark Channel, a fan-favorite character made a brief reappearance. Plus, a possible new love interest for one of the Merriwick women had many viewers cheering.

Bailee Madison returns to Good Witch as Grace

Catherine Bell and Bailee Madison in Good Witch | 2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Brooke Palmer

RELATED: Is Good Witch Season 6 on Netflix? How to Catch Up Before the Season 7 Premiere

Its been nearly two years since Good Witch viewers last saw Cassies (Catherine Bell) daughter. At the end of season 5, Grace (Bailee Madison) graduated from high school and left Middleton to attend college; she hadnt been seen since.

In The Delivery, we finally got an update on Grace, with Cassie mentioning to her husband Sam (James Denton) that her daughter was planning a visit home after studying abroad in Spain. Unfortunately, Grace didnt make it home for a visit, but she and her mom did have a brief Facetime chat, where she talked about the internship at a fashion house that prompted her to stay in Europe.

Bailee Madison explains how they made her Good Witch return happen

On the show, Graces internship led to her cancelling her visit home. In reality, it was the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that prevented a true reunion for Cassie and Grace.

In the world of covid thats the best we could do!!!!! Madison tweeted when the episode aired. Fun fact: [Catherine Bell] and I were texting while they were filming this episode & came up with the [Facetime] idea! I miss my #goodwitch family so much & love my #goodies always!!!!

Madison also hinted that a face-to-face reunion for the mom and daughter could still happen.

Im sure Grace & Cassie will hug in person soon! she wrote.

On Twitter, fans expressed their excitement over Graces return, replying to Madisons tweets with messages of support. Many said they loved seeing her back on the show and missed her character, though a few felt the moment was too short. Several commented theyd like to see Grace make an in-person visit to Grey House.

Joy gets a new love interest

Sparks are starting to fly between Joy @KatBarrell and Zoey @KyanaTeresa. We cant wait to see what happens next! #Goodies  pic.twitter.com/jumzpWAFKb  Hallmark Channel (@hallmarkchannel) May 31, 2021

Graces return wasnt the only exciting development in the May 30 episode of Good Witch. Joy (Katherine Barrell) got a meet-cute moment with Zoey (Kyana Teresa), a firefighter who rescued her after her arm got stuck in a wall during a renovation project. Sparks were flying between the two, which had many viewers thrilled. A romance between Joy and Zoey would mark the first appearance of an LGBTQ couple on one of Hallmark Channels scripted series.

We cant wait to see what happens next! Hallmark Channel tweeted after the potential couple was introduced, and many viewers agreed. They thought Joy and Zoey had great chemistry and were excited to see their storyline play out in future episodes. Several also praised the network for including a lesbian romance on the show.

Thank You @hallmarkchannel for bringing to light positivity, diversity, and inclusive representation!!!!! one person wrote in reply to the networks tweet.

The next episode of Good Witch airs Sunday, June 6 at 9 p.m. ET on Hallmark Channel.

Check out Showbiz Cheat Sheet on Facebook!
Not every onscreen relationship translates into real life. The same is true for onscreen best friends. Since Gossip Girl started, there have been rumors that Blake Lively and Leighton Meester did no get along while on set. But when you look at the starkly different upbringings of the two women, the clash of personalities might make a little more sense.

Leighton Meesters childhood before Gossip Girl

Though Meester is a big star now, her life started out quite rough. When she was born, her mom, Constance, was serving a prison sentence for helping Meesters father, Doug, smuggle marijuana out of Jamaica. Constance was moved to a hospital to give birth and was allowed to stay with Meester for a few months in a halfway house before going back to prison. Meester stayed in the custody of her godmother until her mother got out of prison.

When Meesters mom got out of prison, their struggles didnt end. After her parents separated, Meester began booking modeling jobs, which prompted her family to move to New York. Though she was booking jobs, her family struggled to make ends meet in the city. As Meester rose in fame, she began sending money to her mother to care for her brother.

RELATED: Gossip Girl: Do the Original Characters Exist in the World of the Reboot?

Blake Livelys upbringing

Livelys upbringing was very different. She grew up in Los Angeles in a showbiz family. Ernie Lively, her father, was an actor and a director and her mother, Elaine, was a talent scout. Growing up, she went to the acting classes that her parents taught. As she got older, her older brother asked his agent to get her a few auditions. She landed the role of Bridget in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants when she was in high school. From there, her career took off.

Blake Lively and Leighton Meester had very different personalities

Whether their upbringings played a part in it or not, Meester and Lively are just two very different people.

Blake is very much in the moment, Gossip Girl creator Joshua Safran once told Vanity Fair. Blake knows whats happening. She knows this movies coming out, this band is happening. Leighton [on the other hand] was very removed and very quiet, and, after her scenes were done, she would wander the stage. I had this image of her just in these gorgeous dresses with a book in her hand, sort of a little bit out of focus out in the corners.

RELATED: Kristen Bells Alleged Gossip Girl Salary Is Mind-Blowing  But Is It True?

Their personalities did not really leave room for a close relationship.

Blake and Leighton were not friends, Safran continued. They were friendly, but they were not friends like Serena and Blair. Yet the second theyd be on set together, its as if they were.

Though the two were never close, multiple Gossip Girl cast members and Safran have said that the women were cordial to one another. There was no big feud like some rumors initially suggested. Lively and Meester just simply werent each others cups of tea.
Kate Winslets latest project, HBOs Mare of Easttown, is giving the actor major Titanic vibes. Not the program itself but rather the hype surrounding it. Winslet, 45, says the limited series popularity is reminiscent of what she experienced in 1997 when Titanic hit theaters.

Kate Winslet is a small-town detective on Mare of Easttown

Kate Winslet as Mare Sheehan on HBOs Mare of Easttown | Michele K. Short/HBO

RELATED: Kate Winslet Says Mare of Easttown Is so Much More Than a Thriller

For those who havent been obsessively watching every episode of Mare of Easttown since it premiered on April 18, 2021, Winslet plays Mare Sheehan, a detective who lives and works in the small Pennsylvania town where she grew up. While shes trying to get answers in the disappearance of one of the towns residents, another is found dead.

Soon Mare begins to question her friends, family, and everyone else in the tight knit community. She gets help from Detective Colin Zabel, as played by Evan Peters. Meanwhile, Mares navigating life after divorce and grappling with losing her son two years after his death.

Kate Winslet says the popularity of Mare of Easttown is like going back in time to Titanic

RELATED: Kate Winslet Explains Why She Didnt Get Into Producing Before Mare of Easttown: Im Not 1 to Follow a Trend

Mare of Easttown is a time machine of sorts for Winslet. 2021 feels a bit like 1997 when Titanic premiered and the world knew her for her role as Rose DeWitt Bukater, a young woman who falls in love with Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio).

During a May 2021 Zoom interview with Maureen Dowd of The New York Times, Winslet shared that the hype surrounding Mare of Easttown is remarkably similar.

Its like Titanic again, she said. Im on the side of buses again! Its like going back in time 24 years where Im walking down the street and people are nudging and pointing and whispering again.

Winslet added that when she went on a bike ride in England, a woman approached her to discuss Mare of Easttown theories. On top of the conversation the shows ignited among fans, its also become the subject of a Saturday Night Live sketch. SNL spoofed Winslets Mare of Easttown accent in May 2021 with a sketch called Murdur Durdur.

Is Mare of Easttown Season 2 happening?

Kate Winslet as Mare Sheehan on HBOs Mare of Easttown | Michele K. Short/HBO

RELATED: Mare of Easttown: Kate Winslet Insisted She Not Have a Trailer Thats Bigger Than Everyone Elses

Given that Winslet is comparing Mare of Easttown with Titanic, one of the biggest blockbusters ever, its no wonder theres already talk of more episodes. Will Mare of Easttown Season 2 actually happen? Right now, nothing is confirmed. The shows a miniseries with only seven episodes. However, thanks to its popularity and positive reviews from critics, HBO may decide to move forward with Mares story. The shows star is up for reprising her role.

I would absolutely love to play Mare again, Winslet told TVLine in May 2021 when asked about the possibility of a second season. I miss her. I really do. Its the strangest thing. I feel like Im in mourning. It was an absolutely wonderful role  Theres something very addictive about Mare, because shes so outrageous and lovable and brilliant and real, you know? I loved playing her.

As for Craig Zobel, the director and executive producer of Mare of Easttown, he says Mare is an amazing character, so I would be excited to see more. Although he also shared that he likes it as a miniseries.

While Mare of Easttowns future is uncertain, stream all seven episodes of the show on HBO Max.
The 2020 drama Minari has touched a lot of audiences with writer/director Lee Isaac Chungs autobiographical story. It also won an Oscar for Yuh-Jung Youn. Steven Yeun and Yeri Han star as Korean parents to Alan S. Kim and Noel Cho in 1980s Arkansas. The father, Jacob (Yeun), hopes to start a successful farm while his wife (Han) works at a chicken breeding factory.

Steven Yeun | Melissa Lukenbaugh/A24

On the Minari Blu-ray, Chung discusses the making of the film and its inspirations from his own childhood. If youre wondering about the film, or its title, Chung answers many of those questions in the bonus features.

Where did the movie Minari get its name?

Minari is named after the Korean plant that grandma Soonja (Youn) grows in the woods. Chung named the film after it.

Minari is a vegetable that you find a lot in Asia, Chung said. My grandmother brought over minari seeds from Korea and we planted those seeds in this little creek bed in Arkasas. Of all the things that were so hard to grow on our farm groing up, strangely the minari is what took root and just grew and flourished.

Alan S. Kim and Yuh-Jung Youn | Josh Ethan Johnson/A24

RELATED: Minari: Going Between English and Korean in the Film Was Scary For Steven Yeun

In the film, David (Kim) and Soonja gather minari together while his parents work. Chung said he based that on his own activities with his grandmother.

I spent a lot of days with my grandmother when I was a child going to the minari patch, Chung said. She would cut the minari and gather it. I would just sit to the side and sing songs for her.

What does the name Minari mean in Korean?

According to Food Network, minari means water dropwort, water parsley, water celery or pennywort. Because it has bitter flavors or pepper, Chung found it an appropriate title for his tale of a Korean-American familys struggles.

For me, it obviously works as a metaphor, Chung said. Having a plant that is completely different from everything Im finding in the world around me. Its almost like its something thats operating on a different level. Its not part of this world in a way. That was kind of the idea I had for it.

The real story of Lee Isaac Chungs family

Chung culled the story of Minari from his own childhood memories. He said the film ended up being more autobiographical than he originally intended.

Alan S. Kim and Yuh-Jung Youn | Melissa Lukenbaugh/A24

RELATED: Rachel Lindsay Is the 1 Who Asked Minari Actor Yuh-Jung Youn What Brad Pitt Smells Like After Academy Award Win

My family moved to Arkansas in the 1980s, Chung said. My dad had a dream to try to start a new type of life. So much of that time in my life was very formative. And as I wanted to start making movies, obviously those experiences I had as a child were things that I wanted to explore. I didnt know I would do it so literally. So I decided Im just going to write down a bunch of memories and see where we go.

Sources: Minari Blu-ray, Food Network
The royal wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is, according to a royal historian, unlike other royal marriages in one unique way. Hint: It has to do with where Catherines from and why royal princes historically marry.

Prince William and Kate Middletons royal wedding happened in April 2011

Prince William and Kate Middleton | Chris Jackson/Getty Images

RELATED: Kate Middleton and Prince William: 10 Rare Photos From Their Royal Wedding

The couple, who are now parents to three children  Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis  met as college students while studying in Scotland. Over time their friendship turned romantic and now theyve been married for a decade.

On April 29, 2011, William and Catherine exchanged vows at Westminster Abbey. Millions of people around the world tuned in to watch the ceremony live on TV. Meanwhile,celebrities attended the royal wedding in person. Elton John, David and Victoria Beckham, and Guy Richie, were just a few people on the star-studded guest list.

William proposed to Catherine in the fall of 2010 during a romantic trip to Kenya. The Duke of Cambridge and second in line to the throne got down on one knee and asked his then-girlfriend to marry him using the engagement ring that once belonged to his mother, Princess Diana.

Prince William didnt marry Kate Middleton to cement an alliance with a foreign power

RELATED: Why Prince Harry Walked with a Limp at Prince William and Kate Middletons Wedding

According to royal historian and author Sarah Gristwood, William and Catherines nuptials wasnt a strategic move unlike previous royal marriages.

Historically royal princes married to cement an alliance with a foreign power but Williams marriage to Kate Middleton was different, Gristwood told Vanity Fair in May 2021. Kate was a commoner and thus cemented an affiliation with the British people, which has done the monarchy a lot of good.

The royal family must be watching and learning, she added. This middle-class girl from Berkshire has actually managed a seamless and fairly flawless move into the royal family. Shes endeared herself to the family and the public by being the old style of royal, shes now modifying the pitch.

Catherines confidence has grown after 10 years as a member of the royal family. Now shes spearheading her own projects. Most recently, the 39-year-old released Hold Still, a coffee table book that documents life in the United Kingdom during the coronavirus pandemic. Through it all she (and William) rank high as some of the most popular royals in the U.K.

Prince William and Kate Middleton celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary with a family video and portraits

10 years 



Chris Floyd pic.twitter.com/fPunbUz3VL  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) April 28, 2021

RELATED: Kate Middleton and Prince Williams Anniversary Photos Suggest Theres an Entirely New Level of Comfort Between Them, According to a Body Language Expert

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge hit a marriage milestone in April 2021. They celebrated 10 years of marriage. To mark the occasion, the couple released an anniversary video featuring a rare glimpse of their private lives with George, Charlotte, and Louis.

That wasnt all the couple did to celebrate. William and Catherine released anniversary portraits. They posed for photos at Kensington Palace in the days leading up to their wedding anniversary and shared two snapshots.

Reminiscent of their engagement portraits where they both wore blue, or as some might say, photos of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Catherine and William engage in some PDA, which is unusual for them.
Bob Dylan is a music icon, with a musical legacy spanning eight decades. He has played and recorded music with some of the biggest stars of his time, and Dylans unique, folk-inspired rock has been a defining force in modern music. Though his list of collabs is extensive throughout his long career, fans often overlook one key collaboration with an artist who is featured on much of his iconic work and even inspired the song, Mr. Tambourine Man.

Bob Dylan | Dave Hogan/Getty Images

Who is Mr. Tambourine Man?

Dylan wrote and composed Mr. Tambourine Man in 1964, and released it as the first track on Bringing It All Back Home the next year. The song was massively popular and Dylan re-recorded it many times over the years. Its been covered by dozens of artists, with The Byrds cover (the same year as Dylans release) reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

The song is legendary and so widespread that it may be hard to find someone whod never at least heard it. Even some huge fans of the song may not know though that the man who inspired the track actually plays guitar on the original recording and had been playing with Dylan as a session guitarist for years.

Bruce Langhorne had been a regular in the session musician scene around New York and first played a session with Dylan for a 1962 recording. According to UDiscoverMusic, Dylan said in the Biograph box set liner notes, Bruce was playing guitar with me on a bunch of the early records. He had this gigantic tambourine. It was like, really big. Bruce would later comment that it was a Turkish frame drum. It was as big as a wagon wheel. He was playing, and this vision of him playing this tambourine just stuck in my mind.

An unlikely prodigy

Langhorne climbed his way up through the New York music world of the 60s to play with some of the greatest artists of the time. He actually started as a violinist though. As a young child, he studied the instrument, before an incident involving a Cherry Bomb left him missing all but two fingertips on his right hand. Like famous guitarist Django Reinhardt, young Bruce wouldnt let a disability hold him back, and he took up the guitar.

Due to his injury, he could never strum like traditional players but became a great finger-picking artist. He would evolve a fingerstyle that was unique to the times in rhythm guitarists, and made him a valued collaborator to artists who wanted something other than a strumming guitar. I got to be a very good accompanist because I was really forced to listen. Langhorne once said.

The life of Bruce Langhorne

Bruce Langhorne, Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" inspiration and folk musician, has died at age 78 https://t.co/IRo7ulAAu0 pic.twitter.com/hLxRbXssiY  Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) April 17, 2017

Bruce Langhorne lived a fantastic life and played with dozens of hundreds of huge stars and talented musicians over the years. He would work in Hollywood as well, composing music for several of Peter Fondas movies. He would release a line of hot sauces later in life, own a Hawaiian macadamia nut farm. In 2011, he would release his own solo album, Tambourine Man.

Sadly, in 2015 Langhorne would have a stroke. He would never quite recover. His kidneys struggled and eventually failed and after two years in hospice, care he would die in 2017 at age 78. While Langhorne did many amazing things and played music with many legendary artists, he still thought that Bob Dylan was always at the top of his experiences in his life. According to Premier Guitar, Langhorne once reminisced about playing with Dylan, The connection I had with Bobby was telepathic.

RELATED: Why Bob Dylan Sold His Entire $300 Million Music Catalog to Universal Music
Nearly two years have passed since Stranger Things Season 3 terrified audiences with its body-invading Mind Flayer. Sheriff Hopper took one for the team, leaving Joyce Byers, Eleven, and the Hawkins, Indiana crew riddled with grief. Its since been confirmed that David Harbours character is still alive, and the actor recently gave a small update about Stranger Things Season 4.

David Harbour attends the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 19, 2020 in Los Angeles, California | Rich Fury/Getty Images

Stranger Things season 4 is currently filming

Like other TV series and films, Stranger Things Season 4 halted production due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Netflix announced its renewal in fall 2019 and provided clues that the show would take things outside of the U.S. The Duffer Brothers revealed they originally began shooting in February 2020 before shutting down, and production resumed in October 2020.

Some filming commenced in Georgia, and other locations include New Mexico and Lithuania. Netflix dropped a teaser in May that showed Eleven and Dr. Brenner at the facility, indicating that more flashbacks are ahead along with Hoppers stint in a Russian prison. As it stands, the show is still filming.

RELATED: Stranger Things 4: David Harbour Says Season Will Be Epic, Well Learn Hoppers Backstory

David Harbour says filming should wrap in August

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, David Harbour dished on his wedding, Black Widow, and Stranger Things. Hes just as excited as the fans, but he did reveal that filming for Stranger Things would probably end in August. But by his calculations, previous seasons dropped a few months after filming concluded, so maybe fans will see season 4 before 2021 ends. Maybe.

Youre not supposed to say, but Ill tell you. Im almost done. Weve got one more little stint. We should be done in like August, said Harbour. He added that hell have to shave his head again before it ends for his role as Hopper.

Coincidentally, Harbours role as Red Guardian in Black Widow also required his character to spend time in a Russian prison. To avoid any overlap, Harbour said he secretly snapped some photos from the Marvel set and sent them to the Duffer Brothers. And it dawned on him that Hopper and Red Guardian should have different looks too.

He and the brothers changed Hoppers appearance so it would be distinct from his Marvel character. We came up with a whole different look for it, said Harbour. We had him shave his head and this whole thing.

Stranger Things season 4 to introduce new characters

While fans are looking forward to seeing the OGs when Stranger Things returns, some new faces are due to show up. Hawkins High is getting its own Dungeons and Dragons club led by Joseph Quinns Eddie Munson. Teen Wolf actor Mason Dye joins the cast as a popular jock who learns about the sinister forces in Hawkins. Jonathan Byers gets a new best friend, who also happens to love smoking weed.

In Russia, Hopper finds an ally in a prison guard named Dmitri, played by Tom Wlaschiha, and theres also a smuggler who viewers can assume will help the sheriff escape. One of the most anticipated appearances in season 4 will come from the iconic Robert Englund, who immortalized Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street. His character is a psychiatric patient who committed murder.

A military expert is also called in to handle the Hawkins problem, but theres no telling who will survive the terror in this next installment. Based on those cemetery shots that recently went viral, count on more than a handful of deaths.
Ree Drummond is better known as The Pioneer Woman. She is an accomplished cook and self-proclaimed grill master that can flip a burger like the best of them.

Being a celebrity chef on the Food Network, the 52-year-old homemaker doesnt settle for ground beef like the rest of us. Instead, she has concocted an incredible black bean burger recipe that is truly delicious.

The cookbook author inspires followers with mouthwatering recipes and lifestyle tips. Her meals are much better than anything found in a store or restaurant and are easy to prepare at home.

For a healthy alternative, give her veggie burgers a try and see if your friends and family even notice the meat is missing.

Ree Drummond is a culinary icon

Ree Drummond | Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images

The busy mom of four started a blog to share recipes with friends and family. Titled The Pioneer Woman, it transformed into a full-fledged business that entails a cooking show, numerous cookbooks, and a line of kitchenware that is sold in Walmart.

Drummond also maintains two websites while overseeing her Mercantile restaurant located in Oklahoma. As if that wasnt enough, she also has a new book out that describes her adventures in marriage and motherhood.

Everyone must try Drummonds chipotle black bean burgers at least once

We're staying home with @thepioneerwoman this morning! Ree's latest quarantine episode is filmed entirely by her family, and it's so cute when her kids join her in the kitchen just in time for Mother's Day Don't miss it @ 10:30a|9:30c! pic.twitter.com/4pxCfy5T2b  Food Network (@FoodNetwork) May 10, 2020

RELATED: Why The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond Doesnt Order Steak at Restaurants

The Pioneer Woman has a cooking show on the Food Network titled Home Sweet Home. Despite being unable to film in the studio because of COVID-19, the experienced chef still manages to offer up some tantalizing recipes from the comfort of her own home.

Being married to a cattle rancher, it is hard to pass off a meatless burger in the Drummond household. But, somehow, her chipotle black bean burger recipe passes the test with flying colors.

Drummond explains in her blog that the black beans and smoky chipotle chiles lend the flavor and texture of meat, but these burgers are 100 percent vegetarian!

The recipe is enough for six servings and takes about 45 minutes to prepare from start to finish. Ingredients needed include two cans of black beans, breadcrumbs, egg, and chopped chipotle chiles. Vegetables such as zucchini, carrot, and onion are also added to the mixture.

The television personality chooses to fry the burgers in a cast-iron skillet for about 10 minutes instead of using a grill. Drummond then serves the delicious burger on a roll with an avocado mash, muenster cheese, pickled jalapenos, and tomato.

The Pioneer Woman says, these veggie burgers are so much better than the store-bought kind.

Drummond has plenty of options for making the perfect burger

RELATED: Fans Favorite Recipes by The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond

Drummond also has a quick black bean burger recipe that can be prepared in less than 10 minutes. The recipe calls for two cans of seasoned black beans, breadcrumbs, an egg, white onion, and spices for flavoring.

The Pioneer Woman likes to fry the patties in a skillet with olive oil and butter. She tops the delicious mixture with Swiss cheese and serves with her favorite toppings on a Kaiser roll.

Instead of carb-loaded French fries, OKC Veggie claims Drummond likes to serve carrot fries with her burgers. She slices the carrots into thin sticks and brushes them with olive oil, rosemary, and garlic. After only 25 minutes in the oven, the delectable treats can be devoured with barbecue sauce, ketchup, or ranch dressing.

The satisfying result is a crowd-pleaser, especially for those that are looking for an alternative to beef.
The Pioneer Woman star Ree Drummond has been developing easy, hearty recipes for her followers for years. As one of Food Networks most popular chefs, fans trust Drummond to create quick dinners, desserts, and snacks for any kind of get together.

When it comes to dessert, Drummond knows how to take the proper shortcuts to save time while still baking a tasty treat. And her easy brownie hack is one everyone should know.

The Pioneer Woman star Ree Drummond | Monica Schipper/Getty Images for The Pioneer Woman Magazine

The Pioneer Woman star Ree Drummond loves to create easy recipes

When Drummond launched her Pioneer Woman blog back in 2006, she only did so as a way of talking about what it was like raising four kids on a ranch in middle-of-nowhere, Oklahoma. Drummond began posting recipes, which she created for cowboys and hungry kids, according to her Food Network tagline.

Fans flocked to the recipes, as they loved Drummonds easy tips and tricks to create meals with few ingredients or simple steps. Over time, Drummonds following grew larger, and she eventually caught the attention of Food Network. By 2011, Drummonds show The Pioneer Woman premiered. Now, shes been on the network doing what she does best: Easy, hearty recipes made with mostly household ingredients.

The Pioneer Woman star Ree Drummond | Tyler Essary/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank

RELATED: The Pioneer Woman: Ree Drummonds Favorite One-Pot Pasta Dish Is the Perfect Weeknight Meal

Ree Drummonds brownie hack is one everyone should know

When it come to dessert recipes, Drummond knows what shes doing. But when theres a time crunch, its not so easy to develop a dessert totally from scratch. Thats why the Food Network chef relies on an easy brownie hack for whipping up a chocolate treat: brownie mix.

No, Drummond doesnt simply bake a package of brownie mix. Rather, she uses the mix as a jumping-off point to create a brownie loaded with different flavors. Drummond explains on her Pioneer Woman website that she often adds or swaps ingredients in the packaged brownie mix to create deeper flavor.

If your brownie mix calls for water as the liquid, consider swapping it out for something a litter richer and more flavorful, like milk or your favorite alternative milk, Drummond writes.

Drummond also recommends adding a teaspoon of vanilla extract to brownie batter to give it an extra layer of flavor. Plus, topping the brownies with flaky sea salt creates another intense flavor combination. Of course, finishing the brownies with a scoop of ice cream is the ultimate add-on.

The Pioneer Woman star Ree Drummond | David Livingston/Getty Images

Ree Drummond also has an easy, 3-ingredient brownie recipe

For those who would rather prepare a brownie dish from scratch, but dont necessarily want the mess that comes with that, Drummond has an easy brownie recipe any Nutella-lover will adore: Three-ingredient Nutella brownies.

Ingredients:

Nonstick cooking spray

2 1/2 cups Nutella

1 heaping cup all-purpose flour

3 large eggs

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Spray a large 913-inch pan with cooking spray, and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the Nutella, flour, and eggs. Spread the mixture evenly in the pan, making sure it gets all the way to the edges. Bake 25 minutes, or until the brownies appear set. Let the brownies cool slightly before cutting into squares.
The Bodo Moller Chemie Group, the specialty chemicals company headquartered in Offenbach, keeps expanding its sales & distribution structures in Europe. With its own branch in Madrid  Bodo Moeller Chemie Spain S.L.U.  the products and extensive consulting services for Spain and Portugal are offered in the entire Iberian Peninsula. We are working very hard in the new locations throughout the world to steadily expand existing trade cooperations and be able to establish new partnerships. With the products and services that we sell and distribute, we are capable of opening up a new market in a very short time. In the Iberian Peninsula, we are opening up the interesting market of Spain and Portugal for us and our industrial partners such as Henkel and Merck, explains Frank Haug, Chairman of the Board of the Bodo Moller Chemie Group.

High application expertise and dependable logistics

There is demand in the markets of Spain and Portugal, above all for polyurethane-based products used in the CASE industry  coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers. The enormous professional expertise regarding the use and selection of the right materials plus the precise and dependable logistics network of Bodo Moller Chemie give local customers a lot of security, explains Vincent Muller, Managing Director of Bodo Moeller Chemie Spain S.L.U.

The Madrid branch opened its doors in December 2020, and the core products being sold and distributed include industrial water-based surface cleaners, sealants, systems for composite materials, tooling boards from the Ureol series and the especially formulated proprietary Ricko products manufactured by Bodo Moller Chemie Egypt.
You are here: Arts

How can an embroidery needle help 2,895 households shake off poverty?

How can a thread connect 26,000 women and the heritage of Mongolian embroidery?

Here is the story about the "hometown of China's Mongolian embroidery culture".

Ethnic Mongolian Bai Jingying was born into a family of embroidery masters in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. She is adept at needlework.

Since 2016, the Mongolian embroidery industry has been listed as the pillar of poverty alleviation in Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner.

Bai soon became head of the local Mongolian embroidery group.

She has been to 173 villages and held more than 130 training classes to help local women learn embroidery skills. Bai also designed embroidery patterns by herself.

She has created 1,072 embroidery products and 7,000 pieces of patterns so far.

Mei Rong is a first-class embroiderer who benefits from the poverty alleviation project. She said embroidery makes a radical change in her life.

With the promotion of rural revitalization, ethnic intangible cultural heritages including Mongolian embroidery are inherited and passed on in Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner.

Meanwhile, villagers' household incomes have increased thanks to embroidery. For Bai and her embroidery industry, the next step is to strengthen training and expand the embroidery market.
Memorial Service for Carol "Sue" Woods will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 5, 2021 at Hawkins Baptist Church in Alex, OK. Carol "Sue" Woods, of Alex, OK passed away on Saturday May 29, 2021 at the age of 76 in her home surrounded by her family. Sue was born June 15, 1944 in Scipio, 
Many legal experts are urging the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to ask the U.S. State Department to sanction Finlands prosecutor general after Finland prosecuted a Christian politician who shared her biblical beliefs.

According to The Christian Post, Professors from Harvard University, Yale University and Princeton University were among those who wrote a letter last week in defense of Christian and Finnish politician Paivi Rasanen. A bishop, Juhana Pohjola, also faces criminal charges in Finland for supporting her.

ost, Professors from Harvard University, Yale University and Princeton University were among those who wrote a letter last week in defense of Christian and Finnish politician Paivi Rasanen. A bishop, Juhana Pohjola, also faces criminal charges in Finland for supporting her.

Rasanen has been under investigation since June 2019. She previously served as the chairwoman of the Christian Democrats and is a former interior minister who served in Parliament.

She could face up to six years in prison stemming from charges of ethnic agitation related to statements she made about human sexuality and marriage.

The charges come after she wrote about her biblical beliefs on sexual ethics in a 2004 booklet on sexual ethics. In it, she described marriage as a union between on man and one woman. In a 2019 radio show, she also talked about her beliefs.

In the booklet, Dr. Rasanen argues that homosexual activity should be recognized by the church as sinful based on the teachings of the Hebrew Bible and Christian scripture, the letter from the professors said.

Prosecutors say her statements disparage and discriminate, but she has said that her opinions are legal and should not be censored.

The more Christians keep silent on controversial themes, the narrower the space for freedom of speech gets, she said.

Meanwhile, Bishop-Elect of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, Pohjola, is charged with one count of ethnic agitation for publishing the booklet.

The Prosecutor Generals pursuit of these charges against a prominent legislator and bishop sends an unmistakable message to Finns of every rank and station: no one who holds to the traditional teachings of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and several other religions on questions of marriage and sexual morality will be safe from state harassment should they, like Bishop Pohjola and Dr. Rasanen, express their moral and religious convictions.

Rasanen is married to a pastor and Bible college principal. She has five children.

Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Kutay Tanir

Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
What kind of accent is that?

People saw my Chinese face and heard my Texas drawl. And in their minds, it didnt add up, even though my family had been in the United States for three generations. But I was proud of my Southern accent and my familys story in America that it contained.

I saw strong echoes of my familys history in Far East Deep South (available on PBS.org, WorldChannel.org or the PBS app through June 3), a documentary that follows the Chius, a Chinese American family exploring their ancestors history in the Mississippi Delta.

At the start of the film, Baldwin and Edwin Chiu have little knowledge of their Southern history and their grandfathers relationship to the white and Black communities. They travel as adults to the Mississippi Delta with their father, Charles Chiu, after learning that their grandfather, K. C. Lou, was buried in a small town along the river. They connect with locals who share stories and pictures of K.C. and historians who help paint the broader context of their familys story.

Many of us have learned key details of family history as adults. Some older generations purposely hold onto secrets, not eager to relive shame, agony, or violence. Others dont take intentional time to share. And yet, as my family, the Chois, and the Bible remind us, practicing vulnerability with our children and grandchildren is what enables us to tell the story of how God has worked through our lives and what enables our communities to heal.

Sharing a familys history often means educating about the larger historical context that your ancestors waded through. In the case of the Chius, their great-grandfather, Chas J. Lou, was born in the US in 1877, eight years after thousands of Chinese laborers finished the transcontinental railroad and five years before the Chinese Exclusion Act went into effect, which banned nearly all immigration from China.

These political realities had very personal consequences. Because Chas was an American citizen and considered a merchant rather than a laborer, he was able to bring in his son, K.C., in 1919. But K.C. couldnt bring his wife or their son, Charles, who were in China. (Charles ultimately did not arrive until 1952.) Not knowing his fathers story, Charles believed K.C. never cared about him. But in a poignant moment in the film, he learns his father once wrote to his friend, I would give up 20 years of my life to have my kids with me.

Image: Copyright 2021 Giant Flashlight Media

While Americans are often surprised to find Chinese people in the South in the 19th century and early 20th centurythe Chiu brothers themselves are astonishedmany Chinese settled there after struggling to find work elsewhere. However, they quickly felt the scourge of Jim Crow laws. Southern states considered Chinese immigrants colored and subjected them to the same discriminatory practices that African Americans experienced. Rather than self-segregate, the Chinese, including K.C., opened grocery stores and businesses in Black communities.

In the film, Baldwin and Edwin discover their grandfather was known for his generosity and beloved by the Black community. A former customer comments that the Chinese businessman never looked down on the Black community or made them feel like second-class citizens. Instead, K.C. extended lines of credit to his customers, some of them sharecroppers who were paid only when the crops were brought in annually.

Unlike the Chius, I learned about my familys Southern history from a young age, partially because I was born and raised in Houston. My grandfather, Jim Toy Lee, was also a grocery store owner in Mississippi, arriving in California about 100 years ago. My great-grandfather, Hoy Cal Jee, had emigrated from China to San Francisco in the early 1900s.

Article continues below

In 1906, the infamous San Francisco earthquake caused fires that destroyed more than 500 buildings, as well as all immigation and birth records. The disaster presented an opportunity for immigrants to claim citizenship by declaring they had been born in San Francisco. Hoy Cal took advantage of this and received US citizenship. Though the majority of Chinese people had been banned from immigrating to the US for nearly 30 years, there was one exception: US citizens could naturalize their children born in China. Although immigration officials vetted these claims, many paper sons also slipped through, which is how my grandfather, Jim Toy, and my uncle Yett Gee became US citizens upon entry in 1920.

Several years after arriving in the US, Jim Toy traveled back to China and returned with my grandmother, Bow Sim, and their son, Hugh. The family moved from San Francisco to Chicago, and finally to Ruleville, Mississippi, a small farming town established following the construction of the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad. Jim Toy was able to work in a grocery store with his paper brother, Yett Gee. Like K.C., Jim Toy was classified as colored and had limited job and education opportunities. Frustrated that his son, Hugh, would be forced to attend a segregated school and worried he would receive an inferior education, Jim Toy moved his growing family to Houston around 1937. Most Chinese became merchants in Black neighborhoods, but Jim Toy purposely chose to open a grocery store in a white neighborhood so his kids could have more opportunities.

Learning these stories as a child made me appreciate both the hard work of my family and the sacrifices one generation made for the next. But like Charles, Baldwin, and Edwin, as an adult, I am still discovering new things and asking more questions. (While writing this essay, I interviewed two of my aunts and another cousin who told me even more family stories.)

As the documentary suggests, when our parents are slow to reveal or are secretive about the details of their lives, we can end up believing that these histories dont matter or the past is in the past. But through its numerous genealogies; frequent invocations to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and rituals specifically commemorating a particular triumph, Scripture strongly suggests that God wants us to remember where we come from. As the Bible makes clear, these arent just interactions of people in years pasttheyre a testament to Gods work and blessings in the world.

At the beginning of the Book of Joshua, the successor to Moses has recently assumed leadership over the Israelites and leads the nation to cross the River Jordan after God miraculously stops the water from flowing. With the water held back, the Lord has Joshua direct 12 men to collect 12 stones in the river and build a monument: In the future, when your descendants ask their parents, What do these stones mean? tell them, Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground. For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God (Joshua 5:2124).

Crossing the River Jordan means that after centuries of enslavement and decades wandering in the desert, the Israelites are finally in the Promised Land. God has made good on his promise to them. This monument becomes a means of helping them retain and care for their spiritual heritage.

Article continues below

In my parents stories, Im grateful that they didnt hide the hardships their family endured. Upon my grandparents and their children moving to Houston, they opened a grocery store in the Heights, a white, blue-collar neighborhood. Residents boycotted the Chinese-owned store until their World War II ration coupons compelled them to enter the establishment. My mother told me that for more than half a decade, their family was banned from owning a home in the neighborhood, forcing them to live in the back storeroom, eating dinner and doing homework on apple crates.

After six years, a white customer helped the family buy a home by first purchasing it himself and immediately selling it to my grandparents. Little did he know that he was helping the family that would raise the first Asian American on the Houston City Council and first Asian American woman in the Texas House of Representativesotherwise known as my mom.

This past year has been a hard one for many Asian American communities. Each week seems to bring new stories of violence and assault, incidents that many of us will feel reluctant to remember and pass down to one another. And yet, our wounds and joy, our trauma and triumph all matter to God, as Psalm 107:23 underscores, Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their storythose he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

Sometimes we think about testimony as being something purely personal, Far East Deep South director Larissa Lam, who turned her husband Baldwins family story into the film, told CT. However, if we take a step back, we may begin to recognize how God has been with ones family for generations.

If you think about it, the Bible is made up of family stories, she said. If we dont tell our family stories, then no one will learn about the trials and triumphs, stories of transgression to redemption in our families. God gave us all unique stories, and its up to us to tell it.

Kim Wong Chew is a California-based writer.
For generations Marcus Whitman has been widely viewed as an iconic figure from early Pacific Northwest history, a venerated Protestant missionary who was among 13 people killed by the Cayuse tribe near modern-day Walla Walla, Washington, in 1847.

But this past year has seen a continued reappraisal of Whitman, whose actions have increasingly been viewed as imperialistic and destructive.

The Washington Legislature voted to strip his likeness from the US Capitol. Students at Whitman College in Walla Walla demonstrated recently to demand another Whitman statue be removed from campus. A new book says a well-known story about Whitmans efforts to save the Northwest from British rule was fabricated.

The developments come amid a nationwide movement, following George Floyds death last year, to shed Confederate monuments and depictions of historical figures who mistreated Native Americans. Statues of colonizers have been targeted in several states.

Marcus Whitman is known for leading a small group of missionaries in 1836 into what was then Oregon Country, a region about the size of Alaska. He established the Whitman Mission at Waiilatpu, near the Walla Walla River.

The mission was in the territory of the Cayuse Tribe, which was wary of the white settlers.

Whitman and his wife, Narcissa, were strict Calvinists who preached a demanding version of Christianity that proved unpopular with the tribe. In more than a decade of effort, they managed to convert only two members of the tribe, said Blaine Harden, an author and former New York Times and Washington Post reporter who wrote the newly published Murder at the Mission about the massacre.

Whitman was a mediocre missionary, Harden told The Associated Press.

But the mission became an important stop along the Oregon Trail from 1843 to 1847, and the Cayuse became suspicious that the white settlers were coming to take the land.After a few years, the Whitmans lost interest in the Cayuse and spent their time trying to convert white settlers. Whitman eventually decided the Native Americans needed to give way to the settlers.

An 1847 measles outbreak killed half the local Cayuse. The illness also broke out in the mission, but more white settlers survived. Some of the Cayuse blamed the devastation on Whitman and his wife. The Cayuse had a tradition of killing failed medicine men, Harden said, and Whitman, a medical doctor, was warned to leave the area. The Cayuse attacked the mission and killed the Whitmans and 11 others.

The deaths shocked the nation.

After the massacre, the settlers of the region sent a delegation to Washington, DC, and used the massacre to motivate Congress to make the Oregon Country an official part of the United States, completing the continental nation, Harden said.

Prior to that, the region that became the states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho had been jointly held with the British, Harden said.

The killing of Whitman was the trigger that made Walla Walla part of the United States, he said.

Twenty years after the massacre, fellow missionary Henry Spalding manufactured a false story about Whitman. Spalding contended Whitman had traveled to Washington, DC, and persuaded President (John) Tyler to stop the British plot to steal the Oregon Territory from the United States, Harden said.

There is no evidence Whitman actually did this, Harden said.

But Spalding relentlessly promoted that story, and it became the popularly accepted myth, Harden said, printed in history books for decades. The myth was debunked in 1900 by a Yale professor and dropped from wide use.

Image: Ted S. Warren / AP

Whitmans name still adorns landmarks across the Pacific Northwest, including many schools, streets, a hotel in Walla Walla, a county in eastern Washington, a national forest in Oregon, and a glacier on Mount Rainier.

In 1953 a heroic statue to Whitman was placed in Statuary Hall in Washington, DC, as one of two representing Washington state. He is standing, wearing buckskin garments and holding a thick Bible and saddlebags. Some people grumbled about the false story of Whitmans achievements even then, Harden said.

Harden noted that Whitman College has taken concrete steps for decades to distance itself from the Whitman myth. That includes moving a statue identical to the one in Statuary Hall to a remote corner of campus. Last year, a proposal suggested moving the statue to the Fort Walla Walla Museum, where it could be presented in context.

Whitman Colleges Maxey Museum director Libby Miller told local news the statue appears more like a symbol of frontier mythology than a representation of the schools namesake.

The college in 2016 voted to change its mascot from the Missionaries to the Blues, in honor of a nearby mountain range. There are no plans to change the name of the elite college.

Washington legislators had been working for several years to replace Whitmans statue in Statuary Hall. This year they chose deceased Native American fishing and environmental activist Billy Frank Jr. for the honor.

The measures prime sponsor, Democratic state Rep. Debra Lekanoff, is the only Native American in the Washington Legislature. Her strategy was to praise Frank without criticizing Whitman, to avoid antagonizing supporters of the missionary.

Gov. Jay Inslee in April signed the bill, beginning the process of putting a statue of Frank in the US Capitol.

We expect to send our best from the state of Washington to be memorialized in the United States Capitol in Statuary Hall, Inslee said at the bill signing ceremony. We cant send the Nisqually River or Mount Rainier, but we can send Billy Frank Jr.

Meanwhile, Whitman students have been working to remove a Whitman statue from campus, including at an April demonstration.

Sophomore Gillian Brown told the school newspaper she was uncomfortable with the way the statue glorified Whitmans legacy.

Even when I first came to Whitman and they took us to the monument, I thought, This guy is a colonizer. Hes not someone to be celebrated, Brown told the Whitman Wire.

The issue is still up in the air.

The campus statue is owned by the city of Walla Walla, college spokeswoman Gina Ohnstad said. The city is working on a process to allow residents to submit formal requests for the removal of public art.
Three years have passed since the evening of March 23, 2018, the night in which a Chicago Tribune article revealed allegations of misconduct against Willow Creeks senior pastor Bill Hybels. The article, expertly written by reporters Manya Brachear Pashman and Jeff Coen, left our family stunned, bewildered, and disoriented. That Bill Hybels did such things was hard enough, but we simply could not believe that a church we loved and trust(ed) would so callously brand Hybels victims as liars and colluders. I have language now to understand the events as a predictable pattern of institutional betrayal, but at the time I felt thrown into a tailspin. For me a common disorientation was the question Why are people angry at me for asking Willow Creek to tell the truth?

As a once-insider-now-outsider, I watched Willow Creek move on without seeking true, redemptive healing. (More on that later.) The story about Hybels quieted, but emotions lurked and simmered at the surface always, victims and family and former staff and members triggered by sermon titles and Willow Creeks flashy events and snippets of weekend messages that seemed careless in light of its larger story. A pattern developed: We reeled and then we processed and some tried to meet with elders and begged for truth-telling and then the story quieted once again.

Unreconciled relations and unfinished reconciliations, however, seemed to be put behind us even if uncompleted.

Then, last week, a YouTube video dropped. I clicked on it, wondering why Willow Creek watchers responded to it so viscerally. I read comments before I watched the video, and twenty seconds into it I understood. I understood and I was stunned, shocked, alarmed and bewildered.

Willow Creek held a core meeting for members on May 26, where new senior pastor Dave Dummitt and new South Barrington campus pastor Shawn Williams fielded questions from those in attendance. Among others, this question was asked: Why is Bill Hybels name rarely mentioned? Let me pause here: The answer to that question is sacred. It is delicate. It can shatter or it can contribute to a redemptive process. It holds the stories of abused men and women within it, men and women who suffered faith-shattering wounds and were buried beneath a powerful institution. We know their stories, we know (some of) their names, and we honor them by responding to their soul-trauma with compassion and truth and grace.

Before I continue, I offer this prayer my father and I wrote, printed in our recent book A Church Called Tov-- that God will be gracious, that God will forgive, that God will heal, that God will restore people to himself and to one another, and that tov (goodness) will abound in Willow Creek.

Back to the video. I was instantly alarmed by the tone and the applause and joking and fist-bumping and laughter over who should answer the question: Why is Bill Hybels name rarely mentioned? I was alarmed by appeals to being the new guy as an excuse for not knowing how to respond. Abuse was labeled a polarizing reality of peoples perspectives. Shawn Williams said he talked to people who cant understand why Bill was treated the way he was treated. I was alarmed that an answer to a question so delicate and sacred would be treated with cavalier attitudes and back-slapping and no mention of the victims. Or concern for their deep, enduring wounds.

And then this: Williams spoke about the life-changing impact Bill Hybels had upon his life. He described Hybels as a once-in-a-generation leader. Williams described Bill or Willow Creek as a broken tree who produced good fruit. The senior pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, the successor to Hybels, Dave Dummitt added, I agree with everything you said, labeling Williams words beautiful. On that stage, with seemingly no pre-planning, he invited Williams to share that same message at a weekend service to a wider audience. They spoke of Hybels with great respect and deference.

This needs to be said. The mens descriptions about Bill describe something real. He was influential, he was a gifted leader, and he introduced thousands to Christ. He wrote books, and he shared great leadership principles. But what Williams and Dummitt did on stage was wrong. It was wrong because they downplayed the evil of abuse. They re-wounded the women. Hybels is (as far as we know) unrepentant. Saying he had a shadow side is a severe underestimation of sexual predatory behavior. Above all, this: Abused men and women do not want to hear their abusers name lauded and clapped about in a church before leaders in that church. The entire eight minutes were recklessly, needlessly wounding. They lack pastoral presence, and they lack discernment and wisdom.

It was unwise, unprofessional, and non-pastoral for Shawn Williams, a recent staff addition, to answer that question. The question should have been answered (1) only by the senior pastor and (2) never so casually as in a question-and-answer session. This is a story of deep trauma and tragedy, a story whose response requires preparation, prayer, counseling, and clear indication to the church that something very serious about Willow Creek will be discussed from its platform. And if that conversation is to occur in public, the women should be consulted and prepared and satisfied with what is to be said.

Should Bill Hybels name be mentioned? This is what I think: Yes. Yes, it should be mentioned. But it should not be celebrated, as Williams and Dummitt directly stated and indirectly did with continuous praises and accolades. Hybels name should be mentioned, yes, but in a Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) sort of way, with seasonal or continuous confession and sorrow and repentance. Yes, he had an impact but the entire impact is stained beyond praise.

Willow Creek should tell the truth about itself, confess its complicities and sins, and receive Gods forgiveness and healing. But confession means to admit, to name, to describe, and to own what happened. It means to affirm the truth teller(s), name the abuser and his wrongdoings, and confess all complicity. It means to publicly acknowledge the harm done and express a sincere desire to change. I understand this May 26 core-meeting was not a confessional service, but it appears to me Willow Creek skipped Yom Kippur. This was a missed opportunity for Dummitt to affirm the courageous women, to name Hybels sin, and to confess the churchs complicity in contributing to a culture that allowed it.

Think about it: an abuser was praised by Willow Creeks new leadership. The victims were unnamed and dragged through a callous rehearsal of the mans stained accomplishments.

The question was Why is Bill Hybels name rarely mentioned? The real question is Why were the women once again dishonored?

I was baptized by Bill Hybels. I attended Willow Creek for 20 years, I was a member, and I met my husband there. The man was influential in my life, too. I offer a prayer for him here, again printed and adapted from A Church Called Tov:

Father of All Mercy,

You know the hearts and minds of all your people.

You know all and you reveal your truth in Christ.

Grant to us, your people, including the pastors mentioned in this post, to know the truth of the gospel and to know the truth of your grace, which transforms us into Christlikeness.

Grant further, O Lord, the rich graces of reconciliation between those on opposing sides of the devastating events at Willow Creek.

Grant this so that we may live in the light, knowing the graces of your forgiveness and power and walking in the way that brings you all the glory.

Through Christ, who lives with you, the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.
Community mourns after pastor, 10-year-old daughter are killed in crash

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Friends and relatives of beloved Kansas Pastor Phillip Hett, 39, are now grappling with grief after he was killed along with his 10-year-old daughter, Abigail, in a crash on Sunday. The pastors 13-year-old daughter, Jillian, who was traveling with them at the time of the accident, survived.

I dont think its really sunk in yet that theyre gone, family member Toby Peck told KWCH12. Its going to be really hard when it finally does sink in.

The Kansas Highway Patrol cited in a Fox 4 report said the crash that killed the pastor and his younger daughter happened around 1:30 p.m. Sunday, some 8 miles south of Salina on Interstate 135. Investigators said a northbound pickup truck driven by 24-year-old Christopher Giroux of Salina crossed the interstate median into southbound lanes and collided with another pickup truck that was being driven by Hett. Jillian has been hospitalized with serious injuries.

Pastor Hett served as the spiritual leader of Bethany Village, a retirement community, which is a mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Churches of America.

Kris Erickson, CEO of Bethany Village, asked for people to pray for the pastors family in a statement to The Christian Post on Wednesday, and said they were in shock.

The Bethany Village family is in shock and is grieving the loss of our beloved pastor and friend Phil Hett. We also grieve the loss of his beautiful daughter Abigail. Phil was an amazing man, a great friend, and a wonderful pastor. He was the spiritual center of our mission. He was the person we would turn to in our time of loss and grief, and now we face this loss without his presence, Erickson noted.

He has left us with lessons in faith and love that allow us to hold one another up as we come to terms with this tragedy. Our prayers are with his family, his daughter Jillian, and all who loved him as we grieve with them. We also pray for the family and loved ones of the young man who was involved in the accident, he added.

He further noted that Hett was an example to everyone.

He was always available to help our residents, their families, and his coworkers in times of crisis. His kindness and compassion was unparalleled, and his ministry was an example to us all. His sermons would include personal stories and moments we could all relate to as he led us to a deeper understanding of faith and service to others. He was a brilliant theologian. I would go to him for a better understanding of a scriptural passage, and I would leave his office an hour later having learned a history of world events, an understanding of the socio-political climate of the time, and often a translation of the early Greek texts relating to the passage, he said, also acknowledging the late pastors sense of humor.

Even in the most trying of times, he had a way of allowing you to laugh through your tears and come through with an understanding that all would be fine, Erickson said.

Peck told KWCH12 that Hett touched a lot of lives, and was very, very likable, in the Lindsborg community.

He also called Abigail, fun, super smart and very talented.

Its still not real yet, he said of their deaths. Its just so unimaginable that this happened. Everybody thinks this cant happen to you and its just, its awful.

Even though they are grieving the loss of two lives, the family said Peck is grateful that Jillian survived.

Were lucky to have her, Peck said. It was a really bad wreck and some good Samaritans actually are the ones that pulled her out. And thats why shes with us. Its amazing that anybody got out of there and she wouldnt have had (it not) been for them.

Anyone wanting to assist the Hett family with donations can write checks to Bethany Home Association with Pastor Phillip Hett Memorial written in the memo line.
Critical race theory sparks flurry of resolutions for annual SBC meeting, Denny Burk reveals

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

In what is shaping up to be a historic annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, this month, the denominations Resolution 9 acknowledging critical race theory as a useful tool to explain how race has and continues to function in society is the target of multiple resolutions seeking to strip it of its power.

Denny Burk, professor of biblical studies at Boyce College, the undergraduate school of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, revealed in a blog post Friday that he was aware of nearly 60 resolutions being submitted to the Resolutions Committee asking SBC messengers to condemn critical race theory.

I am aware that a number of people have submitted resolutions relating to CRT. I know of at least three that are opposed to CRT (here, here, and here) and one that is in favor of CRT (here). As I write this, it looks like there are about 57 people submitting the exact same resolution as Mike Stones proposed resolution, Burk wrote.

Mike Stone, the pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Georgia, and one of three nominees vying to become the next president of the nations largest Protestant denomination, recently proposed a resolution asking the denomination to condemn the theory.

The proposed resolution also seeks to affirm the controversial portion of the November 2020 statement from the Council of Seminary Presidents that states, affirmation of Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality and any version of Critical Theory is incompatible with the Baptist Faith & Message."

And these are just the ones I know about because theyve been publicized on the internet," Burk added.

"I have heard through the grapevine that there are other proposals that havent been publicized and that we wont know about until the Resolutions Committee reports on them at the convention. This means that the committee is not going to be able to please all sides and likely wont try to. It also means that they have their work cut out for them."

Regardless of what happens, Burk expressed confidence that SBC messengers wont leave Nashville without a strong resolution against critical race theory.

I have heard of at least one effort to rescind 2019s Resolution 9. If that came to the floor of the convention, I would support it, but Im not sure if its possible under the rules (someone else who knows more about Roberts Rules can weigh-in)," he wrote.

"But Im also not sure that its even necessary. If the convention passes a strong resolution against CRT, it would serve as a de facto rescinding of Resolution 9 (sort of like subsequent resolutions became a de facto repudiation of the SBCs infamous pro-choice resolution of 1971). For me, the priority is getting a strong statement against CRT. That is the main thing."

The professor expressed support for a resolution proposed by Stephen Feinstein, a pastor at Sovereign Way Christian Church in Hesperia, California, and a chaplain in the United States Army Reserve.

What I like about this is that it defines institutional racism not as CRT does, but in terms of willful discrimination," Burk explained.

"In CRT, no human agency is required at all for racism to be present in a given institution or system (as I have written about here). CRT says that racism is everywhere all the time and that all white people are racists whether they choose to be or not. Any racially disparate outcome is racism even if no one willfully discriminated against anyone."

Burk argues that such an argument is "completely incompatible with what scripture teaches about sin and judgment, but this resolution fixes that."

"It recognizes that sinful partiality can affect institutions and systems while not alleging that all institutions and systems are racist by default (as in CRT)," he wrote.

Any member of a cooperating Southern Baptist church can propose a resolution for adoption by the SBC.

However, the SBC Committee on Resolutions may decline to recommend properly submitted resolutions to the convention for adoption.

Prominent Southern Baptist Pastor Dwight McKissic, who founded and leads Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, warned earlier this year that if Resolution 9 is rescinded, he would leave the SBC.

His threat came after he quit the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention after leaders adopted a strongly worded, anti-CRT policy that denounces all aspects of critical race theory.

McKissic's declaration also came amid an exodus of prominent black Southern Baptist pastors, such as Ralph West and Charlie Dates, over the Council of Seminary Presidents renouncing critical race theory and intersectionality.

The 2021 annual gathering of the Southern Baptist Convention is set to take place in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 15 and June 16. More than 13,000 messengers have pre-registered for the event, according to Ronnie Floyd, president of the SBC Executive Committee.

Only four other conventions have attracted at least 10,000 messengers since 2000, he said.

This could be one of our largest gatherings since 1995 in Atlanta, when we had 20,654 messengers, he recently noted.
'I am not being muzzled': Fauci's emails reveal candid response to media's Trump censorship claims

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Dr. Anthony Fauci shot down claims that he was being muzzled by the Trump administration during the initial months of the COVID-19 surge, according to emails released this week.

Thousands of pages of emails sent to and from Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who was also part of the Trump administration's coronavirus task force, were obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests by BuzzFeed News and The Washington Post. Among the emails was a response from Fauci who dismissed claims that he was being muzzled by the Trump administration.

In one email dated March 2, 2020, Fauci denied being censored from speaking out about the pandemic when he was asked if it was true that the Trump administration controlled his speech, as was reported at the time.

When then-President Donald Trump appointed former Vice President Mike Pence to oversee the governments response to the pandemic, some believed Faucis scientific opinion was being silenced.

I have been very explicit in stating publicly that I am not being muzzled or censored, Fauci wrote in an emailed response.

I say exactly what I want to say based on scientific evidence, I have stated this on multiple TV programs over the past few days including at a major press conference with many, many reporters present including several TV cameras, Fauci continued. Could not possibly be more public about this. No censor. No Muzzle. Free to speak out.

On April 15, 2020, Fox News' Bret Baier reported that multiple sources believed the novel coronavirus outbreak originated in Wuhan lab where patient zero was infected. These sources also said that the World Health Organization was complicit in covering for China.

That same month, Fauci repeatedly said that the virus was not man-made and was the result of anunusual human-animal interface in a Chinese wet market and that the mutations that it took to get to the point where it is now is totally consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.

Peter Daszak, a zoologist and president of the EcoHealth Alliance, sent an email to Fauci on April 18, 2020, thanking him for "stating that the scientific evidence supports a natural origin for COVID-19 from a bat-to-human spillover, not a lab release from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The EcoHealth Alliance had received an NIH grant and used those funds to study coronaviruses in Chinese bats and gave $598,000 to the Wuhan lab from 20142019. Under the Trump administration, the NIH subsequently canceled a five-year $3.7 million grant for EcoHealth Alliance, saying it didnt believe the work aligned with program goals and agency priorities, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Questions surrounding the origins of the COVID-19 outbreak have resurfaced in recent months after State Department documents revealed that a month before the first confirmed case of COVID-19, three researchers working in Chinas Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) were hospitalized after becoming sick in November 2019.

This has reignited interest in investigating the origins of the COVID-19 virus to find out if it escaped from the laboratory.

The fact sheet released by the State Department during the final days of the Trump administration said several researchers at a lab who studied coronaviruses and other pathogens became sick with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illness, the Journal reported.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who was among the first to raise concerns about the virus' origins coming from the Wuhan lab, responded to the corporate media's sudden about-face after reporting for over a year that such claims had been debunked and were nothing more than a conspiracy theory.

The common-sense case for a lab leak is the same as it was in January 2020, when I first mentioned the possibility, Cotton tweeted on May 24.

Isnt it strange that this once-in-a-century bat coronavirus pandemic just happened to emerge within a few miles of Chinas biggest laboratory researching bat coronaviruses? Shouldnt we at least look at that lab? Cotton asked.

Three Wuhan lab researchers went to the hospital with COVID symptoms in November 2019a month before the first confirmed case of the disease.



Its time for the Chinese Communist Party to come clean about what happened at that lab.https://t.co/7XZrLRCBFH  Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) May 25, 2021

The Republican senator cited a Hudson Institute event on the origins of COVID-19 and said evidence of a lab leak has been building for months due to the lax safety conditions at Wuhan Institute of Virology, similarities between research at the lab and features of the virus and patents for bat cages and other live-animal research tools filed by WIV.

The lab-leak hypothesis was always reasonable, but reporters & activists in white lab coats nonetheless spent the better part of a year denouncing it as a conspiracy theory. They were wrong, Cotton continued in the Twitter thread.

Cotton called for truth and accountability, as well as a full, impartial investigation into COVID-19 origins, with a special focus on the Wuhan labs.

If we want closure in the aftermath of this pandemic  and if we want to avert the next one  we must learn about its origin, Cotton added in an op-ed for Fox News. That means we must look at the lab in Wuhan and the experimental research its scientists performed.

Following the Journals report about the three WIV researchers being hospitalized in November 2019, the Senate unanimously approved a bill last Monday introduced by Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Mike Braun, R-Ind., to require the federal government to declassify all information linking Chinas WIV and COVID-19, Forbes reported.

President Joe Biden said in a statement released on May 26 that the U.S. intelligence community has coalesced around two likely scenarios but has not reached a definitive conclusion on this question regarding the origins of COVID-19.

Biden reportedly asked the intelligence community in March to prepare a report on the origins of COVID-19, including whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident.

Biden has since asked these agencies to redouble their efforts to collect and analyze information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion and report back to him in 90 days.

China's communist regime initially claimed that the deadly virus originated at a wet market in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, but there was much speculation surrounding that claim.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki advised Americans not to jump to conclusions on the origins of the virus before the international investigation is completed, Breitbart reported.

What we cant do, and what I would caution anyone doing, is leaping ahead of an actual international process, Psaki said last Monday. We dont have enough data and information to jump to a conclusion at this point in time.

A World Health Organization report released in March claimed the coronavirus likely emerged from bats and is extremely unlikely to have emerged from a laboratory leak, NBC News reported at the time.

More than a year after the first infections were detected, WHO staff investigated the WIV and visited a market in Wuhan in February, the Journal reported.

Some have raised concerns about gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab and other locations worldwide. Gain-of-function research occurs when an organism or disease is altered in a way that increases its transmissibility or when naturally-occurring animal viruses are altered to infect humans.

During a Senate hearing in May, Fauci said the National Institutes of Health had never directly funded this type of research at the Wuhan lab when Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., asked if Fauci supports the NIH funding that lab.

Last Tuesday, the Senate passed an amendment by Paul that would permanently ban any U.S. funding for gain-of-function research in China.

We dont know whether the pandemic started in a lab in Wuhan or evolved naturally, Paul said in a statement on the Senate floor. While many still deny funding gain-of-function research in Wuhan, experts believe otherwise. The passage of my amendment ensures that this never happens in the future. No taxpayer money should have ever been used to fund gain-of-function research in Wuhan, and now we permanently have put it to a stop.

Senate Amendment 2003 banned the National Institute of Health and U.S. agencies from funding gain-of-function research in China, but this amendment defines gain-of-function as any research project that may be reasonably anticipated to confer attributes to influenza, MERS, or SARS viruses such that the virus would have enhanced pathogenicity or transmissibility in mammals.

In the recently released FOIA emails, Fauci exchanged messages with staff from January to June 2020, when the pandemic was first emerging in the U.S.

In an email from Fauci to Lawrence Tabak, principal deputy director of the NIH, sent on Feb. 1, 2020, the title of an attached PDF included the phrase, SARS Gain of function.

Fauci also sent an email to Hugh Auchincloss, NIAID principal deputy director, with the same document attached to it and said it was essential for them to speak that morning, instructing him to read the attached paper.
Hundreds gather at Tulsa churchs prayer wall for 100th anniversary of race massacre

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Hundreds attended an interfaith service at a historic church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to mark the 100th anniversary of one of the worst race massacres in United States history.

Held Monday at Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church in Tulsas Greenwood neighborhood, the event featured prominent national and local African-American faith leaders like Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. William Barber.

You can kill the people but you cannot kill the voice of the blood, stated Barber at the event, as reported by The Associated Press, adding that he was humbled even to stand on this holy ground.

Members of Congress were in attendance, including Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del. and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.

In addition to the interfaith service, President Joe Biden also gave a speech at the Greenwood Cultural Center in Tulsa on Tuesday.

You know, theres a verse in 1 Corinthians that says, For now, we see in a mirror dimly, but then, face to face, now I know in part, then I shall know fully, said Biden.

For much too long, the history of what took place here was told in silence, cloaked in darkness. But just because history is silent, it doesnt mean that it did not take place. And while darkness can hide much, it erases nothing.

On May 31, 1921, a white mob violently attacked the black Tulsa neighborhood of Greenwood, which included a major business district commonly known as Black Wall Street.

For approximately 18 hours, clashes occurred in Greenwood, with over 1,200 houses destroyed and an official death toll of 36 people, predominantly African-American.

History.com dubbed the Tulsa Race Massacre as one of the deadliest riots in U.S. history, behind only the New York Draft Riots of 1863, which killed at least 119 people.

In the years to come, as Black Tulsans worked to rebuild their ruined homes and businesses, segregation in the city only increased, and Oklahomas newly established branch of the KKK grew in strength, noted the site.

A 2001 state commission examination of events was able to confirm 36 dead, 26 Black and 10 white. However, historians estimate the death toll may have been as high as 300.

Last year, a group of people, including a predominantly African-American church and a 105-year-old survivor of the massacre, sued Tulsa for reparations over the violent tragedy.

Defendants unlawful acts and omissions in the years and decades following the Massacre blighted the Greenwood neighborhood, endangering the health and safety of the Greenwood community, the lawsuit stated.

Defendants interference with investment in the Greenwood and North Tulsa community and neighborhood, which began after the Massacre, continues to this day.

Previous lawsuits seeking compensation for the 1921 riot have failed, including a federal suit in 2003 that was dismissed due to a statute of limitations.
Young customers driving demand for textile-based products used for thousands of years

Internet-savvy young people, or Generation Z consumers, who often share their hobbies with others, are driving the popularity of traditional Chinese garments like hanfu.



Much of that interest can also be traced back to the country's impressive economic growth and growing international presence in the last few years. With China becoming more self-confident in recent years, people are once again expressing interest in traditional dresses and garments, which in turn has given a new lease of life to hanfu-related businesses.

Zhang Yi, chief analyst at iiMedia Research, said during an interview with online fashion media Vogue Business that from a niche hobby to a fashionable trend, the popularization of hanfu is being driven by young customers.

Research firm CBNData estimates that in recent years, hanfu consumers are becoming increasingly younger on average, with the post-1990 and post-1995 generations contributing to an increasing amount of expenditure.

A report jointly released by Shanghai-based business media Yicai and T-mall showed that in 2019, post-1995 female consumers were the main consumption group of hanfu, accounting for around 80 percent of total consumers.

"The young generation's buying power is rising and hanfu is gradually becoming mass-market fashion as it is more a carrier of traditional culture than mere clothing," Zhang said.

He added that popular shows featuring Chinese costume dramas also accelerated the development of hanfu-related businesses. In addition, key opinion leaders' recreation of movie characters wearing hanfu also drew in millions of online audience members.

Typically when one talks of traditional Chinese clothing, the first word that comes up is qipao. Some people even call it "the China Dress". However, if one is faithful to history, hanfu is more worthy of the title. As opposed to qipao, which has only been around for three hundred years or so, hanfu has been around for some three millennia.

Hanfu gets its name from the Chinese people themselves, most of whom are members of the Han ethnic group. Meanwhile,fu means clothing. Therefore, hanfu designates the traditional clothing worn by the Han ethnic group between the Huang Di or the Yellow Emperor era and late Ming (1368-1644) and early Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

According to data from people.cn, Chinese hanfu consumers surpassed 2 million in 2018, triple the 2017 levels. A recent report from Guangzhou-based consultancy iiMedia Research estimated that by the end of this year, the number of people using hanfu products in China will reach 6.89 million, with total sales expected to reach 10.16 billion yuan ($1.6 billion).

Currently, there are more than 3,000 hanfu-related enterprises in China, among which over 60 percent were registered in the past five years, said business information provider Tianyancha.

According to Tianyancha, in 2019, newly registered hanfu-related enterprises stood at over 1,000, while last year, the figure surpassed 800. From Jan 1 to May 13, there were 300 newly added hanfu-related companies in China.

Wan Yue, a post-1980s mother of two, became a hanfu enthusiast back in 2009. As someone belonging to the Han ethnic group, she said that she has always been eager to wear clothing that is representative of her community.

"Seeing people around me dressing up in their traditional garments, I have also often wished to find a dress that depicts the culture of my ethnic group," she said.

In 2009, Wan joined a hanfu fan club. Apart from merely buying the garments, she began to learn about the culture and history behind the clothing.

Each suit has its own cultural and historic background, and is designed for certain occasions, she said.

Wan's husband is also a hanfu enthusiast, and they hosted their wedding ceremony wearing grand gownsthe highest-standard of hanfu. Instead of wearing Western wedding dresses and suits, the couple thought it would be better to celebrate the special moment of their life wearing costumes of their own culture.

Today, the hanfu-loving couple have a daughter and a son. The family chooses to wear a whole set of hanfu suits during traditional Chinese holidays, such as Spring Festival. They also mix and match hanfu with common outfits during daily life.

"Me, my husband and my daughter and son all have our own hanfu suits, altogether adding up to 50 to 60 sets. The price of each set ranges from 200 yuan to 5,000 yuan. I also purchase handbags, headdresses and earrings to match the suits," Wan said.

Wang Tata, a post-1990 office clerk in Shanghai, became a hanfu fan since junior high school. In college, she joined a hanfu club, where she and other members shared information about affordable hanfu stores, and organized outings wearing hanfu.

When Wang graduated and started to make money on her own, she traveled at least once a month, often wearing hanfu.

"I've worn hanfu in the Tengger Desert in northwestern China, at the beach in Pingtan, Fujian Province , in the Great Tang All Day Mall in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, as well as in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Wherever the scenery matches, I wear hanfu," she said.

When asked about the money she spends on hanfu, Wang said the average price of a hanfu suit she purchases is usually hundreds of yuan. However, she noted that the market price varies, and some high-quality hanfu suits are priced at over 10,000 yuan.

Guangzhou-based customized hanfu manufacturer Minghuatang is known as the "Hermes of hanfu".A hand-woven golden threaded tissue sells for 7,800 yuan, while a whole set of hanfu decorated with lotus and phoenix is priced at 9,600 yuan.

Industry insiders said that in contrast to Western tailored modern clothing, hanfu has higher requirements for raw materials, workmanship and tailoring. Certain manufacturing procedures such as embroidery can only be completed manually, and purely manual production means longer working times and higher costs, contributing to the high prices.

Apart from the high-end market segment, inexpensive hanfu products are also popular. Data from Alibaba's Taobao platform showed that hanfu priced between 100 yuan and 300 yuan took up over 60 percent of sales, while products over 500 yuan accounted for roughly 30 percent of sales.

Jiang Hui, founder of e-commerce platform Maoke123.com, said that hanfu is a one-in-a-million product with "five highs"high per customer transactions, high gross profit margins, high repurchase rates, high friend-sell rates and high growth ratesand enterprises should grasp business opportunities and tap into the market.

"Hanfu enterprises should integrate online and offline channels to build a complete sales system. They should also work on brand operation to enhance business scale and influence," said Huang Zhengneng, founder of Hangzhou-based fashion brand Xyzstar.

Some emerging business opportunities should also be recognized. For example, hanfu showrooms that enable consumers to experience hanfu and enjoy their afternoon tea time, hanfu rental stores and children's hanfu all enjoy great business potential, said Wang Yiting, an analyst at Vogue Business.
Judge tosses Planned Parenthood's lawsuit against largest 'sanctuary city for the unborn' in US

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

A federal judge has dismissed Planned Parenthoods lawsuit seeking to invalidate an ordinance outlawing abortion in a major Texas city, arguing a "lack of jurisdiction."

Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas, appointed to the bench by former President Donald Trump, tossed the lawsuit filed on behalf of the abortion provider against an ordinance banning abortion in the city of Lubbock.

Because the ability to remedy a plaintiffs injury through a favorable decision is a prerequisite to a plaintiffs standing to sue  an ability absent here  the Court dismisses the case for lack of jurisdiction, Hendrix said in his Tuesday night ruling, as reported by The Texas Tribune.

Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas filed a lawsuit against Lubbock, asking a federal judge to declare the voter-approved ordinance outlawing most abortions within the city limits except for cases when a woman's life is at risk unconstitutional.

The ruling comes after oral arguments were heard Friday in Hendrix's court during which he expressed reservations about the scope of his authority over the ordinance, The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported.

In response to Hendrixs decision, the city of Lubbock released a statement acknowledging that the City has reviewed the June 1 Court Order in the litigation challenging Lubbocks Sanctuary City of the Unborn ordinance and is pleased with the result.

Praising the judges thorough and well-reasoned opinion, the city vowed to vigorously defend the ordinance in any litigation that may be filed.

Hendrixs ruling follows Planned Parenthoods announcement that it will no longer perform abortions at its Lubbock facility.

In a statement released Tuesday, Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, the Texas affiliate of the nation's largest abortion provider, which operates a clinic in the city, indicated that Abortion services will be provided when legally permissible.

The announcement comes after Lubbocks abortion ban, approved by more than 62% of the citys voters, went into effect Tuesday, making the town of over 250,000 residents the largest sanctuary city for the unborn in the U.S.

The abortion provider chastised the ordinance for creating significant barriers and the need to travel a minimum 600-mile round trip or out of state for patients seeking to obtain an abortion.

Due to the controversial ordinance passed on May 1, Lubbock residents are currently required to travel to access a safe, legal abortion, said Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas CEO Ken Lambrecht. This ban on abortions provides no exemptions, even in cases of rape or incest. The ban on abortion violates patients constitutional right to an abortion and were in court to block this ban for Lubbock patients.

Planned Parenthood opened up a clinic in Lubbock, the 11th largest city in Texas, last year.

As the organization noted in its lawsuit, a health center operated in Lubbock by a separate Planned Parenthood entity was forced to close in 2013 following the States imposition of a series of state funding cuts and abortion restrictions.

Shortly after the abortion provider announced its intentions to open a new facility in Lubbock, Republican lawmakers representing the city in the Texas state legislature urged Lubbock Mayor Dan Pope, also a Republican, to take all necessary actions to prevent them from opening.

Additionally, the lawmakers called on Pope to enact an ordinance making Lubbock a sanctuary city for the unborn. When city officials unanimously opposed the idea, pro-life advocacy organizations successfully pushed to put the issue before the voters in a referendum, which passed on May 1.

While the overwhelming majority of the sanctuary cities for the unborn are located in Texas, the movement has recently spread to other states.

In addition to two cities in Nebraska, Lebanon, Ohio, passed an ordinance declaring itself a sanctuary city for the unborn last month, making it the first city in the Buckeye State to enact the ban.

Twenty-eight cities have declared themselves sanctuary cities for the unborn, and more than three dozen cities in Texas and Florida are considering banning abortion within the city limits.
Nigerian Christian pastor, 3-y-o son killed by radical Fulani herdsmen who surrounded their home

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Radical Fulani herdsmen killed a 39-year-old Christian pastor and his 3-year-old son in Niger state, Nigeria, while his wife and daughter managed to escape the extremists' attack on their home.

Leviticus Makpa had established a Christian school in the remote Kamberi village and was killed on his mission base with his son, Godsend Makpa, in the May 21 attack, according to reports obtained by Morning Star News.

Our missionary brother, Pastor Leviticus Makpa, was shot dead with his son by Fulani bandits, area resident Deborah Omeiza told Morning Star News in a text message. His wife escaped with their daughter.

An associate of the pastor said Makpa texted her, saying that Fulani herdsmen had surrounded his home.

Pastor Leviticus Makpa advised that I should not phone, as the herdsmen have surrounded his house and are attacking his mission base, she told Morning Star News. I quickly sent airtime to him to enable him [to] keep communicating with me. While I was waiting to hear from him, we began to pray for their protection.

Radical Fulani herdsmen had reportedly attacked the pastor in the past for his faith.

Fulani bandits came against them, they hid in the cave to save their lives, and after they left, he went back to the field with his family; how many of us can do this? asked Samuel Solomon, a close associate of Makpas. He eventually lost his life and that of his son; the wife and daughter escaped. He knew his life was at stake, but burden for souls wont let him run away from the field.

Solomon said they had planned to adopt him as a missionary, but painfully he has joined the league of martyrs in Heaven. His blood will testify over the land and also against the insecurity of a corrupt Islamist government in Nigeria.

Solomon said the mission of the radical herdsmen is to wipe out Christianity and obliterate the church.

Some have accused the Nigerian government of corruption for not combating jihadi terror groups despite receiving millions in foreign aid each year for that purpose, a lack of accountability, and turning a blind eye to the cycle of violence impacting Christians.

Nigeria is essentially the new headquarters for the Islamic jihad seeking to establish a caliphate , Dede Laugesen, executive director of the United States-based advocacy group Save the Persecuted Christians, told the Christian Post in an interview in March. The Christians in Nigeria and others are very concerned that the government continues to give impunity to Islamic extremists in Nigeria.  So theres no real accountability coming from the Nigerian government.

Human rights groups estimate that hundreds of people were killed by radicalized Fulani herdsmen attacks in 2020 alone.

Nigeria is Africas most populous country and ranks No. 9 on Open Doors' World Watch List for Christian persecution worldwide due to an extreme level of Islamic oppression. It is where more Christians are murdered for their faith each year than anywhere else.

" ... Christians are often murdered or have their property and means of livelihood destroyed. Men and boys are particularly vulnerable to being killed," Open Doors reports. "The women and children left behind are very vulnerable and living testimonies to the power of the attackers. Perpetrators are seldom brought to justice. Christian women are often abducted and raped by these militant groups, and sometimes forced to marry Muslims."

About 46% of Nigeria's population identifies as Christian, with over 95 million believers, and the divide between Christians and Muslims is roughly even, according to Open Doors.

The Global Terrorism Index ranked Nigeria as the third-most affected country by terrorism and reports that over 22,000 people were killed by acts of terror from 2001 to 2019.

The U.S. Commission on International and Religious Freedoms 2021 report warned Nigeria will move relentlessly toward a Christian genocide if action is not taken quickly.

Nigeria was the first democratic nation to be added to the U.S. State Department's list of "countries of particular concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act for engaging in tolerated systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.

An American pastor and attorney recently rebuilt a Nigerian church in time for Easter Sunday that was burned down in a Fulani attack in 2016.
Tom Cotton accuses Democrats of blackmail for threatening to pack Supreme Court over abortion case

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

A Republican senator has accused Democrats of trying to blackmail the United States Supreme Court by threatening to add justices to the bench if it rules that Mississippis 15-week abortion ban does not violate the U.S. Constitution.

Following the publication of an article in The Hill featuring Democratic senators vowing that a vote to overturn Roe v. Wade would fuel their push to add justices to the Supreme Court, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., tweeted a link to the article accompanied by the word: Blackmail.

Cottons wording suggests he believes that congressional Democrats were warning the justices that if they don't rule in favor of abortion in an upcoming case, they'll risk losing the nine-seat status quo, which even progressive justices have argued is necessary to assure the public that the bodys decisions are guided by legal principle, not politics.

The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, beloved by progressives, warned about the dangers of one side saying when were in power were going to enlarge the number of judges so well have more people who will vote the way we want them to. The number of Supreme Court justices has remained fixed at nine for a century-and-a-half.

The Democrats vows to push for expanding the size of the court if the justices vote to overturn Roe followed the May 17 announcement that the court would hear an appeal from the state of Mississippi in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization. The state of Mississippi is asking the court to reverse a lower court decision that ruled the states 15-week abortion ban is unconstitutional.

A ruling in favor of Mississippi would significantly weaken the central finding in the 1973 case Roe v. Wade, which ruled that women across the U.S. have the right to obtain an abortion. Currently, the court consists of six justices appointed by Republican presidents and three appointed by Democratic presidents. The makeup of the court has caused concern among Democrats, who fear that the nominally conservative majority will overturn Roe.

In April, congressional Democrats unveiled a legislative proposal to add four seats to the court, which would increase the number of justices to 13. While Democrats currently hold narrow majorities in both houses of Congress, the bill has failed to gain traction as Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated that she had no plans to bring it to the floor for a vote.

Speaking to The Hill, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., vowed that Chipping away at Roev. Wade will precipitate a seismic movement to reform the Supreme Court. He acknowledged that it may not be expanding the Supreme Court, it may be making changes to its jurisdiction, or requiring a certain number of votes to strike down certain past precedents.

Calls for adding seats to the court, a process derided by critics as court packing, first broke out following Ginsburgs death last September and the Republican-controlled Senates push to confirm a replacement before the 2020 presidential election.

In the vice-presidential debate, then-Vice President Mike Pence asked his opponent, then-Sen. Kamala Harris, Are you and Joe Biden, if somehow you win this election, going to pack the Supreme Court to get your way? Harris did not answer the question directly, instead, she used her platform to criticize the Trump administration for not appointing any African-American jurists to the appellate courts.

Calls to add justices to the court grew louder following the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett as Ginsburgs replacement. Ahead of the presidential election last October, Biden expressed openness to the idea of rotating Supreme Court justices to the lower courts and vice versa in addition to announcing his intention to put together a bipartisan commission to look at possible reforms to the court while downplaying the idea of court packing.

In the most recent challenge to an abortion law that came before the court, four of the nine justices at the time dissented from the majority opinion, finding that a Louisiana law requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals was unconstitutional. Chief Justice John Roberts, a Republican appointee, sided with the four Democrat-appointed justices by voting to strike down the law.

Since that court decision, which came down last summer, the makeup of the court has changed, with Barrett replacing Ginsburg. The pro-life movement has waited nearly a half-century for the court to roll back Roe. If Barrett votes with the four dissenters in the Louisiana abortion case to uphold the Mississippi law and all the other remaining justices vote the same way they did on the previous case, then the final decision would be 5-4 to uphold the law.

According to SCOTUSBlog, the court is scheduled to hear oral arguments for Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization in October. Oral arguments for the upcoming term will be held on an intermittent basis, beginning on Oct. 4 and lasting through April 27, 2022. The justices will likely make a decision on the case at some point next spring, just months ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
Did the church in Acts really practice Communism?

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

It is imperative in this time of economic crisis that the Church establish a firm understanding of the basic principles of Biblical economics. In order to do this, we must deal with one of the most misunderstood and misused passages in Scripture: the account about the early churchs sharing practices described in Acts Chapter 4. Regarding the group that was gathered around the disciples in Jerusalem we're told:

"32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,

35 And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need." Acts 4:32-35 KJV

Let's not skim over the details, but read closely. First, let's look at the grammar of the words used for selling and giving. They are both in present tense, which points towards an ongoing action. If the disciples sold it all at once and put it in a common purse, the grammar would quite likely have been different. (For Greek grammar folks, that would refer to the aorist tense.) English doesn't have quite the same tenses, so its important to point this out. This means that what we are mostly likely being told is that as needs arose, some property was sold and the money was given to the disciples to distribute. This is a very important distinction when we look in historical contexts. There were genuinely communistic private communities in the ancient world, and they operated by requiring the liquidation of all property at a point in time, often as a prerequisite to joining the community. In fact, the Essenes, the group which likely was the community found at Qumran and which gave us the Dead Sea Scrolls, had just such a rule. You sold your property and put it in some sort of escrow during your transition period, then before becoming a full member you gave it all to the community. This was a required prerequisite to membership. And there were consequences if it was found out that some property was held back; for example, lower bread rations.

The Christian movement, by contrast, did not require the pooling of money as a condition for membership. Peter explicitly told Ananias, who sold property, but held some back and lied to the Church about it, regarding his property:

"Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." Acts 5:4 KJV

So, the sin was not in keeping wealth, but in lying to the Holy Spiritmaking a vow and breaking it. "Better not to vow than to vow and not pay," said The Preacher.

So, putting things into Biblical, linguistic, and historical context, we can see things more clearly. The early church did not practice communism; i.e., the selling of all goods which were then put into central control. Instead, they practiced sharing as needs arose. We know this not only because of the niceties of Greek grammar, but also because of the context in the Bible. Several times after Acts 4 the Bible mentions people's houses: in fact, in Acts 5:32 at the end of this account about sharing of wealth, we're told that the followers were rejoicing and worshipping not just in the Temple but in "every house." In Acts 8, Saul is seen dragging people out of "every house," and in Acts 10 we see a reference to Simon Peter's house. The Pauline epistles have numerous mentions of various followers houses. Private property was not abolished. Many people still owned houses and did so without a hint of criticism.

The deep level of sharing which we do see in Acts 4 was not required as a prerequisite to members, as Peter told Ananias, and this fact stands out as likely being exceptional given that the most prominent alternate Messianic protest movement against the Temple elite did require members to practice full communal property under penalty of hunger. In other words, it would not be surprising to see Jesuss followers engaging in extremely generous sharing, but it may well have been surprising to see them not forcing that practice on all of their members.

So, if we don't see communism, what do we see? Commentaries seems too often to focus on the communism-or-not controversy over this part of the Bible. I read several Reformation era commentaries on this section and that was a strong area of emphasis. That's understandable: at the time of the Reformation, revolutionary communistic movements were arising, many of them violent, and they were using Acts 4 as a proof-text. Rebutting that twisting of Scripture was an urgent matter.

Unfortunately, it is becoming an urgent matter again as many Christians, not well grounded in Scripture, are wrongly using Acts 4 as a bludgeon against private property and for forcible redistribution of property by the state. In fact, I see this heretical view expressed in comments sections (including this one) with regularity. This is not just wrong, but an inverse of the truth. There is no compassion without liberty. And the story of Ananias and Sapphira stands as a warning not to those who fail to share it all, but perhaps as a warning to those who pose as being more generous than they are, which seems to me is a great danger for those who engage in political advocacy in favor of forced redistribution of someone elses wealth, while not voluntarily sharing their own property in proportion to their public posture of compassion and generosity.
Postcard from Lewis and Clarks Fort Clatsop

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Almost to the day, I stood near where the American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark first glimpsed the Pacific Ocean in November 1805.

Lewis and Clarks Corps of Discovery reached this point, near present-day Astoria in northwest Oregon, after exploring lands acquired by the United States from France in the Louisiana Purchase.

Their great exploration would be fundamental to the American experience. For this was a time when the sons of the Founding Fathers and other 1776 revolutionaries were coming of age and shaping the very American identity that would transform the U.S. into a fledgling world power within a century.

The reconstructed Fort Clatsop, part of the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, sits near where the original fort is believed to have been built. It was here where the corps wintered before leaving in March 1806 to make their way back and give a report of their explorations to President Thomas Jefferson.

Covering just 50 square feet, a short wooden palisade runs between two rows of log cabin barracks. In other words, this is not an imposing military fortification.

While countless historical landmarks, sights and other attractions can be found across the 16-state Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, Fort Clatsop is a must-visit destination for anyone interested in learning more about this important chapter in American history  the kind of history targeted by wokist cancel culture. In the summer, interpretive programs include authentically dressed reenactors and musket firings.

From the fort, be sure to also drive down along the Oregon coast to Ecola State Park, where Clark and the legendary Sacagawea bartered with local Indians for 300 pounds of blubber and oil from a beached whale. Today, the beached whale is long gone, but the parks scenic trails lead to what at the time was called the most delightful views in nature. This description remains true today.

Not to be missed is the 126-foot Astoria Column, the design of which was inspired by Romes Trajan Column. The view from the observation deck atop the columns 164 steps is incredible.

If you go

In Astoria one finds a charming town with a rich history dating back to her 19th century days as the company town of John Jacob Astors American Fur Company. For hotels, the Holiday Inn Express and Cannery Pier Hotel & Spa are recommended. The closest airport is in Portland, about 90 minutes by car from Astoria.

Follow @dennislennox on Instagram and Twitter.
'By the grace of God we're here': 7-y-o Florida boy swims an hour to save his father, sister

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Chase Poust, A 7-year-old Florida boy, is being hailed as a hero after he swam for an hour to reach the shore and get help to save his father and sister who were overtaken by a strong current in St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida, on Friday night.

Steven Poust, Chase's father, anchored his boat so that his children, Chase, 7, and Abigail, 4, could jump in the river for a swim while he fished. Suddenly a strong current picked up and Abigal was overtaken by it.

Chase told WJXT that he instinctively let go of the boat to go after his sister but the current got him as well. Poust jumped into the water to rescue his children but the waves were just too strong.

"I told them I loved them because I wasn't sure what's going to happen," Poust told WJXT. "I tried to stick with (Abigail) as long as I could, with both of them, I wore myself out and she drifted away from me."

The concerned father told Chase to swim to shore for help. The young boy wasn't required to wear a life so he didn't have one on, and although he got tired, he swam and floated on his back for over an hour until he was finally able to reach the shore and knock on a neighbors door for help.

His sister, Abigail, was kept afloat because she was wearing a life jacket, as required by law for children her age. Abigail and her father had drifted about 2 miles away from the boat's location before rescue teams arrived.

While the rescue teams said they had already been alerted that an adult and child were in the water and screaming for help, information that Chase provided confirmed the distress calls they had received about a boating accident.

The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, Sheriffs Office and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission rescued Poust and his daughter.

"We're here. By the grace of God, we're here," Poust declared.

A spokesperson for the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department said at a news conference that they reached the boat but had to call in other agencies to expand the search. The outcome could have been different had the other agencies not stepped in to help.

"We had every resource we could have possibly had coming quickly, and we're happy to say all three have been recovered, and all three are doing well," the spokesperson said. "We couldn't ask for a better outcome."

Chase nor his dad were required by Florida law to wear a life vest because jackets are only required for children younger than age 6, and on boats less than 26 feet long.
A new day for the Church: The kairos before us (pt 1)

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Church closings in the United States are outpacing new church plantings and openings, according to Lifeway Research as reported recently by The Christian Post.

The effects of the pandemic, the growing cultural disdain for organized religion, and the socio-politico turn to secularism have reduced church rolls. A Gallup report going all the way back to 1937 shows formal church membership has dropped from a high of 70% to 39% in 2020.

Continued decline in future decades seems inevitable, predicted Gallup Senior Editor Jeffrey M. Jones.

Is it over for American churches? Are we living in the era of end-times apostasy signaling an inevitable, irreversible slow fade of church life?

Movements come and go, say some historical observers, and it just may be that the churchs journey in finite time from the launch at Pentecost has sputtered out. Institutional atrophy seems inevitable.

Thats the gloomy view from a strictly chronological perspective.

However, the biblical view is the kairological outlook: this troubled age seems an opportune time for a new day for the Church of Jesus Christ in America and throughout the world.

The focus now must not be on trying to breathe life into dying institutions. In the biblical scheme, death leads to resurrection. Rather than seeing this period with the desperation of hopeless people watching the creep of finite time bringing death to antiquated hulks, the better focus should be that of the infusion of new life. Rather than pre-occupation with sustaining structure, the energy should be spent on building ministry.

Instead of mourning the death that is inevitable in chronos-time, it is better to rejoice at the new kairological day that rises before us, leading not to more institutionalism, but dynamism.

Midst the 1960s tremors Professor Findlay Edge penned, A Quest for Vitality in Religion (Broadman Press, 1963) Institutionalization, Edge wrote, is characterized by its members relating more to an organization than to the living God.

Further, the institutional quest causes a church to become introverted, focusing more on its institutional survival than on incarnational mission. That focus on survival and reconstruction on the ruins of a collapsed institution means a churchs own survival becomes more important than the Lord who created it, the truth He gave it, the call to which He summoned it, and the people to whom He sent it.

A movement tends to go through certain rather definite stages from the time of its vigorous and dynamic inception until it becomes encrusted in a cold, lifeless formalism, Edge wrote.

The movement emerges as a response to errors, and the injustices of the status quo. Initially, the movement is met with hostility and persecution. Gradually, however, some in society begin to tolerate it. Toleration leads to popular acceptance. In this period the movement begins to centralize its authority. Finally, the movement is swallowed into suffocating institutionalism, in which,

Beliefs become crystalized into dogma demanding acceptance. Authority is now vested in either an individual or a group to compel conformity... Conformity becomes the end (purpose). The people will go through the forms, sometimes with vigor and devotion, but the spirit is lost. The movement has become encrusted with a cold, lifeless formalisminstitutionalization.

In the 1960s I was a reporter for a large daily newspaper. Covering the religion beat was among my assignments. I traveled to many church conventions and convocations. In a meeting of the Episcopal House of Bishops I interviewed Bishop James Pike, who was struggling not only with the survival of his own church, but his personal faith as well. I was in St. Louis for the merger that created the United Methodist Church. At the University of Notre Dame for another Episcopal Bishops confab I watched as protestors charged the platform and took over the meeting. I was on site to watch Presbyterians struggling for biblical doctrine launch the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). I was in Dallas observing Southern Baptists battling to resist the drift into theological liberalism. In 1968 I interviewed Thomas Altizer, the professor at Methodists Emory University who was re-exploring Nietzsches idea that God is dead.

Everywhere it seemed the church was under siege. There was a desperate struggle to defend old foundations from the bulldozers of trendy beliefs and notions.

The institutionalists seemed to win, and the wreckage many now lament is the rubble of that bygone age.

Findlay Edges book was well-titled. The quest now must be for vitality, for life, not preservation. Thus, our mission today is not to replicate the institutions of the past. We live in the dawning of a kairos opportunity. Our mission should be to build the Jesus Church that ministers incarnationally to its world.

In 1973, after covering and writing about the church, I returned to Gods call to be a pastor. My passion was to build the church, but I hardly knew where to start. The church-growth movement was aborning. There were dozens of books and methodologies a pastor could exploreso many I couldnt sort them out.

One day it hit me that the Lord Jesus Christ always had a crowd. I decided that before reading books on church growth and development I should first give intensive study to the incarnational ministry of Christ.

Out of that came a passion to build the Jesus Church. So, rather than agonizing over how to sustain the walls of crumbling institutions, the kairos before us can be that of a new variety of church, based on the ancient example of the incarnational ministry of the Head of the church.

We explore the nature of that church in Part II of this series.
Ex-BLM leader exposes ugly truth, says group has 'little concern for rebuilding black families'

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

A Black Lives Matter chapter founder in St. Paul, Minnesota, has shared a video exposing what he calls the political organization's ugly truth," arguing that it shows little concern for rebuilding black families and improving the quality of education for black students.

I believed the organization stood for exactly what the name implies, Rashad Turner, who founded the St. Paul BLM chapter in 2015, said in May 26 video posted by TakeCharge Minnesota.

Black lives do matter. However, after a year on the inside, I learned they have little concern for rebuilding black families, and they cared even less for improving the quality of education for students in Minneapolis."

Turner is now the president and executive director of the school choice advocacy group, Minnesota Parent Union, which helps parents move their children from failing schools to successful schools.

Turner, a Minneapolis native, believes in the power of education. His grandparents raised him after his father was killed and his mom could not care for him.

His grandparents told him if he was going to change his life for the better, education was the answer, he shared.

Success is possible, Turner said. Just look at me and the hundreds of children and families weve helped to pursue a great education, break the chains of poverty and lead a life of success.

Turner worked hard in school and was the first in his family to earn a college degree and a masters degree in education.

I am living proof that wherever you start off in life, quality education is a path to success, he shared. I want the same success for our children and in our community.

Turner resigned from BLM after a year and a half but said he has not quit working to improve black lives and access to a great education.

Turner said he eventually realized BLM did not care about improving educational opportunities for black children.

That was made very clear when they publicly denounced the charter schools alongside the teachers union, he said. I was an insider in Black Lives Matter, and I learned the ugly truth. The moratorium on charter schools does not support rebuilding the black family, but it does create barriers for a better education for black children.

BLM reportedly deleted its webpage that listed disrupting the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure as one of its core principles, according to Fox News.

The Christian Post reached out to BLM for comment on Turners video. A response was not received by press time.

BLM-led protests erupted across the nation in response to George Floyds death on May 25, 2020. The group was founded in 2013. While many have resonated with the idea that black lives matter, many have objected to BLM being an overtly political movement that stands for more than just racial equality.

BLM is supportive of defunding the police and advancing the LGBT agenda. The organization was founded by three women, two of whom identify as queer.

BLM recently came under fire for calling for Palestinian liberation and standing in solidarity with Palestinians as Hamas terrorists fired thousands of rockets into Israel last month.

Some evangelical leaders and organizations have argued the BLM organization supports a godless agenda and that many of its positions are explicitly anti-Christian.

BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors, who has described herself as a trained Marxist, announced on Thursday that she is stepping down from leading the global organization as executive director after helping to launch the organization.

Cullors said her resignation has been in the works for over a year and has nothing to do with the recent personal attacks she has endured in the past weeks, according to ABC News.

Cullors came under fire when it was reported that she purchased four luxury homes, which sparked criticism and questions over her finances.

Those were right-wing attacks that tried to discredit my character, and I dont operate off of what the right thinks about me, Cullors said regarding the criticism.
Georgia church raises over $10K, 8,100 pounds of food for ministry launched in response to lockdowns

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

A congregation in Georgia has donated more than 8,100 pounds of food and over $10,000 to a food distribution ministry that was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wesley United Methodist Church of Evans delivered the donations on Sunday, having collected the funds and food supplies during the liturgical season of Lent.

The donations included the 8,100 pounds of food and $10,456.83, said Milledge Austin, communications director at Wesley UMC, in an interview with The Christian Post.

Macedonia Church of Grovetown was the recipient of the donations, as that congregations food ministry has served over 50,000 people in need since it was launched last year. The church holds a weekly food drive that, at the peak of the pandemic, was serving over 1,000 people weekly, but now regularly serves around 200 people each week.

At the beginning of the new year, a group of our staff brainstormed ways that our church could have an impact on the local community, Austin told CP.

We realized that during the summer months, there are a lot of families that lose school breakfasts and lunches for their kids, a staple they rely on very heavily during the school year. We wanted to help alleviate that loss by collecting food to distribute to those in need in Columbia County throughout the summer.

Wesley UMC Senior Pastor Greg Porterfield stressed in a statement to CP that the donation was aimed at working with the ministry at Macedonia Church and not trying to compete with it.

When we were looking at how best to distribute the food, we learned of what Macedonia has been doing since last year. We knew that we wanted to contribute to their ministry, not copy it, Porterfield added.

Austin told CP that the donations for the food ministry all came from our generous congregation, noting that even during the peak of the pandemic, our congregation has proven to be very giving and they want to help their neighbors.

This marks the first time that Wesley UMC and Macedonia Church have worked together, according to Austin, though he hopes it won't be the last time.

The biggest thing we hope people take away from this sizable donation is our desire to help those in our community and those in need, and to spread the Kingdom of God here in Columbia County and beyond, he continued.

We simply want to spread Gods love and good word. Not just by worshiping on Sunday mornings, but by going out and doing good for those around us.
Kenyan atheist group secretary resigns after coming to faith in Jesus Christ

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

A member of a Kenyan atheist group has abandoned his leadership post within the organization after finding faith in Jesus Christ, the organization announced.

The group Atheists in Kenya Society revealed on Twitter Saturday that its secretary, Seth Mahiga, "made the decision to resign from his position as Secretary of our society.

The organization explained that Seths reason for resigning is that he has found Jesus Christ and is no longer interested in promoting atheism in Kenya.

This evening, regretfully, our Secretary Mr. Seth Mahiga made the decision to resign from his position as Secretary of our society.



Seth's reason for resigning is that he has found Jesus Christ and is no longer interested in promoting atheism in Kenya.



--- pic.twitter.com/G7sCCbytv2  Atheists In Kenya Society (@AtheistsInKenya) May 29, 2021

In a statement, Atheists in Kenya Society President Harrison Mumia extended his best wishes to the groups former secretary.

We wish Seth all the best in his new found relationship with Jesus Christ," Mumia wrote. "We thank him for having served the society with dedication over the last one and half years.

However, Mumia took a slightly different tone in a Twitter post Sunday.

Its a sad day for the Atheists In Kenya Society. Our secretary, Seth Mahiga has resigned saying hes found Jesus. Lol!

It's a sad day for the Atheists In Kenya Society. Our secretary, Seth Mahiga has resigned saying he's found Jesus. Lol!  HARRISON MUMIA (@harrisonmumia) May 29, 2021

Dr. Willy Mutunga, the former chief justice of Kenya, responded to that tweet by reminding Mumia that Article 32(1) of our Constitution provides: Every person has the right to freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion. According to Mutunga, This provision is not a laughing matter.

On Sunday, Atheists in Kenya Society posted a video of Mahiga announcing his resignation from the group to a congregation of worshipers at Life Church International Nairobi on its Twitter page.

Ive been going through some difficulties in life and then I decided to resign as the secretary. So Im very happy to be here, he said.

????VIDEO - Former Atheists In Kenya Secretary Seth Mahiga in church TODAY accepting Jesus Christ and announcing his resignation.



Surreal! pic.twitter.com/p8OYhw8uQ3  Atheists In Kenya Society (@AtheistsInKenya) May 30, 2021

In an extended version of the video, posted on YouTube, the pastor at Life Church International referred to Mahiga as his brother and asked him to bow down and say Jesus is Lord.

As Mahiga knelt at the front of the church, the congregation erupted into applause.

As Mahiga remained on his knees, the pastor asked the congregation to pray for all those people who are in darkness and all the atheists who say there is no God.

He asked that the grace of God reach out to wherever they are right now in the mighty name of Jesus.

Atheists in Kenya Society announced on its Facebook page Monday that Emmah Shisoka had assumed the role of secretary. The group, formally registered by the government of Kenya in 2016, works to transform society into one that values reason, rationality, honesty, clarity, and kindness.

Initially, the government of Kenya expressed hesitancy about recognizing the Atheists in Kenya Society, citing concerns about the organizations impact on the interests of peace and welfare or good order in Kenya. In 2018, Atheists in Kenya Society demanded that the government declare Feb. 17 Atheist Day to recognize the organizations registration with the Kenyan government.

Kenyans who do not believe in god or gods deserve a holiday too, argued Daisy Siongok, the society's vice president at the time.

As envisioned by Siongok, Atheist Day would consist of Godless Parades in various Countries and an effort to increase awareness about atheism in Kenya. Additionally, she stated that "Atheist Day" would "promote freedom of religion as a human right in Kenya.

In addition to Mahiga, many other atheists have come forward to share their conversion stories. During an appearance on a podcast earlier this year, Chet Hanks, son of actor Tom Hanks, detailed how an encounter with God during a day hike in Utah when he was 17 led to his conversion from atheism.

Another former atheist, Lee Strobel, wrote an entire book detailing his conversion to Christianity called The Case for Christ. Strobel, a former Chicago Tribune reporter, had initially sought to disprove the existence of Jesus Christ but ultimately failed to do so and ended up becoming a Christian. In 2017, a film adaptation of his popular book was released.
You are here: Arts

A well-decorated book store opened to the local residents and tourists for free in Dafang County, south China's Guizhou Province.

There is a library, a dining bar, a digital reading room and an observation deck in the four-layered building.

120,000 square meters of terraces were built in the largest poverty-relief relocation site in the ancient town, integrating pastoral view with urban construction.

Sitting in the store, a reader can enjoy the panoramic view of the terraced fields outside.

The relocation site was listed as a national AAAA scenic spot.
Planned Parenthood sues Texas over temporary abortion ban amid coronavirus crisis

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

A group of abortion organizations have filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas over a temporary ban on non-essential medical procedures, including elective abortions, amid the coronavirus crisis.

Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and the Lawyering Project, an abortion rights law firm, filed a complaint against Gov. Greg Abbott over the ban on behalf of abortion providers.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas on Wednesday, the complaint seeks injunctive relief from the temporary ban.

Without injunctive relief, Plaintiffs will be forced to continue turning away patients seeking abortion care. At a minimum, those patients will not be able to obtain an abortion for weeks or even months, given that the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to last far beyond the orders stated expiration date, stated the lawsuit.

Not only will these patients be deprived of their constitutional right to essential healthcare and self-determination, but forcing them to continue their pregnancies will in fact impose far greater strains on an already-taxed healthcare system, as prenatal care and delivery involve much greater exhaustion of hospital health care services and [personal protective equipment] than abortions.

Alexis McGill-Johnson, acting president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the nation's largest abortion business, said in a statement Wednesday that she believed Abbott and anti-abortion activists nationwide are forcing a legal and political fight in the middle of a public health crisis.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton took issue with the lawsuit, explaining in a statement released Wednesday evening that his office intends to defend the governors order.

[It is] unconscionable that abortion providers are fighting against the health of Texans and withholding desperately needed supplies and personal protective equipment in favor of a procedure that they refer to as a choice, Paxton said in a statement.

My office will tirelessly defend Governor Abbotts Order to ensure that necessary supplies reach the medical professionals combating this national health crisis, he added.

On Sunday, Abbott signed an executive order postponing all procedures not deemed medically necessary until April 21 in order to help provide more resources to combat the coronavirus.

The pro-life organization Texas Right to Life celebrated the move, noting that elective abortions were among the procedures considered banned until April 21.

According to the states latest data, this could save 2,868 lives, which equates to 66% of abortions in Texas for the month, the group said.

Texas Right to Life is grateful that the loss of life during the COVID-19 outbreak will be decreased thanks to the halt in abortions.
High school allows valedictorian to deliver 'Christianized' speech after trying to censor content

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

A Michigan high school made a one-time exception and reversed its request to alter a high school valedictorians very Christianized remarks for her senior honors night speech after a legal nonprofit wrote a letter urging school officials to respect her free speech rights.

Savannah Lefler, the valedictorian of her 2021 senior class at John Glenn High School in Westland, was selected to deliver a short, pre-recorded speech for the Honors Convocation Ceremony. The address will be recorded on Wednesday to be shown to the families of honor students.

When John Glenn High School requested she take religious content out of her speech, a lawyer with the First Liberty Institute sent a letter Tuesday to the schools principal, Michael Wegher, urging the school to honor her constitutional rights.

In response to the letter, the high school refused to concede a legal requirement. Still, it allowed a one-time non-negotiable relinquishment of control," allowing Lefler to deliver her speech with a disclaimer saying the school does not endorse the speech.

In a letter obtained by The Christian Post, the school districts attorney responded to First Liberty Institute to explain how Leflers speech was not unconstitutionally censored in that context and said the religious liberty law firms legal position was without any merit whatsoever."

Nearly half of Ms. Leflers draft speech was unmoored from any sort of academic or pedagogical interest related to the School Districts Honors Convocation. Rather, it was an attempt to proselytize at a school-sponsored event, with the School Districts imprimatur. , the school districts attorney, Kevin T. Sutton, wrote in a letter to First Liberty Institute General Counsel Mike Berry.

Indeed, it is not a speech  it is a sermon, Suttons letter continued.

The attorney noted that though the school district is under no obligation to deviate from its practice, the School District will permit a one-time, non-negotiable relinquishment of control over Ms. Leflers speech.

When Lefler submitted her speech on May 19 to the school's speech coordinator, Don Loomis, Loomis suggested her address include more content on her school experiences.

Days later, on May 24, Wegher emailed Lefler and said her speech needed to be revised to fit a non-secular approach."

I appreciate your desire to speak from the heart and share your beliefs and philosophies with others, Wegher wrote in the email to Lefler as quoted in First Liberty's June 1 letter. Unfortunately, we are a public educational institution and must legally abide by the [First Amendment] of the US Constitution. Through past Supreme Court cases, rulings have stated that government institutions, including public schools, cannot favor one religion over any others.

The principal encouraged Lefler to be inclusive and respectful to students of all beliefs since the school has students and staff who would identify as Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindi, Sikh, Jehovah's Witness, atheist, etc.

 Those are the perspectives from the legal side, I would also give the following advice from a more social perspective, the email continued. We have a diverse student body and staff. It is one of the things I love about the John Glenn community.

We must be inclusive and respectful of their beliefs as well, he added. With this said, we do need to see a revision that sticks to a non-secular [sic] approach. I am not opposed to thanking God for the great honor bestowed upon you, but we cannot take the approach that is currently laid out in your speech.

Lefler called the principal for clarification, and he allegedly told her the very Christianized section of the speech needed to be changed not to offend people of other viewpoints.

Leflers speech encouraged students not to waste their lives, presented the Gospel and shared how trusting in Christ allows ones purpose to be fulfilled.

Seeing that man is completely unable to achieve perfection, God made a way for us to be reconciled to Him through the perfect life of Jesus Christ, who is God in flesh, Leflers speech draft read.

He not only lived perfectly, but he was killed on a cross and took the punishment that humans deserve, her speech continued. Then he rose from the dead three days later, thus vindicating His holiness and divinity. This allows us to fulfill our purpose in glorifying God because we can now stand before Him blameless if we repent and trust in Christ and His finished work. May His name be praised forever!

Leflers speech encouraged her classmates to seek the truth," citing John Pipers book Dont Waste Your Life. She argued that the purposes of life reflected by the teachings of Plato, Charles Darwin and other religions are wrong.

The purpose of life is to live a life devoted to Christ, the draft of her speech read.

The student's speech draft also stated that "man is unholy, bad, and unjust."

"Good is not an arbitrary word that reflects occasional pleasantness," the draft stated, according to the school attorney's letter. "Goodness is a virtue; moral excellence; perfected well doing. But the Bible reveals that 'no one does good, not even one,' and because of this, 'the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth.'"

Leflers First Liberty Institute attorneys alleged that the school districts request to censor her speech violated the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.

Too often, we have seen well-meaning school officials thinking they are complying with the Establishment Clause mistakenly go too far and censor the private speech of students, violating students rights under the Free Speech Clause, First Liberty Institute attorneys Berry and Stephanie Taub wrote in the letter.

The schools attorney responded that the request to alter Leflers speech was legal but agreed to allow her to deliver the speech under the condition that the video address has a disclaimer that the expressed views belong to Lefler and not the school.

We are grateful that Savannah will be allowed to freely express her religious perspective in her remarks, Taub said in a statement. [She] is thrilled that shell be able to celebrate with her classmates without being censored.

Taub encouraged other students to stand up for their First Amendment rights.

May God be glorified in the situation, Lefler said in a statement. Im thankful I will be able to share my faith in Christ with my classmates and pray that this never happens to another student in the future.
Texas town bans abortion in most circumstances, becomes sanctuary city for the unborn

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

A small town in Texas passed an ordinance making them a sanctuary city for the unborn, banning abortions except in certain circumstances.

The Waskom City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to prevent abortion providers from conducting business in their jurisdiction, reportedly becoming the first city in Texas to do so.

Waskom Mayor Jesse Moore said in a statement quoted by Fox that the new ordinance was about preventing the possible creation of an abortion clinic in his city.

We decided to take things into our own hands, and we've got to do something to protect our cities and to protect the unborn children, stated Moore.

Mark Dickson of the pro-life group Right to Life East Texas, which helped create the ordinance, told local media outlet KTBS that the new measure will work as intended.

This is something that has teeth that will actually allow the City of Waskom to protect themselves from having an abortion clinic here. Whether thats one that comes from the North, East, or wherever, Waskom will be protected, said Dickson.

Waskom is located about 22 miles away from Shreveport, Louisiana, where an abortion clinic is located. Louisiana recently passed a ban on abortions when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be found as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.

In March, the popular alien conspiracy theory tourist site Roswell, New Mexico passed a resolution denouncing abortion titled A Resolution in Support of the Unborn."

The resolution stated, among other things, that each and every innocent human life is unique and precious to God, innocent human life must always be protected and preserved, and that the protection of all human life is important to the people of the City of Roswell.

 innocent human life, including fetal life, must always be protected and that Society must protect those who cannot protect themselves, resolved Roswells leadership.

Over the past several months, states and local governments have debated and sometimes passed measures either expanding or restricting abortion access.

A major factor is the possibility many see in the United States Supreme Court overturning the 1973 decision Roe v. Wade in the near future.

States like Louisiana and Georgia have passed pro-life laws that either ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected or, in the case of Alabama, have banned it outright.

States including Maine and New York have passed laws that codify the Roe decision, with Vermonts governor signing a similar measure earlier this week.

Like many Vermonters, I have consistently supported a womans right to choose, stated Vermont Governor Phil Scott, as reported by The Hill.

This legislation affirms what is already allowable in Vermont  protecting reproductive rights and ensuring those decisions remain between a woman and her health care provider.
US Embassy to Vatican flies LGBT rainbow flag to mark Pride Month

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

The United States Embassy to the Holy See is flying the rainbow flag to mark LGBT Pride Month, a move critics say shows disregard for the historic teachings of the Church.

The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See celebrates #PrideMonth with the Pride flag on display during the month of June," the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See tweeted Tuesday. "The United States respects the dignity and equality of LGBTQI+ people. LGBTQI+ rights are human rights."

The move comes as Pride Month festivities launch worldwide this month.

The U.S. embassy is not located inside the borders of the Vatican City city-state but is in the same compound as the U.S. embassy to Italy.

I am thoroughly disgusted. In my opinion, given the Catholic faith's stance on homosexual activity, such an action has less in common with attaining and promoting equal rights for people than it does a slap in the face to the Catholic faith for its stances, said Catholic childrens author John McNichol in a social media post, as reported by LifeSiteNews.



It is, regrettably, an action typical of the current American administration's hostility to authentic Catholicism, he continued, adding that [w]hat is most troubling is that the minions of the Democratic party now feel comfortable in giving the proverbial finger to the Vatican.

Echoing McNichol, conservative commentator Erick Erickson also took to social media to voice his displeasure.

"Will the US also fly the rainbow flag at its Saudi and Pakistani embassies or do they only virtue signal where no one will respond to their PR stunt?" Erickson asked in a tweet.



In March, the Vatican reasserted its opposition to same-sex unions, stating that any priestly blessing of such union is not valid in the Church's eyes.



Tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy observed that though the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See flew the LGBT Pride flag, it curiously did no such thing in Saudi Arabia where being gay is punishable by death.

Welcome the Woke new world, he quipped.

Catechism 2357 of the Roman Catholic Church speaks of chastity and homosexuality. It states that "Sacred Scripture" presents homosexual acts as sinful and that tradition has consistently held they are intrinsically disordered.

They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved, Catechism 2357 states.

LGBT Pride Month occurs in June to commemorate the Stonewall riots over 50 years ago. The series of violent scuffles began in the early hours of June 28, 1969, between the police and gay rights activists outside of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in the Greenwich Village area of New York City.

In June 2015, the U.S. Supreme court legalized same-sex marriage, overruling the states that either made laws or amended their state constitutions in previous years prohibiting gay marriage.

The embassy's flying of the LGBT flag comes on the heels of a legislative proposal from Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., that would bar flying of any political flags from atop any U.S. embassies.

Called the Stars and Stripes Act of 2021, the measure came as a response to the State Departments decision to fly the Black Lives Matter flag on the anniversary of the police killing of George Floyd on Memorial Day 2020.

"It is inappropriate for President Biden and Secretary Blinken to authorize and encourage the display of inherently political flags that are in no way affiliated with the U.S. Government over American embassies overseas," Malliotakis said in a statement.

Given BLMs goal of defunding police departments, flying the organizations symbol is an insult to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our flag and our nation, she said.

In April, it was reported that the Biden administration would allow U.S. embassies to fly LGBT rainbow flags from May 17 through the end of June, reversing a Trump-era policy in which only the U.S. flag was allowed to fly at embassies.

A cable from Secretary of State Antony Blinken urges embassies to decide if it is appropriate for them to fly the LGBT flags in light of local conditions.

State Department officials were told to follow the do no harm policy to prevent a backlash against the local LGBT population.

Andrew T. Walker, an associate professor of Christian Ethics and Apologetics at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky, took to Twitter to voice his thoughts on the LGBT flag flying at the U.S. Embassy.

"Are we going to get any anguished think pieces on the compromised moral witness of Biden-voting evangelicals now that LGBT flags are flying at the US Embassy to the Vatican and proposed tax-payer funded abortion is a thing?" he asked. "Or does that Narrative only flow in one direction?"

"Or, maybe what were learning is that voting rationales are complex, layered, and all the shame heaped on Trump-voting Christians by their Cultural Betters was either simplistic or in bad faith?" he added.
Vatican reforms penal sanctions to clarify punishment for clergy sex abuse

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

The Vatican has unveiled significant changes to the Catholic Churchs Code of Canon Law designed to update and clarify actions that detail clear penal sanctions against members of the clergy and lay officials who engage in sexual abuse of children and adults.

Previously, church law dictated only that cases of sexual misconduct of children by clergy could merit "just penalties." The new changes explicitly criminalize sexual abuse of adults by clergy and also make it so laypeople holding church offices can also be sanctioned for similar offenses.

The changes come as the Catholic Church continues to deal with the fallout from its sex abuse scandal that first became public two decades ago, revealing that members of the clergy had behaved inappropriately with minors.

Pope Francis signed the apostolic constitution Pascite Gregem Dei on May 23, Pentecost Sunday, the text of which was released Tuesday.

In the document, Francis announced reforms to Book VI of the Catholic Churchs Code of Canon Law, which addresses penal sanctions in the Church.

"[T]he new text brings changes of different types to the law in force up to now, and sanctions some new penal types," an unofficial English translation of the document reads. "In a particular way, many of the novelties present in the text respond to the ever wider need in communities to see justice re-established and the order that the crime has broken."

Francis expressed hope that the changes will be "an instrument for the good of souls and that, when it's necessary, its prescriptions be put into practice by Pastors with justice and mercy, conscious that it is part of their ministry, as a duty of justice  eminent cardinal virtue  to impose punishments when the good of the faithful exacts it."

The changes will go into effect on Dec. 8.

The pontiff explained that his predecessor, Benedict XVI, gave a mandate to the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts to begin studying a revision of the penal language contained within the 1983 code.

The 1983 code refers to criminal law promulgated by St. John Paul II" on January 25, 1983.

Francis contended that it was necessary to modify the language so that it could serve as a more agile correctivetool to be used promptly "to prevent greater evils and heal the wounds caused by human weakness."

Those assisting in drafting the new Book VI included experts and pastors as well as numerous canonists and experts in criminal law from all over the world.

"Many have been the damages occasioned in the past by the lack of understanding of the profound relation that exists in the Church between the exercise of charity and the carrying out of the sanctioning discipline, so long as the circumstances and justice require it," the translation reads.

"That way of thinking  experience teaches  entails the risk of temporizing with behaviour that is contrary to the discipline, for which the remedy cannot come only from exhortations or suggestions. This attitude often bears with it the risk that, with the passage of time, such ways of life crystalize making correction more difficult and aggravating in many cases the scandal and confusion among the faithful."

The existing Code of Canon Law states that a cleric who persists with scandal in another external sin against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue is to be punished by a suspension. Under the existing Code of Canon Law, such an action committed by force or threats or publicly or with a minor below the age of sixteen years, is to be punished with just penalties, not excluding dismissal from the clerical state if the case so warrants.

Title VI of Part II of Book VI has been amended to include a list of offences against human life, dignity and liberty. Currently, Title VI contains a shorter list of delicts against human life and freedom, such as murder, kidnapping and mutilation.

The revised Code of Canon Law calls on clerics to be punished if they engage in sexual activity with a minor, coerce a minor to expose themselves or possess or distribute pornographic images of minors.

Penalties for committing such offenses include orders to reside in a particular place or territory or prohibitions from living in a specific area or territory and revocations of privileges accompanying priesthood, such as the ability to hear confessions and wear vestments. In the most extreme circumstances, those who commit such offenses can be removed from the priesthood.

Title V of Part II of Book VI, which contains a list of offences against special obligations, has been updated to include additional offenses subject to punishment.

Most notably, A cleric who voluntarily and unlawfully abandons the sacred ministry, for six months continuously, with the intention of withdrawing himself from the competent Church authority, is to be punished, according to the gravity of the offence  and in the more serious cases may be dismissed from the clerical state.

Additionally, Pope Francis said that the revised Code of Canon Law aimed to create unity among the church body regarding penal sanctions. The revisions to Book VI of the Churchs Code of Canon Law come not long after a Gallup poll found that Americans trust in their religious leaders reached an all-time low.

Pope Francis has been accused of covering up the sex abuse. But the Vatican has denied wrongdoing on the part of the pontiff, labeling such claims as monstrous and blasphemous.
Pro-life groups slam Biden for excluding Hyde Amendment from $6T budget proposal

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Pro-life groups are slamming President Joe Biden for failing to include the Hyde Amendment in his over $6 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2022.

Biden released his budget proposal Friday, outlining to Congress his priorities for fiscal year 2022, which begins Oct. 1. Interest groups on both sides of the aisle quickly noticed that the budget did not include the Hyde Amendment, which prevents taxpayer dollars from funding abortions.

In a statement, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List, slammed Biden for abandoning that longstanding, bipartisan campaign promise out the window to fulfill a campaign promise to the radical abortion lobby.

She encouraged Congress, the body ultimately responsible for passing a budget, to be fearless in fighting to preserve the common-ground Hyde principle and to reject any budget that omits vital pro-life protections.

For more than four decades, the Hyde family of pro-life policies has kept American taxpayers out of the abortion business, with the Hyde Amendment itself saving nearly 2.5 million lives, she added. Once a supporter of policies that protect the lives of the unborn and their mothers, President Biden caters today to the most extreme voices within his party.

National Right to Life Carol Tobias echoed Dannenfelsers remarks, characterizing the budget proposal as a scorched earth campaign by pro-abortion Democrats who are marching hand in hand with the most extreme demands of the abortion industry to eliminate all limitations on abortion as well as require taxpayer funding of abortion.

Ahead of the release of Bidens budget proposal, pro-life groups, including Susan B. Anthony List and National Right to Life, wrote a letter to the leaders of both houses of Congress, urging them to work to preserve the Hyde Amendment. In addition to Dannenfelser and Tobias, the more than 60 signatories included Lila Rose, president of the pro-life group Live Action, Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, and Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

A strong majority of Americans support the first Hyde Amendment, with 58% of voters including 31% of Democrats, 34% of self-described pro-choice voters, and 65% of Independents  opposing taxpayer funding of abortion, they wrote. These lifesaving provisions across federal appropriations have been consistently supported by Republicans and Democrats in Congress for decades. Every president from Carter to Bush to Obama to Trump have signed into law appropriations incorporating critical, status quo protections.

The pro-life activists also mentioned the importance of including other pro-life amendments in appropriations in the decades since 1976 in the budget. These Hyde-like amendments include protections for the vulnerable at home (Hyde, Dornan, Smith) and abroad (Helms, Siljander, Tiahrt), in research (Dickey-Wicker), for medical providers and others who object to abortion (Hyde-Weldon, Nickles).

Citing the millions of lives saved as a result of these amendments, the leaders asserted that Congress has the duty and privilege to continue this legacy of protecting the vulnerable.

After declaring that there has never been such an important time for Congress to recognize the dignity of every life by reaffirming support and retaining the Hyde family, the signatories concluded the letter by simply stating, Hyde saves lives.

Democrats control the White House and have narrow majorities in both the House of Representatives and Senate. While a budget without Hyde Amendment protections will likely pass the House, the future of such a bill remains uncertain in the Senate, where a handful of Democrats have supported Hyde Amendment protections in the past.

Earlier this year, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., introduced an amendment to apply Hyde Amendment protections to the American Rescue Plan, the coronavirus relief package Congress was considering at the time. Three Democrats supported Lankford's amendment: Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Tim Kaine of Virginia, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The amendment failed to receive the 60 votes necessary to pass, meaning that the bill passed without Hyde Amendment protections.

While the presidents budget proposal was met with swift criticism from the pro-life movement, pro-abortion groups cheered the exclusion of the Hyde Amendment from his budget request. The Twitter account for Planned Parenthood Action, the activist arm of the nations largest abortion provider, posted a statement praising the budget as a statement of values.

President Bidens budget proposes to end the harmful Hyde amendment  making clear that federal law should support everyones ability to access health care, including safe, legal abortion in this country.

Budgets are a statement of values. President Bidens budget proposes to end the harmful Hyde amendment  making clear that federal law should support everyones ability to access health care, including safe, legal abortion, in this country. #ReproBlueprint#BeBoldEndHydepic.twitter.com/BNO1SZQgwa  Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) May 28, 2021

After thanking Biden for investing in sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice, the abortion advocacy group called on Congress to end anti-abortion restrictions, like the Hyde, Weldon & Helms Amendments, support sex ed & increase funding for Title X, permanently repeal the global gag rule, [and] expand health care access here & abroad.

As The Christian Post has previously reported, congressional Democrats highlighted their desire to do away with the Hyde Amendment both before and after the 2020 presidential election. Last summer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was one of the top Democratic lawmakers who told their colleagues that they would not add the prohibition to any government funding bill beginning next year.

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., a close ally of Pelosi, remarked, Its an issue of racial justice and its an issue of discrimination against low-income women, women of color, (and) women who dont have access to what middle- and upper-income women have in terms of the choice to have an abortion. Lee was one of several pro-abortion lawmakers celebrating the Biden budgets exclusion of the Hyde Amendment, expressing gratitude that Biden has become the first president in decades to remove the Hyde Amendment from the budget.

Lee predicted that the absence of the Hyde Amendment from the budget will help advance our fight to end this racist & discriminatory policy once and for all. Her tweet was accompanied by the hashtag #BeBoldEndHyde.

GREAT news: @POTUS has become the first president in decades to remove the Hyde Amendment from the budget, helping advance our fight to end this racist & discriminatory policy once and for all. #BeBoldEndHyde  Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) May 28, 2021

At a hearing late last year discussing abortion affordability, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who now serves as chairwoman of the influential House Appropriations Committee, alleged that the time has come to abandon the Hyde Amendment. She lambasted the discriminatory policy, seconding Lees claims about its negative impact on communities of color. DeLauro vowed that this is the last year that the Hyde Amendment will be included in the federal budget.
FSU to pay $95K after Catholic student leader fired over religious beliefs on Black Lives Matter

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Florida State University settled a lawsuit in federal court and issued a statement affirming its commitment to protecting students First Amendment rights after refusing to defend Student Senate President Jack Denton, a Catholic fired for expressing his religious beliefs last year.

In a settlement agreement reached last week, FSU agreed to issue a statement regarding its commitment to protecting students' First Amendment rights on campus, specifically in student government.

FSU will restore $1,050 in Dentons lost wages, pay $10,000 in damages to him and cover nearly $84,000 in attorneys fees.

The Student Supreme Court also reinstated Denton to his position as the student senate president last year.

Florida State University remains committed to protecting the rights of its students to hold and practice their religious beliefs free of persecution, the statement released on Wednesday by FSUs Office of Communications reads.

Every student, no matter their religion, has the right to participate in student organizations and hold positions in student government, the university continued.

Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Logan Spena said ADF, which represented the student, is pleased FSU finally affirmed its commitment to students First Amendment rights on campus.

Public universities cant single out and punish students for their religious beliefs, Spena said.  All students should be able to peacefully share their personal convictions without fear of retaliation.

Denton's troubles began in a private message conversation among Catholic students last June. He expressed that the organizations BlackLivesMatter.com, Reclaim the Block and the American Civil Liberties Union advocated for things that are explicitly anti-Catholic when a member of the group chat asked them to support the organizations financially.

I think [what they advocate for] is contrary to the Churchs teaching on the common good, Denton said in one of the archived private messages.

... It is important to know what youre supporting when youre Catholic, Denton said in a later message. If I stay silent while my brothers and sisters may be supporting an organization that promotes grave evils, I have sinned through my silence. I love you all, and I want us to all be aware of the truth.

Although Black Lives Matter advocates for racial justice, the political organization also supports a range of liberal and progressive political causes, such as LGBT activism. The ACLU has also engaged in LGBT and pro-abortion activism.

Denton argued that support for transgenderism, abortion and defunding of police departments contradicted Church teachings.

Another student took screenshots of Dentons text messages to share on social media, where the post went viral among students.

Outrage over Denton's messages led organizations and students across campus to call for his removal. Ultimately, the student senate voted to remove him from his paid leadership role as the student government associations student senate president.

An online petition calling for his removal circulated and received thousands of signatures. Denton also had to sit through a seven-hour Zoom meeting, where students slandered him for espousing his religious beliefs and called them violent, wrong and evil.

Since FSU is a public institution, Denton was considered a government employee in this role.

Attorney Tyson Langhofer, a senior counsel and director of the Center for Academic Freedom at the Alliance Defending Freedom, argued that firing Denton for his religious beliefs is a blatant violation of the First Amendment."

Todays college students are our future legislators, judges, and voters. Thats why its so important that public universities model the First Amendment values theyre supposed to be teaching students, Langhofer said in a statement.

Student governments should be encouraging and respecting robust debate and ideas, not silencing and punishing students for expressing their beliefs, Langhofer continued. We are encouraged that the university has finally reached the right conclusion.

Attorneys from ADF, a religious liberty and free speech legal organization, filed a lawsuit in federal court against FSU and student senate members after university officials failed to defend Dentons constitutional freedoms. Administrators allowed the student senate to remove him over backlash to his private text conversation.

In a video produced by ADF regarding his case, Denton said he wants others students to know they can stand up for themselves.

You do have recourse and people to help you, Denton said. Stand up for what you believe in and dont be cowed by the cancel culture. Its sustained by fear. We can end it if we are willing to stand up for what we believe in.
Police in North Carolina on hunt for men who killed pastor days after his ordination

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

A 25-year-old North Carolina pastor, whose ministry sought to end violence, was shot to death outside his home this week, days after he was ordained and proposed to his girlfriend.

Robert Booth, 25, the father of a 2-year-old son and who started Hood Holiness Church in High Point a few months ago with the goal of ending violence, was shot on Tuesday night after he walked up to some young people wearing black ski masks in his neighborhood, Dwayne Waden Jr., Booths associate pastor, told WFMY.

He probably looked at those boys and saw himself, Waden was quoted as saying. He wasnt encouraging gang violence. He wasnt selling dope. He was preaching the Word of God. Thats it. And they just took his life.

Waden added, Its crazy because he texted me two hours before it happened and just told me, if anything happens to me, keep a lookout for my church.

Booth, who had a gift for music that he used for his ministry, had proposed to his girlfriend during his ordination service, according to a Facebook post he wrote last Saturday.

Years ago, when I met you at the kivvet store, I knew I was gone marry you, Booth wrote. I told the gang about how I thought it was love at first sight, and they told me to shut up and put the blunt down lol. But that was years ago, now we finna do it fr, and we finna do it RIGHT!! I just wanted to show you, how much I want to spend the Rest of my Natural life with you. I love you, sweetheart. We finna get MARRIIEEDDD.

Booths friend, Brandon Smith, told McClatchy News, The thing that hurts me the most is we went from talking about wedding plans on Sunday to now his family is planning his funeral.

He believed in street ministry, Smith added, according to Fox 8. He would go to the corner where the homeless were and just minister to them and just feed them, practically give you the shirt off his back.

Police are investigating the shooting as a homicide and are looking for two suspects and a car seen leaving the scene, according to a news release. The vehicle was described as possibly a burgundy Hyundai Santa Fe or Nissan Rogue.

There is  never will, never be another Robert Booth, Smith added. To the guys (who shot him), you didnt even give him a chance to live. You didnt give him a chance to be that husband, to be that great father. You took his life before it could even begin.

Bishop Kerry Thomas, who ordained Booth, told WXII 12, The streets were Roberts pulpit. Just the very fabric of who he was, outside of him being a pastor, outside of him being clergy, he was just a good human being.

Thomas added that Booth could strike up a conversation with anyone. He instantaneously had just this gift to know a stranger. Hed embrace that person, not for what they were at that moment, but for who they could be.
Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

If you have heard the horror stories from India during this second, deadly wave of COVID  stories of people dying in the streets for lack of beds and hospitals  those stories are true. Thats why, for weeks now, I have been hearing from friends and colleagues in India, each of whom has lost family members or co-workers or friends to COVID. And with the government and medical system stretched to the limit, what have the churches done? They have sprung into action.

But thats what followers of Jesus always do during times of calamity and plague and natural disaster. They give and serve and help, even as they themselves are suffering. That is the heart of the Gospel.

Bro. P. Yesupadam, the founder and president of Love-N-Care Ministries in Visakhapatnam, is one of my closest friends in the world, and he and his family and ministry work have suffered some real losses as well.

Yesupadam, who was raised as an untouchable and became a violent, Maoist Communist before his conversion, has served the hurting and the poor for decades, to the point that the government has recognized and appreciated his work (go here to his amazing story.)

But he and his team have done much with little, working without wealthy donors or large budgets while supporting orphanages, schools, homes for the elderly, hospitals, training centers for the handicapped, and pastors working in impoverished tribal regions. They simply pray, believe, give, and serve.

In recent days, Facebook posts from Monika, Yesupadams wife, have announced: Gave rice and groceries to 50 pastors families today! And, gave food packets to 32 pastors families today! And, Preparing to give 500 more pastors families food supplies! (For the record, in many cases, this is the difference between eating and starving).

We gave out food packets in our neighboring state of Odisha (Orissa)! And, 500 bags of rice arrived today...!! (this means large bags of rice). And, Gave away 120 food packets with 10 kg. rice bags to pastors and poor families.

Perhaps you could join with them in this lifesaving effort? Having worked side by side with Yesupadam and his team in India almost every year since 1993, I can assure you that your funds will make a massive difference. To give, click here.

And how does a massive, megachurch respond, a church that grew from 25 people to 130,000 people in its first 10 years of existence? Last year, they provided millions of meals during the first wave of the pandemic.

But now, as reported in India Today, one of the nations leading publications, Hyderabad's Calvary Temple opens its doors to become a free Covid care centre. The article was actually titled, Sacred Duty.

Yes, on Calvary Temples sprawling campus in Hafeezpet in west Hyderabad, next to its imposing church, a 300-bed Covid care centre has been set up for patients who cannot afford medical treatment elsewhere. With the help of staff from two hospitals in the cityAnkura and St Theresathe centre admits patients from both Telugu states, providing round-the-clock Covid care.

Satish Kumar is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Hyderabad, and when I visited his work in 2015, I was astounded at its breadth and scope (For my article, see here).

In recent weeks, people within his congregation, people he knew personally, were hit hard with the virus as well.

One church member got COVID and could not find a hospital with an open bed. He called the church for help and with much difficulty, the pastor found an open bed.

But a few days later the man jumped from the second floor of the hospital and broke his legs. It was because he couldn't handle the situation inside the hospital, with people dying in front of his eyes every day. He finally panicked and wanted to die himself.

Another church member called in need of a hospital bed, he was in an ambulance going from hospital to hospital for 12 hours while the church staff was searching for the next available bed. They finally managed to find a bed for him, but there was no proper food. And so, dying with hunger and COVID, he ran out of the hospital and died two days later.

Those were just two stories out of many.

Thats when Pastor Kumar felt inspired to turn his church buildings (since they now have campuses in several locations) into COVID-care clinics, with doctors and nurses providing totally free, highly professional, medical help around the clock (this video, in Telugu but filled with moving images, will help paint a picture).

In the last two weeks, they have cared for 500 patients, with 12 doctors and 25 nurses working around the clock. They also have cooking teams and even teams to bury the dead (since many families are afraid of being in physical contact with their deceased loved ones), with as many as 5-6 funerals per day. They have also provided more than 500 tons of food to help the poor and hungry.

And, as Calvary Temple has proclaimed loudly and clearly, as an expression of Christs love, we provide free bed and treatment irrespective of caste and creed, race and religion. This, in turn, has inspired other ministries and social organizations to seek ways to provide free medical care as well.

That is the Gospel in action, leading the way in compassionate service and inspiring others to do the same.

And this is what Jesus meant when He said, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven (Matthew 5:16). Tangible demonstrations of Gods great love for a hurting world are irresistible.

May He have mercy on the suffering people of India. May light come out of the darkness and healing out of the pain. And may the Gospel go forth throughout that massive, heavily populated nation. Each person is important to the Lord.
China will act to address the challenges facing the country's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) due to the recent hike in commodity prices, officials said Tuesday.



Wang Jiangping, vice minister of industry and information technology, said at a press conference that the ministry will step up price monitoring and work together with other government departments to deal with the pressure on SMEs brought by the sharp rise in raw material prices.

Due to multiple factors, especially the seepage of global price rises into the Chinese market since the beginning of this year, some commodities have seen an extended price rally, with the prices of some varieties hitting new records.

The sharp rises had an especially big impact on SMEs and individual businesses, which are yet to fully recover from the COVID-19 impact and have limited bargaining power, said Chen Zhijiang, an official with the State Administration for Market Regulation.

The market regulator will tighten supervision to punish market speculation while implementing measures to support SMEs to mitigate the impact of rising costs, said Xiong Maoping, vice head of the administration.
Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Is what I believe true? I cannot think of anything more tragic than to live my life with a false view of reality. A false view of the existence of God.

But if God does exist, does He have a name? If the evidence points to the existence of a transcendent infinite spiritual force in the universe, this force will remain unknown to us unless it appears and reveals its identity. The human search for God will always be an effort in futility, unless God chooses to reveal Himself in a convincing manner.



CP Reporter Leah MarieAnn Klett reported in her recent article, that ...43% of millennials stated they either dont know, dont care or dont believe God exists compared to 28% of boomers, and 44% of millennials believe Satan is a real and influential, compared to 64% of boomers. Then Klett goes on to say that, On spiritual matters, Americans younger than 55 are far more likely to distrust the Bible and to believe God is uninvolved in peoples lives.

For those who are searching if God exists, I am convinced there is only one place to start and that is with the historical figure Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the only credible figure in history who made the claim to be God. In his bookThe Everlasting Man, G.K. Chesterton pointed out that no great moral teacher ever claimed to be Godnot Mohammed, not Micah, not Malachi, or Confucius or Plato or Moses or Buddha:

Not one of them ever made that claimand the greater the man is, the less likely he is to make the very greatest claim.

C.S. Lewis made this insightful observation:

If you had gone to Buddha and asked him, Are you the son of Brahman? he would have said, My son, you are still in the vale of illusion. If you had gone to Socrates and asked, Are you Zeus? he would have laughed at you. If you had gone to Mohammed and asked, Are you Allah? he would first have rent his clothes and then cut your head offThe idea of a great moral teacher saying what Christ said is out of the question.

For many years, the brilliant British scholar Malcolm Muggeridge was an outspoken atheist. One of the reasons he eventually changed his mind was because of the man Jesus. In his book, Conversion: The Spiritual Journey of a Twentieth Century Pilgrim, Muggeridge said that plenty of great teachers, mystics, martyrs, and saints have made their appearance at different times in the world, having lived lives and spoken words full of grace and truth for which we have reason to be grateful. Nevertheless, Muggeridge continues, man needs Gods special revelation on which he can build a religious belief and from which he can find wisdom and understanding. Muggeridge goes on to say that the only solution is for God to become man, which He did through the Incarnation in the person of Jesus Christ. God thereby:

...set a window in the dark dungeons of our soul, that He might let in a light which would provide a view, and offer a way to be released from the misery of our self-centeredness and pride.In Jesus, eternity steps into time, and time loses itself in eternity.

So, Jesus must be the place to start in a search for God, because of His incredible claim to be God. It seems only logical to seek to determine if His claims were true. The articles in this three-part series will provide compelling evidence that Jesus is Who He claims to be.

However, I need to mention a second reason that Jesus and Christianity are where a person should start in their search for spiritual truth. Christianity is the only falsifiable religion in the world. The reason I say this is because Christianity depends on certain historical facts to be true. (This, of course, would include Christs Resurrection.) Prove they never happened and Christianity is fraudulent.

Probably one of the most respected books on mans diverse spiritual longings is The Worlds Religions by Huston Smith. Written in 1958, it is still used regularly in many college curriculums. Commentator Bill Moyers suggests it is one of the best books on comparative religion because of its objectivity and its sensitivity to all religious beliefs and practices. Smith, who was very well educated, didnt have any particular religious leaning. He was unbiased. And in the book, in the section on Christianity, Smith begins with these words:

Christianity is basically a historical religion. That is to say, it is founded not on abstract principles but on concrete events, actual historical happenings.

Out of all the religions that Smith covers, he doesnt say this about any of the other world religions. The Bible, he suggests, unlike most of the worlds great religious literature and traditions, is not centered on a series of moral, spiritual, and liturgical teachings but rather on what God did in history and what He revealed in history.

The historical record does not seem to be of as much importance in other world religions. For instance, a number of years ago, theologian Paul Tillich hosted a conference in Asia with various Buddhist thinkers. During the conference he asked a simple question: What if by some fluke Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, had never lived and turned out to be some sort of fabrication? What would be the implications for Buddhism? The scholars all agreed that if Buddha had not existed, it would not matter. The reason, they concluded, is because Buddhism should be judged as an abstract philosophy, a system for living. They said it did not matter where the teaching originated.

Christianity, on the other hand, requires an origination, a set of hard facts on which to stand. To make the point more explicitly, Peter Moore, the founder of Trinity School for Ministry, emphasizes that Christianity is the only world religion to make spiritual truth depend on historical events. And English historian and author Paul Johnson bolsters this truth by stating the following:

Christianity is essentially a historical religion. It bases its claims on the historical facts it asserts. If these are demolished it is nothing.

Therefore, Christians clearly believe that as wonderful as Jesus life and teachings were, they are meaningless if they are not historically true.

One of my favorite stories is of a man who believed he could debunk the Christian story by diligent study of the historical and archeological record.

Sir William Mitchell Ramsay is considered to be one of the greatest archeologists in history. He performed most of his work across Asia Minor and the Middle East. An Englishman, he was raised an atheist, the son of atheists of great wealth. Receiving his doctorate in archeology from Oxford, he committed his entire life to archeology and set out for the Holy Land with the intention of undermining the validity of the Bible. His hope was completely to discredit the book of Acts. He was confident he could do so because there was simply so much historical information he believed he could draw upon. He shares:

I began with a mind unfavorable to it [Acts]It did not lie then in my line of life to investigate the subject matter minutely; but more recently I found myself often brought into contact with the book of Acts as an authority for the topography, antiquities, and society of Asia Minor.

Over time, Ramsay was forced to completely reverse his beliefs as a result of the overwhelming evidence uncovered in his research. After thirty years of vigorous and comprehensive study and analysis, this is what he had to say about Lukes ability as a historian:

Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements as facts trustworthythis author should be placed along with the greatest of historiansLukes history is unsurpassed in respect to its trustworthiness.

These are strong words and are of vital importance. Remember the foundational principle we started with at the beginning of this chapter? Christianity is the only world religion where spiritual truth depends on the veracity of clearly defined and discoverable historical events.

Eventually, after uncovering many hundreds of artifacts confirming the historicity of the New Testament record, Sir William Mitchell Ramsay would shock the archaeological community when he revealed to the world that he had become a Christian.

This article is an essay from my newest book Reflections on the Existence of God. The book lays out, in short essays, much of the evidence for the existence of God that is available. We should seek to take the evidence offered and use it to make reasonable conclusions. What you will find is, as the evidence accumulates, it enables us to come to confident conclusions about God. Who He is. And, that He truly is.
Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

When the news broke that former reality TV star Josh Duggar had been arrested for possession of child pornography, the common response was disgust, and rightfully so. Its hard to imagine how someone could engage in such horrifying behavior, downloading files that a special agent described as being in the top five worst of the worst that Ive ever had to examine. The Duggar situation may seem extreme, but for many survivors of sexual abuse, the circumstances are all too familiar.

In 2019, a Sexual Abuse Advisory Group commissioned by Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear released the Caring Well Study, the result of learning from hundreds of survivors of sexual abuse, church leaders, and national experts in this field. We helped write this report, and after spending months interviewing survivors of sexual abuse within Christian communities, we know that Josh Duggars situation is, sadly, not rare.

Adherents to a fundamentalist Christian tradition, the Duggars reportedly sought the help of elders in their church as they attempted to deal with Josh Duggars molestation of five younger women, including four of his sisters, when he was a teenager. In 2015, Duggar was linked to the Ashley Madison website scandal, after which he admitted to struggling with pornography and cheating on his wife. Now, six years later, Duggar has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography, which he is accused of downloading in May of 2019.

Over the years, Duggar issued statements expressing regret for his conduct, using terms like confession, sin, and wrongdoing. He mentioned counseling, and his family said they received help from church leaders. Yet saying the right things does not indicate real change. Instead, far too often those who should protect victims instead protect perpetrators of abuse from real consequences, citing the perpetrators words of repentance as justification. In doing so, they not only neglect to care for the abused, they also set the abuser up for further opportunities to hurt the vulnerable around them.

Sadly, stories of repeated abuse happen too frequently in church contexts. Research cited in the Caring Well Report shows that sex offenders who were most committed to church throughout their lives accumulated the most and the youngest victims of all sex offenders, their involvement providing access to more victims. When churches do not have a plan to actively protect those within their community, sex offenders recognize the vulnerability and know how to exploit it. There are clear patterns to sexual abuse, and in our time listening to and counseling victims and churches we have learned that if an individual in your church is abusing someone, it is most likely not the first time they have done it. Without proper handling of the situation, it certainly will not be the last.

The good news is that the church doesnt have to be a hiding place for abusers, but it will take courage and conviction to make necessary changes. Jesus modeled how to properly care for women, children, and the least of these (Matthew 18:6, John 4:26). How can we work to ensure that the vulnerable within our churches are able to hear the good news of our Savior while being protected from those seeking their harm?

Here are a few steps your church can take:

 Recognize that people in your church have experienced the trauma of abuse. One in three women and one in four men have experienced sexual violence involving physical contact at some point in their lives.1 Even if the abuse did not occur in your context, the effects are long-lasting. The way you speak about abuse and even sex can either be healing or can renew old wounds. Seek to understand the experiences of survivors and allow that understanding to inform your words and actions.

 Form a team to care well. Identify men and women in your church who can serve on a team committed to protecting and caring for the children and adults in your care. Pastors, elders, womens ministry leaders, youth leaders, professional counselors, medical professionals, and attorneys are all examples of people who may need to be included on a team. Go through the Caring Well Challenge with your team to ensure you are doing all you can to guard against abuse and that you are prepared to handle any disclosure of abuse with compassion and action.

 Call it what it is. Abuse is sin, but its also a crime. Churches will often try to minimize the negative perceptions around a situation by using language like moral failure, lapse in judgment, or sexual impropriety. None of these terms recognize that abuse is an act against another human being. The way we speak about it signals to survivors whether they are valued and signals to potential perpetrators whether they will be prosecuted.

 Value people above the institution. When abuse comes to light, some churches and leaders are more concerned with protecting the reputation of their ministry and the church than they are with protecting survivors of sexual abuse and preventing future victims. When abuse is disclosed within our congregations, immediate action must be taken to protect the victim and stop the abuse. The survivor must be our top priority. This could mean loss of membership and a decrease in ministry opportunities, but our fellowship with God requires us to walk in the light and keep nothing hidden in darkness (1 John 1).

It is always devastating to hear about another case of abuse in the news, especially one that involves professing Christians. But it does not have to be this way. Now is the time to take steps to love and protect those in our care.

[1] CDC, Preventing Sexual Violence, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, April 1, 2019, http://www.cdc.gov/features/sexualviolence/
Archaeologist known for using the Bible as her guide, unearthing King Davids palace, dies at 64

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Eilat Mazar, one of Jerusalems foremost archaeologists who discovered King Davids palace in the City of David and once said, I work with the Bible in one hand and the tools of excavation in the other, has died at age of 64.

A field archaeologist, a scholar and a lecturer at the Hebrew Universitys Institute of Archaeology in Jerusalem, Mazar is being remembered for her passion and compassion.

Both as an archaeologist and a human being, she was deeply passionate and compassionate, recalled Etgar Lefkovits, a journalist at The Jerusalem Post.

A lover of history and archaeology and an ardent patriot, her face would shine with light and her eyes sparkle as she detailed centuries past, and did the work to connect the dots that is archaeology, Lefkovits wrote.

Mazars discoveries include some of the earliest known artifacts in the ancient city, dating as far back as the 12th and 11th centuries BCE, and she saw them as scientifically excavated evidence of the biblical united monarchy, The Times of Israel reported.

At times, she would offer an interpretation that his academic colleagues disagreed with, especially the structure she excavated in 2005 in the City of David that is ascribed as King Davids palace.

Strong like the bedrock she sifted through, she pushed ahead undeterred by her critiques, and buoyed by her spirit. She and history were intertwined as one, according to Lefkovits.

I work with the Bible in one hand and the tools of excavation in the other, the journalist quoted Mazar as saying. The Bible is the most important historical source and therefore deserves special attention.

After discovering the City of David, Mazar also found sections of King Solomons walls, clay seals belonging to King Hezekiah and possibly Isaiah the prophet, Lefkovits added.

In 2018, Mazar wrote in an article in Biblical Archaeology Review titled, "Is This the Prophet Isaiah's Signature?" that that ancient Hebrew script found on a half-inch oval of clay, dating back to the eighth century B.C., could potentially have belonged to Isaiah the prophet.

The book of Isaiah in the Old Testament describes prophecies about the coming Messiah hundreds of years before Jesus Christ was born, with the Apostle Matthew quoting Isaiah later on in the New Testament when talking about John the Baptist's ministry.

The piece of clay, also called a bulla, was one of 34 of its kind originally found during the Ophel excavations at the southern wall of Jerusalem's Temple Mount in 2009. The seals were found in Iron Age garbage pits, originally located outside the wall.

As a child, Mazar would often accompany her grandfather, professor Benjamin Mazar, in his excavations of ancient Jerusalem, particularly in the City of David and in the Robinsons Arch area near the Western Wall, according to The Times of Israel.

Mazar talked about the historicity of the biblical text being a blueprint for her academic archaeological excavation.

One of the many things I learned from my grandfather was how to relate to the biblical text: Pore over it again and again, for it contains within it descriptions of genuine historical reality, Mazar wrote in a 2006 Biblical Archaeology Review article. It is not a simple matter to differentiate the layers of textual sources that have been piled one atop the other over generations; we dont always have the tools to do it. But it is clear that concealed within the biblical text are grains of detailed historical truth.
Children butchered to death by Fulani herders in attacks on Nigerias Christian villages

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Suspected Fulani herdsmen brutally killed dozens of Christians, including children and eight members of one family, in attacks on Christian villages in Nigerias Plateau State, according to reports.

In one attack last Sunday, suspected armed jihadist herdsmen "butchered to death" 14 Christians, including children, in Kwi village in Riyom County near Jos, Morning Star News reported, quoting area resident Solomon Mandiks, a Christian rights activist.

Then, in a separate attack the same day, eight Christians were killed in Dong village in Jos North County, Asabe Samuel, a member of the local Evangelical Church Winning All congregation, was quoted as saying.

I was by the central area of the village, which has shops and serves as a market, when I heard Fulani gunmen shooting around my house, Samuel said. This forced us to run to hide.

Samuel added that despite the gunshots being shot from the direction of her house, I still rushed to my house, and just as I was getting closer to my house, I found that one Istifanus Shehu, 40, a member of COCIN (Church of Christ in Nations) who has had mental health challenges, was shot dead, and his corpse was lying beside my house. We heard the attackers retreating and shouting Allahu Akbar (Allah is greater). The herdsmen were also communicating with themselves in the Fulani language.

Police arrived the following morning, Pastor Jonathan Kyoomnom Bala of the ECWA church in Dong, was quoted as saying.

These herdsmen carried out the attack on us for about 40 minutes and left without intervention from soldiers or the police, he said.

Before the 22 Christians were killed Sunday, 15 others were murdered by suspected herdsmen last month in the same state.

The U.S.-based persecution watchdog group International Christian Concern designates the Fulani Militia as the fourth deadliest terror group in the world and says it has surpassed Boko Haram as the greatest threat to Nigerian Christians.

Many believe that the attacks are motivated by jihadist Fulanis desire to take over farmland and impose Islam on the population and are frustrated with the Muslim-dominated government that is believed to be enabling such atrocities, it adds.

The number of Christians murdered within the first four months of this year  1,470  was the highest since 2014 and surpasses the number of Christians killed in 2019, according to a recent report released by the Nigerian civil society group, Intersociety Rule of Law.

Northwestern Kaduna state recorded the highest number of Christian deaths, at 300. The Northcentral Benue state witnessed 200 murders of Christians, followed by the Central Plateau state with 90 Christian deaths, said Intersociety, an organization headed by Christian criminologist Emeka Umeagbalasi.

The Northern Muslim-controlled Nigerian Army also killed at least 120 Christians in the states of Benue, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Imo, Abia and Ebonyi, the report added.

In the first four months of this year, at least 2,200 Christians were abducted, with Kaduna state recording the highest number at 800 abductions.

The Global Terrorism Index ranked Nigeria as the third-most affected country by terrorism and reported over 22,000 deaths by acts of terror from 2001 to 2019.

The U.S. Commission on International and Religious Freedoms 2021 report warned that Nigeria will move relentlessly toward a Christian genocide if action is not taken.

Islamic extremism, particularly in Northeast Nigeria, has led to thousands of deaths and millions displaced in recent years.

Nigeria was the first democratic nation to be added to the U.S. State Departments list of countries of particular concern under the International Religious Freedom Act for engaging in tolerated systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Officials from California, New York and other states urged the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday to allow California to set its own automobile tailpipe pollution standards, an action that would reverse a Trump administration policy and could help usher in stricter emissions standards for new passenger vehicles nationwide.

The Biden administration has said it will withdrew Trump-era restrictions on state tailpipe emission rules and has moved to grant California permission to set more stringent pollution standards for cars and SUVs. That would give California greater leverage in discussions with automakers as states and federal officials seek a climate-friendly agreement on emissions standards.

At least 13 states and the District of Columbia have signed on to Californias vehicle standards, which were established decades ago under a special waiver that the Trump administration revoked in 2019. Collectively they represent 36 percent of the U.S. auto market.

Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board, said at a public hearing Wednesday that the Trump administration's withdrawal of Californias long-standing waiver was ill-advised and illegal.''

Addressing EPA officials at an online hearing, Randolph said, Time has continued to prove the importance and good sense of our program'' to restrict vehicle emissions. We know the air quality in California is cleaner today than in decades. Californians can see mountains in the Los Angeles area, no longer shrouded by smog. And the air quality continues to improve because of our program.''

California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the state's vehicle-emissions standards critical to the fight against climate change'' and crucial to improve air quality, protect public health and drive technological innovation.

Despite decades of effort and significant improvements, the unfortunate reality is that too many Californians still breathe dirty air and suffer from the resulting health consequences,'' Bonta said. According to the American Lung Association, seven of the 10 U.S. cities with worst ozone pollution are in California, along with six of the 10 most polluted cities measured by year-round particle pollution.

Bad air quality means more premature deaths or respiratory ailments and more asthma cases,'' Bonta said. And as the dire realities of the climate crisis grow increasingly apparent, were seeing the number of bad-air days in California go up, not down. From record heat waves to wildfire seasons that are increasingly long and severe, the existential threat of our time is less and less difficult to imagine.''

President Joe Biden has made slowing climate change a top priority, and his nearly $2 trillion infrastructure proposal includes 500,000 new charging stations for electric cars and trucks. Fully electric vehicles represent just 2% of new vehicle sales in the U.S., but analysts expect that to rise rapidly in coming years. Major automakers, including General Motors and Ford, are pledging billions to develop electric cars and trucks, and GM has gone so far as to announce a goal of ending gasoline-fueled passenger vehicles entirely by 2035.

The EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have proposed withdrawing Trump-era rules meant to stop states from setting their own requirements for greenhouse gases, zero emissions vehicles and fuel economy.

The changes, if approved after the agencies take public comments, would allow California and other states to set their own rules for vehicle emissions. Biden has said he will seek one national standard, as was the case under President Barack Obama.

Carmakers, autoworkers and environmental groups are eager for the federal government and California to reach a deal that creates a single nationwide standard for tailpipe emissions. EPA Administrator Michael Regan has said he expects to propose a tailpipe emissions rule in July.

I am a firm believer in Californias long-standing statutory authority to lead,'' Regan said in April. The federal government can indeed learn from states, and thats what we plan to continue to do.

Gavin McCabe, a special assistant New York attorney general, said the 2019 rollback of California's emissions standards was among the worst and most cynical actions by the Trump EPA.''

Arbitrarily weakening federal standards ... was bad enough,'' he said, but it was truly unconscionable for EPA to attempt to block states from doing what the law plainly allows them to do to protect their residents.'' New York has followed California standards for more than 30 years.

Other states that follow California include Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Several other states are moving to adopt the California standard.

Trumps move to revoke the state waivers split the industry, with most automakers behind him while Ford, Honda, BMW, Volkswagen and Volvo decided to go with California standards. After Biden was inaugurated, automakers began withdrawing support for Trumps decision.

Trump officials argued that Californias use of its waiver effectively set national policy on auto emissions, increasing the cost of vehicles sold in states with less pollution.

Trump also rolled back Obama-era fuel efficiency and emissions standards, and its likely the Biden administration will reverse those as well, replacing them with more stringent requirements.

___

AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to this report.
In spite of the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 marked a resurgence in the U.S. civil rights movement after the tragic death of George Floyd.

On May 25 last year, Floyd's death managed to shake the world  the Houston native was killed by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in a taped encounter that horrified the public.

A DAY TO REFLECT: On the anniversary of his death, Houston and the world pay tribute to George Floyd's memory

After his tragic passing, months of protests and unrest would reign across the nation with the demand that justice be served.

Protests came in many forms  a series of boots-on-the-ground-style demonstrations and marches, an influx of patrons to Black-owned businesses and even artistic ventures  Houston rappers like Trae Tha Truth and Obe Noir along with Fort Worth native Mickey Guyton made music reflecting the racism and police brutality African-American people face in the U.S.

Houston artist Ange Hillz is implementing that same kind of activism, just on canvas. Using his paintbrushes as his voice, his paintings represent his unsaid personal emotions.

"It's my way of putting it out there, of what's going on," Hillz said.

Hillz, a native of Houston by way of Rwanda, is a famous speed-painter whos been able to memorialize Floyd in many different forms. You might remember his work at Floyd's funeral, where Hillz speed-painted Floyd upside down on black canvas. The process went viral.

"I didn't realize how big it was until I stepped off the stage," Hillz said.

His work was very well received by Floyd's family, and he says he remains in contact with them today.

"I wasn't even thinking about being on television at that time," Hillz explains. "At that moment I was just trying to showcase to the world, you know 'This is a face. This is a human being.' Everyone is grieving, and it felt like it was just a good addition to the funeral. That was my job  to give them some closure, which isn't even really closure, honestly."

Since Floyd's funeral, Hillz has managed to showcase his activism through art in a multitude of ways, including the George Floyd mural in Third Ward, as well as a visual tribute for Vanessa Guillen's family at her funeral. Now, his artwork has made it to a global stage with the latest TIME Magazine cover. For May 2021, the publication selected Hillz to digitally paint a portrait of Floyd for its front cover about the forthcoming verdict in the trial of Chauvin.

BUILDING A LEGACY: Park dedicated to George Floyd's legacy unveiled in Third Ward

Due to the guilty verdict, Hillz digitally painted the cover in just a few hours. Hillz recalls that TIME reached out to him the night before, but he was already working on another project, so the only time he had to work on the cover was on the plane ride to Minneapolis to support the family of Daunte Wright, another Black man who was gunned down by police.

"I'm the kind of person that works well under pressure, so it's something that I'm used to, and I definitely wasn't going to say no to the opportunity."

Courtesy Ange Hillz

Although the paintings presented a unique opportunity for Hillz, they don't overshadow the reason he's painting the martyr in the first place  making for very bittersweet experiences.

"It's been humbling, and it's been sad. You know each time I paint, it's emotion. Definitely, when I did the TIME Magazine cover, I felt like at least they have some justice."

Courtesy Ange Hillz

The multiple colors depicted on the TIME cover are indicative of inclusion  the amount of representation and support Floyd received after he passed came from all walks of life.

"I wanted to create something bright. If you recall, everybody, we're talking about white, Black, Asian, was protesting. I used multiple colors on the cover to showcase unity," Hillz said.
LONDON (AP)  A harrowing but poetic tale of comradeship, colonialism and the horrors of war won the International Booker Prize for fiction on Wednesday.

At Night All Blood is Black by French writer David Diop beat five other finalists to take the 50,000-pound ($70,000) prize, which is open to fiction in any language that has been translated into English. The prize money will be split between the author and his translator, Anna Moschovakis.

The novel is narrated by Alfa Ndiaye, a Senegalese soldier fighting for the then-imperial power France during World War I, and charts his descent into madness on the battlefield.

British author Lucy Hughes-Hallett, who chaired the judging panel, said the hypnotically compelling book was both appalling and poetic, entering the readers consciousness at a level that bypasses rationality and transcends the subject matter.

You have to read this book and you will come away from it changed, she said.

Diops novel was chosen by majority decision of the five judges over contenders including Jewish-Russian family history In Memory of Memory by Russian writer Maria Stepanova and imaginative short-story collection The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Argentinas Mariana Enriquez.

Born in France and raised in Senegal, Diop teaches 18th-century literature at the University of Pau in southern France.

He is the first French author to win the prize, a counterpart to the prestigious Booker Prize for English-language fiction.

Diop's novel, which was published in French in 2018, resonates with present-day debates about racism and colonialism.

Hughes-Hallett said the book didnt win because if speaks to the current conversation about racial politics, but because it spoke to us with the most power.
Houston Restaurant Week is making its widely awaited return this year starting Aug. 1 and will run through Sept. 6.

FOODIE EVENTS: Houston's new Black-owned food truck park promises diverse cuisine

The month-long food event was created by the Cleverley Stone Foundation in an effort to support the Houston Food Bank. This year, the charitable event will offer multiple options for Houston foodies, including multi-course prix fixe menus for brunch, lunch and dinner.

For 2021, Houston Restaurant Weeks motto, "Dine Out and Do Good" has changed to "Take Out and Do Good" in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only will HRW specials be available for dine-in, but takeout options will also be available.

This year, a dollar from each meal purchased at participating restaurants will be donated to the Houston Food Bank. Compared to past years, the donation amount is smaller, but the list of Houston restaurants participating is bigger.

More than 250 restaurants are expected to participate in this year's HRW.

Multi-course meals have varying price points. According to a press release, four-course meals will cost $49, with a $5 donation going to the food bank. Three-course meals cost $35, with a $3 donation. Meals like brunch and lunch are priced at $20 and will have a $1 donation.

HIT OR MISS: Houston's OMG Hip-Hop Food Fest is a gimmick, but could be more

Founded by the late Cleverly Stone, affectionately called the "Diva of Dining," the philanthropic effort has brought in more than $16.6 million for the food bank. the Houston Chronicle's Preview reported. Stone passed away in May of last year after a battle with cancer. Her daughter, Katie Stone, took over after her passing.

"I am humbled and in awe of what has happened for restaurants here in Houston this past month," Stone said in a press release. "HRW came this year at a time that could not have been more crucial, and I am so inspired and so grateful to be able to continue my mother's cause of feeding families in Houston."

Beginning July 15, diners can visit the HRW website to view the list of participating restaurants and menus. Restaurants will be added to the site through Aug. 1.
United Airlines is the latest company to offer vaccine incentives.

The airline said vaccinated customers have the chance to win a year's worth of travel.

Through June 22, any member of United's MileagePlus loyalty program can upload proof of vaccination on the company's website or app.

MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS: THESE HOUSTON HOTELS OFFER DAY PASSES TO THEIR POOLS

Thirty people will win roundtrip flights for two to anywhere in the world, and five people can win the grand prize of free travel for a whole year.

Other companies are giving vaccine incentives that include free doughnuts, beer and gift cards to get more people vaccinated.

Some states, including Maryland, are trying to improve their vaccination rate by giving away millions of dollars in a special lottery.
Houston Association of Realtors

It's a barn. It's a condominium. It's a barndominium, and the type of thing that only makes sense in Houston.

Multiple materials, modern shapes and unique finishes make up this three bedroom "incomparable" home. The unique Beverly Hills Barndominium has three bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms, with every inch every inch being "dedicated to mental wellness and maximum peak performance," per Houston Association of Realtors.
You are here: Business

Hongqi, an automobile brand under China's leading automaker FAW Group Co., Ltd., posted rising sales in the first five months of the year.



A total of 118,000 Hongqi-branded vehicles were sold from January to May, up 116 percent year on year, according to FAW Group.

The group plans to double its 2020 sales of Hongqi vehicles to 400,000 units this year. The brand has rolled out multiple high-end models as well as new-energy vehicles.

Hongqi, meaning "red flag," is China's iconic sedan brand. Established in 1958, the brand has been used in parades for national celebrations.

Founded in 1953 in the northeastern city of Changchun, capital of Jilin Province, FAW Group is regarded as the cradle of China's auto industry.
A 40-year-old Houston man has received a 50-year sentence on a crack cocaine possession conviction after jurors heard about his long criminal history.

Dewayne Lee Waldrup was sentenced Thursday by a Montgomery County jury in presiding Judge Patty Maginnis 435th District Court after finding him guilty of second-degree felony possession of a controlled substance, court records show.

Prosecutors, led by Assistant District Attorney Taylor Vanegas, proved to jurors that Waldrups prior prison stays for drugs, theft and assault, showed he was a habitual offender, earning him the lengthy sentence, according to the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Reward boosted to $21K in 2015 missing Magnolia mom case

The jurors verdict and sentence reflect the type of life Waldrup lived and the real-world damage he has caused in the lives of so many community members, read a statement from Vanegas. This jury has sent a loud and clear message to anyone who thinks of committing these types of predatory crimes in Montgomery County.

The three-day trial against Waldrup stemmed from an Oct. 25, 2019 vehicle burglary investigation in New Caney by the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office where deputies found crack cocaine and multiple other narcotics in Waldrups Ford Explorer.

Sheriffs detectives used a bait car on Waldrup and David Jereome Thomas Jr., 35, of Houston, after they allegedly observed them follow two customers  one for several miles  after their visits to Chase Bank near U.S. 59 and FM 1485. The pair were suspected of engaging in a practice known as bank jugging where a persons vehicle is burglarized with the intent of taking cash they just picked up from a bank.

An undercover detective posed as a customer and drove off with what appeared to be a cash-filled envelope. Officers arrested the men after they allegedly followed the detective to a parking lot and were about to break into the car. Inside Waldrups SUV, detectives found gloves, window punches and handheld radios, according to the DAs Office.

Detectives found evidence of Waldrups long history of drug dealing and bank jugging, the DAs Office added.

Along with the drug possession charge, Waldrup also faced felony charges on fraudulently possessing identifying information and possession to deliver controlled substance allegations, court records show.

Thomas in September was convicted of fraudulently possessing identifying information and sentenced to one year in jail with 313 days served, according to court documents.

After his conviction, prosecutors presented Waldrups criminal history, which included convictions for possession of a firearm by a felon and evading arrest in a vehicle. Jurors also saw evidence of Waldrup documenting his bank jugging exploits on his cell phone, the DAs Office noted.

In a statement, District Attorney Brett Ligon warned of the threat bank jugging poses for the Greater Houston area. He urged customers remain aware of their surroundings when stopping at a financial institution and to immediately contact law enforcement if they feel they are being targeted or followed.

I want to thank the detectives with the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office for the outstanding, proactive work they did in this case. Because of them, a lifelong, committed criminal is off the streets, Ligons statement read.

jose.gonzalez@chron.com

twitter.com/jrgzztx
TULSA, Okla. (AP)  An emotional President Joe Biden marked the 100th anniversary of the massacre that destroyed a thriving Black community in Tulsa, declaring Tuesday that he had come to fill the silence about one of the nations darkest  and long suppressed  moments of racial violence.

Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous, they cannot be buried, no matter how hard people try," Biden said. Only with truth can come healing.

Biden's commemoration of the deaths of hundreds of Black people killed by a white mob a century ago came amid the current national reckoning on racial justice.

Just because history is silent, it does not mean that it did not take place," Biden said. He said "hell was unleashed, literal hell was unleashed. And now, he said, the nation must come to grips with the subsequent sin of denial.

"We cant just choose what we want to know, and not what we should know," said Biden. I come here to help fill the silence, because in silence wounds deepen.

After Biden left, some audience members spontaneously sang a famous civil rights march song, Aint Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around."

The events Tuesday stood in stark contrast to then-President Donald Trump's trip to Tulsa last June, which was greeted by protests. Or the former president's decision, one year ago, to clear Lafayette Square near the White House of demonstrators who gathered to protest the death of George Floyd, a Black man, under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer.

In 1921  on May 31 and June 1  a white mob, including some people hastily deputized by authorities, looted and burned Tulsa's Greenwood district, which was referred to as Black Wall Street.

As many as 300 Black Tulsans were killed, and thousands of survivors were forced for a time into internment camps overseen by the National Guard. Burned bricks and a fragment of a church basement are about all that survive today of the more than 30-block historically Black district.

On Tuesday, the president, joined by top Black advisers, met privately with three surviving members of the Greenwood community who lived through the violence, the White House said. Viola Mother Fletcher, Hughes Uncle Red Van Ellis and Lessie Mother Randle Benningfield Randle are all between the ages of 101 and 107.

Biden said their experience had been a story seen in the mirror dimly."

But no longer," the president told the survivors. Now your story will be known in full view."

Outside, Latasha Sanders, 33, of Tulsa, brought her five children and a nephew in hopes of spotting Biden.

Its been 100 years, and this is the first weve heard from any U.S. president," she said. "I brought my kids here today just so they could be a part of history and not just hear about it, and so they can teach generations to come.

John Ondiek, another Tulsan in the crowd following Biden's speech on cellphones, said he was encouraged that "There arent just Black people here. That tells me theres an awakening going on in this country.

Several hundred people milled around Greenwood Avenue in front of the historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church awaiting Bidens arrival at the nearby Greenwood Cultural Center. Some vendors were selling memorabilia, including Black Lives Matter hats, shirts and flags under a bridge of the interstate that cuts through the district.

The names and pictures of Black men killed by police, including Eric Harris and Terrence Crutcher in Tulsa, hung on a chain-link fence next to the church.

Biden briefly toured an exhibit at the center, at times stepping closer to peer at framed historic photographs, before he was escorted into a private meeting with the three survivors.

America's continuing struggle over race will continue to test Biden, whose presidency would have been impossible without overwhelming support from Black voters, both in the Democratic primaries and the general election.

He announced Tuesday that he was appointing Vice President Kamala Harris to lead efforts on voting rights as the GOP carries out efforts to pass laws restricting access to the ballot. Republicans portray such legislation as aimed at preventing fraudulent voting, but many critics believe it is designed to limit the voting of minorities.

Biden has pledged to help combat racism in policing and other areas following nationwide protests after Floyds death a year ago that reignited a national conversation about race.

Biden called on Congress to act swiftly to address policing reform. But he has also long projected himself as an ally of police, who are struggling with criticism about long-used tactics and training methods and difficulties in recruitment.

The Tulsa massacre has only recently entered the national discourse  and the presidential visit put an even brighter spotlight on the event.

Biden, who was joined by Housing Secretary Marcia Fudge and senior advisers Susan Rice and Cedric Richmond, also announced new measures he said could help narrow the wealth gap between races and reinvest in underserved communities by expanding access to homeownership and small-business ownership.

The White House said the administration will take steps to address disparities that result in Black-owned homes being appraised at tens of thousands of dollars less than comparable homes owned by white residents as well as issue new federal rules to fight housing discrimination. The administration is also setting a goal of increasing the share of federal contracts awarded to small disadvantaged businesses by 50% by 2026, funneling an estimated additional $100 billion to such businesses over the five-year period, according to the White House.

Historians say the massacre in Tulsa began after a local newspaper drummed up a furor over a Black man accused of stepping on a white girls foot. When Black Tulsans showed up with guns to prevent the mans lynching, white residents responded with overwhelming force.

Reparations for Black Americans whose ancestors were enslaved and for other racial discrimination have been debated in the U.S. since slavery ended in 1865. Now they are being discussed by colleges and universities with ties to slavery and by local governments looking to make cash payments to Black residents.

Biden, who was vice president to the nations first Black president and who chose a Black woman as his own vice president, backs a study of reparations, both in Tulsa and more broadly, but has not committed to supporting payments.

Trump visited Tulsa last year under vastly different circumstances.

After suspending his campaign rallies because of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump, a Republican, chose Tulsa as the place to mark his return. But his decision to schedule the rally on June 19, the holiday known as Juneteenth that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, was met with such fierce criticism that he postponed the event by a day. The rally was still marked by protests outside and empty seats inside an arena downtown.

___

Lemire reported from New York. Associated Press writer Sean Murphy contributed to this report.

___

For more AP coverage of the Tulsa Race Massacre anniversary, go to https://apnews.com/hub/tulsa-race-massacre.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Texas Republicans pressed ahead with their push for tougher election laws Tuesday, vowing to ensure Democrats' weekend victory over one of the most restrictive voting measures in the country would only be temporary.

GOP Gov. Greg Abbott prepared to call lawmakers back for a special session to revive the voting measure that died when Democrats staged a dramatic walkout from the state Capitol just before the end of the legislative session Sunday night. Bolstered by GOP majorities in both the House and Senate, Abbott also was weighing whether to use the extra session to take up other top conservative priorities that had failed during the session.

That left Texas Democrats facing the aftermath of their last-minute maneuver and confronting how  or even whether  they can turn it into more than just a temporary roadblock in the GOPs nationwide pursuit to impose tighter voting laws across the U.S.

There are consequences, said state Sen. John Whitmire, one of Texas longest-serving Democrats.

Democrats who pulled off the revolt in the state House of Representatives just before a midnight deadline Sunday did not leave indefinitely. Most were back on the House floor just 12 hours later for ceremonial business, and none are calling to boycott a special session.

They are instead betting their dramatic flight out of the Texas Capitol and to a Black church will make Republicans think twice about some provisions in the legislation  like banning early voting Sunday morning, when many Black worshippers go to the polls after services  and give them more say on the next elections bill.

But bare-knuckled Republican governing is a way of life in the Texas Capitol and no concessions are so far promised. Abbott, meanwhile, has begun both punishing and taunting Democrats while he settles on deciding on when he will order them back to work.

He said Monday he would veto the part of the budget that funds legislators' salaries, a move that could impact not just Democrats but also other Capitol staff. He then tweeted a reminder of the last time Texas Democrats dramatically blocked a bill: when then-state Sen. Wendy Davis talked for more than 11 consecutive hours in 2013 to filibuster a sweeping anti-abortion measure, which Republicans immediately revived and passed in a special session.

We all know how that story ended," Abbott tweeted.

Texas Republicans may also enter a 30-day special session with not just commanding majorities, but new leverage. Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the staunchly conservative leader of the Senate, also wants Abbott to demand that lawmakers try again to pass a ban on transgender athletes in girls and womens sports.

The Texas GOP's torpedoed bill, known as Senate Bill 7, would have reduced polling hours, empowered poll watchers and scaled back ways to vote. It included a ban on drive-thru voting centers and 24-hour polling places, both of which were used last year around Houston, reflecting how Republicans went after Texas largest Democratic stronghold.

But it was new provisions added during final negotiations between the House and the Senate that triggered the Democrats' dramatic action. One of the new measures would have made it easier to overturn an election by allowing a judge to void a candidates victory if the number of fraudulent votes cast could change the outcome, regardless of whether it was proved that the fraud actually had affected the result. It was the kind of provision that could allow a favorable judge to side with a candidate who makes broad claims of fraud with little specific evidence  as former President Donald Trump did with virtually no success.

Some Democrats suggested they would allow a vote on the elections legislation, if it more closely resembled the earlier version and included some bipartisan input. Democrats had voted against that as well, but had not staged the protest.

If we get back on track with that mentality, we might be able to come up with election policy that is less objectionable," Democratic state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer said.

There were some signs Republicans might back off some of the new, strict measures. Republican state Rep. Travis Clardy, one of the negotiators on the final version of the Texas bill, told NPR on Tuesday that banning early Sunday morning voting was essentially a typo -- that instead of starting voting no earlier than 1 p.m., the bill was supposed to say 11 a.m.

Thats one of the things I look forward to with fixing the most. Call it a scriveners error, whatever you want to, Clardy told NPR.

But the Senate author of the bill, Republican Bryan Hughes, made no mention of such a mistake over the weekend while defending the new Sunday limits. Election workers want to go to church, too, Hughes said.

It the new bill is not acceptable to Democrats  and they were to walk out again  Republicans don't have to stand pat. State troopers could be mobilized to try to forcibly bring lawmakers back to the House, as was the case in 2003, when Texas Democrats fled to Oklahoma and New Mexico to try and block new voting maps.

Whitmire, who was first elected to the Texas Legislature in 1973, spent 36 days holed up in a hotel before breaking ranks with his fellow Democrats and returning home. The decision gave Senate Republicans at the time the quorum needed to get back to work on a redistricting plan that would give the GOP more seats in Congress.

Of upmost important is, what are you going to do when you get back?" Whitmire said of denying a quorum. Are things going to be different? Probably not. But it educates the public and lets your core group know how committed you are to principles."

Texas Democrats' move has reverberated across the country. President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged Democrats and their allies to step up the fight over voting law, which is expected to heat up on Washington later this month when Democrats debate a massive federal rewrite of elections law.

I urge voting rights groups in this country to begin to redouble their efforts now to register and educate voters. June should be a month of action on Capitol Hill, he said.

___

Associated Press writer Jim Vertuno contributed to this report.
WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Three members of the ethnic Polish minority in Belarus who had been imprisoned by the country's authoritarian regime are now free and in Poland.

The three women arrived in Poland on May 25 but details of them being freed and brought out of neighboring Belarus were only made public Wednesday.

Irena Biernacka, Maria Tiszkowska and Anna Paniszewa spoke to reporters, and while they said there were details about their liberation that they were not allowed to discuss, they expressed their thanks to Poland and described conditions in Belarusian prisons as harsh.

I would like to express my thanks to the Polish state that saved me from prison, Paniszewa said, describing how she was beaten, subjected to psychological torture and denied medical treatment for a spine injury and a broken wrist during the two months of her detention.

She said they were cruel days for innocent people who were brought to prison on trumped-up charges."

Paniszewa said she had been accused of glorifying Nazism, which was for her a cruel and absurd charge because her family had been targeted by Nazi forces during World War II.

The three were arrested as part of a crackdown on ethnic Poles in Belarus opposed to Lukashenko.

The Foreign Ministry said that their liberation was the result of efforts by Polish diplomatic and consular services."

Human rights groups considered them political prisoners, and the European Unions top diplomat, Josep Borrell, had appealed for their release.

Two other Polish minority members, Andzelika Borys and Andrzej Poczobut, remain imprisoned in Belarus.

Marcin Przydacz, a deputy foreign minister, said at a news conference that Poland was fulfilling an obligation to protect Poles no matter where they live in the world, even if they are citizens of other nations.

He said that all Poles abroad who are subjected to repression will always find support and shelter in the Republic of Poland.

He added that Poland expects the freeing of all political prisoners in Belarus.

Poland, an EU member that shares a border with Belarus, is a supporter of the democratic opposition to President Alexander Lukashenko. The country, along with Lithuania, has become a key center of refuge for Belarusian activists and students in exile.

Also Wednesday, the latest in a series of demonstrations was held in Warsaw to protest Lukashenko's crackdown on dissent.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  The state spending plan heading to the South Carolina House floor next week offers state employees a 3% raise and teachers a $1,000 bump in pay.

The House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday approved a nearly $11 billion state budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The spending plan includes money the state didn't spend this budget year because lawmakers feared a more serious economic downturn in the COVID-19 pandemic.

One issue the committee decided was best taken up next week by the whole House was a proposal to provide big lottery prizes to people who get a COVID-19 vaccine, based on programs in Ohio and other states.

Only about 34% of South Carolina's population is vaccinated. The state is well below the 41% rate nationwide and in the bottom ten in the country.

People in South Carolina love the lottery. We've got to get people vaccinated. Weve got to reach the younger population. Weve got to reach those people that currently have some hesitancy. The thought of winning a million dollars could overcome that hesitancy, House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford said.

The Columbia Democrat suggested setting aside $2 million for an outreach program and prizes. But after Ways and Means Chairman Murrell Smith said the proposal was confusing as written, Rutherford offered to wait and put the amendment up during next week's full General Assembly special session.

The House is amending the Senate's version of the budget.

The Senate plan included constructing veteran nursing homes as well as dozens of local projects like boat ramps, parks, festivals and repairs to a lighthouse.

Typically, House members make a few changes here and there to the Senate's plan. But this year lawmakers started off much more cautious because they worried about greater economic difficulties from COVID-19.

But the taxes and fees collected by the state have exceeded the conservative predictions. South Carolina is approaching $2 billion more than lawmakers had to spend in the previous plan because they didn't spend everything collected in this year's budget.

When we talk about a lot of revenue, we need to put into perspective that this is two years of a budget, said Smith, a Republican from Sumter.

The 3% raise for state employees is more than the 2% offered in the proposed Senate plan..

State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, who has fought for better pay for state employees throughout her nearly 30-year Statehouse career, suggested a 5% raise that was voted down.

Rep. Bruce Bannister said the proposed budget also pays the increase in health insurance premiums for state employees and adds additional money to their retirement plans.

Really were close to a 5% raise with all the benefits weve put in the budget," said Bannister, a Republican from Greenville.

Cobb-Hunter, a Democrat from Greenville, said the benefits are nice and appreciated, but don't increase base pay, which is used to calculate retirement benefits.

Other items in the budget heading to the House floor include:

 $440 million for college and universities to repair buildings and encourage them not to raise tuition

 A $1,000 raise for all teachers and to increase the minimum pay for first-year teachers from $35,000 to $36,000

 A nurse in every South Carolina public school

 A police officer in every public school and putting those officers under the supervision of the Department of Public Safety

 Pay increases for nearly every law enforcement officer in the state

 $4 million to prosecutors and public defenders to help get through a backlog in cases after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down courts for months

___

Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.
Sunday, June 6

On this date in 1851, Camp Independence was established on the east bank of the Colorado River near its junction with the Gila River under the command of Lt. Thomas W. Sweeny. Camp Independence was replaced by Fort Yuma in December, 1851.

On this date in 1903, Gov. Alexander Brodie ordered the Arizona Rangers to Morenci and Clifton where miners were striking.

On this date in 1933, the first concrete was poured at Hoover Dam.

On this date in 1936, the first barrel of tequila made in the United States was produced at the San Andres distillery in Nogales.

Monday, June 7

On this date in 1890, the mine fuel tanks at Pearce exploded, destroying the 50 stamp mill and setting part of the town on fire.

On this date in 1896, a congressional act provided that the portion of the White Mountain Reservation south of the Salt River was to compose the San Carlos Reservation, while the portion north of the Salt was to be know as Fort Apache.

On this date in 1928, three men drowned at Lees Ferry when the ferry boat turned over in mid-stream.

Tuesday, June 8

On this date in 1874, the Apache chief Cochise died in his stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains.

On this date in 1927, State Teachers College at Tempe, now Arizona State University, gave its first Bachelor of Education degrees to 13 graduates.

On this date in 1928, the Navajo County sheriff raided the Holbrook City Hall and confiscated 65 gallons of bootleg whiskey in 13 kegs that were hidden under the floor boards.

On this date in 1928, Arthur H. Elliott, who staked out a homestead in 1881 on what was to become the town site of Casa Grande and who became the editor and publisher of the first newspaper in Casa Grande, died.

On this date in 1928, the city of Flagstaff dedicated its new airfield, Koch Field, with an aerial circus and banquet.

Wednesday, June 9

On this date in 1894, the town of Globe was destroyed by fire.

On this date in 1901, the first spike was driven on the Narrow Gauge Railroad of the Greene Consolidated Copper Company from Naco to the mines in Cananea.

On this date in 1904, a fire in Nogales destroyed the Southern Pacific Station, U.S. Customs building, Wells Fargo Depot and several freight cars.

On this date in 1932, after an absence of 104 years, the Franciscan Order again occupied residence quarters in San Xavier Mission.

Thursday, June 10

On this date in 1881, James Finely brought a sample of ore to the assay office of the Hermosa Mining Co. at Harshaw which assayed at 823.77 ounces (23 kilograms) of silver to the ton.

On this date in 1903, 11 persons were confirmed drowned and many others were missing after two hours of torrential rain in Clifton.

On this date in 1922, Arizonas first woman governor, Rose Mofford, was born in Globe.

On this date in 1928, ground was broken for the new $35,000 cotton gin to be erected at Solomonville.

On this date in 1928, the Grand Canyon official airport owned and developed by Scenic Airways, Inc., was dedicated.

Friday, June 11

On this date in 1822, Abraham Harlow Peeples, who came to Arizona in 1863 and with Pauline Weaver organized the prospecting expedition which discovered the Rich Hill gold placers, was born.

On this date in 1868, philanthropist and civic leader Maie Bartlett Heard was born. She later endowed the Heard Museum in Phoenix, donated land for the Phoenix Civic Center, founded the Welfare League and gave a gymnasium to the Phoenix YMCA.

On this date in 1876, the Chiricahua Apaches were moved from their reservation in Cochise County to San Carlos.

On this date in 1928, more than 1,000 acres of timberland were destroyed in the Ajo Mountains by a raging forest fire.

Saturday, June 12

On this date in 1888, an Apache Indian who had fired one shot that killed two men was tried for murder in one of the deaths and acquitted. He later was tried again for the murder of the second man and convicted on precisely the same set of facts.

On this date in 1904, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported noteworthy success with cotton planted in the Yuma valley as an experiment.

On this date in 1930, Tucson celebrated the opening of its greatly enlarged municipal airport.

On this date in 1936, fire destroyed a service station, cafe and several tourist cabins at Salome. Exploding gasoline tanks from the burning service station threatened to spread the blaze over the entire town.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  An Arkansas attorney's contract with the state was terminated because he emailed a legislator and criticized her support of a measure banning gender confirming treatments for transgender youth, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas filed the lawsuit on behalf of Casey Copeland, whose contract with the Administrative Office of the Courts was terminated after he emailed a sponsor of the ban enacted earlier this year. The ACLU has filed a lawsuit challenging the ban, which is set to take effect July 28.

Although Copeland spoke out on a matter of public concern covered by both local and national press, defendants decided to punish Copeland in violation of his protected right to engage in core political speech critical of his state legislator by terminating his contract with the state, the lawsuit said.

Copeland's contract with the state representing children in neglect and dependency cases was terminated two days after he sent the email from his personal account to Republican state Rep. Charlene Fite about the ban. In the March 30 email, Copeland wrote that he was ashamed of her for sponsoring and supporting the legislation.

Not only does this bill put lives in danger, it fully illustrates the arrogance of you and your party to think that you have the authority to dictate such personal matters," wrote Copeland, who ran unsuccessfully against Fite in the 2018 election.

Emails attached to the lawsuit obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show Fite forwarded Copeland's message to Administrative Office of the Courts Director Marty Sullivan.

Sullivan forwarded the email to AOC's human resources director and two other officials with the office and wrote, this isn't helpful, at all." Sullivan, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Fite told The Associated Press she forwarded the email to Sullivan because she was concerned it appeared as if Copeland was writing on behalf of AOC since it included his title. Fite said she did not have any additional discussions with Sullivan.

I thought probably Mr. Sullivan or someone would want Mr. Copeland to understand that when he sends correspondence to state representatives or senators, he needs to make sure and make it clear whether he is doing that on his own behalf or whether he is doing that under the offices of the courts," Fite said.

Copeland's lawsuit said he was never given an explanation for why the contract was terminated. The attorney's lawsuit says the state violated his constitutional rights by terminating the contract over the email. He's seeking a preliminary injunction enjoining the state from terminating and not renewing his contract.

Arkansas' new law prohibits doctors from providing gender confirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery to anyone under 18 years old, or from referring them to other providers for the treatment. The state was the first to enact such a prohibition.
DUBLIN, Va. (AP)  Authorities in Carroll County are searching for a man who escaped from custody on Wednesday.

James Wall, 38, escaped custody of the New River Valley Regional Jail in the Fancy Gap area, according to the Carroll County Sheriffs Office. Wall was originally charged with grand larceny.
BENNINGTON, Vt. (AP)  A Vermont man charged with violating a 2018 state law restricting the size of large-capacity ammunition magazines has pleaded not guilty to violating the conditions of his release.

Max Misch was arrested Saturday and appeared in court on Tuesday. Misch was accused of approaching and speaking to a witness in a pending court case while at a Walmart store, police said.
HILO, Hawaii (AP)  A coronavirus outbreak at a Big Island jail is growing as state officials say a reluctance to get vaccinated is driving the spread.

The state Department of Public Safety announced Tuesday that the outbreak at the Hawaii Community Correctional Center has grown to 77 inmates and nine staff members, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.

Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Toni Schwartz said contact tracing is ongoing.

The jail population is transient, and as long as inmates continue to come in from the community, there will always be concern for new virus introduction, Schwartz said.

A quarantine is in place for all inmate housing and officials have suspended movement outside the facility.

The Department of Health and Hawaii National Guard are helping with COVID-19 testing.

Mayor Mitch Roth said in a statement Tuesday that because employees are being infected, the community needs to be aware and careful.

With those employees being from and very much a part of our communities here on Hawaii Island, we are asking our residents to remain cautious, Roth said. What is happening at HCCC is a very real and stark reminder of how fast the virus can spread in such a short amount of time.

Roth encouraged people to get vaccinated.

Lt. Gov. Josh Green, who is also a Big Island physician, said Monday that vaccine hesitancy is contributing to outbreaks at Hawaii jails.

Ill be straight with you. Some of our public safety folks have been reluctant to get vaccinated, and thats not something I am proud of, he said. I think that everyone who works front-facing others, especially those who are vulnerable, must get vaccinated.

Schwartz said the vaccine has been offered to all employees.

Staff are not required to report their private medical information, including if they have been vaccinated, she said.

Green said only 25% to 50% of inmates have been inoculated and that distrust in authority is leading to more reluctance to get vaccinated.

Schwartz said inmates have been offered the vaccine on a voluntary basis.

Because Hawaii Community Correctional Center is a jail and holds pretrial detainees, the population is transient and changes by the hour, Schwartz said.

Because jail custodies are only detained for a short amount of time, its not possible to give a total number or percentage of detainees who are fully vaccinated, she added.

There are 340 inmates at the jail, although operational capacity is 226, Schwartz said.

Hawaii Countys test positivity rate is now the highest in the state at 3.4%.
A herd of wild Asian elephants is approaching Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, after trampling crop fields and wandering evacuated streets on a 500-km on-foot journey.

No one knows exactly why the 15 elephants traveled all the way from their forest home in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan, but authorities have mobilized thousands of people to monitor their migration, suspend traffic on roads they marched on and use food to lure them away from human settlements.

The provincial bureau of forestry and grassland said Tuesday that the herd was in the city of Yuxi, only 20 km from Kunming, a city of 7 million people.

The bureau has reminded the government of Kunming to issue timely warnings and take comprehensive precautions. The city has sent staff to Yuxi to learn monitor and intervention measures.

Monitoring images show the herd includes six female adults, three male adults, three sub-adults and three calves.

Where are they going?

There were initially 16 elephants in the herd, which left their nature reserve last year to roam in nearby counties under the city of Pu'er. One adult elephant dropped out and two were born in the journey, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Officials became alert in April when the 17-member herd arrived in Yuanjiang County under the city of Yuxi. Another two adults left the herd for home while the rest continued to travel north.

On the evening of May 27, they came upon the town of Eshan and walked the streets for six hours after authorities evacuated pedestrians and vehicles and warned residents to stay indoors.

On Monday, the endangered mammals were seen in the Hongta District of Yuxi, where authorities established an on-site command center to monitor their movements 24 hours a day and prevent them from entering densely populated areas by creating barriers and using food as bait.

More than 360 people, 76 police cars and dirt trucks and nine drones were mobilized, and 18 tonnes of elephant food has been prepared, according to the command.

No casualties have been reported so far.

Chen Mingyong, an Asian elephant expert with Yunnan University, said it was the first time that China recorded such a long-distance northward migration of wild elephants.

"Migration of Asian elephants is common, but it usually happens between several habitats in a certain area. It is very rare for them to travel such a distance to the north," Chen said.

"We can't tell what their destination is," he said, suggesting that the migration might not even have a destination. "It is possible that the chief of the herd lacks experience and led the whole group astray."

So far, the giant creatures have wreaked havoc in 412 cases, damaging 56 hectares of farmland in the counties of Yuanjiang and Shiping alone, incurring direct economic losses of about 6.8 million yuan (1.1 million U.S. dollars).

Elephant-human conflict

Asian elephants are under A-level state protection in China, where they are mostly found in Yunnan. Thanks to enhanced protection, the wild elephant population in the province has grown to about 300, up from 193 in the 1980s.

The growing density of forests, another result of the eco-environment recovery, however, reduced the food supply for the elephants and increasingly drove them out of their habitats to search for foods.

Wild elephants mainly feed on understory plants such as wild bananas, which have gradually been replaced by non-edible woody plants amid forest expansion, said Xiang Ruwu, a wildlife official with the bureau.

In recent years, there are growing reports of wild elephants roaming into villages and plundering farm crops.

The province, known as the "kingdom of wildlife," has taken a raft of measures to soothe human-elephant conflict, including setting aside land to grow the elephants' favorite foods, indemnifying villagers against wildlife damages and setting up an alert system.

How to cater to the latest "elephant tour," however, has proved particularly challenging.

"For these 15 elephants, all we can do at present is to issue early warnings and evacuate residents in time to minimize losses," said Chen, adding that as the herd showed signs of moving further northward, there is a need for continuous studying and monitoring.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP)  Budapest city officials are planning to rename streets in an area where a Chinese university loyal to China's Communist Party is due to open a branch, in a signal of protest and solidarity with the victims of human rights abuses by Beijing.

The new names will be Uyghur Martyrs Road, Free Hong Kong Road, Dalai Lama Road and Bishop Xie Shiguang Road, and they are expected to receive formal approval by the city in the next few days, according to the MTI news agency.

Budapest's liberal Mayor Gergely Karacsony said Krisztina Baranyi, the mayor of the citys 9th district, where the Chinese university is to be built, announced the plans on Wednesday, saying they sought to honor those who have suffered at the hands of the Chinese state.

The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibet, the Uyghurs are an ethnic Muslim group that some Western countries say is the victim of genocide and the late bishop was the target of religious repression.

The move comes as part of a larger effort to oppose plans by conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban to host an elite Chinese university campus in the nation's capital.

Hungary signed a strategic agreement a few weeks ago with the Shanghai-based Fudan University on opening a campus in Budapest by 2024 that will enroll international students. It would be the schools only foreign outpost, and the first Chinese university campus in the 27-nation European Union.

The $1.8 billion investment will be paid by Hungary with the help of a loan from a Chinese bank.

The mayor and other critics argue the massive investment places an undue financial burden on Hungarian taxpayers and is indicative of Orbans increasing ties to autocracies in Beijing as well as Moscow.

Mayor Karacsony says the project also raises national security concerns, since the university has pledged its loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party.

Baranyi has said she will hold a local referendum to block construction of the campus.

A demonstration is planned for Saturday where Karacsony intends to give a speech opposing the university.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday explained its decision to stop Vermont from excluding tuition funding for students who attend a religious school, saying a lower court ruling from earlier this year did not go far enough to accomplish that.

The opinion followed an injunction granted by the 2nd Circuit in February against the state, and in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that said states can't cut religious schools from programs that send public money to private education.

The appeals court had issued its injunction on behalf of four Catholic high school students, their parents, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington.

The case deals with a voucher program that allows students in communities that dont have schools or are not part of supervisory unions to attend schools of their choice, including approved private institutions. The students applied for tuition reimbursement at the Catholic high school, but were denied on the ground that the school is a religiously affiliated school.

A federal judge agreed in January that the students should not be excluded from the funding, but did not allow them to participate in the voucher program until the case was resolved. The judge reasoned that the state needed an opportunity to develop new criteria for voucher eligibility. But the students wanted to take part in voucher program this semester.

The appeals court ordered the judge to amend the decision so the students could get reimbursed.

Today the court powerfully affirmed the principle that people of faith deserve equal access to public benefits everyone else gets, Paul Schmitt, legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, who represented the students, said in a statement Wednesday. Once Vermont chose to subsidize private education, it could not disqualify some private schools solely because they are too religious. When the state offers parents school choice, it cannot take away choices for a religious school."

Ted Wilson, spokesperson for the Vermont Education Agency, said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

In June 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, upheld a Montana scholarship program that allows state tax credits for private schooling in which almost all the recipients attend religious schools.

A lawsuit by three families in Maine who want the state to pay for religious school tuition was rejected by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. The families have taken their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)  Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a $101.5 billion budget Wednesday after vetoing $1.5 billion, including $1 billion in federal money for an emergency response fund he said had strings attached that made it unusable.

DeSantis held a bill signing ceremony at a New Smyrna Beach restaurant and used the event to boast about his response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying fully opening Florida to business early helped the economy rebound faster and stronger than expected.

A lot of people were trying to tell me to close restaurants like this last summer. We didn't do it. We kept business open, we got kids in school, DeSantis said. "The result was our economy really started to rebound."

Even with the vetoes, the budget is more than $9 billion above the current state spending plan. The budget year starts July 1.

DeSantis also vetoed $350 million in federal relief money that was to be put in the state's rainy day fund for future emergencies.

Most of the remaining nearly $158 million in vetoes were for local projects are money that was to be taken from trust funds. The projects ranged from as little as $16,000 for a Hardee County citrus facility and $50,000 for a Chattahoochee mountain bike trail to larger items like and $2 million to improve the Lake County emergency radio system. He also vetoed $200,000 for a bear resistant trash can program and $200,000 to build a playground for special needs children in Plantation.

DeSantis said the state continues to far exceed revenue projections, helped in part by tourism.

You had a lot of these other states that just kept locking people down. We were the state lifting people up. That was good for Floridians, but we were also the landing spot for a lot of people that wanted to escape the insanity and come and get recharged. DeSantis said.

Of the federal money rejected by DeSantis, $1 billion was supposed to go to an emergency response fund set up by the Legislature. DeSantis said that while he supports such a fund, the federal government set conditions on it that didn't make sense for the state.

Part of it was because the money would come in the form of grants and the state would have to go through normal bidding process to spend it.

In an emergency situation, you don't have the time to do the normal procurement. You've got to do this very quickly. It would defeat the purpose to try to use it for emergency response if you have to go through all that bureaucracy, DeSantis said.

He said the state also wanted to use the relief money to meet future emergency needs, and the federal government said it couldn't be used for those purposes.

The budget raises the minimum wage for government workers to $13 an hour. That gives them a head start on private employees. Voters last year approved a constitutional amendment that will eventually raise the state minimum wage to $15 by 2026. In September, it will increase to $10 an hour.

Also, state attorneys, public defenders and district court judges will get a 10% pay raise.

And first responders, teachers and early learning instructors will get $1,000 bonuses. Schools will also receive $550 million to raise the minimum teacher salary.

Senate President Wilton Simpson and House Speaker Chris Sprowls joined DeSantis at a second ceremony in Zephyrhills later Wednesday and gave him credit for approving a strong budget.

The reason that we have the things that we have in our budget...is because of this governor and because of the leaders behind me who said, We dont care what CNN is saying, we don't care what national pundits are saying, we don't care what federal bureaucrats are saying, our kids are going to school and our people are going back to their jobs, Sprowls said to applause.

But while no Democratic lawmakers voted against the budget, they criticized DeSantis for the person he didn't give credit to: President Joe Biden.

Unfortunately, as he took his victory lap to hand out the bonuses, and brag about the many programs rescued as a result of the federal help, the governor never once directed thanks to those who made this possible," Senate Democrats said in a joint statement. It was a crass example of freeloading off the hard work of others he doesnt want to acknowledge because he doesnt agree with their politics.

___

This story corrects a previous story to say the budget is $101.5 billion, or more than $9 billion above the current budget.
BOX ELDER, S.D. (AP)  A series of lawsuits against Meade County for nearly a decades worth of tax assessments of a housing development near Ellsworth Air Force Base may be heading toward a resolution.

The Meade County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to begin negotiations to resolve the lawsuits filed by Hunt Companies, Inc., an El Paso, Texas, company with a leaseholder interest in the 235-acre Antelope Ridge housing development, pending dismissal of the court cases.

The lawsuits, which span back to 2012, claim Meade County overvalued the leaseholder interest of 828 housing units built by Hunt in the 1990s on land owned by the United States government. In later lawsuits, Hunt Companies began claiming that their leaseholder interest is exempt from taxation since they were built on government land.

According to court records, the most recent lawsuit was filed on Nov. 3, 2020. In that complaint, Hunt Companies claim they should receive a full refund of all property taxes assessed and paid since the entire interest is tax exempt.

The last payment for the 2019 tax year from Hunt Companies was paid under protest to Meade County on Oct. 6, 2020. Court exhibits show the check was for $270,221.90. It was one of two payments for 2019 taxes made, totaling $540,443.80 in taxes paid for the year.

However, in May 2019, the South Dakota Supreme Court issued an opinion affirming a circuit court decision that Meade Countys denial of abatement and refund for taxes overpaid in 2012, 2013 and 2014 was justified. The high court agreed that Meade County overvalued Hunts leaseholder interest, but made no ruling on whether or not Hunts interest was also tax exempt.

The Hunt Companies development of Antelope Ridge, formerly known as Centennial Estates, presents unique challenges to state tax laws. A complex history on the housing project includes intervention from the U.S. Air Force to provide for a public-private partnership to build housing within Ellsworth Air Force Base.

In the late 1980s, the U.S. government set aside 235 acres of land within the boundary of Ellsworth to build base housing. In April 1990, Hunt Companies entered into a 40-year land lease to build 828 housing units for base personnel and their families. The agreement also required Hunt to build all the infrastructure, including roads, curbs and gutters, sidewalks, parks and storm drainage systems.

During the first 20 years of the development, the U.S. Air Force was responsible for the management and maintenance of the property since it was located within Ellsworths secure fencing and gates. Meade County provided an assessed value of the property while it was within the boundaries of Ellsworth and the U.S. government would have been responsible for any payments of property taxes, if those payments were made.

A preliminary review of records by the Journal has not revealed any tax payments by the U.S. government for Antelope Ridge. The Journal is still in the process of reviewing records and court documents.

However, the South Dakota Constitution states, The property of the United States and of the state, county and municipal corporations, both real and personal, shall be exempt from taxation. While it is unclear if Meade County billed the U.S. government for property taxes on Antelope Ridge for the first 20 years, court documents show the county did not assess taxes for Hunt Companies leaseholder interests during that time.

By 2006, the Air Force ceased making most repairs or performing maintenance on the housing, court filings show, and because of the terms of the lease Hunt Companies was not permitted to repair or maintain Antelope Ridge.

In August 2011, Hunt Companies took over management of Antelope Ridge for the final 20-year term of the 40-year land lease. Per the terms of the agreement, Hunt was required to close the military checkpoint access to Antelope Ridge and relocate 1.25 miles of Ellsworths security perimeter fence.

This caused the housing development to be divided into two portions and closed off direct access to Ellsworth. Court documents show the action destroyed all access to, and rental of, 38 of the housing units. It also allowed Hunt to begin renting the remaining units to civilians, since the majority of the property was outside of Ellsworths secure perimeter fence.

The land, however, still belongs to the U.S. government.

Court records show the Antelope Ridge development was in a dilapidated condition after the Air Force ceased maintenance and upkeep. Hunt spent more than $18 million to rehabilitate the property.

For the 2011, 2012 and 2013 tax years, Meade County assessed the value of Antelope Ridge at $35,731,200. The county also sent its first tax bill to Hunt Companies.

When Hunt Companies began managing the housing development in 2011, Meade County assessed property taxes in 2011, 2012 and 2013 based on a valuation known as the fee simple value, instead of a leaseholder interest valuation.

According to the Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal, fee simple value is, Absolute ownership unencumbered by any other interest or estate, subject only to the limitations imposed by the government powers of taxation, eminent domain, police power, and escheat.

Since the land is owned by the government, Hunt Companies does not hold absolute ownership of the property.

Hunt Companies paid the full taxes in 2012, 2013 and 2014, without invoking their rights under the pay-and-protest provisions of South Dakota law. That stipulation would have allowed Hunt to pay the amount billed and then protest the assessed value within 30 days. If it was determined that the tax was wrongfully collected in whole or part, Hunt could receive a refund.

According to court records, Hunt challenged the countys property tax valuations by appealing to the Meade County Board of Commissioners. The commissioners rejected Hunts claims.

Hunt Companies appealed the valuation to the circuit court, filing separate cases for each of the three years. Those appeals were consolidated into one case. The consolidated appeal did not address the constitutional question of whether or not Hunt Companies leaseholder interest should be tax exempt since Antelope Ridge is build on government property.

The Fourth Judicial Circuit Court found that Meade County made an error in over-assessing Hunts leaseholder interest by using the fee simple value of the property. The court found that the assessed value should be reduced to not include the value of the land and the depreciation of the property after the Air Force ceased maintenance and upkeep.

In the circuit courts June 2016 ruling, it reduced the assessed leaseholder interest value by more than half  $14.1 million in 2012, $15.5 million in 2013 and $15.1 million in 2014. The court also ruled that Hunt was not entitled to a refund for those tax years because they did not pay under protest.

Hunt Companies appealed the circuit courts ruling to the South Dakota Supreme Court. In the appeal, lawyers also asked the court to examine the constitutional question of whether or not Hunt should be exempt from taxes since the development is on government-owned land.

On May 1, 2019, the state Supreme Court upheld the circuit courts decision to reset the assessed valuations. Justice Janine Kern, who wrote the majority opinion, said Hunt Companies constitutionality argument wasnt presented properly before the Supreme Court or the circuit court.

In the majority opinion, Kern wrote, We express no opinion here on the question of whether the leasehold interest was, in fact, taxable.

Justice Steven Jensen filed the dissent. He said the circuit court had previously determined the assessments were invalid. Jensen wrote that Hunt qualified for the tax exemption since the structures are built on government-owned property. He also said the company was entitled to request a tax refund.

Hunt Companies continued to file lawsuits against Meade County in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 regarding the tax bills  this time invoking their rights under the pay-under-protest provision of state law, and claiming the property is tax exempt. Those suits are all pending.

Former Meade County Treasurer Susan Boadwine, who was named in the lawsuits and notices of appeal in her official capacity as treasurer, submitted her resignation on March 23, with an effective date of May 1. Meade County Auditor Lisa Schieffer also submitted her resignation on May 11, effective May 31. Schieffer was named in a May 15, 2020, notice of appeal filed by Hunt Companies.

It is unknown if the resignations are related to the lawsuits.

Following a lengthy executive session on Tuesday, the Meade County Commission voted unanimously to begin negotiations to resolve the lawsuits pending dismissal of the court cases.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP)  A major University of North Carolina donor said Wednesday that he sent emails to university officials questioning the hiring of Nikole Hannah-Jones after he became concerned about how much research went into the selection of the investigative journalist, whose award-winning work on slavery he called highly contentious and highly controversial."

The emails from newspaper publisher Walter Hussman Jr., whose name is on UNC's journalism school, were sent to university leaders in the weeks before Hannah-Jones' submission for tenure was halted in January. She was instead offered a contract position, despite the fact that her predecessors were given tenure when appointed.

Hussman, publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, told The Associated Press that he sent the series of emails because he wanted to share his concerns with UNC-Chapel Hill Vice Chancellor for University Development David Routh, Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and journalism school Dean Susan King. In 2019, Hussman pledged $25 million to whats now known as the Hussman School of Journalism and Media.

I wonder how much research she did into Nikole Hannah-Jones like I'd just done," Hussman said, referring to King. Moreover, I wonder how much the chancellor's done. I wonder how much the vice chancellor's done. Maybe I should share these concerns with them, too.

The university's failure to offer Hannah-Jones tenure has prompted outcry by dozens of members of the journalism school's faculty, who have demanded an explanation. Her lawyers argue the move is part of a conservative backlash against scholars telling the truth about the history of racism in the U.S.

Hussman, 74, said that instead of sending one lengthy email, he sent separate emails, based on arguments from other historians, challenging assertions by Hannah-Jones that the American Revolution was fought to protect slavery, that the fight for freedom and equality for Blacks was fought by Blacks alone, and about reparations. The news website The Assembly first obtained the emails and reported on their content.

Hussman said he showed his emails to one trustee, who suggested he show them to the other board members, but he said he decided to go no further. He declined to say which trustee he reached out to.

I don't think that's my role as a donor. It would be perceived as lobbying the board to not hire, he said. I've made it known to one of the trustees; if they want to share it with others, they can. If they don't want to share it with others, that's their discretion.

In response to an email seeking comment from Routh, King or Guskiewicz, University spokesman Joel Curran said in a statement that while the school can't comment specifically on Hussman's concerns, he said donors aren't included in personnel matters.

Private support is the margin of excellence for a university like UNC-Chapel Hill. We have long relationships with our donors, and we listen to their input on a wide variety of matters," Curran said. "But when a gift is made, our development team makes it clear that donors should have no expectation of influencing curriculum or personnel decisions.

Hannah-Jones, whose work on The 1619 Project for the New York Times Magazine won a Pulitzer Prize, accepted a five-year contract to join the journalism school's faculty as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism earlier this year. A trustee who vets submissions for tenure postponed consideration of Hannah-Jones application in January because of questions about her non-academic background, the head of the board of trustees said last month. The submission never came before the full board of trustees for a vote.

Since then, the foundation that endows the Knight chair also encouraged the trustees to reconsider. Last week, Hannah-Jones issued a statement saying she had retained attorneys from the NAACP legal defense fund as she considers legal action against the school.

Hussman said he called King and told her his research of Hannah-Jones and her writings had raised concerns with him.

"This 1619 Project is highly contentious and highly controversial, Hussman said of his conversation with King. He said he told her that hiring Hannah-Jones would mean those controversies would follow her to the journalism school and university and overshadow the teaching and core values at the school.

King countered with the fact that Hannah-Jones had won a Pulitzer Prize, but Hussman said that didn't allay his concerns. He said their conversation ended with their agreeing to disagree. Hussman said King had offered to set up a Zoom meeting between him and Hannah-Jones, but the controversy was beginning to roil and the meeting never occurred, although he added that he would like to meet her and discuss her work and her goals. Until then, Hussman said he feels he did what he set out to do.

I've done some due diligence here, and I think it's the right thing to do that," he said.
BUCHAREST (AP)  The Republic of Moldova is set to receive an unprecedented 600 million-euro ($733 million) economic recovery package from the European Union over a three-year period, the EU's executive arm announced Wednesday.

The European Commission said Moldova, which is not an EU member, will receive the funds between 2021 and 2024 to help the former Soviet republic sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine recover economically from the coronavirus pandemic and to promote investment. The plan is conditional on judicial and anti-corruption reforms, the commission said

The Republic of Moldova is at a crossroads, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement. The EUs economic recovery plan is an unprecedented effort to help the country in its efforts to restore and boost the ambitious reform agenda in the interests of the people.

Moldova ranked 115th out of the 180 countries in Transparency Internationals 2020 Corruptions Perception Index, with first place being the least corrupt.

The EU money, which would come in the form of loans, grants and investments, is intended to promote economic growth and to focus on areas such as digital technology, infrastructure, and education. The EU extends financial aid known as macro financial assistance to partner countries under certain conditions.

Moldovan voters are set to cast ballots next month in an early parliamentary election that was called in April after the country's pro-Western president, Maia Sandu, dissolved parliament. The move followed months of political deadlock.

Sandu beat Moscow-friendly incumbent Igor Dodon in a November presidential election. She campaigned on a pro-democracy, anti-corruption ticket and has expressed support for Moldova having closer ties with the EU, its biggest trade partner.

A survey carried out last month by the Moldovan polling firm Date Inteligente found that more than two-thirds of respondents favored the idea of the country joining the EU.

In 2020 the EU supported Moldova, with more than 127 million euros ($155 million) in grants to help the country of 3.5 million cope with the impact of the pandemic.
NEW YORK (AP)  Epic Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernard Madoff is dead. But the effort to untangle his web of deceit lives on.

More than 12 years after Madoff confessed to running one of the biggest financial fraud in Wall Street history, a team of lawyers is still at work on a sprawling effort to recover money for the thousands of victims of his scam.

Their labors, which have already secured $14.5 billion of the estimated $17.5 billion investors put into Madoff's sham investment business, didn't cease with the financier's death in prison in April.

Ongoing litigation by Irving Picard, a court-appointed trustee for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, and his chief counsel, David Sheehan, could potentially pull in billions of dollars more.

You dont like to see anyone die. But in this case, it wasnt going to have any impact on what were doing, Picard told The Associated Press. Our work goes on.

___

WHERE IT STARTED

The painstaking process of trying to unwind Madoff's fraud began not long after the money manager's arrest in December 2008.

His downfall came as a result of a national financial crisis in which banks that had made reckless bets on mortgage-backed securities collapsed and investors scrambled to pull money out of the stock market.

Spooked investors started making withdrawals from Madoff's investment fund, too, but he ran out of money to give them. While his books said his fund was worth $60 billion, most of that money didn't exist. He'd never actually invested the cash clients gave him.

When clients cashed out fictitious profits, Madoff simply stole from other clients to cover withdrawals.

Picard was given the task of separating the net losers  Madoff clients who didnt cash out of their accounts  from those who did.

Over time, net losers with approved claims have quietly seen an average of 70% of their investments returned. Net winners were subjected to so-called clawbacks." Not only did they lose money they thought they had in their accounts, they had to pay back profits they had withdrawn over the years.

Those people felt as though, and rightfully so, that they had been damaged twice -- first by Madoff and then by this trustee saying give me your profit, Sheehan said.

The process was difficult for everyone. Some Madoff investors had retired early. Some had bought nice homes in expensive locales. Some had made large charitable donations, confident their nest egg was secure.

___

THE PAIN HITS HOME

Gordon Bennett, thinking his account with Madoff was worth $3 million, did heavy renovations on a home in Marin County north of San Francisco.

When he learned Madoff was arrested, he told his wife, Kate, we just lost the house.

The financial shock worsened months later when he learned that 25 years of annual withdrawals of up to 10% meant hed taken out more than hed put in.

Picards collectors wanted his profits. Suddenly, Bennett was in danger of being added to the bucket of wealthy individuals and institutions the trustee was suing, claiming they knew or should have known their returns were fraudulent.

That was quite scary, he said. We eventually worked out an arrangement with the trustee and we sent him all our documents and said: Look, you know, we dont have any money. So he eventually said: OK, Ill go after bigger fish.

And Picard did, with some help from federal prosecutors. The biggest single chunk came in late 2010 when the widow of a Florida philanthropist agreed to return a staggering $7.2 billion that her husband, businessman Jeffry Picower, had pocketed. Months later, another $1 billion was secured from one of the many feeder funds that the trustee accused of ignoring red flags about Madoff.

These days, Bennett, 74, finds solace in the same home after a friend bought it and rented it back to him.

So we dont have $3 million dollars now, but you know what, we dont need $3 million dollars, he said.

Some victims contacted by The AP said that the news that Madoff had died at age 83 while serving a 150-year prison term served only as a sad reminder of crimes that altered their lives.

Richard Shapiro, 68, of Hidden Hills, California, said he lost a very significant amount of his net worth. In a panic, he briefly put his house up for sale and un-retired to earn money again as a commercial real estate development manager.

Picards quick success at recovering some money spawned a mini-industry of firms offering Madoff victims immediate cash in return for their rights to whatever the trustee recovered.

Shapiro pounced on that opportunity, selling one of his Madoff funds for much less than it was worth, and another for closer to what Picard might eventually fetch, enabling him to save his home and start rebuilding his life.

I do have my life back together now, he said. And Im sure thats the case with every Madoff victim. I dont think anybody walked away from it unscathed.

Another victim who lost money, 59-year-old Charles Gevirtz, recalled feeling the payout formula was a raw deal.

I was kind of angry at the trustee, said Gervitz, an engineer from Detroit. He didnt even try to come up with a more reasonable settlement.

Still, Gervitz found a larger lesson to the pain: You dont get something for no nothing. Basically, if its too good to be true, it is.

___

LOOKING BACK AND AHEAD

Picard and Sheehan carry their own memories of the Madoff saga. Sheehan recalled how there was one person who didnt offer any help over the years: a delusional Madoff.

He actually would complain to me that the people who got the false profits were making money, so why were they complaining? He was doing them a favor, Sheehan said in describing his interactions with the disgraced financier, including prison visits. It was stolen money. It wasnt much of a favor.

Then there was the artwork recovered from Madoffs office and sold at auction, including an infamous 4-foot sculpture depicting a screw  titled The Soft Screw -- and bull lithographs by Roy Lichtenstein. All brought in more cash through auctions.

There were lots of assets we could sell that you wouldnt find in the typical case, Picard said. Here they had other peoples money to spend, and they did.

Asked whether the recovery effort was winding down, the lawyers predicted it will go on at least another two to three years  something theyve been saying for a decade.

The trustee still has the financial backing of the non-profit Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) to keep global litigation going against the remaining clawback holdouts  including feeder funds and other sophisticated money managers who failed to detect the fraud.

But Picard assured, Someday it will come to an end.
Recent high-profile ransomware attacks on the worlds largest meat-packing company and the biggest U.S. fuel pipeline have underscored how gangs of extortionist hackers can disrupt the economy and put lives and livelihoods at risk.

Last year alone in the U.S., ransomware gangs hit more than 100 federal, state and municipal agencies, upwards of 500 health care centers, 1,680 educational institutions and untold thousands of businesses, according to the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft. Dollar losses are in the tens of billions. Accurate numbers are elusive. Many victims shun reporting, fearing the reputational blight.

More recent known targets include a Massachusetts ferry operator, the Irish health system and the Washington, D.C., police department. But the broadly disruptive hacks on Colonial Pipeline in the U.S. in May and Brazilian meat processor JBS SA this week have drawn close attention from the White House and other world leaders, along with heightened scrutiny of the foreign safe havens where cybercriminal mafias operate.

WHAT IS RANSOMWARE? HOW DOES IT WORK?

Ransomware scrambles the target organizations data with encryption. The criminals leave instructions on infected computers for negotiating ransom payments. Once paid, they provide decryption keys for unlocking those files.

Ransomware crooks have also expanded into data-theft blackmail. Before triggering encryption, they quietly copy sensitive files and threaten to post them publicly unless they get their ransom payments. That can present problems even for companies that diligently back up their networks as a hedge against ransomware, since refusing to pay can incur costs far greater than the ransoms they might have negotiated.

HOW DO RANSOMWARE GANGS OPERATE?

The criminal syndicates that dominate the ransomware business are mostly Russian-speaking and operate with near impunity out of Russia and allied countries. Though barely a blip three years ago, the syndicates have grown in sophistication and skill. They leverage dark web forums to organize and recruit while hiding their identities and movements with sophisticated tools and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin that make payments  and their laundering  harder to track.

Some top ransomware criminals fancy themselves software service professionals. They take pride in their customer service, providing help desks that assist paying victims in file decryption. And they tend to keep their word. They have brands to protect, after all.

The business is now highly specialized. An affiliate will identify, map out and infect targets using ransomware that is typically rented from a ransomware-as-a-service provider. The provider gets a cut of the payout; the affiliate normally takes more than three-quarters.

Other subcontractors may also get a slice. Those can include the authors of the malware used to break into victim networks and the people running so-called bulletproof domains behind which the ransomware gangs hide their command-and-control servers. Those servers manage the remote sowing of malware and data extraction ahead of activation, a stealthy process that can take weeks.

WHY DO RANSOMS KEEP CLIMBING? HOW CAN THEY BE STOPPED?

Colonial Pipeline confirmed that it paid $4.4 million to the gang of hackers who broke into its computer systems last month.

The FBI discourages paying ransoms, but a public-private task force including tech companies and U.S., British and Canadian crime agencies says it would be wrong to try to ban ransom payments altogether. That's largely because ransomware attackers continue to find sectors and elements of society that are woefully underprepared for this style of attack.

The task force recognizes that paying up can be the only way for an afflicted business to avoid bankruptcy. Worse, the sophisticated cybercriminals often have done their research and know a victims cybersecurity insurance coverage limit. Theyve been known to mention it in negotiations.

That degree of criminal savvy helped drive average ransom payments to more than $310,000 last year, up 171% from 2019, according to Palo Alto Networks, a task force member.

WHAT'S BEING DONE ABOUT IT?

President Joe Biden signed an executive order in May meant to strengthen U.S. cybersecurity defenses, mostly in response to Russias hacking of federal agencies and interference in U.S. politics. But headline-grabbing ransomware attacks on private companies have started to dominate the cybersecurity conversation as Biden prepares for a June 16 summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this week that the ransom demand of JBS meat came from a criminal organization likely based in Russia. She said the White House is engaging directly with the Russian government" and "delivering the message that responsible states do not harbor ransomware criminals.

The new industry task force set up to combat ransomware says it's important to have concerted diplomatic, legal and law enforcement cooperation with key allies.

Ransomware developers and their affiliates should be named and shamed  though they're not always easy to identify  and regimes that enable them punished with sanctions, its report urges.

It calls for mandatory disclosure of ransom payments and a federal response fund to provide financial assistance to victims in hopes that, in many cases, it will prevent them from paying ransoms. And it wants stricter regulation of cryptocurrency markets to make it more difficult for criminals to launder ransomware proceeds.

The task force also calls for something potentially controversial: amending the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to let private industry actively block or limit online criminal activity, including of botnets, the networks of hijacked zombie computers that ransomware criminals use to sow infections.



Associated Press reporter Matt O'Brien contributed to this report.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP)  A federal judge on Wednesday rebuffed South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's efforts to force the National Park Service to grant the state permission to shoot fireworks from Mount Rushmore National Memorial to celebrate Independence Day this year.

Noem sued the U.S. Department of Interior in an effort to reverse the decision to deny the state's permit for the pyrotechnic display. The Republican governor successfully pushed last year for a return of the event after a decadelong hiatus. But the National Park Service denied it this year, citing safety concerns and objections from local Native American tribes.

The opinion and order from Chief Judge Roberto Lange of the federal district court of South Dakota meant that the night sky over Mount Rushmore will be devoid of the state's fireworks on Independence Day this year.

Noem has decried the decision to deny the fireworks permit as political" and made a patriotic argument for holding fireworks at the massive monument. The event last year gave former President Donald Trump an opportunity to make a fiery speech at the monument. The state had signed an agreement with the federal government under Trump to work towards having the fireworks display this year.

However, Noem's lawsuit also reignited legal skirmishing between her and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, which opposed the event on the grounds that the Black Hills, which contain Mount Rushmore, are sacred to the Lakota people.

In a statement responding to the judge's decision, Noem blamed President Joe Biden's administration for cancelling the fireworks, saying it was on completely arbitrary grounds.

But rest assured, this fight is not over, she said, promising to appeal the decision in an effort to restore the event next year.

In a 36-page opinion and order, Lange, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, wrote that he liked the idea of having a fireworks display to celebrate Independence Day, but declined to order the National Park Service to allow it because it would be improper judicial activism for this Court to disregard settled law on how federal agencies are allowed to make decisions.

Lange wrote: This country could use a good celebration of its foundational principles of democracy, liberty, and equal protection of law, after a pandemic that has disrupted society and business and has killed nearly 600,000 United States citizens to date, after an insurrection and physical incursion of the United States Capitol while Congress was convening to certify the outcome of the presidential election, and after this nation has become so sadly divided by the politicization of so many issues, likely to include even the outcome of this case."
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  The largest warship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, the latest calamity to strike one of the countrys vessels in recent years amid tensions with the West.

The blaze began around 2:25 a.m. and firefighters tried to contain it, the Fars news agency reported, but their efforts failed to save the 207-meter (679-foot) Kharg, which was used to resupply other ships in the fleet at sea and conduct training exercises. State media reported 400 sailors and trainee cadets on board fled the vessel, with 33 suffering injuries.

The ship sank near the Iranian port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran on the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz  the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. Satellite photos from Planet Labs Inc. analyzed by The Associated Press showed the Kharg off Jask with no sign of a fire as late as 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Photos circulated on Iranian social media showed sailors wearing life jackets evacuating the vessel as a fire burned behind them. Fars published video of thick, black smoke rising from the ship early Wednesday morning. Satellites from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that track fires from space detected a blaze near Jask that started just before the time of the fire reported by Fars.

Iranian officials offered no cause for the fire aboard the Kharg, though they said an investigation had begun.

Meanwhile, a massive fire broke out Wednesday night at the oil refinery serving Irans capital, sending thick plumes of black smoke over Tehran. It wasnt immediately clear if there were injuries or what caused the blaze at the Tondgooyan Petrochemical Co., though temperatures in the capital reached nearly 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and hot summer weather in Iran has caused fires in the past.

The fire Wednesday aboard the Kharg warship follows a series of mysterious explosions that began in 2019 targeting commercial ships in the Gulf of Oman. The U.S. Navy accused Iran of targeting the ships with limpet mines, timed explosives typically attached by divers to a vessels hull.

Iran denied that, though U.S. Navy footage showed Revolutionary Guard members removing one unexploded limpet mine from a ship. The attacks came amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehrans nuclear deal with world powers. Negotiations on saving the accord continue in Vienna.

In April, an Iranian ship called the MV Saviz believed to be a Guard base and anchored for years in the Red Sea off Yemen was targeted in an attack suspected to have been carried out by Israel. It escalated a yearslong shadow war in the Mideast between the two countries, ranging from strikes in Syria, assaults on ships and attacks on Iran's nuclear program.

The Israeli prime ministers office did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday regarding the Kharg. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the U.S. was aware of the loss of the ship, but declined to comment further.

State TV and semiofficial news agencies on Wednesday referred to the Kharg, named after the island that serves as the main oil terminal for Iran, as a training ship. The vessel often hosted cadets from the Imam Khomeini Naval University on the Caspian Sea.

Like much of Iran's major military hardware, the Kharg dated back to before Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. The warship, built in Britain and launched in 1977, entered the Iranian navy in 1984 after lengthy negotiations. That aging military equipment has seen fatal accidents as recently as Tuesday, when a malfunction in the ejector seats of an Iranian F-5 dating back to before the revolution killed two pilots while the aircraft was parked in a hangar.

In recent months, the navy converted a slightly larger commercial tanker called the Makran to use it as a mobile launch platform for helicopters. The Kharg also could launch helicopters on a smaller scale.

But the newer vessel likely can't fill the role of the Kharg, which could handle both refueling and replenishing supplies of ships at sea, said Mike Connell of the Center for Naval Analysis, an Arlington, Virginia-based federally funded nonprofit that works for the U.S. government.

The Kharg also was seaworthy enough to sail through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea and into South Asia in the past and could lift heavy cargo.

For the regular Iranian navy, this vessel was very valuable because it gave them reach, Connell said. "That allowed them to conduct operations far afield. They do have other logistics vessels, but the Kharg was kind of the most capable and the largest.

The sinking of the Kharg marks the latest naval disaster for Iran. In 2020, during an Iranian military training exercise, a missile mistakenly struck a naval vessel near Jask, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15. Also in 2018, an Iranian navy destroyer sank in the Caspian Sea.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Joseph Krauss in Jerusalem and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.
Macao SAR chief executive calls on public to get vaccinated against COVID-19

Xinhua) 09:02, June 02, 2021

MACAO, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Ho Iat Seng on Tuesday called on members of the public to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible.

Speaking to reporters after a public event, the chief executive said that there had lately been an increasing number of people reserving a booking for inoculation. The health authorities would optimize inoculation arrangements for the greater convenience of the public.

He said that Macao had secured sufficient supply of vaccines and the SAR government currently had no plan to offer incentives to boost vaccination, adding that inoculation is on a voluntary basis.

In addition, Ho expressed confidence that Guangdong Province, which neighbors the Macao SAR, would contain its recent epidemic outbreak shortly by taking effective measures.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Bianji)
Liang Wolin lived in a village with open drainage ditches for most of his life. On a hot day, which are most days in the year in southern China's Guangdong province, the smells of the ditches often get quite unpleasant.



Fortunately, things finally changed in 2020.

Last year, Xinhuang village in Kaiping city replaced its open drainage ditches with an underdrainage system separating rainwater pipelines and sewage ones.

In addition, the village established compact sewage treatment facilities in the neighborhood in cooperation with a state-owned company. The facilities are also regularly monitored and inspected by the maintenance staff.

Now, standing in front of a clean pond, 65-year-old Liang could hardly restrain his joy, as he talked about his new life after a series of environmental renovations that took place in his village.

"The renovation was free of charge and did not cost the villagers a single penny." Liang said people in the village widely welcomed the changes, which included the new sewage pipes, as well as wider and safe roads. The village has become an example of success for sewage treatment renovations in Guangdong, and the days of stinky open sewage has already been put in the past.

Donghua village in Shantou city also carried out similar renovations to separat rainwater pipes and sewage ones, adding 18,870 meters of pipes in total and 868 sewage wells in six months.

After the sewage renovations and other environmental improvements, the village was named a "Beautiful Village" and a "Village of Beauty and Leisure" by China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. In addition, it also began to see economic gains.

Since last year, Donghua has turned from traditional crop plantation partly to grape planting and rural tourism. Thanks to the improved environment, the village's 3.35-hectare vineyard had two good harvests in its first year, and tourists started to flock in.

According to Weng Zhongtong, Donghua's Party secretary, the whole village as a cooperative earned an income approximately 2.5 times that of planting rice. He estimated that the income this year would rise even higher as the grape vines and their maintenance techniques improve.

The sewage renovations and environmental improvements in the Guangdong villages were part of a national plan to improve its rural living environment from 2018 to 2020. In February, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs announced that the dirty, disorderly, and unsanitary parts of rural areas have been significantly improved over the years.

Nevertheless, the ministry said toilets and sewage treatment in rural areas continue to pose a major challenge, and that China will launch a five-year plan to further improve rural living environments.

According to Guangdong's provincial authorities, all villages in the province have now been equipped with hazard-free toilets, garbage collection and transportation systems, and centralized water supply systems. The provincial government has also listed rural sewage treatment as one of its 10 priorities regarding people's livelihood in 2021.
PURCELL, Mo. (AP)  Former Purcell Mayor Nancy Wilson has been charged with stealing from the town, the Jasper County prosecutor announced Wednesday.

Wilson, 50, was charged last week with felony stealing after an investigation by the sheriff's department.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  Four people have pleaded guilty to federal dogfighting and conspiracy charges for their roles in an interstate dogfighting network spanning the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey, a federal prosecutor said.

The four defendants and their co-conspirators participated in animal-fighting ventures from April 2013 through July 2018, said Raj Parekh, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, in a news release.
BOSTON (AP)  Gov. Charlie Baker is among prominent Massachusetts Republicans calling on an elected member of the Republican State Committee to resign for making homophobic remarks about a gay GOP congressional candidate.

Deborah Martell, a member of the 80-member state committee, wrote in an email to fellow Republicans last month that was shared with The Boston Globe that she was sickened that Jeffrey Sossa-Paquette and his husband had adopted two children.
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP)  Vermont Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday appointed Howard Kalfus as a superior court judge.

Kalfus fills a vacancy created when Scott appointed then-Judge William Cohen to the Vermont Supreme Court.

Making appointments to the judiciary is one of the most important responsibilities any governor has, and in doing so, it is critical to seek Vermonters who are fair, thoughtful and dedicated to upholding the rule of law, Scott said in a statement. Howard will make an exemplary judge and serve Vermonters well in this new role.

Kalfus has been the Judicial Bureau's presiding hearing officer in 2011, which brought him in contact with the Superior Court in every county. Before that, he worked as a staff public defender in Chittenden County; an assistant attorney general representing the Vermont Department for Children and Families; a staff attorney with the Vermont Department of Public Safety; and an associate attorney for Downs Rachlin Martin.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  At the luxurious Armani hotel inside the world's tallest skyscraper in Dubai, Israelis in kippas and Emiratis in long white robes and kanduras gathered Wednesday to discuss investment opportunities. They aimed to make the most of deepening ties nine months after the two countries agreed to formalize relations.

There was extremely little mention of the Palestinians or the fact that barely two weeks ago, Israel was a country still at war.

Rather, the conversations were laser-focused on business. Several Israeli and Emirati speakers opened their remarks with both the Hebrew greeting of Shalom and the Arabic greeting of Salam. They spoke about boosting tourism, creating jobs, technology sharing, diversifying economies and tackling issues of water scarcity.

Since the UAE and Israel formalized ties in September, tens of thousands of Israeli tourists have come to the UAE  mostly to Dubai or in targeted visits to the capital of Abu Dhabi.

Trade between the two countries has already exceeded $354 million. The two countries have signed around 25 agreements in more than 15 sectors, said Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zayoudi, the highest-level Emirati official at the event.

There has been no indication the 11-day war in Gaza, which ended with an inconclusive cease-fire May 21, has slowed down budding Emirati-Israeli ties.

The war killed 254 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including 67 children and 22 people from the same family, aged 6-months-old to 89-years-old. Hamas, which rules Gaza, says 80 of its fighters were killed. Thirteen died in Israel, including two children and one soldier, because of the conflict.

The investment forum was worlds away from the war's devastation. In the lavish and tightly secured Armani ballroom at the Burj Khalifa tower, there was no visible worry or concern on the faces of eager and excited Israeli delegates and speakers, many of whom expressed their astonishment at how rapidly ties have flourished with the United Arab Emirates.

It's happening and it didn't happen before. If you would have spoken to me a year ago, I wouldn't have guessed that (we) will speak here today in Dubai about all of these things that are happening, said Israeli Ambassador Eitan Naeh, who is based in Abu Dhabi.

Na'eh spoke to The Associated Press on the sidelines of the summit, which was billed as the first face-to-face investment conference in the UAE between Israelis and Emiratis since the U.S.-brokered diplomatic pact was signed in September.

The director general of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, Tariq Bin Hendi, told the audience his country has helped Israeli companies set up in the UAE. The office is responsible for attracting foreign investment into Abu Dhabi and diversifying the private sector.

We want the people of Israel, the people of the world to come and join us, help us on that journey, work with us, learn from us, allow us to learn from you, and ultimately build a strong relationship," he said.

There were no high-level speakers from Israel at the event, though that may be a result of Israel's political uncertainty. The list of speakers had also changed quite significantly to exclude several of the original speakers listed on the agenda before the recent conflict.

Last month, the United Arab Emirates issued a rare public rebuke of Israel for heavy-handed police measures in Jerusalem and violent scenes captured by Palestinians of Israeli security forces storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a site sacred to both Muslims and Jews.

The violence, which erupted in the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, angered citizens across Gulf Arab states, some of whom expressed support for Palestinians and opposition to Israel on social media or in limited street protests.
TOKYO (AP)  Japan's prime minister announced Wednesday an additional $800 million contribution to the U.N.-backed initiative to provide COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries, a four-fold increase of Japanese funding for the COVAX program.

The pledge by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga comes as his government attempts to accelerate vaccinations in Japan, one of the worlds least inoculated countries, only about 50 days before it hosts the Olympics amid a continuing surge in infections.

He spoke as Japan co-sponsored a fundraising event for COVAX with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which helps run the program. The program managers are seeking about $2 billion more to reach a target of $8.3 billion for its effort to fund free vaccines for low- and middle-income countries around the world.

Now is the time for us to act, Suga said, leading a parade of world and humanitarian leaders who announced pledges and commitments on Wednesday. He said the additional $800 million will bring Japans contribution to $1 billion, second to the $2.5 billion pledged by the United States.

Suga also announced plans to provide 30 million doses of a vaccine manufactured under license in Japan to other countries and regions in need. He did not specify the maker or recipients.

Officials have said Japan is considering providing the AstraZeneca vaccine to Taiwan as the island faces a resurgence of infections.

Japan has approved three foreign-developed vaccines and is currently using ones from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. It has no immediate plans to use the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is easier to store and transport than the other two vaccines, which require special freezers, officials said.

Suga also introduced a new vaccine strategy adopted Tuesday and vowed to develop Japan's own vaccines and provide them globally and to improve the clinical testing environment to prepare for future pandemics.

Under the long-term strategy, Japan will aim for the speedy development and rollout of new vaccines. In addition to a lack of locally developed vaccines, Japan's lengthy drug approval process was criticized as a major obstacle that delayed vaccinations during the pandemic.

The summit was also attended by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres and philanthropist Bill Gates.

Globally, more than 3.5 million people are confirmed to have died from the coronavirus. The U.S. has seen the largest confirmed loss of life from COVID-19, at more than 594,000 people.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  If people can't leave their homes for a COVID-19 vaccination, public health officials in the Kansas City area can send someone out. One Kansas community in the area is signing up churches, businesses and apartment complexes for group shots and going to them.

Health departments in Johnson and Wyandotte counties have done home inoculation visits for months, and Wyandotte County recently added a team to help businesses or organizations wanting shots for employees or members.

The state has seven trailers allowing it to set up clinics at remote sites, including NASCAR's Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, and Melvern Lake, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Topeka later this week. Geary County's health department brings vaccinations to employers, and Sedgwick County, home to Wichita, the state's largest city, has 17 mobile clinics scheduled this month, including nine at churches and three at its zoo.

With demand for inoculations having waned, Gov. Laura Kelly earlier announced that Kansas was changing its strategy for reaching herd immunity, away from mass clinics and toward having individual health care providers give shots. But some counties in Kansas see a need to do more.

This is kind of a joke, but why not put it on an ice cream truck, and when the guy is coming down the neighborhood with his ice cream truck with his bells and his music blaring, also, you know, offer vaccination at that point?" said Dr. Dana Hawkinson, director of infection control for the University of Kansas Health System.

Vaccinations in Kansas slowed significantly last month, according to state Department of Health and Environment data. An average of 9,593 shots a day were administered in May through Friday, while the average for April was 22,655.

The state is ordering only a fraction of its allocation of vaccine doses from the federal government, 9,090 of 147,600 available last week, or 6.2%. Almost 597,000 doses were unused as of Wednesday.

The state health department has said reaching herd immunity requires 75% to 80% of the population to have COVID-19 antibodies, either from vaccinations or previous infections. As of Wednesday, the state reported that 42.3% of its 2.9 million residents had received at least one vaccine shot. Reported COVID-19 cases equaled 10.8% of the population.

We have done mass vaccinations, and we just don't have the people showing up, said Tammy Von Busch, director of the Geary County Health Department. We still had people  even though they had an appointment, knew what time and where, the whole nine yards  they still didn't show up.

Von Busch said that if businesses ask for help with vaccinations, We're just packing all of our supplies and going.

In Wyandotte County, a health department team has been making home vaccination visits since February, usually once a week, and it has given about 100 shots, department spokeswoman Janell Friesen said. In early May, it began taking requests from businesses, churches and other organizations for group vaccinations.

We are putting more of our time and our resources into being able to go out into the community to sites where people are already at and providing vaccines there, Friesen said. The people who were most eager to get vaccinated, who wanted to be first in line, for the most part have gotten their vaccines.

In Douglas County, the home to Lawrence and the University of Kansas, the health department purchased a van with $450,000 in federal coronavirus relief funds. It is due to arrive this month.

In neighboring Johnson County, the state's most populous county, the health department has had two teams going to homes, and Director Sanmi Areola said they've administered more than 200 vaccines.

Areola said his department is working with local farmers' markets and food pantries and hopes to administer shots at up to 10 churches the last weekend in June in a Love Thy Neighbor effort. His staff is reaching out to restaurants and bars, he said.

We just need to keep vaccinating, Areola said. There will be a percentage of our population that are not going to be vaccinated. Population immunity is a way to indirectly protect those, so it is a collective responsibility."

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  A judge on Wednesday ordered Kansas to pay more than $826,000 to the estate of a man who died in February following his release from prison after serving more than 12 years over a wrongful murder conviction.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced the resolution of a lawsuit filed in November by Olin Pete Coones only days after a Wyandotte County judge threw out his 2009 conviction for first-degree murder. The order to pay Coones' estate came from Shawnee County District Judge Teresa Watson, but Gov. Laura Kelly and legislative leaders must review it.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)  Tensions between Republicans and Democrats over the use of masks lingered in the Maine Legislature on Wednesday when lawmakers returned to the Maine State House.

Maine has lifted mask requirements in most of the state, but they are still required at the state house. Numerous Republican lawmakers have criticized the requirement, and six Republican members and one Libertarian were stripped of committee assignments last week for refusing to comply with the rule.

The Legislature met in the state house Wednesday for the first time since before the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Several Republican members of the Maine House of Representatives walked the hall of the state house wearing plastic face shields instead of the required masks, and some wore no face coverings at all.

Democratic House Speaker Ryan Fecteau said late Tuesday that he would consider reappointing the conservative lawmakers to their committee assignments if they complied with the mask rule going forward. The House Republicans have declined to comment on the offer as a group.

I did receive the letter, said Republican Rep Heidi Sampson, one of the lawmakers removed from a committee assignment. It's worth thinking about.

At least one representative arrived at a security checkpoint without a mask Wednesday, said Jenna Howard, a spokesperson for the office of the house speaker.

The lawmaker, Libertarian Rep. John Andrews, will face a letter of reprimand from the House Ethics Committee and agreed to leave the state house voluntarily, the Portland Press Herald reported. Andrews said he is fully vaccinated against coronavirus, and that the mask rule conflicted with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. He was one of the members stripped of a committee assignment last week.

The Republican members of the Maine Senate, however, intend to follow the rules set by the Legislative Council including wearing masks, said Tom Desjardin, a spokesman for the senators.

Wednesday's session also attracted demonstrators who oppose mask rules. Several masked demonstrators arrived holding signs with slogans such as Masks = Muzzles and Let Kids Breath.

The Legislature had been using the Augusta Civic Center elsewhere in Maines capital city as a temporary home. The building allowed lawmakers and staff to spread out during meetings.

Lawmakers were scheduled to meet in the state house Wednesday and Thursday. They had a loaded agenda including potential tweaks to the state's retirement system and expansion of dental coverage.

The Maine House of Representatives, which is controlled by Democrats, rejected a series of proposals Wednesday from Republicans that were designed to limit emergency powers wielded by the governor. Republicans have said for months that Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has had too much authority during the pandemic and a state of civil emergency she declared has gone on for too long.
LISBON, Maine (AP)  A Maine man who dialed 911 while being swept down the Androscoggin River survived the harrowing episode, officials said.

Conner OReilly, 21, of Topsham, had his cellphone, along with a lifejacket, as he floated down the river after his boat capsized, Lisbon Fire Chief Nate LeClair said.
In the Liulisi cemetery of Gaotang county in Shandong province, lay 48 martyrs who sacrificed their lives in a battle in the county during the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Among them, only one martyr's name is known.

Every morning, local villager Zhang Yueping can be seen at the cemetery carefully weeding the yard and wiping down the tombstones. When visitors come, Zhang acts as a guide and introduces the heroic deeds of the martyrs to tourists clearly and comprehensively. He is not so much a professional as simply familiar with this time in history.

"I choose to be the cemetery keeper voluntarily and work here 365 days a year. The government gives me an allowance. However, I would still safeguard the departed heroes even if there was no subsidy," the more than 70-year-old Zhang said.

Zhang dedicated himself to taking care of the cemetery partially because he wanted to carry on the cause of his father, Zhang Hongzhu, the first keeper of the graveyard.

Born in 1932, Zhang Hongzhu enlisted as a soldier at the age of 16. After being demobilized in 1955, he got a job at a diesel engine enterprise in Shandong's capital city Ji'nan.

One time, when Zhang Hongzhu came back to visit his family in Gaotang county in Liaocheng city, he was surprised and dejected to see that the Liulisi cemetery was in a mess because of poor management. Sheep and other kinds of livestock raised by the villagers often grazed in it and trampled the graves. On top of that, the graves were becoming eroded by heavy rains due to the low-lying nature of the cemetery.

Zhang therefore decided to quit the job in the diesel engine company so he could instead watch over this sacred place, where the selfless fighters rest in peace.

Originally, Zhang lived in a small adobe house in the cemetery. Cemetery conditions improved in 1992 with the construction of a gate, walls, and a duty room from the support of the local government and residents.

Zhang Hongzhu protected the graves from the 1950s until his passing in 2012  one year before the cemetery was rebuilt. At that time, his son Zhang Yueping took over as the new keeper of the graveyard.

"On his deathbed, my father told me to continue to take good care of the deceased heroes," recalled Zhang Yueping.

He hopes that the martyrs' stories can be known by more young people and their spirit can be passed on from generation to generation.
SHELBYVILLE, Ky. (AP)  Kentuckys acceptance of extra jobless benefits is hampering efforts by businesses to find help as the economy moves beyond the pandemic, Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said Wednesday, in a dig at the Democratic governor.

Gov. Andy Beshear says the weekly $300 federal unemployment payments have contributed to surging consumer spending that benefits Kentucky businesses. The federal enhancement  coming on top of state jobless benefits  is set to expire in September.

McConnell, the Senate's top GOP leader, said the extra benefit puts Kentucky at a competitive disadvantage with states that opted to cut off the supplemental payments.

After meeting with local employers Wednesday in Shelbyville, McConnell said he hears ongoing complaints from Kentucky business operators struggling to lure back workers. Employers link their workplace shortages to the federal jobless bonus, he said.

This issue is keeping them from getting people back to work," McConnell told reporters. "The coronavirus is behind us. We need to get back to work. We need to do things productively. And I do disagree with the governors position.

Beshear has steadfastly defended the extra payments, saying Kentucky's economy has benefited.

Consumer spending drives our economy," he said Tuesday. "Our consumer spending in Kentucky is through the roof. And if we did what some of these leaders called for and terminated this program earlier, you would see consumer spending drop. And I think youre going to see a shock going through states that are doing that. Its going to take longer for their economy to recover.

The governor said hes working with business leaders on a plan to resolve the worker shortage. But cutting off the extra federal benefit now would hurt Kentuckians whose jobs vanished during the pandemic or who stay home to care for children, the governor said.

Reiterating an oft-used Republican argument against the extra jobless benefits, McConnell said they lead recipients to conclude that it's just as profitable to stay home as to go back to work.

I think a lot of people are being very candid, theyre not hiding the ball, theyre being very candid about why they are staying home," he said. It simply doesnt make sense economically and they know theyre going to get this additional bonus until September. I simply think its a mistake.

Labor experts have said the shortage is not just about the $300 payment. Some unemployed people also have been reluctant to look for work because they still fear catching the coronavirus. Others have found new occupations rather than return to their old jobs. And many women, especially working mothers, have had to leave the workforce to care for children.

The governor has faced increasing pressure from prominent Republicans and business interests to halt Kentucky's participation in the extra payments.

In a recent letter, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Ashli Watts urged Beshear to cease the state's participation in the bonus payments in mid-July.

Such a move, she said, would encourage unemployed workers on the sidelines to return to work while giving them plenty of runway to land a good job before losing the federal enhancement.

The chamber is hearing daily from employers about the difficulty of finding workers, Watts said.

This is across all sectors and all business sizes," she said. "Employers are doing everything they can to meet rising demands with limited workforces, including increased pay, asking employees to work longer hours and scaling back operations. It is a real and serious problem that, if left unaddressed, will result in business closures and harm to Kentuckys economic recovery.

Watts added that the business community recognizes that ending the extra jobless payments won't be a cure-all for the current workforce shortage.

Important steps must also be taken to increase access to high-quality child care, retrain and reskill workers and increase vaccination rates, she wrote. We also believe that return-to-work incentives, which other states have implemented, are worth exploring, particularly incentives that assist working parents (to) afford and have access to child care.
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  Senate Republicans voted Wednesday to require the lieutenant governor to make a good-faith effort to notify legislative leaders when the governor has left Michigan and he or she has assumed gubernatorial powers and duties.

The legislation, which appears destined for a veto from Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer if it advances, goes to the GOP-led House for consideration.

Under the state constitution, the governor temporarily relinquishes power when departing the state. The bill would force the governor to inform the lieutenant governor, or whoever is next in the line of succession, before leaving and when returning. That official would then have to try to give written notice to legislative leaders within 12 hours of taking over and include the governor's expected length of absence.

The sponsor, Republican Sen. Tom Barrett of Charlotte, said lawmakers should know who is acting as governor, particularly because he or she can declare emergencies.

I don't think that's too much to ask," he said. If we don't know who that is, we're not able to react as quickly.

Legislators do not want to know the governors specific out-of-state location, Barrett said.

Democrats voted against the measure, which was introduced and passed after Whitmer's March flight to see her ailing father in Florida. One called it silly. Another said Republicans had no concern about being alerted when former Gov. Rick Snyder traveled outside the state.

I didn't hear a peep out of anybody here, said Sen. Erika Geiss, of Taylor.

The governor's office accused GOP lawmakers of wasting time taking political potshots and said they could be allocating federal COVID-19 funding. Budget negotiations are ongoing.

It would behoove the Legislature to read the Michigan Constitution, which clearly outlines a process to ensure that there is always an acting governor available to continue the functions of the state in case of an emergency, spokesman Bobby Leddy said.

___

Follow David Eggert at https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00
COLUMBUS, Miss. (AP)  A Mississippi library is asking the public to donate artifacts to document how the coronavirus pandemic has affected their lives.

The Columbus-Lowndes Public Library System put out a call to county residents on social media requesting information and items including diaries, photos, videos, drawings and masks.

Were just really hoping to be able to collect things so that future generations will look back and research what we lived through  kind of almost like the 1918 pandemic," library archivist Mona Vance-Ali told WCBI-TV.

It will all go into the librarys vault, which contains documents that date back 200 years. One aspect of the pandemic the library is particularly interested in is how people relied on technology to interact with loved ones during quarantine.

One of the things that we want to document is, How did technology make living through a pandemic different than in previous eras?'  Vance-Ali told the television station.

The information collected will also be used to track how the pandemic influences society in the future. Vance-Ali told WCBI that she sees the work as a responsibility to future generations.

I feel like Im contributing to something that has a much bigger purpose than myself, she said. And its going to help the community and help generations in the future understand what we all lived through.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)  A Missouri prosecutor on Wednesday said she's disappointed the state Supreme Court won't hear the case of a Kansas City man imprisoned for more than 40 years for a triple murder that prosecutors say he didnt commit.

Missouri Supreme Court judges on Tuesday denied 61-year-old Kevin Strickland's case without providing an explanation.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker in response said her office is pursuing all avenues of exoneration for Mr. Strickland." Strickland's lawyers, including Midwest Innocence Project attorneys, said in a statement that they plan to refile his petition in circuit court.

This denial is just one more procedural barrier the system throws up in front of innocent people, they said. "There is no doubt that Mr. Strickland is innocent and every court should have the power to set him free."

Strickland, who will turn 62 on Monday, was 18 when he was arrested. Prosecutors say the case was thin from its inception, resting almost entirely on the dubious identification of a traumatized shooting victim. Prosecutors said they wouldnt charge Strickland with any crimes if the same case was before them today.

The killings occurred in 1978 when a group of assailants ransacked a Kansas City home. Larry Ingram, 21; John Walker, 20; and Sherrie Black, 22, were fatally shot. Cynthia Douglas, the only eye witness, was wounded but pretended to be dead.

In an investigation published in September, The Kansas City Star reported that for decades, two men who pleaded guilty in the killings swore Strickland was not with them and two other accomplices during the killings. Douglas later said detectives pressured her into identifying Strickland as the shooter, The Star reported. She tried to recant for years before her death in 2015.

In a letter supporting Strickland's release, Baker and her chief deputy, Dan Nelson, said the evidence used to convict Strickland as a teenager has since been eviscerated.

Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Missouri, Jackson Countys presiding judge, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and members of the team that convicted Strickland four decades ago also now all agree that he deserves to be exonerated.

If Strickland is exonerated, he will have experienced the longest wrongful imprisonment known in Missouri history.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)  The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled that a $3 court fee used to pay for sheriffs' retirement is unconstitutional.

Judges in a 6-0 decision issued Tuesday ruled that the sheriffs' retirement fund is not related to the administration of justice, meaning collecting fees for that purpose is not allowed.
AMSTERDAM  A priest overseeing two congregations in Montgomery County has been placed on leave after appearing on a list of clergy offenders.

The Rev. Jeffrey LArche, a priest of the LaSalette Missionaries and pastor of St. Marys Church in Amsterdam and St. Stephens Church in Hagaman, was placed on administrative leave by Albany Diocese Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger following the release of the list released by the Diocese of Springfield, Mass. on Tuesday.

The change is effective immediately, according to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, which announced the suspension on Wednesday.

LArche is accused of sexually abusing a minor between 1976 and 1981, according to the Diocese of Springfields Misconduct Commission, which found the single allegation credible.

An investigation initiated by the LaSalette congregation and conducted by Praesidium Inc., a Texas company that bills itself as a "national leader in abuse risk management," found the allegation to be highly questionable and not credible, according to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.

LArche is among the 40 names added to the list of clergy and staff with credible accusations of sexual abuse made against them, WWLP, a Springfield television station, reported on Wednesday.

The priest has maintained his innocence, which has resulted in an asterisk placed next to his name on the Springfield list, which indicates the conflicting findings, according to the diocese.

His name, with an identical asterisk and note, has also been added to the Albany dioceses offender list, which can be found at rcda.org/offenders.

LArche is now barred from officiating at sacraments, wearing clerical garb or presenting himself as a priest.

As of last June, the Albany diocese faces more than 100 civil cases filed under the Child Victims Act, which opened a one-year "look-back" period allowing survivors to file previously time-barred cases against individuals who they allege sexually abused them when they were children.

Scharfenberger's decision was done in accordance with the U.S. Bishops Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and the Albany Dioceses zero-tolerance policy for sexual abuse of children by clerics, according to the diocese.

The Guilderland native was ordained by the Missionaries of LaSalette in 1975, according to a news release, and served on the religious congregations ministry team in Hartford, Conn.; Orlando, and Holyoke, Mass., before coming to the Albany diocese in 1997 to serve as director of Our Lady of LaSalette Shrine in Altamont, where he worked until the shrine closed in 2015.

LArche was named pastor of St. Marys Church and Institute in Amsterdam the following year, and took on leadership of St. Stephens last year.

He officiated at funeral services for some victims of the deadly Schoharie limo crash in 2018.
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)  A federal grand jury has indicted a Montana man on hate crime and firearm charges after he was accused of threatening a person with violent, homophobic slurs and firing a gun into the person's house, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

The indictment alleges that on March 22, 2020, John Russell Howald of Basin attempted to kill a person in Basin because of their perceived sexual orientation when he shot a firearm through the person's house and said he wanted to get rid of the lesbians (and) gays.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  A pair of North Carolina Senate committees voted Wednesday to advance a bill that would prevent women from seeking abortions because of race, sex or a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome.

Republicans and anti-abortion activists promoting the bill say it will prevent modern-day eugenics." Democrats and other opponents said it would discriminate against women by undermining their fundamental constitutional rights.

If it becomes law and isn't blocked in court, House Bill 453 would require any abortion provider in the state to first confirm that a woman isn't seeking to end her pregnancy to avoid having a child with Down syndrome, or a baby with an unwanted race or gender.

"I believe we will all be judged by how we treat our most vulnerable citizens, and these tiny babies are those citizens, Sen. Joyce Krawiec, a Forsyth County Republican, said before the Senate Health Committee's GOP majority approved the bill.

The bill doesn't provide for any civil liabilities or criminal penalties in addition to the state's existing abortion laws, according to Jason Moran-Bates, a General Assembly staff attorney. And women could always choose not to share their true motives with their doctor.

Still, it faces widespread opposition from Democrats and abortion rights groups. The ACLU of North Carolina says it violates a woman's right to privacy. Others noted that the bill's Republican supporters have offered no support to disabled people after they're born.

We dont need any more restrictions, especially not those that are in the name of people supporting disabilities, said Tara Muller, policy attorney for Disability Rights North Carolina. Forcing people to carry a pregnancy to term does nothing to advance the rights of people with disabilities.

Most speakers at Wednesday's health committee hearing supported the bill, bringing up personal stories of living with Down syndrome or raising children with the disability. Some pointed to false positive prenatal testing rates and said inaccurate results may prompt a woman not to go forward with her pregnancy.

Dr. Wing Ng, a physician at UNC Health and father of a girl with Down syndrome, said prenatal testing cannot accurately predict how someone like his daughter would fare in life.

When babies are aborted for having Down syndrome, we are killing a piece of our own humanity," Ng said. "Babies with Down syndrome have every right to exist as God intended. They should be afforded that fighting chance to live and to succeed.

Opponents had their mics cut out after one minute of speaking, while supporters who signed up to speak earlier were given more time to talk.

People make abortion decisions out of necessity, out of desperation and out of love. It is never rooted in hate," said Kelsea McLain, an abortion rights advocate, before her time elapsed. "You need to quit trying to weaponize our decision-making against us.

The plan that cleared the House last month was approved in the Senate judiciary Wednesday afternoon. It now goes to the chamber's rules committee. If approved, it would then head to the Senate floor for a final vote. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is unlikely to sign it if it reaches his desk, as he has vetoed previous proposals limiting a womans ability to get an abortion. Republicans would be unlikely to get enough Democrats to join them to override a possible veto.

___

Follow Anderson on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BryanRAnderson.

___

Anderson 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.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP)  State officials are dropping plans for a two-tier system to cover voter-approved Medicaid expansion in Nebraska.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday that all Nebraskans covered by the expansion will get a full range of benefits starting Oct. 1, the Omaha World-Herald reported. The announcement is a change from the earlier plans of Gov. Pete Ricketts administration to offer a two-tier system that would include a basic plan covering physical and behavioral health care services and a prime plan that would also cover dental, vision and over-the-counter drugs.

The two-tiered system would not have applied to those who receive benefits through the traditional Medicaid program, only those who qualify for the expanded coverage.

To qualify for prime coverage, recipients would have been required to meet work or volunteer benchmarks or participate in educational or job-training programs. They also would have had to meet with a health care provider for a wellness assessment.

Tuesdays announcement means the state will provide the full range of benefits without the additional requirements.

The Trump administration approved Ricketts two-tier plan last year, prompting a lawsuit by advocacy group Nebraska Appleseed. But President Joe Bidens administration made clear early this year that it would not approve the system.

It's unclear how Tuesday's announcement will affect Nebraska Appleseed's lawsuit, but a hearing in the lawsuit was set for Monday.

Voters expanded Medicaid through a 2018 ballot measure, but the state Health and Human Services Department stalled implementation of it for nearly two years  the longest delay in the nation among states that have expanded the program. Activists placed the measure on the ballot after years of failed attempts to expand Medicaid in the Republican-dominated Legislature and strong opposition from the states GOP governors.

The expansion extends coverage to able-bodied, working-age adults who earn too much to qualify for regular Medicaid but too little to be eligible for tax credits to help them buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
LAS VEGAS (AP)  Clark County officials in Nevada have again dipped into the debt reserve account to make a scheduled bond payment for the NFLs Raiders new home at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Clark County spokesperson Dan Kulin said the county pulled $11.7 million from the stadium's debt reserve account to make the $18.6 million payment on Tuesday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

County officials were expecting to use the reserve account because there are continued shortfalls in room tax revenue, in part because of the coronavirus pandemic. Revenue toward the stadium bond payments is generated by a 0.88% tax on hotel rooms in Clark County.

Officials previously pulled $11.6 million from the reserve account in December to make a bond payment.

Clark County recently filed a material event notice notifying the market of an anticipated draw on the Stadium Authority bond reserve fund on May 25, Kulin said. This action does not constitute a default and was expected in light of the decline in tourism to Las Vegas.

The debt reserve fund was created to cover two full years of bond payments  $90.2 million  if there was a deficit in room tax revenue, as officials are currently experiencing as a result of the pandemic. Up to $9 million can be deposited into the reserve each year until the two-year cap is met.

Jeremy Aguero, principal with Applied Analysis, said $54.4 million will remain in the fund after this second payment, enough to cover all of the payments through fiscal year 2022. However, Aguero said he does not expect that amount will actually be required.
You are here: Top 10

Nature Index 2021 China, released on May 26, highlights the areas that dominate China's research output in the field of natural sciences. The top ten areas with the highest research output include Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Hubei, Zhejiang, Anhui, Shandong, Tianjin and Hong Kong. Most of the areas are located in the east of the country.



The Nature Index 2021 China supplement is based on the Nature Index database. The ranking is based on the combined article share of leading Chinese institutions in different areas.

Here are the top ten leading areas for research output in 2020.

10. Hong Kong
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  A North Carolina sheriff's deputy was shot and seriously wounded Wednesday while serving an eviction notice at an apartment complex in Raleigh and a suspect is in custody, authorities said.

Sheriff Gerald Baker said the shooting happened while Sgt. Ronald Waller was serving civil papers at the River Birch Apartments on Wednesday morning, news outlets reported.

Waller got no answer the first time he knocked on one door and after serving other summons, he returned to find the door open, Baker said. When Waller identified himself, the man tried to shut the door and Waller tried to stop him.

At that point gunfire came from inside of that apartment and struck one of our officers twice, Baker said. A call for help came in at that point, and we had officers responding from all over the city.

Sheriffs Office spokesperson Eric Curry said two other deputies were in the area when Waller was shot. Raleigh police responded and officers put Waller in a police vehicle and started to take him off the property. They were met by Emergency Medical Services personnel, which took him to WakeMed, where a team was waiting. Waller underwent surgery Wednesday afternoon.

That action has been decisive. It is ongoing and will continue until all danger has passed, Dr. Chuck Harr, WakeMeds chief medical officer, said.

A suspect, Eddie Dewain Craig, 32, was taken into custody, Baker said. Craig was charged with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to kill, three counts of attempted murder and three counts of assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm, Raleigh police said. Craig remains in the Wake County jail, Baker said.

Baker said he did not think Waller had been issued a body camera.

"Every assignment within this office is dangerous, Baker said. A veteran officer went into a gunfight today just trying to serve a civil paper.
KALISPELL, Mont. (AP)  Hundreds of nurses at Logan Health in Kalispell, Montana began a three-day strike Tuesday over demands for better wages and working conditions.

More than 100 nurses who were scheduled to work during the strike said they would still work their shifts, the Daily Inter Lake reported.

Meanwhile, nurses who oppose the union said they were gathering signatures to hold a vote to end the nurses relationship with the Service Employees International Union.

The group called Nurses and Community Unite said it will be filing for a decertification election with the National Labor Relations Board to sever ties with the SEIU.

Not only has the SEIU failed to get a contract, they have created a hostile and divisive work environment," said Shelly Olbert, a registered nurse and spokesperson for Nurses and Community Unite.

Throughout the pandemic, members of SEIU did not receive hazard pay increases and other benefits that staffers in other departments received, the anti-union group said.

The group said more than 40% of Logan Health nurses have signed a petition for a decertification election, more than the 30% needed.

The union has been seeking increased staffing, improved wages and benefits and a voice for nurses in staffing decisions, including more warning when their schedules change. The bargaining began 19 months ago.

SEIU has accused Logan Health management of working to weaken the nurses' resolve to stand together as a union. Records on file with the National Labor Relations Board show two open cases filed by SEIU against Logan Health.

The NLRB is investigating the retaliatory termination of a union nurse, and the union has filed more than 10 other unfair labor practice accusations against Logan Health for "union-busting efforts, the union said in a statement last week.

On Tuesday, Logan Health President and CEO Dr. Craig Lambrecht said the hospital has heard reports of bullying and intimidation of nurses who have chosen to cross the picket line. He declined to elaborate.
ALTURA, Minn. (AP)  Its been years since anyone was buried in the cemetery, but some graves are decorated with miniature solar lights and clay flower pots, a sign that the living still visit their long-departed relatives.

Recently, Holger said something unusual has appeared on this plot of land: Signs bearing an out-of-state phone number, advertising natural burials.

Right away I was like, Huh. Never seen that before,  Holger said, whose Whitewater Valley tours bring her to this area regularly.

The company selling those burial services is Destination Destiny, based in New Jersey, which is working to claim ownership of this old pioneer cemetery.

The move has raised a legal quagmire: State and county officials say the company is trespassing and stands to face legal action  but Destination Destiny disputes the claim, saying the company has the right to reclaim the land.

At the heart of the percolating dispute is the question of who actually owns the cemetery. Though its surrounded by state-managed Department of Natural Resources land, it doesnt technically belong to the state, though Minnesota statute requires the DNR to mow and maintain the plot.

Local officials, instead, insist that the land belongs to Winona County. The deed lists the Whitewater Cemetery Association as the owner, but that association is no longer active. Its members, now buried beneath the earth the county says they own, cant weigh in on Destination Destinys plans.

Today, Whitewater State Park and the 27,000-acre wildlife management area surrounding it is a wooded, scenic spot along the bluffs of southeastern Minnesota, where people come to hike, fish and hunt for morel mushrooms.

More than 150 years ago, people from the East Coast and Europe started moving west and set up farms in the valley around the Whitewater River. But they abandoned the area before too long  its located on a floodplain, and their crops were repeatedly washed out.

Four old pioneer cemeteries remain, including Whitewater Falls. A few Civil War veterans and one state legislator are buried there, but most plots are occupied by a handful of families who began living in the area in the mid-1800s.

Gary Stoning of nearby Plainview, Minn., is a descendent of the Stoning family that donated their farmland for the Whitewater Falls cemetery back in the 1800s.

As he walks around the cemetery, he points to old headstones: his great-grandparents, his grandparents, a few cousins.

Stoning isnt wild about Destination Destinys plans to do business here. He worries someone will accidentally disturb the already buried bodies and gravestones. Hes not sure why the company is interested in Minnesota land in the first place.

It was a family cemetery. And you just start putting other people in here? I dont care for it, Stoning said.

Destination Destinys owner, Edward Bixby, said his interest in restoring old cemeteries by using them for natural burials started more than a decade ago.

Bixby, a New Jersey real estate broker and developer by trade, was approached by a funeral director who was struggling to maintain an old cemetery in southern New Jersey  a cemetery where many of Bixbys ancestors are buried. He asked Bixby if he wanted to take it over.

I took him up on his offer, because even if we just cut the grass forever, it used to belong to my family, so it means something, he said.

Stoning in carved into a headstone.

A few months later, Bixby read an article about natural burials  no embalming, no concrete vaults and natural grave markers made out of materials like local stones  and was taken with the idea.

He thought it would be good for the environment, and for the grieving process.

Of course, the environmental part is a wonderful benefit, he said. But for me, the true definition of natural burials (is) how it transforms the family, how they have a greater form of acceptance and how it takes them to where they realize that you go back to where you came from.

Bixby said his company charges about $4,000 for a natural burial at its locations in California, Oregon and Pennsylvania  and soon, he says, in Minnesota.

Repurposing defunct cemeteries like Whitewaters for natural burials, he said, is an inexpensive way to do more of them without a huge financial investment in new land.

In Placerville, Calif., Bixby bought an old cemetery, spruced it up, and now uses it for natural burials. There, local officials say they are pleased with his work, and he now has a short-term contract with the county to maintain other cemeteries in the area, too.

Bixby argues that defunct cemeteries like Whitewater are up for grabs  and for free  based on an obscure section of real estate law called adverse possession, a process in which a person can acquire someone elses land.

The cemetery has effectively been abandoned, the people listed on the deed to the land are long dead and the cemetery is no longer actively in use.

Bixby argues that all he needed to do was to reestablish the defunct cemetery association with a new set of people  theres even a local representative at the plot regularly, clearing and cleaning up the land  for the land to become his.

You cant just say, I own this cemetery now

Tanya Marsh, an expert in property and cemetery law at Wake Forest University, said using and restoring old cemeteries for natural burials makes sense. Centuries ago, bodies werent embalmed, graves were dug by hand. Those and other past practices are now hallmarks of todays natural burials.

Plus, she said, land is costly and zoning restrictions are cumbersome. Starting a new cemetery is difficult.

I think that theres a lot of really good reasons to take old, historic cemeteries that have some excess capacity and utilize these for burials, she said.

But Marsh said theres still a process to follow  and Destination Destiny, she said, isnt following it.

You cant just go to an abandoned cemetery in any state and say I own this cemetery now,  she said. It is true that you have this ability under common law after a passage of time and successful trespassing to become the owner. But that takes a long time.

State officials challenges to Destination Destinys operations in Minnesota have echoed that argument. In a letter to Bixby, the DNRs legal staff pointed out that, in Minnesota, the period of time to claim adverse possession is 15 years  much longer than the company has had a presence on the Whitewater land.

But even if that werent the case, state statute says adverse possession doesnt apply to cemeteries.

In a separate letter to Bixby, the Winona County attorney argues the land belongs to the county, and that Destination Destiny is unlawfully trespassing on the land.

Minnesota attorney Michael Sharkey, who specializes in mortuary law, said there are additional legal concerns at play.

He echoes Winona Countys argument that the land belongs to the county  because, in Minnesota, abandoned cemeteries where Civil War veterans are buried fall into county jurisdiction.

Sharkey also argues that Minnesota law is clear that its illegal to disturb cemetery land without the proper authority. But for the last few weeks, DNR employees at Whitewater say they have seen a Destination Destiny representative on the land regularly, cutting shrubs and clearing paths.

Its not just a felony to disturb human remains themselves. Its also a felony to disturb human burial grounds, Sharkey said. Frankly, I really hope the Winona County sheriff and Winona County attorney are listening.

He just blows us off

Its not the first time Destination Destinys practices have drawn scrutiny from local officials.

A few years ago, the company started offering natural burials at a remote, abandoned cemetery near the coast in Half Moon Bay, Calif.

San Mateo County supervisor Don Horsley, who represents the area where the cemetery is located, said the county disputes the companys claim of ownership.

Moreover, Horsley said, California law would require the company to secure special permits to operate on the coast, which Bixby has applied for, and the county has denied.

To do green burials, youd have to have a coastal development permit, which he doesnt have, Horsley said. And of course he just blows us off.

The situation in San Mateo County is ongoing, but Bixby maintains his company has every right to operate there.

He says the same for Minnesota.

Were not there to disrupt or upset people. Were there to serve the community, he said. They only care when some guy from New Jersey shows up. Theyve basically said, Get the hell out of town because were telling you to get the hell out of town, and thats not an acceptable response, to me.

The state of Minnesota and Winona County are threatening additional legal action.

But Bixby said no plots have been sold yet, and no bodies buried  and he doesnt plan to back down.
SALEM, Ore. (AP)  An Oregon state representative violated workplace rules against sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment with a series of texts to a fellow lawmaker in April, a House committee has found.

But Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that on Tuesday evening the House Conduct Committee found that, contrary to an allegation against him, Rep. Brad Witt did not intend to create a quid pro quo arrangement with Rep. Vikki Breese Iverson in which he would exchange his vote on a bill for a date or sexual favors.

Instead, the committees conclusions centered around the ambiguity of Witts text messages, the fact they could reasonably be perceived as sexual, and testimony from Breese Iverson and others that she was severely shaken by the exchange.

The conduct committee did not discuss what an appropriate remedy for Witts violation would be. It will take up that matter at another hearing.

(Witts) text messages were clearly inappropriate and intended to make me feel I needed to accept spending time with the respondent to further any conversation about my bill, Breese Iverson told the committee. These events continue to upset me each time I go back through it.

On April 12, Breese Iverson, R-Prineville; texted Witt, D-Clatskanie, to ask for his vote on one of her proposals over water rights on a specific piece of land.

After a few texts on the bill, Witt diverted the discussion, texting: We probably need to go for a beer sometime.

When Breese Iverson didnt acknowledge the message and instead kept selling her bill, Witt wrote: Im not wedded to a beer by any means. Could be dinner or...?

Or what? Breese Iverson texted. Witt replied: Ive made two offerings. If you wanna meet, find something better than dinner or beer.

Trying to get a vote count, Breese Iverson replied.

Breese Iverson filed a complaint against Witt the next day alleging hed tried to offer a suggestive quid-pro-quo: his vote in exchange for a meeting away from work settings.

An investigation by private attorney Sarah Rya justified in feeling offended by the text. Breese Iverson said Tuesday that her reaction went deeper than being offended.
GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP)  A police officer in eastern Tennessee was hospitalized following a fire at his house that killed his daughter and father-in-law.

News outlets report that Gatlinburg Police Department Officer Robert Frederick tried to save his family members from the fire early Saturday morning. Neighbors said they heard several explosions and that smoke blanketed the area, according to WBIR-TV.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  A federal investigation of a hot steam accident that killed two workers at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Connecticut found workplace safety violations and concluded the deaths were preventable, according to a report released Wednesday by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The workers had just finished repairing a steam pipe in a maintenance building on the West Haven VA campus on Nov. 13 when a fixture broke off the pipe, flooding the work area rapidly with steam, OSHA officials said. The accident happened as workers were refilling the pipe with steam, authorities said.

Killed were VA maintenance worker Euel Sims, 60, a Navy Veteran from Milford, and private contractor Joseph O'Donnell, 36, of Danbury. Three other workers were injured.

The OSHA investigation found nine workplace safety violations by the West Haven VA, including failing to have procedures and safety measures in place to protect workers from such a rapid release of steam. OSHA said it cannot fine another federal agency, but said it would have proposed a $621,218 penalty if the VA was a private employer.

OSHA also is proposing more than $38,000 in fines against Mulvaney Mechanical Inc., of Danbury, for four serious violations, including failing to adequately train employees on methods necessary to control energy releases. ODonnell worked for Mulvaney.

These fatalities could have been prevented if the employer had complied with safety standards that are designed to prevent the uncontrolled release of steam, said Steven Biasi, OSHA's area director in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Tragically, these well-known protective measures were not in place and two workers needlessly lost their lives.

The VA said in a statement Wednesday that a VA board of inquiry investigated the accident and made recommendations for improvements, many of which have already been put in place.

VA Connecticut will continue to work closely with OSHA and all relevant VA entities to address the issues identified in the report, the VA said.

The entire VA health care system also has put in place principles that make safety the responsibility of all employees and empower employees at every level to immediately raise safety concerns, the VA said.

An employee of Mulvaney Mechanical, who declined to give his name, said the company had no comment on the report.

The VA and Mulvaney Mechanical have 15 days from receiving the violation notices to correct the violations, request a conference with OSHA officials or appeal the notices.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, said OSHA's report also highlights how the aging infrastructure at the West Haven VA is failing and needs urgent renovations and rebuilding. He said the failures have included burst pipes, insect infestations and other signs of infrastructure collapse. He said many VA facilities around the country have similar problems.

Ultimately patching them with short-term fixes is more expensive than starting over, he said in a statement. "My hope is Congress will come together in a positive and proactive bipartisan response to build back better at the VA.
SAN DIEGO (AP)  San Diego will pay $900,000 to an 82-year-old woman whose foot and ankle were crushed when her car collided with a city fire engine that sped through a red light while heading to an emergency in 2018, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The settlement approved by the City Council last week, covers Marlowe Bergs medical bills, future treatment and adverse impact on the remaining years of her life, the Union-Tribune reported.
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP)  A county council in South Carolina has decided not to give the states Hispanic Alliance a grant to market a temporary art installation praised by some as culturally enriching but decried by others as pornographic.

The Greenville County Council on Tuesday voted against awarding the group $7,500 from tourism tax dollars to promote Wings of the City, a nine-sculpture exhibit by Mexican artist Jorge Marin, news outlets reported. Most of the bronze, lifelike statues are of men wearing only wings or beak masks. According to an online petition calling for the removal of the statues, genitals are clearly defined on one of the statues.

Greenville is the first city east of the Mississippi River to host Marins exhibit, which has been previously displayed in California, Colorado and Texas, according to The Greenville News. It opened in April and will run through October.

The diversion of the grant will not affect the installations presence in the city  only the marketing of it by the Hispanic Alliance, which hoped to bring visitors from all over to see the artwork.

Tuesday nights vote followed weeks of debate within the community and a polarized public comment period at the council meeting.

Simpsonville resident Barbara Gibbs said family-oriented art should be promoted instead, according to The Post and Courier, and that the county should support Christian and Southern values.

We dont want demonic stuff, Gibbs said. We are not New York and we are not L.A. and we dont want to be.

Carolyn Watson, a retired Furman University art history professor, described one of the statues as an avatar of a bloodthirsty deity.

Greenville resident and Hispanic Alliance board chair Ellen Stevenson said the installation is world-class public art that promotes a conversation in the community, The State reported.

The sculptures evoke freedom and diversity, Francisco Sanchez of the Hispanic Alliance board of directors said. He called the councils withdrawal of financial support government censorship, according to the newspaper.

While council member Liz Seman said the panel risked becoming entangled in art curation  which she called too in the weeds for a council decision  she ultimately voiced support for the allocation, The Post and Courier reported.

Council member Dan Tripp disagreed. Seven others joined him in rejecting the Hispanic Alliance grant, and three members supported it alongside Seman.

I dont think we should be curators of public art, Tripp said, but I think there are times as council members that we need to stand up and represent those who have a different view.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  A member of Gov. Kevin Stitt's cabinet said Wednesday he plans to sue former Attorney General Mike Hunter over a felony bribery charge that Hunters office filed against him, then later dropped.

Stitts Secretary of Digital Transformation and Administration David Ostrowe and his attorney, Matt Felty, allege Hunter abused his power by filing frivolous charges against Ostrowe to settle a political score.

Americas legal system was not designed to allow powerful elected officials like the former AG to settle politically motivated scores against public servants like David," Felty said. We believe the political motivation against David was driven by things within the AGs office that were completely ancillary to Davids role as secretary of digital transformation."

Felty said he sent evidence preservation" letters to Hunter and other state officials this week requiring the preservation of mobile phones, computer hard drives, tablets and computer servers in anticipation of litigation.

The former attorney general's problems are not over. They are just beginning," Felty said.

Felty said the anticipated claims against Hunter include abuse of process, libel, slander and potentially a civil rights violation.

Hunter announced his resignation last week, citing certain personal matters that are becoming public." Although he didn't elaborate on the personal matter, Hunter filed for divorce from his wife of nearly 40 years just days before his announcement.

Before he stepped down on Tuesday, Hunter dropped the charge against Ostrowe, stating in a court filing that his office faced a potential conflict of interest since Stitt would appoint Hunter's successor and Ostrowe was a member of Stitt's cabinet.

Hunters former spokesman, Alex Gerszewski, said the ex-attorney general declined to comment beyond the release of the court filing, but defended the multicounty grand jury process used to indict Ostrowe.

This case was referred to our office by state officials. The process undertaken was identical to every other case brought before the grand jury," Gerszewski said. Witness testimony is sworn under oath and lying before the grand jury is a felony. The grand jurors heard testimony and made the decision to issue an indictment."
SELMA, Ala. (AP)  A Confederate monument that was stolen and became the object of an odd ransom scheme is back in an Alabama cemetery where it stood for nearly 130 years  now glued to the ground for good measure  but who took the chair remains in dispute.

A Louisiana man charged in the odd disappearance of the chair-shaped monument surrendered to authorities Wednesday in what his lawyer called his first trip to the city where the alleged theft occurred.

Free on $30,000 bail after spending a couple hours in jail, Jason Warnick stood silently at a news conference as his attorney, Michael Kennedy, said the man was innocent of taking the chair, a monument to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

My client did not commit any theft, Kennedy said.

District Attorney Michael Jackson said authorities believe Warnick or someone he knows found out about the chair during an annual tour of old homes held in Selma. Despite the defense denials, investigators say they have a photograph of Warnick with the chair.

He did it, Jackson said.

Placed at Live Oak Cemetery in 1893 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the chair vanished from its base earlier this year in Selma, a city widely known as the site of civil rights protests in the 1960s.

An email purporting to be from a group called White Lies Matter claimed responsibility and said the chair would be returned only if the United Daughters of the Confederacy agreed to display a banner at its Virginia headquarters bearing a quote from a Black Liberation Army activist. The email also included images of a fake chair with a hole cut in the seat like a toilet and a man dressed in Confederate garb.

Authorities who arrested Warnick said the real chair was spotted at his tattoo parlor in New Orleans, where he is charged with receiving stolen property.

Warnick was accompanied at the news conference by girlfriend Kathryn Diionno, who also is charged with receiving stolen property. She could face additional charges in Alabama, authorities have said.

The chair, which the United Daughters of the Confederacy has valued at $500,000, has been returned to the cemetery and sits in its original location. A thick adhesive now holds its four legs to its brick base.

Warnick has no ties to White Lies Matter or any other activist group, Kennedy said. Longtime Selma activists Hank Sanders, a former Alabama state senator, and wife Faya Toure said the arrests of Warnick, Diionno and a third person highlight the racial inequality of Selma. In contrast to their diligent efforts to find the Confederate monument's thief, prosecutors often fail to punish crimes against Black people, they said.

Toure asked Jackson, who is Black, to dismiss all charges in the monument case since the chair represents and honors a violent terrorist that used his power to maintain the most dehumanizing slavery in human history.

The prosecutor said his office and the defense were nowhere close to a plea deal.

It could go to trial, Jackson said.
 Flash

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) foreign and defence ministers agreed on Tuesday to continue supporting the Afghan community even after the withdrawal of forces from Kabul, according to the alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Addressing a press conference following a virtual meeting of NATO defence ministers, Stoltenberg said "ministers agreed that this continued support is the best way in which we can all contribute to peace efforts in Afghanistan."

He said NATO will keep a civilian diplomatic presence in Kabul following the drawdown of its forces, which, according to him, is progressing "in an orderly and coordinated way."

"We are ending our military mission, but we are not ending our support to the Afghans. So today, defence ministers discussed the way forward. We will continue to provide funding to the Afghan security forces (and) provide advice and capacity-building support to Afghan security institutions," Stoltenberg said.

After almost two decades in Afghanistan, NATO allies decided in the middle of April to start withdrawing forces from the central Asian country by May 1, with plans to complete the drawdown of all troops within a few months.

Stoltenberg added that NATO was also looking at how it can provide military education and training outside Afghanistan, focusing on Special Operations Forces. "And we are working on how to fund the provision of services enabling Allies and the international community to stay in Kabul, including support for the airport," he noted.

The meeting, including one with foreign ministers earlier in the day, focused on NATO's 2030 agenda to strengthen the alliance for the future ahead of the summit scheduled for June 14 in Brussels.

"Ministers agreed that we need to take ambitious decisions to show that Europe and North America stand together in an age of global competition. And that we need to show transatlantic unity not just in words, but also in deeds," he added.
BOSTON (AP)  In pre-pandemic days, attending a public hearing typically meant setting aside a chunk of time  maybe even asking for time off work or scheduling a babysitter  and schlepping down to a city or town hall, or even the Statehouse, and waiting for a chance to speak.

When COVID-19 hit, that changed almost overnight as state and local government bodies  including the Massachusetts Legislature  abruptly began providing remote access.

Many lawmakers, activists and members of the public are hoping to avoid a full return to crowded meeting rooms by making virtual access to public hearings across the state a permanent option.

They want some of the changes allowed by an executive order Gov. Charlie Baker issued last year making changes to the state's open meeting law at the start of the pandemic written into law even after Baker lifts his pandemic state of emergency order on June 15.

In many communities, the switch to virtual access increased public participation in government by removing barriers for people with disabilities, people with limited access to transportation, and people with work and family obligations, supporters said.

Pre-pandemic, many of the people most acutely impacted by local policy-making were left out of the process if they could not physically get to a public meeting and wait hours on end for an opportunity to testify, Oami Amarasingham of the ACLU of Massachusetts said Wednesday during a virtual Statehouse hearing on a series of bills that would continue to allow remote public hearings.

With remote access options the physical and temporal barriers to attending public hearings were eliminated, she added.

Amarasingham said the ACLU supports hybrid meetings that would allow for both in-person and remote participation. The bill would also carve out an exception for public bodies that dont currently have the technical ability to conduct remote hearings.

Jon Magee, a Greenfield resident and parent of a small child, said he strongly supports remote access.

Our evenings are totally full for my family, so between dinner time and bath time and getting ready for the next day theres just not much time to spare," Magee said at the hearing. "If I had to leave the house to participate in a public meeting that simply wouldnt happen.

Supporters also said continuing virtual hearings is an issue of equity, arguing that in pre-pandemic days, those with more resources could more easily set aside the time needed to attend a public hearing in person, giving them a louder voice than those without the ability to trek to a meeting in person because of work or family obligations.

While many states adopted remote access to public hearings during the pandemic, its unclear how many will continue that after the pandemic lifts. Besides Massachusetts, California is also weighing legislation aimed at making sure government meetings have both call-in and internet-based options for the public.

One sticking point is over the issue of whether public bodies should be allowed to conduct public hearings fully remotely or whether they should be required to hold hybrid meetings to allow both remote and in-person attendance.

Supporters of hybrid meetings say they allow citizens who may not have the needed computer skills or equipment to still attend meetings. Supporters also say hybrid meeting let citizens and members of the press approach officials in person after a hearing.

Supporters of all-virtual hearings say they allow wide public access without forcing cities and towns to return to crowded public hearing rooms or take on the expense of hybrid meetings.

Local cities and towns largely support measures to allow them to continue remote hearings, but want it to be an option, not a mandate, said Geoff Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association. Beckwith also said that many communities dont yet have the ability to conduct hybrid meetings.

Many of those testifying also urged lawmakers to take action before the pandemic state of emergency is lifted later this month.

During the hearing no one testified to end virtual hearings completely and return solely to in-person hearings.
HONOLULU (AP)  The University of Hawaii is due to receive up to $210 million in federal funding over five years to lead a research institute aimed at better conserving and managing coastal and marine resources in the Hawaiian Islands and U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands.

The school won the right to host the new Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research following an open, competitive evaluation, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Wednesday.

The institute will replace the existing Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, which has been operating at the university since 1977.

But this time more than double the money will be available from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which funded the old institute and will be funding the new one. The award comes with the potential for another five years if the university is successful.

NOAA said the new institute will conduct research aimed at understanding and predicting environmental changes in the Indo-Pacific region.

In a release, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz described the university as a recognized leader on climate and marine science in the region.

NOAAs investment in UH will help us better forecast natural hazards like hurricanes, king tides and tsunami; protect the health of our oceans and fisheries in the face of climate change; and maintain the U.S. leadership role in ocean and earth science in the region, said Schatz, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Research will be conducted along eight themes: ecological forecasting, ecosystem monitoring, ecosystem-based management, protection and restoration of resources, oceanographic monitoring and forecasting, climate science and impacts, air-sea interactions, and tsunami and other long-period ocean waves.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  Wisconsin should get tougher on unemployed people who apply for jobs to meet work search requirements but then skip out on the interview, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Wednesday as he advocated for eliminating a $300 enhanced payment for the unemployed.

Business leaders at a roundtable discussion organized by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce told Vos and fellow Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu that the worker shortage problem has reached a breaking point.

This has gone from an annoyance pre-pandemic to a crisis, said Scott Mayer, chairman of staffing agency QPS Employment. He said his company has over 5,000 job openings in Wisconsin and the supply chain is in danger of breaking down because there are not enough available workers.

This is a very, very serious situation, Mayer said. It is a real crisis situation. If we dont do something, and quickly, its not going to be like flicking a light switch to get the supply chain back.

Vos, the owner of a food packaging business, said during the pandemic that he was fearful he would go bankrupt. Vos said hes still battling worker shortages now and is offering gift cards to employees who show up to work on time five days a week.

Vos, in a back and forth with a business owner who described job applicants skipping out on interviews, questioned whether Wisconsin should do more to combat that.

It seems like in Wisconsin we dont do a very good job to report a no-show for an interview and doing something about it, Vos said.

There is no legal requirement for employers to report interview no-shows, according to the state Department of Workforce Development. However, an employer can report when someone refuses a job, which can be used by the state to deny unemployment benefits.

I would love to work with the administration and the department to figure out a more rigorous way to say, Hey, if you schedule an interview you need to show up or you lose your unemployment," Vos said after the event. "Thats not the current process.

Republican legislative leaders, along with the state chamber of commerce, trade groups and local economic development groups, are advocating for the state Legislature to repeal a $300 unemployment supplement and other enhancement programs enacted during the coronavirus pandemic.

Wisconsin Republicans last month reinstated a work search requirement for the unemployed, a move designed to get more people back into the workforce. The Assembly was scheduled to vote next week on a bill ending the $300 payment and other federal enhancement programs.

Evers, a Democrat, is likely to veto the measure. He voiced support for the $300 payment on Tuesday, saying those who advocate abolishing it don't have any evidence that it's behind the worker shortage problem.

Its an issue I have seen no data on  none whatsoever, Evers said. In addition, we had trouble finding people to come to work before the pandemic, during the pandemic, and after the pandemic so I think this is an issue around making sure we have the best quality of life in the state of Wisconsin so we actually encourage people to move here  I think those are things we need to take a look at. But I am concerned we are seeking a solution to a problem that may not exist.

Business leaders said removing the $300 supplement is a start, but that the worker shortage issue is more complex. Labor experts agree that several factors feed into the shortage, which existed before the pandemic but that has come into sharper focus since.

Some unemployed people have been reluctant to return to work because they fear catching the virus. Others have found new occupations. And many women, especially working mothers, have left the workforce to care for their children.

Business leaders on Wednesday advocated for tax law changes and cited worker concerns about child care given unusual school schedules this past year as fueling the worker shortage.

Steve Loehr, vice president of Kwik Trip, said the company was looking to hire 3,000 people in Wisconsin this year. One move Kwik Trip made to retain workers was to open a day care center at its packaging facility in La Crosse, he said.
We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Go to form
 Flash

At least one firefighter was killed and another was injured after a gunman opened fire at a Los Angeles County Fire Department station in a community north of Los Angeles Tuesday morning, local media reported, citing authorities.

"It is with heavy hearts that the LACoFD confirms that a tragic shooting occurred at approximately 10:55 a.m. today at (Fire Station) FS 81 in Agua Dulce," the Los Angeles County Fire Department said on Twitter, noting that the department is still in the process of gathering additional information and cooperating with other law enforcement agencies throughout the ongoing incident.

One firefighter died at the scene. Another firefighter, who was wounded, was airlifted by helicopter to a nearby hospital, a local news outlet, KABC-TV, reported, adding that the suspect is believed to be a disgruntled employee.

After the shooting, the suspect is believed to have fled in a pickup truck to a home miles away, where a possible barricade situation ensued. The structure later erupted in flames, according to the TV station.
A. Transportation. There's a strong need for a long-term mobility plan, especially on U.S. 19 and State Road 44.

B. Resiliency. Crystal River needs blueprints for the future, especially focusing on sea level rise and health of bay waters.

C. Downtown. Areas within the city's CRA need more projects like the Town Square.

D. Revitalization. Abandoned shopping centers and older structures like the mall need a makeover.

E. Residential neighborhoods. Interconnecting communities and maximizing the potential in Crystal River neighborhoods is the key to happy living.

Vote

View Results
Recent reports that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) found technology company Intel had discriminated against eight older workers during mass layoffs in 2015 have shed light on a topic that often remains in the dark: age discrimination against older workers in IT.

Its an issue that never seems to go away, and it can hinder career advancement for IT professionals  even at a time when many tech skills are in high demand. Given that a large share of professionals in the workforce are nearing traditional retirement ages, the number of discrimination cases may only rise.

I am definitely seeing more instances of age discrimination across the board, including with IT positions, says David Miklas, a management, labor, and employment attorney who regularly works with business owners and CEOs to prevent and defend litigation on all types of employment law matters.

Age discrimination is a particular problem with the tech industry, because of the tendency for many tech companies to be startups and often run by fairly younger individuals, Miklas says.

There is a widespread misconception in most industries that older employees are not digital savvy and are afraid to learn new things when it comes to technology, Miklas adds. This assumption often results in decisions that can result in being sued for age discrimination, especially when the older worker is passed over for promotion, not hired, or terminated, he says.

One issue that arises more in age discrimination claims than other types of discrimination is an employers use of selection criteria for hiring, promotion, or layoff decisions that are susceptible to assumptions about age, says Raymond Peeler, director of the Coordination Division, Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

For example, an employer making determinations about workers based on energy, flexibility, criticality, or long-term concerns are susceptible to employer assumptions based on the age of the worker, Peeler says. The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against job applicants or employees because of a persons race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, genetic information, or age.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating economic impact on older workers, says Lisa Marsh Ryerson, president of AARP Foundation, a part of AARP, an advocacy group representing people aged 50 and over.

Research shows that age-diverse workforces have a positive effect on employee engagement, productivity, and the bottom line, Ryerson says. Yet older workers continue to face resistance, more often than not simply because they are perceived to be too old for the job.

Individuals can take steps to overcome age discrimination or work around it to achieve their career goals.

Embrace new technologies and work methods

Older employees should embrace newer technologies and methods of working, because many of the organizations hiring IT professionals have either deployed these tools and methods or are planning to do so. For example, being proficient in the use of the latest mobile devices and apps for work is almost a must today, because so many jobs require people to work from wherever they are at the moment.

Even if you can perform your duties tethered to your desktop, you should learn how to perform them on a tablet or phone, Miklas says. This will open doors and help remove any assumption that you are set in your ways or not interested in making changes.

Learn new digital communications platforms, Ryerson says. These skills have always been important, but now more than ever because of the pandemic and work-from-home model. Familiarize yourself with Zoom and LinkedIn if youre not already using them, she says. IT professionals should be open to working from home if thats what a position calls for.

Its up to individuals to keep themselves current, says Bill Balint, CIO at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. IT professionals should take ownership of their career path from day one, and consistently forecast skillset and work culture changes that could impact them over the next 12, 18, or even 36 months, he says. Remaining connected to IT industry trends in addition to employer expectations are critical.

Workers not only should stay current on the latest workplace skills, but document their progress in taking training classes, attending seminars, and so on, Peeler says. Hard data of the employees training on new skills and processes can overcome or refute assumptions about an older employees ability or willingness to take on new tasks or technologies, he says.

Leverage your past experience

Sometimes by sticking to what they know best, IT professionals can succeed at staying in demand later in their careers.

When youre in your late 50s and looking for your next gig, it certainly can feel like age is working against you, says Bryan Phillips, senior vice president of technology and CIO at Alpha Packaging, a manufacturer of bottles and jars.

In my personal experience, after leaving my previous CIO job it did feel like some of the companies were looking for someone a little younger, Phillips says. For me, moving back to manufacturing from a more high-tech commercial software development company felt a lot more comfortable, and I could still showcase my innovative side from my previous job while leveraging my 25 years of manufacturing experience.

If IT professionals find that their skills are a bit dated, they should consider their niches, Phillips says. Some skills are hard to find, like RPG, COBOL, PL1, Pick Basic, and many more that are no longer taught in school, he says. Many smaller companies often have a mix of older technologies that are in demand for these hard-to-find skills.

It used to be that people had to be open to relocating because demand for niche jobs could be geographically diverse, Phillips says. But not now, since work-from-home situations are much more common, he says. Searching the popular job sites for a particular niche area can turn up opportunities, he says.

Dont panic, and be proactive when seeking opportunities

Besides taking ownership of their career paths, Balint advises people who are anxious about potential IT career upheaval or age discrimination to not panic. Such panic can produce a perceived desperate need to learn a bunch of new technologies, coupled with the fear [professionals] will not be able to learn them well enough and/or quickly enough, he says.

Instead, veteran IT professionals need to be thoughtful and measured about modernizing their IT skills and knowledge. They should consider being very proactive in understanding those evolving expectations of supervisors and the organization, allowing skill set modernization to flow accordingly, Balint says.

For example, when an employer is moving an IT system to either a legacy or retired status, IT professionals operating that system should work to develop specific knowledge and/or new skills needed in the future, Balint says. Veteran IT professionals who instead fail to be proactive and wait on the employer could make it easier for discrimination to go unchecked, he says.

Look to be a mentor

One asset that can clearly make older workers attractive to companies is the years of working experience that can be leveraged to help younger workers in the IT field. And mentoring can work both ways, which is even better.

Older employees should seek out significantly younger  think one or two generations  co-workers to try and create a mutual mentoring arrangement, Miklas says. The older worker may be able to help share decades of institutional knowledge to the younger worker, while the younger worker can often share what is hot right now for the younger generation.

For example, a younger co-worker could help the older one get set up on video-sharing platform TikTok and help explain how it works and what type of videos can go viral, Miklas says. This can allow the older worker to consider whether it is feasible to help the employers brand by being on a platform that is designed to reach a younger demographic, he says.

In general, older workers should make it a point to interact with younger coworkers, Ryerson says. By inviting different perspectives and forging relationships with colleagues of all ages, experienced workers will show that a multi-generational workforce is good for employers and employees alike, she says.

Know your rights

Its against the law for employers to discriminate on the basis of age, Ryerson says, and older workers should familiarize themselves with the Age Discrimination in Employment Act so they can recognize and respond to discrimination in the workplace.

The act makes it unlawful for employers to refuse to hire or to discharge any individual or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of age.

Companies are also forbidden from limiting or classifying employees in any way that would deprive them of employment opportunities, or reducing their pay, because of age. The law also applies to employment agencies and unions. While most people would likely rather avoid legal action, its a good idea to be familiar with existing safeguards against discrimination.
Despite the popular assumption that democracy requires a free and functional press, Americans harbor a surprising recalcitrance toward public subsidies for journalism. Many believe that if the market doesnt support a news outletor if it doesnt receive a wealthy benefactors supportthen it deserves to wither.

Yet, as local commercial journalism continues to collapse and misinformation and extremism continue to rise, this inaction toward market failure deserves scrutiny. Why does the federal government underfund public alternatives to broken commercial models? What are the implications of this decades-long under-valuing of public medias well-known civic benefits, which are enjoyed by the worlds strongest democracies?

Our new research shows that the US government is notable among democratic nations for how little it funds its public media. This lack of investment is particularly troubling considering the connections we and other researchers have found between robustly funded public broadcasting systems and well-informed political cultures with high levels of support for and engagement with democratic processes. In short, this long-standing neglect has undermined potential benefits that other democratic countries take for granted.

At $465 million dollars, 2020 federal funding of US public media amounted to just $1.40 per capita. By comparison, countries such as the UK, Norway, and Sweden devote around $100 or more per capita toward their public media. Indeed, one of the links among the worlds strongest democracies is their substantial government funding of public media systems.

At just 0.002 percent of its gross domestic product, the US allocation to public media is almost off the floor of the chartbarely registering in one visualization of our researchranking twenty-fifth out of the twenty-seven representative countries we sampled in our analysis. Despite being the wealthiest nation on the planet, the US impoverishes its public media infrastructures, forcing public radio and television (NPR and PBS) to rely on additional tax-based outlays at the state and local level while receiving the bulk of their funding in the form of private capital from individual contributors, foundations, and corporations.

Given the systemic market failure thats driving US local journalism into the ground, a public media safety net is especially urgent now. The newspaper industry, still our main source of original local reporting, has seen its number of employees reduced by well over fifty percent in the last two decades. As newspapers downsize or close altogether, news deserts are spreading rapidly across the country, and hundreds of communities no longer have any local media coverage whatsoever. These growing news divides disproportionately hurt marginalized communities, especially communities of color.

Sign up for CJR 's daily email

This structural journalism crisis will only get worse. As newspapers advertising revenue continues to shrink, local news is no longer commercially viable in many markets and communities. In the meantime, hedge funds and other parasitic buyers continue to devour and dismantle whats left of the local media landscape.

Nonprofit and public media outlets must step in to supply critical information, especially during emergencies such as global pandemics. While Congress agreed this year on an emergency infusion of $175 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to cope with pandemic-related pressures, much more is needed to support and enhance public media over the long term.

To reach its full democratic potential, public media must be politically and economically independent. This goal requires closing the federal funding gap, as well as ensuring that adequate financial support is guaranteed well into the future, shielded from political whims and interference. Adjusting funding levels to match the UKs public support for the BBC at 0.17 percent of its GDP would translate to about $35 billion for public media spending in the US. Even if the US spent just 0.02 percent of its GDP, it would generate $4.5 billion for public media infrastructure that could serve local communities information needs.

Long-term federal funding is also critical for helping our media weather future economic crises. As we see in our comparison of public media around the world, where government sources of revenue are limited and commercial revenues dominate public media funding, the fortunes of public broadcasters rise and fall with markets. Chiles commercially funded public broadcaster, for example, needed government-backed loans to stay afloat when ad markets crashed and debts accumulated.

Public funding ultimately establishes media as a public good. A media system founded on a non-commercial logic doesnt privilege those who can pay or whom advertisers wish to reach. At their best, public media institutions are guided by a universal mission that seeks to provide news and information to all members of society.

Public medias other key advantage is related to trust. Although mainstream news media face historically low levels of trust, public broadcasting enjoys relatively high levels, even among Trump supporters. Americans across the political spectrum tend to trust local media over national outlets. These higher levels of trust could provide a bipartisan leverage point for finally supporting our public mediaand our democracyat the levels they deserve.

US public media need the funding and the mandate to focus especially on the growing local news deserts across the country. Media subsidies date back to the early US postal systemthey are as American as apple piebut we need to repurpose them to todays infrastructural needs. Well-established research on media systems and their democracies  as well as the historical and international record  suggests that such subsidies wont usher in totalitarian regimes; quite the contrary.

While no silver bullet can solve the journalism crisis or heal the many ailments facing society, one part of the solution must be a robust public media system that ensures all Americansespecially those long excluded from news and information systems such as BIPOC communities and poor householdsare able to fully participate in our democratic society.

If were serious about strengthening our democratic institutions, one place to start is by rebuilding local journalism. Its past time to finally fund our public media in accordance with global democratic norms.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Victor Pickard and Timothy Neff are the authors. Victor Pickard is a Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy at the University of Pennsylvanias Annenberg School for Communication, where he co-directs the Media, Inequality & Change Center. He is the author of Democracy Without Journalism. Timothy Neff is a postdoctoral research fellow at Annenbergs Media, Inequality and Change Center. His research focusing on media systems and climate change has been published in The International Journal of Press/Politics, International Journal of Communication, and Environmental Communication.
Last week, Jonathan Chait, of New York magazine, took the liberal media to task for having rushed to repudiate the lab-leak theorythe idea that COVID-19 may have its origins in a research institute in Wuhan, China. The theory, Chait wrote, has recently gained more and more credibility, in sharp contrast to last year, when many mainstream journalists dismissed it out of hand as a conspiracy theory; in part, they were deceived by some especially voluble public-health experts. In part, they simply took Donald Trumps bait, answering the former presidents dissembling with false certainty of their own. Trump and various right-wing boosters blurred together the possibility that COVID may accidentally have escaped from the lab and the unhinged idea that China released it intentionally as a bioweapon; in story after story, the press, Chait argued, tarred both notions with the same brush of condemnation, asserting as fact that COVID was natural in origin, and that suggestions to the contrary were unscientific, debunked, even racist. But COVIDs true origins are unknown, and news outlets, Chait wrote, ought to have erred on the side of uncertainty over dogma. The lab-leak hypothesis may well turn out to be wrong, he arguedbut that wont make all the hasty rebuttals right.

Since Chait wrote, weve seen a gusher of opinion essays in the same vein, indicting the mainstream press and prominent experts for characterizing a plausible hypothesis as a conspiracy theory for essentially political reasons. Ross Douthat, of the New York Times, wrote that the Trump era created expansive pressures to describe more and more things without any ambiguity and shading, and judge more and more right-wing claims pre-emptively. Bret Stephens, also of the Times, argued that good journalism, like good science, should follow evidence, not narratives. Megan McArdle (the Washington Post) wrote that science, in this case, came to mean a demand that others subordinate their judgment to an elite-approved group of credentialed scientific experts. Marc A. Thiessen (also the Post) accused the press of a shameful dereliction of duty. Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. (the Wall Street Journal) wrote that not every journalistic institution today is engaged in bias production but enough are that we should worry about it. Matthew Yglesias (Substack) assailed a genuinely catastrophic media fuckup and a huge fiasco for the mainstream press that got way over their skis in terms of discourse-policing. All this commentary has unfurled against a backdrop of news articles asserting that the lab-leak theory has gone mainstream, and is getting a second look. The Posts Fact Checker laid out how the theory suddenly became credible. Politifact archived a post calling the theory debunked. Facebook stopped banning posts claiming that COVID was man-made. And so on.

New from CJR: Strengthen our democracy by funding public media

What changed? Theres still no direct evidence to validate the lab-leak theory. There has been fresh contextual reporting: the Journal recently revealed the existence of a US intelligence document claiming that three researchers at the Wuhan lab were hospitalized in November 2019. (The Trump administration previously issued a fuzzier version of this claim; the Journals sources disagreed as to the strength of the intelligence.) Eighteen scientists wrote in Science that an investigation conducted by the World Health Organization and China failed to give balanced consideration to the natural-origin and lab-leak hypotheses. Nicholas Wade, a former Times science journalist, wrote in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that, as things stand, proponents of lab escape can explain all the available facts about SARS2 considerably more easily than can those who favor natural emergence, and Donald G. McNeil, Jr., another former Times reporter (who recently left the paper following an allegation of racism), wrote on Medium essentially backing Wade up. Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested that hes not as confident as he was in the natural-origin theory. President Biden revealed that the intelligence community is split on the question, and ordered a further investigation to report back within ninety days.

Others say that, actually, nothing has really changeda position that seems to unite observers who think the lab-leak theory was always credible and those who continue to doubt it. The theory has always been the same, Josh Rogin, a Post columnist who reported over a year ago on US safety concerns around the Wuhan lab, tweeted. The people who got it wrong changed their minds. Striking a different note, Angela Rasmussen, a prominent virologist, argued that the media has chosen to dress up old speculation as new information and claim that its evidence. Its not. Its speculative, and all origin hypotheses remain possible.

There is an awful lot to unpack here. The nub of the media criticism is, in my view, justified. Last April, I wrote, responding to Rogins reporting, that the press should isolate legitimate questions from conspiratorial noise and try and report out the answers; numerous journalists took this approach to the lab-leak theory, but many others did indeed dismiss it as an illegitimate line of inquiry. Such stories channeled familiar broader problems with pandemic coverageprincipally, the contriving of scientific certainty in the absence of expert consensus, exacerbated by the urgent political stakes of all the conspiratorial noise. We are now seeing scientists argue in good faith about what the evidence showsindeed, what the evidence is. This was always desirable; too often, however, argument itself was tarred as a bad-faith act.

Sign up for CJR 's daily email

But the narrative shift underway in some quartersnewfound credibility; media has egg on its faceis too easy. It is firstly, to some extent, self-justifying. Credibility begets credibility; scientists calls for open-minded inquirywhich are very basic to what science is, and dont, in themselves, communicate new informationcan warp, via a game of telephone, into a tone of vindication, and blur the lines between the nature of the evidence and the nature of the political climate surrounding it. Secondly, the political climate was always a key part of the lab-leak story, and it remains so. Its all well and good to say that science doesnt care about politics, and thats fair, in the sense that the true origins of COVID will be the true origins of COVID whether Trump or a respected virologist said them. But virologists are generally more credible than Trump, who does lie systematically, and did seek to blame China for the pandemic to distract from his own dismal performance; various actors, meanwhile, have weaponized the lab-leak theory as part of a racist agenda that has had very real consequences. A given theory can be a conspiracy and racist and, at root, true, just as a given theory can be scientifically grounded and not racist and, at root, false; who is propounding it, and why, and based on what, matters. The mistake many in the media made was to cast the lab-leak theory as inherently conspiratorial and racist, and misunderstand the relation between those properties and the immutable underlying facts. It would also be wrong, now, to assume that the lab-leak theory is inherently clean of those taints.

To my mind, staking out the proper boundary between science and politics has been the defining journalistic challenge of the pandemic; it might well be impossible to pinpoint, though we could, collectively, have been more thoughtful about looking, and the errors around the lab-leak reflect that failure. The path forward on that story is the same as it always should have been: cover the context, respect the uncertainty, and report out the underpinning truth; Chinas lack of transparency may make this impossible, too, but it remains the goal. Last week, Ben Smith, of the Times, said that he tried to write a media column on the lab-leak theory, but realized it was a gloss on a politics article that would be a gloss on a science article, and gave up. Thats because those categories are, and always were, inseparable, but his conclusion stands regardless: It does seem the best thing media can do now is just cover the story.

Below, more on uncertainty and the pandemic:

When conspiracies and reality collide: Writing for the Post, Charlie Warzel argues that a series of disorienting events, including the US governments recent investigations of the lab-leak theory and, unrelatedly, UFOs, have created precisely the sense of confusion that disinformation researchers, fact-checkers and swaths of the mainstream media try to bulwark against. We dont actually live in a post-truth world, but it feels that way because the systems weve builtsocial media, traditional mediareward strong emotions and definitive conclusions, Warzel writes. So if we feel increasingly like were living in a sci-fi future, we ought to embrace it and design for it.

Writing for the Post, Charlie Warzel argues that a series of disorienting events, including the US governments recent investigations of the lab-leak theory and, unrelatedly, UFOs, have created precisely the sense of confusion that disinformation researchers, fact-checkers and swaths of the mainstream media try to bulwark against. We dont actually live in a post-truth world, but it feels that way because the systems weve builtsocial media, traditional mediareward strong emotions and definitive conclusions, Warzel writes. So if we feel increasingly like were living in a sci-fi future, we ought to embrace it and design for it. Public trust: Researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, are out with a new paper arguing that the media has undermined trust in scientific work by failing consistently to point out that science is inherently self-correcting. Weve identified a tendency in news coverage to overgeneralize the prevalence of problems in science and take them as an indicator that the enterprise as a whole is broken, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, one of the researchers, said.

Researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, are out with a new paper arguing that the media has undermined trust in scientific work by failing consistently to point out that science is inherently self-correcting. Weve identified a tendency in news coverage to overgeneralize the prevalence of problems in science and take them as an indicator that the enterprise as a whole is broken, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, one of the researchers, said. Greek life: On Monday, the World Health Organization said that it would start using the Greek alphabet to label the various prominent variants of COVID-19, replacing geographically-derived labels that could be seen as stigmatizing; the British variant is now the alpha variant, the South African variant is now the beta variant, and so on. The government of India recently asked social-media platforms to remove references to that countrys variant (now the delta variant). Maria Van Kerkhove, a leading WHO official, told Stat that governments may be more willing to report new variants if their countrys name wont be indelibly attached to them.

On Monday, the World Health Organization said that it would start using the Greek alphabet to label the various prominent variants of COVID-19, replacing geographically-derived labels that could be seen as stigmatizing; the British variant is now the alpha variant, the South African variant is now the beta variant, and so on. The government of India recently asked social-media platforms to remove references to that countrys variant (now the delta variant). Maria Van Kerkhove, a leading WHO official, told Stat that governments may be more willing to report new variants if their countrys name wont be indelibly attached to them. Dr. FOIA-ci: Both the Post and BuzzFeed used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain Faucis correspondence from the first part of last year, when the pandemic hit in the US and he quickly became a subject of intense media interest. In April 2020, Fauci received a Google News alert for his own name, and found inside an article headlined, Cuomo Crush and Fauci FeverSexualization of These Men Is a Real Thing on the Internet. Fauci forwarded the alert to an unidentified correspondent, and urged them to click through on the link. It will blow your mind, he wrote. Our society is really totally nuts.



Other notable stories:

ICYMI: Naomi Osaka and the meaning of press freedom

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop.
Tesla Inc has dropped radar sensors from its semi-autonomous driving system, Autopilot, raising concerns over the safety of the camera-only version, Tesla Vision.

Tesla aims to make the driver-assist system fully self-driving, and many in that young industry are skeptical that a vision-only system will work, saying such systems face challenges in darkness, sunny glare and poor weather conditions.

Safety ratings groups have dropped their labels until they test newly configured cars.

Still, Teslas chief executive, Elon Musk, has surprised the industry before  first and foremost by turning the electric vehicle maker into the worlds most valuable car company.

Here are some questions and answers about Teslas bet on a camera-based system.

How Does Teslas System Work, With And Without Radar?

Tesla in May started delivering Model 3 and Model Y with a driver-assist system based on eight cameras mounted around the car and with no radar. The cameras, like eyes, send images to computer networks, like the brain, which recognize and analyze objects.

Over the years, Teslas view of radar has changed.

In May 2016, a Tesla car crashed, killing the driver, when Autopilot failed to detect a white semi-truck crossing in front of it.

Later that year, Tesla announced a plan to give radar a primary role in navigation while describing a false-alarm problem with some radar systems that needed to be fixed.

Good thing about radar is that, unlike lidar  it can see through rain, snow, fog and dust, Musk tweeted in 2016. Tesla also said radar plays an essential role in detecting and responding to forward objects. Tesla does not use a more expensive lidar sensor, which gives more precise shape information of an object than radar.

Tesla drivers complained of phantom braking when their cars stopped abruptly on highways under an overpass or a bridge.

Musk said the new camera-only system will likely be safer than radar because of less noise or confusing signals, industry news site Electrek reported.

After the May 2016 crash, Tesla had similar accidents of cars crashing into semi-trucks and stationary police cars and fire trucks. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently investigating 24 accidents involving Tesla cars.

How Do Other Self-Driving Technologies Work?

Most automakers and self-driving vehicle companies such as Alphabet Incs Waymo use three types of sensors: Cameras, radar and lidar.

Radar systems, like cameras, are relatively inexpensive. They work in poor weather but lack resolution to accurately determine the shape of objects. Lidar has higher resolution, but is vulnerable to weather conditions.

You need to use all the different kinds of sensors and then combine them, said Raj Rajkumar, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, reflecting a common industry view.

Teslas camera-centric system is much harder to design, but it is also much cheaper than Waymos laser-based lidar approach, enabling the electric car maker to scale up and further improve its technology, Teslas artificial intelligence director, Andrej Karpathy, said in a Robot Brains podcast in March.

What Does Tesla Lose By Giving Up Radar?

There is a lot of debate on this issue.

The loss of radar degrades driver-support features enough to render them less usable to unusable in adverse weather conditions, Steven Shladover, a research engineer at Berkeley University of California.

It makes no sense whatsoever technologically  only a way of reducing cost of components, he said.

Since radar is good at measuring distances accurately, its loss could affect emergency braking to avoid collisions with slowed vehicles, said Ram Machness, chief business officer of advanced radar maker Arbe Robotics.

If you drop radar without proving vision alone does that job as well, then youre compromising safety, Telanon, a developer of a driver support system, said on Twitter.

Tesla said some driver-assistant features including its ability to maintain speed at the pace of the car ahead may be temporarily limited or inactive upon delivery. It said it would start restoring the features via software updates in the weeks ahead.

Musk told Electrek that the vision system had improved so much that it was better off without radar.

Last week, NHTSA withdrew its advanced safety features label for new Model 3 and Model Y vehicles and Consumer Reports dropped its top pick label. Both intend to test the vision-only system.

Who Knows Best?

Teslas plan runs counter to most of the self-driving industry, but it is difficult to say who is right. No company has yet deployed a fully functional self-driving system in scale, and the entire industry is years behind initial projections.

About the photo: This photo provided by the Laguna Beach Police Department shows a Tesla sedan, left, in autopilot mode that crashed into a parked police cruiser Tuesday, May 29, 2018, in Laguna Beach, Calif. Police Sgt. Jim Cota says the officer was not in the cruiser at the time of the crash and that the Tesla driver suffered minor injuries. (Laguna Beach Police Department via AP)
 Flash

Two military pilots of Iran died on Tuesday in the Vahdati Air Force Base in the southwestern Iranian city of Dezful due to a "technical failure" of a F-5 training plane, official news agency IRNA reported.

The Special Governor of Dezful, Ali Farahmandpour, stressed that the accident happened on the ground, not during or after a flight, adding that the circumstances are being investigated by a team sent to Dezful from Tehran.
A little-known substance derived from hemp is flying off the shelves of U.S. gas stations and smoke shops, offering users a cheap and convenient high even in states where marijuana isnt legal. But large cannabis producers are now pushing to clamp down on Delta-8 THC amid worries that a lack of oversight means heavy metals and unexpected intoxicants are cropping up in some of the products.

The cannabis compound has proliferated in gummies, joints and vape pens, with sales more than doubling in the past year across the country. Despite being almost chemically identical to federally outlawed forms of marijuana, Delta-8 has escaped widespread scrutiny thanks to ambiguity in U.S. laws.

Thats starting to change, with a coalition of cannabis producers now pushing federal and state regulators to block sales of unregulated Delta-8. More than a dozen states have already moved to restrict the products.

The previously unreported effort by industry leaders to rein in the booming but unchecked sector comes as chemists and health advocates sound alarms over potentially dangerous contaminants, such as lead and arsenic, and unpredictable potency levels in some commercially available products. Two tests of Delta-8 samples  one by the U.S. Cannabis Council trade group and another commissioned by Bloomberg News  found high levels of intoxicants in several of the products, as well as metals in some of them.

Delta-8 is particularly concerning to some scientists because it can be easy to make. Users can simply mix over-the-counter CBD with battery acid, pool chemicals or even household vinegar to produce it, although there are methods that dont use acids.

Poison control centers are seeing an uptick in incidents related to Delta-8, and many health workers dont know what the substance is or how best to treat patients suffering ill effects, said Christopher Holstege, director of the Blue Ridge Poison Center in Charlottesville, Virginia. Weve had at least 10 calls in the last couple of months, and a couple of people hospitalized.

Some of the industrys largest cannabis operators are worried that contaminated and dangerous items could torpedo an otherwise promising line of products, which some big-name companies already offer or are planning to introduce. On top of the health concerns, unregulated Delta-8 risks becoming a competitive threat to their existing offerings, sold in states they cant get into, and its undercutting their prices by avoiding license fees, taxes and quality testing.

Regulators should look to clamp down and stop this unregulated market, said Steve Hawkins, interim chief executive officer of the U.S. Cannabis Council. The council has already consulted with state governments on Delta-8, he said, and it will step up efforts this week to encourage the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration to take action.

Boris Jordan, executive chairman of Curaleaf Holdings Inc., one of the industrys biggest companies, compared the situation to the vape crisis from a couple years ago, when black-market products caused lung illnesses, souring regulators on even approved products.

The states have got to get their hands around this, he said.

THC Light

Delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol is a naturally occurring compound found in low levels in marijuana plants. The molecule is almost identical to that of Delta-9 THC  commonly known as just THC, the main psychoactive compound in marijuana  and some users say Delta-8 offers a more-relaxing, THC-light kind of high.

Delta-8 products are sold in gas stations and smoke shops across the country, falling in a gray area of U.S. law. Under the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp  cannabis containing less than 0.3% THC content  can be transported and sold within the country. CBD, an increasingly popular cannabinoid extracted from hemp, is allowed as well, but there was little said about the dozens of other compounds that can be extracted, such as Delta-8.

Some companies and lawyers therefore argue Delta-8 is legal because it can be derived from CBD, which is made from hemp. Others say it depends on the interpretation of a DEA rule over synthetically derived cannabinoids, which are illegal.

Given the ambiguity, companies are taking a risk by selling the products, said Laura Bianchi, a partner at cannabis-focused law firm Bianchi & Brandt. Manufacturers could face some enforcement action from the DEA or consequences from another agency such as the FDA.

When asked about the products, the FDA referred questions to the DEA, which wouldnt go into detail about Delta-8 because it said its currently in the rule-making process regarding how the Farm Bill has been implemented. There is a lot to learn about the impacts of marijuana and its chemical constituents, the agency said.

Legal questions arent hurting demand. U.S. sales in April of products listing Delta-8 soared 144% from a year earlier, according to cannabis data provider Headset.

Every single one of our clients has asked about it. Its a hot topic, said Kim Stuck, founder of Allay Consulting, which advises around 40 companies in the CBD or THC space. She said falling CBD prices and an overabundance of hemp in states like Oregon and Colorado have contributed to interest in Delta-8 production.

Unexpected Substances

The lack of oversight in this relatively new market is raising concerns about what unexpected and potentially dangerous substances are ending up in commercially available products.

The U.S. Cannabis Council said it tested 16 Delta-8 products from vendors across the U.S. and found that all but one of them exceeded the allowable level of THC. On average, they had more than 10 times the legal limit. Seven of the samples also exceeded limits on metals such as copper, chromium or nickel.

This represents a major consumer safety issue, posing dangers greater than the vape crisis of 2019, the group said in a report it plans to release this week, a copy of which was viewed by Bloomberg News.

Separately, Bloomberg News obtained 10 commercially available Delta-8 products sold in New York state, including vapes, gummies, tinctures and flower. Preliminary tests conducted on those products by SC Labs, a Santa Cruz-based cannabis testing company, found that six of them contained higher than federally allowable levels of Delta-9 THC in hemp, and one exceeded Californias limits on heavy metals.

The problem of contaminants typically traces to the manufacturing process. While larger companies tend to use above-board methods, Delta-8 can be extracted from CBD by mixing it with acid. The home-brewing methods, which have earned some Delta-8 a reputation as the bathtub gin of the cannabis world, can introduce toxins such as lead, according to Guido Verbeck, a professor at the University of North Texas who co-authored a study on methods of creating Delta-8. Even higher-quality acids can leave behind sulfate, nitrate or chlorine compounds that can be harmful over time, he said.

Too Enticing

Its become almost too enticing for there not to be an issue, said Thomas Kiselak, one of Verbecks co-authors. All you need is a little battery acid or pool acid, which a teenager can go and buy. Its something you can do in about an hour.

Acid conversions also create unpredictable mixes of other compounds that exist naturally in marijuana plants, said Kiselak, now a technical specialist at Caldwell Intellectual Property Law. He estimated that around 11 of these so-called cannabinoids are created with battery acid.

Because scientists have only begun to study some of these rare cannabinoids and how they interact with the bodys endocannabinoid system, that can mean unpredictable effects on users.

Holstege, of the Blue Ridge Poison Center, said he worries about the impacts on children of products that are unexpectedly potent. He pointed to a recent case of a 4-year-old who had to be hospitalized overnight after ingesting Delta-8 through gummies and becoming unresponsive.

Its a huge threat to youth across the country with these new drugs coming out, he said.

Some companies do test for concentrations of Delta-9 THC to ensure theyre below federal limits, said Josh Wurzer, a founder of SC Labs. But he said clients that turn to him virtually never test for contaminants such as heavy metals because there arent regulations requiring it.

People are taking CBD and doing chemical reactions and turning it into Delta-8 THC and selling that at gas stations and marketing it to kids, he said. There are people walking up and buying it who think it wont get them high.

New Restrictions

More than a dozen states have placed restrictions on Delta-8 products in recent months, though the products can still be purchased in many areas. New York and Massachusetts recently said that Delta-8 products may not be sold or manufactured in those states.

Despite concerns over a lack of regulation, some of the industrys largest operators are dabbling in the market  and believe they can operate to higher standards. Curaleaf, for one, plans to introduce Delta-8 products even as it seeks tighter oversight of the products. Competitor Trulieve Cannabis Corp. already sells products. The company said its Delta-8 isnt made using acid, but declined to describe its process, citing trade secrets.

DD8, a New York City-based company with 10 employees, recently announced the launch of a vaporizer for Delta-8. The founders say they use a heat-extraction process to make it, and a lawyer for the company said they dont believe the method runs afoul of regulatory restrictions. The company plans to keep selling it. (Neither DD8s nor Trulieves products were tested by Bloomberg.)

A shakeout in the Delta-8 market could be instructive as companies introduce new products based on other rare and little-understood cannabis compounds. One of them, Delta-10, has also been drawing similar attention to Delta-8, and was included in New Yorks recent rule.

Hawkins, of the cannabis council, said it heightens the need for comprehensive regulation of cannabis plants. Without it, he said, were just playing a game of whack-a-mole.

About the photo: A worker gathers hemp flowers for processing at a New York farm.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.
Grace Louise Archer, age 90, a resident of Aurora, Colorado, a former resident of Chillicothe, Missouri, passed away on Wednesday, June 2, 2021, at Shalom Park, Aurora, Colorado. Grace was born the daughter of Maurice P. Martin, Sr., and Margaret (O'Connor) Martin on October 10, 1930, in Chi
Having access to everything inside our own homes is something most of us take for granted. Simply being able to climb stairs, reach counter tops or perform basic tasks around the house is something that comes easy to most people. But for people with reduced mobility from physical or mental d
You are here: World

 Flash

Three people were killed and five others injured as a blast struck a vehicle outside Charikar, the capital of Afghanistan's eastern Parwan province on Tuesday, said a local hospital official.

Head of Charikar-based provincial hospital Mohammad Qasim Sangin said that the blast occurred in the Sirahi Hofian area in the afternoon.

Local police have yet to make comment on the incident.

This is the second bomb attack on a vehicle taking place in Parwan province in four days.

In the previous bomb strike hitting a bus carrying university staff outside Charikar on May 29, at least three people were killed and 11 others injured.
 Flash

The Iranian government on Tuesday said the international talks in Vienna aimed at reviving the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal have not reached a stalemate, semi-official Fars news agency reported.

"The negotiations have reached a stage where decisions must be made about a few number of key issues, and that requires the necessary carefulness, meticulousness and time," the spokesman for Iran's government Ali Rabiee said in his weekly press conference in Tehran.

On Monday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and top nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi said to Iran's state TV on the sidelines of the talks that negotiations are very complex, and only issues where there are "obvious differences" were being discussed.

Araqchi said that "good progress" has been made.

Nevertheless, the delegations might need to return to their capitals once more for new consultations, he added.

In his press briefing in Tehran, Rabiee insisted that Iran will not allow the nuclear dialogues to turn into "talks of attrition", but it is not in a hurry to reach a hasty conclusion.

"If the negotiations need decisions from Tehran, those decisions will be definitely made in the capital," he added.

The Vienna negotiations are not related in any way to Iran's upcoming presidential election, scheduled to be held on June 18, the spokesman noted.

The talks at the Austrian capital are aimed at reviving the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, formally known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

In May 2018, then U.S. President Donald Trump terminated Washington's participation in the JCPOA and unilaterally re-imposed sanctions on Iran. In response, Tehran gradually stopped implementing parts of its JCPOA commitments from May 2019.

The JCPOA Joint Commission began to meet offline on April 6 in Vienna to continue the discussion about a possible return of the United States to the JCPOA and how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the JCPOA.
Beachwood, OH (44122)

Today

Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
Eight Tartans Earn Fulbrights To Teach English, Pursue Studies

June 02, 2021

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, awarded grants to eight recent alumni from Carnegie Mellon University.

The program's aim is to improve cultural diplomacy and allow Fulbright scholars and their international hosts to gain an appreciation of different viewpoints and beliefs though engagement in the community. While last year's recipients had to delay travel to their respective countries, the 2021-2022 class of Fulbright scholars are on track to start later this year. Six of the CMU recipients will teach English and two will further their education through graduate programs overseas.

Sara Adkins

Sara Adkins, who graduated in 2018 with a bachelor's degree in computer science and arts, earned a study/research award for graduate studies in sound and music computing at Queen Mary University of London in the United Kingdom.

Adkins said CMU helped her understand what it means to be an interdisciplinary researcher and define her own niche area.

"I did an integrated double major in computer science and music technology because I knew I liked both of those fields but didn't really know how I wanted to combine them. Taking computer music classes in the School of Computer Science opened my eyes to the ways that computer science can be applied to music," Adkins said. "This helped me decide that I wanted to focus my career on being a technologist who works with musicians and helps them make new electronic sounds."

Her research project for the Fulbright Award will expand on her senior capstone project for CMU's BXA Intercollege Degree Programs.

"The idea is for an algorithm to compose music in real time as a musician is performing. I explored the ways a human musician could interact with an algorithm to create a new art form," she said.

Most Fulbright applications are made through the candidate's undergraduate institution. At CMU, Adkins reached out to Richelle Bernazzoli, associate director of Undergraduate Research and National Fellowships at CMU, to help with the application process, which included preparing for semifinalist interviews.

"From Asia to South America and Europe, this year's CMU Fulbright grantees will be leveraging the vast interdisciplinary and intercultural skills they developed through their Carnegie Mellon education to build mutual understanding with communities abroad," Bernazzoli said. "We are so proud that this cohort  CMU's largest group of Fulbright grantees since 2015  will be representing our institution and the United States in their respective host countries."

Bernazzoli said that each CMU recipient represents the ethos of the Fulbright Program.

"In each of their stories, you can see not only their extraordinary talents and motivation, but also the ways in which they have been enriched by cross-campus resources, as well as their home departments," she said. "We look forward to following their experiences as they embark on their international teaching, research, and graduate study."
What's Left Out of Energy Models? You.

May 24, 2021A team of Carnegie Mellon University researchers led by Turner Cotterman, an engineering and public policy (EPP) Ph.D. student, has shown that sustainably decarbonizing our energy system by 2050 will require us to change the way we model energy transitions and account for the role of public opinion. Advised by Mitchell Small , professor of engineering and public policy and civil and environmental engineering , Cotterman and co-authors use nuclear energy as a case study of how conventional energy models  which minimize system costs  fail at accounting for social acceptance, a factor that can inhibit the deployment of certain technologies, like nuclear energy.They combined an energy system and risk perception model to evaluate cost, electricity demand, environmental performance and perceived versus acceptable risk at nuclear power plants. Their results indicated that the share of total U.S. energy supplied by nuclear sources would fall from a majority of system generation in a least-cost model, to just three percent in a scenario that incorporates deep decarbonization goals, accident risk perception and public acceptance. The changes in our energy system under this no- or low-nuclear scenario are dramatic, with 97% of the United States' total energy generated by renewable sources."If risk tolerance concerns constrain nuclear deployment to socially acceptable levels, deep decarbonization scenarios are up to 11% more expensive than the reference scenario and require low-carbon options to be available and replace the reduced nuclear share," the researchers write.The authors used nuclear power as a case study because there is a large amount of literature on the subject. However, other technologies may also face public opposition in a low-carbon transition, and the method can be extended to consider these, too. Cotterman and Small were joined in this study by former EPP faculty member and alumnus Ahmed Abdulla, now faculty at Canada's Carleton University, former EPP faculty member Gabrielle Wong-Parodi, now faculty at Stanford University, and Stephen Wilson of the University of Queensland, Australia.The authors note that nuclear energy, despite being believed to be safe by many technical experts, has faced stiff public opposition. This has driven up costs and has led investors to avoid new nuclear plant construction in the U.S. Yet energy system models that employ least-cost optimization keep deploying nuclear energy, assuming that the least-cost pathways would also be the most socially acceptable.Failure to understand that our energy system is a complex socio-technical system, defined by interactions between humans and technology, is common. The same can be said of our transportation and agricultural systems. To realistically model the role that technologies might play in the energy transition, the team had to look beyond the least-cost approach of conventional energy modeling and integrate the social sciences  human behavior and perception being key to technology adoption. As Cotterman stated, "Energy system optimization and socio-technical analyses have traditionally been evaluated separately. Our work offers an initial approach to linking these approaches and developing more realistic decarbonization pathways."The authors modeled several energy transition scenarios. In each case, they compared the share of energy derived from each technology with and without social acceptance as a constraint. In a decarbonization scenario that does not consider public acceptance, nuclear energy would make up 73% of total energy generation, with renewables contributing most of the rest, and costs would increase by 9%. However, factor in social acceptance and nuclear energy's share drops to just 3%, requiring about 97% of our energy to come from renewables in order to reach full decarbonization, and costs increase by 11%.Policy and energy decision makers need to make greater effort to "integrate public attitudes to energy technologies in large-scale modeling efforts," Abdulla said. "They should also seek to understand the underlying roots of public opposition and resolve them. There is no point modeling an energy transition that is 'least-cost' on paper, but difficult or costlier to implement in practice."Having shown the crucial role public acceptance plays in actually implementing energy technologies, Cotterman and his co-authors argued that public policy and the energy sector in general must begin to orient toward the public's concerns, rather than omitting them from a situation in which they have a considerable impact.There are many strategies to address public concerns. One involves confronting misconceptions, especially at their early stages. More important is to build trust by talking to and involving local communities in the planning process. Proper strategizing also means being flexible as analysts understand that some low-carbon technologies simply can't be deployed in certain locations or regions.Approaches like these constitute a powerful new tool for planning our energy future, though this school of thought still has yet to permeate the industry. Cotterman, Small, Abdulla and colleagues have shown the extent to which social acceptance matters, and that the only way forward is to build energy pathways that are not just techno-economically viable, but also socially acceptable. CMU has long been a leader in the development of theory and applications involving human-technical systems, and this research will likely motivate further advances in this critical topic both here and elsewhere.
 Flash

European countries demanded the United States and Denmark for an explanation as soon as possible on reports that the U.S. intelligence agency had used Danish infrastructure to spy on senior European officials, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The Danish Defense Intelligence Service (FE) has given the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) open internet access to spy on senior politicians of neighboring countries including Germany, Sweden, Norway, and France, Denmark's national broadcaster DR News reported on Sunday.

Danish Minister of Defense Trine Bramsen responded to media reports by sending an email to DR News, saying that the government will not "enter into speculation about any intelligence matters from the press or others ... systematic wiretapping of close allies is unacceptable."

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that all must be clarified concerning reports on the U.S. spying and urged "complete transparency and resolution of the matter by our Danish and American partners."

This "is unacceptable between allies, even less between allies and European partners," Macron was quoted by French daily Le Monde following a French-German council of ministers.

Merkel said she "could only agree" with Macron's comments, adding she was "reassured" by Bramsen's condemnation of any such spying.

Besides Merkel, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the candidate for chancellor Peer Steinbrueck were among those the NSA had spied on, DR said.

"It is grotesque that friendly intelligence services are indeed intercepting and spying on top representatives of other countries," Steinbrueck told German broadcaster ARD. "Politically I consider it a scandal."

In Paris, French Minister for European Affairs Clement Beaune told France Info radio that the DR report needed to be checked and that, if confirmed, it would be a "serious" matter.

"These potential facts, they are serious. They must be checked," he said, adding there could be "some diplomatic protests."

"It is extremely serious, we need to see if our partners in the EU, the Danes, have committed errors or faults in their cooperation with American services," he noted.

Jens Holm, a member of the Swedish Parliament, called on investigation into "who exactly was monitored, when and how."

"This is extremely outrageous," Holms told local media, adding that the situation elicits memories of the Cold War.

The governments of Norway and Sweden are pressing the Danish government and demanding immediate answers about the alleged NSA espionage through Danish cables.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said Norway had asked Denmark "for all the information they have."

"It's unacceptable if countries which have close allied cooperation feel the need to spy on one another," Solberg told public broadcaster NRK.

Norway's Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen also told broadcaster NRK that the country takes the allegations seriously.

Swedish Minister of Defense Peter Hultqvist said on state broadcaster SVT on Sunday that he "asked to be fully informed about matters concerning Swedish citizens, companies and interests."

"And then we have to see how the answer sounds from a political side in Denmark," Hultqvist said, adding that he had been "in contact with Denmark's defense minister to ask if Danish platforms have been used to spy on Swedish politicians."
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 2)  More than a million people have missed their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to a member of the Inter-Agency Task Force's sub-technical working group on data analytics.

Dr. John Wong said 3.1 million doses of the Sinovac and Gamaleya vaccines have been administered since the country's vaccination drive started on March 1.

Wong added that they expected about 2.1 million should have gotten their second dose of either the Sinovac or Gamaleya vaccine by now. The Sinovac and Gamaleya vaccines require two doses that need to be given about a month apart, he noted.

"Half of the people who have taken their first dose are missing out on their second dose, so we need to follow up on this," Wong told a town hall forum hosted by the Department of Health.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire urged Filipinos to be fully vaccinated.

"First dose is really not enough. Sinasabi na po ito ng ating mga eksperto (Our experts have been saying) that you need to get your second dose because it provides you with the maximum potential of the vaccine," she said in the same town hall.

The country now has over 8 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, with the majority of the supply from China's Sinovac. Around 5.1 million have already been administered, mostly as first doses.
With coronavirus restrictions starting to be lifted across the country, it looks like the year of isolation is coming to an end for the United States. But dont think for a second it means the pandemic is over.

Unless youre living under a rock, Im sure youre aware almost 40 states across the country have returned to business as usual. While Pennsylvania has not yet lifted its mask mandate, capacity restrictions and social distancing measures across the state have now been eased. Meanwhile, my home state of Massachusetts lifted all coronavirus restrictions on May 29.

Im so glad things are finally back to normal, I overheard my coworkers saying the first day they could come into work without face coverings. Across social media, I began to see the same sentiment.

This is when I realized that maybe I had a different definition of normal than most people.

To the average person, normal never really meant the end of the disease, the deaths and living in constant fear. Instead, normal meant the end of wearing a small piece of cloth over their face, capacity limits in their favorite bar and the general inconvenience of social distancing.

People werent wearing the masks or following guidelines because it was the right thing to do  only because it was mandated. Often, they wouldnt even do it then.

Call me naive, but over the past year and a half, I have been continually let down by my fellow man for ignoring guidelines and spreading misinformation about this virus.

Ive lived with an autoimmune disease and an irregular heartbeat since middle school, and I know what I need to avoid to live a mostly normal life: roller coasters, caffeine, cold medicine and life-threatening illnesses.

Because of my conditions, Im at a higher risk of being hospitalized for the coronavirus, and I have a greater chance of dying from it than most others my age. Im fully vaccinated now, but for almost a year I lived in constant fear of contracting the virus and dying. The disregard for others wellbeing I saw at Penn State this year certainly did not help.

I imagine people never cared about following guidelines around me due to the fact that I dont look sick, as though everyone with a heart condition is supposed to wear a hospital gown and carry around an IV on wheels at all times.

Back in January, before I received my vaccine, I asked another student sitting near me in the HUB to put her mask on while she was coughing.

Why dont you just worry about yourself? she yelled back at me.

I was going to say that by asking her to put her mask on, I was, in fact, worrying about myself. But confrontation has never been my strong suit. I never asked anyone to put on a mask ever again.

I imagined college students would be more considerate of others, but Ive since learned that many people of all ages are simply incapable of seeing the benefit of something that isn't instantly gratifying or beneficial to themselves. This is exactly why Penn State has started using lotteries to incentivize vaccines: because prevent those around you from dying wasnt incentive enough.

Everything  college students continuing to attend huge parties at the height of the pandemic, Penn State needing to bribe people with lottery tickets to get their vaccines, the belief that normalcy means not wearing a mask  it all boils down to a lack of empathy.

I wish the pandemic brought to light the good in humanity, but instead it only showed our cultures narcissism, where we are essentially taught that our own personal inconveniences should be prioritized over the wellbeing of the whole. When others are suffering, you can ignore that, because at least you arent.

Enjoy your vaccinated summer safely. But dont go around saying the pandemic is over because you dont need to wear your mask or worry about yourself getting sick anymore. We need to acknowledge that until the cases, hospitalizations and deaths go down to zero  until the suffering ends  it isnt over.
The El Paso County Courthouse will be closed for two weeks, because of a court reporter testing positive for COVID-19. EPSD deputies and court employees stand in front of the building to intercept those who didnt know about the closure and answer questions on Monday, August 3, 2020. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
The Title Board on Wednesday declined to advance a ballot initiative that sought to broadly alter election protocols in Colorado, including through the abolition of universal mail voting and the imposition of a fingerprinted, government-issued "elector card" to vote in person.

However, the board's decision was based on relatively narrow grounds: Proponents had failed to adhere to the constitutional requirement of including only a single subject in their ballot measure. While the designated representatives maintained the measure's contents fell under the topic of election integrity, board members saw new constraints on legislative and judicial authority as additional subjects.

Its not whether we like it or dont like it. Its just a separate subject," said board Chair Theresa Conley, representing Secretary of State Jena Griswold.

The three-member board has jurisdiction to set an initiative's ballot title for voters, thereby advancing the measure to the signature-collection phase, but only if the proponents satisfy the review for a single subject. For Initiative #38, designated representatives Margot Herzl of Littleton and Anna Omsberg of Bailey argued that the measure appropriately touched upon multiple facets of the electoral process.

"Election integrity is about a lot more besides just security. A big part of it is removing conflicts of interest by people who are running elections," Herzl said.

Aside from eliminating ballot drop boxes and overturning the ability of residents to register and vote through Election Day, Initiative #38 also stated that judges, among other authorities, may not "alter election law by agreement, consent decree, or otherwise; such actions are felonies and void."

Board members believed such a provision amounted to a limitation on the courts' authority to review laws dating to the landmark Marbury v. Madison decision of 1803, and was therefore a second subject.

I guess my concern is that the power of the courts to do constitutional judicial review has been well established for over 200 years in this country," said Jason Gelender, representing the Office of Legislative Legal Services. "Regardless of the merits of this particular measure, it seems to me that this provision is intended  or at least the way it reads  is to prevent the court from exercising that power when looking at not only this measure, but any other election law.

Herzl said the proponents' intent was not to block judges from ruling on election law, but only that "they cant change it." When asked whether Initiative #38, if passed, would make it illegal for a court to find that any portion of the initiative itself was unconstitutional, Herzl responded, I honestly dont know the answer to that.

The board also took issue with another portion of the measure to bar changes to election laws and procedures in even-numbered years.

"Thats a simple removal of conflict of interest because you have people who want to do short-term changes that will, they think, help them in the short term," Herzl explained. "It's better that the law remain stable for a longer period of time so that you dont have any kind of last-minute shenanigans.

Gelender responded that the power of the legislature is only subject to constitutional restrictions. Initiative #38 would alter state statutes, and not amend the constitution. In light of that fact, Herzl conceded the prohibition on election law changes appeared to violate the constitution.

David Powell, the representative of Attorney General Phil Weiser, also expressed doubts about the relationship of other provisions to the concept of election integrity. Initiative #38 would have also changed procedures for filling congressional vacancies and a curtailed the government's ability to fund voter registration or turnout efforts. Those elements were, in Powell's view, unrelated to the single subject.

The board voted unanimously to find it lacked jurisdiction to set a title. At its prior meeting in May, board members also declined to take action because the designated representatives had not submitted the initiative paperwork in accordance with state law.
This year our dine and drink business locations throughout the Gorge have suffered with closures. You can help support your favorites by purchasing take out and gift cards. Many of these business will offer curb-side delivery and some will deliver to your home. Lets keep the Gorge going strong!
Are you a current print subscriber to Columbia Gorge News? If so, you qualify for free access to all content on columbiagorgenews.com. Simply verify with your subscriber id to receive free access. Your subscriber id may be found on your bill or mailing label.
 Flash

To mark the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations and the China-ASEAN Year of Sustainable Development Cooperation, the 2021 ASEAN-China Media Cooperation Forum was held in Beijing on June 2 under the theme "Thirty Years On: A New Chapter for ASEAN-China Win-Win Cooperation."

The forum was guided by the State Council Information Office (SCIO) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, co-sponsored by China International Publishing Group (CIPG) and the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), and organized by China Report Press.

Du Zhanyuan, president of CIPG, Tang Heng, deputy secretary-general of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Kung Phoak, deputy secretary-general of ASEAN, Khamphao Ernthavanh, Lao Ambassador to China, Jusan Vincent L. Arcena, assistant secretary of Presidential Communication Operations Office of the Philippines, and Chen Dehai, secretary-general of ACC, attended the forum and delivered keynote speeches both in person and virtually. Gao Anming, vice president and editor-in-chief of CIPG, hosted the opening ceremony of the forum.

In-person attendees included Indonesian Ambassador to China Djauhari Oratmangun, Malaysian Ambassador to China Raja Nushirwan Z. A., Vietnamese Ambassador to China Pham Sao Mai, Liu Chunxiang, deputy director-general of the International Liaison Bureau of SCIO, Fang Hong, deputy director-general of the Asian Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, Chen Shi, deputy editor-in-chief of CIPG and president of China Report Press, and Guo Jinshi, director of the Information Office of Gansu Provincial Government. They were joined by nearly a hundred representatives from media and think tanks at the venue in Beijing.

Du Zhanyuan, president of China International Publishing Group, delivers a speech at the 2021 ASEAN-China Media Cooperation Forum. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

"Media exchange and cooperation is an integral part of China-ASEAN relations and plays a significant role in promoting the development of bilateral relations and enhancing exchange and mutual learning among civilizations," remarked CIPG President Du Zhanyuan in his speech. "Media exchange and cooperation between the two sides have broad prospects and great potential." He expressed hope that China and ASEAN would deepen the content of cooperation, expand areas of cooperation, and create new modes of cooperation to contribute more wisdom and strength to maintaining the sustainable and stable development of bilateral relations and building a China-ASEAN community of shared future.

Tang Heng, deputy secretary-general of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, delivers a speech at the 2021 ASEAN-China Media Cooperation Forum. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

Tang Heng, deputy secretary-general of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, stated that with increased cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and ASEAN, media cooperation between the two sides has been constantly promoted at multiple levels, through multiple channels, and in diverse forms. It is hoped that the media of both sides will continue to help policy synergy, gather consensus from all sides, advocate pragmatic cooperation, convey confidence and positive energy, focus on sustainable development, and consolidate the public opinion foundation for friendly cooperation, so as to create a favorable public opinion environment for the development of China-ASEAN cooperation.

Kung Phoak, deputy secretary-general of ASEAN, delivers a speech at the 2021 ASEAN-China Media Cooperation Forum. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

Kung Phoak, deputy secretary-general of ASEAN, said that despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the partnership between ASEAN and China remains strong and vibrant. He stressed that this year is significant for both sides as 2021 marks the ASEAN-China Year of Sustainable Development Cooperation, which will provide fresh momentum to bilateral strategic partnership. The pandemic has led to a surge in internet traffic, bringing more opportunities for media cooperation, especially in the area of new media. Strengthening media cooperation will help the two sides make new and greater progress in the future.

Khamphao Ernthavanh, Lao Ambassador to China, delivers a speech at the 2021 ASEAN-China Media Cooperation Forum. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

Khamphao Ernthavanh, Lao Ambassador to China, noted that ASEAN and Chinese media, as the main communication channels and sources of information for both sides, have played an important role in social, economic, cultural, public health, livelihood and other aspects. The media should leverage the existing effective mechanisms to contribute to writing a new chapter of economic development of ASEAN and China, especially the post-pandemic cooperation, she opined.

Jusan Vincent L. Arcena, assistant secretary of Presidential Communication Operations Office of the Philippines, delivers a speech at the 2021 ASEAN-China Media Cooperation Forum. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

Jusan Vincent L. Arcena, assistant secretary of Presidential Communication Operations Office of the Philippines, remarked that strengthening media cooperation is in the common interest of both sides and conducive to peace, common prosperity, stability, and development in the region. Despite difficulties in economic and trade cooperation due to COVID-19, he said, the two sides are using technology as much as possible to promote the new normal, share new initiatives, and explore new modes of cooperation, which will strengthen two-way economic cooperation between ASEAN and China, promote common interests, and enhance regional peace and stability.

Chen Dehai, secretary-general of ASEAN-China Centre, delivers a speech at the 2021 ASEAN-China Media Cooperation Forum. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

ACC Secretary General Chen Dehai remarked that the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is profoundly changing the way people live and work, endowing the media industry with new connotation of the times and more room for development, and putting forward new and higher requirements for content creation and communication methods in the media sector. He expressed hope that media from both sides will tell more amazing stories about China-ASEAN win-win cooperation, promote policy communication and strategic alignment, and further deepen and expand media cooperation.

Gao Anming, vice president and editor-in-chief of China International Publishing Group, hosts the opening ceremony of the forum. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

Representatives from Chinese and ASEAN media also participated in sessions of the forum themed "New Prospects for Regional Economic and Trade Cooperation under the RCEP" and "New Media Trends in the New Technological Revolution," during which they discussed hot issues, looked to the future, and shared suggestions for sustainable development of China-ASEAN media cooperation.

On the sidelines of the forum, Yu Yunquan, president of the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies, released the bilingual book Keywords to Understand China: Foreign Affairs in the New Era (Chinese-English). Chinese and ASEAN guests also visited the photo exhibition "Mogao Caves Meet Angkor Wat" prior to the opening ceremony.
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.
India's top health research body hopes to have whole country vaccinated by December

Xinhua) 09:03, June 02, 2021

NEW DELHI, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Head of India's top health research body Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Balram Bhargava said on Tuesday that he was hopeful that the whole country will be vaccinated against COVID-19 by December this year.

"There is no shortage of vaccines. This (shortage) is what you feel if you want to be vaccinated within a month (but) our population is four times that of the United States. Need to have some patience. By mid-July, or early August, we'll have enough doses for a crore (10 million) a day," Bhargava said.

"By December we hope to have the whole country vaccinated."

India is currently administrating two made-in-India vaccines - Covishield manufactured by the Serum Institute and Covaxin of Bharat Biotech - to inoculate its population.

Though consignments of Russian-made Sputnik V vaccines have arrived in India, they are yet to be rolled out.

Bhargava said while increased testing and strict containment have helped control the second wave, however it was unwise to rely on such measures as they are not "a sustainable solution."

"We have to find a mechanism on how we have to ease our containment or lockdown and that has to be done very gradually and very slowly," he said.

"Re-opening revolves around three pillars - positivity rate of less than 5 percent for a week, at least 70 percent of vulnerable individuals (elderly and those over 45 with co-morbidities) must be vaccinated and community must continue to follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour."

Last week senior minister Prakash Javadekar said the country will be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of 2021.

India's states have been flagging the shortage of vaccines insisting they do not have sufficient stock, particularly for the 18-44 age group.

The Indian health ministry said on Tuesday that 127,510 new COVID-19 cases and 2,795 related deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Bianji)
Pictured from left to right are: Bludso and event organizers Kamar Chambers and Johnny Guerra. Organizer Andy Williams is not pictured. Call 903-641-0828 for more info or to donate.
Continue Reading Below Advertisement

Oh, and a local investigator uses his knowledge gained from obsessively reading bad murder mysteries to try and solve the case, giving it a totally ironic feel and also predicting the rise of Californian noir detective fiction. So why dont we have this significant piece of fiction on our shelves? Well, even though Steinbeck tried to get it published initially, he wrote this magnificently macabre novel under a pseudonym of one Peter Pym, as it was early in his career and he was looking to make some quick cash without being branded as a pulp fiction writer. Now, Steinbecks estate is arguing that the author didnt want the story to see the light of day, hence the Peter Pym part. That seems like a flimsy argument, especially given the fact that Steinbeck destroyed the work he didnt want anyone else to see, ever. Why would he go through the trouble of eliminating what he thought was his lesser work, just to leave this specific novel intact?

Continue Reading Below Advertisement

Steinbeck might not have thought much of his marshy novel, but that doesnt mean the world feels the same. Also, thats really just a writer-thing. We are notorious for hating on our own work. Stephen King threw Carrie in the literal trash before his wife dug it out and told him he was onto something. Kafka wanted to burn everything hed ever written. It really comes with the territory. That is why its Crackeds official stance that the Steinbeck estate do the right thing and bless the world with this lost work of werewolf art. (Seriously, Steinbeck even did an illustration for the book. It could look like a doodle made by a toddler and well still think its glorious.)

Besides, given his record, it couldnt possibly be the most controversial piece of Steinbeck literature ever published. Not by a long shot.

Zanandi is trying to finish a book without tearing it into a million pieces and flushing it down the toilet. So dramatic. Give her some motivation on Twitter.

Top Image: Mohamed Hassan/Pixabay
To enjoy our website, you'll need to enable JavaScript in your web browser. Please click here to learn how.
BARAMULLA, JUNE 02: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor Baseer Ahmad Khan today visited Tangmarg area of Baramulla district where he took stock of COVID-19 mitigation measures.

During his visit, he inspected recently established COVID Care Centres at Panchayat level in order to assess the status of medical infrastructure and arrangements in these centres wherein he directed to ensure that all the necessary medicare facilities are provided in a hassle free manner. He said that 5-bedded CCCs have been established on the directions of Lieutenant Governor in every Panchayat with an aim to strengthen the health infrastructure in rural areas amid the 2nd wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

The Advisor, later, met various stakeholders comprising of PRIs, transporters, traders, religious heads among other prominent representatives of the society, to discuss various means and measures for effective Covid control at grassroot level.

On the occasion, the concerned stakeholders apprised the Advisor about the issues being faced by them during the ongoing pandemic. The Advisor gave a patient hearing and assured them to redress the genuine grievances in a time bound manner.

Baseer Khan lauded the cooperation of various stakeholders which made it possible to ease the restrictions and urged active participation of every citizen vital for the total eradication of the pandemic. He stressed upon them to motivate people to follow covid guidelines for the good of entire society.

While interacting with the Hoteliers of Gulmarg represented by the President Hoteliers association, the Advisor emphasised on following the Covid-19 protocol and the SOPs in letter and spirit.

The Advisor announced that a fully functional oxygen plant shall be started in Tangmarg very soon which will help in combating the challenge of the Covid crisis.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Baramulla Bhupinder Kumar briefed the Advisor about various initiatives that were taken by the district administration in order to control the spread of the pandemic. He also informed the Advisor about the current status and position of COVID-19 and gave a brief description of positivity and recovery rates in the district.

Director Rural Development Department Kashmir Tariq Ahmad Zargar, SSP Baramulla Rayees Ahmad Bhat, SDM Gulmarg Sameer Jan, heads of various departments, district and sectoral officers among other concerned functionaries were present on the occasion.
News

top story

Legislative leaders, governor cut budget deal, but much work remains

Rep. Dean Urdahl Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen

Legislative leaders and Gov. Tim Walz found common ground on a budget.

And even though no budget was finalized before the Minnesota Legislature adjourned May 17, word of an agreement between DFL and Republican leadership was good news to state Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Acton Township.

Sort of.

Gov. Tim Walz and the top two Senate and House leaders announced May 17 they had agreed on broad spending targets for the states next two-year budget. But lawmakers have many details to hammer out before a special session can be called to approve budget later this month.

The legislative leaders said the governor would call a special session no later than June 14. Walz is required by law to reconvene lawmakers by that date as a condition for extending the emergency powers he has used to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

Certainly, its good news, Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Acton Township, said of the budget agreement. Yet, he said, the fact that so much work still must be done left him unfulfilled and somewhat concerned about the process that will be used to nail down the details of the budget.

The final day of the session left Urdahl to borrow from poet T.S. Elliott, saying, This is the way the session ends, not with a bang, but a whimper.

Much of the budget details will be negotiated without a lot of input from the majority of legislators.

A lot of this now isnt as transparently done as it would have been otherwise, he said. In some instances, just a few people will be putting this together.

Urdahl said an agreement but no actual passage of budget bills could be blamed in part on the fact that legislators knew they would be called back in to special session to consider the governors emergency powers on June 14. Knowing they would be back again in a few weeks anyway created a lack of urgency to get final deals done, he said.

Its like having your final exam delayed and you know its delayed, so why study? said Urdahl, a former middle school social studies teacher.

Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, agreed with Urdahls concern over the lack of transparency, not just over budget details but the entire legislative session.

COVID has resulted in committees meeting by Zoom, including limited seating for floor session, Gruenhagen wrote in an email in response to questions. This has been frustrating, especially since it has been very difficult for the public to participate in the legislative session.

Gruenhagen also was much more strident on who should shoulder the blame for the Legislature not getting its work done by end of session.

The primary disagreement between parties that lead to special sessions is that for every problem, the DFL wants to expand government and raise taxes when Minnesota is already one of the highest taxed states in the nation, he said. While the state has a projected surplus of $4.2 billion, the governor and DFL still want to raise taxes approximately another $1.6 billion on an economy already struggling to recover from COVID.

The task of resolving their differences was harder this year than in 2019 because lawmakers mostly met remotely due to the pandemic and had fewer chances for one-on-one deal-making.

But you have three people who basically respect each other and are able to work well together despite huge ideological rifts between them, said Hortman, of Brooklyn Park.

WORK STILL TO BE DONE

The spending agreement  which appears to be around $52 billion but is still a work in progress, according to state Management and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter  features no new taxes, tax relief for those hardest hit by the pandemic, and spending increases for public schools, the three leaders said.

It really is a win-win-win budget, Hortman said.

That feat  increasing spending while providing limited tax relief  was made possible by some $2.8 billion in federal COVID relief money headed to Minnesota, as well as a wider economy that, despite pockets being hammered by the pandemic, is growing, swelling state tax coffers. In fact, theres so much money that the agreement was able to spread out increased spending on education through 2025, and still leave a chunk of those federal funds unspent as a hedge against the future.

Deciding how to spend the federal funds was one of the main complications in the budget negotiations, the leaders said. The state didnt get federal guidance on how it can spend that money until last week.

Under the agreement, Walz will control $500 million of that sum to spend on vaccinations, testing and other COVID-related services, while the Legislature will get a say in how the rest is spent.

WHAT ABOUT OTHER BILLS?

The agreement, which all three trumpeted as a bipartisan success in a state with divided government in an era of polarization, says nothing about policies. I think of this as a numbers-only agreement, Hortman said.

She said it will be up to a House-Senate conference committee negotiating the public safety budget bill to find common ground and decide which police accountability proposals passed by the House will make it into the final version.

Senate Republicans had resisted the policing package passed by the House, saying they wanted to focus on the budget and allow time to implement a policing bill that passed last summer following the May 2020 death of George Floyd, a Black Minneapolis man who died in police custody. The new package was spearheaded by the legislative People of Color and Indigenous Caucus, which had hoped to build on the momentum of the murder conviction last month of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in Floyds death.

Depending on who youre talking to, were either way apart or close, said Gazelka of East Gull Lake. Because there are some things that we think we can do, but again, some people would want a lot more, some people want less.

Hortman said she also hopes  but is uncertain  that a public works construction bill, often referred to as a bonding bill, could be agreed upon by June.

In addition, Walz said he and lawmakers would continue trying to negotiate an agreement to phase out the moratorium on evicting renters that he imposed on landlords during the pandemic. That moratorium is scheduled to end when his emergency powers expire, and state leaders want to prevent an avalanche of evictions.

GOP TOUTS NO NEW TAXES

Republicans successfully resisted calls by Walz and Democratic lawmakers for income tax increases on the wealthy and some other taxes to provide continuing funding for education, saying there was no need for a tax increase when the state was facing a $1.6 billion surplus and had $2.8 billion in federal coronavirus aid coming.

Promise kept, Gazelka said of the Republicans no-new-taxes pledge.

One of the sticking points in the negotiations was whether the state should fully exempt federal Paycheck Protection Program loans and unemployment insurance benefits from state taxes or impose caps to capture some of that revenue from better-off companies.

Gazelka scored a partial victory by exempting PPP funds from state taxes, which Democrats agreed to as part of a plan to also waive the state tax on up to $10,200 in unemployment benefits. It was Democrats who first sought to marry the two.

May 17 was the state tax filing deadline, and filers were required to file their taxes as if the agreement doesnt exist (because its not law yet). It remains unclear whether those eligible will have to re-file their taxes or state revenue officials will be able to automatically send out refunds.
Yes, I am sure my money is invested in companies I trust.

I'd like to invest in more ethical companies but I don't know how.

I'd like to invest more in ethical companies but I don't think the returns are as good.

I don't know where my money is invested.

Vote

View Results
ONE YEAR LATER

Opinion: Where do we go from here?
NEW BRITAIN  Two 911 calls made around 40 minutes after authorities issued an Amber Alert for a missing 4-year-old boy led officers to a Wethersfield motel where they found the child with a man and woman who were hiding in the woods, a police report released Wednesday revealed.

The couple, David and Stephanie Fonda, were taken into custody Tuesday night. David Fonda, 37, was charged with risk of injury to a child and reckless endangerment stemming from the boys disappearance, police said. Stephanie Fonda, 39, was charged with an unrelated arrest warrant for third-degree identity theft, sixth-degree larceny and credit card theft following a Rocky Hill investigation that started last November.

Middletown police, who took the missing persons report, issued the Amber Alert at 7:56 p.m. Tuesday, saying the child was last seen 23 hours earlier in New Britain.

Police said the child was believed to be with Stephanie Fonda, a friend of the boys uncle who had taken his blue Chevy Malibu without permission. Wethersfield police were notified about 8:38 p.m. that her cellphone had pinged in a 4,000-meter radius of Valley View Drive, the report said.

As the officers drove toward the area, Wethersfield police received a 911 call from a man who said he saw the car parked at the Fifth Avenue Motel on the Berlin Turnpike 30 minutes earlier, according to the report. Another anonymous call came in that the car was still parked outside the motel, the report stated.

When officers arrived, they spoke to a woman at the motel who said she saw a couple on the heavily wooded northeast side of the building. As officers approached the woodline with a police dog, they spotted a man on his knees, a woman on the ground and a child next to them, crying hysterically, the report read.

Officers took the man and woman, later identified as David and Stephanie Fonda, into custody while an officer carried the child, the subject of the Amber Alert, out of the woods.

An officer noted in the report that David and Stephanie Fonda were covered in mud.

I believe that David and Stephanie Fonda intentionally fled into the woods with the juvenile after seeing that police had responded to the motel to investigate the abduction, the officer wrote in the report.

During a court appearance Wednesday afternoon, Judge Maureen Keegan ordered David Fonda held on $75,000 bond after hearing from a bail commissioner on a lengthy criminal history that dated back to 2004. His case was continued to July 14.

Keegan ordered Stephanie Fonda held on $50,000 bond. Stephanie Fonda has several pending cases and was free on bail at the time of her arrest, a bail commissioner told Keegan. Her case was continued to June 28.

Deputy Assistant States Attorney Christopher Griffin asked for the high bonds, noting there is an ongoing investigation into the incident that spurred the Amber Alert.

Public defenders for both Fondas told the judge more investigation needs to happen and questioned why the Amber Alert for the missing boy was issued nearly 24 hours after the child was last seen.

The police report released Wednesday did not provide information about what led to the child being reported missing.

During a press conference Tuesday night, Middletown Police Lt. Brian Hubbs said the boys uncle, who had been caring for the boy, left the child with Stephanie Fonda when he went to work Monday night. When he returned on Tuesday and realized the child was missing, the family tried recovering the child throughout the evening without luck. Thats when the family went to the authorities, Hubbs said, and Middletown and New Britain police launched an investigation.

He said New Britain police were investigating any possible criminal element in the case.

Hubbs said the boy was unharmed, but was taken to the hospital to be evaluated as a precaution. The report said the state Department of Children and Families received reports from Middletown, New Britain and Wethersfield police on suspected child neglect after the boy was reported missing.
BRIDGEPORT  Fifteen out of 750 staffers at Jewish Senior Services resigned last week after refusing to get vaccinated for the coronavirus.

And while that number represents just about 2 percent of his staff, Andrew Banoff, JSSs president, said it was still difficult to see them go.

I still think its the right decision and feel strongly it was the right thing to do, but its hard, Banoff said in an interview Wednesday.

The Park Avenue-based provider of long-term care, assisted living and other aid to the elderly was one of the first employers in Connecticut to mandate employees get inoculated or lose their jobs. His decision remains in the minority  for now.

Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media

Generally speaking, most employers are not requiring it yet, said Diane Mokriski, employment law and human resources counsel for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association in Hartford. But its becoming a more and more common question.

In February, Banoff announced that COVID-19 vaccinations would become a condition of employment for direct and indirect caregivers, effective May 1. That date was pushed back to last week because of the brief period that one of the three available shots  the Johnson and Johnson vaccine  was taken out of circulation for further study of a rare blood clot side effect.

Banoff said those who resigned were a combination of long term and short term, of part time, full time and per diem employees.

Asked what reasons, if any, were provided for refusing to be vaccinated, Banoff said, I think its a combination of all of the issues that have been talked about pretty widely. Some of the crazy things put out there on social media. Some of it is just pure concern about vaccinations in general. Some of it is concern about reactions.

He said 12 other workers who remain on staff were allowed to refuse shots based on medical accommodations.

You can fire people for not getting a vaccine with two exceptions, Mokriski said  having a sincerely held religious belief or a disability.

And, of course, the disability has to relate to the vaccine, she continued. You cant just say, Im in a wheelchair, therefore Im not getting a vaccine. Its got to be, I have a disability that prevents me from getting a vaccine.

Mokriski added that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission just last week further clarified its guidance on the matter.

Ive been telling people for a while now they can mandate the vaccine, she said. What that agency said was ... there is no anti-discrimination law that would prevent an employer from requiring a vaccine. ... Its not that they said, Hey, all employers, we hereby grant you permission to require the vaccine. ... Its more like, There is no law that someone could sue you under because you required the vaccine.

She said she is not aware of any lawsuits in Connecticut or nationwide over a vaccine requirement for employment, but added, I have no doubt they will come. But, Mokriski said, given the EEOCs announcement, any such challenges will be tough to win.

Banoff said so far, Jewish Senior Services has not been threatened with any legal action.

I would not be shocked if somebody did, Banoff said. From a legal perspective, we have every right to make this decision.

With the shots so readily available in Connecticut, Mokriski said she anticipates more and more employers outside of the healthcare industry will be considering requiring inoculation.

Maybe by the fall or end of the year, well have a better sense, she said. What it comes down to is whether the employer really is comfortable letting people go because theyre not gonna agree, and thats a tough (decision).

She said currently many bosses and companies are instead trying to provide incentives like paid days off to get the shots and recover from any side effects, gift cards, lunches and perks through health insurance plans.

They really want these employees to be vaccinated because thats how businesses are going to reopen, she said. The sooner the most possible people as possible can get vaccinated, the better.

During the worst of the pandemic, which struck Connecticut in March 2020, more than 100 of JSSs residents were infected. Some 22 died that spring, and nine this past winter.

But with tenants and his staff inoculated, Banoff said that for several weeks, there has been a slow but steady return to normal. In fact, Gov. Ned Lamont, who visited JSS in May 2020, came back last month to celebrate the facilitys and states re-emergence from the health crisis.

(There are) more and more resident activities. ... Were doing barbecues next week, Banoff said. We had a very, very difficult year. Lost a lot of sleep over a lot of things. And clearly the stress level is less. Its better.

The future remains a question, he said.

Im cautious enough to recognize we dont know what happens next. We're just going slow, he said. We work very closely with the Department of Public Health. And were gonna take it as it comes.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  A group of retired military personnel have created an all-military ticket to contend in Sundays elections for a host of public offices in a populous Mexico City suburb.

Campaigning under the slogan Military Force, the 28 candidates  16 women and 12 men  promise to bring order to Naucalpan, a city of 800,000 residents.

The military slate is believed to be an isolated effort, but it will be closely watched in a country where the military has been given more responsibilities under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador than at any other time in recent history.

Forty percent of citizens say they would somewhat or very much agree with a government led by military officers, according to a recent survey by Mexicos census agency, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.

The military ticket is running for the small Solidarity Encounter Party, which has a evangelical bent and supports Lopez Obrador. The partys future could depend on the results in Sundays elections, where Mexicans will select an entirely new lower chamber of Congress, 15 governors and thousands of local offices.

According to the military candidates, their run is not a partisan effort  their slate was presented to a number of other parties before landing with PES  but rather an apolitical project aimed at responding to problems of security and corruption in Naucalpan.

They say they would bring their military experience to bear in the form of management, order and hierarchy. If successful there, they say the experiment could expand.

We could start as a base in Naucalpan, where we are going to seek peace and social justice to later spread it at a national level, said Reyes Robles, a retired army general running for a congressional seat.

Robles is the highest-ranking member of the ticket. With 45 years of service in the army, he rejected the suggestion that Mexican politics are being militarized. He said being retired, each person on the ticket is exercising a constitutional right, like any other citizen.

Our country does not militarize, Robles said. Simply, our governments, when politics fail, they lean on the armed forces for the organization and the capacity to respond to the problems were facing.

Retired Capt. Oscar E. Hernandez Mandujano, another congressional candidate, noted that military personnel often retire early and then must make their way as civilians. He compared leaving the military to leaving a university, only with a national management model based on military values.

The armed forces have always been a behind-the-scenes power in Mexican governments. Following an early series of governments led by military figures, Mexico reached an an unwritten agreement in the post World War II era under which the executive limited its involvement in military matters while the Army stayed out of government.

Former President Felipe Calderon (2006-2012) sent the military into the streets in his war against organized crime, and in recent years a number of local and state governments opted to put retired military officers in charge of their police forces. In some cases it led to a reduction in violence, but an increase in reports of abuses.

Since Lopez Obrador took office in December 2018, the military has been even more in the public eye. Not only are soldiers, marines and now the National Guard  largely led and staffed by ex-military  leading a fight against organized crime, theyre also leading major infrastructure projects and running customs posts. Retired military personnel have been named to key posts in the National Immigration Institute.

Lopez Obrador has justified this military creep by saying that soldiers are more trustworthy to get things done and not be corrupted. But there have been controversies. In late 2020, retired Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos, the defense secretary under ex-President Enrique Pena Nieto, was accused of ties to drug trafficking and arrested in the United States. Mexico objected mightily, the case was dropped and Cienfuegos was returned to Mexico, where a cursory investigation was quickly closed.

Civil society groups and the United Nations have warned about growing militarization in Mexico, but most saw politics as a line that wouldnt be crossed.

Military personnel dont like to get involved in politics, said Juan Ibarrola, a military expert. Its not in their interest and they dont need it, because they already have enough power.

For more than a decade retired soldiers and sailors have had seats in the congress through various parties and that is viewed well by the military. But Ibarrola said the military itself has not promoted the Naucalpan effort.

Hernandez Mandujano said that he never asked military permission to run, but the candidates do plan to inform the military of their intentions if they win.

Our countrys big problem is the lack of organization, Robles said. For that reason, he thinks voters will see his military experience as a strength rather than something to be feared.

Polls do not favor them, but Hernandez Mandujano said there was already an echo.

A lot of generals, troop leaders have sought us out, he said. So they dont rule out that in the future they could create a new political party.
With no movement over the long weekend on a deal to avert a strike of 2,100 group home workers, the operators of 200 affected facilities came one step closer to having to relocate hundreds of residents.

Residents of the homes, who have intellectual and developmental disabilities, would have to go to nursing homes or to temporarily live with family members starting Thursday morning, group home operators said Tuesday.

The workers are threatening to walk off the job starting at 6 a.m. Friday if they dont receive an offer from the state similar to the one presented recently to nursing home employees. That leaves Tuesday night and Wednesday as the window for an agreement before the group home operators must make the first steps toward relocations.

If were able to go what the nursing homes got, that would suffice, said Stephanie Deceus, vice president for the Group Homes division of SEIU District 1199 New England, the union mounting the strike.

Gov. Ned Lamont and his top aides, who brokered the $267 million nursing home deal to boost pay and benefits through an increase in the Medicaid reimbursement rate, have said they are confident they can come up with a similar agreement for group home workers.

Both the nursing home and group home workers are part of District 1199, which is demanding the state increase funding for the long-term care industry so that its members can finally make livable wages with access to affordable health care and a path to retirement.

Pedro Zayas, spokesman for District 1199, said Tuesday the union was still awaiting a proposal from the Lamont administration to improve salary and benefits for group home workers and that it was hopeful an offer would come before Fridays strike deadline.

For their part, the not-for-profit organizations are pushing for their first increase in state funding in 14 years, have put strike contingency plans in place  as the nursing home operators did leading up to eleventh hour deal from Lamont administration.

Barry Simon, the chief executive officer of Oak Hill, which operates 70 of the affected group homes, said as many as half its 400 clients would need to be relocated to nursing homes if the work stoppage goes forward. If a deal is not reached by Wednesday night, Oak Hill would begin to notify clients and families then that they would be relocated Thursday.

When you have as many clients as we have, its an all-day affair, Simon said. Our sincere hope is the governors office and the union come to some agreement so we can keep people safe and at home.

Simon said Oak Hill is working to keep people together, in the event relocations happen, so that residents who live together will be placed at the same nursing home, providing them some level of familiarity. But, he said, its been a challenge at times to find facilities that have space for groups of residents.

Journey Found Inc., which operates 16 of the sites subject to Fridays strike notice, is also preparing to relocate at least a dozen of its 51 affected residents.

Many are able to stay with family members for at least one night, said Tracey Walker, CEO of Journey Found, which would rely on administrative and managerial staff to provide direct care for the residents who would remain on site.

The disruption would certainly be difficult for a population who relies on continuinity and things remaining consistent, Walker said.

Nancy Vito, executive director at Mosaic in Cromwell, which operates 25 of the sites, said finding temporary staff to fill in has been extremely hard so the organization is planning to temporarily close nine of its homes and relocate the residents to nursing homes or place them with family members while the strike is going on. In total, 150 of Mosaics clients would be affected by work stoppage.

Vito said she absolutely understands the plight of the workers but said without an increase in funding, Mosaic cant support their demands for increased wages.

The other group home operators affected by Fridays strike deadline are Whole Life Inc. of Stratford, Sunrise Northeast of Hartford, and Network Inc. of Andover.

julia.bergman@hearstmediact.com
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden used the 100th anniversary of Tulsa's race massacre to make a plea for sweeping legislation in Congress to protect the right to vote as Republican-led governments in Texas and other states pass new restrictions making it tougher to cast ballots.

Biden, marking the centennial in Oklahoma on Tuesday, called out lawmakers in Congress  including two senators in his own party  for holding up action on voting bills. Invoking the words of the late Rep. John Lewis, Biden said the right to vote is precious and must be protected. He pledged that June will be a month of action on Capitol Hill as Congress considers the legislation, which is among the top priorities of his administration.

Were not giving up, Biden said. Im going to fight like heck with every tool at my disposal for its passage.

Republican state legislators are pushing what experts say is an unprecedented number of bills aimed at restricting access to the ballot box. While Republicans say the goal is to prevent voter fraud, Democrats contend that the measures are aimed at undermining minority voting rights.

Most recently, the Texas Legislature moved closer to passing a bill that would reduce early voting hours, tighten voter identification requirements for absentee ballots and eliminate ballot drop boxes and drive-thru voting centers. The bill was blocked only when Texas Democrats walked off the House floor on Sunday night; Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has said he will order a special session to ultimately ensure its passage.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell played down the ability of the new state laws to quash voter turnout.

I dont think any of these efforts at the state level are designed to suppress the vote based upon race, McConnell said at a news conference Wednesday in Kentucky.

McConnell promised to block the federal voting rights bill, characterizing it as undue government overreach into state election systems. He said no GOP senators support it.

Biden addressed the federal voting rights legislation during an event marking the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, in which a white mob looted and burned Tulsas Greenwood district, which was known as Black Wall Street.

Despite Biden's pledge to keep fighting to pass legislation protecting voting rights, he acknowledged that his biggest obstacle may be within his own party.

Biden called out two fellow Democrats in explaining why he hasnt enacted some of the most ambitious elements of his agenda, noting that slim majorities in the House and evenly divided Senate have hamstrung legislative negotiations around key issues like voting rights.

Responding to critics who question why he hasnt been able to get a wide-reaching voting rights bill passed, Biden lamented, Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House, and a tie in the Senate  with two members of the Senate who voted more with my Republican friends."

It appeared to be a reference to Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both of whom have frustrated Democrats with their defense of the filibuster. The rule requires most legislation to win 60 votes to pass, making many of Democrats biggest priorities like voting rights and gun control dead on arrival in the 50-50 Senate. While Sinema is a sponsor of the voting rights bill that passed the House, Manchin has refused to sign on, calling the measure too broad."

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday denied that Biden was blaming Manchin and Sinema for holding up the legislation. She said Biden does not see eye to eye on every single detail of every issue with every lawmaker, but that he simply was referencing the commentary he often hears on cable TV about the slow progress on legislation he wants to sign into law.

I dont think he was intending to convey anything other than a little bit of commentary on TV punditry, Psaki told reporters after being pressed to explain what Biden meant.

But its not just Manchin and Sinema who oppose doing away with the filibuster, As many as 10 Democratic senators are reluctant to change the rules even for must-pass legislation such as the voting rights bill. Biden has not said he wants to end the filibuster.

It's unclear whether Biden's comments will change the views of any senators, who are facing tough choices ahead as pressure mounts on them.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told colleagues that he would be bringing the voting rights bill to a vote the week of June 21, in effect testing where senators stand. Schumer warned in a letter to colleagues last week to brace for the month ahead.

Biden has tasked Vice President Kamala Harris with leading the administrations efforts to defend voting rights. It adds another high-profile fight to Harris fast-expanding portfolio, which includes addressing the root causes of migration from Central America, leading the National Space Council and working on expanding access to broadband internet.

___

Associated Press writers Jonathan Lemire in New York and Darlene Superville in Tulsa, Oklahoma, contributed to this report.
Viktoria Sundqvist / Hearst Connecticut Media

Staff at Hearst Connecticut sent out initial requests for public school superintendent contracts on Feb. 22. Requests were emailed directly to each of the 153 superintendents at the contact information listed on the school districts website or found via the Connecticut Department of Education.

Thirty-two contracts were received that same day. Fourteen districts had the superintendents contract posted for the public on their websites. Reminders were sent out every two weeks to districts who had not yet responded, and contracts kept coming in through March, April and May. The last two contracts were received on June 1.

Connecticuts Freedom of Information Act requires a public agency to acknowledge a request for public documents within four business days. The agency must provide the actual documents promptly and without undue delay, but there is no time frame specified in the statute.

Some districts said the requests got caught up in school district spam filters, while others explained that staff had been out of the office for an extended period of time. Three school districts - Ashford, Monroe and North Branford - sent contracts in the mail, while the rest were submitted electronically. State statute does not specify how documents should be provided.

Two contracts - from Hartford and Derby - were marked Confidential in large letters across the top, even though superintendent contracts by law are public documents available for inspection upon request.

Once received, we tracked contracts in a Google spreadsheet and uploaded each one publicly to DocumentCloud, which was then used to build our online searchable database.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  Ohio residents who were recently vaccinated may want to answer their phone on Vax-A-Million days, even if the number isn't familiar. It might be Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on the other end.

The Ohio Lottery announced the next winners of the state's Vax-a-Million vaccination incentive prizes Wednesday at the end of the lottery's Cash Explosion TV show.

Jonathan Carlyle, of Toledo, won the $1 million prize and Zoie Vincent, of Mayfield Village in Cuyahoga County, won the college scholarship.

More than 3.2 million Ohioans entered their names for a shot at the $1 million, up from the 2.8 million who had registered for last weeks drawing. More than 133,000 children entered their names for the scholarship, up from just over 104,000 last week.

Wednesday is also the day that the last statewide orders meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus expire.

The only virus-related restrictions that will remain in place after Wednesday are those involving nursing homes and assisted living facilities. But businesses and schools will still be able to require masks and social distancing, if they choose to do so.

DeWine continues to urge people to get the COVID-19 vaccine and to wear masks if not vaccinated.

Abbigail Bugenske, last week's winner of $1 million, learned of her good fortune just minutes before her name was drawn when DeWine called as she was driving to her parents' home in suburban Cleveland.

The mom of Joseph Costello, the first college scholarship winner, was leaving work when the governor called and had to sit down, she was so shocked.

The names were actually drawn Monday using a random number generator, to leave time to confirm recipients' eligibility. Vax-a-Million is open to permanent Ohio residents who have received either the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or their first part of the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna vaccination.

After Wednesday night, three more $1 million and college scholarship winners will be announced each Wednesday for the next three weeks.

DeWine, a Republican, announced the program May 12 to boost lagging vaccination rates.

Participants must register to enter by phone or via the Vax-a-Million website. Teens can register themselves, but parents or legal guardians must verify their eligibility. The names of entrants who don't win will be carried over week to week. The deadline for new registrations is just before midnight on Sunday.

More than 5.3 million people in Ohio had at least started the vaccination process as of this week, or about 45% of the state. About 4.7 million people are done getting vaccinated, or about 40% of the state. Nationally, more than 168 million Americans have started the vaccination process, or about 51% of the population. More than 135 million are fully vaccinated, or about 41%.

DeWines proposal inspired similar vaccine-incentive lotteries in Colorado, Maryland, New Mexico,New York state and Oregon.

Vaccinated residents in New Mexico who register on the states new Vax 2 the Max portal can win from a $10 million prize pool including a $5 million grand prize, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Tuesday.

Also Wednesday, DeWine signed into law a bill delivering federal pandemic relief to help schools and to bolster the states efforts to fight the coronavirus.

Specifically, it provides more than $787 million to Ohios public and private schools, $173 million to the state Health Department for COVID-19 testing and vaccine distribution and $7 million to the Ohio National Guard to further support its coronavirus response.

___

Associated Press writer Julie Carr Smyth contributed to this report.

___

Follow APs coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
HARTFORD  State Capitol police are investigating an incident that occurred Tuesday night when a man drove a van across the south lawn of the Capitol grounds.

The incident came after bullet holes were discovered at the state Capitol building earlier that morning. Police said the incidents are not related.

Police said a suspect in the driving incident has been identified, but no arrest has been made as the investigation continues.

Capitol police said they spotted a vehicle on the grounds with the driver revving the engine, in an apparent attempt to get people's attention shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday.

State Rep. Ben McGorty said he was on the phone with his wife when the vehicle, which he described as an older brown conversion van pulled up nearby.

The guys just revving up the engine, McGorty, a Shelton Republican, told Hearst Connecticut Media on Wednesday. Its odd. Its not like the throttle was stuck or anything. He kept flooring it and coming back. Then flooring it and holding it down for a little bit. And Im looking at him, and somethings not right.

McGorty said the driver tried to get him to come over with a hand gesture. Figuring something was off, McGorty said he alerted Capitol police.

There were two other people coming down the sidewalk and I said, Go back, go back, theres something wrong with this guy, McGorty recalled.

As officers approached the van, the vehicle pulled out, according to McGorty.

Capitol police said the vehicle reversed before driving over the south lawn of the Capitol grounds

McGorty said the vehicle swerved like he was going to go for me or whatever before driving down the sidewalk near a police car and onto the lawn where the van did some circles.

Police said the vehicle went off the grass and onto a sidewalk before heading on to the Interstate-84 west on-ramp.

Capitol police said they gave chase, but the driver refused to stop, before they called off the pursuit.

Police said charges are possibly pending based on their investigation.

The incident does not appear to be related to the gunfire that struck the Capitol building over the weekend. On Wednesday, state police said that incident is believed to have been part of a weekend shooting spree by a 74-year-old Southington man.

The suspect in that incident, identified by Southington Police as Douglas Floyd Gollnick, has been hospitalized following his arrest on Sunday.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  Prosecutors are seeking a 30-year sentence for the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murder in George Floyd's death, but a defense attorney is asking that Derek Chauvin be sentenced to probation and time already served, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

Chauvin is scheduled to be sentenced June 25 following his conviction on murder and manslaughter charges. Judge Peter Cahill previously ruled there were aggravating factors in Floyds death. That gives him the discretion to sentence Chauvin above the range recommended by state guidelines, which top out at 15 years.

Prosecutors said Chauvin's actions were egregious and a sentence of 30 years would properly account for the profound impact of Defendant's conduct on the victim, the victim's family, and the community. They said that Chauvin's actions shocked the Nation's conscience.

No sentence can undo Mr. Floyds death, and no sentence can undo the trauma Defendants actions have inflicted. But the sentence the Court imposes must show that no one is above the law, and no one is below it," prosecutors wrote. Defendants sentence must hold him fully accountable for his reprehensible conduct.

Defense attorney Eric Nelson cited Chauvin's age, lack of a criminal record, and support from family and friends in requesting a sentence of probation and time served. He said Chauvin, 45, was the product of a broken system.

Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor and now a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, said it's not unusual for attorneys to make these kinds of requests as a sort of opening offer." He said there is zero chance that Chauvin will get probation, and prosecutors are also unlikely to get the 30 years they are requesting.

He said Nelson's attempts to paint Chauvin as a good fit for probation and a law-abiding citizen will probably face ferocious push-back from the government," given Chauvin is also charged with tax evasion. He added that Nelson's reference to Chauvin being the product of a broken system is fascinating  most Americans seem to think that Chauvin embodies what is broken about our system of criminal justice.

Chauvin was convicted in April of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for pressing his knee against Floyds neck for about 9 1/2 minutes as the Black man said he couldnt breathe and went motionless. Floyds death, captured on widely seen bystander video, set off demonstrations around the United States and beyond as protesters demanded changes in policing.

Even though Chauvin was found guilty of three counts, he'll only be sentenced on the most serious one  second-degree murder. Under Minnesota sentencing guidelines, with no criminal record he faces a presumptive sentence of 12 1/2 years on that count. Cahill can sentence him to as little as 10 years and eight months or as much as 15 years and stay within the guideline range.

But prosecutors asked for what is known as an upward departure, saying there were several aggravating factors that warranted a higher sentence. Cahill agreed, finding Chauvin treated Floyd with particular cruelty, abused his position of authority as a police officer, committed his crime as part of a group of three or more people, and that he pinned Floyd down in the presence of children.

Prosecutors said that even one of those factors would warrant the higher sentence.

Nelson wrote that while this incident painted Chauvin as a dangerous man, he has served his community as an officer and has a loving family and close friends. He also disputed the court's finding that aggravating factors existed, saying there is no evidence that Chauvin's assault on Floyd included gratuitous infliction of pain or cruelty.

Here, Mr. Chauvin was unaware that he was even committing a crime. In fact, in his mind, he was simply performing his lawful duty in assisting other officers in the arrest of George Floyd, Nelson wrote, adding that Chauvin's offense can be best described as an error made in good faith based on his experience and the training he received  and was not the intentional commission of a crime.

In spite of the notoriety surrounding this case, the Court must look to the facts. They all point to the single most important fact: Mr. Chauvin did not intend to cause George Floyds death. He believed he was doing his job," he wrote.

No matter what sentence Chauvin gets, in Minnesota its presumed that a defendant with good behavior will serve two-thirds of the penalty in prison and the rest on supervised release, commonly known as parole.

Nelson is also seeking a new trial for Chauvin  which is a fairly routine request after a conviction. He argued extensive pretrial publicity tainted the jury pool and denied Chauvin his right to a fair trial. He also said Cahill also abused his authority when he declined defense requests to move the trial out of Minneapolis and sequester the jury. And, he said the state committed prosecutorial misconduct.

Nelson is also asking for a hearing to investigate whether there was juror misconduct. Nelson alleged that an alternate juror who made public comments indicated she felt pressured to render a guilty verdict, and another juror who deliberated did not follow jury instructions and was not candid during jury selection. That juror, Brandon Mitchell, did not mention that he had participated in an Aug. 28 march in Washington, D.C., to honor Martin Luther King Jr.

Nelson alleged that Mitchell made comments to the media that indicated he based his verdict on outside influence.

Prosecutors have a week to submit a written response to those arguments.

Chauvin has also been indicted on federal charges alleging he violated Floyds civil rights, as well as the civil rights of a 14-year-old he restrained in a 2017 arrest. The three other former officers involved in Floyds death were also charged with federal civil rights violations; they await trial in state court on aiding and abetting counts.

A federal trial date has not been set. Federal prosecutors are asking for more time to prepare for trial, saying the case is complex because of the sheer volume of evidence and the separate but coordinated state and federal investigations.

___

Find APs full coverage of the death of George Floyd at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)  West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and his companies are suing another bank lender, the latest trouble for his business empire after he revealed he is personally liable for $700 million in loans to a separate lender.

The Republican governors coal and hospitality businesses filed a lawsuit on Monday against Virginia-based Carter Bank & Trust over claims of deception. Justice is also personally on the hook for $368 million in remaining loan debt to that bank, according to court documents.

News of the lawsuit comes after Justice confirmed on Tuesday that he personally guaranteed $700 million in loans taken by his coal companies from a lender in the United Kingdom that went bankrupt.

The Republican governor on Tuesday took shots at the bankrupt Greensill Capital U.K. and said it is a burden on our family beyond belief. Justices Bluestone Resources Inc. sued Greensill in March in federal court in New York.

Justices businesses face several other woes, including penalties totaling $3.2 million from the federal government and lawsuits over claims his companies failed to deliver coal.

In the latest lawsuit, Justice's companies seek $421 million in damages from Carter Bank over deceptive practices. Justice says a close business relationship dramatically fell apart after the death of the bank's founder, Worth Carter, in 2017. West Virginia Metro News first reported on the lawsuit.

Court documents call Carter a banking legend and say that Justice and him were so close he delivered a eulogy at his funeral. Over nearly 16 years, Justices enterprises acquired over $775 million in loans from the lender and has so far paid down $407 million of it.

But Justice claims new leadership that took over Carter Bank after his death were hostile. The complaint says bank officials reneged on handshake agreements over extensions on loan payments tied to his declining coal business. Instead of putting pen to paper, the bank ignored follow-up correspondences from Justices businesses, according to the complaint, and forced them into oppressive loan terms.

The mutually beneficial, trust-backed relationship with late Worth Carter in helping the Justice Entities weather tough times was unexpectedly replaced with the cold silence of the new Carter Bank, the filing says.

Instead of a repayment extension that was orally agreed on, the bank in early October 2017 said the loans were in default and demanded repayment of nearly $268 million within ten days, according to court documents.

A day later, the bank offered a litany of unfavorable changes to loan terms, which plaintiffs say they had no choice but to acquiesce to."

The suit blames new bank leaders Litz Van Dyke and Phyllis Karavatakis for pulling the rug of trust and confidence right out from under the Justice Entities. Several other instances of bad faith practices are also alleged in the lawsuit.

A spokeswoman for the bank did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

At a Tuesday news conference where he faced questions over his debt to Greensill, Justice briefly alluded to personally guaranteeing the loans that were held by Carter Bank & Trust.

I did personally guarantee the loans," he said. The loans have always been personally guaranteed when they flowed from Carter Bank through Greensill to other banks along the way. Thats been the case for a very, very, very long time.
No matter the industry, businesses and consumers alike look to technology to simplify their lives. Of course, thats also the case at credit unions, particularly when it comes to fintechs, aka financial technology companies.

As consumers evolve in their expectationsespecially so over the last life-changing yearthey expect services to meet their needs more effectively all the time. This can range from how they apply for a loan to how they make person-to-person payments after a virtual game of cards. When credit unions look for solutions to meet members latest demands, fintechs often have the answers.

By helping credit unions deliver innovative technology, they help credit unions stay competitive. Thats one of the many ways that fintechs are creating value for and with credit unions right now.

Fintech companies are increasingly focused on competing with legacy technology vendors to better serve credit unions, says Alex Johnson, director of fintech research at CUES Supplier member and strategic partner Cornerstone Advisors, based in Scottsdale, Arizona. This is giving credit unions more choices when it comes to modernizing key technology areas like core banking and digital account opening. This trend is also creating a bigger pipeline of potential acquisition targets for the big legacy tech vendors, which will eventually trickle down as innovative new features for their credit union clients.
Funeral service for Helen Francis Turner, 76, of Cullman will be Saturday, June 12, 2021 at 11 a.m. at Peck Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. James Watts and Rev. Keith Whitley officiating and Peck Funeral Home directing with burial in Bell Springs Cemetery. Visitation will be Friday, June 11, 2
Instant unlimited access to all of our content on currypilot.com.

The Curry Coastal Pilot's E-Edition Newsletter emailed to you each week, the night before the paper hits the street!

This subscription is for NEW or RENEWING online subscribers.

(The charge will appear as "Country Media Inc." on your credit card statement)


Local

featured

Rally unites pastors, protesters in call for justice

jeure / Chris Day/The Daily Advance About 80 protesters march along Ehringhaus Street following a rally held to demand transparency and accountability in the investigation of Andrew Brown Jr.s shooting death, Tuesday. Rallies seeking justice for Brown organized by Repairers of the Breach were held in eight cities across North Carolina on Tuesday, including Elizabeth City. jeure / Chris Day/The Daily Advance About 80 protesters march following a rally held in Elizabeth City to demand transparency and accountability in the investigation of Andrew Brown Jr.s shooting death, Tuesday. Rallies seeking justice for Brown organized by Repairers of the Breach were held in eight cities across North Carolina on Tuesday.

The Rev. Javan Leach said hes been asked how long people plan to keep protesting in the aftermath of Andrew Brown Jr.s shooting death by sheriffs deputies.

Leach, pastor at Mt. Lebanon A.M.E. Zion Church, said he always gives the same answer:

Until you listen to us and give us what we need for our peace, Leach told a group gathered for a rally outside the Pasquotank County Public Safety Building Tuesday afternoon. Were not asking for anything other than what we learned in the first-grade when we put our hands to our hearts and said the Pledge of Allegiance.

The rally in Elizabeth City was one of at least eight held simultaneously across the state Tuesday to demand, according to organizer Repairers of the Breach, transparency and accountability in the investigation of Browns shooting death April 21.

The Rev. Benny Oakes, a United Methodist pastor in Elizabeth City, noted that simultaneous rallies were being held in cities across North Carolina.

Were so thankful to be in solidarity with brothers and sisters across the state and around the country, Oakes said.

Oakes said what he encourages his white brothers and sisters to do is listen  just listen.

The Rev. Lekyndric Blocker, pastor of Dominion Family Fellowship Church, said I serve a Savior who is always right and added he is waiting for the Lord to set things right regarding Browns death.

(District Attorney Andrew) Womble has spoken, Blocker said. (Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy) Wooten has spoken. Now its time for the Lord to do the speaking.

The Rev. Donald Waltz, a hospice chaplain who is a Disciples of Christ minister, read Amos 5:21-24, which includes the words: Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

He applied the words to todays congregations.

If justice is not in our churches, the Bible is very clear: then God is not in our churches, Waltz said.

Waltz said he has been encouraged by clergy who have spoken up and stepped out in response to Browns shooting death.

Leach led those gathered outside the Public Safety Building in chanting Not another One! He added that he means not only another one killed by police but also not another one subjected to wrongful arrest.

Leach said injustice in policing does not affect only young Black men.

If you think its just Black people  its coming to your street, Leach said.

Leach noted the rallies occurring across the state. We are standing together in solidarity all over the state of North Carolina, he said.

No matter who seems to be in charge right now, Jesus Christ is the ultimate authority, Leach said.

Every tongue must confess ... even Wombles tongue ... that Jesus Christ is Lord, Leach said.

Leach said those who have been protesting since Browns death come from all races, genders, economic backgrounds and religious denominations.

Affirming that the protests have been peaceful, but that protesters will not be quiet in the face of injustice, Leach led the assembly in a prayer before the group began a march.

More than 50 protesters left the parking lot at the beginning of the march and by the time it reached Ehringhaus Street there were 80 or more.

Glenda Brown Thomas, an aunt of Andrew Brown Jr., said in an interview shortly before the rally started that Browns family still needs to see complete and unedited body camera footage from the shooting.

That is one of my major concerns is that they show all of the videos and not redact them, Thomas said.

She said she wants to be able to find out what really happened to her nephew. Redacting the video and showing only part of them makes it appear something is being hidden, she said.

Thomas said she supports changing the law in North Carolina to make it simpler and quicker to release body cam footage.

I would love for that law to be changed in Andrew Brown Jr.s name, Thomas said.

Thomas also said it was encouraging to see pastors turn out for Tuesdays rally.

Gregory Dillard, who is Browns cousin, said he also wants to see a change in the states body cam law. He said a number of reforms are needed in the whole system of policing and criminal justice.

Annie Ferebee, who is Browns aunt, said she would like to see changes in how warrants are served. She questioned whether it was necessary or appropriate to deploy a tactical team to serve the warrant in the incident in which her nephew was killed.
Elizabeth City, NC (27909)

Today

Considerable cloudiness. Low near 65F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Low near 65F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
KINGSTON

Alderman resigns, but expects to be reappointed
Paul Kirby is a reporter for the Freeman, covering Kingston politics. He has been at the Freeman since August 1996.
A Los Angeles County firefighter appeared to have a longstanding job-related dispute with the co-worker he shot and killed at their small fire station this week
Madison, SD (57042)

Today

A clear sky. Low near 60F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A clear sky. Low near 60F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
From left, Longwood Rotarian Rob Newman, Longwood Rotarian Vickie Gehrt and Kennett Square Police Chief William Holdsworth display a check that will help fund new load-bearing vests for the department.
In this file photo, a Sunoco Pipeline construction crew member carries a Geiger counter as crews prepare to X-ray the pipeline at the Mariner East 2 pipeline construction site in front of the valve station on Boot Road in West Goshen.
West Chester

GunSenseUs calls for gun reform

With gun sales at record levels, and mass shootings on the rise, a local group is promoting common sense
Old photographs of one of Australia's favourite scientists have reemerged on social media, with hundreds impressed by his handsome appearance.

Beloved boffin Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, 73, is almost unrecognisable in his early twenties and thirties with his dark hair, long beard and bushy eyebrows.

The science commentator was featured in an episode of Julia Zemiro's Home Delivery on the ABC where his old photos were shared and he had an opportunity to share his incredible life story.

Dr Karl was born in Sweden but grew up in Wollongong, New South Wales, and has worked as a science communicator on both television and radio.

In the ABC episode, Dr Karl took Julia on a personal tour of his hometown and the Port Kembla steelworks which sparked his curiosity as a young boy.

Scroll down for video

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki 'trying to climb Mount Bangeta in Papua New Guinea' at the age of 21

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, now 73, in another photo from his youth that shows off his dark hair, long beard and bushy eyebrows

Dr Karl grew up in Wollongong, New South Wales but was born in Sweden and has worked as a science communicator on both television and radio

Dr Karl has had an extraordinary working life as a physicist, labourer, mechanic, filmmaker, biomedical engineer, television weatherman, film maker and medical doctor at The Children's Hospital in Sydney.

His parents fled to Australia in 1950 to escape the second World War and said the most prominent thing he learnt from them was to 'try to make the world a better place'.

In the 28-minute television episode Dr Karl took Julia on a personal tour of his hometown of Wollongong and the Port Kembla steelworks which sparked his curiosity as a young boy

Dr Karl has had an extraordinary working life with careers ranging from being a physicist to a labourer, mechanic, filmmaker, biomedical engineer, television weatherman, film maker and medical doctor at The Children's Hospital in Sydney

In an episode of Julia Zermiro's Home Delivery on the ABC, Dr Karl elaborated on his inspiring life experiences

While reading Plato's Republic at age 16 he came across the line 'the unexplored life is not worth living', which 'resonated' with him

Upon recounting his youth and his curious mind, Dr Karl said when he read Plato's classic novel Republic at age 16 he came across a life-changing line.

'The line was, "the unexplored life is not worth living" and, for some reason, that just resonated with me,' he said.

'Then I saw the truth of that a few years later when I went to work at the steelworks.'

Dr Karl said he noticed some of the employees at steelworks had been working in the same job for 20 years but were still 'alive and vibrant', whereas others lacked curiosity or interest in learning anything new.

He was 'astonished by the magnificence' of the work produced and how the employees had a tendency to remain in the same job their whole life - a reflection of the time.

Dr Karl told Julia Zemiro he spent time working at the steelworks as a physicist and scientist testing steel

He decided to leave the job at the steelworks for 'various reasons', but mostly for the opportunity to begin a new career (pictured over the years)

Dr Karl then turned to medicine, dipped into biomedical engineering and then began sharing his knowledge with others on radio

At the steelworks factory, Dr Karl worked as a physicist, metallurgist and scientist testing different types of steel samples.

He decided to leave the job for 'various reasons', but mostly for the opportunity to begin a new career.

'Unlike everybody else I knew, suddenly, I was on a pathway where every 1.5 years I was shifting into a new career,' he said.

From there he had a chance to visit Papua New Guinea to teach physics to students, which he loved. It's also where he started to grow his luscious beard during his 'hippie' phase.

Dr Karl then turned to medicine, dipped into biomedical engineering and then began sharing his knowledge with others on radio.

He now shares his knowledge online by making his own TikTok videos - and has a strong following of more than 271,000 people.
Kate Middleton's uncle says his niece is 'trying to mediate' and bring peace to the royals after Prince Harry's nuclear truth-bombing.

Gary Goldsmith, 56, who is brother to Kate's mother Carole, described the Duchess as a 'brilliant arbiter and peacemaker' and insisted she is doing everything she can to make things right between her husband and his brother.

Speaking to Closer magazine, Gary added that the Duke of Sussex, 36, needs to 'get a grip' and stop his 'self-indulgent episode' before it gets to the point where there is 'no common ground or relationship to rebuild'.

The Ibiza-based recruitment consultant said everyone has been left 'astonished' by Harry's outbursts, which include accusing the Royal Family of racism and neglect in a series of interviews with Oprah Winfrey.

Gary Goldsmith, 56, who is brother to Kate's mother Carole, described the Duchess (pictured last week) as a 'brilliant arbiter and peacemaker'

'If you want an easy life, work it out privately and have a conversation respectfully. Don't air it in public, it's really hurtful,' Gary told the publication.

'The harsh truth - in my opinion - is that if Harry doesn't get a grip and stop this self-indulgent episode, there will soon be no common ground or relationship to rebuild.

'But if anyone can bring peace to the royals, Kate can. Kate is a brilliant arbiter and peacemaker. Every bone in her body is about making friends and doing the best she can... she's trying to mediate.'

Gary observed how his niece was trying to improve relations between William and Harry at Prince Philip's funeral in April. The trio were once a close unit, and Gary said Kate is trying to go what she can to make things right.

He added that while he is 'sorry' that Harry believes he's had a tough time, he can see from Kate that she is 'very happy' being part of the Royal Family, and is doing a great job while constantly 'under a microscope'.

Speaking to Closer magazine, Gary (pictured in 2017) added that the Duke of Sussex, 36, needs to 'get a grip' and stop his 'self-indulgent episode'

Last month Gary revealed he first met the Duke of Cambridge while making a cup of tea at the family home in Berkshire and he 'immediately' told all his mates about William and Kate dating, despite being 'sworn to secrecy'.

He said his niece has a 'devilish and wicked sense of humour' and was 'born ready to be Queen'.

Gary told 60 Minutes Australia: 'I walked through the front door of the family home there's Kate cooking supper and William making a cup of tea, all the family mooching round.

'William said "hello I'm William", I said "hello I'm Gary". It was just like meeting a normal bloke, he was a normal part of the family, which was a bit bonkers. That's Prince William and he was just making a cup of tea'.

Gary added that he can't have 'usual' small talk with the royal - such as 'what do you do?' and 'where do you live?' but said that 'there's loads of fun to be had'.

Gary observed how his niece was trying to improve relations between William and Harry at Prince Philip's funeral (pictured) in April

'When the rugby's being watched, I asked "is your dad supporting Wales and you England?"'

Discussing the first time he heard William and Kate were dating, he added: 'Well I got the phone call, I was in a board meeting, and Carole phoned me to say "this might be happening" and I was sworn to secrecy.

'The conversation was "you what what" seriously I can't believe this is a real thing.

'The first thing you do even though your sworn to secrecy is tell your best mates. I told them I think I'm gonna be uncle to a queen of country'.

Clearly close to his niece, Gary went on: 'I think she was born ready [to be Queen]. It's a modern version of the Royal Family we know, I think she's perfect for that role.

'Obviously I'm a bit biased but wouldn't Kate and William be great at it?'

Discussing William and Kate's wedding day 10 years ago he added: 'It was unbelievable from the moment we jumped into the car and went to the ceremony.

'It was crazy thinking "this is our Kate; seeing her walking down the aisle with Mike [Micheal Middleton, her father], I was just looking at my daughter and we were thinking "oh em gee"'.

'I'll be like a baby when Kate becomes Queen. She's someone to be super, super proud of, she's nicer on the inside than the outside, she's a beautiful soul.

'She's got a wicked and devilish sense of humour, she's a very funny girl and laughter fills every room she's in.

'She's very domestic and very good at cooking, she's almost like the girl next door with a wicked sense of humour that happens to have a very important role.'

In the same interview, he said he was 'massively disappointed' when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle decided to throw the firm 'under a bus' in a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey and also took aim at the Sussexes for claiming that Kate reduced Meghan to tears in a row over bridesmaids' dresses - something he says he '1,000 per cent doesn't believe'.

After the bombshell interview aired in March, Mr Goldsmith posted a message on LinkedIn branding Harry and Meghan 'muppets craving attention'.

He pleaded with them to 'shut the F up' and let Britons get on with 'saving lives' and the 'economy' during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in the UK.

When asked about the infamous post, he said: 'I'm embarrassed about doing it but I stand by it.'
From Bianca Jagger to Andy Warhol, this fascinating set of Polaroids captures some of the biggest names on the New York disco scene in their heyday.

The snaps were shared on Instagram by fashion mogul Giancarlo Giammetti, co-founder of Italian fashion house Valentino and onetime lover of his business partner, Valentino Garavani.

Together the pair attended dazzling dinner parties with some of the biggest names in fashion, music and art, including Diane von Furstenberg and the vivacious Liza Minelli.

Giammetti, who has been dubbed the most 'well connected man in fashion', was on hand to capture his friends on a Polaroid camera and kept the snaps for decade in his personal collection.

He shared the photos on social media this week in honour of Netflix series Halston, and the man who inspired it, captioning the series: 'My time in Halston's days.'

Fashion insiders: Halston is pictured laughing alongside his longtime friend and muse Elsa Peretti, who died in March aged 80, in photos shared by Valentino's Giancarlo Giammetti

It couple: Photographer Peter Beard is pictured with his then girlfriend Barbara Allen, who was a Warhol collaborator. Allen died in June 2020, aged 69. Beard died months earlier, aged 82

Centre of attention: Andy Warhol, centre, with Italian film producer Marina Cicogna, right. Warhol died in 1987, aged 58. Cicogna is best known for producing the film Belle de Jour

Halston, who is played by Ewan McGreggor in the series, was a glittering figure on the fashion scene in the 1970s and 80s and is credited with helping to revolutionise the way the world thought of American fashion.

In Giammetti's photos, Halston is pictured laughing alongside his longtime friend and muse Elsa Peretti, who died in March aged 80.

Italian-born Elsa became a fixture on the scene after moving to Manhattan in 1968 to find work as a model, which she initially struggled to come by due to her distinctive appearance.

Fresh-faced: Liza Minnelli, Halston's closest friend, turns a doe-eyed smile on another reveller

Queen of fashion: Diane von Furstenberg gazes into the lens in one of the dinner party snaps

She went onto become a jewellery designer with Tiffany & Co, a contract she initially secured thanks to an introduction from Halston.

Elsa is seen looking typically chic in all black with her hair pulled back, while Halston has a cigarette resting in his hand.

Elsewhere Valentino smiles slyly at Bethann Hardison, one of the first high profile black models.

She burst onto the scene at the 1973 Battle of Versailles charity fashion show, which pitted French and American designers - including Halston - against each other.

Deep in conversation: Elsa (far left) and Bianca Jagger (in white) are unaware of the camera

Trailblazer: Valentino smiles at Bethann Hardison, who was one of the first high profile black models. She burst onto the scene at the 1973 Battle of Versailles fashion show

In another snap, the late photographer and artist Peter Beard looks dapper with his arm around his then girlfriend, Barbara Allen.

Model and Warhol collaborator Barbara had a host of ardent admirers, including Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty and Philip Niarchos.

It is not known when the photos were taken but it appears as though they document a number of dinner parties.

Giammetti made headlines last year when he shared unseen photos of Princess Diana on board the Valentino yacht two years before her separation.

Movers and shakers: Model turned stylist and fashion executive Marina Schiano with Tiffany & Co jewellery designer Elsa Peretti and Giorgio, a friend
A private jet flight attendant has shared stories of the sex, intrigue and scandal that takes place thousands of miles up in the air in a sensational new memoir.

Using the pen name Saskia Swann, 45, to protect her identity and career, the flight attendant explained she spent six years working 'for peanuts' for one of the world's leading airlines before a chance meeting in a London bar led to a job on board a luxury private jet.

In Above And Beyond: Secrets Of A Private Flight Attendant, co-written with Nicola Stow, Saskia details how she was thrust into the glittering world of oligarchs and billionaires where the hostesses wear Prada and the mile-high shenanigans not only take place in luxury cabins, but in the cockpit itself.

From a boss who 'expected a little bit more from his flight attendants' to having to hide evidence of mistresses on board, she has offered a very revealing insight into life behind the scenes of a private jet's cabin crew...

A former 'trolley dolly' turned private flight attendant has revealed the truth behind what really goes on thousands of miles in the air in new memoir Above And Beyond: Secrets Of A Private Flight Attendant by Saskia Swann and Nicola Stow. Pictured, stock image

THE RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE WHO EXPECTED SEX

Saskia signed eight confidentiality agreements before being offered her first job working for a Russian billionaire, which came with an impressive 40,000 annual salary.

Stepping into the world of glitz and glam, the former 'trolley dolly' began living the high life, travelling the world in luxury, with designer outfits, five-star hotel stays and a daily 80 allowance. However, the job wasn't without its downsides.

While Saskia was informed she would be travelling alongside her boss's wife Irina* and their two children, it wasn't long before she uncovered the dirty little secret he was hiding.

On one occasion, Saskia accompanied the family from Istanbul to LA, but no sooner had Pavel* waved goodbye to his wife, than she was forced to get rid of all evidence of her presence.

Black list of billionaires who expect 'extras' 'Attendants had trotted off a whole list of jet owners who were known to be 'dodgy', from those who expected sexual favours to those who demanded their staff undergo cosmetic surgery: nips, tucks, Botox, boob enlargements or reductions, etc.' Saskia, who said she'd never have accepted the job on Pavel's jet if she was aware of the 'extras' she was 'expected to perform' also told of an ongoing situation in Jeddah with a 'dodgy Saudi prince.' She explained: 'He has a couple of jets and, when in Jeddah, he keeps his attendants in the 'palace'. 'Apparently 211 they're paid handsomely to provide sexual favours to him and other members of the royal family. He makes the girls take AIDS tests every month, apparently.' Advertisement

Manically ditching everything from her toiletry bags and shoes to books and combs, moments later she was tasked with welcoming his model mistress Savannah* on board.

Saskia was told: 'There must not be one of Irina's hairs in sight anywhere on this aircraft. Savannah's blonde. If she spots one brunette hair she'll suspect Pavel's cheating on her. Yeah, one f*** up and we'll all be sacked.'

After Savannah and Pavel pair spent a 'couple of hours cavorting' on the sofa, Saskia told how Savannah, who revealed the pair had been together for three years and two months, began to ask why he wouldn't marry her.

She went on to say how he'd whisked her off to places all over the world - including Paris, Hong Kong, Sydney, Hollywood - yet any mention of taking her to his home city of Moscow to meet his parents and he starts to make excuses.

Scared to say anything in case she got the sack, Saskia did her best to change the direction of conversation.

Soon, Saskia was informed that Pavel was a 'known womaniser' who 'expects a little bit more from his flight attendants,' too.

She recalled how her time came on a trip to New York and just like she'd been warned by colleagues, she received a text at 5pm.

Having been warned that if she didn't sleep with Pavel she may as well consider herself fired because it's 'part of the job,' and in 20,000 debt, Saskia, who staying in a $1,500-a-night room at the time, accepted her boss's invitation to dinner - but not before breaking down in tears.

After being delivered a box containing a bandage dress and diamond necklace, Saskia found herself in a Mercedes and on her way to upmarket restaurant Eleven Madison Park.

Following a pricey, high-end meal, Pavel hopped into a private elevator and whisked Saskia up to his penthouse suite, which was adorned with chandeliers, luxurious glass balconies and lacquered walls.

Three years after working for Pavel, Saskia then began working for Saudi prince Hossein, where secret affairs continued. Pictured, stock image

After dining on further caviar, oysters and lobster and getting drunk on chilled bottles of Dom Perignon, Saskia recalled how one thing led to another.

'Our dancing ended in sex, on the luscious carpet among scraps of food,' she said. 'Interminable missionary sex. I'm sure Pavel had taken Viagra...I closed my eyes and let him continue.

Catching the boss in a VERY compromising position with a singer Saskia once had the displeasure of catching her 'billionaire' boss Tyler in quite the compromising position with Flavia*, a singer, who was no longer wearing the ball gown and dazzling diamonds she had entered the plane wearing. Recalling the moment she debated telling her to 'keep the noise down a little,' Saskia explained: 'The first thing I saw was Tyler's feet: square toes splayed, poking out beneath the duvet.' 'I couldn't see his face  because Flavia's bare back was blocking my view. She was kneeling astride him, screwing her hips and groaning.' 'And so I determined, in the few seconds it took me to relocate the button and close the door, that now was not the moment to ask: 'Would you care for the full English, eggs benedict or seasonal fruit platter?' Advertisement

'Prostitute. W***e. S***. Hooker. Trollop. Tramp. The words appeared on flashcards in my mind when I woke up, naked, hungover and alone in Pavel's bed.'

She went on to say that despite spending the night in one of the most extravagant hotel suites to ever have been built, she felt 'oh so cheap.'

Despite this, Saskia, who 'felt guilty' when she had to cater for the Russian in front of his wife, revealed that her huge debt and fear of losing her job meant that the one night of sex quickly turned into an affair.

'So my routine continued, with its five o'clock calls and sex in the company of chandeliers, fine wines and the works of Monet, Picasso, Matisse,' she added.

A SAUDI PRINCE WHO BEDDED HIS MISTRESS IN THE AIR

Three years passed and Saskia then began working for Saudi prince Hossein*, where secret affairs continued.

Saskia was told: 'Just a few white rose petals on the pillow for the princess. Always red petals for the other woman though  bloody truckloads of the things.'

Recalling the time she caught the Saudi prince and his mistress Sabeen* having sex, she said: 'There were lumps and bumps moving beneath the cashmere blanket, clothes discarded on the floor, and what looked to be a thong the colour of raw squid coiled on the table next to the canapes.

'Fortunately they were in missionary position and facing the rear of the plane, so they didn't see me.'

Saskia was told that working for Hussein was on a 'safe jet,' which she came to learn meant the plane's owner didn't expect his flight attendants to 'put out.'

BEING FITTED FOR A DESIGNER WARDROBE AT HARRODS

Saskia, who was at one point in considerable debt but now lives debt free, was blown away when she was handed a designer wardrobe for her first job on board a private jet.

She said: 'This was a whole new wardrobe  a very expensive one, too, complete with shoes, boots, luggage and accessories. The line-up went something like this: sexy black secretary-style suit comprising a pencil skirt and jacket, nipped and tucked and ending mid-hip; tailored black trousers; a classic fitted black dress; virgin wool charcoal pea coat with fur trim detail; four cream blouses  sheer, but not completely see-through; a cardigan; Hermes silk neck scarves; couple of skinny leather belts  both Prada; a handbag, also Prada; footwear by Salvatore Ferragamo  a pair of heels and knee-high boots for on the ground, and two pairs of ballet pumps to wear in the air. And finally, I was presented with my luggage: a cabin case on wheels and a bigger suitcase for the hold. Both Louis Vuitton, natch.

Above And Beyond: Secrets Of A Private Flight Attendant, by Saskia Swann and Nicola Stow, (Lume Books) is out on Thursday, 9.99

'The extravagant haul, Charlotte explained, would be delivered to my home address within the next two to three days. And although I was trying to act oh so casual about this, I couldnt help but feel overwhelmed.'

FROM SCUBA DIVING IN THE MALDIVES TO SHOPPING IN PARIS

Saskia spent some time freelancing - hopping between private jets - and loved 'every second of it'. She told how the work took her from spa resorts to the Caribbean, Dubai to New York, African safaris to theme parks in the US.

'The pay was pretty much the same across the board for freelancers: around $450 in wages, plus $125 in living expenses, per day,' she explained.

'The only financial drawback was that I no longer had a company credit card, which meant I had to sign up for another one myself.'

'There tends not to be a chef on the smaller jets, meaning all catering responsibilities are upon the flight attendant. If a client wants fifty bottles of Dom Perignon, I would need to buy fifty bottles of Dom Perignon.

'It would also be my duty to buy flowers and any other accessories for the client, as well as buying all of the food and preparing all meals on board. Expenses were later claimed back from the client.'

A BILINGUAL PARROT WITH A PENCHANT FOR POTATOES

On board one jet, Saskia and her colleague found themselves catering for Felix, a bilingual African Grey parrot, and Helena, a Siamese cat 'who came with her own oxygen mask and child life cot, in case of an emergency'.

The cats were brought on the jet, which belonged to a German client, by a doting personal assistant named Samantha.

'Felix had his own little perch attached to a seat, so he could reach the table for dinner,' Saskia continued. 'He was wearing a conical restraining collar which was clipped to a harness attached to the seatbelt.

'Gaynor and I were trying not to laugh as Felix, dancing on his perch, kept repeating something, the only words I could decipher possibly being car, toffee and dolphin.

'"Sorry Samantha," I cut in, "but what is he saying?" "Kartoffel-dauphinoise. Its German for potato dauphinoise  his favourite dish. The potato gratin from Mastros is fine though. You just serve it up in one of his ramekins."

'But Helena, explained Samantha, had a palate for turkey and ham. Both pets, she said, must remain in their seats for take-off and landing (Helenas carrier was also attached to a seatbelt).

'After rattling off a few more dos and donts and wishing us all a pleasant journey, Samantha left. And then it was just the four of us in the cabin.'

*Name changed

Above And Beyond: Secrets Of A Private Flight Attendant, by Saskia Swann and Nicola Stow, (Lume Books) is out on Thursday, 9.99.
A mum has shared a simple trick that will keep your clothes dryer free from dust and prevent it from catching fire.

Despite cleaning the outside of the trap after each load, the woman said she noticed the vent was still covered in a thick layer of lint.

After learning how to remove the cover of the vent with a plastic knife from a post in the popular Australian Facebook group, Mums Who Clean, she pulled it out, picked off the fluff, then vacuumed the inside of the duct where lint had built up.

Lint can be a major safety hazard when it gathers on the heating element of a dryer, which can overheat and potentially catch fire if a spark flares inside the machine.

Lint can be a major safety hazard when it gathers on the heating element of a dryer, which can overheat and potentially catch fire if a spark flares inside the machine (pictured before being cleaned)

The mother said she found no guide to removing the vent in her dryer's instruction manual, and thanked social media for helping her solve the mystery.

'I searched through the group posts and found how to take the vent off my dryer - thank you! I've looked through my manual, and doesn't mention it at all,' she wrote on Facebook.

'I clean out the trap every load, but would notice the vents would still have fluff, and would only vacuum from the outside.

'All clean now and found a missing toddler sock, yay! Feel so good now.'

Photos of her dryer taken before and after the vent was removed have racked up hundreds of likes and dozens of comments from women who say they were faced with the same problem.

The mother pulled the vent cover off with a plastic knife and vacuumed the inside of the duct (pictured) to remove lingering traces of lint and dust

'Just did mine the same way and it was disgusting,' one replied.

Another added: 'I didn't even think to vacuum the vents, great idea.'

'I did this to mine last year. Took the back off it. Crazy how much fluff was in there,' said a third.

Others shared tips for giving dryers an even deeper clean.

'If you all want to have a heart attack, take off the back of the dryer and peek inside at all the fluff hanging out in there!' one woman wrote.
A rhino at the Denver Zoo celebrated his 12th birthday with a performance of an original song that he played on the piano using his upper lip.

Bandhu, a male greater one-horned rhino, loves making music on the keyboard that his caretakers provide for him as part of his enrichment.

In honor of his birthday on May 18, the Denver Zoo shared a heartwarming video of the talented animal tickling the ivories.

Too cute! Bandhu, a male greater one-horned rhino at the Denver Zoo, loves making music on the keyboard that his caretakers provide for him as part of his enrichment

Celebration: In honor of his birthday on May 18, the Denver Zoo shared a heartwarming video of the talented rhino tickling the ivories

The footage that was shared on Instagram shows a caretaker holding the instrument up to Bandhu's mouth as he bangs on the keys using his prehensile lip  each song different from the last.

'It might be his birthday, but Bandhu wanted to treat you all to a special song he wrote all by himself,' the zoo captioned the video.

'Using his prehensile lip to compose a tune is just one of the many ways we can use enrichment to mentally and physically stimulate the birthday boy.'

Fan club: The footage that was shared on Instagram shows Bandhu banging the keys using his prehensile lip, and animal lovers can't get enough of his original music

Loving it: Fans took to the comments to gush about the rhino, saying they love his music

The clip has been viewed nearly 25,000 times and received some love from the Philadelphia Zoo, which gushed: 'HE'S SO TALENTED.'

'We're getting the demo up o Spotify ASAP,' the Denver Zoo replied.

Other animal lovers took to the comments to praise Bandhu's musical skills.

'This son slaps  I would buy it on iTunes,' one person wrote, while another said: 'Best thing we've seen all dang day!'

'Best song ever,' someone else agreed.
A talented brow artist has revealed why the secret to perfectly fluffy eyebrows is an interdental tooth brush that you can buy for around 15 cents each at the chemist.

The owner of Lust Beauty Parlour on the Gold Coast, Zoe, shared an Instagram video, where she explained exactly how the mini flossing brushes work at brushing up your brows and holding them in place all day.

'The power of interdental brushes. Grabs absolutely every single hair and places them babies exactly where they need to be!' Zoe wrote alongside a video showing the brushes in action.

Scroll down for video

A talented brow artist has revealed why the secret to perfectly fluffy eyebrows is an interdental tooth brush that you can buy for around 15 cents each at the chemist (pictured)

The owner of Lust Beauty Parlour on the Gold Coast, Zoe (pictured), shared an Instagram video, where she explained how the mini flossing brushes work at brushing up your brows

The brushes are currently available for $5.99 for a pack of 40 at Chemist Warehouse, or around 15 cents each.

To try the trick for yourself, simply comb through your eyebrows in sections and comb them upwards with the interdental brushes.

Brush slightly outwards for a modern, on-trend look and finish with pencil or brow mascara to make your brows really pop.

To make the look last even longer, Zoe recommends you use some brow soap on your eyebrows before using the brushes.

You can get this from the likes of Mecca, Priceline and Chemist Warehouse.

The brushes are currently available for $5.99 for a pack of 40 at Chemist Warehouse, or around 15 cents each (pictured)

More than 27,000 people who saw the simple clip were impressed and said they will definitely be trying the interdental brush trick for themselves.

'Omg, this video is so satisfying to watch,' one commenter posted.

'Wow, this gets amazing results,' another added.

More than 27,000 people who saw the simple clip were impressed and said they will definitely be trying the interdental brush trick for themselves (pictured)

Previously, leading brow artist Hannah Mutze (pictured) shared her simple three-step process to getting perfect eyebrows from home

Previously, leading brow artist Hannah Mutze shared her simple three-step process to getting perfect eyebrows from home.

The first thing you absolutely must do if you want great eyebrows is a technique that the experts call 'brow mapping' - which is basically a process that will tell you the perfect-shaped eyebrow for your face.

'There are three points that are key for brow mapping,' Hannah told Daily Mail Australia.

'The start line - which is where your brow starts and goes directly up from your nostril, the arch line - which goes diagonally from the edge of your nose through your iris and the end - which goes diagonally from the edge of your nose to the outer corner of your eye.'

This is where your eyebrow should start, arch and end to look its best.

You can draw these lines in lightly with a light brow liner so you know what you're dealing with.

The first thing you absolutely must do if you want great eyebrows is a technique that the experts call 'brow mapping' (pictured in action)

The second stage is simple insofar as you just need to link the start, arch and end of your eyebrows.

'Connect the marks using four straight lines on each brow with your brow pencil,' Hannah said.

'It doesn't matter if the lines are wider than your brows; they are more there so you can see what you're doing when you're tweezing.'

Finally, you should pick up your tweezers and begin tweezing.

'Tweeze the hairs that grow outside the lines only,' Hannah explained.

'If you tweeze within the lines, you're just getting rid of much-needed volume.'

The Benefit brow artist said she favours either Tweezerman's Slant Tweezer or Benefit's Brow Grooming Tweezer & Brush for tweezing.

'Make sure your tools are clean and pull the surrounding skin tight using your non-tweezing hand to minimise pain,' she said.

'You should always pull hairs in the same direction they grow and grip the hairs as close to the skin as possible.

'Pulling against the growth pattern can snap the hairs or even damage the follicle,' she added.

Hannah said you should get rid of any unsightly lines from pencil:

'Cleanse away the marks and style up your freshly shaped brows with a brow pencil and brow mascara,' she said.

'Always brush up to add texture and fullness.'
A boyfriend has found himself in trouble after he accidentally covered his girlfriend's brand new couch in car oil during their house move.

The Australian couple's friend made an urgent plea on social media seeking for help on removing the unsightly stains from the light grey-coloured lounge.

'Need help. A friend of mine just moved into her first home and her partner accidentally put their new lounge in a pile of car oil,' she wrote in a Facebook group.

'Does anyone have ideas on how to get it out completely or as much as possible?'

A boyfriend has found himself in trouble after he accidentally covered his girlfriend's brand new couch in car oil during their house move

While there were hundreds of people offering their useful and practical cleaning methods, others saw the amusing side to the dilemma.

'I'm so sorry to hear the loss of your friend's partner,' one woman wrote, another joked: 'Insurance! Life insurance, hope he has great cover.'

One asked: 'Can I file for divorce on someone else's behalf?' while another suggested: 'I'd be putting the couch against the wall, as for the partner, I'd be putting him through the wall.'

Others joked the girlfriend should just 'throw him in the bin' or seek a professional cleaner as well as a professional marriage counsellor.

Meanwhile, many offered their handy tips on removing the stains.

'My husband is a car mechanic and he said degreaser will break down the oil and get it out,' one woman suggested.

The Australian couple's friend made an urgent plea on social media seeking for help on removing the unsightly stains from the light grey-coloured lounge

Many urged the girlfriend to contact a professional cleaner first before attempting to tackle the grease herself.

One professional cleaner suggested against using products from the supermarket.

'Please do not try anything from supermarket as you will make it worse,' she said, adding: 'You will need to go to a commercial cleaning supplier.

'They will sell you the bottle of stuff you need to spray on and set first. It's a fabric-safe degreaser for things like wine, coffee and oils etc. Next, go hire a carpet cleaner or buy a Bissell steam cleaner.'

Many pointed out the stains are on the back of the sofa so they could simply style it against a wall where no one will ever see.

'Push it against the wall, out of sight out of mind, she'll never know,' one wrote.
Airbnb's billionaire CEO has named a spectacular 'floating' house hovering about the sea his favourite place to spend a night in Australia.

The 'Pole House' perched above Fairhaven Beach on Victoria's Great Ocean Road is one of Australia's most photographed buildings as well as being top of Brian Chesky's 'must stay' travel list.

Suspended on a single cement block 40 metres above six kilometres of rolling waves and ivory sand, the 64sqm villa creates the illusion of floating amongst the clouds as visitors walk the path towards its front door.

The 39-year-old American businessman, who is the co-founder of the world's leading holiday rental platform, is one of countless guests and passersby inspired by its breathtaking views and unusual architecture.

Airbnb's billionaire CEO Brian Chesky has named the Pole House (pictured) on Victoria's Great Ocean Road his favourite place to spend a night in Australia

The businessman, who is the co-founder of the world's leading holiday rental platform, is one of countless guests inspired by the house's breathtaking views and unusual architecture

Perched 40m above rolling waves and ivory sand, the house is one of Australia's most photographed buildings as well as being top of Brian Chesky's 'must stay' travel list

Airbnb CEO and co-founder, Brian Chesky

But the romantic getaway, which features a suspended fireplace and a queen-size bedroom that captures sweeping sea views, comes at a cost, with a weekly rate of more than $5,000 during off-peak season and almost $6,000 a week in January.

Mr Chesky, who was named one of Time Magazine's '100 Most Influential People' in 2015, said the villa's location and the fact it felt like a modern treehouse made it one of his favourite Airbnb experiences not only in Australia, but around the world.

After staying there in 2015, he told news.com.au it was 'one of the most extraordinary and the most unique places'.

Mr Chesky said the villa's location and the fact it felt like a modern treehouse made it one of his favourite Airbnb experiences not only in Australia, but around the world

The house features a suspended fireplace (pictured) and a queen-size bedroom that captures sweeping sea views

The Pole House (pictured) was built in the 1970s by Sydney architect Frank Dixon and redesigned between 2013 and 2015 by Franco Fiorentini

The property is so sought-after that it is entirely booked out until December, with limited availability for the following five months.

Built in the 1970s by Sydney architect Frank Dixon, the building was redesigned between 2013 and 2015 by Franco Fiorentini who installed floor-to-ceiling windows to take full advantage of the magnificent panoramic views.

Blinds covering two entire walls rise at the press of a button to reveal stunning sunrises for those who manage to wake early enough.

Pole House is so sought-after that it is entirely booked out until December, with limited availability for the following five months

The house has played host to engagements, bridal shoots and countless anniversary celebrations over the years, with photographic evidence seen all over Instagram

Just 90 minutes' drive from Melbourne, the Pole House - which is no longer listed with Airbnb but can be booked through Great Ocean Road Holidays - is the perfect spot for couples to escape the city for a weekend.

Guests leave rave reviews, which mostly rate the 'spectacular views' and 'big sliding doors that open out onto the waves'.

The house has played host to engagements, bridal shoots and countless anniversary celebrations over the years, with photographic evidence seen all over Instagram.
Channel 5's Anne Boleyn debuted last night to mixed reviews, with some praising the diverse casting and impeccable acting while other complained of boring and metaphor-heavy writing.

The very racy series opener - which saw several sex scenes and a kiss between Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour - claims to be 'inspired by truth and lies' but how historically accurate is it?

It already plays with historical accuracy in casting black actress Jodie Turner Smith as Henry VIII's second wife, who was most definitely white, with the star previously admitting that she knew it might be 'a stretch' for some viewers.

Set in January 1536 at Greenwich palace, the episode shows the last five months of Anne Boleyn (played by Jodie Turner-Smith) life, opening with King Henry and Anne throwing a party, 24 hours after the death of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

It goes on to document Henry's courting of his third wife Jane Seymour, his jousting accident and journey into a tyrant and Anne Boleyn's miscarriage.

So, how much of the first episode is fact and how much is simply royal fiction? Here FEMAIL fact-checks just how accurate Anne Boleyn really is...

The claim: Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII threw a party 24 hours after Catherine of Aragon's death

The show is set in January 1536, and opens on a party being thrown by Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn 'less than 24 hours after the death of Catherine of Aragon'.

Henry VIII's first wife - and mother of Mary I - had passed away aged 50 after being banished from court following their divorce three years earlier.

Jodie Turner-Smith is pictured in yellow dress and famous 'B' necklace, at court celebrating, while Henry (played by Mark Stanley) is pictured in black and yellow robes.

The couple drink and eat with courtiers, with a pigs head being served, and Anne describes Elizabeth as 'a perfect little monarch in the making' while Henry rebuffs 'our boy will be a great ruler, one for the history book,' gesturing towards her baby bump.

Afterwards, Anne is seen playing cards with ladies in the court, referring to Jane Seymour as a 'spiteful little b****'.

The show is set in January 1536, and opens on a party being thrown by Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn 'less than 24 hours after the death of Catherine of Aragon. Henry VII's first wife - and mother of Mary I - had just died aged 50 after being banished from court following a divorce three years earlier. Jodie Turner-Smith is pictured in yellow dress at court celebrating

How accurate is Anne Boleyn? FEMAIL fact checks the Channel 5 biopic The claim: Anne Bolyen was black. FALSE The claim: Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII threw a party 24 hours after Catherine of Aragon's death: MOSTLY TRUE The claim: Anne Boleyn kissed Jane Seymour and told her to 'stay away from Henry VIII'l FALSE The claim: A jousting accident turned Henry VIII into a tyrant. PROBABLY TRUE The claim: Anne walk ins on Jane Seymour sitting on Henry VIII's lap and slaps her and pulls her necklace off, leading to a miscarriage. PARTLY TRUE The claim: Thomas Cromwell plotted against Anne Boleyn. TRUE The claim: Henry believed he'd been tricked into his marriage by witchcraft. FALSE The claims: Anne Boleyn was responsible for the first English language bible. MOSTLY FALSE Advertisement

The facts: Anne and Henry had festivities following the death, but may have privately mourned

Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn did have festivities following Catherine of Aragon's death - but historians believed they may have both privately wept.

Anne, who had worked as a maid for Queen Catherine wore yellow following Catherine's death but historians re divided on the significance of this.

Many believe it was a show of joy, as yellow was a symbol of celebration in England. This would mean the King and Queen were blatantly celebrating the death of a former monarch - perhaps showing relief at the passing of a perceived enemy.

Eustace Chapuys, who served as the ambassador to England in Henry VIII's court wrote that 'Henry dressed in yellow, stuck a white feather in his cap and went dancing with Anne Boleyn's ladies.

However some believe it was a sign of sombre as yellow was a colour of mourning in Spain - where Catherine was born.

Anne's biographer Eric Ives says that the news of Catherine's death was met 'by an outburst of relief and enthusiasm for the Boleyn marriage'. He added that Anne was said to be 'overjoyed' and rewarded the messenger who brought the news to Greenwich a 'handsome present'

Ives also believed Henry exclaimed 'God be praised that we are free from all suspicion of war!'

VERDICT: MOSTLY TRUE

The claim: 'Bastard' Mary mourns Catherine of Aragon's death, Anne Boleyn offers to become a 'second mother' to her

In a later scene Anne Boleyn asks a lady-in-waiting to take her to Hatfield with her daughter Elizabeth. While in her bedchambers Anne asks the assistant: 'Tell me, the bastard, is she behaving herself' to which she replies 'Mary is the same as ever, consistently ungrateful for all the luxuries afforded to her'. She added that the King had sent her a 'generous sum'. 'You may pass my deepest sympathy to Mary on your return to Hatfield. Tell her if she wishes to come to court we would welcome her, I would happily be her Queen and second mother,' Anne says.

In a later scene Anne Boleyn asks a lady-in-waiting to take her to Hatfield with her daughter Elizabeth.

While in her bedchambers Anne asks the assistant: 'Tell me, the bastard, is she behaving herself' to which she replies 'Mary is the same as ever, consistently ungrateful for all the luxuries afforded to her'.

She added that the King had sent her a 'generous sum'.

'You may pass my deepest sympathy to Mary on your return to Hatfield. Tell her if she wishes to come to court we would welcome her, I would happily be her Queen and second mother,' Anne says.

The facts: Mary was deemed a bastard after Henry's marriage to Elizabeth was annulled and Anne Boleyn invited Mary to court

Mary - Henry VIII's first child that lived past infancy - was born declared a bastard and demoted from 'Princess Mary' to 'Lady Mary' after her parents marriage was annulled, with her younger half sister Elizabeth taking her place in the line of succession.

As a teenager, she was sent to live at Hatfield House to work as maid for Elizabeth (who had been sent to live there at just three months old) and not allowed to see her mother.

While Anne often visited her daughter at Hatfield, she is believed to only have met Mary on a handful of occasions - although the tension was been said to be extreme.

In 1534 - two years before the show is set - Anne attempted to reconcile with Mary, inviting her back to court and promising better treatment, if she would accept Anne as Queen.

But Mary responded with, 'she knew of no Queen in England except her mother, but if Madame Anne Boleyn would speak to her father on her behalf, she would be much obliged'.

Following Catherine of Aragon's death, Anne tried again to make amends with 'inconsolable' Mary -to no avail, although it's unclear if she went as far as offering to be her 'second mother'.

VERDICT: MOSTLY TRUE

The claim: Anne Boleyn kissed Jane Seymour and told her to 'stay away from Henry VIII'

In the opening episode of the racy drama, Anne Boleyn asks Jane Seymour to go for a walk with her. Jane is alleged to be Henry's mistress at the time. In an earlier scene Anne refers to her as a 'spiteful little bitch'. On the walk, Anne asks Jane is she's in love and says it's 'difficult to love a man'. 'Remember who you are, don't betray yourself and you won't live to regret' she says before kissing her and declaring 'yes, I can see the appeal'.

In the opening episode of the racy drama, Anne Boleyn asks Jane Seymour to go for a walk with her.

Jane is alleged to be Henry's mistress at the time. In an earlier scene Anne refers to her as a 'spiteful little bitch'.

On the walk, Anne asks Jane is she's in love and says it's 'difficult to love a man'.

'Remember who you are, don't betray yourself and you won't live to regret' she says before kissing her and declaring 'yes, I can see the appeal'.

The facts: There is no evidence the pair kissed

While Jane worked as a servant in both Catherine of Aragon's and Anne Boleyn's courts, there is no evidence that Anne and Jane ever kissed - although historians believe there was tension between the pair after Henry began courting Jane following Anne's third miscarriage.

VERDICT: FALSE

Henry has an accident while jousting and Anne comes running back to his bed. While still in his sickbed Anne and her brother George discuss what would happen to them if Henry died. But he wakes up and shortly after, he snaps at Anne after she offers to visit bedchamber, saying: 'What would be the point? Until that boy is born you have but one job. Concentrate on that if your so concerned about being a good wife.

The claim: A jousting accident turned Henry VIII into a tyrant

Anne Boleyn: Henry VIII's second wife whose historical significance is often overlooked due to her brutal death Though perhaps best known in English history for the brutal way in which she met her end, Anne Boleyn's mark on the country's history is far more significant. Anne Boleyn Born the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard, in 1501, she first came into the eye-sight of Henry VIII in 1522 when she secured a post at court as maid of honour to the king's first Catherine of Aragon. It was not until 1526 that Henry began his pursuit of Anne - a pursuit which was initially resisted. Her refusal to be a mistress sparked Henry to approach the then-Pope to have his marriage annulled. When it became clear this would not be allowed, Henry began his drive to break the power of the Catholic Church in England - what later became known as the English Reformation. Henry and Anne formally married in January 1533 - a move which resulted in the Pope excommunicating Henry and him consequently taking control of the Church of England. But it was ultimately not a happy marriage after Boleyn failed to produce a male heir. In order to marry again he needed a reason to end his marriage to Anne and she was investigated for high treason and sent to the Tower of London. Her beheading in the tower of London followed the miscarriage of a male child, and increasing clashes with Thomas Cromwell who is blamed for orchestrating the charges against her after engineering the break from the Catholic Church. Court rumours also suggested that Boleyn's forthright manner and intelligence angered courtiers. She was politically astute and allied with Protestant reformers of the church, including Cromwell before he turned on her. And her execution immediately followed the death of Henry VIII's first wife Catherine of Aragon. That event legally freed Henry to pursue marriage with Boleyn's lady-in-waiting Jane Seymour, if his current wife were to die. She was convicted on 15 May 1536 and beheaded four days later. Henry began courting Jane Seymour in 1536. Anne did leave one more mark on English history though, her daughter, Elizabeth, who was crowned as queen in 1558. During her daughter's reign, Anne became venerated as a martyr and heroine of the English Reformation. Advertisement

Although he keeps mistresses. in the early part of the episode Henry is seen as affectionate and kind towards Anne, praising her for being pregnant and looking admirably at his daughter Elizabeth.

But off screen, Henry has an accident while jousting and Anne comes running back to his bed.

While still in his sickbed Anne and her brother George discuss what would happen to them if Henry died.

But he wakes up and shortly after, he snaps at Anne after she offers to visit bedchamber, saying: 'What would be the point? Until that boy is born you have but one job. Concentrate on that if your so concerned about being a good wife.

The facts: Historians believed his jousting accident may have been a turning point

While jousting at Greenwich Palace on 24 January 1536, Henry, then 44, was in full armour when he was thrown from his horse, itself in full armour, which fell on top of him.

He was unconscious for two hours and doctors thought he was fatally injured.

Historians believe the injury ended his sporting career due to life-long leg injuries, which also caused him to gain substantial amount of weight.

Many believe there many have also been an undetected brain injury which changed his personality.

Historian Lucy Worsley previously told the History Channel: 'We posit that his jousting accident of 1536 provides the explanation for his personality change from sporty, promising, generous young Prince, to cruel, paranoid and vicious tyrant.

'From that date the turnover of wives really speeds up, and people begin to talk about him in quite a new and negative way.

'After the accident he was unconscious for two hours; even five minutes of unconsciousness is considered to be a major trauma today.'

However, there is no evidence the Queen tried to keep Mary away from the king.

VERDICT: PARTLY TRUE

The claim: Anne walk ins on Jane Seymour sitting on Henry VIII's lap and slaps her and pulls her necklace off, leading to a miscarriage

After gossip around the court that Henry is unhappy with Anne, she tracks him down and walks in on him with Jane.

The pair are flirting with Jane sitting on his lap.

Anne then swiftly pulls her necklace off - a locket with a picture of Henry inside - and slaps her.

The stress from this leads to her collapsing on the floor and miscarrying for the third time.

Wake up after the miscarriage and see Henry with Jane Seymour, says 'I won't allow that whore to take my place' -

The facts: Anne DID walk in on Jane Seymour and Henry VIII but the snatching of the necklace was a different incident - and the miscarriage could have been caused by several stresses

Accounts from the time and modern accounts say that Henry did gift Jane a locket with a portrait of himself inside, and that Anne did walk in on Jane while sitting on Henry's lap - but the show falsely amalgamates these events.

Shortly after Catherine of Aragon's death, Henry began courting Jane Seymour - one of Anne's servants.

Henry gave her a locket with a miniature portrait of himself inside.

Often, in the presence of Anne, began opening and shutting it to taunt Anne, who ripped it off her neck so hard it made her fingers bleed.

In another incident, Anne is said to have flown into a rage after seeing Jane sitting on Henry's lap.

While the drama shows her immediately miscarry after this, it's likely there was a combination of events which lead to her losing the baby.

It came just five days after the King was knocked unconscious in a boating accident, and also on the same day as Catherine of Aragon's funeral.

It's also likely Anne did slap - or have a physical altercation with Jane.

Maid Jane Dormer who served in the court claimed that there was often 'scratching and blows' between Anne and Jane

VERDICT: PARTLY TRUE

Another scene shows Anne walk ins on Jane Seymour sitting on Henry VIII's lap and slaps her and pulls her necklace off, leading to a miscarriage. Anne Boleyn (Played by Jodie Turner-Smith)Jane Seymour (Played by Lola Petticrew) are pictured

The claim: Thomas Cromwell plotted against Anne Boleyn

The episode shows Thomas and Anne arguing about the dissolution of the monasteries and Anne confiding in her brother: 'Cromwell is taking advantage of Henry's mood to exclude me. He's taking secret meetings with my husband.

Thomas also tells: 'Make no mistake, your influence lies in your belly, not your brain'

The episode shows Thomas and Anne arguing about the dissolution of the monasteries and Anne confiding in her brother: 'Cromwell is taking advantage of Henry's mood to exclude me. He's taking secret meetings with my husband.

The facts: Thomas as instrumental in Anne's downfall

Thomas Cromwell was Henry VIII's chief minister - one of the most ruthless and powerful operators ever to dominate the politics of this country

In a reign of unadulterated terror against the Church, he masterminded the dissolution of the monasteries and the biggest land grab since the Norman invasion of 1066 - seizing one-sixth of the nation's wealth and turning it over to his master, the King.

While Catherine of Aragon was Queen, Cromwell helped end the marriage and install Anne as Queen.

But after Anne's miscarriage at 14 weeks, Henry believed God's wishes were for him to not be married to Anne, and Cromwell conspired to get rid of her.

Eric Ives, Anne's biographer, said that her fall and execution were primarily engineered by Cromwell despite being a former ally.

VERDICT: TRUE

Set in January 1536 at Greenwich palace, the episode shows the last five months of Anne Boleyn (played by Jodie Turner-Smith) life, opening with King Henry and Anne throwing a party, 24 hours after the death of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Anne Boleyn is shown in a portrait from the 1500s

The claim: Henry believed he'd been tricked into his marriage by witchcraft

After Henry coldly rejected Anne, she then travels into his bed chambers anyway.

She then seduces him, before he stops saying it could hurt the baby before the pair proceed to have oral sex.

The next morning, Anne is expecting Hannah to be in a great mood but is told by her sister-in-law, he's in a 'fury'.

Jane Boleyn, the wife of her brother George, says: 'He's in a fury apparently, no one can shake it from him, we all know he's been unpredictable since his fall. I know we shouldn't believe idle gossip but i'm told..

'Apparently he was walking with his uncle and he complained of being seduced and bewitched into his current marriage

'All nonsense i'm sure, there was even talk of sorcery, can you imagine?'

The fact: Anne being charged witchcraft is a common misconception

The scene here is clearly alluding to Anne later being charged with witchcraft - and beheaded.

But Anne was never charged with witchcraft, and adultery, incest and treason.

Mark Smeaton, a Flemish musician in the court, confessed to adultery after being tortured, while a handful of others were arrested but not charged for their involvement with the Queen. George Boleyn, the Queen's brother, was also arrest on charges of incest.

Although little evidence any of this was true, Anne was also accused of treason as adultery on the part of a queen was a form of treason (because of the implications for the succession to the throne).

George, and three other men accused, were killed on 17th May, Anne was beheaded two days later.

VERDICT: PROBABLY FALSE

The claims: Anne Boleyn was responsible for the first English language bible

The episode shows Anne overjoyed as she's gifted a bible published in English by her brother George.

'It arrived late last night of the boat from Antwerp, I had the pastor bring it straight to you,' he says.

'The first full English language bible, now everyone can read the word of god in their own tongue,' she says.

'Thanks to you,' George adds.

The facts: Anne Boleyn was a supporter of translation William Tyndale

Anne was an ardent supporter of William Tyndale, the person responsible for translating the bible into English.

Tyndale's Bible was published at a time where an English language bible would have been seen as shocking as for centuries they were in Latin - but Henry and Anne were sympathetic as they saw this as a support as a step toward independence from Rome.

However, the claim it's 'all to thanks so Anne' is unlikely.

VERDICT: MOSTLY FALSE
Queen Letizia of Spain cut a stylish figure as she attended a charity meeting in Madrid today.

The royal, 48, opted for a smart dark grey dress for the occasion, which featured pinstripe detailing and a cinched waist with a thin black belt.

Queen Letizia walked through the sunshine into the meeting with the Board of Trustees for Foundation Against Drug Addiction this morning, before she was seen taking out a pen and paper and taking notes.

The mother-of-two, who has daughters Princess Leonor, 15, and Infanta Sofia, 13, with her husband King Felipe VI, put safety first by wearing a protective face mask, in keeping with coronavirus regulations in the country.

Queen Letizia of Spain, 48, cut a stylish figure as she attended a charity meeting in Madrid today

Queen Letizia could be seen taking notes while attending the Board of Trustees for Foundation Against Drug Addiction this morning

The royal 48, opted for a smart dark grey dress for the occasion, which featured pinstripe detailing and a cinched waist with a thin black belt

The typically stylish royal opted for subtle makeup, adding just a light touch of blusher on her cheeks to complement her natural glow and a layering of mascara.

Meanwhile she wore her glossy brunette locks loose and tucked behind her ears, revealing a pair of silver earrings.

Later today, she will be accompanied by King Felipe to attend the annual meeting with the members of the Board of Trustees of the Princess of Asturias Foundation.

It comes amid a busy period for the royal, who yesterday, put on a sombre display in black as she inaugurated a memorial centre for the victims of terrorism in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.

The royal swept her brunette locks behind her shoulders for the occasion and wore a medical grade face mask

The mother-of-two walked through the sunshine into the meeting and could be seen offering a brief wave to the crowd

The Spanish royal donned a dark dress complete with white piping and waist belt detail, which she paired with black suede slingback heels and a matching clutch bag as she stood alongside husband King Felipe, 52, for the event.

Meanwhile days earlier she joined King Felipe for a ceremony marking Armed Forces Day in Madrid.

The Spanish royal donned a blush pink blazer dress with a pair of fuschia heels and a matching clutch bag.

Meanwhile she wore her glossy brunette locks loose and tucked behind her ears, revealing a pair of silver earrings

The typically stylish royal opted for subtle makeup, adding just a light touch of blusher on her cheeks to complement her natural glow and a layering of mascara

A day earlier, she joined the rest of her family to attend her daughter Leonor's confirmation.

The young Princess, 15, who is a student at Santa Maria de los Rosales school, opted for a royal blue dress which she coordinated with a pair of nude beige pumps, and wore a navy mask in keeping with coronavirus regulations.

The royal, who was joined by her sister Princess Sofia and parents, King Felipe and Queen Letizia, was confirmed at the Parroquia de la Asuncion de Nuestra Senora de Aravaca, which is the same church where she made her First Communion in 2015.

Later today, she will be accompanied by King Felipe to attend the annual meeting with the members of the Board of Trustees of the Princess of Asturias Foundation

During the event earlier today, Queen Letizia posed for a snap alongside her fellow attendees (pictured center)

The teen, who turns 16 in October, will study at the renowned UWC Atlantic College, based at the 12th century St Donat's Castle in Wales, from September.

Princess Leonor wore her shoulder-length blonde locks loose, and opted for no jewellery, while her younger sister, Infanta Sofia, 13, opted for a floral dress and wore her hair in loose curls which cascaded past her shoulders.

Meanwhile, their effortlessly stylish mother Queen Letizia donned a monochrome ensemble, pairing a white blouse with smart black trousers.
Queen Maxima of The Netherlands went for business-chic in a colourful two-piece suit as she paid a visit to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam today.

The Argentinian-born royal, 50, was dressed in a tailored orange tweed ensemble, which she teamed with brown leather sandals and a brown handbag.

Maxima, who is a firm supporter of the arts, has served as the orchestras patron since 2005 regularly attends concerts in and outside the Netherlands and sits in on rehearsals.

Queen Maxima of The Netherlands went for business-chic in a colourful two-piece suit as she paid a visit to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam today

She showed off her impeccable fashion sense as she stepped out out of the car arriving at the Dutch symphony orchestra's new premises at the Gabriel Metsustraat.

For the occasion, the monarch donned a wide-legged trouser suit that was cropped to mid-calf length and a blazer, that was cinched in at the waist with a brown waisted belt.

She paired the outfit with large brown, circular earrings, showcasing her love of bold accessories and completed the look with her favourite gold bracelet and black wristwatch.

The Argentinian-born royal, 50, was dressed in a tailored orange tweed ensemble, which she teamed with brown leather sandals and a brown handbag

The mother-of-three wore her long blonde hair in a simple, straightened style and wore a protective neutral-toned mask during much of her visit

The mother-of-three wore her long blonde hair in a simple, straightened style and managed to make a face mask look glamorous, wearing her protective neutral-toned mask during much of her visit.

The wife of King Willem-Alexander, 54, who is mother to daughters Amalia, 17, Alexia, 15, and Ariane, 14, was treated to a piece by a string quartet in a rehearsal room of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

The orchestra is considered one of the world's leading orchestras also accompanies the Dutch royal family on state visits, as it did on the 2011 visit to Germany.

Maxima, who is a firm supporter of the arts, and has served as the orchestras patron since 2005 was treated to a piece by a string quartet during her visit

The wife of King Willem-Alexander, 54, stopped by the rehearsal studios where members of the orchestra were in the midst of making a concert recording

Maxima shares a laugh as the royal patron met with the orchestras new management team and heard about the orchestra's educational activities during her visit

This is the first visit Queen Maxima has paid the Concertgebouworkests new premises at the since it moved there in January 2019, and managing Director Dominik Winterling gave Her Majesty a tour of the monumental building.

During her visit, the royal patron met with the orchestras new management team and discussed activities undertaken during the coronavirus pandemic and the orchestras future plans.

Maxima, who is committed to providing music education for all primary school children in the Netherlands, also heard about the orchestra's educational activities, including the Concertgebouworkest Young youth orchestra.

The Queen spoke with orchestral musicians, staff members and one young participant in the Academy of the Concertgebouworkest.

She also stopped by the rehearsal studios where a string quartet made up of members of the orchestra were in the midst of making a concert recording.

Her royal visit came weeks after the country celebrated Queen Maxima's 50th with a collection of stamps released to mark the occasion featuring of a young Maxima pictured in 1999

Her royal visit came weeks after the country celebrated Queen Maxima's 50th birthday on May 17.

Her subjects honoured her legacy in the weeks leading up to the celebration and a collection of stamps were released to mark the occasion.

The biggest stamp, Koningin Maxima, features an unseen retro black and white close-up snap from the monarch's private collection, showing Maxima in New York in 1999.

It shows a profile of the then 22-year-old with freckles on her cheeks, and strands of blond hair falling down to her shoulders.
Fourteen hours after moving into her new apartment, a recent University of Oklahoma graduate came back from lunch with friends to discover that her light-up decor had 'burned down' the place.

Sydney Sacks was renting an apartment in the DallasFort Worth area and immediately upon moving in, she decorated with throw pillows, artwork, and a fun neon pink sign that read 'Let's Stay Home.'

But it was because of that very sign that she can no longer stay at that home: Less than a day after she moved in, the light malfunctioned and set fire to the wall behind it, not only burning the wall and her sofa but setting off the sprinklers that destroyed the rest of her apartment and nearly everything in it.

Cute setup! Sydney Sacks moved into an apartment in the DallasFort Worth area and immediately decorated, hanging a neon pink sign reading 'Let's Stay Home' above her couch

Oh no! Within 14 hours of moving in, her apartment was destroyed due to a fire

Sad: Photos show that her new apartment had started off looking quite homey

Viral: Sydney shared her misfortune on TikTok, where her video has been viewed 1.4 million times

Sydney shared her misfortune on TikTok, where her video has been viewed 1.4 million times.

'Moved into my new apartment and my neon sign burnt it down 14 hours later,' she wrote.

Photos show that her new apartment had started off looking quite homey, with a white sectional couch, leopard throw pillows, a plush rug, and a coffee table set up with coffee table books, flowers, and Jonathan Adler knickknacks.

Her bedroom looked cozy as well, with a white duvet, another plush rug, and butterfly art hanging above the bed.

But unfortunately, that setup didn't even last her 24 hours.

'I fully moved in on Saturday,' she explained, 'and then Sunday, the next day, I got a text from a few friends asking if I wanted to meet them for lunch really quickly. My parents live in the same building, so I brought my dog to them before I left.

Yikes! The neon sign, which she'd purchased on Etsy, overheated and caught fire

What once was: The sign was left in a charred, melted heap

Freak accident: She said that the Etsy seller had been well-reviewed, and she couldn't have anticipated that the sign would catch fire

Water damage: The worst destruction was done by the sprinkler system, which ruined her furniture

'I left the light on without even thinking about it,' she said of the neon sign above her couch.

But minutes after she left, the neon light caught ablaze, scorching the wall behind it and leaving a gaping hole.

The rising smoke blackened the walls and ceiling, and the first spread down to her new $1,500 Jonathan Louis couch, rendering it garbage.

Luckily, the fire didn't get much further than that  because the sprinkler system was initiated.

But those sprinklers rained down on her television, her bathroom, her closet, and her laundry room, destroying furniture and leaving a layer of dirty, stained water on top of nearly everything.

'The sprinklers were actually able to put out the whole fire but there was a lot of damage again from the water and the smoke,' she said.

Sydney's luck was particularly bad, since the fire seems to have started just minutes after she went out.

Trashed: The sign fell on the sofa and ruined it, while water from the sprinklers soaked the rest of her furniture and her TV

'The sprinklers were actually able to put out the whole fire but there was a lot of damage again from the water and the smoke,' she said

She said: 'The fire marshal said he didn't think it was something to do with the outlet, but that for some reason the sign got really hot and it caught on fire'

Phew! Fortunately, Sydney was smart enough to have renter's insurance to cover the cost of the damage

'I texted my friends to say, "I'm leaving now" at 12:04. And in the official fire report, it says that the sprinklers in my apartment starting going off at 12:13. So that was a nine minute difference,' she said.

But she said she had no reason to believe that the neon light was defective, and had come from a well-reviewed Etsy seller.

'I did my research and they had over 10,000 reviews and all of them were really good so I thought I could trust this seller and the sign that I was getting,' she said.

But 'the fire marshal said he didn't think it was something to do with the outlet, but that for some reason the sign got really hot and it caught on fire and then it fell off the wall, falling onto my couch and set the couch on fire, creating an even bigger fire.'

Fortunately, Sydney was smart enough to have renter's insurance to cover the cost of the damage, and because her parents live in the building, she had somewhere else to stay.

'And luckily, nobody got hurt which is the most important thing,' she said.
The time was 5am and I was sure I was seriously ill. I lay in bed in my flat in Los Angeles, in pain and unable to move, my stomach so bloated I looked six months pregnant.

It felt as though I was wrapped in an iron blanket. As though my mind and body had both given up.

Several hours later, I took myself to hospital, not knowing where else to go or what to do.

I remember sobbing my heart out, convinced I had a terrible disease. The truth was more mundane and yet equally as life-changing.

Poppy Jamie, 30, (pictured) from Leamington Spa, who has interviewed celebrities and co-founded a fashion accessories business, vowed to change her life after becoming psychically ill while battling burnout and Impostor Syndrome

You have burnout, said the doctor, when a raft of medical tests came back negative. Three quarters of the people I see have stress-related conditions. You need to rest, eat well and slow down.

At the time, I barely believed him  the pain in my stomach had been so severe, I thought I was at deaths door. I was almost embarrassed by my diagnosis. Burnout? That wasnt a real illness.

Now I know better. Stress releases the hormone cortisol, which causes inflammation and in chronic cases can cause bloating and pain (as well as being a risk factor for cancer and diabetes).

I had been stewing in cortisol for years and I recognised every side-effect in myself: weight gain (check); exhaustion (check); depression (yep); insomnia (whats sleep?); infertility (no? Maybe? Cue hyperventilation).

The irony was, it looked like I was living the dream. Here I was, the girl from sleepy Leamington Spa, partying with my best friend and flatmate, movie star Suki Waterhouse, by night and rubbing shoulders with the Hollywood great and good as a fashion designer and social media talkshow host by day.

At 26, I had an Instagram feed full of filtered, curated images of glamorous me, living my #bestlife. Yes, it took 300-plus attempts to get the shot, using multiple angles and editing tools, but it didnt matter. I was A Success.

Except, beneath it all, that was the last thing I was.

In reality, I was gripped by Impostor Syndrome  I thought of myself as a dislikeable fraud of a girl punching above her station. The way to make myself better, I thought, was to work harder and harder until people liked me and I was happy.

Poppy said she was fired six months after falling flat on her face during an incident involving movie star Jude Law. Pictured: Poppy, far left, and her best friend Suki Waterhouse at the launch of their Pop & Suki brand in LA, 2016

Secretly, I was an anxious, insecure wreck  but projecting the Ive got this life as though everything was just fine and effortless. The amount of faking terrified me.

Burnout, it seems to me now, was inevitable.

At 24, I moved to LA after an incident with the movie star Jude Law, which still haunts me online.

While I was studying politics at the London School of Economics, Id talked my way into a job at ITN making the tea, which then turned into the occasional spot on air, interviewing actors.

I was living a glossy dream but all I could hear were my raging insecurities. My inner critic told me, Youre ridiculous

When I got the chance to talk to Jude at the press junket for the film Anna Karenina, I couldnt believe my luck. However, I was late and sweaty from running  so when I reached out to shake his hand, I stumbled, missed the interview chair and landed flat on my face on the floor at Judes feet.

My miniskirt rode up, exposing half my rear end to him and every other person in the room.

Caught on camera, my tumble quickly made it on to the internet. My bosses were livid at my lack of professionalism  while also secretly delighted that I was a mild online sensation, a sort of cut-price Bridget Jones.

I was fired six months later  not for that, but for getting caught on camera at a film premiere tucking into a chocolate fountain that I only learnt later was purely decorative. I had wondered why I was the only one.

Poppy (pictured) said she was about to return to England from LA, when she was given a gig on MTV International covering award shows and red-carpet events

My career in TV appeared to be over before it had begun, but I was sure LA would be different. Surely La La Land would meet my insatiable need for approval where London hadnt?

For a secretly insecure person, Hollywood was just about the worst place on earth to pitch up. I emailed and pestered every casting director and producer I could find, yet I was always not quite right for now.

I felt like Goldilockss rejected bowls of porridge. I was either too nice, too enthusiastic, too English, too fat, too thin, too intellectual, too ditzy, too loud, too boring, and/or too unattractive. I was never just right.

Just as I was about to return to England with my tail between my legs, however, I got a break. A big one.

A woman Id got chatting to on a train turned out to be high up at MTV, and I was given a gig on MTV International covering award shows and red-carpet events.

In quick succession, I interviewed Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz, George Clooney, Harry Styles and whoever else was big and starry in 2015  and suddenly, other opportunities started opening up for me, too.

Poppy also landed a job as the host for Snapchats first-ever talk show, Pillow Talk With Poppy. Pictured: Poppy and Suki

After a few months, I landed a job as the host for Snapchats first-ever talk show, Pillow Talk With Poppy, where I interviewed celebrities in my pyjamas on a set that looked like a bedroom from the 1980s after a bubblegum explosion.

I built an audience of millions with an on-screen persona that was relentlessly upbeat and happy  and wondered whether the teens watching me could tell I was a seething ball of anxiety beneath it all.

While I was hosting Pillow Talk, I was sharing a flat with Suki, who was shooting her first major movie. Our house was a tip; clothes everywhere and both of us too knackered to tidy it, but we giggled our way through the chaos.

Wed been introduced by friends a few years earlier at a party and it was love at first sight. She was like the sister I never had. Two Brits living in a foreign country, we moved in together and bonded over dancing, adventures and dressing up.

Before Suki headed off on night shoots, wed make dinner, rehearsing her lines or dreaming about the future.

Thats how we started our fashion accessories business, Pop & Suki, in 2016. We were a big hit  our bags and jewellery were worn by Lady Gaga and Beyonce  but it was a full-time job to add to the other full-time jobs I had with MTV and Snapchat.

Poppy who grew up in Warwickshire, said she was never having more than five hours sleep while living the dream. Pictured: Poppy and Suki

Soon I was running around like a madwoman, driving myself so hard it hurt.

When I wasnt working, I was partying. When I slept, it was never for more than five hours, then Id get up at the crack of dawn to start working again.

I was living an objectively glossy, successful dream Id spent every waking minute working to create  but all I could hear were my raging insecurities. My inner critic told me: Youre totally unqualified. Youre ridiculous.

Not for a moment did I feel the confidence anyone thought I had. Underneath the smiley face was someone stuck at war with her insecurities.

Looking back, with all my hard work I was copying my father.

My childhood in Warwickshire was loving but often unsettling, with an ominous threat of financial insecurity hanging over our family. Between us  my small business-owner father, my psychotherapist mother, my two brothers and me  we could have won an Olympic medal for worrying.

My older brother Thomas would stay awake at night, listening to my parents tense discussions about money through the floorboards. He would then repeat what hed heard to my little brother Edward and me, making us think we were only days away from homelessness.

Poppy revealed her childhood fear of bankruptcy and looking fat stayed with her for 20 years. Pictured left to right: Poppy Jamie, Immy Waterhouse, Colin Firth and Suki Waterhouse

The idea that money was the route to feeling safe and loved became ingrained in me at a very early age. We all became micro-entrepreneurs by the age of ten, washing cars in the neighbourhood and setting up illegal sweet shops at school.

I learnt early on that work was painful and endless  if I wasnt in pain, it meant I wasnt working hard enough.

Getting good grades was equally vital. I would cry after bad ones and wouldnt stop working until they improved.

And yes, it truly seemed like, growing up, I was the only average child in my class. Claire had the voice of an angel. Charlie had the coolest ponytail. Nick was great at swimming. Ellie was slim and gorgeous, while I was plain.

I had no obvious superpower to attract friends and was especially hopeless with boys. I had a sense that if I were just better, maybe people would like me.

My heart breaks for my younger self. At 12, I was worried about bankruptcy and about looking fat  two fears that stayed with me for 20 years.

Whenever I felt any pangs of insecurity, I would soothe myself by thinking, just wait until Im happy and successful, then it will all go away. It took a breakdown to make me see how destructive that was. It was the workaholism and perfectionism that made me physically ill.

Poppy said it took her months to recover from burnout, as she didn't have the energy to leave the flat. Pictured: Poppy and Suki

Lying in an LA hospital, gripped by shame and guilt, I vowed to change my life.

Burnout flattened me like a bulldozer and it took months to recover. I didnt have the energy to leave the flat and had to keep lying down. None of my clothes fitted and my legs wobbled like those of a newborn pony. As I slowly came out of it, I enlisted the help of dozens of experts  many of whom feature on my mental health podcast, Not Perfect, and the Happy Not Perfect app and in my new book of the same name.

Over time, with their help and that of my therapist mum, I gradually got better and in the process devised a set of coping techniques and strategies that I now call The Flex (see box below). The Flex quite literally saved me. It challenged all my negative thoughts about myself and helped me to understand that life is about exploring grey areas rather than seeing the world in harsh black and white.

Its about listening to our bodies and consciously choosing to step away from fear.

Its a new, flexible way of thinking that rejects self-blame, anxiety, Impostor Syndrome and the disease to please.

For me, learning to reframe negative thoughts is an ongoing process. My personality hasnt changed; I still love taking on challenges and making stuff happen. But I feel more in control of my emotions than ever before. Tense conversations dont trigger panic and my relationships feel more relaxed.

Poppy (pictured) said understanding that anyone can suffer from Impostor Syndrome was a major Aha! moment

Now 30, I can laugh at that Jude Law interview and understand that anyone can suffer from Impostor Syndrome.

Even at a dazzling Hollywood event such as the Vanity Fair Oscars party, where everyone is genuinely more beautiful than their pictures, Ive seen A-listers anxiously circling, looking for someone to talk to.

Ive seen them nervously readjusting their dresses and secretly checking their breath. They talk too loudly, too fast  just like me.

Ive known many women who are conventionally stunning and make a good living on their appearance, and Ive heard them say, I look like s***.

For me, realising this was a major Aha! moment. Contrary to what Id thought, happiness doesnt reside in external approval. Its in the strength that arises from challenges, and the ability to value myself before needing others to.

Happiness can be as painful as it is joyous. Its bittersweet; it pulls and prods; its up and down. And it doesnt always include a big smile for the camera.

How to beat burnout with flexible thinking RELEASE YOUR FEARS 1. Many of us ignore scary, upsetting feelings and power on through. But emotions are not a nuisance  they are a sign that were alive. Every time you feel something strongly, pay attention and relax into it. Try to locate it in the body  do you feel it in the gut or the chest, for example? 2. When you notice an unpleasant emotion or spiralling thought, ask questions. Is this thought true? Or am I being negative because thats just what I do? Who would I be without this thought? Be curious about the patterns of thought you fall into and consider who you would be without them. The root of our suffering is usually within our thoughts. 3. When you think flexibly, you know you are always in the drivers seat. You may not be able to choose what youre going through, but you can always choose to be kind to yourself. You can choose whether to listen or to muzzle that inner voice telling you youre an impostor. 4. Change requires effort  new neural pathways arent blazed overnight. Commit to flexible thinking in the long term and youre well on the way to liberation from anxiety and self-doubt. LET GO OF BEING A VICTIM A victim mentality causes a stubborn belief that bad things always happen to me and craves the sympathy it gets from others. I wasted years choosing to remain a victim  but if anyone had accused me of having a victim mentality, Id have rejected it. FYI: defensiveness is another sign of a victim mentality. Often its learnt in childhood. Blaming others and not being to blame kept us safe once, and our mind likes to repeat anything that achieves this. But if you have done nothing wrong, you have nothing to learn. Victimhood is a state of arrested development. Its far better to take responsibility, admit when were at fault and learn to let go of defensiveness, resentment and blame. FLEXERCISE: RED BUTTON, GREEN BUTTON This exercise is designed to help you overcome lingering resentment towards someone you are struggling to let off the hook. Imagine theres a red button to your left and a green button to your right. Picture the person you resent. If you press the red button, nothing will change and you will stay stuck with resentment, anger and pain for the rest of your life. If you press the green button, you can move forward without the offenders influence, free from hurt and bitterness. Hit that button hard. Smash it. Feel the impact on your palm. Hopefully, most of the time youll hit the green button  but on the rare occasion you want to hit red, accept that you are choosing to stay with anger and resentment this time. Make a conscious choice to hold on to past negativity or let go of it. We dont control what happens but we can control how we choose to respond. Advertisement

Adapted from Happy Not Perfect, by Poppy Jamie, published on June 10 by Hodder at 16.99.  Poppy Jamie 2021. To order a copy for 15.12 (offer valid to June 30, 2021; UK P&P free on orders over 20), visit mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193.
Nursing homes are continuing to bar families from seeing loved-ones as unvaccinated staff members are blamed for ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks.

While the outbreaks are much smaller, less frequent and less severe than during the height of the pandemic, there continue to be hundreds of deaths each week attributed to the coronavirus in US nursing homes.

Bosses must continue with quarantine measures when a COVID outbreak is flagged, even though most US nursing home residents have long-since completed their vaccines, meaning they should be immune from a serious infection.

Federal data show there were 438 nursing home deaths related to COVID-19 in the first two weeks of May, down from 10,700 in the first two weeks of January.

The ongoing deaths are happening despite more than 85 percent of U.S. adults over 65 receiving at least one dose, including 2.14 million residents of long-term care facilities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Those scattered outbreaks have been largely blamed on unvaccinated staff members who are wary about getting the shot as well as new residents who haven't been inoculated.

Nursing homes have resisted calls to force staff to have the vaccine, over fears doing so could further exacerbate staff shortages.

The cluster of infections and ensuing shutdowns have jolted family members who were just starting to enjoy in-person visits with loved ones for the first time in a year.

Nursing homes in the U.S. say they're still struggling with coronavirus outbreaks, largely blamed on unvaccinated staff members, despite the vaccine rollout. Pictured: Gloria DeSoto, 92 (right), visits with her family, in their car, from a window of the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, New York

More than 85% of U.S. adults over 65 receiving at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose (pictured), including 2.14 million residents of long-term care facilities, CDC data show

In the first two weeks of May, there were 438 nursing home deaths related to COVID-19 (yellow line), smaller than the figure in January but still high

'There is this notion among some that vaccines were administered in long-term care, so we're done, and that would be a perilous mistake,' Dr David Gifford, chief medical officer for the American Health Care Association, a national nursing home trade association, said in a statement.

'Nursing homes and assisted living communities have a constant flow of new residents, whether coming from the hospital or the community, and many of them haven't been vaccinated yet.'

Jeannie Wells had hoped that regular visits would resume at her elderly mother's New York nursing home once all the residents were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Around Easter, her wish finally came true, and she was able to hold the 93-year-old's hand for the first time in more than a year, after originally bringing her mother to the facility for rehabilitation for a fractured hip and knee.

But that reunion was short-lived because visits were quickly stopped for about six weeks after an employee tested positive for COVID.

Wells said visits are still far from normal even when there haven't been outbreaks.

In addition, the CDC has warned that low rates of vaccination among health care workers in skilled nursing facilities raises risks of outbreaks.

A federal program that brought vaccines to most nursing homes in the U.S. only immunized half of long-term-care workers - with the remaining half refusing over concerns that the shots are ineffective or unsafe.

A March outbreak involving a variant at a Kentucky nursing home, where most residents had been vaccinated for COVID-19, was traced to an infected, unvaccinated worker, according to a CDC report.

Among the 46 cases identified, 26 residents and 20 workers became infected, including 18 residents and four workers who were fully vaccinated 14 days before the outbreak.

Three of the nursing home's residents who contracted COVID-19 died, with two of those victims unvaccinated.

So-called 'breakthrough' infections among vaccinated individuals were also identified in nursing homes in Chicago, according to another recent CDC report.

In Connecticut, Gov Ned Lamont has likened the challenge of keeping the virus out of nursing homes to patching up 'leaky boats.'

The state Department of Public Health launched Operation Matchmaker to match nursing homes with certain pharmacies to ensure new residents and staff get shots.

Only about half of long-term care workers were vaccinated during the federal program that brought shots to nursing homes. Pictured: Rosa DeSoto (left) embraces her 93-year-old mother Gloria DeSoto (right), who who suffers from dementia, inside the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, New York, for the first time in more than a year, March 2021

Long-term care providers have been hesitant to mandate vaccinations for their workers due to staff shortages. Pictured: Jack Campise talks with his mother, Beverly Kearns, through her apartment window at the Kimberly Hall North nursing home, in Windsor, Connecticut

Hospitals are also working to vaccinate patients before they're released to a nursing facility.

Given staffing shortages around the country, there's been a hesitance among long-term care providers to mandate vaccinations for their workers, said Dr Vivian Leung, director of Connecticut's Department of Health's Healthcare Associated Infections Program.

'We're working with the long-term care industry to really increase the pressure on getting those staff vaccinated,' Leung said.

Tim Brown, director of marketing and communications at Athena Health Care Systems, which operates 48 facilities in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, recently estimated about 50 percent to 60 percent of staff have been vaccinated so far, with as many as 80% in some buildings.

'Throughout our network, we are seeing onesies and twosies, mostly with employees, though, that have not been vaccinated,' Brown said of he infections

'That's really where were seeing them.'

If a staff member tests positive, he said, buildings are put under quarantine and visits are put on hold while another round of staff testing is conducted. Unvaccinated staff are being tested regularly.

'If there are no other cases, or if the employee did not work on a specific wing, then we allow visitation for that wing or for for the wings that are not affected by the positive employee,' he said.

Mairead Painter, Connecticut's long-term care ombudsman - an official who investigates maladministration - said recent guidance from the state has clarified how facilities should handle these scattered outbreaks in order to minimize the impact they can have on the rest of residents and their families.

She said that's led to fewer complaints fielded by her office.

But Debra Ellis, whose 88-year-old wife Jackie lives in a Meriden, Connecticut, nursing home, said the rules still differ by facility.

Until recently, she had been frustrated by the strict visitation limits, including sudden multi-day shutdowns when staff members have tested positive. Both she and her wife are vaccinated.

By mid-May, things finally eased up and she's been allowed to go inside her wifes room.

Yet Ellis hears from relatives of residents at other nursing homes that that's not the case at other facilities in Connecticut.

Ellis is part of a group that's pushing for both state and federal legislation allowing nursing home residents to have essential caregivers.

She said that could have helped Jackie, who suffers from heart problems and relied on Ellis before the pandemic for emotional support and exercises to keep her legs strong.

'She could get up and walk a very small distance around the room to move to the bed to a chair or whatever,' Ellis said. 'She's no longer able to do that.'

That's a similar experience for Wells, who said the nursing home where her mother lives still has no communal dining, group activities or hairdressing services.

Wells, who lives in Rochester, said it was only last week that she was offered the opportunity to meet with her mother outside and without masks.

But after spending so much time isolated during the pandemic, Wells said her mother no longer knows who she is, other than someone who cares about her.

She said it pains her to see her mother, who used to get her hair done weekly, looking unkept, with bangs hanging in her eyes and hair down to her shoulders.

'This nursing home never allowed us into their rooms. We have to stay in an ugly dining room that's been stripped and all the furniture stacked in the corner and in four little pods of tables pushed together and staff staring at you the whole time,' Wells said.

'None of that has changed because they're allowing nursing homes to do their own thing.'
A Minnesota family is rejoicing after learning that a 'miracle drug' they say successfully treats their daughter's 'childhood Alzheimer's' will not be discontinued.

Emma Peterka, two, from Minnetonka, suffers from condition known as Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC),

It causes enlarged organs, lung damage, muscle stiffness, dementia and difficulty speaking, with sufferers rarely living past the age of 10.

Emma's parents, Mitch and Sara, found hope in a drug called adrabetadex, which helped her regain some movement in her limbs and start communicating, WCCO reported.

Earlier this year, however, the company that produces the drug announced it would stop producing it in October, saying clinical trials showed no evidence that the drug worked.

That triggered a huge outcry from the Peterkas, as well as families of other children living with NPC.

But, in a stroke of luck, another manufacturer has agreed to take over the drug - giving children like Emma a chance at even further improvement.

Emma Peterka, two, from Minnetonka, Minnesota, has been diagnosed with 'childhood Alzheimer's.' Pictured: Emma (center) with her parents, Mitch and Sara

Known as NPC, the body is unable to metabolize cholesterol and lipids inside of cells causing enlarged organs, lung damage and the loss of speech and mobility. Emma (left and right) was diagnosed after her parents realized she had fallen behind in her development

In 2020, the Peterkas realized something wasn't right with their daughter.

Emma had begun losing strength and the ability to move, her cries weren't loud, and her milestones were delayed.

Emma Peterka had fallen behind in her development - losing strength, her ability to move and communicate.

After months of pursuing tests and doctors' exams, they received a diagnosis in September: childhood Alzheimer's, known formally as NPC.

NPC is a rare, progressive genetic disorder, which is characterized by an inability of the body to metabolize cholesterol and other fatty substances (lipids) inside of cells.

This causes enlarged organs, lung damage, and slow and steady neurological deterioration, in the form of dementia.

The muscles will begin to stiffen to the point where patients are unable to walk.

Speech becomes more difficult until sufferers are unable to talk, or even breathe, before eventually succumbing to the disease.

Only 500 children in the world have been diagnosed and most children don't live past age 10.

'It was absolutely devastating,' Emma's mother, Sara, told WCCO.

Emma has been on a drug called adrabetadex, which helped her regain some movement in her limbs and start communicating. Pictured: Emma with her mother

In January, the company that makes the drug announced it would stop producing it after clinical trials showed no evidence the medication worked. Pictured: Emma (center) with her parents

'We honestly weren't sure what Christmas was going to be like because she had been deteriorating so much.'

After consulting with numerous doctors, one of them directed the family to Rush University in Chicago to be included in a medical trial for a drug called adrabetadex.

Made by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, the drug appears to stabilize children in decline and substantially halt NPC's progression, something which seemed scientifically impossible only a few years ago.

Adrabetadexcan only be administered via spinal tap under anesthesia in a hospital every two weeks, indefinitely.

Emma's parents say she drastically improved with the drug.

'She's gotten stronger. She's able to sit up on her own nice and straight,' her father, Mitch, told WCCO.

'She's giggling, she's communicating, she's making noises. It's really exciting.'

Two weeks ago, another company said it would manufacture the drug for at least another two years. Pictured: Emma

Emma's parents say the continuation of the drug allows their daughter to continue to include improving her communication and mobility. Pictured: Emma (right) with her parents

However, in January, Mallinckrodt announced it would stop manufacturing the drug in October 2021 after a clinical trial showed no significant difference between NPC children taking the drug and those not doing so.

However, according to WCCO, two weeks ago, the Mallinckrodt announced a new firm plans to take over production of adrabetadex.

The new company plan to produce enough of the drug to last up to two years.

'The kind of feeling that you just want to run outside and just scream at the top of your lungs with excitement,' Mitch said.

'To go from not having any hope because it was ripped away from you, to suddenly having that hope restored was incredible.'
Americans who had Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccination will be given a Moderna booster as part of a trial to test the effects of mixing different shots - and to see whether doing so can boost protection from virus variants.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) study has enrolled 150 fully-vaccinated participants. Some of those people were also received Moderna's shot as their original vaccine, with scientists keen to see if giving people the same three shots produces different results than mixing two different injections.

Currently, vaccine manufacturers are in the process of developing booster shots to protect against more contagious and infectious variants.

NIH researchers want to determine if mixing vaccines is safe - and also to test a theory that mixing different vaccines could actually further boost immunity against COVID-19.

The NIH is performing a study to see if different Covid-19 vaccines can be mixed. They will be testing the Moderna booster shot on participants who received any of the three available vaccines to investigate whether mixing vaccines can boost immunity

Dr Fauci has said that a third booster shot will be necessary for Americans to remain safe from virus variants. Early trials from Pfizer show Americans could need their third shot as early as September

'Although the vaccines currently authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration offer strong protection against COVID-19, we need to prepare for the possibility of needing booster shots to counter waning immunity and to keep pace with an evolving virus,' said Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is leading and funding the study.

'The results of this trial are intended to inform public health policy decisions on the potential use of mixed vaccine schedules should booster doses be indicated.'

The study, led by a researcher from Baylor College, will include 150 Americans who already are fully vaccinated.

Each member of the study, no matter which of the vaccines they received, will receive a dose of a Moderna booster shot designed to combat vaccine variants.

Participants who initially received the Moderna shot will also receive the Moderna booster in order to function as a control group.

Data will be collected over the next year, and participants will be evaluated to find how safe they are from the virus, and also if there are any unique side effects to mixing vaccines.

There will also be a separate group of unvaccinated individuals who will receive two doses of the Moderna vaccine for the study and then be given the third shot anywhere from 12 to 20 weeks later.

Members of the study who fall ill with COVID-19 the virus will be tested to see if they contracted a variant, and it will be determined what vaccine combination is most effective against the many variants of the virus.

Initial results for the study are expected by late summer.

The study was announced amid claims Americans may soon need another booster shot of the Covid-19 vaccine in order to stay safe from the virus.

Fauci and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla both told Axios last month that a third dose of their vaccine will likely be required for Americans.

Early clinical trials show the third dose could be needed as early as September for those who received the vaccine early on.

The booster shots are likely to be required because of the many variants of the virus circulating around the world, with many more likely to form as the pandemic continues in other countries in 2021 and beyond.

Currently, more than 60 percent of American adults have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, but there are reports of millions not showing up to receive their second dose.
A federal judge has blocked the marketing of bottled water brand Real Water while the company undergoes an investigation into allegations that its product caused hepatitis in multiple patients, and at least one death.

A complaint from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also alleges that the company's water was nothing more than regular tap water infused with a chemical mixture.

The Arizona and Nevada based company issued a voluntary recall of all its water in March after the allegations surfaced.

The company has since seized the production of their water as FDA conducts an investigation into its Las Vegas and Henderson, Nevada facilities, and its facility in Mesa, Arizona.

Real Water has been linked to at least 16 cases of non-viral hepatitis and one death. The most high profile case was that of Myles Hunwardsen (pictured) who had to be airlifted to the hospital for a liver transplant after drinking the company's water

Real Water brands itself as alkaline water that can serve as an alternative to tap water, but and FDA complaint alleges the water was just tap water mixed with a chemical compound

An order signed by U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey makes official an agreement by the company to stop operations indefinitely and destroy all supply of the water they currently have.

The FDA launched an investigation into the alkaline water brand last year after cases of non-viral hepatitis arose in Nevada, and the only link between the cases was that patients had recently consumed the water.

The most high profile case was that of Myles Hunwardsen, who suffered from acute liver failure after drinking the water, and had to be airlifted to UCLA Ronald Reagan Hospital for a liver transplant.

Alkaline water has been lauded for its potential health benefits, including being able to prevent cancer, but many scientists dispute its worth

In total, the water has been linked to five hepatitis cases in children and eleven cases in adults, including one woman who died from liver failure.

Real Water branded itself as a healthy alternative to tap water but, according to a report by Food Safety News (FSN), the company was allegedly just mixing chemicals into tap water.

The chemical mixture violated food safety standards and regular hazard prevention measures, FSN reported.

A complaint filed by FDA officials in May of this year alleged the company was misbranding their water bottles.

The complaint also stated that there were multiple regulatory violations in production of the water, and that the company had multiple failures to follow good manufacturing processes.

'The FDA, together with our federal counterparts at the U.S. Department of Justice, aggressively pursued this injunction and we will continue to take swift action to protect consumers,' said Judy McMeekin, FDA Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs.

At least four lawsuits have been filed against the company since last November, and against retailers like Whole Foods who sold the product have been sued as well.

In Nevada, retailers who sell defective products can also be held accountable for complications suffered by their customers.

In March 2021, Brent Jones, the founder and majority owner of Real Water, released a video apologizing for the situation on YouTube.

Real Water founder Brent Jones released a video apologizing for a recall that occurred in March (above)

'This recall is deeply concerning because you should never have any worry about the safety of any of our products,' Jones said in the video message.

'As the majority owner and founder of Real Water, I want you to know that I stand behind every product we sell, and safety will always be our top priority.'

Jones is a former Republican Nevada state legislator and failed candidate for Lieutenant Governor.

He served in the state legislature from 2016 to 2018.

Jones previously had a lawsuit brought against himself and the company for allegedly forcing his employees to watch Scientology-based videos at work.

A former executive at the company also claimed that they were required to attend Scientology-based facilities while working for Real Water.

The company has since taken their website down, and replaced it with a link to the video message, a few press releases and information packets related to the situation.

Real Water branded itself as alkaline water, which has a higher pH level than regular drinking water.

Alkaline water usually has a pH level of eight or higher, while standard water has a 'neutral' pH level of seven.

Some believe the water can reverse the signs of aging or even prevent cancer, though there is no scientific evidence to back it up, and many experts believe claims about alkaline water are nothing more than marketing gimmicks.

The Mayo Clinic recommends to just drink regular water.
China's medical firm uses drone to deliver biological samples

Xinhua) 09:05, June 02, 2021

GUANGZHOU, June 1 (Xinhua) -- A multi-rotor drone carrying biological samples took off from a hospital in south China's megacity of Guangzhou on Monday to replace road transport for the testing delivery in Guangzhou KingMed Diagnostics Group Co., Ltd, a Chinese medical diagnostic testing company.

With its highest speed of 50 km per hour, the drone spent ten minutes completing the delivery, far less than the 30 minutes it takes with a vehicle.

Liu Weimin, manager of the logistics management center of KingMed Diagnostics, said that drones usually carry a weight of less than 5 kg, which is suitable for transporting biological samples.

The manager added that the company's drone was equipped with a specimen carton for cold chain logistics to ensure sample safety, and the delivery is free of human contact.

Qu Hongying, president of the Guangdong Second Provincial Central Hospital, said that KingMed Diagnostics' testing service could assist the hospital's clinical labs in providing patients with quick medical test results.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Bianji)
Nearly a quarter of all children between ages 12 and 17 have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine in the U.S.

Since the Pfizer-BioNTech shot was approved for emergency use in teenagers on May 10, 6.3 million out of 25 million have gotten an initial dose.

An additional 2.2 million youngsters are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

During a press conference on Wednesday, President Joe Biden encouraged even more young Americans to to get the shot.

'It's true: the young people are much less likely to die from Covid. But if you do not get vaccinated, you get Covid sooner or later. You could get Covid still,' he said.

'If you're thinking the side effects from the shot are worse than the Covid or that you can just take a chance, you're just dead wrong. Do it to protect those more vulnerable than you.'

It comes as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday that the Big Apple will start 'pop up' vaccine centers at school from Friday in an effort to get more children immunized.

Nearly a quarter of U.S. children between ages 12 and 17 have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, according to CDC data

As of Wednesday, 6.3 million teenagers out of 25 million in this age bracket have gotten an initial shot and 2.2 million are fully vaccinated. Pictured: Ruthie Riccoban, age 14, is inoculated by Nurse Karen Pagliaro at Hartford Healthcares mass vaccination center at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, Connecticut, May 13

Pfizer's vaccine was approved for use in older kids after data was released from its phase III clinical trial, which saw 2,200 teenagers enrolled in the U.S. compared to 40,000 for the aged 16 and older trial.

Half of the group received two doses of the vaccine three weeks apart and the other half were given two placebo injections.

A total of 18 cases of COVID-19 were reported in the placebo group while no cases were reported in the vaccine group.

This means that the vaccine was 100 percent safe and effective in 12-to-15-year-olds, according to the researchers.

What's more, side effects were similar to those seen in the larger trial among 16-to-25-year-olds, including pain at the injection site, tiredness, fever and headaches.

However, despite the promising results, many parents are not enthusiastic about vaccinating their children.

In a recent poll, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, parents were asked if they would get their child immunized once a COVID-19 vaccine is authorized and available for their child's age group.

Only about three in 10 parents - 29 percent - of children under 18 said they would get their child vaccinated 'right away.'

The poll also found 15 percent only plan to vaccinate their children if the school requires it and 19 percent said their child will definitely not be getting vaccinated.

What's more, although children can contract COVID-19 and pass the disease on to others, they tend to not get very ill.

More than 3.97 million children have tested positive for the virus as of Monday, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, but only make up 0.1 percent of all deaths.

Mayor de Blasio announced students in New York City will be able to receive COVID-19 vaccines at pop-up sites in school

We will begin in-school #COVID19 vaccinations Friday, kicking off #InTheBronx!



Well make our schools a place where kids can get vaccinated to reach young people quickly and get them the protection they need.https://t.co/iSQUHBhgVK  Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) June 2, 2021

It comes as Mayor de Blasio announced students in New York City will be able to receive COVID-19 vaccines in school.

The pop-up clinics will begin at four schools in the Bronx, and expand to more schools in other boroughs in the coming weeks.

'It's going to be a way to reach a lot of young people quickly,' de Blasio said during a press conference on Wednesday.

'We want to make schools a place where kids can get vaccinated. This is something that I think will open up a world of possibilities.'

As of Wednesday, 118,000 children between ages 12 and 17 in New York City have been vaccinated, accounting for 23 percent all kids in that age range.

De Blasio also announced that New Yorkers above age 12 can begin receiving the Pfizer vaccine at the New York Aquarium and, in return, receive a free ticket for a future date.

This is similar to programs being run at the Bronx Zoo and American Museum of Natural History.

'We are going to reach kids everywhere and make kids much, much safer,' he said.
Two more states have announced giveaways to incentivize their residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

New Mexico announced on Tuesday the largest vaccine lottery in the nation with its Vax 2 the Max program.

Residents can win several prizes from a $10 million total pool and the winner taking home a grand prize of $5 million.

Meanwhile, in West Virginia, prizes include a total of $1 million in cash, five custom hunting rifles and shotguns, and five lifetime licenses for hunting and fishing.

The two states join California, Maryland, New York, Ohio and others that have recently used lotteries and raffles to get more of their population vaccinated - and to great effect.

New Mexico is offering up to $10 million in cash prizes for their vaccine lottery initiative. The state has been among the most successful states in getting their population vaccinated so far

West Virginia has struggled to get their residents vaccinated so far, but the interesting offering of guns and trucks in their rollout could get more West Virginians jabbed

Incentives to receive vaccines have become more common in the United States as vaccine demand has decreased over the past month, falling from an average of three million per day in April to 1.5 million per day, acurrently.

The full list of West Virginia prizes also includes two new custom-outfitted trucks and 25 weekend getaways to local state parks.

Additionally, two full four-year scholarships to in-state colleges will be offered to those between the ages of 12 and 15 in a separate lottery

'The prizes to me are secondary to the fact that we're trying to save your life,' West Virginia Gov Jim Justice said at a news conference.

The governor also pointed out the importance of residents getting vaccinated.

'All of our hospitalizations, all of all our our ICU units, all of our deaths, for the most part, are all people that have not been vaccinated. I don't know how it gets any simpler than that,' Justice said.

'These vaccinations are amazingly safe and they'll protect you.'

'I don't know how in the world people are sitting on the sidelines still saying: "No, I'm not going to do one, I'm not going to do it."'

West Virginia chose a different route than other states, offering more specified prizes to their population who may be more interested in guns and trucks than just cash.

Starting next week, officials in New Mexico will draw four prizes of $250,000 each along with smaller prizes such as in-state vacation packages and museum tickets.

The $5 million grand prize drawing will be held in August.

New Mexico Gov Michelle Lujan Grisham echoed a similar sentiment as her counterpart in West Virginia.

'Getting vaccinated is the right thing to do - for yourself, for your family and for your state,' she said.

'I'm excited to add a little fun to our nation-leading vaccination push.'

New Mexico ranks within the top ten of states with the highest percentage of fully vaccinated residents, at 48 percent.

More than one million New Mexicans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

West Virginia finds itself at the opposite side of the standings, ranking in the bottom 10 of states with the most population vaccinated, at only 34 percent.

Though the state does report that over half of its population over the age of 12 has received their first shot of the vaccine.

Ohio's Vax-a-Million program, which drew its first $1 million winner this week, was the first vaccine lottery program to garner national attention.

The program used federal relief funds to offer five weekly $1 million prizes in order to incentivize more Ohioans to get the shot.

Vaccination rate in the state went up by 55 percent after the announcement of the lottery among 20-to-49-year-olds.

West Virginia and New Mexico hope to see similar gains after vaccine demand across the country plummeted during May.

Currently, more than 60 percent of the country's adult population - and about half of the total U.S. population - has received at least one shot of the vaccine.

Experts believe between 75 and 80 percent of the population will need to get vaccinated in order to reach herd immunity, which seems like a long shot with the low vaccine demand.

A public health expert told DailyMail.com last month that initiatives like the vaccine lotteries can help in the efforts to get more people vaccinated, but will not be a be-all-end-all solution to the problem of vaccine hesitancy in America.

The initiatives all use Covid-19 relief money distributed to the states from the federal government as part of the CARES Act last year.

Andy Slavitt, President Joe Biden's senior advisor for COVID-19 response, said last month that the federal government approves of relief funds being used as vaccine incentives.
Most Britons with a landline telephone now receive more calls from scammers than they do from their loved ones, a Money Mail poll reveals.

The steady rise in fraudulent calls now means that, for most of us, the majority of calls we receive on our landline telephones are from scammers, our survey found.

The Money Mail research, conducted by Consumer Intelligence, found that one person in four had given up using a landline. We also found that 60 per cent of those who still use a traditional telephone receive a scam call at least once a week.

Frustration: For most of us, the majority of calls we receive on our landline telephones are from scammers

Three in five said that most calls they received on their landlines were suspected scam calls, with 8 per cent stating that nuisance calls were the only ones they received on their landline.

David Hickson, of the Fair Telecoms Campaign, says technology is available that could prevent any scam calls getting through to landline customers.

He says: 'We have been pestering the regulators and government to do something effective against the nuisance and criminality of these calls. If something had been done in the early days of campaigning, we would be in a much happier place.'

The Fair Telecoms Campaign wants landline firms to provide customers with technology that screens all calls and connects only those that have been approved by the homeowner.

Many of the UK's phone providers have the technology to screen and block automated scam calls, but users must sign up to the services.

BT, which has more than 30 million customers, says more than three million landline customers use BT Call Protect.

A BT spokesman says: 'We treat scam calls extremely seriously and are always looking for new ways in which we can protect our customers.'
British Airways has handed over the running of its huge pension fund to US investment management giant BlackRock.

The BA corporate pension scheme has assets worth over 21.5billion, meaning the transfer is one of the biggest of its kind to an external investment manager.

The transfer of management to BlackRock involves the airline's Airways Pension Scheme and New Airways Pension Scheme, two of the country's largest corporate defined benefit pension schemes, that manage benefits for over 85,000 members and beneficiaries.

Transfer: British Airways has handed over the management of its huge pension fund to US-based investing giant BlackRock

BA's pensions were previously managed in-house by British Airways Pension Investment Management Ltd.

Chair of Trustee APS and NAPS Trustee Roger Maynard said: 'Operating as our in-house investment manager, BAPIML has delivered excellent investment performance and stewardship of the schemes over many years.

'This agreement is the necessary next step in the evolution of the schemes as they look to enhance their respective investment strategies, working toward their funding goals.

'In BlackRock, we have identified an asset manager that will ensure the continued focus on delivering enhanced oversight, investment management and long-term value for the Schemes in the interests of our members. We look forward to working with BlackRock in the years ahead.'

Earlier this year BA owner IAG struck a deal with one of its pension funds to defer 450million of pension deficit contributions to save cash until the airline can start flying again at full capacity.

The agreement with the New Airways Pension Scheme means BA will defer monthly contributions of 37.5million due between October 2020 and September 2021 until March 2023.

Under the deal, BA will pay interest on the deferred cash and put property assets as a security, which will remain in place until the airline has repaid the pension contributions.

It is seeking to plug a 2.6billion deficit, which was discovered back in 2018. BA has paid 1.34billion in contributions to the New Airways Pension Scheme since March 2018, when it closed it down, moving its employees on to a new, less generous fund.

The New Airways Pension Scheme was a final-salary plan, which guaranteed workers would be paid a proportion of what their salary was in the year before they retired.

New management: The transfer of management to BlackRock involves the airline's Airways Pension Scheme and New Airways Pension Scheme

In 2020 BA was one of several major employers to use emergency powers to stop members ditching their defined benefit pensions during the height of the crisis.

BlackRock said today: 'The size and scale of the partnership marks a seminal moment in the UK pensions industry.

'In recent years, regulation has intensified, operational costs have risen, and investment complexity has increased.

'As a result, many UK pension schemes are looking externally for investment management capabilities with the scale and resources to take on the challenges.'

The transition of assets completed on 1 June.

BA slumped to a 3.9billion operating loss in 2020, which is more than half of the airlines group's total loss for the year.

According to the FTSE 100 firm's annual reports, BA's loss dwarfed that of its stablemates Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling.

Shares in IAG are up 0.85 per cent or 1.75p to 208.75p at present. A year ago the share price was 170.82p.
A group of fans of the New York City Police Department have kickstarted their own club celebrating the Big Apple's law enforcement unit by mimicking it in Brazil's largest city.

Fabio Denzin and his friends are obsessed with the NYPD, one of the world's most recognizable police forces, and are inspired by nostalgia from cop movies and shows like 'Law & Order.'

Their hobbies include refurbishing NYPD cars and motorcycles.

Pedestrians in Sao Paulo certainly have been confused with the swirl of red lights and blaring sirens each time they spot the motorcade heading down the street.

Mariani Morandi (from left, pictured at Pacaembu Stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil), Michelle Grasso and Johnny Brito love to recreate the NYPD's cars and motorbikes as a hobby

Eduardo Tai and Mariani Morandi, members of a group of Brazilian fans of New York City Police Department

Mariani Morandi, a member of a group of Brazilian fans of NYPD, with a pet dog as part of the group's 'K9 unit'

'To tell you the truth, it creates some confusion sometimes,' said Denzin, who owns not just a Ford Crown Victoria painted as a NYPD car, but also a van and motorcycle.

'People even think that it is the real police from New York on patrol, as if they came to Brazil to help the local police.'

While impersonating a police officer is a crime in Brazil and many countries, Denzin and fellow NYPD fans said they are in the clear because they are not pretending to be actual Brazilian police.

Brazil has a history of crimes involving police impersonation, including a 2019 heist in which investigators said robbers used Brazilian federal police livery to enter an airport and steal $40 million worth of gold and other metals.

A man poses leaning on a car of Brazilian fans of NYPD in Sao Paulo

A group of Brazilian fans obsessed with the New York Police Department own at least three cars as a well as motorcycle outfitted with the emblems of the police force and sirens

'It's our passion. Some like military cars, others like boats and we like police liveries,' said Eduardo Tai, who started working on his NYPD replica car 11 years ago.

He bought a civilian version of a Crown Victoria, which Ford Motor Company introduced in 1992 and discontinued in 2011. Tai then went on e-commerce sites like eBay where he purchased NYPD accessories for the vehicle.

Tai and his cohort have gotten used to the attention.

'A lot of people approach us and start talking to us in English, so you also need to learn a bit of that to speak some English back,' said Johnny Brito, dressed in an NYPD uniform he bought online and sitting on a Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle with NYPD's Highway Patrol police branding.

Eduardo Tai said he purchased a Crown Victoria, which Ford Motor Company introduced in 1992 and discontinued in 2011. He then went on eBay and bought NYPD accessories for the vehicle

Brazilian fans of New York City Police Department parade through Sao Paulo in a fleet of motorcycles and cars that resemble famous police force's fleet
Infamous Princess Diana interviewer Martin Bashir has been booted from his lucrative public speaking work after a bombshell report claimed he tricked Diana into going on camera with him in 1995.

Bashir's profile on Celebrity Talent International (CTI), where he previously billed $25,000 for a single speaking engagement, was removed last week following claims he forged documents and lied to get his landmark sit-down with the Princess of Wales.

The former MSNBC anchor was listed on the site alongside stars like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and performers like Taylor Swift until last Tuesday, when his page was replaced with the message 'Our apologies, this profile is no longer available on our site.'

British journalist Martin Bashir (pictured in 2007) has been booted from his lucrative public speaking work in light of claims he tricked Diana into going on camera with him in 1995, DailyMail.com has learned

Bashir's profile on Celebrity Talent International's (CTI) website, where he previously billed $25,000 for a single speaking engagement, was removed last week following the bombshell report

Bashir's biography on the CTI site had described him as an award-winning British journalist, trumpeting his 1995 Diana interview. Last Tuesday, it was replaced with the message 'Our apologies, this profile is no longer available on our site'

Bashir resigned as the BBC's religious editor in mid-May, days before the release of an excoriating report into his conduct by former UK senior judge Lord Dyson.

Dyson said Bashir forged bank statements and lied to persuade the late Princess to sit for the historic interview, and that the BBC covered up the scandal for years afterwards.

Bashir has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from his side-gig with CTI, regaling audiences with secrets about Diana, her sons Prince Harry and Prince William, and the Royal scoop.

At the time, the interview was dubbed 'the scoop of the century,' revealing Diana's affair, bulimia, and her description of a 'crowded' marriage to the Queen's son, Prince Charles.

But those secrets, Dyson's report says, were all obtained through a series of lies and manipulations.

Dyson wrote that Bashir 'commissioned fake bank statements' and 'deceived and induced' Diana's brother Charles Spencer to arrange a meeting with the princess.

Bashir infamously interviewed Princess Diana in a bombshell 1995 sit-down, her first and only television sit-down

An excoriating report by former UK senior judge Lord Dyson revealed Bashir forged bank statements and lied to persuade the late Princess to sit for the historic interview, and that the BBC covered up the scandal for years afterwards

The former MSNBC anchor had won a number of awards for his work and collected a BAFTA for the sit-down

The 127-page report was the culmination of a six-month investigation that cost the BBC $2million.

'This behaviour was in serious breach of the 1993 edition of the BBC's Producer Guidelines on straight dealing,' Dyson wrote.

Bashir's biography on the CTI website described him as an award-winning British journalist, trumpeting his Diana interview.

'Bashir has won a number of other awards for his work and has collected a BAFTA award for his now-historic interview with the late Princess Diana, which remains her only television interview,' the site's now-deleted profile said.

A source close to the company told DailyMail.com that CTI was unaware of the impending explosive report, and was surprised to see a spike in hits on his profile page  but soon discovered the unflattering reason for the piqued interest in the disgraced journalist.

'He is frozen out of this work now for sure,' the source said. 'He has health problems too and with this scandal public appearances may not be the best arena for him.'

Bashir, 58, contracted Covid-19 last year and has been recovering from a quadruple heart bypass surgery according to the BBC.

The BBC has sent personal letters of apology to William, Harry (pictured together) and other royals over Martin Bashir's lies to persuade Diana to agree to his 1995 Panorama interview

'It's unlikely he'll ever come back to do public speaking work in the future,' the source added.

'Certainly it would be difficult to imagine him doing a speech on the Diana interview in the way he did in the past.'

The CTI website previously said anyone wishing to book Bashir either for a speaking engagement or as an event host would need to spend between '$15,000-$24,999'.

Timeline of the Diana-Panorama scandal 1986: Martin Bashir joins BBC as news correspondent and works on programs including Songs of Praise, Public Eye and Panorama. November 1995: The famous interview with Princess Diana turns Mr Bashir into TV's hottest property. 1996: The Mail on Sunday reveals claims that Mr Bashir used faked bank documents to persuade Diana to talk. The BBC holds internal inquiry dismissed as a 'whitewash'. 1999: Moves to ITV's Tonight with Trevor McDonald. His scoops include interview with Stephen Lawrence suspects and documentary on Michael Jackson. May 2004: Quits to host ABC's Nightline in US. Suspended in 2008 after making 'Asian babes' remark at Asian American Journalists convention. 2010: Joins NBC News as an MSNBC anchor. He resigns in 2013 after controversial remarks about vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. 2016: BBC re-hires Mr Bashir as religious affairs correspondent. He is later promoted to religion editor. October 2020: Channel 4 documentary alleges there was 'elaborate plot' by Mr Bashir to trick Diana into talking. November 7: The Daily Mail reveals a shocking dossier held by Diana's brother Earl Spencer revealing alleged royal smears, lies and tricks that Mr Bashir used to land his interview. November 18: BBC orders six-month inquiry by former judge Lord Dyson. May 14, 2021: The BBC announces Mr Bashir has handed in his notice on health grounds. Advertisement

Last year DailyMail.com revealed Bashir's side-gig as a paid public speaker, despite his medical issues.

At the time CTI confirmed Bashir was available to 'do a virtual event during COVID-19.'

'Many performers, actors, speakers and other talent like Martin Bashir, with postponed or cancelled events due to COVID-19 are now, in certain cases, considering virtual appearances via live streaming,' the booking agency stated.

'They perhaps may accept lower fees too. If you are seriously interested in booking Martin Bashir or other talent shown on our site, we will research their desire and the specific fee for your live-streaming event or project request.'

Lord Dyson's damning report found Bashir told Diana she was being spied on and that Prince Charles was having an affair with Tiggy Legge-Bourke, Harry and William's nanny.

The allegedly forged bank statements he used to persuade her brother purported to show payments from Rupert Murdoch-owned media company News International to an offshore firm owned by Spencer's former employee.

The claimed forgery used Diana's paranoia that she was being spied on, betrayed, and should be fearful for her life.

The revelations from Bashir's interview sent shockwaves across the world and led to the princess being 'cast adrift', left to fend for herself outside the royal circle.

Two years later she died in a car crash in a Paris tunnel while being chased by paparazzi.

On Thursday Prince William blasted the 'lurid and false claims' Bashir made to get the interview with his late mother.

The Duke of Cambridge said the lies about the Royal Family 'played on her fears and fuelled paranoia,' while his brother Harry said the probe was the 'first step towards justice' for their mother.

The London Metropolitan Police said they will 'assess the contents' of Lord Dyson's report to check for 'significant new evidence'.

Scotland Yard previously decided not to begin a criminal investigation into alleged unlawful activity in connection with the 1995 broadcast.

Earlier in May Jonathan Munro, the BBC's deputy director of news, said that Bashir had stepped down from his position as the BBC's religion editor and was leaving the corporation.

'He let us know of his decision last month, just before being readmitted to hospital for another surgical procedure on his heart,' Munro wrote.

'Although he underwent major surgery toward the end of last year, he is facing some ongoing issues and has decided to focus on his health.'

Bashir has also shut down his Twitter account.
Democrat Melanie Stansbury won election to Congress for New Mexico on Tuesday with a campaign closely tied to initiatives of the Biden administration.

Stanbury, 42, prevailed in an open, four-way race to fill a vacant seat previously held by Deb Haaland, who resigned her seat to become the U.S. Secretary of the Interior in the Biden administration.

The state legislator outpaced her Republican rival in the special election by more than 30,000 votes, garnering roughly six of every 10 votes as ballots were tallied into the night.

Stansbury closely tethered her bid for Congress to proposed and enacted Democratic legislation on pandemic relief, infrastructure spending and interventions to slow climate change. Her victory shores up the Democratic majority in Congress ahead of 2022 midterm elections.

She strode on stage in Albuquerque with both arms raised high, in celebration of her win. Thanking supporters and volunteers, she said the grit and determination that fueled her campaign was learned from her own mother, who worked in a denim factory and later as a crane operator.

Melanie Stansbury addresses supporters at the Hotel Albuquerque on Tuesday after winning the election in New Mexico's 1st Congressional District race to fill former U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland's seat

Republican candidate Mark Moores awaits results of the special election at GOP headquarters on Tuesday

Democratic candidate Melanie Stansbury, left, hugs her mother, Sunny Birklund, at the Hotel Albuquerque as results come in for special election

U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, center left, hugs Melanie Stansbury, as U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, left, checks his phone at the Hotel Albuquerque on Tuesday

'When the moment demands it, when our families and our communities demand it, when our country demands it, we step up and find the solutions for communities and we figure it out,' Stanbury said.

'And that is exactly what we did in this campaign and that is why I am standing before you tonight.'

Stanbury's victory preserves an all-female House delegation for the state. She defeated third-term Republican state Sen. Mark Moores to fill an Albuquerque-based seat that has been held by Democrats since 2009.

Libertarian nominee Chris Manning and independent Aubrey Dunn Jr. campaigned unsuccessfully to represent the 1st Congressional District, which encompasses Albuquerque, rural Torrance County and other outlying areas that include the Indigenous community of Sandia Pueblo.

Dunn, a former Republican elected to statewide office as land commissioner who didn't seek reelection in 2018, cast himself as a staunch defender of gun rights and an experienced steward of public lands

Manning, who lives far outside the district in Farmington, campaigned on an unorthodox plan to reduce health care costs by eliminating employer-based coverage and insurance requirements.

Moores tried unsuccessfully to flip the seat to Republican control by highlighting concerns about crime in Albuquerque and painting his Democratic opponent as a radical progressive.

He emphasized the need for aggressive drug interdiction and immigration enforcement along the U.S. border with Mexico and uninterrupted oil leasing on federal land as a crucial source of employment in New Mexico.

His campaign seized on concerns about public safety and crime as a core issue, backing more federal dollars for police body cameras that are required in New Mexico and voicing support for police officers.

On Tuesday, Stanbury reiterated her push for a $15 minimum wage, economic and racial equality and police reforms. She said there's a lot of work to do and she wants to give everyone a seat at the table as the country and its infrastructure is rebuilt.

Amid Election Day voting, she emphasized the need for a major round of federal infrastructure spending.

'This is especially important for New Mexico because it includes funding for things like broadband and clean energy,' Stansbury said.

The district's voters have heavily favored Democratic candidates in recent years, shunning former President Donald Trump with a gap of 23 percentage points in 2020 and reelecting Haaland with a margin of 16 percentage points as voter participation reached an all-time high.

Sean Patrick Maloney, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said from New Mexico that enthusiasm is up among Democrats and that Stansbury's win helps ensure work can continue in Washington on the Democratic agenda.

Melanie Stansbury speaks during a campaign rally in Albuquerque on May 27 - when she was joined by Vice President Kamala Harris' husband Doug Emhoff

Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, campaigns in New Mexico on behalf of Melanie Stansbury, background, during a rally on May 27

Melanie Stansbury, center, takes photos with supporters during a campaign rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on May 27

New Mexicos 1st District seat has consistently been a stepping stone to higher office for Republican and Democratic politicians, including now-deceased Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr., former U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The district relies heavily on federal military and research funding as home to Kirtland Air Force Base and Sandia National Laboratories.

Trump in 2020 fell flat with Albuquerque-area voters after he sent federal agents to bolster local law enforcement efforts.

Republicans last year flipped the state's sprawling 2nd Congressional District in southern New Mexico as Yvette Herrell of Alamogordo ousted incumbent U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small.

Tuesday's election is among a handful of races to fill vacancies in Congress ahead of 2022 midterm elections. Democrats held a 219-211 majority in Congress going into Tuesdays vote in New Mexico.

A special election has been scheduled for November 2 to fill the seat representing Ohio's 11th Congressional District in the U.S. House after Marcia Fudge was confirmed as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

The Senate voted 66-34 to confirm Fudge on March 10.

A special election will also be heled in November to fill the seat representing Florida's 20th Congressional District in the U.S. House previously held by Alcee Hastings, a Democrat who died on April 6 at the age of 84.

Another special election will be held to fill the seat representing Ohio's 15th Congressional District left by Steve Stivers, a Republican who resigned on May 16 to become the President and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
Phoenix Police Officer Ginarro New (pictured) was killed in a violent car crash on Tuesday night after a driver plowed through a red light and hit his squad car

A Phoenix police officer was killed when a driver plowed through a red light and struck his squad car, launching it into a brick wall.

The accident happened Monday at 10.33pm when 27-year-old Officer Ginarro New entered an intersection and his marked police SUV was hit by another car, Phoenix police said in a statement.

The driver of the other car, identified by AZ Central as 31-year-old Christopher Castro, was also killed in the crash.

The impact sent New's vehicle through a brick wall and into a nearby parking lot where it landed on its side, police spokesperson Sgt Ann Justus said.

Firefighters extricated New from the car and took him to a hospital, where he died of his injuries.

Images from local media showed New's car mangled with most of the back half torn off.

Images from local media showed debris strewn across the crash site on Tuesday morning

The driver who struck New's squad car was identified as 31-year-old Christopher Castro. He was also killed in the crash that ripped off most of the front of his vehicle

New's squad car (right) careened through a brick wall after it collided with Castro's (left)

Aftermath of crash that killed Phoenix police officer A Phoenix police officer was killed in a crash near Cave Creek Road and Greenway Parkway overnight. The other driver involved, who is believed to have been speeding through a red light, was also killed. bit.ly/3c9UGpD Posted by ABC15 Arizona on Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Preliminary evidence indicated Castro was speeding. Police later said it appeared he may have been impaired but did not offer additional details.

New joined the department in July 2019, Sgt Justus said.

He is survived his wife Kristen, his mother Misty, brother Marcas, and his grandmother Susan, according to a Facebook post by police.

Political leaders across Arizona shared their heartbreak at the news of the officer's death.

'We are devastated by the loss of Officer Ginarro New, who served with the Phoenix Police Department for just under two years,' Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey wrote in a tweet Tuesday afternoon.

'Officer New made safe communities his top priority, and we are grateful for his bravery and dedication to protecting others.'

Fellow officers honored New with a procession after he was killed in Monday's crash

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego also expressed condolences.

'I join the people of Phoenix in expressing my sadness for Officer New's family, loved ones, and his colleagues at the Phoenix Police Department,' Gallego tweeted.

'We will remember his dedication and express our deep gratitude for his service to our community. The whole city grieves today.'

'I want to express my deep thanks and appreciation to...the doctors, the nurses, the surgeons, who tried to save Officer New as well as the Phoenix Fire Department that did everything possible to try to preserve his life,' Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams told reporters Tuesday morning.

Gov. Ducey ordered flags at all state buildings lowered to half-staff until sunset on Tuesday in New's honor.

Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona wrote a short tribute to Officer New the day after his tragic death
Grant Shapps has demanded Sadiq Khan reopen Hammersmith Bridge this summer, after pledging millions of pounds in Government funding to help fix the cracked crossing.

In an open letter to London's Labour mayor, the Transport Secretary said he was growing 'very concerned' about the lengthy closure of the 134-year-old bridge.

The cast-iron structure has been shut to traffic since April 2019 - when engineers found cracks in its pedestals. It has been closed to pedestrians and cyclists since last summer.

There are fears that the complicated repairs to the structure could take up to six years to complete.

Meanwhile, a row has been brewing between the Government, Transport for London (TfL) and local council officials over who will foot the eventual repair bill - which could spiral to more than 100million.

In a bid to break the deadlock, Mr Shapps yesterday revealed the Government had offered to pay a third of the costs.

But he said the money came with the expectation that Mr Khan, and Labour-run Hammersmith and Fulham Council, reopen the bridge to pedestrians this summer.

He also called on TfL and council chiefs to 'urgently' reveal plans to get the bridge reopened to traffic in the near future.

In an open letter to the London Mayor, published on the day the Government announced a new 1billion Covid bailout for TfL, he said: 'I have been very concerned to see Hammersmith Bridge  a major London conduit over the Thames  left closed for such a long time.

Grant Shapps has demanded Sadiq Khan reopen Hammersmith Bridge (pictured) this summer, as he last night pledged millions of pounds in funding to help fix the cracked crossing

Today Mr Shapps (pictured left) revealed the Government had offered to pay a third of the costs in a bid to break the deadlock the bill for the repairs. But he said the money came with the expectation that Mr Khan (pictured right), and Labour-run Hammersmith and Fulham Council, reopen the bridge to pedestrians this summer

The open letter in which Hammersmith Bridge was mentioned came as the Department for Transport announced a 1billion bailout for Transport for London

Government announces new 1billion bailout for Transport for London The Government yesterday announced a new 1billion bailout for Transport for London. Ministers say the money is to help fund the capital's transport network as 'we progress along the Government's roadmap through the pandemic'. The funding will cover up until December 2021, ministers say, and follows two previous emergency support packages agreed in April and October 2020. It takes the total governments support since March 2020 to over 4billion. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: 'This 1.08 billion financial package will support London and its transport network through the pandemic, and ensure it is a modern, efficient and viable network for the future. 'Throughout this process, the government has maintained that these support packages must be fair to taxpayers across the UK and on the condition that action is taken to put TfL on the path to long-term financial sustainability. 'As part of todays settlement, the Mayor has agreed to further measures that will help ensure that.' Advertisement

'The bridge belongs to the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and the maintenance and upkeep falls entirely in their hands. This would normally be supported by TfL.

'The Government has made a generous offer for the reopening Hammersmith Bridge and I expect that we will see the bridge open to pedestrians and cyclists this summer, subject to confirmation of engineer reports.'

He added: 'Whilst I am sure this will be a welcome step forward, the end goal must be for the bridge to be reopened to motorised traffic.

'In the coming months I expect to see a robust plan from the Council for the initial stabilisation works as the first step to setting out how that will be achieved.'

Mr Shapps believes the bridge, which connects Hammersmith and Barnes, can be fixed for around 90million.

This is 50million less than the TfL and council estimates, which are currently in excess of 140million.

Under his proposed funding deal, this would mean the Government, TfL and the council - who are ultimately responsible for the bridge's upkeep - would each contribute 30million to the repairs.

But the leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Council last night dismissed the Mr Shapps' funding announcement as 'party politics'.

In a statement to MailOnline, councillor Stephen Cowan said: 'The announcement demonstrates the contempt this Government, and its absurdly named Taskforce, has for the people of south-west London.

'It is simply more of the same party political game-playing that has characterised its approach throughout.

'Hammersmith Bridge is one of the world's oldest mechanical suspension bridges and one of the most expensive in Britain to repair.

Mr Shapps believes the bridge, which connects Hammersmith and Barnes, can be fixed for around 90million - less than the TfL and council estimates in excess of 140million

The leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Council, councillor Stephen Cowan (pictured) last night dismissed the Mr Shapps' funding announcement as 'party politics'

'Yet the Government is seeking to impose an unprecedented 33 per cent of the cost on Hammersmith & Fulham.

Hammersmith Bridge timeline: Why will the repairs take so long? Stage one: Start ferry contract - 66 working days (three months) after funding is released. It is now hoped this will start in February 2021

Then: Four months to 'understand' condition of the bridge's pedestals at a cost of 13.9m

Then: Emergency stabilisation work for seven months at a cost of 13.9m

Then: Permanent stabilisation work, taking 21 months at a cost of 32m

Then: Bridge strengthening, taking 30 months, for 80m.

Total: 65 months, or five years and five months

This still falls short of the projected six and a half year timeline Advertisement

'That is tens of millions of pounds more than any other London council has ever paid for bridge repairs and comes on top of the record 8.6million we are already paying.'

He said the council had proposed alternative measures to get the bridge reopened, including a double-decker temporary bridge and a proposed toll charge to cover the cost of the repairs.

'These proposals - all of which are ignored in todays announcement - provide the best value for local and national taxpayers and deliver on the bridge reopening to all traffic, including pedestrians, cyclists public transport, and motor vehicles, supporting people on both sides of the river and beyond,' councillor Cowan added.

MailOnline contacted TfL for a comment last night.

Earlier this year it was revealed how a 3 toll for motorists could be introduced on Hammersmith Bridge to help foot the costs of its long-running repair works.

The council drew up the 'radical plans' to make the bridge operational after almost two years out of action.

The council said 'early assessments' indicate motorists would pay an average of 3 to drive across the bridge.

It claimed its plan would help reduce restoration costs to 'around 100 million' and allow traffic to use it from the middle of 2022.

In the meantime the bridge would have a 'double-decker' structure, with an upper level carrying cars and buses, while pedestrians and cyclists would use the lower level, the council said.

This is a computer generated plan of a proposed temporary Hammersmith Bridge, alongside the original, which is not set to be back to normal until 2027 as it is repaired

Plans to reopen the bridge with a temporary 'double-decker' crossing were also unveiled last month. Council chiefs plan to install the two-layer structure above the current road level

The proposed double-decker crossing will not place a load on the current structure - allowing engineers to continue work on the bridge as planned

A technical study conducted jointly by architects Foster + Partners and specialist bridge engineers COWI found it is 'feasible' using the existing bridge foundations.

The full restoration would be completed in 2023, under the council's own plan.

The council also suggested ownership of the Grade II listed bridge could be transferred to a charitable trust.

Meanwhile, it was announced in March that Uber will operate a replacement ferry service while repairs to Hammersmith Bridge continue.

The private hire firm has been handed the contract to take pedestrians and cyclists across the Thames at a proposed charge of 1.55.

TfL said Uber Boat by Thames Clipper hopes to run crossings from 6am to 10pm and transport 800 passengers per hour on its catamaran.

In April this year, Hammersmith Bridge SOS, a group of rowers, including former British Olympians and Oxford and Cambridge boat race competitors, took part in a demonstration in front of Hammersmith Bridge in west London over the government's inability to agree a repair plan for the bridge

But the boat service won't start until the end of summer, likely dismaying exasperated locals who have been without a nearby crossing for almost two years.

The cost of contracting Uber Boat by Thames Clipper is also being withheld and will not be published until after the local elections in London on May 6.

However it is believed the ferry service hinged on Government funding provided as part of the ongoing TfL bailout.

In February fed up residents illuminated Hammersmith Bridge in red in a Valentine's Day in protest at the continual closure of the bridge.

Boat-enthusiasts also protested on the Thames. River traffic is currently unable to pass under the bridge due to safety concerns.

It lead the annual Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge to be held away from its traditional Thames home last year.
Up to 250 international students could return to New South Wales within weeks in a desperate effort to revive struggling universities.

Students would return on chartered flights and undergo quarantine at designated facilities under a new proposal to be discussed at a NSW government Covid crisis cabinet meeting on Wednesday morning.

It's understood four sites have been earmarked for students to undergo the mandatory 14-day isolation which are separate to current hotel quarantine arrangements for returned travellers, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Universities would foot the bill for flights with hopes the program will be in place by the start of the second semester.

Up to 250 international university students could return to NSW in time for the start of the second semester. Pictured are students at University of NSW

The NSW government is yet to publicly comment on the proposal which the university sector expects to get the green light.

The plans have been in the pipeline for months with NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian keen to see international students return and resume their studies.

'The return of international students as soon as possible is vital for retaining jobs in our education sector, and for the economy more broadly,' a recent treasury notice stated.

The federal government has also been working with individual states and territories on plans to return international students to Australia.

Meanwhile, 14 universities in NSW and the ACT have made a joint submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, applying for authorisation to collaborate together on a program to bring back foreign students.

The submission details their plans to 'collaborate in order to establish an international student travel corridor to facilitate the return of international students to NSW and ACT-based universities'.

Students would return on chartered flights paid for by the universities and undergo quarantine at designated facilities under a proposal being discussed by the NSW government. Pictured is University of Sydney

'The applicants propose that priority will be given to continuing students,' the application states.

'Given that the number of students who can enter NSW every fortnight is expected to be capped for public health and hotel quarantine purposes, and the limited number of seats available on international flights, the applicants seek authorisation to collaborate to establish a mechanism to allocate these seats proportionally to historical overseas student enrolments at NSW and ACT universities.'

International students returned to Adelaide this week after South Australia's Chief Public Health Officer approved plans allowing them to quarantine at Parafield Airport.

The Victorian government recently proposed a dedicated quarantine hotel program similar to the one adopted in Melbourne earlier this year for the Australian Open.

Up to 120 overseas students would enter Victoria each week under the proposal yet to be signed off by the federal government.
Through the Global Vaccine Poem Project, teachers are getting students in public schools to create prayers for the vaccine.

Book author and senior editor of The Stream John Zmirak reported about a "messianic take on the abortion-tainted vaccine." This particular stanza, for example, comes from a poem that only missed an "amen" to sound like a real prayer:

"Save us, dear vaccine. Take us seriously. We had plans. We were going places. Children in kindergarten. So many voices, in chorus. Give us our world again!"

"Who thought it was a good idea to have public schoolteachers assign their students to write little prayers to the vaccine? Cut it out. It gives your game away," Zmirak commented.

In a related report, the vaccine advocacy organization Global Vaccine Poem has called on the public to compose verses to its COVID-19 shot.

The poem, composed by Young People's Poet Laureate Naomi Shihab Nye, served as the basis for the Global Vaccine Poetry initiative, which encourages anyone to contribute to a collaborative poem, reports USA Today.

Tyler Meier, the director of the University of Arizona Poetry Center, was participating on a conference call with officials from COVID-19 immunization programs discussing ways that the arts may aid such programs. Once he came up with the concept, Meier contacted the director of the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State, David Hassler, who utilizes internet channels to promote poetry as a communal art form. Hassler suggested to poet Naomi Shihab Nye that they collaborate.

According to the project's press release, their goal is to promote "large-scale vaccination efforts and personal, individual responses to the historic challenges brought on by COVID-19."

The number of visitors to the website has reportedly increased to 8,000 in the last five weeks, resulting in an addition of 1,200 stanzas. People respond with feelings ranging from longing for what life was like previously to expectations for what may be in the future.

The cooperation between the University of Arizona and Kent State University in this collaborative project continues as both administrators Hassler and Meier are continuing to search for sponsorship and possible foundations that could help promote and disseminate the project as far as possible, "including primary education institutions," reports Daily Wild Cats.

"We have a desire to harness the imaginative language of poetry in the human imagination to assist our science in addressing a public health crisis. And, you know, the simple and very accessible prompts on the website invite people of all backgrounds to participate in the making of poetry and the nourishment of poetry," said David Hassler.

The university's news outlet noted that Meier likened the effort to a type of "positive contagion, as opposed to the one that we're trying to defeat," asserting that it is mostly made up of people who are more aware of COVID-19 and use that knowledge to advocate on a local, national, and worldwide level.

"It's a rich archive that kind of tells the story of what it is like to be living in this moment, to have endured the pandemic and to be living through it," he said.

Participants in the project may choose from four basic writing prompts such as "Dear Vaccine" and "Vaccine, please," in response to four short model poems prepared by Naomi Shihab Nye. The contributions have been utilized in exhibitions and on public radio in Ohio.

Editor's note: Zmirak also pointed out that as per LifeSite News, researchers are looking for ways to create vaccines that will come in the form of a "wafer" - similar to those communion hosts used at a Catholic church. This elicited responses from people, particularly comments about the so-called "church" of COVID.
A seemingly ordinary $1 coin could make you $5,000 richer thanks to a unique double rim on its edge.

Joel Kandiah, a 31-year-old commerce teacher from Perth, revealed the easily identified feature on his TikTok account called The History of Money on Tuesday.

The self-acclaimed 'TikTok Money Expert' explained how a rare $1 coin minted in the year 2000 could be worth between $325 and $5,000 to collectors.

The currency whiz urged his followers to check their $1 coins minted in the year 2000 for unique double rims, estimating the coins are worth between $325 and $5000

The money man told Daily Mail Australia the reason the $1 coins are valuable is because of an error during the minting process which gave the coins a double rim.

'On the obverse (heads) side of the coin, they used a 10c die by mistake when minting the coins, hence the double rim', Mr Kandiah said.

The collector explained that when a coin is pressed in the mint, a die is used to imprint the image on the blank coin to create the design.

'A lot of these escaped the quality control process at the mint and got into our change. The most reports of these being found have been in Western Australia', he said.

Mr Kandiah said experts estimate at least 6,000 of the valuable coins could be currently stashed in the piggybanks of unknowing Australians.

'I used to have one ten years ago and sold it for about $150 back then. Huge regret,' the coin enthusiast said.

Experts estimate at least 6,000 of the valuable coins (pictured) could be currently stashed in the piggybanks of unknowing Australians

In an earlier video, the secondary teacher explains rare coins and notes are sought after by collectors willing to pay generous amounts.

As the coins cannot be returned to a local bank, Mr Kandiah suggests contacting a professional dealer who can grade the money and offer a fair price.

The currency whiz also suggests setting up a store on Ebay or Facebook marketplace where collectors can purchase your rare coins or notes.

Mr Kandiah said the popular TikTok videos have already earned one of his 50,000 followers a small fortune.

'Someone contacted me saying that they had a 1923 Half Penny that their grandfather had passed onto them', the coin whiz said.

'They didn't know it was rare until they watched one of my videos. It's guaranteed to get them at least $1,300 in the poorest condition.'

Joel Kandiah, 31, runs the TikTok account 'The History of Money' where he creates informative videos on rare coins and notes for his 50,000 followers

The money man explained the reason the $1 coins were so valuable is because of an error during the minting process which gave the coins a double rim
A revolting photo of a bloated cod with ten mice in its mouth has laid bare the scale of Australia's regional mouse plague.

Fisherman Aaron Graham caught the oversized 80cm Murray cod while trying to catch fish on the Macquarie River in New South Wales' central west.

The Dubbo angler said the cod he finds are usually 40-55cm in length but have as much as doubled in size in recent months as rodent populations swell in eastern Australia - ravaging crops and forcing farmers to abandon their paddocks.

The fish have taken advantage of the crisis by gorging on the mice as hundreds of them at a time try to swim across the river and find food on the other side.

Scroll down for video

This photo shows a bloated 80cm cod with ten mice in its mouth after gorging on the rodents as they swam across the Macquarie River in central western New South Wales. The fish are fattening themselves on the rodents during Australia's regional mouse plague

Mr Graham said the smell from the dead mice was so putrid he knew they were inside the cod as soon as he made a catch.

'You can definitely smell the mice before you see them. It's like a musky smell,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'This year the average is 65-70cm, so the cod are a lot bigger and a lot fatter.'

The fishing tackle shop worker said the number of cod he was pulling from the water had also sharply increased.

'On average we're getting 20 cod a day at the moment. Before it was normal to catch five to 10 a day,' he said.

'We've had one session recently where we caught 42 for the day,' he said.

Dubbo angler Aaron Graham said the cod he finds are usually 40-55cm in length but have as much as doubled in size in recent months

'I have fished the river all my life and I have never seen it been this good.'

The angler said the phenomenon was so widespread he had even been imitating the movement of the mice across the water to secure a catch.

'We are using surfer lures at the moment and having a lot of success. Normally this time of year it is hard to get them to come up to the surface,' Mr Graham said.

There are fears though the cod, already listed as a vulnerable species by the federal government, could be wiped out if they eat mice laced with rat poison.

The cod are 'voracious predators' that snack on anything they can fit in their mouths, Healthy Rivers Dubbo spokeswoman Mel Gray said.

'Who can blame them - they're everywhere,' she said.

Pictured: A pile of dead mice on a New South Wales farm. Farmers are abandoning some paddocks and can't defer sowing winter crops any longer, industry chiefs have said

Under increasing pressure to help end a mice plague that has tormented regional communities for eight months, the NSW government has announced it has secured 5,000 litres of the super deadly rodent poison bromadiolone.

Currently banned for agricultural use in Australia, the state has offered to provide it for free if the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority approves it for use.

When announcing the measure, part of a $50 million government package to deal with the outbreak, Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall said the poison would be 'the equivalent of napalming mice' across the affected regions.

Research conducted at the university found high levels of the poison in owls and snakes across Perth, where bromadiolone is approved for use in residential settings.

The extent of Australia's revolting mouse plague is shown in this alarming new map by the CSIRO (pictured)

'That sort of raised alarm bells,' Dr Davis said.

'This is potentially spreading through the whole food chain when we use these products.'

If the poison is used, he says it could set up even more favourable conditions for the next mouse plague.

'You could be seeing agriculture landscapes without owls, kites, snakes and goannas for a long time to come.

The government has secured 5,000 litres of the super-deadly rodent poison bromadiolone - offering to provide it for free once federal authorities approve its use

'We could lose all our natural pest control.'

NSW Farmers is calling for primary producers to get a 50 per cent rebate on zinc phosphide, an alternative poison, instead.

Dr Davis agrees it is the 'better of the two evils'.

'There would be no other country in the western world that would approve this use of bromadiolone.'

If approved by the APVMA, it will be the first time bromadiolone is permitted for this use in Australia since 2016.
Incident was at Catherine Bay, 4km off Rottnest Island in Western Australia

Marriott said the pair felt scared as the shark 'was right there looking at us'

Two fishermen have lived to tell the tale following a close encounter with an aggressive great white shark.

Keen anglers Jordan Marshall and Paul Marriott were throwing in a line at in Catherine Bay, four kilometres off Rottnest Island in Western Australia when the feared ocean predator began to size them up.

Incredible footage shows the shark prowling around their boat before becoming aggressive and lashing around in the water.

'It was quite daunting actually,' Marshall told Nine News.

'He (Marriott) was a bit more game than me, patting the water and doing that kind of stuff.'

Keen anglers Jordan Marshall and Paul Marriott (pictured) had a recent close encounter with a great white shark in Western Australia

The two fishermen filmed their encounter with a great white shark (pictured), which was at Catherine Bay, near Rottnest Island in Western Australia

Fearless Mr Marriott confirmed at one stage he attempted to entice the four metre shark with a couple of mullet fish - but the white pointer wasn't interested - initially.

The mates also said they had knocked back a couple of beers on board, so they eventually decided to let the shark 'do its own thing'.

Marriott later admitted his heart skipped a beat when the great white suddenly turned aggressive next to their boat engine.

On May 18 last month, Mark Sanguinetti, 59, from Sydney's Northern Beaches, was fatally mauled by a 4.5m great white shark off Tuncurry Beach near Forster on the NSW mid-north coast.

Mr Sanguinetti was bitten in the upper thigh, and was dragged into shore by friends before going into cardiac arrest due to catastrophic blood loss.

A helicopter arrived on scene to transport Mr Sanguinetti to hospital, but tragically the father of two and ocean fanatic died on the beach.

The mauling was the first confirmed fatal shark attack in Australian waters this year, although it is believed another man - Duncan Craw - was killed by a shark off South Australia in January.

Eight people were killed in shark attacks in Australian waters in 2020, according to the Taronga Conservation Society in NSW who record shark fatalities.

Angler Paul Marriott (pictured) admitted his heart skipped a beat when the great white suddenly turned aggressive
A magistrate has taken mercy on a desperate young mother of two who stole sheets and pillows from a local Spotlight store to pay her mounting bills.

First offender Kiera Louise Morris, 23, was given permission to bottlefeed her youngest child in court as her case at Gympie Magistrates Court was heard.

Ms Morrie - who describes herself as a bookworm - pleaded guilty to stealing more than $150-worth of manchester from Spotlight at Kawana Waters.

But magistrate Chris Callaghan let the young mother walk free from court with no conviction recorded on a nine month, $600 good behaviour bond.

First offender Kiera Louise Morris (pictured) pleaded guilty to stealing more than $150-worth of manchester from Spotlight at Kawana Waters

Included in the haul were several sets of sheets, pillows, a quilt and quilt cover, a mattress protector and pillow covers, said police prosecutor Barry Stevens.

The prosecution said Ms Morrie simply walked out the store with the goods while staff were busy with other customers, according to the Gympie Times.

Sergeant Stevens told the court Ms Morrie had sold some of the items to pay off outstanding bills.

'I was a newly single parent with two kids under two...it seemed like the easiest option at the time,' she told the court.

The lone parent represented herself in court and said she had been going through a difficult time after a split with her former partner, and was living with a friend.

She was released without being required to pay Spotlight back for the cost of the shoplifted goods.
Human remains have been unearthed on a road just yards away from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's California mansion.

The bones were found on May 24 on a road in Montecito which neighbors the street of the couple's $14.7 million luxury complex, according to a Santa Barbara Sheriff's office spokeswoman.

They appeared to be that of a 'young adult' and were 'very old,' the spokeswoman said, and may be Native American in origin dating back centuries.

They were reportedly uncovered during landscaping construction, she said, and the sheriff's office had recruited the help of a forensic anthropologist to investigate their true origins.

Human remains were found on a property yards away from Meghan and Harry's $14.7 million mansion in Montecito, California, local sheriff officials confirmed

Authorities said the bones were not connected to the royal family, but in fact could be ancient remains

Early reports indicate that the remains, which were found around three feet deep, could be from the Chumash people, which have roots in the area dating back nearly 11,000 years.

Work was stopped at the site, and the Santa Barbara sheriff's office said it was in communication with the local Native American commission to determine the next steps pending the result of the forensic anthropologist's investigation.

Officials could not confirm whether the bones are Chumash in origin, but that it was likely, 'because we live in that area,' the spokeswoman said.

She added: 'Until we have an official opinion from the forensic anthropologist we're not going to be saying one way or the other.'

Authorities did confirm, however, that the property on which the remains were found had no connection to the Meghan and Harry's.

The couple purchased the mansion from Russian businessman Sergey Grishin in June 2020.

The Russian bought it for more than $25 million in 2009 and had tried to sell the home for years for up to $34 million before finally taking a loss on the property.

There has been speculation over how much the palatial house costs to maintain, with estimates that it could be as high as $4.4 million per year taking into account mortgage payments, property taxes, staff, utilities and security.

The couple purchased the property in June 2020 from a Russian business tycoon

The couple are living among a number of other stars in the luxury neighborhood such as their friend Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres.

The discovery of the bones is the latest bit of bad fortune for the couple since they moved in.

The property was breached two times by the same intruder over the Christmas holiday.

Nickolas Brooks, 37, was first caught trespassing at the $14.65million property in Montecito on December 24, but officers with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office let him off with a warning, TMZ reported.

Two days later Brooks showed up again on December 26 and was subsequently arrested and charged with one count of misdemeanor trespassing.

Brooks had driven all the way from Ohio. It's unclear why he went to the home or if the Duke and Duchess were there at the time.

It was revealed in April that police had been called to the house nine times in as many months.

As well as the intruder, the property's alarm system was been triggered on five other occasions.

One call is logged as a phone request while the others are labelled 'alarm activations' and all occurred in the early hours of the morning.

The Chumash made contact with the first Spanish European settlers in the area in 1542, and Spain would settle the area in 1770 causing a great upheaval for the natives.

While there is still no official confirmation the location of the remains indicate they could be Chumash in origin. The Chumash people have roots in the area stretching back 11,000 years

Today there are 5,000 Chumash members remaining

Mexico would seize the area in 1834 causing further disruption, driving even more Chumash off the land before America seized the area for itself in 1848.

In 1855 a piece of land was set aside in the area for the remaining 100 Chumash known to live there, with an official reservation established in 1901.

Today there are an estimated 5,000 Chumash members.

Chumash means 'bead maker' in the group's native language.
Kamala Harris's team is trying to distance the vice president from the border crisis after 'panicking' when she was given the assignment by President Biden, according to a new report.

Harris is due to travel to Guatemala and Mexico next week as part of her role in leading diplomatic efforts to reduce immigration from Central American countries as the administration tackles a steep increase in migrant crossings.

It puts her in the firing line of conservatives and at the forefront of one of the most difficult problems facing the White House.

As a result, aides have been briefing that her role is tackle conditions in Central America that push migrants to leave rather than managing the southern border.

President Biden asked Vice President Harris to lead efforts with Mexico and Northern Triangle countries to stem the flow of people across the southern border, in a move her critics say makes her 'border czar'

Smugglers abandoned a 5-year-old boy steps away from the Texas border because they expected his parents to pick him up, according to video obtained by Agence France-Presse

A White House official said Harris aides appeared to 'panic,' according to CNN, saying they were worried that it could be politically harmful if she was directly linked to rising numbers of arrivals.

Harris wanted a portfolio that would deliver victories, according to the report, especially on foreign policy.

But other officials told DailyMail.com the issue had been mischaracterized and that Harris was running a broad range of diplomatic efforts - not the border itself.

Symone Sanders, senior adviser to Harris, said: 'The vice president's work is not happening in a vacuum.

'We are all part of one team and much of the work the administration does is a whole of government approach. This applies to the work on migration and the border.

'Furthermore, specifically as it relates to the US Mexico relationship it is broad.

'We talk about a wide range of issues with them: migration, economic, security and border are just a few.'

Asylum-seeking migrant families wait to be processed by U.S. Border Patrols after crossing the Rio Grande river into the United States from Mexico in Roma, Texas, U.S., May 28, 2021

Biden announced Harris' role in March, telling reporters she had been appointed 'because she's the most qualified person to do it, to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle, and the countries that can help, need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border.'

Harris herself admitted the role was challenging.

'We have to give people some sense of hope that if they stay, that help is on the way,' she told CNN's Dana Bash.

'It's not going to be solved overnight; it's a complex issue. If this were easy, it would've been handled years ago.'

Critics have focused on the border rather than her calls with foreign leaders, labeling her Biden's 'border czar.'

'Everything you're doing in Central America is always towards an eye on the border and what's happening in the United States,' Cris Ramon, an immigration consultant, told CNN.

'With the current dynamics in migration, what's happening at the US-Mexico border has implications in the Northern Triangle and vice versa.'
Matt Hancock has ordered officials to draw-up a detailed timeline of decisions made around care homes during the pandemic in a bid to rebut allegations made against him by former No10 aide Dominic Cummings.

The Health Secretary is under growing political pressure after last week admitting he had allowed patients to be discharged from hospitals into care homes without being tested for coronavirus during the first surge.

'My recollection of events is that I committed to delivering that testing for people going from hospital into care homes when we could do it,' Mr Hancock told a Downing Street press conference.

Matt Hancock at a Downing Street press conference on May 27, 2021

Dominic Cummings leaving Parliament after giving evidence to MPs on May 26, 2021

The Health Secretary is under growing political pressure after last week admitting he had allowed patients to be discharged from hospitals into care homes without being tested for coronavirus during the first surge. Stock image used

Every British adult will be able to get vaccinated within weeks  as country records ZERO Covid deaths for the first time in 447 days giving further hope the jabs are working despite 30 percent rise in cases Ministers are preparing to offer vaccines to all over-18s within weeks to help halt the spread of the Indian variant as the UK reported zero Covid deaths for the first time in 10 months. So far only adults aged 30 and over have been invited for their jabs and health leaders are focusing their efforts on giving older people their second dose. But it is understood officials are planning to open up the eligibility to all age groups amid concerns the Indian strain - which has been renamed as the 'Delta variant' - is spreading very quickly among the young. Meanwhile in a speech today Health Secretary Matt Hancock will praise the country's 'extraordinary vaccine heroes'  including healthcare staff and volunteers. At a speech outside the Jenner Institute in Oxford, where the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was developed, Mr Hancock will pay particular tribute to the NHS, scientists and the armed forces for helping deliver 65million vaccines so far. 'The biggest risk would have been the failure to find a vaccine at all. So we explicitly embraced risk early on,' he will say. 'So we backed lots of horses and invested at risk. 'And instead of sitting back and waiting to see which vaccines came off, we were tenacious in helping them to get over the line, drawing on the abundant industry experience in our team. The team who worked on our vaccination programme was the single greatest asset that we had in this crisis.' Advertisement

His comments came 24 hours after Mr Cummings told MPs that the Health Secretary had lied in March last year by announcing all care home residents returning from hospital would be tested when they were not.

Mr Hancock is understood to have tasked policy officials to write a chronology of decisions around adult social care and care homes during the pandemic.

The Telegraph reports that this is preparation for when he appears before MPs in two weeks to give his own evidence in response to Mr Cummings.

A senior Department of Health and Social Care source told the paper: 'He's not sparing any effort to rebut Cummings's narrative.'

Around 25,000 people were discharged from hospitals into care homes without all getting a test during the first wave of the pandemic.

The latest figures from the UK's statistics agencies show there have been 36,275 deaths involving Covid in care homes since the crisis began.

Public Health England also released data suggesting just 1.7 per cent of care home outbreaks between January 30 and October 12 were potentially seeded in a hospital.

Mr Hancock last week claimed he only promised to 'build testing capacity' after Mr Cummings accused him of lying to Prime Minister Boris Johnson about whether residents would be screened on leaving hospital.

The Health Secretary finally addressed the issue directly as he was repeatedly grilled on the allegations from the maverick former No10 chief at a Downing Street briefing.

Pressed on whether he had told Mr Johnson and others in government early in the pandemic that checks on discharge would happen, Mr Hancock said: 'My recollection of events is that I committed to delivering that testing for people going from hospital into care homes when we could do it.'

But he insisted 'it wasn't possible' to carry out the testing until the capacity had been built.

He also tried to bat away questions by suggesting they are best considered in the public inquiry, which will not begin until next year. 'There will be a time when we can go into this in detail,' he said.

Earlier, Mr Hancock told the Commons that Mr Cummings' claims during an explosive committee hearing yesterday - including that he lied repeatedly, failed care home residents and should have been 'sacked daily' - were 'not true' and he had been 'straight with people'.

However, he was challenged on the issue again after he seemed to avoid responding to the specific allegation about care homes - where thousands died when coronavirus ran riot in the initial phase of the pandemic.

Mr Cummings said Mr Hancock 'categorically' told colleagues in March that people would be tested before being returned to homes.

But the former aide said they 'subsequently found out that that hadn't happened'.

Mr Hancock was asked if he could say he protected care homes, and was also asked if he made the commitment on testing.

He replied: 'We worked as hard as we could to protect people who live in care homes, and of course those who live in care homes are some of the most vulnerable to this disease because by its nature it attacks and has more of an impact on older people.

The UK yesterday reported zero Covid deaths for the first time since July 30 last year

Ministers are preparing to offer vaccines to all over-18s within weeks

'Now when it comes to the testing of people as they left hospital and went into care homes, we committed to building the testing capacity to allow that to happen.

'Of course it then takes time to build testing capacity.

'In fact, one of the critical things we did was set the 100,000 target back then to make sure we built that testing capacity and it was very effective in doing so.

'And then we were able to introduce the policy of testing everybody before going into care homes, but we could only do that once we had the testing capacity which I had to build, because we didn't have it in this country from the start.

'We started with a capacity of less than 2,000 in March last year and got to 100,000 tests a day. And we set all of this out at the time in public documents.

'It's all a matter of public record.'

Summoned to answer an urgent question in the House, Mr Hancock said: 'These unsubstantiated allegations around honesty are not true.

'I have been straight with people in public and in private throughout.'

Mr Hancock also dismissed Mr Cummings' criticism of his testing target, saying it was 'how you get stuff done in government'.

'I am proud of everyone in my department,' he said.

In a brutal swipe at the ex-No10 chief, who was ousted from Downing Street in November, he said people can see that over the past six months 'governing has become a little easier and we have been able to deliver'.
A new mother is fighting for life with devastating head injuries after a truck ploughed into her bike as her husband begs drivers to come forward with dash camera footage of the crash.

Angela Patocskai, 32, was struck while riding on the Gold Coast Highway, in Broadbeach, just before 1pm on Tuesday May 25.

The mother-of-one was rushed to Gold Coast University Hospital in a critical condition with injuries to her head, legs, pelvis, and abdominal organs, while the 42-year-old truck driver was uninjured.

Friend Jana Schick said Ms Patocskai, a domestic cleaner and childcare student, had just finished work and was on her way home to be with her husband Harley Stewart and their three-month old son Alexander when she was hit.

Angela Patocskai, 32, was on her way home to be with her husband Harley Stewart and newborn son (pictured together) when she was struck by a truck in the Gold Coast last week

Ms Schick said the new mother, who is originally from Serbia, was the sole income earner as Mr Stewart stayed home to care for little Alexander.

She has launched a GoFundMe page to help the young family financially, as they face a series of hefty expenses including rent, newborn supplies, medical care, visa fees, and legal costs.

'Angela is in Australia on a student visa and has no support aside from her husband and newborn son,' Ms Schick wrote in the fundraiser.

'This is a family in dire need of community support at this point in time.'

Ms Schick said Ms Patocskai is a dedicated worker who returned to her job three weeks after giving birth.

'She is a great worker and does not have a selfish bone in her body,' the page reads.

'We know that Angela is someone that would give up herself to help another in need. I hope that our community can support her through this injustice that she has incurred.'

Meanwhile Queensland police said initial investigations suggest Ms Patocskai and the driver were both travelling north, colliding as the truck turned into Casino Drive.

No arrests or charges have been made.

Friends and loved ones said the 'selfless' mother (pictured) would give up herself to help another person in need

Detectives are asking for anyone with dash camera vision to contact police as investigations into the crash continue.

Their calls for public assistance have been echoed by Ms Patochskai's devastated husband, who penned an impassioned plea on Facebook the day after the accident, begging witnesses to come forward.

'Please.. if anyone has any footage come forth,' Mr Stewart wrote.

'I need to know what happened to her.

'She's by definition a "perfect person", there is never a selfish thought that goes through this incredible girl's head.'

The community have rallied to support the young family with the fundraiser reaching $25,148 of its $50,000 goal in three days.

In an update in the fundraiser Ms Schick said the mother has woken up but still cannot speak.

She remains in intensive care and has undergone two surgeries as the young family brace for the long road to recovery ahead.
The saga over the custody of a Instagram star cavoodle has taken a bitter turn with one of the friends taking a restraining order against the other.

Prized pooch Oscar is at the centre of a dispute between his registered owner Mark Gillespie and Sydney barrister Gina Edwards, who often minded Oscar for extended periods while Gillespie was away for work.

The dog-fight over Oscar's ownership was played out on national television last week when A Current Affair captured Mr Gillespie snatching him from a Sydney park during an encounter while Ms Edwards was walking the dog.

On Tuesday Ms Edwards applied for an AVO against Mr Edwards in Manly Local Court. Mr Gillespie attended while Ms Edwards and her husband Ken Flavell were no-shows.

'As far as the proceedings go, we didn't accept some points of the AVO so it's going to just be a continuing thing, keep on going,' Mr Gillespie told ACA outside of court.

The matter is set to return to court next month.

Mr Gillespie, a cruise ship director, alleged his former friends had taken his beloved pooch while he was at sea for work and they were dog-sitting. He claims he was on a cruise in late 2019 when Ms Edwards told him Oscar wouldn't be returned.

The cruise ship director hadn't seen Oscar in 18 months until the televised encounter at the dog park.

Gina Edwards' friend Anne (right) tries to take Oscar from Mark Gillespie (left) during a fiery confrontation

Mr Gillespie was filmed picking up Oscar and running off with Ms Edwards in hot pursuit.

'I'm collecting my property, thank you,' he yelled before tripping over.

'Don't you dare, don't you dare!' a distressed Ms Edwards screamed as she followed him down the road, before she took chase as Mr Gillespie ran around the park.

'I can't believe you did this. You cannot take him!'

Mr Gillespie replied: 'I can't believe you took him in the first place.'

The distraught woman rings the police before calling her friend Anne to return to the dog park to help.

Minutes later, a confused Oscar is at the centre of another ugly altercation when the friend tries to grab the dog from Mr Gillespie's arms.

'I would like him back, please Mark,' Anne demanded.

'I don't care what you are doing. Do not touch me or the dog,' Mr Gillespie angrily replied.

Mark Gillespie used the chance meeting at a Kirribilli park to grab Oscar, with former friend Gina Edwards in hot pursuit (pictured)

Oscar (pictured) is at the centre of a bitter long-running stoush between former friends

When police arrived, officers agreed Mr Gillespie could take Oscar home as he is still the registered owner.

But Mr Gillespie had a change of heart the next day.

'After the incident and all the involvement, I decided it was better I did leave Oscar with Gina for now,' he later told A Current Affair.

'But Oscar is much loved and I'll fight for him in court and follow the due process, but otherwise he needs to be home and running around in his yard here.'

The celebrity pooch (pictured with Sydney Harbour Bridge) is often photographed in various outfits and locations around Sydney

Mark Gillespie is currently embroiled in a bitter battle with two former friends over beloved pooch Oscar (pictured)

While in their care, Mr Gillespie claims Ms Edwards and her husband turned Oscar into an Instagram-famous dog with a following of more than 10,000 fans.

The popular Instagram account feature the adorable cavoodle in various outfits and locations around Sydney, often photographed by the Sydney Harbour Bridge or playing outside with friends.

Mr Gillespie claims Ms Edwards and her husband turned Oscar into an Instagram-famous dog with a following of more than 10,000 fans

'I just want my dog to be a dog,' he said.

'I was instantly heartbroken and didn't think that she would do that to me. I mean, he's my dog.'

The custody battle is currently before the NSW Supreme Court after a previous hearing in Sydney District Court last August.

Judge Judith Gibson said the court's 'hands are effectively tied' and was forced to transfer the case to the NSW Supreme Court.

'It may seem a very minor matter for the Supreme Court to be troubled by a dispute about a dog, even a celebrity dog with its own Instagram account, but there would appear to be no alternative,' she told the court at the time.
A queue of cars stretched out for kilometres before dawn as Melburnians turned out in droves for drive-through Covid tests amid fears of another extended lockdown.

Countless cars lined up at Melbourne's Deer Park testing station on Wednesday as worried locals waited to be swabbed for the virus.

The incredible scene was caught by a TV helicopter crew from Channel Ten, high in the skies above Melbourne's western suburbs.

The footage comes as the state waits to find out if there will be any escape from the current lockdown - or if the restrictions will be extended for another two weeks.

A queue of cars stretched out for kilometres before dawn as Melburnians turned out in droves for drive-through Covid tests amid fears of another extended lockdown

The influx at Deer Park was sparked after nearby Brimbank shopping centre was identified as a Covid hotspot, sparking the fresh rush for locals to get tested.

Other sites include Craigieburn Central, Bay Street/ Clarendon Street in South Melbourne, Pacific Epping, Broadway Reservoir shopping strip and Station Street Lalor shopping strip.

Just six more cases were discovered in Victoria in the past 24 hours, but the numbers have sparked fears the lockdown will be extended for up to two weeks.

Overall, there are 67 active cases in the state, but Victoria's Labor government looks set to continue the lockdown agony for the state's 6.7 million population.

The incredible scene was caught by a TV helicopter crew from Channel Ten, high in the skies above Melbourne's western suburbs

The state cabinet is debating whether to keep the state on lockdown until after the June 14 long weekend.

Policymakers and health officials held late-night crisis talks on Tuesday, after yet another aged-care facility was forced into quarantine.

Queensland National senator Matt Canavan criticised the Victorian government for its repeated lockdowns during a heated interview on Channel Nine's Today show.

Mr Canavan said they should follow New South Wales' lead, which managed to contain Sydney's northern beaches outbreak and lockdown without a statewide policy.

Senator Canavan added: 'I've never seen a bigger punch of panic merchants than the Victorian government.

'They're calling the disease a beast today. That's not a medical term.'

Across the border, NSW Health issued an urgent alert warning after a confirmed case of Covid-19 from Melbourne was in Jervis Bay, Goulburn, Hyams Beach and Vincentia while potentially infectious on May 23 and 24.

Countless cars lined up outside Melbourne's Deer Park testing station, clogging up roads for miles around, as worried locals waited to be swabbed for Covid

The influx at Deer Park was sparked after nearby Brimbank shopping centre was identified as a Covid hotspot, sparking the fresh rush for locals to get tested

The infected interstate traveller reported the onset of symptoms on May 25 and was only tested on Monday, almost a week after their 1,765km roadtrip.

The Covid case left for their trip just days before Victoria's stay-at-home measures took effect on May 27.

Victorians were ordered into lockdown at 11.59pm last Thursday after a rapidly-spreading Covid-19 outbreak in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.

The cluster, which has been linked to a highly infectious double mutant Indian strain.

Health authorities remain on edge after it was revealed that complete strangers had been infected by walking past Covid-positive cases.

Results came back on 51,033 Covid tests but unearthed just a handful of locally acquired infections, while almost 21,000 people were vaccinated in Victoria

Victoria's Department of Health said 'four or five' cases emerged from 'brushing past' strangers who unwittingly transmitted the virus.

The lockdown is Victoria's fourth in 14 months, as the list of exposure sites has now swelled to hundreds of venues.

Under the stay-at-home orders, Victorians can only leave their homes for five essential reasons with restaurant dining and public gatherings among many banned activities.

An official announcement has not been made about extending the lockdown, but sources said it was likely to remain in place.
American actor Chris Pratt offered a heartwarming homage to the men and women who have sacrificed their lives for the country on Instagram on Memorial Day.

Pratt, as reported by WND, shared a series of images he spotted on the account of MMA fighter Tim Kennedy, who was a former Green Beret. Pratt shared them with his compatriots with the intent of encouraging them to realize that Memorial Day was about something greater than simply mourning. It's also about paying tribute to the enormous sacrifices made by all Americans in uniform as part of their service to their country.

"We count the names of each fallen solider lest they be countless," he wrote on Instagram. "They are the good guys. They run to the sound of gunfire. They know pain and suffering we never will. They have given us the most free and decent society planet earth has ever seen."

"We run the risk of losing that decency when we fail to instill gratitude in the minds of our youth or the perspective of what it actually means to be free- should they never learn of the selfless sacrifice of our armed service members in the face of oppressive evil. So join me in showing support for our fallen. Take a quiet moment to really consider the sacrifice," he added.

The conservative news outlet stated that, considering the anti-American resentment seen so often in Hollywood and pop culture, it was "refreshing" to find such support for the United States from someone in the industry.

Pratt's firm adherence to American traditions and Christian beliefs, including "being elected 'worst Chris' in a viral Twitter poll that aimed to rank him alongside fellow movie stars Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and Chris Pine," has led to his often being blasted in public.

Pop culture magazines, such as Flare, at some time ran stories on Pratt where they criticized him for his public support of Christian views, as well as his wearing of a t-shirt with the Gadsden Flag and even his background as an "average, blue-collar American."

Fortunately, Pratt was never drawn into the trap of depression-plagued hopelessness which has afflicted the society over the last many years. In his case, the experience was positive.

The question now is, whether Pratt's message can be accepted or rejected: "Our freedom is paid for in blood, and no amount of Hollywood demagoguery can erase that fact."

The Guardian of the Galaxy's pledge of allegiance

A little over a year ago, Pratt revealed that he is the prime motivator behind the creation of a new patriotic film production firm called as Indivisible Productions. He was inspired after hearing the pledge of allegiance at his child's cub scout meeting at the time.

"I've started a company. Indivisible Productions One nation Under God Indivisible," he wrote in his Instagram account. "Our mission statement is to create entertaining content, focusing on themes which will help to bridge the growing divide in our country and world. You know, make the world a better place. No biggie, you're welcome, but it's whatever."

In 2016, a fan of Pratt's got in touch with him through Twitter and asked for prayers for his 4-year-old son, Sam, who was suffering from brain cancer.

Pratt reassured him, adding that he had seen the power of prayer first-hand when he saw his newborn son get out of the hospital in just nine weeks. He also offered a prayer for the young boy.
Refugees in Australia for medical treatment after stints in offshore detention could soon be sent to New Zealand.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews is working with her New Zealand counterparts on resettling refugees who have been medically evacuated to Australia.

'We're going to continue to look at resettlement options for these individuals,' she told 4BC radio on Wednesday.

'We've made it very clear with New Zealand that there won't be a backdoor way for these people to be able to go to New Zealand and then return to Australia.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews (pictured) is working with her New Zealand counterparts on resettling refugees who have been medically evacuated to Australia

'We're working through those issues now and we will continue to do so, and of course we will continue to work with the United States about resettlement options there as well.'

The confirmation comes after talks between trans-Tasman leaders Scott Morrison and Jacinda Ardern earlier this week.

Several hundred refugees remain in Australia after being transported under the defunct 'medevac' laws.

'We're doing all that we can to work through resettlement options for them,' Ms Andrews said.

'We clearly want to do that as soon as we possibly can.'

New Zealand has maintained a longstanding offer of welcoming refugees from Australia's network of offshore processing centres, which has never been taken up.
Restaurants across the United States are booming once more, with the week leading up to Memorial Day seeing people dining out at almost the same rate as pre-pandemic.

Data from restaurant booking and monitoring site Open Table shows that only three per cent fewer diners were recorded last week, compared to the same week in 2019.

The upturn in business is dramatic.

Last year, at the height of the pandemic, restaurants had 84 per cent fewer customers than in 2019, the site found.

Now, with 62.8 per cent of the adult population having had at least one COVID-19 vaccination, and 57.1 per cent fully vaccinated, communities across the country are bounding back to life.

Data from Open Table shows - in the white ascending line - how the number of people dining at restaurants over the past week is almost back to its pre-pandemic level. Only three per cent fewer people ate out last week, compared to the same week in 2019. The data shows how the number of diners plummeted this time last year

Baby Brasa, a Peruvian restaurant in the West Village of New York City, was quite in June 2020, with plenty of empty tables as diners stayed away and people, worried about COVID, at at home

The same restaurant, Baby Brasa, seen on May 22 of this year, was packed with people. New York City now has 62 per cent of its residents having received at least one dose of their vaccine, and 54 per cent fully vaccinated

The encouraging data is calling into question President Joe Biden's decision to pour $28.6 billion into a program to help eateries that lost business because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Under the Biden relief program, which started accepting applications on May 3, restaurants and bars can qualify for grants equal to their pandemic-related revenue losses, with a cap of $10 million per business and $5 million per location.

The program has set aside $9.5 billion for the smallest restaurants and bars, and a third of the applications were filed by businesses with annual pre-pandemic revenues of less than $500,000.

For the programs first 21 days, applications from women, veterans and socially and economically disadvantaged people will have priority for being reviewed and funded.

The White House said that 186,200 restaurants, bars and other eligible businesses had applied for the program over its first two days of accepting applications.

Customers are seen dining outside in New York City on May 9, as restaurants roar back to life

Pere Antoine's Restaurant in the French Quarter of New Orleans is seen on May 16, 2020. A year later, restaurants across the country are bustling again

President Joe Biden, seen on Tuesday in Oklahoma, has announced $28.6 billion for a program to help eateries that lost business because of the coronavirus pandemic

On Sunday there were 12pc more people eating out in the U.S. than in 2019 - a surge which helped bring the weekly tally to only 3pc less than pre-pandemic. The U.K. is seeing a similar trend, as their vaccination levels rise. Ireland, meanwhile, which is struggling to access enough vaccine, is seeing figures still far below their pre-pandemic levels

The aid for eateries was part of the Biden administrations broader $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

Yet many restaurants appear now to be thriving again.

Maine was growing the fastest, with customer numbers for their restaurants up 46 per cent over the past two weeks, as the New England state geared up for summer. Neighboring New Hampshire was second, with a 35 per cent increase in customers through the doors.

Last month it was found that America's restaurant apocalypse was less catastrophic than predicted, with fewer restaurants permanently shuttering and sales returning to almost pre-pandemic levels in April.

New data from the National Restaurant Association reveals 14 per cent of eating and drinking establishments remain completely closed either permanently or long-term from the pandemic.

This works out at around 90,000 of the nation's 660,000 restaurants, marking a major downsize from the 110,000 still shuttered back in December - although still far greater than the 50,000 closures of a typical year.

It's also a far less dismal fatality rate than was predicted last summer when experts warned the US could wave goodbye to around a third - 231,000 - of all eateries.

Restaurants were among the hardest hit during the pandemic, enduring long lockdowns and a slow return to indoor dining in many major cities.

US Census Bureau data shows restaurant and bar sales reached $65 billion in April - just $1.3 billion shy of the $66.2 billion in February 2020 before COVID-19 ravaged the industry

Last March, chef and activist Tom Colicchio warned 75 per cent of restaurants wouldn't survive the pandemic, according to the Washington Post.

Restaurant consultancy Aaron Allen & Associates told Bloomberg News their estimate was one in three would never return.

But, the industry appears to be getting back on its feet with 20,000 restaurants on the brink of permanent closure in December now back up and running.

Restaurant and bar sales are also on their way to pre-pandemic levels, reaching almost $65 billion in April, according to US Census Bureau data.

This is just $1.3 billion shy of the $66.2 billion sales recorded back in February 2020 - one month before the pandemic ground the industry and the nation to a halt.

This is also an increase of around 3 per cent and almost $2 billion from the $63 billion in sales recorded in March.

Sales plunged to their lowest level of just $29.9 billion last April but have been on a general upward climb since then.

And restaurant owners are only expecting this to get better, according to the Association's COVID-19 operator survey, which polled 2,500 restaurants from April 1 to April 14 2021.

The poll found that 44 percent of operators are expecting their average sales from April to June to be higher than this March.

A bartender at Carmines Ybor Italian restaurant in Florida last June. New data from the National Restaurant Association reveals 14 percent of eating and drinking establishments remain completely closed either permanently or long-term from the pandemic

Diners enjoy outdoor dining in the summer in California last year. Outdoor dining initiatives and government relief helped cushion the blow on the industry

Disaster seems to have been avoided thanks in part to the rollout of outdoor dining initiatives as well as government relief.

The US Paycheck Protection Program was set up by the federal government last year to help small businesses keep paying their workers and bills.

Restaurants were then given additional help from the Biden administration this March when the Senate passed the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, including $28.6 billion for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

Cities and states launched outdoor dining plans including New York's Open Streets, which shut down dozens of streets over the summer specifically to create outdoor dining spaces for restaurants and bars.

It's not all good news however.

With around 50,000 restaurants closing in a typical year across America, the National Restaurant Association's figures show the pandemic still killed off almost double the usual number.

Profitability is also down from pre-pandemic levels and costs are up, the association said, and 65 per cent said their total sales volume in March was lower than pre-COVID-19 times.

Restaurant sales are still down $290 billion from expected pre-pandemic levels and more than 1.7 million jobs remain lost.
A teenage boy is among 10 people charged over an alleged home invasion and kidnapping of a former Sydney bikie over a $2million ransom.

Former Lone Wolf bikie Dillon Mancuso, 37, was allegedly abducted at gunpoint and driven to a warehouse where he was held captive for six hours before he was dramatically rescued from the burning building wearing just his underpants by heavily armed police.

Investigators allege a group of men - one armed with a gun - forced their way into a Bringelly in Sydney's south-west about 3am on Tuesday and confronted Mancuso, and a 61-year-old man also inside.

The gang allegedly assaulted the older man before dragging Mancuso into a waiting vehicle outside the Jersey Road home.

Inquiries led detectives and Tactical Operations Unit officers to an industrial warehouse 28 kilometres away in Revesby later that day, where officers negotiated with the alleged kidnappers to release Mancuso.

The man at the centre of the bizarre raid was former Lone Wolf bikie Dillon Mancuso, 37, who calmly rested on a police vehicle wearing white briefs when the ordeal was over

Dillion Mancuso was loaded onto a stretcher by paramedics and taken to hospital following the alleged kidnapping. Pictured are emergency services at the scene

Police allege the warehouse was set on fire as officers stormed the building.

Eight males were dragged from the building and arrested by tactical officers in dramatic scenes caught on camera.

Another three men were arrested after they allegedly arrived in a vehicle at the warehouse during the police operation.

Mancuso, 37, was filmed at the scene calmly resting on a police vehicle wearing white briefs following his harrowing ordeal.

He was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries to his head, face and ribs, where he remains under police custody.

Seven males - two 23-year-olds and the others aged 16, 19, 22, 26 and 27 were later charged with kidnapping with intent to ransom resulting in actual bodily harm, break and enter, tampering with evidence, and participating in a gang.

Heavily-armed tactical police swooped on a burning factory before dragging eight men outside and arresting them over an alleged kidnapping

They were refused bail and are due to appear at courts in Bankstown and Parramatta on Wednesday.

Another three men - aged 27, 28 and 30 charged with kidnapping and gang-related charges will appear at Parramatta Local Court.

Police will allege the kidnapping was linked to an alleged attempt to extort money, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Mancuso remains under police guard in hospital and will be questioned by police on Wednesday.

The older man assaulted in the alleged home invasion only suffered minor injuries.

Police also slapped cuffs on three more men in the hours that followed after being called to an industrial warehouse on Marigold Street in Sydney's Revesby in the city's south-west

Fire can be seen billowing from the warehouse where a 37-year-old was allegedly being held

Fire and Rescue NSW was called to the warehouse to extinguish the blaze.

A nearby office worker at an adjacent warehouse described the dramatic raid as it played out in the middle of the day.

'I looked out the window and three cop cars were blocking the driveway and calling for the people in the unit to come out,' the witness told Daily Mail Australia.

'We sort of saw it coming. Those guys had been rolling around for a few months bringing in motorbikes and exotic cars and making a lot of noise.'

Investigators allege a group of men - one armed with a firearm - forced their way into a home in Bringelly in Sydney's far south-west at about 3am on Tuesday and confronted a 37-year-old and a 61-year-old man who were inside

Detective Superintendent Andrew Koutsoufis, robbery and serious crime squad commander, said 'at this stage it appears there are some organised crime and bikie-related links'.

He added the abducted man was lucky to be alive.

'The level of violence towards the alleged victim was quite severe and concerning. We believe it was completely targeted,' Detective Superintendent Koutsoufis told reporters.

'The incident was exceptionally dangerous and could have been even more severe, or even fatal.'

Inquiries into the incident are continuing.

Mancuso is facing charges including dealing with the proceeds of crime after Federal Police seized more than $1 million cash and three luxury cars valued at more than $100,000 each last year.

Pictured: Marigold Street in Revesby. Tactical Operations Unit officers and police negotiators carried out inquiries before converging on an industrial warehouse on the suburban road
Drinking within the Government guidelines still causes potentially harmful changes to the bodys organs, a study suggests.

There is no safe threshold below which alcohol does not have toxic effects, researchers conclude.

Increased alcohol intake was linked to less grey matter in the brain, more fat in the liver and a larger mass in the left ventricle of the heart, said a study led by Imperial College London.

The brain shrinkage has been linked to Alzheimers disease, while liver fat can lead to liver disease. Researchers analysed MRI scans of more than 10,000 individuals in late middle age who drank varying amounts.

There is no safe threshold below which alcohol does not have toxic effects, researchers conclude

Increased alcohol intake was linked to less grey matter in the brain, more fat in the liver and a larger mass in the left ventricle of the heart, said a study led by Imperial College London

It suggests those who try to drink responsibly, below 14 units a week  the equivalent of six medium glasses of wine  still damage their bodies.

Professor Paul Elliott, from the UK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial, said: We recommend current health guidelines are reconsidered.

Professor Paul Matthews, co-author of the study published in the journal eLife, said: This study graphically highlights harmful effects of alcohol even when consumed in moderation.

But Professor John Holmes, from an alcohol research group at the University of Sheffield, said the study does not provide any compelling reason to change current guidelines.
Italian chocolate company Ferrero is set to buy the Jammie Dodgers manufacturer Burton's Biscuits for an undisclosed fee.

Burton's, which also makes Wagon Wheels and Maryland Cookies, employs about 2,000 people across six factories in the UK.

Ferrero said on Tuesday that a subsidiary has 'entered into a definitive agreement' to acquire Burton's from current owners, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, for an undisclosed sum.

The biscuit maker, which was purchased by the Canadian pension fund in 2013, generated more than 275 million in sales over the past 12 months.

Ferrero said it will take control of Burton's production sites in Blackpool, Dorset, Edinburgh, Livingston, Llantarnam and the Isle of Arran.

Burton's, which makes Jammie Dodgers, Wagon Wheels and Maryland Cookies, employs about 2,000 people across six factories in the UK

Ferrero said on Tuesday that a subsidiary has 'entered into a definitive agreement' to acquire Burton's from current owners, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, for an undisclosed sum

Nick Field, chief executive officer at Burton's, said: 'We are delighted to be joining the Ferrero-related company, and look forward to bringing together the businesses' complementary brand portfolios, high-quality capabilities, management talents and highly skilled workforces, which offer a compelling strategic rationale and an exciting future for Burton's.'

It is the latest move in a raft of recent acquisitions, coming less than a year after it bought Fox's Biscuits for 246 million from 2 Sisters Food Group.

In December 2020, Ferrero also acquired Essex cereal bar and muesli maker Eat Natural.

The Italian food group also owns chocolate business Thorntons, which now operates online and sells through grocery stores after shutting all 61 stores for good during the latest lockdown.
Video footage has captured the moment a boat burst into flames on Sunday, after after its crew allegedly circled and harassed passengers on a yacht which was waving pride and transgender rights flags.

TikTok video shows a boat speeding past a yacht on Moses Lake in Washington, with one woman appearing to give the passengers the middle finger.

The boat then continued past the yacht, but soon, smoke could be seen rising from their vessel.

The two passengers swam towards the larger vessel as their speed boat caught on fire.

A caption on the video read: 'Karma hits boaters who harassed and spun circles around our boat after they saw our pride flags'.

The video ends with the yacht pulling away as the speedboat goes up in flames

In a viral video, a speedboat speeds past a yacht waving pride and transgender rights flags

The video, which has gone viral with more than 1.5 million likes on the video platform, ends with an image of the burnt speedboat.

It was uploaded by TikTok user UhOhBigBoi with the caption: 'We safely got them out of the water immediately. We were nicer than they were #karma.'

It is unclear from the video what transpired before the boaters passed the ship and gave them the middle finger.

Another passenger also posted the video and photos of the altercation to Twitter, writing, 'These people harassed my family because we were flying gay pride flags in Moses Lake Washington, by racing around us and shouting gay slurs. Then, their boat literally blew up! #KarmaIsReal'

Soon after, smoke starts to rise from the boat

The passengers on board swim towards the yacht as their speedboat catches fire

The speedboat wound up being burnt to a crisp, as seen in the viral video

A Twitter user, who asked to be referred to as 'Robbie' tweeted about a speedboat bursting into flames at Lake Moses in Washington, alleging it occurred after the passengers circled their vessel and harassed them for their gay pride and transgender rights flags

Speaking to Buzzfeed News, the Twitter user, who only identified himself as 'Robbie' to protect his family, said he was on the boat with his girlfriend, his brother and his brother's partner flying multiple LGBTQ and transgender rights flags when they heard the other boat approaching and saw the woman flip them off.

'Then the boat quickly made a sharp turn back towards us and went around us,' Robbie told Buzzfeed. 'I then ... personally heard someone shout what I thought to be the word 'gays' so I asked my brother to pull out his phone and blatantly start recording in hopes that it would avoid conflict if they noticed.'

He said the other boat drove around them six or seven times, causing extensive waves.

'They then attempted to speed away as they left a large cloud of smoke surrounding the area we occupied,' Robbie said. 'After a moment, we heard a loud backfire and a sputter come from the boat.

'Though I could not see the boat in the direction, I could see a cloud of black smoke rising quickly.'

'The driver, possible embarrassed, then rushed to start the vehicle again,' Robbie recounted. 'Another few moments pass and we hear an incredibly loud explosion come from the direction they were headed.

'Our driver shouted: "Holy c***, they blew up!'

At that point, Robbie said he and his family went on to rescue the passengers.

The Grant County Sheriff's Office posted on Facebook that they were looking to speak to those who posted the video and tweeted the incident for more information

The Grant County Sheriff's Office has since confirmed a boat fire occurred Sunday at around 7:45 p.m., with Sheriff Tom Jones telling Buzzfeed that deputies and the local fire department responded to the scene, where they extinguished the flames and towed the scorched boat to shore.

Jones said he does not yet know what caused the fire, but deputies on the scene were told it came from the engine compartment in the middle of the speedboat.

'The passengers from the boat that caught fire swam and boarded the boat they were circling,' Jones confirmed to Buzzfeed, noting that the boat owner and the passenger boat sustained burns, but refused medical treatment.

In a post to Facebook on Tuesday, the Sheriff's Department said: 'As of right now, we are trying to make contact with the occupants of the vessel being circled so we can interview them to find out what happened.

'We would like to know more, and once we can interview people, we will be able to know more without relying solely on a brief video,' the office reported.

Anyone with information about the incident can call Jones at (509) 750-7301 or email him at Tjones@grantcountywa.gov.
She has carried VIPs from Fred Astaire to royalty  and was one of Britains largest troop carriers in the Second World War.

But now RMS Queen Mary needs 16million ($23 million) worth of urgent repairs, her owners say.

The Clydeside-built ship, which sailed the North Atlantic from 1936 to 1967, is rusty and neglected.

Court documents filed in California, where the ex-Cunard ship is berthed, warn she could capsize and sink.

RMS Queen Mary needs 16million worth of urgent repairs (Pictured in New York City, circa 1965)

Queen Mary, is berthed in the city of Long Beach, where city officials refuse to pay for them after years of leasing the vessel to operators, the most recent of which has filed for bankruptcy

The city of Long Beach hired engineering firm Elliot Bay Design Group to assess the ship's condition, according to the Long Beach Post News.

An inspection on April 28 revealed urgent issues that need to be resolved before passengers are let back in.

The 'current status of bulkheads and lack of a functioning bilge pump system and flood alarm system could lead to flooding throughout the ship, potential capsizing of the ship and life safety and environmental issues to the extent that flooding occurred', according to court documents.

A bilge pump system keeps water out of the vessel and prevents it from reaching critical areas, such as the engine room.

On top of that, the ship also has compromised sewage holding tanks with leaky pipes.

The Queen Mary has been closed as a tourist attraction for the past year due to Covid and the need for repairs.

City officials refuse to pay for the repairs and are casting the blame on Urban Commons, the latest in a series of leaseholders that have been responsible for the ship's maintenance.

'The citys been trying to get the Queen Mary right for 40-plus years,' Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said during a press conference last month.

'It's been from one leaseholder to the next. ... It has not succeeded to the point where there has been the right partner and the right preservation plan in place.'

The former WWII troopship served as a vacation spot, complete with guest bedrooms and ballrooms, until its closure in May 2020 due to needed repairs and the pandemic

The city argues that Urban Commons has not completed 28.9million ($41million) in necessary repair work.

Additionally, the city claims the Los Angeles real estate firm owes them $200,000 in rent, and the Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector has filed two claims against the firm for unpaid property taxes worth over $6million.

The picture gets even muddier considering that Eagle Trust Hospitality, created by Urban Commons last year, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January, with debts towering over $500million.

However some have placed blame for the ship's disrepair directly on the city's mismanagement.

Ed Pribonic, who was the Queen Mary's monthly inspector for nearly three decades up until 2019, told the San Diego Union-Tribune: 'The city was never able to keep up with the maintenance on that ship, regardless of who they leased it to.'

Pribonic accused the city of often downplaying his reports about the state of the ship and expressed concern that its major issues - including asbestos and faulty electrical wiring - may not ever be fixed.

'The amount of money and the amount of time it would take  I cant see whos going to step up and take on that responsibility,' he said. 'Were talking hundreds of millions of dollars and years of work.'

A 2020 economic impact report shows that the city of Long Beach still has an interest in keeping the Queen Mary ashore, where it floats just 20 miles away from downtown Los Angeles.

The ship is a 'top tourist attraction' that brought over 1.5 million visitors in 2018, the report reads. In 2019, it hosted 50 events attracting 360,000 people who spent $70million throughout Los Angeles County.

It also generated $6.1million in taxes, most of it coming from property taxes.

In 1967, the Queen Mary began its last voyage from Southampton to Long Beach where it has been a tourist attraction, hotel and a destination for lovers of maritime history until now.

The ship's website boasts a parade of famous visitors, including political figures such as HM Queen Elizabeth I and Robert and Jackie Kennedy, as well as celebrities like Audrey Hepburn, Bing Crosby, Elizabeth Taylor and Greta Garbo.

Actress Elizabeth Taylor was known for traveling aboard the Queen Mary 'with her two poodles,' according to the ship's website

Before its retirement, the ocean liner was boarded by many known figures, including actress and fashion icon Audrey Hepburn

She was one of Britains largest troop carriers in the Second World War. (Sir Winston Churchill pictured on board in 1943)

Court documents filed in California, where the ex- Cunard ship is berthed, warn she could capsize and sink. (RMS Queen Mary leaving on her maiden voyage, May 1936)

The ship has been a headache for the city and the many operators that have tried to keep up with the extensive work it needs to stay afloat.

The disrepair is extensive and steel is corroded and the hull has structural and integrity issues.

The Queen Marys boilers are not working meaning that hotel and restaurant guests have no way of staying warm.

The court documents state: Urgent category work items...should be addressed immediately for safety from flooding in the next two years.
Advertisement

The moment when U.S. paratroopers accidentally invaded a Bulgarian factory that makes equipment to produce olive oil during a training exercise blunder was caught on alarming video footage.

Soldiers with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, based in Italy, were conducting training at the decommissioned Cheshnegirovo Air Base on May 11 when they were seen storming the neighboring factory with their weapons drawn while at least one worker was inside.

Bulgarian reporter Dilyana Gaytandzhieva tweeted out the security camera footage believed to show the incident while noting that the owner of the company - which has not been identified - has filed a lawsuit. Details about the lawsuit and where it was filed were not immediately known.

The U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria issued a press release on May 28 apologizing to the business and its employees for the mishap.

But Bulgarian President Rumen Radev blasted the mistake, saying it had put lives at risk.

Scroll down for video

Video shows the paratroopers outside of the building as they ready to enter the factory

A factory worker sits on the ground watching as U.S. soldiers storm the factory in Bulgaria

Soldiers were seen storming the factory with their weapons drawn while at least one worker was inside

The team is seen outside of the building around 1.43pm on May 11

A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft assigned to the 437th Airlift Wing, Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, drops Air Force and U.S. Army paratroopers onto Cheshnegirovo Airfield in Bulgaria, during the training exercise

The soldiers, as part of Exercise Swift Response 21, had boarded a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft departing Papa Air Base, Hungary 'under cover of darkness' before dropping into Bulgaria, officials said.

The soldiers then went from building to building to practice seizing and securing each of them but accidentally believed the factory was a part of the airfield, according to the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria.

The embassy noted that the soldiers never fired their weapons during the botched training exercise.

'The U.S. Army takes training seriously and prioritizes the safety of our soldiers, our allies, and civilians,' the statement reads.

'We sincerely apologize to the business and its employees. We always learn from these exercises and are fully investigating the cause of this mistake.'

The U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria added: 'We will implement rigorous procedures to clearly define our training areas and prevent this type of incident in the future.'

Video shared by a Bulgarian reporter appears to show one of the factory workers after the incident

Video shared by a Bulgarian reporter appears to show one of the factory workers after the incident

In the U.S. Army, Airborne units often train to conduct airfield seizures in conventional warfare. During the training, soldiers typically parachute into an open field 'drop zone' or on the tarmac of an airfield before conducting a simulated mission.

Sometimes those missions may include people acting as civilians but they're usually identified prior to the training mission.

The training exercises usually include a drop zone safety officer who should have the knowledge of the planned training  which prevents these kind of mishaps. The safety officer would identify which building was used for training and which buildings are off limits.

Video appears to show the outside of the factory where equipment is made to produce olive oil

The video appears to show the camera which took the surveillance footage that captured the troops

The botched exercise raises questions about why the building was misidentified as a part of the training exercise and could pose challenges in foreign relations.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has slammed the training exercise for 'breeding tension,' according to the Bulgarian news website Novinite.

'It is inadmissible to have the lives of Bulgarian citizens disturbed and put at risk by military formations, whether Bulgarian or belonging to a foreign army,' Radev said.

'The exercises with our allies on the territory of Bulgaria should contribute to building security and trust in collective defense, not breed tension.'

A paratrooper drops onto Cheshnegirovo Airfield, Bulgaria, during exercise Swift Response 21, May 11, 2021

The exercise included airborne operations in Estonia, Bulgaria and Romania involving more than 7,000 troops from 11 countries

U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to the 435th Contingency Response Group and U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team secure the airfield after the arrival of additional 435th CRG Airmen during exercise Swift Response 21

U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to the 435th Contingency Response Group support personnel and heavy equipment offload from a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft during exercise Swift Response 21 at Cheshnegirovo Airfield in Bulgaria

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Sean Gilliland, 435th Contingency Response Squadron radio frequency transmissions systems technician, right, establishes communications during exercise Swift Response 21 at Cheshnegirovo Airfield, Bulgaria, May 11, 2021

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Paris Bell, 435th CRS airfield manager, secures an initial operating perimeter after joint forcible entry into Cheshnegirovo Airfield, Bulgaria, during exercise Swift Response 21, May 11, 2021. The 435th Contingency Response Group provides 24/7 alert capabilities through scalable, cross-functional and rapidly deployable forces. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman John R. Wright)

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jacklyn Edgmond, 435th Security Forces Squadron ground combat readiness training center instructor, secures an initial operating perimeter after joint forcible entry into Cheshnegirovo Airfield, Bulgaria, during exercise Swift Response 21 on May 11

U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to the 435th Contingency Response Group prepare for night operations during exercise Swift Response 21 at Cheshnegirovo Airfield, Bulgaria on May 11

U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to the 435th Contingency Response Group and U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 173rd Infantry Brigade board a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft for joint forcible entry into Cheshnegirovo Airfield, Bulgaria, during exercise Swift Response 21 at an air base in Hungary

Col. Joe Scrocca, a spokesman for U.S. Army Europe, told Task & Purpose that none of the soldiers have been disciplined while the incident is under investigation.

Despite the error, Air Force Capt. Andrew Schnell of the 435th Contingency Response Squadron hailed the team for having 'performed incredibly well' in a news release on May 20.

'An airfield assessment supporting a joint forcible entry is a PhD-level assessment, requiring extensive coordination between contingency response forces and the 173rd Airborne Brigade,' Schnell said.

'From planning through execution, the team worked closely with their Army counterparts, ensuring a smooth transition of authority following the seizure. The team performed incredibly well in an extremely complicated environment, and I am proud of every member.'

Early reports indicated that the soldiers were a part of a Special Forces team under the command of the U.S. Special Operations Command.

'The first reports of the incident in Bulgaria were wrong. The Soldiers involved in the incident you are referring to were not Special Operations Forces,' Ken McGraw, a public affairs officer with the U.S. Special Operations Command told DailyMail.com in a statement.

'They were from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which is located in Vicenza, Italy. U.S. Special Operations Forces were not involved in this incident.'
A bus with 50 children on board has been rear-ended by a truck on a busy suburban highway.

Police and ambulance crews were rushed to the Leach Highway in Booragoon in Perth's south after the collision at 8.13am on Wednesday.

A witness said about 50 school-aged children were taken off the Transperth bus.

There are no reports of any major injuries, a St John Ambulance spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.

A school bus carrying 50 children has been rear-ended by a truck in Booragoon in Perth's south

One student was taken to Fiona Stanley Hospital with minor injuries following the crash near Winthrop Drive.

'About 50 school kids, all have been taken off, and there is an ambulance and police in attendance,' 6PR listener Ken told the radio station.

Drivers have been told to avoid the area.

The scene is pictured after the crash. A witness said about 50 school-aged children were taken off the Transperth bus

The scene of the crash is pictured on Leach Highway. A St John Ambulance spokeswoman said there were no reports of any major injuries.

The highway's left westbound lane was blocked off by police, reducing traffic to a single lane.

Traffic as of 11am was tailing back for more than 1.5km to the highway's junction with Murdoch Drive in Bateman.

Fire crews were also called to the scene.
A devastating blaze has obliterated half of a multimillion-dollar fleet of garbage trucks after an explosion in a depot - leaving collection services in the area in doubt.

Fairfield City Council's rubbish truck depot on Sackville St, Canley Vale in Sydney's southwest caught fire on Tuesday when a loud explosion was heard at about 9.05pm.

NSW Police told Daily Mail Australia the fire had erupted inside the depot before destroying four garbage trucks and damaging another six, leaving them unusable.

Fairfield City Mayor Frank Carbone said the destruction of the trucks - $350,000 each - would cost the council 'millions' to replace.

Mr Carbone said the council would consider calling in contractors 'while our trucks are out of use' to service over 210,000 Fairfield City Council residents.

Fairfield City Council's rubbish truck depot set alight on Tuesday about 9.05pm (pictured)

The inferno destroyed five trucks and damaged undercarriage of another five trucks

Five NSW Fire and Rescue crews battled the blaze in an effort to save the remaining vehicles before extinguishing the flames just after 10pm.

There were reports of numerous explosions and the looming threat of LPG cylinders stored at the facility.

No one was injured during the incident and it is still unclear as to what caused the fire.

The fire had erupted inside the depot before destroying five garbage trucks and damaging the undercarriage of another five

Five NSW Fire and Rescue crews extinguished the flames just after 10pm on Tuesday

A large fire and explosion damaged half of a multimillion dollar garbage truck fleet in Sydney's south west

'We were lucky, no one was injured, staff are fine  but it's a 35 week waiting period to replace just one truck, so this will be a big issue for the next few months,' Mr Carbone told the Daily Telegraph.

'We'll work around the clock to pick up (garbage) tomorrow, the next months wont be easy but we'll find a way to make it work,' he said.

NSW Police told Daily Mail Australia that a crime scene was established and inquiries are continuing into the incident.

No one was injured during the incident and it is still unclear as to what caused the fire (pictured: Fire and rescue crews at the scene)
An ancient Roman basilica was excavated in Israel following a development project of a park in Ashkelon.

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) announced that the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has unearthed the basilica, believed to be 2,000 years old, during the renovation works at Tel Ashkelon National Park, The Jerusalem Post reported.

But according to IAA's Dr. Rachel Bar Nathan, Saar Ganor and Federico Kobrin, it was already found by a foreign archaeologist about a hundred years ago.

"The basilica was first discovered in the 1920s by British archaeologist John Garstang who led an expedition on behalf of the Palestinian Exploration Fund and then covered the structure once again," they said.

The excavation of the area was only resumed in 2008 to 2012, as well as in 2016 to 2018.

The structure has three sections, including a main hall and two side parts. The hall was said to be surrounded by large marble columns adorned in Roman style.

Dr. Bar Nathan, the authority's director of excavation, shared that the structure is believed to be built by Herod, based on Garstang's observations.

"Garstang had already calculated the dimensions of the building, and seeing the remains of the marble columns, made with materials imported from Asia Minor, he had suggested that the basilica dated back to the time of King Herod the Great, since historian Josephus described how the king built a colonnaded hall and other structures in the city," she said.

However, the director explained that though the building was constructed during the reign of Herod, the "more grandiose elements," marbles and columns were only built between the second and third century, at "the time of emperor Septimius Severus style."

The authority also found a small odeon or theatre, Herodian coins and marble structures created during the reign of Severus.

The building was destroyed during an earthquake in 363 CE but the archaeologists are planning to restore its parts so that visitors would have a sense of its splendor as it was built during the Roman period.

The restoration of the basilica and theatre is being handled by the IAA, in partnership with the INPA, Leon Levy Foundation and the Ashkelon Municipality, as part of the area's development. The park is set to be made available to the public soon.

Ashkelon Mayor Tomer Glam said that the current works and recent discoveries would fortify the park's status as the nation's "most beautiful."

"The Ashkelon National Park is one of the most important ancient sites, both in Israel and in the world, and time and time again it emerges as one of the most visited sites in the country. I am convinced that the restoration and conservation work in the park, the new archaeological discoveries, and the development work - including new accessible paths - will contribute significantly to the park's natural beauty and strengthen its status as the most beautiful and well-kept national park in Israel," Tomer declared, captured by CBN News.

Its website describes the park as "a fascinating antiquities site" where people can enjoy nature and bath in the beach.

Along with the basilica, it also features the Canaanite Gate, antilia wells, rampart, medieval walls, bathing beach, amphitheater, as well as sand dune and kurkar.
Advertisement

Incredible images have emerged of one of Australia's most iconic landmarks from space.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet has shared his stunning photos of Uluru in the Northern Territory captured onboard the International Space Station.

The ISS commander described the scenes of Uluru on his second space mission as awe-inspiring.

'Uluru in the morning, this sacred site is understandably revered when you see it like this from space,' Pesquet captioned the Instagram post.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet has captured stunning images of Uluru from space

'The sandstone rock is known for changing colour, and from space I agree a sunrise or sunset changes its tone, glowing in the different lighting.

'The shadows in this picture made it easier to spot and helps it stand out, but the huge sandstone structure that is almost three kilometres across is hard to miss.

'Uluru continues underground for a large part, like an iceberg, and is a watering hole for wildlife.

The photos were inundated with comments and brought back memories for many who have been to the much loved tourist attraction.

'It almost looks like it is floating,' one woman commented.

One man added: 'Some say its the heartbeat of Australia & who am I to argue.'

Many viewers suggested the iconic landmark (pictured) looked like it was floating

The first Frenchman to appointed ISS commander, Pesquet has been sharing his stunning images of Earth on his Instagram account since the space mission began on April 23.

His latest photos include Tanzania's Kisigo River, French island Belle Ile, Africa, the Great Wall of China and Egypt capital Cairo along with stunning footage of a cloudy Bahamas.

Pesquet was also recently responsible for launching Coldplay's latest single from space.

The sacred indigenous site Uluru (pictured) is visited by thousands of tourists each year

Formerly known as Ayres Rock, thousands of tourists flocked to the Northern Territory to climb Uluru each year before it was banned in October 2019.

Thousands still visit Uluru, which is regarded sacred by the local Anangu people.

Hundreds flocked to the landmark in March after torrential rain created stunning waterfalls that cascaded the world-famous rock and changing the colour of its red face.

The incredibly rare event was caused by almost 50mm of rain which fell on the desert area in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in three days.

Astronaut Thomas Pesquet is currently onboard International Space Station as commander
A man has suffered a life-threatening laceration to his neck while using a chainsaw to cut down a tree in Sydney's south.

Emergency services were called to Canonbury Grove in Bexley North, just after 9am on Wednesday to reports a man had been injured by a chainsaw.

The 32-year-old victim was working with a group of people to cut down a tree when his chainsaw kicked back and slashed him in the neck.

The 32-year-old victim was working in a group of people to cut down a tree when his chainsaw kicked back and slashed him in the neck

The man injured his neck and arm and was treated by two emergency crews at the scene, along with a Critical Care Doctor and Critical Care Paramedic.

Inspector David Stride from NSW Ambulance said the paramedics were able to calm some initial 'heightened stress at the scene'.

'With potential involvement of major blood vessels and the man's airway, our paramedics moved quickly to assess for life threatening lacerations', he said.

'Sometimes accidents like these do occur, so we advise that you always remain vigilant and wear your protective gear.'

The man was transported to St George hospital in a serious but stable condition.
Unemployed Australians are quitting lucrative fruit picking jobs just hours after starting, a farmers' group claims, leaving growers with a dire shortage of workers.

Covid border closures has shut off the regular supply of backpackers and cheap foreign labourers, forcing farmers to offer more attractive wages to entice people off unemployment benefits but it seems even that is not enough.

Fruit and vegetable companies have been forced into offering as much as $145 an hour to pick the crops and prevent them going to rot but have seen little interest.

Australia's farmers are undergoing a labour crisis despite inflated wages - largely due to the complete lack of backpackers entering the country

'The biggest complaint from farmers is the people turn up for only one day whereas the backpackers turn up and commit to the job,' Michael Sippel of the Lockyer Valley Growers Association told the Courier Mail.

Queensland farms that are less than an hour's drive from cities and towns with high unemployment rates are still struggling to find workers

Lockyer Valley, an area rich with fruit and vegetable providers, has been one of the hardest hit regions by the reduced labour pool despite being less than an hour's drive from Ipswich, a town with one of Queensland's highest unemployment rates at 9 per cent.

The unemployment rate in the Lockyer Valley itself was at 7.2 per cent in December 2020, while nearby Toowoomba was 5.9 per cent.

At one stage in early 2021 jobs on farms on the New South Wales north coast were advertising for as much as $145 per hour.

Those farms included blueberries and strawberries, a high-volume and low-intensity harvest.

Normally inundated with applications from backpackers who need work as they are ineligible for welfare, farmers now have resorted to using agencies to attempt to find local workers.

'We've had a couple of winners, but more often than not they're not wanting to do the work,' broccoli farmer Greg Lerch said.

The Queensland Agricultural Department recently flew in 160 workers from the Pacific Islands in May in a desperate bid to help support the industry, but without an influx of Australian workers or a return of backpackers, the situation is set to get worse.

The Queensland government are looking at flying in labour from countries in Asia and Oceania to help solve the labour crisis

There are currently more than 1,000 listings for farm work jobs currently on job boards, but unemployed Australians are supposedly resistant because of the intermittent nature of work - something farmers refute.

'It's a very generalised statement. I read on Facebook all the comments  often it's the Aussies who are sitting on their bums that don't want to do the work, but are saying they want a job,' Mr Sippel told the Courier Mail.

The Queensland government are looking at extending their program with the Pacific Islands to other countries to bring in workers from South Korea, the Philippines and Taiwan.
Regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission said Tesla had twice failed to review Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk's tweets as required in a 2018 settlement, emails have revealed.

The SEC had ordered the electric car maker to vet any material public communications Musk made regarding Tesla after accusing him of fraud over a tweet he sent in August 2018.

Musk had claimed that he had 'funding secured' to take Tesla private at $420 a share. It sent the company's stock soaring and forced a halt in trading.

Musk reportedly gained $851 million in the wake of posting that tweet.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Musk for fraud for 'false and misleading tweets' claiming he simply chose the $420 price because the number is a marijuana reference which would 'amuse' his girlfriend.

Musk was fined $20 million and was forced to resign as chairman of Tesla after reaching a settlement with the Commission.

But on two occasions, one in 2019 and another in 2020 the SEC contended that Tesla had violated the terms of the settlement, according to exchanges obtained by the Wall Street Journal.

Exchanges between Tesla and the Security and Exchange Commission reveal that the electric car maker had twice failed to properly vet tweets by its chief executive officer, Elon Musk, as required under the terms of a 2018 settlement. Musk is pictured here overseeing construction of a Tesla factory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, on May 17

The SEC says Tesla was required to preapprove this 2019 tweet regarding the manufacturing status of Tesla's solar roof as it fell under the category of production figures. The company said it disagreed

Regulators said Musk's 2020 tweet regarding Tesla's stock price needed to be vetted because it touched on the company's financial status. Tesla's lawyers said his tweet was an opinion

The tweets in question involved production status of Tesla's solar roof and the company's stock price.

On July 29, 2019 Musk posted that Tesla was, 'spooling up production line rapidly,' on the solar roof, and, 'Hoping to manufacture ~1000 solar roofs/week by end of this year.'

On May 1, 2020 he tweeted: 'Tesla stock price is too high imo'

Initially, Tesla was required to review all of Musk's tweets under the terms of the settlement in which which the company was also required to pay $20 million.

In February 2019 the terms of the social media agreement were narrowed to require the company review only tweets involving certain topics. The topics were: production numbers, new products and Tesla's financial status.

By May 2020, however, the agency said the company was failing to abide by even those requirements with a letter to Tesla signed by senior SEC official Steven Buchholz saying, 'Tesla has abdicated the duties required of it by the courts order,' according to the Journal.

Regulators said that Musk's tweet regarding Tesla's solar roof fell under the production figures category of public messages that the company's lawyers needed to vet.

In response, Tesla said that its chief executive had not submitted the tweet in question for review, and that it had later determined that it was 'wholly aspirational' and thus didn't require authorization, the Journal also reported.

Tesla's concept of its solar roof. The exchanges are another chapter in the ongoing feud between Musk, his company and the SEC

Despite the warnings, Tesla's failure to oversee Musk's tweets did not appear to result in any consequences for him or the company

Then, when Tesla stocks fell after Musk said he believed they were too high, regulators again asked whether Musk's company had approved the tweet since they said it involved Tesla's financial condition.

The company replied that it hadn't, and that it was a 'personal opinion,' and did not fall under the terms of the settlement.

The response prompted another rebuke from the agency.

'In the face of Mr. Musks repeated refusals to submit his covered written communications on Twitter to Tesla for pre-approval, we are very concerned by Teslas repeated determinations that there have been no policy violations because of purported carve-outs,' the SEC replied.

The Wall Street Journal obtained the exchanges through a Freedom of Information Act request. So far, neither Tesla nor the SEC have responded to the feud.

It appeared to end without consequences for the electric car maker or its founder, and the SEC never returned to court with its complaints.

Regulators appeared to simply ask in June 2020 that Tesla do a better job.

'We urge the company to reconsider its positions in this matter by acting to implement and enforce disclosure controls and proceduresto prevent further shareholder harm,' they wrote.

The billionaire is an extremely influential figure on Twitter, where he is followed by 56.3 million users.
Australia's Defence secretary has confirmed his department is looking at alternatives to French-designed submarines in case the troubled contract is sunk.

Greg Moriarty would not reveal what fallback options were being explored but described the process as 'prudent contingency planning'.

'It's prudent that defence is looking at alternatives if we are unable to proceed,' he told a Senate hearing on Wednesday.

'We are very committed to delivering the Attack (class submarines) but it's appropriate that we would be looking at alternatives if we were unable to proceed.'

HMAS Sheean is one of the Collins class submarine based mainly built during the 1990s that will be replaced by the new French-built subs

There are serious tensions between Australia and the French shipbuilding company, with the $90 billion submarine contract plagued by multiple cost and timetable blowouts.

Mr Moriarty was pressed on whether he had provided more regular advice about the submarine contract to ministers over the past year.

'I have certainly thought more about this issue over the last 12 months because it became clear to me that we were having challenges with the Attack class program over the last 15, 12 months,' he said.

'So of course, you do reasonably prudent thinking about what one of those options might be, or what you might be able to do if you are unable to proceed.

'But the government is absolutely committed to trying to work through with Naval Group and build a regionally superior submarine in Adelaide.'
A stash of explosives along with two 3D-printed submachine guns and nine allegedly stolen luxury cars have been seized by police in raids across Sydney.

Police began investigating in May last year after reports illegal firearms were being produced with 3D printers and sold across the state.

Two 3D-printed submachine guns, three firearms and 28 sticks of explosive dynamite were seized during a joint-agency operation earlier in the year.

Officers arrested two men - aged 38 and 21 - and executed five search warrants at Georges Hall, Bankstown and Brighton Le-Sands on Tuesday.

Detectives seized mobile phones, electronic devices and two luxury vehicles - a Mercedes-Benz G-Class worth around $230,000 and a Range Rover - at a home in Georges Hall at 6am on Tuesday.

Officers executed five search warrants at Georges Hall, Bankstown and Brighton Le-Sands and arrested two men - aged 38 and 21 - over the course of two days

A 38-year-old man was arrested at the home and taken to Bankstown Police Station, where he was charged with a total of 37 offences.

Included in his charges were five counts of supply of a prohibited weapon without a permit, five counts of supply of a prohibited firearm to an unauthorised person and four counts of supply of ammunition to an unauthorised person.

The 38-year-old man was refused bail to appear at Parramatta Local Court on June 2.

Two 3D-printed submachine guns, three firearms and 28 sticks of explosive dynamite (pictured) were seized during the joint-agency operation earlier this year

A 38-year-old man was arrested at a home in Georges Hall and taken to Bankstown Police Station, where he was charged with a total of 37 offences

Detectives seized mobile phones, electronic devices and two luxury vehicles - a Mercedes Benz G-Class (pictured) and a Range Rover - at a home in Georges Hall

Officers then executed a search warrant at a business in Bankstown and a home in Brighton-Le-Sands.

A stash of ammunition, firearms, handcuffs, drugs, $20,000 in cash and a fleet of nine allegedly stolen vehicles were seized by police.

Following further inquiries, officers arrested a 21-year-old at a home in Woy Woy on the state's central coast on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old was taken to Gosford Police Station where he was later released, due to pending inquiries.

All of the items seized during the police operation will undergo further examination, with police investigations to continue.
Australian mother-of-two Joanna McNeill, 34, was diagnosed with silicosis after working in an administration job near a quarry

Workers with deadly silicosis like Joanna McNeill and their families are still waiting for action on the incurable disease that has been dubbed the new asbestosis.

A national dust disease task force set up in 2019 is due to hand its final recommendations to government this month, after getting a COVID-19 extension.

Exposure to crystalline silica dust in engineered stone increasingly used for kitchen benchtops is of particular concern to Safe Work Australia, which is a member of the task force.

Unions want a compensation fund, minimum benchmarks to protect workers in every affected industry, penalties for employers, a national health screening program, and a register for every diagnosed case of silicosis to track the scale of the emerging disease.

But Safe Work Australia chief executive Michelle Baxter said it was still unknown what action will result from the findings.

Mrs McNeill pictured with her husband and her two daughters aged two and four-years-old. 'My greatest fear with my kids is I just want to be around for them,' the mother said

'I don't know where those issues will ultimately land,' he told a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday.

Labor senator Tony Sheldon said dangerous industries should be dealt with ahead of final advice.

He used the case of Ms McNeill, a 34-year-old mother of two who was diagnosed with silicosis last year after returning to her office job at a quarry, as an example.

'It's the unknown which is so terrifying,' he quoted Ms McNeill as saying.

'At the moment I am feeling healthy, but I don't know if that will be the case in one year, let alone five or 10 years and as a mum of two young daughters that terrifies me.'

Silica dust particles are tiny and when breathed in can cause silicosis, with cases fuelled by the ongoing housing boom and popularity of engineered stone for kitchen renovations.

Mrs McNeill pictured with her husband and her two daughters aged two and four-years-old. 'My greatest fear with my kids is I just want to be around for them,' the mother said

Ms McNeill has previously revealed how she could feel dust from the quarry covering her face and hair when she left her office building to go home each day.

'This is a life sentence for me and I don't know when my time is up,' she told 9News.

'My greatest fear with my kids is I just want to be around for them. I don't want to die early. I just want to be there for them.'

'This whole process has given me so much anxiety not knowing what the future holds.'

The taskforce is considering regulations for working with engineered stone but an outright ban is unlikely.

Silicosis involves silica dust slowly scarring the lungs. The disease typically affects tradesmen who work with concrete, bricks, tiles, sandstone and granite

Senator Sheldon said workers aged 30 to 40 are the ones most often exposed to silica dust, not just in construction but also in mining, excavation, road and tunnel construction projects, and in the manufacturing of cement and concrete.

'Their life expectancy is substantially reduced,' he said.

There has been a federal funding boost to silicosis research.

But the federal government is yet to open the national dust disease register recommended 18 months ago in the interim report from the task force.
Victoria's Acting Premier James Merlino has renewed calls for the federal government to activate JobKeeper-style support as Melbourne's lockdown drags on another week.

The Victorian government has thrown an extra $209 million into its support package to help businesses doing it tough through the latest shutdown.

When announcing the initial $250 million package on Sunday, Treasurer Tim Pallas unleashed on federal counterpart Josh Frydenberg for declining to chip in with financial support for workers.

Victorian government renewed request for federal funded JobKeeper support (pictured: waitress cleaning tables in Melbourne)

The Victorian government has thrown an extra $209 million into support package to help businesses during lockdown (pictured: people exercising in Melbourne during lockdown)

Mr Merlino said Mr Pallas had again reached out to Mr Frydenberg on Wednesday morning to formally request the federal government reconsider its stance, and he would soon start lobbying the prime minister himself.

'I do hope that the Commonwealth will swiftly confirm that they will step up and provide that support,' he told reporters on Wednesday.

'If they do not, I will be raising this directly at national cabinet on Friday.'

Facing another week without an income, Melbourne workers were crying out for support, Mr Merlino said.

'The ball is in the federal government's court,' he said.

Victoria's Acting Premier James Merlino (pictured) has renewed calls for the federal government to activate JobKeeper-style support as state enters fourth lockdown

Mr Merlino said 'Melbourne workers were crying out for support' after they facing another week without income during lockdown (pictured: empty coffee shop in Melbourne)

Treasurer Tim Pallas unleashed on federal counterpart Josh Frydenberg for declining to chip in with financial support for workers (pictured: woman walking with mask on Princess Bridge)

'Victorian businesses, Victorian workers are demanding that they respond. That is what the treasurer is advocating for and what I am advocating for, and I am hopeful of a positive outcome.'

Victorian Council of Social Service chief executive Emma King said the time for delay and debate was over.

'People are again missing shifts, losing their jobs and struggling to pay their bills,' she said.

'The federal government must step up and provide emergency support to Victoria.'

Chrissie Maus, general manager of Melbourne's Chapel Street Precinct, said no government grant would come close to covering the 'monumental economic costs' of just seven days of lockdown.

'The social impact is even worse and one that keeps me awake at night,' she said.

'Small businesses are again making heartbreaking decisions about whether to lay off staff or destroy inventory.'

Despite Victoria's calls for JobKeeper-style support hasn't been welcomed by all Australians (pictured: empty streets in Melbourne during fourth lockdown)

Prime Minister Scott Morrison earlier this week said the federal government had already provided $45 billion in direct support to Victoria.

Despite calls for the federal government to re-introduce JobKeeper in Victoria, the move hasn't been welcomed by other Australians.

'I'm still not convinced that the support for businesses to keep jobs open when state governments unilaterally impose restrictions on them should automatically come from the Commonwealth,' one person argued on Twitter.

Another said New South Wales managed the 'Northern Beaches cluster without locking down the whole state' or requesting for JobKeeper assistance.

'JobKeeper wouldnt be needed if the state government were in anyway competent,' they said.

A third person argued that 'Western Australia and Queensland didn't put their hands out for their snap lockdowns.'

'Its embarrassing that Victoria, after singlehandedly forcing an extension to JobKeeper, leasing provisions and insolvency protections, now again asks to be bailed out,' they tweeted.

Some Australians argue the federal government shouldn't fund the JobKeeper-style support 'if the state government were in anyway competent' (pictured: bar tender in Melbourne)

Another stated: 'If the federal government gives in and reinstate JobKeeper, it will simply justify Andrews and co to continue locking us down and sending people to the brink.'

Some argued against tax payers funding Victoria's JobKeeper request.

'If the Victorian government want Australian taxpayers to fund more JobKeeper, maybe the Feds should demand more say in when and how Victoria goes into lockdown,' they said.
A young man had a huge chunk of his ear bitten off by a complete stranger in a vicious assault last weekend.

The man, 24, from New South Wales, underwent emergency surgery following the alleged unprovoked altercation in Glenelg, a beachside suburb in Adelaide.

The victim was out walking with his girlfriend and mother in the early hours of May 30 at the time of the alleged incident.

The trio were allegedly approached by two male strangers, with an argument starting around 12.15am.

Police want to speak to these two men (pictured) who they believe may have information about the incident

The horrific incident happened in Glenelg, a beachside suburb in Adelaide on May 30. Police are seeking witnesses after a man had part of his ear bitten off

SA Police confirmed the man was then assaulted by another male - who police allege bit off a portion of the victims right ear.

Police are looking to speak to two men who may have information about the incident.

One is described as a Caucasian man, who wearing a black shirt and grey pants, at the time of the incident on Jetty Rd.

He was with an male believed to be of African appearance. He was wearing a grey shirt and pants with red stripes and red shoes.

The victim was later taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital for treatment.

Anyone who witnessed the incident - or can assist police - is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
The family of a young girl put on life support after a tragic car crash have to wait to fly her home to Queensland from Western Australia before they can say their final goodbyes.

The Lee family - father Geoff, mother Sommar, daughter Chloe and son Declan - were all involved in a horrific crash on Sunday morning when their car slammed into a tree near Williams, a town 170 kilometres south-east of Perth.

Emergency service personnel spent two hours attempting to cut the family from the car. Chloe has been on life support ever since while the other members of the family experienced serious but non life-threatening injuries.

A close family friend has started a GoFundMe to help the Lee family bring her home 'to kiss their baby girl goodbye'.

The family of young girl on life support after tragic car crash want to fly her home to say their final goodbyes

The family, from Caboolture situated between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, are well known in the area for their involvement in the local schools and community.

They had recently moved from Queensland to the West Australian south coast before the tragic accident occured.

Father Geoff broke both ankles and suffered spinal and internal injuries. Mother Sommar broke her pelvis, legs and wrist.

Declan, 8, suffered cuts and bruises, but 10-year-old Chloe suffered untreatable head and spinal injuries.

She has been on life support at Perth Children's Hospital since the crash, with money being raised to help get Chloe home so her family and friends can be with her for her final moments.

Family friend Barbara Wilkinson started the fundraiser to help the Lee family pay for the medical costs to transport Chloe back to Coobulture.

The Lee family were involved in accident on Sunday morning south of Perth (pictured) where 10-year-old Chloe suffered untreatable head and spinal injuries.

'Geoff is currently employed on a casual basis and has no holiday/sick pay. They have a house that they rent south west of Perth and a mortgage on their home in Caboolture,' Ms Wilkinson wrote on the GoFundMe.

'The family will be under significant financial pressure due to Geoff not being able to work and costs associated with the accident.

'Sommar and Geoff have expressed their wish to return Chloe to her home town of Caboolture for a funeral so that her friend's and relatives have the opportunity to commemorate her short life.'

The fundraiser has already surpassed its $20,000 goal, sitting at $23,845 at the time this article was published.

You can help the Lee family by donating to the GoFundMe here.
Intelligence agencies in the U.K. are now pushing for an investigation into the Wuhan laboratory in China after they declared that the laboratory leak theory was in fact "feasible." The findings of the British intelligence agencies have prompted U.K.'s Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi to call on the World Health Organization (WHO) to fully investigate the origins of the virus that claimed 3.55 million lives across the globe to date.

According to Business Today, British intelligence agencies initially believed that there was a "remote" possibility that the Wuhan laboratory leak was the true origin of COVID. But upon reassessment, they now believe that the theory might hold some truth to it and is in fact a "feasible" theory.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology in China is located near the epicenter of the outbreak, which the communist state declared to be the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan. They believed that the virus first emerged here towards the end of 2019 and was later declared a pandemic.

"There might be pockets of evidence that take us one way, and evidence that takes us another way. The Chinese will lie either way. I don't think we will ever know," an intelligence source close to the U.K. investigation said.

British intelligence agencies have a few sources in China, where they recruit through the dark web, which enables their Chinese spies to transmit data without being caught.

Conservative Member of the Parliament (MP) Tom Tugendhat criticized China's "silence" on the Wuhan laboratory leak. He argued, "We need to open the crypt and see what happened to be able to protect ourselves in the future. That means starting an investigation, along with partners around the world and in the WHO."

Now, the Western countries are taking matters into their own hands after U.S. President Joe Biden called for a new report to take a closer look at the true origins of COVID. According to Voice Of America, British intelligence agencies will team up with other Western European security services to assist with the investigation that aims to establish the true origins of COVID. Their central focus will be the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

Earlier this year, the WHO led a four-week investigation into the Wuhan laboratory leak, which they declared was "extremely unlikely," in favor of China's narrative that COVID transferred from animals to humans through the Wuhan wet market. The results of the investigation earned criticism from credible Western scientists and governments who said the Chinese controlled most of the WHO's investigation in January.

On Sunday, the New York Times reported that the U.S. has a "raft of still-unexamined evidence that required additional computer analysis" that may enlighten investigators on the real origins of COVID. While U.S. officials declined to comment on the new evidence, this is indicative that they may have not exhausted all resources, including its "databases of Chinese communications, the movement of lab workers and the pattern of the outbreak of the disease around the city of Wuhan."

National Intelligence Director spokeswoman Amanda J. Schoch said that intelligence agencies "[continue] to examine all available evidence, consider different perspectives, and aggressively collect and analyze new information to identify the virus's origins."
Cassie Sainsbury has hinted she may be returning to Australia sooner than expected - despite still living in Colombia on parole.

The 26-year-old South Australian spent three years behind bars of the notorious El Buen Pastor prison after being convicted for attempting to smuggle 5.8kg of cocaine hidden inside headphones in April 2017.

She was released in April 2020 to serve the remainder of her six-year sentence under house arrest in the Colombian capital Bogota as officials sought to reduce overcrowding in jails during Covid-19.

Sainsbury on Tuesday shared a cryptic Instagram post of her Australian passport with a sunshine emoji and what appeared to be a ticket inside - sparking speculation she may soon be heading home.

'Cocaine Cassie' Sainsbury has hinted she may be returning to Australia sooner than expected after sharing a photo of her passport to Instagram

She teased a return to her home country in April after replying to her followers saying she'd be back in South Australia 'really soon'.

'I'm looking forward to the weather, the beaches  I guess the food as well. Everything,' she explained in response to a follower's question.

Sainsbury had also recently started sharing racy photos on subscription only website OnlyFans in order to fund her life in Colombia after being released from prison.

When launching her new site in February, she posted a photo of herself in lacy white underwear.

Sainsbury recently started sharing racy photos on subscription only website OnlyFans in order to fund her life in Colombia after being released from prison

Cassie Sainsbury was arrested with 5.8 kilograms of cocaine (pictured) concealed in her luggage at Bogota's El Dorado International Airport in April 2017

During an Instagram Q&A Sainsbury was asked when she will be returning home to South Australia to which she responded: 'Really soon!'

The 26-year-old is charging subscribers $39.99 a month to check out her sultry snaps.

Sainsbury has denied rumours she was paid cash by men in Australia in exchange for semi-naked pictures after photos surfaced of her in lacy underwear.

A media report claimed Sainsbury had been making $400 a week from a man she sends explicit photos to and included an online exchange between the pair.

But in an interview with a Brisbane radio station a week later, Sainsbury denied being paid for any photos.

She also revealed she had ended her engagement to fellow inmate Joli Pico, 29, from Venezuela, after a nine-month romance behind bars.

While behind bars, Sainsbury (pictured left) became engaged to fellow inmate Joli Pico, 29, (pictured right) from Venezuela

Pico, who is still serving her sentence for theft in Columbia, had moved on with another inmate, according to Sainsbury.

'Unfortunately things with Joli, they didn't last. I came out of prison and then she became a different person, and she got with somebody else inside as well.'

When asked if her former girlfriend had cheated on her she replied it was 'difficult' and had her doubts about whether the relationship would last once one of them was on the outside.

'Honestly, it was the least thing that I expected to find in prison,' she told 60 Minutes in April 2020.

'It started as a friendship and then out of nowhere it just turned into a relationship.'

The pair were together for nine months before Pico proposed to Sainsbury in front of their cell mates late last year.
Elvin Hunter Bgorn Williams, 20, was apprehended at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport on Friday on his way to join ISIS

A Seattle man was arrested at the airport on Friday where he was allegedly on his way to join ISIS, after previously planning an attack on the city's pride parade.

According to court documents, Elvin Hunter Bgorn Williams, 20, had allegedly friends and family members for years that he wanted to travel overseas to join ISIS and wage jihad.

Authorities claim he had recently acquired a passport to join ISIS in Egypt.

'Williams was determined to support ISIS either by traveling overseas to join and fight with the terrorist organization or by conducting an attack here in the United States,' Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers said in a statement.

'The FBI was just as determined to stop him.'

The bureau first became suspicious of Williams in October 2017, when he allegedly told others at school that he wanted to join the terrorist group.

Agents questioned his mother at the time, the court documents allege, who said he told her he wanted to move to Iraq or Syria to join ISIS.

She also said Williams had been kicked off of social media for his pro-ISIS posts, and she tried to terminate their internet access because Williams was using it to access ISIS related accounts.

Williams allegedly pledged an oath to ISIS in November

More recently, the documents allege, Williams tried to convince a friend to join him in a suicide attack on the pride parade in downtown Seattle.

'It's one of the biggest pride parades in the United States,' he allegedly told his friend. 'Plus, after COVID hits, there is going to be tons of people wanting to go to the gay pride parade.'

His plan was to get a semiautomatic truck and drive it through the parade, mowing down as many marchers and spectators as he could, then jumping out of the truck and opening fire on the crowd.

His friend declined to join him, prosecutors claim, but Williams just became more determined to join the terrorist organization, saying he wanted to 'become a terrorist for real.'

'This defendant proved persistent in his efforts to join ISIS  speaking with enthusiasm about acts of horrific bloodshed in the Middle East and here at home,' said Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington Tessa Gorman.

Williams allegedly bought camouflage gear to prepare for his trip, sending pictures to undercover FBI agents

He told them he would have all of his supplies and passport ready to join the group in Egypt

A member of a Seattle-area mosque became increasingly concerned about Williams' extremist views, and contacted the FBI about him in November 2020

At around the same time Williams allegedly swore an oath of allegiance to ISIS.

The mosque official told the FBI that mosque members were trying to provide Williams with support and guidance in an effort to de-radicalize him.

They provided him with a cellphone and laptop in hopes that he would use it to find a job, the mosque official said, but when Williams returned the devices, they found that he was using it to watch ISIS beheading videos and talk to ISIS terrorists.

Court documents say his mother told the FBI that he was becoming more and more radicalized every day, referring to ISIS as 'our people.'

At that point, FBI agents began monitoring his activity and by February, agents began posing as ISIS recruiters in messages to Williams, telling him they would approve and facilitate Williams' travel for jihad.

Williams allegedly told undercover agents he wanted to do a beheading, using the name Ali Ar-Rusi as a cover, an apparent homage to his Russian heritage

In those messages, Williams used the username Ali Ar-Rusi, an apparent homage to his Russian heritage, and allegedly confided in the undercover agents that he wanted to be a suicide bomber or be in charge of the beheadings.

He also reportedly told them that if he could not travel overseas to join them, he would commit an attack on American soil on behalf of ISIS.

As time went on, he prepared more for his trip - buying camouflage materials and procuring a passport.

In early May 2021, Williams booked air travel from Seattle to Amsterdam, which would then connect him to Egypt, but he was stopped at the airport on his way to the first leg of the trip on May 28.

Williams is charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison.
Beloved guard dog Eudy who was bred to protect a group of penguins on a remote Australian island will receive a public memorial after serving 10 years of service before her death.

Eudy, the longest-serving of the Maremma guardian dogs brought to Middle Island to protect a failing little penguin colony, near Warrnambool in Victoria, died aged 12.

Between 1999 and 2005 foxes devastated the penguin colony killing 590 of the 600 flightless birds.

Eudy, a 'true hero' of the Little Penguin Maremma Penguin Project, has died aged 12 and is likely to be farewelled in a public memorial

A photo of Eudy a key member of the penguin colony protection program on Middle Island in Victoria

Local authorities borrowed the idea used by a local chicken farmer known as Swampy Marsh, who used Maremmas to protect his poultry.

Maremma guard dogs originate from central and southern Italy where they are bred to protect sheep from wolves.

Maremmas were introduced to Middle Island and trained to protect the penguins in 2006, and the island was closed to the public.

The first dog introduced was called Oddball, in 2006, and he was so successful at dealing with foxes the program was expanded.

Oddball, owned by Mr Marsh, inspired a 2015 Australian movie called Oddball, starring Shane Jacobson.

The dogs are active on Middle Island during penguin breeding season.

Fast forward to 2021 and the penguin colony has recovered to the point it now has 100 birds.

Eudy died from an aggressive bone cancer and was a 'true hero' of the program, Middle Island Penguin Project Coordinator Dr Trish Corbett told Coast FM.

The remarkable Maremma guardian dogs of Middle Island, near Warrnambool, which were originally bred to protect sheep from wolves in Italy

'Eudy and her sister Tula have been the heart and soul of the project.'

'Rest peacefully, beautiful girl,' Ms Corbett said.

Eudy's ashes will be scattered on Middle Island.

A public memorial is planned but no date has yet been set.
The 'struggling' Covid testing system is putting foreign holidays at risk as labs are already pushed to the limit - with 'carnage' expected as Britain's 'green list' is set to grow this month.

Those looking to enjoy a summer holiday abroad this year are advised to book a package trip with a test included to protect themselves from paying through the nose if pre-booked private test results get lost or are delayed, advises consumer watchdog Which?.

The current private testing system is reportedly on the brink of collapsing under the workload, with experts fearing 'carnage' when travel starts up again fully.

Delays at the labs could mean late test results for families, meaning they will be forced to fork out for another test at the airport on the day of their departure.

Millions of British families are already facing huge bills and risk being priced out of their foreign summer holidays or reunions with loved ones due to exorbitant private testing costs.

Tests are required to travel abroad under the 'traffic light' quarantine system - which sees countries categorised into red, amber and green lists based on travellers' risk of importing cases.

And the list of countries on the green list - countries deemed the safest to visit - is set to grow before the end of June.

Covid testing 'carnage' is putting foreign holidays at risk as labs are already pushed to the limit, a consumer watchdog has warned. Pictured: Heathrow Airport last month

Those looking to enjoy a summer holiday abroad this year should book a package trip with a test included to protect themselves from paying through-the-nose if pre-booked private test results get lost, Which? advised. Pictured: Heathrow Airport last month

Tests are required to travel abroad under the 'traffic light' quarantine system - which sees countries categorised into red, amber and green lists based on travellers' risk of importing cases

Britain is warmer today than ten out of the 12 countries on the Government's green list of destinations for foreign travel

Arrivals from green nations - such as Australia, New Zealand and Gibraltar - need to take a Covid test before flying into the UK and a second test on or before the second day after they land.

Those arriving from amber countries need to quarantine at home for ten days and take a test on or before day two and on or after day eight - as well as prior to flying.

The current private testing system is 'struggling' and will be 'carnage' when travel starts up again, consumer watchdog Which? said.

Covid e-gates at four major airports 'will be ready later this month' Covid e-gates to speed up lengthy border force queues post-lockdown will be ready this month. As it stands, Border Force officers have to conduct manual checks of all arrivals' passports and passenger locator forms causing long queues in UK terminals. And, with the green list of countries deemed safe to travel to set to expand this month, lines could get worse. But automated gates are hoped to be a faster solution, allowing people to move through the queue quicker. An airport source told The Daily Telegraph: 'We are down to be completed at Heathrow at the end of June or beginning of July. 'We believe June 28 will be a more significant opening of foreign travel than June 7.' Advertisement

Travel editor Rory Boland told The Times: 'The best-case scenario is that you've booked a package holiday and the test is booked with the tour operator.

'That way if you don't get the result back they will allow you to move the departure. But that's not a given and will be no consolation to people who have fixed dates. The private testing system is already struggling, it will be carnage when people start travelling again.'

Campaigners are calling for the cost of private tests to be capped by the Government.

As it stands, a day two testing service for green list arrivals can cost up to 399, while amber packages can cost upwards of 378.

Britons are keen to go abroad after more than a year with limited travel - even though the summer will bring a scorcher back home.

The country is set to enjoy its hottest day of the year so far for the third day in a row as temperatures soar to 84F (29C)  making the UK warmer than ten out of the 12 countries on the Government's green list of destinations.

The very hot conditions over the past week have led to packed beaches, parks and beer gardens across the UK, with today being the seventh day in a row that the mercury will be above 70F (21C) somewhere.

And it means the UK is now warmer than most of the countries Britons can visit without having to quarantine upon their return - including Portugal (68F/20C in Lisbon), Gibraltar (77F/25C) and Israel (also 77F/25C, in Jerusalem).

Britain is also hotter than St Helena (70F/21C in Jamestown), Australia (63F/17C in Canberra) and New Zealand (57F/14C in Wellington), as well as Iceland (50F/10C), the Faroe Islands (50F/10C) and Falkland Islands (37F/3C).

Yesterday, Malta became the latest European country to open its doors to British holidaymakers as the EU raised the prospect of easier travel to the continent from next month.

The sun-drenched Mediterranean island - currently on the UK's amber list - will allow in UK visitors who pass a PCR test before travelling as it seeks to rebuild its tourism industry. In future it plans to accept vaccine passports.

Last week, the boss of Heathrow Airport urged the government to reveal its green list.

John Holland-Kaye warned that keeping the list of safe destinations for July and August under wraps would lead to operators scaling back on scheduled flights which would lead to a huge rise in seat prices.

He pointed to popular destinations such as Spain and its Balearic islands where Covid infections are low, suggesting they were 'coming into the green zone' but may not be announced for weeks.

There are only 12 locations that have so far been added to the green list, but Portugal, Gibraltar and Iceland are seen as actual holiday destinations.

There is set to be an expansion of the list on June 7, with Jamaica, Finland, and the Canary Islands seen as possibilities, although Boris Johnson has warned that the list will not expand 'very rapidly'.

Rishi Sunak last night faced a growing clamour to scrap the VAT 'stealth tax' on Covid travel tests.

MPs, campaigners and travel chiefs all urged the Chancellor to immediately axe the levy, which adds 20 per cent to what is already described as a 'rip-off' fee.

Critics said the tax was not only pricing ordinary families out of foreign holidays, but also damaging the economy by stifling the rebound of the UK's beleaguered travel industry.

MPs, campaigners and travel chiefs all urged the Chancellor to immediately axe the levy, which adds 20 per cent to what is already described as a 'rip-off' fee. Pictured: Ross Lovelock and his wife who have forked out 396 for tests that never happened

Yesterday, the Daily Mail launched a campaign calling on ministers to deliver on their pledge to reduce the price of travel testing in time for peak summer holiday season.

Many have complained that the exorbitant cost of Covid testing can add hundreds of pounds to the price of the average family holiday.

As a starting point, the travel industry is demanding that the Treasury scrap VAT on the tests.

Last night, there was growing fury at the Treasury's refusal to act.

Officials have claimed that they could not scrap the levy on testing without having to raise taxes elsewhere. Critics immediately pointed out that ministers could not possibly be relying on revenues from the tax because it has only started bringing in money in the past few months.

Meanwhile, ministers were unable to point to any progress they had made on the Government's pledge to cut costs yesterday.

Earlier this month, 17 Tory MPs wrote to the Chancellor to call for a VAT cut for tests.

Yesterday, they repeated their demands as they criticised the 'counter-productive' system that was making flights the 'preserve of the rich'.

Pictured: Konrad Tapp and his wife Carol who are now unable to visit their new grandchild

Tory MP Henry Smith, chairman of the all-party Future of Aviation group of MPs and a signatory to the letter, said: 'They know that aviation is a major economic enabler that will be central to our economic recovery so it is counter-productive to allow our sky-high testing costs to remain a barrier to international travel.'

Ex-minister David Davis said: 'The Government should do everything it can to incentivise people to liberalise the economy. They should certainly look at scrapping VAT as a way of mitigating the costs of the restrictions they've put on people, and a way of making things safer.'

Sir Graham Brady, lead author of the letter and chairman of the Tory backbench committee, lent his support to the Mail's campaign, adding: 'As we approach the summer holidays, it must be a priority to ensure that travel does not become the preserve of the rich.'

Several travel chiefs also intervened. Heathrow Airport chief John Holland-Kaye said: 'The Daily Mail's campaign for cheaper Covid tests is exactly the type of thing the aviation and tourism industry needs.

'A lot of progress to reduce the cost of Covid tests has already been made by industry, and now it's time for ministers to step up and do their part.'

He called for VAT to be scrapped and for the use of lateral flow tests for arrivals from low risk countries, instead of the more expensive PCR tests.

Tim Alderslade, CEO of trade body Airlines UK, said: 'This is not a revenue line that has been on the Treasury scorecard for years and years, it's a classic stealth tax that has been imposed since Covid hit.'

A Government spokesman said officials were working with the travel industry and private testing providers to see how they can further reduce the cost of travel.

Over this weekend, it emerged that a strain of the virus appearing to be a hybrid of the UK and Indian variants, both of which are fast-spreading, has appeared in Vietnam - which is still not on the red list.

The red list was drawn up to slash the risk of Britain importing new variants of the virus that could risk vaccines not working.

There was uproar among scientists and politicians when it took weeks for India to be added despite it having the world's worst outbreak - and a variant that emerged there is now dominant in the UK and threatens to wreck plans to end lockdown.

Despite this and the revelation that a new variant has sprung up in Vietnam, the country remains on the amber list, which means hotel quarantine isn't required.

The variant is not yet internationally recognised so it is unknown whether it has spread to other countries.
One of Iran's largest naval vessels has caught fire and sunk in the Gulf of Oman.

The Kharg, a 650ft cargo vessel designed to resupply ships at sea, caught fire Tuesday after a fault 'in one of its systems' during a training exercise.

All 400 crew and students on board the vessel - built in Britain in 1977 - were evacuated with only minor injuries, the Iranian military said, before firefighters tried to tackle the blaze.

But they were unable to save the ship which sank Wednesday morning near the port of Jask 'after 20 hours of dedicated efforts to save it', Iranian officials said.

It is not yet clear how the fire started, but it comes amid attacks on cargo ships and military vessels in recent months that Iran and Israel have blamed on one-another - worsening already fraught relations between the old adversaries.

The Kharg, an Iranian navy support vessel and one of the force's largest ships, sunk this morning near the port of Jask after burning for more than 20 hours overnight

Iran said the fire broke out 'in one of the systems' of the ship on Tuesday, without elaborating. It comes amid a series of attacks that Iran and Israel blame on one-another

In April, Iran blamed Israel for a blast which damaged military vessel MV Saviz in the Red Sea - saying the 'attack' was carried out using underwater mines.

The previous month, an Israeli cargo vessel was hit by a missile in the Arabian Sea while sailing from Tanzania to India, with Israeli security services blaming Tehran.

And in February, the Israeli-owned MV Helios Ray car carrier was also hit by explosions while sailing off the coast of UAE.

While Israel made no official accusation at the time, Hebrew media reported that Iran was top of a list of suspects.

The blasts also form part of a years-long shadow war in Middle Eastern waters which has also seen ships linked to Saudi Arabia and the UAE damaged - including a series of blasts in 2019 that almost drove the US and Iran to war.

Iran says 20 sailors were lightly wounded with burns during the incident, but nobody was seriously hurt

American intelligence agencies had directly blamed Iran for two tanker attacks that occurred that year, sparking a series of tit-for-tat skirmishes that ended with a US drone strike which killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, and saw Iran launch missiles at a US airbase in Iraq in retaliation.

Israel and Iran - long-time regional foes - have most-recently been feuding over a 2015 deal signed by Obama that sought to stop Iran obtaining nuclear weapons in return for trade incentives.

Trump, spurred on by Israel, tore up the deal in 2018. Biden now wants to renegotiate terms with Tehran, which seems to have prompted the latest round of fighting.

Negotiations on the deal are ongoing in Vienna despite the clashes, which have also included strikes in Syria and attacks on Iran's nuclear program.

The Kharg had around 400 crew and students on board when the fire broke out on Tuesday, a government spokesman told the Tasnim news agency.

He said around 20 people had received minor burn injuries before the ship was evacuated, and that nobody was seriously hurt.

The spokesman added that the cause of the fire is still under investigation, and a statement will be made in due course.

The port city of Jask, near which the Kharg went down, lies close to the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic chokepoint at the head of the Gulf through which a fifth of world oil output passes.

Jask is strategically important to Iran as the government plans to make it the site of the country's second-largest oil export terminal.

An approximately 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) pipeline from Bushehr province on the Gulf to Jask was put into service a few days ago, the government said.

It provides a new bypass route for Iranian oil exports that avoids the Strait of Hormuz.

Jeremy Binnie of open-source defence intelligence provider Janes said the Kharg was important to Iran as its only dedicated vessel able to resupply warships at sea.

'The Iranians often describe it as a "helicopter carrier" but it is actually a replenishment ship - a useful asset nonetheless as it was the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy's only dedicated ship serving this role,' Binnie said.

'It is not the IRIN's largest vessel any more after they commissioned Makran, a converted oil tanker, in January.'

The navy said the vessel was on a 'training mission' in international waters.

The vessel was taking part in a training exercise with 400 people on board when the blaze broke out on Tuesday (pictured, the boat on fire)

The blaze broke out as the Kharg was sailing near the Strait of Hormuz, with all sailors evacuated to shore before the ship went down

Iran's ISNA news agency said its mission had focused on 'training, intelligence and combat' alongside the destroyer Alborz.

The Kharg was initially ordered from British shipmaker Swan Hunter in the 1970s by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi - an ally of the West - before the 1979 Revolution which saw him ousted from power and driven into exile.

Following the revolution, the Kharg became a political hot potato and its transfer to Iran was held up several times - firstly because of the hostage crisis which saw Americans held prisoner in Tehran from 1979 until 1981, and then because of the detention of a British nation - Andrew Pyke - in Iran.

The ship was eventually handed over to Iran in 1984, after the hostage crisis had ended and Pyke had been released, on the grounds that is was a support vessels and could not be used in offensive operations.

The sinking of the Kharg in just the latest naval disaster for Iran.

In 2020 during an Iranian military training exercise, a missile mistakenly struck a naval vessel near the port of Jask, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15.

Also in 2018, an Iranian navy destroyer sank in the Caspian Sea.

In 2019, a series of explosions and fires on oil tankers linked both Iran and Saudi Arabia around the Arabian Peninsula brought the two sides close to war.

The blasts began in May when four tankers - two Saudi-flagged, one Norwegian-flagged and one Emirati-flagged - were damaged near the coast of UAE.

Then in June, the Front Altair and Kokuka Courageous were damaged in what was initially reported as a fire on the latter vessel.

American intelligence agencies backed by the UK and Saudi Arabia later accused Iran of attaching limpet mines to the side of the tankers, blowing holes in the hull which sparked the blaze.

That was followed by drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia's largest oil processing facility at Abqaiq which it blamed on Iran.

The Kharg was built in Britain in 1977 and entered the Iranian Navy in 1984 . It was designed to resupply other ships at sea, lift heavy cargo, and launch helicopters

In October, Iran then reported that one of its oil tankers had been hit by two missiles in the Red Sea, on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula, in what it said was a 'terrorist attack.'

Then, the follow year, Iran was hit by a series of major fires that broke out on land - sparking rumours of sabotage operations.

The most serious blast took place in July that year at the Natanz nuclear facility causing significant damage, though officials said operations were not affected.

Another explosion hit a medical clinic north of Tehran last month, killing 19 people in what Iran said was a gas leak.

On June 26, an explosion occurred east of Tehran near the Parchin military and weapons development base that was also blamed on a gas leak.

Six other fires and blasts have also been reported, most of which have taken place around Tehran, but some of which have occurred further south.

A factory in Baqershahr, a power plant in Zergan, the Shahid Tondgooyan petrochemicals plant, and Bushehr shipyard have all been struck.
The birth of a Silvery Gibbon at the Mogo Wildlife Park has provided a sliver of optimism about the survival of the endangered species.

Telo, a baby girl, was born last Friday at the wildlife park on the New South Wales south coast.

The zoo said Telo's birth demonstrates the success of the park's breeding program which is intended to save the Silvery Gibbon species.

The apes are native to the Indonesian island of Java and at risk of becoming extinct from the illegal pet trade and land clearing.

Mogo Zoo is celebrating the birth of a new Silvery Gibbons called Telo (pictured with mum Layar), a baby from one of the most endangered primate species in the world

'Welcome to the family Telo. Such a beautiful little girl and already stealing the hearts of every visitor who sees you,' the zoo posted on social media.

'As one of only three institutions in Australia that are home to Silvery Gibbons, Telo's birth is crucial to the preservation of this endangered species.'

Mogo zookeeper Chad Staples told About Regional the baby apes were born largely hairless, showing their pink skin, but would soon develop the silvery coat that gives the species its name.

He said mum Layar was 'very confident' and was hoped her eldest daughter, six-year-old Jawa, would watch and learn from her example.

'It's really important for the eldest, in particular, who could be the next breeder, to see mum do all this,' he said.

Mogo Zoo hopes Telo (pictured with mum Layar) will eventually take part in their breeding program and help save the Silvery Gibbon species from extinction

The zoo is hoping to pair Jawa with a male soon.

'Once you have a bonded pair, they'll continue to breed,' he said.

'One of the biggest issues is making sure you have forever homes for their offspring and pairs for them so they can continue to succeed.'

Telo will stay with her mum until she is seven years old, when she will hopefully continue in the breeding program.

Along with the habitat loss and poaching, a major factor behind the vulnerability of Silvery Gibbons is that mothers only give birth to a single offspring once about every three years and are pregnant for about seven months.

Habit destruction and the illegal pet trade have reduced the number of Silvery Gibbons in the wild on Jave to an estimated 4,000.

Telo will spend the next six months clinging on to her mum Layar, and visitors can visit the pair from 9am to 4pm every day at Mogo Zoo.
Three sisters heading to a family vacation were among four people killed in a head-on crash in Idaho.

Priscilla Rojas-Carrasco, 16, Jasmin Rojas-Carrasco, 22 and Melissa Rojas-Carrasco, 26, from California were killed alongside Juan Pablo Farias, 22, when their Honda Civic collided with a GMC Sierra on Highway 95 near Marsing on Saturday.

The sisters had been on their way to a family vacation at the time of the crash according to a fundraising page set up in the wake of their death.

It wasn't immediately clear who was driving the Civic at the time of the accident.

Victims: Priscilla Rojas-Carrasco, 16, left and Jasmin Rojas-Carrasco, 22, right

Melissa Rojas-Carrasco, 26. The fatal incident happened on Highway 95 near Marsing on Saturday

All three people in the GMC Sierra survived the crash, despite the vehicle catching fire after the impact.

They were rushed to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. According to police, two of the passengers were airlifted to hospital, while the other was taken by ambulance.

Their identities have not been revealed but they are said to be two men and a woman ranging in age from 16 to 21.

Speaking to KTVB 7, an eyewitness to the incident, Tanya Hoebel, said she helped those in the GMC Sierra. One person was covered in debris following the incident.

'I told him, "Okay, I just really need you to listen to my voice,''' Hoebel said.

'I need you to just listen to my voice. I need you to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.'

On Tuesday, police said that they are still investigating the accident and are interviewing witnesses.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the Rojas-Carrasco family cover funeral expenses for their three daughters.

The page reads: 'It is with a heavy heart that I deliver such tragic news: Yesterday at around 2pm in Idaho the three youngest Rojas sisters were killed in a car accident on their way to their family vacation.

Three sisters heading to a family vacation were among four people killed in a head-on crash in Idaho

All three people in the GMC Sierra survived the crash, despite the vehicle setting on fire. Crash scene is pictured above

'We are all at a loss of words and trying to push through. We are currently unaware of what the complete cost will be to bring the sisters home and to prepare for the proper burial they deserve.

'There are no words to adequately describe the incredible lives of Melissa, Jasmin, and Priscilla. We love and miss you dearly.

'Any and all donations are extremely appreciated to assist their family during this time.

The page has so far raised $18,055 raised of its goal of $50,000.
Israeli politicians battling to unseat veteran right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were locked in last-ditch talks on Wednesday to hammer out their 'change' coalition composed of bitter ideological rivals.

They have until the end of the day - 11:59 pm (8:59pm GMT) - to cobble together an administration that would end 12 straight years of rule by the hawkish heavyweight, Israel's longest-ruling premier.

But they are expected to announce the new line-up before the midnight deadline as parliament meets at 11:00 am to vote on a new president for the country, a largely honorary position.

The high-stakes push for a government is led by former television presenter Yair Lapid, a secular centrist who on Sunday won the crucial support of hardline religious nationalist Naftali Bennett.

'The coalition negotiation team sat all night and made progress toward creating a unity government,' a Bennett spokesman said in a statement.

As the deadline loomed on Wednesday night, Israeli media reported there were some lingering disagreements over lower-level political appointments.

But it was announced just an hour and a half before the deadline that the Arab Israeli party had agreed to join the coalition - soon followed by other parties - putting Netanyahu on the brink of being ousted.

If the deadline is missed, it is extremely likely that a fifth election in just two years will be held in Israel.

Israeli politicians battling to unseat veteran right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were locked in last-ditch talks on Wednesday to hammer out their 'change' coalition composed of bitter ideological rivals

To reach a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, their unlikely alliance would also have to include other left and right-wing parties - and would probably need the support of Arab-Israeli politicians.

That would result in a government riven by deep ideological differences on flashpoint issues such as Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the role of religion in politics.

Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid party, was tasked with forming a government by President Reuven Rivlin after Netanyahu again failed to put together his own coalition following Israel's fourth inconclusive election in less than two years.

Lapid has reportedly agreed to allow Bennett, a tech multi-millionaire who heads the Yamina party, to serve first as a rotating prime minister in a power-sharing agreement, before swapping with him halfway through their term.

Yair Lapid (left) and Naftali Bennett (right) have until the end of the day to to cobble together an administration that would end 12 straight years of rule by Netanyahu

By early Wednesday evening, just six hours before the deadline at midnight, there was still no sign of progress, but compromises were reportedly being made in the final hours, according to the Jerusalem Post.

According to reports, Ayelet Shaked, Bennett's deputy, was demanding a place on a committee that chooses the nation's judges.

But Shaked, a prominent voice in Israel's hard-line right wing, has expressed misgivings about joining forces with the dovish members of the emerging coalition.

Both Shaked and Bennett have come under heavy pressure from Netanyahu and the country's right wing base not to join his opponents.

Meanwhile Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamic conservative Raam party, reportedly made last minute demands after last-minute talks with Netanyahu, who reportedly offered to cancel a law that enforces fines on illegal Arab buildings.

Abbas then demanded the same from the unity government being formed, and it was announced just before 20:30 GMT (10:30pm local time), that the Raam party had agreed to join the coalition.

The Knesset, or parliament, has assigned additional security guards to both in recent days because of death threats and online incitement.

Lapid must inform Israel's largely ceremonial president, Reuven Rivlin, by midnight that he has formed a majority coalition of at least 61 seats in the Knesset. The assembly would then have a week to hold a vote of confidence.

If Lapid misses the deadline, the country will almost certainly have a fifth election in just over two years, and Netanyahu would have yet another chance to hold onto his position as he stands trial for corruption.

Lawmakers elected Isaac Herzog as the 11th president since the creation of Israel in 1948 in a secret ballot on Wednesday.

Herzog, 60, is a former leader of the centre-left Labor party and minister from a prominent Tel Aviv family who supports two-state solution with the Palestinians.

He beat Myriam Peretz, 67, a settler and former headmistress widely known as 'the mother of sons' after she lost two of her six children while officers in the Israeli army.

Lawmakers elected Isaac Herzog (left) as Israel's next president in a ballot on Wednesday. he beat Myriam Peretz (right) for the position

Netanyahu faces troubles, chiefly a corruption trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust, sparking protests against him (pictured)

President Rivlin acknowledged in April that many believe Netanyahu is unfit to serve in light of his legal problems

Israel's latest political turmoil adds to the woes of Netanyahu, who is on trial for criminal charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust while in office - accusations he denies.

If he were to lose power, he would not be able to push through changes to basic laws that could give him immunity, and would lose control over certain justice ministry nominations.

The last-minute talks also follow a flare-up of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, which ended after 11 days of deadly violence with an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire on May 21.

An image showing Hamas rockets fired from Gaza (right) and blasts as they are intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defence system (left)

The night sky on May 14 was lit up as rockets were fired towards Israel from Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip

Netanyahu, who served an earlier three-year term in the 1990s, had warned on Sunday of 'a left-wing government dangerous to the state of Israel'.

The premier, who heads the Likud party and has developed a reputation as a wily political operator, was scrambling to scupper the new alliance.

Likud's lawyers on Tuesday tried to hobble the emerging coalition by challenging Bennett's right to serve first as prime minister, given that it was Lapid who was charged with forming the government.

But the legal adviser to Israel's president dismissed the challenge.

In order to build the anti-Netanyahu bloc, Lapid must sign individual agreements with seven parties, whose members would then vote in parliament to confirm their coalition.

They include the hawkish New Hope party of Netanyahu's former ally Gideon Saar and right-wing secular nationalist Avigdor Lieberman's pro-settlement Yisrael Beitenu party.

The centrist Blue and White party of Defence Minister Benny Gantz, the historically powerful Labor party and the dovish Meretz party would also join.

To get the coalition over the line, Lapid needs the support of the New Hope party of Netanyahu's former ally Gideon Saar (left), right-wing secular nationalist Avigdor Lieberman's (centre) pro-settlement Yisrael Beitenu party, and the centrist Blue and White party of Defence Minister Benny Gantz (right)

If all those parties indeed sign on, the emerging alliance still needs the backing of four more lawmakers, which Lapid hopes will come from Mansour Abbas's (pictured) Islamic conservative Raam party

If all those parties indeed sign on, the emerging alliance still needs the backing of four more lawmakers.

For that, Lapid is counting on parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, which have yet to announce their intentions.

Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamic conservative Raam party, which has four seats, has generally voiced openness to any arrangement that improves living conditions for Israel's 20 percent Arab minority of Palestinian descent.

Abbas told reporters Tuesday that negotiations appeared to be heading 'in a good direction'.

But, he said: 'until it's finished, nothing is finished.'
Advertisement

A mass evacuation of houseboats was ordered from an evaporating California lake after the state's ongoing drought crisis caused its water level to plunge by more than half.

The owners of dozens of boats moored on Lake Oroville, the state's second largest reservoir, were told to put the vessels in dry dock, or risk seeing them run aground.

A Lake Oroville public safety chief told CBS Sacramento that 130 boats from two marinas were hauled out on a rig and placed in parking lots by the lake.

One boat owner said they were given the choice of either hauling their own boats away or paying the state to rent the parking lot.

Many were seen standing on the lake's basin which would have been completely underwater just months ago.

Forecasts indicate that by October, the reservoir, which provides drinking water to more than 25 million people, will see its lowest water levels for four decades.

In an aerial view, houseboats sit anchored at the Bidwell Canyon Marina on Lake Oroville on Tuesday as water levels continue to fall

The owners of dozens of boats moored on the body of water were asked to put the vessels in dry dock, or risk seeing them run aground and be damaged

A Lake Oroville public safety chief said that 130 boats from two marinas were hauled out on a rig and placed in parking lots by the lake

Houseboat dwellers received letters saying their vessels would be removed no matter what after they were forced to descend lower and lower into the basin

It is a worrying indication of the worsening drought conditions in the northern part of the Golden State amid the shortage of rainfall

Allen Link, a Lake Oroville houseboat owner, said: 'I know theres a lot of unhappy houseboaters out there right now... Not even two years ago we had a full lake.'

It is a worrying indication of the worsening drought conditions in the northern part of the Golden State.

'When we go into a year like this with the reservoir low and with really dry conditions throughout the state, that is concerning,' John Yarbrough, the assistant deputy director of the California Department of Water Resources, told AFP.

'The reservoir is much lower than we would like to see it, much lower than typical at this time of year. It's about 47 percent of average,' he said, pointing to the cracked earth forming the lake wall.

Since May 10, California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency linked to drought in more than 40 counties, covering 30 per cent of the state and around 13 million people.

'We're staring down at what could be disastrous summer and fall, with the potential of communities running out water, and fires,' said Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Costa at the time of the announcement.

Newsom said: 'The hots are getting a lot hotter in this state, the dries are getting a lot drier. We have a conveyance system, a water system, that was designed for a world that no longer exists.'

Houseboats sit in the Bidwell Canyon Marina parking lot at Lake Oroville after being hauled out of the drying out reservoir

As water levels continue to fall at Lake Oroville, officials are flagging houseboats that are anchored on the lake for removal to avoid being stuck or damaged

Forecasts indicate that by October, the reservoir, which provides drinking water to more than 25 million people, will see its lowest water levels for four decades

Conditions in Butte County, where Lake Oroville is located, are already seen as 'extreme,' the highest level of drought.

And the situation is not expected to improve before the rains return in five or six months.

Yarbrough said that in 2019, which he called a 'good year,' the water level reached the trees on the edge of the dam, meaning it was about 165ft higher than usual.

Residents of the area told AFP they had never seen dry conditions like this before.

Many of them recalled how in 2017, they had to evacuate because torrential rains had prompted authorities to fear that the dam would break under the pressure. Less than five years later, they now face another huge crisis.

Since May 10, California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency linked to drought in more than 40 counties

Boaters walk on a remaining Lake Oroville Dam boat launch at the Lake Oroville reservoir amidst low water levels during the California drought emergency

Lake Oroville, built in the 1960s at the confluence of three rivers, is the key component of California's State Water Project, a massive network of reservoirs, aqueducts and pipelines

Lake Oroville, built in the 1960s at the confluence of three rivers, is the key component of California's State Water Project, a massive network of reservoirs, aqueducts and pipelines bringing water from the northern part of the state to the south, which has a higher population and a far drier climate.

'This lake right here provides drinking water for 27 million Californians,' Yarbrough said, adding that it also irrigates 'up to 750,000 acres' (303,000 hectares) of farmland.

On average, Northern California gets two-thirds of the state's total precipitation, but this year has been particularly dry.

On April 1, which traditionally marks the end of snowfall in the state, snow reserves in the Sierra Nevada mountains, the source for about a third of the water used in California, stood at only about 60 per cent of the annual average.

On average, Northern California gets two-thirds of the state's total precipitation, but this year has been particularly bad

Lake Oroville brings water from the northern part of the state to the south, which has a higher population and a far drier climate

Weeds grow through asphalt in an unused boat launch area at the Lake Oroville reservoir due to low water levels

Firefighters remove sources of potential fuel for a fire during a fuel reduction operation with the Cal Fire/Butte County Fire Department

'One unique thing this year is, as that snow melted, the runoff ended up soaking into dry soils and evaporating,' meaning very little runoff ended up in Lake Oroville, Yarbrough explained.

The waters contained by Oroville Dam, the tallest in the United States at 770 feet, will not dry up that quickly, but at the end of the so-called dry season the lake is expected to be at its lowest level recorded since September 1977.

After two years with very little precipitation, and with no assurances that upcoming seasons will be any better, water restrictions are the next step.

The California Department of Water Resources, which runs the State Water Project, has warned that it risks being unable to provide more than five per cent of requested supplies this year.

After two years with very little precipitation, and with no assurances that upcoming seasons will be any better, water restrictions are the next step

In this aerial image, dead trees burned in a wildfire stand as dry land is exposed on the banks of Lake Oroville reservoir

Water lines are visible on the steep banks of Lake Oroville as a fisherman floats by on Tuesday during the exceptional drought

Another serious consequence of the drought: the increased risk of wildfires, which is particularly worrying for authorities in a region that has been repeatedly devastated in recent years by massive forest blazes.

The charred trees that dot the landscape around Lake Oroville are a stark reminder: Last year, more than 6,500 square miles went up in flames in California alone, and 33 people were killed, including 15 at Berry Creek, not far from Oroville.

This year, fires have already consumed five times more vegetation than at the same point in time in 2020.

While fires are part of the natural cycle of California's forests, the fire season is starting earlier and ending later each year.

While fires are part of the natural cycle of California's forests, the fire season is starting earlier and ending later each year

The increased risk of wildfires is particularly worrying for authorities in a region that has been repeatedly devastated in recent years by massive forest blazes

The charred trees that dot the landscape around Lake Oroville are a stark reminder of the devastating fires which have blighted the region

Climate change is 'is considered a key driver of this trend,' state fire officials note in their 2021 forecast, with the fire season lengthened by an estimated 75 days in part of the state.

'I think we're in a long-term trend of drought conditions. And it's been going on for about six years,' said Butte County fire chief John Messina.

'We've had a few wet years in between those years, but overall, we're much drier than what we're used to,' he said.

'It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand if you don't have precipitation, your fuels don't stay moist, and the drier the fuels are, the more potential there is to have a catastrophic wildfire, or at least an extremely busy summer in California.'
Advertisement

London moved a step closer to driverless trains today after transport bosses were forced to push ahead with a timetable for rolling them out despite opposition from Sadiq Khan, as part of a new Government bailout.

Transport for London has agreed a third bailout to keep services running amid the collapse in demand for travel during the pandemic, with the latest package said to be worth 1.08billion and running until December 11.

Ministers have told TfL they want to see business plans by the end of this year for driverless trains on the London Underground amid hopes they will improve punctuality and make them 'less susceptible to human error'.

But London Mayor Mr Khan, who chairs TfL, has called the trains a 'gross misuse of taxpayers' money at this critical time' - while RMT rail union chiefs have criticised them as 'unwanted, unaffordable and unsafe'.

The Department for Transport said Mr Khan had committed to 'make progress' towards running driverless trains with an 'on-board attendant' on at least one Tube line, and he would also 'review TfL's generous pensions scheme'.

The DfT will run a joint programme with TfL to look at the business case for fully automated trains on the Piccadilly and Waterloo and City lines, but strike action would be inevitable if they went ahead amid fears for drivers' jobs.

TfL already runs driverless trains on the Docklands Light Railway through East London, but this was purpose-built in 1987 - and far greater challenges lie ahead for switching a complex Tube network dating back as far as 1863.

Transport for London has ordered 250 air-conditioned driverless trains which are set to boost capacity on the Piccadilly line

The trains will have a driver on board when they launch but have been designed to be capable of fully automatic operation.

The trains will have walkthrough carriages and double-doorways throughout the train to speed up boarding and alighting

TfL has been told to produce a general plan by the end of the year for driverless trains, then another within the next year for the Waterloo and City line, and then a third plan within 18 months for the Piccadilly line.

New driverless trains for the Piccadilly line have already been ordered by TfL amid hopes they will be in service by 2025, but its current plans have no firm commitments that they will actually be operated autonomously.

How will driverless trains work and what other features will they have? Transport for London has ordered 250 air-conditioned driverless trains which are set to boost capacity on the Piccadilly line alone by up to 60 per cent. The trains will have a driver on board when they launch, which could be in 2025, but they have been designed and built to be capable of fully automatic operation. While this would remove the need for a driver, they would still have an 'on-board attendant' to manage the operation of the trains, which TfL hopes will have a lifespan of more than 40 years. The new trains will feature air cooling for the first time on a deep Tube line, with such a system only currently on the District, Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City line services which run at a higher level. They will also have real-time information screens, fully walkthrough carriages and double-doorways throughout the train to speed up boarding and alighting. The trains will run on the Piccadilly line, followed by the Bakerloo, Central and Waterloo and City lines. They will boost capacity by 25 per cent on the Central and Bakerloo lines, and 50 per cent on the Waterloo and City. A number of our Tube lines already operate with modern signalling which controls the train but still requires the driver to confirm when it can safely leave a station and to open or close the doors, and to be there for safety. Transport for London has said driverless trains will 'require significant additional infrastructure to be installed to the trains, platforms, track and signalling specifically to allow for this level of automation, funding for which would need to be fully identified'. Advertisement

It comes after a leaked TfL document last October said the business case for driverless trains was 'not financially positive given the high capital costs' and would be 'poor value for money' with a 7billion bill.

All Tube trains are currently either operated manually  which sees a driver control starting, stopping, door operation and any emergencies - or in semi-automatic mode, when starting and stopping is automated but a driver operates the doors and drives if needed.

The bailout follows a long war of words between Boris Johnson and Mr Khan, with the Prime Minister accusing his successor as mayor of 'blowing' TfL's finances through an 'irresponsible' policy of freezing some fares.

Speaking about the latest Government bailout yesterday, Mr Khan said it is 'not the deal we wanted' but it ensures 'we can continue to run vital transport services at this crucial time for our city'.

He added: 'We have successfully managed to see off the worst of the conditions the Government wanted to impose on London, which would not only have required huge cuts to transport services equivalent to cancelling one in five bus routes or closing a Tube line, but would have hampered London's economic recovery as well as the national recovery.'

TfL has insisted it is on the path to achieving an unprecedented level of financial self-sufficiency until the pandemic significantly reduced its fares revenue.

It has been struggling with passenger numbers even in recent weeks as the third national lockdown has eased, with usage still only back at around 60 per cent of the levels before the Covid-19 crisis began.

Under the latest bailout agreement, TfL must find 300million of new savings or income in the 2021/22 financial year and 500million of new or increased sources of revenue each year from 2023.

The package brings Government support for TfL since March 2020 to more than 4billion.

But Mr Khan said: 'It's important to remember that TfL only needs emergency funding from the Government because its income from fares dropped by up to 90 per cent because Londoners followed the rules by staying at home and avoiding public transport during the lockdown.

'In my first four years as Mayor I reduced TfL's deficit by 71 per cent and increased its cash balances by 13 per cent. TfL is a world class transport authority.

'TfL is also being forced to undertake some early development work on the business case for driverless trains.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, pictured with his wife Saadiya, takes the Jubilee line on the London Underground on May 10

The new trains set for the Piccadilly line will feature air cooling for the first time on a deep Tube line

The new Underground trains will run on the Piccadilly line, followed by the Bakerloo, Central and Waterloo and City lines

'However, I've made it crystal clear to Ministers that we will object to any future requirement to force TfL to implement driverless trains on the London Underground. It would cost billions of pounds and would be a gross misuse of taxpayers' money at this critical time for our country.

How Paris made switch to driverless metro trains Paris is one example of a city that has made the change to driverless trains, after converting its oldest metro line Ligne 1 in 2011 following a four-year transformation. The line, which runs between La Defense and Chateau de Vincennes, underwent a switch to the new trains while remaining operational to 725,000 daily passengers. Commuters use the Paris Metro in September 2019 The new trains, which are also air-conditioned and fitted with a modified brake system to reduce noise, were implemented by operator RATP with the intention of reducing wait times by an average of 20 seconds. The upgrade followed eight years of negotiations with the unions when the idea was proposed in 2003, with drivers moved onto other lines and promoted  and a commitment that there would be no redundancies. The trains can now run every 85 seconds after the 850million system was implemented - and RATP says staff can be at any stranded train within five minutes. Advertisement

'This short-term settlement is yet another sticking plaster so I will seek to work with the Government over the months ahead to agree a longer-term funding deal for TfL that is both fair and right for Londoners and the whole country.

'I've repeatedly said that I want to build bridges with the Government and work constructively with Ministers in London's interest  and the national interest  as we seek to recover from the pandemic. This remains the case, but I'll always stand up for London and be honest with Londoners when the Government makes decisions that could negatively impact our city.'

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: 'This 1.08billion financial package will support London and its transport network through the pandemic, and ensure it is a modern, efficient and viable network for the future.

'Throughout this process the Government has maintained that these support packages must be fair to taxpayers across the UK and on the condition that action is taken to put TfL on the path to long-term financial sustainability.

'As part of today's settlement, the mayor has agreed to further measures that will help ensure that.'

But Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, warned that its members will take 'London-wide industrial action if necessary' to resist the 'disgraceful stitch up of a deal'.

He said: 'It is completely unacceptable for transport workers who have risked and in some cases tragically lost their lives to now be asked to pay this political price for the coronavirus.

'Attacks on workers' pensions are wholly unacceptable while driverless trains are unwanted, unaffordable and unsafe.

'With funding only lasting until December, London is being held to ransom with a gun to its head rather than being given the long-term, stable funding deal that is necessary to rebuild the economy as we move out of lockdown.'

And Finn Brennan from Aslef, the train drivers' union, said: 'Bitter and protracted industrial disputes are an inevitable consequence of the government's decision to target London Underground workers.'

Tube drivers earn a basic full-time salary of 56,496, with most getting 43 days of annual leave and working a 36-hour week, although they have to work up to 17 weekends in a row and cannot drink alchohol for eight hours before their shift.

Transport for London has been told by the Government to produce a general plan by the end of the year for driverless trains

A leaked TfL document said the business case for driverless trains was 'not financially positive given the high capital costs'

A DfT spokesman said: 'The Mayor has agreed to work collaboratively with DfT on a joint programme for implementing higher levels of automatic train operation on the London Underground, as is the case on many metro systems worldwide.

'Over the course of this funding period, the Mayor and TfL will make progress towards the conversion of at least one London Underground line to full automation but with an on-board attendant.

'This technology has the potential to offer a more punctual, reliable, customer-responsive and safer service that is less susceptible to human error. TfL will also lead market engagement into technology for protecting passengers at station platforms.

'The London Underground is the world's oldest underground railway and the government is committed to supporting the capital's transport network, ensuring that it meets the needs of Londoners as we recover from the pandemic and that it is modernised for the 21st century.'
There are over 135 million fully vaccinated Americans in the U.S. today, amounting to 41.2% of the population. As the number steadily increased from the moment COVID vaccines were approved by the FDA for emergency use, some have remained hesitant to get the vaccine.

A number of people don't want to get vaccinated at all and that right should be protected under the U.S. Constitution. However, the CDC continues to release guidelines on vaccinations, empowering some companies to require their workers to get a COVID vaccine before returning to work. This is tantamount to CDC vaccine bullying.

At Houston Methodist Health System in Texas, 117 employees have filed a lawsuit against the medical center as they decried its vaccine mandate that requires employees and contractors to be vaccinated against COVID. According to Medscape, the lawsuit is led by Jennifer Bridges, RN, a medical-surgical nurse at the hospital, and Bob Nevens, the hospital's director of corporate risk.

"My civil rights and liberties have been trampled on," Nevens wrote in the online petition. He explained that he was let go from his job on April 15 after being given 15 days to get vaccinated against COVID. "My right to protect myself from unknown side effects of these vaccines has been placed below the optics of 'leading medicine.'"

Neven claims to have "been retaliated and discriminated against for choosing personal conviction and personal choices over complying with their brand-new vaccine policy that violates federal laws and the constitution." Lawsuits like these may be on the rise as more and more businesses aim to fully reopen. However, it does place Americans in a bind, especially those who do not want to get vaccinated against COVID.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission updated its guidance saying that "federal laws don't prevent an employer from requiring workers to be vaccinated." However, in some situations, federal laws "may require the employer to provide reasonable accommodations for employees who, because of a disability or a religious belief, aren't vaccinated."

Reasonable accommodation may mean that an unvaccinated employee would enter his or her workplace in compliance with a mask mandate, social distancing, or choose to work from home. This is not being taken lightly by employees who are eager to return to normal life, especially when CDC vaccine bullying is hanging over their head.

WND's Scott Lively, who is a human rights consultant, missionary, pastor, and attorney, is calling to push back against CDC vaccine bullying. He cited the U.S. Constitution and said that citizens are protected by it and have the right to decline a COVID vaccine. He argued that freedom in America has been under attack since the pandemic was declared a "national health emergency."

Lively criticized Big Tech for hindering freedom of speech, "monopolistic Big Media ideologues" for clamping down on freedom of press and propagating fake news and conspiracy theories (alongside Big Tech), and the government for issuing lockdown mandates that violate people's freedom of assembly.

He also decried the left's "false characterization of our protests as 'selfish,' 'dangerous,' 'white supremacist,' and 'insurrectionist.'"

Lively is now campaigning against Big Pharma and CDC, its "government enforcer" for attempting to "destroy our Fourth Amendment right of bodily sovereignty by forcing the entire nation to submit to 'vaccines' to generate vast Big Pharma profits, paid from our public treasury."

With these reasons in mind, Lively launched the "Petition Against CDC Vaccine Bullying," which calls to "immediately cease and desist from all efforts to bully the American people into submitting to medical procedures that we do not want."

The petition can be viewed at his website.
Boris Johnson's education recovery tsar Sir Kevan Collins quit in fury tonight after the Government unveiled a Covid catch-up drive for schools with just a tenth of the funding he wanted.

Sir Kevan demanded ministers approve a 15billion package to help thousands of children whose learning has been interrupted by the pandemic get back on track.

But Education Secretary Gavin Williamson today announced that only an initial 1.4billion would be pumped into the system.

Sir Kevan's call for the school day to be extended by half an hour also looks to have been kicked into the long grass, with moved a 'next stage' review due to report only by the end of the year.

In his resignation letter, first revealed by TES, Sir Kevan said the government scheme was 'too narrow, too small and will be delivered too slowly'.

'A half-hearted approach risks failing hundreds of thousands of pupils,' he said.

'The support announced by Government so far does not come close to meeting the scale of the challenge and is why I have no option but to resign from my post.'

The funding announcement sparked a furious backlash from across the political spectrum, The respected IFS think-tank pointed out that even with previously announced investment the government was spending 310 per pupil compared to 1,600 in the US. The Netherlands has allocated around 2,500 for each child.

The Prime Minister was forced to pledge that more money would be 'coming through' as he tried to fend off anger at the 'pitiful' funding today .

The PM held out the prospect of a cash boost at a later stage, saying there was no doubt 'many kids are incredibly resilient but a lot of them also need help to catch up'.

He said the funding announcement should also 'give parents the confidence that their child is going to get particular attention', as well as 'find potential in kids that may be missed in the back of the classroom'.

But he suggested that there will need to be more investment in future.

Shadow Education Secretary Kate Green said: 'Kevan Collins' resignation is a damning indictment of the Conservatives' education catch-up plan.

In his resignation letter, first revealed by TES , Sir Kevan said the government scheme was 'too narrow, too small and will be delivered too slowly'.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson today announced that only an initial 1.4billion would be pumped into the system.

The PM held out the prospect of a cash boost at a later stage after it emerged that ministers had shunned the education recovery tsar's call for a 15billion package - instead injecting another 1.4billion

Teachers will also receive extra training and support worth 400million, bringing government spending to date on education recovery to more than 3billion. Stock picture

Steve Chalke, founded of the Oasis academy chain, was among those criticising the government plans today

Other countries spending EIGHT TIMES as much as the UK on schools catch-up Boris Johnson faced pressure to pump more money into the schools Covid catch-up today as experts said other countries were being 'much more ambitious' than the UK. Luke Sibieta, a research fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the government's total package so far was worth around 3.1 billion. 'A lot of that now is focused on the national tutoring programme, which (Sir) Kevan Collins talked about as being quite an important part of education recovery but it is clearly a lot less than the 10-15billion that Kevan Collins was proposing for a full-scale education recovery, which would incorporate much bigger elements.' The education researcher said there was 'value' in staggering funding for schools and that the prospect of clawing back lost learning in the space of two years was 'a bit fanciful'. But he said education recovery commissioner Sir Kevan's idea of longer school days had been 'pushed into the long grass' as the Government had failed to pilot the idea. Comparing the UK Government's outlay on school catch-up programmes internationally, he added: 'The Biden administration in the US has proposed about 122 billion  about 1,600 per pupil, over five times more than we're spending in the UK. 'The Netherlands is going even further and has allocated over eight billion euros, which amounts to over 2,500 per pupil, so there are countries around the world going much further and being much more ambitious.' Advertisement

'He was brought in by Boris Johnson because of his experience and expertise in education, but the Government have thrown out his ideas as soon as it came to stumping up the money needed to deliver them.

'Labour has set out a plan to deliver the bold policies that will boost children's recovery from the pandemic recognising that learning and wellbeing go hand-in-hand together.

'Our children and their future ambitions and life chances depend on us getting this right. The Conservatives' failure to deliver for children now could cost our country dearly long-term.'

The Tory chair of the Education Select Committee, Robert Halfon, said on Twitter: 'To lose someone of the stature of Sir Kevan Collins is a real blow.

'Whilst today's catch up money is hugely welcome, to repair damage of school closures, to improve attainment & outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, we need a properly resourced, radical long-term plan & funding.'

Children will be offered 100million hours of tutoring over the next three years to help them bounce back from the pandemic - but plans for a longer school day appear to have stalled.

Teachers will also receive extra training and support worth 400million, bringing government spending to date on education recovery to more than 3billion.

The Government has also announced that schools or colleges will be given funding to let Year 13 students repeat the year if they have been badly affected by the pandemic. However, a longer school day and a huge 15billion funding package were notably absent.

A No 10 spokeswoman said: 'The Prime Minister is hugely grateful to Sir Kevan for his work in helping pupils catch up and recover from the effects of the pandemic.

'The government will continue to focus on education recovery and making sure no child is left behind with their learning, with over 3 billion committed for catch up so far.'

Earlier, Education Secretary Gavin Williams squirmed during interviews as he insisted he 'absolutely' trusts catch-up envoy Sir Kevan.

In a bruising round of interviews this morning, Mr Williamson tried to put a brave face on the situation saying that 'as a Yorkshireman' he 'always thought that 1.4billion was a pretty hefty amount'. But he refused to say how much that worked out for each child.

Sir Kevan's resignation statement 'Advising the Government on the education recovery plan has been the most important task of my professional life. The recovery approach we take will reveal our commitment to a generation of children. After the hardest of years, a comprehensive recovery plan - adequately funded and sustained over multiple years - would rebuild a stronger and fairer system. 'A half-hearted approach risks failing hundreds of thousands of pupils. The support announced by Government so far does not come close to meeting the scale of the challenge and is why I have no option but to resign from my post. 'One conservative estimate puts the long-term economic cost of lost learning in England due to the pandemic at 100bn, with the average pupil having missed 115 days in school. In parts of the country where schools were closed for longer, such as the North, the impact of low skills on productivity is likely to be particularly severe. The pandemic has affected all pupils but hit disadvantaged children hardest. A decade's progress to narrow the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers is estimated to have been reversed. 'As part of the plan I proposed to Government, I recommended a landmark investment in our teachers, whose dedication throughout the pandemic has been inspiring. It is also right to extend access to tutoring, in particular to support disadvantaged children. Tutoring can provide valuable support that complements classroom teaching. But it is not a panacea and must be high-quality to make a difference. 'This is one reason why I recommended schools and colleges be funded to extend school time for a fixed, three-year period and providing significant funding for a flexible extension to school time, equivalent to 30 minutes extra every day. From the perspective of teachers, extra time would have been optional and paid, with schools also able to use the time to offer enrichment activities that children have missed out on. 'The package of support announced yesterday falls far short of what is needed. It is too narrow, too small and will be delivered too slowly. The average primary school will directly receive just 6,000 per year, equivalent to 22 per child. Not enough is being done to help vulnerable pupils, children in the early years or 16- to 19-year-olds. Above all, I am concerned that the package announced yesterday betrays an undervaluation of the importance of education, for individuals and as a driver of a more prosperous and healthy society.' Advertisement

Pushed repeatedly on whether he believed in what Sir Kevan was proposing, Mr Williamson told Sky News: 'We have been working very closely with Sir Kevan Collins and actually the interventions around tutoring, driving up teaching quality, these are very much built on the work we've been doing together, recognising how incredibly important it is that we take on these interventions in order to help children.'

He insisted a longer school day is still 'on the agenda'.

Amid reports that the Treasury had baulked at the huge figure, Mr Williamson confirmed a 'further instalment' of just 1.4billion.

Meanwhile, the question of whether the school day should be extended remains under review and 'will be set out later in the year', the Department for Education said.

Mr Williamson said this morning: 'It is a lot of money and it builds on 1.7billion that we've already committed in terms of actually delivering for children - it is an extra 100million hours of tutoring.

'It is making sure that children who need that help, who need that support, that we're delivering that tutoring revolution to help them get it.

'But we recognise it is part of a process. Over the past 12 months, we have already announced a previous 1.7billion worth of additional funding and we are looking at a whole raft of additional ideas for how we can continue to support our children, making sure none of them are left behind.'

Hailing the extra funding, Boris Johnson said it would 'make sure that no child is left behind'.

'This next step in our long-term catch-up plan should give parents confidence that we will do everything we can to support children who have fallen behind and that every child will have the skills and knowledge they need to fulfil their potential,' he said.

Sir Kevan added: 'The investments in teaching quality and tutoring announced today offer evidence-based support to a significant number of our children and teachers.' However, he pointedly warned that 'more will be needed to meet the scale of the challenge'.

Unions reacted angrily to the announcement, saying the package did not go far enough.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union the NAHT, said: 'It's a damp squib - some focus in a couple of the right areas is simply not enough.

'The funding announced to back these plans is paltry... education recovery cannot be done on the cheap.'

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), told Sky News: 'It's pretty dispiriting, here I am as somebody who is leading a trade union, and for all my colleagues it feels this morning as if we have got higher ambitions for the nation's children and young people than the Education Secretary.

'It's pretty pitiful, only yesterday we were hearing stories about extending the school day and even if some people disagreed with it, at least there was a sense of 'let's do something radical, let's do something different'.

'Today's announcement essentially equates to 50 per head, you compare that with the USA which is putting 1,600 per head, per young person, or the Netherlands, 2,500 per head.

'So what is it about those children in the Netherlands or the USA that makes them worth more than our Government seems to say?

'It's time to stop the rhetoric I think and start the action on behalf of children and young people.'

Mr Williamson suggested that further funding will be forthcoming in future.

However, a longer school day and a huge 15billion funding package, which were key demands made in a document penned by the education recovery tsar Sir Kevan Collins were notably absent. Stock picture

Labour education spokesman Kate Green accused the Tories of 'showing no ambition for children's futures' as she unveiled alternative measures which would cost 14.7billion.

As well as expanding extracurricular activities and breakfast clubs, mental health support should be available in every school, as well as small group tutoring and teacher development, she said.

Sir Peter Lampl, of education charity Sutton Trust, said the 'funding is only a fraction of what is required. Low-income students who have already been most heavily impacted will be disadvantaged even more and overall standards, which have fallen dramatically, will be very slow to recover'.
Advertisement

Boris Johnson today insisted he still sees 'nothing in the data' to stop June 21 'freedom day' going ahead after official statistics showed Covid made up just one in 150 deaths across England and Wales last week.

Speaking to reporters on a visit to a school the Prime Minister struck an optimistic tone, but admitted infections are rising and that he needs to be 'cautious'. He insisted people must 'wait a little longer' for the final decision.

As the UK recorded another 12 deaths - suggesting the zero tally yesterday might have been a blip - Mr Johnson said: 'What we need to work out is to what extent the vaccination programme has protected enough of us, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, against a new surge, and there I'm afraid the data is still ambiguous.

'The best the scientists can say at the moment is we just need to give it a little bit longer.'

Health Secretary Matt Hancock pointedly dodged when asked if the government was going to keep restrictions such as mask wearing and work-from-home guidance in place - something that has been mooted as a trade-off for dropping social distancing in shops and pubs.

'We'll make that decision based on more data in the next week to 10 days, ahead of June 14, as we've set out,' he said.

Office for National Statistics figures today revealed Covid was behind less than one per cent of deaths in the week to May 21, the latest available. Only 66 out of 9,840 fatalities listed the virus as the underlying cause.

MailOnline's analysis of hospital admissions showed they are only rising in the North West, where Indian variant hotspots are concentrated, going up by 24 per cent over the last fortnight of May to 177 Covid patients on wards.

It comes after one of the Government's top scientific advisers warned the UK cannot keep 'scampering down a rabbit hole' every time a new Covid variant emerges.

Hitting back at members of SAGE calling for a longer lockdown, Sir John Bell said ministers must instead focus on hospitalisations and deaths, which have remained flat nationally but there are signs of admissions increasing.

The Oxford University medical expert, who has advised the Government on Covid tests and vaccines, suggested the country must take a leap of faith and put trust in its world-beating vaccination rollout.

Sir John becomes the highest profile adviser to call for ministers to stick with the roadmap and bring an end to social distancing laws on June 21's 'Freedom Day'.

Pressure has been mounting on Mr Johnson to push back England's June 21 lockdown easings to buy time to roll out jabs to millions more people to further curb the transmission of the Indian variant.

Covid cases have remained above 3,000 for seven consecutive days in Britain, but zero Covid deaths were reported yesterday for the first time since July 2020, bolstering calls for No10 to stick with its roadmap.

But Scotland's Nicola Sturgeon has already delayed unlocking north of the border, admitting she was worried about the rapid spread of the virus.

Sir John told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think we do need to keep our eye on hospitalisations, serious disease and deaths, which is really what we are trying to manage.

'If we scamper down a rabbit hole every time we see a new variant we are going to spend a long time huddled away  so I think we need to get a bit of balance into the discussion and keep our eyes on the serious disease we are trying to prevent.'

Covid was mentioned on 107 death certificates in the week to May 21, but was only listed as the underlying cause on 66. There were 9,860 deaths overall in this period, meaning Covid was behind the equivalent of one in 150 fatalities

For comparison, flu and pneumonia (blue line) were behind 287 fatalities. This was more than four times above the 66 deaths where Covid was listed as the underlying cause (red line)

Hospital admissions, bed occupancy and mechanical ventilators have all risen in the North West  where the Indian variant is most prevalent  but have fallen or remained stable in most of the rest of the country over the last fortnight

But the number of patients in hospital are still significantly lower across the country than during the near-overwhelming of the NHS experienced during the height of the winter peak in January

Professor Sir John Bell urged ministers to focus on hospitalisations and deaths instead of being panicked by the past week's rise in Covid cases, which was always expected to happen when lockdown rules were lifted. Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured today) is expected to speak today on feelings ahead of June 21's planned final roadmap step

Speaking to reporters on a visit to a school today, Boris Johnson said there was still 'ambiguity' over how much protection vaccines were giving people

Covid cases jumped by more than 36 per cent in a week today, the eighth day in a row they have been above 3,000 and the second day in less than a week they have reached more than 4,000

Twelve more lives were also lost to the virus today  rising a third on last Wednesday's figure  after yesterday's recording of zero bolstered calls for No10 to stick with its roadmap

Britain's vaccine roll-out continued at pace, with 108,607 first doses dished out across the UK, taking the country's total to 39.6million  more than 75 per cent of the adult population

People have become less convinced that all social distancing will end on June 21 as planned  58 per cent of Brits thought it would when they were asked on May 23, compared to 73 per cent on May 2

The Prime Minister's comments came after Downing Street said there was still nothing in the data to suggest the final stages of unlocking could not go ahead.

A No10 spokesman said: 'The Prime Minister has said on a number of occasions that we haven't seen anything in the data but we will continue to look at the data, we will continue to look at the latest scientific evidence as we move through June towards June 21.'

The next stage of the roadmap set for June 21 will spell an end to face masks and social distancing restrictions. Whitehall sources say a decision whether to continue with the easing will be taken on June 14.

ALL OVER-18S TO GET VACCINATED WITHIN WEEKS, SOURCES SAY Ministers are preparing to offer vaccines to all over-18s within weeks to help halt the spread of the Indian variant as the UK reported zero Covid deaths for the first time in 10 months. So far only adults aged 30 and over have been invited for their jabs and health leaders are focusing their efforts on giving older people their second dose. But it is understood officials are planning to open up the eligibility to all age groups amid concerns the Indian strain - which has been renamed as the 'Delta variant' - is spreading very quickly among the young. In a speech today Health Secretary Matt Hancock will praise the country's 'extraordinary vaccine heroes'  including healthcare staff and volunteers. It comes as SAGE experts and Tory MPs butt heads over whether June 21's 'Freedom Day' should be delayed in the face of the Indian variant as health officials in the regions worst affected say it is mostly being transmitted by 17 to 18-year-olds, and potentially passed on to older, more vulnerable family members. Government figures yesterday showed nearly three-quarters of adults have had one dose  with almost half receiving their second dose. Advertisement

ONS figures showed deaths blamed on Covid fell to their lowest levels since before the first lockdown in March over the week ending May 21, and were lower than in early September before the second wave spiralled out of control when 69 were attributed to the virus.

Every region in England went at least one day without registering a single death from the virus over this period, data showed. The North East, East Midlands, West Midlands and South West had at least three days where they registered no Covid fatalities.

In total the ONS said 107 people had Covid mentioned on their death certificates last week but only 66 died directly from the virus, meaning nearly 40 per cent primarily succumbed to other conditions.

Experts said the figures were 'very positive' and showed vaccines were playing 'a major part' in driving down fatalities. The NHS Confederation union added the numbers were 'reassuring' but said there was still a 'real concern' rising cases could lead to more hospitalisations.

Statisticians at the national agency sort all death certificates registered in England and Wales to record those that mention Covid and whether it was the main cause of death or the person had it alongside another illness.

The ONS figures lag behind the Department of Health's daily total because it can take around two weeks to formally register a fatality, creating a delay due to the disease.

Death certificates list underlying factors  the conditions thought to be responsible for the fatality  but also mention other conditions thought to have contributed to deaths but not to be the main factor behind the fatality.

Professor Kevin McConway, a statistician at the Open University, heralded the fall in Covid deaths as 'very positive'.

'When you think back only as far as the start of April when there were over 300 registered deaths in a week with Covid as the underlying cause, let alone to late January when there were over 7,500 a week, this is huge progress,' he said.

'Vaccination will have played a major part in this reduction, though lockdowns and other interventions played an important part too.

'People who, sadly, died in the latest week of those data would probably have been infected three or more weeks before, so well before the latest loosening of lockdown in England on 17 May  so it wouldn't be possible to see any effect of that removal of restrictions on these numbers.'

He added that rising Covid cases would not translate into the same pressure on the NHS as previously because of the successful vaccines roll-out.

'Earlier in the pandemic, any sustained increase in new cases or hospital admissions would lead inevitably to increases in deaths a few weeks later,' he said.

'That process won't occur in the same way now, because of the effect of vaccination on reducing serious illness, though it's not yet entirely clear what the new pattern might be, or how new variants might play a role.

Nationally hospital admissions for the virus remain flat but there has been a slight uptick in the North West and London in the last week

Indian variant cases in England's 12 hotspots are shown (red) compared to the Kent variant (orange). The new strain has gone on to become dominant in all 12 of the above areas - and more than 100 in total - since cropping up for the first time in April. It is believed to be a fifth more infectious than the Kent variant which is propelling its spread

MailOnline analysis of NHS England data showed trusts in the North West  home to hotspots Bolton and Blackburn  saw virus patients creep up by almost a quarter in the last fortnight of May.

Patients requiring mechanical ventilation, a last-resort for those most ill with the disease, also more than doubled to 42 in the North West since the middle of May, when cases of the Indian variant first started spiralling.

But the numbers are all still significantly lower than the levels that pushed the region's NHS to the brink during the peak of the second wave in January. There were nearly 5,500 beds taken up with Covid patients in the North West in mid-January, 30 times more than now.

King's College London's Professor Tim Spector said yesterday the fact that outbreaks appear to be confined to local clusters in hotspots in the Covid Symptom Study, and that the Indian variant is not yet spreading rife across the country, was proof that vaccines are working

Nationally, bed occupancy has remained relatively flat over the last week  rising slightly from 758 on June 23 to 763 yesterday  but has fallen from 818 in the middle of the month. Admissions in London have started to rise, with the western borough of Hounslow a hotspot for the Indian variant and vaccine rates in the capital the lowest in the country.

Sir John took to the airwaves to warn that Britain cannot run scared from Covid variants if it is to get out of lockdown.

Asked about the zero Covid deaths recorded yesterday, he said this 'looks pretty good'.

'Now there's always of course a lag in terms of deaths because people get Covid and they don't die immediately so we have to be a bit careful about that,' he warned.

'But as far as I can see the numbers don't look too intimidating to me and I think we need to let them play out another couple of weeks.'

He added: 'I think the Government's taken the wise approach to this before we make a decision on the next reduction of the lockdown but I am pretty encouraged by what I see.'

The intervention comes as Sir John and 11 other scientists publish a letter ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall this month calling on ministers to support the vaccine roll out in other countries.

The open letter warns without this action Britain risks importing dangerous variants from abroad as the virus remains out of control in other areas.

'Leaders from the G7 countries must take decisive action now if we are to bring this pandemic under control,' the scientists which also include Wellcome Trust director Sir Jeremy Farrar and the director of the Oxford vaccine group Professor Sue Clemens write.

'Without a globally coordinated approach... we are merely putting out fires in one part of the world as another suffers.

'The result is a pandemic that continues on  with millions more lives lost and a real threat that any progress made to date is completely undone by a new variant that renders vaccines ineffective.'

Public Health England is already monitoring 13 variants in the UK, and has designated five 'of concern'  meaning scientists fear they are spreading rapidly or could make vaccines less effective.

Surge testing has been sparked in hotspots including Bolton, Bedford and Blackburn with Darwen to root out cases of the Indian variant.

And the tool was also deployed in areas including Bristol and parts of London and Gloucestershire when the South African variant was identified  which studies suggest could make vaccines slightly less effective.

The Indian variant  B.1.617.2  has sparked concern in official circles amid rising case numbers and after scientists said it is at least 20 per cent more transmissible than the Kent variant.

But studies suggest it is still susceptible to vaccine-sparked immunity, while data shows cases are mostly focused in younger age groups who are yet to be offered at least one dose of the Covid vaccine.

More than 39.4million Britons have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine, nearly three quarters, and 25.7million have got both doses, or nearly 50 per cent.

Covid Symptom Study data shows that in May, all the under-40 age groups saw infection rates rise to around 140 positive cases per 100,000 people. Meanwhile the figure for people in their 50s was around 30 in 100,000 and it was lower than 20 for over-60s, who are by far the most vaccinated age group. Professor Spector said: 'Vaccines work'

Covid hospital admissions are slowly creeping up across England but nearly half of all trusts are still completely empty, official figures have revealed. Graph shows: Just one NHS trust in England had more than four per cent of its beds occupied by sufferers of the virus in the most recent week data is available for (week ending May 23) [Percentage on the right shows the change in patient numbers in a week]

Covid woes have been forgotten this week as the summer weather began in earnest and people enjoyed time outside after an unseasonably cold and wet spring. Pictured: A crowd at Warleigh Weir in Bath

People are pictured enjoying the sunshine in Margate, Kent, today on what could be the warmest day of the year so far with temperatures stretching towards 77F (25C) across the country

To boost these numbers even more, ministers are preparing to offer vaccines to all over-18s within weeks.

So far only adults aged 30 and over have been invited for their jabs and health leaders are focusing their efforts on giving older people their second dose.

Covid hospitalisations are RISING in the North West where Indian variant hotspots are concentrated MailOnline's analysis show average Covid admissions increased slightly from around 17 on May 15 to 21 on May 30  a rise of 24 per cent  peaking at 24 on May 27 in the North West. Beds occupied with Covid patients also increased in the region from around 151 to 177 from May 15 to June 1, as spikes in cases of the Indian variant in Bolton, Blackburn and Burnley began to have an effect on hospitalisations. Likewise, the number of people infected with the virus requiring mechanical ventilation beds more than doubled from 16 to 34 during the same period, though numbers remained lower than London by the end of the month (42). The capital was the only other area to see a noticeable rise in admissions during the same period but only from 14 to 18  a rise of 29 per cent. Hospital bed occupancy for Covid patients actually fell in London  from 259 to 235  as did the number of people requiring mechanical ventilator beds  from 52 to 42. Occupancy fell in all areas of the country other than the North West since the middle of last month, although it has begun creeping up in the East of England over the last week, rising 20 per cent from 40 to 50 beds. While the slight uptick in the number of people in hospital in the North West may raise concerns about the effect of the Indian variant, the numbers still pale in comparison to those seen in January and February. During the peak of the winter crisis, the North West recorded a recorded daily hospital bed occupancy with Covid patients of 5,491 on January 16. This is more than 31 times the current occupancy figure, with the number of beds being used by Covid patients now the same as it was at the start of the month on May 6 (177). Advertisement

But it is understood officials are planning to open up the eligibility to all age groups amid concerns the Indian strain - which has been renamed as the 'Delta variant' - is spreading very quickly among the young.

Meanwhile in a speech today Health Secretary Matt Hancock will praise the country's 'extraordinary vaccine heroes'  including healthcare staff and volunteers.

SAGE experts and Tory MPs have been butting heads over whether June 21 should be delayed in the face of the Indian variant as health officials in the regions worst affected say it is mostly being transmitted by 17 to 18-year-olds, and potentially passed on to older, more vulnerable family members  bolstering the case for younger people to be vaccinated.

At a speech outside the Jenner Institute in Oxford, where the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was developed, Mr Hancock will pay particular tribute to the NHS, scientists and the armed forces for helping deliver 65million vaccines so far.

'The biggest risk would have been the failure to find a vaccine at all. So we explicitly embraced risk early on,' he will say. 'So we backed lots of horses and invested at risk.

'And instead of sitting back and waiting to see which vaccines came off, we were tenacious in helping them to get over the line, drawing on the abundant industry experience in our team. The team who worked on our vaccination programme was the single greatest asset that we had in this crisis.'

He will also credit the 'phenomenal dedication' of the British public to come forward with more than 90 per cent of over-50s having had at least one dose.

Yesterday the director of public health in Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire - which has the highest Covid infection rates on the country - urged the Government to start vaccinating teenagers.

Dominic Harrison warned of an 'exceptionally high rate' among 17 and 18-year-olds and urged ministers to license the jabs for teenagers to help protect the wider community.

'We desperately need the UK Government, the MHRA [Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency] to pass the Pfizer vaccine as safe and effective for that age group,' he told BBC Radio 4's World At One.

'Now the USA, Canada, Singapore and the European Union have all in the last week said that's Pfizer BioNTechvaccine is safe and effective for 12 years and above and I just hope the UK Government can get on with passing that, assuming that they agree that we could then get into rapid vaccination for that cohort, before the end of term.

'Because that would help not just with protecting the whole population through an increased number of people vaccinated, but reducing transmission in that group.'

The decline of death numbers, combined with low hospital admissions, offer confidence that vaccines are protecting people from the coronavirus and hopefully working well enough to prevent a massive third wave.

Professor Tim Spector, a King's College London epidemiologist who runs the Covid Symptom Study, suggested that the jabs are protecting even against infections caused by the Indian variant, which scientists weren't sure whether it would.

He said in a tweet: 'The UK hotspots clearly tell the story. The Delta variant has taken a hold of these areas but numbers are around 4,000 per day and is not taking hold more widely.

'Virtually all cases are aged under 50 or unvaccinated  so vaccines work.'

MAY 22: This map shows the local authorities where the Indian variant was the dominant strain  made up the majority of cases  by the number of infections with the mutant strain detected in their areas. It is for the two weeks to May 22. Areas coloured red had more than 50 cases, orange between 10 and 49 cases, and yellow had fewer than 10 cases

HOVER OVER YOUR AREA TO SEE HOW COMMON THE INDIAN VARIANT WAS BY MAY 22

A report produced by his Covid Symptom Study found there were an average of 4,608 new cases of Covid per day over the past two weeks and that around 58,665 people had it at any time.

The report showed that most places on England's outbreak watchlist had seen infection rates about stable or improving in the past week, including Leicester, Peterborough, Hillingdon, Gateshead, Bolton, Bury, Lancashire, Manchester, Tameside, Birmingham, Kirklees and Leeds.

And it revealed that the majority of cases throughout May have been in the as-yet-unvaccinated under-40s, with the rate of infection highest among 20 to 29-year-olds, followed by 30 to 39-year-olds and then under-20s.

While they all saw around 140 cases per 100,000 people in the most recent data, the figure for people in their 50s was around 30 in 100,000 and it was lower than 20 for over-60s, who are by far the most vaccinated age group.

Tory MPs grabbed hold of the positive data to shoot down calls from SAGE advisers for the end of social distancing to be delayed.

Former party leader Iain Duncan Smith said: 'My worry is there seems to be a concerted push among scientists to stop June 21 taking place. They seem to have now moved the goalposts so we can't open up until everybody has had two jabs. That was never part of the event.'

'By and large everybody who is 50-plus has had two jabs now. It seems to me that everybody is trying to get in 'I told you so' before the event. If it all goes well no-one will remember the scientists who said don't do it.

'If it goes wrong they will be up crowing 'we told you'. It is a win-win for them.'

He added: 'There is a kind of panic taking place. Project Fear is coming to an end and it is as if the scientists now cannot bring themselves to understand exactly how life will be.

'What's happened now will almost certainly lead to us going back to lockdown again at some point and destroying our livelihoods, our health, for non-Covid reasons.'
Ministers will unveil plans to join a trans-Pacific trading group 'within weeks', Liz Truss said today.

Ms Truss hailed a step towards accession to the club - which includes Australia, Canada and Japan - after the members gave the go-ahead for negotiations to start.

The government is pushing to forge a new 'Global Britain' after the Brexit transition period ended this year.

Ministers will unveil plans to join a trans-Pacific trading group 'within weeks', Liz Truss said today

Intensive work has been going on over bilateral trade deals with Australia and Canada, while a pact with Japan came into effect in January.

But joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which has a combined GDP of more than 13trillion, could offer significant new markets for British firms.

The UK would be the second biggest economy in the partnership after Japan.

Ms Truss tweeted today: 'Excellent news that #CPTPP nations have agreed (Britain's) accession process will commence to join this dynamic free trade area of 11 countries.

'We'll present our plans to Parliament in the coming weeks before starting negotiations.'

The signatories of the CPTPP are Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

The group was launched in 2018, after Donald Trump dropped out of the planned Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) saying the terms were not good for the US.
A 14-year-old girl killed herself days after she was allegedly gang-raped in a Belgian cemetery by five attackers who shared pictures of her ordeal online.

The teenage victim, from Gavere, went to meet a friend in the Westerbegraafplaats cemetery in Ghent on May 15, but four other people were waiting and allegedly gang-raped her.

The alleged perpetrators took pictures and videos of themselves while raping the victim and posted them on social media, 7sur7 reported.

Four days later, the teenager killed herself and her family were later told about the gang-rape by one of the girl's friends.

Police identified the five alleged offenders after analysing the images as three minors aged 14 and 15, and two adults aged 18 and 19. Two of the minors are brothers, according to Het Nieuwsblad.

A 14-year-old girl, from Gavere, committed suicide after allegedly being gang-raped by five people in Westerbegraafplaats cemetery (pictured) in Ghent, Belgium, on May 15

The five alleged assailants, who are all believed to be from Ghent, have reportedly been arrested by police for rape, indecent assault and the taking and dissemination of photographs likely to constitute an attack on the integrity of a person.

Some of the suspects are believed to have already been known to police.

The prosecution have only confirmed that the five young people are suspected of 'events that occurred shortly before the victim's death'.

A spokesperson added: 'Three minors were placed in a closed institution by the juvenile judge in Ghent and two adults (both 18 years old) were arrested by the investigating judge in Ghent for offences that would have occurred shortly before the death of the victim.

'The council chamber in Ghent decided today that the detention of the two adults will be extended by one month.'

On Wednesday, the two young people aged 18 and 19 will be presented to court, which will consider if there was an aggravating circumstance that led to the victim's death.

Mayor of Gavere Denis Dierick said he knew the victim 'very well' and described her death as 'pure horror' and 'an inhuman tragedy'.

The alleged perpetrators took pictures of themselves raping the victim at Westerbegraafplaats cemetery (pictured) and posted them on social media. They have been arrested by police

Justice Minister Vincent van Quikernborn took to Twitter to promise that those responsible would be punished and called on victims of sexual violence to file complaints and seek help.

The minister added: 'Hateful, there are no words to describe it. My thoughts are with the family and friends.

'Suspects have been arrested and the investigation is ongoing. Justice must be concerned about justice.'

According to Newsin24, the victim's father said that his daughter had been 'struggling for some time'.

He added: 'She needed help and unfortunately it took far too long for her to get it.

'She had such a hard time and these facts and images were the last straw for her. A 14 year old girl can't go through something like this.

'She saw her whole world fall apart. Without these people, she would have been there. All I can hope for now is justice.'

MailOnline has contacted Ghent Police for further comment.

For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details
Wetherspoon chief Tim Martin has called for more EU migration to help bars and restaurants manage an ongoing staffing crisis.

Britain's hospitality sector has been battling with a shortage of 188,000 workers while demand continues to skyrocket as restrictions ease.

Mr Martin, a vocal supporter of the Brexit campaign, today urged Boris Johnson to impose a 'reasonably liberal immigration system' to help fill jobs.

It comes as the boss of Best Western, Rob Paterson, revealed some of its hotels have not been able to open to full capacity because there aren't enough cleaners.

Workers either returned to the EU during lockdown or have been happily 'sitting on furlough' and earning 80 per cent of their pay while enjoying the sunshine, according to a Chamber of Commerce chief.

Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin today urged Boris Johnson (pictured together in 2019) to impose a 'reasonably liberal immigration system' to help fill jobs

Mr Martin, who has always held a pro-EU immigration stance even while supporting Brexit, told the Daily Telegraph: 'The UK has a low birth rate. A reasonably liberal immigration system controlled by those we have elected, as distinct from the EU system, would be a plus for the economy and the country.'

Suzanne Caldwell, managing director of the Chamber of Commerce in Cumbria, said workers aren't looking for job in hospitality because the furlough scheme is still in place.

She revealed other workers 'are just not here' after returning to families in the EU when their job security plummeted because of frequent lockdowns.

One recruitment agency saw 275,000 roles added to their roster in the month of May alone as the beleaguered sector searched for workers to keep up with rising demand.

James Reed, of REED recruitment, told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme 'as long as furlough is paying out it's going to be harder to recruit workers'.

He added 30 per cent of workers pre-pandemic were over the age of 50, with many since making the decision to retire.

Britain's hospitality sector has been battling with a shortage of 188,000 workers while demand continues to skyrocket as restrictions ease. Pictured, a Wetherspoon in Rochdale in 2020

'The pandemic has caused a lot of older workers to retire or reduce their hours. We've seen a lot of those people leave the workforce,' he said.

'I suppose it's important to encourage them back and we have also got a lot of people still on furlough as the statistics suggest.'

He revealed the agency has 'has more jobs in the month of May this year than we'd had in any month since February 2008' and described it as 'a huge change'.

'There are people but theyre not necessarily in the right place and theyre not necessarily available,' he added.

Ms Caldwell told BBC Radio 4 the shortfall was an 'absolutely massive problem' with 'anyone you speak to who employs staff' suffering.

She added: 'We have businesses, particularly manufacturers, reporting that people are sitting on furlough and are actually quite okay on 80 per cent of their salary. Theyre not looking for a job. We were very reliant on EU workers.'

Mr Martin wants the Prime Minister to set up a visa scheme to allow workers from EU countries to easily come back and work in the UK.

He has clarified the JD Wetherspoon group is not currently suffering from staff shortages.

One recruitment agency saw 275,000 roles added to their roster in the month of May alone as a beleaguered sector searched for workers to keep up with rising demand. Pictured, a Wetherspoon in London that was shut during lockdown

He added: 'America, Australia and Singapore have benefited for many decades from this approach. Immigration combined with democracy works.'

In 2016, just days before the EU referendum, Mr Martin said his 'own personal stance' was that 'anyone who's working here now legally is perfectly entitled to stay'.

Polish hospitality workers left the UK after businesses went bust - but have already started to return, restaurant boss says Polish workers who left the UK during lockdown are already back because the hospitality sector is in freefall there, says a businessowner. Damian Wawrzyniak, who owns the House of Feasts restaurant, a bakery, street food kiosk and retail shop in Peterborough, revealed workers from Poland are already back in the UK. Damian Wawrzyniak, who owns the House of Feasts restaurant He told MailOnline: 'Hospitality is in much worse shape in Poland than in the UK'. Mr Wawrzyniak said recruitment in the UK was a 'massive issue' because of lockdown and Brexit. He added: 'The biggest problem why people don't want to work in hospitality is because it's not treated like a profession. If it was then people would like to work. 'I had a lady who quit just before the pandemic kicked off and she wants to come back to me. She was a chef, then she went to work in an NHS testing centre, and now because the testing centre is closing she wants to come back into hospitality.' Mr Wawrzyniak, who is from Poland, said his Polish employees have returned to the UK after a brief spell at home during the pandemic. He said: 'If the place is bankrupt in England where they used to work, maybe they went back, but we didn't and are operating. Mainly the people who left to Poland used to work in businesses that went bankrupt.' Mr Wawrzyniak said his business was expanding - he had gone from eight staff before the Covid-19 crisis to 27 now - but added: 'I'm struggling to fill up my posts currently. Bar staff is a problem and waiting staff is a problem. My kitchen is fully staffed at the moment.' Asked about waiters from Eastern Europe who have moved back to their home countries during the pandemic, he added: 'Yes that's the problem as well - we have all nationalities, English, you name it, Polish. 'But obviously lots of people switched their profession during the pandemic. Some got training and went to work in retail, basically they took their future in their own hands,' he said. He admitted he was 'worried' about the recruitment situation, but added: 'Obviously I'm positive as well. We need to get it done. I'm not going to (stop) expanding because I cannot find staff. Maybe expansion will take a bit longer.' Advertisement

He told Wales Online: 'People who are in the current EU countries should in the future be entitled to come and work in the UK. I think that will be to our benefit. But I think the UK Parliament must decide whether any future people are entitled to come here, and I think anyone beyond those who are currently entitled to come should be subject to a points system.'

It comes just months after the chain announced it was investing 145million in new pubs and upgrades with the aim of creating 2,000 more jobs.

Meanwhile, Mr Paterson told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme there is a 'huge shortfall in frontline staff' which meant some Best Western hotels have not been able to open to full capacity.

He said: 'The real challenge is on frontline staff. In an example, over the weekend a hotel didnt have the cleaning staff to be able to sell all of their rooms. They couldn't turn them around.

'Its becoming now restrictive on trade. At a time when were investing so much on meeting safety precautions and needing more staff to do that were actually meeting a shortage. Its a bit of a double-edged sword.'

Mr Paterson said instability in hospitality over the last year of lockdowns had forced some to seek employment elsewhere.

'The issue is not so much the pay, its the stability of the industry. Workers may have a family and they just dont want to be in an industry that is shutting down and reopening with their jobs constantly at risk.'

Wages are on the rise with businesses telling of their struggle to find bar staff despite offering higher rates - and waiters commanding 15 an hour in South East England, equating to nearly 30,000 a year if full-time.

Many workers from Eastern Europe are said to have gone back to their home country before the third Covid-19 lockdown with no reason to return to Britain because much of the hospitality industry has remained closed since.

And one in five companies with furloughed staff now say they are unlikely to keep all of them on, according to a YouGov study released last week. The UK Government estimates 4.9million workers were furloughed in February.

Matthew Holland, who co-owns Willmore's 1938 in Penarth, South Wales, with his partner Charlotte Court, told MailOnline: 'Right through furlough we kept a member of staff in full time employment, he was almost doing his hours but was on flexi furlough.

'He's been offered a job now with an agency where the pay is considerably more. He can get an extra 5 or 6 an hour at the agency. We made his salary up to the maximum during lockdown so we're a bit frustrated.'

Hospitality businesses, which includes hotels, bars and anywhere which serves food and drink, are looking at a massive vacancy list from waiters to chefs with 85 per cent of venues currently reporting staff shortages.

The list of unfilled positions also includes housekeepers and bar staff, said trade body UKHospitality, but they are calling on the Government not to abandon or downgrade the plans to reopen all businesses later this month because of the boost it gives to struggling firms.

It has joined Mr Martin in calling for an 'Australian-style' visa systems to raise the threshold and allow more overseas workers to come here and fill the vacancies, reported the online journal Big Hospitality.

Bosses are worried workers won't take up jobs because they do not see it as stable employment until there is more certainty lockdown will fully end on the 21st.

UKHospitality chief executive, Kate Nicholls, said: 'The government must restore confidence in the sector so that it is again seen as a stable employer and provider of fulfilling careers.

'To facilitate this, it must stick to the re-opening roadmap, lifting all restrictions from June 21st. This will restore consumer confidence and give a strong signal to workers that hospitality will bounce back strongly.'

She added: 'Beyond this, the single biggest act of support that Government could give would be to encourage mor UK-based workers to join the hospitality sector.

'It is also time for the Government to review its list of shortage occupations and consider the introduction of an Australian-style visa scheme to enable the workers we need, who don't meet the point-based system, to come and work here.'
Young Australians are already getting vaccinated and over-50s are receiving Pfizer jabs as hubs throw out the old rules and use up vials that would otherwise go to waste due to Australia's slow vaccine uptake.

The hesitancy of many Australians to get their scheduled jab due to fears of side effects, lack of incentive, and older people holding out for Pfizer or Moderna jabs later this year meant a lot of vials of the quick-expiry vaccines were going to waste.

To counter that, Queensland hubs altered the rules and gave the jabs to younger people who were meant to wait longer for their vaccines, and are giving Pfizer to over-50s who are supposed to receive AstraZeneca.

Pictured: Queues for the Covid-19 vaccine in Queensland after the cluster in Victoria swelled to 60

One older woman and her partner told 9 News they were 'lucky enough [because] today is the first day they were having Pfizer, and we're here'.

Last week Queensland Health confirmed hubs will vaccinate outside of the priority groups so opened doses don't go to waste.

'Every dose of Covid-19 vaccine is precious,' a Queensland Health spokeswoman said.

As a result, walk-ins are often not questioned about their eligibility for the vaccine.

One older woman and her partner told 9 News they were 'lucky enough [because] today is the first day they were having Pfizer, and we're here,' she said. Pictured: People lining up to get the jab in Queensland

Infectious diseases expert Dr Krispin Hajkowicz is being vaccinated during a rollout of the Covid-19 Pfizer vaccine at STARS Metro North Health facility in Brisbane on March 1

According to reports by The Age, the same thing has been happening in Melbourne amid a frightening wave of new cases which peaked at 60 on Wednesday.

The state expanded the eligibility for the vaccine at short notice to people in their 40s, as queues swelled into the thousands.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Acting Premier James Merlino used strong and colourful language to describe coronavirus as he announced Victorians would not be released from their homes on Thursday night.

A nurse holds up a syringe containing the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine at STARS Metro North Health facility in Brisbane on March 1

'If we let this thing run its course, it will explode. We've got to run this to ground because if we don't, people will die,' he said.

His comments were echoed by chief health officer Brett Sutton who compared the virus to a 'beast' that needed to be stopped.

'I have described it as an absolute beast because we have to run it down to the ground,' he said.
Google's head of diversity has been slammed for writing that Jews have an 'insatiable appetite for war and killing' and arguing they should have more 'compassion' because of the Holocaust.

Kamau Bobb, who is also an 'Equity in Computing' don at Georgia Tech, wrote a 2007 blog post, which remains on his website, titled: 'If I Were A Jew.'

Bobb writes: 'If I were a Jew I would be concerned about my insatiable appetite for war and killing in defense of myself. Self defense is undoubtedly an instinct, but I would be afraid of my increasing insensitivity to the suffering of others.'

He evokes the memory of Kristallnacht, a Nazi pogrom against Jews in 1938, and Holocaust victim Anne Frank to question why Israel lacks 'compassion' towards Muslims in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank.

'My greatest torment would be that I've misinterpreted the identity offered by my history and transposed spiritual and human compassion with self righteous impunity,' the academic wrote.

Kamau Bobb is Global Lead for Diversity Strategy and Research at Google and the founding Senior Director of the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing at Georgia Tech

According to his website, Bobb is the 'Global Lead for Diversity Strategy and Research at Google and the founding Senior Director of the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing at Georgia Tech.'

Prior to this he worked for the US government at the National Science Foundation where he was 'responsible for $30 million annually of investments targeted on improving computing and STEM [Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] education.'

Critics today rounded on Bobb after the blog post was highlighted in an article by the Washington Free Beacon.

Michael Dickson, director of Stand With Us, which educates people to fight anti-Semitism, tweeted: 'All of this begs the question whether (1) Google did due diligence when selecting Kamau Bobb for the sensitive position of global Google DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) Director and (2) whether he should remain in these positions.'

In another tweet, Dickson wrote that Bobb made 'revolting, and antisemitic, comparisons between Nazi actions and that of the world's only Jewish country. He portrays Jews as bloodthirsty.'

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, an educational establishment which takes its name from the Jewish Austrian Holocaust survivor, Nazi hunter, and writer, tweeted: 'Google must fire this #antisemite #KamauBobb.'

MailOnline has contacted Bobb and Google for comment. He hadn't responded to requests for comment from the Free Beacon.

The 14-year-old blog post remains relevant today as a small group of Google employees recently demanded executives cut ties with Israeli businesses following last month's bombing campaign against Islamist terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

An internal letter to CEO Sundar Pichai urged a company-wide statement 'recognizing the violence in Palestine and Israel, which must include direct recognition of the harm done to Palestinians by Israeli military and gang violence.'

It also argued that Google should 'reject any definition of antisemitism that holds that criticism of Israel or Zionism is antisemitic,' which is 'limiting freedom of expression and distracting from real acts of antisemitism.'

The letter had only around 250 signatures as of the middle of May.

Kamau Bobb previously worked for the US government at the National Science Foundation

In his 14-year-old blog post, Bobb wrote: 'Suffering and oppression typically give rise to sympathy and compassion among the oppressed ... I would conclude that my Jewish faith and the history of my people render me closer to human compassion; closer to the instinct to offer healing to hurt, patience to anxiety and understanding to confusion.

'I don't know how I would reconcile that identity with the behavior of fundamentalist Jewish extremists or of Israel as a nation ...

'I wouldn't understand those who suggest that bombing Lebanon, slaughtering Lebanese people and largely destroying Beirut in retaliation for the capture of a few soldiers is justified.

'I wouldn't understand the notion of collective punishment, cutting off gas, electricity and water from residents in Gaza because they are attacking Israel who is fighting against them.

'It would be unconscionable to me to watch Israeli tanks donning the Star of David rumbling through Ramallah destroying buildings and breaking the glass.'

The essay concludes with the paragraph: 'If I were a Jew I would be concerned about my insatiable appetite for war and killing in defense of myself. Self defense is undoubtedly an instinct, but I would be afraid of my increasing insensitivity to the suffering others. My greatest torment would be that I've misinterpreted the identity offered by my history and transposed spiritual and human compassion with self righteous impunity.'
The fiancee of a Good Samaritan who was stabbed to death after helping a homeless man has called for tougher knife crime punishments.

Victoria Billingham is calling for the sentences to be debated in parliament after James Gibbons, 34, was killed last month in Laindon, Essex.

The father-of-four was allegedly helping a 'less fortunate' man at around 9.30pm when he was fatally stabbed multiple times in the abdomen.

He died outside their family home after he had spent the day celebrating his two-year-old girls' birthday.

A 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with murder and is expected to stand trial in October.

Now his family are calling for tougher punishment for knife crime just days after the beloved plumber - known as Gibbo - was laid to rest on Friday.

Ms Billingham says the petition will 'be the start of many changes we can make in his amazing memory'.

Victoria Billingham is calling for tougher knife crime punishments to be debated in parliament after fiancee James Gibbons, 34, was stabbed to death last month in Laindon, Essex

In a statement issued online, alongside the hashtag 'justiceforjames', Ms Billingham said: 'As I'm sure you all are aware my beautiful fiance and father to our four children lost his life to knife crime a few weeks ago.

'Since then, we have been sharing and sharing a petition for tougher punishment with knife crime.

'We need 100,000 signatures on the petition for this to be discussed in parliament and only 14 days left to do so.

'Please, please if you haven't already, sign and share and tag anyone you know in this post who may be able to put this out there.

'If we can raise this awareness it will mean a lot to us as a family and will be the start of many changes we can make in his amazing memory to stop this happening.

'Thank you so much everyone.'

The petition has secured more than 25,000 signatures and calls for an increase in the sentences for carrying knives in the UK.

When tried at a crown court, the maximum sentence is four years in prison.

It also wants minimum sentences for non-fatal stabbings to be increased to 14 years in attempted murder cases.

The father-of-four was allegedly helping a 'less fortunate' man at around 9.30pm when he was fatally stabbed multiple times in the abdomen

Mr Gibbons died outside their family home after he had spent the day celebrating his two-year-old girls' birthday (police pictured at the scene)

The government has responded to the petition saying that 57 per cent of offenders convicted of having a knife or offensive weapon received a prison sentence in 2019 compared to 34 per cent ten years earlier.

A spokesman said: 'The government's top priority is to keep people safe. We understand the devastating impact knife crime has on victims and their families and are determined to put a stop to violent offences that involve knives.

'It is essential that offenders serve sentences that reflect the severity of their crimes - helping to protect the public and giving victims confidence that justice has been served.'

In the wake of the May 2 stabbing his devastated family said: 'James was an amazing father of four young children, engaged to his partner of 11 years, and was a loving and supportive son and brother.

'James was a hard-working family-orientated man, who ran his own bathroom fitting company and was looking forward to a positive future for him and his family.

'This tragedy occurred after he had spent the day celebrating his two-year-old twin girls' birthday at home and we are absolutely broken beyond belief at this pointless loss which has had a devastating effect on us all.

'James was the kind of person who would always be prepared to help anyone less fortunate than himself, which is what he was doing on Sunday night.

'As a family we are urging anyone to come forward with any information that may help the police as they investigate James' death in the hope we can get justice.'
An FBI agent has been charged with attempted murder over the shooting of an unarmed beggar on a Washington D.C.-area Metro train.

Eduardo Valdivia, 37, made his initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon on charges of attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault and reckless endangerment.

Valdivia is accused of shooting another man on a Metro subway train in Maryland last year, while off duty. The man survived, but had been hospitalized with damage to three internal organs.

During a hearing Tuesday, Montgomery County prosecutors outlined their account of how the Dec. 15 confrontation between the 37-year-old agent and an unarmed passenger swiftly escalated from a testy exchange of words to a shooting on a train approaching Medical Center station in Bethesda.

Defense attorney Robert Bonsib said Valdivia acted in self-defense as the man approached him at the rear of a train car, around 6:40 a.m., when Valdivia was on his way to work, with his back to a corner of the train car, according to the Washington Post.

The attorney said his client, toward the end of the confrontation, warned the panhandler 'Back up or I'll shoot.'

Eduardo Valdivia, 37, has been charged with attempted murder over the shooting of a man on a Metro train

'The law does not require that you wait to be struck before you take action. Had this resulted in a hands-on fight and a struggle for Agent Valdivia's gun, only God knows what could have happened,' Bonsib said after a judge ordered the agent released from custody.

After the hearing, the county's top prosecutor declined to explain why his office concluded that the shooting wasn't justified.

'We would not have brought the charge if we thought that it was protected by law,' Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy told reporters. 'To explain all of the reasons why we came to this conclusion would be effectively for me to give you a closing argument as to a five-month investigation. This is not the appropriate time.'

Valdivia shot and wounded the man from a distance of roughly 2 to 3 feet after repeatedly telling the man to back up, county prosecutor Robert Hill said in court.

The man had approached Valdivia on a train, sat across from him and asked the agent for money, Hill said.

The man muttered expletives and began to walk away when the agent said he didn't have any money to give, the prosecutor added.

'Watch your mouth,' the agent told the man, according to Hill.

After the man turned and approached him again, Valdivia pulled a gun from a holster and shot him, the prosecutor said. Another passenger was in the agent's line of fire, about 15 feet away, but wasn't harmed, Hill added.

A grand jury indicted Valdivia on charges including attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault and reckless endangerment.

Valdivia turned himself in to local authorities at a county jail Tuesday morning. Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Joan Ryon agreed to release him on personal recognizance. Prosecutors didn't object.

The wounded man had part or all of his spleen, colon and pancreas removed during surgery after the shooting, according to Hill.

In a detailed press release, Bonsib said his client has had 'an impeccable personal and professional background.'

He joined the FBI in 2011, was promoted to the position of supervisory special agent at FBI headquarters last year and most recently worked on 'operational guidance and programmatic oversight' of investigations into racially motivated and anti-government extremists, Bonsib said.

Valdivia was on his way to work on the morning of the shooting when the man approached him.

Bonsib said court records show the wounded man has a criminal record with a history of unpredictable and violent behavior, including a 2019 incident in which the man allegedly attacked and threatened to kill somebody at a Metro station.

Valdivia is accused of shooting another man on a Metro subway train in Maryland, Washington D.C. last year, while off duty (File image)

Prosecutors questioned the relevance of the wounded man's record since the agent didn't know about it and hadn't met him before the morning of the shooting.

The indictment names the man who was shot and a second passenger, who it identifies as the victim of the reckless endangerment charge for being in the line of fire. His name hasn't been released publicly.

In a statement Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Baltimore field office said the bureau was aware of the charges and is fully cooperating with the investigation.

'As is customary following a shooting incident, this matter will be subject to internal review,' spokeswoman Joy Jiras said.

The Metro Transit Police Department said in December that it had reviewed video footage and taken statements from Metro employees, passengers and others.

The Medical Center station serves the National Institutes of Health and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

FBI Agents Association President Brian O'Hare said in a statement that the group supports agents going through the legal process because of work actions.

'FBI Special Agents must often make difficult, split-second decisions to protect the American public. FBIAA will ensure that our Agent member and his family are supported through this challenging time,' O'Hare said.
Matt Hancock took credit for the UK's vaccine rollout today as he mounted a political fightback to save his political life.

The Health Secretary used a global Covid conference in Oxford today to praise the take-up of the jab - and his own role in getting it into the arms of grateful Britons.

He also praise the swift work in creating new wonder drugs, claiming it helped save more than a million lives because work began before the first UK case was identified.

And he told the assembled delegates: 'Lots of people stop me and ask me how we did all of this?'

He added that the UK's vaccination programme was 'without doubt the best project I have been involved in', and confirmed that 75 per cent of adults have now been given at least one dose of vaccine.

He said he had been told it would take at least five years to develop a coronavirus vaccine at the start of the pandemic.

'I specifically remember a then meek and timid professor turning to me when I asked how fast this could possibly be done,' he said.

'He said that if everything went right then the very best we could hope for would be 12 to 18 months.

'Who would have thought that just 11 months later we'd be the first country in the world with a clinically authorised vaccine and that professor Jonathan Van Tam would be turning down Strictly.'

His confident speech will be seen as the start of a fight- back after a brutal week in which he was blamed for allowing Covid to spread to care homes from NHS hospitals.

Mr Hancock was the subject of a brutal political hit-job by former No10 aide Dominic Cummings when the former No10 aide appeared in front of MPs last week.

He accused the senior Cabinet minister of repeatedly lying and deserving to be sacked at the height of the pandemic for a catalogue of blunders.

Asked today if he was taking credit for successes but avoiding taking the blame for failures he said: 'No, I think the best approach is to take responsibility for all the things that happen.'

Mr Hancock was the subject of a brutal political hit-job by former No10 aide Dominic Cummings when the former No10 aide appeared in front of MPs last week.

The Health Secretary used a speech in Oxford this afternoon to praise the swift work in creating new wonder drugs, claiming it helped save more than a million lives.

'The Union has saved lives: Hancock praises UK co-ordination of Covid fight Matt Hancock praised the strength of the Union and the communication between health ministers in all four nations during the pandemic In his Oxford speech he said: 'We negotiated and bought vaccines for the whole country, we allocated them according to need and we worked with the NHS, devolved administrations and local councils everywhere, and we called upon the logistical heft of the British Armed Forces to help get them into arms. 'This didn't happen by accident. The devolved administrations are run by different political parties and although health is devolved, the virus doesn't respect political boundaries. 'I was determined to overcome political differences so we could deliver for citizens across the country wherever they live.' He continued: 'Like everyone I have come to love Zoom, but it wasn't easy getting this UK-wide approach and right at the start last March I went to see each of the devolved leaders face to face. 'It was so important that we got on the same page about the importance of this project. 'So although life was pretty hectic, last March I took 24 hours to fly to Edinburgh, to Belfast, to Cardiff. 'That 24 hours has proved invaluable in strengthening those relationships and it's one of the most useful 24 hours in the pandemic, and since then we've had a call every single week, the four of us, and, frankly, sometimes it's been like group therapy.' Advertisement

The speech came as it was confirmed that three-quarters of adults in the UK have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

The Health Secretary praised the central role of the NHS in the vaccine success, and said the Government invested 'at risk' in multiple bets.

Ahead of the UK-hosted G7 Health Ministers' Meeting later this week, Mr Hancock said: 'Even before the first Covid-19 case arrived in the UK we'd started the work on how to develop, procure and roll out the vaccines that would ultimately make us safe.

'I was told a vaccine had never been developed against any human coronavirus. We dared to believe ... and we started early.

'We put out a call for research in February. By March, we were supporting six different projects, including the Oxford vaccine, alongside the vital work on treatments - including the Recovery trial, which led to the discovery of dexamethasone, the first proven treatment to reduce coronavirus mortality.

'These two projects, together, have already saved over a million lives.'

He continued: 'We started early on how we could make access to the vaccine fair.

'I know that a few eyebrows were raised when I said that the film Contagion shaped my thinking about our vaccine programme - I should reassure Sir John Bell that it wasn't my primary source of advice - but when I watched that film, a penny did drop for me: not just that the vaccine would be our way out of the pandemic, but that the power of the vaccine would be so great that we would have to think very hard about who to protect and in what order.

'I knew that some of the most difficult moments of the pandemic would not be before the vaccine was approved, but afterwards when the scramble for vaccines have begun.'

He added: 'We Brits love queuing and there's nothing more upsetting than someone jumping the queue.

'So, again, we started planning early to make sure that this was fair and we spent time preparing for how to organise the rollout in as far away as possible.

'The clinically advised prioritisation for getting vaccines in arms has been critical, I believe, in securing trust in the programme overall because it's helped demonstrate that the system is fair.

'So, we acted early to reassure people that in the finest tradition of the values of the NHS, vaccines will be given according to need, not ability to pay - whether you're the Prime Minister, or Premier League footballer or the future king of England. You have to wait your turn, just like everyone else.'

ALL OVER-18S TO GET VACCINATED WITHIN WEEKS, SOURCES SAY Ministers are preparing to offer vaccines to all over-18s within weeks to help halt the spread of the Indian variant as the UK reported zero Covid deaths for the first time in 10 months. So far only adults aged 30 and over have been invited for their jabs and health leaders are focusing their efforts on giving older people their second dose. But it is understood officials are planning to open up the eligibility to all age groups amid concerns the Indian strain - which has been renamed as the 'Delta variant' - is spreading very quickly among the young. In a speech today Health Secretary Matt Hancock will praise the country's 'extraordinary vaccine heroes'  including healthcare staff and volunteers. It comes as SAGE experts and Tory MPs butt heads over whether June 21's 'Freedom Day' should be delayed in the face of the Indian variant as health officials in the regions worst affected say it is mostly being transmitted by 17 to 18-year-olds, and potentially passed on to older, more vulnerable family members. Government figures yesterday showed nearly three-quarters of adults have had one dose  with almost half receiving their second dose. Advertisement

Last week Mr Cummings accused Mr Hancock of 'criminal, disgraceful behaviour' during the early days of the Covid pandemic as he launched an astonishing broadside at the Health Secretary.

During a no-holds-barred attack on the senior Cabinet Minister he accused him of being a serial liar whose behaviour directly hindered the Government's ability to tackle the pandemic last year.

In a rollercoaster appearance in front of MPs a week ago Mr Cummings outlined a series of failings by Mr Hancock and the Department of Health and Social Care and claimed that the Secretary of State should have been fired 'for at least 15, 20 things, including lying to everybody'.

The former No10 chief adviser also alleged that the then Cabinet Secretary Lord Mark Sedwill told the Prime Minister he had lost confidence in Mr Hancock's honesty, and urged his sacking.

Mr Cummings told a joint committee of MPs probing the Covid crisis: 'One thing I can say completely honestly is that I said repeatedly from February/March that if we don't fire the Secretary of State and get testing into somebody else's hands, we're going to kill people and it's going to be a catastrophe.'

In perhaps his strongest criticism, Mr Cummings told MPs that Government talk of putting a shield around care homes was 'complete nonsense'.

'We were told categorically in March (by Mr Hancock) that people would be tested before they went back to homes, we only subsequently found out that that hadn't happened,' he told the Committee.

'Now while the Government rhetoric was we have put a shield around care homes and blah blah blah, it was complete nonsense. Quite the opposite of putting a shield around them, we sent people with Covid back to the care homes.'

Mr Hancock told the Commons the following day that the claims were 'not true' and he had been 'straight with people'.

'We worked as hard as we could to protect people who live in care homes, and of course those who live in care homes are some of the most vulnerable to this disease because by its nature it attacks and has more of an impact on older people,' he said.

'Now when it comes to the testing of people as they left hospital and went into care homes, we committed to building the testing capacity to allow that to happen.

'Of course it then takes time to build testing capacity.

'In fact, one of the critical things we did was set the 100,000 target back then to make sure we built that testing capacity and it was very effective in doing so.

'And then we were able to introduce the policy of testing everybody before going into care homes, but we could only do that once we had the testing capacity which I had to build, because we didn't have it in this country from the start.

'We started with a capacity of less than 2,000 in March last year and got to 100,000 tests a day.

'And we set all of this out at the time in public documents. It's all a matter of public record.'

Mr Hancock's speech today comes ahead of the 2021 G7 Health Ministers' Meeting, which will be held in person at Oxford University on Thursday and Friday.

It comes after no deaths within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 were reported on Tuesday, according to the Government. It is the first time this has happened since July 30, 2020.

Boris says he STILL sees 'nothing in the data' to stop June 21 'freedom day' going ahead but warns infections ARE rising and he will be 'cautious' - as top scientist urges PM not to keep 'scampering down rabbit holes' when new variants emerge

Boris Johnson today insisted he still sees 'nothing in the data' to stop June 21 'freedom day' going ahead - but admitted infections are rising and he needs to be 'cautious'.

The PM struck an optimistic note on the prospects for the roadmap going ahead, despite insisting that people must 'wait a little longer' for a final decision.

Speaking to reporters on a visit to a school, Mr Johnson said there was still 'ambiguity' over how much protection vaccines were giving people.

He said cases had been expected to rise as a result of the unlockings in April and last month.

'What we need to work out is to what extent the vaccination programme has protected enough of us, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, against a new surge, and there I'm afraid the data is still ambiguous,' he said.

'The best the scientists can say at the moment is we just need to give it a little bit longer.'

The comments came as one of the Government's top scientific advisers warned that the UK cannot keep 'scampering down a rabbit hole' every time a new Covid variant emerges.

Hitting back at members of SAGE calling for a longer lockdown, Sir John Bell said ministers must instead focus on hospitalisations and deaths, which have remained flat nationally but there are signs of admissions increasing.

The Oxford University medical expert, who has advised the Government on Covid tests and vaccines, suggested the country must take a leap of faith and put trust in its world-beating vaccination rollout.

MailOnline's analysis, however, shows that Covid hospital admissions are rising in the North West of England where Indian variant hotspots are concentrated.

Virus patient numbers crept up by 24 per cent in the last fortnight of May, according to NHS England figures. There are now 177 inpatients in hospitals in the North West.

Sir John becomes the highest profile adviser to call for ministers to stick with the roadmap and bring an end to social distancing laws on June 21's 'Freedom Day'.

His comments come as pressure mounts on Boris Johnson to push the date back to buy time to roll out jabs to millions more people to defend against the Indian variant.

New Covid cases have now been above 3,000 for seven consecutive days in the UK but the country yesterday reported zero new deaths for the first time since July 2020, bolstering calls for No10 to push ahead with plans to get back to normal.

But Scotland's Nicola Sturgeon has already delayed the unlocking north of the border, saying she was worried about how fast the virus is spreading, and lockdowns will continue for many regions there.

Sir told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think we do need to keep our eye on hospitalisations, serious disease and deaths, which is really what we are trying to manage.

'If we scamper down a rabbit hole every time we see a new variant we are going to spend a long time huddled away  so I think we need to get a bit of balance into the discussion and keep our eyes on the serious disease we are trying to prevent.'

Hospital admissions, bed occupancy and mechanical ventilators have all risen in the North West  where the Indian variant is most prevalent  but have fallen or remained stable in most of the rest of the country over the last fortnight

But the number of patients in hospital are still significantly lower across the country than during the near-overwhelming of the NHS experienced during the height of the winter peak in January

Professor Sir John Bell urged ministers to focus on hospitalisations and deaths instead of being panicked by the past week's rise in Covid cases, which was always expected to happen when lockdown rules were lifted. Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured today) is expected to speak today on feelings ahead of June 21's planned final roadmap step

Britain recorded zero Covid deaths yesterday. Experts said this was a good sign and proof that vaccines were working. But they added it was also likely down to the bank holiday, when fewer deaths are likely to have been registered because more people were off work

Nationally hospital admissions for the virus remain flat but there has been a slight uptick in the North West and London in the last week

People have become less convinced that all social distancing will end on June 21 as planned  58 per cent of Brits thought it would when they were asked on May 23, compared to 73 per cent on May 2

Indian variant cases in England's 12 hotspots are shown (red) compared to the Kent variant (orange). The new strain has gone on to become dominant in all 12 of the above areas - and more than 100 in total - since cropping up for the first time in April. It is believed to be a fifth more infectious than the Kent variant which is propelling its spread

Speaking to reporters on a visit to a school today, Boris Johnson said there was still 'ambiguity' over how much protection vaccines were giving people

The Oxford expert also urged ministers to back rolling out the vaccine in other nations, to get outbreaks under control and reduce the risk of vaccine-busting variants emerging.

Sir John's intervention comes as Boris Johnson faces mounting pressure to delay England's June 21 Freedom Day, with some scientists warning rising cases could spark 'Covid volcanoes' in hospitals.

Britain recorded zero deaths from the virus yesterday, which experts say is a 'good sign' and that the vaccines are working. But cases rose 27 per cent after another 3,165 were recorded.

The latest data on hospitalisations shows the number on wards has risen slightly. But scientists say this was to be expected as the jabs are not 100 per cent effective.
Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee flew to Israel this week to take a closer look at the aftermath of the fighting between Israel and Palestine that lasted 11 days and left over 200 people dead. Sen. Cruz took to social media to share "heartbreaking" images of a home in southern Israel, where he said a "Hamas rocket killed the caretaker of the elderly lady" who resided in the Ashkelon house he visited.

"Hamas has committed a double war crime," Sen. Cruz said in a video posted to Twitter, as reported by the Western Journal (via WND). "It uses civilian human shields, including journalists and journalists' buildings, to fire at civilians."

Heartbreaking.



Countless times, I've seen a Mezuzah hanging on a door frame. This is the first time I've seen one on a home bombed by terrorists.



A Hamas rocket killed the caretaker of the elderly lady who lived here in Ashkelon, in southern Israel. This is all that remains. pic.twitter.com/fHBJGFOnRx  Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 31, 2021

Last month, Israel bombed a building in the Gaza Strip where the Hamas militant group was believed to have infiltrated and used the media as a human shield. Israel also used the Iron Dome to defend itself from Hamas rockets launched during the conflict.

The Times of Israel reported that Sen. Cruz is now calling on U.S. President Joe Biden to show the same strength that Israel did towards the Hamas militant group. He argued that the Democrat leader's policies, including his call for peace, "emboldened" the militant groups.

"The longer Joe Biden shows weakness to Hamas or Hezbollah or Iran, the more you're going to see terrorist attacks escalating," Sen. Cruz argued after he visited Israel's Iron Dome rocket-defense system and examined the damage in Ashkelon.

Just last week, the Texas senator introduced a legislation that fast tracks the sale of $735 million worth of precision-guided weapons to Israel, a law that was immediately blocked by Democrats, Insider reported.

Sen. Cruz said in a statement on May 26 that it was unfortunate how "Democrats in both the House and the Senate are choosing to pacify their anti-Israel base by opposing this critical support," Insider reported. The Texas senator called on the Democrats to "choose a side and support this commonsense resolution voicing Congressional approval for these two sales."

Newsweek reported that Sen. Cruz met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to whom he reiterated the "strong and unequivocal support" of the U.S. amidst these "perilous times." He said that the U.S. will continue to "stand up to Hamas terrorists" and fight to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who was also on the trip, took to Twitter to share similar images of devastation in Israel, saying that in Ashkelon, they only had 30 seconds to evacuate before 500 Hamas rockets rained down on the Israelis. Sen. Graham then met with the Israeli Prime Minister, who called the senator a "loyal supporter of our alliance."

Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi has now met with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry to discuss continued ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group, with Shoukry asking Israel to "refrain from all practices that lead to escalation," DW reported.
Advertisement

The incredible heroism of a British agent who parachuted behind enemy lines into France and who took out 30 German trains during the Second World War will be retold in a new book.

Eliane Plewman, who belonged to Winston Churchill's elite Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War, was involved in a number of highly successful sabotage missions.

During one daring operation in 1944, the diminutive 5ft agent, together with her brother Albert Browne-Bartroli, evaded German patrols to lay explosives under the Marseille-Toulon railway line.

When they exploded, 30 locomotives were put out of service, hampering the enemy's attempts to move troops and supplies by rail. The explosion caused so much damage that it took Germany four days to clear the line.

But her cover was blown in 1944 and the special agent was imprisoned and tortured at Fresnes prison in France and then transferred to Dachau concentration camp in Bavaria, Germany, before she was executed at the age of 26 by SS trooper Friedrich Wilhelm Ruppert.

Ms Plewman, who was born in Marseille, France, moved to Leicester as a child and had been working in a fabric exporting company at the outbreak of the Second World War.

In 1943, she was accepted to train with the Special Operations Executive as 'an agent in the field' and completed gruelling field training, where she learnt hand-to-hand combat and how to handle explosives.

Eliane Plewman, who was born in Marseille, France, was involved in a number of highly successful sabotage missions during her time with Winston Churchill's elite Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War

The secret agent was imprisoned and tortured at Fresnes prison in France before she was transferred to Dachau concentration camp in Bavaria, Germany. She was executed at the age of 26. Pictured: A plaque at Dachau concentration camp paying tribute to Ms Plewman and the three other female agents who were executed with her

During one operation in 1944, the agent, together with her brother Albert Browne-Bartroli, evaded German patrols to lay explosives under a railway line. The mission caused so much damage that it took Germany four days to clear the tracks

Who was Eliane Plewman? Eliane Plewman was born in Marseille, France, but moved to Leicester as a child and was working in a fabric exporting company at the outbreak of the Second World War. Ms Plewman married Tom Plewman, an officer in the Royal Artillery, after a whirlwind romance in 1942. With a Spanish mother, she used her language skills to work for the Ministry of Information, from where she signed up for the Special Operations Executive. After completing her gruelling field training, where she learnt hand-to-hand combat and to handle explosives, she was parachuted behind enemy lines into the Jura region of France on August 14, 1943. Here, she provided communications link between groups of saboteurs and intelligence gathering agents. During one daring mission, the agent evaded German patrols to lay explosives under a railway line. When they exploded, 30 locomotives were put out of service, hampering the enemy's attempts to move troops and supplies by rail. She was arrested at a safe house in Marseille on or around March 23, 1944, when it was raided by the Gestapo. She was imprisoned and tortured at Fresnes prison in France and then transferred to Dachau concentration camp in Bavaria, Germany. She was executed aged 26 on September 13, 1944. Major General Colin Gubbins recommended Eliane Plewman for an MBE but as the award does not allow posthumous awards she was awarded the Croix de Guerre and Kings Commendation for Brave Conduct instead. Advertisement

The elite group, who were famously ordered them to 'set Europe ablaze' by Sir Winston Churchill, were tasked with using sneaky espionage tactics in order to operate in every enemy-controlled nation in Europe and south-east Asia.

The primary mission of the SOE was to aid resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied Europe by any means possible.

They were made up of a number of independent resistance groups established in France.

In August 1943, the secret agent parachuted out of a Handley Page Halifax bomber aircraft behind enemy line into the Jura region of France from an altitude of just over 1,000 feet.

Upon landing, she found out her support network was not in the region but she still managed to locate a pre-agreed safe house.

Here, she learnt from neighbours that the Gestapo had arrested all the operatives there, so she made her own way to Marseille, more than 300 miles away.

The journey took her two months and once she reached the Mediterranean coast she began working in a secret network know as the 'MONK circuit'.

During her missions, Ms Plewman carried explosives to all the sabotage operation locations, a perilous task which left her vulnerable to being searched.

She was also a courier delivering messages, documents and wireless equipment to the Resistance network around Marseille, which was swarming with German armed forces.

However in early 1944, her cover was eventually blown when the network was infiltrated and she was captured by the Gestapo.

The SOE agent was arrested at a safe house in Marseille in March 1944, when it was raided by the Gestapo.

She was imprisoned and tortured at Fresnes prison in France and then transferred to Dachau concentration camp in Bavaria, Germany.

On September 1944, Ms Plewman was executed at the age of just 26.

Three other SOE agents - Yolande Beekman, Madeleine Damerment and Noor Inayat Khan - were also executed on the same day.

The female agents were taken from their cell and forced to kneel in pairs before being executed by a single shot to the head by executioner Friedrich Wilhelm Ruppert - an SS trooper.

Ms Plewman along with Yolande Beekman, Madeleine Damerment and Noor Inayat Khan was executed by a single shot to the head by executioner Friedrich Wilhelm Ruppert (pictured) at Dachau concentration camp in Germany

Ms Plewman parachuted out of a Handley Page Halifax aircraft into the Jura region of France from an altitude of just over 1,000 feet. After landing she found out her support network had been captured by police and then made her own way to Marseille

The special agent was transferred to Dachau concentration camp (exterior of camp pictured) in Bavaria, Germany, before her death

Following the special agent's a capture by German forces, a report was sent in an effort to find Ms Plewman. Her cover was blown and she was captured by the Gestapo when the secret network she had been working in was infiltrated

After the war, Ruppert was tried for war crimes and convicted and executed by hanging on May 29, 1946.

The derailment of the Toulon train Eliane Plewman along with fellow saboteurs linked to the Monk network was able to execute a derailment inside the railway tunnel between Cassis and Aubagne on the Marseille-Toulon line. The agents planted bombs underneath the line and put 30 trains out of service. They were also able to blow up a repair train that was sent to the region to help to clear the lines. The mission hampered the enemy's attempts to move troops and supplies by rail. It also stopped all traffic on the line for four days. Advertisement

Speaking of Ms Plewman's bravery, Major General Colin Gubbins, head of the SOE at the time, said: 'She was dropped in the Jura and was separated from her circuit for some time.

'Instead of remaining in hiding she showed outstanding initiative and made several contacts on her own which were later of great value to her circuit.

'For six months Plewman worked as a courier and her untiring devotion to duty and willingness to undergo any risk largely contributed to the successful establishment of her circuit.

'She travelled constantly maintaining liaison between the various groups, acting as guide to newly arriving agents and transporting wireless telegraphy equipment and compromising documents.'

The heroism of Ms Plewman and her other SOE female operatives will now be celebrated in historian Kate Vigurs' new book, Mission France: The True Story of the Women of the SOE.

Of these women, 16 were captured, with 13 of them executed.

Dr Vigurs said she had pored over Ms Plewman's personnel file in the National Archives and also visited Marseille, where she was operating, several times to learn more about her.

Dr Vigurs said: 'This book has attempted to tell the true story of all the women agents, those who have become household names and national heroines as well as those who have remained in the shadows.

'All the women who were infiltrated into France by F Section were extraordinary. Notably Eliane Plewman, whose untiring devotion to duty and willingness to undergo any risk largely contributed to the successful establishment of her network and sabotage on a huge scale.

'This book has tried to ensure that their stories have been told and that they have been given the recognition they deserve.'

Ms Plewman was awarded the Croix de Guerre and Kings Commendation for Brave Conduct.

After the war, the SOE was officially dissolved on 15 January 1946. A memorial to SOE's agents was unveiled on the Albert Embankment by Lambeth Palace in London in October 2009.

Mission France: The True History of the Women of SOE, by Kate Vigurs, is published by Yale University Press and costs 20.
A boyfriend who doused a teenage girl in petrol and set her alight causing burns to half her body could walk from jail in a month after authorities lost an appeal to his sentence.

Brae Taylor Lewis was originally jailed for 11 years in 2018 after he was convicted of maiming his then-girlfriend by setting her on fire on May 27, 2016.

But that sentence was slashed to nine-and-a-half years on appeal in the Brisbane District Court.

A retrial was to begin in January but Lewis pleaded guilty to a carge of malicious act with intent.

Lewis and the victim were both 17 when he carried out the attack, with the now-22 year-old eligible for parole next month.

Lewis was a daily user at the time of the incident and had been addicted to amphetamines since he was 15 years old

His girlfriend suffered deep dermal burns to 21 per cent of her body and has permanent scars across her arms, chest, abdomen, back and thighs following the attack

At a Court of Appeal hearing on Wednesday, lawyers for Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath argued the newer sentence was insufficient, citing no serious violent offence declaration was made.

Under an SVO declaration, Lewis would have to serve at least 80 per cent of his sentence, but without it he is eligible for parole in July.

Jodie Wooldridge, on behalf of the attorney-general, argued the sentence was thus 'manifestly inadequate'.

'(The sentencing judge's) view of remorse and insight was too favourable on the available evidence,' Ms Wooldridge said.

Lewis defence lawyer said he client had consistently shown remorse.

The attorney-aeneral's application was dismissed by the court.

When the sentence was reduced on appeal in 2018, Judge Michael Burnett acknowledged the 'horrendous and disgraceful' nature of his crime.

However, he said the new sentence needed to reflect his youthfulness at the time of the crime, remorse, and rehabilitation efforts while behind bars.

Lewis' victim's mother had begged the judge to keep him locked up for as long as possible on Wednesday, arguing Judge Burnett was 'the only person who could keep her daughter safe'.

The couple, who were both 17 at the time of the incident and living together, had a volatile relationship marked by frequent verbal abuse and 'regular outbursts of aggression'.

But in the lead up to the 2016 attack, Lewis had grown increasingly aggressive and threatened to set his girlfriend alight on at least one other occasion.

She suffered deep dermal burns to 21 per cent of her body and has permanent scars across her arms, chest, abdomen, back and thighs following the Marsden attack, south of Brisbane.

In 2019, 20-year-old Lewis argued he was simply trying to scare her and appealed his conviction of committing a malicious act intended to cause grievous bodily harm.

The woman and her mother both read victim impact statements to the court on Wednesday.

Brae Taylor Lewis was sentenced to 11 years in jail in 2018 after he was convicted of maiming his then-girlfriend by setting her on fire on May 27, 2016

The mother told the court how she feared for her daughter's safety during the relationship and begged her to leave him.

'His plea is for freedom, and mine is for him to stay incarcerated,' she tearfully told the judge.

'I feel he is a genuine danger to society, to other unsuspecting women and again to my daughter... Your Honour, you are the only person who can protect my daughter.'

The mother said she felt Lewis' last minute guilty plea was a last ditch bid for freedom rather than a reflection of his rehabilitation since his incarceration in 2016, and described it as a final insult to her daughter.

Prosecutors explained that the mother was made aware of a Facebook post made to Lewis' account just days ago which read: 'Plead guilty and get out in a few weeks... Who wouldn't? F*ck yeah.'

Lewis' barrister Andrew Hoare denied his client made the post, despite comments from both his mother and grandmother which 'suggested they were under the impression the statement had come from him'.

The victim, who is now 22, told the court she still requires therapy for the 'brutal attack' and feels like she is 'living a life sentence'.

The woman, who is now 22, told the court she still requires therapy for the 'brutal attack' and feels like she is 'living a life sentence' (burns left, boyfriend right)

'I can't put petrol in my car, I can't light a gas stove top, I struggle to do everyday things and I constantly feel self conscious about my scars and appearance.'

She struggles to trust people and still has nightmares about the ordeal.

'I woke up from that coma not knowing where I was and with tubes coming out of me... And then I found out what happened and was heartbroken to know the one that I loved did that to me.'

Mr Hoare acknowledged the severe consequences for his client's actions while also arguing for the sentence to be reduced.

'These acts occurred four years and seven months ago, when he was a child,' he said. 'He's been in custody for more than a quarter of his life.'

The court previously heard that the victim spent two days in an induced coma following the attack, and the burns were so severe they'd penetrated her skin.

She admitted that they would 'hit each other, kick, choke and throw things at each other,' but said that 'at certain points, he would take it that step further'.

In the months leading up to the attack, Lewis had already doused his then-girlfriend in petrol and threatened to set her alight.

Mr Hoare acknowledged the severe consequences for his client's actions while also arguing for the sentence to be reduced (her burns are pictured)

'I thought, yeah, he may have thrown it on me to scare me, but I never believed that he was ever going to go that extra step and actually set me on fire,' she told the court at his initial sentencing.

A week prior to the incident, he threw a screwdriver at her and it wound up lodged in her hip. She did not seek medical treatment over the incident and still has a scar.

But his pro bono barrister Andrew Hoare, in asking for an appeal, maintained that Lewis did not intend to set her alight, and instead was trying to scare her.

Mr Hoare said Lewis lit the fumes in the air and did not directly light her.

He also argued that Lewis showed immediate remorse by attempting to put out the flames.

On that matter, the victim said: 'After the fire was off me he started crying and screaming that he was sorry and that he would never intentionally mean to hurt me.'

'He was simply trying to cease an argument. He was simply trying to cause fear to her so she would retreat,' Mr Hoare said at the time.

After neighbours arrived at the house and called emergency services, Lewis fled the scene. He called his family and asked whether he would be in trouble, but refused to offer his location. Police found him at an undisclosed address the next day.

The barrister argued the original 11-year sentence was a miscarriage of justice and said an eight to nine year sentence was more appropriate.

Two witnesses to the incident told the court they were under the influence of drugs at the time.

Lewis was a daily user at the time of the incident and had been addicted to amphetamines since he was 15 years old.

The court heard he had a difficult upbringing, was exposed to significant violence and sexually abused by an older associate. His lawyer also said his drug use increased after the death of his younger brother by suicide.

'His conduct was that of an addict with trauma that was unresolved and untreated, which culminated in an act that led to serious consequences to the young woman.

The court previously heard that the victim spent two days in an induced coma following the attack, and the burns were so severe they'd penetrated her skin
Apprentice supremo Lord Sugar has revealed the chaos of the UK's self-isolation checks after putting himself into quarantine after coming back from America.

The BBC show-hosting businessman is understood to have returned over the weekend after spending time in Florida.

America is on the amber list of countries, meaning those coming to the UK from there have to quarantine at home or in the place they are staying for ten days.

There also has to be a COVID-19 test on or before day two and on or after day eight.

The Government also carries out checks on individuals on those self-isolating using information on filled in passenger location forms.

But Lord Sugar, 74, who was made a peer in July 2009, showed the checks left a lot to be desired.

Known for his straight-talking and gruff style on the Apprentice, he did not mince his words over the call-in efforts.

Lord Sugar, 74, is currently being shown on the Australian version of The Apprentice

He revealed his isolation and failed phone calls on his Twitter feed this morning

He said he had filled in his passenger locator form after landing back in the UK after US visit

He said online: 'I am back in the UK isolating. I gave my phone number on my entry form and got one call on Sunday.

'I got a call yesterday that cut off and today I got as call which must have come from an individual working from home and all I could hear is kids shouting in the back ground.'

Lord Sugar had previously had a 1.3million home in Florida in the city of Boca Raton, but was said to have sold it a few years ago.

He tweeted a picture of the full moon there on May 27, suggesting 'all the lunnies must be out'.

Those looking to enjoy a summer holiday abroad this year should book a package trip with a test included to protect themselves from paying through-the-nose if pre-booked private test results get lost, Which? advised. Pictured: Heathrow Airport last month

Covid testing 'carnage' is putting foreign holidays at risk as labs are already pushed to the limit, a consumer watchdog has warned. Pictured: Heathrow Airport last month

What are the self-isolation checks? Staff employed on behalf of the NHS Test and Trace service will come to the address listed on your passenger locator form. The staff will be wearing NHS Test and Trace uniforms. They will identify themselves verbally and present an ID card with information including their name, role and employer. The staff will follow social distancing guidelines. The staff will state your name and ask you to confirm it. They will also ask to see your drivers license or passport to confirm your identity. They will then ask you a few questions. This will help establish whether you are following your duty to self-isolate and enable them to provide additional information or guidance where necessary. You may receive follow-up visits. NHS Test and Trace staff do not have enforcement powers, including the power to issue fixed penalty notices or fines. This means they will never ask you for money. Advertisement

His criticism comes as the UK Government has come under fire over its border management as the Indian variant of Coivd spreads across the UK.

It was only yesterday that Heathrow opened up a dedicated area for red list country flights so 'riskier' passengers did not mix with safer ones.

And it falls as the same warnings have been sounded over the struggling' Covid testing system for those trying to take foreign holidays.

Tests are required to travel abroad under the 'traffic light' quarantine system - which sees countries categorised into red, amber and green lists based on travellers' risk of importing cases.

And the list of countries on the green list - countries deemed the safest to visit - is set to grow before the end of June.

Arrivals from green nations - such as Australia, New Zealand and Gibraltar - need to take a Covid test before flying into the UK and a second test on or before the second day after they land.

Those arriving from amber countries need to quarantine at home for ten days and take a test on or before day two and on or after day eight - as well as prior to flying.

The current private testing system is 'struggling' and will be 'carnage' when travel starts up again, consumer watchdog Which? said.

Campaigners are calling for the cost of private tests to be capped by the Government.

As it stands, a day two testing service for green list arrivals can cost up to 399, while amber packages can cost upwards of 378.
An Egyptian schoolboy was allegedly tied to a wooden pole by his father and covered in honey to attract bees as punishment for stealing.

The boy, seven, was reportedly subjected to the cruel punishment on May 25 after a neighbour accused him of theft in the Egyptian governorate of Qalyubia.

A shocking picture shows the child, identified as Muhammad D, lying on the floor with his hands bound to a wooden pole behind his back, while insects appeared to swarm on his skin.

A boy, seven, was allegedly tied to a pole (pictured) and covered in honey to attract insects by his Egyptian father, 34, who has not been named, as a cruel punishment

The 34-year-old father, whose name has not been disclosed, has been arrested after he allegedly bound his young son to the wooden pole and covered his skin with honey.

The man then reportedly placed Muhammad on the roof of their house, where he attracted swarms of mosquitoes and bees due to the sticky honey all over his body.

It is not known how long the child was left on the roof.

It was allegedly a punishment by his father after a neighbour accused the boy (pictured) of theft in Qalyubiyya Governorate, Egypt

Local media said Muhammad's mother, 29, who was not named, was horrified when she saw her son's punishment and sought help from a child rescue group.

The mother took pictures of the brutal scene, which are now being used as evidence against the father.

Muhammad was found in a 'deplorable' state by the authorities following the alleged punishment and he was checked by medical experts, who recorded the extent of his injuries.

There have not been any further reports on Muhammad's condition.

Prosecutors from Qalyubia were contacted after the mother's plea for help and have reportedly opened an investigation.

The mother, who is now staying in a different village, claimed the man would repeatedly beat her and look for new ways to torture their child, even depriving him of food and water for long periods of time, according to Al Arabiya.

The suspect has been arrested by the authorities but it is unclear if he has been formally charged yet.

The investigation is ongoing.
Advertisement

Britain is braced for a summer of migrant chaos after more than 1,600 arrived across the Channel in the past month - more than double last year's total for May - and 500 were brought in over the final four days of last month alone.

This is despite Priti Patel's announcement of an immigration crackdown in March, and following an agreement with the French authorities to crack down and effectively stop migrant crossings by last spring.

But the Home Secretary's vow lies in tatters this summer as Home Office sources blame the French for not doing enough to stop the crossings and intercept boats before they even set sail, despite being handed a 28million fund of UK taxpayers' money to do so.

In March, Mrs Patel said people who come to the UK via unauthorised routes - such as crossing the Channel in small boats - would be given far fewer privileges than others arriving in Britain. The most recent figures to last summer show just 3 per cent of arrivals are returned to mainland Europe.

Friday was the busiest day of the year so far with 336 migrants reaching Britain aboard 19 dinghies and other small boats - and Border Force workers have warned that the soaring numbers of crossing will lead to 'mob unrest' in crowded accommodation centres.

At present, most of the migrants who arrive in Kent are initially housed at a former army barracks in Folkestone which was set on fire in a riot over conditions in January amid a coronavirus outbreak.

Asylum seekers are free to come and go from the camp, and adults have an initial interview before being sent to accommodation centres across Britain, paid for by UK taxpayers and provided by private contractors.

The migrants are given 37.75 per week for essentials like food, clothes and toiletries while they wait for a decision on their asylum application. Kent County Council normally takes unaccompanied children into its care.

In total, May saw 1,619 migrants make the perilous journey from northern France - up 118 per cent on the 741 who arrived in May last year. In addition, around 50 more migrants were seen arriving at Dover Marina today.

The first two boats carrying around 20 people were brought in shortly before 8am on the back of Border Force cutter Hunter. Another boat containing around 15 was intercepted soon afterwards. Border Force cutter Alert then brought around 15 more migrants to harbour at around 9am with their white rigid hulled inflatable boat in tow.

It comes after 132 migrants were seen arriving in Dover yesterday aboard Border Force cutter Hunter around noon.

Mrs Patel has vowed to make illegal immigration across the Channel 'unviable' - but numbers are continuing to soar, and Dover's Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke has called for 'urgent action' to stop the crossings.

From January to May 2021, the total number of migrants to reach the UK stands at 3,727 - up 115 per cent on the running total at the same point last year. This does not include figures from today or yesterday.

During the whole of 2020, 8,410 people - including women and children - reached the UK. If arrivals continue at the same accelerated rate for the rest of the year, it could mean an annual total of nearly 18,000.

Some 132 people were brought in to Dover Marina aboard a Border Force cutter yesterday

The Home Office confirmed that 132 people were brought in to Dover Marina in Kent yesterday

A child walks off a boat after 132 migrants were brought into Dover Marina in Kent yesterday

A group of migrants including families arrive into Britain on Border Force vessels today

Migrants were spotted arriving into the UK on a dinghy after being intercepted by Border Force officials

The migrants were found by Border Force officials off the coast of Dungeness this morning

A child is helped off a ship and on to a Border Force vessel early this morning

Children and families were seen among the migrants that were picked up by Border Force officials

A child is helped off of a Border Force vessel after a group of migrants were intercepted this morning

A Border Force official carries a child off a Border Force vessel

In total, May saw 1,619 migrants make the perilous journey from northern France - up 118 per cent on the 741 in May last year

A fire broke out at Napier Barracks in Kent in January during a riot at the site which is housing hundreds of asylum seekers

Two men leave Napier Barracks in February, which is being used by the government to house people seeking asylum in the UK

Lucy Moreton, professional officer for the ISU immigration union, told the Daily Telegraph: 'Border Force staff are feeling increasingly threatened. There is a risk of unrest from these groups.

'They are not exhausted, beaten down and glad to be here. They know they are going to be moved into accommodation. They want to be moved into accommodation. If that doesn't happen promptly, they get cross about it.

'They have to be clothed but we cannot provide hot food there. They might not have eaten anything. There is a mob mentality that takes over. The vast majority are young males. The families and children are moved clear quickly.

'These are groups of people used to acting together to get what they need and frequently we cannot understand what they are saying to each other. The numbers arriving are phenomenal.'

Migrants crossing the Channel in small boats January 2020 - 87

February 2020 - 192

March 2020 - 187

April 2020 - 530

May 2020 - 741

June 2020 - 702

July 2020 - 1118

August 2020 - 1,468

September 2020 - 1,954

October 2020 - 463

November 2020 - 757

December 2020 - 211

January 2021 - 223

February 2021 - 308

March 2021 - 831

April 2021 - 746

May 2021 - 1,619 Advertisement

Apart from the 336 arrivals on Friday, there were 144 on Saturday, 17 on Sunday and 71 on Bank Holiday Monday, as people traffickers took advantage of fine weather conditions.

It made a total of 568 over the four day period. French authorities also prevented 306 migrants from crossing aboard 18 boats.

Yesterday, UK authorities dealt with six crossings involving 132 people, while the French intercepted one further crossings preventing 16 people from getting to Britain.

It is thought that all the people arriving yesterday - or at least most of them - were brought in to Dover Marina, in Kent, aboard a Border Force cutter at around noon.

Also yesterday, French authorities discovered people near the coast with marine equipment, preventing a further six crossing attempts involving 20 people.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'Criminal gangs are putting profits before people's lives through these dangerous and unnecessary crossings.

'More than 3,500 people have been prevented from making the dangerous crossing so far this year and we are cracking down on the despicable criminal gangs behind people smuggling. Inaction is not an option whilst people are dying.

'The Government is bringing legislation forward through our New Plan for Immigration which will break the business model of these heinous people smuggling networks and save lives.'

The spokesman added that the 'vast majority of migrants are entirely cooperative and compliant' and said: 'The Home Office dealt with a significant number of arrivals on Friday, all of whom were managed safely and in line with the rules.

He continued: 'We will continue to ensure we have the resources needed to process all arrivals safely and securely. Where the number of migrant arrivals is higher than expected, additional resources are deployed to ensure arrivals are managed effectively.'

He added that the Home Office that the description of a 'mob mentality' was 'entirely inaccurate', insisting: 'All arrivals were processed and sent to suitable accommodation.'

Between January 2019 and August 2020, only 155 migrants who crossed the Channel were returned to mainland Europe - a rate of about 3 per cent of arrivals.

This map shows the accommodation providers contracted by the Home Office to provide housing to asylum seekers

A child is guided by a Border Force official after getting off a boat at Dover Marina in Kent yesterday

Migrants arrive at the Kent coast after being brought into Britain by a Border Force cutter yesterday

Migrants arrive in Dover yesterday after travelling across the English Channel from northern France

People traffickers have been taking advantage of fine weather conditions, including off the Kent coast yesterday

Last year's total was more than four times the number seen in the previous 12 months. Conservative MP for Dover Natalie Elphicke said: 'Urgent action must be taken to stop these crossings.

How Priti Patel has paid France 28million to double officers patrolling French beaches Home Secretary Priti Patel agreed to pay France 28million to double the number of officers patrolling beaches to stop migrants crossing the Channel. The deal was signed last November in a virtual meeting between the Secretary of State and France's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin with a pledge to make the route 'completely unviable' for people smuggling gangs. The agreement, signed after discussions began last summer, also gave the green light for an 'enhanced package' of drones, radar equipment and fixed cameras to detect migrants attempting crossings. The upgraded protection started on December 1 and sees French police patrolling almost 100 miles of coastline which is regularly targeted by people smuggling networks. The deal also included steps to support migrants into accommodation in France, and measures to increase border security at ports in the north and west of the country. Advertisement

'That means tackling the criminal gangs at source, doing more to stop the small boats leaving France in the first place, turning them round in the Channel, and swiftly returning people who have entered the country through an illegal route of entry.

'The Government's new border system plans are straightforward and sensible but we also need more and firmer action now.'

In March, Mrs Patel unveiled a major overhaul of the UK's asylum system as she said illegal migrants 'should and could' make claims in the European countries they pass through on their way to Britain.

The Home Secretary warned the current asylum system is 'collapsing' because of the strain placed on it by people smugglers and dangerous Channel crossings as she set out a new plan to slash the privileges of those who come to the UK via an unauthorised route.

However, much of Ms Patel's crackdown will be contingent on securing agreement with other countries, particularly France, raising questions about how effectively the measures could be introduced while some illegal migrants will still be able to remain in the UK for potentially as long as 30 months.

The proposed changes will mean anyone arriving illegally who has passed through a 'safe country' will be considered 'inadmissible' to the UK's asylum system.

The Government will seek the 'rapid removal of inadmissible cases' to the safe country they travelled from or to another safe third country.

Meanwhile, Border Force will be given new powers to stop and redirect small boats and those on board away from the UK if they are suspected of trying to enter the country illegally. But this proposal will require agreement from the receiving port or country.

In a bid to further deter people smugglers, the maximum sentence for such activity will be raised to life. The Government will also expand its asylum estate with the creation of new reception centres which will provide basic accommodation while cases are processed.

A child holds a woman's hand while on board a Border Force vessel after being brought into Dover yesterday

Some 132 people were brought in to Dover Marina aboard a Border Force cutter at around noon yesterday

A dinghy at Dover Marina yesterday after 132 migrants were brought into shore on board a Border Force cutter

Some 132 people were brought in to Dover Marina aboard a Border Force cutter yesterday

A child is pictured at Dover Marina yesterday after 132 migrants arrived at the Kent coast

Mrs Patel vowed in autumn 2019 that the illegal journeys would be virtually eliminated by spring 2020, but there is mounting frustration in Whitehall that the French authorities are not doing enough to stop them.

Under the plan, patrols along the French coast were doubled and drones deployed as part of a 6million Home Office investment so the authorities in France could intercept boats before they even set sail.

People smugglers are now targeting new routes across the Channel. Small boats are increasingly also landing at Hastings, East Sussex  a crossing of 40 miles, twice the distance from Calais to Dover.

Migrants pay up to 13,000 for a place in a rickety dinghy, spurred on by the belief that if rescued by UK cutters they will be brought here.

Many asylum seekers are sent to a former army barracks in Kent despite serious concerns over conditions there.

A child wears a lifejacket on board a Border Force cutter yesterday as migrants are brought into the Kent coast at Dover

The Border Force cutter arrives at Dover Marina yesterday, with the town's famous castle visible in the background

A dinghy is pictured at Dover Marina yesterday following the Channel crossing by 132 migrants

Nearly 200 cases of Covid-19 were detected and dozens of residents had to be moved out of the military site in Folkestone, Kent, to deal with a crisis earlier this year.

Home Secretary Priti Patel (pictured in March) has vowed to make illegal immigration across the Channel 'unviable'

The Home Office has faced repeated criticism for its use of the military site with a group of MPs condemning the conditions as 'utterly unacceptable'.

The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has said it was a 'serious error of judgment' to think that military barracks could be suitable to house asylum seekers,

Cross-party members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) wrote to Home Secretary Priti Patel to say they 'entirely agree' with these concerns aired by Independent Chief Inspector David Bolt.

They branded the conditions at Napier Barracks and Penally Camp in Wales as 'utterly unacceptable'.

Both sites have been used to accommodate hundreds of asylum seekers since last September, despite Public Health England warning the Home Office that it was unsuitable.

Key problems included the ineffective safeguarding or residents which may include children, vulnerable people and those with mental health issues along with filthy or 'variable at best' levels of cleanliness.

Other issues included cramped conditions that made social distancing difficult, a lack of information for residents about how long they would be kept at the sites or how their claims were progressing and the negative mental impacts that all of this has on them.

An accommodation area of Napier Barracks in Kent where the Home Office has been housing asylum seekers

People walk through Napier Barracks in Kent in April which is being used by the government to house those seeking asylum

A sleeping area at Napier Barracks in Kent where the Home Office has been housing asylum seekers

Seven people were thought to have self-harmed there and a further seven had 'threatened suicide'. One 'actively suicidal resident' had remained on the site for more than a month.

And some asylum seekers believed to be children were kept at the barracks for long periods of time before being placed with social services. In one instance, this was for more than two months.

The MPs said they were 'extremely concerned' that Napier Barracks is still being used and have been calling for it to be shut down, stating that people who may be sent to the site for at least 60 to 90 days are at 'very serious risk of harm'.

Penally Camp's closure was announced in March. Ms Patel and immigration minister Chris Philp have both previously defended the use of such sites, despite the Home Office facing repeated criticism over the decision.

In January there was a riot at Napier which is said to have broken out after migrants were told they would no longer be transferred to hotels following a Covid outbreak.
A well-regarded criminal lawyer has confirmed she is in a relationship with former attorney-general Christian Porter, after sightings in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

Rumours had abounded that Mr Porter, 50, from Perth, Western Australia, had been seen on beachside strolls with lawyer Karen Espiner in Coogee recently.

On Wednesday evening Ms Espiner, co-founder of local firm Younes + Espiner Lawyers, confirmed that the pair had struck up a romance.

'We are in the early stages of a relationship,' Ms Espiner said in a statement.

'That relationship has not been a secret but it is a private matter which we do not intend to talk about in any detail.'

Love has blossomed between former attorney-general Christian Porter and specialist criminal lawyer Karen Espiner, from Coogee in Sydney's east, it was confirmed on Wednesday night

In a statement issued on Wednesday evening, Ms Espiner said the relationship wasn't a secret but a 'private matter'. Mr Porter had been seen far away from home in Coogee recently

The couple's romance appears to have come to light after the pair were seen together on a plane to Canberra.

Mr Porter, a divorced father-of-two, had been in Sydney - where he settled his defamation case with the ABC on Monday - before flying to the nation's capital for Parliament on Tuesday.

Gossip about the pairing has been whizzing around Sydney's legal district since March but hadn't been confirmed until now.

Ms Espiner confirmed the relationship to Daily Mail Australia, saying she had nothing to add.

At a press conference this week, Mr Porter sounded emotional as he spoke of close supporters who had backed him as he sued the public broadcaster.

Christian Porter announced he and wife Jennifer had split in 2020

'It's often said that during difficult times you get to know who your friends are,' he said.

'For me, the number of fairweather friends have been few.

'There have been a select group of people - and they know who they are - who have showed a level of courage in standing by me, even when the modern day lynch mob was targeting not just me, but anyone close to me.

'They demonstrated a type of courage to me that I will never forget.'

The ABC amended a February 2021 article reporting on a historical rape allegation against Mr Porter as a result of its settlement.

Mr Porter had always vehemently denied the claim and secured a note from the ABC saying it 'regretted' its article could be misinterpreted as an accusation of guilt against the cabinet minister.

Ms Espiner said in a statement that she wasn't involved in the defamation action.

Mr Porter split with his wife Jennifer, also a lawyer, in January 2020, after thirteen years together.

'It is a mutual decision and no third parties are involved,' they said.

'We have been working hard to see what could be possible because first and foremost we are loving parents to two wonderful little children.'

The bombshell document Christian Porter DOESN'T want you to read: Minister fights to keep the ABC's defamation defence from being released

By Daniel Piotrowski and Charlie Moore for Daily Mail Australia

Christian Porter will fight to have a 'scandalous' defence document submitted to a court by the ABC in his defamation battle kept secret.

The Morrison Government minister dropped his case against the ABC after reaching a settlement with the public broadcaster over a February 26 article written by reporter Louise Milligan.

The ABC was forced to say it 'regrets' that the report could be 'misinterpreted' as making an accusation that Mr Porter was guilty of a historical rape, which he has vehemently denied.

But as of Tuesday morning it remains up in the air as to whether 27 blacked out pages of an ABC defence document will ever be made available for public consumption.

While the ABC added an editor's note to the end of Louise Milligan's February 26 article as part of the settlement, it will not take the report down or pay Mr Porter damages

The pages were kept confidential during the case on an interim basis, after Mr Porter's lawyers argued the document should be redacted because it contained material that was 'scandalous' and potentially an abuse of the process.

As part of their settlement, the ABC and Mr Porter agreed that the document could be permanently removed from the court file - which would mean the press couldn't report its contents with legal protection.

However, Federal Court Justice Jayne Jagot on Tuesday said she had concerns about the parties' proposed order, saying it was essentially a permanent suppression order.

Media outlets will oppose the order, the court heard, and Justice Jagot said: 'It's not a matter for simply the parties to agree.'

The judge will also need to decide whether a blogger from the Kangaroo Court website, Shane Dowling, can intervene separately in the case.

Justice Jagot indicated that she will order a hearing be held into the matters at a later date.

Mr Porter filed his case against the ABC and journalist Ms Milligan in March, claiming he was the victim of a malicious 'trial by media' regarding denied allegations that he raped his 16-year-old female debating teammate in Sydney 1988, when he was 17.

The court document is presently redacted

The former attorney-general was not named as the alleged rapist in the ABC report published, but later outed himself as the senior minister accused of the crime in a tearful media conference.

His lawyers claimed 'many Australians' could have figured out the story was about him and challenged the ABC to prove the allegations are true in the Federal Court.

But following mediation, Mr Porter decided to drop the case. He was not paid any settlement fee but the ABC was required to update its article with an editors' note expressing 'regret' that readers may have thought the minister was guilty.

Mr Porter claimed victory and said the ABC had been forced in to a 'humiliating backdown' - however, the national broadcaster said it 'stands by the importance of the article'.

Attorney-General Christian Porter (pictured denying rape allegations in a tearful presser) sued the ABC for publishing an article online accusing him of raping a debating teammate in 1988



Mr Porter said on Monday that he didn't think the article should 'have ever been printed and published in the way that it was.

'It was sensationalist, one-sided, unfair and it is the sort of reporting that any Australian can be subject to unless people stand up to it,' he said outside court in Sydney.

'The ABC and Louise Milligan have been forced to say that the accusations in the article could not be proven to a civil standard or a criminal standard.

'So the same people who were calling for some kind of civil hearing have now been forced to say that the accusations would not be proven to a civil standard.

'Now, I never thought that the ABC would get to that point but that is the point that they would get to,' he said.

He thanked his supporters and friends who stood by him, even when 'the modern-day lynch mob was targeting me.'

The industry minister said he would not ask to return to his former role as attorney general and would contest the next election in his seat of Pearce in Perth.

'I have aspirations to get on with the job of being a minister,' he said.

The ABC's editor's note reads: 'On 26 February 2021, the ABC published an article by Louise Milligan. That article was about a letter to the Prime Minister containing allegations against a senior cabinet minister. Although he was not named, the article was about the Attorney-General Christian Porter.

'The ABC did not intend to suggest that Mr Porter had committed the criminal offences alleged.

'The ABC did not contend that the serious accusations could be substantiated to the applicable legal standard  criminal or civil.

'However, both parties accept that some readers misinterpreted the article as an accusation of guilt against Mr Porter. That reading, which was not intended by the ABC, is regretted.'

In its statement, the broadcaster added: 'The ABC stands by our investigative and public interest journalism, which is always pursued in the interests of the Australian community.

'The ABC stands by Louise Milligan, one of Australia's foremost and most awarded investigative journalists, and all our journalists in their independent and brave reporting on matters about which Australians have a right to be informed.'

Following Mr Porter's press conference, the ABC said it does not 'regret' the article.

A spokeswoman said: 'The ABC has never and still does not accept that the article suggested guilt on the part of Mr Porter.

'The ABC did not plead a truth defence to the guilt meaning that Mr Porter alleged in his statement of claim.

'The article was not sensationalist. It was an accurate and factual report on a letter that had been sent to the Prime Minister and two other senior politicians.'

Mr Porter categorically denied raping a 16-year-old fellow debater when he was 17 in March.

Christian Porter (pictured during a debate when he was a schoolboy) said the alleged rape 'just didn't happen'

'The things that have been claimed to happen did not happen,' he said at an emotional press conference, unveiling his identity as the senior politician alluded to in the article.

'I did not sleep with the [alleged] victim. We didn't have anything of that nature happen between us,' he added.

By unveiling himself, Mr Porter ended six days of speculation over the accused's identity.

'The things I have read did not happen. And to suggest that they could be forgotten is ridiculous, they just never happened,' he said.

The accuser, who struggled with her mental health for years, told police about her allegation in February last year.

The woman, who has been named only as Kate, took her own life in June. NSW Police closed their investigation into the matter in March.
Lord Frost has demanded more 'common sense' from the EU as he warned the Northern Ireland Protocol is 'not sustainable' unless checks are toned down.

The Brexit minister ramped up pressure on Brussels as he visited the province to meet business and community representatives angry about the rules.

Sectarian tensions have been fuelled by a raft of checks on goods at the ports of Belfast and Larne, with unionists protesting about obstacles to trade with the British mainland.

New DUP leader Edwin Poots has accused the EU of using Northern Ireland as a 'plaything' to punish the UK for leaving the bloc.

Lord Frost (right) has been negotiating Maros Sefcovic over changing the Northern Ireland protocol rules

There have been rising concerns that the post-Brexit rules agreed by Boris Johnson are fuelling sectarian tensions in Northern Ireland. Pictured, Loyalist protests in Belfast last month

Lord Frost said last night: 'It is clear from the conversations we have had with businesses here today that the way the protocol is operating is presenting various challenges. I've heard from business groups how some suppliers in GB are beginning to stop sending products into Northern Ireland.

'We have also heard about reduced availability of choice, cancelled deliveries, products being pulled, interference with movements.

'The protocol relies on cross-community support but this situation does risk undermining that. Our number one priority as the UK Government is protection of the Good Friday Agreement in all its dimensions, north-south and east-west, and that is the top priority of the protocol itself.

'We hope the Commission share that view, although if so they aren't always as clear about it as they could be.'

The peer added: 'The major issue that worries us now is the EU continues to want to treat the regulatory boundary in the Irish Sea as if it were like any other external border, despite the obligations of the protocol to facilitate trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to avoid controls at the ports and airports of Northern Ireland to the most extent possible.

'We are committed to working through the issues with the EU, to find a way forward and have been doing so intensively for the last few months. We have proposed a range of solutions to the existing problems but progress is limited. We do think the EU needs to show more common sense and pragmatism.

'It is hard to see the protocol as currently operating could be sustainable for long and we continue to consider all other options.'

Mr Poots stepped up his attack on the EU yesterday as he pointed out that once grace periods end more checks will be carried out on goods from Britain than take place in Rotterdam.

He accused the bloc of doing 'demonstrable harm to every individual in Northern Ireland', warning that Boris Johnson has grounds to suspend the protocol automatically.

But European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic - who is leading negotiations with Lord Frost over changing the rules - dismissed the criticism, making clear that axing the protocol is not on the cards.
Advertisement

Health Secretary Matt Hancock ordered a taxi with his wife yesterday - as the UK recorded zero Covid deaths but questions over his competency remained after a savaging by former No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings.

The Minister - who denied 'criminal, disgraceful behaviour' alleged by Mr Cummings - looked relaxed yesterday in Exmouth Market in London.

He was accompanied by his wife Martha on the day the good news of no-daily coronavirus fatalities were announced. The couple have four children.

Mr Hancock, 42, has had turbulent few days amid the fallout from the former Downing Street aide's evidence to ministers.

But as he and his wife waited for the cab he was seen grinning broadly and appeared to have not a care in the world.

Both of them seemed preoccupied by their mobile phones and were spotted glancing at them, perhaps hoping for an update on their car.

A happy Matt Hancock smiles as he waits with his wife Martha in the sunshine in London as she clutches her mobile phone

Martha and Matt Hancock were in Exmouth Market in London yesterday for the day while Parliament is in recess

The pair seem fascinated by their mobile phones, which may have been connected to the cab which arrived shortly after

He married Martha, whose full name was Martha Hoyer Millar, back in 2006.

She works as an osteopathand is the granddaughter of Frederick Millar, 1st Baron Inchyra.

Pictures of them together - during Parliament recess - came as it emerged the health minister has ordered officials to draw-up a detailed timeline of decisions made around care homes during the pandemic.

The scheduling list has been commissioned in a bid to rebut allegations made against him by Mr Cummings.

He effectively admitted he had allowed patients to be discharged from hospitals into care homes without being tested for coronavirus during the first surge.

'My recollection of events is that I committed to delivering that testing for people going from hospital into care homes when we could do it,' Mr Hancock told a Downing Street press conference.

The pair looked in bliss as they strolled around the tourist spot hand in hand as a couple as the temperatures stayed high

It was a dressed-down look for Mr Hancock, who is normally seen in his smart suits in the official Downing Street briefings

At one point them were seen queuing and maintained strict social distancing, despite being a couple and living together

Matt Hancock at a Downing Street press conference on May 27, 2021, in his usual attire for the serious announcements

Dominic Cummings in Parliament giving evidence to MPs on May 26, 2021, where he slated Mr Hancock and his record

The Health Secretary is under growing political pressure after last week admitting he had allowed patients to be discharged from hospitals into care homes without being tested for coronavirus during the first surge. Stock image used

Every British adult will be able to get vaccinated within weeks  as country records ZERO Covid deaths for the first time in 447 days giving further hope the jabs are working despite 30 percent rise in cases Ministers are preparing to offer vaccines to all over-18s within weeks to help halt the spread of the Indian variant as the UK reported zero Covid deaths for the first time in 10 months. So far only adults aged 30 and over have been invited for their jabs and health leaders are focusing their efforts on giving older people their second dose. But it is understood officials are planning to open up the eligibility to all age groups amid concerns the Indian strain - which has been renamed as the 'Delta variant' - is spreading very quickly among the young. Meanwhile in a speech today Health Secretary Matt Hancock will praise the country's 'extraordinary vaccine heroes'  including healthcare staff and volunteers. At a speech outside the Jenner Institute in Oxford, where the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was developed, Mr Hancock will pay particular tribute to the NHS, scientists and the armed forces for helping deliver 65million vaccines so far. 'The biggest risk would have been the failure to find a vaccine at all. So we explicitly embraced risk early on,' he will say. 'So we backed lots of horses and invested at risk. 'And instead of sitting back and waiting to see which vaccines came off, we were tenacious in helping them to get over the line, drawing on the abundant industry experience in our team. The team who worked on our vaccination programme was the single greatest asset that we had in this crisis.' Advertisement

His comments came 24 hours after Mr Cummings told MPs that the Health Secretary had lied in March last year by announcing all care home residents returning from hospital would be tested when they were not.

Mr Hancock is understood to have tasked policy officials to write a chronology of decisions around adult social care and care homes during the pandemic.

The Telegraph reports that this is preparation for when he appears before MPs in two weeks to give his own evidence in response to Mr Cummings.

A senior Department of Health and Social Care source told the paper: 'He's not sparing any effort to rebut Cummings's narrative.'

Around 25,000 people were discharged from hospitals into care homes without all getting a test during the first wave of the pandemic.

The latest figures from the UK's statistics agencies show there have been 36,275 deaths involving Covid in care homes since the crisis began.

Public Health England also released data suggesting just 1.7 per cent of care home outbreaks between January 30 and October 12 were potentially seeded in a hospital.

Mr Hancock last week claimed he only promised to 'build testing capacity' after Mr Cummings accused him of lying to Prime Minister Boris Johnson about whether residents would be screened on leaving hospital.

The Health Secretary finally addressed the issue directly as he was repeatedly grilled on the allegations from the maverick former No10 chief at a Downing Street briefing.

Pressed on whether he had told Mr Johnson and others in government early in the pandemic that checks on discharge would happen, Mr Hancock said: 'My recollection of events is that I committed to delivering that testing for people going from hospital into care homes when we could do it.'

But he insisted 'it wasn't possible' to carry out the testing until the capacity had been built.

He also tried to bat away questions by suggesting they are best considered in the public inquiry, which will not begin until next year. 'There will be a time when we can go into this in detail,' he said.

Earlier, Mr Hancock told the Commons that Mr Cummings' claims during an explosive committee hearing yesterday - including that he lied repeatedly, failed care home residents and should have been 'sacked daily' - were 'not true' and he had been 'straight with people'.

The UK yesterday reported zero Covid deaths for the first time since July 30 last year

Ministers are preparing to offer vaccines to all over-18s within weeks

However, he was challenged on the issue again after he seemed to avoid responding to the specific allegation about care homes - where thousands died when coronavirus ran riot in the initial phase of the pandemic.

Mr Cummings said Mr Hancock 'categorically' told colleagues in March that people would be tested before being returned to homes.

But the former aide said they 'subsequently found out that that hadn't happened'.

Mr Hancock was asked if he could say he protected care homes, and was also asked if he made the commitment on testing.

He replied: 'We worked as hard as we could to protect people who live in care homes, and of course those who live in care homes are some of the most vulnerable to this disease because by its nature it attacks and has more of an impact on older people.

'Now when it comes to the testing of people as they left hospital and went into care homes, we committed to building the testing capacity to allow that to happen.

'Of course it then takes time to build testing capacity.

'In fact, one of the critical things we did was set the 100,000 target back then to make sure we built that testing capacity and it was very effective in doing so.

'And then we were able to introduce the policy of testing everybody before going into care homes, but we could only do that once we had the testing capacity which I had to build, because we didn't have it in this country from the start.

'We started with a capacity of less than 2,000 in March last year and got to 100,000 tests a day. And we set all of this out at the time in public documents.

'It's all a matter of public record.'

Summoned to answer an urgent question in the House, Mr Hancock said: 'These unsubstantiated allegations around honesty are not true.

'I have been straight with people in public and in private throughout.'

Mr Hancock also dismissed Mr Cummings' criticism of his testing target, saying it was 'how you get stuff done in government'.

'I am proud of everyone in my department,' he said.

In a brutal swipe at the ex-No10 chief, who was ousted from Downing Street in November, he said people can see that over the past six months 'governing has become a little easier and we have been able to deliver'.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross is self-isolating today over Covid fears - a day after he attended the Scottish Parliament.

Mr Ross was informed this morning that someone he was in contact with on Monday had tested positive, the Conservatives said.

He was already at Holyrood this morning when he got the news and shut himself in his office before returning to an Edinburgh hotel room to isolate.

Four other Scottish Conservative MSPs and five members of staff will take coronavirus tests as a precaution, while two MSPs from another party have also been advised to do so.

Mr Ross was in the socially distanced Parliament chamber yesterday as leader of the opposition as Nicola Sturgeon outlined a 'pause' to the easing of Scotland's lockdown.

Mr Ross was in the socially distanced Parliament chamber yesterday as leader of the opposition as Nicola Sturgeon outlined a 'pause' to the easing of Scotland's lockdown.

Mr Ross was informed this morning that someone he was in contact with on Monday had tested positive, the Conservatives said.

In a statement the Scottish Conservatives said: 'Douglas Ross is self-isolating after coming into contact on Monday with someone who has now tested positive for Covid.

'He was informed that a close contact had tested positive this morning by text message at approximately 8.40am, by which time he was already in the Scottish Parliament.

'The Scottish Parliament authorities were informed immediately and their guidance sought on how to proceed, during which time Douglas remained in his parliamentary office.

'Parliament informed the Scottish Conservatives of options available to Douglas, since he has not yet been contacted by Test and Protect.

'Douglas has decided that the safest approach is to immediately self-isolate in the Edinburgh hotel he has been staying in. He will be getting a test as soon as possible. The hotel were informed that he would be arriving to self-isolate.

'Five members of staff and four MSPs are also planning to take Covid tests as soon as possible, purely as a precaution.

'A further two MSPs from another party have also been informed that they may wish to take a test as a precaution.'
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman in her 80s was found dead at a house.

Emergency services were called to Nuneaton, Warwickshire, at around 9.10am on June 1 following concerns for a pensioner inside a property.

The elderly woman, who has not yet been named, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Warwickshire Police said her death is currently being treated as suspicious and a post-mortem is due to take place.

A woman in her 80s was found dead at a property on College Street, in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, at around 9.10am on June 1

Warwickshire Police were called to the residential street following concerns for a pensioner inside a property

The woman's next of kin has been informed and is being supported by specialist liaison officers.

A 31-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody where he is being questioned by detectives.

Today, a police car remained on guard outside the house as forensic teams carried out their investigations.

A blue and white forensic tent has also been erected outside the property.

Detective Chief Inspector Caroline Corfield said: 'An investigation has been launched and a number of enquiries are now ongoing to ascertain the circumstances of this incident.

A 31-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody. Pictured: Police officers stand outside the property where the elderly woman was found

The property has been cordoned off and a blue and white forensic tent has also been erected outside as detectives carry out their investigations

'As part of our enquiries, we would like to speak to anyone who may have witnessed any suspicious behaviour in the area between 7pm last night and 9am this morning.

'Anyone with any information is asked to call Warwickshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 94 of 1 June 2021.

'Our thoughts are with the woman's family at this difficult time, and we would ask that their privacy is respected.'
Hu Xijin, a Chinese journalist and editor of the state-run Global Times is urging China to engage in a nuclear showdown with the United States just days after President Joe Biden asked his National Security Adviser and Intelligence Community to conduct an analysis on the origins of COVID, specifically the Wuhan lab leak theory, which gained traction in the last few weeks following newly surfaced reports about evidence coming to light.

The Wuhan lab leak theory is one of two main theories surrounding the origins of COVID. It was previously labeled by mainstream media as merely a conspiracy theory after it was heavily politicized during the Trump era. But now that more evidence has come to light to support the idea, both American and British intelligence are working towards investigating the possibility that COVID had in fact come from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where studies on coronaviruses are conducted.

This did not sit well with China. According to The Blaze, Hu responded to President Biden's eagerness to launch an investigation into the Wuhan lab leak theory by saying that China must prepare for a "high-intensity showdown" with the Western country. The Chinese propagandist's message was published in Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like social media platform that is allowed to operate under the communist state's strict rules.

"Given the intensifying US strategic containment of China, I would like to remind once again that we have many urgent tasks, but one of the most important is to keep rapidly increasing the number of nuclear warheads and strategic missiles like the Dongfeng 41 with extremely long-range and high survival capabilities. This is the cornerstone of China's strategic resilience against the United States," a translation of part of the message from Hu provided by Chinese human rights activist Jennifer Zeng read.

"We must be prepared for a high-intensity showdown between the US and China, at which point a large number of DF-41 and JL-2 and JL-3 will be the backbone of our strategic will," Hu declared. "Our nuclear missiles must be so numerous that the US elite will tremble at the thought of military confrontation with China at that time."

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian took a calmer approach to responding to President Biden's statement, but condemned the U.S.' decision to investigate further. According to The Guardian, Zhao criticized the U.S. intelligence committee's "notorious track record," citing its lack of intelligence to justify the attacks on Iraq in 2003.

"[The US's] one aim is to use the pandemic to pursue stigmatisation and political manipulation to shift the blame," Zhao said. "They are being disrespectful to science, irresponsible to people's lives, and counterproductive to concerted global efforts to fight the virus."

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin also condemned the U.S.' move to prove the Wuhan lab leak theory, with Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin telling Times of India that the "[COVID] origins-tracing work to depend on scientists, not intelligence staff, and the work should not be dictated by certain countries."

Interestingly, reports indicate that China itself controlled the recent WHO investigation that looked into the origins of COVID-19. The investigators merely received reports from Chinese authorities. Further, the person that led the WHO's investigation into the virus' origins, Peter Daszak, admittedly had ties to the Chinese Communist Party, which is exhausting efforts to avoid taking responsibility for the virus that first broke out in Wuhan.
A comedian dressed as Superman was unexpectedly hit by a bus after he tried, and failed, to show off his strength by halting the moving vehicle with his hand.

Luiz Ribeiro de Andrade, who goes by the name 'Superman', was hit by a bus in the Brazilian municipality of Barra dos Coqueiros when his stunt went wrong on May 30.

The presenter, 35, was dressed head-to-toe in a classic red and blue Superman outfit as he filmed himself trying to prove his super-strength by mimicking halting a bus with his hand.

Footage shows the man of steel confidently standing in the middle of the road and holding a microphone as a bus comes speeding straight towards him.

Luiz Ribeiro de Andrade (pictured), who goes by the name 'Superman', was hit by a bus in the Brazilian municipality of Barra dos Coqueiros when a stunt went wrong on May 30

The presenter, 35, dressed in a Superman outfit as he filmed himself (left) trying to prove his super-strength by halting a bus with his hand, but he was instead hit by the vehicle (right)

But the video shows things quickly taking a turn for the worse as the wanna-be Superman is hit by the bus, before stumbling forward in surprise.

Despite his stunt epically failing, Luiz is seen calmly walking down the road afterwards, appearing to be unscathed following the collision.

In the clip, he joked: 'Now I've seen I really am made of steel'.

In an interview given to F5 News the next day, Luiz said he miscalculated his distance and ended up being hit by the bus, rather than simply halting it with his hand.

He also said that the 'hand of God' had saved him from getting more seriously injured in his stunt, adding that he luckily didn't feel 'anything' with the 'knock'.

In an interview given the next day, Luiz (pictured) said he miscalculated his distance and ended up being hit by the bus, rather than simply halting it with his hand

'Superman' (pictured) said that the 'hand of God' had saved him from getting more seriously injured in his stunt, adding that he luckily didn't feel 'anything' with the 'knock'

Luiz (pictured) said the accident was completely his fault and that there was no problem with the bus' brakes, as he had suggested in his video

He added that the accident was completely his fault and that there was no problem with the bus' brakes, as he had suggested in his video.

He told F5 News: 'I take responsibility for everything. I went to the bus company so that the driver would not be penalised.

'There was no problem with the brakes. He did what he could and I acted wrong.

'It's a stunt I always do, but this time it almost turned into an accident, and it wasn't serious because the hand of God was there.

'I didn't feel anything with the knock. I was hit through my own fault and a miracle of God took place there. God acted at that time and protected me.'

The transport company, Setransp, issued a statement emphasising 'the importance of attention to traffic (and) ensuring all necessary care'.
A woman whose boyfriend's son vanished last month has been charged after she was found in a motel room with a child's corpse was found stuffed inside a tote bag.

The body - believed to be that of six year-old Samuel Olson - was discovered by police acting on an anonymous tip at a Best Western motel in Jasper, 135 miles northeast of the little boy's home city of Houston on Tuesday night.

Theresa Balboa, the girlfriend of Samuel's father, Dalton Olson, was arrested in Jasper County on Tuesday night after being found at the motel alongside the child's remains.

Balboa was located after police were tipped off to her whereabouts, with officers said to have made contact with her when they arrived at the motel, before finding the corpse a short time later.

She remains in jail in Jasper County, but will be returned to Houston, where she also lives, to face charges.

Houston Police Assistant Chief Heather Morris said during a press conference on Wednesday that officers believe the remains were those of Samuel, who would have celebrated his sixth birthday on Saturday.

'At this time, we believe the child to be Samuel, but we cannot confirm it is him, until the medical examiner makes that determination,' Morris said. No further information on a cause of death has been shared, or a possible motive.

Morris said the woman currently faces a charge of tampering with evidence, but she did not rule out additional counts. Police confirmed that Balboa was out on bond stemming from last fall's domestic violence incident involving Samuel's father.

Balboa has been accused of reporting him missing almost a month after his disappearance, with her car and home now being combed by forensic teams for potential evidence.

Police in Texas on Tuesday found a body that is suspected of being that of missing Samuel Olson, 6 (left). Theresa Balboa (pictured right in her new mugshot), the girlfriend of Samuel's father, has been arrested and charged with evidence tampering

The map above shows the three locations associated with the search for missing Samuel Olson

Houston Police say the last confirmed sighting of Samuel was at his school on April 30, with his paternal grandmother claiming to have spoken to him on the phone around May 8 or 9. Investigators are also working to try and confirm when he was last seen alive.

Morris said Samuel's father is not considered a person of interest in his death at this time, but investigators continue to speak with him. No motive has been disclosed so far.

According to Jasper Police Chief Gerald Hall, the remains believed to be those of Samuel had been inside the motel room for some time.

A medical examiner is now working to positively identify the body.

Police recovered the remains believed to be that of Samuel stuffed inside a tote bag in a room at this motel in Jasper, Texas, on Tuesday

Samuel's father, Dalton Olson (pictured with his girlfriend Balboa) said the six-year-old is his 'whole world.' He has not been named a suspect

Balboa reported Samuel missing on May 27 in the 8800 block of McAvoy Drive in Houston, having claimed the boy was taken by his biological mother, Sarah Olson, and a person dressed as a police officer.

TIMELINE OF SAMUEL OLSON CASE: April 30: Samuel Olson, 5, seen for the last time by anyone outside his family May 8-9: Samuel's paternal grandmother, Tonya Olson, says she spent the weekend with her grandson May 27: Theresa Balboa, girlfriend of Samuel's father, Dalton Olson, reports him missing in Houston June 1: Police in Jasper, Texas, receive anonymous tip that leads them to Best Western motel, where they find Balboa and later child's body in plastic bin Advertisement

'I was going to take Sam to school when his mother showed up with the police officer, or who I was under the impression to be a police officer, and they demanded me to release Sam,' Balboa told ABC13 on Monday.

Dalton Olson and Samuel's biological mother, Sarah Olson, share custody of the child.

Balboa said because she does not have any legal rights to Samuel, she was forced to hand him over to his birth mother and the person dressed in a full police uniform, complete with a gun, handcuffs and a Harris County badge.

Cops were unable to verify Balboa's version of events.

Houston police said Samuel's mother told them she does not know where her son is.

Houston police Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite told reporters that the last confirmed sighting of Samuel was April 30 at Holbrook Elementary School.

Samuels paternal grandmother, Tonya Olson, claimed he was with her the following weekend, May 8-9, and that she then heard his voice on the phone a little over a week ago.

Sarah Olson, Samuel's birth mother (pictured together, left), said through a lawyer that she had primary custody of the boy but had not seen him since January 2020

Sarah Olson claimed that her ex-husband had taken their son and failed to return him

Prior to the heartbreaking discovery in Jasper, Sarah Olson said through her lawyer that she had been denied access to her son since the last time she saw him in January 2020, despite having primary custody of him.

Attorney Marco Gonzalez told Click2Houston that the story told by her ex-husband's girlfriend about the mother picking up Samuel with a person dressed as a cop was a lie, and that she had not seen her son in a year.

According to Gonzalez, Sarah and Dalton Olson divorced, and the mother was given primary custody of Samuel in 2019.

The former spouses initially would hand over Samuel to one another through the boy's paternal grandmother, Tonya Olson.

But after one of the handovers a year ago, Dalton Olson allegedly failed to return Samuel to his ex-wife. The attorney did not say what, if any, legal steps Sarah Olson had taken to try and reclaim custody of her son over the past 16 months.

Dalton Olson on Tuesday defended his conduct pertaining to Samuel prior to the discovery of the body.

'I've literally tried to do everything from the very beginning to do what's best for my son,' the father said. 'That is my whole world and I can't imagine if anything happened to him and I believe he's still out there.'

Sarah said that the story told to the media by her ex-husband's ex-girlfriend tying her to Samuel's disappearance was a lie. Police said the body at the motel that is believed to be that of the six-year-old had been there for some time

It has since emerged that Samuel may have been seen at an apartment on Gulf Breeze in southeast Houston where Balboa was said to have lived with a man.

On Monday night, police executed a search warrant at the Gateway at Ellington apartment complex and impounded Balboa's black Dodge sedan.

Volunteers with non-profit search group Texas EquuSearch joined the search for Samuel scoured a nearby area around the Gulf Freeway and Dixie Farm Road.

'I've worked many, many of these cases. I don't have a good feeling,' said Texas EquuSearch founder Tim Miller. 'Nobody can find out anybody that's credible that can tell us the last time he was seen and where.'

Dalton Olson is pictured embracing his mother, with his girlfriend standing on the side

Police on Monday impounded Balboa's Dodge sedan from an apartment complex where she lived with a man

Samuel is 3 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 50lbs, with blue eyes and golden brown hair

Balboa was charged with assault of a family member  impeding breathing in November 2020 after she allegedly choked Dalton Olson. Olson was said to have been issued an emergency protective order against Balboa. The woman is pictured in previous mugshots

Meanwhile, court records uncovered by Click2Houston indicate that Balboa was charged with assault of a family member  impeding breathing in November 2020 after she allegedly choked Dalton Olson.

Olson was said to have been issued an emergency protective order against Balboa, barring her from having direct contact with the victim or any member of his family.

When asked about the order, Olson said that he and Balboa have reconciled, and that the choking incident had nothing to do with his son, who was not present during that altercation.

Olson further defended Balboa, saying that she has been helping him care for his son while he was at work.

'I feel like I'm having a bad dream that I can't wake up from,' he said.
Advertisement

Detectives are hunting looters who secretly stripped fuel tanks, pipes and wires from a WWII plane that crashed in Kent.

Conservationists discovered the protected remains of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress were being plundered while it lay grounded in a bay near Ramsgate, Kent.

The US Air Force heavy bomber crashed into the beach in December 1943 due to damaged fuel tanks - but all its crew escaped unscathed.

A local metal detectorist saw a looter stripping the plane for parts before loading it into a trolley to cart it away on Saturday and quickly informed Kent Police.

Detectives are hunting looters who stripped multiple parts from a WWII plane that crashed in Kent (the wreckage, pictured)

US plane (wreckage, pictured) was manned by a 10-man crew from the US Air Force's 303rd Bomb Group, based in Oregon

The force has urged anyone with information to get in touch.

It is illegal under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 to enter or tamper with wrecked military vessels or aircraft - and experts have blasted the vandal as 'disgraceful' and his actions 'illegal'.

Closer inspection by officials revealed the plane had been 'stripped' by an individual who 'systematically looted' it before wheeling away the parts in a trolley.

Fuel tanks, pipes and wiring were all missing - and experts fear a tools were used to 'hack away at the right wing'.

The B-17 was primarily flown by the United States Army Air Corps in strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial, military and civilian targets.

The planes often flew out of airfields in England, piloted by captains in the United States Eighth Air Force.

The US B-17E Flying Fortress bomber (file image) crashed into the beach in December 1943 due to damaged fuel tanks

Pictured: An aerial view of the wreckage site of the B-17 which crashed off the Kent coast during the Second World War

Bomber crashed on its first mission to Germany The plane that crashed off the coast of Kent - B-17 42-31243 - was taking part in its first mission and was on its way to Germany when the crew were forced to abandon it. The plane was piloted by Alan Eckhart and co-piloted by Elton Jenkins. Other crew members included navigator George Arvanites, radio operator Fred Kuehl, gunners Edward Madak and Michael Musashe and bombardier Robert Meagher. Making up the 10-man crew was flight engineer Francis Nuener, tail gunner Nyle Smith while Angelo Tambe operated the ball turret gun. On 01 Dec 43 mission #85 to Solingen, Germany, B-17G 42-31243 was ditched in the English Channel at Pegwell Bay when the bomber ran out of fuel. The entire 10 man crew was picked by the British Air Sea Rescue and taken to RAF Manston. All ten men returned to duty after the crash. Advertisement

Britain's Royal Airforce acquired 20 B-17s - which they named Fortress I - in 1940, but they proved unsuccessful as bombers due to poor performance during raids.

The B-17 which sits off the coast of Kent was manned by members of the 303rd Bomb Group and the 427th bomb squadron both of the US Air Force.

The plane was on its first mission and was headed to Solingen in Germany.

It was piloted by Second Lieutenant Alan Eckhart of the 303rd bomb group and co-piloted by Second Lieutenant Elton Jenkins.

The bomber crashed when it ran out of fuel in December 1943.

The 10-man crew escaped unscathed. They were later rescued and were all taken to RAF Manston in the north east of the county.

Kent coastal warden and metal detectorist Tony Ovenden, 64 - who raised the alarm - said: 'It's just so wrong, it's stealing our heritage. For your typical B17 collector that site is an Aladdin's cave.

'It's probably one of the few sites in Europe where a B17 is accessible by foot and that's the problem.

'When I find things in the bay I conserve our heritage. He is stealing it, taking it for personal gratification.'

Services Archaeology and Heritage Association branded the looter 'disgraceful and illegal'.

They added in a statement: 'We have been contacted about the looting of a B17 Flying Fortress on the Sandwich flats.

A metal detectorist saw a looter stripping the plane (pictured) for parts before loading it into a trolley on Saturday

Closer inspection by officials revealed the plane (pictured) had been 'stripped' by an individual who 'systematically looted' it

'Witnesses saw an individual in the water wearing a wetsuit trying to remove parts of the aircraft.

'Closer inspection of the B17 that it has been stripped. The fuel tanks have gone, fuel pipes and wiring also missing. There was evidence of tools being used to hack away at the right wing.

'Looks like this individual has been systematically looting the B17 using a trolley to cart pieces off.

'It's illegal under The Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 which prohibits entering and tampering with wrecked military vessels or aircraft.'

Kent Police, Historic England, HM Coast Guard and the Ministry of Defence have since been informed.

A Kent Police spokesperson said: 'Kent Police has received a report that items were removed from the crash site of a World War 2 plane in Sandwich Bay at some point between May 28 and 29.'

They urged anyone with information about the looting to get in touch.
This is the disgusting moment a lout was caught urinating on a grandmother's doorstep while on a night out with friends.

The footage has been captured by Sarah Lindley's doorbell camera which has caught men relieving themselves in front of her house in Colwyn Bay, north Wales.

In the latest video, a group of men can be seen walking past Sarah's home before one turns back to urinate in front of her door.

Grandmother Sarah Lindley is frustrated after repeatedly catching groups of men (pictured) urinating in front of her home in Colwyn Bay, north Wales, as they walk past after nights out

In the latest incident, one man who is called Connor by friends, is made aware of the doorbell camera only to tell his friends he doesn't care as he continues to urinate on Sarah's door

In the video, which was captured by a doorbell camera (pictured), a group of girls walk past and one calls the man a 'dirty b*****d' to which he replies 'yeh I'm a dirty boy - you love it'

The man tells his friends: 'Move away while I have a p*** so no one f*****g gets eyes on me.'

One of the group can be heard saying: 'Oy Connor, there's a Ring doorbell right there.'

To which he replies: 'I don't care.'

Some passing women call him a 'dirty b*****d.'

He replies: 'Yeah, I'm a dirty boy, you love it.'

And it was the second time shocked Sarah caught revellers going to the toilet in front of her house in Colwyn Bay, north Wales - after previously catching two men urinating on her car.

The pair were caught relieving themselves on Sarah's Renault after one can be heard saying: 'It's a red Kadjar - you've got to p*** on it'.

The men pee on the door handles with one saying: 'When the kids open the door in the morning they'll have p*** on their hands.'

Not the first time: In an earlier video, caught by Sarah's camera last February, two men were caught purposely urinating on her car which was parked in front of her home (pictured)

Pictured: In the video, the men talk about purposely urinating on the Renault Kadjar's door handles so that anyone using the car the next day would end up with urine on their hands

Pair were caught relieving themselves after one says: 'It's a red Kadjar - you've got to p*** on it'

Sarah said: 'These two idiots think it's funny to pee on my car, but what's worse is that one of them says my kids will have his p*** on their hands in the morning. What a guy.'

Sarah is now urging men to find a proper toilet rather than choosing her home as a urinal.

She said: 'It would appear lockdown is over and the peeing restarts.

'I couldn't believe it when I saw what this man was doing in what is very obviously a door to a home.

'You can see his friends pointing out that there is a Ring doorbell and he clearly doesn't care.

'I just want to ask Connor to use a proper toilet or somewhere where others don't constantly use. Like my front door.

'It's the lack of care and respect. Words escape me.'
Advertisement

This is the extraordinary moment a tigress attacked and killed a leopard in India in what is believed to have been a rare territorial dispute.

The gruesome scene was captured in the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan, near Jaipur in northern India, by business owners Yashvardhan Singh Shekhawat, 24, and his cousin Abhimanyu Singh Rajvi, 30.

The pair said the tigress had leaped around 10ft into a tree in order to grab a leopard which had been hiding in the branches, before dragging it to the ground and breaking its neck.

Shekhawat and his cousin then snapped the huntress crossing the road with her kill. Initially the pair thought the tiger was hunting, but park rangers later found the leopard's body uneaten.

Tigers are sometimes known to kill other predators such as leopards and crocodiles if they feel threatened.

A female tiger was captured on camera attacking and killing a leopard in India - breaking its rival's neck in a fight before dragging it across a road (pictured)

The brawl took place at the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan, with witness Yashvardhan Singh Shekhawat saying the tiger leaped 10ft into a tree to drag its rival to the ground

Yashvardhan said: 'We woke up around 5:30am and entered the jungle at the Sariska Tiger Reserve.

'We knew a predator was close because other animals like monkeys, peacocks and deer were all making sounds to alert each other to the threat.

'We were driving slowly, trying to track the predator and figure out where the sounds were coming from.

'To our right there was a small hill. Suddenly we heard a roar from behind us and we saw the tigress was trying to climb up a tree. We also spotted a leopard on top of another tree close by.

'The tigress made an eight to ten feet leap onto the tree and caught hold of the leopard. There was a brief brawl only lasting a few seconds in the forest in which the tiger won.

'She then dragged the dead leopard across the road right in front of us. Later in the evening the forest officials found the dead leopard, but it hadn't been eaten.

'It doesn't make sense for a leopard to fight with a tiger and tigers don't bother with leopards usually.

'I have encountered lots of tigers over the years. I've seen tigers fighting and tigers mating, but I hadn't ever seen anything like this.

'Very few people in the wildlife world ever have an opportunity to see something like this. It was out of this world. There are no words to explain how amazing the experience was.

'I don't think anyone else would have believed what we had seen if we didn't capture it on film.'

Once the leopard had fallen out of the tree, a fight broke out between the two cats which ended when the tiger - roughly three times the leopard's size - broke its neck
Advertisement

Archeologists started digging up a mass grave in Oklahoma on the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre in a bid to identify remains of at least 12 people believed to have been among those slaughtered.

The group began exhuming 12 unmarked coffins in Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa on Tuesday after first discovering them in October.

Funeral home records indicate 18 black men who were killed in the 1921 massacre are buried at the site of the exhumations. Authorities have not been able to confirm if the remains in the 12 coffins are those of massacre victims, but most of the victims were recorded as buried at that cemetery.

After the remains are exhumed, forensic teams are optimistic they will be able to collect DNA and potentially determine causes of death.

Archeologists began exhuming the 12 unmarked coffins in an area of Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa on Tuesday on the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre

The area where the exhumations are taking place is where funeral home records indicate 18 black men who were killed in the 1921 massacre were buried

But archaeologists estimate that as many as 30 bodies actually could be buried in the mass grave, and officials believe the process could take weeks, or even months, due to the fragility of the remains and the size of the mass grave.

The true death toll of the Tulsa Race Massacre remains unknown with hundreds thought to have been killed in the terrifying two day massacre that started May 31, 1921.

Historians estimate that as many as 300 black people died after a white mob descended on the prosperous black neighborhood of Greenwood, nicknamed Black Wall Street.

The massacre erupted when a group black men went to the Tulsa courthouse on May 31 to defend a young black man accused of assaulting a white woman. They encountered a mob of hundreds of white people, and tensions spiked. Shots were fired before the men retreated back to Greenwood.

At dawn the next day, white rioters stormed Black Wall Street, killing black residents, looting businesses and burning buildings and homes to the ground.

More than 10,000 were left homeless in the aftermath and over 100 businesses were destroyed. According to the Tulsa Race Riot Report of 2001, an estimated $1,470,711 was incurred in damages - equal to about $20 million today.

Authorities have not yet been able to confirm if the remains found in the 12 coffins are those of massacre victims but most of the confirmed black victims were recorded as having been buried at that cemetery

After the remains are exhumed, forensic teams are optimistic they will be able to collect DNA and potentially determine causes of death.

Officials believe the process could take weeks, or even months, due to the fragility of the remains and the size of the mass grave

Workers were spotted Tuesday at the cemetery preparing the site for the excavation

Victims' bodies - some burned beyond recognition - were unceremoniously buried during that time.

A commission was formed in 1997 to develop a fuller account of what happened after rumors of mass graves persisted.

In January 2000, it announced a search for victims' remains, but reversed course a few months later and decided against excavating the sites where bodies were thought, or rumored, to be buried.

But Tulsa's current mayor, G.T. Bynum, who is white, announced the search in 2018. Subsequent ground scans at Oaklawn and Rolling Oaks cemeteries showed anomalies suggesting they could be mass graves.

The search got underway last year and researchers in October found at least 12 sets of remains in coffins at Oaklawn.

Historians, archaeologists and anthropologists looked at the remains inside but covered them back up for further study later.

The search resumed Tuesday when President Joe Biden was in Tulsa to mark the 100th anniversary of the Black Wall Street Massacre.

Workers measure between headstones at the site where excavation started at Oaklawn Cemetery on Tuesday

Workers join hands at the site before the excavation got underway on Tuesday in the search for Tulsa Race Massacre victims

Historians estimate that as many as 300 black people died in the massacre after a white mob descended on the prosperous black neighborhood of Greenwood, which was nicknamed Black Wall Street

White rioters stormed Greenwood and killed black residents, looted business and burned building and homes to the ground

'My fellow Americans, this was not a riot. This was a massacre,' Biden said.

'Among the worst in our history but not the only one. And, for too long, forgotten by our history.

'Just because history is silent, it doesn't mean that it did not take place. And while darkness can hide much, it erases nothing. Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous, they can't be buried no matter how hard people try.'

'The only way to build a common ground is to truly repair and to rebuild. I come here to help fill the silence. Because in silence, wounds deepen. As painful as it is, only in remembrance do wounds heal.

President Joe Biden called for the Tulsa Race Massacre to be remembered: 'My fellow Americans, this was not a riot. This was a massacre'

'We just have to choose to remember. We memorialize what happened here in Tulsa, so it can be. Also, it can't be erased. We know here, this hallowed place, we simply can't bury pain and trauma forever. And at some point, we are reckoning, an inflection point. Like we're facing right now as a nation.'

In his remarks, Biden listed a litany of crimes committed against the residents of Greenwood over the two-day massacre: 1,100 black homes and businesses were destroyed, insurance companies rejected claims damage, and 10,000 people were left destitute with the homeless placed in internment camps.

The destruction set back income and class mobility for a generation of residents of a historically black neighborhood that was growing in influence. It was decimated with the racial fallout that lingers.

'Imagine what could have been done for black families in Greenwood, financial security and generational wealth,' Biden said.

'What happened in Greenwood was an act of hate and domestic terrorism with the through line that exists today still.'
One lead candidate to become the next Manhattan District Attorney sued Donald Trump at least 100 times while another had a meeting about a federal judgeship during his presidency and whoever wins will take over the high-profile criminal investigation into the former president and his business.

Alvin Bragg has reminded voters during his campaign that in his former job with the New York attorney general's office he sued the Trump administration 'more than 100 times.'

Fellow lead contender Tali Farhadian Weinstein is less vocal in her mentioning of the former president, but she does occasionally bring up her involvement in a successful lawsuit against his administration.

Farhadian Weinstein served as general counsel to the Brooklyn district attorney  and she has not yet publicly addressed the time she interviewed with Trump administration officials for a federal judgeship early in his presidency.

Whoever wins the district attorney race for the Manhattan Borough of New York City will inherit the criminal probe into the former president and the Trump Organization.

However, both Bragg and Farhadian Weinstein  considered the front runners as they raised the most money so far  could face questions over their former involvement with Trump.

One of the lead Democratic candidates running to become the next Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg (pictured), has boasted of suing Donald Trump 'more than 100 times'

Tali Farhadian Weinstein (pictured), another DA candidate bidding to take over the office and probe into Trump and his business, previously interviewed with Trump's administration for a federal judgeship, which did not come to pass

Current Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.'s office recently convened a grand jury that will hear evidence about Trump and his company. The move is a sign that the investigation is heating up and will need to be seen through by Vance's successor.

At the same time, New York Attorney General Letitia James is also investigating Trump and his business dealings.

Donald Trump Jr. spoke out on Tuesday against the investigations into his family's business, which are costing his father a fortune  after James announced last month her civil probe had turned into a criminal one.

Current Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. is not running for reelection. He convened a grand jury last month to hear evidence on Trump and his company

'Even if they don't get anything, they get you to spend millions of dollars and that's sort of a win in and of itself. And it's tens of millions of dollars,' Trump Jr. told Fox News' Tucker Carlson.

'It's a political persecution. I know that because she literally campaigned on it. She was going to investigate the crimes,' he continued.

'The problem is it wasn't as if she was a part of this office  she had no idea  but, in New York, it's okay to try to persecute your political enemies, to target them, to try to hurt them and they have been doing that for years.'

Vance is not running for reelection for district attorney, and there are eight Democratic primary candidates so far vying to take his place and one Republican. The primary is on June 22.

Despite outraising their competitors, Bragg and Farhadian Weinstein's histories with Trump could be weaponized against them.

Bragg has an extensive history of legal conflict with Trump and Farhadian Weinstein had a previously undisclosed discussion with Trump administration lawyers for a potential judicial post.

In the primary race, the two leading candidates are already attacking each other for their different approaches.

Farhadian Weinstein has hit back at Bragg for his outspoken anti-Trump-ness, which she suggests shows inappropriate bias for a potential district attorney  especially one who will be involved in one of the most contentious, highest-profile criminal investigations in the office's history.

'I have repeatedly declined requests to discuss a hypothetical argument that a current subject of an investigation in the Manhattan D.A.'s office might make  that's the only proper approach for open matters the next D.A. will inherit,' Farhadian Weinstein told The New York Times in an emailed statement.

Farhadian Weinstein also criticized Bragg for his fundraiser with a House lawyer who worked on Trump's first impeachment, Daniel Goldman.

The probe into Trump is one of the most contentious, highest-profile criminal investigations in the office's history. The former president will assuredly conduct opposition research and run campaigns against whichever Democrat earns the DA nomination after the June 22 primary election

Bragg has argued, however, that he is qualified to take over Vance's investigation because of a prominent lawsuit he oversaw as a senior official under two New York attorney generals in June 2018 that ultimately led to the dissolution of the Donald J. Trump Foundation.

'I have investigated Trump and his children and held them accountable for their misconduct with the Trump Foundation,' Bragg said during a Democratic candidate forum in December. 'I know how to follow the facts and hold people in power accountable.'

'It is a fact that I have sued Trump more than a hundred times,' he continued.

'I can't change that fact, nor would I. That was important work. That's separate from anything that the D.A.'s office may be looking at now.'

Trump will almost assuredly do opposition research and use Bragg and Farhadian Weinstein's pasts against whichever should earn the Democratic nomination later this month.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office investigation into Trump is heating up.

The former president released a statement last Tuesday upon news breaking of a grand jury convening on his case.

'This is a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in American history,' he lamented in the May 25 post. 'It began the day I came down the escalator in Trump Tower, and it's never stopped.'

'They wasted two years and $48 million in taxpayer dollars on Mueller and Russia Russia Russia, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, and it continues to this day, with illegally leaked confidential information.'

Trump raged against Manhattan prosecutors for conducting a 'purely political' investigation in a statement after news broke of the grand jury convening

Trump claimed 'no other president in history' has had to endure the situations he has before touting a number of his accomplishments, including the creation of the Space Force and his administration paving the way for swift creation of the coronavirus vaccine.

'This is purely political, and an affront to the almost 75 million voters who supported me in the presidential election, and it's being driven by highly partisan Democrat prosecutors,' Trump said.

He then railed against his former home: 'New York City and State are suffering the highest crime rates in their history, and instead of going after murderers, drug dealers, human traffickers, and others, they come after Donald Trump.'

'Interesting that today a poll came out indicating I'm far in the lead for the Republican Presidential Primary and the General Election in 2024,' Trump continued.

'Our country is broken, our elections are rigged, corrupt, and stolen, our prosecutors are politicized and I will just have to keep on fighting like I have been for the last five years!'
Boris Johnson lashed out at Belarus for its 'outrageous' state hijacking of a Ryanair flight that led to the arrest of a journalist critical of the regime of President Lukashenko.

The Prime Minister today demanded the release of Roman Protasevich, 26, who was hauled off the flight between Greece to Lithuania after it was was intercepted by a Belarusian fighter jet and diverted to Minsk.

He spoke after meeting Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at No10.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Johnson said: 'What has happened recently with the appalling, outrageous incident of the hijacking over Belarus, I think Nato members will be wanting to stand together in protest over what happened and call for the release of Roman Protasevich and indeed his girlfriend from captivity.'

The Prime Minister today demanded the release of Roman Protasevich, 26, who was hauled off the flight between Greece to Lithuania after it was was intercepted by a Belarusian fighter jet and diverted to Minsk.

He spoke after meeting Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at No10.

The incident has drawn international condemnation but Lukashenko has since posed with his ally Vladimir Putin, in a defiant meeting at the Russian autocrat's holiday home.

Mr Stoltenberg said that it is now key that sanctions agreed against Belarus are 'fully implemented' as he called the actions of Minsk 'absolutely unacceptable'.

He added that said Nato had 'agreed a very strong statement' but that individual members were discussing going further than sanctions already agreed.

After touching down in the Belarusian capital on May 23, Mr Protasevich and Russian girlfriend Sofia Sapega were bundled into an SUV by security agents and driven away.

He was arrested and, in a video released by Belarusian authorities on Monday last week, appeared to admit he was involved in organising mass protests in Minsk last year.

Mr Johnson has previously warned Lukashenko the incident 'have consequences'.

Last week Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said elarusian airlines will be banned from entering UK airspace 'unless specifically authorised'.

The incident has drawn international condemnation but Lukashenko has since posed with his ally Vladimir Putin, in a defiant meeting at the Russian autocrat's holiday home.

In response to the hijacking, EU leaders have agreed new sanctions on Belarus including cutting off air travel to or from the country - with European Council president Charles Michel saying that Minsk is playing 'Russian roulette with the lives of innocent civilians'.
Coles customers claim their MasterChef knives handed out as a promotions broke and splintered apart while they were using them.

The knives could be redeemed using flybuys points and were sold in stores across Australia since November last year.

Customers told Daily Mail Australia they think the product should be recalled over safety concerns.

Coles customers claimed their Masterchef branded knives broke and splintered apart while using them

The knives could be redeemed using flybuys points and were sold in stores across Australia since November last year

Chantelle Wyld said her seven-year-old daughter was being supervised while using one of the knives in February this year.

She said it snapped while the little girl was cutting through the soft part of a watermelon.

'It didn't even last a month before snapping. My seven-year-old daughter was using it to cut the red soft part of a watermelon,' she said.

'I'm so lucky my daughter wasn't injured.'

Ms Wyld showed Daily Mail Australia her message on Facebook messenger to Coles about the incident.

Coles responded by saying: 'We're sorry to see this! We'll ensure to share this feedback to the relevant teams so they're aware. We're sorry for the disappointment caused.'

Ms Wyld said she believed the knives should be recalled or come with a warning.

One of the MasterChef promotional knives a customer said broke while they were using it

A Victorian mother took to social media in March this year to complain one of the knives broke while she was cutting a block of cheese with her children sitting on the bench next to her

Bridget Tressider said one of the knives sliced her husband's finger when it split apart in the same spot as Ms Wyld's when he was trying to cut through a frozen dim-sim.

Ms Tressider blamed the incident on the quality of the knives and said if it was happened to multiple people, it might be a 'dodgy batch.'

'If there's cause for concern and more than one case it's snapped... yes [it should be] recalled,' she said.

A Victorian mother complained in March one of the knives broke while she was cutting a block of cheese with her children sitting on the bench next to her.

'Coles MasterChef knife snapped clean while cutting Coles tasty cheese,' Georgia tweeted.

'[I] called Coles and was told to Google MasterChef to get contact info. Hard to find. Thankfully I wasn't injured  nor were my children who were sitting on the bench.'

Another Twitter user said one of her MasterChef knives splinted and a piece of metal lodged into her palm while she was making dinner on January 1 this year

On April 6 she posted that she had not had a response from Coles, MasterChef or the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission product safety team.

Another Twitter user said one of her MasterChef knives splinted and a piece of metal lodged into her palm while she was making dinner on January 1 this year.

'My housemates got some and, while I was making myself dinner with one I noticed a pain,' Catherine said.

'I found that I'd gotten a metal splinter lodged in my palm, from the handle.'

'I just sent a feedback form via the Coles website. I know it might seem silly to complain about, and that a splinter is a minor, easily fixable injury,' she wrote.

'But it's a safety concern that could negatively affect a lot of people, if other knives have the same issue.'

There were six knives in the collection, which is no longer sold in stores.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Coles Australia for comment.
Brandon Rodriguez, 25, was arrested on Tuesday after at least three separate alleged creepy incidents near a Brooklyn home

An alleged pedophile arrested for luring underage girls to his apartment with his dog was pictured Wednesday being led out of a police station into an ambulance.

It wasn't clear why he was being shuttled into an ambulance. A police source told DailyMail.com he was being taken to an unnamed hospital, but didn't provide further details.

Brandon Rodriguez, 25, had been arrested on Tuesday after at least three separate alleged incidents near a Brooklyn apartment. At least one involved a sexual assault, police say.

He has been charged with two counts of acting in a manner injurious to a child, as well as one count of unlawful imprisonment.

The investigation remains ongoing, meaning that more or upgraded charges may still be on the table.

The NYPD previously asked for the public's help to find Rodriguez after the three separate incidents happened near a home in the Brownsville neighborhood.

They also released surveillance footage showing the suspect on the morning of what they said was the first luring attempt, minutes before it took place.

Scroll down for video

Alleged lurer Brandon Rodriguez is taken out of the Special Victims Unit in Brooklyn and put into an ambulance for an unknown reason on Wednesday

He has been charged with two counts of acting in a manner injurious to a child, as well as one count of unlawful imprisonment

Rodriguez is believed by police to possibly in possession of either one or two dogs, one of which is a Husky, and the other a smaller, unknown breed

In the first incident, Rodriguez allegedly approached a 13-year-old girl around 7:39am on Monday, May 24, asking her to take a picture of him with his dog.

Afterward, Rodriguez led the victim into an apartment building, where he fondled her and didn't allow her to leave by withholding her backpack and using a dog to obstruct the building's doorway, police said.

The alleged incident ended after a friend of the victim called out to her, leading Rodriguez to flee.

Scroll down for video

He has been charged with two counts of acting in a manner injurious to a child, as well as one count of unlawful imprisonment (surveillance footage pictured)

The NYPD released surveillance footage showing the suspect on the morning of the first alleged luring attempt, minutes before it took place

A second alleged incident occurred the next morning around 7:10am and also involved Rodriguez asking his victim, a 12-year-old girl, to take a picture of him with the dog.

This time, Rodriguez tried to lead the victim into an apartment before the victim became scared and ran away, police said.

Later that morning, a third alleged incident took place when Rodriguez again asked a young girl to take a picture of him with his dog around 8:31am.

The 11-year-old girl in this incident became scared after Rodriguez allegedly tried leading her into an apartment - and she fled, police said.

All of the incidents took place within the vicinity of a school, according to police.

News 12 reports that the Leadership Prep Ocean Hill School sent a letter to parents last week, which warned them of a predator wandering near the school.

Rodriguez is believed by police to possibly in possession of either one or two dogs, one of which is a Husky, and the other a smaller, unknown breed.

After the NYPD began distributing Rodriguez's name and picture on Monday night, he contacted the police to turn himself in and was eventually picked up by the warrant squad, according to the New York Daily News.

According to PIX11 News, this is not Rodriguez's first run-in with the law.

Police told PIX11 News that Rodriguez has been arrested twice for rape. The first arrest came in 2015, when he allegedly raped a 15-year-old girl on the roof of a Brooklyn building.

In the first incident, Rodriguez allegedly approached a 13-year-old girl around 7:39am on Monday, May 24, asking her to take a picture of him with his dog

All of the three incidents took place within the vicinity of a school, according to police

Police said that the second arrest came in 2019 for raping a 21-year-old woman in a bathroom of the Marriott Marquis in Midtown Manhattan.

It isn't clear what came of those two arrests. The NYPD redirected a quest for comment from DailyMail.com to the District Attorney's Office, which has not responded.

Rodriguez's latest arrest comes during the midst of a crime wave in New York City.

Over the last 28 days up until May 30, there have been 7,304 major crimes reported, according to NYPD's CompStat database.

Over the same stretch last year, there were 5,917 major crimes reported, symbolizing a 23.4 percent rise this year.

Mayor Bill de Blasio says crimes has soared because the world was 'turned on its head' with COVID. He has also blamed a backlog in the court system for it, saying it means criminals are on the streets longer than they might have been before.

The NYPD lays the blame with de Blasio's bail reform which has meant many more suspected criminals have been let out of jail early, or never put there in the first place.
A new study revealed that Amazon warehouse workers get injured at much higher rates than warehouse employees at competing companies.

New work-related injury statistics from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration showed that since 2017, Amazon reported higher rates of serious injuries that cause employees to miss work or shift to lighter duties, compared to other warehouse operators in retail, the Washington Post reported.

In 2020, there were 5.9 serious injuries for every 100 full-time Amazon warehouse employee, nearly double the rate of serious injuries recorded at non-Amazon warehouses.

By comparison, Walmart, the largest private US employer and one of Amazon's competitors, reported 2.5 serious cases per 100 workers at its facilities in 2020, the Post reported. Other companies included in the OSHA data are Bed, Bath & Beyond and Big Lots.

In 2020, there were 5.9 serious injuries for every 100 full-time Amazon warehouse employee, nearly double the rate of the serious injuries recorded at non-Amazon warehouses

A new study revealed that Amazon warehouse workers get injured at much higher rates that warehouse employees at competing warehouses

Warehouse workers at Amazon fulfillment centers, (pictured) sorting centers and delivery stations are pushed to meet hourly rates to stow, pick and pack items, which some critics say is too difficult and has lead to injuries.

The Post found that 5,411 facilities used for warehousing and storage - 638 of them owned by Amazon and its subsidiaries - sent reports to OSHA in 2020.

While the causes of the injuries are not listed in the OSHA report, Amazon workers and union representatives say part of the blame lies in productivity pressures.

Warehouse workers at Amazon fulfillment centers, sorting centers and delivery stations are pushed to meet hourly rates for stowing, picking and packing items, which some critics say is too difficult and leads to injuries.

'They have unrealistic expectations,' Bobby Gosvener, a former Amazon warehouse employee in Tulsa who left last year when he was injured, told the Post.

Debbie Berkowitz, a former OSHA chief of staff and senior policy adviser, who now works at the worker advocacy group National Employment Law Project, told the Post that that company sets unrealistic targets for employees.

'The pace of work, and the amount of twisting and turning, is enormous,' she said. 'There is a constant pressure to work fast.'

But last April in his final letter to shareholders in which he addressed workplace safety issues, CEO Jeff Bezos disagreed.

'We don't set unreasonable performance goals,' he wrote. 'We set achievable performance goals that take into account tenure and actual employee performance data.'

In that same letter, he added that the E-commerce company needs 'to do a better job for our employees' and vowed to make Amazon the world's 'best employer,' CNBC.com reported.

Critics say that employees at Amazon fulfillment centers have to meet 'unrealistic expectations,' that can lead to serious injuries

Amazon said the company plans on investing more than $300 million this year in safety projects to protect warehouse workers (pictured)

Last month, the company launched the WorkingWell program aimed at reducing the risk of injuries for employees. Amazon said its goal was to cut worker injuries by 50 percent by 2025.

The company wrote that it plans on investing more than $300 million this year in safety projects. The program focuses on targeting work-related injuries tied to musculoskeletal disorders, which make up 40 percent of work-related injuries at the company.

Amazon said these types of injuries, which usually include sprains or strains from repetitive motions, fell by 32 percent between 2019 and 2020.

Just last month an Amazon fulfillment center in Washington was fined $7,000 by the states Department of Labor and Industries for hazardous conditions in the DuPont facility.

The agency said Amazon violated the law by pressuring warehouse employees to work at speeds that exacerbate injuries without adequate time to recover, Seattle Times reported.

Several employees shared their work-injury stories at Amazon warehouses with the Post, including 26-year-old Safiyo Mohamed who was injured in 2018 at the Shakopee, Minnesota warehouse during peak holiday season when she was moving goods off a conveyer belt.

After suffering pain for a few days, Mohamed's doctor told her she had a slipped disk and she should avoid heavy lifting at work, but Amazon did not give her time off and a supervisor encouraged her to work through the pain, the Post reported.

'They just kept me working,' she told the Post. 'They didn't care if I was injured or not. They want me to hit this (performance) goal.'

Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel disputed parts of Mohamed's account, saying she did not seek medical attention for several days after her injury and when she did, on-site medical staff provided three separate first-aid treatments that Mohamed said reduced her pain, the Post reported.

The company told the Post there was no indication at that time that the injury was serious and that the company accommodated Mohamed with light-duty work during the remainder of her time with Amazon. Mohamed claims she was never offered light duty.

Nantel also told the Post in a statement that part of the company's investment into worker safety included hiring more than 6,200 employees to its workplace health and safety group.
Advertisement

Two black bears that were rescued from an illegal 'bile farm' in Vietnam after living for 17 years in pitch black cellars have been given a bright new home at a bear sanctuary.

The Asiatic bears - a male named Xuan and a female named Mo - lived in total darkness and were only able to see artificial light when they were undergoing excruciating bile extraction procedures, which was taken for use in traditional medicine and cosmetic products.

Xuan had been cruelly kept in a small cage in the basement of a clothes shop in Son La, northern Vietnam, since 2004, when he was just a cub. It is not known exactly how long Mo was kept with him, but she is believed to have lived there for many years.

But the mistreated bears have now started a new life at the Ninh Binh Bear Sanctuary after they were rescued from the dank cellars in March by animal charity Four Paws, who said the living conditions were some of the worst they had ever seen.

Heartwarming images and video footage show the two black bears, who are still in poor health due to their traumatic past locked in cages, embracing their loving new home, where they are able to see natural daylight.

Two Asiatic bears - a male named Xuan and a female named Mo (pictured) - have been enjoying their new life at the Ninh Binh Bear Sanctuary after they spent years trapped in small cages in a windowless basement in Son La, northern Vietnam

Xuan had been cruelly kept in a small cage in the basement (pictured) of a clothes shop in Son La, northern Vietnam, since 2004 when he was just a cub. It is not known exactly how long Mo was with him, but it is believed to have been many years

But the mistreated bears have started a new life at the Ninh Binh Bear Sanctuary after they were rescued from the dank cellars in March (pictured) by animal charity Four Paws, who said the living conditions were some of the worst they had ever seen

Although the bears have been rescued from the dire environment in the basement, they both still face a long road to recovery as they are suffering from both physical illnesses and psychological scars.

Xuan and Mo were found in rusty and dirty cages, the charity said, adding that they were left 'speechless' after discovering the bears had no access to fresh air or natural daylight in the windowless basement.

After their rescue on March 23, both bears were medically checked and cleared for the nine-hour return journey to the Ninh Binh Bear Sanctuary. Xuan and Mo will now receive care to help them recover from the horrific ordeal.

The charity found both bears were suffering from gallbladder disease as a result of being repeatedly stabbed in the organ with probes designed to extract their bile.

The bear sanctuary, which was set up by Four Paws, is home to some 40 Asiatic black bears, all of which were 'not only victims of cruel bile farming prior to their rescue, but also of illegal wildlife trafficking'.

Xuan and Mo were sadly kept in separate cages during their years living in the basement so they will be monitored at the sanctuary over the coming months to see if they can be socialised with other bears.

But the two black bears are both in such poor health that it is unclear if they will ever recover or be able to join their fellow Asiatic bears, according to a spokesperson for the animal rights group.

Katharina Braun, Four Paws' press officer, said: 'From our experience with other bears we've rescued, this often works well, but of course depends on the individual personalities of the bears. If animals are socialised, it always happens under the safest possible circumstances.'

Heartwarming images show the two black bears (pictured: Mo), who are still in poor health due to their traumatic past locked in cages, embracing their loving new home, where they are able to see natural daylight

The Ninh Binh sanctuary (pictured: bears roaming outside), which was set up by Four Paws, is home to some 40 Asiatic black bears, all of which were 'not only victims of cruel bile farming prior to their rescue, but also of illegal wildlife trafficking'

Adorable pictures show Mo and Xuan, who are currently living in quarantine from other bears to prevent the spread of diseases, wrestling one another as they enjoy spending time outside after years cruelly locked in small cages

Xuan and Mo were found in rusty and dirty cages (pictured), Four Paws said, adding that they were left 'speechless' after discovering the bears had no access to fresh air or natural daylight in the windowless basement

The charity found both bears (pictured in windowless basement with Four Paws staff during rescue) were suffering from gallbladder disease as a result of being repeatedly stabbed in the organ with probes designed to extract their bile

The Asiatic bears lived in total darkness (pictured) and were only able to see artificial light when they were undergoing excruciating bile extraction procedures, which was taken for use in traditional medicine and cosmetic products

Although the bears have been rescued from the dire basement, they both still face a long road to recovery as they are suffering from both physical illnesses and psychological scars Pictured: Xuan being rescued by Four Paws on March 23

She added that both bears still remain 'stressed' after the move and are adjusting to seeing natural light, having physical and mental stimulation and hearing sounds - all of which they were cruelly deprived of before.

Braun said: 'They are very reactive to any noise and other stimuli even though they are kept in a quiet area of the sanctuary - it will take some time for them to get used to the new surroundings.'

The animal rights organisation said Xuan is overweight, has lost multiple teeth, is struggling from severe behavioural abnormalities and has pancreatitis and gastritis, while he is on medication to make him less afraid.

A statement explained: 'Xuan, like most former bile bears, suffers multiple diseases and due to his extremely difficult past he is struggling with severe behavioural abnormalities.

'The animal caretakers have been intensively working with him for the past weeks as it is very difficult to get him to take his medication. Last week, the onsite team noticed that Xuan had significantly deteriorated! It was decided to immediately examine him under anaesthesia.

'His already diagnosed ailments had worsened and he additionally developed pancreatitis and gastritis. Sadly, all these conditions are extremely painful.

'His treatment plan is focused on controlling pain, inflammation and infection, but also when and if needed with the help of behavioural medications we will try to make him less stressed and scared.

'He spent the next few days in the allocated area for hospitalised patients in our veterinary clinic at the Ninh Binh Bear Sanctuary for close monitoring and further treatment.'

Four Paws added that Xuan has many 'psychological scars' because he hasn't yet understood that his 'years of trauma' are now behind him following his rescue.

The statement continued: 'Unfortunately Xuan is one of many rescued animals that had to endure years of trauma, leaving not only physical but also psychological scars.

'When these animals are rescued and brought to a safe and suitable place, they might not immediately understand or recognise that their horrible past is behind them. A successful rescue itself often signals the start of our work, not the finish!

'The way to recovery for Xuan will be long, but we will be next to him 24/7. Hopefully, with all the efforts and energy invested by the dedicated team, he will start to improve over time.'

Xuan and Mo are both living in a quarantine area at the sanctuary while receiving intensive medical care, to prevent any potential disease transfer between them and the other bears living at the sanctuary.

Xuan and Mo (pictured during rescue) were kept in separate cages during their years living in the basement so they will be monitored over the coming months to see if they can be socialised with the 40 bears who live at the sanctuary

After their rescue on March 23, both bears were medically checked (pictured: Mo being assessed) and cleared for the nine-hour return journey to the Ninh Binh Bear Sanctuary, where they will receive care to help them recover from the ordeal

The animal rights organisation said Xuan (pictured being rescued from cellar) is overweight, has lost multiple teeth, is struggling from behavioural abnormalities and has pancreatitis, while he is on medication to make him less afraid

The two black bears are both in such poor health that it is unclear if they will ever recover or be able to socialise with other bears, according to a spokesperson for Four Paws. Pictured: Windowless basement where the bears lived for years

Four Paws said both bears still remain 'stressed' and are adjusting to seeing natural light and having physical and mental stimulation - all of which they were deprived of when living in the basement (picturing during the rescue)

The bears' former owners, who have not been named, will not be prosecuted because keeping bears is still legal in Vietnam, according to Four Paws. Pictured: The animal rights group rescue the bears from the shop in Son La

Braun said that Mo is adjusting very well to her new life at Ninh Binh Bear Sanctuary, while Xuan is still showing some behavioural abnormalities and their main focus is on giving him time to recover.

She added: 'Mo is doing really well and adjusting nicely at Ninh Binh Bear Sanctuary. She enjoys playing with her hammock and the enrichment the caretakers provide for her. She also still receives some medication but is overall developing well.'

The bears' former owners, who have not been named, will not be prosecuted because keeping bears is still legal in Vietnam, according to Four Paws.

The charity were only able to rescue the bears from their dark basement prisons was because their bile was being harvested to be used in traditional medicine, a practice that has been banned.

Asian black bears are listed as threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Endangered Species, but Four Paws said 372 bears in Vietnam are still 'suffering in cruel conditions on bear farms or in private keeping'.

Braun explained: 'The keeping of bears is still legal in Vietnam. The country only has minimum requirements for the keeping of bears.

'Even if the keeping conditions do not align with those requirements, it is unlikely that the authorities would act. Every animal that is placed in species-appropriate care like ours is a big success already.'

Bear bile is a prized ingredient used in medicine and the fluid is extracted from the gallbladder, and used to be collected by hunters after a kill.

But in the 1980s, farmers began to extract bile from live bears which were often kept in tiny 'crush cages' or fitted with metal vests similar to a straight-jacket.

Methods of bile extraction include repeatedly puncturing the gallbladder with probes, fitting permanent catheters, or creating a permanent hole or 'fistula' from which the bile can be drained.

The procedures can be extremely painful if performed without anaesthetic, and can cause prolonged suffering or infection if the catheters or fistulas are not tended to.

The practice has been illegal in Vietnam since 1992, but continues to be legal in China - where bear bile was even recommended as a cure for Covid-19 early in the global pandemic.

Bear bile is used in cosmetic products and traditional medicine for fighting fever, detoxification, inflammation, swelling and for pain relief due to its positive healing effects.

But the ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) found in bear bile has been replaced by herbal and synthetic alternatives since the 1950s, rather than putting bears through a 'life of agony' before they often die on the farms.

Braun explained: 'Vietnam has a history of cruel keeping of bears but is one of the only countries in Asia to take firm legislative steps against the keeping of bears to extract bile.'

Xuan and Mo are both in a quarantine area receiving intensive medical care to prevent any potential disease transfer between them and the other bears living at the sanctuary. Pictured: Mo is rescued from basement in Son La by Four Paws on March 23

Four Paws said that Xuan has many 'psychological scars' as he hasn't yet understood that his 'years of trauma' are now behind him following his rescue. Pictured: Four Paws medically assess the bears before they were taken to bear sanctuary

Katharina Braun, Four Paws' press officer, said Mo (pictured) is adjusting very well to her new life at Ninh Binh Bear Sanctuary, while Xuan is still showing some behavioural abnormalities and the main focus is on giving him time to recover

Asian black bears are listed as threatened on the IUCN's Red List of Endangered Species, but Four Paws said 372 bears in Vietnam are still 'suffering in cruel conditions'. Pictured: Mo enjoys her new life at Ninh Binh Bear Sanctuary

In 2005, the Vietnam Government launched a campaign in a bid to phase out bear farming through attrition, and all captive bears were registered and microchipped to ensure that no new bears arrive on the farms. But registered bears still remain in the care of farmers until they can be transferred to authorities or they die.

Since 2006, it has been forbidden by law in Vietnam to hunt, trap, possess, kill, sell or advertise bear or bear products, although it is not forbidden to possess a registered bear that was owned before 2005.

Braun continued: 'If there had been only 10 bears in captivity in 2005, all of them would have been confiscated. It was the number of captive bears on farms that prevented the government from exercising the law to address the problem.

'However, it is true that the attitude of government and society was that bear bile is useful and that although the law prohibits its sale, this law was ignored because it did not reflect social attitudes and norms.'

Speaking about what could be done to save the 372 other captive, endangered bears in Vietnam, Braun said that the Government must be made 'more accountable for phasing out bile bear farming'.

She continued: 'There are still farmers, especially in Hanoi, which remains a hotspot of bear keeping in the country, who vehemently refuse to give up their animals, and one can only assume that they are still abusing their animals and trading the bile.

'This must end and the government must act and deliver on its promise. We are putting pressure on them via our work on-site at Ninh Binh Bear Sanctuary, petitions and lobbying/talks on-site, and we are of course supporting them to provide a species-appropriate home to as many suffering bears as possible.'

It is thought there are around 10,000 bears being kept on farms in China, and around 1,000 caught up in illegal operations in Vietnam.
Shocked students cheered with delight after the president of their university announced he had canceled all debt they owed their college at their graduation ceremony.

Wilberforce University President Dr Elfred Anthony Pickard made the announcement at Saturday's graduation in Wilberforce, Ohio, and said he had done so to acknowledge the hardships his students had faced by studying through the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the historically black college had canceled a total of $375,000 in debt owed directly to Wilberforce by the 166 graduates who make up the classes of 2020 and 2021. The cancellation works out at around $2,260 per student, although a further breakdown of the figures has not been released.

Dr Pickard kept a poker face throughout Saturday's speech - and dropped the news about the debt cancellation right at the end, prompting overjoyed whoops and cheers.

He said: 'I want to give each of you a fresh start.'

'Your accounts have been cleared, and you don't owe Wilberforce anything.'

The graduates exploded into a frenzy. They jumped out of their seats, yelled and turned to each other in celebration as Pinkard laughed from the podium.

'During the ceremony I was thinking, 'I have to pay all this debt backI have to get a job[but] as soon as Dr. Pinkard said "debt free" I didn't have to worry about anything else,'' Joshua Spears, who graduated from Wilberforce this weekend, told WDTN.

'I have more access to sign on [for] things that I want, especially getting a credit card to build more credit,' Spears said.

Wilberforce University President Dr. Elfred Anthony Pinkard kept the surprise a secret during his commencement address

Scores of students were seen cheering and shouting with delight after the announcement

A total of 166 students had debt they owe Wilberforce cleared, with many saying it was a huge weight off their shoulders

Students celebrate after Wilberforce University graduation

The classes of 2020 and 2021 held a joint graduation on Saturday because COVID wiped out last year's graduation.

The United Negro College Fund, Inc., Jack and Jill, Inc., and other institutional funding helped erase the debt, the university said in a press release.

Student loan debt soars amid heated arguments over whether to cancel it Current U.S. Student Loan Debt = est. $1.53 Trillion 1 in 4 Americans have student loan debt: An est. 44.7 Million people Average student loan debt amount = $37,172 Average student loan payment = $393/month (up from $227/month in 2005) Advertisement

The debt cancellation covers fines and fees owed to the school and tuition balances being paid directly by the students or their parents. Fees listed on Wilberforce's costs schedule include room, board, technology as well as a health fee.

State or federal loan programs such as Great Lakes or private loan programs like or Sallie Mae aren't included in the debt forgiveness announcement.

It was intended to serve as an acknowledgement of the difficult conditions the students had to work with the last two years, Pinkard said.

Students had to adjust on the fly when they suddenly shifted from a typical school day to remote learning during the pandemic, and many of their senior activities were stripped away.

'Having to leave school and then doing school online then coming backwe didn't get to do as many activities [and this was] my last year as an undergrad, Ah'Niya Arnett, a Wilberforce graduate, told WDTN. 'Now, I won't have to worry about owing Wilberforce [anything].'

DailyMail.com has contacted Wilberforce University for further information on its generous gesture.

Wilberforce University - about 20 miles away from Dayton - is the country's first private university owned and run by African Americans. It was established before the Civil War and named after William Wilberforce, a British abolitionist.

Recent graduates Joshua Spears and Ah'Niya Arnett spoke about cancelling debt and what it was like going to school during the pandemic

Wilberforce University - about 20 miles away from Dayton - is the country's first private university owned and run by African Americans

The announcement was made on Saturday, amidst a week where President Joe Biden was criticized by minority groups like the NAACP for not addressing student loan debt during his Tusla Massacre remarks when the he pledged to close the wealth gap between White and Black Americans

'Components of the plan are encouraging, but it fails to address the student loan debt crisis that disproportionately affects African Americans,' NAACP leader Derrick Johnson said. 'You cannot begin to address the racial wealth gap without addressing the student loan debt crisis.'

The national student loan debt currently stands at well over $1.5trillion.
He also mounted legal battle against prison for not giving him books of choice

But a Russian court rejected the lawsuit on Wednesday, his lawyers confirmed

He claimed the label allowed prison guards subject him to sleep deprivation

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has today lost a court battle to try and force his prison to stop subjecting him to 'torture' by sleep deprivation.

Russia's most prominent opposition figure, 44, lost the legal bid to overturn his designation as a flight risk, a label he claims allows prison guards to subject him to 'torture' by sleep deprivation.

But a Russian court rejected the lawsuit on Wednesday, Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation has confirmed on Twitter.

They penned: 'A court has refused to take Alexei Navalny off the (flight risk) register as he is prone to escape. A man who returned to Russia himself despite the threat of jail time!'

Navalny is currently serving two-and-a-half years in the IK-2 penal colony outside Moscow on old embezzlement charges which he claims are politically motivated.

Alexei Navalny (pictured), 44, lost a legal bid to overturn his designation as a flight risk, a label he claims allows prison guards to subject him to 'torture' by sleep deprivation

Navalny brought the lawsuit against the prison as he claimed his 'absurd' designation as a flight risk was used as a pretext to wake him up every hour during the night to verify his whereabouts.

He is currently at a different prison facility after he staged a hunger strike over what he said was his failure to be given proper medical care by the IK-12 penal colony.

But he is expected to soon be returned to his original prison, where he was woken during the night in what he claimed was 'torture' by sleep deprivation.

When at IK-2, he complained he was being deprived of sleep by guards, who woke him every hour during the night when they filmed him and reported he was present to officially verify his whereabouts.

Prison authorities did not deny he was checked every hour, but said the practice was necessary as he had been designated a flight risk by the authorities.

After the court rejected his legal bid, Navalny's lawyer Vadim Kobzev said he would appeal the ruling, the RIA news agency reported. Kobzev could not be immediately reached for comment.

Navalny (pictured in 2019) brought the lawsuit against the prison as he claimed the 'absurd' designation was a pretext to wake him up every hour in the night to verify his whereabouts

The prison says it acts in strict accordance with Russian law.

Navalny was arrested and jailed after returning to Russia in January from Germany where he was being treated for what German doctors said was poisoning with a military-grade nerve agent.

He accused Putin of ordering the poisoning, something the Kremlin, which says it has still seen no evidence he was poisoned, denied.

Navalny has mounted three legal challenges against the IK-2 prison in a bid to stop them censoring his newspapers by cutting out articles before he gets to read them.

The politician is also suing the prison for allegedly failing to supply him with books of his choice, including Muslim holy book the Koran.

Explaining his decision to take legal action against prison authorities in April, he claimed that 'they won't give me my Koran. And it's infuriating'.

He wrote in an Instagram post: 'When I was jailed, I made a list of ways I wanted to improve myself that I will try to complete in jail. One of the points was to deeply study and understand the Koran.'

'Books are our everything, and if you have to sue for the right to read, I will sue,' he said.

In the same social media post, Navalny said he had read the Koran before but had not internalised its core tenets.

'I realised that my development as a Christian also requires studying the Koran,' he wrote.

The prison has claimed that it is acting in accordance with Russian law.

Last month, Navalny also successfully eased himself out of his hunger strike and said he discovered the recipe for being 'happy' in prison.

Navalny (pictured in February 2020 with wife Yulia and protestors) is serving 2 1/2 years in the IK-2 penal colony on old embezzlement charges which he claims are politically motivated

Navalny went on hunger strike at the end of March demanding proper treatment for severe back pain and numbness in his limbs.

He ended the protest on April 23 after he received treatment at a civilian hospital and the West warned Putin of consequences if his critic died.

Posting on Instagram the first time in nearly three weeks, Navalny said: 'Twenty three days on a hunger strike and 23 days easing out of it in a very strict, conservative manner. My willpower surprised me.'

He ate bread - his favourite food - for the first time in 46 days last month and was happier than an oligarch dining aboard his yacht or a guest of 'a Michelin-starred restaurant'.

The recipe for being happy in prison, he concluded, was simple.

'Choose what you like very much, then rid yourself of it for some time and then get it back,' Navalny wrote.

'Just remember that this does not apply to people. Love your favourite people always.'

A top aide and the head of Russia's prison service Alexander Kalashnikov also confirmed that Navalny's health had improved in May.

Navalny has 'recovered, more or less', Kalashnikov told journalists.

'His weight is already up to 82 kilograms (180lbs), I think,' he added.

The prison's chief, who has been sanctioned both by the US and the EU over the treatment of Navalny, said the Kremlin critic was 'eating normally'.

The director of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), Ivan Zhdanov, also said his health was improving.

'His condition is now more or less normal. The recovery process is indeed underway,' Zhdanov said on the Echo of Moscow radio.

Navalny's allies said that he weighed 205 lbs (93 kg) when he arrived in prison in February, but that his went had gone down to 187 lbs (85 kg) by the time he launched his hunger strike.

Navalny (pictured in February) has mounted three legal challenges against the IK-2 prison in a bid to stop them censoring his newspapers by cutting out articles before he gets to read them

The update on Navalny's health comes as Russia moves to outlaw his movement.

In a post on his Instagram account last week, Navalny said he had been informed about three new criminal investigations against him.

This month, a court will convene to hear whether to add his network of regional offices and the Anti-Corruption Foundation to a list of 'terrorist and extremist' organisations.

The ruling would effectively outlaw Navalny's political network, putting his supporters and financial backers on par with members of the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda.

In another move targeting his supporters, Russia's lower house of parliament this week approved legislation in a first reading that would ban members of 'extremist' organisations from becoming lawmakers.

Since Navalny returned to Russia in January from Germany, where he had been recovering from a poisoning attack he blames on Putin, most of his top allies have been placed under house arrest or left the country.
New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty denied the Holodomor as it unfolded

The committee that awards the Pulitzer Prize is facing fresh calls to revoke the top honor in American journalism from New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty over his false reporting from the Soviet Union in the 1930s.

The petition launched by the U.S. Committee on Ukrainian Holodomor-Genocide Awareness calls on the Pulitzer board to rescind Duranty's 1932 prize for correspondence.

At issue is Duranty's minimization and denials of the forced famine in Soviet Ukraine that led to the deaths of millions in the early 1930s, and his fawning coverage of communist dictator Joseph Stalin.

Known as the Holodomor, meaning to kill by starvation, the famine followed Stalin's collectivization and grain seizure policies, and the Ukrainian government alleges that it was an intentional genocide intended to subdue an independence movement.

A representative for the Pulitzer Prizes did not immediately respond to an inquiry from DailyMail.com on Wednesday morning.

A British-born socialite, Duranty moved to Moscow following the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War, and served as the Times' Moscow bureau chief from 1922 to 1936.

Known for his shrewd analysis of internal Bolshevik power struggles, Duranty in 1929 secured an exclusive interview with Stalin that vaulted him into the highest ranks of journalistic celebrity.

Dictator Joseph Stalin's 'Five Year Plan' of agricultural collectivization led to a famine that killed millions. Duranty was a cheerleader of the plan, touting it to Times readers

Dead and dying horses are seen near a Belgorod collective farm during the man-made Holodomor famine in the Ukraine, former Soviet Union, 1934

Often seeming to parrot Soviet talking points, Duranty in 1931 defended Stalin's plan to 'liquidate' the so-called kulaks, the relatively prosperous peasants who owned their own farms, and who were the boogeymen of the early Soviet Union.

'Must all of them and their families be physically abolished? Of course not  they must be 'liquidated' or melted in the hot fire of exile and labor into the proletarian mass,' wrote Duranty.

Soon after his work in 1931 that earned him the Pulitzer prize, Duranty denied emerging reports of a famine sweeping the countryside in rural Ukraine and Kazakhstan, the disastrous result of Stalin's 'Five Year Plan' of agricultural collectivization.

'Conditions are bad, but there is no famine,' he wrote in a dispatch from Moscow in March of 1933. 'But  to put it brutally  you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs.'

British-born journalist Walter Duranty , the Moscow correspondent for the New York Times, is seen reading a copy of 'Pravda', circa 1925

Two Ukrainian boys discover a cache of potatoes in 1935. The food had been hidden by an elderly woman, who was raided by the GPU (secret police) and deported to Siberia for hoarding food. The food found by the boys had been overlooked by the GPU agents

Duranty even publicly attacked Welsh reporter Gareth Jones for his fearless on-the-ground reports of the famine, calling it a 'big scare story' -- a feud featured in the recent film Mr. Jones, which portrays Duranty as the villain.

The New York Times carries a statement on its website disavowing Duranty and saying that 'Times correspondents and others have since largely discredited his coverage.'

The newspaper notes that the infamous famine occurred after the coverage that Duranty was awarded for.

In 2003, the Pulitzer Prize board declined to revoke Duranty's prize following a six-month review of his work.

The board noted that the award was granted for 13 articles that Duranty wrote in 1931, prior to his denial of the famine.

In a statement, the board wrote: 'a Pulitzer Prize for reporting is awarded not for the author's body of work or for the author's character but for the specific pieces entered in the competition.'

A group of homeless peasants near Kiev during a famine in the Soviet Union in April 1934

The body of a young woman near Poltava during the man-made Holodomor famine in the Ukraine, former Soviet Union, Spring 1934

The Pulitzer committee acknowledged that Duranty's 1931 work 'falls seriously short' of modern standards, but concluded that there 'was not clear and convincing evidence of deliberate deception.'

'Revoking a prize 71 years after it was awarded under different circumstances, when all principals are dead and unable to respond, would be a momentous step and therefore would have to rise to that threshold' of deception, the board said.

Estimates of the death toll in the Holodomor vary, with researchers estimating some 3.3 to 7.5 million died in the famine.

Widespread cannibalism was documented during the famine, including reports of parents eating their own children.

Modern Russia condemns the policies that led to the atrocity, but deny that it was an intentional plan of genocide.

The British playboy who was Stalin's Stooge: How war reporter Walter Duranty covered up a Kremlin-created famine that killed millions and allowed the Left to continue worshipping a mass murderer

By S. J. Taylor For The Mail On Sunday

When he wasnt in St Tropez basking in the sun, or at the horse racing in Pariss Bois de Boulogne, the New York Times man in Moscow could usually be found at the bar of the Russian capitals Metropol hotel.

A veteran correspondent of the First World War, Walter Duranty became, in the early 1930s, widely recognized as the top authority on the Soviet Union.

The British-born journalists shrewd assessments of Bolshevik power struggles were front-page news for at least a dozen years. He was the best-known newspaperman in the world, credited with gaining diplomatic recognition in the US for the fledgling Soviet state and  while the Western world was mired in economic depression  for lauding Stalins Five-Year Plans as models of efficiency.

The West believed Durantys assessment of the triumphs of Communism. But his cover-up of a man-made famine  in 1932 and 1933, when the Russian dictator confiscated food from Ukrainian farmers, causing the deaths of millions  led him to be described as Stalins apologist.

Walter Duranty (depicted in the film Mr Jones) covered up a famine in the USSR between 1932 and 1933 which was caused when Russia confiscated grain from Ukrainian farmers

Despite the loss of his left leg in a train accident, Duranty possessed an extraordinary attraction for women. Short, bald and unprepossessing, he seemed an unlikely sex symbol. But young American students hovered around him like rock stars groupies, hoping to engage his attention.

And they often succeeded, despite his having a Russian mistress discreetly at home in Moscow and a French wife, even more discreetly at a villa on the French Riviera.

In the recently released film Mr Jones, Duranty is the villain  pursuing exotic pleasures even as he covers up the genocidal famine. Gareth Jones, the Mr Jones of the films title, was a young Welshman who, on a three-week walking trip to Ukraine, discovered a population starving to death and reported it to the Western press. As improbable as his story must appear, it is based on actual events. But for almost 100 years, the famine has been largely forgotten, or ignored by those who knew it happened but dismissed it as an inconvenient truth. So who was Duranty?

As a boy, he had to leave Harrow School when his family suffered a reversal in fortune. He transferred to a less prestigious public school, Bedford, with a scholarship  extremely talented but deeply embittered by his exclusion from the ruling classes where he believed he belonged. He went on to study at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and graduated in Classics with honors. Spending time next in the seedy underworld of Paris, he befriended Aleister Crowley, the self-styled Beast 666, who dabbled in psycho-sexual seances and black magic.

Duranty wrote poems that were chanted at the ceremonies: People upon the worlds, are like maggots upon an apple. All forms of life bred upon the worlds are in the nature of parasites. In Paris, he became a regular smoker of opium. He married Crowleys discarded mistress, Jane Cheron, an opium addict herself conveniently in possession of a small fortune. He managed to wean himself off the drug but Cheron succumbed to her addiction.

At the start of the First World War, Duranty turned up at the Paris offices of the New York Times and so impressed bureau chief Wythe Williams that he was engaged as a stringer and later a war correspondent. He possessed writing skills that amazed Williams and the editors back home. His talent not only provided a good living but also served to keep Duranty out of the fighting, though he later said that in the face of so much death and self-sacrifice, he was not over proud to be among the living.

Children starving in the famine pictured in Golodomor, Kiev. Duranty was considered an authority on the Soviet Union in the early 1930s

The fighting he observed in his first year of covering the war accounted for his ambivalence towards moral and ethical issues. In his own words, he felt a measure of indifference to blood and squalor and fear and pity. Sudden death would become a commonplace, and vermin a joke.

It was an attitude that came in handy when he later covered the rise of the Bolshevik regime.

Having gone to Moscow, Duranty was accompanied by Cheron but she soon returned home to the more suitable French Riviera.

With one leg, he was an unlikely sex symbol, but young women flocked to him

Duranty and Gareth Jones met in the Russian capital in the spring of 1933. By then Duranty was not just a thrill-seeker who enjoyed moments of depravity (in the film, hes depicted naked at a party where young Russian girls are on offer and heroin in hypodermic needles is served on a silver salver) but a sophisticated, world-weary intellectual who sought his pleasures in the imaginative moral turpitude of the age.

The genesis of the Ukrainian famine of 1932-33 was sown in Stalins first Five-Year Plan. The Russian dictator dreamed of an industrialized nation, competitive with the great powers of the world. But whereas the Industrial Revolution in England and elsewhere had been relatively slow, Stalin required speed. He wanted dams, grand edifices and triumphant monuments, and most of all, he wanted armaments. But how was he to finance this plan and feed the heroic workers of industry? The answer was collective agriculture. Farmers in the great breadbasket of Ukraine were to have their farms confiscated and be forced to join huge collectives where they would work, in effect, as slaves for their room and board. Any excess produce and grain would be sold abroad to finance Stalins grand plan.

Stalin is pictured above having tea with his children. Duranty said he had grown into a fine statesman while ruler of the Soviet Union

In defiance, many farmers destroyed their animals and burned the grain theyd grown rather than cave in to the diktats of the Soviet state. And for a brief period, some gorged themselves on their grain and farm animals, slaughtering them wholesale, rather than see their hard-won profits go to Stalins state machine. In any case, they reasoned, what could Stalin possibly do to retaliate? Starve them all to death?

Stalin had always been suspicious of the so-called kulaks, a class of prosperous peasants scapegoated as the cause of trouble in Russia.

Classed as farmers who owned as many as three cows, some chickens and a few acres of land for an average family of seven, they were targeted for extinction and called bloodsuckers or vermin. Three years before the actual famine, there was a widespread deportation of as many as five million kulaks to Siberia. One of the few records kept of the liquidation of the kulaks as a class was a report from the Soviet secret police, the NKVD. Deportees were stripped of their shoes and clothes, crowded into carriages and dropped in Siberia. Once there, they were abandoned without shelter in extreme cold and ordered to build dwellings. Many did so by working almost around the clock, without sleep so they wouldnt freeze to death. Inevitably, most died  their numbers replenished by the arrival of new deportees.

The peasants were targeted for extinction - and labelled bloodsuckers

Ironically, those who were deported turned out to be the lucky ones. Those left behind were fated to become the victims of slow death by starvation in the famine. The symptoms of starvation are harrowing. There is a brooding for nourishment, a psychological obsession, which leads to involuntary movement of the jaws, as if chewing. The gums turn white, the skin grey, suggesting a disease more like leprosy than hunger. There is an unnatural ageing that causes even children to look old. As the body shrinks, the eyes become large and unfocused, bulging and immobile.

Childrens bodies swell and their stomachs distend hugely. Festering sores appear, and the diarrhea associated with starvation begins.

As the body consumes itself, there are sometimes hallucinations and other symptoms of madness.

Once this stage begins, cannibalism is frequent. In Ukraine, there were many reports of parents eating their own children.

Stalin meets Churchill at the Livedia Palace, Yalta, for a summit in February 1945

In the film Mr Jones, this is shown when Welshman Jones is given a meal in which a family of children have stripped away the flesh of their dead brother.

Although there is no evidence this particular event actually occurred, it is used as a filmic device to show the horrors of starvation to a generation who have never known hunger.

Yet, outrageously, Duranty wrote to a friend in June 1933: The famine is mostly bunk.

This letter was written after Joness eyewitness accounts of starvation and cannibalism in Ukraine. Joness dispatches had been published by the Manchester Guardian in March, and the newspaper had earlier printed similar accounts by Malcolm Muggeridge, the only other person to write about famine in Ukraine.

Muggeridge, later best known as a born-again Christian and television presenter, had travelled with his wife Kitty to the Soviet Union. He had passed through Ukraine and witnessed the rotten core of Paradise.

Those travelling by train were prevented from seeing the full extent of the starvation of the populace by the simple expedient of being ordered to pull down the carriage blinds.

But Muggeridge, like Jones, witnessed the bleak, empty countryside and bodies left to rot along the road. On his return home, he published several harrowing accounts.

He wrote: At a railway station early one morning, I saw a line of people with their hands tied behind them, being herded into cattle trucks at gunpoint  all so silent and mysterious and horrible in the half light, like some macabre ballet.

For his troubles, Muggeridge was sacked by the Manchester Guardian and found himself for a long while unable to get work in Britain.

He told the world Stalin had grown into a really great statesman

The disturbing fact was that people in the West believed Durantys published denials of a famine and, in particular, the Left was not inclined to reverse the accepted party line. Indeed, the prominent Socialists Sidney and Beatrice Webb excoriated Muggeridge for his abandonment of the great experiment. A defiant Duranty attacked both Muggeridge and Jones, saying that the latter, like so many others before him, was predicting the smash of the Soviet Regime and his reports were those of a foolish young man.

But Jones, who had a First in Russian Studies from Cambridge and had been personal secretary to former Prime Minister David Lloyd George, stoutly defended himself.

He said he pitied journalists  such as Duranty  who had been turned into masters of euphemism and understatement. Hence, they give famine the polite name of food shortage, while starving to death was described as widespread mortality from diseases due to malnutrition .

Given his pro-Stalin views, perhaps it was not surprising that, in September 1933, Duranty was the first of the Moscow press corps to be permitted by the Soviet authorities to go into the affected areas. Duranty duly reported: Early last year, under the pressure of the war danger in the Far East, the authorities took too much grain from the Ukraine. Meanwhile, a large number of peasants thought they could change the Communist Partys collectivization policy by refusing to co-operate.

Those circumstances produced a very poor harvest last year. The situation in the winter was undoubtedly bad.

It was an admission of sorts. But he was still in denial.

However, was this what he really believed?

Returning to Moscow, Duranty gave a secret report to officials at the British Embassy.

He told them: The Ukraine had been bled white. The peasants were dying off like flies. Houses stood open, corpses were stacked up. He estimated it was entirely possible that as many as ten million people may have died.

Durantys estimate of the numbers was the highest recorded of the Ukraine famine.

His duplicity is a mystery. Many have speculated as to his motives in covering up genocide. But no one who knew him considered him a fellow traveller, a true believer in Stalinism.

Could it have been something as simple as the desire to identify himself with the ruling classes? Or to see himself as the judge of history? Or was it simple arrogance?

The closest we can come to understanding his motivation is in his acceptance statement in 1932 for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize awarded for the most disinterested and meritorious public service rendered by any American newspaper during the preceding year.

He said: I went to the Baltic states viciously anti-Bolshevik. It was then widely believed that the Bolsheviks were enemies of the human race [But] I discovered they were enthusiasts, trying to regenerate a people that had been shockingly misgoverned and I decided to give them their fair break.

I still believe they are the best for the Russian masses but more and more I am convinced it is unsuitable for the United States and Western Europe. He added that he had learned to respect the Soviet leaders, especially Stalin, whom I consider to have grown into a really great statesman.

If, on the other hand, he had bravely taken a stand against Stalin, he might now be recognized as one of the centurys great uncompromising reporters. But he did not.
Former MSNBC host Chris Matthews returned to the network Tuesday night as a guest on the show that replaced him after he was ousted over sexual misconduct allegations last year.

Matthews hosted Hardball for 20 years until last March, when he suddenly resigned on air, after GQ journalist Laura Bassett publicly shamed him for complimenting her in the make-up chair when she was getting ready to go on his show.

He told her: 'Why haven't I fallen in love with you yet?' then told the make-up artist: 'Keep putting makeup on her, I'll fall in love with her.'

Bassett didn't name him in her initial piece for GQ but she described the behavior as 'gross and inappropriate'.

Matthews then made the decision to resign live on-air. He confirmed Bassett's story, apologized to her and said that a new generation was replacing his with 'fair' standards in the workplace.

Bassett says it wasn't her comments that forced him to resign; He was also criticized for comparing Bernie Sanders' victory in the Nevada Democratic caucuses to the Nazis invading France.

On Tuesday night, he appeared as a guest on Joy Reid's The ReidOut - the show that replaced his - to promote his new book, This Country: My Life in Politics and History.

Chris Matthews, 75, appeared on Joy Reid's The ReidOut - the show that replaced him on MSNBC - on Tuesday night. He said it was 'wrong' of him to compliment female journalist Laura Bassett on her appearance, and that it cost him his 20-year show

'I know the reason I left, someone reported that I complimented, actually I'm going to use the right words here.

GQ journalist Laura Bassett wrote an article last year describing Matthews' 'gross and inappropriate' behavior without naming him

'I commented on someone's appearance on the make-up room and I shouldn't have done that.

'Nobody needs to defend me, I did something wrong - I took ownership of it, to use a modern phrase, I lost my show over it.

'That's it,' he said.

Matthews, 75, said losing the show had finally given him the time to write his book.

'The good news is, Ive never had in my life two years to actually sit down and write about my 70 years, which is to talk about an incredible life Ive been so lucky to have, to be on the inside of American politics looking out.

''It was an amazing experience to work within democracy, and to see parts of the world fighting for democracy, like Nelson Mandela and bringing down the Berlin Wall. I got to see it all in one lifetime.

'I want to share with the people who watched my show so faithfully all those years.'

Bassett, in her GQ article, described how she was preparing to go on Matthews' show to talk about her sexual misconduct claims against Donald Trump when he made the remarks.

Bassett tweeted on Tuesday that she had received hate messages again. She insists that it wasn't her comments that took Matthews down and that he'd made other inappropriate remarks

Matthews interviewing journalist Laura Bassett on Hardball. She said that before she went on the show, he told her: 'Why haven't I fallen in love with you yet?' then told the make-up artist: 'Keep putting makeup on her, I'll fall in love with her.'

Bassett said she didn't lump Matthews in with the likes of Harvey Weinstein or others who have been accused and even convicted of sexual assault as part of the #MeToo era.

She said that he was never her boss and she wasn't sure that what he said to her amounted to sexual harassment.

Bassett also appeared on Inside Edition to say she'd received death threats from Matthews' fans.

'People [are] telling me to kill myself, people calling me a whore, people calling me ugly.

'They want me to shut up, they want me to go away.'

Matthews, on Tuesday, also talked about the last year of politics and said that he felt 'violated' by the January 6 Capitol riot.

He fumed over Trump and said it was even 'worse' now that Biden was President, although Trump's claim that Barack Obama is an illegal immigrant was 'absurd, awful and racist.'
An alleged member of banned extremist group Al-Muhajiroun (ALM) has admitted breaching a terror prevention order by inviting a woman to his home for sex.

The man, who can only be identified as QT for legal reasons, was today handed an 18-month community order at the Old Bailey, which includes 20 days' rehabilitation and 90 hours' community service.

QT was made subject to the Tpim (Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures) order - which allows authorities to monitor suspected terrorists who are not subject to criminal charges - in 2018 after he was acquitted of terror offences.

When asked in March 2020 to sign an extension of the order, which included a 24-hour tagged curfew and a measure restricting association, QT wrote: 'I was born free and refuse to sign a slave contract'.

QT is a member of ALM, the court was told, which has been linked to some of the biggest atrocities in the UK in recent years.

Prosecutor Emma Gargitter said QT met a woman on the promenade near where he was living while they were both exercising.

He later handed her a business card with his phone number and arrangements were made for her to visit his home for a dinner date on November 21 last year.

The man, who can only be identified as QT for legal reasons, was today handed an 18-month community order at the Old Bailey, which includes 20 days' rehabilitation and 90 hours' community service

Al-Muhajiroun (ALM) is a banned extremist group with members and associates linked to a number of high profile attacks in the UK in recent years, such as the one at Fishmongers' Hall in 2019

How the Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Order works A Tpim (Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures) order allows authorities to monitor suspected terrorists who are not subject to criminal charges. Just three people are currently subjects of such an order, according to the latest figures from November. A Tpim can be imposed on a person for a maximum of two years, with ministers looking to lower the current standard of proof needed to impose one. Restrictions include curfews, having to wear an electronic tag, bans on internet use and limits on meetings with certain people or in certain places. Advertisement

Sentencing QT, Judge Sarah Munro QC said: 'The evening concluded with consensual sexual activity.'

She described it as a 'blatant breach' of the order requiring QT to inform the Home Office before meeting someone, and told him he 'knew the rules', having been previously convicted of similar offences.

The court heard he was jailed for 16 months in March 2019 after admitting seven Tpim breaches for meeting a 'vulnerable woman' for 'sexual gratification' at his home, along with another breach relating to electronic communication.

QT's Tpim expired in March this year and the judge said she accepted he had 'now embarked on a new stage of your life'.

Just three people are currently subjects of such an order, according to the latest figures from November.

A Tpim can be imposed on a person for a maximum of two years, with ministers looking to lower the current standard of proof needed to impose one.

Restrictions include curfews, having to wear an electronic tag, bans on internet use and limits on meetings with certain people or in certain places.

ALM is a banned extremist group with members and associates linked to a number of high profile attacks in the UK in recent years.

This includes the London 7/7 bombings in 2005 which killed 52 people, the slaying of soldier Lee Rigby in 2013, the London Bridge attack in 2017 which killed eight and the Fishmongers' Hall attack two years later which left two dead.
Former President Donald blasted former GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock after she mocked him by saying most elected Republicans want him to disappear  by brandishing an Oval Office photo that showed the two of them together.

The former northern Virginia lawmaker, who lost her seat in 2018 in a defeat her supporters blame on having Trump as the head of the party, went after Trump in an appearance on NBC's 'Meet the Press' Sunday.

She was criticizing members of her own party who failed to back a commission to investigate the January 6th Capitol riot, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warning the probe could be a political liability.

'I understand Republicans want to get away from Donald Trump. I mean, if Donald Trump disappeared tomorrow, I don't think you'd have many Republicans in the search party, right?' she said.

PARTY SEARCH: Former President Donald Trump ripped former GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock after she said if he 'disappeared tomorrow, I don't think you'd have many Republicans in the search party.' The president unearthed a photo from 2017, when Comstock joined him in the Oval Office for a bill signing

'Maybe a few prosecutors, but not Republicans,' she quipped  referencing New York prosecutors who are investigating the Trump Organization. 'So they want to get away from him, but the problem is he's not going to go away.'

The attack drew a predictable response  with Trump trashing the lawmaker and coming up with receipts to show one of the times in the past when Comstock was willing to embrace him.

Comstock was criticizing Republicans who failed to back a commission to investigate the January 6th Capitol riot

Trump called Comstock a 'RINO,' while also going after GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, who was forced out of the House Republican leadership amid Trump's attacks on her

Trump ripped Comstock as a 'RINO' - a Republican in Name Only

Comstock was there when Trump signed legislation meant to enable women's careers

Trump sent out an email with Trump signing legislation inside the Oval  with Comstock and a grinning trio of Comstock, Ivanka Trump, and former first Lady Melania Trump grinning behind him.

Trump was inking legislation intended to boost women's careers in the 2017 image.

'RINO Former Congresswoman Barbara Comstock of Virginia, who lost her race conclusively to someone she should have easily beaten, now goes around telling Republicans how to get elected,' Trump wrote from his 'Save America' PAC.

'She had no problems being with me while in the Oval Office, or when she needed something.' Then he went on to attack a group of persistent Trump critics.

'She and other RINO losers like Mitt Romney, Little Ben Sasse, Lisa Murkowski, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and Karl Rove are whats really wrong with the Republican Party, not the great MAGA Republicans, Conservatives, and Patriots!'

Sens. Romney, Sasse, and Murkowski all backed Trump's second impeachment. Comstock sided with Cheney in her effort to remain in GOP leadership amid a campaign to push her out fueled by Trump.

Comstock helped spearhead a so-far unsuccessful lobbying effort to enact a bipartisan Jan. 6th probe.

"But this is not about Democrats or Republicans. It's about the country, and it's about getting to the truth, and it's about protecting the Capitol, the people who work there and also making sure this never happens again,' she told NBC.

Trump also went after Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who voted in favor of creating the bipartisan commission. It was his defense of the idea  saying he would prefer a bipartisan commission to one appointed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi  that preceded Comstock's 'search party' comment.

Trump called Cassidy 'stupid' as he issued an endorsement of fellow Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, who recently tore into infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.

'Fantastic news for Louisiana and the U.S.A.Senator John Kennedy will be seeking re-election! John is strong on Crime, the Border, our Military, our Veterans, Pro-Life, Energy and the Economy, and our very much under siege Second Amendment,' Trump wrote 'Unlike Louisianas other Senator, Bill Cassidy, who used my name in ads and all over the place in order to get re-elected, and then went stupid, John Kennedy is the real deala brilliant and highly educated man who will never let you down. He has my Complete and Total Endorsement!'
Advertisement

The New York Public Library just got a whole lot of TLC.

The $200million renovation of its biggest branch, on 40th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, was finally revealed at a ribbon cutting on Tuesday, after roughly four years of construction.

Before and after photos obtained by DailyMail.com show the library's complete facelift and new features, which include a 42-foot atrium, rooftop terrace and floor-to-ceiling shelves for 400,000 books.

The library, renamed the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL), boasts 44,000-square-feet of open, general public library space with double the seating as its original model.

The 180,000-square-foot building was constructed between 1914 and 1915 as the department store Arnold Constable & Co. Architect T. Joseph Bartley designed the limestone-clad building with a granite base and neoclassical commercial expression.

The New York Public Library took over the building in 1970 and occupied all floors by 1976. Two years later, Italian architect Giorgio Caviglieri renovated the space, but it never quit shook the layout and appearance of department store  until now.

 Slide me  Before and after photos show New York Public Library's dramatic $200M renovation with 1978 interiors transformed into a bright space with 400,000 books, a 42-ft atrium (pictured) and rooftop terrace

 Slide me  The $200million renovation of its biggest branch, on 40th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, was finally revealed at a ribbon cutting on Tuesday. Pictured: The entryway of the building before (left) and after (right) the transformation

 Slide me  Renovations include the library's first dedicated section geared toward children and teenagers, at 26,000-square feet

 Slide me  One of the main features of the renovated library is a public rooftop terrace

One of the building's main features is the 'Long Room,' a five-level space for book browsing complete with a 42-foot high atrium; two connected floors of classrooms, education and programming spaces; meeting rooms and consultation rooms.

The new 21,000-square-foot Thomas Yoseloff Business Center, named for the grandfather of NYPL Trustee Anthony Yoseloff, offers patrons access to electronic resources like the Bloomberg Terminals, in-person programs, classes, one-on-one sessions, offerings in the fields of personal finance and investing, small business resources, business and financial research and career services. The Thomas Yoseloff Business Center opened for appointments last month.

Renovations also include the library's first dedicated section geared toward children and teenagers, at 26,000-square feet. Patrons could use programming spaces, podcasting studios, reading alcoves and a book sorter that uses a conveyor belt to reorganize materials after they're taken off the shelves.

And at 20,000-square-feet, the new Pasculano Learning Center is the library's first center for adult education.

 Slide me  The 180,000-square-foot building was constructed between 1914 and 1915 as the department store Arnold Constable & Co. It is pictured above in the early 20th century (left) and in 2021 (right)

 Slide me  Before and after photos reveal the difference in design and aesthetic from the New York Public Library to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library

 Slide me  In 2014, the library's leadership secured $150million in city funding to begin a complete transformation

 Slide me  A standout architectural feature of the newly renovated library is what Houben calls the 'Wizard's Hat'

In 2014, the library's leadership secured $150million in city funding to begin a complete transformation. The project gained another $55million as a grant paid by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

In 2015, Dutch architect Francine Houben, of the architecture group Mecanoo, came on as the designer with Beyer Blinder Belle, a Manhattan-based architecture firm.

They collaborated with the library's leadership and, for over a year, conducted interviews with staff, patrons and community stakeholders to create a spacious, bright and functional environment.

'Libraries are incredibly unique spaces, houses of knowledge and creation that must inspire, welcome, and serve all,' Houben said.

'In this case, we were entrusted with a historic building in New York City, one that receives millions of visits every year but was never built to be a library.

'We needed to take the bones of that building and reimagine the ultimate library: certainly beautiful and filled with light, but above all able to meet the ever-changing needs of the institution and the New Yorkers it serves.'

Houben explained that she wanted to create a solution for housing hundreds of thousands of books while concurrently providing a comforting and inspiring atmosphere.

The stand-out architectural feature is what Houben calls the 'Wizard's Hat,' a sculpted, painted and perforated metal structure that enshrouds the library's seventh floor.

'We created a welcoming public space that will be beautiful and functional now and 100 years from now,' she added. 'There is something to inspire every visitor in the most diverse city in the world, and I am proud of that.'

Construction on the building broke ground in 2017 and the library was set to open in May 2020 to coincide with the library's 125th anniversary

The coronavirus pandemic delayed construction and, last July, the library only opened its first floor for use as a grab-and-go book checkout service

At 20,000-square-feet, the new Pasculano Learning Center is the library's first center for adult education

The library features 44,000-square-feet of open, general public library space with double the seating as its original model

One of the building's main features is the 'Long Room,' a five-level space for book browsing complete with a 42-foot atrium

Patrons could use programming spaces, podcasting studios and reading alcoves

The library is open on Monday to Thursday, from 10am to 8pm, and Friday and Saturday, from 10am to 6pm

Construction on the building broke ground in 2017 and the library was set to open in May 2020 to coincide with the library's 125th anniversary.

However, the coronavirus pandemic delayed construction and, last July, the library only opened its first floor for use as a grab-and-go book checkout service.

A ribbon cutting on June 1 celebrated the library's official reopening. It's now open on Monday to Thursday, from 10am to 8pm, and Friday and Saturday, from 10am to 6pm.

There are still no in-person programs and the Pasculano Learning Center and rooftop terrace will open at a to-be-determined date.

'It is the central circulating library New York City has long needed, wanted, and deserves,' said Library President Anthony W. Marx.

'As we all look towards our next chapter of recovery and renewal, it is important that learning and opportunity be readily and freely accessible to all. There is no more important or better-timed civic infrastructure project to accomplish those ever present and pressing goals.'
Director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr Francis Collins, appeared to dismiss the theory that COVID-19 leaked from a Wuhan lab as a 'conspiracy' in a message to Dr Anthony Fauci, newly released emails show.

The message, which was sent April 16, 2020, was included in a batch of more than 3,200 of Fauci's emails that were obtained and published by Buzzfeed on Tuesday.

The subject line of Collins' email to Fauci and several others at the National Institutes of Health was titled 'conspiracy gains momentum'.

It included a link to a Mediaite news article referencing comments made a day earlier about the Wuhan lab leak theory by Fox News anchor Bret Baier.

The contents of Collins' email was redacted.

Fauci replied on April 17 at 2.45am but his response also was blacked out.

NIH Director Dr Francis Collins (left) appeared to dismiss the theory that COVID-19 leaked from a Wuhan lab as a 'conspiracy' in an email to Dr Anthony Fauci (right) on April 16 last year

The other email recipients included NIH Deputy Director Dr Lawrence Tabak, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Deputy Director Clifford Lane and NIH spokesman John Burklow.

The story linked in Collins' original email was based on an April 15 broadcast on Fox News during which Baier told fellow anchor Sean Hannity that 'multiple sources' believed COVID-19 originated in a Wuhan lab before accidentally escaping.

'This is from multiple sources who have been briefed at the beginning part of the origins of China and the beginning of the virus. They've also seen documents, open source and classified,' Baier said.

'We've asked to see those documents directly, but they are saying that it is increasingly likely, that there is increasing confidence that the virus - COVID-19 - started in a Wuhan lab.

'They're saying it occurred naturally because China was trying to show that they could be as good or better than the US in handling viruses, discovering viruses, and that this was a botched effort to contain this and it got out to the population.

'They are 100 percent confident that China altered the data, the statistics, they did a lot of things to contain the information. Meanwhile, they cut down, as you mentioned, travel from Wuhan internally, but left the international flights going, and there obviously is how you have a spread like this.'

Evidence has been mounting of late that supports the theory that the pandemic began as an accidental leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The subject line of Collins' email to Fauci and several others at the National Institutes of Health was titled 'conspiracy gains momentum'. It included a link to a Mediaite news article referencing comments made a day earlier about the Wuhan lab leak theory by Fox News anchor Bret Baier (above)

New evidence, including word of three workers at the Wuhan lab who fell seriously ill with COVID-like symptoms in November 2019, has forced a sober reassessment among doubters

President Joe Biden last week ordered a 90-day intelligence review to investigate the possibility and several high-profile public health experts have come out in recent months saying they believe that's how COVID-19 started.

Former CDC director Robert Redfield told CNN in March that he believes the virus 'escaped' from a Wuhan lab and started spreading as early as September 2019.

Even Collins appeared to change his tune as recently as last month while speaking to senators when he told them the Wuhan lab leak theory couldn't be completely ruled out.

'It is most likely that this is a virus that arose naturally, but we cannot exclude the possibility of some kind of a lab accident,' he said.

The media and academics long heaped scorn on the lab leak hypothesis, insisting that it was a fringe conspiracy theory and even racist after Donald Trump embraced the idea.

But new evidence, including reports of three workers at the Wuhan lab who fell seriously ill with COVID-like symptoms in November 2019, has forced a sober reassessment among doubters.

'I think a lot of people have egg on their face,' ABC News Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl admitted on Sunday. 'Some things may be true even if Donald Trump said them.'

'Because Trump was saying so much else, that was just out of control... but now serious people are saying it needs a serious inquiry,' he said.

Facebook also has been forced to reverse its policy censoring posts speculating that the virus was engineered in a lab, amid serious questions about the 'gain of function' experiments being done on coronavirus strains at the Wuhan lab.

Three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology reported COVID-like symptoms in November 2019, before the virus began to spread around the world

China continues to furiously deny that the virus behind COVID-19 escaped from its lab in the original epicenter, accusing the United States of taking a 'dangerous stance' in calling for a full investigation into the possibility.

It comes after another trove of Fauci's emails, published by the Washington Post, revealed his cozy relationship with China's top infectious disease expert during the early days of the pandemic.

The emails were exchanged between Fauci and Dr. George Gao - the director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention - in March and April of last year.

Fauci did not ask any questions about the origins of the virus.

In March, Gao had told Science magazine that it was a 'big mistake' for US experts (including Fauci) to tell their citizens that they did not need to wear face masks.

A subsequent email shows that Gao was anxious as to how Fauci would interpret the remark.

He messaged Fauci on March 28 saying: 'I saw the Science interview... That was journalist's wording. Hope you understand. Lets work together to get the virus out of the earth.'

Fauci warmly replied: 'I understand completely. No problem. We will get through this together.'

On April 3, Fauci formally reversed his stance on mask-wearing, telling Americans that they should cover their noses and mouths to stop the spread. The top doctor was slammed by numerous pundits and millions of Americans for giving mixed messages.

He later said he did so to try and prevent members of the public panic-buying masks when hospitals were struggling to obtain adequate supplies of PPE.

Less than a week later, Gao emailed Fauci again expressing his support amid the onslaught of attacks.

'I saw some news (hope it is fake) that you are being attacked by some people. Hope you are well under such a irrational situation,' Gao wrote on April 8.

'Thank you for your kind note. All is well despite some crazy people in this world,' Fauci replied three days later.
Shannon Cumberbatch, head of Bronx Defenders' Office of Equity and Institutional Transformation, sent the e-mail to colleagues on the 'anti-oppression' team she leads

A taxpayer-funded Bronx legal aid attorney has blasted Israel for 'rampant state violence' and 'colonialism' which she claimed is sponsored by the 'US Empire.'

Shannon Cumberbatch, head of Bronx Defenders' Office of Equity and Institutional Transformation, sent the e-mail to colleagues on the 'anti-oppression' team she leads.

Bronx Defenders represents low-income clients in criminal, civil, child welfare, and immigration cases and has received more than $260 million from New York City over the last decade.

In the email, Cumberbatch said her team stood 'in solidarity with our comrades in Colombia, Brazil and Palestine who are fighting rampant state violence by militarized police forces that the US Empire helps to train and support financially and otherwise, while disproportionately targeting black, brown and native people in their countries, just as those forces do in the United States.'

Written on May 14, at the height of the Israel's recent bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip, Cumberbatch said she wanted to 'highlight the suffering of our Palestinian colleagues and comrades whose loved ones continue fighting for their survival and security.'

She referred to Israel's 'raid' on the Al Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem, when security forces moved in to quell Palestinian protests on Temple Mount in early May.

However, she downplayed the role of Islamist terrorists in the conflict. Hamas militants fired rockets at civilians in Israel following the Temple Mount riots before Israel began its bombing campaign.

'The present reality of the displacement, disenfranchisement and military violence happening abroad is reminiscent of the settler colonialism, state violence and sanctioned genocide weaponized against Native and people of color in the United States,' Cumberbatch wrote.

She also claimed that the NYPD has 'collaborated' with Israeli security forces, 'sharing tactics of surveillance and suppression.'

Cumberbatch compared protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, following the killing of Michael Brown, to those by Palestinians in Israel.

'Our struggle for freedom is international and our liberties are intertwined,' she wrote.

But another Bronx Defender lawyer disagreed with her email and forwarded it to former Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind, chief of Americans against Antisemitism.

Cumberbatch's email was written on May 14, at the height of the Israel's recent bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip (pictured: Smoke billows from a building housing various international media, including The Associated Press, after an Israeli airstrike on Saturday, May 15)

'Personally, I don't care for anyone's anti-Jewish views, but when a government-funded organization offers their unsolicited opinion on foreign policy so as to increase divisions here at home then we must demand accountability,' Hikind told the New York Post.

'And this isn't the first time they indulged in objectionable behavior, so why does New York City, among other governmental agencies, keep funding them to the tune of tens of millions of taxpayer dollars annually?'

Bronx Defenders were in the spotlight in 2014 when two of its employees appeared in a rap video which urged people to kill NYPD cops.

But Bronx Defenders' Executive Director Justine Olderman defended Cumberbatch in a statement to the Post, writing: 'This email was part of an ongoing internal discussion about how events around us impact our clients and our employees and was a communication that, as a Jewish person, I endorsed at the time and stand by today.'

She added: 'Our naming and amplifying the suffering of Palestinian people in an email to staff should not be mistaken for organizational indifference to the experience of people in Israel who have been living in fear and have lost loved ones, to the growing threat of anti-semitism at home and abroad, or to the history of Jewish oppression.'
King is a 36-year veteran of the company who most recently served as its COO

Tyson Foods President and CEO Dean Banks announced he is leaving the company for personal reasons on Wednesday

The chicken has flown the coop.

Tyson Foods President and CEO Dean Banks announced Wednesday that he is leaving the poultry company after serving at the top post for less than a year.

He was immediately succeeded by Chief Operating Officer Donnie King, a 36-year veteran of the company.

Tyson named Banks, 46, as CEO in August, but he took officially took over the position from Noel White, 61, in October.

Banks explained in a statement that he was leaving the company for personal reasons.

'Being a part of Tyson Foods has been a very rewarding experience,' he said. 'Upon deep personal reflection, and discussions with my family, the board, and my colleagues, I believe that stepping down and concentrating on my family is the right decision at this time.'

Dean Banks (left) has stepped own as president and CEO of Tyson Foods, the company announced Wednesday. He was immediately succeeded by Donnie King (right)

King, 57, has 36 years of experience with the company, first joining in 1982 and serving in poultry plant, complex and supply chain management. He has held a variety of executive leadership positions, including president of North American operations, managing all operational aspects of poultry, fresh meats and prepared foods. He became chief operating officer earlier this year. Now, King is the Tysons fifth in five years.

'The board and I know that Donnie has a deep understanding of our business, values and culture and the solid leadership skills needed to continue to implement our strategy and deliver strong results,' said John Tyson, chairman of the companys board. 'We want to express our appreciation to Dean for his contributions as a board member and executive.'

King is also a former member of the executive committee of the National Chicken Councils board of directors and a former member of the US Poultry and Egg Association. He has a bachelors degree in business management from the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

'Im humbled but excited about leading Tyson Foods, a company that feeds millions of people and means so much to me personally,' King said.

'I believe we need to be sharply focused on operating with excellence, executing our strategies, and continuing to innovate across our businesses throughout the world. With our strong leadership team, we are committed to winning with our customers and delivering an outstanding team member experience.'

King already has a lot on his plate. He must content with the ongoing challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, inflation that has sent meat prices soaring and worker attendance issues.

Between April and May 2020, Tyson Foods shuttered two of its pork processing plants to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. One of which was its largest plant in the U.S., in Waterloo, Iowa, and makes up five percent of the countrys pork production by slaughtering 19,500 hogs a day. The other plant was in Logansport, Indiana.

The company faced another closure, unrelated to the pandemic, in August when it shuttered a prepared foods plant in Columbia, South Carolina.

Then in December, Tyson faced backlash when seven managers were fired from its Waterloo, Iowa plant for betting on the number of employees that would test positive for Covid-19. Tyson announced the terminations of the Waterloo managers on December 16, weeks after the betting allegation surfaced in wrongful death lawsuits filed by the families of four workers who died of Covid-19.

Banks said in a statement at the time that 'The behavior exhibited by these individuals does not represent the Tyson core values, which is why we took immediate and appropriate action to get to the truth.'

An other obstacle facing the Springdale, Arkansas-based company is the rising prices of meat. Due to the pandemic, supply chains have been stunted and countries still struggling have been producing less goods than usual. As a result, prices have gone up and companies have passed those prices on to their consumers. According to a farmers report published by US Foods, analysts predict that the supply of tender and dark meats will continue to shrink through July and the prices may steadily increase as a result.

And on top of this, Tyson recently said that absentee rates are around 50 percent higher than they were before the pandemic.

To offset this, Tyson announced last month that it was raising wages to increase employee morale and attendance.

In efforts to combat the pandemic, Tyson began vaccinating workers in February through clinics at more than 100 sites.

The company, which processes 20 percent of US beef, chicken and pork, had announced its plans for medical clinics in September.
A 56-year-old man plunged to his death in Sequoia National Park in California on Memorial Day when he lost his balance on a summit of Mount Russell, falling 500 feet.

A 45-year-old woman who was part of his hiking group reached out to try to grab him and was dragged down herself, but miraculously survived after somehow falling only 30 feet - where rescuers saved her.

The National Park Service announced the death of the hiker on Tuesday. It hasn't released his name or the name of the woman. DailyMail.com has contacted the park service for more information.

It's unclear what led the man to lose his balance and slip from the mountain's ridge.

In a release, the National Park Service said a 56-year-old fell from the summit ridge of Mount Russell and plummeted around 500 feet to his death on Monday (stock picture)

Mount Russell is located on the eastern boundary of Sequoia National Park in California

Mount Russell is located on the eastern boundary of Sequoia National Park, which itself is located near Visalia, California.

The mountain tops out at 14,094 feet, the seventh-highest peak in all of California. It is a mile north of Mount Whitney, which is significantly more well-known and is the highest mountain in the contiguous United States.

The San Jose native was part of a three-person hiking group, with a 45-year-old woman from Milpitas trying to rescue and grab the man after he lost his balance.

She also fell from Mount Russell's ridge but managed to stop her fall somehow after just 30 feet.

The third member of the hiking group then used a satellite device emergency locator beacon to declare an emergency before calling 911.

Helicopter 551 from Yosemite National Park responded to the distress call because a closer rescue team was dealing with an unrelated incident with a hiker who was unconscious.

When the rescue team arrived, they were able to extract the female victim from the ledge she was on.

She was taken to a hospital before being airlifted to a hospital in Reno, Nevada for surgery.

The San Jose native was part of a three-person hiking group, with a 45-year-old woman from Milpitas trying to rescue and grab the man after he lost his balance. She also fell from Mount Russell's ridge but managed to stop her fall somehow after just 30 feet (stock picture)

The Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks wasn't able to retrieve the deceased man until Tuesday, though. He was transferred to a funeral home after his body was recovered.

NPS reports that there were eight different search-and-rescue missions over the course of the three-day Memorial Day weekend.

'Over the course of what is expected to be an extraordinarily busy summer in the parks, visitors to the front country and the wilderness alike are strongly urged to prepare carefully for trips, and understand completely that you may need to be self-sufficient in the event of an emergency,' the NPS said in their release.

They also suggested that people should always be prepared to turn around if necessary.

'There is never any guarantee that rescuers will be able to reach you quickly. Understand your own limits, take care of the people in your party, and always be prepared to turn back,' the release concluded.

There were 66 deaths recorded between 2007 and 2018 at Sequoia National Park. There were 19,869,972 visits to the park over that time, adding up to 33.22 deaths for every 10 million visits

In October, the law firm Panish Shea & Boyle LLP released an analysis looking at the most deadly at national parks in the United States.

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks ranked 11th on their list, with 66 deaths recorded between 2007 and 2018.

There were 19,869,972 visits to the park over that time, adding up to 33.22 deaths for every 10 million visits.
Defendant denied being behind Twitter accounts and claimed he was 'set up'

He told court today that his ex deliberately gave

rew Dymock, from Bath, is on trial accused of posting antisemitic content

A neo-Nazi student accused of promoting extremist right-wing groups and using social media to 'stir up a race war' today told a court he was framed by a former girlfriend.

Andrew Dymock, from Bath, Somerset, allegedly joined the white supremacist groups Sonnenkrieg Division and System Resistance Network (SRN) between 2017 and 2018.

The student, who is accused of posting virulent anti-Semitic content to the now-banned Twitter account of SRN, is also alleged to have created and updated the neo-Nazi website 'The Lion Rises'.

However the 24-year-old said he only shared resources on SRN's site for his academic research after his ex-girlfriend was expelled from the extremist group.

Dymock, who studied politics at Aberystwyth University, told the court that his ex had deliberately given him the extremist material as well as posted inflammatory content posing as him online to get him charged with terrorism.

He also claimed that his former girlfriend had been 'actively trying to recruit' him into the far-right neo-Nazi terrorist organisation National Action but he had not realised it at the time.

The defendant is accused of 15 charges, including 12 terrorism-related alleged offences.

He has denied being behind the accounts and claims he was 'set up', the Old Bailey has previously heard.

Andrew Dymock, 24, from Bath, Somerset is accused of posting virulent anti-semitic content and promoting extremist right-wing groups

Giving evidence today, Dymock said that he told his ex about his research into 'far right theory' and 'far right groups' but she initially did not disclose she was a member of SRN.

He said: 'I didn't know she was a member of it prior to her being kicked out.'

He claimed that after becoming aware of her membership, he tried to move her away from 'the Nazi rubbish', even having her film him burning an SRN flag.

The defendant continued: 'I wanted to get [her] away from politics and all of that. I wasn't happy with her opinions and views and stuff.

'I wanted to, I wouldn't say deradicalise her, but just stop her from being this Nazi.'

Jurors heard Dymock messaged her: 'I had a dream where I went around the Wild West executing f****** with a.44 Magnum revolver.'

But Dymock denied that the slur was in reference to gay people and claimed the dream was simply a response to him watching a Clint Eastwood film the night before.

Dymock - who identifies as Pagan - told the court his ex was kicked out of SRN after an Orthodox Christian coup removed all Pagans from the organisation.

After her expulsion, he said he asked her to share resources on SRN which he could use on his academic research.

'She had been kicked out of SRN so obviously she had no use for them,' said Dymock.

'Obviously it would have been quite a treasure trove. No journalist would be in a position to get hold of this stuff.'

Jurors heard that Dymock's former girlfriend visited him at Aberystwyth University and brought along her laptop and 'a number of USB sticks'.

The student said: 'She took the files out of her laptop, she put them in these USB sticks, there were two of them. She put the USB sticks into [my laptop].'

Dymock told the court that his ex had deliberately given him the material as well as posted inflammatory content posing as him online to get him charged with terrorism.

Image released by Counter Terrorism Policing North East of a person wearing a skull mask which was sent via an electronic device used by Andrew Dymock

Jurors were previously shown an image of a figure holding a swastika flag which was recovered from devices belonging to Andrew Dymock

A picture released by Counter Terrorism Policing North East of a person wearing a top (right) similar to one which was recovered from the home of Andrew Dymock

'She is central to these attacks on me, to deliberately incriminate me,' said Dymock.

He claimed she had been 'actively trying to recruit' into National Action but that he didn't realise at the time.

The Sonnenkrieg Division and System Resistance Network The Atomwaffen Division was founded in the US around 2013 with the aim of destroying civilisation in order to build a national socialist state. Its UK offshoots were known as the Sonnenkrieg Division and System Resistance Network (SRN). Jurors heard SRN was one of the organisations that filled the 'dubious gap' left after far-right group National Action was banned in 2016. The homepage of the Neo-Nazi group SRN declared objective to be the destruction of 'the system' and 'guide the European to his destiny', before quoting Hitler. SRN was banned in 2020. Advertisement

'She failed to recruit me into National Action and of course my testimony would have put her in prison for recruiting for a prescribed organisation,' said Dymock

Yesterday, Dymock claimed he joined online Alt Right groups on Discord as part of his research for his dissertation.

He also said he never ran the Neo-Nazi 'The Lion Rises' website, claiming that a purchase in his name from the WordPress platform was simply him buying some music editing software.

He also claimed that he owned several copies of Hitler's Mein Kampf because of a module he was taking in university as well as his dissertation research.

Earlier this month, jurors heard that police had found flags, clothing, books and badges all of which had links to far-right groups at Dymock's home and university lodgings when they arrested him.

Jurors were also shown a stream of SRN tweets which included images that were later recovered from devices seized from Dymock's bedroom.

On November 11 2017, a tweet featuring an image of a German SS soldier hailed those who fought for 'Europe's freedom against Jewish Bolshevism and Capitalism'.

Jurors also viewed other tweets which contained apparent homophobic, racist, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic language.

Jocelyn Ledward, prosecuting, said: 'The prosecution say he used the social media platforms to raise money for the group and to encouraged others to participate in terrorist activity and stir up hatred in their communities.

'System Resistance Network, or SRN, was a group which preached zero-tolerance to non-whites, Jewish and Muslim communities. The group describes homosexuality as a disease. Its clarion call was for the expulsion of minorities and a white revolution.

'Its online campaign comprising virulently racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic propaganda sought to stir up a race war against ethnic minorities and others that it perceived as race traitors. '

Pictured: T-shirts found in the bedroom of Dymock when anti-terrorism police raided his bedroom

Dymock denies being behind the online activity, claiming that he has been 'set up' by others.

He further claims the material found at his address were for 'academic' and personal interest reasons rather than terrorism purposes.

Dymock, of Bath, denies five counts of encouraging terrorism, four of disseminating terrorist publications, two of terrorist fundraising, one of possessing material useful to a terrorist, one of possessing racially inflammatory material, one of stirring up racial hatred, and one of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.

The trial continues.
Advertisement

Boris Johnson today hinted that more countries could be added to the UK's amber and red travel lists as he vowed to be 'cautious'.

The PM warned that the government will have 'no hesitation' about imposing tougher restrictions ahead of a review of the allocations due tomorrow.

The next destinations travel experts are tipping for 'green list' status Travel industry experts have highlighted eight new destinations that could be added to the government's green list. With Covid cases falling or staying at low levels in these holiday hot spots, Brits could be enjoying a summer in: Canary Islands Balearic Islands Malta Morocco Finland Jamaica Barbados Grenada Today, Cyprus' deputy tourism minister said the country 'absolutely deserves' to be on the UK's travel green list. Advertisement

The comment - in response to a question about whether the green list will be expanded - will fuel pessimism about the prospects for a holiday options being extended soon.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps had raised hopes last month by urging people to 'be a little patient' about booking trips abroad, as the roll call of quarantine-free destinations might expand.

Travel industry experts have suggested that case levels in the Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Malta, Morocco, Finland, Jamaica, Barbados, and Grenada are low enough to be added to the loosest category.

And today Cyprus' deputy tourism minister said the country 'absolutely deserves' to be on the UK's travel green list.

The news comes as a meeting between holiday chiefs and Hugh Elliott, British ambassador to Spain, suggests holidays there will be postponed until the end of July - dashing any prospect of the country joining the green list of nations.

Antonio Mayor, President of the Benidorm, Costa Blanca and Valencia Hotel Association also warned the smaller islands are not likely to be treated any differently to mainland Spain in terms of Covid-19 restrictions.

Popular European destinations including Spain and Italy remain on the amber list, which requires holidaymakers to quarantine for 10 days on returning to Britain, and take a pre-departure test and two post-arrival tests.

Portugal is currently the only major tourist destination on the 'green list' - which only require tests to be taken on return.

But there is also speculation that Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Kuwait and Bahrain might be escalated to the highest level.

That means only British residents can come to the UK after having visited, and even then they must stay in a quarantine hotel for 10 days.

In other twists and turns in the coronavirus crisis today:

The UK recorded another 12 deaths - suggesting the zero tally yesterday might have been a blip - as infections rose above 4,000 again;

Office for National Statistics figures revealed Covid was behind less than one per cent of deaths in the week to May 21;

Mr Johnson insisted he still sees 'nothing in the data' to stop June 21 'freedom day' going ahead;

Matt Hancock delivered an extraordinary self-congratulatory speech taking credit for the UK's vaccine rollout as he mounted a fightback after the Dominic Cummings storm.

Boris Johnson warned that the government will have 'no hesitation' about imposing tougher restrictions ahead of a review of the allocations due tomorrow. He is pictured today holding a reception for school children in the garden of 10 Downing Street

The full list of countries on the government's green, amber and red travel lists

Covid cases jumped by more than 36 per cent in a week today, the eighth day in a row they have been above 3,000 and the second day in less than a week they have reached more than 4,000

Twelve more lives were also lost to the virus today  rising a third on last Wednesday's figure  after yesterday's recording of zero bolstered calls for No10 to stick with its roadmap

Cyprus 'absolutely deserves' to be on UK's green list, says country's tourism chief Cyprus' deputy tourism minister today said the country 'absolutely deserves' to pe on the UK's travel green list. The Mediterranean island, a hugely popular holiday hotspot for British tourists, is currently on the UK's amber list. It means tourists returning from Cyprus have to self-isolate for 10 days on their return. Savvas Perdios told the Telegraph: 'Cyprus absolutely deserves to be green-listed. 'We have made a lot of progress, especially over the last month.' The country's current Covid infection rate sits at 36.95 per 100,000 people - on par with green-listed Portugal (35.58) and the UK (34.5). Yesterday, the country, which went into a short two-week firebreaker lockdown in May, reported just 58 new daily cases. And Mr Perdios said around half of the country's 875,000 population has been vaccinated so far. Advertisement

It is understood the Joint Biosecurity Centre is still 'crunching the stats' ahead of the update tomorrow.

Asked whether there may be more countries added to the green list soon, Mr Johnson said: 'You've got to wait and see what the Joint Biosecurity Centre say and what the recommendations are about travel.

'We're going to try  to allow people to travel, as I know that many people want to, but we've got to be cautious and we've got to continue to put countries on the red list, on the amber list, when that is necessary.

'I want you to know we will have no hesitation in moving countries from the green list to the amber list to the red list, if we have to do so.

'The priority is to continue the vaccine rollout, to protect the people of this country.'

Holidaymakers' plans of enjoying the Spanish sunshine have been dashed today, despite coronavirus cases continuing to stay at low levels in the Costa Blanca region.

The Sun reports that a meeting between the British ambassador to Spain, Hugh Elliott, has warned tourism chiefs in the country that the UK will show 'caution' and 'patience' when opening the floodgates to jetsetters.

Antonio Mayor, president of the Benidorm, Costa Blanca and Valencia Hotel Association, said: 'We were told the Valencian Autonomous Community which includes the Costa Blanca wouldn't be treated differently from the rest of mainland Spain despite its low rate of coronavirus.

'The impression I was left with was that there was a good chance the Balearic Islands could be included on the next green list but not necessarily the Canary Islands because it's not doing the same amount of genome sequencing to identify the different strains of Covid.

'Everything's all a bit up in the air. The British Ambassador stressed the need for caution and patience in the light of the spread of the Indian strain of Covid.'

Today Cyprus' deputy tourism minister said the country 'absolutely deserved' be put on the UK's travel green list.

Boris says he STILL sees 'nothing in the data' to stop June 21 'freedom day' going ahead but warns infections ARE rising and he will be 'cautious' Boris Johnson today insisted he still sees 'nothing in the data' to stop June 21 'freedom day' going ahead after official statistics showed Covid made up just one in 150 deaths across England and Wales last week. Speaking to reporters on a visit to a school the Prime Minister struck an optimistic tone, but admitted infections are rising and that he needs to be 'cautious'. He insisted people must 'wait a little longer' for the final decision. As the UK recorded another 12 deaths - suggesting the zero tally yesterday might have been a blip - Mr Johnson said: 'What we need to work out is to what extent the vaccination programme has protected enough of us, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, against a new surge, and there I'm afraid the data is still ambiguous. 'The best the scientists can say at the moment is we just need to give it a little bit longer.' Health Secretary Matt Hancock pointedly dodged when asked if the government was going to keep restrictions such as mask wearing and work-from-home guidance in place - something that has been mooted as a trade-off for dropping social distancing in shops and pubs. 'We'll make that decision based on more data in the next week to 10 days, ahead of June 14, as we've set out,' he said. Advertisement

Savvas Perdios told the Telegraph: 'Cyprus absolutely deserves to be green-listed.

'We have made a lot of progress, especially over the last month.'

The country's current Covid infection rate sits at 36.95 per 100,000 people - on par with green-listed Portugal (35.58) and the UK (34.5).

Yesterday, the country, which went into a short two-week firebreaker lockdown in May, reported just 58 new daily cases.

And Mr Perdios said around half of the country's 875,000 population has been vaccinated so far.

Meanwhile there have been warnings that the 'struggling' Covid testing system is putting foreign holidays at risk as labs are already pushed to the limit.

Those looking to enjoy a summer holiday abroad this year are advised to book a package trip with a test included to protect themselves from paying through the nose if pre-booked private test results get lost or are delayed, advises consumer watchdog Which?.

The current private testing system is reportedly on the brink of collapsing under the workload, with experts fearing 'carnage' when travel starts up again fully.

Delays at the labs could mean late test results for families, meaning they will be forced to fork out for another test at the airport on the day of their departure.

Millions of British families are already facing huge bills and risk being priced out of their foreign summer holidays or reunions with loved ones due to exorbitant private testing costs.

Tests are required to travel abroad under the 'traffic light' quarantine system - which sees countries categorised into red, amber and green lists based on travellers' risk of importing cases.

Arrivals from green nations - such as Australia, New Zealand and Gibraltar - need to take a Covid test before flying into the UK and a second test on or before the second day after they land.

Those arriving from amber countries need to quarantine at home for ten days and take a test on or before day two and on or after day eight - as well as prior to flying.

The current private testing system is 'struggling' and will be 'carnage' when travel starts up again, consumer watchdog Which? said.

Travel editor Rory Boland told The Times: 'The best-case scenario is that you've booked a package holiday and the test is booked with the tour operator.

Ryanair boss calls for holiday travel to EU and US to open up Ryanair boss Ryan O'Leary has today called for the Government to quickly lift restrictions on travel to the US and top holiday destinations in Europe. The airline chief said it was 'absolutely imperative' that 'big tourist destinations' such as as Greece and Spain be put on the UK's travel green list by the end of this week. He told Sky News: 'The restrictions should be lifted, we should be allowing British families to travel to the US and Europe, and also to return without having to complete useless PCR forms for people who've already been vaccinated. 'Nothing is absolutely safe but it is scientists and doctors' jobs to urge caution and care and worry. 'The vaccines are effective against the Indian variant, it's a scariant being used by the science and medical professions to urge caution. 'It's time that we got on with our lives.' Advertisement

'That way if you don't get the result back they will allow you to move the departure. But that's not a given and will be no consolation to people who have fixed dates. The private testing system is already struggling, it will be carnage when people start travelling again.'

It comes as Ryanair boss Ryan O'Leary today called for the Government to quickly lift restrictions on travel to the US and top holiday destinations in Europe.

The airline chief said it was 'absolutely imperative' that 'big tourist destinations' such as as Greece and Spain be put on the UK's travel green list by the end of this week.

He told Sky News: 'The restrictions should be lifted, we should be allowing British families to travel to the US and Europe, and also to return without having to complete useless PCR forms for people who've already been vaccinated.

'Nothing is absolutely safe but it is scientists and doctors' jobs to urge caution and care and worry.

'The vaccines are effective against the Indian variant, it's a scariant being used by the science and medical professions to urge caution.

'It's time that we got on with our lives.'

Campaigners are calling for the cost of private tests to be capped by the Government.

As it stands, a day two testing service for green list arrivals can cost up to 399, while amber packages can cost upwards of 378.

Britons are keen to go abroad after more than a year with limited travel - even though the summer will bring a scorcher back home.

The country is set to enjoy its hottest day of the year so far for the third day in a row as temperatures soar to 84F (29C)  making the UK warmer than ten out of the 12 countries on the Government's green list of destinations.

The very hot conditions over the past week have led to packed beaches, parks and beer gardens across the UK, with today being the seventh day in a row that the mercury will be above 70F (21C) somewhere.

There is speculation that Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Kuwait and Bahrain might be added to the red list tomorrow

Britain's vaccine roll-out continued at pace, with 108,607 first doses dished out across the UK, taking the country's total to 39.6million  more than 75 per cent of the adult population

Hospital admissions, bed occupancy and mechanical ventilators have all risen in the North West  where the Indian variant is most prevalent  but have fallen or remained stable in most of the rest of the country over the last fortnight

But the number of patients in hospital are still significantly lower across the country than during the near-overwhelming of the NHS experienced during the height of the winter peak in January

Covid e-gates at four major airports 'will be ready later this month' Covid e-gates to speed up lengthy border force queues post-lockdown will be ready this month. As it stands, Border Force officers have to conduct manual checks of all arrivals' passports and passenger locator forms causing long queues in UK terminals. And, with the green list of countries deemed safe to travel to set to expand this month, lines could get worse. But automated gates are hoped to be a faster solution, allowing people to move through the queue quicker. An airport source told The Daily Telegraph: 'We are down to be completed at Heathrow at the end of June or beginning of July. 'We believe June 28 will be a more significant opening of foreign travel than June 7.' Advertisement

And it means the UK is now warmer than most of the countries Britons can visit without having to quarantine upon their return - including Portugal (68F/20C in Lisbon), Gibraltar (77F/25C) and Israel (also 77F/25C, in Jerusalem).

Britain is also hotter than St Helena (70F/21C in Jamestown), Australia (63F/17C in Canberra) and New Zealand (57F/14C in Wellington), as well as Iceland (50F/10C), the Faroe Islands (50F/10C) and Falkland Islands (37F/3C).

Yesterday, Malta became the latest European country to open its doors to British holidaymakers as the EU raised the prospect of easier travel to the continent from next month.

The sun-drenched Mediterranean island - currently on the UK's amber list - will allow in UK visitors who pass a PCR test before travelling as it seeks to rebuild its tourism industry. In future it plans to accept vaccine passports.

Last week, the boss of Heathrow Airport urged the government to reveal its green list.

John Holland-Kaye warned that keeping the list of safe destinations for July and August under wraps would lead to operators scaling back on scheduled flights which would lead to a huge rise in seat prices.

He pointed to popular destinations such as Spain and its Balearic islands where Covid infections are low, suggesting they were 'coming into the green zone' but may not be announced for weeks.

There are only 12 locations that have so far been added to the green list, but Portugal, Gibraltar and Iceland are seen as actual holiday destinations.

UK's daily Covid cases keep rising: Infections jump by a third in a week to 4,330 and 12 more deaths are recorded - a day after UK hit zero deaths - but three-quarters of all adults have one dose of vaccine

Covid cases have exceeded 4,000 for the second day in less than a week  the last time before was April 1

Deaths with Covid have increased by a third on last Wednesday's figure after dipping to zero yesterday

Vaccine first doses reached more than 75 per cent of the population yesterday with some 108,607 rolled out

Covid cases jumped by more than 36 per cent in a week today, reaching 4,330 as Boris Johnson insisted he still sees 'nothing in the data' to stop June 21 'freedom day' going ahead.

It is the second day in less than a week they have reached more than 4,000 and before that, the last time was April 1.

Twelve more lives were also lost to the virus today  rising a third on last Wednesday's figure  after yesterday's recording of zero bolstered calls for No10 to stick with its roadmap.

But Britain's vaccine roll-out continued at pace, with 108,607 first doses dished out across the UK yesterday, taking the country's total to 39.6million  more than 75 per cent of the adult population.

Some 338,565 second doses were also given out, meaning nearly 26.1million people are fully vaccinated in the country (49.5 per cent).

The figures come as official statistics showed Covid made up just one in 150 deaths across England and Wales last week.

And MailOnline analysis today showed the number of people in hospital with Covid is only rising in the North West, where Indian variant hotspots are concentrated, going up by 24 per cent over the last fortnight of May to 177 Covid patients on wards.

Speaking to reporters on a visit to a school Mr Johnson struck an optimistic tone, but admitted infections are rising and that he needs to be 'cautious'. He insisted people must 'wait a little longer' for the final decision.

The Prime Minister said: 'What we need to work out is to what extent the vaccination programme has protected enough of us, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, against a new surge, and there I'm afraid the data is still ambiguous.

'The best the scientists can say at the moment is we just need to give it a little bit longer.'

Covid cases jumped by more than 36 per cent in a week today, the eighth day in a row they have been above 3,000 and the second day in less than a week they have reached more than 4,000

Twelve more lives were also lost to the virus today  rising a third on last Wednesday's figure  after yesterday's recording of zero bolstered calls for No10 to stick with its roadmap

Self-congratulatory Matt Hancock boasts about UK's vaccine success Matt Hancock took credit for the UK's vaccine rollout today as he mounted a political fightback to save his political life. The Health Secretary used a global Covid conference in Oxford today to praise the take-up of the jab - and his own role in getting it into the arms of grateful Britons. He also praise the swift work in creating new wonder drugs, claiming it helped save more than a million lives because work began before the first UK case was identified. And he told the assembled delegates: 'Lots of people stop me and ask me how we did all of this?' He added that the UK's vaccination programme was 'without doubt the best project I have been involved in', and confirmed that 75 per cent of adults have now been given at least one dose of vaccine. He said he had been told it would take at least five years to develop a coronavirus vaccine at the start of the pandemic. 'I specifically remember a then meek and timid professor turning to me when I asked how fast this could possibly be done,' he said. 'He said that if everything went right then the very best we could hope for would be 12 to 18 months. 'Who would have thought that just 11 months later we'd be the first country in the world with a clinically authorised vaccine and that professor Jonathan Van Tam would be turning down Strictly.' Advertisement

Office for National Statistics figures today revealed Covid was behind less than one per cent of deaths in the week to May 21, the latest available. Only 66 out of 9,840 fatalities listed the virus as the underlying cause.

It comes after one of the Government's top scientific advisers warned the UK cannot keep 'scampering down a rabbit hole' every time a new Covid variant emerges.

Hitting back at members of SAGE calling for a longer lockdown, Sir John Bell said ministers must instead focus on hospitalisations and deaths, which have remained flat nationally but there are signs of admissions increasing.

The Oxford University medical expert, who has advised the Government on Covid tests and vaccines, suggested the country must take a leap of faith and put trust in its world-beating vaccination rollout.

Sir John becomes the highest profile adviser to call for ministers to stick with the roadmap and bring an end to social distancing laws on June 21's 'Freedom Day'.

Pressure has been mounting on Mr Johnson to push back England's June 21 lockdown easings to buy time to roll out jabs to millions more people to further curb the transmission of the Indian variant.

But Scotland's Nicola Sturgeon has already delayed unlocking north of the border, admitting she was worried about the rapid spread of the virus.

Sir John told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think we do need to keep our eye on hospitalisations, serious disease and deaths, which is really what we are trying to manage.

'If we scamper down a rabbit hole every time we see a new variant we are going to spend a long time huddled away  so I think we need to get a bit of balance into the discussion and keep our eyes on the serious disease we are trying to prevent.'

The Prime Minister's comments came after Downing Street said there was still nothing in the data to suggest the final stages of unlocking could not go ahead.

A No10 spokesman said: 'The Prime Minister has said on a number of occasions that we haven't seen anything in the data but we will continue to look at the data, we will continue to look at the latest scientific evidence as we move through June towards June 21.'

The next stage of the roadmap set for June 21 will spell an end to face masks and social distancing restrictions. Whitehall sources say a decision whether to continue with the easing will be taken on June 14.

Covid was mentioned on 107 death certificates in the week to May 21, but was only listed as the underlying cause on 66. There were 9,860 deaths overall in this period, meaning Covid was behind the equivalent of one in 150 fatalities

For comparison, flu and pneumonia (blue line) were behind 287 fatalities. This was more than four times above the 66 deaths where Covid was listed as the underlying cause (red line)

Professor Sir John Bell urged ministers to focus on hospitalisations and deaths instead of being panicked by the past week's rise in Covid cases, which was always expected to happen when lockdown rules were lifted. Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured today) is expected to speak today on feelings ahead of June 21's planned final roadmap step

People have become less convinced that all social distancing will end on June 21 as planned  58 per cent of Brits thought it would when they were asked on May 23, compared to 73 per cent on May 2

Indian variant cases in England's 12 hotspots are shown (red) compared to the Kent variant (orange). The new strain has gone on to become dominant in all 12 of the above areas - and more than 100 in total - since cropping up for the first time in April. It is believed to be a fifth more infectious than the Kent variant which is propelling its spread

Speaking to reporters on a visit to a school today, Boris Johnson said there was still 'ambiguity' over how much protection vaccines were giving people

ALL OVER-18s TO GET VACCINATED WITHIN WEEKS, SOURCES SAY Ministers are preparing to offer vaccines to all over-18s within weeks to help halt the spread of the Indian variant as the UK reported zero Covid deaths for the first time in 10 months. So far only adults aged 30 and over have been invited for their jabs and health leaders are focusing their efforts on giving older people their second dose. But it is understood officials are planning to open up the eligibility to all age groups amid concerns the Indian strain - which has been renamed as the 'Delta variant' - is spreading very quickly among the young. In a speech today Health Secretary Matt Hancock will praise the country's 'extraordinary vaccine heroes'  including healthcare staff and volunteers. It comes as SAGE experts and Tory MPs butt heads over whether June 21's 'Freedom Day' should be delayed in the face of the Indian variant as health officials in the regions worst affected say it is mostly being transmitted by 17 to 18-year-olds, and potentially passed on to older, more vulnerable family members. Government figures yesterday showed nearly three-quarters of adults have had one dose  with almost half receiving their second dose. Advertisement

ONS figures showed deaths blamed on Covid fell to their lowest levels since before the first lockdown in March over the week ending May 21, and were lower than in early September before the second wave spiralled out of control when 69 were attributed to the virus.

Every region in England went at least one day without registering a single death from the virus over this period, data showed. The North East, East Midlands, West Midlands and South West had at least three days where they registered no Covid fatalities.

In total the ONS said 107 people had Covid mentioned on their death certificates last week but only 66 died directly from the virus, meaning nearly 40 per cent primarily succumbed to other conditions.

Experts said the figures were 'very positive' and showed vaccines were playing 'a major part' in driving down fatalities. The NHS Confederation union added the numbers were 'reassuring' but said there was still a 'real concern' rising cases could lead to more hospitalisations.

Statisticians at the national agency sort all death certificates registered in England and Wales to record those that mention Covid and whether it was the main cause of death or the person had it alongside another illness.

The ONS figures lag behind the Department of Health's daily total because it can take around two weeks to formally register a fatality, creating a delay due to the disease.

Death certificates list underlying factors  the conditions thought to be responsible for the fatality  but also mention other conditions thought to have contributed to deaths but not to be the main factor behind the fatality.

Professor Kevin McConway, a statistician at the Open University, heralded the fall in Covid deaths as 'very positive'.

'When you think back only as far as the start of April when there were over 300 registered deaths in a week with Covid as the underlying cause, let alone to late January when there were over 7,500 a week, this is huge progress,' he said.

'Vaccination will have played a major part in this reduction, though lockdowns and other interventions played an important part too.

'People who, sadly, died in the latest week of those data would probably have been infected three or more weeks before, so well before the latest loosening of lockdown in England on 17 May  so it wouldn't be possible to see any effect of that removal of restrictions on these numbers.'

He added that rising Covid cases would not translate into the same pressure on the NHS as previously because of the successful vaccines roll-out.

'Earlier in the pandemic, any sustained increase in new cases or hospital admissions would lead inevitably to increases in deaths a few weeks later,' he said.

'That process won't occur in the same way now, because of the effect of vaccination on reducing serious illness, though it's not yet entirely clear what the new pattern might be, or how new variants might play a role.

Nationally hospital admissions for the virus remain flat but there has been a slight uptick in the North West and London in the last week

MailOnline analysis of NHS England data showed trusts in the North West  home to hotspots Bolton and Blackburn  saw virus patients creep up by almost a quarter in the last fortnight of May.

Patients requiring mechanical ventilation, a last-resort for those most ill with the disease, also more than doubled to 42 in the North West since the middle of May, when cases of the Indian variant first started spiralling.

But the numbers are all still significantly lower than the levels that pushed the region's NHS to the brink during the peak of the second wave in January. There were nearly 5,500 beds taken up with Covid patients in the North West in mid-January, 30 times more than now.

King's College London's Professor Tim Spector said yesterday the fact that outbreaks appear to be confined to local clusters in hotspots in the Covid Symptom Study, and that the Indian variant is not yet spreading rife across the country, was proof that vaccines are working

Nationally, bed occupancy has remained relatively flat over the last week  rising slightly from 758 on June 23 to 763 yesterday  but has fallen from 818 in the middle of the month. Admissions in London have started to rise, with the western borough of Hounslow a hotspot for the Indian variant and vaccine rates in the capital the lowest in the country.

Sir John took to the airwaves to warn that Britain cannot run scared from Covid variants if it is to get out of lockdown.

Asked about the zero Covid deaths recorded yesterday, he said this 'looks pretty good'.

'Now there's always of course a lag in terms of deaths because people get Covid and they don't die immediately so we have to be a bit careful about that,' he warned.

'But as far as I can see the numbers don't look too intimidating to me and I think we need to let them play out another couple of weeks.'

He added: 'I think the Government's taken the wise approach to this before we make a decision on the next reduction of the lockdown but I am pretty encouraged by what I see.'

The intervention comes as Sir John and 11 other scientists publish a letter ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall this month calling on ministers to support the vaccine roll out in other countries.

The open letter warns without this action Britain risks importing dangerous variants from abroad as the virus remains out of control in other areas.

'Leaders from the G7 countries must take decisive action now if we are to bring this pandemic under control,' the scientists which also include Wellcome Trust director Sir Jeremy Farrar and the director of the Oxford vaccine group Professor Sue Clemens write.

'Without a globally coordinated approach... we are merely putting out fires in one part of the world as another suffers.

'The result is a pandemic that continues on  with millions more lives lost and a real threat that any progress made to date is completely undone by a new variant that renders vaccines ineffective.'

Public Health England is already monitoring 13 variants in the UK, and has designated five 'of concern'  meaning scientists fear they are spreading rapidly or could make vaccines less effective.

Surge testing has been sparked in hotspots including Bolton, Bedford and Blackburn with Darwen to root out cases of the Indian variant.

And the tool was also deployed in areas including Bristol and parts of London and Gloucestershire when the South African variant was identified  which studies suggest could make vaccines slightly less effective.

The Indian variant  B.1.617.2  has sparked concern in official circles amid rising case numbers and after scientists said it is at least 20 per cent more transmissible than the Kent variant.

But studies suggest it is still susceptible to vaccine-sparked immunity, while data shows cases are mostly focused in younger age groups who are yet to be offered at least one dose of the Covid vaccine.

More than 39.4million Britons have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine, nearly three quarters, and 25.7million have got both doses, or nearly 50 per cent.

Covid Symptom Study data shows that in May, all the under-40 age groups saw infection rates rise to around 140 positive cases per 100,000 people. Meanwhile the figure for people in their 50s was around 30 in 100,000 and it was lower than 20 for over-60s, who are by far the most vaccinated age group. Professor Spector said: 'Vaccines work'

Covid hospital admissions are slowly creeping up across England but nearly half of all trusts are still completely empty, official figures have revealed. Graph shows: Just one NHS trust in England had more than four per cent of its beds occupied by sufferers of the virus in the most recent week data is available for (week ending May 23) [Percentage on the right shows the change in patient numbers in a week]

Covid woes have been forgotten this week as the summer weather began in earnest and people enjoyed time outside after an unseasonably cold and wet spring. Pictured: A crowd at Warleigh Weir in Bath

People are pictured enjoying the sunshine in Margate, Kent, today on what could be the warmest day of the year so far with temperatures stretching towards 77F (25C) across the country

To boost these numbers even more, ministers are preparing to offer vaccines to all over-18s within weeks.

So far only adults aged 30 and over have been invited for their jabs and health leaders are focusing their efforts on giving older people their second dose.

Covid hospitalisations are RISING in the North West where Indian variant hotspots are concentrated MailOnline's analysis show average Covid admissions increased slightly from around 17 on May 15 to 21 on May 30  a rise of 24 per cent  peaking at 24 on May 27 in the North West. Beds occupied with Covid patients also increased in the region from around 151 to 177 from May 15 to June 1, as spikes in cases of the Indian variant in Bolton, Blackburn and Burnley began to have an effect on hospitalisations. Likewise, the number of people infected with the virus requiring mechanical ventilation beds more than doubled from 16 to 34 during the same period, though numbers remained lower than London by the end of the month (42). The capital was the only other area to see a noticeable rise in admissions during the same period but only from 14 to 18  a rise of 29 per cent. Hospital bed occupancy for Covid patients actually fell in London  from 259 to 235  as did the number of people requiring mechanical ventilator beds  from 52 to 42. Occupancy fell in all areas of the country other than the North West since the middle of last month, although it has begun creeping up in the East of England over the last week, rising 20 per cent from 40 to 50 beds. While the slight uptick in the number of people in hospital in the North West may raise concerns about the effect of the Indian variant, the numbers still pale in comparison to those seen in January and February. During the peak of the winter crisis, the North West recorded a recorded daily hospital bed occupancy with Covid patients of 5,491 on January 16. This is more than 31 times the current occupancy figure, with the number of beds being used by Covid patients now the same as it was at the start of the month on May 6 (177). Advertisement

But it is understood officials are planning to open up the eligibility to all age groups amid concerns the Indian strain - which has been renamed as the 'Delta variant' - is spreading very quickly among the young.

Meanwhile in a speech today Health Secretary Matt Hancock will praise the country's 'extraordinary vaccine heroes'  including healthcare staff and volunteers.

SAGE experts and Tory MPs have been butting heads over whether June 21 should be delayed in the face of the Indian variant as health officials in the regions worst affected say it is mostly being transmitted by 17 to 18-year-olds, and potentially passed on to older, more vulnerable family members  bolstering the case for younger people to be vaccinated.

At a speech outside the Jenner Institute in Oxford, where the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was developed, Mr Hancock will pay particular tribute to the NHS, scientists and the armed forces for helping deliver 65million vaccines so far.

'The biggest risk would have been the failure to find a vaccine at all. So we explicitly embraced risk early on,' he will say. 'So we backed lots of horses and invested at risk.

'And instead of sitting back and waiting to see which vaccines came off, we were tenacious in helping them to get over the line, drawing on the abundant industry experience in our team. The team who worked on our vaccination programme was the single greatest asset that we had in this crisis.'

He will also credit the 'phenomenal dedication' of the British public to come forward with more than 90 per cent of over-50s having had at least one dose.

Yesterday the director of public health in Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire - which has the highest Covid infection rates on the country - urged the Government to start vaccinating teenagers.

Dominic Harrison warned of an 'exceptionally high rate' among 17 and 18-year-olds and urged ministers to license the jabs for teenagers to help protect the wider community.

'We desperately need the UK Government, the MHRA [Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency] to pass the Pfizer vaccine as safe and effective for that age group,' he told BBC Radio 4's World At One.

'Now the USA, Canada, Singapore and the European Union have all in the last week said that's Pfizer BioNTechvaccine is safe and effective for 12 years and above and I just hope the UK Government can get on with passing that, assuming that they agree that we could then get into rapid vaccination for that cohort, before the end of term.

'Because that would help not just with protecting the whole population through an increased number of people vaccinated, but reducing transmission in that group.'

The decline of death numbers, combined with low hospital admissions, offer confidence that vaccines are protecting people from the coronavirus and hopefully working well enough to prevent a massive third wave.

Professor Tim Spector, a King's College London epidemiologist who runs the Covid Symptom Study, suggested that the jabs are protecting even against infections caused by the Indian variant, which scientists weren't sure whether it would.

He said in a tweet: 'The UK hotspots clearly tell the story. The Delta variant has taken a hold of these areas but numbers are around 4,000 per day and is not taking hold more widely.

'Virtually all cases are aged under 50 or unvaccinated  so vaccines work.'

MAY 22: This map shows the local authorities where the Indian variant was the dominant strain  made up the majority of cases  by the number of infections with the mutant strain detected in their areas. It is for the two weeks to May 22. Areas coloured red had more than 50 cases, orange between 10 and 49 cases, and yellow had fewer than 10 cases

HOVER OVER YOUR AREA TO SEE HOW COMMON THE INDIAN VARIANT WAS BY MAY 22

A report produced by his Covid Symptom Study found there were an average of 4,608 new cases of Covid per day over the past two weeks and that around 58,665 people had it at any time.

The report showed that most places on England's outbreak watchlist had seen infection rates about stable or improving in the past week, including Leicester, Peterborough, Hillingdon, Gateshead, Bolton, Bury, Lancashire, Manchester, Tameside, Birmingham, Kirklees and Leeds.

And it revealed that the majority of cases throughout May have been in the as-yet-unvaccinated under-40s, with the rate of infection highest among 20 to 29-year-olds, followed by 30 to 39-year-olds and then under-20s.

While they all saw around 140 cases per 100,000 people in the most recent data, the figure for people in their 50s was around 30 in 100,000 and it was lower than 20 for over-60s, who are by far the most vaccinated age group.

Tory MPs grabbed hold of the positive data to shoot down calls from SAGE advisers for the end of social distancing to be delayed.

Former party leader Iain Duncan Smith said: 'My worry is there seems to be a concerted push among scientists to stop June 21 taking place. They seem to have now moved the goalposts so we can't open up until everybody has had two jabs. That was never part of the event.'

'By and large everybody who is 50-plus has had two jabs now. It seems to me that everybody is trying to get in 'I told you so' before the event. If it all goes well no-one will remember the scientists who said don't do it.

'If it goes wrong they will be up crowing 'we told you'. It is a win-win for them.'

He added: 'There is a kind of panic taking place. Project Fear is coming to an end and it is as if the scientists now cannot bring themselves to understand exactly how life will be.

'What's happened now will almost certainly lead to us going back to lockdown again at some point and destroying our livelihoods, our health, for non-Covid reasons.'
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott clapped back at President Joe Biden for calling GOP election reform bills 'un-American' by pointing out that Texas currently has more early voting hours than Delaware.

'The voter law in the state of Texas is far more accommodative and provides far more hours to vote than it does in President Biden's home state of Delaware, where he voted in the last election, where they offer exactly zero early voting days,' Abbott said Tuesday to The Dallas Morning News. 'If there's any voter suppression taking place, the easier allegation is say that voter suppression has taken place in Delaware, not Texas.'

Earlier Tuesday, Biden had made a speech in Tulsa, Oklahoma, marking the 100th anniversary of the city's race massacre where he brought up Republican efforts to 'assault' voter access.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott clapped back at President Joe Biden after Biden called Republican election reform bills 'un-American'

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden visited Tulsa, Oklahoma to mark the 100th anniversary of the city's race massacre. Biden gave a speech where he said the right to vote was 'under assault'

'This sacred right is under assault,' Biden said. 'With an intensity and aggressiveness we have not seen in a long, long time.'

'It is simply un-American,' the president also said. 'It's not, however, sadly, unprecedented.'

Biden did not specifically mention Texas.

Abbott, who received an endorsement from former President Donald Trump for his re-election bid on Tuesday, scoffed at Biden's comments in an interview with the Dallas paper.

'I wouldn't be surprised if Biden criticized the Senate bill without even having ever read it,' Abbott said. 'I bet he doesn't have a clue what's in there.'

The Texas governor was referring to a GOP-backed election bill that was killed by Texas House Democrats over the weekend when they staged a walkout, which ran out the clock.

Abbott did not directly answer questions from The News about some of the controversial provisions in the bill - such as starting early voting on Sundays at 1 p.m. instead of 9 a.m., and also forcing people with disabilities to provide additional proof that they needed a mail-in ballot.

Instead the Republican Trump ally pointed to previous criticism Biden made about him.

'This is, of course, the same person who reacted swiftly, calling me a Neanderthal for opening things up, and he proved to be 100 per cent wrong about that,' Abbott said. 'He's going to be proven to be 100 per cent wrong about this.'

In early March, Biden said the governors of Texas and Mississippi were using 'Neanderthal thinking' when they lifted COVID-19 restrictions in their states.

In Texas, there wasn't a new spike after restrictions were lifted - and vaccines were being supplied - but instead the state, like the rest of the U.S., has generally seen a downward trend in COVID-19 cases.

Biden's home state of Delaware does not have early voting, but that will change starting next January, allowing the practice for 10 days before an election - including the Saturday and Sunday before the general election.

Delaware allows online registration and voters can register to vote until the last Saturday of October before a November general election.

In Texas, voters much register 30 days before an election, The News pointed out.
Authorities in North Carolina have made two more arrests in connection with the murder of a 69-year-old man who was found bleeding in a cemetery last week.

Johnathan Daniel Villanueva-Galer, 19, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with murder in connection with the deadly attack on James Lacy Taylor at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Raleigh on Friday.

A 16-year-old suspect, who has not been named, was also taken into custody on juvenile petitions.

Last Saturday, police arrested 18-year-old Maria Pena-Echeverria on a murder charge stemming from her alleged involvement in the model airplane enthusiast's killing.

Pena-Echeverria - whose face, neck and both arms are covered with tattoos - made her initial court appearance on Tuesday and was appointed a public defender.

Scroll down for video

Johnathan Daniel Villanueva-Galer, 19 (left), was arrested on a murder charge on Tuesday. On Saturday, police in Raleigh, North Carolina, arrested Maria Elizabeth Pena-Echeverria, 18 (right) in connection with the killing of a 69-year-old man at a cemetery

The victim, James Taylor, was found suffering from fatal injuries at a cemetery in Raleigh last Friday

A Wake County judge told the woman she faces life in prison without parole or the death penalty if convicted as charged, reported ABC11.

Pena-Echeverria was ordered held in jail without bond pending her next court appearance on June 21.

The Wake County district attorney revealed that the interaction between the victim and the three suspects was not entirely random. She would not go into further detail, or explain if Taylor and his alleged killers knew each other.

No motive has been given, with investigators also refusing to reveal how Taylor died, claiming that doing so could jeopardize their investigation.

Police were called to Mount Olivet Cemetery after getting a 911 call from a North Carolina state employee, who told an emergency dispatcher that he observed three people dart past his car, with one of them hopping over a fence.

Police were called to Mount Olivet Cemetery in the city Friday night, where they found a seriously injured man. Authorities did not specify the nature of the injuries. On Saturday, police identified the man as James Lacy Taylor

The trio ran to two separate vehicles, including an extended cab pickup truck and an older model brown or blue sedan, which then sped off toward Reedy Creek Road.

When the state worker entered the cemetery grounds, he said he discovered clothes on the ground, which initially led him to believe that the people who fled had been 'messing around' there.

But then he came upon a bloody trail leading into the cemetery,

The caller reported finding a pair of black latex gloves, shoes and pants, along with 'a splatter of blood about 2 feet wide on the ground.'

Officers who responded to the scene found a gravely wounded Taylor. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Pena-Echeverria- made her initial court appearance on Tuesday and was appointed a public defender

Police said they are withholding Taylor's cause of death so as not to jeopardize the investigation.

Friends told CBS17 that Taylor was well-known and liked in the local model plane community, of which he was a part.

Taylor's close friend David Hogue described the victim as 'one of the nicest people youll ever meet. Always willing to help you, always willing to loan you any tools. Hed give you the shirt off his back, quite literally, if you needed it.'
Authorities are searching for a mayoral candidate and her family in Mexico who were kidnapped by a gang on Tuesday.

Marilu Martinez, who is running for mayor in the Guerrero city of Cutzamala de Pinzon, was abducted by an armed gang, according to Citizens Movement Party Director Clemente Castaneda.

We demand an immediate reaction from the authorities and the Governor @HectorAstudillo to locate them alive, Castaneda tweeted Wednesday morning.

Castaneda did not say where Martinez and her family were at the time of the incident. The candidates kidnapping took place four days ahead of the midterm elections in Mexico.

Marilu Martinez, who is running for mayor in the Mexican Pacific coast city of Cutzamala de Pinzon, and several family members were abducted by an armed gang Tuesday, according to Citizens Movement party director Clemente Castaneda

Marilu Martinez (center) and members of her family were abducted by a group of armed individuals in Guerrero, Mexico, on Tuesday. She is the candidate for the Citizen's Movement Party for mayor of the city of Cutzamala de Pinzon.

The Mexican government deployed a security force to help find her. Guerrero Public Security Secretary David Portillo announced Wednesday that Governor Astudillo had instructed his cabinet to develop a plan to rescue Martinez and her relatives.

According to Mexico City-based consulting firm Etellekt, 89 politicians had been murdered since September 2020, when campaigning for the midterm elections officially began.

The most recent victim, 65-year-old Cipriano Villanueva, was gunned down Friday. He was the Chiapas United Party nominee for mayor of Acapetahua, a municipality in the southern state of Chiapas.

The homicide totals exceed by one-third the killings of public officials reported during the 2015 midterm elections, the most recent statistics.

So far, there have been 782 criminal incidents targeting politicians in the current campaign.

Marilu Martinez became the latest victim in a wave of violence that has targeted politicians running for office in Mexico's midterm elections, set for Sunday. Data released by Mexico City-based consulting firm Etellekt indicated that there have been 782 criminal incidents directed against politicians since September 2020

Marilu Martinez at a campaign event last Thursday in the Mexican Pacific coast municipality of Cutzamala de Pinzon, where she is running for mayor

Etellekt said criminal organizations want to place sympathetic candidates in town halls so they can operate without interference from police, and extort money from local businesses and government budgets.

Three of Citizens Movement political candidates have been murdered since May 13.

Alma Barragan who was running for mayor of Moroleon, a city in the central state of Guanajuato, was executed while giving a campaign speech last Tuesday. At least two suspects linked to the 61-year-olds murder were arrested Monday.

Alma Barragan was running under the Citizen's Movement (Movimiento Ciudadano) Party ticket. She is one of 89 political candidates murdered ahead of Sunday's midterm elections

Arturo Flores was reported missing May 20 and later found dead. He won the Citizens Movement nomination for a city council seat in Landa de Matamoros, Quetaro.

Abel Murrieta, who was the party's candidate for the mayoral seat in Cajeme, Sonora, was assassinated May 13 while handing out flyers in the middle of a street.

Murrieta had been working as a legal adviser to the families of the nine United States-Mexican dual citizens who were ambushed and executed by alleged cartel assassins in November 2019.

This electoral period is the most violent in history, Citizens Movement tweeted Wednesday. It cannot be possible that participating in politics means risking your life.
The Queen's advisers banned 'coloured immigrants or foreigners' from working as anything other than domestic servants in the royal household as recently as the late 1960s, documents from the National Archives reveal.

The bombshell papers uncovered by the Guardian also show how Buckingham Palace negotiated controversial clauses exempting the Queen and her household from laws that prevent race and sex discrimination.

These exemptions were brought into force in the mid-1970s, when the Labour government implemented sweeping racial and sexual equality laws to stamp out discrimination in post-imperial Britain.

The discovery is likely to be embarrassing for the Firm as it grapples with charges of systemic racism made by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during their explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in March.

It is also likely to fuel scrutiny of the Royal Family's use of an arcane parliamentary procedure known as Queen's Consent, which allows the monarch to secretly lobby ministers to amend laws she does not like.

The Queen's courtiers banned 'coloured immigrants or foreigners' from working in office roles in the royal household until at least the late 1960s, according to bombshell documents

The papers show how Buckingham Palace negotiated controversial clauses exempting the Queen from equality laws. Pictured, the monarch with her privy council

What is Queen's Consent? Queen's Consent is a procedure by which the government is required to ask the monarch for permission to debate laws that affect her. It happens during the drafting of a bill that is in the process of going through parliament, and is declared in parliament usually at the second or third reading stage. There are two main areas where it is used: 1. On matters that affect the Royal prerogative (the powers of state), such as the ability to declare war, granting of honours or issuing passports; 2. When a law affects the assets of the crown, such as the royal palaces or hereditary revenues, including the Duchy of Lancaster or Duchy of Cornwall, as well as personal property or personal 'interests' of the Crown. Parliamentary lawyers would decide that a bill requires such consent, and a government minister would write to the Queen to request permission for parliament to debate it. A copy of the bill is sent to the Queen's private lawyers, who have 14 days to consider it and to advise her. If the Queen grants her consent, parliament can debate the legislation and the process is formally signified in Hansard, the record of parliamentary debates. But if the Queen withheld consent, then the bill cannot proceed and parliament is in effect banned from debating it. But in practice this is unlikely to ever happen. A spokesman for the Queen said of the Consent procedure: 'Queen's consent is a parliamentary process, with the role of sovereign purely formal. 'Consent is always granted by the monarch where requested by government. Any assertion that the sovereign has blocked legislation is simply incorrect.' Consent is also different to Royal Assent, which is given after a bill passed through both Houses of Parliament and must be made into law. Assent is needed for all legislation. The last time it was withheld was by Queen Anne for the Scottish Militia Bill 1708, who did not give it on the advice of ministers for fear that the proposed militia 'would be disloyal'. Advertisement

In the late 1960s, the Labour government sought to eradicate racism by expanding the racial discrimination laws, which only banned racism in public places, so that they also banned discrimination in employment or services such as housing.

But the Queen and her household have been excluded from those laws, which has made it impossible for women and ethnic minorities working for Buckingham Palace to complain to the courts if they believe they have been discriminated against.

Any complaints would have been referred to the Home Secretary instead of the courts. It is understood these clauses remain in place to this day.

In 1968, then Home Secretary James Callaghan and Home Office officials appeared to believe they should not request Queen's Consent for Parliament to debate the Race Relations Bill until her advisers were satisfied it could not be enforced against her in the courts.

Written memos reveal how in February of that year, Lord Tyron, the Queen's chief financial manager, told Home Office civil servant TG Weiler 'it was not, in fact, the practice to appoint coloured immigrants or foreigners' to clerical roles in the royal household, but that they were permitted to work as domestic servants.

Weiler, who summarised the discussions, said Tryon had told them the Palace was prepared to comply with the proposed law, but only if it enjoyed similar exemptions to those provided to the diplomatic service, which could reject job applicants who had been resident in the UK for less than five years.

According to Weiler, Tryon considered staff in the Queen's household to fall into one of three types of roles: '(a) senior posts, which were not filled by advertising or by any overt system of appointment and which would presumably be accepted as outside the scope of the bill; (b) clerical and other office posts, to which it was not, in fact, the practice to appoint coloured immigrants or foreigners; and (c) ordinary domestic posts for which coloured applicants were freely considered, but which would in any event be covered by the proposed general exemption for domestic employment.'

Weiler wrote: 'They were particularly concerned that if the proposed legislation applied to the Queen's household it would for the first time make it legally possible to criticise the household.

'Many people do so already, but this has to be accepted and is on a different footing from a statutory provision.'

By March 1968, Buckingham Palace was satisfied with the proposed law.

A Home Office official noted the aides 'agreed that the way was now open for the Secretary of State to seek the Queen's consent to place her interest at the disposal of Parliament for the purpose of the Bill.'

The phrasing suggests that Mr Callaghan and officials believed it might not be possible to obtain the Queen's Consent for Parliament to debate the racial equality law unless the monarch was assured of her exemption.

Queen's Consent is a parliamentary procedure which requires the government to seek permission from the monarch to debate laws that affect her.

It has been used on bills ranging from issues such as social security to the Article 50 law allowing Britain to leave the European Union.

The 1968 Race Relations Act made it illegal to refuse a job to someone because of their ethnic background, with the legislation strengthened in 1976. In 2010, the laws became part of the Equality Act.

The documents show that one civil servant noted the exemption in the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 had been 'acceptable to the palace, largely because it did not explicitly single out persons employed by Her Majesty in her personal capacity for special exception' while still removing them from its scope.

Critics have pointed out that the royal household employed few black, Asian or ethnic minority people.

Others have criticised racial remarks made by the late Prince Philip. On an official visit to Papua New Guinea in 1998, the Duke of Edinburgh, the nation's longest-serving consort, asked a British student who was trekking: 'You managed not to get eaten then?'

The discovery is likely to be embarrassing for the Firm as it grapples with charges of systemic racism made by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in their interview with Oprah Winfrey

The Queen's courtiers negotiated clauses that exempt Palace workers from race and sex discrimination laws in the 1960s, with documents unearthed from the National Archives showing 'coloured immigrants or foreigners' were banned from working in Palace office roles

He also told a British student on a visit to China in 1986: 'If you stay here much longer, you will go home with slitty eyes.'

More recently, the Palace has been accused of systemic racism by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

In their bombshell interview with Oprah, Meghan alleged that a royal had expressed concern about her child's skin colour.

The claim caused such a sensation that Harry had to say neither the Queen nor Prince Philip had made the alleged remark.

Buckingham Palace insisted the 'second hand accounts of conversations from over 50 years ago' were no reflection of modern day practices.

The royal household said its records showed people from ethnic minority backgrounds being employed in the 1990s. It added that before that decade, it did not keep records on the racial backgrounds of employees.

In a statement to the Guardian, Buckingham Palace also did not dispute that the Queen had been exempted from the racial and sexual equality laws.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Claims based on a second hand account of conversations from over 50 years ago should not be used to draw or infer conclusions about modern day events or operations.

'The principles of Crown Application and Crown Consent are long established and widely known.

'The Royal Household and the Sovereign comply with the provisions of the Equality Act, in principle and in practice.

'This is reflected in the diversity, inclusion and dignity at work policies, procedures and practices within the Royal Household.

'Any complaints that might be raised under the Act follow a formal process that provides a means of hearing and remedying any complaint.'
A thrill-seeker was rushed to hospital in an air ambulance today after he 'tombstoned' 200ft off the famous Durdle Door rocks, sparking panic among beach-goers.

Shocking footage showed the unnamed man brazenly leaping off the rocks before plummeting into the sea at the popular tourist spot in Dorset.

Screams and shouts of alarm followed him as landed in the water, before failing to resurface as the clip came to an end.

The news comes as pictures of tourists were snapped desperately posing for selfies while dangling over the edge of 500ft rocks on the Sussex coast earlier today.

Witnesses quickly called the emergency services with an air ambulance rushing to the scene in the Jurassic Coast.

The man was flown to Dorset County Hospital and was found to have suffered a dislocated shoulder after the stunt.

The man leapt from Durdle Door rocks and plummeted 200ft into the sea before failing to immediately resurface

An air ambulance was called to take the man to Dorset County Hospital after his leap

He is thought to have been tombstoning, which sees thrill-seekers jump into the sea from a high platform, such as a cliff, bridge or harbour edge.

They maintain a straight posture as they leap so their bodies look like a tombstone when falling.

In the UK alone, there have been 20 deaths from tombstoning since 2005 alone.

Scared beach-goers said the man, who was wearing blue swimming shorts, had a bandage wrapped around his shoulder by coastguard officials who led him to the helicopter.

The horrifying incident follows pictures that emerged showing precariously placed tourists pose for selfies while leaning over the edge of a cliff in Birling Gap, Sussex.

As people flocked to enjoy the summer sun and the UK's warmest day of the year on record, tourists were pictured hanging over the edge of the rocks - which would be a 500ft fall to the ground.

Khawar Khawaja, 38, had driven from Grimsby for a family day out when he saw the man leap off the rocks and said his wife feared the thrill-seeker was trying to kill himself.

He told the Sun: 'It was really scary to watch, we didn't know if he was going to come back up at all or how badly he had injured himself.

'It's scary to think that people just jump off of something that high and don't think that they might hurt themselves.'

As people flocked to enjoy the summer sun tourists were pictured hanging over the edge of a cliff in Birling Gap, Sussex

A spokesman from Kimmeridge Coastguard said: 'After another busy day on bank holiday Monday in which the team were tasked to numerous incidents at Durdle Door involving ankle injuries, and a person with a diabetes episode - we were again requested to assist our colleagues at Lulworth Coastguard Rescue Team.

'Purbeck Police Lulworth Rangers and Lulworth responders [and the two coastguard crews] met at Durdle Door yesterday afternoon.

'A person had sustained a dislocated shoulder and we were requested to secure a safe cordon for helimed air ambulance after to land and take off on a very crowded beach.

'With the person on board the casualty was flown to Dorset County Hospital for further treatment.

'All teams stood down and returned to station.'
China's Huawei, Ethiopia's university launch state-of-art ICT practice center

Xinhua) 09:10, June 02, 2021

Photo taken on Feb. 26, 2018 shows a screen displaying the 5G technology at the booth of China's telecom giant Huawei during the 2018 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain. (Xinhua/Guo Qiuda)

ADDIS ABABA, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese telecom giant, Huawei, and Addis Ababa University (AAU), the oldest and largest higher education institute in the Eastern African country, on Tuesday inaugurated an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Practice Center realized by Huawei in AAU's Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAiT) to deliver hands-on practical and innovative experience for students and professionals in the sector.

The project aims to delivering hands-on practical experience for students and professionals, targeting to train more than 2,000 engineers including students and teachers to boost talent ecosystem of Ethiopia in the coming three years.

The project is implemented with an investment amounting to some 2.1 million U.S. dollars, including a donation of equipment worth about 1.9 million U.S. dollars for training and demonstration, and Train the Trainer program to AAiT teaching staff.

According to the cooperation mode, Huawei installed the demo equipment on the premises of the AAU Pharmacy Campus, and operates it for three years period, after which, Addis Ababa University will fully take over the ownership of the practice center.

During the ceremony, Huawei also handed over 30,000-dollar scholarship fund to Addis Ababa University for 10 postgraduate students annually within 3 years.

Hailing the project's role in filling the skill gap, and also in supporting efforts of producing highly qualified graduates, which in turn help the country realizing the vision of digital economy, Mulu Nega, Ethiopia's State Minster of Science and Higher Education, said, "Huawei is very active in the field of digitalization of education and ICT content embedding is a global trend and the future of the nation."

Speaking on his part, Tassew Woldehana, President of Addis Ababa University, noted that the Huawei-AAU ICT Practice Center plays a significant role in enabling students to be equipped with appropriate skill, which the country needs, as it is in the process of liberalizing the telecom sector.

Reiterating that the country's telecom sector has been awarded to private sector recently, the president underlined the need that universities in the country need to graduate capable people who can join those companies that need qualified and skilled graduates in the ICT sector.

Stating also that digital economy is very important for Ethiopia's economic growth, and that his university is engaged with providing qualified and capable human power with the appropriate knowledge and practical skills, Tassew said the center will serve not only the university, but all Ethiopians. "I would like to thank Huawei for this great initiative."

Huawei is currently implementing multiple projects benefiting thousands of students and industrial practitioners with a view of building ICT capacity and improving ICT development in Ethiopia.

These projects include the flagship program Huawei ICT Academy, Huawei ICT Competition, Seeds for the Future exchange program, as well as ICT Handshaking forum - a job fair connecting the industry and ICT talents. Since first ICT academy launched in 2018, Huawei has partnered with 36 universities on educational activities. Huawei also aligned with Jobs Creation Commission in talent cultivation and hiring projects.

The ICT practice center is Huawei's initiative to build ICT talent and industrial ecosystem in Ethiopia and deliver practical experience for students and professionals using high end ICT equipment.

Philippe Wang, Executive Vice-President of Huawei Northern Africa, said the ICT practice center was launched to fill the experience and knowledge gap in the sector.

"Building a long-term relation and platform for resource sharing, joint development efforts and mutual benefits is the responsibility for us all. I firmly believe Huawei-AUU ICT Practice Center, together with Huawei ICT Academy will be the cornerstone in achieving this common target," Wang said.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Bianji)
Liz Cheney spent nearly $60,000 on security following her vote to impeach Donald Trump in January  as well as getting assigned a congressional security detail.

The Wyoming representative and recently ousted Republican Conference chairwoman previously spent little to nothing on security, but devoted $58,500 to the efforts from late January to early March, according to Federal Election Commission filings for quarter one of 2021.

Two weeks after Cheney became the highest-ranking Republican to vote for Trump's impeachment, her campaign spent $22,500 on security firm Command Executive Services.

The remaining $36,000 went toward security fees for three former secret service agents for that quarter.

The new focus on security is a break in Cheney's previous spending. During the first quarter of non-election years, Cheney has not spent any money on security services, according to FEC filings.

When combing her last three House campaigns, she spent less than $2,000 total on security.

Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney massively increased her spending on security from nearly nothing to $58,500 in the first quarter of 2021 after voting to impeach Donald Trump

Federal Election Commission filings show that Cheney's campaign spent $22,5000 on security from Command Executive Services  the rest went to three different former secret service agents

Capitol Police confirmed to Wyoming-based newspaper Casper Star Tribune that their at-large representative did receive a security detail from their office, which is unusual for members of Congress.

'We don't comment on security,' Jeremy Adler, Cheney's director of communications, told the paper.

Cheney, who at the time was No. 3 Republican in the House, voted for impeaching Trump for incitement of insurrection during his second impeachment proceedings in January 2021. She sided with Democrats, and nine other Republicans, who felt Trump's rhetoric led to the attack on the Capitol on January 6.

Trump was ultimately acquitted for a second time in the then-Republican-controlled Senate.

'There certainly are people who are angry, and I don't mean aggressively angry, but angry about my vote,' Cheney told the Star-Tribune.

While visiting the office, the Star-Tribune noted that Cheney had a noticeably heavier security detail than in the past.

Other lawmakers who boosted security expenditures following the attack include Senators Mitt Romney of Utah, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Eric Swalwell of California.

All individually spent between $40,000 - $70,000 of their campaign cash on either personal security or security at their homes.

Cheney was voted out last month as GOP Conference chairwoman for continuing to break with Trump and refusing to back his claims of widespread voter fraud. She was replaced with New York Representative Elise Stefanik, who, although votes less conservative, backs Trump and his claims of a 'rigged' election.

She said her new mission is to make sure Trump doesn't make it back to the Oval Office as he almost certainly will seek another term in 2024.

Cheney was added to the first-ever Forbes '50 Over 50' list, where one of her main accomplishments was listed as being 'The daughter of the former vice president has quickly risen to national prominence as her party's most vocal critic of former President Trump.'

Cheney was the highest-ranking Republican to vote for Trump's impeachment for 'inciting insurrection' after the January 6 Capitol attack. She was subsequently voted out last month as GOP Conference chairwoman

Wyoming Republicans are looking to boot Cheney from her at-large seat on top of her losing leadership within her caucus in the House.

Several GOP competitors have already launched primary bids.

Cheney's campaign expenses in general are much higher than previous first quarters in non-election years. In the first quarter of 2019 the campaign had 69 expenses, 31 in 2017 and none in 2015 since she didn't enter until January 2016 for her first campaign.

The 2022 House race in the state is expected to be much more competitive than usual.

Indicative of that is the last month as Cheney made several campaign stops in at least six Wyoming cities.
A construction boss has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman as she slept in a hotel bed after a couples' night out.

David Horton, 47, jumped on top of his victim and laughed as he forced his fingers inside her while his partner slept in the next bed at the four-star Apex Hotel in London.

Earlier in the evening Horton repeatedly groped the woman's bottom during a night out with his partner, a judge at Inner London Crown Court heard.

He tried to reach between her legs at Sushi Samba and the Star and Garter pubs in Soho during the same night.

Horton, then working as a company director at a construction firm, later told police he thought he was stroking the leg of his girlfriend, who was asleep in the adjacent single bed.

The businessman was convicted of four counts of sexual assault and one charge of assault by penetration by a jury.

David Horton (pictured), 47, jumped on top of his victim and laughed as he forced his fingers inside her while his partner slept in the next bed at the four-star Apex Hotel in London

The woman said she woke up at 2am to find Horton 'breathing on my face, with something inside me. He was laughing. When I got home, I didn't do anything or talk to anybody'.

Giving evidence she said when she got home she did not want to speak or think about what had happened.

'When I came home, my intention was to forget about it and never speak about it ever,' she said.

'I just wanted to move on, carry on, never think about it ever again, but I couldn't function, I just couldn't function at all. I had told him to stop touching me, I didn't consent to that.

'I found it really disrespectful that he was touching me when I had to asked him not to, but he just kept on doing it.'

She was encouraged to report the allegations to police after talking to her close friend, who was a serving soldier in the British Army.

Prosecutor David Povall said: 'It became clear she that was very distressed and disturbed, not herself. It took five days after she came home before she went to the police about what had happened.'

When questioned, Horton told police he 'got to cop a feel' earlier in the day before suggesting he was 'incredibly drunk' and could not remember what happened.

He said: 'There was lots of flirty innuendos and conversation throughout the day.

'We were talking about boobs, my partner's boobs, the alleged victim's boobs, and if I remember I think I got to cop a feel of both.'

In his police interview, which was played to the jury, Horton said: 'We were getting in the taxi and I think I again copped a feel of the woman's boobs and my partner pulled it away.'

'Was that intentional touching of her boob?' the officer asked.

Earlier in the evening Horton repeatedly groped the woman's bottom during a night out with his partner, a judge at Inner London Crown Court (pictured) heard

'I mean I was incredibly drunk... I only know because my partner told me,' Horton said.

Recounting his version of events in the hotel room, he told police he drunkenly 'soiled' himself and ended up asleep on the floor where he accidentally touched the woman's leg.

'Earlier in the morning I sort of woke up, again disoriented... so I put my arm up and I did touch the alleged victim's leg but I felt it move and thought "Ooh crikey, wrong side", and got back into bed with my partner.'

Giving evidence Horton told jurors the woman was being 'very flirty' and 'open' about her sexual preferences which made him feel 'titillated'.

'There was no reason to believe that she did not consent,' he said. 'I was going on the behaviour that she did not remonstrate with me.'

Horton, from Rotherham, south Yorkshire, denied but was convicted of four counts sexual assault, and one count of assault by penetration.

He was bailed to an address in Cornwall ahead of sentencing on July 23.
Advertisement

Young people queued around the block in Manchester today after everyone over 18 in as many as 20 different postcodes in the city were invited to come and get their vaccine.

In scenes mirroring those witnessed at London's Twickenham on Monday, when thousands waited for hours to receive their first jab, many more were seen patiently anticipating a first dose of the Pfizer product.

The walk-in clinic was being held at the Irish World Heritage Centre in Cheetham Hill between 10.30am and 6.30pm.

Jabs were made available to anyone over the age of 18 whose postcodes begin with the following: M1 7, M8, M9, M11 3, M12, M13, M14 4, M14 5, M14 6, M14 7, M15 4, M15 5, M15 6, M16 7, M18 7, M18 8, M19 2, M25, M45, M60 6.

The areas are being targeted by health chiefs as part of efforts to prevent a rise in Covid cases, amid growing concern over the prevalence of the Indian variant.

Manchester Health and Care Commissioning tweeted: 'A walk in Pfizer clinic is taking place today (Wednesday 2 June) at the Irish Centre for first doses for over 18's who live in specific postcodes only.'

It comes after official statistics revealed today that Covid is now behind fewer than one in 150 deaths in England and Wales, the lowest number since before the first lockdown last March.

Young people queued around the block in Manchester today after everyone over 18 in a number of postcodes were invited to come and get their vaccine

ALL OVER-18S TO GET VACCINATED WITHIN WEEKS, SOURCES SAY Ministers are preparing to offer vaccines to all over-18s within weeks to help halt the spread of the Indian variant as the UK reported zero Covid deaths for the first time in 10 months. So far only adults aged 30 and over have been invited for their jabs and health leaders are focusing their efforts on giving older people their second dose. But it is understood officials are planning to open up the eligibility to all age groups amid concerns the Indian strain - which has been renamed as the 'Delta variant' - is spreading very quickly among the young. In a speech today Health Secretary Matt Hancock will praise the country's 'extraordinary vaccine heroes'  including healthcare staff and volunteers. It comes as SAGE experts and Tory MPs butt heads over whether June 21's 'Freedom Day' should be delayed in the face of the Indian variant as health officials in the regions worst affected say it is mostly being transmitted by 17 to 18-year-olds, and potentially passed on to older, more vulnerable family members. Government figures yesterday showed nearly three-quarters of adults have had one dose  with almost half receiving their second dose. Advertisement

A special one-day vaccination event at Twickenham Stadium on Monday descended into chaos after 'thousands' of people were turned away and GPs wrongly told patients that 16-year-olds could get the jab.

Huge crowds of young people descended on the home of English rugby during the Bank Holiday in the hope of getting their sought-after first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

But the event - hailed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan as 'amazing work' - was blasted by locals, with crazed youngsters rushing to join the snaking queue urged to 'get a grip', adding it 'is not bloody Glastonbury'.

A free-for-all was sparked when everyone aged over 18 were given the green light to get their vaccination at the special walk-in event at the 82,000-seater ground - with bosses hoping to shift 15,000 doses and push them above their vaccine targets for the Hounslow area.

But some jab-hopefuls claimed GP surgeries informed them of the walk in jab centre via a text which said all those aged over 16 were invited to get the vaccine.

Furious mother Nicola Devlin said she and her child queued for nearly two hours before being told by their GP the advice was incorrect and you had to be 18 to get the jab. Meanwhile Sara Elvin said it was a 'shame' GPs were sending out wrong information.

Those who got their first jab yesterday were advised by vaccine drive officials that they do not need to go back to Twickenham for their second dose, instead getting it at their local GP service.

The one off event means that those as young as 18 could have both doses of the jab by July 26. Currently, government rules say that only people over 30 are eligible to have the vaccine.

Nick Goldstone wrote: 'Thousands turned away! Literally thousands turned away! This is chaos. This is life and death. This is not bloody Glastonbury! Get a grip!'

Brenda added: 'They need to run again and allow 18+ to come all day and/or book this time.

'My son queued for 2 hours this pm and they ran out as he got to the top of the queue. We need to encourage them. Not sure they will all queue like that again.'

A special one-day vaccination event at Twickenham Stadium descended into chaos yesterday (pictured) after 'thousands' of people were turned away and GPs wrongly told patients that 16-year-olds could get the jab

Huge crowds of young people descended on the home of English rugby on Bank Holiday Monday (pictured) in the hope of getting their sought-after first dose of the Pfizer vaccine

The event - hailed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan as 'amazing work' - was blasted by locals, with crazed youngsters rushing to join the snaking queue urged to 'get a grip', adding it 'is not bloody Glastonbury'

Caroline Miskin added: 'I hope there will be another one, my 24 year old very fed up to have missed out by five places when the queue closed.'

Meanwhile, Gideon Rachman said the vast crowds of people sparked fears about the Covid spread.

He wrote: 'Big crowds of young people rushing towards Twickenham stadium on news of free Pfizer for all if you get there by 8pm.

'Irresponsible message to put out? How to create a superspreader event.'

Some locals said their GP surgeries wrongly informed them those aged over 16 would be allowed to get a jab.

Sara Elvin said: 'Shame local GPS sending texts that 16 years plus can go, to find out it's not true. After queueing.'

Nicola Devlin added: 'I got a text from our Doctor to say that if you have a child aged 16+ then they can get the Pfizer vaccine at twickenham rugby ground today - only to get there, wait in the queue for nearly two hours and be told it's for 18+ year olds!'

The Hounslow area has recently been involved in a surge testing and vaccination project due a spike in Indian variant cases.
Two Florida foster children dubbed 'Bonnie and Clyde' are accused of breaking into a house, arming themselves with an AK-47, then repeatedly shooting at sheriff's deputies as they tried to persuade them to surrender.

Authorities said 12-year-old Travis O'Brien and 14-year-old Nicole Jackson carried out the attack on Tuesday night after running away from the Florida United Methodist Children's Home.

The girl ended up being shot by deputies in a 30-minute standoff and was left fighting for her life in a hospital.

They are now facing felony charges of attempted first-degree murder of law enforcement officers and armed burglary.

Authorities said 12-year-old Travis O'Brien and 14-year-old Nicole Jackson carried out the attack after breaking into this Volusia County, Florida home on Tuesday night

The boy and girl used a handgun, rifle and AK-47 to fire at deputies from several vantage points in the home during the 30-minute standoff. Pictured above is a bullet hole from one of the windows

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said the two children, who he described as 'evil' and likened to 'Bonnie and Clyde', used a handgun, rifle and AK-47 to fire at deputies from several vantage points in the home.

The ordeal unfolded after O'Brien and Jackson were reported missing from the children's home just before 5pm. Deputies were searching the area when a neighbor reported hearing glass break at a home around 7.30pm.

They contacted the homeowner after spotting two people inside but the owner told deputies they were not home and there were multiple guns inside the property.

The girl started shooting at deputies when they surrounded the home and ordered the pair to come out.

Authorities say the children fired multiple rounds at deputies four times in the space of 30 minutes.

It only ended when the girl was shot after she emerged from the garage pointing the gun at deputies.

The boy immediately surrendered.

The girl ended up being shot by deputies in the 30-minute standoff and was left fighting for her life in hospital. No deputies were injured in the ordeal

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood described the two children as 'evil' and likened them to 'Bonnie and Clyde'

Jackson was rushed to Central Florida Regional Hospital with life-threatening injuries and underwent surgery. She is now in stable.

O'Brien also was taken to hospital because he is diabetic and did not take his medication with him when he left the foster home.

No deputies were injured in the ordeal.

'Deputies did everything they could tonight to de-escalate and they almost lost their lives to a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old,' Sheriff Chitwood said.

'If it wasn't for their training and their supervision Somebody would have ended up dead.

'They took rounds - multiple, multiple rounds - until they were left with no other choice but to return fire.'

Florida United Methodist Children's Home is a group home that started out as an orphanage.

Police said they responded to the home hundreds of times last year for various incidents.
Police investigating the murder of flower seller Tony Eastlake have raided the home of his former girlfriend who was found dead at the address two months ago.

Tony was stabbed to death in the street close to his flower stall on Essex Road, Islington, on Saturday afternoon.

A 20-year-old man has been arrested and is in custody on suspicion of murdering Tony.

Now Mail Online can reveal that detectives are probing a possible connection with his former girlfriend.

Tony Eastlake (pictured) was stabbed to death in the street close to his flower stall on Essex Road, Islington, on Saturday afternoon

Mr Eastlake's former lover Alicia Callaghan was found dead at a nearby Islington address on April 1.

It is unclear how she died yet but it's understood there were no suspicious circumstanmces. Ms Callaghan was found at 1.08am in the property and an inquest has been opened and adjourned - with a full hearing due later this summer.

Detectives carried out the swoop on the house at tea time on Sunday. And officers were still at the address, which is a few hundred yards from where the killing took place, today.

Ms Callaghan had a 20-year-old son from a previous relationship.

A Met spokesperson declined to comment on the raid.

Ashfelter Gaetano Buglioni, 64, who knew Mr Eastlake, said: 'He had broken up with her and he was really upset when she died. He was really cut up about it.'

Stephen Kavenga, who worked for Mr Eastlake for more than 30 years, said: 'He had broken up with her and we knew she had died a few months ago. He was sad about it, but he just carried on because the people around here were his family.

'He was loved by everybody who knew him. You couldn't find a nicer, friendlier person.

'He was going out for dinner on Saturday night with a friend when he was killed.'

Police investigating Mr Eastlake's murder have raided the home of his former girlfriend who was found dead at the address two months ago

Detectives carried out the swoop on the house at tea time on Sunday and officers were still at the address today

Ms Callaghan suffered from depression according to friends and neighbours who said that she and Mr Eastlake had been in a relationship which had become strained shortly before her death.

Mr Eastlake was confronted near his flower stall in Islington, North London around 5.30pm on Saturday and stabbed.

The Metropolitan Police launched a manhunt for the killer and raided Ms Callaghan's former home - close to the spot where Mr Eastlake died - the following evening.

A neighbour who lives opposite the house said: 'The police went in with a battering ram around 6-6.30pm on Sunday. There was at least two police vans.

'They went in and searched the property but came out empty handed from what I could see. They were there for about two hours.'

Another neighbour said: 'I knew Alicia and loved her like my own daughter but she had her problems, bless her.

'She had been in a relationship with Tony but for whatever reason it was quite a strained one.

'About two months ago she died in her house. She left behind a son who was understandably devastated.'

The Metropolitan Police refused to disclose the exact nature of the relationship between the man arrested and Mr Eastlake but have confirmed that they were known to each other.

Detective Chief Inspector Vicky Tunstall, leading the investigation, said: 'Our dedicated team of officers have worked tirelessly since Saturday evening to identify the person suspected of the murder of Tony Eastlake.

'I hope this brings some reassurance to the community after what was an incredibly traumatic and unsettling incident that has cost the life of a well loved and respected man.

'I can confirm that this attack is not believed to have occurred as a result of a robbery. We continue to appeal to anyone who might have seen anything to please come forward to the police. If you live within this area or were driving through, please check your CCTV and dashcam footage for anything which might help the investigation. No piece of information is insignificant.'
Advertisement

Covid cases jumped by more than 36 per cent in a week today, reaching 4,330 as Boris Johnson insisted he still sees 'nothing in the data' to stop June 21's 'Freedom Day' going ahead.

It is the second day in less than a week they have reached more than 4,000 and, before that, the last time was April 1.

Twelve more Covid deaths were also reported today  rising a third on last Wednesday's figure  after yesterday's recording of zero bolstered calls for No10 to stick with its roadmap.

But Britain's vaccine roll-out continued at pace, with 108,607 first doses dished out across the UK yesterday, taking the country's total to 39.6million  more than 75 per cent of the adult population.

Some 338,565 second doses were also given out, meaning nearly 26.1million people are fully vaccinated in the country (49.5 per cent).

The figures come as official statistics showed Covid made up just one in 150 deaths across England and Wales last week.

And MailOnline analysis today showed the number of people in hospital with Covid is only rising in the North West, where Indian variant hotspots are concentrated, going up by 24 per cent over the last fortnight of May to 177 Covid patients on wards.

Speaking to reporters on a visit to a school Mr Johnson struck an optimistic tone, but admitted infections are rising and that he needs to be 'cautious'. He insisted people must 'wait a little longer' for the final decision.

The Prime Minister said: 'What we need to work out is to what extent the vaccination programme has protected enough of us, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, against a new surge, and there I'm afraid the data is still ambiguous. The best the scientists can say at the moment is we just need to give it a little bit longer.'

One of the top scientific advisers to No10, Oxford medicine professor Sir John Bell, today said he was optimistic that the roadmap would be able to go ahead and urged ministers not to run scared from rising cases in the face of the new variant and lifting lockdown rules but to watch data on hospital admissions and deaths instead.

Covid cases jumped by more than 36 per cent in a week today, the eighth day in a row they have been above 3,000 and the second day in less than a week they have reached more than 4,000

Twelve more lives were also lost to the virus today  rising a third on last Wednesday's figure  after yesterday's recording of zero bolstered calls for No10 to stick with its roadmap

Britain's vaccine roll-out continued at pace, with 108,607 first doses dished out across the UK, taking the country's total to 39.6million  more than 75 per cent of the adult population

Hospital admissions, bed occupancy and mechanical ventilators have all risen in the North West  where the Indian variant is most prevalent  but have fallen or remained stable in most of the rest of the country over the last fortnight

But the number of patients in hospital are still significantly lower across the country than during the near-overwhelming of the NHS experienced during the height of the winter peak in January

Covid Symptom Study data shows that in May, all the under-40 age groups saw infection rates rise to around 140 positive cases per 100,000 people. Meanwhile the figure for people in their 50s was around 30 in 100,000 and it was lower than 20 for over-60s, who are by far the most vaccinated age group. Professor Spector said: 'Vaccines work'

Self-congratulatory Matt Hancock boasts about UK's vaccine success Matt Hancock took credit for the UK's vaccine rollout today as he mounted a political fightback to save his political life. The Health Secretary used a global Covid conference in Oxford today to praise the take-up of the jab - and his own role in getting it into the arms of grateful Britons. He also praise the swift work in creating new wonder drugs, claiming it helped save more than a million lives because work began before the first UK case was identified. And he told the assembled delegates: 'Lots of people stop me and ask me how we did all of this?' He added that the UK's vaccination programme was 'without doubt the best project I have been involved in', and confirmed that 75 per cent of adults have now been given at least one dose of vaccine. He said he had been told it would take at least five years to develop a coronavirus vaccine at the start of the pandemic. 'I specifically remember a then meek and timid professor turning to me when I asked how fast this could possibly be done,' he said. 'He said that if everything went right then the very best we could hope for would be 12 to 18 months. 'Who would have thought that just 11 months later we'd be the first country in the world with a clinically authorised vaccine and that professor Jonathan Van Tam would be turning down Strictly.' Advertisement

Office for National Statistics figures today revealed Covid was behind less than one per cent of deaths in the week to May 21, the latest available. Only 66 out of 9,840 fatalities listed the virus as the underlying cause.

It comes after one of the Government's top scientific advisers warned the UK cannot keep 'scampering down a rabbit hole' every time a new Covid variant emerges.

Hitting back at members of SAGE calling for a longer lockdown, Sir John Bell said ministers must instead focus on hospitalisations and deaths, which have remained flat nationally but there are signs of admissions increasing.

The Oxford University medical expert, who has advised the Government on Covid tests and vaccines, suggested the country must take a leap of faith and put trust in its world-beating vaccination rollout.

Becoming the highest profile Government adviser to advocate for June 21 to go ahead, Sir John told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think we do need to keep our eye on hospitalisations, serious disease and deaths, which is really what we are trying to manage.

'If we scamper down a rabbit hole every time we see a new variant we are going to spend a long time huddled away  so I think we need to get a bit of balance into the discussion and keep our eyes on the serious disease we are trying to prevent.'

Pressure has been mounting on Mr Johnson to push back England's June 21 lockdown easings to buy time to roll out jabs to millions more people to further curb the transmission of the Indian variant.

But Scotland's Nicola Sturgeon has already delayed unlocking north of the border, admitting she was worried about the rapid spread of the virus.

The Prime Minister's comments today came after Downing Street said there was still nothing in the data to suggest the final stages of unlocking could not go ahead.

A No10 spokesman said: 'The Prime Minister has said on a number of occasions that we havent seen anything in the data but we will continue to look at the data, we will continue to look at the latest scientific evidence as we move through June towards June 21.'

The next stage of the roadmap set for June 21 will spell an end to face masks and social distancing restrictions. Whitehall sources say a decision whether to continue with the easing will be taken on June 14.

Covid was mentioned on 107 death certificates in the week to May 21, but was only listed as the underlying cause on 66. There were 9,860 deaths overall in this period, meaning Covid was behind the equivalent of one in 150 fatalities

For comparison, flu and pneumonia (blue line) were behind 287 fatalities. This was more than four times above the 66 deaths where Covid was listed as the underlying cause (red line)

Professor Sir John Bell urged ministers to focus on hospitalisations and deaths instead of being panicked by the past week's rise in Covid cases, which was always expected to happen when lockdown rules were lifted. Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured today) is expected to speak today on feelings ahead of June 21's planned final roadmap step

People have become less convinced that all social distancing will end on June 21 as planned  58 per cent of Brits thought it would when they were asked on May 23, compared to 73 per cent on May 2

Indian variant cases in England's 12 hotspots are shown (red) compared to the Kent variant (orange). The new strain has gone on to become dominant in all 12 of the above areas - and more than 100 in total - since cropping up for the first time in April. It is believed to be a fifth more infectious than the Kent variant which is propelling its spread

Speaking to reporters on a visit to a school today, Boris Johnson said there was still 'ambiguity' over how much protection vaccines were giving people

ALL OVER-18s TO GET VACCINATED WITHIN WEEKS, SOURCES SAY Ministers are preparing to offer vaccines to all over-18s within weeks to help halt the spread of the Indian variant as the UK reported zero Covid deaths for the first time in 10 months. So far only adults aged 30 and over have been invited for their jabs and health leaders are focusing their efforts on giving older people their second dose. But it is understood officials are planning to open up the eligibility to all age groups amid concerns the Indian strain - which has been renamed as the 'Delta variant' - is spreading very quickly among the young. In a speech today Health Secretary Matt Hancock will praise the country's 'extraordinary vaccine heroes'  including healthcare staff and volunteers. It comes as SAGE experts and Tory MPs butt heads over whether June 21's 'Freedom Day' should be delayed in the face of the Indian variant as health officials in the regions worst affected say it is mostly being transmitted by 17 to 18-year-olds, and potentially passed on to older, more vulnerable family members. Government figures yesterday showed nearly three-quarters of adults have had one dose  with almost half receiving their second dose. Advertisement

ONS figures showed deaths caused by Covid fell to their lowest levels since before the first lockdown last year in the week ending May 21, and were lower than in early September before the second wave spiralled out of control and 69 people died of the virus.

Every region in England went at least one day without registering a single death from the virus over this period, data showed. The North East, East Midlands, West Midlands and South West had at least three days where they registered no Covid fatalities.

In total the ONS said 107 people had Covid mentioned on their death certificates last week but only 66 died directly from the virus, meaning nearly 40 per cent primarily succumbed to other conditions.

Experts said the figures were 'very positive' and showed vaccines were playing 'a major part' in driving down fatalities.

The NHS Confederation union added the numbers were 'reassuring' but said there was still a 'real concern' rising cases could lead to more hospitalisations.

NHS figures show that Covid hospital admissions are rising in the North West of England where Indian variant hotspots are concentrated but remain low in the rest of the country where the strain is yet to take off.

MailOnline's shows trusts in the region  home to hotspots Bolton and Blackburn  saw virus patient numbers creep up by 24 per cent in the last fortnight of May. There are now 177 inpatients in hospitals in the North West.

Patients requiring mechanical ventilation, a last-resort for those most ill with the disease, also more than doubled to 42 in the North West since the middle of May, when cases of the Indian variant first started spiralling.

But the numbers are all still significantly lower than the levels that pushed the region's NHS to the brink during the peak of the second wave in January. There were nearly 5,500 beds taken up with Covid patients in the North West in mid-January, 30 times more than now.

Nationally, bed occupancy has remained relatively flat over the last week  rising slightly from 758 on June 23 to 763 yesterday  but has fallen from 818 in the middle of the month. Admissions in London have started to rise, with the western borough of Hounslow a hotspot for the Indian variant and vaccine rates in the capital the lowest in the country.

Pockets of the North West have been most affected by cases of the Indian variant, with Bolton, Blackburn with Darwen and Burnley all identified as hotspots by the Government. MailOnline yesterday revealed Manchester, Wigan and Trafford have also emerged as hubs for the mutant strain, with half of the top twelve areas for cases being in the North West.

Professor Kevin McConway, a statistician at the Open University, heralded the fall in Covid deaths as 'very positive' and said he hoped vaccines would prevent hospital admissions from spiking after cases like they did in earlier waves.

'When you think back only as far as the start of April when there were over 300 registered deaths in a week with Covid as the underlying cause, let alone to late January when there were over 7,500 a week, this is huge progress,' he said.

'Vaccination will have played a major part in this reduction, though lockdowns and other interventions played an important part too.

'People who, sadly, died in the latest week of those data would probably have been infected three or more weeks before, so well before the latest loosening of lockdown in England on 17 May  so it wouldnt be possible to see any effect of that removal of restrictions on these numbers.'

He added that rising Covid cases would not translate into the same pressure on the NHS as previously because of the successful vaccines roll-out.

'Earlier in the pandemic, any sustained increase in new cases or hospital admissions would lead inevitably to increases in deaths a few weeks later,' he said.

'That process wont occur in the same way now, because of the effect of vaccination on reducing serious illness, though its not yet entirely clear what the new pattern might be, or how new variants might play a role.

Nationally hospital admissions for the virus remain flat but there has been a slight uptick in the North West and London in the last week

King's College London's Professor Tim Spector said yesterday the fact that outbreaks appear to be confined to local clusters in hotspots in the Covid Symptom Study, and that the Indian variant is not yet spreading rife across the country, was proof that vaccines are working

Sir John Bell said he didn't think current data looked 'intimidating' and that ministers should 'let them play out another couple of weeks' before deciding on the next step of the roadmap.

He added: 'I think the Government's taken the wise approach to this before we make a decision on the next reduction of the lockdown but I am pretty encouraged by what I see.'

The intervention comes as Sir John and 11 other scientists publish a letter ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall this month calling on ministers to support the vaccine roll out in other countries.

The open letter warns without this action Britain risks importing dangerous variants from abroad as the virus remains out of control in other areas.

'Leaders from the G7 countries must take decisive action now if we are to bring this pandemic under control,' the scientists which also include Wellcome Trust director Sir Jeremy Farrar and the director of the Oxford vaccine group Professor Sue Clemens write.

'Without a globally coordinated approach... we are merely putting out fires in one part of the world as another suffers.

'The result is a pandemic that continues on  with millions more lives lost and a real threat that any progress made to date is completely undone by a new variant that renders vaccines ineffective.'

Public Health England is already monitoring 13 variants in the UK, and has designated five 'of concern'  meaning scientists fear they are spreading rapidly or could make vaccines less effective.

Surge testing has been sparked in hotspots including Bolton, Bedford and Blackburn with Darwen to root out cases of the Indian variant.

And the tool was also deployed in areas including Bristol and parts of London and Gloucestershire when the South African variant was identified  which studies suggest could make vaccines slightly less effective.

The Indian variant  B.1.617.2  has sparked concern in official circles amid rising case numbers and after scientists said it is at least 20 per cent more transmissible than the Kent variant.

But studies suggest it is still susceptible to vaccine-sparked immunity, while data shows cases are mostly focused in younger age groups who are yet to be offered at least one dose of the Covid vaccine.

More than 39.4million Britons have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine, nearly three quarters, and 25.7million have got both doses, or nearly 50 per cent.

Covid hospital admissions are slowly creeping up across England but nearly half of all trusts are still completely empty, official figures have revealed. Graph shows: Just one NHS trust in England had more than four per cent of its beds occupied by sufferers of the virus in the most recent week data is available for (week ending May 23) [Percentage on the right shows the change in patient numbers in a week]

Covid woes have been forgotten this week as the summer weather began in earnest and people enjoyed time outside after an unseasonably cold and wet spring. Pictured: A crowd at Warleigh Weir in Bath

People are pictured enjoying the sunshine in Margate, Kent, today on what could be the warmest day of the year so far with temperatures stretching towards 77F (25C) across the country

To boost these numbers even more, ministers are preparing to offer vaccines to all over-18s within weeks.

So far only adults aged 30 and over have been invited for their jabs and health leaders are focusing their efforts on giving older people their second dose.

Covid hospitalisations are RISING in the North West where Indian variant hotspots are concentrated MailOnline's analysis show average Covid admissions increased slightly from around 17 on May 15 to 21 on May 30  a rise of 24 per cent  peaking at 24 on May 27 in the North West. Beds occupied with Covid patients also increased in the region from around 151 to 177 from May 15 to June 1, as spikes in cases of the Indian variant in Bolton, Blackburn and Burnley began to have an effect on hospitalisations. Likewise, the number of people infected with the virus requiring mechanical ventilation beds more than doubled from 16 to 34 during the same period, though numbers remained lower than London by the end of the month (42). The capital was the only other area to see a noticeable rise in admissions during the same period but only from 14 to 18  a rise of 29 per cent. Hospital bed occupancy for Covid patients actually fell in London  from 259 to 235  as did the number of people requiring mechanical ventilator beds  from 52 to 42. Occupancy fell in all areas of the country other than the North West since the middle of last month, although it has begun creeping up in the East of England over the last week, rising 20 per cent from 40 to 50 beds. While the slight uptick in the number of people in hospital in the North West may raise concerns about the effect of the Indian variant, the numbers still pale in comparison to those seen in January and February. During the peak of the winter crisis, the North West recorded a recorded daily hospital bed occupancy with Covid patients of 5,491 on January 16. This is more than 31 times the current occupancy figure, with the number of beds being used by Covid patients now the same as it was at the start of the month on May 6 (177). Advertisement

But it is understood officials are planning to open up the eligibility to all age groups amid concerns the Indian strain - which has been renamed as the 'Delta variant' - is spreading very quickly among the young.

Meanwhile in a speech today Health Secretary Matt Hancock will praise the country's 'extraordinary vaccine heroes'  including healthcare staff and volunteers.

SAGE experts and Tory MPs have been butting heads over whether June 21 should be delayed in the face of the Indian variant as health officials in the regions worst affected say it is mostly being transmitted by 17 to 18-year-olds, and potentially passed on to older, more vulnerable family members  bolstering the case for younger people to be vaccinated.

At a speech outside the Jenner Institute in Oxford, where the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was developed, Mr Hancock will pay particular tribute to the NHS, scientists and the armed forces for helping deliver 65million vaccines so far.

'The biggest risk would have been the failure to find a vaccine at all. So we explicitly embraced risk early on,' he will say. 'So we backed lots of horses and invested at risk.

'And instead of sitting back and waiting to see which vaccines came off, we were tenacious in helping them to get over the line, drawing on the abundant industry experience in our team. The team who worked on our vaccination programme was the single greatest asset that we had in this crisis.'

He will also credit the 'phenomenal dedication' of the British public to come forward with more than 90 per cent of over-50s having had at least one dose.

Yesterday the director of public health in Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire - which has the highest Covid infection rates on the country - urged the Government to start vaccinating teenagers.

Dominic Harrison warned of an 'exceptionally high rate' among 17 and 18-year-olds and urged ministers to license the jabs for teenagers to help protect the wider community.

'We desperately need the UK Government, the MHRA [Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency] to pass the Pfizer vaccine as safe and effective for that age group,' he told BBC Radio 4's World At One.

'Now the USA, Canada, Singapore and the European Union have all in the last week said that's Pfizer BioNTechvaccine is safe and effective for 12 years and above and I just hope the UK Government can get on with passing that, assuming that they agree that we could then get into rapid vaccination for that cohort, before the end of term.

'Because that would help not just with protecting the whole population through an increased number of people vaccinated, but reducing transmission in that group.'

The decline of death numbers, combined with low hospital admissions, offer confidence that vaccines are protecting people from the coronavirus and hopefully working well enough to prevent a massive third wave.

Professor Tim Spector, a King's College London epidemiologist who runs the Covid Symptom Study, suggested that the jabs are protecting even against infections caused by the Indian variant, which scientists weren't sure whether it would.

He said in a tweet: 'The UK hotspots clearly tell the story. The Delta variant has taken a hold of these areas but numbers are around 4,000 per day and is not taking hold more widely.

'Virtually all cases are aged under 50 or unvaccinated  so vaccines work.'

MAY 22: This map shows the local authorities where the Indian variant was the dominant strain  made up the majority of cases  by the number of infections with the mutant strain detected in their areas. It is for the two weeks to May 22. Areas coloured red had more than 50 cases, orange between 10 and 49 cases, and yellow had fewer than 10 cases

HOVER OVER YOUR AREA TO SEE HOW COMMON THE INDIAN VARIANT WAS BY MAY 22

A report produced by his Covid Symptom Study found there were an average of 4,608 new cases of Covid per day over the past two weeks and that around 58,665 people had it at any time.

The report showed that most places on England's outbreak watchlist had seen infection rates about stable or improving in the past week, including Leicester, Peterborough, Hillingdon, Gateshead, Bolton, Bury, Lancashire, Manchester, Tameside, Birmingham, Kirklees and Leeds.

And it revealed that the majority of cases throughout May have been in the as-yet-unvaccinated under-40s, with the rate of infection highest among 20 to 29-year-olds, followed by 30 to 39-year-olds and then under-20s.

While they all saw around 140 cases per 100,000 people in the most recent data, the figure for people in their 50s was around 30 in 100,000 and it was lower than 20 for over-60s, who are by far the most vaccinated age group.

Tory MPs grabbed hold of the positive data to shoot down calls from SAGE advisers for the end of social distancing to be delayed.

Former party leader Iain Duncan Smith said: 'My worry is there seems to be a concerted push among scientists to stop June 21 taking place. They seem to have now moved the goalposts so we can't open up until everybody has had two jabs. That was never part of the event.'

'By and large everybody who is 50-plus has had two jabs now. It seems to me that everybody is trying to get in 'I told you so' before the event. If it all goes well no-one will remember the scientists who said don't do it.

'If it goes wrong they will be up crowing 'we told you'. It is a win-win for them.'

He added: 'There is a kind of panic taking place. Project Fear is coming to an end and it is as if the scientists now cannot bring themselves to understand exactly how life will be.

'What's happened now will almost certainly lead to us going back to lockdown again at some point and destroying our livelihoods, our health, for non-Covid reasons.'
Republicans stepped up their criticism of Vice President Kamala Harris Wednesday, demanding that she visit the Mexico border after footage emerged of a five-year-old boy wailing in distress after being there by two migrant smugglers.

The powerful images highlight the human cost of an issue that bedevils President Biden's administration as Harris prepares to fly to Guatemala and Mexico as part of her role in stemming the arrival of immigrants.

Although Biden tapped her to lead diplomatic efforts, Republicans quickly dubbed her his 'border czar' and want to know why she has not visited the frontier.

Sen. Ted Cruz made his point by sharing a Monty Python and the Holy Grail GIF.

'On the border crisis, Kamala invokes an old leadership style...' he wrote, alongside images of Knights of the Round Table shouting, 'Run away.'

Sen Ted Cruz mocked Vice President Kamala Harris for her work on stemming the flow of arrivals at the border.

Sen. Ted Cruz has repeatedly asked why Vice President Kamala Harris has not traveled to the border since President Joe Biden tapped her to lead efforts to stem flow of arrivals

Vice President Kamala is due to leave for Guatemala on Sunday and is promising to have a 'frank' conversation with President Alejandro Giammattei on corruption, crime and violence that is driving people to leave his country for the United States. She has been under intense pressure for her role as Biden's diplomatic lead on tackling the border crisis

Harris leaves for her trip on Sunday night.

She said she would be meeting the president of Guatemala and had a lot to discuss, 'to support the folks who need help in terms of hunger, the economic development piece, the extreme weather.'

She told reporters Wednesday that she would be there for a 'real' conversation, to listen as much as offer an American perspective.

'It's also about the need to have very frank and honest discussions about the need to address corruption, to address crime, and violence, and in particular against some of the most vulnerable populations in that country,' she said.

After meeting President Alejandro Giammattei on Monday she is due to fly to Mexico, where she will meet with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

It marks her first foreign trip since becoming vice president.

In March, Biden gave her responsibility for leading the administration's diplomatic efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala - reprising his own role under President Obama.

But she has been under intense scrutiny ever since.

Critics are demanding to know why she has gone 70 days without holding a news conference on the issue at a time when illegal border are at a 21-year high.

Vice President Kamala Harris poses with Eric Lander and his family after she swore him in as director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, on Wednesday, when she also outlined her plans for her trip to Guatemala and Mexico

Data released recently by U.S. Customs and Border Protection revealed officers encountered 178,622 people trying to enter the country in April, the highest since April 2000.

Republicans say the surge coincided with Biden's election victory, a softening of rhetoric on immigrants and the removal of Trump administration kerbs on immigration.

On Tuesday, the Biden administration formally ended a Trump immigration policy that forced asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court.

It comes as video circulates of a particularly heartbreaking moment on the border.

The cellphone footage shows a five-year-old boy, who is believed to be Mexican, being dumped by smugglers who apparently expected his parents to collect him.

He is standing steps away from where the steel, barbed wired wall came to an end under an overpass at the international borderline between the border town of Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas, last Thursday night.

The distraught boy clutched on to a teddy bear and yelled, 'Where are you going? Over here. No, no, no. Don't leave.'

The child was accompanied by the couple who crossed him over a section of a nearly dry Rio Grande, a waterway that's constantly used by migrants attempting to reach the U.S.

Amidst tears, the boy attempted to draw the their attention by waving at them as they walked away.

Still image of a five-year-old boy who was abandoned by a man and a woman last Thursday near a steel, barbed wire wall at the United States-Mexico international crossing between Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas. The woman who helped smuggle the child told AFP that his parents reside in the U.S. The child is said to be a native of Mexico

A man (left) and woman (right) head back to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, moments after they were captured on video abandoning a five-year-old boy at section of the United States-Mexico border wall in Texas

The woman and her accomplice subsequently fled towards Ciudad Juarez. Moments later, a U.S. Border Patrol unit arrived and took the boy to a nearby station.

The woman who smuggled the boy to the border wall told AFP that his parents resided in the United States.

DailyMail.com reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for comment. It is unclear if the child has since been reunited with his family.

The harrowing scene of the child crying is the latest chapter of the ongoing saga at the southwestern border between U.S. Border Patrol agents and unaccompanied children as well as individuals and families seeking asylum from the United States government.

Arrests of undocumented migrants trying to cross the international borderline increased gradually during the last 12 months under former President Donald Trump's administration and his successor, President Joe Biden.

The child tried to draw his smugglers' attention by waving at them before U.S. Border Patrol agents arrived and took him to a nearby station

U.S. Border Patrol agents tend to a five-year-old boy after he was spotted alone at the side of a border wall in El Paso, Texas, last Thursday

A monthly report released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in May showed that border agents detained 17,171 unaccompanied children at the southwestern border in April, down 9 percent from 18,890 in March when a record number of unaccompanied migrant children entered U.S. custody.

The Biden administration, which has shown a willingness to allow migrants at the southwestern border to apply for asylum, has permitted unaccompanied minors to remain in the U.S. under the Title 42 policy.

The measure was put into place March 21, 2020 by Trump and pushed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to immediately removed migrants who were intercepted at the southwestern border due to the COVID-19 pandemic without granting them the opportunity to request asylum. The agency would send adults back to Mexico and the children would be placed in hotels and then deported to their home countries.

Under Biden, CBP continues expel most of the migrant families and single adults, ultimately forcing parents to send their children alone across the border in hopes of joining them later. In other cases family members already in the U.S. are given custody of the children.

Nicaraguan Wilto Obregon, 10, who in April was seen in a video begging an off-duty U.S. Border Patrol to help him after he had been left behind by a group of migrants near the Texas desert, was reunited with his mother Meylin Obregon at a shelter for migrant children last Friday.

Two Guatemalan sisters, Asheli Sanchez, 5, and Valeria Padilla, 11 months, were placed in the custody of their aunt Yolanda Sanchez in Texas, after the married couple discovered the two children and three other girls on their farmland the morning of May 9.
Federal prosecutors are working on 'informal plea negotiations' with a right-wing extremist group called the Oath Keepers accused of storming the US Capitol in coordination on January 6.

Any prospective deals remains 'preliminary at this time,' but prosecutors hope to formalize them in the next month or two, ABC News reported.

News of potential plea deals emerged hot on the heels of the government's Monday indictment of four more Oath Keepers, meaning 16 of its members have now been charged over the January 6 Capitol riot.

Joseph Hackett, 50, Jason Dolan, 40, William Isaacs, 21, and another, unnamed defendant, were indicted Monday.

The 12 other alleged Oath Keepers previously charged are: Thomas Caldwell, 65, Donovan Crowl, 50, Jessica Watkins, 38, Sandra Parker, 60, Bennie Parker, 70, Graydon Young, 54, Laura Steele, 52, Kelly Meggs, 52, Connie Meggs, 59, Kenneth Harrelson, 40, Roberto Minuta, 36, Joshua James, 33, Joseph Hackett, 50.

The 16 accused Oath Keepers face charges ranging from conspiracy and obstruction to civil disorder and assaulting officers. All have pleaded not guilty.

The Oath Keepers are a far-right, anti-government militia group who claim they have a membership of around 35,000

Members of the Oath Keepers on the steps of the Capitol during the January 6 riots. A total of 16 have now been charged with federal conspiracy

Several accused Oath Keeper rioters are seen in this picture released by the Department of Justice taken

Four more members of the far-right militia have been charged with federal criminal conspiracy, bringing to 16 the total number facing prosecution

Jon Ryan Scaffer, 53, one of the founding members of the far-right group pleaded guilty to two felony charges in connection with the the January 6 riot at the US Capitol in mid-April. He was originally facing six charges.

Police said the Indiana man was armed with bear spray when he barged into the Capitol following a 'Stop the Steal' rally held earlier in the day.

As part of the plea deal, Schaffer has agreed to cooperate with investigators - prompting rumors he may 'turn' on some of his fellow Oath Keeper members.

So far, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes has not been charged, but he was mentioned repeatedly in the newly unsealed indictment as 'Person One'.

It's unclear why he has not been arrested, or if he attended the US Capitol riots on January 6.

According to prosecutors, on November 9 - after the election was called for Biden -Rhodes told supporters in an online GoToMeeting conference call: 'Were going to defend the president, the duly elected president. Because if you dont, guys, youre going to be in a bloody, bloody civil war and a bloody...insurrection, or you can call it a war or fight.

'Im willing to sacrifice myself for that. Let the fight start there. That will give President Trump what he needs, frankly.

'If things go kinetic, good. If they throw bombs at us and shoot us, great, because that brings the president his reason and rationale for dropping the Insurrection Act.

'I do want some Oath Keepers to stay on the outside, and to stay fully armed and prepared to go in armed, if they have to...So our postures gonna be that were posted outside of DC, um, awaiting the Presidents orders. . . . We hope he will give us the orders.

'We want him to declare an insurrection, and to call us up as the militia.'

By then, claims from Trump's camp about voter fraud were widespread and millions of the former president's supporters thought he'd been robbed of victory.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes has not been charged, but he was mentioned repeatedly in the newly unsealed indictment as 'Person One'. It's unclear why he has not been arrested

Jon Ryan Schaffer, 53, struck a plea deal with prosecutors Friday, becoming the first person charged in relation to the January 6 attack to plead guilty

The Department of Justice released this image in January, which purportedly showed Schaffer clutching a can of bear spray

Over the coming months, members of the group allegedly plotted the attack.

Suspect Jessica Watkins is said to have recruited people in Ohio, telling them he was organizing a week-long training camp and saying: 'I need you fighting fit by inauguration.'

On November 17, when asked what his prediction was for the coming year, Watkins allegedly told a recruit: 'I cant predict. I dont underestimate the resolve of the Deep State.

'Biden may still yet be our President. If he is, our way of life as we know it is over. Our Republic would be over.

'Then it is our duty as Americans to fight, kill and die for our rights.'

The men who have been arrested continued to exchange texts and emails until the riot.

Rhodes encouraged them online, according to the indictment.

On January 4, he posted online: 'It is CRITICAL that all patriots who can be in DC get to DC to stand tall in support of President Trumps fight to defeat the enemies foreign and domestic who are attempting a coup, through the massive vote fraud and related attacks on our Republic.

'We Oath Keepers are both honor-bound and eager to be there in strength to do our part.'

In another, he said: 'As we have done on all recent DC Ops, we will also have well armed and equipped QRF1 teams on standby, outside DC, in the event of a worst case scenario, where the President calls us up as part of the militia to to assist him inside DC.

'We dont expect a need for him to call on us for that at this time, but we stand ready if he does (and we also stand ready to answer the call to serve as militia anytime in the future, and anywhere in our nation, if he does invoke the Insurrection Act).'

In plea deal documents, Schaffer admits to being 'at the front of a large mob' that broke open doors to the Capitol on January 6

Despite his alleged role in organizing the men who have been charged, Rhodes has not.

He claimed in March that he and other Oath Keeper members were the victims of a conspiracy.

'I may go to jail soon, not for anything I actually did, but for made-up crimes,' he said.

Rhodes, a former Army paratrooper and Yale Law School graduate, started the Oath Keepers in 2009.

The group, which is largely made up of ex-military and law enforcement, describes itself as a defender of Americans' rights from 'a tyrannical government'

Since then, the group started, it claims to have tens of thousands of members, although researches estimate the number is probably no higher than 5,000, according to NPR.

But even that would make Oath Keepers one of biggest groups in the patriot militia movement, NPR reported.

Senate Republicans last week voted down a House-passed bill that would create a 9/11-style commission to investigate the January 6 Capitol attack.

Democrats were unable to override a Republican filibuster placed on the bill during a Friday vote of 54 to 35, with 60 votes needed.

Republican Sens. Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Bill Cassidy, Lisa Murkowski, Rob Portman and Ben Sasse voted alongside 48 Democrats.

The bill is now essentially dead - though Democrats may launch other investigations and some are ongoing in Senate committees.
The White House on Wednesday sought to defuse a comment by President Joe Biden that appeared to call out two members of his own party in the Senate  saying the president was engaging in 'TV punditry.'

Psaki was asked about Biden's comment in Tulsa, where he said: 'I hear all the folks on TV saying, Why doesn't Biden get this done? Well, because Biden only has a majority of, effectively, four votes in the House and a tie in the Senate, with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends.'

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki sought to walk back a comment by President Biden about 'two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends'

The line was widely taken as a knock on Senate Democrats Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.). Both oppose efforts to end the legislative filibuster  with key Biden agenda items under threat.

'I dont think he was intending to convey anything other than a bit of commentary on TV punditry,' said Psaki.

She said Biden was not blasting the senators themselves  and disputed that he was knocking them for their view on the filibuster. Many Senate Democrats fear that without rules changes, Biden's agenda could blow up in June, which Biden says should be a 'month of action.'

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. is a key player for the Biden agenda in the 50-50 Senate

Democratic Senator from Arizona Kyrsten missed a vote on a Capitol riot commission. She says she had a 'personal family matter'

Psaki was asked if Biden is okay with an independent riot commission failing even though 54 senators voted for it

'I wouldnt say his comments yesterday were conveying a new position on the filibuster,' Psaki said.

She was alerted that both senators have backed Biden on major legislation. Manchin has bolted on a few high-profile issues, including occasional nominations. He is negotiating with Republicans on infrastructure.

Psaki also said Biden comment was criticism of the senators. 'It was not, no,' she said. 'He considers themselves both friends.'

Biden is set to meet GOP Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (W.Va.) on Wednesday.

Democrats are viewing with alarm state GOP efforts to impose new voting restrictions. A Democratic voting rights bill set to come up in the Senate within weeks is facing a likely Republican filibuster.

Psaki said Biden considers new voting restrictions in legislation in Texas are 'part of a concerted attack on our democracy.'

Sinema said she missed a vote to establish a bipartisan commission to probe the Jan. 6th Capitol riots due to a 'family matter.' That bill failed to advance amid a GOP filibuster.

Sinema, who sometimes parts ways with her party leadership, was one of 11 senators who missed the vote.

It failed 54-35 to overcome a Republican filibuster. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell rallied his caucus against the commission. 'I do not believe the additional, extraneous commission that Democratic leaders want would uncover crucial new facts or promote healing,' he said, having denounced Trump for having 'provoked' the riot.

'I had a personal family matter,' explained Sinema in comments to reporters in her home state.

She had backed the commission, and joined with Manchin encouraging Republicans to support it just days before she missed the vote on Friday.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has proven once again he is not camera shy as he posed in army fatigues during a visit to Catterick Garrison, while Boris Johnson was snapped hosting a children's tea party at Downing Street.

Mr Sunak, 41, looked every inch the statesman in his combat trousers and white t-shirt while he walked around the military town near Richmond, North Yorkshire.

He stood to attention as Lieutenant Colonel Gary Robertson, commanding officer of the Infantry Training Brigades, took him on a tour of the camp.

Mr Sunak, who also got involved in some training activities and was seen balancing on a ladder in an army helmet, visited the infantry training centre in his capacity as the local MP.

Mr Sunak (pictured with Lieutenant Colonel Gary Roberton), 41, looked every inch the statesman in his combat trousers and white t-shirt while he walked around the military town near Richmond, North Yorkshire

Mr Sunak, who also got involved in some training activities and was seen balancing on a ladder in an army helmet, visited the infantry training centre in his capacity as the local MP

He was spotted tackling a few different obstacles on the trainasium at the infantry training centre

He then visited Pegasus Company to gain an insight into how the Army selects volunteers for service with Airborne Forces.

The Chancellor seemed primed to step in and take the job of his boss, Boris Johnson, who today took some time out to host a children's tea party at Downing Street.

Pupils from St Joseph's Primary School, in Upminster, were seen sitting in a circle around the PM asking questions and reading books.

And Mr Johnson even joined the children on the floor sitting on a large cushion and getting involved in what appeared to be heated discussion over children's stories.

Mr Sunak's army visit comes just days after he opened a new centre near Darlington designed to help Army families and veterans at Catterick Garrison.

The Chancellor seemed primed to step in and take the job of his boss, Boris Johnson, who today took some time out to host a children's tea party at Downing Street

Pupils from St Joseph's Primary School, in Upminster, were seen sitting in a circle around the PM asking questions and reading books

And Mr Johnson even joined the children on the floor sitting on a large cushion and getting involved in what appeared to be heated discussion over children's stories

Clervaux Fold at Croft, which is made up from craft workshops and a dining area, provides therapeutic activities to give the families positive experiences which helps them to bond.

It was funded by a 470,000 Libor grant - a scheme which opened in 2012 and is now closed having distributed 773million to Armed Forces and emergency services charities across the country.

Mr Sunak visited the Fold last week and said: 'The Fold is a fantastic facility and a splendid addition to what is on offer at Clow Beck for those who have special needs and require additional help.'

The Chancellor has grown in popularity since he seemingly ditched Conservative economic policy in favour of a generous furlough scheme throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Sunak's army visit comes just days after he opened a new centre near Darlington designed to help Army families and veterans at Catterick Garrison

Mr Sunak visited the Fold last week and said: 'The Fold is a fantastic facility and a splendid addition to what is on offer at Clow Beck for those who have special needs and require additional help'

Pictured: Rishi Sunak being introduced to members of staff at Pegasus Company before being shown a demonstration from phase three soldiers

Many younger voters were also left enamoured by his Eat Out To Help Out scheme which he instated last summer and allowed diners up to 50% off their meals at certain restaurants in a bid to boost the economy.

He is believed to have won over many voters in the newly Conservative former 'Red Wall' seats of the Midlands and post-industrial North.

And he is hoping to bolster is reputation by striking a deal with the likes of Google, Facebook and Amazon to redistribute the enormous profits they gain across the country.

He was notably treated kindly in Dominic Cummings's testimony last week where other figures such as Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock were torn to shreds.

When asked whether he shared Mr Cummings's reservations about Mr Johnson's leadership, he said: 'The PM's got an exceptionally hard job which I see up close every day,' says Sunak, displaying a Tony Blair-like ability to swerve around potholes.

'The decisions he has to make are just extraordinarily difficult. I think people appreciate that and realise that all of us are working as hard as we can to try to do the best job we can in difficult circumstances. The PM carries this enormous burden of trying to get these awful decisions right.'
PJ Nilaja Patterson, 43, is facing five yeas in prison if convicted of animal cruelty charges for the attack on the reptile in September

A Florida man who killed a 3ft-long iguana by beating it and dragging it around in a 30-minute attack claimed he was acting in self-defense and invoked the Stand Your Ground law to get animal cruelty charges against him dropped.

PJ Nilaja Patterson, 43, is facing five yeas in prison if convicted of animal cruelty for attacking the reptile in September.

On September 2, he was seen beating and tormenting the animal outside Lake Worth Utilities in Palm Beach.

The attack was caught on surveillance video, but prosecutors haven't made the video public.

Patterson claimed that the animal bit him first and that he had to get 22 staples afterwards.

On Tuesday, his attorneys filed a motion saying he feared for his life and that the iguana could have killed him with its 'poison'.

In their court filing, they argued that Patterson should be protected by Florida's Stand Your Ground law, which gives someone the right to fight if they believe they are in imminent, life-threatening danger.

Patterson claimed that the iguana stand-off fit that description.

A motion argued he 'acted in a reasonable manner under all the circumstances because the wild iguana was first to engage with physical violence, during the encounter.'

His motion was denied by the judge.

A file image of an iguana. The reptile Patterson beat tried to hide but he 'stalked it', according to the police complaint

In the original arrest affidavit, the cop who responded and watched the video said: 'The video clearly showed a man, later identified as PJ Patterson, drag an iguana by the tail. PJ Patterson is seen tormenting the iguana and eventually stepping on the iguana.

'The iguana then appeared to bite PJ Patterson, who then was seen kicking and throwing the iguana multiple times.

'At one point, the iguana appeared to try and hide under a car. PJ Patterson continued to attack it, again kicking, swinging and throwing the iguana.

'He was observed going back several times to assault the animal. Later in the video, Palm Beach Fire Rescue and Palm Beach Sheriff's Office were shown arriving on the scene and providing care to PJ Patterson.

'PJ Patterson clearly tormented the iguana and when the animal attempted to defend itself, it sent PJ Patterson into a violent rage. He had multiple opportunities to regain his composure, but instead he chose to stalk the helpless iguana and deliver vicious strikes to the animal.'

The veterinarian who examined the animal wrote in a report that its injuries were 'painful and terrifying.'

The iguana had a lacerated liver, fractured pelvis, blood in its mouth, blood in its abdomen and a lacerated tongue.

It's unclear when Patterson is due in court again.
Coronavirus is fuelling antibiotic resistance because virus patients are being prescribed the drugs unnecessarily, experts have warned.

A study of 48,902 patients admitted to NHS hospitals with Covid-19 during the first wave found that 85 per cent were prescribed antibiotics.

However, research found that the vast majority did not need or benefit from antibiotics as secondary bacterial infections are very rare in Covid patients.

This means that the pandemic could create a perfect storm for a surge in superbugs because overuse of antibiotics allows drug-resistant bacteria to develop.

Of 8,649 Covid-19 patients in the UK who underwent microbiological tests for infections such as sepsis or pneumonia, just 1,107 were diagnosed with bacterial diseases.

In contrast, other viruses such as flu often cause patients to develop bacterial infections such as bacterial pneumonia. Around one in four patients with severe flu have bacterial co-infections.

The research, published in The Lancet, suggests doctors must cut down on antibiotic use in patients with Covid-19.

Experts say doctors have been giving Covid patients antibiotics unnecessarily because the drugs don't treat viral illnesses and people rarely get a bacterial infection at the same time (Pictured: A patient being looked after in intensive care in Cambridge, March 2021)

Study author Professor Calum Semple added: Covid is a viral disease. Its not uncommon for viral diseases to be complicated by bacterial infection, but were not seeing that very much.

We are seeing more antibiotics used than we would like, and were seeing the most precious antibiotics used that we would like to reserve for the most serious bacterial infections.

There are some viruses which are quite common and need a bacteria to cause a lot of damage. There are some viruses that are nasty in their own right and you only need them to make you very sick.

We have to realise that coronavirus is a nasty little virus and it alone is enough to make you very very sick and kill you. You dont have to have a secondary bacterial infection on board.

Antibiotic resistance is a state that develops in bacteria when they have been exposed to medicines so many times that the drugs no longer work against them.

WHAT IS ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE? Antibiotic resistance is a state that develops in bacteria when they have been exposed to medicines so many times that the drugs no longer work against them. If people are given antibiotics when they don't need them, or don't take them properly, the bacteria can learn to exist alongside the medication. Over time this teaches the bacteria how to survive the action of the antibiotics meaning they don't work as well and infections become more serious and harder to treat in future. It is already happening notably with gonorrhoea, the sexually transmitted infection. Resistant strains of that bug mean that doctors have to use increasingly strong drugs that they wouldn't normally choose, simply because the original medicines don't work. The process can continue until medics are on their 'last defence' meds, after which they could run out of treatments. The World Health Organization (WHO) has previously warned if nothing is done the world is heading for a 'post-antibiotic' era. It claimed common infections, such as chlamydia, will become killers without immediate solutions to the growing crisis. Around 700,000 people already die yearly due to drug-resistant infections including tuberculosis. Advertisement

If people are given antibiotics when they don't need them, or don't take them properly, the bacteria can learn to exist alongside the medication.

Over time this teaches the bacteria how to survive the action of the antibiotics meaning they don't work as well and infections become more serious and harder to treat in future.

It is already happening notably with gonorrhoea, the sexually transmitted infection.

Resistant strains of that bug mean that doctors have to use increasingly strong drugs that they wouldn't normally choose, simply because the original medicines don't work. The process can continue until medics are on their 'last defence' meds, after which they could run out of treatments.

Lead author Dr Antonia Ho, from the University of Glasgow, said: Our study shows that co-infection is really rare so the default is to not prescribe antibiotics unless you have good evidence.

You see [Covid] patients in hospital with both lungs white on chest X-rays and they have really high infection markers before Covid you would prescribe antibiotics.

But the vast majority of patients dont have bacterial infection. If you have a suspicion take blood cultures and send them to a lab. Its about using antibiotics more intelligently.

Since antimicrobial resistance remains one of the biggest public health challenges of our time, measures to combat it are essential to help ensure that these life-saving medicines remain an effective treatment for infection in years to come.

The research found that during the first wave of the virus, more than one third of Covid-19 patients were prescribed antibiotics before being admitted to hospital in the UK. And once in hospital, some 85 per cent received antibiotics.

The overuse of antibiotics is fuelling a superbug crisis, as it causes caused bacteria to mutate and become resistant to the drugs.

GPs have been repeatedly ordered to reduce the number of prescriptions they give out as many antibiotics are useless against increasingly resistant germs.

Antibiotics are only effective when used to treat bacterial infections - as opposed to viruses including Covid-19.
Forcing care home staff to get vaccinated against Covid is 'reasonable', the UK's human rights watchdog has ruled.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) gave its blessing for the policy which is being considered by ministers.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed in April that the Government would look at making vaccines mandatory because it was concerned that uptake was below average despite it being especially important because residents are so high-risk.

There were concerns about whether it was ethical to force anyone to get a vaccine but the EHRC said it was 'right to prioritise protection of the right to life'.

More than 29,000 people have died in care homes in England since the start of the pandemic and elderly people face a significant risk of dying if they catch the virus.

Despite this, only 83 per cent of England's 473,000 care home staff have had their first vaccine dose even though they have been eligible since December.

In all over-50s age groups more than 90 per cent of people have had a first dose, for comparison. And only six out of 10 carers (64 per cent) have had a second dose, which is thought to be necessary to stop the now-dominant Indian variant.

The Government is holding a consultation on whether to make Covid vaccines mandatory for care workers and the Equality and Human Rights Commission said it would be 'right to prioritise protection of the right to life for residents and staff' (Pictured: A carer gets a jab in Hertfordshire in February)

'Requiring care home staff to be vaccinated offers a way of protecting older residents who are most at risk of severe illness and death due to Covid-19,' said a spokesperson for the EHRC.

'This would support their right to a private and family life, to health, to live independently, as well as reducing the risk to workers.

'Any requirements should be implemented proportionately with exemptions for the small number of people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.

'Mandatory vaccination it is not a new idea, as some NHS Trusts do require staff to have hepatitis B vaccines.'

The policy was floated when it emerged that care home workers were avoiding taking up the vaccine offer and were less likely than average to get a jab.

Carers often fall into other groups that are separately found to be less likely to get vaccinated, such as being of a younger age, living in a low-income area or being from an ethnic minority background.

Employers have tried to boost vaccine coverage among their staff and some have even put in place 'no jab, no job' policies.

ALL OVER-18s TO GET VACCINE OFFER 'WITHIN WEEKS' Ministers are preparing to offer vaccines to all over-18s within weeks to help halt the spread of the Indian variant. So far only adults aged 30 and over have been invited for their jabs and health leaders are focusing their efforts on giving older people their second dose. But it is understood officials are planning to open up the eligibility to all age groups amid concerns the Indian strain - which has been renamed as the 'Delta variant' - is spreading very quickly among the young. In a speech today Health Secretary Matt Hancock praised the country's 'extraordinary vaccine heroes'  including healthcare staff and volunteers. Government figures today showed three quarters of adults have had one dose and almost half have had a second dose. 108,607 first doses were dished out across the UK yesterday, taking the country's total to 39.6million. And another 338,565 second doses were also given out, meaning nearly 26.1million people are fully vaccinated in the country (49.5 per cent). NHS Englands lead for the vaccination programme, Dr Emily Lawson said the three-quarter mark was 'another huge milestone' and added: 'The Covid-19 vaccine is our most effective weapon against coronavirus and there has never been a more important time to get protected.' Advertisement

Mandatory vaccines could mean that only staff who have been vaccinated are allowed into a care home and those who haven't would be refused work.

The Department of Health launched a public consultation on the policy earlier this year and are expected to come to a decision by July.

SAGE has said at least 80 per cent of staff and 90 per cent of residents need to be immunised to provide a minimum level of protection against Covid outbreaks.

Mr Hancock said carers had a 'duty of care' to the elderly people they worked with, suggesting it would be irresponsible for them not to get a jab.

The sector is divided on the issue and Kelly Andrews, organiser at the GMB workers' union, said in April: 'Mandating vaccination is an incredibly bad idea.

'There will undoubtedly be care workers who cannot receive the vaccine due to health or pregnancy reasons, and they will be left outside of the scope of the scheme.'

In a submission to the Government consultation the Equality and Human Rights Commission said: 'In legislating for mandatory vaccination the Government is right to prioritise protection of the right to life for residents and staff.

'In our view it is therefore reasonable to require care home staff to be vaccinated in order to work directly with older and disabled people, subject to some important safeguards to ensure the requirement remains proportionate and to minimise the risk of unlawful discrimination or breaches of care workers human rights.'

It said that if vaccination was made law for care workers it should not be permanent and should have a 'sunset clause' requiring that it have an expiry date or need to be extended after a certain amount of time.

NHS England statistics show that, by May 23, 392,112 out of 472,534 care staff in homes for older adults had had their first vaccine dose (83 per cent).

And 300,636 had had both doses by that date (64 per cent).

This varied across regions and just 75 per cent of care workers in London have had a jab, meaning one in four is still unvaccinated.

Coverage was highest in the North East & Yorkshire and in the South West, where more than 85 per cent were protected and almost seven in 10 fully immunised.

By comparison, 95 per cent of residents had been vaccinated with one dose and 86 per cent with two.
France will start offering Covid-19 vaccines to all youths aged between 12 and 18 starting on June 15, President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday.

During a visit to the village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie in southern France, Macron also noted that 50 percent of French adults have now received at least one Covid vaccine jab, calling it 'truly a turning point' in the country's inoculation drive.

Vaccine supplies have increased sharply recently, prompting French officials to open up appointments to all adults earlier this week, several weeks ahead of schedule.

Macron also announced that the lifting of mandatory mask wearing in France will be done gradually and on a regional basis.

France will start offering Covid-19 vaccines to all youths aged between 12 and 18 starting on June 15, President Emmanuel Macron (pictured) said on Wednesday

The decision to vaccinate teens comes as several countries debate whether doses should be reserved first for adults who are more vulnerable to the virus, or start inoculating youths in a bid to protect more of the population sooner.

But Macron urged people to remain 'extremely careful and vigilant,' and said wearing face masks outdoors would still be required in several regions for the time being.

The 43-year-old president, who himself contracted Covid last December, announced Monday that he and his wife had also received the jab.

Earlier on Wednesday, government spokesperson Gabriel Attal said despite the country's increasingly successful vaccine rollout, it would be unwise to accelerate the process of re-opening due to 'warning signs' in the south west of France.

'If the overall level of virus circulation is comparable to that of early last autumn, warning signs are emerging in some areas,' Attal said during a meeting of the Ministers' Council.

'In Nouvelle Aquitaine, we are seeing sometimes significant increases in the circulation of the virus, with a reproduction rate that has risen above 1, which means that the epidemic is gaining ground again,' he said, a week ahead of the next phase of re-opening that is due in the country.

Calling on the people of France not to lower their guard, Attal added that 'the indicators are green at the national level. This is good news which shows that the first step in lifting the restriction measures has been successful.'

Pictured: A woman receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination centre, in Garlan, western France, on May 31, 2021 after France opened vaccines up to all adults on Monday

The news comes just days after France opened up Covid-19 vaccines to all adults in the country on Monday amid fears of another deadly wave of the virus in Europe.

By doing so, France is offering vaccines to more age groups than many of its European neighbours, including both Britain and Germany.

As of May 31, France has given at least one Covid-vaccine dose to 25.8 million people, or 38.19 percent of its 67 million population, with initially high levels of vaccine hesitancy in the country apparently beginning to subside.

The start of 2021 saw vaccine chaos in France and other European nations, first related to a row with supplier AstraZeneca, and second over whether the AstraZeneca vaccine was safe for certain age groups.

Until March 2021, the AstraZeneca vaccine was only approved for use for under-65s in France over fears of blood clots, but this restriction was later lifted as it was approved for those over the age of 65 as well.

Before Monday, people over the age of 50, workers in professions that are particularly exposed to the virus, and younger adults with underlying health conditions, had been given priority go receive the jab.

But as France recovers from a devastating third wave of the virus, Macron is eager to accelerate the country's vaccination coverage to slow the spread of new variants that could lead to further disaster to both public health and the economy.

France has registered over 5.7 million cases of the virus, which has resulted in over 109,000 Covid-related deaths.

Four coronavirus vaccines have been approved in France so far, including Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford-AstraZenece and the Johnson & Johnson jab.

The Pfizer vaccine has made up the vast majority of the vaccinations administered in the country so far, with the AztraZeneca making up the second most doses given.

Pictured: French President Emmanuel Macron (L) and mayor Gerard Miquel give a press conference during a visit in Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, near Cahors, southwestern France, on June 2

Pictured: A graph showing how the coronavirus cases per million people compare in the UK and France from March 2020 to May 2021

The country is emerging from its third nationwide lockdown, with restaurants and cafes now allowed to serve clients outside, and indoor dining scheduled to start June 9.

Pressure on hospitals has eased, with the number of Covid patients in intensive care falling steadily in recent weeks, with 2,825 serious cases as of Tuesday, down from around 6,000 in April.

Macron was in Saint-Cirq-Lapopie to launch a nationwide tour ahead of next year's presidential election, as well as regional elections set for later this month.

France is currently off-limit to Brits hoping to holiday there this summer without the need to quarantine on their arrival, after the UK was placed on its version of the 'amber list' last week.

This means that arrivals face isolation, supervised by police, with fines of between 1,000 and 1,500 for breaking the rules.

The rules demand a negative PCR test at least 36 hours before touching down in France, or an antigen test done within 24 hours of entry.

The country followed Austria, which also said last week it was banning direct flights and tourist visits from Britain, and Germany, which said that anyone entering from the UK would have to quarantine for two weeks on arrival.

Britain joins a list of 15 countries already on France's mandatory quarantine list - including Brazil, India, Argentina and Turkey. Currently, Brits arriving into France are told they must isolate for seven days but there is no enforcement.
The Pentagon has argued that the military's diversity and inclusion programs are essential for 'defending the nation' and recruiting the right people.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby was asked on Tuesday about recent criticism of the military's 'woke' programs and how Republican lawmakers are urging whistleblowers to now file complaints about them.

'What I can speak to is what we're really focused on here at the Department and that's defending the nation,' Kirby said during a briefing. 'And that means putting in place the right resources, the right strategies, the right operational concepts to do that, around the world.'

He pointed to a recent budget announcement in which the Pentagon laid out how it was trying to buy warships, aircrafts and systems that help modernize and improve how the US defends the country.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday that the military's diversity and inclusion programs are essential for 'defending the nation' because it means they can recruit the right people

Kirby said that in order to do that, the military needed 'good people' to help operate and service them.

He added that Defense secretary Lloyd Austin had been 'clear and fairly unapologetic' about wanting to recruit the best talent for the US military.

'If you meet the standards and you're qualified to be in the military and you're willing to raise your hand and serve this country, we want you to be able to do and we want you to be able to do it free of hate and fear and discrimination,' he said.

'We owe you that if you're going to raise your right-hand and volunteer to serve your country.

'There's no apologies for that, no apologies whatsoever for wanting to create that kind of a working environment. And it is a work in progress.

'It's not the kind of thing that you can just say on one day and walk away. You got to keep focusing on it. It's about leadership and it's about how you treat people and how people should be expected to be treated when they  when they wear the uniform of this country.

'We're focused on defending this nation. That means the capabilities, the systems, the programs... but it also means the people.'

Kirby was asked on Tuesday about recent criticism of the military's 'woke' programs and how Republican lawmakers are urging whistleblowers to now file complaints about them

Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Sen. Tom Cotton launched a new initiative last week to prevent 'woke ideology' taking hold in the US military.

They shared a 'whistleblower' form for military members to fill out should they encounter any far-left training materials.

'Enough is enough. We won't let our military fall to woke ideology. We have just launched a whistleblower webpage where you can submit your story. Your complaint will be legally protected, and go to my office and @SenTomCotton',' Crenshaw tweeted.

'For too long, progressive Pentagon staffers have been calling the shots for our warfighters, and spineless military commanders have let it happen. Now we are going to expose you.'

The campaign comes just two weeks after ex-Space Force Commander, Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier, claimed the Pentagon had sent servicemembers a video saying that 'whites are inherently evil'.

Lohmeier was recently removed from his post after blasting diversity and inclusion training in the military as 'critical race theory rooted in Marxism'.

Crenshaw - a former Navy Seal who lost an eye in combat in Afghanistan - condemned Lohmeier's removal, stating at the time: 'We need to be preparing our warriors to fight and win battles, not how to be (social justice warriors)'.
President Joe Biden is giving Vice President Kamala Harris another job, with the White House announcing Wednesday she'll lead a vaccine tour as the administration aims to get at least one shot in the arms of 70 per cent of U.S. adults by July 4.

Harris will 'lead a nation-wide tour to reach millions of Americans who still need protection against the virus, to highlight the ease of getting vaccinated, encourage vaccinations, and energize and mobilize grassroots vaccine education,' the White House said.

The president was more specific about where Harris would travel and said she would be joined by additional surrogates.

'The vice president's going to lead that tour across the south and the midwest,' Biden said in remarks Wednesday afternoon. 'We still have millions of people to vaccinate. She is going to be joined by the first lady and the second gentleman and cabinet secretaries along the way.'

The fresh assignment comes one day after Biden announced during a visit to Tulsa, Oklahoma - on the 100th anniversary of the city's brutal race massacre - that Harris would be leading the administration's efforts to protect voting rights.

On Wednesday morning, Harris was performing one of her ceremonial duties - swearing in Biden's nominee for Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Eric Lander, who's Senate confirmation was delayed over meetings he had with that late. convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

There, Harris was asked about another aspect of her growing portfolio - her upcoming trip to Guatemala, as Biden tasked her to be the point person with the Northern Triangle countries and deal with the 'root' causes of migration.

Vice President Kamala Harris (right) signs in Dr. Eric Lander (left), the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, whose confirmation was held up due to past meetings with Jeffrey Epstein. The White House announced Wednesday Harris would lead a vaccine tour

President Joe Biden (right) said Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris (left) would be leading a vaccine tour 'across the south and the midwest' and would be joined by first lady Jill Biden, second gentleman Douglas Emhoff and various cabinet secretaries

The vaccine tour announcement comes one day after President Joe Biden said Vice President Kamala Harris would be charged with the administration's effort to protect voting rights, meaning she'll spend time this month lobbying her former Senate colleagues

Harris, who will also travel to Mexico City next week, said she'll be meeting with Guatemala's President Alejandro Giammattei on the 'front leg of the trip,' hoping the two could have 'an honest and real conversation.'

'We have a lot to discuss,' she told reporters, including what they could do to 'support the folks who need help in terms of hunger, the economic development piece, the extreme weather.'

'It's also about the need to have very frank and honest discussions about the need to address corruption, to address crime, and violence, and in particular against some of the most vulnerable populations in that country,' she continued.

Critics of Harris have pointed out she hasn't made a trek to the southern border, which has seen unprecedented crossings due to the typical seasonal rise, but also a pandemic unbottling.

On Tuesday, just six days out from her first international trip as vice president, Biden made news when he said he was assigning her voting issues.

'I'm asking Vice President Harris to help these efforts and lead them, among her many other responsibilities,' Biden said. 'With her leadership, and your support, we're going to overcome again, I promise you. But it's going to take a hell of a lot of work.'

Harris reiterated the assignment in a statement: 'President Joe Biden asked me to help lead our Administrations effort to protect the fundamental right to vote for all Americans.'

'In the days and weeks ahead, I will engage the American people, and I will work with voting rights organizations, community organizations, and the private sector to help strengthen and uplift efforts on voting rights nationwide,' Harris continued.

'And we will also work with members of Congress to help advance these bills,' the vice president said.

That means Harris will be back at her old stomping grounds - the U.S. Senate - as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has already pledged to give the House-passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act, a vote when Congress returns from its Memorial Day break later this month.

'And June should be a month of action on Capitol Hill,' the president said, before laying out his political reality.

'I hear all the folks on TV saying, "Why doesn't Biden get this done?" Well, because Biden only has the majority of affectively four votes in the House and a tie in the Senate, with two members of the Senate that vote more with my Republican friends,' Biden said, a slight jab at Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.

Both Manchin and Sinema have been resistant to change the Senate's filibuster rules, allowing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican senators to hold up any piece of legislation that doesn't have 60 votes.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified Wednesday that Biden's comments about the duo weren't meant as a dig.

Last week, however, the filibuster tanked a House-passed bill that would have created a 9/11-style commission to investigate the January 6 Capitol attack.

Democrats were unable to find four additional Republicans to vote in its favor and break the GOP's filibuster.

Biden vowed that the For the People Act wouldn't meet the same fate.

Harris also has in her portfolio broadband internet and space.

In April, Biden also put her in charge of a pro-union taskforce that would take a 'whole-of-government approach to empower workers.'

Harris was also criticized recently for not doing enough to help India, her mother's birth country, as it has seen a massive COVID-19 spike.
Nine babies born to a Malian woman are now breathing without assistance, but will remain under observation for up to two more months.

The Moroccan clinic where the infants were delivered last month, and are being treated, also said on Wednesday that their weight had 'significantly' increased.

Abdelkoddous Hafsi, spokesman for Ain Borja clinic in the city of Casablanca, said the nonuplets had 'crossed the stage of respiratory distress'.

They are being tube-fed and their weight has 'significantly' increased, to between 800 grammes and 1.4 kilogrammes (1.7 and three pounds), he told AFP news agency.

The mother, 25-year-old Halima Cisse from Timbuktu in northern Mali, is staying near her five baby girls and four boys.

She is out of intensive care after almost dying from blood loss during delivery.

The strain of carrying the weight of the babies and amniotic fluid, estimated at 40kg, more than six stone, triggered a haemorrhage Cisse's uterine artery during the caesarean section, 30 weeks into her pregnancy.

Nine babies born to a Malian woman are now breathing without assistance, but will remain under observation for up to two more months

The Moroccan clinic where the infants were delivered last month, and are being treated, also said on Wednesday that their weight had 'significantly' increased

Abdelkoddous Hafsi, spokesman for Ain Borja clinic in the city of Casablanca, said the nonuplets had 'crossed the stage of respiratory distress'

The infants still need 'another month and a half or even two months to be able to face life' without the clinic's assistance, said Hafsi.

A medical team of 10 doctors assisted by 25 paramedics was mobilised for the multiple births by caesarian section on May 4.

Mali's government flew Cisse to Morocco for better care on March 30. She was initially believed, after ultrasounds, to have been carrying septuplets.

Two of the baby boys, Mohamed and Bah, carry the names of the president of Mali and king of Morocco in gratitude to the help the two countries' authorities have given towards the safe delivery of the babies.

The infants still need 'another month and a half or even two months to be able to face life' without the clinic's assistance, said Hafsi

A medical team of 10 doctors assisted by 25 paramedics was mobilised for the multiple births by caesarian section on May 4

The babies are being tube-fed and their weight has 'significantly' increased, to between 800 grammes and 1.4 kilogrammes (1.7 and three pounds), Hafsi said

The names for the five girls are Hawa, Adama, Fatouma, Oumou and Kadidia. The two other boys are called Elhadji and Oumar.

The couple, Cisse and her husband Kader Arby, 35, also have a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter.

The pregnancy drew national attention in Mali, as organisations worked to ensure that Cisse and her expected babies received the necessary medical care.

On April 15, 2021 it was announced that the Orange Mali Foundation would donate five million CFA Francs (around 6,580) to the cause, after the country's Department for the Promotion of Women, Children and the Family appealed for aid.

Mother Halima Cisse, 25, is pictured with her husband Kader Arby, 35. The couple from Timbuktu also have a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter together

Cisse's nonuplets are the third-ever recorded case of the extremely rare phenomenon, with previous mothers in Australia and Malaysia sadly losing their babies not long after giving birth

The pregnancy drew national attention in Mali, as organisations worked to ensure that Cisse and her expected babies received the necessary medical care

Cases of women successfully carrying septuplets to term are rare - and nonuplets even rarer.

Cisse's nonuplets are the third-ever recorded case of the extremely rare phenomenon, with previous mothers in Australia and Malaysia sadly losing their babies not long after giving birth.

The verified world record for the most living births is eight, born to an American woman, Nadya Suleman, nicknamed Octomum, in 2009 when she was 33.
A new report describes roughly a dozen UFO sightings by the Canadian military - with some dating back 70 years, highlighting the strange phenomenon ahead of a highly anticipated government report in the U.S.

The Canadian sightings took place at military bases dating back to 1950, and were uncovered by Vice through access to information requests, public records, and interviews.

It comes as the Pentagon prepares to deliver its report on UFO sightings to Congress later this month, with some lawmakers pushing for the information to be made public.

The earliest Canadian incident described in the new report dates back to March 1950, when a pair of Air Force officers witnessed 'an orange pulsating symmetrical light' speeding over Ottawa.

A new report describes roughly a dozen UFO sightings by the Canadian military dating back across the past 70 years (file photo)

On April 12, 1952, two officers at CFB North Bay spotted something something 'apparently round' like 'an amber traffic light'.

They said it moved at a 'very great rate of speedcomparable to twice the speed of an F-86' jet fighter, and then 'skidded to a stop, reversed direction and disappeared at a greater rate of speed on reversal than on approach.'

The F-86 fighter jet, which was retired in 1980, was rated for a top speed of 650mph.

In another incident from November 1967, a sergeant at CFB Moose Jaw reported 'a very bright light' at an altitude of 3,000-4,000 feet with 'what appeared to the observer as small moons arcing the outer perimeter of light.'

The witness said that as the object began to move 'it appeared to the observer to be elongated in shape' before quickly soaring upward.

On August 21, 1968, a Canadian Navy crew on a pair of destroyers in the Pacific spotted multiple 'bright objects' flying in formation.

In another sighting at CFB Moose Jaw on December 15, 1978, several privates and a captain sighted 'four objects in line' that were 'circular. Whitish with orange and light red. Slightly above northern horizon. Travelling west to east.'

On April 12, 1952, two officers at CFB North Bay described a UFO moving at twice the speed of an F-86. The F-86 fighter jet, which was retired in 1980, was rated for a top speed of 650mph

Also in 1978, a 'white spot, turning blue and red' was seen 'travelling in zigzag formation' above Ontario's CFB Borden base.

In 1981, John Patrick McManus spotted a UFO at CFB Shilo in Manitoba. 'Within a moment or two it shot directly away from us, diminishing in brightness as it disappeared at a fantastic speed,' he told Vice.

Another witness came forward to describe an incident at CFB Winnipeg in June 1985. John 'Jock' Williams told the outlet he saw 'the single brightest object I've ever seen in the sky next to the sun.'

More recently, several military sightings of UFOs have been catalogued in the Canadian government's aviation incident database.

One from November 27, 2002 describes 'an observation on NORAD radar of a large tubular object between (37 and 47 thousand feet) in the area of Chicago which was moving toward the Thunder Bay area'

Another from the night of Nov. 21, 2008, describes Canadian Armed Forces personnel notifying civilian air traffic controllers of a 'UFO' east of Regina, Saskatchewan.

The incident report states 'the object was stationary with bright, white lights and had been observed on previous occasions.'

One incident on September 14, 2007 at CFB North bay had dozens of witnesses and was recorded on video that has not been made public. Witnesses described an 'intense light' that hovered over the base and moved slowly upward before fading with the rising sun.

A spokesperson for Canada's Department of National Defence told Vice that it is 'not aware of any Canadian nexus or participation in the U.S. Department of Defense's UFO studies at this time, nor does the Canadian Armed Forces have a unit dedicated to investigating UFOs.'

Canada's military says it is not participating in the Pentagon's review of UFO incidents

By the end of this month, the Pentagon's Director of National Intelligence is required to turn over a report on U.S. military sightings of UFOs to Congress.

An unclassified version will be made public, while a more detailed classified one will remain secret -- and anticipation has been mounting over what might be revealed.

Recently, 60 Minutes interviewed US Navy pilots who said they had seen inexplicable aircraft that flew faster and were more maneuverable that anything seen before.

Retired officials with access to classified intelligence have been cashing in on the fervor and drumming up the mystery.

'What is true -- and I'm actually being serious here-- is that there's footage and records of objects in the skies that we don't know exactly what they are,' former president Barack Obama said in a May 17 interview.

'There are a lot more sightings than have been made public,' John Ratcliffe, who was director of National Intelligence for the last eight months of Donald Trump's administration, said in March.

'There are instances where we don't have good explanations for some of the things that we've seen.'
A female farmhand has told jurors she was sexually assaulted by a sheep handler after having her head locked in a cattle crush designed to restrain animals.

The woman, 57, today alleged that she suffered repeated attacks on a farm in Lanarkshire, Scotland, including while she was trapped.

Tom Linton, a 28-year-old self-employed farmhand, is also accused of raping the woman on various occasions between June 1, 2017 and July 31, 2018.

Giving evidence at the High Court in Livingston, the woman claimed Linton 'manipulated' her and was blackmailing her into handing over her farm to him.

Linton, of Cleghorn, is charged with assaulting the woman by trapping her in a cattle press, tying her against bars with a rope, putting his hand up her jumper and loosening her bra, touching her breasts, and raping her on various occasions.

He is also accused of assaulting the 57-year-old woman by turning her upside down, dropping her on the ground, standing on her toes and biting her on the lip and nose to her injury and permanent disfigurement as well as behaving in a threatening or abusive manner towards her.

Giving evidence at the High Court in Livingston (pictured), the woman claimed Tom Linton sexually assaulted and raped her on various occasions between June 1, 2017 and July 31, 2018

The woman told the jury today: 'I was really doing what he wanted me to do but at no time did I ever lead him on - never.

'I know it looks bad but I can just tell you how it came about and it happened. I just felt trapped. I just wanted to keep it to myself. I felt so ashamed.

'I was faced with a person that wanted my farm and that was his only agenda.'

'He nit-picked everything I did in my life and ran me down to the lowest. He said that when I ran it down to the ground that he'll take over and sell it for a better one.

'All that was wrong with him (was that) he wanted to take over. To treat me and my partner in such a manner is despicable.'

Linton's defence counsel Sarah Livingston asked the woman: 'So his agenda from day one was essentially to rob you of your farm? Everything he did was focussed on that- undermining you, undermining your partner, so everything he's done to you and your partner has been with a view to getting the farm from you, is that right?'

The woman replied: 'Yes. It was always initiated by him. There was nothing back from me. He'd pick me up and force me against a wall or just force me down.'

The woman said matters came to a head on Christmas Eve 2018 when Linton sent her a text message threatening to reveal she had been having an affair with him.

She said: 'He was going to tell that I was a willing partner and I was NOT a willing partner. From around that time the carry on started - May 2017 - lifting me upside down there was no affair, and at the time there was no sexual contact.

'In my view he was seeing what he could get away with. I know what he was trying to do was just to annoy my partner.

'The strong person I was should have nipped that in the bud and got rid of him. Why I didn't I don't know. I've asked myself that 100 times'.

She said she told her partner that night that Linton had sexually assaulted her. She added: 'I didn't go into any details. I didn't want to hurt him.

Linton denies all the charges and has lodged a special defence claiming that his alleged victim consented to sex with him.

The trial, before Lord Fairlie, continues.
Advertisement

A 21-year-old man has been charged with the murder of popular florist Tony Eastlake, who was stabbed to death just yards from his stall in north London over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The 55-year-old, whose family described him as a 'very special man' and 'loved by everybody', was attacked on Essex Road, Islington on Saturday at around 5.30pm and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Scotland Yard said James Peppiatt of Canonbury has been charged with murder, and has been remanded in custody to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court today.

Loud applause broke out at a vigil held in his honour on Monday attended by friends, family and loved ones, as his daughter Paige Eastlake called the flower seller 'my twin' and 'my best friend'.

Detective Chief Inspector Vicky Tunstall, leading the investigation for the Metropolitan Police, has asked anyone with information to come forward and check CCTV or dashcam footage.

She said: 'I hope this brings some reassurance to the community after what was an incredibly traumatic and unsettling incident that has cost the life of a well loved and respected man.

A 21-year-old man has been charged with the murder of flower seller Tony Eastlake, who was stabbed to death just yards from his stall in north London over the Bank Holiday weekend

Tributes at a vigil for Tony Eastlake at his stall at Essex Road Station in London organised by the Islington Community Group

Tony Eastlake's daughter Paige Eastlake with his partner Lisa Maggs at a vigil at his stall

Tony Eastlake's daughter Paige at a vigil at his stall at Essex Road Station organised by the Islington Community Group

The 55-year-old, whose loved ones applauded in his honour at a vigil earlier this week, was attacked on Essex Road, Islington on Saturday at around 5.30pm and was pronounced dead at the scene

'I can confirm that this attack is not believed to have occurred as a result of a robbery. We continue to appeal to anyone who might have seen anything to please come forward to police.

'If you live within this area or were driving through, please check your CCTV and dashcam footage for anything which might help the investigation. No piece of information is insignificant.'

A crowd of family, friends, customers, passers-by and neighbours had gathered for the vigil at the flower stall near Essex Road station, where he had worked since he was 14.

The applause was led by friend Jody Graber, who told wellwishers: 'This has been a massive trauma for our community. It should not have happened.

'This is for Tony Eastlake - the loveliest man who could sell you a bunch of flowers.'

He said Mr Eastlake was known by everyone in the community, including those who just passed by on the bus, and he was a good friend.

To gentle laughter Mr Graber recalled that Mr Eastlake once refused to sell a bunch of flowers to a customer on Valentine's Day because he thought the occasion was a 'con'.

Mr Graber led a chorus of 'there's only one Tony Eastlake' before the crowd released blue balloons into the warm evening sky.

People at a vigil for Tony Eastlake at his stall at Essex Road Station in London

Tony Eastlake's daughter Paige Eastlake at a vigil at his stall at Essex Road Station

Tony Eastlake's dog Ralph, a pug aged 15, at a vigil at his stall at Essex Road Station

Tributes at a vigil for Tony Eastlake at his stall at Essex Road Station in London

Family and friends hold a vigil and pay tribute to flower seller Tony Eastlake

Tony Burke, who lives nearby, said: 'He was such a lovely man. He was not just the flower man of Islington, he was a friend. I will miss him terribly.

'He would not let me pay for the flowers for my father's funeral. I had to force him to take the money. He worked at that stall for 40 years. He always had a smile for everyone.'

In a statement his family said: 'Our hearts are broken forever at the loss of such a very special man.

'A man who was loved by everybody in the Islington community, who is remembered as kind and caring and always laughing, but most importantly a father who leaves behind a devastated family, Lisa, Pauline, and his only daughter and best friend Paige, who he adored.

'Tony worked on the flower stall on Essex Road since he was 14 years old and was there through rain or shine, a smiling and friendly face to so many of us.

'There have already been hundreds of messages of support for him from all those who knew and loved him over the years.

Family and friends hold a vigil and pay tribute to flower seller Tony Eastlake in Essex Road

Tributes at a vigil for Tony Eastlake at his stall at Essex Road Station in London

Tributes at a vigil for Tony Eastlake at his stall at Essex Road Station in London

Candles at a vigil for Tony Eastlake at his stall at Essex Road Station in London

'We ask you now please for your support in helping us to find the person or people who did this to our family - who took away a life so violently and unnecessarily.

'If you have any information at all we beg you to please come forward so we can get justice for Tony and his family.'

Many locals paid tribute to Mr Eastlake on the Islington Community Group on Facebook. Francis O'Brien said: 'Such sad news, my thoughts are with Tony's family and loved ones.

'Tony had a kind heart, served our community for a number of years and always put a smile on the faces of people across Islington. He was not just a local businessman, but a friend to many.'

Andres Paniagua Toro said: 'What a very sad day, the community has lost a great human being who helped many people daily with his beautiful smile and willingness to listen to their woes.

'Tony would always make me smile every morning on my way to work.'

Elsa Smurthwate posted: 'How very very tragic. RIP fella, a true islingtonian and a man who also had time to smile and say hello. Him and his stall have literally been one of the few things that stood the test of time x. I hope the council would consider his stall to be left as a shrine in his memory.'

Garry Clowes said: 'God rest Tony, always enjoyed pulling up for a chat and a cuppa. London's slowly being crushed.'

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 quoting reference CAD 5562/29May or go online. To remain anonymous, contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Cohen Bennett Hancz-Barron, 21, is wanted over the quadruple homicide that occurred in Fort Wayne, Indiana on Wednesday morning

Police are hunting for an 'armed and dangerous' man in Indiana who is suspected of killing a woman and three young children.

Cohen Bennett Hancz-Barron, 21, is wanted in the quadruple homicide that occurred in Fort Wayne on Wednesday morning.

Authorities say they were called to a home for an undisclosed reason in the early hours and found the four bodies.

They have not revealed how the woman and three children were killed.

Fort Wayne Police spokesman Jeremy Webb described the scene as 'gruesome'.

'When you have murdered children, it's going to be gruesome,' he said.

'As far as the degree of their injuries, I can't speak to that.'

Hancz-Barron was last seen driving a stolen black Ford pickup truck with the license plate 'RASHAD'. He is armed and extremely dangerous, police warned

Authorities say they found the bodies of a woman and three young children after responding to a home on the 2900 block of Gay Street (above) on Wednesday morning

Police said Hancz-Barron knew the four victims but did not disclose their relationship.

He was last seen driving a stolen black Ford pickup truck with the license plate 'RASHAD'.

He is armed and extremely dangerous, police warned.

Hancz-Barron is described as 6 feet tall and about 205 pounds. He also may have recently dyed his hair red.

Police haven't released any further details about the investigation.
President Joe Biden traveled to Delaware solo Wednesday afternoon for his first trip as president to his Rehoboth Beach house to celebrate first lady Jill Biden's 70th birthday.

'No birthday plans. Just a quiet birthday at home,' Michael LaRosa, the first lady's spokesman, told DailyMail.com about the first couple's itinerary for the mid-week break.

No grandkids or additional family are expected to join them, the East Wing said.

Jill Biden traveled to Rehoboth Beach separately, beating her husband to the Delaware beach town.

Biden left Washington on the heels of a high-stakes meeting with Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito - and after he gave an update on the administration's COVID-19 response, as the White House tries to get one shot of vaccine in the arms of 70 per cent of U.S. adults before the Fourth of July holiday.

President Joe Biden waves to the cameras as he leaves for Rehoboth Beach Wednesday afternoon, taking a mid-week break to celebrate Dr. Jill Biden's 70th birthday

President Joe Biden boards Marine One Wednesday afternoon as he departs to meet up with first lady Jill Biden at their Delaware beach home

President Joe Biden arrives in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware Wednesday afternoon to celebrate his wife's 70th birthday

President Biden is heading for his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, home on Wednesday, the day before Dr Jill Biden turns 70. It marks his first trip to his beach home since becoming president

Biden and his wife were spotted riding their bikes at Cape Henlopen State Park near Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, in November as they prepared for their move to the White House

Details of the trip first emerged with a Federal Aviation Administration notice restricting air operations around Rehoboth Beach from Wednesday to Friday because of a VIP.

Coming in the middle of the week so soon after the Memorial Day weekend, the timing initially seemed odd.

It was soon apparent, however, it was Dr. Biden's birthday trip.

The couple spent $2.7 million on the six-bedroom house with a swimming pool, located about two blocks from the beach, in 2017.

'Throughout our careers, Jill and I have dreamed of being able to buy a place at the beach at home where we can bring the whole family,' said Biden at the time.

'We feel very lucky that we're now able to make that happen and are looking forward to spending time with our family in the place that matters most to us in the world.'

While the president has spent frequent weekends at his home just outside Wilmington, Delaware, since moving into the White House he has yet to spend time at his Rehoboth Beach house as president.

He did, however, visit twice as president-elect.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins tweeted that he was expected to leave the White House on Wednesday after talks with a senior Republican senator about his infrastructure proposals.

'President Biden is visiting Rehoboth Beach this week, per two aides,' wrote Kaitlan Collins.

Details of the trip leaked out on Tuesday morning as aides said he was due to leave after an infrastructure meeting on Wednesday

'He leaves tomorrow following a meeting with Sen. Capito and is scheduled to return Friday.'

Rehoboth Beach has about 1,500 full-time residents but swells to 25,000 during peak summer months.

Throughout his career as a senator, Biden was known for commuting home from Washington to Delaware every evening to be with his family.

And as president, he has escaped the White House at every opportunity.

Out of the 19 weekends, Biden has only spent five at his official residence.

Biden and first lady marked Memorial Day weekend in their home state, where he delivered an emotional speech in New Castle, Delaware where he invoked his late son and military veteran Beau Biden.
A white man waved the Confederate flag and sang Dixie at a black official in Tennessee after she tore down several small Confederate banners that were put up at a construction site near the grave of a Ku Klux Klan leader.

George K-Rack Johnson, the leader of Confederate 901, a Tennessee-based organization that has protested efforts to remove Confederate-era monuments and symbols, is seen in the video taunting Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer on Tuesday.

Sawyer was speaking to reporters in Memphis just feet away from where once stood a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general who went on to become the first Grand Wizard of the KKK some 160 years ago.

The statue of Forrest was removed from Health Sciences Park - once known as Nathan Bedford Forrest Park - in 2017 amid widespread calls to erase traces of the Confederacy and Civil War-era relics from public squares.

This man, part of the construction crew, has been harassing and yelling at Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer as she came to give an interview to the media. pic.twitter.com/bwz1mJs1Fu  Chris Luther (@cluther_wmc5) June 1, 2021

A white man waved the Confederate flag and sang Dixie at a black official in Tennessee after she tore down several small Confederate banners that were put up at a construction site near the grave of a Ku Klux Klan leader

George K-Rack Johnson is seen in the video taunting Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer on Tuesday

Sawyer was speaking to reporters in Memphis just feet away from where once stood a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general who went on to become the first Grand Wizard of the KKK some 160 years ago

As Sawyer spoke to reporters, Johnson could be seen a few feet from her behind the fence waving a Confederate flag and singing Dixie, a song about the South that became the de facto national anthem of the Confederacy

The man then started singing Dixie Land behind Sawyer. He also called her a Communist repeatedly. pic.twitter.com/9kGbRDoZ8a  Chris Luther (@cluther_wmc5) June 1, 2021

According to WMC-TV, Sawyer was the head of Take Em Down 901, a movement which lobbied Memphis officials to take down the Forrest statue.

Johnson appeared at the site alongside members of Sons of Confederate Veterans, an organization made up of male descendants of Confederate soldiers and is dedicated to ensuring that a true history [of the Confederacy] is preserved.

Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Forrest family went to court in an attempt to prevent the city from removing the statue. Ultimately a compromise was reached in which his statue and remains would be relocated.

Sons of Confederate Veterans is working on the removal of the pedestal that was once the foundation of the now-removed statue of Forrest. The group also plans to exhume the remains of Forrest and his wife, which are buried eight feet under the pedestal.

The pedestal was erected in 1904 on top of Forrest's burial site which also contains the remains of his wife, Mary Ann Montgomery.

As Sawyer spoke to reporters, Johnson could be seen a few feet from her behind the fence waving a Confederate flag and singing Dixie, a song about the South that became the de facto national anthem of the Confederacy.

The song, like other symbols of the Confederacy, is considered racist because it glorifies a part of the country where African Americans were long subjugated.

Sawyer had her back turned toward Johnson as she directed her remarks to reporters, accusing him of threatening my life.

Johnson posted a video on YouTube accusing Sawyer of provoking him. The video, titled Why I cussed Tami Sawyer out. Gotta love the 1st amendment, Johnson says: Earlier in the morning, I put up three Confederate stick flags on the fence surrounding the plaza and the pedestal at the grave of General Nathan Bedford Forrest. He says that the stick flags stood without incident until Sawyer held a news conference at the site and took them down and threw them on the ground.

The stick flags that Johnson says he hung atop the fence are seen in the photograph above

I didnt threaten your life, Johnson said.

Sawyer told reporters that Johnson and his colleagues wave their Confederate racist symbols behind me.

When Sawyer told the assembled media members that this is a powerful moment, Johnson said: Its a communist moment.

Sawyer did not speak directly to Johnson, though she did try to refute his claims as she addressed the media.

She told reporters that Martin Luther King Jr, James Baldwin, the Black Panthers, and others in the civil rights movement were accused of being communists.

Youre a communist, Johnson frequently said in between Sawyers sentences.

After Johnson accused Sawyer of being a communist several times, the Shelby County commissioner told the press: Make sure you get a picture of the man (Johnson) who just threatened my life, the man who just said he was going to lay hands on me.

Throughout the duration of Sawyers statement to the press, Johnson is pacing back and forth and waving the Confederate flag.

Sawyer then denounces Johnson as a coward, telling him: You said you were going to beat my a**. Why are you hiding behind a fence?

Johnson then responds that as a man he wouldnt raise a hand to a woman.

Im more of a man than you are, Sawyer tells him.

Im more of a gentleman than you will ever be, Johnson responds.

Protesters attend a rally protesting against the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest Park in front of a statue bearing his likeness August 13, 2005 in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1905 Confederate veterans arranged to move his remains and those of his wife Mary to a new site, named Forrest Park, which is adorned with a statue of him riding a horse. However, in recent years, statues of Forrest like the one pictured in Memphis have been removed amid increased protests

After the statue was removed in 2017, the Sons of Confederate Veterans arranged to exhume the remains of Forrest and his wife and relocate it. The image above was taken on Tuesday

Sawyer then tells the reporters nearby: Im not going to let him kill me, but if he does you know who to go find, right?

Yall know where to start, she says.

In another video posted on Twitter by WMC-TV reporter Chris Luther, Johnson begins singing Dixie.

LYRICS TO 'DIXIE' I wish I was in the land of cotton, old times there are not forgotten, Look away, look away, look away, Dixie Land. In Dixie Land where I was born in, early on a frosty mornin', Look away, look away, look away, Dixie Land. Then I wish I was in Dixie, hooray! hooray! In Dixie Land I'll take my stand to live and die in Dixie, Away, away, away down South in Dixie, Away, away, away down South in Dixie. Advertisement

Sawyer tells reporters that she finds this offensive because my ancestors picked cotton.

My ancestors picked cotton while his ancestors beat and raped my ancestors, Sawyer tells the assembled media as Johnson continues to sing the lyrics to the controversial song.

Sawyer then raised her voice so as to be heard above Johnsons singing and said: Dixie is dead, and it was killed by the descendants of black people.

Sawyer then tells Johnson that she and other activists took your hero down, a reference to the statue of Forrest.

We are not post-racial America or post-racial Memphis, Sawyer says. This hatred and racism is large and loud.

As Johnson continued to sing, Sawyer told the reporters: Im not going to let him win.

She asks the reporters: Make sure you show this. Make this go viral.

According to Johnson, Sawyer started removing several small Confederate flags that were attached to the fence that cordoned off the construction site.

Johnson posted a video on YouTube accusing Sawyer of provoking him.

The video, titled Why I cussed Tami Sawyer out. Gotta love the 1st amendment, Johnson says: Earlier in the morning, I put up three Confederate stick flags on the fence surrounding the plaza and the pedestal at the grave of General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

He says that the stick flags stood without incident until Sawyer held a news conference at the site and took them down and threw them on the ground.

That p***ed me off! Johnson says in the video.

She came up there with straight disrespect of us men working and doing the proper thing of taking Nathan Bedford Forrest out of the s***hole city of Memphis.

Johnson describes himself on his Facebook page as a 'Southern American patriot who defends the constitution and the freedom and liberty bestowed by God!'

Johnson is the leader of Confederate 901, a Tennessee-based organization that has protested efforts to remove Confederate-era monuments and symbols

The video also includes misogynistic references to Sawyers weight as well as profanity.

The commies are going to say b*****t without a bit of evidence to back it up, he says.

If you want to believe them, go ahead. Believe them! I dont give a s***!

He ended the message saying: God bless Dixie.

Johnson describes himself on his Facebook page as a 'Southern American patriot who defends the constitution and the freedom and liberty bestowed by God!'

He adds: 'Ill knock the taste out of your mouth if you wanna try me! Get you a pull!'
A Border Patrol K-9 helped agents discover more than 50 migrants hiding inside a tanker trailer at a traffic stop in Texas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported.

CBP said a team of border agents assigned to the Laredo Sector was working at a checkpoint on Highway 83 Friday when a truck driver hauling a tanker trailer was stopped.

A sniffer dog inspected the trailer and led Border Patrol officers to the tanker. When the agents subjected the driver, a U.S. citizen, to a secondary inspection, they found the individuals huddled inside.

U.S. Border Patrol detained the driver and the migrants, all of whom were identified as natives of Mexico.

Border Patrol agents assigned to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Laredo Sector arrested more than 50 Mexican nationals who were being ferried inside a tanker on Friday in Laredo, Texas.

Migrants sit on the side of a road while others step out of the tanker they were traveling in before U.S. Border Patrol agents in Laredo, Texas, ordered the driver to stop for an inspection. More than 50 migrants - all native of Mexico - and the driver, a U.S. citizen, were placed under arrest

CBP did not say if the migrants had been smuggled across the border in the truck or if they were already in the United States and were being ferried to another city.

'Human smugglers continue to have no regard for the safety and health of the people they exploit for profit,' CBP's Laredo Sector said in a statement.

'Laredo Sector agents focus on the agencys enduring mission priorities of countering terrorism, combatting transnational crime, securing the border, facilitating lawful trade, protecting revenue, and facilitating lawful travel.'

As of Wednesday, Border Patrol agents from the Laredo Sector detained at least 5,300 migrants from more than 165 trucks at checkpoints between October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021.

Agents detained 2,300 migrants during the same period in 2020.

According to a CBP report released May 10, 178,622 undocumented immigrants were stopped for unlawful entry from Mexico to the United States in April, surpassing March's total by 5,274.

For its part, Laredo Sector agents encountered 10,927 migrants in April, down from 11,180 in March.
San Francisco is fast becoming a crime-ridden hellhole thanks to its hard-left prosecutor's 'criminal-first' agenda, the city's police union boss has claimed.

Tony Montoya made the claim on Fox News after a female Asian-American police officer was pummeled to the ground by a homeless man, becoming the California city's latest high-profile crime victim.

'If it's not safe for the police officers right now, what should the general public feel?' Montoya told Fox News on Wednesday, three days after the union released a video of Friday's assault.

Montoya warned that police staffing shortages were making the coastal city increasingly dangerous.

He added that low morale caused by District Attorney Chesa Boudin's soft touch on criminals and anti-police agenda was making it harder to hire new cops.

Days after the murder of George Floyd last May, Boudin tweeted: 'In less than 24 hours my office has received over 1,000 emails demanding that San Francisco defund the police department.'

Footage of the female cop being attacked showed the officer tried to arrest the suspect, who was vandalizing scooters.

A witness then heard him yell, 'Chinese people don't belong here' before lunging for her.

Security footage shows Good Samaritans prying the suspect off the officer, who Montoya said was patrolling China Town without a partner because of staffing shortages.

'You have hastily and poorly written legislation that is causing people to leave the profession early, not want to enter the profession,' Montoya told Fox News over the phone. 'There's a lot of media coverage, especially more so this past year on law enforcement, and people are saying, "I don't want to subject myself to that type of scrutiny," or family members are discouraging them from applying.'

San Francisco police union boss Tony Montoya (left) say's DA Chesa Boudin's 'criminal-first agenda' is putting his officers in harm's way and creating a dangerous environment in the city

A homeless man assaulted a female Asian police officer in San Francisco after she attempted to detain him for vandalizing rental scooters nearby

The attack was captured on surveillance footage and showed the two scuffling before falling to the ground, where the man landed on top of the officer and attempted to pummel her. Witnesses say they overheard the man making anti-Chinese remarks beforehand

Mayor London Breed addressed the staffing concerns during Tuesday's budget press conference, when she said she will fund at least 1,224 full-duty officers to patrol the city.

That number is currently in the mid-900s and continues to drop with officers retiring, leaving for other police departments or simply leaving the profession altogether, Montoya told Fox News.

He spoke after video of the policewoman being attacked was posted to social media on Sunday, showing the homeless man initially appearing to follow the officer's orders before abruptly turning around and attacking her.

The two tumble to the ground as the officer attempts to fight back against the man, but the officer ends up on the bottom as he lands on top of her.

Bystanders who witness the commotion rush to come to the officer's aid as she eventually pins him down.

Backup officers then help to place the homeless man into custody.

Staffing shortages are an exploited weakness in District Attorney Chesa Boudin's 'criminal-first agenda' that allows suspects to be released, Montoya told Fox News, and he believes the suspect who attacked one of San Francisco's finest will be back out on the street.

Bystanders jump in to help the female officer, who was overpowered by the brute at Portsmouth Square in San Francisco on Friday night. The attacker has yet to be publicly identified by cops, but was taken into custody immediately after the attack

Boudin released a domestic violence suspect Joseph Williams twice before he allegedly murdered a seven-month-old baby in April because he said because the alleged victim, who was in a relationship with Williams, didn't want to file charges.

California State law considers domestic violence a crime against the state, with campaigners saying it was Boudin's duty to find a way to make a case stick.

Boudin's comment angered domestic violence advocates in San Francisco who say he fundamentally misunderstood the nature of family violence cases.

'If you look at the policy of our current district attorneys criminal-first agenda, theres a very high likelihood that this person will get released before facing any consequences for his actions. You see that day in and day out here in San Francisco,' Montoya told Fox News.

Montoya and Boudin have been feuding for months.

Last week, Boudin blamed the city's rising crime numbers on the police departments inability to clear crimes, meaning make an arrest, charge the suspect and hand the case over to prosecutors.

The union snapped back in a tweet, which is pinned at the top of its Twitter page: 'Sorry Chesa, if you think blaming police officers & throwing stats to misdirect attention is going to cut it, youre wrong. SF residents are demanding more. They want actual solutions. Youve offered none. And you still accept zero responsibility.'

'Were now seeing the results of his policies in the form of public safety. And its not safe out here,' Montoya said during the phone interview with Fox News. 'Whether he wants to divert this person to so-called mental health court or an addiction to drug court or if he summarily wants to release the person on some form of supervised probation  all those things sound great, but a lot of those services are failing the people they intend to help. There is really no supervision. There is no follow-up. There is no accountability.'

Boudin became district attorney of San Francisco in 2019, pledging a commitment to restorative justice over incarceration.

But he was condemned in January after allowing a robber to get out of prison on parole, with that criminal then allegedly going on to kill two women in a hit and run in the city on New Year's Eve last year.

Troy McAlister had just been released from prison on parole for a robbery conviction when he killed Hanako Abe and Elizabeth Platt as they walked across a street in the SOMA neighborhood, it is claimed.

Police believe McAlister allegedly stole the vehicle from a woman he had just met on a dating app. Police found a gun and drugs in his car.

Boudin's parents David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin were members of the Weather Underground, a radical left militant organization involved in a series of terror attacks in the 1970s.

Boudin was 14 months old when his parents left him with a babysitter so they could take part in the botched robbery of an armored car that left two police officers and a Brink's truck guard dead. Both were convicted of murder as a result.

His father Gilbert is still in prison for murder and robbery, while his mother was released after serving more than two decades inside.

Backup police officers descend on the scene of yet another anti-Asian hate crime in a long list of recent attacks. In NYC, 86 anti-Asian hate crime reports were filed this year compared to just 19 the same time last year

The moment where the homeless man snapped and attacked the female officer. Community activist Max Leong says the man is a fixture in San Francisco's Chinatown, while adding that the man is likely mentally ill

In the assault case on the officer, 33-year-old Gerardo Contreras was arrested.

This incident is part of a national trend of violent, hate-driven beatings of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Last week DailyMail.com reported that an elderly Asian woman was sucker-punched in Queens, New York, leaving her with a fractured eye socket and broken nose and two black eyes.

In NYC alone, anti-Asian hate crimes have noticeably spiked, with 86 reports this year compared to just 19 the same time last year in 2020.
Biden also asked Congress to pass legislation which would provide a way for an estimated 11 million undocumented people to legally stay in the U.S.

Biden had promised as a candidate to end the Trump-era immigration policy

In a statement released the day after Biden's decision, Trump claimed 'illegal immigrants, gang members, and lethal drugs' were 'pouring' across the border

Trump called the now-defunct policy 'one of the most successful border security programs anyone has ever put into effect anywhere.' Pictured here leaving Trump Tower in May

Former President Donald Trump has blasted Joe Biden's 'disastrous decision' to formally end his 'Remain in Mexico' policy that forced asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court.

Trump called the now-defunct policy 'one of the most successful border security programs anyone has ever put into effect anywhere.'

'The Biden Administration inherited the most secure border in history, and they turned it into the greatest border disaster in history. Our border is now run by cartels, criminals, and coyotes,' Trump wrote in a statement Wednesday.

He claimed that everything from criminals to 'lethal drugs' are 'pouring across like never before.'

'Not only are illegal immigrants being caught and released, they are being put up in hotels at taxpayer expense,' Trump said, referencing the more relaxed 'catch-and-release' immigration policy the Obama administration has been associated with.

Biden's decision to end the Trump-era policy 'is proof that their objective is to eliminate the U.S. border entirely and flood the country with so many illegal aliens that every community is overwhelmed,' Trump claimed.

The Biden administration formally ended the controversial immigration policy on Tuesday.

Democrats praised the move, calling it a huge victory for immigrants' rights.

Judy Rabinovitz, the American Civil Liberties Union attorney who led a case challenging the policy, called the Trump-era rule 'cruel, depraved and illegal' in comments to CNN.

A seven-page memo by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas marked the end of the 'Migrant Protection Protocols,' which returned about 70,000 asylum-seekers to Mexico from January 2019 until it was halted on Biden's first day in office two years later.

The move came the same day as the Biden administration marked the first day of National Immigrant Heritage Month by asking Congress to pass the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, which Biden pitched his first day in office, providing a way for an estimated 11 million undocumented people to legally stay in the U.S.

The policy forced asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court

'My plan would provide a pathway to lawful permanent residency and citizenship for these undocumented immigrants, including Dreamers, individuals with Temporary Protected Status, farm workers, and other essential workers who contribute to our Nation every day,' a White House proclamation read.

The White House memo also noted that it was an 'especially difficult period' thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and 'the all-too-frequent demonization of immigrants,' with Biden asking Americans to 'recommit ourselves to our values as a welcoming Nation.'

President Joe Biden's (left) administration formally ended former President Donald Trump's (right) 'Remain in Mexico' policy that forced asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court

Biden's changes to Trump's 'Remain in Mexico' were a foregone conclusion - as Biden had promised as a candidate to end the policy - but the president left a window open by ordering a review before shutting it down permanently.

Mayorkas said keeping the policy intact or modifying it 'would not be consistent with this Administration's vision and values and would be a poor use of the Department's resources.'

He said the costs would far outweigh any benefits.

The policy coincided with a sharp decline of asylum-seekers at the border, but critics noted that people were hampered by violent conditions in Mexico, lack of access to lawyers and difficulty making it to court.

Mayorkas acknowledged those concerns by noting the high rate of denied claims for failing to appear in court and the lack of housing, income and safety in Mexico.

Since Feb. 19, about 11,200 people with active cases have been allowed to return to the United States to wait for a ruling, a process that can take years in the backlogged court system.

The administration has yet to say if tens of thousands more whose cases were either dismissed or denied will get another chance.

The administration has largely kept in place pandemic-related powers introduced by President Donald Trump in March 2020 to expel people to Mexico without an opportunity to seek asylum, justified on grounds of protecting public health.

Mayorkas acknowledged planning for those pandemic-related powers to be lifted but was light on specifics.

The secretary pointed to a new docket in immigration court announced Friday that aims to decide asylum cases at the border within 300 days.

He promised 'additional anticipated regulatory and policy changes,' without elaborating.

Trump's comments come on the same day he shut down his website From The Desk of Donald Trump, after a brief stint of just 29 days online.

The reason for the shutdown is unclear, but an adviser told The Washington Post that Trump ended his short venture because he did not like it being mocked and was unhappy with its engagement.

Since being booted off Twitter and Facebook earlier in the year, the former president has primarily communicated through official statements from his office and the website, as well as aides like Jason Miller.
Shocking video shows a 78-year-old writhing in pain on the ground after he'd allegedly been shot by an Idaho sheriff's deputy with a stun gun when the elderly man was questioned for his role in an alleged road rage incident.

The deputy who arrested the man now is suspended and is under investigation; he hasn't been identified. The man's family denies he was involved in road rage. The 78 year old is pictured on social media wearing identification as a Mormon missionary.

'This whole thing is being looked at very closely,' Gooding County Sheriff Shaun Gough told the Times-News on Tuesday. He didn't respond to a request for further detail from DailyMail.com.

The incident happened on Thursday afternoon, when a truck driver reported to an Idaho public safety dispatcher that there was a road rage incident in Gooding County. The driver claimed there could have been a gun involved.

Deputies responded to the home of 78-year-old John Hall, who the truck driver apparently said had been involved in the incident. It was there that one allegedly used a Taser on Hall - before the video begins.

Scroll down for video

John Hall, 78, appeared to be the subject of a brutal takedown by an Idaho sheriff's deputy

The deputy, who has not been named, allegedly tased the 78-year-old before taking him down

Anthony Hall's video begins as his father, James, and grandfather, John, are both lying face down on the ground after they were each shot with Tasers, he says.

'You tase an old man?' Anthony asks the deputy. 'What the f*** is wrong with you? You tase an old f*****g man?'

The deputy appears to call for backup to ask for help in handcuffing James, whose age isn't clear, at which point another deputy arrives.

'These people are unarmed, they [the cops] bring a rifle,' Anthony continues.

One of the men on the ground says they are being cuffed for no reason, with one of the deputies responding that they're going to jail.

The deputy says they are being arrested for 'obstructing in the lane,' while the men claim they did nothing wrong.

At the beginning of the video, the deputy can be seen putting cuffs on John Hall, 78

John Hall's son, James Hall (green shirt) was also seen being placed into handcuffs

'He has failing livers,' Anthony says of his grandfather to the deputy. 'He has failing kidneys. You're gonna kill him!' He's an old man, what the f*** is wrong with you?'

'I understand you're trying to do your job, [but] what the f***?' Anthony continues.

As the confrontation continues on, a woman enters the frame to try to diffuse the situation, with Anthony sarcastically remarking that she should be tased for 'obstructing justice.'

At one point, John's wife, Verla, appears to talk to the deputy. John Hall is eventually taken into a police vehicle, but is not formally arrested

James Hall is led away while the woman, believed to be John's wife, Verla, continues to talk to the deputy.

John Hall can then be seen bleeding profusely from his head before a deputy leads him away.

Anthony proceeds to get closer to the deputy, who tells him to step back. 'Why don't you just f*****g shoot me, I'm unarmed,' Anthony says to the deputy.

Anthony goes on to say that the family was getting ready for a camping trip, while Verla points out that her husband is being hurt, which is where the video ends.

Anthony goes on to say that the family was getting ready for a camping trip, while Verla points out that her husband is being hurt

The deputy involved in the incident has been suspended pending an outside investigation

Anthony Hall said to MagicValley.com that his grandfather was being tailgated by the truck driver who apparently called in the 'road rage' incident, leading his grandfather to tap on his breaks to fend the truck off.

'He called it in as a road rage,' the sheriff said of the truck driver. 'He said [the driver] tried to run him off the road....It all went downhill from there.'

Anthony said that the truck driver continued to follow John all the way home to Wendell, Idaho, and then called 911.

When deputies arrived, they allegedly confronted both John and Anthony's father, James, who was a passenger in John's car.

John Hall pictured with wife Verla Hall in an undated Facebook photo. They appear to be wearing tags as Mormon missionaries

John Hall pictured with wife Verla Hall in an undated Facebook photo

They proceeded to shoot both men with a Taser and placed them in handcuffs before they were taken to the ground, which is where the video picks up.

Ultimately, neither John nor James Hall were arrested, with emergency medical personnel examining both men.

Idaho State Police, however, did end up arresting Verla Hall for interfering with the deputies.

She was released on bond later that same night, Sheriff Shaun Gough told the Times-News.

John Hall is pictured on Facebook after the incident took place

The deputy responsible for the incident has not been identified, but Gough did reveal that he has been suspended.

An outside law enforcement agency will be responsible for investigating the incident.

Sheriff Shaun Gough has not responded to a request from DailyMail.com for further information about the investigation.
A huge blaze has broken out at an oil refinery in southern Tehran just hours after one of Iran's largest naval ships sank after catching fire in the Gulf of Oman.

Officials said the fire at the Tondgooyan Petrochemical Co. was an accident, blaming a leak in a liquefied gas line that triggered an explosion. The cause of the leak is unclear.

Intense flames and plumes of black smoke that had been visible from far across the capital were gradually being brought under control on Wednesday evening, several hours after the fire broke out.

The cause of the fire on the British-built fleet replenishment vessel Kharg is still unclear.

A navy statement said a fire broke out in 'one of the systems,' without elaborating.

A huge blaze has broken out at an oil refinery in southern Tehran (pictured) just hours after one of Iran's largest naval ships sank after catching fire in the Gulf of Oman

Officials said the fire at the Tondgooyan Petrochemical Co. was an accident, blaming a leak in a liquefied gas line that triggered an explosion. The cause of the leak is unclear

Intense flames and plumes of black smoke that had been visible from far across the capital were gradually being brought under control on Wednesday evening, several hours after the fire broke out

The fire at the refinery came just hours after a mystery fire broke out on board a large naval vessel, eventually causing it to sink

Footage aired by state television showed a massive column of smoke rising from what it said was the burning vessel.

Firefighting efforts continued 'for 20 hours' before the ship went down.

'Considering the spread of the fire, the mission to save the Kharg failed and it sank in waters off Jask,' the navy said.

The ship caught fire at 11:00 am (0630 GMT) on Tuesday as it was in 'domestic waters' during 'a training mission', Iran's Tasnim news agency quoted the navy's head of public relations Behzad Jahanian as saying.

Jahanian said the cause of the fire was 'still not clear'. The vessel sank at around 8:30 am (0400 GMT) on Wednesday.

All 400 cadets and crew disembarked safely, with 20 sustaining light injuries or burns.

In recent months, there have been reported attacks on Iran's shipping fleet that have been linked to its arch foe Israel.

The Kharg, an Iranian navy support vessel and one of the force's largest ships, sunk this morning near the port of Jask after burning for more than 20 hours overnight

Iran said the fire broke out 'in one of the systems' of the ship on Tuesday, without elaborating. It comes amid a series of attacks that Iran and Israel blame on one-another

In April, Iran blamed Israel for a blast which damaged military vessel MV Saviz in the Red Sea - saying the 'attack' was carried out using underwater mines.

The New York Times reported at the time that the Saviz had been targeted in an Israeli 'retaliatory' attack after 'Iran's earlier strikes on Israeli ships'.

The previous month, an Israeli cargo vessel was hit by a missile in the Arabian Sea while sailing from Tanzania to India, with Israeli security services blaming Tehran.

And in February, the Israeli-owned MV Helios Ray car carrier was also hit by explosions while sailing off the coast of UAE.

While Israel made no official accusation at the time, local media reported that Iran was top of a list of suspects.

The blasts also form part of a years-long shadow war in Middle Eastern waters which has also seen ships linked to Saudi Arabia and the UAE damaged - including a series of blasts in 2019 that almost drove the US and Iran to war.

Iran says 20 sailors were lightly wounded with burns during the incident, but nobody was seriously hurt

US intelligence agencies had directly blamed Iran for two tanker attacks that occurred that year, sparking a series of tit-for-tat skirmishes that ended with a US drone strike which killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, and saw Iran launch missiles at a US airbase in Iraq in retaliation.

Israel and Iran - long-time regional foes - have most-recently been feuding over a 2015 deal signed by Obama that sought to stop Iran obtaining nuclear weapons in return for trade incentives.

Trump, spurred on by Israel, tore up the deal in 2018. Biden now wants to renegotiate terms with Tehran, which seems to have prompted the latest round of fighting.

Negotiations on the deal are ongoing in Vienna despite the clashes, which have also included strikes in Syria and attacks on Iran's nuclear program.

The more than 200 metre (more than 650 feet) long Kharg caught fire on Tuesday off the port of Jask on the Gulf of Oman.

Iran's ISNA news agency said its mission had focused on 'training, intelligence and combat' alongside the destroyer Alborz.

The Kharg was initially ordered from British shipmaker Swan Hunter in the 1970s by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi - an ally of the West - before the 1979 Revolution which saw him ousted from power and driven into exile.

Following the revolution, the Kharg became a political hot potato and its transfer to Iran was held up several times - firstly because of the hostage crisis which saw Americans held prisoner in Tehran from 1979 until 1981, and then because of the detention of a British nation - Andrew Pyke - in Iran.

The ship was eventually handed over to Iran in 1984, after the hostage crisis had ended and Pyke had been released, on the grounds that is was a support vessels and could not be used in offensive operations.

The sinking of the Kharg in just the latest naval disaster for Iran.

In 2020 during an Iranian military training exercise, a missile mistakenly struck a naval vessel near the port of Jask, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15.

The vessel was taking part in a training exercise with 400 people on board when the blaze broke out on Tuesday (pictured, the boat on fire)

The blaze broke out as the Kharg was sailing near the Strait of Hormuz, with all sailors evacuated to shore before the ship went down

Also in 2018, an Iranian navy destroyer sank in the Caspian Sea.

In 2019, a series of explosions and fires on oil tankers linked both Iran and Saudi Arabia around the Arabian Peninsula brought the two sides close to war.

The blasts began in May when four tankers - two Saudi-flagged, one Norwegian-flagged and one Emirati-flagged - were damaged near the coast of UAE.

Then in June, the Front Altair and Kokuka Courageous were damaged in what was initially reported as a fire on the latter vessel.

US intelligence agencies backed by the UK and Saudi Arabia later accused Iran of attaching limpet mines to the side of the tankers, blowing holes in the hull which sparked the blaze.

That was followed by drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia's largest oil processing facility at Abqaiq which it blamed on Iran.

The Kharg was built in Britain in 1977 and entered the Iranian Navy in 1984 . It was designed to resupply other ships at sea, lift heavy cargo, and launch helicopters

In October, Iran then reported that one of its oil tankers had been hit by two missiles in the Red Sea, on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula, in what it said was a 'terrorist attack.'

Then, the follow year, Iran was hit by a series of major fires that broke out on land - sparking rumours of sabotage operations.

The most serious blast took place in July that year at the Natanz nuclear facility causing significant damage, though officials said operations were not affected.

Another explosion hit a medical clinic north of Tehran last month, killing 19 people in what Iran said was a gas leak.

On June 26, an explosion occurred east of Tehran near the Parchin military and weapons development base that was also blamed on a gas leak.

Six other fires and blasts have also been reported, most of which have taken place around Tehran, but some of which have occurred further south.

A factory in Baqershahr, a power plant in Zergan, the Shahid Tondgooyan petrochemicals plant, and Bushehr shipyard have all been struck.
Vice President Kamala Harris landed a fifth and sixth job under President Joe Biden already this week, as the president asked her to go on a vaccine education tour and handle the administration's efforts to protect voting rights.

These tasks were assigned as the vice president is about to embark on her first trip abroad - to Guatemala and Mexico - as part of the most controversial part of her portfolio: dealing with the 'root' causes of migration from the Northern Triangle, which is primarily responsible for the current border crush.

Rounding out her workload are the issues of broadband and space, while she's also leading a pro-union taskforce that would take a 'whole-of-government approach to empower workers.'

Vice President Kamala Harris was tasked in late March to deal with the root causes of migration and serve as a point person to the Northern Triangle countries and Mexico

THE BORDER

In late March, Biden announced he had tapped Harris to lead the effort to stem migration coming from the Northern Triangle countries - El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras - and up through Mexico.

Harris, he said, 'agreed to lead our diplomatic effort to work with those nations.'

Very quickly Harris became a target for Republicans as border crossings soared and she didn't travel to the border to see the conditions on the ground.

In mid-April, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the 'confusion' surrounding Harris' role with the migrant crisis is 'perplexing,' arguing immigration policy has never been a 'one-woman' job.

Psaki also pointed out that Biden, as vice president, had essentially played the same role during the Obama years.

Harris previewed the upcoming trip to Guatemala and Mexico City Wednesday morning.

She said she'll be meeting with Guatemala's President Alejandro Giammattei on the 'front leg of the trip,' hoping the two could have 'an honest and real conversation.'

'We have a lot to discuss,' she told reporters, including what they could do to 'support the folks who need help in terms of hunger, the economic development piece, the extreme weather.'

'It's also about the need to have very frank and honest discussions about the need to address corruption, to address crime, and violence, and in particular against some of the most vulnerable populations in that country,' she continued.

VOTING RIGHTS

On Tuesday, just six days out from her first international trip as vice president, Biden made news when he said he was assigning Harris voting issues.

'I'm asking Vice President Harris to help these efforts and lead them, among her many other responsibilities,' Biden said during his speech in Tulsa, Oklahoma, marking the 100th anniversary of the city's race massacre.

'With her leadership, and your support, we're going to overcome again, I promise you. But it's going to take a hell of a lot of work,' Biden added.

Harris reiterated the assignment in a statement: 'President Joe Biden asked me to help lead our Administrations effort to protect the fundamental right to vote for all Americans.'

'In the days and weeks ahead, I will engage the American people, and I will work with voting rights organizations, community organizations, and the private sector to help strengthen and uplift efforts on voting rights nationwide,' Harris continued.

'And we will also work with members of Congress to help advance these bills,' the vice president said.

That means Harris will be back at her old stomping grounds - the U.S. Senate - as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has already pledged to give the House-passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act, a vote when Congress returns from its Memorial Day break later this month.

President Joe Biden (right) announced Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris (left) would embark on a vaccine education tour

VACCINE TOUR

On Wednesday the White House announced Harris would be leading a vaccine tour as the administration aims to have one shot in the arms of 70 per cent of U.S. adults by the Fourth of July holiday.

Harris will 'lead a nation-wide tour to reach millions of Americans who still need protection against the virus, to highlight the ease of getting vaccinated, encourage vaccinations, and energize and mobilize grassroots vaccine education,' the White House said.

The president was more specific about where Harris would travel and said she would be joined by additional surrogates.

'The vice president's going to lead that tour across the south and the midwest,' Biden said in remarks Wednesday afternoon. 'We still have millions of people to vaccinate. She is going to be joined by the first lady and the second gentleman and cabinet secretaries along the way.'

SPACE

Taking on the same role as the previous vice president, Mike Pence, Harris is chairing the National Space Council.

The announcement was made in early May.

'I think her approach to this is just going to be to get the job done, and use this to lead our space policy, and not really focus, perhaps as much on big displays,' one official told ABC News on how Harris would differ in the job than Pence, who made multiple trips to Florida for rocket launches.

President Joe Biden announced during his first presidential address before Congress that Vice President Kamala Harris would be leading the effort to curb the digital divide

BROADBAND

On April 21, when Biden made his first Congressional address to a joint session, the president said Harris would also be leading the effort to curb the digital divide.

Biden's aim is to expand broadband access nationwide.

'It's going to help our kids and business succeed in the 21st century economy,' he said. 'And I'm asking the vice president to lead this effort, if she would, because I know it will get done.'

Biden initially asked for $100 billion in his infrastructure plan to expand broadband. The most recent GOP counteroffer included $65 billion.

PRO-UNION TASKFORCE

Also in late April, Biden announced the formation of a pro-union taskforce that would look into ways to aid labor.

The taskforce would be chaired by Harris.

It would take a 'whole-of-government approach to empower workers,' essentially looking into what laws could be used to help workers organize.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was slammed on Twitter Wednesday for not helping her grandmother and instead posting images of her dilapidated home in Puerto Rico and blaming Trump for not sending aid after Hurricane Maria.

Critics were quick to jump on the post questioning why the progressive congresswoman, who makes $174,000 and drives a Tesla, isn't sending money to help her grandmother.

'Just over a week ago, my abuela fell ill. I went to Puerto Rico to see her- my 1st time in a year+ bc of COVID,' Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter.

'This is her home,' she continued, posting two pictures of mostly-empty rooms where the ceiling is falling in and plastic buckets on the ground are collecting water. Also in the images are one chair, one dresser and a tarp on the ground.

'Hurricane Maria relief hasn't arrived. Trump blocked relief $ for PR. People are being forced to flee ancestral homes, & developers are taking them,' the New York congresswoman wrote.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was slammed on Twitter Wednesday for posting images of her grandma's falling-down house in Puerto Rico instead of giving her money to help

One image shows a room with just a chair and several plastic buckets to catch water coming rom the ceiling, which is falling down in several spots

Another image of AOC's grandmother's home shows a room where there is a dresser and more ceiling panels falling down

Conservative columnist Matt Walsh excoriated AOC for choosing to spend money on a new Tesla instead of sending part of her $174,000 salary to her grandma in Puerto Rico

A Florida congressional candidate also called out Ocasio-Cortez for her Tesla and two apartments

AOC clarified 'for the record' that her grandma 'is doing okay', after she started receiving backlash for not sending help

Conservative columnist Matt Walsh jumped on the post: 'AOC went and bought herself a Tesla while her grandmother lives in a shack with a collapsing ceiling.'

'It never fails with these champagne socialists,' he continued. 'They expect everyone else to make sacrifices while making none themselves.'

'AOC is willing to redistribute everyone's money but her own,' Parkland school shooting survivor Kyle Kashuv agreed in his own post.

GOP candidate for Florida's 24th congressional district Lavern Spicer boiled the situation down to one word  'sad.'

'Honey, you drive a Tesla and have two apartments,' she tweeted on Wednesday. 'If your grandmother is living poor that's because you don't help her out. I'm surprised that a socialist wouldn't redistribute that wealth to their grandma.'

AOC has an apartment in her home district in New York City and a luxury apartment in Washington, D.C. where one bedroom units  at least those where the bedroom actually has a window  starts at $2,500 per month.

Stock photo of an image of the living rooms in the apartment units where Ocasio-Cortez rents in Washington D.C.

The one-bedroom units in luxury apartment building start at $2,500 per month if residents want to have a window to outside from their bedroom

Ocasio-Cortez's Tesla was pictured illegally parked at the Whole Foods near her apartment in Washington D.C. last month

AOC blamed Trump for Puerto Rico not recovering from the Hurricane

Ocasio-Cortez, who represents New York's 14th congressional district and is a self-described Democratic socialist, continued to blame Trump in her Twitter thread.

'In the aftermath of Maria, the Trump admin oversaw two key items: handing millions in public $ to unqualified donor pals (ex Whitefish). The other was to impose extremely difficult eligibility rules for Puerto Ricans, which allowed mass rejections of recovery fund applications,' she wrote.

'I want to be clear - while Trump admin had a major role, it wasn't just them,' she said. 'La Junta, local policies, etc were all on the same page: policies that pushed out local families. To turn this around, we need audits & get recovery relief to people ASAP, without the onerous strings.'

She did clarify 'for the record - my abuela is doing okay.'

'It's not about us, but about what's happening to Puerto Rican's across the island. She had a place to go to and be cared for - what about the thousands of people who don't?'

One Twitter user demanded that she 'sell your Tesla!' so she can send money to her grandma

Another blamed AOC for waiting on bailouts from Washington to help rather than stepping up to the plate

A Twitter user wrote to AOC: 'Sell your Tesla! You should be ashamed for letting her live like this. We have a responsibility to care for our elders!?'

Another said: 'Are you seriously admitting to the whole internet that you let your grandma sleep on a bare wood platform while you drive around in a tesla? how could you not wire a couple thousand bucks to your own grandma?'

Ocasio-Cortez's white Tesla was spotted illegally parked last month outside the Whole Foods under her apartment building in an upscale neighborhood of Washington, D.C. less than a mile from Capitol Hill.

Former Puerto Rico Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who was in office when Hurricane Maria hit, sympathized with AOC.

'This is how it is,' she wrote. 'The investors and those who believe in privatizing essential services are taking advantage of the tragedy of Puerto Rico and our people.'

Cruz was in office from 2013-2020 and was highly critical of Trump when he was president.
A couple, dubbed the modern day Bonnie and Clyde, have been accused in a random killing spree in South Carolina and Missouri, and are now being investigated in a fifth homicide in Tennessee.

Police said Tyler Terry, 26, and Adrienne Simpson, 34, are considered suspects in Memphis, Tennessee after a man was found dead in his car on May 17.

The victim, whose name hasn't been released, was found dead at about 2am. His cause of death has not been released.

Police have not revealed what led them to consider Terry and Simpson suspects, but they already have been charged in four unrelated homicides in Missouri and South Carolina.

Police say Tyler Terry, 26, and Adrienne Simpson, 34, are considered suspects in a killing in Memphis, Tennessee on May 17 after a man was found dead in his car

Simpson was arrested on May 17 - the same day the man was found dead in Memphis - after on a high-speed chase with police in Chester County, South Carolina.

She was taken into custody following a crash after police pursued them for more than 30 miles. Terry, who is accused of shooting at police during that chase, managed to escape and went on the run for a week before being captured in the same area.

He managed to steal a gun, water, shirt and shoes from an unlocked work truck while on the run.

Terry was hiding in weeds when a team of federal agents spotted him May 24.

The couple's alleged killing spree dates back to May 2 when Simpson's estranged husband, Eugene Simpson, was reported missing. Simpson's body was later found dumped in a ditch in Great Falls, South Carolina on May 19 and was ruled a homicide.

Terry was on the run for a week before being taken into custody in Chester County, South Carolina. His girlfriend was taken into custody on May 17 after they crashed during a police pursuit

Terry was hiding in weeds when a team of federal agents spotted him on May 24

Terry is pictured above during his arrest in South Carolina on May 24

Terry is also accused of shooting dead 35-year-old Thomas Hardin, who identifies as female, in York, South Carolina on May 2.

Police said Terry and Hardin knew each other, but don't have a motive. Simpson was Terry's getaway driver after that shooting, police said.

The pair are then suspected of driving about 700 miles to Brentwood, Missouri where they are accused of shooting three random people during two separate suspected robberies on May 15.

Two of those people died, including Dr. Sergei Zacharev and Barbara Goodkin.

Barbara's husband, Stanley Goodkin, survived because a cellphone in his chest pocket took the brunt of the bullet.

Investigators said Zacharev was shot during a robbery in a Brentwood restaurant parking lot and Goodkin was shot about 45 minutes later as she sat in her car in nearby University City.

Police said ballistics from both scenes matched.

Three of the four victims killed in the homicide spree are pictured above: Dr. Sergei Zacharev, Thomas Hardin (who identifies as female) and Barbara Goodkin

The duo left Missouri on May 16 and were spotted a day later in South Carolina where they led cops on the car chase.

Police in Tennessee believe the fifth homicide occurred as the couple traveled from Missouri and South Carolina.

Simpson, who had a black eye in her booking photo, was the victim when Terry was arrested on a first-degree criminal domestic violence charge a year ago.

Terry hit his girlfriend so hard that she lost hearing in one ear and an eye swelled shut, according to an arrest warrant from Chester County.

Police in Myrtle Beach also charged Terry with domestic violence after he hurt Simpsons hand and broke her phone in a March 31 argument, according to a police report.

Simpsons mother, who said she spoke with her daughter after her arrest, said Terry was physically and mentally abusive, and her daughter was scared of him but also loved him.
A slurring state senator appeared to threaten a cop who arrested her over a drink driving crash by requesting the presence of a local public safety boss.

Newly-released bodycam footage of New Jersey lawmaker Sandra Cunningham's March DWI arrest saw her asking the unnamed cop to summon Jersey City's Public Safety Director James Shea.

Her demand was rendered partially-inaudible on the bodycam by the bleep of a cop's walkie-talkie, although she could be heard saying 'I want to know where's Director Shea.'

But the officer performing the traffic stop seemed unimpressed with 70 year-old Cunningham's name-dropping.

'What does Director Shea have to do with anything right now?' he inquired of Cunningham.

She replied: 'Well, because I can see that youre looking for something that isnt there.'

The officer snapped: 'So Director Shea has zero to do with...this stop, though, right now, maam.'

Shea, who is in charge of the city's police, fire and emergency management and Homeland Security Departments, apparently never made it to the scene of the traffic stop.

The bodycam footage was released ahead of Cunningham's first court appearance, scheduled for June 3.

Cunningham's arrest saw her fail a field sobriety test and admit she was feeling 'unsteady' on her feet. She was captured lifting a sheaf of cards out of her wallet after being asked to produce an ID, and dropping some onto the ground.

Cunningham, a Democrat who has represented the 31st Legislative District, which includes Bayonne and Jersey City, since 2007, was pulled over by the police on the morning of March 4 after she crashed into two legally parked cars.

Cunningham told officers she was about to make a turn near her home in Jersey City but hit a snowbank, according to a police incident report.

Body camera video has been released from the March 4 DWI arrest of New Jersey State Senator Sandra Cunningham. In it, the Democrat fails a field sobriety test and complains of feeling 'unsteady'

Cunningham, 70, was pulled over by the police after allegedly crashing her SUV into two parked cars not far from her Jersey City home

In the body camera footage that was released on Friday in response to The Jersey Journal's public records request, Cunningham, 70, appeared to have trouble stating her address and following an officer's instructions as part of a field sobriety test.

During her hour-long interaction with the police, Cunningham twice asks to summon Jersey City Public Safety Director Shea (pictured)

The state lawmaker said she felt 'unsteady,' but denied drinking alcohol or taking any medication.

During her hour-long interaction with the police, Cunningham twice asked to call to the scene Jersey City Public Safety Director Shea.

Cunningham ultimately abandoned her failed efforts to place one foot in front of the other, as ordered by the officer, after telling him she felt 'unsteady.'

'I asked if you had any medical conditions, you said "no" and now while we are doing the test now you are feeling unsteady,' the officer told the scandal-hit politician.

Cunningham denies drinking alcohol or taking any medication

After requesting medical assistance, police place Cunningham in handcuffs and lead her to an awaiting ambulance

Cunningham later reportedly claimed to a friend that the crash was caused by an adverse reaction to medication

'You can feel unsteady at any time,' Cunningham argued.

She then launched into an explanation that she previously thought she felt fine, but that has since changed.

'I could see now that I am not as steady as I should be,' Cunningham said.

The septuagenarian state senator initially declined medical help but later requested medical attention.

As police went to place handcuffs on Cunningham before leading her to an ambulance, she tried to resist, telling them: 'No, no, no, no, no, no, no.'

Cunningham has represented the 31st Legislative District, which includes Bayonne and Jersey City, since 2007

Cunningham has pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving while intoxicated.

A blood alcohol test was performed in the wake of her arrest, although the results of that have yet to be shared.

In the body camera video, she denied consuming any alcohol when questioned by the police.

'Is there a reason why youre swaying and you have slurred speech and youre having difficulty to perform basic directions?' the officer asks her.

Cunningham tells him she is 'very cold.'

Another video from the scene shows the 70-year-old struggling to state her address on Willow Street, instead saying that she lives on West Street.

Former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey told NorthJersey.com and The Record in March that he picked Cunningham up from a police station after her arrest and she told him the crash was caused by an adverse reaction to medication.

However, in the newly released body camera video, Cunningham tells police she is not taking any medication.

Cunningham, who is up for reelection in the fall and has no Democratic challenger in next week's primary, is scheduled to make her initial court appearance on Thursday.
A forthcoming book about Dr. Anthony Fauci has been removed from Amazon and Barnes & Noble after it was accidentally posted for pre-sale prematurely.

The 80-page tome, titled 'Expect the Unexpected: Ten Lessons on Truth, Service, and the Way Forward', is set to be released by National Geographic Books on November 2.

On Tuesday, the hardcover book went up for pre-sale online for the sum of $18, before the listing pages mysteriously vanished.

On Wednesday, JustTheNews reported that the book 'had been scrubbed from online listings... amid criticism that Fauci is profiting from the deadly COVID-19 pandemic'.

However, National Geographic Books told DailyMail.com that there was a more innocent explanation for the removal.

'The book was prematurely posted for pre-sale, which is why it was taken down,' the company said in a statement.

They added: 'The book was developed by National Geographic Books in connection with an upcoming National Geographic Documentary Film about Dr. Fauci. He will not earn any royalties from its publication.'

'Expect the Unexpected: Ten Lessons on Truth, Service, and the Way Forward', is set to be released by National Geographic Books on November 2

On Tuesday, the hardcover book went up for pre-sale online for the sum of $18, before the listing pages mysteriously vanished. The Amazon page for Fauci's book is seen above after it was scrubbed

Fauci's forthcoming book will be compiled of interviews that he has conducted during his 34-year stint as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

An overview of the book states: 'Before becoming the face of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and America's most trusted doctor, Dr. Fauci had already devoted three decades to public service.

'Those looking to live a more compassionate and purposeful life will find inspiration in his unique perspective on leadership, expecting the unexpected, and finding joy in difficult times.'

The overview further states: 'The earnest reflections in these pages will offer a universal message on how to lead in times of crisis and find resilience in the face of disappointments and obstacles'.

The book is one of several about Fauci that is scheduled to hit shelves in the coming months.

A children's picture book about the expert, titled 'Dr. Fauci: How a Boy from Brooklyn Became America's Doctor', is slated for release on June 28.

It draws upon interviews the author, Kate Messner, conducted with Fauci himself.

Fauci will also be the subject of a new 'Disney-backed biopic' set for release in late 2021. Filmmakers followed the doctor for much of last year while he was at the forefront of the COVID pandemic

Meanwhile, the Fauci documentary is set to air on National Geographic later this year.

The channel - which is owned by The Walt Disney Company - has not announced an air date.

Emails obtained earlier this week by The Washington Post reveal that ex-Disney boss Bob Iger was extremely interested in the project.

The company also confirmed he will not be paid for that project.

Fauci is currently the highest paid federal employee in the country, making $417,608 per year as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In comparison, the US President is paid $400,000 per annum.

E-mails obtained by The Washington Post Tuesday reveal ex-Disney boss Bob Iger was 'extremely supportive' of the Fauci documentary

It is unclear whether the documentary will feature footage of Fauci telling the American public back in March of last year that they do not need to wear face coverings.

Fauci stated on camera on March 8, 2020: 'There's no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you're in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it's not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is.'

It is also unclear whether footage of Fauci downplaying the theory that COVID-19 originated in a Chinese lab will also appear in the documentary.

Now that the theory appears increasingly likely, Fauci has conceded that further investigation should be conducted as to the origins of the virus.

'I do not have any accounting of what the Chinese may have done and I'm fully in favor of any further investigation of what went on in China,' he told a congressional committee last week.
After three days of digging in the dirt for something sparkly, a 26-year-old man was rewarded with an exquisite find: a shimmering, triangular 2.2-carat yellow diamond.

Christian Liden came across the stunning stone at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas on May 10 while foraging the earth with a friend.

'I was shaking so bad, I asked my buddy to grab it out of the gravel for me!' Liden said of the moment he recognized his impressive find.

The Washington native told park officials that he made the 2,000-mile road trip in search of a stone he could use to propose to his girlfriend of two years, Desirae.

Christian Liden, 26, shows off the incredible 2.2 carat yellow diamond he unearthed at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas

The 2.2-carat, triangular yellow diamond is just one of 121 registered at the park this year

During a walk in the woods, Liden pulled out the raw diamond and proposed to Desirae

Liden had already stocked up on enough gold after panning throughout his home state for five years, but his latest excursion led him to his greatest discovery yet.

'I never expected anything like that. I was just hoping to find one -- just one small one -- just so I could put it on the ring and say "hey, I mined that diamond out,''' Liden told CNN.

A two-carat diamond can be worth anywhere from $8,500 to $59,000, according to diamonds.pro.

Waymon Cox, a park interpreter at the Crater of Diamonds, says it's impossible to know the market value of the diamond until it's appraised by a certified gemologist, who consider its grade based on the four C's: color, carat, clarity, and cut.

Though Liden has been mining his own stones for years, it wasn't until a coworker told him about the Arkansas park that he decided to check it out for himself.

'I was shaking so bad, I asked my buddy to grab it out of the gravel for me!' Liden said

Like any responsible tourist, he started his research online, where he watched videos of others unearthing their own gems at the site.

He built his own mining equipment while his now-fiancee was at work. He then had to think up a ruse after his friend Josh agreed to make the trip with him.

'She knew I was going on a road trip, but she didn't know what we were doing. I told her we would be visiting some state parks and some national parks, but other than that, she didn't know we were going to find gemstones,' Liden said.

They left Washington on May 1, dug up some sapphires at Yellowstone National Park on the way and reached the Crater of Diamonds on May 7.

The state bought the park from General Earth Minerals in 1972 for $750,000, according to the park's website. It boasts a 37.5-acre diamond search area where visitors regularly find jewels.

So far this year, 121 diamonds weighing more than 20 carats have been registered at the park.

Liden proposed to his girlfriend during a walk in the woods the day after he got back, though he gave her with a different ring while they have the diamond fashioned into one

Park Assistant Superintendent Dru Edmonds called Liden's find 'one-of-a-kind.'

'As beautiful as this diamond is, I think the best part is the story behind it,' Edmonds said. 'Since the eighth grade, Mr. Liden has dreamed of creating a special ring for his future wife with stones and gold he mined himself. And now he can make that dream come true!'

Liden proposed to his girlfriend during a walk in the woods the day after he got back, though he gave her with a different ring while they have the diamond fashioned into one.

'After she said yes, I pulled the ring out, gave it to her, and told her this is just temporary while we find somebody that can design a ring around this,' he told Today.

Admission to the Crater of Diamonds State Park costs $10 and spots are limited to 1,500 a day.
Derek Chauvin on Wednesday made a bid to have his prison time limited to time served and sit out the rest of any sentence on probation. Chauvin is pictured a mugshot taken after he arrived at MCF - Oak Park

Derek Chauvin has made a bid to have his prison time limited to time served and sit out the rest of any sentence on probation, DailyMail.com has learned.

Chauvin's attorney Eric Nelson filed a motion with Hennepin County District Court on Wednesday, in which he asked Judge Peter Cahill to hand down the lenient terms when he sentences Chauvin on June 25.

In the document seen by DailyMail.com, Nelson argued that Chauvin deserves a probationary sentence or 'downward departure' from the presumptive prison term he could face for the murder of George Floyd, 46.

Nelson asserted that Chauvin merely committed an 'error' when he pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for over nine minutes during an arrest in May 2020 - and said his client did not believe his actions were criminal.

Just moments after Chauvins lawyer filed his motion the State hit back and filed one of their own, asking for the judge to deliver the maximum prison term possible and put Chauvin away for 30 years.

Attorney General Keith Ellison reminded the judge that he had already found there to be four aggravating sentencing factors: that the defendant abused a position of trust and authority, acted with particular cruelty, acted in concert with three other individuals who all actively participated in the crime and committed the offense in the presence of children.

According to Ellison, Chauvins act was not just an abuse of his position, but an egregious abuse, as well as particularly cruel. Floyd begged for his life, he noted, and, was obviously terrified by the knowledge that he was likely to die.

In light of this, Ellison argued, the court, should order a sentence that is twice the upper end of the presumptive sentencing range.

In a motion asking for a more lenient sentence, Chauvin's attorney described his fatal chokehold on George Floyd (pictured) as an 'error'

As it stands Chauvin, 45, could be looking at more than 15 years in jail for the second-degree murder conviction. The presumptive sentence in Minnesota is 12 and a half years.

But Judge Cahill has already found in favor of all four aggravating factors brought by the prosecution in their bid to secure an 'upward departure' in sentencing.

Now, Nelson has argued that Chauvin is 'the product of a broken system,' and that he should be sentenced leniently as a result.

Chauvin is being held in solitary confinement in the maximum security facility of Oak Park Heights.

In his motion Nelson pointed to this as evidence of safety concerns and proof of the the fact that 'officer-involved offenses significantly increase the likelihood of him becoming a target in prison'.

According to Nelson, Chauvin is 'not the average offender.' He stated, 'Prior to this incident Mr Chauvin led a hard-working, law-abiding life, and has experienced no legal issues.'

His criminal record score at his Pre Sentence Investigation was zero.

More than that, he has claimed that Chauvin, 'was not even aware that he was committing a crime.'

Nelson wrote, 'In his mind he was simply performing his lawful duty in assisting other officers in the arrest of George Floyd. Mr Chauvin's is not a typical case in which a person commits an assault that results in the death of another.

'As is clear from Mr Chauvin's actions had he believed he was committing a crime, as a licensed police officer, Mr Chauvin simply would not have done so.'

Chauvin is being held in solitary confinement in the maximum security facility of Oak Park Heights (pictured)

In a provocative move Nelson attempted to minimize the crime of which Chauvin was convicted stating, 'Mr Chauvin's offense is best described as an error made in good faith reliance his own [sic] experience as a police officer and the training he had received  not intentional commission of an illegal act.'

Later he noted that the court found that Floyd was, 'not a particularly vulnerable victim,' and described the 9minutes 29 second during which Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd's neck as 'a very short time,' that, 'involved no threats or taunting, such as putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger and ended when EMS finally responded to officers' calls.'

In the eyes of the public, Nelson argued, 'Chauvin has been reduced to this incident, and has been painted as a dangerous manHowever, behind the politics, Mr Chauvin is still a human being.'

Before Floyd's death Chauvin was a 'husband, stepfather, uncle, brother and son.'

According to Nelson he continues to enjoy a close relationship with his family and, although they divorced, Nelson states that he is 'still supported by his ex-wife.'

Nelson also noted that, at 45, Chauvin has been diagnosed with heart damage and 'may likely die at a younger age like many ex-law enforcement officers.'

But he went onto describe Chauvin's age as a 'substantial and compelling factor,' in his bid for a probationary sentence as, 'he still has the ability to positively impact his family and community.'

Judge Cahill will hand down his sentence at a hearing on June 25.

Chauvin is pictured during his murder trial for the death of George Floyd

The twin motions from the defense and the prosecution came a day after Chauvin appeared in federal court from prison via video-link to face charges for violating Floyd's civil rights.

Chauvin was asked by the judge whether he understood that he could legally contest his being held in detention on the federal charges, while the trial continued.

'In light of my current circumstances, I believe that would be a moot point,' Chauvin replied.

The judge said the next step was Chauvin being formally arraigned, and said a date would be issued soon.

The federal charges allege Chauvin violated Floyd's rights as he restrained him face-down while he was handcuffed, not resisting and gasping for air.

Three other former officers - J. Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao - face similar federal charges.

Chauvin is also charged in a separate indictment alleging he violated the rights of a 14-year-old boy in 2017.

Read excerpts from Nelson's Wednesday motion:
The chairwoman of the Republican Party warned that she would advise the GOP's 2024 White House nominee to skip the presidential debates without numerous reforms from the commission that organizes them.

Ronna McDaniel, in a three-page letter sent Tuesday to the Commission on Presidential Debates, slammed the organizers of the 2020 debates for what she called 'repeated missteps and partisan actions.'

'The Republican Party needs assurances that the CPD will make meaningful reforms to the debate process by working with stakeholders to restore the faith and legitimacy it has lost. If not, as RNC Chairman, I will have no choice but to advise future Republican candidates against participating in CPD-hosted debates,' she wrote.

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told Commission on Presidential Debates she would advise the 2024 Republican nominee to not attend without changes

McDaniel listed several grievances against the bipartisan commissions that organizes the three presidential debates and single vice presidential debate.

Many of them echoed the litany of complaints President Donald Trump had in last year's presidential election, including the decision to turn the second presidential debate, scheduled for Oct. 15, into a virtual event due to the coronavirus pandemic. Trump ultimately skipped the debate and held a town hall with NBC News instead while Democratic nominee Joe Biden conducted a town hall on ABC News.

Trump has not said whether or not he will seek another term in 2024.

McDaniel also slammed the commission for holding the first debate after early voting began in eight states and absentee voting began in 26 states. Many states extended their voting deadlines last year to give people more time to vote because of the COVID pandemic.

And she complained about a plexiglass shield organizers wanted to put on stage for the October 22 debate, calling it an 'amateur error that nearly derailed the debate itself.'

She claimed that during the debate walkthrough, 'thanks to his background in television, the president realized that the candidates would see only their reflections once the stage was lit and the debate began. Had it not been caught by the President of the United States, the CPD's unforced error would have caused a surprising and awkward distraction for both candidates once the cameras started to roll.'

The commission wanted to install the plexiglass as Trump was just recovering from his COVID infection. Additionally, the president repeatedly refused to wear a face mask. And several Trump staffers either got the virus or were in quarantine due to possible infection after Trump was diagnosed.

The glass was removed after both presidential campaigns confirmed their candidates had tested negative for COVID that day.

Trump tested positive for COVID shortly after the first presidential debate. His top adviser Hope Hicks reportedly quarantined on Air Force One on the ride back from the debate site over worries she had the virus.

McDaniel also complained about the commission's original choice for a debate host: C-SPAN's Steve Scully who was later revealed to have a summer internship with then Sen. Biden when he was in college.

Trump attacked Scully as a biased choice. Scully then tweeted to former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, asking if he should respond. When that tweet was noticed, Scully claimed his account was hacked. He later admitted to lying about the hacking. C-SPAN suspended him but he has since returned to the network.

'It should be obvious, for instance, that no person should serve as a moderator who previously worked for one of the candidates,' McDaniel wrote.

Trump had threatened to boycott the debates during the campaign amid worries about which journalists would be selected as moderators. He was reported to be worried about being 'fact checked' during the proceedings. He railed against the debates as 'biased' when he was on the campaign trail.

The GOP chairwoman additionally charged the debate's board with being filled with partisans. The 10-member board has members of both parties but some of the Republicans had criticized Trump.

President Donald Trump repeatedly complained about the debate format and worried about the choices of moderators during the campaign - above the two contenders face off at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020

Many of the changes to debate format were put into place due to the COVID pandemic; above Melania Trump, Donald Trump and Joe Biden at the final presidential debate on Oct. 22, 2020

The reforms she demanded included term limits for the board, a code of conduct, committing to one debate before early voting begins, establishing criteria for debate moderators and a code of conduct for moderators.

She also demanded that if any moderator violated the code of conduct the penalties should include 'suspending their employer network from participating in future debates.'

She asked for a response from the commission by July 31.
A man will appear in court accused of allegedly sexually assaulting woman in Sydneys eastern suburbs.

Police launched an investigation after reports a woman had allegedly been sexually assaulted in a carpark on Cross Street in Double Bay last Sunday.

Following extensive inquiries, detectives attended an apartment in Parramatta in Sydney's west on Wednesday night.

Police has charged a man in relation to an alleged sexual assault in Double Bay on Sunday

A 37-year-old man was arrested and taken to Parramatta Police Station, where he charged with aggravated sexual assault  deprive liberty.

He was refused bail and will in appear Parramatta Local Court on Thursday.
Anthony Fauci was warned that the coronavirus was possibly 'engineered' in a lab before the pandemic started, newly released emails show

Leading virus experts were warning Dr Anthony Fauci COVID-19 may have been created in a lab while he publicly played such claims down, newly-released emails show.

A Freedom of Information Act request saw thousands of Fauci's emails released from last spring - including multiple discussions about COVID being man-made, some of which were later redacted.

Fauci was warned that the coronavirus was possibly 'engineered' in a lab before the pandemic started and seemed to be taking it seriously behind closed doors while downplaying the idea in public.

Fauci's foes such as Sen. Rand Paul called for him to be fired on over the emails on Twitter on Wednesday, with the hashtag #FireFauci gaining in popularity.

At 7:30am, Paul Tweeted, 'Told you #firefauci ... Can't wait to see the media try to spin the Fauci FOIA emails.'

Four hours later - shortly before noon - Paul Tweeted again saying, 'But even more importantly than being a hero, he was a fraud. A massive fraud. The newly released trove of emails to and from Dr. Fauci makes that abundantly clear.'

Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene are calling for Fauci to be fired

How Fauci flip-flopped on the origins of COVID April 2020: Fauci repeatedly made public statements suggesting that that COVID was the result of an 'unusual human-animal interface' in a Chinese 'wet market' and that 'the mutations that it took to get to the point where it is now is totally consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.' May 2020: Still adamant that he didn't believe the coronavirus was man-made. 'If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and whats out there now, [the scientific evidence] is very, very strongly leaning toward this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated,' he told National Geographic in an exclusive interview published May 4, 2020. 'Everything about the stepwise evolution over time strongly indicates that [this virus] evolved in nature and then jumped species.' Late May 2021 to early June 2021: During an event called 'United Facts of America: A Festival of Fact-Checking,' Fauci was asked if was 'still confident' that the virus evolved naturally. 'No, actually  I am not convinced about that. I think we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we continue to find out to the best of our ability what happened,' Fauci said. 'Certainly, the people who investigated it say it likely was the emergence from an animal reservoir that then infected individuals, but it could have been something else, and we need to find that out.' He added: 'So, you know, thats the reason why I said Im perfectly in favor of any investigation that looks into the origin of the virus.' Advertisement

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also seized the opportunity to criticize Fauci, who's considered America's top infectious disease expert.

'After reading through Anthony Fauci's leaked emails, it's more clear than ever that our country needs to #FireFauci,' she Tweeted.

In a Jan. 31, 2020 email - more than two months before the World Health Organization characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic - Fauci forwarded a copy of Science magazine article titled 'Mining coronavirus genomes for clues to the outbreak's origins' to two people.

US virus researcher Kristian Andersen and Sir Jeremy Farrar, who runs a global health charity in Britain, were on the receiving end of the email.

'This just came out today. You may have seen it. If not, it is of interest to the current discussion,' wrote Fauci, the longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Andersen, who runs a viral genomics lab at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California, wrote back, 'The problem is that our phylogenetic analyses aren't able to answer whether the sequences are unusual at individual residues, except if they are completely off.

'The unusual features of the virus make up a really small part of the genome (<0.1%) so one has to look really closely at all the sequences to see that some of the features (potentially) look engineered.'

Andersen also noted that he and others 'all find the genome inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory' but added that 'there are still further analyses to be done, so those opinions could still change.'

On March 30 and April 1, Andersen sent dozens of tweets in a thread after the World Health Organization released its report about the origin of the coronavirus.

In the thread, he included a tweet saying, 'First of all, I have very carefully considered the possibility of a lab leak, dating back to January, 2020. A committee under the White House OSTP/NASEM was set up in response to these enquiries and I remain a member of that committee today.'

On Wednesday, after Fauci's emails went viral, he tweeted a reply to Australian reporter Sharri Markson downplaying the idea of a cover up.

'I know it's super mundane, but it isn't actually a "massive cover-up," Sharri. It's just science. Boring, I know, but it's quite a helpful thing to have in times of uncertainty,' Andersen tweeted.

Two days later - February 2, 2020 - Farar sent an email to Fauci and other US health officials sent a ZeroHedge article wit the headline 'Coronavirus Contains "HIV Insertions," Stocking Fears Over Artificially Created Bioweapon.'

The messages were included in a batch of more than 3,200 of Fauci's emails from January to June 2020 that were obtained and published by Buzzfeed on Tuesday.

The emails show Fauci received 'a flurry of correspondence about the theory that coronavirus leaked from a lab in Wuhan,' Buzzfeed reported, including one email sent to Fauci on April 16, 2020 by Francis Collins.

Collins, the director of the National Institute of Health, wrote 'conspiracy gains momentum' in the subject line and included a link to a Mediaite news article referencing comments made a day earlier about the Wuhan lab leak theory by Fox News anchor Bret Baier.

The contents of Collins' email was redacted.

Fauci replied on April 17 at 2.45am but his response also was blacked out. Fauci requested a 'quick call' with Collins in one of his earlier replies.

US virus researcher Kristian Andersen responded to a January 2020 Fauci email about COVID

NIH Director Dr Francis Collins (left) appeared to dismiss the theory that COVID-19 leaked from a Wuhan lab as a 'conspiracy' in an email to Dr Anthony Fauci (right) on April 16 last year

The other email recipients included NIH Deputy Director Dr Lawrence Tabak, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Deputy Director Clifford Lane and NIH spokesman John Burklow.

The story linked in Collins' original email was based on an April 15 broadcast on Fox News during which Baier told fellow anchor Sean Hannity that 'multiple sources' believed COVID-19 originated in a Wuhan lab before accidentally escaping.

'This is from multiple sources who have been briefed at the beginning part of the origins of China and the beginning of the virus. They've also seen documents, open source and classified,' Baier said.

'We've asked to see those documents directly, but they are saying that it is increasingly likely, that there is increasing confidence that the virus - COVID-19 - started in a Wuhan lab.

'They're saying it occurred naturally because China was trying to show that they could be as good or better than the US in handling viruses, discovering viruses, and that this was a botched effort to contain this and it got out to the population.

'They are 100 percent confident that China altered the data, the statistics, they did a lot of things to contain the information. Meanwhile, they cut down, as you mentioned, travel from Wuhan internally, but left the international flights going, and there obviously is how you have a spread like this.'

Evidence has been mounting of late that supports the theory that the pandemic began as an accidental leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The subject line of Collins' email to Fauci and several others at the National Institutes of Health was titled 'conspiracy gains momentum'. It included a link to a Mediaite news article referencing comments made a day earlier about the Wuhan lab leak theory by Fox News anchor Bret Baier (above)

New evidence, including word of three workers at the Wuhan lab who fell seriously ill with COVID-like symptoms in November 2019, has forced a sober reassessment among doubters

President Joe Biden last week ordered a 90-day intelligence review to investigate the possibility and several high-profile public health experts have come out in recent months saying they believe that's how COVID-19 started.

Former CDC director Robert Redfield told CNN in March that he believes the virus 'escaped' from a Wuhan lab and started spreading as early as September 2019.

Even Collins appeared to change his tune as recently as last month while speaking to senators when he told them the Wuhan lab leak theory couldn't be completely ruled out.

'It is most likely that this is a virus that arose naturally, but we cannot exclude the possibility of some kind of a lab accident,' he said.

There is continued discussion over whether COVID is a naturally-occurring virus that leaked by accident, or a more sinister genetically-modified virus that was meant to be confined to the Wuhan institute.

The media and academics long heaped scorn on the lab leak hypothesis, insisting that it was a fringe conspiracy theory and even racist after Donald Trump embraced the idea.

But new evidence, including reports of three workers at the Wuhan lab who fell seriously ill with COVID-like symptoms in November 2019, has forced a sober reassessment among doubters.

'I think a lot of people have egg on their face,' ABC News Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl admitted on Sunday. 'Some things may be true even if Donald Trump said them.'

'Because Trump was saying so much else, that was just out of control... but now serious people are saying it needs a serious inquiry,' he said.

Facebook also has been forced to reverse its policy censoring posts speculating that the virus was engineered in a lab, amid serious questions about the 'gain of function' experiments being done on coronavirus strains at the Wuhan lab.

Three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology reported COVID-like symptoms in November 2019, before the virus began to spread around the world

China continues to furiously deny that the virus behind COVID-19 escaped from its lab in the original epicenter, accusing the United States of taking a 'dangerous stance' in calling for a full investigation into the possibility.

It comes after another trove of Fauci's emails, published by the Washington Post, revealed his cozy relationship with China's top infectious disease expert during the early days of the pandemic.

The emails were exchanged between Fauci and Dr. George Gao - the director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention - in March and April of last year.

Fauci did not ask any questions about the origins of the virus.

In March, Gao had told Science magazine that it was a 'big mistake' for US experts (including Fauci) to tell their citizens that they did not need to wear face masks.

A subsequent email shows that Gao was anxious as to how Fauci would interpret the remark.

He messaged Fauci on March 28 saying: 'I saw the Science interview... That was journalist's wording. Hope you understand. Lets work together to get the virus out of the earth.'

Fauci warmly replied: 'I understand completely. No problem. We will get through this together.'

On April 3, Fauci formally reversed his stance on mask-wearing, telling Americans that they should cover their noses and mouths to stop the spread. The top doctor was slammed by numerous pundits and millions of Americans for giving mixed messages.

He later said he did so to try and prevent members of the public panic-buying masks when hospitals were struggling to obtain adequate supplies of PPE.

Less than a week later, Gao emailed Fauci again expressing his support amid the onslaught of attacks.

'I saw some news (hope it is fake) that you are being attacked by some people. Hope you are well under such a irrational situation,' Gao wrote on April 8.

'Thank you for your kind note. All is well despite some crazy people in this world,' Fauci replied three days later.
A manhunt is underway after a man was allegedly robbed and assaulted at knifepoint during the sale of his mobile phone in Sydneys west.

Police were called to Davis Road in Marayong around 8.35pm on Wednesday night following reports of an armed robbery.

A man, 27, told police he had met with two other men of African appearance to discuss the sale of his phone when one of them allegedly took off with the phone and fled the scene.

The victim had arranged a meeting with two men to discuss the sale of a mobile phone (stock image)

The victim was then involved in a physical altercation with the other man, who lunged at him with a kitchen knife.

The other man returned to the scene and punched the 27-year-old, who was knocked to the ground and sustained a head injury.

The victim was treated at the scene by paramedics.

Police were told both men fled the scene on foot and were last seen running towards Osborne Road.

The alleged robbery and assault took place in Davis Road in Marayong (pictured) in western Sydney

One man is described as African appearance, aged 18-years-old, 180cm tall, slim build with short curly hair.

The other man was also of African appearance, about 185cm tall and slim build.

A crime scene was established and a police investigation has been launched.

Anyone with information should call Quakers Hill Police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Foreign holidays are under threat because ministers are worried about a new Covid variant, the Mail can reveal.

Scientists have alerted ministers to the mutant strain  thought to have originated in Nepal  which has apparently spread to Europe. They fear the strain is resistant to vaccines.

But a member of the Government's SAGE committee of experts said officials should not be overly concerned. He added: 'There are thousands of variants. This is a virus that is changing all the time.'

And Tory peer Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, chairman of the Airport Operators' Association, said: 'How many more variants have we got to be worried about? What matters is data and the success of our vaccination programme.'

The Government will today update its 'green list' of countries holidaymakers can visit without having to go into quarantine.

Whitehall sources said additions to the list will be 'extremely limited' amid concern over the Nepal strain and the slower rollout of vaccines across Europe.

There are even fears Portugal could lose its green status today, as the Nepal variant may have been detected there.

It means holidays to the Continent may be severely restricted until August  the month now being targeted by ministers for a significant reboot of foreign travel.

The development is a huge blow for the travel industry, which has been brought to its knees by the pandemic.

Industry leaders and MPs have warned that more than a million jobs are at risk if most of the summer season is lost, with billions more wiped from the UK economy.

Global warning: Is your chosen holiday destination likely to go up or down the risk list?

Health workers carry Ramjee Kunwar, 65, a Covid-19 patient from a helicopter to an ambulance after being airlifted from Pokhara to Kathmandu due to health complications

The row came as:

Hopes of the Balearic Islands going on today's green list were buoyed after it was claimed Britain's ambassador to Spain suggested there was a 'good chance';

But in a major blow, Spanish officials said they thought mainland Spain would remain amber  possibly until July 20;  Malta could potentially be the only European destination to go green today;

Boris Johnson said ministers would have 'no hesitation' putting more countries on the amber and red lists as he vowed to be 'cautious' about foreign travel;

Holidaymakers face a summer of airport queues, with immigration sources predicting 'extremely long waiting times' to get back into Britain;

It emerged the end of lockdown could be delayed by two weeks or watered down under contingency plans if there is a rise in Covid hospital admissions.

More than three quarters of adults have had at least one jab and almost half have had two;

Official figures showed Covid deaths now account for just 1 per cent of all fatalities.

Last night, even government advisers said the UK could not keep panicking every time a new variant emerges.

Professor Sir John Bell said ministers should avoid 'scampering down a rabbit hole' when new strains are detected, and instead focus on hospitalisations, serious disease and deaths.

Hospitals in Nepal are on the brink of collapse after cases of Covid surged over the past month.

Cases had fallen to fewer than 100 a day in March but reached more than 9,000 a day in mid-May.

Twelve more lives were also lost to the virus today  rising a third on last Wednesday's figure  after yesterday's recording of zero bolstered calls for No10 to stick with its roadmap

Covid cases jumped by more than 36 per cent in a week today, the eighth day in a row they have been above 3,000 and the second day in less than a week they have reached more than 4,000

Nepal's second wave has been driven by the spread of the B.1.167 variant from neighbouring India. But last night scientists warned that another variant of Covid-19 has since been identified.

Ryanair boss calls for holiday travel to EU and US to open up Ryanair boss Ryan O'Leary has today called for the Government to quickly lift restrictions on travel to the US and top holiday destinations in Europe. The airline chief said it was 'absolutely imperative' that 'big tourist destinations' such as as Greece and Spain be put on the UK's travel green list by the end of this week. He told Sky News: 'The restrictions should be lifted, we should be allowing British families to travel to the US and Europe, and also to return without having to complete useless PCR forms for people who've already been vaccinated. 'Nothing is absolutely safe but it is scientists and doctors' jobs to urge caution and care and worry. 'The vaccines are effective against the Indian variant, it's a scariant being used by the science and medical professions to urge caution. 'It's time that we got on with our lives.' Advertisement

Concern among ministers about the strain is one of the main reasons for not putting more holiday destinations on today's updated green list. They are also concerned about the slower pace of the vaccine rollout across Europe. Even though cases are falling in many European countries, they are far behind Britain's vaccine drive.

A lack of genome sequencing for detecting new variants in some European countries, a key criteria for making the green list, is also a concern. After meeting the UK's ambassador to Spain yesterday, Spanish hospitality official Antonio Mayor said: 'The impression I was left with was that there was a good chance the Balearic Islands could be included on the next green list, but not necessarily the Canary Islands.

'What was made clear at the meeting is that mainland Spain is not going to be put on the next green list that's announced.

'We hope it will be before but we're looking now at July 20 as the sort of date when things might change. If that does happen the tour operators are going to need at least a fortnight to normalise operations which takes us into the start of August.'

Mr Johnson raised the prospect of more countries being moved from green to amber or red. He said: 'We've got to continue to put countries on the red list, on the amber list, when that is necessary and I want you to know we will have no hesitation in moving countries from the green list to the amber list, to the red list, if we have to do so.

'The priority is to continue the vaccine rollout to protect the people of this country.'

Last night, MPs and industry expressed alarm at the prospect of foreign summer holidays slipping away. Tory MP Henry Smith, chairman of the all-party Future of Aviation group of MPs, and whose constituency includes Gatwick, said: 'After a devastating year for our aviation, travel and tourism industries, this will come as a hammer blow to an industry that is close to breaking point.

'Far from benefiting from a vaccine dividend, this reinforces that our overly cautious approach to international travel is a restart in name only.

'We must ensure that we avoid a summer shutdown that will cause irreversible damage to businesses and communities who rely on international travel.'

After today, the green list  which currently contains 12 countries  will not be reviewed until the week running up to June 28. If there is not a significant expansion then, it will be July 19 or 20 before there is another chance for more destinations to make it on to the list.

Portugal could be DROPPED from the UKs travel green list - dashing the hopes of millions of Britons of a holiday abroad this summer - as scientists and ministers prepare for crunch meeting on restrictions today

by JAMES ROBINSON for MailOnline

Portugal could be dropped from the UK's green list when scientists and ministers meet to discuss Britain's Covid foreign travel policy later today.

In a move that will be a bitter blow to millions of Britons hoping for a holiday abroad this summer, the Government is reportedly considering moving Portugal on to the amber list as part of its upcoming review of restrictions.

If the country is moved on to the amber list, holiday-makers entering the UK from Portugal will no longer be allowed to return quarantine free.

They will instead have to self-isolate for 10 days and pay out for two PCR tests.

It will be a huge kick in the teeth to Britons who have already booked a holiday in hot spots such as the Algarve, believing they will be able to return quarantine free.

And it will also be another damaging blow to the already struggling travel industry, which had hoped for more countries to be added to the green list this month.

It comes as Boris Johnson last night warned that the Government 'will not hesitate' in moving countries off the green list.

Portugal (pictured: A beach in Cascais near Lisbon) could be dropped from the UK's travel green list today - in a move that will be a bitter blow to millions of Britons hoping for a holiday abroad this summer

The Government is reportedly considering moving Portugal from the non-quarantine green list to the 10-day self-isolation amber list in its latest review of travel restrictions

And Portugal is reportedly the country of concern, with scientists said to be worried about rising Covid figures in the country - which last weekend welcomed thousands of English football fans for the Champions League final in Porto.

Yesterday Portugal saw its highest daily number of cases since March. And the country currently has a case rate of around 37 infections per 100,000 people - higher than the UK's rate of 34.5.

The final decision will be made tomorrow when scientists from the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) meet to discuss the travel restrictions.

Asked about the green list on Wednesday, Mr Johnson said: 'You've got to wait and see what the JBC says and what the recommendations are about travel.

'We're going to try to allow people to travel, as I know that many people want to, but we've got to be cautious and we've got to continue to put countries on the red list, on the amber list, when that is necessary.

'I want you to know we will have no hesitation in moving countries from the green list to the amber list to the red list, if we have to do so.

'The priority is to continue the vaccination rollout, to protect the people of this country.'

Instead of being put on the amber list, ministers could opt to put Portugal on a new 'watch list'.

This would allow holiday-makers time to react before the country is moved from green to amber.

In the past, holiday-makers have normally been given days - and sometimes up to a week - to return to the UK from countries where travel restrictions have been changed.

A source told the Telegraph last night: 'The watch list is an ideal and things could change more quickly if, for example, a super-variant was found in a country.

'We won't take any chances with it.'

While Portugal is one of the countries facing being moved up the Government's travel list scale, Malta could be one of the few countries moved down.

The Mediterranean island, a popular destination for British tourists, is currently on the amber list.

But it is the most likely country, if any, to be moved down to the green list, according to the Telegraph.

The Cayman Islands, Grenada, British Virgin Islands, Finland and some Caribbean islands are also among the countries that could be moved into the green list.

Cyprus' deputy tourism minister yesterday said the country 'absolutely deserves' to be on the UK's travel green list.

Travel industry experts have suggested that case levels are low enough to move the countries down.

However, Spain and Greece, which are two of the most popular tourist destinations of British holiday-makers, look set to remain on the amber list.

Meanwhile, Bahrain, Costa Rica and Vietnam could be moved up to the red list.

While amber arrivals are required to self-isolate for 10 days, and complete two PCR tests, arrivals from red list countries must stay in a quarantine hotel once landing in the UK - at the cost of 1,750 per person.

The news comes as a meeting between holiday chiefs and Hugh Elliott, British ambassador to Spain, suggests holidays there will be postponed until the end of July - dashing any prospect of the country joining the green list of nations.

Antonio Mayor, President of the Benidorm, Costa Blanca and Valencia Hotel Association also warned the smaller islands are not likely to be treated any differently to mainland Spain in terms of Covid-19 restrictions.

Popular European destinations including Spain and Italy remain on the amber list, which requires holidaymakers to quarantine for 10 days on returning to Britain, and take a pre-departure test and two post-arrival tests.

The news comes as a meeting between holiday chiefs and Hugh Elliott, British ambassador to Spain, suggests holidays there will be postponed until the end of July - dashing any prospect of the country joining the green list of nations.

Antonio Mayor, President of the Benidorm, Costa Blanca and Valencia Hotel Association also warned the smaller islands are not likely to be treated any differently to mainland Spain in terms of Covid-19 restrictions.

He said: 'We were told the Valencian Autonomous Community which includes the Costa Blanca wouldn't be treated differently from the rest of mainland Spain despite its low rate of coronavirus.

There is speculation that Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Kuwait and Bahrain might be added to the red list tomorrow

'The impression I was left with was that there was a good chance the Balearic Islands could be included on the next green list but not necessarily the Canary Islands because it's not doing the same amount of genome sequencing to identify the different strains of Covid.

'Everything's all a bit up in the air. The British Ambassador stressed the need for caution and patience in the light of the spread of the Indian strain of Covid.'

Yesterday Cyprus' deputy tourism minister said the country 'absolutely deserved' be put on the UK's travel green list.

Savvas Perdios told the Telegraph: 'Cyprus absolutely deserves to be green-listed.

'We have made a lot of progress, especially over the last month.'

Cyprus 'absolutely deserves' to be on UK's green list, says country's tourism chief Cyprus' deputy tourism minister today said the country 'absolutely deserves' to pe on the UK's travel green list. The Mediterranean island, a hugely popular holiday hotspot for British tourists, is currently on the UK's amber list. It means tourists returning from Cyprus have to self-isolate for 10 days on their return. Savvas Perdios told the Telegraph: 'Cyprus absolutely deserves to be green-listed. 'We have made a lot of progress, especially over the last month.' The country's current Covid infection rate sits at 36.95 per 100,000 people - on par with green-listed Portugal (35.58) and the UK (34.5). Yesterday, the country, which went into a short two-week firebreaker lockdown in May, reported just 58 new daily cases. And Mr Perdios said around half of the country's 875,000 population has been vaccinated so far. Advertisement

The country's current Covid infection rate sits at 36.95 per 100,000 people - on par with green-listed Portugal (35.58) and the UK (34.5).

Yesterday, the country, which went into a short two-week firebreaker lockdown in May, reported just 58 new daily cases.

And Mr Perdios said around half of the country's 875,000 population has been vaccinated so far.

It comes as the Mail today revealed how foreign holidays are under threat because ministers are worried about a new Covid variant.

Scientists have alerted ministers to the mutant strain  thought to have originated in Nepal  which has apparently spread to Europe. They fear the strain is resistant to vaccines.

But a member of the Government's SAGE committee of experts said officials should not be overly concerned. He added: 'There are thousands of variants. This is a virus that is changing all the time.'

And Tory peer Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, chairman of the Airport Operators' Association, said: 'How many more variants have we got to be worried about? What matters is data and the success of our vaccination programme.'

The Government will today update its 'green list' of countries holidaymakers can visit without having to go into quarantine.

Whitehall sources said additions to the list will be 'extremely limited' amid concern over the Nepal strain and the slower rollout of vaccines across Europe.

There are even fears Portugal could lose its green status today, as the Nepal variant may have been detected there

It means holidays to the Continent may be severely restricted until August  the month now being targeted by ministers for a significant reboot of foreign travel.

The development is a huge blow for the travel industry, which has been brought to its knees by the pandemic.

Industry leaders and MPs have warned that more than a million jobs are at risk if most of the summer season is lost, with billions more wiped from the UK economy.

Last night, even government advisers said the UK could not keep panicking every time a new variant emerges. Professor Sir John Bell said ministers should avoid 'scampering down a rabbit hole' when new strains are detected, and instead focus on hospitalisations, serious disease and deaths.

Hospitals in Nepal are on the brink of collapse after cases of Covid surged over the past month. Cases had fallen to fewer than 100 a day in March but reached more than 9,000 a day in mid-May.

Nepal's second wave has been driven by the spread of the B.1.167 variant from neighbouring India. But last night scientists warned that another variant of Covid-19 has since been identified.

Concern among ministers about the strain is one of the main reasons for not putting more holiday destinations on today's updated green list.

They are also concerned about the slower pace of the vaccine rollout across Europe.

Even though cases are falling in many European countries, they are far behind Britain's vaccine drive.

A lack of genome sequencing for detecting new variants in some European countries, a key criteria for making the green list, is also a concern.

Last night, MPs and industry expressed alarm at the prospect of foreign summer holidays slipping away.

Tory MP Henry Smith, chairman of the all-party Future of Aviation group of MPs, and whose constituency includes Gatwick, said: 'After a devastating year for our aviation, travel and tourism industries, this will come as a hammer blow to an industry that is close to breaking point.

'Far from benefiting from a vaccine dividend, this reinforces that our overly cautious approach to international travel is a restart in name only.

'We must ensure that we avoid a summer shutdown that will cause irreversible damage to businesses and communities who rely on international travel.'

After today, the green list  which currently contains 12 countries  will not be reviewed until the week running up to June 28.

If there is not a significant expansion then, it will be July 19 or 20 before there is another chance for more destinations to make it on to the list.
Advertisement

Lord Ashcroft is not at home  at least not in Belize, the country where he claims his heart resides.

The electronic gates of his large but, by jet-setting billionaire standards, restrained white stucco home on the seafront at Belize City are shut and look like they have been shut for some time.

Considering that my taxi driver was grumbling to me about how much the former Conservative Party treasurer controls the small Caribbean country, I was expecting to find a huge presidential-style palace.

Whatever the current whereabouts of the controversial Tory grandee (and yesterday he was on Twitter promoting his new book on Sir Keir Starmer), the scandal that has engulfed Belize has also drawn attention to him.

Ever since Canadian ex-pat Jasmine Hartin, 32, was arrested in the early hours of Friday morning last week in San Pedro on Belize's resort island of Ambergris Caye, with the body of a police superintendent floating in the sea next to a blood-stained pier with a single bullet wound in the back of his head, the business tycoon's shadow has hung over the tragedy.

The victim's blood could be seen at the end of the pier at Mata Rocks in the island of Belize

The scene of the incident at Mata Rocks Alaia Resort San Pedro in Belize. At the end of the pier is the victim's blood

Lord Ashcroft is pictured (right) here with Lord Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams cutting the ribbon to a new gym at Belize's main police station in February

Jasmine Hartin, 32, shot a police superintendent in back of the head in Belize Hartin says gun went off after he showed it to her and she went to hand it back

For Miss Hartin is the partner  both business and personal  of Andrew Ashcroft, the peer's younger son, with whom she shares two young children.

And for many ordinary Belizeans, including the family of Henry Jemmott, the dead officer, the case is raising difficult questions about the perception of the country's justice system.

Nobody has invested more in the former British colony than Lord Ashcroft, who says he never forgot his happy times there in childhood.

He has joint British and Belizean nationality, and was once even its ambassador at the United Nations.

It has not helped that the media was expelled from the courtroom during hearings and the windows shuttered.

According to police, Miss Hartin has insisted that Superintendent Jemmott's death was a terrible accident.

She and Andrew Ashcroft had earlier attended a party on happy-go-lucky San Pedro  celebrated in the Madonna song La Isla Bonita  and she had been drinking with Mr Jemmott on a pier near Andrew Ashcroft's luxury Alaia resort.

It's no secret that, although violent crime in the country isn't high and is largely confined to warring drugs gangs, the Belizean police encourage upstanding citizens to acquire guns for personal protection.

Sources say Mr Jemmott, a friend of the couple who was off-duty but carrying his gun, suggested Miss Hartin get one for herself and they examined his Glock pistol.

The firearm, which some regard as being light on safety features, accidentally went off while she was handing it back to him and shot him in the back of the head.

A local ex-pat, Eric Trachman, in fact demonstrated to me how it could happen, producing his own handgun and explaining how a tipsy Mr Jemmott, 42, might have cleared his gun's chamber of a round before handing it to Miss Hartin but forgotten to take out the magazine, meaning that another bullet had automatically been fed into the chamber.

Prosecutors have now charged Miss Hartin with manslaughter with negligence.

This charge can incur a five-year prison sentence but, if a guilty plea is offered, it can simply result in a fine of less than $20,000 (7,000), some of it going to the bereaved family and some to the court.

Belize Police Superintendent Henry Jemmott, who was shot to death during an incident on May 28 in Belize

Manslaughter by negligence is the least serious charge she could have been handed over the officer's death and in Belize is most often given to dangerous drivers.

The idea that a rich white ex-pat could escape killing a senior black police officer with what  to her  would be a fairly painless fine has caused some controversy in a country where racial antagonism lurks under the outward veneer of sunny Caribbean affability.

A fellow jail inmate being held in San Pedro police station fuelled such sentiments yesterday when he claimed that Miss Hartin had sworn at officers and demanded preferential treatment in being allowed to smoke a cigarette and have access to her pills, although those reports have not been confirmed.

Her bail hearing was postponed last night until tomorrow and she will remain in prison until then.

Mr Jemmott's family have weighed in, attacking the handling of his death.

'It's not right This is not justice,' said his sister, Cherry, 48, a police assistant superintendent.

'The people can see what is going on here, they are already saying it,' she added, referring to a flood of social media posts complaining that Miss Hartin has been 'let off' because of her connections to the rich ex-pat community.

'I can't say too much because of my position but it's not fair. Something is not right.'

Another sister, Marie, 55, who is helping to take care of his five children, said not only the family but the Belizean people as a whole felt betrayed by the justice system.

'I had faith in all the police departments. It's one of their own I think they should have taken that to court as murder and let the court decide.'

She told local media: 'It's a big disrespect to my brother who has served for 23 years plus and if it was anybody in his shoes, if the tables were turned, he would have done the correct thing.'

Her anger was echoed by Mr Jemmott's friend Francisco Arceo who spent the day fishing with the off-duty policeman before he was killed.

'I feel very saddened. I've been hearing the news and I just wish that it's fake, but apparently it looks like at the end of the road, things are not going to happen like how I was expecting to happen. Is there justice? I don't think there is justice,' he added.

Mr Jemmott's family are reportedly considering bringing a wrongful death lawsuit against Miss Hartin because they are unhappy with the manslaughter charge.

Faced with criticism over what some perceive as preferential treatment of the elite family, the Police Commissioner Chester Williams denied any wrongdoing yesterday.

'As I have said from day one that we were going to do our investigation as impartial as we possibly can and that there was going to be no special treatment afforded to her.

'Her social status should not affect how she is to be treated or should not allow her to be treated different than any ordinary person who have committed a crime.'

Ultimately, however, it is Miss Hartin's connection with Lord Ashcroft that is of particular interest many ordinary locals  for the peer's name evokes very mixed feelings in Belize.

Along with his son Andrew, he has declined to comment on the killing, his spokesman stressing only that the couple are not formally married.

Even Belize's notorious Central Prison (pictured)  reputedly one of the worst in the world and where Miss Hartin was moved on Tuesday  has benefited directly from Lord Ashcroft

But those who say that she is getting preferential treatment have drawn their own conclusions rightly or wrongly given the peer's decades-long history of financial generosity to Belize  including to its police force.

In February he was photographed cutting the ribbon on a spanking new $135,600 gym he had paid for at the main police station of the Belizean police.

Lord Ashcroft said at the event that his 'interest in law and order' dated back to 1988 in the UK when he 'formed and became chairman of the United Kingdom Crime Stoppers organisation'.

He said he was approached directly by the Commissioner of Police Chester Williams to fund the project.

'It was Mr Ashcroft who donated a gym to us not Jasmine,' said Mr Williams this week.

'Mr Ashcroft has done nothing wrong.'

Last July, Belize police awarded the peer  who had also given the police $60,000 to buy anti-Covid equipment  an 'outstanding citizen award' for his generosity.

It was 'nice' to receive it, said Lord Ashcroft as he posted a picture of the award on Twitter.

Even Belize's notorious Central Prison  reputedly one of the worst in the world and where Miss Hartin was moved on Tuesday  has benefited directly from Lord Ashcroft.

Lord Ashcroft's Foundation website lists the Kolbe Foundation, which runs the prison, as one of his key charitable projects.

The prison facilities include the Ashcroft Rehabilitation Centre (ARC)  the only rehab centre for drugs and alcohol addiction in the country  which was built through a large donation from the billionaire.

Lord Ashcroft has funded various projects at the facility, which holds both men and women, and which is nicknamed the 'Hattieville Ramada'.

The donations have often been made via his Covid Relief fund which has pumped millions into aiding the country's response to the pandemic.

Andrew Ashcroft and Miss Hartin have also reportedly been involved in local philanthropy.

Staff at their hotel, who describe them as affable, down-to-earth employers, say the couple paid for a health clinic to be set up nearby during the pandemic.

However, they've also been accused of gentrifying San Pedro with a hotel that this week was charging up to $1,000 a night for a room. Local people claim they are barred from eating there.

Lord Michael Ashcroft Receives Certificate of Appreciation from Belize Police Department issued him in July last year for his donation to them for PPE

Her lawyer in the case Godfrey Smith couldn't be more establishment  he is a US-educated former Attorney General and Foreign Affairs minister of Belize, and a member of the ruling People's United Party.

His wife, Valerie Woods, is currently Speaker of the country's parliament, the House of Representatives. Lord Ashcroft's Belize investments date back decades.

In his 2005 biography, he admitted that his interests there have been 'exempt from certain taxes for 30 years'.

Four years later, its then prime minister, told his parliament: 'Ashcroft is an extremely powerful man. His net worth may well be equal to Belize's entire GDP. He is nobody to cross.'

He has at one time owned a Belizean bank, telephone company, TV company, and shipping and business registries.

His business interests have been so entrenched with those of the country that in 2007, when his Belize Bank faced 80 separate charges of failing to comply with anti-money-laundering laws  allegations the bank firmly denied  the case was withdrawn over fears that any damage to the bank would trigger the collapse of the Belizean economy.

While his supporters say Lord Ashcroft has done so much to raise its fortunes, his opponents have questioned the extent of his financial influence in the country.

One former foe said of the philanthropist: 'I genuinely believe he just wants to be loved.'

However, ordinary Belizeans such as Belize City resident John Lockwood are hardly convinced. '[Lord Ashcroft] wants to own everything and the stupid government lets him.'

Lockwood said he would expect to go to prison if he killed someone, even by accident. 'What goes for me should go for you.'

Additional reporting: Inderdeep Bains and Daniel Bates
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a budget plan that would see the sunshine state state spend $101.5 billion dollars in the upcoming fiscal year.

DeSantis's 'Florida Leads' spending plan includes awarding $1,000 checks to first responders, more than 175,000 classroom teachers and 3,000 principals.

It will go into effect on July 1, and will cut taxes by a total $169 million in the already low-tax state.

DeSantis touted the state's success based on revenue projections during the bill signing at a New Smyrna Beach, Florida restaurant

The budget will cut taxes by a total $169 million in the already low-tax state

The budget, an increase of about $9.2 billion over the current fiscal year, includes $8.8 billion that Florida is slated to receive from President Biden's American Rescue Plan.

The GOP governor criticized the federal aid as a modest amount compared to what he called 'lockdown' states with higher unemployment.

'We had lower unemployment, so Florida got a lot less,' he said in a Wednesday press conference.

California, New York and Texas are among the states receiving the most money from Biden's plan.

State Democratic lawmakers called DeSantis's bill signing ceremony a 'victory lap'

Also included in Florida's budget is a hefty $100 million for community projects to combat rising sea levels and the effects of worsening hurricane seasons, which weather experts and Democrats have ascribed to climate change.

DeSantis touted the state's success based on revenue projections - chiefly driven by tourism - during the bill signing at a New Smyrna Beach, Florida restaurant, after a year where many state and even national economies suffered the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

'A lot of people were trying to tell me to close restaurants like this last summer. We didn't do it. We kept business open, we got kids in school,' DeSantis said. 'The result was our economy really started to rebound.'

The budget also increases the minimum wage for government employees to $13 per hour, above the $8.65 minimum for private employees within the state.

DeSantis's $101.5 billion spending bill comes after he vetoed $1.5 billion that state lawmakers wanted to allocate toward emergency relief funds and local projects.

$1 billion of the rejected funds were federal dollars that DeSantis criticized over their requirements.

Florida Senate Democrats found little to criticize in DeSantis's budget, but complained he didn't give credit to Biden

The Florida Senate's Democratic minority found little to criticize in DeSantis's spending allocations, but complained he didn't give credit where credit was due.

'Thanks to President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress passing the American Rescue Plan, the Governor can tout a state budget that helps Florida recover from the pandemic,' Democrat lawmakers said in a statement. 'Unfortunately, as he took his victory lap to hand out the bonuses, and brag about the many programs rescued as a result of the federal help, the governor never once directed thanks to those who made this possible.'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's opponents announced they have reached a deal to form a new governing coalition, paving the way for the removal of the long-time Israeli leader.

The dramatic announcement by opposition leader Yair Lapid and his main coalition partner, Naftali Bennett, came a matter of minutes before a midnight deadline, and prevented the country from plunging into what would have been its fifth consecutive election in just over two years.

Mr Netanyahu's Likud party won the most seats in the March 23 election, but he was unable to form a majority with his traditional religious and nationalist allies.

Crucially, a far-right party allied with Mr Netanyahu refused to join forces with a small Arab party that emerged as one of the kingmakers in the race.

Late Wednesday, Lapid told the president he had rallied the votes needed to form a coalition government to oust Netanyahu.

It came after he signed a pact with Bennett and his nationalist New Right party, and Mansour Abbas, leader of the Islamist United Arab List party.

'Lapid informed the president of the state of Israel... that he has succeeded in forming a government,' his party said in a statement issued shortly before a deadline of one minute to midnight.

'This government will work for all the citizens of Israel, those that voted for it and those that didn't. It will do everything to unite Israeli society,' he added on Twitter.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's opponents announced they have reached a deal to form a new governing coalition, paving the way for the removal of the long-time Israeli leader. Pictured: Three opposition leaders (From left: Lapid, Bennett, Abbas) signing an agreement amid the talks on Wednesday

Under the agreement, Lapid and Bennett will split the job of prime minister in a rotation. Bennett will serve the first two years, while Lapid is to serve the final two years. The historic deal also includes a small Islamist party, the United Arab List, which would make it the first Arab party ever to be part of a governing coalition.

The agreement still needs to be approved by the Knesset, or parliament, in a vote that is expected to take place early next week. If it goes through, Lapid and a diverse array of partners that span the Israeli political spectrum will end the record-setting 12-year rule of Netanyahu, who also ruled from 1996 to 1999.

Netanyahu, desperate to remain in office while he fights corruption charges, is expected to do everything possible in the coming days to prevent the new coalition from taking power. If he fails, he will be pushed into the opposition.

Netanyahu has attempted to put pressure on hard-liners in the emerging coalition to defect and join his religious and nationalist allies. Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin, a member of Netanyahu's Likud party, may also use his influence to delay the required parliamentary vote.

Lapid called on Levin to convene the Knesset for the vote as soon as possible.

Yair Lapid (left) and Naftali Bennett (right) had until the end of the day to to cobble together an administration that could end 12 straight years of rule by Netanyahu

Netanyahu has been the most dominant player in Israeli politics over the past three decades - serving as prime minister since 2009 in addition to an earlier term in the late 1990s.

Despite a long list of achievements, including last year's groundbreaking diplomatic agreements with four Arab countries, he has become a polarizing figure since he was indicted on charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in 2019.

Each of the past four elections was seen as a referendum on Netanyahu's fitness to rule. And each ended in deadlock, with both Netanyahu's supporters as well as his secular, Arab and dovish opponents falling short of a majority. A unity government formed with his main rival last year collapsed after just six months.

The new deal required a reshuffling of the Israeli political constellation. Three of the parties are led by hard-line former Netanyahu allies who had personal feuds with him, while the United Arab List made history as a kingmaker, using its leverage to seek benefits for the country's Arab minority.

'This is the first time an Arab party is a partner in the formation of a government,' the party's leader, Mansour Abbas, told reporters. 'This agreement has a lot of things for the benefit of Arab society, and Israeli society in general.'

Lapid, 57, entered parliament in 2013 after a successful career as a newspaper columnist, TV anchor and author. His new Yesh Atid party ran a successful rookie campaign, landing Lapid the powerful post of finance minister.

But he and Netanyahu did not get along, and the coalition quickly crumbled. Yesh Atid has been in the opposition since 2015 elections. The party is popular with secular, middle-class voters and has been critical of Netanyahu's close ties with ultra-Orthodox parties and said the prime minister should step down while on trial for corruption charges.

Israeli politicians battling to unseat veteran right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were locked in last-ditch talks on Wednesday to hammer out their 'change' coalition composed of bitter ideological rivals

Bennett, meanwhile, is a former top aide to Netanyahu whose small Yamina party caters to religious and nationalist hard-liners. Bennett was a successful high-tech entrepreneur and leader of the West Bank settler movement before entering politics.

It is far from certain that their coalition will last that long. In order to secure the required parliamentary majority, Lapid had to bring together eight parties that have little in common.

Their partners range from a pair of dovish, left-wing parties that support broad concessions to the Palestinians to three hard-line parties that oppose Palestinian independence and support West Bank settlements. Lapid's Yesh Atid and Blue and White, a centrist party headed by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and the United Arab List are the remaining members.

The coalition members are hoping their shared animosity to Netanyahu, coupled with the agreement that another election must be avoided, will provide enough incentive to find some common ground.

'Today, we succeeded. We made history,' said Merav Michaeli, leader of the dovish Labor Party.

The negotiations went down to the wire, with Labor and Yamina feuding over the makeup of a parliamentary committee.

Pictured: An image shared on social media purportedly showing the agreement between the eight parties to form the coalition

Earlier this week, when Bennett said he would join the coalition talks, he said that everyone would have to compromise and give up parts of their dreams. During the recent election campaign, Bennett had publicly vowed never to share power with Lapid or an Arab party. But facing the prospect of another unwanted election, Bennett, like the others, found flexibility.

In order to form a government, a party leader must secure the support of a 61-seat majority in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament. Because no single party controls a majority on its own, coalitions are usually built with smaller partners. Thirteen parties of various sizes are in the current parliament.

As leader of the largest party, Netanyahu was given the first opportunity by the country's figurehead president to form a coalition. But he was unable to secure a majority with his traditional religious and nationalist allies.

Netanyahu, who in the past has incited against Israel's Arab minority, even attempted to court the United Arab List but was thwarted by a small ultranationalist party.

After Wednesday's coalition deal was announced, that party, the Religious Zionists, angrily accused Bennett of betraying Israel's right wing.

'We won't forget and we won't forgive,' said Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionists.

After Netanyahu's failure to form a government, Lapid was then given four weeks to cobble together a coalition. That window was set to expire at midnight.

Lapid already faced a difficult challenge bringing together such a disparate group of partners. But then war broke out with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip on May 10. The fighting, along with the eruption of Arab-Jewish mob violence in Israeli cities during the war, put the coalition talks on hold.

But after a cease-fire was reached on May 21, the negotiations resumed, and Lapid raced to sew up a deal. He reached a breakthrough on Sunday when Bennett, a former ally of Netanyahu, agreed to join the opposition coalition.

Pictured: (Top L to R) Israel's opposition leader Yair Lapid, Israeli former Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, Israeli former Interior Minister Gidon Saar, Israeli ex-defence minister Avigdor Lieberman, (bottom L to R) Israeli politician Nitzan Horowitz, Israeli alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz, head of Israel's conservative Islamic Raam party Mansour Abbas, and leader of the Israeli Labour Party (HaAvoda) Merav Michaeli

Israeli right-wing protesters chant slogans and hold flags during a demonstration against the forming of a new government in the central Israeli city of Ramat Gan, Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Israeli politicians battling to unseat the veteran right-wing Prime Minister were locked in last-ditch talks on Wednesday night to hammer out their 'change' coalition composed of bitter ideological rivals.

They had until the end of the day - 11:59 pm (8:59pm GMT) - to cobble together an administration that would end 12 straight years of rule by the hawkish heavyweight, Israel's longest-ruling premier.

As the deadline loomed on Wednesday night, Israeli media reported there were some lingering disagreements over lower-level political appointments.

But it was announced just an hour and a half before the deadline that the Arab Israeli party had agreed to join the coalition - soon followed by other parties - putting Netanyahu on the brink of being ousted.

If the deadline had been missed, it was extremely likely that a fifth election in just two years would be held in Israel.

By early Wednesday evening, just six hours before the deadline at midnight, there was still no sign of progress, but compromises were reportedly being made in the final hours, according to the Jerusalem Post.

According to reports, Ayelet Shaked, Bennett's deputy, was demanding a place on a committee that chooses the nation's judges.

But Shaked, a prominent voice in Israel's hard-line right wing, has expressed misgivings about joining forces with the dovish members of the emerging coalition.

Both Shaked and Bennett have come under heavy pressure from Netanyahu and the country's right wing base not to join his opponents, and Shaked reportedly lost a large number of followers from her supporter's WhatsApp group when the deal was announced shortly before the deadline.

Meanwhile Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamic conservative Raam party, reportedly made last minute demands after last-minute talks with Netanyahu, who reportedly offered to cancel a law that enforces fines on illegal Arab buildings.

Abbas then demanded the same from the unity government being formed, and it was announced just before 20:30 GMT (10:30pm local time), that the Raam party had agreed to join the coalition.

The Knesset, or parliament, has assigned additional security guards to both in recent days because of death threats and online incitement.

Lawmakers elected Isaac Herzog as the 11th president since the creation of Israel in 1948 in a secret ballot on Wednesday.

Herzog, 60, is a former leader of the centre-left Labor party and minister from a prominent Tel Aviv family who supports two-state solution with the Palestinians.

He beat Myriam Peretz, 67, a settler and former headmistress widely known as 'the mother of sons' after she lost two of her six children while officers in the Israeli army.

Lawmakers elected Isaac Herzog (left) as Israel's next president in a ballot on Wednesday. he beat Myriam Peretz (right) for the position

Netanyahu faces troubles, chiefly a corruption trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust, sparking protests against him (pictured)

President Rivlin acknowledged in April that many believe Netanyahu is unfit to serve in light of his legal problems

Israel's latest political turmoil adds to the woes of Netanyahu, who is on trial for criminal charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust while in office - accusations he denies.

If he were to lose power, he would not be able to push through changes to basic laws that could give him immunity, and would lose control over certain justice ministry nominations.

The last-minute talks also follow a flare-up of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, which ended after 11 days of deadly violence with an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire on May 21.

An image showing Hamas rockets fired from Gaza (right) and blasts as they are intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defence system (left)

The night sky on May 14 was lit up as rockets were fired towards Israel from Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip

Netanyahu, who served an earlier three-year term in the 1990s, had warned on Sunday of 'a left-wing government dangerous to the state of Israel'.

The premier, who heads the Likud party and has developed a reputation as a wily political operator, was scrambling to scupper the new alliance.

Likud's lawyers on Tuesday tried to hobble the emerging coalition by challenging Bennett's right to serve first as prime minister, given that it was Lapid who was charged with forming the government.

But the legal adviser to Israel's president dismissed the challenge.

In order to build the anti-Netanyahu bloc, Lapid must sign individual agreements with seven parties, whose members would then vote in parliament to confirm their coalition.

They include the hawkish New Hope party of Netanyahu's former ally Gideon Saar and right-wing secular nationalist Avigdor Lieberman's pro-settlement Yisrael Beitenu party.

The centrist Blue and White party of Defence Minister Benny Gantz, the historically powerful Labor party and the dovish Meretz party would also join.

To get the coalition over the line, Lapid needs the support of the New Hope party of Netanyahu's former ally Gideon Saar (left), right-wing secular nationalist Avigdor Lieberman's (centre) pro-settlement Yisrael Beitenu party, and the centrist Blue and White party of Defence Minister Benny Gantz (right)

If all those parties indeed sign on, the emerging alliance still needs the backing of four more lawmakers, which Lapid hopes will come from Mansour Abbas's (pictured) Islamic conservative Raam party

If all those parties indeed sign on, the emerging alliance still needs the backing of four more lawmakers.

For that, Lapid is counting on parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, which have yet to announce their intentions.

Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamic conservative Raam party, which has four seats, has generally voiced openness to any arrangement that improves living conditions for Israel's 20 percent Arab minority of Palestinian descent.

Abbas told reporters Tuesday that negotiations appeared to be heading 'in a good direction'.

But, he said: 'until it's finished, nothing is finished.'
Advertisement

The prominent Belizean cop shot in the head by socialite Jasmine Hartin told a friend he was going on a date the night he was killed, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.

Police superintendent Henry Jemmott also joked that he would take the identity of the woman 'to the grave' with him, when the curious pal probed him for more details on the afternoon of May 27.

Jemmott, 42, had also boasted that he was staying for free at the Grand Colony Villas - a luxury resort operated by Hartin's husband Andrew Ashcroft, the son of British billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft - in the swank coastal enclave of Ambergris Caye.

The resort is sandwiched between the gleaming new Alaia hotel, a recently-opened Ashcroft property, and the Mata Rocks hotel pier where Jemmott was found dead just a few hours after the conversation took place.

He had been killed by a 9mm bullet which hit him behind his right ear and was fired from his own Glock 17 handgun, which Ms Hartin says went off by accident after he handed it to her to look at.

Aerial photographs show a pool of blood at the end of the wooden jetty and a trail leading into the water.

Police superintendent Henry Jemmott told a friend he was going on a date the night he was killed by Jasmin Hartin, DailyMail.com can reveal

Police say Jemmott was found floating on his back 30ft from shore, while Ms Hartin was found 'covered in red substance as that of blood'.

The handgun was nearby, with the empty shell casing that housed the fatal bullet still inside. It was loaded with another live bullet, while a second live round was found on the jetty.

The blonde socialite spent the past four days holed up in a tiny concrete cell at the stiflingly hot police and magistrates court complex in San Pedro, the tropical resort's only town. She was pictured behind bars by local media on Monday evening

Jemmott was taken to a clinic and pronounced dead at 3:44am. A post-mortem confirmed the dad-of-five died from a 'Massive Brain Hemorrhage due to gunshot wound to the head'.

Hartin, 32, is now facing a charge of manslaughter by negligence. She has so-far spent four days holed up in a tiny concrete cell at the stiflingly hot police and magistrates court complex in San Pedro, where she reportedly swore at officers and asked for preferential treatment by being allowed to smoke and take medication.

She will spend at least another week behind bars after a judge scheduled a court appearance for June 9, but will be locked up in a tougher prison - Hattieville - on the Belizean mainland after he denied her request for bail.

Ms Hartin has told police that Jemmott had placed his service weapon on the ground while the pair were drinking in the early hours of Friday, and the she accidentally shot him as she passed the weapon back.

But firearms experts say that type of gun usually has a safety bar over the trigger to stop accidental discharge and that both elements have to be depressed for the weapon to fire.

Michael Van Durme a former cop who now teaches gun safety in America told The Sun: 'You have to have a firm grip on the trigger and pull it all the way back for it to go off.

'It has a safety built into the trigger  theres a lever in the middle of it which also has to be pulled back the whole way in order for it to shoot. If you brush up against it or just hit the edge of it, it wont fire.'

The friend, who asked not to be named, said Jemmott contacted him last week to say he was headed to San Pedro, the main settlement and tourism hub in Ambergris Caye, where he had previously served as a senior officer for three years.

'I asked him where he was staying and he said Grand Colony. I said, what? You have money then?' the friend told DailyMail.com.

The criminal complaint revealed Hartin's clothing, which were also stained with blood, were recovered as evidence and her hands were swabbed

The 32-year-old socialite pulled her hoodie over her face and carried a plastic bag containing her belongings as she was led to a boat waiting to transport her to prison

'He said, I have stripes with the Ashcrofts, they are my friends. I said, you're with the rich people now and he laughed.'

The friend said he knew of at least one previous occasions when Jemmott - who has a long-term partner and five children - had stayed at Grand Colony Villas for free.

Hours before he was found dead, Jemmott was in good spirits and was looking forward to meeting a mystery woman, the friend added.

'He was the happiest cop you'll ever see but he's always like that. I said where are you going tonight and he said, I have a date.

Fellow inmate Jose, who was in the neighboring cell, told DailyMail.com Hartin cursed at officers and demanded special treatment after she was thrown behind bars last Friday

'He called the girl. When I heard the voice I asked who she was. He joked, that's my secret, this one I'm taking to my grave and he did take it.

'I'm struggling to cope with what has happened.'

The friend said he didn't know the Ashcrofts personally but had heard previous accounts of Jasmine partying beyond curfew.

Hartin's attorney Godfrey Smith said outside the courthouse in downtown Belize City: 'The matter has been adjourned. The public prosecution filed a short statement, just one sentence saying we object on the basis of flight risk, nothing further.'

But while Hartin's lawyers argue with the court that the shooting was an accident, an inmate in San Pedro who claims to have spent time in a cell near Ms Hartin claims she told him a very different tale.

The fellow prisoner, who gave his name as Jose, said that Hartin had claimed to him that Jemmott was gunned down by a passing boat.

'I heard there was a shooting that night but I didn't know that she committed it,' Jose told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.

'When I found out I applauded her, I said, you are the first lady here to kill a cop. She just smiled. The rest of the guys applauded her and said you have guts to do something like that.'

Jose, 48, claims he was locked up for merely breaching a Covid curfew in the swank coastal enclave of Ambergris Caye when Hartin was led inside.

He justified his cruel delight at hearing father-of-five Jemmott was dead because the high-flying officer had searched him for drugs and kicked him off the island two years ago.

Jose said he was stunned to see a wealthy, white woman behind bars in Belize but didn't know she was married to Andrew Ashcroft.

Jemmott joked with the friend that he would take his secret 'to the grave' when he asked for details of the mystery women. Jemmott is pictured with his sister

Late on Thursday evening, Hartin left her luxury hotel, Alaia (pictured) and walked a short distance down a beach to a small wooden jetty to meet Jemmott. Jemmott, 42, had also boasted that he was staying for free at a luxury resort operated by Hartin's husband Andrew Ashcroft

Exclusive DailyMail.com photos showed also revealed Hartin being led away from a police cell in handcuffs Tuesday as authorities transferred her to Belize Central Prison in Hattieville.

Wearing jeans, a red hoodie and black face mask she kept her head bowed in silence as she left the stiflingly hot San Pedro police station and court complex flanked by the fallen officer's former comrade, clutching only a plastic bag that mostly obscured her handcuffs.

She was put on the back of a golf cart which was driven to a secluded port five minutes from the station before she was placed on a boat bound for the mainland.

Sources believe Hartin will ultimately escape with just a fine for killing Jemmott after authorities opted against a murder or full-fledged manslaughter charge.

She told investigators the shooting was an accident and that she was passing the Glock to her 'friend' when it accidentally went off.

Sources predict she will plead guilty within weeks and pay around 20,000 Belizean dollars (around $10,000 in US money) to secure her freedom.

The party-loving hotelier was also caught with a small amount of cocaine in her purse, according to a well-placed source, but has not been charged over it.

Belize Police Commissioner Chester Williams said Wednesday that Hartin could still face additional charges for drugs possession.

'That is something that, Im not too sure at this time where that small amount of drugs was found, but it is something that will be looked at,' he told reporters.

Earlier this week, Jemmott's sister Cherry, 48 - an assistant superintendent in the Belize Police Department - slammed the decision to charge Hartin with manslaughter by negligence.

'It's not right. It's not right. The family will feel really bad. This is not justice,' she told DailyMail.com.

'My brother will have a state funeral on June 12. He gave 24 years to the police. And this is the value they put on his life?'

Lord Ashcroft, 75, is a former deputy chairman and key financial backer of the UK's ruling Conservative Party.

He also holds Belizean citizenship, has invested heavily in the country and has represented it at the United Nations.

His son, 42-year-old Andrew, is in a long-term relationship with Ms Hartin and the pair have two young children together.

It's not known whether the couple are currently living in the Alaia or the Grand Colony Villas, or whether Andrew and their two young children are still on Ambergris Caye.

Both properties offer spectacular views of the Caribbean sea, an assortment of swimming pools and luxurious rooms costing hundreds of dollars per night.
Army clerks have exposed the identities of more than 100 Special Forces troops in a glaring security blunder.

Their names  and those of military units so secretive the Government does not acknowledge their existence  were shared by email.

Last night anxious commanders launched an investigation and ordered copies of the un-redacted document to be destroyed.

Fourteen Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers, five members of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) and four Special Boat Service (SBS) troops were listed.

Fourteen Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers, five members of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) and four Special Boat Service (SBS) troops were listed

Forty members of highly sensitive intelligence and communication units were named as were 39 members of the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG)  a cohort of paratroopers and marines who operate alongside the SAS and SBS.

Alarmingly, the file also referred to E Squadron, considered the UKs most secretive military intelligence unit, and named one of its operatives. E Squadron is a composite unit that brings together Special Forces troops and MI6 agents. It is based in Hereford, the home of the SAS.

Its troops are thought to have secretly flown into Syria last year to repatriate an unaccompanied British child from a refugee camp amid the fallout of the Islamic State conflict.

Names of SAS troops are normally classified

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed the childs return to the UK but deliberately did not mention E Squadron. Its 50 or so members are banned from using social media platforms such as Facebook in case terrorists target them or their families.

The Special Forces troops and their units were listed in the Armys Corporal to Sergeant Promotion List, which was sent to hundreds of civil servants and soldiers regardless of their security clearance.

Documents containing such sensitive information are only supposed to be accessed by vetted individuals and on protected computer networks in a bid to prevent hacking.

A source said: This should never have been sent out, or shared among non-vetted personnel, because it could all too easily fall into the wrong hands. The consequences could be fatal.

Last night the Ministry of Defence confirmed that the final list of promotions would be redacted before being distributed. A spokesman said: The leak of this information is being investigated and it would be inappropriate to comment further.
Three senior Finks bikie gang members have been charged over the extortion of a shopkeeper in Sydney's northwest.

Last month detectives from the State Crime Command's Raptor Squad investigated the extortion of the 45-year-old man.

NSW Police raided homes at Chatswood, North Richmond, North St Marys, Tregear, Bidwell, and Raymond Terrace at dawn on Wednesday.

Three senior members of the Finks outlaw motorcycle gang were arrested and charged during the operation, police said

Three senior members of the Finks outlaw motorcycle gang were arrested and charged during the operation, police said.

Raptor Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Jason Weinstein will hold a press conference about the operation on Thursday.
An extinction plot to 'breed out' female rodents will be fast-tracked in a desperate bid to curb the terrifying mouse plague causing widespread havoc across regional New South Wales.

The state government will pour $1.8million into a three-year gene editing research program which aims to breed more male than female mice through a 'X-Shredder' approach or alternatively, make female rodents infertile.

The news comes after the shocking mathematics behind the lifecycle of mice was summed up in a graphic, showing just two rodents can spawn a colony of hundreds of thousands within month which can blow out to millions in just over a year in ideal conditions.

New cutting edge research at University of Adelaide aims to find a way for mice to breed themselves to extinction.

An extinction plot to 'breed out' female rodents aimed to curb NSW's mouse plague is underway. Pictured are dozens of mice in Tottenham in central-west NSW

One strategy called the 'X-Shredder' approach aims to eliminate sperm carrying the X chromosome, so mice breed more males than females, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The other approach would involve genetic modification to make female mice infertile.

'Cutting edge solutions like these mean future mouse plagues can be extinguished before they begin,' NSW agriculture Minister Adam Marshall said.

'Using targeted gene drives, scientists aim to interrupt the breeding cycle of mice and keep populations at manageable levels.'

Still in its early stages, the research could be used a decade from now to prevent mouse plagues in the future.

It's also hoped the technology can also be used on other pests like rats, rabbits, and feral cats, which would change pest management forever.

'What we're trying to do really is a proof of concept for the technology to see if we can get it working in a laboratory setting,' University of Adelaide Professor Paul Thomas told the publication.

The NSW government will invest in a three-year gene editing research program as the state battles a statewide mouse plague (pictured, mice in Gunnedah, NSW)

The lifecycle of mice is one of the main reasons the mouse plague inundating Australia's eastern states is so terrifying.

The common mouse can live for up to two or three years - but female mice start reproducing at just six weeks of age.

Three weeks later they can give birth to ten youngsters, while the mother can potentially get pregnant again the very next day

If half of every litter is female - who will be mature enough to reproduce just six weeks later - those two original mice will have sparked of colony of almost 2,000 mice within five months.

And then, in an ideal mouse world, the exponential growth really takes off.

A few weeks later, there will be tens of thousands - and then potentially hundreds of thousands before the numbers get truly mind-blowing.

Unchecked, they could hit 1.5 million within a year - and mathematicians predict a rampant colony can then effectively double in size every three weeks from then on.

The shocking mathematics behind the lifecycle of mice is one of the main reasons the mouse plague inundating Australia's eastern states is so terrifying.

The only thing stopping the plague would be a lack of food and predators - but the recent perfect Australian farming weather has meant there's no shortage of food.

And predators have so far been unable to keep pace with the mouse population boom, but coming cold wet winter weather could at least slow down the onslaught.

The NSW government is also looking at a previously banned chemical, dubbed 'napalm for mice', in a bid to wipe out the mouse menace.

Under increasing pressure over the plague that has tormented regional communities for eight months, the state government has secured 5,000 litres of the super deadly rodent poison bromadiolone.

Currently banned for agricultural use in Australia, the state has offered to provide it for free if the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority approves it.

When announcing the measure, part of a $50million government package to deal with the outbreak, Mr Marshall said the poison would be 'the equivalent of napalming mice' across the affected regions.

Research conducted at the university found high levels of the poison in owls and snakes across Perth, where bromadiolone is approved for use in residential settings.

'That sort of raised alarm bells,' Dr Davis said. 'This is potentially spreading through the whole food chain when we use these products.'

Pictured are mice scurrying around stored grain on a farm near Tottenham in central-west NSW

Research conducted at the university found high levels of the poison in owls and snakes across Perth, where bromadiolone is approved for use in residential settings

If the poison is used, he says it could set up even more favourable conditions for the next mouse plague.

'You could be seeing agriculture landscapes without owls, kites, snakes and goannas for a long time to come.

'We could lose all our natural pest control.'

NSW Farmers is calling for primary producers to get a 50 per cent rebate on zinc phosphide, an alternative poison, instead.

Dr Davis agrees it is the 'better of the two evils'.

NSW Farmers is calling for primary producers to get a 50 per cent rebate on zinc phosphide instead of the more controversial but effective bromadiolone (Stock image)

'There would be no other country in the western world that would approve this use of bromadiolone.'

If approved by the APVMA, it will be the first time bromadiolone is permitted for this use in Australia since 2016.

Farmers fear the out-of-control mouse plague could last for up to two years if urgent drastic action is not taken.

Xavier Martin, the vice president of NSW Farmers, said growers are now abandoning paddocks to the mouse hoard, fearing that crops sown there over the winter will be devoured before they can be harvested.

'Without a concerted baiting effort in the next few weeks, this could easily turn into a two-year plague event,' Mr Martin warned.
The man accused of shooting and injuring three people in Times Square on May 8 before fleeing to Florida appeared in a New York court on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty.

Farrakhan Muhammad, 31, is charged with attempted murder and multiple counts of assault, reckless endangerment and criminal use of a firearm.

He was denied bail, and the next hearing was set for September 13.

Muhammad has denied that he is responsible for the shooting that wounded two women and a four-year-old girl at the NYC landmark.

The victims did not know each other.

James Essig, New York Police Department Chief of Detectives, said that Muhammad was identified as the gunman by his brother, who told officers he was the intended target of the shooting.

Farrakhan Muhammad, 31, appeared in New York Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon, charged with attempted murder and multiple counts of assault, reckless endangerment and criminal use of a firearm. He pleaded not guilty

Muhammad, who had several previous arrests for robbery, fraud, assault and harassment, was denied bail by the judge in New York City

Muhammad has insisted that he was not in New York at the time of the May 8 Times Square shooting. Surveillance footage, however, captured someone who strongly resembled him running from the scene, and Muhammad's brother told police it was him

Muhammad is seen on May 28, when he was charged with attempted murder and multiple counts of assault, reckless endangerment and criminal use of a firearm. He is seen being led away from the police precinct where he was charged

Muhammad was aiming for his brother, his brother told police, and shot the three people by mistake. Muhammad insists he was not in New York City at the time

Farrakhan Muhammad is charged in the Times Square shooting on 5/8 that injured three people including a 4 year old. Muhammad was arrested by US Marshals in Florida and was extradited to NYC today. @CBSNewYork @NYPDnews pic.twitter.com/tLOiDe3EGy  Aundrea Cline-Thomas (@AClineThomas) May 29, 2021

US Marshals in Starke, Florida, shared this photo of Muhammad after his arrest on May 12

U.S. Marshals arrested Muhammad near Jacksonville, Florida, four days after the shooting, along with a woman who authorities said traveled with him from New York.

Muhammad spoke to WCJB-TV from county jail in Florida telling them that he had not been in New York at the time of the shooting.

'I still don't know nothing of nothing,' Muhammad told a WCJB reporter.

'I left New York a few days ago. I was in [New] Jersey,' he said.

Muhammad claimed that he had been evicted from his apartment in New York and traveled to New Jersey with his two dogs to stay with his girlfriend's family.

New York State lawmakers previously extended a statewide moratorium on residential and commercial evictions through August 31, meaning landlords should be unable to evict their tenants until the end of the summer.

Muhammad and his girlfriend, 22-year-old Kristine Vergara, later made their way to Bradford County, Florida, where he said they stayed with other family members.

Police officers are seen arriving on the scene in Times Square on May 8, moments after three people were caught in crossfire at around 5pm and shot

Muhammad was arrested after being caught in a car with his girlfriend and their two dogs in the parking lot of this McDonald's in Starke, Florida, on May 12

The suspect confirmed that he and Vergara were near the McDonald's in Starke at the time of their arrest on Tuesday, but claimed that they were on their way to look at an apartment for purchase.

They changed their minds about the property after a Confederate flag was spotted flying over the apartment building, and instead headed to the McDonald's for lunch.

'We parked by McDonalds so we could eat McDonalds real quick and thats what happened,' claimed Muhammad.

US Marshals apprehended Muhammad and booked him into the county jail on an out-of-state warrant, charging him with being a fugitive from justice.

His girlfriend, who lives in Jacksonville, is facing a count of accessory to second-degree attempted murder.

Muhammad (left) was booked into jail on an out-of-state warrant. His girlfriend, Kristine Vergara, 22 (right), faces a charge of accessory to attempted murder

This map shows the 975 mile trip Muhammad took from New York after the shooting, which ended when his car ran out of gas because of fuel shortages, police sources say

Spectrum NY1 reported that Muhammad's attempted escape came to an end due to fuel shortages caused after Russian hackers targeted the Colonial Pipeline.

The fuel line supplies much of the United States east coast, with ongoing disruption caused by the hack causing gas shortages and panic buying across much of the south east. An estimated 10 per cent of Florida gas stations have run out of fuel.

He was later spotted traveling through Fayetteville, North Carolina, and eventually picked up another 436 miles away in Starke.

ABC News correspondent Aaron Katersky tweeted a photo of Muhammad's arrest, with police saying he'd shaved his long hair short in an attempted disguise.

Muhammad's apprehension came four days and 975 miles way from the scene of the shooting.

His girlfriend was driving the car when Muhammad was arrested, but has not been charged with any crime.

Officers said Muhammad had shaved his hair to try and disguise himself.

Times Square is seen with a heavy police presence in the aftermath of the May 8 shooting, outside the theatre which normally hosts The Lion King

The shooting began at 5pm on May 8 in front of the Minskoff Theater that hosts the hit musical Lion King, but which is currently closed due to COVID-19 restrictions

The two apparently left New York City together after the shooting, according to one senior law enforcement official, though it's not clear if the woman knew he was wanted in the Times Square gunfire at that point.

NYPD detectives checked cameras that showed him leave Times Square after the gunfire and go to a hotel near West 42nd Street, NBC reported.

There he changed clothes and was seen leaving with his girlfriend.

Four-year-old Skye Martinez, 23-year-old Wendy Magrinat and 43-year-old Marcela Aldana were all injured in the attack.

The shooting occurred at around 5 p.m. on a Saturday night in front of the Minskoff Theater. It normally hosts the hit musical Lion King, but which is currently closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Upon hearing gunshots, many victims have said they felt panic and confusion, with dramatic footage showing frightened crowds scattering as they realized what was happening.

Magrinat said onlookers began filming her with their mobile phones rather than help in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

She was on a sightseeing trip from Rhode Island when she was shot in the leg while standing with her husband Yoel, their two-year-old daughter Elise, and her mother, stepfather and eight-year-old sister.

Magrinat said she started screaming after she had been shot in the leg: 'I don't want to die, please help me! The pain was too much, and I dropped to the floor.

'I understand people get in shock. But if you're in shock, you shouldn't be recording. But that's how people are right now.'

Danae Romero, 16, meanwhile, said she was waiting in line at a toy store with her four-year-old niece Skye when the shooting began.

Romero said the pair ran for their lives - but described how Skye was struck by a stray bullet in her calf.

Alyssa Vogel was filmed running from the tourist hotspot with four-year-old Skye Martinez in her arms after a gunman opened fire (right). Vogel said she was just doing her job

In an interview with DailyMail.com, Vogel said she thought any police officer in that situation would have done the same thing

'She didn't feel anything. Even when we noticed when we were at the corner, she wasn't crying,' Romero told The New York Post.

Instead, she sat there, as Police Officer Alyssa Vogel sprinted through the tourist spot, stopping at Skye and immediately applying a tourniquet to her leg.

Body camera footage shows Vogel then scooped up the child, and ran with her to a nearby ambulance.

'I think any officer that would've responded to a job just like that would've done the exact same thing,' Vogel previously told DailyMail.com.

Muhammad was a well-known figure in Times Square, where he would sell bootleg CDs.

He has been arrested several times over the last few years.

He was charged on October 17, 2018, with harassing a 25-year-old woman on the phone and sending her threatening text messages.

On March 17, 2018, he was arrested for aggravated harassment in Midtown, and on March 14, 2020, he was arrested for assault in Midtown.

Between 2007 and 2015, he was arrested seven other times on various charges including robbery, grand larceny and fraud.

Wasn't him: Times Square shooting suspect Farrakhan Muhammad, 31, told a WCJB reporter in a jailhouse interview that he was not in New York City at the time of the incident

Muhammad, who was caught near Jacksonville, Florida, on May 12, claimed that he had been evicted from his New York apartment and traveled to New Jersey to stay with his girlfriend's family

A suspect said to be Farrakhan Muhammad has been arrested on suspicion the May 8 shooting in Times Square, which left three people injured

Muhammad made his initial court appearance in Bradford County, Florida, on May 13 and opted to delay his extradition. By May 28 he was in New York

The shooting came amid criticism from the Sergeants Benevolent Association and mayoral candidates.

They said the shooting was proof of the need of more funding for the NYPD, who had their budget slashed by $1 billion last summer by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

De Blasio was celebrating his 60th birthday when the shooting occurred, but later tweeted he was glad the victims were in stable condition.

'The perpetrators of this senseless violence are being tracked down and the NYPD will bring them to justice,' he wrote. 'The flood of illegal guns into our city must stop.'

Violent crime has skyrocketed in New York City over the last few years.

Data from the New York Police Department shows there have been over 2,600 grand larceny arrests in April alone and 1,630 assault cases. Those figures are up 62 and 35 per cent, respectively, from the same time last year.

Violent crime has skyrocketed in recent months, with shooting at their most frequent since 1998

Shootings, meanwhile, are at their most frequent since 1998.

'Live from Times Square Disney in NYC the center of the world and the 'Happiest Place on Earth' where 4 year old girls are shot in broad day light, only feet away from a police precinct,' the SBA tweeted about the incident that night, including a photo of the Times Square Mickey Mouse.

'Tourists avoid NYC dont become a victim, please go to the real Disney in Florida.'

Tourists were just starting to come back to the Big Apple following a 18-month break in travel thanks to COVID-19, mayoral front-runner Andrew Yang said, who added that the Big Apple 'cannot afford' to listen to left-wing calls to defund its police department.

'When I talk to New Yorkers, I get a very different message every single day. Nothing works in our city without public safety, and for public safety we need the police.

'My message to the NYPD is this: New York needs you, your city needs you. We need you to do your jobs professionally, responsibly and justly. I will have your back.'

His rival Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain who edged ahead of Yang in a recent poll, slammed Yang for only now picking up on the rise in crime, which he said has been prevalent in poorer neighborhoods for years.

'You know what, Andrew? These shootings have been happening blocks from my house for years and blocks from the houses of poorer New Yorkers for years.

'It is time for us to recognize it when it is in every square block of our city. Shame on you for not realizing that,' he said.

One of Adams' campaign promises is to reinstate the disbanded NYPD anti-crime unit which de Blasio canceled last year amid criticism of its violent tactics.

NYC Mayoral candidate Andrew Yang has pledged to establish a new 'anti-violence plain clothes unit to reduce guns and gun violence'. 'The police will be key to our recovery,' he said.

Times Square has remained a popular tourist destination despite a rise in crime

In a news conference following the shooting, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said that his officers have been taking guns off the streets at an 'alarming rate over the past two years.'

'It's time now that we have consequences for those,' he added, seeming to refer to bail reform policies that see many suspects, including those caught with illegal firearms, walk free without posting cash bond.

'How many more kids do we need to be shot before we realize that bad policies have consequences?' said Shea.

'We need action, and we need policies regarding laws to have consequences.'
Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller will teach a class at the University of Virginia Law School on his probe Donald Trump that dogged the president for two years of his administration.

Mueller, a former top prosecutor who was lauded by lawmakers from both parties when his appointment was first announced in March of 2019, studied law at UVA decades ago.

'I was fortunate to attend UVA Law School after the Marine Corps, and I'm fortunate to be returning there now,' he said in a statement. 'I look forward to engaging with the students this fall.'

Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller will teach a course at UVA law school titled: 'The Mueller Report and the Role of the Special Counsel'

Mueller, 76, will teach law students about the probe that Trump continues to blast as a 'witch hunt,' and which contributed to Trump's first impeachment  although the impeachment articles focused on his conduct toward Ukraine.

Mueller made the controversial decision to outline ten potential areas of obstruction of justice by Trump in his report, without making a recommendation to charge him. His report acknowledged Justice Department guidelines against charging a sitting president.

Mueller's former deputy Aaron Zebley also will take part

Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller is sworn in to testify alongside his former Deputy Special Counsel Aaron Zebley before a House Intelligence Committee hearing on the Office of Special Counsel's investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election on Capitol Hill in Washington, USA, 24 July 2019

Former President Trump regularly attacked Mueller and his team for the 'witch hunt'

His the 448-page report lays out multiple areas of potential misconduct, including potential efforts to obstruct the investigation itself. Mueller never got an in-person interview with Trump, but the two sides traded questions in writing through lawyers.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr infuriated Democrats with his own four-page summary of the report in March 2019 before it was made available to the public.

Prosectors in New York continue to investigate Trump's business, having obtained tax return information. Mueller made efforts to keep his investigating closer to the Russia issues on which it began.

His course, The Mueller Report and the Role of the Special Counsel, will take part in six sessions, the Washington Examiner reporter.

Mueller's team of prosecutors are also taking part. Among them are former deputy Aaron Zebley, as well as former assistant Jim Quarles, both at the law firm Wilmer Hale, and Andrew Goldstein, who heads Cooley's white collar defense practice.

Another top prosecutor, Andrew Weissmann, blames Zebley in part for reining in the team and keeping them from fully pursuing Trump's finances.

'We could have done more,' he wrote in his tell-all. Zebley also attended UVA.

Mueller, too, is at Wilmer Hale.

According to UVA, sections will focus on 'navigating the relationship with the Justice Department and Congress, investigative actions relating to the White House and the importance of the Roger Stone prosecution.' Trump pardoned Stone months before he left office.
Medical histories of millions of NHS patients in England could be shared with a secretive US tech giant that has a 'terrible track record' with personal data, campaigners have warned.

From next month, sensitive information  including physical, sexual and mental health records  of every person registered with a GP are to be shared with third parties unless they opt out.

The NHS said the plan will help with research and planning to tackle Covid and other health issues.

Foxglove, a campaign group for digital rights, is urging the Government to reveal exactly who will have access to the data over fears it could include the US software firm Palantir, whose core business is providing big data and surveillance technology to the military, state security, and police.

From next month, sensitive information  including physical, sexual and mental health records  of every person registered with a GP are to be shared with third parties unless they opt out

Human rights groups have criticised the 30billion company for its involvement in controversial programmes and has accused it of failing to do due diligence on who it does business with.

Last night NHS Digital, which runs the health service's IT systems and is leading the project, said that only organisations with a 'legal basis and legitimate need to use' the GP database would have access to it.

It did not comment on whether Palantir would be involved but said any requests for access would be scrutinised by independent experts and GP representatives.

The firm has become increasingly involved in the NHS during the pandemic after offering to build a Covid-19 datastore. It has since won two more contracts worth a total 24million.

Foxglove said it was 'very concerned' that Palantir  which has been listed as a 'preferred partner' for procurement of NHS data service  may be used to manage the new GP database. It is among 50 organisations calling on the health service to end its involvement with the company.

Their petition states: 'Palantir is a US tech and security corporation with a terrible track record. They help governments, intelligence agencies, and border forces to spy on innocent citizens and target minorities and the poor.' Palantir declined to comment but a company source said it would only provide the software to hold the data and would not have access to it.

The NHS said the plan will help with research and planning to tackle Covid and other health issues

Foxglove director Cori Crider said: 'Palantir is the last company we want anywhere near the NHS.' The NHS is facing increasing criticism over plans to transfer 55million medical records to a database and share them with researchers and private companies.

Patients have until June 23 to opt out of the scheme, called general practice data for planning and research, by filling out a form and taking it to their GP.

NHS Digital said the anonymised data will only be shared with public sector bodies, charities or commercial organisations that meet a strict criteria to use it for research and health and care planning.

Its spokesman added: 'No organisation is able to access or use this data unless they have a legal basis and a legitimate need to use it.'

Palantir was founded in 2003 by Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal.

Foxglove said the company's technology specialised in security and surveillance and much of its work 'was secret'.

Many US police forces have used its software for 'predictive policing' which has been criticised for targeting poor and black communities.

Palantir has also helped the US and UK's digital spy agencies, NSA and GCHQ, manage mass surveillance programmes.
Those who do venture abroad this summer face hours of airport queues.

Staff on the border are already stretched almost to breaking point, one immigration source said. As the number of flights ramps up that will only get worse... there will be very long queues indeed.

Leaked Home Office analysis suggests waiting times could reach four hours at Heathrow. One trade union claimed the true figure could be far higher, with holidaymakers potentially queuing for up to ten hours to get back into Britain.

Passengers queue to return to Britain at Heathrow Airport where wait times could reach four hours

Heathrows Terminal 3 has now been reserved for passengers coming in from red list countries only  but one insider said this has proved a false economy, adding: There were only three flights from red countries on the first day. It just took staff away from busier parts of the airport. Broad estimates suggest we will still see incredibly long queuing times at the border  easily longer than the four hours estimated by the Home Office.

Officials insisted that the leaked analysis was out of date.

Since that study was completed in April we have seen smoother queues, a Home Office source said.

We have successfully tested a system which automates checking of the compulsory passenger locator forms as people pass through e-gates in the arrivals halls. That should be rolled out in the next few weeks in time for the summer peak.

The source stressed, however, that we have said all along that travellers are going to face queues because we are not going to compromise on checks at the border.

The Home Office source warned travelling will 'not be as smooth' as before the pandemic

They added: It will be difficult as the number of passengers increases. Travelling is not going to be as smooth as it was before the pandemic. We urge everyone to make sure they have completed all the paperwork accurately and in full  its sorting out mistakes at the border which causes all the delays.

Passengers must show proof of a negative Covid test and bookings for two more tests on arrival in Britain.

Those from red list nations must book quarantine accommodation, too. It can take immigration officers between 30 and 60 minutes to carry out checks  and notify passengers of potential fines  if these rules have not been followed.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has hinted Victorians could be given a $1,000 disaster payment as compensation for the drawn-out two-week lockdown.

The senior cabinet minister from Melbourne has so far ruled out reviving a JobKeeper wage subsidies scheme for his home state, with the Covid restrictions extended for another week.

But he hinted he was open to a $1,000 payment, similar to a policy deployed during natural disasters as Victoria recorded three new locally-acquired coronavirus cases among a population of 6.7 million people.

'Any support provided to Victoria would be temporary, it would be targeted, it would be through existing systems,' Mr Frydenberg told Sunrise on Thursday.

'They are the principles that serve does very well from the start of the crisis.'

Scroll down for video

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has suggested Victorians could be given a $1,000 disaster payment as compensation for the two-week lockdown

Who would get $1,000 Covid payment? The existing Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment policy provides $1,000 to adults and $400 to families for each child under 16 It applies to those whose principal place of residence has been destroyed or badly damaged from a natural disaster Recipients have to produce either a birth certificate, driver's licence, bank statement or Medicare card The relief policy was last activated in March to help residents of the New South Wales mid-north coast who suffered from flooding Advertisement

'We do recognise that with the extension of the lockdown in Victoria, there is a need and there is obviously a lot of pain that families and businesses have been going through.'

Under the existing Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment policy, adults affected by a flood, bushfire or earthquake are each entitled to $1,000 each, while children under 16 each get $400.

Instead of having to retool the JobKeeper scheme, which ended on March 28, individuals affected by the lockdowns would be able to have assistance paid straight into their bank account.

Mr Frydenberg, the Liberal Party's deputy leader, said Victoria's Labor government would have to chip in too.

'They have to make a significant contribution,' he said.

'There are mechanisms for shared responsibility.'

Victoria's Acting Premier James Merlino on Wednesday announced the state's lockdown would be extended for another seven days when there were 60 active cases and two hospitalisations linked to the current outbreak.

Another three cases were since announced on Thursday.

Following that announcement, Mr Frydenberg said the federal government was considering a series of policies to compensate Victorians who are being forced to stay at home.

'There are options that we are considering and that is one of many that we have looked at,' he told ABC radio on Thursday.

'There is a need in Victoria for continued support.'

Under the existing Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment, adults affected by a flood, bushfire or earthquake are each entitled to $1,000 each, while children under 16 get $400 each. Pictured are empty seats in Melbourne

Victoria is now on its fourth statewide lockdown since the Covid pandemic began, with the latest restrictions blamed on an infected man returning to Melbourne after staying in Adelaide hotel quarantining accommodation.

The Labor state government has been blaming the federal government for the failed hotel quarantining system and wants the commonwealth to pay for purpose-built, cabin quarantining facilities like the ones at Howard Springs near Darwin.

In July last year, the federal Treasury estimated Melbourne's three-month lockdown would cost the state economy $1billion a week.

The federal government has already spent more than $300billion on Covid relief measures, including $90billion on JobKeeper for businesses who suffered financially from the lockdowns.

Mr Frydenberg's third Budget, announced in May, delivered a deficit for 2021-21 of $161billion comprising 7.8 per cent of gross domestic product, the biggest proportion of the economy since World War II.

But the strong economic recovery from the Covid recession reduced that deficit from $213.7billion, or 11 per cent of GDP, as announced in the delayed October 2020 Budget.

Victoria's Acting Premier James Merlino on Wednesday announced the state's lockdown would be extended for another seven days. Pictured are women exercising in Melbourne

Following that announcement, Mr Frydenberg said the federal government was considering a series of policies to compensate Victorians who are being forced to stay at home. Pictured is an empty cafe near the Yarra River
The Department of Health was yesterday urged to slash its rip-off fees for Covid tests for returning holidaymakers.

MPs and industry chiefs hit out at the Government for charging double what the cheapest private provider does for post-holiday PCR swabs.

It is currently demanding 88 for one post-arrival gold standard PCR test and 170 for a two-test package.

That is double the 44 and 84 respectively that firm RT Diagnostics, the cheapest government-approved private provider, charges.

There are more than 70 firms charging less than the Government, according to a list of approved providers on its website.

MPs and industry chiefs hit out at the Government for charging double what the cheapest private provider does for post-holiday PCR swabs. (File picture)

The Governments prices could add more than 350 to the cost of a foreign break for a family of four to a green list country  returning holidaymakers need to take one PCR swab by day two.

The bill after returning from an amber country, for which two swabs need to be taken on days two and eight, would be nearly 700.

Critics last night said it was farcical that the Government is charging more than dozens of private firms  while asking them to drop their prices to make foreign holidays more affordable.

Private providers are said to be furious at being expected to drop their prices while the Health Department is charging more.

Research found that while the cost of a single PCR test in the UK was on average around 120, the average across eight of the most popular holiday destinations on the Continent was just 62.

This is partly due to several European countries either already axing VAT on tests, introducing a price cap on them or offering them free.

It has led to calls for ministers to intervene to bring down the cost of tests to prevent British families being priced out of trips abroad.

The Governments prices could add more than 350 to the cost of a foreign break for a family of four to a green list country

A Daily Mail campaign is backing calls for ministers to start by scrapping VAT on PCR tests so they can be made more easily available.

Although the price has fallen in recent weeks as new firms enter the market, just a handful of the more than 300 private providers listed on the Governments website offer a single PCR test for under 60 per person.

The Government swabs are provided by NHS Test and Trace and the firm Corporate Travel Management, which people must also book quarantine hotels through.

Tim Alderslade, CEO of Airlines UK, said: Nobody from the Government has been able to explain why these NHS costs are so much higher.

'The NHS should be leading by example and cutting costs to stimulate the private market.

It has the whiff of being a racket and the Department of Health needs to do more to bang heads together and ruthlessly target savings for families desperate to get away.

Steve Heapy, of Jet2, said: Currently, NHS Test and Trace is charging holidaymakers higher fees than those of testing companies. This should not be the case and the Department for Health should look to lead by example.

The current testing regime risks putting off hard-working families so that travel becomes the preserve of the wealthy.

Tim Alderslade, CEO of Airlines UK, said: 'The NHS should be leading by example and cutting costs to stimulate the private market'

The UK Government has previously said that it will drive down the cost of testing but we are still waiting for them to act.

Tory MP Henry Smith, chairman of the all-party Future of Aviation group of MPs, said: These figures show that despite the welcome efforts to reduce the costs of testing that there is a lot more that needs to be done, and must be done, and the Government must lead by example by bringing costs in line with private providers and removing VAT.

Heathrow chief John Holland-Kaye said PCR tests should not be required for those returning from low-risk green countries, and that cheaper rapid lateral flow devices should be allowed.

A gold standard PCR test  so-called because they are considered more accurate but take longer to process  could then be taken only if the rapid test was positive.

The Government last night denied attempting to cash in on travellers, claiming the NHS Test and Trace swabs were intentionally priced at the mid-point of the market to ensure that private providers can also fairly compete.

There is no obligation to choose the Government post-arrival testing package instead of a private providers.

Travellers can book an approved private one listed on the Government website, or the Government itself via the Corporate Travel Management website.

A Government spokesman said: NHS Test and Trace delivers tests for international arrivals, alongside other private providers who meet stringent testing standards, and charges at the mid-point of the market, to ensure private providers can also fairly compete.

'This price is regularly reviewed.
Advertisement

London suffered a night of devastating bloodshed as soaring temperatures drove a spike in frenzied violence.

At least four people were rushed to hospital with stab wounds in the capital last night, with one man fighting for his life after being hacked in a brutal machete fight between four thugs.

Leading criminology Professor David Wilson told MailOnline that the heat is likely to blame, with cases of violent crimes soaring as the weather gets hotter and popular outdoor spaces pack with eager sunseekers.

Horrified screams can be heard in chilling footage from the first of four bloody attacks yesterday. The mobile phone footage from 4.30pm in Greenwich shows four men in a face-off with giant blades, knives and a hammer.

Just hours later, dozens of riot police descended on Brixton at around 9.35pm after officers at the scene of a stabbing and shooting had objects - including bricks - hurled at them.

And shortly after that, less than three miles away in Norwood, police were called to another stabbing, which saw a man rushed to hospital with stab wounds. Then, in Shepherd's Bush in west London, a man was glassed in the face by a thug - with officers still at the scene this morning.

It comes amid a spate of carnage in the capital, which saw a popular 55-year-old florist stabbed to death in Islington, a man chased through London's Hyde Park by a gang wielding machetes, and a 15-year-old boy stabbed in Chelsea harbour- among other grizzly attacks.

Today is set to be the eighth day in a row that the mercury has been above 70F (21C) somewhere in the UK, after the country experienced its hottest day of the year so far for the third successive day yesterday.

Temperatures peaked at 82.9F (28.3C) in Northolt yesterday, after hitting previous 2021 highs on Tuesday with 79F (26.1C) in Cardiff and 77.2F (25.1C) at Kinlochewe in the Highlands on bank holiday Monday.

How the eight-hours of chaos unfolded last night:

4.23pm: Police are called to Greenwich to reports of a fight, with footage showed a horrifying machete standoff between four thugs;

9.35pm: Police rushed to Brixton to find a man in his mid-20s with what were thought to be gunshot injuries and stab wounds. Dozens of riot police later descended after officers had objects - including bricks - thrown at them;

Just before 11pm: A man in Norwood was discovered with stab wounds and was rushed to hospital;

Meanwhile, in Shepherd's Bush: Witnesses report a man was glassed in the face by a thug - with police present at the scene today. MailOnline has approached Met Police for comment.

GREENWICH: In Greenwich, horrifying footage showed four brawlers fighting with giant blades, knives and a hammer in broad daylight yesterday afternoon

GREENWICH: In Greenwich, footage showed four people facing off with weapons as horrified onlookers screamed

This was the madness in Greenwich yesterday a man with a knife fighting another man knife... And yet the one met police commander doesn't see it as problem pic.twitter.com/OdcWywu4eA  London & UK Crime (@CrimeLdn) June 3, 2021

BRIXTON: Later in the evening, dozens of riot police descended on Brixton after officers were attacked by a large group of men while attending the scene of a shooting and stabbing around 9.35pm

NORWOOD: Just one hour after the Brixton incident, police officers were called to another stabbing in Norwood - less than three miles away

SHEPHERD'S BUSH: And in Shepherd's Bush in west London, blood-soaked pavement is seen as police stand by a cordon following a stabbing

It comes amid a spate of carnage in the capital, which saw a popular 55-year-old florist stabbed to death in Islington, a man chased through London's Hyde Park by a gang wielding machetes, and a 15-year-old boy stabbed in Chelsea harbour- among other grizzly attacks

Professor Wilson - whose book A Plot to Kill: A True Story of Deception, Betrayal and Murder in a Quiet English Town will be released this month - told MailOnline: 'There is a well established connection between violent crime and hot weather.

'What is difficult to be definitive about is why that should be the case.

'Most violence occurs in places that are hot, polluted and overcrowded.'

It is often in hot, crowded pubs where confrontations - mostly between drunk revellers - occur, he said.

'It is hot and people are crowded together and bumping into each other there are more situations where people are going to potentially get angry with each other and fight with each other'.

He also highlighted that warm weather can make it 'difficult to fall asleep', leaving people feeling agitated and confrontational.

In Greenwich, footage showed four people facing off with weapons as horrified onlookers screamed.

Police officers rushed to the scene after violence erupted near to the River Thames, just before 4.30pm yesterday.

Paramedics and an air ambulance also attended the scene. One man is currently fighting for his life in hospital.

A Met Police spokesperson said: 'Officers are investigating after a stabbing in Greenwich.

'Police were called at 4.23pm to Barge Walk in south-east London to reports of men fighting. A man was found at the scene with apparent stab wounds.'

They urged anyone with information to come forward.

SHEPHERD'S BUSH: Witnesses reported a man had been glassed in the face in scene (police in the area, pictured)

SHEPHERD'S BUSH: Police are seen by a cordon at the site of a stabbing in Shepherd's Bush yesterday

SHEPHERD'S BUSH: A police officer standing by a cordon in Shepherd's Bush, west London, after a stabbing

NORWOOD: A man was discovered with stab wounds and was rushed to hospital just before 11pm (the aftermath, pictured)

NORWOOD: Pictures show police (pictured at the scene) and forensic officers examining bloody clothing, a mobile phone and a weapon at the scene of the attack

GREENWICH: Police officers rushed to the scene (pictured) after violence erupted near to the River Thames, just before 4.30pm yesterday

GREENWICH: Paramedics and an air ambulance also attended the scene (police at the scene, pictured). One man is currently fighting for his life in hospital

A Met Police spokesperson told the Sun: 'Officers are investigating after a stabbing in Greenwich'. Pictured: An officer at the scene

Police were called at 4.23pm to Barge Walk in south-east London to reports of men fighting yesterday. Pictured: A police dog and its handler at the scene

BRIXTON: Rocks and bottles were thrown and a police van was damaged by large groups

BRIXTON: Dozens of riot police descended on south London last night after officers were attacked by a large group of men while attending the scene of a suspected shooting and stabbing

BRIXTON: Videos on social media show a heavy police presence in Brixton, including dogs and a helicopter, after emergency services were called to reports of an injured man

BRIXTON: A man in his mid-20s was found suffering gunshot injuries and stab wounds

'Gang of white boys screamed we know what you look like n*****' before stabbing 14-year-old to death in the street Witnesses to the fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old say they heard a 'gang of white boys' scream 'we know what you look like n****' moments before the knife attack. Teenager Dea-John Reid, 14, was reportedly chased by a gang before being fatally stabbed in the chest during the incident in Kingstanding near Birmingham. A source told MailOnline that one of the attackers was heard shouting: 'I know what you look like, you n*****' during the stabbing. Community activist Desmond Jaddoo added today: 'We have heard there were racial slurs being hurled by the people who were chasing him but the police are dismissing that.' Teenager Dea-John Reid, 14, was reportedly chased by a gang before being fatally stabbed in the chest during the incident in Kingstanding near Birmingham In a tribute this evening, Dea-John's family described him as an 'incredibly talented young boy'. They added: 'We'd like to thank the emergency services for their diligence and supportand the public for their outpouring of love and support throughout this tragic and challenging time. 'This loss not only affects us but everyone Dea-John knew, we have lost a son, his siblings have lost a brother and others have lost a friend. 'The passing of this incredibly talented young boy will be felt by us all. How many more mothers will have to mourn for their sons for this to stop?' Advertisement

Meanwhile, in Brixton last night, two police officers were attacked and others pelted with missiles by a mob as they tried to arrest a shooting suspect.

Armed cops with riot shields stormed a street after a 25-year-old man was found with what are believed to be gunshot and stab wounds.

Police were hit with bricks and bottles with at least two officers assaulted, but neither needed hospital treatment, Scotland Yard said today.

A large group gathered to confront the officers when they arrived at the scene in Moorland Road in Brixton just after 9.30pm before the attack broke out.

The crowd was finally dispersed around three hours later at about 12.30am.

Social media video footage showed the mass brawl as cops tried to subdue the mayhem.

Reports suggested it may have been a block party where tension between rival gangs spilled out into the streets and ended in violence.

The shooting victim was taken by paramedics to a hospital in south London where his condition was assessed as non-life threatening, but it may be life-changing, police said.

There were no other reported injuries to other members of the public, according to the Met Police.

A 17-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and is still in police custody for questioning.

A crime scene is in place and police are patrolling the area, a spokesman for the force said.

Superintendent Dan Ivey, who is responsible for neighbourhood policing in Lambeth and Southwark, described it as a 'shocking outburst of violence' that was lucky not to have resulted in a murder.

He said: 'The scenes we saw last night were unacceptable. A shocking outburst of violence unfolded, in which a man sustained very serious injuries.

'But for the speed of the officers who responded, and the skill of medical staff, this could well have turned out to be a murder investigation.

'We are doing everything we can to support our colleagues in Specialist Crime as they investigate. Local residents can expect to see an increased police presence in the area.

'I urge anyone who has information that could help us to call 101 or speak to those officers and tell us what they know. Silence protects violent criminals. Police and local communities must work together to take these people off our streets.

'The scenes that followed the initial horrific incident were equally unacceptable. The officers at the scene were working to conduct an investigation following a serious incident and were dispersing crowds when they themselves were subject to an abhorrent attack from crowds of people who pelted them with items.

'The crowds were dispersed after further resources were deployed to the scene and order was restored. The people who were involved in that disorder can be assured that there is an investigation and we will be working to identify them and bring them to justice.'

Just one hour after the Brixton incident, police officers were called to another stabbing in Norwood - less than three miles away.

An 18-year-old man was discovered with a laceration to the head. He was taken to a hospital in south London where his injuries were deemed non-life changing and not firearms related.

Met Police said in a statement: 'Witnesses reported hearing large bangs which they believed to be gunshots however no evidence of firearms were found at the scene.

'Enquiries remain ongoing and no arrests have been made.'

And in Shepherd's Bush in west London, a blood-soaked pavement was seen as police stood by a cordon.

A man was stabbed in the face by a broken bottle, witnesses said. He was swiftly rushed to hospital.

The force said: 'Police on patrol were approached at 03:08hrs on Thursday, 3 June in Caxton Road W12 by a man with a facial injury. He is thought to have been attacked by a group of males who struck him with a bottle in Uxbridge Road. The man was taken to hospital by London Ambulance Service. There have been no arrests.'

The night of unrest came the same day a 21-year-old man was charged with the murder of popular florist Tony Eastlake, who was stabbed to death just yards from his stall in north London over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The 55-year-old - whose family described him as a 'very special man' and 'loved by everybody' - was attacked on Essex Road, Islington on Saturday at around 5.30pm and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Scotland Yard said James Peppiatt of Canonbury has been charged with murder, and has been remanded in custody.

Loud applause broke out at a vigil held in his honour on Monday attended by friends, family and loved ones, as his daughter Paige Eastlake called the flower seller 'my twin' and 'my best friend'.

Detective Chief Inspector Vicky Tunstall, leading the investigation for the Metropolitan Police, has asked anyone with information to come forward and check CCTV or dashcam footage.

She said: 'I hope this brings some reassurance to the community after what was an incredibly traumatic and unsettling incident that has cost the life of a well loved and respected man.

And on Tuesday, footage showed a man being chased through London's Hyde Park by a gang wielding machetes last night before being hacked to the ground with foot-long blades in front of screaming onlookers.

Shocking footage posted on social media shows a sprawling confrontation between a large group of youths and what appeared to be a single victim in a black tracksuit.

As members of the public fled in terror, the gang pursued the victim through the park before he slipped and fell to the ground enabling them to punch and kick him in the head.

BRIXTON: Riot vans were also seen in the area as a number of roads were closed

BRIXTON: In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said officers were approached by a large group of people and objects were thrown at them. A crime scene is in place

BRIXTON: Dozens of riot police descended on south London after officers were attacked by a large group of men while attending the scene of a suspected shooting and stabbing

BRIXTON: Riot vans were also seen in the area as a number of roads were closed

BRIXTON: A man in his mid-20s was found suffering what are thought to be gunshot and stab wounds

ISLINGTON: The Brixton unrest came the same day a 21-year-old man was charged with the murder of popular florist Tony Eastlake, who was stabbed to death just yards from his stall in north London over the Bank Holiday weekend

HYDE PARK: And on Tuesday, footage showed a man being chased through London's Hyde Park by a gang wielding machetes last night before being hacked to the ground with foot-long blades in front of screaming onlookers

ORPINGTON: Meanwhile, on Sunday a police dog was stabbed in the head five times while subduing a man armed with a large kitchen knife

On one video that was widely shared, a hysterical woman watching on screams: 'He got stabbed! There's a knife, there's a knife! Oh my God, oh s***, oh God oh God!'

Another clip shows a man standing over the victim to deliver a blow to his midriff.

Using street slang for a stabbing, a male voice in the crowd says: 'He bored him! Oh s*** he bored him!'

As the clip finishes, the victim is lying motionless on his back. He was rushed to a central London hospital and police said last night they believed he would survive.

Meanwhile, on Sunday a police dog was stabbed in the head five times while subduing a man armed with a large kitchen knife.

CHELSEA HARBOUR: And on May 5, a 15-year-old boy was rushed to hospital after being stabbed a number of times in one of London 's poshest areas, Chelsea harbour

ROMFORD: Just two days later, on May 7, a teenage boy was stabbed to death and another injured by machete attackers near the park where Jodie Chesney was fatally knifed two years ago

Kaiser was on patrol with his handler, PC Mark Woolcott, when the pair were called to a report of a back garden intruder in Orpington, south London.

After tracking down the suspect, Kaiser was stabbed four times on the top of his head and once below his eye.

Despite his wounds, the brave Alsatian was able to keep hold of the man for long enough to allow officers to detain him.

Kaiser was taken to the vets where he required stitches. Fortunately, the knife only struck bone  narrowly avoiding lasting injury.

He was kept in overnight for observation but is expected to make a full recovery.

Another police officer also received a broken wrist and is expected to be off work for up to a month. A 43-year-old man was later detained under the Mental Health Act and is now receiving treatment.

And on May 5, a 15-year-old boy was rushed to hospital after being stabbed a number of times in one of London's poshest areas, Chelsea harbour.

Just two days later, on May 7, a teenage boy was stabbed to death and another injured by machete attackers near the park where Jodie Chesney was fatally knifed two years ago.

Both boys - believed to be aged between 15 and 16 - were attacked within ten minutes of each other in Romford, east London on Friday night - just yards from where the 17-year-old Girl Scout was randomly murdered in 2019.
A teenage Tyrannosaurus rex had a much more powerful bite than previously thought, a study has found, and was able to deliver a bone-puncturing crunch before its adult teeth even came in.

At the age of 13, T.Rex was able to exert up to 5,641 newtons of force - somewhere between the jaw forces of a hyena or crocodile.

For comparison, humans have a biting power of just 300 newtons.

Researchers found that although young T.Rexes were not able to crush bones like their 30 or 40-year-old parents  who had a jaw force of about 35,000 newtons  they were developing their biting techniques and strengthening their jaw muscles for their adult teeth.

Scroll down for video

Bone-puncturing: A teenage T.Rex had a much more powerful bite than previously thought, a study has found. Pictured is an artist's depiction of a 13-year-old T.Rex chewing on the tail of an Edmontosaurus, a plant-eating, duckbill dinosaur of the late Cretaceous period

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

Previous bite force estimates for a young Tyrannosaurus rex were around 4,000 newtons.

These were based on reconstruction of the jaw muscles or from mathematically scaling down the bite force of an adult.

Bite force measurements can help paleontologists understand the ecosystem in which dinosaurs lived, as well as which predators were powerful enough to eat which prey, and what other predators they competed with.

'If you are up to almost 6,000 newtons of bite force, that places them in a slightly different weight class,' said Jack Tseng, assistant professor of integrative biology at University of California, Berkeley.

'By really refining our estimates of juvenile bite force, we can more succinctly place them in a part of the food web and think about how they may have played the role of a different kind of predator from their larger, adult parents.'

Tseng came up with the idea for the study after paleontologist Joseph Peterson discovered fossilised dinosaur bones with teeth marks from a young Tyrannosaurus rex.

Last year, he and Peterson made a metal replica of a scimitar-shaped tooth of a 13-year-old T.Rex, mounted it on a mechanical testing frame, and tried to crack a cow leg bone with it.

They were able to determine the amount of force based on 17 successful attempts to match the depth and shape of the bite marks on the fossils.

'This actually gives us a little bit of a metric to help us gauge how quickly the bite force is changing from juvenile to adulthood, and something to compare with how the body is changing during that same period of time,' said Peterson, a professor at the University of Wisconsin.

'Are they already crushing bone? No, but they are puncturing it. It allows us to get a better idea of how they are feeding, what they are eating.

'It is just adding more to that full picture of how animals like tyrannosaurs lived and grew and the roles that they played in that ecosystem.'

Such experiments using metal casts of dinosaur teeth to match bite marks on fossils are rare because the identity of the biter is seldom clear.

However, the two dinosaur fossils which Peterson excavated in eastern Montana in the US were perfect for the experiment.

Jaw force: Jack Tseng (pictured), from UC Berkeley, came up with the the study after paleontologist Joseph Peterson discovered fossilised dinosaur bones with teeth marks from a young Tyrannosaurus rex

One, the skull of a young T.Rex, had a healed bite mark on its face, which Peterson said had to be from another T.Rex. Tyrannosaurs, like crocodiles today, played rough, and the wound was likely from a fight over food or territory.

The puncture holes were also the size of juvenile T.Rex teeth.

The other fossil was a tail vertebra from a plant-eating, duckbilled dinosaur, an Edmontosaurus. It had two puncture marks from teeth that matched those of a young T.Rex.

Peterson said that T.Rex was the only predator around at that time  the late Cretaceous period, more than 66 million years ago  that could have bitten that hard on the tailbone of a duckbill. He believed it had likely punctured the bone when chomping down on a meaty part of the tail of the already dead animal.

T.Rex would crunch down and ingest the bones of its prey, previous fossil evidence suggests

'What's cool about finding bite marks in bone from a juvenile tyrannosaur is that it tells us that at 13 years old, they weren't capable of crushing bone yet, but they were already trying, they were puncturing bone, pretty deep,' Peterson said.

'They are probably building up their strength as they get older.'

The findings of the study will be published in journal PeerJ.

In April, a new study found that an adult T.Rex was only able to crunch the bone of its unfortunate prey thanks to its stiff lower jaws.

It chomped through bone by keeping a joint in its lower jaw steady like an alligator.

Scientists had previously assumed T.Rex had a flexible jaw like a snake to keep struggling prey in their jaws, but the new analysis showed the lower jaw was kept level and sturdy.

The experts used computed tomography (CT) scans of dinosaur fossils and modern reptiles to build a detailed 3D model of the T.Rex jaw.

Those findings came shortly after a study published the same month found that despite their brutal feeding habits, T.Rex had only a moderate walking speed.

Scientists in the Netherlands developed a new method to estimate the preferred walking speed of T.Rex, based on analysis of a preserved specimen called Trix, currently on display at Museum Naturalis in Leiden, Netherlands.

They revealed T.Rex enjoyed a 'leisurely' stroll at just 2.8 miles per hour (4.6km per hour)  a rate similar to the natural walking speed of emus, elephants, horses and humans and lower than previous estimates.
Experts have revealed locations of global 'hot spots' where new deadly coronaviruses may emerge, driven by global changes in land use by humans  including in China, France and the UK.

Forest fragmentation, agricultural expansion and livestock production are all bringing humans into closer contact with horseshoe bats, which are known to carry zoonotic diseases, including Covid-19.

Conditions are 'ripe' for the diseases to jump from bats to humans, particularly in China, where a growing demand for meat products has driven expansion of large-scale, industrial livestock farming.

Concentrated livestock production is concerning because it brings together large populations of genetically similar, often immune-suppressed animals that are highly vulnerable to disease outbreaks, the researchers say.

The other major global hotspots outside China are found in Java, Bhutan, east Nepal, northern Bangladesh, the state of Kerala (India) and northeast India.

While there are also low risk 'coldspots' in southern China, the analysis also found that parts of the country south of Shanghai, as well as Japan and the north Philippines, are at risk of becoming hot spots with further forest fragmentation.

Meanwhile, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia (Indochina) and Thailand may transition into hot spots with increases in livestock production, they reveal.

China has the largest hotspot (red) for the concurrence of high forest fragmentation, livestock density and human presence in the analysis. There are also high risk 'hotspots' in the UK and France, and low risk 'coldspots' in southern China, as well as the Middle East

Hotspots (red) and 'coldspots' (blue) of forest fragmentation, spanning from the British Isles to South East Asia. China exhibits on average greater forest fragmentation (inset) than the other regions analysed

DID COVID-19 STEM FROM A WUHAN LAB? British intelligence operatives now believe it is 'feasible' the coronavirus pandemic began with a leak from a research laboratory in Wuhan. They are now investigating the possibility that a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a Chinese research facility, sparked the global crisis which has sparked more than 3.5 million deaths. Western intelligence agencies had seemingly written off the 'remote' chance that the laboratory - where research into bat-derived coronaviruses is conducted - had played a role, but a recent reassessment has meant the leak theory is considered 'feasible', sources say. Read more: Wuhan lab leak theory 'is feasible' says British intelligence Advertisement

The study has been conducted by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, Polytechnic University of Milan and Massey University of New Zealand.

They used remote sensing to analyse land use patterns throughout the horseshoe bat's range, which extends from Western Europe through Southeast Asia, although it is rare in the UK.

The team identified areas of forest fragmentation, human settlement and agricultural and livestock production, which they compared to known horseshoe bat habitats.

This allowed them to find the potential hot spots where habitat is favorable for these bat species in the horseshoe family (Rhinolophidae), and where zoonotic viruses could jump from bats to humans.

'The analyses aimed to identify the possible emergence of new hot spots in response to an increase in one of three land use attributes,' said study co-author Maria Cristina Rulli at Polytechnic University of Milan.

'[We're] highlighting both the areas that could become suitable for spillover and the type of land use change that could induce hot spot activation.

'We hope these results could be useful for identifying region-specific targeted interventions needed to increase resilience to coronavirus spillovers.'

A 2017 study by the researchers previously linked forest fragmentation and habitat destruction in Africa to outbreaks of the Ebola virus.

Forest fragmentation, agricultural expansion and livestock production are all bringing humans into closer contact with horseshoe bats (pictured) which carry zoonotic diseases

The exact origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, remain unclear  and may not ever be officially confirmed.

A recently revived theory  that it leaked from a Wuhan lab at the end of 2019  is 'feasible', according to British intelligence.

The most popular theory from scientists is it emerged when a virus that infects horseshoe bats was able to jump to humans.

This happened either directly through wildlife-to-human contact, or indirectly by first infecting an intermediate animal host, such as the pangolin  a scaly mammal often confused for a reptile.

Horseshoe bats are known to carry a variety of coronaviruses, including strains that are genetically similar to ones that cause Covid-19 and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

SARS-CoV-2 is likely to have its ancestral origins in a bat species but may have reached humans through an intermediary species, such as pangolins - a scaly mammal often confused for a reptile (pictured)

Horseshoe bats are a generalist species and have often been observed in areas characterized by human disturbance.

'Land use changes can have an important impact on human health, both because we are modifying the environment, but also because they can increase our exposure to zoonotic disease,' said study author Paolo D'Odorico, a professor of environmental science, policy and management at UC Berkeley.

'Every formal land use change should be evaluated not only for the environmental and social impacts on resources such as carbon stocks, microclimate and water availability, but also for the potential chain reactions that could impact human health.'

Human encroachment into natural habitats can also can indirectly increase exposure to zoonotic diseases by reducing biodiversity.

When forest lands become fragmented and natural habitats are destroyed, species that require very specific habitats to survive, called 'specialists,' may dwindle or even go extinct.

Without competition from specialists, 'generalist' species, which are less picky about their habitat, can take over.

China has been a leader in tree planting and other greening efforts over the past two decades, but many of the trees have been planted in discontinuous land areas or forest fragments.

To tilt the ecological balance back in favor of specialist species, creating continuous areas of forest cover and wildlife corridors are more important than increasing total tree cover.

'Human health is intertwined with environmental health and also animal health,' D'Odorico said.

'Our study is one of the first to connect the dots and really drill down into the geographic data on land use to see how humans are coming into contact with species that might be carriers.

'While we are unable to directly trace the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from wildlife to humans, we do know that the type of land use change that brings humans into the picture is typically associated with the presence of these bats who are known to carry the virus.'

The study has been published in Nature Food.
A catastrophic drop in atmospheric ozone levels around the tropics some 75,000 years ago caused a bottleneck in the human population, a study concluded.

Ozone levels fell by half as a result of the eruption of the Toba supervolcano in Sumatra, experts from Germany's Max Planck Institute for Chemistry found.

One of the Earth's largest-ever explosions, Toba is believed to have erupted some 5,097 square miles of material and triggered a 610 year 'volcanic winter'.

Lake Toba  a 436 square mile body of water  has formed to fill the cauldron-like hollow, or 'caldera', left behind by the vast explosion.

The cooling from the volcanic winter would have had various knock-on effects including cooler oceans, longer El Nino events, crop failures and disease.

But by blocking out the sun and thus preventing protective ozone formation, ultraviolet radiation would have harmed humans more in the tropics, the team said.

According to past studies, the human population is believed to have fallen to just some 10,00030,000 individuals in the wake of the Toba eruption.

A catastrophic drop in atmospheric ozone levels around the tropics 60,000100,000 years ago caused a bottleneck in the human population, a study concluded. Ozone levels fell by half as a result of the eruption of the Toba supervolcano in Sumatra, experts from Germany's Max Planck Institute for Chemistry found. Pictured: an artist's impression of the Toba eruption

What was the Toba catastrophe? The Toba super-eruption was the biggest volcanic blast on Earth within the past 2.5 million years. It blew its top on what is now the Indonesian island of Sumatra around 74,000 years ago. The volcano fired out some 720 cubic miles (3,000 cubic km) of rock and ash which spread across the globe. Some scientists believe the eruption blotted out the sky, bringing with it a volcanic winter that lasted a decade. An eruption a hundred times smaller than Mount Toba - that of Mount Tambora, also in Indonesia, in 1815 - is thought to have brought a year without summer in 1816. Toba's eruption devastated life on Earth because its thick cloud of ash blocked out the sun, killing off much of the planet's plantlife. The event was so massive all that is left of the mountain is the enormous Lake Toba, which stretches 62 miles (100 kilometres) long, 19 miles (30 km) wide, and up to 1,657 feet (505 metres) deep. Advertisement

The notion that the super-eruption was to blame for slowing the growth of human populations was first suggest by science writer Ann Gibbons in 1993.

'Toba has long been posited as a cause of the bottleneck,' explained paper author and atmospheric chemist Sergey Osipov from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany.

Yet, he added, 'initial investigations into the climate variables of temperature and precipitation provided no concrete evidence of a devastating effect on humankind.'

Now, however, the link between the supervolcano and the bottleneck may have been established, said paper co-author and earth scientist Georgiy Stenchikov of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

'We point out that, in the tropics, near-surface ultraviolet (UV) radiation is the driving evolutionary factor,' he explained.

Climate effects, such as the cooling caused by volcanic aerosols in the atmosphere blocking incoming sunlight, only become more relevant 'in the more volatile regions away from the tropics,' Professor Stenchikov added.

'The ozone layer prevents high levels of harmful UV radiation reaching the surface,' explained Dr Osipov.

'To generate ozone from oxygen in the atmosphere, photons are needed to break the O bond. When a volcano releases vast amounts of sulphur dioxide (SO), the resulting volcanic plume absorbs UV radiation but blocks sunlight.'

This, he added, 'limits ozone formation, creating an ozone hole and heightening the chances of UV stress.'

In their study, the researchers ran a NASA-developed climate model on a KAUST-based supercomputer to simulate the impact of various eruption sizes on global levels of ultraviolet radiation.

The team's modelling found that even relatively small super-eruption scenarios resulted in significant effects on atmospheric ozone  and that the estimated sulphur dioxide emissions from Toba likely depleted global ozone levels by up to 50 per cent. Pictured: Ozone changes by latitude across the two years following the eruption. Depletion shown in blue

Their modelling found that even relatively small super-eruption scenarios resulted in significant effects on atmospheric ozone, and that the estimated sulphur dioxide emissions from Toba likely depleted global ozone levels by up to 50 per cent.

This shift would have led to higher UV radiation levels reaching the Earth's surface, increasing the harms to human health and negatively affecting survival rates.

'The ultraviolet stress effects could be similar to the aftermath of a nuclear war,' explained Dr Osipov.

Lake Toba  a 436 square mile body of water  has formed to fill the cauldron-like hollow, or 'caldera', left behind by the vast explosion. Pictured: the location of Lake Toba in Sumatra

One of the Earth's largest-ever explosions, Toba is believed to have erupted some 5,097 square miles of material and triggered a 610 year volcanic winter. Pictured: Lake Toba, which fills the cauldron-like hollow, or caldera, left behind by the eruption, as seen in the present

'For example, crop yields and marine productivity would drop due to UV sterilization effects. Going outside without UV protection would cause eye damage and sunburn in less than 15 minutes.'

'Over time, skin cancers and general DNA damage would have led to population decline,' he concluded.

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment.
Samsung's new virtual assistant is called Sam and looks like a Pixar character, new promo images reveal.

Brazil-based animation studios Lightfarm shared its renders of Sam online at the weekend before hastily taking them down.

Sam will likely power Samsung's Galaxy powered smartphones and smart 'things' like home appliances, as a replacement for Bixby, which Samsung revealed in 2017.

Sam could also power Samsung's first commercially available smart speaker, which has been frustratingly delayed since it was first revealed in 2018.

Digital assistants like Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri are disembodied voices that address users through devices like phones and speakers.

From these new leaked promo images, it seems Samsung is trying to pique interest by personalising the character with some creative 3D artistry, which could help it appeal to younger smartphone users.

Sam appears as a young woman with shoulder-length brown hair and Samsung-branded clothing, kitted out with a smart watch and Samsung Galaxy phone.

With her branded but simple attire and a Samsung Galaxy smartphone in hand, Sam looks like a Samsung employee

Lightfarm's dedicated link to the project redirects to its homepage, but a gallery of the promo images is still available to view on file sharing site catbox.moe.

Lightfarm worked with the Cheil Agency, a marketing company owned by Samsung, on the images, according to a now-deleted post, captured on Wayback Machine.

'Throughout the process, the team devoted itself to developing realistic materials, mainly for the character's hair and clothing, so that Sam appeared aesthetically pleasing,' said Lightfarm.

'Sam was an incredible partnership between the Cheil Agency and Lightfarm, and we are thrilled to be part of this project!'

Art and model of Sam, the virtual assistant from Samsung.

Album https://t.co/PcoY5m0N7u

Original source https://t.co/ThrmuJx0FH pic.twitter.com/Q3JzM92ASa  Reference Emporium (@MalteserRefs) May 31, 2021

Digital assistants like Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri are disembodied voices that address users through devices like phones and speakers. From these new leaked promo images, it seems Samsung is trying to pique interest by personalising the character

SMART ASSISTANTS AND THEIR CREATORS Siri - Apple Google Assistant - Google Alexa - Amazon Bixby - Samsung Cortana - Microsoft Advertisement

The images, which have been shared on Twitter, appeared to have split opinion  one user, @FlamingoASL, said 'Why is she a Disney princess???', to which @BearUNLV replied 'Closer to a Pixar'.

@BearUNLV, who posted the images to his Twitter, also said 'Bixby is done', in reference to Samsung's current smart assistant, which has apparently struggled to compete with other tech giants' offerings.

Another Twitter user, @aloeaceae, posted one of the images with the words 'All bow to my goddess Sam the Samsungs virtual assistant'.

MailOnline has contacted Samsung for comment. The company is yet to make any official announcement about a new smart assistant.

Sam is set to be a competitor for Google Assistant, which is the dominant smart assistant installed on Android phones.

Android  which is owned and operated by Google  is the operating system that powers Samsung phones, among others.

Seemingly a fan, @aloeaceae, posted one of the images with the words 'All bow to my goddess Sam the Samsungs virtual assistant'

A gallery of the promo images, showing Sam in a range of poses, is still available to view on file sharing site catbox.moe

Therefore, Sam will have to offer some very special capabilities to draw Android users away from Google Assistant.

Samsung is a giant in smartphones and tablets, but its venture into smart speakers had made a stuttering start.

Samsung revealed what was originally planned to be its entry into the smart speaker market back in August 2018, but the Galaxy Home was never commercially released.

The original design for Samsung's first smart speaker resembled more of a cauldron or a rocket ship, and was mercilessly mocked on social media.

Samsung original design for the Galaxy Home was mocked for its weird, cauldron-shaped design with tripod legs

The Galaxy Home Mini (above) had a slightly less adventurous design than the Galaxy Home - but neither were made available to buy

Undeterred, Samsung revealed a scaled down redesign, called the Galaxy Home Mini, in autumn 2019.

In February 2020, Samsung seemed to prematurely announce availability of Galaxy Home Mini in its home market of South Korea in a press release.

The release  which revealed a price tag of $83 (about 64)  was strangely taken down just hours later, giving the impression it was posted to Samsung's site by accident.

As of today, neither the Galaxy Home or Galaxy Home Mini are available to buy and Samsung has been quiet on their current release status.
Amazon announced Tuesday it is no longer screening potential employees for marijuana use, as the firm now supports the federal legalization of recreational cannabis.

The news was part of the tech giant's 'vision to be Earth's best employer,' which stems from founder Jeff Bezos, who made the announcement in April, two months after stepping down as CEO.

Dave Clark, head of global operations, stated in a blog post that marijuana will not be part of Amazon's drug screen for positions not regulated by the Department of Transportation, and will instead be viewed the same as alcohol use.

However, Clark notes that employees will be tested for the drug in the event of an incident in the warehouse or other Amazon run facilities.

Amazon announced Tuesday it is no longer screening potential employees for marijuana use, as the firm now supports the federal legalization of recreational cannabis

'In the past, like many employers, we've disqualified people from working at Amazon if they tested positive for marijuana use,' Clark said.

'However, given where state laws are moving across the US, we've changed course.'

Sixteen states and Washington DC allow recreational marijuana use, while 37 permit medical use of the drug.

In the blog post, Clark notes that Amazon is now actively supporting The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE Act).

This legislation would legalize cannabis at a federal level, expunge criminal records and invest in impacted communities.

'We hope that other employers will join us, and that policymakers will act swiftly to pass this law,' Clark wrote.

There are 16 states and Washington DC that allow recreational marijuana, while 37 in total permit medical use of the drug

The MORE Act was introduced in July 2019 by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and passed by Congress on December 4, 2020.

However, it has yet to be passed by the Senate, but it was again reintroduced on May 28.

Nadler shared in a statement this month: 'Since I introduced the MORE Act last Congress, numerous states across the nation, including my home state of New York, have moved to legalize marijuana. Our federal laws must keep up with this pace.

Amazon is now actively supporting The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE Act). This is a federal legislation that would legalize cannabis at a federal level, expunge criminal records and invest in impacted communities

'I'm proud to reintroduce the MORE Act to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, remove the needless burden of marijuana convictions on so many Americans, and invest in communities that have been disproportionately harmed by the War on Drugs.'

Amazon's headquarters is Washington State, which was among the first in the US to legalize the drug in 2021.

The company is also constructing a second headquarters in Virginia, where weed is on the way to becoming legal.

Amazon's announcement appeared to be favorable, as stocks of publicly traded cannabis companies jumped on Wednesday.

Shares of Tilray were up more than 11 percent and Cronos Group stock was up over six percent, while Sundial saw the largest jump, gaining more than 13 percent.
After being put behind schedule in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NASA is once again delaying the start of its $10 billion James Webb Telescope because the rocket to launch it isn't ready.

And it's not going to be launched anytime soon - especially because the telescope needs a 55-day preparation period after it reaches the French territory in South America from which it's to be launched.

A NASA spokesperson told DailyMail.com on Wednesday the launch of the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope will happen 'no earlier than October 31.'

According to Ars Technica, the Ariane 5 rocket that will launch the telescope has been grounded since August 2020 due to a 'payload fairing issue.'

Officials at Arianespace, which is managing the launch, said previously the root problem of the payload fairing issue has been diagnosed and has been fixed. Nonetheless, the rocket has still not launched. It isn't clear why.

Separately, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted activity at the spaceport in French Guiana, the French territory on the northeast coast of South America, due to the limited supply of vaccines there.

Such delays are typical for NASA in a complicated launch where everything must go just right. But it's a disappointment for the agency, nonetheless, which originally sought to send the telescope into space as early as 2007.

'Webb will ship to the launch site in August with little to no schedule margin,' the NASA spokesperson said in an email to DailyMail.com.

'Launch processing will take two months. The observatory has completed all the post-environmental testing deployments, and its in its final integration and folding stages. Final stow, closeout, and pack and ship are imminent.'

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will launch 'no earlier than October 31,' a NASA spokesperson told DailyMail.com

NASA recently unfolded the giant mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope 'like a piece of origami artwork' one last time ahead of its launch later this year

The spokesperson added NASA is working both with the European Space Agency and Arianespace on establishing the launch date, which will happen 'approximately four months after the first launch of the Ariane 5 this year, which is scheduled for late July.'

At a press briefing on Tuesday, the European Space Agency (ESA) said the launch could be delayed, but did not give a firm launch date.

The telescope's director for launch services, Beatriz Romero, said there were a 'combination of different factors' to consider, including the shipment of telescope, the readiness of the Ariane 5 rocket and the readiness of the spaceport in South America.

At the briefing, Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, confirmed that it would not launch until mid-November at the earliest, citing the 55-day launch campaign that the telescope needs after it arrives in French Guiana.

Supported by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), it has a massive 21ft 4 inch mirror that was commanded to fully expand and lock itself into place, replicating the process that will happen in space

Zurbuchen added that NASA and the primary contractor on the telescope, Northrop Grumman, are close to putting it into a container where it will be shipped by boat before arriving in French Guiana.

In July 2020, the launch of the telescope was pushed back to October 31, 2021 from March 2021, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was initially scheduled to launch as early as 2007, however the telescope has faced a number of delays in recent years.

Some of the delays have been technical issues, which have raised the price of the telescope from the initial estimate of $1.6 billion to the $10 billion it currently costs.

One of the most important parts of the mission is the the five-layer sunshield, which NASA has said previously said is "designed to keep Webb's mirrors and scientific instruments cold by blocking infrared light from the Earth, Moon and Sun."

Researchers believe the James Webb Telescope could prove the existence of life on another planet could be proved as early as 2026

Once it is launched into space on the aforementioned Ariane 5 rocket, it will settle in space, 930,000 miles above Earth.

In August 2019, NASA announced that it had successfully assembled the craft, marking the biggest milestone of its long road to completion.

It will offer unprecedented insight into the atmospheric composition of gas dwarf planets.

The massive telescope will be used to look back to the first galaxies born in the early universe more than 13.5 billion years ago.

It will observe the sources of stars, exoplanets, as well as the moons and planets in the solar system.

In doing so, it will use the most advanced technologies to make observations including infrared light, learning about atmospheres of target worlds that have entirely different chemistry from Earth.

Earlier this year, researchers at The Ohio State University said the telescope could detect a signature of life on other planets in as little as 60 hours.
Popcorn is an American classic and although the snack seems simple to make, choosing the right kernel is key to perfecting it.

A new study investigated how popcorn characteristics relate to the expansion of a kernel with the hopes of improving the iconic treat and identifying which kernels have 'good popping quality.'

After analyzing 49 different types, scientists determined that the greatest popping expansion depends on how thick the kernel's outer layer is - a thicker outer layer allows the starchy substance inside to transfer heat longer and make larger pieces.

A team led by the State University of Maringa in Brazil looked at different characteristics including the chemical and physical traits of kernels before and after being heated.

Scroll down for video

Popcorn is an American classic and although the snack seems simple to make, choosing the right kernel is key to perfecting it. Pictured are purple kernels and popcorn that contain more antioxidants than yellow kernels

'The way kernels expand is a basic, yet very important characteristic of popcorn,' Maria Fernanda Maioli, a researcher at the State University of Maringa, said in a statement.

'This is referred to as 'expansion ratio.''

The research was recently published in Agronomy Journal, a publication of the American Society of Agronomy.

The study looked at how popcorn characteristics relate to the expansion of a kernel with the hopes of improving the iconic treat and identifying which kernels have 'good popping quality.' Pictured are yellow kernels and popcorn, which are commonly used by movie theaters

'Very hard grains burst when heated,' she added. 'This expansion multiplies the initial volume of the grains by more than 40 times. In the case of popcorn, it produces a unique and tasty food.'

For their research, the team evaluated multiple agronomic, chemical, physical and popcorn quality traits of the 49 types  all of which were done randomly with three replications of each.

And kernels were from popcorn, flint and sweet corn.

The team looked at traits such as grain yield, kernel length, expansion, kernel and the protective outer layer, along with heat transfer ability and the amount of protein in kernels.

They also looked at genotypes within each kernel and then compared each group, and exposed all of the 49 types to heat.

A team led by the State University of Maringa in Brazil looked at different characteristics including the chemical and physical traits of kernels before and after being heated. White popcorn is made from smaller kernels that look like rice granules

A kernel's popping ability is affected by how well the starchy substance inside transfers heat, thus sparking the expansion process.

'We observed how this heat transfer inside the popcorn kernel relates to the expansion ratio,' Maioli explained. 'It allowed us to understand how other characteristics may also relate to expansion.'

Following that, the researchers studied the influence of those characteristics on the popping expansion.

After analyzing 49 different types, scientists determined that the greatest popping expansion depends on how thick the kernel's outer layer is. Black popcorn is packed with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits

'Our results showed that the thickness of the kernel's outer layer is a key trait for selecting popcorn with greater popping expansion,' Maioli said.

Popcorn is a favorite in the US, with Americans consuming 15 billion quarts of the treat each year, but its history also runs deep in North America, according to History.com.

The oldest evidence of popcorn dates back around 5,600 years ago, when Indigenous people left unpopped kernels in a New Mexican cave.

When French explorers landed in America, they found natives feasting on popcorn  and it began to grow in popularity from there.

However, the treat was sold in the early 1800s under the name 'Pearl' or 'NonPareil.'

Then in 1848, the term 'popped corn' became the official name.
Male students expect they will be paid about 9.7 per cent more than their female counterparts when they start their first job after university, researchers discovered.

Both male and female students have optimistic wage expectations when studying, at compared to the actual average graduate salaries, but men expect to earn more.

The gender wage gap is a well-established phenomenon in the labour market, and the team from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland wanted to find out why.

They surveyed 865 students at universities in Switzerland about workplaces they hope to work in after graduation, expected wage and personal information.

Researchers found that when given information about actual wages they would be able to earn women decreased their expectations, but men increased them.

Male students expect they will be paid about 9.7 per cent more than their female counterparts when they start their first job after university, researchers discovered. Stock image

The same team found that within a year of graduation the men expected to be earning 9.7 more than what the female students expected to be earning.

This was when calculated without any other factors such as career choice or lifestyle prospects such as a break for children.

They don't give any explanation over why expectations at university seem to have an impact on actual wage differences in the workplace, just that it happens.

Some evidence of a gender wage gape can be explained through job paths held by one gender or another, the team explained, and that job being better remunerated.

Their survey, of students at multiple universities, also covered general demographic information, the type of job they hope to enter after graduation, their expected wage after they graduate and three years later, as well as hopes for a future family.

They also asked students whether they would work full or part time if they had children, where they wanted to live and for some of the students, showed them a bar graph with actual monthly gross income information for their chosen sector.

When comparing expected wages from the students surveyed to averages of actual wages from comparable graduates, the authors found that both men and women were optimistic about their expected wages: on average.

Male students' expected wages exceeded the actual wages of similar graduates by 13 per cent, whereas female students' expected wages exceeded the actual wages of similar graduates by 11.2 per cent.

Interestingly, for those students given the extra bar graph of gross income information, male students actually increased their average expected wages.

Both male and female students have optimistic wage expectations when studying, at compared to the actual average graduate salaries, but men expect to earn more. Stock image

In contrast to this female students given the same actual wage information tended to decrease their average expected wages to be closer to the real figure.

They found a statistically significant direct, unexplained effect of gender on wage expectations remains for most cases under several statistical models considered.

The authors add: "Males typically forecast higher future earnings than females.

'We find that a broad set of personal and professional controls - collected in an own survey of two Swiss institutions of higher education - largely accounts for those gender differences in expectations across most empirical specifications.'

The findings have been published in the journal PLOS ONE.
If you were looking forward to a spot of sea bathing or wild swimming in Britain's waters this summer, perhaps it's time to think again.

The UK's bathing water quality is rated among the worst on the continent, with just 110 coastal and inland sites judged as excellent in the latest data from Europe's environmental watchdog.

Britain was ranked last out of 31 countries, although Covid-19 restrictions hampered sampling in the UK last year and meant most of the country's bathing sites could not be classified.

Scroll down for video

Just 17 per cent of Britain's bathing sites were classified as excellent quality, compared to 22 per cent for Poland. That figure was at least 50 per cent for the other 29 countries, and 70 per cent for 24 nations. However, Covid-19 restrictions hampered sampling in the UK last year

The lack of data left the UK propping up the league table, compiled annually by the European Environment Agency (EEA), with only Poland as close company.

Just 17 per cent of Britain's bathing sites were classified as excellent quality, compared to 22 per cent for Poland. That figure was at least 50 per cent for the other 29 countries, and 70 per cent for 24 nations.

Of the UK's 640 monitored bathing sites, 457 received no verdict in the 2020 rankings because they could not be sampled.

Nevertheless, 12 sites in Britain were found to be of poor quality, 29 were sufficient and 32 good.

WHERE CAN'T I SWIM IN ENGLAND? The Environment Agency advises against bathing in: Burnham Jetty North and Weston-super-Mare, Somerset

Combe Martn, Ilfracombe Wildersmouth and Instow, near Exmoor National Park

Clacton Groyne 41, Essex

Scarborough South Bay, North Yorkshire

Tynemouth Cullercoats, near Newcastle

Wherrytown, west Cornwall Advertisement

The league table included the EU member states plus Albania and Switzerland.

Cyprus came out on top, with all of its bathing sites classified as excellent, while Greece, Austria, Croatia and Malta also had 95 per cent or more listed in the category.

In 2019, the UK had 66 per cent of sites reaching excellent standard, placing it sixth from bottom in the 31-country rankings.

A government spokesperson said: 'The quality of bathing waters in England has improved significantly in the last 20 years.

'The latest data from 2019 shows that that 72 per cent achieved the highest standard of excellent, while 98.3 per cent passed the minimum standard.

'Visitors to coastal and inland swimming spots have over 400 bathing waters to choose from and can find out more information on the Environment Agencys "Swimfo" website.'

Water quality testing on coastal waters and lakes in England was paused for much of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Environment Agency (EA) said it could no longer carry out the checks because of social distancing restrictions.

Sampling is used to test for bacteria including E. coli, which can cause pneumonia, urinary tract infections and diarrhea.

The EA is currently required to carry out the health and safety checks under EU law, and usually collects data from May to September.

Swimming in the sea: Families paddle in the tidal pool at Margate in Kent today as people continue to head to the beach in the warm weather

Almost all, 98.3 per cent, of the UK's waters passed the minimum standard for bathing in England in 2019.

The EA currently has warnings in place on nine beaches which advise Britons against swimming due to pollution levels.

Bathing water data from 2020 will be the last to include Britain. EU member states plus non-members Iceland, Switzerland and Turkey are included in the EEA, but the UK has opted out of such membership post-Brexit.

Virginijus Sinkevicius, the European commissioner for the environment, fisheries and oceans, said: 'Bathing water quality in Europe remains high and it's good news for Europeans who will be heading to beaches and bathing sites this summer.'

A Water UK spokesperson said: 'Water companies are proud of their record on bathing water with great strides made over the last 20 years.

'In 2019, the last time data was available, a record 93 per cent of English bathing waters were classified as either good or excellent.

'The artificial placement of the UK in this table reflects the absence of data from 70 per cent of sites due to Covid restrictions, rather than actual performance.'
An uncommon crustacean is the new star attraction at a Maryland science museum: a Chesapeake blue crab that's half male, half female.

This crab, which has an extremely rare condition known as bilateral gynandromorphy, is about 4-and-a-half inches long and estimated to be in its third year.

It has both blue and red-tipped claws and an apron, or underbelly, that is split right down the middle.

Typically male blue crabs have blue claw tips and a T-shaped apron, while females have red tips and a wide apron.

A gynandromorphic crab hasn't been reported on the Eastern Seaboard in at least 15 years.

Scroll down for video

A blue crab with bilateral gynandromorphy, or both male and female characteristics, was recently discovered in Maryland

Waterman Jerry Smith caught the newest one, Chesapeake Bay Magazine reported.

Rather than throw it in his catch, Smith, a crabber for more than four decades, donated it to the Delmarva Discovery Museum, where it now gets to lounge around in its own 70-gallon tank.

In a male blue crab, or 'Jimmy,' the apron is pointed 'like the Washington Monument,' according to Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), while the claws are a deep blue.

In a female, or 'sook,' the pincers are pinkish and the apron is rounded, 'like the Capitol dome.'

The unnamed crab, which is in its third year, now has its own tank at the Delmarva Discovery Museum in Pocomoke City, Maryland

'The male claw is much more blue and the female claw is less blue and tipped with red,' September Meagher, an animal husbandry expert at the Delmarva Discovery Museum, told DailyMail.com.

'Our crab's claws are not displaying this as obviously, but we are noticing it more and more each day as it settles into its new habitat and receives nutrient rich meals.'

Bilateral gynandromorphy, when the division of characteristics is split down the middle, usually arises very early in an organism's development, when it has just between 8 and 64 cells.

'This condition is a cellular abnormality that is believed to occur when the crab is still in its egg form,' Meagher said.

Waterman Jerry Smith (pictured) caught the crab and donated it to the Delmarva Discovery Museum

The crab's apron is split right down the middle, between the male 'T' shape and female 'U' form

At some point, a cell doesn't split its sex chromosomes in the typical fashion, leading to non-uniform distribution of sexual characteristics, from coloring to reproductive organs.

It is different from 'hermaphroditism,' when only the sex organs are impacted.

Bilateral gynandromorphism doesn't occur in mammals, but has been observed in lobsters, crabs, snakes, butterflies, bees, chickens and other birds. It can potentially be impacted by water temperature or hormone levels inside the mother's womb.

According to Meagher, marine biologists at VIMS are researching the rare genetic condition to better understand breeding and sexual development in blue crabs.

The creatures were once a major economic driver in the region but their numbers have declined due to overfishing and pollution.

A female blue crab (right) is distinguishable by her red-tipped claws and the unique inverted U or V-shape on her apron, or underbelly. The male blue crab has blue claw tips and a T-shaped apron

'It is believed that they cannot reproduce with themselves, as a hermaphrodite is sometimes able, but that they might be a viable mate for another crab,' she said.

The museum hasn't named the crab yet but, Meagher said, 'we have a suggestion box and encourage the public to come meet the crab in person and drop in their suggestion.'

VIMS reported the discovery of a bilateral gynandromorph crab pulled from the Bay by watermen David Johnson and Robert Watson in 2005.

Neither sailor had reported ever seeing one before in their 25 years on the water.

That crab, put on display in an aquarium in the VIMS visitor center, had one red claw and a blue one.

Before that, Smith caught another gynandromorph blue crab in 1979.

In 2020, conservationists at Powdermill Nature Reserve described finding a rose-breasted grosbeak with bilateral gynandromorphism like 'seeing a unicorn'

In October 2020, researchers at the Powdermill Nature Reserve outside Pittsburgh reported finding a rose-breasted grosbeak exhibiting bilateral gynandromorphism.

One side of the bird's chest exhibited the red wing pits indicative of male grosbeaks, while the other half was yellow, like a female's.
Officials at a Tampa zoo are still investigating what killed all of its stingrays last week.

12 rays were discovered in their tank at ZooTampa at Lowery Park the morning of May 27.

Tests of machinery, as well as water temperature, quality, oxygen and Ph levels, all indicate conditions were 'optimal,' zoo staff said.

The deceased rays include seven cownose, four Southern and one Atlantic stingray.

Scroll down for video

All 12 stingrays at the Stingray Bay attraction at ZooTampa at Lowry Park died on Thursday. Officials are still investigating the cause

Staffers noticed something was amiss with the rays shortly after the park opened that Thursday, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

Veterinary teams scrambled to check on them, but all 12 were dead within the hour.

'We are emotionally exhausted,' Cynthia Stringfield, senior vice president of animal health, conservation and education, told the news outlet.

'[Thursday] was just a horrible day. It's like a day out of your nightmare, pretty much ... We're really focused on trying to get to the bottom of what happened.'

The deceased chondrichthyes included seven cownose, four Southern and one Atlantic stingrays

Stingray Bay was one of the zoo's most popular attractions. Visitors could interact with the rays and feed them shrimp

Sandra Torres, senior director of marketing and communications, told DailyMail.com animal care and veterinary teams examined the mechanical equipment and tested the water temperature, quality, oxygen and Ph levels, 'all of which indicate optimal water quality and conditions.'

'Stingray Bay is a closed system that's home only to the rays,' Torres said. 'The zoo is looking into every possibility to uncover what caused the deaths, including conducting toxicology reports.'

The marine attraction will remain closed during the investigation, which Torres described as 'ongoing.'

She said determining the causes of death may take several weeks.

Stingray Bay will remain closed during the investigation. Zoo officials said it could take several weeks for full toxicology test results to come in

There is no indication of foul play and law enforcement is not involved in the investigation.

'We are broadening things and doing a really meticulous investigation,' Stringfield said. 'And we're bringing in outside experts to look at it with fresh eyes and broaden our thoughts of what could have happened.'

Since 2001, the stingrays have been housed in a 16,000-gallon saltwater touch-tank known as Stingray Bay, where visitors can pet the rays or buy shrimp to hand-feed them.

The zoo's Facebook post about the stingrays' deaths received more than 5,500 reactions and 860 comments

The zoo's Facebook post about the stingrays' deaths received more than 5,500 reactions and 860 comments, mostly condolences from visitors, who said Stingray Bay was their favorite attraction, or those who posted pictures playing with the rays.

Some offered theories as to what killed the chondrichthyes, from hand sanitizer used by staff getting on the rays, to a new manta introducing an aggressive disease to the group.

In 2015, nearly 100 fish, including stingrays, barracuda and sharks, were killed at the Texas State Aquarium, after their tanks were treated with a compound designed to kill a parasite infestation, Reuters reported.

There's no indication the substance, which had been administered successfully at other aquariums, had been used at ZooTampa.

Opened in 1957 as the Lowry Zoo, the park began to fall on hard times in the 1970s.

By the mid-1980s, it was called 'one of the worst zoos in America' by the Humane Society, spurring a major redevelopment and upgrades.

In 2006, one of ZooTampa's two Sumatran tigers wandered through an open gate and into a construction area not far from the public.

Then-zoo director Lex Salisbury shot and killed the tiger with a 12-gauge shotgun after attempts to tranquilize her failed and she reportedly lunged at a veterinarian, The Ledger reported.

Two years later, 15 patas monkeys escaped from Safari Wild, an animal attraction Salisbury owned.

The primates had been put on an island with a moat by staffers, unaware they could swim to freedom.

According to The Ledger, a city audit showed Salisbury 'used zoo animals, materials and employees for his personal enrichment,' including transferring funds and hundreds of animals to Safari Wild.

After the Association of Zoos and Aquariums suspended the Lowry Zoo's accreditation, along with Salisbury's, he resigned.

The zoo is now led by CEO Joseph A. Couceiro, who renamed it ZooTampa at Lowry Park in 2018, as a sign of 'new beginnings,' according to the Orlando Weekly.

ZooTampa is located about 9 miles from Carole Baskin's Big Cat Rescue, made famous in the 2020 documentary Tiger King.
Though it's set to be replaced by the James Webb Telescope later this year, the 31-year-old Hubble Space Telescope is still making incredible discoveries, this time finding a spiral galaxy that has been twisted by a nearby galaxy.

The galaxy, known as NGC 2276, is being deformed by its smaller neighbor NGC 2300, because of gravity, the European Space Agency said in a release.

NGC 2300 is causing NGC 2276 to have a 'strangely lopsided appearance,' pulling its outer edges out of shape.

Galaxy NGC 2276's appearance is also impacted by 'superheated' gas that pervades galaxy clusters, the agency added.

This image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the trailing arms of NGC 2276, a spiral galaxy 120 million light-years away in the constellation of Cepheus

This image shows a wide-field view of NGC 2276. It is being deformed by intense star formation and its neighboring galaxy, NGC 2300

The celestial interaction between the two galaxies also gives the false impression that NGC 2276 is head-on with Earth, though it is not.

NGC 2276 is in the Cepheus constellation, approximately 120 million light-years from Earth.

A light-year, which measures distance in space, is approximately 6 trillion miles.

Because it is misshapen, NGC 2276 has earned a spot in The Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies  a catalogue of unusual galaxies published in 1966, not once but twice.

The first time was for its lopsided spiral arms and later for its interaction with NGC 2300.

'NGC 2276s recent burst of star formation is also related to the appearance of more exotic inhabitants  black holes and neutron stars in binary systems,' ESA said in the statement.

The Milky Way is also considered a spiral galaxy, among the most common types of galaxies.

These galaxies have arms that stretch out from the center of them to form pin-wheel like or spiral structures.

Most spiral galaxies are comprised of a flat, rotating disk of stars, gas and dust. The group of stars in the center is known as a bulge.

The Hubble recently marked its 31st anniversary in space, doing so with an image of a giant star that is 'on the edge of destruction'.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has made more than 1.3 million observations in 31 years. It will be replaced by the $10 billion James Webb Telescope later this year
NASA is returning to Venus for the first time in more than 30 years, as the space agency unveiled two new $500 million missions on Wednesday that are expected to launch within the next 10 years.

As part of its State of the Agency address, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said the missions, DAVINCI+ and VERITAS, would head to the planet known as 'Earth's evil twin' as part of its Discovery program.

'The missions aim to understand how Venus became an inferno-like world when it has so many other characteristics similar to ours  and may have been the first habitable world in the solar system, complete with an ocean and Earth-like climate,' NASA said in a release.

Scroll down for video

NASA is returning to Venus for the first time in nearly 30 years, launching two $500 million missions

The missions, DAVINCI+ and VERITAS, will analyze the planet's atmosphere and surface. Venus has been compared to 'Earth's evil twin' for its extreme surface temperature

DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) will measure Venus' atmosphere to understand how it formed and evolved and determine whether it ever had an ocean.

It will also look for noble gases -- such as helium, neon, argon and krypton -- in its atmosphere and find out why it is a 'runaway hothouse,' when compared to Earth.

In 2020, scientists caused a stir when they said that trace amounts of phosphine gas, a colorless gas that is naturally produced mainly by certain microorganisms in the absence of oxygen, were discovered.

Those hopes may have been dashed however, when a separate study said that it wasn't phosphine that was detected, but 'ordinary' sulfur dioxide.

The instruments that measure the noble gases could also determine whether phosphine indeed exists, the New York Times reported.

DAVINCI+ will also send back the first high-resolution images of Venus' 'tesserae,' which may be comparable to Earth's continents.

'Using cutting-edge technologies that NASA has developed and refined over many years of missions and technology programs, we're ushering in a new decade of Venus to understand how an Earth-like planet can become a hothouse,' said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for science, in the statement.

Zurbuchen continued: 'Our goals are profound. It is not just understanding the evolution of planets and habitability in our own solar system, but extending beyond these boundaries to exoplanets, an exciting and emerging area of research for NASA.'

Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for science, said the missions were a long time coming and would use 'cutting-edge technologies' NASA had created over the years

NASA has send two missions to Venus in recent memory: the Pioneer-Venus project in 1978 and Magellan.

Magellan, which returned to the planet in August 1990, spent more than four years observing Venus until radio contact was lost on October 12, 1994.

Subsequent NASA missions have flown by Venus, including the Parker Solar Probe, which detected a radio signal from the planet's atmosphere last month, CNN reported.

Japan's Akatsuki is the only spacecraft currently orbiting the planet.

The other mission, VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy) will map the surface of Venus and look at its geologic history in an effort to find out why it developed so much differently than Earth.

It will use a synthetic aperture radar and 'chart surface elevations over nearly the entire planet to create 3D reconstructions of topography' to see whether plate tectonics and volcanic activity are still happening on the planet, NASA added.

Venus' surface temperature is 864 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to roughly 57 degrees for Earth

'It is astounding how little we know about Venus, but the combined results of these missions will tell us about the planet from the clouds in its sky through the volcanoes on its surface all the way down to its very core,' Tom Wagner, NASA's Discovery Program scientist added. 'It will be as if we have rediscovered the planet.'

In 2019, researchers said Venus may have had stable temperatures in its past and could have had 'liquid water' for 2 to 3 billion years.

Approximately 700 million years ago, it underwent a 'dramatic transformation' --possibly due to volcanic eruptions -- that completely altered the planet.

Venus presently has a surface temperature of 864 degrees Fahrenheit.
A man in Singapore has been found guilty of sending online abuse to Brighton forward Neal Maupay, the Premier League has said.

The league's online abuse system helped track down the individual after Maupay received threatening and abusive messages via Instagram.

A statement from the Premier League said: 'Derek Ng De Ren was convicted of crimes relating to harassment following an investigation and formal criminal complaint filed by the Premier League last August.

A man from Singapore has been guilty of abusing Brighton forward Neal Maupay on Instagram

The Premier League used its abuse system to track down the culprit and pursue legal action

'The Premier League's legal team undertook a detailed investigation to successfully identify and locate the offender. The league subsequently worked with Neal, the club and local authorities in Singapore to pursue legal action against the defendant, resulting in his prosecution and conviction.

'Mr Ng will be sentenced on 7 July.'

Maupay welcomed the news, saying: 'I would like to thank the club and Premier League for the support they showed me in this matter and the professionalism in dealing with it, as well as the police and courts in Singapore.

Maupay hailed the victory against 'vile and toxic' trolls and hopes it sends a strong message

'The vile and toxic abuse of which I was on the receiving end is a daily occurrence for many professional athletes and public figures, and I hope this goes someway to showing those online trolls that it is totally unacceptable and that the authorities are prepared to take the necessary action.'

The Premier League launched an online abuse reporting system in June 2020 so players, managers and their families can report when they receive discriminatory abuse on social media.

The league's chief executive Richard Masters said: 'As this case shows we will take each report seriously and will do everything we can to identify and investigate offenders and pursue legal action, wherever in the world they may be.

'This outcome recognises the severity of the offence and we hope it will send a strong message of deterrence by demonstrating there are serious real-life consequences for those who engage in online abuse.'

Premier League chief Richard Masters said it would pursue offenders anywhere in the world

Brighton chief executive Paul Barber said: 'We welcome the verdict and thank the Premier League and their legal team for their support to both the club and Neal, as well as authorities in Singapore for recognising the severity of the offence.

'This demonstrates that even where posts are anonymous, we will use all available legal resources to identify perpetrators and we remind everyone that our club and the Premier League have a zero-tolerance policy to anyone who abuses our players, staff or other supporters.'

The Football Association welcomed the development and added in a statement: 'This conviction should serve as a reminder to everybody that threatening and abusive messages directed towards participants within the game will not be tolerated and that English football will pursue offenders where necessary.

'We will continue to work with the UK government on the Online Safety Bill to ensure adequate and relevant measures are put in place as quickly as possible, while urging social media companies to act faster and do more to protect their users and prevent the toxic abuse that is shared on their platforms every day.'
The Holiday Guru is always on hand to answer your questions.

This week issues tackled include international travel to Australia and the rules around face mask etiquette in Europe.

Q. Can you tell me when I am likely to be able to go to Australia to visit my children?

Bob, via email.

Australia is likely to remain closed to visitors until next year

A. 2022 at the earliest appears likely. Scott Morrison, Australias Prime Minister, has said the international border would be closed indefinitely. But, since then, Josh Frydenberg, Australias Treasurer, said he expects international travel to resume next year. Qantas, the national carrier, has grounded its fleet with a provisional re-start of October, which has some people hopeful that travel could begin earlier  but this date could well be pushed back.

Q. Are Covid tests and Passenger Locator Forms required for domestic air travel? Will there be long queues on arrival?

Colin Grover, Biggin Hill, Kent.

A. You do not need to take a Covid test or complete a Passenger Locator form on domestic flights; see Coronavirus: Safer Air Travel for Passengers at gov.uk. There should not be queues as you will not have to pass through a border check.

Q. Can you help regarding the post-Brexit rule that you can only be in the European Union for 90 days out of 180 days? We will be in Spain for 25 days up to November 3, then a further 65 days up to March 29 - so, 90 in total. Can we go back in mid-May for three weeks?

L. Jones, via email.

A. Yes. For this rule, you need to count back 180 days from your latest day of departure. In mid-May, this takes you back to mid-November and in that period you will have been in the EU 65 days - so you can add a further 21 days.

You do not need to take a Covid test or complete a Passenger Locator form on domestic flights in the UK

Q. I am thinking of going to either Portugal or Majorca next month. What are the face mask rules?

Arthur Robins, Ringwood, Hampshire.

A. These change regularly. In public places in Portugal, face masks must now be worn outdoors where you cannot maintain two metres social distance, and indoors at all times. In Spain, masks should be worn in public places except when swimming or sunbathing on the beach. Best to double-check on arrival.

In Portugal face masks must now be worn outdoors where you cannot maintain two metres social distance

Q. We booked travel insurance from Staysure (788) and a Titan Travel tour of Japan (8,438) that we had to cancel last year because of my husbands ill health. We cannot get a refund from our insurer or tour operator despite GP letters. Advice?

Names withheld, via email.

A. The Financial Ombudsman adjudicates in such stand-offs. The long delay to your case  six months and counting  is a sign the Financial Ombudsman is struggling during the pandemic. Hang on in there and good luck.

WERE HERE TO HELP

If you need advice, the Holiday Guru is here to answer your questions. Email us at holidayplanner@dailymail.co.uk.
Advertisement

A mind-bending image of an orangutan is the winner of a prestigious photo competition.

It is one of 8,000 entries to the Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2021 contest and secured the winning snapper a 1,500 cash prize.

The triumphant photo is by Canadian photographer Thomas Vijayan, who took it in Borneo. The photo appears to be looking towards the sky but on closer inspection, you can see that the image actually shows a mirror-like reflection in water below a tree.

Will Nicholls, founder of online nature photography resource Nature TTL, says: 'Thomas image is really unique, and immediately stood out to the judging panel. Its one of those photos where you cant skim past it. The unique perspective and composition mean you are immediately trying to figure out what exactly you are looking at.'

The contest's eight categories celebrate the natural world - animal behaviour, camera traps, landscapes, small world, the night sky, underwater, urban wildlife and wild portraits. There is also a category for photographers under 16. The judging panel comprised photographers and experts in the natural world, including American Pie actress Shannon Elizabeth, who runs a conservation charity in South Africa.

Scroll down to see the overall winning image and 19 other winning and commended images from the contest...

The overall winning image in the Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2021 contest, taken by Thomas Vijayan. He says: 'After spending few days in Borneo, I got this frame stuck in my mind. To get this shot, I selected a tree that was in the water so that I could get a good reflection of the sky and its leaves. The water formed a mirror, making the image look upside-down. Then I climbed up on the tree and waited for hours. This is a regular path that orangutans use, so patience would surely pay off. This image means a lot to me because presently the orangutan population is reducing at an alarming rate.' The image is also the winner of the animal behaviour category

An incredible image taken by Johan Wandrag in South Africa of the moment a fish is snapped up by a crocodile. It is the runner-up in the animal behaviour category. Johan says: 'The look of surprise really made this shot stand out to me'

Yevhen Samuchenko is highly commended in the night sky category thanks to this beautiful image of the Northern Lights, in an unusual arc shape, above the 1,519ft- (463m) high Kirkjufell mountain in Iceland

Runner-up in the under-16 competition is Raphael Schenker with this spellbinding image of a pair of fighting goats. He explains: 'I took this picture while on a long hike in Graubunden, Switzerland. I saw how the father of these two mountain goats was teaching them how to fight'

This amazing snap was taken by Charl Stols in Botswana and is highly commended in the wild portraits category. He says: 'As bizarre as it might seem to us, jumping up and down on a giraffe carcass and playing with the tail of a dead animal is as normal as it can be for a curious lion cub'

LEFT: This beautiful portrait of a western lowland gorilla called Kangu was snapped by Tomasz Szpila and is highly commended in the wild portraits category. Kangu lives in 'semi-free' conditions in the Lesio Louna reserve in the Republic of Congo. He had been born at Howletts Wild Animal Park in Canterbury and also spent time at Port Lympne Reserve in Hythe, Kent, before being taken back to his natural habitat. Tomasz says: 'Thanks to the Aspinall Foundation, he is now being adapted to living in the wild. Hopefully, he will be able to go back to the forest soon.' RIGHT: Another amazing image by Thomas Vijayan - this time taken in Bandipur National Park in India. He says: 'One afternoon a group of black-footed grey langurs were sitting on a tree. A playful infant was enjoying the family time and was playing with his parents by swinging on their tails and falling down, and then immediately climbing back and starting all over again. His mother was taking little notice of the activity and other adolescents were tolerating the attention-seeking acrobatics.' The snap is highly commended in the animal behaviour category

These cheeky langurs were snapped by Yevhen Samuchenko in the small Indian town of Hampi. Yevhen says: 'My friends and I were walking in the centre of Hampi and there was a bicycle parking area nearby. Suddenly a group of langurs jumped on these bicycles and began to frolic around. We were afraid to frighten them away, so I started taking pictures from afar. But then we came very close to them and the langurs continued to play with bicycles for a comical shot.' The image is highly commended in the urban wildlife category

The winner of the wild portraits category is Dennis Stogsdill with this breathtaking image. He explains: 'We were watching this rather photogenic polar bear for a while in Svalbard, Norway, when he climbed a ridge and decided to just rest. All the while the soft afternoon skies created the perfect backdrop for a sleepy bear'

Tomasz Rojek captured this magical scene on an October morning at Lake Bled, Slovenia. The image is highly commended in the landscapes category. He says: 'I have visited this place many times and I have seen a lot of pictures of it but the conditions on this morning were great. Clouds and mist created a spectacular view'

This incredible image shows a bird refreshing itself in water stored in the petal of an ornamental banana flower in India. It was snapped by Mousam Ray, who is highly commended in the animal behaviour category. He says: 'It's as if nature created a floral bathtub'

Simon Jenkins is the photographer behind this fascinating snap of a beewolf carrying away its 'unfortunate' prey - a honey bee. He took the image in Minsmere, Suffolk, and it is highly commended in the small world category

Vladimir Cech Jr is highly commended in the camera traps category for this stunning image of a wild Eurasian lynx. He took the snap in Sumava National Park in the Czech Republic using a homemade camera trap

A mesmerising shot of a blue morph Arctic fox in Hornstrandir Nature Reserve in the far north-west of Iceland, taken by David Gibbon. The snap is highly commended in the animal behaviour category. David says: 'Gale force winds, sub-zero temperatures and heavy snow made hunting very tough for this individual, so the hungry fox lay down in the hope the storm would soon pass so it could continue its search for food'

Highly commended in the wild portraits category is Amit Eshel with this beautiful shot of an elusive Pallas's cat in Mongolia. He explains: 'After six full days of searching we were lucky to find this cat lurking for prey in the snowy steppe. The cat was covered in fresh snow, which made him look like an unfamiliar creature - a snow monster!'

Earning highly commended status in the small world category is Christian Brockes for this jaw-dropping image of an acorn weevil spreading its wings, ready to take off in Essen, Germany

An incredible shot of a barn owl peeking out from the door of an old abandoned house in El Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain. It was taken by Jose Luis Ruiz Jimenez and is highly commended in the urban wildlife category

This spellbinding shot was taken at sunset by Luigi Ruoppolo on the Scottish island of Eigg. It shows the 'beautiful colours and stunning clouds moving over the mountains of Rum island'. He explains: 'I was quite far from the shoreline, following the patterns left in the sand by the tide and shooting at 90 seconds exposure to get as many reflections as possible.' The shot is highly commended in the landscapes category

This eye-popping shot of huge flashes of lightning above birds on a lake in Kiskunsag National Park, Hungary, was taken by Bence Mate. He is highly commended in the night sky category and explains: 'The image is purple because of the short wavelength of lightning'
What's Included

With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 319-283-2144 or email circ@oelweindailyregister.com.
Brian Austin Green took advantage of the Memorial Day weekend and spent much of the holiday with his three sons and girlfriend Sharna Burgess.

Kicking off the weekend with a day of fun in the sun playing in their pool, the couple also enjoyed a date night with the boys, taking in a movie at Westlake Village and making shopping stops at a nearby Target and Barnes & Noble.

While browsing at the stores, the Beverly Hills, 90210 star ended up buying a few toys for his boys - Noah, eight, Bodhi, seven, and Journey, four - whom he shares with estranged wife and actress Megan Fox.

Holiday fun: Brian Austin Green enjoyed some quality family time with girlfriend Sharna Burgess and his three sons -Bodhi, seven, Journey, four, and Noah, eight - in Los Angeles over the Memorial Day weekend

All five of them kept it casual and comfortable in the fashion department.

Green, 47, opted to combine a pair of light grey drawstring pants with a charcoal black t-shirt, white sneakers and a full beard and mustache.

Burgess wore light tan pants with a cropped white shirt, matching platform sneakers, which gave her an extra inch or two of lift to her 5ft4in frame, and her blonde tresses up into a top bun.

Family time: The couple took his boys, whom he shares with estranged wife Megan Fox, to a movie theater and shopping at Target and Barnes & Noble

Cups of joe: The couple, who have been dating for about eight months, stopped for some drinks while out at the Westlake Village in Los Angeles

Casual wear: Green, 47, opted to combine a pair of light grey drawstring pants with a charcoal black t-shirt, white sneakers and a full beard and mustache, while Burgess wore light tan pants with a cropped white shirt, matching platform sneakers

Safety first: The couple held hands with the kids -with Journey, four, Bodhi, seven and Noah, eight - who were all dressed similarly for their day out

At times she covered up the midriff-baring shirt with a jacket that's a blue denim and sweater combination.

The bulk of the coat was light blue denim with the word 'Love' spelled out on the back, using a red heart for the letter 'O'. The sleeves were made of sweater knit fabric using different tones of red, white, brown, tan, and a blue and white combination.

Keeping a safety first mentality, the couple held hands with the kids who were all dressed similarly for their day out and about with their dad and Burgess.

Even though heath and safety protocols related to the COVID-19 pandemic have been eased in recent weeks in Los Angeles, and California as a whole, the couple decided they would all wear protective masks when they were in the vicinity of others as a precaution.

On the hunt: The children looked eager to go shopping for toys

Casual-cool: style: At times Burgess covered up her midriff-baring shirt with a jacket that's a blue denim and sweater combination

Playing it safe: Even though heath and safety protocols related to the COVID-19 pandemic have been eased in recent weeks, the couple decided they would all wear protective masks

Mission accomplished: Green ended up buying his boys several toys

ON the go: With their new toys in hand, the couple led the kids back to their parked vehicle

The pair have been dating for about eight months and only went Instagram official in January, which came just weeks after photographers caught them packing on the PDA in Hawaii.

The Anger Management alum is also the proud father to a 19-year-old son Kassius, whom he shares with ex-girlfriend and actress Vanessa Marcil.

Green and Fox announced they had separated in May 2020 after nearly 10-years of marriage.

Fox has since moved on and has been dating rocker-rapper Machine Gun Kelly (born Colson Baker) for about five months.

Going strong: Burgess and Green have reportedly been dating about eight months

Quality time: The couple have been able to spend extra time with his sons over the holiday

Cool kids: All three boys are are sporting hair the falls below their shoulder

The party of five loaded up their new purchases into their vehicle

Play time: Of course, the kids showed bursts of energy and enthusiasm with the cart

DWTS: Burgess, 35, is best known for being a dance pro on Dancing With The Stars and as a judge on the Australian version of the competition show
She announced in February she was expecting her second child with husband Marc Murphy, who plays for Carlton in the AFL.

And on Tuesday, footy WAG Jessie Habermann showed off her growing baby bump as she posed in a series of activewear ensembles on Instagram.

The pregnant model, 30, shared several photos and videos of herself in crop-top-and-leggings combos as she promoted the brand Aim'n Oceania.

Bumping along nicely: Footy WAG Jessie Habermann showed off her growing baby bump on Tuesday as she posed in a series of activewear ensembles on Instagram

'I find this style really comfortable to wear whilst pregnant as the fabric is soft and gentle on the skin and has a lot of stretch,' Jessie said as she cradled her bump.

She stunned in the sponsored posts, wearing a light application of makeup and with her long blonde hair styled loosely over her shoulders.

The influencer even offered her followers a 10 per cent discount code.

Influencer life: The pregnant model, 30, shared several photos and videos of herself in crop-top-and-leggings combos as she promoted the brand Aim'n Oceania

Coming soon: In February, Jessie announced her second pregnancy by sharing a sweet family photo on Instagram and writing: 'We can't wait to meet you baby girl'

In February, Jessie announced her second pregnancy by sharing a sweet family photo on Instagram and writing: 'We can't wait to meet you baby girl.'

Jessie and Marc, who used to be Carlton's captain before stepping down after his injury-plagued 2018 season, are already proud parents to three-year-old son Max.

'The best day of our lives, so proud of my beautiful wife Jessie,' Marc wrote on Instagram as they announced Max's birth.

Growing family: Jessie and Marc, who used to be Carlton's captain before stepping down after his injury-plagued 2018 season, are already proud parents to three-year-old son Max

The couple married in a lavish ceremony in December 2016 at the Luminare venue in South Melbourne.

The guest list included a who's who of Melbourne's social scene, including 'queen bee' AFL WAG Rebecca Judd.

They are believed to have started dating in 2011.
Model Jesinta Franklin has her hands full as a mother to two beautiful children.

And on Tuesday, the 29-year-old announced her brand new role.

She and her husband, AFL star Lance 'Buddy' Franklin, are now ambassadors for cancer charity Win the Day, which is an organisation close to their hearts.

Important: Model Jesinta Franklin has announced her new role as an ambassador for cancer charity Win the Day, which is an organisation close to her heart

'Win the Day was founded by our brother in law's sister, Kristy Giteau, after spending the last few years as a family fighting a rare cancer with their beautiful little girl, Ka'ili,' Jesinta wrote on Instagram.

'It's so incredible that despite the challenges Kristy has been through, her mission now is to make other families' journeys a little easier than the one her family has been on.'

The charity's aim is to offer financial help to families who have a sick child.

Giving back: ' Win the Day was founded by our brother in law's sister, Kristy Giteau, after spending the last few years as a family fighting a rare cancer with their beautiful little girl, Ka'ili,' Jesinta wrote on Instagram

Jesinta asked her followers to support the charity.

It comes after the former Miss Universe Australia revealed the unglamorous reality of being a mother to two children under two last month.

'When your newborn sleeps but your toddler is up all night. It's so much fun when daddy is interstate!' she joked alongside a picture of herself cradling her eldest child, Tullulah.

Exhausted: It comes after the former Miss Universe Australia revealed the unglamorous reality of being a mother to two children under two last month

She later revealed the secret trick she used to finally get her little one to drift off - in the form of a string of songs by The Wiggles.

'Praise be The Wiggles!' she wrote on Instagram, alongside a video of herself lying with her head in her hands, clearly distressed at how little sleep she was getting.

'Look at those bags, that's real life for you! Just breaking up your feed of Instagram's usual perfect pictures of motherhood. With everyone in matching, clean outfits running through fields of daisies!'

Ordeal: 'Praise be The Wiggles!' she wrote, alongside a video of herself lying on the floor with her head in her hands, clearly distressed at how little sleep she was getting

The Franklins are also parents to baby son Rocky, whom they welcomed in March.

Jesinta admitted recently at the Vida Glow launch event in Sydney that life was 'crazy' with her growing brood.

'Two under two is crazy,' she told The Daily Telegraph.

New addition: The model welcomed her second child with AFL star husband Lance 'Buddy' Franklin (pictured) in March

'Both of them together, the love doubles but your time and your attention has to be split now. It is really hard having to divide that time and the attention and the love sometimes too.'

In February, Jesinta admitted she was 'nervous' about having two children aged under two at home.

Jesinta and Buddy tied the knot in the Blue Mountains in November 2016.
She's worth millions.

And TikToker Loren Grey offered her legions of fans a look at how she's learning to make her money go the extra mile with a new Instagram post on Tuesday.

Grey, who boasts 52.4million followers on the video platform, looked like a teen dream as she struck a pose in her front room and told people about her latest interest: cryptocurrency.

Giving fans a chance to learn along with her, the 19-year-old stunner announced she'd be giving out $10 in Bitcoin in partnership with the cryptocurrency platform Gemini.

The future: TikToker Loren Grey looked cool as can be as she offered fans $10 of Bitcoin via the Gemini app in her latest Instagram post

Loren was casual and cute in a black crop top and baggy 90s-style jeans as she flashed a peace sign with one hand and held her phone in another, playing around with the Gemini app.

And in her caption, she made fans an irresistible offer.

'Hiii i've been learning a ton about cryptocurrency recently using @gemini!' the blonde beauty explained.

'So we decided to partner up to help my fans get started on investing,' she went on, sharing how people could instantly earn '10 free dollars in Bitcoin' for downloading the Gemini app, which was founded by billionaire entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

Gemini is a place to buy, sell, and store a range of cryptocurrencies simply, releasably, and securely.

Cha-ching! Grey, who has over 52.4million followers, looked great as she played around with the Gemini app in her front room

Loren's jump into the world of crypto lands her in A-list company.

Recently, Elon Musk snagged $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin through his company Tesla, Inc., which said it would also accept bitcoin as payment for its products.

And last month Twitter billionaire Jack Dorseys Square Inc. purchased $170 million worth of bitcoin.

Even Kim Kardashian's BFF and Power star Lala Anthony has gotten in on the fun, revealing her new passion for investing online last month.

Gemini's parent company also owns Nifty Gateway, an exchange for the art world's latest craze, NFTs or non fungible tokens.

Stars like The Weeknd, Halsey, Zedd, ASAP Rocky and Calvin Harris have all invested in the cutting-edge digital assets, which are changing the way art is being sold.
Last year he revealed he was divorcing his wife Ashley, nearly two years after they tied the knot in Las Vegas.

And on Tuesday, rapper Jesse Sunset appeared to debut a brand new romance, which he fittingly unveiled in Sin City.

The 31-year-old cousin-in-law of Today host Allison Langdon shared photos taken in a Las Vegas hotel room with 'stripper' Chloe Rose, in which the pair wore 'his-and-hers' imitation ankle monitors.

Must be love: On Tuesday, rapper Jesse Sunset appeared to debut a brand new romance with 'stripper' Chloe Rose, fittingly unveiled in Sin City, where he was married two years prior

In a video posted to Instagram, the son of journalist Terry Willesee showed off a 3D printed 'ankle monitor' he was wearing, while Chloe twerked on a bed nearby.

She wore her own ankle monitor, which are manufactured by Jesse and sold on his website but aren't actual court-mandated devices.

In one of his Instagram Stories, the Adderall and Melatonin artist revealed that prior to becoming a 'stripper' his companion 'was a slaughterhouse worker'.

Rose also has an OnlyFans account, which costs $10 per month to subscribe to.

His and hers: In a video posted to Instagram, the son of journalist Terry Willesee showed off a 3D printed 'ankle monitor' he was wearing, while Chloe twerked on a bed nearby

Colourful life: In one of his Instagram Stories, the Adderall and Melatonin artist revealed that prior to becoming a 'stripper', his companion Chloe (pictured) 'was a slaughterhouse worker'

Jesse's post comes after he revealed last June that he was divorcing his wife Ashley.

The couple had exchanged vows wearing velour tracksuits in a chapel in Las Vegas two years ago.

'A bit of sad news about my wife and I but we are getting divorced,' Jesse announced in a video shared to Instagram.

Single life: Jesse's post comes after he revealed last June that he was divorcing his wife Ashley

He added: 'The decision is mutual and I care about her a lot and wish her the best.'

In typical Jesse Sunset fashion, he tried to inject some humour into the situation.

'I'm letting her keep the BMW and the apartment in West Hollywood... just kidding, it was always hers,' he said.

'But honestly, I'll always treasure the memories we made together.'

Case of the ex: Jesse and Ashley had exchanged vows wearing velour tracksuits in a chapel in Las Vegas two years ago. Pictured on their wedding day.

The gold-toothed hip-hop star, who once made headlines for using his ex-wife as a 'human weed tray', is a distant relative of TV anchor Allison Langdon.

Allison's husband, Michael, is the son of the late Australian journalist Mike Willesee. Mike's brother, Terry, also a respected journalist and TV presenter, is Jesse's father.

Confirming the family link, Ally said during an interview with Daily Mail Australia in March: 'Does this make me cool because I'm related to a rapper?

'I think Jesse lives in LA now, so I haven't seen him in a very, very long time. I'd say at least 10 years. He was a kid [when I last saw him] I think...'
She turned heads with a glam new look when she attended Australian Fashion Week on Monday.

But it was back to reality for Phoebe Burgess on Wednesday as she took her daughter Poppy, three, to school in Bowral.

The mother-of-two went makeup free as she bundled-up in a fleece jumper and a cap while walking hand-in-hand with the youngster.

Back to reality! Former WAG Phoebe Burgess, 32, did the school run with her daughter Poppy on Wednesday after she set tongues wagging with a new look at Australian Fashion Week earlier in the week

The former WAG shared a photo of herself cuddling Poppy and another of her lookalike daughter skipping to school.

'You know when your child skips to school you've done something right,' she wrote.

Just hours earlier, Phoebe was sharing links to stories about herself from fashion magazines to her 80,000 followers.

Time for school: The former WAG shared a photo of herself cuddling Poppy and another of her lookalike daughter skipping to school

She appeared pleased with the coverage and also tagged herself in professional photos from the event.

Phoebe set tongues-wagging at the event with her rather different look, as she was sporting fuller cheeks and a more luscious pout than usual.

The blonde bombshell appeared very youthful indeed, with her taut, line-free visage on display.

Excited: 'You know when your child skips to school you've done something right,' Phoebe wrote, showing Poppy skipping on her way to school

She show-stopping leather coat in a retro, 1970s-inspired cut and caramel tone from Camilla and Marc.

She appeared to go topless under the jacket, with a hint of cleavage on display in the deep V-neck.

New look: Phoebe (pictured) turned heads at Afterpay Australian Fashion Week on Monday, sporting far fuller cheeks and a more luscious pout than usual

Phoebe added her favourite pair of low-crotch leather trousers worth $1,795 to the ensemble, and wore fine gold necklaces.

The Ostelin ambassador carried her trusty neon green Bottega Veneta Mini Jodie bag, valued at an eye-watering $2,490.

Phoebe also had on the matching shoes in the same alluring poison shade - her Bottega Veneta lace-up leather-trimmed mesh pumps, worth $1,290.

Changes: The budding influencer appeared very youthful indeed, with her taut, line-free visage on display. Phoebe is pictured right at Fashion Week in 2021, and left at Fashion Week in 2019

After her appearance at the annual event, Phoebe shut down cosmetic surgery speculation, telling fans that makeup 'artistry' was the real secret behind her new look.

Uploading a selfie to Instagram while sitting in the makeup chair before attending Monday's fashion shows, Phoebe wrote: 'No surgery. Just artistry.'

She also made sure to tag her makeup artist, Max May.

In January last year, Phoebe denied that she had any cosmetic work done.

She uploaded a selfie to Instagram at the time, with the caption: 'A few questions about what I have 'done'.'

Phoebe went on to clarify that she hasn't had anything 'done' in terms of surgery, but does have a beauty regimen that keeps her looking fresh and youthful.

'I'm extremely low maintenance, tidy up around the brow, tint, done,' she wrote.
He's back in Los Angeles after holing up in Miami with rekindled flame Jennifer Lopez.

And on Tuesday, Ben Affleck spent time with his youngest child, nine-year-old son Samuel.

The actor and director was seen dropping Samuel off at a swimming lesson.

Back on the West Coast: Ben Affleck was seen in Los Angeles on Tuesday spending time with his youngest child, son Samuel, after holing up in Miami with rekindled flame Jennifer Lopez

Affleck opted for an all black ensemble as he chauffeured the youngster to the pool in West LA.

He wore a sweater over a t-shirt with a leather jacket and jeans.

He added contrasting white trainers and sported a pair of sunglasses.

In keeping with current California regulations, he made sure to don a face mask after exiting his SUV.

Monochrome: Affleck opted for an all black ensemble, wearing a sweater over a t-shirt with a leather jacket and jeans. He added contrasting white trainers and sported a pair of sunglasses

Obeyed the rules: In keeping with current California regulations, he made sure to don a face mask after exiting his SUV

Dad: The actor and director, 48, was seen dropping nine-year-old Samuel off at a swimming lesson. He also shares daughters Seraphina, 12, and Violet, 15 with ex-wife Jennifer Garner

Affleck later picked up his wet-haired son and carried the youngster's backpack as they made their way back to the car

Rekindled romance: According to People, Lopez, 51, did travel to LA this past weekend for business, but also to be with Affleck while he spends time with his family

While JLo is primarily based in Miami with her 13-year-old twins Max and Emme, Affleck's children - Samuel, Seraphina, 12, and Violet, 15 - reside with their mom Jennifer Garner in LA.

And according to People, Lopez did travel to LA this past weekend for business, but also to be with Affleck while he spends time with his family.

'They will continue to travel back and forth between Los Angeles and Miami,' an insider told the outlet. 'They are very happy together.'

Keeping connected: The Hollywood star was seen checking his phone for messages

Close: The doting father placed an affectionate hand on his son's head as they walked

The 48-year-old Good Will Hunting and Argo Oscar winner and the pop star and actress, 51, are said the be 'slowly starting to talk about the future.'

The source explained to People: 'This is not a casual relationship. They are taking it seriously and want it to be long-lasting.'

The pair had been set to wed in September 2003 but called off the marriage at the last minute.

They split a few months later in January 2004.

But after Jen broke up with fiance Alex Rodriguez last month after four years together, she reunited with Affleck.

Bennifer: Affleck and Lopez had been set to wed in September 2003 but called off the marriage at the last minute. They split a few months later in January 2004 (pictured July 2003)

He had been single following the end of his romance with Knives Out star Ana de Armas, whom he met on the set of the erotic thriller Deep Water in the fall of 2019.

An insider told UsWeekly that JLo 'seems very happy and excited about her future' after getting back together with her former love.

'It's very clear they've fallen for each other again in a very intense way,' an insider shared with Us.
Veteran actor Robert Hogan died at 87 from pneumonia complications at his Maine home on Thursday.

The actor's family told the New York Times that the Jamaica, Queens-born entertainer had been in an eight-year battle with vascular Alzheimers disease.

Hogan had a prolific acting career, appearing on more than 100 network programs over 60 years in show business.

The latest: Veteran actor Robert Hogan died at 87 from pneumonia complications at his Maine home on Thursday. He was snapped in 2015 in NYC

Among the programs he appeared in the 1960s included Peyton Place, The Twilight Zone, Days of Our Lives, Bonanza, Batman and Hogan's Heroes.

In the 1970s, he appeared on shows including I Dream of Jeannie, The Don Rickles Show, The F.B.I., The Mary Tyler Moore Show, M*A*S*H, The Six Million Dollar Man, Operation Petticoat, Mork & Mindy and Barnaby Jones.

His resume in the 1980s featured parts on T.J. Hooker, One Day at a Time, Laverne & Shirley, Newhart, Knight Rider, and Murder, She Wrote.

He had recurring roles under the Law & Order banner and played the role of Louis Sobotka on HBO staple The Wire.

Familiar face: Hogan had a prolific acting career, appearing on more than 100 network programs in over 60 years in show business

Hogan played the role of Louis Sobotka on HBO staple The Wire

Hogan had been in the U.S. Army in Korea and was honorable discharged; later went on to attend New York University.

After switching his career path from engineering to the arts, he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan.

He also appeared in theatrical productions of Never the Sinner, and A Few Good Men from Aaron Sorkin on Broadway.

The actor is survived by wife Mary Hogan, who he was married to for 38 years; his children Chris, Stephen and Jud, and grandkids Susanna and Liam.

Hogan was seen on Operation Petticoat in September of 1978
She has made no secret of her dream of becoming a Victoria's Secret model.

But lingerie is as far as Lucciana Beynon is preparing to go, with the brunette beauty revealing on Tuesday she has no plans to strip down on OnlyFans.

During an Instagram Q&A, the 19-year-old daughter of tobacco tycoon Travers 'The Candyman' Beynon shut down rumours about potentially joining the subscription-based adult website.

Not happening! Model Lucciana Beynon, 18, has made it clear that she won't join OnlyFans

She responded with a simple 'no' when asked about starting an OnlyFans account.

In April last year, Lucciana showed off her jaw-dropping bikini body while self-isolating at her family's Gold Coast mansion.

The teen model flaunted her curves in a yellow bikini in a sizzling Instagram selfie.

Sizzling hot: The 18-year-old showed off her jaw-dropping bikini body while self-isolating at her family's Gold Coast mansion in April last year

Lucciana's face was covered by her phone, but she later posted two more photos that showcased her striking features.

'Hair full of secrets,' she captioned the post, alongside a lion emoji.

She styled her long brunette hair in beachy waves and appeared to be wearing the same yellow string bikini.

She knows her angles! Lucciana's face was covered by her phone in the mirror selfie, but she later posted two more photos that showcased her striking features

Lucciana is already an international model and often jets around the world for photo shoots and runway shows. She is currently living in the UK.

In October 2019, she shot a bikini campaign for British online retailer ASOS in London and shared several behind-the-scenes videos of herself on set.

Sharing a glimpse of her first outfit, she flaunted her curvy figure in a swimsuit featuring cut-out details on her waist and across her cleavage.

She then changed into a skimpy white bikini and another lilac-coloured two-piece.

Rising star: Lucciana is already an international model and often jets around the world for photo shoots and runway shows. She is currently living in the UK

Lucciana, who looks like a long-lost Kardashian sister, previously spoke of her plans to permanently relocate to the U.S. after finishing high school.

She told the Gold Coast Bulletin back in 2017: 'When I finish school I'll still be 17, so as soon as I turn 18, I'm going to move to America forever.'

'I want to become a Victoria's Secret Angel and then ultimately become a supermodel,' she added.

First look: Lucciana modelled a lilac bikini during her busy day on set in October 2019

Lucciana, whose mother is Venezuelan former beauty queen Ninibeth Leal, has a contingency plan for when her modelling career eventually ends.

'Once my time is up, because you know modelling doesn't last forever, I'll get involved in the family business and invest in property,' she said.

Lucciana's father is Australian businessman Travers Beynon, who is known for his polyamorous lifestyle and wild parties at his Gold Coast mansion.
Alex Perry has been in the fashion game for over two decades, winning global praise for his eponymous couture label.

And just as fashion trends change over the years, so too has the 58-year-old's facial features.

Stepping out at Afterpay Fashion Week Australia on Wednesday to host a live interview with P.E Nation designers Pip Edwards and Claire Tregoning, the catwalk king looked worlds away his days as fashion newcomer.

My, how you've changed! Alex Perry, 58, looked worlds away from his days as a budding designer as he sported a distinctively puffy face at Afterpay Australian Fashion Week on Wednesday. Pictured left in 2006, right on Wednesday

Alex, who has made no secret of his love of fillers and Botox, sported a distinctly puffy visage as he chatted to the women on-stage.

His lips and cheekbones appeared to jut out more than they did in his youth, while his complexion seemed very taut.

It comes after a leading plastic surgeon accused the Australian fashion designer of 'excessive' use of anti-wrinkle injections.

Metamorphosis: The designer is pictured at the beginning of his career in the early 2000s. Pictured left in 2002, right on Wednesday

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia in 2018, Beverly Hills surgeon to the stars Dr. Randal Haworth observed how Alex, 55, looks remarkably different in before and after photos and may have taken things too far.

Dr Haworth claimed Alex's face now looked 'crowded' as a result of 'too much' filler.

'There is no denying that Mr. Perry has undergone significant change to his countenance,' Dr. Haworth noted.

Face off: His lips and cheekbones appeared to jut out more than they did in his youth, while his complexion seemed very taut. Pictured left in 2002, right on Wednesday

'Compared to his younger self, his face is now 'crowded', making his eyes appear smaller and closer set.

'Most likely, a generous recipe of injected filler and more than a drizzle of Botox in and around his forehead, brows and temples contributed to this look.'

'Additionally, his mid-face (the area between his lower eyes and upper lip) has been amply plumped to attain the 'apple cheek', a feature I feel is best left flatter in men,' Dr. Haworth added.

'Compared to his younger self, his face is now 'crowded'': Speaking to Daily Mail Australia in 2018, Beverly Hills surgeon to the stars Dr. Randal Haworth observed how Alex, 55, looks remarkably different in before and after photos and may have taken things too far. Pictured left in 2002, right on Wednesday

The doctor went on to say that it's hard to determine whether Alex's cosmetic work is permanent or temporary.

'Hopefully the fillers used to obtain Mr. Perry's current look are absorbable and therefore temporary,' he said.

'However, if fat was used (which is a permanent, living filler) his options, unfortunately, will be more limited.'

Unsure: The doctor went on to say that it's hard to determine whether Alex's cosmetic work is permanent or temporary

Alex, whose celebrity fans include Rihanna and Kim Kardashian, told Yahoo in 2013 that he is not ashamed of using fillers and Botox.

'There is nothing not real, there are a few fillers and there is a bit of Botox but that's that. That's normal, right?... It's all real. It's all real,' he said.

In 2016, the Australia's Next Top Model judge was famously criticised for his appearance by one of the show's contestants, Kassidy Ure.

After Alex criticised her photos, the then 21-year-old sniped back: 'At least my lips are real!'
She has returned to Byron Bay with her husband Chris Hemsworth and their three children after the couple wrapped filming their respective movies in Sydney.

And Elsa Pataky was right back in her bohemian uniform on Tuesday.

The Spanish actress, 44, rocked a pair of flared denim overalls from her favourite brand, Spell & The Gypsy Collective.

A flare for fashion! Elsa Pataky wore a pair of boho-style denim overalls as she made a quick visit to the grocery store to buy salt and vinegar chips in Byron Bay on Tuesday

She showed off her incredible figure in the bell bottom trousers, which she teamed with a black turtleneck knit.

The mother-of three wore a pair of Converse sneakers on her feet and appeared to be makeup free for the outing.

On her arm was one rather expensive accessory - a Fendi Moonlight crossbody bag, which retails for $2,980.

Meanwhile, one of Elsa and Chris' twin sons was barefoot as he walked alongside his mother.

Favourite: The Spanish actress rocked a pair of flared denim overalls from her favourite brand, Spell & The Gypsy Collective

Elsa picked up several items from her local Woolworths, including a packet of Smith's salt and vinegar chips.

Elsa and her family are back in Byron after filming for her Netflix movie Inceptor, and his blockbuster Thor: Love and Thunder came to an end.

On Sunday, Chris and Elsa boarded a private jet to return home to Byron Bay after shooting scenes for the movie at Sydney's Centennial Park.

Supplies: Elsa picked up several items from her local Woolworths, including a packet of Smith's salt & vinegar chips

Natural beauty: The mother-of three wore a pair of Converse sneakers on her feet and appeared to be makeup free for the outing

Joined by Chris' brother Liam Hemsworth and their parents Craig and Leonie Hemsworth, the couple were all smiles as they made their way onto the aircraft.

Production on Thor: Love and Thunder, also starring Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Christian Bale and Matt Damon, began in January and has now finished.

Home: Elsa, her husband Chris Hemsworth and their children are back in Byron after filming for her Netflix movie Inceptor and his blockbuster Thor: Love and Thunder came to an end

The film was shot at Sydney's Fox Studios and elaborate structures were also set up at nearby Centennial Park and in the city's western suburbs.

It is the fourth film in the Thor franchise, and will see Chris' character Thor go up against Christian Bale's character, Gorr the God Butcher.

Thor: Love and Thunder is due for cinematic release in February 2022.

All smiles: The Spanish beauty appeared thrilled to be back in her hometown

Just like a local: Elsa was spotted chatting to a friendly local before leaving the supermarket

Look both ways! The model and actress showed off her incredible figure in the overalls as she ran across the street

Expensive accessory: The beauty also toted an expensive Fendi handbag during the outfit
He's previously declared himself to be 'Australia's biggest celebrity'.

And Nasser Sultan tried his best to look the part on Wednesday, when the Married At First Sight star attended Afterpay Australian Fashion Week flanked by two statuesque blondes.

The diminutive 53-year-old was dwarfed by the glamazons, who each wore pastel mini skirts and matching crop tops.

Glamazons: Nasser Sultan certainly looked every inch the star on Wednesday, when he attended Afterpay Australian Fashion Week flanked by two statuesque blondes

Nasser paired the light trousers with a vintage AC/DC T-shirt and black leather shoes.

Over the top he slipped a denim jacket and scarf and shielded his gaze behind a pair of mirrored shades.

The AMFS alum introduced his unnamed companions in an earlier Instagram Story, in which he boasted, 'At fashion week with my beauty's [sic] and we stole the show'.

Later, Nasser was spotted literally latching onto model Imogen Anthony, 30, holding onto her wrist as the pair chatted outside a show.

Back in black: Sultan paired light trousers with a vintage AC/DC T-shirt and black leather shoes

The outing comes after Nasser opened up about his infamous trolling of his MAFS co-stars.

Nasser said in February he'd been 'playing the character' of a 'deluded reality star' for three years, ever since his debut on MAFS in 2018.

However, in his defence he admitted it had been difficult to return to real life after becoming obsessed with fame.

'It's not easy, it's not like switching a light off. I am obsessed with it - why am I caring about these people?' he told Not Another Reality TV Podcast.

Stars collide! Later, Nasser was spotted literally latching onto model Imogen Anthony, 30, holding onto her wrist as the pair chatted outside a show

Repeat offender: The outing comes after Nasser opened up about his infamous trolling of his MAFS co-stars

The candid remarks followed his return to the Nine reality show for the reunion special that same month.

During the TV special, he refused to apologise for making a string of hurtful comments online about his castmates.

While he did say sorry on the podcast for some of his more 'personal' insults, Nasser blamed his behaviour on a 'split personality'.

'I wanted to continue to be noticed and recognised,' he said. 'I never wanted it to end  I wanted my name to be known by everyone across Australia.

'It all went wrong because I started to embed myself in the lives of everybody else. I am obsessed.'
Liam Gallagher has reportedly become hooked on frozen margaritas over lockdown.

The Oasis star, 48, is known for downing beers but he and fiance Debbie Gwyther have developed a love for the 10-a pop cocktails made of tequila, triple sec and lime juice.

According to The Sun, Liam has been ordering eight litres of frozen margaritas at a time to his local pub in North London and has helped keep the place in business during lockdown with his regular orders.

Cheers: Liam Gallagher has reportedly become hooked on frozen margaritas over lockdown after ordering eight litres to his local pub' (pictured in 2011)

A source said: 'Liam and Debbie tried frozen margaritas ages ago and would always have them when they went to the pub.

'But in lockdown the owners started offering deliveries, so they have been able to call up and get them sent straight over.

'They aren't for the faint hearted because they are really strong, but it's a bit of a surprise that it's Liam's drink of choice.'

The drinks are a speciality at The Red Lion & Sun in Highgate where Liam and Debbie regularly ring up for deliveries.

Beverage: The Oasis star, 48, is known for downing beers but he and fiance Debbie Gwyther have developed a love for the 10-a pop cocktails made of tequila, triple sec and lime juice (pictured in May 2013)

The owners have reportedly made such a nice profit from the musician that they plan on making it into the pub's trademark drink.

The pub is believed to be the place where Liam first met his daughter Molly Moorish face-to-face in 2018.

MailOnline has contacted a representative for Liam for comment.

It comes after Liam and his brother Noel came close to crossing paths on Saturday.

The embattled Oasis bothers were both attending the Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea at the Estadio do Dragao in Porto.

Booze: Liam has helped keep his local in business during lockdown with his regular orders

While Noel, 54, made a public entrance, estranged sibling Liam went under the radar - with fans posting snaps of him to Instagram, blowing his cover.

Liam was spotted in the stands, and took snaps with fans, before slinking out after the match - which saw Chelsea win.

The result proved disappointing for the brothers - both life-long Manchester City fans, growing up supporting the team as children, with their dad before them a huge supporter of the team.

The brothers' appearance comes after plans for a new Oasis compilation album and accompanying bonus disc of unreleased material have 'been scrapped' after feuding Noel and Liam failed to agree on the project's direction.

The group disbanded in 2009 after a volatile backstage dispute led to guitarist and chief-songwriter Noel announcing he would no longer work with his younger sibling.

Near-miss: Liam and his brother Noel (pictured) came close to crossing paths on Saturday. Noel, 54, made a public entrance [pictured]
Kate Winslet has admitted she is no longer comfortable stripping off for roles as she feels her 'nudity days are numbered'.

Speaking to the New York Times, the Titanic star, 45, who has recently won critical acclaim for her role in Mare Of Easttown, said she did not want viewers to think: 'Oh, here she goes again', so has decided to stop nude scenes.

She said: 'I think my days are getting a little bit numbered of doing nudity. I'm just not that comfortable doing it anymore. It's not even really an age thing, actually.'

Ruling out: Kate Winslet has admitted she is no longer comfortable stripping off for roles as she feels her 'nudity days are numbered'

Kate starred in arguably one of cinema's most iconic nude scenes of all time in 1997's Titanic while playing Rose, where she reclined on a sofa and asked love interest Jack - played by Leonardo DiCaprio - to 'paint her like one of his French girls'.

Despite her bold moment in cinematic history, she insisted those days are fast going behind her as she detailed her feelings on future nude scenes.

She said: 'I think my days are getting a little bit numbered of doing nudity. I'm just not that comfortable doing it anymore.

'It's not even really an age thing, actually. There comes a point where people are going to go, 'Oh, here she goes again'...

Image: Kate starred in arguably one of cinema's most iconic nude scenes of all time in 1997's Titanic while playing Rose, where she reclined on a sofa and asked love interest Jack - played by Leonardo DiCaprio - to 'paint her like one of his French girls'

No retouching: Speaking to the New York Times , the Titanic star, 45, who has recently won critical acclaim for her role in Mare Of Easttown, said she did not want viewers to think: 'Oh, here she goes again', so has decided to stop nude scenes

'I hope that in playing Mare as a middle-aged woman  I will be 46 in October  I guess that's why people have connected with this character in the way that they have done because there are clearly no filters.

'She's a fully functioning, flawed woman with a body and a face that move in a way that is synonymous with her age, her life and where she comes from. I think we're starved of that a bit.'

Elsewhere, Kate revealed she fought to keep an unflattering sex scene with her Mare of Easttown co-star Guy Pearce, which exposed a 'bulgy bit of belly.'

In order to realistically portray a middle-aged woman in her new HBO limited series, the Oscar winner said her character is 'a fully functioning, flawed woman with a body and a face that moves in a way that is synonymous with her age.'

Unfiltered: Elsewhere, Kate revealed she fought to keep an unflattering sex scene with her Mare of Easttown co-star Guy Pearce, which exposed a 'bulgy bit of belly'

'I think we're starved of that a bit,' she said of the scarcity of unfiltered and realistic female bodies on film and television during the interview.

While acknowledging her 'unglamorous' appearance in the show may be surprising to some viewers, she said she turned down director Craig Zobel's offer to edit out 'a bulgy bit of belly.'

'Don't you dare,' she recalled telling him after he assured her the angle wouldn't air.

Additionally, she raised eyebrows for sending back the series' promo poster twice 'because it was too retouched' and she knows how 'many lines' she really has by the sides of her eyes.

Striving for authenticity: Previously, the actress said she got 'very fit' for the role since she had to do 'a lot of running' in the show (seen in 2017)

Previously, the actress said she got 'very fit' for the role since she had to do 'a lot of running' in the show.

'It's nice to sense that Mare was once strong in her youth, but I didn't want to make her an impossible, superhuman forty-something-year-old,' she told Emmy Magazine last month.

She added: 'Mostly women aren't like that. We do what we can in the midst of the juggle of everything else.'

'I think we're starved of that a bit,' she said of the scarcity of unfiltered and realistic female bodies on film and television during an interview with the New York Times

As for the possibility of her returning to play Detective Mare Sheehan again, the star told TV Line she would love the opportunity.

'I miss her. I really do. It's the strangest thing. I feel like I'm in mourning,' Winslet said. 'It was an absolutely wonderful role.'

HBO is still calling Mare of Easttown a limited series, and they intend to have it compete in the Limited Series category at the Emmy Awards this year.

The show follows Detective Mare Sheehan, a local Easttown detective who is investigating a young girl's murder, also starring Julianne Nicholson, Jean Smart and Angourie Rice.
Rachel Brosnahan turned heads in a ladylike pink ensemble and floral hat on Tuesday in New York City as she transformed into The Marvelous Mrs Maisel for season four.

The actress, 30, sauntered through the Big Apple in her 1950s outfit as she filmed new scenes for the hit Amazon Prime show.

She embraced her onscreen character Mirium with a pink dress and floral belt cinched at the waist, highlighting her slender curves.

Pretty in pink: Rachel Brosnahan turned heads in a ladylike pink ensemble and floral hat on Tuesday in New York City as she transformed into The Marvelous Mrs Maisel for season four

Rachel sported a cropped cardigan with floral trim and bow, in addition to a matching hat perched on top of her curled brunette tresses.

The Emmy-award winner opted for pink kitten heels and a scarlet manicure as she was seen crossing the road in the city. She enhanced her radiant complexion with a soft make-up look.

The Marvelous Mrs Maisel made its debut on the Amazon Prime Video streaming service in 2017 and has been one of its most lauded programs.

The show follows housewife Mirium 'Midge' Maisel, played by Rachel, who discovers that she has a talent for standup comedy and begins to pursue a career in the field, which affects her personal life in turn.

Walk this way: The actress, 30, sauntered through the Big Apple in her 1950s outfit as she filmed new scenes for the hit Amazon Prime show

Series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino based the titular character on various female comedians, as well as her own father, who performed as a comedian in her youth.

The show also features the talents of performers such as Jane Lynch, Kevin Pollak and Alex Borstein, among several others.

After the premiere of its first season, various members of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel's cast were nominated for several awards.

In 2018, Rachel won the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series award at that year's Primetime Emmys, with Alex being given the distinction for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

Amy also took home the awards for Outstanding Directing and Writing for a Comedy Series during the ceremony.

Following the positive reception of its first run of episodes, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel's production team went on to work on two more seasons, which were released in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

The show's cast and crew were presented with several awards for their further efforts on the program over the following two years.

Rachel spoke about her real-life connection to her character during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, where she noted that Maisel's feelings about various things had begun to affect her own.

Chic fit: She embraced her onscreen character Mirium with a pink dress and floral belt cinched at the waist which she paired with a cropped cardigan, complete with floral trim and a bow

'I think I tap into Midge when I get nervous! I can hear myself starting to fall into some rhythms and cadences and trying to will her confidence into my own life, and she's kind of become like a weird alter ego,' she expressed.

The award-winning actress also spoke about the audience's perception of Maisel as a parent and expressed that the show's writers fully intended for the character to run into complications with her children.

'It seems to make people uncomfortable, or they feel like it's a plot hole rather than something that was very carefully thought out,' she remarked.
Damian Lewis has said he is 'very proud' he and his late wife Helen McCrory helped raise over 1.5 million to feed NHS staff during the pandemic.

The actor, 50, reflected on their charitable efforts on the Out to Lunch podcast on Monday, which was originally recorded six weeks before Helen's tragic death from cancer aged 52 on April 16.

Helen and Damian led fundraising efforts alongside Matt Lucas to provide hot meals for NHS staff during the Covid-19 crisis, which saw them partner with chains including Leon and Wasabi for the Feed NHS scheme.

Sweet: Damian Lewis said he's 'very proud' he and late wife Helen McCrory raised over 1.5 million to help feed NHS staff prior to her death in a podcast on Monday (pictured in 2012)

Damian said: 'We raised over one and a half million pounds and by the end of it were feeding 40,000 meals a day to a hundred different hospitals across the UK.

'It had started just with a conversation with a pal and he said "look we're good at looking after patients but we are crap at looking after our own staff, can you think of anyway we can feed them?"

'I am very, very glad we did it and I am full of admiration for people who give their time working in the charity sector.'

Reflective: While the podcast was released on Monday it was recorded six weeks before her passing from cancer aged 52 on April 16 (pictured in 2010)

The Homeland star went on: 'I knew one of the founders of Leon and I knew Leon was popular with people and Helen and myself became friendly with CEO John Vincent.

'He's great friends with Matt Lucas so us four sort of clubbed together to try to raise money; that's what we did and I'm very proud actually. It was hard work.'

Helen, who was awarded the OBE for services to drama in the 2017 New Years Honours, was best known for playing the matriarch Polly in Peaky Blinders and Narcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter films.

Damian has previously said she had shown 'no fear, no bitterness, no self-pity' and had only told to close friends and family members about the diagnosis.

Scheme: Damian said: 'We raised over one and a half million pounds and by the end of it were feeding 40,000 meals a day to a hundred different hospitals across the UK' (pictured in 2016)

In April, Damian revealed Helen urged him to find love again two weeks before her death. In The Sunday Times, Damian said Helen told him, their daughter Manon, 14, and son Gulliver, 13, that she wanted 'Daddy to have lots of girlfriends'.

He wrote: 'She has been utterly heroic in her illness. Funny, of course  generous, brave, uncomplaining, constantly reminding us all of how lucky we've been, how blessed we are.

'Her generosity has extended to encouraging us three to live. Live fully, take opportunities, have adventures.

'Only a couple of weeks ago she said to us from her bed, 'I want Daddy to have girlfriends, lots of them, you must all love again, love isn't possessive, but you know, Damian, try at least to get though the funeral without snogging someone.'

Gushing: Damian (pictured in 2012) added, 'I am very, very glad we did it and I am full of admiration for people who give their time working in the charity sector... I'm very proud'

Damian also wrote of his heartbreak that Helen had left their children 'too early' but they have been prepared for life as she taught them to be 'courageous'.

The actor also wrote that Helen had told her children not to be sad by her passing because she had lived the wife she wanted to.

He stood by the actress' side during her illness, with Helen brushing off her hoarse voice in her final TV appearance in March to selflessly talk about their charity work.

The couple's devotion to one another shone brightly for all to see, with Damian saying the actress died peacefully at home surrounded by 'peace and love' and their children.

Heartbroken: In April, Damian announced the Peaky Blinders star passed away after a 'heroic' battle with cancer

It comes after Helen's friend Carrie Cracknell revealed those close to the Peaky Blinders star 'were sworn to secrecy' when it came to her cancer battle.

Discussing her friend's tragic passing, Carrie, 41 - who is a theatre director - told BBC Radio Four's Today: 'Helen wanted to be very private about her illness. Very few people knew. We were sworn to secrecy.'

Touching upon Helen's resilience, Carrie continued: 'She faced up to cancer with a level of bravery and humour that was extraordinary.'

Carrie also said the only reason she had been made aware of the star's diagnoses was because they were planning a Broadway show.

Star: Helen, who was awarded the OBE for services to drama in 2017, was best known for playing the matriarch Polly in Peaky Blinders and Narcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter films

She said: 'Very few people knew, and I only did because we were planning to transfer a show to Broadway and had to cancel that because she was having treatment.

'We were sworn to secrecy.'

Carrie went on: 'Helen wanted to be very private about her illness and I understand why. When you live in the public spotlight you have to find space to protect the things that are just for you.'

She added: 'Her need to be fully alive and be committed and to take things incredibly seriously, such as her family and charity work, defined her last few years for her as much as ever.'

Brave battle: Damian has previously said she had shown 'no fear, no bitterness, no self-pity' and had only told to close friends and family members about the diagnosis

In his first announcement of the news, Homeland star Damian tweeted: 'I'm heartbroken to announce that after a heroic battle with cancer, the beautiful and mighty woman that is Helen McCrory has died peacefully at home, surrounded by a wave of love from friends and family.

'She died as she lived. Fearlessly. God we love her and know how lucky we are to have had her in our lives.

'She blazed so brightly. Go now, Little One, into the air, and thank you.'

Her movie roles included playing MP Clair Dowar in Skyfall and Cherie Blair in The Queen and The Special Relationship.

On television, she appeared in Doctor Who, Inside No 9 and His Dark Materials, and last year appeared in the Hugh Laurie drama Roadkill on the BBC and ITV's Quiz.

She also had an accomplished stage career, winning plaudits for National Theatre roles in productions of Medea and Terence Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea.

Helen was also was nominated for an Olivier for her role as Rosalind in As You Like It in at London's Wyndham's theatre in 2006.

The couple were last seen during an appearance on Good Morning Britain in March, where they appeared to speak about their charity work for the Prince's Trust and the Prince's Trust Awards.
She's managing to stay positive despite having to postpone her dream wedding in Mallorca because of the pandemic.

And Jess Wright ensured to make the most of her current holiday to an unknown sunny destination as she posed up a storm in a red bikini on Wednesday.

The former TOWIE star, 35, looked sensational in the busty two-piece which perfectly highlighted her ample assets with a stylish cut-out front.

Sizzling: Jess Wright looked sensational in the busty bikini as she posed up a storm on holiday in a new snap shared to Instagram on Wednesday

Jess exuded confidence in her colourful swimwear, leaning against a stone wall as she worked all her angles for the camera.

The beauty wore her neon bottoms high on her hips to accentuate her toned figure and flaunted her ample cleavage with a scooping top.

Not forgetting her accessories, Jess added a brown silk wrap over the top of her long brunette locks which were cascading over her shoulders.

It comes after Jess shared a wedding themed post to social media on Monday and joked it wasn't 'the trip we were supposed to be going on'.

Loved-up: The reality star and her fiance William Lee-Kemp, 38, recently jetted abroad on what would have been their wedding break, after the couple were forced to postpone their date

In keeping with the bridal theme, Jess wore an all-white outfit as she wrapped her arm around her fiance William Lee-Kemp, 38, in the sweet post.

The white crop top highlighted the television personality's toned stomach while a matching sarong showcased Jess' toned legs.

Businessman William was also dressed in white and appeared in high spirits despite their wedding setback.

Jess captioned the post: 'Its not quite the trip we were supposed to be going on but couldnt be happier right now.'

The beauty is now set to walk down the aisle with William in September.

Keeping positive: Taking to Instagram on Monday, Jess shared a wedding themed post and joked it wasn't 'the trip we were supposed to be going on'

In an interview with Hello! Magazine she admitted she and William had considered scrapping plans to exchange nuptials in Mallorca and have a smaller ceremony in England, as pandemic regulations affect travel.

Noting that she's far from alone in her dilemma, Jessica told the publication: 'I really feel for all brides out there. Every day, we have been back and forth trying to decide what to do  I've been driving myself insane with it.'

She continued: 'We always wanted to get wed abroad with all our family and friends, but we have explored every option, different dates, different places. A few weeks ago I said to Will: "Shall we have a smaller wedding here in England?"

Of their autumn wedding, she explained: 'It gives more time for things to get back to normal and for all our nearest and dearest to be there. I have definitely relaxed since setting the new date. I can't wait to wear my dress  I just want to do it now.'

Will you marry me? Businessman William popped the question on the snow capped peaks of Courchevel, France, in February 2020 after 13 months of dating

William popped the question on the snow capped peaks of Courchevel, France, in February 2020 after 13 months of dating.

Jess previously told Hello! that her sister-in-law Michelle Keegan, 33, the actress wife of her brother Mark, would be one of bridal party, as well as her sister Natalya.

TV personality Mark, 34, who tied the knot with Michelle in 2015, has been drafted in to serve as the master of ceremonies on his sister's big day.

While Jessica and Will have holidayed in many exotic locations, Jess explained that Majorca has been like a second home to her as her family have a house on the island.

Jess said: 'I've been dreaming of a fairytale wedding since I was little, when I used to dress up in my mum's net curtains.

'Now I can't wait for the moment I've been imagining for so long, walking up the aisle in a fabulous dress to marry Will.'
George and Amal Clooney have reportedly jetted off to Italy to celebrate their twins' fourth birthday.

The actor, 60, whizzed his wife, 43, and their children, Ella and Alexander, to Lake Como over the weekend ahead of his little ones' fourth birthday on Sunday.

A source told E! News the family 'haven't been there in two years' but they'll be spending the summer at their family home, Villa Oleandra.

Trip: George and Amal Clooney have reportedly jetted off to Italy to celebrate their twins' fourth birthday (pictured together in 2019)

They added: 'They brought along their giant St. Bernard puppy, Rosie. They will be spending as much of the summer as they can in Lake Como.'

Meanwhile, the 'Midnight Sky' star  who wed the human rights lawyer in 2014  recently said he didn't realise there was something missing in his life until he met his spouse.

He said: 'There are some people, their goal was: "I have to have children." Mine wasn't. I wasn't looking at life, going: "My life will be unfulfilled without children." I felt like I had a pretty full life.

'Then I met Amal and realized that my life had been pretty empty. And then when you throw these two kids in there, then suddenly you realise how incredibly empty it was.'

The actor, 60, whizzed his wife, 43, and their children, Ella and Alexander, to Lake Como over the weekend ahead of his little ones' fourth birthday on Sunday (George's villa pictured)

Home away from home: A source told E! News the family 'haven't been there in two years' but they'll be spending the summer at their family home, Villa Oleandra (pictured in 2019)

George admitted fatherhood has also made his life less empty, and explained having children has given him 'everything' that Hollywood could not.

He said: '[I have] a sense of belonging and a sense of home and unconditional love  all the things that you were hoping you could get from a really good career and a dog. You realise that this is a lot more than that.'

And the Ocean's Eleven actor has since been teaching his young children to play pranks on their unsuspecting mother.

Speaking on The Today Show, he said: 'My whole job really is to teach them terrible things. And I really do enjoy teaching my children to do things that shock their mother.

'And it's fun because, you know, Amal, she'll be talking to a judge on a trial in the Sudan or a trial in Myanmar  she's having very serious conversations and then my son'll come in with a nappy on his head. This is a stroke of genius, you know.'
Bridgerton star Luke Newton was seen stepping out with his girlfriend Jade Davies in London on Tuesday.

The actor, 28, and West End star, also 28, looked smitten as they headed home after a night out at the Electric Cinema in Portobello, London, to see Disney flick Cruella.

Keeping things casual, Luke donned a white striped polo shirt over a pair of denim shorts as he walked beside Jade, who is Love Island star Amber's older sister.

Outing: Bridgerton star Luke Newton put on a casual display in a white striped polo shirt and shorts as he stepped out with girlfriend Jade Davies in London on Tuesday

Star: Luke (second left) was propelled to fame in Bridgerton (L-R: Florence Hunt, Ruth Gemmell, Phoebe Dynevor, Claudia Jessie, Jonathan Bailey, Will Tilston and Luke Thompson)

Luke, who plays Colin Bridgerton in the Netflix hit, completed his look by wearing a pair of brown walking boots.

Jade, meanwhile, looked effortlessly chic in a purple crochet cardigan that she wore over a simple white shirt.

She added a casual chic display by wearing a pair of bootcut jeans and black Converse trainers, while she kept her personal items in a black handbag.

Date night: The actor, 28, and West End star, also 28, looked smitten as they headed home after a night out at the Electric Cinema in Portobello, London, to see Disney flick Cruella

Stylish: Jade looked effortlessly chic in a purple crochet cardigan that she wore over a simple white shirt

Jade styled her brunette locks into a sleek, straight style and wore a light palette of make-up for their outing.

Jade is a theatre actress who has tread the boards in prestigious productions like Les Miserables and Phantom Of The Opera.

She and Luke have been dating for at least two years, with the pair sharing snaps together on social media since 2019.

Comfy: Jade added a casual chic display by wearing a pair of bootcut jeans and black Converse trainers, while she kept her personal items in a black handbag

Stunning: Jade styled her brunette locks into a sleek, straight style and wore a light palette of make-up for their outing

Luke was propelled to fame as part of the cast of Bridgerton, which has been renewed for a second, third and fourth season at Netflix.

The next season is based on Julia Quinn's second Bridgerton novel The Viscount Who Loved Me.

The book sees Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) go on the hunt for a suitable bride when he meets Kate and Edwina Sheffield, renamed Sharma for the show.

Cute couple: Jade and Luke have been dating for at least two years, with the pair sharing snaps together on social media since 2019

While he tries to pursue Edwina he finds himself becoming attracted to Kate instead, despite the fact they are often at odds with each other.

Simone Ashley was announced to be playing Kate, and her character's surname has been altered to reflect Simone's South-Asian background.

The show has been praised for mixing up tired casting, and featuring BAME cast members in prominent societal roles such as Rege-Jean as the Duke of Hastings, Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte, and Adjoa Andoh as Lady Danbury.

Family: Jade is Love Island star Amber's older sister, who has also embarked on a career in the theatre following her stint on the reality show
He's the Australian retired swimming legend who won five Olympic gold medals.

And on Wednesday, Ian Thorpe revealed he was offered a record deal in Japan, even though he can't sing.

During an interview on The Project with Cody Simpson, comedian Peter Helliar asked the 38-year-old if he's ever considered a career change.

Singing career? On Tuesday night, Ian Thorpe [pictured] revealed he was offered a record deal on The Project - even though he can't sing

'Cody [Simpson] has gone from singing to swimming, is there any chance that you could go from swimming to singing? Can you hold a tune?' Peter quizzed Ian.

'I was offered a record deal in Japan,' he replied, much to the amusement of the show's hosts Carrie Bickmore and Waleed Aly.

'I was asked if I could sing and I said no. Then they said, "We don't really care,' Ian added.

'So the answer is no.'

After breaking 22 world records and winning an abundance of medals, Ian retired from swimming at the age of 24.

Ian is now the chair of the Australian Institute of Sport's Athlete Wellbeing Advisory Committee and supports other athletes.

Who knew? During an interview on The Project with Cody Simpson [left], comedian Peter Helliar asked Ian if he's ever considered a career change

The swimmer is also patron of ReachOut, a health organisation that provides support for under 25s with everyday issues and difficult times.

Last year, Ian admitted he regrets quitting from competitive swimming in 2006 at 24.

The five-time Olympic champion said he retired from his career at such a young age because he wasn't able to deal with the enormous amount of pressure.

Career: Ian retired from his swimming career at the age of 24 after breaking 22 world records and winning an abundance of medals. Pictured at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000

'We had a team psychologist but people felt that if we saw him, then we had an issue,' Ian told The Daily Telegraph.

'When I saw him, he asked why I was doubting my ability and then gave me a pep talk. From there it was up to me.'

Ian went on to say he believes he could have competed in 'another two Olympics' at the time, if he didn't have 'pressures.'
What's Included

With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 319-352-3334 or email legals@waverlynewspapers.com.
Former Bond girl Britt Ekland has admitted she 'ruined her face' by getting lip fillers and described it as 'the biggest mistake of her life'.

The Swedish actress, 78, said in an interview with Platinum magazine on Wednesday that she would never have any more plastic surgery after she underwent a terrifying 'lip-pumping' procedure in Paris.

Looking back, Britt claimed: 'Everyone has the right to choose [surgery]. I did all of that in my 50s but wouldn't consider it again. I have no desire to look any different than I am.'

Thoughts: Former Bond girl Britt Ekland, 78, claimed in an interview on Wednesday she 'ruined her face' by getting lip fillers and calls the botched procedure the 'biggest mistake of her life'

The actress had made the appointment with a Paris-based doctor through a consultancy on Harley Street to have her lips plumped.

Instead of the moderate treatment she expected, the doctor made multiple injections all around the rim of her lips with Articol, which he said was a 'new dental material'.

Wendy Lewis, an international consultant in cosmetic surgery, previously told the Daily Mail that Articol is a bovine collagen that was briefly in vogue as a filler and lip plumper in the Nineties.

A first-generation cosmetic treatment, its use is now regarded as risky. It is rarely, if ever, used in the UK and it was never approved for use in the U.S. 'The effects are permanent. Today, most doctors don't want to use it,' she said.

Candid: Britt (pictured in The Man With The Golden Gun in 1974) said she would never have any more plastic surgery after she underwent a terrifying 'lip-pumping' procedure in Paris

Looks: Britt had a botched lip procedure when a doctor made multiple injections all around the rim of her lips with bovine collagen Articol (pictured left in 1982 and right in 2016)

Reflecting on the incident, Britt claimed she 'felt like I'd ruined my face' and said now she is content growing older and is no longer looking to find cosmetic surgery that will help her keep her looks.

She said: 'I feel great now, better than I have for many years... getting older happens to everyone. It's pointless complaining about it or wishing you could change.

'We're all going in one direction and there is nothing we can do about that.. It's just about looking after yourself while on that journey.'

For 20 years, the model underwent 'excruciatingly painful' corticosteroid injections in a bid to 'melt' the Articol.

Honest: Britt (left in 2019 and right in 1974) said, 'I did all of that in my 50s but wouldn't consider it again. I have no desire to look any different than I am'

Britt later went to another doctor to 'take it all out' and admitted during an episode of Loose Women that the procedures were a terrible mistake.

She said: 'It destroyed my looks and ruined my face. It was the biggest mistake of my life.

'When I look at photographs of myself before I had it done, I looked very good. I can see that now, but I couldn't see it at the time.'

In June last year, Britt revealed on Good Morning Britain that she stopped having cosmetic surgery because she realised it wasn't going to help her get better acting roles or make her 'look better'.

The actress admitted she first had cosmetic work done in her fifties when she went to a doctor to have her lips plumped and later had her ears pinned back.

She said: 'It's not going to give me more roles to make me look better. This is who I am and people have to accept it. I've accepted it, you accept it!'

The Swedish star is known for being a Bond girl, starring as Mary Goodnight in the 1974 film The Man with the Golden Gun alongside Roger Moore.
As movie stars continue to cotton on to the fact that TV is the place to be seen these days, some appear less able to shake of their glitzy Hollywood aura.

Take Reese Witherspoon; she's great, she's got an Oscar and a BAFTA and an Emmy, but her turn in both Big Little Lies and Little Fires Everywhere are somehow coated in a gloss that her acting ability can't seem to expel.

Perhaps it's because her characters in these two series (both with the word 'Little' in their titles for extra interchangeability) are mirror images of one another (the irritable upper-middle class housewife). But you still can't help but be constantly reminded that you're watching Elle Woods or June Carter Cash.

Ditch the glitz: Kate Winslet shuns any shred of Hollywood glamour in the gritty, despair-filled lead role on Mare Of Easttown

Kate Winslet, however, disproves any theory that big screen stars are incapable of truly shedding their glitz.

For the first, say, three minutes of Mare Of Easttown - available to watch in the UK on Sky and the US on HBO - thoughts of Winslet running around the Titanic with an axe or being a bit of a simp in The Holiday will vanish from your mind.

She is stunning as Detective Sergeant Mare Sheehan. She's got the 'Delco' accent down, she's a bit bedraggled, she's spread too thin, and she's full of despair.

Mid-way through the series' seven episodes (too few, it should have been at least 10 to extend the brilliance) Mare sits in therapy and is told that she hasn't adequately allowed herself to grieve her son's suicide, which took place only a couple of years prior.

More to explore: The series has been left too open-ended not to return for a second run

Silver screen siren: Winslet seems to shake off the gloss that Reese Witherspoon can't help but bring to her TV turns [pictured in Big Little Lies]

She came home to find he had hanged himself in the attic. 'You still live in the same house?' her therapist asks, astounded. 'Yes,' is the simple reply.

This is when the penny really drops - for both the viewer and Mare herself - that we are watching a woman frozen in her own anguish. And, even though we're fully aware Winslet is putting on a compelling performance, we can now see precisely what she is trying, and succeeding, to portray.

Winslet has always been a superb actress and she leads a cast of equally superb performers. Right down to the child actors - particularly Cameron Mann and Kassie Mundhenk as siblings Ryan and Moira Ross - the ensemble line-up have us hooked.

Bringing the grit: For the first, say, three minutes of Mare Of Easttown, thoughts of Winslet running around the Titanic with an axe or being a bit of a simp in The Holiday will vanish from your mind

Stellar: Winslet leads a cast of equally superb performers. Right down to the child actors - particularly Cameron Mann [pictured] and Kassie Mundhenk as siblings Ryan and Moira Ross

We don't want to live in Easttown. It could be worse. Drug addicts and kidnappings and murder aside, there are grubbier towns, for sure. But the vibe isn't great, overall.

Yet the cast keeps us coming back - a testament to a series that aired weekly, rather than being available to stream in one sitting.

Line Of Duty's much-awaited sixth season was the same, keeping fans returning every Sunday to find out what happened next; yet the cop drama ended in a big let down when 'H' was unveiled as someone no-one really recognised nor cared about.

Mare Of Easttown, however, delivered a highly satisfying finale, worth returning week-in/week-out for. It had it all: A twist, a curveball, betrayal, lies, revelations - the lot.

Curveball: The only slightly bizarre part of the show is the seemingly pointless Guy Pearce side-plot (did anyone else think he was the killer?)

Give us more: We want to know how Mare copes going forward. We want to see more of her mother - played by the impeccable Jean Smart [pictured]

The finale seemed to wrap things up within the first 10 minutes, moving the story forward. Far less important matters than the murder of Erin McMenamin became the focus, after supposed killer and local sleazebag John Ross was jailed, admitting he'd fathered Erin's baby.

And just when you wonder why we're watching a scene about Betty Carroll's widower being unable to throw his left-over spaghetti in the bin and do the washing up, the hovering bomb is dropped.

You could tell it was lingering, and that something wasn't right - but there is no way to predict the show would take the turn it does, other than perhaps the We Need To Talk About Kevin-esque moment that takes place in the school cafeteria earlier in the series.

So - the finale delivers on false-endings, tension building, and resolution. Lori and Mare fall out, but make friends. Mare gets to keep Drew. Siobhan goes to Berkeley. Mare finally faces the attic. The only slightly bizarre part of it is the seemingly pointless Guy Pearce side-plot (did anyone else think he was the killer?)

Season two? Mare Of Easttown is billed as a limited series, which suggests seven episodes is all we're getting

What happens next? How will Mare cope without Siobhan [Angourie Rice, pictured] after she goes to Berkeley?

So that's that, apparently. Mare Of Easttown is billed as a limited series, which suggests seven episodes is all we're getting.

But, it's done well. Much like the aforementioned Reese Witherspoon outing Big Little Lies did well. And as a result, we got a season two from it. Not just any season two - a season two with Meryl Streep in it for goodness sake.

Easttown needs to be revisited. There is too much left to explore. Winslet and co are too rich in talent and delivery not to regather and reuse.

We want to know how Mare copes going forward. We want to see more of her mother - played by the impeccable Jean Smart. We want to see how the Ross family cope. We want to see Erin's father's response to the news that she had an affair with his cousin, and was killed - albeit accidentally - by his cousin's son out of fury.

And if they want to throw in a Meryl Streep cameo to spice things up further, then so be it.

All seven episodes of Mare Of Easttown are now available to own across all major digital platforms.
Katie Price has revealed she's getting fat dissolving treatment in a bid to make her bum smaller after declaring she 'hates it!'

The mother-of-five, 43, made the declaration in a video shared on her YouTube channel on Tuesday as she underwent a body MOT, which included two colonic irrigations and fat dissolving treatment on her stomach.

Showing off her posterior in skintight black leggings, Katie told how that her bottom is next on the list for treatment as she declared: 'I hate it, I want it smaller!'

Big plans: Katie Price has revealed she's getting fat dissolving treatment in a bid to make her bum smaller after declaring she 'hates it!'

Documenting her day at the clinic, Katie shared with her fans her double colonic irrigation session followed by a gold needle facial, before she then moved on to her fat busting mission.

Speaking in the video, Katie said of her and beau Carl Woods' day: 'We've been put under the test today Literally, top-to-toe is good.'

And as she admired her flatter stomach in the mirror, she remarked that she could 'actually feel a difference', after previously being hooked up to a machine as she began her fat dissolving process.

She added: 'A few more treatments and that'll be good, won't it?'

'I want it smaller': Showing off her posterior in skintight black leggings ion a video shared to her YouTube channel on Tuesday, Katie told how that her bottom is next on the list for treatment as she declared: 'I hate it, I want it smaller!'

At the end of the video, the former glamour model then held up a peach-shaped cushion to her posterior, joking: 'Guys, do you think I should have one of these? A peachy Brazilian bum lift'

She then clarified: 'No! I've come here to get my bum smaller.'

Smacking her bottom and showing it off to the camera, she added: 'I hate it, I want it smaller!'

Katie's fat dissolving mission comes just months after she was reportedly forced to deny having a secret bum lift in lockdown after fans claimed they spotted 'evidence' in photos online.

Before and after: Katie is hoping to reduce the size of her behind following her previous bum lift in 2019 (pictured left in 2021 and right before her bum lift in July 2018)

Busy day: Katie made the declaration as she underwent a body MOT, which included two colonic irrigations and fat dissolving treatment on her stomach

Self care: Documenting her day at the clinic, Katie shared with her fans her double colonic irrigation session followed by a gold needle facial, before she then moved on to her fat busting mission

Her rep confirmed to The Sun at the time: 'Katie has not had any recent work to her posterior. The shape is completely natural, effects from gaining a few pounds.'

However, the former Loose Women star did undergo the procedure two years previously amid her multiple cosmetic surgeries that had left her bed bound.

Katie had jetted to Turkey in April 2019 where as a Brazilian bumlift, she also had liposuction and a facelift.

Shortly after returning to the UK, Katie unveiled her new face on Good Morning Britain while discussing her 'addiction' to plastic surgery with Susanna Reid and former host Piers Morgan, claiming she looks like a 'Space Invader'.

Trim: And as she admired her flatter stomach in the mirror, she remarked that she could 'actually feel a difference', after previously being hooked up to a machine as she began her fat dissolving process

Cheeky: At the end of the video, the former glamour model then held up a peach-shaped cushion to her posterior, joking: 'Guys, do you think I should have one of these? A peachy Brazilian bum lift'

The star displayed her newly-smooth and taut visage, explaining that she had her own fat injected under her eyes and had the side of her face 'lifted' in a bid to look more youthful.

Katie, who was pictured with angry bruises, bloodied scars and a swollen face after going under the knife weeks before, appeared to be making a speedy recovery.

The mother-of-five also had an eye lift and eyelid lift, Brazilian bum lift and a tummy tuck. Detailing the procedures she had done, Katie said: 'Ten days ago, I had liposuction and then I had my own fat put in my bum, I haven't had implants [in my bum]'

Surgery: Shortly after returning to the UK, Katie unveiled her new face on Good Morning Britain while discussing her 'addiction' to plastic surgery (pictured in May 2019)

'I look like a Space Invader because it's still really swollen... I had my own fat put under my eyes, and then here at the side I just had it lifted. It's safer than putting chemical stuff in.'

Quizzed by hosts Piers and Susanna whether she was addicted to surgery, Katie insisted she had 'calmed down' in recent years.

However, not long after having the procedure, it was claimed that Katie was considering getting her bum lift reversed.

A source told The Sun: 'Katie thinks she looks fat with a big bum and reckons she wants it back to how it was, instead of having more fat pumped into her bum to keep it perky.

Work: Katie is no stranger to having had work on her behind, as in 2018, she documented her latest non-surgical bum lift for fans

'She always wanted a hourglass figure and complained about having a flat bum, but it didnt look like she thought it would. Now she wants her old bum back. Plus, it was so painful when she got it done, she doesnt want to go through it all again.'

Katie is no stranger to having had work on her behind, as in 2018, she documented her latest non-surgical bum lift for fans.

The TV star flaunted her peachy posterior in a skimpy hot pink thong for the procedure - which is designed to deliver non-invasive fat removal and lymphatic drainage.

Depending on what part of the body you want to sculpt, effects can include fat reduction, cellulite improvement and skin tightening, with each procedure lasting between 30-60 minutes.

She captioned the clip: 'Woohoo got the amazing @shanecooperuk having my bespoke head to toe treatment #NewYearNewMe #FitnessMilf #NeverUnderestimateTheMilf'

Katie has openly documented her history with going under the knife, after having her first surgical procedure in 1998.

New cleavage! In March Katie revealed she'd had her 12th boob job, after vowing in 2018 she'll never have surgery on her face again following a botched procedure

In 2018 the star vowed she'd never have surgery on her face again after a botched facelift left her with permanant scarring.

She told The Sun: 'Choosing the right place to do the right procedure is vital. Maybe, with hindsight, I should have thought twice before jumping in.

'I wasn't happy with the outcome last time and didn't like the way I looked. This is the last time I will have surgery on my face.'

Katie also revealed in March she has had a 12th boob job.

The star admitted in an Instagram post in March that she arrived to the Be Clinic in Brussels with her head 'low' as she was embarrassed to have her breasts corrected.
They went public last week.

And it seems Chloe Ferry's new romance with Hollyoaks star Owen Warner is going swimmingly as she spoke to MailOnline about their passionate union - even revealing she could see herself marrying the 'Greek God'.

The Geordie Shore legend, 25, spoke at the launch of her best pal and co-star Bethan Kershaw's BB The Label clothing collection, during which she lauded praise on the hunk, 21, who she says has helped with her many insecurities.

Her love: It seems Chloe Ferry's new romance with Hollyoaks star Owen Warner is going swimmingly as she spoke to MailOnline about their passionate union - even revealing she could see herself marrying the 'Greek God'

Chloe, who has just returned from a trip to Portugal, went public about her romance with Owen on Saturday, sharing a series of loved-up snaps to Instagram.

The beauty even hinted that she is engaged as she shared a picture of the duo putting on a very cosy display up on a sun lounger.

She appeared to confirm they are set to tie the knot as she penned in the caption: 'Now I no what love feels like @_owenwarner,' (sic) alongside a diamond ring emoji.

Despite this, she confirmed to MailOnline that she and Owen, who previously dated Stephanie Davis, are not quite there yet.

Wow: The Geordie Shore legend, 25, lauded praise on the hunk, 21, who she says has helped with her many insecurities

Stunner: Chloe spoke at the launch of her best pal and co-star Bethan Kershaw's BB The Label clothing collection in London on Tuesday

She said: 'So me and Owen have been meeting before. He's absolutely lush - that body is to die for - I said he looks like a Greek God...

'We're not official but we're just seeing how we go. It's good. I know that he would be the perfect husband and he's the sort of person I would marry. I've never felt passion like I do with him, I can't believe it'.

On how he quells her insecurities, she went on: 'Do you know what it is with him. He gets annoyed when I put myself down. He says what are you talking about? And I'm so insecure but you wouldn't thinking it looking at me and that's what I need...

Sweet: Despite this, she confirmed to MailOnline that they are not quite there yet

'I went for the wrong people before but now I'm working on myself. I'm buying my own house, it was the right person.

On her recent holiday and her upcoming plans, excited Chloe said: 'Hot girl summer - all about it! It was good to get back to normal life and it was so hard. Not seeing people was the hardest in lockdown.'

Chloe is believed to have been single for more than a year following a turbulent relationship with Sam Gowland which began in 2017.

The on-and-off couple parted ways for good in February 2020.

Hot girl summer! On her recent holiday and her upcoming plans, excited Chloe said: 'Hot girl summer - all about it! It was good to get back to normal life and it was so hard. Not seeing people was the hardest in lockdown'

Since then, the reality star has been embracing the single life and dating, having appeared on the 2020 series of Celebs Go Dating.

She built a connection with Kieran Bishop and they reportedly spent time together when they left the show's mansion. However, the alleged romance didn't last long as Chloe failed to confirm they were ever dating.

She even shared a series of flirty exchanges with her Celebs Go Dating co-star Wayne Lineker, 59, who sent fans wild when he posted a fake engagement photo.

Way back when: Chloe is believed to have been single for more than a year following a turbulent relationship with Sam Gowland which began in 2017 (pictured in 2018)
Indya Moore has candidly detailed how they felt their role as Angel in Pose helped them deal with the trauma they felt as a child.

The actor, 26, identifies as a transgender non-binary entity, meaning they do not see themselves to be exclusively feminine or masculine and use the pronouns they/them.

Indya plays Angel Evangelista on the show, a transgender model and sex worker and described the FX series as a 'reflection of their childhood'.

Honest: Indya Moore has candidly detailed how they felt their role as Angel in Pose helped them deal with the trauma they felt as a trans child

Speaking to NET-A-PORTER's digital title, Porter magazine, Indya explained how they felt they had been through the same thing as the characters on screen.

Discussing the deeply personal experience they felt from being on the show, they said: 'I think that our society underplays the level of trauma that trans folks experience as kids

'[Pose is] a huge mirror, a reflection for so many of us into our childhood. It was anxiety-inducing in some ways, but it was also really affirming. I think it was cathartic, because reading that script, it was like, 'Wow, I went through this.'

Indya also commented on how Pose helped them understand their younger self: 'I feel really, deeply connected to my inner child

'I don't know if a lot of our community knows that we get to do that, but I think it's important to be reminded that we get to be in touch with our inner youth and that place that has been threatened and taken away from us so many times in our lives.

Open: The actor, 26, described the FX series as a 'reflection of their childhood', which they found anxiety-inducing but also affirming - which was a 'cathartic' experience

'Our innocence, our human curiosity, exploring clothing, fashion, toys These things are so gendered. And, as a result, kids get punished for it and then we're gaslit and told that we were confused by ourselves, but it's really the world around us that's confused.'

At the age of 14, Indya left their parents' home due to what Moore describes as their parents' transphobia, and entered into foster care.

Indya has previously spoken about how they were sex-trafficked for a year, after someone told them they would give them money to pay for their hormone replacement drugs.

Explaining how difficult it was to comprehend their situation, Indya told Elle in 2019: 'I didn't understand what sex trafficking was at the time. The language I knew was that they were, basically, my pimps. I was just a kid.'

Chat: Speaking to NET-A-PORTER's digital title, Porter magazine, Indya explained how they felt they had been through the same thing as the characters on screen

Now, Indya has reflected on the experience of homelessness after coming out as queer as a teenager: 'If your understanding of home is rooted in everything that you've gone through as a trans person at home, then you start to question life.

'You know, you grow up in this life believing that you may never have safety or peace or that you are undeserving of home Like, what do I have to do to access that? Imagining home felt like something that was inaccessible to me. [But] I knew that there would be love, that there is community and that there is support.'

Much of Indya's childhood was spent in the Brox, which they described as a 'melting pot', of people from all around the world.

They said: 'There's a lot of survival in the Bronx, and I think it's a place that has been stigmatized deeply as the less-preferred borough of New York, but [that's] also idolized as the birthplace of hip-hop.'

Indya also praised Raquel Willis, the Black trans activist and writer: 'She's been really helpful around helping to organize a community [in New York]. I'm so grateful for everything she's done.'

'We need community; you need people who love you in this life. You need people around who know you. We tend to lose ourselves [in] our survival. And when we have people around us who know us beyond our survival, they can help us to reground when things get really, really hard.'

On their hopes for the next chapter, Indya said: 'I just want a life of happiness and peace. I love my community. I want us to have what we need. I want us to have access to healthcare, security and shelter and love. Opening up those channels for my people is really important to me. That's where I'm at.'

In character: Indya plays Angel Evangelista on the show (pictured in series 1)

Indya has previously spoken about the complexity of identifying as transgender and non-binary, coming up with a novel way to stop people 'misgendering' them.

The actor asks agents at the Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles to donate money to a 'gender jar' in the Century City office whenever anyone refers to the star by a gender pronoun.

Indya told the Hollywood Reporter back in 2019: 'I think were at around $2,000 so far. I thought it would be a great way to hold people accountable. The more you misgender people, the more you have to spend.

'My choice to identify as nonbinary  though I typically express in femme ways  is to constantly disrupt the notion of the gender construct.

'Binaries force us into performative expectations that none of us purely live up to, and when we choose to live outside of those expectations we experience violence  trans and gender-variant people experience the worst kinds.

'Gender binaries arent just harmful to people who are trans and queer, they are harmful to all of us.'

To see the full interview with Indya Moore read Porter and/or download the NET-A-PORTER app for iPhone, iPad and Android.
Megan Blake-Irwin was in danger of an awkward wardrobe malfunction at Australian Fashion Week in Sydney on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old showed off her incredible figure in high-slit frock but as she posed, the model almost showed off more than she intended.

Displaying her endless pins, Megan wore the blue-green dress which also featured a low neckline and sleeves.

That was close! Model Megan Blake-Irwin almost suffered a wardrobe malfunction in a VERY high-slit dress as she attended Australian Fashion Week in Sydney on Wednesday

The model teamed the stylish ensemble with a pair of silver strappy heels and held a matching coloured handbag.

Megan, who attended the event with photographer Luke Dubbelde, left her blonde locks out and let her natural beauty shine, opting for a neutral palette of makeup.

The stunner has kept a low-profile since splitting with American actor, Skeet Ulrich last year.

The Australian model mended her broken heart while on holiday in French Polynesia in September last year.

Wardrobe malfunction: The 26-year-old showed off her incredible figure in high-slit frock but as she posed, the model almost showed off more than she intended. Pictured Megan and Luke Dubbelde

She shared a series of photos of herself to Instagram tagged from the South Pacific destination, which comprises more than 100 islands.

Megan, whose exes include reality star Scott Disick, billionaire David Mimran and socialite Nicolo Knows, flaunted her washboard abs in a series of snaps from the trip.

Megan and Skeet seemingly confirmed they had broken up in August last year after dating for three months.

Natural beauty: Megan left her blonde locks out and let her natural beauty shine, opting for a neutral palette of makeup

They unfollowed each other on Instagram and also removed photos of each other.

A series of cryptic posts have since surfaced on Megan's account, which shed light on how the model is coping with her split from the 50-year-old actor.

'Be with people who are good for your soul,' a post from August 9 read.

'Make someone smile every day but never forget that you are someone too,' another stated.
Jodie Turner-Smith criticised the Royal Family for their treatment of Meghan Markle.

The actress, 34, hit out at the Royals for not 'protecting' the Duchess of Sussex and said they didn't 'embrace her fully' during an appearance on Wednesday's edition of Good Morning Britain.

Speaking to Richard Arnold, Jodie, who is currently starring as Anne Boleyn in a Channel 5 series, said: 'There's a lot of resistance to new things that can push that institution forward in a way that more represents the world today.

'They could have embraced her fully and protected her': Jodie Turner-Smith criticised the Royal family for their treatment of Meghan Markle in an interview on GMB on Wednesday

'I think they could have looked at this marriage and that relationship as a way to evolve

'They could have embraced it and embraced her fully, and protected her. And protected their son in a way that made him feel like he didn't need to leave.'

In March, Meghan and Prince Harry had a bombshell interview Oprah Winfrey, in which the Duchess admitted she 'couldn't be left alone' and told her husband she 'didn't want to be alive anymore'.

She also claimed the Buckingham Palace HR department ignored her plea for help because she wasn't a 'paid employee'.

Thoughts: Jodie said, 'I think they could have looked at this marriage and that relationship as a way to evolve' (Prince Harry and Meghan in 2018)

Opinion: Jodie went on, 'They could have embraced it and embraced her fully, and protected her. And protected their son in a way that made him feel like he didn't need to leave'

Describing how she considered ending her life believing it 'was better for everyone', Meghan said: 'I knew that if I didn't say it, that I would do it. I just didn't want to be alive anymore.

'And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. I remember how he just cradled me. I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help. I said that 'I've never felt this way before, and I need to go somewhere'. And I was told that I couldn't, that it wouldn't be good for the institution'.

She said that after confiding in her husband, she was forced to go to the Royal Albert Hall for a charity event in January 2019, claiming photos from that night 'haunt me'.

She told Oprah she later reached out to one of the best friends of Diana, Princess of Wales, because she felt unsupported by the palace.

Opportunities: Jodie added, 'There's a lot of resistance to new things that can push that institution forward in a way that more represents the world today'

She said: 'When I joined that family, that was the last time I saw my passport, my driving licence, my keys - all of that gets turned over'. Meghan said Harry had 'saved my life' by agreeing to move to Los Angeles.

Meghan also accused the Royal Family of having 'concerns' about 'how dark' Archie's skin would be before he was born because she is mixed-race and Harry is white.

She claimed that a relative of Harry asked him 'how dark' their unborn child would be with the Duchess claiming Archie being mixed-race was a 'problem' for the royals after Oprah asked her if they were worried their son would be 'too brown'.

The former Suits star said she would not name the person because it would be 'too damaging' for them. But she confirmed that the duke was asked the question  'how dark his skin might be when he's born'  'by family'.

Struggle: In March, Meghan and Prince Harry had a bombshell interview Oprah Winfrey (pictured), in which she admitted she told her husband she 'didn't want to be alive anymore'

She then said Archie may have been denied the title of prince because he is mixed-race, but has never been told. Harry was also asked to identify the culprit but said he didn't feel 'comfortable' discussing it.

In the most extraordinary royal interview since Diana spoke to the BBC's Martin Bashir in 1995, Meghan said her sister-in-law Kate made her cry in a row over dresses for the flowergirls, including Princess Charlotte, before her Windsor wedding.

She said: 'She (Kate) was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologised. And she bought me flowers'.

Harry also laid into his own family, claiming their 'lack of support and understanding', the couple's mental health problems and fears 'history repeating itself' with Meghan like his mother Diana, who died in 1997.

Harry also said he felt 'very let down' by his father Prince Charles, accusing him of refusing to take his calls and and then 'cut him off' financially when they emigrated.

He said: 'My father and brother. They're both trapped' and added that his mother Diana would be 'angry and sad' that he felt he had to leave the royal family, but 'she saw it coming'.

Harry said: 'All she'd ever want for us is to be happy', adding that his wife had 'saved me', declaring: 'I myself was trapped, as well. I didn't see a way out'.

Asked about his relationship with Prince Charles, Harry said they were now speaking again, adding: 'There's a lot to work through there, you know?

Candid: Describing how she considered ending her life believing it 'was better for everyone', Meghan (pictured with Harry in 2020) said: 'I knew that if I didn't say it, that I would do it'

'I feel really let down, because he's been through something similar. He knows what pain feels like, and Archie's his grandson.

'I will always love him, but there's a lot of hurt that's happened. And I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship'.

When asked about if he remains close to William he replied: 'I love William to bits. He's my brother. We've been through hell together. I mean, we have a shared experience. But we're on different paths'.

Meghan claimed she had been completely 'naive' about what royal life was like, claiming she didn't know about needing to curtsy for the Queen and being taught by Fergie minutes before meeting Her Majesty for the first time in 2017.

Shocking: Meghan also accused the Royal Family of having 'concerns' about 'how dark' Archie's skin would be before he was born (pictured after Archie's birth in 2019)

The Duke and Duchess said they speak to her regularly on Zoom - but hinted at little contact with the other royals.

The Sussexes also revealed they were already planning 'Megxit' just six months after they married in May 2018 and Meghan compared life in Kensington Palace to lockdown in the Covid world today because she was 'banned' from going to lunch with friends.

But she said their new life was a 'happy ending' for after a journey 'greater than any fairytale you've ever read'.

Looking out for her: Meghan said Harry had 'saved my life' by agreeing to move to Los Angeles

Anne Boleyn: Jodie Turner-Smith shares a passionate onscreen kiss with love rival Jane Seymour during VERY racy first episode

Jodie Turner-Smith shared a tender onscreen kiss with love rival Jane Seymour, played by Lola Petticrew, during the first episode of her new drama Anne Boleyn on Tuesday night.

The opening instalment also involved racy sex scenes between Anne, played by Jodie, 34, and Henry VIII, played by Mark Stanley, with one moment seeing the doomed queen strangle her husband before putting on a passionate display.

During the first episode, it sees a pregnant Anne blindsided by the realisation that Henry has an eye on one of her ladies, Jane Seymour, who eventually goes on to succeed her as the Queen of England.

First episode: Jodie Turner-Smith shared a tender onscreen kiss with love rival Jane Seymour, played by Lola Petticrew, during the first episode of her new drama Anne Boleyn on Tuesday

The new Channel 5 three-part drama re-imagines the final months of the doomed queen and the opening scene reads: 'England 1536, Anne Boleyn has been Queen for two and a half years.

'She has one daughter, Elizabeth, but Henry is desperate for a son. Anne has miscarried twice, now she is pregnant again, less than 24 hours after the last queen's death.

'Henry and Anne are throwing a party. Anne is the most powerful woman in England, she has just five months to live.'

Prior to Anne's kiss with Jane, the doomed queen is seen sending a warning as she says loudly in ear shot: 'Just be sure Jane doesn't get any ideas in her head, she's a spiteful little b***h at times....'

Love rival: During the first episode, it sees a pregnant Anne blindsided by the realisation that Henry has an eye on one of her ladies, Jane Seymour, who eventually goes on to succeed her as the Queen of England

Racy! The opening instalment also involved racy sex scenes between Anne, played by Jodie, 34, and Henry VIII, played by Mark Stanley, with one moment seeing the doomed queen strangle her husband before putting on a passionate display

After realising Jane has overheard, Anne reassures: 'I don't mean you, my little mouse, the other Jane...'

Trying to suss out her love rival, Anne asks Jane to take a walk with her as she interrogates her before sharing a passionate kiss.

Anne says: 'I wanted to take a moment to talk to you, woman to woman, I feel like I am uniquely placed to understand what you might feel right now...

'I know what it's like to have all their eyes on you yet never be seen. They make you feel like a piece of meat!'

Warning: Prior to Anne's kiss with Jane, the doomed queen is seen sending a warning as she says loudly in ear shot: 'Just be sure Jane doesn't get any ideas in her head, she's a spiteful little b***h at times....'

Interrogation: Trying to suss out her love rival, Anne asks Jane to take a walk with her as she interrogates her before sharing a passionate kiss

Kiss: Anne then shares a passionate kiss with Jane, to which she responds: 'Yes, I can see the appeal...'

Anne then asks: 'Are you in love, Jane?' to which she replies: 'No...'

The doomed queen continues: 'You're lucky, it's difficult to love a man... especially when he is your husband. Remember who you are, don't betray yourself and you won't live to forget.'

Anne then shares a passionate kiss with Jane, to which she responds: 'Yes, I can see the appeal...'

After the embrace, Jane admits: 'Your grace, I do wish to marry one day... but I know it will not be for love, I perceive little good to come from that.'

Explaining her decision to marry, she continues: 'Security, honour, safety...'

Oh dear: And things go from bad to worse when the doomed queen walks in on Jane sitting on Henry's lap where she giggles: 'My lord!'

Anne then issues a warning to Jane as she replies: 'You'll never find security in the king's bed!'

Later in the episode, Anne admits she wants to send Jane away on 'another diplomatic mission abroad'.

Anne Boleyn: Who is Jane Seymour star Lola Petticrew? Lola Petticrew is starring as Jane Seymour in the new Channel 5 drama Anne Boleyn. Lola, 25, is from Belfast and has appeared in the likes of Jed Mercurio's Bloodlands, BBC's Three Families and in the critically acclaimed film Dating Amber. The star will next be seen in Wolf alongside the likes of Lily-Rose Depp and George MacKay. Advertisement

And things go from bad to worse when the doomed queen walks in on Jane sitting on Henry's lap where she giggles: 'My lord!'

Anne confronts the two and rips Jane's necklace off, which has a picture of Henry in it, before slapping her across the face.

The confrontation causes Anne to tragically miscarry her baby and the doomed queen is left further distressed when she sees Jane and Henry close once again.

Anne, who should be resting, decides to join them outside where she declares: 'I won't allow that w***e to take my place while I lie on my back.'

Yet as soon as the doomed queen goes outside, Henry gallops off on his horse as Anne screams: 'Henry, won't you say goodbye to your wife!'

Anne then falls to the ground while those around her try to call a doctor but she ominously says: 'No physician can save me now...'

Prior to the first episode, Jodie teased what viewers can expect from the series, she said: 'I would describe Anne as fierce, passionate and opinionated, all characteristics that for a woman, especially in the British court, would have been very threatening to the men around her.

'When we meet Anne she's really riding high; Katherine of Aragon was put aside for her and has just died, Anne is pregnant with what she is thinking is a son and she already has one healthy child with Henry. So in many ways, she feels untouchable and [is] at the height of her feminine power when we meet her.'

Elsewhere Lola, who plays Jane, said it is refreshing that the series focuses on the female gaze.

Distressing: The confrontation causes Anne to tragically miscarry her baby

The star said: 'I think that so often we see ourselves used as a tool or a device on screen for a mans story, and whats happening between these two women is so much more interesting.

'These are two women that have to clamber and fight for their place at the table. [Despite their differences] I think in a way theres a mutual respect between the two women  they have to do what they have to do in order to survive.'

Last month, Jodie reflected on being the first black actress to be cast as Anne Boleyn in Channel 5's three-part drama.

Speaking to Radio Times, The Queen and Slim star admitted that she knew it might be 'a stretch' for some viewers to see her as the doomed second wife of Henry VIII, but said she was sure others were 'finally ready' to see her in the role.

Jodie is the first black actress to portray Anne, and she follows in the footsteps of Natalie Dormer, Claire Foy and Natalie Portman by playing the historic part.

'I am aware it's going to be a stretch for some people': Last month, Jodie reflected on being the first black actress to be cast as Anne Boleyn in Channel 5's three-part drama

Reflecting on this, Jodie told the publication: 'It's much more approachable and appealing to a contemporary audience when you cast this way because we are distilling this down to a human experience.

'If you ask anyone to watch a film or to observe any art, you are asking them to suspend their beliefs.

'I am aware it's going to be a stretch for some people because they will feel too distracted by that, but I think for a lot of other people who are finally ready to see the world in a different way, they're going to see that this is a human story we are telling, and a fascinating one at that.'

Thoughts: Jodie said while some viewers might find it hard to see her as the doomed second wife of Henry VIII (pictured), she was sure others were 'finally ready' to see her in the role

Anne Boleyn will explore the final months of Anne Boleyn's life from the eponymous Queen's perspective, as she struggles to secure a future for her daughter and to challenge the powerful patriarchy closing in around her.

The three-part series will depict the key moments that cause Anne to topple, unpicking her immense strength, her fatal vulnerabilities and her determination to be an equal among men.

The cast also includes I May Destroy You's Paapa Essiedu, who will portray the role of Anne's brother and Tudor nobleman George.

Candid: Jodie said, 'For a lot of other people who are finally ready to see the world in a different way, they're going to see that this is a human story we are telling'

Dating Amber star Lola is featured as Anne's love rival, Jane Seymour, who succeeded her as the Queen of England.

Jamael Westman, Amanda Burton and Thalissa Teixeira also play roles in the mini-series - which finished production on location in Yorkshire in December 2020.

Penned by writer Eve Hedderwick Turner and directed by Lynsey Miller, Anne Boleyn aims to 'challenge all the conventions of who we think Anne Boleyn was and shines a feminist light on her story.'

Fable Pictures added: 'We're absolutely thrilled to have the magnetic Jodie Turner-Smith on board to encapsulate Anne's determination to be an equal among men and to pave a path for her daughter.

Background: The series explores the final moments of the queen's life from her lens before she is executed by her husband

'We feel that history has side-lined the voice of this ambitious Queen in favour of the men who brought her down, and that Lynsey Miller's beautiful, intimate vision will put Anne's gaze at the heart of the piece.'

Ben Frow, director of programs at ViacomCBS, added: 'This project re-frames her story as a propulsive psychological thriller, told from a new perspective, with top talent like Jodie Turner-Smith attached.

'It was simply too irresistible to say no to and I'm very excited to see the finished product.'

Director Miller previously defended the decision to give the role to a black actress, after sparking accusations of 'blackwashing'.

Challenging conventions: The three-part series will depict the key moments that cause Anne to topple, unpicking her immense strength and her determination to be an equal among men

The TV executive said: 'I feel very strongly that we have the best actress for the role so I am happy to stand by it. I'm very proud of what we have created together, so let them talk.

'There are going to be a lot of people who don't like it, but I feel like there has to be space for that and there are going to be a lot of people who love it. I'm one of them.'

It is the second time a BAME actress has played the role of Anne Boleyn on screen, after Merle Oberon, an Anglo-Indian actress who played the royal in Alexander Korda's 1933 film The Private Life of Henry VIII.

Queen: Back in 2007, Natalie Dormer took on the role of Anne Boleyn alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyer's Henry VIII in BBC series, The Tudors

All the stars: Natalie Portman took on the role of the Queen for The Other Boleyn Girl in 2008, left, while Claire Foy played her for the BBC's 7 million series Wolf Hall in 2009, right

Though she claimed she was Australian, in order to avoid prejudice at the time, Oberon was born in India to a British army officer father and Indian mother. She was nicknamed 'Queenie' in honour of Queen Mary and King George V's visit to India in 1911.

On her role, an excited Jodie, who was born in Peterborough to Jamaican parents, said: 'Delving deeper into Anne Boleyn's immense strengths while examining her fatal weaknesses and vulnerabilities, Eve's scripts immediately captured my imagination.

Anne Boleyn: Henry VIII's second wife whose historical significance is often overlooked due to her brutal death Though perhaps best known in English history for the brutal way in which she met her end, Anne Boleyn's mark on the country's history is far more significant. Anne Boleyn Born the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard, in 1501, she first came into the eye-sight of Henry VIII in 1522 when she secured a post at court as maid of honour to the king's first Catherine of Aragon. It was not until 1526 that Henry began his pursuit of Anne - a pursuit which was initially resisted. Her refusal to be a mistress sparked Henry to approach the then-Pope to have his marriage annulled. When it became clear this would not be allowed, Henry began his drive to break the power of the Catholic Church in England - what later became known as the English Reformation. Henry and Anne formally married in January 1533 - a move which resulted in the Pope excommunicating Henry and him consequently taking control of the Church of England. But it was ultimately not a happy marriage after Boleyn failed to produce a male heir. In order to marry again he needed a reason to end his marriage to Anne and she was investigated for high treason and sent to the Tower of London. Her beheading in the tower of London followed the miscarriage of a male child, and increasing clashes with Thomas Cromwell who is blamed for orchestrating the charges against her after engineering the break from the Catholic Church. Court rumours also suggested that Boleyn's forthright manner and intelligence angered courtiers. She was politically astute and allied with Protestant reformers of the church, including Cromwell before he turned on her. And her execution immediately followed the death of Henry VIII's first wife Catherine of Aragon. That event legally freed Henry to pursue marriage with Boleyn's lady-in-waiting Jane Seymour, if his current wife were to die. She was convicted on 15 May 1536 and beheaded four days later. Henry began courting Jane Seymour in 1536. Anne did leave one more mark on English history though, her daughter, Elizabeth, who was crowned as queen in 1558. During her daughter's reign, Anne became venerated as a martyr and heroine of the English Reformation. Advertisement

'In the hands of Lynsey Miller, the legend of this formidable queen and fierce mother will be seen as a deeply human story that is still so relevant for today.

'I look forward to bringing my heart and spirit into this daring retelling of the fall of this iconic woman.'

Henry's second wife, who was the daughter of English nobility, is also one of the key causes of the English Reformation and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I.

Anne was famously beheaded in 1536 for high treason after failing to produce a male heir.

Her execution in the Tower of London followed the miscarriage of a male child, and increasing clashes with Thomas Cromwell - who is blamed for orchestrating the charges against her after engineering the break from the Catholic Church.

Court rumours also suggested that Anne's forthright manner and intelligence angered courtiers.

She was politically astute and allied with Protestant reformers of the church, including Thomas before he turned on her.

Her killing immediately followed the death of Henry VIII's first wife Catherine of Aragon.

That event legally freed Henry to pursue marriage with Anne's lady-in-waiting Jane Seymour, if his current wife were to die.

Jodie is the latest in a line of Hollywood stars who have taken on the role in recent years.

Back in 2007, Natalie Dormer took on the role alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyer's Henry VIII in BBC series, The Tudors.

The series was panned by critics for its 'sexed-up, dumbed down' version of English history, and received hundreds of complaints from viewers and academics who claimed to spot modern radiators, Tarmac driveways, concrete bollards and Victorian carriages.

With its raunchy explicit sex scenes the drama, which ran for four series, was part of a bid to interest younger audiences in history.

Natalie Portman then took on the role of the Queen for The Other Boleyn Girl - directed by Justin Chadwick - which was moderately successful at the box office when it was released in 2008.

She starred alongside Scarlett Johansson, who played her sister Mary.

The film followed the plight of Anne Boleyn and her marriage to Henry VIII, played by Eric Bana, as her sister Mary muscled in on the King's affections with the help of David Morrissey's character, their uncle The Duke of Norfolk.

In 2009, Claire Foy took on the role for the BBC's 7 million series Wolf Hall, based on Hilary Mantel's award-winning novel.

The show - which also starred Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell and Damian Lewis as Henry VIII - charted the rise of Cromwell from blacksmith's son to one of the most powerful men in King Henry VIII's court.

While viewers praised the cast and their acting abilities, some said the slow pace had sent them to sleep and complained there was too much complex Tudor history to make for entertaining viewing

Meanwhile, news of Jodie's role came after months after she welcomed her daughter, Janie, now 14 months, with Fringe actor husband Joshua Jackson, 42.

In the October 2020 issue of Vogue, the British model confirmed her child's name for the first time in print, and reflected on what it's been like to parent a newborn in the midst of the pandemic.

The thespian explained: 'I had to learn how to breastfeed and how to be a mumit really worked out for my baby.'

The article reported that after giving birth in April, Jodie's mother Hilda came to stay with them for three months amid the pandemic, and while protests began erupting around the world in the fight of social justice and racial equality.

The Queen & Slim star reflected that it was a 'comfort' to have both her mother and husband with her and the baby during that time, without the outside pressures of work and amid a time of change and upheaval.

After THAT kissing scene, how much of new drama Anne Boleyn can you trust? From a party to mark Catherine of Aragon's death to tricking Henry VIII into marriage by witchcraft, FEMAIL separates historical fact from fiction

Channel 5's Anne Boleyn debuted last night to mixed reviews, with some praising the diverse casting and impeccable acting while other complained of boring and metaphor-heavy writing.

The very racy series opener - which saw several sex scenes and a kiss between Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour - claims to be 'inspired by truth and lies' but how historically accurate is it?

It already plays with historical accuracy in casting black actress Jodie Turner Smith as Henry VIII's second wife, who was most definitely white, with the star previously admitting that she knew it might be 'a stretch' for some viewers.

Set in January 1536 at Greenwich palace, the episode shows the last five months of Anne Boleyn (played by Jodie Turner-Smith) life, opening with King Henry and Anne throwing a party, 24 hours after the death of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

It goes on to document Henry's courting of his third wife Jane Seymour, his jousting accident and journey into a tyrant and Anne Boleyn's miscarriage.

So, how much of the first episode is fact and how much is simply royal fiction? Here FEMAIL fact-checks just how accurate Anne Boleyn really is...

The claim: Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII threw a party 24 hours after Catherine of Aragon's death

The show is set in January 1536, and opens on a party being thrown by Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn 'less than 24 hours after the death of Catherine of Aragon'.

Henry VIII's first wife - and mother of Mary I - had passed away aged 50 after being banished from court following their divorce three years earlier.

Jodie Turner-Smith is pictured in yellow dress and famous 'B' necklace, at court celebrating, while Henry (played by Mark Stanley) is pictured in black and yellow robes.

The couple drink and eat with courtiers, with a pigs head being served, and Anne describes Elizabeth as 'a perfect little monarch in the making' while Henry rebuffs 'our boy will be a great ruler, one for the history book,' gesturing towards her baby bump.

Afterwards, Anne is seen playing cards with ladies in the court, referring to Jane Seymour as a 'spiteful little b****'.

The show is set in January 1536, and opens on a party being thrown by Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn 'less than 24 hours after the death of Catherine of Aragon. Henry VII's first wife - and mother of Mary I - had just died aged 50 after being banished from court following a divorce three years earlier. Jodie Turner-Smith is pictured in yellow dress at court celebrating

How accurate is Anne Boleyn? FEMAIL fact checks the Channel 5 biopic The claim: Anne Bolyen was black. FALSE The claim: Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII threw a party 24 hours after Catherine of Aragon's death: MOSTLY TRUE The claim: Anne Boleyn kissed Jane Seymour and told her to 'stay away from Henry VIII'l FALSE The claim: A jousting accident turned Henry VIII into a tyrant. PROBABLY TRUE The claim: Anne walk ins on Jane Seymour sitting on Henry VIII's lap and slaps her and pulls her necklace off, leading to a miscarriage. PARTLY TRUE The claim: Thomas Cromwell plotted against Anne Boleyn. TRUE The claim: Henry believed he'd been tricked into his marriage by witchcraft. FALSE The claims: Anne Boleyn was responsible for the first English language bible. MOSTLY FALSE Advertisement

The facts: Anne and Henry had festivities following the death, but may have privately mourned

Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn did have festivities following Catherine of Aragon's death - but historians believed they may have both privately wept.

Anne, who had worked as a maid for Queen Catherine wore yellow following Catherine's death but historians re divided on the significance of this.

Many believe it was a show of joy, as yellow was a symbol of celebration in England. This would mean the King and Queen were blatantly celebrating the death of a former monarch - perhaps showing relief at the passing of a perceived enemy.

Eustace Chapuys, who served as the ambassador to England in Henry VIII's court wrote that 'Henry dressed in yellow, stuck a white feather in his cap and went dancing with Anne Boleyn's ladies.

However some believe it was a sign of sombre as yellow was a colour of mourning in Spain - where Catherine was born.

Anne's biographer Eric Ives says that the news of Catherine's death was met 'by an outburst of relief and enthusiasm for the Boleyn marriage'. He added that Anne was said to be 'overjoyed' and rewarded the messenger who brought the news to Greenwich a 'handsome present'

Ives also believed Henry exclaimed 'God be praised that we are free from all suspicion of war!'

VERDICT: MOSTLY TRUE

The claim: 'Bastard' Mary mourns Catherine of Aragon's death, Anne Boleyn offers to become a 'second mother' to her

In a later scene Anne Boleyn asks a lady-in-waiting to take her to Hatfield with her daughter Elizabeth. While in her bedchambers Anne asks the assistant: 'Tell me, the bastard, is she behaving herself' to which she replies 'Mary is the same as ever, consistently ungrateful for all the luxuries afforded to her'. She added that the King had sent her a 'generous sum'. 'You may pass my deepest sympathy to Mary on your return to Hatfield. Tell her if she wishes to come to court we would welcome her, I would happily be her Queen and second mother,' Anne says.

In a later scene Anne Boleyn asks a lady-in-waiting to take her to Hatfield with her daughter Elizabeth.

While in her bedchambers Anne asks the assistant: 'Tell me, the bastard, is she behaving herself' to which she replies 'Mary is the same as ever, consistently ungrateful for all the luxuries afforded to her'.

She added that the King had sent her a 'generous sum'.

'You may pass my deepest sympathy to Mary on your return to Hatfield. Tell her if she wishes to come to court we would welcome her, I would happily be her Queen and second mother,' Anne says.

The facts: Mary was deemed a bastard after Henry's marriage to Elizabeth was annulled and Anne Boleyn invited Mary to court

Mary - Henry VIII's first child that lived past infancy - was born declared a bastard and demoted from 'Princess Mary' to 'Lady Mary' after her parents marriage was annulled, with her younger half sister Elizabeth taking her place in the line of succession.

As a teenager, she was sent to live at Hatfield House to work as maid for Elizabeth (who had been sent to live there at just three months old) and not allowed to see her mother.

While Anne often visited her daughter at Hatfield, she is believed to only have met Mary on a handful of occasions - although the tension was been said to be extreme.

In 1534 - two years before the show is set - Anne attempted to reconcile with Mary, inviting her back to court and promising better treatment, if she would accept Anne as Queen.

But Mary responded with, 'she knew of no Queen in England except her mother, but if Madame Anne Boleyn would speak to her father on her behalf, she would be much obliged'.

Following Catherine of Aragon's death, Anne tried again to make amends with 'inconsolable' Mary -to no avail, although it's unclear if she went as far as offering to be her 'second mother'.

VERDICT: MOSTLY TRUE

The claim: Anne Boleyn kissed Jane Seymour and told her to 'stay away from Henry VIII'

In the opening episode of the racy drama, Anne Boleyn asks Jane Seymour to go for a walk with her. Jane is alleged to be Henry's mistress at the time. In an earlier scene Anne refers to her as a 'spiteful little bitch'. On the walk, Anne asks Jane is she's in love and says it's 'difficult to love a man'. 'Remember who you are, don't betray yourself and you won't live to regret' she says before kissing her and declaring 'yes, I can see the appeal'.

In the opening episode of the racy drama, Anne Boleyn asks Jane Seymour to go for a walk with her.

Jane is alleged to be Henry's mistress at the time. In an earlier scene Anne refers to her as a 'spiteful little bitch'.

On the walk, Anne asks Jane is she's in love and says it's 'difficult to love a man'.

'Remember who you are, don't betray yourself and you won't live to regret' she says before kissing her and declaring 'yes, I can see the appeal'.

The facts: There is no evidence the pair kissed

While Jane worked as a servant in both Catherine of Aragon's and Anne Boleyn's courts, there is no evidence that Anne and Jane ever kissed - although historians believe there was tension between the pair after Henry began courting Jane following Anne's third miscarriage.

VERDICT: FALSE

Henry has an accident while jousting and Anne comes running back to his bed. While still in his sickbed Anne and her brother George discuss what would happen to them if Henry died. But he wakes up and shortly after, he snaps at Anne after she offers to visit bedchamber, saying: 'What would be the point? Until that boy is born you have but one job. Concentrate on that if your so concerned about being a good wife.

The claim: A jousting accident turned Henry VIII into a tyrant

Although he keeps mistresses. in the early part of the episode Henry is seen as affectionate and kind towards Anne, praising her for being pregnant and looking admirably at his daughter Elizabeth.

But off screen, Henry has an accident while jousting and Anne comes running back to his bed.

While still in his sickbed Anne and her brother George discuss what would happen to them if Henry died.

But he wakes up and shortly after, he snaps at Anne after she offers to visit bedchamber, saying: 'What would be the point? Until that boy is born you have but one job. Concentrate on that if your so concerned about being a good wife.

The facts: Historians believed his jousting accident may have been a turning point

While jousting at Greenwich Palace on 24 January 1536, Henry, then 44, was in full armour when he was thrown from his horse, itself in full armour, which fell on top of him.

He was unconscious for two hours and doctors thought he was fatally injured.

Historians believe the injury ended his sporting career due to life-long leg injuries, which also caused him to gain substantial amount of weight.

Many believe there many have also been an undetected brain injury which changed his personality.

Historian Lucy Worsley previously told the History Channel: 'We posit that his jousting accident of 1536 provides the explanation for his personality change from sporty, promising, generous young Prince, to cruel, paranoid and vicious tyrant.

'From that date the turnover of wives really speeds up, and people begin to talk about him in quite a new and negative way.

'After the accident he was unconscious for two hours; even five minutes of unconsciousness is considered to be a major trauma today.'

However, there is no evidence the Queen tried to keep Mary away from the king.

VERDICT: PARTLY TRUE

The claim: Anne walk ins on Jane Seymour sitting on Henry VIII's lap and slaps her and pulls her necklace off, leading to a miscarriage

After gossip around the court that Henry is unhappy with Anne, she tracks him down and walks in on him with Jane.

The pair are flirting with Jane sitting on his lap.

Anne then swiftly pulls her necklace off - a locket with a picture of Henry inside - and slaps her.

The stress from this leads to her collapsing on the floor and miscarrying for the third time.

Wake up after the miscarriage and see Henry with Jane Seymour, says 'I won't allow that whore to take my place' -

The facts: Anne DID walk in on Jane Seymour and Henry VIII but the snatching of the necklace was a different incident - and the miscarriage could have been caused by several stresses

Accounts from the time and modern accounts say that Henry did gift Jane a locket with a portrait of himself inside, and that Anne did walk in on Jane while sitting on Henry's lap - but the show falsely amalgamates these events.

Shortly after Catherine of Aragon's death, Henry began courting Jane Seymour - one of Anne's servants.

Henry gave her a locket with a miniature portrait of himself inside.

Often, in the presence of Anne, began opening and shutting it to taunt Anne, who ripped it off her neck so hard it made her fingers bleed.

In another incident, Anne is said to have flown into a rage after seeing Jane sitting on Henry's lap.

While the drama shows her immediately miscarry after this, it's likely there was a combination of events which lead to her losing the baby.

It came just five days after the King was knocked unconscious in a boating accident, and also on the same day as Catherine of Aragon's funeral.

It's also likely Anne did slap - or have a physical altercation with Jane.

Maid Jane Dormer who served in the court claimed that there was often 'scratching and blows' between Anne and Jane

VERDICT: PARTLY TRUE

Another scene shows Anne walk ins on Jane Seymour sitting on Henry VIII's lap and slaps her and pulls her necklace off, leading to a miscarriage. Anne Boleyn (Played by Jodie Turner-Smith)Jane Seymour (Played by Lola Petticrew) are pictured

The claim: Thomas Cromwell plotted against Anne Boleyn

The episode shows Thomas and Anne arguing about the dissolution of the monasteries and Anne confiding in her brother: 'Cromwell is taking advantage of Henry's mood to exclude me. He's taking secret meetings with my husband.

Thomas also tells: 'Make no mistake, your influence lies in your belly, not your brain'

The episode shows Thomas and Anne arguing about the dissolution of the monasteries and Anne confiding in her brother: 'Cromwell is taking advantage of Henry's mood to exclude me. He's taking secret meetings with my husband.

The facts: Thomas as instrumental in Anne's downfall

Thomas Cromwell was Henry VIII's chief minister - one of the most ruthless and powerful operators ever to dominate the politics of this country

In a reign of unadulterated terror against the Church, he masterminded the dissolution of the monasteries and the biggest land grab since the Norman invasion of 1066 - seizing one-sixth of the nation's wealth and turning it over to his master, the King.

While Catherine of Aragon was Queen, Cromwell helped end the marriage and install Anne as Queen.

But after Anne's miscarriage at 14 weeks, Henry believed God's wishes were for him to not be married to Anne, and Cromwell conspired to get rid of her.

Eric Ives, Anne's biographer, said that her fall and execution were primarily engineered by Cromwell despite being a former ally.

VERDICT: TRUE

Set in January 1536 at Greenwich palace, the episode shows the last five months of Anne Boleyn (played by Jodie Turner-Smith) life, opening with King Henry and Anne throwing a party, 24 hours after the death of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Anne Boleyn is shown in a portrait from the 1500s

The claim: Henry believed he'd been tricked into his marriage by witchcraft

After Henry coldly rejected Anne, she then travels into his bed chambers anyway.

She then seduces him, before he stops saying it could hurt the baby before the pair proceed to have oral sex.

The next morning, Anne is expecting Hannah to be in a great mood but is told by her sister-in-law, he's in a 'fury'.

Jane Boleyn, the wife of her brother George, says: 'He's in a fury apparently, no one can shake it from him, we all know he's been unpredictable since his fall. I know we shouldn't believe idle gossip but i'm told..

'Apparently he was walking with his uncle and he complained of being seduced and bewitched into his current marriage

'All nonsense i'm sure, there was even talk of sorcery, can you imagine?'

The fact: Anne being charged witchcraft is a common misconception

The scene here is clearly alluding to Anne later being charged with witchcraft - and beheaded.

But Anne was never charged with witchcraft, and adultery, incest and treason.

Mark Smeaton, a Flemish musician in the court, confessed to adultery after being tortured, while a handful of others were arrested but not charged for their involvement with the Queen. George Boleyn, the Queen's brother, was also arrest on charges of incest.

Although little evidence any of this was true, Anne was also accused of treason as adultery on the part of a queen was a form of treason (because of the implications for the succession to the throne).

George, and three other men accused, were killed on 17th May, Anne was beheaded two days later.

VERDICT: PROBABLY FALSE

The claims: Anne Boleyn was responsible for the first English language bible

The episode shows Anne overjoyed as she's gifted a bible published in English by her brother George.

'It arrived late last night of the boat from Antwerp, I had the pastor bring it straight to you,' he says.

'The first full English language bible, now everyone can read the word of god in their own tongue,' she says.

'Thanks to you,' George adds.

The facts: Anne Boleyn was a supporter of translation William Tyndale

Anne was an ardent supporter of William Tyndale, the person responsible for translating the bible into English.

Tyndale's Bible was published at a time where an English language bible would have been seen as shocking as for centuries they were in Latin - but Henry and Anne were sympathetic as they saw this as a support as a step toward independence from Rome.

However, the claim it's 'all to thanks so Anne' is unlikely.

VERDICT: MOSTLY FALSE

Anne Boleyn continues on Wednesday night at 9pm on Channel 5.
Travis Barker's ex Shanna Moakler is now on OnlyFans.

The Playboy vet, 46, teased 'sexy fun' content including cooking and yoga as she unveiled her latest venture in an interview with Page Six on Wednesday.

'I'm not going to get too crazy just yet, but I'm definitely going to have some fun,' the model told site.

Meet the newest OnlyFans member! Travis Barker's ex Shanna Moakler is now on the sexy new website

Shanna plans on showcasing 'all different facets of her life' which include yoga, cooking and set tours done in a 'sexy fun way.'

And unlike other celebrities who have launched an OnlyFans account, Shanna doesn't plan on making hers particularly raunchy.

'I'm really staying true to who I am as a person and what I'm comfortable with,' Shanna, who signed with Unruly Agency to start the account, elaborated. 'I'm very comfortable with nudity. I always have been being a former Playmate, being in Maxim I'm not trying to get crazy in my career now at my age, but I'm definitely willing to have some fun and make it a great experience for everybody.'

Even her boyfriend Matthew Rondeau has been helping her edit her content.

Va va voom: Shanna plans on showcasing 'all different facets of her life' which include yoga, cooking and set tours done in a 'sexy fun way'

Shanna said Matthew has been 'super supportive' of her newest venture, and has been helping her select what photos to post.

The model, who finally joined the site to sell her Playboy trading cards and other memorabilia, also discussed her three children, whom she is estranged from.

'I don't think my kids are going to be on that website at any point in time, but my children do know I'm a former Playboy Playmate,' Shanna said of her children.

Shanna, who recalled spending Easters at the Playboy Mansion with her children, said: 'There's definitely a way of transitioning your kids into letting them know what kind of content you do do and don't do.'

He approves! Shanna said Matthew has been 'super supportive' of her newest venture, and has been helping her select what photos to post

The model and her children have made headlines recently over their severed relationship amid Travis' new relationship with Kourtney Kardashian. Shanna shares Alabama, 15 and Landon, 17, with Travis and Atiana, 22, with Oscar De La Hoya.

Her daughter Alabama claimed last month that she had not seen Shanna in seven months nor received a phone call from her.

Shanna believes Travis' new romance with Kourtney may have played a role in the estrangement, according to Page Six.

'Sadly right now at this moment there's still some distance. I'm just trying to give everybody some space,' she told the site.

'I'm not trying to get crazy': Unlike other celebrities who have launched an OnlyFans account, Shanna doesn't plan on making hers particularly raunchy

Shanna said she was uncertain if the relationship would ever be repaired so long as her ex dates Kourtney.

'I don't know. Right now I'm really just trying to let [my kids] all know that I'm here for them and I love them and I'm their mom and I'll always want to be in their lives,' she said.

The estrangement has been painful for Shanna, who said it had been 'very difficult and emotional and sad.'

'It's been very difficult': Shanna said her estrangement from her children has been painful

However, Shanna did send her well-wishes to Travis and Kourtney: 'I wish them really truly nothing but the best. I just don't want them interfering with my children and I's relationships.'

This is certainly in contrast to harsh words Shanna had for Kourtney and her sister Kim Kardashian in an interview with TMZ.

Asked by the website if she had anything she wanted to tell Kourtney and her sister Kim, Shanna replied, 'thanks for destroying my family, twice'.

Shanna, who recently accused her ex of having an affair with Kourtney's sister Kim - sparking their divorce in 2006 - hit out at the Kardashian family.

New flame: Shanna's ex Travis has been showcasing his relationship with Kourtney Kardashian on social media

'My family's broken because of this family and now my kids and I are alienated from each other because of another sister in the family, so yay for me,' she told TMZ while out for dinner in Woodland Hills.

She explained how everything was fine with her kids; Alabama and Landon until recently.

'We just had dinner with our kids and all their friends three weeks ago. So, you know, this has all started since my ex started dating a certain person.'

Accusations: Shanna has accused Travis of having an affair with Kim Kardashian during their marriage (pictured 2007)

During the interview she also doubled down on her claim that Travis had an affair with Kim during their marriage.

'I divorced for a reason. I'm confident in what my reasons were. People just don't divorce and, you know, break up their families for no reason at all,' she said.

'Or for a rumor,' added Matt which Shanna agreed to explaining that 'I've had third parties - even Aubrey O'Day has confirmed what I already knew and, you know, I've learned even more since this has come out.'

Last year Aubrey had said that Kim 'was hooking up with' Travis during a 4th of July celebration but did not say what year.

Then Shanna recently claimed on social media: 'I divorced Travis because I caught him having an affair with Kim!' prompting a Kim source to insist to Page Six that there was 'zero truth' to the allegation.
Katie Holmes was seen makeup-free and in a very casual outfit in New York City on Wednesday.

The Dawson's Creek star had on a print T-shirt and sweatpants with sneakers as she wore her hair in a messy ponytail.

The beauty, who just wrapped the movie The Watergate Girl in Connecticut, has been baking and painting at home during her time off between films.

Comfortable in the Big Apple: Katie Holmes was seen makeup-free and in a very casual outfit in New York City on Wednesday. The Dawson's Creek star had on a print T-shirt and sweatpants with sneakers as she wore her hair in a messy ponytail

The star had on an Electric Lady Studios T-shirt that looked vintage and was tucked into a pair of blue sweatpants that had pockets on the front and back.

The Ohio native added white sneakers and had a small brown leather purse worn crossbody style.

She added a black mask and carried her cell phone while crossing a busy street.

This comes after her ex-boyfriend Emilio Vitolo Jr, 33, who has worked as a chef in his father's Manhattan restaurant, was seen leaving his father's restaurant Emilio's Ballato, with actress Zoe Kravitz, 32.

Katie - who has daughter Suri Cruise, 15, with ex-husband Tom Cruise - wore a white T-shirt tucked into her stripped slacks, adding sneakers and a tote bag as well as a face mask. The star added black cat eye sunglasses.

Break time: The beauty, who just wrapped the movie The Watergate Girl in Connecticut, has been baking and painting at home during her time off between films

Emilio and Katie broke up earlier this spring as she worked in Connecticut on her new movie The Watergate Girl.

Now he has been seen with another famous actress.

Zoe and Katie have something in common: they have both starred in Batman movies. Holmes was in 2005's Batman Begins with Christian Bale and Kravitz will soon star as Catwoman in a 2022 Batman movie with Robert Pattinson.

Emilio looked to be in good spirit on Tuesday as he was seen outside his father's famous venue, which has been frequented by Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp in the past.

A good read: The siren has been reading a lot during COVID-19. On Monday she called Heavy a must read book

Heart-shaped treats: And the Batman Begins star has been baking cookies

A natural painter: The mother to Suri Cruise has also been painting; this is one of her pieces from the winter

Vitolo and Kravitz were both smiling as they engaged in conversation and then it seemed as if they shared their numbers as they typed into their cell phones.

The Italian descended New Yorker had on a cream colored polo shirt with matching shorts as well as beige-and-white sneakers. His black hair was slicked back.

Zoe was dressed down in a black sweatshirt with rust-colored slacks and a white beaded purse with hoops as straps. The daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet added purple velvet shoes.

Katie and Emilio began dating in September and seemed to go full speed ahead with reports emerging that she thought the relationship could go 'all the way.'

He was said to be 'incredibly charismatic' according to Katie's friends and even got on good with Suri, with the chef treating Katie like a 'princess,' throughout the relationship.

The loved-up days: Katie and Emilio Vitolo Jr dated for eight months and split this spring after some time apart: seen in New York City in October

But in April it was alleged the pair were 'taking space,' before their official split was revealed less than a month later.

It was reported that 'different schedules and different commitments,' were partially to blame, with Katie filming an untitled romantic feature upstate and Emilio trying to nurture his own acting career on top of working at his family's restaurant.

And after the split, Emilio was said to be leaning on friends for support but as the breakup was confirmed he was glimpsed by single New Yorkers on the celebrity dating app Raya.

'It's not just Raya  he's on a bunch of other dating apps too. He didn't exactly hide the fact that he's broken up from Katie,' an insider told Page Six.

His new pal: Vitolo Jr was seen leaving his father's restaurant Emilio's Ballato with actress Zoe Kravitz last week

Prior to Katie, Emilio was engaged to Rachel Emmons, breaking things off with her via text just days before photos of he and Katie emerged on a PDA-packed date in SoHo.

Now it looks like her Emilio's career is heating up.

Earlier this month Emilio - who is friends with the Jonas brothers - shared an article from Variety that reported his film The Birthday Cake was acquired by Screen Media.

It's a mob crime drama from director Jimmy Giannopoulos that stars Shiloh Fernandez, Ewan McGregor, Val Kilmer, Lorraine Bracco, William Fichtner, Ashley Benson, Luis Guzman, Paul Sorvino, Vincent Pastore, Aldis Hodge, Penn Badgley, Emory Cohen, and Jeremy Allen White.

Emilio has a small role.

The film will be released in June 2021.

The official logline is: 'The Birthday Cake takes place on one fateful evening in the life of Gio (Fernandez), the son of a murdered mobster and the nephew of Brooklyn mob boss, Angelo (Kilmer). On the 10th anniversary of his fathers mysterious death, Gio carries on the family tradition of bringing a cake his mother (Bracco) baked to this uncles house for a celebration.'

Vitolo has appeared in other projects: he played the bartender in Royal Pains and had a part as Mike Cambioti in 2015's Around Every Corner. He has also been seen in the movies Tapestry and The Vigil.

But with The Birthday Cake he has a larger part and he is working with a higher caliber of actors.

Watch Dawson's Creek on Stan in Australia.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez's rekindled romance continues to heat up as they convoy between each other's homes in LA.

On Wednesday, the 48-year-old actor was pictured smirking for the cameras, as he was pictured arriving at Lopez's house.

Just the day before, JLo was also seen pulling up at Ben's Brentwood residence in her white Cadillac Escalade.

Big smile: Affleck flashed a big smile Wednesday as he was spotted leaving Jennifer's house

While JLo went incognito behind the wheel, the Gone Girl actor was seen that day dressed casually in an all-black outfit and a leather jacket.

The duo - known affectionately as Bennifer - have been growing closer over the last few weeks, amid reports the pair can 'see a future together.'

Affleck was later seen dropping his nine-year-old son Samuel - whom he shares with ex-wife Jennifer Garner - at a swim class nearby.

He added contrasting white trainers and sported a pair of sunglasses.

In keeping with current California regulations, he made sure to don a face mask after exiting his SUV.

Three children: The actor has three children with ex-wife Jennifer Garner

Full beard: The Oscar winner sported a full beard while driving

While JLo is primarily based in Miami with her 13-year-old twins Max and Emme, Affleck's children - Samuel, Seraphina, 12, and Violet, 15 - reside with their mom Jennifer Garner in LA.

And according to People, Lopez did travel to LA this past weekend for business, but also to be with Affleck while he spends time with his family.

'They will continue to travel back and forth between Los Angeles and Miami,' an insider told the outlet. 'They are very happy together.'

The 48-year-old Good Will Hunting and Argo Oscar winner and the pop star and actress, 51, are said the be 'slowly starting to talk about the future.'

Is it...?: That same day a car that appeared to be Jennifer Lopez' Cadillac was spotted in Ben's neighborhood of Brentwood amid their rekindled romance

The source explained to People: 'This is not a casual relationship. They are taking it seriously and want it to be long-lasting.'

The pair had been set to wed in September 2003 but called off the marriage at the last minute.

They split a few months later in January 2004.

But after Jen broke up with fiance Alex Rodriguez last month after four years together, she reunited with Affleck.

Looking fab: Ben Affleck was spotted looking stylish as ever in a dark outfit and aviator shades as he stepped out in Los Angeles on Tuesday

Busy man: The 48-year-old was evidently on dad duty that day as he had recently been seen taking his son Samuel, nine, to swim class

Bennifer: Affleck and Lopez had been set to wed in September 2003 but called off the marriage at the last minute. They split a few months later in January 2004 (pictured July 2003)

He had been single following the end of his romance with Knives Out star Ana de Armas, whom he met on the set of the erotic thriller Deep Water in the fall of 2019.

An insider told UsWeekly that JLo 'seems very happy and excited about her future' after getting back together with her former love.

'It's very clear they've fallen for each other again in a very intense way,' an insider shared with Us.
UN refugee agency, TECNO renew support for African refugee children's education

Xinhua) 09:39, June 02, 2021

NAIROBI, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Africa's leading smartphone brand TECNO announced on Tuesday the renewal of its partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to boost education for refugee children living in Africa.

The partnership between UNHCR and TECNO was initially inked in 2020 to support the implementation of a global program in primary education Educate A Child to ensure Africa's refugee children realize their rights to education.

Under the renewed partnership, 10,670 refugee children in Kenya and Uganda will benefit from enhanced access to quality education in 2021.

Tecno will make financial contribution to the Educate A Child program to help holistic interventions like improvement of school infrastructure, provision of learning materials to students, training of teachers and support for refugee students with special needs.

Vivian Tan, UNHCR's representative ad interim in China, hailed support from TECNO, saying it will boost academic excellence for refugee children grappling with COVID-19 related disruptions.

"Support from our private sector partners like TECNO is critical for UNHCR to continue to strengthen our efforts to support refugee learners and students to continue their education in this difficult time, and in the post-COVID time," Tan said in a statement released in Nairobi.

She said that financial and technical support from the Chinese private sector is critical to help address gaps in access to quality education for refugee children globally.

Stephen Ha, general manager of TECNO, said the renewed partnership with UNHCR will help improve learning outcomes for refugee children in Africa.

"In the post COVID-time, we will amplify our efforts, especially using digital solutions to increase educational opportunity and enhance education quality for children in Africa so that they could receive better education and be better connected with the world," said Ha.

At the height of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when schools were closed, TECNO donated tablets to support remote learning for refugee children in Kenya besides availing 50,000 medical face masks to UNHCR Kenya to boost response to the pandemic.

In 2020, TECNO's support to Educate A Child program has benefitted children in Dadaab refugee camp located in northeastern Kenyan county of Garissa through provision of textbooks and other learning kit.

Uganda and Kenya are amongst the world's top host countries for refugees. It is hoped that a strengthened partnership between UNHCR and TECNO will facilitate safe reopening of schools catering for refugee children in Africa while laying the foundation for them to pursue higher education in the future.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Hongyu)
Value Market Researchs Global Yoga Mat Market Report is a comprehensive analysis study that include industry trends, size, share, growth, estimation and forecast for the year 2020-2027. The Yoga Mat market report also covers the comprehensive profiles of the key players in the market and an in-depth view of the competitive landscape worldwide.

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 Yoga Mat include Lululemon, Manduka, Jade Yoga, prAna, Hugger Mugger, Khataland, Liforme Ltd., Dragonfly, Tomuno, and Alo Yoga, Inc. This section includes 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.

Request Free sample copy of the report Global Yoga Mat Market at: https://www.valuemarketresearch.com/contact/yoga-mat-market/download-sample

Market Segmentation

The broad Yoga Mat has been sub-grouped into the Material, Distribution Channel and region. The report studies these subsets with respect to the geographical segmentation. The strategists can gain a detailed insight and devise appropriate strategies to target specific market. This detail will lead to a focused approach leading to identification of better opportunities.

By Material

PVC

TPE

Rubber

PE

Cotton/Jute

By Distribution Channel

Specialty Store

Departmental Store & Hypermarket

Online Channel

Browse Global Yoga Mat Report with in-depth TOC : https://www.valuemarketresearch.com/report/yoga-mat-market

Regional Analysis

Furthermore, the report comprises of the geographical segmentation which mainly focuses on current and forecast demand for Yoga Mat in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The report further focuses on demand for individual application segments in all the regions.

Table of Content

Preface Executive Summary Yoga Mat  Industry Analysis Value Chain Analysis Impact Analysis Of Covid-19 Outbreak Global Yoga Mat Analysis By Material Global Yoga Mat Analysis By Distribution Channel Global Yoga Mat Analysis By Geography Competitive Landscape Of The Yoga Mat Companies Company Profiles Of Yoga Mat Industry

Buy Now Comprehensive Global Yoga Mat Research Report at https://www.valuemarketresearch.com/contact/yoga-mat-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
She's enjoying a sun-soaked break away with her family in Portugal.

And Billie Faiers looked sensational as she posed for a sizzling selfie that she shared via Instagram on Wednesday, while enjoying a day out on a boat with her family.

The Mummy Diaries star, 31, wowed in a bronze one-shouldered swimsuit that she paired with a brown-and-white headscarf as she spent the day with husband Greg Shepherd, daughter Nelly, son Arthur, mum Suzie and their extended family.

Wow! Billie Faiers showed off her figure in a one-shouldered bronze swimsuit and a headscarf as she enjoyed an outing on a boat in Portugal in an Instagram post she shared on Wednesday

Billie's ensemble was cut high on the waist to highlight her slender figure as she posed with her legs stretched out in front of her.

Her blonde locks were styled into a sleek, straight style that she kept hidden under her headscarf, and she accessorised with gold bracelets and matching earrings

Billie also wore a pendant necklace and she shielded her eyes with a pair of chic shades as she looked out on the picturesque landscape.

She also posed for a selfie alongside Greg at their hotel, and he put on a casual display in a white shirt and blue polka-dot shorts.

Stunning: Billie's ensemble was cut high on the waist to highlight her slender figure, while husband Greg Shepherd wore a white shirt and blue polka-dot shorts

Family: Billie is enjoying a trip in Portugal with husband Greg Shepherd, daughter Nelly, son Arthur, mum Suzie and their extended family

Billie also shared sweet videos of her children and their relations enjoying the sunny weather and looking out at the crystal blue waters.

Back in Essex, Billie and Greg have faced multiple roadblocks in their quest to build their dream house in Brentwood, with work being delayed by several months after planning rows with their new neighbours.

The couple bought the four-bedroom property for 1.4 million a year ago with the hopes of constructing their own dream home.

Enjoying themselves: Billie also shared sweet videos of her children spending time together

Bonding: Nelly, Arthur and their relations were seen enjoying the sunny weather and looking out at the crystal blue waters

Billie recently revealed to MailOnline that she plans to grow their family when they can settle in their new home.

She said: 'I always do say I definitely would consider having more, especially with moving into the new house. I said to Greg "maybe next year" and Nelly is desperate for a dog as well.

'We're going to move into this new house with a dog and another baby!

'I always say it's not out the question, I'm not saying I wouldn't want anymore. I suppose we're seeing what happens.'

Cheers! Billie, her mum Suzie and a friend enjoyed a glass of wine together
Selling Sunset star Christine Quinn was seen enjoying some down time in Palm Spring, California on Tuesday with her husband Christian Richard.

The reality TV maven, 31, showed off a flat tummy as she modeled a white bra top and a pair of light blue micro shorts while leaving the upscale Parker Hotel.

It has only been two weeks since the blonde bombshell welcomed her first child, son Christian Georges Dumontet.

Trim and tan! Selling Sunset star Christine Quinn was seen enjoying some down time in Palm Spring, California on Tuesday

Quinn looked as if she had completely snapped back after welcoming her baby in mid May.

She appeared svelte in her revealing white bra top that flashed her small midsection and flaunted her toned, long arms.

Christine also had on short shorts that made the most of her slender legs as she modeled black slides. The TV star added a silver cursive C necklace.

Way to go: The reality TV maven, 31, showed off a flat tummy as she modeled a bra top and shorts while leaving the upscale Parker Hotel

She welcomed the child into the world on Saturday, May 15.

The social media favorite shared a professional snapshot of the newborn during an appearance on E! News' Daily Pop a week ago.

Quinn also took time to discuss the 'mom-shamers' that flooded her social media after learning that she had returned to work just days after her son's arrival.

'He's iced out,' said Quinn, who had her little one rocking a diamond encrusted Louis Vuitton chain for his first photoshoot. 'He's got a little bit of bling on. I just thought it was so cute, I had to do it.'

The newborn was posed sweetly on his back in a black onesie with one hand behind his head, while his eyes remained closed.

Nice style: Quinn looked as if she had completely snapped back after welcoming her baby in mid May. She was svelte in her revealing white bra top that flashes her small midsection and flaunted her toned, long arms

Pregnant only WEEKS ago: It has only been two weeks since the blonde bombshell welcomed her first child, has son Christian Georges Dumontet

Christine welcomed a 'healthy baby boy' via an emergency C-section on May 15 in Los Angeles with her husband, Christian Richard, by her side.

The hosts of E! News' Daily Pop, after ogling over Christian Jr., were curious to know how Christine has handled getting back to work so shortly after giving birth.

And according to the reality TV sensation, she has received backlash from 'mom-shamers' over the decision.

'The mom-shamers are real, that's for sure," she revealed 'I've gotten both ends of the spectrum.

'I've gotten people who are like, "Oh I'm so happy you're getting back to work, that's great!" And then I have people who are like, "You need to give your body time to recover and heal, and who's taking care of the baby?"' she explained.

Chic in the desert: Christine also had on short shorts that made the most of her slender legs as she modeled slides. The TV star added a silver cursive C necklace. Seen with her husband Christian Richard

Hands full: She was seen carrying in white and gray pillows from the yellow vehicle

Despite being inundated with critical social media messages, Christine has not taken any of it to heart.

'I'm like, "Listen, my husband's amazing. He's home, the baby's sleeping, what's the difference?" For me, I love to work,' she told the hosts.

'There are single moms out there every single day working two, three jobs, doing it. Women are so strong and they can do it.

'For me, I'm happy to be working. I'm thrilled to have a job and I'm thrilled to have a baby and be able to do it all.

'I think that's really the message here: Women really can do it all, so don't be shaming!' said Quinn, adding that she does currently plan to 'keep her work life and home life separate.'

Although Christian Jr. has yet to meet any of Christine's Selling Sunset castmates, she revealed an introduction is in the near future.

So cute: Christine welcomed a 'healthy baby boy' via an emergency C-section on May 15 in Los Angeles with her husband, Christian Richard, by her side

Had to! 'He's got a little bit of bling on. I just thought it was so cute, I had to do it,' Christine gushed

'But hopefully this week so I'm really excited about that!' said Christine, who had taken issues with her costars during her pregnancy for 'not liking' her pregnancy announcement on Instagram.

Further opening up about new motherhood, Quinn stated that her favorite part is 'just being responsible for this human that you made.

'It's something about this instinctual bond...It's just this love that I never, ever felt before. I have a whole new level of love. I didn't know that was possible,' she concluded.

Since his arrival, Quinn has been using social media to gush over Christian Jr., with the star recently writing that she 'could not feel more in love, blessed, and grateful.

Soon, though! Although Christian Jr has yet to meet any of Christine's Selling Sunset castmates, she revealed an introduction is in the near future

Parenthood: Christine and her husband Christian pictured at the MTV Movie & TV Awards: UNSCRIPTED which aired on May 17

'Words can not express the joy of being a mommy.'

Christine uploaded her first post-birth selfie last Saturday, flashing a peace sign for her followers on her Instagram Story.

'This mommy is tired but she's still got work to do!' she captioned the post, which showed her rocking a noticeable glow and makeup-free visage. 'Love you all! Thank you for the wonderful warm messages.'

Prior to confirming his arrival on Instagram, the news of Christine giving birth was first reported by Us Weekly.

'Christian Georges Dumontet was born a healthy baby boy on Saturday, May 15, at 4:22 p.m. in Los Angeles  less than two days after she appeared at the MTV Movie & TV Awards: Unscripted taping,' a rep confirmed to the publication.
John Stamos posted a cheeky comeback to a California politician who tweeted his objections to the gay character in the new Cruella film.

The complaint came from Omar Navarro, a Republican who has run for Congress unsuccessfully three times to unseat Maxine Waters.

'The new Disney Cruella with Emma Stone just ruined my childhood with an openly flamboyant gay in the movie,' wrote Omar.

Laughing it up: John Stamos posted a cheeky comeback to a California politician who tweeted his objections to the gay character in the new Cruella film

He was referring to John McCrea's character Artie who is pals with Emma Stone's character Estella - the future Cruella De Vil.

'Disney persist shoving the LGBT agenda down our throat,' added Omar, who went on to urge his followers: 'RT if you are going to Boycott Disney.'

John Stamos responded with a tongue-in-cheek remark about his family sitcom Full House which made him a star in the 1980s and 1990s.

Bob Saget plays a widower who finds himself unable to raise his three daughters alone and so moves his brother-in-law (John) and a pal (Dave Coulier) in to help.

There she is: The complaint came from Omar Navarro, a Republican who has run for Congress unsuccessfully three times to unseat Maxine Waters

'Shoving the LGBT agenda down our throat': 'The new Disney Cruella with Emma Stone just ruined my childhood with an openly flamboyant gay in the movie,' wrote Omar

John quoted Omar's tweet about his childhood being wrecked and joked: 'If that ruined your childhood, I hope you didnt watch Full House. Three single men, living under one roof raising kids in San Francisco....'

Omar, who is 32 and was a child when Full House was on, has had a history of legal trouble over the past few years.

He pled guilty in 2016 to putting a tracking device on his wife's car and then spent several months of last year in jail for stalking an ex-girlfriend.

After emerging from jail last year he filed to run against Maxine Waters yet again - this time in the 2022 midterm elections.

Who's who: He was referring to John McCrea's character Artie (pictured) who is pals with Emma Stone's character Estella - the future Cruella De Vil

Premise: On Full House Bob Saget plays a widower who finds himself unable to raise his three daughters alone and so moves his brother-in-law (John) and a pal (Dave Coulier) in to help

Cruella stars Emma Stone in the origin story of the title character and features her pal Artie as the first openly gay character in a live-action Disney film.

Emma Thompson plays the villainess of the movie Baroness Von Hellman and recently revealed the cosmetic look was partly inspired by Joan Collins.

'My wonderful makeup designer, Naomi Donne, actually drew quite a lot from darling Joan Collins, who couldnt be nicer but whos played some real meanies,' said Emma.

She told Variety: 'She has wonderful narcissism, and of course, thats what Baroness has got to the nth degree. Shes dreadful.'

Star turn: Cruella stars Emma Stone in the origin story of the title role and features her pal Artie as the first openly gay character in a live-action Disney film
Kelly Osbourne talked about her addiction issues this week.

The former The Osbournes star, 36, sat down on the Facebook Watch series Red Table Talk with Jada and Willow Smith to share the worst of what she went through in her teen years.

And during her discussion the purple-haired youngest daughter of rock legend Ozzy Osbourne revealed at one point she was using heroin to save money as the drug was so much less expensive than prescription pills like Vicodin and Percocet.

Hard to take: Kelly Osbourne said on Red Table Talk that she did heroin at age 13; seen in 1997 at age of 13 with her dad Ozzy, mother Sharon and brother Jack

The start: The star, who relapsed during lockdown, said her issues began as a teen when she had been given Vicodin. 'I then kept getting sick, and I had a really bad case of tonsillitis. They ended up having to give me some crazy surgery, and then after that, they gave me Vicodin, and that was all I needed,' she said

The star, who also shared she had relapsed during lockdown, said her issues began as a teen when she had been given Vicodin for a medical issue.

'I then kept getting sick, and I had a really bad case of tonsillitis. They ended up having to give me some crazy surgery, and then after that, they gave me Vicodin, and that was all I needed,' she said.

And the pressure from being a teen star was too much, making her seek the comfort she felt from Vicodin when she was only 13-years-old.

She has always been in the spotlight: The star seen on the left in 2002 and on the right in 2013

An adult: The star as a blonde at age 18 when at the MTV Movie Awards in LA

The gang: from left, Ozzy Osbourne, Kelly Osbourne, Jack Osbourne, Sharon Osbourne on The Osbournes in 2002; she was 17 in this image

'I went from having every voice in my head being like, "You're fat, you're ugly, you're not good enough, no one likes you, you don't deserve this, people only like you 'cause who your parents are," and then all of a sudden, every single voice was silenced, and it felt like life gave me a hug,' she said of the feeling she got from being high.

Kelly is looking thinner than ever as she lost 90lbs in 2020.

Jade and her mother marveled at how a 13-year-old was given the heavy drug Vicodin as Kelly remarked: 'I was like, "Why am I so confident and all of this."' Jada said Vicodin makes people feel confident.

'And then, very quickly, it went from Vicodin to Percocet, from Percocet to - to heroin, eventually, because it was cheaper. I got caught buying it, and then the very next day, my mom put me in rehab,' said Kelly.

Tough time: Kelly revealed her sobriety slip happened amid the lockdown as things were just starting to open up again around the country

Kelly revealed her sobriety slip happened amid the lockdown as things were just starting to open up again around the country.

'I was alone, sitting by a pool and waiting for somebody to come have a meeting with me. And I saw this woman and her husband had a glass of champagne. It looked really nice and I was like, "I can do that, too,"' she said.

'And the next day, I had two glasses. And the day after that, it was bottles.'

She told The Sun: 'But it went from having one drink here, one drink there to literally three bottles of champagne and 24 White Claws a day.'

On her podcast, The Kelly Osbourne and Jeff Beacher Show, Osbourne said that she would sip out of a large 'coffee mug that said, "Thank God Im not dead" which is so ironic.'

'I was alone, sitting by a pool and waiting for somebody to come have a meeting with me. And I saw this woman and her husband had a glass of champagne. It looked really nice and I was like, "I can do that, too,"' she said. 'And the next day, I had two glasses. And the day after that, it was bottles'

The Osbournes star spoke with Extra late last month about the relapse, which came amid the lockdown as things were opening back up again.

'I'm that girl that when everything is going great I need to f*** it up a little and make everything a little bit worse in my life,' said Kelly, whose parents are Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. 'I am an addict and had thought that I had enough time under my belt and I could drink like a normal person, and it turns out I cannot and I will never be normal.'

Kelly said that in hindsight, she doesn't know why she experimented in the first place.

'It took me a matter of days and I was like done, not doing this,' said Osbourne, who has had multiple rehab stints in an effort to shake her addiction. 'This is something I am going to battle for the rest of my life. It's never going to be easy.'

Osbourne opened up in an Instagram clip April 20 about the sobriety slip, as she had been sober since 2017.

'I relapsed. Not proud of it. But I am back on track,' she said. This is a little hard for me to talk about, but Ive always promised you that I will always be honest with you about where Im at and whats going on in my road to recovery.'
Love Island boss Amada Stavri has teased the 2021 line-up and promised that it will be 'diverse and inclusive'.

However, the ITV commissioner said that including gay Islanders is a 'logistical difficulty' due to the format of the dating show.

Love Island has previously been slammed by fans, and previous contestants, for lack of different ethnic backgrounds, body types and members of the LGBT community represented on the show.

Exciting! Love Island boss Amada Stavri has teased the 2021 line-up and promised that it will be 'diverse and inclusive' (host Laura Whitmore pictured)

Stavri also revealed that there has been 'more applications than ever' and that they are trying to sort out who to hold back from the opening line-up as a 'bombshell'.

Speaking to RadioTimes, the ITV commissioner said: 'We're always very mindful of diversity and inclusion and hopefully you'll see that when we announce the line-up.'

Stavri added: 'In terms of gay Islanders, I think the main challenge is regarding the format of Love Island. There's a sort of logistical difficulty, because although Islanders don't have to be 100 per cent straight, the format must sort of give [the] Islanders an equal choice when coupling up.

'With our dating shows, such as The Cabins, there is much more sexual diversity. The formats don't have as much restrictions as Love Island. So we're very sort of mindful of that across our programming on ITV and dating series. But that's the difficulty with Love Island.'

Line-up: However, the ITV commissioner said that including gay Islanders is a 'logistical difficulty' due to the format of the dating show (the 2019 line-up pictured)

In March, 2017 contestant Montana Brown called for greater diversity on Love Island and insisted it is 'unhealthy for people to just see size 8s chomping around in their bikinis'.

The swimwear brand owner, 25, also stated: 'I wanna see more people of colour' while concluding that 'with regards to racial diversity and body diversity, there's always room for improvement' on the programme.

Speaking on What Day Is It? podcast, Monata was quizzed about how progressive Love Island is.

She admitted: 'I feel like, as a mixed race person, you're always in a minority, especially on a show like that. It's not something that I necessarily thought of while I was in the show.

Making history: The programme has featured bisexual contestants in the past, including Megan Barton-Hanson, Katie Salmon and the late Sophie Gradon (pictured together in 2016)

'I've had quite a privileged upbringing. I grew up in quite a white area so I've always been in the minority anyway. So it's something that I didn't feel uncomfortable with.

'But I definitely think with regards to racial diversity and body diversity there's always room for improvement.'

In April, it was claimed that producers were reportedly accepting gay contestants for this year's upcoming series.

Despite the claims, a representative for ITV told MailOnline: 'Our only stipulation for applicants on Love Island is that they are over 18, single and looking for love.'

Slammed: Love Island has previously been slammed by fans, and previous contestants - including Montana Brown, pictured, for lack of different ethnic backgrounds, body types and members of the LGBT community represented on the show

On including versatile couples, executive producer Richard Cowles previously said: 'You are trying to create couples. It is not impossible and it is not something that we shy away from... but there is a logistical element which makes it difficult.'

The programme has featured bisexual contestants in the past, including Megan Barton-Hanson, Katie Salmon and the late Sophie Gradon - who became the show's same-sex pairing in 2016.

Series 7 of the popular ITV2 show is thought to be kicking off on June 28th 2021, with builders recently being seen working at the Majorcan villa usually used for the show.

This year's show also features a new tag line, 'this is not a drill', which has been seen in all of the teasers shared on social media so far ahead of the show finally returning after last year's season was postponed due to the pandemic.

Important: In March, 2017 contestant Montana, 25, called for greater diversity on Love Island and insisted it is 'unhealthy for people to just see size 8s chomping around in their bikinis' (pictured on the show in 2017)

Only recently host Laura Whitmore has been ramping up the excitement by sharing promo clips to Instagram.

ITV have yet to make an official announcement about where the dating show will be filmed, though a source recently told The Sun: 'Love Island bosses are determined to return to the villa this summer and have worked hard to make it happen.

'Although they are confident the series will go ahead in the original location, there are still concerns over rules suddenly changing. However, at the moment it's looking good.'

Signs are also on the site, according to eyewitnesses, speculating coronavirus safety measures.

Not long! Series 7 of the popular ITV2 show is thought to be kicking off on June 28th 2021, with builders recently being seen working at the Majorcan villa usually used for the show and host Laura Whitmore sharing promo clips

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez recently confirmed that British holidaymakers can enter the country, which is currently on the government's amber list, meaning the travel obstacles for the show have been lifted.

Contracts for this year's Love Island did have Majorca written into them, although back-up options, such as Jersey and Cornwall, were on the table in case Covid travel restrictions meant Spain was off-limits.

Sanchez said at trade fair Fitur in Madrid: 'I am pleased to inform you that the ministerial order will be officially published today exempting citizens from the UK from temporary restrictions on non-essential trips to Spain.

'I can therefore announce that from next Monday the 24th of May we will be delighted to welcome all UK tourists.

Get ready! This year's show features a brand new tag line, 'this is not a drill' as the countdown finally begins following the show being postponed last year due to the pandemic

'They are welcome to enter our country without restrictions and without health requirements.'

The summer series of Love Island 2020 was cancelled after production found it 'logistically impossible' to organise the show as the pandemic raged on.

Applicants for the next series have reportedly been told theyll have to be free for 10 weeks abroad and undergo a psychological and physical assessment.

It was previously reported that Jersey has been secured for filming this summer if production cannot take place in the show's usual location of Mallorca.

Sources told The Sun: 'The Channel Islands get plenty of sunshine so it makes sense to hold Love Island there if we can't get back to Spain.'
Nadia Bartel's fans did a double take on Wednesday night when a mystery man made an unexpected appearance on her Instagram Stories.

The former AFL WAG, 35, shared a video of herself modelling a T-shirt bra and white drawstring pants.

She filmed herself in a bathroom mirror, but eyes were drawn to a dark-haired man in the background who was wearing a black T-shirt.

Who's that guy? Nadia Bartel's fans did a double take on Wednesday night when a mystery man (right) made an unexpected appearance on her Instagram Stories

At first glance, some of Nadia's Instagram followers no doubt jumped to the conclusion the man was a new boyfriend.

However, upon closer inspection it looks like he was just a photographer or assistant as he seemed to be handling a camera.

The behind-the-scenes selfie video was in fact a throwback from a recent photo shoot for intimates brand Fine Lines Lingerie.

Over the shoulder: The former AFL WAG, 35, filmed herself in a bathroom mirror, but eyes were drawn to a dark-haired man in the background who was wearing a black T-shirt

Mystery solved! At first glance, some of Nadia's Instagram followers no doubt jumped to the conclusion the man was a new boyfriend. However, upon closer inspection it looks like he was just a photographer or assistant as he seemed to be handling a camera

The man in the background was actually joined by a female on-set assistant, proving it was simply a work assignment and nothing more.

Nadia was previously married to retired Geelong star Jimmy Bartel, but her relationship status is currently unclear.

The mother of two was linked to personal trainer Nathan Brodie last year; however, it's possible they are no longer together as she hasn't posted about him on Instagram lately.

Work mode: The man in the background was actually joined by a female on-set assistant, proving it was simply a work assignment and nothing more

#Spon: The behind-the-scenes selfie video was in fact a throwback from a recent photo shoot for intimates brand Fine Lines Lingerie, as Nadia explained in the accompanying text

Once considered a golden couple of footy, the Bartels married in February 2014 on the Bellarine Peninsula, before welcoming sons Aston, five, and Henley, two.

The pair announced their separation in August 2019 but are believed to have split two months prior.

The Brownlow Medal winner, 37, later went public with new girlfriend Lauren Mand, a Melbourne socialite and office worker.

Splitsville: Nadia was previously married to retired Geelong star Jimmy Bartel (left), but her relationship status is currently unclear
She welcomed her first child, a son called Cree, in December.

And Kate Ferdinand looked incredible on Wednesday in new radiant snaps shared to Instagram during a family beach day.

The former TOWIE star, 29, wowed as she displayed her sensational figure in a tiny blue and beige patterned bikini top while holding son Cree, six months, for a sweet photo.

Wow! Kate Ferdinand looked incredible on Wednesday in new radiant snaps shared to Instagram during a family beach day

Kate further highlighted her tiny torso with a pair of navy high-waisted trousers with flared legs.

The former reality star finished her look with a loose-fitting nude shirt and stylish white Hermes sandals.

Kate appeared to opt for matching hats with her son Cree as they both sweetly wore straw panamas.

The former TOWIE star styled her blonde locks into a loose hairdo, she added a slick of radiant make-up and stylish sunglasses.

Doting mother: The former TOWIE star, 29, wowed as she displayed her sensational figure in a tiny blue and beige patterned bikini top while holding son Cree, six months, for a sweet photo

Kate captioned the photos with: 'Family beach day ... ' and sent her 1.4million followers, including husband Rio, into meltdown as they gushed over the star.

Rio, 42, said with fire emojis 'yep' while Kate's former TOWIE co-star Lydia Bright commented: 'WOW.'

A different fan put: 'You look absolutely stunning mum life suits you,' followed by a heart.

Another follower commented: 'Wow you look amazing,' followed by fire and heart emojis.

They're a fan! Kate captioned the photos with: 'Family beach day ... ' and sent her 1.4million followers, including husband Rio, into meltdown as they gushed over the star

While a different account added: 'This is a mum and baby vibe I need to see!' followed by a sun and heart emoji.

It comes after Kate confirmed she has no plans to have more children any time soon, insisting she would be a 'madwoman' to do so after giving birth to son Cree in December.

The former TOWIE star, who is also a stepmother to husband Rio Ferdinand's three children, Lorenz, 14, Tate, 12, and Tia, nine, asserted she doesn't need 'any more tears' in the bustling household.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, she also highlighted the importance of being candid and honest about motherhood in the face of unrealistic standards perpetuated on social media.

Not happening: It comes after Kate confirmed she has no plans to have more children any time soon, insisting she would be a 'madwoman' to do so after giving birth to son Cree in December

'I think four is enough, there's already a lot going on and lots of crying,' she said. 'It's a busy house. So I think I'd be a madwoman if I wanted anymore! Four is plenty for now.'

Content with her current family set-up, she gushed over her husband, 42, and said: 'Rio has been amazing with Cree, he's a wonderful dad, the kids love having the little one too!'

Kate has been open about the challenges she has faced since welcoming Cree, as she admitted last month that exhaustion and anxiety had reached an 'all-time-high' following the birth.

The mother needed an emergency caesarean section while in labour, which she is still recovering from after not being able to walk for six weeks.

Hands full: The former TOWIE star is also a stepmother to Lorenz, 14, Tate, 12, and Tia, nine - husband Rio Ferdinand's three children with late wife Rebecca

According to Kate, the difficulties she has faced as a parent aren't always truthfully portrayed or discussed on social media.

She said: 'It's important to be honest on Instagram and share your feelings, even if I'm feeling down, emotional or haven't managed to do something that I was planning on doing.

'I feel like a lot of the time, people aren't open, especially when it comes to pregnancy or becoming a new mum. They always want to put up the best picture without showing the reality.

Open and honest: Kate has highlighted the importance of being candid about motherhood in the face of unrealistic standards perpetuated on social media

'I used to put a pressure on myself to look a certain way and to keep on top of my fitness, but I feel like I'm a lot more comfortable now being open and honest with myself.

'There's so many bits of advice I feel like I missed out on during pregnancy which people just don't talk about, like having a C-section.

'It is a major surgery and because it was an emergency operation, it was traumatic and a lot to heal from. I am just trying to listen to my body and accept the changes.

Old times: The reality star shot to fame on The Only Way Is Essex in 2015 (pictured on the show with former co-stars Danielle Armstrong and Chloe Lewis)

'I used to love being on top of my fitness but now I have to let myself heal and not rush things. I don't need to beat myself up about it.'

The reality star shot to fame on The Only Way Is Essex in 2015 before turning her back on the limelight in 2017 after sparking up a romance with former Manchester United and England legend Rio.

While she is known for her incredibly stylish outfits and impeccable appearance, both on and off the show, Kate insists she doesn't always have time to dress up and is happy rocking a make-up free, laid-back look.

Fresh start, new chapter: Kate turned her back on the limelight in 2017 after sparking up a romance with former Manchester United and England legend Rio

She continued: 'I think people have this perception that I'm glamorous all the time because of what they see on Instagram, but a lot of the time I like to just wear comfortable clothes, no make-up and I'm rushing around looking after the kids. You don't need to be glamorous all the time and that's OK too.

'You don't realise how tired you will become [having a baby]! I knew with having three older kids it can be tiring but being a mum to a newborn is a whole new level.'

Kate added that she sometimes struggles to find time for herself, but thinks it's important to maintain some sort of balance.

Speaking out: According to Kate, the difficulties she has faced as a parent aren't always truthfully portrayed or discussed on social media

She continued: 'I think when he goes to sleep it is a good time to do something for myself. I also try to make sure I spend time with the other kids too, they don't want to be attending baby classes and there's certain activities they want to do.'

Speaking of her first night out in a year with friends in April, she continued: 'I had a great time, it was so nice to catch up with all the girls because I haven't seen anyone in so long, so it was nice to feel a sense of normality.

'It was something we had taken for granted before and now we realise how important it is to have that time with your friends.'

Be yourself: 'I feel like a lot of the time, people aren't open, especially when it comes to pregnancy or becoming a new mum. They always want to put up the best picture without showing the reality,' she said

Embracing her life as a mother to a tiny tot, Kate has teamed up with WaterWipes, which she credits for reducing Cree's nappy rash.

Speaking about her staple baby products, she said: 'I religiously use WaterWipes, they are now clinically proven as the No.1 wipe against nappy rash.

'I want to use the purest ingredients for Cree and it means he's less likely to get nappy rash and, if he does, it doesn't last as long compared to other brands, which for me is a no brainer!'

Kate is working with WaterWipes as they announce they are now clinically proven as the No.1 wipe against nappy rash, for more information go to the WaterWipes website.
A former Bachelor in Paradise contestant is fighting to keep his $400,000-a-year job as a Hobart real estate agent after admitting to stealing intellectual property from a former employer and then lying about it under oath.

Conor Canning, 30, is appealing a decision by the Property Agents' Tribunal to cancel his real estate licence.

The cancellation is on hold while the decision is reviewed, reports The Mercury.

Former Bachelor in Paradise contestant Conor Canning is fighting to keep his $400,000-a-year job as a Hobart real estate agent after admitting to stealing intellectual property from a former employer and then lying about it under oath

He was deregistered after admitting to stealing a client database worth about $800,000 a year plus other intellectual property from his former employer Ray White and taking it with him to his new workplace in 2017.

Mr Canning - who is now one of the owners of real estate agency PRD, from which he made $400,000 last year - later lied about the theft to an industry board.

He admitted in July 2020 to stealing the intellectual property, lying to the board and signing false statutory declarations, but says he deserves a second chance after the Property Agents' Tribunal recommended he 'take no part in the industry for a substantial period of time'.

'I've got eight years' experience in the industry; they [his new agency PRD] understand people make mistakes,' he told Hobart Magistrates Court.

Mr Canning (pictured with his partner, Mary Viturino, on Bachelor in Paradise) is appealing a decision by the Property Agents' Tribunal to cancel his real estate licence

Mr Canning applied to be on Bachelor in Paradise after the formal complaint about the intellectual property theft had been made, but said he didn't believe the producers would care about such a 'niche issue', reports the ABC.

'I don't believe the show has been embarrassed,' he added.

The court also heard the decision by the tribunal stated Mr Canning had failed to 'recognise the seriousness of his actions'.

However, Tony Collidge, the director of PRD Hobart, said Mr Canning was responsible for 70 per cent of their income as head of the sales department and there could be significant job losses if he were to lose his licence.

The case was adjourned until August 31.

He admitted in July 2020 to stealing the intellectual property, lying to the board and signing false statutory declarations, but says he deserves a second chance after the Property Agents' Tribunal recommended he 'take no part in the industry for a substantial period of time'

After his day in court on Wednesday, Mr Canning shared a photo to Instagram while cradling his baby daughter and said he was 'disappointed' in himself.

'Fair to say today was one of the worst days in memory. I'm sorry to anyone who is disappointed in me. Rest assured I'm disappointed in myself,' he wrote.

'Thank you so much to those that have reached out with messages of support it means more than you will ever know. I'll shed a few tears tonight but rest assured too many people depend on me to give up now.'

Mr Canning met his partner, Mary Viturino, on last year's season of Channel 10 dating show Bachelor in Paradise.

In March, they welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Summer.

Mr Canning is also a stepfather to Ms Viturino's daughter from a previous relationship, Chanel.
She's been busy filming season two of Bridgerton and her new project, The Colour Room.

Yet Phoebe Dynevor ensured she took some time out from her busy schedule as she attended the launch of new jazz and cabaret bar The Parlour at The Ned on Wednesday.

The actress, 26, looked effortlessly chic in a blue Reformation Viviana floral print silk top as she posed for the cameras at the celebratory evening, held in honour of the exclusive restaurant launch.

Unwinding: Phoebe Dynevor ensured she took some time out from her busy schedule as she attended the launch of new jazz and cabaret bar The Parlour at The Ned on Wednesday

The Netflix star was joined by It's a Sin actress Lydia West, 28, Jude Law's daughter Iris, 20, and Maddi Jean, who's the younger sister of model Suki Waterhouse, 29.

She paired her ensemble with black skinny jeans and coral open toe heels, as she enjoyed performances from jazz musicians Tom Misch and Reuben James, who took to the stage on the night.

Phoebe, who's dating US comedian Pete Davidson, 27, wore her auburn locks down for the evening, letting her bangs cascade around her face.

Lydia, famed for playing Jill in Channel 4's It's a Sin, looked incredibly sharp in a silk blouse and jeans while eating at the restaurant launch.

Stunning: The actress, 26, looked effortlessly chic in a blue Reformation Viviana floral print silk top which featured dainty flower motifs

Chic: She wore her auburn locks down for the night out, letting her bangs cascade around her face

The Parlour is a new venue situated inside exclusive private members club The Ned and will be open for guests between Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Visitors can expect to be taken back to the 1930s, with live jazz music accompanying their dining experience, as well as the Art Deco inspired interiors adding to the intimate ambience.

At the launch on Wednesday, VIPs were delighted by the delicious menu, developed by executive chef Lee Kebble, which included a Yakitori selection for starters and The Parlour's signature chicken kiev with black truffle and spinach for mains.

Diners were challenged with the task of consuming the restaurant's enormous Baked Alaska dessert that is made from a generous 600 grams of ice cream and 400 grams of gooey, marshmallow meringue.

Singer Beverley Knight, 48, was also in attendance, and enjoyed the night's glamorous cocktails, including The Gypsy Rose and Flying Scotsman.

Model Jack Guinness, 38, hosted the launch and joked he was keeping a watchful eye on close friend Suki Waterhouse's younger sister, Maddi.

Pose: Its a Sin actor Lydia West was also in attendance and looked incredibly sharp in a baby pink silk blouse. She paired the look with a Beat Saddle Bag with a Strap With Chain Stripe attached by Coach

Style: The star paired her outfit with blue mom jeans and a salmon and grey striped Loewe patterned jacket

Beautiful: Her brunette locks were styled in a chic bun and her neutral make-up enhanced her naturally flawless features

Maddi looked effortlessly chic in a black and white plaid dress with a white baby doll colour.

She completed the look with a pair of black ankle heeled boots and she accessorised with cuff earrings.

Her blonde locks were styled in a straight centre parting and her natural make-up enhanced her flawless features.

Glam: Musician Beverley Knight also attended the event in a beautiful beige rib tank midi dress that showcased her sensational figure

Beautiful: She paired the ensemble with cream loafers and a Louis Vuitton handbag

Phoebe's outing came as she took a break from filming two projects simultaneously.

The actress has been filming The Colour Room alongside co-star Matthew Goode, where she plays Clarice, a vivacious young factory worker in the industrial British midlands during the 1920s.

She has recently started working on season two of Bridgerton, where she will reprise her role as Daphne, Duchess of Hastings.

Chic: Model and musician Maddi Waterhouse looked effortlessly chic in a black and white plaid dress with a white baby doll colour

Glam: She completed the look with a pair of black ankle heeled boots and she accessorised with cuff earrings

Music: Musician Tom Misch entertained the guests for the evening at the London event

The first season focused on the romance between Daphne Bridgerton, portrayed by Phoebe, and Simon, Duke of Hastings, the role which Rege-Jean Page bade farewell to last month  to the dismay of his many fans.

Bridgerton has been renewed for a second, third and fourth season with Netflix, and the next season is based on Julia Quinn's second Bridgerton novel The Viscount Who Loved Me.

The second season will shift the focus to Daphne's brother Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), who will go on the hunt for a suitable bride when he meets sisters Kate and Edwina Sheffield, renamed Sharma for the show.
Shia LaBeouf looked ultra laid back as he cruised around LA on a bicycle on Tuesday.

The Honey Boy actor, 34, embraced summer vibes, donning an aloha shirt and khaki shorts to fetch sushi.

Continuing the chill look, he wore a bristly beard and slicked back locks which brushed past his shoulders.

Cruiser: Shia LaBeouf looked laid back while riding his bike around Los Angeles on Tuesday

The Even Stevens star looked happy to go about his business after learning he could have some of his recent criminal charges dropped if he stays out of legal trouble for the next year.

According to TMZ, the Peanut Butter Falcon star appeared in court last Thursday and was 'placed in a judicial diversion program', meaning that if he adheres to the requirements his misdemeanor battery and petty theft charges will be dropped.

Shia was charged in October over an alleged altercation with a man during the summer that ended with him stealing the man's hat and running away from the scene.

LaBeouf was facing a misdemeanor over the alleged incident but under the provisions of the diversion program the slate will be wiped clean.

Summertime: The Honey Boy actor, 34, embraced summer vibes, donning an aloha shirt and khaki shorts to fetch sushi

According to TMZ, Shia must 'attend private therapy for anger management at least once a week, continue with his alcohol monitoring, no attempts to use or obtain a weapon and no attempts to use force or violence.'

If Shia satisfies those conditions over the course of 12 months - and keeps 100 yards away from the man from the incident - all will be forgiven.

The court will check in to see how things are progressing under the judicial diversion program in three months time.

Prior to his most recent brush with the law, Shia has had several other run-ins in the past and was previously arrested for a druken scuffle in New York City in 2017.

Keeping out of trouble: The Even Stevens star looked happy to go about his business after learning he could have some of his recent criminal charges dropped if he stays out of legal trouble for the next year. He's seen in February 2020 above

He was also arrested in the same year for disorderly conduct in Savannah, Georgia when he became aggressive towards a police officer he had asked for a cigarette.

In 2014, he was arrested after disturbing a performance of the musical Cabaret on Broadway in New York.

He pled guilty to a disorderly conduct violation and he then received outpatient care for alcohol addiction.

That same year, Shia spoke to Interview magazine and admitted: 'I've been going through an existential crisis.'

According to the star his behavior and drug and alcohol use, as well as acting, has been his way to escape.

Not in the clear: Recently, Shia's ex FKA Twigs - who dated the actor for nearly a year - sued him for sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress

Recently, Shia's ex FKA Twigs - who dated the actor for nearly a year - sued him for sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress.

The lawsuit launched last December 2020 alleges he knowingly gave her an STD and abused her on several occasions during their relationship.

In response, Shia has 'denied each and every' assault allegation by the artist and wants her to pay his legal costs after she blamed him for 'relentless abuse'.

The former couple met on the set of the movie Honey Boy in 2018 and dated for nine months, splitting in May 2019 over 'conflicting work schedules'.
Market Research Future has published a Cooked Research Report on the Diphenylamine Industry Trends Research Report - Global Forecast till 2025

Market Definition and Growth Factors:

Also, the increasing application of DPA in nitrocellulose-based explosives pertaining to its antioxidizing property is also expected to fuel the growth of the global market. Lubricants are produced with the help of advanced additives that enhance the efficiency of the engine and exhibit properties such as high durability, cleanliness, and strength. The moving components are always in contact with air (oxygen), which results in degradation of the lubricants. Oxidation is a common process and arises when the lubricating oil chemically reacts with oxygen to form oxidized products, which result in sludge and deposit formation, corrosion of engine parts, and wear and tear of moving parts. To ensure easy functioning of vehicles and inhibit oxidation of lubrication oils, a class of chemicals known as antioxidants are used. Antioxidants control oxidation by preventing oil breakdown and thickening, which helps the engine to run smoothly for a long period. The most commonly used antioxidant is diphenylamine (DPA), which reacts with the free radicals generated by oxidation and prevents oxidative decomposition of the lubricating oil. Diphenylamine falls under a class of radical scavengers that stop chain propagation by blocking or reacting with free radicals created in the initiation step of oxidation. Diphenylamine is a viscous, lightweight hydrocarbon that is soluble in oil. Diphenylamine antioxidants are produced by reacting DPA with an olefin of the desired functional group. These antioxidants have low vapor pressure and water solubility, which are essential in protecting engines. Due to the superior antioxidant synergism of the antioxidants in the oil system, DPA and alkylated DPAs are considered as ideal solutions to enhance the durability and performance of engines. Also, they enhance the antioxidant efficiency and offer the required alkalinity.

Diphenylamine Industry Trends is estimated to be valued at USD 527.7 Million by 2025 and record a CAGR of over 4.06% during the forecast period. The growing demand for DPA as an antioxidant in lubricants is expected to be the primary factor driving the growth of the global Diphenylamine Industry Trends.

Furthermore, the antioxidant properties help to increase the shelf life of engine oils and provide maximum oil compatibility. Thus, the increasing demand for DPA in the lubricants used in automobiles owing its excellent antioxidant property is expected to boost the growth of the global market during the forecast period. Furthermore, single-base nitrocellulose propellants are hygroscopic in nature and are most susceptible to degradation. To avoid the accumulation of degradation products, stabilizers such as DPA are most commonly used in nitrocellulose-containing propellant powders and explosives. Due to the excellent antioxidizing property of DPA, it is used as a stabilizing compound in mono-, di-, and tri-base propellants of missiles and explosives. It has the potential to bind with the degradation products, which develop during long-term storage such as NO, NO2, and HNO3 to extend the storage time. Thus, due to the antioxidizing property of DPA and highly unstable nature of nitrocellulose-based materials, the demand for DPA to inhibit the degradation of explosives is increasing, which is projected to boost the growth of the market during the forecast period.

Watch Video @https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/videos

Get a Free Sample of This Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4550

However, diphenylamine is a chemical compound from the third European Union (EU) list of priority pollutants. In studies carried out on laboratory animals, DPA has proved to be slightly toxic by the dermal, oral, and inhalation routes and has been registered under the Toxicity Category III (second lowest of four categories). It can cause severe irritation to the eyes and affect the liver and kidneys on long exposure. It targets the red blood cells and can result in abnormal erythropoiesis in the spleen, and thus congestion of the spleen and hemosiderosis. It is not likely carcinogenic based on the evidence. However, an impurity of technical grade DPA, diphenyl nitrosamine is regarded as a probable human carcinogen. Diphenyl nitrosamine is produced when DPA comes in contact with high temperature. Moreover, there is a tolerance level set by the US EPA10 ppm for apples and 0 ppm for milk and meat. The DPA residue levels obtained were far below 10 ppm, and thus in 1997, the EPA approved the reregistration of DPA and determined that the assessed tolerances met the safety standards under the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA). However, in 2012, the European Food Safety Authority concluded that the study has not provided authentic information to ensure safe consumption of DPA in apples and pears. Thus, the European Commission restricted the usage of DPA in the European Union. In March 2014, the European Commission reduced the allowable tolerance level of DPA on imports to 0.1 ppm. Thus, the health risks and stringent EPA regulations pertaining to DPA are likely to hamper the global market growth during the assessment period.

Kay Players:

Market Research Future (MRFR) recognizes the following companies as the key players in the global Diphenylamine Industry Trends:

BASF SE (Germany),

Huntsman International LLC (US),

LANXESS (Germany),

The Lubrizol Corporation (US),

Merck KGaA (Germany),

Seiko Chemical Co. Ltd (Tokyo),

Eastman Chemical Company (US),

Duslo a.s. (Slovakia),

SONGWON (South Korea),

Nantong Xinbang Chemical Technology Chemical Co, Ltd (China),

Jiangsu Feiya Chemical Industry Co. Ltd (Austria).

Key Findings of the Study:

The Global Diphenylamine Industry Trends was valued at USD 397.6 million in 2018 and is expected to register a CAGR of 4.06% to reach around USD 527.7 Million by the end of 2025 .

was valued at and is expected to register a to reach around . Based on application, the antioxidant segment held the largest share of 2% by value in 2018 and is expected to register a CAGR of over 4.5% during the forecast period.

and is expected to register a during the forecast period. By end use, the automotive segment is estimated to be the largest segment of the global aluminum oxide market, which accounted for 7% value share in 2018.

value share in 2018. The Asia Pacific market accounted for the largest share of 2% by value in 2018.

Segmental Analysis:

According to MRFR analysis, the global Diphenylamine Industry Trends has been segmented based on application, end use, and region.

Study Infographics @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/infographics

By application, the global Diphenylamine Industry Trends has been categorized into antioxidants, fungicide, and chemical intermediates, and others. Among these, the antioxidant segment accounted for the largest share of over 59.2% by value in 2018, predominantly due to the large-scale adoption in nitrocellulose-based propellants, explosives, and gun powders, which are essentially unstable materials that decompose on aging with the evolution of oxides of nitrogen. The decomposition is autocatalytic and can lead to failure of the ammunition or untimed explosions. Antioxidants control the oxidation of lubricants and ensure smooth functioning of engines for a long period. The antioxidant property of DPA increases the operational life of engine oil by reducing breakdown that can result from the formation of sludge. The chemical intermediate segment is expected to register a CAGR of over 3.5% during the forecast period.

On the basis of end use, the global Diphenylamine Industry Trends has been classified into automotive, agriculture, cosmetics & personal care, general industry, plastics and rubber, and others. The automotive segment accounted for the largest share by value in 2018 due to the use of DPA as an antioxidant in lubricants, and other functional fluids such as engine oil, hydraulic fluids, metalworking fluids, compressor oil, gear oil, refrigeration oil, transmission fluids, and turbine oil, among others. The growing production of automobiles is propelling the demand for lubricants for the efficient functioning of engines, which consequently is expected to drive the demand for DPA as an antioxidant.

Regional Analysis:

Geographically, the global Diphenylamine Industry Trends has been segmented into Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. As per MRFR analysis, Asia-Pacific was the dominant regional market, accounting for the largest share of over 55% in 2018 and is expected to register a CAGR of over 4.5% during the forecast period. Asia-Pacific is followed by North America, which accounted for the second-largest share of the global foundry coke market in 2018. The North American market is expected to exhibit a share of around 20% in 2018. The Latin America and the Middle East & Africa markets are also likely to witness moderate growth during the forecast period, 20192025.

Browse key industry insights spread across 449 pages with 177 market data tables & 24 figures & charts from the report, Diphenylamine Industry Trends: Information by Application (Antioxidants, Chemical Intermediate, Fungicide and Others), End-Use (Automotive, General Industry, Agriculture, Plastics & Rubber, Cosmetics & Personal Care and others) and Region - Forecast till 2025 in detail along with the table of contents @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/diphenylamine-market-4550
Vice President Kamala Harris' stepdaughter Ella Emhoff enjoyed a romantic hand-in-hand stroll with her boyfriend Sam Hine through Manhattan on Monday.

The IMG Model, 22, displayed her unique sense of style by rocking a brown bucket hat and black bomber jacket with eye-catching green-striped pants.

Ella and the 27-year-old Chicago native - who's a senior associate editor of GQ and GQ Style - were first pictured dining on Hokkaido cuisine at Dr. Clark in Chinatown four months ago.

Still going strong! Vice President Kamala Harris' stepdaughter Ella Emhoff (R) took a romantic hand-in-hand stroll with her boyfriend Sam Hine (L) through Manhattan on Monday

Ella looked relaxed during the stroll, completing her laid-back ensemble with a grey T-shirt and black loafers with white socks.

Sam also kept things casual in jeans and a black shirt which boasted quirky white butterflies and piping on the arms.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, Ella weighed in on the mullet going mainstream after getting her curly locks coiffed by Vacancy Project gender-neutral salon owner Masami Hosono.

'I feel like in the past, the mullet was deemed unattractive and kind of odd, and I'm really drawn to that almost ugly-chic look,' the Bushwick tastemaker told Vogue.

Casually clad: The 22-year-old IMG Model was wearing a brown bucket hat, black bomber over a grey top, green-striped black pants, and black loafers with white socks

'I'm really drawn to that almost ugly-chic look': On Wednesday, Emhoff weighed in on the mullet going mainstream after getting her curly locks coiffed by Masami Hosono

She added: 'The more you have this style, the more you want to push the limits of how mullet-y you can get it.'

In January it was announced that Ella had signed with IMG Models, joining the ranks of Gigi Hadid, Kate Moss, and Alek Wek, who are also signed by the agency.

And in April, Ella nabbed her first high-profile modeling gig, storming the runway for Proenza Schouler at New York Fashion Week.

Ella said the approach from Ivan Bart, the president of IMG Models, took her back even though she had been dabbling in modeling for a smaller agent.

Hipster couple: Ella and the 27-year-old Chicago native - who's senior associate editor of GQ and GQ Style - were first pictured dining on Hokkaido cuisine at Dr. Clark in Chinatown four months ago (pictured May 15)

'I was pretty surprised when everything with IMG was happening because when I was younger, I never saw that as being part of my timeline,' she told The New York Times.

'As someone who, like a lot of young girls out there, had self-confidence issues, it is intimidating and scary to go into this world that is hyper-focused on you and the body.'

She said she was encouraged by the diversity of models working today, and the opportunity to be 'part of that change.'

'I am so proud of you!' On May 15, the Bushwick tastemaker's famous 56-year-old 'Momala' (R) congratulated her on receiving a bachelor of fine arts from The New School's Parsons School of Design

'I've obviously got a bigger platform now, and I'm excited to share a lot of things I really care about, and do some good,' Ella said, adding she was 'excited to do things like wear fun clothes' and 'to bring a bit of Bushwick into the high fashion realm'.

It has been a busy few weeks for Ella, and on May 15 her 'Momala', 56, congratulated her on receiving a bachelor of fine arts from The New School's Parsons School of Design.

'I am so proud of you,' Kamala gushed on Instagram. 'Keep dreaming with ambition and there is nothing you cannot achieve!'

Ella is one of two children the Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff fathered during his 16-year marriage to Kerstin Mackin, which ended in 2008.
This photo by Otto Pautzke of an unidentified house in Ellensburg, circ 1900-09, is part of the Northwest Digital Heritage, now accessible through the Ellensburg Public Library.
A detailed analysis report of the Global Hospital Dental Autoclave Market has been covered in the report coupled with a thorough description of each company profile with information on the H.Q, future capabilities, key mergers & acquisitions, financial outline, partnerships and new product launches and developments.

The comprehensive value chain analysis of the market will assist in attaining better product differentiation, along with detailed understanding of the core competency of each activity involved. The market attractiveness analysis provided in the report aptly measures the potential value of the market providing business strategists with the latest growth opportunities.

The report classifies the market into different segments. These segments are studied in detail incorporating the market estimates and forecasts at regional and country level. The segment analysis is useful in understanding the growth areas and probable opportunities of the market.

Final Report will cover the COVID-19 Impact and Recovery on this industry.

Browse the complete Global Hospital Dental Autoclave Market Research Report  Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast Till 2027 @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/42565-hospital-dental-autoclave-market-report

The report also covers the complete competitive landscape of the global Hospital Dental Autoclave market with company profiles of key players such as:

Tuttnauer

W&H Dentalwerk

Shinva

Melag

Getinge

Midmark

Sirona

Mocom

SciCan

Runyes Medical

Trident Dental

Jinggong-medical

The detailed description of each has been included, with information in terms of H.Q, future capacities, key mergers & acquisitions, financial overview, partnerships, collaborations, new product launches, new product developments and other latest industrial developments.

SEGMENTATIONS IN THE REPORT: By Product

Less than 5 L

5-10 L

10-15 L

15-20 L

Above 20 L

By End User

Automatic

Semi-automatic

By Geography

North America (NA)  US, Canada, and Mexico

Europe (EU)  UK, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Spain & Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific (APAC)  China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia & Rest of APAC

Latin America (LA)  Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile & Rest of Latin America

Middle East and Africa (MEA)  Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, South Africa

Download Free Sample Report of Global Hospital Dental Autoclave Market @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-42565

The Global Hospital Dental Autoclave Market has been exhibited in detail in the following chapters 

Chapter 1 Hospital Dental Autoclave Market Preface

Chapter 2 Executive Summary

Chapter 3 Hospital Dental Autoclave Industry Analysis

Chapter 4 Hospital Dental Autoclave Market Value Chain Analysis

Chapter 5 Hospital Dental Autoclave Market Analysis By Product

Chapter 6 Hospital Dental Autoclave Market Analysis By End User

Chapter 7 Hospital Dental Autoclave Market Analysis By Geography

Chapter 8 Competitive Landscape Of Hospital Dental Autoclave Companies

Chapter 9 Company Profiles Of Hospital Dental Autoclave Industry

Purchase the complete Global Hospital Dental Autoclave Market Research Report @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/buy-now-42565

Other Reports by DecisionDatabases.com:

Global Dental Instruments Market Research Report  Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast Till 2027

Global Dental Floss Market Research Report  Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast Till 2027

Global Dental Scanner Market Research Report  Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast Till 2027

About-Us:

DecisionDatabases.com is a global business research reports provider, enriching decision makers and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research report, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains.

Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed.

For more details:

DecisionDatabases.com

E-Mail: sales@decisiondatabases.com

Phone: +91 9028057900

Web: https://www.decisiondatabases.com/

Source:-https://www.industrynewsengine.com/2020/12/19/hospital-dental-autoclave-market-2020-covid-19-impact-analysis-report-2027/
Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter led the raising of a rainbow flag outside the executive office building in Waterford Township Tuesday morning to mark the beginning of national Pride Month.

Coulter, who is the first openly gay county executive, joined with other community leaders during the brief ceremony as Pride Month celebrations kick-off across the country. A rainbow flag was also raised outside the county courthouse.

The flag is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) pride and LGBTQ social movements while the colors reflect the diversity of the LGBTQ community, as the flag is often used as a symbol of gay pride during LGBTQ rights marches.

- Advertisement -

The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally.

"For the first time, Oakland County is marking Pride Month by flying the Pride Flag, a signal that all are welcome here," said Coulter.

Oakland County Pride Flag June 2021 Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter joining with community leaders to raise a rainbow flag over the executive office building in Waterford T

During his first days on the job in August 2019, Coulter made it clear that he wanted to create a more inclusive, diverse, and collaborative Oakland County, one where everyone felt welcome to live and work. He also aimed to increase diversity among the county workforce, and externally within the greater community.

Oakland County signs off on more inclusive non-discrimination policy

That effort included the hiring of Robin Carter-Cooper in the spring of 2020 as the county's first chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer. Her role includes fostering an environment of diversity, equity and inclusion that promotes open communication and collaboration across Oakland County communities, businesses and other organizations.

In November 2019, Coulter signed a resolution, approved by the board of commissioners, to amend the county's non-discrimination policy to include protections for gender identity and expression, veteran status, familial status, and marital status. He signed it at Affirmations, a Ferndale-based LGBTQ advocacy and support organization. The new policy took effect in February 2020.

Pride Month is celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, when New York City Police raided a gay club in Manhattan that would go on to serve as a catalyst for the modern LGBTQ+ Civil Rights Movement. In the United States, the last Sunday in June was initially celebrated as "Gay Pride Day," but the actual day was flexible. In major cities across the nation, the "day" soon grew to encompass a month-long series of events.

The first Pride march in New York City was held on June 28, 1970, on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. By all estimates, there were three to five thousand marchers at the inaugural Pride in New York City, and today marchers in New York City number in the millions.

Oakland County names Robin Carter-Cooper chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer

Coulter says Oakland County open to refugees in letter to federal government

Also on Tuesday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a proclamation marking June as Pride Month in Michigan to recognize the accomplishments of LGBTQ+ Michiganders. Michigan is home to an estimated 373,000 residents who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer.

LGBTQ+ Michiganders are an essential part of who we are, and they make our state a better place to live and work, she said. Governor Whitmer. I encourage all Michiganders to recognize and celebrate the contributions of the LGBTQ+ community this Pride Month.

In 2019, Whitmer called on the Legislature in her first State of the State Address to pass legislation to expand the states Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identification. That same year, she became the first Michigan governor to fly the Pride Flag on a State of Michigan building.

Michigan renames building to honor civil rights leaders

Gov. Whitmer signs directive prohibiting discrimination on basis of sexual orientation, gender identity

17 psychological groups advocate for LGBTQ students at religious schools

LGBTQ Health View: Bidens actions will improve LGBTQ health quality

Pandemic heightening social isolation for LGBT seniors
Neel Bhatt, a UW assistant professor of otolaryngology, specializes in treating patients with voice problems. Through his work, he began to realize people did not like the sound of their own voices. With the transition to school over Zoom, many students can relate to the discomfort of hearin
A detailed analysis report of the Global Consumer Machine Market has been covered in the report coupled with a thorough description of each company profile with information on the H.Q, future capabilities, key mergers & acquisitions, financial outline, partnerships and new product launches and developments.

The comprehensive value chain analysis of the market will assist in attaining better product differentiation, along with detailed understanding of the core competency of each activity involved. The market attractiveness analysis provided in the report aptly measures the potential value of the market providing business strategists with the latest growth opportunities.

The report classifies the market into different segments. These segments are studied in detail incorporating the market estimates and forecasts at regional and country level. The segment analysis is useful in understanding the growth areas and probable opportunities of the market.

Final Report will cover the COVID-19 Impact and Recovery on this industry.

Browse the complete Global Consumer Machine Market Research Report  Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast Till 2027 @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/42606-consumer-machine-market-report

The report also covers the complete competitive landscape of the global Consumer Machine market with company profiles of key players such as:

OCOM

Gloden

TaiGe

Zisina

Fcard

Lcwyd

Eastriver

Y&C

Rongshi

The detailed description of each has been included, with information in terms of H.Q, future capacities, key mergers & acquisitions, financial overview, partnerships, collaborations, new product launches, new product developments and other latest industrial developments.

SEGMENTATIONS IN THE REPORT:

By Type

IC Card

Fingerprint

Other

By Application

Enterprise

School

Restaurant

Clubhouse

Other

By Geography

North America (NA)  US, Canada, and Mexico

Europe (EU)  UK, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Spain & Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific (APAC)  China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia & Rest of APAC

Latin America (LA)  Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile & Rest of Latin America

Middle East and Africa (MEA)  Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, South Africa

Download Free Sample Report of Global Consumer Machine Market @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-42606

The Global Consumer Machine Market has been exhibited in detail in the following chapters 

Chapter 1 Consumer Machine Market Preface

Chapter 2 Executive Summary

Chapter 3 Consumer Machine Industry Analysis

Chapter 4 Consumer Machine Market Value Chain Analysis

Chapter 5 Consumer Machine Market Analysis By Type

Chapter 6 Consumer Machine Market Analysis By Application

Chapter 7 Consumer Machine Market Analysis By Geography

Chapter 8 Competitive Landscape Of Consumer Machine Companies

Chapter 9 Company Profiles Of Consumer Machine Industry

Purchase the complete Global Consumer Machine Market Research Report @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/buy-now-42606

Other Reports by DecisionDatabases.com:

Global Consumer Batteries Market Research Report  Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast Till 2027

Global Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Market Research Report  Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast Till 2027

About-Us:

DecisionDatabases.com is a global business research reports provider, enriching decision makers and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research report, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains.

Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed.

For more details:

DecisionDatabases.com

E-Mail: sales@decisiondatabases.com

Phone: +91 9028057900

Web: https://www.decisiondatabases.com/

News Source  https://www.industrynewsengine.com/2020/12/22/consumer-machine-market-2020-global-industry-research-report-till-2027/
Remember when you went to an amusement park and discovered your favorite roller coaster? You would wait in line for what seemed like hours, hop on board for a few minutes of climbs and plunges along with twists and turns all mixed in with some screams. Then you would get in line again and do it all over.

That pretty much describes the natural-world roller coaster known as the Mile of Ledges along the Blue-blazed Tunxis Trail in Burlington. In total, the 38.5-mile Connecticut Forest & Park Association trail runs through Southington, Wolcott, Bristol, Burlington, New Hartford, Canton, Barkhamsted and Hartland, but this mile, with about 750 vertical feet, is easily the toughest Tunxis stretch and one of the most difficult 5,280-foot-plus-long nature paths in the state.

The trailhead for the path  marked with blue and yellow blazes  is the Burlington Land Trusts Martha Brower Wildlife Sanctuary. The 43-acre space around the scenic Country Pond was the trusts first preserve. Hikers can follow a loop trail marked with red blazes around the pond that is filled with ducks, geese and beaver lodges. I would describe it as a rugged trail, but what lies ahead is a whole other level.

The main blue and yellow trail from the parking area begins placidly enough with a trip along the western banks of the pond with side paths to the edge where frogs jump in and fish can be seen in the shallows. After leaving the pond, hikers pass through the deep forests owned by the Bristol Water Co. The trails are relatively easy on the approach to Marsh Brook which tumbles out of the forest over boulders and ledges, giving visitors a taste of what is ahead.

The first jumble of ledges and huge boulders will give hikers a feel for the trail as the Mile of Ledges begins. The relatively easy part of the trail travels high above the ledges with seasonal views to Old Marsh Pond. Next up? Bears Den where the trail starts to get progressively difficult.

There are three ways to pass through the den  above, through a chasm or around. If you take the above route, hikers will have to navigate a narrow ledge at the top. The chasm route will take hikers down a steep ledge and into the bowels before ascending back up to the trail. And like all good amusement park rides, there is a last chance exit as hikers can avoid the ledge entirely by taking a trail that wraps around the den.

I wont spoil the rest of the mile, but the trail goes straight up in places, there are tight squeezes and strenuous climbs and descents. Thankfully the stratified ledges act as ladders and steps so the trail is always surmountable.

The blue and yellow trail meets up with the main branch of the Tunxis and visitors take a right to find the Tory Den. A group of large boulders surrounded by huge rock ledges, the den has a large entrance at the front and a small exit hole at the back. Its a bit of a challenge to get through, but fun to imagine what it must have been like as a hideout for Stephen Graves, a Harwinton farmer who sided with the Tories  colonists loyal to the British crown.

Mile of Ledges in Burlington The bottom line: The "Mile of Ledges" trail is one of the most difficult journeys in the state, taking hikers up and down huge ledges to the historic Tory Den along the Tunxis Trail in Burlington. Difficulty level: Moderately difficult to difficult. There are some scrambles, some balancing on top of sharp ledges and some fingernail climbs. But there are always alternate trails to get around some of the more imposing ledges. Total mileage: The Mile of Ledges loop is 3.1 miles. The side trip to the top of Norton Overlook, with its 50-mile, 180-degree view north to Mount Tom in Massachusetts and south to Long Island Sound is a mile out and back with access across West Chippens Hill Road from Greer Street. Directions: Route 6 through Bristol and turn right on Hill Street. Hill Street turns into West Chippens Hill Road. Take a left on Greer Street shortly after passing into Burlington. Follow past the pond and look for the parking area on the left. Go to burlingtonlandtrust.org/vmcmaps for a map of the loop. Pet-friendly? Leashed dogs are allowed and must be cleaned up after with the waste removed if placed in a plastic bag. Things to do Nearby Harvest Bakery:The bakery has been in Bristol for eight decades, serving cakes, pastries, breads and cookies since Anne and Louis Barth opened the doors in 1941. Refusing to add preservatives, Harvest Bakery is also one of the few bakeries in the state that hearth-bakes its bread and rolls using the same recipes used by the original owners. Hearth-baking means each loaf of bread or hard roll is placed on a wooden peel and shuffled on the oven hearth to bake. 84 Farmington Ave., Bristol, 860-589-8800, harvestbakeryinc.com Chute Gates Steakhouse & Saloon: There aren't too many saloons in Connecticut, but if you're looking for some Western atmosphere, this is your place. Entrees include "Saddle Up" surf and turf, country chicken, "Wrangler's" ribeye and "Tulsa" top sirloin along with St. Louis barbecue ribs. In the mood for something a bit lighter? There's Southwest fried pickles, Galveston garlic bread, Texas pretzel and "locked & loaded" nachos or fries. The Western- and rodeo-themed restaurant has NASCAR Sundays and Friday night karaoke. 372 Main St. (Route 6), Terryville, 860-585-0704, chutegates.com New England Carousel Museum: Speaking of amusement parks, the New England Carousel Museum has a mission "dedicated to the acquisition, restoration, and preservation of operating carousels and carousel memorabilia." At the museum, visitors can "travel back in time when the carousel was the pinnacle of amusement park joy." Exhibits showcase more than 100 years of carousel art and history. A sample carving bay, hands-on activities for children and a Venetian indoor carousel help tell the story of the carousel to the young and young-at-heart. The museum is open Wednesday-Sunday, offering two tours each day. 95 Riverside Ave., Bristol, 860-585-5411, thecarouselmuseum.org See More Collapse

In order to avoid military service with the Patriots, Graves bought his way out, according to Dan Casey of the Environmental Learning Centers of Connecticut. When the Patriots tried to draft him a second time, he refused to pay again. He hid in nearby Tory Den to avoid capture, beatings and possible hanging.

According to Casey, the den could hold seven men, two standing and five crouching. Moses Dunbar, another Tory, also sought refuge in the den and eventually joined the British Army and was captured and hanged as a traitor, Casey says. He was the only Connecticut citizen to be so judged and punished.

The den was also home at times for the Old Leatherman, a man covered entirely with stitched-together leather patches, who walked a circuitous, 360-mile route from central Connecticut to western New York in a span of 34 days beginning in 1858. He stopped only to eat and sleep, and when he finished one circuit, he would turn around and begin again. He completed the circuit 11 times each year for almost three decades. Civilization has many places where George Washington once slept, and the natural world has its many caves and overhangs where the Leatherman once sheltered.

The path eventually hooks up with Greer Road and a return to the sanctuary. Retired school teacher Alan Perrie, who has designed a variety of hikes for people of all abilities, points out in the trust trail description that if you enjoyed the experience on this hike, try it again, but in the opposite direction because it has descents, which are harder than ascents. It will improve your hiking skills and provide a great workout in a short amount of time.

And there is no line to wait in to ride the Mile of Ledges again and again.

This article originally appeared in Connecticut Magazine. You can subscribe here, or find the current issue on sale here. Sign up for the newsletter to get the latest and greatest content from Connecticut Magazine delivered right to your inbox. On Facebook and Instagram @connecticutmagazine and Twitter @connecticutmag.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)  Dramatic video footage released Wednesday by California police shows a Black man walking around an unmarked police vehicle, opening the door and pointing a gun at an undercover officer inside before the man was fatally shot.

San Jose Police Chief Anthony Mata said two undercover officers were conducting surveillance Monday on 31-year-old Demetrius Stanley and had no plans to arrest or confront him. Stanley, however, opened the car door and pointed his firearm, forcing the officer to fire, Mata said.

Officers did not want, or anticipate, a confrontation that night, and did everything possible to avoid having one. Unfortunately, the officers have no control over the actions of others, the chief said at a news conference.

Officials released still images of the shooting Tuesday but no details shortly before more than 100 demonstrators marched along street and a freeway to protest Stanley's death.

Family members and some of those who participated in the protest accused police of withholding key details about the shooting. They said home-security video showed the officers were in plainclothes and an unmarked vehicle, and did not announce themselves as police, the Mercury News reported.

They said Stanley did not know he was dealing with police.

Mata said Stanley had acknowledged committing a March 12 armed robbery and was arrested and released on bail. On Monday, undercover detectives pursuing other allegations related to the robbery were trying to confirm where Stanley lived when he came out of his house carrying a gun and went toward one of the plainclothes officers on the street, the chief said.

The officer walked away quickly and Stanley returned to the house, tucking the firearm into the waistband of his shorts, Mata said. Another officer in the unmarked vehicle did not attempt to exit the car or confront Stanley.

Stanley then walked to the vehicle and opened the door with the firearm in his other hand, Mata said.

Fearing for his life, the officer fired his weapon at Stanley, he said.

Mata declined to name the officer, a 14-year police veteran, given the nature of the officer's duties. Police said they recovered a 9mm unregistered ghost gun with an illegal high capacity magazine at the scene.

The protest march was led by the BLACK Outreach SJ and HERO Tent activist groups that protested last spring after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and the San Jose Police Departments violent response to protests in the wake of the killing.

Theyre going to try and say that it was as simple as he pointed guns at police officers, but thats not what happened, said Lou Dimes, president of BLACK Outreach SJ. He was being stalked by people in plain clothing who didnt identify themselves as police officers. He thought he was in danger."
DARIEN  First Selectman Jayme Stevenson is fighting alongside residents of Little Brook and North Little Brook roads to preserve dozens of trees, and the next step is a public hearing.

Warning signs have been posted on some 50 trees  which sit at the south side of the intersection of the two roads  by the towns tree warden. These trees have been tagged for removal as part of Eversources tree trimming and hazardous tree removal program.

Stevenson joined residents in the neighborhood and Eversource representatives Tuesday afternoon to walk the area and examine the trees set for removal. The walk-through lasted more than an hour but, according to residents, town officials and Eversource, more questions need to be answered.

5 1 of 5 Jarret Liotta / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Jarret Liotta / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Jarret Liotta / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 5 of 5









Its a mutual education opportunity for us so that we can give our input. ... I certainly understand your challenge, but Im here to support the town and the neighbors, Stevenson said, noting she was hopeful that there could be more pruning than tree removal.

Stevenson said she understands why some of the trees have been marked for removal but added that officials on site identified a handful that can be saved.

Every tree saved is a win, Stevenson said.

Residents in the neighborhood have filed a formal objection to the tree wardens proposed removal, and Stevenson said a public hearing will be held. No date has yet been scheduled.

The proposed work is part of a larger tree removal and vegetation clearing along the Metro-North train line between Fairfield and Cos Cob in Greenwich. Eversource representative Mitch Gross said this particular land in Darien is broken into pieces owned by the town, Metro-North, Eversource and the state.

Stevenson said other trees, besides the 40 to 50 on town lands, will also be removed. But since those are on state land, no posted warnings are required.

Im pleased that our first selectman came out today and brought Eversource as well as other town officials, neighbor Natalie Tallis said. Ultimately, Im not sure what weve accomplished, as Eversource still seems intent on taking down most of the trees without any formal restoration plan.

This is kind of a fact-finding mission for us, she said, noting that she learned the trees on the state Department of Transportations property along the railroad not do not require replanting by state law.

Tallis said she was concerned that there is no actual plan being worked on to restore any of the mature trees targeted for removal.

If this project is allowed to continue, it will impact local wildlife and habitat, and irrevocably change the neighborhood and the entrance to Selleck and Dunlop Woods, Tallis added. This isnt just happening in Darien. This is happening all over Connecticut.

Gross said the walk-through, conversations and hearing are all part of a very thorough and open process.

Wesley Wayland, a senior at Darien High School and member of the Pollinator Pathways Club, went to the walk-through with other students.

He said one of their mission goals was to learn how native and nonnative species are dealt with, and what is being done to curb the latter in order to abet plants that attract pollinators.

I feel like this was a perfect example where citizens and corporations have to work together to come to a happy medium, Wayland said.

Theres a lot going on here. ... It has to be a holistic solution, neighbor Juliet Cain said, expressing concern about what replanting would look like in relation to pollinators and native growth.

Gross said the goal of the vegetation mitigation and tree removal is to reduce tree-related power outages, adding that the number and intensity of storms have increased in recent years, leading to more outages and for longer durations.

Clearing along the train lines is also imperative, Gross said. Some eight years ago during a storm, a large tree fell across the tracks in Greenwich, halting service and knocking power out to thousands.

Large storms in recent years, however, coupled with issues Eversource has faced with power outages, has encouraged the utility to take more effort to keep trees and branches away from power lines, the company said.

Gross said Eversource has its own arborists identify such areas, then work with the local tree wardens or municipalities on identifying trees or vegetation that requires trimming or removal.

Eversource representatives have spoken to neighbors in the area about the coming work, according to Gross, adding that the company is open to discussing mitigation plans, such as planting trees compatible with the removed species but do not grow as tall.

There is clearly a disconnect between Eversource corporate and the teams on the ground working to clear-cut trees, Tallis said. It is impossible to imagine that Eversources chairman, president and chief executive officer, James J. Judge, is aware of the environmental damage local crews are undertaking as part of their vegetation maintenance program.

Judge has committed Eversource to be carbon neutral by 2030, according to a statement on the website. ... How does taking out thousands of trees this summer help to meet that goal? Tallis added.

brian.gioiele@hearstmediact.com
CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  A ransomware attack on the world's largest meat processing company disrupted production around the world just weeks after a similar incident shut down a U.S. oil pipeline.

Brazil's JBS SA, however, said late Tuesday that it had made significant progress in dealing with the cyberattack and expects the vast majority of its plants to be operating on Wednesday.

Our systems are coming back online and we are not sparing any resources to fight this threat," Andre Nogueira, CEO of JBS USA, said in a statement.

Earlier, the White House said JBS had notified the U.S. of a ransom demand from a criminal organization likely based in Russia. White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House and the Department of Agriculture have been in touch with the company several times this week.

JBS is the second-largest producer of beef, pork and chicken in the U.S. If it were to shut down for even one day, the U.S. would lose almost a quarter of its beef-processing capacity, or the equivalent of 20,000 beef cows, according to Trey Malone, an assistant professor of agriculture at Michigan State University.

The closures reflect the reality that modern meat processing plants are heavily automated, for both food- and worker-safety reasons. Computers collect data at multiple stages of the production process, and orders, billing, shipping and other functions are all electronic.

Dan Peled/AP

JBS, which has not stated publicly that the attack was ransomware, said the cyberattack affected servers supporting its operations in North America and Australia. Backup servers werent affected and it said it was not aware of any customer, supplier or employee data being compromised.

Malone said the disruption could further raise meat prices ahead of summer barbecues. Even before the attack, U.S. meat prices were rising due to coronavirus shutdowns, bad weather and high plant absenteeism. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has said it expects beef prices to climb 1% to 2% this year, poultry as much as 1.5% and pork between by from 2% and 3%.

JBS, which is a majority shareholder of Pilgrim's Pride, didn't say which of its 84 U.S. facilities were closed Monday and Tuesday because of the attack. It said JBS USA and Pilgrims were able to ship meat from nearly all of its facilities Tuesday. The company also said it was making progress toward resuming plant operations in the U.S. and Australia. Several of the companys pork, poultry and prepared foods plants were operational Tuesday and its Canada beef facility resumed production, it said.

Earlier Tuesday, a union official confirmed that two shifts at the company's largest U.S. beef plant, in Greeley, Colorado, were canceled. Some plant shifts in Canada were also canceled Monday and Tuesday, according to JBS Facebook posts.

In Australia, thousands of meat plant workers had no work for a second day Tuesday, and a government minister said it might be days before production resumes. JBS is Australias largest meat and food processing company, with 47 facilities across the country including slaughterhouses, feedlots and meat processing sites.

Jean-Pierre said the White House is engaging directly with the Russian government on this matter and delivering the message that responsible states do not harbor ransomware criminals. The FBI is investigating the incident, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is offering technical support to JBS.

In addition, USDA has spoken to several major meat processors in the U.S. to alert them to the situation, and the White House is assessing any potential impact on the nations meat supply.

JBS has more than 150,000 employees worldwide.

It's not the first time a ransomware attack has targeted a food company. Last November, Milan-based Campari Group said it was the victim of a ransomware attack that caused a temporary technology outage and compromised some business and personal data.

In March, Molson Coors announced a cyber attack that affected its production and shipping. Molson Coors said it was able to get some of its breweries running after 24 hours; others took several days.

Ransomware expert Brett Callow, a threat analyst at the security firm Emsisoft, said companies like JBS make ideal targets.

They play a critical role in the food supply chain and threat actors likely believe this increases their chances of getting a speedy payout, Callow said.

Mark Jordan, who follows the meat industry as the executive director of Leap Market Analytics, said the disruption could be minimal assuming JBS recovers in the next few days. Meat processers are used to dealing with delays because of a host of factors, including industrial accidents and power outages, and they make up lost production with extra shifts, he said.

Several plants owned by a major meatpacker going offline for a couple of days is a major headache, but it is manageable assuming it doesn't extend much beyond that, he said.

Jordan said it will help that U.S. meat demand generally eases for a few weeks between Memorial Day and the July 4 Independence Day holiday.

But the attacks can wreak havoc. Last month, a gang of hackers shut down operation of the Colonial Pipeline, the largest U.S. fuel pipeline, for nearly a week. The closure sparked long lines and panic buying at gas stations across the Southeast. Colonial Pipeline confirmed it paid $4.4 million to the hackers.

Jason Crabtree, the co-founder of QOMPLX, a Virginia-based artificial intelligence and machine learning company, said Marriott, FedEx and others have also been targeted by ransomware attacks. He said companies need to do a better job of rapidly detecting bad actors in their systems.

A lot of organizations arent able to find and fix different vulnerabilities faster than the adversaries that theyre fighting, Crabtree said.

Crabtree said the government also plays a critical role, and said President Joe Biden's recent executive order on cybersecurity  which requires all federal agencies to use basic security measures, like multi-factor authentication  is a good start.

___

Durbin reported from Detroit. AP Writer Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia, and Alexandra Jaffe in Washington contributed.
To support growing customer demand for cloud services in Brazil, Oracle has opened the Vinhedo cloud region. The new region follows the launch of its Sao Paulo cloud region last year, making Brazil Oracles latest country offering dual cloud regions. The opening marks Oracles 30th cloud region worldwide and is part of Oracles global plan to operate 38 cloud regions by the end of 2021. The digital transformation efforts in Brazil have been accelerated by the global pandemic and Oracle is working with organizations across Brazil to help them move to the cloud securely and in compliance with data sovereignty regulations.

Were thrilled to open Oracles Vinhedo cloud region as our second region in Brazil. Part of our strategy has been to build a true disaster recovery solution with two regions to help our customers bring their most critical workloads to Oracle Cloud, said Scott Twaddle, vice president, product, industries and partnerships, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. With the Vinhedo cloud region, customers across South and Latin America are able to move to the cloud faster and build resilient workloads that meet data sovereignty requirements and keep their data or metadata within borders.

Oracle has a dual-region cloud strategy that enables customers to deploy resilient applications in multiple geographically separated locations for disaster recovery and compliance requirementswithout having sensitive data leave the country. Oracle is the only major cloud provider with dual cloud regions in Brazil, enabling organizations to run their mission-critical workloads in Oracle Cloud.

The new cloud region will deliver Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services, including Oracle Autonomous Database, Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes, Oracle Cloud VMware solution, and Oracle Cloud Applications services. It will also provide multiple benefits to customers, especially to those in highly regulated industries with restrictions on servers outside the national territory.

Oracle is also working to drive renewable energy adoption, improve water efficiency and attain environmental certifications. Oracle Cloud offers customers the opportunity to drive business value and reduce their environmental impact, from Oracles sourcing of materials and renewable energy to cloud features like flexible compute, which enable customers to precisely match the resources they provide to workload needs in a granular way, which reduces their resource consumption and costs.

Oracle opened 12 cloud regions in 2020 and currently operates 30 regions globally23 commercial, seven government and multiple dedicated regions for U.S. intelligence servicesthe fastest expansion by any major cloud provider.

To help customers build business continuity and disaster protection while meeting in-country data residence requirements, Oracle plans to establish at least two regions in almost every country where it operates. The U.S., Canada, E.U., U.K., South Korea, Japan, Brazil, India and Australia already have two cloud regions. Upcoming Cloud regions include second regions in U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia, additional E.U. regions in Italy, Sweden, and France; as well as new regions in Singapore, South Africa, and Israel.

More information is available about Oracle Cloud Regions.


remaining of

SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM! 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.
Thank you for reading!

Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription and are still unable to access our content, please link your digital account to your print subscription If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.
The Voltage Probes Market research report elaborates on growth, size, current industry trends, and key players of the industry on the basis of in-depth data mining and industry analysis. The content of the market study ensures intellectual insights giving a better understanding of the ideal opportunities in the Voltage Probes 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 Voltage Probes include Cal Test Electronics, 2M Technologies & Equipment Supplies, FormFactor, Pico Technology, IWATSU ELECTRIC, Keysight Technologies, HIOKI, Stefan Klaric, Rohde & Schwarz Powertek, Stefan Klaric, Tektronix and Yokogawa. This section includes 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.

Request Free sample copy of the report Global Voltage Probes Market at: https://www.valuemarketresearch.com/contact/voltage-probes-market/download-sample

Market Segmentation

The broad Voltage Probes has been sub-grouped into the Type, Application and region. The report studies these subsets with respect to the geographical segmentation. The strategists can gain a detailed insight and devise appropriate strategies to target specific market. This detail will lead to a focused approach leading to identification of better opportunities.

By Type

High Voltage Probes

Low Voltage Probes

By Application

Electronic

Industrial

Research

Others

Browse Global Voltage Probes Report with in-depth TOC : https://www.valuemarketresearch.com/report/voltage-probes-market

Regional Analysis

Furthermore, the report comprises of the geographical segmentation which mainly focuses on current and forecast demand for Voltage Probes in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The report further focuses on demand for individual application segments in all the regions.

Table of Content

Preface Executive Summary Voltage Probes  Industry Analysis Value Chain Analysis Impact Analysis Of Covid-19 Outbreak Global Voltage Probes Analysis By Type Global Voltage Probes Analysis By Application Global Voltage Probes Analysis By Geography Competitive Landscape Of The Voltage Probes Companies Company Profiles Of Voltage Probes Industry

Buy Now Comprehensive Global Voltage Probes Research Report at https://www.valuemarketresearch.com/contact/voltage-probes-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
New Delhi: Putting an end to the suspense on holding of the CBSE Class 12 exams, the Centre on Tuesday announced its cancellation, in both online and offline modes. The CBSE will now compile Class 12 results as per a well defined objective criteria in a time-bound manner, the government said after high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Those students who still want to take the exams for evaluation will have that option when the Covid-19 situation improves. The Prime Minister said the decision on the CBSE Class 12 was taken in the interest of the students as the pandemic had affected the academic calendar and the board exams issue was causing immense anxiety among students, their parents and teachers, which must be put to an end.

Soon after the Centre announced this decision, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) said its Indian School Certificate (ISC) Class 12 board examination would also be cancelled in view of the Covid-19 situation. The exams have been cancelled. The alternative assessment criteria will be announced soon, CISCE secretary Gerry Arathoon said.

In an official order issued on Tuesday night, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations said: "In view of the present situation of the Covid- 19 pandemic in the country, the CISCE has decided to CANCEL the ISC (Class 12) Year 2021 examination. The safety, health and well-being of our students, teaching faculty and all stakeholders is our topmost priority and of paramount interest." It added: The results will be processed on a mechanism which will also include the internal examinations conducted by the schools. The schools will be informed in due course of time, of this mechanism."

The CISCE said that after the declaration of the Class 12 results, if some candidates are not satisfied with the marks awarded to them, it will give an option to such candidates to write the exams at a later date, when the situation is more conducive. The CICSE had last week asked its affiliated schools to submit data, including average of marks obtained by Class 12 students in Class 11 and during this session.

At the review meeting on Tuesday evening, the PM said the Covid-19 situation was a dynamic one across the country and though the numbers are coming down and some states are managing the situation through effective micro-containment, some states have still opted for a lockdown.

Students, parents and teachers are naturally worried about the health of the students in such a situation. Students should not be forced to appear for exams in such a stressful situation. Health and safety of our students is of utmost importance and there would be no compromise on this aspect. In todays time, such exams cannot be the reason to put our youth at risk All stakeholders need to show sensitivity for students, the PM said.

Referring to the wide consultative process, the PM voiced appreciation that a student friendly decision had been reached after consulting all stakeholders. He also thanked the states for providing feedback on this issue.

The new evaluation pattern may throw new challenges for Central universities like Delhi University that admit students for the majority of its undergraduate courses on the basis of marks. However, universities are also contemplating taking admissions based on the performance in the Central University Common Entrance Test (CUCET) aptitude test clubbed with board results conducted by National Testing Agency.

Tuesdays meeting was attended by Union ministers of home, defence, finance, commerce, I&B, petroleum and women and child development as well as the Cabinet Secretary, the PMs principal secretary and the secretaries of the school education and higher education departments.

Reacting to the cancellation of exams, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted: Congratulations, students of Class 12 for making your voices heard. After all the uncertainty and stress, you deserve to relax and celebrate today! All the best for a happy, healthy and bright future ahead.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that he was glad the misery of Class 12 students had come to an end. He had pushed for exams not to be held till the examinees were vaccinated. He said I am glad 12th exams have been cancelled. All of us were very worried abt the health of our children. A big relief!
New Delhi: Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi being held in police custody in Dominica, is fit to be deported to India according to former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director AP Singh, who said the businessman held no legal rights in the East Caribbean Island nation to which he had attempted to allegedly escape from neighbouring Antigua, where he had been living since 2018.

The former CBI director Singh told ANI: "It is possible for Dominica to deport Mehul Choksi to India as he has no legal rights in Dominica. But he alleged before the court that he was kidnapped and brought to a third country (Dominica) against his will. Now the court will decide his deportation."

He further stressed that deportation is an easier process than extradition.

"If a criminal or a wanted fugitive is living in a country where they have legal status as a citizen, only an extradition process is left... For deportation, if someone enters a third country illegally and is caught, the country concerned must deport to India. The CBI has many deportation experiences under Interpol's Red Corner notices," the ex-CBI director told ANI.

Singh said it was not necessary to enter into a treaty with a country for deportation or extradition of criminals/fugitives, stating that there has been many deportations from a third-party country based on Interpol's Red Corner notices.

Interpol had issued the Red Notice against Choksi in December 2018.

According to Choksi's lawyers, the jeweller had not fled Antigua but was forcibly abducted and allegedly beaten up and taken to Dominica.

According to former CBI director Singh, "If the Dominica court finds that Choksi was kidnapped and forcibly taken to Dominica, he would be deported to Antigua as his country of origin."

Choksi, is a key accused in the Rs 13,000 crore Punjab and National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case and is wanted in India on bank fraud charges, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and money laundering. He acquired Antigua and Barbuda citizenship through the Citizenship by Investment Program in 2017 and had been living in Antigua since 2018. The jeweller is opposing court action to revoke his Antiguan citizenship and have him extradited to India.

Choksi's lawyers have approached Dominica's Supreme Court in the case pertaining to deporting him to India. The court has put a stay on his movement out of Dominica and is set to hear the matter today, June 2.

India has to present a tough case for against Mehul Choksi in the Dominica Court. India to present relevant papers and evidence in court as per the practices of the agencies.

Former CBI director Singh, when asked if a team from India has sent Dominica for a court hearing, he cited reports in local media.

"I have seen in the media that India has sent a team of officials who will present the case papers and evidence in the court. They will have to present the documents in the court through a lawyer and the local embassy will assist them, as per protocol," Singh said.

Meanwhile, Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne had earlier told ANI that Dominica has agreed Choksi's repatriation and Antigua will not accept him back.
New Delhi: There is a possibility of a speedy launch of single-dose COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik Light in India, and an application seeking regulatory approval for the jab is expected to be filed soon, the sources said on Tuesday.

According to the sources Dr. Reddy's in talks with the Government of India to bring Russia's Sputnik Light vaccine to India.

The Sputnik Light can become the first single-dose vaccine to be launched in India. Sputnik Light has already been approved and trials are already started in some other countries. Twenty-eight days after vaccination Sputnik Light vaccine was 79.4 per cent effective against the coronavirus. The trials were focused only on Russians who were not administered the second dose. Phase 3 clinical trials, involved 7,000 people and were conducted in countries Russia, the UAE, and Ghana.

Sputnik Light is a single-dose vaccine that can be useful to boost the country's requirement and target to increase maximum vaccination drive.

While the biggest commercial consignment of Sputnik-V vaccines arrived in Hyderabad on Tuesday early morning at 3:40 am with three million doses.

Apollo hospitals have already announced that it will start administering Sputnik-V across its hospitals in India from the second week of June at an estimated price Rs 1,195 per dose.

Sputnik V has been already administered in India after Bridge clinical trial. Russia Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has tied up with five Indian vaccine makers who will be producing over 850 million doses of the Sputnik V.
The average positivity rate for the period between May 6 and May 30 stood at 5.72 per cent, according to additional information provided in the affidavit, and as culled from daily Covid-19 bulletins. (Representational image: PTI)

HYDERABAD: The state government informed the Telangana High Court on Tuesday that it had left out more than 37,000 potentially Covid-19 positive persons from the daily count of fresh cases between May 6 and May 30.

However, this startling number was not provided directly but was hidden

amidst the numbers distributed under different heads, and buried in a set of

data sheets on Covid-19 in Telangana.

Included in these documents was an affidavit filed by the Director of Public

Health, as part of the states submissions to the court, which is hearing

public interest litigations (PILs) on Covid management in Telangana state.

As part of the affidavit, the government informed the court that 16,01,040

Covid-19 outpatient consultations were registered and services provided

across the state between May 6 and May 30. During the same time, 2,96,829

patients were given Covid-19 medical kits.

Similarly, during this period, a state-wide fever survey was conducted to

detect possible Covid-19. The survey covered 17,53,112 households, during

which time, 3,60,634 medical kits were distributed to symptomatic people. In

all, between May 6 and 30, the state health authorities distributed 6,57,453

medical kits during out-patient services and additionally as part of the

household fever survey.

Further, as part of the affidavit, the Telangana state health authorities

informed the High Court that the average positivity rate, which determines

how many people are getting infected out of every hundred, stood at 6.39 per

cent for the period between May 1 and May 29.

However, the average positivity rate for the period between May 6 and May 30

stood at 5.72 per cent, according to additional information provided in the

affidavit, and as culled from daily Covid-19 bulletins.

As can be recalled, the state government had announced that these two

exercises - household fever surveys and outpatient Covid medical kits

distribution  were to ensure early identification of symptomatic persons

and treating them instead of focusing on testing and getting results. Health

officials described testing as a time-consuming process that left any

Covid-19 positive patient open to infecting others during the wait for the

test results to come.

If this premise of "detecting and providing" medical kits to "untested but

symptomatic Covid-19 cases" was the one Telangana health authorities

believed, then, among the total of 6,57,453 people given medical kits, as

per official positivity rate of 5.72 per cent, Telangana state possibly had

37,606 Covid-19 patients who were never tested and included in the official

figures.

As per data provided in daily Covid-19 bulletins, new Covid-19 cases between

May 6 and May 30  the ones that were found through testing which are the

only ones listed as confirmed Covid cases  stood at 94,187. This number

could have been 1,31,793 had all symptomatic people found as part of

treatment been tested, and assuming the positivity rates provided by health

authorities are true. If not, the number could be even higher.
Hyderabad: Most of the Gulf migrants who returned to India due to Covid-19 pandemic are yet to get their end of service benefits. They are clueless about how to get back those benefits. The Gulf Joint Action Committee (JAC) is now planning to fight for justice for migrants as many are under financial distress. They are planning to launch a campaign 'Justice for Wage Theft' soon for the purpose.

Approximately 30,000 migrants are yet to receive the end of service benefits, according to activists. Speaking to this newspaper, P Ravindra, a Gulf returnee, said, "I had a contract with a construction firm for four years. During the end of the contract due to the pandemic, I returned to India. As the Indian government had imposed a lockdown, I could not return and then my visa expired. The company asked me to resign. It has been a year since I submitted my resignation yet they didn't clear my end of service benefits. I have to get around Rs 2 lakh."

Ravindra who is the sole breadwinner of the family has to take care of his wife and three children including two daughters. Now he is going for labour work to eke out a living and has a debt of Rs 6 lakhs. If he gets the benefits from the construction company where he used to work, he is planning to clear his debts.

Another returnee Goli Naresh said, "I used to work as a carpenter and returned to India due to the pandemic. My father, mother and sister are dependent on me. I had the responsibility of performing my sister's marriage. With a lot of hope, I went to the Gulf to earn money. However, my dreams have been shattered due to the pandemic. I have worked for almost four years. The company didn't give me end of service benefits which is around Rs I lakh."

"Many of the Gulf migrants returned forgoing the service benefits. Vande Bharat flights started on May 7 and brought many of them back. The company even bought them tickets and sent them back," Mandha Bheem Reddy, president of Emigrants Welfare Forum, a member of Gulf JAC said.

Many activists from south Asian countries came together and started the campaign 'Justice for Wage Theft'.

Explaining the plan of action, Reddy said, "We would like to do justice to migrants. According to the same, during the initial phase, we are planning to write a letter to the respective companies. If they still dont consider our requests, we are planning to influence them through Indian Embassy. If those too don't work, as a last resort we will wage a legal battle. We will go to the labour courts in the Gulf countries and file a petition."
A J&K government spokesman said the Army Chief and the lieutenant-governor at their Raj Bhavan meeting discussed the recent internal security developments and prevailing security scenario in the UT and several internal and external security-related issues and their effective management.  PTI

New Delhi/Srinagar: On the eve of completion of 100 days of the ceasefire with Pakistan at the Line of Control, Army Chief Gen. M.M. Naravane on Wednesday reached Kashmir on a two-day visit to review the situation on the ground at the border and counter-terrorist operations in the Valley.

The Indian and Pakistani DGMOs had agreed to observe a ceasefire at the LoC from February 24 midnight in a major de-escalatory move. The truce has mostly held till now, even though there were reports of some firing incidents at the international border. The Pakistan Army used to fire to give cover to terrorists to infiltrate into J&K. India and Pakistan signed a truce agreement in 2003 but it was frequently violated.

The Army Chief on Wednesday visited units and formations where he was briefed by local commanders on the security situation and the steps being taken to identify and target the overground workers (OGWs) network involved in radicalisation and recruitment of youth into terrorist ranks. He was accompanied by Northern Command GOC-in-C Lt. Gen. Y.K. Joshi and 15 Chinar Corps commander Lt. Gen. D.P. Pandey.

Gen. Naravane expressed appreciation to the jawans and commanders relentlessly battling the dual challenges of Pakistan-abetted terror and the global pandemic. He was briefed by Lt. Gen. Pandey on the overall situation at the LoC and the hinterland at the Badami Bagh headquarters of 15 Corps in Srinagar.

Gen. Naravane held a separate meeting with J&K lieutenant-governor Manoj Sinha at Raj Bhavan and is due to interact with civil officials and some others for a broader assessment of the overall security scenario.

A defence spokesman said the Army Chief was briefed by commanders in details on the measures to identify and target the OGWs network involved in radicalisation and recruitment of youth into terrorist ranks. As already reported by this newspaper, the number of Kashmiri separatists OGWs and sympathisers is swelling day after day, causing a serious concern among the security forces, who are combating a 31-year-old insurgency in J&K. In the past six months, the J&K police arrested several hundred OGWs of various militant outfits and a couple of dozen more are at present under their surveillance.

A J&K government spokesman said the Army Chief and the lieutenant-governor at their Raj Bhavan meeting discussed the recent internal security developments and prevailing security scenario in the UT and several internal and external security-related issues and their effective management. Mr Sinha, the spokesman said, stressed on the need to maintain close synergy between the Army and other security forces to meet the security challenges. Lt. Gen. Joshi and Lt. Gen. Pandey were present at the meeting.
Kolkata: In a move that may further escalate tensions between the Centre and the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government, the Union home ministry late on Monday evening slapped a showcause notice on 1987-batch IAS officer Alapan Bandyopadhyay hours before he retired as the states chief secretary after rejecting a three-month extension.

The notice, under Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act 2005, which is punishable by a prison term of up to two years or a fine, or both, was served to the states former top bureaucrat as he skipped a review meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28 on the devastation by Cyclone Yaas in the state.

Mr Bandyopadhyay, who has been appointed by chief minister Mamata Banerjee as her chief adviser for three years after he retired from service, was directed to explain in writing to the ministry within three days on why action should not be taken against him under Section 51 of the DM Act. This particular section relates to punishment for obstruction for refusal to comply with a direction given by the Central government.

The notice states: The officer, by abstaining himself from the review meeting taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at cyclone-affected Kalaikunda in West Bengal on May 28, has acted in a manner tantamount to refusing to comply with the lawful directions of the Central government and is thus violative of Section 51(b) of the Disaster Management Act 2005.

After the Prime Minister arrived at Kalaikunda for a scheduled review meeting with the chief minister and chief secretary of West Bengal, the Prime Minister and other members of his entourage waited for nearly 15 minutes for the officers of the state government to arrive.

In view of the absence, the chief secretary was called by an official as to whether they wanted to participate in the review meeting or not. Thereafter, the chief secretary arrived, along with the chief minister, inside the meeting room and left thereafter immediately, the notice further added.

On May 28, the department of personnel and training (DoPT), which is under the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions headed by the PM, had directed Mr Bandyopadhyay to report to its office at North Block in New Delhi on Monday morning for his Central deputation. When he skipped it, a second notice on Monday evening asked him to report on Tuesday morning. This time too, Mr Bandyopadhyay stayed away.

While the DoPT is the cadre-controlling authority of IAS officers, the showcause notice was served under provisions of the DM Act, which is under the direct purview of the Union home ministry. The National Disaster Management Authority is headed by the PM.

Sources at Nabanna, the state secretariat, claimed on Tuesday evening that Mr Bandyopadhyay would reply to the MHAs notice, citing proper grounds.

Attacking the CM and Mr Bandyopadhyay, BJP MLA and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari tweeted: Theatre of the absurd is playing out in West Bengal. For the sake of her own ego, to destroy Indias federal structure and protect the chief secretary for his indiscipline, (non-MLA) CM @MamataOfficial Didi is bringing disrepute to the CM office and the Constitution of India. What secrets does the outgoing CS know that (non-MLA) CM @MamataOfficial is moving heaven and earth to protect him? Is it really becoming of a CS to skip the Prime Ministers meet organised to help the people in duress due to Cyclone Yaas? No. It is not.

He claimed: I demand strictest action be taken against the outgoing CS for indiscipline, violating service rules at a time of a natural disaster and a global pandemic, irregularities, and not helping others just because of sinister political games. TMC has failed the people of West Bengal. Looting taxpayer money is TMCs favourite hobby. Outgoing CS and now advisor to (non-MLA) CM @MamataOfficial will enjoy a comfortable salary of Rs 2.5 lakhs per month and cushy perks. Surely, there are better ways to spend the hard-earned money of the taxpayers.
Highlights of this day in history: Timothy McVeigh convicted in the Oklahoma City bombing; Coronation day for Britain's Queen Elizabeth II; Pope John Paul II visits Poland; Baseball's Lou Gehrig dies. (June 2)
CRIME

Former manager at nursing home in Darby pleas to endangering 3 residents
The 2022 BMW i4 is the first of the company's electric vehicles with a chance at achieving volume sales success with people who might otherwise get a Tesla. (BMW USA)
Coronado resident and WWII veteran Tom Rice making a presentation during Memorial Day Services at Star Park to honor all those men and women of our armed services who didnt come home  who gave their lives for their country.
Introducing the Snipitz leadership team. From left to right: Amanda Prochaska (Director of Operations), Rick Taylor (Director of Finance), Deb Colitas (Director of Marketing), and Denny Darmo (Founder and President)
Derry manager Ciaran Cunningham was disappointed after Saturday's defeat to Antrim and said it was 'a step back' after their performance against Down in their opening game.

He told his side that playing last year's All-Ireland finalists in recent weeks would give them a truer version of where they are.

It was better than playing Laois and Kildare, maybe sneaking a win and thinking we were better than we really are, Cunningham told the County Derry Post.

The Down game was two steps forward, but Saturday was a step back in my eyes.

Cunningham said his side lacked self-belief and their 'lacklustre' performance allowed Antrim to win most of the 50-50 battles.

I have to remember that this is a new team and I suppose I am disappointed because of how we played against Down, he added, of a day when he handed eight players their senior inter-county debuts.

A few of them (the panel) are experienced, but for a lot of them it is their first season. They are only going to gain experience by this.

Against Down, I was happy enough because they showed the commitment for the whole game. We gifted them 2-3 and that was critical in the end and we didn't take our chances. We could've very easily been on the other side of the victory that day.

With a week off before their clash with Tipperary, who lost all three of their group games, Cunningham is planning to get a challenge game to run his eye over his squad.

He has also welcomed Newbridge player Nicole Nugent back after spending time at college in Scotland.

ALSO READ - Derry undone by goals against champions. CLICK HERE...
The Public Prosecution Service has today issued decisions not to prosecute suspects reported in connection with attendance at last years Black Lives Matter protest in Derry.

Last week the Derry News revealed that prosecutions were still hanging over three individuals in the city almost one year on.

The PSNI had submitted three files to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) relating the Black Lives Matter (BLM) rally at Guildhall Square on June 6, 2020.

On the day local police officers in Derry also issued 57 fines for breaches of the Coronavirus Health Protection Regulations.

The anti-racist protest was organised in direct response to the murder of black American man George Floyd on May 25, 2020.

One of the individuals facing prosecution in Derry was the founder of North West Migrants Forum, Lilian Seenoi-Barr.

Speaking this afternoon, she said: Of all the hardships a person had to face, none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting.

People of Minority Ethnic backgrounds deserve better.

A total of 14 suspects were reported to the PPS for consideration of potential offences under the Coronavirus Regulations at one or more of three BLM protests held in Derry and Belfast last summer.

The PPS said that after careful consideration of all evidence reported by the PSNI on six files relating to the 14 individuals, it was concluded that the Test for Prosecution was not met in respect of any suspect on evidential grounds.

Assistant Director Martin Hardy said: Decision making on this file included consideration of a range of complex and novel legal issues arising from the Coronavirus Regulations in place at the time of these protests and relevant human rights considerations.

It also involved a careful analysis of the particular circumstances of these protests and the conduct of the individuals reported.

The evidence received from police was subjected to an impartial and independent application of the Test for Prosecution, in line with the PPS Code for Prosecutors.

The prosecution team was also assisted by advice received from independent Senior Counsel.

It was concluded that, in respect of each of the 14 individuals reported, there was no reasonable prospect of conviction for any offence.

This was on the basis that the evidence would allow the suspects to successfully raise the statutory defence of reasonable excuse. In these circumstances the Test for Prosecution was not met.

According to the PPS, factors which were relevant to the application of the reasonable excuse defence included freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly under the European Convention of Human Rights.

The fact that the gatherings involved protests relating to a matter of important social concern, were peaceful, and were organised in a manner that sought to minimise any risk of transmission of the virus.

For example, steps taken at the different protests included encouraging social distancing by arranging the attendance of stewards, marking the ground with chalk squares and delivering relevant announcements by loud speaker.

Protesters were also encouraged to attend in smaller groups of no more than six; and masks and hand sanitiser were also made available.

Furthermore, the presence of provisions within the Regulations which created, in certain respects, a lack of legal clarity as regards what activity would be lawful.

These included the absence of any definition of a gathering or what constituted outdoor activity.

The PPS also raised issues in relation to the proportionality and consistency of the policing approach to different protests, such as the Protect our Monuments protest held afterwards.

Martin Hardy added: The PPS can only bring a case before a court when, after a thorough consideration of all relevant matters, it is concluded that the evidence provides a reasonable prospect of conviction.

The conclusion reached in relation to these 14 individuals  who were seeking to safely exercise their right to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression on an important social issue  is that there is no prospect of conviction in relation to any offence.
Liam Tunney speaks to County Derry woman Deborah Walls about breaking down barriers for entering aviation, becoming a pilot later in life, and how determination led her to prove a point after a throwaway comment from a male acquaintance.

It's always good to come out of an interview having learned something new.

I know a lot of airline pilots who are scared of heights, says Newbridge native Deborah Walls.

The key is to look out, but never down. Always look to the horizon, or eye level, and you won't get that wobble people can get with fear of heights.

A fear of reaching new heights has certainly never been a factor for Deborah.

With data from the International Society of Women Airline Pilots revealing just over 5% of the world's pilots are female, women in aviation are greatly outnumbered.

Deborah prepares for take-off.

Deborah, who holds a private licence, always had an interest in flying, but it was a throwaway comment from a male acquaintance that finally set her on her aviation journey.

It was a fella that said to me, 'yeah, but you couldn't do it, you wouldn't manage it', and I just thought, 'we'll see about that, she told the County Derry Post.

I just thought I'd go and check out the flying schools and eventually went to Newtownards, because it seemed to be the most consistent training. I signed up and that was me.

There were more lessons cancelled than taken because of the weather, but I made it through. I would be studying on long-haul flights wherever I was going to, be it the States, Asia or South America.

I'd be on those flights studying for that period of time to do the exams. There is work involved, but like anything, it takes your commitment and dedication to get it.

It's not cheap for people. If you want to do it, you need to commit to it and stay the course. I see parents paying for their kids to fly and they've maybe not taken it so seriously.

But this was coming out of my pocket, and I'm not the type to do something like that. Once I'm in, I'm committed.

Low-key misogyny is just one of the barriers placed in the way of women looking to get involved in flying, particularly in Northern Ireland.

I've always loved aviation. Even though it doesn't seem that long ago, when I was at school, it just wasn't a thing that girls did, said Deborah.

Going to a Catholic school, the RAF Cadet scheme wouldn't really have been opened to Catholics in Northern Ireland. I hate to bring it back to that, but that's how it was.

Many young people take that route because it's a sponsored scheme of training youngsters to fly, but it wouldn't have been open to me back then, and certainly not girls.

It was probably beyond the realms of affordability for most people. In my mid-30s, I had a good job and was working back in Northern Ireland and I was able to devote the time needed to the training.

Deborah initially graduated from Ulster University, Jordanstown, witha degree in Biochemistry, before going on to complete a Master's in Business.

The former St Mary's Grammar School, Magherafelt student has spent 20 years working for a major oil company.

Her work takes her to all corners of the globe, but holding a private pilot licence has allowed her to see those corners from a very different perspective.

I've worked in Scotland, Siberia, Angola and all over west Africa. I lived in those locations, so I wasn't just breezing in and out, she said.

My other half is Australian and I really love Australia. I did a bit of flying there actually in January last year. It was just spectacular really.

Steve and I hired a plane and we flew inland to Wave Rock, out in the outback and it was a fantastic experience.

It is the typical burnt, red earth and outback that you would anticipate. It was in the middle of the Australian summer and it was very hot.

I love the heat, but it was hot even for me. It's just a vast land of burnt red earth. The pictures were good, and it was an excellent experience.

That's the beauty of flying, you can do those experiences with your licence.

Despite her wide flying experience, Deborah names the approach to Carrickfinn Airport in north Donegal as her favourite.

Ireland's unique scenery makes for pleasant flying, but the associated climate can cause problems for pilots.

I was once flying out of Newtownards, past Larne, and a storm was moving in around me, very heavy rain showers and cloud, she said.

To my left, I couldn't clear because there was high ground and controlled air space, and to my right there was the sea, as well as very heavy rain showers in front.

It was almost like flying into a U-shaped band of weather that moved in very quickly and wasn't in the forecast.

The ordeal prompted Deborah to enhance her training further by attaining instrument rating, allowing her to fly through the cloud solely using the aircraft's flight instruments.

It's not a licence to fly in poor weather, but it is an extra set of skills, and the authority to fly using instruments only, she said.

Had I had that skillset at that time, I could have got out of that situation easier, but I made the decision to turn and fly back to base.

In a nod to her own journey, Deborah has created a unique hashtag to signpost other female pilots, or those thinking of making the move, towards support and advice.

The 42-year-old launched #GirlsWhoFly in an effort to encourage young women and girls into flying.

I thought if I could post positively about my flying adventures and experiences, there might be a young woman or girl, or an older lady, or whatever walk of life you come from, inspired to try it, she said.

There have been a few ladies who saw the hashtag and contacted me, saying they'd signed up for a flying school, or joined the RAF Cadets, whatever it might be.

There are few women in the industry, I think women need to be encouraged to understand it is an opportunity for them.

Even flying privately, it's a mixed bag. You find people who are extremely supportive of women flying and you find people that are skeptical, but gender should always be irrelevant.

I am no shrinking violet. I tend to laugh off or challenge people like that. If you're dedicated and want something badly enough, none of that will deter you.

The option of moving into the industry and becoming an airline pilot is still there, but Deborah says it is a love of flying, rather than any career ambition, that drives her.

My partner is an airline pilot, but I've never felt the need to make a career jump like that, she said.

I have a great job as it is and I like to fly as a hobby. My partner and I have bought an aircraft recently and it's another thing you've got to enjoy for life.

It sounds awfully extravagant, but if you wanted to fly to Donegal for your Sunday lunch, you could do that, or fly to the Isle of Man, or anywhere in Europe.

We won't be flying over the Atlantic or to Asia any time soon, but for me, it's the views you get from up there and the absolute love of aviation combined with the mental challenge it is as well.

I've done many great things, but this is the best thing I've ever done.
The Derry Branch of Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign will be holding a protest this evening at 6.30pm outside Strand Road PSNI Station in Derry.

The group say that the protest will be compliant with the Covid regulations covering social distancing and wearing of face masks.

Members of the group say they will hand in a letter of protest at the station for the attention of the Chief Constable Simon Byrne.

The letter asks the PSNI to suspend all programmes with the Israeli police and security services following the recent violence in the Gaza and Israel region.
A Derry-based river rescue charity is to receive a 15,000 funding boost.

Foyle Search and Rescue is among a number of rescue organisations across Northern Ireland who have received funding from the Department of Justice.

Justice Minister Naomi Long has paid tribute to the dedicated lifesaving efforts of the groups.

Across Northern Ireland there are more than 500 volunteers working with the various search and rescue groups, she said.

These are men and women of all ages who give freely of their time to learn expert search and rescue life-saving skills.

I am very aware of the challenges faced by many voluntary groups and their volunteers.

Covid-19 restrictions have no doubt impacted on the ability of the NISAR groups to generate funds through collections and publicly arranged events, which I know they each depend on.

Funding is vital for these lifesaving services, and for this reason I am delighted that my Department is able to provide financial support to the NISAR groups which will help towards the purchase of much needed protective clothing, equipment and other running costs incurred by the groups.

The full list of the groups to benefit from the new funding are: Community Rescue Service (16,000);

Foyle Search and Rescue (15,000); Irish Cave Rescue Organisation (8,500); Lagan Search and Rescue (15,000); Lough Neagh Rescue (9,000); Mourne Mountain Rescue Team (13,000); North West Mountain Rescue Team (12,000); Search and Rescue Dog Association IN (6,500); and Sky Watch NI (5,500).
Aly Goni Returns To Mumbai; Girlfriend Jasmin Bhasin Welcomes Him At The Airport With Coffee And A Hug

Actor Aly Goni and his actress girlfriend Jasmin Bhasin have been inseparable since they confessed their feelings for each other in the Bigg Boss 14 house. Post the show, they collaborated for music videos, went on an exotic vacation together and spent lots of quality time with Alys family in Jammu. The couple recently recovered from coronavirus and soon Jasmin returned to her Mumbai home to resume work. Aly, on the other hand, decided to stay back in his hometown.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jasmin Bhasin (@jasminbhasin2806)

Well, Aly returned to the bay today and got a warm welcome by his lady love. Jasmin reached the airport to receive him with a coffee and a tight hug. The Naagin 4 actress looked effortlessly stunning as ever in a blue track suit paired with sunglasses, a white mask and matching sneakers. Aly, on the other hand, looked cool yet casual in an oversized t-shirt and ripped jeans. Seeing their adorable reunion is an absolute delight for #Jasly fans. Take a look at the love birds:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Viral Bhayani (@viralbhayani)

On the work front, Jasmin and Aly were last seen together in Vishal Mishras music video Tu Bhi Sataya Jayega, a heartbreaking melody. Their happy moments from the Bigg Boss house were also featured in Rahul Vaidyas recently released track Aly, dedicated to the couple.
KGF Star Yash Announces Initiative To Support Daily Wage Earners Of Kannada Film Industry

South star Yash on Tuesday announced an initiative to support daily wage earners of the Kannada film industry. In an Instagram post, the 35-year-old actor expressed concern over the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the lives of several people across the country. Yash said like many sectors, the Kannada film industry has also been badly affected by the pandemic.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Yash (@thenameisyash)

"Covid 19 has proved to be an invisible enemy that has dismantled the livelihoods of innumerable people across our country. Our own Kannada film fraternity has been badly affected as well," he said.

The "KGF" star said he will be donating Rs 5,000 to the personal account of 3,000 members working across 21 departments of the Kannada film fraternity.

"I am very well aware that this may not serve as a solution to the loss and the pains caused by the situation we are in, it's a ray of hope since it's HOPE that is the certainty of faith, Faith of better times," he added. See the post here:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Yash (@thenameisyash)

On the work front, Yash is awaiting the release of his much-talked-about action drama "KGF: Chapter 2". Directed by Prashanth Neel, the film is slated to bow out on July 16.
Manoj Bajpayee Backs Out Of Hrithik Roshan's Debut Digital Series The Night Manager Adaptation, Hunt Is On For A New Antagonist?

Manoj Bajpayee fans are eagerly waiting for the release of The Family man 2 which was long overdue and will finally stream from 2nd June. In the meanwhile, reports had been doing the rounds that he may appear as an antagonist in yet another series. This series would also mark the debut of Hrithik Roshan into the webspace. Yes, we are talking about the adaptation of The Night Manager. However, looks like the actor has now backed out of it.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Manoj Bajpayee (@bajpayee.manoj)

According to a report in Mid Day, Manoj Bajpayee chose to back out because of date issues. A source quoted by the daily said, Manoj sir was in advanced talks for the series. But due to the second wave of the pandemic, two of his productions have been delayed. The actor is currently shooting for a film in Uttarakhand, after which he will turn his attention to the pending projects. He realised that he wont be able to match his dates with the rest of the cast, and decided to bow out of the venture. The series would apparently go on floors by the end of the year if everything goes alright.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hrithik Roshan (@hrithikroshan)

There has been no official word about the same.
NEWS RELEASE Release Number: 2021-57 June 2, 2021

California Labor Commissioner Cites Inland Empire Warehouse and Retailer Nearly $1.4 Million for Wage Theft Violations

RiversideThe Labor Commissioners Office has cited La Mina De Oro, Inc., and six other businesses $1,393,909 for wage theft violations affecting 107 workers. The Norco-based businesses operated a designer fragrance distribution warehouse and numerous retail stores in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, with locations in the Los Angeles area and Orange County.



Workers had to endure demanding working conditions without meal and rest break periods, and were required to work overtime off the clock, said Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia-Brower.



The following businesses and individuals are named in the wage theft citations:

La Mina De Oro, Inc., a California Corporation

KD Nutley Properties, LLC, a California Limited Liability Company

CGC Trading Inc., a California Corporation

KD Distributors, Inc., a California Corporation

Desire Fragrances Inc., a California Corporation

Designer Fragrance Warehouse, a California Corporation

Desiree Canlas Nutley, an Individual.

The Labor Commissioners Office opened an investigation into the retailers operation in June 2018 based on a referral from the Warehouse Worker Resource Center (WWRC), a nonprofit worker-rights community based organization in Ontario. The investigation showed that workers at the retailers stores were working off the clock before and after their shifts to receive merchandise from the retailers distribution warehouse. They were also forced to work through their meal and rest break periods, particularly during peak holiday seasons.



Workers in the warehouse industry who experience wage theft should report it to the Labor Commissioners Office, added Garcia-Brower. My office will work to hold the employer accountable, ensure workers get their owed wages, and prevent law-abiding employers from being undercut.



The citations issued included $126,274 in minimum wages, $102,622 in overtime wages, $188,596 in meal period premiums, $116,113 in rest period premiums, $185,831 in waiting time penalties, $24,563 in contract wages, $160,442in liquidated damages, and $204,350 in damages to workers. The citations also include $162,750 in penalties payable to the state, $88,200 in civil penalties and $34,168 in interest.



When workers are paid less than minimum wage, they are entitled to liquidated damages that equal the amount of underpaid minimum wages plus interest. Waiting time penalties are imposed when the employer intentionally fails to pay all wages due to the employee at the time of separation. This penalty is calculated by taking the employees daily rate of pay and multiplying it by the number of days the employee was not paid, up to a maximum of 30 days.



Enforcement investigations typically include a payroll audit of the previous three years to determine minimum wage, overtime and other labor law violations, and to calculate payments owed and penalties due. Civil penalties collected are transferred to the States General Fund as required by law.



The Department of Industrial Relations Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, or the California Labor Commissioners Office, combats wage theft and unfair competition by investigating allegations of illegal and unfair business practices.



The Labor Commissioners Office in 2020 launched an interdisciplinary outreach campaign, Reaching Every Californian. The campaign amplifies basic protections and builds pathways to impacted populations so that workers and employers understand legal protections and obligations, and the Labor Commissioners enforcement procedures. Californians can follow the Labor Commissioner on Facebook and Twitter.



Contact: Paola Laverde / Peter Melton, Communications@dir.ca.gov, (510) 286-1161
While police were on their way to the area, two separate people who had seen the Amber Alert called police to report they had seen the blue Chevy parked at the Fifth Avenue Motel on the Berlin Turnpike, according to court records. The second caller was a woman who was still at the motel and told police the car was there but unoccupied, and she directed the first officers on the scene around the corner of the building and toward the woods behind the property.
Stantec

Nuss

Stephen Nuss joined Stantec as a principal and practice leader in its water group. Nuss will work with the Washington water team to win, manage and deliver projects in the Northwest. He has over two decades of experience directing and leading civil and environmental engineering projects. His experience includes municipal projects, small-diameter water and sewer pipe rehabilitation, new water transmission main, sewage lift station, water booster station, and rehabilitation of water and sewer treatment plant projects. Nuss spent 15 years with the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility. He has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He is based in the Bellevue office of Stantec, a global engineering, architecture and consulting firm.




Subscriber content preview

In a series of transactions worth about $133.7 million, Lift Partners of San Francisco has sold eight industrial properties to TPG Real Estate Partners of Texas. Both parties used various LLCs in the deals. The DJC reported the first SoDo sale at 820 S. Adams St., worth about $11.1 million, on Tuesday.

Over the long holiday weekend, King County recorded seven more sales. All eight properties reach from SoDo to Tukwila to Kent. They have about 353,668 square feet, and the deal was worth about $378 per square foot for the buildings alone. Some of those properties are substantially used for truck yards and parking  and could thus be expanded or redeveloped.





. . .
Subscriber content preview

BELLEVUE  A small Bellevue office building at 12509 Bel-Red Road sold for $3.4 million, according to King County records.

The seller was Forum South Building C LLC, which acquired the property in 1997 for $765,000.





. . .
News

Taylor delivers first State of the Institution Address, announces Ole Miss engineering program partnership

Adam Robison | BUY AT PHOTOS.DJOURNAL.COM Dr. Ivy Taylor DANNY MCARTHUR I DAILY JOURNAL On Tuesday, Rust College and the Ole Miss School of Engineering announced a five-year program that will allow students to earn a mathematics and engineering degree. Ole Miss representatives included Chancellor Glenn Boyce and Provost Noel Wilkin, Dean of Engineering David Puleo and Assistant Dean Marni Kendricks. Rust College representatives included Assistant to the President for Strategic Initiative Dr. Dartell Treadwell, Interim Vice-President Dr. Doris Ward and Rust College President Ivy R. Taylor.

HOLLY SPRINGS  In her first State of the Institution address, Rust College President Ivy R. Taylor laid out her plans for modernizing the states oldest historically Black college and slow the decline in the schools enrollment numbers.

On Tuesday, Taylor shared her goals over the past year and her vision for the the college including a new mission statement: students for excellence and service in their communities and throughout the world.

Among her top priorities is the reversal of a five-year decline in enrollment  from 1,004 students in 2016 to 636 students in 2020.

Leaders at the college plan to use student input and national data to improve the schools academic offerings. In reflecting on change for the institution, Taylor prioritized listening sessions, where she met with faculty and staff members one-on-one to determine the need for new technology, programs and investment in physical and technology offerings.

Taylor said the school will launch a new health science degree in the fall and plans to restart its music major program.

The college is also partnering with the University of the Incarnate Word in Texas and the ClevelandMarshall College of Law in Cleveland, Ohio, to help students pursue health science and law degrees.

The school also announced on Tuesday the Rust College + Ole Miss 3+2 Engineering Program, where students can earn a mathematics and engineering degree. Participants will spend the first three years pursuing a mathematics degree at Rust, alongside taking pre-engineering and engineering courses. Students will then enter the Ole Miss School of Engineering to complete the remaining courses needed to earn an engineering degree.

Itll give (students) opportunities that will be long-lasting and change generations of lives, University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce said on Tuesday. It will contribute to producing more STEM leaders in our state  and it will encourage engineers, and this is a big one for us at Ole Miss and one of the reasons were so excited to partner with Rust, to stay in our state, to help our state.

Ole Miss Assistant Dean Marni Kendricks said the program will be a fantastic opportunity for an ambitious student for a high-demand career path. Dr. Don Cole, a retired mathematics professor and administrator at Ole Miss currently serving as an adjunct professor at Rust College, was instrumental in completing the curriculum mapping. Taylor described it as a win-win for both institutions and a move that will lead to more Black engineers.

I think its going to be transformative and help us to attract students, Taylor said. (I) look at (this as) the opportunity to make students feel welcome at a smaller campus, make them feel supported and then still have access to everything Ole Miss has to offer.

Taylor said the the school is also working on various improvements to the campus itself, including the colleges IT infrastructure, renovated dorms and a new welcome center.

Taylor also laid out her vision for the upcoming year. Rust College will implement a 5% pay raise for all faculty and staff in the coming year as part of their efforts to bring salaries up to market standards.

School officials are also exploring possible federal funding to help rebuild Mississippi Industrial College, with a draft plan to reuse that part of campus for an Ida B. Wells Social Justice and Interpretive Center.

Rust College will launch its first strategic enrollment management plan next fall, and will be searching for a new vice president for enrollment management to help with clearly defined goals and objectives to change enrollment trajectory. Upcoming sessions will be hosted June 16 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and June 22 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. via Zoom. Information will be available on the Rust College website.

Taylor is the institutions 12th president and first woman president in its 155-year-history. With her first year as president behind her, Taylor said shes looking forward to pushing the historic college into the future.

As I conclude my first year of service to Rust College, I commit to continuing to work through the transition to ensure that we fulfill that mission because our students deserve it, she said.
A suspect has already been identified in the series of shootings in the Southington area. Douglas Floyd Gollnick, 74, of the Plantsville section of Southington, is accused of firing dozens of shots into seven different addresses across Southington and other nearby towns Sunday evening before leading police on a chase that only ended when his car was disabled by officers on the Arrigoni Bridge in Middletown. Police seized a .22-caliber long rifle from Gollnicks car and arrested him.
Donning a pair of durable work gloves, Angela Moore grips a clump of plastic, rips it from a pile of weathered sticks, and places it in a large garbage bag held open by Rose Haroian.

Near the two women, 7-year-old Hayden Butler grabs an old milk jug hidden beneath tufts of tumbleweed while her brother, Jack, 2, runs around grabbing candy wrappers, bottle lids and anything else he can find.

On a hill above this scene, a drill whirs as Toby Spence replaces a board on an archery target.

The group may come in all shapes, sizes, ages and genders, but they have one thing in common  they care about the outdoors.

The Outdoor Enthusiasts of Converse County (OEOCC) spent the afternoon of May 19 cleaning up and making repairs to the archery range at Bartling Park in Douglas, but they do their good deeds all over Converse County.

We actually helped put this archery range up, Haroian, the clubs president, said. So we want to maintain it and keep it nice for the community to use.

The group has about 14 members throughout Douglas and Glenrock, but Haroian said theyre looking to grow their membership.

Wed love to have more people join us, she said. It takes a lot of sweat equity to put on events. Everybody wants to play, but its hard to get people to actually come and get their hands dirty.

The OEOCC puts on multiple events throughout the year, including the yearly trail race outside of Glendo. Theyve also held archery shoots and other activities.

Haroian said there are no age requirements to join the group  their youngest member is in middle school and their oldest is 66.

The people who show up to meetings are gung-ho, Haroian said. We have all types of ideas for activities for the community. Some might be a little more than we can put on with such a small group.

Hayden, 7, whose father, Jess, is the secretary of the group, enjoys coming out to events and helping with cleanups.

We all share a planet, she said, and we all need to keep it clean so we have a nice, clean place to live.

Although shes not technically a member  perhaps junior member would be more accurate  Hayden is a huge fan of the outdoors.

I like it because all the nice grass and flowers, she smiled. I really like going camping and hiking.

Moore, treasurer of OEOCC, highlighted their upcoming trail race in September, which will feature 10k, 30k, and 50k trails.

Its drawn people from all across the West Coast, so its pretty exciting.

Haroian teased the possibility of a kids fishing day next year, but more details have to first be worked out with Wyoming Game & Fish.

We want to promote healthy outdoor activities and throw family friendly events, Haroian said with a wide grin.

*For even more photos, see this week's edition of the Douglas Budget in print or online in the e-edition.
Duncan Police Department hosted the third annual Cops and Bobbers youth fishing tournament last year at Lake Humphreys. This years event will be hosted 8 a.m. to noon June 5 at Lake Humphrey as part of free fishing weekend.
The November 13 tragedy was simply the latest and perhaps most serious of costly infrastructure failures, including burst pipes, insect infestations, and other signs of infrastructure collapse,' Blumenthal said in a statement released by his office. Ultimately, patching them with short-term fixes is more expensive than starting over. My hope is Congress will come together in a positive and proactive bipartisan response to build back better at the VA.
Councillor John Reilly has confirm that the Cooley Kickhams GFC has been approved by the Department of Rural and Community Development as a broadband connection point, subject to a site survey by NBI Ireland.

Cllr Reilly said: "If the site survey is successful hopefully the connection point can be in operation over the summer months.

"This will be a tremendous boost to the whole Cooley area going forward, it would be hoped that it will promote remote working and will help established a very badly needed digital hub in the Cooley area."

Cllr Reilly stated that the rural broadband issue has become a very important issue since the Covid pandemic .

"Going forward the way we work will be far more home or hub based", he said.

"The government have made enormous advances in the national broadband roll out plan.

"It is important all areas have access to high speed broadband."

Cllr Reilly wishes to thank the minister for community and rural Development Heather Humphreys for all her help and assistance in picking Cooley as a proposed broadband connection point.

"Hopefully the minister will be in a position to visit Cooley as Covid restrictions ease off", he added.
Fianna Fail Senator for Louth Erin McGreehan has described the changes announced by Government to the eligibility criteria for the Civil Legal Aid Scheme as progressive.

Senator McGreehan said: This is a progressive move and will mean that for many people they will now have access to legal aid.

"Access to legal aid is necessary for many people and I have come across situations where individuals who were in receipt of HAP or other housing support measures were ruled as ineligible for legal aid.

"This had a huge negative affect on many families and it is very welcome news.

"This will no longer be an impediment to these families accessing legal advice and representation where the other criteria of the scheme are met.

Housing Assistance Payment will be excluded from the calculation of entitlement to legal aid.
A Romanian national who is being sought by the authorities in his native country for an alleged murder committed in Ireland has lost an appeal to prevent his extradition back to Romania.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by Petronel Pal (36) against an order for his surrender to the Romanian authorities made by the High Court in April 2020.

Mr Pal had been granted a certificate to appeal an order allowing for his extradition as a judge ruled the case raised a point of law of exceptional public importance.

Lawyers for the accused claimed the findings in the case where French authorities had sought the extradition of Ian Bailey to France to go on trial for the alleged murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier prevented their clients surrender to the Romanian authorities.

Counsel for Mr Pal, Remy Farrell SC, had argued that it was quite clear from the Ian Bailey extradition case that it must be shown at a bare minimum that Ireland could prosecute in an equivalent circumstance to satisfy the principle of reciprocity.

Under Section 44 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003, people cannot be surrendered for an offence alleged to have been committed in a place other than the issuing state if it does not constitute an offence under Irish law.

Counsel for the Minister for Justice, Robert Barron SC had argued that Ireland and Romania exercised extra-territorial jurisdiction on the same basis and that if the facts were reversed Ireland would have jurisdiction to prosecute.

Mr Pal was arrested by gardai at Briarwood Lawn, Clonsilla, in Dublin. He is wanted for prosecution in Romania for aggravated murder allegedly committed at Academy Square, Navan, Co Meath in April 2014, and also for the creation of an organised crime group.

Virgil Busa (37), also from Romania, was allegedly assaulted at his apartment at Academy Square and died from his injuries three days later on April 13, 2014.

While living in Ireland, Mr Pal and a number of other identified individuals are alleged to have created, and been members of, an organised crime group. The group is alleged to be headed by a relative of Mr Pal.

It is alleged that Mr Pal and a number of these individuals broke into Mr Busas home in the early hours of April 10, 2014 and used extreme violence on Mr Busa and another Romanian national.

Delivering the Court of Appeals ruling, Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly presiding, with Ms Justice Una Ni Raifeartaigh and Mr Justice Maurice Collins, said it was not possible to state in the abstract what factual circumstances, if reversed, should be taken into account for considering if there was reciprocity under Section 44.

It is not possible to identify the factual circumstances which should be reversed in all cases, Ms Justice Donnelly stated.

She said the High Court should rely on all factual circumstances relied on by the issuing state for its entitlement to prosecute the offence concerned even though it was committed outside its territory.

Ms Justice Donnelly said the High Court had properly taken into account the nationality of the appellant as being relied on by the Romanian authorities for seeking his extradition.

The judge said the surrender of Mr Pal was not prohibited by Section 44.

Mr Justice Maurice Collins said a refusal to surrender the appellant would constitute a clear and unwarranted departure from the States obligations under the [EAW] framework decision.

The Court of Appeal placed a 14-day stay on an order approving Mr Pals extradition to take effect to allow for a possible appeal to the Supreme Court.
Readers Survey

As our valued readers, we want to hear from you. Please take a moment to fill out the survey below. - Thank you, Eastern Arizona Courier Click Here
Methuen - Michael V. Finn, a longtime resident of Lawrence, passed away unexpectedly and peacefully on May 25, 2021, at the age of 72 while doing something that he loved, playing golf. Known to many as "Mickey", he was born in Lawrence on April 20, 1949 to James L. and Margaret (Bateman) Fin
Foreign trade expos hold strong appeal for domestic and foreign companies

People's Daily Online) 09:50, June 02, 2021

As a bridge connecting exhibitors with consumers, foreign trade expos held in China are showing increasing appeal to exhibitors from both home and abroad.

Visitors tour a yacht show during the first China International Consumer Products Expo in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, May 7, 2021. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)

The first China International Consumer Products Expo, which concluded on May 10 in the southern Chinese province of Hainan, attracted more than 1,505 enterprises from 70 countries and regions, as well as more than 30,000 buyers and 240,000 visitors. Livestreaming rooms set up for the expo garnered over 16 million viewers, with a total turnover of 68 million yuan (about $10.4 million).

The 129th session of the China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, concluded online on April 24. The online event received a total of 35.38 million visits on its official website and buyers from 227 countries and regions participated in the fair online, according to Xu Bing, spokesperson for the fair.

The China International Fair for Trade in Services will open in Beijing in September. So far, 96 international organizations have confirmed their participation, with more than 30 planning to hold offline exhibitions and launching nearly 50 special activities.

The location of the exhibition will be the National Convention Center and the Shougang factory plant in Beijings Shijingshan district. With an exhibition area of about 126,000 square meters, the exhibition will be held both online and offline.

In November, the China International Import Expo (CIIE) will be held for the fourth time. By mid-May, a total of 475 enterprises had confirmed their participation, including more than 200 Fortune Global 500 companies and leading companies. The November expo will be the fourth in a row to be attended by over 100 Fortune Global 500 companies and leading companies.

The high-level expos, which brought together a large number of participants, delivered opportunities created by China to global brands, reflected Chinas firm resolution and confidence in advancing to a higher level of opening up, and injected impetus into the recovery of global trade and economy.

Foreign trade expos are an important part of Chinas open economy, and also an important channel for expanding imports and exports, said Zhang Jianping, director-general of the China Center for Regional Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce.

The foreign trade expos are also seen as being responsible for promoting the development of Chinas foreign trade sector, Zhang pointed out.

The total retail sales of Chinas consumer goods surpassed that of the U.S. last October, making the country the largest retail market in the world and one thats set to attract the interest of countries from all over the world, Zhang noted.

As a founding member of the exhibitors association of the CIIE, BSH Household Appliances Co., Ltd. was present at the first, second and third expos. The CIIE is a good platform for exchanges, creating lots of opportunities for foreign companies, said an executive with BSH.

Through the CIIE, we knew how our consumers felt about our products and services, especially some newly launched products such as dishwashers, clothes dryer machines and built-in home appliances, according to the executive.

Foreign trade expos are important for enterprises in that they provide a place for them to show their products, and at the same time, purchase the merchandise they need, Zhang explained, adding that by expanding markets and finding new business partners at the expos, the enterprises can also learn about whats new in their industry and whats needed by the market.

Chinas economic development relies more on domestic demand, especially consumer demand, Zhang pointed out. The countrys middle-income group has grown to more than 400 million people, and the per capita GDP has exceeded $10,000, data indicated.

Last year, imports of consumer goods into China grew 8.2 percent. In the first quarter of 2021, China's imports of consumer goods increased by 18.1 percent year on year, maintaining a sound momentum for growth.

"The transformation of the economic structure and huge consumer demand have resulted in different types and positioning of foreign trade exhibitions. It can be said that foreign trade exhibitions are not only a window for the evolution of China's foreign trade, but also a reflection of the strong upgrading of domestic consumer demand," Zhang said.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Bianji)
I think the only thing to be vigilant now is that South Park really does get everything it needs, and that the new location, when it is found, is as convenient to the population being served as the present one, Michtom said. There is always, I think, a desire in some quarters to move services for the homeless, services for the drug addicted, services for the poor out of whatever are the central and presumably desirable spaces and to the periphery.
AP photoIn this 2019 photo, former Veterans Services Secretary Francisco Urena speaks during the State House Veterans Day ceremony in Boston. A local veterans group is calling on Gov. Charlie Baker to apologize to Urena, saying the Lawrence native was used as a scapegoat by the administration after the deaths of 76 elderly veterans from COVID-19 at the Holyoke Soldiers Home last spring
Just after his first week of official practice, new transfer Jesse Miritello persuaded sever
Like much of Irans major military hardware, the Kharg dated back to before Irans 1979 Islamic Revolution. The warship, built in Britain and launched in 1977, entered the Iranian navy in 1984 after lengthy negotiations. That aging military equipment has seen fatal accidents as recently as Tuesday, when a malfunction in the ejector seats of an Iranian F-5 dating back to before the revolution killed two pilots while the aircraft was parked in a hangar.
A two-day jury trial for a Franklin County man charged with raping and molesting a child in 2018 that was scheduled to begin this week has bee
Webinar to celebrate Island's marine nature reserves

The Island's marine nature reserves are the subject of a webinar later this month.



Marine Nature Reserves  the Beating Blue Hearts of Biosphere will be delivered by Dr Peter Duncan, The Manx Governments Senior Marine Environment Officer.



The webinar is the latest in a year-long series being delivered by UNESCO Biosphere Isle of Man, Dublin Bay Biosphere and Kerry Biosphere in 2021.



There is also the chance to ask questions of Dr Duncan after his presentation and to learn a little about the Irish Biospheres.

The webinar runs from 12 noon to 1.30pm on Monday 21 June on Zoom and it is free to sign up.
Mrs. Alberta Hamley Griffin, 97, of Athens, Alabama, died Wednesday, June 9, 2021, at Athens Health and Rehab. A Graveside Service will be 1:30 p.m. Sunday in Copeland Cemetery with Keith Griffin officiating. No visitation is planned. Spry Funeral Home in Athens is directing the services. Mr
The analysis also comes with significant caveats. The EPA data, from 2019, includes emissions from drilling and fracking sites, but excludes emissions from offshore drilling, as well as some parts of the oil and gas supply chain like pipelines or processing plants. Recent research has shown that the official data is likely to greatly underestimate actual emissions from oil and gas production, in part because it does not properly account for leaks from equipment, which can be a significant source of emissions. Poorly maintained sites often mean more leaks that go undetected for longer, making them highly polluting.
FILE - Gloria DeSoto, 92, right, visits with her family, in their car, from a window of the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, where she lives, in New York, Thursday, June 11, 2020. A focus on the elderly at the start of the nation's vaccination campaign helped protect nursing homes that were ravaged at the height of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, but they are far from in the clear. New outbreaks, often traced to infected staff members, are still occurring in long-term care centers across the country, causing continued havoc for visitation policies.
Like too many web empires of yore, Donald Trump's blog page is no more. CNBC reports that the site, From the Desk of Donald J. Trump, has shut down permanently. Trump senior aide Jason Miller confirmed that it won't be returning, and added "it was just auxiliary to the broader efforts we have and are working on. If you'll recall, the Trump blog was a preemptive response to Facebook's Oversight Board ruling regarding the social network's ban on ex-President. (The Oversight Board later approved the ban, but pushed the ball back into Facebook's court for a final ruling.)

I get it, running a blog is hard, so Trump may not have realized the commitment involved. After being banned by both Facebook and Twitter, following his alleged incitement of the January 6th Capitol riot, Trump and his team claimed he was going to return to the internet with a new communications platform. The barebones blog didn't really fit that bill, and Miller later claimed Trump's team has something else in the works. There's always podcasts and TikTok, after all.
Facebook employees might not be satisfied with the company's fairness toward Palestinian content. The Financial Times reports that nearly 200 Facebook staffers have signed an open letter asking the company to address concerns that moderation tools might suppress pro-Palestinian content. The letter supporters want management to request an independent audit of moderation around Arab and Muslim content, check for possible biases in moderation, and have the Oversight Board review a post from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu labeling Palestinian civilians as terrorists.

The employees also want Facebook to hire more Palestinian workers, share more data on government-backed takedown requests, and clear up policies on anti-Semitic hate speech.

Facebook said in a statement that it had fixed "several issues" with sharing across apps, referencing concerns that reshared stories weren't getting equal treatment compared to originals. The company didn't address the specific concerns from the letter, but said its policies were meant to "give everyone a voice" and were applied "equally."

There's no guarantee Facebook will respond to the letter. However, it comes as tech giants have faced increasing pressure to respond to staff complaints about unfair policies. Google said it would investigate the departure of Dr. Timnit Gebru after over 5,000 employees signed a letter showing concerns about her exit, for instance. While Facebook has already changed its approach to a degree, it might face a backlash if it doesn't satisfy the open letter's supporters.
Through its Airband Initiative , Microsoft has been working to close the digital divide over the last four years by expanding broadband access in rural parts of the US. But reliable, affordable internet access isn't always available in cities, either. The company is now turning its attention to urban areas and expanding the Airband program to Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York City, El Paso and Memphis.

Although broadband infrastructure exists in those cities, access is still unaffordable for many due to service and device costs. That leaves "access to essentials of life out of reach for millions," as Airband general manager Vickie Robinson put it in a blog post . The issue is "particularly acute in Black, African American, Latinx and Hispanic communities," Robinson wrote.

In addition to reducing the cost of broadband service, Microsoft plans to provide free or low-cost refurbished devices to help people in underserved communities in those eight cities access the internet. It will also offer tools and resources to help folks learn or improve digital skills. The company is working with a variety of partners to help make that happen, including PCs for People and DigitalC.

One of the measures Microsoft is adopting to close the digital divide is a financing program for people with low credit scores or no credit history who are low-cost broadband customers of an ISP called Starry. They'll be able to buy a Surface Go 2 and Office for Home and Student for $22 per month. The offer is open in Los Angeles and New York City, and Microsoft will bring it to the other six cities in the coming months.

Airband's expansion into cities is also part of Microsofts Racial Equity Initiative. The company announced the program last summer with the goal of addressing racial inequity and injustice for the Black and African American community in the US.
In 2018 the government sued Tesla CEO Elon Musk over his tweets about taking the company private after the tweets sent Tesla's stock price down. A settlement in 2019 established rules requiring pre-approval from Tesla lawyers for tweets about certain topics, but as Musk told 60 Minutes, "Well, I guess we might make some mistakes. Who knows?."

If you ask the SEC, two specific tweets were "mistakes," as the Wall Street Journal reports that the agency wrote to Tesla about both incidents, saying that they hadn't been pre-approved per the agreement.

Spooling up production line rapidly. Hoping to manufacture ~1000 solar roofs/week by end of this year.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2019

Tesla stock price is too high imo  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020

One, about Tesla's stock price being "too high" initiated a lawsuit by a shareholder, and the company described it as falling outside the agreed topics because it's Musk's "personal opinion." While the SEC is apparently "very concerned by Teslas repeated determinations that there have been no policy violations because of purported carve-outs," at least so far, it hasn't taken additional action against the company or its CEO.
At the start of last year, NASA awarded four teams $3 million each to develop potential missions the space agency could expand into full-fledged expeditions. It now plans to move forward with two of those projects, and theres a shared Venus theme between them.

The first of those is called the Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry and Imaging, or DAVINCI+ for short and something thats less of a mouthful. The craft will travel to Venus to snap high-resolution photos of the planets surface and its unique geological features, including its continent-like tesserae. It will also deploy a descent sphere that will travel through the planets atmosphere collecting data on the gasses located there. The hope is that DAVINCI+ will help scientists determine if Venus ever had an ocean , and to understand how the planet became such a hothouse.

The second mission, VERITAS or Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy, will travel to the planet to create detailed, three-dimensional maps of its surface using a synthetic aperture radar. It will also track infrared emissions from the surface to map the makeup of its rocks, which is something scientists dont know a lot about. With VERITAS, NASA hopes to gain a better understanding of how geological forces work on Venus and to understand why the planet developed so differently from Earth.
In around three years' time, you may be able to visit a museum in Japan celebrating everything Nintendo. The gaming giant has revealed that it's repurposing an old factory into a gallery showcasing the consoles and other products it has launched over the course of the company's history. It'll be a veritable tourist attraction that will house experiences and exhibits, as well.

Apparently, Nintendo has been discussing the possibility of building a museum to share its "product development history and philosophy with the public." The company ultimately decided to renovate the Uji Ogura Plant and its surrounding land to fulfill that purpose after taking into consideration the city of Uji's plan to redevelop the nearby Oguro Station area. Uji is a city just outside Kyoto, which was typically teeming with tourists before the pandemic. It's easily accessible by train, so fans could flock to the museum when traveling picks up again in the coming years.

Nintendo built the Uji Ogura Plant in 1969 and manufactured playing cards and Hanafuda cards at the site, which also served as a customer service center for product repairs. In November 2016, Nintendo moved those operations to its newer factory in the city. The "Nintendo Gallery," as it's currently being called, doesn't have an opening date yet, but it's expected to be completed by March 2024
Enid, OK (73701)

Today

Scattered clouds with the possibility of an isolated thunderstorm developing late. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Scattered clouds with the possibility of an isolated thunderstorm developing late. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
Yes, and he still does. Minnella said in addition to having religious faith, he also had proof. I think we had evidence, that they could cross examine on. This was not conjecture, Minnella said when reached at his office in Middlebury. Although the decision to reject the claim of possession was Callahans, Minnella believes lack of support from the Diocese of Bridgeport contributed to the failure of the claim. They didnt want the public to know that they were involved in this case for nine months before the murder  that they did exorcisms, Minnella said. After the murder, they did everything to hide what they were doing. Minnella believes the church today might be more helpful, since the Vatican announced in 1999 that it had revised its rite of exorcism, and exorcism is more openly talked about today.
Rapper DaBaby, whose real name is Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, has been realeased by authorities after being questioned in a shooting incident earlier today.

According to Local 10 News, the rapper is not directly involved in the shooting that took place in Miami, Florida. Two people on South Beach was arrested and now in police custody.

The rapper's attorney, Drew Findling, also spoke to TMZ to explain that there were no charges filed against the rapper "Mr. Kirk has been released by the police. No criminal charges have been filed against him." his representative said.

In early reports, multiple calls were received by 911 to report that they have heard gunshots. Two people had been shot in the incident when police arrived. Both victims were rushed to the nearest hospital.

The incident allegedly happened late Monday Evening around the area of Ocean Drive and First Street in Miami.

According to Miami Beach Police Department's spokesperson Ernesto Rodriguez, as reported by Local 10 News, there have been several people detained for them to be questioned about the horrific incident. Among those people is DaBaby.

A source told Page Six that the rapper and his team which was about 10 to 12 people, were detained by police.

READ NOW: Tristan Thompson Alleged Baby Mama DMs Self To Make Khloe Kardashian Look Bad? -- A Proof! [UPDATE]

DaBaby's past offenses

This is not the first time the rapper has been questioned by authorities. Earlier this year, DaBaby was shopping on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills with his friends, someone called the police because they were allegedy carrying firearms.

The police found one handgun in the rapper's car and he was arrested for carrying a loaded firearm.

In a different report, in 2018 DaBaby was allegedly involved in a shooting incident in North Carolina. He was then found guilty of "carrying a concealed gun" the following year. The judge of his case only sentenced him to one year of probation after it was determined that the rapper only defended himself in the incident.

Who is DaBaby?

DaBaby is a 29-year-old rapper with chart-topping hits like "Rockstar", "Masterpiece", and "Levitating" with British pop star Dua Lipa. He is also became the most-streamed rapper on Spotify.

The rapper was nominated for a Grammy last year and recently. He also won numerous awards from BET, Billboard Music Awards, and iHeartRadio Music Awards.

READ ALSO: 'Rugrats 2021' Reboot Creates a Controversial Betty Character, Veteran Voice Actor Reacts

See Now: Famous Actors Who Turned Down Iconic Movie Roles
Queen Elizabeth II will reach a new milestone, but she will mark the event lonely and alone.

For years, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip started to hold royal duties both separately and together. Regardless of the setup, they made sure that they could give the utmost support and care their people need.

However, Her Majesty needs to fill the gap since the day the Duke of Edinburgh died. This time, she will celebrate the anniversary of her coronation without the chamber that supported her for a long time.

Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation Anniversary

On June 2, Her Majesty will commemorate 69 years ever since she became the Queen of the monarchy. While this will be another record-breaking stint, the event will reportedly bring her sadness and pain at the same time.

One royal expert referred to the upcoming event as something bittersweet since it will be the first coronation anniversary without Prince Philip.

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told Express UK how redefining the coronation was in the history of the royal family.

"It showed that we could put on a truly fabulous pageant with its roots in antiquity, to herald the beginning of a new reign," he said. "This anniversary will also be sad one this year."

READ ALSO: 'Wahlburgers' Star Henry Nacho Laun Found Dead Inside Vehicle: Did He Die by Suicide? Cause of Death Explained

Per Fitzwilliams, the Queen will absolutely miss her "strength and stay" as her husband played a huge role during the coronation. During that day in 1953, the Duke of Edinburgh swore her allegiance to her wife and Queen.



In his oath, he promised to be Queen Elizabeth II's liege man of life and limb until the day he dies.

Now that he is dead, Her Majesty just lost the biggest part of her life as a woman and a leader. For what it's worth, Prince Philip continued to support her despite retiring in 2017. Although he was out of royal businesses, he made sure to be the Queen's most-trusted confidant until his death in April.

Why the Coronation is Important To Queen Elizabeth II

In the same interview, Fitzwilliam disclosed that the Queen will surely be in touch with the royal family members. Since she is a very religious person, the Coronation Oath she proclaimed has been very vital in her life.

Meanwhile, he added that Queen Elizabeth II played a massive role as the pride and hope of the country amid the coronavirus pandemic.

READ MORE: Amber Heard Under Probe For Perjury Amid Johnny Depp Drama -- Debunked [REPORT]

See Now: Famous Actors Who Turned Down Iconic Movie Roles
Feature Article

Intern talks about upcoming research with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm

DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

An intern about to start a Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and another University of Texas-Dallas student kicked off their summer with a friendly online chat with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm about their plans for the summer.

Will Teague, who is spending the summer working with a physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, and Andrei Racila, who will be assigned to the Brookhaven National Laboratory, discussed the research they will be doing this summer and their plans for the future with Secretary Granholm and U.S. Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) in a YouTube video.

"This program gives students really hands-on national experience at DOE laboratories that will set them up, we hope, for the careers of their dreams," Granholm said of the SULI program.

The students are among 789 undergraduate students, including 42 at PPPL, who will be working directly with scientists and engineers at national laboratories around the country during the 10-week SULI internship. Another 90 students, two of whom will be at PPPL, will participate in the DOE's Community College Internships. Both programs are funded by the Office for Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS) in the DOE Office of Science.

"Working alongside the most brilliant scientists and engineers in the world"

Granholm said the DOE's 17 national laboratories are "the crown jewels of United States research and development efforts" on energy and other technology. "These guys are going to be working alongside some of the most brilliant scientists and engineers in the world," she said. "They're going to be collaborating with them and learning from them and helping them advance these mission-critical research projects that will affect the future of our nation -- no small task."

Teague said he learned about fusion energy and plasma physics last year at an introductory course taught at PPPL that begins the SULI program and includes talks by physicists all over the country. He has been enthusiastic about developing fusion energy as a clean, affordable and plentiful way to generate electricity ever since. "I want to eventually get my Ph.D. in plasma physics and I would like to do research on sustainable energies for the future," he told Granholm.

"My 86-year-old mother is watching," Granholm replied to Teague. "So tell us a little bit about what plasma physics is and why she would care about it and tell it to us in a way that she would understand."

The "energy of the future"

Teague obliged her. "Plasma physics is a wonderful thing," he said. "The sun uses plasma and collides particles together to create energy and that's through the fusion process and that's how the sun makes energy ... so what we're trying to do is make fusion energy on Earth so we have fusion reactors to do that. That's the energy of the future."

Teague will be working with physicist Ken Hammond on research to enhance divertors, which serve as a kind of exhaust system for the super-hot plasma in stellarators, a type of fusion device that has twisting external magnets. "That will make the stellarator more sustainable and will make fusion possibly a reality in the future," Teague said.

In fact, Hammond himself was a SULI intern at PPPL in 2011 working with physicist Charles Skinner on an electrostatic dust detector intended for tokamak fusion facilities. "I think SULI is a wonderful program for introducing students to plasma physics and fusion energy research," Hammond said. "As a former SULI intern myself, I can attest that the internship was instrumental in launching my career. It is always inspiring to see the enthusiasm and ingenuity that these students bring to the program."

"It's so exciting because the DOE's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory is obviously at the cutting-edge of all of this," Granholm said. She explained that fusion energy is different than fission energy in which atoms are split. In fusion energy, atoms fuse together to create a burst of energy. "The good thing about fusion is that it doesn't create any waste like you see with the fission process," Granholm said. "The United States government has really invested a good amount of funds into this. It may be a good amount into the future, but Will is going to be there right as it's happening and making sure we have this clean energy because it is the Holy Grail of clean energy and he's going to crack the code for us, so thank you Will very much."

Andrei Racila, the other SULI intern, said he became interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields because his mother, who is from Romania, has a background in engineering. He said he wants to get his Ph.D. in computer science and teach students at all levels. Racila will spend the summer working with Brookhaven computer scientists on a distributed computer database that would more securely protect data.

"We're at a moment where we have seen so many vulnerabilities in our IT systems, the issues of redundancy and resiliency and making sure that our data is safe is such a critical problem that needs to be solved," Granholm told him. "It's really important. That's exciting that you'll be there."

Granholm said she hopes Racila will one day see one of the huge exascale computers to be installed in the DOE's national laboratories. "These massive computers are doing things on a scale that no human being could possibly do," she said. "It's just amazing what they're capable of doing."

Rep. Allred, who hosted the program, said he felt "a little bit smarter" hearing about the young men's research. He thanked the Department of Energy for "taking in a couple of our own here and giving them some exposure in these fields that they very clearly know and I think are going to do some incredible things."

Examples to young people interested in STEM

Granholm said she hopes Teague and Racila will serve as examples to other young people who are interested in STEM. "For young people who are watching today, this could be you," she said. "You also could be moving into careers that are solving the biggest problems on the planet. If you choose to move into science, technology, engineering and math degrees."

"I am super excited for Will and Andrei," she added, "and I hope you come knocking on DOE's door again, because, in case I haven't stressed it enough, we need you. I hope you consider returning to us and don't forget these brilliant, world-class scientists and engineers that you'll be working with at our national labs -- they started out just like you -- so the future is bright with you at the helm."

###

PPPL, on Princeton University's Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro, N.J., is devoted to creating new knowledge about the physics of plasmas -- ultra-hot, charged gases -- and to developing practical solutions for the creation of fusion energy. The Laboratory is managed by the University for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, which is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit energy.gov/science.
MINNEAPOLIS - Older people with type 1 diabetes who have been to the hospital at some point for both low and high blood sugar levels may be at six times greater risk for developing dementia years later. The research is published in the June 2, 2021, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study also found that people with type 1 diabetes who visit the hospital for just one of the blood sugar extremes may also be at greater risk for developing dementia.

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin.

Hypoglycemia is low blood glucose, or the main sugar in blood, that may result in loss of consciousness. Hyperglycemia results from insulin deficiency or extremely high blood sugar and dehydration. This study looked at severe glycemic events, which were defined as episodes of high or low blood sugar that resulted in an emergency room visit or hospital stay.

"For people with diabetes, both severely high and low blood sugar levels are emergencies and both extremes can largely be avoided. However, when they do occur, they can lead to coma, increased hospitalization and even death," said study author Rachel A. Whitmer, PhD, of the University of California Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento, Calif. "People with type 1 diabetes are living longer than before, which may place them at risk of conditions such as dementia. If we can potentially decrease their risk of dementia by controlling their blood sugar levels, that could have beneficial effects for individuals and public health overall."

The study looked at 2,821 people with an average age of 56 who had type 1 diabetes. Of those, 398, or 14%, had a history of severe low blood sugar; 335, or 12%, had a history of severe high blood sugar and 87, or 3%, had both. Researchers followed up with the people for an average of seven years to determine who had been diagnosed with dementia.

Researchers found that 153 people, or about 5%, developed dementia. After adjusting for age, sex and ethnicity, the people with low blood sugar events had a 75% greater risk of developing dementia than those without one. People with high blood sugar events had more than twice the risk of developing dementia than those without one.

However, the people who experienced both types of events had more than six times the risk of developing dementia than people who had neither event.

Researchers also looked at dementia incidence rates. After adjusting for age, the incidence rate of dementia in people with low blood sugar events was 26.5 cases for every 1,000 person-years compared to 13.2 for people without. Person-years take into account the number of people in a study as well as the amount of time spent in the study. The incidence rate of dementia in people with high blood sugar events was 79.6 cases for every 1,000 person-years, compared to 13.4 for people without.

For people who had both high and low blood sugar events at various times, the incidence rate of dementia was 98.5 for every 1,000 person-years, compared to 12.8 for those who had neither.

"Our findings suggest that exposure to severe glycemic events may have long-term consequences on brain health and should be considered additional motivation for people with diabetes to avoid severe glycemic events throughout their lifetime," Whitmer said.

A limitation of the study is that people had to be diagnosed with dementia by a health care provider to be counted as having dementia. Since many dementia cases go undiagnosed, this may have resulted in underreporting the number of dementia cases. Whitmer noted that the study was not designed to determine whether high and low blood sugar events caused dementia. It only showed an association.

###

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more about brain health at BrainandLife.org, home of the American Academy of Neurology's free patient and caregiver magazine focused on the intersection of neurologic disease and brain health. Follow Brain & Life on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

When posting to social media channels about this research, we encourage you to use the hashtags #Neurology and #AANscience.

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 AAN.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
BEER-SHEVA, Israel...June 2, 2021 - As drones become more ubiquitous in public spaces, researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) have conducted the first studies examining how people respond to various emotional facial expressions depicted on a drone, with the goal of fostering greater social acceptance of these flying robots.

The research, which was presented recently at the virtual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, reveals how people react to common facial expressions superimposed on drones.

"There is a lack of research on how drones are perceived and understood by humans, which is vastly different than ground robots." says Prof. Jessica Cauchard together with Viviane Herdel of BGU's Magic Lab, in the BGU Department of Industrial Engineering & Management. "For the first time, we showed that people can recognize different emotions and discriminate between different emotion intensities."

BGU researchers conducted two studies using a set of rendered robotic facial expressions on drones that convey basic emotions. The faces use four core facial features: eyes, eyebrows, pupils, and mouth. The results showed that five different emotions (joy, sadness, fear, anger, surprise) can be recognized with high accuracy in static stimuli, and four emotions (joy, surprise, sadness, anger) in dynamic videos. Disgust was the only emotion that was poorly recognized. Click here to watch the "Drone in Love" video.

"Participants were further affected by the drone and presented different responses, including empathy, depending on the drone's emotion," Prof. Cauchard says. "Surprisingly, participants created narratives around the drone's emotional states and included themselves in these scenarios."

BGU researchers propose a number of recommendations that will enhance the acceptability of drones for use in emotional support and other social situations. These include adding anthropomorphic features, using the five basic emotions, and using empathetic responses to drive compliance in health and behavior change applications.

"BGU is spearheading some of the most remarkable robotic research in the world," says Doug Seserman, chief executive officer, Americans for Ben-Gurion University. "We foresee continued innovation leveraging human-drone interaction technologies, leading to greater adoption and more beneficial applications."

###

Andrea Hildebrandt, Carl von Ossietzky Universitat Oldenburg and Anastasia Kuzminykh of the University of Toronto also contributed to this study.

About Americans for Ben-Gurion University

Americans for Ben-Gurion University plays a vital role in maintaining David Ben-Gurion's vision of an "Oxford in the Negev." By supporting a world-class academic institution that not only nurtures the Negev, but also shares its expertise locally and globally, Americans for Ben-Gurion University engages a community of Americans who are committed to improving the world. The Americans for Ben-Gurion University movement supports a 21st century unifying vision for Israel by rallying around BGU's remarkable work and role as an apolitical beacon of light in the Negev desert.
Scientific papers suggesting that smokers are less likely to fall ill with COVID-19 are being discredited as links to the tobacco industry, reveals an investigation by The BMJ today

Scientific papers suggesting that smokers are less likely to fall ill with covid-19 are being discredited as links to the tobacco industry, reveals an investigation by The BMJ today.

Journalists Stephane Horel and Ties Keyzer report on undisclosed financial links between certain scientific authors and the tobacco and e-cigarette industry in a number of covid research papers.

In April 2020, two French studies (shared as preprints before formal peer review) suggested that nicotine might have a protective effect against covid-19 - dubbed the "nicotine hypothesis."

The stories made headlines worldwide and led to concern that decades of tobacco control could be undermined.

It has since been roundly disproved that smoking protects against covid-19, and several studies show that smoking, when adjusted for age and sex, is associated with an increased chance of covid-19 related death.

Horel and Keyzer point out that one of the study authors, Professor Jean-Pierre Changeux, has a history of receiving funding from the Council for Tobacco Research, whose purpose was to fund research that would cast doubt on the dangers of smoking and focus on the positive effects of nicotine.

From 1995 to 1998, tobacco industry documents show that Changeux's laboratory received $220,000 (155,000; 180,000) from the Council for Tobacco Research.

Changeux assured The BMJ that he has not received any funding linked "directly or indirectly with the tobacco industry" since the 1990s.

In late April 2020, Greek researcher, Konstantinos Farsalinos, was the first to publish the "nicotine hypothesis" formally in a journal, in an editorial in Toxicology Reports.

The journal's editor in chief, Aristidis Tsatsakis featured as a co-author, as did A Wallace Hayes, a member of Philip Morris International's scientific advisory board in 2013, who has served as a paid consultant to the tobacco company.

Another co-author is Konstantinos Poulas, head of the Molecular Biology and Immunology Laboratory at the University of Patras, where Farsalinos is affiliated.

The laboratory has received funding from Nobacco, the market leader in Greek e-cigarettes and the exclusive distributor of British American Tobacco's nicotine delivery systems since 2018.

Neither Farsalinos nor Poulas has ever declared this Nobacco funding in their published scientific articles.

Yet Horel and Keyzer show that two grants were attributed in 2018 by the Foundation for a Smoke Free World - a non-profit established by Philip Morris International in 2017 - to "Patras Science Park."

The grants, whose amounts are not disclosed on the foundation's website, but tax documents show came close to 83,000, went to NOSMOKE, a university start-up incubator headed by Poulas, which markets an "organic" vaping product.

Last month, the European Respiratory Journal retracted a paper co-written by Poulas and Farsalinos, among others, after two authors failed to disclose conflicts of interest.

The retracted article had found that "current smoking was not associated with adverse outcome" in patients admitted to hospital with covid, and it claimed that smokers had a significantly lower risk of acquiring the virus.

The foundation has invested heavily in the covid-19/nicotine hypothesis, say Horel and Keyzer.

In June 2020 it set aside 900,000 for research "to better understand the associations between smoking and/or nicotine use, and covid-19 infection and outcome."

Its request stated that the pandemic offered "both an opportunity and a challenge for individuals to quit smoking or transition to reduced risk nicotine products."

They conclude: "In 2021, amid a global lung disease pandemic, tobacco industry figures are increasingly pushing the narrative of nicotine as the solution to an addiction that they themselves created, with the aim of persuading policy makers to give them ample room to market their "smoke-free" products. This makes studies on the hypothetical virtues of nicotine most welcome indeed."

###

Externally peer reviewed? Yes

Evidence type: Investigation

Subject: Research integrity
Can you trust the map on your smartphone, or the satellite image on your computer screen?

So far, yes, but it may only be a matter of time until the growing problem of "deep fakes" converges with geographical information science (GIS). Researchers such as Associate Professor of Geography Chengbin Deng are doing what they can to get ahead of the problem.

Deng and four colleagues -- Bo Zhao and Yifan Sun at the University of Washington, and Shaozeng Zhang and Chunxue Xu at Oregon State University -- co-authored a recent article in Cartography and Geographic Information Science that explores the problem. In "Deep fake geography? When geospatial data encounter Artificial Intelligence," they explore how false satellite images could potentially be constructed and detected. News of the research has been picked up by countries around the world, including China, Japan, Germany and France.

"Honestly, we probably are the first to recognize this potential issue," Deng said.

Geographic information science (GIS) underlays a whole host of applications, from national defense to autonomous cars, a technology that's currently under development. Artificial intelligence has made a positive impact on the discipline through the development of Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI), which uses machine learning -- or artificial intelligence (AI) -- to extract and analyze geospatial data. But these same methods could potentially be used to fabricate GPS signals, fake locational information on social media posts, fabricate photographs of geographic environments and more.

In short, the same technology that can change the face of an individual in a photo or video can also be used to make fake images of all types, including maps and satellite images.

"We need to keep all of this in accordance with ethics. But at the same time, we researchers also need to pay attention and find a way to differentiate or identify those fake images," Deng said. "With a lot of data sets, these images can look real to the human eye."

To figure out how to detect an artificially constructed image, first you need to construct one. To do so, they used a technique common in the creation of deep fakes: Cycle-Consistent Adversarial Networks (CycleGAN), an unsupervised deep learning algorithm that can simulate synthetic media.

Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) are a type of artificial intelligence, but they require training samples -- input -- of whatever content they are programmed to produce. A black box on a map could, for example, represent any number of different factories or businesses; the various points of information inputted into the network helps determine the possibilities it can generate.

The researchers altered a satellite image of Tacoma, Washington, interspersing elements of Seattle and Beijing and making it look as real as possible. Researchers are not encouraging anyone to try such a thing themselves -- quite the opposite, in fact.

"It's not about the technique; it's about how human being are using the technology," Deng said. "We want to use technology for the good, not for bad purposes."

After creating the altered composite, they compared 26 different image metrics to determine whether there were statistical differences between the true and false images. Statistical differences were registered on 20 of the 26 indicators, or 80%.

Some of the differences, for example, included the color of roofs; while roof colors in each of the real images were uniform, they were mottled in the composite. The fake satellite image was also dimmer and less colorful, but had sharper edges. Those differences, however, depended on the inputs they used to create the fake, Deng cautioned.

This research is just the beginning. In the future, geographers may track different types of neural networks to see how they generate false images and figure out ways to detect them. Ultimately, researchers will need to discover systematic ways to root out deep fakes and verify trustworthy information before they end up in the public view.

"We all want the truth," Deng said.

###
A team of Colorado State University scientists, led by veterinary postdoctoral fellow Dr. Anna Fagre, has detected Zika virus RNA in free-ranging African bats. RNA, or ribonucleic acid, is a molecule that plays a central role in the function of genes.

According to Fagre, the new research is a first-ever in science. It also marks the first time scientists have published a study on the detection of Zika virus RNA in any free-ranging bat.

The findings have ecological implications and raise questions about how bats are exposed to Zika virus in nature. The study was recently published in Scientific Reports, a journal published by Nature Research.

Fagre, a researcher at CSU's Center for Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, said while other studies have shown that bats are susceptible to Zika virus in controlled experimental settings, detection of nucleic acid in bats in the wild indicates that they are naturally infected or exposed through the bite of infected mosquitoes.

"This provides more information about the ecology of flaviviruses and suggests that there is still a lot left to learn surrounding the host range of flaviviruses, like Zika virus," she said. Flaviviruses include viruses such as West Nile and dengue and cause several diseases in humans.

CSU Assistant Professor Rebekah Kading, senior author of the study, said she, Fagre and the research team aimed to learn more about potential reservoirs of Zika virus through the project.

The team used 198 samples from bats gathered in the Zika Forest and surrounding areas in Uganda and confirmed Zika virus in four bats representing three species. Samples used in the study date back to 2009 from different parts of Uganda, years prior to the large outbreaks of Zika virus in 2015 to 2017 in North and South Americas.

"We knew that flaviviruses were circulating in bats, and we had serological evidence for that," said Kading. "We wondered: Were bats exposed to the virus or could they have some involvement in transmission of Zika virus?"

The virus detected by the team in the bats was most closely related to the Asian lineage Zika virus, the strain that caused the epidemic in the Americas following outbreaks in Micronesia and French Polynesia. The first detection of the Asian lineage Zika virus in Africa was in late 2016 in Angola and Cape Verde.

"Our positive samples, which are most closely related to the Asian lineage Zika virus, came from bats sampled from 2009 to 2013," said Fagre. "This could mean that the Asian lineage strain of the virus has been present on the African continent longer than we originally thought, or it could mean that there was a fair amount of viral evolution and genomic changes that occurred in African lineage Zika virus that we were not previously aware of."

Fagre said the relatively low prevalence of Zika virus in the bat samples indicates that bats may be incidental hosts of Zika virus infection, rather than amplifying hosts or reservoir hosts.

"Given that these results are from a single cross-sectional study, it would be risky and premature to draw any conclusions about the ecology and epidemiology of this pathogen, based on our study," she said. "Studies like this only tell one part of the story."

The research team also created a unique assay for the study, focusing on a specific molecular component that flaviviruses possess called subgenomic flavivirus RNA, sfRNA. Most scientists that search for evidence of Zika virus infection in humans or animals use PCR, polymerase chain reaction, to identify bits of genomic RNA, the nucleic acid that results in the production of protein, said Fagre.

Kading said her team will continue their research to try and learn more about how long these RNA fragments persist in tissues, which will allow them to approximate when these bats were infected with Zika virus.

"There is always a concern about zoonotic viruses," she said. "The potential for another outbreak is there and it could go quiet for a while. We know that in the Zika forest, where the virus was first found, the virus is in non-human primates. There are still some questions with that as well. I don't think Zika virus has gone away forever."

###

Additional co-authors of the study include Juliette Lewis, Megan Miller, Brian Foy, Tony Schountz and John Anderson (Colorado State University); Eric Mossel (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, Colorado); Julius Lutwama, Luke Nyakarahuka and Teddy Nakayiki (Uganda Virus Research Institute); Robert Kityo, Betty Nalikka (Makerere University); Brian Amman, Jonathan Towner and Tara Sealy (CDC, Atlanta).
Connecticut paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, Glatzel family members and a defense attorney would later claim that Johnson had challenged a demon inside David to leave the writhing boy and enter him. That argument was the basis of the devil made me do it defense at Johnsons trial in Danbury Superior Court. The film opens June 4 in theaters and will be available on HBO Max as well.
ITHACA, N.Y. - Influencing millions of people on social media and being paid handsomely is not as easy as it looks, according to new Cornell University research.

Algorithm vagaries are just one of several challenges social media content creators face, according to study author Brooke Erin Duffy, associate professor of communication at Cornell.

"I think [our research] is a cautionary tale for aspiring creators as well as the broader public," Duffy said. "The people hoping to work as full-time YouTubers, Instagrammers, and TikTokers are led to believe it's easy and democratic. I disagree: if you look at who makes it as an influencer, for instance, they are not all that dissimilar to traditional celebrity exemplars, with a few exceptions. Social media celebrity remains lopsided."

Duffy and her collaborators interviewed 30 aspiring and professional content creators on a range of social media platforms - including Instagram YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest and Twitter - to learn about their experiences within and across platforms, including their pursuit of visibility and their understanding of the forces at play in their quest for metrics success.

In general, study participants all spoke the same language: They wished to have their content "seen," to "build an audience" and "get attention," to craft "posts that get more traction" and, in terms of metrics, "do well."

Relying on public sentiment and its taste for the flavor of the week is by no means a 21st century phenomenon. Content creators have for decades relied on opinion research - be it Nielsen ratings or newspaper subscription figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation - to help guide creative decision making.

But nowadays, Duffy said, the science of determining what an audience likes and wants comes with a new twist: The tenuous nature of the platforms themselves.

"These [influencers and creators], they don't know if Instagram is going to be there when they wake up," she said. "And they don't know if TikTok is going to be banned the next day in the U.S. It's a much more accelerated, intensified form of precarity in the era of Google and Facebook."

Duffy and her collaborators view the "nested" precarities akin to a Russian matryoshka doll, with the outermost doll being capitalism itself, followed by the markets, the platform ecology and algorithms as the innermost doll. The promise of being seen, and talked about, is what drives many to the world of social media influencing. But it's not all that it appears, Duffy said.

"Despite the romanticism of social media creative careers, they are structured by various levels of precarity," she said. "Some of these precarities well predate the rise of social media, but one of the most novel forms is the precarity of these algorithmic systems."

###

The study, "The Nested Precarities of Creative Labor on Social Media," published June 2 in Social Media & Society.

For more information, check out this Cornell Chronicle story.
(Carlisle, Pa.) -- A new study published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine finds critical links between job loss and physical inactivity in young adults during the U.S. Great Recession of 2008-09 that can be crucial to understanding the role of adverse economic shocks on physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the first study to examine how job losses during the Great Recession affected the physical activity of young adults in the United States.

The study by Dickinson College economist Shamma Alam and Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health economist Bijetri Bose looked at Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data for young adults age 18 to 27--a phase of development associated with maturation and significant social, psychological and economic changes. They found that job losses experienced by the individual during the Great Recession reduce the likelihood of physical exercise by a significant 6.3 percentage points. This as action plans established by the World Health Organization and United Nations call for a 10 percent reduction in physical inactivity by 2025 and 2030, respectively.

"Our study finds that young adults from the Great Recession, who form the core part of the millennial generation today, suffered from significantly lower physical activity, which typically leads to worse physical health outcomes such as increased obesity," said Alam. "The Great Recession--considered the longest since the Great Depression--presents enormous economic implications and lessons that are relevant for the current COVID-19 induced economic downturn."

While the Great Recession had a disproportionately high 19% unemployment rate among young adults, unemployment for young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic has been much higher, peaking in 2020 at approximately 33 percent for those age 16-19; 26 percent for those age 20-24; and 16 percent for those age 25-29. Additionally, according to Pew Research, young adults age 18-29 also have--more than any other age group-- used money from their savings or retirement account, borrowed money from friends or family and received unemployment benefits since the coronavirus hit in February 2020.

Alam suggested these known decreases in physical activity during significant economic downturns also could have implications for the mental health of young adults. "Physical activity significantly went down following job losses during a major recession like the Great Recession likely because of negative mental health outcomes suffered by the individuals. When individuals are worried about their jobs and livelihood, they do not feel like exercising. Therefore, we are likely to see similar effects on physical activity during the current COVID-19 induced recession," said Alam, adding that in addition to job losses, stay-at-home orders had negative effect on young adults' mental health, which may then negatively affect physical activity.

###

About the author

Shamma Alam is an assistant professor of economics at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. His research focuses on different aspects of international development, such as health economics and health measurements, fertility issues, agricultural economics, public finance, and microcredit. He served as a consultant at the World Bank in their economic policy, poverty and gender group, development data group, and East Asia and Pacific region group. He also previously served as a consultant in the agriculture policy team at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In addition to teaching at Dickinson, Alam serves as a research associate at the CEQ Institute at Tulane University and contributes courses at the U.S. Army War College.

About Dickinson College
New research from the Georgia Institute of Technology finds that elephants dilate their nostrils in order to create more space in their trunks, allowing them to store up to nine liters of water. They can also suck up three liters per second -- a speed 30 times faster than a human sneeze (150 meters per second/330 mph).

The Georgia Tech College of Engineering study sought to better understand the physics of how elephants use their trunks to move and manipulate air, water, food and other objects. They also sought to learn if the mechanics could inspire the creation of more efficient robots that use air motion to hold and move things.

While octopus use jets of water to move and archer fish shoot water above the surface to catch insects, the Georgia Tech researchers found that elephants are the only animals able to use suction on land and underwater.

The paper, "Suction feeding by elephants," is published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

"An elephant eats about 400 pounds of food a day, but very little is known about how they use their trunks to pick up lightweight food and water for 18 hours, every day," said Georgia Tech mechanical engineering Ph.D. student Andrew Schulz, who led the study. "It turns out their trunks act like suitcases, capable of expanding when necessary."

Schulz and the Georgia Tech team worked with veterinarians at Zoo Atlanta, studying elephants as they ate various foods. For large rutabaga cubes, for example, the animal grabbed and collected them. It sucked up smaller cubes and made a loud vacuuming sound, or the sound of a person slurping noodles, before transferring the vegetables to its mouth.

To learn more about suction, the researchers gave elephants a tortilla chip and measured the applied force. Sometimes the animal pressed down on the chip and breathed in, suspending the chip on the tip of trunk without breaking it. It was similar to a person inhaling a piece of paper onto their mouth. Other times the elephant applied suction from a distance, drawing the chip to the edge of its trunk.

"An elephant uses its trunk like a Swiss Army Knife," said David Hu, Schulz's advisor and a professor in Georgia Tech's George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. "It can detect scents and grab things. Other times it blows objects away like a leaf blower or sniffs them in like a vacuum."

By watching elephants inhale liquid from an aquarium, the team was able to time the durations and measure volume. In just 1.5 seconds, the trunk sucked up 3.7 liters, the equivalent of 20 toilets flushing simultaneously.

An ultrasonic probe was used to take trunk wall measurements and see how the trunk's inner muscles work. By contracting those muscles, the animal dilates its nostrils up to 30 percent. This decreases the thickness of the walls and expands nasal volume by 64 percent.

"At first it didn't make sense: an elephant's nasal passage is relatively small and it was inhaling more water than it should," said Schulz. "It wasn't until we saw the ultrasonographic images and watched the nostrils expand that we realized how they did it. Air makes the walls open, and the animal can store far more water than we originally estimated."

Based on the pressures applied, Schulz and the team suggest that elephants inhale at speeds that are comparable to Japan's 300-mph bullet trains.

Schulz said these unique characteristics have applications in soft robotics and conservation efforts.

"By investigating the mechanics and physics behind trunk muscle movements, we can apply the physical mechanisms -- combinations of suction and grasping -- to find new ways to build robots," Schulz said. "In the meantime, the African elephant is now listed as endangered because of poaching and loss of habitat. Its trunk makes it a unique species to study. By learning more about them, we can learn how to better conserve elephants in the wild."

###

The work was supported by the US Army Research Laboratory and the US Army Research O?ce 294 Mechanical Sciences Division, Complex Dynamics and Systems Program, under contract number 295 W911NF-12-R-0011. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the sponsoring agency.

CITATION: Schulz AK, et.al., "Suction feeding by Elelphants." (Journal of the Royal Society Interface 20210215) https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1098/ rsif. 2021. 0215

The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is a top 10 public research university developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences degrees. Its nearly 40,000 students representing 50 states and 149 countries, study at the main campus in Atlanta, at campuses in France and China, and through distance and online learning. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast, and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry, and society.
CAMBRIDGE MA. - The Growth Lab at Harvard University is announcing the launch of Metroverse, an Urban Economy Navigator designed to provide policymakers, entrepreneurs, investors, business organizations, civil society, and the general public with unprecedented economic data for more than 1,000 cities in 79 countries. The platform vividly illustrates the technological capabilities that underpin a city's economy and its' opportunities for future growth and diversification.

This tool builds upon the Growth Lab's Atlas of Economic Complexity, which maps the productive capabilities of about 200 countries and helps identify paths for growth and diversification. Metroverse takes the research to the city level, providing answers and insights to these questions:

What is the economic composition of this city?

What does this city specialize in?

What cities are similar to this city?

What is this city's position in the Industry Space?

What are the growth opportunities for this city?

"For more than a decade, the Growth Lab has mapped productive capabilities - the knowhow and technology that support an economy's capacity for growth - at the national level," said Ricardo Hausmann, faculty director at the Growth Lab and the Rafik Hariri Professor of the Practice of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School. "With the launch of Metroverse, we deepen our understanding of industrial composition and growth opportunities at the level where many of a nation's economic capabilities reside: its cities and their local workforces."

"For most cities, it is incredibly hard to know who they are, and therefore to know what they can be. Policymakers often struggle to figure out what other cities to compare themselves to when considering growth opportunities. But that's what this tool is going to do," said Frank Neffke, research director at the Growth Lab. "It gives cities - its public leaders and economic actors - a quick sense of who they are and what they can become."

To translate these insights into a user-friendly online tool, researchers worked in close collaboration with the Growth Lab's Digital Development and Design team, led by Annie White. Over the course of a year, the digital team implemented best practices in information design, rapid prototyping, and data architecture, resulting in a visually stunning interface with city-to-city comparisons at the heart of the experience. In recent months, the team also piloted the application with a global group of city leaders to ensure data integrity and viability of the user interface.

"Metroverse provides fascinating clarity on what city your community may be similar to, in terms of economic performance, and that can help shape your community's competitive advantage," said Dr. Eric Anthony Johnson, Chief of Economic Development, Housing and Neighborhood Services for the City of Dallas, Texas and a member of the pilot user group. "You may be surprised to discover what cities your community is most similar to. It may not even be in the United States."

"International benchmarks are a useful means of measuring a city's economic performance relative to its peers, and Metroverse is an innovative way of doing this," said Juliet Passmore, an economist with the Economic Development Office in Dublin, Ireland, who is also a pilot user. "The platform is visually appealing, and its ease of use will help cities identify their strengths and weaknesses against similar cities worldwide."

Metroverse introduces the concept of the Industry Space - a graph that showcases the technological relatedness between all industries and groups them into knowledge clusters. Industries that are near each other in the Industry Space typically require similar knowhow and are therefore prone to feed into the growth potential of other nearby industries.

"Think of the Industry Space as a map of the technological landscape in which economies live. If you project a city's economy onto that map, you can quickly grasp the knowledge base that supports this economy today, but also which activities the city could develop tomorrow," said Frank Neffke.

As with the Atlas of Economic Complexity, Growth Lab researchers will continue to update Metroverse with the latest available data and visualizations to ensure its currency and applicability for free and highly functional use in cities and regions worldwide.

###
(10 a.m. EDT, June 2, 2021--Denver) - New research published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology (JTO) suggests the method used to calculate how obesity is measured may affect whether it is considered a risk factor for lung cancer. The JTO is an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.

Although the association between measures of obesity and both cancer incidence and outcome are clear in some solid tumor types such as breast, esophageal, and colon cancer, the relationship between obesity and lung cancer is more nuanced.

Now, a group of researchers led by Sai Yendamuri, M,D, from Rosewell Comprehensive Cancer Cancer in Buffalo, N.Y., suggests that using traditional methods of measuring obesity, including the body mass index, might be one of the reasons why obesity is not considered a risk factor for lung cancer.

The researchers conducted an examination of patients with lung cancer before they underwent surgery and calculated their excess body weight using visceral fat index measured by CT scans.

"While BMI is easy to measure, its use has been criticized due to its inability to discriminate between fat and lean body mass," Dr. Yendamuri said. "BMI also fails to account for body fat distribution. It is becoming increasingly recognized that 'visceral' or 'central obesity' is the primary driver behind the health outcomes linked to high body fat."

A previous study demonstrated a close correlation between visceral obesity as determined by analysis of a single slice of abdominal CT and a volumetric analysis of visceral fat. This finding demonstrated the feasibility of using such image-based measurements in a large cohort of patients.

"Based on the established knowledge described above, we sought to measure central obesity in a cohort of [patients with] stage I NSCLC [who were] undergoing lobectomy at our institution and examine its association with oncologic outcomes," Joseph Barbi, PhD, first author of the manuscript, reported. Because patients with early stage disease are typically treated with surgery alone, without other treatments that may complicate analysis, the researchers believed they provide a context where the relationship between central obesity and tumor progression can be studied without additional therapy-associated confounders.

Dr. Barbi and colleagues examined 554 patients with stage I and II NSCLC undergoing lobectomy. Of these, reliable fat area measurements were obtained in 513 patients: 499 (97.3 %) at L3, 5 (0.9%) at L2, and 9 (1.8%) at L1. Similarly, 159 patients with advanced-stage NSCLC with molecular testing had reliable fat area measurements: 146 (91.8%) at L3, 10 at L2 (6.3%) and 3 at L1(1.9%). Interobserver correlation of VFI measurements were good (n = 53; R2 = 0.95). Correlation of measurements between L2 and L3 levels (n = 29; R2 = 0.92; Slope = 1.05) and between L1 and L3 levels (n = 28; R2 = 0.85; Slope = 1.05) were also good (Supplementary Figure S1). Therefore, in the few cases where measurements at L3 were not available, measurements at L2 or L1 were used. Importantly, CT scans of these patients could be used to clearly identify individuals with distinctly predominant visceral or subcutaneous adipose tissue distributions.

"These findings clarify the truly negative relationship that exists between central obesity and lung cancer outcomes, and they present a viable alternative to the use of BMI in retrospective studies of obesity rooted in biology with clear relevance to cancer outcomes," Barbi reported.

Taken together, the clinical and preclinical findings suggest a common potential mechanism for the accelerating effect of obesity on the development of tumor burden in the obese -- namely, an apparently multifaceted immune dysfunction prevalent in the tumors of obese mice and patients, the authors report.

"Our study provides much needed clarity to the relationship between adiposity and NSCLC patient survival, providing firm scientific justification for the targeting of obesity's pro-tumor effects, which include decidedly adverse effects on the antitumor immune response," Dr. Yendamuri wrote.

"Our findings also reaffirm the utility and relevance of available mouse models to study further the mechanisms of obesity's lung cancer promoting effects. Importantly, they also validate a refined approached for studying obesity in retrospective data sets [of patients with cancer]," he said.

"Visceral obesity is associated with poor overall and recurrence free survival in patients with early NSCLC, and these findings may inform continued efforts to better predict lung cancer outcomes and management, as well as apply treatments and develop novel therapeutic approaches to prevent or control early-stage lung cancers across a patient pool that is increasingly overweight and obese," according to the study.

###

About the IASLC:

The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) is the only global organization dedicated solely to the study of lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies. Founded in 1974, the association's membership includes nearly 7,500 lung cancer specialists across all disciplines in over 100 countries, forming a global network working together to conquer lung and thoracic cancers worldwide. The association also publishes the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, the primary educational and informational publication for topics relevant to the prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment of all thoracic malignancies. Visit http://www. iaslc. org for more information.

About the JTO:

Journal of Thoracic Oncology (JTO), the official journal of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, is the primary educational and informational publication for topics relevant to the prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment of all thoracic malignancies. JTO emphasizes a multidisciplinary approach and includes original research reviews and opinion pieces. The audience includes epidemiologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, thoracic surgeons, pulmonologists, radiologists, pathologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and research scientists with a special interest in thoracic oncology.
What drives the feasibility of climate scenarios commonly reviewed by organizations like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)? And can they actually be achieved in practice? A new systematic framework can help understand what to improve in the next generation of scenarios and explore how to make ambitious emission reductions possible by strengthening enabling conditions.

While the IPCC is in the midst of the drafting cycle of the Sixth Assessment Report, whose publication will start in the second half of 2021, there is an ongoing debate on how to assess the feasibility of ambitious climate mitigation scenarios developed through integrated assessment models and to what extent they are actually achievable in the real world. In their new study published in Environmental Research Letters, researchers from IIASA and the RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment (EIEE) developed a systematic framework that allows identifying the type, timing, and location of feasibility concerns raised by climate mitigation scenarios.

"Feasibility - in other words, how plausible it is that a scenario materializes in the real world - is a complex concept that is currently getting significant academic attention. In our research, we built on past advancements in theoretical discussions and propose to operationalize feasibility in terms of the timing, disruptiveness, and scale of transformation across geophysical, technological, economic, institutional, and sociocultural feasibility dimensions," explains the paper's first author, Elina Brutschin, researcher in the IIASA Transformative Institutional and Social Solutions Research Group.

"Another major insight concerns the necessity to improve the assessment of socio-cultural feasibility concerns by including more indicators and incorporating insights on attitudes and behavioral changes from the social sciences," says Silvia Pianta, a postdoctoral researcher at EIEE and PhD fellow at Bocconi University.

"We found that the current generation of scenarios does not explore demand-side mitigation to its full potential and that more research is necessary in this area," adds coauthor Bas van Ruijven, IIASA Sustainable Service Systems Research Group leader.

To address these issues, the researchers developed a feasibility evaluation of indicators in each decade, with a flexible aggregation procedure that allows assessing feasibility concerns across dimensions and time. This flexible approach enabled them to look at the "big picture" to, for instance, assess which dimension raises major feasibility concerns, but also to analyze more detailed questions such as trade-offs over time, both within and across different dimensions. The resulting systematic framework is extremely useful, not only to understand what to improve in the next generation of scenarios, but also to analyze more systematically what type of enabling factors might bring us closer to more ambitious mitigation paths in the future.

The authors specifically applied the framework to the publicly available scenario set from the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C and found that many scenarios currently assume a relatively fast overall decarbonization rate in regions that have a relatively low mitigation capacity. According to Brutschin, this suggests that many feasibility concerns are related to institutional constraints such as government effectiveness. While improving the quality of governance in many regions might be complicated, targeted capacity building and investments can significantly contribute to overcoming this challenge.

The authors highlight that the framework allows tracing important trade-offs over time, noting that while past studies focused on mitigation costs, the new research clearly shows that delayed climate action might generally be much more risky than an early disruptive transformation as delayed action requires an overall larger system to be transformed much faster and by relying on new technologies. In this regard, a better understanding of inter-temporal and inter-dimensional trade-offs incorporating insights from experts and policymakers is essential to take the overall understanding of the feasibility concepts to the next level.

"The new versatile framework that emerged from this collaborative project can be applied to any set of scenarios and can be constantly improved by incorporating new insights from the empirical literature on what is feasible in the real world. Although it was originally developed to evaluate global scenarios, it can be adjusted to have a more systematic evaluation of regional or national feasibility concerns in the future," notes IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program Director, Keywan Riahi, who is also a coordinating lead author in Working Group III of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report.

In addition to the new framework, the researchers also developed an interactive visual tool with key contributions by Giacomo Marangoni, a researcher at EIEE and Assistant Professor at Politecnico di Milano.

"A new data visualization method is extremely valuable when looking at multidimensional concepts such as feasibility. The tool we developed allows us to visualize our feasibility evaluations for different scenarios and to assess the sensitivity of our results to the definition of different feasibility concern thresholds," he says.

The data visualization tool can be accessed here: https:/ / data. ece. iiasa. ac. at/ climate-action-feasibility-dashboard/

Reference Brutschin, E., Pianta, S., Tavoni, M., Riahi, K., Bosetti, V., Marangoni, G., & van Ruijven, B. (2021) A multidimensional feasibility evaluation of low-carbon scenarios. Environmental Research Letters DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abf0ce

Contacts: Researcher contact Elina Brutschin Research Scholar Transformative Institutional and Social Solutions Research Group Energy, Climate, and Environment Program Tel: +43 2236 807 350 brutschin@iiasa.ac.at

Press Officer Ansa Heyl IIASA Press Office Tel: +43 2236 807 574 Mob: +43 676 83 807 574 heyl@iiasa.ac.at

About IIASA: The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century. Our findings provide valuable options to policymakers to shape the future of our changing world. IIASA is independent and funded by prestigious research funding agencies in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe.

About: RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment (EIEE) RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment leverages two leading international centers for economic and environmental research: RFF - Resources for the Future and CMCC - Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change. EIEE's research aims to improve environmental, energy, and natural resource decisions through impartial economic research and policy engagement to facilitate the transition to a sustainable, inclusive society. The focus is on issues surrounding but not limited to climate change, including a wide range of environmental, energy, natural resource, and societal issues.

###
Studies on cancer are limited by the threshold at which cellular transformations become clinically detectable. However, the very initial phase on the way to malignancy is histologically invisible, as the process originates from one single cell. In this early phase, a so-called "seeding cell" acquires an initial pro-cancerous mutation, also known as the "first oncogenic hit", while being completely surrounded by normal tissue. To overcome the detection barrier, a team of researchers around IMBA group leader Bon-Kyoung Koo and University of Cambridge group leader Professor Benjamin D. Simons developed a laboratory system to dissect the pre-cancerous steps that remained under the radar up until present.

On the hunt for the roots of cancer

"With the advance of technologies like deep targeted DNA sequencing, researchers noticed that cancer-associated mutations are already present in normal tissues, which is very scary!", states Bon-Kyoung Koo, referring to the turning point that set him, like a forensic detective, on the traces of the first oncogenic hit. As most human cancer types originate in the epithelium, Koo, a geneticist, decided to build a genetic model to examine the effect of the first oncogenic transformations in the mouse gut. This genetic model, that the team termed "Red2Onco", is a multi-colour labelling technology that allows to track the initiation of tumorigenesis from a single mutant cell. With Red2Onco, the team found that mutant cells create a hostile environment to their neighbouring non-mutant cells and massively deregulate the normal stem cell niche in the mouse intestinal tissue. "This is by far the most exciting approach that we have tried!", states Bon-Kyoung Koo.

Oncogenic factors and ruthless crosstalk mechanisms

Using Red2Onco, the team was able to study the mechanisms initiated by two separate "first oncogenic hits". These are mutations to known proto-oncogenes, KRAS and PI3K, respectively, being known as pro-cancerous factors driving malignancy in declared tumours. To their surprise, the researchers found that even in the event of such a first oncogenic hit, the mutated pre-cancerous cell or "seeding cell" imparts a "negative influence" on its neighbours. The surrounding normal tissue loses its stem cells, which in turn favours the territorial expansion of oncogenic mutant stem cells and their progenies. "Through this process of 'field transformation', the colonization of intestinal tissue by mutant cells increases the chance for further oncogenic hits, which may lead in turn to cancer," explains Benjamin Simons of the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge.

The first author on the study, Min Kyu Yum of the Gurdon Institute, expands: "oncogenic mutant cells influence the fate behaviour of their wild-type neighbours both directly, through secretion of signalling factors, and indirectly through induced changes in the shared tissue environment," before co-first author Seungmin Han sums up: "Using comparative single-cell analyses and organoid culture methods, we were able to dissect the molecular mechanisms that mediate cellular crosstalk".

The aggressive influence can be suppressed

The relevance of the work is major, to say the least. In this sense, the authors have shown that inhibiting BMP (Bone Morphogenic Protein) signalling coming from the oncogenic mutant relieves the "negative influence" on the normal stem cells. "As well as enabling detection of early events of tumorigenesis, our discovery paves the way for intervention strategies that target cellular crosstalk mechanisms," concludes Min Kyu Yum.

###

Original publication:

Yum MK, Han S et al., "Tracing oncogene-driven remodelling of the intestinal stem cell niche", Nature 2021. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03605-0. https:/ / www. nature. com/ articles/ s41586-021-03605-0

About IMBA

IMBA - Institute of Molecular Biotechnology - is one of the leading biomedical research institutes in Europe focusing on cutting-edge stem cell technologies, functional genomics, and RNA biology. IMBA is located at the Vienna BioCenter, the vibrant cluster of universities, research institutes and biotech companies in Austria. IMBA is a subsidiary of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the leading national sponsor of non-university academic research. The stem cell and organoid research at IMBA is being funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and the City of Vienna.

About the Gurdon Institute

The Wellcome/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, is a world-leading centre for research into the biology of development and how normal growth and maintenance go wrong in diseases such as cancer.
* ICFO researchers report in Nature on having achieved, for the first time, entanglement of two multimode quantum memories located in different labs separated by 10 meters, and heralded by a photon at the telecommunication wavelength.

* The scientists implemented a technique that allowed them to reach a record in the entanglement rate in a system that could be integrated into the fibre communication network, paving the way to operation over long distances.

* The results are considered a landmark for quantum communications and a major step forward in the development of quantum repeaters for the future quantum internet.

During the 90s, engineers made major advances in the telecom arena spreading out the network to distances beyond the cities and metropolitan areas. To achieve this scalability factor, they used repeaters, which enhanced attenuated signals and allowed these to travel farther distances with the same features such as intensity or fidelity. Now, with the addition of satellites, it is completely normal to be in the middle of a mountain in Europe and talk with your loved ones living in the other part of the world.

In the road towards building the future Quantum internet, quantum memories play the same role. Together with sources of qubits, they are the building blocks of this novel internet, acting as quantum repeaters of data operations and using superposition and entanglement as the key ingredients of the system. But to operate such system at a quantum level, the entanglement between quantum memories had to be created over long distances and maintained as efficiently as possible.

All together in one

In a recently published study in Nature, ICFO scientists Dario Lago, Samuele Grandi, Alessandro Seri and Jelena Rakonjac, led by ICREA Prof at ICFO, Hugues de Riedmatten, have achieved scalable, telecom-heralded matter-matter entanglement between two remote, multimode and solid-state quantum memories. In simpler words, they were able to store, for a maximum of 25 microseconds, one single photon in two quantum memories placed 10m apart.

The researchers knew that the photon was in one of the two memories, but they did not know in which one, which emphasized this counter-intuitive notion that we have of nature, which allows the photon to be in a quantum superposition state in the two quantum memories at the same time but, amazingly, 10 meters apart. The team also knew that the entanglement was created with the detection of a photon at telecom wavelength, and it was stored in the quantum memories in a multiplexed fashion, "a feature akin to allowing several messages to be sent at the same time in a classical channel". These two key features have been achieved together for the first time and define the stepping stone in extending this scheme to much longer distances.

As Dario Lago, a PhD student at ICFO and first author of the study, enthusiastically pinpoints "So far, several of the milestones achieved in this experiment were done by other groups, like entangling quantum memories or achieving storage of the photons in quantum memories with a very high efficiency and high rates. But, the uniqueness about this experiment is that our techniques achieved very high rates and can be extended to longer distances."

Setting up the experiment

Achieving this landmark took its effort and time. During the course of several months, the team setup the experiment, where they used a rare-earth doped crystal as a quantum memory for the basis of their test.

Then, they took two sources generating correlated pairs of single photons. In each pair, one photon, named idler, is at a 1436nm (telecom wavelength), and the other, named signal, is at a wavelength of 606nm. The single signal photons, were sent to a quantum memory, made up of millions of atoms all randomly placed inside a crystal, and stored there via a protocol called atomic frequency comb. Alongside, the idler photons, also called heralding or messenger photons, were sent through an optical fiber to a device called beam-splitter, where the information about their origin and path was completely erased. Samuele Grandi, postdoctoral researcher and co-first author of the study, comments, "We erased any sort of feature that would tell us where the idler photons were coming from, let it be source 1 or 2, and we did this because we did not want to know any information about the signal photon and in which Quantum Memory it was being stored in". By erasing these features, the signal photon could have been stored in any of the quantum memories, which means that entanglement was created between them.

Every time that the scientists saw on the monitor a click of an idler photon arriving at the detector, they were able to confirm and verify that there was, in fact, entanglement. This entanglement consisted in a signal photon in a superposition state between the two quantum memories, where it was stored as an excitation shared by tens of millions of atoms for up to 25 microseconds.

As Sam and Dario mention, "The curious thing about the experiment is that it is not possible to know if the photon was stored in the quantum memory in the lab 1 or in Lab 2, which was more than 10 meters away. Although this was the principal feature of our experiment, and one that we kind of expected, the results in the lab were still counter-intuitive, and even more peculiar and mind-blowing to us is that we were capable of controlling it!"

The importance of heralded photons

Most of the previous studies that have experimented with entanglement and quantum memories used herald photons to know whether or not the entanglement between quantum memories had been successful. A heralding photon is like a messenger dove and the scientists can know upon its arrival that the entanglement between the quantum memories has been established. When this happens, the entanglement attempts stop and the entanglement is stored in the memories before being analyzed.

In this experiment, the scientists used a heralding photon in the telecom frequency, confirming that the entanglement being produced could be established with a photon that is compatible with existing telecom networks, an important feat since it allows entanglement to be created over long distances and, even more so, enables these quantum technologies to be easily integrated into the existing classical network infrastructures.

Multiplexing is key

Multiplexing is the capability of a system to send several messages at the same time through only one channel of transmission. In classical telecommunications, this is a frequent tool used to transmit data over the internet. In quantum repeaters, such technique is slightly more complex. With standard quantum memories, one has to wait for the message heralding the entanglement to come back to the memories, before one can try again to create entanglement. But with the use of the atomic frequency comb protocol, which allows this multiplexing approach, the researchers were able to store the entangled photons at many different times in the quantum memory, without having to wait for a successful heralding event before generating the next entangled pair. This condition, called "temporal multiplexing" is a key feature that represents a major increase in the operational time of the system, leading to an increment in the final entanglement rate.

Future Steps

As Prof. ICREA at ICFO Hugues de Riedmatten enthusiastically remarks "This idea was conceived more than 10 years ago and I am thrilled to see that it has now succeeded in the lab. The next steps are to bring the experiment outside of the lab, to try and link different nodes together and distribute entanglement over much larger distances, beyond what we currently have now. In fact, we are in the midst of achieving the first quantum link of 35km, which will be done between Barcelona and ICFO, in Castelldefels".

It is clear that the future quantum network will bring many applications in the near future. This achieved landmark proves and confirms that we are in the correct pathway towards developing these disruptive technologies and beginning to deploy them into what will be a new way of communicating, the Quantum Internet.

###

Reference: Telecom-heralded entanglement between multimode solid-state quantum memories, Dario Lago-Rivera, Samuele Grandi, Jelena V. Rakonjac, Alessandro Seri, and Hugues de Riedmatten, Nature, 2021, https:/ / www. nature. com/ articles/ s41586-021-03481-8

Links of Interest

Link to the Video Abstract - Youtube video with English, Spanish, Catalan subtitles: https:/ / youtu. be/ yEuWyta9O6Y

Link to Audio-visual Material - Images, Photos, Infographs https:/ / drive. google. com/ drive/ folders/ 1YUQFrxPZzIUFNmvvUoiMOPQ9NT4i_c31?usp= sharing

Link to the research group led by ICREA Prof. Hugues de Riedmatten https:/ / www. icfo. eu/ lang/ research/ groups/ groups-details?group_id= 32

Funding Entities

This study has received partial funding from the Quantum Flagship research project Quantum Internet Alliance (QIA), by the Gordon and Betty Moore foundation, as well as the Fundacio Cellex, Fundacio Mir-Puig, Generalitat de Catalunya, and the Spanish government, among other entities.

About ICFO

ICFO is a CERCA research centre member of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, founded in 2002 by the Government of Catalonia and the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya  Barcelona Tech, both of which are members of ICFO's board of trustees along with the Cellex and Mir-Puig Foundations, philanthropic entities that have played a critical role in the advancement of the institute. Located in the Mediterranean Technology Park in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, the institute currently hosts 450 people, organized in 26 research teams that use 80 state-of-the-art research laboratories. Research lines encompass diverse areas in which photonics plays a decisive role, with an emphasis on basic and applied themes relevant to medicine and biology, advanced imaging techniques, information technologies, a range of environmental sensors, tunable and ultra-fast lasers, quantum science and technologies, photovoltaics and the properties and applications of nano and quantum materials such as graphene, among others. In addition to three consecutive accreditations of the Severo Ochoa national program for top research excellence, ICFOnians have been awarded 15 elite ICREA Professorships as well as 40 European Research Council grants. ICFO is very proactive in fostering entrepreneurial activities, spin-off creation, and creating collaborations and links between industry and ICFO researchers. To date, ICFO has helped create 10 start-up companies.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths across the globe with more than 1.7 million deaths annually'

Oncotarget published "Molecular characterization of lung squamous cell carcinoma tumors reveals therapeutically relevant alterations" which reported that unlike lung adenocarcinoma patients, there is no FDA-approved targeted-therapy likely to benefit lung squamous cell carcinoma patients.

The authors performed survival analyses of lung squamous cell carcinoma patients harboring therapeutically relevant alterations identified by whole exome sequencing and mass spectrometry-based validation across 430 lung squamous tumors.

They report a mean of 11.6 mutations/Mb with a characteristic smoking signature along with mutations in TP53, CDKN2A, NFE2L2, FAT1, KMT2C, LRP1B, FGFR1, PTEN and PREX2 among lung squamous cell carcinoma patients of Indian descent.

In overall, the data suggests 13.5% lung squamous patients harboring druggable mutations have lower median overall survival, and 19% patients with a mutation in at least one gene, known to be associated with cancer, result in significantly shorter median overall survival compared to those without mutations.

They present the first comprehensive landscape of genetic alterations underlying Indian lung squamous cell carcinoma patients and identify EGFR, PIK3CA, KRAS and FGFR1 as potentially important therapeutic and prognostic target.

Dr. Amit Dutt and Dr. Kumar Prabhash said, "Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths across the globe with more than 1.7 million deaths annually."

"Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths across the globe with more than 1.7 million deaths annually."

Non-small cell lung cancer, a more common type of lung cancer, accounts for 85% of all lung cancers comprising two major histological subtypes, adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.

The adenocarcinoma of the lung arises mostly in patients with no previous significant tobacco exposure, while the squamous subtype is found almost exclusively in former or current smokers with relatively higher overall mutational load.

However, no approved targeted therapy regimens are available for lung squamous patients in spite of distinct genetic alterations identified in the tumor type, including alterations in TP53, PIK3CA, CDKN2A, MLL2, PTEN, KEAP1, NFE2L2,DDR2, FGFR1, PDGFRA, SOX2, and CCND1.

Moreover, most of the reported studies describe Caucasian, Chinese, Korean and Japanese population, with sparse information on the molecular profile of lung squamous patients of Indian origin that accounts for about 30% of Indian lung cancer disease.

In this study, the authors sought to describe the first genetic landscape of alterations underlying 430 Indian lung squamous genomes and uncover the prevalence of known targetable somatic alterations using next generation sequencing followed by validation using mass spectrometry.

The Dutt/Prabhash Research Team concluded in their Oncotarget Research Output, "we present a striking variation of genetic heterogeneity among lung squamous cell carcinoma patients of Indian descent. The findings from this study extend the scope of the ongoing umbrella clinical trials such as the Lung-MAP master protocol that aims to evaluate multiple targeted therapeutic strategies in lung squamous cell carcinoma patients and the AACR Project GENIE database collaborative project [29, 39]. A systematic exploration of these target genes in lung squamous cell carcinoma patients and variability across ethnicity could further extend our insights into the etiology of lung squamous cancer."

###

DOI - https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 18632/ oncotarget. 27905

Full text - https:/ / www. oncotarget. com/ article/ 27905/ text/

Correspondence to - Amit Dutt - adutt@actrec.gov.in and Kumar Prabhash - kprabhash1@gmail.com

Keywords - lung squamous carcinoma, genetic alterations, druggable mutations, whole exome sequencing, mass spectrometry

About Oncotarget

Oncotarget is a bi-weekly, peer-reviewed, open access biomedical journal covering research on all aspects of oncology.

To learn more about Oncotarget, please visit https:/ / www. oncotarget. com or connect with:

SoundCloud - https:/ / soundcloud. com/ oncotarget

Facebook - https:/ / www. facebook. com/ Oncotarget/

Twitter - https:/ / twitter. com/ oncotarget

LinkedIn - https:/ / www. linkedin. com/ company/ oncotarget

Pinterest - https:/ / www. pinterest. com/ oncotarget/

Reddit - https:/ / www. reddit. com/ user/ Oncotarget/

Oncotarget is published by Impact Journals, LLC please visit https:/ / www. ImpactJournals. com or connect with @ImpactJrnls

Media Contact

MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM

18009220957x105
Researchers from Sinai Health have published a study providing an ultra-detailed look at the organization of a living human cell, providing a new tool that can help scientists around the world better understand what happens during disease.

The new study, out today in the journal Nature, was conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Anne-Claude Gingras, a senior investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute (LTRI) and professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto.

Co-first authors Christopher Go and Dr. James Knight surveyed the human cell landscape using 192 markers for proteins known to reside in specific organelles that can "tag" neighbouring proteins in the same compartment.

"The Human Cell Map was able to predict the localization of 4,000 proteins across all compartments in living human cells," said Go. "We sampled all the major organelles of the human cell and used innovative analysis to create the highest resolution map to date, with high accuracy in predicting novel localizations for many unmapped proteins."

The human body is composed of trillions of cells that are each further separated into different compartments with dedicated functions, much like a house has different rooms for sleeping or preparing food. These compartments, called organelles, each contain different proteins that perform specific activities associated with the compartment. The mitochondria, the so-called powerhouse of the cell, is one example of an organelle.

The scientists said knowing which proteins are residing in which organelles is an important first step towards understanding the role of each cellular protein. Earlier approaches often used methods that first kill the cells before trying to separate the organelles from one another.

"Previously, it was like taking the house apart to isolate each of the individual rooms," said Go. "These approaches tend to provide only crude views of the organization of a cell."

The Gingras lab develops tools to detect proteins using instruments known as mass spectrometers. In the new research, they purified the proteins that are "tagged" by organelle markers and identified each of them by mass spectrometry. The team then used Computational tools to reconstruct the human cell.

"Through our research, we have shown that we can precisely localize thousands of proteins at a time with relatively little effort," said Dr. Knight, a bioinformatician in the Gingras Lab at the LTRI. "Previous methods for localizing a protein required each protein to be investigated individually, or required a limited focus."

Given the expansive nature of the Human Cell Map, the team also created an analysis portal to allow researchers around the world to delve deeper into the data. Users can scan each of the 192 markers in detail and compare their own data on protein localization to predictions made in the Human Cell Map.

Knight said while this work provides a greater understanding of the organization within the human cell, it also can be leveraged to better understand what happens during disease.

"Human diseases are typically characterized at the molecular level by proteins with aberrant behaviour that cause the cell to behave in pathological ways. In these situations, proteins will often change where they reside in the cell," said Dr. Knight. "Our research is a first step in addressing this challenge in normal cells and we can use it for comparisons against altered cell states, such as disease conditions, to identify proteins with unexpected localizations that may help us understand a diseased cell better."

The team said the map will now be used in a variety of projects to help shed additional light on protein localization in human cells. Future efforts will include using chemical, viral and disease conditions to better characterize how cells adapt structurally to these stressors. This can inform future research efforts towards a mechanistic understanding of diseased states and the development of future therapeutics.

###

This work was made possible by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant, as well as funding to the Network Biology Collaborative Centre at the LTRI, a facility supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation funding, the Ontario Government, Genome Canada and Ontario Genomics. Funding for the analysis portal was provided by Compute Canada.
But it is unclear even if Lamont is willing to deal, whether Senate Democratic leaders are ready to back off the rich and major corporations when it comes to taxes. If House Democrats do choose to vote Thursday or Friday on a budget they see as a compromise, the move would be designed to press Lamont and Senate Democrats publicly to find middle ground.
BAR HARBOR, MAINE  Many salamanders can readily regenerate a lost limb, but adult mammals, including humans, cannot. Why this is the case is a scientific mystery that has fascinated observers of the natural world for thousands of years.

Now, a team of scientists led by James Godwin, Ph.D., of the MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, has come a step closer to unraveling that mystery with the discovery of differences in molecular signaling that promote regeneration in the axolotl, a highly regenerative salamander, while blocking it in the adult mouse, which is a mammal with limited regenerative ability.

"Scientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory have been relying on comparative biology to gain insights into human health since its founding in 1898," said Hermann Haller, M.D., the institution's president. "The discoveries enabled by James Godwin's comparative studies in the axolotl and mouse are proof that the idea of learning from nature is as valid today as it was more than one hundred and twenty years ago."

Instead of regenerating lost or injured body parts, mammals typically form a scar at the site of an injury. Because the scar creates a physical barrier to regeneration, research in regenerative medicine at the MDI Biological Laboratory has focused on understanding why the axolotl doesn't form a scar - or, why it doesn't respond to injury in the same way that the mouse and other mammals do.

"Our research shows that humans have untapped potential for regeneration," Godwin said. "If we can solve the problem of scar formation, we may be able to unlock our latent regenerative potential. Axolotls don't scar, which is what allows regeneration to take place. But once a scar has formed, it's game over in terms of regeneration. If we could prevent scarring in humans, we could enhance quality of life for so many people."

The axolotl as a model for regeneration

The axolotl, a Mexican salamander that is now all but extinct in the wild, is a favorite model in regenerative medicine research because of its one-of-a-kind status as nature's champion of regeneration. While most salamanders have some regenerative capacity, the axolotl can regenerate almost any body part, including brain, heart, jaws, limbs, lungs, ovaries, spinal cord, skin, tail and more.

Since mammalian embryos and juveniles have the ability to regenerate - for instance, human infants can regenerate heart tissue and children can regenerate fingertips - it's likely that adult mammals retain the genetic code for regeneration, raising the prospect that pharmaceutical therapies could be developed to encourage humans to regenerate tissues and organs lost to disease or injury instead of forming a scar.

In his recent research, Godwin compared immune cells called macrophages in the axolotl to those in the mouse with the goal of identifying the quality in axolotl macrophages that promotes regeneration. The research builds on earlier studies in which Godwin found that macrophages are critical to regeneration: when they are depleted, the axolotl forms a scar instead of regenerating, just like mammals.

The recent research found that although macrophage signaling in the axolotl and in the mouse were similar when the organisms were exposed to pathogens such as bacteria, funguses and viruses, when it came to exposure to injury it was a different story: the macrophage signaling in the axolotl promoted the growth of new tissue while that in the mouse promoted scarring.

The paper on the research, entitled "Distinct TLR Signaling in the Salamander Response to Tissue Damage" was recently published in the journal Developmental Dynamics. In addition to Godwin, authors include Nadia Rosenthal, Ph.D., of The Jackson Laboratory; Ryan Dubuque and Katya E. Chan of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI); and Sergej Nowoshilow, Ph.D., of the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna, Austria.

Godwin, who holds a joint appointment with The Jackson Laboratory, was formerly associated with ARMI and Rosenthal is ARMI's founding director. The MDI Biological Laboratory and ARMI have a partnership agreement to promote research and education on regeneration and the development of new therapies to improve human health.

Specifically, the paper reported that the signaling response of a class of proteins called toll-like receptors (TLRs), which allow macrophages to recognize a threat such an infection or a tissue injury and induce a pro-inflammatory response, were "unexpectedly divergent" in response to injury in the axolotl and the mouse. The finding offers an intriguing window into the mechanisms governing regeneration in the axolotl.

Being able to 'pull the levers of regeneration'

The discovery of an alternative signaling pathway that is compatible with regeneration could ultimately lead to regenerative medicine therapies for humans. Though regrowing a human limb may not be realistic in the short term, significant opportunities exist for therapies that improve clinical outcomes in diseases in which scarring plays a major role in the pathology, including heart, kidney, liver and lung disease.

"We are getting closer to understanding how axolotl macrophages are primed for regeneration, which will bring us closer to being able to pull the levers of regeneration in humans," Godwin said. "For instance, I envision being able to use a topical hydrogel at the site of a wound that is laced with a modulator that changes the behavior of human macrophages to be more like those of the axolotl."

Godwin, who is an immunologist, chose to examine the function of the immune system in regeneration because of its role in preparing the wound for repairs as the equivalent of a first responder at the site of an injury. His recent research opens the door to further mapping of critical nodes in TLR signaling pathways that regulate the unique immune environment enabling axolotl regeneration and scar-free repair.

###

Godwin's research is supported by an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under grant numbers P20GM103423 and P20GM104318 to the MDI Biological Laboratory. ARMI is supported by grants from the State Government of Victoria, Australia. The mouse studies were supported by Jackson Laboratory institutional funds.

About the MDI Biological Laboratory

We aim to improve human health and healthspan by uncovering basic mechanisms of tissue repair, aging and regeneration, translating our discoveries for the benefit of society and developing the next generation of scientific leaders. For more information, please visit mdibl.org.
A team led by investigators at NYU Tandon created a means of vastly increasing the speed and efficiency of a key doping process for perovskite solar cells, one that also sequesters CO2

BROOKLYN, New York, Wednesday, June 2, 2021 - Perovskite solar cells have progressed in recent years with rapid increases in power conversion efficiency (from 3% in 2006 to 25.5% today), making them more competitive with silicon-based photovoltaic cells. However, a number of challenges remain before they can become a competitive commercial technology.

Now a team at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering has developed a process to solve one of them, a bottleneck in a critical step involving p-type doping of organic hole-transporting materials within the photovoltaic cells. The research, "CO2 doping of organic interlayers for perovskite solar cells," appears in Nature.

Currently, the p-doping process, achieved by the ingress and diffusion of oxygen into the hole transporting layer, is time intensive (several hours to a day), making commercial mass production of perovskite solar cells impractical.

The Tandon team, led by Andre D. Taylor, an associate professor, and Jaemin Kong, a post-doctoral associate, along with Miguel Modestino, assistant professor -- all in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering -- discovered a method of vastly increasing the speed of this key step through the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) instead of oxygen.

In perovskite solar cells, doped organic semiconductors are normally required as charge-extraction interlayers situated between the photoactive perovskite layer and the electrodes. The conventional means of doping these interlayers involves the addition of lithium bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide (LiTFSI), a lithium salt, to spiro-OMeTAD, a -conjugated organic semiconductor widely used for a hole-transporting material in perovskite solar cells. The doping process is then initiated by exposing spiro-OMeTAD:LiTFSI blend films to air and light.

Not only is this method time consuming, it largely depends on ambient conditions. By contrast, Taylor and his team reported a fast and reproducible doping method that involves bubbling a spiro-OMeTAD:LiTFSI solution with CO2 under ultraviolet light. They found that their process rapidly enhanced electrical conductivity of the interlayer by 100 times compared to that of a pristine blend film, which is also approximately 10 times higher than that obtained from an oxygen bubbling process. The CO2 treated film also resulted in stable, high-efficiency perovskite solar cells without any post-treatments.

"Besides shortening the device fabrication and processing time, application of the pre-doped spiro-OMeTAD in perovskite solar cells makes the cells much more stable," explained Kong, the lead author. "That's partly because most of the detrimental lithium ions in the spiro-OMeTAD:LiTFSI solution were stabilized as lithium carbonates during the CO2 bubbling process."

He added that the lithium carbonates end up being filtered out when the investigators spincast the pre-doped solution onto the perovskite layer. "Thus, we can obtain fairly pure doped organic materials for efficient hole transporting layers."

The team, which included researchers from Samsung, Yale University, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, The Graduate Center of the City University, Wonkwang University, and the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology also found that the CO2 doping method can be used for p-type doping of other -conjugated polymers, such as PTAA, MEH-PPV, P3HT, and PBDB-T. According to Taylor the researchers are looking to push the boundary beyond typical organic semiconductors used for solar cells.

"We believe that wide applicability of CO2 doping to various -conjugated organic molecules stimulates research ranging from organic solar cells to organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic field effect transistors (OFETs) even to thermoelectric devices that all require controlled doping of organic semiconductors," Taylor explained, adding that since this process consumes quite a large amount of CO2 gas, it can be also considered for CO2 capture and sequestration studies in the future.

"At a time when governments and companies alike are now looking to reduce CO2 emissions if not de-carbonize, this research offers an avenue for reacting large amounts of CO2 in lithium carbonate to improve next generation solar cells, while removing this greenhouse gas from the atmosphere," he explained, adding that the idea for this novel approach was a counterintuitive insight from the team's battery research.

"From our long history of working with lithium oxygen/air batteries we know that lithium carbonate formation from exposure of oxygen electrodes to air is a big challenge because it depletes the battery of lithium ions, which destroys battery capacity. In this Spiro doping reaction, however, we are actually exploiting lithium carbonate formation, which binds lithium and prevents it from becoming mobile ions detrimental to the long term stability of the Perovskite solar cell. We are hoping that this CO2 doping technique could be a stepping stone for overcoming existing challenges in organic electronics and beyond."

###

The U.S. National Science Foundation, the National Research Foundation of Korea, the China Scholarship Council, and the U.S. Department of Energy's Center for Functional Nanomaterials at Brookhaven National Laboratory provided support for this research.

The full study, "CO2 doping of organic interlayers for perovskite solar cells," can be found at: https:/ / www. nature. com/ articles/ s41586-021-03518-y .

About the New York University Tandon School of Engineering

The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, the founding date for both the New York University School of Civil Engineering and Architecture and the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute. A January 2014 merger created a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences as part of a global university, with close connections to engineering programs at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai. NYU Tandon is rooted in a vibrant tradition of entrepreneurship, intellectual curiosity, and innovative solutions to humanity's most pressing global challenges. Research at Tandon focuses on vital intersections between communications/IT, cybersecurity, and data science/AI/robotics systems and tools and critical areas of society that they influence, including emerging media, health, sustainability, and urban living. We believe diversity is integral to excellence, and are creating a vibrant, inclusive, and equitable environment for all of our students, faculty and staff. For more information, visit engineering.nyu.edu.
HOUSTON - (June 2, 2021) - It's official: Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is the iron man of 2D materials, so resistant to cracking that it defies a century-old theoretical description engineers still use to measure toughness.

"What we observed in this material is remarkable," said Rice University's Jun Lou, co-corresponding author of a Nature paper published this week. "Nobody expected to see this in 2D materials. That's why it's so exciting."

Lou explains the significance of the discovery by comparing the fracture toughness of h-BN with that of its better-known cousin graphene. Structurally, graphene and h-BN are nearly identical. In each, atoms are arranged in a flat lattice of interconnecting hexagons. In graphene, all the atoms are carbon, and in h-BN each hexagon contains three nitrogen and three boron atoms.

The carbon-carbon bonds in graphene are nature's strongest, which should make graphene the toughest stuff around. But there's a catch. If even a few atoms are out of place, graphene's performance can go from extraordinary to mediocre. And in the real world, no material is defect-free, Lou said, which is why fracture toughness -- or resistance to crack growth -- is so important in engineering: It describes exactly how much punishment a real-world material can withstand before failing.

"We measured the fracture toughness of graphene seven years ago, and it's actually not very resistant to fracture," Lou said. "If you have a crack in the lattice, a small load will just break that material."

In a word, graphene is brittle. British engineer A.A. Griffith published a seminal theoretical study of fracture mechanics in 1921 that described the failure of brittle materials. Griffith's work described the relationship between the size of a crack in a material and the amount of force required to make the crack grow.

Lou's 2014 study showed graphene's fracture toughness could be explained by Griffith's time-tested criterion. Given h-BN's structural similarities to graphene, it also was expected to be brittle.

That isn't the case. Hexagonal boron nitride's fracture resistance is about 10 times higher than graphene's, and h-BN's behavior in fracture tests was so unexpected that it defied description with Griffith's formula. Showing precisely how it behaved and why took more than 1,000 hours of experiments in Lou's lab at Rice and equally painstaking theoretical work headed by co-corresponding author Huajian Gao at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore.

"What makes this work so exciting is that it unveils an intrinsic toughening mechanism in a supposedly perfectly brittle material," Gao said. "Apparently, even Griffith couldn't foresee such drastically different fracture behaviors in two brittle materials with similar atomic structures."

Lou, Gao and colleagues traced the wildly different material behaviors to slight asymmetries that result from h-BN containing two elements instead of one.

"Boron and nitrogen are not the same, so even though you have this hexagon, it is not exactly like the carbon hexagon (in graphene) because of this asymmetric arrangement," Lou said.

He said the details of the theoretical description are complex, but the upshot is cracks in h-BN have a tendency to branch and turn. In graphene, the tip of the crack travels straight through the material, opening bonds like a zipper. But the lattice asymmetry in h-BN creates a "bifurcation" where branches can form.

"If the crack is branched, that means it is turning," Lou said. "If you have this turning crack, it basically costs additional energy to drive the crack further. So you've effectively toughened your material by making it much harder for the crack to propagate."

Gao said, "The intrinsic lattice asymmetry endows h-BN with a permanent tendency for a moving crack to branch off its path, like a skier who has lost her or his ability to maintain a balanced posture to move straight forward."

Hexagonal boron nitride is already an extremely important material for 2D electronics and other applications because of its heat resistance, chemical stability and dielectric properties, which allow it to serve as both a supporting base and an insulating layer between electronic components. Lou said h-BN's surprising toughness could also make it the ideal option for adding tear resistance to flexible electronics made from 2D materials, which tend to be brittle.

"The niche area for 2D material-based electronics is the flexible device," Lou said.

In addition to applications like electronic textiles, 2D electronics are thin enough for more exotic applications like electronic tattoos and implants that could be attached directly to the brain, he said.

"For this type of configuration, you need to ensure the material itself is mechanically robust when you bend it around," Lou said. "That h-BN is so fracture-resistant is great news for the 2D electronic community, because it can use this material as a very effective protective layer."

Gao said the findings may also point to a new route to fabricate tough mechanical metamaterials through engineered structural asymmetry.

"Under extreme loading, fracture may be inevitable, but its catastrophic effects can be mitigated through structural design," Gao said.

Lou is a professor and associate department chair in materials science and nanoengineering and a professor of chemistry at Rice. Gao is a distinguished university professor in the schools of both engineering and science at NTU.

Rice-affiliated co-authors are Yingchao Yang, now an assistant professor at the University of Maine, Chao Wang, now at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China, and Boyu Zhang. Other co-authors include Bo Ni of Brown University; Xiaoyan Li of Tsinghua University in China; Guangyuan Lu, Qinghua Zhang, Lin Gu and Xiaoming Xie of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Zhigong Song of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore and formerly of Tsinghua and Brown.

###

The research was supported by the Department of Energy (DE-SC0018193), and simulations were performed on resources provided by the National Science Foundation's Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (MSS090046) at Brown University's Center for Computation and Visualization.

Links and resources:

The DOI of the Nature paper is: 10.1038/s41586-021-03488-1

A copy of the paper is available at: https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1038/ s41586-021-03488-1

High-resolution IMAGES are available for download at:

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 04/ 0503_TOUGH-223hBN12-lg. jpg

CAPTION: A scanning electron microscope image shows branched cracks in a single crystal of 2D hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). Experiments and computational modelling by Rice University and Nanyang Technological University showed h-BN lattice asymmetry allows cracks to follow branching paths, which effectively toughens the 2D material by making it more difficult for cracks to propagate. (Image courtesy of J. Lou/Rice University)

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 04/ 0503_TOUGH-fig-lg. jpg

CAPTION: Computational simulations at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore helped explain the unexpected fracture toughness of 2D hexagonal boron nitride. The material's intrinsic toughness arises from slight asymmetries in its atomic structure (left), which produce a permanent tendency for moving cracks to follow branched paths (right). (Image courtesy of H. Gao/NTU)

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 04/ 0503_TOUGH-jlbz7005-lg. jpg

CAPTION: Experiments by Rice University materials scientists Jun Lou (left) and Boyu Zhang showed 2D hexagonal boron nitride was surprisingly resistant to cracking. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 04/ 0503_TOUGH-jl7001-lg. jpg

CAPTION: Jun Lou (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 04/ 0503_TOUGH-bz6982-lg. jpg

CAPTION: Boyu Zhang (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 04/ 0503_TOUGH-hgzs-lg. jpg

CAPTION: Computational simulations by Nanyang Technological University materials scientists Huajian Gao (left) and Zhigong Song helped explain the unexpected fracture toughness of 2D hexagonal boron nitride. (Image courtesy of H. Gao/NTU)

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 04/ 0503_TOUGH-hex-lg. jpg

CAPTION: In both graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) atoms, atoms are arranged in a flat lattice of interconnecting hexagons. In graphene, all the atoms are carbon. In h-BN each hexagon contains three nitrogen and three boron atoms. (Image courtesy of Rice University)

This release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,978 undergraduates and 3,192 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 1 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance.
Spiders avoid building webs near European fire ants, their natural predators, by sensing the chemicals they give off in the environment, Simon Fraser University researchers have found.

The findings, published recently in Royal Society Open Science, give us a peek inside the enduring struggle between spiders and ants, and could lead to the development of natural repellents for homeowners worried about unwanted eight-legged guests.

Many ants prey on spiders, suggesting that web-building spiders may avoid locations near ant colonies or frequented by foraging ants. The research team, led by SFU biological sciences PhD candidate Andreas Fischer, hypothesized that spiders instinctively know to avoid building webs in these danger areas by sensing chemical cues left behind by predatory ants.

Researchers tested the theory by exposing filter paper to several species of ants and placing it in a multi-chambered habitat of four different species of spiders. Filter papers without ant semiochemicals were put in another chamber to see which area the spiders would prefer.

They found that the chemical deposits of European fire ants specifically, which are known to be aggressive omnivorous scavengers and prey on many invertebrates, had a deterrent effect on all tested spider species. The spiders chose to stay in the chamber that had no chemical trace of ants nearby.

Given how much time and energy spiders put into building their webs, Fischer said it makes sense that spiders in the wild would pick locations that have fewer threats to their survival.

Meanwhile, people's fear of spiders has led to the development of many insecticides and other chemical products that claim to repel spiders. But most of them have proven largely ineffective because spiders are able to abandon their webs and rebuild elsewhere. Harnessing the natural chemicals given off by their natural predators could help create more effective repellents for homeowners. Researchers warn against using European fire ants, an invasive species, themselves as pest control.

###

The research team also included SFU professor Gerhard Gries, undergraduate student Tea Dong and University of Toronto's Yerin Lee.

AVAILABLE SFU EXPERTS

ANDREAS FISCHER, PhD candidate, Department of Biological Sciences | afischer@sfu.ca

CONTACT

MATT KIELTYKA, SFU Communications & Marketing

236.880.2187 | matt_kieltyka@sfu.ca

Simon Fraser University

Communications & Marketing | SFU Media Experts Directory

778.782.3210
SMU Office of Research & Tech Transfer - The latest figures from Singapore's Ministry of Education (MOE) show that females now represent 41 percent of the total STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) cohort at the country's six autonomous universities. Even though this is a promising trend for STEM, only slightly more than half of the female graduates go on to have STEM-related careers. The figure worsens over time as only 66 percent of the females who start their careers in STEM stay on in STEM.

These are grim figures as females are systematically drawn away from STEM from when they are young and throughout their working lives. With Singapore's push towards becoming a smart nation, we need more people, especially women, to help us translate this vision into reality. We also need women to bring creativity and diversity to drive innovation in a discipline that is traditionally dominated by men, such as designing solutions that are representative of all users.

Furthermore, the demand for STEM jobs is forecast to outpace non-STEM jobs whether in Singapore or elsewhere in the world. This growth trend is expected to continue as many more industries embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a revolution that is characterised by end-to-end digital, intelligent systems, artificial intelligence, internet of things (IoT), robotics and data.

Given the importance of having more women in STEM, how can we stem this leaky pipeline? This is the research question that Associate Professor Cheng Chi-Ying and her collaborator, Associate Professor Cheng Shih-Fen, from Singapore Management University (SMU) aim to shed light on.

Specifically, Professor Cheng wants to ascertain how the female-to-male gender ratios, as well as the presence of female role models affect the level of gender-professional identity integration (G-PII), an identity construct that is critical for women to transition and position themselves for success in a male-dominated sector like STEM. The G-PII construct refers to one's self-definition and is driven by one's self-esteem and ability to manage the gender stereotype threat. G-PII is also defined by one's effort in integrating one's gender identity with the professional role.

When Professor Cheng was informed that she was successful in obtaining the MOE's Tertiary Education Research Fund (TRF), she exclaimed in joy to the Office of Research and Tech Transfer: "This research will be the world's first longitudinal study to ascertain how the G-PII construct develops in females over time."

She added: "According to the Social Identity Theory, females in STEM have to deal with two identities - a female gender identity and a male-dominated professional identity. How one manages these two conflicting identities can determine one's self esteem and performance in a male-dominated field like STEM."

The research

The research study is designed as a quasi-experiment and will be conducted over 15 months. The sample will include 200 first year students who are enrolled in SMU's School of Computing and Information Systems (SCIS). The designated target group will comprise 100 female students and the comparison group - 100 male students.

Professor Cheng postulates that early exposure to higher female-male ratios and female role models will have a lasting effect on the G-PII construct. This is why she is designing these interventions early on in the research study, specifically, in the first two terms or the initial six months of the students' undergraduate programme at SMU.

As all the courses in SMU include group work, she plans to document the female-to-male ratios in the groups to investigate how these ratios impact the development of G-PII in the target group. She also intends to capture how female faculty members act as role models by getting them to teach the core courses in the first two terms of the study sample's undergraduate programme.

Another measure that she will focus on is the creative performance. Professor Cheng elaborated: "If we can show how G-PII impacts creative performance, I believe that this valuable skill could potentially serve as a proxy for their career success in STEM."

"I can't wait to get started on this research. But I have to wait until August 2021 when SMU reopens for the next academic year. If we can stem the leaky pipeline, we are one step closer towards achieving gender equality in STEM. I am hopeful that this research will give us some ideas to figure out a better way to design initiatives that will attract, retain and develop more females in STEM," she quipped.

###
SMU Office of Research & Tech Transfer - In 2015, Singapore Management University (SMU) introduced an innovative university-wide pedagogical experiential learning programme called SMU-X.

The programme expanded quickly.

From a pilot initiative with two courses offered by a small team of enthusiastic faculty and taken by 58 students, it grew to an extensive programme covering more than 50 courses and engaging over 3,600 students annually. Each year, SMU students complete more than 500 SMU-X projects with 150 different partner organisations.

The quality of SMU-X is recognised both locally and internationally. In 2016, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business lauded SMU-X as one of the "Innovations That Inspire." That same year, SMU-X was conferred the QS Reimagine Education Bronze Award for transforming presence-based learning for a new generation of graduates. SMU-X was also cited by Singapore's Minister for Education that year as an example of real-life learning that allows students to gain both depth and breadth in their skill sets.

The programme is also popular with SMU undergraduates; SMU-X courses are regularly over-subscribed.

Yes, but does it work?

However, the million-dollar question remains unanswered: Does the programme work? Does it actually foster graduates who are agile, resilient and effective in the workplace?

As SMU-X enters its seventh year, a team of SMU researchers decided that it is time to rigorously evaluate the programme's accomplishments and the extent to which it has achieved its objectives.

Funded by the Ministry of Education's Tertiary Education Research Fund, the team of seven SMU faculty members will commence their two-year investigation in June 2021.

Says Principal Investigator Yang Hwajin, Associate Professor of Psychology: "Despite the notable strengths of SMU-X, less is known about its impact and potential. It is important to study this subject further to assess its effectiveness through a rigorous scientific methodology.

"The findings of this evaluation will enable SMU to improve the implementation of SMU-X for undergraduates, expand the programme to graduate students, and document best practices to enable effective sharing of SMU-X's large-scale programmatic approach with other Institutions of Higher Learning in Singapore and the broader Southeast Asian region."

The project seeks answers to four questions:

Whether SMU-X has achieved its principles and learning objectives;

Whether SMU-X effectively cultivates a learning mindset;

Whether SMU-X sharpens workforce skills and facilitates career-related advancements for SMU graduates; and

What are the perception and expectations of corporate partners and stakeholders regarding SMU-X?

The question that most interests Professor Yang is whether SMU-X effectively cultivates a learning mindset. "A learning mindset is very foundational as it is likely to affect one's lifelong outcomes including career and quality of life in general," she notes. "If SMU-X successfully shows that it does indeed cultivate a learning mindset, I would argue that it has achieved its utmost important learning objective."

In the study, current and past SMU-X instructors, current SMU students and SMU graduates and their corresponding control groups will be surveyed and interviewed to assess learning outcomes, and career-related outcomes, as well as stakeholders' evaluation of the quality and effectiveness of SMU-X.

To precisely quantify the relation between SMU-X and various short-term learning outcomes and career-related outcomes, the team will employ rigorous statistical methods such as hierarchical linear modelling (HLM), text mining and content analysis. A wide range of potential covariates such as motivation for learning, self-efficacy and personality traits will be factored into the analysis.

The study will involve 180 undergraduates, 180 graduates and a total of 720 individuals in two control groups. Twenty corporate partners and external stakeholders will also be interviewed. The study will also measure the degree to which learning objectives were achieved in selected SMU-X courses, based on student data collected by SMU's Centre for Teaching Excellence.

At the end of the study, a report will be submitted to SMU and MOE with recommendations for improving the SMU-X programme.

A unique programme

SMU stands out in the length and breadth of its experience learning programme.

SMU-X offers a huge portfolio of courses, is supported by committed partners and is available overseas. In addition, students work in teams where members come from six different disciplines. This ensures SMU-X teams tackle industry projects from inter-disciplinary viewpoints. Industry partners and faculty also actively mentor the teams.

SMU-X is designed to spark creativity and help students learn how to devise implementable solutions to complex real-world problems in the workspace. It also fosters adaptability and resilience in students via meta-learning, which refers to an ability to take control of one's own learning and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of learning processes.

SMU Professor of Accounting, and SMU-X Academic Director, Gary Pan, evaluated SMU-X and found that the entire process of "unfreezing-changing-refreezing" occurs in SMU-X courses. This refers to the unfreezing of beliefs in previous ideas, the changing of previous beliefs, and the refreezing of new beliefs. Further, they found that students were positive on the effectiveness of the SMU-X pedagogy in developing cognitive, interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies.

Sums up Professor Yang: "We do firmly believe that SMU-X has a critical impact on our students and we seek to investigate this through a very rigours scientific method. Additionally, we aim to identify what module-specific and individual characteristics drive such outcomes."

###
SMU Office of Research & Tech Transfer - Short selling often gets a bad rap because it is a type of trade that bets against the success of a firm. In essence, short selling allows investors to borrow stock from a broker to sell into the market with the hope of buying the stock back at a cheaper price, thus, profiting on the difference between the sell and buy prices. Because of this practice, short selling is sometimes seen as a controversial tactic.

Furthermore, speculative short selling attacks are concerning as it can put downward pressure on the entire stock market. It is for this reason that governments and regulators have stepped in to curtail or ban short selling during times of market stress such as the Global Financial Crisis or more recently, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Contrary to the negativity surrounding short selling, SMU Associate Professor Rencheng Wang told the Office of Research and Tech Transfer: "Quite honestly, there are many benefits of short selling. Short selling can drive market liquidity, price stocks more efficiently, mitigate market bubbles, as well as provide a check on upward market manipulations."

"Because of monetary gains, short sellers are motivated to detect and expose negative news such as poor firm performance that investors have yet to be informed, or unethical and opportunistic behaviours taken by managers at the cost of investors. In other words, short sellers are like detectives of the capital markets," Professor Wang adds.

Given that there are still so many unanswered questions about the positive benefits of short selling, Professor Wang and his collaborators decided to probe deeper into the issue. Specifically, Professor Wang wanted to understand how short selling affects the behaviours of the firm's managers and large shareholders.

Short sale regulation

The regulation on short selling had remained relatively intact since its introduction over 60 years ago. It was believed that the short sale rule had become increasingly susceptible to abuse and was inconsistent with market developments, which led the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) to adopt a modified version of the proposed Rule 202T in 2005.

As part of the review of the short sale rule, the SEC introduced a pilot programme for a select group of securities, of which represented a third of the securities listed on the Russell 3000 index. Rule 202T referred to a temporary exemption from Rule 202 of Regulation SHO (short selling regulation) that suspended any short sale price test for the select group of securities.

The purpose of this pilot programme was to enable the SEC to study the effects of unrestricted short selling on, among other things, market volatility, price efficiency, and market liquidity.

The research

Given this scenario, Professor Wang was able to take advantage of this temporary rule exemption by designing a quasi-experiment to compare the performance and behaviours of the designated group of securities (pilot firms) with the rest of the securities (control firms) on the Russell 3000 index.

Professor Wang elaborated: "Our intent of conducting this research was not merely to observe the impact of Rule 202T on short selling. Rather, we expect the firm's managers, whom we call insiders, to adjust their behaviours to reflect the increased threat of short selling."

The sample included 974 pilot firms and 1,935 control firms listed on the Russell 300 index. The research included a total of 55,002 firm quarters in the pre-period of Rule 202T (January 2002 - April 2005) to post-period of Rule 202T (May 2005 - July 2007).

In conveying the research findings, Professor Wang was pleased to inform the Office of Research and Tech Transfer: "We saw a reduction of 11 percent in opportunistic insider sales in the pilot firms, which means that short selling has a disciplinary effect on the behaviours of the insiders. And the threat of short selling was more pronounced in deterring insiders whose firms have higher litigation risks, greater reputation concerns and have more insiders with large stock-related holdings."

He added: "When we extended our research to the securities listed on the Chinese (Shanghai and Shenzhen) and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges, we also saw a similar pattern - short sellers can deter unethical insiders from engaging in high volume opportunistic sell offs in stock exchanges that differ in culture, market development, and legal environments - from the New York Stock Exchange to other exchanges in Asia. Thus, we provide new evidence to highlight the importance of short sellers in capital market development and governance reforms across different institutional environments."

Professor Wang's paper on short selling can be found here.

###
New York, NY (June 2, 2021) - A phase 3 clinical trial co-led by Mount Sinai researchers is the first to show that immunotherapy after surgery to remove bladder cancer can reduce the risk of relapse for patients who are at high risk of their cancer returning in a deadly metastatic form, according to results published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The immunotherapy nivolumab was used as an adjuvant therapy, which is given after surgery in the hopes of maximizing its effectiveness.

The randomized trial, named "Checkmate 274," showed that using nivolumab increased these patients' chance of staying cancer free after surgery compared to patients who received a placebo. The average length of time before relapse nearly doubled in patients who received nivolumab, which is a monoclonal antibody immune checkpoint inhibitor that harnesses the immune system to fight cancer.

Surgery that removes the bladder or kidney and ureter is currently the standard of care for patients with urothelial cancer that has entered surrounding muscle or lymph nodes, though half of these patients later relapse with lethal metastatic cancer. Unfortunately for these patients, no consensus has emerged regarding treatments after surgery that might reduce the risk of cancer recurrence.

"These clinical trial results promise to impact standard treatment of patients with urothelial cancer of the kidney, ureter, or bladder by reducing the risk of metastatic recurrence after surgery," said Matthew Galsky, MD, senior author of the study and Director of Genitourinary Medical Oncology, Co-Director of the Center of Excellence for Bladder Cancer, Associate Director of Translational Research, and Co-Leader of the Cancer Clinical Investigation Program at The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "Almost 200,000 people die each year of urothelial cancer worldwide, so advances like immunotherapy being used in this manner bring hope."

###

A total of 709 patients were part of the trial; half received nivolumab and the other half received placebo every two weeks for one year. The vast majority of patients who received nivolumab had no impact on their quality of life.

This trial was conducted with support from Bristol Myers Squibb, the maker of the immunotherapy, in collaboration with ONO Pharmaceutical Company Ltd.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest academic medical system, encompassing eight hospitals, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai is a national and international source of unrivaled education, translational research and discovery, and collaborative clinical leadership ensuring that we deliver the highest quality care--from prevention to treatment of the most serious and complex human diseases. The Health System includes more than 7,200 physicians and features a robust and continually expanding network of multispecialty services, including more than 400 ambulatory practice locations throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 14 on U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of the Top 20 Best Hospitals in the country and the Icahn School of Medicine as one of the Top 20 Best Medical Schools in country. Mount Sinai Health System hospitals are consistently ranked regionally by specialty and our physicians in the top 1% of all physicians nationally by U.S. News & World Report.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The U.S. Army plans to cooperate in artificial intelligence research with teams led by the University of Maryland, College Park and in partnership with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The cooperative agreement brings together a collaborative of nearly 30 diverse experts in engineering, robotics, computer science, operations research, modeling and simulation, and cybersecurity.

With the Army's goal of seeking transformational advances in artificial intelligence and autonomy, Army and academic officials said this partnership will "accelerate the development and deployment of safe, effective and resilient capabilities and technologies, from wearable devices to unmanned aircraft, that work intelligently and in cooperation with each other and with human actors across multiple environments."

"This extensive collaboration convenes a critical mass of expertise within the state, at the University of Maryland, and across the entire University System of Maryland," said Laurie Locascio, vice president for research at UMD.

The academic researchers will work with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory on an initial 18 projects, each supported by a team of faculty, staff and students, with additional funding for future projects.

"It's a very exciting alliance that leverages the university's decades-long research partnerships with ARL to forge a critical pipeline for research innovation and commercialization in the booming ecosystem of robotics, AI and autonomy," Locascio said.

According to Locascio, the effort builds on a more than 25-year research partnership between UMD and ARL in AI, autonomy and modeling and simulation.

The Army modernization strategy hopes to spur the development of technologies that reduce human workload and risk in complex environments such as the battlefield and search-and-rescue operations.

"This is a big partnership with an ambitious vision: we want to change the world by quickly getting lifesaving autonomy into the hands of the people who need it," said Derek Paley, lead researcher on the agreement, UMD professor, and director of the Maryland Robotics Center. "No matter how autonomous we think a system is, a human operator will interface with it at some level. The goal is to migrate the dangerous, dirty, and dull work to the autonomous platform."

The cooperative agreement will stimulate collaborations and leverage university and federal assets and facilities to accelerate advancements in AI and autonomy for mobile and connected platforms in multiple operating domains.

The joint research teams will have access to U.S. Army's Robotics Research Collaborative Campus, which includes a one-of-a-kind, 200-acre, reconfigurable, multiple-terrain outdoor testing laboratory just north of Baltimore for scalable AI, autonomy and robotics research.

"In an era of rapidly increasing strategic threats driven in large part by global access to science and technology, talent, and resources, the nation that can best operationalize science and do it quickly will have game-changing competitive advantages over their adversaries," said Karl Kappra, director of ARL's Futures Division. "ARL is pleased to be initiating this new enterprise with the University of Maryland, College Park and University of Maryland, Baltimore County to engage their talented staff and students to provide the foundations for new artificial intelligence and autonomy capabilities to improve the survivability and effectiveness of America's armed forces."

This collaboration will address the Army's unique challenges and with access to the entire University System of Maryland, it will provide opportunities for new technology insertions while supporting the continued development of our nation's STEM community, he said.

Future intelligent systems could help in search-and-rescue missions after a catastrophic natural disaster, for example, where establishing risk and response is both urgently needed and assuredly dangerous. These systems, which include networked sensors, wearables and other smart platforms including robots, are complex.

During the course of the partnership, researchers hope to develop shared, standard infrastructure for developing and testing collaborative autonomy--including a virtual proving ground that models and simulates existing facilities to enable a wide range of interactions between virtual and real-world actors.

"Currently, research teams are building their own simulation testbeds to evaluate their own algorithms and systems, which increases cost and delays development of significant innovations," said Jeffrey Herrmann, co-lead researcher on the agreement and UMD professor. "This collaboration will plan and develop a consistent modeling and simulation infrastructure that will include libraries of simulation models and tools for building and running them."

As part of another major research effort, the team will design novel approaches to ensuring closer and more trusted human-machine teaming and interaction. The team said this work could bolster technologies such as self-driving vehicles or mobile robots, which combine computer vision and remote sensing, robotics planning and control and other advanced specialties to navigate complex terrains and unstructured environments.

"These are very difficult topics that require extensive but diverse expertise," said Dinesh Manocha, co-lead researcher on the agreement and UMD professor. "This research and collaboration could be the glue to bring together the amazing students and faculty across UMD's campus doing exceptional work in AI and autonomy."

Manocha said the five-year partnership will help to rethink some of these problems from the ground up and possibly develop "next-generation technologies for AI and autonomy."

The research team also will draw on the expertise of domain scientists, data scientists, and cyberinfrastructure experts harnessing the explosion of available big data to drive novel discovery.

They will develop solutions for AI-based networking, sensing, and edge computing--which brings data storage and computation closer to a location--for the Internet of Battlefield Things, which connects humans with smart technology both on and off the battlefield. In particular, the team will work on strengthening the decision-making abilities of Army AI technology to meet the demands of today's national defense.

"To make a big impact in the research space, you need long-term, multi-institutional partnerships and collaborations. Working with the University of Maryland, College Park and the Army Research Lab will allow UMBC to collectively advance AI in the military space; we anticipate these technologies will also have civilian use and have a larger societal benefit," said Aryya Gangopadhyay, co-lead researcher and professor at UMBC.

The core principal investigators for this agreement are:

At UMD:

Derek Paley, Willis H. Young Jr. Professor and Director of the Maryland Robotics Center (Department of Aerospace Engineering and Institute for Systems Research)

Dinesh Manocha, Distinguished University Professor and Paul Chrisman Iribe Professor (Departments of Computer Science and Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Jeffrey Herrmann, Professor (Department of Mechanical Engineering and Institute for Systems Research)

At UMBC:

Aryya Gangopadhyay, Professor and Chair (Department of Information Systems)

Nirmalya Roy, Associate Professor (Department of Information Systems)

The cooperative agreement includes 27 investigators from UMD and UMBC representing a myriad of units and expertise--including, but not limited to, UMD's A. James Clark School of Engineering; College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences; College of Information Studies; Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute; and Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security. Other faculty will become involved as additional projects are pursued under this program.

As the Army's corporate research laboratory, ARL is operationalizing science to achieve transformational overmatch. Through collaboration across the command's core technical competencies, DEVCOM leads in the discovery, development and delivery of the technology-based capabilities required to make Soldiers more successful at winning the nation's wars and come home safely. DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory is an element of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command. DEVCOM is a major subordinate command of the Army Futures Command.

###
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- As its name suggests, dark matter -- material which makes up about 85% of the mass in the universe -- emits no light, eluding easy detection. Its properties, too, remain fairly obscure.

Now, a theoretical particle physicist at the University of California, Riverside, and colleagues have published a research paper in the Journal of High Energy Physics that shows how theories positing the existence a new type of force could help explain dark matter's properties.

"We live in an ocean of dark matter, yet we know very little about what it could be," said Flip Tanedo, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy and the paper's senior author. "It is one of the most vexing known unknowns in nature. We know it exists, but we do not know how to look for it or why it hasn't shown up where we expected it."

Physicists have used telescopes, gigantic underground experiments, and colliders to learn more about dark matter for the last 30 years, though no positive evidence has materialized. The negative evidence, however, has forced theoretical physicists like Tanedo to think more creatively about what dark matter could be.

The new research, which proposes the existence of an extra dimension in space-time to search for dark matter, is part of an ongoing research program at UC Riverside led by Tanedo. According to this theory, some of the dark matter particles don't behave like particles. In effect, invisible particles interact with even more invisible particles in such a way that the latter cease to behave like particles.

"The goal of my research program for the past two years is to extend the idea of dark matter 'talking' to dark forces," Tanedo said. "Over the past decade, physicists have come to appreciate that, in addition to dark matter, hidden dark forces may govern dark matter's interactions. These could completely rewrite the rules for how one ought to look for dark matter."

If two particles of dark matter are attracted to, or repelled by, each other, then dark forces are operating. Tanedo explained that dark forces are described mathematically by a theory with extra dimensions and appear as a continuum of particles that could address puzzles seen in small galaxies.

"Our ongoing research program at UCR is a further generalization of the dark force proposal," he said. "Our observed universe has three dimensions of space. We propose that there may be a fourth dimension that only the dark forces know about. The extra dimension can explain why dark matter has hidden so well from our attempts to study it in a lab."

Tanedo explained that although extra dimensions may sound like an exotic idea, they are actually a mathematical trick to describe "conformal field theories" -- ordinary three-dimensional theories that are highly quantum mechanical. These types of theories are mathematically rich, but do not contain conventional particles and so are typically not considered to be relevant for describing nature. The mathematical equivalence between these challenging three-dimensional theories and a more tractable extra dimensional theory is known as the holographic principle.

"Since these conformal field theories were both intractable and unusual, they hadn't really been systematically applied to dark matter," Tanedo added. "Instead of using that language, we work with the holographic extra-dimensional theory."

The key feature of the extra-dimensional theory is that the force between dark matter particles is described by an infinite number of different particles with different masses called a continuum. In contrast, ordinary forces are described by a single type of particle with a fixed mass. This class of continuum-dark sectors is exciting to Tanedo because it does something "fresh and different."

According to Tanedo, past work on dark sectors focuses primarily on theories that mimic the behavior of visible particles. His research program is exploring the more extreme types of theories that most particle physicists found less interesting, perhaps because no analogs exist in the real world.

In Tanedo's theory, the force between dark matter particles is surprisingly different from the forces felt by ordinary matter.

"For the gravitational force or electric force that I teach in my introductory physics course, when you double the distance between two particles you reduce the force by a factor of four. A continuum force, on the other hand, is reduced by a factor of up to eight."

What implications does this extra dimensional dark force have? Since ordinary matter may not interact with this dark force, Tanedo turned to the idea of self-interacting dark matter, an idea pioneered by Hai-Bo Yu, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at UCR who is not a coauthor on the paper. Yu showed that even in the absence of any interactions with normal matter, the effects of these dark forces could be observed indirectly in dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Tanedo's team found the continuum force can reproduce the observed stellar motions.

"Our model goes further and makes it easier than the self-interacting dark matter model to explain the cosmic origin of dark matter," Tanedo said.

Next, Tanedo's team will explore a continuum version of the "dark photon" model.

"It's a more realistic picture for a dark force," Tanedo said. "Dark photons have been studied in great detail, but our extra-dimensional framework has a few surprises. We will also look into the cosmology of dark forces and the physics of black holes."

Tanedo has been working diligently on identifying "blind spots" in his team's search for dark matter.

"My research program targets one of the assumptions we make about particle physics: that the interaction of particles is well-described by the exchange of more particles," he said. "While that is true for ordinary matter, there's no reason to assume that for dark matter. Their interactions could be described by a continuum of exchanged particles rather than just exchanging a single type of force particle."

###

Tanedo was joined in the research by Ian Chaffey, a postdoctoral researcher working with Tanedo; and Sylvain Fichet, a postdoctoral researcher at the International Center for Theoretical Physics - South American Institute for Fundamental Research in Brazil.

The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The title of the paper is "Continuum-Mediated Self-Interacting Dark Matter."
Cut Bank, MT (59427)

Today

Some clouds. Low 44F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. Low 44F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph.
CRISPR-based technologies offer enormous potential to benefit human health and safety, from disease eradication to fortified food supplies. As one example, CRISPR-based gene drives, which are engineered to spread specific traits through targeted populations, are being developed to stop the transmission of devastating diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.

But many scientists and ethicists have raised concerns over the unchecked spread of gene drives. Once deployed in the wild, how can scientists prevent gene drives from uncontrollably spreading across populations like wildfire?

Now, scientists at the University of California San Diego and their colleagues have developed a gene drive with a built-in genetic barrier that is designed to keep the drive under control. Led by molecular geneticist Omar Akbari's lab, the researchers engineered synthetic fly species that, upon release in sufficient numbers, act as gene drives that can spread locally and be reversed if desired.

The scientists describe their SPECIES (Synthetic Postzygotic barriers Exploiting CRISPR-based Incompatibilities for Engineering Species) development as a proof-of-concept innovation that could be portable to other species such as insect disease vectors. Spreading gene drives that limit pests that feast on valuable food crops is another example of a potential SPECIES application.

"Gene drives can potentially spread beyond intended borders and be hard to control. SPECIES offers a way to control populations in a very safe and reversible manner," said Akbari, a UC San Diego Division of Biological Sciences associate professor and senior author of the paper, which is published in the journal Nature Communications.

The idea behind the creation of SPECIES is reflective of the formation of new species in nature. As members of a single species separate over time, due to, for example, a new land formation, earthquake separation or other geological event, a new species eventually can evolve from the physical disconnection. If the new species eventually returns to mate with the original species, they could produce unviable offspring due to biological changes following the separation through a natural phenomenon known as reproductive isolation.

Working in the fly species Drosophila melanogaster, UC San Diego researchers and their colleagues at the California Institute of Technology, UC Berkeley and the Innovative Genomics Institute used CRISPR genetic-editing technologies to develop flies encoding SPECIES systems that are reproductively incompatible with wild versions of D. melanogaster.

"Even though speciation happens consistently in nature, creating a new artificial species is actually a pretty big bioengineering challenge," said Anna Buchman, the lead author of the paper. "The beauty of the SPECIES approach is that it simplifies the process, giving us a defined set of tools we need in any organism to elegantly bring about speciation."

Conceptually, when SPECIES are deployed in the wild in sufficient numbers, they can controllably drive through a population and replace all of their wild counterparts as they spread. Using malaria as an example, SPECIES mosquitoes could be developed with a genetic element that makes them incapable of transmitting malaria.

"You can spread an anti-malaria SPECIES into a target population in a confinable and controllable way," said Akbari. "Since SPECIES are incompatible with wild-type mosquitoes, their populations can be controlled and reversed by limiting their threshold population below 50 percent. This gives you the ability to confine and reverse its spread if desired."

As the SPECIES barrier completes its role in temporarily replacing wildtype populations, their numbers can be reduced with the reintroduction of wild type populations.

"This essentially allows us to harness all of the power of gene drives--like disease elimination or crop protection--without the high risk of uncontrollable spread," said Akbari.

###

###

Coauthors of the paper include Anna Buchman, Isaiah Shriner (former UC San Diego undergraduate student), Ting Yang, Junru Liu (current Biological Sciences PhD student), Igor Antoshechkin, John Marshall, Michael Perry and Omar Akbari.
Twice a day, at dusk and just before dawn, a faint layer of sodium and other metals begins sinking down through the atmosphere, about 90 miles high above the city of Boulder, Colorado. The movement was captured by one of the world's most sensitive "lidar" instruments and reported today in the AGU journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The metals in those layers come originally from rocky material blasting into Earth's atmosphere from space, and the regularly appearing layers promise to help researchers understand better how earth's atmosphere interacts with space, even potentially how those interactions help support life.

"This is an important discovery because we have never seen these dusk/dawn features before, and because these metal layers affect many things. The metals can fall into the ocean and act as fertilizer for ecosystems, the ionized metals can affect GPS radio signals," said Xinzhao Chu, CIRES Fellow, CU Boulder professor of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, and lead author of the new assessment.

It is the first time that the metal layers--which are not harmful to people--have been seen so regularly at these extreme heights in the atmosphere. Such high-altitude metal layers were discovered by Chu's group just 10 years ago above McMurdo, Antarctica, but there they occur more sporadically. Above Boulder, they're consistent, daily, and synched with winds that occur high in the atmosphere.

"Consistent daily patterns seen in our Boulder observations tell us that there are unknown processes at play, a golden opportunity for atmospheric scientists," said Jackson Jandreau who worked alongside Chu and Yingfei Chen in this study. Chen and Jandreau are both PhD students in Chu's group.

The discovery also gives researchers a window into a crucial part of the atmosphere that is challenging to observe. It's a complicated region where interactions between the sun, earth and our planet's magnetic field can end up creating the environmental conditions in which surface life can thrive, protected from the harsh space environment.

"There are metals in the atmospheres of other planetary bodies, such as Mars, and researchers look for Earth-like features on exoplanets as indicators for hospitable environments," Chu said. "Can these metal layers be one of these features?"

###

Her team used a powerful atmospheric lidar to detect and measure very small quantities of particles in the high atmosphere. Lidar is similar to radar, but lidar uses photons from a laser, instead of radio waves, to investigate the composition and structure of distant objects. Chu's group developed the highly sensitive instrument with funding from the National Science Foundation.
Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland have uncovered potential mechanisms by which microRNAs (miRNA) drive atherogenesis in a cell-type-specific manner. Published in the Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology journal, the study provides novel insight into the miRNA profiles of the main cell types involved in atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis is the underlying cause of most cardiovascular diseases and one of the leading causes of mortality in the world. During atherosclerosis, arteries become progressively narrow and thick due to the formation of plaques containing cholesterol deposits, calcium and cells, among other components. Although the role and contribution to atherosclerosis of endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and macrophages - the main cell types associated with disease progression in the vascular wall - has been previously described, the molecular mechanisms leading to gene expression changes during atherosclerosis in these cell types remain unknown. In particular, the cell-type specific expression and regulation of miRNAs in the disease context has remained unexplored. MiRNAs represent one class of small non-coding RNAs that regulate the protein production by binding to messenger RNAs of protein encoding genes and this way affect cell function and disease progression.

In this study, by integrating different next generation sequencing techniques, the researchers have provided a deeper understanding of the miRNA changes in primary human endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and macrophages under various pro-atherogenic stimuli, and discovered that the precursor forms of the miRNA (primary miRNAs) were highly expressed in a cell-type specific manner, suggesting distinct regulatory mechanisms on transcriptional level. In contrast, the large majority of mature miRNAs were common to all cell types and dominated by 2-5 abundant miRNA species. Moreover, the researchers uncovered microRNA-messenger RNA networks through which miRNAs could drive cell-type-specific responses. Given that miRNAs play an essential role in maintaining tissue homeostasis and can be dysregulated in pathological states, miRNA therapeutics that manipulate cellular miRNA levels are essential and have already entered clinical trials. Thus, these results are fundamental for the atherosclerosis research community and could serve as the basis for future development of cell-targeted therapeutics.

###

This study was performed in Associate Professor Minna Kaikkonen-Maatta's research group, and it was funded by the Academy of Finland, Emil Aaltonen Foundation, the Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research, Maud Kuistila Memorial Foundation, Orion Research Foundation, Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, Sigrid Juselius Foundation, Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation and the European Research Council (ERC).

For further information, please contact:

Academy Research Fellow, Associate Professor Minna Kaikkonen-Maatta, University of Eastern Finland, A.I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, minna.kaikkonen (at) uef.fi, tel. +35840 355 2413, https:/ / uefconnect. uef. fi/ en/ person/ minna. kaikkonen-maatta/

Postdoctoral Researcher Suvi Linna-Kuosmanen, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Cambridge, MA, and Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, suvil (at) mit.edu

https:/ / uefconnect. uef. fi/ en/ group/ cardiovascular-genomics-kaikkonen-lab/

Research article: Pierre R. Moreau, Vanesa Tomas Bosch, Maria Bouvy-Liivrand, Kadri Ounap, Tiit Ord, Heidi H. Pulkkinen, Petri Polonen, Merja Heinaniemi, Seppo Yla-Herttuala, Johanna P. Laakkonen, Suvi Linna-Kuosmanen*, Minna U. Kaikkonen*. Profiling of Primary and Mature miRNA Expression in Atherosclerosis Associated Cell Types. Atherosclerosis, thrombosis and Vasuclar biology. 2021. DOI: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.121.315579
URBANA, Ill. -When pigs get hit with significant illnesses during key stages of pregnancy, their immune response may negatively affect developing piglets, making them less productive on the farm. New research from the University of Illinois shows that when those piglets - especially males - experience a second stressor in early life, they are at higher risk of neurodevelopmental and other neurological anomalies, putting them at an even greater disadvantage in production settings.

"With more information about maternal illness, what we call maternal immune activation, we can make better decisions about how to handle these types of immune challenges within animal production settings," says Marissa Keever-Keigher, doctoral student in the Department of Animal Sciences at Illinois and lead researcher on the study.

Studying brain development in the domestic pig is relevant on the farm, of course, but pig studies can also inform human neurodevelopmental research. That's because the pig's development, genetics, brain structure, and more are very similar to our own.

In previous pig studies looking at the effects of maternal immune activation, Keever-Keigher and her colleagues showed important genetic changes occur in the piglet amygdala, a brain structure that plays an important role in learning, social behavior, and stress response in both humans and pigs.

The researchers also knew from primate and rodent studies that a second immune challenge, known as a double hit, can further disrupt typical brain development in young animals. To test the double hit hypothesis in pigs, the team chose weaning as the second challenge.

"While weaning is not itself an immune challenge, it is an extremely stressful time during a piglet's life and can elicit an immune response," says Haley Rymut, doctoral student in animal sciences and co-author on the study. "Piglets have to deal with a broad array of stressors, including physical stressors from being handled and moved, and emotional stressors from being taken away from the mom and placed with their peers. Any of those physical or emotional stressors can kick off an immune response."

The researchers looked at a combination of factors for piglets in the study: whether or not their moms were infected with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) during gestation, and whether or not they were weaned at 21 days of age, the typical age in production settings. They also noted the sex of the piglets, as their earlier research indicated male piglets showed more changes in the amygdala as a result of maternal illness.

"Using high throughput sequencing technologies, we were able to monitor the levels of more than 16,000 genes in the pigs. We uncovered more than 100 genes and molecular pathways affected by either maternal immune activation, weaning, sex, or a combination of factors in the amygdala on day 22 for all piglets. The effect of pre- and postnatal stressors on neuropeptide genes confirms the plasticity of the infant brain during development to respond and adapt to challenges," says Sandra Rodriguez-Zas, professor in animal sciences and faculty advisor to Keever-Keigher and Rymut. Rodriguez-Zas is principal investigator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded study.

Many of the genes expressed at higher or lower-than-typical rates in weaned piglets from virus-infected mothers have been associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) in previous studies. But genes relevant to other neurological disorders were affected too.

"We also found changes in expression of genes associated with neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington's and Alzheimer's disease," Keever-Keigher says.

As in the scientists' previous work, the double hit affected male piglets more than females, with greater dysregulation of genes in the amygdala. The researchers found evidence of more protective pathways in female brains, giving them an advantage in handling stressful events.

The study provides valuable clues for researchers studying ASD, SSD, and neurodegenerative disorders in humans, even though some aspects might not translate directly.

Rymut says, "For most children, weaning isn't nearly as stressful as it is for pigs in a production setting. But many other traumatic events early in childhood could set up that double hit."

On the farm, pigs from virus-infected mothers often show anti-social behaviors. Because pigs are typically group-housed and fed via communal feeders, pigs that don't like being around their peers are often last to feed and generally more stressed, leading to slower growth rates and lower overall body condition scores.

"The lesson for swine producers, I think, is to be really mindful of stressful conditions in the production cycle, and try to mitigate those as much as we can in order to create the most productive and healthy livestock animals and benefit producers' bottom lines," Keever-Keigher says.

Rymut adds, "Also, knowing how the different sexes respond could help producers manage animals that are less likely to be productive as a result of maternal immune activation."

###

The article, "Interacting impact of maternal inflammatory response and stress on the amygdala transcriptome of pigs," is published in G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics [DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkab113]. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "Dual Purpose for Dual Benefit" program (grant number 2018-67015-27413). Rod Johnson, professor and head of the Department of Animal Sciences is co-investigator on the grant and co-author on the G3 paper.

The Department of Animal Sciences is in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois.
The Vilcek Foundation and The Arnold P. Gold Foundation have announced Dr. Jirayut 'New' Latthivongskorn and Dr. Denisse Rojas Marquez as joint recipients of the 2021 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare

NEW YORK, June 2, 2021--The Vilcek Foundation and The Arnold P. Gold Foundation are pleased to announce that the 2021 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare is awarded to Dr. Jirayut "New" Latthivongskorn and Dr. Denisse Rojas Marquez. The Vilcek-Gold Award is a shared initiative of the Vilcek Foundation and the Gold Foundation that embodies the missions of both organizations: The award celebrates the contributions of outstanding immigrant healthcare professionals in the United States; the award also recognizes the positive impact that accessible, humanistic, and compassionate care has on public health.

Latthivongskorn and Rojas Marquez receive the 2021 Vilcek-Gold Award for their leadership in establishing Pre-Health Dreamers (PHDreamers) with Angel Ku. PHDreamers is a collective organization that provides information and resources to young immigrants who want to pursue higher education and careers in healthcare. They also receive the award in recognition of their advocacy in support of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Both have spoken publicly on the humanitarian impacts of immigration policy, and about the value of programs like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). In 2017, Rojas Marquez provided testimony at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in support of the DACA program, and Latthivongskorn was a plaintiff in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California--the case that brought DACA before the Supreme Court of the United States in 2019.

Latthivongskorn is a resident physician at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center; he completed his doctor of medicine degree at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and has a Master of Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Rojas Marquez is an incoming resident physician at Boston Medical Center and holds a doctor of medicine degree from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and a Master of Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Latthivongskorn and Rojas Marquez' commitment to advocacy in support of undocumented immigrants is compelling and personal. Both Latthivongskorn and Rojas Marquez immigrated to the United States with their families when they were children--Latthivongskorn from Thailand when he was 9 and Rojas Marquez from Mexico when she was less than a year old. Due to their respective ages at the time of their arrival in the United States, both were eligible to apply for DACA; both are currently DACA recipients. As adolescents, they witnessed their families encounter obstacles to accessing healthcare as a result of their immigration status; as a result of these experiences, they sought careers in healthcare and public health so that they could provide the kind of care to others that their own families struggled to receive.

"The advocacy of Jirayut 'New' Latthivongskorn and Denisse Rojas Marquez has offered immigrants greater access to education, opportunity, and representation," said Jan Vilcek, CEO and chairman of the Vilcek Foundation. "As DACA recipients and young medical professionals, their leadership is grounded in their own experiences. We recognize New and Denisse as the joint recipients of the 2021 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare to highlight the outstanding contributions that immigrants are making to our communities, our healthcare system, and our country."

Dr. Richard I. Levin, president and CEO of the Gold Foundation, said: "Humanism, like medicine itself as [William] Osler said, knows no boundaries or borders. We are honored to partner with the Vilcek Foundation to recognize the groundbreaking contributions of Jirayut 'New' Latthivongskorn and Denisse Rojas Marquez, both young doctors who have helped illuminate the way forward for so many others in advocating for a more fair, a more diverse, and thus a more humanistic healthcare system."

The 2019 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare was presented to Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha for her advocacy to address the lead-poisoning epidemic in Flint, Michigan. In 2020, the Vilcek-Gold Award was bestowed upon Dr. Vivek Murthy--19th and 21st Surgeon General of the United States--for his multi-faceted approach to addressing the opioid crisis, and for his advocacy and support of human- and community-centered care.

Hanna-Attisha reflected, "In a year like no other, our young healthcare leaders have bravely and tirelessly stood up for justice, equality, democracy, and opportunity. Leading the revolution, New and Denisse have paved the way for countless immigrants to not just dream, but to realize, a career in health care."

The Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare includes an unrestricted cash prize of $10,000, and a commemorative heart-shaped trophy. The award will be presented to Latthivongskorn and Rojas Marquez at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Annual Meeting in November 2021.

Read more about the Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare at the Vilcek Foundation.

###

The Vilcek Foundation

The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation for the arts and sciences. The foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation was inspired by Jan and Marica's respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $5.9 million in prizes to foreign-born individuals and has supported organizations with over $5.3 million in grants.

The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3).

The Arnold P. Gold Foundation

The Arnold P. Gold Foundation was founded in 1988 with the vision that healthcare will be dramatically improved by placing the interests, values, and dignity of all people at the core of teaching and practice. The Gold Foundation champions humanism in healthcare, which the foundation defines as compassionate, collaborative, and scientifically excellent care; the foundation embraces all, and targets any barriers that prevent individuals or groups from accessing this standard of care. The Gold Foundation empowers experts, learners, and leaders to create systems and cultures that support humanistic care for all.

The Arnold P. Gold Foundation is a public not-for-profit organization, a federally tax-exempt organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3).
Tuesday, June 1, 2021

TRANSCRIPT:

Matthew Spalding:

Hello, this is Matthew Spalding. Im the executive director of The 1776 Commission. Im also vice president of Hillsdale College back at our Washington, D.C., campus. Im joined today by Dr. Larry Arnn, who is the chairman of The 1776 Commission and also the president of Hillsdale College, and Dr. Carol Swain, who is a former professor of political science at Princeton and Vanderbilt universities, who is the vice-chair. Thank you both for being with me. As all of you know, The 1776 Commission issued The 1776 Report on January 18, 2021. And two days later, that report and the commission were abolished by executive order on January 20, 2021.

Matthew Spalding:

Despite that, The 1776 Commission has just met in Washington, D.C., at the Hillsdale College Washington, D.C., campus. Weve had a great meeting, and we will be issuing a statement about that. But the chairman and the vice chair are here to give us some of their sense of the meeting and some reactions so that we can get the message out to continue this great work of recovering the principles of the American founding and taking in the advice, but also the potential threats, that were issued by The 1776 Commission Report. With that, Dr. Arnn, would you like to give us some opening thoughts or comments about how the meeting went?

Larry P. Arnn:

I agree it was a great meeting. The commissioners are all people appointed because they have a lifelong interest in the meaning of the United States of America. We are very keen to see that we mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026 nobly, and in a way to revive understanding of it. Of course, that is in great disrepute today among most of the intellectual classes. And we think that is mistaken. It is a disastrous mistake. So we talked today, and we accepted appointment to this commission because its something we Its unthinkable that I or Carol would be asked, or you would be asked, by Joe Biden to serve on such a commission. But if he asks, we would, and thats because its what we do.

Larry P. Arnn:

The commissioners are all people like that. And so we took an oath, as a condition of service on the commission, to uphold the Constitution of the United States, terribly like the one that the military people and the president take; so weve sworn wed do that. And its a free country. Theres no law that we cant carry on and meet and talk You can buy the commissions issued report. We regard it as a beautiful report. You can get the report from Encounter Books. And its worth reading for a lotnot about a controversy. There is controversy here. Its worth reading about what is the meaning of the country. And its tremendous, so I invite you to see it.

Matthew Spalding:

And then the report, the original report is available on many websites, including Hillsdales and others. But the Encounter Books report that Dr. Arnn refers to has footnotes and some other commentary that we added with it. One of the criticisms was the report included no references. So we put references in it, including to a lot of mainstream historians who make the same argument as we do. So its full of all sorts of citations to the work weve been doing.

Larry P. Arnn:

Also, Joe Biden is footnoted.

Matthew Spalding:

The President is footnoted, which we thought was appropriate. So, the first lesson here was the commission continues, and it will continue, and we take that seriously because theres a lot of work to be done. Right, Carol?

Carol Swain:

Absolutely. And Im so excited that we met at this point in time. When I agreed to serve on the commission, it was in December when I gave my yes. And at that time, the election, we had preliminary results. It did not look good for President Trump, but I agreed to serve because I thought the mission was so important. And in my heart, I hoped and believed that President Biden, if he were to remain the President Elect or be elected Presidentat that time, the election was contestedthat he would keep the commission alive because it lends itself to such a bipartisan effort. It was about our nation, our founding, about educating our young people. Who could be against that? I was disappointed in President Biden when he, on the very first day of office, with the stroke of a pen, sought to eliminate the commission and its work.

Carol Swain:

But when youre dealing with truth and ideals, it takes more than that to eliminate the spirit of people who love America, who care about its future. This meeting today is taking place at a time when Americans across the country are awakening to critical theory, critical race theory, critical gender theory. Theyre seeing whats happening in the schools, the military, their workplaces, and how theres a divisive agenda to divide Americans and to teach our children to be anti-American. And what came out of todays meeting is that the people who convened, we see whats happening in America, and there are people who are reaching out to us, and they need hope, they need direction, they need inspiration. So I cant think of a better time for us to reconvene. I am excited about what lies ahead. It may look dismal out there right now, but there is hope in the American people, and there is hope in what we are doing, and it is not over yet.

Matthew Spalding:

As the three of us said in our initial statement when this commission was being abolished, as it was literally happening, you can abolish a commission, you can take a report down from a website, but you cannot erase our history.

Carol Swain:

And who we are. Were fighters.

Matthew Spalding:

And who we are, and this will continue. And it has continued. Just last week, we issued a statement to the Department of Education, commenting on their regulation, which is to direct federal funding towards essentially critical race theory and such studies on behalf of the federal government. We talked a lot in the meeting, Dr. Arnn, about curriculum and various curriculum projects, including one by Hillsdale College.

Larry P. Arnn:

Hillsdale College has a lot of involvement in the charter school world. Weve sponsored 25 charter schools, and there are soon to be 11 moremight be many more than that. And we have curricula, and were teachers for living, so we have an idea about how to set up a school and make it successful. And civics is a big thing to teach. Make no mistake. We are not contesting critical race theory and the New York Times 1619 Project. We dont like their model. We have a different model. We think that the stuff in the past happened, and you can find out what it is, and you must never tell the story of America without telling the story of slavery, a blemish on Americanot the only one, by the waybut also you have to tell the story of the mighty efforts that were made, and right from the beginning in the Declaration of Independence, to undercut the ground of slavery. You have to tell the whole story.

Larry P. Arnn:

If you tell the kids what were telling them today, heres what they learned. They learned, this is a very evil past, and were past all that now. Now were in a better shape. But the truth is, every age has got its blind spots and its injustices. We have them in our age now. Just think for a minute. Did we not just wipe out millions of businesses with pandemic policies? Maybe they were necessary, maybe not, but that was a big thing. So we want to tell the whole story. And thats what history is. Thats how you should teach it to the young.

Larry P. Arnn:

Then they can figure out, by the way, Thomas Jefferson was personally deeply troubled about slavery and did take massive steps against it, including especially engineering the Northwest Ordinance, which forbids slavery in the first five states added to the Union. But he was a slave holder, and he didnt liberate his slaves, even when he died. What should a young person conclude from that? Conclude that no life is perfect, even great lives have imperfections, and that should give them an additional motive to cultivate their own imperfection.

Carol Swain:

Its important that we tell the whole story. And the whole story is that the first Blacks that came to America served along with whites as indentured servants, and they were freed, and they became the basis of the free Black population in America. Some of the most prosperous Blacks in our nation are descendants of free Blacks. There were Black slave holders, there were Native American, as well as white. The other part of the story is that there were always whites who were abolitionists, who fought against slavery. And if you look at the aftermath of slavery, you have stories, such as Booker T. Washingtons up from slavery and the fact that he set up the Tuskegee Institute. The Tuskegee Institute was funded by white philanthropists as well as the Rosenwald Schools, 5,000 schools set up across the South to educate the newly freed slaves. The historically Black colleges and universities, they were funded by white philanthropy. And those parts of the country where they did not practice discrimination always had Black alumni.

Carol Swain:

New England, for example, you go back to many of those colleges, and they have black alumni going back to the 1800s. The history of America is far more complicated than anything that we are hearing right now. The best education we could give our young people is to have them read the original documents, read the autobiographies, and really study all sides of it. The Civil Rights movementit happened because whites and Blacks and others work together; people worked across religious lines. The story of America is a history of overcoming, a story of hope and optimism. That side needs to be told too.

Carol Swain:

It is very destructive to focus on just one part of the nations history and to argue that racism is permanent and that Blacks are victims. There is a civil rights movement that I watched as a child, and Ive benefited from that. There are people who were overcomers because of the passage of the civil rights laws of the 1960s. They created opportunities for people like me. That side of the story needs to be told. And I believe that in telling the full story of America, you will provide optimism for many minorities who hear this negative narrative about how oppressed they are and how racism is so permanent and it doesnt matter what they do. That is a life-sapping message that is not consistent with who we are as a people and our nations rich history.

Matthew Spalding:

One of the things that concerns me that we talked about quite a bit is how rapidly a lot of this is occurring, at the federal level, the state level; it just seems to be everywhere you turn. We want to restore a true history, an accurate history, look at history warts and all, but theres an aspect in which we need to be wary of things that are being imposed very quickly. Theres federal legislation. Theres a lot of activity at the state level. But really, we need to get this back down to the level of the school and school boards and parents, especially, in the effort to recover the education of their children. That seems to be a broader thematic, and a broader fight thats going on here is, who is in control of education, and how do we restore their authority so that we can teach that true history?

Larry P. Arnn:

In America, we have natural rights. Its good to think about the word nature. It comes from the Latin word for birth. It means the process of beginning and growth by which a living being comes to be. Human children take a long time to raise, and they are very dependent for a long time. They have a natural claim upon their parents for care, but that natural claim also gives their parents a natural authority over them when theyre minors. Just remember, were the only being that has a choice whether to have children or not, and yet our children are a lot of trouble to us. And if we dont take the trouble, the children dont grow up well. Early schooling, when the kids are still minors, before theyre 18 years old, that means all the way through high school, that means that the parents are legally and ultimately responsible for the child.

Larry P. Arnn:

The right way to set up education is The natural sovereign, I like to say, of education is the school, because thats when the parents and the teachers who know the children are gathered with the children to effect education. And thats the model that prevailed in K through 12 education in America until the 20th century. But now what do we have? We have more than half the employees at the public schools who are not school teachers. A lot of that majority spend their time writing rules about what should be done in the classroom, but they dont even go in those classrooms, and they never meet the children or the parents. Schools should be controlled close to the families and teachers of the children.

Carol Swain:

That was one of the themes that came out of our meeting today. We talked about how important it is for parents and Americans who care about education to get involved at the local level. We were encouraging people to organize, run for the school board, and to become involved with the educational process of what their children were being taught. Starting at the local level is essential. We need to resist federal efforts to nationalize educational curriculum, such as what is being proposed through this federal rule that the Biden Administration has put out.

Matthew Spalding:

I think that the effort to get it back down to those levels is crucially important, because it seems to me that the problem with a lot of these national efforts, especially now with federal legislation, and in a lot of states and state curriculums, is theyre being overwhelmed by these radical ideologies that are very quickly trying to undermine the good curriculums that are out there. I think too many parents and others are not doing what is necessary to reclaim the power they have. State legislatures have immense amounts of power; indeed, the constitutional responsibility over the curriculum taught in their states.

Matthew Spalding:

There are many that are reforming their curriculum. There are some, including Texas, which is looking to be a great model for other states, that are not only doing good work on their curriculum, but also actively pushing back against things like critical race theory, which is essentially teaching a racist pedagogy, but also this thing now called Action Civics, which is essentially treating civics not as a subject to be taught with content, but to essentially be a form of activism. There is something that needs to be pushed back against, simultaneously replacing it with a better alternative.

Carol Swain:

Yes. And with the Action Civics, it really involves pushing a particular progressive worldview. And its been going on for a while, because there were reports a few years ago of teachers without parental consent taken their students to protest rallies, maybe Black Lives Matter or whatever the current protest was. The teachers were involving their students at that level and offering extra credit if they participated. These are things that are certainly inappropriate. It takes the place of academic learning. There are some other things we ought to be concerned about when it comes to educational equity and some of the training that teachers are receiving, videos that are being shown to children; they really run up against the civil rights laws, in my opinion, because it does single out the white race in a way that many white children find themselves shamed. There can be elements of bullying involved and inappropriate material shown to children thats very disturbing.

Carol Swain:

That needs to be closely monitored. Its certainly inappropriate, and its happening in the K through 12 educational realm, and not just at public schools but also at some private schools and Christian schools. This is all part of an agenda that should not be taking place in our classrooms. It is a worldview thats being taught. And it takes the place of solid academics that young people should be learning. Parents have to be aware that something is taking place; and they are mobilizing. Parents are mobilizing. They are becoming aware of what their children are being taught.

Carol Swain:

This is a moment where I think that we are seeing a civil rights issue being played out. Its not the traditional civil rights issue where you had minorities oppressed racially, you had Blacks and Hispanics that had civil rights claims. At this moment, I believe a lot of white Americans have civil rights claims because theyre being demonized and singled out in a way thats totally inconsistent with American principles, and also even the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. In America, we dont single out people and demonize them because of the color of their skin or something their ancestors may have done.

Matthew Spalding:

The report talks about this when it talks about the history of the pro-slavery argument, an argument made by someone like John C. Calhoun. The introduction of distinguishing people by group identity, especially racial identity, is almost always a dangerous thing. But Carol, something you said, and I was going to ask both of you about this. I think one thing that is important, which we discussed some, is for people to realize that the problems which were describing go by various names. Indeed, the language keeps changing. Identity politics, critical race theory, critical theories, equity. And then with civics, there used to be something called service learning. Then there was Action Civics, the new civics. It is important not to get confused by the technical language that seems to be being used today or tomorrow, but to see through all that and understand the principles, the larger thing thats going on here, which is an ideological replacement of our own history with something else, with an intended political outcome. And that seems to be the very We need to be able to see through and see whats really going on here.

Carol Swain:

Well, one of the things that you see, they talk about educational equity. Theyre not equal opportunity, where you remove barriers and you try to create an environment where everyone can compete to be the best. When they talk about racism, it doesnt mean what racism used to mean. According to that definition, all white people are racist, and they are expected to acknowledge that and to become actively anti-racist by challenging racism. This model thats being put forth and pushed by our government, were no longer seeking a colorblind society. They want us to be color conscious. They want to teach young children how to group and categorize their classmates by race. That is so anti-American.

Matthew Spalding:

Right. Including themselves. You have to understand that you are part of a category that is inherently racist perhaps.

Larry P. Arnn:

Young people grow up at a certain rate. At the College, we have 18- to 21-year-olds. And theyve gotten to the age where they can do anything we can do. They just never have before. So they still need time to mature. Now, this activism as a curriculum, what that does is take a bunch of kids who havent had time to learn and put them to work in controversial efforts. That means that you deprive them of their time to learn. Its a kind of child abuse. And its going on. If you want to see that taken to extreme, and it will be here if it keeps going, read the novel 1984, where every kid has to go to school, and theyre incorporated into a club called The Spies. And what they do is spy on their parents and denounce their parents and other adults, who are arrested and tortured. The point is, why dont you spend your time? Slavery is a big question. Study it, find out about it. No, go protest about it is not a good way to learn.

Carol Swain:

Dr. Arnn, some years ago, some of this stuff has been going on for a while, but I can remember a colleague at the university, and I wont say which one of the two universities, but he wrote an opinion piece. And he told the students to go home for Thanksgiving and challenge your parents and your grandparents when they make their racist statements. He was actually encouraging them to go home for this holiday and to spy on their parents and to challenge their parents. I think that that was at the college level. Now theyre doing it at K through 12. Theyre turning the children against the parents and grandparents.

Matthew Spalding:

As we wrap up our time here, I want to ask you both about a general thing, which isand Carol, you already mentioned this by noting that there are a lot of parents mobilizing. There are people deeply concerned about this. When it was announced that the commission was going to meet again, I cant tell you how many emails and texts I got from friends I hadnt heard from in a long time. The press was asking questions about, Why are you meeting? How can you meet? You were abolished. It strikes me that there is a lot going on in this country. There are a lot of negative things were watching. There are a lot of positive things going on. There are people wanting to get involved and do more things. And when the media would ask me about it, Are you guys coordinating all this?

Matthew Spalding:

I think the answer is no, were not. Were a commission. Were going to continue to exist. Were going to say things. Were going to be involved in, all of us, in our own work. Well continue to be involved in our work. But we want to encourage and commend the American people to get more involved, in the spirit of citizen participation to get involved in school boards, as you said earlier, and do all the things; as parents, get more involved in education; as local communities, trying to influence the writing of a curriculum; as state legislatures. That strikes me as an extremely American thing on the order of American history. And the role that I think the commission can play is like a committee of correspondents during the American revolution, encouraging that, because there is a movement out there. It is not us. It is a movement in America, and we just want to encourage it.

Carol Swain:

I can tell you that in 2011, I published a book, Be the People: A Call to Reclaim Americas Faith and Promise. Then last fall, after the election, I wrote a new introduction for that book. It was all about encouraging the We the People in the Preamble of the Constitution to stand up and take responsibility for the nation that they have. Because when we dont like what policymakers are doing and what people are doing around us, its our government. We put our leaders there. They enact those policies and programs supposedly on our behalf. We have a mechanism to change it. What we are witnessing right now is the people, the We the People awakening and becoming involved, and that was how the Constitution was supposed to work. That is how our nation is supposed to work. We certainly applaud it, we encourage it, and we need more people to stand up and make their voices heard. Its We the People. The power rests in our hands.

Matthew Spalding:

Dr. Arnn, last thoughts?

Larry P. Arnn:

Our activist agenda is simple to understand: teach and learn. Theyre very fundamental arguments, and theyre sweeping the country, and they have enormous political force behind them. But political force by itself can never establish a truth. What people need to do is think about whats going on and read up on it; read the past, and know the history of the country, and teach it to their children.

Matthew Spalding:

Great. I thank you both for your time. The 1776 Commission will continue. It will continue its work, because there is much work to be done and because these abiding principles in this great history that is America cannot be erased as much as they try. It will continue because of these great Americans on this commission and all those others around the country who are working so hard to recover the principles of the American founding and this country. Thank you both.

Speaker 4:

For additional information on the 1776 Commission and to download the 1776 Report, go to hillsdaleforliberty.com/1776report. Thats hillsdaleforliberty.com/1776report.
June 1, 2021, Los Angeles, California - - Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman attorney and vice president R. Brent Wisner was selected as a winner of Law360's Rising Stars award for product liability. Law360 chose Attorney Wisner from a pool of more than 1,400 applicants based on several high-profile case results over the last few years.

Law360 gives its Rising Stars awards to the top legal talent under 40. The winners are top litigators and dealmakers practicing at a level usually seen from veteran attorneys. R. Brent Wisner has undoubtedly caught the attention of his peers after helping negotiate one of the largest mass tort settlements of the last decade and earning one of the largest personal injury verdicts in United States historyall before he turned 38.

$10 Billion Roundup Settlement with Bayer

In June of last year, Bayer AG (formerly Monsanto) announced settlements in principle with Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman and other leading law firms in the Monsanto Roundup litigation. The settlements resolved tens of thousands of cases for over $10 billion. Fierce Pharma called the agreement "the largest settlement in pharma history," as Bayer is known primarily as a pharmaceutical company.

Each law firm completed individual settlement agreements, which came after over a year of negotiations and three straight trial losses for Bayer. Brent served on the trial teams in all three Roundup trials and was co-lead counsel in the first and third Roundup trials. The first trial, Johnson v. Monsanto Co., resulted in a groundbreaking $289 million verdict for Mr. Johnson. The third trial, Pilliod et al. v. Monsanto Co., resulted in a $2.055 billion verdict for the plaintiffs.

In addition to his role as co-lead trial counsel, Brent spent countless hours negotiating with Bayer to reach the Roundup settlement.

"Our firms have collectively sounded the alarm about the dangers of Roundup for years," Mr. Wisner said after the settlement announcement. "While today's settlement is welcome news for our clients who need and deserve financial relief as quickly as possible, we will continue to do everything in our power to get Bayer and the EPA to change the Roundup label so it accurately reflects the link to cancer. A fair and accurate safety warning to all consumers who use this product is long overdue."

$2.055B Verdict in Pilliod et al. v. Monsanto Co.

Pilliod et al. v. Monsanto Co. was the third Monsanto Roundup lawsuit to proceed to trial. Brent served as co-lead counsel for Alva and Alberta Pilliod, a California couple who alleged exposure to Roundup weed killer caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Brent delivered the opening and closing statements, presented most of the scientific evidence, and cross-examined many of Monsanto's experts.

After weeks of trial, the jury returned a verdict on May 13, 2019, awarding $2.055 billion to the plaintiffs. The jury found that Roundup caused the Pilliods' cancer and that Monsanto failed to warn consumers of this severe health hazard. The jury also found that Monsanto acted with malice, oppression, or fraud and should be punished for its conduct.

With the Pilliod verdict, Brent became the youngest attorney to ever earn a multi-billion-dollar jury award. Pilliod was the ninth-largest personal injury jury verdict in U.S. history and the second-largest jury verdict in the U.S. for 2019.

The judge overseeing the Pilliod trial denied Monsanto's (now Bayer) motion for JNOV (judgment notwithstanding verdict) but conditionally granted Monsanto's motion for a new trial unless the Pilliods consented to the reduced judgment of $86.74 million. The Pilliods accepted the reduction and Monsanto filed its appeal, which is pending.

$289M Verdict in Dewayne "Lee" Johnson v. Monsanto Co.

Dewayne "Lee" Johnson v. Monsanto Co. was the first Monsanto Roundup lawsuit to proceed to trial. Brent, who was 34 at the time, was co-lead counsel for Mr. Johnson. He delivered the opening and closing statements, presented most of the scientific evidence, and cross-examined many of Monsanto's experts.

On August 10, 2018, the jury awarded Mr. Johnson $289 million, finding that Roundup caused Mr. Johnson to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma and that Monsanto failed to warn of this severe health hazard. The jury also found that Monsanto should be punished for its conduct and awarded punitive damages to Mr. Johnson. The Johnson verdict was the second-largest in California for 2018, and in the top 10 nationally.

The judge overseeing the Johnson case later reduced the punitive damages to $39.25 million, which brought the combined damages to $78.5 million. Monsanto (now Bayer) went on to appeal the jury verdict. Brent assisted with writing the appeal brief and helped prepare for argument.

In 2020, the First District Court of Appeal upheld the jury verdict, finding that Monsanto is liable on the failure-to-warn claims because substantial evidence was presented that Roundup's risks were "known or knowable" to Monsanto. The Court reduced the total damages to $20.5 million. Bayer did not seek Supreme Court review, so the litigation has concluded.

Monsanto Roundup Class Action Litigation

Brent and Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman managing partner Michael L. Baum were among the attorneys of record in the Roundup class action litigation, which accused Monsanto and ScottsMiracle-Gro of illegal marketing, distribution, sale, and promotion of Roundup products.

The class alleged that a statement appearing on some Roundup product labels, which states that glyphosate, a key ingredient, "targets an enzyme found in plants but not in people or pets," is false and misleading. During discovery, Brent was able to get Monsanto to concede that glyphosate does, in fact, influence an enzyme in the human gut biome, which could lead to significant health effects.

In March of 2020, Bayer agreed to pay $39.5 million to settle allegations that its Monsanto unit ran misleading advertisements for Roundup. As part of the proposed settlement, the language will be removed from applicable Roundup labels.

Painters & Allied Trades Dist. Council 82 Health Care Fund v. Takeda Pharm. Co.

In this case, Brent successfully briefed and argued before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a California court decision in a federal RICO class action. The complaint was filed on behalf of a healthcare fund and consumers from multiple states against defendants Takeda and Eli Lilly.

The allegations in Painters involve Actos (pioglitazone), a drug that was developed and marketed lower blood sugar for people with type 2 diabetes. The plaintiffs in the case allege the drug makers intentionally misled consumers and refused to change the warning label for Actos or otherwise inform the public after learning the drug increased the risk of bladder cancer in patients taking the medication.

The case marks an important evolution of RICO law both in the Ninth Circuit and nationally because it paves the way for economically harmed plaintiffs to bring civil RICO claims against drug manufacturers. The availability of a national cause of action that allows for trebled damages gives aggrieved consumers and third-party payers the ability to prevent and discourage economic windfalls made by drug companies at the expense of people's health.

In June of 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly Co.'s appeal.

About R. Brent Wisner

R. Brent Wisner is an attorney and senior shareholder at Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman where he focuses his practice on pharmaceutical litigation, toxic-tort injuries, class actions, and consumer fraud litigation.

One of Baum Hedlund's lead trial attorneys, Brent takes great pride in working up all facets of litigationfrom briefing, expert discovery, through trial and, if needed, appeal. He is the youngest attorney ever to earn a multi-billion-dollar jury award. After his groundbreaking work in the Monsanto litigation, Brent is widely viewed as one of the nation's top trial lawyers.
Wednesday, June 2, 2021

It is difficult to say how many Vietnam veterans have been affected by Agent Orange. However, any veteran who served in Vietnam between January 9, 1962, and May 7, 1975, is presumed by the VA to have been exposed to Agent Orange. Other locations of likely exposure to Agent Orange include the Korean Demilitarized Zone and Thailand. Approximately 250,000 of the 697,000 U.S. veterans who served in the 1991 Gulf War are afflicted with enduring chronic multi-symptom illness, a condition with serious consequences.

The presumption of service connection designation has not been established by the VA for Gulf War Syndrome, nor for damage from Burn Pits. A Bill making its way through Congress dubbed the Veterans Right to Breathe Act seeks to presume a service connection for nine conditions related to veterans burn pit exposure. These conditions include:

Asthma

Emphysema

Chronic bronchitis

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

Constrictive bronchiolitis

Granulomatous disease

Interstitial lung disease

Lung cancer

Pneumonia

Dr Carol Henricks, MD, is not waiting on the VA. She is treating Burn Pit victims, and has been treating veterans in her NorthStar Hyperbarics, Tucson, Arizona clinic since 2004. Her clinic is part of The Patriot Clinics Network and the TreatNOW Coalition. Trained in neurology, she has developed a Protocol for military veterans who have Post Concussive Syndrome and Burn pit exposure. She is working closely with BurnPits360.org, a leader in demanding justice for Burn Pit victims. U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced the bipartisan and bicameral Presumptive Benefits for War Fighters Exposed to Burn Pits and Other Toxins Act. This bill would provide presumptive U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs benefits to servicemembers who have deployed and have illnesses due to exposure to burn pits and other toxins. Approximately 3.5 million veterans have been exposed to burn pits that spewed toxic fumes and carcinogens into the air.

We reproduce Dr Henricks Protocol here with her permission.

As we all know, any veteran we have seen in our clinic with toxic burn pit exposure also has PCS, at a minimum. Brain injury conditions cannot heal if there is persistent toxicity or nutrient deficiency. Initial evaluation for participation in our Patriot Clinic program requires an assessment by Dr. Henricks. Assessment will be done at her neurology office at 7596 N La Cholla Blvd, Tucson AZ 85741. Phone number: 520-229-1238. Combat veterans from the post  9-11 period will be considered.



Initial assessment involves interview and exam with Dr. Henricks. If the veteran has been exposed to injury causing conditions testing is initiated. All veterans do a RightEyeQ as a baseline of visual function / brain function. Brain MRI  DTI  NQ without contrast is also a baseline test of brain injury. We do hair analysis (Great Plains Lab Toxic & Essential Elements; Hair sample) and urine test for toxicity ( Great Plains Lab Toxic Non-Metal Chemical Profile Urine test which includes Industrial Toxicants / Organophosphate Insecticide Metabolites / Pyrethroid Insecticide / Markers for Mitochondria Function ). Qualified veterans meet with my colleague Dr. Tim Marshall (PhD in neuropharmacology and neurotoxicity). Extensive blood work is done as needed including endocrine screening: each veteran is provided with a nutrient optimization program and detox protocol as needed. IV detoxification and nutrient support is available from IV nurse Carol Ann Smith. An initial 40 x 1 hour sessions with HBOT at 1.5 ata with 100 % Oxygen is completed by all participants followed by a reassessment appointment with Dr. Henricks. After 40 treatments patients will see Dr. Cynthia Dowdall (PhD Psychologist) to assess their need for cognitive  behavioral therapy, counseling and / or neurofeedback.

Care for each patient is individualized and dependent on the health issues of the veteran and the degree and type of toxicity. All of the testing, care and supplements is provided by sponsorship from Healing Arizona Veterans. VA / Tricare does not cover these treatments.

Any Veteran who thinks they have been exposed to Burn Pits is encouraged to register with the VA. Much more information is available through Rosie Torres at https://burnpits360.org/ and by calling Dr. Henricks or TreatNOW. Additional information about the registry can be found at https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/burnpits/registry.asp.

The information provided by TreatNOW.org does not constitute a medical recommendation. It is intended for informational purposes only, and no claims, either real or implied, are being made.
"It's only when the tide goes out that you discover who has been swimming naked."

Warren Buffett is perhaps the most frequently quoted investor, but of all the times he has been quoted, the quotation above is his most famous. He simply means that when the economy is doing well (the tide is coming in), you don't see their swimsuits. But when the economy sinks (the tide is going out), that is when you see who isn't wearing a swimsuit. Not a pretty picture!

The tide has gone out globally, especially in Latin America where nearly every nation is standing there, naked. It is hard to find a nation that is not in social or economic or political turmoil, sometimes two of those, sometimes all three.

As just one example, violence in the streets of Colombia has killed dozens and that number grows daily, along with hundreds who have been arrested or who are simply listed as 'missing".

As another, Costa Rica has severe economic problems and has had to turn to the IMF as a "lender of last resort" while its credit rating is deep into "highly speculative" territory. In search of income, Costa Rica chose to open its borders to all without requiring either a Covid test or proof of vaccination and now is suffering a terrible surge in infections and deaths.

Bolivia, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and of course, Venezuela, pretty much everyone is facing serious problems  except Panama.

Panama is the exception in Latin America. Why? We had a major drop in national income (GDP) last year and a major rise in unemployment. By all rights, we should have had angry demonstrations, mobs shouting obscenities, destruction of property, and even violence toward people. We have had none of that.

What difference does it make? After 54 years of living and working as a consultant to private and public companies and institutions in some 45 nations that were once Third World, then Developing Nations, then today's Frontier and Emerging Markets, I may not have seen it all, but I have seen plenty.

If you plan to invest or relocate to another nation, be very sure you know as much as possible about its economic, political, and social reality. If things go wrong for the people who live in your area, they can go wrong for you too. You should not take sides, but you need to be aware that they exist. It is the same in every country, but most important in countries where you don't speak the language or simply live on the surface, expecting to be ignored. When things get bad, no one is ignored.

For more information about relocation to Panama, feel free to download a report from my non-profit site (no ads, no sales, no donations, simply free) dedicated to relocators from all over the world at Retirement Wave
Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Penn Jones was the first conspiracy theorist to promote so-called mysterious deaths, and he wrote a series of books (Forgive My Grief) on that theme. Argosy magazine, in March 1977, published a major article on that theme and they started with Rose Cherami:

Many conspiracy books (Crossfire by Jim Marrs; High Treason by Robert Groden and Harrison Livingstone; and Cover-Up by Gary Shaw) have claimed that Rose Cherami was killed as a result of a hit and run. J im Garrison also claimed she was the victim of a hit and run driver , despite the fact that he had a copy of Francis Fruge's report from April 4, 1967:

Rose Cherami's son, Dr. Michael Marcades, has come out with a new book about his mother - Rose Cherami: Gathering Fallen Petals.

You can buy Dr. Marcades' book here.

Cherami's death is no longer a hit and run. The new story is that she was shot. Conspiracy theorist Gary Shaw has written the introduction: (page 2)

"Rose died at age 41, her death sinisterly shrouded in mystery. Many believe she had to be silenced because she knew too much and therefore was a threat to the real killers of our President."

and: (page 11)

"She could actually identify some of the people who were participants in the President's murder. To an astute and honest person, her death was no accident -- Rose was murdered!"

And, Joan Mellen, in her book A Farewell To Justice, writes: (page 207)

"Rose Cheramie's death certificate reads "bullet hole in head," although hospital records maintain no bullet hole. Her death was ruled, "accidental." Fruge could uncover no record of the driver who killed Rose at the address he had provided. Jim Garrison requested that Rose Cherami's body be exhumed, but Texas authorities refused to comply."

Here is Rose Cherami's death certificate:

As you can see the death certificate does not state "bullet hole in head." It states the cause of death was a "Traumatic Head wound with subdural subarachnoid & Petechial Hemorrhage to the brain caused by being struck by auto." You can also see that there was a nine-hour interval between being struck and death.

Here is an article from the Tyler Morning Telegraph of September 6, 1965:

The medical examiner said that she died of a "massive cerebral hemorrhage." There is no evidence of a gunshot.

Michael Marcades' book contains some additional documents from the Gladewater Municipal Hospital. Here are the comments from the hospital report: (page 376)

"This is an adult WF who was brought to the ER of the hospital comatose and unresponsive. She has deep punctate stellate type laceration noted over the right side of the forehead. There is a deep extensive 15+ cm. laceration extending completely around the left posterior scalp area, extending down to the underlying cranium and effectively lifting the scalp from the underlying skull. The external auditory canal on the left is filled with blood and the entire left ear is swollen and contused in appearance. The pupils are large and unresponsive to light. There is blood in the pharynx and mouth. There is the odor of alcohol to the breath. The pt.'s breathing is regular and essentially normal. She is swollen and contused over the entire left side of the face. The neck is supple, but each time the pt.'s head is turned toward the right side she apparently has occlusion of her airway and becomes slightly cyanotic and has vomiting. She has open airway and normal respiratory exchange and no vomiting occurs when she is lying with her head to the left side. She is contused over the left shoulder and there is crepitation of bones in the left forearm with deformity. There are scattering rales over both lung fields and markedly impaired breathing sounds. The skin is cold and clammy to palpation. The abdomen is soft and flaccid and no specific organomegaly or evidence of internal injury to the abdomen is noted. There are contusions over both lower extremities, but there are no deformities noted. The lacerations of the scalp were cleansed and sutured and dressings applied. There was closed reduction of the left forearm with application of a cast, and there was a cutdown with a venous catheter applied to the left leg, and the pt. is being transferred to her room in very poor condition."

The second note reads: (pages 378-379)

"This 41 yr. old WF was admitted on 9/4/65 from the ER. The history obtained from the ambulance driver was that the pt. was apparently run over by an automobile near Hawkins and she was taken to a Hawkins doctor. He examined her and had the ambulance bring her on to our hospital in Gladewater. When she was seen in our ER she was comatose and unresponsive. She had a deep punctate stellate laceration over the right side of the forehead and a deep long laceration extending completely around the left posterior scalp, extending down to the underlying cranium. The left external auditory canal was filled with blood and the left side of the face was swollen and contused in appearance. The pupils were large and unresponsive to light. There was blood in the nose and mouth. She was swollen and contused over the entire left side of the face. The neck was supple, but each time the head was turned to the right side the pt. apparently had occlusion of her airway, because she would become cyanotic and begin to vomit. She had crepitation over the left forearm and evidence of a fracture of this. BP was 90/70 and she was clinically in shock. In the ER a cutdown was performed on the left leg and fluids were started. The laceration of her scalp was sutured and dressing were applied and then she was taken to her room. She remained cold and clammy and unresponsive for the next several hours and then suddenly had an elevation of BP to an extremely high level and the BP suddenly dropped and the pt. expired. Due to the nature of the accident, which apparently was responsible for the pt.'s condition. A coroner autopsy was requested. Dr. Jones performed the gross examination at postmortem and I spoke to him over the telephone. Although I have no official report on it, he stated that at the time of his gross examination, examination of the brain revealed marked gross areas of contusion but no specific lacerations or specific bleeding points were noted. No specific reason for bleeding from the right ear other than the contusions of the cerebrum were observed by him. The lungs were markedly edematous and heavy and boggy he stated. The abdominal organs did not appear to be lacerated and no specific internal difficulty of that nature was observed by him. These organs were sent to the headquarters in Austin for microscopic evaluation. The impression as to the cause of death was that the pt. was apparently struck by an automobile. She had clinical shock with extensive cerebral contusions and intracranial hemorrhage, lacerations of the forehead and scalp, and a fracture of the left forearm and contusion of the chest with marked pulmonary edema."

Now, I am not a medical expert, but it doesn't sound like she was shot. The doctors actually sutured her scalp lacerations and dressed the wounds. She was then transferred to her room, albeit in very poor condition. I sent the hospital description to one of my best friends, who is a doctor, and he agreed that she was not shot.

Some conspiracy theorists focus on the phrase, "deep punctate stellate type laceration," as proof that she was shot. But even Dr. Cyril Wecht disagrees:

Dr. Cyril Wecht, the longtime coroner of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and a prominent, national expert in forensic pathology (and vociferous Warren Commission critic), studied the hospital records of Cherami's death and, while he found the description of her wounds (specifically, the notation of deep punctate stellate type lacerations posted over the right side of her forehead) somewhat confusing, concluded, "There is nothing to suggest a gunshot wound or any other kind of penetrating injury. (Cyril Wecht, August 29, 2001, letter to Robert Dorff, quoted in Dorff's presentation at the JFK Lancer November in Dallas Conference 2003, DVD, JFK Lancer Co.)

The idea that Rose Cherami was murdered because of her foreknowledge of the assassination was always a ridiculous idea. Why would conspirators let her live almost two years after the assassination? And, why did the supposed conspirators in the car near Eunice in November 1963, just toss her out while she was still alive? Wouldn't it have been dangerous for them to have her out there - ready to speak, as she supposedly did?

Previous Blog Posts on Rose Cherami

An Important New Find Regarding Rose Cherami

Did Dr. Wayne Owens Hear Rose Cherami Predict the JFK Assassination?

Did Rose Cherami Ever Work For Jack Ruby?

Did Rose Cherami Watch the Dallas Motorcade on Television?

Francis Fruge's Conversations with Rose Cherami about the JFK Assassination

Did Anybody Hear Rose Cherami Predict the JFK Assassination?

Did Rose Cherami Provide Valuable Information on Dope Smuggling?

Jim Garrison (and Others) on Rose Cherami
The fate of a historic building in west downtown has pitted a family seeking to make their property more appealing for potential development against residents concerned about precedent and preserving their neighborhoods cultural heritage.

The Lim family wants to demolish most of the Whitt Printing Co. building, which sits on a 1.1-acre property they own at Houston, Commerce and Frio streets that also includes their Golden Star Cafe restaurant.

They cannot afford to renovate the circa-1930 building and have no use for it, but are willing to save the facade, attorney Patrick Christensen told the Historic and Design Review Commission (HDRC) last month.

They have used the building for storage and it has fallen into disrepair, with storms causing damage to it.

Razing the building would make the property more attractive to developers who have expressed interest in buying it and constructing a mixed-used project, Christensen said.

They are unwilling to purchase it unless they know what they can do with the Whitt structure, which is designated as a historic landmark and also within the Cattleman Square Historic District.

On ExpressNews.com: Henry Cisneros can tell you - development on the West Side isnt easy

With more apartments and offices planned in the urban core, more development on the near West Side is anticipated. The Whitt building is across from VIA Metropolitan Transits Centro Plaza hub and near the Scobey complex, a row of industrial structures the agency wants to redevelop. The University of Texas at San Antonios downtown campus about two blocks north is undergoing an expansion.

But several organizations  including the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, Historic Westside Residents Association and Tier One Neighborhood Coalition  are opposed to the Lim familys proposal. They are concerned about more historic buildings in the area being demolished and the precedent the Whitt buildings destruction would set.

On May 5, the HDRC rejected the familys request to remove the buildings historic designation and tear most of it down after commissioners expressed reservations about the areas preservation and the absence of a plan for the propertys redevelopment.

The Lim family immigrated from China in the 1930s and have operated a restaurant on the West Side since arriving in San Antonio, Christensen told the panel. They purchased the Whitt building in the 1980s.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio panel denies request to raze historic West Side building

They hired an engineering firm in 2017 to evaluate the building and found that it would be expensive to rehabilitate, Bo Jean Lim wrote in an April 25 letter to city staff. It was originally bought to be demolished for parking and has been listed for sale for more than two years.

Lim also provided a copy of an email purportedly from a member of the Whitt family, who said she supports demolishing the Whitt building because of its condition.

City staff recommended denial because they said the Lim family had neither provided evidence that the building no longer meets the criteria for designation nor shown that it could not be adapted or sold, which would mean it posed an unreasonable economic hardship.

In an unusual move after the HDRCs denial, the family sought permission from the Zoning Commission to remove the buildings designation. The case was set to be voted on by the commission Tuesday and at the City Council meeting Thursday, District 5 Councilwoman Shirley Gonzaless last meeting in office.

The property is located in District 5.

But last week, the city received an anonymous call about the buildings worsening condition following heavy rains, Michael Shannon, director of the Development Services Department, told the Zoning Commission.

Staff determined that it was unsafe and initiated an emergency demolition by neglect process  an unusual occurrence. Typically, the city pursues an emergency demolition because of a disaster, such as a fire, destroying most of a building. The Whitt buildings deteriorating condition was worsened by the recent rain, Shannon said.

Machinery was set up near the building after the Lim family called a contractor to have the equipment ready to go. But the family wants to comply with the process, Christensen said.

Over the weekend, residents and local organizations held a press conference and vigil at the site to express their concerns about the neighborhoods erosion and what they see as a subversion of the citys process for historic structures.

During the zoning meeting Tuesday, they reiterated their worries.

The Esperanza Peace & Justice Center is renovating the building at 1602 N. Zarzamora Street that housed Lermas Nite Club. The structure is bigger than the Whitt building and was in worse condition when the organization got involved, said Esperanza representative Susana Segura. They secured funding to stabilize the building.

Removing the historic zoning overlays would create a loss of significance that would set the groundwork for future demolition requests in this and other historic districts and landmarks, said Tony Garcia of the Tier One Neighborhood Coalition.

But other San Antonio residents who spoke during the meeting said they supported the zoning change because the building is in poor shape and unsafe. It is just an accident waiting to happen, one said.

A plan is being developed to mitigate the hazard, which could include stabilizing it or some form of demolition, Shannon told the Zoning Commission. An emergency HDRC meeting is scheduled for Wednesday night to consider the plan.

The Zoning Commission ultimately voted to postpone the case to July 6 so the HDRC could evaluate the plan, but some commissioners said they were reluctant to do so.

I dont believe that property owners should be rewarded for creating public nuisances and then being allowed to tear down, saying, Well, its too far gone ... Youve created that safety hazard by not maintaining your building properly, said Commissioner Summer Greathouse, who represents District 1. I believe that its a windfall to property owners. It incentivizes the wrong type of behavior.

If we wanted to say, Well, the building is unstable, what about the Alamo? she said. The Alamo was unstable for many years, so we have just torn down the Alamo or any other building? I think that the city needs to figure out a way to incentivize the correct behavior.

There are three potential outcomes: partial or total demolition or stabilization of the Whitt building, said city spokeswoman Ximena Copa-Wiggins. If the HDRC approved a demolition plan, the Lim family would not have to have the historic designation removed to move forward with razing it.

Gilberto Whitt was a politician, author, printer and publisher in Mexico who fled to San Antonio during the Mexican Revolution, according to a city report.

He started a business here and printed Spanish-language publications at a time when San Antonio had more Spanish publishing houses than any other U.S. city. The company remained in operation until the late 1970s.

madison.islzer@express-news.net
BEIRUT (AP)  Lebanons president and prime minister-designate traded barbs Wednesday, accusing one another of obstruction, negligence and insolence in a war or words that has for months obstructed the formation of a new government as the country sinks deeper into economic and financial crisis.

The power struggle between the premier-designate, Saad Hariri, on one side and President Michel Aoun and his son-in-law Gebran Bassil on the other, has worsened despite warnings from world leaders and economic experts of the dire economic conditions tiny Lebanon is facing. The World Bank on Tuesday said Lebanons crisis is one of the worst the world has seen in the past 150 years.

In a reflection of the growing turmoil, scores of Lebanese lined up in front of ATM machines late on Wednesday, after a top court suspended a Central Bank decree that allowed them to withdraw from dollar deposits at a rate two and a half times better than the fixed exchange rate.

In a late night burst of anger, protesters blocked main roads in Beirut and north of the capital. A young activist told a local TV station the protest was against the constant humiliation of Lebanese who line up to fill their cars with fuel, increasing power cuts, search for medicine and deal with confused banking decisions that are robbing thousands of their savings.

The Lebanese pound, pegged to the dollar for 30 years at 1,507, has been in a free fall since late 2019. It is now trading at nearly 13,000 to the dollar at the black market.

Lebanon is governed by a sectarian power sharing agreement but as the crisis deepens, members of the ruling elite bicker over how to form a government that will have to make tough decisions.

Hariri, who was tasked by Aoun to form a Cabinet seven months ago, blames the president for the months-long delay, accusing him of insisting on having veto power in the upcoming government.

Aoun, an ally of the powerful militant Hezbollah group, has said that Hariri did not shoulder his responsibilities in forming a government they both can agree on. There is no legal avenue for the president to fire the prime minister-designate, who is chosen to the post by a majority of lawmakers.

The rift has paralyzed the cash-strapped country, delaying urgently needed reforms. The economic crisis, which erupted in 2019, has been compounded by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Lebanon and a massive blast at Beiruts port last year that killed over 200 people and defaced a big section of the capital.

The crisis has driven more than half of the population into poverty, caused the local currency to lose more than 85% of its value, and prompted banks to lock deposits through informal capital controls, eroding trust in a once-thriving banking sector.

The countrys highest administrative court on Tuesday ordered the temporary suspension of a Central Bank circular that gave depositors a chance to withdraw at a rate better than the pegged rate.

The Central Bank announced late Wednesday it was accepting the decision, prompting the queues outside ATMS. One man said he went from one ATM to another to withdraw as much as he could. Another complained that peoples savings are at the mercy of corrupt politicians.

This is not resilience. We got used to being humiliated and controlled this much by the politicians," said Mustafa Taoush, a 23-year-old who failed to withdraw more than a weekly limit imposed on withdrawals.

A statement from Aouns office on Wednesday accused Hariri of trying to usurp presidential powers, and coming up with delusional propositions and insolent expressions.

The prime minister-designate s continuous evading of responsibilities ... constitutes a persistent violation of the constitution and national accord, it added.

Hariri and his political group, the Future party, responded by saying the presidency is hostage to the personal ambitions of Bassil, Aouns son-in-law, alluding to his alleged presidential aspirations.

High-level mediation efforts from France and local powerful players, including the parliament speaker and the head of the Maronite Church, have faded without a breakthrough in the face of intransigence from the rival parties in Lebanon.

Amid the Aoun-Hariri barbs, caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab warned that a collapse of Lebanon could have consequences beyond its borders, hinting at a possible massive exodus of refugees.

Diab, whose Cabinet resigned days after the port explosion, appealed on politicians to make concessions so that a new Cabinet could be formed  one that could resume talks with the International Monetary Fund on how to get out of the crisis.

The collapse, if it happens, God forbid, will have very grave consequences not only for the Lebanese or those living here but also on friendly countries from the land and sea, Diab said. No one will be able to control what waves the sea bring.

___

Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  Democrat Melanie Stansbury won election to Congress for New Mexico on Tuesday with a campaign closely tied to initiatives of the Biden administration.

Stansbury prevailed in an open, four-way race to fill a vacant seat previously held by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. The 42-year-old state legislator outpaced her Republican rival by more than 30,000 votes, garnering roughly six of every 10 votes as ballots were tallied into the night.

Stansbury closely tethered her bid for Congress to proposed and enacted Democratic legislation on pandemic relief, infrastructure spending and interventions to slow climate change. Her victory shores up the Democratic majority in Congress ahead of 2022 midterm elections.

She strode on stage in Albuquerque with both arms raised high, in celebration of her win. Thanking supporters and volunteers, she said the grit and determination that fueled her campaign was learned from her own mother, who worked in a denim factory and later as a crane operator.

When the moment demands it, when our families and our communities demand it, when our country demands it, we step up and find the solutions for communities and we figure it out, Stansbury said. And that is exactly what we did in this campaign and that is why I am standing before you tonight.

Stansburys victory preserves an all-female House delegation for the state. She defeated third-term Republican state Sen. Mark Moores to fill an Albuquerque-based seat that has been held by Democrats since 2009.

Libertarian nominee Chris Manning and independent Aubrey Dunn Jr. campaigned unsuccessfully to represent the 1st Congressional District, which encompasses Albuquerque, rural Torrance County and other outlying areas that include the Indigenous community of Sandia Pueblo.

Stansbury reiterated her push for a $15 minimum wage, economic and racial equality and police reforms. She said theres a lot of work to do and she wants to give everyone a seat at the table as the country and its infrastructure is rebuilt.

Amid Election Day voting, she emphasized the need for a major round of federal infrastructure spending.

"This is especially important for New Mexico because it includes funding for things like broadband and clean energy, Stansbury said.

The districts voters have heavily favored Democratic candidates in recent years, shunning former President Donald Trump with a gap of 23 percentage points in 2020 and reelecting Haaland with a margin of 16 percentage points as voter participation reached an all-time high.

Tuesdays election is among a handful of races to fill vacancies in Congress ahead of 2022 midterm elections. Democrats held a 219-211 majority in Congress going into Tuesdays vote in New Mexico.

Moores tried unsuccessfully to flip the seat to Republican control by highlighting concerns about crime in Albuquerque and painting his Democratic opponent as a radical progressive.

Sean Patrick Maloney, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said from New Mexico that enthusiasm is up among Democrats and that Stansbury's win helps ensure work can continue in Washington on the Democratic agenda.

New Mexicos 1st District seat has consistently been a stepping stone to higher office for Republican and Democratic politicians, including now-deceased Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr., former U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The district relies heavily on federal military and research funding as home to Kirtland Air Force Base and Sandia National Laboratories.

Trump in 2020 fell flat with Albuquerque-area voters after he sent federal agents to bolster local law enforcement efforts.

Republicans last year flipped the states sprawling 2nd Congressional District in southern New Mexico as Yvette Herrell of Alamogordo ousted incumbent U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small.

___

Lee reported from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

___

This version corrects that winning candidate's last name is Stansbury, not Stanbury.
Roi Biton is hoping a massive billboard and an eye-catching reward will lead to the safe return of his dog.

A Southtown billboard is promoting a $20,000 reward for the missing male 6-year-old Bull Terrier, Golani. The dog has not been seen since Nov. 18, and Biton has increased the reward money and awareness since then. It was $2,000 when the dog first went missing.

I would pay any amount," the local construction business owner said. "I would make monthly payments for the rest of my life to get him back. I love him so much and I depend on him so much.

On ExpressNews.com: Does acupuncture work for dogs? Cathy Rosenthal says yes

Biton said he has already spent around $17,000 for a trailer, signs and various advertisements online and around the city. He received Golani as a gift for his birthday six years ago by a fellow veteran, and has been relying on his dog for emotional support and help with his post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in the Israeli military.

Roi Biton

Ive been running Facebook campaigns and Im in many different groups. Im trying to be very aggressive with this, he said.

Golani is an all-white dog with a black spot near his left ear, and is over 3-feet in height. He went missing around the parking lot of the Security Service Federal Credit Union near the San Antonio International Airport, while Biton was looking at a vacant property to possibly purchase.

Biton had his other dog, Rona, with him as well. He said the dogs went chasing after something but only Rona returned.

"All of a sudden, I see Rona with her tail between her legs, looking very stressed. I said 'uh oh' something happened," he said.

By the time Biton got in his truck, he said it was too late and the dog was nowhere to be found. Golani wasnt wearing a collar that day, but Biton said he has a chip in his neck that is scanned when he is taken to a veterinary clinic.

If you saw my dog, you would know they belong to someone, he said.

Biton is hopeful to have his dog back soon.

Anyone who has any information is urged to call or text Biton at 210-383-2404.

Malak.Silmi@express-news.net
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott moved Tuesday to prohibit state-licensed childcare facilities from housing migrants who are living in the country illegally, a step that could leave the federal government scrambling to find shelter for thousands of unaccompanied young people.

In an order criticizing the Biden administration, the Republican governor directed state regulators to begin revoking licenses for the facilities later this summer, saying he refuses to help solve a border crisis that he didnt create.

Federal authorities are barred under the U.S. Constitution from commandeering the states facilities to respond to a migrant detention crisis caused by the acts or omissions of the federal government, he wrote in the order.

Abbott and other Republicans have hammered the new administration for months over an influx of migrants crossing into Texas, including tens of thousands of unaccompanied children. As of Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported 17,042 children in its care.

About 8,000 of those children were in state-licensed facilities, many of which are in Texas, according to Mark Greenberg, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute and a former head of the HHS Administration for Children and Families, which runs the refugee resettlement program dealing with migrant children.

Greenberg said most state-licensed sites have been operating for years, under multiple presidential administrations. Theyre typically nonprofit, faith-based organizations. Without them, HHS will have to rely much more on the makeshift influx facilities it has been standing up, including sites in Carrizo Springs, San Antonio and El Paso.

The federal government will still need to receive children, transport them to facilities and hopefully get them to licensed facilities, Greenberg said. This just makes that process much more complicated.

The HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement operates a temporary facility for minors at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. The shelter, with a capacity of 372 beds, is caring for 187 teenage boys. Bexar County recently closed another temporary facility at Freeman Coliseum. Neither shelter was state-licensed.

Hope Frye, a California immigration lawyer who has served as a monitor for the Flores agreement  a 1997 court settlement regarding the detention of immigrant children  said what Abbott intends to do is take 4,000 children from licensed shelters and potentially force the federal government to put them in unlicensed emergency shelters such as the Freeman Coliseum, Lackland and at Fort Bliss in El Paso.

In my opinion, what the governor is doing is basically condoning child abuse, said Frye, who also is a partner in nonprofits ReUnite and Project Lifeline, aimed at helping immigrant children. Hes basically fostering the thing he said was so terrible. What hes doing doesnt make any sense. Its just political posturing.

In a statement, HHS said the Lackland shelter meets the required standards of care for children by providing clean facilities, recreational opportunities and medical care, including COVID-19 tests every three days.

Until recently, Republicans had been directing their criticism at crowded conditions in Border Patrol facilities. In March, 19 Senate Republicans, including Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, toured the Rio Grande Valley and visited Border Patrol facilities, including in Donna, where they tweeted out pictures that showed cramped conditions and kids sleeping on stone floors.

The administration responded by saying it was working to more quickly move unaccompanied children out of those crowded facilities and into more suitable shelters while social workers search for sponsors in the U.S. to care for them.

The administration has been standing up new shelters run by HHS and sending many of the children to the state-licensed facilities Abbott is now targeting. As of Tuesday, there were 546 children in Border Patrol facilities, down from 5,381 at the beginning of April.

In a statement, HHS said it was reviewing the governors order, but does not plan to close any facilities. It did not immediately specify how many children in the country illegally are housed in state-licensed facilities in Texas.

The Border Patrol reported more encounters with migrants at the southern border in March and April than it had in two decades, including a record-setting 18,890 encounters with minors in March and another 16,933 in April. The agency has not yet released figures for May.

Biden, a Democrat, has said he inherited a mess of an immigration system and has noted that encounters have been on the rise since last April.

The majority of migrants crossing the border this year have been quickly expelled back to Mexico under Title 42, a Trump-era pandemic measure that Biden has so far kept in place.

Staff writers Guillermo Contreras and Sig Christenson contributed reporting.

jeremy.blackmon@chron.com
One of the top Republican negotiators behind a failed Texas voting bill said it would have mistakenly limited early voting on Sundays, when many Black voters typically turn out.

Call it a mistake if you want to, but what should have been 11 was actually printed up as 1, state Rep. Travis Clardy said in an interview with NPR, adding that he plans to fix the error before it is voted on again.

Under current law, voting hours on the last Sunday before an election are decided by local officials. But in the final version of Senate Bill 7, unveiled this weekend, voting would have had to start after 1 p.m.

Democrats and voting rights advocates said the move was directly aimed at Souls to the Polls, a campaign to encourage Black voters to go vote as a group after church.

By doing this, you inhibit the ability to have those types of programs run the length of time they normally would, from early in the morning until the afternoon, Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, said during a floor debate Saturday.

Republicans have not previously claimed that the addition was a typo. The provision was inserted into the bill in the final days of drafting and without input from Democrats or public testimony.

The bill, a priority for the national G.O.P. and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, failed to pass the House Sunday after Democrats staged a dramatic walkout, denying a quorum for a final vote before the end of the regular legislative session. Abbott has vowed to call lawmakers back to Austin later this year to take up the bill again.

In the debate with West on Saturday, Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Republican from northeast Texas and an author of the bill, said the changes were meant to give poll workers time to attend church, not to target Black voters or any other group.

He also noted that the bill would expand the total number of hours that polls were required to stay open on the last Sunday, from five to six.

I believe the intent was to keep this a Sunday afternoon activity, he said, adding that in his experience churchgoers typically go to lunch before heading to the polls. I dont think the intent was to keep anyone from (voting).

West, who is Black, said voters in his community dont do that. He asked Hughes, who is white, whether he had talked to other Black lawmakers or voting experts before making the change. Hughes said he had not.

jeremy.blackman@chron.com
From early indigenous hunter-gatherers to mission inhabitants to present-day San Antonians, the Alamo site has a history dating more than 10,000 years, according to scholars.

The 30-member Alamo Citizens Advisory Committee held the first of six panel discussions this week to give direction for a $450 million project that includes a museum, visitor center and plaza makeover at the historic mission and battle site.

Discussions kicked off with Alamo: A Place to Call Home.

For those anxious to hear experts talk about the 1836 siege and battle that made the Alamo famous, the committee will hold a discussion, Fort Alamo, at 5:30 p.m. July 27. Tuesdays exchange established the setting for that battle, detailing the origins of the Spanish colonial village known as San Antonio de Bejar that included the 1718 founding of Mission San Antonio de Valero. That mission moved twice before settling in 1724 and becoming the first permanent local Spanish-Indigenous mission, and later the military outpost called El Alamo.

On ExpressNews.com: A sick patient  experts using science to save Alamo Church

Despite its remote locale, hostile groups, disease outbreaks and other harsh conditions of the frontier, San Antonio had natural beauty, water flowing from the river and nearby creeks, an abundance of chert rock used for tools or weapons and topography that allowed for construction of acequias, an ancient engineering technique using gravity to move water for farming and personal use.

Clinton McKenzie, project archaeologist with the Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said the indigenous people known as Coahuiltecans, who occupied five local missions along the river, have had a lasting impact, as the village has evolved into a modern U.S. city.

They are still part of our community today, throughout San Antonio, throughout South Texas, he said during the meeting at the Witte Museum.

Spanish missionaries, joined by soldiers and craftsmen, contributed to the village by creating gathering places  and most importantly, relationships  with and among indigenous people who became Spanish subjects, said Texas history scholar Jesus F. Frank de la Teja. The friars had no sociopolitical agendas but wanted to leave behind permanent communities  and they did.

Although San Antonio has always been a military town and magnet for visitors, it also has been diverse  a community under a constant strain to redefine itself, de la Teja said.

The community was never homogeneous. It was heterogeneous, and it was always changing, he said.

In an opening narrative, Melissa Simmons, exhibit designer with Alamo project consultant PGAV Destinations, noted that the 1835-1836 Texas Revolution put tremendous stress on Tejanos and their families who had lived for decades in the region. They all risked death and loss of property, whether they sided with the Mexican government or the independence movement  or fled, trying to remain neutral.

Andres Tijerina, an author and scholar based in Austin, said Tejano revolutionaries were descended from the missions. He noted that Jose Toribio Losoya, an Alamo defender who died in the 1836 battle, had grown up at Mission de Valero after it was secularized.

You want a real Texan? How about one who was born in the Alamo? Tijerina said.

On ExpressNews.com: Museum, visitor center to bring Alamo to life

Expounding on the word home during his remarks, Tijerina challenged the committee to pursue a pathway for the project that connects with and benefits families of early Tejanos, including many living today on San Antonios South and West sides, and to preserve the downtown area as a peaceful gathering space.

You need to include the whole family. And youll need to include the whole community, Tijerina said.

Project officials have said the talks would provide guidance for future displays and presentations, as well as support one of the projects guiding principles, to embrace the continuum of history to foster understanding and healing.

The next panel discussion, at 5:30 p.m. June 15, is titled Still Standing: The Church and Long Barrack. The meetings are streamed live and archived at youtube.com/cosagov.

shuddleston@express-news.net
San Antonio and Bexar County are on the verge of a major windfall as more than $850 million in federal stimulus dollars flood into city and county coffers to help the region recover from the economic downturn spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now local leaders have to figure out how to spend it  and the ideas are starting to fly.

San Antonio will get more than $465 million out of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act  signed by President Joe Biden in April. That money is expected to help the city plug holes in its budget, keep needy families in their homes and San Antonio International Airport humming as travelers slowly begin to make their way in and out of the airfield. Bexar County, meanwhile, is slated to receive $388 million.

Local officials have sought to frame the glut of federal dollars as a once-in-a-generation chance to help the region get back on its feet after a year of crushing job losses, business closures and death and take a bite out of its rampant poverty.

I think we can agree: This is an incredible and unique opportunity for us not only to address immediate needs those have been abundantly clear but also to use this opportunity as a catalyst for some of the transformation and changes that we know need to occur in light of the pandemic, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said at a City Council briefing Wednesday afternoon.

On ExpressNews.com: County starts laying out plan for 10-year recovery

The city and county have already spent nearly $457 million in federal stimulus dollars to soften the blow from the pandemic on small businesses and out-of-work residents. Now, they should shift gears to be more forward-thinking and invest in areas that will have a long-term benefit for the community, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said Wednesday.

So much of what we did with the first money  and we needed to do it, and Im not criticizing that  we needed to stop the bleeding then, Wolff said at a morning session with county commissioners. Now, weve got to start building for the future, whether its in taking care of health care, whether its housing, whether its helping do things for a particular industry that we think could help.

Local officials are sifting through federal guidelines to figure out what theyre allowed to spend the money on in the next five years. Cities and counties can use the money for an array of purposes, including paying for efforts to improve public health, providing financial relief to small businesses and families struggling to stay in their homes and making up for budget cuts. They can also use it to help the homeless and victims of domestic violence  or prop up the citys ailing tourism industry.

Wolff pointed to mental health, alcohol and drug abuse and other social services that could help reduce the local jail population as potential areas of focus. Officials with the county and Guidehouse, a consulting firm Bexar is using to help it figure out how to spend the federal dollars, said they believe the funds can be allocated to nonprofits to construct facilities that help at-risk populations.

Wolff said the county also should invest in preparation for the possibility of another future pandemic.

City and county officials have to solidify what projects they want to pay for by 2024  and spend the money by 2026.

For San Antonio, the priority is making up for lost funds. The city lost $248 million in the past year as hotels emptied and sales at retailers and restaurants dried up. Even as the pandemic subsides, the citys hospitality industry starts to recover and stimulus dollars pour in, city budget writers arent entirely ruling out some of the $148 million in potential cuts they floated to the citys general fund budget  which pays for services such as police and fire protection, streets and infrastructure and parks  over the next five years.

That may leave the county in a better position to help the community recover economically, which could take a decade, officials said. Although the county wont know for at least a month what the impact of local property appraisal protests will be, it is relying on a steady property-tax base, buttressed by a strong housing market.

City Manager Erik Walsh and some council members cautioned against treating the windfall as a bonanza. Theyre wary of creating new spending obligations that the city will have to figure out how to pay for when the federal dollars run out in 2026.

Thats kind of the balancing act that were going to have to do not just this summer but every summer between now and 2026, Walsh told council members Wednesday.

Still, council members saw an opportunity to close longtime economic disparities laid bare by the pandemic  particularly in internet access. Local governments can use the stimulus money to make investments in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure  all of which is needed on the citys Southeast Side, said District 3 Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran.

With this amount of dollars, there is no reason we should be going back to how it normally was here in this city, Viagran said.

Local officials are worried about the impact of eventual utility cutoffs, lapses in moratoriums on evictions and the expiration of additional federal unemployment benefits later this summer. Nirenberg pitched the idea of using some of the stimulus dollars to help customers of the citys two publicly-owned utilities  CPS Energy and San Antonio Water System  catch up on their bills. As of Wednesday, CPS tallied $105 million in overdue balances.

On ExpressNews.com: Were going to work our way out of this, Wolff says

Its possible the city could request other stimulus funds already given to the state for that purpose, city officials said, but its not clear whether the new money can pay for it.

I think its going to take a number of different avenues and a number of different tools to be able to help those customers get back on track and get those balances addressed, said Ben Gorzell, the citys chief financial officer.

Theres likely to be trillions more in federal recovery dollars that will filter down through separate federal jobs and stimulus bills. The state received $16 billion out of the recovery act, which state lawmakers will decide how to spend in a special session Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to call this fall.

But council members and commissioners have a dilemma  not knowing what the landscape of federal aid will look like by the end of the year, yet feeling an urgency to plan as much as possible.

By delaying and delaying and delaying, youre hurting people that really need services now, Wolff said.

Commissioner Trish DeBerry said the county needs to move on a plan that will harness the benefits of the stimulus dollars and not suffer from paralysis by analysis.

We need to work together. We need to work strategically, she said.

shuddleston@express-news.net

jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFReports
Martin Phipps, an embattled San Antonio attorney who is helping represent Bexar County in its ongoing lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors, wants the District Attorneys Office to recuse itself from his misdemeanor harassment case, citing conflicts of interest because of its own involvement in the litigation.

The motion states that because the DAs Office has not voluntarily recused itself, Phipps is left with no choice but to seek a judges orders disqualifying the office from prosecuting him and appointing an attorney pro tem instead.

Here, there exists a situation in which Phipps represents Bexar County in a hugely significant and complex pending civil litigation, while the DAs Office advises Bexar County commissioners on the lawsuit and helps define Phipps role in it and how it will be resolved, the motion states.

The document also argued that the D.A.s office is entangled with current and former employees of Phipps, including his former law partner, T.J. Mayes. In a request for exculpatory evidence, Phipps asked for copies of any communications the D.A.s office had with the employees, and any communications about the lawsuit and Phipps role in it, including the offices dealings with the news media.

On ExpressNews.com: Martin Phipps, a prominent local attorney and businessman, arrested by San Antonio police

Phipps and Mayes had a bitter falling out in January, when Mayes quit after working on the lawsuit during the previous year.

Phipps was arrested Feb. 8 on a Class B misdemeanor charge, accused of harassing a former employee, Brenda Vega, a legal assistant he had wed in December. The marriage was annulled a month later.

An arrest affidavit states that Vega, days after marrying Phipps in mid-December, called police to report he confronted her in an aggressive and agitated state, possibly under the influence of drugs. Authorities gave no details about the confrontation. The document states that Vega feared for her life, left her personal belongings and caught a flight to Mexico as Phipps attempted to contact her at least 40 times, mostly through text messages.

Mayes clearly was integrally involved with authorities relative to the investigation that led to the arrest, Phippss lawyer, Michael McCrum, argued in the motion, which was filed Tuesday.

Presently, there is no case filed by the Bexar County District Attorneys Office against Mr. Phipps, District Attorney Joe D. Gonzales said Wednesday in an email. We can make no further comment on this matter.

McCrum said the DAs Office is being prudent in holding off on filing the case and said he hopes prosecutors dismiss it.

I absolutely think T.J. Mayes is behind this harassment charge, McCrum said. Theres no telephone harassment here.  This was a husband venting on texts for two days with his wife, and (he) didnt ever contact her again.

In 2017 Bexar County hired Phipps then-firm, Phipps Anderson Deacon LLP, as one of two law firms to sue opioid drug manufacturers and distributors that the county alleged were responsible for causing and contributing to local addiction problems. They filed the lawsuit in 2018.

On ExpressNews.com: Opioid lawsuit settlements $7 million for Bexar County not enough, Wolff says

The day after the arrest, after being told that McCrum would represent Phipps in the criminal case, the DAs office notified McCrum that he was not authorized to appear on behalf of Bexar County in any capacity in pending litigation, McCrums motion states. The DAs office knew that McCrum had been an advisor to Phipps on the lawsuit for months and had not objected to it, the motion states.

Mikal Watts, a high profile plaintiffs attorney, was appointed by the Commissioners Court on Feb. 23 to supersede Phipps as lead counsel for Bexar County in the lawsuit. Watts had recommended that Bexar County accept a state-brokered settlement in 2020 that Phipps considered too small  an estimated $7 million payout for damages to the county that Phipps thought could be proved to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, his motion in the criminal case states.

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff declined comment Wednesday.

Phipps arrest followed the resignations of several employees at his law firm, most notably Mayes, a former chief of staff to Wolff and to Mayor Ron Nirenberg when he was a City Council member.

In Tuesdays motion, McCrum presented a lengthy chronology that attempted to show Mayes worked with a San Antonio Police Department detective and Vega herself in creating the criminal case against Phipps. Mayes tweeted about the arrest minutes after it happened, the document states.

McCrum wrote that Mayes worked on the lawsuit and on six occasions in 2020 reported to county commissioners in positive terms the Phipps law firms work and strategy on behalf of Bexar County. He did so again on Jan. 4, but days later began approaching employees at the firm to sign a letter urging changes in working conditions, then made the letter public after promising signers that it would only be sent to Phipps, according to the motion.

On ExpressNews.com: Nelson Wolff: Phipps law firm screwed up expert opinion in countys opioid lawsuit

Mayes went on a rampage against Phipps in subsequent weeks, and broadened his attacks to include others who had not taken action against Phipps quickly enough, McCrum wrote. In March, a tweet by Mayes called the district attorneys office, the SAPD, the county commissioners and the City Council a disgrace, modified by an expletive, alleging that they hadnt acted on Mayes belief that Phipps was violent and that Mayes and Vegas lives were in danger, Phipps motion stated.

At the end of March, Mayes wife, Laura Mayes, a city of San Antonio spokeswoman, applied for a protective order against her husband, alleging he threatened her and their 3-year-old daughter in a series of domestic violence incidents. The order was not served.

In April, Mayes acknowledged he was dealing with mental illness and said he was under a doctors care in Louisiana.

By then, Phipps also had obtained a temporary protective order against Mayes, alleging his former law partner threatened him and his children during a monthslong scorched earth media campaign against me, my family, my business partners, my employees and several local public officials in San Antonio.

A hearing in the harassment case is set for June 11 before Judge Carlo Key in Bexar County Court-at-Law No. 14.

A hearing on Phipps protective order against Mayes is set for June 14 before state District Judge Cathy Stryker.

ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863
Jacob Beltran /Staff

A man who was killed at an East Side apartment complex has been identified by the Bexar County Medical Examiners Office.

Willie James Ross Henderson, 21, was sitting in the front passenger seat of a car when he was shot about 4:30 p.m. May 25 at the Alsbury Farms apartment homes, 231 Noblewood Drive.
Memorial Day marks the unofficial start to the summer tourist season in Montana, especially on the Blackfeet Reservation and those traveling to Glacier National Park. Please be mindful that the Blackfeet Reservation is still under the Blackfeet Tribes mask mandate.
Winter Storm Uri overwhelmed Texans in February, leaving millions without power for days and killing some 200 people. It appears to have overwhelmed the Legislature, too, which once again has failed to reform the Texas grid.

Oh, the Legislature, nibbled around the edges. Late Sunday night, lawmakers passed Senate Bills 2 and 3. The former will change the makeup of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, reducing its board of directors from 16 to 11. The latter will require power generators to be weatherized, create a statewide emergency alert system and ensure power is maintained for certain natural gas facilities deemed critical.

Lawmakers have also approved billions in ratepayer-backed bonds to help offset charges from the storm  and this speaks to the fundamental failure to, yet again, meaningfully reform the grid. Its all well and good  and necessary  to mandate weatherization in response to extreme weather or revamp oversight of ERCOT, but the market-based structure of the grid has not changed and experts see trouble ahead.

Everyone has been in denial, Alison Silverstein, a consultant who works with the U.S. Department of Energy and formerly served as a senior adviser at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, told Houston Chronicle reporters James Osborne, Eric Dexheimer and Jay Root.

Our system now is more vulnerable than it was 30 years ago, said Woody Rickerson, vice president of grid planning and operations at ERCOT.

Lets remember, the system came within five minutes of collapse. Deregulation has led to lower prices, largely a boon for oil refiners and other large-scale users, but it has also taken away any incentive to invest in infrastructure, maintain reserves or create capacity markets in the event of extreme weather. And the upshot has been a system that breaks when it is most stressed.

As we have all learned from Winter Storm Uri, its pay now or pay later. Lawmakers and regulators had many of these same discussions after a 2011 freeze caused rolling blackouts across the state, and yet they did nothing. Ten years later, the question is whether lawmakers did enough, and the experts are saying its not even close.

They didnt provide meaningful relief to ratepayers. They didnt reform the grid. They didnt do enough to hold officials and suppliers accountable. Its unconscionable, which means its likely to happen again.
In a tweet Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott called to cut off funds to the state Legislature a day after Texas House Democrats made sure an elections bill was defeated by walking out of the chambers late Sunday night. The walkout ensured there were not enough members to hold a vote.

The hashtags #TexasDeservesBetter and #AbbottFailedTexasAgain trended across the state, and nationally on Twitter, calling out some of the governor's abandoned responsibilities in response to his threat.
WASHINGTON  As Texas Democrats drew national attention over the weekend, dramatically killing a massive package of election measures that would have reduced access to the polls, they said they wanted to make a larger point about what they view as Republican efforts to suppress the minority vote.

We knew today, with the eyes of the nation watching action in Austin, that we needed to send a message, state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, said at a news conference just after House Democrats staged a walkout in the legislative sessions final hours Sunday. And that message is very, very clear: Mr. President, we need a national response to federal voting rights.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden made clear their message was received. The Democrat denounced a tireless assault on the right to vote and vowed to fight like heck with every tool at my disposal to pass federal legislation aimed at preventing states like Texas from restricting voting.

This sacred right is under assault with incredible intensity unlike Ive ever seen, said Biden, who announced that he had tasked Vice President Kamala Harris with leading the administrations efforts to protect voting rights. Were going to overcome again, I promise you, but its going to take a hell of a lot of work.

As strongly as Biden and Democrats feel about the issue, however, it appears unlikely that the president and congressional Democrats will be able to forestall GOP efforts to revive the restrictions during a special session.

A sweeping rewrite of the nations voting laws that passed the Democrat-led U.S. House of Representatives in March faces much dimmer prospects in the Senate, where Republicans are all but certain to mount a filibuster when it comes to the floor for a vote, likely later this month. The chamber is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, with Harris able to cast a tie-breaking vote in some cases.

But Democrats would need to find 10 Republican votes to end the filibuster, which appears impossible. The bill garnered no Republican support in the Senate Rules Committee, which voted 9-9 on the legislation in May. Nonetheless, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, has said he wants to bring it to the floor for a vote by the end of June  a timeline Biden endorsed, even as he highlighted the uphill battle it faces.

June should be a month of action on Capitol Hill, Biden said. I hear all the folks on TV saying, why doesnt Biden get this done? Well because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House and a tie in the Senate, with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends.

Abbott eyes special session

Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who had said he would sign Senate Bill 7, the package of GOP voting restrictions, on Sunday expressed disappointment in the Republican-majority Legislature for failing to pass the bill and has said it will be a priority in a coming special session.

Abbott has claimed the measures are needed to combat voter fraud, though studies have found it is not a widespread problem. Some Republicans were incensed when Harris County aggressively made it easier to vote last fall through the use of drive-by voting, 24-hour voting and drop boxes.

The possibility of Texas lawmakers taking another shot at passing new voting restrictions sparked renewed calls to scrap the filibuster in the U.S. Senate so Democrats could pass the voting rights bill with a simple majority vote.

This is a now-or-never moment for American democracy, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a San Antonio Democrat, said on CNN on Tuesday. All the Senate has to do is waive not a law but a custom, the filibuster, in order to protect voting rights. To protect the integrity of our democracy, waive the filibuster.

State Rep. Erin Zwiener, D-Driftwood, was among the Democrats in the state Legislature calling for help from Congress, no matter what it takes.

I dont think theres a cost too high for preserving the integrity of democracy in the United States, Zwiener said in an interview Tuesday. I hope my counterparts in the U.S. Senate use every tool they have at their disposal to protect democracy and to protect the voting rights of people in states like Texas where that fundamental right is under attack.

But Senate Democrats would need unanimous support within their caucus to take this step, and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, has said he doesnt support weakening or eliminating the filibuster, believing it would worsen the partisan divide.

For the People Act

The federal voting-rights bill, known as the For the People Act, would target virtually all of Texas existing voting restrictions. It would ban voter ID laws, institute automatic and same-day voter registration and it would expand mail-in and early-voting options.

And if Texas Republicans do take another swing at passing the voting restrictions, the federal law would stop many  but not all  of them.

I think its the answer to solve the problem here in Texas that were having, said Grace Chimene, president of the League of Women Voters of Texas.

The mandatory mail-in voting provisions of the federal bill would likely have the biggest effect on the bill that Texas Republicans were pushing, which would have curtailed who can cast ballots by mail and where they can cast them. The federal legislation would also bolster protections against voter intimidation  something voting rights advocates say would be important as Texas Republicans seek to allow partisan poll watchers greater access at voting sites.

The federal bill would also require an option to vote early for a full 15 days before an election, including weekends, for at least 10 hours a day, with hours before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m. That would have negated a provision in the Texas bill that Democrats said was targeted at Souls to the Polls voter drives run by Black churches and would have blocked early voting from starting any earlier than 1 p.m. on Sundays. A Republican state lawmaker claimed Tuesday that the reference to 1 p.m. was a typo, that it should have said 11 a.m.

But the federal legislation wouldnt stop other restrictions Texas Republicans have sought  including limitations on drive-through voting and prohibitions on 24-hour polling places  which counties such as Harris instituted amid public health concerns during the pandemic.

Democrats have also pushed separate voting rights legislation  the John Lewis Voting Rights Act  that would re-establish a practice known as pre-clearance, which required some states to get approval from the U.S. Department of Justice to enact new voting rules. The Supreme Court ended that practice, which targeted Texas and other southern states with a past history of discrimination, in a ruling in 2013. That legislation is not nearly as far along as the For the People Act and would still need to pass both the House and Senate.

Texas Republicans have been among the most vocal critics of Democrats efforts to pass the bills.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has called it the single most dangerous piece of legislation before Congress.

It is about ensuring that Democrats remain in power and control for the next 100 years, said Cruz, who backed efforts to delay the certification of Bidens election, citing former President Donald Trumps unsubstantiated fraud claims.

U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Houston Republican, responded to outrage over the states voting bill on Twitter: Dont fall for their bad-faith, incessant lying and demagoguery over commonsense voting bills in Texas, Georgia, and elsewhere.

ben.wermund@chron.com

taylor.goldenstein@chron.com
FAIRFIELD  As the 2020-21 school year winds down, school officials are already planning for the next school year.

After a tumultuous year in review while dealing with the pandemic, the district has set its sights on what reopening will look like next school year. In an effort to return to normal, the district is seeking the communitys help by asking parents to fill out a survey on the reopening plan.

Having students back in front of us is something that we are very happy about, said Andrea Clark, director of communications for Fairfield Public Schools.

While the plan allowed the district to return to in-person learning in March, it also positioned Fairfield to return to normal for 2021-22.

Were thrilled, Clark said. We were thrilled when we were able to bring all of our students back in March. There is no question that there is no substitute for in-person instruction.

The plan includes several mitigation rules that will be in effect in September.

Under the plan, masks are required for all inside the school and within three feet or less in outdoor settings.

Social distancing will be maintained within three feet in all settings and whenever possible, students will be in cohorts.

The schools will be cleaned and sanitized, ventilation will be continuously monitored and contract tracing will be conducted with the Fairfield Health Department including, COVID-19 screening tests.

Vaccination clinics will be publicized through school communication channels.

While many of these rules are similar, if not the same, as the rules enacted when students returned to school in March, Clark said these rules will be updated to adhere to any changes from the local, state or federal requirements as well as feedback from the community.

The district will be taking the input from the survey and revising the plan until June 23. A finalized version of the plan will be submitted shortly after and the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief application is due to the state in the middle of August.

Districts are required to issue the survey to be able to apply for funding from the American Rescue Plan.

According to the Department of Educations website, the American Rescue Plan will deliver critical aid to states, districts, schools, educators, students and families as the country continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The goal is to implement use that federal money to promote safe school operations and to continue to strengthen teaching and learning.

Part of the requirement for the funding is that we get feedback on that plan from parents so we structured it as an open-ended question, Clark said.
PHOENIX (AP)  Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs on Wednesday announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2022 while denouncing the Republican-controlled state Senate's ongoing audit of the 2020 presidential election that has brought her national prominence.

Hobbs said in a statement she was running to deliver transparency, accountability, and results for Arizonans" and would work as governor to put aside our differences and work to solve the serious problems facing Arizona.

In an interview, she said she will have the resources to win a primary and general election and called herself a proven statewide leader who can work across the aisle.

Arizonans are tired of the partisanship, Hobbs said. We are currently being led by a group of conspiracy theorists who are not in touch with everyday Arizonans, and that is holding us back. And Ive always been able to break through that and get things done.

The Republican-led Arizona Senates recount of election results and review of ballot counting machines in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, was launched as supporters of former President Donald Trump criticized President Joe Biden's narrow win in the state and suggested without evidence that the election was stolen.

As the state's chief election officer since winning office in 2018, Hobbs' defense of the state's election systems after the 2020 election has been broad and vocal and has included frequent appearances on national media.

She has heavily criticized the unsubstantiated allegations that Biden won in Arizona because of fraud or other problems and brought in independent observers to view the partisan recount now underway. She said she expects Trump and his backers to continue to raise doubts but said she'll continue to tell the truth about the election, which that is that it was a free and fair election.

It is a partisan attack on free and fair elections, and reasonable people understand that, Hobbs said. The folks who dont, are never going to believe anything I say.

Hobbs also was a defendant in a series of lawsuits brought by Trump backers seeking to overturn the 2020 election results, putting her at odds with the Republican attorney general and some GOP lawmakers. The Republican-dominated state Legislature has moved to strip her of the means to defend lawsuits by removing her ability to hire outside lawyers. She vowed to fight that effort if it is included in the final state budget proposal.

It doesnt just strip me of the ability to hire outside counsel, it strips me of any legal say at all, and it strips me of duties that are assigned in the (Arizona) constitution, Hobbs said. So what they are doing is blatantly unconstitutional, and if they do pass it, there will be a legal fight.

She also touted her success in running the 2020 election in the midst of a global pandemic and as Trump fed voters misinformation about the election, which saw historic turnout.

And we did our jobs, and we ensured that Arizona voters could vote, and that they didnt have to choose between their freedom to vote and their health and safety, she said. And thats what Ill bring to the governors office.

In a video announcing her candidacy, Hobbs ticked off a series of accomplishments as a lawmaker and as secretary of state, saying she wanted to work to make Arizonans' lives better. She vowed to rebuild the state economy after COVID-19, invest in health care and education and ensure that all state residents have the same ability to get ahead.

Although Arizona has been ruled by Republicans for more than a decade, Democrats made inroads in the last two elections, and Bidens presidential win was the first since Bill Clinton took Arizona in 1996.

The state's most recent Democratic governor was Janet Napolitano, who was elected in 2002 and again in 2006 before leaving in early 2009 after then-President Barack Obama appointed her as Homeland Security secretary.

Hobbs was a member of the state House and Senate for six years and served as minority leader of the Senate for two years before running for her current office in 2018. She was trailing on election night, but she won her current post by less than 1% of the vote.

Term limits bar current Republican Gov. Doug Ducey from running again in 2022.

The only other Democrat in the race so far is Marco Lopez, a former mayor of the border city of Nogales, who rose rapidly to a senior position in Obamas administration. He joined the race in March  kicking off his campaign with videos in English and Spanish that highlight his Nogales, Arizona, roots and described an Arizona he said was held back by Ducey's leadership failures.

My message is very simple  if we have healthy families, good education and quality jobs, Arizona thrives, Lopez said at the time. Sadly, thats not the case for many, many families in the state today.

The son of Mexican immigrants, Lopez returned to Nogales after college and was elected mayor at age 22. He went on to serve Napolitano as head of the cross-border nonprofit Arizona-Mexico Commission that promotes economic prosperity and led the Arizona Department of Commerce.

On the Republican side, state Treasurer Kimberly Yee and developer Karrin Taylor Robson announced plans last month to seek the Republican nomination. Former Phoenix television news anchor Kari Lake entered the GOP race on Tuesday.

___

Associated Press writer Paul Davenport contributed to this report from Phoenix.
The Rotary Club thanks the community for its support

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

We at the Fairfield Rotary Club thank the Fairfield community for its support of our 2nd Shred Fest which took place May 1. A special thanks to the First Church Congregational Church for the use of its parking lot to accommodate the event. We were thrilled with the turnout and raised approximately $2,800 from the generosity of the Fairfield community.

The Fairfield Rotary Club has been making a difference in Fairfield since 1939 through a long legacy of supporting our local and global community through acts of service. Service above Self. Globally, the Fairfield Rotary Club supports projects in Haiti, Uganda, Syria, Liberia and Guatemala. Our projects create safe water and sanitation infrastructure, help build schools, playgrounds and hospital buildings as well as providing medical supplies, further COVID-19 public education, mask and PPE distribution. We have pledged to #EndPolioNow and are resolved to rid the world of polio forever. We also educate and equip communities to stop other diseases and expand access to health care.

Locally, we are proud to provide high school students with scholarships based on community service, annually provide $20,000 to $40,000 in community grants to local non-profit groups, participate in Read-Aloud Day, Scrubby Bear Hand-Washing program, mentor students, provide funds and veteran support to Homes for the Brave. We participate in community service through food and sock donations, pantry volunteers, meal service and volunteers to Operation Hope. We have provided major support to the Fairfield Museums Victorian Cottage, the Fairfield Public Librarys Harold B. Harris Computer Lab and the Rotary Room. We annually participate in the Fairfield Memorial Day Parade and collect cash and non-perishable food items, all of which benefit Homes for the Brave. Finally, we sell gift cards that support all of the local and global activities.

We look forward to seeing you in the fall at our next Shred Fest where once again well offer the community a chance to dispose of their sensitive documents safely, securely and conveniently with onsite shredding.

Sheryl A. Shaughnessey
SEATTLE (AP)  After nearly four years of litigation and pandemic-related delays, a trial is underway to determine whether the GEO Group must pay minimum wage to detainees who perform cooking, cleaning and other tasks at its immigration detention center in Washington state.

Detainees are typically paid $1 per day when they work shifts in the Voluntary Work Program at the for-profit Northwest detention center in Tacoma. The state's minimum wage is now $13.69 per hour.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson and some detainees filed separate lawsuits against GEO in 2017, arguing that the companys contract with the federal government requires it to follow state and local laws  including Washingtons Minimum Wage Act  and that GEO, one of the nation's largest private detention companies, unjustly profited by paying so little.

Tacoma-based U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan, who has rejected several attempts by GEO to dismiss the lawsuits, consolidated the cases for trial, which he is conducting via Zoom because of the pandemic. By mid-afternoon Tuesday, a jury of nine people had been chosen. Opening statements were expected Wednesday.

These cases are not about whether the governments contracting with private entities to operate detention facilities is a good or bad policy, Bryan told potential jurors Tuesday morning. These cases are also not about United States immigration policy or border issues.

However, there are political undertones. In 2014, amid a hunger strike by detainees, immigrant rights activists tried to convince the governor's office and the state Department of Labor and Industries that detainees should be paid minimum wage for work performed there.

After reviewing the matter, Labor and Industry officials determined that Washington didn't have jurisdiction over the federal government's detainees for purposes of wage issues, according to public records obtained by GEO and filed in the case.

In 2017, amid a flurry of lawsuits over the new Trump administration's immigration policies, Ferguson reached a different conclusion, saying GEO was exploiting Washington residents.

The Democrat successfully sued President Donald Trump that year over Trump's initial travel ban affecting seven Muslim-majority nations  one of more than 80 lawsuits Ferguson filed against the administration.

Trump's Justice Department sought  and failed  to have Washington's lawsuit against GEO lawsuit dismissed, calling it an aggressive and legally unjustified effort by the state of Washington to interfere with federal immigration enforcement.

GEO opened the detention center in 2005 and has expanded it twice. It houses people accused of civil immigration violations pending the resolution of their cases, including potential deportation. It can now hold 1,575 detainees, though because of pandemic-related concerns the population recently was about 250.

In a separate effort, the state is now trying to close it entirely. Gov. Jay Inslee signed a law passed by the the Democratic-led Legislature that would ban for-profit detention centers in Washington. GEO has sued to block it.

GEO insists it is immune from the minimum wage lawsuits by virtue of its relationship with the federal government. At any rate, the detainees are not employees entitled to minimum wage, it argues.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement requires private detention facilities to operate work programs for detainees as a way to reduce their boredom and improve their morale, GEO argues. The company doesn't have a choice but to offer the program even if the tasks assigned are redundant or if the detainee lacks skill  inefficiencies that would never be tolerated in an employee-employer relationship, GEO argued in a trial brief.

Further, the turnover is astronomical, the company's lawyers argued: "GEO does not profit from the (Voluntary Work Program), but rather, is burdened with its implementation and supervision without any tangible return.

Washington state, however, argues that the federal government requires detainees to be paid at least $1 per day; nothing prevents the company from paying more. And while the state's minimum wage law exempts prisoners of government-owned detention facilities, it makes no such exemption for detainees at private ones.

By relying on detainee labor, GEO avoided the cost of hiring non-detainee workers and unjustly pocketed the savings and resulting profits, the attorney generals office wrote in its trial brief.

Further, GEO deprived local residents of jobs they might otherwise have worked, the state says.

The trial could last several weeks. If the jury finds that the minimum wage law applies to GEO, a second phase will be held to determine damages. The detainee lawsuit is a class-action seeking back pay.
Lumber price volatility is a relatively new phenomenon. From 2015 to 2019, the average price per thousand board feet of material hovered around $350, according to lumber futures data from CME Group. All that changed last year. Futures prices have shot up more than 500% since April 2020, peaking at a record $1,733.50 per thousand board feet on May 10. Lumber prices have raised the price of a new single-family home by nearly $36,000, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
The U.S. Army and Marine Corps are looking to change how they will fight near-peer adversaries in the future. Both Services are focused on becoming more lethal, distributed, mobile and survivable. When it comes to fielding new capabilities, this requires achieving a balance between these different attributes. One system that achieves this balance while enhancing the flexibility and effectiveness of Army and Marine Corps units is the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV). Built by the Oshkosh Corporation, it is now being fielded.

The JLTV is a vehicle for the 21st century battlefield. Its advanced features will allow it to operate across the spectrum of conflict, providing Army and Marine Corps units with enhanced mobility, survivability, sustainability, and combat power. At the same time, the JLTV incorporates advanced diagnostics, power generation, and maintenance that will make it easier to operate and sustain than the vehicles it will be replacing. The JLTV fits well with how the U.S. military reshapes itself to take on high-end adversaries in both the Indo-Pacific and Europe.

The JLTV is an Army-led joint program designed to replace most of the venerable High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles, or Humvees. Over the years, responding to evolving threats in Southwest Asia, the Humvee has been repeatedly modified, primarily with additional armor to enhance its survivability. Consequently, it became underpowered relative to its weight, and its payload capacity was reduced. The Humvee lacked sufficient power generation for military forces increasingly dependent on sensors, sophisticated communications systems, and computers. Additionally, the automotive industry had developed a range of diagnostics tools and control systems to enhance vehicle performance and maintainability.

The JLTV is designed to restore mobility to Army and Marine Corps units without sacrificing survivability. It is both a utility vehicle and a combat platform. It will perform a range of missions, including moving supplies and personnel, medical evacuation, command and control, and as a platform for close combat weapons such as anti-tank guided missiles and heavy guns.

The JLTV also has a specially designed trailer that is compatible with all versions of the vehicle. The trailer provides the means to move additional supplies beyond what can be carried internally. With a more powerful engine than the Humvee, the JLTV restores the mobility, speed, and payload that the Humvee lost. Additional armor can be fitted to the JLTV. But even with its additional armor protection, the JLTV can move at high speeds across open terrain, a capability that can make all the difference in survivability on the modern battlefield.

Like modern automobiles, the JLTV is designed to take advantage of advances in sensor technology, both for vehicle maintenance and mission support. Inside the JLTV is a display unit that allows the crew to monitor various vehicle systems and receive early indications of maintenance issues. This alone reduces the demand for mechanics and spare parts.

The JLTV looks to be particularly valuable to the Marine Corps in the context of that Services new operating concept. This concept focuses on the requirement for forces capable of fighting at a moments notice and surviving inside adversaries weapons systems threat range through a combination of reduced signatures, mobility, and relative freedom from a visible logistic tail.

The JLTV provides the combination of mobility, survivability, flexibility, and sustainability in keeping with the needs of Marine Corps units that need to move and fight with a minimum of support. It should be noted that the JLTVs ability to adjust its suspension height makes it easier to store and move on and off amphibious vehicles.

The Army and Marine Corps are looking at ways the JLTV can be adapted to take on additional roles. The vehicle's digital architecture and power generation capability will allow it to incorporate advances in sensors, networking, and communications as they become available without putting a strain on other vehicle systems. There are several options available in the near term to expand the role of the JLTV as a highly mobile weapons platform. Several years ago, Oshkosh demonstrated several possible JLTV variants with different weapons configurations to demonstrate the vehicles versatility.

One version carried a remote weapons station with a 30mm cannon, along with a notional compact laser weapon system. A second variant served as the platform for an Avenger air defense system, equipped with Longbow Hellfire missiles and a remotely guided .50 caliber weapon. The JLTV would be a suitable platform for counter-drone technologies such as Raytheons Coyote system. The JLTV could be equipped with an unmanned turret armed with a laser weapon in the longer term. It is even possible that the JLTV could serve as the platform for launching advanced land- and ship-attack missiles.

The current acquisition plan is to provide the Army and Marine Corps with over 50,000 JLTVs in multiple configurations. The Marine Corps alone is acquiring more than 9,000 vehicles and associated trailers. Earlier this year, Oshkosh delivered its 10,000th JLTV. In response to budget pressures and the search for resources with which to fund modernization, the Army has reduced its annual procurement of JLTVs and extended the programs procurement horizon to 2042. For FY 2022, the Army will spend $575 million on JLTVs and associated equipment, a cut of nearly $150 million compared to FY 2021.

Both the Army and Marine Corps remain committed to the program. In late 2020, in a clear vote of confidence in the system, the Army placed an order for more than 2,700 vehicles and 1,000 trailers valued at nearly $1 billion.

The Army plans to recompete the JLTV contract in FY22 and to split future buys between Oshkosh and a second source. The desire is to introduce an element of competition as a means of driving down prices. This is somewhat ironic since Oshkosh has reduced the price of the JLTV below the target level even as the Army has cut the quantities procured. The Army acquired the technical data package for the JLTV in 2016, enabling a competitor to build the same vehicle. It remains to be seen whether a second source can match Oshkoshs success in producing thousands of JLTVs at a lower price without sacrificing quality.

Dan Goure, Ph.D., is a vice president at the public-policy research think tank Lexington Institute. Goure has a background in the public sector and U.S. federal government, most recently serving as a member of the 2001 Department of Defense Transition Team. You can follow him on Twitter at @dgoure and the Lexington Institute @LexNextDC. Read his full bio here.
An organic farmer in Wales has highlighted how small-scale producers like him are looking after the environment while producing sustainable food.

Set in the Gwili valley in Carmarthenshire is Clyttie Cochion, a 150-acre organic farm home to Phil Jones and 350 sheep.

A part time lecturer, Phil cares deeply about educating the next generation - not just those he teaches but the consumers who have concerns about how food is produced.

Phil said: Many misconceptions remain about the impact farming has on the environment and often people are confused about farming styles in other parts of the world and here at home.

"It is not universally true that farmers are polluting and destroying the environment. We have an easy care approach to shepherding and an easy care approach to the care of the ground as well.

"We only take from the ground what the ground will give us and thats not a bad thing, Phil explained.

Understanding the soil, weather patterns and topography are just as important in farming as livestock husbandry.

Although this holding is classed as a lowland farm, at 350 feet, the environment is more akin to a hill landscape with desolated rush covered ground and a few sheep.

This presents challenges for Phil as he wants to ensure his land and the animals flourish.

To feed the sheep, which are kept outdoors all year round, good grass cover and healthy soil are essential. The rush cover makes things difficult.

Ideally Id have a break of brassica before we go into grass but because of the wet winter there would be bare ground, resulting in soil erosion," he said.

"I therefore turn the ground in July, so that we have a good reseed established in August. With heavier weather and rain from September onward we wont have bare ground and avoid soil erosion. Topsoil is gold dust.

"It has taken millions of years to be created and it can be washed away in one heavy storm in October; so weve got to be really careful custodians of our top soils.

"We go for long term leys and hopefully they will serve me well. If we manage them properly they should last, Phil explained.

When it comes to dealing with rushes, a plant that thrives in wet conditions and offers little nutritional benefit as fodder or soil health, Phil knows he cant turn back up the ground, which is heavy clay with a lighter clay loam topsoil, because it would be turning up millions of unwanted rush seeds.

Im hoping by ploughing there will be fewer rush seeds being turned up and thats why I really need to look after what Ive got," he added.

"If we have to do further reseeding in the future well have to think of surface cultivating, otherwise well create problems for ourselves.

"Until the dry phase kicks in and the whole environment here is different, the rush will be a problem that we must keep on top of."

One thing is clear - if it werent for farmers of the ground like Phil, the land would be rush infested, making it an ecological mess and unsuitable for feeding his sheep.

There arent many, if any, environmentalists that would condone a stand of pure rush or bracken," he said.

Small family farms are leading the way when it comes to being environmentally friendly

"It is not good because they dominate the soil and there is no opportunity for anything else to emerge at all."

Phil explained: "We therefore manage the land in a way that ensures we have a healthy ecosystem.

"The sheep we keep here are also not exploitative, we dont have to take lots of cuts of silage to keep them fed over winter.

"By not taking lots of cuts of silage we ensure our potash levels are fine and the ground is healthy. I reckon our carbon footprint has to be quite low. It is about as sustainable as it can be."

To further improve the land and create unique habitats, Phil has planted 8 acres of Alder woodland.

The ground we used for tree planting was too wet to get on and we found ourselves in the position of having a serious rush infestation," he said.

"We couldn't cut it during the summer months because it never got dry and there was no incentive for livestock to go in there.

"Now the ground is doing something really useful. Weve planted mainly Alder because it copes very well with wet ground. Before it wasnt very environmentally valuable.

"Now with trees in it, the land will dry out and there is a far greater variety of species in there now, that would not have survived in the pure rush stand, he explained.

He is clear however that woodland creation must be done in a sensible way: You cant plant trees anywhere you like.

"It has to make sense for the ground, the farming system and we must consider the types of trees planted as well. Above all we must keep sustainable food production in mind.

Most in the Welsh farming industry understands that carbon footprints need to be examined and that everyone has a role to play in reducing it.

Indeed, small family farm like Clyttie Cochion are leading the way when it comes to being environmentally friendly.

They are also responsible for a critical carbon resource in soils, woodland and semi-natural habitats.

Phil said: We all have to do our bit, there is no question about it. I try to manage this place almost as my dad did - keeping it small.

"And we know that many green recovery proposals suggest reduced stocking levels.

However, numerous studies have documented that if we reduce grazing animals, we have a negative impact on vegetation structure.

"That then can result in adverse impacts for bird species such as the golden plover and curlew.

"Moreover, research has shown that reductions in sheep numbers are associated with declines in both golden plover and wheatear numbers.

"A more recent study found that trebling sheep numbers led to the largest increase in species diversity on hill land in comparison to the removal of livestock."

Phil therefore doesnt want to see a reduction in his sheep numbers: I need to keep my stocking levels at the current rate.

"This is as sustainable a system as we can run, especially as our stocking rate is probably no more than 3 ewes to the acre.

"Thats not sustainable in financial terms but as for what the ground can carry it is."

Phil added: I would say youd have to take a very selective view of our industry and this world if you were to come to the conclusion that our family farms in Wales are bad for the environment."
Provisional 2020 organic farming statistics released by Defra reveal reasons to be optimistic about the future of the sector, with the overall UK land currently in conversion increasing significantly by 12%.

While not all the details in Defras annual review are as positive, OF&G (Organic Farmers & Growers) believes there is growing evidence to support a healthy long-term outlook.

This view is corroborated by the body's internal data records for the same period, which in some instances exceed the overall sector growth figures reported by Defra.

As the first organic control body (OCB) approved by government, certifying over 50% of the UK organic land area, OF&G contributes to Defras annual organic farming data collection along with other OCBs.

During 2020, OF&G itself saw a slight increase in producers during the period against what appears to be an overall sector decline of 5%.

Roger Kerr, chief executive at OF&G, says that despite the small decrease in producer numbers, OF&G has also recorded a 6% increase in producer enquiries compared with the same period 12 months ago, with enquiries across all schemes up around 70%.

This has translated into the slight increase OF&G has seen, indicating a 'growing interest' in the environmental benefits and commercial opportunities provided by converting to organic.

Having seen a decline in land area following the 2008 recession, the total UK organic land area has seen marginal increases for the second consecutive year of 0.8% compared to 2019, with a total of 489 thousand hectares of land farmed organically.

Mr Kerr said: I feel that given the unprecedented year we have just experienced the overall picture remains very robust despite the numerous challenges the sector and agriculture in general currently face.

"It is essential that we continue to focus on the solutions that an organic systems approach delivers, he added.

The recent Soil Association Organic Market report and Organic Trade Board (OTB) Grocery Perspective report shows a growth of 12.6% and 14.1% respectively in organic spending, with almost 9 in 10 households purchasing organic products in 2020.

The organic category has grown consistently for the last few years and was worth 2.79 billion in 2020.

With consumer demand rising, and the UK's close neighbours introducing an ambitious European Organic Action Plan, OF&G says it believes organic deserves 'specific attention' and to be embedded within future policy developments.

In recent communications from Defra, ministers have repeatedly claimed they recognise the value the organic sector continues to deliver towards the achievement of sustainable food and farming with the simultaneous delivery of multiple public goods, Mr Kerr continued.

At OF&G, we believe theres an urgent need to support domestic production to supply market demand both domestically and internationally so that we can secure a diverse and resilient future for UK food markets.

"This can only be achieved by recognising the evidence that shows the value of organic systems and through a process of co-design."
A new website has been made by the National Pig Association (NPA) urging the public to show their support for the pig sector in various ways.

The body's new consumer-facing website reinforces the messages behind the new #PutBritishPorkonYourFork banner campaign.

The website explains the benefits of British pork, including its unique diversity of production systems to meet all price points.

It sets out how British pork is responsibly produced, including a 63% fall in antibiotic usage since 2015, environmentally sustainable and produced to high welfare standards.

The website highlights how British pork is a tasty, nutritious and healthy option, pointing users to the Love Pork website and a food gallery to promote recipes.

Users are invited to show their support for the British pig sector in various ways, including looking out for the Red Tractor and RSPCA Assured logos and Union Flag on packaging and making sure they buy British rather than EU pork.

If there is no clear indication of where your pork comes from, for example when you are in the local butchers or eating out or buying food to take out, ask where it comes from, it says.

Consumers are also encouraged to write to their local MPs to urge them to support British pork, including putting pressure on the government to prioritise British produce in its public procurement policy.

The website provides consumers with an opportunity to contact retailers to ask them to source more British pork.

As the website says, all consumers should be able to choose British pork if they want to, NPA chief executive Zoe Davies said.

Buying British doesn't mean that it is automatically more expensive, and by supporting British farmers you are making a better choice environmentally and for pig welfare.

The campaign was launched on the back of the perfect storm that hit the pig sector in the autumn of 2020 and early part of this year.

This included major Covid-19 and Brexit-related disruption, falling prices and record costs of production.
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.
RTHK: Iran navy ship sinks after fire in Gulf of Oman

One of Iran's largest naval ships sank on Wednesday after catching fire off a strategic port near the head of the Gulf, the navy said.

The British-built fleet replenishment vessel Kharg, which measured more than 200 metres long, caught fire on Tuesday off the port of Jask on the Gulf of Oman, the navy said.

Footage aired by state television showed a massive column of smoke rising from what it said was the burning vessel.

The fire broke out in "one of the systems" of the ship, a navy statement said without elaborating.

Firefighting efforts continued "for 20 hours" before the ship went down. The ship's crew all safely disembarked.

"Considering the spread of the fire, the mission to save the Kharg failed and it sank in waters off Jask," the navy said.

Jeremy Binnie of open-source defence intelligence provider Janes said the Kharg was important to Iran as its only dedicated vessel able to resupply warships at sea.

"The Iranians often describe it as a 'helicopter carrier' but it is actually a replenishment ship  a useful asset nonetheless as it was the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy's only dedicated ship serving this role," Binnie said. "It is not the IRIN's largest vessel any more after they commissioned Makran, a converted oil tanker, in January."

The navy said the vessel was on a "training mission" in international waters.

Iran's ISNA news agency said its mission had focused on "training, intelligence and combat" alongside the destroyer Alborz.

The port city of Jask, near which the Kharg went down, lies close to the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic chokepoint at the head of the Gulf through which a fifth of world oil output passes.

Jask is strategically important to Iran as the government plans to make it the site of the country's second-largest oil export terminal. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2021-06-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
African countries urged to intensify efforts to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines

Xinhua) 10:07, June 02, 2021

ADDIS ABABA, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) on Monday emphasized the need to scale up COVID-19 vaccines manufacturing in Africa so as to achieve universal and equitable access.

The latest call was made by the Peace and Security Council of the 55-member pan-African bloc.

According to the council, the manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa could be achieved through sharing of the intellectual property right, technology transfers and open non-exclusive licensing.

It also called for strengthening African manufacturing capabilities of all types of vaccines, as inequality and disparity in access to vaccines has seriously undermined current global efforts to eradicate the pandemic.

As of Monday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa reached 4,830,229, with the death toll standing at 130,451. A total of 4,365,227 patients across the continent have recovered from the disease, Africa CDC said.

African countries have so far acquired 43 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, of which some 28 million doses have been administered.

Meanwhile, African experts are calling on the developed world to end vaccine hoarding and intensify the supply of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa.

"The developed nations and other countries that are producing the vaccines should ramp up their supply of vaccines to the African continent," Costantinos Bt. Costantinos, who has served as an economic advisor to the AU and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), told Xinhua recently.

"It is very important that we have to have the vaccines as soon as possible," the expert said, adding "it's a shame for the developed world who are being very protective of supplying vaccines to Africa and the rest of the third world."

Costantinos, also a professor of public policy at the Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, singled out China's strong commitment in making its COVID-19 vaccines a global public good.

"There is a strong commitment from the Chinese side to supply the vaccines to countries in Africa and the rest of the third world," he said.

According to Costantinos, China's COVID-19 vaccine support to Africa and elsewhere across the developing world is about saving lives.

"This (China's deeds) is about controlling the pandemic globally," he said, adding this is about stopping the virus not only in Asia, Europe or the United States but also in Africa.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Hongyu)
We were supposed to have this done by June 15, which is when we normally would have all of our redistricting done, but because the Census was late this year, were not getting those Census numbers until sometime in August or September, Newport News City Attorney Collins L. Owens Jr. told City Council.
Image: Instagram/@harrypotterny



Having a Butterbeer just like your favourite Harry Potter characters isnt a dream any more!



Reliving your memories about Harry Potter and Gryffindor just got easier; the new Hogwarts- style Harry Potter store in New York will take you back in time. The three-storey retail store, which spans over 21,000 square feet (1,950 square metres), will also sell a large selection of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts merchandise. No one knows this better than Rowling: food and drinks steeped with magic can take you places. Butterbeer is served foaming hot in mugs or can be purchased in cold bottles, she writes in the Harry Potter novel. Its served at The Three Broomsticks, the popular pub in Hogsmeade, in her wizarding realm. Firewhisky, which is prohibited for people under the age of 17, mulled mead seasoned with spices, and a delicious rum created from red currants, among other mystical beverages, are among the most popular cocktails on the menu. The butterbeer, in particular, charmed readers and left them wanting more.

The delightful soft drink boasts a new spin on the butterscotch flavour fans know and love, and is best served chilled and poured straight from the bottle. Bottled butterbeer is a must-try for any aspiring witch or wizard due to its unique mixture of top-secret ingredients. Fans visiting Harry Potter New York might enjoy draught butterbeer, butterbeer ice cream, and bottled butterbeer in the citys sole Butterbeer Bar starting June 3.







Image: Instagram/ @harrypotterny





Fans will be met with a massive cascade of glowing Butterbeer bottles, each with a collectible MinaLima label, when they enter Butterbeer Bar. As butterbeer travels magically over the ceiling through copper pipes, nearly 1,000 bottles will rise from the floor and float over the bar. Witches, wizards, Muggles, and No-majs are all welcome to enjoy a frothy cup of butterbeer served in a souvenir tankard, a delicious Butterbeer ice cream, or freshly-poured bottled Butterbeer, as well as a variety of wizarding world themed delights. Bottled butterbeer is made and brewed in the United Kingdom, and comes in beautifully-constructed souvenir glass bottles with an exclusive collector label designed by MinaLima, the creative partnership behind the graphic props from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films.

Image: Instagram/ @harrypotterny

Fans will also be able to purchase a brand-new bottled Butterbeer label, which is exclusive to Harry Potter New York and exclusively available in-store, beginning June 3. The Magical Congress of the United States of America, as presented to fans in Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, inspired MinaLimas design. The distinctive label is designed in rich reds, whites, and blues to resemble the American flag.

Also Read: Lessons weve learnt from Harry Potter




Next Story : Emerging Leaders of South: Making a Positive Impact

Image: Twitter Women are breaking barriers right, left and centre, and were so proud of each one of them. In yet another first for women in armed forces, Squadron Leader Aashritha V Olety graduated as the first woman flight test engineer in India from the Air Force Test Pilot School. She is the only female officer to have undergone the training and passed till date.In her new role of a flight test engineer, she will assess aircraft and airborne systems before they are inducted into the armed forces. She was part of the 43rd Flight Test Course and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE). A Bangalore Mirror article stated her family mentioned that there are only about 275 graduates to ever clear this course ever since the course inception in 1973 and that she has become the first female officer in the history of IAF to ever clear this course after strenuous training. Olety is from Kollegal in Karnataka and has done her engineering from MVJ College of Engineering in Bengaluru.Image: Twitter

In an interview with a national newspaper, a former test pilot and test flying instructor, Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur (retd) pointed out that test pilots, test engineers and test instrumentation engineers form an important team in test flying and that its a challenging avenue that requires theoretical and practical experience to test aircraft. Bangalore Mirror also noted that all indigenous aircraft such as Advanced Light Helicopter of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Light Combat Aircraft, and Airborne Early Warning and Control of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are first flown by test crew trained at the AFTPS.The armed forces of India have traditionally had women in their medical wing for decades, but it is only in the last decade or so, that women have started getting a place beyond the medical wing. The past six years has seen an increase of the headcount of women in armed forces The rise is almost thrice the earlier number! This is a result of women getting more opportunities across board in the military. Despite this, if you see the percentage, according a national newspaper, women constitute for only 0.56 per cent of the army, 1.08 per cent of the air force and 6.5 per cent of the navy. In 2015 the Indian Air Force decided to induct them into the fighter stream and the rest followed. We have had many women joining the military now, and making their mark. Heres to more inspirational officers like Sqn Ldr Aashritha V Olety to lead from the front.
Image: twitter



The social media could not keep calm when the news about Jeni Jerome broke on the internet. This 23-year-old Jerome, who flew the Air Arabia G9-449 flight as a co-pilot from Sharjah to Thiruvananthapuram, garnered attention from all quarters including the Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan. Congratulations to Jeni Jerome who has become the pride of Kerala. A native of Kochuthura, a coastal village in Thiruvananthapuram district, Jenny is the pride of Kerala as a whole, he posted on his social media. He also added that the life of Jeni Jerome, who struggled with circumstances and made her dream come true, is a great inspiration to women and ordinary people. It also creates a social awareness of gender equality. The family that supported Jenny's wishes is also a role model for the community.



Image: twitter



A native of Kochuthura, a coastal village in Thiruvananthapuram, Jerome was passionate about flying. She had spent her early childhood days at the small fishing hamlet in the capital city. Her father who was equally passionate about it supported her all the way in making her dream come true. Jerome became the first woman from a coastal village to receive the commercial pilot flying license. Jeromes family have been settled in Ajman for the past 25 years, and she joined the aviation industry after completing her 12th standard.





Initially, Jerome was scheduled to fly to Armenia, which was later rescheduled to Kerala. Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor and former Health Minister KK Shailaja took to their social media handles to shower praises on Jerome for achieving her feat.


Fairfax, who spoke next, disagreed. He then went on to address the fact that McAuliffe faces three Black opponents in the race - Carroll Foy and McClellan in addition to him - saying: When African Americans are shut out of opportunities repeatedly it sends a signal to people about what our system truly values and who truly has the opportunity to succeed in our society.
Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release

SubCategory Select Sub-Category
Known to be a director's actor, Rajkummar Rao has his own unique ways to give life to any character given to him. Currently garnering praise for his brilliant performance in the comedy thriller 'Roohi', actor Rao's journey looks straight out of a Bollywood movie. Known to be extremely versatile and talented, Rajkummar has given some really pathbreaking performances in his incredible journey of eleven years.

After making a smashing debut with Dibakar Banerjee's 'Love Sex Aur Dhokha' in 2010, there has been no looking back for him. Today, celebrating the phenomenal actor that he's, we pick his 8 best films which that he's Bollywood's best bet today.

Check'em out here:

LOVE SEX AUR DHOKHA (2010)

Based on the themes of love, sex and betrayal, 'Love Sex Aur Dhokha' traced many angles including honour killings, MMS scandal and sting operations. Even though this was Rajkummar Rao's debut film, his performance was no less than of a critically acclaimed actor. He was seen playing the character of Adarsh, a man who wants to make an MMS video to pay off loans. His performance made a lot of noise soon after the film's release.

SHAHID (2012)

Based on the life of lawyer and human rights activist Shahid Azmi, who was assassinated in 2010, 'Shahid' is regarded as one of Rajkummar Rao's finest works till date. Interestingly, to get into the skin of his character, the actor spent a good amount of time with Shahids family. It was for this film that he won his first National Film Award.

KAI PO CHE (2013)

A story about friendship, 'Kai Po Che' saw Rajkummar Rao alongside Sushant Singh Rajput and Amit Sadh. Portraying the role of Govind, Rao's camaraderie with the two actors was considered to be the highpoints of the film.

BAREILLY KI BARFI (2017)

The Filmfare Award winning performance of the actor saw his character playing the role of Pritam Vidrohi  a naive sari salesman and a rowdy man. What really won the audiences was the swiftness with which Rajkummar switched between the two avatars. It was through this film that cinelovers saw that the actor is brilliant at both, intense as well as light-hearted roles.

NEWTON (2017)

The film featured Rajkummar portraying the role of an honest clerk who was sent on election duty and was ready to go to any length to get the work done assigned to him. Thanks to the actor's brilliant performance, 'Newton' was Indias official entry to the Oscars.

OMERTA (2018)

Everytime Rajkummar Rao and ace filmmaker Hansal Mehta come together for a film, they create magic and 'Omerta' was no different. A biographical crime drama, the film stars Rajkummar as Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a terrorist who's involved with the kidnapping of four foreign nationals in 1994. Just like his other powerful performances, in this film too the actor went all in to do justice to the role.

EK LADKI KO DEKHA TOH AISA LAGA (2019)

A coming of age, romantic comedy drama, 'Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga' is India's first LGBTQ film. Playing the lead role in the film alongside Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, Rajkummar was hailed by the audiences for playing her character with immense zeal.

THE WHITE TIGER (2021)

Revolving around the story of an ambitious driver of a rich Indian family, who uses his wit to escape from poverty and become an entrepreneur. Impressively, Rajkummar Rao made a lot of noise with his powerful performance in the film and won both, the critics and the audiences worldwide. Interestingly, many fans of the actor are even shared their personal favourite sequences from the film and talked about how much they enjoyed his performance.
TAIPEI, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Until a new wave of COVID-19 infections were first reported in Taiwan earlier this year, many joined the annual pilgrimage to Mazu, held by Cihui Mazu Temple and co-organized by Netizen Productions, in New Taipei City, continuing a local religious tradition dating back more than 100 years. A fusion of traditional aesthetics and contemporary art has become an element of the scenery of many Taiwanese cities and towns in the post-epidemic era.

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click: https://www.prnasia.com/mnr/netizen_productions_202105.shtml

On May 4, a pilgrimage parade integrating contemporary art and historical heritage ignited the enthusiasm of the people of New Taipei City, Taiwan's most populous municipality. Different from Taiwan's traditional electronic floats, a work of art in the form of a Vehicular installation art (Shinyu) shuttled back and forth between the city's older lanes and newer neighborhoods, echoing the words of the prayer that has given and continues to give the people of Taiwan a sense of hope in their daily lives. As one of the final events of the evening, the Vehicular installation art (Shinyu) disappeared underneath the art installation entitled Shengque in front of the temple. Upon reappearing, the Vehicular installation art (Shinyu) had been transformed into a stage installation, seamlessly becoming a part of Taipei's nightly Cyberpunk scene. The use of contemporary art forms to formally announce the beginning of the ceremony celebrating the goddess Mazu's birthday is a perfect example of the fusion of the old and the new. The performance groups on the stage incorporated street, Oriental and temple music to reinterpret the ancient culture.

Mazu is the most revered deity in Taiwan. On the 23rd day of the third lunar month when the deity's birthday is traditionally observed, most everyone joins the various temple celebrations. The center of the celebration is at the Ci-Hui Temple in New Taipei City's Banqiao district. The Lin Ben Yuan family, the richest family in Taiwan during the late Qing Dynasty, donated the funds to renovate the temple, and for generations, it became the spiritual destination for generations of residents. The Lin Family Mansion, the region's focal point, has developed into a city within city connecting the area's three main commercial and shopping districts. As the prelude to the series Fuzhong Shuang cheng: Gucheng Kailu series of events, event organizer, Netizen Productions, will highlight local design and link the ancient city to the new urban environment through a series of contemporary art projects, showcasing the unique life aesthetics of the area.

This year's pilgrimage took place safely thanks to strict epidemic prevention measures adopted by Taiwan officials, including temperature taking and hand disinfection at entrances, use of face masks and a registration system requirement genuine contact information in case contact tracing is needed, as well as strict control of the pedestrian traffic flow. However, given the recent round of COVID-19 infections in Taiwan, Taiwanese authorities have announced a full cessation of all pilgrimage activities. For the foreseeable future, the event organizers are looking at all possibilities for presenting the works of art online.

Media contact:

netizen.productions

info@netizen.productions
San Diego, California--(Newsfile Corp. - June 1, 2021) - Tryp Therapeutics (CSE: TRYP) (OTCQB: TRYPF) (FSE: 8FW) ("Tryp"), a pharmaceutical company focused on developing compounds for diseases with unmet medical needs through accelerated regulatory pathways, announced today that it is presenting at the "Psychedelics in Psychiatry and Beyond" conference sponsored by H.C. Wainwright & Co. The conference will be held virtually on June 17, 2021. Greg McKee, Chairman and CEO of Tryp, will provide an overview of the business and its pipeline including Tryp's Psilocybin-For-Neuropsychiatric Disorders (PFNTM) program for chronic pain and eating disorder indications.

Details of the presentation are as follows:

Date:Thursday, June 17th, 2021

Time:Tryp's presentation will be available to access beginning at 7:00 a.m. EDT

Registration:https://hcwevents.com/psychedelics/

The Company is also pleased to announce that it has adopted a new form of stock option plan (the "New Plan"). The Company's prior option plan (the "Prior Plan") was updated to align with certain U.S. regulatory requirements, including pursuant to the United States Internal Revenue Code. Certain directors and officers of the Company who were granted stock options under the Prior Plan have requested that those options be cancelled and re-issued under the New Plan and the Company, having received the prior approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE"), has acquiesced to such request. Consequently, effective June 1, 2021, the Company has: (i) cancelled an aggregate of 6,000,000 options granted under the Prior Plan (the "Cancelled Options"); and (ii) granted an aggregate of 6,000,000 options under the New Plan (the "New Options"). The term and vesting periods of the New Options are identical to the term and vesting periods of the Cancelled Options. The exercise prices of the New Options have been set at the same exercise prices of the Cancelled Options, which are higher than the closing market price of the Company's common Shares on the CSE today such that there is no economic impact to the Company.

About Tryp Therapeutics:

Tryp Therapeutics is a pharmaceutical company focused on developing compounds for the treatment of diseases with unmet medical needs through accelerated regulatory pathways. Tryp's Psilocybin-For-Neuropsychiatric Disorders (PFN) program is focused on the development of synthetic psilocybin as a new class of drug for the treatment of certain neuropsychiatric disorders. Tryp's lead PFN drug candidate is TRP-8802 for the treatment of fibromyalgia, a chronic pain syndrome estimated to affect more than 5 million people in the United States. The Company is also preparing to initiate a Phase 2a clinical study for eating disorders in partnership with Jennifer Miller, M.D. at the University of Florida.

For inquiries please contact us at:

T: 1-833-811-8797 (TRYP)

E: investors@tryptherapeutics.com

W: www.tryptherapeutics.com

Forward-Looking Information

Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking information. In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "targets", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "an opportunity exists", "is positioned", "estimates", "intends", "assumes", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent management's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events.

Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by Tryp as of the date of this news release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the factors described in greater detail in the "Risk Factors" section of Tryp's final prospectus available at www.sedar.com. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect Tryp; however, these factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and Tryp expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements containing any forward-looking information, or the factors or assumptions underlying them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER HAS REVIEWED OR ACCEPTED 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/86142
BEIJING, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In an article for Beijing Review, Zhang Weiwei, Director of the China Institute at Fudan University in Shanghai, sheds light on China's political model and how and why it differs from that in the West. The following is an excerpt of his article:

Today, people's democracy in China is a three-pronged institutional arrangement comprising: (i) the Party's leadership, (ii) the people as the masters of the country, and (iii) rule of law. The purpose of this arrangement is to establish the people as the masters of the country, while the other two serve as a double guarantee for that.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) plays a leadership role as it represents the overall interests of the people, originating from China's long tradition of a "unified ruling entity" since the country's first unification in 221 B.C., and a leadership structure based on a meritocratic system of "selecting and electing" the best and the most competent to govern the country.

In today's politics, the Party's leadership effectively forestalls simple-minded populism, monetized politics or Western attempts to stage a "color revolution" in China. It is naive to assume that the people can rule a country without any organization providing leadership. Elections need to be organized, procedures established and external interference forestalled. All these tasks are performed by the CPC, a political institution of over 90 million members, larger than the German population, with broad representation and popular support, and committed to the public good.

As for rule of law, it requires first of all strict observance of the Constitution. The Chinese Constitution stipulates that the state shall serve the people and "uphold a fundamental economic system under which public ownership is the mainstay and diverse forms of ownership develop together." It adds that the state shall protect both public property rights and private property rights. Over 90 percent of Chinese households today own properties, a remarkable achievement by itself.

In China, the double guarantee ensures that the people are the masters of their country and their fundamental interests are well expressed and protected. People's democracy is not only a guarantee of people's properties, but also a series of institutions. They range from consultative democracy in each and every level of China's social and political life, to the world's most extensive use of opinion surveys on public policies, to soliciting public opinion directly via the Internet on all major policy issues, and to institutionalized democratic decision-making in producing five-year plans for the nation and for different localities. Each five-year plan goes through hundreds of rounds of consultations at all levels of the state and society.

In many ways, China's success is due to the quality of its decision-making process and efficiency of policy execution, which make the Chinese state far more responsive to the needs of the people than the Western model, as shown clearly in China's resolute fight against COVID-19. The Chinese model has ensured that most Chinese are beneficiaries of China's dramatic rise, and the country has witnessed the fastest improvement in people's living standards in human history.

The Chinese model is not perfect, but it indeed outperforms American democracy in many ways. For one thing, China's top legislature, as well as the local people's congresses, address issues of direct concern to the general public, from medical insurance to pension to education and environmental protection without the intervention of lobby groups as in the U.S. Congress.

Little wonder then that the Ipsos surveys over the past few years have repeatedly shown that around 90 percent of Chinese think their country is on the right track, more than double the number of Americans or British who think the same about their country.

The Democracy Perception Index 2020 released by Dalia Research showed that 73 percent of Chinese believed their country is a democracy while only 49 percent of Americans believed the United States is a democracy. What an interesting and changing time!

Comments to yanwei@bjreview.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1522489/Zhang_Weiwei.jpg
Key research findings:

Vaccine rollout progressing well - 25% of our sample of over 13,000 people are now vaccinated

25% of our sample of over 13,000 people are now vaccinated Overall vaccine acceptance up from 63% to 66%, and 60% of people believe vaccines will be readily available to them, up 2%

from 63% to 66%, and 60% of people believe vaccines will be readily available to them, up 2% Notable differences between markets, particularly in markets where vaccination rates are lower

particularly in markets where vaccination rates are lower Significant numbers continue to be concerned about COVID-19 vaccines

Social media not a trusted source - only 5% of people trust social as their best source of information on COVID-19 vaccines

HONG KONG, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cigna's (NYSE:CI) International Markets business today published the second edition of its COVID-19 Vaccine Perception Study which shows that overall rates of vaccines acceptance have increased from 63% to 66% in a single month. The study, which aims to highlight perceptions and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines around the world, surveyed over 13,000 people across 11 markets.

Vaccine acceptance and perception of safety are improving

Improvements in vaccine acceptance were seen in China, Singapore, Thailand and Spain. The ongoing successful rollout of vaccines means that overall, 6 out of 10 of our respondents now believe the vaccine will be available to them, a month on month increase of 2%. This is good news for governments and health authorities as it reflects improving confidence in their vaccine rollout programs.

This month's data also shows that 55% of respondents now believe COVID-19 vaccines are safe. This is driven in part by the increased number of people who have already been vaccinated, across the 11 markets we have studied, 1 in 4 people who we surveyed have now received at least one shot.

Commenting on the report, Jason Sadler, President, Cigna International Markets said: "With global vaccine rollout progressing well, the report indicates that there is much to be positive about. Social acceptance plays an important role in trust, so being vaccinated, or knowing someone who has been vaccinated, leads to more positive views of the vaccine. 83% of those vaccinated trust COVID-19 vaccines are safe, whereas only 46% of those unvaccinated feel the same. Challenges remain, but the improved perception around vaccines and their safety should be welcomed."

Several markets still face issues regarding perceptions of vaccine safety. The difference between markets is striking. In South Korea for example, just 32% of respondents agreed the COVID-19 vaccines available are 'very safe', this compared to 80% in the UK and 78% in the UAE. The other markets where concerns about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines remain high include Taiwan, Thailand and Hong Kong, all of which had less than 40% of respondents agreeing they are safe.

To communicate the facts about safety effectively and encourage vaccine uptake, it is critical the authorities in these markets target their public information campaigns through the most trusted channels in their respective markets to have the greatest impact.

Our research busts some of the myths - social media is not a trusted source.

Throughout the pandemic, misinformation on social media has created obstacles to the successful handling of the pandemic and the vaccine rollout. However, Cigna's COVID-19 Vaccine Perception Study shows that only 5% of the respondents consider social media to be the most trusted source of information, despite the vast majority being social media users.

Social media falls behind government bodies, family doctors, private healthcare providers and TV news and documentaries. Although in the 18-34 age bracket social media is the fourth most trusted source, for the over 35s it falls to the seventh most trusted source. There is a marked difference between generations on this, with 7% of 18-34-year-old saying it is their most trusted source, while in the over 55s this number falls to just 2%.

Commenting on the research Dr Daniel Ober, Medical Officer, Cigna International Markets Americas said: "Our research shows people increasingly understand and trust COVID-19 vaccines. We know that vaccination is a critical part of ending this pandemic. The science demonstrates the overwhelming effectiveness of vaccines to prevent severe COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and even death. Getting vaccinated is the most important thing for us to do, not just for ourselves, but for those we love. Our advice is clear, get vaccinated as soon as you can!"

Download the report

Click here to download the full COVID-19 Vaccine Perception Study Report - 2nd edition

Click here to download the COVID-19 Vaccine Perception Study Report - 1st edition

Research methodology:

Cigna partnered with You Gov, the international research data and analytics group, engaged with 13,387 respondents between 16th and 20th April 2021. The respondents were a representative sample aged 18 or over, 52% male and 48% female, from across 11 markets: Mainland China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, UAE, UK and US.

About Cigna

Cigna Corporation is a global health service company dedicated to improving the health, well-being and peace of mind of those we serve. Cigna delivers choice, predictability, affordability and access to quality care through integrated capabilities and connected, personalized solutions that advance whole person health. All products and services are provided exclusively by or through operating subsidiaries of Cigna Corporation, including Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company, Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York, Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Express Scripts companies or their affiliates, and Life Insurance Company of North America. Such products and services include an integrated suite of health services, such as medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, vision, supplemental benefits, and other related products including group life, accident and disability insurance. Cigna maintains sales capability in over 30 countries and jurisdictions, and has more than 170 million customer relationships throughout the world. To learn more about Cigna, including links to follow us on Facebook or Twitter, visit www.cigna.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1246896/image_5010983_22394327_Logo.jpg
Asia Bankers Club, Ashton Hawks and Golden Emperor sign exclusive MoU to Distribute Hanoi's Vietnam-Japanese Luxury Apartment Development

HONG KONG, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Asia Bankers Club, Ashton Hawks and Golden Emperor have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TTland to be the exclusive marketing agents of Hanoi's latest luxury residential project developed jointly by Trung Thuy Group of Vietnam and Japan's Toshin Development of Takashimaya Group.

As part of the agreement, Asia Bankers Club, Ashton Hawks and Golden Emperor are the appointed official agents for foreign quota sales, and will exclusively promote Lancaster Luminaire of Hanoi in all overseas markets outside of Vietnam, with Hong Kong as the first stop. A complex of luxury apartments, offices and retail podium, Lancaster Luminaire promises to bring a comfortable and fulfilling living experience. The starting price of a fully fitted and finished luxury residential apartment unit is USD195,000 / HKD1,500,000.

Lancaster Luminaire is located at Lang Street, a prime location of the CBD area Dong Da district which is the heart of traffic connection. The new CBD Nam Tu Liem is just 10 minute drive away. It only takes 15 minutes to move from Lancaster Luminaire to other major areas of the city, such as the Noi Bai International Airport, South of Tu Liem, Ho Tay Residences and Hoan Kiem district. Close to Lancaster Luminaire, Lotte Center Hanoi is only 5 minutes away, and Thu Le Park and Cau Giay Park are 3 minutes from the development. The unrivalled location is perfect for families and working professionals alike, surrounded by green space with seamless connection to the city centre. Moreover, some of the apartments on the higher floors will enjoy a scenic view of West Lake, one of the most significant lakes of the city.

The development is the first joint venture of Trung Thuy Group and Takashimaya subsidiary Toshin Development. Part of the Takashimaya Group, one of the leading department store operators in Japan, Toshin Development aims to bolster the project value leveraging their development track record in Japan and Ho Chi Minh City, particularly at Saigon Centre with anchor tenant Takashimaya. Meanwhile, after the successful development of Lancaster Nui Truc, Trung Thuy Group returned to Hanoi with Lancaster Luminaire as the latest addition to "Lancaster", the pioneer brand in the luxury real estate series in Vietnam.

Mr. Kingston Lai, Founder & CEO of Asia Bankers Club said, "Japanese department store chain operator Takashimaya is a familiar name for investors in Hong Kong. This exquisite urban development project in Hanoi by Toshin Development together with Trung Thuy Group, a Vietnamese high-end housing developer, would give high confidence to Hong Kong investors who are looking for real estate projects that are up to international standard in terms of construction and management. We are delighted to be the sole exclusive agent group for the foreign quotas of this development and to launch it globally."

Mr. Ivan Yam, Managing Director & Partner of Golden Emperor, comments, "Hanoi is Vietnam's centre of wealth and power, and the urban population is growing rapidly. The supply of brand new residential developments is far behind the population growth. Coupled with the stable GDP growth of Vietnam and the rise of middles class, it is expected that the housing market will recover very quickly once the pandemic is over. We believe this is a good entry point for investors looking to enter the real estate market of this emerging economy."

Mr. Frederick Ho, Director & Partner of Ashton Hawks adds, "A number of infrastructures in Hanoi are seeing completion in the coming years, improving urban planning in the city centre and the CBD. Lancaster Luminaire is location 10 minutes way from C?u Gi?y Station of Line 3, which is scheduled to complete by 2022. The location of this development project is also very convenient with shopping facilities, international schools, hospitals and CBD nearby. We expect a rich tenant pool of professionals with families and expats working in the current CBD and the new CBD Nam Tu Liem, with estimated rental yield as much as 7% per year*."

Mr. Nguyen Trung Tin, CEO of Trung Thuy Group stated, "After the success of Lancaster Nui Truc, Lancaster Luminaire is the next development of Trung Thuy Group in Hanoi, which showcases a remarkable concept by a combination of light inspiration and luxurious living style, bringing owners more than just a residential project. With the collaboration of Toshin Development and strategic partners, we believe that Lancaster Luminaire will become a breakthrough development in a promising market in Hanoi."

Lancaster Luminaire will be introduced exclusively by Asia Bankers Club, Ashton Hawks and Golden Emperor in Hong Kong from today. Units with foreign quotas are available only with these three appointed official agents. Interested investors can also obtain an overview on Vietnam's luxury property market and more information on foreign ownership quotas through their professional agent teams.

To download high-resolution project images, please visit https://bit.ly/34yZjoW.

*Rental Yield is projected and not guaranteed.

About Trung Thuy Group

Established in 1995, Trung Thuy Group strives to create artful and quality living spaces that enhance people's lives and maintain sustainable values for the next generations.

Trung Thuy Group is proud to be a leading real estate development brand with high-class projects trusted by customers in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and more.

trungthuy.com

About Toshin Development

Toshin Development was established in 1963 by Takashimaya Group. From that time, Takashimaya is still the pioneer corporation that operates department stores in Japan and worldwide,

Toshin Development is strengthening its position by expanding its global shopping mall network. With nearly 60 years of experience, Toshin Development aims to create a high-end Shopping Center in Lancaster Luminaire which is expected to become a new symbol of Hanoi.

www.toshin-dev.co.jp

About Asia Bankers Club

The Asia Bankers Club is an investment club for banking and finance professionals in Asia. With a vast member base, the Asia Bankers Club organizes events for its members and provides physical assets for investments, such as properties, fine wines, art, timepieces, and collectables. Our members are from top tier investment, private and consumer banks, asset management companies, private equity firms, hedge funds, and sovereign wealth funds primarily located in key financial centres.

www.asiabankersclub.com

About Ashton Hawks

Ashton Hawks was established by a group of renowned investment gurus and private collectors who laid the very foundation of the discerning Ashton Hawks, balancing luxury leisure lifestyle and investment. Our headquarter office is located in Hong Kong, with overseas branches in Bangkok and Vietnam. Ashton Hawks' real estate portfolio is as diverse in style as it is in mega-estate location across the globe, and caters to luxury lifestyles of all kinds. Ashton Hawks takes pride in being a boutique yet original real estate consultant in the luxury market segment for the ultra-affluent.

www.ashtonhawks.com

About Golden Emperor

Golden Emperor Properties Limited is a Hong Kong-based company that offers international properties to clients in Hong Kong and globally. The company works with property developers from Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, the USA, Australia, Europe, and many others. The company has a team of dedicated sales agents that can provide consultancy and information on relevant transaction-related topics such as taxation, sales & purchase procedures, payment schedules, and many others.

www.goldenemperor.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1523825/From_Left_Mr_Nguyen_Manh_Tien__Director___Marketing.jpg
WatchGuard Cloud is now the MSP management interface of choice for security delivery

LONDON, June 02, 2021a global leader in network security and intelligence, multi-factor authentication. As a result, partners and customers can now deploy and manage endpoint security, network security and MFA services via WatchGuard Cloud, enabling them to streamline security delivery, simplify operations, consolidate vendors, and bolster business growth and profitability.



"Adding endpoint security services to WatchGuard Cloud is a major game-changer for our MSP business," said Stuart Hall, Director at Kuiper Technology. "Now we can manage all our security offerings from the network to the endpoint within one unified platform, and simplify everything from initial deployment and set-up to license management, renewals and reporting."

"WatchGuard's driving mission is to create the security platform of MSPs' dreams and less than one year after acquiring Panda Security we've taken another significant step forward," said Andrew Young, senior vice president of product management at WatchGuard. "MSPs need a platform that offers greater coordination across critical security services. We're delivering next-generation antivirus, AI-enabled endpoint detection and response, network security and authentication services as a Unified Security Platform that enables MSPs to provide complete protection for customers today, and we're making it simpler and more streamlined than ever to manage."

Regardless of which WatchGuard product categories partners offer, the WatchGuard Cloud platform offers a variety of operational advantages. MSPs can leverage fixed-term contracts, WatchGuard Points, and flexible monthly and usage-based subscriptions to procure products in the manner that best suits their business model. It also supports flexible options for upgrading, extending and delegating licenses, as well as easy set-up and template-based configurations that partners can implement across multi-tier, multi-tenant environments.

This integration is the latest example of WatchGuard's continued commitment to and investment in MSP enablement with WatchGuard Cloud enhancements. Partners and customers have been managing Firebox security environments and AuthPointMFA deployments through this single interface since 2019. In January 2020, WatchGuard introduced its ThreatSynccapabilities within WatchGuard Cloud to unify threat intelligence, correlation and scoring across the WatchGuard security stack, from network to user. Now with the addition of WatchGuard Endpoint Security solutions, WatchGuard has centralised the delivery of protection for networks, endpoints and identities to provide a truly Unified Security Platform.

As part of the integration, individual products previously known as Panda Endpoint Protection and Panda Endpoint Protection Plus now comprise the WatchGuard EPP(Endpoint Protection Detection and Response).

WatchGuard Endpoint Security solutions are live in WatchGuard Cloud today. For more information about WatchGuard's growing product portfolio and capabilities, click here.

Additional Resources:

WatchGuard Endpoint Security Brochure (https://www.watchguard.com/wgrd-resource-center/docs/watchguard-endpoint-security-0)

WatchGuard Endpoint Security Partner Brief (https://watchguard.widen.net/s/9jvfnjjjrg/partnerbrief_wess)

WatchGuard Cloud Datasheet (https://www.watchguard.com/wgrd-resource-center/docs/watchguard-cloud)

WatchGuard Endpoint Protection Platform Datasheet (https://www.watchguard.com/wgrd-resource-center/docs/watchguard-epp)

WatchGuard Endpoint Detection and Response Datasheet (https://www.watchguard.com/wgrd-resource-center/docs/watchguard-edr)

WatchGuard Endpoint Protection Detection and Response Datasheet (https://www.watchguard.com/wgrd-resource-center/docs/watchguard-epdr)

About WatchGuard Technologies

WatchGuard Technologies is a global leader in network security, secure Wi-Fi, multi-factor authentication, advanced endpoint protection, and network intelligence. The company's award-winning products and services are trusted around the world by nearly 18,000 security resellers and service providers to protect more than 250,000 customers. WatchGuard's mission is to make enterprise-grade security accessible to companies of all types and sizes through simplicity, making WatchGuard an ideal solution for midmarket businesses and distributed enterprises. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit WatchGuard.com.

For additional information, promotions and updates, follow WatchGuard on Twitter @WatchGuard on Facebook or on the LinkedIn Company page. Also, visit our InfoSec blog, Secplicity, for real-time information about the latest threats and how to cope with them at www.secplicity.org . Subscribe to The 443 - Security Simplified podcast at Secplicity.org , or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

WatchGuard is a registered trademark of WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. All other marks are property of their respective owners.

Press contacts:

Peter Rennison or Rachel Williams, PRPR, 01442 245030, pr@prpr.co.uk/ rachel@prpr.co.uk

Chris Warfield, WatchGuard Technologies, 206.876.8380, chris.warfield@watchguard.com




Bigger doesnt always mean better. In fact, it often means worse and more expensive, he said in an email. My office takes its role in scrutinizing proposed combinations seriously, and we were in the midst of conducting a thorough review of the Cone/Sentara affiliation. I encourage all hospital directors to be certain that consolidation is actually in the interest of the patients and communities they serve before pursuing it.
AMSTERDAM (dpa-AFX) - Covid-19 vaccine maker Moderna Inc. (MRNA) announced Wednesday that it has entered into an additional agreement with Lonza Group AG (LZAGF.PK), a supplier to the pharmaceutical, healthcare and life-science industries, to support drug substance manufacturing for its global supply chain. The agreement will establish a new production line at Lonza's Geleen site in the Netherlands, contributing to the supply of an additional 300 million doses of Moderna's updated booster variant vaccine candidate, if authorized, per year, at a 50 g dose. With the latest deal, Moderna now expects to be able to supply the equivalent of 600 million 50 g doses per year from production within the European Union. The company earlier announced investments in drug substance manufacturing with ROVI in Granada, Spain. Both these new drug substance lines in the European Union are expected to be operational before the end of 2021. Moderna already works with ROVI and Recipharm in France for fill/finish of COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna in Europe. The company recently entered into a Manufacturing Services and Supply Agreement with Samsung Biologics in South Korea to provide additional large scale, commercial fill/finish services. In the U.S., the company also works with Lonza Portsmouth for drug substance production, and partners with Catalent, Baxter BioPharma Solutions, Sanofi and Thermo Fisher Scientific for fill/finish services. With these additional manufacturing investments, the company expects to increase production in late 2021 and early 2022 to support global supply of its COVID-19 vaccine. 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.
FlexTrade Systems (@FlexTrade), a global leader in multi-asset execution and order management systems and BMLL Technologies (BMLL), the leading, independent provider of harmonised T+1 data and analytics to the world's most sophisticated capital market participants, today announced that the BMLL Data Feed is available in FlexTRADER EMS.

BMLL's unique Level 3 data and analytics helps financial institutions leverage the predictive nature of full depth order book data to accelerate their research, optimise their trading strategies and generate alpha. BMLL's Data Feed is pre-computed from the most granular, Level 3 order book data and provides market participants with actionable insights focused on market quality and execution performance as well as available liquidity at different depths of the book.

Delivered via API directly into FlexTRADER workflows, BMLL's data and analytics allows users to rapidly unlock the predictive power of pricing data within the FlexTRADER EMS blotter, offering clients the insight they need to understand how markets behave and make more informed decisions to enhance their trading performance.

Andy Mahoney, Managing Director EMEA FlexTrade Systems noted: "We are delighted to integrate with a great partner like BMLL and add their data and analytics to our trading technology. This partnership will provide our clients with more transparency -giving traders more choice at the right price point. This means our clients will have enriched pre- and post-trade analytics inside our FlexTRADER EMS blotter, helping them to analyse historical data to make the best trading decisions by comparing analytics across the watch list and determine when to trade or spot any outliers."

Paul Humphrey, CEO BMLL stated: "We are thrilled to partner with FlexTrade to make our historical data and analytics available to some of the world's largest asset managers. Making sense of how the markets behave and having the tools to analyse long term cycles and trends, or backtest trading strategies, are crucial for all market participants looking to maintain a competitive edge. Our Level 3 T+1 data and scalable analytics capabilities complement FlexTRADER's technology, helping firms navigate market complexity and make more informed trading decisions."

About FlexTrade

FlexTrade Systems is a global leader in high performance multi-asset execution management and order management systems for equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, futures, and options. A pioneer in the field, FlexTrade is internationally recognized for introducing FlexTRADER, the world's first broker-neutral, execution management trading system, which allows clients to completely control and customize their execution workflows through a comprehensive ability to search/access liquidity while maintaining the confidentiality of their trading strategies.

About BMLL Technologies

BMLL Technologies is the leading, independent provider of harmonised, Level 3 historical data and analytics to the world's most sophisticated capital market participants.

BMLL offers banks, brokers, asset managers, hedge funds and global exchange groups immediate and flexible access to the most granular Level 3, T+1 order book data and advanced analytics, enabling them to accelerate research, optimise trading strategies and generate alpha at unparalleled speed and scale.

Founded in 2014 in the machine learning laboratories of the University of Cambridge, the platform enables researchers and quants across global financial services firms to apply complex statistical techniques to BMLL's unique big-data sets with applications such as market impact, pre post trade analytics, order book simulation and compliance. Users no longer need to buy, curate and harmonise data. With BMLL, they gain cost-effective, instant access to a cloud-native Data Science environment via a single web portal, with a long history of the most granular, full order book data across global equities, futures and ETFs for back-testing and simulation, delivered directly into their workflows.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005173/en/

Contacts:

Matthew Halicki

Vice President, Marketing

matthew.halicki@flextrade.com

o: +1 516-304-3672 516

m +1 516-287-3215
TA also Completes Fundraising for Second Generation Re-Investment Fund

TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm, today announced the completion of its fundraising for TA XIV with total commitments at the hard cap of $12.5 billion. TA XIV was launched in January 2021 and quickly became significantly oversubscribed, with demand exceeding its original $10.5 billion target. In addition, TA announced the closing of TA Select Opportunities Fund II ("TA Select Opps II"), also launched in January 2021, with total commitments at its hard cap of $1.5 billion.

TA XIV will continue TA's long-term investment strategy of investing in companies with high-quality business models capable of delivering sustainable growth within the technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services sectors. Investments are expected to range in size from $100 to $600 million. Like its predecessor fund, TA Select Opps II will make investments in independent, third-party priced recapitalizations of high-performing TA portfolio companies that the firm believes offer significant prospects for continued organic and inorganic growth.

"For more than 50 years, TA has helped scale leading growth companies across industries, borders and financial cycles through our relentless focus on building lasting value," said Brian Conway, Chairman of TA. "Many of TA's investors have been our partners for decades, and we are extraordinarily grateful for their long-term support. We are pleased to have earned our investors' continued commitment to TA's unique approach to growth private equity. The entire TA team is energized by the opportunity, and deeply respectful of the responsibility to invest and work for our limited partners."

The raising of TA XIV and TA Select Opps II builds on TA's significant momentum and follows an active period for the firm. TA XIV is the successor fund to TA XIII, an $8.5 billion private equity fund that commenced investing in July 2019. TA Select Opps II is the successor fund to TA Select Opportunities Fund, a $1 billion private equity fund that commenced investing in February 2020. It is expected that both TA XIV and TA Select Opps II will begin their investment periods during the second half of 2021.

"This successful fundraise is an exciting milestone that reflects investor confidence in our core investment strategy," said Ajit Nedungadi, Chief Executive Officer of TA. "We are committed to investing in the highest quality growth businesses in our target industries and leveraging the depth and experience of the organization to drive proprietary opportunities in these sectors. The strength of our value creation capabilities and our extensive global network positions TA to help leading companies continue their growth journeys and transform into strategic platforms."

A diverse group of largely existing global investors in prior TA funds, including leading public pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, foundations and endowments, committed capital to TA XIV and TA Select Opps II.

"We want to thank our limited partners for their thoughtful engagement throughout the fundraising process and for their steadfast support and enthusiastic conviction in TA's strategy and culture," said Andrew Harris, Director of Investor Relations at TA. "We are privileged to have earned the trust of so many high-quality institutional investors around the world, and we are excited about our ongoing partnership in this next generation of TA funds."

Goodwin Procter LLP served as fund counsel for TA XIV and TA Select Opportunities Fund II.

About TA Associates

TA is a leading global growth private equity firm. Focused on targeted sectors within five industries technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services the firm invests in profitable, growing companies with opportunities for sustained growth, and has invested in more than 535 companies around the world. Investing as either a majority or minority investor, TA employs a long-term approach, utilizing its strategic resources to help management teams build lasting value in high quality growth companies. TA has raised $47.5 billion in capital since its founding in 1968 and is committing to new investments at the pace of over $3 billion per year. The firm's more than 100 investment professionals are based in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong. More information about TA can be found at www.ta.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005319/en/

Contacts:

Marcia O'Carroll

TA Associates

+1-617-574-6796

mocarroll@ta.com

Philip Nunes

BackBay Communications

+1-617-391-0792

phil.nunes@backbaycommunications.com

Stephen Fishleigh

BackBay Communications

+44 203 475 7552

stephen.fishleigh@backbaycommunications.com
For the first time in history, a truly programmatic DOOH solution arrives in the French market.

PARIS and MONTREAL, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kinetic, the world's largest out of home buying and planning agency today announces it's exclusive partnership in France with Hivestack, the leading global programmatic digital out of home (DOOH) ad tech company. This partnership will drive the future of OOH, forming the first truly programmatic DOOH solution in the French market.

Kinetic France, through its subsidiary Screenbase, plans and buys campaigns across two of the world's largest media companies, making it by far the biggest buyer of OOH in the region. Kinetic will integrate Hivestack's demand side platform (DSP) bringing automation and performance measurement to brand campaigns in DOOH for the first time in French history. Clients will be able to access Hivestack's full suite of tools including the ability to build custom audiences, set up live geo-location targeting, plan, buy and deliver in real time both in PMP deals and also via the open exchange. All this will be available through one consolidated Kinetic dashboard, enabling optimisation, reporting and pacing of the campaign across multiple media owners in one place.

As part of the expansion into France, Hivestack has also signed some of the worlds largest and most powerful OOH/DOOH media owners via the Hivestack Supply Side Platform (SSP), including Clear Channel, Mediatransports, Imediacenter, Smartmedia, DoohYouLike, Fill Up Media, Waitcom, Turnadon and DooH it, with more coming soon including Mediaperformances and JCDecaux inventory via VIOOH. These media owners will be able to monetize their premium DOOH inventory by connecting to a worldwide pool of advertisers in real-time.

Geoffrey Galabert CPO, Kinetic France shared: "This is an incredibly exciting time for the DOOH market in France. We look forward to collaborating with our new partners at Hivestack to leverage their market leading programmatic technology and offer our clients a way to precisely engage audiences outside of the home."

"We're thrilled to be partnering with Kinetic France to accelerate the adoption of programmatic DOOH in France, ' said William Brownsdon, Managing Director EMEA, Hivestack. "We've already seen incredible success with Kinetic in other markets and look forward to utilizing our full stack platform to drive growth in this new market."

The announcement also coincides with Hivestack's appointment of Vladimir Chou, hired as VP, Demand in France. Vladimir Chou joins the business from Kinetic itself and with his strong industry experience and market expertise, is well placed to drive programmatic DOOH forward in France to make this partnership a big success.

DOOH advertising spend has more than doubled over the last 5 years in the French market and with this growth, new technologies have emerged within the channel to drive greater efficiencies. Both buyers and sellers will also access Hivestack's market-leading audience targeting and measurement solutions, delivering powerful results at scale.

ABOUT KINETIC

Kinetic is the leading global out of home specialist agency for WPP. We deliver creative and effective classic, digital and mobile outdoor advertising.

For more information, please visit https://kineticww.com

Media Contact:

Geoffrey Galabert

Chief Product Officer, France

geoffrey.galabert@screenbase.fr

ABOUT HIVESTACK

Hivestack is the global, full stack, marketing technology company that powers the buy and sell-side of programmatic digital out of home (DOOH) advertising. On the buy side, marketers use Hivestack's Demand-Side Platform to create measurable campaigns that activate DOOH screens in real time based on consumer behaviour and audience movement patterns.

On the sell-side, DOOH media owners use Hivestack's Supply-Side Platform & Ad Exchange to attract programmatic revenue. DOOH media owners can also use Hivestack's Ad Server to power audience-based, directly sold campaigns. Attribution is a first class-citizen throughout Hivestack's platform, offering buyers and sellers the ability to measure business outcomes at all stages of the consumer sales funnel.

Hivestack is headquartered in Montreal, Canada, and has global operations in Toronto, Tokyo, London, New York, Mexico City, Shanghai, Sydney and Guadalajara.

For more information, please visit https://www.hivestack.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @hivestack

Media Contact: Ginny Bourne, Senior Marketing Manager, EMEA, Hivestack, ginny@hivestack.com
The Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy announced at Arabian Travel Market Dubai 2021 that preparations are underway to welcome international visitors this year

DUBAI, UAE, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Indonesia announced today it is looking to partially re-open its borders to international visitors. The announcement was made at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) Dubai 2021, the leading global event for the Middle East's inbound and outbound travel industry.

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click: https://en.prnasia.com/mnr/202106_MoTCE.shtml

On behalf of the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia (MoTCE), Deputy Minister for Tourism Marketing, Mrs. Nia Niscaya, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy Republic of Indonesia and Emirates Airlines during ATM 2021. The Cooperation aims to boost marketing activities overseas, especially in Dubai.



In total, 20 Indonesian destinations took part onsite. Based on a questionnaire submitted by 100 Indonesian co-exhibitors, 606 bookings were made during the 4-day show in Dubai from 16-19 May 2021 and 2.443 bookings in Bali during the ATM Dubai Virtual event from 24-26 May 2021. These two events -- in-person and online -- were complementary and allowed exhibitors to reach a broader audience to ensure no one misses out.



A New Dawn for Travel and Tourism



The theme of this year's show is 'A New Dawn for Travel and Tourism'. The spotlight focuses on how the latest 'COVID' news worldwide is likely to affect international tourism in 2021 and beyond.



Sixty-two countries joined the exhibition floor this year, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Germany, Cyprus, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, the Maldives, the Philippines, Thailand, Mexico and the U.S. In comparison, while 140 countries participated in the virtual event.



In participating in a global travel market in the pandemic era, Indonesia demonstrates its firm commitment to CHSE (Cleanliness, Health, Safety and Environment Sustainability) implementation by focusing on health and safety protocols at destinations and the Indonesia Pavilion in the Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.



Middle East travelers have long been a key market for Indonesian tourism destinations. In 2019, the Middle East recorded a significant increase in arrivals to Indonesia, registering 263,923 visitors (27,88% higher than 2018).



"By participating in ATM Dubai 2021, outbound tourism's leading global event, we are demonstrating that Indonesia is confident of maintaining its position as a world-class destination," said Mrs. Nia Niscaya, Deputy of Minister for Tourism Marketing.



Plans to re-open borders in July



His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, announced plans to re-open borders in July 2021, with destinations including Bali, Batam and Bintan serving as 'locomotive' regions to kickstart tourism for the whole country - if the pandemic is handled as well as expected.



In preparation, the government has carried out a widespread vaccination program for targeted groups, including the tourism workforce. In addition, the government has also initiated the Cleanliness, Health, Safety, and Environmental Sustainability (CHSE) certification program throughout the tourism sector in Indonesia.



For real-time updates on Indonesian travel, please visit www.indonesia.travel

Contact:



Vinsensius Jemadu

Head of Communications Bureau

Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy

info@kemenparekraf.go.id

vjemadu@yahoo.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1522621/Image4.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1475943/LOGO_KEMENPAR_Logo.jpg
First Pharma Companies Sign Collaboration Agreements, Announce Utilization of Novel Platform

HAMBURG, Germany, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Indivumed GmbH ("Indivumed") today announced the launch of nRavelTM, a unique AI discovery platform for oncology and precision medicine. The platform combines IndivuType's deep multi-omics data with elaborate disease models, high-powered automated Machine Learning tools, and a comprehensive suite of advanced analytics tools. Together this creates an unparalleled engine for generating new discoveries and insights into cancer biology.

"The foundation of IndivuType has been the creation of the world's most comprehensive multi-omics cancer database," said Roald Forsberg, PhD, Indivumed Chief Business Officer and Head of the IndivuType Business Unit. "With our nRavelTM AI platform we are now ready to fully unleash the power of our data to discover completely new ways of understanding the biology of cancer and to drive new inventions in the treatment of these devastating diseases. At Indivumed, this is really what our mission is about."

Indivumed is using nRavelTM for target discovery and drug development programs through both its subsidiaries, Ix Therapeutics and KHR Biotec, and in pharma partnerships, with several large pharma companies already signing collaboration agreements. Most recently, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany signed a master collaboration agreement with Indivumed to utilize nRavel's capabilities for the company's drug development activities.

"The nRavelTM platform puts Indivumed ahead of all other AI-driven drug development platforms. The combination of proprietary AI-integrated analytical tools with unique multi-omics data sets from thousands of patients delivers an unprecedented understanding of cancer biology in individual patients and provides truly novel targets for highly efficient and rapid drug development, " said Prof. Dr. Hartmut Juhl, CEO and Founder of Indivumed. "We look forward to partnering with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, who recognized our nRavelTM platform as an exciting new solution for drug development."

The nRavelTM platform currently includes six toolboxes (immuno-oncology, pathways and signaling, biomarkers, genomics, signatures, clinical analytics), each containing specific applications designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of cancer research and drug development projects. Indivumed plans to continue adding applications to each toolbox in the coming months.

About Indivumed

Driven by our mission to unveil the complex mechanisms of cancer and advance precision oncology, Indivumed combines the world's most comprehensive multi-omics data with extensive medical experience, bioinformatics expertise and AI-integrated advanced analytics. Our global clinical network enables us to collect and analyze thousands of patient samples using a standardized approach to ensure biospecimen quality across three business units - IndivuServ, IndivuTest, and IndivuType. The unparalleled depth and quality of our data - coupled with our robust product and service offerings - gives us the ability to obtain novel insights and accelerate cancer research. For more information, visit www.indivumed.com.

Media Contact:

Patrick Renegar

W: 703-519-1600 Ext. 104

prenegar@livewiredc.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1002609/Indivumed_Logo.jpg
GraphDB 9.8 introduces text mining integration, notifications over Kafka, Helm charts as well as significant query performance improvements

SOFIA, Bulgaria, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ontotext has released GraphDB 9.8, which offers text mining integration, notifications over Kafka, Helm charts, and performance improvements.

Enrich the Graph with the Text Mining Plugin

The GraphDB text mining plugin integrates text mining algorithms and allows for generating new relationships between entities without coding or developing bespoke solutions and integration code.

The plugin comes with out-of-the-box support for popular text analytic services such as Ontotext's Tag API, GATE Cloud, and spaCy server, as well as an expressive mapping language, to register new services without coding. The extracted text annotations can be manipulated with SPARQL and either returned to the caller for further processing or stored directly into the repository where they will enrich the existing knowledge graph. This functionality covers a number of use-cases that rely on both RDF and text analytics.

Synchronize Downstream Systems with the Kafka Connector

The Kafka connector provides a means to synchronize changes to the RDF model to any downstream system via the Apache Kafka framework. This enables easy processing of RDF updates in any external system and covers a variety of use-cases where a reliable synchronization mechanism is needed.

Each Kafka connector instance will stay automatically up-to-date with the GraphDB repository data. The implementation is built on the same rock-solid framework as the existing Elasticsearch, Solr and Lucene connectors end employs multiple features that allow for precise mapping from RDF to JSON, such as defining fields based on property chains, nested document support as well as advanced filtering by type, literal language or a complex expression.

Standard Deployment on Kubernetes Using Helm Charts

GraphDB 9.8 comes with standard Helm charts and instructions that can help you get started with GraphDB Enterprise Edition on Kubernetes. Every component is configured with sensible defaults and it is very easy to customize it to meet your needs. The Helm charts are open source and provided as a reference for setting up complex GraphDB deployments.

Performance and Database Throughput Improvements

The new version of the GraphDB engine implements a major performance improvement in query evaluation due to optimized memory usage and algorithm optimizations. The LDBC SPB-256 benchmark showed around 50% increase in read performance, while the BSBM benchmark showed a 15% increase in read/explore operations. All changes are backward compatible and would positively affect large repositories under moderate to heavy query load.

Upgrade to RDF4J 3.6.3

GraphDB comes with the latest RDF4J 3.6.3, which includes many SHACL improvements and a SPARQL parser optimization.

About Ontotext

Ontotext is a global leader in enterprise knowledge graph technology and semantic database engines. Ontotext employs big knowledge graphs to enable unified data access and cognitive analytics via text mining and integration of data across multiple sources. Ontotext GraphDB?? engine and Ontotext Platform power business-critical systems in the biggest banks, media, market intelligence agencies, car and aerospace manufacturers.

Ontotext technology and solutions are spread wide across the value chain of the most knowledge-intensive enterprises in financial services, publishing, healthcare, pharma, manufacturing and public sectors. Leveraging AI and cognitive technologies, Ontotext helps enterprises get a competitive advantage, by connecting the dots of their proprietary knowledge and putting it in the context of global intelligence.

Headquartered in the year 2000 in Bulgaria, Ontotext has most of its revenues from big corporations across US, UK, Mainland Europe and Asia and partners with 5 of the biggest IT Services companies on Earth.

As a member of W3C, STI, Linked Data Benchmark Council, Enterprise Knowledge Graph Foundation and DBPedia foundation, Ontotext supports the development of the next-generation technology trends and standards. With hundreds of scientific publications and thousands of citations and followers, Ontotext's thought leadership extends to text analytics, semantic search and reasoning.



Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1523293/Ontotext_Kafka.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/448827/Ontotext_Logo.jpg
- Company co-created and funded by HealthCap and Novo Holdings

- Breakthrough asset in-licensed from Norway's foremost tech transfer office, Inven2

- Jonas Hansson, Partner, HealthCap will assume the role of Executive Chairman as Georg Vo Beiske, Junior Venture Partner, HealthCap is appointed Chief Executive Officer

OSLO, Norway, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tribune Therapeutics ("Tribune"), a company founded to exploit a novel, pan-antifibrotic mechanism across a wide range of indications, announces its launch with a seed financing led by HealthCap and Novo Holdings. This follows a period of company creation, with close involvement by HealthCap and Novo Seeds, the early-stage investment and company creation team of Novo Holdings.

Founded in 2020 and recently having in-licensed an asset from Inven2, one of the largest technology transfer offices in the Nordic region, Tribune emerges from stealth mode as a preclinical biopharmaceutical company building a promising pipeline of novel medicines to treat patients with a wide range of fibrotic diseases.

Based on research from Havard Attramadal's lab at Oslo University Hospital, Tribune is developing a novel drug with a pan-antifibrotic mechanism of action targeting several fibrotic indications including diseases affecting the kidney, lung and liver.

HealthCap and Novo Seeds have worked closely with Inven2 and the scientific founders to develop a commercially attractive business plan to maximise the potential of the company's breakthrough technology.

Jonas Hansson, Partner with HealthCap and Executive Chairman of Tribune, said: "Tribune emerges as the result of years of academic research and is now setting out to develop novel pharmaceuticals to treat life-threatening fibrotic diseases. Combining a strong scientific foundation and a large unmet medical need with a Nordic footprint is a great match with Novo Seeds and HealthCap. Together, we are excited to support this important work."

Joao Ribas, Senior Associate at Novo Seeds, added: "As part of our mission to support entrepreneurs developing innovative solutions to improve treatment options for patients, we are delighted to be working with HealthCap to fund and fully support Tribune Therapeutics. This financing not only exemplifies Novo Seeds' commitment as a key biotech company builder in the Nordic region, but also demonstrates our ability to synergistically collaborate with academic experts and like-minded investors to bring the latest scientific breakthroughs into promising, disruptive companies."

Ole Kristian Hjelstuen, Chief Executive Officer of Inven2, stated: "Inven2's core mandate is to commercialise inventions on behalf of the strong academic milieus we represent. We are very proud to see that cutting-edge academic research from Havard Attramadal 's lab has laid the foundation for Tribune Therapeutics. The financial support, expertise, and commitment from both Novo Holdings and HealthCap, two of the leading life science financial institutions in Europe, gives the company fair chances to succeed in bringing new treatments to patients. We look forward to following the route from the lab to patients with high unmet medical needs."

Georg Vo Beiske, Junior Venture Partner at HealthCap and incoming Chief Executive Officer of Tribune, stated: "There is a great need for novel treatment options for patients suffering from fibrotic diseases. Tribune Therapeutics is built on strong science and has the potential to develop life-changing therapies for these patients. With the support of Novo Seeds and HealthCap we are eager to bring the science into pharmaceutical development."

As a result of the financing, Joao Ribas, Senior Associate and Jrgen Sberg Petersen, Partner at Novo Seeds; Elias Papatheodorou, CEO Genkyotex; and Jacob Gunterberg, Partner at HealthCap will join the Board of Directors which will be led by Jonas Hansson, Partnerat HealthCap and Tribune's Executive Chairman.

Georg Vo Beiske, Junior Venture Partner at HealthCap, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer and Ole Jrgen Kaasbll, MD, PhD at Oslo University Hospital, will assume the role of Chief Scientific Officer.

Fibrosis is a pathogenic process that results in deposition of scar tissue and it typically occurs when tissues are subjected to chronic inflammation or insults too large for the body to spontaneously recover from. Fibrosis can occur in many tissues within the body and result in disease in multiple organs including in the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. As a whole, human fibrotic diseases affect far more people than estimated and constitute a major health problem worldwide due to the current absence of safe and effective treatments.

About Tribune Therapeutics

Tribune Therapeutics is a preclinical biopharmaceutical company building a promising pipeline of novel medicines to treat patients with a wide range of fibrotic diseases. Founded in 2020, the Company has in-licensed an asset from Inven2, one of the largest technology transfer offices in the Nordic region. The company was created by HealthCap and Novo Seeds, the early-stage investment and company creation team of Novo Holdings.

About Novo Holdings A/S

Novo Holdings is recognized as a leading international life science investor, with a focus on creating long-term value. As a life science investor, Novo Holdings provides seed and venture capital to development-stage companies and takes significant ownership positions in growth and well-established companies. Novo Holdings also manages a broad portfolio of diversified financial assets. Further information: http://www.novoholdings.dk

About HealthCap

HealthCap is one of the largest specialized providers of venture capital within life sciences in Europe. Since the start in 1996, HealthCap has backed and built more than 100 companies. HealthCap's investment strategy focuses on diseases with high unmet medical needs and breakthrough therapies which have the potential to be transformative and improve the lives of patients suffering from these conditions. Please see: www.healthcap.eu and on Twitter: @HealthCapVC

About Inven2

Inven2 is a limited liability company owned by the University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, and was established to administer the commercial potential of inventions and work results of these two institutions and all the health trusts in the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority.





Since 2010, Inven2 has received 2072 ideas that have been turned into a total of 388 licensing deals and 55 companies with a total worth of NOK 30 billion. This value creation has led to MNOK 582 being brought back to inventors, new research, and innovation.

Please see: www.inven2.com and on Twitter @Inven2as
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 2, 2021 / Pampa Metals Corp. ("Pampa Metals" or the "Company") (CSE:PM)(FSE:FIRA)(OTCQB:PMMCF) is pleased to announce that its first drilling campaign will start in mid-June 2021 in the context of strong and robust copper and precious metals markets. The Company plans to drill test prioritized targets at its 100% controlled Redondo-Veronica and Cerro Buenos Aires projects in northern Chile to a total of approximately 4,000 metres.

Julian Bavin, CEO of Pampa Metals commented: "We are pleased to have progressed to an advanced stage of planning for our initial drill test after a little more than 6 months from inception of the company, despite current Covid-related restrictions. Pampa Metals has 100% control of 8 projects totalling 59,000 hectares in northern Chile, and this first drilling campaign will focus on priority targets at two of them, while we continue to advance exploration activities at the other projects in our portfolio. These are exciting times with the very bullish copper and precious metals markets, and we look forward to the coming campaign."

Drilling at Redondo-Veronica & Cerro Buenos Aires

Planning for an initial drill program at Redondo-Veronica and Cerro Buenos Aires is well advanced and a drill contract has been signed with an experienced contractor in Chile for a minimum of 3,000m of RC drilling, with an overall objective to drill about 4,000m. The campaign will be completed without installing camps at either project, which is highly advantageous in terms of planning, permitting and cost. Engagement and deployment of ancillary services is well advanced.

Both Redondo-Veronica and Cerro Buenos Aires show a variety of geological, hydrothermal alteration, geochemical and geophysical anomalies that have led to the definition of several potential porphyry copper ( moly  gold) -style targets at both projects. These targets have necessarily been prioritised for the purposes of this initial drill test. Further technical information will be released in due course, but the projects can be summarised as follows:

Redondo-Veronica (6,600 hectares): Located along the Domeyko (Eocene-Oligocene) mineral belt of northern Chile, and with five separate target areas of hydrothermal alteration characteristic of porphyry copper deposits identified and mapped. Recently completed 3D Vector IP, Magnetotelluric, and airborne drone magnetic geophysical surveys have revealed a series of geophysical features related to the hydrothermal alteration zones that support the geological interpretations. At least two of the target areas will be drilled in this initial drilling campaign.

(6,600 hectares): Located along the Domeyko (Eocene-Oligocene) mineral belt of northern Chile, and with five separate target areas of hydrothermal alteration characteristic of porphyry copper deposits identified and mapped. Recently completed 3D Vector IP, Magnetotelluric, and airborne drone magnetic geophysical surveys have revealed a series of geophysical features related to the hydrothermal alteration zones that support the geological interpretations. At least two of the target areas will be drilled in this initial drilling campaign. Cerro Buenos Aires (7,600 hectares): Located along the Central Depression (Paleocene) mineral belt of northern Chile, with three outcropping areas showing intense hydrothermal alteration characteristic of the upper and intermediate portions of porphyry copper-style systems, separated by extensive post-mineral covered "pampas". Historic magnetic, resistivity, and CSAMT* geophysical data, together with multi-element geochemical soil data, show a series of important anomalies. These, combined with detailed geological mapping that has revealed porphyry-style quartz veining and a tourmaline breccia at surface, have resulted in the current prioritisation of two areas within the property for drill testing, one of which is characterised by extensive post-mineral cover. Gradient Array IP surveying is currently in progress over one of these selected anomalous target areas.

* Controlled-Source Audio-Frequency Magnetotellurics

Strong Copper Industry Dynamics to Benefit Junior Explorers

The copper industry is currently experiencing a very strong upswing in the commodity cycle, driven mainly by global demand and supply dynamics, with global infrastructure spending and the drive towards greener technologies forecast to drive a massive increase in demand for copper in future years. With precious metals also experiencing a strong upswing, market conditions are highly supportive of the search for new supply and the exploration efforts of companies like Pampa Metals.

Copper markets are driven by industrial demand for its unique properties as a metal. Many industry commentators suggest that supply growth from current mines and advanced projects will not be able to keep up with predicted demand growth - particularly over the next 10 years or so - a combination that will be very supportive of prices.

Factors contributing to this unprecedented demand for the red metal include the global push to adopt low carbon technologies to mitigate climate change risks, including renewable forms of energy, the battery storage industry, and the electrification of transportation and vehicles (EVs) in general. No suitable cost-effective replacement for copper currently exists, and on the supply side, there are challenges for existing mines around the world to meet this demand, providing a support for copper prices and generating a clear need for new mineral discoveries.

The most important source of copper today is from a type of mineral deposit known as a porphyry copper deposit, which provide around 60% of the world's copper, as well as significant gold production and nearly all the world's molybdenum production. Porphyry copper deposits are generally large, ranging from 10s of millions of tonnes to billions of tonnes, and for the most part form open-pit mines, although a small number of deeper underground deposits are being found and developed around the world. Mineral exploration is moving toward covered and deeper targets, as the availability of "outcropping" orebodies has diminished over the last decades.

Chile is located around the Pacific Ocean "ring of fire" that provides the geology conducive to the formation of large porphyry copper deposits, and is the world's single largest copper producer, providing more than 25% of the world's annual copper production, more than double the second ranked nation, and with most of that production coming from porphyry copper deposits.

With a healthy treasury, no debt and a strong management and board team, the company is well positioned to pursue and make a new discovery in Chile. Discovery is the biggest value driver in the mining industry.

Qualified Person

Technical information in this news release has been approved by Mario Orrego G, Geologist and a Registered Member of the Chilean Mining Commission and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Orrego is a consultant to the Company.

COVID-19

The global outbreak of COVID-19 has led governments worldwide to enact emergency measures to combat the spread of the virus. Such measures may result in a period of business disruption including reduced operations, which could have a material adverse impact on the Company's results of operations, financial condition and the market and trading price of the Company's securities.

As of the date of this news release, the duration and immediate and eventual impact of the COVID-19 pandemic remains unknown. It is not possible to reliably estimate the length and severity of these developments and the impact on the financial results and condition of the Company. The outbreak of COVID-19 has not caused significant disruptions to the Company's business to date, with field activities being conducted by Chile-based specialists and consultants, although international travel to Chile for management is currently not practical. Important business communication is largely reliant on digital media. However, the COVID-19 outbreak may yet cause disruptions to the Company's business and operational plans.

ABOUT PAMPA METALS

Pampa Metals is a Canadian company listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE: PM) as well as the Frankfurt (FSE: FIRA) and OTC (OTCPK: PMMCF) exchanges. Pampa Metals owns a highly prospective 59,000-hectare portfolio of eight projects for copper and gold located along proven mineral belts in Chile, one of the world's top mining jurisdictions. The Company has a vision to create value for shareholders and all other stakeholders by making a major copper discovery along the prime mineral belts of Chile, using the best geological and technological methods. For more information, please visit Pampa Metals' website www.pampametals.com.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Ready Set Gold Corp. (CSE: RDY) (FSE: 0MZ) (OTC PINK: RDYFF) ("Ready Set Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Darren Collins to the Board of Directors and Audit Committee effective June 1st, 2021. This appointment reflects the Company's commitment to financial oversight and governance, and further expands the international financial network required to advance the Company's projects. Ready Set Gold also announces the resignation of Mr. Adam Schatzker from its Board of Directors.

Mr. Collins has over 15 years of corporate experience as an executive, director advisor of private and public companies. His expertise spans mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financings, go-public transactions, commercial partnerships, accounting, and corporate governance. In recent engagements with corporate issuers, he has coordinated and executed on fundraisings totaling over $200 million in equity capital and launched active M&A programs for early-stage companies.

Prior to his current corporate activities, Darren worked for several investment and merchant banks, including Alegro Capital LP in London, UK, Scotia Capital Inc., and Quest Capital Corp. (now known as Sprott Resource Lending Corp.) in Toronto, Canada. Mr. Collins holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in finance from Dalhousie University.

Mr. Collins has been granted 150,000 incentive stock options for 5 years at a price of $0.25. The options will be equally vested quarterly over 1 year from grant date. The stock options are subject to the acceptance of the Canadian Securities Exchange.

Christian Scovenna, CEO and Board Member of Ready Set Gold, "On behalf of myself and the other members of the Board of Directors, we welcome Mr. Collins to our team. Mr. Collins has an extensive amount of international financial experience in the resource space and will undoubtedly deliver value to our Company."

"Adam was an effective and highly contributing Board member, and we sincerely thank Adam for his extensive efforts and wish him well going forward," said Christian Scovenna, CEO and Board Member of Ready Set Gold.

About Ready Set Gold Corporation

Ready Set Gold Corp. is a precious metals exploration company listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange under symbol RDY and the Boerse Frankfurt Exchange as 0MZ. The Company has consolidated and now owns a 100% interest in the Northshore Gold Project, located in the Schreiber-Hemlo Greenstone Belt near Thunder Bay, Ontario which is prospective for gold and silver mineralization. The Company also owns a 100% interest in two separate claim blocks totaling 4,453 hectares known as the Hemlo Eastern Flanks Project. The Company also holds an option to acquire a 100% undivided interest in a continuous claim block totaling 1,634 hectares comprising the Emmons Peak Project located 50 km south of Dryden, Ontario that is near the Treasury Metals Goliath and Goldlund advanced gold development projects.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

READY SET GOLD Corporation

"Christian Scovenna"

Chief Executive Officer & Director

Email: info@readysetgoldcorp.com

CEO Direct Line: +1 (416) 453-4708

For further information please contact:

Investor Relations

Sean Kingsley - Vice President, Corporate Communications

Email: skingsley@readysetgoldcorp.com

Tel: +1 (604) 440-8474

www.readysetgoldcorp.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain certain "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this news release and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86159
Lubbock, TX (79409)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph.
LONDON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hakluyt, the strategic advisory firm for corporations and investors, is pleased to announce that Claire Thomas has joined the company as a senior adviser.

Previously the Chief Human Resources Officer at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Claire brings more than 28 years' HR experience to the Hakluyt team. Prior to GSK, she worked at Ford Motor Company, and she has also advised the UK government. She won the European Business Woman of Achievement Award in 2007.

Claire's appointment is another step in the development of Hakluyt's work to help boards and CEOs make senior appointment decisions - providing insights into candidates' capabilities and track records, to enable clients to decide who will best benefit their businesses. This work is led by Matthew Pettigrew, a London-based partner who spent a decade at McKinsey & Co before joining Hakluyt in 2014.

Claire Thomas said: "I've long admired the work Hakluyt does, and am excited to join the team. From my experience in global businesses, I understand the pressures involved in making critical appointments, and am looking forward to helping leaders make decisions that are right for their organisation, culture and long-term ambitions."

Matthew Pettigrew commented: "We are delighted to have Claire's support and advice as we continue to grow this area of our work across the world. Her breadth of experience and proven judgement make her a real asset to our team."

Varun Chandra, Hakluyt's managing partner, added: "Hakluyt's work on senior appointments and succession planning is an increasingly important part of our business, and Claire's expertise will be invaluable as we advise business leaders on these critical issues."

Notes to editors

Hakluyt

Hakluyt is a strategic advisory firm that works with corporate leaders and investors around the world on their most important commercial issues.

For more information on Hakluyt, please visit www.hakluytandco.com.

Claire Thomas was Chief Human Resources Officer at GlaxoSmithKline from 2008 to 2019, where she directly led a team of 1,800 human resources and employee health professionals. Before this, she worked at Ford Motor Group. She is now commencing a new phase of her career as a consultant. Previously, she has advised the UK Government as a non-executive director at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and has presented to and advised the Head of the Civil Service on talent.
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.
DAGANG, China, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Transitioning to a greener and cleaner refrigerant is undoubtedly an unskippable step for all HVAC equipment in the global movement of achieving carbon neutrality. Widely known for low GWP, R32 and R290 are regarded as two most favorite refrigerants in the industry now. In the effort of offsetting emissions and responding to the market demand, PHNIX, a leading heat pump OEM/ODM supplier in China, launches two new heat pumps for heating, cooling and DHW with eco-friendly R32 & R290 refrigerants and the most advanced heat pump technologies in the current market.

The new released heat pumps are named HeroPremium (uses R32 Refrigerant) and GreenTherm(uses R290 Refrigerant), both of which adopt customizable ABS anti-corrosive cabinet, effectively prolonging the service life of the heat pump. With their own different merits on design, HeroPremium series aims to push the popularity of green refrigerant heat pumps and GreenTherm series is targeting the global mutual goal of realizing carbon neutrality.

"Heat pump systems greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, equipment with both lower GWP refrigerant and a higher level of performance should be used. The release of PHNIX HeroPremium series and GreenTherm series is tied to the 2030 Climate & Energy Framework of the European Union which will surely benefit the popularity of green gas heat pump, especially in European areas," said Jab Fan, director of PHNIX overseas heating/cooling/DHW heat pump division.

Different Advantages of HeroPremium Series & GreenTherm Series

About HeroPremium Series

Use R32 Refrigerant

EVI Inverter Technology enables the unit to run stably under -25? cold climate

60? hot water

WT 35? achieve A+++ efficiency, WT 55? achieve A++ efficiency

Noise as low as 39dB(A)

About GreenTherm Series

Use R290 Refrigerant (GWP 3)

Stably operation under -25? cold climate with Inverter technology for more energy savings

70? high temperature hot water

Maintain A+++ efficiency at WT 35?/ 55?

Noise as low as 42dB(A)

About PHNIX

As the leading heat pump manufacturer in China, PHNIX is an international enterprise specializing in the R&D and production of heat pumps and energy-saving solutions. Over 50% of PHNIX products are exported to Europe, North America, and other overseas markets. To learn more about PHNIX and its products, please visit www.phnix-e.com.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1522561/PHNIX_New_R290_GreenTherm_Series_Heat_Pump.jpg
The floating plant will be deployed at the 20 MW Wushantou hydroelectric power dam operated by Taiwanese state-owned utility Taiwan Power Corp, in Tainan city.The 20 MW Wushantou hydroelectric power dam operated by Taiwanese state-owned utility Taiwan Power Corp in Tainan city will see its capacity increase by 13.7 MW with the addition of a floating solar power plant. The announcement was given by South Korean floating PV specialist Scotra, which will provide its floating structures for the project through a US$4 million supply agreement. Construction on the facility is scheduled to start in August ...

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.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 1, 2021 / Pascal Biosciences Inc. ("Pascal" or the "Company") (TSXV:PAS)(OTC PINK:PSCBF, previously BIMUF), has today received a new Over The Counter (OTC) trading symbol following acceptance of Form 211 by the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The new symbol is PSCBF and better reflects the company name P a SC al B iosciences.

In addition, Pascal announced the Board of Directors has appointed Mark van der Horst as President. Mr. van der Horst has been the president of Gale Capital Corporation (Gale) since 1993. Gale has worked with numerous public companies in both Canada and the United States as a capital markets advisor. Most recently, Mark was CEO of two recently listed CSE companies, EyeFi Group Technologies Inc. (EGTI) and EonX Technologies Inc. (EONX) and was instrumental in their organization, listing and financing.

"We are making a concerted effort to increase our corporate communications in both Canada and the US. Further to that point, we are excited to welcome Mark van der Horst onboard as President. Mr. van der Horst brings over 30 years of North American capital markets experience and will be instrumental in creating greater investor awareness for Pascal." said CEO Patrick Gray.

FINRA is the US regulator responsible for OTC markets including the OTCBB and Pink Sheets. A company must file Form 211 with FINRA to comply with SEC Rule 15c2-11, which covers the requirements necessary for the initiation of electronic quotation of securities in the OTC Markets.

The completed Form 211 provides basic corporate information for review by FINRA.

ABOUT PASCAL BIOSCIENCES INC.

Pascal is a biotechnology company targeting innovative therapies for serious diseases, including COVID-19. Pascal is also developing treatments for cancer with targeted therapies for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and cannabinoid-based therapeutics. Pascal's leading portfolio also comprises a small molecule therapeutic, PAS-403, that is advancing into clinical trials for the treatment of glioblastoma, and PAS-393, an immuno-stimulatory cannabinoid to be used in combination with checkpoint inhibitor therapy which is being developed collaboratively with SoRSE Technology.

To learn more, visit: https://www.pascalbiosciences.com/.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Dr. Patrick W. Gray, CEO

Company Contact:

Dr. Patrick Gray

Investors:

invest@pascalbiosciences.com

Tel: 206-221-3443

Forward-Looking Statements

DISCLAIMER

Certain statements in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 or forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities legislation that may not be based on historical fact, including without limitation statements containing the words "believe", "may", "plan", "will", "estimate", "continue", "anticipate", "intend", "expect" and similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, events or developments, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, events or developments express or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such factors include, among others, our stage of development, lack of any product revenues, additional capital requirements, risk associated with the completion of clinical trials and obtaining regulatory approval to market our products, the ability to protect our intellectual property, dependence on collaborative partners and the prospects for negotiating additional corporate collaborations or licensing arrangements and their timing. Specifically, certain risks and uncertainties that could cause such actual events or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from any future events or results expressed or implied by such statements and information include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties that: products that we develop may not succeed in preclinical or clinical trials, or future products in our targeted corporate objectives; our future operating results are uncertain and likely to fluctuate; we may not be able to raise additional capital; we may not be successful in establishing additional corporate collaborations or licensing arrangements; we may not be able to establish marketing and the costs of launching our products may be greater than anticipated; we have no experience in commercial manufacturing; we may face unknown risks related to intellectual property matters; we face increased competition from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies; and other factors as described in detail in our filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com. Given these risks and uncertainties, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements and information, which are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. All forward-looking statements and information made herein are based on our current expectations and we undertake no obligation to revise or update such forward- looking statements and information to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law.

"Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release"

SOURCE: Pascal Biosciences Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/650051/Pascal-Biosciences-Announces-New-OTC-Markets-Trading-Symbol-PSCBF
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - UK mortgage approvals increased more than expected in April, figures from Bank of England showed on Wednesday. The number of mortgages approved for house purchase rose moderately to 86,921 in April from 83,402 in March. The expected level was 84,980. Net mortgage borrowing fell to GBP 3.3 billion from a record GBP 11.5 billion in March. Economists had forecast borrowing to decline to GBP 6.6 billion. Despite weaker net lending, both gross lending and repayments remained above levels seen since the start of 2020, data showed. Individuals have made significant net repayments of consumer credit since March 2020. The further net repayment of GBP 0.37 billion in April compared to GBP 0.38 billion a month ago. Businesses made significant net repayments of GBP 4.6 billion to banks in April. The weakness in borrowing reflected large non-financial businesses repaying GBP 4.8 billion of loans in April. Borrowing by small and medium sized non-financial businesses drew down an extra GBP 0.3 billion in April. M4 money supply grew 9.1 percent year-on-year in April versus 10.8 percent in March. 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.
BEIJING, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- China is on track with efforts to achieve "carbon peak and neutrality" targets as it will launch a nationwide carbon trading market in Shanghai in June. While China's Emissions Trading Scheme gradually gathers pace, global experts are eyeing its roles, alongside other major global carbon markets, in accelerating decarbonisation in the global power sector. Against this backdrop, an International Financial Forum (IFF) Roundtable Conference invited energy and finance experts to clarify the progress of carbon pricing in China and Europe.

Cyril Cassisa, Senior Energy Analyst, Environment and Climate Change Unit at International Energy Agency (IEA), noted he was happy to see China move so quickly to build an effective ETS and is confident of an effective internal pricing system that transforms its industrial system.

Speaking of China's future carbon market, Wang Yi, Deputy Director of Institutes of Science and Development at Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out that more carbon-related policies will roll out to regulate pricing, playing an essential role in helping China achieve carbon peak and neutrality.

"Governments must consider coordinating carbon-related policies - markets, taxes, pricing - as well as coordination between the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism in other countries with China's finance and investment related policies. Achieving these require strengthened international cooperation and dialogue," he said.

Alain Quinet, Chairman of the French Commission on the Value of Carbon, Deputy CEO of SNCF Reseau, emphasized that carbon neutrality hinges on innovation and international cooperation. His view was echoed by Edmond Alphandery, IFF Vice President, Chairman of Euro 50 Group, Former French Minister of Economy, who said at the conference the world's three largest economies and carbon emitters, China, the US, and the EU, should work closely together to promote carbon pricing.

Introducing the carbon market and pricing situation in Europe, Domenico Siniscalco, IFF Vice President, Former Italian Minister of Economy and Finance, Vice Chairman of Morgan Stanley International Limited, explained socio-political factors, regional economic characteristics, and industrial structure lead to differences in carbon pricing whereas carbon prices should be stabilized.

About IFF

Established in 2003, the IFF is a non-profit and non-governmental unofficial international forum organization. Headquartered in Beijing, it is a high-level dialogue and academic exchange mechanism co-sponsored by business leaders and scholars in the global financial community and academic circles. For more information, please visit: http://www.iff.org.cn/php/list.php?tid=403

Steel Shen

(86)10-5087-3634

steel.shen@iff.org.cn
BANGKOK, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Charoen Pokphand Foods PLC (CPF) unveils "MEAT ZERO", the meat that is made from plants and manufactured to feel, taste, and appear like real meat thanks to "PLANT-TEC" innovation. The new product, expected to appeal to health-conscious consumers, is affordable and available as ready-to-cook material and ready-to-eat menu through 7-Eleven and modern trade outlets across Thailand.

Under the goal to attain the top alternative meat brand in Asia within 2022 and the world's top 3 within 2026, "MEAT ZERO" will simultaneously penetrate markets in Asia, Europe and the United States, taking advantage of CPF's customer base worldwide.

Advanced innovation

As plant-based meats are gaining popularity across the globe, CPF, a leading agro-industrial and food business operator in Thailand and worldwide, has been inspired to throw huge supports on the research and development of alternative meats for more than 2 years. In collaboration with world-renowned experts from the United States, Japan and Taiwan as well as food scientists of Chulalongkorn University and Mae Fah Luang University, CPF RD Center eventually discovered the "PLANT-TEC" innovation that creates the perfect texture, taste, smell and feel of real meat.

Mr. Prasit Boondoungprasert, chief executive officer of CPF, said that the success is echoed by a sample group's confirmation that "MEAT ZERO" delivers the texture and taste of real meat.

"'MEAT ZER0' is as tasty as real meat and consumers are barely able to tell if they are eating plants or real meats thanks to the outstanding achievement of CPF RD Center which has worked closely with the world's leading research houses. We're proud of this innovation and confident that our product will be warmly received by consumers in Thailand and overseas," Mr. Prasit said.

Satisfying answer to various consumer groups

"MEAT ZER0" contains health nutritions from high fiber plant-based protein, which is good for intestine and bowel, and low cholesterol. Meanwhile, it aims to satisfy consumers who are cutting down meat consumption. As such, it is a recommended option for various consumer groups, whether they are seeking ways to stay more healthy or to reduce impacts on animals.

"Consumers have become more health-conscious. Some opt to control food intakes while others are losing weight. Some avoid meats on birthdays. Others turn to veggie food when they can, better known as flexitarians. Demand for meatless food options has consequently been skyrocketing. However, the options are pricey and quite difficult to find. 'MEAT ZERO' is the answer. It is accessible in terms of pricing and marketing channels. We expect to achieve a billion-baht revenue within the next few years."

"MEAT ZERO" is priced relatively close to real meat. It is available as ready-to-eat food, with popular menus like plant-based bologna sausage, pork burger, rice with stir-fried meat with basil and spaghetti with chopped meat. All are in the price range of Bt35-Bt45. Consumers can also buy uncooked meat products like plant-based chicken nuggets, plant-based minced pork, and plant-based crispy pork, all priced at Bt69. The items will be available at 7-Eleven, Makro, Lotus and modern trade outlets across the country. Famous actor Naphat Siangsomboon has agreed to be the first presenter of "MEAT ZERO", who will promote the slogan of "Start now to change the world".

Penetrate export markets, to become the world's top 3

Vegans and flexitarians are numbered about 29% of global population. With a world-wide customer base, CPF will use it as the springboard to market "MEAT ZERO" in Asia, Europe and the United States. Asia will be first to be penetrated in 2021. The distribution in Europe and the United States, will start later on.

CPF is confident that "MEAT ZERO" will be the best-selling alternative meat brand in Asia and the top 3 in the world within 3-5 years.

"'MEAT ZER0' will be the world's top 3 alternative meat brand within 3-5 years. Meanwhile, CPF will pursue the path to become a full-fledged food tech company that responds to the food needs of all consumer groups," Mr. Prasit concluded.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1523969/Meat_zero.jpg
UAE a lucrative target for increasingly sophisticated malicious cyber actors motivated by cyber-espionage, with phishing one of the top security threats during the pandemic, says Digital14 Cyber Defence

ABU DHABI, UAE, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital14, a UAE-based trusted advisor in digital transformation and cyber resilience, has revealed how UAE organisations are high-value targets in its Cyber Resilience Report: The UAE Threat Landscape 2021. Despite the high cost associated with successful cyber breaches, public and private sector organisations need to do more to address critical security threats and protect themselves and their customers from data theft.

"Proactive action costs a fraction of the bill for responding to and recovering from a successful breach," said Joshua Knight, EVP Cyber Defence at Digital14. "The pandemic has acted as a force multiplier for existing cyber threats, while giving birth to a whole new set of cyber risks. While we have been shifting work practices to new, remote ways of working and relying on personal devices, threat actors have been watching and have switched tactics to exploit this new reality," he explained.

The UAE has witnessed a 250% increase in cyberattacks in 2020, prompting the UAE Government's Head of Cybersecurity to describe the pandemic as a 'cyber pandemic'. Digital14's research revealed an exponential surge in phishing and ransomware with 1.1 million phishing attacks in 2020.

"Traditional cyber security approaches are no longer enough. We must augment our security policies with always-on cyber protection as an ongoing process that steadily strengthens and improves enterprise security, rather than a one-time solution," Knight said.

"Traditional perimeter-based network defence, for example, is obsolete. Not only does the perimeter no longer exist in our newly connected environments, but organisations must also recognise that their networks have most likely already been breached," Knight added.

UAE Threat Landscape 2021 highlights

Digital14's Cyber Resilience Report: UAE Threat Landscape 2021, builds on its work with many organisations to defend against targeted cyber-attacks in 2020. Cyber defence experts evaluated and analysed multiple digital assets in the UAE to give an accurate, in-depth understanding of the country's current threat landscape.

The report reveals that nation-state cyber threat actors have become more active between 2017 and 2020, growing in number, becoming more sophisticated and increasingly harder to identify. The UAE and the wider Middle East are constant targets of nation-state activities driven by economic and political motivation.

Industry estimates put the cost of a data breach in the Middle East as the second highest in the world at USD6.52 million on average in 2020, just after the United States. Such a breach can inflict short-term financial damage, and affect an organisation's operations and compliance, while causing reputational damage over the long term, resulting in lost business and competitive disadvantages.

Vulnerability exploitation, the use of previously stolen valid accounts, and supply chain attacks were other prominent threat vectors in 2020.

Key findings of the report include (references in report):

In 2020, a total of 249,955 vulnerabilities were found in 800,315 unique instances. [1]

Significant numbers of old vulnerabilities, some dating back to 2000, have yet to be remediated within UAE organisations' networks. These can easily provide an entry point for devastating cyberattacks.

Over 100 vulnerabilities affecting UAE entities have public exploits that can be abused by even the most unsophisticated threat actors to breach IT and OT environments with minimal effort.

Password reuse is among the most common weaknesses in UAE organisations.

The most common incident types are associated with unauthorised access and malicious code.

Over 1.1 million phishing attacks were observed last year, peaking at moments when UAE residents were restricted to their homes and needed to rely on internet platforms for their daily needs.

Ransomware increased significantly in 2020, with an industry study showing an increase of 33% in the number of new ransomware families compared with 2019.

The government and critical infrastructure sectors were among the major sectors targeted in attacks over 2020.

Top cybersecurity recommendations for UAE organisations

Many of the most common causes of cybersecurity threats seen by Digital14 are relatively easy to address and defend proactively with established best practices. Digital14's cyber defence experts recommend organisations take eight proactive actions now to avoid the costs responding to and recovering from a successful breach:

Patch vulnerabilities immediately as they occur to keep operating systems and components up to date and protect assets from unauthorised access. Adopt a defence-in-depth strategy to investigate, contain, and eradicate materialised threats efficiently and effectively. Perform regular penetration tests to develop an effective security roadmap and strategy. Implement strong password policies and strict rules concerning corporate emails for personal use. Implement multi-factor authentication across all infrastructure as an additional layer of protection. Launch robust, interactive, and regular security awareness programs for staff who are the weakest link in the security chain. Invest in the professional development of cybersecurity staff to stay ahead of sophisticated attack techniques. Implement UAE Information Assurance Standards in regular audits and evidence-based security assessments.

Digital14's Cyber Resilience Report: UAE Threat Landscape 2021 provides an accurate, in-depth understanding of the country's current threat landscape with actionable insights and recommendations here.

About Digital14

Delivering trust in a world where cyber risks are a constant threat, Digital14 guides clients on their journeys to reach unprecedented heights and navigate what lies ahead in tomorrow's digital frontier. Digital14, established in 2019, is part of ADQ, one of the region's largest holding companies with a diverse portfolio of major enterprises spanning key sectors of Abu Dhabi's non-oil economy. Being based in the regional and global innovation hub of Abu Dhabi, this provides the ideal platform for Digital14 to accelerate digital advancement and cyber resilience solutions via robust, end-to-end solutions. Whether it is enjoying the freedoms of a protected internet, secure transactions or safe communications - we Protect, Transform, and Nurture today so that everyone can flourish with the freedom to achieve their potential, tomorrow.

For more information, visit https://digital14.com

[1] An instance is a unique combination of a domain parent, IP address, or port.
A webinar held to discuss the role of donor funding in the African energy sector was told the U.S. president has ambitious plans to ramp up donations to developing economies - provided he can get Congress on side.A senior adviser to the U.S. government's Power Africa program has told a webinar the Biden administration hopes to win the backing of Congress to double the volume of finance awarded annually to developing countries. Michael Jordan, senior adviser to the Power Africa initiative run by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), said the president intends to triple ...

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.
Appoints Google Executive and Former Wall Street Analyst Carlos Kirjner as Celonis Chief Financial Officer

NEW YORK and MUNICH, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Celonis, the global leader in execution management, today announced a $1 billion Series D round, increasing its post-money valuation to more than $11 billion. In addition, Carlos Kirjner, a technology industry veteran and former top-ranked Wall Street analyst, joined as Chief Financial Officer from Google, where he led finance for its flagship advertising business and key product areas.

This round comes just six months after Celonis launched its groundbreaking new product, the Execution Management System (EMS), which provides companies a modern way to run their business processes entirely on data and intelligence. The new Celonis EMS addresses the fundamental limitations of running business processes across a complex set of aging and fragmented transaction systems, devices and edge applications, and triggered the creation of the execution management industry.

New Celonis investors Durable Capital Partners LP and T. Rowe Price Associates co-led the round, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Splunk Ventures and a group of principal investors. Also joining the round were existing investors including Arena Holdings.

"Celonis uniquely sits at the center of one of the biggest technology trends of our time -- modernizing businesses with data-driven and intelligent execution," said Henry Ellenbogen, the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Durable Capital Partners. "Celonis is a rare gem that has a massive market potential to create a new and modern way to run your business."

"As companies grow, inefficiency creeps in and business execution becomes a struggle. Employees feel it, customers feel it, and it leads to significant financial losses and environmental impact," said Alex Rinke, co-CEO and co-founder of Celonis. "We are thrilled and honored that the rise of execution management is defining a new software stack that helps customers reimagine how they execute. It is the biggest shift in software since cloud computing."

"Business execution is what sets the leaders apart from the laggards," said Carsten Thoma, co-founder of Hybris and Celonis board member. "No transformation can happen without fixing the processes that drive day-to-day execution. That's why Celonis is in such a unique position to lead the execution management category."

Celonis pioneered the process mining category 10 years ago when it first developed the ability to automatically X-ray process problems. Today Celonis is leveraging this foundation to pioneer the execution management industry and change business processes. Celonis is growing by triple digits year-over-year. Thousands of organizations have adopted Celonis including Fortune 500 companies such as Danaher, Dell, Kimberly-Clark, L'Oreal, and Pfizer. Celonis has more than 1,300 global employees and is headquartered in New York and Munich.

Appoints Carlos Kirjner as Chief Financial Officer

Carlos Kirjner joins Celonis as its new Chief Financial Officer to guide the company through its next stage of hyper growth. Kirjner most recently served as vice president of finance at Google, where he led finance for business and product areas generating about $150 billion annually in revenue and was responsible for tens of thousands of employees. He covered Google's advertising business, including engineering and sales; Google Search; and Google Maps.

Before Google, Carlos worked at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. as the No. 1-ranked equity research analyst covering the Internet sector, and he was one of the first analysts to call out the importance of the cloud. He started his career at McKinsey & Co. in the late 1990s, where he was a partner in the tech and telecom practices. Carlos holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from the University of California at Berkeley.

As part of the executive management team, Kirjner will be responsible for the global finance organization and strategy.

"Carlos is a visionary business leader with a proven track record of spotting some of the biggest industry trends long before others and of operating in a fast-moving environment at scale," said Bastian Nominacher, co-CEO and co-founder of Celonis. "He has the foresight and experience to drive our ambitious goals of being a category-defining company that is built for long-term growth and impact."

Creating Customer Value and Momentum

The company's growth and innovation have triggered clear momentum for the execution management category.

Thousands of customers are shifting their spending away from the legacy stack dominated by aging and rigid transaction systems to running their businesses with modern execution management systems. In the last six months, more than 40,000 business execution and process experts attended the Celonis Execution Management World Tour and Celosphere 2021 , the industry's first execution management conference.

At Celosphere, Celonis announced that customers were eliminating billions in corporate inefficiencies by modernizing process execution. Celonis also launched the breakthrough $10 Million Dollar Execution Capacity Challenge , where Celonis will either find $10 million in trapped capacity or donate $100,000 to a joint charity.

Driving Industry Ecosystem Standardization

The entire business consulting and integration industry is quickly adopting Celonis as the standard of excellence for modernizing their customers' business execution. In March 2021, IBM and Red Hat announced a strategic partnership with Celonis to transform business execution for their global customers.

In April 2021, Celonis announced its Execution Management Without Limits program that will enable more than one million business consultants to conduct customer engagement with Celonis process mining and execution management products. And in just six months, since launching the Celonis Studio, the execution management ecosystem has developed more than 80 execution applications and hundreds more are in development.

Attracting CEO and Executive Alignment

The most senior CEOs and successful business operators are aligning to help set new standards and best practices in applying data and intelligence to execution with Celonis. Celonis recently announced the formation of the Celonis Business Execution CEO Council with a legendary group of Fortune 500 business operators to support the Celonis business execution agenda.

Celonis Funding History

The Series D follows previous investment rounds of $290 million from a Series C in November 2019, $50 million from a Series B in June 2018, and $27.5 million from a Series A in June 2016.

About Celonis

Celonis believes that every company can unlock its full execution capacity. Powered by its market-leading process mining core, the Celonis Execution Management System provides a set of applications, and developer studio and platform capabilities for business executives and users to eliminate billions in corporate inefficiencies. Celonis has thousands of customers, including ABB, AstraZeneca, Bosch, Coca-Cola, Citibank, Danaher Corporation, Dell, GSK, John Deere, L'Oreal, Siemens, Uber, Vodafone and Whirlpool. Celonis is headquartered in Munich, Germany and New York City, USA and has 15 offices worldwide.

Contact:

Isabell Horvath

Director, Global Communications

press@celonis.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1312282/Celonis_Logo.jpg
Completion of Regional Airborne VTEM Geophysical Program Announced

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Maritime Resources Corp. (TSXV: MAE) ("Maritime" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has initiated a fully funded, expanded exploration program at the Hammerdown Gold Project ("Hammerdown" or the "Project") in the Baie Verte Mining District of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Exploration activities are underway with two drills exploring along the highly prospective Hammerdown Deformation Zone and will work outwards to new high priority targets throughout 2021 and into 2022.

Program Highlights

40,000 metre ("m") of exploration drilling and additional geophysical surveys including: 30,000 m planned near the Hammerdown and Orion gold deposits targeting resource expansion in and around the proposed open pit and underground workings outlined in the Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") released on February 29, 2020 10,000 m allocated to drill test several new regional targets including Whisker Valley and Gull Ridge where high grade gold, silver and copper mineralization was encountered during 2020

VTEM survey completed across 358 km2 land package identifying several highly conductive anomalies

"Maritime has made significant progress in the past 15 months advancing Hammerdown though a positive PEA, completing the acquisition of the Nugget Pond gold plant and the recent release of the Project from the Environmental Assessment. We are extremely excited about the expanded and fully funded 40,000 m drill program that we believe will unlock significant value for the Company," adds Garett Macdonald, President and CEO. "The priority will be targeting resource growth along the Hammerdown Deformation Zone. Historically this area has been underexplored, especially during the early 2000's when gold prices averaged US$300/oz and Hammerdown was operating with a cut-off grade of over 8.0 gpt Au. Our exploration teams are combining new data from several sources including machine learning (AI), the latest in geophysical surveys, pXRF mapping and soil sampling. Along with the review of historic drilling, the use of these new technologies have already led to several high priority conductivity and chargeability targets identified across the Green Bay, Whisker Valley and Gull Ridge projects," continued Mr. Macdonald.

Hammerdown Deformation Zone Exploration

During the latter part of the 2020 exploration program, Maritime's exploration teams discovered two new gold zones adjacent to Hammerdown and Orion deposits. This included 6.9 gpt Au / 6.0 m, including 19.9 gpt Au / 2.0 m in drill hole GA-20-35 (see news release dated February 1st, 2021) located 150 m east of Hammerdown at a depth of 150 m and 22.7 gpt Au / 0.44 m in drill hole BB-20-123 (see news release dated January 7th,2021) located 300 m northeast of the Orion deposit. These discoveries highlight the mineral potential along the deformation zone and the opportunities which exist within 1.0 km of the existing deposits, especially in the 2.0 km gap between Hammerdown and Orion where only 11 holes totaling 2,450m have been drilled historically.

The Orion deposit remains open at depth and in late 2020 a wide zone of continuous, felsic mineralization was traced from surface to over 250m below surface. These drilling results included 5.2 gpt Au / 13.0 m in drill hole BB-20-130 (see news release dated January 7th, 2021) and 8.0 gpt Au / 5.0 m in drill hole BB-20-132 (see news release dated January 19th, 2021). The 2021 exploration program will initially follow up on these new discoveries and then step out to test new targets, systematically working outwards across the entire property.

Figure 1: Hammerdown Deformation Zone





To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4548/86149_mariti2.jpg

Geophysical Survey Program

The Company has engaged Geotech Ltd. ("Geotech") to carryout a deep looking regional Z-TEM (Z-Axis Tipper Electromagnetic) survey. ZTEM surveys are designed to map significant structures and geological units with potential to host mineralization at depths exceeding 1-2 km, making these surveys ideal for exploring deep rooted porphyry systems and the sources of near surface mineralization.

Development of a 3-Dimensional common earth model, which incorporates geophysics, geochemistry, and bedrock geology to aid in planning future exploration work and vectoring in on priority targets utilizing machine learning (AI) technology is underway. Maritime is also carrying out a comprehensive field mapping and sampling program along prospective trends. This includes utilizing tools such as a Beep-Mat to detect hidden or buried mineralized rocks and outcrops. A Beep-Mat System has been field tested by Maritime personnel at the Hammerdown deposit and has detected gold mineralized bedrock beneath a couple of meters of overburden.

Maritime began employing alteration mapping technology including pXRF (Portable X-Ray Fluorescence ) lithogeochemical surveys which will assist in rapid identification of key pathfinder minerals associated with zones of base and precious metal enrichment. Alteration mapping is a commonly used technique to vector towards the most intensely altered and highest grade portions of regional scale porphyry systems.

Regional Airborne VTEM Survey

The Company recently completed a high-resolution airborne VTEM (Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic) and magnetic geophysical survey across 100% of its land holdings. The survey was completed by Geotech and covers the now contiguous 358 km2 Green Bay, Whisker Valley and Gull Ridge properties. Over 50 strong conductive anomalies were identified which may be due to massive or semi-massive sulphides. There are several known polymetallic massive sulphide horizons on the property which have associated gold mineralization both in the horizon and as distinct zones proximal to the massive sulphides.

In addition to the numerous conductive anomalies, a series of large-scale conductive lows were also identified. These have been interpreted by geophysicists as potential zones of widespread disseminated sulphides. Gold mineralization is commonly associated with disseminated sulphides across the property. The Company is currently working with Geotech on an advanced targeting study where the VTEM data is reprocessed to provide Airborne IP (AIIP) to better define the multiple zones of chargeability.

Figure 2: Project Map Depicting Total Magnetic Intensity (TMI), Mineral Occurrences and VTEM Geophysical Targets

(Dashed circles indicate target areas)





To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4548/86149_7bef3970644cca1f_002full.jpg

Figure 3. Whisker Valley - 19.1 gpt Au, 69.6 gpt Ag and 2.96% Cu (bedrock sample 463109)





To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4548/86149_7bef3970644cca1f_003full.jpg



Regional Exploration - Greenfields Projects

As the Company proceeds with advancing Hammerdown, the regional exploration program has been expanded with the goal of advancing targets to discoveries. The substantial land position offers numerous multi-kilometre trends with gold and base metals identified in surface samples, outcrops and preliminary diamond drilling. A rigorous and systematic exploration approach is being carried out at each trend.

Conductivity Targets - Polymetallic targets (gold and base metals)

The VTEM survey has identified many high priority conductive anomalies throughout the region. The most significant anomalies have been identified at:

Green Bay Project: Orion North, Hammerdown North, Spar Pond North, Birchy Pond, and Timber Pond

Gull Ridge Project: Skate Pond, Black Brook, and Black Ridge

Whisker Valley Project: Gary Vein system, Nest Prospect, Gull Pond, and Slink Pond

Ground geophysics (EM) target refinement and exploratory diamond drilling is underway or planned at these locations.

Chargeability Targets - Gold targets with disseminated sulphides

As indicated above, the VTEM chargeability targets are being re-processed to provide AIIP data. The most significant anomalies that have been identified from the initial VTEM survey are in the following areas:

Green Bay Project: Southern Cross, Ursa Major and Minor prospects

Gull Ridge Project: The Gull Ridge Pluton and Black Ridge

Whisker Valley Project: Bartletts Pond

The Gull Ridge anomaly (which is associated with the Gull Ridge Pluton) is a 4 km diameter sub-round monzonitic intrusion known for having occurrences of broad scale disseminated sulphide mineralization and is thought to be the most attractive of these chargeability anomalies. This anomaly is believed to represent a new prospective porphyry target.

Regional diamond drilling focus

Previous exploration drilling across the Company's land holdings, including the Whisker Valley project, has revealed areas with extensive gold mineralization and indications of a more robust mineral system. The 2021 drilling and exploration will continue to vector towards the highest priority areas in the systems testing conductivity, chargeability, and geochemical targets. Further drilling of the Gary Vein system at Whisker Valley will focus on broader corridors of high-grade gold mineralization as seen in WH-20-12 which intersected 5.1 gpt Au over 5.8 m at a depth of 150 m below surface in the centre of the valley (see news release dated November 5th, 2020) .

Surface sampling in the Whisker Valley area has frequently identified high-grade gold mineralization in outcrop, glacial erratics and float samples (Figure 3, see press release dated September 11, 2020) with much of the outcropping mineralization confined to areas of trenching. In addition to the Beep-Mat exploration campaign, the Company will be employing pXRF technology to map the porphyry style alteration patterns which have been observed in many outcrops throughout the Whisker Valley and Gull Ridge region and is expected to aid in developing alteration vectors towards the most prospective areas.

About Maritime Resources Corp.

Maritime holds a 100% interest- directly and subject to option agreements entitling it to earn 100% ownership- in the Green Bay Property. This includes the former Hammerdown gold mine and the Orion gold project plus the Whisker Valley exploration project, all located in the Baie Verte Mining District near the town of King's Point, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Hammerdown Gold Project is characterized by near-vertical, narrow mesothermal quartz veins containing gold associated with pyrite. Hammerdown was last operated by Richmont Mines between 2000 and 2004. The Company also owns the gold circuit at the Nugget Pond metallurgical facility in Newfoundland and Labrador, the Lac Pelletier gold project in Rouyn Noranda, Quebec and several other exploration properties and royalty interests in key mining camps across Canada.

On Behalf of the Board:

Garett Macdonald, MBA, P.Eng.

President and CEO

For further information, please contact:

Tania Barreto, CPIR

Head of Investor Relations

1900-110 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON M5C 1T4

www.maritimeresourcescorp.com

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

YouTube

Qualified Person:

Exploration activities at the Hammerdown Gold Project and Whisker Valley are administered on site by the Company's Exploration Manager, Larry Pilgrim, P.Geo and Technical Advisor Jeremy Niemi, P.Geo. In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Larry Pilgrim, P.Geo. Exploration Manager, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has reviewed and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release.

Caution Regarding Forward Looking Statements:

Certain of the statements made and information contained herein is "forward-looking information" within the meaning of National Instrument 51-102 - Continuous Disclosure Obligations. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "will", "may", "should", "anticipate", "expects", "intends", "indicates" "plans" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning the potential to increase mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates, the Company's decision to restart the Project, the Company's plans regarding depth extension of the deposit at Hammerdown, the Company's plans regarding completing additional infill and grade control testing within the PEA mine plan, the Company's plans regarding drilling targets previously identified, the anticipated timing of receiving permits for construction and development of Hammerdown and, and the Company's decision to acquire new mineral property interests and assets, amongst other things, which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. All forward-looking statements and forward-looking information are based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by the Company in good faith as at the date of such information. Such assumptions include, without limitation, the price of and anticipated costs of recovery of, base metal concentrates, gold and silver, the presence of and continuity of such minerals at modeled grades and values, the capacities of various machinery and equipment, the use of ore sorting technology will produce positive results, the availability of personnel, machinery and equipment at estimated prices, mineral recovery rates, and others. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking information, including, without limitation, the ability of the Company to continue to be able to access the capital markets for the funding necessary to acquire, maintain and advance exploration properties or business opportunities; global financial conditions, including market reaction to the coronavirus outbreak; competition within the industry to acquire properties of merit or new business opportunities, and competition from other companies possessing greater technical and financial resources; difficulties in advancing towards a development decision at Hammerdown and executing exploration programs at its Newfoundland and Labrador properties on the Company's proposed schedules and within its cost estimates, whether due to weather conditions, availability or interruption of power supply, mechanical equipment performance problems, natural disasters or pandemics in the areas where it operates; increasingly stringent environmental regulations and other permitting restrictions or maintaining title or other factors related to exploring of its properties, such as the availability of essential supplies and services; factors beyond the capacity of the Company to anticipate and control, such as the marketability of mineral products produced from the Company's properties; uncertainty as to whether the acquisition of assets and new mineral property interests including the Nugget Pond gold circuit will be completed in the manner currently contemplated by the parties; uncertainty as to whether mineral resources will ever be converted into mineral reserves once economic considerations are applied; uncertainty as to whether inferred mineral resources will be converted to the measured and indicated categories through further drilling, or into mineral reserves, once economic considerations are applied; government regulations relating to health, safety and the environment, and the scale and scope of royalties and taxes on production; and the availability of experienced contractors and professional staff to perform work in a competitive environment and the resulting adverse impact on costs and performance and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in each MD&A of financial condition and results of operations. In addition, forward-looking information is based on various assumptions including, without limitation, assumptions associated with exploration results and costs and the availability of materials and skilled labour. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Maritime undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V") nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) 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/86149
Cheyenne, Wyoming--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Sino American Oil Company (OTC PINK: OILY) $OILY gives corporate update and status of going Pink Current.

"The Company and management team have been working very diligently over the last several weeks to get all the filings, disclosures, and corporate information updated and filed on EDGAR and OTC Markets, we are pleased with the progress and expect to achieve Pink Current status in the near future." stated Jeff Standen, CEO of Sino American Oil Company; "We are also excited to announce that the company's Form 1-A Registration filling is now Qualified and Approved to proceed with a $50 Million funding raise."

The Company is highlighting recent significant achievements.

First, the company has been working hard with their audit team to get all the financials, disclosures, and corporate information updated on both EDGAR and OTC Markets to get the company back to Pink Current status. The Company intends to be a fully reporting "SEC Pink Current" company moving forward.



Second, As of May 26, 2021, the company has been qualified and therefore approved by the SEC to proceed with its $50 Million Regulation A financing. "This marks a major milestone in the future of the company in completing its identified acquisitions, as well as turning Sino American into first class oil producer and creating significate value to its shareholders." Further commented Jeff Standen.

Third, the Company is engaged with several interested parties that wish to participate in the Regulation A financing. The company is offering 20,000,000 shares at a price of $2.50 to raise up to $50 million to fund the company's business plan, acquisition plan and growth strategy.



Fourth, the Company's management team, headed by Jeffery Standen, is currently in negotiations with several energy companies in the company's core exploration area located in Northern Alberta in the heart of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin ("WCSB") to acquire existing production, infrastructure assets and undeveloped lands. The core area is a prolific producer of oil and gas from a multitude of formations at varying depths. Considerable infrastructure is already in place making these targeted assets and prospects very economic and commercially viable even at $40 WTI oil price. The use of proceeds from the $50 MM Form 1-A Registration Financing will be utilized to acquire certain of the identified assets and prospects and the further optimization of current production and the considerable development of the existing well bores and undeveloped lands. The company has conducted extensive technical work in the core exploration area and has identified numerous potential acquisitions and prospects to pursue. The company with the input and support of its new management, technical and operations teams will be the project generators and Operator of all of the properties/assets it becomes involved in. The mission of the new management is to create and develop significant increased shareholder value through low acquisition and operating costs by utilizing the talents of our world class operating team and property optimization and development of assets because of the efforts of our world class technical team.

ABOUT SINO AMERICAN OIL COMPANY

Sino American Oil Company is a Wyoming incorporated; publicly traded company listed on otcmarkets.com identified by the ticker symbol OILY. The company is an oil and gas exploration stage company engaged in the assessment, acquisition, exploration, and development materials and properties. Under new and experienced corporate and operations management the company intends to acquire, explore, develop, and produce sweet light crude oil from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin ("WCSB"), specifically in the Province of Alberta, Canada.

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT

This press release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "believes," "expects," "potential," "plans," "suggests," "may," "should," "could," "intends," or similar expressions. Many forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results implied by such statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, our ability to continue to enhance our products and systems to address industry changes, our ability to expand our customer base and retain existing customers, our ability to effectively compete in our market segment, the lack of public information on our company, our ability to raise sufficient capital to fund our business, operations, our ability to continue as a going concern, and a limited public market for our common stock, among other risks. Many factors are difficult to predict accurately and are generally beyond the company's control. Forward-looking statements speak only as to the date they are made, and we do not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made.

Signed.

/S/ Mr. Jeffery Standen, CEO

For more information, press only:

IR CONTACT: Kim Halvorson

IR@sinoamericanoil.com

https://sinoamericanoil.com/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86179
BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - Vehicle engine manufacturer China Yuchai International Ltd. (CYD) announced Wednesday that it has entered into a strategic partnership agreement with an electric vehicle or EV bus producer in China, Guangxi Shenlong Automobile Manufacturing. Under the partnership deal, China Yuchai and Sunlong will join technologies to develop new energy vehicles based upon China Yuchai's four new energy powertrain systems. These include the ISG power generation powertrain or YC IE-Power, e-CVT power-split hybrid powertrain or YC e-CVT, integrated electric drive axel powertrain or YC e-Axel, and a fuel cell system or YC FCS. The companies will also leverage each other's supply chains and distribution networks, especially in international markets, with a focus on entering into the southeast Asian markets. Nanning, Guangxi Province -based Sunlong specializes in new energy buses, and logistical vehicle development and production in southern China. China Yuchai earlier has supplied its electric direct drive system, hybrid system and Nat VI-compliant CNG natural gas engine to Sunlong for its vehicles sold in southern and western China. In April 2021, the first batch of Sunlong buses featuring China Yuchai's new energy powertrain systems was successfully delivered to the Nanning local public transit operator. 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.
LONDON and HELSINKI, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- OneWeb, the global communications network powered from Space, invited representatives from across the Finnish Government agencies to observe a demonstration of OneWeb's Global Connectivity service for the first time. Run in partnership with Finland's state-run security network provider, Erillisverkot Group, the event demonstrated how OneWeb's constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites is suited to supporting the operational requirements of multiple government agencies in the High North and Arctic Circle.

Antti Kauppinen, Chief Technology Officer, Erillisverkot Group said: "Erillisverkot wants to present new space technology solutions with partners such as OneWeb to Finnish public safety organisations. Erillisverkot and Finland are one of the global front runners when it comes to co-operation with public safety organisations. To achieve that they must have the state of the art solutions to work with. OneWeb LEO-service certainly meets those requirements."

Finnish government agencies require assured and seamless levels in connectivity to maximise levels in situation awareness across northern Europe in order to support the full breadth of mission sets including search and rescue; disaster relief; intelligence-gathering; and crisis response.

Dylan Browne, President OneWeb Government said: "OneWeb is delighted to present the capability of LEO satellite communications to enhance the connectivity of government agencies and enable sustainable, scalable connectivity where its most needed and it is our ambition to meet these requirements and provide a high-quality customer experience."

OneWeb's new Service Demonstration Centre at Westcott Venture Park's Innovation Centre in Buckinghamshire, Great Britain, hosted the event which illustrated how OneWeb's network will provide secure, resilient, high speed and low latency Broadband Internet connectivity.

OneWeb is an ecosystem comprising a constellation of 648 LEO satellites, ground gateways and user terminals which provide uninterrupted coverage to multi-domain platforms on land, in the air and at sea. Service starts in November 2021 above 50 degrees North in the Nordics, Arctic and will be rolled out globally during 2022.

Finnish representatives witnessed how OneWeb will support data throughput up to 195mbps and roundtrip latency levels as low as 70ms. The demonstration also illustrated the seamless hand-over of signals from satellite to satellite and gateway to gateway.

Supported by the UK Government, Eutelsat and Indian telecommunications provider, Bharti Global, OneWeb offers Government customers and enterprise partners solutions for all their defense and emergency response needs.

About OneWeb

OneWeb will enable connectivity for governments, businesses, and communities. It is implementing a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites with a network of global gateway stations and a range of user terminals to provide an affordable, fast, high-bandwidth and low-latency communications service, connected to the IoT future and a pathway to 5G for everyone, everywhere. Find out more at http://www.oneweb.world/government

About Erillisverkot

Erillisverkot Group enables secure critical operations and communications in all circumstances. Erillisverkot provides the organizations responsible for the security and functionality of the society with mission critical services, software services for situational awareness and services securing critical infrastructure and communication. Erillisverkot is a wholly state-owned special-purpose company. For further information: www.erillisverkot.fi, social media @erillisverkot.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1475016/OneWeb_Logo.jpg
Thunder Bay, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Kesselrun Resources Ltd. (TSXV: KES) (OTC Pink: KSSRF) ("Kesselrun" or the "Company") is pleased to provide the following drilling results on its Huronian Gold Project.

Drilling on the Fisher Zone has outlined a second high-grade shoot approximately 100 metres on strike to the southwest of the previously identified high-grade shoot. This significant discovery shows the potential for the Fisher zone to host multiple high-grade shoots in what is continually proving to be a vibrant gold mineralizing system.

Highlights

21HUR067 - 40.8 g/t Au over 1.6 m including 204 g/t Au over 0.3 m within a 10.4 m wide zone which averaged 6.6 g/t Au





over including over within a wide zone which averaged 21HUR068 - 15.8 g/t Au over 1.6 m within a 4.6 m wide zone which averaged 5.8 g/t Au





over within a wide zone which averaged 21HUR069 - 26.4 g/t Au over 1.3 m including 113 g/t Au over 0.3 m within a 6.7 m wide zone which averaged 6.4 g/t Au





Figure 1: Schematic Long Section - Fisher Zone



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4206/86107_99c8e0791484ea13_001full.jpg





Figure 2: Visible Gold 21HUR069 @ 142.7 m (left) and 142.9 m (right) - Fisher Zone



To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4206/86107_99c8e0791484ea13_002full.jpg

Michael Thompson, P.Geo., President and CEO of the Company, commented, "Continued evaluation and modeling of the Fisher Zone outlined the potential of a second high-grade structure to the southwest of the main high-grade shoot. Although initial testing of this target in previous drilling did not intercept significant gold grades, the team remained convinced of the target potential. Follow up drilling confirmed the existence of the modelled high-grade shoot proving the validity of our mineralization model. This significant discovery, with multiple multi-ounce visible gold intercepts, is a game changer for the Fisher Zone showing the potential for multiple high-grade shoots along strike as well as the potential for similar multiple high-grade shoots in all the known zones and zones yet to be discovered."

Michael further commented, "For the next phase of Fisher drilling, we plan on testing the down plunge extents of all the known and modelled high-grade shoots. We also plan on testing the relationship between the high-grade shoots on the Fisher Zone which I believe will be crucial in unlocking the full potential of this zone."

The 2021 Huronian drill program is budgeted at 20,000 metres targeting the Fisher, Fisher North, McKellar and Huronian zones, all in close proximity along an approximate 1500 m strike length in the area of the historic Huronian Mine. The area also has tremendous potential for discovery of new wide zones of significant gold mineralization in light of the new revised mineralization model.

As of this news release approximately 8000 metres has been drilled of which the results from approximately 3500 metres of drilling have been released.





Figure 3: Schematic Plan Map - Huronian Project



To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4206/86107_99c8e0791484ea13_003full.jpg

Table 1: Summary of Significant Drill Intercepts - Current News Release (1)

Hol e ID Zone From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) 21HUR067 Fisher 2 125.9 132.5 6.6 10.4 including 130.6 132.2 1.6 40.8 including 131.9 132.2 0.3 204 21HUR068 Fisher 2 148.0 152.6 4.6 5.8 including 151.0 152.6 1.6 15.8 21HUR069 Fisher 2 142.7 149.4 6.7 6.4 including 142.7 144.0 1.3 26.4 including 142.7 143.0 0.3 113

Table 2: Summary of Significant Drill Intercepts - 2021 Huronian Project (1)

Hole ID Zone From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) 21HUR030 Fi sher 10.6 51.8 41.2 1.4 including 33.0 43.3 10.3 4.7 and including 33.0 34.0 1.0 14.8 21HUR031 Fisher 21.5 44.2 22.7 2.1 including 28.0 33.8 5.8 6.8 and including 30.0 31.0 1.0 30.4 21HUR032 Fisher 25.1 56.6 31.5 1.9 including 25.1 29.7 4.6 5.6 and including 25.4 28.7 3.3 6.2 including 46.2 50.1 3.9 4.5 and including 49.2 50.1 0.9 14.3 21HUR033 Fisher 22.6 30.2 7.6 1.4 21HUR034 Fisher 23.8 65.9 42.1 1.9 including 23.8 27.6 3.8 5.8 and including 23.8 24.6 0.8 16.7 including 52.6 56.5 3.9 7.0 and including 52.6 54.0 1.4 13.3 21HUR035 Fisher 25.0 66.9 41.9 0.7 including 27.9 29.9 2.0 4.4 21HUR036 Fisher 46.7 62.0 15.3 0.7 including 49.4 50.4 1.0 3.8 21HUR037 Fisher 114.0 117.5 3.5 15.6 including 117.0 117.5 0.5 99.0 21HUR038 Fisher 91.3 92.2 0.9 2.5 21HUR039 Fisher 2.3 23.3 21.0 0.9 including 7.2 8.9 1.7 5.4 21HUR040 Fisher 34.4 34.8 0.4 8.0 Huronian 262.8 263.4 0.6 stope Huronian 263.4 266.3 2.9 7.3 including 263.4 263.9 0.5 34.2 21HUR041 lost hole - redrilled as 042 21HUR042 Fisher 14.5 17.8 3.3 5.3 including 16.9 17.8 0.9 17.0 21HUR043 no significant values 21HUR044 Fisher 92.4 108.5 16.1 1.1 including 103.0 104.0 1.0 5.8 21HUR045 Fisher 90.4 91.0 0.6 5.9 21HUR046 Fisher 70.4 71.4 1.0 2.9 21HUR047 no significant values 21HUR048 lost hole - redrilled as 049 21HUR049 no significant values 21HUR050 lost hole - redrilled as 051 21HUR051 hit stope/open workings 21HUR052 hit stope/open workings 21HUR053 results pending 21HUR054 Huronian 115.4 119.5 4.1 16.2 including 115.4 116.0 0.6 81.5 21HUR055 no significant values 21HUR056 McKellar 17.7 85.5 67.8 1.6 including 18.0 19.8 1.8 5.2 including 43.9 85.5 41.6 2.2 and including 63.7 66.8 3.1 4.7 and including 72.7 78.0 5.3 3.3 and including 79.7 85.5 5.8 7.2 and including 79.7 83.3 3.6 9.0 21HUR057 McKellar 13.9 36.9 23.0 1.4 including 31.7 36.4 4.7 5.5 21HUR058 McKellar 82.7 83.0 0.3 5.4 83.0 stope/open workings 21HUR059 McKellar 87.0 105.6 18.6 1.1 including 90.0 91.0 1.0 7.7 including 93.6 94.6 1.0 6.3

(1)Widths are drill indicated core length as insufficient drilling has been undertaken to determine true widths at this time. Average grades are calculated with un-capped gold assays as insufficient drilling has been completed to determine capping levels for higher grade gold intercepts.

About the Huronian Gold Project

The 100% owned Huronian Gold Project hosts the past producing Huronian Mine, Northwestern Ontario's first gold mine with an historic resource estimate of 44,592 oz Au at an average grade of 15.3 g/t Au in the indicated category, and 501,377 oz Au at an average grade of 14.4 g/t Au in the inferred category. The resource estimate presented for the Huronian Project is historic in nature. Kesselrun Resources' qualified person has not completed sufficient work to confirm the results of the historical resource. Kesselrun Resources is not treating this as a current mineral resource but is considering it relevant as a guide to future exploration and is included for reference purposes only. The historic resource was estimated by Minescape Exploration Inc. in 1998. Further drilling will be required by Kesselrun Resources to verify the historic estimate as current mineral resources.

As well, the Huronian Gold Project hosts the same lithological package of rocks, as interpreted from both Government of Ontario and Kesselrun Resources mapping, compilation and modelling, on strike from Wesdome Gold's adjacent Moss Lake Gold Deposit with a resource estimate of 1,377,300 oz Au at an average grade of 1.1 g/t Au in the indicated category and 1,751,600 oz Au at an average grade of 1.1 g/t Au in the inferred category as outlined in their 2013 PEA2. Mineralization hosted on adjacent and/or nearby properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on Kesselrun Resources' property.

(2) Moss Lake Gold Mines (currently wholly owned subsidiary of Wesdome Gold) news releases February 20, 2013 and September 9, 2013.

On January 26, 2021 Wesdome announced that the Moss Lake Project would be purchased by Goldshore Resources Inc. (see Wesdome and Goldshore news releases dated January 26, 2021).

Qualified Person

Michael Thompson, P.Geo., President and CEO of Kesselrun, is the Qualified Person responsible for the project as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has approved the technical information in this news release.

QAQC

Kesselrun has implemented a quality control program to comply with industry best practices for sampling, chain of custody and analyses. Certified gold reference standards, blanks and duplicates are inserted at the core processing site as part of the QA/QC program in addition to the control samples inserted by the lab. Samples are prepared and analyzed by Activation Laboratories in Thunder Bay. Samples are analyzed for gold using Fire Assay-AA techniques. Samples returning over 10 g/t gold are analyzed using Fire Assay-Gravimetric methods. Selected samples are also analyzed with a standard 1 kg metallic screen fire assay. All results reported herein have passed QA/QC protocols.

Health and Safety

The health and safety of our personnel and contractors is always top priority to Kesselrun. The current situation presents new challenges above and beyond what we normally face while working in the field. Kesselrun has implemented further measures to ensure the health and safety of all working on the Company's projects.

About Kesselrun Resources Ltd.

Kesselrun Resources is a Thunder Bay, Ontario-based mineral exploration company focused on growth through property acquisitions and discoveries. Kesselrun's management team possesses strong geological and exploration expertise in Northwest Ontario. For more information about Kesselrun Resources, please visit www.kesselrunresources.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 news release.

For additional information please contact:

Kesselrun Resources Ltd.

Michael Thompson, P.Geo., President & CEO

807.285.3323

michaelt@kesselrunresources.com

Corporate Communications

1.866.416.7941

information@kesselrunresources.com

Forward-Looking Statements - Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of Kesselrun, including, but not limited to the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, volatility of commodity prices, dependence upon regulatory approvals, the execution of definitive documentation, the availability of financing and exploration risk. 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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86107
First copper concentrates shipped to nearby Lualaba Copper Smelter

Mining crews deliver 406,000 tonnes of ore grading 5.77% copper in May, including 103,000 tonnes grading 8.58% copper from the centre of the Kakula Mine

71,000 tonnes of ore grading 4.07% copper delivered directly from Kakula Mine to the concentrator plant to be used during plant ramp up

Surface ore stockpiles now hold 3.3 million tonnes grading 4.87% copper, containing more than 160,000 tonnes of copper

Engineering and procurement for Phase 2 expansion to 7.6 Mtpa are more than 50% complete; well on track for a Q3 2022 start-up

COVID-19 vaccination program underway for Kamoa Copper's employees, contractors and local residents

Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of Congo--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) (OTCQX: IVPAF) Co-Chairs Robert Friedland and Yufeng "Miles" Sun are pleased to announce that commissioning and ramp up of the Kamoa-Kakula Phase 1, 3.8 million-tonne-per-annum (Mtpa) concentrator plant have progressed safely and quickly toward nameplate capacity. Kamoa-Kakula's initial copper concentrate was produced on May 25th.

First ore was introduced into the concentrator plant on May 20th and the start of copper concentrate production occurred on May 25th, several months ahead of schedule. As of May 27th, 71,000 tonnes of ore grading 4.07% copper had been conveyed directly from Kakula's underground operations to the concentrator. The team currently is busy with hot commissioning and ramp up of the concentrator.

A total of 406,000 tonnes grading 5.77% copper was mined in May and comprised 365,000 tonnes grading 5.89% copper from the Kakula Mine, including 103,000 tonnes grading 8.58% copper from the mine's high-grade centre, and 41,000 tonnes grading 4.68% copper from the Kansoko Mine.

The ore mined in May contained a record 23,400 tonnes of copper. Approximately 20,600 tonnes of contained copper was delivered to the surface stockpiles and the balance was delivered directly to the concentrator plant.

The project's pre-production surface stockpiles now contain approximately 3.3 million tonnes of high-grade and medium-grade ore at an estimated, blended average of 4.87% copper. Contained copper in the stockpiles at the end of May now totals more than 160,000 tonnes (the current copper price is approximately US$10,200 a tonne).

Watch a new video showcasing the start of production at Kamoa-Kakula: https://vimeo.com/557991671/7e6d5c4ffa.

Members of Kamoa Copper's management team celebrating the first copper concentrate production with members of the DRA team. DRA, a diversified global engineering group headquartered in Perth, Australia, is the Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM) contractor for Kamoa-Kakula's Phase 1 construction.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_002full.jpg

Moving the copper concentrate for transportation to a local smelter near Kolwezi.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_003full.jpg

Kamoa-Kakula's Phase 1 concentrator plant (now in hot commissioning) and the foundations for the Phase 2 plant module are in the red circle. The process water pond and concentrate storage shed are in the foreground.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_005full.jpg

Mark Farren, Kamoa Copper's CEO, remarked: "We are delighted with the progress we have made at the Phase 1 concentrator. As promised at the end of April, we have managed to move into full C4 concentrator commissioning ahead of plan, and we now are producing copper concentrate. The next challenge for the processing team is to ramp up the concentrator to nameplate capacity and reach our planned recovery targets.

"The mining team has continued to perform really well, with volumes consistently around the 400,000-tonne-per-month mark. This remains above the steady-state requirements of the Phase 1 concentrator. We will continue to monitor our mining performance against the ramp-up plan of the Phase 2 concentrator to ensure a smooth and efficient ramp up to steady-state production during 2022."

Steve Amos, Kamoa Copper's Head of Projects, commented: "We have been very pleased with the smooth start-up and performance of the Phase 1 plant to date. Our in-country construction, commissioning and operations personnel from both the contractor's and owner's teams have done a great job of completing construction and cold commissioning of the plant in a timely manner. We now are in the final process of hot commissioning and ramp up."

Ivanhoe's guidance for contained copper in concentrate expected to be produced by Kamoa-Kakula for the balance of 2021 is 80,000 to 95,000 tonnes. The figures are on a 100%-project basis and metal reported in concentrate is prior to refining losses or deductions associated with smelter terms.

Kamoa-Kakula's Phase 1 concentrator plant in operation, with the foundations for the Phase 2 plant on the right.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_006full.jpg

Kakula is projected to be the world's highest-grade major copper mine, with an initial mining rate of 3.8 Mtpa at an estimated, early average feed grade of more than 6.0% copper, ramping up to 7.6 Mtpa in Q3 2022.

Phase 1 is expected to produce approximately 200,000 tonnes of copper per year, and phases 1 and 2 combined are forecast to produce approximately 400,000 tonnes of copper per year. Based on independent benchmarking, the project's phased expansion scenario to 19 Mtpa would position Kamoa-Kakula as the world's second largest copper mining complex, with peak annual copper production of more than 800,000 tonnes.

Given the current copper price environment, Ivanhoe and its partner Zijin are exploring the acceleration of the Kamoa-Kakula Phase 3 concentrator expansion from 7.6 Mtpa to 11.4 Mtpa, which may be fed from expanded mining operations at Kansoko, or new mining areas at Kamoa North (including the Bonanza Zone) and Kakula West.

The Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines (39.6%), Zijin Mining Group (39.6%), Crystal River Global Limited (0.8%) and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (20%).

A 2020 independent audit of Kamoa-Kakula's greenhouse gas intensity metrics performed by Hatch Ltd. of Mississauga, Canada, confirmed that the project will be among the world's lowest greenhouse gas emitters per unit of copper produced.

In May, members of Kamoa-Kakula's mine development team witnessed the completion of reaming the Kansoko Mine's first raise-bored, 5.5-metre-diameter ventilation shaft.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_007full.jpg

Agreement signed with nearby Lualaba Copper Smelter to produce 99% blister copper in the Democratic Republic of Congo; first delivery of copper concentrates on June 1st

On May 31, 2021, Kamoa Copper signed a 10-year agreement with the Lualaba Copper Smelter (LCS), located outside the town of Kolwezi, for the processing of a portion of Kamoa's copper concentrate production. Kamoa Copper delivered its first copper concentrates to the Lualaba smelter on June 1st.

LCS is 60%-owned by China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group (CNMC) of Beijing, China. Yunnan Copper of Kunming, China, owns the other 40%.

The agreement follows Ivanhoe Mines and CNMC entering into a strategic partnership with LCS on August 18, 2020, and concludes a negotiation that took place over the last year.

Mark Farren, Kamoa Copper's CEO (seated right) and Yang Wei, LCS' CEO (seated left), sign the 10-year agreement to produce 99% blister copper from Kamoa Copper's concentrate. Joining them at the contract signing are (L-R) Lui Fang, LCS' Assistant Marketing Manager; Zhang Yu, LCS' Marketing Contract Controller; Dong Ming, LCS' Deputy General Manager; Meng Zhiguo, LCS' Deputy General Manager; Rochelle de Villiers, Kamoa Copper's CFO; Ben Munanga, Kamoa Copper's Chairman; Steve Amos, Kamoa Copper's Head of Projects; and Minty Cai, Kamoa Copper's CFO.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_008full.jpg

The smelter, which began operations in early 2020, will treat up to 150,000 wet metric tonnes of copper concentrates from Kamoa-Kakula, in return for a treatment charge and market-based realization fee, and produce blister copper ingots containing approximately 99% copper that will be collected by Kamoa Copper from a storage area at the LCS site.

LCS is the first modern, large, pyro-metallurgical copper smelter built in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is approximately 40 kilometres from Kamoa-Kakula via the recently-constructed, dedicated by-pass road.

Rochelle de Villiers, Kamoa Copper's CFO, who is leading the concentrate off-take and marketing negotiations on behalf of the Kamoa Copper joint venture, commented: "Kamoa Copper is pleased to have concluded an agreement with LCS, which will account for just under 40% of the total volumes of concentrates produced by Phase 1, making the most of available in-country smelter capacity. We made our first concentrate deliveries to LCS on June 1st, and we are looking forward to a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with our new local partner."

Convoy of trucks departing Kamoa-Kakula on June 1st with the first shipment of copper concentrate, enroute to the Lualaba Copper Smelter approximately 40 kilometres away.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_009full.jpg

Kakula is expected to produce an extremely high-grade, clean copper concentrate (containing over 55% copper) that will be highly coveted by smelters around the world. Metallurgical test work indicates that the Kakula concentrates contain extremely low arsenic levels by world standards - approximately 0.01%.

Offtake and export agreements for the balance of the copper concentrates produced during Phase 1 operations are nearing finalization, and include arrangements to export concentrates directly. The company plans to provide an update on Phase 1 copper concentrate off-take arrangements in the near term.

Kamoa Copper also is evaluating the construction of a smelting complex for the production of blister and anode copper. A downstream processing facility has a compelling rationale, significantly reducing the overall volumes of copper concentrate shipped from the mine and the cost of transportation and logistics, export taxes and concentrate treatment charges, as well as producing sulphuric acid as a by-product. There is a strong demand and market for sulphuric acid in the Democratic Republic of Congo to recover oxide copper ores. Copper mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo currently import significant volumes of sulphur and sulphuric acid for the treatment of oxide copper ores.

Blister copper ingots, containing approximately 99% copper, produced at the Lualaba Copper Smelter.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_010full.jpg

Pre-production ore stockpiles total 3.3 million tonnes grading 4.87% copper

Chart 1: Cumulative tonnes and grade of pre-production ore stockpiles at the Kakula and Kansoko mines - May 2020 to May 2021.





To view an enhanced version of Chart 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_011full.jpg

Chart 2: Growth in contained copper in pre-production ore stockpiles at the Kakula and Kansoko mines - May 2020 to May 2021.





To view an enhanced version of Chart 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_012full.jpg

Chart 3: Growth in contained copper in surface stockpiles at Kamoa-Kakula to July 2021. Dotted lines denote projections from the 2020 pre-feasibility study.





To view an enhanced version of Chart 3, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_013full.jpg

Piemme Bukas Amakay, SGS Lab Coordinator, performing chemical analysis in the new on-site assay lab at Kamoa-Kakula. SGS of Geneva, Switzerland is the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_014full.jpg

Kakula's main pre-production stockpiles at the northern declines. The blended stockpiles currently contain approximately 1.80 million tonnes grading 5.08% copper.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_ivanhoe1.jpg

Kamoa-Kakula achieved an advancement of more than 3,525 metres in May, bringing total underground development to approximately 45.7 kilometres - more than 16.5 kilometres ahead of schedule.

Drift-and-fill stoping operations are progressing well at the Kakula Mine, with the majority of the ore production coming from stoping operations and the remainder coming from mine development activities. Drift-and-fill stoping is a highly-productive mining method of extracting underground ore, where a single tunnel, known as a stope, is extracted leaving an open void that is subsequently backfilled to allow for the extraction of the neighbouring stope in sequence. The backfill plant, which will mix tailings from the processing plant with cement to produce paste backfill, will begin pumping backfill to the underground operations in July.

At both the Kakula South and Kansoko declines, high-grade ore of +6% copper is being stored in separate surface stockpiles that will provide the operating team with tremendous flexibility for optimizing the high-grade ore processed in the Phase 1 and Phase 2 concentrator plants.

Kakula southern decline high-grade and medium-grade ore stockpiles containing a combined 1.12 million tonnes grading 4.89% copper (consisting of 516,000 high-grade tonnes @ 6.69% copper and 605,000 medium-grade tonnes @ 3.35% copper), with the Kakula northern decline and the Kamoa-Kakula concentrator plant in the background.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_ivanhoe2enhanced.jpg

Kansoko decline blended high-grade and medium-grade ore stockpiles containing a combined 380,000 tonnes grading 3.86% copper (consisting of 104,000 high-grade tonnes @ 6.18% copper and 275,000 medium-grade tonnes @ 2.99% copper). Kansoko is located approximately 10 kilometres north of the Kamoa-Kakula concentrator plant.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_ivanhoe3enhanced.jpg

Figure 1: Underground development completed at Kakula Mine to June1, 2021 (in black).







To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_021full.jpg

(L-R) Clive Kabalibali, Surveyor; Pierrot Kasongo, Shift Boss; and Yannick Tshala Ntambwe, Surveyor, in one of the Kakula Mine's large, high-grade mining drifts.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_022full.jpg

Leandro Sanga, Underground Supervisor (left), and Mack Mwambu, underground worker, installing drive belts for a water pump at the Kakula Mine.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_023full.jpg

Construction and pre-commissioning of the project's first phase, 3.8-Mtpa concentrator plant and associated facilities essentially complete, with C4 (hot commissioning) activities underway

First ore was introduced into the ball mills on May 20th, marking the start of C4 commissioning. This was followed by the tailings dam receiving tailings on May 21st and first concentrate production on May25th. The initial 48-hour run test has been completed, which included ramping up the mill throughput to 90% of nameplate capacity. The next step includes running the plant for 72 hours as part of the final performance run. This will conclude the C4 commissioning activities.

The concentrator plant currently is being operated and maintained by the Kamoa operations and engineering teams with assistance from the project commissioning engineers. The operations team has been on site for the last few months receiving classroom and on-the-job training.

Electrical installation at the backfill plant is ongoing and the backfill plant is scheduled to be completed in July, well before paste backfill is required for mining operations.

The backfill plant will be used to mix tailings from the processing plant with cement to produce paste backfill. The backfill will be pumped back into the mine and used to help support mined-out areas. Approximately one half of the mine's tailings will be sent back underground, significantly reducing the surface tailings storage. Construction of the tailings storage facility is progressing well and is scheduled to be completed on time to receive tailings from the processing plant.

Toussaint Tshipamba, IT Technician, installing fiber-optic cables for the concentrator's plant control room.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_024full.jpg

Aerial view of the contractors' accommodations at Kamoa-Kakula.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_025full.jpg

Earthworks and civil works progressing well for the second 3.8-Mtpa concentrator plant, with the first structural steel expected on site in June

Construction of the second 3.8-Mtpa concentrator plant (Phase 2) is progressing well with the current focus on earthworks and civil works. Structural steel erection is expected to start this month. Both earthworks and civil works are tracking slightly ahead of schedule.

Engineering and procurement activities are progressing well with both more than 50% complete. Fabrication of structural steel and platework is nearing completion with the first structural steel having arrived on site.

Manufacturing of all long-lead items of equipment is well advanced with a number of items complete. Equipment for the Phase 2 plant has started to arrive on site.

The structural steel, mechanical, piping and plate erection contract has been awarded and the contractor has started to mobilize. Tender documents for the electrical, control and instrumentation installation have been issued.

Foundations for the Phase 2 concentrator plant module are advancing quickly.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_026full.jpg

Foundations for the Phase 2 high-pressure-grinding-rolls (HPGR) stockpile (in red circle) alongside the Phase 1 HPGR stockpile.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_ivanhoe4enhanced.jpg

Upgrading work at the Mwadingusha hydropower plant nearing completion

Four of the six new turbines at the Mwadingusha hydropower plant now have been synchronized to the national electrical grid, with each generating unit producing approximately 13 megawatts (MW) of power. The completion and commissioning of the hydropower plant's remaining two generating units, in sequence, is in progress.

In April, Kamoa-Kakula's energy company signed an agreement with the Democratic Republic of Congo's state-owned power company to upgrade Turbine 5 at the Inga II hydropower complex. Turbine 5 is expected to produce 162 MW of renewable hydropower, providing the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex and associated smelter with abundant, sustainable electricity for future expansions.

Four of six generating units at the Mwadingusha hydropower plant have been upgraded. Each unit is delivering approximately 13 MW of clean power to the national electrical grid.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_029full.jpg

Kamoa Copper partners with the Democratic Republic of Congo government, UNICEF and other stakeholders to administer COVID-19 vaccinations

Kamoa-Kakula has successfully focused on prevention, preparation and mitigation in managing the risks associated with COVID-19. Large-scale testing, combined with focused preventative measures, ensured that positive cases were quickly identified, isolated and treated, with cross contamination kept to a minimum. Maintaining this high standard of risk management remains a daily focus, to prevent future cases.

Kamoa Copper has secured an initial supply of 1,000 dosages of the AstraZeneca vaccine for Kamoa employees, contractors and Democratic Republic of Congo residents who live in the mine's host communities. A second supply of 1,000 dosages is expected in June. The second dose will be administered 8 to 12 weeks after the first and a certificate of vaccination completion will be issued to those who have received two doses.

The Kamoa COVID-19 hospital continues to treat patients when required, as construction progresses for the expansion and upgrade of the primary healthcare wing of the hospital. Kamoa-Kakula's highly-experienced doctors and nurses apply the latest medical treatments, supported by a world-leading emergency response and paramedic team.

Dr. John Botomwito, Health Manager at Kamoa Copper S.A., commented: "Kamoa is continually working closely with national and provincial stakeholders to improve access to healthcare in the Lualaba Province."

Kamoa is one of 15 sites in the province where COVID-19 vaccination programs are being rolled-out in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.

As the pandemic evolves, the medical team at the Kamoa hospital continues to review and update risk mitigation protocols, while ensuring that new medical advances are investigated and applied to protect the health and safety of employees and community members.

Dr. John Botomwito, Kamoa Copper's Health Manager (right), administering a COVID-19 vaccination to Mark Farren, Kamoa Copper's CEO. Looking on are Kabwit Ngoie Jules, Lualaba Provincial Minister of Health and Social Welfare (back, left), and Dr. Patrick Tshinawej Mukiny, Lualaba Provincial PEV (vaccination campaign office) Coordinator (back, right).





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_030full.jpg

Excellent progress is being made on the new primary healthcare wing of the Kamoa hospital.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_031full.jpg

Kamoa-Kakula constructing an additional 100 fish ponds to expand sustainable aquaculture for increased food security and economic prosperity for local residents

Kamoa-Kakula is constructing another 100 fish ponds in the area surrounding the Kamoa-Kakula Mine, bringing the current number of fish ponds to 137. An additional 25 fish ponds are planned to be constructed, bringing the combined total to 162. The project is part of Kamoa-Kakula Sustainable Livelihoods' initiative to further increase food security and economic prosperity in the region.

20 new companies have been created for local ownership of these additional ponds, with each company comprising five residents from local communities.

Harvesting of Tilapia fish by Kakweji Tshikuta Castain, one of the new fish farmers from Kamisange Community and a beneficiary of the new fish ponds under construction.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_032full.jpg

Vero Kahilo, Seamstress, sewing personal protective equipment at the Kamoa-Kakula Sustainable Livelihoods sewing project. The project, nicknamed Salamah ('security and peace' in Swahili), was initiated by Kamoa-Kakula's Local Economic Development team in 2013.





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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3396/86144_9f17fb7584e8cac6_033full.jpg

Qualified Persons

Disclosures of a scientific or technical nature regarding development scenarios at the Kamoa-Kakula Project in this news release have been reviewed and approved by Steve Amos, who is considered, by virtue of his education, experience and professional association, a Qualified Person under the terms of NI 43-101. Mr. Amos is not considered independent under NI 43-101 as he is the Head of the Kamoa Project. Mr. Amos has verified the technical data disclosed in this news release.

Other disclosures of a scientific or technical nature regarding the stockpiles in this news release have been reviewed and approved by George Gilchrist, who is considered, by virtue of his education, experience and professional association, a Qualified Person under the terms of NI 43-101. Mr. Gilchrist is not considered independent under NI 43-101 as he is the Vice President, Resources of Ivanhoe Mines. Mr. Gilchrist has verified the other technical data disclosed in this news release.

The stockpile grade estimates contained in this release are based upon bulk ore sampling from earlier underground headings, and vertical channel sample profiles from recent development. Bulk ore sampling was done on each heading every second blast and three 5-kilogram samples were taken. Since the beginning of October 2020, channel sample profiles are the primary data informing the stockpile grade estimates. These are cut approximately 15 metres apart in 1-metre vertical increments across the full vertical exposure using a handheld grinder, with a 100-to-150-gram sample collected. The samples are pulverized at the project's onsite laboratory and analyzed using a portable XRF (pXRF) instrument. Kamoa Copper has routinely analyzed its exploration drill core for copper using pXRF, in addition to analysis at a commercial laboratory using four acid digest and ICP-OES. This data has demonstrated that pXRF results can be relied upon for grade control and run-of-mine sampling. Due to rounding, numbers presented throughout this news release may not add up precisely.

Ivanhoe has prepared an independent, NI 43-101-compliant technical report for the Kamoa-Kakula Project, which is available on the company's website and under the company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com:

Kamoa-Kakula Integrated Development Plan 2020 dated October 13, 2020, prepared by OreWin Pty Ltd., China Nerin Engineering Co., Ltd., DRA Global, Epoch Resources, Golder Associates Africa, KGHM Cuprum R&D Centre Ltd., Outotec Oyj, Paterson and Cooke, Stantec Consulting International LLC, SRK Consulting Inc., and Wood plc.

The technical report includes relevant information regarding the assumptions, parameters and methods of the mineral resource estimates on the Kamoa-Kakula Project cited in this news release, as well as information regarding data verification, exploration procedures and other matters relevant to the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this news release.

About Ivanhoe Mines

Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company focused on advancing its three principal joint-venture projects in Southern Africa: the development of major new, mechanized, underground mines at the Kamoa-Kakula copper discoveries in the Democratic Republic of Congo and at the Platreef palladium-rhodium-platinum-nickel-copper-gold discovery in South Africa; and the extensive redevelopment and upgrading of the historic Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-silver mine, also in the Democratic Republic of Congo .

Kamoa-Kakula began producing copper concentrates in May 2021 and, through phased expansions, is positioned to become one of the world's largest copper producers. Kamoa-Kakula and Kipushi will be powered by clean, renewable hydro-generated electricity and will be among the world's lowest greenhouse gas emitters per unit of metal produced. Ivanhoe Mines has pledged to achieve net-zero operational greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1 and 2) at the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Mine when large-scale electric, hydrogen and hybrid underground mining equipment become commercially available. Ivanhoe also is exploring for new copper discoveries on its wholly-owned Western Foreland exploration licences in the Democratic Republic of Congo, near the Kamoa-Kakula Project.

Information contacts

Investors: Bill Trenaman +1.604.331.9834 / Media: Matthew Keevil +1.604.558.1034

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements in this release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. 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.

Such statements include without limitation, the timing and results of: (i) statements regarding Ivanhoe's guidance for contained copper in concentrate expected to be produced by Kamoa-Kakula for the balance of 2021 is 80,000 to 95,000 tonnes; (ii) statements regarding the backfill plant, which will mix tailings from the processing plant with cement to produce paste backfill, will begin pumping backfill to the underground operations in July; (iii) statements regarding the expectation that Phase 2 of the project's development when the Kakula concentrator processing capacity doubles to 7.6 Mtpa is to be commissioned in Q3 2022; (iv) statements regarding Kakula is projected to be the world's highest-grade major copper mine, with an initial mining rate of 3.8 Mtpa at an estimated average feed grade of more than 6.0% copper over the first five years of operation; (v) statements regarding Kamoa-Kakula's Phase 1 is expected to produce approximately 200,000 tonnes of copper per year, and Phases 1 and 2 combined are forecast to produce approximately 400,000 tonnes of copper per year; (vi) statements regarding based on independent benchmarking, the project's phased expansion scenario to 19 Mtpa would position Kamoa-Kakula as the world's second largest copper mining complex, with peak annual copper production of more than 800,000 tonnes; (vii) statements regarding Kamoa-Kakula will be among the world's lowest greenhouse gas emitters per unit of copper produced; (viii) statements regarding structural steel erection for the Phase 2 concentrator is expected to start this month; (ix) statements regarding approximately one half of the mine's tailings will be sent back underground; (x) statements regarding Kamoa-Kakula is close to finalizing agreements for the sale of its copper concentrates during Phase 1 operations; (xi) statements regarding Kakula is expected to produce an extremely high grade and clean copper concentrate (containing over 55% copper and extremely low arsenic levels by world standards - approximately 0.01%) that will be highly coveted by copper smelters around the world; and (xiii) statements regarding an upgraded Turbine 5 at Inga II is expected to produce 162 megawatts of renewable hydropower, providing the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex and associated smelter with abundant sustainable electricity for future expansions.

As well, all of the results of the Kakula definitive feasibility study, the Kakula-Kansoko pre-feasibility study and the Kamoa-Kakula preliminary economic assessment, constitute forward-looking statements or information, and include future estimates of internal rates of return, net present value, future production, estimates of cash cost, proposed mining plans and methods, mine life estimates, cash flow forecasts, metal recoveries, estimates of capital and operating costs and the size and timing of phased development of the projects. Furthermore, with respect to this specific forward-looking information concerning the development of the Kamoa-Kakula Project, the company has based its assumptions and analysis on certain factors that are inherently uncertain. Uncertainties include: (i) the adequacy of infrastructure; (ii) geological characteristics; (iii) metallurgical characteristics of the mineralization; (iv) the ability to develop adequate processing capacity; (v) the price of copper; (vi) the availability of equipment and facilities necessary to complete development; (vii) the cost of consumables and mining and processing equipment; (viii) unforeseen technological and engineering problems; (ix) accidents or acts of sabotage or terrorism; (x) currency fluctuations; (xi) changes in regulations; (xii) the compliance by joint venture partners with terms of agreements; (xiii) the availability and productivity of skilled labour; (xiv) the regulation of the mining industry by various governmental agencies; (xv) the ability to raise sufficient capital to develop such projects; (xvi) changes in project scope or design; and (xvii) political factors.

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, the factors discussed below and under "Risk Factors", and elsewhere in this release, as well as 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.

Although the forward-looking statements contained in this release are based upon what management of the company believes are reasonable assumptions, the company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Subject to applicable securities laws, the company does not assume any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release.

The company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of the factors set forth below in the "Risk Factors" section in the company's 2020 Year-End MD&A and its current annual information form.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86144
2020 Corporate Responsibility Report Outlines Initiatives and Progress in Advancing Pentair's Journey Towards Delivering a More Sustainable Company

Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR), a leading provider of water treatment and sustainable solutions, today announced its Social Responsibility Strategic Targets The new targets were launched with the release of Pentair's 2020 Corporate Responsibility Report, which highlights the company's initiatives to be a leading socially responsible company as it delivers smart, sustainable solutions that empower customers and employees to make the most of life's essential resources.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005216/en/

Learn more about Pentair's Social Responsibility initiatives at Pentair.com/Impact. (Graphic: Business Wire)

"As a leading provider of water treatment and sustainable solutions, we are proud of our efforts to further Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) stewardship that are highlighted in our 2020 Corporate Responsibility Report," said John L. Stauch, Pentair President and CEO. "With the announcement of our Social Responsibility Strategic Targets we are looking forward to our continued role in reducing our impact on the environment and developing solutions to address the global water and climate change challenges of the future."

Pentair's Social Responsibility Strategic Targets Include:

Carbon Footprint Reduction: We are targeting reducing our Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent from a 2019 baseline by 2030, and aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 Water Reduction: We are targeting a 30 percent reduction in overall water withdrawal from a 2019 baseline by 2030 Product Design for Sustainability: We plan to further assess, design, and commercialize our products for environmental sustainability to reduce our customers' impact on climate change. We plan to enhance our product innovation process in 2021, launching it in 2022. Responsible Supply Chain: In partnership with our suppliers, we are expanding our social responsibility strategy beyond our operations to build a more sustainable supply chain. This includes our plan to refresh our Supplier Code of Conduct with increased focus on environmental sustainability and social responsibility in 2021, and launching an updated supplier assessment process in 2022. Inclusion Diversity: Our diversity and inclusion targets include achieving an inclusive and diverse workforce and leadership team that embraces the communities in which we live, work, and serve, with a specific focus on increasing women in leadership positions globally and persons of color representation in U.S. leadership positions.

"We are excited about our Social Responsibility Strategic Targets as they are focused in the areas that matter to our employees, customers, shareholders, and the community and we expect them to positively contribute to our business and society," said Karla Robertson, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary, and Chief Social Responsibility Officer. "We are integrating ESG practices throughout our businesses, creating broad accountability for our strategy, and actively tracking and measuring our progress on our journey in building a more sustainable company."

Pentair's Social Responsibility Strategic Targets are built on the company's prior ESG achievements and initiatives. 2020 accomplishments, as further highlighted in Pentair's Corporate Responsibility Report, include:

Achieved the 2,000th customer installation of carbon dioxide (CO2) systems , which allow customers to capture CO2 from manufacturing processes before it is released into the atmosphere and then recycle it to produce other valuable byproducts

, which allow customers to capture CO2 from manufacturing processes before it is released into the atmosphere and then recycle it to produce other valuable byproducts Received its eighth consecutive ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency achievement with its variable speed pool pumps

from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency achievement with its variable speed pool pumps Reduced electricity and natural gas usage within its own operations steadily over time, and reduced waste generation

within its own operations steadily over time, and Signed the CEO Action Pledge for Diversity and Inclusion TM committing to a specific set of plans to cultivate an inclusive environment; provided paid time off for employees to volunteer; and provided a double match for employee contributions toward racial and social justice issues

committing to a specific set of plans to cultivate an inclusive environment; provided paid time off for employees to volunteer; and provided a double match for employee contributions toward racial and social justice issues Responded with agility to the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing a holistic approach to help keep its workforce safe and healthy while delivering for customers and shareholders

Learn more about Pentair's Social Responsibility Strategic Targets and its 2020 Corporate Responsibility Report at Pentair.com/Impact. Pentair's 2020 Corporate Responsibility Report has been prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, Core option. In addition, Pentair began mapping to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) as well as the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) recommendations.

ABOUT PENTAIR PLC

Pentair makes the most of life's essential resources. From our residential and business solutions that help people move, improve and enjoy their water, to our sustainable innovations and applications, we deliver smart, sustainable solutions for life.

Pentair had revenue in 2020 of $3 billion, and trades under the ticker symbol PNR. With approximately 9,750 global employees serving customers in more than 150 countries, we work to help improve lives and the environment around the world. To learn more, visit pentair.com.

CAUTION CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release contains statements that we believe to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Without limitation, any statements preceded or followed by or that include the words "targets," "plans," "believes," "expects," "intends," "will," "likely," "may," "anticipates," "estimates," "projects," "should," "would," "could," "positioned," "strategy," "future" or words, phrases or terms of similar substance or the negative thereof, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, some of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including the risk that we will be unable to execute our strategy because of market or competitive conditions. Additional information concerning these and other factors is contained in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. Pentair plc assumes no obligation, and disclaims any obligation, to update the information contained in this release.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005216/en/

Contacts:

Jim Lucas

Senior Vice President, Treasurer, FP&A and Investor Relations

Tel: 763-656-5575

Email: jim.lucas@pentair.com

Rebecca Osborn

Senior Manager, External Communications

Tel: 763-656-5589

Email: rebecca.osborn@pentair.com
Acquisition expands Egress Intelligent Email Security to eliminate all insider risk on email, including zero-day phishing exploits.

Egress, the leading provider of human layer security, today announced it has acquired Aquilai, an anti-phishing provider with machine learning and natural language processing technology that stops all targeted email attacks, including business email compromise (BEC), spear phishing and impersonation attempts. The acquisition of Aquilai strengthens the Egress Intelligent Email Security platform, which solves every organization's most complex cybersecurity challenge: insider risk.

The powerful combination of Egress and Aquilai will provide customers with protection against all inbound cyberattacks targeting employees and real-time outbound email security for shared data, including inadvertent data loss and email encryption. With the increased volume and sophistication of targeted phishing attacks, security leaders need an intelligent, non-disruptive email security solution that detects multi-vector exploits and thwarts zero-day attacks. Additionally, seamless integration with Microsoft Outlook will enable organizations to effectively defend against email data loss and the increasing number of attacks targeting the 365 platform.

The acquisition will go into immediate effect with the launch of Egress Defend, which incorporates Aquilai's anti-phishing technology and the following key capabilities:

Machine learning and natural language to detect all phishing attacks. Egress Defend detects and mitigates all zero day phishing attacks, including advanced threats such as BEC and brand forgery, CEO fraud and impersonation attempts, and spear phishing.

Egress Defend detects and mitigates all zero day phishing attacks, including advanced threats such as BEC and brand forgery, CEO fraud and impersonation attempts, and spear phishing. Content and context analysis for inbound email traffic. Egress Defend detects BEC and social engineering attacks, including those utilizing open-source intelligence (OSINT), to provide enhanced security versus relationship-based solutions.

Egress Defend detects BEC and social engineering attacks, including those utilizing open-source intelligence (OSINT), to provide enhanced security versus relationship-based solutions. Streamlined user engagement for enhanced cybersecurity awareness among employees. Egress Defend includes traffic light warnings and insight summaries to provide active learning to educate users about the threats they face.

The acquisition of Aquilai supports a year of rapid growth for Egress, following announcements made earlier in 2021 of key additions to its leadership team, new product enhancements and the opening of its first New York office, and continues Egress' leadership of the human layer security technology category.

Today's announcement will also see Aquilai's CTO Jack Chapman join Egress as VP of Threat Intelligence. Chapman co-founded Aquilai in 2018 and oversaw the development of its anti-phishing solution. Egress CEO Tony Pepper comments: "Organizations face a daily onslaught of targeted attacks via email that are designed to exploit employees. By acquiring Aquilai, Egress will expand its protection over our customers' human layer to ensure they can defend against targeted inbound attacks and outbound data loss as employees share content. I'm also personally delighted to welcome Jack Chapman as our new VP of Threat Intelligence and look forward to working with him to help our customers level-up in their fight against phishing."

Chapman comments: "Aquilai is the perfect fit to advance Egress' mission to secure the human layer, adding sophisticated anti-phishing capability to existing products that secure outbound content as it is shared by employees. I'm also delighted to be joining Egress as VP of Threat Intelligence to further accelerate the company's high growth in EMEA and North America."

As a result of the acquisition and launch of Egress Defend, the Aquilai Ajax brand will be retired from 1st June 2021.

--- ENDS ---

About Egress

Our mission is to eliminate the greatest risk to every business the insider threat. To achieve this Egress has built the world's only Human Layer Security platform that empowers your people to remain secure while being highly productive.

Using patented contextual machine learning, Egress is trusted by the world's biggest brands to prevent human error and protect against malicious or reckless behavior on email without any administrative overhead. Funded by FTV Capital and Albion VC, Egress is headquartered in London with offices in Toronto and Boston.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005088/en/

Contacts:

Jordan Brackenbury, PR Manager

+44 207624 8500

PR@Egress.com
Leading APAC digital asset platform expands use of Validus

AUSTIN, Texas and HONG KONG, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Eventus Systems, Inc., an award-winning global provider of multi-asset class trade surveillance and market risk solutions, today announced that OSL Digital Securities (OSL), Asia's first and only SFC-licensed, Big-4 audited, and insured digital asset platform for institutions and professional investors, and member of BC Technology Group, has added Eventus' transaction monitoring capabilities, growing its deployment beyond OSL's ongoing use of the Eventus Validus platform for trade surveillance. Trading on the new regulated OSL Exchange went live in March 2021.

OSL started working with Eventus in the fall of 2019, and was the first digital asset platform in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region to use Validus for trade surveillance on its markets. Eventus now supports the trade surveillance of two-thirds of the digital asset exchanges listed on CB Insights' global Blockchain 50 list.

Eventus last year made hundreds of enhancements to Validus, including adding new capabilities for anti-money laundering (AML) and transaction monitoring. The firm also introduced new automation capabilities enabling clients such as digital asset market centers to far more efficiently self-manage their surveillance models and cast a wide net for alerts, sifting through the noise and better highlighting which alerts require human review.

Vince Turcotte, Eventus Sales Director, Asia Pacific, said: "We've been honored to represent OSL, which recognizes the importance of a robust trade surveillance program in attracting institutional and professional investors as well as reinforcing the integrity of its markets."

OSL was the first firm to be licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to conduct Type 1 (dealing in securities) and Type 7 (automated trading service - ATS) regulated activities related to digital assets. The license was granted after the company opted into the SFC's virtual asset regime and successfully underwent the commission's rigorous vetting requirements.

In addition to traditional protection measures, OSL customers trading under the license will benefit from insurance protection on digital assets held in client segregated wallets. Customers will undergo rigorous know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) controls. OSL works to mitigate the risk of market misconduct through market surveillance, and conducts transaction monitoring and additional digital asset-specific controls.

About the OSL Platform and BC Technology Group

Backed by Asia's leading listed digital asset company, BC Technology Group (stock code: 863 HK), OSL is the region's most comprehensive licensed digital asset platform. It is the world's first and only insured and SFC-licensed digital asset platform, providing prime brokerage, custody, exchange and software-as-a-service to institutions and professional investors.

The company offers OTC, iRFQ and electronic trading services, giving traders access to the world's deepest liquidity pools, as well as secure, insured wallets to ensure the safekeeping of digital assets with timely transaction settlement. BC Group and the OSL platform are enabling institutional adoption of the digital asset class, setting the global standard for performance, security and compliance.

For more information: bc.group and osl.com.

About Eventus Systems

Eventus Systems is a leading global provider of multi-asset class trade surveillance and market risk solutions. Its powerful, award-winning Validus platform is easy to deploy, customize and operate across equities, options, futures, foreign exchange (FX), fixed income and digital asset markets. Validus is proven in the most complex, high-volume and real-time environments of tier-1 banks, broker-dealers, futures commission merchants (FCMs), proprietary trading groups, market centers, buy-side institutions, energy and commodity trading firms, and regulators. The company's rapidly growing client base relies on Validus and Eventus' responsive support and product development teams to overcome its most pressing regulatory challenges. For more, visit www.eventussystems.com .

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/635481/Eventus_Systems_Logo.jpg
World leader in cordless technology to benefit from integrated suite of IP tools

BOSTON, June 02, 2021, the leading innovation and intellectual property management technology provider, today announced that Techtronic Industries (TTI), a world leader in power tools and cordless technology, has selected Anaqua to help drive business value from TTI's innovation and expanding patent portfolio.



TTI will use Anaqua's AQX IP management system for patent management, with integrated patent analytics provided through Anaqua's AcclaimIP solution, and patent annuities delivered through Anaqua Services.

An innovator in cordless technology, spanning power tools, hand tools, outdoor power equipment, floor care appliances, and accessories, TTI has an extensive IP portfolio, including brands such as MILWAUKEE, RYOBI and HOOVER recognized for their deep heritage and cordless product platforms, safety, productivity and innovation. The company's mission is to transform how work is conducted in home improvement, repair, maintenance, construction, and infrastructure industries through the development of environmentally friendly cordless technology.

Bob Romeo, CEO of Anaqua, said: "TTI is a company that continues to innovate and change the way that things are done, with a product range that includes many world-leading brands. We are delighted to be selected by TTI to help them drive enhanced innovation and IP management processes throughout their global network."

About Anaqua

Anaqua, Inc. is a premium provider of integrated intellectual property, or on LinkedIn.

About TTI

Techtronic Industries is a world leader in Power Tools, Accessories, Hand Tools, Outdoor Power Equipment, and Floor Care for Do-It-Yourself (DIY), professional and industrial users in the home improvement, repair, maintenance, construction and infrastructure industries. The Company is committed to accelerating the transformation of these industries through superior environmentally friendly cordless technology. The TTI brands such as MILWAUKEE, RYOBI and HOOVER are recognized worldwide for their deep heritage and cordless product platforms of superior quality, outstanding performance, safety, productivity and compelling innovation.

Founded in 1985 and listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong ("SEHK") in 1990, TTI is included in the Hang Seng Index as one of their fifty constituent stocks. The Company maintains a powerful brand portfolio, global manufacturing and product development footprint, healthy financial position with record 2020 worldwide sales of US$9.8 billion and over 48,000 employees. TTI designs, develops, manufactures and markets leading-edge, high-performance and high-quality emission free cordless power tools and equipment through a variety of distribution channels in a growing number of countries.

For more information, please visit www.ttigroup.com.

Company Contact:

Amanda Hollis

Associate Director, Communications

Anaqua

617-375-2626

ahollis@Anaqua.com
DIDCOT, UK / ACCESSWIRE / June 2, 2021 / Altus Strategies Plc (AIM:ALS)(TSX-V: ALTS)(OTCQX:ALTUF) provides an exploration update on the Tabakorole gold project ("Tabakorole" or the "Project") located in southern Mali. Altus holds a 49% equity interest and 2.5% Net Smelter Return ("NSR") royalty on the Project. Exploration activities at Tabakorole are being funded by Marvel Gold Limited (ASX: MVL) ("Marvel Gold") under its joint venture ("JV") with Altus.

Highlights:

Diamond drilling (" DD ") at Tabakorole gold project in southern Mali extends strike by 150m

") at Tabakorole gold project in southern Mali extends strike by 150m Intersections from six DD holes (950m) include (down-the-hole and not true width): 1.8 g/t gold over 29m from 178m (hole 21TBKRCDD001) 1.22 g/t gold over 12m from 167m (hole 21TBKDD002) 0.90 g/t gold over 39m from 111m (composite of hole 21TBKDD004 intersections)

87% increase in Tabakorole JV landholding with the award of two new contiguous licences

3,545 line-km of high-resolution ground magnetics completed across Project

Results of 5,100m aircore (" AC ") drilling programme testing strike extension are pending

") drilling programme testing strike extension are pending Project hosts a mineral deposit for which a Mineral Resource Estimate (" MRE ") has been generated (see Altus' news release dated 30 September 2020 and titled "Substantial Increase in Gold Resource at Tabakorole Project, Southern Mali"), comprising: 16,600,000 tonnes at 1.2 g/t Au for 620,000 ounces in the Inferred category 7,300,000 tonnes at 1.2 g/t Au for 290,000 ounces in the Indicated category

") has been generated (see Altus' news release dated 30 September 2020 and titled "Substantial Increase in Gold Resource at Tabakorole Project, Southern Mali"), comprising: Altus holds 49% of the Project and a 2.5% NSR royalty on Tabakorole gold production

Steven Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus, commented:

"The potential of the Tabakorole gold project in southern Mali continues to grow. These latest drilling results increase the strike length of the deposit to at least 3.2km. Marvel Gold, our ASX listed JV partner, is aggressively advancing the Project, with further drilling already underway targeting near-surface, high-grade intercepts that fall outside of the previously modelled mineralisation. These drilling programmes are expected to contribute to an updated MRE in the third quarter of this year. In the meantime, a 5,100m AC drilling programme is also underway, testing the potential for further strike extensions to the south.

"Separately, two new contiguous licences totalling 87km2 have been awarded and added to the Tabakorole JV. Marvel Gold has already commenced exploration across these two licenses, with soil surveys and ground magnetics underway, to discover potential satellite deposits. Tabakorole hosts a significant gold resource, which remains open along strike in both directions as well as at depth. We look forward to updating shareholders with the results from the current programmes when they are received."

Tabakorole Resource Expansion Drill Programme

The 950m DD programme, comprising six diamond holes (including a diamond tail of a previously drilled Reverse Circulation ("RC") hole) at the southern end of the Tabakorole deposit, has been completed by Marvel Gold, as part of the JV Stage-3 earn-in. The programme was designed primarily to potentially increase the current MRE, by extending gold mineralisation to the south. This drilling has added approximately 150m of strike length to the known mineralisation. The results received from this programme are presented in Table 1 below.

Separately, a 5,100m AC drilling programme is underway, also in the southeast of the Project, to test the potential for further strike extensions in this area. Marvel Gold has also commenced a DD programme, to follow up on previous promising RC results in the central and north-west areas of the Tabakorole deposit. These holes target newly discovered shallow, high-grade zones that are outside of the previously modelled MRE. Marvel Gold anticipates that the results of these programmes will be incorporated into an upgraded MRE in the third quarter of 2021.

Table 1: Tabakorole recent diamond drilling intersections

Hole ID From (m) To (m) Intersection (m) Grade (g/t Au) Previously reported 21TBKRCDD001 178 184 6 1.96 No 187 197 10 2.99 No 198 207 9 0.9 No 21TBKDD001 111 116 5 0.61 No 21TBKDD002 167 179 12 1.22 No 21TBKDD003 No significant result No 21TBKDD004 111 114 3 2.80 No 119 130 11 1.05 No 134 139 5 0.65 No 143 150 7 1.13 No 21TBKDD005 160 171 11 1.11 No

Notes:

Based on 0.5 g/t Au cut off, minimum length of 3m and 3m maximum internal waste Intersections are down-the-hole and do not represent true widths of mineralisation No grade capping has been applied

New Licences Added to JV

The JV has increased the size of the Tabakorole land position to 187km2 following the grant of two new exploration licences at Npanyala and Npanyala West, which are contiguous to Tabakorole. These licences form part of the JV and are being explored by Marvel Gold to see if they may host potential satellite gold deposits.

Ground Magnetic Survey

Marvel Gold has completed a ground magnetic survey covering the Tabakorole licence, as well as multi-element soil geochemistry, the results of which are pending. These programmes will provide the JV with a robust dataset for a regional exploration programme to target potential satellite deposits to Tabakorole during 2021. The ground magnetic survey is currently focussed on the Npanyala and Npanyala West licences.

Summary of Joint Venture with Marvel Gold

Marvel Gold has the right to earn up to an 80% interest in Tabakorole by sole funding four stages of exploration, culminating in a definitive feasibility study, and by making certain cash (or cash plus Marvel Gold shares) payments to Altus. Thereafter, Altus has the right to co-finance or dilute its 20% interest in the Project. Altus also retains a 2.5% NSR royalty on the Project. Marvel Gold will have the right to reduce the royalty to 1.0% for a payment to Altus of between US$ 9.99 million and US$ 15.00 million (subject to the size of the resource at Tabakorole). Marvel Gold has currently earned a 51% interest in the Project.

The following figures have been prepared and relate to the disclosures in this announcement and are visible in the version of this announcement on the Company's website (www.altus-strategies.com) or in PDF format by following this link: https://altus-strategies.com/site/assets/files/5302/altus_nr_-_tbk_02_june_2021.pdf

Location of Tabakorole and Altus' other projects in Mali are shown in Figure 1.

Location of Tabakorole in southern Mali is shown in Figure 2.

Plan showing results from Tabakorole drilling programme is shown inFigure 3.

Tabakorole JV including the Npanyala and Npanyala West licences is shown in Figure 4.

Tabakorole Project: Location

Tabakorole is a 187km2 gold project located in southern Mali, approximately 280km south of the capital city of Bamako. The Project sits on the Massagui Belt which hosts the Morila gold mine (operated by Firefinch Limited, ASX: FFX), located approximately 100km to the north. The Project is 125km southeast of the Yanfolila gold mine (operated by Hummingbird Resources Plc, AIM: HUM) and 100km east of the Kalana gold project (operated by Endeavour Mining Corporation, TSX: EDV). Mineralisation hosted on these properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralisation hosted at Tabakorole.

Tabakorole Project: Geology

Tabakorole comprises a 3.2km long shear zone which is up to 200m wide, hosted in the Archaean and Birimian aged Bougouni Basin of the Man Shield of southern Mali. The geology is dominated by clastic sediments, cut by northwest trending deformation zones which host gold mineralisation. At least two, possibly three, Eburnean deformation events are believed to have affected the geology of Tabakorole. The Project hosts the FT Prospect comprised of mylonites, sheared diorite, gabbro, mafic dykes and late stage felsic dykes, within a folded and deformed metasedimentary package of meta-siltstone, meta-wacke and meta-sandstone. Mineralisation is locally most favourably associated where structures cut gabbro and along lithological contacts with gabbro.

Tabakorole: Mineral Resource Estimate

The FT Prospect at the Tabakorole Project hosts a deposit for which an MRE of 290,000 ounces at 1.2 g/t Au (Indicated resources) and 620,000 ounces at 1.2 g/t Au (Inferred resources) in both oxide and fresh domains has been made as set out in Table 2 below. The MRE was prepared by International Resource Solutions Pty Ltd (Perth, Australia) under the JORC Code and was previously reported by the Company on 30 September 2020 (see Altus' news release titled "Substantial Increase in Gold Resource at Tabakorole Project, Southern Mali"). Currently, 43% of the MRE is situated within 100m of surface. The FT Prospect remains open downdip and along strike. A Qualified Person has not undertaken sufficient work to classify the Mineral Resource Estimate in accordance with NI 43-101, and the Company is not treating it as such.

Table 2: Mineral Resource Estimate Summary Table (JORC Code)

Domain Indicated Inferred Tonnes (t) Grade (g/t) Contained gold (oz) Tonnes (t) Grade (g/t) Contained gold (oz) OXIDE 1,000,000 1.3 40,000 1,500,000 1.3 60,000 FRESH 6,300,000 1.2 250,000 15,100,000 1.2 560,000 Total 7,300,000 1.2 290,000 16,600,000 1.2 620,000

Notes:

Cut-off grade was 0.6 g/t Au. MRE is shown on a gross (100%) basis of the Tabakorole Project. Altus holds a 49% net attributable interest and Marvel Gold holds a 51% net attributable interest in the Project. Marvel Gold is the operator of the JV.

Qualified Person

The technical disclosure in this announcement has been approved by Steven Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus. A graduate of the University of Southampton in Geology (Hons), he also holds a Master's degree from the Camborne School of Mines (Exeter University) in Mining Geology. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and has over 20 years of experience in mineral exploration and is a Qualified Person under the AIM rules and NI 43-101.

For further information you are invited to visit the Company's website www.altus-strategies.com or contact:

Altus Strategies Plc

Steven Poulton, Chief Executive

Tel:+44 (0) 1235 511 767

E-mail: info@altus-strategies.com

SP Angel (Nominated Adviser)

Richard Morrison / Adam Cowl

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0470

SP Angel (Broker)

Grant Barker / Richard Parlons

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0471

Shard Capital (Broker)

Isabella Pierre / Damon Heath

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7186 9927

Yellow Jersey PR (Financial PR & IR)

Charles Goodwin / Henry Wilkinson

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3004 9512

E-mail: altus@yellowjerseypr.com

About Altus Strategies Plc

Altus Strategies (AIM:ALS)(TSX-V:ALTS)(OTCQX:ALTUF) is a mining royalty company generating a diversified and precious metal focused portfolio of assets. The Company's focus on Africa and differentiated approach, of generating royalties on its own discoveries as well as through financings and acquisitions with third parties, has attracted key institutional investor backing. The Company engages constructively with all stakeholders, working diligently to minimise its environmental impact and to promote positive economic and social outcomes in the communities where it operates. For further information, please visit www.altus-strategies.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information included in this announcement, including information relating to future financial or operating performance and other statements that express the expectations of the Directors or estimates of future performance constitute "forward-looking statements". These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, without limitation, the completion of planned expenditures, the ability to complete exploration programmes on schedule and the success of exploration programmes. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking information, which speak only as of the date of this announcement and the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

Where the Company expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief is based on assumptions made in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. The forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as at the date hereof and the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information or any forward-looking statements contained in any other announcements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable law or regulations.

TSX Venture Exchange Disclaimer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organisation of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Market Abuse Regulation Disclosure

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

Glossary of Terms

The following is a glossary of technical terms:

"AC" means air core drilling

"Au" means gold

"DD" means diamond drilling

"g" means grams

"g/t" means grams per tonne

"grade(s)" means the quantity of ore or metal in a specified quantity of rock

"JORC Code" means the 2012 edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves" prepared by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Australian Institute of Geoscientists and Minerals Council of Australia. The JORC Code is an acceptable foreign code for purposes of NI 43-101

"JV" means Joint Venture

"km" means kilometres

"m" means metres

"MRE" means Mineral Resource Estimate

"NI 43-101" means National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects" of the Canadian Securities Administrators

"Qualified Person" means a person that has the education, skills and professional credentials to qualify as a qualified person under NI 43-101

"NSR" means net smelter return

"RC" means reverse circulation drilling

"t" means a metric tonne

SOURCE: Altus Strategies Plc

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/649992/Exploration-Update-on-Tabakorole-Gold-Project-Southern-Mali
Why Document Management, Digital Forms, and Automated Accounts Payable Are Here to Stay

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, CO / ACCESSWIRE / June 2, 2021 / The shift to remote working requires the use of digital records to be productive and efficient. Yet, converting paper-based files to electronic ones has been challenging for many organizations, especially for those that did not begin the process before the pandemic.

Many organizations put stopgap measures in place when the pandemic first shut down offices. But as the reality of the "new work normal" has settled in, businesses need proven, value-driven technology and collaboration tools to maintain workload and meet customer and client needs long term, says Digitech Systems President and CEO HK Bain.

"There was an immediate recognition that organizations need to implement systems to remain productive with remote work teams," Bain says. "But doing so has been more challenging for businesses that historically relied on in-office teamwork and exchanges as the primary way of getting things done."

Many businesses that require face-to-face interactions have suffered during the last year due to the need to close offices and send employees home in response to stay-at-home orders. Entire departments and companies have and are making investments and adapting their policies to address this new reality.

In addition, consumer expectations are changing, leading to a significant preference for online exchanges whenever possible. That's why the top three pandemic technology shifts include cloud-based document management, digital forms, and automated accounts payable. All three are here to stay.

1. Cloud-Based Document Management

Companies with cloud-based document management didn't suffer the same problems when shifting employees to remote working environments, because they did not need to change the ways they accessed and used data in business processes. They experienced less friction and fewer challenges.

Cooperative Education Services (CES), an educational procurement agency in New Mexico, managed mountains of paperwork to procure services for their members. They completed a shift to cloud-based document management before the pandemic. There would have been no way to continue conducting business remotely if they had not already digitized records and converted to an automated process. "Without ImageSilo, there would be no way for us to work at home. Our business continues. We haven't had a slow down because schools, cities, and counties still need to procure and pay," explained Robin Strauser, CES Deputy Executive Director.

2. Digital Forms

Relying on paper forms can cause operational headaches and inefficiencies, yet they are commonly used in almost all businesses. In a post-pandemic world with many customer interactions occurring virtually, not having dynamic electronic forms (eforms) creates headaches and bottlenecks for everyone involved.

Real Property Management Vancouver (RPMV) had recently completed moving their document processes to a single cloud-based document management platform with eforms before the pandemic. The online forms allow them to collect and exchange information and digitally sign important documents with their clients from virtually any location. "Business is operating at normal speed. It hasn't hindered our processes in any way to have people working remotely," explained Bob Butterfield, Owner.

3. Automated Accounts Payable (AP) Processes in the Cloud

It costs an average of $11.76 to process a single invoice, and 70-80% of invoices in the United States are still paper-based, according to the Institute of Finance and Management (IOFM). However, companies that switch from paper to digital invoices save $5.46 per invoice.

Many AP professionals have been scared away from automation because they believed suppliers would have to issue e-invoices in the same standard format to become fully digital. Though invoices may arrive in many different forms and file types, Enterprise Content Management (ECM) can handle them all.

Prestige Care provides independent living, assisted living, rehabilitation, and home health services with over 6,000 employees located in 86 different facilities throughout the western United States. By moving their AP to the cloud and automating the flow of invoice approvals, they reduced invoice processing time by 57%, saving over $88,000 per year. Being able to retrieve AP documents instantly also improved the efficiency of the entire organization.

R.C. Bigelow is the #1 specialty tea company in the United States. After automating their AP processes, Nucleus Research, an independent analyst organization specializing in the financial return on technology investments, calculated the return on investment from their move to AP in the cloud at 813%.

MSI Mold Builders produces manufacturing molds, and their AP department was struggling to keep up with more than 1,200 monthly invoices. Moving to AP in the cloud reduced invoice processing time by 75%, and it saves them more than $676,000 annually.

"Digitizing files in a dynamic cloud environment is essential for today's well-run businesses. In an evolving world, maintaining secure remote access to corporate documents, forms, and financials helps businesses limit wasted time and offer the best customer service possible," said Bain. "Cloud-based document management supported with digital forms and process automation is here to stay."

Learn more about the benefit of digitizing your records at www.digitechsystems.com.

About Digitech Systems, LLC

Digitech Systems, LLC enables businesses of any size to more effectively and securely manage, retrieve and store corporate information of any kind using either PaperVision Enterprise content management (ECM) software or the world's most trusted cloud-based ECM service, ImageSilo. By significantly reducing the cost, Digitech Systems has moved ECM from a luxury convenience to an essential element for every well-managed business.

Digitech Systems continues to raise the standard of excellence in the ECM sector, as evidenced by the numerous awards they have received including multiple Nucleus Research ROI Awards. In addition, Buyer's Lab has repeatedly chosen PaperVision Capture as the best data capture and workflow solution and PaperVisionEnterprise as the most outstanding ECM software in the marketplace. To learn more about the company's software and services that deliver any document, anywhere, anytime, visit www.digitechsystems.com.

CONTACT:

Elizabeth Edwards

elizabeth@volumepr.com

720.529.4850

SOURCE: Digitech Systems

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/649990/Three-Pandemic-Technology-Shifts-that-Signal-the-Future-of-Work
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Ethos Gold Corp. (TSXV: ECC) (OTCQB: ETHOF) (FSE: 1ET) ("Ethos" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the commencement of the Company's first drilling program at the Perk-Rocky Copper-Gold Porphyry Project ("Perk-Rocky"), 200 kilometres west of Williams Lake in British Columbia.

Highlights of Perk-Rocky Copper-Gold Porphyry Project

Perk-Rocky (100% earn-in) is a large copper-gold porphyry target located in BC within a major copper deposit trend including Highland Valley (Teck), New Afton (New Gold Inc.), Yalakom (Barrick) and New Prosperity (Taseko Mines Ltd.).

(100% earn-in) is a large copper-gold porphyry target located in BC within a major copper deposit trend including Highland Valley (Teck), New Afton (New Gold Inc.), Yalakom (Barrick) and New Prosperity (Taseko Mines Ltd.). One of the few remaining road-accessible, metal-endowed magmatic-hydrothermal systems in British Columbia that has never been drill tested.

The project exhibits extensive copper-gold mineralization over an 8km x 5km area with indications of multiple porphyry centers on the property.

Widespread telescoped low- to high-temperature alteration suggests that overprinting mineralized systems may be present. A preserved high-level environment supported by localised advanced argillic alteration and 50+ Cu showings at surface suggests that the highest-grade positions within zoned porphyries may be preserved (Figure 1).

Inaugural drill program will focus on three targets, with 3-4 holes, totaling approximately 2,000 metres.

Alex Heath, CFA., President and CEO stated, "Perk-Rocky represents one of the best undrilled copper-gold porphyry targets in BC. Our technical team has identified multiple potential porphyry centers, which will be the initial targets in this maiden drilling campaign. We are excited to begin drilling and moving Perk-Rocky forward."

Dr. Alan Wainwright, technical advisor to Ethos, added, "Porphyry deposits often occur in clusters and we have evaluated the rocks with robust field and analytical campaigns in order to vector to the priority target areas. We look forward to drill testing for porphyry copper centers driving the extensive alteration footprint at Perk-Rocky."





Figure 1. Copper/gold in rocks/talus and target areas at the Perk-Rocky Project.



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1564/86069_9adbd0a944306b15_002full.jpg

Perk-Rocky Drill Program

Ethos is fully financed to complete this initial drill campaign, which is expected to be comprised of three-four holes totaling approximately 2,000 metres. This drilling program will test three priority targets (Figure 1) exhibiting coincident geochemical and geophysical anomalies, in addition to favourable Aster image/SWIR analysis, chlorite chemistry, lineament density analysis and alteration/vein mapping.

Overview of Perk-Rocky

Ethos is earning a 100% interest in Perk-Rocky, a copper-gold porphyry target located in South-Central BC, largely within Upper Triassic volcaniclastic rocks assigned to the Stikine Terrane. In 2020, the Company completed a mapping and sampling program confirming a large, telescoped porphyry Cu-Au mineralized system over an 8 km x 5 km footprint (Figure 1, Figure 2). Extensive copper-gold mineralization coincides with geophysical signatures suggestive of multiple porphyry centers within a vast alteration halo. Further analysis and rigorous reinterpretation of the Ethos VTEM survey conducted in 2019 contributed to the identification of robust drill targets. In addition, the presence of reactive mafic to intermediate host rocks, porphyry dikes, extensive copper mineralisation at surface with intense alteration, development of stockwork-style veins locally suggest a large, strong Cu-Au porphyry system may be centred at Perk-Rocky.

Engagement with Indigenous Nations has been on-going and commenced immediately upon entering into the option agreement in 2019.





Figure 2a: Looking east at extensive clay-sericite altered gossanous host rocks at Perk-Rocky.



To view an enhanced version of Figure 2a, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1564/86069_ethosgold1.jpg





Figure 2b: Looking north across the Briton area at intense colour anomalies which characterize the Perk-Rocky project area.



To view an enhanced version of Figure 2b, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1564/86069_ethosgold2.jpg

Qualified Person

The technical content disclosed in this press release was reviewed and approved by Jo Price, P.Geo., M.Sc., VP Exploration of Ethos, and a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101").

About Ethos Gold Corp.

Ethos Gold, a Discovery Group company, has accumulated a portfolio of district-scale projects in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland that have large scale discovery potential. The Company has a solid technical team led by Dr. Rob Carpenter, formerly the CEO of Kaminak Gold Corporation, who led the Kaminak team from initial listing in 2005 through acquisition and discovery of the multiple-million-ounce Coffee Gold Project. In Ethos, he has assembled a senior technical advisory team with a strong record of discovery success and includes Dr. Robert Brozdowski, P.Geo., Dan MacNeil, M.Sc., P.Geo., Dr. Alan Wainwright, P.Geo, and Dr. Quinton Hennigh, an economic geologist with 25 years of exploration experience formerly with Homestake Mining Company, Newcrest Mining and Newmont Mining Corp. Ethos is advancing its nine projects throughout Canada under the stewardship of Vice President of Exploration, Jo Price, P.Geo., MBA, with work programs set to begin this summer with dedicated teams on each project.

Ethos engages proactively with Indigenous rightsholders and seeks to develop relationships and agreements that are mutually beneficial. The Company's community relations efforts are led by Michelle Tanguay who has over 25 years experience in indigenous and stakeholder engagement and environmental program design and management.

Post closing of the private placement announced on May 12, 2021, Ethos will have working capital of approximately C$12 million, and is well funded to advance its projects.

Ethos Gold Corp.

Per: "Alex Heath"

Alex Heath, CFA, President and CEO

For further information about Ethos Gold Corp. or this news release, please visit our website at ethosgold.com or contact Alex Heath at 604-354-2491 or by email at alexh@ethosgold.com.

Ethos Gold Corp. is a proud member of Discovery Group. For more information please visit: discoverygroup.ca.

Forward-Looking Statement Cautions:

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the Company's plans with respect to the Company's projects and the timing related thereto, the merits of the Company's projects, the Company's objectives, plans and strategies, and other project opportunities. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective,", "strategy", "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made, and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include the risk of accidents and other risks associated with mineral exploration operations, the risk that the Company will encounter unanticipated geological factors, or the possibility that the Company may not be able to secure permitting and other agency or governmental clearances, necessary to carry out the Company's exploration plans, risks and uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the risk of political uncertainties and regulatory or legal changes in the jurisdictions where the Company carries on its business that might interfere with the Company's business and prospects. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects.

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/86069
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - BELGRAVIA HARTFORD CAPITAL INC. (CSE: BLGV) ("Belgravia Hartford", "Belgravia" or the "Company") provides litigation and debt update regarding Zonetail (TSXV: ZONE).

On May 13, 2021, a judicial mediation was held in respect of the ongoing litigation with Zonetail, without resolution.

Belgravia has since retained Osler Hoskin Harcourt in order to expedite and move towards trial.

The debt owing under the outstanding promissory note represents approximately 2% of the total NAV of Belgravia. $325,000 at 18% per annum, is the current amount owed to Belgravia by Zonetail. One year of interest has been paid by Zonetail and $417,625 remains outstanding.

Mehdi Azodi, President and CEO, comments, "Belgravia is fully committed to taking all steps necessary in order to collect its debt."

About Belgravia Hartford

Belgravia Hartford Capital Inc. ("Belgravia" or the "Company") is a publicly traded investment holding company listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange. Belgravia is focused on growing its assets and holdings and increasing its net asset value (NAV). Belgravia invests in a portfolio of private and public companies located in jurisdictions governed by the rule of law. It takes a multi-sector investment approach with emphasis in the resources and commodities sector. Belgravia and its investments are considered high risk holdings and it may expose shareholders to significant volatility and losses.

Belgravia owns a USD$12.2 million royalty interest from its formerly owned Ochoa asset in the state of New Mexico which the Company sold in 2017. The royalty includes the initial 75% of potential water revenue sales and a mining royalty whereby the Company is entitled to receive 1% of polyhalite production sales for any shortfall in payment of the total USD$12.2 million. Belgravia owns 100% of Belgravia Hartford Gold Assets Corp. (formerly Intercontinental Potash Corp.), a Canadian company involved in mining and metals resource exploration and development. Belgravia owns 100% of Belgravia Hartford Estates Corp. (formerly, Trigon Exploration Utah Inc.), a US-based company registered to do business in the States of Utah and Florida involved in real estate acquisitions and development.

For more information, please visit www.belgraviahartford.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements that use forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "potential" or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding planned investment activities & related returns, the timing for completion of research and development activities, the potential value of royalties, and other statements that are not historical facts. 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, changes in market trends, the completion, results and timing of research undertaken by the Company, risks associated with resource assets, the impact of general economic conditions, commodity prices, industry conditions, dependence upon regulatory, environmental, and governmental approvals, and the uncertainty of obtaining additional financing. 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.

For More Information, Please Contact:

Mehdi Azodi, President & CEO

Belgravia Hartford Capital Inc.

(250) 763-5533

mazodi@blgv.ca

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86083
CHICAGO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a research report "Directed Energy Weapons Market by Technology (High energy lasers, High-power microwave, electromagnetic weapon technology, Sonic weapon technology), Platform (Land, Airborne, naval, Space), Application, Range, Product and Region - Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Directed Energy Weapon Market is valued at USD 4.3 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 10.1 billion by 2026 at a CAGR of 18.7%.

Ask for PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=19132295

The key drivers propelling growth of the global directed energy weapons market is the defense of terrorist attacks, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear materials so that civilian lives and national security of a country can be preserved. Directed energy weapons like lasers, high power microwaves, and electromagnetic weapons are being used to defend against attacks from threats like ballistic missiles, anti-satellite weapons, and nuclear weapons, etc. The directed energy weapons market is developing further as the concept of management evolves and new institutions and protocols are introduced. This requires a strong partnership between governments and private players which is expected to be witnessed during the forecast period. Apart from encouraging public and private sector cooperation to deal with the threats posed by terrorist attacks, these are also expected to lead to an increase in the coordination of efforts among nations to deal with new kinds of threats. The new emerging security scenarios across the globe are trans-national in nature and warrant a unified approach among nations. Industries having a global presence and undergoing partnerships with local and international directed energy weapons industry participants and governments are expected to benefit in this highly competitive business environment. Companies wanting to grow in this market must be able to track the various trends with respect to the threats and technologies needed to tackle these and provide complete solutions, which include directed energy weapons and related equipment.

The directed energy weapons market is being driven by the increased political dissents and separatists' movements to be prevented. High-powered microwave lasers have the ability to destroy targets directly or indirectly and can also target personnel or equipment not visible due to climatic conditions. High-powered microwave lasers use electromagnetic waves that can be carried on multiple platforms; these can either be built-in in cruise missiles, warheads, and unmanned airplanes or installed on a fixed platform. DEWs are used to either destroy, damage, or disable precise targets, and depending on this, can be high-powered or low-powered.

The Research Development Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) program for the development and weaponization of directed energy systems is attracting huge investments for homeland security and defense applications. The program is also responsible for the development of defensive and offensive directed energy technologies, which are required to characterize and exploit vulnerabilities and protect against threats or attacks.

The directed energy weapons market is diversified and competitive, with the majority of players in the North American and European regions. The market is dominated by companies based on their core competencies. Key players in this market include Lockheed Martin (US), Northrop Grumman (US), Boeing (US), L3Harris (US), Raytheon (US), and BAE Systems (UK).

Based on product type, the lethal weapons segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

These lethal products, mainly focused on military application, include rail gun, electromagnetic bombs (e-bombs), plasma cannon (electrothermal accelerator), microwave gun, plasma grenade, navy laser cannon, gun-launched guided projectile, automatic shotguns, and several others. Huge investments are being made in the R&D as well as demonstration and testing of lethal directed energy weapons.

Based on platform, the Naval platform segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Naval directed energy weapon systems consist of weapons that are used in naval applications, for instance, on combat ships and submarines, among others. The naval segment is further divided into combat ships, submarines, and unmanned surface vehicles. Defense ships are specifically designed for use by coast guards and naval forces to ensure the security of water borders.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Directed Energy Weapons Market"

202 - Tables

54 - Figures

252 - Pages

Inquiry Before Buying: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_BuyingNew.asp?id=19132295

Based on technology, the High energy laser technology segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Based on technology, the high energy laser segment is projected to account for a share of 59.4% in 2021. This segment is projected to grow at a CAGR of 19.06% during the forecast period. This growth can be attributed to the easy installation and low power consumption of high energy laser weapons. Compared to conventional ordnance, they have next to zero time of flight, which allows for a longer decision time and a quicker reaction time.

The directed energy weapons market in Asia Pacific is projected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2021 to 2026.

Asia-Pacific contributed a share of 22.49% to the directed energy weapons market in 2021. China, India, Japan, Australia, South Korea, and rest of Asia-Pacific have been considered in the Asia-Pacific directed energy weapons market. The demand for directed energy weapons market has increased in recent years, due to the rapid economic development and increasing security threats, across Asia-Pacific region and the increase in border disputes. The military spending of China, Japan, and India has been increasing in recent years due to increased possibilities of being targeted by terrorist attacks.

This report includes a study on the marketing and development strategies, along with the product portfolios of leading companies. It consists of profiles of leading companies, such as Lockheed Martin Corporation (US), Raytheon technologies (US), Northrop Grumman Corporation (US), The Boeing Company (US), Thales Group (France), Leonardo SPA (Italy), BAE Systems (UK), Elbit Systems (Israel) and L3Harris Technologies (US).

Related Reports:

Military Laser Systems Market by Technology (Fiber Laser, Solid-State, Chemical Laser, CO2 Laser, Semiconductor Laser), Application (Defense, Homeland Security), Product Type - Forecast and Analysis to 2020

Smart Weapons Market by Product (Missiles, Munitions, Guided Projectile, Guided Rocket, Guided Firearms), platform (Air, Land, Naval), Technology (Laser, Infrared, Radar, GPS, Others) & Region - Global Forecast to 2021

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

Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com

Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/directed-energy-weapon-market.asp

Visit Our Web Site: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com

Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/directed-energy-weapon.asp

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil futures are moving higher Wednesday morning, extending gains from the previous session, amid optimism about increased energy demand, and on the decision of OPEC+ to gradually increase production. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July are up $0.73 or 1.08% at 68.45 a barrel. Brent crude futures are up $0.84 or 1.2% at $71.09 a barrel. After a meeting on Tuesday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies agreed to gradually ease supply curbs through July. Comments from Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman that he expects oil demand in the U.S. and China to see a significant recovery and the acceleration in vaccine rollouts will likely lead to a 'further rebalancing of the global oil market,' further supported oil prices. Reports that there will be a delay in supply from Iran contribute as well to the uptick in oil prices. According to an Iranian official, talks between Iran and world powers with regard to revival of a 2015 nuclear deal are likely to be finalized in August. Traders now look ahead to weekly crude inventories reports from the American Petroleum Institute (API) and Energy Information Administration (EIA), due out on Thursday. 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.




ZUG, SWITZERLAND, June 2, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - Delega is excited to announce the successful completion of a POC together with Deutsche Bank, Barclays and 8 multinational corporations including Salesforce, Siemens and the International Air Transport Association (IATA).This POC proved that the digital signatory management workflows jointly co-designed by the POC participants and executed using Delega's technology represented a significant efficiency gain over the current tools and processes available in the market today.The Delega tool leverages cutting-edge technologies to help organisations manage signatory rights on a fully digital and integrated basis. The challenges that treasurers and their teams face when managing signatory rights across multiple banks are well-known across the industry. Yet in the digital age, managing signatories is essential when it comes to enabling users to interact with banks. The goal has been to transform what is typically a time-consuming process requiring extensive supporting documentation and manual work. It is also further complicated by the fact that different banks have specific sets of rules and procedures.During the POC, corporate banking clients benefited from higher transparency and a clear view of the supporting documents each participating bank required, and the digitalization of the exchange of the documents therefore enforcing "first time right" approach in the process. This strengthened the use case of a multi-bank solution that enabled corporate participants to follow a single workflow process in compliance with differing regulatory and policy requirements of individual banks. The POC also proved, using the Delega tool, that both banks and their corporate customers had exactly the same view of which signatories held which authority levels in real time, removing the need for extensive interaction and communication that is normally needed by large multinationals during an audit to prove "who can sign for what, with which bank".Eliminating inefficient processes is fundamental to the progression of financial services and technologies. It is the driving force behind recent innovations to alleviate the strain organisations are currently experiencing to meet increased and varied demands.Deutsche Bank, Barclays and Delega are striving to foster and champion further innovation in the banking industry.About DelegaDigitalising the signatory management process brings value for both banks and corporations. Delega works to generate value for all parties that are involved, aiming to transform how we approach outdated and inefficient ways of working. Using Delega, companies can store and manage a central list of current signatories. This can be shared with chosen banks, ensuring an up-to-date record of signatory information. As per its offering, the Delega team offer a unique and progressive insight across the industry. Combined they offer a deep understanding of corporate banking, treasury, technology, corporate law and project management.Media Contact:Company: DelegaContact: Rob Lunn, Head of Banking RelationshipsE-mail: info@delegabanks.comWebsite: https://delega-banks.com/contact.htmlLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/delega-banks/Alternatively, please reach out to our core team as per the website detailsSOURCE: DelegaSource: DelegaCopyright 2021 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Galleon Gold Corp. (TSXV: GGO) (the "Company" or "Galleon Gold") is pleased to announce positive results from the initial metallurgical test work (the "Study") performed on samples from Zone #9 at its 100% owned West Cache Gold Project, Timmins, Ontario.

Whole Ore Cyanide Leaching Tests Recovered up to 96% Au

Note from the CEO-

R. David Russell CEO and President of Galleon Gold comments, "These initial test results are outstanding. We are very pleased with the recovery rates which indicate Zone #9 mineralized material will be easily recoverable using a standard processing route. The results are now in the hands of P&E Consultants who will be utilizing the data in the upcoming PEA. We look forward to receiving the remaining results from the Met Study and will start to plan optimization studies that can be implemented during the bulk sample phase."

Head Grade Analysis-

The Study was conducted on three nominal 50 kg composites that were selected from 1 meter sample intervals from four HQ-sized drill holes. Each of the composites were designed to test gold recoveries over a representative range of grades, mineralogic variation and sample location. All results used a standard cyanide bottle roll technique with carefully maintained concentrations and pH. Head grade analysis is reported as:

Low Grade Composite 1.77 g/t Au Mid-Grade Composite 5.10 g/t Au High Grade Composite 21.9 g/t Au

Multi element analysis based on XRF analysis indicates minimal arsenic (As) levels with As % measured at 0.002, 0.005 and 0.007 on the low, mid and high grade composites respectively.

Whole Ore Cyanidation-

Whole ore cyanide leach testing using three grind sizes was conducted for each of the three composite samples. Results show that recoveries increased with finer grinds and that 24-30 hour retention time was optimal for recoveries. Interestingly, slightly higher recoveries were achieved on the highest grade test material. Results are shown in Figure 1, while Figure 2 shows a plan view of the HQ drillhole collars and intercepts that were used to form the composite samples.





Figure 1

To view an enhanced version of figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1014/86129_38970e9ad4d82809_001full.jpg





Figure 2

To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1014/86129_38970e9ad4d82809_002full.jpg

Comments On All Drillhole Intercepts Noted Above-

All WC drillholes are south directed angle holes with initial inclinations of -45 to -60 degrees from horizontal. Most intercepts are near-perpendicular to the mineralized zone such that the drilled intercepts typically average 94-97% of the true thickness of the interval. Drillhole information in this new release is based on HQ sized equipment. A full copy of the assays and drill hole statistics from the current drill program is available and updated regularly on the Company's website.

Qualified Person-

The technical content of this release has been reviewed and approved by West Cache Gold Project Manager Leah Page, P. Geo. (APGNS #217), a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 -Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Quality Assurance (QA) / Quality Control (QC)-

Quality Control and Assurance procedures and protocols are executed to ensure sampling and analysis of all exploration work is conducted in accordance with best practices. Core produced at the West Cache property is delivered to the Company's Timmins logging facility by the drill contractor with all logging, cutting, labeling, and bagging completed under supervision of Qualified Geologists. For this study, HQ sized core was initially sawn in half with the half core bagged for the metallurgical work at SGS Labs, while the remaining half core was cut to produce a quarter-core sample that was immediately sent to AGAT Labs to obtain gold assays on individual samples. The AGAT gold results were then used by Galleon Gold and SGS metallurgists to combine samples that best represent a range of locations and mineralogy to produce 3 sample composites with the grade ranges noted above.

Upon receipt at the SGS Lakefield facility, the samples are weighed, inventoried, and photographed. The samples are then stage-crushed to minus 10 mesh and split into the required charges. A single test charge is randomly selected, from which a smaller 150 gram subsample is selected for chemical characterization, including gold by fire assay, arsenic, whole rock analysis and multi-element ICP work.

For the composites, sample charges were produced for each of the 3 grade ranges, including: 23 low-grade, 22 mid-grade and 21 high-grade samples. Sample charge weights varied from 1 to 10 Kg. To produce the results reported above using cyanide bottle rolls, three grind sizes were used over a 48 hour retention time, with solution subsamples assayed at 8, 12, 18, 24 and 30 hours. Conditions included 40% solids, a maintained 10.5-11.0 pH, NaCN maintained at 0.5 g/L and a final metallurgical balance. Initial gold grades were based on averaging two gold assays for each composite and results checked against internal standards and blanks.

In addition to the cyanide bottle roll tests for whole ore gold recovery, SGS will produce grind determination, gravity separation work (Knelson/Mozley), extended gravity recoverable gold (E-GRG), multiple environmental studies and tailings solids testwork.

The initial quarter-core samples were completed at AGAT Laboratories in Mississauga, Ontario. Commercially prepared certified reference material (CRM) standards and blanks were inserted every 10 samples. Additionally, samples are selected at a frequency of one for every 10 samples for duplicate analysis of pulp and coarse reject material. All samples reported have been checked against Company and Lab standards, duplicates, and blanks.

Galleon Gold - Video Overview-

David Russell, President & CEO, Galleon Gold, discusses the West Cache Gold Project on a recent BTV interview. See why he is optimistic about building a world class mine in Timmins. Video link

About West Cache Gold Project-

The West Cache Gold Project is located 13 km west of Timmins Ontario, and is serviced by Provincial highway 101 and secondary access roads. It is situated along the Porcupine - Destor gold belt, approximately 7 km northeast of Pan American Silver's Timmins West Mine and 14 km southwest of Newmont's Hollinger Mine.

About Galleon Gold-

Galleon Gold is a North American exploration and development company. Eric Sprott holds approximately 23% of the Company's outstanding common shares and is also the Company's partner on the Neal Gold Project in Idaho. A Preliminary Economic Assessment is currently underway for the Company's flagship project, the West Cache Gold Project, located 13 km from Timmins, Ontario.

For further information:

Galleon Gold

R. David Russell

Chairman and CEO

T. (416) 644-0066

info@galleongold.com

www.galleongold.com

Forward-Looking Statements-

Some of the statements contained herein may be forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization and resources, exploration results, expectations, plans, and objectives of Galleon Gold are forward-looking statements that involve various risks. The following are important factors that could cause Galleon Gold's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements: changes in the world-wide price of mineral commodities, general market conditions, risks inherent in mineral exploration, risks associated with development, construction and mining operations, the uncertainty of future exploration activities and cash flows, and the uncertainty of access to additional capital. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events may differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Galleon Gold undertakes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86129


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Australian dollar continued to be lower against its major counterparts in the European session on Wednesday, after the state of Victoria extended its lockdown by another week to contain the spread of coronavirus infections.



Victoria's Covid-19 infections rose by 6, to a total of 60 cases, on Wednesday.



In a press conference, acting Premier James Merlino said that people will be required to stay at home except for essential work. Salons and retail shops will be permitted to re-open and religious ceremonies were allowed by social distancing rules.



The news of lockdown offset the impact of upbeat GDP data for the first quarter.



Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that Australia's gross domestic product climbed a seasonally adjusted 1.8 percent on quarter in the first three months of 2021.



That beat expectations for an increase of 1.5 percent following the 3.1 percent spike in the previous three months.



On a yearly basis, GDP was up 1.1 percent - again beating forecasts for an increase of 0.6 percent following the 1.1 percent contraction in the three months prior.



The aussie pulled back to 0.7715 against the greenback and 84.76 against the yen, off its early 1-week high of 0.7773 and a 3-week high of 85.20, respectively. The aussie is seen locating support around 0.75 against the greenback and 82.00 against the yen.



Retreating from its prior 5-day high of 1.5727 against the euro and a 6-day high of 0.9373 against the loonie, the aussie slipped to 1.5800 and 0.9316, respectively. The next possible support for the aussie is seen around 1.61 against the euro and 0.90 against the loonie.



In contrast, the aussie firmed to a 1-week high of 1.0707 against the kiwi, compared to yesterday's close of 1.0674. If the aussie rises further, it may locate resistance around the 1.09 level.



Data from Statistics New Zealand showed that New Zealand terms of trade rose 0.1 percent on quarter in the first three months of 2021.



That beat expectations for a decline of 0.1 percent following the 1.3 percent increase in the previous three months.



Looking ahead, Canada building permits for April and Fed Beige book report are set for release in the New York session.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
HYDERABAD: The decision to cancel Class 12 exams on Tuesday came as a big respite for students across the country. Even though the criteria for assessment are not finalised yet, students are happy that the exams have been cancelled after a massive outcry over the issue in the past few weeks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced that the decision to

cancel the exams was taken in the interest of students, owing to the health

and safety hazards due to the pandemic surge in the country.

"It is a surprise move from the government, in all honesty. Even though

there was demand being raised from students across the country to cancel

these exams, we did not expect that this would really happen. We are all

happy and relieved," said Pravallika, a Commerce stream student in a private

school in the city.

Another student, Kritika said even though she had decided to take the year

off before joining college next term, the decision had warded off the danger

of being exposed to the deadly virus. "If the exams were held, it would not

have been an ideal situation, considering the loss of lives probably every

family across the country has witnessed in the past few months. To have us

write the exams, and for the teachers to correct the papers would have been

a difficult task," she said.

On whether the decision will impact studies further, educationist and

principal, Meridian School, Hyderabad, Dr Usha Reddy said, "It is unlikely

that this will impact studies, but concerns have to be raised on how the

evaluation will take place, because online examinations throughout the year

have given a leeway to students taking them. Students may score good numbers now, but those who have used wrong ways to write exams throughout the year could face problems going forward. Academic honesty and validation of results should be put under scrutiny".

The TS Board of Intermediate Education (TSCHE) has not decided on how they will proceed on the postponed intermediate exams. An official in the

education department on Tuesday told this correspondent that they would

assess all options and present them to the government for a final decision.

Admissions to higher education institutes could also be impacted on the

basis of what the state government decides. Prof. Papi Reddy, Chairman,

TSCHE, said in case the state decides to cancel the exams, they will opt for

entrance tests for admission to colleges this term.

The CBSE also released a statement late Tuesday night that they will release

objective criteria for assessment in a time-bound manner. Any student not

satisfied with the assessment, will have the option to appear in the

examinations when the situation becomes conducive.

Meanwhile, sources suggest that schools have been asked to curate marks

obtained by students in the past three years, that is, in Class 9, 10 and

11, including the internal assessment for the past one year. However, an

official notification in the matter is awaited.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - More than 50 percent of U.S. adults and 40 percent of the U.S. population are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.



The CDC tally includes two-dose vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, as well as Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine as of June 1.



A total of 133,581,245 people above 18 years received both doses of the vaccine. It comes to 51.7 percent of the U.S. adult population. 62.8 percent of the county's adults received one dose.



Overall, more than 168 million people across the United States received at least one dose of COVID19 vaccine. Of those, more than 135 million are fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, the federal health agency's latest data shows.



Vermont continues to lead the nation in vaccinations. As per the latest numbers, 'we're at 78.4% of the eligible population, just 8,708 away from our 80% goal, when remaining restrictions are lifted,' the state's Governor Phil Scott said on Twitter. 'If 2000 Vermonters get vaccinated a day, we will reopen on June 6,' he tweeted.



Meanwhile, Dr. Melvin Sanicas, a vaccinologist and public health expert, said on Tuesday that immunity from natural coronavirus infection starts to decline after 6-8 months but fully vaccinated people still have good immunity after more than a year and most probably longer. 'Those who have been infected benefit from vaccination - it gives them a boost / strong, lasting immunity,' according to a tweet he posted on the CDC Twitter page.



The Springfield-Greene County Health Department has reported rising cases among unvaccinated residents. The Department confirmed cases of infection with the Indian variant B16172 in Springfield. 'This is a more highly infectious variant, and early research indicates that the natural immunity resulting from having COVID-19 may be ineffective against this variant,' the Health Department said in a press release.



12976 new coronavirus cases were reported in the United States on Tuesday, taking the national total to 34,136,738.



287 new deaths were reported in the country on the same day. With this, the COVID death toll in the U.S. increased to 610,436.



A total of 27,940,918 people have so far recovered from coronavirus infection in the country, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.



The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has granted approval to Disney Cruise Line to operate a test cruise from a U.S. port as a step toward resuming regular passenger service. The company plans to sail their first cruise after lockdown from Port Canaveral, Florida, by the end of June, reports say.



Disney Cruise Line is reportedly the second cruise company to receive CDC approval.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
ESCONDIDO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 2, 2021 / Marijuana Company of America, Inc. (OTC PINK:MCOA), a diversified holding company with operations and investments in various private and publicly traded companies diversified throughout the cannabis industry, today announced its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, and provided an update on its corporate developments.

Highlights from the Quarter Ended March 31, 2021:

Current assets grew to $1,738,978 as of March 31, 2021 compared to $537,593 at December 31, 2020, representing a dramatic 223% increase in only three months.

Cash at end of first quarter 2021 was $639,983 as compared to $55,251 at the end of December 31, 2020, providing the company with more funds for acquisitions and operations.

Full migration to e-commerce sales platform started in Q1

Rebranding of hempSMART CBD Products to Promote Mental and Physical Wellness

Named Board Member Marco Guerrero as Executive Vice president of the Company's hempSMART Brazil and hempSMART Uruguay subsidiaries.

Signed Strategic Collaboration Agreement with Eco Innovation Group Inc. (OTC: ECOX)

Announced International Logistics and Distribution Agreement for hempSMART CBD Products with fulfillment.com, an award-winning order fulfillment company serving high-volume national and global ecommerce brands.

Released hempSMART Powder Mix Drink, a powdered premium CBD drink

Assisted JV partner, Cannabis Global Inc. (OTC: CBGL) with increasing revenue potential at the cannabis manufacturing facility in Lynwood, CA that MCOA owns a direct interest in.

MCOA's Chief Executive Officer, Jesus Quintero, said, "We are very pleased with all the efforts and achievements we accomplished during the first quarter. It was a busy quarter as we initiated our international sales efforts, rebranded our hempSMART products, and for the first time launched our own e-commerce platform. We are poised for growth and have the necessary capital to deploy in order to secure key acquisition targets. Our total assets nearly doubled in the last three months since year-end, despite the challenges of operating during the pandemic. We expect sales to increase during the rest of 2021 as our new e-commerce sales platform and rebranding begins to be recognized."

The Company generated revenues of $34,930 and $81,819 for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. For the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, MCOA also reported net operating losses of $782,917 as compared to $392,157, respectively. This increase in the loss was due principally to a substantial change in valuation of derivatives.

The marginal increase in losses quarter over quarter were primarily attributed to the restructuring of MCOA's sales team and migration to new e-commerce platform, compliance with regulatory requirements for rebranding of products, as well as significant infrastructure development of MCOA's website.

For more information visit www.sec.gov.

Form a copy of the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, please click here.

About Marijuana Company of America Inc.

Marijuana Company of America Inc. is a diversified holding company with wholly owned subsidiaries and financial investments in various private and publicly traded companies across the Cannabis industry emerging company offering unique exposure to the global cannabis sector. Marijuana Company of America Inc. (MCOA) changed its strategy in 2020 and focused on acquisitions, as well as its sales & marketing efforts of MCOA's wholly owned hempsmart premium brand of hemp-based CBD (legal cannabidiol) products both domestically and internationally. Strategic decisions and long-range planning have also led the company to pivot away from farming and focus on supplying the cannabis industry across an ever-expanding market landscape.

Legal Status of Cannabis

While legalized in California for recreational and medicinal use, cannabis remains a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C.  811) and illegal under the federal law.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements," which are not purely historical and may include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations, or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, the development, costs, and results of new business opportunities and words such as "anticipate," "seek," "intend," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "project," "plan," or similar phrases may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects, the future U.S. and global economies, the impact of competition, and the Company's reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of cannabis-based products. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume 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 we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations, and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations, or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other periodic reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For more information, please visit www.marijuanacompanyofamerica.com or visit www.sec.gov.

CONTACT:

info@marijuanacompanyofamerica.com

info@mcoainvestments.com

888-777-4362

SOURCE: Marijuana Company of America, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/649975/Marijuana-Company-of-America-Inc-Reports-First-Quarter-2021-Financial-Results-and-Provides-Corporate-Update
TORONTO, ON and NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 2, 2021 / GlobeX Data Ltd. (OTCQB:SWISF)(CSE:SWIS)(FRA:GDT) ("GlobeX" or the "Company"), the leader in Swiss hosted secure communications and secure data management, is pleased to announce a signed agreement dated May 10, 2021 with NYC Radio, LLC for an extensive 19-month radio and Podcast campaign beginning June 5, 2021 and extending through the end of December, 2022, as part of its US marketing strategy to bring awareness to GlobeX Data's Sekur solution. Through the course of the campaign, GlobeX Data Ltd will be presented on a "Data Privacy Minute" heard on the popular Larry Kudlow Show radio program on 77 WABC Radio 770 AM in New York City and the segments can be heard on https://wabcradio.com/podcast/larry-kudlow/ .



WABC Radio recently announced that The Larry Kudlow Show, on Saturdays from 10 a.m. through 1 p.m. EST, has shattered streaming records, with listeners increasing over 250 percent during the show's hours. Larry Kudlow is the former Director of the National Economic Council and previously worked in the Office of Management and Budget in the Reagan Administration.

An executive of WABC stated, "Larry Kudlow is an icon and is one of the foremost voices on the economy in the United States. He is well-respected, and his program's record-breaking success can be attributed to his ability to incorporate some of the brightest economic minds in his programming." Another WABC executive added, "The Larry Kudlow Show is a must-listen for anyone concerned about Wall Street or the state of our economy. His cutting-edge perspective and trusted voice bring a new, one-of-a-kind dynamic to Saturday broadcasting."



Alain Ghiai, CEO of GlobeX Data said: "We are truly honored to be able to sponsor the "Data Privacy Minute" on The Larry Kudlow Show on 77 WABC Radio 770AM New York City. Larry Kudlow needs no introduction, and GlobeX Data is delighted that his audience will come to know the many critical features provided by Globex Data such as, Swiss hosted data privacy and security, and the right for consumers and businesses not to have their data mined by third party service providers. As we are not connected, and never have been connected, to AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud platforms, commonly referred to as "Big Tech", we can offer a truly independent, private and secure means of communications through secure messaging, secure voice record transfer and secure email and secure video conferencing, through our proprietary technology and our secure servers based in Switzerland. We have seen a surge in demand and inquiries for our secure and private communications solutions and have started to see some signups for Sekur coming from US consumers. The US market represents the largest consumer and business market in the world for us and we are happy to finally offer true privacy and no data mining to everyone in the US.

Sekur, which includes SekurMessenger as part of a bundle of email, messaging and file transfer into one app solutions, includes the Company's latest SekurMail technology, which includes proprietary anti-phishing and privacy feature called SekurSend. SekurSend lets a user send an email to any other recipient, whether they have Sekur or not, in full privacy and security as the email never leaves Sekur's encrypted email servers based in Switzerland. The recipient can then click on the notification and reply in the same manner using SekurReply, without the recipient having to register for a Sekur account. The sender can also decide to protect any email sent by adding a password to open it, a read-limit and a self-destruct timer as well. Sending an email with the SekurSend feature allows the senders and recipients to add limitless size attachments to the emails without crowding the recipients' email box. This also eliminates BEC attacks for businesses and email phishing attacks. Additionally, SekurMail includes full control of email delivery, automatic data export for large Enterprises and an automatic Data Loss Prevention technology ("DLP") with real time continuous archiving.

Recent data breaches in messaging applications and in particular in the WhatsApp application have created a certain urgency for businesses and data privacy advocates to protect their communications form cyber-attacks and identity theft via mobile and desktop devices.

SekurMessenger eliminates many of the privacy and security risks by not only not requiring a phone number, which would divulge a user's phone device ID, but also by not social engineering a user's phone or computer contact list and infecting the contacts by default as well, eliminating a huge loophole in security and privacy. SekurMessenger issues each user a username and a SM number. The SM number is the contact ID a user would disclose in order for other SM users to be added. The service comes with a self-destruct timer and other features as well, including GlobeX's proprietary VirtualVaults and HeliX technologies with all data stored in Swiss hosted encrypted servers.

Additionally, SekurMessenger now comes with a proprietary feature and technology called Chat by Invites. This feature allows a SekurMessenger user ("SM user") invite a non-SM user, or a group of non-SM users, to chat in a fully private and secure way, without the recipient ever having to register to SekurMessenger or download the app. At the end of the chat, the initiator of the conversation can remotely terminate the conversation and all traces of the conversation are deleted from all users, including the recipient. This unique feature is now fully deployed and functional on all iOS and Android devices and web platforms. The target sectors are numerous, including but not limited to real estate, legal, financial, government, energy, mining, manufacturing, trade and medical sectors.

GlobeX's Data privacy solutions are all hosted in Switzerland, protecting users' data from any outside data intrusion requests. In Switzerland, the right to privacy is guaranteed in article 13 of the Swiss Federal Constitution. The Federal Act on Data Protection ("FADP") of 19 June 1992 (in force since 1993) has set up a strict protection of privacy by prohibiting virtually any processing of personal data which is not expressly authorized by the data subjects. The protection is subject to the authority of the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.

Under Swiss federal law, it is a crime to publish information based on leaked "secret official discussions." In 2010 the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland found that IP addresses are personal information and that under Swiss privacy laws they may not be used to track Internet usage without the knowledge of the individuals involved.

About GlobeX Data Ltd.

GlobeX Data Ltd. is a Cybersecurity and Internet privacy provider of Swiss hosted solutions for secure communications and secure data management. The Company distributes a suite of encrypted e-mails, secure messengers, secure communication tools, and secure cloud-based storage, disaster recovery, document management, . GlobeX Data Ltd. sells its products through its approved wholesalers and distributors, and telecommunications companies worldwide. GlobeX Data Ltd. serves consumers, businesses and governments worldwide.



On behalf of Management

GLOBEX DATA LTD.

Alain Ghiai

President and Chief Executive Officer

+1.416.644.8690

corporate@globexdatagroup.com

For more information, please contact GlobeX Data at corporate@globexdatagroup.com or visit us at https://globexdatagroup.com.

For more information on Sekur visit us at: https://www.sekur.com .

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "achieve", "could", "believe", "plan", "intend", "objective", "continuous", "ongoing", "estimate", "outlook", "expect", "project" and similar words, including negatives thereof, suggesting future outcomes or that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guaranteeing future performance. GlobeX cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond GlobeX's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the future of the Company's business; the success of marketing and sales efforts of the Company; the projections prepared in house and projections delivered by channel partners; the Company's ability to complete the necessary software updates; increases in sales as a result of investments software development technology; consumer interest in the Products; future sales plans and strategies; reliance on large channel partners and expectations of renewals to ongoing agreements with these partners; anticipated events and trends; the economy and other future conditions; and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in GlobeX's prospectus dated May 8, 2019 filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available on www.sedar.com. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, GlobeX undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

SOURCE: GlobeX Data Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/650038/GlobeX-Data-Enters-Agreement-with-NYC-Radio-LLC--Presents-the-Data-Privacy-Minute-on-The-Larry-Kudlow-Show-Radio-Program-on-77-WABC-Radio-770AM-New-York-City
Regulatory News:

Philip Morris International Inc.'s (NYSE:PM) Chief Executive Officer, Jacek Olczak, Chief Financial Officer, Emmanuel Babeau, and Chief Sustainability Officer, Jennifer Motles, will host a webcast presentation today on sustainability and impact in the company's next growth phase, the subject of its recent Investor Day. Joining them for the Q&A session will be Dr. Moira Gilchrist, Vice President, Strategic Scientific Communications.

"We are very excited to host our first webcast on ESG performance and sustainability strategy, said Jacek Olczak, Chief Executive Officer. "Sustainability is core to the transformation of our company, which is based on a deep sense of purpose to create value for our shareholders and other stakeholders."

"Our priority is to address the health impact of our products, putting them at the core of our sustainability efforts, 2025 aspirations, and commitment to accelerate the end of smoking," Jacek continued. "But we are also aiming for excellence across traditional ESG areas. In this regard, we are proud to announce that we now expect to reach our 2030 Scope 1 2 carbon neutrality target five years ahead of schedule."

Webcast Details

The presentation and Q&A session will be conducted in a virtual format, beginning at approximately 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. A live video webcast of the entire PMI session will be available, in a listen-only mode, at www.pmi.com/2021esg. Presentation slides will be available on the same site.

An archived copy of the webcast will be available at www.pmi.com/2021esg until Thursday, July 1, 2021. The archived webcast can also be accessed on iOS or Android devices by downloading PMI's free Investor Relations Mobile Application at www.pmi.com/irapp.

2020 Integrated Report

The webcast follows the recent release of PMI's 2020 Integrated Report, along with a new section for PMI's website covering sustainability. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the company's approach to ESG topics and its progress toward delivering a smoke-free future. The report also highlights PMI's most material sustainability topics-including the health impacts of its products, an aspect often not captured by external ESG assessments-and describes how the company is researching and developing scientifically substantiated better alternatives than continued smoking for those adults who do not quit.

To complement the Integrated Report, PMI has also prepared an ESG Highlights document, which summarizes the report in a more data-driven format and provides direct access to indexes mapping its disclosures to internationally recognized frameworks (including GRI, SASB, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the IBC/WEF's Measuring Stakeholder Capitalism).

Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

This press release contains projections of future results and other forward-looking statements. Achievement of future results is subject to risks, uncertainties and inaccurate assumptions. In the event that risks or uncertainties materialize, or underlying assumptions prove inaccurate, actual results could vary materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements. Pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, PMI is identifying important factors that, individually or in the aggregate, could cause actual results and outcomes to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements made by PMI.

PMI's business risks include: excise tax increases and discriminatory tax structures; increasing marketing and regulatory restrictions that could reduce our competitiveness, eliminate our ability to communicate with adult consumers, or ban certain of our products; health concerns relating to the use of tobacco and other nicotine-containing products and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke; litigation related to tobacco use and intellectual property; intense competition; the effects of global and individual country economic, regulatory and political developments, natural disasters and conflicts; changes in adult smoker behavior; lost revenues as a result of counterfeiting, contraband and cross-border purchases; governmental investigations; unfavorable currency exchange rates and currency devaluations, and limitations on the ability to repatriate funds; adverse changes in applicable corporate tax laws; adverse changes in the cost, availability, and quality of tobacco and other agricultural products and raw materials, as well as components and materials for our electronic devices; and the integrity of our information systems and effectiveness of our data privacy policies. PMI's future profitability may also be adversely affected if we are unsuccessful in our attempts to produce and commercialize reduced-risk products ("RRPs") or if regulation or taxation do not differentiate between such products and cigarettes; if we are unable to successfully introduce new products, promote brand equity, enter new markets or improve our margins through increased prices and productivity gains; if we are unable to expand our brand portfolio internally or through acquisitions and the development of strategic business relationships; or if we are unable to attract and retain the best global talent. Future results are also subject to the lower predictability of our reduced-risk product category's performance.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant societal and economic disruption, and resulted in closures of stores, factories and offices, and restrictions on manufacturing, distribution and travel, all of which will adversely impact our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial position during the continuation of the pandemic. Our business continuity plans and other safeguards may not be effective to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. Currently, significant risks include our diminished ability to convert adult smokers to our RRPs, significant volume declines in our duty-free business and certain other key markets, disruptions or delays in our manufacturing and supply chain, increased currency volatility, and delays in certain cost saving, transformation and restructuring initiatives. Our business could also be adversely impacted if key personnel or a significant number of employees or business partners become unavailable due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The significant adverse impact of COVID-19 on the economic or political conditions in markets in which we operate could result in changes to the preferences of our adult consumers and lower demand for our products, particularly for our mid-price or premium-price brands. Continuation of the pandemic could disrupt our access to the credit markets or increase our borrowing costs. Governments may temporarily be unable to focus on the development of science-based regulatory frameworks for the development and commercialization of RRPs or on the enforcement or implementation of regulations that are significant to our business. In addition, messaging about the potential negative impacts of the use of our products on COVID-19 risks may lead to increasingly restrictive regulatory measures on the sale and use of our products, negatively impact demand for our products, the willingness of adult consumers to switch to our RRPs and our efforts to advocate for the development of science-based regulatory frameworks for the development and commercialization of RRPs.

The impact of these risks also depends on factors beyond our knowledge or control, including the duration and severity of the pandemic, its recurrence in our key markets, actions taken to contain its spread and to mitigate its public health effects, and the ultimate economic consequences thereof.

PMI is further subject to other risks detailed from time to time in its publicly filed documents, including the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2021. PMI cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not a complete discussion of all potential risks and uncertainties. PMI does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that it may make from time to time, except in the normal course of its public disclosure obligations.

Philip Morris International: Delivering a Smoke-Free Future

Philip Morris International (PMI) is leading a transformation in the tobacco industry to create a smoke-free future and ultimately replace cigarettes with smoke-free products to the benefit of adults who would otherwise continue to smoke, society, the company, its shareholders and its other stakeholders. PMI is a leading international tobacco company engaged in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, as well as smoke-free products, associated electronic devices and accessories, and other nicotine-containing products in markets outside the U.S. In addition, PMI ships versions of its IQOS Platform 1 device and consumables to Altria Group, Inc. for sale under license in the U.S., where these products have received marketing authorizations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) pathway; the FDA has also authorized the marketing of a version of IQOS and its consumables as a Modified Risk Tobacco Product (MRTP), finding that an exposure modification order for these products is appropriate to promote the public health. PMI is building a future on a new category of smoke-free products that, while not risk-free, are a much better choice than continuing to smoke. Through multidisciplinary capabilities in product development, state-of-the-art facilities and scientific substantiation, PMI aims to ensure that its smoke-free products meet adult consumer preferences and rigorous regulatory requirements. PMI's smoke-free product portfolio includes heat-not-burn and nicotine-containing vapor products. As of March 31, 2021, PMI's smoke-free products are available for sale in 66 markets in key cities or nationwide, and PMI estimates that approximately 14.0 million adults around the world have already switched to IQOS and stopped smoking. For more information, please visit www.pmi.com and www.pmiscience.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005587/en/

Contacts:

Philip Morris International

Investor Relations:

New York: +1 (917) 663 2233

Lausanne: +41 (0)58 242 4666

InvestorRelations@pmi.com

Media:

Lausanne: +41 (0)58 242 4500

Iro.Antoniadou@pmi.com
ContractZen, a Finnish LegalTech SaaS software company, has completed a 1 million financing round led by Danish private equity firm Nordic Eye Venture Capital. The funds will be used to accelerate growth and international marketing efforts in the selected target markets.

ContractZen's comprehensive SaaS service brings together contract management, meeting management, virtual data rooms (VDR) and electronic signatures. Current users of ContractZen include JCDecaux, Total and Volocopter. In addition, PwC Finland resells the solution to its customers. ContractZen is used by close to 400 organizations in more than 30 countries.

"Our mission is to help organizations of all sizes to manage their contracts, board meetings and so-called GRC documents (Governance, Risk and Compliance) easier than ever before. We are pioneering a new category of SaaS which focuses on helping organizations to be Due Diligence ready every day, enabling them to be more agile, more scalable, and ultimately more valuable," says Markus Mikola, CEO of ContractZen. "The Nordic Eye partnership and the funds will boost our global marketing efforts and allow us to grow our team and develop our service further."

"We have followed ContractZen's journey for more than six months. We are impressed by the level of customer satisfaction, great team skills and the scalable LegalTech SaaS platform. With hundreds of customers across continents, ContractZen has proven its position to become truly global, and we are excited to join the journey," says Ib Drachmann, Nordic Eye's Investment Manager and Partner.

"B2B software used by administrative staff has traditionally been expensive and has been perceived as difficult to use. We have re-thought this and designed a comprehensive yet easy-to-use cloud solution, which customers can try and buy directly from the internet. Our SaaS solution is inexpensive and therefore offers SMEs the opportunity to enjoy an enterprise-grade cloud service which has previously only been possible for large companies. The SME sector has huge global potential," says Mikola.

Availability:

ContractZen's solution is priced starting at $114 per user per year, and is available via the Microsoft AppSource, or as a free 30-day directly from the ContractZen website

About:

ContractZen is a Finnish cloud technology company founded in 2014. The all-in-one SaaS solution includes metadata-driven contract management, all-digital meeting management, virtual data rooms (VDR), secure e-signatures, and more. The company has customers in over 30 countries and offices in Helsinki, Finland and Palo Alto, USA.

For more information, visit: https://www.contractzen.com/

Nordic Eye Venture Capital (NE VC) is a Danish private equity firm founded in 2016 and headquartered in Copenhagen. The company operates globally. The company has offices in Switzerland and the United States in San Francisco. NE VC invests in carefully selected, mainly Nordic early-growth companies in technology and lifestyle business areas with high growth and internationalization potential. We offer our portfolio companies our extensive international network and extensive experience.

For more information, visit: https://nordiceye.com/

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005349/en/

Contacts:

Markus Mikola

CEO Founder

ContractZen Ltd

+358 40 533 4519

markus@contractzen.com

Ib Drachmann, Partner

Investment Manager

Nordic Eye Venture Capital

idh@nordiceye.com
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Xplore Resources Corp. (TSXV: XPLR) ("Xplore or "the Company") is pleased to welcome Jonathon Fleming, MBA, BCom., to the Company's Advisory Board to assist in the further growth of Xplore Resources.

Mr. Fleming is an executive with 20 years of financial experience in the resource sector. His previous experience includes over a decade as an Energy Research Analyst with Cormark Securities Inc., and as Executive Vice President at Granite Oil Corp. and Vice President, Capital Markets at DeeThree Exploration Ltd. Prior to that, Mr. Fleming worked in the Planning & Commercial department of Talisman Energy Inc. Most recently, Mr. Fleming helped lead a private cannabis company through licensure into operations and sales. Mr. Fleming obtained a Master of Business Administration from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Commerce from Royal Roads University.

Wes Hanson, President and CEO of Xplore, stated, "It is with pleasure we welcome Jonathon to the Advisory Board. Jonathon's experience as a research analyst, understanding of the markets, business development activities, and operations talents, make him an ideal person to provide support to the management team, adding depth to our organization and future development of the Company. Xplore will benefit from his knowledge and contacts as it moves forward, together with the Company's existing Advisory Board members, Mr. Tim McGuire, Mr. Stephen Crozier, to build shareholder value for all shareholders."

Valk Project

Xplore's 100% owned Valk copper-gold project (1,614 Ha) is located in the Nanaimo Mining Division, British Columbia, approximately 20 Km NW of Port Hardy. The Project is road accessible via an extensive network of provincial highways, local roads, and logging roads. Soil geochemistry and surface rock sampling have identified anomalous copper, vanadium, and gold mineralization within rocks of the Karmutsen Formation. Valk is located 25 km north of the former Island Copper Mine (reported historical production 367 Mt @ 0.33% Cu - Ref. BC Minfile 092L 158) and the North Island Copper and Gold Project (Indicated resource of 304 Mt @ 0.21% Cu - Ref. BC Minfile 092L 240).

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

About Xplore Resources (TSXV: XPLR)

Xplore Resources is a Toronto-based mining exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under symbol XPLR and is focused on the acquisition and development of copper and gold projects in the Americas. The Company is led by a highly experienced management team and is comprised of industry experts with executive and senior management experience in geology, banking, private equity, investor relations and law.

For additional information, please visit the Company's website at www.xploreresources.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Wesley C. Hanson"

President & CEO

For further information, please contact:

Phone: +1 647-362-9675

Email: info@xploreresources.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

ANY SECURITIES REFERRED TO HEREIN WILL NOT BE REGISTERED UNDER THE U.S. SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE "1933 ACT"), AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO A U.S. PERSON IN THE ABSENCE OF SUCH REGISTRATION OR AN EXEMPTION FROM THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE 1933 ACT.

Notice on forward-looking statements:

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. Xplore cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Xplore's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to Xplore's ability to complete the proposed Transaction; and other risks and uncertainties, including those to be described in the Filing Statement to be filed by Xplore on SEDAR.com. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Xplore undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86074
Halifax, Nova Scotia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSXV: UCU) (OTCQX: UURAF)[i] ("Ucore" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into agreements with third parties to provide marketing, investor relations, and consulting services to the Company for the purposes of raising awareness about the Company and the significance of the Company's planned Strategic Metals Complex ("SMC") as the first step of the Alaska2023 Business Plan to establish a complete, secure, domestic rare-earth element ("REE") supply chain in the United States. Ucore's Alaska2023 strategy is predicated on the fundamental objectives of economic and commercial-scale production of REE oxides ("REOs") required for the REE permanent-magnet ("REPM") industry. This goal includes further important planned developments by the Company's subsidiary, Innovation Metals Corp. ("IMC"), as it progresses towards the commercialization of its proprietary critical-metals separation technology, RapidSX. RapidSX is intended to be commercially deployed in the SMC, as part of the Alaska2023 Business Plan, to separate and purify Ucore's planned REE feedstocks into finished REOs of commercial purity, required by green-energy applications. Additionally, IMC plans to license the RapidSX technology for REE separation to strategic licensing partners for the processing of US and/or US-allied-sourced REE feedstocks. The strategic timing of these planned engagements and the related online awareness campaign are important as the Company expects to complete very deliberate phases of its business plans and various short-term objectives during the period from Q2 2021 to Q2 2022.

Ucore has engaged Stockhouse Publishing Ltd. ("Stockhouse") for a 12-month period at a cost of $7,500 per month. Stockhouse will provide the Company with a variety of digital marketing, investor-relations and capital-markets awareness services, as well as consulting services. Additionally, the Company has engaged Mountain Capital Corp. ("Mountain Capital") for the provision of digital marketing, investor relations and capital-markets awareness services for a six-month period at a cost of $13,333 per month.

"While we continue to advance our Alaska2023 Business Plan, we are exceptionally pleased by the opportunities that the RapidSX technology have afforded to the Company to achieve near-term commercial REE processing - precisely what the REE industry and its dependent downstream customers and stakeholders outside of China need right now," noted Ucore Chairman and CEO, Pat Ryan. "We look forward to sharing our vision for the Company with both current and new investors as we execute our plan for North American rare-earth independence followed by expected innovative RapidSX technology developments regarding lithium, nickel, cobalt, and other green-technology critical materials."

Stockhouse is a well-known financial media company that serves financial institutions, media publishers, public companies, brand advertisers, investors and persons who have an interest in capital-market matters. Other than the monthly fee disclosed above, Stockhouse does not have any financial interest, directly or indirectly, in Ucore or its securities, or any right or intent to acquire such an interest.

Mountain Capital is a capital-markets media-relations firm that provides services intended to increase the awareness and profile of its clients. Other than the monthly fee disclosed above, Mountain Capital does not have any financial interest, directly or indirectly, in Ucore or its securities, or any right or intent to acquire such an interest.

Ucore's online awareness campaign is intended to help investors and prospective investors discover and learn more information about Ucore and the Company's Alaska2023 Business Plan. The awareness campaign will only provide investors and prospective investors with previously disclosed factual information concerning Ucore, which shall be presented in a summarized and fair and balanced manner. The awareness campaign is not intended to prepare the market for any distribution of securities or create any unusual demand for any of Ucore's securities. All investors and prospective investors are encouraged to obtain professional investment advice from a registered professional investment advisor and to fully review all of Ucore's publicly available disclosure filings, which are available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).

# # #

About Ucore Rare Metals Inc.

Ucore is focused on rare- and critical-metals resources, extraction, beneficiation, and separation technologies with potential for production, growth, and scalability. Ucore has a 100% ownership stake in the Bokan-Dotson Ridge Rare-Earth Element Project in Southeast Alaska, USA. Ucore's vision and plan is to become a leading advanced technology company, providing best-in-class metal separation products and services to the mining and mineral extraction industry.

Through strategic partnerships, this vision includes disrupting the People's Republic of China's ("PRC") dominance of the US REE supply chain through the development of a heavy rare-earth processing facility - the Alaska Strategic Metals Complex in Southeast Alaska and the long-term development of Ucore's heavy rare-earth element mineral resource property located at Bokan Mountain on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska.

Ucore is listed on the TSXV under the trading symbol "UCU" and in the United States on the OTC Markets' OTCQX Best Market under the ticker symbol "UURAF".

For further information, please visit www.ucore.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" regarding, among other things, the Company's Alaska2023 Business Plan as well as the upcoming online awareness campaign. All statements in this release (other than statements of historical facts) that address future business development, technological development and/or acquisition activities (including any related required financings), timelines, litigation outcomes, events, or developments that the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. In regard to the disclosure in the "About Ucore Rare Metals Inc." section above, the Company has assumed that it will be able to procure or retain additional partners and/or suppliers, in addition to IMC, as suppliers for Ucore's expected future Alaska Strategic Metals Complex ("Alaska SMC"). Ucore has also assumed that sufficient external funding will be found to prepare a new National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") technical report that demonstrates that the Bokan Mountain Rare Earth Elements project ("Bokan") is feasible and economically viable for the production of both REE and co-product metals and the then prevailing market prices based upon assumed customer off-take agreements. Ucore has also assumed that sufficient external funding will be secured to develop the specific engineering plans for the Alaska SMC and its construction. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, without limitation: IMC failing to protect its intellectual property rights in RapidSX; RapidSX failing to demonstrate commercial viability in large commercial-scale applications; Ucore not being able to procure additional key partners or suppliers for the Alaska SMC; Ucore not being able to raise sufficient funds to fund the specific design and construction of the Alaska SMC and/or the continued development of RapidSX; adverse capital-market conditions; unexpected due-diligence findings; unexpected or adverse outcomes in the currently outstanding litigation matters between Ucore and IBC Advanced Technologies, Inc.; the emergence of alternative superior metallurgy and metal-separation technologies; the inability of Ucore and/or IMC to retain its key staff members; a change in the legislation in Alaska and/or in the support expressed by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority ("AIDEA") regarding the development of Bokan and/or the Alaska SMC; the availability and procurement of any required interim and/or long-term financing that may be required; and general economic, market or business conditions.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined by the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CONTACT

Mark MacDonald

Vice President, Investor Relations

Ucore Rare Metals Inc.

+1 902 482 5214

mark@ucore.com

[i] Ucore has received questions from shareholders regarding recent brokerage industry notices warning investors who hold shares in companies that do not share publicly available information about the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") adopting amendments to Rule 15c2-11 (the "Rule") and its impact on the quoted market for over-the-counter ("OTC") securities categorized as Pink No Information.

The OTC Markets Group has informed Ucore that as an OTCQX company, Ucore already shows good corporate governance by actively demonstrating its compliance with securities laws and meeting OTCQX disclosure standards, including making current information publicly available. The OTCQX market standards exceed the requirements for continued quoting under Rule 15c2-11 and the proposed amendments will not affect shareholders of UURAF.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86196
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Rockcliff Metals Corporation (CSE: RCLF) (OTCQB: RKCLF) ("Rockcliff" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has completed a comprehensive desk-top study to consider an alternative mining method for its high-grade Tower copper project as part of the Company's value optimization efforts. The study looked at employing a mining method at Tower that is more traditional than the mining method contemplated in the Company's recent PEA which was filed on SEDAR on January 25, 2021. The study concluded that the alternative mining method has the potential to materially reduce pre-production capex while maintaining competitive operating costs. It is the intention of the Company to complete a 43-101 compliant study incorporating the results of the desk-top study in Q3 of this year. Management believes that the mining method outlined in the desk-top study also has the potential to be applied to the development of the Company's Rail deposit. In addition to the Company's focus on optimizing its portfolio of high-grade copper and zinc deposits through the application of mining methods designed to minimize pre-production capex the Board has approved a strategic initiative by management to explore various opportunities to bring scale to Rockcliff's operations through either project acquisition or a corporate merger or a combination of both.

In addition, the Company is pleased to announce that Donald Christie, Chairman of the Board, has been appointed Interim President and CEO, effective immediately. Mr. Christie, who will continue as a director of Rockcliff, replaces Alistair Ross, current CEO and director, who has decided to step down from his management role and from the Company's Board of Directors. Mark Sawyer, a current director of Rockcliff, has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Board. Mr. Sawyer is a Co-Founder and Senior Partner of Greenstone Resources, a London based private equity fund specializing in the mining and metals sector. Greenstone currently holds a 43% ownership interest in the Company.

Mr. Christie commented, "On behalf of Rockcliff's Board of Directors, I would like to thank Alistair for his contribution over the past two years in advancing the Company's projects to the PEA stage and I look forward to consulting with Alistair as we move projects forward to production. Rockcliff is well positioned to capitalize on the strongest copper market we have seen since the last metals super cycle. I will be focussed on assembling a senior management team with specific experience in the development and mining of smaller scale, high-grade, narrow vein deposits. The management team will be tasked with designing and implementing a sequential mine development strategy to generate significant cash flow over the relatively short life-of-mine for each of our high-grade deposits. Concurrently I will be directing corporate development initiatives designed to add scale to our existing portfolio of assets and to identify the optimal project to be the first producing mine for Rockcliff. I believe we have entered a period of sustainable high copper prices and it is incumbent upon Rockcliff to get its first project into production as soon as possible to generate the cashflow necessary to internally fund the Company's aggressive growth strategy."

Mr. Christie, CPA, is currently CEO and a director of Norvista Capital which holds directly and indirectly a 27% ownership interest in Rockcliff. He is also a Director of Nevada Zinc Corporation and Northern Graphite Corporation. Mr. Christie had a career as an investment banker at TD Securities and Newcourt Capital Group Inc. prior to entering the resource sector in 2008 as CFO of Continental Gold Limited.

About Rockcliff Metals Corporation

Rockcliff is a Canadian resource development and exploration company, with a +1,000 tonne per day leased processing and tailings facility as well as several advanced-stage, high-grade copper and zinc volcanogenic massive sulphide ("VMS") dominant deposits in the Snow Lake area of central Manitoba. The Company is a major landholder in Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt ("Belt"), the largest Paleoproterozoic VMS district in the world, hosting high-grade mines and deposits containing copper, zinc, gold and silver. The Company's extensive portfolio of properties totals approximately 4,500 square kilometres and includes seven of the highest-grade, undeveloped VMS deposits and several primary gold properties in the Belt. Rockcliff recently completed a PEA on its 100% owned Tower and Rail Copper Deposits centered in Snow Lake, Manitoba and has joint ventures in the Belt with Hudbay Minerals at the Company's 49% owned Talbot Copper Deposit and with Kinross at its 30% owned Laguna/Lucky Jack/Puella Bay gold properties.

For more information, please visit http://rockcliffmetals.com

YouTube: Rockcliff Metals Corporation

Twitter: @RockcliffMetals

LinkedIn: Rockcliff Metals Corp

Instagram: Rockcliff_Metals

Facebook: Rockcliff Metals Corporation

For further information, please contact:

Rockcliff Metals Corporation

Don Christie

President & CEO

Cell: (416) 409-8441

dchristie@norvistacapital.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes", or the negatives and / or variations of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur", "be achieved" or "has the potential to". In particular, the forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation, statements regarding: future projected production, capital costs and operating costs, recovery methods and rates, development methods and plans, commodity prices and Mineral Resource Estimates. Statements relating to "Mineral Resources" are deemed to be forward-looking information, as they involve the implied assessment that, based on certain estimates and assumptions, the Mineral Resources described can be profitably produced in the future.

Forward-looking statements are based on the certain assumptions opinions and estimates as of the date such statements are made, and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include: delays resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in market conditions, unsuccessful exploration results, possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, changes in the costs and timing of the development of new deposits, inaccurate resource estimates, changes in the price of copper or zinc, unanticipated changes in key management personnel and general economic conditions. Mining exploration and development is an inherently risky business. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be accurate and results may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. For a discussion in respect of risks and other factors that could influence forward-looking statements, please refer to the factors discussed in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis for the year ended March 31, 2020 and subsequent quarterly financial reports under the heading 'Risk Factors'. These factors are not and should not be construed as being exhaustive.

Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Any forward-looking information and the assumptions made with respect thereto speaks only as of the date of this news release. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information after the date of this news release to conform such information to actual results or to changes in the Company's expectations except as otherwise required by applicable legislation.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86135
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Ophir Gold Corp. (TSXV: OPHR) (FSE: 80M) (OTCQB: KPZIF) ("Ophir" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has commenced its maiden 2021 diamond drill program at the Breccia Gold Property (the "Property"), where it holds an Option to earn 100% interest. The Property is located approximately 40 km southwest of Salmon, Idaho, and may be accessed directly by road.

The roadwork contractors have mobilized to site and begun to prepare access to the first series of drill sites. The drill rig and field crews are anticipated to mobilize over the next week and begin set-up for the initial drill hole collar of the program. The drill holes will test at depth, and along strike in the core area of a 1.5 km gold-bearing trend, where the surface sample results returned from the Breccia Zone included a historical 4,621-ton (4,192-tonne) surface cut bulk sample with a reported average grade of 0.335 oz/t Au (~11.5 g/t Au). The program will also target the East Breccia Zone, where in 2020 a new high-grade vein system was discovered trending parallel to the main Breccia Zone. Outcrop samples of the veins returned 57.6 g/t Au and 19.6 g/t Ag; and 30.2 g/t Au and 7.4 g/t Ag, and highlight the strong potential for discovery on the Property (see the Company's news release of November 18, 2020).

The target exploration model at the Property is low-sulphidation epithermal and is supported by coincident anomalous geochemistry (Au, Ag, As, Sb) with lack of base metals, presence of bladed quartz replacing calcite, and sheeted veins. Collectively, these features suggest a very low level of erosion and strong potential for significant gold mineralization at depth.

The Company is fully permitted for up to 45,900 ft (~13,900 m) of diamond drilling on the Property with the initial spring/summer program anticipated to consist of at least 10,500 ft (~3,200 m). In addition, the Company intends to complete a Property-wide controlled-source audio-frequency magnetotellurics (CSAMT) ground geophysical survey at the Property over the summer months. The purpose of the CSAMT survey is to map silicification and structure at depth related to the hydrothermal system with the overarching objective to refine drill hole targets to test for a high-grade mineralized body at depth that is feeding the high-grade quartz-veined breccias observed at surface. The CSAMT survey is also anticipated to trace the Breccia Zone to the south where magnetic data indicates it continues under alluvium cover.

In addition, Ophir announces that, pursuant to its stock option plan, it has granted an aggregate of 845,000 options to purchase common shares in the capital of the Company to certain directors, officers and consultants of the Company, exercisable at a price of C$0.21 per share for a period of five (5) years from the date of grant.

QP Disclosure

Darren L. Smith, M.Sc., P. Geo., Director and Vice President, Exploration of the Company, and Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release.

About the Breccia Gold Property

The Breccia Gold Property consists of 98 claims covering approximately 1,973 acres (798 ha) within the Blackbird Mining District, in Lemhi County, approximately 40 kilometres southwest of Salmon, Idaho, USA. The Property is accessible by paved highway and a network of well-maintained gravel roads and is host to the historical Gahsmith Gold Mine. Exploration and development activity on the Property dates back to the 1930's and has been exploited by at least eight adits, with several thousand tons of mineralized quartz veined material extracted. In the 1980s, a bulk sample of 4,621 tons was completed with an average grade of 0.335 oz/t Au reported. The current Property includes the Meadows Fault Zone and the lesser explored, parallel Musgrove Mine Trend. Recent exploration carried out in 2018, 2019, and 2020 included the remapping and sampling of the Meadows Fault Zone and the results are suggestive of the existence of a significant low-sulfidation, epithermal gold system. Surface results include 57.6 g/t Au and 19.6 g/t Ag in outcrop, and 69 g/t Au and 27.5 g/t Ag in float.

About the Company

Ophir Gold Corp. is a gold exploration company focused on the exploration and development of its flagship property, the past producing Breccia Gold Property located in Lemhi County, Idaho. The Company has an option to earn a 100% interest in the Property over a three-year period from Canarc Resource Corp. and DG Resource Management Ltd.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Shawn Westcott"

Ophir Gold Corp.

For further information, please contact:

Shawn Westcott, CEO

Phone 1 (604) 365 6681

swestcott@ophirgoldcorp.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.

Cautionary Note

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risk related to the failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86137
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Royal Road Minerals Limited (TSXV:RYR) ("Royal Road" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has received its water concession and discharge permits for its upcoming drilling program at the Guintar project and that the Public Hearing process for its nearby Margaritas gold project is now complete.

The Guintar, Niverengo and Margaritas (GNM) project area comprises the two contiguous Guintar, and Niverengo concession contracts and the neighboring Margaritas title application area located in the Anza mining district, approximately 50 Km west of Medellin. The titles were acquired through the Company's purchase of Northern Colombia Holdings Limited, an affiliate of AngloGold Ashanti Limited (see Press Release May 31, 2019). The GNM area is subject to a Strategic Alliance Agreement between the Company and Mineros S.A. ("Mineros"; see Press Release March 2, 2020). Under the terms of the Agreement, Mineros may acquire a 50% interest in the GNM project by providing USD $2.5M of exploration funding. Royal Road Minerals are operators of the Strategic Alliance.

The Company has now received the final drilling permits required for its planned follow-up drilling program at the Guintar project area. Drilling is expected to commence in early July and will comprise approximately 5000 meters of diamond drilling aimed at testing the deeper parts of the gold mineralizing system. In Q3 of 2020 Royal Road completed a 10-hole (1179m) scout drilling program on the Niverengo title. Drilling intersected skarn-style mineralization hosted primarily in folded calc-silicate sedimentary rocks and crosscutting east-west oriented pyrrhotite vein and breccia bodies with elevated gold, silver and copper (see Press Release September 29, 2020). Significant intersections included, NIV-DDH-007; 14 meters at 4.1 grams per tonne gold equivalent[1], NIV-DDH-015; 10.8 meters at 3.4 grams per tonne gold equivalent, NIV-DDH-008; 10 meters at 2.3 grams per tonne gold equivalent and NIV-DDH-010; 18 meters at 1.9 grams per tonne gold equivalent; and 21.5 meters at 1.3 grams per tonne gold equivalent. Geological mapping and multielement geochemistry suggests that the skarn mineralized system intersected in the drill holes at Niverengo is located structurally above and adjacent to primary feeders and a potential intrusion-hosted source of gold mineralization which is likely to be closer to the surface in the Guintar title area.

The Public Hearing process has now been completed at the Company's neighboring Margaritas application area (Figure 1). The process of acquiring a mining Concession Contract requires the Company to present and fulfill a Social and Environmental Management Plan and the Secretary of Mines in Antioquia to complete a Concertation seeking the approval of local authorities, followed by a Public Hearing with local communities. The Public Hearing for the Margaritas application area was held on May the 27th.

Auger soil geochemical sampling is currently ongoing at Margaritas. Results to date suggest a gold mineralized system in excess of 2 kilometers long by 1 kilometer wide and related primarily to an intrusion-related breccia body. Airborne magnetic data reveals a discrete regional magnetic high at Margaritas (modelled at depth) which correlates broadly to the newly identified soil geochemical anomaly and will represent an objective once drilling permits are in place (Figure 1).





Figure 1



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4008/86181_royalr2.jpg

"The integration and interpretation of new geological information at Guintar and Niverengo has combined to define some compelling new targets at depth" said Tim Coughlin, Royal Road Minerals President and CEO "We look forward to drill-testing these targets early next month. We are very grateful once again for the support of our local communities at Guintar and within the Anza district. The interaction at the recent Public Hearing was highly valuable, particularly in relation to our Royal Road Accelerator initiative and its aims in respect of diversifying local businesses and formalizing artisanal miners".

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.

The information in this news release was compiled, reviewed and verified by Dr. Tim Coughlin, BSc (Geology), MSc (Exploration and Mining), PhD (Structural Geology), FAusIMM, President and CEO of Royal Road Minerals Ltd and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Royal Road Minerals employees are instructed to follow standard operating and quality assurance procedures intended to ensure that all sampling techniques and sample results meet international reporting standards. More information can be found on Royal Road Minerals web site at www.royalroadminerals.com

Quality Assurance and Quality Control:

Sample preparation and analyses are conducted according to standard industry procedures. Soil samples are taken dry, sieved to -180 micron (80 mesh) and analyzed for Gold by fire assay and ICP-AES and multi-elements by ICP-MS after aqua regia digestion. Analytical performance is monitored by means of certified reference materials (CRMs), fine blanks, and laboratory duplicate samples. Soil samples have been prepared in ALS Chemex preparation lab in Colombia and analyses have been completed in ALS Chemex Lima, using the PREP-41, Au-ICP 21 and ME-MS61 package.

Cautionary statement:

This news release contains certain statements that constitute forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements") describing the Company's future plans and the expectations of its management that a stated result or condition will occur. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or developments in the Company's business or in the mineral resources industry, to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance, achievements or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include all disclosure regarding possible events, conditions or results of operations that is based on assumptions about, among other things, future economic conditions and courses of action, and assumptions related to government approvals, and anticipated costs and expenditures. The words "plans", "prospective", "expect", "intend", "intends to" and similar expressions identify forward looking statements, which may also include, without limitation, any statement relating to future events, conditions or circumstances. Forward-looking statements of the Company contained in this news release, which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to the Company's exploration plans.

The Company cautions you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. There is no guarantee that the anticipated benefits of the Company's business plans or operations will be achieved. The risks and uncertainties that may affect forward-looking statements include, among others: economic market conditions, anticipated costs and expenditures, government approvals, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with Canadian provincial securities regulators or other applicable regulatory authorities. Forward-looking statements included herein are based on the current plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions of the Company management and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change.



For further information please contact:

Dr. Timothy Coughlin

President and Chief Executive Officer

+44 (0)1534 887166

info@royalroadminerals.com

[1] Gold equivalent calculation assumes USD $1850/oz gold and USD $20/oz silver and $3/lb copper: AuEq=Au g/t + (Ag g/t x 0.01) + (Cu % x 0.9)

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86181
Officials urge the public not to rush to Krishnapatnam, but to order it online. Preparations are likely to commence next Monday. Covid mixture will be made first and preventive concoction later.  Representational image

Nellore: As the state government has given its nod for the distribution of the

popular concoction of Bonigi Anandaiah of Krishnapatnam, officials are bracing to manage a huge rush of Covid patients or their attendants to the village.

District Collector K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu, SP Bhaskar Bhushan and ruling party legislator Kakani Govardhan Reddy on Tuesday held talks with Anandaiah on the modalities to be followed to prevent the crowds from turning into super spreaders, duly following a High Court order.

Speaking on the occasion, Collector said they have been planning to decentralise the distribution.

The Collector said they would develop a mobile app besides setting up a call

center for the benefit of people to book herbal medicine online.

He appealed to the people from other parts of the state as well as other parts of the country not to come to Krishnapatnam for the medicine and assured to supply the preparation to the needy.

Hinting that the preparation would be ready by next Monday, Govardhan Reddy

said priority would be given to treating infected patients, and preventive

medicine would be prepared later. He said they would supply the mixture by

post and courier services for those booking it online.

Anandaiah said he was gearing up to start production in a couple of days and

priority would be given to the infected people belonging to Sarvepalli segment, followed by the people of the district. He said he plans to supply the preparation for 5,000 people in each district later.

When asked about financial implications since he is supplying the medicine free of cost, he said many people are ready to sponsor it.

Pointing to the advice of Govardhan Reddy, he said the legislators concerned and philanthropists would bear the cost of raw material to distribute the medicine in their respective areas.

He said he would take the cooperation of the government whenever necessary.

To a query, he said the TTD offered to supply raw material i.e., herbs. On the production in different locations, he said it is a sentiment to produce the medicine only at Krishnapatnam but he would look at other options if necessary. We have some power supply problems in the village and Collector assured us to solve it, he said, hinting that he would start production from the coming Monday.

Meanwhile, senior TD leaders found fault with the interference of ruling party leaders in the distribution of medicine. It should be distributed on the lines of fish medicine at Hyderabad and we will go to court if there is any political interference, a senior TDP leader warned.
Joins CNBC and Yahoo Finance to discuss the May results of the Recruiter Index

HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / June 2, 2021 / Recruiter.com Group, Inc. (OTCQB:RCRT), an on-demand recruiting platform, is pleased to announce its Chairman and CEO, Evan Sohn, will present the results of the Company's Recruiter Index for May 2021 on CNBC's "The Exchange" and Yahoo Finance Live later this week.

Sohn will appear live on CNBC, Thursday, June 3, on "The Exchange," which airs 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET, and on Yahoo Finance Live, Friday, June 4, between 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. ET.

The Recruiter Index, a survey of the Recruiter.com recruiter network comprised of more than 29,000 small and independent recruiters, has a successful track record of forecasting the Labor Department's jobs report by relying on the sentiment of recruiters, HR leaders, and hiring experts.

"I am thrilled to once again share the latest recruiter sentiment results with the CNBC and Yahoo Finance audiences," said Sohn. "As our network continues to grow, we are amassing critical data across the hiring and recruiting landscape, providing useful insight into areas of the economy that show the most potential for growth as businesses continue to build back amid the great re-hiring."

Recruiter.com Group, Inc.

Recruiter.com is an online hiring platform delivering on-demand recruiting technology and services to both large and small businesses. With AI and video technology, and the world's largest network of recruiters, Recruiter.com delivers on-tap recruiting that flexes with hiring needs.

To learn more, visit https://www.recruiter.com.

For investor information, visit https://investors.recruiter.com.

Please follow social media channels for additional updates:

LinkedIn Recruiter Network Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/42370/

LinkedIn Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/1240434

Twitter Company Page: https://twitter.com/recruiterdotcom

Facebook Company Page: https://www.facebook.com/RecruiterDotCom

Company Contact:

Sarah Schultz

Director of Communications

Recruiter.com Group, Inc.

sschultz@recruiter.com

Phone: (855) 931-1500

Investor Relations:

Dave Gentry

RedChip Companies, Inc.

dave@redchip.com

Phone: (407) 491-4498

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "forecasts" "believe," "may," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "should," "plan," "could," "target," "potential," "is likely," "will," "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, and financial needs. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements include continued demand for professional hiring, the accuracy of the Recruiter Index survey, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the job market and the economy as virus levels are again rising in many states, and the Risk Factors contained within our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020. Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

SOURCE: Recruiter.com Group, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/650062/Recruitercoms-CEO-to-Again-be-Featured-on-CNBC-and-Yahoo-Finance-to-Discuss-Latest-Jobs-Report-Numbers-and-Hiring-Sentiment
The RES+ program will be open to installations of up to 1 MW and also solar power projects exceeding 1 MW in size. Selected developers may secure a rebate covering up to 50% of a project's cost.The Czech Ministry of Environment has launched the SER+ program, a CZK4.5 billion ($216 million) rebate scheme for photovoltaic projects. The funds will be assigned through a series of competitive calls and projects located in areas affected by a decline in coal mining will be prioritized. Each selected project may secure funds to cover up to 50% of the costs for buying and installing the PV system. Of ...

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.
Marion, North Carolina--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Greene Concepts, Inc. (OTC Pink: INKW) is delighted to announce that the company's premium artesian BE WATER will soon be available in over 175 Camping World retail locations covering 38 states.





BE WATER

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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6717/86123_9cc0c55b4414e95d_002full.jpg

The initial purchase order agreement includes the delivery of two million bottles on a rolling schedule. With Camping World purchase orders in-hand, Greene Concepts has launched increased productions schedules. Shipments of BE WATER have been sent to three Camping World distribution centers and will arrive in early June. The locations of the distribution centers include:

Bakersfield, CA

Lebanon, IN

Franklin, KY

Lenny Greene, CEO of Greene Concepts, notes, "We are extremely honored to sign on as a vendor with Camping World and thank them for the opportunity to supply their stores with our BE WATER bottled water brand. We recently increased the support levels at our Marion, NC beverage and bottling plant to sustain this increased demand (see March 18, 2021 press release). As a proud U.S. based manufacturer, we have a nearly unlimited supply of the nation's purest, best-tasting artesian water direct from inside the boundaries of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Marion, North Carolina. We are pleased to have the opportunity to share BE WATER with Camping World's millions of customers nationwide."

Note: The global bottled water market is expected to reach $505.19 billion by 2028 with a compound annual growth rate of 11.1% from 2021 - 2028 according to Grand View Research.

About Greene Concepts, Inc.

Greene Concepts, Inc. (http://www.greeneconcepts.com) is a publicly traded company with the company's main plant operations in Marion, North Carolina. The Company owns and operates a bottling and beverage facility. The bottling facility has as its water sources a combination of seven spring and artesian wells that are fed from a natural aquifer that is located deep below the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Company specializes in its premium artesian bottled water brand, BE WATER (www.bewaterbeyou.com), to support total body health and wellness.

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 few 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, because of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Camping World Holdings, Inc.

Camping World Holdings, Inc., headquartered in Lincolnshire, IL, (together with its subsidiaries) is America's largest retailer of RVs and related products and services. Our vision is to build a long-term legacy business that makes RVing fun and easy, and our Camping World and Good Sam brands have been serving RV consumers since 1966. We strive to build long-term value for our customers, employees, and shareholders by combining a unique and comprehensive assortment of RV products and services with a national network of RV dealerships, service centers and customer support centers along with the industry's most extensive online presence and a highly-trained and knowledgeable team of associates serving our customers, the RV lifestyle, and the communities in which we operate. We also believe that our Good Sam organization and family of programs and services uniquely enables us to connect with our customers as stewards of the RV enthusiast community and the RV lifestyle. With over 175 locations in 38 states, Camping World, and sister company Gander RV & Outdoors, have grown to become prime destinations for everything RV. For more information, visit www.CampingWorld.com.

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/86123
Winnipeg, Manitoba--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Novra Technologies Inc. (TSXV: NVI) ("Novra") has announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021. All amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

First Quarter 2021 Consolidated Financial Results

Novra's first quarter (Q1) financial results were strong, with revenue increasing by 263% compared to the same period in 2020 and net income of more than $1.1 million for the quarter. This solid performance was built on the significant backlog brought into 2021 and the acceleration of new bookings that has continued into early 2021. We currently have an order backlog of more than $4.4 million and at March 31, 2021 we also had more than $900 thousand in deferred revenue. Most of this backlog and deferred revenue is expected to be recognised in 2021.

(In Thousands) Three Months Ended March 31, 2021 2020 % Chg Revenue by type: Products $ 3,280 $ 536 512% Services 448 490 -9% Total revenue 3,728 1,026 263% Gross profit 2164 488 343% Gross margin 58.0% 47.6% Operating expenses 1,190 1,446 -18% Operating income (loss) 974 (958) NM Other income (expenses) 145 443 -67% Net income loss as reported under IFRS 1,119 $ (515) NM Adjusted EBITDA - non-IFRS measure 1,338 $ (580) NM

NM - Not meaningful

(1) Amounts in the table may not reconcile due to rounding differences.

(2) Refer to the Management's Discussion & Analysis ("MD&A") for a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to Net Income (loss) as reported under IFRS.

Revenue for the quarter grew to $3.7 million, an increase of $2.6 million over 2020. This coupled with operating expense reduction of 18% and gross margin improvement to 58% resulted in the shift to significant net income and positive adjusted EBITDA(2) of more than $1.3 million for the period. Because our revenues have historically been project-based and spiky, the strength of results in this quarter should not be directly extrapolated to annual results. However, the significant bookings backlog and deferred revenue do provide some positive indications for future results.

We expect continued volatility in our revenue and bookings for the next several quarters due to COVID-19's ongoing impact on our clients and the global economy in general. Supply chain delays due to COVID-19 are expected to impact lead times and deliveries for some larger or customized orders, but we continue to build inventory of standard products and those orders are generally fulfilled quickly. Management continues to invest in technical innovation, growing customer relationships, and providing outstanding customer support. Our strategy of developing next-generation products based on modular, platform-oriented designs is giving us new agility and flexibility to respond to customers' current and future requirements. Not only will this enable us to win new orders, it puts us in a better position to respond to opportunities to enter new market verticals.

"Although our financial results for last year were negatively affected by COVID-19, our Q1 results are very encouraging, as we are beginning to see the global economy come back. It is very gratifying to be able to report our Q1 revenue of $3.7 million and $5.4 million in backlog and deferred revenue. These results are indicative of the confidence our clients have in our technology to meet their mission-critical needs. We will continue our quest to provide innovative and flexible solutions to our clients by investing in R&D to enhance the functionality of our software and hardware, develop integrated control systems, and expand our product lines to embrace opportunities in the high-growth video market", said Harris Liontas, President and CEO. "Our significant cash balance and available credit combine to position us well to support ongoing investment in innovation and future growth."

For additional details on Novra's results and outlook for the three months ended March 31, 2021, please refer to our MD&A and the Consolidated Financial Statements, which are available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).

About Novra Technologies Inc.:

Novra (TSXV: NVI) is an international technology provider of products, systems and services for the distribution of multimedia broadband content. The Novra Group of companies includes Novra Technologies Inc, International Datacasting Corporation, and Wegener Corporation. The companies in the group are known for a strong focus on applications including: broadcast video and radio, digital cinema, digital signage, and highly reliable data communications.

For more information visit: www.novragroup.com

Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, concerning but not limited to: our profitability outlook, the pending acquisition of Wegener, and anticipated developments in our operations in future periods. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by words such as "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate", "predict", "outlook", "opportunity", "momentum", "potential", "targeted", "plans" "possible", "position us for", "looking forward to", "getting ready to", and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions or results "will", "may", "could" or "should" occur or be achieved. As such, forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect our current assumptions and expectations regarding future events. These are subject to a number of risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations and assumptions. Some of these risks and uncertainties are described herein under the "Risks and Uncertainties" section of the MD&A.

For the above reasons, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

# # #

CONTACT FOR NOVRA:

Harris Liontas

President & CEO

+1 204 989 4632

hliontas@novra.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86167
Global fintech leader approved to acquire UK-based merchants requiring Mastercard and Visa licenses

MONTREAL and CYPRUS, June 02, 2021("Nuvei" or the "Company") (TSX: NVEI and NVEI.U), the global payment technology partner of thriving brands, announced today that its wholly owned FCA regulated subsidiary has secured the scheme licenses to continue acquiring and processing Mastercard and Visa payments for merchants based in the United Kingdom (UK) beyond the expiry of the FCA Temporary Permissions Regime.



Coming at a crucial time in the eCommerce boom and the impending expiration of the FCA Temporary Permissions Regime, merchants in the UK can continue leveraging Nuvei's full suite of products and solutions to process payments, with approved licenses.

"For UK merchants seeking a locally regulated payments partner, approved licenses will be critical," said Philip Fayer, Nuvei's Chair and CEO. "As a truly global fintech provider, we continue to support local businesses as they navigate and grow in this surging eCommerce market. Looking ahead to a post-Brexit economy, we remain committed as ever to providing the most innovative payment solutions and best service available to merchants in the UK and around the world."

About Nuvei

We are Nuvei (TSX: NVEI and NVEI.U), the global payment technology partner of thriving brands. We provide the intelligence and technology businesses need to succeed locally and globally, through one integration - propelling them further, faster. Uniting payment technology and consulting, we help businesses remove payment barriers, optimize operating costs and increase acceptance rates. Our proprietary platform provides seamless pay-in and payout capabilities, connecting merchants with their customers in 200 markets worldwide with local acquiring in 44 markets. With support for over 470 local and alternative payment methods, nearly 150 currencies and 40 cryptocurrencies, merchants can capture every payment opportunity that comes their way. Our purpose is to make our world a local marketplace.

For more information, visit www.nuvei.com.

Forward-Looking Information

This presses release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements with regards to the potential opportunities arising from the Company's securing of scheme licenses to continue processing UK payments. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking information. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to those described under the "Risks Factors" section of the Company's annual information form filed on March 17, 2021. Forward-looking information is based on management's beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Although the forward-looking information contained in this press release is based upon what management believes are reasonable assumptions, you are cautioned against placing undue reliance on this information since actual results may vary from the forward-looking information. Unless otherwise noted or the context otherwise indicates, the forward-looking information contained in this press release is provided as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake to update or amend such forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law.

Contact:

Investor Relations

IR@nuvei.com

Public Relations

PR@nuvei.com
New 'Holster Aware' feature starts recording automatically when weapon is drawn

Motorola Solutions today announced that Malta Police Force has deployed Motorola Solutions' VB400 body-worn cameras to all frontline officers across the Republic of Malta. The roll out is part of Malta Police Force's transformation strategy which aims to modernize the police force while increasing trust and transparency with the community.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005259/en/

Malta Police Motorola Solutions (Photo: Business Wire)

The five-year service contract for the comprehensive video solution includes evidence management software to process captured video footage securely and the new Holster Aware feature which allows the camera to automatically start recording if a weapon is unholstered.

"Every day, these body-worn cameras will capture evidence, deliver transparency and increase the efficiency of our workflows," said Malta Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa. "In high-stress situations which our officers often face this technology will capture critical footage of what's happening on the scene without impacting our officers' focus or attention."

Integrated with the VB400 cameras, the new Bluetooth-activated Holster Aware sensor detects if an officer removes their weapon from its holster and automatically activates the officer's body-worn camera to start recording. When this occurs, the body-worn cameras of officers in close proximity will also activate, providing a holistic view of the situation from multiple perspectives. As part of the agency's workflow, the video footage will be directly uploaded, securely stored and organized using Motorola Solutions' VideoManager evidence management software.

"Malta Police joins police agencies around the world in adopting our integrated body-worn video and cloud-based evidence management solution to increase transparency and allow police officers to focus on keeping communities safe," said Michael Kaae, regional vice president of Europe.

Motorola Solutions' VB400 body-worn cameras are widely adopted by frontline emergency teams including the National Police in France, Belgium Police, Romanian Police, Romanian Border Police and multiple police forces across the U.K..

About Motorola Solutions

Motorola Solutions is a global leader in mission-critical communications and analytics. Our technologies in land mobile radio mission-critical communications, video security analytics and command center software, bolstered by managed support services, make communities safer and help businesses stay productive and secure. At Motorola Solutions, we are ushering in a new era in public safety and security. Learn more at www.motorolasolutions.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005259/en/

Contacts:

Elvan Lindberg

Motorola Solutions

Mobile: +46 (0)707448893

Elvan.Lindberg@motorolasolutions.com



Susanne Stier

Motorola Solutions

Mobile: +49 (0)172 6161773

Susanne.Stier@motorolasolutions.com
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA OR JAPAN OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH ITS DISTRIBUTION MAY BE UNLAWFUL

BH MACRO LIMITED

(a closed-ended investment company incorporated in Guernsey with registration number 46235)

LEI: 549300ZOFF0Z2CM87C29

2 June 2021

Tender offer

BH Macro Limited (the "Company") has today published a circular (the "Circular") in respect of a tender offer for up to 40% of each class of its issued share capital at a price equivalent to 97.8% of the net asset value for the relevant class as at 30 June 2021 (the "Tender Offer").

The Tender Offer is being made to the Company's shareholders, other than certain overseas shareholders (as described further in the Circular) ("Eligible Shareholders"), by J.P. Morgan Securities plc, which conducts its UK investment banking services as J.P. Morgan Cazenove ("J.P. Morgan Cazenove").

The Circular includes notice of an extraordinary general meeting (the "Extraordinary General Meeting") to be held at 11.00 a.m. on 23 June 2021 at the offices of Northern Trust International Fund Administration Services (Guernsey) Limited, Trafalgar Court, Les Banques, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 3QL. The Tender Offer is conditional upon the Company receiving the consent of shareholders at the Extraordinary General Meeting.

The Tender Offer will be funded by the redemption of such portion of the Company's investment in Brevan Howard Master Fund Limited (the "Master Fund") as is required to pay for the shares validly tendered in the Tender Offer. Shares validly tendered in the Tender Offer will not be subject to the increase in the Company's management fee and the Master Fund's operational services fee approved by shareholders on 29 March 2021 and which will be effective from 1 July 2021.

All Eligible Shareholders will be permitted to tender all, part or none of their respective shareholdings in the Tender Offer. All valid tenders in respect of up 40% of each Eligible Shareholder's shareholding of the relevant class will be accepted in full. Tenders in excess of 40% of a Eligible Shareholder's shareholding of the relevant class will be accepted to the extent that other shareholders tender less than 40% of their respective shareholdings of the same class, with such excess tenders being satisfied pro rata in proportion to the amount tendered by each relevant Eligible Shareholder in excess of 40% of its shareholding of the relevant class.

The expected timetable for the Tender Offer is set out below. Shareholders should refer to the Circular for the full terms of the Tender Offer.

Expected timetable

Closing date of Tender Offer 1.00 p.m. on 22 June 2021 Record Date for Tender Offer 6.00 p.m. on 22 June 2021 Extraordinary General Meeting 11.00 a.m. on 23 June 2021 Results of Tender Offer announced 23 June 2021 NAV Determination Date (being the date of the NAV on which the tender price for each class of Shares is based) 30 June 2021 Final tender price for each class of Shares announced by 26 July 2021 Payment of Tender Offer consideration by 30 July 2021

Class conversion facility

In light of the Tender Offer and the Company's proposed combination with BH Global Limited, the Company is suspending the ability for shareholders to convert shares from one class to another in respect of the May, June and July 2021 share conversion dates. Conversions received in respect of the April 2021 share conversion date will be processed as normal.

Posting of Circular

The Circular which contains the full terms and conditions of the Tender Offer, instructions to Eligible Shareholders on how to tender their shares should they choose to do so, together with the relevant Tender Forms and Forms of Proxy, is being posted to shareholders.

A copy of the Circular will shortly be available to view on the Company's website at www.bhmacro.com.

Attendance at the Extraordinary General Meeting

Whilst public and private gatherings (including business meetings such as the Extraordinary General Meeting) are generally permitted in Guernsey in accordance with COVID-19 restrictions, anyone travelling to Guernsey must register their journey and may be required to self-isolate upon arrival. Accordingly, the Company urges shareholders to vote by proxy and to appoint the chairman of the meeting as their proxy. If a shareholder appoints someone else as their proxy, that proxy may not be able to attend the Extraordinary General Meeting in person nor cast the shareholder's vote. The vote on the resolution to be proposed at the Extraordinary General Meeting will be held by poll, so that all proxy votes are counted.

The situation regarding COVID-19 continues to change and the States of Guernsey may relax current restrictions or implement further measures relating to the holding of general meetings during the affected period. Any changes to the arrangements for the Extraordinary General Meeting (including any change to the location of the Extraordinary General Meeting will be communicated to shareholders before the meeting through the Company's website at https://www.bhmacro.com and, where appropriate, by way of a regulatory information service announcement.

Enquiries:

Richard Horlick

Chairman

William Simmonds

J.P. Morgan Cazenove

020 7742 4000

Important notices

J.P. Morgan Securities plc, which conducts its UK investment banking activities as J.P. Morgan Cazenove ("J.P. Morgan Cazenove"), which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom, is acting exclusively for the Company and no-one else in connection with the Tender Offer and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to customers of J.P. Morgan Cazenove or for providing advice in relation to the Tender Offer or any other matter referred to herein.

This announcement does not constitute an offer or solicitation to acquire or sell any securities in the Company. Any acceptance or other response to the Tender Offer should be made on the basis of the information contained in the Circular. The Tender Offer will not be extended into any jurisdiction where to do so may be unlawful or which may otherwise subject the Company or any other person to any unduly onerous obligation.

This announcement is not for distribution in or into the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan or any other jurisdiction in which its distribution may be unlawful. This announcement is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States or elsewhere. The securities of the Company have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold in the United States unless registered under the Securities Act or pursuant to an exemption from such registration. The Company has not been and will not be registered under the US Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and investors are not entitled to the benefits of that Act. There has not been and there will be no public offering of the Company's securities in the United States.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Nicola Mining Inc. (TSXV: NIM) (FSE: HLI), (the "Company" or "Nicola") announces that it has signed an Amended and Restated Mineral Purchase Agreement (the "Amended Mineral Purchase Agreement") with High Range Exploration Ltd. ("High Range") to acquire 50% of the Dominion Creek Property (the "Gold Project") which is located 43 kilometers northeast of the Town of Wells and approximately 110 kilometers east-southeast of Prince George. The Company announced on September 17, 2020 that it had signed a Strategic Milling and Profit Share Agreement ("Profit Share Agreement") with High Range and on September 23, 2020 that it had entered into a Letter of Intent ("LOI") to acquire a 50% interest in the Gold Project.

The Amended Mineral Purchase Agreement extends the closing until June 15, 2021, which allows the Company to complete its final due diligence and documentation for closing. The Company received support for the acquisition from Ocean Partners Holdings and is able to draw down non-dilutive funds for the transaction via a revolving US$500,000 prepayment provision that allows the Company to request an advance prepayment for the purpose of working capital.

Nicola and High Range intend to bring the project towards a 10,000 tonne bulk sample permit.

Under terms of the Amended Mineral Purchase Agreement, Nicola can acquire 50% of the Gold Project for $150,000 and the payment of $75,000 in expenses, which combined with a 50% economic benefit from the Profit Share Agreement, provide it with a 75% economic benefit in the Gold Project.

Nicola agrees to finance estimated startup costs of $525,000 (see Table 1). The Company will also receive 100% of the economic benefit from the profits of the bulk sample until all startup costs have been repaid in full.

Table 1: Bulk Sample Permit Start Up Costs

Use of Capital Budget Estimate Repaid Upon Production  Cost to acquire 50% of Dominion Creek Property $150,000 Yes  Completion of bulk sample permit application $75,000 Yes  Camp $50,000 Yes  Road Construction and Infrastructure Upgrades $300,000 Yes  Reclamation Bonding $100,000 Yes

Note: Figures are estimates and may be subject to change.

DOMINION CREEK PROPERTY HISTORY

The Dominion Creek Property consists of 8 mineral claims (55 units) totaling approximately 1 040 hectares. A 1,180 tonne bulk sample from the South Zone was excavated in 1992 and limited drilling has occurred. The site was owned by Noranda Exploration Company Ltd., who initially completed a small (20 sample) geochemical silt sample survey in 1986 and was encouraged by those results to complete a larger soil geochemical survey (3,399 samples). There are two clear mineralized areas that include a small bulk sample pit and a mineralized outcrop containing multiple distinctive veins.

Eighty tonnes of concentrate was shipped and processed at the Cominco smelter in Trail in 1992. The mill head grade determined for the bulk sample was 14.1 g/t Au and the average gold recovery was 93%[1]. Little material sorting was conducted at the time but visual separation of mineralized rock on site prior to transport is viable. This is expected to increase grade and minimize transportation cost. Noranda Exploration Company Ltd.'s exploration program included 53 diamond drill holes, for a total of 3,483.7 meters. Drilling in the South Zone covered an area of approximately 300 meters by 200 meters. Limited drilling in the North Zone covered two small areas (approximately 50 meters by 60 meters) 300 meters apart. The drill targets were selected using the geochemical survey data and outcrop sampling from trenches and drill access roads.

A Technical Report on the Dominion Creek Project[2] was completed by Geospectrum Engineering on August 22, 2003.

Noranda Exploration

Noranda Exploration Company Ltd.'s exploration program included 53 shallow diamond drill holes, totaling 3,483.7 meters (average depth of approximately 65.7 metres). Drilling in the South Zone covered an area of approximately 300 meters by 200 meters. Limited drilling in the North Zone covered two small areas (approximately 50 meters by 60 meters) 300 meters apart. The drill targets were selected using the geochemical survey data and trench drill access road data.

The Company will continue to conduct due diligence on the Project prior to committing to proceeding to close the purchase.

Qualified Person

Kevin Wells, P.Geo, a consulting geologist to the Company, is the independent qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects for the technical disclosure contained in this news release.

About Nicola Mining

Nicola Mining Inc. is a junior mining company listed on the TSX Venture and Frankfurt Exchanges that maintains a 100% owned mill and tailings facility, located near Merritt, British Columbia. The fully-permitted mill can process both gold and silver mill feed via gravity and flotation processes. The Company also owns 100% of the New Craigmont Project, a high-grade copper property, and an active gravel pit that is located adjacent to its milling operations.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Peter Espig"

Peter Espig

CEO & Director

For additional information

Contact: Peter Espig

Phone: (778) 385-1213

Email: info@nicolamining.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.

[1] Makepiece, D.A. (2003): Technical Report for Dominion Creek Project. Unpublished. Prepared for XMP Mining Limited. p. 41 p

[2] Dominion Creek Project: Cariboo Mining Division of British Columbia for XMP Mining Limited and written by David K. Makepeace, M.Eng., P.Eng. of Geospectrum Engineering.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86086
We have resumed international flights from Wednesday from the airport in addition to operation of both scheduled and unscheduled including domestic and international flights as per need, Vijayawada International Airport director G. Madhusudhana Rao said.  DC Image

Vijayawada: Vijayawada International Airport has resumed operation of international flights destined to the Gulf nations such as Dubai, Kuwait, Muskat and Singapore from Wednesday after a gap of nearly two months since April 3.

Though a scheduled international flight was supposed to arrive at the airport on Tuesday itself, it was cancelled at the last minute for some reasons. However, on Wednesday, an international flight from Dubai carrying 68 passengers including children, arrived at Vijayawada International Airport marking the resumption of international flights from the airport at about 6 pm and the flight departed with a few passengers bound to Mumbai after some time. The airport authorities have scheduled arrival and departure of both international and domestic flights at the airport for the whole month of June.

Vijayawada International Airport Director G. Madhusudhana Rao said, As we wanted to take up some extension and developmental works at our airport to facilitate operation of international flights in a big way, we requested our authorities to suspend operation of international flights for two months and from April 3 onwards, we stopped their operation. However, we have resumed international flights from Wednesday from the airport in addition to operation of both scheduled and unscheduled including domestic and international flights as per need.
CHICAGO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a research report "Security Screening Market with Covid-19 Impact Analysis by Technology (X-Ray, Metal Detection, Biometric, Spectrometry, Spectroscopy), End Use, Application (People Screening, Baggage & Cargo Screening, Vehicle Inspection), Region - Global Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Security Screening Market is estimated to be worth USD 7.5 billion in 2021 and projected to reach USD 10.1 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 6.3 %.

Ask for PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=264685413

The global increase in terrorist attacks and illegal immigration, public gatherings fuel demand for security enhancement solutions and surge in demand for biometrics solutions in the private sector are some of the prominent factors for the growth of the security screening market globally.

Biometric technology to hold the largest market share during the forecast period in the security screening market

The biometric systems segment holds the largest share of the security screening market. Biometric technology has evolved from fingerprint scanners to facial recognition. Thus, its demand is on the rise for security screening purposes to enable authorities to screen a person accurately. The deployment of biometric systems is on the rise at airports and for homeland security purposes.

The use of security screening systems for transportation application is expected to witness the highest growth rate during the period 2021 and 2026

The rising passenger traffic has made it essential to regularly and rigorously inspect people, cargo, baggage, and vehicles. Individual and baggage screening is very important at airports and other transit locations, while cargo screening plays an important role in preventing illegal activities at seaports. Many countries are focusing on installing security measures at airports, bus depots, and train stations due to the increasing incidents of terrorist attacks and crimes.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Security Screening Market"

135 - Tables

64 - Figures

227 - Pages

Inquiry Before Buying: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_BuyingNew.asp?id=264685413

North America to hold the largest share of the security screening market during the forecast period

North America is expected to be the leading security screening market due to the presence of various market players, such as OSI Systems (US), Leidos (US), Aware Incorporation (US), and Analogic Corporation (US). These players deal in security screening products such as X-ray scanners, metal detectors, and biometric systems, and are working toward the development of new products and technology enhancements. North America has the highest number of airports (19,636) in the world as of 2019, and the US stands first with 14,556 airports as of 2019.

The report profiles key players such as Smith Detection (UK), OSI Systems (US), Leidos (US), Thales (France), NEC (Japan), FLIR Systems (US), Teledyne ICM (US), Bruker (US), Analogic Corporation (US), and ADANI Systems (US).

Related Reports:

Biometric System Market with COVID-19 Impact by Authentication Type (Single-Factor: Fingerprint, Iris, Face, Voice; Multi-Factor), Offering (Hardware, Software), Type (Contact-based, Contactless, Hybrid), Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2025

Access Control Market with COVID-19 Impact by Offering (Card-based Readers, Biometric Readers, Electronic Locks, Controllers, Software, Services), ACaaS (Hosted, Managed, Hybrid), Vertical, and Region - Global 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

Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com

Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/security-screening-market.asp

Visit Our Web Site: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com

Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/security-screening.asp

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg
2 June 2021

KR1 PLC

("KR1" or the "Company")

Investment Update: Automata

KR1 plc (KR1:AQSE), a leading digital asset investment company, is pleased to announce that Automata ("ATA"), a portfolio project of KR1, has completed a successful US$2.4 million strategic funding round that included participation from IOSG Ventures and Jump Trading.

KR1 is also pleased to announce the Company's participation in this recent funding round, investing a further US$200,000 into Automata in exchange for 5,000,000 ATA tokens. This investment comes in addition to KR1's seed round participation, announced in March 2021. Across both funding rounds, the Company now holds a total of 15,000,000 ATA.

Automata Network is a decentralised service protocol that provides a privacy middleware layer for multiple platforms to achieve privacy, high assurance and frictionless computation.

The Automata team recently launched their first product 'Witness', an off-chain governance solution for voters that do not wish to reveal their identity while participating in governance at zero cost, which supports Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and other Substrate-based EVM-compatible chains.

In addition, Automata Network is also developing a 'Miner-Extractable-Value' minimisation solution, 'Conveyor', which aims to solve the front-running issues as it ensures that transactions are arranged in a way that makes it impossible for malicious actors to exploit other participants.

Keld van Schreven, Managing Director and Co-Founder of KR1, commented:

"From Automata's technical progress to the partnerships made one after the other with the industry leading projects, it is apparent that Automata has both the vision and the ability to execute. Our support of Automata Network speaks to our commitment to the sustainable development of a privacy-focused decentralised web, and we look forward to seeing more great work from the team."

The Directors of KR1 plc accept responsibility for this announcement.

--ENDS--

For further information please contact:

KR1 PLC

George McDonaugh

Keld van Schreven

Simon Nicol

+44 (0)16 2467 6716



simon@KR1.io Peterhouse Capital Limited

Mark Anwyl

Allie Feuerlein (AQSE Corporate Adviser)

+44 (0)20 7469 0930 Nominis Advisory Ltd

Angus Campbell (PR Adviser)

pr@KR1.io

About KR1 plc

KR1 is a leading digital asset investment company supporting early-stage decentralised and open source blockchain and DeFi projects. Founded in 2016 and publicly traded in London on the APX segment of the AQSE Growth Market (KR1:AQSE), KR1 has built a notable reputation for generating significant returns by investing in many key projects that are designed to power the decentralised platforms and protocols that are emerging to form new internet infrastructures.

www.KR1.io

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation EU 596/2014 as it forms part of retained EU law (as defined in the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018).
Regulatory News:

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005060/en/

Donnie Scott (Photo: Business Wire)

IDEMIA Group, the global leader in augmented identity, today announced that it has appointed, Donnie Scott, as Chief Executive Officer for its Identity and Security North America business, effective June 1, 2021.

A 20-year veteran of the public security and IT solutions industry, Scott was elevated from his current position as Senior Vice President and General Manager of IDEMIA's North America Public Security division. While in this role Donnie successfully expanded IDEMIA's TSA Pre Check enrollment program for the Department of Homeland Security, and established IDEMIA as the market leading provider of biometric technologies for law enforcement agencies across the U.S.A Prior to IDEMIA, Scott served as Industry Sales Leader at DXC Technology, an IT services company where his team generated more than $1 billion in sales and 20% growth over a three-year period for its National Security Business.

Reporting directly to Pierre Barrial, IDEMIA Group President and CEO, Donnie will oversee all businesses for IDEMIA I&S North America.

"I am very pleased to appoint Donnie as CEO of IDEMIA Identity and Security North America and welcome him to IDEMIA's global executive team. I have worked closely with Donnie for a number of years and know that he is the right leader at the right time to lead our efforts in such an important market for the Group." saidPierre Barrial, President and CEO of IDEMIA.

"I am honored to be leading I&S North America at a time when more than ever our society needs trusted, technology-enabled solutions to facilitate their travel, commerce and access to public services. We have ambitious growth objectives as a team here at I&S supported by our long history of delivering market-leading identity and security solutions to both government and commercial customers here in North America. I look forward to working with Pierre and the rest of the IDEMIA executive team to successfully deliver against these goals in the months ahead." saidDonnie Scott, new Chief Executive Officer for Identity Security North America.

Based out of the I&S North America headquarters in Reston, Virginia, Donnie is known as a collaborative leader of teams that enable clients to achieve their mission and business objectives. Prior to his work at DXC Technology, Donnie was a sales leader at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP, and Electronic Data Systems. Donnie has BA in economics from the University of Virginia and currently serves as the Treasurer of the International Biometrics Industry Association (IBIA).

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 whether for individuals or for objects, whenever and wherever security matters. 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/20210602005060/en/

Contacts:

Press

Hanna Sebbah

idemia@havas.com

+33 (0) 6 63 73 30 30
CHICAGO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In-depth analysis and data-driven insights on the impact of COVID-19 included in this global femtech market report.

The femtech market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 13.32% during the period 2020-2026.

Key Highlights Offered in the Report:

The global femetch market is likely to have a steady growth rate and is anticipated to witness incremental and absolute growth of around USD 40 billion and approximately 112% respectively, during the forecast period. The device segment accounted for the highest share and the software segment is likely to grow with a CAGR of around 15% during the forecast period. The menstrual health segment accounted for the largest share and the fertility segment is anticipated to witness the highest CAGR of over 14% during the forecast period. The treatment segment accounted for the highest share and the general wellness segment is expected to grow with a CAGR of around 16% during the forecast period. North America dominated with the highest share while APAC is expected to grow with a CAGR of over 15% during the forecast period.

Key Offerings:

Market Size & Forecast by Revenue | 2020-2026

Market Dynamics - Leading trends, growth drivers, restraints, and investment opportunities

Market Segmentation - A detailed analysis by product type, indication, application, end-user, and geography

Competitive Landscape - 40 vendors are profiled in this report

Get your sample today! https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/femtech-market-size

Femtech Market - Segmentation

The demand for smart medical devices with more comfort and reduced side effects is gaining traction in female-focused health products. Femtech investors, fitness wearable manufacturers, and health advocates should focus on creating solutions for the entire spectrum of women.

Femtech assists women through pre-pregnancy, pregnancy to the post-pregnancy stage. Latest technology solutions can help with newborn baby health monitoring and nursing care. Many startups are creating innovative digital technologies incorporated into the femtech products, thereby driving the market's growth.

Technological advancements can keep women informed about their health issues and be managed efficiently. Diagnostic and screening services are mostly performed by using medical devices specific for diagnosing female health conditions. Endodiag, a French medical technology company that allows early diagnosis of endometriosis, and iSono Health developed a screening device for breast cancer.

Segmentation by Product Type

Device



Software

Segmentation by Indication

Maternal Health



Fertility



Menstruation



Sexual Wellness



Others

Segmentation by Application

Treatment



Diagnosis



General Wellness

Segmentation by End-user

Hospitals & Surgical Centers



Diagnostic Centers



Fertility Clinics



Direct to Consumer

Femtech Market - Dynamics

In recent years, various technological advancements have paved the way for balancing gender inequalities. This, in turn, has led to the introduction of several female-centric health products that is utilizing technology to support women's health and overall wellness. As sensor technology continues to advance and materials are becoming increasingly sophisticated, they can be used in a range of wearables that can particularly aid in pregnancy and family planning. Likewise, various tools are being developed as a part of growing collaboration in the femtech industry. Areas that are currently covered in the industry include menstruation, pregnancy, fertility, sex, and reproduction. Femtech is completely dependent on digital technology. Tools available in the industry include wearable medical devices, internet-connected medical devices, and mobile applications.

Key Drivers and Trends fueling Market Growth:

Growing Interest of Venture Capitalists

Inclusive Care for Queer Communities through Femtech

Increasing Demand for Digital Health Solutions

Large Growth Potential in Femtech Services

Femtech Market - Geography

North America accounted for the largest share in the global femtech market due to increase in female-specific chronic and infectious diseases that potentially raised the need for better diagnosis and treatment solutions developed by leveraging digital technologies. Development contributions by women and growing female health education is influencing the development of technologically innovative solutions. In addition, favorable policies that promote the health and well-being of women is enhancing the development of digital heath solutions in North America. During the forecast period, the US and Canada are the major countries that will contribute to the steady growth of the femtech market in North America.

Get your sample today! https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/femtech-market-size

Segmentation by Geography

North America



US





Canada



Europe



Germany





UK





France





Italy





Spain



APAC



China





Japan





India





Australia





South Korea



Latin America



Brazil





Mexico





Argentina



Middle East & Africa



South Africa





Saudi Arabia





Turkey

Major Vendors

ALYK

Aspivix

Athena Feminine Technologies

Ava Science

Biowink GmbH

Bloomer Tech

Bloomlife

Bonzun IVF

Calla Lily Personal Care

Cocorointim SL

Cirqle Biomedical

Daye

Elvie

Emjoy

FemCy

Fizimed

Flo Health

Freda

Glow

Grace Health

HeraMED

Inne

iSono Health

Joylux

Juno Bio

Kasha

LactApp

Minerva Surgical

Moody Month

Natural Cycles

Nurx

NUVO

NVision Medical

Peanut

Tempdrop

Thinx

Totohealth

Univfy

Willow

WOOM

Explore our healthcare & lifesciences profile know more about the industry.

Read some of the top-selling reports:

Blood Glucose Monitoring Consumables Market - Global Outlook and Forecast 2021-2026

E-prescribing Market - Global Outlook and Forecast 2021-2026

Blood Glucose Test Strips Market - Global Outlook and Forecast 2021-2026

Europe E-prescribing Market - Industry Outlook and Forecast 2021-2026

About Arizton:

Arizton Advisory and Intelligence is an innovation and quality-driven firm, which offers cutting-edge research solutions to clients across the world. We excel in providing comprehensive market intelligence reports and advisory and consulting services.

We offer comprehensive market research reports on industries such as consumer goods & retail technology, automotive and mobility, smart tech, healthcare, and life sciences, industrial machinery, chemicals and materials, IT and media, logistics and packaging. These reports contain detailed industry analysis, market size, share, growth drivers, and trend forecasts.

Arizton comprises a team of exuberant and well-experienced analysts who have mastered in generating incisive reports. Our specialist analysts possess exemplary skills in market research. We train our team in advanced research practices, techniques, and ethics to outperform in fabricating impregnable research reports.

Mail: enquiry@arizton.com

Call: +1-312-235-2040

+1 302 469 0707

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/818553/Arizton_Logo.jpg
Lamps, water pumps and filtration systems are an increasingly common sight in the camps of Cox's Bazar with more extensive off-grid home systems having been brought along the refugee trail by some homeowners fleeing Myanmar's Rakhine state.Thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district depend on solar systems to light their homes, get drinking water, and power health facilities. Almost a million Rohingya live at the Kutupalong camp after fleeing from Rakhine state in the face of atrocities by the army of Myanmar in 2017. Solar home systems (SHS') have been provided by ...

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.
"Disruptive innovation is changing our world, so it's important the next generation is aware of what is to come." - Cathie Wood

NEW YORK, NY and NEWPORT BEACH, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 2, 2021 / ARK Invest, the investment adviser focused on disruptive innovation and founded by Cathie Wood, has partnered with Learn & Earn, an app that allows students to learn, earn, and invest real money. Students complete bite-sized courses on subjects like entrepreneurship, work readiness, financial literacy, and disruptive innovation. Learn & Earn helps young people develop skills and build knowledge outside of the classroom-while earning money from sponsors or parents for finishing courses. Disruptive innovation courses from ARK Invest will give high school students insights into the future of energy storage, DNA sequencing, artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and robotics.

"I believe technologically enabled innovation is transforming our world at an accelerated rate and the opportunities for people and companies participating in this change could be exponential," stated Cathie Wood, Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer of ARK Invest. "Everyone, especially young people, needs to understand and embrace innovation and its impact across industries. By partnering with Learn & Earn, ARK hopes to prepare young people to stay of the right side of change and capitalize on the long-term growth opportunities that innovation is creating."

According to the World Economic Forum, during the global pandemic 1.2 billion children worldwide have been affected by school-building closures. Learn & Earn, developed in collaboration with Junior Achievement USA, aims to reach as many of these students as possible, in particular those from the low-income households who make up more than 50 percent of Learn & Earn users. Students with savings accounts for higher education, like the investment account offered by the app, are four times more likely to graduate from college.

"Learn & Earn is a unique EdTech/FinTech platform that grew out of Junior Achievement's educational pillars of financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work readiness for millions of kids," explained Walter Cruttenden, Founder of successful micro-investing platform, Acorns, and Chairman of Blast, the developer of Learn & Earn. "Cathie Wood and ARK Invest, with their unique focus, can help spread knowledge about disruptive innovation and its impact on our world. It's a great honor to work with Cathie and her team at ARK."

Learn & Earn allows high school students in the United States to select bite-sized courses and earn money upon the completion of each course. Students then invest that money in their UTMA/UGMA investment accounts with Robo-Bumpers to keep their portfolios diversified and growing over time. Students have a "Core" portfolio of the world's largest diversified ETFs, and can select up to ten separate large cap stocks, or ETFs, from a curated "Explore" portfolio. This provides students the ability to invest in fractional shares of companies like Apple, Spotify, Tesla, and Netflix. Sponsored courses are funded by for-profit and non-profit entities. Students will be able to apply the funds they have earned toward paying for college tuition or technical school, pursuing vocational verifications, starting a business, and more.

Learn & Earn receives support and advice from enterprises like Franklin Templeton and Roth Capital Partners. Advisors include Dr. Richard Thaler, Nobel Prize-winning economist; Dr. William Elliott III, Founder and Director of the Center on Assets, Education and Inclusion at the University of Michigan; Shlomo Benartzi, Professor Emeritus, UCLA Anderson School of Management; and Jon Fee, Head of Global Marketing for Saleforce.org.

The app can be found on the App Store and Google Play Store.

About ARK Invest

Headquartered in New York City, ARK Investment Management LLC is a federally registered investment adviser and privately held investment firm. Specializing in thematic investing in disruptive innovation, the firm is rooted in over 40 years of experience in identifying and investing in innovations that should change the way the world works. Through its open research process, ARK identifies companies that it believes are leading and benefiting from cross-sector innovations such as robotics, energy storage, DNA sequencing, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technology. ARK's investment strategies include: Autonomous Technology and Robotics, Next Generation Internet, Genomic Revolution, Fintech Innovation, Space Exploration & Innovation, 3D Printing, Israel Innovative Technology, and the overall ARK Disruptive Innovation Strategy. For more information about ARK, its offerings, and original research, please visit www.ark-invest.com.

About Learn & Earn

Learn & Earn is an app that rewards students for learning! The mission is simple: We help students turn knowledge into wealth to stock up on success. Learn & Earn offers a broad range of topics that are not typically taught in school. Courses are delivered in a bite-sized and gamified way, and as students complete courses, they are rewarded by earning money. The funds for students' earnings come from both sponsors and parents who believe in helping students access education. These earnings can either be saved or invested, opening up a whole world of long-term financial and educational success. Working with credible partners and sponsors, Learn & Earn combines the best of FinTech and EdTech to redefine the schooling experience with a focus on remote learning, delivered to the palms of students' hands. Students learn courses that cover topics such as financial literacy, future careers, and relevant life skills. Visit www.learnandearn.com for more information. Visit www.learnandearn.com for more information. Disclosures.

Investment advisory services are provided by Ant Money Advisors, LLC ("AMA"), an SEC-registered investment advisor. AMA's terms and policies can be found at www.antmoneyadvisors.com or through www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. AMA facilitates trading through DriveWealth, LLC, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and member FINRA and SIPC. Check the background of this firm on FINRA's BrokerCheck. For informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any particular security or cryptocurrency.

Press Contact:

Bill Topaz

topaz@learnandearn.com

SOURCE: Learn and Earn

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/645567/Cathie-Wood-and-ARK-Invest-Partner-with-Learn-Earn-to-Deliver-Courses-on-Disruptive-Innovation-for-Millions-of-High-School-Students
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - OCIM Precious Metals SA ("OCIM") is pleased to announce that it has signed a definitive agreement with VanGold Mining (TSXV: VGLD) ("VanGold") to provide a US$ 7.5M alternative financing in the form of a Silver and Gold Loan.

Listed on the Toronto stock exchange, VanGold specialises in reactivating past producing silver and gold mines in the region of Guanajuato, in central Mexico. The Company, which plans to resume production at El Pinguico in the second quarter of 2021, has closed on its acquisition of the El Cubo complex from Endeavour Silver Corp. The El Cubo complex sits on a site actively mined since the 17th century and comprises a gold and silver mine as well as an ore processing plant, both situated just 8 kilometres from El Puinguico.

OCIM has provided VanGold with a non-dilutive Loan Facility in the form of a US$7.5M prepayment of silver and gold bullion. The loan is for an 18-month term, including an initial six-month payment-free grace period, and is then repayable over a 12-month period by VanGold delivering a fixed number of silver and gold ounces on a monthly basis. The number of silver and gold ounces will be fixed at a discount to the spot price on the day VanGold draws down the funds, within 90 days of signing of the agreement.

In a first refurbishment phase, VanGold will reactivate El Cubo's ore treatment facility with a capacity of around 750 tonnes per day using ore from its El Pinguico mine, as the remainder of the site is readied to fully resume activities. This acquisition, which VanGold's Director, Daniel J. Oliver describes as "transformational" aims to leverage the significant potential synergies of the two neighbouring sites to create a new major player for precious metals production in the historic mining region of Guanajuato.

"We are proud that, via this transaction, we participate in reviving this emblematic vein of the "Veta Madre", the silver mother lode discovered in Guanajuato in 1540, which saw Mexico become the source of about 20% of global silver production in the 18th century," explains Laurent Mathiot, CEO of OCIM.

ABOUT VANGOLD

VanGold Mining is an exploration and development company engaged in reactivating past producing silver and gold mines near the city of Guanajuato, Mexico. The Company's El Cubo and El Pinguico projects are significant past producers of both silver and gold located in close proximity to Guanajuato city, and to each other. The Company is currently focused on refurbishing the El Cubo mill and commencing production from the combined El Cubo / El Pinguico operation, as well as delineating additional silver and gold resources through underground and surface drilling on its projects located in this 480-year-old mining camp.

To learn more about VanGold Mining, visit www.vangoldmining.com.

ABOUT OCIM

The OCIM group of privately held companies has a long and successful history as a Trader and Financier of Strategic Assets. Established in Paris in 1961, OCIM is headed by a third-generation member of the founding family. Besides its core historical business in Real Estate, OCIM has diversified into other strategic tangible assets such as coinage Precious Metals via its Geneva-based subsidiary. As a Merchant, OCIM trades physical metals across the full value chain, from producers to end users. As a Financier, OCIM invests in a wide variety of instruments and provides financing to the value chain with equity, debt, and alternative investments.

To learn more about OCIM visit www.ocim.eu.

CONTACT

Miranda J.Werstiuk

+1 647 299 1778

miranda.werstiuk@ocim.eu

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86203


ATLANTA (dpa-AFX) - The Coca-Cola Company will become a Global Implementation Partner for The Ocean Cleanup's river project.



The Ocean Cleanup together with Coca-Cola, will tackle fifteen rivers by the end of 2022, with the two organizations working collaboratively towards their shared goal of eliminating waste. Two Interceptors included in this partnership have already been installed by The Ocean Cleanup in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic and Can Tho, Vietnam. For these rivers, the partnership will help provide support in the development of waste management solutions for collected trash and the organizations plan to extend the footprint of the project across thirteen additional rivers.



Coca-Cola said it will support The Ocean Cleanup through its global network, which includes operations in more than 200 countries and territories. It will provide support on the ground for the local community engagement needed to deploy new Interceptors, as well as in the subsequent processing of the collected plastic via waste management expertise in support of a circular economy.



The Ocean Cleanup and Coca-Cola will work together to secure the new partners and investment needed to continue to scale the enterprise through the roll-out of additional Interceptor solutions, as well as to secure licensing support and deploy River Monitoring System cameras to conduct further analysis of river pollution.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

COCA-COLA-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de
STOCKHOLM, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- POLYGONVATRO has signed an agreement to acquire TKL GmbH in Germany. TKL offers Temporary Climate Solutions for industrial customers and the acquisition will add a turnover of around 2 MEUR.

"We continue to follow our strategic acquisition agenda with further acquisitions in Germany. I'm happy to welcome TKL to our Polygon family", says Axel Granitz, President & CEO of Polygon Group.

TKL is specialized in the rental of equipment for climate conditioning, heating, dehumidification, air cleaning, insulation drying, ventilation and measuring technology since 1994. With their Temporary Climate Solutions TKL is serving a variety of industries and is located in Heinsberg, west of Dusseldorf. Until now, it has been the rental division of the Trotec Company Group, a reputable equipment producer that is very well established in the German market.

"We have cooperated with Trotec successfully for many years. Thanks to the acquisition of TKL we can now offer a rental service with a wide range of different machinery for our industrial customers. Additionally, we will have a huge advantage in order to respond even faster in our core business. We look forward to grow together", says Andreas Weber, Country President of POLYGONVATRO in Germany.

"POLYGONVATRO and Trotec have worked together for a number of years and I am certain that POLYGONVATRO will be the perfect new home for TKL. The acquisition will give TKL a huge potential to grow through the vast number of branch offices in their network," says Detlef von der Lieck, Managing Director at Trotec.

CONTACT:

For more information, please visit www.polygongroup.com or contact Martin Hamner, Chief Financial Officer, martin.hamner@polygongroup.com, +46 70 607 85 79

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/polygon/r/polygon-acquires-tkl-gmbh-in-germany,c3359222

The following files are available for download:
DUBAI, UAE, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The global postnatal health supplements market is forecast to expand at 7% CAGR throughout the forecast period between 2021 and 2031, projects ESOMAR-certified consulting firm Future Market Insights (FMI).

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 50,000 women in the U.S. experienced severe birth defects in 2015. Postnatal health supplements are becoming popular among the new mothers as they are becoming more awareness of birth defects and pregnancy related complications.

Increasing spending on healthcare and personal health will drive the market in forthcoming years.

A surge in demand is seen from cosmetic and personal care sector owing to collagen boosting properties of postnatal health supplements extracts and increasing customer preference towards organic and natural skincare products.

Postnatal health supplements are rich sources of vitamins and iodine along with protein and other trace minerals. Rising cases of mineral and vitamin deficiency in pregnant women has made postnatal health supplements extremely popular among lactating and pregnant women.

Customers are switching towards organic, nutritional rich, gluten-free, fat-free, Kosher and non-GMO food items. This transition has fueled the demand for clean label products. With increasing focus on value added purchasing, a steady market growth is in the cards.

"Research and development of post natal health supplements is a costly affair and requires modern manufacturing facilities for production. Fluctuation in regulatory policies and high cost of product development will hamper the market growth," says the FMI analyst

For more Insights into the Market, Request a Sample of this Report https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-11771

Key Takeaways

Rise in severe childbirth defect cases along with increasing pregnancy related complications and increasing awareness regarding importance of vitamins among pregnant and lactating women in US has heightened the demand for post natal health supplements in the country.

Development of innovative new products to meet the ever growing demand from customer for postnatal supplements will assist in Germany in dominating the European post natal supplement market.

in dominating the European post natal supplement market. Growing customer towards clean label products and relaxation in one child policy in China will fuel the market growth in China .

will fuel the market growth in . Rising customer concerns towards postnatal health and increasing demand for high nutritional supplements during lactation and pregnancy will create tremendous market expansion opportunities in Brazil during the forecast period.

during the forecast period. Evolving retail market in India and rising availability of foreign brands in convenience stores will act as a key driver for postnatal health supplements market growth in the country.

Competitive Landscape

According to the study by Future Market Insights, Industry leaders are strategizing to promote and advertise their products by spreading awareness among women and expand their customer database.

To maintain their market relevance and ensure consistent growth, companies rely on new product launches and providing value added services.

MegaFood launched two new Baby & Me 2 products, including Postnatal Multi and Prenatal DHA & Choline in 2020. MegaFood is a leading premium supplements manufacturer that combines minerals and vitamins with real food.

GoBiotix introduced new pre and postnatal multivitamin products for mother and child requirements which helps in enhancing breast milk in March 2021 . The products contained essential vitamins and nutrients such as vitamin E, C, A, D2, B6, K, B12, and iodine.

. The products contained essential vitamins and nutrients such as vitamin E, C, A, D2, B6, K, B12, and iodine. Arcadia Consumer Healthcare Inc. acquired Naturelo in October 2020 . Naturelo was a vitamin and mineral supplements market leader. The acquisition extended Arcadia in the field of pre and postnatal products market.

Some of the leading companies operating in the market are:

Church & Dwight Co. Inc.

The Honest Company Inc.

DuPont De Nemours Inc.

New Chapter Inc,

Nordic Naturals Inc.

Pharmavite LLC

Actif USA

Eu Natural

Naturelo Premium Supplements LLC

Theralogix - Nutritional Science

Pure Essence Labs

Fairhaven Health - Milkies

Pink Stork

Vitabiotics Ltd.

Get Customization on this Report for Specific Country https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/customization-available/rep-gb-11771

More Insights on the Global Postnatal health supplements Market

Future Market Insights, in its new offering, provides an unbiased analysis of the postnatal health supplements market, presenting historical demand data (2016-2020) and forecast statistics for the period from 2021-2031. The study divulges compelling insights on the postnatal health supplements market with a detailed segmentation on the basis of

Ingredient

Vitamins & Minerals Supplements

Herbal Supplements

Ayurvedic Extracts



Algal Extracts



Phyto-Chemicals

Protein and Amino Acid Supplements

Prebiotic Supplements

Probiotic Supplements

Form

Soft Gels/Pills

Confectionery Products



Gummies





Chews





Others (Lollipops, Hard Boiled Candies)



Pharmaceutical Products



Chewable Pills





Gel Caps

Tablet

Capsule

Liquid

Distribution Channel

Store Based Retailing

Hypermarkets/Supermarkets



Convenience Stores



Drug Stores and Pharmacies



Health & Wellness Stores



Other Retailers

Online Retailing

Application

General Well-being and Lactation Support

Weight Management

Immune & Digestive Health

Bone and Joint Health

Heart Health

Eye Health

Other Indications

Region

North America

Latin America

Europe

East Asia

South Asia

Middle East and Africa (MEA)

and (MEA) Oceania

Contact Sales for Further Assistance in Purchasing this Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/checkout/11771

Key Questions Covered in the Report

How will the market postnatal health supplements expand through 2031?

Which top manufacturing companies are leading the global postnatal health supplements market?

What are the key drivers and trends that will stimulate the postnatal health supplements sales?

What are the challenges that will affect the sales of postnatal health supplements market?

Which region will remain the most lucrative throughout the forecast period?

What is the impact of Covid-19 on postnatal health supplements market?

Explore FMI's Extensive Coverage on the Food and Beverage Domain

Liver Health Supplements Market: The liver health supplements market study by Future Market Insights (FMI) provides deeper insights on the new trends while incorporating the impact of ongoing trends, and growth & restraining factors during the forecast period of 2021 to 2031. Market dynamics have been presented on the basis of prominent drivers, trends and opportunities prevailing across key geographies for the aforementioned decade.

Older Adults Health Supplements Market: ESOMAR-certified market analysis and consulting company Future Market Insights (FMI) provides insights driving older adults health supplements market demand in latest report. Additionally, to find the effect of COVID-19 on the older adults health supplements market in general, the study monitors global older adults health supplements sales in 20+ high-growth markets and address their end-user in particular.

Digestive Health Supplements Market: In its latest study, ESOMAR-certified market research and consulting firm Future Market Insights (FMI) offers in-depth insights on key factors that influence the demand for digestive health supplements. The report covers global demand for digestive health supplements in more than 20 high potential markets, in addition to an in-depth analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the global digestive health supplements market.

About Future Market Insights (FMI)

Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in Dubai, and has delivery centers in the UK, U.S. and India. FMI's latest market research reports and industry analysis help businesses navigate challenges and make critical decisions with confidence and clarity amidst breakneck competition. Our customized and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. A team of expert-led analysts at FMI continuously tracks emerging trends and events in a broad range of industries to ensure that our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.

Contact:

Abhishek Budholiya

Future Market Insights,

1602-6 Jumeirah Bay X2 Tower,

Plot No: JLT-PH2-X2A,

Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai,

United Arab Emirates

For Sales Enquiries: sales@futuremarketinsights.com

For Media Enquiries: press@futuremarketinsights.com

Website: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/

Report: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/postnatal-health-supplement-market

Press Release Source: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/press-release/postnatal-health-supplement-market

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1197648/FMI_Logo.jpg
Chief Justice Hima Kohli said the court was surprised that the status report filed by the director of public health has reserved only one facility, the Niloufer Hospital, for treating such children.  DC Image

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday asked the state government to inform it about the plan of action formulated to counter a likely third wave of the coronavirus spread during which children are feared to be the worst-affected.

Chief Justice Hima Kohli said the court was surprised that the status report

filed by the director of public health has reserved only one facility, the

Niloufer Hospital, for treating such children. The court noted that the

hospital has just a few beds.

Advocate L. Ravichander told the court about the bed availability in

Niloufer Hospital, which he said was the only government hospital in

Telangana State specializing in treatment for children. Only eight ICU

beds and 12 oxygen beds are available in the hospital to treat children in a

critical condition, he said.

In response, Chief Justice Kohli said, some 8,000 children hailing from one

district in Maharashtra have been affected by Covid-19 during this wave.

Going by this kind of (insufficient) preparedness, the health of our future

generation is at stake.

The court noted that the counter filed by the public health director had

given no details of the infrastructure, medical equipment and technical

manpower to handle these machines, or of the requisite drugs for treating

children in anticipation of the third wave.

Several members of the advocate community have lost their lives due to the

pandemic, Ravichander told the court.

He explained how a young advocate at age 35 lost his life, and complained

that there was a serious shortfall of the medicines in the state. He said

the state government continued to act contrary to court orders in relation

to RTPCR tests and the tests for the old and the disabled.



Counsel Chikudu Prabhaker pointed out how the promised rations are not being

supplied in the state and how the distressed poor are committing suicide.

Noting that several directions issued by the court in the past had not been

complied with, the high court asked the public health director to appear

before it on Wednesday, June 2, on virtual mode, and explain matters.

The court also directed the additional solicitor general representing the

central government to inform it as to the quantities of the life-saving

drugs that are supplied to the Telangana State for treating patients

suffering from black fungus disease. Since May 26, the central government

has not supplied even the allocated vials, it heard.

The court sought to know the reason for this lag and directed the ASG to

come up with all details by Wednesday.
Former Troovo CEO ACTE President Named Chief Growth Officer; Charged with Expediting Adoption of HRS' Payment Services

HRS, the leading global corporate lodging platform, named internationally-renowned travel and payment executive Kurt Knackstedt to the new role of Chief Growth Officer, leading the company's expanding payment solutions business. An established payment innovator who led Troovo's growth from start-up to global prominence, Knackstedt is known worldwide in B2B payment and managed travel circles for his pioneering approach to the deployment of virtual credit cards and automated payment technologies.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005728/en/

Kurt Knackstedt, an accomplished payment automation pioneer and globally-renowned business travel management expert, joined HRS in June 2021. Mr. Knackstedt is now Chief Growth Officer for HRS' Payment Solutions business unit, overseeing commercial, marketing and strategy functions globally. "It's a transformational time for our industry, and I can't think of a better place than HRS to play my part in the next evolution of travel and payment," said Knackstedt. (Photo: Business Wire)

HRS' payment solutions are used on multiple continents today by a growing number of Fortune 500 managed travel programs. Recently enhanced by the April acquisition of Itelya, the world's leading travel invoice management services provider, the end-to-end solution is plug-and-play ready. It connects seamlessly with all leading ecosystem providers, including credit card merchants, expense tool providers and VAT reclaim services. Companies using HRS payment solutions see program adoption rise by an average of 23 percent, boosting transparency and financial performance.

Knackstedt, a Chicago native now residing in Sydney, heads the commercial, marketing and strategy functions for HRS' payment solutions unit. HRS has more than 100 staff members solely dedicated to the development of B2B automation that streamlines payment to suppliers, reimbursement to travelers, and VAT reclaim for corporations. He will report directly to HRS CEO Tobias Ragge.

"It's a transformational time for our industry, and I can't think of a better place than HRS to play my part in the next evolution of travel and payment," said Knackstedt. "The company and its growing client base are blazing new trails with their approach to a fully-automated pay2reimburse process. HRS is well-positioned to help corporate travel procurement leaders drive optimal performance as the industry emerges from the pandemic."

Mr. Knackstedt joins HRS after six years as CEO of Troovo, an Australia-based start-up he co-founded in 2015. The company's groundbreaking payment automation quickly drew international acclaim across the B2B travel ecosystem, highlighted by Business Travel News awarding its "Innovator of the Year" honor to Troovo in 2018. Before that, he led the global travel and expense category for Rio Tinto, a prominent mining industry company. Mr. Knackstedt served on the Executive Board of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) for eight years, including a term as President from 2014-17. He also held executive roles with American Express and Travelport.

"Kurt's a proven entrepreneur, and his mindset perfectly fits our HRS DNA and the creative clients we collaborate with every day," said Tobias Ragge. "His proficiency in the payment realm is known throughout our ecosystem, and his years of industry service at ACTE gives him an unparalleled global network. We're excited to tap into his expertise, gain from his leadership skills, and help clients benefit from our payment automation enhancements in the years to come."

About HRS

HRS is revolutionizing managed lodging programs for corporations, hotels and business travelers worldwide with its proprietary technology and expertise. The company is committed to facilitating safety, savings, security, satisfaction and sustainable hotel options for its global client roster. Leveraging its unique Lodging as a Service platform, HRS oversees the totality of corporate hotel programs for its clients, from initial procurement and rate assurance to booking, virtual payment and expense management. With more than 65,000 hotels joining HRS' Clean Safe Protocol in 2020, and the recently launched Green Stay Initiative, the company provides newly-prioritized information on key decision factors impacting post-pandemic travel. The company's data-driven solutions deliver savings and performance for corporations across all hotel categories, including transient, meetings and long-stay lodging scenarios all while digitizing processes on the hotel side for a better traveler experience. Founded in 1972, HRS today works with 35 percent of the global Fortune 500, as well as the world's leading hotel chains, regional hospitality groups and independent hotels. More information at www.hrs.com/enterprise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005728/en/

Contacts:

Michael Brophy

HRS Press Spokesman

Phone +1 214-356-4326

michael.brophy@hrs.com
Presentation on Thursday June 10, 2021 at 5:00 PM EDT

ATLANTA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / June 2, 2021 / Luvu Brands, Inc. (OTCQB:LUVU), a designer, manufacturer and marketer of a portfolio of consumer lifestyle brands, today announced that it will be presenting at the 2021 LD Micro Invitational XI event on Thursday, June 10th at 5:00 PM EDT. Louis Friedman, President and CEO, and Ron Scott, CFO of Luvu Brands will be presenting to a live, virtual audience.

Event: Luvu Brands Presentation at the LD Micro Invitational XI

Date: Thursday June 10, 2021

Time: 2:00 PM PDT; 5:00 PM EDT - Track 3

For more information on the LD Micro Invitational XI, or to register for the event, please visit https://ldmicrojune2021.mysequire.com.

Summary of LD Micro Invitational XI Event

The 2021 LD Micro Invitational will be held on the Sequire Virtual Events platform on Tuesday, June 8th to Thursday, June 10th, 2021.

The festivities run from 7:00 AM PT - 3:00 PM PT / 10:00 AM ET - 6:00 PM ET each day.

This three day, virtual investor conference is expected to feature around 180 companies, presenting for 25 minutes each, as well as several influential keynotes. The first day of this conference will also feature an exceptional one-time event: the LD Micro Hall of Fame.

About Luvu Brands

Luvu Brands, Inc. designs, manufactures and markets a portfolio of consumer lifestyle brands through the Company's websites, online mass merchants and specialty retail stores worldwide. Brands include: Liberator, a brand category of iconic products for enhancing sexual performance; Avana, inclined bed therapy products, assistive in relieving medical conditions associated with acid reflux, surgery recovery and chronic pain; and Jaxx, a diverse range of casual fashion daybeds, sofas and beanbags made from polyurethane foam and repurposed polyurethane foam trim. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the Company occupies a 140,000 square foot vertically-integrated manufacturing facility and employs over 200 people. The Company's brand sites include: www.liberator.com, www.jaxxliving.com, www.avanacomfort.com plus other global e-commerce sites. For more information about Luvu Brands, please visit www.luvubrands.com.

Company Contact:

Luvu Brands, Inc.

Ronald Scott

Chief Financial Officer

770-246-6426

ron@LuvuBrands.com

SOURCE: Luvu Brands, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/650073/Luvu-Brands-to-Present-at-the-2021-LD-Micro-Invitational-XI-Event
The deal brings together state-of-the-art music licensing technologies with best-in-class creation of bespoke music and strategy for brands and agencies

LOS ANGELES, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Songtradr, the world's largest B2B music licensing marketplace, announced today that it has acquired MassiveMusic, the leading global creative music agency that helps the world's most renowned brands become more strategic and effective with the emotional power of music and sound.

The acquisition of MassiveMusic comes at a pivotal time in the industry where a rise in technologies and channels of content means the number of places where a brand's sound is experienced is dramatically increasing. With the explosion of content creation across multiple media formats, the size of the music industry is expected to reach $131bn by 2030. Marketers more than ever have to cut through and create maximum impact, driving an urgency to optimize the power of music. Combining MassiveMusic's unrivalled music for brands footprint with Songtradr's technologies and data-informed B2B music products creates the only complete tech enabled music solution for brands in the digital age.

"MassiveMusic has built a standout reputation for bold, brilliant, creative music solutions for brands over the last 20+ years," said Paul Wiltshire, CEO of Songtradr. "The complexities of the B2B music industry have made it challenging to fully adopt and leverage technology, limiting it from experiencing the same growth as the consumer music industry. Bringing our companies and competencies together creates the scale and trust to enable a true transformation of the B2B music industry and unlock significant growth potential."

The leading creative music agency in the world, MassiveMusic has approximately 85 employees with offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, London, New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo. The company creates and curates world class music, strategic sonic branding solutions and music management for global brands such as Nike, Heineken, Apple and UEFA. This year, MassiveMusic launched the world's first data-driven sonic branding tool: MassiveBASS , a revolutionary platform that combines art and science and predicts success in recall, distinctiveness and connection to brand personality. MassiveMusic has also won every possible industry award, such as Cannes Gold Lion, D&AD, CLIO, Transform and more. MassiveMusic has seen impressive growth over the past year, despite the backdrop of COVID-19, delivering double digit revenue growth in 2020 in comparison to 2019.

"At MassiveMusic we are very excited to be joining forces with Songtradr. Our services are fully complementary to each other, allowing us to further enrich the services that we provide to our clients. The global brands and talented creative agencies we work with can all profit from the unique proposition that is created by combining the world's biggest B2B music licensing technology company with the leading global creative music agency," said Hans Brouwer, Founder and CEO of MassiveMusic. "The thing that excites me the most is how our visions, ambitions and cultures are aligned. From the first meeting onwards our partnership felt like we'd been in a band for a long time already. We are looking forward to helping our global clients grow: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger; if you allow me to quote the revolutionary Daft Punk."

With over 300,000 tracks licensed through their ecosystem and more than 1.5 million tracks on their platform, Songtradr has become the largest music licensing platform in less than five years. In 2019 it acquired Big Sync Music, and since gone on to acquire Cuesongs, Song Zu, Pretzel, Tunefind and made an investment into ASX listed music data company Jaxsta.



MassiveMusic will lead the B2B Music Services Division of Songtradr Group enabling brands and agencies to dramatically increase their marketing impact and solve all their music needs in one place. From artists, music licensing, bespoke music composition and sonic branding to tech, data and real-time insights, marketers can be more efficient and impactful.

ABOUT SONGTRADR:

Songtradr is the largest B2B music licensing marketplace in the world, providing music creators and rights owners with a complete tech-enabled solution for rights management and monetization while providing B2B music users such as brands, advertisers, filmmakers, SVOD and broadcast networks, gaming, streaming and social media platforms with highly-efficient, AI guided access to music.

ABOUT MASSIVEMUSIC:

MassiveMusic is the agency of record for some of the most famous brands in the world. As a trusted partner, MassiveMusic delivers everything a brand needs in the field of music, voice and sound. Impactful strategies, sonic brand identities and best-in-class compositions - the agency creates this and much more thanks to its fervent passion for music combined with craftsmanship and scientific research. The ultimate goal? To make the world sound better, while helping brands and agencies be more effective through the emotional power of sound. The nifty creators and strategic thinkers behind MassiveMusic can be found in offices and studios around the world. Rumour has it they also throw a massive party every once in a while.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1085219/Songtradr_Logo.jpg
CHEYENNE, WY / ACCESSWIRE / June 2, 2021 / CADUCEUS SOFTWARE SYSTEMS, CORP. (OTC Pink:CSOC) ("Caduceus" or the "Company"), a publicly traded Wyoming-based holding company currently entering the recession proof Pet Food and Pet Care industry with the pending acquisition of McLovin's Pet Food, Inc. is pleased to announce it will participate in another Live Discord Questions & Answers Meeting with investors.

The Company, on May 27th, 2021, was introduced as one of the newest companies represented by Apollo Assets. Since then, the Company has taken part several live Questions & Answers meetings on the Discord platform.

With Apollo Assets, the Company will be hosting another session on

Sunday, June 6th, 2021, from 6:00 to 7:00 P.M Eastern Standard Time.

We invite investors to attend the Live Questions & Answers event by joining the designated Discord channel.

To join future investor Q&As on the company's platform, open a free account with Discord using this link: www.Discord.com

Use this link to join and access the Caduceus / Apollo Assets Discord channel:

https://discord.gg/Y7vN6Qxk

About CADUCEUS SOFTWARE SYSTEMS, CORP

Caduceus Software Systems Corp is a Wyoming-based holding company currently entering the recession proof Pet Food and Pet Care industry with the pending acquisition of McLovin's Pet Food, Inc. a California company specialized in the manufacturing and distribution of quality pet foods and accessories. The Pet Food and Pet Care market size was USD 207 Billion in 2020 with a stellar growth of 28.11% market. The industry is expected to grow to USD 325 Billion in 2028 at a CAGR of 5.6%. The Pet Food and Pet Care products include food, hygiene, toys, and other accessories. The Company is traded on the OTC Markets under the trading symbol "CSOC".

For more information

OTC Markets: (OTC Pink: CSOC)

Corporate Website: https://caduceuscorp.co

Email: info@caduceuscorp.co

Discord: https://discord.gg/Y7vN6Qxk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/caduceuscorp

About McLovin's Pet Food, Inc

McLovin's, Inc. is a California company specialized on the manufacturing and distribution of quality pet foods. We believe in real food. What you'll find in McLovin's is similar to what you'll find in your own grocery cart. In the case of our premium treats, it starts (and ends) with real beef, chicken and salmon. Our products are developed using responsible sourcing and quality is a key part of every single part of our manufacturing process.

Corporate Website: https://mclovinspetfood.com/

Forward-Looking Statements:

Safe Harbour Statement - In addition to historical information, this press release may contain statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include the intent, belief, or expectations of the Company and members of its management team with respect to the Company's future business operations and the assumptions upon which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to, failure to complete anticipated sales under negotiations, lack of revenue growth, client discontinuances, failure to realize improvements in performance, efficiency and profitability, and adverse developments with respect to litigation or increased litigation costs, the operation or performance of the Company's business units or the market price of its common stock. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated within this press release can also be found on the Company's website. The Company disclaims any responsibility to update any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Caduceus Software Systems, Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/650087/Caduceus-To-Participate-in-Live-Discord-QA-with-Investors
Enjoy Malaysian delicacies such as 'Nasi Lemak' and other fast food delights by Marrybrown at Malaysia's Rainforest Canopy Pavilion

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Malaysia Pavilion is excited to announce Malaysian-owned largest halal quick serving restaurant chain in the world, Marrybrown, as its cafe operator for Expo 2020 Dubai.

Marrybrown will represent one of the best Malaysian brands at the Malaysia Pavilion and feature Malaysian signature delicacies in its menu as well as fast food favourites that have proven to tantalise international taste buds.

The offerings include all-time favourite Malaysian fried chicken, variety of burgers, delicious Arabian wraps and the Malaysian classic "Nasi Lemak" (fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaf) among other rice dishes such as Nasi Kari Ayam(Curry Chicken Rice), and Malaysia's famous drink Teh Tarik.

"Malaysia Pavilion is incredibly happy to have Marrybrown as our cafe operator to represent our Malaysian identity. Marrybrown is a shining example of a Malaysian business which pioneered fast food chain franchising in Malaysia and went on to successfully spread its wings globally," said Mr. Shamsul Bahar Mohd Nor, Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Green Technology and Climate Change Centre (MGTC).

Malaysia's overall participation at Expo 2020 is led by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation Malaysia while MGTC is the implementing agency.

"With its vision to bring Malaysian favourite dishes to the world, Marrybrown has flown the Malaysian flag high by going global as a brand. Marrybrown fittingly represent the Malaysian spirit and the best brands of Malaysia at Expo," added Mr. Shamsul Bahar.

Marrybrown currently has more than 500 restaurants in Malaysia and across 16 countries serving millions of customers in Sweden, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, India, Maldives, Africa and the Middle East.

Back home it has won several accolades as well as regional awards such as Asia's Best Brand Award. In the Middle East, Marrybrown received "The Most Successful Malaysia Franchise in the Middle East" recognition and "The Family Friendly Fastfood Restaurant Of The Year".

Malaysia Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai is designed as a "Rainforest Canopy" and themed "Energising Sustainability". It is located between the Sustainability District and Mobility District at the 438-hectare expo site.

The Pavilion will house segments for permanent display and showcases, a business centre, an amphitheatre and retail and cafe areas.

"Visitors will end their tour at the cafe area. They can expect to be tempted by the aromatic smell of fried chicken and other Marrybrown dishes inviting them to stop by for a bite or takeaways," said Mr. Shamsul Bahar.

In line with Malaysia's sustainability commitment and its "No Plastic Pledge" for Expo 2020, environmentally-conscious customers can be assured that utensils and packaging used in the cafe are only from sustainable materials and non-plastics.

ABOUT MALAYSIA PAVILION AT EXPO 2020 DUBAI

Malaysia will be among 192 countries participating in Expo 2020 Dubai, scheduled for 1 Oct. 2021 to 31 March 2022. Themed "Connecting Minds, Creating the Future", the world expo is the first to be held in the Middle East, Africa & South Asia region.

Malaysia's pavilion is self-built and depicts a Rainforest Canopy. It carries the theme "Energising Sustainability" to capture the nation's commitment and approaches to sustainable development. It is a net zero carbon pavilion.Malaysia's activities during the expo will include permanent displays, showcases, pocket talks, summits and forums, cultural performances, demonstrations and 26 weekly thematic trade and business programmes. The business weeks will be helmed and supported by 22 ministries, 44 agencies and 5 state governments.

The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation is the lead ministry for Malaysia's participation at the mega event. Malaysian Green Technology and Climate Change Centre (MGTC) is the implementing agency.

ABOUT MALAYSIAN GREEN TECHNOLOGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE CENTRE (MGTC)

Malaysian Green Technology and Climate Change Centre (MGTC) was formerly known as Malaysian Green Technology Corporation or GreenTech Malaysia. MGTC is a government agency under the purview of the Ministry of Environment & Water, mandated to lead the nation in the areas of Green Growth, Climate Change Mitigation and Climate Resilience and Adaptation.

Under Green Growth, MGTC focuses on three key areas:

Green Incentives and Certification

Green Advisory and Capacity Building

Green Promotion and Investment

Under its recently expanded scope, MGTC now focuses on Climate Change Mitigation and Climate Change Adaption through the following roles:

Policy Analysis

National Reporting

National Programmes Coordination (Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation)

Focal Point for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaption Data

Communication, Education and Public Awareness (CEPA)

MGTC is the implementing Agency for Malaysia's participation at Expo 2020 Dubai.

For enquiries, please contact Jane Ritikos at tel: +6019 387 1991 or email at: malaysiaexpo2020media@mgtc.gov.my
Emmeryville, California--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Paloma Pay, Inc, a privately held Company that has developed an easy-to-use crypto payments platform which allows cannabis business and other industries to accept cryptocurrency from their customers and deposit dollars into their account, discusses how its crypto-payments platform helps cannabis dispensaries receive bank-able cash.

Ms. Ally Medina, CEO and CO-Founder of Paloma Pay, discusses the unique advantages of the Paloma platform and how her company is poised to become the go-to payment platform for not just cannabis dispensaries, but also for everyday retail businesses to support consumers who opt for using their crypto for making payments of everyday products and services.

Ms. Medina stated, "The Paloma Pay platform was developed by regulatory experts to make crypto safe and easy for businesses owners to accept. The platform allows cannabis dispensaries to accept cryptocurrency from their customers and deposit dollars into their account. Paloma was founded to initially serve the needs of under-banked industries such as those in the cannabis business like dispensaries. However, with the increase in adoption of and further acceptance of crypto as a global currency, it's become clear that our platform has many more applications that we will be rolling out as we plan to continuously expand the platform. We are pleased to have recently received an initial commitment of investment funds from a strategic investor, allowing us to accelerate our crypto-project development roadmap which includes a soon to be launched B2B cannabis payments solution that enables medical marijuana dispensaries to purchase inventory, integration with point-of-sale systems and providing access to fintech services for merchants."

"There are more than 6,000 cannabis dispensaries in the US, which accounted for approximately $17.5 Billion in US domestic sales for 2020 with analysts predicting the market size to grow to $41 Billion by 2026. So, for Paloma, you sort of have a perfect storm where you have a fast growing cannabis industry plagued by federal regulation/prohibition, necessitating an alternative to traditional banking, and you have a cryptocurrency market that is rapidly evolving as a trusted form of global currency with adoption of new users continuing to expand exponentially. If we can capture just a small % of crypto-payments with a % usage fee, this has the potential to be a large and very scalable business opportunity for Paloma. Not being able to make cash deposits in a bank like traditional businesses is challenging especially when the majority of dispensaries are having to deal with customers, vendors, employees as a CASH only business. In addition to the obvious safety concerns, dispensaries were faced with a unique challenge in offering contactless payment solutions during the pandemic. In addition to the inefficiencies in handling cash, the industry has limited access to loans, interest earning accounts and other financial products that help businesses scale. Offering an entry point into cryptocurrency and the associated decentralized finance services is a natural next step for our business," concluded Ms. Medina.

Paloma makes signing up for its service super easy. Our Chief Technology Officer, Ryan Luther explains what makes the Paloma Pay platform unique is that customers aren't required to purchase a particular token or download a new app. They can utilize whatever cryptocurrency they already have, lowering the barrier of adoption. He notes that, "About 14% of Americans currently hold some type of cryptocurrency, and with services like PayPal and Venmo offering it to consumers we expect that number to grow quickly. Businesses will need to offer cryptocurrency as a means of payment just like they adopted credit cards in the past. Paloma Pay offers a secure way for merchants to accept crypto and has had a third party audit our smart contracts to ensure the protection of their funds."

CONTACT INFORMATION

Contact info

Ally Medina, CEO and Co-Founder

Executive Director of the Blockchain Advocacy Coalition

Advisory Board member - CYIOS Corp (CYIO)

Email: contact@palomapay.com

About Paloma Pay:

Privately held Paloma Pay has developed an easy-to-use crypto payments platform which allows users to accept cryptocurrency from their customers and deposit dollars into their account. Paloma Pay platform provides users with a contactless payment solution that eliminates uncertainty about using cryptocurrency. Founded in 2020 by regulatory experts focused on developing a crypto payment platform that was safe and easy for businesses owners to use and accept cryptocurrency from customers. www.palomapay.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This release contains "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements also may be included in other publicly available documents issued by the Company and in oral statements made by our officers and representatives from time to time. These forward-looking statements are intended to provide management's current expectations or plans for our future operating and financial performance, based on assumptions currently believed to be valid. They can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "goal," "seek," "believe," "project," "estimate," "expect," "strategy," "future," "likely," "may," "should," "would," "could," "will" & other words of similar meaning in connection with a discussion of future operating or financial performance. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements relating to future sales, earnings, cash flows, results of operations, uses of cash and other measures of financial performance. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others such as, but not limited to economic conditions, changes in the laws or regulations, demand for products and services of the company, the effects of competition and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or represented in the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking information provided in this release should be considered w/ these factors in mind. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this report.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86205
LONDON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- KiwiMedi is a global treatment search platform founded by an experienced executive in public healthcare, Metin Seref to help patients find the best treatment among the best-rated health facilities.

Metin Seref has been in the healthcare industry for over 25 years. He took place as project leader and coordinator in important health projects such as Active and Healthy Ageing Study Project, Diabetes Awareness, Importance of Breast Milk Program, International Clinical Communication with the cooperation of Cleveland Clinic, ICME Congress (International Medical Education Congress), Organ donation promotion campaign and Healthy Child Magazine project.

He contributed to healthcare policies and made an impact on more than 200 million lives and now he is passionate to scale a solution to make an impact on millions of people by solving one of the problems he has worked around for over 25 years.

Mayo Clinic, John Hopkins Hospital, and the University of Tokyo Hospital Among Beta Users

In 2020, including world-class hospitals like Mayo Clinic, John Hopkins Hospital, and University of Tokyo Hospital, more than 400 hospitals, and clinics get listed, 160,000+ patients visited the website and 380+ patients booked treatment in the exclusive beta of the platform. More than 80% of daily visitors come from Europe.

An innovative business model: Commission-Free

Ersan Genc said he is impressed with the vision and commitment of KiwiMedi to connect patients with the best treatment across the world. He wants to be part of the team.

KiwiMedi raised 100,000 from one of its earliest technology evangelists, Ersan Genc. Genc is not only impressed with the potential of the technology makes it easier. He also stated how he founds the business model visionary.

"What makes today's disruptive business is the innovation in business models. While I was following other healthcare marketplace build around medical tourism, KiwiMedi's business model as a SaaS is differentiating the business compared to high commission rates in competitors."

Users can

- Compare facilities

- Read patient reviews,

- Ask questions

- Book treatments

The company also offers unique marketing tools and services to hospitals and clinics along with a monthly newsletter to utilize digital channels.

Launch in April with the new analytics feature

KiwiMedi is now under test to launch in April. KiwiMedi team works to improve search quality and upgrade the hospitals/clinics accounts with the analytics dashboard to display traffic and conversions.

Media Contact

Zehra Korkusuz, Foster Insight, Inc

info@fosterinsight.co

About KiwiMedi

Kiwimedi is the fastest way to access premium healthcare across the globe now. The platform removes the medical tourism layer as well as commissions and establishes direct access between the patient and hospitals instantly. Patients can compare facilities, read patient reviews, ask questions, and book treatments. The Company also offers marketing tools and services to hospitals and clinics. KiwiMedi's headquarter office is located in the United Kingdom. Visit kiwimedi.com for more information.

Related Images

image-patient-physician-national.png

Image: Patient & Physician - National Cancer Institue
Early Equity PLC

("Early Equity" or "the Company")

Application for Voting Status for AGM

As announced on the 28thMay 2021, the postponed AGM will take place on Wednesday, 16 June 2021 at 16.00 BST. The Company will engage the services of a third-party provider to facilitate the voting system and to ensure that the votes are accurately recorded. The Company will also engage an independent assessor, pursuant to Companies Act 2006, to prepare an independent report on the poll to be taken and the counting of the proxy forms submitted to the Share Registrars.

Any shareholders wishing to participate and vote at the meeting are asked to complete the voting registration form available on the Company's website, www.earlyequity.co.uk. The completed form should then be returned by e-mail to registration@votingearlyequity.com.

Upon receipt of the completed form, an email acknowledgement will be issued. Verification checks as to the applicant's identity will be carried out and, if any further information is required in order to validate the shareholder's identity, a further email will be sent within 48 hours.

Prior to the AGM, shareholders will receive a unique personal voting code by email, which will be required to gain entry to the meeting and vote. Participants, and shareholders, not in possession of a unique voting code will not be permitted to either attend the meeting or cast a vote during the meeting.

As the Company is permitting shareholders to attend the meeting electronically shareholders will be able to access the meeting by way of a unique personal voting code. An electronic link to the meeting and the unique personal voting code required to access the same will be provided to the verified shareholders upon successfully completing the Company's registration process and prior to the meeting. The voting process will be facilitated by https://www.uk-engage.org.

The Directors continue to investigate potential irregularities in the original proxy voting process, however, and for avoidance of doubt, all valid proxy forms received prior to the original meeting will be included in the count and these shareholders do not need to take any further action. If shareholders have not yet submitted their proxy form it is still possible do so. To be valid the form of proxy and any power of attorney or other authority under which it is executed (or duly notarised copy thereof) must be lodged with the Registrars of the Company, Share Registrars Limited, The Courtyard, 17 West Street, Farnham, Surrey, United Kingdom, GU9 7DR, not later than 4pm (BST) on the 14th June 2021.

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for this announcement.

Enquiries:

Early Equity Plc

Greg Collier

Tel: +44 (0)7830 182501

Novum Securities Limited

AQSE Corporate Adviser

David Coffman / Lucy Bowden

Tel: +44 (0)207 399 9400
Detroit, Michigan--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Aion Therapeutic Inc (CSE: AION) will be presenting at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference taking place on June 3-4, 2021, with CEO J Graham Simmonds presenting at 4:55pm Eastern, Thursday June 3rd 2021. We invite our shareholders and all interested parties to join us for a full day of networking, dealmaking and discovery. Sign up to get a free spectator pass for the event: https://events.benzinga.com/ccc-free-registration.

About Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference

Benzinga's virtual Cannabis Capital Conference is guaranteed to offer participants all the benefits of an immersive and robust in-person conference from any remote location. The conference will feature an interactive forum of live presentations from top CEOs, investors, and leaders in the cannabis space. Don't miss this opportunity to connect with THE cannabis movers and shakers from across the globe.

For more information and/or to register for the conference please visit: https://events.benzinga.com/ccc-free-registration.

About Aion Therapeutic Inc.

Aion Therapeutic Inc. is an international pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmeceuticals business

headquartered in Canada. AI Pharmaceuticals Jamaica Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aion that

is in the business of research and development of formulations and products that utilize mushrooms

(functional and ones including psilocybin), fungi, and other natural formulations from medicinal plants in

a legal environment that permits such work and discoveries. AI Pharma is focused upon the

development of medicinal antiviral, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-hyperglycemic, and anti-

cancer compounds.

We look forward to seeing you there.

For further information:

Aion Therapeutic Inc

J Graham Simmons, CEO

416 843 2881

Phil Carlson, KCSA

aion@kcsa.com

www.aiontherapeutic.com

Disclaimer & Reader Advisory

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "may", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the business of the Company. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to the parties. The material factors and assumptions include regulatory and other third-party approvals; licensing and other risks. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the parties are not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86226


Global Fashion Group S.A.: Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them



02.06.2021 / 20:25

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



NOTIFICATION AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF TRANSACTIONS BY PERSONS DISCHARGING MANAGERIAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND PERSONS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THEM 1. Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person closely associated a) Name1 Patrick Schmidt 2. Reason for the notification a) Position / status2 Co-CEO and member of the management board b) Initial notification / amendment3 Initial notification 3. Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor a) Name4 Global Fashion Group S.A. b) LEI5 5493001035L29EQRO222 4. Details of the transaction(s)

section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted a) Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument 6 Shares Identification code7 LU2010095458 b) Nature of the transaction8 Sale of shares on behalf of Patrick Schmidt to cover tax liability arising at vesting as disclosed in the Company's updated Declaration of Conformity dated 26 May 2021 . c) Price(s) and volume(s) 9 Price(s) Volume(s) EUR 1,696,793.40 142,110 d) Aggregated information - Aggregated volume10 142,110 - Price11 11.94 e) Date of the transaction12 1 June 2021 f) Place of the transaction13 Off-exchange transaction

02.06.2021 The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.dgap.de


Interview: Striving for people's well-being key to CPC's success, say Spanish sociologists

Xinhua) 10:21, June 02, 2021

SHANGHAI, June 1 (Xinhua) -- "We could live anywhere in the world. But we chose China," said Miguel Sazatornil and his wife, Maria Cruz Alonso, both sociologists from Spain who have lived in China for 19 years.

Sitting down with Xinhua reporters in a Shanghai cafe, the couple shared their views on why the Communist Party of China (CPC), which will soon celebrate its centenary, could lead Chinese people to a better future based on their experiences.

In their opinion, it is no easy feat for a political party to have survived and prospered for 100 years, and the key to the CPC's success is its unremitting efforts to achieve well-being for the people.

The couple first came to China in 2002 on a work trip, and was instantly amazed by the transformation of Chinese society, which, in their words, "has been a unique revolution that has rarely happened in known history." A year later, they decided to settle down in Shanghai.

"China has many accomplishments, for example, poverty alleviation, which few countries could achieve," said Sazatornil, noting that the country has managed to improve the average level of people's well-being in various fields, such as economy, education and public health.

They also noticed that Chinese people, especially the younger generation, are paying increasing attention to cultural and artistic enjoyment.

"That's a result of people no longer worrying about putting food on the table," said Sazatornil. "Only when the basic needs are met do people start to pursue something on a more meaningful level."

"Making changes is challenging for even a small country, let alone a populous country like China. It's like 'mission impossible'," Sazatornil emphasized.

During the past 100 years, the CPC had its ebbs and flows, but it always learned to adapt to any occasion, winning trust and support from the people, said Sazatornil.

"In China, a person cannot get elected as a leader simply because they have money to splurge or because they know how to promote themselves or sound plausible on a public platform," he analyzed, adding that people in China engage in politics for a chance to serve the public, not for manipulation of power or personal gain.

Last year, China's fight against COVID-19 deeply impressed the Spanish couple. They believe that the precondition of China's victory in the fight is that the people wholeheartedly trust their leaders.

"Chinese people believe that every decision made by the CPC leadership is for their benefit, and they also know that the leadership is here to serve them," said Sazatornil.

As sociologists, the couple believes China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) and long-range objectives through 2035 laid out a clear blueprint for future development to boost the quality of life from both economic and social aspects. "I believe that China is developing on the right track," he said.

Now, Sazatornil and Alonso are part of Shanghai's academic and cultural circle, collaborating closely with the Shanghai International Cultural Association and the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

In 2018, they published a book titled "Tearing Down Prejudice Against Chinese" in English, Spanish and Chinese, in which they refuted various prejudices and biases on China that have been rooted in many Westerners' minds.

The couple has also co-authored multiple articles in Spanish media regarding China's economic reform and development and Chinese culture, which played an active role in helping to eliminate false stereotypes and correcting misconceptions on China, said Deng Xiaoxian, a friend of theirs and vice president of the Shanghai International Culture Association.

Having lived in China for nearly two decades, Sazatornil and Alonso currently have no plans to move elsewhere. They feel comfortable living in a country "full of hope and vitality" and look forward to seeing new changes happening here.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Hongyu)
The state health authorities maintain that as AP has established a good network of ward/village volunteers, ANMs, Asha workers and health centres with medical officers and paramedics, they are taking up fever survey door-to-door to identify people showing symptoms of Covid.  PTI

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government has successfully completed administration of Covid-19 vaccine to 1.04 crore people since it began the drive on January 16. The health department administered 74.92 lakh first doses and 25.24 lakh second doses.

The officials maintain that AP has received 98 lakh doses of both Covishield

and Covaxin varieties from the Centre so far, while it procured some doses

on its own. The officials point out that states like Gujarat and Maharashtra

are getting nearly 25% of vaccine doses based on their population, while AP

is getting only 18%.

AP is facing a severe shortage of vaccine doses to administer to all targeted beneficiaries including healthcare workers, frontline workers, people aged above 45 years, those aged between 18-44 years and those aged above 60 years. There is a need to ramp up the supplies many times, say the officials.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy himself addressed letters to Prime

Minister Narendra Modi underlining the need to allocate more doses to AP and

extend other support in terms of medical oxygen and medical infrastructure.

The state health authorities maintain that as AP has established a good

network of ward/village volunteers, ANMs, Asha workers and health centres

with medical officers and paramedics, they are taking up fever survey

door-to-door to identify people showing symptoms of Covid. With such a vast

network, they are able to provide good care and can take up vaccination too in a big way if enough doses are provided. AP already achieved a distinct record of vaccinating nearly 6.2 lakh people on a single day, the pointed out.

AP Covid Helping Hands nodal officer Dr Arja Srikanth said, We have completed administration of over one crore doses of Covid vaccine to our people in the state so far and one in seven people got the jab with at least one dose in the state.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Cascada Silver Corp. (CSE: CSS) ("Cascada") is pleased to report that the reverse circulation drilling program at its Agua Amarga silver project has commenced with the first phase of drilling targeting the potential down dip extension of high grade silver veins mined during the 1800's. The Agua Amarga silver deposits were discovered in 1811 and mined until 1881 with early reports noting silver grades varying from 3,078 to 41,035 grams per tonne.

The two phase drilling program comprises an initial 1,000 metres of drilling focusing on high priority targets to be followed, depending upon the initial results, by a further 1,000 metres of drilling. The first set of four drill holes are planned to test the most prominent silver vein systems identified during the recently completed geological mapping program, at depths of between 100 and 175 metres below surface, which is projected to be below the historical mining activities. Figure 1 shows the location of the surface expression of the mined silver veins and notes the location of the planned drill holes.

"After the sequential delays of the past year, we are excited that the Agua Amarga drill program has commenced," said Carl Hansen, CEO of Cascada. "The first phase of drilling is targeting the four most extensive remnant silver veins which were identified by Cascada field crews during the recently completed mapping program. The first phase of drilling is anticipated to take approximately 10 days to complete. As the assay laboratories in Chile are backed up do to COVID-19 protocols, as is the case in many countries, the goal is to prioritize samples for analyses to accelerate the return of key assay results at which time plans for phase two drilling will be finalized."

NI 43-101 Technical Disclosure

The Qualified Person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators, for Cascada's exploration activities in Chile is Sergio Diaz, a resident of Santiago, Chile. Mr. Diaz is a Public Registered Person for Reserves and Resources N 51, in Chile and is also registered in the Colegio de Geologos de Chile under N 315.

About Cascada Silver Corp.

Cascada is a mineral exploration company focused on silver and gold exploration in Latin America with four properties under option in Chile, including the historic Agua Amarga silver project where high-grade epithermal silver-bearing veins were mined during the 19th century. Cascada's team of successful exploration professionals are dedicated to the discovery of mineral deposits that can be progressed into economically viable development projects creating value for all stakeholders.





Figure 1: AGUA AMARGA PROJECT

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7721/86250_97de3e9384fda825_001full.jpg

On behalf of Cascada Silver Corp.,

Carl Hansen, CEO

For additional information, please contact us at:

info@cascadasilver.com

Mars Investor Relations

(647) 557-6651

css@marsinvestorrelations.com

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This news release contains forward-looking statements, including predictions, projections and forecasts. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: plans for the evaluation of exploration properties; the success of evaluation plans; the success of exploration activities; mine development prospects; and, potential for future metals production. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "planning", "expects" or "does not expect", "continues", "projected", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "potential", "anticipates", "does not anticipate", or describes a "goal", or variation of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, future events, conditions, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, prediction, projection, forecast, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: changes in economic parameters and assumptions; all aspects related to the timing of exploration activities and receipt of exploration results; the interpretation and actual results of current exploration activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; the results of regulatory and permitting processes; future metals price; possible variations in grade or recovery rates; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; the results of economic and technical studies; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of exploration; as well as those factors disclosed in Cascada's publicly filed documents.

Although Cascada has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as 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 such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider has reviewed or accepts

responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86250
NOIDA, India, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A comprehensive overview of the Baby Monitor market is recently added by UnivDatos Market Insights to its humongous database. The Baby Monitor report has been aggregated by collecting informative data of various dynamics such as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This innovative report makes use of several analyses to get a closer outlook on the Baby Monitor market. The Baby Monitor report offers a detailed analysis of the latest industry developments and trending factors in the market that are influencing the market growth. Furthermore, this statistical market research repository examines and estimates the Baby Monitor at the global and regional levels. The Global Baby Monitor Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.2% from 2021-2027 to reach US$ 1,970 million by 2027.

Market Overview

The market is expected to witness a boost on account of a rise in the GDP per capita, globally. As per the World Bank, GDP per capita worldwide increased from US$ 10,249 in 2015 to US$11,433 in 2019. Moreover, Rising parents' concern for their child's/ infant's health is a key factor, demanding for the baby monitor. As per the United Nations, the infant mortality rate of the world in 2019 was 28.2 (The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths of infants under one-year-old per 1,000 live births). Moreover, the projected estimate for 2020 was 30.8.

Furthermore, rising awareness about the benefits of baby monitors coupled with emerging parent's concern about SIDS, globally is also contributing to the growth of the baby monitor market. As per CDC, Each year, there are about 3,400 sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUID) in the United States. These deaths occur among infants less than 1-year-old and have no immediately obvious cause.

Request Sample Copy of this Report @ https://univdatos.com/report/baby-monitor-market-current-analysis-and-forecast-2021-2027

COVID-19 Impact

In the era of COVID-19, Hospitals, other healthcare facilities, and home healthcare facilities are using baby monitors for remote monitoring of patients as baby Monitors are helping patients to connect with doctors and family members through the COVID-19 situation. Also, Numerous appeals have been issued for people to donate baby monitors to hospitals as a way for nurses to communicate with Covid-19 patients. Healthcare workers are looking for old but working, monitors they can use to communicate with patients without completely interacting with them. Philips has donated 3,200 baby monitors in collaboration with the online shopping site, bol.com. These are being sent to hospitals where they are used to communicate with COVID-19 patients. Also, Bol.com received a similar request from a Dutch hospital." More than 1,800 of these monitors have already been delivered to hospitals across the Netherlands and Belgium.

Ask for Price & Discounts @ https://univdatos.com/report/baby-monitor-market-current-analysis-and-forecast-2021-2027

Global Baby Monitor Market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated.

By Application, the market is primarily bifurcated into

Audio

Video

The video segment dominated the application type segment and gathered 86.4% of the Baby Monitor Market in 2020. Moreover, the market is expected to grow at 6.4% CAGR to reach US$ 1,733.6 million by the year 2027.

By Connectivity, the market is primarily segmented into

Wired

Wireless

Based on the connectivity, the wireless segment d accounted for the largest share and is expected to grow at 6.3% CAGR during the forecast period 2021-2027. In 2020, the wireless segment generated a revenue of US$ 817.9 million.

By Distribution Channel, the market is primarily segmented into

Retail Stores

Supermarket/ Hypermarket

E-Commerce

Specialty Stores

Based on the Distribution Channel, the Retail Store segment d accounted for the largest share and is expected to reach US$ 681.2 million by 2027. However, the E-Commerce segment is expected to witness the highest growth of 8.3% in the forecast period.

Baby Monitor Geographical Segmentation Includes:

North America

Europe

Asia-Pacific

 Rest of the World

Based on the estimation, the North America region dominated the Baby Monitor Market with almost US$ 476.9 million in revenue in 2020. At the same time, the European region is expected to grow remarkably with a CAGR of 6.8% over the forecast period owing to the entrance of new players in the region. In 2021, Taiwan-based smart baby monitor startup Cubo Ai announced a business expansion plan to the European market.

Ask for Report Customization @ https://univdatos.com/report/baby-monitor-market-current-analysis-and-forecast-2021-2027

The major players targeting the market includes

Samsung Electronics

Dorel Industries Inc.

Summer Infant Inc

Koninklijke Philips N.V.

Lenovo Group Limited (Motorola)

VTech Communications, Inc.

Arlo Technologies Inc.

Panasonic Corp

Sony Corporation

Snuza International

Competitive Landscape

The degree of competition among prominent global companies has been elaborated by analyzing several leading key players operating worldwide. The specialist team of research analysts sheds light on various traits such as global market competition, market share, most recent industry advancements, innovative product launches, partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions by leading companies in the Baby Monitor Market. The leading players have been analyzed by using research methodologies for getting insight views on global competition.

Key questions resolved through this analytical market research report include:

What are the latest trends, new patterns, and technological advancements in t the Baby Monitor Market?

Which factors are influencing the Baby Monitor Market over the forecast period?

What are the global challenges, threats, and risks in the Baby Monitor Market?

Which factors are propelling and restraining the Baby Monitor Market?

What are the demanding global regions of the Baby Monitor Market?

What will be the global market size in the upcoming years?

What are the crucial market acquisition strategies and policies applied by global companies?

We understand the requirement of different businesses, regions, and countries, we offer customized reports as per your requirements of business nature and geography. Please let us know If you have any custom needs.

For more informative information, please visit us @ https://univdatos.com/report/baby-monitor-market-current-analysis-and-forecast-2021-2027

About UnivDatos Market Insights

UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI) is a passionate market research firm and a subsidiary of Universal Data Solutions. We believe in delivering insights through Market Intelligence Reports, Customized Business Research, and Primary Research. Our research studies are spread across topics across the world, we cover markets in over 100 countries using smart research techniques and agile methodologies. We offer in-depth studies, detailed analysis, and customized reports that help shape winning business strategies for our clients.

Contact

UnivDatos Market Insights

Pawnendra Pawan

Client Development Lead

Ph: +91-7838604911

Email: pawnendra@univdatos.com

Website: https://univdatos.com/

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1225049/UnivDatos_Logo.jpg
Alex Mandry Family Lawyers Helps QLD Locals with Divorce and Family Law Matters

MAROOCHYDORE QLD, AUSTRALIA / ACCESSWIRE / June 2, 2021 / The founder of Alex Mandry Legal Group is pleased to announce a new office located in Sunshine Coast, Queensland.

To learn more about Alex Mandry Family Lawyers Sunshine Coast, please visit

https://alex-mandry.com.au/offices/family-lawyer-sunshine-coast/.

The Sunshine Coast Office in Queensland, which opened in January 2021, will be their brand-new head office. Unlike the Adelaide office, which is a multi-disciplinary law firm, the new Sunshine Coast office will be focusing mostly on Family Law and Separation Matters.

As a company spokesperson noted, Sandra Sinclair, owner of Alex Mandry Family Lawyers Sunshine Coast, is proud to bring her law firm's trusted advice and an ability to "think outside the box" to the Sunshine State.

"What sets us apart is that we never encourage you to go to Court. And we always encourage negotiation," the spokesperson noted.

"Our role is to help you to retain the assets that are important to you. We give you sensible advice. Our mission is to support and assist you."

Alex Mandry Family Lawyers Sunshine Coast experience is broad-ranging, the spokesperson noted, and the lawyers will make strategic decisions on their clients' behalf that are based on logic and reason-and not emotion-while getting their clients affordable and favourable outcomes.

"If you have separated or are you about to separate, are you struggling to understand the process? Do you have questions about topics like dividing property, superannuation, gifted money, kids and going to court?" the spokesperson asked, adding that people who are on the Sunshine Coast - anywhere from Caloundra, the Hinterland or up to Noosa, can seek assistance from the friendly, compassionate and experienced team from Alex Mandry Family Lawyers.

"We also understand the possible implications associated with relationship breakdowns - whether that be related to businesses, trusts, property, domestic violence, children, custody or spousal maintenance."

Alex Mandry Family Lawyers Sunshine Coast Services include:

? Legal advice about divorce and separation

? Advice about property division and settlement

? Children's issues and financial agreements

Everyone at Alex Mandry Family Lawyers Sunshine Coast is looking forward to growing in the area, and helping locals in Maroochydore, Caloundra, Noosa and the Hinterlands. To celebrate the opening, the firm is offering a free initial consultation on Family Law related matters.

About Alex Mandry Legal Group:

Alex Mandry Legal Group has a combined experience of 70 years in the legal field. Their practice has developed a reputation for delivering reliable advice and practical solutions to clients. Their lawyers have breadth and depth of expertise across a broad range of practice areas including Family Law, and Mediation. For more information, please visit https://alex-mandry.com.au/.

Alex Mandry Family Lawyers Sunshine Coast

508/6 Wharf St

Maroochydore QLD 4558

Australia

1800 329 090

CONTACT:

Sandra Sinclair

admin@alex-mandry.com.au

1800 329 090

SOURCE: Alex Mandry Legal Group

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/650182/Announcing-the-Opening-of-Alex-Mandry-Family-Lawyers-Sunshine-Coast-Location
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Hunter Technology Corp. (TSXV: HOC) (OTCQB: HOILF) (WKN: A2QEYH) (FSE: RWPM) (ISIN: CA4457371090) ("Hunter" or the "Company") announces the resignation of Bryant Pike as Chief Financial Officer of the Company.

Mr. Pike joined the Company in the fall of 2018 following the Company's disposition of the Company's oil and gas assets. During his tenure, he was instrumental in completing the transition of Hunter into a technology issuer and concluding the recent acquisition of fintech company FinFabrik. Mr. Pike is departing the Company to pursue other opportunities.

The Company is also announcing the appointment of Eric Luk to succeed Mr. Pike as the Chief Financial Officer of the Company, effective immediately. Mr. Luk is a CA with over 15 years of financial and management experience, and he is the current Head of Finance of the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, FinFabrik. Previously, he served as the CFO for FORMIA, and prior to that he held financial leadership and management positions with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Swire Pacific (0019.HK) and Cathay Pacific (0293.HK). Mr. Luk began his career as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young in the UK.

Mr. Pike will remain a consultant to the Company to assist with a transition of the CFO duties.

Florian M. Spiegl, CEO states: "I would like to thank Mr. Pike for his invaluable contribution to Hunter in a period of change from an oil and gas E&P company to a technology player in digital commodities marketplaces. The move of Eric Luk into the CFO position will further support the integration of the FinFabrik technology group, while providing a seamless transition of duties. I am pleased that we demonstrate our ability to develop our management team from within the company and have such a dynamic leader take on responsibility as CFO."

Hunter is deeply indebted to Mr. Pike and wishes him well in all his future endeavours.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Florian M Spiegl

Chief Executive Officer

+1 (604) 757-3169

For further information, visit our website at www.huntertechnology.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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86231
The eBook Helps Couples Who are Going Through a Separation or Divorce

CAIRNS CITY, AUSTRALIA / ACCESSWIRE / June 2, 2021 / Collier Family Lawyers Cairns is proud to announce the release of a new and free eBook "The 9 Steps of Negotiating a Property Settlement." Written by Nardine Collier, owner of Collier Family Lawyers Cairns and an Accredited Specialist in Family Law for 23-plus years, the new eBook seeks to help people to sort out their property after separation and divorce.

To download a copy of the eBook, please visit https://collierfamilylaw.com.au/the-9-steps-book/

"I remember when I separated, I found the process of dividing property and trying to reach a fair agreement, distressing and overwhelming. I was a trained Family Lawyer, so I knew what to do, but how on earth would a layperson know?" says Nardine. "I wrote this eBook to help Cairns residents understand the law, the formula, and the procedure so that they can avoid the courts, where a great deal of legal fees are required."

The book will teach readers helpful tips, including:

The nine steps of negotiating a property settlement

The law of property division

Determining what property is worth

Putting a proposal forward and negotiating

Filing and getting it all finished

How to save money on lawyer fees

Divorce with dignity

The free eBook is presented in a simple to understand manner to help make this emotionally difficult process easier. "People are most welcome to book a complimentary initial consultation with the law firm, should they want additional help or hand-holding throughout the process," added a spokesperson.

About Collier Family Lawyers Cairns:

Need Family Lawyers in Cairns? And looking to keep the issue out of costly court proceedings, in order to settle the dispute as quickly and as affordably as possible? The team at Collier Family Lawyers Cairns can help. They know that money is tight, and that their clients want the best legal advice possible. This is why they offer affordable rates and flexible payment options. For more information, please visit https://collierfamilylaw.com.au/.

Collier Family Lawyers Cairns

Suite 1/132 Collins Ave

Cairns City QLD 4870

Australia

07 4214 5666

CONTACT:

Nardine Collier

nardine@collierlawyers.com.au

07 4214 5666

SOURCE: Collier Family Lawyers Cairns

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/650186/Collier-Family-Lawyers-Cairns-Announces-the-Release-of-New-eBook-The-9-Steps-of-Negotiating-a-Property-Settlement
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Blue Thunder Mining Inc. (TSXV: BLUE) (OTCQB: BLTMF) ("Blue Thunder" or "the Company") announces that it has granted 250,000 stock options to Mr. Jean Francois Metail, newly appointed as Senior Technical Advisor, to acquire common shares in the capital of the Company. The options have an exercise price of $0.055 per share, have a five-year term from the date of grant and vest as to one-half on the date of grant and one-half on the 6-month anniversary therefrom.

Mr. Metail will lead the development and growth of Blue Thunder and the Muus Project going forward.

Mr. Chad Williams will step down as Interim CEO and remains Executive Chairman and Director of the Company.

About Blue Thunder

Blue Thunder is a gold-focused company that controls 100% of a large land position near Chibougamau, Quebec. The Muus Project covers approximately 52,000 hectares in five separate blocks of prospective ground in the eastern part of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt. The Project is considered particularly prospective for gold mineralization, as a series of prominent ductile and brittle fault-sets transect the Property, including the Guercheville and Fancamp deformation zones, both of which are associated with numerous past and currently producing precious- and base-metal mines in the District.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Chad Williams, Executive Chairman and Director

Blue Thunder Mining Inc.

401 Bay Street, Suite 2704, P.O. Box 4, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 2Y4

(647) 848-1009

"Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release."

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86257
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Sarah Armstrong-Montoya, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cordoba Minerals Corp. (TSXV: CDB) (OTCQB: CDBMF) (otherwise "Cordoba" or the "Company") announces that Cordoba has closed the first tranche of its previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Offering") ( refer to Cordoba's news release dated May 20, 2021). In connection with the closing of this tranche of the Offering, the Company has issued an aggregate of 1,823,685 common shares of the Company (the "Common Shares") to its majority shareholder, Ivanhoe Electric Inc. ("Ivanhoe Electric"; previously High Power Exploration Inc.1) at a price of $1.10 per Common Share, for gross proceeds of $2,006,053.50 (the "Lead Order").

Cordoba's second largest shareholder, JCHX Mining Management Co., Ltd. ("JCHX"), intends to purchase an amount of Common Shares that increases its shareholding to a 19.99% interest in the Company on an undiluted basis (the "JCHX Tranche"). The closing of the JCHX Tranche is expected to occur in early June 2021.

Net proceeds from the Offering will be used to continue fieldwork supporting the Pre-Feasibility Study at the Company's 100%-owned Alacran Copper-Gold-Silver Project in Colombia ( refer to Cordoba's news releases dated March 31, 2021 and May 13, 2021) and for general corporate purposes.

The Common Shares are being offered pursuant to exemptions from the prospectus requirements and are subject to a four month and one day hold period expiring on October 3, 2021. Closing of the Offering is expected to be completed in tranches and is subject to final approval by the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company did not pay any finder's fees in relation to the Lead Order, but may pay eligible finders assisting in the Offering a fee in cash and/or securities equal to up to 6% of the gross proceeds raised by such finders.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (U.S. Securities Act) or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

The Lead Order and JCHX Tranche (collectively, the "Related Party Participation"), constitute a "related party transaction" under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") as Ivanhoe Electric and JCHX are related parties of Cordoba given their greater than 10% beneficial shareholding. Pursuant to Section 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, the Company is exempt from obtaining a formal valuation and minority approval of the Company's shareholders in respect of the Offering due to the fair market value of the Related Party Participation being below 25% of the Company's market capitalization for purposes of MI 61-101. The Company will file a material change report in respect of the closing of the Offering. However, the material change report will be filed less than 21 days prior to the closing of the Offering, which is consistent with market practice and the Company deems reasonable in the circumstances.

About Cordoba

Cordoba Minerals Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on the exploration, development and acquisition of copper and gold projects. Cordoba is developing its 100%-owned San Matias Copper-Gold-Silver Project, which includes the Alacran Deposit and satellite deposits at Montiel East, Montiel West and Costa Azul, located in the Department of Cordoba, Colombia. Cordoba also holds a 25% interest in the Perseverance Copper Project in Arizona, USA, which it is exploring through a Joint Venture and Earn-In Agreement. For further information, please visit www.cordobaminerals.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE COMPANY

Sarah Armstrong-Montoya, President and Chief Executive Officer

Information Contact

Investor Relations +1-604-689-8765

info@cordobamineralscorp.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements included in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements including, without limitation, statements with respect to the Offering; timing and completion of the JCHX Tranche; receipt of applicable approvals; the Pre-Feasibility Study work ongoing at Alacran; completion of a Pre-Feasibility Study; and use of proceeds. Forward-looking statements include predictions, projections and forecasts and are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "potential", "target", "budget" and "intend" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could" or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions and includes the negatives thereof.

Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by management based on the business and markets in which the Company operates, are inherently subject to significant operational, economic, and competitive uncertainties, risks and contingencies. These include assumptions regarding, among other things: the status of community relations and the security situation on site; general business and economic conditions; the availability of additional exploration and mineral project financing; the supply and demand for, inventories of, and the level and volatility of the prices of metals; relationships with strategic partners; the timing and receipt of governmental permits and approvals; the timing and receipt of community and landowner approvals; changes in regulations; political factors; the accuracy of the Company's interpretation of drill results; the geology, grade and continuity of the Company's mineral deposits; the availability of equipment, skilled labour and services needed for the exploration and development of mineral properties; currency fluctuations; and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results, and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include a deterioration of security on site or actions by the local community that inhibits access and/or the ability to productively work on site, actual exploration results, interpretation of metallurgical characteristics of the mineralization, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, uninsured risks, regulatory changes, delays or inability to receive required approvals, unknown impact related to potential business disruptions stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak, or another infectious illness, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators, including those described under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's most recently filed MD&A. The Company does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable law.

1 On April 30, 2021, High Power Exploration Inc. ("HPX"), the Company's privately owned parent, transferred its rights and assets, including its majority interest in Cordoba, to its affiliate company, Ivanhoe Electric under a contribution agreement. Accordingly, Ivanhoe Electric is now the directly registered majority shareholder of Cordoba, and holds approximately 60.12% of the Company's issued and outstanding common shares as of closing of the first tranche of the Offering.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86236
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 2, 2021) - Crosswinds Holdings Inc. (TSX: CWI) (the "Company") announces the resignation of Ms. Jessica Whitton as a director of the Company, effective immediately. The Company wishes to thank Ms. Whitton for her contribution to the Company and wishes her all the best in her future endeavors.

The Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Chris Irwin as a director of the Company. Mr. Irwin practices securities and corporate/commercial law and is the managing partner of Irwin Lowy LLP focused on securities and corporate/commercial law. Mr. Irwin represents several public companies on a variety of matters including continuous disclosure and regulatory matters, reverse takeover transactions, initial public offerings and takeover bids. Mr. Irwin is also an officer and/or director of several public companies.

For further information, please contact:

Trumbull Fisher

Chief Executive Officer & Director

Email: trumbullgfisher@gmail.com

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "would", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is provided, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86293
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Australia will on Thursday release April numbers for imports, exports, trade balance and retail sales, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. Retail sales are expected to rise 1.1 percent on month, slowing from 1.3 percent in March. The trade surplus is pegged at A$7.9 billion, up from A$5.574 billion a month earlier. In March, imports rose 4.0 percent on month and exports fell 2.0 percent. Australia also will see May results for the services and composite PMIs from Markit Economics, as well as the Performance of Construction Index from AiG. In April, the services index was at 58.8, the composite came in at 58.9 and the construction index was at 59.1. China will release May results for the services and composite PMIs from Caixin; in April, their scores were 56.3 and 54.7, respectively. Japan will see final May results for the services and composite PMIs from Jibun bank; in April, their scores were 49.5 and 51.0, respectively. Hong Kong and Singapore will provide May results for their private sector PMIs from Markit Economics; in April, their scores were 50.3 and 51.8, respectively. Finally, the stock markets in Thailand are closed on Thursday in honor of Queen Suthida's birthday and will re-open on Friday. 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.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - PVH Corp. (PVH) on Wednesday raised its outlook for fiscal year 2021. Earnings per share is now expected at $5.50 from the earlier estimate of $5.00, while adjusted earnings per share has been raised to $6.50 from the earlier projection of $6.00.



Full-year revenues is expected to increase 24-26 percent in comparison to last year. On a constant currency basis, the increase is 21-23 percent.



Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $6.16 per share on revenues of $8.87 billion in the year ahead.



The company also provided outlook for the second quarter. In that period, PVH expects earnings per share between $0.79 and $0.82. On an adjusted basis, earnings per share are projected between $1.15 and $1.18.



Quarterly revenues are expected to rise 34-36 percent compared to last year. On a constant currency basis, the increase is 29-31 percent.



Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $1.22 per share on revenues of $2.1 billion during the quarter.



Separately, PVH also announced certain leadership changes to its global organization. Mike Shaffer, Chief Operating and Financial Officer will step down from his post in September and an external search has been announced for his successor.



Cheryl Abel-Hodges will step down as Chief Executive Officer of Calvin Klein and move to an advisory position with effect from July 1 through February 2022. Trish Donnelly, CEO, PVH Americas, will take full global leadership responsibility for the business.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

PVH-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de
The B.1.617 variant was first detected in India and was divided in three lineages. (Photo: Representational/PTI)

United Nations: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said only B.1.617.2, one of the three strains of the B.1.617 COVID-19 variant first detected in India, is a variant of concern now and noted that lower rates of transmission have been observed for the other two lineages.

The B.1.617 variant was first detected in India and was divided in three lineages - B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3.

In the COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update published on Tuesday, WHO said available findings for lineages B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.2 were initially used to designate B.1.617 a global Variant of Concern (VOC) on May 11 this year.

Since then, it has become evident that greater public health risks are currently associated with B.1.617.2, while lower rates of transmission of other lineages have been observed, WHO said.

The UN health agency said that in order to reflect this updated information, B.1.617 has been delineated.

B.1.617.2 remains a VOC and labelled variant Delta  we continue to observe significantly increased transmissibility and a growing number of countries reporting outbreaks associated with this variant. Further studies into the impact of this variant remain a high priority for WHO.

The Delta variant has now been reported in 62 countries around the world as of June 1, the update said.

It added that the B.1.617.1 strain has been reclassified to a Variant of Interest (VOI) and labelled variant Kappa. While Kappa is also demonstrating increased transmissibility (in specified locations), global prevalence appears to be declining. This variant will continue to be monitored and reassessed regularly.

The B.1.617.3 lineage is "no longer classified as either a VOI or VOC  relatively few reports of this variant have been submitted to date.

On Monday, the WHO announced the new naming system for key COVID19 variants and the labels are based on the Greek alphabet (i.e. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc), making them simple, easy to say and remember.

The labels do not replace existing scientific names, which convey important scientific information & will continue to be used in research. The naming system aims to prevent calling #COVID19 variants by the places where they are detected, which is stigmatising & discriminatory, WHO said in a tweet.

WHO said that as the global public health risks posed by specific COVID19 variants becomes better understood and evolves, it will continue to update the list of global VOIs and VOCs.

This is necessary to adjust to the emergence of new variants, their changing epidemiology (e.g., the incidence of some variants is rapidly declining), and our understanding of their phenotypic impacts as new evidence becomes available and is shared.

Variants no longer classified as VOCs or VOIs will continue to be monitored as part of the overall evolution of SARS-CoV-2, and may be reassessed pending new evidence indicating an increased public health risk, WHO said.

The update further said that India reported the highest numbers of new COVID-19 cases in the past week at 1,364,668, a 26 per cent decrease compared to the previous week. Other countries reporting the highest numbers of new cases are Brazil (420,981 new cases; 7 per cent decrease), Argentina (219,910 new cases; 3 per cent increase), the United States of America (153,587 new cases; 18 per cent decrease), and Colombia (150,517 new cases; 40 per cent increase).

The South-East Asia Region reported over 1.5 million new cases and over 29,000 new deaths, a 24 per cent and an 8 per cent decrease respectively compared to the previous week.

Case incidence continued to follow a sharp decline for a third consecutive week, and death incidence decreased for the first time since early March 2021, primarily driven by trends reported in India, the update said.

In the South-East Asia Region, the highest numbers of new deaths were reported from India (26,706 new deaths; 1.9 new deaths per 100,000; an 8 per cent decrease), Indonesia (1057 new deaths; 0.4 new deaths per 100,000; a 15 per cent decrease), and Nepal (1010 new deaths; 3.5 new deaths per 100,000; a 22 per cent decrease).

Globally, the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths continues to decrease, with over 3.5 million new cases and 78,000 new deaths reported globally in the past week; a 15 per cent and 7 per cent decrease respectively, compared to the previous week, the update said.

The European and South-East Asia Regions reported the largest decline in new cases and deaths in the past week, while case incidence increased in the African and Western Pacific regions. Although the number of global cases and deaths continued to decrease for a fifth and fourth consecutive week respectively, case and death incidences remain at high levels and significant increases have been reported in many countries in all regions, the WHO update said.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / June 2, 2021 / Thunder River Enterprises Inc. ("Thunder River" or the "Company") announces that that effective June 1, 2021 the Company's common shares (the "Common Shares") were consolidated on the basis of one (1) new Common Share for every eight (8) Common Shares outstanding (the "Consolidation"). The shareholders of the Company approved the Consolidation at its annual and special meeting of shareholders held on January 4, 2021 (the "Shareholders Meeting"). The board is implementing the Consolidation in order to increase its flexibility with respect to potential business transactions. Prior to giving effect to the Consolidation there were 50,460,440 Common Shares outstanding and after giving effect to the Consolidation, the Company now has approximately 6,307,555 Common Shares issued and outstanding. Letters of transmittal with respect to the Consolidation will be sent to the shareholders of the Company. Copies of the letter of transmittal may be obtained from Computershare Trust Company of Canada ("Computershare"), the registrar and transfer agent of the Company, by contacting Computershare by telephone at 1-800-564-6253. The Company's name will remain unchanged. The CUSIP number for the post-Consolidation Common Shares is 886048206. Further details regarding the Consolidation are contained in the Company's management information circular dated November 30, 2020, which has been filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

About Thunder River

Thunder River was incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) and has never carried on an active business other than the identification and evaluation of assets or businesses with a view to completing a transaction.

For further information contact:

Thunder River Enterprises Inc.

Attention: Scott Kellaway, Chief Executive Officer

Phone: (807) 577-6463

E-mail: skfmi@tbaytel.net

SOURCE: Thunder River Enterprises Inc

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/650207/Thunder-River-Enterprises-Announces-Implementation-of-Share-Consolidation
Cognigy, a Dusseldorf, Germany-based provider of a Conversational AI platform for omnichannel Customer and Employee Service Automation, raised $44m in Series B funding.

The round was led by Insight Partners with participation from DN Capital, Global Brain, Nordic Makers, Inventures and Digital Innovation and Growth. As part of the round, Insight Partners Managing Director Teddie Wardi will join Cognigys Board of Directors.

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its global customer growth, create new partnerships, and continue to enhance its platform capabilities for companies to speed up enterprise-grade AI adoption.

Founded in 2016 by Philipp Heltewig, CEO, Cognigy provides a Conversational AI platform to support customer service automation. Its lowcode platform, Cognigy.AI, enables enterprises to automate contact centers for customer and

employee communications using intelligent voice- and chatbots. The company is available in SaaS and on-premise environments and supports conversations in any language and on any channel including phone, webchat, SMS and mobile apps.

Customers now include global brands such as Lufthansa, Mobily, BioNTech, Vueling Airlines, Bosch, and Daimler, among others.

FinSMEs

02/06/2021
Synctera, a San Francisco, CA-based solution for partnership banking at scale, raised $33M in Series A funding.

The round, which brought total funding raised to date to $45.4M, was led by Fin VC, with participation from Mastercard and Gaingels, and follow-on investments from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Diagram Ventures, SciFi Ventures and Scribble Ventures, and strategic angel investors including Omri Dahan (Chief Revenue Officer, Marqeta), Nuno Sebastiao (Chairman and CEO, Feedzai), Tim Sheehan (Co-Founder and CEO, Greenlight), and more.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations hiring for roles across engineering, product and sales, accelerate the development of its product roadmap, and prepare for a future international expansion.

Launched in 2020 by CEO Peter Hazlehurst, former head of Uber Money, head of Google Wallet and CPO at Yodlee, as well as CTO Kris Hansen and Head of Product Dominik Weisserth, Synctera is building a SaaS based partnership banking marketplace connecting community banks with FinTech platforms that need a licensed partner to operate in the US. The platform allows banks to streamline day-to-day reconciliation, operations and regulatory compliance and FinTechs to launch via a one-stop-shop API.

The company is also onboarding new customers, such as Lineage Bank, a new community bank, and Ellevest, a new FinTech collaborating with Coastal Community Bank, which onboarded in May 2021.

For visual assets, founder bios and headshots, FAQ and more, please access the media kit here.

ABOUT SYNCTERA

ABOUT FIN VC

Fin Venture Capital is focused on Enterprise SaaS FinTech companies and specific theses within six sub-sectors: Embedded Finance, Asset Management/Capital Markets, CFO Tech Stack, InsureTech, Blockchain Enterprise Applications, and Enabling Tech/Infrastructure. Fin VC principally focuses on the US and EU/UK. As former corporate and start-up operators, the Fin VC team takes an active value-added approach, leveraging its Operating Playbook to steward its portfolio companies with business development, capital formation, corporate development, board advisory and talent sourcing. For more information, please visit finvc.co.

ABOUT THE CAP TABLE COALITIONThe Cap Table Coalition is a partnership between high-growth startups, emerging investors and fund managers who want to work to close the racial wealth gap. Its mission is to diversify the VC ecosystem by creating investment opportunities for Black, Latinx, LGBTQ+, women and other traditionally marginalized investors. A growing list of committed startups includes Finix, Synctera, Orum and more, with investment community members featuring Qiana Patterson (Tamaa Capital), Roman Leal (Lead Global Partners), Camden McRae (Matador Ventures), Marcos Gonzalez (Vamos Ventures) and Luis Robles (Viento Ventures). The Cap Table Coalition was inspired by the Act One Diversity Rider for VCs and Finixs unique fundraising efforts to diversify startup cap tables via Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs). For more information, please visit www.captablecoalition.com.
Tampa, FL (33646)

Today

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 76F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 76F. Winds light and variable.
 Unlimited website access 24/7

 Unlimited e-Edition access 24/7

 The best local, regional and national news in sports, politics, business and more!

With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime.
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to submit the blueprint of how the government was going to administer the Covid-19 vaccine to all those who are above the age of 18 and to submit the details of how many vaccines it had ordered from the manufacturers globally for state needs.

The court also ordered the authorities to issue fresh government orders (GOs) by fixing the price cap to Covid-related services at private hospitals, diagnostic centres, medical equipment and others.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy, was told by director of Telangana state public health G. Srinivasa Rao, that the state was the frontrunner in procuring the vaccines directly from manufacturers by calling global tenders. He also submitted that two vaccine manufacturers, Russia's Sputnik and Oxfords AstraZeneca positively responded to states bidding.

The court was told that within a few days after June 4, the bids would be finalised and the government was making efforts to vaccinate the 1.84 crore population belonging to the age groups between 18 and 44.

The court then directed Srinivas Rao to submit an action plan and details of how many vaccines were ordered by the Telangana state. All details should be given about the time period of the vaccination and how it was going to administer the vaccines in rural areas, particularly in tribal and scheduled areas.

All details must be reported to the court by June 10. The government submitted to the court that 37 lakhs people above the age of 45 years were yet to get their first shot of the vaccine, whereas only 12.86 lakhs had taken two doses out of the 92 lakhs in Telangana, who are above the age of 45 years.

The same division bench also added that as several complaints were reported about fleecing of Covid patients by private hospitals, the government should fix the price cap. It said that fresh GOs should be submitted to the court by June 10, the court said, adding that If the government was reluctant to issue the fresh GOs, then the principal secretary of health should appear before the court and submit the reasons.

On other hand, the court was unhappy with the health departments decision to cancel licences of 22 private hospitals for overcharging patients. The court suggested the government to put control over private Hospitals as the Sword of Damocles on their heads, instead of delisting them from providing services.

Considering the proposals put forward by counsel N.S Arjun Kumar, the court suggested the government to initiate criminal proceedings against the private hospitals which overcharge the patients and impose a penalty 10 times higher than the overcharged amount, instead of cancelling their licenses.

The bench was dealing with PILs related to the management of Covid -19 in Telangana. The Director of Public Health appeared virtually before the court and replied to several queries posed by the court. He explained that a total amount of around Rs 3 crore had been returned by the private hospitals to some of the victims of exorbitant charges.

He also submitted that Telangana had enough medicines to deal with the black fungus cases and post-Covid complications. Apart from the ENT Hospital, Gandhi Hospital, MGM Hospital in Warangal and the Government Hospital in Nizamabad have been designated to give treatment to black fungus.

Senior counsel L Ravichander brought to the notice of the court the discrepancies in government websites on bed availability. He explained that even after several hospitals were delisted from the Covid designated hospitals list, the old number of beds were appearing in the website. He also pointed out the non-constitution of a state level experts committee to monitor cases, despite the court orders.

Concerned over a possible third wave, and anticipating its impact on children, Justice Kohli said our future generations, on which we were all going to depend, should be safeguarded from the third wave. She directed the government to file counter, explaining the manner on how it could enhance the paediatric services.
Yes, I have been vaccinated

Not yet, but I plan to get vaccinated

No, I don't want to get vaccinated

Vote

View Results
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. (WALA) -- Gerri Womack Garon said she got a little surprise when she was about to plop down in a comfortable beach chair on the sand in Orange Beach.

Snake!

The reptile -- we're not sure of the species -- was making good use of the provided beach furniture.

Garon wrote on Faceboook:
Uber and Lyft will be able to resume surge pricing in Las Vegas and the rest of Nevada after Gov. Steve Sisolak late Friday ended a ban meant to prevent price gouging during the pandemic.
Many religious organisations, communities and residential colonies have got their senior members along with youngsters to work on registration. (Representational image: PTI)

HYDERABAD: Shortage of vaccines is leading to anxiety. People are queuing up during relaxation hours, hoping that they will get the vaccine. People are roaming around with their Aadhar cards to get themselves registered, as they are not able to do so from the app.

Many religious organisations, communities and residential colonies have got

their senior members along with youngsters to work on registration.

Sai Ramesh, a resident of Malkajgiri said, "I am co-ordinating for more than

500 people in my colony. I am helping senior citizens to download apps and

register. They are trying at different times and some of them get the slot

while others keep on trying. Hardly five people are able to register every

day from the people I am coordinating with."

There are senior citizens, students and also employees in the waiting list

for vaccination.

Dr C.R.K. Prasad said, "In our hospital, we are getting requests from the

neighbourhood but vaccines are not available. I get the stock once a week

and this is over in three days. After that, I have to wait for a week to

apply and then it has to be cleared by district medical and health

officials. It is a long and tedious process."

Corporate hospitals are acquiring stocks for a week and they are also

facilitating registration. There are administration charges of Rs 250 plus the

vaccine cost. Thus, each dose in the corporate hospitals is costing Rs 850 for

Covishield and Rs 1,250 for Covaxin.

The shortage is expected to be till the end of June. After that, there will

be sufficient stocks.

A health official said, Doses cannot be distributed as there is concern

about pilferage, wastage and black marketing. Due to this reason, corporate

registered hospitals are being given preference as they have the cold

storage facility and patients there are paying and taking the vaccine. So,

the supply to them is constant. The small hospitals will be provided with

the vaccine once there is sufficient stock."

Hospitals and community halls are having crowds in the mornings as people

are coming to inquire about vaccines. Those who have got slots are also

found to be waiting as often the number of people is more than the vaccine

doses available.
Yes! I think the restaurants should keep as much outdoor seating as possible  now and after the pandemic ends

It depends on the setup. I like some outdoor options a lot more than others

I always prefer to eat inside the restaurant

I dont really care

Vote

View Results
This image provided by defense attorney Robert Bonsib of MarcusBonsib, LLC, shows FBI agent Eduardo Valdivia, who has been charged with attempted murder in the off-duty shooting of another man on a Metro subway train last year in a Maryland suburb, according to court records unsealed Tuesday. Valdivia turned himself in to local authorities at a county jail Tuesday morning, according to Chief Deputy Maxwell Uy of the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office.
Keep the conversation about local news & events going by joining us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Recent updates from The News-Post and also from News-Post staff members are compiled below.
Fort Wayne, IN (46808)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
William Weber West, 93 of Gainesville, Texas passed away on June 2, 2021. He was born on April 7, 1928 in Atchison, Kansas to Lee West and Elizabeth (Weber) West. He married Mary Ellen Peyrot on May 17, 1951 in Gainesville, Texas. William enlisted in the U.S. Army on January 5, 1951 in Gaine
Galveston, TX (77553)

Today

Mostly clear. Low near 80F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear. Low near 80F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
HYDERABAD: A Hyderabad-based software engineer who had crossed over into Pakistan on his way to meet his lover in Switzerland, and was arrested by the police in Bhawalpur, Pakistan, was repatriated through the Wagah border on Monday.

Waindam Prashant, a resident of Madhapur and a native of Vizag, was brought back to Hyderabad on Tuesday evening, said Cyberabad police commissioner V.C. Sajjanar.

On April 29, 2017, a missing case was lodged at the Madhapur police station by Prashants family. They said he had gone missing on April 11.

Later, a video purportedly posted by him saying that he was in a Pakistani prison while trying to go to Switzerland to meet his girlfriend, was found in social media sites. After the video went viral, his father Babu Rao approached the Cyberabad police and the state and Central governments for help.

After continuous follow up by the Telangana state government with the minister of external affairs and the ministry of home affairs, Prashant was released and handed over to Indian authorities on May 31, who in turn handed over him to Madhapur inspector P. Ravindra Prasad, in Attari, Punjab, said Sajjanar.

Prashant, 32, had allegedly planned to impress the girl he was in love with by walking till Switzerland and showing up at her doorstep. The amateurishly planned adventure cost him four years of his life, he told the Madhapur inspector on his way back to the city.

Prashant could not speak Hindi before his escapade, but came back fluent in the local Urdu dialect and conversed easily with the authorities at the border, said Prasad, adding that the techie said he was overjoyed to speak in Telugu, his mother tongue, after four years.

The IT professional, who was around 28 when he jumped the fence and entered Pakistan, was found by the local authorities without a wallet or a mobile phone. They were very sure that I was a spy connected to RAW, Prashant said.

Prashant had met the girl for whom he crossed the border when he was working in Bengaluru. She was his colleague and was a native of North India who shifted to Switzerland. Hoping that he would win her heart by walking to Switzerland, he took off from home. He was staying with his brother Srikanth in Kukatpally before he left the state, said the Madhapur police inspector.

Prashant said there was a land route to Switzerland via Pakistan which takes about 60 days. Replying to a query in Punjab on Tuesday morning, he claimed he was beaten up by the Pakistani police, but did not want to fault them. He said he was treated well in the Lahore prison.

On Tuesday afternoon, as we were heading back to the city, he asked me in Hindi if we could eat something as he had not eaten anything since morning. After I replied in Telugu that we will stop for lunch, he had this glow in his eyes and was expressing how happy he is to speak in his mother tongue after four years. He shared how he regrets the decisions and how he wasted four years of his prime youth behind a quest of a one-sided love, added the official.

Prashant, while thanking the Telangana government and external affairs ministry for their efforts to bring him back, said he did not expect that he would come back to India so soon. I owe a lot to the Telangana government and the Centre," he said. The family members of Prashant profusely thanked the Telangana government, the Centre and officials for getting Prashant released safely.
Dark Horse Comics has opened a new video game division called Dark Horse Games.

As reported by VentureBeat, Dark Horse Games will operate out of two main offices in Oregon and Shanghai, and will look to create titles through licensing partnerships with third-party developers and its own in-house teams.

The company said it wants to bring some of its 425 universes and characters -- which includes franchises like Hellboy, Umbrella Academy, Lady Killer, Sin City, and 300 -- to the world of games, and indicated it's already in discussions with some of the "world's top gaming companies."

The new division will be led by general manager Johnny B. Lee, who previously oversaw business development and commercial strategy across Northern and Eastern Europe, Korea, SEA and Hollywood at video game technology company, Improbable.

Lee explained Dark Horse Games will take its time "finding the right game development partners for top properties," and indicated he expects plenty of interest in some of the company's flagship franchises.

Internally, the company will task its first-party developers with breathing new life into older and less established series, while also producing multimedia projects to complement those games.

"We have evergreen properties, like Hellboy, where there will always be interest in making games and doing collaborations. We and our partners can really evaluate if a story IP and character universe would be a good fit for games that theyre internally designing and developing," said Lee.

"I think most triple-A devs that Ive talked to prefer their game dev team to build core gameplay and then fit an IP to it, versus shoving an IP down their throats. We're sensitive to that."
In 1955, in motor racings worst disaster, more than 80 people were killed during the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France when two of the cars colli
The city of Corvallis has hired a former department director and a consultant to tackle a study of facilities needs.

Mary Steckel, who retired as public works director last September, is back on the city payroll on a part-time basis and is serving as the project manager for the work.

Makers Architecture and Urban Design of Seattle is being paid $175,000 to assist the city with the review of its facilities. Included are City Hall and the other public buildings in which city employees work, such as the Public Works Department compound on Northeast Third Street and the Parks and Recreation operation in Avery Park.

The city has not done proactive planning to address our facility needs for a long time, said City Manager Mark Shepard, who has been advocating for increased attention to facilities during this springs budget process.

So we are pretty far behind in taking care of our facility needs. Having appropriate, energy-efficient and safe facilities is an important component of making sure the city is able to effectively deliver services to our community.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}
An analysis in The New York Times in April noted that more than 140 reforms had been enacted in more than 30 states. But it said that many of the laws are seen as weak and inadequate by reformers, who say they do little to address many police leaders' resistance to accountability.

Reformers are also frustrated by what's happening at the federal level. Hopes that a bipartisan coalition would emerge to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act were dashed in March when it narrowly got through the House on a near-party-line vote. It has now stalled in the Senate. It would have given local police agencies financial incentives to stop using chokeholds, banned "no knock" warrants that often end in tragedy and, most controversially, limited the "qualified immunity" that police have from lawsuits over actions while on duty.

The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board has long backed police reforms but has been reluctant to support changes in qualified immunity. The concept of it may be suspect because it was based on a maddeningly vague 1967 U.S. Supreme Court ruling covering all public officials, not federal law. But the idea animating the protection  that police have an extraordinarily difficult job and deserve some deference  is not readily dismissed.
The second photo depicts his grandparents in Hayti, Missouri, where they were sharecroppers and teachers, plus his father, four siblings and a neighbor. Frederick said they left Mississippi because of restrictions on teaching Black children to read.

"They moved to Missouri, where they could get books," he said. "Of course, the books were the books that had been thrown out by the white schools, but they were books. The hope continues to this day, and so does the skepticism. The two dance together in our time."

The third photo depicts Frederick as a boy marching with his mother, his sister and others in Atlanta, most likely in the 1960s. He is holding a sign protesting the jailing of Ashton Jones, a white Quaker minister who was a close associate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader.

"This was one of the many demonstrations we were in Atlanta when I was growing up," he said. "The Jim Crow South still did not recognize the idea of the Emancipation Proclamation."
The government is now struggling to fund its welfare schemes and development programmes forcing the state Cabinet to take a decision on May 30 to sell off government lands and housing board houses and flats to raise at least Rs 30,000 crore this year. (Photo: Twitter @TelanganaCMO)

HYDERABAD: Telangana state has completed seven years of its formation and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, seven years in power on Wednesday.

Though the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) government made rapid strides in agriculture, irrigation, power, industries sectors, welfare schemes etc in

the past seven years, it is facing a major challenge of keeping state

finances in order due to the Covid-induced financial crisis in its seventh

year.

On the political front, TRS and Chandrashekar Rao emerged stronger by

sweeping Graduate MLC polls, Warangal, Khammam corporation polls and

Nagarjunasagar bypoll recently though they faced minor setbacks in GHMC

polls and Dubbak bypoll in 2020-end.

The government is now struggling to fund its welfare schemes and development programmes forcing the state Cabinet to take a decision on May 30 to sell off government lands and housing board houses and flats to raise at least Rs 30,000 crore this year.

Telangana state came into existence on June 2, 2014 as a 'revenue-surplus

state' giving ample scope for the Chief Minister to spend over Rs 50,000

crore on welfare schemes per year and launch a slew of development projects by spending lakhs of crores of rupees.

In the process, Chandrashekar Rao created a record of making Telangana the

only state to provide tap water to every household through Mission

Bhagiratha, 24x7 free power supply to farmers, 10,000 per acre per year to

60 lakh farmers totalling to over Rs14,000 crore per year towards Rythu

Bandhu, Rs 5 lakh free insurance for farmers under Rythu Bima, Rs 2,000 crore per year for Aasara pensions, Rs1 per kg rice, Rs1 lakh financial assistance to perform marriage of daughters under Kalyana Laxmi and Shaadi Mubarak with an outlay of Rs 2,750 crore, distribution of sheep and the list goes on.

The government could spend nearly Rs 1 lakh crore for Kaleshwaram, the world's largest lift irrigation project in just two years. In the agriculture sector, Telangana witnessed phenomenal food grains production of over 1 crore metric tonnes and stands second only to Punjab in the country.

However, Covid outbreak and subsequent lockdown since March 2020 has pushed state government into an unprecedented financial crisis for the first time after formation of the state. It fell short by nearly Rs 50,000 crore in

achieving its budgetary target of Rs 1.83 lakh crore in 2020-21. Despite this,

the government presented an ambitious budget of Rs 2.30 lakh crore for 2021-22 with a belief that Covid would subside but the second wave and subsequent night curfew, lockdown since April 20 added to the financial woes of state government.

Though the Chief Minister announced new PRC for government employees from April, it could not be implemented so far due to fund crunch causing

resentment among staff. Bills worth Rs 25,000 crore are pending with the

treasuries department for want of funds.

The government is relying on auction of bonds for now to run the show. It

already raised Rs 3,000 crore in April, Rs 3,500 crore in May and Rs 1,000 crore on June 1 amounting to Rs 7,500 crore in the very first three months of this fiscal.
All the firefighters worked at the small station in Agua Dulce, a rural community of about 3,000 people in the desert of northern Los Angeles County known for its rock formations and panoramic views.

The shooting comes less than a week after a gunman killed nine of his co-workers at a rail yard in San Jose after rigging his home to burn down. He killed himself Wednesday after expressing hatred for his workplace for years.

The man who died in Tuesday's shooting at the fire station was a more than 20-year veteran who had been promoted to firefighter specialist, the person who drives the firetruck, officials said. He was shot multiple times in the upper torso, according to authorities.

The fire chief says family and co-workers described the victim, who was not identified, as truly dedicated, one of our better firefighters and a true loss to our department.

As fire chief, I never thought when our firefighters face danger, they would face that danger at one of our community fire stations, Osby said.

Neighbors watched black smoke pouring from the burned house in the nearby community of Acton, a dry, hilly area dotted with ranches with horses and other livestock. The fire burned for hours, gutting the home, with helicopters making multiple water drops to douse it.
This is a community calendar. To accommodate demand for the print edition, we ask that items be brief and include time, date, place, address, admission cost and a contact number for publication. Inclusion of items is at the discretion of the newspaper. Further information is available at 541-812-6078 or jane.stoltz@lee.net.

Assistance

THURSDAY

Food distribution, by appointment, food pantry, North Corvallis Ministry Center, 5050 NE Elliott Circle. Call 541-220-1040 to arrange a time to pick up a box of food.

Food pantry for veterans and active military members and their families, American Legion Post 10, 1215 Pacific Blvd. SE, Albany. Call 541-926-0127 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays for more information.

Corvallis School District free grab-and-go breakfast, lunch and supper for all children 18 years old or under, 11 a.m. to noon, Corvallis High School, 1400 NW Buchanan Ave. (enter at 16th Street). Meal pre-order available. Information: 541-757-5859 or csd509j.net.
Days before it was scheduled to go to trial, Pumpers & Mitchells has a settlement with the city of Whitewater to have its liquor license renewed for the next year but serve a two-month suspension in the fall.
Emergency responders gather at the scene of a shooting where a mass shooting was reported. (Photo: AFP)

SAN JOSE: A public transit worker shot dead eight people at a California rail yard Wednesday before turning his gun on himself as police arrived, officials said, in the latest mass shooting to hit the United States.

Multiple victims were also wounded in the attack at the train maintenance compound in San Jose, just south of San Francisco, which has once again shone a spotlight on the country's raging gun control debate.

"What the hell is wrong with us, and when are we going to come to grips with this?" said California Governor Gavin Newsom at a press conference, where he praised the swift response of law enforcement.

Law enforcement officers had rushed to investigate multiple early morning 911 calls reporting gunshots, and entered the compound during an "active shooting," said Russell Davis, a Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputy.

They did not exchange gunfire with the shooter, who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

"I know for sure that when the suspect knew that law enforcement was there he took his own life," said Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith. "Our deputies were right there at that time."

Bomb squads were deployed after dogs detected "some type of explosives material at the crime scene," Davis said.

US President Joe Biden called the incident a "horrific tragedy" and ordered flags to be flown at half-staff, saying in a statement: "There are at least eight families who will never be whole again."

"Once again, I urge Congress to take immediate action and heed the call of the American people, including the vast majority of gun owners, to help end this epidemic of gun violence in America.

"Every life that is taken by a bullet pierces the soul of our nation. We can, and we must, do more."

'Horrific'

The suspect -- identified by multiple media outlets as Samuel Cassidy -- was an employee of the Valley Transportation Authority, which provides rail and bus services for San Jose, a Silicon Valley tech hub of almost a million people.

Victims including VTA employees were found shot in two different buildings on the site. The authority's chairman Glenn Hendricks called the shooting a "horrible tragedy."

Dozens of police cars and fire engines lining the streets near the rail yard were joined at the scene by FBI officials. Special agent Craig Fair warned the "fairly sizable crime scene" would take a significant amount of time to process.

Nearby, anxious families of employees waited at a county building for word about the safety their relatives.

"This is a very dark moment for our city and for our community," said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo.

Many of those killed or wounded were essential workers who had "helped us get through this horrific pandemic" by keeping public transport operating, he added.

San Jose police were also investigating a house fire believed to be linked to the shooting. According to multiple US media reports, the blaze began at the suspect's home shortly before the attack.

The shooter's ex-wife Cecilia Nelms told the Bay Area News Group that Cassidy had "often spoke angrily about his co-workers and bosses, and at times directed his anger at her."

An ex-girlfriend additionally accused him of raping and abusing her, often during violent "mood swings," according to court records cited by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Local officials said the shooting -- which was initially reported before 7:00 am local time (1400 GMT) -- had taken place at an employee meeting, with at least 80 staff on site at the time.

A vigil in honor of the victims has been scheduled for Thursday at 6:00 pm local time at San Jose's City Hall Plaza, according to Liccardo.

Gun 'epidemic'

The United States has a long and painful history of deadly gun violence, in the form of a steady daily toll of shootings as well as high-profile mass killings that have targeted schools, work places and shopping centers.

Homicides, mostly gun-driven, have surged in the US over the past year.

Mass shootings have occurred in recent months at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, an office building in California, a grocery store in Colorado and at several spas in Atlanta.

In August 2019, another mass shooting in the Bay Area left two children and a 25-year-old man dead at a garlic festival in Gilroy, around 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of San Jose.

Biden last month branded US gun violence an "epidemic" and an "international embarrassment."

There were more than 43,000 gun-related deaths in the United States last year, including suicides, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
FILE In this file photo taken on Friday, April 26, 2019, A Russian Air Force Tu-214 flies over Offutt Air Force Base, Friday, April 26, 2019, in Omaha, Neb. The flight is allowed as part of the Open Skies Treaty. The Russian upper house the Federation Council debate and vote on the withdrawal from an international treaty allowing surveillance flights over military facilities following the U.S. departure from the pact.


Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
The Premier Agency is Recruiting New Insurance Agents in Arizona and Utah, and Matching Their Marketing Budget Dollar-For-Dollar
China's Security Council presidency fruitful, warmly applauded

Xinhua) 10:25, June 02, 2021

UNITED NATIONS, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Feeling somewhat exhausted after working long hours as the president of the United Nations Security Council during the full month of May, China's United Nations (UN) Ambassador Zhang Jun told reporters on the last day of China's presidency that the month had been fruitful.

The ambassador said the council had held 31 meetings during the month, three of which were at the high level of foreign ministers. The council also adopted the annual Security Council report and four resolutions, as well as two presidential statements, six presidential press statements, and two press elements.

Two in-person meetings made China's Council presidency even more special as the council chamber remained unoccupied for several months.

"The council discussed issues on the agenda and responded quickly to the tensions in the Middle East in order to practice true multilateralism with real actions and push the Security Council to give play to the important role of maintaining international peace and security," the ambassador said.

Zhang expressed appreciation to "all friends for their support and help" through his Twitter account and reaffirmed China's determination to practice true multilateralism. "China will continue to fulfil its responsibilities," he said.

Safeguarding and practicing true multilateralism have been the "keynote" of China's presidency of the Security Council, which is a concrete manifestation of President Xi Jinping's important thought and concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind and China's foreign policy, Zhang told the press.

The world today is marked by changes and a pandemic unseen in a century, he said. "The international situation is complex and regional hotspot issues keep cropping up. The international community generally expects the Security Council to strengthen unity and cooperation and play a greater role."

"China has never been absent in supporting true multilateralism and the work of the United Nations, and will not be absent in the future," Zhang said.

Noting that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the lawful seat of the People's Republic of China in the UN, Zhang said that "it is of great significance for China to assume the rotating presidency of the Security Council for May at such an important historical moment."

"China attaches great importance to the presidency," said the ambassador.

It was the second time that Zhang has presided over the council since he became the top Chinese UN official in 2019.

In March last year, when Zhang chaired the council for the first time, he persuaded council members to move online in a timely manner so that the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions on member states could normally perform its duties when the globe was forced to enter a lockdown mode.

At the in-person wrap-up session of China's presidency of the Security Council on Friday, Ethiopia expressed its gratitude "for the unique place accorded to challenges facing Africa."

"We commended the China mission to the UN for a successful presidency at a time of complex challenges to global peace and security," Ethiopia's UN mission tweeted.

Pascale Baeriswyl, the Swiss permanent representative to the UN, also tweeted her congratulations to China's UN mission for a "successful" Security Council presidency during an "intense month."

The Swiss ambassador welcomed the timely adoption of the annual report to the UN General Assembly, and praised the "urgently needed focus on protection of civilians," and the "discussions on new technologies."

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Hongyu)
You asked. We listened. Your daily crossword, Sudoku and dozens of other puzzles are now available online. Play them or print them here.

Play now
NAPPANEE [mdash] Daniel F. Chupp, 89 of Nappanee, Indiana, died at 9:46 a.m. Thursday, June 10, 2021 at Goshen General Hospital. Cremation will take place and a memorial service will be held at a later date.
FILE - In this April 20, 2021 file image from video, former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, center, is taken into custody as his attorney, Eric Nelson, left, looks on, after the verdicts were read at Chauvin's trial for the 2020 death of George Floyd, at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minn. Chauvin, convicted of murder in the death of Floyd is scheduled to make his initial appearance via videoconference, Tuesday, June 1, 2021, on federal charges that he violated Floyd's civil rights when he placed his knee on the Black man's neck, pinning him to the street.
Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email circulation@skagitpublishing.com for help creating one.
On weekday mornings, enticing whiffs of bacon and fried potatoes waft from Wanda Js Next Generation restaurant in Tulsas Greenwood neighborhood. The smell of breakfast on the griddle offers a comforting contrast to the sound of big rigs and commuter traffic roaring by on the Interstate 244 overpass that cleaves the neighborhood in two.At first glance, the Greenwood section of Tulsa doesnt look much different from places in other cities where, in the name of urban renewal, new highways were erected in the 1960s, obliterating or dividing minority neighborhoods. Around the corner from Wanda Js, there are signs of a revitalization effort -- or of gentrification, depending on whom you ask. A sign on an empty lot promises a future mixed-use development; a two-story historic building nearby has already been renovated with retail on the ground floor that includes a combo coffee shop and yoga studio, a bookstore, and a Vietnamese sandwich shop.But the sidewalks that line the streets of this neighborhood offer a grim reminder of Greenwoods darker past. Every 20 or 30 feet, a plaque lists the name of a business -- a restaurant, grocer, lawyer, doctor, clothing store -- and below it, the words, Destroyed in 1921.A hundred years ago, this 35-square-block section of Tulsa was home to one of the largest concentrations of African-American-owned enterprises and wealth in this country. It was so well-known at the time that Booker T. Washington nicknamed the area Negro Wall Street. At its peak, Greenwood was home to more than 300 businesses serving roughly 11,000 residents who, thanks to segregation, reinvested whatever they earned back into their community. By 1921, Black Wall Street, as its called today, boasted a three-story, chandeliered hotel as well as a public library, two newspapers, 23 churches and a high school that taught Latin, chemistry and physics.That all changed on May 31 of that year when a black teenage boy was accused of assaulting a white female elevator operator. Within hours, marauding white residents swept into the district and burned it to the ground. Hundreds of black residents died; thousands were left homeless. City and state officials did nothing to stop the violence. Worse, they played a complicit role in the conflagration. Many of the invaders were deputized by local police; the states National Guard was deployed not to stop the riot but to move black residents into detention centers where some were forced to stay for weeks. Following the death and devastation, city officials continued on their hostile path. They tried to change zoning laws to make it difficult for Greenwoods residents to rebuild -- a move curtailed by the courts. But despite the lack of support from city hall, the Greenwood survivors did return, and they began to reconstruct their lives and their livelihoods. In fact, much of the neighborhood was rebuilt within a few years.For decades, Tulsans -- blacks and whites -- dealt with the horrific event and its aftermath by ignoring it. Shame, guilt, fear, PTSD -- all those things worked to create a conspiracy of silence that kept this out of the public light, says Hannibal Johnson, a Tulsa historian and author of several books about Greenwood.As the century reached middle age, desegregation and urban renewal helped repress those memories even further and caused additional wounds: Much of Greenwoods once-thriving commercial center was torn down, its buildings and history erased; a highway was built through the center of the area. Kids born in Greenwood in the 70s never learned about their neighborhoods rich heritage -- about the heyday of Black Wall Street and the vibrancy of the people who lived there. Nor could they quite believe it when the true story of what happened in 1921 began emerging in the 1990s.Now, as the 100th anniversary of the massacre approaches, the city and state are grappling not just with the past and its direct role in Greenwoods deterioration, but also with what kind of progress has been made in race relations. In Tulsa, as elsewhere in the country, there are long-simmering resentments over police shootings of unarmed black men and of statues and buildings honoring Confederate soldiers who owned slaves and fought against the United States. Many blacks throughout the country feel their experience has been left out of history books and popular media coverage. Or if it is included, it is viewed through someone elses lens.In Tulsa, the city is struggling to address its deep racial divide -- most of the black population still lives in the north end -- and its own true history. Its still an open wound, says Mechelle Brown, program coordinator of the Greenwood Cultural Center who spent years interviewing and researching survivors of the massacre. The city still has a great deal of work to do to acknowledge what happened.After decades of silence, recognition of the horrific events in Greenwood got a jump-start in 1995. In April of that year, Timothy McVeigh bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, 19 of them children attending a day care facility in the building. At the time, the bombing was referred to as the deadliest act of domestic terror in U.S. history. To African-Americans who knew of Tulsas race massacre, it was a message that discounted their history.State Rep. Don Ross used the event to start a conversation about Greenwood. His efforts made a mark: He raised more than $3 million in private money to fund the Greenwood Cultural Center, which opened in 1996, and a memorial to Black Wall Street that sits out in front of the center. A year later, he sponsored a bill to investigate reparations for survivors of the massacre. That led to the formation of a state commission, which in 2001 published a report.The commissions report offered the first government acknowledgment that the Greenwood massacre was in effect an act of domestic terrorism. It revised its account of the attack, updating the numbers of people killed and the cost of destruction. Rather than 34 people killed, the new number of deaths was found to be between 100 and 300 people. The amount of property damage, based on claims from Greenwood filed against the city in 1921, was $1.8 million -- nearly $26 million in todays dollars. (Most of those claims were denied because the event was originally classified as a riot.) Most important for some, the commission made recommendations for actions the state and local government could take. Among them were an economic development fund for North Tulsa, a museum to honor the neighborhoods cultural history and those who died, and reparations for survivors of the massacre.At the time, the commissions report offered a lot of hope for healing the racial divisions. But in the years since, city and state government have taken what many see as a half-measure approach. The state legislature established committees for a memorial museum, as well as a scholarship and a community development fund for North Tulsa, as recommended by the report. But little money was appropriated to maintain those entities. In the meantime, a reparations lawsuit filed by victims was dismissed by federal courts on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired. The commissions recommendation to establish a museum about the 1921 massacre evolved over time into the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park, which opened in 2010. The following year, the legislature mandated that the Tulsa massacre be taught in public schools, but offered no financial assistance to help develop a curriculum for it.For some, the fits and starts over the years to make things right have only added to their frustration. Its one thing to say an apology, says Brown. Its something else to put money on the table. [Survivors and their families] feel completely disregarded and left out of the conversation.To date, most of the effort to promote Black Wall Streets history has been backed by private money, with the exception of a few state and federal grants. The mostly privately funded John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation, for instance, is largely responsible for the curriculum that Oklahoma school teachers who choose to teach about the massacre use in their history lessons.The city has also bungled some opportunities to make amends. In one of the most egregious examples, the citys Brady Arts District was named for Wyatt Tate Brady, a figure prominent in Tulsas founding. But in 2011, documents came to light showing that Brady had ties to the Ku Klux Klan and was involved in the 1921 massacre in Greenwood. Powerless to change the name of the Brady Arts District, the city council, after weeks of heated debate, changed the namesake of the districts main thoroughfare, Brady Street, to Civil War photographer Matthew Brady, who has no ties to Tulsa.What many view as a Band-Aid approach is just one more slight in a long list of insults that black Tulsans say they have lived with for generations. Part of reconciliation is what do you give up, says Dewayne Dickson, a Tulsa Community College professor and a member of the reconciliation centers board of directors. The reason for that is so everyone can have a sense of moving forward from whats wrong. There must be some kind of measurable action to make right whats wrong.Today, there are signs of progress, or at least of a closer understanding of the deeper implications of the assault a century ago. When G.T. Bynum ran for mayor of Tulsa in 2016, the divisions within the city were a central part of his campaign. A former city council member, Bynum says he was motivated to run for mayor after reading a report by the George Kaiser Family Foundation that found that a child born in North Tulsa has a lifespan 11 years shorter than a kid born elsewhere in the city. In the modern era, North Tulsa, which includes Greenwood, has always been the poorer part of town. Reading that while sitting in my home with my family, says Bynum, who is white, that really changed things for me.After getting elected, Bynum created the Office of Resilience and Equity aimed at eliminating equity gaps in Tulsas schools, transportation systems and the economy. This summer, the office, which is funded through the Rockefeller Foundations 100 Resilient Cities initiative, unveiled its strategy. The plan includes both tangible and intangible goals such as eliminating the racial life expectancy gap by 2024 and amplifying the voice of historically marginalized communities by 2021.Still, many people think the citys current efforts and its future plans dont go nearly far enough. Tulsa civil rights attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons is one of them. He says the city and state should make amends for the past, that Tulsa and the state should make direct reparations to the victims. Economic prosperity, Solomon-Simmons observes, isnt as attainable for North Tulsans as is their likelihood of being locked up. Meanwhile, many public officials have talked about healing, but most of the money that has gone toward that goal has been from private donations. As Solomon-Simmons sees it, the message to black Tulsans, many of them related to the original residents and business owners of Black Wall Street, is, You dont matter.Now, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the assault, theres been renewed pressure to produce tangible results. A 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Centennial Commission, chaired by Kevin Matthews, an Oklahoma state senator and North Tulsa native, is pushing a number of economic and cultural initiatives in and around Greenwood. This fall, Tulsa Public Schools officially adopted a curriculum for the massacre. The goal is to launch the curriculum statewide. Matthews also authored a bill that creates a revolving fund for the Oklahoma Historical Society with the aim of promoting cultural tourism opportunities in Greenwood. The commission is seeking private donations to establish a business development program in North Tulsa.Bynum thinks a key part of the overall remedy will be creating new prosperity in North Tulsa using the tools of economic development. He hopes to build on the citys investment in a minor league ballpark, which was built in the area in 2010. The citys development authority inked a deal this summer to bring USA BMXs new arena and headquarters facility to Greenwood. The arena could host the 2020 U.S. Olympic trials for the dirt track bike race. The city has also spent $2 million, including grant money, to clean up an industrial site within view of the Greenwood Cultural Center.But with those developments, which could bring in money and clientele from all over Tulsa, the specter of gentrification looms large. Its already creating yet another divide in Tulsa over Black Wall Street.Back at Wanda Js restaurant on North Greenwood Avenue, the breakfast aromas have long receded and now a crowd and some local news reporters are gathering in front of the restaurant. For 40 some-odd years, Wanda J. Armstrong and her family have been in the restaurant business in Tulsa, serving up not just breakfast but also Southern staples like fried catfish, okra and peach cobbler. Armstrong left Greenwood in 1996 and returned in 2016. Due to a dispute over her lease with the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce, shes being told to leave. On this September afternoon, a handful of friends with bright hand-painted signs are protesting the eviction and accusing the chamber of pushing out black businesses.Down the street, art gallery owner Ricco Wright watches the news vans going by with a mix of bemusement and frustration. They think Im part of the gentrifiers, he says. Wright is a Tulsa native who lived in New York City for a decade and earned his doctoral degree before returning here in 2014. His new gallery, Black Wall Street Arts, is one of several creative ventures he has started as a way to promote the history of the neighborhood. His gallerys opening showcase features pieces from two local artists -- one black, one white. His hope is that the exhibit will facilitate the communitys larger conversation about race relations. He calls the series Conciliation. I dont think what were doing is reconciliation, he says. That implies were restoring relations, and I cant think of when there were good relations here between blacks and whites.That ingrained lack of trust is perhaps the biggest challenge for Greenwoods revival. Theres a suspicion regarding the renewed interest and development in the neighborhood. As the centennial draws near, theres a genuine concern that the story of Greenwood will be whitewashed if these new folks -- the gentrifiers -- have a hand in promoting its history. African-American money built, and then, Black Wall Street. But theres a catch. That proud history of the black entrepreneurial spirit and wealth was linked inextricably to the fact that the residents were segregated from white businesses. In the modern era, to expect that only African-Americans should be a part of the neighborhoods revival not only perpetuates the separation, but is not realistic. There simply arent enough wealthy African-American benefactors in Oklahoma, let alone Tulsa, to help.But there are benefactors. The George Kaiser Family Foundation, for one, is arguably Tulsas most prominent philanthropy. It recently launched Dream Tulsa to grow local talent and recruit black entrepreneurs from around the nation to reinvigorate Black Wall Street. Believing that new money like Kaisers will truly honor the districts history and spirit requires a leap of faith: Maybe this time it will be different. There are still divides, but at least there seem to be more efforts to acknowledge a wrong and work toward righting it. We have to go slow to go fast because theres such a lack of trust in these outside influences, says state Sen. Matthews. In many cases were asking the people that looked like the people who burned down the area to help.
The grandstands around the Baku City Circuit remain empty this weekend, but in the near future we can probably expect a lot of fans again. Monza is planning for a Grand Prix with separate sections for vaccinated people, where there can be plenty of partying.

Stands for vaccinated people

It is the image that has become 'normal' for many people since March 2020. Stadiums remain empty, event sites are empty and grandstands of Formula 1 races are also bleakly empty or only half filled. Monza is busy with this season's Grand Prix. And the president of the Italian automobile club ACI, Angelo Sticchi Damiani, is aiming for full grandstands.

''We can put 'no-Covid' grandstands for vaccinated people and other people can then sit in grandstands that still have the distance rules. Those will then be 50 percent full,'' Damiani told radio station Rai Radio 1. With this plan Monza could fill for 70 to 80 percent of the full capacity.

Read more Key moment for Honda with longest straight in F1 calendar

Races with many fans

On the special 'no-Covid' stands, this distance does not have to be maintained, and people can therefore sit next to each other again. According to Formel1.de there are still discussions with the Ministry of Health whether these plans can be feasible. Non-vaccinated people are not allowed to come into contact with vaccinated people, although a separate car park has been set up for that purpose.

Monza should become a blueprint for other Grand Prix to get as many fans as possible, and with that also revenues. Circuits have a hard time in the coronavirus pandemic, and many can not continue to organize races without income from the fans.
Yes!

No, still holding off on vacation plans

No, as I didn't have any plans last summer

Vote

View Results
Galt, CA (95632)

Today

A few passing clouds. Low 59F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low 59F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has published a Beyond Tailpipe Emissions Calculator that provides estimates of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with driving an electric vehicle (EV) or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), including emissions from the production of electricity used to power the vehicle.

The consumer chooses the make, model, and model year of the vehicle and enters the zip code where the vehicle will be charging. Zip code is required because emissions are dependent upon fuels used to generate the electricity, often referred to as the grid mix, which varies by location.

The calculator shows the upstream GHG emissions in grams per mile for:

The specified zip code;

The average US electricity grid mix; and

The upstream and tailpipe GHG emissions for an average new gasoline vehicle.





For PHEVs, results include both upstream and tailpipe emissions.

The tool provides some interesting comparisons. A Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD in Marin County, California, for example, yields tailpipe plus upstream emissions of 60 g/mi, compared to 120 g/mi with the average US electricity mix and 410 g/mi for an average new gasoline vehicles total emissions. The same Model Y in Casper, Wyoming has 80 g/mi tailpipe + upstream and 130 g/mi in Phoenix, Arizona.

A Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV racks up 270 g/mi in Marin County, against 320 g/mi with the average US electricity mix, 280 g/mi in Casper and 330 g/mi in Phoenix.
You can now sell your preowned Alienware laptop if it is still in good condition. There are many places that sell Alienware laptops, some that are new while others are second hand. Alienware laptops are known for great performance. This is a type of laptop brand with excellent graphics, cooling systems, power management and durability. They are the kind of laptops that anyone would need for running heavy gaming programs.

Do you have an Alienware laptop that you wish to sell? Well, you can easily do so. Looking at their great desktop experience and superior features, Alienware laptops still hold value even after using them. When you want to upgrade, selling your laptop can fetch you good cash to add to your new purchase or use it for whatever thing you want. Here are important tips to consider before selling your Alienware laptop:

1. Check its Condition

The first thing a buyer would be looking for is the condition of the laptop on sale. They will be looking at the cosmetic condition and functionality. On top of that, buyers will be looking for the year of manufacture, the model and other configurations to ascertain its probable condition from past use.

Certain aspects that will be of interest is the depreciation value from the year of manufacture, memory size, screen size, storage capacity, the type of processors installed and graphics cards. All these Alienware laptop features will be of great interest to prospective buyers and would determine the much they are willing to pay for.

2. Determine its Value

To sell your Alienware laptop, you should determine how much it is worth before putting it on offer for sale. Most definitely, your laptop will cost much less than a new one. Alienware laptops are usually costly because they are superior-quality devices. Even a previously preowned one will still be of much value.

Qualities that will determine the value of your laptop are the model type, functionality, the available configurations and the general cosmetic look and condition. A used Alienware laptop will roughly cost about $600 if found in good condition.

3. Do a Price Comparison

Get various price quotes before selling your Alienware laptop. Make various price comparisons and not just a few. This approach will help you make the most out of your used laptop. Make sure you only liaise with trusted and well-known online retailers for help.

Some dealers will pay higher than others hence the need to consult several dealers. The SellBrok platform can help you get an idea of how much to sell your laptop. All prices are matched with laptop configurations and other important features.

4. Decide on the mode of payment

Used gadgets can be sold through various ways. Dealers offer certain terms and conditions and that includes the payment options too. Therefore, it is important to look at the available modes of payment and settle on what works for you. Some retailers will give you store credit through gift cards or cash payments through PayPal. Store credit limits may limit the use of your proceeds, unlike cash payments where you could use the money for anything you want.

5. Pick your Alienware Dealer

After going through all this information, it is time to pick a place where to sell your Alienware laptop. You can choose to work with a reliable retailer that will cater for the valuation and shipping fees for you or rather sell it yourself. To sell it yourself, you will have to do a thorough job of describing your laptop, and doing all the bargaining from your prospects.

Using a trusted dealer saves you time and the effort of selling the product on your own. They will facilitate the selling and make it a convenient experience for you. Well-known retailers know is required for a smooth transaction process hence will do a thorough job better than you would.

Sell your Alienware Laptop Now!

The key to selling your preowned Alienware laptop is by doing all due diligence before accepting any offer. Understand how much your laptop is worth. Your laptop's year of manufacture, features, configuration and the cosmetic condition will be essential in determining its value. Consult with various dealers and pick one that gives you the best offer!
Greensburg, IN (47240)

Today

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. Low 69F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. Low 69F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP)  After nearly five decades of blowin' in the wind, a double Bob Dylan album finally has a direction home: A man living in San Francisco has mailed the vinyl back to an Ohio library 48 years after it was supposed to be returned.

Howard Simon recently sent the album along with a letter to Heights Libraries apologizing for his tardiness, according to a news release from the library system outside Cleveland.

Simon checked out Dylans Self Portrait album in 1973 as an eighth-grader at a University Heights middle school. Simon says he found it between two other Dylan albums in his personal vinyl collection.

As a recent retiree, I am taking the opportunity to turn my attention to some of the many vignettes of life that by dint of career and family have been neglected these many years, Simon wrote. I am returning with the letter an overdue item by my count, approximately 17,480 days overdue as of this writing.

His letter says the album cover is a little battered after traveling with him from University Heights to San Francisco with various stops in between, but the library says the records themselves remain in great shape.

Simon also sent the library a $175 replacement fee for Self Portrait along with an album he recorded, Western Reserve, for possible inclusion in the library's collection.

The library bore no hard feelings, or sense that Simon wasted their precious time, essentially telling him in the press release don't think twice; it's all right.

The funny thing about this is that we dont charge overdue fines anymoreas long as we get the item back, we see no need to penalize people, branch manager Sara Phillips was quoted as saying. Were grateful that Mr. Simon returned the record. Id said we can now call it even.

___

This story has been updated to remove the age of Howard Simon. His age cannot be determined.
GREENWICH  Four women founded the first local chapter of the American Red Cross in 1914, setting up in the United Workers Building, where they rolled bandages, knitted sicks and sewed pajamas to support people during the war.

Over the years, the nonprofit relocated multiple times around Greenwich. But after the terror attacks on the World Trade Center, Red Cross leaders recognized that they needed a modern facility with the appropriate space and equipment to handle a large-scale disaster.

They moved to their current location at 99 Indian Field Point Road in late 2001, naming many of the spaces in the building after local people who had died on Sept. 11. And as the organization completes a project to modernize its facilities, it is again recognizing local families who lost loved ones that day.

Over the last two years, leaders at the Metro New York North chapter of the American Red Cross have moved through a $3 million renovation project at their Greenwich headquarters.

The renovation will include improvements to all three floors of the facility on Indian Field Road and allow them to offer a new service of providing blood products to those in need of transfusions, including people with cancer and sickle cell disease.

Red Cross leaders are contacting those 9/11 families so they can honor their loved ones during the opening ceremony in September to celebrate the completion of the construction project.

We have plans underway to continue to honor these people in the community, as part of our facility, said Desiree Ramos Reiner, external affairs officer for the American Red Cross Greater New York Region.

When it reopens, the building will house the new Jill and John Coyle Blood Donor Center on the second floor, which Red Cross leaders identified as the most important part of the renovation. It will include eight permanent beds and five apheresis machines that can collect whole blood and platelets to complement the blood drives sponsored across the community.

The need for platelets is very critical, and currently, we do not have anything close to us at all. In fact, Albany, N.Y., and Farmington, Connecticut, would be the closest places where you could donate platelets, said Stephanie Dunn Ashley, CEO of the Metro New York North chapter of the Red Cross.

This is really a very unique opportunity for the surrounding areas, the hospitals and medical facilities nearby to be able to have this in their backyard, she said.

Platelet and whole blood collections are a much-needed service for the community, said Susan Rounds, regional chief operating officer for the American Red Cross Greater New York Region and the construction lead on the renovation project.

Platelets, which are the clotting portion of blood, are primarily needed to treat cancer patients. The tiny cells have a short shelf life  just five days from the time they are donated, Red Cross leaders said. There is a constant, often critical, need for donors to keep up with demand, they said.

Every 15 seconds, a U.S. person needs platelets, and more than 1 million platelet transfusions are given to patients each year, according to the Red Cross.

Another benefit of the new Blood Donor Center is ensuring that the organization has an adequate and safe blood supply to serve the community, Rounds said.

Once the project is completed, the first and third floors will support biomedical services, disaster cycle services, service to the armed forces, international services and training services for the local American Red Cross.

The third floor will feature collaborative workspaces for Red Cross team members who support disaster response, preparedness, service to the armed forces, international services programs and daily administration.

An expanded Red Cross Training Center will be located on the first floor. with space for hands-on practice and smaller classes to run concurrently.

During construction, Red Cross leaders said they have been working with board members to support the project, raising just over $1 million from contributors.

This construction project is about building our future with modern technology and communications infrastructure. This will empower our Red Cross teams as they continue to deliver critical services, Dunn Ashley said.

The American Red Cross Metro New York North chapter serves Greenwich as well as Westchester County, Rockland County and the West Point Military Academy in New York.

For more information on the construction project, visit www.redcross.org/local/new-york/greater-new-york/about-us/the-preresponder-campaign/donate.html. For information about the American Red Cross, visit redcross.org.

tatiana.flowers@thehour.com @TATIANADFLOWERS
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden called out two fellow Democrats on Tuesday in explaining why he hasnt enacted some of the most ambitious elements of his agenda, noting that slim majorities in the House and evenly divided Senate have hamstrung legislative negotiations around key issues like voting rights.

Biden, speaking during an event marking the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, responded to critics who question why he hasnt been able to get a wide-reaching voting rights bill passed.

Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House, and a tie in the Senate  with two members of the Senate who voted more with my Republican friends, he lamented.

It appeared to be a veiled reference to Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both of whom have frustrated Democrats with their defense of the filibuster  the rule requiring most legislation to win 60 votes to pass, making many of Democrats biggest priorities like voting rights and gun control bills dead on arrival in the 50-50 Senate. While Sinema is a sponsor of the voting rights bill that passed the House, known as the For the People Act, Manchin has refused to sign on, calling the measure too broad."

But in fact, its not just Manchin and Sinema who oppose doing away with the filibuster  as many as 10 Democratic senators are reluctant to change the rules even for must-pass legislation like the voting rights bill. Biden himself has not said he wants to end the filibuster.

Whats unclear is whether Bidens comments will changes senators views. The presidents remarks come as senators are facing tough choices ahead as pressure mounts for changes.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told colleagues he would be bringing the voting rights bill to a vote the week of June 21, in effect testing where senators stand. Schumer warned in a letter to colleagues last week to brace for the month ahead. The June work period will be extremely challenging, Schumer told them. He said it would test our resolve as Congress.

Despite the logjam in Congress, Biden promised further action to address what he described as a tireless assault on the right to vote, comments that came in response to the latest effort by a state legislature to pass a law restricting voting access, this time in Texas. He said he would fight like heck, with every tool at my disposal to ensure the passage of the For the People Act when the Senate takes it up this month. He tasked Vice President Kamala Harris with leading the administrations efforts to defend voting rights.

In a statement, Harris said she plans to work with voting rights groups, community organizations and the private sector to strengthen voting rights, as well as push for passage of voting rights legislation on Capitol Hill.

"The work ahead of us is to make voting accessible to all American voters, and to make sure every vote is counted through a free, fair, and transparent process. This is the work of democracy," she said in the statement.

Biden also called on voting rights groups to redouble their efforts to register and educate voters and said June should be a month of action on Capitol Hill.

___

AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Biden administration on Tuesday suspended oil and gas leases in Alaskas Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, reversing a drilling program approved by the Trump administration and reviving a political fight over a remote region that is home to polar bears and other wildlife  and a rich reserve of oil.

The order by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland follows a temporary moratorium on oil and gas lease activities imposed by President Joe Biden on his first day in office. Bidens Jan. 20 executive order suggested a new environmental review was needed to address possible legal flaws in a drilling program approved by the Trump administration under a 2017 law enacted by Congress.

After conducting a required review, Interior said it identified defects in the underlying record of decision supporting the leases, including the lack of analysis of a reasonable range of alternatives'' required under the National Environmental Policy Act, a bedrock environmental law.

The remote, 19.6 million-acre refuge is home to polar bears, caribou, snowy owls and other wildlife, including migrating birds from six continents. Republicans and the oil industry have long been trying to open up the oil-rich refuge, which is considered sacred by the Indigenous Gwichin, for drilling. Democrats, environmental groups and some Alaska Native tribes have been trying to block it.

Environmental groups and Democrats cheered the Interior Department order, while Alaskas all-Republican congressional delegation slammed it as misguided and illegal.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, an Interior agency, held a lease sale for the refuges coastal plain on Jan. 6, two weeks before Biden took office. Eight days later the agency signed leases for nine tracts totaling nearly 685 square miles (1,770 square kilometers). However, the issuance of the leases was not announced publicly until Jan. 19, former President Donald Trumps last full day in office.

Biden has opposed drilling in the region, and environmental groups have been pushing for permanent protections, which Biden called for during the presidential campaign.

The administration's action to suspend the leases comes after officials disappointed environmental groups last week by defending a Trump administration decision to approve a major oil project on Alaskas North Slope. Critics say the action flies in the face of Bidens pledges to address climate change.

The Justice Department said in a court filing that opponents of the Willow project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska were seeking to stop development by cherry-picking the records of federal agencies to claim environmental review law violations. The filing defends the reviews underpinning last falls decision approving project plans.

Kristen Miller, acting executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, hailed suspension of the Arctic leasing program, which she said was the result of a flawed legal process under Trump.

Suspending these leases is a step in the right direction, and we commend the Biden administration for committing to a new program analysis that prioritizes sound science and adequate tribal consultation,'' she said.

More action is needed, Miller said, calling for a permanent cancellation of the leases and repeal of the 2017 law mandating drilling in the refuge's coastal plain.

The drilling mandate was included in a massive tax cut approved by congressional Republicans during Trump's first year in office. Republicans said it could generate an estimated $1 billion over 10 years, a figure Democrats call preposterously overstated.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., a longtime opponent of drilling in the refuge, accused the Trump administration of trying to shortcut environmental laws.'' The effort fell apart when exposed to the facts that federal scientists say Arctic Refuge drilling cannot be done safely and oil companies dont want to drill there, Cantwell said.

"Now it is up to Congress to permanently protect this irreplaceable, million-year-old ecosystem and facilitate new economic opportunities based on preserving Americas pristine public lands for outdoor recreation, she said.

Bernadette Demientieff, executive director of the Gwichin Nation Steering Committee, said in a statement that tribal leaders are heartened by the Biden administration's commitment to protecting sacred lands and the Gwichin way of life.

She thanked Biden and Haaland for hearing our voices and standing up for our human rights and identity.''

In a joint statement, Alaska Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, along with Rep. Don Young and Gov. Mike Dunleavy, criticized the Interior Department action. All four are Republicans.

Dunleavy said the leases sold in January are valid and cannot be taken away by the federal government.''

Sullivan, who praised Biden last week for backing the Willow oil project, said suspending the Arctic leases "goes against the law, facts, the science and the will of the Native communities on the North Slope. It is nothing more than a naked political move by the Biden administration to pay off its extreme environmental allies.''

Murkowski called the order expected "but outrageous nonetheless.

Murkowski, who provided a key vote for Haaland's confirmation in March, said the secretarial order is in direct conflict with the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,'' which specifically states that the purpose of the (designated) area of ANWR is oil and gas development.''

This action serves no purpose other than to obstruct Alaskas economy and put our energy security at great risk,'' Murkowski said.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  A Maine bill that would allow unenrolled voters to vote in party primaries has gained bipartisan support in the Legislatures Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee and the support of former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Chloe Maxmin, D-Nobleboro, would allow unregistered voters to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primaries, but would not allow enrolled voters to vote across party lines, the Portland Press Herald reported.
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP)  An FBI agent has been charged with attempted murder in the off-duty shooting of another man on a Metro subway train last year in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., according to court records unsealed Tuesday.

During a hearing, Montgomery County prosecutors outlined their account of how the Dec. 15 confrontation between the 37-year-old agent, Eduardo Valdivia, and an unarmed passenger swiftly escalated from a testy exchange of words to a shooting on a train approaching Medical Center station in Bethesda.

Defense attorney Robert Bonsib said Valdivia acted in self-defense as the man approached him at the rear of a train car.

The law does not require that you wait to be struck before you take action. Had this resulted in a hands-on fight and a struggle for Agent Valdivia's gun, only God knows what could have happened, Bonsib said after a judge ordered the agent released from custody.

After the hearing, the county's top prosecutor declined to explain why his office concluded that the shooting wasn't justified.

We would not have brought the charge if we thought that it was protected by law, Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy told reporters. To explain all of the reasons why we came to this conclusion would be effectively for me to give you a closing argument as to a five-month investigation. This is not the appropriate time.

Valdivia shot and wounded the man from a distance of roughly 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 meters) after repeatedly telling the man to back up, county prosecutor Robert Hill said in court.

The man had approached Valdivia on a train, sat across from him and asked the agent for money, Hill said. The man muttered expletives and began to walk away when the agent said he didn't have any money to give, the prosecutor added.

Watch your mouth, the agent told the man, according to Hill.

After the man turned and approached him again, Valdivia pulled a gun from a holster and shot him, the prosecutor said. Another passenger was in the agent's line of fire, about 15 feet (4.6 meters) away, but wasn't harmed, Hill added.

A grand jury indicted Valdivia on charges including attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault and reckless endangerment.

Valdivia turned himself in to local authorities at a county jail Tuesday morning. Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Joan Ryon agreed to release him on personal recognizance. Prosecutors didnt object.

The wounded man had part or all of his spleen, colon and pancreas removed during surgery after the shooting, according to Hill.

In a detailed press release, Bonsib said his client has had "an impeccable personal and professional background. He joined the bureau in 2011, was promoted to the position of supervisory special agent at FBI headquarters last year and currently provides operational guidance and programmatic oversight of investigations into racially motivated and anti-government extremists, Bonsib said.

Valdivia was on his way to work on the morning of the shooting when the man approached him.

Bonsib said court records show the wounded man has a criminal record with a history of unpredictable and violent behavior, including a 2019 incident in which the man allegedly attacked and threatened to kill somebody at a Metro station.

Prosecutors questioned the relevance of the wounded man's record since the agent didn't know about it and hadn't met him before the morning of the shooting.

The indictment names the man who was shot and a second passenger, who it identifies as the victim of the reckless endangerment charge for being in the line of fire.

In a statement Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Baltimore field office said the bureau was aware of the charges and is fully cooperating with the investigation.

As is customary following a shooting incident, this matter will be subject to internal review, spokeswoman Joy Jiras said.

The Metro Transit Police Department said in December that it had reviewed video footage and taken statements from Metro employees, passengers and others.

The Medical Center station serves the National Institutes of Health and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

FBI Agents Association President Brian OHare said in a statement that the group supports agents going through the legal process because of work actions.

"FBI Special Agents must often make difficult, split-second decisions to protect the American public. FBIAA will ensure that our Agent member and his family are supported through this challenging time, O'Hare said.
HARTFORD  The new Connecticut Hate Crimes Advisory Council gathered with Gov. Ned Lamont in front of the Capitol on Tuesday morning, underscoring the rise in dangerous speech and crimes, and vowing to take a grass roots approach to the growing threat.

On the other side of the Capitol, police were investigating an overnight shooting in which three bullets were fired into the south side of the building.

The goal of the group is to raise awareness, increase the reporting of hate crimes and make recommendations for new laws, including enhanced penalties, and alternative sentences for first-time offenders, as well as restitution for victims.

You have to fight every day and thats what this commission is about, Lamont said, recalling the anniversary of the 1921 massacre of at least 300 Black residents of Tulsa. If you dont stand up every day to this type of hatred, it will continue. Its not going to continue in Connecticut and its not going to continue in America. This type of hatred is a different type of hatred, where we target people. People are targeted because of their race, color, creed, sexual orientation, gender, and that is so contrary to everything we stand for in Connecticut and everything we stand for as Americans.

The diverse, 25-member panel, which was recently created by a new state law, is part of a national movement to stop hate speech and actions that in recent days has most notably targeted Asian-Americans, but also Jews, Blacks, Muslims and others including gay and transgender people

Attorney General William Tong said this moment has created urgency on the issue, similar to hate crimes that emerged during 2017. Weve been here before and Im sorry to say were here again, Tong said. Were seeing a surge in hate crimes against all people, but against Asians American 150-percent surge across the country, and more than 800 percent in New York City. These are members of our family, our neighbors and we really have to fight for them.

Tong spoke in favor of pending legislation that would allow his office to investigation allegations of civil rights abuses. Another bill, which passed the Senate and awaits action in the House, would create a new State Police unit to probe hate crimes.

Tong said language difficulties and legal residential status should not become barriers to reporting incidents, Tong said. Thats one of the biggest challenges in hate crimes law enforcement, Tong said, adding that immigrant communities in particular may be wary of reporting incidents, even if the people reporting incidents are without proper documentation.

Douglas Lavine, a former state judge who is co-chairman of the council, said that the diverse group will be helping protect the vulnerable. Unfortunately we all there has been an uptick in the rhetoric in the country and some of the conduct has been extremely concerning, said Lavine, who is now a judge trial referee.

Amy Lin Meyerson, president of the Connecticut Bar Association, who is the other co-chairwoman, said that remedying the damages from hate crimes in a big challenge, but she trusts that working with the governor and the legislature should create common action.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said the surge of hate crimes across the country is unacceptable. Hate crimes against any group endangers every one, Blumenthal said, noting that the council will be one of the few in the country. We are all different and we an all be victims at one point or another. This council is going to have a national role.

Steven Ginsburg of the Anti-Defamation League of Connecticut, said hate crimes in Connecticut are mirroring national trends, and that he supports another pending bill on online hate speech.

Weve got hate crimes and weve got hate incidents, Ginsburg. Sometimes hate spreads in the form of protected speech and still makes people feel uncomfortable and like they dont belong in our country. What can we do about that?

Later in the afternoon, dozens of House members joined Lamont on the Capitols south lawn to witness the ceremonial signing of a bill that will make it easier for many people, including unmarried couples and the LGBTQ community and those without genetic connections, to have access to parenting in the eyes of the law. Hospitals will have forms for non-biological parents to attest to their status.

Although Lamont signed the bill on May 26, the moment, a sunny afternoon that was a welcome recess during a dull afternoon debate, was timed for the start of LGBTQ & Pride Month.

Lamont noted that a time of rising hate, understanding is particularly needed. The legislation passed the House with only one opponent, so the crowd of lawmakers behind Lamont was particularly bipartisan.

When it comes to parents, when it comes to kids, when it comes to making sure that they have a community, a family to take care of them, and they are allowed to be who they are, this is what this is all about and this is what Connecticut is about, Lamont said. This is such an important day, what it says for our kids, what it says for Connecticut, what it says for respecting everybody and who they are.

Then, the rainbow Pride flag was hoisted atop the south side of the Capitol building.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
What's Included

With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 574-583-5121 or email cgrace@thehj.com.
Annie Leibovitz/AP

NEW YORK (AP)  After decades of photographing rock stars, movie stars and heads of state, Annie Leibovitz has added a business leader to her portfolio: Former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi.

Leibovitz's shot of a stylish but relatively casual Nooyi, wearing a dark sweater and pants, will appear on the cover of Nooyi's memoir My Life in Full, scheduled to come out Sept. 28.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus opponents announced Wednesday that they have reached a deal to form a new governing coalition, paving the way for the ouster of the longtime Israeli leader.

The dramatic announcement by opposition leader Yair Lapid and his main coalition partner, Naftali Bennett, came shortly before a midnight deadline and prevented what could have been Israel's fifth consecutive election in just over two years.

This government will work for all the citizens of Israel, those that voted for it and those that didnt. It will do everything to unite Israeli society, Lapid said.

The agreement still needs to be approved by the Knesset, or parliament, in a vote that is expected to take place early next week. If it goes through, Lapid and a diverse array of partners that span the Israeli political spectrum will end Netanyahus record-setting but divisive 12-year rule.

Netanyahu, desperate to remain in office while he fights corruption charges, is expected to do everything possible in the coming days to prevent the new coalition from taking power. If he fails, he will be pushed into the opposition.

Oded Balilty/AP

The deal comes at a tumultuous time for Israel, which fought an 11-day war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip last month while also experiencing mob violence between Jews and Arabs in cities across the country. The country also is emerging from a coronavirus crisis that caused deep economic damage and exposed tensions between the secular majority and the ultra-Orthodox minority.

Under the agreement, Lapid and Bennett will split the job of prime minister in a rotation. Bennett, a former ally of Netanyahu, is to serve the first two years, while Lapid is to serve the final two years  though it is far from certain their fragile coalition will last that long.

The historic deal also includes a small Islamist party, the United Arab List, which would make it the first Arab party ever to be part of a governing coalition.

In the coming days, Netanyahu is expected to continue to put pressure on hard-liners in the emerging coalition to defect and join his religious and nationalist allies. Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin, a member of Netanyahu's Likud party, may also use his influence to delay the required parliamentary vote. There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu or Likud.

Lapid called on Levin to convene the Knesset for the vote as soon as possible.

Netanyahu has been the most dominant player in Israeli politics over the past three decades  serving as prime minister since 2009 in addition to an earlier term in the late 1990s.

Despite a long list of achievements, including last years groundbreaking diplomatic agreements with four Arab countries, he has become a polarizing figure since he was indicted on charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in 2019.

Each of the past four elections was seen as a referendum on Netanyahus fitness to rule. And each ended in deadlock, with both Netanyahus supporters as well as his secular, Arab and dovish opponents falling short of a majority. A unity government formed with his main rival last year collapsed after just six months.

The new deal required a reshuffling of the Israeli political constellation. Three of the parties are led by hard-line former Netanyahu allies who had personal feuds with him, while the United Arab List made history as a kingmaker, using its leverage to seek benefits for the country's Arab minority.

This is the first time an Arab party is a partner in the formation of a government, said the party's leader, Mansour Abbas. This agreement has a lot of things for the benefit of Arab society, and Israeli society in general.

Among the concessions secured by Abbas were agreements for legal recognition of Bedouin villages in southern Israel, an economic plan for investing 30 billion shekels ($9.2 billion) in Arab towns and cities, and a five-year plan for combating violent crime in Arab communities, according to Army Radio.

Lapid, 57, entered parliament in 2013 after a successful career as a newspaper columnist, TV anchor and author. His new Yesh Atid party ran a successful rookie campaign, landing Lapid the powerful post of finance minister.

But he and Netanyahu did not get along, and the coalition quickly crumbled. Yesh Atid has been in the opposition since 2015 elections. The party is popular with secular, middle-class voters and has been critical of Netanyahus close ties with ultra-Orthodox parties and said the prime minister should step down while on trial for corruption charges.

The ultra-Orthodox parties have long used their outsize political power to secure generous budgets for their religious institutions and exemptions from compulsory military service. The refusal of many ultra-Orthodox Jews to obey coronavirus safety restrictions last year added to widespread resentment against them.

Bennett, 49, is a former top aide to Netanyahu whose small Yamina party caters to religious and nationalist hard-liners. Bennett was a successful high-tech entrepreneur and leader of the West Bank settler movement before entering politics.

In order to secure the required parliamentary majority, Lapid had to bring together eight parties that have little in common.

Their partners include a pair of dovish, left-wing parties that support Palestinian independence and three hard-line parties that oppose major concessions to the Palestinians and support West Bank settlements. Lapid's Yesh Atid and Blue and White, a centrist party headed by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and the United Arab List are the remaining members.

The coalition members hope their shared animosity toward Netanyahu will provide enough incentive to find some common ground.

Today, we succeeded. We made history, said Merav Michaeli, leader of the dovish Labor Party.

The negotiations went down to the wire, with Labor and Yamina feuding over the makeup of a parliamentary committee.

Earlier this week, when Bennett said he would join the coalition talks, he said that everyone would have to compromise and give up parts of their dreams.

In order to form a government, a party leader must secure the support of a 61-seat majority in the 120-seat parliament. Because no single party controls a majority on its own, coalitions are usually built with smaller partners. Thirteen parties of various sizes are in the current parliament.

As leader of the largest party, Netanyahu was given the first opportunity by the countrys figurehead president to form a coalition. But he was unable to secure a majority with his traditional religious and nationalist allies.

After Netanyahus failure to form a government, Lapid was then given four weeks to cobble together a coalition. That window was set to expire at midnight.

Lapid already faced a difficult challenge bringing together such a disparate group of partners. But then war broke out with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip on May 10. The fighting, along with the eruption of Arab-Jewish mob violence in Israeli cities during the war, put the coalition talks on hold.

But after a cease-fire was reached on May 21, the negotiations resumed, and Lapid raced to sew up a deal. He reached a breakthrough on Sunday when Bennett agreed to join the opposition coalition.

___

Associated Press Writer Ilan Ben Zion contributed to this report.
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP)  Nicaraguan police on Wednesday raided the home of Cristiana Chamorro, a potential presidential candidate and daughter of former President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, one day after formally filing money laundering charges against the journalist.

Her brother, Carlos Fernando Chamorro, director of the independent news outlet Confidencial, confirmed the raid via Twitter and said his sister had been detained. He later reported that she was under house arrest and that police remained in her home.

The judicial system said in a statement that a judge had issued search and detention orders for 67-year-old Cristiana Chamorro Wednesday.

A court also granted a request from prosecutors to bar Chamorro from running in the Nov. 7 elections or holding public office, citing the charges against her. It was the latest in a series of moves against potential rivals to President Daniel Ortega.

Vilma Nunez, president of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights, said that police had violently entered Chamorro's home south of the capital.

The police raided the home 15 minutes before Chamorro was scheduled to give a news conference. She was expected to challenge President Daniel Ortega for the presidency.

Chamorro has said the allegations were trumped up to keep her out of the race.

In late May, national police raided the offices of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation for Reconciliation and Democracy, the nongovernmental group named after her mother and led by Chamorro until recently. They also raided the offices of the Confidencial.

The Nicaraguan government has said Chamorro is under investigation for alleged financial irregularities related to the foundation.

In January, she stepped down from her role at the foundation. A month later, it closed its operations in Nicaragua after passage of a foreign agents law designed to track foreign funding of organizations operating in the country.

Nicaraguas Supreme Electoral Council and congress have been narrowing the space for maneuver for the countrys opposition. In May, the council cancelled the legal status of the Democratic Restoration Party, which was expected to potentially be a vehicle for an opposition coalition bid against Ortega.

Cristiana Chamorros mother beat Ortega to win the presidency in 1990 and served until 1997.

Her husband, Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, had run his family newspaper La Prensa and was jailed and forced into exile multiple times by the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza. He was eventually assassinated in 1978. Cristiana Chamorro is the vice president of La Prensa.
Huawei will update around 100 Android devices to HarmonyOS, the first batch gets it today

Huawei unveiled the second major version of HarmonyOS and several new devices that have it pre-installed  but those are two watches and two tablets, no phones. And yet as of today there are phones that can run the new OS.

Its a massive migration, the company plans to switch around 100 devices (phones and tablets) from Android over to HarmonyOS 2.0. Note that this will initially only be happening only in China, so Huawei owners in the West will have to wait  in fact, the company made no mention of when devices abroad will switch to the new OS.

At least doing a China-only rollout simplifies the question of what happens with apps that require the Google Play Services (the list includes some fairly old devices, from before Huawei was cut off). Those units sold in China never had Google services in the first place, so it's not an issue.

Here are the first two batches of devices that will be updated - the first can make the jump today, the second will be invited in Q3 (July-September).

First in line are recent flagship models, their users can sign up to receive HarmonyOS 2.0 starting today (using the My Huawei and Huawei Club apps). Well, not that recent, the Mate 30 series is on the list and that one came out in 2019. The P40 and Mate 40 series can also get it today, as can the original MatePad Pro.

Then in Q3 the older Huawei Mate 20 models, as well as the nova 6, 7 and 8 series, plus the non-Pro MatePad will get invited to the Harmony party. Note that when Huawei says Mate 20 series or similar, it means except the Lite models.

Next up in Q4 a number of V and S series will be updated, as well as older flagships like the P30 Pro, the Mate 20 X models and several M6 tablets and more.

It doesnt end here  in the first half of next year some very old models including the Huawei P10 series (2017), Mate 10 series (also 2017), P20 and Mate 20 devices too. The oldest devices on the list are probably the Mate 9 duo from as far back as 2016.

Here is the full schedule, you will have to zoom in for a closer look as there are a lot of devices.



The full schedule of Android phones and tablets that will get a HarmonyOS update

By the way, users who are not comfortable installing the software on their own can visit one of 66 stores in China and have someone help them through the process.
The upcoming Sony WF-1000XM4 wireless earbuds with ANC have been leaking left and right and we now finally get a launch date. Sony posted a YouTube livestream on its official channel for a Truly Silent. Tailored 4 you event scheduled for June 8. It is set to begin at 1AM Japan time on June 9 which due to the time differences translates to 4PM UTC time on June 8.

Sonys new flagship TWS earbuds are set to debut with the companys brand new Sony V1 processor with improved active noise cancelation and voice pick up. The earbuds will feature a new more compact in-ear design and slimmer charging case. Battery life is expected to come in at 8 hours on the earphones alone while the case bumps it up to 24 hours in total. Charging will be done via USB-C or wirelessly on compatible Qi-chargers.



Sony WF-1000XM4

Elsewhere, the WF-1000XM4s are also expected to feature LDAC and Hi-Res audio support as well as Sonys 360 Reality Audio. The whole package will be IPX4 splash resistant and should retail for around 280/$340 compared to 250/$305 on the outgoing WF-1000XM3s.
Huawei unveiled a couple of MateView-branded monitors in China recently, now the company is launching them in multiple regions around the world. One is a curved gaming monitor, the other is a flat and optimized for productivity.

Huawei MateView GT

This is Huaweis first gaming monitor and it is also optimized for multimedia, so you can do video editing on it. It has a 34 LCD panel with 21:9 aspect ratio (3,440 x 1,440 px resolution) and a curvature of 1500R.

It has 165Hz refresh rate and gaming features like Crosshairs and Dark Field Control (it crushes overexposed and dark areas to help you spot your opponents more quickly). The display promises 350 nits of typical brightness and 4,000:1 contrast ratio.

Image quality is pretty solid with HDR10 support, 90% DCI-P3 coverage and 121% sRGB coverage. The panels are calibrated to deltaE < 2 (for P3, if you use the sRGB color space then deltaE is below 1).

165Hz at 1440p isnt easy to stuff down a cable, so the monitor comes with a DisplayPort 1.4. For lower refresh rates you can also make use of the two HDMI 2.0 ports and theres fully-featured USB-C port, plus another Type-C port used as power input.

The monitor has a built-in soundbar with stereo speakers, 2x 2.5W. There are also two mics, so you can use it for voice chat (or you could plug in a headset into the 3.5 mm combo jack). The soundbar has an RGB-backlit touch control that can be used to adjust the volume, but also offers customizable lighting effects.

The stand height can be adjusted by 110 mm (4.3) and you can tilt the display -5-20. Theres a standard VESA100 mount too. In the box youll find a powerful 135W adapter (enough for the monitor, but also to power devices hooked up to the USB-C port) and several cables.

The Huawei MateView GT will be available in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, the Nordics, Russia, Japan, the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and other regions.

Huawei MateView

If youre not running a gaming YouTube channel, the MateView may be the better monitor. It has a flat 28.2 IPS LCD with 3:2 aspect ratio and a higher resolution to boot, 3,840 x 2,560 px.

Besides being sharper, it is also brighter at 500 nits (typical), with a DisplayHDR 400 certification and flicker-free DC dimming. Contrast is not as good, though, 1,200:1. Still, this one also supports 10-bit color depth, covers 98% of DCI-P3 and 100% of sRGB. These panels are calibrated to deltaE < 2 (or if you use sRGB, deltaE < 1).

This monitor can be the central hub of your desk. It has a USB-C with video in support and 65W charging, meaning you can plug in your phone or laptop with a single cable. There is an optional OneHop wireless connection (this only works with certain Huawei phones with Kirin 980 or later and EMUI 12.0 or later), so you can mirror your phone's screen wirelessly.

To hook up a desktop, you also have access to a mini DisplayPort 1.2 and an HDMI 2.0 port (note: HDMI 2.0 is limited to 50 Hz at full resolution, use DisplayPort or USB-C if you want to run at 60 Hz). The monitor has two USB-A 3.0 ports as well and if you have a keyboard and mouse plugged in, it could act as a KVM switch.

This model has better speakers too, 2x 5W, in addition to two microphones that can pick up your voice from as far as 4m (13 ft). Or you could use the 3.5 mm combo jack with a wired headset.

The monitor comes with a 135W power adapter, which is what makes it possible for the USB-C port to output 65W.




Haiti - Agriculture : The World Bank monitors the projects it finances





At the beginning of the week, Patrix Severe, the Minister of Agriculture accompanied by Jean-Mary Robert Chery National Coordinator of the Strengthening of Public Agricultural Services (RESEPAG) project had a working meeting with a delegation from the World Bank representation (BM) in Haiti composed of Laurent Msellati, Head of Operations of the BM, Christophe Grosjean, Specialist in agricultural projects and Omar Lyasse in charge of operations for Haiti.



This meeting provided an opportunity to discuss all the projects of the Ministry of Agriculture financed by the World Bank. Emphasis was placed on the progress of current projects, such as RESEPAG II hhttps://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-11563-haiti-agriculture-$50m-for-the-resepag-ii.html and the Resilient Productive Territories Project (TPR) https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-32144-haiti-agriculture-success-of-the-1st-phase-of-the-resilient-productive-territories-project.html



Minister Severe and Christophe Grosjean took the opportunity to discuss the progress of the contract for the installation of equipment for the Hydrometeorological Unit of Haiti and the prospects for future support from the World Bank to the agricultural sector in a context health crisis and food insecurity.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-32784-haiti-agriculture-the-ministry-will-support-8-000-producers-in-nippes.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-32144-haiti-agriculture-success-of-the-1st-phase-of-the-resilient-productive-territories-project.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-31360-icihaiti-nippes-distribution-of-trees-and-agricultural-inputs.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17946-haiti-notice-2nd-phase-of-the-project-resepag-ii-in-the-south.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-11563-haiti-agriculture-$50m-for-the-resepag-ii.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





"The country in danger" dixit Moise

"The two new variants [of Covid-19] which are present on the national territory put the country in danger [...]", warned President Jovenel Moise, who called for unity to avoid a health crisis. Note that the responsibility of the two variants "Alpha" and "Gamma" often mentioned to justify the rebound of the epidemic in Haiti, is not supported by any statistical data published by the Ministry of Public Health concerning the number of cases contaminated by these variants. https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-33870-haiti-covid-state-of-health-emergency-renewed-for-15-days.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-33869-haiti-flash-the-number-of-new-cases-explodes-in-the-west.html



CEP deeply concerned

The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) says it is deeply concerned by the increase in threats from the radical opposition on the holding of the Constitutional referendum on June 27. However, the CEP remains confident about the security arrangements planned to facilitate the holding of the referendum in peace and security.



The CEH asks Moise to abandon the referendum

The Haitian Bishops' Conference (CEH) urges President Jovenel Moise to renounce the constitutional referendum "Giving up the referendum project would be the wise decision. Avoid, we beg you, that the country still knows dark days and even worse than those we are currently experiencing [...]"



Towards a political agreement with the opposition ?

According to Mathias Pierre Minister Delegate to the first Minister, in charge of Electoral Questions "The Government is working on a political agreement with the members of the opposition. However, to avoid any delay in the process all the installation will be done. The elections will take place this year because we will not let the country fall into political chaos". For its part, the radical opposition denies working on any political agreement with the Government and is preparing to boycott the Constitutional referendum on June 27.



Access to employment for people with disabilities

Saturday, May 29, the job fair for the benefit of people with disabilities held at Karibe Hotel was once again an opportunity for the Office of the Secretary of State for the Integration of People with Disabilities to work in its mission and its objective to allow or even increase the opportunities of access to employment for people with disabilities. This activity allowed 200 disabled people to come into contact with more than 50 entrepreneurs.



Training in multi-risk mapping

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP-Haiti) and the National Center for Geospatial Information are organizing this week a training workshop applied to multi-risk mapping for senior executives from departmental directorates and town halls in the North West and of the Gros-Morne borough. This workshop, carried out with the support of the funds of the Delegation of the European Union in Haiti, aims to equip these executives with the knowledge and tools necessary for the practical use of data from the Geographic Information System (GIS) in spatial planning, construction, agriculture, disaster preparedness and response...



HL/ HaitiLIbre


















Update Required

To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.
You have permission to edit this image.

Edit Close
A Senate panel voted Wednesday to give themselves and their colleagues a big increase in their allowance  and do it as soon as possible.

You voted:
After a special meeting of the Rural Fire District 1 board Thursday, RFD 1 and the city of Havre are still without an updated fire suppression agreement due to issues concerning code enforcement.

Mayor Tim Solomon and Havre Fire Chief Mel Paulson told RFD 1 board chairman Steve Jamruszka the city wants a new contract put in place. Solomon said the new agreement should include wording about code enforcement.

Solomon said new buildings put up in the district, basically a doughnut-shaped ring around the boundaries of Havre, are not up to code.

Board members said, based on their interpretation of the Montana Code Annotated, the board does not have enforcement power.

The way I understand it, the enforcements already taken care of by the Department of Labor and the fire marshal. I dont think, personally, that were in a position to appoint anybody to do any enforcement whatsoever, I think thats already taken care of by the Montana Annotated Code, board member Courtney Tait said.

Whats been done lately?

Jamruszka said in a May 26 letter to Solomon that he wants the current fire suppression agreement reinstated or extended for a year. The extension would be for effective evaluation if dissolution of services is necessary.

If a new agreement or extension is not in place, the resulting impact on residents in RFD 1 would be an increase in fire insurance costs, Tait said during Tuesdays meeting. The Havre Fire Department would also no longer be obligated to suppress fires in the district.

(And) the citys not going to get any more money out of us, Tait added.

Solomon and Paulson said, most likely, a response to fires would still occur, but the district would get billed directly.

The county shook up the board after the city sent its letter last year, with several members of the board and new members, including Jamruszka and Tait, appointed. The board held a reorganizational meeting in April.

In the May 26 letter, Jamruszka outlined events since his appointment to the RFD 1 board March 29.

This includes: three board meetings from March 29 through May 11, an individual meeting with Solomon April 27, an individual meeting with Paulson May 12, a previous letter to Solomon dated May 13 delivered the next day and a previous meeting between all three parties May 19 to try and resolve the matter.

During this time frame, I have researched the appropriate Montana Code Annotated (MCA) relevant to the issues at hand. While there are many more references to state laws, I offer the following as the most pertinent, some of which are included in their entirety, Jamruszka wrote in the May 26 letter.

Jamruszka cited sections of the MCA concerning interlocal agreements, powers and duties of department regarding fire prevention and investigation rules, rules promulgated by department and building construction standards.

Jamruszka then wrote it was in the best interest of both the city of Havre and Hill County to continue the agreement from 1993. The city of Havre has already decided to end the agreement, effective July 1 when Havre also transitions to a charter government.

City representatives said in December that they wanted to end the agreement at the end of the fiscal year, June 30, so a new agreement that included who was responsible to ensure fire codes are being followed could be in place, and that they have asked for this issue to be addressed for several years.

In his letter, Jamruszka said the board has not had enough time.

There is not enough time to separate the two entities with respect to equitable division of assets between Rural Fire District 1 and the city of Havre. Nor is there enough time to evaluate ramifications to the Havre City County Airport, outlying schools, diminished services for both entities and a probable increase in funding for duplicate services which follow the same rules, Jamruszka wrote.

Jamruszka concluded the letter by writing that these rules include identical building and fire codes and that each entity is answerable to state authorities and bound by the same laws and procedures.

Solomon said this letter did not address his concerns mentioned at the monthly board meeting in May, that no one has been enforcing fire codes and structures are being built within the district. While the city does not have a problem with providing fire suppression, unless the city doesnt know who will enforce the fire code, he said.

He reiterated that at Tuesdays meeting.

Were asking for a new contract to be presented to us, and it needs to address the enforcement and that is what were asking, Solomon said.

Jamruszka asked if the May 26 letter addressed enforcement.

Solomon said it did not, adding that hes been trying to work with the RFD 1 board on a new agreement for three years.

Jamruszka said he believes the agreement from 1993 was very much valid and very much in vogue in regard to current rules and regulations.

Whats next?

Following a sometimes-heated conversation, Solomon encouraged the board to speak with an attorney.

The board then asked for an extension which Solomon was open to so long as the board meets with an attorney.

An extension would need to be approved by City Council, which is set to meet next Monday, June 6, at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

As of this writing, nothing concerning an extension has been added to the June 6 agenda, which has not yet been released.

The next monthly RFD 1 board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 8, at 11 a.m. in the Timmons Room at the Hill County Courthouse.
Roger cowboy Mead, retired U.S. Air Force veteran who served from 1957-1977, prepares to place a wreath at the Kerr County War Memorial on behalf of the Combat Veterans Association Motorcycle Club Monday morning. At left, keynote speaker Col. Jack R. Lousma addresses the crowd of hundreds.
Commissioner McCall files lawsuit to scrap N.C. emergency orders

Saying "a state of emergency in relation to the Covid-19 no longer exists," Henderson County Commissioner Rebecca McCall is seeking to prevent Gov. Roy Cooper from continuing to enforce emergency orders regarding mask mandates and other restrictions.

Attorneys Chuck Kitchen of Raleigh and Lydia Boesch of Pinehurst filed the lawsuit on behalf of Freedom Matters in Moore County, Commissioner McCall and her daughter-in-law, Cortney Johnson McCall, a schoolteacher and mother of school-age children. McCall has spoken out forcefully against the mask mandate that applies to all public school pupils, saying the requirement was unnecessary and emotionally harmful.

The primary cause of action in the plaintiffs lawsuit is that a state of emergency in relation to the Covid-19 no longer exists. If a state of emergency no longer exists, Coopers authority to continue to issue executive orders is terminated. The suit also challenges the continuing mask requirements in public schools under both statutory and constitutional grounds. It's at least the third lawsuit Kitchen has filed on behalf of plaintiffs; previous lawsuits were filed since early May in Moore and Carteret counties.

The complaint cites Executive Orders in which Cooper has stated, among other things, that:

 There have been declines in the percent of emergency department visits related to Covid-like illness.

 There have been declines in the daily diagnoses of Covid-19.

 There have been declines in the positive tests for Covid-19.

 There has been a decline in the number of Covid-19 associated hospitalizations.

The plaintiffs also note that Henderson County does not have a county state of emergency declaration in place for Covid-19. According to the NCDHHS County Alert System, as of May 24, Henderson County had a low community spread of Covid-19.

Other facts cited in the lawsuit include:

 North Carolinas population according to the U.S. Census Bureau was determined to be 10,488,084. As of May 24, 2021, 680 individuals were hospitalized in North Carolina with Covid-19, or .007 percent of the total population.

 Cone Health in Greensboro opened a hospital only for Covid-19 patients on April 13, 2020. More than 4,700 patients were treated in the hospital. However, due to the decline in Covid-19, the hospital was closed on March 5.

 According to the NC Department of Health and Human Services, as of March 4, the case rate of Covid-19 has decreased 15-fold in skilled nursing facilities and adult care homes since January 2021.

 According to the CDC, [m]ost children with Covid-19 have mild symptoms or have no symptoms at all.

Plaintiffs say in the complaint that no evidence supports the state of emergency that's remains in place in North Carolina and that Coopers own statements in the Executive Orders cited in the Complaint fail to support the state of emergency.

Plaintiffs also take special note of the following statement in Executive Order No. 215, issued on May 14, 2021: "Whereas, if the state's Covid-19 case rate increases, if the state's vaccination rate slows, or if new evidence arises regarding the risks of Covid-19 and its variants, it may be necessary to reevaluate whether additional restrictions are necessary to reduce the risk of death and serious illness from Covid-19. [Emphasis added]

Exercising unilateral executive authority over North Carolina for more than 444 days, Cooper has issued 69 Executive Orders concerning Covid-19, the lawsuit says. "The above statement in Executive Order No. 215 suggests there is no end in sight," the news release said. "If, as plaintiffs claim, no credible evidence supports this ongoing state of emergency, the state of emergency must end."
Free access for current print subscribers

As a home delivery subscriber, you get free unlimited digital access to premium content on HenryHerald.com, including local news, local sports, obituaries, legal notices, local features, and the e-edition.

All you need is your print subscription account number and your last name.

Don't know your subscription number? Email access@henryherald.com with your delivery address.

Activate your account now.
Former Lake County Recorder Michael B. Brown pleaded not guilty to a felony drug dealing charge Wednesday in a northern Wisconsin courtroom.

The plea came moments after Forest County Judge Leon Stenz found Wisconsin Assistant District Attorney Alexander Seifert established probable cause to believe Brown committed possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

Stenz did not immediately set a trial date on the charge, which carries a possible sentence of up to 3 1/2 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

WATCH NOW: Assistance available to help Hoosier renters pay landlord, utility costs

The brief preliminary hearing, held via videoconferencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, largely featured Sgt. Adam Boney of the Forest County Sheriff's Department speaking about the drugs and drug paraphernalia he allegedly found in Brown's car after pulling Brown over at 12:20 a.m. March 15 in the town of Wabeno, Wisconsin, for driving with only one headlight.

Specifically, Boney claimed to have discovered a glass Ball jar with 10.6 grams of marijuana, two digital scales with green plant residue, an opened box of 100 plastic sandwich bags, a package of organic hemp rolling papers, and $2,800 cash.

Under questioning by Brown's attorney, Robert A. Kennedy, Boney admitted the amount of marijuana in Brown's car was consistent with what one person might have for personal use.

Though Boney said the scales, baggies, and cash also found in the car suggest Brown was packaging and selling the marijuana.

WATCH NOW: Riding Shotgun with NWI Cops: Monitoring LaPorte with Specialist Justin Dyer

Brown, 37, was released from the Forest County Jail March 16 after posting a $2,000 cash bond, according to court records.

He now lives in Iron River, Michigan, which is approximately 50 miles north of Wabeno toward the western end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

The Democrat served as Lake County recorder from 2013 to 2020.

Brown's tenure was marred by rampant, unexplained absenteeism from his office in the Lake County Government Center and a 2018 sexual harassment settlement that cost county taxpayers $185,000.

Gallery: Recent arrests booked into Lake County Jail
Huntington, WV (25701)

Today

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds light and variable.
Hartford City, IN (47348)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.
Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email customercare@heraldandnews.com for help creating one.
Support local journalism

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free.

Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.


This image provided by defense attorney Robert Bonsib of MarcusBonsib, LLC, shows FBI agent Eduardo Valdivia, who has been charged with attempted murder in the off-duty shooting of another man on a Metro subway train last year in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., according to court records unsealed Tuesday, June 1, 2021. Valdivia turned himself in to local authorities at a county jail Tuesday morning, according to Chief Deputy Maxwell Uy of the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office.
Cargo ship fire put out in Hong Kong, no casualties reported

Xinhua) 11:23, June 02, 2021

HONG KONG, June 3 (Xinhua) -- The fire at a cargo ship off Hong Kong coast was largely put out at around 8:20 a.m. local time Thursday after breaking out on Wednesday afternoon, with no casualties reported.

The accident started at 5:26 p.m. local time on Wednesday at the vessel carrying metal scrap in waters south of Tsing Yi and was upgraded to No. 3 alarm (No. 5 alarm is the highest) at 11:09 p.m., the government said.

According to local media, the vessel involved was a 120-meter long cargo ship carrying about 2,000 tons of metal scrap.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)
Memorial Day - James Loutzenhiser Jr was the keynote speaker at the 2021 program held this past Monday.
We began planning Hidden History in the fall of 2020 to spotlight little-known incidents in U.S. history that have led to racial inequities of the present.
As a current print subscriber, you receive 24/7 access to our website and online e-edition at no additional charge. All you have to do is activate your access. To activate digital access, you will need your account number. You can find your account number on any recent subscription notice or bill.
Please be aware that Cache Valley Publishing does not endorse, and is not responsible for alleged employment offers in the comments.

Recommended for you
The editor of the Chinese state-run newspaper, Hu Xijin, is saying that bolstering China's nuclear program is essential to the nation's "strategic deterrence" against the United States. Taiwan, Hong Kong, the COVID-19 pandemic, and accusations that China's engaged in a genocide against the Uighur Muslims create deeper divisions in an already tainted relationship between China and the United States.

The Chinese Communist Party media cautioned that the US could meet its "Waterloo" as it seeks to learn whether COVID-19 escaped from a Chinese lab. It omitted any mention of Beijing's concealment of data regarding the pandemic in its early months and stonewalling probing of the origins of the virus.

Biden Orders US Intelligence Agencies to Redouble Efforts in COVID-19 Origins Probe

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he is commanding United States intelligence agencies to "redouble their efforts" to probe the origins of COVID-19. He included "specific questions for China."

According to the US president, an initial report he requested earlier this month on whether the virus came from human contact with an infected animal or a lab incident in China was inconclusive. Now, he is asking for a second report in 90 days for a "definitive conclusion."

Biden said, "As of today, the US Intelligence Community has 'coalesced around two likely scenarios' but has not reached a definitive conclusion on this question. Here is their current position: 'while two elements in the IC leans toward the former scenario and one leans more toward the latter - each with low or moderate confidence - the majority of elements do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other,'" reported ABC News.

Read Also: China Relaxes Birth Limits to Improve Nation's Population Structure

With Beijing being one of the top concerns for the US, President Joe Biden has sought to strike a rigid tone. China sees most of the actions and comments of the US to be an intrusion on its sovereignty. The increasingly confrontational rhetoric and military actions of the two nations have raised concerns regarding a potential war, reported Newsweek.

According to the Global Times, "Washington is too arrogant to realize that its vicious accusations against China have become a political gamble for itself. It has staked too many bargaining chips on credit from international morality. It actually has no way to back down from this dangerous status."

The directive of the US president is a major change in how the White House is dealing with the theory that the virus might have originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This theory was elevated in 2020 by former President Donald Trump, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and other martial Republicans.

While the US administration had until now stated that the World Health Organization should lead a more intensive probe and pressure China to be more transparent in the search for the COVID-19 origins, Biden's statement on Wednesday called on the United States intelligence community, not scientists, to spearhead the effort.

Related Article: Wuhan Lab Scientists Divulge They Were Bitten by Bats, Disregard Gloves, Masks, and Other PPE While Handling Bats

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that Vice President Kamala Harris would head the administration's effort to defend voting rights. However, federal election reform legislation is facing significant opposition in the Senate.

In remarks remembering the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Biden argued that with Harris in control, voting reforms would "address what remains on the damaged soul of America."

On the 100th anniversary of the brutal attack on Tulsa's Black residents, he told community leaders and survivors, "With her leadership and your support, we're going to overcome again," NBC News reported.

Harris said in a statement that she would collaborate with organizations and legislators alike.

Joe Biden entrusts Kamala Harris with more responsibility

Harris' portfolio improves as a result of this assignment, as per Fox News.

In March, Biden named Harris to manage the administration's diplomatic operations in the Northern Triangle nations of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to stop the influx of children seeking asylum at the US border.

The Biden administration has pointed to root factors like violence, poverty, and climate in Central America for the exceptionally high migration statistics.

In contrast, Republicans have referred to a rollback of the Trump-era immigration policy.

Biden urged voting rights groups to step up their efforts to register and educate voters. He said his government would increase its efforts to combat the increasing efforts perceived to suppress voting.

Bide also announced June as a "month of action" in Congress to pass voting rights legislation. Since the 2020 election, several GOP-led states have imposed voting restrictions, which the president described as a "sacred right under assault with unbelievable fury like I've never seen."

Harris says voting rights in the US is under attack

Following the announcement, Harris issued a statement declaring that voting rights in the United States were "under assault," citing the introduction of more than 300 election security measures around the country since the 2020 election. She, like Biden, advocated for the passage of the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act by Congress.

Texas Democrats stepped out of the state House chamber on Sunday evening, momentarily denying Republicans the quorum required to conduct a final vote on a contentious bill that would tighten the state's voting regulations. Voting restrictions have already become law in Georgia, Florida, and Iowa in the months following the election, attracting the wrath of Democrats who claim the legislation primarily targets voters of color, as well as criticism from several major corporations.

Read Also: Why Republicans Urge Credible, Nonpartisan Probe of Capitol Riot

Joe Biden slams Republicans

When Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess later this month, Harris will be back in her old stomping grounds, the United States Senate. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has already vowed to give the House-passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act, a vote.

Before setting out his political realities, the President remarked, "June should be a month of activity on Capitol Hill," Daily Mail reported.

Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema opposed changing the Senate's filibuster rules, allowing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican senators to block any bill without 60 votes.

Last week, this meant that a House-passed plan to establish a 9/11-style commission to probe the January 6 Capitol attack was likely dead in the water. Democrats could not get four more Republicans willing to vote in their favor and end the GOP filibuster.

The For the People Act, according to Biden, would not suffer the same fate. He also labeled state-level legislation aimed at making voting more difficult "simply un-American."

Related Article: 22 New Laws in 14 States Make It Harder to Vote; Schumer Pushes for Election Reform Bill

@YouTube

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a memo indicating that President Joe Biden's administration has formally ended the Trump-era policy of returning asylum seekers to Mexico until their court dates in the US.

After Biden took office, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) suspended new enrollments to the program formally called Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP).

The "Remain in Mexico" policy forced tens of thousands of Central American asylum-seekers to stay south of the US border until their claims were recognized. According to Mayorkas, the memo ending the policy was issued to agency leaders after a months-long review by his office.

Allowing Asylum Seekers

The department afterward commenced slowly allowing asylum seekers who were earlier subjects of the program into the country.

From February 19 to May 25, about 11,200 migrants were processed for entry to the US, according to the memo on Tuesday. Mayorkas stated he had determined that the directive, informally known as "Remain in Mexico," had "mixed effectiveness."

The policy is a controversial rule that coerced such people, including numerous children, to wait in Mexico while their asylum claims were processed.

In the memo, the DHS secretary remarked that the MPP did not "adequately or sustainably enhance border management," with border arrests having multiplied at times notwithstanding the program being implemented, reported Forbes.

The president halted MPP shortly after taking office on January 20. He then allowed an estimated 11,000 people who were in the program into the country.

In a February 2 executive order, Biden called for United States agencies to assess the MPP program and consider its termination.

The formal end of MPP arrives days following the DHS officially banning family separations for prosecutions of illegal border crossings. Family separations was another Trump administration policy designated to slow the asylum process, reported The Hill.

Read Also: DHS Ban: Children Will No Longer Be Separated From Their Parents Illegally Crossing US Border

Biden overturned several Trump policies

Biden, a Democrat, has overturned several of the restrictive immigration policies of former President Donald Trump, a Republican. He remarked Trump did not honor US asylum laws.

Biden's ending of the MPP program has not escaped criticism from the Republicans. Republicans claim that Biden has encouraged migrant arrivals at the US-Mexico border in the past few months.

According to Mayorkas in the memo, "Throughout the program, border encounters increased during certain periods and decreased during others. Moreover, in making my assessment, I share the belief that we can only manage migration in an effective, responsible, and durable manner if we approach the issue comprehensively, looking well beyond our own borders," reported The Denver Channel.

Critics said the program subjected numerous asylum seekers to extortion, kidnapping, and brutality in Mexico border cities where gangs wield considerable power. They touted it as inhumane and reckless.

Meanwhile, advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union, cheered the decision. They filed a lawsuit alongside other groups to challenge the policy when it was initially implemented in 2019.

Related Article: Mexico City Metro Overpass Collapses Kills At Least 23

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
BTS / Courtesy of Big Hit Music



The seven young men from once an underdog recording label have done it again.



After becoming the first K-pop act to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard's main singles chart with "Dynamite" and doing it again with the Korean song "Life Goes On," they landed yet another song in the top spot of one of the industry's toughest music charts.



The new BTS single "Butter," released on May 21, ranked No. 1 in its first week, according to the latest version of the Billboard Hot 100, earning the seven-piece act its third top debut in less than 10 months.



With the latest record, BTS has become the "first group with a trio of No. 1 entrances" as well as a group with the "fastest run to four initial Hot 100 No. 1s since the Jackson 5 in 1970," when including its performance on the remix version of "Savage Love (Laxed - Siren Beat" by Jawsh 687 and Jason Derulo, Billboard reported.



Even when pitting the group against all musical acts, its top debut track record just trails behind Ariana Grande with five and Justin Bieber and Drake with four each, tying with pop divas Mariah Carey and Taylor Swift.



Not to mention that the Billboard feat is the latest in the septet's record-breaking spree since dropping the catchy summer number.



BTS has outdone itself on giant platforms, like YouTube, where it racked up 108.2 million views in its first 24 hours of release and more than 3.9 million peak concurrents, breaking its own records with "Dynamite."



On Spotify, which is not even the biggest music streaming platform here, BTS scored 20.9 million streams with "Butter," rewriting the platform's history with the most streams in a single day.






A 14-year-old boy was charged with murder for the killing of an 84-year-old woman in Onondaga County Court on Tuesday. As a minor, the defendant was allowed to make bail. Judge Matthew Doran set the bail at $1 million cash or a $2 million bond. However, it is unlikely that the defendant will be able to pay.

In January 2021, Jahkim Robinson was suspected of an attempted robbery on Eva Fuld, his neighbor. Robinson was accused of forcing his way into the retired teacher's apartment.

According to a grand jury indictment in April, prosecutors believed Robinson stabbed the victim 43 times, causing injuries on her torso and extremities and leading to her death.

Authorities claim that the suspect was not acting alone

Investigators believed Robinson did not act alone. Instead, authorities claimed that several individuals entered Fuld's home after she opened the door. The group then allegedly beat and stabbed the woman before stealing a number of her belongings.

Police said many of Fuld's items, including her car keys, vehicle, credit cards, insurance cards, and several wallets, were retrieved from Robinson when he was detained.

Friends described the former French teacher as "kind and quirky," the Syracuse Post-Standard reports. Her body was only discovered four days after the attack took place.

As per CNYCentral, Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick said in a news conference after Robinson's arrest, "Some neighbors were concerned about the former teacher, her car was missing. So officers called the landlord and performed a check on her apartment, and they found a horrific scene."

In early February, Syracuse Police Chief Kenton Buckner described Fuld's murder as "horrifying and disgusting." The department's investigation was still underway, according to a series of updates.

Robinson is currently the only suspect since no other arrests have been made in connection with the killing.

Read Also: New York Hate Crimes: Man Brutally Knocks Out Asian Woman With a Punch to the Face

Boy charged with two counts of murder, felonies

Robinson faces two counts of second-degree murder, based on the premise that he killed the woman while committing two different felonies: robbery and burglary. He is also accused of being a principal and an accomplice. However, the distinction is both academic and strategic.

The US Constitution forbids a person from being punished twice for the same offense if convicted. As a young offender, the defendant faces the prospect of release within five years after any prospective conviction, at least for the time being.

Robinson is currently at Hillbrook Detention Center in Onondaga County, a tiny 32-bed juvenile detention facility.

The following is taken from Fuld's January obituary, as per Law & Crime via MSN:

On January 25, 2021, Eva Mae Fuld was discovered at her house. Eva Fuld was the only child of Kate and Albrecht Fuld and was born in Auburn, New York. Eva graduated from Syracuse High School and went on to Goucher College in Maryland to further her studies. She started her long career as a teacher but took a break to study French at the Sorbonne and Spanish in Mexico City. Fuld worked at Westmoreland High School as a language teacher. She worked at Syracuse Library after a long teaching career. She was an avid reader who also liked traveling. Both of her parents died before her. At this moment, no service is scheduled.

A similar crime occurred in May of this year in Syracuse. Victoria Afet, 23, is accused of torturing and killing 93-year-old Concetta "Connie" Tuori. Judge Doran is also in charge of the case.

Related Article: Arizona Boy, 11, Faces Felony Charges for Starting Brush Fire, Causes $30,000 Damage

@YouTube

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A cyberattack linked to Russia on the world's largest beef manufacturer may have impacted one-fifth of the US beef supply, the report says. JBS received a ransom demand from a criminal group presumably located in Russia, said the White House.

The country's food security attack comes less than four weeks after the Colonial Pipeline was hacked, causing energy security worries. According to Bloomberg, the cyberattack on the Brazil-based meat company's computer networks might significantly impact.

Meat producers were affected with JBS cyberattack blamed on Russia

According to the outlet, the five US businesses process a total of 22,500 cattle every day, and the weekend attack essentially knocked off about a quarter of the national product, according to the outlet, with operations also reported down in Australia and Canada. Colonial Pipeline paid a $5 million ransom to Russian hackers DarkSide in the hopes of restoring their network.

While Ann Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, acknowledged that paying a ransom was usually a "private-sector choice." Paying the Colonial Pipeline hackers led to concern that further ransom attempts on the country's critical infrastructure might follow. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House deputy press secretary, informed reporters that the Biden administration has offered JBS support and contacted the Russian government.

She stated that the US Department of Agriculture was in contact with meat processors around the country to ensure that they were aware of the problem. "We're analyzing potential supply consequences. The president has directed the administration to consider what we can do to alleviate any supply implications as they become required," Jean-Pierre said.

Read Also: Russia Vows To Block Twitter for 30 Days

JBS cyberattack comes weeks after the Colonial Pipeline hack

The US main gas pipeline was shut down, causing panic purchasing and gas supply shortages until the systems were restored and oil resumed flowing again.

Trading CME cattle futures dropped more than 3% after JBS announced the new ransom attack in a statement on Monday but recovered marginally as the market waited to discover the full extent of the worldwide production shutdowns. According to Bloomberg, JBS has 23% beef capacity in the United States, ahead of Tyson Foods' 22%, and around 20% of pork capacity.

They alleged that the business shut down processing or canceled shifts in Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Utah, Texas, and Wisconsin. Minnesota pork and chicken plants were also shuttered, according to union leaders and employees.

"I know of at least ten plants that have had their operations halted as a result of the cyberattack," said Paula Schelling-Soldner, acting chairperson of the American Federation of Government Employees' national council of locals representing food inspectors, The Independent reported.

After being alerted of the ransomware assault by JBS, the White House thinks it was carried out by a group of Russian cybercriminals and has personally challenged the Russian government over the issue. If the problem is not resolved fast, customers should anticipate meat prices to climb significantly more than they did last year when the COVID-19 outbreak caused a spike.

On Tuesday, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) projected that 94,000 cattle were slaughtered, down 22% from a week earlier and 18% from the same period in 2020. Choice beef cuts supplied to wholesalers rose $3.59 to $334.56 per 100 pounds, increasing less than 1%. Select cuts increase in price significantly, from $5.55 to $306.45 per 100 pounds. On Tuesday, pork supplies were also disrupted, with 390,000 hogs slaughtered, a 20% decrease from a week earlier.

JBS USA CEO Andre Nogueira claims the vast majority of the company's beef, pork, and poultry operations should be operating by Wednesday. She noted that "progress our IT specialists and plant teams have achieved in the previous 24 hours," Newsweek via MSN reported. JBS had alerted the Biden administration of the ransomware cyberattack on Sunday, Principal Deputy White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday. She claimed White House and USDA officials had spoken with the corporation several times in the last day. The administration was also engaging the Russian government directly about the situation.

Related Article: Colonial Pipeline Goes Down Again, Over 11,000 Gas Stations Having New Outages Causing Gas Prices To Soar



@YouTube

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A number of Barron County cows are getting into crimefighting. At least, they did so one evening.

A 13-mile police pursuit ended without injury on Thursday on a Wisconsin farm. The escaped suspect met with what police officials touted as a "moooving blockade" of cows.

The Barron County Sheriff's Department cooperated with the Barron City Police Department with the pursuit. According to the Sheriff's Department's Facebook page, "It ended on a farm and we would be remiss if we didn't thank the Barron County Bovine Unit for jumping into the fray when the vehicle came into their patrol area."

Why Did the Car Chase Take Place?

The pursuit transpired between Barron and Cumberland. The chase started shortly prior to 1 AM. It started due to a registration violation, according to investigator and K-9 officer Nathan Emmons of the Barron City Police Department, reported Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Sheriff officials in Barron County are voicing out their appreciation to a bovine herd that helped in ending the chase. From Barron County to Cumberland County is where the driver left the road. The driver was barred by a herd of cattle that the department half-jokingly named "The Barron County Bovine Unit."

Officers were chasing a Chevrolet Cavalier when the vehicle's driver came before the throng of cows. The Cavalier ran out of steam upon encountering the "moooving blockade."

The pursuit ended in a field, and one suspect was taken into custody "without incident," according to Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald. That was when cows arrived and surrounded the car, Fitzgerald added.

Read Also: Georgia Judge Agrees To Unseal Fulton County Ballots, To Be Checked for Evidence of Election Fraud

No humans or cows were wounded. The sheriff remarked he thought it was a good kickoff to June Dairy Month.

A photo from the incident displays that the cow crimefighters had an interest in the out-of-place vehicle. They were not about to let it go past quietly.

The owners of the now-viral-heifers are Brandon and Kim Grewe of Valley Gem Farms in Cumberland, WI.

According to the officials, as the suspect is in custody, the man is slated to be charged on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday.

Brandon said he woke up in the early morning hours in order to check on his calving cows. This was when he heard a ruckus. "Gone done checking them, went back to my parents' driveway to head back home. I heard sirens so I waited a bit and over the hill came a car, and two cop cars chasing it going pretty darn fast," reported Kare 11.

According to the sheriff, his deputies were helping in the pursuit that ended on the Grewe property. He added there was no property damage.

Kim Grewe said she was not too worried either, but she felt dumbfounded. Grewe said she was in a daze and was not sleeping. She poked her head out and looked out the window. She then witnessed that there were red and blue lights. Her first question was, "Are the cows out!?"

Related Article: A Routine Search Warrant Execution in Alabama Ends With Suspect Dead, Officers Injured

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Supreme Court refused to hear Johnson & Johnson's appeal of a 2018 decision that their baby powder cause ovarian cancer in more than 20 women. The company is ordered to pay $2.1 billion.

Johnson & Johnson has refuted charges that its Baby Powder and Shower Shimmer Effects products contain carcinogens that cause cancer.

J&J found guilty of several lawsuits

In an email to Bloomberg, J&J spokesperson Kim Montagnino said, "The court's decision not to reconsider the case leaves substantial legal concerns unsettled that state and federal courts will continue to consider. The Supreme Court has stated several times that its refusal to consider a matter indicates no opinion on the merits."

In February, the company disclosed in a securities filing that it had set aside $3.9 billion in litigation expenses, primarily connected with talc-related reserves and some settlements.

25,000 lawsuits have been filed against Johnson & Johnson by baby powder users who believe asbestos poisoning caused their cancer.

Asbestos is a known carcinogen and is found in talc mining.

In the St. Louis case, jurors awarded each woman $25 million in compensation. The tribunal then added more than $4 billion in punitive damages, making it the sixth-largest judgment in US judicial history. Last year, a state appeals court reduced the award by more than half.

J&J's stock dropped dramatically after the initial decision.

J&J has been found guilty in other lawsuits, with juries throughout the US ordering the company to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Some of the awards were reduced by judges, while others were thrown out or are being appealed.

J&J has also won some suits.

The dismissal of the appeal was made without the participation of Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh.

Although Alito's most recent financial disclosure report stated either he or his wife owned J&J shares, neither supplied an explanation, as is customary. Kavanaugh's father worked as a lobbyist for the cosmetics business, and his group battled efforts to impose talc product warnings.

Read Also: Ivermectin To Undergo COVID-19 Drug Trial in the University of Minnesota as Online Interest Surge

Drugmaker giant J&J claims the verdict is unfair

The vast nature of the St. Louis case, according to J&J, made the trial so unfair that it violated the Constitution's due process provision. The lawsuit initially merged the claims of over two dozen plaintiffs from 12 different states.

According to the manufacturer, the trial judge took five hours to instruct the jury. The panel spent less than 20 minutes on average deliberating for each woman before giving each the same sum regardless of their circumstances.

The company has discontinued using talc in baby powder in the United States and Canada since May 2020. However, it denies that this was because of the lawsuits. Instead, Johnson & Johnson claims a lack of demand fueled by misinformation about the product's safety and a relentless onslaught of lawsuit advertising caused the discontinuation.

In a statement to CNBC, the business declared the issues before the court were about legal procedure rather than safety.

Per The Independent, the statement says, "decades of independent scientific evaluations affirm Johnson & Johnson's Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer."

The Supreme Court did not address the state court's decision or Johnson & Johnson's allegation that it was not treated fairly when 22 cancer patients from 12 states were grouped in one trial.

Related Article: 78 Brands of Sunscreen for Recall Over Carcinogen Contamination as Summer Looms



@YouTube

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A shocking video of canines scouting the riverbanks for the bodies of humans as food has emerged. The video is reportedly taken at the Kedar Ghat, along Bhagirathi in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, reported Telegraph India.

The images show how severe the COVID-19 situation is in the country, with the pandemic in India taking a significant toll on their lives.

The sheer volume of corpses seems to overwhelm those tasked with disposing of the bodies.

Dogs eat remains they can get to

Residents believe that the bodies are dumped upstream into the river. This particular part of the Bhagirathi banks is a tributary of the Ganges River.

Increased water levels of the river due to rainfall caused the bodies to gather on the sandbank, exposing them to stray dogs.

Street dogs get attracted to the river banks

The smell of decomposition is thought to attract the dogs. They pull out the bodies from the water for food.

Last Monday, concerned residents said to reporters that the matter was forwarded to local officials and that they demand action. One priest, who wanted anonymity, said their leaders were not worried about what is happening in the area.

Seeing the dogs feed on the bodies of people indicates a more significant problem.

Read also: India Suffers Shortage of Black Fungus Drug as Deadly COVID-19 Variant Continues to Pile up More Cases

"Several half-burnt remains were seen on the ghat getting consumed by dogs," Ramesh Semwal, chairman of the Nagar Palike, told journalists noted in the Hindustan Times. "After final rituals are performed, we've appointed a sadhu who lives on the ghat to keep the area clean."

He seems to suggest that the bodies had been cremated mainly in the place, instead of floating down from someplace. He did not say why the remains were half-burned or how the sadhu intended to "clear the area" of these bodies.

Death overwhelms Indian states

Dozens of bodies have been deposited on the rivers floating downstream from Uttar Pradesh and other provinces.

The suspected reason behind this method of disposal is the rising deaths from the pandemic, leading to an increased demand for cremation space and firewood.

Another reason is how expensive funerals are. Those who cannot afford a proper burial bury their dead on the riverbanks.

In the last 24 hours, locals of Unnao and Fatehpur, in both Uttar Pradesh, have claimed sighting at least three dozen to six bodies floating in the Ganges River, respectively.

According to Fatehpur sub-divisional magistrate Pramod Jha, who said in NDTV, "In the river, some bodies were found. They were hauled out of the river and cremated."

On Sunday morning, Jha stated that he was notified about the remains floating in the river and a search effort was conducted. He said six decaying remains were found in the river.

Several doctors conducted the last rites at Bhitora Ganga Ghat later that same day.

Tirath Singh Rawat and Yogi Adityanath, the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, have not said anything of the floating bodies but declared that the Covid crisis in their states is "almost within control."

Related article: India Mass Burial Site of COVID-19 Victims Along Ganges River Revealed by Drone Video

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A Change.org petition seeking monthly $2,000 stimulus payments has gathered 2.25 million signatures, leaving it around 750,000 signatures short of its 3 million objective. Stephanie Bonin, the petition's author and a Denver restaurant owner, is urging the United States House of Representatives and Senate to adopt legislation providing monthly $2,000 payments for adults and $1,000 payments for children until the coronavirus pandemic ends.

"Many Americans have yet to benefit from the recovery - the real unemployment rate for low-wage employees is believed to be over 20%. And many individuals are stuck with significant bills from last year for necessities like electricity, rent, and child care," the author said, as per Newsweek.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government has made three direct payments.

A Petition urges lawmakers to adopt monthly stimulus checks

Congress passed a $1,200 payout in March as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, better known as the CARES Act, and a $600 payment in December last year under former President Donald Trump.

In March, President Joe Biden distributed $1,400 stimulus checks as part of his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.

Bonin's petition placed 23rd on Change.org's best all-time petitions list in the United States earlier this month. It also ranked 40th in the world's top petitions. According to the site, it will become one of the top-performing petitions on Change.org when it achieves 3 million signatures.

Change.org's top 10 petitions for the year 2020 included this plea for regular $2,000 checks. With 2.1 million signatures, it placed in sixth place.

Bonin started the petition in March 2020 and has kept it up to date since then.

The majority of the discussion about a fourth or even fifth stimulus check centers on poverty and the effects of such payments on people's daily living expenditures.

According to a recent Bankrate.com poll, most Americans expected to spend the third stimulus check - the $1,400 checks approved as part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan - on monthly expenses, basic needs, and debt repayment.

Adam Ruben, campaign director for the Economic Security Project, told CNBC, "We need at least one more stimulus check." An additional stimulus check will have more impact on the lower middle and low-income levels where the money at hand translates to an actual, concrete economic effect for the most significant number of individuals.

Read Also: Fourth Stimulus Check, If Approved, May Reach Only Fewer Americans: Why and How to Qualify

Democrats push for fourth, fifth stimulus checks

As family spending slows, Democratic lawmakers press the White House to offer a fourth and fifth wave of stimulus checks to keep Americans out of poverty.

The requests for regular payments come as consumer spending in the United States slowed in April, expanding by only 1 percent compared to 4.7 percent in March.

Seven Democrats in the House Ways and Means Committee support another wave of stimulus checks.

"The pandemic has served as a stark reminder that families and workers need certainty in a crisis," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to President Biden, as per The Sun.

Regular stimulus checks, according to lawmakers, could keep as many as 12 million Americans out of poverty. Although no amount has been specified, some politicians have suggested that checks worth up to $2,000 be issued. The move comes after another letter to Biden, dated March 30, in which the president was urged to implement regular monthly stimulus checks.

Related Article: Fourth Stimulus Check: Another Round of Direct Payments Depends on Congress; Lawmakers Urge for More

@YouTube

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
AP FACT CHECK: Manchin, Sinema do not vote with GOP more

President Joe Biden is stretching the facts when he suggests that two moderate Senate Democrats might be why his legislative agenda isnt quickly getting done on Capitol Hill
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman speaks during a press briefing with Indonesian Deputy Foreign Minister Mahendra Siregar following their meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, in this photo provided by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Reuters-Yonhap



The United States' recent appointment of a point man on North Korea signals its readiness for dialogue, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Wednesday, voicing hope for Pyongyang to "take us up on that possibility."



In a telephone conference with reporters, Sherman made the remarks, referring to President Joe Biden's announcement last month of career diplomat Sung Kim as special representative for the DPRK, the acronym of the North's official name, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.



Sherman also made clear that Kim, who has been serving as acting assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, will double as U.S. ambassador to Indonesia while carrying out the special representative role.



"President Biden just announced ... that he had named as special representative or special envoy for DPRK talks should they get underway, Ambassador Sung Kim, who is currently our ambassador to Indonesia and has been the acting assistant secretary for East Asia Pacific region, but will be returning to Indonesia full time," Sherman said.



"And this was another signal that we are ready and prepared to have dialogue with the DPRK, and we hope that they will take us up on that possibility," she added.



The announcement on Kim's appointment came after the U.S. completed its months-long review of policy on the North and said it would pursue a calibrated, practical approach towards the goal of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.



Sherman said that the U.S. has "made our policy known to the DPRK." It remains unknown whether she meant Washington had let the North know about its new policy through its public statements or Washington had directly contacted Pyongyang to explain the policy. (Yonhap)


Yoo Jang-hee, the governor of Rotary District 3650, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times in his office in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



By Kang Seung-woo



On the back of Korea's comparatively successful COVID-19 quarantine measures early last year, Yoo Jang-hee, the governor of Rotary District 3650 based in northern Seoul, launched efforts to fight the coronavirus right after taking office last July.



Based on the nation's "K-Quarantine," or infectious disease prevention and control, he made a manual to help his fellow Rotarians around the world protect themselves and their fellow members from the pandemic, in the process receiving rave reviews for its content.





"Given that Rotary International (RI) has greatly contributed to eradicating polio, I suggested the 'End Corona Rotary Initiative' (ECRI) to local Rotary clubs and RI, which was lauded as a good idea," Yoo said in an interview with The Korea Times, Tuesday.



According to Rotary, the international service organization has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years, contributing more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from the paralyzing disease.



"First of all, taking preventive measures against COVID-19 was important until reliable vaccines become available, so I collected materials about Korea's strong response to the disease and drew up the manual, which was distributed globally," Yoo said.



"Some said they will use the manual as a benchmark, while others said they applied it as-is to their cases, and it worked."



Yoo added that he received a lot of letters of thanks from district governors from around the world for sharing the "informative and helpful" document.



With the pandemic dragging on, his Rotary club has stepped up efforts to help those who are hit hard by the virus.



Rotary District 3650, together with Rotary District 3710 based in Gwangju, donated 10 computers to a hospital and a children's center on Cheongsan Island, off the south coast, while providing 10,000 and 15,000 masks to Seongga Bokji Hospital and the Army's Ninth Infantry Division, respectively.



Plus, it financially supported senior citizens who live alone and the International Child Rights Center.



Yoo, a renowned economist who headed the state-run think tank, the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, and served as vice president of Ewha Womans University, also chaired the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership (KCCP), an organization seeking to address fair practice gaps and conflicts between large and small companies.



The governor said that his experience at the KCCP helped him lead the Rotary club.



"While heading the KCCP, I got accustomed to looking for people who were in need, but placed in blind spots. As a result, I conducted on-site inspections of small-sized companies and tried to narrow gaps between large and small firms, which helped the latter a lot," he said.



"The KCCP experience led me to think about those who can afford helping their communities that are in need of help, and as soon as I took office last July, I got straight to work."



He added: "Our goal is to become a Rotary club that more vigorously conducts volunteer activities, rather than just raising funds and donating them."






U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on NATO members to deepen their cooperation with South Korea, the State Department said Tuesday, amid U.S. efforts to enhance cooperation between U.S. allies.







"Secretary Blinken underscored the importance of Alliance partnerships, including NATO-EU cooperation, and encouraged NATO to deepen its cooperation with Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea," the department said, referring to South Korea by its official name.







Blinken's call came in a virtual meeting with other foreign ministers of NATO member countries, according to the department.







The Joe Biden administration has repeatedly emphasized the importance of U.S. allies in its growing competition with China, calling them an "asymmetrical" capability or asset that the rivaling China and Russia do not have, and stressing the importance of not only the U.S. working with its allies but U.S. allies working closely among themselves.







The U.S. has also been increasingly calling on South Korea and Japan to work closely together amid soured relationship between its two key Asian allies over their longstanding history issues.







"We underscore the fundamental importance of U.S.-ROK-Japan trilateral cooperation for addressing the DPRK, protecting our shared security and prosperity, upholding common values, and bolstering the rules-based order," Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, said in a joint statement issued after their bilateral summit here on May 21.







DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name. (Yonhap)


Thank you! You've reported this item as a violation of our terms of use.

This content was contributed by a user of the site. If you believe this content may be in violation of the terms of use, you may report it.
Anchor/Multimedia Journalist

Hello! I am the weekend anchor as well as a reporter for Your News Now! You can reach me with news tips (or just to say hello!) at khonigford@wlio.com.
Press Release

2 June 2021

Hilton has partnered with social enterprise South Pole to offset the carbon footprint of meetings and events across almost 30 properties in the UK at no extra cost to the customer.

Advertisements

Initially launched in The Netherlands last month, the offer has been extended to approximately 60 hotels across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with plans to roll out further in the coming months. The initiative will complement existing efforts to deliver low environmental impact solutions that limit waste and increase the focus on local sourcing, in support of Hiltons Travel with Purpose 2030 Goals to cut its environmental footprint in half and double its social impact by 2030.

Tanya Clifford, vice president, Hilton Worldwide Sales EMEA said,We know our meetings and events customers share our passion for sustainability and like us, are committed to finding ways to further reduce their environmental footprint. Offering carbon neutral meetings at no additional cost is a fantastic addition to existing efforts to limit the environmental impact of our operations and achieve our collective ambitions. We look forward to exploring opportunities to extend the programme in the coming months.

The footprint of all business meetings with ten or more delegates at participating hotels will be offset through carbon credits. Credits will be allocated to a range of projects which support Hiltons Travel with Purpose 2030 Goals, including repairing and maintaining boreholes in Rwanda to increase access to safe water sources, the construction of a geothermal power plant in Turkey to generate clean, emissions-free energy and the development and maintenance of wind farms in India and the US.

Hilton will use its award-winning corporate responsibility performance management system, LightStay, to estimate each meetings energy, water, carbon and waste consumption. LightStays Meeting Impact Calculator tool gives customers the opportunity to see an estimated carbon footprint for their event using each hotels specific utility data. In addition to the available measures for businesses to decrease the waste and energy usage of corporate events, carbon credits will be purchased from South Pole to offset any remaining environmental impact.

Michael Malara, senior business development manager, South Pole said:Everyone has a role to play in helping to halt climate change  first and foremost through reducing carbon emissions, water use, waste and energy output as far as possible. We are delighted to partner with Hilton and its customers to boost their efforts to tackle the climate crisis. Through this initiative, Hilton will help to fund some of the worlds most cutting-edge sustainability projects in addition to reducing its own environmental impact and that of its clients. We look forward to working closely together to drive positive change.

Knowing that businesses will continue to choose to combine in-person meetings with virtual participation for some time, particularly as restrictions continue to change, Hilton recently launched Hilton EventReady Hybrid Solutions. The new product empowers businesses to host seamless hybrid meetings, across multiple sites if they choose to do so. In line with Hilton EventReady with CleanStay, as well as taking into account the need for increased hygiene and cleanliness measures, the programme has been developed with sustainability in mind.

The offer is now available at the following locations: Hilton London Canary Wharf, Hilton London Heathrow Airport, Hilton London Kensington, London Hilton on Park Lane, Hilton London Tower Bridge, The Waldorf Hilton, Hilton London Hyde Park, Hilton Avisford Park, Hilton Brighton Metropole, Hilton Cobham, Hilton Croydon, Hilton East Midlands Airport, Hilton Glasgow, Hilton Glasgow Grosvenor, Hilton Leeds City, Hilton Leicester, Hilton Maidstone, Hilton Newcastle Gateshead, Hilton Northampton, Hilton Nottingham, Hilton Puckrup Hall, Hilton Reading, Hilton Templepatrick, Hilton Watford, Hilton York, DoubleTree by Hilton Dunblane, Hampton by Hilton Edinburgh Airport and Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh, The Caledonian.

Hilton has curated a selection of global projects that will be supported by its carbon offset programme in partnership with South Pole. More information on the projects can be found here.

About Travel with Purpose

Travel with Purpose is Hiltons Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy to redefine and advance sustainable travel globally. By 2030, we plan to double our investment in social impact and cut our environmental footprint by half. We track, analyze and report our environmental and social impact at each of Hiltons more than 6,500 hotels through LightStay, our award-winning performance management system. Travel with Purpose capitalizes on Hiltons global scale to catalyze local economic growth; respect human rights; invest in people and local communities; and preserve our planet by reducing our impact on natural resources. Our strategy aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Visit cr.hilton.com to learn more.

About South Pole

South Pole, recognised by the World Economic Forum as a Social Enterprise, has been at the forefront of decarbonization since 2006. With its global Climate Solutions platform, South Pole develops and implements comprehensive strategies that turn climate action into long-term business opportunities for companies, governments and organizations around the world.
Press Release

2 June 2021

While the recovery varies widely, global hotel performance has shown signs of improvement across most world regions. From roadmaps to reopening across Europe to travel bubbles between key Asia Pacific markets and the overachieving Middle East in between, most of the world's hoteliers have started to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Even South America, which, like Europe, sits a bit behind the rest of the pack, has found some strength in an unexpected hotel type this month.

Advertisements

Europe

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict began just as the COVID-19 threat started to recede.

After a successful and lauded vaccination rollout, restrictions started to ease and hotel performance improved. When the United Kingdom released its "green list" of countries from which inbound travel will be accepted, Israel was one of 12.

Photo: STR

However, due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel hotel occupancy has nosedived as safety concerns drive would-be visitors to other destinations. A ceasefire announced late last week ended the immediate violence, but with no real long-term changes implemented, the existing tensions that led to 11 days of war remain in place and pose a significant downside risk to hospitality recovery.

Middle East

While borders remain closed in many Gulf countries, a number of key Middle Eastern destinations are reporting enviable year-to-date revenue per available room indexes, buoyed by long-stay (Qatar), domestic (Al Khobar), and/or leisure (Jeddah) demand. The under-performers  Manama, Makkah, Medina, Kuwait and Muscat  are missing key sources of demand.

Photo: STR

For Makkah and Medina, Umrah pilgrims absence is keenly felt; and Manama, Kuwait and Muscat are capitals of small, border-closed countries with lockdowns of varying intensity and relatively little domestic demand.

Asia-Pacific

Further East, travel bubbles have started to pop up, pause and reopen between a handful of destinations in the Asia Pacific region, including China and two of its Special Administrative Regions  Hong Kong and Macau.

During the worst of the pandemic, all forms of travel between mainland China and the regions halted, as each market closed its borders. However, the mainland remains a huge source market for Macau and Hong Kong, prompting the small, island-like regions to work towards reopening borders to mainlanders and each other.

Photo: STR

Macau reached the milestone first and eased restrictions on May 5. Occupancy skyrocketed, reaching nearly 81% on a rolling-seven-day basis before moderating somewhat. Hong Kong opened a one-way corridor, allowing residents returning from the mainland or Macau to forego quarantine, but a true bubble remains out of reach due to Hong Kongs relatively high COVID-19 caseload.

Welcoming mainland China guests has allowed Macau to bounce back, but the tiny territory still trails the mainland in occupancy recovery.

Central and South America

Brazil and much of South America are once again struggling with new waves of COVID-19, due in part by a slow vaccine rollout, sporadic or unofficial lockdowns and the onset of winter. As one of the last world regions impacted by COVID-19, Central and South America trail many other world regions in recovery, with current conditions most similar to Europe a few months back.

One interesting trend does stand out, however. Unlike most of the rest of the world, mega-hotels in Brazil are actually leading occupancy recovery. The sample is admittedly small, but sample is not the primary reason for the discrepancy here.

Photo: STR

While in other nations, mega-hotels may be conference or convention hotels, reliant on business and group demand to fill their rooms, Brazil's mega-hotels are almost entirely resorts, relying on the transient leisure traveler who is, has been and likely will continue to be out and about.

Positive signs abound in the most recent data, as vaccine rollouts and warm weather across parts of the world lend optimism to a wearied industry. With countries around the world beginning to lift restrictions and open their borders, many markets can expect improved performance over the coming weeks and months.

Kelsey Fenerty and Letizia Rossi-Espagnet are research analysts at STR.

This article represents an interpretation of data collected by STR, CoStar's hospitality analytics firm. Please feel free to comment or contact an editor with any questions or concerns.
Press Release

2 June 2021

London, UK: The World Travel & Tourism Councils annual Economic Impact Report (EIR) today reveals that the dramatic collapse of Egypts Travel & Tourism sector wiped out a staggering $17.6 billion from the nations economy last year.

Advertisements

The annual EIR from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, shows the sectors impact on GDP dropped 55%.

Egypts Travel & Tourism sectors contribution to the nations GDP fell from $32 billion (8.8%) in 2019, to $14.4 billion (3.8%), just 12 months later, in 2020.

The year of damaging travel restrictions around the world, which brought much of international travel to a grinding halt, resulted in the loss of 844,000 Travel & Tourism jobs across the country.

However, WTTC believes the true picture could have been significantly worse, if not for the governments measures to keep the Travel & Tourism sector afloat and support its workers, such as the cash subsidy scheme, which offered a lifeline to thousands of businesses and workers.

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 worlds most diverse sectors, the impact on women, youth and minorities was significant. The number of those employed in the Egyptian Travel & Tourism sector fell from 2.4 million in 2019, to nearly 1.6 million in 2020 - a drop of more than a third (35%).

The report also revealed domestic visitor spending declined by almost a third (32.3%), while international spending fared much worse, due to more stringent travel restrictions, causing a fall of 74.5%.

Virginia Messina, Senior Vice President WTTC said: The loss of 844,000 Travel & Tourism jobs in Egypt has had a significant socio-economic impact, leaving huge numbers of people, who rely on a thriving sector, fearing for their future.

Whilst there was no formal furlough scheme in place in Egypt, affected workers could receive a monthly subsidy for a period of three months, which at least offered a lifeline. The Egyptian Travel & Tourism sector also benefitted from a much needed three-billion-pound government loan directed to tourism and hotel establishments.

We know thousands of SMEs, which make up the bulk of the ailing Travel & Tourism sector, are still fighting for their survival, putting at risk the capacity of the country to recover from the crushing impact of COVID-19.

WTTC believes that 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 Egyptian economy.

Egypt is an incredibly popular destination, and one which adopted our Safe Travels stamp many months ago, showing just how important the return safe international travel is, not only for businesses and jobs, but for the wider economy. Its borders have been open since last July, and we are confident in its ability to recover.

WTTC applauds the announcement by Tourism and Antiquities Minister, Khaled al-Enani, to prioritise vaccination of Egyptian workers in the Travel & Tourism sector, an essential contributor to Egypt's economy."

WTTC says the key to unlocking safe international travel can be achieved through a clear and science-based framework to reopen international travel. All non-vaccinated travellers should face a comprehensive testing regime before departure, as well as enhanced health and hygiene protocols, including mandatory mask wearing.

These measures would 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 dedicated to Travel & Tourism and upon ordinary people who have been isolated by COVID-19 restrictions.

Download the press release.
Press Release

2 June 2021

Revenge travel and vacci-cations are trending topics, with people planning a wide range of excursionsfrom road trips across the U.S. this Memorial Day weekend, to jaunts to iconic cities in England where Hilton recently reopened its hotels, to adventures in Australia and New Zealand with the opening of the Trans-Tasman bubble. As restrictions loosen and vaccination rates increase, once-grounded travelers are jumping at the chance to reconnect with loved ones, see new sights and make new memories.

Advertisements

Yet before hitting the road, its prudent to do some pre-trip planning. As you go to pack your bags or book that first vacation in more than 14 months, here are a few tips from Hilton Honors to help you breeze through your next trip with confidence.

Pre-travel planning

Check your account information: Make sure your contact information is up to date and fill in preference details, such as your ideal guest room location. Hilton Honors Gold and Diamond members should also review their MyWay benefit selections to ensure they are current. Members can also check their Hilton Honors Point balances, view progress toward the next status tier and review past stays.

Review expiration dates: Many companies have extended the deadlines to use rewards, so you may have extra time to capitalize on the perks youve earned. Hilton Honors-related extension updates include:

Free Weekend Night Reward certificate expirations have been extended and can continue to be used any night of the week. Certificates issued before May 1, 2020 that were set to expire Aug. 31, 2021 are now valid until Jan. 3, 2022. Certificates issued from May 1, 2020 through Dec. 31, 2020 are valid for 24 months. Certificates issued between Jan. 1, 2021 and Dec. 31, 2021 will expire on Dec. 31, 2022.

As a reminder, Hilton Honors extended members status through March 2022 and any Points set to expire in 2020 will not expire until Dec. 31, 2021.

Explore how to use your rewards: Do some online research or brainstorm with friends and families about your next dream destination. Then get planning!

In 2020, Hilton welcomed more than 400 new hotels across its portfolio of 18 market-leading brands, offering more choices than ever for members to earn and use their Hilton Honors Points. Located in some of the most popular destinations around the world, recent hotels openings have included Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach, Mango House Seychelles, LXR Hotels & Resorts and Sable at Navy Pier Chicago, Curio Collection by Hilton  just to name a few. And with even more openings to look forward tolike Resorts World Las Vegas and Hilton Cancun, an All-Inclusive Resortnow is the perfect time for Hilton Honors members to plan their next dream trip. Hilton Honors members can also use any combination of Points & Money to pay for a stay in increments of 1,000 Points, starting at just 5,000 Points.

Explore new ways to get to free nights faster: Your lifestyle and buying habits may have dramatically changed in the last 14 months. With your short- and long-term goals in mind, take a look at the benefits the Hilton Honors American Express Cards can provide in relation to both travel-related spending and everyday purchases.

Travel lovers looking for a new rewards credit card can check out these Points Plus special offers from Hilton Honors. These opportunities pertain to eligible new Card Members who apply and are approved starting May 6, 2021:

Hilton Honors American Express Card: Earn up to 130,000 Hilton Honors Points Earn 80,000 Hilton Honors Points after you spend $1,000 in purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express Card in the first three months of membership. Plus, you can earn an additional 50,000 Hilton Honors Points after you spend a total of $5,000 in purchases on the card in the first six months. Terms and conditions apply. With 130,000 Hilton Honors Points, a member could redeem up to three nights at more than 4,400 Hilton hotels worldwide.

Hilton Honors American Express Surpass  Card: Earn up to 180,000 Hilton Honors Points Earn 130,000 Hilton Honors Points after you spend $2,000 in purchases on the Hilton Honors Surpass  Card in the first three months of membership. Plus, you can earn an additional 50,000 Points after spending a total of $10,000 in purchases on the card in the first six months. Terms and conditions apply. With 180,000 Hilton Honors Points, a member could redeem up to four nights at more than 4,400 Hilton hotels worldwide.

Card: Earn up to 180,000 Hilton Honors Points

Additionally, Hilton Honors More Nights, More Points promotion lets members earn Double Bonus Points on every stay of one or two nights, and Triple Bonus Points on every stay of three nights or more, in addition to Points earned on eligible hotel spend. The offer is valid from May 3 through Sept. 6, 2021 and includes stays at more than 6,500 properties in 119 countries and territories. You can register at HiltonHonors.com/MoreNights.

What to expect during your hotel stay

Some property-specific protocols, services and amenities may be adjusted, so to stay informed, review information on the hotels websites and sign up for pre-arrival communications.

Here are a few reminders of whats happening at Hilton hotels:

Contactless Arrival : The Hilton Honors app provides a smooth contactless experience before you even step foot on property. Using a smartphone, you can bypass any front desk lines and check in, choose your room and request a Digital Key to unlock your room at nearly 5,000 properties.

: The Hilton Honors app provides a smooth contactless experience before you even step foot on property. Using a smartphone, you can bypass any front desk lines and check in, choose your room and request a Digital Key to unlock your room at nearly 5,000 properties. Cleaning and Distancing : Building on Hiltons already-rigorous housekeeping standards, the Hilton CleanStay program uses enhanced hygiene protocols and trusted, high-quality disinfecting products to deliver an even cleaner stay. Expect frequently sanitized common areas, as well as a seal on your guest room door to show the space has been disinfected and not accessed since being cleaned.

: Building on Hiltons already-rigorous housekeeping standards, the Hilton CleanStay program uses enhanced hygiene protocols and trusted, high-quality disinfecting products to deliver an even cleaner stay. Expect frequently sanitized common areas, as well as a seal on your guest room door to show the space has been disinfected and not accessed since being cleaned. Housekeeping upon Request : Knowing peoples comfort levels may have changed with having others in their space, housekeeping is now available by request. If you want to skip the cleaning but need extra towels or amenities, the hotel can arrange that for you.

: Knowing peoples comfort levels may have changed with having others in their space, housekeeping is now available by request. If you want to skip the cleaning but need extra towels or amenities, the hotel can arrange that for you. Restaurants Reopening : Many on-property restaurants modified their services last year, so you may see adjusted restaurant hours, altered menus and methods of service, and slightly longer wait times. In the coming months, hotels will resume serving favorites you love and introduce you to some new menu items.

: Many on-property restaurants modified their services last year, so you may see adjusted restaurant hours, altered menus and methods of service, and slightly longer wait times. In the coming months, hotels will resume serving favorites you love and introduce you to some new menu items. New Hilton Honors Elite Member BenefitDaily Food & Beverage Credit: Whether you look forward to breakfast or would rather skip it in favor of a refreshing beverage and afternoon snackthe choice is yours. In early July through the end of 2021, Hilton Honors will begin offering a Daily Food & Beverage Credit for Gold and Diamond members in the United States. You will be able to use this credit at the hotel brands where complimentary continental breakfast is currently offered as a MyWay benefit. Be on the lookout for more details in the coming weeks.

Even with the best planning, some unexpected events can occur and a change in plans is necessary. As such, most Hilton hotels continue to offer the flexibility to change or cancel up to 24 hours before your arrival day. If youre bookingor rebookinga stay, Hilton Honors members always get the lowest price on all Hilton hotels on Hilton.com or on the Hilton Honors app.

By taking some time to get your accounts in order and understand what to expect at your destination, you can set yourself up for a safe and enjoyable adventure as you return to travel.

Hilton Honors members can keep up with the latest account-related information on the Hilton Honors FAQ webpage. More information about the evolving guest experience can be found here. To join Hilton Honors, enroll for free at HiltonHonors.com.

About Hilton Honors

Hilton Honors is the award-winning guest loyalty program for Hiltons 18 world-class brands comprising more than 6,500 properties in 119 countries and territories. Hilton Honors members who book directly through preferred Hilton channels have access to instant benefits, including a flexible payment slider that allows members to choose nearly any combination of Points and money to book a stay, an exclusive member discount and free Standard WiFi. Members also have access to contactless technology exclusively through the industry-leading Hilton Honors mobile app, where members can check in, choose their room and access their room using Digital Key. Hilton Honors offers its more than 115 million members hundreds of ways to earn and redeem Points, including select co-branded credit cards. Members can redeem their Points for free nights, premium merchandise and items on Amazon, and make charitable contributions. The program is free to join and travelers can enroll online by visiting hiltonhonors.com. Learn more about Hilton Honors at newsroom.hilton.com/hiltonhonors, and follow Hilton Honors on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Opinion Article

2 June 2021

Hotel History: Ocean House at Watch Hill (49 rooms)

Advertisements

Ocean House is a large, Victorian-style waterfront hotel originally constructed in 1868 on Bluff Avenue in the Watch Hill historic district of Westerly, Rhode Island.

The original 1868 hotel closed in 2003; it was demolished in 2005 and a new facility opened in 2010 on the same site which retained much of the original structures form and appearance, as well as the original name. Both the original and its reconstruction are noted for their rambling Victorian architecture and distinctive yellow siding.

The original Ocean House was the last waterfront Victorian-era hotel on mainland Rhode Island.

The Ocean House was originally built in 1868. It was smaller than the other hotels located in Watch Hill, but it expanded with numerous additions over the years. The original Ocean House was a central structure in the Watch Hill Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In March, 2004, Girouard Associates of New Canaan, Connecticut purchased the facility from heirs of the Louis D. Miller family, which had owned the hotel since 1938. Girouard Associates intended to raze Ocean House and build five large oceanfront homes, but a protest ensued. A new buyer was ultimately found, and while the spirit of the original building was preserved, the actual building was not.

Factors related to the closing of the original Ocean House included its lack of modern amenities, its dilapidated condition, and its non-compliance with current building codes. The original Ocean House operated seasonally, open roughly three months a year, and the building lacked a heating, air conditioning, and ventilation system. In the last years of its operation, the top two floors were unused and only 59 rooms were serviceable out of its original 159. The aging facility lacked requisite amenities, service functions, egress requirements, handicapped accessibility requirements, and parking to meet modern codes. A newspaper article described its final condition: Grand staircases lead nowhere. Rainwater seeps through the walls and runs down wired-in-place gutters. The oak elevator is broken.

The 138-year-old building was non-compliant with current building and life safety codes. Its timber structure had been compromised by indiscriminate installation of electric, gas, and plumbing utilities, as well as a subsequent reconfiguration of rooms to include private bathrooms. Rhode Islands fire codes were revised and more rigorously enforced after the 2003 Station nightclub fire, rendering the deficiencies insurmountable at Ocean House. Compliance with current life-safety standards, including those for hurricane-rated windows with new frames, a new concrete foundation with steel tie-downs throughout, stripping off all interior and exterior lead paint, and removal of interior mold requiring demolition of interior finishes.

In 2004, the Ocean House was not permitted to open because of code deficiencies; the original hotel ceased operations in 2003 and was sold. The community learned in March 2004 that a developer from out of town planned to raze Ocean House and build five homes in its place, so organizers began a campaign to save the building and preserve the sites public oceanfront access and beach. These organizers included representatives from Preserve Rhode Island, Rhode Island Historical Preservation, and Heritage Commission, as well as the National Trust. Another buyer was found who deemed it economically and physically unfeasible to make the building functional and code compliant, but he promised to rebuild it from the ground up. The original building was demolished and a new facility constructed on-site.

Project architects met resistance with the demolition of Ocean House, but they successfully argued for reconstruction. They suggested a building modeled after the original Ocean House as it was its zenith, around 1908. This would permit a 49-room hotel appropriate in scale to its adjacent streets, while expanding toward the beach where 23 condominiums could be accommodated. It also would enable it to have the amenities and service functions that could make the project functionally and economically feasible.

The original Ocean House structure was demolished in December 2005 and the subsequent facility opened in 2010.

The new design is 50,000 square feet larger than the original at 156,000 square feet. It reconstructs much of the original massing and restores certain original details that have been removed during the ongoing operation of the facility, such as the original mansard roof and lobby fireplace. It also incorporates new elements, including subterranean facilities and two new wings extending from the main building, which also shield neighboring residential areas from hotel activities.

The original facility was documented and overall dimensions and heights were preserved, including the size and location of windows. Actual pieces of the original building were salvaged and the design replicates columns, capitals, and woodwork. Materials within human reach are wood while detailing which is out of reach is made of synthetic materials that are more easy to maintain.

The new facility features 49 guest rooms and 23 residential condominium suites as well as meeting rooms, spa, lap, pool, fitness center, and restaurants. The design also accommodates service functions requisite to a modern facility: up-to-date kitchens, loading docks, mechanical rooms, fire egress requirements (e.g. redundant stairs), and staff facilities.

My Newest Book Great American Hotel Architects Volume 2 was published in 2020.

All of my following books can be ordered from AuthorHouse by visiting www.stanleyturkel.com and clicking on the books title.

Great American Hoteliers: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry (2009)

Built To Last: 100+ Year-Old Hotels in New York (2011)

Built To Last: 100+ Year-Old Hotels East of the Mississippi (2013)

Hotel Mavens: Lucius M. Boomer, George C. Boldt, Oscar of the Waldorf (2014)

Great American Hoteliers Volume 2: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry (2016)

Built To Last: 100+ Year-Old Hotels West of the Mississippi (2017)

Hotel Mavens Volume 2: Henry Morrison Flagler, Henry Bradley Plant, Carl Graham Fisher (2018)

Great American Hotel Architects Volume I (2019)

Hotel Mavens: Volume 3: Bob and Larry Tisch, Ralph Hitz, Cesar Ritz, Curt Strand (2020)

If You Need an Expert Witness :

For the past twenty-seven years, I have served as an expert witness in more than 42 hotel-related cases. My extensive hotel operating experience is beneficial in cases involving:

slip and fall accidents

wrongful deaths

fire and carbon monoxide injuries

hotel security issues

dram shop requirements

hurricane damage and/or business interruption cases

Feel free to call me at no charge on 917-628-8549 to discuss any hotel-related expert witness assignment.
Oil extended gains amid signs of a recovery in demand in parts of the western world, and after OPEC+ provided an upbeat assessment of the markets outlook.

Futures in New York rose 0.8 percent after closing at their highest price since October 2018. Brent also climbed after settling above $70 a barrel. U.S. gasoline demand was the highest since the pandemic began last week, according to Descartes Labs, while traffic on U.K. roads was higher than pre-pandemic levels for the first time.

That comes a day after Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman on Tuesday said consumption has shown clear signs of improvement as the OPEC+ alliance rubber-stamped an output boost for July.

The markets structure has rallied, with the spread between the nearest two December contracts for West Texas Intermediate heading for the strongest close since 2019. That gauge indicates growing expectations for market tightness.

Crudes rally to a two-and-a-half year high was aided by an indication that world powers and Iran arent likely to revive a 2015 nuclear deal any time soon. There was hope an agreement would be reached this month, but participants in the talks are set to head back to their capitals after meeting Wednesday, cooling speculation that the U.S. might soon lift sanctions on Iranian oil exports.

And while demand is recovering in parts of the West, the spread of Covid-19 in India and other parts of Asia continues to offer a regional menace to consumption.

The oil market welcomed the OPEC+ decision to stick with its existing production plan, and in conjunction with positive global demand indications, prices are gaining further today, said Louise Dickson, oil markets analyst at Rystad Energy. But the demand euphoria is still receiving daily doses of reality as Covid-19 cases are boundlessly spreading in India and other parts of Asia.

The rally in market structure is rippling all the way along the futures curve. U.S. crude for December 2022 was about $3.50 more expensive than futures for a year later, the strongest for that gauge since October 2018 on a rolling basis. Still, the pandemic is casting a shadow over the demand picture for the second half of this year.
Having last had a sit-down, one-on-one dinner with a winemaker in early March 2020, I was giddy with excitement when I saw the email invitation to dine with winemaker Matt Crafton. Given the long and lonely COVID-19 hiatus, Id have been pumped to break bread with a vintner from pretty much anywhere, but Craftons cellar holds a special place in my heart.

Chateau Montelena is a magical venue, a gorgeous old building with an expansive garden just north of Calistoga, Calif. Ive visited multiple times through the years and had several memorable conversations with Craftons boss, Bo Barrett, Montelenas colorful CEO and a major player in Napa Valleys late-20th-century emergence as one of the worlds greatest wine-producing regions.

But, Montelenas iconic status in Napas hierarchy notwithstanding, it had slipped some in stature when Barrett handed the reins to Crafton in late 2014. The Judgement of Paris hoopla was nearly four decades in the winerys rearview mirror, and there was work to be done. For starters, a major vineyard replanting was needed and some winemaking tweaking was overdue. Only 33 when he got promoted, Crafton was just the kind of young bull Barrett needed to stir the proverbial pot, surrounded by what many believe is perfect wine-growing terroir.

Craftons winemaking skills and fresh vision have given Montelena a metaphorical face-lift to go with cosmetic improvements that took place more recently during the pandemic shutdown.

We were able to get a lot of work done, projects that were way overdue, he said, because we didnt have to work around our guests.

But grape growing is, in the end, farming, and nature can be so cruel. For the first time in Montelenas near half century, dating to 1972, there will be no red wines coming to market from the 2020 vintage because of smoke taint.

We didnt even bother to harvest, Crafton said. We just left the grapes on the vines.

Septembers blazes were arguably the most devastating to hit Californias North Coast yet. The Glass Fire inferno forced a complete evacuation of Calistoga but, praise be, did no damage to Montelenas iconic structure, built by Alfred Tubbs in 1882 after he had made a fortune selling rope to gold miners during the Gold Rush.

Bo and I had a very short conversation, Crafton recalled. We looked at each other said, There are no red grapes this year. Then it became something of an existential struggle, trying to protect the winery and the fruit we already had harvested, some chardonnay and sav blanc. Honestly, it was soul crushing, seeing all that beautiful fruit from what had been a tremendous growing season lost.

Nonetheless, Crafton and Barrett are both thrilled to be returning to semi-normalcy this summer with California scheduled to ease all statewide restrictions on restaurants and tasting rooms June 15. But Crafton says it remains only 50-50 that Napa County will follow suit and, either way, Montelenas spruced-up tasting room, long famous for being open to walk-ins, will stay on a reservation-only basis until further notice.

Because Montelena makes a lot of wine  some 35,000 cases per vintage on average, comparable to the production at many of Bordeauxs famous Classed Growth chateaux  it has had the luxury of holding back significant quantities of library vintages. Five to 10 percent of total production, Crafton said, making the tasting experience all the more memorable. With each new release, wines from the vintage 10 years previous are being simultaneously re-released, giving consumers the opportunity to experience how these famously age-worthy wines evolve over time.

Should you make it to Napa Valley this summer, put Montelena on your itinerary. Call 707-942-5105 or go to montelena.com to book.

sportywineguy@outlook.com
Justin Ray has announced his campaign for Texas House District 135, challenging incumbent State Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Cypress, once again.

Ray announced his candidacy May 24 with a press release, pointing to his loss by exactly 300 votes to Rosenthal in 2020. Ray previously served as the mayor of his hometown Jersey Village for two terms and served as the planning and zoning commissioner. Ray will be running as a Republican.

Q&A with Bobby Warren: New Jersey Village mayor talks city infrastructure, priorities

I am proud of the race we ran, the effort our team put in, and humbled by the support that we received. Coming within 300 votes of winning is an encouraging sign that shows that our district is ready for a change in leadership, Ray said in the press release.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Local reps discuss the Texas Legislative Session and COVID-19 priorities

Much like his previous candidacy for House District 135, Ray has announced his campaign more than a year before the election, with the next election for House District 135 taking place November 2022.

Along with pointing to his loss by a few hundred votes, Ray said he believes he understands the concerns of the Cy-Fair community more than Rosenthal.

We ran an issue-based campaign, focused on education, public safety and the economic future of Texas, Ray said. On the other hand, Jon Rosenthal consistently puts his out of touch liberal ideology ahead of the hard-working voters in District 135.

Rosenthal said, in a statement, that he is more focused on the current Texas Legislative Session rather than the election, which is over a year away.

Rosenthal, the representative for Texas House District 135 since he was elected in 2018, is currently advocating for disaster recovery concerning Hurricane Harvey, school funding, trans rights and speaking against the controversial voting bill Senate Bill 7.

Session isnt over and Im not worried about any campaigns right now, Rosenthal said. The people of House District 135 have sent me to Austin twice now because they believe in the great work our team is doing and we are going to keep fighting for them and every Texan.

chevall.pryce@chron.com




Defense Minister Suh Wook on Wednesday met with the bereaved family members of an Air Force officer who died in an apparent suicide following alleged harassment by a colleague, pledging a transparent and thorough investigation into the case.







Suh visited a military hospital in Seongnam, south of Seoul, where the body of the female master sergeant is laid amid mounting criticism that the military failed to protect the victim who was found dead last month. The bereaved family members claimed that her superiors attempted to cover up the sexual violence against her.







"We will thoroughly look into the case so that there is no room left for any doubts," Suh told the parents of the late master sergeant, promising a "transparent" investigation.







The ministry came under intense criticism after the bereaved family said the late master sergeant's superiors tried to persuade her to reach a settlement with the alleged perpetrator without taking due protective measures.







Suh on Tuesday ordered the Air Force to hand over the case to the defense ministry, it said, adding that the investigation team will also look into whether the military appropriately handled the case when it was first reported.







Starting Thursday, the ministry will also run a two-week special reporting period for sexual harassment cases in the military to check if there are any other sexual violence cases in barracks.







Service members who suffered or witnessed sexual abuse can report it via a phone call or email, according to the ministry.







"Through this special reporting period, the defense ministry will make utmost efforts to protect victims who haven't been able to report their sufferings," the ministry said in a statement. (Yonhap)


ATLANTA (AP)  An alarm linked to a motion sensor inside a warehouse in Atlanta where ballots from last year's election are stored went off over the weekend but the ballots remained secure, officials said Tuesday.

The alarm at the Fulton County elections warehouse went off Saturday, and county Sheriff Patrick Labat said his office is investigating what triggered the motion sensor on the second floor. Answering questions from reporters during a news conference, Labat said he absolutely would call it a false alarm.

The sheriff stressed that the ballots stored at the warehouse are secured behind a door that has a separate alarm and that he is confident the ballots were secure at all times.

When the alarm went off, Labat said, off-duty Douglas County deputies working for a private security company and hired by a third party were onsite and entered the warehouse through an exterior door that was unlocked and did a security check.

Whether it was right or wrong, improper or otherwise is yet to be determined," Labat said, "But during that security check, they found a door that was unlocked.

Bob Cheeley, a lawyer for a group of voters who have sued to examine Fulton County absentee ballots from the 2020 election to look for fraud, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he had hired private security to watch the warehouse.

The judge presiding over that lawsuit last month agreed to unseal 147,000 mail ballots from Fulton County. He has said the county will retain custody of the ballots. A meeting scheduled for last week to discuss how the review would be conducted was canceled after Fulton County, the county election board and the county court clerk filed motions to dismiss the case.

The ballot review effort in Georgia is among several around the country pushed by supporters of former President Donald Trump and others who allege the 2020 election was marred by fraud. State and federal authorities have repeatedly said there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the election.

Cheeley told the Journal-Constitution that Fulton County deputies patrolling the warehouse left before the alarm went off.

Im really concerned about their lackadaisical attitude toward security, particularly leaving the building unlocked, he said.

Labat said there was a shift of deputies who left prior to the alarm sounding and that is part of the investigation that he expects to complete soon.

Trump seized on the incident after photos of the open exterior door circulated online, saying in an email to supporters on Monday that we must not allow ANYONE to compromise these ballots by leaving the building unsecured.

Republicans and Patriots must protect this site and the Absentee Ballots, Trump said. The Left talks about election security but they do not practice what they preach because they are afraid of what might be found. Fulton County Leadership  do the right thing and protect these ballots.

Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chair Robb Pitts, who has defended the county's handling of the election and been critical of the effort to review the ballots, said the most important thing is that the room where the ballots are kept was never breached or compromised.

The ballots remained safe, despite what some would have you believe, Pitts said, adding that he couldn't disclose much more because of current litigation and the ongoing investigation by the sheriff's office that includes looking into how the door was opened, who opened it and why.
.

Republicans, left reeling from a defeat at the hands of Texas Democrats over the long weekend, have responded by making it abundantly clear why we shouldnt let the power-hungry and peevish Texas GOP blithely meddle with our voting rights.

Voter fraud is rare in Texas, and according to the Secretary of States office, we had a smooth and secure election in 2020. Passing an election integrity bill was nonetheless a priority this year for state leaders including Gov. Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Gov Dan Patrick, both of whom have been meek and deferential in their dealings with former Pres. Donald Trump even after he was handily defeated by Democrat Joe Biden in last years presidential election.

Over Memorial Day weekend, Republicans came up short in a bid to ram that measure, Senate Bill 7, through the Texas House after the Democratic members of the chamber broke quorum shortly before midnight on Sunday. As a result , Republicans were unable to vote on the legislation before the midnight deadline, or to revive it before the Legislature adjourned sine die on Monday.

Read more: Outnumbered Democrats defeat Texas voting restriction bill with flurry of objections, and a walkout

Gov. Greg Abbott immediately announced he will ask legislators to tackle election integrity in a special session, which he has yet to schedule. In a follow-up tweet Monday morning, he vowed to defund the entire legislative branch of government, by vetoing funding for Article X in the state budget--the article that provides for the salaries of legislative staffers as well as lawmakers, and the men and women who work at state agencies .

No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities, bleated Abbott.

You wouldnt call a special session for covid, for mass shootings, or for Hurricane Harvey, but you want one for voter suppression, scoffed state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, a San Antonio Democrat. Were ready to have that fight.

Republicans should have anticipated such an outcome, frankly. Theyre the ones who left passage of this bill--supposedly one of their priorities--until the final days of session. They also larded it up at the last minute with sloppily drafted and overtly controversial provisions that hadnt been debated by legislators in either chamber, much less by the people of Texas.

SB7 was one of the more controversial measures filed this session, with critics describing it as a solution in search of a problem at best, and one with disproportionate impact on disabled voters, elderly voters, and Black and Latino voters, particularly.

As first drafted, it would have limited early voting hours--including cutting back on Sunday voting hours, when many Black voters participate in "Souls to the Polls" events after church services--created a slew of new or expanded election-related crimes, and banned the drive-through voting option that proved so popular in Harris County last year, among other things.

The version of the bill that emerged from a conference committee composed of members of the House and Senate over the weekend was even worse. Rather than addressing any of the concerns Democrats had raised through the process, Republicans beefed up the bill with a series of new provisions making the bill even more draconian--including one which would have lowered the standard for proving election fraud in court, and made it easier to overturn an election on that basis.

Its not that the bill is just worse, said John Bucy, a Democrat from Williamson County, on Sunday night, as Republicans attempted to bring SB7 to the floor. Its that this resolution is adding stuff that we never heard, that we never debated, that we never got to have our constituents come and debate on.

This is not just a simple sentence here and there, said state Rep. Julie Johnson, a Dallas Democrat. Its twenty pages of new language intended to make it harder to vote in the state of Texas.

Twenty pages of language drafted in evident haste, to boot. Once the text began circulating, it was quickly noted that the overhauled legislation includes a number of typos--egual for equal, for example, as if the unnamed Republican who drafted these lines had worn out his Q key from boisterous overuse.

The purpose of the legislative process has been completely subverted, Johnson said. We have rules and processes in order to have a just society, so that people can have faith and confidence in the laws that govern them.

Remember when Republicans used to say things like that? Its a different day for the GOP, obviously.

The decision to break quorum wasnt made lightly. Indeed, some Democrats were reluctant to take such a step given the prospect that Abbott could simply revive the issue of election integrity in a special session.

That is not an irrational concern. State Rep. Jeff Leach, a Republican of Plano, responded to the defeat by vowing to be even less receptive to the concerns of his Democratic colleagues--and constituents--going forward. The defeat of SB7, he tweeted, was a gifted, golden opportunity for us to accomplish more.

Still, advocates for voting rights were in a celebratory mood Monday.

The fact of the matter is, it might have been the case that a voter suppression law was signed into law by the governor today and it wasnt," said James Slattery, a senior staff attorney at the Texas Civil Rights Project. "And so, you live to fight another day: thats what happened here.

The election integrity bill filed in the special may be worse than the SB7 that was scuttled this weekend.

But Democrats will have more time to make that case to their fellow Texans, and to people across the country, thanks their decision to break quorum Sunday.

They should be commended for this principled stand. The behavior of Texas Republicans over the past few days gives the impression that greater public scrutiny is not what the GOP wants--but it is what we, the people of Texas, deserve and need.

erica.grider@chron.com
A convicted rapist and kidnapper who authorities say confessed to abducting and killing four women in separate attacks in 1997 in Texas and Oklahoma has been found guilty of murder in one of the slayings.

William Lewis Reece, 61, was convicted Friday in Oklahoma City of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the death of 19-year old Tiffany Johnston, who in 1997 vanished from the Sunshine Car Wash in Bethany, Okla.

Prosecutors said Johnston was the daughter of his mothers best friend and that Reece may have been stalking her, according to news reports. Jurors reportedly took only an hour to find him guilty of murdering Johnston.

More from Nick Powell: Three years after Santa Fe shooting, victims' families and community still seeking answers

Even Reeces attorney, public defender Jacob Benedict, did not question the verdict, acknowledging that Reece killed Johnston. But he argued that Reece only confessed because a Texas Ranger told him that the death penalty would be off the table.

A promise he couldnt keep, but still a promise, Benedict told The Oklahoman.

The jury will hear more testimony on Tuesday before deciding on Reeces punishment, but prosecutors are pushing for the death penalty.

Reeces conviction and sentencing in Oklahoma will have ripple effects for two outstanding 2016 murder charges in Galveston County, where he admitted to abducting and killing two girls in 1997. Jack Roady, the Galveston County district attorney, said on Tuesday he would consult with authorities in Oklahoma, as well as the victims families, after Reeces sentencing to decide whether to proceed with a trial.

I know that both of (the Galveston County) murders and the other cases as well have taken a tremendous toll on the families of the victims, as well as the all of the investigators that have worked on this case, going back to 1997, Roady said. I'm certain that they're all glad to see the results that happened in Oklahoma.

Investigators in 2016 began to zero in on Reece as a possible suspect in multiple decades-old cases after advances in DNA testing connected him to Johnstons murder. But his acts of violence towards young women and girls date back more than 30 years.

A true predator, I guess you could say, said Manvel Police Cpt. James Lovel, who, as a Webster patrol officer, worked a kidnapping case in 1998 that put Reece behind bars for 60 years.

Reece was a 28-year-old truck driver when he was convicted of assaulting his first known victim, in 1987. He kidnapped, raped and sodomized a University of Oklahoma freshman, using the lure that he was going to help her with her car trouble, records show. He then bound her with duct tape and zipped her into a sleeping bag that he shoved inside the sleeper compartment of his truck.

She testified that when she asked Reece why he was doing this, he told her it was because he was "crazy." At the same time, he told her he loved and wanted to marry her. She played along until she talked him into letting her use the restroom, allowing her to escape.

While out on bond awaiting trial for the attack, Reece struck again - meeting another young woman at an Oklahoma bar, following her home and raping her.

He spent almost the next 10 years in an Oklahoma prison for his attacks on both women before being released on Oct. 5, 1996, records show.

Soon after that release, Reece embarked on a series of attacks that would not be resolved for decades.

More from Nick Powell: 'Do we have a bullseye?': Gulf Coast residents brace for storm season after Hurricane Laura recovery

He was identified by police as the "prime suspect" in the kidnap-murder of 12-year-old Laura Smither, who vanished while jogging on April 3, 1997, in her quiet Friendswood neighborhood not far off the Interstate 45.

A massive search was mounted through boggy swamps and woods for the aspiring ballerina, among a select few who had been accepted into the Houston Ballet Academy the year before. Her face was flashed over the nightly news for 17 days until her body, clad only in a pair of socks, was found 12 miles from her home in a Pasadena retention pond.

Reece became a suspect after investigators learned he was a registered sex offender working off Moore Ranch Road, where the 12-year-old was last seen jogging. On that particular day, Reece had been let go from work early because of rain.

But Reece would remain a free man until Sandra Sapaugh, a pregnant 19-year old exotic dancer, was abducted six weeks after Smither disappeared. Sapaugh had stopped to use a pay phone at a convenience store on NASA Road 1 and noticed Reece staring at her while he was looking under the hood of his car, court records show.

Sapaugh testified that Reece put a knife to her throat and forced her into his truck. They drove around and he ordered her to undress, but while she pretended to take off her shoes, she leaped from the fast-moving truck onto I-45, court records show.

Lovel was one of the first officers at the scene for the Webster Police Department when Sapaugh called in the attempted kidnapping. On Tuesday, he recalled his superiors telling him to be as detailed as possible in his police report because this guy could be a serial murderer.

Lo and behold, he was, Lovel said.

Five months after the attempted kidnapping of Sapaugh, Reece was arrested. He was eventually convicted of aggravated kidnapping and sentenced to 60 years in prison. In 2000, Reece lost his appeal to the 14th Court of Appeals to overturn his conviction in the attack on Sapaugh.

Nearly 20 years later, Reece in February 2016 was pulled from his Texas prison cell, and brought back in shackles to Galveston County for interviews.

Texas Ranger James Holland had DNA evidence that linked Reece to Johnston, and used that to extract confessions from Reece that he killed four different women in 1997. He later led police to sites in Houston and Brazoria County where the remains of Jessica Cain, a 17-year old from Tiki Island, and another woman, 20-year old Kelli Cox from Denton, were found. He also admitted to killing Johnston and Smither.

Holland testified at a hearing in 2017 that Reece told detectives about pulling into the Sunshine Car Wash after his oil filter came loose and began spraying oil on his horse trailer. While washing his trailer, Reece got Johnston wet, starting an argument, Holland testified.

Reece said he hit Johnston, grabbed her and threw her in his trailer, then sexually assaulted her, Holland testified. Afterward, Johnston hit Reece in the head with a horseshoe, Holland said, and then choked her until she was dead with a rope in the trailer.

Johnston vanished about three weeks after he is believed to have abducted and killed Cain. Cain was driving home from a Clear Lake restaurant on Aug. 17 1997, when she vanished without a trace. Only her truck, with her purse locked inside, was ever found, on the shoulder of Interstate 45 on the route to her Tiki Island home.

Cox, a University of North Texas honor student, went missing after a tour of the Denton jail with her criminology class. The 20-year-old had telephoned her boyfriend that she'd accidentally left her purse and keys locked in her car, but when he arrived to help, he found only the abandoned car.

Nearly 20 years after their disappearance, Reece led investigators to a remote field in southeast Houston, directing backhoes and bulldozers to plow the area. Cain's remains were found there in March 2016. Cox's remains were found shortly afterward in Brazoria County.

La Marque Police Chief Kirk Jackson, whose office has investigated the Cain case and assisted in finding her remains, told the Houston Chronicle it was bittersweet that Reece was finally convicted for killing Johnston.

The loss of these victims was tragic for everybody, for the families and, and, and everybody in the communities, Jackson said Tuesday. Justice has been served, but the pain still is still there.

Several of the victims families spoke to news reporters after Reeces conviction, expressing relief at the outcome. Gay Smither, Laura Smithers mother, told ABC13 that she was in court every day Reece was on trial. Smither previously told the Houston Chronicle in 2016 that one day shed like to sit down and look into Reeces eyes and ask for the truth.

This case was for Tiffany Johnston, but it was also for all the girls and yeah, I felt tremendous relief to finally have that day in court, Smither said.

Kathy Dobry, Johnstons mother, told news reporters in Oklahoma that she hoped Reece would be punished to the fullest extent.

We want to make certain he gets the death penalty, he deserves it, Dobry said. And if he could be killed more than one time, that would be fine too.

nick.powell@chron.com
When Precinct 1 Constable deputies accused their bosses of sexually exploiting them during undercover vice operations last week, their attorney vowed there would likely be more allegations in the near future.

On Wednesday, Cordt Akers returned to the podium in the foyer of his Montrosefirm, and introduced Pct. 1 Deputy Constable Jasmine Huff. And Huff, he said, had also been sexually exploited during so-called bachelor party stings while working on the departments human trafficking task force.

She is not hiding behind the anonymity of Jane Doe lawsuit, as is her right to do, Akers said.

Huff is the fourth current or former deputy of the Harris County Precinct 1 Constables Office to say she was sexually mistreated while working on the the agencys Human Trafficking Task Force. A fifth employee Jacquelyn Aluotto, who worked for the agency as an advocate for victims of human trafficking  has also sued Precinct 1, saying she was ignored and then fired when she conveyed concerns about the departments vice operations to superiors.

The suit, initially filed last month, names Rosen, Assistant Chief Deputy Chris Gore, and Lt. Shane Rigdon. The alleged incidents occurred in the departments human trafficking task force in 2019 and 2020. In response to the initial lawsuit, which raised similar allegations of sexual misconduct and other improprieties, Rosen released a statement late last month saying his office had previously investigated the alleged incident, but found no violations of law or department policy.

In response to the latest accusations, Rosen on Wednesday issued a statement declining to comment on the case because there is a legal matter pending and privacy issues.

In an amended 45-page complaint filed in federal court Wednesday morning, Huffs attorneys alleged that she was a young deputy when her bosses assigned her to the HCCO-1 Human Trafficking Unit.

Questionable undercover operations: Harris County constable leaders used 'bachelor party' stings to exploit female deputies, lawyer says

According to the lawsuit, the Human Trafficking Units supervisors had made a decision to try to run operations in which male and female deputies would pretend to be holding bachelor parties, and try to convince prostitutes to agree to sex for cash, then arrest them and try to build a case against their pimps.

Deputies who worked in the unit have accused their supervisors of throwing them into the sexually charged stings with no undercover training or virtually any other preparation. Instead, the lawsuit says, Huff was simply instructed to wear revealing clothing, simulate sexual activity, and allow her superior to kiss, touch, and fondle her.

During one sting operation, a woman deputies were targeting wasnt convinced, and told Huff and Rigdon she wanted to watch them have sex before she agreed to anything.

Huff was mortified, and froze, according to the lawsuit, but Rigdon made Huff straddle him, exposed her breasts and buttocks and began to move her back and forth to grind on him, according to the lawsuit, which alleged the incident amounted to non-penetrative sex on a county-sanctioned operation.

The woman wasnt convinced, however, and left, Akers said. At that point, Huff jumped off Rigdons lap and screamed at him.

One would hope, and pray, and expect, that after something like this happens on an operation, that, after being forced to endure something like this, that you'd get an apology, Akers said. She was told, you can never tell anyone about this.

After the alleged misconduct, Rigdon retaliated against Huff, according to the lawsuit. He berated her in public, and accused her of being lazy. Eventually, she transferred back to patrol, but Rigdon continued to harass her, allegedly emailing her supervisor almost daily to complain about her work.

Eventually, Huff tried to relay the information to Rosen, but according to Akers the constable stuck his hand up and said, I dont want to hear it, youve got to go through your chain of command.

Narcotics scandal: Former Houston police officer Steven Bryant pleads guilty in federal court for role in Harding Street debacle

In late May, three other current and former deputies and another Precinct 1 employee first accused their superiors of sexual misconduct. One deputy, Felecia McKinney, accused the department of forcing her to be assaulted by a man who had already been accused of sexual assault in order to make a case against the man  after he had already victimized another agency employee. Brock Akers, another attorney on the case (and Cordt Akers father) also rejected accusations that the lawsuit was an attempt to hamstring Rosens political ambitions. Prior to the lawsuits filing, Rosen had been widely rumored to be interested in seeking appointment to replace Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, or to run for sheriff in 2024.

Akers called such speculation flat out wrong.

These things happened, he said.

County commissioners have yet to address the allegations against Precinct 1, or Rosen, a fellow elected official. In response to questions, a spokesman for Judge Lina Hidalgo said she was aware of these allegations and obviously concerned, before declining to comment further because of the ongoing court fight.

'Silent danger': Multiple Houston customers report sex assaults at national massage chain

State records show Gore began his career in 1992 at the Harris County Sheriffs Office. He worked there until 2012, before being hired at Precinct 1.

Rigdon attended the University of Houston Downtowns Law Enforcement Academy. His first job, with the Jacinto City Police Department, lasted from 1997 until 2001. For the next decade, he worked at the Harris County Sheriffs Office or the Precinct 2 Constables Office. After a brief stint at the Galveston County Constable Precinct 7 office, he began working at Harris County Precinct 1 in 2013, and has been there ever since.

While state records show both men attended numerous courses on investigations, patrol and technical training, they appear to have received far less instruction related specifically to human trafficking or undercover work. Between 2012 and 2017, Gore received 12 hours of continuing education related to Human Trafficking. Rigdon took a 28-hour course on the subject in 2018.

Both men received eight hours of sex crimes/sex harassment training on May 18, according to the records. A few days later, their subordinates sued.
ONSCENE TV

A suspected street racer struck a Houston police patrol vehicle that was stopped for another accident early Wednesday morning, according to authorities.

The Houston Police Department Chevy Tahoe patrol vehicle was blocking a big rig that was wedged under a train bridge around 1 a.m. on Interstate 10 near Wayside Drive.
The ride that upended Khandaker Rahmans life lasted 10 minutes: a seemingly unremarkable 5-mile Uber drive in June 2019.

Two years later, Rahmans life remains in chaos, as he battles an allegation of sexual assault despite the fact that DNA evidence and GPS data indicate he didnt commit the crime. The woman who reported being assaulted that night is still waiting for the actual attacker to face justice. 

The allegation, Rahmans lawyer claims, was allowed to spiral out of control amid an inadequate police investigation hampered by Uber corporate policies. It took more than eight months  until February  for Rahman to get DNA results that prompted prosecutors to dismiss the charge against him; and lawyers suing him finally withdrew their case against him Wednesday.

The 55-year-old Bangladeshi man says the accusations destroyed his reputation.

Rahman, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1993, spent decades selling insurance before starting as an Uber driver. It let him spend more time with his wife, Mabrouka Rahman, and their daughter, Ayat.

At 2:22 a.m. on June 12, 2019, he accepted a trip to drive a young woman from a Whataburger in west Montrose to a home in Eado.

Two women had spent an evening hitting three bars  The 1820 Lounge, the Interio Bar and Howl at the Moon  before ending at Whataburger.

When Rahmans passenger got into his RAV4, she told him that she and the friend had just had another ride with an issue with the driver.

Rahman said he couldnt help, but suggested she contact Uber.

Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

He drove her the 4.8 miles to her home in East Downtown and then picked up another trip headed for the airport.

The next day, he discovered hed been locked out of his Uber account. Alarmed, he called the company.

We are doing an investigation on one of your trips, he was told. A few days later he was told the issue had been resolved; he resumed driving.

More than a year later, however, he received a letter informing him there was a warrant out for his arrest.

He called a cousin who worked at the sheriffs office, who confirmed that hed been charged with sexual assault  by the passengers friend, a woman he said he never met and who had never been in his car.

His next call was to a lawyer.

The victim  not identified in court documents  told police that when she and her friend hailed an Uber from Howl at the Moon to Whataburger, the driver had gotten out of the car and asked to hug them. Then, he groped one of the women, according to court documents.

When they arrived at Whataburger, the friend asked the woman to eat inside and got out of the vehicle.

But the other woman remained in the Uber.

Court records show the woman who got out of the vehicle turned around and took a picture of Chevrolet Traverse because she felt uneasy about the driver. She ordered another Uber, but when she turned around, the car with her friend still inside was gone.

The woman who remained in vehicle said she she briefly closed her eyes and when she opened them again, she was alone. The car was parked.

Court records show that she told police that the driver raped her. The woman told police that she clearly saw the drivers face, and that he had puffy eyes and chubby cheeks.

Police investigated the case, and ultimately showed a photo array to both women, who identified Rahman as the driver.

At the time of the allegation, Mabrouka was days from giving birth to their second child.

In their traditional Muslim family, she stayed home and took care of their two daughters, Ayat and Aliza, the younger of whom was born the same day Uber cut off his access to the app  again.

That same month, attorney Michael Nguyen sued Rahman and Uber on behalf of the rape victim.

As Uber has grown to become the most prolific ride-sharing app, it has drawn significant criticism over rider safety. In 2018, the company reported more than 3,000 sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults during about 1.3 billion trips. (Drivers were accused in about 54 percent of cases and riders in 45 percent, according to the report.)

At least two Houston-area women have sued Uber in recent years after rides in which they say they were sexually assaulted by the companys drivers. One of them argued in her suit that the company has made it hard to get information about assaults during rides.

Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Rahman has had two run-ins with the law over the past three decades  a speeding ticket in 1997 and a domestic violence arrest in 2014, which ended with deferred adjudication, a form of probation.

But he and his attorney strenuously rejected the rape allegation. Rahman says the victim never got in his car  he drove her friend home. Whats more, he says, records show that he immediately picked up another passenger and drove 24 miles to George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Rahmans attorney, Alan Cohen, argues that if police had properly investigated, Rahman would never have been charged. First, the GPS data from Uber that Cohen obtained and shared with the Chronicle shows that it would have been impossible for Rahman to have committed the assault.

Data shows him accepting a trip at 2:22 a.m. to pick his passenger up at the Whataburger. A receipt for the 4.5 mile ride shows that it lasted 10 minutes, ending at 2:37 a.m., according to court documents Uber filed in the case.

Immediately, Rahman accepted another fare to drive another passenger to George Bush Intercontinental Airport  a ride for which he earned $18.40.

You dont have to be a cop to solve this  or at least exclude this guy as a suspect, said Rudy Vargas, a former narcotics officer who now works as a private detective and investigated the case for Cohen.

Then, there was the picture that Rahmans passenger had taken of the car they took to Whataburger. That vehicle was a Chevrolet Traverse registered to a woman living in northwest Houston. Rahman drove a 2018 Toyota RAV4.

While investigators collected DNA at the scene, test results didnt come back until February. Forensics testing failed to find any trace of his DNA, Cohen wrote in an email to Rahman. Prosecutors were dismissing the charges against him.

We believed you, he wrote. Congratulations.

In an emailed statement, a spokesman for the Harris County District Attorneys Office said criminal charges were initially based on the evidence brought to them by police, noting witnesses were confident they had identified Rahman and police believed they had probable cause to pursue charges against Rahman  backed by similar findings from a magistrate judge and a grand jury.

Mr. Rahman has been through an awful lot; this entire ordeal is very unfortunate, spokesman Dane Schiller said. We follow the evidence in our search for the truth, and sometimes what we learn requires us to dismiss a charge, and head in another direction.

Houston Police spokesman Kese Smith said even after charges were filed, investigators continued working the case. After new evidence emerged  including the DNA results  the sexual assault charge was dropped, he said.

We are pursuing new leads as we speak, Smith said.

Based on the DNA results, Nguyen withdrew his lawsuit against Rahman Wednesday.

The ordeal had exacted significant trauma on his client, the victim.

Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Shes trying to put the pieces of her life back together, he said.

Officials at the Houston Forensic Science Center said backlogs delayed testing of the sexual assault kit.

In a written statement, Stout apologized for the ordeal Rahman suffered, saying he was keenly aware that each lab result impacted multiple people.

There are the victims, survivors, suspects, defendants and the families of each of them, he said. It is why we are committed to eliminating backlogs and striving for a 30-day average turnaround time. To Rahman directly I would say Im sorry. I cannot begin to imagine the pain to you and your family. Unfortunately, the survivor is also suffering here since she still does not have closure. And, we dont know who the actual perpetrator is to get them off the street and prevent other crimes from being committed.

An Uber spokeswoman declined to discuss Rahmans case, citing Nguyens lawsuit. If suspended drivers want to reactivate their account, they have to submit a document from law enforcement stating theyve been cleared of all charges and passed a new background check, according to the company.

Since Uber kicked him off its app, Rahman has been unable to find work for nearly a year, and had to turn to relatives and his mosque for help, Cohen said.

He lost his dignity and self worth and pride, Cohen said. Hes the guy who comes to the U.S. with nothing, never asked for anything, earned everything on his own  and this was all taken away from him.
The girlfriend of the father of a missing 6-year-old police believe was found dead in a Jasper hotel room Tuesday night was arrested and charged with tampering with evidence in the case.

Theresa Balboa, 29, remained in Jasper County Jail on Wednesday without bail, according to jail officials.

She reported Samuel Olson missing around 6 p.m. Thursday. Balboa told police that an unknown officer came to her home in the 8800 block of McAvoy Drive and told her she would go to jail if she didnt let him take the boy, said Houston Police Asst. Chief Heather Morris. Balboa told police she saw Olsons mother with the officer.

But Olsons mother said the child was not with her, said Morris. And evidence showed that she was home Thursday morning, the assistant chief added.

The mother, Sarah Olson, commented through her attorney on Wednesday evening. The attorney, Marco Gonzalez, said she had not seen the child since May 2020, citing complications from the pandemic and difficulty locating him, among other factors.

All I want is justice for Samuel, my baby, Sarah Olson said, according to Gonzalez. I do not want people to forget Samuels name I just want to see my baby, please everyone needs to know I havent see my baby.

She added that she was very upset at the whole situation and blamed the father and Balboa for the childs death.

Morris said the departments homicide unit began investigating when some of Balboas statements conflicted with information she provided earlier in the probe.

Officers learned that the last time Samuel had been seen at school was April 30, said Houston police Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite.

Police searched multiple locations over the last week, including Balboas apartment and a 2012 Dodge Avenger that she primarily drove.

On Tuesday, the Jasper Police Department received an anonymous tip that Balboa was at a hotel in the city more than 140 miles from where she lived in Houston.

Police found Balboa in the hotel room with the body of a child investigators believe to be Olson, said Morris, adding that the department must wait for the medical examiners office to confirm his identity.

A spokesperson for the the Jasper Police Department could not be reached for comment.

The Harris County District Attorneys Office has accepted the charge of tampering with evidence against Balboa and additional charges may be filed if appropriate, said Morris.

Investigators are interviewing several more people in connection to the case, Morris said. Officers will likely continue to interview the childs father, said Morris, adding that she would not say at this time whether he is a suspect.

Morris said the motive in the case is still unclear at this time.

Its absolutely heartbreaking, she said.

The father was identified in court records as Dalton Olson. He and the mother shared custody of the child, police said. Dalton Olsons attorney in a child custody case could not be reached for comment by press time.

Court records on Balboas tampering with evidence charge were not available Wednesday night.

Balboa was accused last year of assaulting Dalton Olson, according to court records. She was arrested and charged on Nov. 29, 2020, with assault of a family member - impeding breathing, according to ourt records. She was let out on $5,000 bond the next day. A protective order filed in the case prohibits Balboa from directly communicating with him.

hannah.dellinger@chron.com

julian.gill@chron.com
Houstons firefighters union announced Wednesday it is collecting signatures for a charter amendment that would make it easier to bring contract talks with the city to binding arbitration.

The city and firefighters negotiate contracts under a collective bargaining system laid out by state law. Under that system, the union and the city each have to agree to go to binding arbitration when they reach an impasse. If they do so, a panel of judges then forms a contract that both sides must accept. The union has requested that process but Mayor Sylvester Turner has rejected it, saying he does not want to cede the citys budget in the hands of a judge.

In launching the petition drive Wednesday, the union said the arbitration process would be easier and more cost-efficient than the years-long legal battles that have characterized the current stalemate. They would need 20,000 signatures to get the item on the ballot.

Theres a better way forward: Its called arbitration, said Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association.

The announcement came as City Council approved Turners $5.1 billion budget, which circumvents the traditional collective bargaining process to give firefighters a 6-percent raise. The mayor has said that will become 18 percent over three years. The union has dismissed that pay as a bonus that does not make up for years of stagnant pay. Firefighters have received 3 percent in raises since 2011.

At the end of Wednesdays marathon council meeting, Turner dismissed the petition drive, questioning the unions end goal.

That is bad for the city, Turner said. Even in view of what we did today that is still not enough. At some point, the union should put the interests of this city ahead of just themselves.

The union and the Turner administration have been in a long-standing legal and political dispute over pay and other benefits. The most recent contract expired in 2017, and negotiations on a new agreement crumbled. Firefighters have sought raises through the court and a pay parity ballot measure to tie their pay to police, both of which Turners administration fought. The court cases still are active, and the ballot measure passed but was declared unconstitutional by a district court judge.

An appeals court recently ruled on the firefighters side in the first case, rejecting the citys argument that key parts of collective bargaining process is unconstitutional.

Firefighter unions in other cities, like San Antonio, have sought similar powers. That union ultimately won a charter amendment and triggered the process when its talks with San Antonio officials stalled. A panel of judges ultimately delivered a contract that ended a six-year stalemate in a manner that both city officials there and credit rating agencies applauded.

The city and analysts with credit rating agencies remain hesitant about ceding the power to judges, however. One of the three main agencies, Fitch, downgraded San Antonios credit rating after the charter amendment passed (Fitch is owned by the Hearst Corp., the parent company of the Houston Chronicle). They echo Turners argument that the process places a key budgetary factor outside the citys control.

Houston firefighters already are involved with another charter campaign that has garnered the requisite signatures. That effort would give three city council members the ability to place an item on the City Council agenda, a power currently reserved for the mayor.

Organizers of that charter amendment say they are eyeing a November election date. The firefighters said Wednesday they are seeking the same date for the second campaign.

dylan.mcguinness@chron.com
Houston Police Department

A dead body found Tuesday evening in a Jasper motel room is believed to be that of missing 6-year-old Samuel Olson, who was reported missing from his Houston home May 27, according to Houston Police Chief Troy Finner.

One possible suspect is in custody and will be interviewed by Houston police homicide investigators, Finner said. Jasper is located about 130 miles northeast of Houston.
Rep. Song Young-gil, chief of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, speaks during a press conference at the party office in Seoul, June 2. Yonhap



The chairman of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) apologized Wednesday over an investment and academic fraud scandal involving the family of a former justice minister, blamed as a major reason for the party's recent landslide by-election defeats.



The apology by Rep. Song Young-gil came as the DP is struggling to reclaim voters' confidence following its crushing defeats in the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections in April, blamed largely on the party and its members' "hypocritical" conduct.



At the center of voters' outrage against the DP has been the so-called Cho Kuk scandal surrounding the wife of the former justice minister, who allegedly forged academic documents to get her daughter admitted to a medical school.



"I once again apologize for having been unable to care for the hurt feelings of the public and young people," Song said in a press conference.



"Apart from the legitimacy issue of former Minister Cho Kuk, the admission issues involving his children are something we should reflect on and repent."



The remarks constitute the first apology by a DP chairman over the scandal since then DP Chairman Lee Hae-chan apologized in late 2019 at the height of the scandal.



The case has drawn public attention again since the former justice minister published his memoirs on the issue earlier this week.



Song said he regards the book as Cho's "rebuttal" of the charges that the prosecution dictated to some media outlets.



"Having spoken up for fairness and justice and passed judgments on others (as fighters for) democratization, we should fiercely look back on whether such principles were equally maintained when it comes to matters of ourselves or our children," Song noted.



The DP chief also offered an apology over sexual harassment allegations facing late ex-Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and ex-Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don, both affiliated with the DP.



"I once again give my official apology as the head of the party to the victims, their families and the public," Song said.



He admitted that his party fell short of taking minimum actions over the sexual harassment cases, such as protecting the victims.



"It will still be insufficient even if (the party) repents again and again for creating deep scars and disappointment among the public with its irresponsible conduct," he said. (Yonhap)


Longtime Southern Baptist leader Russell Moore says he was recently investigated by other denominational leaders in retaliation for his work seeking to address sexual abuse.

In an internal February 2020 letter, which was obtained by the Chronicle, Moore accuses some members of the Southern Baptist Conventions Executive Committee of trying to suppress those who were critical of the SBCs response to a Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News series that detailed hundreds of sexual abuses.

The series, Abuse of Faith, found more than 700 victims of abuse or misconduct by SBC church leaders and volunteers over the last two decades.

Moore primarily took issue with an investigation that had been launched into him and his entity, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), by other SBC leaders in early 2020. The investigation was framed as an inquiry into Moores work, and its effects on donations to the SBC.

Moore alleged it was a covert attempt to silence him and others, and part of a yearslong trend.

Here is the pattern, he wrote. Find a way to investigate me in secret, so that Southern Baptists do not hear what goes on in those rooms.

One of the people behind that 2020 investigation, Executive Committee Chairman Mike Stone, is a frontrunner to become the SBCs president when the denomination meets later this month.

Stone is aligned with a network of churches that has challenged what they view as a drift toward liberalism within the nations second-largest faith group. Stone could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

Moore recently resigned as head of the ERLC for a job at Christianity Today. He was recently hired to pastor a non-denominational church in the Nashville, Tenn. area.

Moore confirmed the accuracy of the letter but declined comment to the Chronicle Wednesday morning. The full letter was published by Religion News Service Wednesday afternoon.

2020 letter

In the letter, which was sent to the ERLCs top trustees, Moore played down suspicions that the investigation was launched because of his criticism of then-President Donald Trump, who enjoyed high levels of support among white evangelicals.

Rather, Moore wrote, the impetus was his work with sexual abuse survivors, including at a 2019 ERLC conference on abuse during which he interviewed a well-known advocate and lawyer, Rachael Denhollander, who criticized current and former SBC leaders for their handling of a recent abuse case.

The response from some SBC leaders to Denhollanders comments, Moore wrote, was tantamount to a shakedown  as if to say, Youve got a nice little Commission there; would be a shame if something happened to it, he wrote.

It was, and is, chilling  especially seeing what they had in mind to do under cover of darkness, he wrote.

Moore was also critical of other actions by SBC leaders in the wake of the newspapers 2019 investigation.

A week after the series published in February 2019, SBC President J.D. Greear called for inquiries into 10 churches identified in the report, including Houstons massive Second Baptist Church.

Soon after, the group charged with making those inquiries cleared seven of the 10 churches, a move that angered many survivors.

The group, Moore wrote, exonerated churches, in a spur-of-the-moment meeting, from serious charges of sexual abuse cover-up.

He wrote that similar actions had been ongoing among some SBC leaders since publication of the newspaper series.

Among them, he wrote, was an attempt to censure Greear for advising in an interview with the Chronicle that churches be cautious of hosting disgraced leader Paige Patterson. Greears comments came after a church in central Texas honored Patterson as a defender of the faith. This came despite his public ouster as president of a Fort Worth seminary in 2018 for saying he wanted to meet alone with a female student who said she was raped at gunpoint so that he could break her down.

That church that honored Patterson eventually left the SBC after the Chronicle reported its pastor had been successfully sued for sexual misconduct decades earlier.

Moore referenced Pattersons comments in the letter.

I am trying to say this as clearly as I can to you, brothers and sisters, he wrote. These are the tactics that have been used to create a culture where countless children have been torn to shreds, where women have been raped and then broken down.

Since his 2019 ouster, Patterson has continued to be a source of controversy in the SBC. In August 2019, the Chronicle reported on videos and letters that showed Patterson and another former SBC president, Jerry Vines, had played down or mishandled numerous sexual misconduct allegations faced by a protege at multiple churches. The protege, Darrell Gilyard, was later imprisoned for sex offenses.

And last year, Pattersons former employer, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, and Baylor University filed a lawsuit against Patterson and a charitable organization. In the suit, the school claimed that the organizations board and the millions of dollars overseen by it had been hijacked in a secret coup orchestrated by Patterson and his allies just after his termination.

The lawsuit was eventually settled and control of the nonprofit was returned to the two schools.

Patterson has since reemerged within the SBC.

Last weekend, he was hosted at Dallas massive First Baptist Church; and on Tuesday, he told Baptist Press that he helped with the formation of the Conservative Baptist Network, the group challenging SBC leaders such as Moore and Greear.

Patterson could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

robert.downen@chron.com
State lawmakers took a critical step forward in expanding Texas psychiatric hospital system last week by pumping nearly $400 million into projects that would add more than 500 inpatient psychiatric beds across the state, as well as revamp old hospitals for mentally ill Texans.

The money will go toward adding maximum security beds at Kerrville State Hospital, a 264-bed hospital in Harris County and planning for a new, 200-bed state hospital in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Additionally, the Legislature continued funding the rebuild of state hospitals in both Austin and San Antonio.

We are thrilled by the Legislatures investment, said Greg Hansch, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Texas.

Since 2017, lawmakers have allocated hundreds of millions of dollars into rebuilding old hospitals and constructing new ones. But Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, called this years investment significant.

Its big numbers, but our budget is big numbers, Whitmire said. Theres no question it was talked about more than ever so, you know, its getting more attention.

But lawmakers still have a long way to go if they want to add 656 beds to the system as outlined in a 2017 comprehensive plan, in which the Texas Health and Human Services Commission  at the direction of the Legislature  proposed numerous projects to expand the number of beds at state-funded psychiatric hospitals.

Its never enough in Texas, Whitmire said. We made significant contribution this year to the mental health system but were still short.

Lawmakers investment in mental health hospitals comes after the Houston Chronicle earlier this year published In Crisis, a yearlong investigation that revealed the states mental health system has suffered for years from underfunding and insufficient oversight.

The investigation found that the state doesnt have enough hospital beds to serve its growing population, and its failing to track whether patients are getting the help they need. Many find themselves in jail over and over again.

As of March, the states 10 public psychiatric hospitals had a waitlist of nearly 1,500 people, state data shows. Individuals waited an average of 180 days for a non-maximum security bed and 366 days for a maximum security bed.

Part of the problem is that the state has not added enough publicly funded beds to keep up with its burgeoning population. Advocates say states should have 50 public beds per 100,000 people. Texas has fewer than eight.

The about $70 million allocated in the coming bienniums budget will go toward two mental hospital projects. The first, an expansion of Kerrville State Hospital, will add 70 new maximum-security beds to the existing facility. The new unit is scheduled to open in November.

The second is for a brand-new facility in Harris County, called the John S. Dunn Behavioral Sciences Center. The facility will serve patients with shorter-term commitments.

Deborah Lake, spokeswoman for UTHealth, said the funding allows them to stay on track to open next February.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Bill calls for transparency in Texas' broken mental health system

The $152 million allocation in the supplemental budget for San Antonio State Hospital fully funds the replacement of the aging, 300-bed facility. The Legislature began funding the project in 2017 and it is scheduled for completion in January 2024.

The Austin State Hospital replacement will not add any new beds to the current hospital, which can house 240 people. With the $124 million lawmakers put in the supplemental budget, the project is now fully funded. It is scheduled to open in June 2023.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area currently does not have a publicly-run psychiatric hospital. The $45 million provided by the Legislature from the economic stabilization fund will help officials start planning one, bringing the state a step toward bringing a 200-bed hospital to that area. State officials had hoped in 2017 that construction for the Dallas-Fort Worth hospital would be funded in the 2020-2021 budget, so the state is behind.

Lawmakers still have not allocated funding to the replacement of North Texas State Hospital  the states maximum security facility  and Terrell State Hospital as outlined in the 2017 plan. A 2021 Health and Human Services Commission report states that replacing the hospitals is more cost effective than trying to keep up with costly repairs that require prolonged periods of decreased census.

If HHSC is unable to address the needs of these hospitals, the agency risks total failure of the infrastructure, the commissions report states.

The budget still must be signed by Gov. Greg Abbott.

alex.stuckey@chron.com
The crafty Republican author of Senate Bill 7, the bill that nearly became the most restrictive voting law in Texas history, has a comeback for those who ask why sweeping voter fraud legislation is needed in a state where voter fraud is virtually non-existent.

They question if voter fraud is widespread, Sen. Bryan Hughes of Mineola says. My response is always, How much fraud is OK?

All right, well bite: The answer, of course, is none. No voter fraud is OK. Its not OK for Republicans. Its not OK for Democrats. Thats why Texas has laws  the toughest in the nation  to prevent it.

And thats part of the reason, we suspect, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is having such a hard time finding any despite his diligent, taxpayer-funded efforts. Thats also the reason why nobody, not Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, not Republican House Elections Chairman Briscoe Cain, not even the Republican who oversees elections, Secretary of State Ruth R. Hughs, can pick a bone with Novembers election in Texas.

In fact, the secretary of state declared the election smooth and secure  and apparently paid the price for her honesty when the Senate refused to confirm her appointment to the office.

Hence, the original question: Why did we need SB 7 again?

The answer, of course, is we didnt.

It was all a scandalous charade: the threatening of Texans voting access over a lie, the governor declaring the bill an emergency priority, the Senate suspending legislative rules to push through bills in the dead of night while avoiding public scrutiny, and then, in the 11th hour, tacking on a dozen pages of voting changes, including new provisions never vetted or discussed publicly, and trying to pass them off as integrity.

Democrats who were supposed to have a say in the final version said they were sidelined and Senate leaders tried to rush lawmakers into a vote before they even had a chance to read the new bill.

On HoustonChronicle.com: The Big Lie: An Editorial Board series

One of the new provisions recalled one of Georgias most discriminatory proposals: limiting early voting hours on Sunday, when many Black voters join the Souls to the Polls turnout effort after church.

Were going to be able to buy beer at 10 oclock in the morning but we cant vote until 1 p.m., Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, said during the debate.

Folks, thats the skunky beer smell of voter suppression.

We believe it is the people of this state, whose tax dollars funded all the wasteful hours lawmakers spent shoving through this pointless legislation, who should be asking the questions of Hughes.

Tell us, senator: How much fraud on the people of Texas is OK? How much underhanded, spineless, political gamesmanship should Texas voters of all parties accept so that you and your colleagues can win your next GOP primary election?

The answer, of course, is none.

And thats why Texas Democrats fought back  those in the Senate who delayed the bill with an all-night debate, and those in the House who drew national attention by walking out of the House chamber Sunday night, denying a quorum and preventing a vote on SB 7 by deadline, effectively killing the bill.

Democrats didnt abandon their responsibilities, as the governor claimed on Twitter, hilariously threatening to deprive Texas lawmakers of one of the most paltry paychecks in the nation  a sum that doesnt even constitute a living wage.

There may be no greater responsibility a lawmaker has than protecting the voting rights of the people he or she represents.

Even the leader of the Texas House, Republican Speaker Dade Phelan, acknowledged that Democrats had a right to abandon a process they believed was unfair.

If they (Democrats) felt like walking out was representing their districts, Phelan told reporters shortly after the House adjourned Monday, I was not going to force them to vote on a piece of legislation that was offensive to their district.

Phelan didnt wither under the blame hurled at him from his Senate counterpart, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who runs his own chamber, particularly the Republican part of it, like autocratic dog-boarding service. He keeps duly elected lawmakers such as Hughes on a short leash, trained to shake, roll over and stay in their places until Patrick gives the command, jump  to which there is only one response: how high?

More appropriately: how low.

It is Patricks lowly approach in the Senate to cut corners, suspend rules, upend traditions and any pretense of fairness in his craven campaign to pass political red meat that is neither the byproduct of legislative compromise nor common sense.

To his credit, thats not how Phelan runs the House.

We have a set of rules that are concrete, and they shouldnt be altered or changed by any means or fashion, he told reporters. Im not going to change the integrity of the Texas House.

Phelans leadership approach helped the House pass a version of SB 7 that many Texans could live with. Though this editorial board will always oppose legislation abridging fundamental rights for no good reason, the House version at least dropped many of the harshest provisions and added a few good ones. It was no longer Jim Crow 2.0, as opponents dubbed SB 7 early on. And Democrats say they wouldnt have walked out if that version had survived a final committee in which House and Senate members were supposed to hammer out a compromise version.

But the word compromise itself is profane when the only virtues are partisan.

As such, the governor is vowing to call lawmakers back to pass another voting bill in a special session, although its not clear when.

What is clear is that this fight isnt over, Texans. This attack on our voting rights isnt something House Democrats can keep outrunning.

It will take all of us who truly care about election integrity to demand it from politicians content to feed us lies and sound bites while they snip away at our sacred rights.

Keep asking: How much fraud is OK  whether its perpetrated on an election or on voters themselves?

The answer, of course, is none.
Voting rights

Regarding House Dems are moving to stop voting bill, (A3, May 31): I still would like to know why people are so against the voting bill. Everyone wants a fair election so a voter ID should not be a problem, paper trail from voter machines should not be a problem and absentee ballots upon request only should not be a problem. This bill is hyped as voter discrimination, but I see it as an attempt to have a fair election free of fraud.

Jerri Pfiffner, Houston

The Texas Democrats spoke for all of us who have taken an elderly parent to vote by early voting or helped a parent with a mail-in ballot. The last activity I did with my 96-year-old mother was to take her in a transport chair with oxygen to early vote last year for the Super Tuesday primary. She then passed at 8:30 p.m. on Super Tuesday. No one can ever take the right to vote away from the handicapped and disabled population. I am thankful for those who stood up and walked out in the memory of my mother.

Deborah Zygmunt, Missouri City

Ready to move on

Regarding Majority in GOP ready to move on from riot, (A3, May 28): According to the article in the Friday Houston Chronicle, the majority of the GOP think the country should just move on from the attempted coup of Jan. 6. I think it would help the country more for the GOP and the ex-president to just move on from his election loss of Nov. 3.

Gary Schroller, Bellaire

Regarding GOP blocks panel on insurrection, (A1, May 29): I am in the 10th decade of my life and very thankful for it. My blood pressure went up this morning when I read about the blocking of this very important investigation. I have lived through a world war, the Korean War, the assassination of a president, highs and lows of depressions in this country and of course so very many wonderful inventions, scientific findings and so many more happenings.

I felt like the people who voted to ban this proposal believe anyone can get away with anything  murder, breaking into places, clubbing people who dont believe as they do. All they need is to know the right people. If someone tried to do this to their Senate meetings, they would feel as I do  outraged. I live in Texas and have voted before for my senators and congressmen  but never again.

Rae Gerson, Houston

Front page news

Regarding U.S. long ignored horror in Tulsa, (A1, May 31): I commend you for putting the story of the Tulsa Massacre on the front page, which is exactly where it belongs. I consider myself educated and well-read, yet I never heard of this event until seeing it unfold on HBOs The Watchmen. That in and of itself is a sad commentary on the persistence of racism in this country.

David Kelly, Houston

Mandatory vaccinations

Regarding Health workers sue over shot mandate, (A1, May 29): Get over it! As a nurse, Ive been required to get TB tested, get a mandatory flu shot, etc. Whats the point of this ignorant attitude, anyway?

I, for one, dont want you naysayers as my nurse! I want a nurse who cares about me, advocates for good health and practices what she preaches.

Nancy Higgs, Houston

Regarding Rice students must be vaccinated, (A3, May 29): After reading the articles yesterday on COVID-19, I wonder if anyone else is questioning our local leaders responses to this quickly fading year-long virus journey. Specifically, Rice Universitys decision that students must be vaccinated, but university employees can choose not to be vaccinated. From where I come from this is called a double standard. While everyone in Houston has returned to the old normal, Harris County Judge Lina Hildago has decided we can go from red to yellow. Maybe she should walk around and see everyone is past this color-coded nonsense. Only Gov. Greg Abbott got it right, and I miss Judge Ed Emmett with a steady tenure.

Mike Egan, Spring

Texas needs business

Regarding Corporate tax break program may be doomed, (A1, May 28): The Chronicle writers say, A Houston Chronicle investigation published this month also revealed how Chapter 313 is giving companies billions in tax breaks to lure them to Texas  despite firms announcing dozens of projects or even starting construction before applying for the incentives. Whats wrong with that? Sounds to me like a good way for Texas to attract businesses. Ill wager that for every dollar of incentive spent, Texas reaps several in return. Better companies are here employing workers, spending money, etc., than elsewhere, like New York, or seeing Texas waste the money on typical government boondoggles. Let them be incentivized. We need them.

J. Jones, La Porte

Correction: In a Sunday op-ed, Pat Tillman was referred to as a "Green Beret." He was an Army Ranger, not in the special forces.
A free chance to win $1 million or more in lottery

Free tickets to sporting events

A paid day off work

I'm anti-vax and think incentives are a distraction

Vote

View Results
St. Louis police investigate a shooting in the 2700 block of Goodfellow Boulevard on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. Police say a man was shot in the head in the parking lot outside a Price Chopper store. Bullet casings, from what appeared to be a handgun, littered the scene. Police focused their attention on gathering evidence from a bullet riddled truck at the scene. Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
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.
gettyimagesbank



Over a dozen newly declassified U.S. diplomatic documents illustrate a Washington facing an agonizing political dilemma between a weak South Korean civilian government and military rulers in early 1980, months ahead of a landmark pro-democracy movement.



The State Department recently declassified 14 documents, which highlight the growing influence of the junta, led by then Army Maj. Gen. Chun Doo-hwan, in stark contrast with the then feeble government of President Choi Kyu-hah.



Chun seized power through a military coup on Dec. 12, 1979, less than two months after former President Park Chung-hee was assassinated by his own intelligence chief, which led to then Prime Minister Choi taking over as interim president.



Indicating the Choi government's lack of authority, a diplomatic cable, dated Jan. 10, 1980, showed then Defense Minister Choo Young-bok confessing to a U.S. lawmaker that he had little control over the armed forces, though he was supposed to sit atop the military chain of command.



"I have no influence over the Army. You must help me," Choo said during talks with Lester Wolff, then chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and Pacific affairs.



Choo was responding to Wolff's emphasis on the "vital importance of unity" in the South Korean military, maintenance of civilian rule and political progress.



The lingering talk of a fissure in the South Korean military appeared to be a key source of concern for Washington, as disunity could lead to a weakening of national security amid persistent military threats from North Korea.



Another cable, dated March 13, 1980, showed Washington apparently using the potential delay of the Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), an annual defense ministerial session, to pressure the junta to address disruptions in the armed forces, as postponement or cancellation could signal weakened U.S. military support.



In the document, Richard Holbrooke, then assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, approved a directive to "reinforce" a message to Chun that "further disruptions within the military or military intervention in government would make it impossible to proceed with the SCM meeting as planned."



Despite the "pervasiveness" of Chun and his intelligence and security net, the U.S. appeared to have taken caution in approaching the junta leader, according to the document.



Referring to a meeting between then U.S. Ambassador William Gleysteen and Chun, the document noted, "It seems possible that Chun may have interpreted it as an olive branch, an acceptance of his inevitable rise."



In a separate cable on May 17, the U.S. Embassy described Chun as "presumably playing a central but not necessarily decisive role, accusing his military of ignoring the government's authority in order to institute a tough crackdown on student protesters.



"An all but formal military takeover may be in process," the cable reads. "A helpless president and cabinet have sanctified the decision," it added, apparently referring to what later developed into a bloody military clampdown.



The crackdown resulted in hundreds of deaths in the southwestern city of Gwangju, now dubbed the cradle of the country's democracy.



The declassification of the diplomatic documents came amid public calls to uncover the truth behind the crackdown and lingering allegations that the U.S. military might have acquiesced despite its operational control over the South Korean military. (Yonhap)


Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, center, and four-term lawmaker Rep. Kweon Seong-dong of the conservative main opposition People Power Party, right, pose for a photo at a restaurant in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Saturday, in this photo provided by a member of the public. Yonhap



By Jung Da-min



Speculation is mounting that former prosecutor general Yoon Seok-youl will announce his presidential bid soon and probably join the conservative main opposition People Power Party (PPP). Fueling such speculation, Yoon, who quit the top prosecutor job after butting heads with President Moon Jae-in over prosecution reforms, has been meeting multiple PPP lawmakers recently. Yoon has yet to say whether he will run for president and rarely made public appearances until recently, although he has topped the opinion polls about potential presidential contenders.



Among the PPP lawmakers Yoon has met since last week were: four-term lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong, five-term lawmaker Chung Jin-suk and economist-turned-lawmaker Yun Hee-suk. The former top prosecutor also had a phone conversation with three-term lawmaker Chang Je-won.



Appearing at a radio show on local broadcaster KBS, Wednesday, Rep. Kweon said, "Yoon met or had phone conversations with several lawmakers of the PPP. These actions indicate that Yoon has not been considering creating a third party to gain a political base for the presidential bid."



Kweon said he met Yoon last Saturday after receiving a request from the former prosecutor general. "There would be no other reason for Yoon to meet the PPP lawmakers. I believe Yoon intends to join our party for his presidential bid."





Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, right, looks at economy-related publications, during his meeting with Mo Jong-ryn, a professor of international political economy at Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies, in Seoul's Seodaemun District, Tuesday, in this YouTube screenshot from Jang Ye-chan TV. Yonhap
We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Submit
NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  Public Arts Commissioner Bryan Sapienza was voted 5-3 onto the nine-member City Council on Tuesday.

Sapienza replaces Paul Hopkins, council president, who resigned two weeks ago because he is moving out of the area. The council held the special meeting Tuesday to elect a new councilor and Sapienza opted to be sworn in and seated immediately.

He was one of three candidates who submitted letters of interest, the others being Ashley Shade and Ronald Sheldon. All three have also run for the office in the past and expect to be on the ballot in November.

The council had debated whether to solicit letters of interest or to simply go with the next highest vote-getter in line from the 2019 election. The councilors voted to request letters but in the end the majority voted for the next candidate in line as they had the last two times they replaced councilors.

In this case it wasn't for the 10th candidate but for the 11th. Sapienza is the second replacement councilor; Peter Oleskiewicz, the 10th candidate, replaced Robert Moulton Jr. who resigned in 2020.

Sapienza is making his third run for council this November. He was appointed to the Public Arts Commission in 2018 and has worked with commission on amending its ordinance and developing an arts master plan.

"I'm a regular attendee of City Council meetings and have been an active participant in many of those meetings," he said. "Along with my participation and attendance at many committee activities, including Finance Committee meetings. My intentions are serious. I have a genuine desire to serve the city that has been my home for so many years."

He said his goals were to help move the city forward on a new public safety building, make sure the schools are properly funded, and the city's infrastructure is maintained and improved. He thought his technical background would offer a different solution to problems.

"My promise to all citizens is that I will work hard and to the best of my abilities and the circumstances of our great city as a city councilor," Sapienza said.

Sapienza was nominated by Councilor Wayne Wilkinson and seconded by Councilor Peter Oleskiewicz. Both had been voted on to the council as the 10th candidate.

Shade was nominated by Councilor Marie Harpin and seconded by Councilor Jessica Sweeney. She received a third vote from Councilor Benjamin Lamb.

Councilor Keith Bona noted the council in years past has used different ways to deal with empty seats, including leaving the empty. But, he said, he would take into consideration that the vote difference between the 10th (Oleskiewicz) and 11th candidate (Sapienza) was less than 20 votes.

"There are seven months left to this term, there's a lot of work to be done," said Councilor Lisa Blackmer, feeling that the council could not go seven months with an empty seat. "We have to get a budget through by the end of the month, we have a lot of work to do."

Wilkinson has advocated for filling vacant seats by going back to the election totals, believing anyone who sits on the council should have received votes from the electorate.

Some councilors were influenced by voters' 2019 preferences but others viewed the slate of candidates as an opportunity to elevate different viewpoints. Shade has served on the Human Services Commission, the Inclusivity Diversity Equity and Access Working Group and on the board of directors of the Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition.

As an LGBTQ activist, she said she could bring a different experience to the council on this first day of Pride Month.

"We have an opportunity tonight, an opportunity this November, to have new voices that we've never had an opportunity to hear from represented in our government," she said.

Sheldon, who uses a wheelchair, spoke to his priorities improving accessibility in terms of housing and sidewalks, and the need to address public safety issues such as the fire hydrants and to clean up the city's junkyards as a safety issue.

In his run for council in 2019, he said he wanted represent the disabled people in the city who often do not have a voice and who have difficulty maneuvering with the community.

"We have spent tons of time focusing on how we can elevate voices of underrepresented bodies in our community," said Lamb, adding that one of the reasons he is not running is to give space to others. "I, in my gut need to go with where my heart is going, and I believe that we need to be bringing diverse voices underrepresented voices to this table."

Harpin, who nominated Shade, said prior to the vote that she "was a very strong advocate for diversity and that's an important issue that I have spoken on and advocated as a city councilor."

Sapienza received votes from Wilkinson, Oleskiewicz, Bona and Blackmer and Shade from Harpin, Lamb and Sweeney. Council President Jason LaForest cast the final vote for Sapienza.

All the councilors thanked the candidates for coming forward and urged them to run for office. Wilkinson promised all three a vote in the November election.

This was the first time the council had met in person since March 24, 2020 . City Hall opened on Tuesday following the lifting of pandemic restrictions statewide on Saturday. The meeting did not have Zoom access but it did have technical issues when the sound didn't work for the first minutes of the meeting.

City Council will meet in chambers next week with a full nine-member board. Other committee meetings are still being done over the Zoom platform.
North Adams School Officials Pursue Brayton Upgrades

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The School Committee on Tuesday voted to pursue potential renovation of Brayton School.

And the city won't have to start over with the Massachusetts School Building Authority process.

The school district had been initially been selected by the MSBA in 2019 to consider a renovation or rebuild of Greylock School. But the state agency strongly advised against that after reviewing financial and enrollment data that questioned the need for three elementary schools.

The Greylock plan was abandoned in April and the city asked if it could switch schools. The answer is yes.

"The MSBA has reviewed your request and determined that the Greylock Elementary School can remain in the grant program and that the District may consider during the Feasibility Study phase, inclusion of the Brayton Elementary School as a potential solution," wrote Mary Pichetti, MSBA's director of capital planning, in a letter dated May 21.

MSBA projects aren't necessarily tied to specific buildings but rather a plan that best solves an education need. The Colegrove Park Elementary School project, for example, was based on the best plan for educating nearly 400 pupils. During the feasibility phase, all three elementary school and the then middle school were considered.

In this case, the MSBA will allow the district to consider Brayton as part of the Greylock project  should it be invited into the feasibility phase.

"We're able to do this because, after looking at the enrollment projection and the data that we've all seen, MSBA did not close the door on a project for North Adams, but left the door  left a different door  open for us to to pass through," said Mayor Thomas Bernard, chairman of the School Committee.

Bernard and Superintendent Barbara Malkas, in their letter requesting Brayton be considered, listed the school's location in the west end, its programs including Steeples and the 21st Century Learning Center, and its shared premises with the Northern Berkshire Family YMCA.

The school was built in 1991 but has a number of deferred maintenance issues such as the replacement of roof, boiler, windows and doors. The interior needs some cosmetic upgrades and a review of its layout for educational needs.

"The shift in focus of the outcome to a two-elementary school system is a direct result of the technical assistance provided by the MSBA senior staff as part of the Greylock School building project," Bernard and Malkas wrote. "Re-entry into the pipeline of submission will further delay the City of North Adams in achieving our goal of creating equitable learning environments for all students in our district."

The MSBA invited the district to submit a statement of interest by June 25 detailing Brayton's condition with further information on the city's actions to secure feasibility study funds.

In other business, the School Committee voted to accept a new three-year contract retroactive to July 1, 2020, with the North Adams Teachers Association, which has already ratified the agreement.

The contract has a 1.5 percent increase for each year, and makes adustments to longevity terms and salary schedules. New teachers will start at a higher rate and senior level teachers will get a bonus of $750 this year and next.

"What we agreed to was the removal of the first two steps of the contract so under the previous contract, it was a 17-step salary schedule that has been replaced with a 15-step salary schedule," said Bernard. Starting at step 3 "will be an effective recruitment and retention tool, particularly for our earliest career educators."

The committee also accepted a gift of $1,834.50 from Maker's Mill. The nonprofit cooperative is dissolving and is donating the funds to support art programming in the public schools.
SVMC Welcomes Nosa Aigbe Lebarty

BENNINGTON, Vt.  Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) welcomed Hospitalist Nosa Aigbe Lebarty, MD, to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Putnam Medical Group.

Dr. Lebarty earned a bachelor's in Biology from the City University of New York Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn. He went on to earn his medical degree at Poznan University of Medical Sciences in Poland in 2008. He completed the Ellis Family Medicine Residency Program. He is certified by the American Board of Family Medicine.

Dr. Lebarty is co-owner of Central Med Urgent Care on Central Ave. in Albany. He has worked as the medical director of Hospital Medicine and the chief of Medicine at Nathan Littauer Hospital, Gloversville, NY. He has worked in the Hospital Medicine Departments and as the medical director of Hospital Medicine for St. Mary's Healthcare in Amsterdam and Oswego Hospital, both in New York, and as the medical director of several New York nursing homes. In addition, he is president and founder of Project Health Africa, a non-profit organization that seeks to increase access to quality health care in Africa.

Southwestern Vermont Medical Center hospitalists offer medical-surgical care, telemetry, and intensive care services to as many as 99 patients. The hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission and is the state's first Magnet Center for Nursing Excellence, a designation it has held since 2002.
China says US seafood ban is based on lies

by Shamim Adam

June 02,2021 | Source: Bloomberg

A decision by the U.S. to ban imports of seafood from Dalian Ocean Fishing is based on lies that the Chinese company used forced labor, according to the Communist Party-backed Global Times.



The paper on Saturday cited experts who said the U.S. is widening its move against Chinese industries after allegations of forced labor by companies in the Xinjiang region.



U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Friday said it will detain imports of seafood from Dalian Ocean with immediate effect. Its the first such action against an entire fleet of vessels, after an investigation showed the company operated under all 11 of the International Labour Organizations indicators of forced labor, including physical violence, withholding of wages, and abusive working and living conditions.



The Department of Homeland Security will continue to aggressively investigate the use of forced labor by distant-water fishing vessels and by a wide range of other industries, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on a call with reporters. Producers and U.S. importers alike should understand that there will be consequences for entities that attempt to exploit workers to sell goods in the United States.



In January, the U.S. began barring entry of all cotton products and tomatoes from Xinjiang. The U.S., European Union and U.K. have placed sanctions on Chinese officials and goods over alleged human-rights abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang. China denies any forced labor, calling it the biggest lie of the century, and says its policies are lifting the region out of poverty.



Dalian Ocean is headquartered in Chinas Liaoning province. On its website, the company said it focuses on catching and selling premium tuna and operates a fleet of 33 ultra-low temperature long-line fishing vessels. It cited teamwork as a crucial element of its corporate culture and called the talent of its workforce as an important resource.



Personnel at all U.S. ports of entry are authorized to detain swordfish, tuna and other seafood harvested by vessels owned and operated by Dalian Ocean.



There was no immediate response to calls and an email sent to the company outside of business hours.



The International Labour Organization estimates that 25 million workers suffer under conditions of forced labor worldwide, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Some foreign companies exploit such labor in order to sell goods below market value, hurting law-abiding businesses, threatening American jobs, and leading consumers to making unethical purchases, it said.

Theme(s): Others.
Sri Lanka concludes initial inquiries on container ship X-Press Pearl

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of Sri Lanka has completed the initial inquiries and the recording of statements regarding the complaint filed on the fire on the container ship X-Press Pearl.



The CID yesterday (May 31) recorded statements from the Captain, Chief Engineer, and the Deputy Chief Engineer of the ship.



Reportedly, the Captain of the vessel was interrogated for nearly 14 hours while the Chief Engineer and the Deputy Chief Engineer were grilled for 13 and 12 hours respectively.



The CID has recorded statements from 07 members of the ships crew so far.



The collated facts regarding the incident will be promptly presented to the court, Police said.



Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Navy said that no fire or oil spill has been observed from the fire-ravaged ship so far.



However, as smoke is observed from the middle of the ship, cooling procedures are carried out continuously.



With the public rejecting fish consumption due to the X-Press Pearl incident, fishermen of Negombo cooked and consumed the fish brought ashore today (June 01) to show that there is no harm in eating cooked fish.

 Nation Online 2021. All rights are reserved

Theme(s): Others.
Anne in Xinjiang: savoring local specialties at Hotan Night Market

13:20, June 02, 2021 By Su Yingxiang, Wu Chaolan, Annemarie Li ( People's Daily Online

Hotan Night Market, one of the biggest night markets in southern Xinjiang, is the best place to catch a glimpse of local peoples lives if you travel to Hotan.

Featuring authentic Xinjiang cuisine, Hotan Night Market draws in large crowds of locals and tourists looking to satisfy their inner foodie, at the same time as promoting tourism in Hotan and boosting local employment. Let's enjoy a taste of Xinjiang with Anne.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Hongyu)
President Moon Jae-in speaks before a luncheon with the leaders of Korea's top four conglomerates at Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday. From left are LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Moon, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun and Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Kim Ki-nam. Yonhap



President recognizes chaebols' role in successful US summit



By Nam Hyun-woo



Expectations are growing over a presidential pardon for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, after President Moon Jae-in commented during a luncheon meeting with leaders of the nation's top four business groups Wednesday that he recognized there was a growing public consensus on granting one.



Moon neither confirmed nor denied the possibility of the pardon, but his remarks about the consensus seemed to indicate that he was leaning toward releasing Korea's top tycoon.



The President stressed such a consensus as one of the preconditions for pardoning Lee during a press conference last month, which was interpreted as neutral rhetoric compared to his earlier dismissals of debate on the issue.



With the acknowledgment of the growing public consensus, there does appear to be a chance that Lee will be able to get back to work before his full jail term ends in July next year. He was imprisoned after being found guilty of bribery in a corruption scandal that led to the impeachment, trial and jailing of former President Park Geun-hye.



Those in attendance at the luncheon were Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Kim Ki-nam, who participated in lieu of Lee.





From left, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Kim Ki-nam, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun enter the Sangchunjae guesthouse in Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday. Yonhap



"During the luncheon, SK Chairman Chey obliquely asked Moon to review the recent request by Korea's business lobby groups, and Moon asked for clarification," a senior Cheong Wa Dae official said.



"After confirming the meaning, Moon said he understands hardship and knows that many Koreans agree with the idea. Moon also said he was aware of the facts that the economic situation is developing far differently from the past, and companies are required to take bolder roles."



In April, five of Korea's leading business organizations, including the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, jointly requested Moon to grant a presidential pardon for Lee. The lobby groups have been requesting the pardon because his absence "hampers Samsung companies" from promptly making big investment decisions.



In a January ruling by an appeals court, Lee was sentenced to a two-and-a-half year prison term on the bribery charges. During the appellate procedure, he was jailed for 12 months from February 2017 to February 2018, and has now been serving the remainder of that sentence since January.



"Samsung Vice Chairman Kim said major investment decisions are oftentimes required in the semiconductor industry, and the group leaders' presence is essential for making such decisions promptly," the Cheong Wa Dae official said. "Another business leader who was also at the luncheon added that the next two to three years were critical in the current time of great uncertainty."



In January, Moon dismissed similar calls, saying, "It is not a time to talk about Lee's pardon," but has since been using an increasingly neutral tone on the matter, following the continued calls for the pardon from businesses and politicians, who cited Lee and Samsung's role in the Korean economy.



In last month's press conference, Moon said he recognized there was fierce global competition in the semiconductor industry and the need to improve Korean companies' competitiveness, adding he would decide on a pardon after fully listening to the people.



At the luncheon, Moon praised the leaders for their groups' contribution to expanding the economic partnership between Seoul and Washington, attributing the successful outcome of last month's summit with U.S. President Joe Biden to the companies' plans to invest in America.



"We had a very good outcome after the summit thanks to the support from the four groups," Moon said. "Korea-U.S. relations have progressed to a comprehensive level encompassing cutting-edge technologies in the semiconductor, battery and electric vehicle (EV) industries, and it is especially meaningful that the U.S. has chosen Korean products as the ones they need most."



During Moon's visit to the U.S., Korean businesses, including the four conglomerates, announced plans to invest $40 billion there.



Samsung Electronics will spend $17 billion to build a new foundry chip manufacturing plant with the location to be decided on among the states of Texas, New York and Arizona. LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation will invest $14 billion between them to increase their EV battery production capacity in the U.S.; while Hyundai Motor Group plans to spend $7.4 billion to improve the EV charging infrastructure there.



The plans were hailed by Biden, as his administration has been striving to promote U.S. supply chains in these sectors. During a press conference after the summit, Biden praised Korean businessmen, saying the investments will create "jobs of the future" and help "fortify and secure the supply chains for things like semiconductors and electric batteries."



Moon also noted during the luncheon that "President Biden asked businessmen to stand up for the introduction and I believe this was the highlight of the press conference."





President Moon Jae-in and his American counterpart Joe Biden applaud Korean business leaders, standing, during a joint press conference at the White House after their summit in Washington, D.C., May 21. Biden asked them to stand up to appreciate the Korean companies' investment in the U.S. Joint Press Corps
Your support is needed now more than ever

Help support your local news

Local news sources need your help. Stay in the know on Coronavirus, local updates, and more.


Viewed of

Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.
We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email circulation@idahopress.com for help creating one.
Time to reconsider nuclear reactor phase-out



The Moon Jae-in administration has decided to use a state fund to compensate for losses arising from the shutdown or operational suspensions of nuclear reactors. The Cabinet passed a revision to existing utility regulations, Tuesday, paving the way to have taxpayers offset the damage caused by President Moon's nuclear phase-out policy.



For starters, the government will offer an enormous amount of assistance to Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) to pay for the costs to demolish or bury nuclear reactor cores and related ancillary equipment. The financial support will come from the state Electric Power Industry Basis Fund, which is raised by setting aside 3.7 percent of electricity charges collected from users to finance the utility industry. This means the government is passing on the burden stemming from its reckless push for a nuclear phase-out to households and businesses.



Deplorably, the misguided and ill-timed nuclear policy has brought about snowballing losses. The government closed the Wolsong No. 1 reactor, to implement President Moon's campaign pledge to push for the nuclear phase-out. It also scrapped a plan to build four nuclear reactors in Samcheok, Gangwon Province, and Youngdeok, North Gyeongsang Province; while the construction of the Sinhanul Nos. 3 and 4 reactors was also suspended.



According to the office of Rep. Han Moo-kyung of the main opposition People Power Party, the losses from the nuclear phase-out policy are estimated to reach at least 1.4 trillion won ($1.3 billion), including 565.2 billion won for the Wolsong No. 1 reactor. The amount of damage will likely increase when including that inflicted on private companies, research institutes and the Korea Electric Power Corp.



Due to the government's drive for a nuclear phase-out and carbon emissions reduction, power generation from nuclear reactors and coal-powered plants decreased by 4.6 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively, in March from a year earlier. On the other hand, power generation from liquefied natural gas rose 16.3 percent, raising the cost of electricity. The steady hike seen recently in crude oil prices is likely to put more pressure on the costs for electricity production.



It is time for the Moon government to reconsider its nuclear phase-out policy and gradually increase the proportion of nuclear power generation. It could be the optimum choice to minimize the damage to the nation's energy sector, while meeting the country's carbon neutrality goal.



During his May 21 summit with U.S. President Joe Biden, Moon pledged to cooperate in building nuclear reactors in other countries. Given this, he needs to acknowledge his nuclear policy failure. Moon must candidly apologize for the policy mistake and draw up a new energy policy that is viable for both the national economy and the environment.



Rep. Song Young-gil, chairman of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, stressed during his May 24 meeting with President Moon the need to develop small modular reactors as the nation's new energy resources. We urge Moon to accept Song's recommendation. It seems to be impossible for the country to meet its goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 without scrapping the ill-conceived nuclear energy policy.


Community Information

If you would like to submit an upcoming event or community announcement, please contact our staff at 208-232-4161 or send an email to cjohnson@journalnet.com. We will also accept news from local clubs and engagement, wedding and anniversary announcements. You can post your community or club events on our calendar.

Obituaries

Submit an obituary/notice All obituaries must be placed by your mortuary or onlineDeadline is 3 p.m. for publication the next day. The ISJ is not responsible for spelling, grammar, or basic mistakes.
Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email circulation2@journalnet.com for help creating one.
Name: Will Warren

Company: Searchspring

Job title: CTO

Date started current role: September 2019

Location: BC, Canada

Will Warren brings 30 years of experience in building software to the Searchspring team. He previously worked at Endeca Technologies and was Co-founder and CTO of GroupBy Inc.  both of which have equipped him with extensive knowledge of eCommerce search, merchandising and faceted navigation. Warren grew up in the U.K. and studied Computer Science at Lancaster University. He is also an executive contributor to Battlesnake, a platform that brings developers of all skill levels together to write AI snake bots and do battle online.

What was your first job? Strawberry picker. I couldn't eat strawberries for 10 years after that job.

Did you always want to work in IT? Since I was about 6. Before that I wanted to be a real estate agent. But mostly because I thought that I could make design choices about the office decor. Turns out I probably wanted to be an interior decorator but didn't have the vocabulary for it back then. When I was 6, it was 1984 and it wasn't certain that you could actually get a job in IT but I knew I loved building software from then on.

What was your education? Do you hold any certifications? What are they? I went to Lancaster University for Computer Science. I have a certification for WebSphere 2 (~1999), which is not very useful.

Explain your career path. Did you take any detours? If so, discuss. I was a software developer for 8 years and then went into Sales Engineering. I realised I wanted to start my own company and need to learn how to do sales, spot good salespeople. I did that for 5 years and then founded my own company.

What type of CTO are you? The Hank Scorpio kind.

Generally, I'm the kind that hires great people, and then tries to get as much out of their way as possible. For example, the engineers at Searchspring get 6 weeks of uninterrupted time to build code. No meetings, 9-5, for six weeks. They get a lot done and it's rewarding to see.

Which emerging technology are you most excited about the prospect of? OMG. So little space to answer this question. I'll do a top three in reverse order of importance.

Distributed micro computing. As computers make their way into the fabric of everything (and literally the fabric of your clothing) the myriad of possible applications are unthinkable and exciting. Imagine having a hard problem to solve and assigning three walls of your living room to figure it out. The bricks are thousands of microprocessors!

3D printing. You can now fabricate hair, and nano devices, metal, glass. This may end the world in the grey goo event but also distributes and comodatises and democratises manufacturing. Takes us to a more Star Trek kinda utopia.

General AI (or strong AI, or whatever). Current deep learning, though brings us amazing things like Tesla self driving cars, is deeply flawed and has a cap on the kind of problems it can solve. The work of Numenta to actually create human level intelligence will bring unimaginable change.

Are there any technologies which you think are overhyped? Why? Machine learning. It's currently some tricks and throwing a lot of horsepower at a problem. There is a fundamental shift that will occur in the next ten years to real intelligence. See above.

Conversational AI. We're getting much better at tricking humans into thinking the machine you're talking to is human, but again, there is a hard ceiling on how many useful applications you can build from that.

What is one unique initiative that youve employed over the last 12 months that youre really proud of? ShapeUp. We adopted Basecamps methodology for software development and it made both product and engineering the happiest I've ever seen those two groups. Usually one of those groups is unhappy and/or stressed but here both of them are over the moon. Miraculous.

Are you leading a digital transformation? If so, does it emphasise customer experience and revenue growth or operational efficiency? If both, how do you balance the two? No. Though now I think I should be? In terms of ecommerce adoption, we are seeing a massive transformation but that was due to the coronavirus pandemic. It will be interesting to see how many of those folks that are now using online as their primary shopping mechanism shift back to store shopping.

What is the biggest issue that youre helping customers with at the moment? Ecommerce is shifting rapidly and growing at an immense rate. We make sure our clients are in a position to scale their business by offering a cohesive and enjoyable shopper journey that would in turn increase conversion rates. We help retailers present the right product to the right person at the right time with powerful merchandising capabilities, search relevancy and personalised product recommendations.

How do you align your technology use to meet business goals? The fabric of software that Searchspring uses for its daily operations, G-Suite, Asana, Github, Miro etc is held in place by ensuring that we don't suffer from SaaS bloat. "Hey do we have a license for Excel?" - "No, please use Google Sheets". Our business objectives operate in this suite of communication and collaboration tools. New technology is selected based on several factors: Can we accomplish our business goal with this system? If not, should we build it in-house? Is this technology well supported with a thriving community? Does the technology fit in with our compliance and security requirements? Does this technology help us move faster overall?

Do you have any trouble matching product/service strategy with tech strategy? Not anymore. With the advent of the massive array of managed cloud services, nearly every business problem we want to solve can be done so with the judicial choice of provided services.

What makes an effective tech strategy? As with all strategies, identifying competitors, terrain, environment and anticipating their moves, and moving to win within the context of those constraints. Particularly applicable to tech is the rate of change (an environmental factor) and staying on top of that requires significant training and learning that we encourage throughout engineering.

What predictions do you have for the role of the CTO in the future? You're going to be distributed. Be it pandemic, or chasing the sun, or chasing the talent, you're going to have more remote work to contend with.

What has been your greatest career achievement? The people I have met along the way. Having a rolodex of amazing people is my greatest privilege.

Looking back with 20:20 hindsight, what would you have done differently? Controversial, but I probably wouldn't have gone to university. I had been programming for 12 years before I went to university and it added only incremental benefit. If I had spent those 4 years honing my craft, and interning, working in companies I think I'd be further ahead.
By Park Yoon-bae





The May 21 summit between President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden has set a new stage for the bilateral alliance. It has also significant implications for South Korea's foreign policy amid the escalating Sino-U.S. rivalry.



Moon and Biden have managed to restore their countries' alliance, which had been undermined  to a certain degree  by former President Donald Trump's "America first" policy. It is fortunate that the two leaders have agreed to expand the alliance beyond security to investment, technology, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.



Most notable is that President Moon has tilted toward the U.S., shaking off suspicions that he might be trying to maintain a distance from South Korea's traditional ally in a bid to forge closer ties with China. It is interesting to postulate what made Moon change his policy of striking a balance between Washington and Beijing.



The joint statement issued by Moon and Biden at the end of their face-to-face meeting in Washington, D.C., clearly showed that Seoul had tipped the balance in the U.S.'s favor. Moon must have made a practical decision to move closer to America. But why did he do that, despite an anticipated backlash from China?



One of convincing reasons is that he has made concessions to Biden in order to press ahead with his engagement policy toward North Korea and give a boost to his much-touted peace process on the Korean Peninsula. The joint statement provides a clear explanation in this regard.



In the statement, the two presidents stressed their shared commitment to the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." Biden accepted Moon's insistence on the use of the quoted phrase, which appeared in the joint statement issued by Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their first summit in Singapore in 2018, instead of the "complete denuclearization of North Korea."



They have also agreed to address North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs through diplomacy and dialogue based on previous inter-Korean and U.S.-North Korean commitments such as the 2018 Panmunjeom Declaration and the Singapore Joint Statement.



The agreement fully reflected Moon's position that the Biden administration should inherit Trump's "achievements" in his top-down negotiations with Kim. Biden had earlier hinted at scrapping his predecessor's North Korea policy as part of his "anything but Trump" mantra. But Moon has succeeded in persuading Biden to pick up where Trump left off as far as the North is concerned.



Moon's efforts to actively engage with North Korea are also likely to regain momentum following the summit. The President has received support from Biden for inter-Korean dialogue, engagement and cooperation. As a result, the Washington meeting has virtually endorsed his ambition to take the driver's seat in establishing a peace process on the peninsula.



In return, President Moon has given Biden what he wanted. He has agreed to support Biden's move to promote a rules-based international order and maintain an inclusive, free and open Indo-Pacific. He acknowledged the importance of open, transparent and inclusive regional multilateralism including the work of the "Quad."



In other words, Moon has virtually supported Biden's policy of forming an anti-China alliance in the Indo-Pacific region. Yet he managed to avoid joining the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), a U.S.-led informal coalition to contain a rising China. Washington apparently sought Seoul's participation in the Quad, but the latter was still reluctant to do so, in order not to anger Beijing.



Nevertheless, Moon has backed the U.S. commitment to ensure freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and preserve peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. All these indicate that Moon's foreign policy focus is shifting away from China, and toward the U.S. That's why China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said China would not tolerate any foreign interference on the Taiwan issue, warning "relevant countries not to play with fire."



After the better-than-expected Moon-Biden summit, Seoul must be finding it far more difficult to play a balancing act between Washington and Beijing. South Korea will likely face greater pressure to take part in the Quad, comprised of the U.S., Japan, India and Australia. The country will also face a stronger backlash from China for its closer alliance with the U.S.



In this context, the Moon administration needs to prepare for the worst-case scenario under which Korea is forced to choose sides amid the escalating superpower confrontation. We have to make efforts to avoid any retaliation from Beijing as seen in the dispute over Seoul's decision to allow Washington to deploy a missile defense system, known as THAAD, on our soil in 2017.



Now, policymakers and politicians should overhaul the country's long-held policy of relying on the U.S. for security and depending on China for economic growth. Excessive dependence on a single country for whatever reason is highly dangerous.



More than anything else, Korea desperately needs "creative diplomacy" and a new survival strategy that can go beyond alliances and great power competition. It is time to hammer out comprehensive measures to prevent our country being caught in the crossfire of the ever-fiercer Sino-U.S. conflict.





The author (byb@koreatimes.co.kr) is the chief editorial writer of The Korea Times.


Authorities sound the alarm on the presence of fentanyl in Okanogan County
The boggling details of a DUI crash involving a stolen vehicle that cut an officers patrol truck in two north of Hamma Hamma
Learning in the new normal has become a challenge especially for marginalized communities. The blended approach is particularly difficult for those who may not have the right tools to access educational materials which are badly needed to facilitate learning. To help address this challenge, Epson Philippines partnered with the worlds leading independent childrens organization, Save the Children, for a donation initiative to support blended learning in its partner communities.

From left to right: Junafe Cabanting, Jane Ines, Carmela Abariso, Joshua Gallego, and Kathyleen Honculada.

The pandemic has disrupted the operations of groups working to establish early learning spaces in the most deprived areas in the country. One such example is Save the Children Philippines Kapit Bahay Aralan (KBA), an alternative, neighborhood-based learning program for children residing in urban settlements or in far-flung areas.

This period of remote learning made it harder for the KBAs to continue their operations since they lacked the resources in producing modules and other educational materials for their students, putting the development of early literacy, numeracy, self-care, health practices, and socialization among these children into a halt.

As a global technology leader, Epson recognizes the role it can play in addressing the issues that the new normal posed in all levels of education. Collaborating with Save the Children Philippines, Epson hopes to ease the situation by providing eco-friendly inkjet printers that will help the KBAs para-teachers, students and parents continue with blended learning. Through the donation initiative, Save the Children Philippines received EcoTank L15160 inkjet printers, ink refills and paper supplies to support the remote learning of more than 900 KBA students across six barangays in Caloocan.

Aside from helping make blended learning easier and more attainable for Filipino children, Epson also encourages a shift to sustainable technology among its partners through its new printer sustainability campaign titled Be Cool, which reminds customers that it is possible to maximize productivity while reducing environmental impact. Developed with Epsons revolutionary Heat-Free Technology, the L15160 printers donated to Save the Children Philippines will be able to produce learning materials efficiently while consuming less energy.

We are pleased to have the opportunity to partner with Save the Children Philippines in helping marginalized communities get quality education amid the pandemic. Through our small donation initiative, we hope we can help the para-teachers and students in the community adapt better to learning in the new normal by making printed educational materials more accessible to them, said Eduardo Bonoan, Head of Marketing for Epson Philippines.
Kingston Technology, a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced the name of its new high-performance, enthusiast and gaming brand: Kingston FURY. Building on the incredible success of the HyperX memory products, Kingston has rebranded its DRAM, flash and SSD gaming line into Kingston FURY, investing resources and knowledge from its core business to create the next generation of performance products.

New Brand, Decades of High-Performance & Gaming Memory from the Unquestioned Leader in DRAM Solutions

Kingston FURY continues the evolution of leading-edge, high-performance, enthusiast and gaming memory solutions from the largest independent memory manufacturer in the world, backed by three decades of Kingston engineering, testing, manufacturing and customer service expertise. The companys leadership position in the DRAM industry demonstrates it has the passion, commitment and resources to make Kingston FURY the leading high-performance, enthusiast and gaming memory solution in the market.

The Kingston engineering expertise which is behind the numerous overclocking records and awards that the HyperX memory line has gathered since 2002 continues into the new era of high-performance DRAM and flash solutions. Behind the scenes, it has always been Kingston: Kingston engineering, Kingston testing, Kingston manufacturing and world-renowned Kingston customer service.

We are extremely proud to debut the new Kingston FURY brand representing the highest-performing memory modules for PC enthusiasts and gamers, said Kingston. Kingstons core strength and global leadership as a manufacturer of quality DRAM and flash solutions brings resources and enthusiasm to the brand and firmly demonstrates our dedication to both performance and reliability.

Kingston will soon unveil its full line of Kingston FURY DDR4 and DDR3 offerings, and in Q4 will launch highly-anticipated DDR5 memory modules currently undergoing compatibility and qualification testing with motherboard vendors.

Kingston FURY Renegade DDR4 RGB

Kingston FURY will consist of the following product categories:

Kingston FURY Renegade: High-performance speeds and low latencies for insane performance. Top-of-the-line performance leader (in RGB and non-RGB) with DDR4 frequencies up to 5333MHz.

High-performance speeds and low latencies for insane performance. Top-of-the-line performance leader (in RGB and non-RGB) with DDR4 frequencies up to 5333MHz. Kingston FURY Beast: Kingstons popular enthusiast and gaming memory is the perfect high-performance, cost-effective upgrade (in DDR3 and DDR4 RGB and non-RGB), with speeds up to 3733MHz.

Kingstons popular enthusiast and gaming memory is the perfect high-performance, cost-effective upgrade (in DDR3 and DDR4 RGB and non-RGB), with speeds up to 3733MHz. Kingston FURY Impact: Powerful SO-DIMM performance boost for laptops, NUCs and other small form-factor PCs (in DDR3 and DDR4) with speeds up to 3200MHz.

The name leverages the already popular FURY memory product category (established in 2014) and has earned the right to carry the torch, expanding the Kingston tradition of delivering high-performing and ultra-reliable DRAM in the market for PC enthusiasts and gamers. With Kingstons commitment to gaming, the company will soon make global announcements of numerous esports teams joining the Kingston FURY team.
Google's search engine is one of the wonders of the technological world. Think about it--the way we use the internet and access information would be dramatically different if we had to manually visit websites one at a time and sift through content to find information.

Most of the time, most of us wouldn't even know where to start. Instead, in a fraction of a second, you can type in a query and Google will give you a list of results--in a ranked order--that it thinks are a match for what you're trying to find.

Of course, Google is focused on making search better, which means that it makes changes to the algorithm that powers those results. Over the past few years, those changes have been focused on figuring out what users are looking for by making Google better at understanding natural language.

As Google's algorithm changes, it can mean changes in where your content ranks in comparison with other sites. In some cases, sites that rank highly can drop significantly, resulting in dramatic changes in traffic to the site. If you're a business owner who depends on traffic from Google, that can be confusing and frustrating. Often, it can also mean fewer customers and less revenue.

I spoke with Google's public liaison for search, Danny Sullivan, about how Google goes about approaching what it calls Core Updates to the algorithm, and more important, what it means to your business. Thankfully, there are a few things you should be doing, and a few things you definitely shouldn't.

Don't panic.

If you notice that your website has suddenly lost a significant amount of traffic, it's natural to want to know what happened. It's also a fairly normal human response to panic. The problem is, panicking never makes anything better. Instead, recognize that it isn't the end of the world, or your business, and make a plan to improve your content.

Don't take it personally.

Google is pretty clear that its core updates aren't about specific websites, or even types of content. That's true even if it seems that the update has affected the rankings of similar types of sites. As a result, don't take the change personally. Just like panicking, taking it personally doesn't help you objectively think through what happened. It just makes you defensive.

As Sullivan told me, "these changes aren't because of something they've done, but rather because of how our systems have been improved to better assess content overall and better address user expectations." That means that even if your site suffered a loss of ranking, it wasn't necessarily that you were doing something wrong, or that you're being punished.

Get your tech SEO in order.

Of course, not panicking doesn't actually help you solve what can be a very real problem--lost traffic. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to make sure Google is able to read your site the way your visitors do. The company makes available a lot of information about the technical aspects of SEO, but here are a few of the easiest things you can do to get started:

Mobile-friendly. The majority of people use search on mobile devices. That means they're visiting your website on a mobile device. If that's a bad experience, you aren't providing very helpful information and that will be reflected in the way Google evaluates your site. Using responsive design and making sure your site works well on mobile is one of the things Sullivan mentioned several times.

The majority of people use search on mobile devices. That means they're visiting your website on a mobile device. If that's a bad experience, you aren't providing very helpful information and that will be reflected in the way Google evaluates your site. Using responsive design and making sure your site works well on mobile is one of the things Sullivan mentioned several times. Use accurate page titles. The title of a page tells your readers, and Google, what a page is about. Instead of stuffing keywords here, focus on providing a clear and concise description of the page. By the way, these should be unique for each page.

The title of a page tells your readers, and Google, what a page is about. Instead of stuffing keywords here, focus on providing a clear and concise description of the page. By the way, these should be unique for each page. Load times. If your page takes too long to load, visitors are less likely to find what they're looking for since they'll end up leaving. Google considers this when providing search results, meaning you should be thinking about it. One of the biggest culprits is having images that aren't optimized for online viewing.

If your page takes too long to load, visitors are less likely to find what they're looking for since they'll end up leaving. Google considers this when providing search results, meaning you should be thinking about it. One of the biggest culprits is having images that aren't optimized for online viewing. Use alt-tags for images. Alt-tags are text descriptions of image content. Not only are they important for accessibility, but they also provide information to Google's crawler about the image. On a related note, make sure that information is included on a page in text, not only in an image.

Alt-tags are text descriptions of image content. Not only are they important for accessibility, but they also provide information to Google's crawler about the image. On a related note, make sure that information is included on a page in text, not only in an image. Create a sitemap. A sitemap tells your users, and Google, what pages are important. Keeping the sitemap up to date is an important, but relatively simple way to help make your site more searchable and accessible.

Think about your customer.

When creating content on your website, think about the experience of the user. What are they looking for, and what question are you answering for them? Ultimately, Google's goal is to provide an answer to that question. "We're always looking for ways to improve these systems so we can display the most useful results possible," says Sullivan.

At the same time, Google doesn't reward sites just because they work really hard at persuading the search engine that they have the best information. That means your focus should be on creating high-quality, relevant content instead of stuffing pages full of keywords with the hope they will show up in search results.

For example, if you've read this article, you know what it's about. You don't need me to write a bunch of terms that I want you to think it's about to figure it out. It would be weird if every sentence in this article started with "core algorithm update" or "Google search best practices."

You are smart enough to figure those things out. So is Google. Instead of trying to convince Google that you are the best answer, just focus on providing the best answer to your users and leave the rest to Google.

Claim your business profile.

Finally, one thing Sullivan pointed out is that businesses can claim their business profile on Google My Business. It's free, and it can be a useful tool for helping your customers find what they're looking for. Creating a profile can help your business show up in search results, because you're giving Google more information about what you do and who your customers are.
Leaders of South Korea's business community have called on President Moon Jae-in to release the jailed boss of Samsung Electronics Ltd, Jay Y Lee, to help bolster the country's competitive chances in the ongoing chip shortage.

The plea, made on Monday, came during a luncheon with Mr Moon and bosses representing four of the nation's most substantial business sectors.

Representatives from Samsung, Hyundai, LG and SK discussed the situation with Mr Moon.

Chey Tae-Won, the chairman for SK Group, asked the president to consider a petition sent to him from a business lobbying group requesting Lee be released. The Korea Chamber of Commerce  which is headed by Mr Chey  was among the five lobbying groups who sent the petition.

Mr Moon said he "understood" the difficulties for the companies, according to Reuters.

If the president were to release Lee, he would be back-pedaling on promises he made ahead of taking office not to pardon serious economic crimes like bribery and embezzlement.

Lee was sentenced to 30 months in prison after being convicted of bribery, embezzlement and other crimes.

Legal analysts believe Lee may be eligible for parole, as he has already served more than half of his 30 month sentence.

Under South Korean law, parole can be granted after one-third of a sentence has been served, so long as the prisoner has been on their best behavior.

Lee oversees all three of Samsung's divisions  chips, smartphones, and home appliances  which Samsung officials have said makes it difficult for the company to make investment decisions.

"Semiconductors require large-scale investment decisions, and leaders can only make such decisions in a swift manner," Kinam Kim, the vice chairman and CEO of Samsung's device business, said.

The world is currently struggling with a shortage of semiconductors. Manufacturers of the chips slashed their orders during the pandemic, assuming there would be less demand for them after sales dropped dramatically in the first quarter of 2020.

However, the second half of 2020 brought with it an economic recovery in many parts of the world that managed to get a handle on the coronavirus. The demand for chips, which are used in everything from cars to game consoles and smart phones, has outpaced the supply ever since.

Experts predict it could take more than a year before manufacturers can catch up to the demand.

Park Jea-gun, a professor at Hanyang University in Seoul, agreed that the company was likely facing difficulties without having an owner at its helm to make decisions.

"It's hard to make big business decisions if not the owner," Mr Park said.

Calls for Lee's release are far from universal.

Members of the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, an activist group aimed at holding corrupt business leaders accountable, has condemned the calls for Lee's release.

They claimed that if Lee were to be released, it would "abuse the legal system to justify corporate crimes."

According to reports from the discussions, Mr Moon seemed open to the idea of freeing Lee, but no decision has been made at this time.
Seen is Tumon Bay on Guam. Domestic air carriers are planning to resume international flights this summer, beginning with those to popular tourist spots such as Guam and Saipan, as fully vaccinated citizens are exempted from the 14-day self-quarantine when they return to Korea. gettyimagesbank



By Jun Ji-hye



Domestic air carriers are moving to resume international passenger flights, most of which were halted last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.



The government is exempting fully vaccinated citizens from the 14-day self-quarantine when they return from overseas trips as an incentive to encourage vaccination



Aviation industry officials said Wednesday that air carriers are planning to resume international operations this summer, beginning with routes to popular tourist spots such as Guam and Saipan.



Jeju Air is planning to operate flights to Saipan starting June 8, and Asiana Airlines will resume flights there next month.



The former is also considering submitting an application to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for more flights to Guam in August.



T'way Air and Air Seoul have already submitted applications to the transport ministry for flights to Guam, while Korean Air has begun selling tickets for the Incheon-Guam route that will open in November.



Officials noted that flight schedules could be changed in accordance with developments in the coronavirus situation at individual destinations.



Air carriers are putting priority on flights to Guam and Saipan as a considerable number of passengers using the routes in both directions are Korean tourists.



Currently, the governments of Guam and Saipan exempt people from mandatory isolation following their arrival if they have been fully vaccinated with the Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen or AstraZeneca vaccines.



The Korean government's various vaccine incentives, including the special exemption from self-isolation upon returning home, are expected to increase demand for overseas travel during the summer vacation season.



"The more people are vaccinated, the more people are expected to seek to go on an overseas trip," an official from a Seoul-based air carrier said. "We are considering resuming flights not only to Guam and Saipan, but also to other destinations where the COVID-19 situation is not that serious."



For its part, the government is actively pushing to establish "travel bubbles," or quarantine-free corridors, with other countries that have managed to curtail virus infections, as the country's nationwide vaccine rollout program has been gaining speed.



A travel bubble refers to a partnership between two or more cities or countries with similar rates of COVID-19 infections, to allow quarantine-free air travel in both directions. It does not set limits on the purpose of visit, and thus is different from fast-track entries for business travelers.



"We are looking at several countries that could potentially establish travel bubbles with Korea," Yoon Tae-ho, a senior official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said during an online briefing Tuesday.



According to industry sources, Singapore, Guam and New Zealand are potential candidates to establish travel bubbles with Korea.


It was 7 March 1985 and the DEAs chief Mexico agent, Ed Heath, was in the morgue again. He was staring at what remained of a heavyset Hispanic male. Since he first arrived in Mexico nearly 20 years earlier, Heath had got used to seeing what violence could do to a body. In the 1960s, he had adventured into the hills above Acapulco, and shot chunks out of peasant weed smugglers in sweaty, nerve-racking shootouts. When he returned in 1973, he had watched his friend, the Mexican police commander, Florentino Venturas savage interrogation techniques firsthand. He had even gone out for drinks with him afterwards.

But this was different. At least it felt different. The body was that of DEA agent Enrique Kiki Camarena. The dirt-flecked corpse was now in such a state of decay it was difficult to tell exactly how he had died. It was certainly a few weeks ago now. Three ribs were broken. So was his right arm. There were bruises, cuts and burns all over his body. And his rectum had been violated by a stick. But doctors reassured Heath that what finally killed Camarena was the deep indentation on the left side of his head.

The drug war was a numbers game. Its success or failure was measured out (and manipulated) by endless graphs of arrests made, kilos seized and purity affected. Heath knew this better than most. He was one of the few field agents to have risen through the ranks to become an administrator. And he had done it by encouraging DEA support for Mexicos numbers-focused effort.
Roman Protasevich may not escape the death penalty, Alexander Lukashenko has said  with the unpredictable dictator hinting that his number one prisoner may even be transferred to insurgent fighters in the non-recognised, Russian backed Donbass to get his way.

In largely overlooked comments made on Monday, Belaruss leader said Mr Protasevich had been responsible for grave crimes in eastern Ukraine that could correspond to the highest sentence.

[Protasevich] killed people there, in Donbass, and he shouted [on the plane] that he was worried about the death penalty, Mr Lukashenko said. He knew what he was talking about. He knew there could be questions from southeastern Ukraine. How it changes everything.
The ocean might not be the first thing most of us think about when we consider which sunscreen to purchase. SPF protection, scent, moisturizing capabilities and of course price are likely to all top the list of our concerns. But thats likely because we arent aware of just how damaging traditional sun lotions can be to sea life.

Two of the most popular ingredients in many chemical sun creams, oxybenzone and octinoxate, have been found to be toxic to the oceans coral reef. These chemicals bleach the reef, causing it to become fragile and threatening its resilience against the climate crisis, according to the Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology .

As we swim in the sea, our sunscreen washes off our skin and seeps into the ocean. As a result, up to 14,000 tons of sunscreen ends up in coral reefs every year. This could have devastating consequences when combined with the climate crisis, pollution and industrial fishing. In 2019, the state of Hawaii made the decision to ban the sale of sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate, but these ingredients are still widely in use elsewhere.

Luxury skincare brand Chantecaille puts the environment at the center of everything they do. Their new sun cream, SeaScreen 30, is their first reef-safe SPF product, formulated to specifically exclude these reef-compromising chemicals.

The SPF 30 sunscreen mist, which took three years to develop, is made from 95% natural and 70% organic ingredients and contains 100% mineral sun filters that protect against the harshness of the suns rays and have UVA and UVB protection.

You cant save the planet without thinking of the ocean, co-founder and president Sylvie Chantecaille tells The Independent. The first thing people do at the beach is apply sunscreen, so it is crucial for the formulas people apply not to harm the ocean and all that lives under the sea.

(Chantecaille)

If these chemicals are so damaging to the ocean, why do so many brands use them? Sylvie explains how making an ocean-friendly sun lotion is no mean feat. The hard thing about non-chemical sunscreen is that in the past they have always been so unattractive and uncomfortable to wearthink of surfers with zinc on their noses, not blended in, sitting very heavy on top of the skin.

Creating SeaScreen was truly a process  we had to find the right ingredients, make sure it would spread well and we had to have the right balance of natural ingredients, a high SPF, and a comfortable formula. Unlike many heavy block-style sunscreens, Chantecailles SeaScreen is light and easy to use thanks to the fine mist formula that allows for easy application and quick absorption.

SeaScreen 30 is infused with botanicals that soothe and care for the skin and fend off the redness and dehydration that accompanies time spent in the sun (Chantecaille)

A sunscreen promising countless skincare benefits, SeaScreen 30 is infused with botanicals that soothe and care for the skin, fending off the redness and dehydration that accompanies time spent in the sun. I am so proud of the wonderful skincare ingredients in SeaScreen the ingredient list reads more like a moisturizer than a sunscreen because we boosted it with the most soothing and calming botanicals. I dont think of this as just sun protection, but as a treatment for the face and body with the added benefit of having physical sunscreen in non-nano form, says creative director Olivia Chantecaille.

All ingredients are vegan, and the product is cruelty-free, in line with Chantecailles strict policy against animal testing. It is also suitable for use on the face and body and for the entire family. Among the botanical ingredients is the soothing and protective wild moss rose  beloved for its anti-itching properties; aloe vera juice  for cooling; and raspberry seed oil, which combats sun damage.

SeaScreen 30 was created to partner with marine conservation group WildAid Marine. With 40 marine protected areas across the world, WildAid Marine is helping to provide protection for 8,500 at risk species. The partnership is reflected in the products packaging, which is adorned with a photograph of a mother humpback whale and her pup taken by WildAid photographer Shawn Heinrichs.

We are inspired by Chantecailles leadership in addressing the many threats facing our oceans; not only has Chantecaille empowered consumers by giving them a reef-safe sunscreen option but they have gone a step further by directly supporting on-the-ground conservation efforts, says Meaghan Brosnan, WildAids Marine Program Director.

Were thrilled to support WildAid and their work off the coast of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean around Pemba Island. Its an honor to be a part of protecting and preserving this amazing area through our donations, adds director of sales, Alex Chantecaille.

SeaScreen 30 was created to partner with marine conservation group WildAid (Chantecaille)

I originally created this product for my daughter Delphinaand for our Bebe line. Then we realized that sunscreen thats safe for the ocean and for the skin was something needed for everyone. Now, I consider it created for children of all ages and I am so proud of the wonderful skincare ingredients in this SeaScreen, Olivia adds.

Rejecting the notion that the beauty industry must be wasteful, remains an important part of the brands ethos, so the Chantecaille family has ensured they apply their sustainable values to all elements of a product, right down to the packaging. SeaScreen is packed in a non-aerosol recyclable aluminium bottle.

After years of production and one clear goal: to create a luxurious skincare product that doesnt damage the oceans, Sylvie is excited to see the product finally hit the shelves. It was very difficult to formulate with such a strict set of restrictions, but we did it!

Shop SeaScreen 30 at chantecaille.com ($69) and chantecaille.co.uk (62)
On 14 February, Valentines Day, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced that they were expecting a second child.

They made the announcement with a single black and white image of the couple, showing Meghans baby bump, taken by a photographer friend, Misan Harriman.

Although the exact due date has not been disclosed, the couple made clear that their daughter is due in the summertime. She will be the younger sister of their two-year-old son Archie.

Despite Harry and Meghans relationship with the British monarchy having changed since the birth of Archie, and no longer being senior working royals, their daughter will be related to the royal family by blood and will be in the line of succession to the throne.

So what might her relationship with the royals look like?

How will the new baby be related to the Queen?

The Duke and Duchess of Sussexs daughter will be the Queens great-granddaughter and Prince Charles granddaughter.

Charles already has four grandchildren - George, Charlotte, Louis, and Archie. The new baby will be his fifth grandchild. While the Queen has ten great-grandchildren from her eight grandchildren.

Her eldest, Prince Charles, has two sons - Prince William and Harry. Her only daughter Princess Anne has two children - Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips.

Prince Andrew has two daughters - Princess Beatrice and Eugenie. Her youngest son Prince Edward has two children - Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have already made clear that they have continued their relationship with Her Majesty from California, with Harry explaining that the family use video-call technology to catch up, as well as exchange gifts.

He told Oprah that he has spoken to the Queen more in the last year than he has in many, many years and that she bought Archie a waffle maker for Christmas.

Where will she be brought up?

In January 2020, Harry and Meghan stepped down as working members of the royal family and moved to Santa Barbara in the United States.

Unlike their son Archie, who was born at Portland Hospital in London while Harry and Meghan were still working royals, their daughter will be born in California, where Meghan was also born.

Due to coronavirus restrictions on international travel, it is unclear when the members of the royal family will be able to meet her in person, including her grandfather Prince Charles and great grandmother the Queen.

At the time of the pregnancy announcement, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: Her Majesty, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales and the entire family are delighted and wish them well.

With their family now based in America, it is likely their new baby will be raised there and will not be a working member of the royal family, like her parents who have stepped back from official duties and instead work on their own charitable foundation, Archewell.

In the documentary series about mental health, The Me You Cant See, Prince Harry revealed that London is a trigger for him because of the childhood trauma he suffered there after losing his mother Princess Diana.

What will her role in the royal family be?

As Prince Harrys daughter, she will be eighth in line to the throne following her brother, Archie. This will replace the current eight position of the Duke of York.

In the future, she could take on a similar role to that of Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice. The daughters of Prince Andrew are not working royals and have their own careers, but they do attend important royal events and can be called upon for royal duties when necessary.

As a non-senior royal, she and her brother Archie will also be entitled to pursue their own careers. Royal commentators have previously suggested this could even include a career in politics.

In a Channel 4 documentary, Omid Scobie, royal editor at Harpers Bazaar said: Theres so much talk about whether Archie or his sister might become president one day or take on a life in American politics.

And Victoria Howard, Editor of The Crown Chronicles said: We may have Archie and his sister deciding to perhaps take on careers in Hollywood.

Prince Harry has spoken openly about his upbringing since moving to the US. On the Armchair Expert podcast, he said he wants to break the cycle of pain and suffering he had endured for his own children.
The foreign ministers of Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia voiced unanimous support Saturday for North Macedonia and Albania to start membership talks with European Union arguing that bilateral issues should not block the EU's enlargement into the Western Balkans.

Austrias Alexander Schallenberg, the Czech Republic's Jakub Kulhanek and Slovenias Anze Logar arrived in North Macedonia's capital, Skopje, to offer their backing for EU accession talks scheduled for June. The three plan to visit Albania, which also wants to join the EU, on Sunday.

Bulgaria refused last year to approve the EUs membership negotiation framework for North Macedonia, effectively blocking the official start of membership talks with its smaller Balkan neighbor.

Bulgaria wants North Macedonia to formally recognize that its language has Bulgarian roots and to stamp out allegedly anti-Bulgarian rhetoric. The government in Skopje says the Macedonian identity and language are not open to discussion.

Bulgaria on Friday ruled out again a possible reversal of its veto following a meeting with EU officials.

The Czech Republics Kulhanek said it is not fair for one EU member nation to condition the enlargement process on a bilateral dispute.

This is a crucial time, and we cannot allow (the process) to be stuck with such demands, he said.

North Macedonia applied for EU membership in 2004 and received a positive assessment from the European Commission a year later. EU leaders agreed to formal accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia after Skopje settled a nearly three decade-long dispute with neighboring Greece over the countrys name, which saw it renamed North Macedonia.

Western Balkan countries are at different stages of EU membership talks. Serbia and Montenegro have already started negotiating some chapters of their membership agreements. Kosovo and Bosnia have signed a Stabilization and Association Agreement, the first step to membership.
The pro-Brexit boss of pub chain JD Wetherspoon has urged the government to increase migration from the EU to deal with a shortage of workers in the hospitality sector.

Tim Martin, who campaigned for a hard Brexit, including leaving the single market and the end of freedom of movement which came with it, urged Boris Johnson to consider a new, reasonably liberal visa scheme to encourage foreign workers to relocate to the UK.

He suggested countries close to Britain could be given preferential treatment  seemingly at odds with the argument laid out by Brexiteers that leaving the EU would allow the UK to treat all nationalities equally.

Mr Martin told The Daily Telegraph: The UK has a low birth rate. A reasonably liberal immigration system controlled by those we have elected, as distinct from the EU system, would be a plus for the economy and the country.

>> To sign up to our free daily politics newsletters click here

America, Australia and Singapore have benefitted for many decades from this approach. Immigration combined with democracy works.

The Wetherspoon chairman had previously warned that remaining in the EU would lead to significant adverse economic consequences and labelled those warning of the economic damage that cutting ties with our biggest and closest trading partner would bring as doomsters.

 Question Time member accuses Tim Martin of supporting Brexit to line his own pockets

Arguing for a no-deal Brexit in 2019, Mr Martin said: I have argued that the UK  and therefore Wetherspoon  will benefit from a free-trade approach, by avoiding a deal which involves the payment of 39bn to the EU.

He also cut the price of some drinks by 20p in a stunt to show how he believed Brexit would lower his costs.

However, as a result of Brexit and the pandemic, much of the UKs hospitality industry is now struggling to fill thousands of vacant roles.

Mr Martins comments triggered an angry response from many of those who had argued against Brexit.

Campaigner Femi Oluwole wrote: I really hope Tim Martin never runs into Tim Martin. Hes gonna be so angry!

Former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said: I remember disagreeing with Tim Martin on @bbcquestiontime about this, back in 2016. He was arguing the opposite position to this then. Too late mate.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 9 June 2021 Adam Chamberlain, 45, general manager of Big Tree pub in Sheffield, has put up over 500 flags, taking 36 hours, in preparation for Euro 2020, which kicks off this weekend Tom Maddick / SWNS UK news in pictures 8 June 2021 REUTERS UK news in pictures 7 June 2021 A pedestrian wearing a face covering walks over Westminster Bridge near the Houses of Parliament in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 6 June 2021 Isobel Salamon, founder of the Edinburgh Cinema Club, poses alongside the Leith Trainspotting murals in Quality Yard, Leith, Edinburgh, for the programme launch of the Cinescapes Festival which starts on July 4 with a Trainspotting 1 and 2 double bill PA UK news in pictures 5 June 2021 A long exposure photograph captures the rotation of the earth as the stars blur into circles over Knowlton church ruins in Dorset Nick Lucas/SWNS UK news in pictures 4 June 2021 Balloonists take flight during the opening of the Midlands Air Festival in Alcester, Warwickshire PA UK news in pictures 3 June 2021 Members of the Household Cavalry during the Major General's annual inspection of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment in Hyde Park, London PA UK news in pictures 2 June 2021 Hannah Vitos of the Blenheim Art Foundation, poses for a photograph next to artist Ai Weiwei's Gilded Cage (2017) sculpture in the grounds of Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 1 June 2021 People swim in the Sky Pool, a transparent swimming pool bridge across two exclusive residential blocks standing next to the US Embassy in Nine Elms, in London, Tuesday, June 1, 2021 AP UK news in pictures 31 May 2021 People enjoy the hot weather at Brighton beach Reuters UK news in pictures 30 May 2021 People venture into the sea as they enjoy themselves during a hot day on Brighton Beach AP UK news in pictures 29 May 2021 Swimmers at the Stonehaven Open Air Pool in Aberdeenshire, which reopens after lockdown restrictions were eased PA UK news in pictures 28 May 2021 Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he meets Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban at Downing Street in London REUTERS UK news in pictures 27 May 2021 White Pelicans in the sunshine in St James's Park, London PA UK news in pictures 26 May 2021 Boats are seen at Southsea Moorings in Portsmouth Reuters UK news in pictures 25 May 2021 York Glaziers Trust employees Kieran Muir (left) and Emily Price (right) remove a stained glass window panel at the start of a new five year, 5m project to conserve York Minsters South East Transept and its medieval St Cuthbert Window PA UK news in pictures 24 May 2021 Dark rain clouds above an oast house at Bewl Water reservoir near Lamberhurst in Kent during one of the rainiest Mays on record, with the UK seeing 131 per cent of the usual months rainfall already PA UK news in pictures 23 May 2021 The Premier League trophy with the Manchester City club colour ribbons on, at Etihad Stadium, prior to the last Premier League match of the season. City will finally pick up the trophy after they won the league on 11 May Getty UK news in pictures 22 May 2021 Gary Kenny lifts the Buildbase FA Vase Trophy after Warrington Rylands won the FA Vase Final against Binfield at Wembley Stadium Getty UK news in pictures 21 May 2021 A family buffeted by the wind whilst crossing the the Millennium Bridge in London, with wind and rain forecast to ravage the UK on the first Friday that people have been allowed to meet in large groups outside in England PA UK news in pictures 20 May 2021 Devon And Cornwall Police Demonstrate Their Skills For Policing The G7 Summit Getty Images UK news in pictures 18 May 2021 An employee stands before a costume for the Queen of Hearts by Bob Crowley on display at the Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London PA UK news in pictures 17 May 2021 Passengers prepare to board an easyJet flight to Faro, Portugal, at Gatwick Airport after the ban on international leisure travel for people in England was lifted following the further easing of lockdown restrictions in England PA UK news in pictures 16 May 2021 Emergency workers at the scene of a suspected gas explosion, in which a young child was killed and two people were seriously injured, on Mallowdale Ave Heysham which caused 2 houses to collapse and badly damaged another PA UK news in pictures 15 May 2021 Pro-Palestinian activists and supporters let off smoke flares, wave flags and carry placards during a demonstration in support of the Palestinian cause as violence escalates in the ongoing conflict with Israel, in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 14 May 2021 Member of staffs tighten screws and paint a Marlin skeleton, before it goes on display at the Natural History Museum in London, as the museum prepares to reopen to the public on 17 May, following the further easing of lockdown restrictions in England PA UK news in pictures 13 May 2021 A worshipper at the Baitul Futuh Mosque in Mordon, south London, ahead of Eid al-Fitr. The celebration marks the end of the Muslim month of fasting, called Ramadan. PA UK news in pictures 12 May 2021 A couple have wedding photos taken in Westminster, London Getty UK news in pictures 11 May 2021 The sun rises on Coquet Island, off Amble on the Northumberland coast, where as many as 35000 seabirds cram onto this tiny island to breed PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2021 Newly elected for a second term Mayor of London Sadiq Khan during his signing in ceremony at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on Londons Southbank PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2021 People mill around St. Michael's tower on top of Glastonbury Tor as it is seen through blooming yellow rapeseed on a day of mixed weather in Glastonbury, Somerset PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2021 Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford elbow bumps newly elected MS Labour candidates Elizabeth Buffy Williams, Rhondda, left, and Sarah Murphy, Bridgend & Porthcawl Labour, right, as they meet in Porthcawl, Wales PA UK news in pictures 6 May 2021 A group of five Sisters from Carmelite Monastery in Dysart cast their vote in the Scottish Parliamentary election at Dysart Community Hall, West Port, Dysart PA UK news in pictures 5 May 2021 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer (centre) with West Midlands Metro Mayor candidate Liam Byrne (far right) and Labour Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner (far left) during a visit to Birmingham, whilst on the election campaign trail PA UK news in pictures 4 May 2021 Artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey stand within 100 oak saplings which form part of a living art installation entitled Beuys' Acorns by the UK-based artist duo, outside the Tate Modern in London PA UK news in pictures 3 May 2021 Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie feeds the Gentoo penguins during a visit to Edinburgh Zoo on the campaign trail for the forthcoming Scottish Parliamentary Election on May 6 PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2021 Chelsea players celebrate their fourth goal during the Womens Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich, at Kingsmeadow Stadium in south west London. The Blues won the game 4-1, (and the tie 5-3 on aggregate) sending them through to their first Champions League final AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 1 May 2020 Demonstrators during a march through London during a 'Kill the Bill' protest Angela Christofilou UK news in pictures 30 April 2021 Shoppers queue outside Primark in Belfast as shops reopen and hospitality is able to open outdoors in Northern Ireland where lockdown restrictions have begun to gradually ease PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2021 Specialist operators at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, near Telford, Shropshire, clean the Hawker Hunter aircraft displayed within the museum's National Cold War Exhibition, during annual high-level aircraft cleaning and maintenance PA UK news in pictures 28 April 2021 Millions of tulips in flower near Kings Lynn in Norfolk, as Belmont Nurseries, the UK's largest commercial grower of outdoor tulips, offers socially-distanced visits to its tulip fields at Hillington to raise funds for local charity The Norfolk Hospice Tapping House PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2021 Paula Laughton checks one of the newly installed Lego models in the new Lego Mythica land at Legoland Windsor Resort PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2021 A red panda rests on a tree at Manor Wildlife park, which reopened its doors as lockdown restrictions continue to ease, in Tenby, Wales Reuters UK news in pictures 25 April 2021 Sheep climb the hillside as flames from a moor fire are seen on Marsden moor, near Huddersfield AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 24 April 2021 Supporters protest against Manchester United's owners, outside English Premier League club Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium in Manchester AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 23 April 2021 People enjoy the warm weather at City Hall near Tower Bridge in central London PA UK news in pictures 22 April 2021 Uyghurs during a demonstration in Parliament Square, London, which is being held ahead of a House of Commons debate, bought by backbench MP Nus Ghani, on whether Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang province are suffering crimes against humanity and genocide PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2021 People walk at the Taihaku Cherry Orchard in Alnwick REUTERS UK news in pictures 20 April 2021 People stand in front of anti Super League banners outside Anfield as twelve of Europe's top football clubs, including Liverpool, launch a breakaway league Reuters UK news in pictures 19 April 2021 Women enjoy sunny weather in Greenwich, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in London, Britain, Reuters

The number of job postings in the bar, restaurant and pub sector has shot up by 46 per cent since indoor trading was allowed to resume in England on 17 May, according to the consulting services firm RSM.

Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), said both Brexit and the loss of staff during the long pandemic had left many firms struggling with their reopening plans.

There are severe staffing shortages, said Mr Kill. A lot of workers are from Europe, so Brexit has had an impact, and there is the furlough hangover, where a lot of people have now got other jobs to keep themselves going and are not coming back.

A report released at the end of April by Fitch Ratings, one of the Big Three credit rating agencies, said staff shortages were largely down to EU nationals who have left the country following Brexit and employees who have switched sectors during the pandemic.

The agency said it also expected hospitality companies such as pubs, hotels and restaurants to incur the additional costs of hiring and training new employees  putting pressure on their margins.

Before Brexit, EU nationals made up between 12 per cent and 24 per cent of the total workforce in the UK hospitality industry, according to KPMG, the report said.

Many of them left the country during the lockdowns. EU nationals now have to obtain a visa in order to enter the country to work, which entails securing a job offer that meets minimum salary levels, among other requirements.

The Fitch Ratings report added that hospitality businesses may face increased salary requirements, for example in order to attract EU nationals, particularly during high summer and early autumn seasons, or to hire skilled employees to train workers with no prior experience.
The UK is expected to reach the milestone of three-quarters of adults having received a coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, a day after no new deaths from the virus were reported.

Latest government data suggests that more than 39.4 million people had received their first dose by Tuesday equating to 74.9 per cent of adults.

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, will use a speech on Wednesday to praise the central role of the NHS in the vaccine rollout and say the government "backed lots of horses", investing "at risk" in different projects.

He will be speaking as experts are divided over whether the final stage of the government's roadmap out of lockdown in England can go forward as planned on 21 June due to concerns over the spread of the Indian variant.

Downing Street said the government still sees nothing in the data to suggest the lifting of restrictions will need to be delayed.

Tuesdays death tally is likely to feed into ministers considerations on easing restrictions.

They will also consider that the announcement of zero deaths came after a bank holiday weekend, so there may be a delay in the reporting of the figures.

Later in the week, Mr Hancock will speak at the Jenner Institute in Oxford ahead of the G7 Health Ministers' meeting which will be hosted in the city.

He is expected to say: "Even before the first Covid-19 case arrived in the UK we'd started the work on how to develop, procure and roll out the vaccines that would ultimately make us safe.

"I was told a vaccine had never been developed against any human coronavirus. We dared to believe ... and we started early.

"We put out a call for research in February. By March, we were supporting six different projects, including the Oxford vaccine, alongside the vital work on treatments - including the Recovery trial, which led to the discovery of dexamethasone, the first proven treatment to reduce coronavirus mortality. These two projects, together, have already saved over a million lives."

Mr Hancock will say: "The biggest risk would have been the failure to find a vaccine at all. So we explicitly embraced risk early on. So we backed lots of horses and invested at risk.

"And instead of sitting back and waiting to see which vaccines came off, we were tenacious in helping them to get over the line, drawing on the abundant industry experience in our team."

The health secretary is also expected to outline how the NHS has "deserved every plaudit that has come its way", and talk about the UK's scientific strength.

Additional reporting by agencies
Researchers in Israel say they have discovered a small number of heart inflammation cases among mainly young men that they believe could be linked to the Pfizer Covid vaccine.

The condition, known as myocarditis, was reported in 275 of the roughly 5 million people who had received the jab in the six months that they have been on offer.

Most of those reporting the condition were under the age of 30, with the link observed most strongly in male patients aged 16 to 19. The vast majority had only mild symptoms.

Symptoms include tightness in the chest, shortness of breath, a high temperature, tiredness and fatigue, and palpitations.

Pfizer said it has not observed a higher rate of the condition than would normally be expected in the general population. The drug manufacturer said it was aware of the Israeli study but that no causal link to its vaccine had been established.

Israeli health officials first raised concerns about a possible link between the vaccine and myocarditis in April.

Most patients who experienced heart inflammation spent fewer than five days in hospital and symptoms were classified as mild in 95 per cent of cases, according to the study produced by three teams of experts for Israels health ministry.

The report found there is a probable link between receiving the second dose [of Pfizer] vaccine and the appearance of myocarditis among men aged 16 to 30, the authors said in a statement reported by Reuters.

Dror Mevorach, who led the panel investigating any links between the Pfizer vaccine and heart inflammation, was quoted by Science magazine as saying the findings were very suggestive of a causal nature. I am convinced there is a relationship, he said.

Nachman Ash, the countrys pandemic response coordinator, told an Israeli radio station that the efficacy of the vaccine outweighs the risk.

Last month, a US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention advisory group recommended further study of the possibility of a link between myocarditis and mRNA vaccines, which include those from Pfizer and Moderna.

CDC monitoring systems had not found more cases than would be expected in the population, but the advisory group said in a statement that members felt healthcare providers should be made aware of reports of a potential adverse event.

Myocarditis can be triggered by viral infections including Covid-19.

The British Heart Foundation website says most people with the condition recover without any complications, although in rare cases when inflammation is severe, there can be damage to the heart.

Additional reporting by Reuters
A move by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to shutter more than 50 shelters housing about 4,000 migrant children could seriously disrupt a national program that already faces strained capacity to properly care for minors crossing the U.S.-Mexico border alone.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which cares for migrant children, said Wednesday that it did not intend to close any facilities but that it was assessing the Republican governor's late Tuesday disaster declaration. The proclamation directs a state agency to deny or discontinue within 90 days licenses for child care facilities sheltering migrant children.

Groups that represent migrant children and reunite them with their families said the order could be harmful because it may mean more minors are sent to mass-scale, unlicensed facilities that attorneys and advocates say endanger their health and safety. Abbott argues that the federal government cant force Texas to keep issuing state licenses in response to a federal problem.

The U.S. government funds 56 shelters in Texas, out of about 200 licensed shelters in the country. The last census taken on May 19 showed 4,223 children in 52 of those state-licensed shelters, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The agency was directed to remove the licenses.

The highly unusual move to order a disaster declaration  usually reserved for natural disasters or health crises  comes amid Abbott's criticism of record numbers of border crossings in recent months. He has increased the presence of the Texas Department of Public Safety and the National Guard in south Texas.

Abbott also has been critical of emergency facilities that lack state licenses, which may end up taking in more children if his order succeeds in shuttering smaller shelters.

In April, Texas officials announced they were investigating three reports alleging abuse and neglect at a San Antonio coliseum holding more than 1,600 migrant teens. There also have been abuse or neglect investigations at state-licensed facilities, and Texas lists 18 total citations between April and May.

Christine Mann, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said the agency is reviewing the governors order and "determining next steps as we plan for fully implementing the governors direction.

Some critics worry it could set a precedent for other Republican governors to thwart efforts by the Biden administration to increase capacity in a network of licensed shelters. Governors in Iowa and Nebraska have rejected federal requests to house migrant children, saying they opposed President Joe Bidens stance on caring for minors before they are reunited with family in the U.S.

This is a transparent and troubling ploy to politicize a humanitarian crisis," Krish OMara Vignarajah, head of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said in a statement. Because Texas-based shelters comprise a significant portion of U.S. capacity, this order could do real damage, and to the serious detriment of childrens well-being.

The increasing arrival of migrant children has tested the Biden administration, with the U.S. government picking up nearly 19,000 children traveling alone across the Mexican border in March and more than 17,000 in April.

The record-setting numbers come as the administration decided to exempt unaccompanied children from federal pandemic-related powers to immediately expel most migrants from the country without giving them an opportunity to seek asylum.

The pandemic also has meant less capacity at small and medium-size shelters that care for minors. The program lost thousands of beds due to COVID-19 restrictions, bringing down the tally to about 7,100 by February.

With fewer beds in smaller shelters and growing numbers of children crowding U.S. Border Patrol stations, the Biden administration awarded huge contracts to private companies to set up unlicensed emergency facilities at convention centers, military bases and other large venues in March. These venues resemble hurricane evacuation shelters with little space to play and no privacy, and critics say the contractors are not equipped to adequately care for the minors.

Health and Human Services has refused access to news media once children are at the facilities, citing the pandemic and privacy restrictions. Advocates and lawmakers who have been allowed to visit have expressed concerns about children's mental health at the sites where hundreds can sleep in cots in large tents. These facilities require fewer youth care workers and clinicians per child and no traditional legal oversight, skirting state regulations.

The Biden administration has maintained that the sites provide lifesaving services for children, with officials assuring lawmakers that minors would be kept in large-scale settings no more than two weeks, then placed with family in the U.S. or sent to a permanent licensed facility. But some children have been at the large venues much longer.

Doing away with more state-licensed shelters is a wrongheaded approach, said Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense, which provides legal services to immigrant children.

At a time when the United States needs far more licensed placement settings for unaccompanied migrant children, the order threatens to leave the nation with far less," Young said.

___

Gomez Licon reported from Miami. Coronado 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.
Thunderstorms are expected to hit parts of the UK on Wednesday as the wave of hot weather seen over the bank holiday weekend continues this week.

A high of 25.7C was recorded at Heathrow Airport at 2pm on Tuesday, making it the hottest day of 2021 so far - topping the temperature of 25.1C set just one day before.

As millions enjoyed the first day of the meteorological summer, the Met Office predicted that the mercury would climb even higher later this week, with highs of 27C expected.

However, yellow weather warnings have been issued for thunderstorms on Wednesday in parts of southwest England and southwest Wales.

The thunderstorms could bring lots of lightning, some hail, as well as some heavy rain, and with the half term there is an increased number of tourists in this area, Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said.

The thunderstorms do then push north-eastwards into the Midlands and across more of Wales, but they also ease and break up, so these places will see some showers but they won't be as intense.

From 5am to 11am in the affected areas, the weather service has warned that there could be some short-term loss of power and other services, while delays to train services and poor road conditions are also possible.

Sun-seekers enjoy the hot weather in Brighton on 1 June 2021 (REUTERS)

A woman gets into the water at Warleigh Weir, Bath, on the first day of meteorological summer (PA)

Millions of Britons flocked to parks and beaches in recent days as the sun arrived in time for the spring bank holiday weekend, with members of the public enjoying the lifting of most lockdown restrictions.

Bournemouth beach was packed with sun-seekers on Sunday, while tourists to Edinburghs Portobello beach braved a misty morning before the damp air gave way to an afternoon of sunshine.

The run of warm temperatures comes after a month which saw heavy downpours and prolonged spells of rain across the country, with Wales recording the wettest May since records began in 1862, with 245mm of rainfall.

Meanwhile, the UK as a whole saw its fourth highest amount of rainfall on record for the month, with an average of 120mm.

Additional reporting by PA
Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi meets with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Sept. 18, 2018. Reuters-Yonhap





China's president has called for better international communication to repair the country's coronavirus-hit image and win a battle of narratives with the U.S. and its allies.



Xi Jinping's remarks at a study session of the Politburo, the ruling Communist Party's top echelon, on Monday came amid a deepening feud with Washington and with negative perceptions of China at record high levels in many parts of the world.



It is not the first time Xi has called on party cadres and state-controlled media to "tell China's stories well" to the world and present the country in a positive light.



But Chinese observers said his latest call was a rare admission of Beijing's isolation that has been exacerbated by aggressive "Wolf Warrior" diplomacy and ineffective propaganda and influence campaigns abroad. It also suggests how Beijing will seek to shift the unfavorable narratives in its ideological and geopolitical wrangling with Western democracies.



Xi highlighted the need to "create a favorable external public opinion environment" and strengthen communications "under the new situation" to secure its rise, state news agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday.



"It is necessary to speed up the construction of Chinese discourse and the Chinese narrative system, and use Chinese theories to interpret Chinese practice," he told the Politburo.



The focus would be on improving the party's global image and countering criticism about its omnipresent role in China's development.



"It is necessary to give better play to the role of high-level experts and use platforms and channels such as important international conferences and forums and foreign mainstream media to speak out," Xi said.



The Chinese leader listed goals including building a team of professionals who can meet the country's international communication needs and embracing new ways to communicate with different audiences.



"It is necessary to make friends, unite and win over the majority, and constantly expand the circle of friends [when it comes to] international public opinion," he was quoted as saying.





Chinese and Syrian businessmen shake hands behind their national flags during a meeting to discuss Syria reconstruction projects, Beijing, May 8, 2017. Reuters



Beijing is pushing back over what it sees as fundamentally biased Western narratives and negative sentiment, from the blame game over Covid-19 to US efforts to form a coalition against China over its policies in Xinjiang and Hong Kong and its aggressive posturing on Taiwan and the South China Sea.



Gu Su, a political scientist at Nanjing University, said poor communication and combative diplomats were holding back China's efforts to fix its image.



"Xi's remarks appear to be related to Washington's move to use an international investigation into the origins of the coronavirus to target China, which has gained momentum in recent weeks," he said.



Beijing and Washington's battle to control global narratives has been building since the trade war erupted in 2018, and the rhetoric has escalated over the pandemic and vaccine diplomacy.



U.S. President Joe Biden last month said Washington wanted to "lead the world with our values" in sending Covid-19 jabs abroad amid "a lot of talk about Russia and China influencing the world with vaccines".



However, Beijing-based independent analyst Wu Qiang said China was unlikely to abandon its aggressive style of diplomacy.





A visitor carries a Chinese national flag at Xibaipo Memorial Hall, ahead of the 100th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China, during a government-organized tour in Xibaipo, Hebei province, China, May 12. Reuters-Yonhap
Ministers plans to help pupils catch up on learning lost due to the Covid-19 crisis is likely to fall at the first hurdle" because of a lack of funding, headteachers have warned.

The Department for Education has pledged 1.4bn for proposals that include 100 million extra tutoring hours for children in England and more funding for teacher training.

But school leaders said that the money would fall far short of the help needed for children who have faced two school years of disruption.

Other proposals to extend the school day  under review by Whitehall  could do more harm than good with pupils left exhausted and burnt out, they said.

Teaching unions were also joined by the governments own education recovery commissioner, who said the amount of funding provided so far would not meet the scale of the challenge.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders union NAHT said: The government must be mindful of the trade-offs and unintended consequences of any recovery idea being proposed.

The marginal gains that might be possible through extending the school day must be weighed against the costs of such a strategy, including the impact on pupils mental health, reduced family time and less time for extra-curricular activities.

The government could end up doing more harm than good by adding more classroom hours to childrens school day. The government must also realise that the success of any big ideas about recovery, including additional school hours, relies on equally ambitious funding from the Treasury.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said there was much to welcome in the plan around tuition and training, adding that the devil will be in the detail of any extended day proposals.

But he said: What is most concerning is reports that the Treasury is thought to be offering only one-tenth of the money that is said to be needed for the recovery package.

Frankly, if that is the case, then the plan is likely to fall at the first hurdle. It is hard to see how 1.4bn spread over three years could possibly deliver the proposals that have been outlined.

Labour meanwhile said children needed to be given opportunities to play, learn and develop as part of any roadmap.

Boris Johnson said young people had sacrificed so much over the last year and said the plan would support children who have fallen behind and that every child will have the skills and knowledge they need to fulfil their potential.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson said the government was taking a long-term, evidence-based approach to help children of all ages.

I am incredibly proud it recognises the efforts and dedication of our teachers who are at the forefront of childrens recovery  making sure every teacher has the opportunity to access world-leading training, giving them the skills and tools to help every child they work with to fulfil their potential, he said in a statement.

The package will not just go a long way to boost childrens learning in the wake of the disruption caused by the pandemic but also help bring back down the attainment gap that weve been working to eradicate.

The governments plan also includes the option for some year 13 students to repeat their final year if they missed. Teachers and ministers agree a boost is necessary because of lost and disrupted school time due to Covid.

But Labour shadow education secretary Kate Green accused the Conservatives of showing no ambition for children's futures as the party called for schools to be given additional resources to deliver the recovery support needed.

Under an alternative two-year 14.7bn plan outlined by Labour extra-curricular activities and breakfast clubs would be expanded to boost time for children to play and socialise after months away from their friends.

Children are excited to be back in the classroom with their friends and hungry to learn. After such disruption, we owe it to them to match their energy and motivation with the support and resources they need to thrive, not just whilst they catch up, but for their school careers and beyond, said Ms Green.

Responding to the governments plan, she said: This announcement makes a mockery of the prime ministers claim that education is a priority.

His own education recovery commissioner has all but said this plan is insufficient. Sir Kevan Collins told ministers that 10 times this level of investment was needed to help children recover.

Labour has set out a bold plan that will provide new opportunities for all children to play, learn and develop post-pandemic. The government has let down children and families over the last year and the last decade and is set to do so again.

UK news in pictures Show all 51 1 /51 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 8 June 2021 REUTERS UK news in pictures 7 June 2021 A pedestrian wearing a face covering walks over Westminster Bridge near the Houses of Parliament in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 6 June 2021 Isobel Salamon, founder of the Edinburgh Cinema Club, poses alongside the Leith Trainspotting murals in Quality Yard, Leith, Edinburgh, for the programme launch of the Cinescapes Festival which starts on July 4 with a Trainspotting 1 and 2 double bill PA UK news in pictures 5 June 2021 A long exposure photograph captures the rotation of the earth as the stars blur into circles over Knowlton church ruins in Dorset Nick Lucas/SWNS UK news in pictures 4 June 2021 Balloonists take flight during the opening of the Midlands Air Festival in Alcester, Warwickshire PA UK news in pictures 3 June 2021 Members of the Household Cavalry during the Major General's annual inspection of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment in Hyde Park, London PA UK news in pictures 2 June 2021 Hannah Vitos of the Blenheim Art Foundation, poses for a photograph next to artist Ai Weiwei's Gilded Cage (2017) sculpture in the grounds of Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 1 June 2021 People swim in the Sky Pool, a transparent swimming pool bridge across two exclusive residential blocks standing next to the US Embassy in Nine Elms, in London, Tuesday, June 1, 2021 AP UK news in pictures 31 May 2021 People enjoy the hot weather at Brighton beach Reuters UK news in pictures 30 May 2021 People venture into the sea as they enjoy themselves during a hot day on Brighton Beach AP UK news in pictures 29 May 2021 Swimmers at the Stonehaven Open Air Pool in Aberdeenshire, which reopens after lockdown restrictions were eased PA UK news in pictures 28 May 2021 Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he meets Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban at Downing Street in London REUTERS UK news in pictures 27 May 2021 White Pelicans in the sunshine in St James's Park, London PA UK news in pictures 26 May 2021 Boats are seen at Southsea Moorings in Portsmouth Reuters UK news in pictures 25 May 2021 York Glaziers Trust employees Kieran Muir (left) and Emily Price (right) remove a stained glass window panel at the start of a new five year, 5m project to conserve York Minsters South East Transept and its medieval St Cuthbert Window PA UK news in pictures 24 May 2021 Dark rain clouds above an oast house at Bewl Water reservoir near Lamberhurst in Kent during one of the rainiest Mays on record, with the UK seeing 131 per cent of the usual months rainfall already PA UK news in pictures 23 May 2021 The Premier League trophy with the Manchester City club colour ribbons on, at Etihad Stadium, prior to the last Premier League match of the season. City will finally pick up the trophy after they won the league on 11 May Getty UK news in pictures 22 May 2021 Gary Kenny lifts the Buildbase FA Vase Trophy after Warrington Rylands won the FA Vase Final against Binfield at Wembley Stadium Getty UK news in pictures 21 May 2021 A family buffeted by the wind whilst crossing the the Millennium Bridge in London, with wind and rain forecast to ravage the UK on the first Friday that people have been allowed to meet in large groups outside in England PA UK news in pictures 20 May 2021 Devon And Cornwall Police Demonstrate Their Skills For Policing The G7 Summit Getty Images UK news in pictures 18 May 2021 An employee stands before a costume for the Queen of Hearts by Bob Crowley on display at the Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London PA UK news in pictures 17 May 2021 Passengers prepare to board an easyJet flight to Faro, Portugal, at Gatwick Airport after the ban on international leisure travel for people in England was lifted following the further easing of lockdown restrictions in England PA UK news in pictures 16 May 2021 Emergency workers at the scene of a suspected gas explosion, in which a young child was killed and two people were seriously injured, on Mallowdale Ave Heysham which caused 2 houses to collapse and badly damaged another PA UK news in pictures 15 May 2021 Pro-Palestinian activists and supporters let off smoke flares, wave flags and carry placards during a demonstration in support of the Palestinian cause as violence escalates in the ongoing conflict with Israel, in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 14 May 2021 Member of staffs tighten screws and paint a Marlin skeleton, before it goes on display at the Natural History Museum in London, as the museum prepares to reopen to the public on 17 May, following the further easing of lockdown restrictions in England PA UK news in pictures 13 May 2021 A worshipper at the Baitul Futuh Mosque in Mordon, south London, ahead of Eid al-Fitr. The celebration marks the end of the Muslim month of fasting, called Ramadan. PA UK news in pictures 12 May 2021 A couple have wedding photos taken in Westminster, London Getty UK news in pictures 11 May 2021 The sun rises on Coquet Island, off Amble on the Northumberland coast, where as many as 35000 seabirds cram onto this tiny island to breed PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2021 Newly elected for a second term Mayor of London Sadiq Khan during his signing in ceremony at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on Londons Southbank PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2021 People mill around St. Michael's tower on top of Glastonbury Tor as it is seen through blooming yellow rapeseed on a day of mixed weather in Glastonbury, Somerset PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2021 Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford elbow bumps newly elected MS Labour candidates Elizabeth Buffy Williams, Rhondda, left, and Sarah Murphy, Bridgend & Porthcawl Labour, right, as they meet in Porthcawl, Wales PA UK news in pictures 6 May 2021 A group of five Sisters from Carmelite Monastery in Dysart cast their vote in the Scottish Parliamentary election at Dysart Community Hall, West Port, Dysart PA UK news in pictures 5 May 2021 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer (centre) with West Midlands Metro Mayor candidate Liam Byrne (far right) and Labour Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner (far left) during a visit to Birmingham, whilst on the election campaign trail PA UK news in pictures 4 May 2021 Artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey stand within 100 oak saplings which form part of a living art installation entitled Beuys' Acorns by the UK-based artist duo, outside the Tate Modern in London PA UK news in pictures 3 May 2021 Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie feeds the Gentoo penguins during a visit to Edinburgh Zoo on the campaign trail for the forthcoming Scottish Parliamentary Election on May 6 PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2021 Chelsea players celebrate their fourth goal during the Womens Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich, at Kingsmeadow Stadium in south west London. The Blues won the game 4-1, (and the tie 5-3 on aggregate) sending them through to their first Champions League final AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 1 May 2020 Demonstrators during a march through London during a 'Kill the Bill' protest Angela Christofilou UK news in pictures 30 April 2021 Shoppers queue outside Primark in Belfast as shops reopen and hospitality is able to open outdoors in Northern Ireland where lockdown restrictions have begun to gradually ease PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2021 Specialist operators at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, near Telford, Shropshire, clean the Hawker Hunter aircraft displayed within the museum's National Cold War Exhibition, during annual high-level aircraft cleaning and maintenance PA UK news in pictures 28 April 2021 Millions of tulips in flower near Kings Lynn in Norfolk, as Belmont Nurseries, the UK's largest commercial grower of outdoor tulips, offers socially-distanced visits to its tulip fields at Hillington to raise funds for local charity The Norfolk Hospice Tapping House PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2021 Paula Laughton checks one of the newly installed Lego models in the new Lego Mythica land at Legoland Windsor Resort PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2021 A red panda rests on a tree at Manor Wildlife park, which reopened its doors as lockdown restrictions continue to ease, in Tenby, Wales Reuters UK news in pictures 25 April 2021 Sheep climb the hillside as flames from a moor fire are seen on Marsden moor, near Huddersfield AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 24 April 2021 Supporters protest against Manchester United's owners, outside English Premier League club Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium in Manchester AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 23 April 2021 People enjoy the warm weather at City Hall near Tower Bridge in central London PA UK news in pictures 22 April 2021 Uyghurs during a demonstration in Parliament Square, London, which is being held ahead of a House of Commons debate, bought by backbench MP Nus Ghani, on whether Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang province are suffering crimes against humanity and genocide PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2021 People walk at the Taihaku Cherry Orchard in Alnwick REUTERS UK news in pictures 20 April 2021 People stand in front of anti Super League banners outside Anfield as twelve of Europe's top football clubs, including Liverpool, launch a breakaway league Reuters UK news in pictures 19 April 2021 Women enjoy sunny weather in Greenwich, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in London, Britain, Reuters UK news in pictures 18 April 2021 Stephen Maguire (right) of Scotland interacts with Jamie Jones of Wales during day 2 of the Betfred World Snooker Championships 2021 at The Crucible, Sheffield PA UK news in pictures 17 April 2021 Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburghs coffin, covered with His Royal Highnesss Personal Standard arrives by Landrover Defender at St Georges Chapel carried by a bearer party found by the Royal Marines during the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle Getty Images

Education recovery commissioner Sir Kevan Collins said: The pandemic has caused a huge disruption to the lives of Englands children.

Supporting every child to get back on track will require a sustained and comprehensive programme of support.

The investments in teaching quality and tutoring announced today offer evidence-based support to a significant number of our children and teachers. But more will be needed to meet the scale of the challenge.

Sir Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton Trust and chairman of the Education Endowment Foundation, said: Creating an ambitious, sustainable recovery plan to support every pupil is a considerable challenge. The extension of tutoring for the most disadvantaged young people is crucial as its a highly cost-effective method of making up for lost learning. The focus on quality teaching, investing in the teaching profession and early years practitioners is also much needed.

However, the proposed funding is only a fraction of what is required. Low-income students who have already been most heavily impacted by Covid-19 will be disadvantaged even more and overall standards, which have fallen dramatically, will be very slow to recover.

Sir Kevan Collins is right that much more will be needed if we are to mitigate the long-term impact of the pandemic.
A teen woke in handcuffs following a night of partying in Milwaukee after he accidentally stumbled into an Airbnb rented by police officers, according to video posted on TikTok.

The law enforcement officers awoke that morning and discovered the 19-year-old man sleeping in their accommodations. The officers were visiting from Montana to take part in emergency vehicle training.

The video was shared on the Flathead County Sheriff's Office Facebook page but was originally posted on the TikTok page @sherrifk9misty, an account where Charles Pesola posts about life as a police officer alongside his dog Misty to his over 200,000 followers. He also posts tips about how to make it as a deputy sheriff, such as wearing a suit to your interview.

It was also shared on the Instagram page of the same name.

Mr Pesola announced at the beginning of the video while accompanied by two other police officers: Story time!

Well, apparently we crashed with a drunk dude last night, he said, explaining that he believed the loud noise he heard was one of the two other officers, deputy Matt Van Der Ark and deputy Nelson Grant. Both deny being the source of the noise in the TikTok.

We then realised that one of the doors was open, Mr Pesola said to the camera, which implied signs of an intruder.

Following this discovery, they went searching around the temporarily rented house, until the three visitors to the city found the sleeping teenage boy in one of the beds in the house.

This silly guy found the one Airbnb in all of downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin loaded with cops, Mr Pesola said.

In the video, they edited together a montage of them alerting the local Milwaukee authorities. According to local news outlet WKYT, they did not arrest the man.

He made a mistake. Its OK. Were gonna get over it, and at the end of the day, we can smile about it, said deputy Vander Ark.

Mr Pesola said things could have gone differently if the teenager had been in a different house.

What if that dude stumbled into a bed with a kid or my wife? I mean, it could have been a different morning, right? So, wrong place, wrong time [but] lucky place, lucky time, that theres dudes that actually know how to handle that.

The teenager said it was the first time hed woken up in a random place to the police officers in the video.

When asked why he posted the video, he said in the same interview, Cops have a hard time right now, and when they can see were still having fun and still real people and were good, its a good thing.

Last year, America began a national reckoning over the role and responsibilities of police officers, questioning whether they had too much power and resources, asking if they were institutionally racist or acted too much like a military.

This conversation was reignited after the release of footage of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyds neck for nine-and-a-half minutes, leading to Mr Floyds death. Chauvin was found guilty of three charges over the killing on 20 April.

The Independent reached out to Flathead County Sheriffs Office for comment.
Disturbing video footage shows the moment a pair of children who had escaped a group home fired stolen guns at police in Enterprise, Florida.

Deputies shot a 14-year-old girl after she and a 12-year-old boy broke into a home, found several firearms, including an AK47 and a shotgun, and started shooting at police, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said.

The girl was shot in the abdomen and the arm and is being treated at a hospital. Shes reportedly in a stable condition. The boy surrendered and was not injured in the stand-off. The two foster children repeatedly fired at deputies for around 30 minutes, according to law enforcement officials.

The sheriffs office said the children face felony charges, including attempted first-degree murder of law enforcement officers and armed burglary, ClickOrlando reported.

Sheriff Chitwood said the children ran away from Florida United Methodist Childrens Home around 5pm on Tuesday, managing to evade the police for hours. A passerby told law enforcement that he heard breaking glass at a home in the vicinity around 8pm. Deputies discovered that someone had broken into the home, the sheriff said.

The owner of the home had left just 15 minutes before, and according to the Sheriff, told authorities: Nobody should be home, but I have three firearms in the house  an AK-47, a pump shotgun and a handgun  and 200 rounds of ammunition.

Deputies surrounded the home and tried to speak to the boy and girl, but were met with gunfire. Sheriff Chitwood said that the girl, 14, at one point came outside and threatened to kill Sgt Donnie Maxwell.

We try to deescalate, we throw a cell phone into the house to try to talk to them. The 14-year-old comes out of the garage with a pump shotgun, levels it at deputies, and despite warnings to drop it, she walks back into the garage. She comes back a second time, and thats when deputies open fire, the sheriff said.

Bodycam footage shows how the tense moment unfolded. Officers approach the dark house where the children are holed up, lighting their way with flashlights. Then the girl emerges.

Shes pointing a gun. Shes pointing a gun behind the trash can, an officer can be heard saying.

Shortly afterwards, an exchange of gunfire can be seen in aerial footage. An officer shouts Cease fire!

The boy soon walks out of the house with his hands up, but the girl remains hidden.

Light her up, one officer says  and then quickly clarifies what he means. With a light! With a light!

The officers finally approach the girl, who is lying on the ground, remove her shotgun, and begin providing medical assistance.

Sheriff Chitwood said deputies took several rounds of gunfire before they were left with no other choice but to return fire, with nowhere to hide except behind trees. At least eight deputies were involved in the ordeal.

Sheriff Chitwood praised his deputies while speaking to reporters, lauding their restraint despite being repeatedly shot at. The sheriff harshly criticised the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, calling the department a failure and a fraud.

The 14-year-old was arrested for stealing dogs, for larceny, she then got teen court, and was sentenced to a halfway house in Flagler County, Sheriff Chitwood said. She burned that halfway house down on April 10 of 2021 and the Department of Juvenile Justice placed her in Florida United Methodist Childrens Home.

The 12-year-old boy has diabetes, leading police to go look for the children because if he doesnt get his medication within four hours, its going to be a critical medical emergency, the sheriff said.

He added that deputies didnt do what he would have done when approaching the home the children had broken into.

I would have walked in because I have an eyewitness telling me two juveniles just forced their way into the home, Sheriff Chitwood said. They take a step back and contact the homeowner and say, Should anybody have access to your home? as resources are pouring in to surround the property.

According to authorities, the children also used bats to destroy furniture, toilets and a tub.

Their conversation was they were going to kill my sergeant. They were coming out to kill cops. They were coming out to kill deputies, thats the conversation, the Sheriff said of the children.

He noted that a security guard was killed at the Florida United Methodist Childrens Home earlier this year, and added that police have been called to the foster home 289 times in the past year.

Kitwana McTyer, the president and CEO of the Florida United Methodist Childrens Home, said in a statement: This situation is tragic and is the result of the system failing our children. These children are in desperate need of care in the appropriate setting, which is a higher level of care than we provide.

As we have partnered with our lead agency in this program since 2007, we have found in recent times that we are seeing a higher level of children who repeatedly come through the system with escalated behaviours. We simply cannot continue to be everything to everyone.

The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice said in a statement: To clarify, the Florida United Methodist Childrens Home is not a DJJ program. As an agency, we serve alongside the various partners that make up Floridas juvenile justice system, including law enforcement, the courts, state attorneys, and community providers to hold youth accountable for their actions. DJJ does not tolerate violence that jeopardizes the public safety of our communities.
A Black man contracted to provide security for CNNs coverage of the George Floyd protests is suing Minnesota State Troopers for $500,000 for an alleged unlawful arrest and conduct towards him, according to a recent criminal complaint.

The lawsuit comes more than a year after the retired Illinois State Police trooper, Michael Cooper, 65, was arrested.

In the complaint, Mr Cooper alleges that he was arrested on 30 May 2020 due to his race, as no other white team member was taken into custody, according to the complaint filed on 27 May. Mr Cooper was taken into custody at Hennepin County Sheriffs Office but was not charged of any crime, and released after 20 hours.

According to the complaint, As it became dark on the evening of May 30, the broadcast team found itself in a dangerous location where the police were shooting tear gas and rubber bullets towards the crowd.

The complaint details the damage done to the team, including them being tear gassed and a producer being hit by a bullet. It states that Mr Cooper tried to speak to a Minnesota State Trooper, explaining that they were members of the press. Despite, this Mr Cooper was then arrested, and was the only member of his team to be detained.

The complaint states that both his First and Fourth Amendments were violated.

Describing the alleged unlawful arrest, the complaint read, The troopers ordered Mr Cooper to kneel down, then lay down, and place his arms straight out from his body with his palms straight up.

According to police, Mr Cooper was arrested because he was viewed to be violating the curfew that had been imposed, but the complaint said journalists, among other professions, were exempt from the curfew.

The complaint also outlines the emotional impact the arrest had on Mr Cooper, stating: The experience has caused Mr Cooper great stress and anxiety  not only due to his own unlawful arrest but because he has now been left to contemplate that he has dedicated his life to is capable of unlawfully arresting and causing resulting harm to wholly innocent men and women.

Mr Cooper spent 34 years working in law enforcement, which was a contributing factor to his being hired by CNN to be a part of Omar Jimenezs reporting team at the protests in Minneapolis. In light of the restrictions and danger presented in reporting the story, Mr Cooper was given press accreditation and authorisation to carry two firearms.

The day before Mr Coopers arrest, Mr Jimenez had been arrested live on air despite telling law enforcement that he was a journalist with the correct certification. The complaint notes that police did not arrest Mr Jimenezs white colleagues and that his arrest was condemned by Minnesota officials including, including Governor Tim Waltz.

During an interview broadcast on CNN, Mr Waltz, a Democrat, apologised to Mr Jimenez, as he said, Thank you for the professionalism, thank you for understanding, and I'm deeply sorry. And you can know that we've made other mistakes on this as far as making sure that you have access. But protocols and everything else, as we're learning, have to change because we have to create the space for you to tell the story.

Protests, in Minneapolis and around the world, began after footage emerged of police officer Derek Chauvin killing George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes.

Chauvin was found guilty on two counts of murder and one of manslaughter on 23 April. He will be sentenced on 16 June. Yesterday, he appeared in a federal court accused of violating Mr Floyds civil rights by restraining him.

In a statement, one of Mr Coopers lawyers, Christopher ONeal said, How many times will the country need to see this script play out, where a Black man is treated differently than other people in the same situation?

The Independent reached out to the Minnesota State Patrol for comment on Mr Coopers complaint.
Google is replacing its homepage logo with a Doodle honouring American astronomer and gay rights activist Dr Frank Kameny to celebrate Pride Month.

Dr Kameny was born in New York in 1925 and saw combat during World War II.

In 1957, after stints at Harvard and Georgetown, he took a job as an astronomer with the Army Map Service but was fired just months later after being confronted over reports that he was a homosexual.

He was then banned from ever working for the federal government again, at the age of 32.

Dr Kameny in turn sued the federal government and in 1961 filed the first gay rights appeal to the US Supreme Court.

Although it was denied, it marked a lifelong battle for equal rights and he organised one of the countrys first advocacy groups for gay rights.

In the early 1970s Dr Kameny successfully challenged the American Psychiatric Associations classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder.

And in 1975 the Civil Service Commission reversed its ban on LGBT+ employees.

Finally in 2009, 50 years after his firing, Dr Kameny received an official apology from the US government.

And in June 2010 Washington DC named a stretch of 17th Street NW as Frank Kameny Way in his honour. He died a year later at the age of 86.

Thank you, Frank Kameny, for courageously paving the way for decades of progress! said Google who posted the Doodle at the beginning of Pride Month.
On 7 May Jasmine Hartin looked on proudly as her partner and the father of their children, Andrew Ashcroft, unveiled his new luxury hotel on the Belize island of San Pedro.

The Canadian socialite, who is in her 30s, was pictured in a video on the Facebook and YouTube pages of the new resort, the Alaia Belize Hotel Autograph Collection, looking immaculately dressed in a smart, pink top and white trousers, with glamorous makeup, swept up hair and a cocktail in her hand, standing by the pool.

Just weeks later the daughter-in-law of British billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft, 75, was in jail, charged with the manslaughter of police officer Henry Jemmott.

On Friday the 42-year-old police officer had been found in the water off San Pedro, shot with his own gun, as reported by CNN.

Ms Hartin, who has two children with Lord Ashcrofts son Andrew, 43, and is reportedly also a US citizen, had allegedly invited the officer, who was a friend, over to her apartment for a drink to discuss her personal security.

They are then believed to have broken the 10pm Covid curfew by walking to a nearby dock where she is said to have offered him a massage for his shoulder pain.

 Lord Ashcrofts daughter-in-law seen at at hotel opening days before her arrest

What happened next is unclear. Ms Hartins version of events appears to be that Mr Jemmott put down his gun and was shot with it accidentally when she handed it back to him. The father of five suffered a bullet wound behind the ear and died of his injuries.

Police Commissioner Chester C Williams told local media that security guards came running after hearing a single gun shot and upon investigating, police found the female on a pier, and she had what appeared to be blood on her arms and on her clothing, Sky News reported.

He added that she initially refused to speak to police without a lawyer. Ms Hartin was arrested on Monday, charged with manslaughter by negligence and denied bail, according to her lawyer Godfrey Smith.

Jasmine Hartin, pictured in her LinkedIn photo, worked for her husbands hotel, The Alaia, in Belize (LinkedIn/Jasmin Hartin)

So who is Jasmine Hartin?

On her LinkedIn profile she is listed as director of lifestyle and experience for Andrew Ashcrofts luxury Alaia resort, with a previous role as a real estate associate for SANCAS Realty Ltd.

A page on the hotels website, which has now been removed, said: Along with her husband, Andrew Ashcroft, Jasmine has played an integral role in shaping the vision for Alaia Belize from the very beginning, as reported by The Sunday Times.

Andrew Ashcroft, son of Conservative donor Lord Ashcroft, pictured in a still from the launch video for his new hotel, The Alaia, in Belize (YouTube/The Alaia)

It is not clear if Ms Hartin is legally married to Mr Ashcroft or if they have a common-law marriage.

In a video posted on the hotels YouTube page Ms Hartin can be seen with her two children and partner at the resort launch, which was attended by the minister of tourism.

In the video Mr Ashcroft, whose father Lord Ashcroft is the former deputy chairman of the British Conservative Party and who grew up in Belize as a child and holds dual Belizean and British citizenship, said his family was 100 per cent committed to Belize and that the children would soon start school there.

Lord Ashcroft, businessman and politician, arrives at the Manchester Central convention complex in Manchester on 29 September, 2019, on the first day of the annual Conservative Party conference (AFP via Getty Images)

Speaking over video clips of his children Mr Ashcroft says: For my family this is about the best thing, I mean we are committed as a family. My wife Jasmine, my kids, we are 100 per cent committed to Belize. They start school here this summer. Were going to start a new project here this October called The Alaia Beach Club which will double our key count so we are here to stay and do more investments in Belize. We might have a couple surprises of other projects around Belize wed like to do.

Following news of Ms Hartins arrest, photos emerged in the local press appearing to show her behind bars. In Belize manslaughter can be punished by up to 25 years in jail but Ms Hartin is believed to be facing a maximum five-year sentence, or a fine of $10,000 US dollars.

Marie Jemmott Tzul, one of the officers sisters, told DailyMail.com that she was overwhelmed and devastated by my brother's death.

She added: I can't speculate over whether they will bail her or she will stay in prison, because I don't know the charge yet. What I would say to Jasmine is, give closure to the family. Tell us what happened. We want to know for the benefit of our family. He was my only brother.

Ms Jemmot Tzul continued: He had five children and a partner for 14 years. Every time I look at my nieces and my nephews I break down and cry. Please tell us what happened.

Members of the officers family denied local reports that he may have killed himself due to marital problems.

Another sister, Cherry Jemmott, 48, an Assistant Superintendent with Belize Police, told DailyMail.com: My brother would never ever kill himself. He had his plans. In September he was to be promoted to senior superintendent and he was to be transferred to another unit. My brother is a very top cop with a big dream.

The Belize Police Department Police could not be reached to discuss the report but Belize Police Commissioner Chester Williams told local media that the pair had been drinking and were in breach of the islands 10pm to 5am Covid curfew at the time.

He said: They were both fully dressed. They were known to each other. They were drinking for a couple of hours before the incident occurred. His body was recovered from the water. His weapon was recovered at the scene. The investigation is ongoing.
The Russia-linked cyberattack on the world's largest meat producer may have affected one-fifth of the United States meat supply, according to a report.

The attack on the country's food security comes less than four weeks after a hack of the Colonial Pipeline raised concerns over energy security. But the hack on the Brazil-based meat company's computer networks could have a far greater impact based on an analysis by Bloomberg.

The five plants in the US process a combined 22,500 cattle per day and the weekend attack effectively wiped out almost a fifth of the country's production, with operations also reported down in Australia and Canada, the outlet said.

The White House said on Tuesday that JBS received a ransom demand from a criminal group "likely based in Russia".

Colonial Pipeline paid Russian hackers DarkSide a $5m ransom they hoped would restore their network.

While deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies Ann Neuberger said whether paying a ransom was typically "a private-sector decision", paying off the Colonial Pipeline hackers led to fears more ransom attacks would follow on the country's critical infrastructure.

White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the Biden administration has offered assistance to JBS and is engaging with the Russian government.

She said the US Department of Agriculture was working with meat processors in the country to ensure they're aware of the situation.

"We're assessing any impacts on supply and the president has directed to the administration to determine what we can do to mitigate any impacts as they may become necessary," Ms Jean-Pierre said.

The shutdown of the largest gas pipeline in the US sparked panic buying and gas supply shortages until systems came back online and oil began flowing again.

After JBS confirmed the latest ransom attack in a statement on Monday, trading CME cattle futures fell more than 3 per cent but recovered slightly as the market waited to learn the full extent of the production shutdowns globally.

JBS accounts for 23 per cent of the US's beef capacity, ahead of Tyson Foods 22 per cent share, and about 20 per cent of pork capacity, Bloomberg reported.

They said the company either shut down processing or cancelled shifts at facilities in Utah, Texas, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa and Colorado on Tuesday.

Union officials and employees were also quoted as saying pork and chicken facilities were closed in Minnesota.

There are at least 10 plants I have knowledge of that have had operations suspended because of the cyberattack, Paula Schelling-Soldner, acting chairperson for the national council of locals representing food inspectors for the American Federation of Government Employees, told the outlet.
An American university has won its fight with a French heiress to keep a Camille Pissarro painting stolen from her family by the Nazis.

Leone-Noelle Meyer, 81, says she has ended her struggle with the University of Oklahoma after being threatened with heavy fines if she continued her legal battle.

Ms Meyer, a holocaust survivor, had fought for years to recover Pissarros La Bergere Rentrant des Moutons but admitted she was left with no other choice than to end her campaign.

Ms Meyer, who is the ninth richest woman in France with a personal wealth of more than $725m, lost her mother, grandmother and older brother at Auschwitz when she was just a child.

She was then adopted from a Paris orphanage by Raoul and Yvonne Meyer at the age of seven.

When her adopted parents fled Paris during World War II they stashed the painting, along with a Picasso and a Renoir, in a bank vault.

The Nazis then seized the artworks, with the looted Pissarro, which is worth an estimated $1.8m, falling into the hands of a Swiss art dealer.

This work of art, which belonged to my adoptive parents, Yvonne and Raoul Meyer, was stolen from them by the Nazis during the occupation of France in 1941, said Ms Meyer.

Raoul Meyer tried to get the painting back form the art dealer in 1953, but was told that his claim was too late.

The painting then disappeared until 1990 when Ms Meyer found out that it was at the University of Oklahomas Fred Jones Jr Museum of Art, after it was donated by a family who had bought it from a dealer in New York.

Ms Meyer acknowledges that five years ago she signed an agreement with the university that would see the painting switch between the US and France every three years.

But she says that she was forced into the deal, which has been upheld by a court in Paris, under duress.

I was called at 2 a.m. and my American lawyer put me under strong pressure to accept this deal. I didnt have the choice, she previously told the Le Monde newspaper.

The French court has ruled that her deal with the university overrides a 1945 law in the country that requires artwork stolen by Nazis to be returned to their original owners.

The painting is currently hanging at the Musee dOrsay in Paris.
NBA Orlando Magic player Terrence Ross has revealed that he had his $220,000 Lamborghini stolen and totalled overnight after a police chase to apprehend a suspected thief ended in a car crash.

Ross said in an Instagram video on Tuesday that he had received a call that morning during which an officer from the Orlando Police Department (OPD) informed him that they had located his car.

Im super confused. Im like wait, what are you ... what car? I didnt go anywhere last night, Ross said in the video to his 372,000 followers.

The star explained that he had sent his car into a dealership to repair a flat tire and claimed that police said two people broke into the dealership and had subsequently taken the car.

Ross claimed that police said that the two assailants had grabbed keys from the lot and tried the keys to see which key worked and that by chance his Lamborghini door opened.

The key that they have stumbled on is my key, he says in disbelief. They take this car, and they start driving.

The OPD confirmed to The Independent that around 1am another vehicle was used to break into the Lamborghini dealership on 33rd Street in the City of Orlando.

While Ross said in the video that two guys took the vehicle, police said that an unknown suspect took a Lamborghini from the dealership.

Ross said that the police informed him that they later found the suspects cruising in his whip but that they took off when pursued by authorities.

The suspect allegedly later lost control of the vehicle and smashed it into the side of a building, leaving it completely totalled, Ross said.

The cop was like yeah we found the car but its completely totalled, he repeated. The front is completely smashed, the back is smashed, windows are done.

OPD said in a statement that law enforcement spotted the vehicle a couple hours later and that the vehicle ultimately crashed in the city of Maitland, Florida.

Police said that the unidentified suspect fled the scene and that detectives are just beginning to work on this active investigation which is ongoing.

Now Im pretty much down a car so now, back to basics, car shopping, Ross said exasperatedly while at the dealership. That was the greatest car I ever had and now its gone.

The New York Post reported that the Lamborghini Urus that Ross owned was worth upwards of $218,000. I had a rare gem, and somebody flushed it down the toilet, Ross lamented.
The US state of Arizona wants to restart executions, paused for the past seven years, with the help of hydrogen cyanide, the lethal gas used in Nazi death camps.

Since 2014, there has not been any execution carried out in the Republican-controlled state where currently there are 115 inmates on death row. In 2014, the execution of a prisoner, Joseph Wood, had gone wrong as it took two hours and 15 injections before he was declared dead.

Arizonas corrections department has already spent over $2,000 (1,411) on the ingredients required to make the deadly cyanide gas, reported The Jerusalem Post. The money has been spent on buying a solid brick of potassium cyanide, sodium hydroxide pellets and sulfuric acid.

The state is gearing up to allegedly use Zyklon B, the lethal cyanide-based chemical used in the gas chambers in Nazi Germany to murder over a million Jews and others between 1942-1945.

Arizonas gas chamber has not been used for 22 years and the authorities are now conducting checks to ensure it is in an operable condition.

The last person that Arizona executed by gas was German national Walter LaGrand in 1999. The report said, according to a witness account, during that execution it had taken the victim 18 minutes to die and during that time he was coughing violently.

Frank Atwood, 65, convicted of killing a child in 1984, is first one on the list of prisoners on death row.

His attorney Joseph Perkovich said: Frank Atwood is prepared to die. He is a man of Greek Orthodox faith and is preparing for this moment. But he does not want to be tortured and subjected to a botched execution.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a non-profit, nonpartisan, legal and advocacy organisation, called it horrifying.

The state of Arizona wants to restart executions and is preparing its gas chamber to use hydrogen cyanide, the same lethal gas that was deployed at Auschwitz. This is not justice  its horrifying, ACLU tweeted.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers an address at the 153rd National Memorial Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, Arlington, Va., May 31. AFP-Yonhap



President Joe Biden led emotional commemorations on Tuesday to honor victims of the 1921 race massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, saying the United States must learn from one of the worst episodes of racist violence in the country's history.



The Democratic leader marked the centenary of the massacre by meeting survivors in the city, after the White House announced new initiatives including billions of dollars in grants to address racial disparities in wealth, home ownership and small business ownership.



"This was not a riot, this was a massacre," Biden said to loud applause.



"(It was) among the worst in our history  but not the only one and, for too long, forgotten by our history.



"As soon as it happened, there was a clear effort to erase it from our collective memories... for a long time the schools in Tulsa didn't even teach it, let alone schools elsewhere."



On May 31, 1921, a group of Black men went to the Tulsa courthouse to defend a young African American man accused of assaulting a white woman. They found themselves facing a mob of hundreds of furious white people.



Tensions spiked and shots were fired, and the African Americans retreated to their neighborhood, Greenwood.



The next day, at dawn, white men looted and burned the neighborhood, at the time so prosperous it was called Black Wall Street.



In 2001, a commission created to study the tragedy concluded that Tulsa authorities themselves had armed some of the white rioters.



The mayor of Tulsa formally apologized this week for the city government's failure to protect the community.





Survivor Viola Fletcher looks on after receiving flowers during a dedication ceremony for victims of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre at Stone Hill on the 100 year anniversary in Tulsa, Okla., May 31, 2021. AFP-Yonhap



Fill the silence



Historians say that as many as 300 African American residents lost their lives, and nearly 10,000 people were left homeless.



"I come here to help fill the silence because in silence, wounds deepen," Biden said.



"As painful as it is, only in remembrance do the wounds heal. We just have to choose to remember (and) memorialize what happened here in Tulsa, so it can't be erased... We simply can't bury pain and trauma forever.



"At some point there'll be a reckoning, an inflection point, like we are facing right now as a nation."



The United States has been embroiled in debate over racism in recent years, fueled by the killing in 2020 of African American George Floyd, who suffocated under the knee of white Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin.



The killing sparked nationwide protests, and Chauvin's recent conviction for murder was hailed as an milestone against police impunity, but many allege racial injustice and police brutality remain widespread.



The president  who is popular with Black Americans voters  also used his speech to slam efforts to undermine voting rights among Black people.



There was "an unprecedented assault on our democracy," he said, vowing to fight for voters' rights. "This sacred right is under assault with incredible intensity like I've never seen."





People hold candles during a vigil for the centennial commemorations of the Tulsa race massacre in the historic Greenwood neighborhood, Tulsa, Okla., May 31. AP-Yonhap
Senator Bernie Sanders called for the Senate to pass S. 1, a landmark piece of voting rights legislation, on Tuesday while celebrating a walkout by members of the Texas state legislature that resulted in a GOP-led elections bill to be defeated.

If passed, S. 1, commonly known as the For The People Act, would institute a number of nationwide provisions including automatic voter registration and early voting, and would also restore voting rights for federal elections to Americans who are released from prison after felony convictions.

Congratulations to Democrats in Texas for protecting democracy and the right to vote. Let's see if Democrats in the U.S. Senate have the same courage, Mr Sanders tweeted.

Over the weekend, members of Texas's state House walked out to prevent the passage of a bill Sunday that would have cut back on hours at polling places and reduced access to mail-in voting, which was expanded during the Covid-19 pandemic.

We MUST pass S. 1, the For The People Act. The future of American democracy is at stake, the Vermont senator and two-time presidential candidate added.

The legislation faces a steep path to President Joe Bidens desk despite widespread support among the Democratic Partys base due to the split control of the Senate, and the requirement that the For The People Act would need 60 votes to pass the chamber. The bill faces near-total opposition from Republican lawmakers and conservative organisations, which have decried the bill as a federal takeover of election procedures.

Some activists have pushed Democrats to end the Senates legislative filibuster as a means of passing the legislation, a move that is not supported by some centrist members of the party including Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).
President Joe Biden used the 100th anniversary of Tulsa s race massacre to make a plea for sweeping legislation in Congress to protect the right to vote as Republican-led governments in Texas and other states pass new restrictions making it tougher to cast ballots.

Biden, marking the centennial in Oklahoma on Tuesday, called out lawmakers in Congress  including two senators in his own party  for holding up action on voting bills. Invoking the words of the late Rep. John Lewis Biden said the right to vote is precious and must be protected. He vowed that June will be a month of action on Capitol Hill as Congress considers the legislation, among the top priorities of his administration.

Were not giving up, Biden said about the bill, S.1. Im going to fight like heck with every tool at my disposal for its passage.

Republican legislators in state capitols across the nation are pushing what experts say is an unprecedented wave of bills aimed at restricting access to the ballot box. While Republicans say the bills are aimed at preventing voter fraud, Democrats contend that the measures are aimed at undermining minority voting rights in particular.

Most recently, the Texas legislature moved closer to passing a bill that would reduce early voting hours, tighten voter identification requirements for absentee ballots and eliminate ballot drop boxes and drive-thru voting centers. The bill was blocked only when Texas Democrats walked off the House floor on Sunday night, but Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has said he'll order a special session to ultimately ensure its passage.

Biden addressed the federal voting rights legislation during an event marking the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, in which a white mob looted and burned Tulsas Greenwood district, which was known as Black Wall Street.

As many as 300 Black Tulsans were killed, and thousands of survivors were forced for a time into internment camps overseen by the National Guard. Biden said the nation must acknowledge the long-forgotten chapter of history to fully heal from it, and he pledged action on key issues confronting Black Americans, including police misconduct and restrictions on voting rights.

We cant just choose what we want to know, and not what we should know, Biden said. I come here to help fill the silence, because in silence wounds deepen.

Despite Biden's pledge to keep fighting to pass legislation protecting voting rights, however, he acknowledged Tuesday that his biggest obstacle may lie within his own party.

Biden called out two fellow Democrats in explaining why he hasnt enacted some of the most ambitious elements of his agenda, noting that slim majorities in the House and evenly divided Senate have hamstrung legislative negotiations around key issues like voting rights.

Responding to critics who question why he hasnt been able to get a wide-reaching voting rights bill passed, Biden lamented, Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House, and a tie in the Senate  with two members of the Senate who voted more with my Republican friends."

It appeared to be a veiled reference to Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both of whom have frustrated Democrats with their defense of the filibuster. The rule requires most legislation to win 60 votes to pass, making many of Democrats biggest priorities like voting rights and gun control dead on arrival in the 50-50 Senate. While Sinema is a sponsor of the voting rights bill that passed the House, known as the For the People Act, Manchin has refused to sign on, calling the measure too broad."

But its not just Manchin and Sinema who oppose doing away with the filibuster  as many as 10 Democratic senators are reluctant to change the rules even for must-pass legislation like the voting rights bill. Biden himself has not said he wants to end the filibuster.

It's unclear whether Biden's comments will change the views of any senators, who are facing tough choices ahead as pressure mounts on them.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told colleagues that he would be bringing the voting rights bill to a vote the week of June 21, in effect testing where senators stand. Schumer warned in a letter to colleagues last week to brace for the month ahead.

The June work period will be extremely challenging, Schumer told them, adding that it would test our resolve.

Biden has tasked Vice President Kamala Harris with leading the administrations efforts to defend voting rights, declaring that with her leadership, Americans will again overcome efforts to reduce access to voting, as they have in the past and did during the 2020 election, which saw record turnout despite new voting restrictions.

It adds another high-profile fight to Harris fast-expanding portfolio, which includes addressing the root causes of migration from Central America, leading the National Space Council and working on expanding access to broadband internet.

In a statement, Harris said she plans to work with voting rights groups, community organizations and the private sector to strengthen voting rights, as well as push for passage of voting rights legislation on Capitol Hill.

The work ahead of us is to make voting accessible to all American voters, and to make sure every vote is counted through a free, fair, and transparent process. This is the work of democracy, she said.

___

Associated Press writers Jonathan Lemire in New York and Darlene Superville in Tulsa, Okla., contributed to this report.
Jill Biden is getting a day at the beach for her 70th birthday.

President Joe Biden and his wife were heading to their Delaware beach house Wednesday evening to help the first lady celebrate that personal milestone on Thursday.

The trip makes for a rare midweek getaway from the White House by a president. It will also be the president's first visit to the couple's Rehoboth Beach home since he took office in January.

The Bidens were expected to be back at the White House on Friday.

Jill Biden, a longtime community college English professor, recently finished virtually teaching a course for Northern Virginia Community College She also won't be teaching over the summer.

Biden often speaks about how proud he is of his wife of nearly 44 years.

Teaching is not what Jill does. Teaching is who she is, Biden said last week, echoing his wife's own description of herself. And she's done it her, her whole adult life, and she's still doing it.

Biden said his wife had pledged she would continue to teach as first lady.

But I don't think she bargained for having to teach online initially," he joked, adding that she spent a lot of time, four hours a day for about a month, learning how to teach virtually as most schooling was done that way during the pandemic.

Biden bought the beach house for $2.7 million in 2017, after leaving the vice presidency and aided by a $8 million multibook deal that he and his wife signed.

The house is on a cul-de-sac in North Shores, just north of the resort town of Rehoboth Beach. It has a swimming pool that overlooks Cape Henlopen State Park, is blocks from the Atlantic Ocean and a short drive from downtown Rehoboth Beach.

The Bidens moved in less than two years after their son Beau, a former Delaware attorney general and Delaware Army National Guard member, died of brain cancer in May 2015. One sign on the house says Beaus gift;" another sign reads Forever Jill.

Jill Biden told Vogue magazine that her husband had promised her that when I write my book, I'll buy you a beach house.

She added: I wanted it to be the kind of place where you can come in in your wet bathing suit and bare feet and I can just take the broom and brush out the sand," she told Vogue for the March 2020 article. "And thats what this is. Everythings easy.

Joe Biden spent time in Rehoboth Beach during the 2020 presidential campaign, including after the Democratic National Convention and after becoming president-elect.

Biden so far has spent most weekends as president at his home in Wilmington, Delaware.

-

Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed to this report.
Several Republican members of the US House of Representatives marked the start of Pride Month this week by joining an effort to ban the flying of rainbow-coloured flags at US embassies.

A news release from the office of Congressman Jeff Duncan of South Carolina indicated that three additional Republican members had joined the bill as co-sponsors this week, bringing the total number of official supporters in the House to twenty members of the 211-member strong GOP caucus.

The bill was first unveiled in February by Mr Duncan and its original co-sponsors including the fiery gadfly Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, known for her past support of the #QAnon conspiracy theories as well as her other far-right views.

The announcement on Tuesday from Mr Duncans office coincided with the beginning of Pride Month in the US, during which supporters of LGBT+ rights celebrate members of the community.

During my campaign for Congress, I promised that I would always put America First. That means that only the Stars and Stripes should fly over our embassies in foreign countries, Ms Greene said at the time, while criticising some embassy officials for flying a Black Lives Matter flag.

The federal government should only be flying the flag that represents ALL people, the American flag. We need to bring back pride in our country and raise the Star Spangled Banner proudly. Old Glory represents our great American military and their sacrifices to ensure our freedom. This isnt a political issue. This is about Patriotism, and we need more of it, she added at the time.

The bill has virtually no chance of becoming law, as it has only a trifling GOP support and no Democratic co-sponsors in the Democratic-controlled House.

Mr Duncans office added in a news release that the bill came in response to a State Department official putting a rainbow flag up over a South American embassy.

Our beautiful flag, Old Glory, is the single greatest symbol of freedom the world has ever known, said Mr Duncan. It is an unmatched representation of liberty that is coveted around the globe, and it should be the only symbol that flies over our embassies in nations around the world. I believe no other flag or symbol can portray our American values better than Old Glory.
Five months after the United States Capitol riot, the far-right group Proud Boys has been battered with indictments and suffering from internal divisions.

Weve been through the wringer, Henry Enrique Tarrio, chairman of the Proud Boys, told AP News .

More than two dozen Proud Boys have been arrested as federal prosecutors investigate the 6 January attack , during which Donald Trump supporters, including right-wing groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers , stormed the Capitol. Investigators have charged four leaders of the Proud Boys  though not Mr Tarrio, who wasnt there  with planning and leading the insurrection.

Disheartened by the federal onslaught, several chapters of the group have split off from the national leadership. The Seattle, Las Vegas, Indiana and Alabama branches have all declared their independence.

We reject and disavow the proven federal informant, Enrique Tarrio, and any and all chapters that choose to associate with him, the Alabama chapter said in February, referring to Mr Tarrios 2012 cooperation with the FBI on a fraud case.

Meanwhile, experts say the group has lost some of its sense of purpose since Mr Trump left office. After his 2020 defeat, the former president lied for months that the election had been stolen, and the Proud Boys fought to overturn his defeat. But after Mr Trump decamped for Mar-a-Lago, it became unclear how to keep up the fight.

I think something kind of like that is happening right now in the broader far-right movement, where the cohesive tissue that brought them all together  being the 2020 election  its kind of dissolved, Jared Holt, an analyst at the Atlantic Councils Digital Forensic Research Lab, told AP.

Mr Holt compared the 6 January attack to the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville , Virginia, where white supremacist protesters clashed with left-wing counterprotesters, leaving one of them dead.

(EPA)

Like Unite the Right, there is a huge disaster, a PR disaster, and now theyve got the attention of the feds, Mr Holt said. And its even more intense now because they have the national security apparatus breathing down their necks.

The Proud Boys claim to have over 30,000 members across the US. Mr Trump briefly elevated the group to national infamy by mentioning them at a presidential debate, commanding them to stand back and stand by.

The group calls itself Western chauvinist and denies any connection to white supremacism, but experts dispute that claim. The Southern Poverty Law Center , which studies hate groups, notes that the Proud Boys have repeatedly attended white supremacist rallies and trafficked in anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric.

The Proud Boys actions belie their disavowals of bigotry, the SPLC says.
President Joe Biden has called for a national reckoning with Americas legacy of racist violence, as the president commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, which was fuelled by a white mob that displaced thousands of Black residents and killed as many as 300 people.

My fellow Americans, this was not a riot. This was a massacre, he said following a moment of silence.

After decades in the shadows, the history of the massacre has been elevated to the White House, as Mr Biden becomes the first president to memorialise the atrocities from Tulsa within the last century.

He argued that the nation must reckon with its troubling past.

We should know the good, the bad, everything, he said in an address from Tulsa on 1 June. Thats what great nations do. They come to terms with their dark sides.

In silence, wounds deepen, he added. As painful as it is, only in remembrance do wounds heal. We just have to choose to remember. Memorialise what happened here in Tulsa so it cant be erased.

He added that the nation cannot simply bury pain and trauma forever.

At some point, there will be a reckoning, an inflection point, he said.

His remarks followed his meeting with the three remaining known survivors of the massacre, which destroyed 35 blocks of a flourishing Black neighbourhood of Greenwood, marking one of the bloodiest episodes of racist violence in the US.

Violet Mother Fletcher and Hughes Uncle Red Van Ellis, two of three known living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, listen to Joe Biden speak on 1 June. (AFP via Getty Images)

On 31 May, 1921, a white mob deputised by law enforcement and supported by city officials indiscriminately fired on Black residents, as airplanes dropped flaming turpentine-soaked rags and dynamite, after a Black teenager was accused of assaulting a white elevator operator.

The history of that violence was a story seen in the mirror dimly, but no longer, Mr Biden said. Now your story will be known in full view.

For much too long the history of what took place here took place in silence, he added. While darkness can hide much, it erases nothing ... And so it is here, only with the truth, can come healing, justice and repair. That isnt enough.

Before his remarks, the president spoke with 107-year-old Viola Mother Fletcher, 100-year-old Hughes Uncle Red Van Ellis and 106-year-old Lessie Benningfield Mother Randle, all of whom testified to members of Congress last month and urged lawmakers to consider reparations for the survivors and their families, stripped of decades of generational wealth.

They are also the lead plaintiffs in a reparations lawsuit against the city and county of Tulsa, the state of Oklahoma and Tulsas Chamber of Commerce, arguing that the state and its economic centre are responsible for the massacre and its ongoing impacts.

Mr Biden said that the massacre was not just about the loss of life, but loss of living.

The systemic violence that followed in the decades after the attack continues to resonate not just in Tulsa but across the US, from the impacts of redlining, exclusionary zoning laws, urban development initiatives and other forms of housing discrimination, as well as the construction of federal highways through Black communities, including in Greenwood.

Earlier on Tuesday, the White House announced a new set of policies to close the white-Black wealth gap in the US in an effort to combat those policies and the institutional racism that enshrined them.

The Ku Klux Klans burning crosses torched every region in this country, Mr Biden said in his remarks.

That hate became embedded, systemically, in our laws and our culture, he said. We do ourselves no favours by pretending this didnt happen ... or didnt impact us today.

The administration is taking aim at addressing disparities in home ownership and appraisals, and will lean on the federal governments purchasing power to expand federal contracting with small disadvantaged businesses.

Mr Biden also will propose billions of dollars for a community revitalisation fund targeting infrastructure, public spaces and public transit, among other proposals.

The president also threaded the nations history of white violence to the failed insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January and the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where neo-Nazis and other far-right hate groups converged.

Mr Biden said one of the survivors of the Tulsa massacre told him that the Capitol riots reminded her of what happened here in Greenwood 100 years ago.
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.
"Prevent Unauthorized Transactions in your demat / trading account Update your Mobile Number/ email Id with your stock broker / Depository Participant. Receive information of your transactions directly from Exchanges on your mobile / email at the end of day and alerts on your registered mobile for all debits and other important transactions in your demat account directly from NSDL/ CDSL on the same day." - Issued in the interest of investors." | "KYC is one time exercise while dealing in securities markets - once KYC is done through a SEBI registered intermediary (broker, DP, Mutual Fund etc.), you need not undergo the same process again when you approach another intermediary." | "No need to issue cheques by investors while subscribing to IPO. Just write the bank account number and sign in the application form to authorise your bank to make payment in case of allotment. No worries for refund as the money remains in investor's account."

www.indiainfoline.com is part of the IIFL Group, a leading financial services player and a diversified NBFC. The site provides comprehensive and real time information on Indian corporates, sectors, financial markets and economy. On the site we feature industry and political leaders, entrepreneurs, and trend setters. The research, personal finance and market tutorial sections are widely followed by students, academia, corporates and investors among others.
A polar bear keeps close to her young along the Beaufort Sea coast in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska in a March 6, 2007. Reuters-Yonhap



U.S. President Joe Biden's administration announced Tuesday it was halting petroleum development activity in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, reversing a move by former president Donald Trump to allow drilling.



The Interior Department said it was notifying firms of the freeze, pending a comprehensive environmental review that will determine whether leases in the area known as ANWR should be "reaffirmed, voided or subject to additional mitigation measures," the agency said in a statement.



The announcement deals a blow to the long-contested quest of oil companies to drill in the sensitive territory. The push for development picked up momentum after Trump announced the leasing plan last November shortly after losing reelection to Biden.



At a lease sale in January over some 1.6 million acres, U.S. officials auctioned off 11 oil tracts. Major oil companies sat out the bidding, and nine of the leases went to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state agency, while two went to small companies.



Biden had promised to protect ANWR during the presidential campaign.



White House climate advisor Gina McCarthy noted Biden's promise and said the move reflected his belief that "national treasures are cultural and economic cornerstones of our country," according to a White House statement.



Biden "is grateful for the prompt action by the Department of the Interior to suspend all leasing pending a review of decisions made in the last administration's final days that could have changed the character of this special place forever," McCarthy added.



Environmentalists have long argued that safeguarding ANWR is critical to protect polar bears and other vulnerable wildlife and for indigenous populations that hunt caribou in the region.



But the oil industry has long sought to drill in the area, which is thought to potentially hold billions of barrels in oil. Key Alaska lawmakers such as Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, have strongly backed development.



The Alaska Wilderness League, which had joined other environmental groups in litigation against the Trump administration's development efforts, applauded the Biden administration's action.



"Suspending these leases is a step in the right direction," said Kristen Miller, acting executive director for the Alaska Wilderness League.



Continued threat



"There is still more to be done. Until the leases are canceled, they will remain a threat to one of the wildest places left in America," Miller said.



"Now we look to the administration and Congress to prioritize legislatively repealing the oil leasing mandate and restore protections to the Arctic Refuge coastal plain."



But the American Petroleum Institute said the oil industry knows how to develop responsibly and that the decision will cost Alaska jobs and tax revenue.



"Policies aimed at slowing or stopping oil and natural gas production on federal lands and waters will ultimately prove harmful to our national security, environmental progress and economic strength," API official Kevin O'Scannlain said.



"At a time of economic recovery, this action only serves to withhold the good-paying jobs and economic revenue that safe and responsible oil and gas development would provide to local Alaskan communities."



The Biden administration's move on ANWR comes only days after it sanctioned another Trump administration plan on oil development in Alaska, involving a ConocoPhillips project in Alaska's North Slope in the former Naval Petroleum Reserve. (AFP)






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.
India's COVID-19 infections continue to drop and in the past 24 hours, the country recorded less than 1.5 lakh new cases, for the second day. The number of COVID-19 deaths are also slowing down and in the past 24 hours over 3200 deaths were reported in India.

Over 9,000 Children Test Covid Positive In Maharashtra's Ahmednagar

Over 9,900 minors tested positive for coronavirus at Ahmednagar in Maharashtra last month, but the district administration claimed that around 95 per cent of them were asymptomatic and the situation was not alarming.

AFP

In May this year, a total of 86,182 COVID-19 cases were reported in Ahmednagar, district Collector Rajendra Bhosale told PTI.

Young 'Promise Of future', Prioritise For Black Fungus Drug: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday suggested the young patients should be prioritised in the distribution of Liposomal Amphotericin B drug, used for treating black fungus, "as they hold promise of future over the older ones who have lived their lives".

AP

A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said the administration of the drug has to be prioritised for younger population, which has better chances of survival and have a future over the older ones who have lived their lives.

Kerala Government Issues Guidelines For Vaccinating Bedridden People Above 45 At Home

The Kerala government on Tuesday issued guidelines for vaccinating bedridden people above the age of 45 years at home.

AFP

State Health Minister Veena George said health workers would visit houses of bedridden persons and vaccinate them as part of the Left government's policy decision to protect them from COVID-19.

India Gets 15 Ventilators, 12000 Tablets Of Favipiravir From Iceland

India on early Wednesday received a consignment of 15 ventilators, and 12000 tablets of Favipiravir from Iceland as the country combat the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

MEA

The information about the consignment was shared by Arindam Bagchi, Spokesperson Ministry of External Affairs, through his Twitter handle.

Indian Medical Association Says 594 Doctors Died During Second Wave Of Covid-19

594 doctors have died in the second wave of coronavirus infections in the country so far, with Delhi accounting for 107 such deaths, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said on Tuesday.

AFP

State-wise data put out by IMA shows that nearly every second doctor who died in the second Covid-19 wave died either in Delhi, Bihar or Uttar Pradesh. These three states together account for nearly 45 per cent of the doctors who died in the second wave.
There is an acute shortage of COVID-19 vaccines across the country and even the most tech-savvy ones in the big cities with high-speed broadband connections are finding it difficult to book a slot on CoWIN to get vaccinated.

But that has not stopped the district authorities in Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad from making it a condition for government employees to get their salary.

AFP

No vaccination, no salary

Chief Development Officer, Charchit Gaur said that District Magistrate Chandra Vijay Singh has issued an oral order of "no vaccination, no salary" to encourage them to get Covid vaccination.

As per the order, if an employee does not take Covid vaccine, the department will initiate action and stop their salary for the month of May, Gaur said.

District treasury officer and other departmental heads have been given directions to implement the order and were asked to make a list and ensure vaccination, he said.

AFP

The CDO said that the employees are trying to get themselves vaccinated in fear that their salary might be stopped.

Not the first time

This however is not the first time employees' salary has been used as a bargaining chip to 'encourage vaccination.

Recently, a tribal welfare department officer in Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi district of Chhattisgarh district had issued an order asking its staff members to get vaccinated against COVID-19, failing which their salaries for the next month will be withheld.

BCCL

In Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain, the Municipal Corporation had issued an order saying no salaries will be paid to those of its employees who haven't yet got their Covid vaccine shots.

Jharkhand too

Earlier this year, in January the health department in Jharkhands Koderma had issued a similar order but was soon withdrawn.

It is not just salary that has been used to 'encourage' people to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Reuters

Recently officials in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah district have directed liquor shop owners not to sell liquor to those who are not vaccinated.

All these are happening even as the Central government which encourages everyone to get vaccinated against COVID-19 maintains that it is voluntary.
The Madras High Court said it was "unfortunate" that there was no provision like the Domestic Violence Act for a husband to proceed against his wife for lodging a false complaint.

A bench of Justice S Vaidyanathan made the remark while hearing a writ petition filed by a veterinary doctor, P Sasikumar, against an order of the Director of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences dated February 18, 2020.

PTI

What was the case

Sasikumar claimed that he was removed from the service on the basis of a complaint filed by his ex-wife, just days before their divorce, where she had accused him of domestic violence. The court observed that "the timing of the complaint clearly shows that she had anticipated the divorce order and created unnecessary trouble to the petitioner".

In 2015, Sasikumar's wife initiated the divorce case against him by filing a domestic violence case before the Judicial Magistrate-cum-Additional Mahila Court in Salem. Subsequently, Sasikumar filed a complaint before the First Additional Sub Judge in Salem, alleging that his wife was subjecting him to cruelty and deserted him voluntarily.

Unfortunately, there is no law like Domestic Violence Act for husband to proceed against wife: Madras High Court



report by @meera_emmanuel#madrashighcourt #DomesticViolence https://t.co/0B9WflQzyh  Bar & Bench (@barandbench) June 1, 2021





The case also prompted the Court to comment on the dwindling sanctity attached to the "sacrament" of marriage, particularly after live-in relationships were approved under the Domestic Violence Act.

istock

"The present generation must understand that, marriage is not a contract, but a sacramental one. Of course, the word 'sacrament' has no meaning after coming into effect of the Domestic Violence Act, 2005, that, approves live-in-relationship. Husband and wife must realize that, 'ego' and 'intolerance' are like footwear and should be left out of their house, when they enter the home, else, the child/children will have to face a miserable life," the Court said.



The court ordered the Director of Animal Husbandry to reinstate Sasikumar back to service within 15 days.


Eight Indian American scientists recently were honored for their contributions to cancer research by the Society of American Asian Scientists in Cancer Research. Pictured (upper panel, left to right): Dr. Nina Bhardwaj, Dr. Dipanjan Chowdhury, Dr. Rajvir Dahiya (SAASCR president); Dr. Dharam Paul Chauhan (SAASCR secretary); and Dr. Sooryanarayana Varambally; (lower panel, left to right): Dr. Arti Shukla; Dr. Koyamangalath Krishnan; Dr. Pran K Datta; Dr. Rakesh K Singh; and Dr. Rajagopal Ramesh. (photo provided)
People stand in a queue as they arrive to get a COVID-19 vaccination at a vaccination center in Lucknow, India, June 2. India-West reported earlier that some Indian American community activists were concerned over the possible negative impact from the use of the term to identify the B.1.617 double mutant variant first identified in India as the India virus. Countrys names will no longer be used in the wake of the WHOs latest ruling. (ANI photo)
Mons. Filippo Iannone, right, and Mons. Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru arrive for a press conference to illustrate changes in the Church's Canon law, Vatican, June 1. AP-Yonhap



Pope Francis has changed Catholic Church law to explicitly criminalize the sexual abuse of adults by priests who abuse their authority and to say that laypeople who hold church office also can be sanctioned for similar sex crimes.



The new provisions, released Tuesday after 14 years of study, were contained in the revised criminal law section of the Vatican's Code of Canon Law, the in-house legal system that covers the 1.3 billion-member Catholic Church and operates independently from civil laws.



The most significant changes are contained in two articles, 1395 and 1398, which aim to address shortcomings in the church's handling of sexual abuse. The law recognizes that adults, not only children, can be victimized by priests who abuse their authority. The revisions also say that laypeople holding church positions, such as school principals or parish economists, can be punished for abusing minors as well as adults.



The Vatican also criminalized priests ''grooming'' minors or vulnerable adults to compel them to engage in pornography. The update represents the first time church law has officially recognized as a criminal act the method used by sexual predators to build relationships with victims they have targeted for sexual exploitation.



The new law, which is set to take effect on Dec. 8, also removes much of the discretion that long allowed bishops and religious superiors to ignore or cover up abuse, making clear those in positions of authority will be held responsible if they fail to properly investigate or sanction predator priests.



A bishop can be removed from office for ''culpable negligence'' or if he does not report sex crimes to church authorities, although the canon law foresees no punishment for failing to report suspected crimes to police.



Ever since the 1983 code first was issued, lawyers and bishops have complained it was inadequate for dealing with the sexual abuse of minors since it required time-consuming trials. Victims and their advocates, meanwhile, argued the code left too much discretion in the hands of bishops who had an interest in covering up for their priests.



The Vatican issued piecemeal changes over the years to address problems and loopholes, most significantly requiring all cases to be sent to the Holy See for review and allowing for a more streamlined administrative process to defrock a priest if the evidence against him was overwhelming.



More recently, Francis passed new laws to punish bishops and religious superiors who failed to protect their flocks. The new criminal code incorporates those changes and goes beyond them, while also recognizing accused priests are presumed innocent until proven otherwise.



The Vatican has long considered any sexual relations between a priest and an adult as sinful but consensual, believing that adults are able to offer or refuse consent purely by the nature of their age. But amid the #MeToo movement and scandals of seminarians and nuns being sexually abused by their superiors, the Vatican has come to realize that adults can be victimized, if there is a power imbalance in the relationship.



That dynamic was most clearly recognized in the scandal over ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington. Even though the Vatican knew for years he slept with his seminarians, McCarrick was only put on trial after someone came forward saying McCarrick had abused him as a youth. Francis eventually defrocked McCarrick in 2019.





Mons. Filippo Iannone, right, and Mons. Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru hold a press conference to illustrate changes in the Church's Canon law, Vatican, June 1. AP-Yonhap
Microsofts annual developer event Build mixes education with new product announcements across its three main developer platforms: .NET and Windows, Azure, and the Power Platform. Theres always a lot of other news, too, with previews going into general availability and new features being added to existing platforms and services. Then theres the bigger picture, with a snapshot of its developer strategy and its product road map.

What were the key announcements at Build this year? Ive already looked at the Azure data platform updates, so its worth a quick dive into what I think are the most important pieces of news for anyone building applications on Microsoft platforms, whether theyre experienced coders or someone picking up a low-code development tool for the first time.

Azure got the biggest share of Build news this year, cementing its position as the centerpiece of Microsofts modern development strategy, with a focus on cloud-native development tools, machine learning (ML), and bringing Azure services to hybrid cloud deployments via Azure Arc and Azure Stack.

Machine learning with a supported PyTorch

One of the more interesting Azure ML announcements is its release of a supported build of PyTorch Enterprise. Originally developed by Facebook but now used by many different organizations (including ones helping develop Microsofts own ML products), PyTorch is an open source deep-learning framework that can create and share custom ML models, using either its own inferencing runtime or exporting models as Open Neural Network Exchange (ONNX) for use in Windows.

PyTorch Enterprise builds on the open source tooling and adds a long-term support model, as well as allowing Microsoft to integrate it more closely with Azure tools and services. Its an approach that should help you move from using PyTorch as a research and development tool to one thats suitable for production, with Microsoft offering troubleshooting and support for users with existing support contracts. Itll also be built into the Azure Machine Learning platform, giving you a managed instance that you can use to develop and test models before moving them into production.

Using AI to help low-code developers

Were finally seeing the first fruits of Microsofts partnership with OpenAI, which developed the GPT-3 natural language model. Microsoft is using it in conjunction with its new low-code Power Fx language, going from simple statements to code. Using these tools, youll be able to type a basic query in natural language: for example show me all the customers in the eastern United States, and the model will generate a set of possible Power Fx statements that can be used in your code. Its an approach that should make query design available to a greater audience, with no need to learn SQL; all you need to do is ask a question.

Closely related is Microsofts own PROSE (PROgram Synthesis using Examples), which uses output examples to create code-generating models. Perhaps you want to display address by street and city only. With well-formatted data, all you need to do is give PROSE one or two examples of how you want the data displayed (based on the contents of your data sources) and it will generate the Power Fx code needed to deliver your chosen output.

AI-assisted programming is an intriguing new direction for Microsoft. It certainly fits in with the stated aims of its recent Power Platform updates, providing tools to assist developers write code to fill the ever-growing app gap in most enterprises. There arent enough developers to deliver the code our businesses need, so if tools like GPT-3 can help users write code that solves particular problems, it gives us a much-needed foundation for future developmentespecially with languages like Power Fx and new tools in Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code that start to cross the boundary between users writing simple functions and full-scale professional application development.

A booster shot for Arm development

Windows on Arm may not appear to have had much development since it launched in 2017, but its being developed in lockstep with the familiar Intel version. Arm64 has been a .NET target for some time now, though with many libraries still only supporting Intel, its hard for developers to deliver Arm-native code for all their existing applications. Getting those dependencies ported is a priority for Microsoft, and its focusing on the transition to the new .NET with the upcoming long-term support release of .NET 6.

The release of Preview 4 of .NET 6 at Build shows how Arm support is being baked into the underlying platform, with support for both Windows Forms and Windows Presentation Foundation. Support for these should make it easier to port older libraries to Arm, encouraging control developers to support new architectures. Interestingly there will be native support for Apples M1 processor, though at present this will be limited to new UI frameworks like the Xamarin-based MAUI (Multi-platform App User Interface).

Arm software really needs Arm hardware for development, testing, and builds. While were still waiting for Microsoft to put Arm servers in the Azure Devops build pipeline, we can at least look forward to implementing our own pipelines on Windows on Arm developer systems with desktop hardware. Qualcomm and Microsoft have announced a NUC-sized Arm developer system based on the Snapdragon 7c processor. Pricing hasnt been announced yet, but its said to be low cost, which should make it economical to add devices like this to continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines as dedicated build and test systems.

Where was Windows?

Its important to note the virtual absence of Windows at Build, beyond updates to development tools and SDKs. Thats not surprising this year, as Microsoft is unveiling a major reworking of Windows 10 in the second half of the year. Code-named Sun Valley, it will mix a UI refresh with new platform features that have been inherited from the abandoned Windows 10X project. We should learn more about it during the next couple of months, along with the evolution of the Project Reunion Windows APIs (with a 0.8 release entering preview) and the launch of the first long-term support release of the converged .NET 6 in November.

Where product schedules may have aligned with Build in the past, now theyre linked to their own timetables. One big change: With .NET now the responsibility of the .NET Foundation, it gets its own event with .NET Conf. Although Build makes a convenient place for updates, its no longer a significant milestone. Online events make it easier to tie events to products rather than products to events. Why run a huge conference when what used to be one or two sessions can now be a day of content to stream at your leisure and save for when youre actually using a technology?

Following in the footsteps of March 2021s Ignite, Build 2021 set the scene for much of the rest of the year. Itll be interesting to see what the rest of Microsofts year looks like, as we look forward to what Satya Nadella called the next generation of Windows and what that and the ongoing Project Reunion work mean for us as developers.
Today

Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 62F. Winds light and variable.

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 62F. Winds light and variable.

Tomorrow

Partly cloudy in the morning followed by scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 86F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Just as ridership hits new pandemic highs, Virginia Railway Express returned to its full pre-COVID schedule for the first time since March 17, 2020, on Tuesday, and the agency is hoping the increased service will boost its numbers even more.

Trains still arent nearly as full as they were before COVID-19, but May saw weekly ridership surpass 8,000 passengers for the first time since March of last year.

In 2021, average daily ridership has grown from 1,295 for the week ending Jan. 8 to 1,985 for the week ending May 21. As such, the commuter rail returned to its full 32-train schedule Tuesday to accommodate more passengers while maintaining social distancing, a jump from the 18-train S schedule it has been running with offices closed and commuting down.

How long it will take for ridership to return to its pre-pandemic levels, if it ever does, remains to be seen. At the end of May 2019, the trains were carrying almost 90,000 passengers a week. In 2021, that number is just under 9,000.

But the rail systems leaders say theyve been monitoring indications from the federal government and other big area employers and expect commuting to continue to pick up over the summer and then jump even further in September. They also say that informal surveys of riders past and present indicate that more people will ride with the more frequent schedule.

Weve been monitoring ridership and all other factors including the projected reopening of federal agencies and other employers, and continue to see those projections indicate the return of riders starting modestly after Memorial Day, with the return accelerating around Labor Day, VRE CEO Rich Dalton told the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission at its last board meeting, in May. Weve also received feedback directly from our riders that the current reduced service has caused them to seek other means to commute, but will come back to VRE once we return to a full schedule.

As some commuters have started returning to the office and vaccines make people more comfortable on public transit, Metros rail ridership is also on the rise, going from under 80,000 daily average riders in January to over 100,000 at the end of April. But thats still a far cry from the over 600,000 daily riders the system averaged in 2019, and Metro leadership expects that the bulk of pre-pandemic passengers wont return until next year.

Both systems, however, are hoping that increased service levels can get people back on public transit. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authoritys most recent budget proposal would expand Metro rails operating hours. And VRE is still hoping to add two trains on top of the pre-pandemic service on the Manassas and Fredericksburg lines before the end of the year, which would be the first of many improvements made to the system as part of the states $3.7 billion Transforming Rail in Virginia project.

CSX, which owned the track Amtrak and VRE used on the Fredericksburg line, previously capped the number of passenger trains that could use the right-of-way per day. As part of the project, Virginia is acquiring that track, but VRE still needs to change its agreement with Norfolk Southern  which owns the Manassas line track  to run the additional trains, said VRE spokesperson Karen Finucan Clarkson.

We are working very closely right now with Amtrak and CSX to coordinate the times that the trains will run; there will be an adjustment in our schedule to accommodate the new train, Finucan Clarkson said.

The commuter rails allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act, passed by Congress in March, still hasnt been formally announced. But VRE leaders are considering taking money it received from last Decembers stimulus bill and effectively passing it on to the localities that fund the system by cutting their subsidies for fiscal year 2022.

That plan will go to VREs two governing commissions  the NVTC and the Potomac Rappahannock Transportation Commission  this week, but Finucan Clarkson said it could be an over 70% reduction in the jurisdiction funding for one year.

The system is sticking with another long-planned improvement as well. This month VRE will ask its parent commissions to authorize the purchase of 21 new railcars from New York-based Alstom Transportation Inc.. The multi-level trains would feature level boarding, increased capacity and other improvements aimed at cutting down time spent at stops.

The new cars wouldnt hit the tracks right away, but the system is hoping that with road traffic edging closer to pre-pandemic levels, a series of service enhancements can draw people back to rail whenever they return to the office.

We are still below, clearly, what we were running in 2019. But we are pleased to see riders returning, and were getting really good feedback on the measures weve taken, Finucan Clarkson said of the expanded service starting this month. We just have to work through this like all the other transit agencies do, and we think we have a really good plan to welcome people back.
Real-time social media posts from local businesses and organizations across Northern Virginia, powered by Friends2Follow. To add your business to the stream, email cfields@insidenova.com or click on the green button below.
Local Twin Cities artists Enzyrose, Eyenga Bokamba, Noah Lawrence-Holder, LeShon Lee, and Meadow Gillispie, talk about their reaction to the murder of George Floyd, the trial of Derek Chauvin, and life as a black artist during this time.
Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Jessica Altman is urging property owners to consider purchasing flood insurance to protect their homes, businesses and possessions.

For many Pennsylvanians, extreme weather, including flooding caused by hurricanes and severe thunderstorms, can be a common occurrence throughout the state during the summer months, according to a Pennsylvania Insurance Department press release.

Flooding is a threat across all of Pennsylvania during this time of year due to heavy summer storms, Altman said in the release. The commonwealth is generally impacted by the high winds and heavy rain that accompany hurricanes, often causing significant damages.

Altman said in the release that standard homeowners insurance policies do not cover flood damage, so homeowners should review their policies and consider the added protection of flood insurance, whether purchased through the private market or the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

Its important to be prepared for any potential disaster during the volatile summer weather, she said. Flood insurance protection is a good step to take to mitigate risk to your family and home and can be purchased regardless of whether you live in a designated flood zone.

Consumers should be aware that flood insurance policies are not active immediately, the Pennsylvania Insurance Department warned. In most scenarios, there is a 30-day waiting period before policies are active, which prevents individuals from purchasing flood insurance solely when a storm is headed in the direction of their property, it added.

Pennsylvania continues to see growth in the number of private market flood policies. As of January 2021, there were more than 12,800 policies covering owner-occupied private residential properties and secondary/seasonal properties statewide, compared to approximately 1,500 policies only five years ago. Policy counts have increased 17 percent from 2020 and 750 percent over the past five years, according to the release.

Flood insurance is more readily available than ever and can be much more affordable than you would think, said Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) Director Randy Padfield in the release. We are seeing significant flooding in places that historically havent been flooded, showing us that wherever it rains, it can flood so were all vulnerable to this threat.

Source: Pennsylvania Insurance Department

Topics Flood Property Pennsylvania
Four firefighters and one civilian were injured Thursday when a Philadelphia Fire Department firetruck crashed into a building after a collision with another vehicle.

The firetruck had left a nearby fire station and had its lights and siren on as firefighters headed to a report of a house fire a little after 4 p.m. in North Philadelphia, according to an emailed police incident report. The truck collided with a car and was propelled into the building at 7th Street and Girard Avenue, police said.

WPVI-TV in Philadelphia reported four firefighters who were on the truck and a woman who had been in another car involved in the collision were treated for injuries, according to Assistant Fire Chief Charles Walker. Walker also said two of the firefighters had to be pulled from the truck, and none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.

Details of what caused the crash were not immediately available. At least two other damaged vehicles were in the roadway near the scene.

Video from several television news stations showed the back of the truck sticking out of the front of the building and a hole on the side of the building where the front of the truck could be seen. The fire departments building collapse unit was on scene, though the video showed the heavily damaged four-story building still standing.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Climate change protesters continued their focus on Lloyds as a major insurer of the fossil fuel industry by setting off a stink bomb in front of the markets London headquarters.

The activist group, Insurance Rebellion, is demanding the UK government and insurance industry stop supporting the UKs development of the West Cumbria coal mine and all other fossil fuel projects. It says it is focusing on Lloyds because the market insures approximately 30% of global fossil fuel infrastructure.

The stink devices, which emitted a very strong smell of sulphur, represent the stink of the sulphur-rich coal mine, as well as the fact that the plan to build a coal mine in a climate emergency stinks, said a statement issued by Insurance Rebellion.

Lloyds has developed a phased approach for its exit from investments in and insurance of the fossil fuel industry, a plan it revealed in December 2020 in its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report. But Insurance Rebellion and other activist groups are demanding immediate action.

Lloyds is committed to accelerating its transition towards a more sustainable insurance and reinsurance marketplace and has set out specific actions and commitments to align with the goals of the Paris Agreement, said a Lloyds spokesperson. We are actively involved in constructive engagement on the issue of climate change and continue to explore the ways in which Lloyds can support a responsible transition.

Lloyds of Londons reputation is taking increasing damage, said one of the protestors in a statement issued by Insurance Rebellion. It markets itself as a green institution, with its Instagram feed showing lots of photos of solar panels, but all the while its insuring the most polluting projects on the planet. Tar sands, new coal mines, drilling for oil in the Arctic  you name it, Lloyds is enabling it.

The protestor, who was not identified, also criticized the UK for hypocrisy in hosting the next UN climate change conference, COP26, in Scotland this coming November. [O]ur government, financial centers and insurance industry are funding and enabling new fossil fuels like theres no tomorrow, and if they carry on, there really wont be a tomorrow.

The protest at Lloyds kicks off two weeks of actions across the UK, leading up to and during the G7 Summit, which will be held on June 11-13 in St Ives, Cornwall, in England. Insurance Rebellion will be joined in these protests by another activist climate group, Extinction Rebellion.

Both groups said they are targeting the summit as a way to get the major economies to take urgent action on climate change.

Launched in April 2021, Insurance Rebellion said it aims to halt climate and ecological breakdown by ending the insurance of the fossil fuel projects and companies that cause it.

Without insurance, the group says on its website, no fossil fuel infrastructure can be run or built.

A hotspot of fossil fuel insurance is the global insurance marketplace Lloyds of London, which insures around 30% of fossil fuel infrastructure worldwide. We demand they make good on their greenwashing claims that they are moving away from coal, oil, and gas, the groups website continues.

Top photograph: Insurance Rebellions anti-fossil-fuel protesters set off stink bomb at Lloyds of London. Photo credit: Insurance Rebellion.

Related:

Topics Excess Surplus London Climate Change Lloyd's
This wrap-up of international People Moves details recent appointments at TigerRisk Partners (which is launching a global trade credit, surety and political risk business); AXIS Insurance, and Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (which has launched a full line of marine insurance products in France).

A summary of these new hires follows here.

TigerRisk Partners LLC, the Stamford, Conn.-based re/insurance broker, has appointed Phil Bonner to head a new global trade credit, surety and political risk business.

Based in London, Bonner will lead Tigers initiative to become a new global leader in credit and related lines. Bonner will report to James Few, TigerRisk International chief executive officer, and will take up his appointment in June 2022.

With more than 30 years experience, Bonner joins from Aon where he spearheaded the Trade Credit, Surety and Political Risk business.

Bonner began his career at the UK reinsurer, Mercantile & General (which was purchased by Swiss Re in 1996). He was a founding member in 1988 of M&Gs Credit, Bond and Political Risk team. He left as global head in 1996 to join ACE Guaranty Re (formerly Capital Re), launching its European operation and based in London. He subsequently moved to the companys New York headquarters. Before joining Aon, Bonner spent two years with Atradius, as a founding member of its special products team. He joined Aon in 2006 as global leader of its trade credit and financial risk team where he led development of innovative and cutting-edge structural solutions.

***

AXIS Insurance, the specialty insurance business segment of Bermuda-based AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd., announced that Keith Trivitt has been promoted to head of Commercial & Strategic Partnerships within its International Division.

In this newly created role, Trivitt will be responsible for maximizing commercial initiatives and developing profitable strategic growth opportunities, including the delivery of enhanced value propositions and services that benefit AXIS brokers and their clients.

Trivitt will continue to be based in London and will report to Edward Ashby, global head of Distribution for AXIS Insurance, and to Mark Gregory, CEO of AXIS Insurance International Division.

Trivitt brings 15 years experience in business development, marketing and communications to his new role. Previously, he worked in the companys marketing and communications function, latterly as head of Integrated Marketing and Communications. Prior to joining AXIS in 2016, Trivitt was vice president of Marketing at the digital publishing platform Playbuzz, and vice president of Global Marketing and Communications at digital advertising company Matomy Media Group.

***

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) announced it has launched a full line of marine insurance products in France and appointed Muriel Birre Julvecourt as head of Marine. The new marine offerings include: inland marine, ocean cargo, stock & transit, project cargo, freight forwarders liability, ports & terminals, and subsea insurance.

With more than 25 years of marine underwriting experience, she was most recently head of marine at RSA Group. Before that, she held various management roles in marine at Groupama Transport. She was a member of the Marine Committee of the French Federation for Insurance Companies (FFA) for nearly 10 years. Birre Julvecourt holds a masters degree in Insurance Law from the University of Paris Pantheon Assas.

She is based in BHSIs Paris office in Paris and can be reached at Muriel.birrejulvecourt@bhspecialty.com or at +33 1 72 10 68 03.

Topics Aon France
A city-owned utility in Traverse City, Michigan, cant be held responsible for the death of a tree trimmer who had contact with a power line.

The Michigan Supreme Court has turned down an appeal from Zachary Adams family, which means a Court of Appeals decision in favor of the utility will stand.

Adams was employed by a contractor to trim trees for Traverse City Light and Power when he was killed in 2013. His estate filed a lawsuit with several theories of liability.

The utility is an arm of local government, which is generally immune to tort lawsuits. But the estate claimed that an exception under Michigan law applied, arguing that the utility was in business to make money for Traverse City.

The appeals court acknowledged that revenue in recent years had exceeded expenses but said thats not enough to invoke the exception.

The primary purpose of defendants activities is not pecuniary profit. To find otherwise would be to penalize sound and responsible financial decisions by a municipal utility, the appeals court said in 2020.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Michigan
Liberty Mutual Insurance has partnered with cyber security rating provider SecurityScorecard to offer complimentary cybersecurity analysis to qualifying clients of its Global Risk Solutions North America and Liberty Specialty Markets units.

Through the SecurityScorecard partnership, qualifying policyholders will receive a detailed analysis of their cybersecurity and the external threats to which they may be vulnerable. The SecurityScorecard report will also include recommendations for improving security.

SecurityScorecard provides security ratings from the more than 5 million it has analyzed. The companys technology analyzes global cyber threats to provide organizations with an AF rating of their security and that of third parties they work with.

Topics Cyber
Tucson hired a forester. Miami named a heat officer. And Los Angeles appointed a climate emergency mobilization director.

Across the United States, cities have launched new programs focused on dealing with extreme weather, reflecting the growing impacts of climate change on local communities, according to experts.

Since 2019 at least 30 U.S. cities have taken fresh action such as hiring specialists to combat the impact of extreme weather, including Phoenix, Houston, Louisville, Nashville, and Oakland, according to the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, based at Washington D.C.s Atlantic Council think tank.

Many of those cities have created posts and initiatives to deal with worsening heat waves, seasonal wildfires or the effects of flooding, often with a focus on poor and minority communities, the group said.

Local government officials have to respond to it, said Kathy Baughman McLeod, the head of the Resilience Center, which promotes solutions to climate impacts, in part, by partnering with governments and bringing public and private funding to projects.

New EPA data released in May, after years of delays during the Trump administration, showed heat waves across the country occur more frequently, last longer and are often hotter, that wildfires are torching more land, and that the East and Gulf Coasts are flooding more often.

Many times poor and minority communities take the brunt, said Alice Hill, an energy and climate policy expert at the independent Council on Foreign Relations think tank based in New York. There has been a growing recognition that because they are at greater risk of harm, more needs to be done to protect them, she said.

Some of these cities, including Los Angeles, said they are hoping their efforts will get a funding boost under President Joe Bidens administration, which in January ordered that 40% of the benefits of federal clean energy investment go to neighborhoods that have historically been neglected.

Bidens predecessor Donald Trump downplayed climate risks and withdrew the United States from an international pact to slow global warming.

The Biden administration rejoined that deal, has introduced a raft of new policies to fight climate change, and is now building a database to help it identify the parts of the country most in need of federal assistance in dealing with the impacts of warming and industrial pollution.

CHIEF HEAT OFFICER

Miami Dade County created a new position for a chief heat officer earlier this year, as it prepares for ever-hotter days ahead.

The officer will focus on strategies for the Miami region to adapt to its ever-hotter climate, with special attention on communities of color and low-income residents, who have fewer resources to overcome these challenges, Mayor Levine Cava said in late April at a news conference announcing the program.

Miami last year sweltered through 41 days with temperatures over 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40.5 degrees Celsius) and that figure is expected to climb to 88 days by 2050, Cava said.

Already, the newly appointed interim heat officer, Jane Gilbert, is getting to work with an agenda that includes creating more shaded bus stops and helping with existing plans for planting more trees in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Heat is the No. 1 killer of all the climate change impacts, Gilbert said.

Those especially at risk include children, pregnant women, the elderly, people with pre-existing health conditions, and those with no air conditioner access, she said.

Her office will also be looking into outdoor labor standards and creating permanent year-round air-conditioned community hubs that can serve as gathering places in case of emergencies including storms and heat waves.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IMPACT

In February, Los Angeles launched a Climate Emergency Mobilization office to coordinate the citys policies on climate change across its dozens of neighborhoods and districts.

Among its goals is to advise on initiatives aimed at environmental justice and equity such as ensuring all neighborhoods are getting trees planted to promote cooling, that bus stops have shade and that polluted properties are redeveloped, according to the Public Works Department.

The new office has a budget of $1.1 million for the next fiscal year which begins in August.

Marta Segura, the offices director, told Reuters her first steps will include consulting with a newly formed commission, consisting of representatives from the citys seven most-polluted neighborhoods, for recommendations on crafting an equitable climate action plan.

Segura also wants to gather data showing the citys progress. We really need to push for metrics that measure environmental justice impact, Segura said.

The city has ambitious goals to fight climate change too, including increasing the percentage of zero emission vehicles in the city to 100% by 2050 and ensuring city electric utilities source their power from 100% renewables by 2035.

Los Angeles Board of Public Works President Greg Good told Reuters that while the state has provided some resources, the city has been scraping and clawing for funding to pursue its climate goals.

But he said he was hopeful that Bidens infrastructure proposal  which includes promises of climate and environmental justice-related funding  will ultimately direct more federal money to his and other cities so they can take it to another level.

A MILLION TREES

Tucson, one of the hottest cities in the country, has hired a climate change advisor and a city forestry advisor to supervise the planting of 1 million trees around the Arizona desert city by 2030.

City officials say the trees will help soak up carbon and provide cooling, especially in its poorer districts which have less shade.

The planting initiative, so far, is relying on philanthropic donations and city funding.

Climate change is a public health issue, a public health hazard, and the front-line communities that are most affected by climate change are low income communities, Mayor Regina Romero told Reuters.

Romero aims for Tucson to be carbon neutral by 2030 and says the Biden administrations spending plan will help her achieve that goal because it includes funding for a lot of what local governments have to do to create this green infrastructure.

(Reporting by Ned Parker; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

Topics Climate Change
McCOMB, Miss.  A massive fire wrecked a Mississippi citys train depot and museum, a beloved restored landmark that dates back to McCombs founding as a railroad town.

No cause has been immediately determined for the fire that broke out Sunday in the north end of the building in which the museums office and archives were housed. McComb Fire Chief Gary McKenzie told the Enterprise-Journal that a rigorous investigation will be done.

Its absolutely awful. Its heartbreaking. To me the depot was not just a building, it was the heart and soul of our city and so many people put so much work into this, said Ganeath Daniel, a former museum board member and local historian.

The fire was raging by the time the southbound Amtrak made its scheduled 12:30 p.m. stop Sunday. The newspaper reported the train eventually pulled to the southern end of the station after firefighters managed to sufficiently bat down the flames, and a conductor assisted a single disembarking passenger around the smoky mess as a few passengers boarded.

Its unclear what effect the fire will have on future Amtrak service.

Firefighters confined most of the flames to the attic by the time the blaze had spread to the southernmost portion of the building _ an old freight room that had been converted into a museum where volunteers had worked for two decades to collect and preserve railroad artifacts.

Rough estimate is that 90% of the artifacts were housed in the south end of the building and could be saved, McKenzie said.

Still, museum director Ralph Price was stunned by the fire.

Its hard enough when its your familys belongings, your familys history, but when its the whole citys history you cant separate it, he told the Enterprise-Journal.

McKenzie said he was optimistic the basic structure could be salvaged.

The museum was formed in 2001 and opened in 2003. It expanded in 2013.

City administrator David Myers said the city owns the depot and has insurance coverage on the building, while the railroad depot museum has coverage on its contents. He said city and museum officials would meet soon to decide about rebuilding.

I would see the city board making this a priority, along with the folks in the community, especially with this building having the railroad history that it has, he said. The city is very proud of this. This took a lot of money. This a like a crown jewel for us.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Mississippi
MONTGOMERY, Ala.  The Alabama Supreme Court sided with Abbott Laboratories on Friday and threw out a lawsuit filed by Mobile County against the company over the opioid epidemic.

In an 8-0 opinion in which one justice recused himself, the court agreed to Abbotts request to end the case, in which the county and its health agencies sued Abbott over the marketing of the powerful painkiller OxyContin, made by Purdue Pharma.

The court agreed with arguments by Abbott Laboratories that county officials waited too long to sue over claims that a marketing campaign wrongly played down the addictive power of the drug, leading to a dramatic rise in hospitalizations for overdoses and deaths.

Mobile Health filed suit against Abbott Laboratories and multiple other companies in 2019 making claims that dated back to 2006 and earlier, the court said. The justices agreed with the company, which argued that the legal time limit for such allegations had expired at least 11 years earlier.

The county, which is among multiple governmental bodies that filed suit over the drug nationwide to recover expenses from treating overdose patients and people addicted to OxyContin, argued that the time limit did not apply because the opioid crisis was still going on when the lawsuit was filed. The court disagreed.

Abbott Laboratories was last involved in marketing OxyContin in 2002, when total sales for the drug reached $1.2 billion, but it was still receiving payments for the work as late as 2006, the decision said.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Claims Alabama
The former head of New Mexicos pension system for educators has accused Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and others of denying her equal pay.

Jan Goodwin filed a lawsuit in federal court last week, saying she was forced to leave her position at the Educational Retirement Board earlier this year because of longstanding pay inequity issues. The lawsuit alleges that the Lujan Grisham administration denied equal pay to Goodwin in violation of the states Fair Pay for Women Act.

Goodwin, a 61-year-old white woman, claimed institutional and systemic gender, age and race discrimination. According to the complaint, she was paid about $100,000 less than her male counterpart at the New Mexico State Investment Council.

The governors office contends the claim is baseless and that Goodwins salary was set prior to Lujan Grisham taking office.

Goodwin spent almost 13 years as executive director of the Educational Retirement Board. She was earning just over $183,000 annually before she resigned this year and took a job leading the New Hampshire retirement system that pays her $235,000 per year.

The lawsuit claimed Goodwin was more qualified than State Investment Officer Steve Moise, who gets nearly $276,000 annually. It also claimed that Goodwin consistently produced better results for the educational employees of the state of New Mexico than had Mr. Moise, under the scrutiny of any reasonable comparative analysis.

The lawsuit alleged that the pay disparity went back more than a decade.

Upon Goodwins appointment as executive director, the lawsuit said, she made about $13,000 a year less than her male counterpart at the New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association, a disparity that was eventually addressed.

Moises hiring in April 2010 created what the lawsuit described as an enormous, unconscionable and obviously illegal disparity as Goodwins salary remained the same even though the two jobs required equal skill, effort and responsibility.

The lawsuit alleged that Moise did not have the professional experience required by state statute of at least five years of investment and executive experience to qualify for the job.

Moises, who was hired during Democratic Gov. Bill Richardsons tenure, declined to comment.

Goodwin wrote in a statement that the decision to sue was not an easy one, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

After years of trying to address the gender, age and racial disparities in salary among employees at NMERB and those in similar agencies with similar positions, I realized that I was being forced to quit and my only option was the one Ive taken, she wrote.

As executive director, Goodwin managed a $13.8 billion pension fund for 60,000 active members and 46,000 retirees, according to her resume. The fund distributes more than $1 billion a year in benefits to retirees.

The lawsuit stated that while Moise only oversees the management of investment portfolios, Goodwin oversaw the management of investment portfolios and performed retirement plan administration.

Moise manages a $30 billion endowment, including the Land Grant Permanent Fund, the Severance Tax Permanent Fund and investments for government agencies.

According to the council, the permanent funds will provide over $1 billion this fiscal year for the state budget and other beneficiaries.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Mexico
Burma Dozens of Myanmar Junta Soldiers Killed in Karen State

Displaced villagers cross the border to Thailand on June 2, fleeing the fighting in Waw Lay, Myawaddy District. / CJ

Fighting between the Myanmar military and a combined force of Karen State-based ethnic armed groups and the Myawaddy Peoples Defense Force (PDF) left 32 junta troops dead on Tuesday.

The clash in eastern Myanmar on Tuesday afternoon in Palu in Myawaddy Township, Karen State caused over 500 local residents to flee across the nearby border with Thailand.

Fighting continued on Wednesday in Waw Lay in the south of Palu, according to locals and members of the Myawaddy PDF. Residents said that they had heard dozens of rounds of artillery fire since Tuesday.

29 junta soldiers and three members of the local Border Guard Force (BGF), which is allied to the Myanmar military, were killed and eight others wounded during the clash with the civilian resistance fighters and a splinter group of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, according to the Karen National Unions (KNU) department of information for Dooplaya District.

A member of Myawaddys PDF said that the 29 soldiers killed were from Light Infantry Battalion 275, which is based in Myawaddy, and the three BGF soldiers from BGFs battalion 1022, which is led by Major Mote Thone, the second in command of the BGF.

Tuesdays fighting in Palu came as clashes between civilian resistance fighters and junta forces have intensified nationwide, with fighting in Kayah State in the southeast, Chin State in the west, Sagaing Region in the northwest and Kachin State in the north. Both sides have reported casualties.

Residents in Palu have frequently been displaced during the past half century because of prolonged fighting between the Myanmar military and various ethnic Karen armed groups demanding self-determination and equality.

On Tuesday, more than 500 villagers from Palu fled their homes and are taking temporary shelter in Mae Koh Kae village in Thailands Tak province.

Food and shelter is being provided by the Thai authorities and Thai army, while no outsiders are allowed contact with the refugees, due to the fear of COVID-19, according to a local relief worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The relief worker said more refugees are expected as they can hear the sound of artillery fire in Waw Lay on the other side of the frontier. She said one artillery shell had landed in Thailand on Wednesday but no casualties were reported.

At around 4:50am on Tuesday, the police station in Waw Lay was also attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and the barracks of a military engineering battalion was set ablaze, but no casualties have been reported. The KNUs department of information in Dooplaya District said the artillery attacks followed the early morning incidents.

On Monday, the Myawaddy PDF and its allied forces arrested three police and one firefighter in Waw Lay town for trespassing into their territory in Palu, but released them the next morning.

There are around 20 ethnic armed groups fighting the Myanmar military. So far, though, only the Chin National Front has publicly committed to working with the civilian National Unity Government formed to topple the junta.

While some brigades of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the KNU, have been fighting the military continuously since the Feb. 1 coup, the KNU has not publicly announced its support for the Peoples Defense Forces formed recently to battle the junta.

The KNLAs brigade five also briefly clashed with junta forces on Tuesday morning in Ku Seik and Ma Htaw villages in Papun Township. The KNU said five junta soldiers were killed, citing sources at the frontline.



You may also like these stories:

Myanmar Reports Record Rise in COVID-19 Cases Since February

Myanmar Timber Auction Disappoints Cash-Strapped Junta

To Disband NLD, Myanmar Junta to Probe for Violations of Parties Registration Pledges
Burma Myanmar Coup Leaves more than 500,000 Construction Workers Redundant

A Yangon construction site in 2020. / The Irrawaddy

Myanmars military takeover has ceased almost all construction projects, making over 500,000 workers redundant, according to the Myanmar Construction Entrepreneurs Association (MCEA).

The price of imported building materials has increased as the kyat has weakened. As the banking crisis worsens, the price of domestically produced cement has doubled and government-funded infrastructure projects have been suspended, making it hard for construction projects to continue.

While the price of building materials has increased, it is difficult to withdraw cash from banks. Some department heads were changed following the takeover and, as government employees have joined the civil disobedience movement, there are long delays when receiving government money, said U Myo Myint, general secretary of the MCEA.

Even when we get the money, we are only paid by cheque. But in the construction industry, we make payments in cash every day, so it is difficult for us, he added.

Since late February, the Central Bank of Myanmar has restricted cash withdrawals from banks and ATMs, affecting both individuals and businesses.

The price of metal rods and cement has doubled. A sack of cement now costs up to 8,000 kyats (US$5).

There is now a huge gap between the prices we offered in tender and the current costs. Constructors are struggling to continue. Meanwhile, they have taken bank loans and have to pay interest. Only vital projects are continuing and the rest are halted, said U Myo Myint.

Before the coup, Myanmar had more than 1.4 million construction workers, including daily wage earners. The MCEA estimates between 30 to 50 percent of the workforce have now lost their jobs.

In Myanmar, most constructors rely on government contracts. The military regime did invite tenders for construction projects after the coup, but it has not yet returned firms deposits when they submitted bids. Construction companies have since declined to bid for subsequent projects.

Some constructors are not bidding for new projects because of the crisis, limited profitability and the difficulty in obtaining bank loans, a Mandalay-based constructor told The Irrawaddy.

Private bank loans have previously funded 30 to 50 percent of the cost of government-funded projects. Private banks ceased offering loans after the coup.

Demand had been rising for apartments and private banks provided mortgages to buyers but COVID-19 and then the coup have hammered demand.



You may also like these stories:

Comfortable in the Generals Village, the UN and EU Lined Myanmar Militarys Pockets

Dozens of Myanmar Junta Soldiers Killed in Karen State

Myanmar Reports Record Rise in COVID-19 Cases Since February
Burma Myanmar Daily Post-Coup Update: June 1

Anti-regime protesters in Yangon

To keep you updated on what happened in Myanmar in the last 24 hours, here are the main events of the day four months after the putsch.

Basic education schools reopened across Myanmar, as June 1 is the annual back-to-school day in the country. However, the majority of students shunned schools as part of the nationwide civil disobedience movement against the military regime.

Five junta soldiers died in fighting between the Karen National Union and junta forces in Papun District, Karen State, the Karen ethnic armed organization said.

In Yangon, Peoples Pioneer Party member U Sai Lin Aung, who had been accused of being a junta informant, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Hlaing Tharyar Township. His house was also bombed on May 5.

Junta troops were injured when three bombs exploded in Mingalar Taungnyunt Township.

A junta soldier was killed and a policeman was injured when unknown attackers fired shots from a vehicle at junta forces on guard outside Basic Education High School No. 32 in Pyigyitagun Township, Mandalay Region.

A junta soldier died when unknown attackers hurled a bomb into a pagoda compound in Mandalay where the junta troops are deployed.

Two people died when a motorbike exploded at a filling station of the military-run Myanma Economic Corporation in Maha Aungmye Township.

Junta forces reportedly shot at Buddhist monks from Ma Soe Yein Monastery who were reciting religious verses outside the monastery in protest at the military regime. Some monks were injured.

In Kachin States Hpakant, former National League for Democracy village chairman Ko Yarza of Seik Mu Village was stabbed to death by four unknown attackers.

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) launched an artillery strike on Putao Airport in Kachin State. The KIA fired three artillery shells into the airport compound at around 4 a.m. but missed the runway.

Bomb blasts were reported near schools and township education offices in Yekyi, Kyonepyaw and Lemyethna townships in Ayeyarwady Region.

More than 170 of some 190 shops at a market and some adjacent houses in No. 1 Ward in Ayeyarwady Regions Kangyidaunt Township burned down in a fire at around 3 a.m. during curfew hours.

The Elders called on the international community to intensify pressure on the military leadership in Myanmar to prevent the country from becoming a failed state.

Anti-regime protests took place in various forms in locations across Myanmar including Yangon, Mandalay, Magwe, Sagaing, Tanintharyi, Ayeyarwady and Bago regions and Shan State, marking four months since the military coup.



You may also like these stories:

International Community Must Do More on Myanmar

Five Accused of Being Myanmar Junta Informants Found Dead in Magwe

KIA Uses Artillery on Airport in Northern Myanmar
Burma Myanmar Regime Jails Journalists for Incitement

Two detained reporters: Ko Aung Kyaw of DVB (left) and Ko Zaw Zaw, a Mizzima News freelancer, were sentenced to two years in prison.

Two detained reporters in Myeik, Tanintharyi Region, were sentenced to two years for incitement by a court inside Myeik Prison on Wednesday.

Ko Aung Kyaw of DVB and Ko Zaw Zaw, a Mizzima News freelancer, were charged under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code after being arrested in March and April respectively.

The military regime revoked the operating licenses of both media agencies, along with three other media organizations in March, in response to their coverage of junta atrocities against protesters.

On May 12, the junta sentenced DVB reporter Ko Min Nyo to three years imprisonment in Pyay, Bago Region.

Junta forces detained Ko Aung Kyaw on March 1 at his home and he has been behind bars since then. Ko Zaw Zaw was detained on April 7 at his home.

Their relatives told The Irrawaddy that they will not appeal.

Ma Nay Chi, Ko Aung Kyaws wife, said: He said he wont appeal as there is no rule of law with a regime that arbitrarily arrests reporters, tortures them and blocks access to information.

The family has not seen Ko Aung Kyaw as the hearings were conducted in a temporary court inside Myeik Prison.

The hearing and trials under 505(a) are secretive. I didnt have a chance to meet him even though we knew about the dates of the hearings and tried to join the court hearing, said Ma Nay Chi.

Ko Aung Kyaw, a DVB reporter for six years, has a two-year-old daughter.

My daughter always asks me when Papa will come back. She wants to see him, said Ma Nay Chi.

She would look for him when protests passed our home but now they have stopped she asks when hell come back. She says, Why he doesnt come home? Doesnt he love me anymore?

The family of Ko Zaw Zaw said they have met him once on April 11 and only heard about the sentencing from lawyers representing political prisoners.

Ma Tin Tin Moe, the wife of Ko Zaw Zaw, heard the verdict was made inside Myeik Prison and her husband is in good health.

We hope to visit him at the prison. He misses his young son and asked for his photo, she said.

Ko Zaw Zaw, who has been a reporter for more than seven years, was a Mizzima freelancer for around two years.

According to Reporting ASEAN, 87 journalists from 38 news outlets are among the more than 5,500 people detained since the Feb. 1 coup. The vast majority, including 51 journalists, remain in detention amid widespread reports of torture and extrajudicial killings.

U Myint Kyaw from the Committee on Social Welfare for Journalists called the imprisonment of reporters a political punishment.

Since 2017, after the case of the two Reuters journalists, there were no cases of journalists being jailed. But journalists are now facing arrest and trials. These verdicts are like punishing reporters for doing their job. It is political, he said.



You may also like these stories:

Myanmar Coup Leaves more than 500,000 Construction Workers Redundant

Comfortable in the Generals Village, the UN and EU Lined Myanmar Militarys Pockets

Dozens of Myanmar Junta Soldiers Killed in Karen State
Burma Myanmar Schools Open, But Classrooms Are Empty as Students Boycott

Regime forces are seen outside a high school in Yangon on June 1. / CJ

Although Myanmars junta opened public schools on Tuesday amid efforts to normalize the country, classrooms remain empty as teachers and students boycott in protest of military rule.

Myanmar Teachers Federation (MTF) said more than 90 percent of students didnt turn up to attend classes despite the juntas calls for full classrooms.

Myanmar had approximately 9.2 million of students in 2019-2020 school year under the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government. According to MTF, fewer than one million returned to school.

Members of the teachers federation observed attendance at schools and found most classrooms deserted, which is entirely different from the beginning of previous academic years.

Only a few dozen students have shown up in some schools that had enrollment of 3,000 to 5,000 in previous school years. And there are also several schools in Myanmar that remain completely closed with zero attendance.

Kaung, a high school student in Yangon, and his friends didnt enroll for this academic year.

We dont want to go to schools opened by the military government which killed students and hundreds of people, he said. Several students shared the same thought, with Kaung saying they wont return to schools under the regime.

A senior student who had been a schoolmate of Kaung and his friends was shot dead during a brutal crackdown by the regime on an anti-regime protest in Yangon.

As of Tuesday, which marked four months since the military coup, at least 841 people had been killed and more than 5,500 people had been arrested. Hundreds of youths including high school students and dozens of children are among those killed by the juntas forces.

A mother of a primary school student said that she didnt enroll her son in school because of her safety concerns. A number of schools across the country have been set on fire or bombed with homemade grenades by unknown attackers. The regime has claimed that school attacks were carried out by civilian resistance fighters who have taken up arms to defend civilians against the junta.

Peoples Defense Forces formed by civilian resistance fighters in several cities said they will only target regime forces and will not launch attacks that could harm innocent civilians.

Armed junta troops were seen standing guard outside and inside schools, joining school buses, and patrolling around school buildings. Though the patrols are ostensibly to provide security, they have also prompted concerns on the part of parents that their children might be subject to arrest or worse.

Even for us, we are anxious about potential violence when we go outside as the regime forces continue brutal actions against civilians. How could we send our child to a place where we couldnt see if anything happened to them? the mother said.

A number of teachers have also boycotted the regimes plan to reopen public schools by refusing to return to work despite threats of arrest, detention and dismissal from their jobs.

According to an initial announcement by the Ministry of Education, more than 100, 000 teachers and education staff out of a total of 450, 000 [that is around 27 percent] in public schools joined the civil disobedience movement.

Starting on May 7, the junta issued suspension orders to striking teachers and education staff at public schools nationwide. Among those who have been suspended are custodial staff, security officers at schools, lab technicians, teachers, principals and officials under the basic education department of the Ministry of Education.

The junta insisted on opening the schools just to show the country is well under the control of the military rather than [out of any] concern for disrupted education, an official from the teachers federation, who asked to be anonymous, told The Irrawaddy.

A teacher from Yangon Region who was recently suspended from her job said she is proud to stand against injustice even though it meant she had to give up of a job she adored.

I will only return to work under our elected civilian government, she added.

Kaung, the high-school student also said he and his friends have decided to return to school only after revolution prevail.



You may also like these stories:

Myanmar Regime Jails Journalists for Incitement

Myanmar Coup Leaves more than 500,000 Construction Workers Redundant

Comfortable in the Generals Village, the UN and EU Lined Myanmar Militarys Pockets
Burma Myanmar Timber Auction Disappoints Cash-Strapped Junta

Illegal timber seized under the National League for Democracy government. / Forest Department

Myanma Timber Enterprise is selling off hardwoods at low prices as few bidders were interested and the timber market is slow after Myanmars coup, said industry insiders.

There were few bidders when the state-run firm sold timber at three separate auctions in late May as the military regime sought to acquire hard currency by selling off illegal timber.

Over 10,200 tons of timber were sold for around US$5 million (8.2 billion kyats) at the auctions and industry insiders said the income was low due to limited competition in the bidding.

There were few companies making bids and bids declined by over 10 percent as the demand fell, said a Myanma Timber Enterprise source.

According to industry insiders, Nagani Group Co, Maung Maung Thein Co, United Industrial Co, Win Enterprise Co, MTK Timber Pte Ltd, United Wood Industries Co, Yadi Shin Thant Co, Thein Than Tun Co, Katpana Timber Ltd, National Wood Industries Co, Green Links Pte Ltd bought wood at the auction.

Earlier anti-regime protesters and the National Unity Government (NUG), the shadow government formed to rival the junta, called on timber companies to boycott the auctions.

The NUGs minister for resources and conservation Tu Hkawng urged the firms to stop cooperating with the military regime and join the civil disobedience movement by not paying for the timber.

Firms bidding for less than 1,000 tons of timber were required to pay a cash deposit of $10,000 (16.4 million kyats), those bidding for between 1,000 and 2,000 tons of timber had to pay $20,000 and those bidding for between 2,000 and 3,000 tons paid $30,000. If they fail to make the payment within 75 days, their deposits and the timber will be seized.

The international Environmental Investigation Agency reported in May that the junta is seeking hard currency by selling off tens of thousands of tons of illegal timber, including some 200,000 tons seized under the National League for Democracy government.

The regime, which is struggling in the face of international sanctions, also sold off jade, gems and pearls at an auction in April in Naypyitaw, earning over 3.3 billion kyats ($2 million).

The NUG has said it would blacklist the companies and traders that participated in the juntas auctions of natural resources. It also warned that it would blacklist government employees involved in auctions for the misappropriation of public property.

Illegal logging has risen since the February coup and the Forest Department has been able to do nothing to stop illegal logging, said a source at the department.

Illegal logging previously declined because the Forest Department gave rewards for information leading to the arrest of illegal loggers. But we can no longer protect our resources, he said.



You may also like these stories:

To Disband NLD, Myanmar Junta to Probe for Violations of Parties Registration Pledges

Thai Court Hands Jail Sentences to Myanmar Journalists Fleeing Junta

Myanmar Daily Post-Coup Update: June 1
Burma Thai Court Hands Jail Sentences to Myanmar Journalists Fleeing Junta

Thai authorities conduct a search at the residence of DVB reporters in Chiang Mai on Sunday.

A Thai court has sentenced three Myanmar journalists for the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and their two associates to seven months imprisonment and a 4,000 baht fine each for entering Thailand illegally.

They were arrested in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand in early May, after fleeing Myanmar following the juntas order to close DVBs news-gathering operations in the country.

Press freedom advocacy groups and the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand had urged the Thai authorities not to deport them back to Myanmar.

Thai media reported that a public prosecutor filed a case against them at a Chiang Mai court and on the same day the court approved the indictment and sentenced them.

In March, the military regime revoked DVBs license to operate in Myanmar in response to their coverage of the juntas atrocities against anti-coup protesters. Four other media organizations also lost their licenses, making reporting for them an illegal act.

The lawyers for the journalists and their associates said that they had confessed and been taken into custody by Thai immigration in Bangkok. Their lawyers are negotiating for them to be released on bail.

Over 80 journalists are among the more than 5,500 people arrested by security forces in Myanmar since the juntas Feb. 1 coup. The vast majority remain in detention amid widespread reports of torture and extrajudicial killings.



You may also like these stories:

Myanmar Daily Post-Coup Update: June 1

International Community Must Do More on Myanmar

Five Accused of Being Myanmar Junta Informants Found Dead in Magwe
Burma To Disband NLD, Myanmar Junta to Probe for Violations of Parties Registration Pledges

Supporters gather outside the National League for Democracys headquarters in Yangon on the night of Nov. 8, 2020 as early election results showed the party was headed for a win. / The Irrawaddy

Myanmars handpicked electoral body has asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to conduct a review to determine whether any of the countrys political parties have breached the pledges they made as part of the registration process. The move could be viewed as an attempt by the regime to provide legal cover for dissolving Daw Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD), something the Union Election Commission (UEC) recently said it was considering, ostensibly for committing voter fraud.

The request to the ministry came three days after UEC chairman U Thein Soe publicly said that the NLD must be abolished because it plotted illegally to win the election.

According to a leaked document, the UEC asked the ministry to check whether any of the countrys 93 registered political parties, including the NLD, have failed to keep the promises they made as required under the Political Parties Registration Law.

According to the law, a party shall neither support nor have links to terrorists or unlawful associations. Those that do shall be abolished.

The request is one of a series of steps taken by the regime that seem aimed at the eventual dissolution of the NLD.

On May 15, regime spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun said at a press conference that action must be taken against the NLD under the Political Parties Registration Law and the military-drafted 2008 Constitution, because the party supports the National Unity Government (NUG) and the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), both of which the regime has declared to be terrorist and unlawful associations.

The CRPH represents lawmakers, mostly from the NLD, who were elected in November. The NUG was formed by the CRPH as a shadow government to rival the military regime.

The military justified its February coup by alleging massive voter fraud in Novembers general election, which brought a landslide victory to the NLD. However, the Asian Network for Free Elections said the outcome of the vote was by and large, representative of the will of the people of Myanmar.

After the coup, the regime arrested NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior party officials. It has continued to arrest and issue warrants for party members and elected NLD lawmakers across the country. A number of NLD members have died while being tortured in military custody.

In response to the UEC chairmans remark on the partys possible dissolution, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said during her meeting with her lawyers last week that the NLD will be there as long as the people are, because the party was founded for the people.



You may also like these stories:

Thai Court Hands Jail Sentences to Myanmar Journalists Fleeing Junta

Myanmar Daily Post-Coup Update: June 1

International Community Must Do More on Myanmar
Guest Column International Community Must Do More on Myanmar

Regime soldiers in Yangon in early March. / The Irrawaddy

The tendency towards authoritarianism, the flagrant disregard for painstakingly agreed rules and conventions of international order, the denigration of human rights across wide and dispersed geographies, and the seeming inability of those tasked with preventing these to do so has meant that events such as the hijacking of international aircraft by the state and the killing of dissidents on foreign shores, to name just a few, have today begun to appear commonplace. The UN and its various organs and some influential democratically oriented countries have been expressing their indignation every time something abhorrent occurs and imposing some sanctions that do not seem to hurt the offending parties enough to make them change their ways, and not much else. Either the will to stem the rot that is fast setting in is absent or the available leverages are ineffectual. Both scenarios do not inspire confidence, and the fact that the international space is more divided today than it has been in decades compounds the problem. What this means is that unless the UN and the responsible sections of the international community undertake to assert themselves and exact a heavy enough price for grave violations so as to render them unviable for violators, they stand a genuine risk of becoming largely irrelevant and ignored.

Myanmar, since the Feb. 1 coup, has provided a compelling opportunity for the UN and the international community to regain lost ground, and indeed lost prestige. Already justifiably accused of genocide against the Rohingyas, the overthrow of the democratically elected government and the overbearingly violent repression of the countrys own protesting citizens gave the international community persuasive reasons to get involved in reining in the military junta. Almost four months after the coup, all that has happened while thousands have died in Myanmar is that as always statements in condemnation have been issued and sanctions of debatable impact have been imposed. As Widad Franco, UN Coordinator of Human Rights Watch, wrote on May 24, The United Nations Security Council, entrusted by the UN Charter to be the worlds guardian of international peace and security, has done little to help the people of Myanmar besides issuing statements asking the junta to end the violence and release prisoners Inaction by UN member States will only embolden Myanmars military and encourage more abuses. The junta, meanwhile, buoyed by opinions penned by influential international figures advocating normalization of relations with it, and bolstered by firm support from both China and Russia, has dismissively swatted aside these criticisms and sanctions. The junta has thrown down the gauntlet. It remains for the international community to respond and show that it counts, or meekly wither away and leave autocrats, dictators and their ilk to their own merry ways.

The situation within Myanmar has been on the boil. The Thailand-based rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) revealed that at least 827 people have been killed by the junta since Feb. 1, and 4,313 are in detention. This contrasts sharply with what the kingpin of the coup and the present de facto leader of Myanmar, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, told the Hong Kong-based Chinese language broadcaster Phoenix Television in his first interview with foreign media since the coup. He claimed that only about 300 people had been killed in the unrest, and that included 47 police personnel. He also dismissed the suggestion that a civil war looked imminent in Myanmar by saying simply, I dont think there will be a civil war. UN Special Rapporteur Christine Schraner Burgener said on May 24 that a civil war could erupt in Myanmar if anti-coup protesters changed their defensive position to an offensive one as the junta escalated violence against them.

Despite Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing downplaying the situation, the Myanmar military is actually having to fight on a growing number of fronts, ranging from the political protesters to established ethnic minority armies and local militias formed in the past few weeks, many armed with rudimentary rifles and homemade weapons. Schraner Burgener termed the militarys attempt to ban the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party which won 82 percent of the vote in last Novembers election, unacceptable and echoing the partys leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said, I also hope the NLD will survive because this is the will of the people. Schraner Burgener added that every day, explosions can happen anywhere, which is scaring the people. She asserted that the UN was trying to stop the violence, adding Clearly its sad to see that people have to use arms. Referring to the Peoples Defense Forces that local citizens have formed with the pro-democracy National Unity Government, she stressed the need to try and bring them under a single command structure.

In recent days, fighting has intensified in eastern Myanmar near the border of southern Shan and Kayah states, with dozens of security forces and local fighters killed and thousands fleeing their homes. Schraner Burgener said that ethnic armed groups had told her in meetings that they support the people and now have a common enemy, but she added that it was difficult to see how their mainly homemade weapons can square up against a very strong army who have a lot of lethal weapons. She said that over the past three weeks she had discussed with many key parties the idea of starting an inclusive dialog that would include ethnic armed groups, political parties, civil society, strike committees and the Myanmar army, as well as a small group of witnesses from the international community. She added, Clearly it will not be easy to convince especially both sides to come to a table, but I offer my good offices  to avoid more bloodshed and civil war which would last a long time We are worried about the situation and clearly we want that people on the ground  decide how they want to see the country going back to normal.

The fact that the UN Special Rapporteur has had to set up shop in neighboring Thailand, and is not based out of Naypyitaw, says a lot about the limited clout the world organization has in the context of Myanmar. Schraner Burgeners revelation that Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing had responded to her request to visit Myanmar by saying still its not the right time shows the restrictive milieu that she is having to navigate. An increasing number of pro-democracy protesters in Myanmar, meanwhile, have begun calling for implementation of Responsibility to Protect (R2P), a UN norm that has existed since 2005. As Clara McMichael described it in a recent article in Slate, R2P is a UN principle that is used when the government of a country fails to protect its own citizens from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing or crimes against humanity; in many cases the government itself is the perpetrator of those crimes. In these situations, the UN can take collective action through the Security Council on a case-by-case basis to protect civilians, even if the government does not consent and the action violates the countrys sovereignty. In view of the rising demand for such a move in Myanmar, the UN held a plenary meeting on the topic of R2P on May 17. This effort is, however, not likely to yield much given that a similar call for R2P over the genocide of the Rohingyas was blocked in 2017 by Russia and China.

The prospects of a fair resolution to the Rohingya issue, meanwhile, took a serious turn for the worse this past week when Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, who not long after the February coup said that efforts to repatriate refugees from Bangladesh would continue, changed tack completely in the interview with Phoenix Television. When asked whether the Rohingyas could be allowed back into Rakhine State, from where they had fled, he said, If it doesnt comply with Myanmars laws, what else is there to consider? I dont believe there is any country in the world that would go beyond their own countrys refugee laws to accept refugees. When asked whether that meant vocal international appeals on behalf of the Rohingyas were to no avail, he nodded and then put forth the oft used allegation that the Rohingyas are not one of Myanmars ethnic groups even if some Rohingyas could trace their roots in Myanmar back for centuries. Over a million Rohingya refugees are sheltering in camps in neighboring Bangladesh, unsure if they will ever be able to go back home.

As the situation in Myanmar spirals downward, clever suggestions are being proffered by some influential elements to broker a status quo that lets the Myanmar military continue to rule. Playing on the heightened concern over China that has awakened in the Western world, Yusuke Watanabe, the secretary general of the Japan-Myanmar Association, argued in an article in The Diplomat that Japan must position itself as a bridge between the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Army) and the United States and other democratic countries rather than blindly aligning itself with the Western policy of regime change Finding a solution to Myanmars present crisis begins with deference to the countrys history and economic development of a political environment conducive to democratization rather than external imposition of foreign values. The association was founded by Yusukes father and Japanese politician Hideo Watanabe, Tokyos point man for economic relations, to rally support for Japans investments in Myanmar. He had a long track record of working closely with the junta, including with Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing.

Yusuke Watanabe makes no bones about his own personal proximity to Myanmars leader, writing about his recent dialogue with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. He also takes a matter-of-fact approach to conveying that the general had personally reaffirmed his commitment to restoring a civilian government in the future. Watanabes vision for Myanmars future consisted of patient engagement with the Tatmadaw and continuous economic development conducive to eventual democratization. In other words, his prescription is that the world ignore the waves of serious humanitarian crises created by the Myanmar military and transact business with it as usual till the military becomes prosperous enough to handle democracy. This argument for glossing over the juntas misdeeds is as vain as his contention that the West has been indefatigably pursuing to its own detriment the questionable strategy of regime change supposedly for Myanmars democratic future. Such an approach reflects at best irresponsible disregard for Myanmars history and at worst incorrigible strategic folly. In fact, Myanmars democratization efforts for the last decade have inadvertently intensified the countrys ethnic tensions and even allowed China to dramatically expand its clout, ironically thanks to its budding relationship with Aung San Suu Kyi Ironically, the Tatmadaws hostile takeover of Naypyitaw on February 1 has put the future of Chinas geo-economic projects in limbo Indeed, as Naypyitaw increasingly pivots to Russia and other autocratic powers for strategic positioning, Japan remains the only democratic country preserving its historical ties to Myanmars military government. Leveraging its decades-long economic cooperation, Japan can now directly work with the Tatmadaw to reverse Chinas geo-economic influence by supporting strategic infrastructure projects.

The US and other democratic countries that Yusuke refers to need to guard carefully against falling into traps such as the one that this Japanese benefactor of the junta has attempted to lay down to lure them. The threat posed by China cannot by itself be allowed to override and cloud the atrocities being meted out by the junta and the hundreds of lives that are being needlessly lost. Human rights and liberties have been thrown to the wind for long enough; they desperately need to be reeled in.

The international community must recognize that it is not just the rights, the well-being and the future of the Myanmar people that is at stake. The credibility of the entire international order as it exists now is also at a crossroads and will be directly impacted by how Myanmar is handled.

This article was first published by the European Foundation for South Asian Studies.



You may also like these stories:

Five Accused of Being Myanmar Junta Informants Found Dead in Magwe

KIA Uses Artillery on Airport in Northern Myanmar

Suspected Myanmar Military Informants Killed in Kale
A rustic wooden boat carrying up to 17 Cubans came ashore at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park near the Lighthouse late Monday afternoon, and those aboard ran onto the shoreline vegetation celebrating their arrival in the US.

Local resident and Univision producer David Adams visited the beach after being notified by some friends. He described the boat as well made.

Ines Lozano, Adams wife and president of the Key Biscayne Rotary Club, said friends told her It appears there were 10.

Once on land, the group quickly hid in the vegetation to avoid being captured and deported.

Through his social networks, Yusnaby Perez, a journalist from Telemundo, shared a video where a raft is seen reaching the beach as people watched from the beach. Perez said about 11 people jumped from the precarious boat, ran and celebrated their arrival on the US coast.

Before they arrived, the group was approached by several boaters to see if they needed food or water. The Cubans responded: "No, no. What we need is to arrive; we are fine."

Dr. Elsa Dominguez, of Key Biscayne, who was at the park celebrating with family, said 20 people scattered around the park. Dominguez described the boat as terrifying to see: all handmade, cardboard, cans etc, adding that only God could make it land without that boat falling apart in the ocean.

An Instagram post by Elia G. De La Torre wrote: Memorable experience on this Memorial Day seeing this raft just arrive from Cuba. 17 rafters safe and sound. God's work. In a second post Sunday, De La Torre added that the occupants got off so quickly. Half hour later the guards and helicopter were roaming.

Adams, in a video he shared with Islander News, said he has seen many boats arrive from Cuba but found this one to be curious in that it had no motor. Adams also pointed out that it had water bottles branded with the Navarro Pharmacy, the local pharmacy chain now owned by CVS, label. The bottles had not been open or consumed. Adams said the bottles originated from Canada. In the video, he speculated that perhaps some from Miami went to Cuba to bring the refugees to the U.S.

In his social media channels, Perez said that, according to sources, the group are ok and they are with family.

So far this fiscal year, Coast Guard crews have intercepted 298 Cubans at sea, compared to only 49 in 2020. According to Channel 8 News, last week, Coast Guard crews led an extensive search for survivors of a capsized boat off Key West. Eight Cuban migrants were rescued, two bodies were recovered, and 10 others were never found.

We will provide more information as it becomes available.
Philippines lauds WHO approval of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine

Xinhua) 13:36, June 02, 2021

MANILA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines lauded on Wednesday the World Health Organization's (WHO's) approval of the CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech for emergency use, saying it will boost the vaccine confidence of Filipinos.

"Now, it's not only the Philippine's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) saying that the Sinovac vaccine is safe and effective, but also a United Nations agency is vouching for its safety and efficacy," Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.

Philippine FDA approved the Sinovac's CoronaVac vaccine for emergency use in February, paving the way for the delivery of the first batch of CoronaVac to the country, the first vaccine to reach the Philippines.

The Philippines kicked off the vaccination drive on March 1, a day after China donated the first batch of CoronaVac vaccines.

The Philippines has administered more than 5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of May 30, primarily to frontline healthcare workers, the elderly, and those with underlying medical conditions.

The country aims to vaccinate up to 70 million people this year, depending on the vaccine supply.

The Philippines has reported a total of 1,235,467 COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday, including 21,012 deaths.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Hongyu)
Marvel Studios has dropped a new update for their upcoming movie. "The Marvels," the sequel to "Captain Marvel" which premiered back in 2019, got a fresh new look that might give fans a little hint as to how the sequel will pan out.

Who Are 'The Marvels'?

Carol Danvers, A.K.A. Captain Marvel, will be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it looks like she will be accompanied by two other heroes.

Kamala Khan and Monica Rambeau will be joining Captain Marvel in the second installment of her story. It is unknown yet where "The Marvels" fit in the MCU timeline, considering Kamala Khan, A.K.A. Ms. Marvel, already debuted in the MCU with her Disney+ series "Ms. Marvel."

Kamala is a teenage Pakistani-American superhero from Jersey City who has superpowers. She is a huge fan of the Avengers and even adopted the name of her idol and mentor, Captain Marvel.

A grown-up Monica Rambeau, A.K.A. Spectrum--who fans got reacquainted with once again in "WandaVision"--also joins her Aunt Carol in the movie. In the comics, Monica is also known as Captain Marvel, which is a subtle nod to the comic books' storylines.

The official logo of The Marvels has received a slight update.. Its only a minor alteration, the Spectrum symbol over the letter A has been modified to be transparent. The background of the logo has been changed from a fiery orange lens flare to a cosmic blue eruption.. pic.twitter.com/WVePdsZH5q  Marvel Fans Kerala (@MarvelFansIN) May 30, 2021

Marvel Logo Evolution: New 'The Marvels' Logo

The updated movie logo looks fresher and feels more in line with what fans know about the individual Marvels and it could possibly hint at a little easter egg.

The first release of "The Marvels" logo was after the initial announcement of the altered title for the "Captain Marvel" sequel, according to ScreenRant.

Read Also: Marvel 'Eternals' Trailer, Updates and Memes: Twitter Pokes Fun at New Show Over 'Avengers' Connection

The logo had the title in front of a lens-flare type of background. The warm colors of the lens fare felt like a detached design decision that fans felt no connection to and didn't serve to offer much contrast from the already red and gold title.

Spectrum and Ms. Marvel's logos are also integrated into the title design with Monica's emblem in the "A" and Kamala's "S" serving as the letter in the word "Marvels." The Font of the title is carried over from the original Captain Marvel movie.

Here's the old 'The Marvels' logo:

Here's the new "The Marvels" logo:

The new update has swapped the orange lens flare for a blue energy explosion effect. This seems to be a nod to Carol Danvers' tesseract signature energy power. Spectrum and Ms. Marvel's logos are still integrated into the title design and were even cleaned up a bit to feel more part of the logo rather than just being superimposed over the text.

Some fans poetically interpret the design change as Captain Marvel supporting the new younger supers, propelling them forward. Others are speculating that the blue energy is actually a hint at a fourth character, ComicBook said.

Regardless, the blue energy background looks much more cohesive to the stories fans already know. And from a design perspective, it also serves as a good contrast between the title and the background, really making the logo have more depth.

The movie is part of the Marvel Studios' Phase Four of their cinematic universe and is scheduled to be released on November 11 of next year. Nia DaCosta will direct the film.

Related Article: Marvel Logo Evolution: MCU Subtly Drops Logo Changes in Various Shows--Including 'Eternals'
Amazon customers can now take the retail giant to court because of their recent change in their terms of service. But it looks like it's more for their favor than their customers'.

What Are Arbitration Cases?

Arbitration is a private dispute resolution procedure in which the cases are handled by a third party instead of a judge or jury, The Verge explained. This is a viable option for companies in many ways, but mostly it offers privacy from potential legal exposure.

The Wall Street Journal reported that companies have been using arbitration proceedings to avoid plaintiffs, those filing a case against companies, from teaming up and extracting large sums like in class action lawsuits.

Consumers and employees are usually only given the option to file for arbitration when they have claims against the company. The U.S. Supreme Court has supported and strengthened the rights of companies to mandate arbitration, says The Wallstreet Journal.

Customers and users can find arbitration agreements somewhere in the contracts signed or the terms and conditions they agree to for just about anything--from buying electronics or using a ride-hailing app.

Read Also: Amazon vs. Netflix: Jeff Bezos Spends $8 Billion in MGM Purchase Amid Streaming War

A Mass Arbitration Changes Amazon Terms of Service

More recently, lawyers were able to coordinate more than 75,000 Echo users to file a mass arbitration case against Amazon.

The claims against the retail giant started coming in when news reports in 2019 said that Alexa devices stored recordings of users, The Wall Street Journal noted. Consumers were horrified by this discovery and sought for a class action lawsuit. Amazon was able to argue that the claims belonged in arbitration, and not in the courtroom.

This actually led to tens of thousands of claims being sent to Amzon all at once and has left the company with millions of dollars in fees, The Verge added. Companies like DoorDash, Uber, and Intuit also faced mass-arbitration filings that they tried to redirect to court to avoid paying filing fees, but some courts bring it back to arbitration in the end.

Amazon's Terms of Service change was reportedly done on May 3rd when the company's conditions of use page was said to be updated.

The once detailed, 350-word explanation of the needed requirements and how to process arbitration claims is now scrapped. Instead, found on the Amazon website is the updated subsection that now reads only two sentences: "Any dispute or claim relating in any way to your use of any Amazon Service will be adjudicated in the state or Federal courts in King County, Washington, and you consent to exclusive jurisdiction and venue in these courts. We each waive any right to a jury trial."

This new change can now allow Amazon to avoid paying such steep fines in settlements and service fees in the future.

Despite the radical change Amazon has made to their terms of services, it is unknown if other companies are willing to adopt such a change. Adam Zimmerman, a professor at Loyola Law School who studies class actions, told WSJ it is unlikely a wave of change will be seen in how businesses conducts disputes.

Lawsuits lead to legal exposure and evidently media exposure, which may damage the company in the long run.

Related Article: Amazon Prime Now Shopper Canceled After 2021: Where to Get 'Ultrafast' Delivery Service Next
On Friday, officials with the Walker County Hospital District board announced that they have finalized a $7.8 million purchase of Huntsville Memorial Hospital. Do you feel like this is a good use of tax dollars, and is this the right direction for the struggling health care facility?

You voted:
Police release rules for protesters, officers | Board of Ed. clears up vax misinformation | IC professor, author talks about new book | BVC catches the latest at Regal | Enjoy your summer in the Finger Lakes Read Digital Edition
Telstra has announced the launch of its new awards program, the Telstra Best of Business Awards, which celebrates small and medium sized businesses who are using innovation and expertise to drive the nation forward.

The new program continues Telstras long legacy of awards programs that recognise exceptional leaders and small and medium businesses, providing a platform to further their success and inspire others.

Telstra Consumer and Small Business Group Executive, Michael Ackland said the past year gave Telstra an opportunity to reflect and reimagine a program of the future.

We are proud of the support we have shown the small business community over the past 25 years through the Telstra Business Awards and the Telstra Business Womens Awards where we have recognised over 5,000 finalists from both city and regional areas across each state and territory of Australia, Ackland said.

The Telstra Best of Business Awards builds on the success and learnings of these award programs and is a reflection of our desire to continue to lead positive change for all Australians.

It allows us to celebrate the businesses and people making a positive impact within their community, industry, across the country or perhaps the world.

We know the past year has been challenging for everyone, particularly small to medium sized businesses. We hope by creating this new program, we will lead a national conversation and shine a light on businesses that are making a meaningful contribution to Australia and provide them with the recognition they deserve," Ackland continued.

Central to the new awards program is the addition of a new, annually-changing awards category  Progressing Australia. The new category will highlight businesses that are best responding to the most pressing issues the nation faces.

To identify this category, Telstra will conduct extensive research each year with the Australian public and business experts to gain a pulse check of the nation, and the issues that matter most. This research will be used to set the ever-changing national agenda for the awards.

This years topic is Local Leadership - a category that champions small businesses who are excelling in their role of building a thriving community of the future. This comes after research showed 96 per cent of consumers said they considered small businesses an important part of their community.

Diversity and inclusion is also at the heart of this revamped program, from improved accessibility to the entry process, to the creation of new categories. This includes Indigenous Excellence for Indigenous-owned businesses, Accelerating Women for businesses challenging exclusion and inequality, and Building Communities for businesses working to make a positive impact on their communities.

We are committed to embedding diversity and inclusion and ensuring all business owners from a crosssection of industries, sizes, categories and locations are able to enter and are judged fairly. We want to give everyone across Australia the opportunity to be on the main stage, Mr Ackland said.

All businesses under 200 employees are invited to nominate and enter across eight categories.

Entering the Telstra Best of Business Awards will help business owners take their business to the next level. The rigorous judging process will seek to identify those who are having an impact in the areas and industries most important to Australias growth.

Anyone can nominate an exceptional business by heading to the website today.

The awards categories are Building Communities, Championing Health, Embracing Innovation, Promoting Sustainability, Outstanding Growth, Accelerating Women, Indigenous Excellence, Progressing Australia and Local Leadership.
Monash University has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with global energy company ENGIE to explore opportunities to co-develop scalable zero-carbon solutions that accelerate the implementation of Monashs net zero initiative.

As part of its broader scope, the collaboration to be developed under the MoU will see Monash and ENGIE utilise their combined expertise to build the foundations for better cities globally.

The Monash and Engie say that through coordinated deployment, research and education activities, the collaboration ultimately aims at exploring and developing Net Zero solutions for cities and major precincts worldwide.

Professor Ken Sloan, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Senior Vice-President (Enterprise and Governance) at Monash, said the opportunities being explored would be an important step in accelerating the implementation of the Universitys Net Zero Initiative.

It will harness both of our strengths to tackle the critical global challenge of reducing carbon emissions before the irreversible impacts of climate change are felt by the worlds ecosystems, societies and economies, Professor Sloan said.

Associate Professor Ariel Liebman, Director of the Monash Energy Institute, said: Building on ENGIEs world leading approach to R&D for decarbonisation, the Monash research community has an incredible opportunity for long-term societal impact starting right here on our own campus. A

Augustin Honorat, Chief Executive Officer of ENGIE Australia & New Zealand, praised Monash University for their early adoption of a net zero emissions target as well as

capturing knowledge for future innovations.

ENGIE is excited to sign the MoU and looks forward to working with Monash to help achieve their net zero target by 2030 and to accelerate, together, the global transition to net zero emissions, Honorat said.

Were looking forward to bringing ENGIEs global expertise to projects undertaken as part of the MoU and to any future collaboration with Monash to demonstrate our solutions in a local context.

ENGIE joins a vibrant ecosystem of partners across academia, industry and government, working with Monash changemakers to create solutions for real-world application.

Activities undertaken between Monash and ENGIE under the MoU include: Net Zero Precincts: an interdisciplinary approach to decarbonising cities.

Monash says that decarbonising a city is not just a technological challenge, and to accelerate the adoption of net-zero solutions, innovations in governance, policy and community participation are needed, from the design phase of solutions to their wide diffusion.

Monash University and ENGIE are leading a four-year Linkage program, co-funded by the Australian Research Council, which has the aim of developing an interdisciplinary framework to accelerate the journey to net-zero emission cities.

Led by Professor Rob Raven from the Monash Sustainable Development Institute, this program will combine research, education and translation activities, utilising the Monash Technology Precinct as a living lab for net-zero experimentation at scale across energy, mobility and building sectors.
New Zealands competition enforcement agency The Commerce Commission has finalised its guidance for directors and senior managers of consumer credit providers and mobile traders on how to comply with the due diligence duty.

From 1 October 2021 directors and senior managers of lenders, including mobile traders selling on credit, will need to exercise due diligence to ensure their business complies with its duties and obligations under the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCF Act).



The guidance explains which directors and senior managers are subject to the duty of due diligence and provides information to help them understand what it means for them.

This is an important new obligation. The new due diligence duty obliges and incentivises individual corporate officers to drive a culture of compliance with the CCCF Act from the top down, said Commission Chair Anna Rawlings.

Failure to exercise the required levels of care, diligence and skill could expose you, personally, to significant financial consequences, including pecuniary penalties of up to $200,000.



We would like to thank all those who provided submissions in response to our draft guidelines, the feedback was both valuable and important to informing our final guidance, said Rawlings.



The finalised due diligence guidance can be found on the Commissions website.




Technology Philips North America LLC is accepting resumes for the position of IT Business Specialist in Murrysville, PA (Ref. #LUKV). Provide IT strategic services to support the requirements of the business leaders, including Process compliance, Process improvement, application convergence and continuous communication. Collaborate with the multiple cross functional teams to ensure solution compatibility with the company standards. Must be legally authorized to work in U.S. without sponsorship. EOE

recblid 8hq9ht258x46fva3015anlxxe1ge6c






While DDoS attack numbers held fairly steady from the previous quarter of 2021, attack volumes escalated dramatically, a report from Radware has disclosed.

Radware's recently released quarterly DDoS attack report analyses attack activity by industries, attack vectors, DDoS attacks on applications and on-premise versus cloud. Major findings include the following:

The first half of Q1 was characterised by large attacks on finance and a continuation of the 2020 ransom DDoS campaign. By the end of 2020, extortionists started circling back to earlier victims who did not pay ransom in earlier attempts, reusing their attack research and increasing the pace of their campaign to benefit from the surging Bitcoin value.

To overcome the pandemic, organisations began relying on remote operations, teleworking and remote access infrastructure. As a result, DDoS actors found new opportunities and began targeting the backend of the communication infrastructure of organisations.

Several global organisations had branches/remote offices targeted during this period, with actors leveraging new tactics to impact organisational productivity by targeting internet connectivity and remote access.

With limited bandwidth, attackers can achieve more impact and disrupt a branch or an organisation's operations. Attacking the public assets of organisations provides increased visibility, but typically these assets are better protected and harder to bring down.

Public-facing assets remained an essential target throughout Q1 of 2021, as actors attempted to impact an organisation's reputation or to send a political message.

Attack volume/numbers

Compared to Q4 of 2020, the total attack volume in Q1 of 2021 increased by 31% while the total number of attacks decreased by 2%. The largest recorded attack in Q1 of 2021 was 295Gbps, up from 260Gbps in Q4 of 2020.

The total volume and total packets for March of 2021 were similar to levels witnessed in November of 2020. The period between December and February was characterised by larger volumes and higher amounts of packets, caused mainly by the intensity of the attacks from the second wave of the ransom DDoS campaign.

The average attack size in Q1 of 2021 was down from over 315Mbps in December to levels just below 150Mbps. December 2020 had the lowest number of attacks over the previous six months. February and March 2021 had a great number of attacks that were smaller in volume compared to December and January.

The relative number of attacks larger than 10Gbps has a similar evolution compared to the average attack size. In March 2021, one in every 1,000 attacks was greater than 10Gbps compared to three per 1,000 attacks in December of 2020.

Healthcare was dominated by biotechnology and pharmaceutical attacks in the first half of Q1 2021, while the activity moved to a smaller number of attacks targeting hospitals in the second half of the quarter.

The public assets of large biotechnology organisations were primary targets and resulted in the most significant attacks targeting the healthcare vertical for the quarter. Public facing assets remained an important target for actors seeking to impact an organisation's reputation or send a political message.

The government sector experienced a lower number of attacks, but higher volumes in February and March 2021. This contrasts with Q4 2020, when this sector experienced high numbers of low-volume assaults.

Both periods were dominated by attacks on North America-based government institutions with fewer and smaller attacks in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Attacks on finance changed from infrequent, high-volume attacks in December and January to smaller, more frequent global attacks in March, impacting more offices and branches of multinational organisations.

Healthcare attacks began to slow in March, but this industry has continued to experience regular attacks since November 2020. These attacks primarily targeted branches of international organisations. Government experienced high attack activity in October, and even larger volumes in February and March 2021.

Attack vectors and applications

More than 50% of the attack volume targeted HTTPS and nearly 20% targeted HTTP. DNS and NTP represented more than 10% of attack volume.

NTP primarily targeted (UDP port 123 in destination) for abuse in reflection attacks; the network suffering the NTP reflection is typically collateral damage and not the intended victim. DNS had to endure the fastest packet rate from a single attack vector at 151.36Mbps. Other noteworthy attack vectors were Chargen, RDP, SSDP, Memcached and ARMS.

UDP Fragment and UDP Floods accounted for more than 90% of the volume in Q1 of 2021.

More specific UDP amplification attack vectors such as NTP and DNS accounted for 7% of total volume while TCP out-of-state took less than 1%. DDoS attack vectors leveraging UDP or TCP are both common and effective in their own way.

Because of the nature of UDP (stateless and mostly easily spoofed) and associated publicly available services, it gets leveraged in many amplification attacks. UDP is used to saturate internet links by means of volumetric attacks and by consequence the average packet size for UDP attacks is coming close to the maximum the internet allows.

TCP attacks, on the other hand, are mostly leveraged to exhaust state on services or to send a very high rate of packets trying to overrun network equipment or shut internet connections by rate of packets and not by volume. Typically, the packet rate of TCP is higher compared to UDP but the average packet size is smaller.

In summary, it is by nature of the attack that UDP takes much more volume compared to TCP. It does not indicate that one if more preferred than the other.

UDP fragment attacks averaged at 1269 bytes per packet while TCP out-of-state averaged at 315 bytes. Many TCP attack vectors such as SYNACK, TCP Zero Seq, FIN-ACK and RST Floods average below 100 bytes per packet.

TCP attacks typically target resource exhaustion or attempt to overrun network equipment CPUs, while UDP Floods are typically leveraged for trying to saturate internet connections. The use of attack vectors is mostly based on the availability of reflectors and amplification hosts and the most popular vectors provided by booter and stresser services.

UDP is still the most leveraged protocol for DDoS attacks, which is not surprising since UDP traffic can be easily spoofed and most of the amplification attack vectors are UDP-based. IP and TCP were more prominent in Q4 of 2020, while in Q1 of 2021, 99% of the total attack volume consisted of UDP traffic.

On-premise vs cloud mitigated

More than 85% of attacks were mitigated on-premise in Q1 2021. The 15% attacks mitigated in the cloud represent over 92% of the total volume and almost 84% of the packets.

As expected, on-premise devices will divert to the cloud when attack volumes are close to the saturation level of the internet connection. In hybrid deployments, the cloud will handle the volumetric attacks while on-premise will typically handle low-and-slow and low-volume DoS attacks, as well as anomalies and intrusions.

In conclusion, on-premise detection and mitigation will fail to prevent 15% of the attacks. If latency introduced by cloud protection is important, 85% of the attacks can be mitigated by on-premise equipment.

Intrusions made up 73% of all malicious events with the majority mitigated on-premise. The cloud scrubbing centres are responsible for mitigating 94% of DoS events.

Attacks during business hours

In October 2020, government was the most attacked vertical, but starting in November, healthcare dominated the number of attacks until finance superseded healthcare in March 2021.

The attacks on healthcare were smaller in size and the median attack size ranged from a couple of Mbps up to 3Gbps. The temporal distribution of attacks on several healthcare organisations has a distinctive pattern with the highest concentration of attacks from Monday to Friday and a significantly lower concentration on Saturdays and Sundays. Only a few attacks were recorded during the holidays, compared to the periods before and after.

Several organisations in healthcare, finance and retail demonstrated similar temporal distributions and had consistently higher concentrations of attacks during weekdays across Q4 2020 and Q1 2021. The number of attacks initiated at night is lower than the number of attacks undertaken during office hours and is consistent across time zones.

Conclusion

The first quarter of 2021 was characterised by the continuation of the 2020 ransom DDoS campaign, with high-volumetric attacks targeting the finance sector.

Biotechnology and pharmaceutical continued to experience attacks, however the threat landscape shifted from fewer, high-volumetric attacks to minor attacks characterised by lower volumes.

Overall, the number of attacks held steady (down 2% from Q4 of 2020), but attack volumes increased by 31%. In fact, the occurrence of major attacks of 10Gbps or more tripled in Q1 2021 versus December 2020, with the largest attack 295Gbps.
Jeremy Smith: "Australia and New Zealand are pivotal markets for Adobe with this region delivering strong growth for several years."

Adobe has appointed former Salesforce executive Jeremy Smith as director of Digital Experience for Australia and New Zealand, the company says.

Smith has been at Salesforce for the last nine years, holding various senior sales leadership positions, most recently that of vice-president and head of Retail for Salesforce UK.

"I am excited to join the Adobe Australian and New Zealand team to help businesses and brands deliver more engaging and personalised digital experiences for their customers," Smith said.

"I have always held a passion for data, and the chance to work for Adobe, a global leader in content and now also in data solutions, is incredibly exciting."

Smith will report to Suzanne Steele, Adobe's vice-president and managing director for Australia and New Zealand, who said she was delighted to welcome him onto her team.

"Jeremy is an experienced, strategic and creative leader with a proven track record of delivering growth across different markets and industries," Steele said.

"His experience in empowering enterprise customers along their digital transformation journeys will help us to capture new business opportunities and support our continued growth and leadership in this region."

Smith will operate from Sydney and will help to drive the next chapter of growth for the Adobe DX business in ANZ, leading both sales and business development teams to help enterprise customers and brands navigate what he defines as "the digital imperative".

"Australia and New Zealand are pivotal markets for Adobe with this region delivering strong growth for several years. During 2020 brands have prioritised digital transformation and digital experiences for their customers, and we saw a surge in a need for creativity and digital documents," Smith said.

"Fast-track to a post-pandemic world, and the economy has fundamentally changed. We've moved from a 'world with digital' to a digital-first world - and there's no going back.

"Digital has become the way for people to connect, work, learn and be entertained and Adobe's mission to change the world through digital experiences has never been more relevant."
JBS Foods, the biggest meat-processing operation in the world, has been hit by a cyber-attack that has affected its American and Australian operations.

A statement from the company's American arm on Sunday said it had determined that was the target of an organised cyber-attack.

Monday was Memorial Day in the US, the equivalent of Anzac Day on this side of the world.

JBS has nearly a quarter of a million employees and provides beef, chicken and pork to countries around the globe.

While there has been indication from common ransomware groups about the attack, there has been some speculation that this genre of Windows malware is to blame.

JBS USA said, on noticing the intrusion, it "took immediate action, suspending all affected systems, notifying authorities and activating the company's global network of IT professionals and third-party experts to resolve the situation".

"The companys back-up servers were not affected, and it is actively working with an Incident Response firm to restore its systems as soon as possible.

"The company is not aware of any evidence at this time that any customer, supplier or employee data has been compromised or misused as a result of the situation. Resolution of the incident will take time, which may delay certain transactions with customers and suppliers."

Commenting on the attack, Dick Bussiere, technical director for APAC at security shop Tenable, said: "The cyber attack on JBS Foods underscores the susceptibility of critical infrastructure to cyber security vulnerabilities, threats and potential outages.

"It also highlights how attractive these industries have become to cyber criminals as more IT and OT systems converge. If the recent attack on Colonial Pipeline has taught us anything, it's that cyber attacks on critical infrastructure don't only impact the organisation but have society-wide implications that cascade into the geographies and supply chains where the organisation operates.

"Organisations cannot afford to shut down entire operations every time a cyberattack occurs. Instead, OT cybersecurity needs to be recognised as a core ingredient to gain visibility, security and control over critical infrastructure environments in Australia and the rest of the world."

Well-known British security boffin Kevin Beaumont put out the following series of tweets which, while humorous, seem quite relevant.

How ransomware incidents go as a thread, for those who havent dealt with them, day 1 versus day 14:



We will restore from backup!



nobody knows how to restore from backup without Active Directory. Also, we have no backup server or tape library drivers.. or working backups  Kevin Beaumont (@GossiTheDog) June 1, 2021

Hey cant have hit the domain controllers, theyre the highest tier monitoring!



Nobody installed the security products or read the alerts  Kevin Beaumont (@GossiTheDog) June 1, 2021

Well just rebuild peoples laptops!



We have no build server and staff are in 17 countries on ISDN links working from Windows 7 home PCs  Kevin Beaumont (@GossiTheDog) June 1, 2021
Encryption laws and distrust in digital security cited as primary reason for potential economic fallout in Australia, according to the Internet Society.

Encryption is a critical technology that helps keep people, their information and communications private and secure, and is an essential component to a secure and trustworthy Internet.

Currently, the Internet Society says encryption is under threat, with governments around the world creating policies and laws that weaken the use of strong encryption without considering the devastating consequences such legislation could have on the security and privacy of billions of global Internet users.

Today, the Internet Society released a first-of-its-kind assessment examining the potential economic impact of one such policy enacted in Australias Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) 2018, better known as TOLA, which expanded government authority and capabilities to circumvent digital data protection.

Written by Law & Economics Consulting Associates (LECA), the report found that TOLA poses a significant risk of future economic harm to Australias economy, with likely adverse spillovers around the world. Reduced trust in digital services in Australia was identified as the single biggest source for adverse economic effects.

Although this report focuses on an Australian law, these findings underscore the very real unintended consequences of legislation that threatens to undermine strong encryption, said Rajnesh Singh, Regional Vice President Asia-Pacific at the Internet Society, a global nonprofit promoting the open development and use of the Internet.

With similar policies being introduced in other countries, we could potentially see these economic consequences extending globally in addition to compromised security and privacy of billions of people worldwide. It is vital governments take a step back and implement a rigorous assessment of the potential impact of these policies before theyre enacted so that we can avoid potential economic harm.

In addition to developing an economic methodology to assess the economic effect of the law, the authors gathered data on the impact of the TOLA Act through a survey of 79 companies, 54 of which were based in Australia. The researchers also held interviews with representatives from several companies, to gather specific case studies of the effects of the law on their businesses.

According to the report, there are several ways TOLA poses a risk to the Australian economy. First, it increases business uncertainty companies tend not to invest in a country where there is no legal clarity or predictability. Many businesses interviewed for the study said they simply didnt know what steps they needed to take to be compliant with the law

Second, it can harm the brand image of Australian businesses, whose products and services may now be perceived as less secure and trustworthy, since TOLA allows for potential government access to critical customer data at any time. One business estimated that the cost of TOLA, in terms of damage to trust in its brand, could be as much as $AUS 1 billion in current and forecast sales.

But most importantly, the researchers found that the biggest threat TOLA poses is to trust in digital services, including the Internet. The global economy depends fundamentally on digital technology and services, so much so that even the slightest distrust in data security can have long-lasting adverse effects on a countrys economy, across all industries and sectors. While quantifying the exact cost of TOLA on the Australian economy is not feasible with the available data, these findings serve as a stark reminder that Australia risks incurring significant future economic costs.

Australian businesses are the ones who stand to lose the most under the current provisions of TOLA, said co-author George Barker, Director of LECA and an expert in economic analysis of law and regulation

Respondents already expect there to be uncertainty about the law that will affect their bottom line, with lost revenue attributed to customers choosing to take their business where they know their data will be secured. Further uncertainty around data security can also lead global businesses to not invest their resources in Australia, which could also have detrimental effects on the local economy and workforce.

The report, The Economic Impact of Laws that Weaken Encryption, authored by George Barker, William Lehr, Mark Loney, and Douglas Sicker, Law & Economics Consulting Associates (LECA), is now available online here: www.internetsociety.org/resources/doc/2021/the-economic-impact-of-laws-that-weaken-encryption/.



You can learn more about encryption from the Internet Society here, with a useful infographic on encryption here.
With cars, computer and telecommunications irrevocably intertwined in the hyper connected 21st century, it is good to see Daimler and Nokia making peace at last.

Daimler and Nokia announced today that they have signed a patent licensing agreement.

Under the agreement, Nokia licenses mobile telecommunications technology to Daimler and receives payment in return.

The parties have agreed to settle all pending litigation between Daimler and Nokia, including the complaint by Daimler against Nokia to the European Commission.

The terms of the agreement remain confidential as agreed between the parties.

Daimler is one of the world's most successful automotive companies, and sells Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans, Daimler Trucks & Buses and Daimler Mobility divisions, and naturally, it claims to be one of the leading global suppliers of premium and luxury cars and one of the world's largest manufacturers of commercial vehicles.

The company says its efforts are also focused on the intelligent connectivity of its vehicles, autonomous driving and new mobility concepts as Daimler regards it as its aspiration and obligation to live up to its responsibility to society and the environment, and so this deal will allow that process to continue unimpeded by lawyers.
Get unlimited access to all content and features at ivpressonline.com with our Full Online Access Subscription. Read our E-Edition, the digital replica of the print newspaper online, access content in exclusive sections including Family, Teen, Business, Databases, Farm and more. This option does not include daily home delivery of the Imperial Valley Press newspaper. For home delivery service, please select Premium or Premium Plus.
This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
The Southern Way (lots of sugar)

The Yankee Way (no sugar or sweetener)

The Arnold Palmer (lemonade added)

Plantation Iced Tea (with fruit)

Half sweet and half unsweet mixed together.

Unsweet with a no calorie sweetener.

With fruit garnishment such as a lemon or lime.

I drink my iced tea in different way than listed here.

I don't drink iced tea.

Vote

View Results
Jacksonville, TX (75766)

Today

Mostly clear skies early then increasing clouds with some scattered thunderstorms late. Low around 75F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Mostly clear skies early then increasing clouds with some scattered thunderstorms late. Low around 75F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.




Donate Now As a public service during this pandemic, the Jewish News is providing free, unlimited access to all articles. Jewish News is a nonprofit publication that is owned by the community and relies on community support.
Mike has reported on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem's wildlife, wildlands and the agencies that manage them since 2012. A native Minnesotan, he arrived in the West to study environmental journalism at the University of Colorado.


Housekeeping Supervisor - FT/PT - $1000 SIGN ON BONUS

Job Category: Housekeeping

Requisition Number: HOUSE02499 Posting Details

Posted: May 24, 2021

Full-Time

LocationsShowing 1 location

Park City-Stein Eriksen Lodge, UT, USA

Job Details

Description

Five years of Housekeeping experience preferred. Maintain the standards of cleanliness, supplies and product as those standards are defined by management for all types of guestrooms. Inspect guest rooms and public areas for compliance with established cleanliness, maintenance and set-up standards. Must be able to train staff effectively and communicate well. Spanish speaking is helpful but not required. BENEFITS

Stein Eriksen Lodge Management Corporation offers a variety of benefits to meet the needs of our team members and their families. These benefits are a major part of the team member compensation. Recognizing this, it is our goal to offer a benefits package that is comprehensive in design and cost-effective for team members.



ELIGIBILITY FOR BENEFITS VARIES DEPENDING ON POSITION CLASSIFICATION.

You may apply for a position online or in person Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. For more information, please contact our Human Resources Department at (435) 645-6463.

recblid ktmmf2b48xzkqrscck2ceq6vz9mk8n






Connie Owen would love to hear your stories. Call or email her at 734-9512 or connie_owen@msn.com.
Paul Bruun writes weekly about his adventures and misadventures in the great outdoors. Contact him via columnists@jhnewsandguide.com.
For years volunteer coordinator encouraged folks to lace up their boots and pitch in.
Page Content

Joburgs people-centred budget  to the tune of R73.3 billion  is designed to resuscitate quality service delivery in the aftermath of the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic on City coffers.







MMC Matongo adds that the budget is also tailored to boost socio-economic development in Johannesburg.

The Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Finance, Cllr Jolidee Matongo says the approved 2021/22 budget is anchored on the pleas of residents about affordability, the increased need for accelerated service delivery and the reconfiguration of the City's spatial design.MMC Matongo adds that the budget is also tailored to boost socio-economic development in Johannesburg.

A difficult balancing act of our budget has enabled the City to take into account pleas from residents for minimal tariff increases in the finalisation of the proposed rates and tariffs for 2021/22 amidst the Covid-19 economic impact on the livelihoods of residents, he explains.

The City has kept the new annual tariff increases as minimal as possible, with property rates meant to rise by only 2%, which is less than the current property rate charge of 4%.

Water and sanitation go up by 6.8%, which is equal to the pass-through cost from Rand Water. The City will continue providing all residents with free 6kl of water each month.

Refuse collection increases by 4.3%, which is lower than the increase of 5.2% in the current financial year. Electricity tariffs go up by 14.59%, a projection below the 15.09% that Nersa has granted to Eskom.

Cllr Matongo says tariff increases come after the City has already rolled out several relief measures to assist ratepayers struggling to pay their municipal accounts while also extending the benefit period for residents who are on the Expanded Social Package since the hard lockdown.





Relief measures also include the expansion of pensioner rebates and most recently the improved Debt Rehabilitation Programme to cover more beneficiaries, including churches, non-profit organisations and small businesses, he says.

MMC Matongo notes that the budget is also designed to support the Government of Local Unitys rebuilding agenda to transform Johannesburg into a thriving City post the Covid-19 pandemic - through accelerated service delivery, and also the reintroduction of co-production of municipal services with residents.

This is a people-centred budget, which is committed to several infrastructure projects across the City in a bid to revive our local economy and change the face of our communities, he says, adding that the budget will operationalise community service facilities  including shelters for people, particularly children, affected by gender-based violence and address homelessness.





The 2021/2022 budget comprises an operational expenditure of R65.1 billion, with a capital expenditure of R8.2 billion and a three-year capital budget of R25.5 billion to enable the municipality to focus on strategic priority infrastructure turnkey projects in poor areas, including Orange Farm, Ivory Park and Kliptown.

These projects are central to increasing the Citys economic nodes in line with our GDS 2040 strategy on socio-economic and spatial transformation, says Matongo.

The MMC describes the budget as a balancing act of the interests of the people of Johannesburg, the Citys ability to continue delivering quality basic services and the institutions financial sustainability.





The City is faced with multiple challenges of youth unemployment and spatial design concerns that continue to block access to opportunities for underprivileged communities. We have had to prioritise investment in poor areas that also include Eldorado Park, Alexandra, as well as Zandspruit and Meriting, MMC Matongo explains.





The full Budget Speech, which outlines the state of the Citys finances and the 2021/2022 budgetary allocations can be accessed on www.joburg.org.za.


Register with JOC.com and receive 5 free pieces of content for the first thirty days. After thirty days, you will receive 3 pieces of content and after sixty days you will receive 1 piece of content. To receive full access, Subscribe Today . You can also subscribe to our daily newsletter.

Register


National Group Sales Manager

Job Category: Sales

Requisition Number: NATIO02488 Posting Details

Posted: May 13, 2021

Full-Time

LocationsShowing 1 location

Park City-Stein Eriksen Lodge, UT, USA

Job Details

Description

Responsible for generating group revenue through direct solicitation in local and feeder city markets. This position is required to meet or exceed budgeted booking goals; initiate, prospect, and solicit outside calls; generate group revenue via converting inquiries into booking; identify new sources of business through cold calls in geographical territories; initiate sales contracts and ensure distribution to client; perform outside sales calls in select feeder city markets; respond timely to all telephone inquiries and leads; have knowledge for Stein Eriksen Lodge and The Chateaux Deer Valley and competition; conduct creative site inspections; proactively solicit group bookings through calls of past accounts; negotiate group rates in accordance with yield management to maximize revenue with approval from the Director of Revenue; responsible for ensuring information regarding room block, billing et., is communicated to the appropriate departments. BENEFITS

Stein Eriksen Lodge Management Corporation offers a variety of benefits to meet the needs of our team members and their families. These benefits are a major part of the team member compensation. Recognizing this, it is our goal to offer a benefits package that is comprehensive in design and cost-effective for team members.



ELIGIBILITY FOR BENEFITS VARIES DEPENDING ON POSITION CLASSIFICATION.

You may apply for a position online or in person Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. For more information, please contact our Human Resources Department at (435) 645-6463.

recblid ms2k6952e2gmpjtbd02mpw34bd8ryh






Jonesboro, AR (72401)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 75F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 75F. Winds light and variable.


Spa Concierge

Job Category: Spa

Requisition Number: SPACO02481 Posting Details

Posted: May 6, 2021

Full-Time

LocationsShowing 1 location

Park City-Stein Eriksen Lodge, UT, USA

Job Details

Description

Applicants should have the following qualities/accreditations: Excellent communication and organizational skills necessary. Strong interest in the spa and health industry preferred. Intermediate computer skills with the ability to learn new software programs quickly. Personable demeanor with a passion for customer service essential. Previous experience in hospitality, guest services, or Spa/ Salon a plus.

Qualifications

Skills

Preferred

Customer ServiceNovice

CommunicationNovice

Behaviors

Preferred Enthusiastic: Shows intense and eager enjoyment and interest Motivations

Preferred Flexibility: Inspired to perform well when granted the ability to set your own schedule and goals About us BENEFITS

Stein Eriksen Lodge Management Corporation offers a variety of benefits to meet the needs of our team members and their families. These benefits are a major part of the team member compensation. Recognizing this, it is our goal to offer a benefits package that is comprehensive in design and cost-effective for team members.



ELIGIBILITY FOR BENEFITS VARIES DEPENDING ON POSITION CLASSIFICATION.

You may apply for a position online or in person Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. For more information, please contact our Human Resources Department at (435) 645-6463.

recblid bldzgoc1g7nxewo8zv8am6w2dlbi2b






Della A. (Kinkade) McGuire, 85, passed away at 12:15 a.m. on Thursday, June 10th, 2021 at the Presbyterian Manor in Parsons, KS, where she had lived for almost three years. On July 28, 1953, Della married Max E. McGuire. He preceded her in death on January 21, 1999. Della is survived by her 
Sarah Coyne (left), Bright Futures Joplin coordinator, and Brad Schweiss, vice president of manufacturing at Darlington Snacks in Joplin, pose with a box of snacks made by the company. Indiana-based Darlington has partnered Bright Futures Joplin to aid with the Joplin nonprofits snack pack program, which helps ensure students in the Joplin School District have enough to eat when they arent in school.Courtesy | Bright Futures Joplin
Joplin, MO (64801)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 66F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 66F. Winds light and variable.
Town Reporter

Adam joined the JI in November 2020. He graduated in 2019 from the University of Connecticut. He enjoys reading, playing soccer and basketball, as well as piano and drums. He is a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates.
Town Reporter

Olivia covers East Hartford & South Windsor. She joined the JI in March 2019. She graduated from the University of Kansas, and she enjoys running & hanging out with her Manchester terrier, Sophie. Olivia loves journalism because it can change the world.


Sr. iOS Software Engineer, Apps Special Projects Santa Clara Valley (Cupertino) , California , United States Software and Services Summary

Posted: Jun 1, 2021 Role Number: 200252440 We're idealists. Inventors. Forever tinkering with products and processes, always on the lookout for better. Whether you work at our global offices, offsite, or even at home, a job at Apple will be demanding. But it also rewards forward-thinking, creative thinking and hard work. And none of us here would have it any other way. Does an exciting, dynamic, fast paced and pressure-filled environment catch your attention? Do you like puzzles and determining solutions that are not obvious? Terrific! Consider joining us. The Apps Special Projects Team is looking for a Senior iOS Engineer to help us innovate new experiences by enhancing customer well-being. Our team works on the bleeding edge, leveraging Apple's most advanced technologies to create new customer experiences. Our team's unique charter offers special opportunities for creative problem solving and new product innovation. Key Qualifications Passionate about enhancing customer well-being

Strong experience in Swift and Objective-C

Experience with some of the following technologies: UIKit, CoreGraphics, CoreAnimation, SwiftUI

Ability to write performant concurrent code

Talent for cleanly architecting UI features

Passion for quality, attention to detail, and experience with rapid prototyping

Superior ability to identify and resolve complex problems

Excellent communication skills with the ability to work cross-team

Inquisitive and highly-motivated self-starter Description At Apple, we don't just create products. We build the kind of wonder that's revolutionized entire industries. It's the diversity of our people and their ideas that encourages the innovation that runs through everything we do, from amazing technology to industry-leading environmental efforts. Join Apple, and help us leave the world better than we found it. Apple innovates world-changing products. In this role, you will have the opportunity to play a core part in creating something new to help customers live better lives. From Fitness to Screen time, Apple has been making major strides in well being. Help define and innovate Apple's next steps in this key area. To succeed here, you'll need above all to be passionate about building experiences that are the best of its kind. To continue to deliver a rich experience for our users we are looking for someone who is ready to innovate, push the boundaries, and embrace new technologies so that our apps can deliver and present content seamlessly, delighting our users. We're looking for a talented and passionate person to join our amazing team, if you feel this is you, and are excited about what you've read, we'd love to hear from you. Education & Experience Bachelors Degree in Computer Science, Engineering would be nice, but we prioritize innovation, creativity, and hands-on experience developing apps.


As another milestone is reached in Connecticuts crumbling foundation crisis, the federal go

The captive insurance company fixing homes with crumbling foundations has reached another mi

Several area legislators are focused this session mainly on providing relief to individuals 

CONCRETE BILL

WHAT: Extends indefinitely the life of the captive insurance company fixing crumbling foundations, leaving it to the legislature to decide when to terminate it.

INCLUDES: Reporting requirements for quarries, keeping homes at their reassessed value until they are fixed, and allocating $175,000 in existing captive funds to examine how many nonresidential structures are affected.

SURCHARGE: The bill was amended to exclude a provision that would have extended an annual $12 surcharge on certain homeowner insurance policies to 2041.
Classes in the Wilkes County Schools will start on Aug. 23 and end on May 25 in 2021-22 as a result of a calendar approved by the Wilkes Board of Education on Feb. 1.
Ivory Coasts exiled former president Laurent Gbagbo can decide when he returns to the country, the national reconciliation minister said Wednesday.

Gbagbo is a highly controversial figure in Ivory Coast, where he was forced out a decade ago after a civil war that claimed thousands of lives.

His party said on Monday that he would return on June 17, following his acquittal on crimes against humanity charges linked to the civil war.

We have learnt that he is returning on June 17 and we take note of that, minister of national reconciliation Kouadio Konan Bertin told reporters after meeting with Assoa Adou, secretary general of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), Gbagbos political party.

Gbagbo is a free man, acquitted of the crimes against humanity charges by the International Criminal Court, said Konan Bertin.

Its up to him to decide when he returns to his country, he explained, adding that we must now work to ensure that its a peaceful return.

As a former head of state, Gbagbo has a special status and consequently special measures must be taken, including in the matter of security, he said.

 New phase 

Gbagbo was acquitted by the ICC in 2019, and an appeal against that ruling failed in March, opening the way for his return.

Following the acquittal, President Alassane Ouattara authorised Gbagbos return to the country by granting him the status due to his rank as former head of state.

Speculation of when that will be has been building for months, and his supporters say they want to welcome him in triumph.

But the government is in favour of a lower-profile return, wary of potential unrest if tens of thousands of his supporters turn out.

Communications Minister Amadou Coulibaly, who is also government spokesman, said that in order to set a date consensually arrangements must be implemented, notably for Gbagbos safety.

Gbagbos refusal to concede defeat in presidential elections in 2010 triggered a showdown with victor Ouattara and dug a deep rift in the country along north-south lines.

He was arrested in April 2011 and transferred in November that year to the ICC in The Hague.

The pro-Gbagbo camp is portraying their leader as an elder statesman who can calm political waters that reached storm pitch last year.

Scores of people died in election-related violence after Gbagbos erstwhile rival Ouattara announced he would bid for a third term in office  a move that critics said breached the constitution.

Gbagbos return will be the start of a new phase, Assoa Adou said on Monday  an important phase for the future of Ivory Coast, the phase of reconciliation, peace, the reconstruction of our country.
On Tuesday, Joe Biden became the first American president to visit the ruins of Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1921, hundreds of black Americans were massacred there by white mobs. He said that the United States must recover from the most serious incident of racism. Lessons learned in one. Violent incidents in the countrys history.

The Democratic Party stated Centenary of the Holocaust By meeting with the few remaining survivors of violence.

This is not a riot, this is a massacre, Biden said in a speech to the survivors and their descendants. (This is) one of the worst events in our history-but not the only one, and has been forgotten by our history for a long time.

As soon as this happened, we wanted to erase it from our collective memory For a long time, the schools in Tulsa didnt even teach it, let alone schools elsewhere.

On May 31 and June 1, 1921, white residents of Tulsa shot and killed as many as 300 black people, and burned and looted houses and businesses after a white woman accused a black man of assault. One allegation has never been confirmed.

The rampage destroyed the African-American community in Greenwood, which was very prosperous at the time, and it was called Black Wall Street. Historians say that 10,000 people were homeless in the early days.

But the insurance company does not bear the losses, and no one has been charged for the violence.

Biden said that the legacy of racist violence and white supremacy continues to resonate in the United States.

We should know the good, the bad, everything. This is what great nations do, he said. They accepted their dark side. We are a great country.

Biden said that the fatal attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and the efforts of some states to restrict voting rights are echoes of the same issue.

Biden said: What happened in Greenwood was an act of hatred and domestic terrorism. Today there is a straight line.

Biden said that earlier this year, a far-right supporter of then President Donald Trump reminded a survivor of the attack. Stormed into the parliament building And Congress is proving that Biden will win the 2020 election.

Earlier, the White House announced a series of Policy measures against racial inequality, Including plans to invest tens of billions of dollars in communities suffering from persistent poverty like Greenwood, and efforts to combat housing discrimination.

The families of the affected Oklahoma residents have asked for financial compensation, and Biden only promised to further study this measure.

Biden said that his government will soon announce measures to combat hate crimes and white supremacist violence. He said the intelligence community has concluded that this is the most deadly threat to the motherland.

Vote

He also commissioned Vice President Kamala Harris (Kamala Harris) to lead his governments efforts to oppose Republican Party restrictions on voting rights. Kamala Harris was the first black and Asian American to hold that position.

Several Republican-led states believe that election security needs to be strengthened. Voting restrictions on approved or proposed, Biden and other Democrats said this is designed to make it more difficult for black voters to vote.

Biden said, There has been an unprecedented attack on our democracy, and vowed to fight for the rights of voters. This sacred right has been attacked more strongly than ever before.

On June 1, at the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Genocide in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Pastor Al Sharpton spoke to survivors Hughes Van Ellis and Vio at a rally. Tribute to La Fletcher [Brandon Bell/Getty Images via AFP]

Biden was the victim of Tulsa after meeting with three people Viola Fletcher, Hughes Van Ellis and Lacey Benningfield Randall who lived in Greenwood during the Holocaust A moment of silence.

Now, survivors between the ages of 101 and 107 have spoken to Congress earlier this year, demanding justice and the countrys recognition of their suffering.They are also parties Prosecution against state and local officials seeking remedies for the Holocaust, including the establishment of a victim compensation fund.

In 2001, a committee specializing in this tragedy concluded that the Tulsa authorities themselves had armed some white thugs and recommended compensation.

The mayor of Tulsa this week formally apologized for the citys failure to protect the community.

Biden did not answer reporters questions about whether the president should formally apologize for the killing.

The president supports research on compensation, but believes that the first task before us is to eradicate systemic racism, said spokesman Karin Jean-Pierre.

Racial liquidation

Biden, who is popular among black Americans, went to Tulsa during the racial reconciliation in the United States. Since last year, the momentum of such reconciliation has increased. Murder of George Floyd, A black man choked to death under the knee of a white policeman in Minneapolis, sparking protests across the country and elsewhere in the world.

Biden regards addressing racial inequality as a key platform for his 2020 campaign, and has been doing so since taking office. Last week, on the anniversary of Freuds death, he met with Freuds family and is pushing for the passage of the police reform bill named after Freud.

But Bidens record on race issues is complicated. He came under fire in the 2020 campaign against the school bus program that helped integrate American schools in the 1970s. He also initiated the 1994 Crime Act, which civil rights experts said led to an increase in mass incarceration, and defended his work with two southern segregationist senators during his tenure in the United States Senate.

His visit on Tuesday is in stark contrast to a year ago, when Trump, a Republican who criticized black life issues and other racial justice movements, planned to hold a political rally in Tulsa on June 19.June 15 1865 celebrated the anniversary of the end of slavery in the United States. The rally was postponed due to criticism.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, once a stronghold of the slave-owning state and the Ku Klux Klan, racial differences are still obvious.

There is a clear inequality between the north (mostly black) and south (mostly white) of Tulsa.

When US President Joe Biden visited Tulsa to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre in 1921, a girl looked out from the crowd, hoping to see him [Lawrence Bryant/Reuters]

Local activist Christie Williams is a descendant of some Holocaust victims. She told AFP that she hoped Biden would treat us right.

100 years have passed and we have been negatively affected, from housing and economic development to our land being occupied, she said. This country, now has the opportunity to correct this mistake.

In recent years, the publics awareness of the Tulsa killings has increased. They have not been taught in history classes for decades, and the newspapers have not reported these incidents.

It is necessary for us to share the major flaws of the past and inequality with each generation, said Frances Jordan-Rakestraw, executive director of the Greenwood Cultural Center, which is about a visit to Biden Museum of the Holocaust.
Chinas runaway economic recovery was so successful that it caused power shortages in dozens of manufacturing and industrial centers in the south of the country.

The factories in Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan and other cities are famous for producing global consumer goods and high technology product, Has been ordered to use less electricity, and even shut down one to three days a week to reduce power shortages.

Klaus Zenkel, president of the European Chamber of Commerce in South China, said that about 100 companies of the organization were affected, and further shortages could adversely affect foreign investment in the region.

After the economic recovery after the pandemic, the company was very busy with a lot of orders Now some people are required to close three days a week. This is very unreasonable, Zenkel said. This is an infrastructure issue that needs to be addressed immediately.

As other economies struggle to resume growth, the record demand for electricity from factories and industries has surpassed the supply in Guangdong Province, where these cities are located. The high temperature and low rainfall in Yunnan have exacerbated this problem, and Guangdong is partially dependent on hydropower.

The analyst said, Central governments carbon emission target It also made local governments reluctant to expand their reliance on coal-fired power generation, forcing officials to curtail electricity.

With Chinas carbon plan local governments are very nervous about the use of coal and thermal power, said Guo Dan, a partner at Plenum China Research.

Said Lara Dong of data provider IHS Markit Coal import restrictions Domestic production is also a factor in the shortage.

After China Southern Power Grid said on Saturday that 21 cities and regions in Guangdong will be included in rationing or restricted use, the factory worried that it would not be able to complete orders in time. Companies must restrict power supply, otherwise their power will be cut off.

Wang, the manager of an electronics factory in Dongguan, said that during the days of 36 degrees Celsius, employees were sweating profusely because they could not turn on air conditioners and fans without violating power restrictions.

Respected

Im really worried now. I dont know how to explain [that their orders would be late], he told the Financial Times. He said that the power shortage has reduced the efficiency of his factory by 20% to 30%.

China has experienced one of the fastest economic recovery in the world since Covid-19, mainly driven by its industrial and manufacturing sectors.Its economy has grown 18.3% in the first quarter of 2021 Compared with the same period last year, although the growth rate was boosted by the low base in early 2020.

The power company said that from January to April, the electricity consumption of a group of cities in Guangdong Province, which borders Hong Kong and Macau and is called the Greater Bay Area, increased by nearly 30% year-on-year.

Chinese provinces are under pressure to reduce energy intensity-carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP- The efforts of the central government It will reach its peak carbon emissions by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2060.

Dong said that as the province approaches the expected peak demand in July or August, there is a risk of more rationing.

Additional coverage of Liu Qianer from Shenzhen and Emma Zhou from Beijing
China Hong Kong  In the past 20 years, the Civil Rights Front has mobilized some of the largest protest marches allowed by the Hong Kong police, but they are now accused of illegal activities by the authorities.

The Hong Kong University Student Union, the alma mater of the founding father of modern China, is being expelled by the government.

As the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre approached, all but one of the leaders of the alliance who organized the annual candlelight vigil was imprisoned.

Hong Kong has long been the home of a vibrant and powerful civil society, and it formed its place in the 10 years before the region returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

But only one year after Beijing implemented the National Security Law  the law criminalized activities deemed to divide the country, subvert and collude with foreign powers  the Chinese Communist Party regards it as a threat and subversive activity to its rule The hotbed, the pressure is great.

The Hong Kong Coalition, which supports Chinas patriotic democratic movement, is a typical example of such threats. The coalition has vowed for decades to overthrow the Communist-led government.

Even though almost all coalition leaders are in jail and awaiting trial, Vice Chairman Zhou Hengdong said that she has no plans to back down.

Once we give in by an inch, the authorities will pull the red line closer, she said.

Holding the line

Although most civil society in Hong Kong has historically been apolitical, the establishment of the Beijing Student Movement Aid League in 1989 marked a watershed.

A supporter in court this week, holding a cell phone, showed that 47 pro-democracy activists were accused of subverting the primary elections to select their candidates for the 2020 Legislative Council elections, but were subsequently postponed [Vincent Yu/AP Photo]

The organization began a large-scale grassroots mobilization in the British colonies at the time, and at this time more politically conscious people also began to agitate for direct elections.

In the first few years after the handover, political parties have flourished, and it is hoped that Beijing will fulfill its promise to eventually implement universal suffrage for the highest office in Hong Kong.

In 2003, an umbrella organization of civil society-the Civil Human Rights Front-emerged due to popular opposition to Article 23 (the national security legislation to be promulgated by the Hong Kong legislature).

In 2019, the frontline helped millions of protesters take to the streets and overturned widely feared legislation allowing suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial.

However, in the past few weeks, police investigations on the front line have triggered mass departures of its member groups, and at least two main conveners have been accused of organizing primary elections to select candidates for democratic legislation and organizing marches in 2019. detention.

Nevertheless, due to the postponement of legislative elections and the political measures supported by Beijing further diluting the representation of the people, Hong Kongs pro-democracy activists hope that civil society will stick to it.

Alan Liang, chairman of the Civic Party, said: Even if we are deprived of the right to campaign, if the Chinese Communist Party allows us, we can still play a role in civil society.

In April, Liang rejected the public request of four disqualified legislators from the party  all of whom were charged with criminal charges  to dissolve for safety.

Last year, pro-democracy members withdrew from the Legislative Council after some elected members were disqualified and accused of endangering national security [File: Anthony Wallace/AFP]

In response, the party, which has more than 500 members, including many lawyers, reiterated its goal of continuing to fight for social justice on its official Facebook page.

The partys legal ideology also discussed with non-governmental organizations on how to overcome the political minefield created by the National Security Law.

Ear to ground

Outside of politics, the citys civil society still proves to be flexible and indispensableespecially in times of crisis.

Social mobilization has its status and value, said Edmund Cheng, a political scientist at City University of Hong Kong, who published research with several other scholars to explore how civil society acted when the pandemic began early last year.

Civil groups often pay attention to the ground, so they are good at providing social services and public products.

However, as Tai Wei Lim, a part-time researcher at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore discovered, the political reality is still that non-liberal regimes in the Asia-Pacific region always seek to contain civil society as a control tool.

In order to survive, civil society must align their goals with those of the central government and be willing to be wooed on certain issues, Lin told Al Jazeera.

Lin said that the most likely scenario is that Hong Kong people turn their struggles into non-institutional forms through personal networks or overseas activities.

Mutual aid groups have emerged to provide assistance to political exiles and immigrant communities in Britain and Taiwan.

Our advantage is that our network is stronger, with more connections, international connections and exposure, said Chow of the alliance. So, I hope our civil society can be more resilient.

This years vigil was once again banned, and organizers urged people to light candles wherever they are. [File: Vincent Yu/AP Photo]

Having said that, Zhou believes that Hong Kongs civil society will prove to be stronger than the sum of its parts: every public position is magnified.

Although the government banned Tiananmens night vigil for the second year in a row, organizers are still urging people to light candlesin memory of the thousands of people believed to have been killed in Beijing in 1989, and democracy itself.

In 30 years, this is the strongest sign of resistance, Zhou said. If it is only iconic, the regime will not suppress it so hard.
Why was LIL LOADED arrested?

Lil Loaded, born in November 2020 DeShawn Morris Robertson, Was arrested and charged with the murder of his 18-year-old friend Khalia Walker.

Loaded was indicted in March 2021 on charges of manslaughter caused by death at the age of 18.

Police said the young rapper shot Walker in the torso with a rifle outside a house near Dallas Wood. Texas, October 25, 2020.

A police affidavit stated that when two shots were fired, two men and a witness named Cameron Walker were outside Walkers house.

Walkers sister Khija was inside the house and ran outside to see her brother laying on the street with a gunshot wound to the torso, Lil Loaded and Cameron standing beside him. One of them yelled at her to call 911.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia  The premiere of Roh (soul in Malay) of Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar, this is a supernatural demon horror film and the first feature film of Malaysian director Emir Ezwan. With a new wave of low-cost horror works, international achievements are in Southeast Asia.

Roh made his global debut on June 1st, shooting in the Dengkil forest south of Kuala Lumpur within two weeks, with a budget of 360,000 ringgits (88,500 US dollars). It debuted on theater screens in Malaysia and Singapore in August 2020, just before the new wave of COVID-19 infections closed theaters.

At the 93rd Academy Awards held in April, the National Film Development Corporation of Malaysia (FINAS) selected Roh Moo-hyun as an unlikely choice to represent this narrow country in the international feature film category, which first attracted the attention of the film industry.

Despite being nominated for film festivals in the United States, Italy, Singapore and Indonesia, Roh Moo-hyun did not make the long list of Oscars. But it has joined the list of movies inspired by Southeast Asian nightmares, which are attracting the attention of industry participants and horror fans around the world and bringing recognition to the grassroots film industry in the region.

Unconventional Demon

Roh is an unforgettable story about a demon possessed by a demon who took place on the edge of a tropical rainforest during the war. A broken family welcomes a strange girl covered in mud and blood into their home. When she finally speaks after a few days of eerie silence, her terrible curse will mark the beginning of her entry into true hell.

Emir Ezwan and the staff are on the set during the filming of Roh [Courtesy of Kuman Films]

This movie stands out because of its fusion of Islamic folklore and Malay black magic, atmospheric rainforest environment and old-world Malay costumes. The famous British film director Edgar Wright once praised Roh on Twitter in March as a great thing, including 2004s Sean of the Dead.

Amir Muhammad (Amir Muhammad), an independent publisher of Malay-language pulp fiction, said: The deal with Netflix (with the exception of North America worldwide) was achieved thanks to our sales agent TBA Studios in the Philippines. The European film market has since represented Roh. and English, film director and managing director of Kuman Films in Kuala Lumpur, to Al Jazeera.

Roh is the second and most successful four films of the production company, including James Lees Mandarin psychological horror film Two Sisters (2019) and Prem Naths Iruul: Ghost Hotel (2021). Irul may be the first horror film discovered in Tamil in Southeast Asia and around the world.

Amir is now very happy to see the reaction of audiences around the world to Lu. He told Al Jazeera: We never expected it to happen, but fans in Spain and Portugal have posted a lot of tweets about it.

Bloody innovation

Thomas Barker, a lecturer in film and television at the University of Nottingham, Malaysia, and author of the book Indonesian Films After the New Order: Going to the Mainstream, said: Southeast Asian filmmakers are innovating a genre that is already a bit old in the West. There are familiar metaphors, storylines and monsters, he told Al Jazeera.

Supernatural folklore has long inspired generations of writers, directors and artists in Southeast Asia. Ghost stories are a firmly established genre that has become a bestseller and blockbuster.

Some of the most famous monsters originated from the ancient animistic beliefs shaped by Hindu-Buddhist cosmology and later Islam, including pontianak-known as kuntilanak in Indonesia-a carnivorous creature, A person appeared after death. A pregnant woman during childbirth is usually portrayed as a beautiful young woman who likes blood.

Then there is toyol, an undead baby that resembles an imp, which can be summoned by shamans to help perform black magic rituals. In Malaysia, orang minyak (oil man) is a humanoid creature coated with smooth black grease. Kidnapping and rape of young women. Perhaps the weirdest thing is Penang Island, a female vampire whose head and tail organs are still attached to her severed neck. It will chase menstrual blood at night.

Barker believes that as companies such as Netflix, HBO, and Disney+ increasingly look for new and competitive content to attract regional audiences, the movies and TV series they can source from countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines are also very attractive. , Because their production cost is lower than similar European or Australian products.

Streaming media platforms have made the world a big market where everyone can watch any movie from any country, including Indonesia. I can only be grateful for that, director Joko Anwar (Joko Anwar) , He is one of the leading figures in the current wave of terror in Indonesia, told Al Jazeera. His 2017 film Pengabdi Setan (Slave of Satan) is a loose remake of the 1980 Sisworo Gautama Putra classic film of the same name. It is the highest-grossing horror film in Indonesias history and has been released in 42 countries and regions. .

Ride the wind and waves

Satans Slave has aroused international curiosity about horror films in Indonesia and other regions. These horror films lack the budget of well-known Korean films and are often regarded as derivative, junk movies.

Joko Anwar (right) in Satans slave studio [Courtesy of Joko Anwar]

However, international horror fans who missed the classic European and North American horror films of the late 1970s and 1980s praised Southeast Asian films for their similar production processesfast and cheapand their overly top-notch blood. Their unfamiliar characters and original environment use the regions rich and little-known ghost folklore to add additional fresh air to the saturated global horror film industry.

Jokos latest film, Perempuan Tanah Jahanam (distributed internationally as Impetigore), won 17 nominations and 6 victories at the Citra Awards at the top Indonesian film festival, and then screened at the Sundance Film Festival in the United States. It was also nominated as the official film of this years Oscars in Indonesia, and was listed as one of the best international films of 2020 by the influential horror news portal Bloody Disgusting.

Immediately after this success, Impetigore was selected and distributed by the American terrorist streaming giant Shudder, which is a digital platform owned by the theater chain AMC. The Indonesian horror film that also hit the U.S. market is Queen of Black Magic (Ratu Ilmu Hitam, 2019, a remake of Liliek Sudjios Indonesian cult film in 1981), directed by Kimo Stamboel, written by Joko, and May the Timo Tjahjantos  The devil takes you away.

Timo will soon direct the upcoming remake of the 2016 Korean Zombie Apocalypse blockbuster Train to Busan, which will be screened in Hollywoods new line theaters. The screenwriter Gary Dauberman will star in the Annabel trilogy. Im obviously very happy to work with such a great horror writer. If you compare the original train to Busan as a ballet, it will be a hardcore mosh pit dance, Timo told Al Jazeera.

Timo is excited about the success of Indonesian horror films, but he also believes that the industry is not growing fast enough, and there is still a long way to go to beat the big wave of Korean movie magic that people like me can only awe in.

Timo said that when the situation improved, COVID-19 also dealt a heavy blow to the local film industry. I am a realist and love fans and excitement, but I feel that sometimes we have to go beyond the hype and realize that we are not doing our best here yet.

Local panic

For Thomas Barker, the localization of plots and scenes is the key to the success of this genre. By drawing on local folklore and experience, while also being deeply aware of the global horror genre, filmmakers are bringing new ideas, including new types of monsters and monsters, he told Al Jazeera.

An example is Jokos Impetigore, which tells the story of the Mayans, played by Tara Basro, a young and impoverished Jakarta woman who decides to return to her ancestral village Harjosari to pursue what she believes is hidden family wealth. She soon learned that her fathers legacy was of a more pathological nature-this legacy was not only directly derived from Indonesias ghostly folklore, but also from its cultural traditions, such as wayang kulit (Javanese shadow play) .

Its not a choice, its natural, Joko said. I grew up reading and being told about this type of folklore. It is even taught in Indonesian textbooks.

Another recent Malaysian low-budget horror film, director Ray Lees Belaban Hidup  Infeksi Zombie (2021) will bring the uniqueness of Dayak culture to East Malaysia and Kalimantan, Indonesia on the island of Borneo. Indigenous peoples-famous for their former headhunters-transformed into the worlds first zombie movie set in the Dayak tribe. Dayak is the general term for aboriginal people, including Iban and Bida friends.

Belaban Hidup tells the story of a secret organization that moved from Madagascar to Borneo to establish a fake clinic and continue to experiment on humans. When a group of imprisoned orphans found a way to escape, they released a large group of carnivorous zombies in the nearby tropical rainforest, and the local tribes were involved in the struggle. My movie wants to promote Dayak culture, language and habitat to the world, Li told Al Jazeera.

This theme undoubtedly helped the film win 13 awards at film festivals from Singapore to Canada, the most recent being the Russian International Horror Film Festival and the Asian Cinematography Awards in the Philippines.

Still life from Roh.This film is set in the Malaysian forest and was shot in the south of Kuala Lumpur [courtesy of Kuman Films]

When the people of West Malaysia still dont know much about the Dayaks, many international awards prove how the world is curious to see their beautiful and unique culture, Li said.

Belaban Hidup is still struggling to find an official distributor in Malaysia. As part of the governments latest total lockdown, cinemas have been closed to curb the surge in COVID-19 cases.

But thanks to the opportunities offered by international movie streaming platforms, the future of Southeast Asian horror movies still seems to flourish.

The movie version will not be due to additional marketing costs and standard operating procedures for the coronavirus, and will anyway limit the feasibility of audience numbers this year, Amir Mohamed told Al Jazeera. It would be nice to go back to a widescreen release, but at least for our next two films, Screaming Sky and Pride, we are definitely only focusing on the streaming premieres.
If you already subscribe to our eEdition edition, sign up for FREE access to our online edition. Thanks for reading the El Campo Leader News.
The release of the Virginia Military Academys report coincides with the continuing efforts of the US military to eliminate racism and sexual assault.

A well-known U.S. military organization failed to resolve issues of institutional racism and gender discrimination, including Sexual assaultAccording to a report released on Tuesday, the report urges the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) to take responsibility for making long-term changes.

This 145-page report (PDF) Was compiled by the independent law firm Barnes & Thornburg at the request of the Virginia Higher Education Commission, stating that racial slander and jokes are not uncommon and facilitated an atmosphere of hostility towards minorities.

A white student was quoted as saying that he heard the n-words spoken by other white students as many as 10 times a day from different people. This is not an exaggeration.

According to the report, sexual assault is also common but has not been adequately addressed in the VMI. A survey also found that 14% of female trainees reported being sexually assaulted, while 63% of female trainees said that a trainee had told them that they were a victim of sexual assault.

The report also pointed out the subject of distrust of VMIs ability to effectively investigate sexual assaults reported by the trainees.

The racist and misogynistic behaviors and results found in this investigation are disturbing, it said. Although VMI does not clearly implement a racist or sexist policy, the facts reflect the overall culture of racism and sexism.

The 2021 class of the Virginia Military Academy was watched at the command change parade and ceremony held at the school in Lexington, Virginia [File: Steve Helber/AP Photo]

The entire U.S. military has raised similar concerns, and they are trying to eliminate Racism symbol And named from its base and dealt with the sexual assault in its team.US President Joe Biden ordered a review of the militarys sexual assault policy in January and promised to confront The scourge of sexual assault In the armed forces.

VMI was founded in 1839 in Lexington, a historic town in the Shenandoah Valley in western Virginia. The school educates General George Patton and General George Marshall. But the agency is also History of National Racism And gender discrimination.

A prominent Confederate General Stonewall Jackson StatueThose who taught at the school were not dismissed until December. VMI did not accept African Americans until 1968, or did not accept women until the 1996 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The report stated that the VMI has already begun to make changes, but it also stated that the institute only if it is forced to do so will it be possible to implement its promised reforms.

The results of the survey were obtained after a survey that lasted for several months Democratic Governor Ralph Northam After the Washington Post reported that black students and alumni faced relentless racism at the institute, other state government officials.

In a statement, VMIs first black superintendent and retired U.S. Army Major General Cedric T Wins stated that the school does not allow racism and sexism, and after deeply researching school policies An action plan was developed.

VMI head Cedric T Wins speaks to the class of 2021 in Lexington, Virginia, May 14 [File: Steve Helber/AP Photo]

Wins stated that the reports recommendations will be evaluated through the VMI mission and our unique educational approach, and integrated where appropriate.

Because of this chapter in our history, the institute will move forward and become better, he said.

In anticipation of the publication of the report, VMI issued a statement acknowledging the incident of racism and stated that the school will not be able to fulfill its mission of cultivating educated and honorable men and women if racism or prejudice is allowed to go out of control.

VMI highlighted its recent efforts to address these issues, including the establishment of a committee focused on diversity, equity and inclusion in October. It also stated that it will soon hire its first chief diversity officer and create a student-led cultural awareness training program.
Due to a rebound in business investment and a surge in iron ore exports, the Australian economy has fully recovered from the Covid-19 recession, with an increase of 1.8% in the first three months of 2021 over the previous quarter.

The better-than-expected growth means that the current economy is 0.8% larger than before the coronavirus was first detected in China in December 2019. Promote Australia has become a select group of countries that has continued to grow and develop in the past 15 months.

But economists warned that the countrys slow introduction of vaccines and the Covid-19 outbreak in Melbourne forced Victoria to implement a lockdown, which poses a risk to economic recovery and will curb economic growth.

Kristian Kolding, an economist at Deloitte Access Economics, said: Australia is a rare sight here. Only five other countries can have a larger economy than before the pandemic. We achieved this goal, and at the same time Keep the number of Covids below almost anywhere else.

Respected

The Australian authorities successful suppression of Covid-19 and stimulus measures boosted business confidence, prompting a 5.3% increase in private investment in the March quarter.

Commercial investment was driven by machinery and equipment growth of 11.6%, which was the largest increase since the December 2009 quarter. Housing investment increased by 6.4% from the previous quarter.

On an annual basis, the GDP grew by 1.1%.economic growing up Compared with the September quarter, the December quarter was 3.2%.

The soaring prices of commodities, especially iron ore, fueled Australias recovery, and the terms of trade-a measure of export prices relative to import prices-rose by 7.4% in the first quarter. This prompted Australias current account surplus to reach a record A$18.3 billion (US$14.2 billion) in the March quarter.

Canberras call for an investigation into Chinas origins has triggered trade tensions with China Covid-19 broke out in Wuhan, Failed to curb exports because Beijing could not obtain alternative supplies of steelmaking raw materials.

Respected

According to research by Deloitte Access Economics, since the outbreak of Covid-19, only Australia, China, Chile, Romania, South Korea and Lithuania have experienced economic growth. It said that the economies of OECD countries (a group of wealthy countries) were on average 2.7% smaller than before the pandemic.

However, the virus remains a challenge. On Wednesday, the authorities extended a seven-day lockdown on Melbourne to control a cluster, and of the estimated 40 million jabs required to cover the countrys 25 million people, only 4.4 million were executed.

University of Tasmania researcher Saul Eslake (Saul Eslake) said: The relative economic performance of countries will depend more than any other factor on the rate at which the population is vaccinated.

In this regard, we are far behind the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and even most of continental Europe. Therefore, there is no guarantee that we will maintain a leading position.
Britains goal is to sign the first major post-Brexit trade agreement with Australia shortly after the upcoming G7 summit, as a major Pacific trade group formally approved Britains application to start negotiations.

Senior Whitehall officials stated that negotiations between the UK and Australia are nearing completion, and a provisional agreement was drawn within the week starting on June 14 after the Cornwall G7 summit. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will attend a gathering of Western leaders as a guest of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on June 12.

On Wednesday, the Comprehensive Progress Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) approved the United Kingdom to begin the negotiations, further indicating that a trade agreement with Australia is about to be finalized. A person close to the negotiations described the agreement with Canberra as an important stepping stone, which is a founding member of the Group of Eleven.

A senior insider in Downing Street confirmed that Morrison will stay in the UK for bilateral talks with Johnson one week after the G7 meeting.

People close to each other said they hope that the leaders of the two countries will agree in principle to the Anglo-Australia agreement. An official said: Everyone hopes it will happen by then. This will be the first major trade agreement after Brexit. It is not an extension of the existing agreement enjoyed by the United Kingdom as a member of the European Union.

The signing of the Anglo-Australia trade agreement will be seen as the political gospel of Liz Truth, the British Secretary of State for International Trade, and will consolidate her reputation as one of the rising stars of the Conservative Party.But it also has risks political Some cabinet members worried that this would trigger strong opposition from British farmers. They warned that if their Australian counterparts were granted duty-free access to the British market, it would cause serious damage.

According to Conservative Home, a website favored by the partys grassroots, the 45-year-old is at the top of its rankings. Rank Served as cabinet minister for four consecutive months. The website reports that she has a net approval rating of 89 points among its members.

ConHomes editor Paul Goodman said: Its difficult for a member like a minister to play a role in politics. But Leeds has been reaching a large number of trade agreements. The fact that almost all of this has been reversed does not exist. Does not exist either.

Terrass growing image and eager use of social media have caught the attention of some of her colleagues, who some call it enthusiastic self-promotion. Another senior Conservative party said that this behavior made them doubt whether the Ministry of International Trade should be renamed the Instagramming Truss Ministry.

A senior DIT official warned that the sensitivity of agricultural issues means that the UK will not rush to reach an agreement with Australia. We are in the final stage, but one of the sticking points is agriculture, the person said. If you have to postpone a transaction in order to make the right transaction, then so be it.

People familiar with the negotiations said that the transition period for the introduction of new trade terms is another sticking point. Australia is reluctant to wait 10 or 15 years to implement the agreement, said a senior British official.

Despite Truths fanfare, the free trade agreement with Australia has little impact on the British economy. The governments own estimates indicate that it will increase GDP by an additional 0.01% to 0.02% within 15 years.

In the 12 months to March 2021, the United Kingdom exported approximately 4.5 billion pounds worth of goods to Australia, 139 billion pounds to the EU, and 45 billion pounds to the United States.

Services exports in 2020 are slightly higher, at 5.4 billion pounds. But last years total exports of goods and services still accounted for only 1.7% of the total UK exports, making Australia the 14th largest export destination for the UK. In 2020, Australias goods and services accounted for less than 1% of total UK imports.

Like the Australian deal, Truss is also eagerly pursued The members of the CPTPP, which include fast-growing economies such as Mexico, Malaysia, and Vietnam, and mature regional players such as Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, are the Johnson administrations post-Brexit Global Britain agenda.

The UK moved quickly and submitted an application to join the European Union within a few weeks after the Brexit transition period that ended in December.

Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan welcomed the start of the UKs accession to the negotiations. He said on Twitter: By joining a high-quality, ambitious economy, the economic and strategic weight of theCPTPP will be strengthened.

Truss said that it is good news that the joining process has begun, describing the CPTPP as a vibrant free trade zone. Truss added that the British plan will be submitted to Parliament before formal negotiations begin.

In addition to setting the negotiation objectives of the CPTPP negotiations, the government also intends to issue an assessment of the economic impact of Britains accession to the European Union.

Professor Michael Gasiorek, Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory, University of Sussex, caveat The bargaining power here is mainly in the hands of CPTPP countries. For these countries, the UK market is not very important.

He also pointed out that in bilateral negotiations, the United Kingdom can obtain a better agreement than the many service exceptions in the CPTPP. He concluded that in general the economic benefits of Britains accession to the CPTPP do not seem to be high.

In the 12 months ending in March 2021, the UKs merchandise exports to 11 CPTPP members were worth 25 billion pounds, accounting for 8% of the total UK merchandise exports and more than five times the export to the EU.
Ontario Governor Doug Ford will join Education Secretary Stephen Lecce and Health Secretary Christine Elliott at 1 p.m. to announce that CBC News will broadcast the press conference.

Ontario Governor Doug Ford and Education Secretary Stephen Lecce may announce on Wednesday afternoon whether the school will reopen face-to-face learning for the remainder of the school year.

On Monday, Ford said that his government is reviewing Letter for comments issued last Thursday From a series of expert groups, including public health officials and teachers unions.

On Wednesday, two sources told CBC/Radio-Canada that, as the Toronto Star first reported earlier this week, Ford opposed the reopening of schools before September.

Ford will meet with his cabinet on Wednesday morning and plans to speak to the media with Lecce and Minister of Health Christine Elliott in Queens Park at 1 pm

As the infection rate of COVID-19 soared during the third wave of pandemic, students in Ontario have been studying remotely since April 19.
HARAMBE PIC auctioned as NFT

Photos of Harambe, the infamous gorilla who was shot dead at the American zoo, are being auctioned as a non-fungible token (NFT) to commemorate the fifth anniversary of his death.

This popular primate was brutally killed on May 28, 2016, when a three-year-old boy fell into his enclosure.

Now, the image of the notorious Harambe enjoying his first day in the fence of the Cincinnati Zoo will be bid for digital ownership.

NFT allows people to obtain ownership of digital content, such as memes, videos, images, or tweets, at a certain price.

According to the auction organizer, after his death triggered a wave of memes, it has been shared more than 5 billion times online.

The legendary portrait of the beloved gorilla was sold as an NFT after the Disaster Girl meme was sold for 341,000 and the Charlie Bites My Finger video received a whopping 538,000 in auction.
The White House stated that Brazils JBS SA has told the US government that the companys ransomware attack disrupted meat production in North America and Australia, and it originated from a criminal organization that may be based in Russia.

JBS, the worlds largest meat processor, said on Tuesday night that it has made significant progress in addressing cyber attacks. According to a statement, the companys most beef, pork, poultry and prepared food plants will begin operations on Wednesday, alleviating concerns about rising food prices.

Last month, a Russian-linked organization launched a cyber attack on the United States largest fuel pipeline colonization pipeline, which paralysed fuel delivery in the southeastern United States for several days.

According to union officials, JBS stopped cattle slaughter at all of its US factories on Tuesday. On Monday, the attack caused the closure of Australian operations.

JBS USA CEO Andre Nogueira (Andre Nogueira) said: Our system is back online, we will not waste any resources to fight this threat.

JBS North American operations are headquartered in Greeley, Colorado, and control approximately 20% of the cattle and pig slaughter capacity in the United States.

White House spokesperson Karin Jean-Pierre said that the United States has contacted the Russian government and the FBI is investigating.

The White House is in direct contact with the Russian government on this matter and is sending a message that responsible countries do not harbor ransomware criminals, Jean-Pierre said.

Price increased

JBS sells beef and pork under the Swift brand, and retailers such as Costco Wholesale Corp sell pork tenderloin and tenderloin. JBS also owns the majority of shares in Pilgrims Pride Co, a chicken processor that sells organic chicken under the Just Bare brand.

The continued closure of the JBS plant may further increase meat prices for American consumers during the summer barbecue season and disrupt meat exports when Chinese demand is strong.

John Hultquist, a threat researcher at security company FireEye, said: The supply chains, logistics, and transportation that keep our society functioning are particularly vulnerable to ransomware attacks. Attacks on choke points can have a huge impact and encourage hasty payments.

Industry analysts said the interruption soon had an impact on Tuesday. According to estimates by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of cattle slaughtered by American meat processors is 22% less than a week ago and 18% less than a year ago. Pork processing has also declined.

The USDA stated that the prices of select and select US beef shipped in large boxes to wholesale buyers have both increased by more than 1%.

According to a statement, the USDA contacted several major meat processors to encourage them to keep the supply flowing and slaughter more livestock if possible. The agency also urges meat processors to increase the durability of their IT and supply chain infrastructure.

A White House official said that federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Homeland Security, are closely monitoring meat and poultry supplies. The official said that these agencies also cooperate with agricultural processors to ensure that there is no price manipulation due to cyber attacks.

Cancel shift

JBS stated that it suspended all affected systems and notified the authorities that the backup server was not affected. A representative of Sao Paulo stated that this has no effect on Brazilian business.

The company stated that Sundays cyber attack affected its IT systems in North America and Australia. It will take time to resolve the incident, which may delay certain transactions with customers and suppliers.

As China increases imports, animal feed costs rise, and slaughterhouses face a shortage of workers, US beef and pork prices have risen. Analysts said that any further impact on consumers will depend on the timing of the closure of the JBS plant.

JBS Beef of Cactus, Texas, said on Facebook that there will be no manufacturing, slaughtering or refining in a shift on Wednesday. Another shift will provide employees with a fixed start time.

A representative of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union District 7 said in an email that after the cyber attack, the morning shift was also cancelled at JBSs beef factory in Greeley on Wednesday, but later shifts were scheduled to resume normally.

According to a Facebook post, a pork factory in Otumwa, Iowa will not harvest production in the first or second shift on Wednesday. The post stated that the company is continuing to solve our IT problems. . According to the post, other aspects of the plant are operating.

JBS Canada said in a Facebook post that after canceling the shift earlier in the day and Monday, it conducted a shift at its beef factory in Brooks, Alberta on Tuesday.

The American Cattlemens Association, a beef industry organization, said on Twitter that there were reports that JBS had redirected livestock transporters, who arrived at the factory with animals to be slaughtered.

Last year, during the outbreak of the coronavirus among workers, cattle and pigs on American farms were euthanized when meat factories were closed, and some animals were euthanized.

UFCW International President Marc Perrones union represents more than 25,000 JBS meat processing employees, and he called on the company to ensure that all meat processing workers receive contractually guaranteed wages during plant shutdowns.

In the past few years, ransomware has evolved into an urgent national security issue. Many gangs, many of whom are Russian speakers, have developed software to encrypt files and then demand that keys be paid in encrypted currency so that the owner can decipher and use them again.
The Kenyan High Court ruled last month that the constitutional reform proposed by President Uhuru Kenyatta was illegal.

The Kenyan government has officially challenged ruling The countrys high court said last month that the constitutional reform proposed by President Uhuru Kenyatta was illegal.

On May 14, the court rejected extensive constitutional reforms commonly known as the Bridge Building Initiative (BBI), which was a blow to Kenyatta and its allies. They hoped that the amendment would be submitted to a referendum before next years election. .

In a formal appeal filed to the court on Wednesday, Deputy Attorney General Kennedy Ogeto stated that the judge of the five-member panel wrongly determined that the president did not have the legal authority to take the lead in making such amendments.

The governments senior lawyer argued in the appeal document seen by AFP that the conclusion of the high court is that Kenyatta can also be sued in his personal capacity to pursue such an initiative is also incorrect.

The Court of Appeal will start hearing the case on June 29.

The BBI proposal specifically seeks to expand the executive branch, and its supporters call it an attempt to curb the cycle of violence related to the election in Kenya. This problem is attributed to the existing winner-takes-all election system.

It will create 70 new constituencies, return the role of cabinet minister to elected members of parliament, and create several powerful new positions: a prime minister, two representatives and an official leader of the opposition party in parliament.

The movement grew out of an alliance formed by Kenyatta and his political enemy Raila Odinga after violence broke out in the controversial 2017 elections.

The BBI has been approved by parliament and has dominated Kenyas politics since then. When Kenyatta and Odinga toured the country to win support for the initiative, it was on board even during the coronavirus pandemic. The front page of the newspaper.

Critics believe that the move is to create a prime ministerial position for Kenyatta, who cannot seek a third term in 2022.

His deputy, William Ruto, opposed reform, because the president had established a political relationship with Odinga, so his deputy, William Ruto, opposed reform and was excluded.

Some people believe that the adoption of reforms will increase the burden on a country that is already struggling with debt, because they will push up the parliaments sky-high wage bill while creating more opportunities for patronage and corruption.

In a televised speech on Tuesday, Kenyatta stated that the High Courts opposition to the BBI amounts to an attempt to block the will of the people.
CBC News found that the number of black members on the boards of the 100 largest companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange by market capitalization has more than tripled in the past year. There are currently at least 26 Black board members, 18 of whom have been appointed since July 2020.

Assume that the total number of board seats remains relatively stable, that is, increase from 0.7% to 2.35%.

CBC News uses the companys website and public records to identify Black board members and, if possible, has each company confirm the information, although some companies did not respond.

One of the new board members is Lori-Ann Beausoleil.

I have never seen such awareness of the importance and importance of diversity in my life, said Beausoleil, a senior corporate consultant, who joined the boards of several listed companies after serving as a partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers for nearly 40 years. On the Toronto Stock Exchange.

There is no more important role to influence change than the board of directors, she said.

The CEO was asked to commit to the goal of recruiting black executives

In the past year, obstacles faced by blacks in all aspects of life have become the top issue. George Floyd was killed by a policeman in Minneapolis in May 2020. The murder triggered protests against police issues and other social injustices in the United States and Canada.

However, after the company lined up to support the Black Peoples Fate campaign, attention was also focused on the corporate world. Face criticism when these words do not take any real action.

In Canada, a coalition of business leaders launched Black North Initiative Fighting against black systemic racism last summer and providing the company with a game plan.

BlackNorth encourages CEO Sign the commitment, Which includes the promise that at least 3.5% of Canadian executives and board positions will be held by black leaders by 2025.

The next generation wants us to say,Well, look at what they did. They encountered a crisis and turned it into an opportunity,' said Dahabo Ahmed-Omer, executive director of the Black North Initiative.

Dahabo Ahmed-Omer, executive director of the BlackNorth Initiative, said that more than 500 CEOs have signed their pledges, including a pledge that at least 3.5% of Canadian executives and board positions will be held by black leaders by 2025. (Robin Miller/Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

She estimated that Canadian companies as a whole are far from their 3.5% target, and far below CBCs black representatives in the top 100 companies. Since the program was launched, BlackNorth is collecting its own data on the number of black executives and plans to provide these data in July.

I think the important thing is to be able to tell myself that it takes some time, Ahmed Omer said in Ottawa.

But she said that more companies sign the pledge every week, and so far there have been more than 500 signatories-including private and public companies, hospitals, universities and even student associations.

Ahmed-Omer said that what is interesting is that she has also seen more people post on her network about their starting new executive positions.

Every other day, I see a new announcement on LinkedIn-I see a black woman and I laugh from ear to ear because I said to myself,Thats me. Thats my sister. Thats it. Its my nine-year-old niece,' she said.

The reality is that our diversity is actually an asset.

Corporate leadership often recycles

Advanced recruitment for executive positions and board positions is still usually limited to people you know.

People open Rolodex to see who is in it. Over the years, many leaders have been reclaimed because of it, said Jason Murray, who was inspired by the BlackNorth initiative and launched a BIPOC executive search in Toronto last July.

Jason Murray, who started the BIPOC Executive Search last summer, said that he is most encouraged by companies that publicly track and set goals for themselves and reform their company policies. (Jacqueline Hanson/CBC)

Murray said that he had hoped to work with the company in the first year to find jobs for 40 or 50 people, but he has already found 70 people in various fields.

We are doing something that is very needed in the market, he said.

Murray said that he is most encouraged by companies that publicly follow and set goals for themselves and reform their company policies.

Some other companies have very good intentions, but need to make sure they integrate it into their culture and incorporate it into their policies and procedures so that it is sustainable. So this is not just a knee-jerk reaction. A moment.

Leave a legacy

Sustainability is a challenge, and Beausoleil set her sights on her when she assumed the new board position. She said it started with an inclusive culture, ensuring that people can be who they are.

Sometimes people dont raise their hands because they feel they dont belong to them, she said.

Beausoleil said that she also plans to do everything she can to open the door behind her to ensure that more diverse leaders can keep up.

So one day I can retire completely and see the beauty of mosaic in the board of directors and senior management teams of these companies. This is my dream, she said.

That will be the strongest legacy I can have.

For more stories about the experience of black Canadiansfrom anti-black racism to success stories in the black communitycheck out Becoming Black in Canada, a CBC project that Canadian blacks can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
Mexican voters will go to the polling station on June 6 to vote in the largest election in the countrys history. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador hopes This election can support his left-wing Morena party.

The mid-term elections will determine the composition of the 500-seat House of Commons. In addition, there are more than 2,100 mayor and city councillor positions, as well as 30 state councillor seats and 15 governor positions.

Although Lopez Obrador will not vote, this game will determine whether Morena and his allies will retain the two-thirds majority of votes they need to make constitutional changes. And set a route for popular but polarized voters. The remaining term of the Mexican president is three years.

This is the largest political redistribution event in Mexicos history, and it will happen during the term of Lopez Obrador, said Lorena Becerra, a political analyst and head of public opinion research at the Mexico City Reforma. .

a big part [Lopez Obradors] His strength in the second half of his term will depend on the outcome of this mid-term election, Becerra told Al Jazeera.

The election will set the course for the remaining three-year term of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador [File: Edgard Garrido/Reuters]

Worse than three years ago

Experts say that the countrys high crime rate, economic downturn, recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, and government corruption are the main issues that voters consider before the election. Since taking office in 2018, many people will also pay attention to AMLOs record.

The president received 53% support in the general election, which changed the political status quo. Election that year, Riding a wave of dissatisfaction with Mexican traditional parties. AMLO referred to his plan as the countrys fourth transformation, promising to improve the lives of the poor, eradicate corruption and heal a country that was faltered by uncontrolled gang violence.

Since then, his supporters-most of the older and poorer people in Mexico-believe that he has raised the minimum wage, established scholarships for students and developed training programs for youth, and expanded the elderly and the disabled Benefits.

But in the past three years, observers have stated that the problems of Lopez Obradors campaign have not improved. The Mexican economy shrank by 8.5% last year, and more than 35,000 murders were reported in 2019 (AMLOs first year in office), setting a new record. The homicide rate will hardly change in 2020, and the trend will continue in the first quarter of 2021.

The election itself has been plagued by violence.according to telecommunications Consulting firm, 88 politicians-including 34 candidates  Has been murdered since the beginning of the election season last September.

Friends mourned the death of Mayor candidate Alma Barragan, who was shot and killed during the election campaign in Morroleon, Guanajuato, on May 26 [Armando Solis/AP Photo]

The government of Lopez Obrador has also been widely accused of mishandling Coronavirus pandemic Refuse to allocate sufficient funds and resist public health Downtime According to data from Johns Hopkins University, and maintaining a low level of testing-making the country the fourth-highest number of deaths in the world.

Its hard to find anyone in Mexico who says they are better now than before the anti-money laundering organization came to power, said Christopher Wilson, a global researcher at the Wilson Centers Mexico Institute. -tank.

The local situation is terrible, worse than it was three years ago.

Popular support

Nevertheless, AMLO is still a popular leader.

This Latest polls Performance Six out of ten The Mexicans approve of the president. He is also a leading figure. He often appears on the daily news headlines of his favorite platform mananera. At his daily morning press conference, he pushes his ideas to competitors.

The head of the poll, Alejandro Moreno, said: We have a polarized voter, one supports the president and his party, and the other not only supports traditional parties, but also opposes the presidents plans. In the El Financiero newspaper.

However, there is a third category of voters who are disappointed with the president and his party, but they are not willing to return to traditional parties-this is the market for Movimiento Ciudadano, Moreno told Al Jazeera.

The latest national polls show that the Presidents Morena party leads the House of Representatives with about 40% of the partys party preferences. [Ginnette Riquelme/AP Photo]

Movimiento Ciudadano, the Citizen Movement Party, has been able to make some progress by positioning itself as a third party party, and has a turnout rate of 6%.

But the latest National opinion survey The Morena Party, which proposed the president, leads with approximately 40% of the House of Representatives seats. A recent survey for the Mexican newspaper El Universal estimated that Morena would win 228 seats in the House of Commons, lower than the current 253 seats. Seats.

Together with the 94 joint seats expected to be won by the partys current allies, the Green Party and the Labour Party, this will give their making history together coalition a total of 322 seats-less than two-thirds of the required 334 seats majority .

Following them are the three traditional parties in Mexico, although they are ideologically opposed, and their former enemies have also formed an alliance called Va por Mexico.

The centrist organization, the Revolutionary Party (PRI), which had been in power for 71 years before 2000, now has a support rate of about 17%, while the right-wing National Action Party (PAN) has a support rate of 16%. The center-left Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) accounts for 5%.

Supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wait before the election rally in Ecatepec, Mexico [File: Moises Castillo/AP Photo]

Morena can only be obtained

At the same time, Carlos Peterson, senior analyst at Eurasia Group Mexico, explained that the governors campaign will be the key to Lopez Obrador, because the governor controls the state budget. This will also give the presidents party a major advantage before the 2024 election.

Peterson told Al Jazeera that such gains would help what Lopez Obrador wanted to do and relieve the pressure on him from the governors request for resources or opposition to his plan. Morena can only benefit from this election.

Currently, Governor Morena controls 6 of Mexicos 32 states, but in the 15 governor races voted on Sunday, the party manages only one: Baja California. According to recent polls, the party is in a leading position in at least seven states and is competitive in several other states. Some analysts predict that it may win as many as 11 victories.

According to recent polls, Morena has led at least seven governorship races and is expected to be competitive in several other states. [File: Marco Ugarte/AP Photo]

Moreno of El Financiero said that although Morena may fail in Queretaro, Baja California Sur and Chihuahua, it will be competitive in Michoacan, Sonora and Campeche.

But everyones eyes are on the House of Representatives. If Morena fails to get a majority, Lopez Obrador will be forced to negotiate with his rivals to pass legislation, and so far he has not shown the willingness to do so.

In his next plan, AMLO hopes to reform the national energy sector and complete the construction of a US$8.9 billion refinery in his hometown of Tabasco. Maya Train Project, And gradually expand pensions for people aged 65 and over in the next three years.

In order to fund this agenda, Lopez Obrador needs to obtain the approval of the countrys 2022 budget-a task for the countrys lower house.

He has a lot of freedom so far, Peterson said. The election results will either restrain him or allow him to continue to do whatever he wants.
Cannabis cultivation is big business in southern Oregon. The investment required to successfully grow, grow, harvest, and sell cannabis crops is hugein terms of time and money. The combined risks of drought, fire, pests, theft and low prices are not suitable for the faint-hearted. Complicating these stress factors is the risk that the cannabis crop may fail the test and law enforcement confiscates and destroys your cannabis.

If law enforcement agencies mistakenly confiscate and destroy cannabis companies because they (wrongly) believe that cannabis is cannabis, what recourse does the cannabis companies have?

Unfortunately, the answer is that prosecuting the government and its officials to recover the value of marijuana that has been erroneously seized and destroyed is not easy.At the end of last year, we wrote Regarding a case before the California Federal Court, one of the cannabis companies sued DEA, San Diego County, individual law enforcement officers and others for wrongful seizure and destruction of legal cannabis cultivation worth $3 million. Several defendants filed to dismiss the lawsuit against them on the grounds of exemption; the court has not yet made a ruling.

At the same time, just last week, in Oregon, a federal court dismissed Oregonized Hemp Co.s claims against Josephine County, multiple police officers, and other claims arising from the seizure and destruction of marijuana. (The situation is Oregonized Hemp Co, LLC, etc. v. Josephine County, etc., No. 1:20-cv-00720-CL, D. Or.). In terms of procedure, the district court judge completely adopted the district judges findings and suggestions without adding any additional explanations or comments. So the next discussion is the ruling of the magistrate passed by the district court. (e-mail Me, if you want a copy of the magistrates ruling).

The opening remarks of the ruling summarized the risks faced by cannabis growers and the breadth of the qualifying exemption principle: Understandably, the plaintiff is frustrated with the enforcement actions in this case. If the allegations are true, the plaintiff has suffered huge economic losses due to the destruction of his industrial hemp , Law enforcement agencies mistaken it for marijuana. However, it is difficult for the court to determine whether this case violates the Constitution.

There are very few public facts. Oregonized Hemp leased a facility on Panther Gulch Road in Williams, Oregon, as a part of the cannabis business. A few months later, law enforcement confiscated and destroyed approximately 5,000 pounds of industrial hemp from the Panther Gulch facility based on a search warrant. The search warrant allowed the confiscation of marijuana, not marijuana. Oregonized Hemp claims that there is no illegal marijuana, and law enforcement went beyond the scope of a search warrant when seizing plant material, because (in short) marijuana is legally different from marijuana. The company seeks to recover the value of marijuana from Josephine County, Jackson County, Medford City, and certain named and unnamed police officers. Oregonized Hemp accused the defendant of violating various constitutional rights (search and seizure, due process, equal protection, unconstitutional access) and infringement claims.

Although sympathizing with Oregonized Hemp, the court found two major obstacles to Oregonized Hemps restoration of any damages. (Recall that unless an official violates an clearly established right, limited immunity can prevent litigation against government officials. This question concerns whether hypothetical rational officials would know that their actions violated the rights of the plaintiff.)

The first problem is that, under Oregon and federal laws, search warrants are appearingly valid. This means that from the courts point of view, the presumed behavior of the person who enforces the warrant is reasonable, because the warrant is legal and effective on the surface. Therefore, government officials who act on seemingly legitimate warrants for all intents and purposes should not bear any responsibility. (Even if the arrest warrant is falsely assuming that there is marijuana at the Panther Gulch Facility. Please note that the answer may be different for the officer who obtained the warrant). Although law enforcement agencies were told that the material was marijuana and not marijuana when executing the arrest warrant, the court found that there was no precedent that required the police to pay attention to the innocence claims made by the suspect at the scene of the execution of the arrest warrant. The second obstacle is that Oregonized Hemp did not raise specific unreasonable behaviors against defendants who did not participate in the warrant application. In other words, if all defendants in Josephine County are limited to executing arrest warrants that appear to be legal, there is no violation of the Constitution.

The only light in the Oregonized Hemp tunnel is that the court gave it the opportunity to file an amendment complaint. It remains to be seen whether Oregonized Hemp can make enough factual allegations to survive another motion to dismiss. It seems unlikely now.
The Canadian Veterans Affairs Ombudsman said in a tough new report that a policy of the Canadian Department of Veterans Affairs is to deny sexual trauma survivors in the military the plan to obtain peer support and force them to seek help elsewhere.

Nishika Jardine said this is an unfair practice that must be ended.

This is a systemic issue that affects many veterans and absolutely needs our attention, Jardine told CBC News.

Before Jardine was appointed last fall, the Office of the Ombudsman began investigating a complaint made by a sexual assault survivor who had received peer support consultations through the Operating Stress Injury Social Support (OSISS) program, which was jointly managed by the Ministry of State. Department of National Defense (DND) and Veterans Affairs.

The report stated that once the complainant disclosed that she was a victim of sexual misconduct, the project coordinator told her to seek help from DNDs Sexual Misconduct Response Center (SMRC) and community support (such as the Rape Crisis Center).

However, SMRC is not authorized to provide services to veterans. Many have experienced [military sexual trauma] It shows that the consultants of the rape crisis center lack understanding of military culture, said the report released today.

In response to specific complaints, officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs told Jardines investigators that the reason for this policy was that most peer support coordinators lacked experience in handling sexual assault survivors.

Peer support has been shown to help victims with post-traumatic stress disorder, and US veteran researchers have long recognized the need for separate treatment for survivors of sexual assault in the military.

The advocacy group Its Not Just 700 (formerly Its Just 700) took the lead in filing a class action lawsuit against victims of sexual misconduct in the military. Since 2016, it has been lobbying for peer support and counselling services that recognize the unique needs of its clients and face sexuality. violence.

Their request fell on deaf ears until the recent federal budget promised to establish such a plan.

After the report was released, Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Veterans Affairs, stated that the government is committed to taking action.

The Minister of Veterans Affairs Lawrence MacAulay answered a question in the Ottawa House of Commons on Monday, February 3, 2020. (Adrian Wilder/Canada Press)

My department recognizes that we must take more measures to address the gap in peer support for veterans who have experienced military trauma. Our plan to resolve this problem is consistent with your offices recommendations, Macaulay told Jardines Said in his written reply.

MacAulay added that a pilot program is being established with DND.

The Department of Veterans Affairs own plans indicate that one of the obstacles that needs to be addressed is the lack of professional knowledge and resources to meet the needs of individuals who have suffered sexual trauma while wearing uniforms.
The government and navy stated that ships carrying several tons of chemicals are sinking, which is one of the worst marine disasters in the islands history.

The government and navy said that a cargo ship carrying several tons of chemicals is sinking on the west coast of Sri Lanka. This is one of the worst marine disasters in Sri Lankas history.

Officials said on Wednesday that when the ship started sinking in Sri Lankas main port, salvage experts were trying to tow the chemical-laden container ship into the deep sea.

The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl contains 1,486 containers, including 25 tons of nitric acid, as well as other chemicals and cosmetics, which were loaded on May 15 at Hazira Port, India.

In the waters near the port of Colombo, the fire on board the MV X-Press Pearl emits thick smoke [Sri Lanka Air Force Media/Handout via Reuters]

When the fire broke out on May 20, the ship was moored on the west coast of the island. The ship was moored about 9.5 nautical miles (18 kilometers) northwest of Colombo, waiting to enter the port.

The Navy said last month that since then, the authorities have been fighting the blaze because the burning container filled with chemicals fell off the ships deck.

On Wednesday, water flooded the tail deck of the MV X-Press Pearl, which was the second day after firefighters extinguished a 12-day fire.

The spokesman of the Sri Lanka Navy, Captain Indika De Silva, told Al Jazeera that the rear of the ship had sunk and they had stopped towing.

The ship is now resting at the bottom of the seabed. There is no more towing. We have stopped trying to tow it out of Sri Lankan waters, he said.

Now we are concerned about any oil spills. We are monitoring this closely and we have not found any leaks so far. If this happens, it will be devastating, but we are taking all precautions.

In the waters near the port of Colombo, the fire on board the MV X-Press Pearl emits thick smoke [Sri Lanka Air Force Media/Handout via Reuters]

The Navy believes that the fire was caused by chemicals carried on ships flying the Singapore flag.

The Sri Lankan police are investigating the fire, and a court in Colombo imposed a travel ban on the captain, engineer and assistant engineer on Tuesday to not leave the country.

After the explosion last week, the ships 25 crew members were evacuated. They include nationals of the Philippines, China, India and Russia.

The fire destroyed most of the ships cargo and polluted the surrounding waters and the islands famous long beaches.

On a beach in Ja-Ela, Sri Lanka, members of the Sri Lankan Navy removed debris washed up on the beach from a ship that caught fire near the port of Colombo [Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters]

Experts say tons of plastic particles have flooded the islands coastline and rich fishing grounds, causing one of the biggest environmental crises in decades.

Dharshani Lahandapura, Chairman of Sri Lankas Marine Environmental Protection Agency (MEPA), called this a man-made disaster.

This is an unfortunate incident for Sri Lanka. It has had a negative impact on the country in many ways. What we are doing now is to minimize the negative impact, he told Al Jazeera.

Lahandapura said that most of the chemicals above are highly reactive and are emitted through smoke and gas. Some even dissolve in sea water, he said. There is no sign of an oil spill.

At the same time, the government has banned fishing along 80 kilometers (50 miles) of coastline, affecting 5,600 fishing boats, and has deployed hundreds of soldiers to clean the beaches.

Al Jazeeras Minel Fernandez said on Tuesday that the beach itself is a regrettable sight.

Walking along some of the beaches in this wide affected area, all you see is a piece of white and black blankets-they are microplastic particles mixed with a large amount of burning and charred wreckage and debris materials, which are long Dozens of kilometers, like the range that the eyes can see, she said.

Aanya Wipulasena contributed to this report, from Colombo, Sri Lanka
The chilling footage shows that when a gunman killed nine of his colleagues and himself at a railway yard in San Jose, the police found his fallen body.

Last Wednesday, 57-year-old Samuel Cassidy opened fire at a union meeting in two buildings of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.

9 Samuel Cassidy was found by police lying down in a railway building Image Credit: Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office

9 The gunman slaughtered nine of his colleagues and committed suicide at the railway yard in San Jose Credit: Associated Press

The video shows the sheriff is hunting down Cassidy with a gun. Online mail report.

The police were seen climbing up a set of stairs and asked for the supervisors key card so that they could enter the railway station building.

After searching many rooms, the police officer heard a gunshot and heard a policeman say: I caught someone inside.

They saw a man lying down on a chair with a gun in his hand.

I dont know if Cassidy knew that the police were approaching him.

9 The police searched many rooms before finding the suspect Image Credit: Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office

9 The armed men walked forward cautiously towards Cassidy, who was found lying down. Image Credit: Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office

A few days ago, the police found a suspicious device in the gunmans home and it was blown up.

According to reports, the completed Molotov cocktail was found in the house, but it did not explode. ABC7, But was destroyed by a bomb disposal team.

The police called Cassidys house in chaos and said it was a possible hoarder situation.

Gunman Mercilessly shot and killed nine of his colleagues In two buildings of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Department on Wednesday morning, he committed suicide as law enforcement officers entered.

Kirk Bertolet, a railway signal maintainer who has worked for the VTA for 12 years, told High-speed rail He was in the office next to the lounge, where workers gathered to change shifts when the shooting began.

He said: It was just a few consecutive shots, a series of shots, then a series of shots, and then a series of shots.

9 Nine victims were killed at the railway station last week

9 After the shooting, the VTA Railway Yard became a crime scene Credit: Associated Press

9 FBI agents searched the yard thoroughly while looking for clues Credit: Getty Images-Getty

9

Two Taptejdeep Singhs dads36-year-old Lars Lane, 63-year-old loving grandfather, was also among the victims.

The other victims are: Paulo de la Cruz Megia, 42 years old; Adrian Baresa, 29 years old; Jose de Jesus Hernandez III, 35 years old; Timothy Romo, 49 years old; Abdolvahab Alaghmandan, 63 years old; and Michael Rudomegin, 40 years old.

Alex Ward Fridge, who suffered a gunshot wound, died at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.

A friend of Joses told The Sun that the 35-year-old had talked about how VTA officials were warned of constant threats by gunmen, but did not take any action.

9 According to reports, the completed Molotov cocktail was found in Samuel Cassidys home, but it did not explode Credit: ABC7

35-year-old Joe Bennetti said in a vigil for the victims: That person (Cassidy) has been talking about s*** for months, and they (his colleague) reported this a little.

Jose doesnt get along well with that guy because that guy keeps making threats.

They reported this to the management. The management didnt want to do anything because they were afraid of inciting him, so they just ignored it until this guy came in and did it. This is what Jose and I talked about.

The authorities stated that Cassidy was fully armed, equipped with three 9mm pistols and 32 high-capacity magazines, some of which had 12 rounds.

Officials described Cassidy as a VTA employee who has been dissatisfied for years and suspected that these suppressed dissatisfaction might have inspired him to launch an attack.

At around 6:30 in the morning, the 57-year-old shot at his colleagues in two VTA buildings.

The bomb disposal team members went through a batch of Bomb material was found in Cassidys locker.

Negligent rap Lord Ashcrofts daughter-in-law is charged in the shooting by the Belize police The death of the rapper Rapper Lil Loaded died at the age of 20 after he was arrested for shooting by an 18-year-old friend Tragic discovery The police worried that the body in the motels bag was missing a 6-year-old Texas boy because his fathers fiance disappeared do not leave! Scared immigrant boy pleads with smugglers after being dumped at the border Hell hole The socialite moved to the notorious scorpion-infested prison after shooting a Belize police officer Wet and wild Bikini party quarrels in pool orgy, woman slips off the roof while throwing cash

The San Jose Police Bomb Team closed the Angmar Court to clear and detonate explosives allegedly from Cassidys home.

Before the mass shooting and alleged suicide, Cassidy was filmed preparing to go to work for the last time.

Other surveillance videos of the day allegedly showed Cassidy walking peacefully between the two buildings, where he killed his colleague.
The United States is threatening to impose tariffs on US$2 billion worth of goods from the United Kingdom and five other countries because of how they impose taxes on technology companies. This move may re-ignite the transatlantic trade war unless the parties discuss a broader international trade war. Tax treaties resolve tricky negotiations.

Office of the United States Trade Representative Say It is imposing tariffs on Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, but immediately suspended it for six months because it ended a series of investigations into how these countries impose taxes on American technology giants.

The announcement comes as the rich countries are updating International taxation systemThe Biden administration proposes to give advanced economies the power to increase corporate taxes for US technology companies and other large multinational companies, and to set the worlds lowest corporate tax.

The government that introduced the taxation of digital services argued that technology companies paid too little tax on their profits in many countries, partly because they were recorded in low-tax jurisdictions such as Ireland. Washington stated that these taxes are unfair because they have a disproportionate impact on American companies.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai (Katherine Tai) said that the six-month suspension of tariffs will allow more time for international tax negotiations to continue, but will allow the United States to maintain the option of imposing tariffs. .. If there is a guarantee in the future.

Respected

The Biden administration put forward a new proposal to reform the international tax system in April in an attempt to break deadlock In the tax negotiations held by the OECD.

The US proposal would tax the global profits of the largest companies, including large US technology groups, regardless of their physical presence in a particular country.It also seeks a at the lowest limit The global corporate tax rate is 21%, although the United States has recently indicated that it will accept a minimum tax rate of 15%.

If an agreement to lift the new tariffs is not reached, the United Kingdom will be hit hardest by the new tariffs. The value of British exports to the United States each year is US$887 million and a 25% tariff is imposed. Target products include perfume, cosmetics, clothes, jewelry and video games.

The U.S. has suspended 25% tariffs Worth 1.3 billion U.S. dollars French handbags and cosmetics initially threatened to impose 100% import duties on champagne and cheese.
Paul Allard Hodgkins is the second person to plead guilty so far. He admitted that he was in the Senate during the riots.

On Wednesday, a man in Florida became the second person so far to plead guilty for a role involved. Rush into the U.S. Capitol On January 6, he entered the U.S. Senate wearing a Trump T-shirt and waved a red flag that read Trump 2020.

Paul Allard Hodgkins pleaded guilty at a virtual hearing to one count of obstructing formal proceedings in the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC.

Hodgkins told the judge: I have decided to accept this guilty plea proposal, and I will plead guilty.

According to the statement of facts attached to the criminal lawsuit, FBI agents interviewed Hodgkins on January 26 and showed him two photos. The first was a selfie photo of him in a Senate well. From [a confidential witness]The second photo is another photo of the Senate. Hodgkins confessed to the interviewing agent that he is the person in the photo.

The images contained in the fact statement, one of which appears to be from the New Yorker, shows Hodgkins standing next to a man in tactical gear on the Senate podium (PDF).

The picture in the court file shows that on January 6, 2021, an arrow pointed to Paul Allard Hodgkins on the Senate podium (Paul Allard Hodgkins) [Screengab: FBI via PACER]

More than 440 people have been charged in connection with the Capitol riots, including a large number of supporters of former President Donald Trump-many of them are part of it Extreme right movement -Enter the Capitol to prevent Congress from proving President Joe Bidens election victory and defeat.

The only person who has pleaded guilty so far is Jon Shafer, The founder of the band Iced Earth and a founding member of the Oath Guardian Militia.

The hearing on Wednesday was held at the same time as Christopher M Kelly, another defendant in the Capitol riots, and all charges against him were dropped after there was evidence that he had never set foot in the building.

Kelly was the first defendant to have all charges dropped in the Capitol riots.

Lingering effect

In the months following the November poll that Biden won, Trump and his supporters have repeatedly refuted theories that voter fraud caused him to lose the election.

Five people died after the riots. The Biden administration has instructed federal law enforcement agencies to focus on far-right and anti-government threats.

A kind Most of Trumps supporters Keep the election stolen.

The effects of the riots are still being felt in Washington, DC.Legislator Fought Discuss the facts of the day at the hearing.

Democrats are seeking a way to investigate what happened the day after Senate Republicans Prevented a separate probe Enter the topic of last week. According to CBS News, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi suggested four ways forward, including keeping the investigation within a congressional committee.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat from New York, leave the meeting in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Friday, August 7, 2020 [File: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg]

Senate Republicans chose to defend thebig lie because they feared that anything that might upset Donald Trump would hurt them politically, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer blocked the committee in Republicans. Said later.

Hodgkins charges are punishable by up to 20 years in prison, but US District Judge Randolph Moss stated that the federal sentencing guidelines require a sentence of 15 to 21 months.
LAFAYETTE PARISH, La. (KADN) - A woman is dead and a toddler injured following a morning crash in Lafayette Parish.

According to Louisiana State Police, the crash happened on Interstate 10 near mile marker 105. That's west of the Louisiana Avenue exit.

Medora Lynn Burgess, 40, of Natchez, Miss. was killed in the crash. An unrestrained toddler was taken to the hospital with moderate injured.

Investigators said that the crash happened just after 4 a.m. Wednesday.

Burgess was driving a 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe west when the vehicle ran off the right side of the road. The SUV drove into the tree line, hitting a tree in an area difficult to see from the road.

LSP is working to determine why the vehicle ran off the road in the first place.

Both Burgess and the toddler were unrestrained. The Lafayette Parish Coroner's Office pronounced her dead at the scene.

According to LSP, impairment is suspect and a toxicology sample was obtained for analysis.
A Shawnee man is in the hospital following a boating accident that killed two of his children and their mother.
Joe Biden said two Democratic senators vote with Republicans more than their own party. Is he right?
What appeared on the surface to be a small win Tuesday for one side in the battle over the police budget could actually be something else entirely: A nudge from a judge to come to a compromise.
Interview: Engaging U.S. intelligence in virus origins investigation "not acceptable," says former minister

Xinhua) 13:40, June 02, 2021

DHAKA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden's order to engage U.S. intelligence agencies in the investigation of COVID-19 origins is intended to "cover up the country's failures" in controlling the pandemic and is "not acceptable," former Bangladeshi minister Hasanul Haq Inu said.

Inu, now chairman of Bangladesh's Parliamentary Standing Committee for Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Sunday that the COVID-19 pandemic should not be politicized and should be tackled collectively.

He was speaking of the order Biden gave to the U.S. intelligence agencies, demanding a report within 90 days on whether the virus originated from an animal source or from a laboratory accident.

President Biden's approach is "unilateral" and not needed at the moment, he said, adding that there is a need for a multilateral approach for cooperation and investigation in order to combat COVID-19.

The Bangladeshi political veteran said the COVID-19 pandemic is being very effectively tackled in China by the Chinese government and there is a big failure in the United States.

"So, to divert or to cover up the failures of combating COVID-19 in America and Europe, the Americans are trying to divert the issue to other areas" with "totally a political move by the Biden administration," Inu said.

He expects the United States to "accept the failures" and "go for a multilateral approach."

"The U.S. intelligence is very biased," he said, adding that it "feeds us and the world with false information."

The World Health Organization in March released a report on the global tracing of COVID-19 origins, following a joint research with China on issues including the pathways of the virus and future investigation in different countries.

Making assessment of the likelihood of possible pathways, the report said COVID-19 introduction through a laboratory incident is "extremely unlikely," introduction through an intermediate host is "likely to very likely," and introduction through cold/food chain products is "possible."

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Hongyu)
Seo In Guk and Park Bo Young reunite after days of longing for each other's presence.



Tak Dong Kyung Received Warm Hugs from Myul Mang Ever Since He Came Back

Tak Dong Kyung (Park Bo Young) went out of her hospital room for a walk until she saw a familiar figure a few steps away from where she was standing. On the other side, Myul Mang (Seo In Guk) saw the woman he's been longing to see.

Myul Mang couldn't think of anything else, and seeing her made him immediately walk towards the lady, calling her name. He hugged her tight, which surprised Tak Dong Kyung.

Myul Mang told Tak Dong Kyung that because he exists her life always gets miserable even before they have established a connection in the present. Meanwhile, Tak Dong Kyung listened to all his stories and put her best effort to comfort him and to not feel any guilt towards his fate as a deity.

While the two were having their conversation, Son Yeo Shin (Jung Ji So) summoned Tak Dong Kyung into her own world. This alarmed Myul Mang and began to look for Tak Dong Kyung. As he continued his search, his memories related to her were erased by Son Yeo Shin to warn the male deity.

After confronting Tak Dong Kyung, Son Yeo Shin generously sent her to the place where Myul Mang is. Someone knocked on Myul Mang's door and was surprised to see the person he had been waiting to appear.

It seemed like, at this point, he was already addicted to giving Tak Dong Kyung warm hugs and showering her with affection.

Myul Mang Guaranteed Tak Sun Kyung to Take Good Care of Tak Dong Kyung

After Tak Dong Kyung was discharged from the hospital, her younger brother Tak Sun Kyung (SF9 Da Won) couldn't believe Myul Mang's power to read his mind but was relieved when the deity confessed that he meant to save Tak Dong Kyung from danger.

Na Ji Na (Shin Do Hyun) was worried when she saw her friend and offered everything she could after knowing that Tak Dong Kyung is dying because of illness.

Na Ji Na then met Myul Mang for the first time.

Tak Dong Kyung Discovered the Personal Contract Between Na Ji Na and Na Joo Ik

Tak Dong Kyung decided to sleep over Na Ji Na's house. Tak Dong Kyung woke up early to prepare her things until someone knocked outside her friend's door. It was Na Joo Ik (Lee Soo Hyuk), and the two were surprised to see each other.

During that day, Tak Dong Kyung also found out the personal contract that Na Joo Ik offered to Na Ji Na as her personal mentor in writing.

Meanwhile, Na Joo Ik tried to persuade the lady web editor to go back to work but she refused.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: 'Doom at Your Service' Star Lee Soo Hyuk Celebrates His 33rd Birthday with 2 Million Followers on Instagram

Myul Mang was Happy to Hear Tak Dong Kyung's Confession

In the middle of the day, Tak Dong Kyung and Myul Mang shared sweet moments together. She caught the deity off guard by confessing that she likes him.

In return, Myul Mang said that she doesn't need to wish for her to be loved by him, meaning the deity already has feelings for Tak Dong Kyung.

What can you say about the romance between Seo In Guk and Park Bo Young in "Doom at Your Service"? Don't forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments!

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news and updates, keep your tabs open here at Kdramastars.

Kdramastars owns this article.

Written by Shai Collins
K-drama "Youth of May" is back on track after slightly decreasing its standing in viewership rating.

With only two episodes left, viewers witnessed how Lee Do Hyun and Go Min Si faced their challenges amid the chaos brought by martial law in Gwangju.

"Youth of May" Viewership Ratings See Major Rise

According to Nielsen Korea, the SBS Monday and Tuesday drama achieved an average nationwide rating of 4.4 and 5.6 percent.

This is a significant rise in viewership compared to their previous episode, with only 4 percent nationwide and 4.9 percent in metropolitan areas.

With this, "Youth of May" episode 10 is close to beating its personal best with 5.7 percent.

"Youth of May" Episode 10: Kim Myung Hee is Extremely Worried about Kim Myung Soo

As martial law continues, the whole Gwanju is experiencing violence in the hands of the military.

Since several civilians and innocent people were caught up in the chaos, Kim Myung Hee (Go Min Si) couldn't help but get worried over his little brother Kim Myung Soo (Jo Yi Hyun), who was at the training camp.

Little did she know that Myung Soo, together with Hwang Hee Tae's (Lee Do Hyun) younger brother Hwang Jung Tae (Choi Seung Hoon), sneaked out to the camp to go to Gwanju.

Lee Soo Chan's Last Warning

"Youth of May" episode 10 also showed the current state of Lee Soo Chan (Lee Sang Yi).

To recall, he was arrested and beaten by the soldiers after defending a female student. He was taken in Sangmudae alongside fellow detainees who were innocent civilians.

Fortunately, he was released through their connection with the security defense head, Hwang Gi Nam (Oh Man Suk), who is also Hee Tae's father.

However, as he was about to get released, he urged Hwang Gi Nam to also free other captives, especially the elderly, kids, and wounded.

Obviously, this made Gi Nam furious and threatened him that this would be the last time he would save him and his family.

Kim Myung Hee Attempts to Save Kim Myung Soo and Hwang Jung Tae

While at the Gwangju hospital, Lee Jin Ah's father went to visit his daughter, who Hee Tae and Myung Hee saved.

However, he revealed to her that he saw his little brother, who was caught up in the middle of a riot between the protesters and soldiers.

Unfortunately, he can't go after Myung Soo and save him as the bullets are dodging left and right.

This left Kim Myung Hee in shock but opted to go after the area to find his brother.

"Youth of May" episode 10 also illustrates the massive disturbance in the whole Gwangju area.

As the medical team alongside Myung Hee and Hee Tae tried to save wounded civilians, the military openly fired at them. This has prompted them to leave the area.

However, as their team was about to leave, she heard a child crying in the alley and immediately ran after the kid.

He was followed by the soldier, who happens to be Hee Tae's friend, Kim Kyung Soo.

Despite being on the military side, he was hesitant to hurt Myung Hee. Interestingly, he was recognized by Hee Tae and mentioned that Seok-Cheol is alive and is in Gwangju.

As the team returned to the hospital together with the wounded civilians, Myung Hee was advised that his brother is safe and sound in the training camp.

"Youth of May" episode 10 ended with a shocking surprise on Myung Hee and Hee Tae.

As he was about to go to a nearby hospital to get some blood, he and another Gwangju doctor were rammed by a military car.





KDramastars owns this article.

Written by Geca Wills
Amid the rumored team-up of Bae Suzy and Song Joong Ki, it appears that the upcoming drama "The Youngest Son of Chaebol Family" has found its female lead cast.

It came after Shin Hyun Bin is currently in talks to work alongside the 35-year-old actor.

Based on a report cited by a South Korean outlet, the news was also confirmed by her agency, Yooborn Company, stating that the "Confession" actress "has received a casting offer for the drama 'Chaebol Family's Youngest Son' and is currently reviewing the offer."

If the actress agrees to join the cast, she is set to play the role of Seo Min Young, who works at Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.

On the other hand, Song Joong Ki's agency previously revealed that the "Vincenzo" actor has been courted as the male lead and is currently reviewing the offer.

The same goes with Lee Sung Min, who was also offered to join the forthcoming JTBC drama.

As for the South Korean heartthrob, he will be portraying the character of Jin Do Joon.

What We Know So Far About "The Youngest Son of Chaebol Family"

Helmed by "I Am Not a Robot" and "Cunning Single Lady" director Jeong Dae Yun, together with screenwriter Kim Tae Hee, "The Youngest Son of Chaebol Family" is based on the hit webtoon of the same name.

It follows a story of a man who was killed after being framed for embezzlement of money by a chaebol family. Despite being loyal and serving them for more than ten years, he ended up being murdered by the wealthy and influential clan.

Interestingly, he was reincarnated and was born as the youngest son of a chaebol family. His status prompted him to plot his revenge.

Aside from his plan, he will also face challenges between love and hatred as he meets prosecutor Seo Min Young.

"The Youngest Son of Chaebol Family" is expected to begin filming in the second half of 2021, while the target premiere is still unknown.

Bae Suzy Rumored to Star Opposite Song Joong Ki

Prior to the update regarding the upcoming revenge drama, rumor sparked that the Hallyu star will be working alongside the "Descendants of the Sun" star.

Multiple reports claimed that the "Start-Up" actress had been courted to appear opposite Song Joong Ki; however, the drama representatives and her agency, Management SOOP, have not addressed the rumors.

Despite this, fans expressed their excitement on social media regarding the duo's possible team-up.

Shin Hyun Bin's Upcoming Drama

Apart from the forthcoming revenge drama, Shin Hyun Bin is set to appear in the highly anticipated "Hospital Playlist 2," where she plays the surgery resident Jang Gyeo Wool.

In addition, she also has an upcoming drama titled "A Person Like You" together with Go Hyun Jung, Kim Jae Young, and Choi Won Young.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Why Shin Hyun Bin is The Luckiest Woman in "Hospital Playlist"









KDramastars owns this article.

Written by Geca Wills
JACKSONVILLE, Ore.  Britt Festival concerts are expected to return this summer starting in late July, according to Britt president and CEO Donna Briggs.

In a message to supporters, Briggs said that they have "every reason to believe" that 70 percent of Oregonians 16 and older will be vaccinated in time for Britt to start holding concerts. Governor Kate Brown has designated that vaccination percentage as the benchmark for lifting most COVID-19 restrictions, though aspects of that promise remain nebulous.

"Lets all plan to Come Together as a community filled with heart and soul and appreciation for one another," Briggs said. "We are beyond excited to announce that we fully expect to have a 2021 concert season!"

RELATED: Britt and OSF urge Governor Brown to develop live venue reopening plan

The Jacksonville organization plans to hold "a once-in-a-lifetime celebration" of Britt Presents concerts and Britt Festival Orchestra performances beginning by the end of July and running through mid-October. Announcements of the particulars are expected early this month.

"Please be patient as we prepare. There are many tasks to accomplish before we can let you know which artists are coming," Briggs said. "The venue needs TLC, as well as enhanced health and safety equipment. Volunteers still need to be recruited and trained. Food vendors and wineries must be secured, licenses and permits acquired. Most importantly, artists are still being booked. Our staff is working tirelessly to prepare for this historic return."

Briggs indicated that announcements will be staggered, with Orchestra reveals set for June 7 and 25, and Britt Presents announcements on June 14 and July 14.

Accompanying Brigg's announcement was a notice that Britt will henceforth be a fully non-smoking venue, with smoking or vaping banned on the grounds.
MEDFORD, Ore.  A sex offender arrested in the Ruch area in 2019 during a child pornography raid was sentenced on Wednesday to 12 years in prison, according to the Jackson County District Attorney's office.

An investigation into 42-year-old Joaquin Amadeus Cowart began in September of 2019. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children passed on a tip to local law enforcement that Cowart may have been exchanging child pornography via Facebook. Over the following weeks, investigators obtained several search warrants to confirm Cowart's identity and location.

In October, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office raided Cowart's home in Ruch and seized several digital devices. The Southern Oregon High Tech Crimes Task Force analyzed the devices and confirmed that Cowart had shared at least one exploitative image and possessed others.

Cowart was already being held in jail on an outstanding warrant. Following the October searches, Cowart was indicted on child pornography charges in December by a grand jury.

After Cowart's arrest on the initial charges, a victim came forward to the Sheriff's Office and revealed that they had been sexually abused by Cowart "some ten years prior," the DA's office said. The victim was a juvenile at the time of the abuse.

Another grand jury met and heard evidence regarding the sex abuse allegations, approving four counts of Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree.

During a settlement conference on May 24, Cowart agreed to plead guilty to Encouraging Child Sexual Abuse in the First Degree and four counts of Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree. An additional five counts of Encouraging Child Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree and a pending case in Josephine County were dismissed as part of the agreement.

On Wednesday, Judge Timothy Barnack sentenced Cowart to a total of 144 months in state prison, plus three years of post-prison supervision. Already a convicted sex offender, Cowart will also be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
SALEM, Ore.  The Oregon legislature on Wednesday passed a bipartisan bill that would waive application fees for homeless people seeking a state-issued identification card.

House Bill 3026 was introduced by Democratic Representative Zach Hudson of Troutdale and Republican Rep. Lily Morgan of Grants Pass. Having been passed by both chambers of the legislature, the bill now heads to Governor Kate Brown for a signature.

If signed into law, the bill would prevent the DMV from charging the usual $44.50 ID card application fee for people experiencing homelessness, and would allow for up to two free replacement cards before the card expires.

Applicants could qualify for the fee-waiver by getting an endorsement from a local service provider. The fee waiver does not apply to applications for a driver's license.

Having an ID is essential in order to earn a living, access public and private services, and do just about anything you could think of that people rely on everyday to live  that includes the ability to do things as basic as opening a bank account and applying for housing, said Rep. Hudson. This is a relatively simple and cheap yet effective solution to a major barrier that many people experiencing homelessness encounter that prevents them from even trying to become self-sufficient. With this bill, were trying to help people get back on their feet.

The bill received support from several major providers of homeless services. Many of these services pay for ID fees for their clients, and supporters say that the bill would help to free up those funds for other uses.

Several states and Washington, D.C. already have similar policies in place. HB 3026 also fits with an earlier law that allows for the homeless to apply for free or reduced-price birth certificates, which are usually a prerequisite for an ID.
Less: Just look at London, Ont.

Same: We hear more bad news.

More: Canada is on the right path.

Vote

View Results
Wisconsins Class of 2021 have used their voices to push for positive changes in their communities. They are a group who has demonstrated a unique ability to adapt and have gained many lifelong skills along the way. I am incredibly proud of the foundation they have laid, which will undoubtedly prepare them for their future as our next generation of leaders.

The past 14 months have tested students in ways not felt before. Though the familiarity of a normal school day was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic for many, students found new ways to stay engaged and motivated. Wisconsins young people adjusted to learning remotely and persisted in doing so, despite being away from peers and facing many daily stressors. Our states graduates were not defined by unpredictable circumstances. Instead, they responded by facing reality one day at a time, focusing on their education and making a difference.

To Wisconsins graduates: You have developed and applied critical skills and have become better processors of information. You have renewed your sense of determination and self-motivation, and successfully used those skills to push forward toward your goals. Though many of you had to forego various traditions and rites of passage, you found new, creative ways to celebrate your accomplishments. At the onset of the recent racial and social justice movement, you used empathy and compassion to let your voices be heard, stressing the importance and value of diversity and inclusion. I am amazed at your resiliency and how you have challenged yourselves to be agents of change. I know your success will continue as you enter the next chapters of your lives, which will bring excitement, rewards, and opportunities. The impact you have made and the experiences you leave with will aid you as you address other challenges facing humanity and as you grow as role models.
Hopkinsville, KY (42240)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable.
Stock Market Breakout Or Breakdown  What Does The Next Big Trend Look Like?

Just in case you missed this recent research article, we wanted to put it back on top of your reading list for the long Memorial Day weekend. As the markets continue to slide into this Start of Summer holiday, were still seeing big trends setting up over the next few weeks and months. The way certain assets and sectors are reacting right now may lead many investors to believe a breakout trend is setting up (which could be the case). But, behind the scenes, sectors are starting to show signs of a broader Excess Phase Peak pattern that may surprise those that are not paying attention.

Our Custom Volatility Index, shown below, suggests the markets have now rallied into extreme overbought levels which have historically resulted in a moderate price pullback after reaching levels above 13~14. We may start out seeing some type of bigger price trending/rotation after the long Memorial Day Holiday should this indicator prove accurate.

Please take a minute to read the research article mentioned above regarding how various asset classes and market sectors have already moved into phase #2 or phase #3 of the Excess Phase Peak price pattern to prepare for any type of trending price activity over the next few weeks.

The markets are likely to enter a very volatile period of price rotation fairly quickly and turn into a true traders market. Best get ready for it now.

For those of you who believe in the power of trading on relative strength, market cycles, and momentum but dont have the time to do the research every day then my BAN Trader Pro newsletter service does all the work for you with daily pre-market reports, proprietary research, and trade alerts. More frequent or experienced traders have been killing it trading options, ETFs, and stocks using my BAN Hotlist ranking the hottest ETFs, which is updated daily for my premium subscribers. Sign up today!

Have a great day!!

Chris Vermeulen

www.TheTechnicalTraders.com

Chris Vermeulen has been involved in the markets since 1997 and is the founder of Technical Traders Ltd. He is an internationally recognized technical analyst, trader, and is the author of the book: 7 Steps to Win With Logic



Through years of research, trading and helping individual traders around the world. He learned that many traders have great trading ideas, but they lack one thing, they struggle to execute trades in a systematic way for consistent results. Chris helps educate traders with a three-hour video course that can change your trading results for the better.



His mission is to help his clients boost their trading performance while reducing market exposure and portfolio volatility.



He is a regular speaker on HoweStreet.com, and the FinancialSurvivorNetwork radio shows. Chris was also featured on the cover of AmalgaTrader Magazine, and contributes articles to several leading financial hubs like MarketOracle.co.uk

Disclaimer: Nothing in this report should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. Technical Traders Ltd., its owners and the author of this report are not registered broker-dealers or financial advisors. Before investing in any securities, you should consult with your financial advisor and a registered broker-dealer. Never make an investment based solely on what you read in an online or printed report, including this report, especially if the investment involves a small, thinly-traded company that isnt well known. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report has been paid by Cardiff Energy Corp. In addition, the author owns shares of Cardiff Energy Corp. and would also benefit from volume and price appreciation of its stock. The information provided here within should not be construed as a financial analysis but rather as an advertisement. The authors views and opinions regarding the companies featured in reports are his own views and are based on information that he has researched independently and has received, which the author assumes to be reliable. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content of this report, nor its fitness for any particular purpose. Lastly, the author does not guarantee that any of the companies mentioned in the reports will perform as expected, and any comparisons made to other companies may not be valid or come into effect.

Chris Vermeulen Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




11 Shares Share

The pandemic has impacted many of us around the world, especially the frontline health care workers  myself included here in Melbourne, Australia. It is time we address these issues and bring the conversation into the open.

Politicians talk about opening the borders for travel and revitalization post-COVID-19. They fail to talk about the emotional pain that the frontline health care workers went through during the pandemic and the lasting effect on the health care industry and economy.

It is hard to imagine what frontline health care workers had to go through during the worst of the pandemic: Caring for colleagues who were ill, offering comfort to dying patients who were isolated from their loved ones, and informing and consoling patients family members remotely.

Some frontline health care workers were burdened with emotionally and ethically fraught decisions about resource rationing and withholding resuscitation or ICU admission. They shared the pain of patients without COVID-19 who had their surgery or other essential treatments canceled or postponed.

The fear of transmitting COVID-19 led many health professionals to isolate themselves from their families for months. Working remotely and being shunned by community members further contributed to their loneliness. Words cannot describe the extent of their emotional pain.

The stress on doctors and nurses pre-COVID was already apparent. They are known to be at risk for anxiety, depression, burnout, insomnia, moral distress and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Under usual working conditions, severe burnout syndrome affects as many as 33 percent of critical care nurses and up to 45 percent of critical care physicians.

COVID-19 has certainly worsened the dilemma of severe burnout in the frontline health care workers, and unfortunately, many are still fighting the war of the pandemic at the time Im writing this. Strained and poorly resourced health systems certainly added to the dilemma of severe burnout in these health care workers.

Severe burnout can certainly cause physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental pain in these frontline health care workers. As a consequence, some health care workers end up self-medicating with alcohol and drugs, which is detrimental to their health in the long term. Their relationships are impaired, marriages break down. In the worst cases, suicides arise. This has to be addressed as these stoic workers naturally do not complain or seek assistance for these burnout problems. They suffer in silence.

Suffering something similar in my career, I know the detrimental impact of not having a voice or being heard in the medical community. Medical professionals do not want to appear weak, so they continue until something breaks.

As a pain physician, I understand where the frontline health care workers are coming from. The intense pain and suffering that they are experiencing. I want to help those that feel this pain before it becomes too much. In my writings, I reveal my own personal journey from burnt out to balanced life in medicine and the advice that helped me. I hope it will help you too.

You are not alone.

Olivia Ong is a pain and rehabilitation medicine physician in Australia.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
EUGENE, Ore.  A local credit union is working to resolve a processing error Wednesday that had an impact on area account holders.

Oregon Community Credit Union said it is experiencing a higher than normal call volume due to the issue.

A source told KEZI 9 News that some members have had money deleted from their accounts. This has yet to be confirmed by OCCU officials.

OCCU apologized for any impact this has had and asks members to check their accounts for the correction. The bank said they resolved the issue Wednesday afternoon and affected accounts should see their money returned in the coming day.

Below is the full statement from OCCU on its website:
OAKRIDGE, Ore.  A shooting in Oakridge is under investigation Wednesday.

Police say just before 4:30 a.m., Lane County Sheriffs dispatch received a report that a 31-year-old man had been shot.

The victim was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Police responded to Maple Street at Commercial Street where the shooting had taken place. By the time officers were on scene, the victim and unknown suspect or suspects had all left.

Detectives with Oregon State Police and the Lane County Sheriffs Office responded to assist police.

Residents are asked to avoid the area of the shooting as they investigate. The investigation is ongoing. If you have any information or video surveillance connected to the case, police ask that you contact them at 541-782-4232.
SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon lawmakers have passed a bill allowing the sale of cocktails to-go to continue after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that Senate Bill 317, which allows licensed establishments to sell ''mixed drinks and single servings of wine in sealed containers for off-premises consumption,'' previously passed the Oregon Senate.

It cleared the House Tuesday by a vote of 51-7. The bill now moves to Governor Kate Brown.

As new coronavirus restrictions brought drinking and dining to a standstill across America in March 2020, many states rushed to overturn laws banning takeout cocktail sales, many of which had been on the books since Prohibition.

The new bill means Oregon will join around 15 states and the District of Columbia in making cocktails to-go permanent.
BY SHABIBAH NAKIRIGYA

The European Union (EU) in Partnership with Monitor Publications Limited has resumed the Tesa and Luuka comic book series which is published in the childrens magazine Rainbow every Tuesday.

Tesa and Luuka is a comic book created by the EU delegation as a tool to raise social awareness and present global values, specifically targeting Ugandas young audience.

It also highlights key areas of EU/Monitor publication cooperation in the country, with a special focus on the priorities of the EU Human Rights and Democracy Country Strategy for Uganda.

Speaking to the media in Kampala during the launch of the fourth edition today, Johnson Omolo, the NTV Uganda general manager who represented Monitor Publications Limited Managing Director Tony Glencross said the partnership between the EU and Daily Monitor that has been running since 2017, seeks to champion and promote the rights of children in Uganda and fight all forms of injustice towards children in an educative but fun way.

Omolo said that the publication of the fourth edition is expected to starts on July second this year and being part of this venture its very important for Daily monitor because it promotes readership among the children of Uganda who are also our readers.

It helps us to promote human rights among children while at a tender age. As Daily Monitor, we are grateful and excited to be part of this venture and we pledge our support for much more partnership with EU, he said

EU Press Advisor Emmanuel Gyezaho who represented the EU Deputy Head of Delegation Anna Merrifield said that these comic series are produced by Bayimba Production Limited in partnership with EU and it has been done from different regions depending on the readers choice and this time, its going to be based from Adjumani.
By Damali Mukhaye

Officials from the Criminal Investigations Directorate headquarters in Kibuli have this afternoon profiled all residents of Kisota in Kampalas suburb of Kisaasi where the former minister of transport Gen Katumba Wamala was attacked yesterday.

Unknown assailants yesterday sprayed bullets at a vehicle in which Gen Wamala was travelling killing his daughter and driver, but he survived with serious injuries in the arms.

He has been receiving treatment at Medipal Hospital where he successfully underwent surgery last evening to have a bullet removed from one of his arms, another remains lodged in his body.

Plain-clothed detectives spent the bigger part of this afternoon, interviewing residents of the houses located near the crime scene for information relating to the shooting.

The area Local Council chairperson, Julius Kisembo tells KFM that the detectives have also taken names, telephone numbers, marriage and employment status of residents.

Meanwhile, a vigil is being held for General Katumbas slain daughter Brenda Nantongo at his residence in Najeera.

She will be laid to rest at their ancestral home at Kikandwa village in Mukono district.
By Juliet Nalwooga

Police at Jinja Road Police Station are investigating an incident of shooting that took place in Wankoko Industrial Area where two security guards from SGA Security Company guarding a disputed piece of land were killed this morning.

Kampala Metropolitan deputy police spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire says they were informed of the situation and the officer later dispatched to the scene.

Owoyesigyire says Godfrey Mukulwa and Kennedy Andama, had been deployed at the disputed piece of land with only one rifle.

We do not know the motive. Our investigations are still open. There is a dispute between two people who claim ownership of the same land where the guards were killed, but that is not our conclusion, he said in a telephone interview.

He says statements have been recorded and one gun belonging to SGA recovered with seven rounds of ammunition.

The bodies of the deceased guards have been conveyed to the Kampala Capital City Authority mortuary at Mulago for postmortem.
By Elizabeth Kamurungi

Relatives and friends have described Brenda Nantongo, fondly called Bri, as a down-to-earth young woman, who was a source of warmth and laughter to all who crossed her path.

The 32-year-old daughter of former army commander Gen Katumba Wamala died on the spot when the car she was traveling in with her father, driver, and bodyguard was riddled with bullets by gunmen riding on two motorcycles on the Kisota-Kulambiro road in Kampala yesterday.

Family members say Ms Brenda returned from the US, where she pursued a Master in Public Health from Savanah University in Atlanta.

She then took up a job at the army hospital in Bombo, where she worked until yesterday.

She also attended Kabojja International School.

Her father asked her to come back after her masters in the US, a relative who preferred anonymity, said.

Read more: https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/who-was-brenda-nantongo3422562
By Xinhua

Over a week after the eruption of volcano Nyiragongo in the north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (RDC), the city of Goma once engulfed with fears of being flooded with hot lava and ashes, is slowly returning to normal life, as shops reopen and people return home to pick up the pieces.

Today, the city of Goma has just woken up. Not everything has returned to normal, but still, we are seeing a resumption of activities in the city, Jean Kasereka, a local Taxi driver, told Xinhua on Tuesday.

In market Alanine, one of the busiest markets in Goma, the shouts of vendors and bargaining seemed just like the good old days, not least before the nearby Nyiragongo volcano bursted into activity on May 22, killing at least 32 people.The city, at the foot of the volcano, escaped a potentially enormous disaster as the lava flows stopped on the outskirts on May 23.

With constant seismic tremors in some parts of the city, fears of a fresh eruption forced local authorities to evacuate its people to designated areas as a precaution since Thursday. With nearly 400,000 people evacuated, Goma, home to over 1 million inhabitants, suddenly became a ghost town. Shops were closed and people were busy rushing out of the city, a resident told Xinhua on its way to take refuge in nearby Rwanda. But with a gradual decrease in the frequency and intensity of earthquakes related to the volcanic activity, thousands of evacuated residents start returning home to pick up the pieces, the Goma Volcano Observatory (OVG) reported on Monday.The fleeing residents began to gradually return to the city. Now a considerable number of buyers come to get what they need. Here, things are going really well, said Kasereka Wangebe, a vendor at market Alanine.

STILL NOT OUT OF WOODS

Though people on the street are optimistic about Gomas returning to normal life, the city is still not out of the woods.

Local authorities said on Monday that the possibility of an eruption on land or under the lake Kivu can still not be ruled out for the moment. About 71 tremors were recorded on Monday, most of which have not been felt by the population, said Ndjike Kaiko, spokesperson for the local crisis management unit. We therefore recommend that the population remain vigilant, listen to the information and strictly observe the measures adopted by the provincial authorities. We are still in the red phase, Kaiko said.

A team of volcanologist experts have set up a camera near the crater to better monitor the evolution of the volcano, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). And another team is expected on Thursday. During a press conference on Saturday in Kinshasa, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi called on people to remain cautious and advised people not to return Goma. I strongly advise against it (returning Goma). At this stage, we do not yet have information that would allow us to authorize the return. Tshisekedi said.We are not yet certain. Scientists must reassure us 100 percent. Even if there is still 1 percent uncertainty, I would not wish the people go back to Goma, he added.
By Xinhua

In a classroom in Harare, Gerald Hara, a sign language teacher delivers a sign language lesson to a group of students who eagerly follows his instructions.

The small size of the class enables Hara to give more individual attention to each students particular needs, at the same time fostering better communication between the teacher and the students. To ensure that communication remained uninterrupted as sign language is a visual language, Hara and his students donned special transparent face masks.

Hara is a sign language interpreter and teacher at Harare-based Sunrise Sign Language Academy (SSLA), a non-profit organization that aims to bridge the communication gap faced by the deaf. The youthful teacher noted that while mask-wearing and social distancing are imperative in defeating the pandemic, such infection control measures are getting in the way of communication for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Reading a persons lips and seeing facial expressions are imperative for those who rely on visual communication such as sign language or lip-reading, Hara noted. To plug the communication gap, SSLA has come up with initiatives such as the use of transparent face masks and holding awareness campaigns about the pandemic targeting people with hearing impairments.

The transparent masks, made with a double layer of fabric and a plastic sheet, have become handy for those with hearing impairments. Asides from protecting them from the contagious coronavirus, the masks are also keeping communication channels open. Hara said COVID-19 has increased the communication barriers faced by the deaf. By being hearing impaired already there is a challenge in communication and expression of their feelings, wants and needs, but during COVID it became worse because now when the first mask came it actually dampened their communication more. And now the introduction of this mask (transparent mask) it kind of liberated them to come back to the ordinary set-up of communication which shows lip-reading, which is a crucial part of their communication pattern, Hara said. He noted that communication using sign language or lip reading relies on seeing someones face clearly to understand their facial expressions or other non-verbal cues. For example, if I am happy, they can see, but if I am using the other previous mask, I cant show the facial expressions and question markers like What? Where, but now you can see because I am wearing the correct one, so that has been a great deal for communication for the hearing impaired community in Zimbabwe, said the sign language teacher.

In Zimbabwe face masks are mandatory in all public spaces, and violators can be fined up to 500 Zimbabwean dollars (about 6 U.S. dollars). While access to information is the first line of defense in battling the global pandemic, getting information to the deaf can be tricky. Douglas Mapeta, chairman and founder of SSLA, said for the general public information about the pandemic is widespread, but not enough has been done to make it available to the deaf in mediums easily accessible to them.

Tawanda Matende, a sign language lecturer at the University of Zimbabwes Department of Languages, Literature and Culture, said its crucial to involve sign language in all national discourses since it is a fully-fledged language just like any other spoken language. So sign language is not an exception in as far as national development is concerned, in as far as combating the virus, in as far as issues to do with vaccination, Matende said.

Sign language is one of Zimbabwes 16 official languages and all public documents are required to be available in all languages. However, the lack of codification for Zimbabwean Sign Language means the deaf community is largely left out in many national conversations.
Over the past year or so, digital transformation accelerated at an unprecedented rate in societies around the world. Whether we were working, learning, or staying in touch with friends and family, being online became more critical than ever.

Even as vast numbers of people were adapting to their new realities, however, it became increasingly apparent that equally large numbers of people were shut out from being able to do so. Given that the theme of this years Telecommunication & Information Society Day, which took place on 17 May, is  Accelerating Digital Transformation in challenging times, its worth examining how big that gap is and how it can be bridged.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, approximately 800-million people are not connected to the mobile internet. Of those, some 520-million can access the mobile internet but not because of factors such as smartphone penetration and lack of skills while 270-million cannot access the mobile internet because they dont have the requisite coverage. Across the region, 4G broadband coverage is at just 21 percent.

The figures are even starker when it comes to fixed-line internet connectivity. According to figures from research firm Ovum, there are just 6.6-million fixed-line internet subscriptions in Sub-Saharan Africa. While numbers are projected to grow three-fold by 2023, that still represents a small fraction of the regions population. Those figures make it clear that the region needs to address a major internet infrastructure shortfall.

The benefits of growing internet accessibility are obvious. In 2019, in Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 650 000 jobs were supported directly by the mobile ecosystem and more than 1.4-million informal jobs in 2019. It also contributed more than US$17-billion to public funding through the course of the year. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has also established that a 10% increase in mobile broadband penetration in Africa would generate an increase of 2.5% in GDP per capita. Thats not to mention the benefits that better and more affordable mobile internet can have on education, healthcare and government services. With easily accessible internet connectivity, people can search for jobs, gain new skills and access government services without having to travel to a physical location and potentially stand in long queues.

As we have seen, the pandemic has caused economic and social devastation and changed the way we live, work, study and socialize, bringing about an era of social distancing. One of the most significant changes is the acceleration of digital transformation. African policymakers have realised that access to broadband is critical for mitigating the effects of the pandemic and boosting economic recovery in the post-Covid era. With changes in peoples behaviours and mindsets, broadband will also continue to provide opportunities for African countries to leapfrog obstacles to sustainable and inclusive socioeconomic development.

Of course, the responsibility to create access doesnt lie with government alone. Corporates also have a role to play. At Huawei, we recognise this and have backed a number of initiatives that aim to help grow access in areas where its needed most. In July last year, for example, we launched the DigiSchool project in partnership with a local operator and a non-profit organisation. As response to the call to ensure that all South African school children can read fluently for comprehension, the programme aims to connect more than 100 urban and rural primary schools to broadband internet.

Additionally, we have rolled out DigiTrucks in several African countries, which enable everyone from students to entrepreneurs to learn how to use computers and connect with the digital world. Earlier this year, we also announced a partnership with Ghanaian operators to build more than 2000 base stations in remote areas of that country to connect the unconnected.

From a healthcare perspective, meanwhile with the broadband connections, Lifebank, a pioneering Nigerian startup delivers blood and other essential medical supplies to hospitals. By keeping the startup and its riders connected, we can ensure that hospitals get urgent supplies when they are needed.

These kinds of projects, however, only serve to illustrate how much need for accessible, affordable broadband is actually felt across Sub-Saharan Africa. They represent a glimpse of the kind of access that everyone should have and which players across society should look to provide.

For more than a decade, the United Nations has recognised that the internet is a catalyst for sustainable development. As per the events of the past year or so have shown, however, far too many people are unable to enjoy those rights because they lack access and connectivity. We will all benefit from widening access and bridging this divide. There is no question that it should be a major priority for governments, corporates and civil society players, and that it should be an ongoing one.

By Leo Chen, President of Huawei Southern Africa Region

Partager et informez vous aussi......

0 shares Share

Tweet

LinkedIn
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho - A tragic incident in Coeur dAlene led to the death of a man on Monday. Witnesses said they came across a man lying in 
Students up to age 18 can receive free hot meals and quality food in the Seamless Summer Program at several KISD campuses.
Thank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading.

To subscribe, click here. Already a subscriber? Click here.
Birdwatch Ireland, in partnership with the Heritage Office of Kilkenny County Council, are coordinating the first county wide Swift survey in Kilkenny this summer. And they need your help!

Swifts are a small migratory bird that flies to Ireland each summer from southern Africa. They nest in buildings in our cities, towns, and villages. From May to August each year you can encounter Swifts, you will usually hear Swifts before you see them, their distinctive 'screaming' call is uttered on the wing as they fly superbly at high speed over rooftops.

However, their future is seriously threatened in Ireland mainly due to the loss of suitable nesting sites. Studies show an almost 58% decline of Swifts in Ireland, and their survival is under threat. As a result they have been added red list of Birds of Conservation Concern in Ireland.

The good news is that there is a lot that we can all do to halt the decline. In Kilkenny, were starting with a county wide to see how many Swifts there are, and where they are nesting in Kilkennys towns and villages.

The support and active engagement of citizen scientists and communities throughout Kilkenny is critical to the success of the project. This summer, BirdWatch Ireland, in partnership with the Heritage Office of Kilkenny County Council, will conduct a County Swift Survey in Kilkenny and we are asking interested people, communities, Tidy Towns groups, residents, and families to get involved by recording and reporting the presence of Swifts in their areas.

BirdWatch Ireland has already successfully completed Swift Surveys in eleven counties including in neighbouring counties Laois and Tipperary and this summer will be actively surveying in three more counties, namely, Kilkenny, Dublin City and Waterford.

To find out more about Swifts and to help in the Kilkenny Swift Survey you are invited to join an online webinar on June 2 at 7.30pm. To register your interest for the webinar email: heritage@kilkennycoco.ie

This project is co-funded by Kilkenny County Council and The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, through the National Parks and Wildlife Services National Biodiversity Action Plan Fund. It is also kindly supported by the Heritage Council.

If you would like more information, please email or call Ricky Whelan (BirdWatch Ireland Project Officer) at swifts@birdwatchireland.ie
A newly established Patient Advocacy Service is offering support to people in the Kilkenny and Carlow areas who want to make a complaint about the care they have received in a public hospital.

The Patient Advocacy Service provides free, independent and confidential information and support to people making a formal complaint about their care in a Health Service Executive (HSE) funded public acute hospital.

People in the Kilkenny and Carlow areas looking for support can contact the Patient Advocacy Service confidential helpline on 0818 293003 to speak to a trained advocate who will help them to get information on the HSEs complaints investigation process, called Your Service, Your Say.

The professionally trained independent advocate will support and empower the person making the complaint, with the aim of highlighting their views and concerns.

The advocate will explain to the person how to write a formal complaint and what to include in it. They will also help the person prepare for meetings with the HSE about their complaint, and they will help the person explore their options following a response from the HSE to their complaint.

Service Manager for the Patient Advocacy Service, Claire Lehane, said: Until now, people in Kilkenny, Carlow and across Ireland who experienced difficulties in the Irish health service often felt there was nowhere for them to turn.

The newly established Patient Advocacy Service offers patients the guidance and information they need to make a complaint when they are unhappy with the care they receive. It is free, independent and run by our professionally trained patient advocates, who will use their compassion and knowledge to guide people through the HSE complaints process.

For people in the Kilkenny and Carlow areas looking for advocacy support to make a formal complaint, you can contact the Patient Advocacy Service helpline on 0818 293003. The helpline is open Monday to Friday from 10am until 4pm, including lunchtimes. You can also email info@ patientadvocacyservice.ie.

The Patient Advocacy Service was commissioned by the National Patient Safety Office in the Department of Health and is provided by the National Advocacy Service for People with Disabilities. The Patient Advocacy Service receives no funding from the HSE and is therefore fully independent of the HSE.

More info about the Patient Advocacy Service is available at: patientadvocacyservice.ie
A father accused of sexually abusing three of his children allegedly sent his daughter a message saying: Don't tell anyone about the touching or you will be in trouble.

The evidence was heard in the trial of three men and four women accused of sexually abusing three children between 2014 and 2016.

During a recording of a specialist interview with gardai which was played in court on Tuesday, the girl said her father sent her this message while she was in foster care and also asked her to send him a photo of her bum.

The seven accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, include the parents, grandmother and aunts and uncles of the three main child complainants. The accused range in ages from 27 to 57 and live in various locations in Munster.

The Central Criminal Court heard that both parents are also accused of wilfully neglecting two of their younger children.

The 56-year-old father of the three main child complainants has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts including rape, anal rape, oral rape, sexual assault, sexual exploitation and wilfully neglecting a child at locations in Munster on unknown dates between August 18, 2014 and April 28, 2016.

The 33-year-old mother of the three main child complainants has pleaded not guilty to 25 counts including sexual assault, sexual exploitation and wilfully neglecting a child at locations in Munster on unknown dates between August 18, 2014 and April 28, 2016.

The mother and father have also pleaded not guilty to wilfully neglecting two other boys at a location in Munster on unknown dates between August 18, 2014 and April 28, 2016.

The trial has previously heard the female child complainant gave evidence via specialist garda interviews, which were recorded in August 2017, that her father, her mother, the 48-year-old accused man, the 35-year-old accused woman and her grandmother all touched her private.

When asked what she used her private for, the girl said she used it for weeing.

The girl also said that her father, the 48-year-old accused man and the 27-year-old accused man put their privates in her private.

The court heard these interviews took place after the girl had been taken into care in April 2016 and was living with her foster parents.

During the interviews which were played in court on Tuesday, the then nine-year-old girl said that while living with her foster parents, she got a tablet and sent messages on Facebook to her brother and her father.

The girl said her father sent a message to her saying: Don't tell anyone about the touching or you will be in trouble. She said her father sent her a photo of himself and her mother in which they were naked and having sex.

She said her father asked her to send him a photo of her bum and that she did. She said she took the photo with the tablet.

The girl said the 27-year-old accused man sent her a message saying: Where are you? She said she replied that she was, in foster care, why?

She said various accused took photos of her while they or another accused touched her private. She said her mother took a photo of the 48-year-old accused man putting his private in her private and her mother posted it on Facebook.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury.
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has been suspended from the home of the Kentucky Derby for two years after Medina Spirit's positive post-race drug was confirmed, the company that runs the Louisville racetrack said Wednesday.

The suspension, effective immediately, follows the confirmation of the Derby winner's positive test earlier Wednesday by Baffert's attorney, Craig Robertson.

Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) 'has consistently advocated for strict medication regulations so that we can confidently ensure that horses are fit to race and the races are conducted fairly,' said Bill Carstanjen, CEO of CDI. 'Reckless practices and substance violations that jeopardize the safety of our equine and human athletes or compromise the integrity of our sport are not acceptable and as a company we must take measures to demonstrate that they will not be tolerated.

'Mr. Baffert's record of testing failures threatens public confidence in thoroughbred racing and the reputation of the Kentucky Derby. Given these repeated failures over the last year, including the increasingly extraordinary explanations, we firmly believe that asserting our rights to impose these measures is our duty and responsibility.'

The suspension, which includes trainers directly of indirectly employed by Bob Baffert Racing Stables, is effective through the conclusion of the 2023 Spring Meet at Churchill Downs Racetrack, CDI said.

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) has the sole authority to disqualify Medina Spirit as the winner of the Derby, the statement said.

'It is the understanding of CDI that the KHRC is pursuing the completion of its investigation of this matter in accordance with its rules and regulations,' the statement said.

The commission declined comment on Wednesday.

The New York Racing Association this month temporarily suspended Baffert from entering any horses in races at the track that is host to the Belmont Stakes.

The Belmont Stakes, the third race in thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown, is set to run Saturday at Belmont Park.

Test showed more than double legal threshold in Kentucky racing

After the May 1 first leg of the famed Triple Crown, Baffert revealed that Medina Spirit had tested positive for elevated levels of betamethasone.

Betamethasone is an anti-inflammatory corticosteroid that is allowed in horse racing at a certain level. But Baffert said he was informed that Medina Spirit's postrace test detected 21 picograms per milliliter -- more than double the legal threshold in Kentucky racing.

Baffert would have a chance to appeal the confirmation of the original test result. If an appeal is unsuccessful, Medina Spirit would be stripped of the Kentucky Derby crown as well as the winning prize money.

The last winning horse to be disqualified from the Kentucky Derby after failing a drug test was Dancer's Image in 1968.

Churchill Downs said in a statement in May, 'if the findings are upheld, Medina Spirit's results in the Kentucky Derby will be invalidated and Mandaloun will be declared the winner.'

In a statement to CNN on Wednesday, Robertson said, 'Medina Spirit split sample confirmed the finding of betamethasone at 25 picograms. There is other testing that is being conducted, including DNA testing. We expect this additional testing to confirm that the presence of the betamethasone was from the topical ointment, Otomax, and not an injection.

'At the end of the day, we anticipate this case to be about the treatment of Medina Spirit's skin rash with Otomax. We will have nothing further to say until the additional testing is complete.'

In a statement, Marty Irby, executive director at Animal Wellness Action, said Wednesday: 'The news of Medina Spirit's second test confirmed positive is no shock. Churchill Downs, the Kentucky Derby, and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission must stand firmly together in agreement to take the 2021 Derby title away from Bob Baffert and the horse.'

Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby in May in a close finish. The win delivered Baffert a record seventh Derby victory.

Baffert revealed a week later that the horse had tested positive for elevated levels of the anti-inflammatory corticosteroid sometimes used to relieve joint pain in horses -- putting the 3-year-old colt's Derby win in jeopardy.

The trainer later provided a lengthy statement on what he said happened regarding Medina Spirit.

'Following the Santa Anita Derby, Medina Spirit developed dermatitis on his hind end. I had him checked out by my veterinarian who recommended the use of an anti-fungal ointment called Otomax. The veterinary recommendation was to apply this ointment daily to give the horse relief, help heal the dermatitis and prevent it from spreading,' part of Baffert's statement said.

'While we do not know definitively that this was the source of the alleged 21 picograms found in Medina Spirit's post-race blood sample, and our investigation is continuing, I have been told by equine pharmacology experts that this could explain the test results. As such, I wanted to be forthright about this fact as soon as I learned of this information,' the statement added.

It was not Baffert's first run-in with reports that his horse failed a drug test: In April, according to multiple reports, including the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Arkansas Racing Commission upheld a ruling that two of Baffert's horses had tested positive for lidocaine beyond the accepted levels. However, the commission dropped a 15-day suspension for Baffert.

Baffert alluded to previous controversies recently -- 'I don't feel safe to train,' he said -- but cast the allegation about Medina Spirit as an issue with the broader horse racing industry, saying the industry 'needs to step up and we need to do a better job in racing.'

'I'm not a conspiracy (theorist) -- I know everybody's not out to get me. But there's definitely something wrong. Why is it happening, you know, to me?' he asked. 'There's problems in racing, but it's not Bob Baffert.'
Its going to be huge. Its going to be huge, Walsh said of the plan. You talk about job training, and this is a skill and an art here. But we have other areas in other parts of the country  tech, manufacturing, biotech manufacturing, manufacturing as a whole, all of the new, innovative economy  you cant forget, this is that bread and butter right here. Our bread and butter is right in the plant that were standing in today.
ROCHESTER, Minn.  A Tuesday fire did about $150,000 in damage to a Rochester business.

Firefighters were called to the 500 block of 2nd Avenue NW around 5:30 pm for a fire. Four fire engines and two fire trucks were needed to deal with the blaze and protect a neighboring building.

The Rochester Fire Department says no one was inside the building at the time of the fire and no one was injured in dealing with it. Rochester police and Mayo Clinic Ambulance assisted at the scene.
MASON CITY, Iowa - CDC data is showing some promising signs about vaccination rates as COVID-19 cases nationwide continue to decrease.

A little over half of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of the vaccine; roughly 40.7% are fully vaccinated. In Iowa, about 1.3 million vaccine series have been completed, though roughly 2/3 of the state's population has not started inoculation. It's something that CG Public Health is looking to change.

Now that the availability of vaccines having significantly increased, Director Brian Hanft is still encouraging residents to get vaccinated. With roughly 135 million Americans having been vaccinated with few to no issues, he says the public is better off vaccinated than avoiding the shots.

"We know a lot of the data show that people who have been vaccinated, even if they get the illness, it's significantly less severe. There's another reason to get vaccinated, simply for that."

While there have been some mild flu-like symptoms that have been associated with the vaccines, as well as the blood clots associated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, he notes that the vaccines are safe and can save lives.

"Now when people present themselves with some of the symptoms, physicians, doctors know now how to treat that. I think even Johnson & Johnson is a safe option for people to get."

If anyone is still on the fence and has questions, Hanft encourages to reach out to your public health department or primary care physician.

Hanft says this week will be the last week for CG Public Health's mass vaccination clinic on South Federal Avenue. Soon, vaccines will continue to be administered through their main office on 4th Street Southwest.
KANAWHA, Iowa  A reported shooting in Hancock County Monday night turned out to be a hoax.

The Kanawha Police Department says It and multiple other law enforcement agencies were sent to the 200 block of West 9th Street in Kanawha just after 9:30 pm for a possible shooting victim and an active threat. After a couple of hours, investigators determined this was an incident of swatting directed at a particular household.

Swatting is calling emergency services and making fake reports to cause a large number of armed police officer to go to a certain address of location.

The Kanawha Police Department says they do not condone this kind of phony call to law enforcement. An investigation is underway and anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Kanawha Police Department of the Hancock County Sheriffs Office.

Kanawha Police Chief Daniel Martinez says the person responsible for this swatting will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
ALBERT LEA, Minn. - A 41-year-old Albert Lea man is being held in the Freeborn County Jail on $600,000 bond for multiple felony sex abuse charges.

Vincente Martinez is being held on four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

According to court documents, Martinez was living in a hotel when he told a women he would give her a ride home.

After having drinks, authorities said he sexaully assaulted the woman. She was later picked up and taken to the hospital.

Martinez was arrested in 2019 for criminal sexual conduct involving a juvenile. A resolution in that case has not been rendered.
BREMER COUNTY, Iowa  A traffic stop results in a drug arrest in northeast Iowa.

The Bremer County Sheriffs Office says Nathan M. Williams, 33 of Independence, was pulled over around 11:23 am Sunday on Highway 63 after a deputy believed the license plates on his vehicle were registered to another. Williams was then arrested for driving without a license and non-payment of fines.

The Sheriffs Office says its K9 dog, Mo, indicated illegal drugs in Williams vehicle and a search found 60.69 grams of methamphetamine, multiple plastic baggies, a digital scale, and a glass smoking pipe.

Williams was booked into the Bremer County Jail on charges of with Intent to Deliver More Than 5g but Less Than 5kg of Methamphetamine, Failure to Affix Drug Tax Stamp, Driving While License Barred, Driving While License Revoked, Driving While License Suspended, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Fraudulent Use of Registration, and Failure to Provide Proof of Financial Liability. His bond was set at $100,000.
WEST CONCORD, Minn. - Yogurt, cheese, and ice cream lovers rejoice! June is National Dairy Month. To kick off the month, Gochnauer Dairy Farms invited people to their farm to meet their Holsteins and snack on cheese curds and ice cream.

The Gochnauer farm is located at the big white barn on the end of West Concord's Main Street.

"It's just a really great way for us to be able to talk to the public and advocate for dairy farmers, the way they care for their animals, and how nutritious dairy products are," says Megan Gochnauer.

Dodge County Dairy Princess Katrina Thoe and Princess Kay of the Milky Way Brenna Connelly of Byron were in the barn, giving out milk and talking to visitors about the dairy industry.

"We're here to share about our favorite dairy foods, celebrate all the dairy goodness, and really just share the story of Minnesota dairy farmers and the hard work they do to be able to give us these delicious dairy foods," says Connelly.

"I think it's important for people to know that each county in Minnesota has local dairy princesses where they have events like this where you can see just how local your dairy products are and ask them any questions you have," explains Thoe.
ONAMIA, Minn. (AP)  Walleye fishing on Mille Lacs Lake has returned to catch-and-release only for the rest of the summer.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has long imposed stricter regulations on the popular lake in an effort to boost its struggling walleye population.

For the past several years, anglers havent been able to keep walleye they catch on Mille Lacs during the summer.

This spring, anglers were allowed to keep one walleye apiece of specified sizes through the Memorial Day weekend.

But thats ending for the summer, and walleye fishing will be off limits entirely for the first two weeks in July.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  The Minnesota Department of Human Rights has reached settlements in sexual harassment cases with three businesses, including the group that runs the states Renaissance Fair.

The state agency reached the settlements after finding that Mid-America Festivals Corporation, the Minnesota Sword Club in Minneapolis and Red Custard Cabin in Ely failed to provide a work environment free of sexual harassment and assault.

The settlements require the businesses to implement sexual assault and harassment policies, and institute multiple ways to report assault and harassment.
MASON CITY, Iowa  A North Iowa man accused of attacking a state trooper is pleading not guilty.

Thomas Spencer Markwalter, 68 of Mason City, is charged with assault on persons engaged in certain occupations. His trial is scheduled to begin on August 17.

Markwalter was arrested on April 28 after law enforcement says he was clocked going 136 in a 65 mile per hour zone. Court documents state that after Markwalter came to a stop, he drove back into a state trooper twice and then punched a trooper in the abdomen.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - If youre looking to make some extra cash this summer, there should be a lot more opportunities for job seekers.

Last year s the pandemic shut down retailers and restaurants teens ages 16 to 19-years-old struggled to find work but this summer employers are offering hiring bonuses and higher wages which is providing much more opportunity.

FILE - In this March 4, 2021, file photo, a sign reading "Welcome Back Now Open" is posted on the window of a Morton's Steakhouse restaurant as a man works inside during the coronavirus pandemic in San Francisco. California lost close to 70,000 jobs in Ja FILE - In this March 4, 2021, file photo, a sign reading "Welcome Back Now Open" is posted on the window of a Morton's Steakhouse restaurant as a man works inside during the coronavirus pandemic in San Francisco. California lost close to 70,000 jobs in Ja

Political analyst Rayce Hardy explained, With this desire to get these workers in there right now and get things going to meet the demand that's ever-increasing right now from the COVID restrictions being lifted and people being vaccinated it's a great opportunity right now.

More than 250,000 teenagers in the 16-19-year-old age group found employment in April which is the latest month data is available.

Hardy says that works out to be a third of the population in that age group finding employment. However, he does add the majority of teens who got a job in April were white while certain areas across the nation saw a decline in the number of black and Hispanic teens being employed.

We've got to start taking a look now at the more specific areas and see if we can get everybody involved in this move upward and now just one group. We just really have to look at that, Hardy added.

Hardy says whether the trend of teenager employment can hold up will become clearer when jobs data for the month of May is released on Friday.
And workers across the Lehigh Valley are going to have to face some tough decisions soon about how and where theyll work, as COVID-19 restrictions across the commonwealth are almost entirely lifted and businesses are calling workers to return to their offices.
Jasper, TX (75951)

Today

Some clouds and possibly an isolated thunderstorm late. Low near 75F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Some clouds and possibly an isolated thunderstorm late. Low near 75F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com)  A South Carolina couple accused in two random St. Louis shooting deaths are now linked to a murder in Tennessee.

Man wanted in Brentwood, University City murders arrested in South Carolina Police identified the suspects as Adrienne Simpson, 34, and Tyler Terry, 26. The Major Case Squad is also investigating whether the two were involved in any other violent crimes while they were in the St. Louis area.

Tyler Terry and Adrienne Simpson were charged locally in the May shooting deaths of Dr. Sergei Zacharev in Brentwood and Barbara Goodkin in University City. They are also accused of shooting Goodkins husband, who was driving the car Barbara was riding in, and of opening fire on a car driving along Interstate 170 at St. Charles Rock Road on May 15.

Terry is also charged in the May 2 murder of Thomas Durrell Hardin and two separate shootings in South Carolina. Simpson is also believed to be connected to those crimes. A body later found in Great Falls, South Carolina was identified as Simpsons 33-year-old husband Eugene Simpson. Authorities have not said how he died.

The newest case the duo is linked to is the death of an unnamed man in Memphis, Tennessee on May 17. Few details have been released regarding the latest killing, but Chester County officials told WBTV the murder happened before 2 a.m.

WBTV reports the Tennessee homicide would have given the suspects less than 24 hours to return to Chester, where they led police on a chase starting at 11 p.m. that night. At the end of the chase, Simpson was arrested and a week-long manhunt for Terry began.
A man was stabbed to death in Waikiki after an argument escalated into a fight. The 22-year-old who died as visiting from Las Vegas.
Hello! My name is Emma, and today I assume the role of your local reporter for Knox Pages, Ashland Source and Richland Source.

As my interest and commitment to journalism has grown, I have seen local newsrooms struggle because of a lack of funding and resources. I spent the last four years attending college in Richmond, Va., and saw newspaper front pages once filled with bylines from numerous reporters now feature the same number of stories -- but all from one writer.

Some regions lost their local news source altogether.

When seeking my first post-graduate job, I wanted to serve in a role where I could be the support needed in a local newsroom. Today, I enter my role through Report for America, an initiative that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities.

News deserts and underreporting have implications beyond the local level as well. Regional news organizations inform national outlets. Without in-depth local coverage, issues are left underreported and misunderstood, not only in small communities but across the world.

I was drawn to Report for America because of its focus on local news, but also because of its focus on building a sustainable system that engages the community in fundraising.

Local news cannot survive without its community. I believe communities also cannot survive in a meaningful way without a local news organization that works, and has the means to inform and connect people to where they call home.

I wanted a role where I could do more than relay information. This is why I was drawn to Richland Source Media Groups focus on Solutions Journalism. I am eager to engage in work that helps our community understand problems but also investigates ways to solve them.

A bit about me:

I decided to major in journalism at the University of Richmond, candidly, because I was interested in too many subjects to pick just one to study. But I decided to pursue journalism as a career when I saw my reporting have an impact on the communities I covered.

In 2019, I joined University of Richmonds independent newspaper, The Collegian, as a news writer. I assumed the role of managing editor in 2020, the day my university switched to remote learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was clear amid the ever-changing landscape of the pandemic that our comprehensive reporting and watchdog role was even more critical.

Since then Ive interned with FRONTLINE PBS, reported for Richmonds Capital News Service, served as a reporter and editor for the Poynter Institutes College Media Project and began a fellowship with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Ive reported on education, local government, the COVID-19 pandemic, burial grounds and memorialization, and I am eager to find out what topics you find most pressing.

While I come to the Richland Source Media Group from Richmond, Im a native New Yorker. Im also a long-time ballet dancer, a podcast buff and your new neighbor. I began calling Ohio home last week and have much work to do to report with depth and accuracy on Knox, Ashland and Richland Counties.

So, send me your questions, concerns and news tips. I can be reached at emma@richlandsource.com, and I am excited to get to know you.
Two Easy Ways To Subscribe!

The Kodiak Daily Mirror offers full-service, five-day a week subscriptions with home delivery in addition to unlimited access to our online services (including our e-Edition). Online-access-only subscriptions include unlimited access to the Mirror's online services without delivery of the printed newspaper.

(Note: New users: You must register and login before purchasing a subscription.
[The movie] is not a socially important story like `Kids For Cash but I do hope that the takeaway is: Never throw out your childhood dreams. Instead, embrace them, venture out and realize them if you can. After all, life is really an adventure. We all know it ends; we just dont know when or how.
Kokomo, IN (46901)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Here's what you need to know: Wednesday, June 2
Albion, IN (46701)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable.
I think the fallacy we have in front of us is that the approval of the Benner building at Third and New streets somehow unlocks us to say, Well, they let that one in, lets go ahead,  Van Wirt said. I think everyone knows aesthetically that was a mistake.
Rental fishing boats like these at Pokagon State Park are a great way to get out on the water for enjoyment of the lake or to go fishing  or both!
SALEM, OR (KPTV) - Some Oregon bar owners say cocktails to-go have helped them survive the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a temporary measure, but now it could become law if Governor Kate Brown signs the bill just passed by the state legislature.

The owner of Botanist in northwest Portland says he wants to keep selling the sealed cocktails that customers can take with them.

"Its a business tool from my perspective. Its a way for us to continue to dig ourselves out of a hole that weve been in for the last year," Matt Davidson said.

After a year of shut downs, reopening, closing, and reopening again, the losses for the bar are in the six figures.

Thirty states had allowed the temporary cocktails to-go sales before Oregon okayed the idea. Oregon only allowing it after a special session and just in time for New Years Eve. The cocktails to-go provide a temporary lifeline for many bars and restaurants but by no means a saving grace.

"It would generate enough revenue for us to have somebody come in, batch syrups or to batch ingredients we knew would go out for cocktails to-go," Davidson said.

Recently, 14 states and the District of Columbia have legalized cocktails to-go permanently. In Washington, Governor Jay Inslee signed the bill to allow the sales until 2023.

Davidson says he hopes Brown will sign the state's new bill and make carry out sales a regular part of his business.

"I have stopped trying to guess what the governor is going to do," he said.

Brown has not said whether she will sign the bill. Her office told FOX 12 they will examine it and put it through the usual approval process.
He travels a lot, gets to do dangerous things, has fun in the middle of it all and gets out of every scrape, Fichter said. He seems like he has an unlimited budget even though he has no money.
A great deal

Somewhat

Not very much

Not at all

Vote

View Results
JBS, which is a majority shareholder of Pilgrims Pride, didnt say which of its 84 U.S. facilities were closed Monday and Tuesday because of the attack. It said JBS USA and Pilgrims were able to ship meat from nearly all of its facilities Tuesday. The company also said it was making progress toward resuming plant operations in the U.S. and Australia. Several of the companys pork, poultry and prepared foods plants were operational Tuesday and its Canada beef facility resumed production, it said.
BILLINGS, Mont. - Billings was ranked the fourth best place to get a summer job in 2021 by WalletHub. Missoula was ranked 11th.

Owner of Montana Shed Builders Chad Beachy said business is booming right now. They were pretty short-handed in March and April, making it stressful to keep up with demand.

"You end up working a lot of hours," Beachy said. "As the owner/manager, you work a lot of hours. It's easy to burn guys out because they work more hours than they want to. And, you're just stretched really thin."

Xiaoyi Wang of Job Service in Billings said unemployment in Montana was 3.71% as of April 2021, which is back to pre-pandemic levels.

For teens looking for summer jobs, there are many businesses currently looking for help. The Wall Street Journal reports that Northern Mountain States, like Montana, have three open jobs for every one unemployed worker. One of those businesses is Mackenzie River Pizza, which is currently offering a $1,500 sign-on bonus for people who are hired by June 10 and fulfill some other requirements.
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 2, 2021--

Motorola Solutions today announced that Malta Police Force has deployed Motorola Solutions VB400 body-worn cameras to all frontline officers across the Republic of Malta. The roll out is part of Malta Police Forces transformation strategy which aims to modernize the police force while increasing trust and transparency with the community.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005259/en/

Malta Police Motorola Solutions (Photo: Business Wire)

The five-year service contract for the comprehensive video solution includes evidence management software to process captured video footage securely and the new Holster Aware feature which allows the camera to automatically start recording if a weapon is unholstered.

Every day, these body-worn cameras will capture evidence, deliver transparency and increase the efficiency of our workflows, said Malta Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa. "In high-stress situations - which our officers often face - this technology will capture critical footage of whats happening on the scene without impacting our officers focus or attention.

Integrated with the VB400 cameras, the new Bluetooth-activated Holster Aware sensor detects if an officer removes their weapon from its holster and automatically activates the officers body-worn camera to start recording. When this occurs, the body-worn cameras of officers in close proximity will also activate, providing a holistic view of the situation from multiple perspectives. As part of the agencys workflow, the video footage will be directly uploaded, securely stored and organized using Motorola Solutions VideoManager evidence management software.

Malta Police joins police agencies around the world in adopting our integrated body-worn video and cloud-based evidence management solution to increase transparency and allow police officers to focus on keeping communities safe, said Michael Kaae, regional vice president of Europe.

Motorola Solutions VB400 body-worn cameras are widely adopted by frontline emergency teams including the National Police in France, Belgium Police, Romanian Police, Romanian Border Police and multiple police forces across the U.K..

About Motorola Solutions

Motorola Solutions is a global leader in mission-critical communications and analytics. Our technologies in land mobile radio mission-critical communications, video security & analytics and command center software, bolstered by managed & support services, make communities safer and help businesses stay productive and secure. At Motorola Solutions, we are ushering in a new era in public safety and security. Learn more at www.motorolasolutions.com.

View source version on businesswire.com:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005259/en/

CONTACT: Elvan Lindberg

Motorola Solutions

Mobile: +46 (0)707448893

Elvan.Lindberg@motorolasolutions.com

Susanne Stier

Motorola Solutions

Mobile: +49 (0)172 6161773

Susanne.Stier@motorolasolutions.com

KEYWORD: ILLINOIS EUROPE MALTA UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: PUBLIC POLICY/GOVERNMENT LAW ENFORCEMENT/EMERGENCY SERVICES CONSUMER ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY AUDIO/VIDEO MOBILE/WIRELESS SOFTWARE

SOURCE: Motorola Solutions

Copyright Business Wire 2021.

PUB: 06/02/2021 09:00 AM/DISC: 06/02/2021 09:02 AM

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005259/en
BROWNING, Mont. - On April 27, Leo Wagner went missing and today Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services held a press conference on Facebook to update the public on the search for Wagner.

BLES took the community through a timeline of events starting when Leo was last seen.

They said they responded to a call of someone under the influence walking the shore line of St. Mary's Lake and when they got there, they couldn't find the man or the caller.

An hour later they were told the man was walking along West Shore Road with an injured arm.

The next day Leo was reported missing by family and friends.

On May 2, 2021 BLES found a cabin that was burglarized and they said it look as if someone was injured.

They confirmed with family that clothing found at the scene belonged to Leo and a full scale search was issued.

After 10 days of searching, on May 9, the search was scaled back.

BLES said they searched approximately 70 square miles and multiple agencies assisted them.

Even though the search was scaled back, they are determined to find him.

"A contingency search plan is in place to search the St. Mary Lake for the recovery of Leo... with that, we are getting some boats and stuff together. This week we'll be going out and searching the lake," said BLES interim PIO, officer Frank Goings.

BLES is asking for any information and said they will follow up on any tips submitted.

As more details come out of the search, BLES say they will continue to keep the community updated.
HELENA, Mont. - Governor Greg Gianforte proclaimed June 2, 2021, as Earl J. Barlow Day.

In the proclamation, Gov. Gianforte says Earl J. Barlow Day celebrates Barlows extensive, meaningful lifelong accomplishments to strengthen Indian Education in the State of Montana and throughout the United States.

Earl J. Barlow was born on June 2, 1927, on the Blackfeet Reservation and dedicated his life to serving his fellow Montanans and Americans according to a release.

After graduating from Browning High School in 1944, Barlow enlisted in the United States Army during World War II and was later honorably discharged.

Barlow graduated with honors with a B.S. degree in Elementary Education from the Montana State Normal College and a Master of Education from the University of Montana before beginning his education career in Hot Springs, Montana on the Flathead Indian Reservation.

According to the release, Barlow served in many different posts, including superintendent of various school districts and as Director of the Office of Indian Education at the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Earl J. Barlow Day celebrates Barlows lifetime of dedication toward enhancing Indian Education, Native American Rights, and for providing an endless source of knowledge and wisdom to future generations, the release reads.

You can read the full proclamation online here.
Interview: Ex-Italian PM says post-pandemic challenges call for "qualitative leap" forward in global cooperation

Xinhua) 13:45, June 02, 2021

ROME, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic would require a great deal of effort from major global players to step up their cooperation and improve the quality of dialogue, former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema has told Xinhua in a recent interview.

To revive economy and tackle social and economic inequalities as well as climate change are among the huge tasks lying ahead, said D'Alema, who has played a major role in Italian politics as a political heavyweight of center-left forces.

During the interview, he also voiced concerns about the current state of dialogue between the East and the West. The pandemic and the post-pandemic problems ... "all require strong international cooperation, (and) I would even say a 'qualitative leap' in international collaboration," he noted.

Differences exist between the West and the East in terms of political models and social systems, the 72-year-old former politician said, while stressing that "the greatest effort" from both sides should be put into resuming the dialogue.

"To use an old saying," he explained, "today's big problem is how to rebuild the conditions for a peaceful coexistence between different systems, in order to face common challenges most effectively."

On climate change, possibly the most global of such challenges, D'Alema underscored the positive shift in the stance of the United States, which officially re-joined the Paris Agreement in February, following the announcement by U.S. President Joe Biden. This would allow some hope, he said.

"On climate change, there seems to be both the opportunity and the will to resume dialogue, and I do hope this approach could be extended to other fields, such as preventing and solving ongoing conflicts, overcoming trade tensions, and boosting economic recovery," he said.

Politics, he stressed, was only one ingredient in mutual understanding. Market openness, especially in the services sector that allows better communication among people, and tourism and cultural exchanges could all contribute to building "a stronger cooperation climate," he added.

"As for the Western countries, I do think we must try to better counter nationalistic pressures and hostile stances, which have occurred recently and are still occurring," he said.

D'Alema recalled that China stretched out a helping hand to Italy as the country was among the first in Europe badly hit by the pandemic last year.

In Italy, he said, "we do remember the Chinese help in terms of support, technology and means provided in order to face the (first wave) of the coronavirus."

The former prime minister said that another issue on which the West and China should have dialogue is human rights protection.

"I do not believe in exporting political models, and I think differences (between systems) must be respected," D'Alema stressed. "I also do not feel we in the West can teach anyone a lesson, since we also deal with such problems."

"I would say we should make a common effort to ensure an adequate standard of human rights protection while respecting the diversity of our political systems," he added.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Hongyu)
If you are paying minimum wage and you dont give any benefits, it is always going to be hard, Wolf told reporters last week. We need to pay people fairly and treat them fairly, and if you do that, you are not going to have problems getting people.
Last month, the retail behemoth announced it is looking for another 75,000 workers for its fulfillment and logistics network across the United States and Canada. A spokesperson didnt have Lehigh Valley-specific hiring numbers, but Pennsylvania was identified in a news release as one of 14 states with the most open positions.
The Riviera is now officially open for businesses this summer after months of renovation work and several upcoming events are now on the books to give the community a chance to celebrate.

Mayor Charlene Klein officially proclaimed July 15 as Lake Geneva Day, during the May 24 city council meeting.

Lake Geneva Day is to celebrate the completion of the Riviera renovation project and will include tours of the historic building from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. with a re-dedication ceremony to be held at 4 p.m.

Klein plans to invite Gov. Tony Evers, Rep. Tyler August, Sen. Stephen Nass, past mayors and representatives from MSI General Corporation, general contractors for the project, to the ceremony.

The Swing Nouveau Orchestra is set to perform from 6 to 8 p.m. at Flat Iron Park that evening, as part of VISIT Lake Genevas Concerts in the Park series.

People who have city parking stickers will be able to park for free the entire day.

Former Mayor Sturges Taggart proclaimed a Lake Geneva Day in 1933 to celebrate the grand opening of the Riviera, which was constructed in 1932.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Everything was free for Lake Geneva taxpayers that day.
A subdivision that would feature about 183 residential units is being proposed for the City of Lake Geneva.

Representatives from the Vistas Group in Chicago are proposing to construct the subdivision on about 38.53 acres of land near the northwest corner of Townline Road and Edwards Boulevard.

Plans for the proposed development were presented during the May 17 Lake Geneva Plan Commission meeting.

Vistas Group officials plan to develop about 27 acres of the property for residential housing, and about 10.5 acres is set to be preserved for future business development.

The subdivision is set to include 156 multi-family units on the east side of the property, 12 duplex units on the north side, five single-family homes on the southwest side and 10 duplex units on the west side.

Gary Dunham, agent for Keefe Real Estate, said the multi-family units mostly will be targeted for residents who recently moved into the area or residents who no longer want to maintain their property.

Its most likely going to be an active, older community, Dunham said. It will be for people who dont want to take care of the lawn or take care of the exterior of their house. Everything is done within their association.
Some climate activists advocate large-scale tree-planting campaigns in forests around the world to suck up heat-trapping carbon dioxide and help rein in climate change.

But in a Perspectives article published May 21 in the journal Science, a University of Michigan climate scientist and his University of Arizona colleague say the idea of planting trees as a substitute for the direct reduction of greenhouse gas emissions could be a pipe dream.

We cant plant our way out of the climate crisis, said Arizonas David Breshears, a top expert on tree mortality and forest die-off in the West.

His co-author is Jonathan Overpeck, dean of Michigans School for Environment and Sustainability and an expert on paleoclimate and climate-vegetation interactions.

Tree-planting has great appeal to some climate activists because it is easy and not that expensive, Breshears said. But its like bailing water with a big hole in the bucket. While adding more trees can help slow ongoing warming, were simultaneously losing trees because of that ongoing warming.

The authors favor keeping existing forests healthy so they can continue to act as carbon sinks, removing carbon from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and storing it in trees and soils, according to the researchers.

At the same time, emissions must be reduced as much as possible, as quickly as possible, they say.

Overpeck and Breshears describe their approach to forest management as managing for change.

As a first step, policymakers and land managers would acknowledge that additional large-scale vegetation changes are inevitable.

Managing for Change

Climate change has been implicated in record-setting wildfires in the western United States, Australia and elsewhere, as well as extensive tree die-offs that are largely due to increasingly hot, dry climate extremes.

Those trends are expected to accelerate as the climate warms, according to Overpeck and Breshears.

Even in a world where climate change is soon halted, global temperature rise will likely reach between 1.5 and 2 C above pre-industrial levels, with all the associated extreme heat waves that brings, and thus global vegetation will face up to double the climate change already experienced, they write.

At the same time, deforestation continues to expand globally and is especially damaging in tropical forests, which hold vast amounts of biodiversity and sequestered carbon.

The next step the authors propose is managing forests proactively for the vegetation changes that can be anticipated, instead of trying to maintain forests as they were in the 20th century.

Managing for change means, for example, increased thinning of forests to reduce the buildup of fuels that stoke massive wildfires.

It also means selectively replacing some trees  after a wildfire, for example  that are no longer in optimal climate zones with new species that will thrive now and in coming decades.

Such activities, where needed, would inevitably increase the costs of forest management. But the authors argue such costs should be considered a prudent investment in carbon sequestration.

Overpeck sees a big opportunity to improve the ability of forests to store carbon through increased use of biochar, a form of charcoal produced by heating organic waste matter  such as wood chips, crop residue or manure  in a low-oxygen environment.

Large amounts of wood generated during forest thinning projects could be converted to biochar, then added to forest soils to improve their health and increase the amount of carbon that is locked away. This activity could bring jobs to rural areas, Overpeck said.

In the long run, such projects are likely to benefit forests and enhance their ability to store carbon far more than massive tree-planting campaigns alone, Overpeck and Breshears said.

Source: EurekAlert!
About 300 sheep farmers are expected to participate in an annual wool pool June 12 and 14 at the Lawrence County Fairgrounds in New Castle, Pennsylvania.

The event, hosted by the wool grower groups of Mercer and Lawrence counties, will run 9 a.m. to noon June 12 and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 14.

Producers can drop off their 2020 and 2021 wool clips, said Bob Calvert, a pool organizer.

The pool committee will pay farmers on site for their wool. Compensation will be determined by the weight of the wool.

The collection is expected to be sold to a South Carolina wool company.

For new producers interested in selling their wool, Calvert suggests keeping the wool in a plastic bag, but poking air holes in the bag to let the material breathe and keep its quality.

White and colored fleeces should be kept separate.

Farmers who have questions or who plan to bring large quantities of wool should call Calvert at 724-372-8208.
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration had officially ended the "Remain in Mexico" policy, which was instated during former President Donald Trump's administration.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said he was ending the policy, which was formally known as the Migration Protection Protocols after months of review by his office, according to an NBC News report.

The Biden administration had temporarily paused the program on his first day in office on January 20.

Mayorkas had announced the new development in a memo to agency heads. He said that MPP does not adequately or sustainably enhance border management in such a way as to justify the program's extensive operational burdens and other deficits.

Mayorkas said that the policy had produced mixed results.

The memo added that the administration is eyeing to implement reforms to the U.S. asylum system, while also working with Mexico and Central American countries.

READ MORE: Pres. Joe Biden Plans to Demote the Second Top U.S. Customs and Border Protection Official: Report

Remain in Mexico Policy

Trump had implemented the policy in 2019 during his huge immigration crackdowns, which was widely condemned by immigration and human rights advocacy group.

Human Rights Watch repeatedly warn of reports of children and adults experiencing sexual assault, kidnapping, extortion, robbery, and other crimes while being forced to stay in Mexico under the MPP program, according to a Forbes report.

The HRW had also called on the federal government to start an internal investigation into the said program.

The human rights advocacy group had also said that the Homeland Security under the Trump administration had to be held accountable for its failure to protect asylum seekers, according to HRW's website.

Ariana Sawyer, a US border researcher at Human Rights Watch, said that the DHS inspector general should start a probe and act as Homeland Security has been heavy-handed over federal and international law by returning asylum seekers to harm.

A kidnapped asylum seeker had reported that one of his captors told him the cartel had been hiring.

The said asylum seekers said that his captor told him that they are capturing more asylum seekers since the U.S. was deporting so many, which meant more work.

In Tamaulipas alone, HRW reported at least 32 occurrences of kidnapping or attempted kidnapping mostly by criminal organizations.

At least 38 children were kidnapped or subjected to kidnapping attempts, with reports by four women of sexual assault during the kidnapping incident.

Asylum seekers in the MPP program can be easily identified in Mexico as they appear foreign and speak with accents. Some do not speak Spanish at all.

Migrant Encounters Under Biden Administration

Migrant encounters at the United States' southern border had increased 71 percent since February as the current administration struggles to handle thousands of people seeking entry into the U.S.

More than 172,000 people tried to enter the U.S., which was an increase from the 100,441 in February, according to a USA Today report.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection had also encountered 18,890 unaccompanied children from Central America, doubling the number of migrant children in February.

READ NEXT: Pres. Joe Biden Administration To Restart Border Wall Construction After Scrapping Former Pres. Donald Trump's Border Wall Plans

WATCH: Biden offers hope for refugees stranded on the US-Mexico border - from DW News
A Santa Clarita shooting which took place in Los Angeles Fire Station 81 at Agua Dulce, left one firefighter dead and another injured after an off-duty firefighter opened fire in the station on Tuesday, June 1. The tragic incident happened before 11 in the morning at the station located in the 8700 block of Sierra Highway, according to a Fox 11 report.

The Santa Clarita shooting is an addition to a series of mass shootings in the United States, including the incident in Miami-Dade, Florida, when suspects opened fire in El Mula Banquet Hall.

READ NEXT: San Jose Mass Shooting: Rail Yard Death Toll Climbs to 10; Motive Still Unknown

Santa Clarita Shooting: Fire Station 81 Agua Dulce Firefighter Opened Fire

L.A. County Fire Department confirmed that the shooting occurred around 10:55 in the morning. ABC News reported that the authorities responded at the scene and identified at last two victims. Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said that the firefighter who was fatally shot was identified as a 44-year-old male, who is also a 20-year-veteran of the department. The said victim was found by the authorities dead on the scene.

Meanwhile, the other victim was identified as a 54-year-old fire captain. The captain was transported to Mayo Newhall hospital in Valencia. The 54-year-old victim sustained multiple gunshot wounds. He was listed in critical but stable condition, and is expected to survive.

The names of the victims were not revealed by the authorities.

"I always prayed we would never have a line of duty death and if it occurred, it would occur in this fashion," said Chief Osby. Osby also described the 44-year-old veteran as a "brave, committed, and loyal member of the fire department." Furthermore, Chief Osby noted that never imagined that his members would face dangers in their own "safe house."

To deal with the mental trauma, Chief Osby said that the department "would provide" counselors and other support staff.

Suspect Found Dead in His Residence

The suspect for the shooting in Fire Station 81 was identified by the witnesses to leave the station with a white Toyota Pickup after he shot two victims. Authorities followed the vehicle until they reached the suspect's home located at 2600 Bock of Bent Spur Drive in Acton. Chief Osby confirmed that the suspect was not supposed to be in the station as he was not scheduled to work on Tuesday.

The suspect allegedly barricaded himself inside his home and then set the house on fire. A helicopter has made a water drop in the house, but it did not do much since the property already burned to the ground.

The authorities entered the residence and Lieutenant Brandon Dean confirmed that they discovered a body with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, in the back pool area. They believe the man is the suspect for the Santa Clarita shooting.

The investigation for the Santa Clarita shooting that killed a firefighter is ongoing. Authorities added that the motive for the incident is not yet identified.

READ MORE: Ohio Mass Shooting at an Apartment Complex Leaves 5 People Dead

WATCH: Officials investigate shooting at LA County Fire Station 81 - from FOX 11 Los Angeles
China confirmed its first human case of the H10N3 bird flu strain on Tuesday, June 1. Reuters reported that the confirmation was made by Beijing's National Health Commission (NHC). However, details of how the individual was infected were not provided by the commission.

The individual who tested positive for H10N3 bird flu was a 41-year-old man from Jiangsu province, northwest of Shanghai, according to an Associated Press report. The said individual is now in stable condition and is ready to be discharged after being admitted to a hospital on April 28.

READ NEXT: China's Space Advancement and Push for Space Dominance Worries NASA Deputy Administrator Nominee Pam Melroy

China's First Human H10N3 Bird Flu Case

The identified individual who had the bird flu strain was reported to be a resident of Zhenjiang in Jiangsu. The commission noted that the 41-year-old man was diagnosed with the H10N3 strain on May 28.

A contact tracing made by NHC showed that there are no other human cases of H10N3 elsewhere in China. Also, there are no other human cases of H10N3 reported globally.

Reuters reported that there are many other strains of bird flu in China, including strains that periodically infect people who usually work in poultries. However, there is no indication that the H10N3 bird flu strain can spread quickly on humans.

"This infection is an accidental cross-species transmission," the NHC said in a statement. The NHC further noted that there is low risk when it comes to large-scale transmission.

Dr. Waleed Javaid, director of infection prevention and control at Mount Sinai Downtown in New York, told Health that if human-to-human transmission of H10N3 was a huge threat, it's likely that more cases would emerge.

Javaid noted that since no other cases of H10N3 have been reported among the patient in Zhenjiang's close contacts, experts still do not know if the H10N3 bird flu strain could spread via human-to-human transmission.

Javaid said the strain appears to have been circulating among birds for a while. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) told Reuters that the organization echoed the NHC's statement, saying that there is no human-to-human transmission yet.

"As long as avian influenza viruses circulate in poultry, sporadic infection of avian influenza in humans is not surprising," the WHO said.

The WHO further noted that the infection is a reminder that the "threat of an influenza pandemic" persists. However, unlike COVID-19, global influenza surveillance systems for human cases of bird flu are available after the H5N1 strain emerged in Hongkong in the late 1990s.

What is H10N3 Bird FLU?

H10N3 is a form of avian influenza or bird flu that normally infects wild aquatic birds and domestic poultry. Health reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that this type of strain does not usually infect humans.

Apart from the H10N3 bird flu that infected its first human case in China, other avian influenza strains known to infect people include H5, H7, and H9.

Although details regarding specific symptoms for H10N3 bird flu have yet to be released, in general, symptoms of avian influenza include nausea, abdominal pain, severe respiratory illness, conjunctivitis, and influenza-like illness like fever, muscle aches, and sore throat.

READ MORE: John Cena Apologizes on Weibo: Fast and Furious 9 Star Called Taiwan a Country

WATCH: First Case of Human Infection With H10N3 Bird Flu Found in China - From WION
Jasmine Hartin, the daughter-in-law of British billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft, had allegedly confessed to accidentally shooting dead a Belize cop after authorities had threatened her with cocaine charges.

According to a New York Post report, the 32-year-old socialite initially refused to coordinate with local authorities. However, local reports said that Jasmine Hartin started cooperating when authorities told her that she would be charged with cocaine possession.

Belize Commissioner of Police Chester Williams said the wife of Andrew Ashcroft, the youngest son of Lord Michael Ashcroft, then provided a statement under caution.

RELATED ARTICLE: Jasmine Hartin: Lord Michael Ashcroft's Daughter-in-Law Could Avoid Jail Time in Belize Cop's Fatal Shooting

The Shooting of the Belize Cop

Jasmine Hartin has been in custody since Friday after Superintended Henry Jemmott was found floating dead in the water off San Pedro island, Daily Mail reported.

The two were reported drinking and socializing on a pier before the Belize cop was found dead. Henry Jemmott was killed by a bullet, which hit him behind his right ear. Police said the gun used was his service pistol.

Jasmine Hartin was said to be giving the Belize cop a message moments before the incident. The two were reportedly playing around with the weapon before the shooting.

Police said that the Belize cop had fallen on Jasmine Hartin, who had panicked to get him off, causing his body to fall in the water, where he was found.

However, Henry Jemmott's family had raised doubts over her story, Fox News reported. Jemmott's sister, assistant police superintendent Cherry Jemmott, said his brother had a gunshot behind his ear like an assassination.

She noted that his brother was a top Belize cop, and she doesn't know how he let down his guard to be shot with his own gun.

According to local reports, Henry Jemmott's Glock had a trigger safety built into it, which makes an accidental discharge almost impossible.

Williams noted that the shooting appeared to be not an attack as the two were friends and had been drinking at the time.

Jasmine Hartin Charged

Godfrey Smith, Hartin's lawyer, said his client had been charged on Monday, May 31, with one count of manslaughter by negligence, adding that her bail had been denied.

Local news reported that manslaughter by negligence is a bailable offense, noting that police do not usually object to bail. However, they did object in this case as the daughter-in-law of British billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft is a Canadian and a flight risk, Radar Online reported.

Smith noted that Jasmine Hartin would remain in prison. He also said that they would be appealing to the Supreme Court, according to a Sky News report.

Hartin's father-in-law, Lord Michael Ashcroft, is a billionaire known to be a top donor to the United Kingdom Conservative Party and its former deputy chairman. He was also known to have massive businesses in Belize and holds Belizean citizenship.

Lord Michael Ashcroft once represented Belize before the United Nations. He was raised as a child in Belize and returned in the early 1980s, and he had built up a series of hugely successful businesses, including banks, telecommunications firms, and tourism ventures.

LinkedIn accounts indicated that Jasmine Hartin and her husband were connected with a local resort in Belize. The couple owns a luxury hotel named Alaia in Belize and only opened the resort for business in early May.

READ NEXT: Jasmine Hartin, Daughter-in-Law of British Billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft, Set To Be Charged Over the Death of Belize Cop

WATCH: Lord Ashcroft's Daughter-in-Law Charged with Manslaughter - From Sky News






The administration of President Joe Biden reversed the drilling program approved by the previous administration, suspending the oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska on Tuesday, June 1.

The move revived a political battle over a remote region that is rich in reserve oil and home of polar bears and other wildlife.

Temporary Moratorium on Oil Leases

According to Associated Press, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland's order follows a temporary moratorium on oil and gas lease activities imposed by Biden on his first day in office.

The January 20 executive order of Biden suggested a needed new environmental review in order to address the possibility of legal flaws in a drilling program approved by the administration of former President Donald Trump under a 2017 law enacted by Congress.

After the Interior Department conducted the required review, they have identified the defects in the underlying record of decision that supported the leases.

The department found a lack of analysis of a reasonable range of alternatives in the drilling program that is supposedly required under the National Environmental Policy Act, which is a bedrock environmental law, The Hill reported.

Moreover, the remote region of 19.6 million-acre refuge is home to polar bears, caribou, snowy owls, and other wildlife not only from the U.S. but also migrating birds from six continents.

In addition, the Indigenous people of Gwich'in also considered the Alaska Arctic Refuge as a sacred place and not for drilling. But Republicans and some companies in the oil industry have long been trying to open up the oil-rich refuge.

READ NEXT: Plane Lands on Busy California Highway; Makes Emergency Landing on 101 Freeway

Pres. Joe Biden on Oil Leases in Alaska's Arctic Refuge

Environmental groups and Democrats, together with numerous Alaska Native tribes, have been trying to block the proposed opening of the oil industry in the region.

Despite the cheers coming from environmental groups and Democrats in the order of the Interior Department, the all-Republican congressional delegation of Alaska slammed it. The congressional delegation emphasized that the order is misguided and illegal.

On January 6 or two weeks before Biden took office, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, an Interior Department agency, held a lease sale for the Arctic Refuge's coastal plain.

Other nine tracts were also signed for leases by the agency eight days later. It summed up to close to 685 square miles, CNBC reported. However, the public announcement regarding the issuance of all the leases was only made on January 19, the last day in office of Trump.

Biden totally opposed the drilling in the region. During his presidential campaign, Biden called for permanent protection in the refuge. Environmental groups also pushed for long-term protections.

The action made by the Biden administration, suspending the leases, came after officials disappointed environmental groups last week by defending a Trump administration decision to approve a major oil project on the North Slope of Alaska. But critics stated that the action depends on Biden in addressing climate change.

Kristen Miller, the acting executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, hailed suspension of the Arctic leasing program. She stated that it was the result of a flawed legal process under the Trump administration.

READ MORE: Mexico Raids Building Project Close to Teotihuacan Pyramids, Archeological Site's Outlying Parts Damaged

WATCH: Alaska's Arctic Wildlife | Oil and Gas leases Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge |Trump Arctic - From El-Matbakh TV
Wild took a neutral stance, saying warehouses provide jobs but the added strains on the regions infrastructure need to be addressed. She cited the garment industrys historic role in the Slate Belt and said the region needs to maintain its manufacturing heritage to keep good jobs and promote the economy. Given the local need, the Lehigh Valley has a vested interest in the passage of the American Jobs Plan, Bidens infrastructure package, she said.
California prosecutors would not seek a death penalty for Scott Peterson again for the 2002 slaying of his pregnant wife Laci Peterson even if he is granted a new trial on juror misconduct.

However, Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo said that even that declaration was not enough to take a death sentence off the table entirely, KCRA News reported.

Massullo noted that laws change, as well as district attorneys. She said that she wants to ensure that what they do is right.

The judge is considering when to resentence Scott Peterson to life without parole after Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager stated in a court filing on May 28 that she would not seek to retry the case's death penalty portion, which the state Supreme Court overturned in August.

RELATED ARTICLE: California Supreme Court Overturns Scott Peterson's Death Sentence

Laci Peterson's Family

Scott Peterson had won two legal battles in 2020 when his death penalty was overturned last August. The second victory was when California Supreme Court ordered the lower court to take a second look at his case last October, People reported.

Laci Peterson's family has been grieving over these court losses. Sharon Rocha, Laci Peterson's mother, is reportedly still devastated by her daughter's murder and the consecutive decisions made by the courts.

A source close to the family told People that it is beyond painful for Rocha, and she wanted to see Scott Peterson back on death row. The source added that the court process is too painful for the family to endure again and would be opening up old wounds.

The insider noted that the family is trying to focus on the Laci they knew and loved rather than think about Scott Peterson.

The Murder of Laci Peterson and Her Unborn Son with Scott Peterson

Laci Peterson went missing on Christmas Eve 2002 while she was eight months pregnant with her son, Connor. Scott Peterson was said to have gone fishing after eating breakfast and watching TV that morning, while Laci took their dog for a walk.

Later that day, a neighbor had found their dog, still wearing their leash while wandering in front of the house by himself, according to Rolling Stone.

Scott Peterson had told police that he first drove to his nearby warehouse to send emails and retrieve his boats, which he brought to Berkeley Marina. The timestamped emails and receipt from the marina had backed him up.

Scott Peterson also told investigators that he assumed that Laci went to her mother's house. He then called his mother-in-law to look for his wife. Laci Peterson was still missing half an hour later when her stepfather had decided to call 911 to report her missing.

Scott was an early suspect in the investigation, and police had taken note of his strange behavior. Police said that his primary concerns were not Laci, but his concerns were his car door hitting his other car door in the driveway or taking a picture of his boat in his shop.

Scott Peterson was discovered to have hidden a relationship with Amber Frey, a massage therapist and a single mom. They were introduced by Scott's friend in November 2002 and started a romantic relationship.

Four months after she went missing, locals found two decomposed bodies washed ashore in the San Francisco Bay.

One body seemed to be an adult woman's torso, and another was an infant. After a few days, DNA tests confirmed that the bodies belonged to Laci and Connor.

On Apr. 21, 2003, Scott Peterson was arraigned and charged with two counts of murder.

READ NEXT: California Supreme Court Orders Review of Scott Peterson's Death Penalty Conviction

WATCH: Scott Peterson May Spend the Rest of His Life Behind Bars Without the Chance of Parole - From ABC 10






President Joe Biden had delayed the start of his Tulsa massacre speech on Tuesday by asking two girls in the audience if they were getting ice cream.

Biden noticed the two children in the audience and made a point to talk to them and their parents before beginning his remarks.

The president said that he just had to make sure that the two girls will get ice cream when the event is over, as they are five-year-old kids hearing the president speak, which must be "purgatory" for them, Daily Mail reported.

Joe Biden was in Tulsa to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Black Wall Street Massacre. It was when white rioters killed African Americans and looted businesses in the prosperous black neighborhood in 1921.

Biden noted that the incident was not a riot but was a massacre. He said this after meeting with the three living survivors of the event. The president then cited the Capitol riot, which he got the dates mixed up. He said that it was on January 9 instead of January 6.

Joe Biden was visiting the city to ensure that the Tulsa massacre was not overlooked. He was the first president to mark the occasion.

Biden urged Americans to remember the occasion and learn from it. He had also used his remarks to invoke the late Congressman John Lewis and the struggle for Black voting rights.

READ NEXT: Pres. Joe Biden Unveils $6 Trillion Budget for 2022: Here's What's in It

Biden Assigns Kamala Harris to Lead Effort to Protect Voting Rights

Joe Biden has assigned Vice President Kamala Harris another task during his Tulsa massacre speech. He said that Kamala Harris would be leading the administration's efforts to protect voting rights, according to another Daily Mail report.

Kamala Harris then said that she would be engaging with voting rights organizations, community organizations, and the private sector in the coming days and weeks to help strengthen voting rights nationwide.

The vice president further noted that she would be working with members of Congress to help advance these bills.

Aside from the new assignment, Kamala Harris was earlier tasked to be the point person to the Northern Triangle countries to deal with the root cause of migration influx. Kamala Harris is set to travel to Mexico and Guatemala on June 7 and June 8, respectively.

The Tulsa Massacre

The two-day Tulsa massacre had caused 1,100 black homes and businesses to be destroyed. Insurance companies had also rejected claims damage, and 10,000 people were left impoverished, with the homeless put in intermittent camps.

Greenwood was looted and burned by white rioters, which prompted Governor J.B.A. Robertson to declare martial law. The National Guard had arrived in Tulsa and assisted firefighters in putting out the fires. They also took African Americans from vigilantes and imprisoned all Black Tulsans.

More than 6,000 people were held at the Convention Hall and the Fairgrounds for as long as eight days. Over 800 people were treated for injuries.

Initial reports stated that deaths began at 36. However, historians now believe that as many as 300 people may have died during the Tulsa massacre.

The massacre had started when Dick Rowland, a young African American shoe shiner, was accused of assaulting a white elevator operator named Sarah Page in the elevator of a downtown Tulsa building.

That evening mobs of African Americans and whites had met on the courthouse where Rowland was being held. A confrontation between an armed African American man and a white protester resulted in the latter's death. The armed African American was there to protect Rowland.

READ MORE: Pres. Joe Biden Scraps Controversial Donald Trump Orders on Race and Culture, Including Plans for a 'National Garden of American Heroes'

WATCH: 'This Was a Massacre': Biden Honors Tulsa Victims - From Reuters
Mail voting is good for Pennsylvania. It is secure and makes it easier to vote. But the law must be improved to clear up some gray areas, such as whether counties are allowed to contact voters and give them an opportunity to fix mistakes on their ballot, as Lehigh did.
A man told a Garda he would snap the head off him when the Garda approached him in an intoxicated state, Portlaoise District Court heard last Thursday.

Martin Delaney, 28, of Woodview, Lacca, Mountrath was charged with criminal damage at Portlaoise Garda Station on February 21 this year and with intoxication and using or engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour at Town Park, Mountrath on the same date.

Sgt JJ Kirby told the court that on April 21 Mr Delaney was very intoxicated at the Town Park. He had urinated in his pants and was staggering against a fence. There was a childrens playground nearby.

When approached by Garda Coffey he told him he would snap the head off him. Later at Portlaoise Garda Station he spat several times in the cell. It cost 150 to clean the cell after.

Defending, solicitor Barry Fitzgerald said that Mr Delaney had just been released from prison when this happened. He had engaged with the Probation Services and Aiseiri for rehab. He had been sober for four weeks.

He had a letter of apology in court and 150 in compensation.

Judge Catherine Staines said she was glad to see him engaging with the Probation Services and Aiseiri. He clearly had an alcohol problem. She asked for a Probation Report for October 7 to ensure he does comply and continues to work on his alcohol addiction.
A woman received a suspended sentence on a number of drug charges at Portlaoise District Court on Thursday last.

Sarah Morton, 32, of 108 Crann Nua, Portarlington was charged with possession and possession for sale or supply at her address on February 22, 2020.

She also was charged with knowledge of a particular drug being on her property.

Sgt JJ Kirby told the court that on February 21 this year during a search at her house at Crann Nua Portarlington a quantity of drugs was found.

This comprised cannabis to the value of 86, cocaine valued at 1,330, four grams of heroin worth 56 and 2,630 in cash.

Ms Morton made certain admissions at the time.

Defence Solicitor Barry Fitzgerald said another party was also involved. Ms Morton was a 32-year old single mother. She did have a very poor history.

She was heavily influenced by a partner who is in custody now.

She had relapsed into company when this man became homeless and she accepted him back into the house.

Drug use subsequently commenced. She was not the major player here.

The man was getting drugs and she was assisting him. These charges predated a suspended sentence.

She had now finished with the co-accused and was genuine in that

Garda Doolan accepted that.

Judge Staines sentenced her to ten months, suspended for one year.

She directed that the 2,630 be forwarded to Focus Ireland.
Two successful Laois women have been awarded prestigious educational scholarships for USA universities.

Both awardees were recognised because of their work on environmental sustainability.

PhD student Caroline Dowling and teacher Miriam Keegan are among 13 Irish scholars to be chosen for the Fulbright Awards this year. They are awarded the Fulbright-Environmental Protection Agency Award (Student) awards.

Caroline Dowling from Errill will be going to Cornell University.

She is is a PhD candidate in plant genetics at the School of Biology and Environmental Science, UCD. She completed her BSc in Plant Biology at UCD which included a semester abroad at McGill University in Montreal, Canada and a research internship at the National Science and Technology Development Agency in Thailand.

Carolines doctoral research focuses on the genetic control of flowering time in hemp (Cannabis sativa). Hemp is a highly versatile, sustainable crop and her work could have a global benefit for the migration from cotton to hemp for clothes and other uses.

Miriam Keegan from Portlaoise will be heading to the University of Delaware.

A primary teacher and sustainable designer/educator, she is a graduate of Primary Education from Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. Miriam will complete her Masters in Fashion and Apparel Studies at the University of Delaware, focusing on social responsibility, supply chain management and sustainability. While studying fashion design, Miriam was horrified by the waste and damage the fast fashion industry was inflicting on the environment. The fast fashion industry is one of the largest contributors to climate change and our overconsumption of fast fashion adds to the problem daily.

In 2020, Miriam launched the online course for primary school teachers Education for Sustainable Development Using Fabric and Fibre, which taught them all about sustainability and the challenges of fast fashion and gave them opportunities and resources to bring it into the classroom. By teaching children how to sew, they are being set up for a more sustainable life as they will know how to mend, upcycle and care for their clothes. This course is approved by the Department of Education.

In 2021, after a year of buying no clothes, Miriam created the No Clothes Commitment Challenge. This is a climate change movement for people to take in order to meaningfully reduce their carbon emissions and save some money.

Miriam looks forward to continuing her studies in the USA as she plans to provide more awareness, research and further upskill people on the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030 through the medium in which we are all influenced by and wear on a daily basis -clothing.

The online award ceremony on June 10 is hoped to include Simon Coveney, USA Ambassador Daniel Mulhall and Charge DAffaires, Alexandra McKnight.

This year Fulbright awarded 13 scholars, as well as 13 students awardees and 5 Irish language teachers (FLTAs).
Concerns have been raised about large crowds of people gathering outdoors when bars and restaurants reopening early from next week.

Crowded streets in Dublin and elsewhere at the weekend caused the HSE and gardai to reiterated warnings about social distancing.

Dozens of outdoor drinkers were asked to leave Market Square in Kildare town on Saturday evening after gardai arrived on the scene.

Co Kildare Chamber CEO Allan Shine has also urged business owners and customers to act responsibly in coming weeks.

Cllr Suzanne Doyle said: "It's natural there is a pent-up demand to socialise but we're asking people not to gather in large groups and to bring their litter home if bins are fill."



From this Wednesday, all hotels are set to open while on Monday next all outdoor hospitality will resume.

On July 5, the opening of indoor hospitality in pubs and restaurants will take place.



Paul Hyland, the owner of Mooney's Bar in Monasterevin, who has only traded for a few weeks in 15 months, said he is a little apprehensive about re-opening.

He said: "Every publican is responsible for running his or her own premises. We can't control crowds on the street.

"Pubs tend to get blamed for a lot of things.

"If people are gathering on streets of a town, they could also be buying alcohol in local off licences and in supermarkets - but they're not blamed."

Mr Hyland, who is continuing the family business which was first begun by his grandmother Kate Delaney in 1911, said the price of a pint was 17 pence when he started working in the mid-1970s.

He added: "I didn't reopen for takeaway drinks during the lockdowns because I would have to take staff off the PUP and I may not have had enough work for them.

"A lot of publicans will tell you that despite worrying when the pub will reopen, they had a good night's sleep and weekends off for the first time in their lives.

"I'm a bit apprehensive about going back."

Cllr Doyle said that we're currently in a transition phase because people can't sit in pubs or restaurants yet and they're trying to socialise outdoors.

She added: "I hope that things will settle down quickly if the reopening phase goes well and case numbers stay reasonably low.

"The vast majority of people behave in a responsible fashion when they're out and about in town centres and the weather is nice."

Co Kildare Chamber CEO Mr Shine called on communities to support their local businesses during the reopening phase.

He said: "I would urge all businesses and customers to act in a responsible manner in the weeks ahead and to adhere to all public health guidelines."
New attitudinal research released today by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has found that a quarter of drivers surveyed agreed that there were times when they may have been over the drink driving limit when driving the morning after a night out.

The Driver Attitudes & Behaviour Survey carried out in December 2020, also found that overall, 9% of motorists admit to consuming alcohol before driving in the past twelve months, with the figure higher amongst men (12%) than women (5%).

The figures are being published ahead of the June Bank Holiday Weekend as An Garda Siochana, the RSA and the Medical Bureau of Road Safety appeal to all road users not to drink and drive.

Ms Hildegarde Naughton, Minister of State at the Department of Transport, said: "Drink driving is viewed by most people in this country as anti-social behaviour and completely unacceptable, yet there are some who persist in this dangerous behaviour. Many people will be meeting up outdoors across the country to socialise with family and friends this weekend. If you are planning on drinking remember that alcohol and driving do not mix. Designate a driver who will not drink to ensure that you all can get home safely. Whatever you do dont drink and drive and understand that you could still be unfit to drive the morning after.

Assistant Commissioner Paula Hilman, Roads Policing and Community Engagement, An Garda Siochana added: "Gardai are keeping people safe on our roads and will be visible across the country over this June Bank Holiday weekend. Alcohol and drugs impair peoples judgement. Intoxicated driving is a major factor in serious injury and fatal collisions on our roads. I appeal to people to drive safely and not to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs. If you are stopped and fail a roadside test, think of the implications, you could receive a disqualification from driving. How will this impact on you socially, domestically or professionally?

Mr Sam Waide, CEO of the RSA, said: "While our research shows that most drivers believe that drinking and driving is not normal social behaviour, I am concerned at the numbers who are getting behind the wheel the morning after with drink on board. Drink driving is drink driving no matter what time of the day or week it happens. The morning after is a real danger zone for drink driving. A previous analysis of Garda Siochana Investigation Files for fatal collisions, by the RSA, shows that 11% of fatal collisions, in which a driver had consumed alcohol, occurred between 7am and 11am. There is no hard and fast rule about when it is safe to drive the morning after if you have been drinking the previous night. But motorists should allow at least one hour per standard drink for the alcohol to clear their system. A standard drink is a half-pint, a small glass of wine or a standard measure of spirits. Also, if drinking at home, you may be unknowingly consuming larger measures and therefore increasing the risk that you are unsafe to drive the following morning. The key is never to take chances, dont risk it, you could end up losing your licence or worse.

47 people have died on our roads in 2021. We want everyone to enjoy this Bank Holiday Weekend and to be safe on our roads, so I appeal to every driver to be responsible, and never, ever drink and drive.

Professor Denis Cusack, Head of the Medical Bureau of Road Safety said: "While drug driving has increased substantially in recent years, alcohol remains the most prevalent intoxicant detected in drivers. In 2020, 94% of drivers, who following arrest provided an evidential breath sample for alcohol analysis, had alcohol detected in their breath. Combining Breath, Blood and Urine alcohol positive samples it is notable that 88% of those samples have alcohol concentrations greater than the legal limit of 50mg/100ml blood equivalent, 67% of drivers have alcohol concentration over 100mg/100ml blood equivalent and 42% of drivers have levels greater than 150mg/100ml blood equivalent. The higher the concentration of alcohol the more significant driver impairment and the greater the crash risk is. This emphasises the long-standing road safety message, never drink and drive.

He added that "All age groups are well represented in drink driving detections. The median age of drivers asked to provide a breath sample for alcohol testing in an Irish garda station is 38. The majority of arrests for drink driving in males is evenly spread across the late teen to mid forty age categories, while female arrests peak in the 35 to 44 age group.

The HSE has a useful website called askaboutalcohol.ie which is full of very valuable resources on the impact of alcohol on driving and drivers are encouraged to visit the site for more information on the subject.

A total of 14 people have been killed and 64 people seriously injured over June Bank Holiday weekends between 2016-2020*.

To date in 2021, a total of 47 people have died on Irish roads, this is 12 fewer than the same period in 2020.

The RSA Driver Attitudes & Behaviour Survey, 2020 also found that;

 9% of motorists consumed alcohol before driving in past 12 months (12% of Male motorists; 5% of Female motorists).

 1 in 4 (25%) motorists agreed there were times when they have been over the limit when driving the morning after a night out.

 27% of those who consumed alcohol before driving in the last 12 months, had 2 or more drinks before doing so.

 58% of Irish motorists claimed that to be safe to drive, they cannot have consumed any alcohol before driving (down from 68% in 2019).

 43% of all motorists stated that to remain under the legal limit, they cannot have consumed any alcohol before driving.

 9 in 10 (92%) motorists agreed driving under the influence of alcohol seriously increases the risk of a collision.
In the market for a "forever home" or a holiday hideaway?

Check out this detached four-bedroom dormer bungalow in the wilds of Donegal.

It goes under the hammer at the BidX1 auction on June 25 with a guide price of just 68,000.

The property is located approximately 4km from Glenties town centre and has stunning views of woodland and mountains.

The bungalow is on a generous site of three-quarters of an acre.

Local amenities in the area include the Highlands Hotel, Glenties Health Centre and Scoil Mhuire National School together with a range of shops, bars and restaurants available in Glenties town centre and nearby Donegal town.

Transport links include regular bus routes (991, 492), the R250 and N56 national road.






Prison officiers, prisoners and all staff working a jails in Laois and the rest of the country should be vaccinated according to a TD who says just 2% of people in prisons have received the jab.

Sinn Fein spokesperson on Justice Martin Kenny TD has called on the Minister for Justice and Minister for Health to co-operate on a vaccine programme for staff and prisoners in Irish Prison Service jails.

I am shocked today at reports that only 2% of the prison population have been vaccinated. Their specific circumstances make them particularly vulnerable in comparison to the general population, so the age-related progress of the vaccination programme should not apply to those working in prison or prison inmates.

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) has defined groups who meet the criteria of living and/or working in conditions which make social distancing difficult. But although it specified addicts, members of the Travelling Community and the Roma community, it has not included prisoners and prison staff nor those in Direct Provision.

So far, the Irish Prison Service has done a good job in trying to keep Covid-19 out of the prisons, but at the cost of contact between prisoners and their families. Some prisoners have not had any contact with their children for 14 months.

The prison officers staged an industrial action by withdrawing goodwill, due to not being prioritised for vaccination. They have paused this now and hopefully the vaccination programme amongst them will be speedily implemented.

It makes sense that people working and living in prisons, who are by necessity in such close contact daily, should be given vaccines to prevent a disaster within the system.

I call on the two ministers to review the Vaccine Allocation Strategy to include prison staff and inmates and to co-operate to have them vaccinated as soon as possible, he said.

There have been limited outbreaks of in Irish prisons largely due to an internationally recognised prevention and containment strategy involving staff and prisoners.
The trial of four men who deny falsely imprisoning and causing serious harm to Quinn Industrial Holdings Director Kevin Lunney will hear CCTV, DNA, phone location data and other circumstantial evidence from about 250 witnesses, a barrister told the Special Criminal Court this morning.

Opening the trials of the four men, Sean Guerin SC for the Director of Public Prosecutions said the case is a complex one but resolves itself into "a few relatively simple propositions."

He said the three-judge, non-jury court will hear evidence that blood with DNA matching Mr Lunney was found in a Renault Kangoo van that Mr Guerin said is linked to three of the accused men by CCTV and phone location data. He said the prosecution will show that the van travelled from Dublin to Cavan on the day of the assault and the previous day.

The fourth man, Luke O'Reilly, is connected to the assault and imprisonment because, counsel said, it occurred on his land and, when the attackers wanted bleach to "conceal their trail" they turned to Mr O'Reilly. Mr Guerin said CCTV footage will show Mr O'Reilly buying a bottle of bleach near the time of the assault.

The first witness this afternoon is a photographer with the Garda Technical Bureau who took photos of various places of interest to the investigation.

Luke OReilly (67), with an address at Mullahoran Lower, Kilcogy, Co Cavan; Darren Redmond (27), from Caledon Road, East Wall, Dublin 3; Alan OBrien (40), of Shelmalier Road, East Wall, Dublin 3 and a fourth accused man aged 40 today (Wednesday) all pleaded not guilty to false imprisonment and causing serious harm to Mr Lunney at Drumbrade, Ballinagh, Co Cavan on September 17, 2019. The fourth man cannot be named by order of the court as he is due to face trial on other, unrelated matters.

Mr Guerin said Mr Lunney (51) was put into the boot of a car close to his home in Co Fermanagh on the evening of September 17. He was taken to a trailer where he was threatened and his leg was broken. He was doused in bleach and a knife was used to carve letters into his chest before he was left on a roadside in Co Cavan.
Residents in the wider area of Attirory that includes the housing estates affected by the proposed N4 route corridor are preparing a group submission which they hope to deliver in the coming days.

Residents are up in arms about the proposed route corridor cutting directly through the heavily populated area and through existing houses and properties.

A number of public representatives have given their support with Minister of State, Frank Feighan and Marian Harkin both visiting the area in the past week.

Marc MacSharry told the residents group that he is also going to make a submission on their behalf.

The residents group is now finalising its submission and gathering signatures in the Attirory area.

Residents in the Glas na hAbhainn estate in Attirory met with Minister of State, Frank Feighan TD, and Cllr Finola Armstrong-McGuire last week. Picture: Willie Donnellan

Meanwhile, residents in other areas that may be affected, including Lisduff, Keenaghan, Dromore, Cartown, Cloonsheerevagh, Cloonshebane and Hartley are also angry about the detrimental impact a bypass route through those areas would have.

Spokesperson, Charles Gibbons, a resident in Keenaghan, said the proposed Carrick-Dromod bypass has a number of route options that are on the table for selection at the moment and two routes in particular, the Green and Purple routes, pass north of Carrick-on-Shannon through Lisduff and Keenaghan and cross the Castlecara Road at Dromore and Clogher, impacting many family homes along this stretch.

The road will continue on through farmland to cross the Leitrim road near Cartown and then swing left to cut through Cloonsheerevagh, Cloonshebane and Hartley. Then running parallel to the Shannon through Corryolus on what will surely be the longest raised road/bridge in Ireland.

If you live in any of these areas you will be impacted. Another key factor to be considered is that there are a number of sites of archaeological significance and protected flora and fauna along these corridors. With all that in mind, these routes should not be considered as a Preferred Route.

Residents in the wider Lisduff, Keenaghan, Castlecara Road, Dromore, Clogher, Cartown, Cloonsheerevagh, Cloonshebane and Hartley areas have concerns about the impact of the green and purple routes.

We need to think about all the routes and work together to stop the madness that will destroy our beautiful area of Carrick-on-Shannon. Think about the damage this will do to the environment, not to mention tourism.

The elevated road (motorway spec) will run right next to the river for 2km before crossing it and would directly impact over 6km of waterways at the junction of the Boyle and Shannon rivers.

The visual impact will be severe due to the road's height above the river at summer level (flood range here is 2.45 metres). Think of a sky train!

How will this route affect the proposed Leitrim to Carrick greenway? Due to its elevation you would see it for at least 5km from the greenway. This is all before we even consider the flooding issues of this area.

These proposed routes will have a significant impact on nature, the environment and the physical, mental health and wellbeing of the residents in this peaceful setting.

There will be a significant increase in air pollution. A significant increase in noise pollution. The introduction of light pollution and direct impact on the night sky, not to mention the severe visual impact upon the landscape and a diminished quality of life for residents of the Carrick-on-Shannon area.

There will be detrimental impact to the environment as part of this route is a Wildlife Heritage Area, with sightings of curlew and warble in recent months. There are currently eight curlews being monitored in the Hartley Bridge area by the Curlew Conservation Programme in Leitrim / Roscommon.

There are regular sightings of red squirrels, barn owls, red deer and bats in the area. The area is a busy walking route and Irish Waterways have published a ten year Masterplan for the Shannon which includes a Blueway and Greenway.

There are numerous wells, archaeological sites, old school buildings, ring forts and a site of an old church on this route.

Tourism Ireland has been working hard to drive tourism into this area and the Ireland Hidden Heartlands area. This proposed bypass will be piercing right through the heart of Ireland Hidden Heartlands with a fatal outcome.

Leitrim County Council stated on Shannonside last week that a bypass will also help the town by taking away traffic and bringing in more people, but as anyone that has ever travelled on the M4, M6, M7 or M8 will know that the last thing you want to do when travelling on these bypasses is to leave the road to visit a bypassed town.

The other options regarding public transport and the new normal of people not commuting needs to be front and centre of this proposal and not kill what is left of an almost deserted town centre in Carrick-on-Shannon.

Please lets all group together as a community and not a North versus South route battle and stop this attack on our town, county and our heritage by Leitrim County Council, Roscommon County Council, ARUP and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).

The first consultation session slipped through last year under the cover of the Covid-19 pandemic so let your voice be heard and seek a consultation with ARUP by visiting the carrickdromod.ie website and also complete a submission voicing your objection to the complete project and not just one of the routes before its too late, he said.

The lower proposed routes through Attirory.

Cllr Des Guckian is demanding there be a major extension of the public consultation period for the proposed N4 Dromod to Carrick-on-Shannon bypass.

The feed-back I'm getting from my many concerned constituents is that an N4 public consultation period of one month is far too short and leaves them all at a big disadvantage, the Independent councillor said.

Until Covid is under control and there can be public meetings and in-person meetings and consultations with informed, well-trained officials, there will be no fairness in the system, he argued.

Cllr Guckian said people are being told that they can go online and have virtual meetings but not everyone has access to broadband and not many are adept at surfing the Council's site.



Cllr Guckian said a really big flaw he has noted in the present plan is that the maps are very vague.

They need to be much sharper and show the locations of existing buildings and fields. I've asked for large-scale hard copies of relevant sections but have been informed that these will not be available until the staff can get back into their offices. That could take an age, he said.

We are now being asked to decide, in a month of so-called consultations, a road route that will be in place for an eternity, Cllr Guckian said.

Concerned residents of the Ard na Si estate in Attirory, Carrick-on-Shannon pictured with Minister of State, Frank Feighan TD, and Cllr Finola Armstrong-McGuire last week. Picture: Willie Donnellan

Cllr Enda Stenson said there is a genuine fear among people in various areas of Carrick-on-Shannon that route corridors are going to go directly through their houses, lands and homesteads.

People are entitled to be up in arms about it, people's livelihoods are at stake, he said.

Cllr Stenson, said he met a lot of people from the various areas over the past week and listened to their concerns.

He said a ring road is needed within the town, and within sight of the town, and said what is being proposed is going through the wrong areas.

Where that ring road might be located, he didn't know.

Cllr Stenson said it is imperative that Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) sites down with the Leitrim County Council Chief Executive and the engineers and look at it again.

He said the main cause of traffic congestion in Carrick-on-Shannon is heavy goods vehicles traversing the bridge and asked what is wrong with putting a new bridge in Carrick-on- Shannon.

Cllr Stenson also stated that any continuation of the Dromod-Rooskey bypass as a dual carriageway through Annaduff was not needed as the N4 from Annaduff to Carrick is perfectly fine.

People have a genuine fear and we have to stand by them. It's about communities and we have to protect communities, Cllr Stenson stated.
The Clean Coasts programme works with communities to help protect and care for Irelands waterways, coastline, seas, ocean and marine life, by organising hundreds of beach clean-ups each year, mobilising thousands of volunteers, and removing large quantities of marine litter from our coastline.

The Irish coast offers breath-taking views, beautiful beaches, epic cliffs, and more, and its unique beauty and character has been attracting visitors from all over the world - did you know that some of the coastal areas in Ireland have been named top tourists attractions in Europe, ranking higher than other famous landmarks including Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tower and the Leaning Tower of Pisa?

The Irish coast also presents its visitors with numerous opportunities to have fun. With the nice weather on the way, we expect that more people will be visiting the beautiful coastal areas around the country, whether it is for sea swimming, water sports, or simply to enjoy the stunning landscape.

With our Enjoy and Protect campaign, we are asking people to enjoy and celebrate our stunning coastline, beautiful beaches, epic cliffs and all outdoor areas, but also to protect these natural treasures. Get out and make the most of Irelands wonderful coast, but also do you part to preserve our marine environment and keep it safe and beautiful for future generations to enjoy too.

To launch the campaign, today, we are releasing three guides which contain tips and guidance on how to enjoy our coast, while doing your bit to protect it. Two of these guides  Outdoor Living and Day at the Beach  will be available to download on our website and will focus on activities such as camping, eating outdoors and spending a day discovering marine biodiversity.

A third guide, our Community Guide, will be available exclusively to registered Clean Coasts groups and will include guidance on organising beach cleans, building a network, attracting new volunteers and promoting your work.

To find out more, visit www.cleancoasts.org
A former psychic turned financier who is serving a seven and a half year jail term has lost his appeal against his conviction for a range of offences including money laundering of 1.6m.

The Court of Appeal dismissed all 12 grounds of appeal by Simon Gold which claimed the trial judge had erred in law in his handling of the jury trial which convicted the appellant two years ago.

Gold (56) of Augharan, Aughavas, Co Leitrim, was found guilty of 20 charges including money laundering, deception and control of and using false instruments following a 28-day trial which concluded at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in June 2019.

The offences took place on dates between January 1, 2010 and October 22, 2012.

The president of the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice George Birmingham, said it was a feature of Golds appeal that he sought to stay as far away as possible from any issue as to his guilt, although he noted that the appellant had made extensive and unrestrained admissions when interviewed by gardai.

Mr Justice Birmingham presiding with Mr Justice John Edwards and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said it was a constant theme of Golds defence that there had been an over-eagerness or over-enthusiasm on the part of the prosecution which had resulted in an unfair and unsatisfactory trial.

Evidence during the trial revealed that Gold had used a number of different aliases including Simon Gould, Simon P Magnier and Niall ODonoghue as well as operating a number of companies with similar sounding names to Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide, although he had no connection with such entities.

Among his victims were a quarry owner, dairy farmer and a wealthy Danish businessman.

The trial court heard that Gold offered millions in loans to three Irish victims in return for deposits ranging from 10,000 to 30,000.

The Danish businessman transferred 1.6m into an Ulster bank account controlled by Gold in two tranches of 800,000 for what he believed was an investment opportunity.

Counsel for Gold had argued that the trial judge, Judge Martin Nolan had erred in law by refusing his application for separate trials in relation to certain offences.

They claimed the effect of trying all matters together painted a general picture of dishonesty which made the task of the jury more difficult when considering each count on its individual merits.

However, the Court of Appeal said matters being tried together meant the jury was presented with a fuller picture that showed how Gold had been operating a number of false names.

The three-judge court said it had not been persuaded by the appellant on any of the grounds of appeal that the trial judge had erred over matters where he had discretion.

At a sentencing hearing last July, Judge Nolan described Gold as a very intelligent man who had committed devious and well thought-out crimes.

The judge said two of Golds Irish victims were desperate men who were at the end of their tether and to whom he had caused distress and embarrassment.

While Gold was a man of enterprise and intelligence, he said the defendants crimes had involved gross dishonesty.

During the trial, a Garda witness said Gold seemed to prey on people who were in severe financial difficulty.

Gold also had 17 previous convictions, including 12 which related to offences in the UK, for a range of crimes including burglary, theft, larceny and escaping from lawful custody over a period of 20 years.
The Leaving Certificate results for 2021 are set to be sent directly to candidates through the Candidate Self Service Portal on Friday, September 3.

In any subject where a candidate sits the examination and opts to receive Accredited Grades, they will be credited with the better of the two results.

Candidates results will be transferred to the CAO to facilitate progression to higher education.

The written examinations begin on Wednesday, June 9 and will run until June 29. Students had the choice to opt to sit the examination or seek an accredited grade, or both, in each of their subjects.

Minister for Education Norma Foley TD said: I am pleased to be able to announce that the State Examinations Commission expects that Leaving Certificate results will be provided to students on Friday, September 3. Students will receive their results directly on the Candidate Self Service Portal, where they registered their options for examinations or accredited grades, or both.

Students results will combine their best results of examinations and accredited grades, where they chose both options.

The usual helplines and supports will be in place for students on results day and beyond. I will be in contact with schools asking them to ensure that guidance support is available to students at this time.

I would like to take this opportunity once again to stress how important it is that students taking the examinations continue to follow the public health advice and limit their contacts as the examinations approach and during the examination period.

I wish all Leaving Certificate students taking the written examinations well, in their final preparations this week," she stated.
THE former CEO of the Limerick-based charity Bothar is seeking to have his legal expenses arising from civil proceedings brought against him by the charity covered by the free legal aid scheme.

Earlier this year Bothar launched High Court proceedings against David Moloney, claiming that he misappropriated hundreds of thousands of the charity's monies for his own use.

The court also granted Bothar orders order preventing the former CEO from reducing his assets below a value of 1.1m.

When the matter came before Mr Justice Senan Allen this Wednesday he was informed that lawyers who had previously represented Mr Moloney, who attended the hearing via video link, had come off record.

Mr Moloney said that he had approached the Legal Aid centre in Limerick about getting legal aid, and wanted the case adjourned for a period to see if his application for legal aid is successful.

Lawyers for the charity also sought an adjournment. Bothar, represented by Frank Beatty SC told the court that investigations into what are complex matters relating to the missing monies are continuing.

Counsel also told the court that it may be necessary to add other parties to the proceedings at a later stage.

The court also heard that Mr Moloney's wife Olive, against whom no allegations of wrong doing have been made was also considering her own proceedings against Mr Moloney regarding her interest in his assets.

Mr Justice Allen agreed to adjourn the matter to a date next month.

However, the matter could return before the court before then if necessary.

The judge also said that he was deferring any decision to formally join Mrs Moloney to the proceedings before the High Court.

Previously Mr Moloney admitted that he misappropriated large amounts of monies donated to the charity for his personal use.

Mr Moloney, in a sworn statement to the court, said he that he was generous with the cash which he spent on things such as family holidays, on his friends, but never lodged the monies in the bank nor kept any of the cash taken.

He also claims that much of what was misappropriated was paid to others, including the late Bothar founder Peter Ireton.

Mr Moloney said he was deeply sorry, embarrassed and appalled for the damage he has caused. He is currently on welfare, which is his sole income.

Bothar does not accept his explanations about what happened to the misappropriated funds.

The admissions came after Bothar, whose activities including aiding poor farmers in developing nations through donations of livestock, secured a High Court injunction freezing the assets of Mr Moloney, who resigned his post as the organisation's CEO in February.

Mr Moloney of Clino, Newport, County Tipperary, worked with Bothar since 1995, and was its CEO for eight years.

The charity claims in its proceedings that an on-going investigation into his conduct has revealed that he is "guilty of an egregious breach of trust and an appalling dereliction of his duty to Bothar and the beneficiaries of its charitable objects."
A COUNTY Limerick man who gardai allege is a significant drug trafficker has been refused bail following a strong objection.

Michael ONeill, aged 33, of Ballyvoudeen, Kilteely appeared before Limerick District Court on Monday after he was charged in connection with a drugs seizure last month.

He is accused of possession of cocaine, worth an estimated 8,000, for the purpose of sale or supply.

The seizure, the court heard, was made near his home on May 17, last.

Opposing a bail application, Garda David Hennessy of Bruff garda station said it will be alleged the cocaine found when gardai stopped a black Mercedes car which Mr O'Neill was driving.

He told Judge Patricia Harney, the cocaine was wrapped in an orange plastic glove which was located in the footwell of the front passenger seat.

While the defendant was the sole occupant of the car he denied any knowledge of the drugs. The car is registered in the name of another individual.

In his objection, Garda Hennessy said Mr ONeill faces the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence if convicted and he expressed concerns he would not comply with any bail conditions imposed by the court.

He said gardai believe he is a significant drug trafficker in southeast Limerick and North Tipperary and he has no regard for the law.

While accepting that the charge before the court is serious, solicitor John Herbert submitted the case is not the most serious to come before the courts given the estimated value of the cocaine seized.

Refusing bail, Judge Harney commented there were a number of deeply concerning matters which were put forward by gardai and that she was satisfied the objection had been established.

Investigations are ongoing and the matter was adjourned for DPPs directions
AHEAD of the June Bank Holiday weekend, ESB reminds the public of the dangers and "potentially serious consequences" of swimming in any ESB reservoir.

"These areas are not appropriate for swimming because of the risk of deep and fast-flowing waters, changing water levels and uneven ground," said an ESB spokesperson.

These waters include the Ardnacrusha headrace and tailrace canal over the border in County Clare.

"ESB would also like to remind the general public who use our lands for leisure activities such as fishing and walking to adhere to current social distancing guidelines," said the spokesperson.
GARDAI in Limerick are seeking the publics assistance in tracing the whereabouts of David Clarke who has not been seen in more than two days.

The 28-year-old has been missing from the Castletroy area of the city since Sunday last - 30.

David is described as being 5 8 in height, of slight build with brown hair. According to gardai he may be in the Dublin area.

A nationwide appeal has been issued and anyone with any information that can assist gardai in locating David is asked to contact Henry Street garda station on (061) 212 400, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any garda station.
GARDAI in Limerick who were seeking public assistance to locate a missing man say he has been located 'safe and well'.

A nationwide appeal was issued on Tuesday night after 28-year-old David Clarke from Castletroy was reported missing. Prior to the appeal, he had not been since Sunday.

While gardai stated he may have been in the Dublin area, they have not confirmed where or how he was located.

"David has been located safe and well. We would like to thank the public and the media for their assistance in this matter. No further media action is required," stated a brief statement from the Garda Press Office this Wednesday lunchtime.
Lufthansa will resume its nonstop services between Germany and India from Wednesday as the second wave of Covid-19 stabilises, the airline has said.

In addition to this, there will also be no second crew change stopover in the Gulf, as was being done for nearly a month, thereby cutting the travel time up to three hours.

"We will resume nonstop flights from Germany to Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore and will continue to operate 10 weekly flights throughout June," said a spokesperson of Lufthansa.

The airlines had early last month added a stop in Dubai for its India flights to ensure its pilots and cabin crew do not require a layover in the country as it dealt with a ravaging second wave.

However, the stop was later changed to Bahrain due to recent restrictions imposed by the UAE government to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

"This change was made due to new UAE regulations that restrict flights between India and Dubai for passengers who were transiting there up to now for operational reason," the German airline had stated.

The group's decision to resume the flights has come at a time when India and its aviation sector has been badly hit by the pandemic.

The average number of daily fliers stood at 49,000 for the week ended 30 May in the country, compared with the same figure for the previous week and 60,000 in the week that ended on 16 May, according to a report.

Passengers are apprehensive about air travel amid rising caseload. Besides, the negative Covid-19 test reports that are mandated for travel, the imposition of mandatory home quarantine measures, and the lockdowns imposed by various states are adversely impacting the business.

Lufthansa Group runs Lufthansa airline as well as SWISS airline connecting India with Germany.

Scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 23 last year. However, India has formed air bubble arrangements with around 27 countries, including Germany, since July last year to operate special international passenger flights under restrictions.

Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.
MUMBAI : Star Health and Allied Insurance Co Ltd, the health insurer backed by billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and Westbridge Capital, raised around 1,200 crore in a pre-IPO funding round led by Singapores state investor GIC, two people aware of the development said.

The funding was closed earlier this quarter. GIC led the funding with around 600 crore investment, and Capital Group, which is one of the big FIIs (foreign institutional investors) in the Indian stock market, invested around 300 crore. A few other public market investors also participated in the round, and so did the existing investors of the company," said one of the two people cited above, requesting anonymity.

This is one of the biggest private investments in an insurance company during the pandemic and shows strong investor interest in the company despite the insurance industry overall facing headwinds because of the pandemic and rising claims. Star Health has seen one of the highest growths in the industry in gross premiums in FY21, and the companys finances remain strong despite a challenging year," he added.

View Full Image investor interest

Star Health reported a 36.7% growth in its gross premiums in FY21, higher than the 27.1% growth rate it clocked in the previous fiscal. At the end of FY21, the insurers solvency ratio, a measure of an insurance companys ability to meet its liabilities, increased to 2.22 from 1.88 at the end of the previous fiscal year. Regulatory requirements mandate a solvency ratio of 1.5.

According to the second person cited above, work on the companys draft IPO document is at an advanced stage and is expected to be filed with the markets regulator soon.

Mint reported last week that Star Health hired around 10-12 investment banks for its IPO, including Kotak Mahindra Capital, Citibank, Credit Suisse and Bank of America. The IPO is expected to be around 2,000-3,000 crore in size, with the company expecting to get a valuation of over $3 billion for its public market debut, Mint reported.

Emails sent to Star Health, GIC and Capital Group remained unanswered.

Founded in 2006 as Indias first standalone health insurance provider, Star Health provides health, personal accident and overseas travel insurance.

The investor consortium of Westbridge Capital, Rakesh Jhunjunwala and Madison Capital, had in August 2018 agreed to acquire over 90% stake in Star Health from existing investors Star Health Investments Pvt. Ltd and private equity funds managed by ICICI Venture, Tata Capital and Apis Partners. The consortium had acquired the insurer at a valuation of close to 6,000 crore.

The proposed IPO will make Star Health the fourth private sector insurance provider to list on the Indian stock exchanges, following HDFC Life Insurance Co. Ltd, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and ICICI Lombard General Insurance. Other listed insurance companies include SBI Life Insurance and state-owned The General Insurance Co. of India and New India Assurance Co. Ltd.

Although the economic slowdown has had an adverse impact on Indian insurers, with general insurance growth slowing to 2.5% and life insurers new business premiums falling by 1.7% in the nine months to December 2020, we expect general insurance premium growth to remain in positive territory, thanks to persistently strong demand for health and protection coverage," Mohammed Ali Londe, senior analyst at Moodys Investors Service, said in a note in January.

Health premiums rose 13.7% in the nine months to December 2020 because of rising consumer awareness of these products during the coronavirus pandemic and regulatory actions that enabled insurers to offer protection against the virus, Moodys said.

Indian insurers have also responded to the crisis by rapidly developing appropriate products and improving their digital offerings. This has led to an increase in sales of health and protection policies, which Moodys expects will drive further growth in the future," it added.

According to the companys website, Star Health has underwritten a gross written premium of 6,865 crore during 2019-20 and had a net worth of 1,889 crore as on 31 March 2020. It has over 12,800 employees and over 640 branch offices across India.

Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.
Indias new Intermediary rules are not applicable to Google search engines , the tech company told Delhi High Court on Wednesday.

It has urged the court to set aside a single-judge order that applied the norms on the company while dealing with an issue related to the removal of offending content from the internet.

"The single judge has misinterpreted and misapplied the New Rules 2021 to the appellant's search engine," Google said in its appeal.

"Additionally, the single judge has conflated various sections of the IT Act and separate rules prescribed thereunder, and has passed template orders combining all such offences and provisions, which is bad in law," it added.

The single judge's decision had come while dealing with a matter in which a woman's photographs were uploaded on a pornographic website by some miscreants.

Despite court orders, the content could not be removed in entirety from the World Wide Web and "errant parties merrily continued" to re-post and redirect the same to other sites.

Google said that the 20 April order "mischaracterised" its search engine as a 'social media intermediary' or 'significant social media intermediary' as provided under the new rules.

In view of this, a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice to the Centre, Delhi government, Internet Service Providers Association of India, Facebook, the pornographic site and the woman, on whose plea the single judge's ruling had come, and sought their responses to Google's plea by 25 July.

The court also said that it was not going to issue any interim order at this stage.

Compliance with new laws

Google chief executive Sundar Pichai had recently said that the company will comply with the new IT rules.

According to a report in the Economic Times, Pichai said the companys local teams are holding talks with the government, but it will comply with local laws.

He also said the company will continue to publish its transparency reports, which include data on the legal information requests it gets from governments.

The new Intermediary Rules were announced by India on 25 February, with the government companies only three months to comply.

The rules require companies like Google to hire Indian citizens in key compliance roles, respond to legal information requests within 36 hours, and trace texts, posts or tweets to the first originator within the country.

Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.
MOSCOW : Russia on Tuesday said there is no change in the S-400 air defence system contract with India.

During a BRICS foreign ministers meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that New Delhi has reaffirmed its commitments to these agreements.

"There is no change in the S-400 contract. The Indian leadership reaffirms its commitments to these agreements," Lavrov told ANI on being asked when India will get S-400 air defence missile system.

India signed a $5.43-billion deal with Russia for the purchase of five S-400 systems during the 19th India-Russia Annual Bilateral Summit in New Delhi on October 5, 2019, for long-term security needs.

Washington had indicated that the Russian S-400 systems may trigger Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) sanctions.

Washington has previously imposed sanctions against China's Equipment Development Department (EDD) for purchasing Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets and the same S-400 missiles that India is purchasing.

Turkey, a NATO ally, had also upset the US with its purchase of S-400 missiles in 2018. Washington imposed sanctions on Turkish officials in December 2020 under a US law that bars significant military transactions with Russia.

Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.
Hanoi: Vietnam's 'very dangerous' new COVID-19 hybrid variant may be fuelling its worst outbreak so far as it is replicating quickly.

On Saturday, the Vietnamese authorities revealed they had discovered a "very dangerous" new coronavirus variant that combined mutations first found in India and the UK, and which spreads quickly by air, reported The Telegraph.

Vietnam's plight follows a now familiar pattern of COVID-19 surges across Asia - most alarmingly in countries like Singapore, Laos, Thailand and Taiwan that were praised for beating the virus in 2020, only to be caught out by a global vaccine shortage as new variants ricocheted back from coronavirus hotspots.

Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said Vietnam would soon publish genome data of the newly identified variant, which he said was more transmissible than the previously known types, reported UK-based news agency.

He said laboratory cultures of the new variant showed the virus replicated itself very quickly, possibly explaining why so many new cases had appeared in different parts of the country in a short period of time.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is investigating reports of a mutation that spreads extremely quickly - but the country still isn't on the UK's red list, reported The Telegraph.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified four variants of concern - emerging from the UK, India, South Africa and Brazil - is currently investigating Vietnam's findings.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO Technical Lead for COVID-19, said currently the variant detected in Vietnam was understood to be the B.1.617.2 variant, possibly with an additional mutation, but that more information would be provided when it was received.

On Monday, the WHO, International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank Group and World Trade Organisation (WTO) warned of a "two-track pandemic" where inequitable vaccine distribution was leaving millions vulnerable to the virus and creating deadly variants to boomerang around the world.

Like many other countries in Asia-Pacific region, Vietnam has struggled to obtain vaccines, and to date has only reached 1 per cent of its 96 million-strong population with a first dose, reported The Telegraph.

This week, the government asked Samsung Electronics Co, and other foreign companies to help source vaccines for their workers.

Abhishek Rimal, the Regional Coordinator for Public Health in Asia Pacific, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said although the full genomic sequence of the potential hybrid was still unclear, initial reports on the ground were worrying.

"What we understand from the field and some of the epidemiologists from the country is that they do suspect it will have even higher transmissibility than the original strain or any of the variants," he told The Telegraph.

"If confirmed, we could see a steep rise of COVID-19 in Vietnam and even beyond around Southeast Asia."

The city has now closed shops, restaurants and suspended religious activities, while restricting gatherings to ten people and enforcing two-metre social distancing rules. People over 60 have been encouraged to stay home as the authorities begin some 100,000 tests a day, reported The Telegraph.

Meanwhile, China has tightened its border security as its neighbour, once considered a pandemic success story, now plans to test all 13 million residents of Ho Chi Minh City and tighten social distancing measures.

According to The Telegraph, Vietnam has so far seen just over 7,100 COVID-19 cases and 47 deaths, but more than 4,000 of these cases have emerged in an outbreak that first came to light on April 27, and which has been detected in 34 cities and provinces.

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

Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.
JERUSALEM: Israel's Health Ministry said on Tuesday it found the small number of heart inflammation cases observed mainly in young men who received Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in Israel were likely linked to their vaccination.

Pfizer has said it has not observed a higher rate of the condition, known as myocarditis, than would normally be expected in the general population.

In Israel, 275 cases of myocarditis were reported between December 2020 and May 2021 among more than 5 million vaccinated people, the ministry said in disclosing the findings of a study it commissioned to examine the matter.

Most patients who experienced heart inflammation spent no more than four days in hospital and 95% of the cases were classified as mild, according to the study, which the ministry said was conducted by three teams of experts.

The study found "there is a probable link between receiving the second dose (of Pfizer) vaccine and the appearance of myocarditis among men aged 16 to 30," it said in a statement.

According to the findings, such a link was observed more among men aged 16 to 19 than in other age groups.

Pfizer said in a statement that it is aware of the Israeli observations of myocarditis, noting that no causal link to its vaccine has been established.

Adverse events are thoroughly reviewed and Pfizer meets regularly with the Vaccine Safety Department of the Israeli Ministry of Health to review data, it said.

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory group last month recommended further study of the possibility of a link between myocarditis and mRNA vaccines, which include those from Pfizer and Moderna Inc.

CDC monitoring systems had not found more cases than would be expected in the population, but the advisory group said in a statement that members felt healthcare providers should be made aware of reports of a "potential adverse event."

The Israeli ministry released the statement, which contained no recommendations, ahead of a widely expected decision on whether to begin vaccinating youngsters aged 12 to 15 in Israel.

It said a team examining that issue would make its recommendation to the ministry's director-general, but gave no date.

Israeli media reports said a decision on including the 12-15 age group in the country's vaccination programme could come as early as Sunday.

Israel has been a world leader in its vaccination rollout.

With COVID-19 infections down to just a handful a day and total active cases at just 340 across the country, the economy has fully opened, though restrictions remain on incoming tourism.

Some 55% of Israel's population has already been vaccinated. As of Tuesday, restrictions on social distancing and the need for special green vaccination passes to enter certain restaurants and venues were scrapped.





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

Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.
From a talking donkey to a man being eaten by a giant fish, the Bible has no shortage of strange stories. In her new book "A Most Peculiar Book: The Inherent Strangeness of the Bible" (Oxford University Press, 2021), Kristin Swenson, an associate professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, delves into these stories and many others. Here's a look at 20 of the more bizarre biblical stories that Swenson discusses in the book. Some, such as Jonah being eaten by a giant fish, refer to important archaeological sites, like Nineveh, an ancient Assyrian city in modern-day northern Iraq. Others, such as that of a literal scapegoat, explain how phrases that are commonly used in modern times came into existence.

Human-God hybrids

The Bible also introduces mysterious superhumans that influenced God's decision to send a flood that covered the Earth. (Image credit: Hulton Fine Art Collection via Getty Images)

The Bible also introduces mysterious superhumans that influenced God's decision to send a flood that covered the Earth.

The Book of Genesis says, "The sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose," Genesis 6:2. Their children were god-human hybrids that the Bible refers to as the "Nephilim."

God was unhappy about this interbreeding and "regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled," Genesis 6:6. So he sent a flood that wiped out many of the humans and Nephilim, but not before ordering Noah to build an ark that saved a select few. The biblical story suggests that the breeding between gods and humans was a major factor in God's decision to send the flood.

The end?

The women at Jesus' tomb. (Image credit: Credit: Culture Club via Getty Images)

Many scholars believe that the Gospel of Mark is the oldest of the Gospels, being composed around A.D. 70, about 40 years after the crucifixion of Jesus. It is also the Gospel with the most abrupt and unusual ending: It finishes with Mary Magdalene and two other women bringing spices to Jesus' tomb so that they can anoint his body. They find the tomb open and a young man in a white robe sitting inside.

The young man told them not to be alarmed. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here," the young man said, telling the three women to go and deliver the resurrection news to Jesus' disciples. "Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid," Mark 16:6-8. That is the last line of the Gospel.

Why the Gospel of Mark ends so abruptly has long been a mystery. In later times, Christian writers tacked on a longer ending to the gospel that included Jesus talking to his disciples and Mary Magdalene; his disciples then went out to preach.

Family problems

Vintage engraving of Jesus Christ's exhortation to the twelve Apostles, by James Tissot. (Image credit: duncan1890 via Getty Images)

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus has an unusual requirement for his disciples: that they have to hate their own family.

"Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them, He said, 'If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters  yes, even their own life  such a person cannot be my disciple,'" Luke 14:25-26.

Why Jesus said this is a matter of debate. One possibility is that there was additional context that was lost over time or that information was passed down incorrectly or misinterpreted.

"People are responsible for the texts as we have them. Did God have a say in it? That's a matter of belief. But there's no denying that the texts come to us through human hands," Swenson wrote.

Big fish story

Jonah vomited by the great fish upon the shore. (Image credit: PHAS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Did a whale really swallow Jonah? Not quite.

The Book of Jonah tells of how God tried to convince a man named Jonah to travel to the city of Nineveh "and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me," Jonah 1:2. Jonah was not enthusiastic about the idea and tried to run away from God by boarding a ship and sailing to a city called Tarshish.

Jonah never made it to Tarshish, as a storm ravaged the ship. In a bid to calm the storm, the ship's sailors throw Jonah overboard. God "provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights," Jonah 1:17). While people sometimes think a whale swallowed Jonah, the Bible uses the word "fish."

Other mysterious resurrections

Mysterious resurrections in the bible. Shown here, crosses in a desert. (Image credit: Anton Petrus via Getty Images)

The Gospel of Matthew claims that Jesus wasn't the only one who came back to life: "The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus' resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people," Matthew 27:52.

The Gospel doesn't tell us much more about these other people who came back to life. What were they like after they were resurrected? How long did they live afterward? Did they resume their previous lives? How did they interact with their family members? The Bible provides little insight into these questions.

Literal scapegoat

God's vengeance against the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu. Leviticus, Chapter 10. (Image credit: PHAS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

At one point, God is annoyed at Aaron, the brother of Moses, for frequently standing behind a set of curtains near the Ark of the Covenant. God regards the area behind the curtain as a private area that people should stay away from when possible. God is also frustrated with the Israeli people in general for their "uncleanness and rebellion." As atonement, God orders Aaron to present offerings, including two goats; one shall be sacrificed, and the other "shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat," Leviticus 16:10.

Swenson wrote that "the biblical scapegoat was, then, an individual innocent who nevertheless bore away the people's sins. In this sense, the scapegoat prefigures Jesus, centuries before Jesus ever was." The term continues to be used today for an innocent person who takes the blame for the sins of others.

Exceedingly long life spans

A miniature showing the patriarchs of the Bible. (Image credit: Leemage/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The Book of Genesis is chock full of centenarians.

"When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died. When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh. After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died. When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died," Genesis 5:3-10.

Scholars have long debated why the Book of Genesis tells of people having superlong life spans, Swenson wrote in her book. One possibility is that the writers of Genesis measured the length of a year differently, she said; another possible explanation is that the shortening of life spans as the Bible goes on is a punishment for humanity's sins.

Nile turning to blood

One of the Seven Plagues of Egypt. The water of the Nile turned blood red. An algal bloom? John Martin (1789-1854) British painter. Oil on canvas. (Image credit: Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

The longest river in the world could have been filled not with freshwater but with blood, at least according to one passage in the Bible.

After Egypt's pharaoh refuses to grant the Israelites freedom, God tells Moses and Aaron to use their staffs to turn the Nile river to blood. "Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood. And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt," Exodus 7:20-21.

The pharaoh simply shrugs off what happened. "Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile," Exodus 7:23-24.

There is one Egyptian record that refers to an event that sounds a bit like this. The Ipuwer papyrus, written in the name of a man named "Ipuwer," discusses Egypt suffering from chaos and warfare and says that "the river is blood." The text dates back more than 3,000 years although its precise date is a matter of debate among scholars. Another, more mundane, explanation for why the Nile may appear red is that red algae bloom can cause the water to appear red.

Related: The science of the 10 plagues

Hell is a garbage pit

Inferno Landscape. Found in the collection of Museo del Prado, Madrid. (Image credit: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The bible doesn't shy away from the abode for the eternally damned.

Jesus warns people of the dangers of going to hell if they sin. He says, for example, "If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell," Matthew 5:29.

In her book, Swenson noted that the word "hell" is a translation of the Greek word "gehenna," which is an actual place that one could see in ancient Jerusalem. "Gehenna was where Jerusalem burned its garbage, and since the city and the surrounding communities generated a lot of garbage, gehenna was always burning," Swenson wrote. "When Jesus warned that a person might end up in gehenna, he probably didn't mean the literal, incinerating gehenna-dump outside of Jerusalem."

Burning bush

In the Book of Exodus, the burning bush is a miracle that God uses to inform Moses of his divine calling. (Image credit: The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Another, more heavenly fire burns in the Book of Exodus, when God appears to Moses in the form of a burning bush. Moses was tending a flock of animals when he saw that a "bush was on fire; it did not burn up." Moses went over to investigate, and "God called to him from within the bush, 'Moses! Moses!' And Moses said, 'Here I am,'" Exodus 3:4.

"'Do not come any closer,' God said. 'Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.' Then he said, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.' At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God" Exodus 3:5-6. God then tells Moses how he plans to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

The use of a bush that burns but is undamaged is but one example of God "coloring outside the lines of natural processes," Swenson wrote. "That is, God, in all God's godness, does extraordinary things because God can."

God tries to kill Moses

This etching shows Moses and Zipporah returning to Egypt, from Old and New Testaments. (Image credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The Book of Exodus also contains a baffling turn of events: At one point, God gives Moses instructions on what he must do to help free the Israelites from Egypt's pharaoh. God gave Moses special capabilities, such as the ability to turn his staff into a snake. However, as Moses heads toward Egypt, God gets another idea.

"At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. But Zipporah [the wife of Moses] took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it. 'Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,' she said. So the Lord let him alone," Exodus 4:24-26.

Scholars have been baffled about why God initially planned to kill Moses, Swenson said. One possibility is that some passages from this biblical story that may have shed light on that question were lost.

Moses has horns?

The statue of Moses made in marble by Michelangelo, is in the San Pedro in Vincoli church. It is part of the sculptural ensemble of the tomb of Julio II. (Image credit: japatino via Getty Images)

It's also in the Book of Exodus that Moses' horns come out, literally.

Moses, on behalf of the Israelites, made a covenant with God on Mount Sinai. In the covenant, God promises that the Israelites will take control of a vast amount of land in the Levant but, in return, must worship God and follow his rules, the Ten Commandments in particular. Moses chisels the covenant onto two stone tablets. After he returns from Mount Sinai, his face has been transformed, and he is wearing a veil.

Related: Did a scholar really find an early copy of the Ten Commandments?

"Most modern translations say it 'shone' or some such synonym," Swenson wrote. "But that's a guess, because the [Hebrew] word, qaran, doesn't appear anywhere else in the Bible." One possibility is that the word "qaran" actually means "horns," because it is similar to a common Hebrew noun, "qeren," which means "horn." In other words, Moses grew horns after making the covenant with God.

Some people in the Middle Ages believed that Moses had grown horns and that "much medieval artwork  as well as earlier and later work  depicts a Moses with horns," Swenson wrote, noting that the iconography of the ancient Near East "shows the prevalence of horns on gods and goddesses, the association of horns with exceptional beings and special power."

Talking donkey

Gustav Jaeger Bileam Engel. (Image credit: ART Collection / Alamy Stock Photo)

In the Book of Numbers, a prophet named Balaam is on the road when his donkey stops three times. Each time, Balaam beats the donkey in an effort to get it moving. Apparently, God has given the donkey the ability to speak and it says: "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?" she says to Balaam, Numbers 22:28.

Balaam, who does not appear to be surprised that his donkey is talking to him, replies, "You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now." The donkey replies, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?" Numbers 22:30.

Then, the "angel of the Lord" appears and tells Balaam that the donkey had saved Balaam's life. "The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it," the angel of the Lord says. Balaam then apologizes for his behavior.

Balaam must be baffled over why God is threatening his life, Swenson noted, especially since Balaam had not carried through with harming the Israelites. Prior to the donkey incident, a Moabite leader named Balak had been asking Balaam to curse the Israelites. Despite the vast amount of gold the Moabites offered Balaam for the job, Balaam obeys God and spares the Israelites.

Gnarly vision

Ezekiel's trippy vision. (Image credit: ART Collection / Alamy Stock Photo)

In one utterly bizarre vision of God, the prophet Ezekiel says God appears to him on "a throne of lapis lazuli" as "a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him," Ezekiel 1:26-27.

In the vision, Ezekiel also mentions seeing four "living creatures" near God. "In appearance their form was human, but each of them had four faces and four wings," with a wheel on the ground beside each of the creatures, Ezekiel 1:6.

This story is set after the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., Swenson said. And so, she noted, this dramatic appearance may be a way of saying that God is alive despite the destruction of the temple.

Seven demons

Saint Mary Magdalene in the desert in 1784 France. She became a faithful follower of Jesus after he delivered her from seven demons. (Image credit: Peter Horree / Alamy Stock Photo)

Jesus drove seven demons out of Mary Magdalene, according to the books of Mark and Luke. "In the Gospels of Mark and Luke, we read that Jesus cast seven demons out of her," Swenson wrote. "Just what were those demons or the nature of this possession, the Bible doesn't say.

Were these the seven deadly sins?

"It doesn't say that these were seven sins, deadly or otherwise, though you can imagine the heyday artists have had depicting them," she added. "And the Bible doesn't say what effect the demons had on her, physical or emotional, though modern readers have speculated that they may have manifested as what we today would diagnose as varieties of illness, mental and otherwise." It's not known whether Mary Magdalene suffered from any illnesses nor what those illnesses may have been. The Bible provides few clues as to her health, and there are no historical records revealing that information.

Fierce cherubs

Painting of cherubs after a detail of Sistine Madonna by Raphael. (Image credit:  Fine Art Photographic Library/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

In modern times, cherubs are often depicted as angelic infants with wings. In biblical stories, however, cherubs are sometimes menacing. In fact, they guard the Garden of Eden and the Ark of the Covenant.

"Contrary to popular opinion and many a Christmas card, the Bible's cherubim are ferocious creatures  hybrid beings not found in nature but probably informed by ancient Near Eastern iconography," Swenson wrote. "They would have to be scary, serving as they did to guard the sacred."

Modern-day commercial appeal appears to have played a role in reducing cherubs from biblical guardians to harmless angelic infants. In 1946, an Indianapolis department store included images of cherubs drawn as infants in their holiday catalog and the popularity of the image grew from there, Swenson noted.

A pharaoh's hardened heart

The Fifth Plague of Egypt, Etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner. (Image credit: Artokoloro / Alamy Stock Photo)

God is not a stranger to evil, and nowhere is that perhaps more true than in Exodus when God offers to harden the heart of a brutal dictator.

In the Book of Exodus, God tells Moses that He will help the Israelites leave Egypt and that he will harden the heart of Egypt's pharaoh so that he will be more resistant to releasing the Israelites. God tells Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go," Exodus 4:21. This sounds contradictory since the hardening of pharaoh's heart will make it harder to convince him to let the Israelites leave.

The result is that the pharaoh is incredibly reluctant to let the Israelites go, and God has to inflict the Egyptian people with more of the 10 plagues  locusts, darkness and hail, among other afflictions, before the Israelites can leave. God even kills every firstborn son in Egypt, the story goes.

Demoting the gods

Hands of god with a cross in the sky. (Image credit: Artit Fongfung / EyeEm via Getty Images)

Although Judaism and Christianity are both monotheistic religions, the Bible sometimes implies that other gods exist. One example, coming from the Old Testament, is Psalm 82, which says, "God presides in the great assembly; He renders judgment among the gods" ... "The gods know nothing; they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken."

The passage suggests that the Almighty has power over other godly figures and can demote them. In the following passage, God then announces that he has decided to demote the other gods, turning them into mere mortals. "I said, 'You are 'gods'; you are all sons of the Most High.' But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler."

Stories like this may provide clues as to how religion evolved in Israel. One theory among scholars is that multiple gods may have been worshipped early in Israel's history and that over time the Israelis adopted a single god.

Difficult matchmaking

Sacred Heart Basilica stained glass window showing Adam and Eve. (Image credit: Fred De Noyelle /GODONG via Getty Images)

Though there is no archaeological evidence for the existence of the Garden of Eden's star couple, the Old Testament describes in great detail how God created Adam's companion. What you may not have realized is that matchmaking wasn't as easy as it seemed. Turns out, God had a difficult time finding a good partner for Adam, the human He had created.

"The Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.' Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found," Genesis 2:18-20.

Finally, God decided to use a piece of Adam's rib to make Eve, who became Adam's wife. Swenson noted that in the original Hebrew the word Adam "can apply to human beings or a human being generically" and doesn't refer to a male or female specifically. Other scholars have noted the same thing and have suggested that biblical writers intended for Adam to be an androgynous individual.

2.5 million people leave at once?

The Crossing of the Red Sea (Pharaoh's Hosts engulfed in the Red Sea), 1530. (Image credit: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

In the Book of Exodus, Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Sinai desert, where they wandered for 40 years.

"How could approximately two and a half million people, with all their animals, collectively leave Egypt to wander in the Sinai Desert for forty years?" Swenson wrote in her book. "We are told that they drew water from a rock and that food miraculously appeared, but practically speaking, that's a whole lot of people with dependent animals in a barren space for a very long time."

The number 40 is mentioned several times in the Bible, with Jesus wandering the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. What symbolic meaning the number has, if any, is a matter of debate among scholars.

Originally published on Live Science.
This May, China landed a rover on Mars, expanding the nation's growing presence in space. The feat showed the world the nation's space capabilities and fueled fires anew of competition in space, but is there truly cause for concern?

China became the second nation ever to successfully land on Mars when its Zhurong rover touched down May 14 on the Martian plain of Utopia Planitia . Zhurong's arrival followed NASA's successful landing of its own Perseverance rover in Jezero Crater on Mars Feb. 18. This step is one of many being taken by China to expand its presence in space, including the development of a space station and continued exploration of the far side of the moon by its lunar rover Chang'e 4.

However, while leaders in the U.S. space sector like new NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and the former astronaut Pam Melroy, the nominee for deputy administrator, congratulated China on this incredible accomplishment, they also shared words of caution, with Nelson describing China as "a very aggressive competitor."

Related: China's Tianwen-1 Mars mission in photos

Issuing a warning

In dramatic fashion, Nelson issued a warning to U.S. lawmakers during a May 19 congressional hearing, holding up a photo from Mars snapped by China's Zhurong rover. "I want you to see this photograph  it is a very aggressive competitor," he said about China.

"They're going to be landing humans on the moon. That should tell us something about our need to get off our duff and get our Human Landing System program going vigorously," Nelson said, adding that China's recent progress in space adds "a new element as to whether or not we want to get serious and get a lot of activity going in landing humans back on the surface of the moon."

Nelson seemed to imply that China's success in space puts more pressure on NASA to land humans back on the moon. With its Artemis program , NASA is currently working to return humans to the lunar surface and establish a sustainable human presence on the moon by the end of the decade.

Nelson added that China is developing three "big landers" to land near the moon's south pole, the same region Artemis aims to land. He also asserted, pointing to unnamed reports, that China is planning a flyby and a lunar landing this decade.

Political support

Nelson used his warnings on China's progress to make the case for increased funding for the U.S. space agency. "NASA can't do it alone," he said. "We want a vigorous competition, but we've got to have the money in order to be able to do that."

"Nelson knows that NASA needs more money than it currently has to carry out the Artemis program to return humans to the moon," David Burbach, associate professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, told Space.com. Burbach's comments are his personal opinion and do not reflect the opinions of his employer.

"I think it mostly was a very convenient way to remind the senators that there are competitors in space," Burbach added. "I don't think it's likely that China is going to beat the U.S. back to the moon. And we certainly have an aggressive program of Mars exploration. So I think it's a stretch to suggest that China is about to surpass the United States in those areas. But Nelson is correct that China is quickly catching up to become a very serious player in deep space exploration."

Nelson is not alone in his concern. Melroy was questioned about China's activity in space during a Senate hearing on May 20 and pointed to China's numerous recent achievements. "It's not just the landing on Mars, which is very impressive, but also a couple of landings on the moon, and of course the new construction starting of a low Earth orbit space station ," Melroy said.

"China has made their goals very clear  to take away space superiority from the United States," she added.

Not everyone feels the same way.

"I think China is a long way from taking away space superiority," Burbach said. Rather, he added, "I think China is moving into the number two slot if there's a global pecking order for space capabilities." Burbach also raised the issue of what "space superiority" means, for "if we are talking about who does the most exciting or most challenging [things in space], I think the U.S. still is in a pretty good position."

Not just about a rover landing

Melroy posits that her concern doesn't just arise from China's continued accomplishments. "We are right to be concerned, when you add the other concerns of intellectual property theft and aggressive behavior in space."

There have been concerns over the years about illegal information sharing as, by public law NASA "may not engage in any bilateral activities with China or Chinese-owned companies," according to NASA . In fact, in January 2021, according to a report from Reuters , a NASA scientist pleaded guilty to lying about ties that he had to a Chinese government program that recruits researchers from abroad to develop relationships.

"NASA will continue to follow the law," she continued. "It's there to ensure that the U.S. thinks very carefully about any kind of engagement with China. However, we have to operate together in the space domain. So there are times when it's in the best interest of the United States to talk to China."

In May, China sparked worldwide concern when the nation's Long March 5B rocket (CZ-5B), fell uncontrolled back to Earth. The rocket launched Tianhe, the first module for China's new space station. While predictions estimated that it was unlikely that the booster or pieces of the booster would land in a populated area, it remained a possibility. Luckily, the rocket's remains fell in the Indian Ocean, well away from populated areas, but the danger sparked quite a bit of worry both at NASA and around the world.

"Spacefaring nations must minimize the risks to people and property on Earth of re-entries of space objects and maximize transparency regarding those operations," Nelson wrote in a statement before the rocket crashed back to Earth.

"It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris. It is critical that China and all spacefaring nations and commercial entities act responsibly and transparently in space to ensure the safety, stability, security, and long-term sustainability of outer space activities," he added.

"Landing a rover on Mars doesn't impact America's national security, but China is working on other types of space capabilities and technologies that impact America's national security," Brain Weeden, director of program planning at Secure World Foundation, told Space.com in an email. Weeden's comments are his personal opinion and do not reflect the opinions of his employer.

China's accomplishments on Mars and the moon aside, the country has been steadily working on military uses of space including anti-satellite missile testing, and, according to a 2018 report, developing hypersonic weapons, activities which the U.S. department of defense has been watching. At the same time, China has been reaching out to other countries to expand international cooperation, most recently by agreeing to build a research station on the moon with Russia.

Looking to the future

So what's next? China continues to develop its space station and explore Mars and the moon as the U.S. continues its many space ventures. With the law prohibiting bilateral activities between NASA and China, collaboration in general is extremely limited.

However, despite political constraints on information sharing, researchers will go on to publish papers about Zhurong's findings on Mars. As it's not a direct transfer of information between the two nations, this is a small way in which, in the U.S. and abroad, scientists can benefit from exploration no matter which country's rover collected the data.

"The Chinese lunar rover results have been published in scientific journals," Edwin Wright, a planetary geoscientist at the University of Chicago, told Space.com. "So the results are shared in that way with the community." Additionally, while NASA scientists are not able to work with China, "academic scientists are free to collaborate with Chinese scientists," he added.

Currently, competition seems to outweigh collaboration as both nations continue to push the boundaries of science and technology in space. Still, as we have seen throughout NASA's history, especially with the political pressures of the 1960s "space race" with the former Soviet Union that drove NASA to land the first humans on the moon, competition can spark innovation.

"I hope that this competition spurs both the U.S. and China and others to advance space technologies and capabilities that result in more benefits for everyone on Earth," Weeden said. "But if there's too much emphasis on the 'us or them' rhetoric, the competition in space could worsen tensions here on earth that leads to conflict, which would be bad for everyone."

The possibility of increased political and also social tension is an added concern, especially as studies have shown that anti-Asian hate crimes increased in 2020 and continue to rise in 2021 (fueled in part, experts think, by the COVID-19 virus originating in China).

"For the last four plus years, many in the U.S. have been making China out as the enemy without always distinguishing between the Chinese people, the country of China, and the ruling Chinese Communist Party," Weeden said. "The hard part is calling out the irresponsible behaviors of the government, like the CZ-5B reentry, while not making it a racist indictment of an entire people or culture."

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
The chocolate frog has been hiding in the crocodile-infested swamps of New Guinea, evading detection until now.

With big, cartoonish eyes, a coy cheek-to-cheek grin and skin like milk chocolate, this frog is so adorable you could just eat him up. The scientists who discovered it in the swamps of New Guinea were apparently thinking the same thing; they've nicknamed it the "chocolate frog."

This candy-colored amphibian, described for the first time in a study published May 20 in the Australian Journal of Zoology , is closely related to the iconic green tree frog (Litoria caerulea) that's common throughout northern and eastern Australia. From there, New Guinea is just a short hop away; the two islands were even connected by a land bridge until about 10,000 years ago. Over their long history as neighbors, Australia and New Guinea have hosted many of the same types of animals.

In their new study, researchers based at Australia's Queensland Museum wanted to paint a clearer family portrait of the green tree frog's lineage on both islands. So, they traveled to New Guinea and collected frog specimens in the island's southern, savannah-like ecosystems, as well as the swampy forests to the north. It was there  in a hot swamp full of crocodiles  that the team found the chocolate frog.

Related: Eye-swallowing and mouth birth: Freaky facts about frogs

"We named the new frog Litoria mira because the word 'mira' means 'surprised' or 'strange' in Latin," lead study author Paul Oliver, a biologist at Queensland Museum and Griffith University in Australia, said in a statement .

A DNA analysis showed that L. mira's closest living relative is Litoria caerulea, and both frogs have an identical mating call, which the researchers described as a "deep, rasping bark repeated in long series, 'crawk, crawk, crawk.'"

Still, the two cousins have some clear differences. Besides L. mira's cocoa-colored skin, the frog is also smaller (and dare we say cuter) than its common green cousin, with males measuring just under 3 inches (76 millimeters) from head to bum, and females measuring just over that  which in either case is about the width of a standard credit card.

While this barking brown frog is arguably the strangest discovery from the team's research, they also catalogued 29 additional relatives of the green tree frog hopping through New Guinea, further demonstrating how life on the island and on the Australian mainland has been intimately tied for thousands of years. Crawk, crawk!

Originally published on Live Science.
A silver brooch-hoop strung together with beads, curios and heirloom objects were found on top of the content found in the lidded vessel in the Galloway Hoard.

More than 1,000 years ago, someone hid an opulent hoard containing more than 100 valuables underground in Scotland. When this buried treasure of silver brooches and bracelets, gold pins and rings, and an intricately decorated metal vessel was discovered in 2014, researchers initially thought that the Vikings had buried it.

They were wrong.

A new analysis of the hoard using X-rays, CT scans , microscopy and molecular analysis has revealed that although these valuables were buried during the Viking Age (A.D. 793-1066), it's likely that Christian monks or priests buried these riches, The Independent reported .

Related: Photos: Roman-era silver jewelry and coins discovered in Scotland

A metal detectorist discovered the trove  dubbed the Galloway Hoard  in the town of Balmaghie, which is in the Scottish council area of Dumfries and Galloway. In 2017, after a fundraising campaign, National Museums Scotland acquired the hoard, calling it "one of the most important U.K. archaeological finds of the century," in a news statement .

One of the hoard's standouts is a metal-lidded vessel wrapped in wool and other textiles  only the third silver-gilt decorated vessel known from a Viking Age hoard in the United Kingdom. Researchers couldn't unwrap the vessel without damaging the artifacts, so they used X-ray imagery instead, which allowed them to make virtual 3D models of the vessel and view its decorated surface.

Here, a 3D digital model of the vessel from the Galloway Hoard. (Image credit: National Museums Scotland)

Unlike the other two silver-gilt decorated vessels, this one is not from the Carolingian, or Holy Roman Empire of continental Europe, "as we'd expected," Martin Goldberg, principal curator of medieval archaeology and history at National Museums Scotland, said in the statement. "Instead, the decoration and design show leopards , tigers and Zoroastrian religious symbols, all of which suggest that it is a piece of Central Asian metalwork from halfway round the known world."

When the researchers radiocarbon-dated the wool, they were surprised to learn that it dated to A.D. 680 to 780. The hoard itself dates to A.D. 900, so the wool is much older, they found.

"The vessel is from beyond Europe, potentially thousands of miles away, and the wool wrapping, it predates the Viking Age, being more than 100, or maybe even 200, years old by the time it was buried," Goldberg said.

Image 1 of 7 Anglo-Saxon metalwork from inside the lidded vessel from the Galloway Hoard. (Image credit: National Museums Scotland) Image 2 of 7 Extracted surface details of the vessel shown here. (Image credit: National Museums Scotland) Image 3 of 7 A disc brooch from the Galloway Hoard. (Image credit: National Museums Scotland) Image 4 of 7 Detail of textiles wrapping the lidded vessel from the Galloway Hoard. (Image credit: Historic Environment Scotland) Image 5 of 7 A conserved bird pin from the Galloway Hoard. (Image credit: National Museums Scotland) Image 6 of 7 This ball of dirt was found within the Galloway Hoard. (Image credit: National Museums Scotland) Image 7 of 7 This ray-traced rendering shows the vessel found in the Galloway Hoard. (Image credit: National Museums Scotland)

Hidden burial

Most of the artifacts (but not the vessel, which is too fragile) are now on display in the exhibit "Galloway Hoard: Viking-age Treasure" at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The exhibit shows visitors how the hoard was buried in four distinct layers, according to National Museums Scotland.

The top layer contained a package of silver bullion, or bulk pieces of silver before they were minted into coins, as well as a rare Anglo-Saxon cross. It's possible that this top layer was a "sacrificial decoy" meant to distract from the layers beneath it, The Independent reported.

Beneath this first layer was a larger, lower section divided into three parts. The first part had another silver bullion parcel, twice the size of the first, wrapped in leather; the second held a cluster of silver "ribbon" arm rings that were bound together and concealed a small, wooden box holding three gold items; and the third held the lidded, silver-gilt vessel wrapped in a few textiles. The vessel was meticulously packed with silk-wrapped items, which may have been relics or heirlooms, the museum said in the statement. These items include beads, pendants, brooches, bracelets, an elaborate belt set and a rock-crystal jar.

Related: Photos: Vikings accessorized with tiny metal dragons

Image 1 of 10 The vessel has Zoroastrian religious symbols and other imagery on it. (Image credit: Historic Environment Scotland) Image 2 of 10 A quatrefoil (four-leafed) brooch from the Galloway Hoard (Image credit: National Museums Scotland) Image 3 of 10 Gold artifacts buried with the Galloway Hoard. (Image credit: National Museums Scotland) Image 4 of 10 Curator Martin Goldberg holds a reconstruction of the lidded vessel. (Image credit: National Museums Scotland) Image 5 of 10 A multi-hinged strap from the Galloway Hoard. (Image credit: National Museums Scotland) Image 6 of 10 A pectoral cross from the Galloway Hoard (Image credit: National Museums Scotland) Image 7 of 10 Silver bullion from the lower layer of the Galloway Hoard. (Image credit: National Museums Scotland) Image 8 of 10 Silver bullion from the upper layer of the Galloway Hoard. (Image credit: National Museums Scotland) Image 9 of 10 Four arm rings and gold objects, including the pin and a ring, from the Galloway Hoard. (Image credit: National Museums Scotland) Image 10 of 10 Curator Martin Goldberg holds a reconstruction of the vessel. (Image credit: Neil Hanna)

The hoard gives archaeologists a rare look at treasures that Anglo-Saxon churches and monasteries likely owned and then buried to hide from the Vikings, The Independent reported. And while it's a mystery who buried them, archaeologists have a few ideas.

In A.D. 902 , the Irish drove the Vikings out of Dublin. As a result, the Vikings boated across the Irish Sea and invaded what is now southwest Scotland. Around this time, the Vikings seized control of Whithorn, an area with a church that isn't far from the Galloway Hoard, The Independent reported. Moreover, archaeological excavations suggest that there may be an unknown ecclesiastical site in the region.

Perhaps a medieval bishop, possibly one from Whithorn, was visiting local churches when he learned of the Viking raiders. Medieval bishops likely traveled with valuables and relics, as well as attendants, so maybe this troop buried the treasures for safekeeping, The Independent reported. Another possibility is that a bishop from Whithorn chose this specific spot, away from Whithorn, to outwit the Vikings. Whatever happened, the hoard was never retrieved by its original owners.

"The painstaking and methodical investigation of the Galloway Hoard is revealing more and more about its origins, and about the extraordinary far-flung connections enjoyed by the communities of Viking Age Britain," Gilbert Markus, a historian in the Department of Celtic and Gaelic at the University of Glasgow, told The Independent. "The possibility that the hoard was buried by churchmen to keep it from falling into the hands of their enemies is even more tantalising, offering a real insight into the life of a community in a time of crisis."

Visitors can see the exhibit now at the National Museum of Scotland until Sept. 12, 2021, when it will go on tour to Kirkcudbright Galleries from Oct. 9, 2021 to July 10, 2022, and then to Aberdeen Art Gallery from July 30 to Oct. 23, 2022. Meanwhile, the U.K-based Arts and Humanities Research Council has awarded $1.4 million (1 million British pounds) to "Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard," a three-year project led by National Museums Scotland in partnership with the University of Glasgow, which will start in June. Researchers involved with the project will do precise dating and 3D modeling on more objects from the hoard and work to pinpoint each artifact's place of origin, according to a statement from the University of Glasgow .

Originally published on Live Science.
Archaeologists are investigating a football field behind Alexandra Hospital in Singapore that is thought to cover the mass grave of victims of a massacre in 1942.

Archeologists are investigating a lawn that's thought to cover the mass grave of the victims of a wartime massacre in Singapore, ahead of the construction of a hospital extension on the site.

The open area behind the main buildings at Alexandra Hospital is thought to conceal the remains of about 200 victims killed after Japanese troops rampaged through the hospital's wards and operating theaters on Feb. 14 and 15, 1942. The killings were part of the Japanese invasion of the island, according to a Singapore government website .

Related: 25 grisly archaeological discoveries

At that time, Alexandra Hospital was known as the British Military Hospital and run by a unit of the British Army Medical Corps; Singapore was then part of the British colony of Malaya, which also governed several states on the southern Malay Peninsula.

The hospital became a government-owned civilian facility after the British withdrawal from Singapore in 1971; and the area that's thought to cover the mass grave will be part of a major redevelopment of the site scheduled for completion in 2030.

In light of the historical significance of the hospital compound, authorities will now "conduct research and archaeological assessments, as well as to document the heritage of the site ahead of its planned redevelopment," a spokesperson for Singapore's National Heritage Board (NHB) and the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, an educational organization run by the government, told Live Science.

Hospital massacre

The Japanese invasion of Singapore from the occupied Malayan Peninsula was one of the worst defeats for the British in World War II . Japan invaded Malaya in December 1941, and Japanese soldiers drove British troops from the peninsula after just 70 days of fighting.

With extensive support from warplanes and artillery, Japanese assault troops crossed the Strait of Johor, which separates the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula from Singapore, on Feb. 8, 1942, and after a week of bitter fighting it became clear the Japanese would take the island.

Related: Photos: 1,500-year-old massacre site unearthed on Swedish island

The massacre at what is now Alexandra Hospital began on Feb. 14 and concluded on the morning of Feb. 15, only a few hours before the British forces in Singapore surrendered to the Japanese  the largest British surrender in history, as reported by BBC .

The hospital was for a time on the frontline between the invading Japanese forces and the retreating British. Witnesses said it was clearly marked with red crosses and that a British officer carrying a white flag had tried to formally surrender it  instead, Japanese soldiers stabbed him to death with a bayonet. Some Japanese soldiers later claimed that they had been shot at from the hospital grounds.

One witness was Arthur Haines , a British soldier being treated for malaria at the hospital who was spared in the massacre. According to Haines, Japanese troops rampaged through the hospital and bayoneted or shot more than 200 patients and staff in the wards and theaters.

Others were taken outside and systematically killed, Haines wrote in a four-page letter describing the massacre that was auctioned by his daughter in 2008.

The bodies of the dead are thought to have then been buried in a mass grave behind the hospital building, which is now covered by the lawn being investigated by archaeologists.

Data from a survey of the site by ground-penetrating radar is being analysed and archaeological trenches could be dug if it reveals underground features that should be investigated further. (Image credit: Courtesy of ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute)

Archaeological investigation

Archaeologists began the investigation of the site in December 2020, the spokesperson for the Singapore government agencies said.

So far, the team of six has surveyed the lawn with ground-penetrating radar (GPR) equipment, which can reveal where the soil underneath has been disturbed in the past from digging or construction.

"The survey seeks to locate and determine the extent and the nature of any anomalous subsoil features, such as old building foundation and walls, soil cavities, backfill and services that may be attributed to past activities," the spokesperson said in an email.

The team has finished the GPR survey, and they are analyzing the findings to see if further investigations are needed. "If so, and if materials are found, they will be further assessed by the archaeological surveyors and NHB."

According to the Straits Times , further investigations could include digging trenches at locations where the GPR equipment has shown anomalies, while leaving most of the area untouched.

Archaeologist John Miksic of the National University of Singapore told the Straits Times that the survey could contribute to knowledge of the colonial period in Singapore by revealing more about the relationship between the British military and the local society of Singapore. But "it will be difficult to assign specific archaeological discoveries to the event of the massacre itself, though it might be possible to find a mass grave of the victims," he said.

Originally published on Live Science.
The widespread popularity of Olivia Rodrigo's debut album, "Sour," can in some ways be explained by the resonance of its third single, "Good 4 U." The pop-punk breakup song dropped in mid-May - four months after the ubiquitous hit "Drivers License" broke multiple industry records, and a handful of weeks after, its catchy follow-up, "Deja Vu," helped sustain the anticipation.

With "Good 4 U," even more ears seemed to perk up. The fiery track earned numerous comparisons to Alanis Morissette and Hayley Williams of the band Paramore, the latter especially reeling in millennials who up until then might only have casually listened to Rodrigo, the 18-year-old star of a Disney Plus series. This is "Misery Business" for a new generation of broken, angry hearts. Maybe it still serves that purpose for those who first sang along with Williams nearly 15 years ago.

This cross-generational appeal no doubt played a hand in "Sour" debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, announced over the holiday weekend. Billboard also reported that "Sour" had recorded the biggest week for an album so far this calendar year, a feat joining the two No. 1s Rodrigo earned on the Hot 100 singles chart with "Drivers License" and "Good 4 U."

In his review of "Sour," New York magazine music critic Craig Jenkins noted that you "don't need to be a Disney Channel star who has just seen her Disney Channel co-star boyfriend buzz off with yet another Disney Channel co-star to relate to the feelings of abandonment and upheaval" that songs like "Drivers License" get across. Similarly, he wrote, you don't need to be "fresh off the learner's-permit circuit ... to feel weird cruising past haunts that remind you of failed relationships."

However irrelevant to the quality of her music, Rodrigo's Disney connection is vital to her industry standing. After a breakout role on the Disney Channel series "Bizaardvark," she moved on to "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series," a meta, mockumentary-style show that began streaming on Disney Plus in November 2019. Rodrigo and co-star Joshua Bassett's characters play Gabriella Montez and Troy Bolton in a stage production of the film "High School Musical," layers of fictional romance rumored to have transcended to Rodrigo and Bassett's real lives as well.

There is something of a tradition in supposed drama among Disney stars making for popular music, notably captured years ago by veiled references to the tangled web of Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers. Vested interest in their celebrity led fans to listen to their songs on repeat, picking the lyrics apart for clues as to what went down. Many have assumed "Drivers License" to be about Bassett leaving Rodrigo for another Disney star, Sabrina Carpenter.

But Rodrigo's success also seems to be part of a shift within the Disney sphere, which has apparently evolved enough to allow its stars to curse while still holding down jobs on PG-rated television. Rodrigo is signed to Interscope and Geffen Records and plays on major radio stations, instead of the recently departed Radio Disney. Speaking to The Washington Post last month, sisters Aly and AJ Michalka - who released music on Disney's label in the mid-aughts, including the memorable single "Potential Breakup Song" - mused that social media had changed the landscape the most.

"You would never be on the cover of a cool magazine. You wouldn't get an 'SNL' performance or an NPR Tiny Desk or whatever it is," AJ recalled of their past experiences. "And now, if you blow up on social media and you happen to be connected to the Disney machine, it doesn't really matter if Disney is involved. You're probably going to get those cool opportunities."

Rodrigo has promoted her music to her 10.8 million Instagram followers, but apps like TikTok, on which a young woman started a viral trend with "Drivers License," help keep it in the conversation. The song got big enough to become the basis of a "Saturday Night Live" sketch about adult men who couldn't stop listening to it; three months later, Rodrigo appeared as the musical guest.

At the root of it all, of course, is the music itself. Critics agree that Rodrigo shows promise, proving adept at maintaining the tricky balance of writing specific lyrics that speak to universal experiences - especially notable in the pop genre, and not unlike the work of her professed idol, Taylor Swift (who even has a writing credit on the track "1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back," which interpolates Swift's "New Year's Day"). Rodrigo collaborated on "Sour" with songwriter and record producer Dan Nigro, but maintains a writing credit on every song.

The album experiments within the pop genre, ballads relaying the heartache of Rodrigo's breakup and the rock-tinged tracks pulsing with teen angst. As the album goes on, she reaches the conclusion that things will only look up from here. It is undoubtedly true of her career as well.
Click here to read the full article.

Netflixs party-minded Carnaval has a lot on its plate, tackling everything from influencers, the toxic nature of their business and the complexities of making and maintaining female friendships in that industry. Set against the revelry and pageantry of Brazils Carnival celebration, director Leandro Neris lighthearted romantic comedy delivers hijinks and a few sweet sentiments about having the courage to embrace destiny. Nevertheless, its broad comedy and thoughtful themes arent completely cogent, due to a lack of properly motivated character developments and questionable scenarios.

Nina (Giovana Cordeiro) is looking to get away. The 23-year-old social media influencer has been branded the Crossfit Cuckold after a viral video circulates showing her equally popular gym rat boyfriend cheating on her. Utterly embarrassed and nursing a broken heart, shes left down in the dumps, posting sad-sack photos on Instagram as her cathartic cry for help.

The same day her friends Mayra (Bruna Inocencio), Vivi (Samya Pascotto) and Michelle (Gessica Kayane) rally to lift her spirits, she gets an exciting career opportunity to join hunky pop sensation Freddy Nunes (Micael) and fellow influencers for Carnival at an all-inclusive resort in Salvador, Brazil. She negotiates for her gal pals to tag along, and off they go. Nina, hungry for digital engagement, is certain this trip will get her to her goal of a million followers. Trouble is, their adventure gets off to a rocky start.

Because Ninas numbers are significantly lower than other invitees, the gals have been booked at lower scale accommodations, meaning they ride in a cheesy tourist van in lieu of a private luxury vehicle and stay at a dingy motel instead of a posh hotel. Their dorky tour guides, Salvador (Jean Pedro) and Samir (Rafael Medrado), arent the beefcakes advertised either. Not exactly the VIP experience they were pitched.

Yet for all the impediments they eventually surmount thanks to their scrappy sensibilities, other interpersonal squabbles arise, threatening to erode the gals foundational friendships forever. Nina forgoes time with her friends for time spent with Freddy, whose follower count is music to her ears. She also ditches her pals based on bad advice from her antagonistic influencer idol, Luana (Flavia Pavanelli), whose perfection extends from her glamourous wardrobe to her philanthropic efforts.

The movies strengths lie in its bouncy, breezy, exhilarating energy, capturing the colorful flavors of the culture, community and atmosphere. Neri marries the sound of Samba music to cinema with aesthetic panache, concocting a delightfully infectious rhythm. Montages spotlighting party-goers vibrant enthusiasm and god-like beauty give the narrative a second and third wind when the dramatics go stale. The sequence highlighting the ladies tour of the town offers vicarious escapism for viewers housebound by the coronavirus  but tone-deaf to the countrys own out-of-control case count. Leads Cordeiro, Inocencio, Kayane and Pascotto (whose dialogue is occasionally punctuated with an 8-bit noise stinger to emphasize her characters whimsical yearnings) keenly roll with the campy overtones as adeptly as they bring out deeper undertones within the friendship dynamic displayed.

Though the four main characters are caught in a few interesting, albeit superficial, predicaments, few of them land sufficiently. Neri, along with co-screenwriters Audemir Lezinger and Luisa Mascarenhas, make the group feel like one-dimensional archetypes used solely for plot mechanics. Individually, theyre given struggles: Nina wrestles with a life-altering decision to put her heart over her head. Indecisive Mayra deals with crippling bouts of anxiety. Nerdy Vivi questions if dating a hot nerdy guy is right for her. Sexually liberated Michelle learns the difference between love and lust. However, theres little deep resonance to their dilemmas despite the potential.

When Nina is forced to reckon with her obsession with Instagram, the filmmakers back away from holding her accountable. Her friends arent exactly saints either. They come across as jerks, not heroes, whenever they encourage her to blow off work, subsequently resenting her when she doesnt. Resolutions are unfortunately slight, undercutting the overarching thematic sentiments. It might have been more poignant if all the women had taken charge and embraced their agency, rather than accept passive roles in their stories.

While Myra and Vivi are given avenues to demonstrably overcome their fear-based internal conflicts, Nina and Michelles problems involve fate deciding for them  from which boy to choose, to Luanas contrived comeuppance. Ninas unhealthy fixation on her follower count is never genuinely challenged in a meaningful manner beyond a few friendly arguments that lack in sincerity and conflict resolution. One minute theyre locked in an intense argument and the next theyve breezed right past it. The films spin on the genres traditional love triangle trope sacrifices Ninas empowerment. Plus the clever wrap on the mystery of Michelles romantic befuddlement comes at a cost to her bare-bones character development.

With its glaring faults, Carnaval hews closer to the abysmal annoyances prevalent in Desperados than the remarkable wit of Ibiza  a.k.a. Netflixs previous female-centric comedies featuring women experiencing life-changing travails while traveling. This triptych of sorts portends that similar content will be in the pipeline at the streamer. We might as well surrender to our inevitable fate, as these characters learn to do.

Reviewed online, Los Angeles, May 29, 2021. Running time: 94 MIN.

Running Time: Running time: 94 MIN.

Production

A Netflix release of a Camisa Listrada production. Producer: Andre Carreira. Executive producers: Angelo Gastal, Gisela B. Camara.

Crew

Director: Leandro Neri. Screenplay: Leandro Neri, Audemir Lezinger, Luisa Mascarenhas. Camera: Marcelo Brasil. Editor: Tiago Marques. Music: Berna Ceppas.

With

Giovana Cordeiro, Bruna Inocencio, Gessica Kayane, Samya Pascotto, Flavia Pavanelli, Jean Pedro, Rafael Medrado, Micael.

Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Click here to read the full article.

Fresh off their debut feature documentary Davos, Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann have lined up a number of new projects, among them a new film to be produced by Ulrich Seidl.

Hoesl has completed the script for the narrative feature, Vikinger, a satire about an Austrian billionaire family with a penchant for hunting.

Hoesl and Niemann have also joined the writing team for a series being developed by Berlin-based Komplizen Film (Tony Erdmann). Fck My Heritage (working title) is set in an elite boarding school and follows a group of students who decide to reject their inheritances and trigger a global social revolution.

Christian Schwochow (Munich, Bad Banks) is serving as showrunner on the series, which Hoesl and Niemann are co-writing with Heide Schwochow and Jana Burbach.

Elites and their wealth and power have been at the core of the Austrian filmmakers past works, including Soldier Jane and WINWIN  both of which unspooled at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, where the former also won the Tiger Award.

In Davos, which also screens in Rotterdam, Hoesl and Niemann take a peek behind the curtains at the World Economic Forum (WEF) while also exploring the surprisingly down-to-earth community that inhabits the scenic Alpine resort town.

Ive always been interested in the price of money, Hoesl tells Variety. I wake up to the business news. Im a stock market person. Im really interested in money, not in personal wealth, but in the values that materialism creates. Im very, very skeptical about it.

Hoesl was eager to examine the WEFs activities after making WINWIN, a satiric critique of modern-day capitalism.

Everything that constructs our society is present in one place in Davos. Very rich people live in Davos, it has a working class community, it has migrants and it has immigrants. And then on the other side you have the World Economic Forum and globalization. But globalization is present everywhere, so basically were all in the same situation as Davos.

Getting access to the tightly managed event proved to be the biggest challenge. Speaking with the WEFs media reps in Geneva, Hoesl said they would make the film whether or not they were allowed entrance. If they had not let us in, of course the metaphor would have been very bad for them.

They ultimately received restricted access. We could not do what we wanted, Hoesl says. They are not at all used to people who hang around for long. They are used to media teams that rush in take what they need and run out again. We wanted to have that behind-the-scenes approach to see and decipher what that elephant is actually doing there and how it behaves.

Even with access, the event is so controlled that speaking to high-profile attendees is nearly impossible, adds Niemann.

They are very professional in staging their global media event that makes them shine and they dont want any shade cast on their event, Hoesl notes. So they know what to do to avoid that.

A staged interactive event highlighting the plight of refugees during the WEF led Hoesl and Niemann to also explore Davos own refugee center, whose residents include people from Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia and Congo.

In the end, Hoesl and Niemann spent nearly a year and a half living in Davos while working on the film. I wanted it to be very observational, Hoesl says. Im a fan of Frederick Wiseman films. I wanted to treat the people with a lot of respect and I really learned to like them a lot. I have a lot of affection and empathy for the people who live there.

Among the folks they met were a family facing increasing pressure to sell their beloved dairy farm due to falling milk prices, Portuguese immigrant laborers, and community activists who protest against the neoliberal policies espoused at the forum and who gather at an underground music venue frequented by the aging Zurich punk band The Seniles.

At a community meeting, where some residents speak out against the WEF, proponents of the event point out that it brings in more than $65 million a year for Davos. Indeed, locals make a killing renting out their shops in the city center, which are then transformed into the BlackRock and Facebook showrooms or the Russia House, where you can get the best drinks of course, Niemann notes.

The countries are like key accounts for big companies, says Hoesl. Its the political leaders who come to woo the companies to open branches in their countries, not the other way around, he adds. This is the state of capitalism that we are in.

In addition to his work behind the camera, Hoesl occasionally acts, appearing most recently as a pompous aristocrat in Julian Radlmaiers Marxist vampire satire Bloodsuckers, which also unspools in Rotterdam.

Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Click here to read the full article.

Jodie Foster will receive the Honorary Palme dOr at the Cannes Film Festival. She will also be the guest of honor at the opening ceremony, at which she will receive the tribute.

The honorary prize was previously given to Jeanne Moreau, Bernardo Bertolucci, Jane Fonda, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Manoel de Oliveira, Jean-Pierre Leaud, Agnes Varda and Alain Delon.

The festival praised Foster, a two-time Oscar winning actor, director and producer, for her brilliant artistic journey, a unique personality with a modest yet strong commitment to some of the major issues of our time. As previously announced, Spike Lee will preside over the competition jury. Leos Carax Annette with Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard will world premiere on opening night.

Cannes is a festival to which I owe so much; it has completely changed my life, said Foster, who first attended Cannes in 1976, at the age of 13, for the world premiere of Martin Scorseses Taxi Driver, which won the Palme dOr.

Although I had already directed before, my first time on the Croisette was a defining moment for me. Showcasing one of my films here has always been a dream of mine. I am flattered that Cannes thought of me and I am very honored to be able to share a few words of wisdom or tell an adventure or two with a new generation of filmmakers, said Foster, who has had seven films, as actor or director, which were presented at the Cannes Film Festival.

Cannes president Pierre Lescure said, Jodie Foster has provided us with an amazing gift by coming to celebrate the return of the festival on the Croisette. Her aura is unparalleled: she embodies modernity, the radiant intelligence of independence and the need for freedom.

Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux added: Jodie never ceases to reinvent herself. She questions with her piercing gaze, learns from others, and is willing to step back from her beliefs in order to forge new morals  do what is fair.

An idea that she strives to convey in the decisions she makes as an actress and director, and which makes her so precious during these confusing times. We will honor her with warmth and admiration, noted Fremaux.

Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Australias largest electricity generator AGL Energy took Greenpeace to court on Wednesday alleging breaches of copyright and trademark laws in the environmental groups campaign describing AGL as the nations biggest climate polluter.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific has accused AGL, which predominantly generates coal-fired electricity, of greenwashing by promoting itself as a leading investor in renewable energy.

AGL has targeted in the Federal Court Greenpeaces use of its logo in an online advertising campaign featuring the slogan, AGL  Australias Greatest Liability.

Greenpeace lawyer Katrina Bullock said the lawsuit was an example of a fossil fuel company using the law to try intimidate their critics.

AGL unsuccessfully applied for an interim court order in early May that would have forced Greenpeace to stop using the logo.

Greenpeace argues that Australian trademark law allows for the logo to be used for satire, parody and criticism.

AGL lawyer Megan Evetts told the court there was a clear intention to harm the brand through the Greenpeace campaign. The court must decide whether Greenpeace owed AGL damages, she said.

AGL is not seeking to stifle public debate. What it is seeking to do is protect itself, protect its intellectual property rights, Evetts said.

Greenpeace lawyer Neil Murray told the court the campaign did not breach the law because it did not use the AGL trademark in a trade context and its motives were pure.

The conduct of the campaign to cause people to be critical of AGL for continuing to operate coal until 2048 in the hope that that criticism will create pressure on AGL to change is a legitimate goal: initiating public debate for a beneficial cause, Murray said. To punish a charity for doing that would be unjust.

AGL accepted in its latest annual report that it was Australias largest greenhouse gas emitter with plans to continue generating electricity by burning coal until 2048, Murray said.

This is not a frolic invented by Greenpeace. This is a serious issue, the dynamics of which are recognized by AGL in its own documents, Murray said.

The campaign was aimed at ending Australian reliance on coal-fired power by 2030 as recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Its not . . . an exercise in gratuitous denigration of AGL, its not about trying to inflict maximum harm to them, Murray said. Its a socially responsible campaign addressed to a very specific issue based on international research.

AGL lawyer John Hennessy said the campaign involved the wholesale reproduction of the logo and could not be considered satirical.

Greenpeace campaigner Glenn Walker described the amended AGL logo used in his campaign as a parody.

Under questioning by Hennessy, Walker denied that the aim of the campaign was to persuade AGL to change its policy through a loss of customers.

Walker said Greenpeace advised AGL customers to write messages on social media pages, send emails to the AGL chief executive and telephone AGLs customer service center to raise concerns about the companys climate policy.

Weve been very clear in our communication with any AGL customers that wed actually prefer them to engage with the company because we think that has greater impact in this campaign, Walker said.

Walker did not accept Hennessys proposition that Greenpeace considered AGL a villain.

We regard them as a temporary villain, Walker said. Because many of the companies that we target through our campaigning end up becoming quite good corporate players and we congratulate them for that.

Ultimately the purpose of the campaign is to get them to shut down their coal-burning power stations and to become a renewable energy leader, he added.

Australias Clean Energy Regulator confirms that AGL is the nations largest greenhouse gas polluter, accounting for 8% of the nations total emissions.

Justice Stephen Burley said at the end of the one-day hearing that he would deliver his verdict at a later date.
A self-proclaimed Cartel Del Noreste hitman and a Latin King gang member were arrested for entering the country illegally, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Agents apprehended the suspected hitman on Sunday afternoon. Agents assigned to the Zapata Station arrested an individual identified as Angel Yovani Aguirre-Nava near Texas 16, east of Zapata.

Aguirre-Nava, 29, was determined to be a Mexican citizen who had crossed the border illegally. A records check revealed that he was convicted of several counts of human smuggling in 2019.

Aguirre-Nava is a self-professed member of the Cartel Del Noreste as a hitman, according to Border Patrol. He is being prosecuted for his immigration violations and will be turned over to the U.S. Marshals.

The apprehension of the Latin King criminal gang member occurred during the early hours of Saturday. Laredo South agents apprehended an individual near downtown Laredo. He was identified as Felix Carbajal-Morales, a 31 year old from Mexico.

A records check revealed that Carbajal-Morales had been convicted in 2009 of manufacture, delivery of a controlled substance in Bryan, Texas along with various other criminal violations. Further investigation revealed he is a member of the Latin Kings street gang. He will be prosecuted for his immigration violations and turned over to the U.S. Marshals.

Since the beginning of this fiscal year, nearly 760 criminal undocumented individuals have been arrested by Laredo Sector agents. This is a drastic comparison of over 60 criminal arrests in the same time frame last year, Border Patrol said in a statement. These arrests continue to highlight the dangers that illegal immigration poses to our country. Dangerous criminals such as these endanger our communities by showing a lack of regard for our countrys laws.

To report suspicious activity such as human or drug smuggling, download the USBP Laredo Sector app or contact the Laredo Sector Border Patrol toll free at 1-800-343-1994.
Jordan Janz knew his gamble on an experimental gene therapy for his rare disease might be paying off when he returned to work and a friend sniffed him.

He said, you have a normal smell, you smell good, Janz recalled. And Im like, thats probably the nicest thing youve ever said.

The 22-year-old Canadian man's previous treatment required 40 to 60 pills a day and left him smelling like rotten eggs or stinky cheese. He was born with a flawed gene that left him unable to make a protein needed by virtually every organ in the body. Kids with this disease can throw up a dozen times a day, need eye drops every hour to prevent blindness and often kidney transplants before theyre adults.

Now, Janz and a growing number of others with rare diseases have hope of not just better treatments, but perhaps a cure. Gene therapy increasingly is being used to attack the root cause of their problems by supplying the DNA they lack.

Janz was the first person in one such study at the University of California, San Diego. He and two other participants no longer need the eye drops and pills that only delayed progression of their disease and left them smelling bad. The company that developed their therapy is testing it for several other diseases by simply adjusting what gene is supplied.

Other companies are doing the same, and U.S. health officials are working on guidance to encourage the trend.

I am very excited for the field because I feel like were beginning to get to a critical mass, where a single method or product can be deemed safe and then adapted for many uses, said Dr. Peter Marks, head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration center that oversees gene therapies. Youre essentially using the same rocket ship to put stuff into space dozens of times.

NOT SO RARE DISEASES

In the United States, a disease is considered rare if it affects fewer than 200,000 people, said Ron Bartek, a board member of the National Organization for Rare Disorders and whose son, Keith, died of one -- Friedreich ataxia, a progressive neurological condition.

There are more than 7,000 rare diseases and collectively, theyre not so rare -- about 30 million Americans have one.

Seven gene therapies are approved in the United States and a few more are sold in Europe or elsewhere. In 2017, when the first ones were OKd in the U.S., 854 companies were developing them. That grew to 1,085 by the end of last year, according to the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, an advocacy group for the field. More than 400 gene therapy trials are underway now.

Its really been an exciting couple of years, Bartek said. Were finally looking at the possibility of profoundly beneficial therapies for many diseases.

There's interest from not only small biotech firms but also universities and big companies such as Pfizer and Novartis, he said.

DOCTORING DNA

Gene therapies often aim to supply a gene people lack. The trick is getting the new one where it needs to be without triggering other problems.

Some therapies, such as ones for inherited forms of blindness, inject the treatment into the eye. A common method for others is to remove some of a patients blood cells, alter them in the lab to carry the desired gene, and return them through an IV.

What has scientists excited is better vectors -- disabled viruses that ferry the gene into cells -- that seem safer and more effective.

One, surprisingly, may be HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Doctors recently reported that a gene therapy using modified HIV from London-based Orchard Therapeutics gave a working immune system to 48 babies and toddlers who were born without one. Avrobio, a Massachusetts company, also is using HIV in gene therapies it is testing for cystinosis, Janzs disease, and several others.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. in California is taking a similar approach with a different virus called AAV for hemophilia, a blood clotting disorder, and several other diseases.

The only thing thats changing is the payload, the gene, said Avrobios chief scientific officer, Dr. Chris Mason.

THE SNIFF TEST

Janz lives in Consort, a Canadian village of 700 in Alberta. His mother called the first day of enrollment for Avrobios study under Stephanie Cherqui, a pediatrics expert at UCSD.

People with cystinosis are unable to clear cystine, a chemical that builds up in their cells and forms crystals that damage kidneys, eyes and other organs, and leads to muscle weakness, trouble swallowing and even breathing. The vomiting is so bad that many kids need a feeding tube placed in their stomach, and wind up being home-schooled because theyre teased by classmates and their medical needs are so complex, Cherqui said.

When you meet these families, these children are suffering every day from the disease,," she said. "I cant even imagine. Its terrible.

Gene therapy offers hope of a one-time fix. The therapy doesnt have to get into all cells to work, just enough of them to make sufficient amounts of the protein that removes cystine so it doesnt build up.

Janz was treated in 2019 and said he feels essentially cured, though it will take longer to know if he really is, and he may need a kidney transplant someday because of damage done by his disease. Tests show that crystals in his eyes, skin and muscle have greatly decreased. Instead of 54 pills a day, he just takes vitamins and specific nutrients his body needs.

I have more of a life now, Janz said. Im going to school. Im hoping to open up my own business one day -- a deli featuring charcuterie, prepared meats such as hams and sausages. It's an interest he developed during years of frequent trips to Chicago as a young boy to try other treatments. He stayed so often at the Omni Hotel that the chef let him cook in the hotels fancy restaurant when he was 13. The staff even bought Janz a knife kit and his own chefs hat, apron and shoes.

CHALLENGES REMAIN

Gene therapy doesnt work for everyone, its unknown how long any benefits will last, and safety remains a concern. In the past, a couple gene therapies that used different vectors triggered cancer in a few patients who received them.

Every time we think we have overcome the safety issues, we continue to butt up against them, the FDAs Marks said. I have confidence that we will work through them ... but we cant get too sure of ourselves.

Marks and many other scientists think gene editing eventually may offer a long-lasting way to do gene therapy. Instead of just supplying a missing gene to cells, editing permanently alters a patients native DNA to insert a gene or knock out one thats causing trouble.

Brian Madeux, a Phoenix-area man who is now 48, became the first person in the world to have gene editing tried inside his body in 2017 for a metabolic disorder called Hunter syndrome. Through an IV, he received billions of copies of a corrective gene and a genetic tool to put it in a precise spot.

But the therapy wasnt potent enough to allow him or eight other patients to stop weekly IV treatments to supply the enzyme their bodies are unable to make.

Even though it didn't give the hoped-for result, I think the doctors have learned a lot from me," Madeux said recently. "I felt that I could help other people by furthering science.

I took a shot, a chance that something could cure my disease, he said. Im very happy that I did it.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
MOSCOW (AP)  A Russian court on Wednesday sent a prominent opposition activist to jail pending a probe, as authorities continue to crack down on dissent ahead of September's parliamentary election.

In the southern city of Krasnodar, a court ordered Andrei Pivovarov, the head of the Open Russia movement that has just disbanded itself, to be held for two months pending an investigation, rejecting the defenses appeal against his arrest.

Last week, Open Russias leaders dissolved the group to protect its members from prosecution after Russian authorities designated it as an undesirable organization along with more than 30 others, using a 2015 law that made membership in such organizations a criminal offense.

Pivovarov rejected the charges and pointed out during the court hearing that the criminal probe against him was opened two days after Open Russia shut down.

He was pulled off a Warsaw-bound plane at St. Petersburgs airport just before takeoff late Monday and taken to Krasnodar, where authorities accused him of supporting a local election candidate last year on behalf of an undesirable organization.

On Wednesday, a court in Moscow is also set to consider investigators request to lock up Dmitry Gudkov, a former Russian lawmaker who has aspired to run again for a parliament seat. Gudkov was detained Tuesday on financial charges that he and his supporters allege were trumped up.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, rejected suggestions of political motives for the investigations of Gudkov and Pivovarov, telling reporters that the accusations filed by law enforcement agencies have no relation to politics.

Open Russia was financed by Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who moved to London after spending 10 years in prison in Russia on charges widely seen as political revenge for challenging Putins rule.

Speaking to The Associated Press in a Zoom interview on Tuesday, Khodorkovsky said that the recent crackdown on dissent reflects the authorities concern about the waning popularity of the main Kremlin-directed party, United Russia.

The authorities don't feel that confident about the results they can get in September, Khodorkovsky told the AP. That's why the Kremlin is trying to steamroll all potential political opponents.

Putin spoke to United Russia candidates in September's vote via a video call Wednesday, hailing the party's role in helping the population and businesses amid the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Putins most determined political foe, Alexei Navalny, was arrested in January upon his return from Germany, where he had spent five months recuperating from a nerve agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin  accusations that Russian officials dismiss. He was given a 2 1/2-year prison sentence in February for violating terms of a suspended sentence stemming from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that he denounced as politically motivated.

A court in the town of Petushki, in the Vladimir region east of Moscow, on Wednesday rejected Navalny's appeal asking to halt the hourly night-time checks he has been subjected to in his penal colony.

Speaking to the court in a video link from prison, Navalny charged that the checks effectively amount to torture and argued that he has done nothing that would warrant the authorities decision to designate him as a flight risk that has resulted in checks.

He went on a 24-day hunger strike in prison to protest the lack of medical treatment for severe back pain and numbness in his legs, ending it last month after getting the medical attention he demanded.

In remarks given to his lawyers and posted on his Instagram account Wednesday, Navalny denounced the criminal charges against Pivovarov and Gudkov as "a sham and a crime."

This disgusting deceitful government is also quite cowardly, and it's going to gobble people up one by one to scare all others, he said, urging Russians not to be afraid of repression. They live by our fear, don't feed them, he added.

With Navalny in prison, prosecutors have asked a Moscow court to designate his Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his network of regional offices as extremist groups. At the same time, a bill approved by the lower house of the Russian parliament bars members, donors and supporters of extremist groups from seeking public office  a measure that would keep Navalnys associates from running for parliament in September.

Khodorkovsky argued that the Sept. 19 parliamentary election is important for Putin to cement his rule ahead of the 2024 Russian presidential election. The 68-year-old Putin, who has been in power for more than two decades, pushed through constitutional changes last year that would potentially allow him to hold onto power until 2036.

___

Harriet Morris in Moscow contributed to this report.
Students enrolled for Summer 2021 classes at Texas A&M International University who meet the necessary selection criteria can benefit from the federal Coronavirus Relief Response Supplemental Appropriations funding, formerly known as the CARES grant.

Applications for students enrolled in Maymester, Sub-Term I, and Summer Session I will open the week of June 8. Applications for students enrolled during Sub-Term II, Summer Session II, and Summer Session III will open the week of July 12.

The CRRSAA funds are used to address financial hardships that include food and housing insecurity, as well as medical and school expenses.

Eligible undergraduate and graduate students will receive a notification and link to their Dusty student email. Applications will be open for a week after the link is originally sent. Late submissions or re-submissions are not permitted.

Eligible students who receive the application link can apply twice, or once per each application's opening date, if they receive the application link to their Dusty email.

When applying, no additional supporting documentation is required.

Funding can be used to pay off any outstanding balances owed to the university. The remaining grant monies will be sent to the students BankMobile account. Students should visit the Card Services webpage at tamiu.edu/onecard for information on how to confirm that their disbursement preferences are current.

Students submitting their application are advised to retain the confirmation number available after submitting the application. To check the status of their application, students can email cares@tamiu.edu.

Individuals are advised that the CRRSAA application process can take up to 4-5 weeks for review.

Additional funding for the 2021-22 academic year will be available. Students are advised to monitor the TAMIU CARES website for additional information.

CRRSAA funding comes from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II authorized by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 Public Law 116-260, signed into law by former President Donald Trump on Dec. 27, 2020. In total, it authorizes $81.88 billion in support of education, in addition to the $30.75 billion former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos provided last spring through the CARES Act, Public Law 116-13.

Questions can be directed to cares@tamiu.edu. Due to the significant volume of emails, students may experience a delay in response.

Additional information, including an application FAQ, is available at tamiu.edu/cares. An informative video is also viewable at go.tamiu.edu/application-faq.
I am walking down the street for my first morning walk and a nice lady with a dog is coming towards me.

I dont pay attention as it is going to be another meaningless passing of two humans minding their own business. Well, there is a twist: the lady raises her head, smiles, and says good morning as she passes. Startled, I stop and look back at her. Do I know her? Nah, she has confused me with someone she knows. Back to the walk, baffled by the pleasant intrusion, a few metres later a handsome middle-aged gentleman is coming towards me. Bang! I am hit with another walk-by smile and a greeting. Stunned, I keep walking. A running father with a stroller, a young woman with a supermarket bag, and a teenager with headphones all shoot me with a smile and greeting. I feel like Sonny Corleone from The Godfather, unexpectedly ambushed; but here the assassins just use smiles rather than bullets.

I am not accustomed to such pleasantries. All my life I have lived in the city centres. Growing up in a rough neighbourhood in Karachi, Pakistan, a meaningless walk on the street was considered deranged, as it put you in danger of having an unseemly experience. In London, I discovered the fast walkers in big coats, who do not acknowledge your existence even if you are stabbed while passing them. Auckland Central is a different beast: a friendlier bunch, but a latte in one hand and a screen in another doesnt leave much human emotion to give away smiles willy nilly to passing strangers.

The move to Whangapararoa is the most pleasant change of location I have made in my life. It might sound sad that I have started walking more just in anticipation of smiling strangers. However, I feel a bond developing with the community. I have mustered enough confidence to throw back a smile and a greeting.

One day I will be brave enough to throw in a nice dog or a lovely weather isnt it?. Maybe I will make new friends outside of the Facebook and Instagram voyeuristic universes.

Hibiscus Matters welcomes Ed Amon  our latest columnist. Ed works in marketing by day, but is also a comedian and has a regular spot on RNZs The Panel. He also hosts current affairs podcast Baboon Yodel.

Ed moved to the Coast at the start of this year and will initially take a look at the area from a newcomers point of view in his column.
Lockport, NY (14094)

Today

Mostly cloudy early. Scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. High around 80F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. Low 58F. Winds light and variable.
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
Logan, WV (25601)

Today

Partly cloudy early. Scattered thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 87F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms before midnight. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Chambers Ireland has welcomed the Government announcement on its Recovery Plan.

Chambers Ireland Chief Executive Ian Talbot said: The pandemic and its consequences are still very much with us. Confirmation by Government that it will extend key COVID supports for businesses and employees impacted by the pandemic has been needed and will come as a relief to those who continue to experience significant uncertainty.

"Chambers Ireland has been a continuous advocate for the ongoing support of businesses and the announcement today is broadly positive in providing assurances in the short term. This will allow employers to plan for a return to trading and help restore the economic health of their businesses.

"The recent eligibility extension of the Small Business Assistance Scheme (SBASC) is welcome, but clarity on application criteria for this scheme, and other restart grants must be made public as soon as possible.

"The 915 million we will receive through the European Unions Recovery and Resilience Facility will also be an important avenue for rebuilding our national and local economies. Sustainability must be at the centre of this process. This will help to develop social and economic resilience and put Ireland in a better place to face future challenges.

"While the announcement today understandably addressed the recovery on a national level, we continue to urge Government to support towns and cities across Ireland with targeted policy and schemes.

"A strategy for urban Ireland must be at the heart of how Government delivers a sustainable recovery. This Town Centre First approach, which is a pillar commitment of the Programme for Government, should not only support the recovery of our high streets, but also prioritise making more liveable cities and towns, through the incentivisation of urban living, brownfield development, and sustainable transport.

"As we focus on renewal and the rebuilding of our economy, ambition must be evident in delivering a recovery that is balanced and provides for all parts of the island.
It has been an extraordinarily challenging 15 months for the majority of Longford business outlets. However, with the vaccine rollout and re-opening plans gathering pace, Longford Chamber of Commerce has been working on an initiative to further boost local spending.

Longford Chamber of Commerce is launching the Longford Gift Voucher Scheme. The Longford Gift Voucher will be available to purchase in numerous outlets e.g. Post Offices and online.

The Voucher can only be spent on businesses located in Longford, and is available in amounts up to 500.

The scheme will be operated on behalf of the Chamber by One4All, who are the largest gift card operator in Ireland, and are fully regulated.

The Gift Voucher scheme will be open to all businesses who wish to participate, and you do not have to be a member of Chamber.

To launch the scheme, Longford Chamber of Commerce will hold an open virtual meeting at 7pm on Thursday, June 3 next to brief business on how the scheme will operate, and how to accept the Longford Gift Voucher.

The Chamber expects a large turnout, and is keen to ensure the gift voucher is accepted in as many outlets as possible across County Longford. If you are unable to attend, you can email info@longfordchamber.ie

Michael Nevin Head of Local Enterprise Longford is enthusiastic about the Scheme. Longford people are proud of their county.

The Longford Gift Voucher is the perfect way for Longford people to support local business and strengthen the local economy and I would encourage everyone to get behind it, said Mr Nevin.

Longford Sport & Leisure Centre Manager James OBrien is excited by the commercial opportunities the voucher scheme will bring to his business.

Mr O'Brien commented, We believe the Longford Gift Voucher will give business a major boost after being closed for so long.

Giving the gift of fitness and wellbeing after a long lockdown is just what people need, and we cant wait to see new members joining using the Longford Gift Voucher.

Longford County Council are also supporting the scheme. John McKeon, Head of Finance, LCC, pointed out, After a difficult trading period, Longford County Council want to play their part in getting Longford business thriving again. The Gift Voucher Scheme has the full support of the County Council and we know the people of Longford will be keen to buy them.

Chamber President Fiona Fenelon said: Business has endured its toughest 15 months since the 2008 recession.

The Longford Gift Voucher will allow Longford people to support local business, while having the flexibility to spend the voucher in outlets spread across the length and breadth of the County, from retail to leisure to dining.

We are excited to launch the Scheme on June 3 at an open virtual meeting, and hope to see as many businesses as possible in attendance.
The Irish Cancer Societys annual Living Well with and Beyond Cancer conference, hosted by Dr. Eddie Murphy takes place online on this week.

The Society encourages cancer patients, survivors and those that care for them to join us for this free online event, all from the comfort of your own home.

The conference will cover topics like self-care, healthy eating, exercise as well as advances in cancer treatment. A range of speakers will share their experiences, stories and expert knowledge on living well during and after a cancer diagnosis through a mix of virtual presentations, interactive workshops and Q&A sessions.

Registration is completely free. Go to www.cancer.ie/livingwell to confirm your attendance.

Living Well with and Beyond Cancer is kindly supported by Bristol Myers Squibb, Amgen and Janssen.
AP

'Still on the farm': NY State Police struggles to diversify

Mike Groll FILE - This Oct. 21, 2008, file photo, shows a silhouette of some of the 92 graduating New York State Police officers as they line up before a ceremony at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany, N.Y. The New York State Police agency remains overwhelmingly white, an imbalance some troopers say is rooted in a legacy of racism. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File) Frank Franklin II New York State Police Senior Investigator Kim Bryson responds to questions during a news interview, Thursday, April 15, 2021, in Wheatley Heights, N.Y. The New York State Police agency remains overwhelmingly white, an imbalance some troopers say is rooted in a legacy of racism. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) Frank Franklin II New York State Police Senior Investigator Kim Bryson responds to questions during a news interview, Thursday, April 15, 2021, in Wheatley Heights, N.Y. "I look forward to the day when I can honestly say the State Police takes racism seriously," Bryson said. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) Hans Pennink FILE - In this May 9, 2017, file photo, New York State Police line up to receive their diplomas during a graduation ceremony at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany, N.Y. The New York State Police agency remains overwhelmingly white, an imbalance some troopers say is rooted in a legacy of racism. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File) Mike Groll FILE - In this July 17, 2014, file photo, new state troopers stand during the 201st graduation ceremony of the New York State Police at Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany, N.Y. The New York State Police agency remains overwhelmingly white, an imbalance some troopers say is rooted in a legacy of racism. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File) Ben Gray Lethonia Miller, who retired in 2016 after 28 years with the New York State Police, poses for a photo, Saturday, May 1, 2021, in Mableton, Ga. Miller filed a complaint against a white supervisor for using racial slurs more than a dozen times in his presence. He said the culture in the State Police was systemically racist. (AP Photo/Ben Gray) Ben Gray Lethonia Miller, who retired in 2016 after 28 years with the New York State Police, poses for a photo, Saturday, May 1, 2021, in Mableton, Ga. Miller filed a complaint against a white supervisor for using racial slurs more than a dozen times in his presence. He said the culture in the State Police was systemically racist. (AP Photo/Ben Gray) Frank Franklin II New York State Police Senior Investigator Kim Bryson holds a photo of a racist image that a white colleague hung in her office that superimposed her face on that of a Black woman at work in a "House of Chitlins" kitchen, during a news interview Thursday, April 15, 2021, in Wheatley Heights, N.Y. "It basically solidified for me who I was dealing with," Bryson said, adding the incident happened eight or nine years earlier. "I look forward to the day when I can honestly say the State Police takes racism seriously." (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

NEW YORK (AP)  An equal blend of black and white thread, the gray uniform worn by the New York State Police stands for the impartiality of justice.

But this attire belies disparities within the agency, which for generations has failed to fill its ranks with troopers who reflect New Yorks diverse population.

The agency remains overwhelmingly white  an imbalance some troopers say is rooted in a legacy of racism.

Of more than 4,700 troopers, only 4% are Black and 6% are Hispanic  paltry proportions compared to the 16% and 19% of the state population those groups constitute.

A half-dozen minority troopers told The Associated Press discrimination has flourished within the ranks, despite the agency having been ordered to diversify by a judge in the 1970s.

One Black former State Police investigator, Michael Marin, recalled a white colleague admonishing him in 2008 to take the cotton youve been picking out your ears.

It was like I was still on the farm, said Marin, who retired in 2019. It didnt seem extraordinary to me because thats how that job was.

Trooper Lethonia Miller filed a complaint against a white supervisor for using racial slurs more than a dozen times in his presence. He said the culture in the State Police was systemically racist.

No matter where I was or what I was doing, I was always reminded that I was Black, said Miller, who retired in 2016 and is suing the agency for retaliation. Its depressing to work as hard as you can and still be considered less than your white male counterparts. Every time I heard the word it was as if I was being told, Youre second class.

Current leaders acknowledge the agencys lack of diversity has become more urgent amid a national reckoning over racial injustice.

You cant just keep doing the same thing and expect different results, acting Superintendent Kevin Bruen said in an interview. We patrol the state, so our ethnic breakdown should roughly mirror that. To say its a priority for me would be an understatement.

New Yorks is not the only state police force far whiter than its state population. All 38 state police departments that provided demographic data to the AP had a disproportionately high number of white troopers, when compared to each states population.

The Maryland State Police, for instance, is over 80% non-Hispanic white; that demographic group makes up only half the states population. And although 30% of the Maryland population is non-Hispanic Black, only 12% of the state police force is Black.

The U.S. Justice Department sued New York in 1977 for discriminating against minorities in promoting and hiring troopers, who patrol New Yorks highways, and, in some parts of the state, respond to 911 calls and investigate crimes.

At the time, just 13 of the agencys 2,712 troopers were Black. A federal judge mandated that 40% of recruits entering the State Police training academy be Black or Hispanic, seeking to bring minority representation in line with the states workforce.

The same judge dissolved the remedial hiring goals in 1989 after the agency managed to increase its Black and Hispanic representation to 9% and 6%, respectively. The consent decree was quietly lifted in its entirety in 2015 after the state argued it had made great strides.

The percentage of Black troopers had fallen to 6% by mid-2014 and has continued to decline.

Pedro Perez, a former New York State Police deputy superintendent who retired in 2010, said the consent decree was dissolved without any inquiry into whether the attitudes of the officers and leadership was sufficiently changed.

Those percentages of minorities, who are also underrepresented in senior leadership positions, are as good as almost nothing, said Michael Jenkins, a policing expert who teaches criminal justice at the University of Scranton. The agency is in a tough position to argue otherwise.

Bruen, who assumed command of the State Police last year, agrees the agencys minority recruitment program needs work.

In one step, the agency is abandoning a requirement that potential recruits take tests in person at state police buildings that can be difficult to reach and allowing candidates to do the exams electronically.

You could take this test in Okinawa, Japan, and still get onto our list, Bruen said.

What we need to do is reach people who dont necessarily picture themselves as troopers, Bruen added. I firmly believe that being a great trooper is working for social justice and working for positive change.

State Police brass acknowledge change wont come easily, particularly at a time when law enforcement agencies seek to rebuild trust in minority communities. The same challenges exist within the agency.

Kim Bryson, a senior State Police investigator on Long Island, provided AP a copy of an image a white colleague hung in her office. Superimposing her face on that of a Black woman at work in a kitchen, it was captioned House of Chitlins  a reference to food scraps given to slaves.

It basically solidified for me who I was dealing with, Bryson said, adding the incident happened eight or nine years ago. I look forward to the day when I can honestly say the State Police takes racism seriously. Part and parcel of the problem is that its not punished. You might suspend someone, but theres no educational arm to that.

Another former deputy superintendent, Anthony Ellis, recalled a disciplinary case involving a white trooper who pulled over a Black motorist driving with a young white woman asleep in his passenger seat with a pillow and blanket. The trooper ordered the woman out of the vehicle to ensure she was alright.

Ellis, who led the State Police internal affairs bureau at the time, said a fellow ranking officer found no issue with the troopers directive, explaining it could have been a carjacking.

I wasnt as upset at the trooper  we can train him, said Ellis, who is Black. But I told my (colleague), If you think someone doing a carjacking brings a pillow and a blanket, youre in the wrong line of work.

Tensions built last year after the heads of both the troopers and investigators unions backed Donald Trump for reelection. Troopers for Trump T-shirts began circulating at New York State Police barracks.

It created this real problem for members of color, who werent consulted before the endorsements, Bryson said.

It was then Bryson decided to revive an organization known as the Guardians Association to represent the voice of minority troopers.

Were really at a crossroads, Bryson said. I still think that gray in the uniform can be impartial. We just have to strive to make it a perfect blend.
The Special Criminal Court has rejected arguments that it has no jurisdiction to hear the trial of four men accused of causing serious harm to Quinn Industrial Holdings director Kevin Lunney.

Michael O'Higgins SC, for one of the four accused, said the court has become a "permanent and perpetual" structure that is not permitted by the legislation that brought it into existence. He said the democratic process "has been rescinded and replaced by an ad hoc expansion" whereby the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), a civil servant, decides who should be tried before the three-judge, non-jury court.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, with Judge Gerard Griffin and Judge David McHugh, dismissed the arguments, saying that the court's jurisdiction is established by legislation and that the documents relied on by the DPP in bringing the men before the Special Criminal Court were in order.

He further found that arguments suggesting the Oireachtas has not revisited the question of the 1972 proclamation, which brought the Special Criminal Court into existence, cannot be dealt with by the court. He added: "That invites us into the political thicket where we are not permitted to go and it is arguable that no court is permitted to go there."

He said the court's jurisdiction has been established and the trial will go ahead in the ordinary way from Wednesday morning.

Luke OReilly (67), with an address at Mullahoran Lower, Kilcogy, Co Cavan; Darren Redmond (27), from Caledon Road, East Wall, Dublin 3; Alan OBrien (40), of Shelmalier Road, East Wall, Dublin 3 and a fourth accused man aged 40 are all charged with false imprisonment and causing serious harm to Mr Lunney at Drumbrade, Ballinagh, Co Cavan on September 17, 2019. The fourth man cannot be named by order of the court as he is due to face trial on other, unrelated matters.

Mr Lunney (51), a father of six, was abducted close to his home in Co Fermanagh on the evening of September 17. The businessman's leg was broken, he was doused in bleach and the letters QIH were carved into his chest during the two-and-a-half hour ordeal before he was dumped on a roadside in Co Cavan.

In submissions made on Tuesday on behalf of the unnamed accused and adopted by the other three, Mr O'Higgins said the fact that the DPP now decides whether a person should be tried before the special court "inadvertently achieves a result where the Oireachtas is no longer applying its mind" to the question. The government and the Oireachtas, he said, is disengaged from the process whereas when the court was first envisaged it was recognised by the government that it would be a "serious and significant departure from the norm."

Counsel further submitted that in 1972 the Oireachtas issued a proclamation on foot of the 1939 Offences Against the State Act to create the Special Criminal Court as a temporary emergency measure that would be used "from time to time".

That has now changed, Mr O'Higgins said, as the court has "grown organically on an ad hoc basis" for almost 50 years. There is, he said, no reason to think it won't continue for another 25 to 50 years. Counsel added: "Giving words their ordinary meaning, this is now a permanent structure." He said such a permanent structure is not permitted by the legislation that brought the court into existence and therefore his client is not lawfully before the court.

Mr O'Higgins continued: "The court cannot operate on a permanent basis, and if it accepts it is permanent and has changed from temporary emergency legislation, then it doesn't have a lawful basis for conducting a trial."

There should, he said, be a fresh proclamation from the Oireachtas if the Special Criminal Court is to continue to hear cases.

In response Sean Guerin SC for the DPP said the legislation that created the Special Criminal Court does not use the word "temporary". He also argued that the decision to enact legislation bringing the court into being is a "political power" and not within the jurisdiction of any court. Mr Guerin submitted documents to the court that showed, he said, that the applications to bring the men before the Special Criminal Court were done in accordance with the legislation.
BirdWatch Ireland is appealing to people not to photograph birds at or near nests.

A spokesperson made the appeal via the organisation's recent newsletter which stated: "In recent years it has become clear that there is a growing problem each summer with photographs being taken of birds at or near their nests.

"This appears to be especially prevalent at seabird colonies, though we have also had reports of other sensitive species such as Corncrakes, Curlews and birds of prey being disturbed by photographers and even being lured to perform for the cameras by the wholly unethicial use of recorded bird sounds.

"We would like to stress that looking at or photographing a nest at close quarters risks the chicks prematurely leaving, the nest being exposed to predators and the parents abandoning their brood.

"The golden rule of responsible nature photography is that the welfare of the subject must always come first."

It is illegal to disturb and/or photograph nesting birds without a specific licence from the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The spokesperson said: "Please, wait until the chicks have left the nest before photographing them."

More information on the dangers of photographing chicks in nests can be found at https://birdwatchireland.ie/too-close-for-comfort-bird-nests/
A father-of-two who threatened his partner with a knife in their home and was apprehended by an off-duty garda has received a fully suspended sentence.

Franck Lamour (53) was diagnosed with bi-polar depression approximately 15 years ago and was unable to access the medication he had been taking during the Covid-19 lockdown last April.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that this was an isolated incident which stemmed from Lamour's mental disorder and the restrictions on his life caused by the global pandemic.

Lamour of Bird Avenue, Clonskeagh, pleaded guilty to production of a knife and threat to kill or cause serious harm at his address on April 7, 2020. He has no previous convictions.

Passing sentence on Wednesday, Judge Pauline Codd said the offences were very serious. She said the use of a knife and threat to kill were the most significant aggravating factors, as well as the physical violence meted out.

He effectively held her under siege for a period of time. She obviously took the threats seriously. In the course of this lengthy incident he used controlling and possessive language and expressed jealous sentiments.

Judge Codd said some allowance had to be made for his medicine being held up, but that Lamours drinking had been a factor too  and that was his choice.

She said the headline sentence for the offences would be eight years in prison, but took into account the accused's guilty plea, mental health history, and prior clean record.

This was not conduct he had ever engaged in before. It does appear to be an aberration, she said.

Judge Codd accepted he had been engaging with the HSE to secure the treatment he needs.

She sentenced Lamour to five years prison, but suspended the sentence in its entirety on condition he keep the peace, engage with the Probation Service for the next two years, and attend psychiatric appointments in this jurisdiction as long as he resides in the country.

At a previous sentencing hearing, Detective Garda Alan Conlon told Diana Stuart BL, prosecuting, that Lamour and his partner of 25 years Cecille Doussinault and their two sons moved here from France in September 2019.

Det Gda Conlon said Lamour does not speak English and that after two months in the country he began self-medicating with alcohol, though he stopped drinking after seeing a doctor. He began drinking again a week prior to the offence.

On the day of the incident he had being drinking for approximately 12 hours. Ms Doussinault woke up to find him in the living room still under the influence of alcohol.

He told Ms Doussinault that it was her fault for bringing him here, took her phone away from her and told her not to leave the room. He asked her to buy him vodka, but when she declined he said they would go together.

Lamour got a knife from the kitchen and told her not to shout for help. Ms Doussinault attempted to wake one of her sons by opening his bedroom door, but Lamour brought the knife close and told her not to wake him up or it would not be good for you.

The accused effectively walked her down to the shops with the knife in his jacket pocket, the court heard. When Ms Doussinault refused to go into the shop, Lamour began running back to their home, followed quickly by Ms Doussinault who was fearful for her sons.

Garda Martin O'Rourke was in the area off-duty and noticed the two running back to their home. He decided to follow them, went to the back of their house and saw through the window the accused with a knife in his hand.

Gda O'Rourke entered the house, told Lamour to drop the knife and restrained him. He then contacted gardai who soon arrived and arrested the accused.

Det Gda Conlon agreed with Barry Ward BL, defending that while this was obviously terrifying for the victim, it was an isolated incident. He agreed that Lamour has followed all conditions of his bail and not had any contact with his former partner.

The garda agreed with counsel that Lamour is not a domestic abuser in the traditional sense, saying the offences appear to have stemmed from the circumstances of his mental disorder and the restrictions on his life caused by the global pandemic.

Mr Ward said that the medication his client used to treat his Type-2 bi-polar disorder is not prescribed in Ireland and his client would travel to France to collect it. He said his client was prevented from travelling to France by the lockdown that came into effect in March 2020.

Counsel said a psychiatrist has stated in a report before the court that his client has 79% disability as a result of his condition. He said his client is now managing his condition and it is extremely unlikely an incident such as this will recur.
Ensure you get a print copy of the Loudoun Times-Mirror delivered weekly to your home or business!

Complete online access is included with all print subscriptions purchased online. Plus, up to four other members of your household can share online access through this subscription with their own, individual linked accounts at no additional charge.

(Are you a current advertiser? Ask your sales rep for our special advertiser rate code!)
How effective? Chinese vaccines in numbers

Xinhua) 13:47, June 02, 2021

An unprecedented experiment in the world, carried out in Brazil's small town of Serrana, in Sao Paulo State, has succeeded in reducing new deaths from COVID-19.

The leading role in this experiment is CoronaVac. How effective is the Chinese vaccine? Let's check the numbers.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)
Sayre, PA (18840)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
(Alliance News) - The EU and Britain on Wednesday reached an agreement on fishing rights for 2021, the European Commission said.

The accord was finalised in a phone call between the EU's Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevicius and British Secretary of State for the Environment George Eustice.

"This agreement provides predictability and continuity for our fleets with definitive TACs (trade and cooperation agreements) for the remainder of the year.

"This is good for fishermen and women, our coastal communities and our ports, as well as for the sustainable use of our marine resources," Sinkevicius said in a statement.

"This also proves that two partners on both sides of the Channel can find agreements and move forward if they work together."A

The agreement guarantees the rights of EU and UK fishing fleets in EU and British waters until the end of 2021.

It fixes the total allowable catches for 75 shared fish stocks as well as for some deep-sea stocks for 2021 and 2022.

It also provides clarity on access limits for non-quota species. And the signing of the agreement, expected in the coming days, will enable both parties to engage in quota exchanges, the commission statement said.

It also clarifies access limits for non-quota species.

Access to Britain's richA fishingA waters was a major sticking point in post-Brexit talks.

Fish worth around EUR650 million are caught by EU fishing fleets in British waters each year.

source: AFP

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of London-listed company director and manager changes announced on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:







Sancus Lending Group Ltd - Guernsey-based alternative property finance - Andy Whelan resigns as chief executive officer, leaving on June 30, when he will be replaced by Rory Mepham as interim CEO. Mepham currently is in charge of funding and origination, having joined the company in January. Dan Walker, who currently is chief operating officer and managing director of Sancus UK, will become deputy CEO. Walker joined the company in 2018 from Lloyds Banking Group PLC, where he was director of Strategic Transactions. The changes follow refinancing and restructuring at Sancus, including renaming itself from GLI Finance Ltd, which was approved by shareholders earlier this month. This is to reflect its focus on the property bridging and development finance activities of the Sancus subsidiary.







Cambridge Cognition Holdings PLC - Cambridge, England-based neuroscience technology - Adds Chief Financial Officer Mick Holton to board as executive director, effective immediately. Holton joined Cambridge Cognition in January from Biome Technologies PLC, where he was interim CFO. He previously worked for what is now Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.







Dispersion Holdings PLC - investor in decentralised finance, which uses blockchain and cryptocurrencies to remove financial intermediaries from transactions - Adds CFO Nick Lyth to board, effective immediately. Dispersion listed on Aquis Stock Exchange in late April, raising GBP9 million in its initial public offering and GBP2.2 million in pre-IPO fundraisings.







e-Therapeutics PLC - Oxford, England-based drug discovery - Hires Alison Gallafent as head of Intellectual Property. Gallefent was head of IP at fellow AIM listing Silence Therapeutics PLC and also worked at Merck & Co Inc and Glaxo Wellcome.







SDX Energy PLC - gas production in Egypt and exploration & development in Morocco - Amr Al Menhali will retire as director at annual general meeting on June 25, having left shareholder Waha Capital. Al Manhali had joined the SDX board back in September 2019, having been named CEO of Waha, which is SDX's largest shareholder, with a 19.5% stake.







By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers among London Main Market small-caps on Wednesday.







SMALL-CAP - WINNERS







Caffyns PLC, up 12% at 449.00 pence, 12-month range 220.00p-469.00p. The car dealer posts sharp rise in annual profit. For year ended March 31, pretax profit jumps to GBP1.4 million from GBP103,000 last year but revenue falls to GBP165.1 million from GBP195.8 million. "Our showrooms were allowed to reopen in mid-April 2021 so we have started the new financial year with a sense of optimism, although we are mindful that the future course of the covid-19 pandemic remains uncertain," company says.







Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, up 6.8% at 330.00p, 12-month range 243.00p-347.00p. The publishing house proposes special dividend after upbeat annual results. For the financial year ended February 28, pretax profit was up 31% to GBP17.3 million from GBP13.2 million the year before on revenue of GBP185.1 million, up 14% from GBP162.8 million. Bloomsbury declares a total dividend of 8.86 pence per share, an 8% increase on the 8.17p the year before. It also proposes a special dividend of 9.78p.







Phoenix Spree Deutschland PLC, up 3.4% at 393.00p, 12-month range 269.59-393.00p. Shares in German residential property investor hits 12-month high as it plans a new share buyback programme. Notes the share price continues to trade at a material discount to net asset value. As at June 1, discount stood at 17%, a level it believes does not reflect track record and performance of underlying portfolio and positive outlook following removal of the Berlin rent controls. Company now intends to adopt a more proactive buyback strategy in order to take advantage of the valuation discount. It will make a material allocation of capital to the buyback programme funded through a combination of existing cash balances, refinancing, condominium sale proceeds and the disposal of non-core assets.







Integrated Diagnostics Holdings PLC, up 0.9% at USD1.12, 12-month range USD0.90-USD17.02. The Africa-focused consumer healthcare firm reports record-breaking quarterly revenue performance on the back of its coronavirus-related test offering. IDH posts revenue for the quarter to March 31 of EGP1.1 billion, around GBP50.8 million, more than double the EGP500 million seen a year before.







By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Ryanair Holdings PLC on Wednesday reported a significant increase in passenger numbers for May compared to a virus-depressed May 2020, on the continued easing of global travel restrictions and the increased rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in Europe.

For the month, the Swords, Ireland-based budget airline said it flew 1.8 million passengers in May, up from 1.0 million in April and from just 70,000 a year ago. It said it operated 12,000 flights during May with a 79% load factor.

On a rolling annual basis however, Ryanair flew 30.2 million passengers, down 75% from 121.1 million a year before.

On Saturday, the Irish government said it would broadly implement the EU's digital Covid certificate from July 19, facilitating travel between EU member states, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Iceland.

The digital Covid certificate will facilitate free movement in the EU for people who have been vaccinated or can provide a negative PCR test taken 72 hours prior to arrival. However, restrictions will remain in place for Great Britain and the US.

Shares in Ryanair Holdings were up 0.2% at EUR17.15 on Wednesday in London.

By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:







Block Energy PLC - development and production company focused on Georgia - Reports revenue for 2020 of USD1.3 million compared to USD310,000 the year ago, resulting in pretax loss of USD5.5 million versus USD6.1 million in 2019. Block Energy says production of oil and gas from the two horizontal wells in its West Rustavi licence area was suspended in April 2020 to avoid selling oil at low prices. Despite that, the company says it sold 34,421 barrels, up from 5,210 barrels the year prior. Meanwhile, on February 15, the company says it has achieved its first gas sales.







Kanabo Group PLC - medical cannabis research & development company - Reports narrowed loss for 2020 to USD131,000 from USD363,000 in 2019. "The annual report provides the results of the cash shell prior to the closing of the Kanabo transaction. At the beginning of 2021, we completed the transaction and successfully raised GBP6 million pounds to support our growth plans. We look forward to the future and to executing our business plan," explains Chief Executive Avihu Tamir.







Hargreaves Services PLC - company which delivers services to industrial and property sectors - Expects to report results in line with market expectations which have recently been upgraded amid strong performance of Hargreaves Services' joint venture in Germany and the accelerated completion at the Unity joint venture in Hargreaves Land.







Shires Income PLC - investment trust - Generates positive returns during the year ended March 31 as well as outperforming its benchmark, the FTSE All-Share Index, with a net asset value total return of 34% and a share price total return of 31%, versus a benchmark return of 27%. NAV per share as at the end of March rises to 132.9p from 105.0p the year before. Proposes a final dividend of 4.2p per share, unchanged year-on-year.







Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust Ltd - investment company - Reports net asset value of GBP296.8 million or 60.4p per share as at March 31, lower than GBP309.8 million or 59.7p per share the year before. Despite that, the company reports continued outperformance of the underlying portfolio with a total return of 4.6% versus the MSCI Benchmark Index at 1.8%. Dividends totalling GBP8 million or 1.59p per share paid during financial year.







Aurora Investment Trust PLC - investment company - Proposes to pay a final dividend of 0.55p per share, down from 4.5p the year prior. During 2020 the company's revenue reduced by 69%. This was due to the cuts in the dividends of the company's underlying investments amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The NAV total return for 2020 was negative 5.3% against the benchmark FTSE All-Share Index, which fell by 9.8%. NAv per share was down to 216.93p from 232.07p year-on-year.







Schroder British Opportunities Trust PLC - private equity firm - Reports NAV per share of 105.73 pence as at the end of March representing an increase of 3.5% based on the estimated NAV of 102.16p.







Savannah Resources PLC - resource development company - Reports widened pretax loss of GBP8.3 million for 2020 compared to GBP3.8 million the year before. This includes loss from continued operations of GBP2.9 million, narrowed from GBP3.6 million in 2019, and loss from discontinued operations, which widened to GBP5.4 million from GBP227,672 year-on-year. Going forward, the company notes that lithium prices have rebounded, interest in its flagship project and its spodumene concentrate have increased and it is in a strong financial position.







Bezant Resources PLC - copper-gold exploration and development company - Reports that preliminary evaluation of data from its recently completed airborne electromagnetic and magnetic survey over a large part of its Hope copper-gold licence block in Namibia has provisionally highlighted several potential strong drill targets. Detailed data processing by the survey contractor is currently under way, with the final data and report expected in six weeks.







Mosman Oil & Gas Ltd - exploration, development and production company - Awards the contract for an airborne gravity and gradiometry survey over EP145, in the Amadeus basin in the Northern Territory of Australia, to CGG Aviation (Australia) Pty Ltd. The acquisition of data is planned for mid-June in order to identify where to focus the seismic programme. The survey will be acquired using the high resolution Falcon airborne gravity gradiometry system which has the ability to image salt and subsalt geometry across a range of depths.







GCM Resources PLC - London-based mining company - Says Power Construction Corp of China Ltd agrees to an extension of memorandum of understanding for a further six months from June 6 to December 6 on the same terms. This extension will enable the company to further progress a strategic partnership for development of the proposed coal mine at the Phulbari coal & power project in North-West Bangladesh.







Altus Strategies PLC - mining royalty company - Says diamond drilling at Tabakorole gold project in southern Mali extends strike by 150 metres. Altus holds a 49% equity interest and 2.5% net smelter return royalty on the project. Exploration activities at Tabakorole are being funded by Marvel Gold Ltd under its joint venture with Altus. The company also noted that results of 5,100 metres aircore drilling programme testing strike extension are pending.







Trinity Exploration & Production PLC - exploration & production company focused on Trinidad and Tobago - Confirms that its onshore lease operatorship agreements have been renewed for a ten year period from January 2021. Trinity says it has renewed its agreements for its WD-2, WD-5/6, WD-13 and WD-14 blocks. The agreements were originally set to expire at the end of 2020 and were previously extended to the end of May 2021.







SolGold PLC - copper-gold company focused on Ecuador - and Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc have agreed to work cooperatively to advance the Cascabel project in northern Ecuador. Concurrently with advancing the Cascabel project, the companies will explore and evaluate a range of strategic and financing options focused on maximizing value for their respective shareholders.







United Oil & Gas PLC - oil & gas company - Secures approval from the minister of petroleum of the award of a development lease covering the ASD-1X discovery. This is a part of the Abu Sennan licence, Egypt, in which United holds a 22% non-operating interest. The well encountered 22 metres net pay, and on preliminary testing flowed at gross rates of 1,619 barrels of oil per day from the Lower Bahariya reservoir and 1,215 barrels of oil daily from the Abu Roash "C" reservoir. Meanwhile, a workover at the ASH-1ST2 well was successfully completed in May, the company says. The workover involved replacing the existing tubing, cleaning the wellbore, and carrying out reservoir stimulation work.







Jersey Oil & Gas PLC - oil & gas company aZfocused on UK - Says subsurface evaluations and independent peer review of subsurface and facilities concept select scopes completed at its Greater Buchan area development project. The company says evaluation of export pipeline options underway. Also, the company says it submitted applications for UK electricity grid connection and awarded pipeline & subsea electricity cable survey contract. Finally, farmout process underway with broad interest and participation from multiple parties, Jersey Oil & Gas says.







Enwell Energy PLC - oil & gas exploration and production firm - Updates its hydrocarbon reserves and contingent resources at its wholly owned, and operated via LLC Arkona Gas-Energy, Svystunivsko-Chervonolutskyi exploration licence in Ukraine. Enwell says it engaged independent petroleum consultants, DeGolyer and MacNaughton, to prepare an assessment of the remaining reserves attributable to the exploration licence as of start of 2021. The report is consistent with Enwell's current field development plans, which includes the acquisition of 150 square kilometres of 3D seismic and the drilling of the SC-4 well.







Scottish American Investment Co PLC - investment company - Agrees to issue GBP15 million of long-term private placement debt to augment its existing long-term borrowings. The debt will be secured, unlisted and denominated in sterling. The notes will have a fixed coupon of 2.23% with a repayment date of June 25, 2036. All coupons will be payable semi-annually. "In arranging this refinancing, the board has considered the benefit to the company of having additional long term debt and the likely returns and income which will be produced for shareholders by associated investments over time, as well as the cost of this borrowing," says Chair Peter Moon.







Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals PLC - biopharmaceutical company - Says its patent application has been approved and issued by the US Patent & Trademark Office. This patent covers a method of use of a bi-specific antibody, one of the company's product candidates, for conditioning bone marrow/hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. It also covers a composition of matter of monoclonal antibodies against target proteins existing on the surface of hematopoietic stem cells/hematopoietic progenitors, and/or a number of leukemias such as acute myeloid leukemia as well as a protein that exists on the surface of immune cells.







Destiny Pharma PLC - biotechnology company - Reports positive progress with its lead clinical programme, NTCD-M3, a novel microbiome therapeutic being developed to reduce the recurrence of C difficile infections in the gut. These infections are the leading cause of hospital acquired infection in the US and current treatments lead to significant recurrence. Destiny Pharma says it is progressing the planning for the single phase 3 clinical study that needs to be completed before submitting marketing authorisation applications in the US and Europe. The phase 3 clinical study remains on schedule to commence in 2022.







MetalNRG PLC - natural resources and energy investment company - Says its investee BritNRG has set a number of operational priorities following completion of the acquisition of oil & gas assets in Lincolnshire in January. The plan includes engagement with key stakeholders, in respect to priority business objectives, risk & compliance management of the assets and a workover of one of the blocked-in wells. "These developments are in line with our plans aimed to baselining the group financial position and providing consistent cashflow, so as to place the company in a good position to achieve our growth objectives," says MetalNRG CEO Rolf Gerritsen.







ProPhotonix Ltd - designer and manufacturer of LED illumination systems - Reports an extension to its existing UVC LED product range, the Cobra Clean FX1. This UVC LED Lamp is offering system developers greater flexibility to test and develop UVC LED disinfection systems across a number of applications including water, air and surface disinfection.







Avingtrans PLC - critical components supplier - Says Booth Industries has reincorporated as Booth Industries International Ltd and has become a standalone company, independent of its current parent company Stainless Metalcraft, from Tuesday. Booth Industries remains part of Avingtrans' Process Equipment & Rotating Solutions division. The move follows a turnaround at Booth Industries that has seen the manufacturer exceed all internally set performance targets since it was acquired out of administration in 2019.







Phoenix Spree Deutschland Ltd - Jersey-based investor specialising in German residential real estate - Notes that share price continues to trade at a discount to net asset value. As at Tuesday, this discount stood at 17%, a level that the company believes does not reflect the track record and performance of the underlying portfolio. Phoenix Spree Deutschland says it will, with immediate effect, make a material allocation of capital to the buyback programme funded through a combination of existing cash balances, refinancing, condominium sale proceeds and the disposal of non-core assets.







Pennpetro Energy PLC - oil & gas company - Reports the execution of a three-year GBP20 million share subscription facility agreement with GEM Global Yield LLC SCS and GEM Yield Bahamas Ltd. Pennpetro says it will control the timing and the maximum number of drawdowns under this facility and has no minimum drawdown obligation. In addition to the subscription of equity through the facility, the company has agreed to the issuance of up to 12 million warrants at 40p each.







Staffline Group PLC - recruitment and training company - Says its adult skills and training division PeoplePlus has concluded three contracts with two of the UK's outsourcing providers. The combined value of the contracts is material to PeoplePlus, representing an opportunity of up to a maximum of GBP90 million over four years in aggregate revenue at the higher rate performance outcome and are expected to commence in the second half of 2021.







Augmentum Fintech PLC - investment company focussing on the fintech sector - Makes a GBP5 million investment into UK-based Cushon and a EUR2.5 million investment into France-based Epsor, both workplace savings providers. "We believe that workplace savings and investments are ripe for disintermediation and with public policy across Europe increasingly seeking to encourage people to save more we believe there is a significant opportunity to successfully challenge incumbents. Cushon and Epsor give us access to this space and we believe both companies can be highly disruptive and are well positioned in their respective markets to win market share," says Augmentum CEO Tim Levene.







Quantum Blockchain Technologies PLC - investment company - Enters into a one-year service agreement with an undisclosed UK based international cryptography company whose specialism is cryptocurrency mining blockchain optimisations. Implementation on a first set of existing optimisations is expected to be ready for testing in the coming weeks. The company says it intends to apply for patents over any relevant intellectual property generated from the process.







Evrima PLC - Ontario, Canada-based investor - and portfolio company Eastport Ventures Inc have been in frequent and ongoing commercial discussions surrounding a partnership to advance a number of prospective mineral opportunities in Botswana and an equity investment in Eastport Ventures' pre-initial public offering financing round. Evrima says it has now entered a conditional project investment agreement with Eastport Ventures over the Selebi North & Keng nickel-copper-platinum group metals projects. Evrima says it will fund USD400,000 of qualifying exploration expenditures over the projects within 24-months of executing. The company will also commit to a minimum of USD150,000 in exploration expenditures within six months of execution of the agreement. Upon completion of the requisite exploration expenditures, Evrima will maintain a 25% investment interest in the projects.







Newbury Racecourse PLC - company which is engaged in hospitality and catering retail activities - Says 2021 trading prospects remain dependent on the timescales for the easing of lockdown restrictions. To date the company says it relied on the income generated from its Betting & Media Rights to support the business whilst its hospitality businesses remain closed. Newbury also says it entered into a joint-venture partnership agreement with Levy Restaurants - a division of Compass Group PLC - to provide its raceday, events, hotel and nursery catering. The company says it is confident that this relationship will provide the racecourse with access to innovative technology solutions, new restaurant, bar and food outlet concepts and improved commercial benefits for many years to come.







Amryt Pharma PLC - biopharmaceutical company - Says the US Food & Drug Administration has accepted for filing its new drug aplication for Oleogel-S10 for the treatment of epidermolysis bullosa. Oleogel-S10 is a potential treatment for the cutaneous manifestations of junctional and dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, a rare and distressing genetic skin disorder affecting young children and adults.







Octopus Titan VCT PLC - investment firm - Says terms have been agreed for Etsy Inc to acquire its investee Depop Ltd at a headline price of USD1.63 billion. The resulting cash proceeds attributable to Titan are not materially different from the value at which Titan currently holds its investment in Depop. The consideration will consist primarily of cash and is expected to complete in the third quarter of 2021.







Rurelec PLC - power producer - Says the Argentinian Secretary of Energy has announced a new tariff that governs Spot prices. This impacts the price at which Energia del Sur SA can charge for the electricity it generates. Energia del Sur is the Argentinian powerplant owned by Patagonia Energy Ltt in which Rurelec has a 50% holding. As a consequence of these changes Rurelec will continue to experience working capital pressure, it says. The company, meanwhile, continues to explore potential funding opportunities including the sale of its other assets, and in particular, the frame 6B turbine in Chile and the 701 turbines situated in Italy.







By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
I grew up reading comic books.

From an early age I could tell you everyones symbol. Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Daredevil, Invincible; the list goes on. There is, however, one superheros symbol that comic books didnt teach me  The Punisher.

Instead of learning about Frank Castles symbol from the pages of his titular comic book, I was exposed to it on the backs of lifted pickup trucks, the news and on the occasional police cruiser. To me growing up in Louisiana, Punisher was hardly even a Marvel Comics character; he was a symbol conservatives misunderstood and adopted as a political symbol.

The Punisher skull is not a symbol conservatives, much less anyone, should take inspiration from. Dont believe me? His original writer hit the nail on the head in an interview in 2019.

To me, it's disturbing whenever I see authority figures embracing Punisher iconography because the Punisher represents a failure of the Justice system, Punisher creator Gerry Conway said. He's supposed to indict the collapse of social moral authority and the reality some people can't depend on institutions like the police or the military to act in a just and capable way.

Punisher is far from the only pop culture icon that American conservatism misunderstands and manipulates.

Within comics alone, conservatives misinterpret Captain America and Supermans symbols as representing their far right, nativist ideals, when in reality Cap has turned his back on American conservatism multiple times and Supes is a literal immigrant power fantasy created by Jewish men as a protector of the innocent.

When the creator of Captain America's son says he is "appalled" and "disgusted" by his father's imagery being used at the January 6 Capitol riot, you may not understand your symbol.

American conservatives just dont understand the things they proclaim to be fans of.

Take the go-to phrase for conservatives who have been enlightened is to be red-pilled. The phrase itself comes from The Matrix, a film created by two trans-women interpreted by film theorists as an allegory for their own transgender identity.

How ironic that those who claim to take the red-pill cannot grasp conservativisms transphobia goes counter to the object they use to express their beliefs?

Even video games arent safe from the misinterpretation of conservatives. The more left-leaning messages of Bioshock and Metal Gear Solid seem to just go over the heads of right-wing gamers.

Bioshock for example, is a critique of the Objectivist ideology presented by Ayn Rand, but some conservatives seem to think that it endorses the ideology and shows capitalisms benefits in a sea of left-wing propaganda. In reality, Ayn Rands ideas of unfettered free market capitalism are shown to be the down fall of society in the 2007 first-person shooters world of Rapture.

Then theres the classic example of conservatives finding out the rock band Rage Against the Machine isnt just about getting frustrated at a fax machine, but a band with revolutionary politics about subverting the powers at be.

Music is my sanctuary and the last thing I want to hear is political BS when Im listening to music, one now-deleted tweet from a so-called Rage fan read. As far as Im concerned you and Pink are completely done. Keep running your mouth and ruining your fan base.

How could you possibly listen to Killing in the Name, with a lyric like some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses, as a conservative and not understand its a protest song?

And the list goes on.

Watchmen fans being upset when Damon Lindelof makes Rorschach the face of neo-Nazis.

TikTok conservatives proclaiming Green Days American Idiot a conservative anthem.

Jordan Peterson being upset about being the inspiration for the newest iteration of Marvels Red Skull in Ta-Nehisi Coates Captain America.

With the internet, there are just legions of these conservative fans that watch things purely surface level  sometimes even lighter than that  and miss the meaning entirely.

If you can, with a straight face, say The Punisher is a valid conservative symbol to aspire to be like, much less brand yourself as, then theres more wrong than a simple misinterpretation of a comic book character.

Domenic Purdy is a 20-year-old journalism junior from Prairieville.
Saturdays Michigan Hmong American Celebration at Halmich Park in Warren recognized Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and the 45th anniversary of the arrival of Hmong refugees in Michigan.

The longer time passes, the more knowledge and history we lose from many of our elders and this is why it is so important for us to continue telling our stories and passing on our culture and traditions, said Macomb County District 2 Commissioner Mai Xiong.

The event featured several local and state officials as well as leaders from the Hmong community. The Hmong culture was on display via dance, cuisine, artifacts and photographs.

The Michigan Hmong Womens Association, National Institute & Association of Minorities and the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission were sponsors of the event.

- Advertisement -

+2 Family of Warren murder-suicide victim 'never thought' he would hurt her The family of a 32-year-old Warren woman who police say was fatally shot by her live-in boyfriend who then turned the gun on himself should se

+2 Student arrested following stabbing in Eastpointe classroom The superintendent of Eastpointe Community Schools said he believes Tuesday's incident involving a stabbing at the high school was an isolated
Take a few minutes and scroll through some of the local news from the past week:
LIVONIA, MICH.  The staff in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion extends a heartfelt thank you to the Marketing & Communications team for their time and effort in promoting A Show of Support: Ways to Respond to the Recent Attacks on the AAPI Community.

Dr. Leah Robinson and attorneys Aisa Villarosa and Mark Calaguas gave an informative, educational, and enlightening presentation on the root cause and history of the recent violence against the AAPI community as well as gave updates on advocacy and policy including the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act passed through the U.S. House and the Senate and now signed by President Biden. This is an important recognition of Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) and reaffirms that like all Americans AAPI civil liberties matter.

Faculty, staff, students, and any others who were not able to attend are encouraged to visit the online resources shared at the Zoom meeting:

Stop AAPI Hate Org

Hollaback! Bystander Intervention Training

Attorney General's Hate Crimes Unit

PBS: Chinese Exclusion Act

How to Teach Kids To Fight Hate: An Age-By-Age Guide
Jefferson, GA (30549)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds light and variable.
Spain is considering easing rules on wearing face masks outdoors, as early as in mid-June, officials said on Monday, as falling transmission and rising vaccination rates have lowered the risk of COVID-19 infection.

Masks have been mandatory indoors and out across most of Spain, regardless of social-distancing, since last summer.

But daily case numbers and the nationwide infection rate have been declining for months and nearly 40% of the population has received at least one vaccine shot, prompting some authorities to reconsider the rules.

After the capital Madrid and the central region of Castilla la Mancha said they were considering easing restrictions, Spain's health emergency chief Fernando Simon said wearing masks outdoors might not be needed in the near future.

"If the (situation) evolves as it is currently doing ... I believe it could be feasible that the mask would not be needed in outdoor open spaces in mid or late June and very likely, almost with (absolute) certainty, at the end of July," he told a news briefing.

Simon, who defended a national approach to easing restrictions rather than a regional one, said it could even be possible to relax the use of masks indoors among highly vaccinated groups before the end of July.

Castilla la Mancha's leader Emiliano Garcia-Page had said earlier his region was determined to abolish the obligation to wear face masks in open spaces before the rule's anniversary in July but added he was seeking a nationwide approach.

His Madrid counterpart, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, who won a landslide election this month after campaigning on looser pandemic restrictions, said her administration was considering a similar move.

Spain's infection rate as measured over the past two weeks fell to 121 cases per 100,000 on Monday, nearly halving since the end of April, although with sharp regional disparities.

Spain's tally of cases rose by 9,732 to 3.68 million from Friday while the death toll climbed by 70 to 79,905, Health Ministry data showed.
Spain posted its sharpest ever monthly drop in jobless figures in May, the Labour Ministry said on Wednesday, marking the third month of falling unemployment as looser COVID-19 restrictions and rising vaccination rates buoyed the struggling economy.

"The data show a positive trend," Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz told RAC radio. "But I don't want to get distracted, there are more than 3 million people who are unemployed, there are many families having a hard time."

Data from the ministry showed the number of people registering as jobless fell by 3.31% in May from the previous month, leaving 3.78 million people out of work. On an annual basis, there were 1.98% fewer people out of work than in last May.

Spain's tourism-dependent economy crashed a record 10.8% in 2020, while tough measures to control new outbreaks stifled growth in the first months of this year, driving jobless claims above 4 million for the first time in five years in February.

But the latest data showed a broad-based decline in unemployment across all sectors and all regions, with the hard-hit services industry accounting for the bulk of the drop.

May is traditionally a strong month for the Spanish labour market, with many companies hiring staff ahead of the summer tourist season.

That effect was amplified this year by the lifting of a nationwide state of emergency, which allowed Spaniards to travel outside their home regions and brought a boom in domestic tourism.

Most regions also loosened limits on bar and restaurant opening hours.

The Balearic Islands, one of Spain's top tourist draws, reported the largest fall in unemployment, possibly reflecting renewed optimism for a recovery in foreign tourism this summer.

Underscoring the dynamism, more than 45,000 new jobs were added in May, the Social Security Ministry said, breaking a three-month stretch of net job destruction.

The number of people supported by the ERTE government furlough scheme, which was recently extended until the end of September, fell by 95,000 to 542,142, down 85% from last April's peak of 3.6 million.
Manchester Center, VT (05254)

Today

Generally sunny despite a few afternoon clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 78F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy in the evening followed by scattered thunderstorms after midnight. Low 59F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
This image made available by NASA shows the planet Venus made with data from the Magellan spacecraft and Pioneer Venus Orbiter. On Wednesday, June 2, 2021, NASAs new administrator, Bill Nelson, announced two new robotic missions to the solar system's hottest planet, during his first major address to employees.
China's National Health Commission have reported that a 41-year-old man in Jiangsu province has been infected by a strain of bird flu known as H10N3. He is believed to be the first human to have contracted this strain of the virus.

After being hospitalised on April 28, the man was then diagnosed with H10N3 bird flu a month later on May 28. His close contacts weren't found to have contracted the virus and the man is now ready to be discharged, having reached a stable condition.

Given the continued concern over the coronavirus pandemic, this bird flu case in China will have set alarm bells ringing. Here's what we know so far.

How did the man in China get H10N3 bird flu?

There are various strains of bird flu in China and they usually infect those who live near or work with poultry. At this point, though, it's not clear how the 41-year-old man got H10N3 bird flu.

"The source of the patient's exposure to the H10N3 virus is not known at this time, and no other cases were found in emergency surveillance among the local population," the World Health Organisation told Reuters.

"At this time, there is no indication of human-to-human transmission. As long as avian influenza viruses circulate in poultry, sporadic infection of avian influenza in humans is not surprising, which is a vivid reminder that the threat of an influenza pandemic is persistent."

What has China said about this bird flu case?

China's National Health Commission haven't provided much information either, although they have warned the public to remain cautious.

"Experts assessed that the whole gene analysis of the virus showed that the H10N3 virus was of avian origin and did not have the ability to effectively infect humans," the National Health Commission said in a statement.

"No human cases of H10N3 have been reported globally and the H10N3 virus among poultry is low pathogenic to poultry.

"Experts suggest that the public in their daily lives should avoid contact with sick or dead poultry, try to avoid direct contact with live birds, pay attention to food hygiene, improve self-protection awareness and wear a mask if fever and respiratory symptoms appear."

What are the H10N3 bird flu symptoms?

It's difficult to know what the symptoms are, since only one man has been diagnosed with this strain and since detailed information on his condition has been scarce. It is only known that he had a fever.

If looking at symptoms from other types of bird flu, then they could include: fever, coughing, muscle aches, stomach pain, diarrhoea, vomiting, pink eye, breathing difficulties, seizures and more.

In any case, most people would want to be checked out by their doctor anyway if presenting such symptoms as these symptoms can be related to a variety of different health conditions or issues.
Viola Caudill, 85, a resident of the Gowen Community passed away Thursday June 10, 2021 at home. A Graveside service will be held a 11:00 AM Monday June 14, 2021 in the Pavilion at Bache-Red Oak Cemetery. There will be a family and friends visitation on Sunday June 13, 2021 from 5:00pm to 7:
From old to new: Why apartment conversions are taking the market by storm
Atlanta, GA (30303)

Today

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Sports

Brazil tapped to host Copa America as Argentina removed

BRASILIA, JUN 1 (AGENCIES) | Publish Date: 6/1/2021 1:20:28 PM IST

The Copa America will take place in Brazil next month, the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) said on Monday, although President Jair Bolsonaros chief of staff said ongoing talks might not reach a formal conclusion until the next day. The surprise announcement, which would mean relocating the competition from one South American coronavirus hotspot to another, means the worlds oldest international tournament could kick off as planned on June 13, with the final on July 10.

Vice President Hamilton Mourao acknowledged the move in comments to Brazilian media, saying that if there was no audience present, there should be no issue with the pandemic.

Later on Monday, Luiz Eduardo Ramos, Bolsonaros chief of staff, said negotiations were underway and that there was nothing certain about the tournaments potential relocation.

The tournament is set to feature many of the greatest players in the soccer world, with Argentines Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero, Brazilian Neymar and Uruguays Luis Suarez among those expected to participate. CONMEBOL has promised all players will be vaccinated before the tournament begins.

The Brazilian government has shown agility and decisive thinking at a crucial moment for South American football, CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez said in a statement.

Brazil is in a time of stability, it has proven infrastructure and recent experience in hosting a tournament of this magnitude, he added.

Brazil hosted the Copa America in 2019 and the World Cup in 2014.

The decision is a boost for Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain who has railed against lockdowns and urged Brazilians to return to normal life. In a separate tweet, CONMEBOL thanked Bolsonaro for opening the countrys doors to what is now the safest sporting event in the world. The presidents office directed questions to the sport department at the Ministry of Citizenship, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Submit A Press Release

$25.00 / for 2 days

Ensure your press release runs prominently on our website and in our E-mail Newsletter. Gauranteed placement on these platforms is $25.

Note: All submissions will go through our editorial approval process before being posted.
We all know the Moores, the Howells and the Colliers, but what of the Tennysons, Wadsworths and Kiplings?
Some Fulton County residents and officials have called into question the countys use of temp agencies to provide workers for its elections.
Atlanta, GA (30320)

Today

Intervals of clouds and sunshine. High 87F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. Low 72F. Winds light and variable.
International

Militants in twin attacks kill 4 Pakistani troops

Quetta, Jun 1 (AP) | Publish Date: 6/1/2021 1:17:26 PM IST

Suspected militants attacked a Pakistani security post and hours later targeted a vehicle carrying troops Monday, resulting in the deaths of at least four soldiers and four insurgents, the military said.

The military said the first incident in southwestern Pakistan occurred when a group of militants attacked a security post in the city of Quetta, killing four soldiers and wounding six others. Troops returned fire, killing four insurgents and wounding eight others, the statement said.

In the second attack, militants set off a roadside bomb aimed at a security vehicle, wounding two soldiers in the district of Turbat in Baluchistan province.

No one claimed responsibility for the attacks, and no further details were immediately available.

Secessionist groups in Baluchistan have staged a long-running insurgency to push for independence from the central government in Islamabad. The Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State extremist group also have presences there.
Offer a personal message of sympathy...

You'll find individual Guest Books on the page with each obituary notice. By sharing a fond memory or writing a kind tribute, you will be providing a comforting keepsake to those in mourning. . From a Guest Book, you may log in with your user account to leave a message. If you have an existing account with this site, you may log in with that. Otherwise, it's simple to create a new one by clicking on the Create "Sign up" button and following the simple steps on the Sign Up page.
Sports

Naomi withdraws from French Open due to mental health issues

Naomi Osaka

PARIS, JUN 1 (IANS) | Publish Date: 6/1/2021 1:20:11 PM IST

World No. 2 Naomi Osaka of Japan on Monday withdrew from the French Open over her stand to not to speak to the media due to her mental health.

Naomi, 23, defeated Romanias Patricia Maria Tig on Sunday, but did not turn up to face media. This prompted the organisers to fine her $15,000 and be warned that she faced expulsion from Grand Slam tournaments if she continued to do so. On Monday, Naomi posted a statement on Twitter, saying that she had suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and that it was better to exercise self-care and skip the press conferences because she gets huge waves of anxiety before.

This isnt a situation I ever imagined or intended when I posted a few days ago. I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris. I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer. More importantly I would never trivialise mental health or use the term lightly, wrote the winner of four Grand Slam titles. The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that. Anyone that knows me knows that Im introverted, and anyone that has seen me at the tournaments will notice that Im often wearing headphones as that helps dull my social anxiety.

Naomi apologised to journalists for a genuine reason.

Though the tennis press has always been kind to me (and I wanna apologise especially to all the cool journalists who I may have hurt), I am not a natural public speaker and get huge waves of anxiety before I speak to the worlds media.

I get really nervous and find it stressful to always try to engage and give you the best answers I can, she wrote. So here in Paris I was already feeling vulnerable and anxious so I thought it was better to exercise self-care and skip the press conferences. I announced it pre-emptively because I do feel like the rules are quite outdated in parts and I wanted to highlight that. I wrote privately to the tournament apologising and saying that I would be more than happy to speak with them after the tournament as the Slams are intense.

Naomi did not commit on how long her break would be.

Im gonna take some time away from the court now, but when the time is right I really want to work with the Tour to discuss ways we can make things better for the players, press and fans. Anyways hope you are all doing well and staying safe, love you guys Ill see you when I see you, she said.
GULF OF MEXICO - JUNE 09: A flare burns from a drill ship recovering oil from the ruptured British Petroleum (BP) oil well over the site in the Gulf of Mexico on June 9, 2010 off the coast of Louisiana. The spill has been called the largest environmental disaster in American history. As the oil continues to spread, officials have announced a ban on swimming along a six-mile stretch of Florida beach. (Photo : Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

A major oil spill and debris from a burning container ship have covered Sri Lankan beaches off the west coast Sri Lankan authorities said the container ship MV X-Press Pearl, registered with a shipping company all the way from Singapore, had already leaked of nitric acid out of its vessel just before it set sail in Sri Lankan waters. The said ship was transporting tons of chemicals and cosmetics.

On Tuesday morning, 25 crews were safely evacuated and disembarked from the ship, with two members sustaining leg injuries, but are both in stable condition. Meanwhile, one among them tested positive for Covid-19.

The Sri Lankan navy, along with Indian navy, are working together for eight consecutive days now to put out the fire and remove the washed-out debris along the shorelines. Officials said they have faced some challenges in expediting the operation due to monsoons and the rough sea.

Burning ship sparked Anger Among Sri Lankans

Sri Lanka's Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA)'s chairman Dharshani Lahandapura told the media that the disaster could have been controlled if the crews had acted promptly, knowing that they were aware of the nitric acid leak aboard the vessel long before they entered Sri Lankan waters. However, authorities said the crew followed established procedures under the International Maritime Dangerous Goods code in dealing with the situation. The X-Press Pearl was reported to have shown first signs of smoke from the cargo hold while at Colombo anchorage, according to X Press Feeders, their Singapore-based shipping company.

Sri Lankans were angered upon seeing the debris and oil scattering on the beach in Negombo. Daya Rathnayake, Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman, told the media that they are currently waiting for the ship to cool down to conduct further evaluation and assess whether towing the burnt ship in deeper waters can be an option.

At this time, investigation is still ongoing and a police complaint has already been filed against the captain of the ship. While the fire seemed to have settled down now, MEPA warns locals for potential acid rain.

Also read: In a Bold Leap, Chile Bans Single-Use Plastics in Supermarkets and Food Industries

A Major Environmental Disaster

Tha navies are worried that when the ship ultimately sinks, it will put a major risk to the marine environment and fishing industries, in addition to the environmental issues we are already facing. Authorities warned the public for possibility of acid rain and banned fishing in communities near the Negombo beach.

Ms. Lahandapura said in an interview that the best action at this time is to clean the shorelines and beaches on the west coast including Negombo, although it may take a few more weeks or months for major clearing operations. Rumors had it that small plastic wastes from the debris are starting to spread to other towns along Sri Lanka west coast.

In addition, residents have raised concerns regarding the harmful effects of the burning ship to the air and water sources. For the community's safety, Ms. Lahandapura confirms air and water quality testing will take place.

Authorities say it is too early to tell how the fire started as they are currently focused on extinguishing flames and clearing operation. Once things are a little bit in control, they guaranteed full investigation of the disaster.

Also read: Wildfire Destroys Multiple Homes and Prompts Evacuation in Arizona
Meadville, PA (16335)

Today

Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High near 80F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 57F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Following a series of severe rains, water levels in numerous rivers have exceeded danger thresholds, putting China on the verge of a flood season.

In recent weeks, rain levels in certain regions of central and southern China have reached new highs. From Tuesday through Friday, the second round of heavy rain will hit the southern portions of the country.

Related Article: Hurricane Season 2021: Storm Surge Warning Updated, Here's Everything You Need to Know



Worrying Flood Levels

According to Chinese state media quoting the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR), floods in the Xiangjiang River in Central China's Hunan Province, four rivers in East China's Jiangxi and Fujian Provinces, and South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region would surpass warning levels.

The report from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Aerospace Information Research Institute said that China has entered the main flooding season, with the water level of Poyang Lake, dubbed the "Kidney of the Yangtze River," reaching 18 meters, approaching the 19-meter flood warning level, more than a month earlier than previous years.

Series of Heavy Rains

From Tuesday to Friday, a new round of heavy rain will hit the country's southern regions, potentially causing flooding in the Xiangjiang River in Hunan Province, four rivers in East China's Jiangxi and Fujian Provinces, and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South China, according to the report.

In locations where rainstorms occur, larger floods may occur in certain small and medium-sized rivers.

On Monday, Guangdong Province in South China declared a level-IV emergency reaction to flood prevention and boosted the risk of waterlogging. Twelve hydrometric stations in the province recorded heavy rain of more than 250 millimeters, with the largest cumulative rainfall being 476 millimeters, from Sunday night to Monday morning.

Related Article: China Prepares For Summer Floods as 71 Rivers Rise Beyond Warning Levels



Emergency Simulation

Local water resources officials in Hunan and the Yangtze River Hydrological Bureau collaborated on an emergency monitoring exercise along the Xiangjiang River on May 26 in response to flood warnings, according to MOWR on Monday.

The exercise was designed to simulate a situation in which severe rains create excessive flooding in the Xiangjiang River's lower reaches, resulting in a bank collapse and water flowing into towns, creating pollution issues.

Preemptive Measures

An official from MOWR said on Thursday that the water level of the Three Gorges Reservoir was expected to fall below the 145-meter limit set to control flooding before June 10 as planned and that 47 reservoirs along the Yangtze River basin had made preparations to relieve floods, the majority of which had been discharged to full levels.

On May 24, the ministry stated that it had made adequate preparations to deal with the next flooding season.

Worsening Floods

It stated that the flood situation in May is within the typical range, as it has been in recent years, but that the situation might worsen.

Since the middle of May, South China has seen torrential rains and rising water levels in key rivers.

On May 24, the MOWR's Yangtze River Commission launched a level-IV emergency response for flood prevention in the Yangtze River, where the water level of the main control stations in the middle and lower reaches is 2.3 to 4.1 meters higher than historical levels and 4.6 to 7 meters higher than the same period in 2020.

Water levels at seven hydrometric stations along the Yangtze River, mostly along the main tributaries of Poyang Lake, exceeded alert criteria. Water from the five rivers flowed at a rate of more than 30,000 cubic meters per second into Poyang Lake.

Also Read: Storm Anxiety: How to Handle Extreme Weather Phobias During Hurricane Season



For more climate and weather updates, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Immunization Officer, Momentum Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity (M-RITE) project

Title: CD PROGRAM OFFICER I

Location: Kinshasa, DRC

Division: Center for Vaccines Innovation and Access

PATH is a global organization that works to accelerate health equity by bringing together public institutions, businesses, social enterprises, and investors to solve the worlds most pressing health challenges. With expertise in science, health, economics, technology, advocacy, and dozens of other specialties, PATH develops and scales solutionsincluding vaccines, drugs, devices, diagnostics, and innovative approaches to strengthening health systems worldwide. Learn more at www.path.org.

PATHs Center for Vaccine Innovation and Access brings together our expertise across every stage of the long and complex process of vaccine research, development, and delivery to make lifesaving vaccines widely available to children and communities across the world. Our focus is on vaccines to address the leading diseases that claim childrens lives worldwide: pneumonia, diarrheal disease, and malaria; as well as other global health priorities, such as Covid 19.

PATH Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) office is seeking an Immunization Officer in Kinshasa to support the introduction of the covid-19 vaccine activities in the DRC starting in April 2021. The Immunization Officer will be responsible for providing technical support to the field staff and ensuring effective coordination in the field with the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) team and the provincial health team (Division Provincial de la sante(DPS), et Medecins chefs des zones de sante).

Responsibilities:

Provide technical assistance to the field team to ensure an effective integration of covid 19 activities in the field, in targeted health zones in targeted provinces.

Participates in the supervision and follow-up of covid 19 vaccine introduction activities by working closely with EPI, DPS and Health zone management team.

Coordinate with provincial EPI team, DPS and health zones to implement covid 19 activities in targeted areas based on surveillance data.

Based on available mapping and surveillance data, coordinate with provincial and health zone EPI team to define and implement strategies to reach targeted health zones in targeted provinces.

Work with provincial PEV/DPS supply and cold chain leads to ensure that sufficient vaccines, supplies, and management tools are available in health zones.

Provide support to covid 19 surveillance, data gathering and reporting from the immunization sites to the health zones and DPS.

Contribute to the post-introduction evaluation of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Collaborate with project administrators (PADM) to ensure that the project meet all reports and milestones requirements.

Contribute to the elaboration of technical reports and other publications.

Conduct other PATH activities for other projects as assigned.

Represent PATH in meetings and other events related to the project (if needed).

Required Skills and experience:

Masters Degree or other advance degree in Medicine or public health.

At least three years of relevant work experience providing technical support to immunization programming.

Strong knowledge and familiarity working in provinces (DPS) and health zones.

Demonstrated success in planning, coordinating, and overseeing immunization services at the provincial and health zone-levels.

Strong understanding of indicators and immunization programming in DRC

Proven ability to create and maintain effective working relationships with government personnel, NGO partners, and international organizations in the field.

Strong interpersonal and organizational skills.

Proven ability to manage challenging situations in a difficult political environment.

Strong communication skills particularly at the DPS, health zones and community levels.

Excellent computer skills in Microsoft Office Suite applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Experience working in geographically dispersed teams and a multi-cultural environment.

Fluency in French and local dialects required; fluency in English is a plus.

Must have legal authorization to work in DRC.

PATH is dedicated to building an inclusive workforce where diversity is valued.

PATH is an equal opportunity employer. Every qualified applicant will be considered for employment. PATH does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or orientation, genetic information, age, national origin, marital status, disability status, political ideology, military or protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

* PATH a pris connaissance d'escroqueries impliquant de fausses offres demploi. *

S'il vous plait donnez votre avis :

PATH ne demandera jamais de frais a aucune etape du processus de recrutement.

Tous les emplois actifs sont annonces directement sur notre page carriere.

Les e-mails officiels de PATH arriveront toujours a partir d'une adresse @path.org.

Veuillez signaler toute communication suspecte a careersitehelp@path.org

Veuillez cliquer sur le lien ci-dessous pour soumettre votre candidature : Immunization Officer, Kinshasa
It was during the shoot of the Bollywood film Hastey Hastey (2008) where Karan Mehra first met Nisha Rawal. It was love at first sight for Karan but it took a while for Nisha to go ahead and fall in love with him. Things were rosy for the two initially but they have hit rock bottom now as their marriage is falling apart. Their fight is getting murkier with each passing day and it has come with a cascade of allegations.

Nisha held a press conference on Tuesday evening to share her side of things amid reports of domestic violence. Here's everything she has revealed.

1. Troubled Marriage

Nisha, in her press conference, opened up on the whole incident and said that it has been 14 years of their relationship but no one came to know about anything. She said that she confronted Karan with many things which then turned into an ugly showdown as he got upset and banged her head. He also didnt realize the severity of it until she started bleeding. Nisha Rawal said, "It is extremely embarrassing to meet you all like this since we have always met on the red carpet events. I am here only because of Kavish (their son). We have been together for 14 years. Many things happened in these years but no one came to know about anything."

Karan has completely denied the allegations here, saying that she herself banged her head and framed him.

2. Karans Extramarital Affair

Nisha also revealed that she got to know about his extramarital affair and unlike many others, she wanted to sit and talk to him. She said, "Karan has been having an affair with another girl, which I didn't know about. When I came to know about it, he accepted that he has another girl in his life. I asked if he has physical relation if it's a serious affair or an emotional one. He said 'I love that girl. I have been having physical affair with her'. She also said that the girl is from Delhi and it all started when Karan started shooting in Chandigarh.

She added, I told him to sit down and talk. Then the next day I went to my parents-in-law. I told them everything. They asked us to work on it. I told them if Karan says sorry and wants to work on the relationship, then I will try. But after all this, he didn't make any effort while I tried a lot.

Karan denied these allegations too and called them completely baseless. All these allegations are bound to come up and I will be linked with many people. These stories are baseless. I havent cheated on her and I am not having an extramarital affair," he said.

3. Domestic Abuse

She also added that she wanted to keep his image intact as she is an actor and understands how important it is to be in the public's good books. She said, Seeing Karan's behaviour over the years, in the last 14 years, this is not new. I tried to keep his image intact because we are actors and doing all this can affect our careers. We also have a child. Every time Karan used to apologize, I used to say okay. I actually wanted to believe him. But then I had to speak up as domestic abuse is not okay.

4. Bipolar Disorder

Karan, in many interviews, has spoken about Nishas bipolar disorder. Karan had said, Nisha has mood swings and a violent anger streak. She would throw stuff and hit herself and others. Five-six years ago, she was diagnosed as bipolar. People, including our friends and relatives, have seen her behaviour in public and I couldnt take it anymore. In the press conference, she accepted the fact that she has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder but that doesnt mean she is a psycho.

"Bipolarity is a mood disorder which happens due to extreme trauma and its genetic sometimes. I was diagnosed with bipolarity and I am not going to lie about it as I am not ashamed about it. But I am not a psycho, it is a mood disorder. And you all know how balanced I am. I create content for the web, make videos, and write about things. I dont have to prove anything," she said.

5. Her Miscarriage And Karans Controlling Nature

She revealed that she had a miscarriage in 2014 and Karan wasnt there to support her. She said, In September 2014, I was 5 months pregnant and I lost my child. Recently, I made a Moms group where women who lost their children can speak up about it as when I lost my child I did not have anyone to talk to about the loss. I wanted to go to my parents and talk to them because it was a very big trauma for me. In the middle of it my husband was beating me up, abusing me, he was unavailable, totally detached and thats when I went to a therapist. In fact, Karan had stopped me from going to a therapist, he didnt let me go to a gym, he was very controlling in everything.

What's your take on the entire incident? Let us know in the comments below.
A few days ago, PETA tweeted urging Indias leading dairy producer to switch to the production of vegan milk instead of cattle milk which sparked a huge debate among netizens.

Those in favour of the proposition made by the NGO said it could be great for the emerging market and veganism should be encouraged.

However, those against the idea called for a ban on the organisation citing employment of dairy farmers, culture and traditions of India and more.

 Twitter

After the controversial tweet by PETA, Amul responded by saying that the company is responsible for the livelihood of 100 million poor farmers and it isnt willing to use its resources to produce genetically modified Soya of rich MNC at exhorbitant prices ,which average lower middle class can't afford.



This came from the MD of GCMMF, R S Sodhi who got massive support from Twitterati for his response.

Peta wants Amul to snatch livelihood of 100 mill poor farmers and handover it's all resources built in 75 years with farmers money to market genetically modified Soya of rich MNC at exhorbitant prices ,which average lower middle class can't afford https://t.co/FaJmnCAxdO  R S Sodhi (@Rssamul) May 28, 2021

Now, the vice-chairman of Amul, Valamji Humbal has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to impose a ban on the NGO citing numerous reasons from how it is an attempt to break the Indian dairy sector, which plays a huge role in the GDP, to synthetic milk being a 'foreign conspiracy'.

He released a statement where he urged the PM to initiate necessary action against PETA.

 Twitter

In the release, he said, Dairy sector is an important contributor to the GDP of India but the GDP can be affected adversely by misinformation spread by opportunistic elements like this NGO. Organisations like this are part of the conspiracy to render unemployed the milk producers of India.



To ensure that such organisations stop their activities in India, milk producers of Gujarat urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate necessary action to impose a ban on organisations which are engaged in condemnable activity of tarnishing the image of dairy industry through misinformation campaign and then harm them by encouraging plants of multination companies producing synthetic milk, he added.

 Twitter

PETA Indias CEO Dr Manilal Valliyate responded to Hambal saying Amul has shown itself to be a bully, unable to appreciate the publics concern for animals, and a business that apparently cannot change despite changing consumer trends. But no amount of bullying is going to change the fact: vegan eating is taking the world by storm.



 Twitter

Twitter remains to be siding with Amul on the matter and are calling for the NGO to be banned.



However, there were some who thought that Amul wanting to ban an organisation over a tweet is a bit extreme. Here is what Twitter users have to say.

Banning is no solution.

Unwanted bans lower country's perception in foreign lands.  DeveloperBoi (@BoiDeveloper) June 2, 2021

We supports him, PETA is trying to confuse Indians on their traditions and culture,

He should be banned#banpeta #AmulPrideOfIndia  Devendra Sharma (@Devendra84278) June 2, 2021

This crazed request to curry favor is obvious, but makes us a laughing stock in the eyes of the world  Ranjan Chacko (@ChackoRanjan) June 2, 2021

This man gets perturbed over a suggestion and calling it an international conspiracy,hmm...he might be having information about the. Kgb, CIA, mossad being involved with the Pakistani Isis spearheading the move,oh come on do not.mske us .....in front of the world  Ranjan Chacko (@ChackoRanjan) June 1, 2021

PETA has no logic and no work hence trying to kick up a controversy. The PM should take note and take action on PETA for forcing Amul to produce what they don't want to. Well there will be other milk farmers outside Gujrat who can produce ....They can ask them to do it.  Niranjan Rao (@Revati071) June 1, 2021

PM Modi, who was the longest-serving chief minister of Gujarat for over 12 years, has praised Amul on various occasions.

While inaugurating Amuls chocolate plant in 2018, he said, Today, Amul has become an inspiration world over. People from overseas also ask me about Amul. Amul is not only about milk processing. This is an excellent model of empowerment.

 Twitter

The PM is yet to respond to the request made by Amul VC.


Politicians making promises to the public and going AWOL once they win the elections is not unheard of.

Most often than not, people who vote for them and give them the power by making them their leader are left to deal with their problems on their own, once the elections are over.

 Instagram/Navjot Singh Sidhu

Another such case has come to light but this time, the people have made sure this does not go unnoticed.



The absence of Congress MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu has irked some people in Amritsar who have declared him missing across the city.

 Instagram/Navjot Singh Sidhu

Sidhu had won elections in 2017 in Amritsar East.



According to Anil Vashisht, who runs a local NGO called the Baba Deep Singh Lok Sewa Society, the Congress leader has failed to deliver.

He admitted to having put up the missing posters of Sidhu and even announced a reward for Rs 50,000 to anyone who can find him.

 Twitter

Talking about the reason why he put missing posters, Vashisht said, Sidhus constituency is littered with garbage. People have been living in hell here. Ever since the Covid restrictions were imposed, people of his constituency havent seen him.



Amritsar residents made him an MP and then MLA, but he has done nothing for the holy city. When he was elected as MP from Amritsar, youngsters had expectations from him. Residents have been complaining that Sidhu never bothered to listen to them and redress their grievances, he added.

 Instagram/Navjot Singh Sidhu

Well, this isnt the first time people in Punjab have made sure their leaders answer to them when they don't keep their promises.



A few years ago, missing posters of the MP of Gurdaspur Constituency, Sunny Doel sprung up in Pathankot. Locals said he was nowhere to be seen months after being elected and that they expected better from him.

 Twitter

They stuck posters that read Gumshuda ki talaash MP Sunny Doel across railway stations and parks back in 2020.



Sunny Doel finally appeared on the occasion of Lohri and addressed the public, affirming to them that he is working on the traffic congestion issue in the city and is here for the people in a video.

 Instagram/Navjot Singh Sidhu

While we agree that it might not be the best way to summon a leader who has been absent from his political duties, you cannot deny that it is amusing.



By the way, has anyone seen Navjot Singh Sidhu? Here is your chance at winning 50,000 bucks! Thoko taali!
India has been severely hit by the third wave of the pandemic and people are struggling with the shortage of vaccination. While people struggle for the slots for their doses, a very disturbing event has come to light.

ANM (auxiliary nurse midwife) Niha Khan from Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh) has been accused of throwing 29 vaccine-loaded syringes in the dustbin. According to reports, she used to insert the needle inside the recipient's body but did not inject the Covid-19 vaccine.

The FIR has been registered against Niha Khan under Section 203, 176, 465, 427, 120 B 3/4 of IPC at the Civil Lines police station of Aligarh. Niha Khan has been booked based on a complaint from the chief medical officer, Dr. Bhanu Pratap Kalyani.

Chief Medical Officer Kalyani said: There is a possibility that some people might not have actually received the vaccine. I have set up an inquiry committee by two ACMO-level officers and have asked them to submit a report as soon as possible.

 ANI UP

Dr Afreen, in charge of the Centre where Niha worked, has been accused of covering up the act, and her name also been added to the FIR. According to Sudarshan News, many have referred to the incident as Vaccination Jihad. The news channel also reported that Niha was also doing it intentionally and she wanted to show the BJP government led by Yogi Adityanath in a bad light.



Heres the channels report:

Shocking beyond belief@myogiadityanath ji, this merits serious investigation all over the state, not just onto conduct of just one nurse.

She can't be alone in this. pic.twitter.com/JZPmblDUK7  Madhu Purnima Kishwar (@madhukishwar) May 31, 2021

People have started to trend Vaccination Zehad and Vaccination Jihad on Twitter after the incident. People have lost their cool and are saying that this is an embarrassment to the countrys healthcare system.

 Twitter

 Twitter

 Twitter

 Twitter

 Twitter

What do you have to say about this incident? Let us know in the comments section below.
In relationships, we sure do talk about doing everything for the other person.



 Istock

 Istock

Ranging from Chaand Taare Todh Launga to Apni Jaan Bhi Dedunga, there are numerous cliched promises made to one another that often leads to the question, exactly how far would you go for someone you love?



Well, there are a few aashiqs, who actually know no boundaries in love, not even the actual geographic ones.

In 2017, Prashanth Vadinam, an IT professional from Telangana had risked it all by crossing over to Pakistan without any papers or authorized documents, with just a dream of reaching Switzerland via Pakistan, to meet his girlfriend.

 ETV Bharat

However, unlike in movies, where you meet a Nawazuddin Siddiqui-like person to navigate you through Pakistan, Prashanth, unfortunately, was met by the country's police who then escorted him to the prison to serve his term for illegal entry.



 Disney Plus Hotstar

Thankfully, his four-year term has now come to an end and after a continuous period of efforts from his family, the Telangana Government, and the Indian government, Pakistan finally decided to hand over Prashanth back to his homeland after completing his four-year prison term.



"After serving his sentence in Pakistan, he was handed over to Indian Immigration Authorities at Attari border yesterday. Today we brought him to Hyderabad. We handed over Prashant to his family members," said Cyberabad Commissioner VC Sajjanar, while speaking with PTI.

 Twitter/CyberabadPolice

After being reunited with his family, Prashanth thanked the Telangana government and Indian Foreign Ministry for bringing him back and also spoke on how he was treated well in the Lahore prison by Jail authorities as well as his inmates.


Google marked the starting of Pride Month with the doodle of one of the most influential and important champions of LGBTQ+ rights, Frank Kameny.



 Google

Kamenys body of work and his activism from the mid-1950s laid the foundations for people across the world to establish equal rights for the LGBTQ community.



 AFP

One of the most prominent gay rights activists, Kameny is credited with a lot of firsts - the first person to file a civil rights claim to the US Supreme court, the first openly gay candidate to run for the US Congress, and a whole lot more.



 Wiki Commons

Here are 7 things that will help people better understand, why he remains to be an important figure to this day, and why the Pride movement and all other LGBTQ rights Movements owe a lot to him:



1. One Of The Sharpest Minds Of His Time

 Wiki Commons

Kameny was one of the sharpest minds of his time. Not only did he have a bachelors degree in physics, but he also had a masters and a doctorate in astronomy.



He was also one of the most skilled modern-day map-makers that the US Army had hired.

During his days as an activist, it is reported that he had one of the sharpest legal minds in the country, despite the fact that he never went to law school.

2. Fired From The US Army For His Sexual Orientation

 Wiki Commons

His life is often cited as an example of just how hypocritical the US Federal Govt has been about LGBTQ people & Army services.



He was drafted into the military in the 1940s for World War II, when he was still a student. After the war, he returned and completed his masters and doctorate in astronomy.

In 1957, he was hired by the US Army, again, this time in the Map Services Department to teach young cartographers, the science behind map-making.

Upon learning that he was gay, he was fired. He was also banned to ever have a federal civil service job, ever again.

3. Filed The First Known Civil Rights Claim Based On Ones Sexuality

 Wiki Commons

Owing to the fact that he was banned from being hired on a federal level, and the fact that most astronomy and cartography schools across American universities were funded by the federal government, he filed appeals against his firing through the American judicial system, until he finally reached the US Supreme Court.



He was the first person who filed a civil rights suit to the Supreme Court where the plaintiff was denied basic civil rights because of their sexual preferences.

Of course, he lost, but this just marked the first step in a long and coloured life as an LGBTQ Activist.

4. Vital In Getting Homosexuality Removed As A Mental Disorder

 Wiki Commons

People might not know this, but for the longest time, homosexuality was seen as a mental disorder. And in order to treat this disorder, psychiatrists would often come up with some of the cruellest treatments, including forced hormonal therapies, giving an electric shock to the genitals etc.



In 1972, Kameny convinced the American Psychiatric Association or the APA to debate on psychiatry and the way homosexuals were seen by psychiatrists.

Dr John E. Fryer, a gay psychiatrist, put on a disguise and gave a heartfelt speech at the debate, upon Kamenys request. This led to a series of serious discussion, and eventually, a year later, homosexuality was removed from the list of mental disorders.

5. First Openly Gay Candidate To Run For The United States Congress

 Wiki Commons

After years of activism, Kameny realised that he had to get into politics to bring about real change. He decided to run for office and contested the election for a seat to the US Congress, as a member of the lower house.



He lost the election, but the fact that he contested an election made waves all over the country.

He was eventually appointed as the first openly gay member of the District of Columbia's Human Rights Commission that same decade.

6. Was Crucial In Uplifting A Federal Ban That Prohibited LGBTQI Civil Workers From Being Hired

 Wiki Commons

The LGBTQI people were banned from being employed under the Civil Services Commission. This meant that they could not be employed in any capacity by the federal government.



Kameny, with the help of a highly decorated Sergeant of the US Air Force, who had been discharged from his duties after he came out to his commanding officer, filed several suits and eventually managed to get the ban overturned.

7. Was Elemental In Reversal Of The US Version Of Section 377

 Wiki Commons

The US had their own version of Section 377, called the DC Sodomy Laws. Furthermore, each state had their own laws regarding what was considered back then unnatural sexual encounters, making homosexual activities illegal and a jailable offence.



In 1963 Frank Kameny proposed that these laws should be changed and tweaked to allow for a safe space for consenting adults. This was a battle that lasted for 30 years.

In 1993, Kameny drafted a portion of the bill, that would eventually replace the original DC Sodomy Laws.
Google has contended that the new IT rules in India for online publishers do not apply to its search engine and urged the Delhi High Court to repeal an order by a single judge. The judge applied the same IT rules to the search engine giant for dealing with an issue that involved removing offensive content from the Internet.

 rajeshwar-bachu-unsplash

The single judge came with the decision when dealing with a matter that involved a womans photographs being uploaded on a pornographic website. Even though the court ordered the content to be removed entirely from the Internet, "errant parties merrily continued to keep posting the images and redirect to other websites.



The order was issued by Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh to the Delhi Government, Internet Service Providers Association of India, Facebook, the pornographic website and to the Centre. Google told the bench that it was not a publisher but an intermediary for content on social media websites. The search engine giant sought the removal of the order by the single judge that classified it as a social media intermediary.

 benjamin-dada-unsplash

Google contended that the single judge, in his April 20 judgement, "mischaracterized" its search engine as a ''social media intermediary'' or ''significant social media intermediary'' as provided under the new rules.



"The single judge has misinterpreted and misapplied the New Rules 2021 to the appellant's search engine. Additionally, the single judge has conflated various sections of the IT Act and separate rules prescribed thereunder, and has passed template orders combining all such offences and provisions, which is bad in law," Google said in its appeal against the April 20 judgement.

 solen-feyissa-unsplash

The single judge ordered a direction to disable access to the offending content to be effective even in India. Search engines like Google must block the search results throughout the world. The direction would require search engines to ''de-index'' and 'dereference'' listed search results of offensive content. The intermediary, which in this case would be Google, has to comply with such a direction within 24 hours of receiving the same.



Finally, the order tasked search engines to use automated tools that can identify and disable access to offensive content proactively. It further stated that if an intermediary fails to fulfil the obligations and conditions, it was liable to forfeit the exemption from liability available to it under the Information Technology (IT) Act.
There are 64 Mississippians buried in the Florence American Cemetery. One of them is U.S. Army Captain Bernard Yolles from Winona. A Purple Heart recipient who left his familys department store business, a wife, and baby daughter behind to volunteer for service when he was 24-years old. Yolles, a member of the only Jewish family in Winona at the time led an all African-American division of Buffalo Soldiers into battle.
Services for Bonita Deweese will be held on Monday, June 14, 2021, at 15th Avenue Baptist Church, at 10:30 am. Visitation will be Sunday, 4-6 p.m., at Webb Funeral Home. View the obituary at www.jamesfwebb.com.
KAIAPOI, NEW ZEALAND - MAY 31: A flooded river flows next to a row of houses on May 31, 2021 in Kaiapoi, New Zealand. Heavy rain across the Canterbury region has caused rivers to surge, with a state of emergency declared across the region with thousands of homes at risk of flooding. (Photo : Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)

Most of us expect a summer season around this time of the year, but not for Dallas. The weather news forecast warns Dallas of potential flash floods as they approach the end of the Memorial Day.

Others are prepared for this storm, while others are still mourning and commemorating Memorial Day. The people of Dallas have no choice but to get in their houses and keep their families safe and secured for this upcoming weekend.

Dallas expecting a wet end for Memorial Day





Dallas will be greeting June with a 100% chance of rain all throughout the week. This led to officers alarming Dallas that there might be some flash floods expected within the area (Texas Forecast, 2021). This is due to the series of storms that were detected and will be expected to enter the Dallas Area of Responsibility by this week. Now as the Memorial Day has ended, this really set the mood for Dallas as they end Memorial Day on wet grounds as if the heavens have joined to mourn.

People living in rural places with a good and deep drainage system shouldn't worry about the flash floods, but the people in urban places are the ones that should be on high alert. A flash flood is expected to occur anytime throughout the week. Some places like Dallas-Fort Worth should also be on high alert, for they'll be expecting heavy rainfalls by this week.

Dallas will also be expecting wind gusts that could go up to 60 mph. Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect until 7pm as of this Tuesday (Dallas News, 2021). Officials need the cooperation of their residents for their own safety as well. If you're stuck on high thunderstorm alert area, you should prepare things for your family's safety and survival all throughout the week until the storm passes by.

Also read: Heat Wave Warning: Las Vegas Sees Scorching Temperature to Reach Triple Digits

Thunderstorm readiness and preparedness





A bad weather is inevitable wherever you're located here on the planet. But people can take preventive measures and be ready for a thunderstorm. All these are now in our control; you and the safety of your families are an utmost priority. We can't control the thunderstorm, but all we can do is prepare everything for we were advised ahead of time. Here are the things that you could prepare when expecting flash floods and a high thunderstorm alert.

1. Food

As humans, we need to eat and survive. With the given situation, the best suitable meals for the mean time would be canned foods and easy-to-cook meals.

2. Water

Drinking water is a must for survival but so is water for your hygiene and washing the dishes. You can use and gather rainwater for cleaning and other purposes as well.

3. Secured place

We don't know what could happen during these times, so it is best to lock your doors and windows properly. Make sure that your homes are perfectly secure all throughout the thunderstorm.

4. Equipment and devices

Incase of a power outage, prepare things like your power generator, power banks, flashlights, light bulbs, or whatever your house might need. As some people might say "It's better to be safe, than sorry."

These are just few of the things that you'll be needing whenever you're on a situation like expecting a thunderstorm with high winds. The best thing to do is to always update yourself with the news regarding to the thunderstorm and always cooperate with local authorities, for their main job is to always make sure that you are safe.

Also read: China Flooding Season: Flash-Flood Warning Raised as 4 Rivers Exceed Dangerous Levels
Click here to log in and see all of our other subscription options for the Mesabi Tribune, including online only & auto-renewal subscriptions.
Chinese vaccines boost global fight against COVID-19 pandemic

Xinhua) 13:57, June 02, 2021

Photo taken on Jan. 6, 2021 shows the packing line for inactivated COVID-19 vaccine of Sinovac Biotech, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company, in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)

The approval of the two Chinese vaccines, at a time when the world is still struggling to contain the virus with many countries and regions in dire need of vaccines, will help China make greater contribution to the global fight against the pandemic, said experts.

GENEVA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) validated on Tuesday the CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac for emergency use, which made it the second Chinese vaccine included in the WHO Emergency Use Listing after the previous one developed by another Chinese manufacturer Sinopharm.

Experts believe the approval of the two Chinese vaccines, at a time when the world is still struggling to contain the virus with many countries and regions in dire need of vaccines, will help China make greater contribution to the global fight against the pandemic.

BROADER PORTFOLIO OF VACCINES

According to the WHO, 352,685 new cases were reported on June 1 across the world, bringing the global tally to 170,426,245, while COVID-19 deaths worldwide reached 3,548,628. As of May 31, a total of 1,579,416,705 vaccine doses had been administered.

The WHO's announcement on Tuesday about the validation of the Sinovac vaccine is good news for the whole world, especially for countries that are in serious shortage of vaccines. Earlier last month, the Sinopharm vaccine, an inactivated vaccine, was validated by the WHO for emergency use.

"The Sinovac-CoronaVac product is an inactivated vaccine. Its easy storage requirements make it very manageable and particularly suitable for low-resource settings," said a statement issued by the WHO.

A nurse prepares the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac in Bangkok, Thailand, May 31, 2021. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

"The world desperately needs multiple COVID-19 vaccines to address the huge access inequity across the globe," WHO Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines and Health Products Mariangela Simao said in the statement. "We urge manufacturers to participate in the COVAX Facility, share their knowhow and data and contribute to bringing the pandemic under control."

Delegates who attended the just-concluded 74th World Health Assembly (WHA) also called for increasing vaccine supply and ensuring fair access to vaccines for countries around the world, especially low-income countries.

Following the WHO's announcement of the validation of the Sinovac vaccine, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted that the vaccine is widely used in Turkey, and "we will continue to bring every vaccine with proven safety and effectiveness to our citizens."

Turkey began its vaccination drive with China's Sinovac vaccine on Jan. 14, with priority given to healthcare professionals and the elderly. Until the beginning of April, the country had solely used Sinovac's jabs.

The WHO's authorization of the Sinovac vaccine for emergency use is "very positive," Lu Mengji, professor at the Institute of Virology of the University Hospital of Essen in Germany, told Xinhua. "It will play an important role in the global fight against the pandemic."

WIDER UTILIZATION

The Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines, which have already been used in many countries and regions across the world, are playing an important role in the global anti-pandemic fight.

China has provided COVID-19 vaccines as public goods by offering medical assistance to 80 countries, exporting vaccines to 43 countries and supplying 300 million doses of vaccines worldwide, said Chinese delegate Yang Feng at the WHA.

Airport staff members unload the first batch of Chinese Sinovac vaccine raw materials from a plane at the Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Egypt, May 21, 2021. (Xinhua/Sui Xiankai)

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic expressed her gratitude for the delivery of millions of doses "in the shortest possible time" when her country welcomed the eighth flight carrying Chinese vaccines last week, a huge boost to the Balkan country's vaccination campaign.

"We are very grateful to China and the Chinese people for enormous support and help, for the vast quantity of vaccines that we received," said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic when he received the second dose of the Sinopharm vaccine on April 27.

Hungary, the first European Union (EU) member state to buy and authorize the use of Chinese vaccines, has a leading vaccination rate among EU countries thanks to Chinese and Russian COVID-19 vaccines, Zoltan Kovacs, international spokesman for the Hungarian government and secretary of state for international communication and relations, told Xinhua.

This is extremely valuable at a time when every dose of vaccine is eagerly awaited not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) but all over the world, said BiH's Minister of Civil Affairs Ankica Gudeljevic when receiving a batch of China-donated Sinopharm vaccine in late April.

China has also shown great concern about the epidemic situation in Africa, and has already donated vaccines to many countries on the continent.

At a recent United Nations Security Council meeting, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China has been a staunch supporter of Africa in the COVID-19 fight.

China has been, and is, providing vaccines to more than 30 African countries on the basis of their urgent need, said Wang.

GREATER CONTRIBUTION

In his speech at the 74th WHA opening, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries worldwide to share vaccine doses now and fast to COVAX, the WHO-led initiative for equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines around the world.

China has already decided to offer 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to COVAX, a concrete step to deliver on its promise to make vaccines a global public good. It has also called for a rejection of vaccine nationalism to make vaccines more accessible to and affordable for developing countries.

For example, China has recently agreed with Egypt on establishing a Chinese vaccine production line in the country. The first batch of the raw materials to manufacture the Sinovac vaccine arrived at the Cairo International Airport on May 21.

It is believed that the WHO's validation of China's two vaccines will further help the global fight against the pandemic, and boost confidence in defeating the virus through international cooperation.

For countries with limited resources of medical technology, inactivated vaccines like the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines have a great advantage when it comes to putting into use, said Lu, the professor in Germany.

"The higher the trust in the vaccines available on the market, the quicker the world can advance to its goal of a high global protection against the COVID-19 pandemic," said Neville Calleja, head of the Department of Public Health at the University of Malta.

"The quicker this is achieved, the less the time available for the virus to mutate ... As for the variants that occur, it is increasingly clear that collaboration between manufacturers is key for the creation of boosters later on," Calleja told Xinhua.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Hongyu)
Police in Bangladesh has apprehended a notorious poacher who has eluded them for the past 20 years and is suspected of killing around 70 endangered Bengal tigers, as reported by ABC News.

Tiger Habib

Habib Talukder, also known as "Tiger Habib," resided near the forest and would escape anytime cops stormed the region, according to local police head Saidur Rahman.

"We ultimately succeeded and put him to jail after acting on a tip," he added.

The huge Sunderbans mangrove forest region, which straddles India and Bangladesh and is home to one of the world's greatest populations of Bengal tigers, was Talukder's hunting territory.

Black market dealers would buy the cats' pelts, bones, and even flesh and sell them in China and abroad.

Related Article: Suspected Poacher 'Trampled to Death by Elephants' Splits Netizens



Terrible Reputation

Talukder, 50, began gathering honey from wild bees in the jungle and quickly rose to fame as a local legend for killing large cats while escaping jail.

"We both revere and fear him," Abdus Salam, a local honey hunter, said.

"He's a scary man capable of fighting Mama [tiger] alone inside the forest."

Bengal tigers are the only large cats that can live and hunt in the brackish water of mangrove forests, making them one of a kind among great cats. They can swim really well.

"We had a lot of trouble with him. He represented a serious danger to the biodiversity of the forest, "Mr. Khan explained.

Tigers

According to Poaching Facts, the tiger has a long history in India and many Asian countries, dating back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. However, growing interest in traditional folk remedies from China and Southeast Asia, sometimes referred to as Traditional Chinese Medicine, has kept tiger hunting profitable in recent decades. Many Asian civilizations have long held the belief that the tiger possesses magical or curative abilities, elevating the animal's value across the board.

There are 13 countries where tigers can still be found in the wild. These "Tiger Nations," also known as Tiger Range Areas or TRCs, take part in global discussions about tiger conservation and commerce, as well as plans to restore tigers to countries where they are functionally extinct.

Market Value

Tiger skins and other components, like rhino horn and elephant ivory, are regarded as a luxury and prestigious products in many cultures, commanding a high price both legitimately in nations like China and illegally on the black market all over the world, as reported by Save Wild Tigers.

Endangered animals such as tigers, elephants, rhinos, and bears are slain for their parts to meet the demand for these goods. Tigers are slaughtered for these items in one of two ways: either they are murdered in the wild by illegal tiger poaching, or they are grown in tiger farms in China and slaughtered in captivity to meet local demand.

Wild tiger items are traditionally thought to be more real and potent and attract a greater premium. As a result, items from captive-bred tigers will never meet the demand for wild-caught tigers, and the illicit tiger trade will continue to be profitable.

Also Read: Disney's Sumatran Tiger Relocated to San Antonio Zoo To Ensure Species' Survival

For more animal news, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
In a joint statement issued at the virtual G7 Trade Track meeting on May 28, the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States called for the start of talks to develop stronger international rules on market-distorting industrial subsidies and trade-distorting actions by state enterprizes.We reaffirm the importance of the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity (GFSEC) as a forum that can help address the issue of global steel excess capacity in a multilateral framework, the statement said.We believe that dialogue, transparency, and cooperation at a global level represents a crucial means to address the imbalances created by worsening excess capacity. We deem it paramount that the GFSEC can count on the active participation of all major producer states, it added.According to the World Steel Association (Worldsteel), crude steel output reached 1.86 billion tonnes in 2019, with China producing 996.3 million tonnes of that total, or 53.3%, and consuming 907.5 million tonnes, or 51.3%, of finished steel products out of a total global consumption of 1.76 billion tonnes.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at 1,136.25 per tonne on Friday May 28, up by 19.58 per tonne week on week and by 148.75 per tonne month on month.The G7 statement also noted ongoing concerns over the increased use of non-market policies and practices like subsidies, which it alleges distort competition and reduce fairness and trust.Of particular concern are harmful industrial subsidies, including those that lead to severe excess capacity, a lack of transparency regarding the states role in the economy and the role of state enterprizes in unfair subsidization and forced technology transfer, the statement said.Founded in 2016 and facilitated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the GFSEC is an open platform for all G20 member countries and interested OECD members. Its members include most of the 10 largest steel-producing economies in the world, with the notable exception of China.According to GFSEC, excess steelmaking capacity creates significant difficulties for steel producers globally, including depressing prices, undermining profitability, generating damaging trade distortions, creating regional imbalances, and destabilizing world trading relations.One of GFSECs stated aims is to eliminate subsidies and other government support measures that sustain uneconomic steel plants, encourage investment in new steelmaking capacity that would otherwise not be built, facilitate exports of steel products, or otherwise distort competition by contributing to excess capacity.The G7 statement also welcomed work by the OECD that had identified an apparent relationship between government support - in the form of below-market financing - and excess capacity in several sectors.This extends to the aluminium industry, where producers have long-criticized China for producing around 57% of global primary aluminium, compared with just 11% in 2004.In January 2019, an OECD report alleged that while government support is commonly found throughout the aluminium value chain, it is especially heavy in China and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.This has been refuted by companies in those regions including Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) and China Hongqiao Group.Industry associations have also been vocal in criticizing what they believe to be unfairly subsidized Chinese aluminium production , which they argue has led to excess capacity and a growing influx of underpriced Chinese exports They have also called on the G7 to take action against unfairly subsidized overcapacity and other market-distorting behavior that they allege undermines the sustainable growth of the aluminum industry.
Fastmarkets price assessment for steel scrap H2, export, fob main port Japan , was 46,000-48,000 ($420-438) per tonne on Wednesday, down from 47,000-48,500 per tonne one week earlier.Japanese H2 was heard sold to a South Korean buyer at 46,500 per tonne fob this week, with bids coming in to the same South Korean mill at 46,000 per tonne.

Only [South] Korea is willing to buy Japanese scrap now; other countries dont want to, a Japanese scrap trader said, adding that market participants were awaiting the results of a tender by a major South Korean...
A West Coast exporter sold a cargo to Bangladesh comprising 7,000 tonnes of an 80:20 mix of No1 and No2 heavy melting scrap priced at $535 per tonne cfr and 25,000 tonnes of shredded scrap priced at $540 per tonne cfr.A second West Coast exporter sold a 32,000-tonne cargo comprising unspecified tonnages of HMS 1&2 (80:20) and shredded scrap, also priced at $535 per tonne cfr and $540 per tonne cfr respectively.

These cargoes are priced up by $70 per tonne compared with the last-reported HMS 1&2 (80:20) sale to the region concluded at $465 per tonne cfr on April...
KABUL  Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Mirwais Nab, EU Political and Security Committee Head Mrs. Sofia Emmesberger, and Ambassadors of the European Union member states in Belgium, in a virtual meeting discussed the latest developments on political and security affairs in Afghanistan, the Afghan Peace Process, and the dynamics of cooperations endurance between Afghanistan and the EU.

Expressing gratitude to the EU for its cooperation with Afghanistan during the last two decades and the sacrifices made by the EU member states to ensure peace and stability in Afghanistan, Mr. Nab called the EU pledges in the 2020 Afghanistan Conference-Geneva, and the financial assistant of the EU to fight COVID-19 as a symbol of sincere friendship and cooperation of the EU with Afghanistan.

Underscoring the recent development in the Afghan Peace Process, political and economic affairs, regional and international consensus against return of the Talibans Islamic Emirate, Mr. Nab called the EU an important and trustworthy partner of Afghanistan. Deputy Foreign Minister, further emphasized on the significance of the EU cooperation along with the international community to the peace and prosperity in Afghanistan.

Appreciating the statement by the EEAS, EU Council, and the European Parliament supporting the Afghan Peace Process preserving gains of the last two decades, Mr. Nab stressed the importance of continuation of the EU financial and technical support to the ANDSF to fight against terrorism.

Referring to the recent terrorist attack on Sayed al-Shuhada High School in Kabul, EU Political and Security Committee Head Mrs. Emmesberger and Deputy Executive Asia and the Pacific, EEAS Ms. Paola Pampaloni condemned the killing of students, journalists, civil society activists and civilians, and called for continued talks to achieve a peace that preserves the common gains of the Afghan people and the international community over the past two decades.

Deputy Foreign Minister responded to questions raised by the EU member states Ambassadors in Belgium, including Estonia, Belgium, Italy, Romania, France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Latvia, Portugal and Greece, on the latest security and political developments in Afghanistan, regional cooperation, the Afghan security forces capability to defend the country, and bilateral and multilateral cooperation between Afghanistan and other countries and regional and international organizations.

Emphasizing the continuation of financial-development cooperation and diplomatic presence of their respective countries in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of Resolute Support forces from Afghanistan, the participants supported the Afghan Peace Process while preserving the gains of the last two decades.
Miami, FL (33127)

Today

Partly cloudy in the morning followed by scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. High around 90F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Some clouds and possibly an isolated thunderstorm after midnight. Low 77F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - AUGUST 14: A sink hole appears on Mancunian Way in Manchester after heavy rain on August 14, 2015 in Manchester, England. Heavy rain and flood warnings have been issued by the Met office as downpours of up to 20mm an hour possible in some areas. (Photo : Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

A couple of homeowners in Juan C. Bonilla, Mexico got quite the shock of their lives when a loud, cracking sound they heard did not turn out to be thunder. A massive sinkhole had appeared not too far from their own yard, prompting an evacuation and an immediate response from local authorities.

By the time the area was sealed off, the hole had grown about 200 feet in diameter and was measured to be at least 50 feet deep. A large, bubbling pool of muddy water can still be seen lying at its bottom.

Sinkhole's link to major Mexican geological fault investigated

When geologists arrived at the scene, the first major concern was the sinkhole's appearance in an area just right on the Alto Atoyac geological fault. It is not unusual for tectonic activity to initiate collapses and that sinkholes could be a sign of possible earthquakes. (In fact, some quakes in Croatia have actually caused a wide spate of sinkholes across the country.)

On the other hand, the hole appeared directly underneath a crop area, meaning it can be just as likely the agricultural activity could be another cause. In any case, researchers will need at least a month before the draw on anything conclusive

In the meantime, onlookers have been advised to keep a great distance as the hole grew very rapidly over a short period of time.

Also read: Soviet Scientists Dug World's Deepest Man-Made Hole Known as "Entrace to Hell"

How are sinkholes formed?

Perhaps what makes a sinkhole notably terrifying is that there are a number of ways that they can be made. This leads to the popular fear that they can happen at any time, and in the most unexpected ways.

In Italy, for instance, sinkhole accidents have been observed in various parts of Rome. The cause was often found to be a form of deterioration from aging, urban infrastructure (such as underground tunnels, pipes and so forth).

On the other hand, rural sinkholes (like the one from Mexico) could also appear as the result of the sudden loss of groundwater. Whether by irrigation or underground activity, the absence of water most likely destabilizes the soil above it (and thereby causing a collapse).

Their appearances have been linked to just about everything, from unsustainable land development to even global warming.

Still, the finer points in each individual case should not be ignored. That is why geologists are always paying close attention to soil quality (which includes its ability to withstand pressure). While there are many ways to diminish this quality, using it as a starting point has allowed them to predict the likelihood of sinkholes everywhere.





That said, here are some things the average lay person should do if they ever encounter a forming sinkhole.

1. Move far away, fast.

Some sinkholes take hours to break down, but others can take mere minutes. Avoid taking chances and create a great deal of distance from a hole as fast as your feet can carry.

2. Call authorities immediately.

Sinkholes are a hazard to everyone in the area because of how they can easily swallow anybody who gets too close. Calling authorities means they can quickly come in and fence off the area.

3. Take note of potential property damage.

If a hole's growing perimeter is getting closer to some structures (like telephone poles or power lines) keep your distance from them as well. There is no telling how unstable the ground has become near those areas.

All in all, sometimes it is best to know how to respond rather than figure it out first.

Also read: The Lost Village of Curon: Town Emerges After 70 Years Underwater
It's been a long road since the 1981 Time magazine cover story about Miami titled Paradise Lost? Along the way, some have felt paradise was found and lost again, but the truth is, it's in the bloody gutter. It has been for a long time  one dead Black body at a time.
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy's Water Resources Division, in cooperation with the Buffalo Reef Task Force, is asking property owners to report underground features, like onsite septic systems and water and irrigation lines, along a 5-mile stretch of Lake Superior shoreline in Keweenaw County.

Over the past few years, the task force has been working to remove dark-colored stamp sands from the beach between the community of Gay and Grand Traverse Harbor. The stamp sands were deposited into Lake Superior and on the beach at Gay during historic copper stamp mill processing from the Wolverine and Mohawk mines. Ore was crushed by the stamps and the copper separated through a flotation process. Stamp sands are the waste material resulting from the milling work. Over the past roughly 80 years, the stamp sands have shifted south - moved by winds, waves and nearshore lake currents - about 5 miles to the Grand Traverse Harbor, covering 1,426 acres of shoreline and lake bottom. "Without taking measures to slow the movement and down-drift accumulation of the stamp sands, they will eventually move past the harbor and deposit on the natural white sand beach south of the jetty, at the mouth of the Traverse River," said Steven Check, a project manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Detroit. The sands threaten Buffalo Reef, a natural underwater structure important to lake trout and lake whitefish. Providing information to EGLE about the underground infrastructure located on beach properties will help analysts develop strategies to remove more of the stamp sands. Options currently being considered include removal of all or some of the stamp sands along the beach. "The multi-agency task force understands that whatever is option is selected, it most likely will have social and economic impacts," said Jay Parent, district supervisor of EGLE's Water Resources Division in Marquette. "This is why it is important for us to hear from affected property owners." Property owners were sent letters this week explaining the situation. They are being asked to tell the task force whether underground features are present. If they are, the task force requests property owners provide the property parcel identification number, type of underground features possibly affected and include a map showing the approximate location of that infrastructure. Property owners with questions or concerns about the issue may call Jay Parent at 906-236-9611 or by email at parentj@michigan.gov The Buffalo Reef stamp sands removal project, funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and a state of Michigan appropriation, is being executed in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy to save the 2,200-acre reef. For more information on the ongoing effort to save Buffalo Reef, or to sign-up for the latest email updates, visit Michigan.gov/BuffaloReef.
Michigan celebrates immigrants, recognizes their contributions to create vibrant communities

Michigan celebrates immigrants, recognizes their contributions to create vibrant communities

June 2, 2021

CONTACT: Camara Lewis, 517-930-4928

LANSING, Mich.-- As proclaimed by Gov. Whitmer, June 2021 is Immigrant Heritage Month in Michigan, and the state joins a nationwide effort to collectively celebrate the history, culture and powerful influence immigrants have in shaping our communities and strengthening our economy.

"The hundreds of thousands of immigrants spread across every corner of our state is a signal of the vast opportunities Michigan offers those in search of a better life for themselves and their families," said Office of Global Michigan Director Fayrouz Saad. "Immigrants have made a wealth of contributions to this country and continue to make countless contributions to support, enrich and build up Michigan's economy."

According to data provided by New American Economy, there are over 678,000 immigrants in Michigan. Some of the state's largest and most vibrant communities are where a majority of immigrants call home, making up approximately 7% of Michigan's total population, with over 450,000 immigrants in Metro-Detroit, 72,500 in Grand Rapids and 28,700 in Ingham county.

Immigrants offer innovative ideas and create and fill in-demand jobs in Michigan. The top occupations in Michigan with the highest number of foreign-born workers are software developers, agricultural workers, physicians, physical therapists and postsecondary teachers.

In Michigan, and across the country, immigrants continue to grow business, and with over 36,000 immigrant entrepreneurs in Michigan, these businesses have contributed a total income of $1.2B. Their influence doesn't stop there, 33% of Michigan-based fortune 500 companies were either founded by an immigrant or by the child of an immigrant. Those firms generate $186.4B in annual revenue, and employ 400,000 people globally.

"We owe immigrants a great deal of gratitude because they have provided us with unique social and economic influences, which ultimately enhance the Michigan experience," Saad added.

Refugees living in the U.S. and several Michigan cities make tremendous contributions to our economy as earners, taxpayers and consumers just like immigrants, and to acknowledge their struggle and preserve their human rights, we celebrate June 20 as World Refugee Day in Michigan.

Join the conversation online using #CelebrateImmigrants and #ImmigrantHeritageMonth and visit Michigan.gov/ImmigrantHeritage for the digital toolkit.
Governor Whitmer Signs Executive Directive to Expand High-Speed Internet Access For Michiganders

Governor Whitmer Signs Executive Directive to Expand High-Speed Internet Access For Michiganders

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 2, 2021

Contact: press@michigan.gov

Governor Whitmer Signs Executive Directive to Expand High-Speed Internet Access For Michiganders

Creation of Michigan High-Speed Internet Office will bring high-speed internet access to more residents, homes, and small businesses across the state

LANSING, Mich. -- Governor Gretchen Whitmer today issued Executive Directive 2021-02 to help bridge the digital divide by establishing the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office (MIHI) to make high-speed internet more affordable and accessible. With high-speed internet becoming a necessity in our educational, professional, and personal lives, the new office will be dedicated to coordinating and advancing the State's efforts to ensure that every home and business in our state has access to an affordable, reliable high-speed connection that meets their needs and the skills to use it effectively. Governor Whitmer announced the new office at the Dick & Sandy Dauch Club, part of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan.

"COVID-19 has only confirmed how the lack of high-speed internet access can cause too many Michiganders to struggle in their ability to engage in online learning, to use telemedicine to seek needed healthcare, to search for a new job or to take advantage of all the online resources," said Governor Whitmer. "A fully connected Michigan is essential for our state to reach its economic potential in the 21st century global economy."

Over $2.5 billion in potential economic benefit is left unrealized each year due to the digital divide. The divide includes both the hundreds of thousands of households that have not yet been reached by high-speed internet infrastructure, as well as the estimated 865,000 households that are disconnected due to the cost of subscribing to service or purchasing an appropriate device, a lack of digital skills, or other related barriers.

"Internet access is the most critical, enabling infrastructure that we can invest in. Whether you're a student, an entrepreneur, a senior citizen, a farmer, a manufacturer, a job seeker, or any other Michigander, more opportunities and resources are available to you when you and your family are connected," said Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II. "There is bipartisan consensus that we need to close gaps in internet access and adoption. This is our generational opportunity to leverage the tremendous resources that are being made available at the federal level to develop the innovative partnerships that will achieve the goal of getting every home and business the high-speed connection they need."

MIHI will be housed inside the Dept. of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO). With its focus on aligning Michigan's economic and workforce development activities, LEO is well positioned to help MIHI develop the necessary infrastructure to bring service to each home and business in our state. MIHI will be responsible for developing the State's high-speed internet strategy and coordinating its funding and implementation. Under the directive, the department will designate a Chief Connectivity Officer to serve as head of the office.

"Expanding high-speed internet access and affordability will help ensure that Michigan remains a world leader in innovation," said LEO Acting Director Susan Corbin. "We need to make major investments to support digital inclusion and this office will be focused on leveraging every dollar available through the American Recovery Plan and other federal programs."

Gaps in high-speed internet availability, affordability, adoption, and use disproportionately impact communities of color, those in rural areas, and low-income households. Evidence demonstrates that increasing opportunities to get connected have a range of benefits, including:

Education

High-speed internet connections help students earn higher grades and build the digital skills they will need to succeed in higher education and the workforce. Students who miss out on digital skills are less likely to be interested in careers related to science, technology, engineering, and math. Regardless of socioeconomic status, students without a high-speed connection at home are less likely to attend college or university.

Health Outcomes Telemedicine has long been recognized as a way to increase access to care in areas where reaching a provider's office in-person can be challenging or to make it possible to consult with a specialist without having to travel to a major medical center. In addition, there is evidence that telemedicine reduces hospitalizations of nursing home patients and reduces health care costs.

Small Businesses

Small businesses that have websites have higher annual revenues and are more likely to have recently hired one or more employees than similar businesses that aren't online. Those that use social media weekly are three times more likely to have hired recently than those that don't.

Seniors

Increased access to the internet can help address issues of isolation among older adults. Studies have shown that isolation is associated with worse health outcomes and even premature death among adults age 50 and over.

Civic Engagement Broadband is essential for the modern electorate to have access to educational materials about candidates and issues on ballots, as well as information on voter registration and precinct locations.

Climate Change Advanced grid technologies such as sensors, advanced metering infrastructure, grid monitoring and control systems, and remote reconfiguration and redundancy systems will be used to detect and solve problems remotely.

Rural Development Gaining high-speed internet connections can help support economic development in virtually all sectors of rural economies, ranging from farming to manufacturing to tourism and recreation. Rural communities that lack connectivity struggle to recruit businesses and retain population.

"Affordable and reliable high-speed Internet access can provide new opportunities for Michiganders 50 and over to use telehealth and other technologies that improve the quality of life and enable more people to age in place, where they prefer to be," said Paula D. Cunningham, AARP Michigan State Director. "Broadband can support devices that make home health care a viable option for people with limited mobility or who live in rural areas far from health care facilities. Finally, increased access to the Internet, smart phones and computers can help address issues of isolation among older adults."

"As a nonprofit organization, Connected Nation Michigan has been working with the State since 2009 to help close the digital divide. I am excited for today's announcement, as so many previous efforts have recommended a state high-speed internet office and it has finally come to fruition," said Eric Fredrick, Vice President for Community Affairs for Connected Nation Michigan. "Having this single point of contact will help to create a more digitally equitable state and ensure every Michigander has what they need to succeed in a digital economy."

"Bridging the digital divide is a critical need for our state's rural communities, Main Street businesses and agriculture sector, and we appreciate Governor Whitmer's commitment to ensure state government is unified in its approach to tackling this challenge," said Chuck Lippstreu, president of the Michigan Agri-Business Association. "We look forward to working with the new Office of High-Speed Internet to share agriculture's unique perspective and do our part to connect Michigan."

The Michigan High-Speed Internet Office is just the latest effort from the Whitmer Administration to expand high-speed internet access and affordability. In October 2020, Governor Whitmer and Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist announced the formation of the Connecting Michigan Taskforce, an interagency working group that has helped align the efforts related to high-speed internet access across state agencies and departments.

That same month, Governor Whitmer also signed into law the Broadband Expansion Act of Michigan, which codified the Connecting Michigan Communities (CMIC) grant program that, to date, has announced $12.7 million in grant awards that will help connect more than 12,200 homes and businesses. Additional grant awards will be announced later this month. Earlier this year, the Michigan Infrastructure Council also launched the "Dig Once" Project Portal that is designed for infrastructure asset owners to document infrastructure and utility work, which will help improve coordination and was called for both in the 21st Century Infrastructure Commission Report published in 2016 and the Michigan Broadband Roadmap published in 2018.

During the Whitmer Administration, Michigan-based companies have secured significant federal grant funding, including $363 million through the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, $4.8 million through the FCC's COVID-19 Telehealth Program, and $32.6 million through the United States Department of Agriculture's ReConnect Program. $25 million in funding provided by the CARES Act was used to support device purchasing and distance learning, and another $29.75 million to establish an educational equity fund.

A copy of Executive Directive 2021-02 can be found here:

###
Virtual public meeting June 10 for I-696 project in Oakland County

Diane Cross, MDOT Office of Communications, 313-375-2454 Transportation

WHAT:

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is hosting a virtual public meeting to discuss an overview of a rebuilding project planned for I-696 between I-275 and Lahser Road in the cities of Farmington Hills and Southfield in late 2022 through 2024.

WHO:

MDOT representatives

Residents

Business owners

Community leaders

Media

WHEN:

5-6 p.m.

Thursday, June 10, 2021

WHERE:

Click here to join the Microsoft Teams meeting

Or call in (audio only): 248-509-0316

Phone Conference ID: 633 290 943#

Accommodations can be made for persons with disabilities and limited English-speaking ability. Large print materials, auxiliary aids or the services of interpreters, signers, or readers are available upon request. Please send a request at least five days prior to the event to:

Orlando T. Curry

425 W. Ottawa St.

Lansing, MI 48909

Phone: 517-241-7462

Fax: 517-335-0945

TTY: 844-578-6563

CurryO@Michigan.gov

Reasonable efforts will be made to provide the requested accommodation or an effective alternative, but accommodations may not be guaranteed.

BACKGROUND:

MDOT plans to rebuild I-696 between I-275 and Lahser Road, as well as replace the Pebble Creek and Rouge River bridges and perform preventive maintenance on 10 bridges within the project limits.

Attendees will be able to join the virtual meeting to hear more about the project plans, ask questions, and provide feedback.

Public input is being sought to help MDOT recognize and address any concerns that may result from the project. Please submit public comment by June 26 using the online comment form or by mail, e-mail or phone to MDOT Public Involvement Specialist and Hearings Officer Monica Monsma at MonsmaM@Michigan.gov or:

Monica Monsma

MDOT Environmental Services Section

Van Wagoner Transportation Building

425 West Ottawa St.

P.O. Box 30050

Lansing, MI 48909

Copies of the meeting presentation will be available by mail or e-mail. Contact

Monica Monsma at 517-335-4381 or MonsmaM@Michigan.gov to request a copy.
AG Nessel, Genesee Co. Sheriff and State Elected Officials Open Department of Attorney General Genesee County Expungement Fair

AG Nessel, Genesee Co. Sheriff and State Elected Officials Open Department of Attorney General Genesee County Expungement Fair

Lynsey Mukomel 517-599-2746 Attorney General

June 2, 2021

LANSING -- Attorney General Dana Nessel was joined today by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Congressman Dan Kildee and Genesee County Sheriff Christopher Swanson to give remarks at the opening of the Department of Attorney General Expungement Fair at the Genesee County Sheriff's Office in Flint.

The Department of Attorney General partnered with the Genesee County Sheriff's Office and others to host the department's first expungement fair. The event is being held outdoors today from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Sheriff's Office located at 1002 S. Saginaw Street in Flint.

"I am thrilled to see this event come together," said Nessel. "I was personally involved in crafting the bills that overhauled our state's expungement law, including eligible misdemeanor marijuana convictions. These changes offer an overdue second chance for residents who would otherwise have to carry the burden of a public criminal record well past the point of having paid their debt to society. I am thankful for the support and partnership of all involved and I am eager to help make a difference in the lives of eligible Michiganders."

The purpose of the event is to assist eligible individuals in obtaining expungements for misdemeanor marijuana convictions and provide information to individuals seeking expungement of other eligible misdemeanor and felony convictions.

"Operation Clean Slate marks the beginning of new chapters written in the lives of thousands around the State of Michigan," said Swanson. "Burdened by the stigmas of the past, yet today they walk away dignified, redeemed and wrapped in the warm blanket of freedom."

The Department of Attorney General developed an online questionnaire for individuals with convictions in Genesee County to access in order to be prescreened for participation in the expungement fair. Nearly 1,000 individuals submitted information via the department's website.

Individuals seeking to expunge eligible misdemeanor marijuana convictions under the law will receive assistance to finalize their applications. Individuals seeking expungement of other eligible misdemeanor and/or felony convictions under Michigan's newly expanded expungement law will have access to the materials and documents necessary to proceed with the application process.

Volunteer attorneys and staff from community organizations such as Legal Services of Eastern Michigan and Michigan Works will join with staff from the Department of Attorney General and personnel from the Genesee County Sheriff's Office to help fair participants navigate the expungement process.

"Today's event is the culmination of tireless efforts by so many people who have pushed hard to address the injustices plaguing our criminal justice system," said Whitmer. "Expungement is about second chances. It's also inextricably linked to economic opportunity, housing, education, and so many other issues impacted by someone's record. I was proud to sign Clean Slate legislation last year and grateful to see it having a real-world impact today. Together, we can continue making meaningful, bipartisan criminal justice reforms to empower every Michigander to pursue their potential as we emerge from the pandemic and turbocharge our economic recovery."

Michigan's new expungement law took effect on April 11, 2021. The law created a specific process to expunge certain offenses that are no longer crimes following passage of Proposal 1 in November 2018 that legalized the possession and use of recreational marijuana for adults in Michigan. Qualifying misdemeanor marijuana convictions may be expunged by individuals who complete a required application process.

"Today, thanks to our collaborative efforts, we are addressing disparities that have impacted generations of Michiganders, especially people of color," said Gilchrist. "Michigan's updated laws and events like today's will have an immense positive impact on hundreds of thousands of residents who have faced a confusing and expensive process to apply for an expungement. There is more work to do, but Michigan is proud to be a leader in removing barriers to economic opportunity for people who deserve a second chance."

The new expungement law also expands the number of other misdemeanor and felony convictions a person may expunge. An individual convicted of up to three felonies, except life offenses and other serious felonies, and an unlimited number of certain misdemeanors can, with some exceptions, file an application with the convicting court to expunge all his or her convictions. Individuals with more than three felony convictions on their criminal record are not eligible to seek expungements under the new law.

"Today's expungement fair allows those who have paid their debts to society a chance at a brighter future," said Kildee. "A criminal record for misdemeanor offenses like marijuana possession should not make it harder to find a good-paying job or affordable housing. I am thankful for Attorney General Nessel's leadership and partnership with local law enforcement to make today's expungement fair such a success. In Congress, I will continue to work on bipartisan criminal justice reform, including bipartisan legislation like the First Step Act to improve public safety and reduce recidivism."

Residents who participate in today's fair will also have an opportunity to drop by the Secretary of State's station at the event and register to vote.

"We are at our best as a society and strongest as a state when every citizen has a seat at the table and every voice is heard," said Benson. "I'm proud so many leaders are working to directly serve and support the many Michiganders seeking to contribute to our society as voters and engaged citizens, and ensure they have all the tools they need to effectively do so."

Vaccinations for COVID-19 will also be available at the event.

This expungement event is the first of several events the Department of Attorney General plans to host in the coming months. Individuals with convictions outside of Genesee County who are interested in obtaining more information about the expungement law and process, including application checklists, may do so online at the Department's expungement webpage.

Information regarding other expungement events will also be made available on the Department of Attorney General website.

###
MIDDLETOWN  A new documentary by a Woodbury high school student centers on the unsolved homicide of an 18-year-old Middletown athlete who disappeared while out jogging in July 1985.

Lisa Berry was found near her home a few days after she vanished, drowned in less than 3 feet of water in a construction hole. She was a talented member of the varsity track and field team, and had just accepted a scholarship to Amherst College.

Nicknamed Honey, Berry lived on Braeburn Lane in the Westfield area of the city. She went running about 5:30 p.m. on July 31, 1985, and was discovered three days later on a wooded trail near the Cromwell line. Police said no one has been arrested in the case.

The documentary, Family Struggles With 35-year-old Cold Case, published on the Nonnewaug High School Chief Advocate student news website, is the work of freshman and general assignment reporter Izzy DiNunzio, 16, who hopes to one day become a cold-case detective.

The project was created for her journalism class, DiNunzio said.

I was actually scrolling through the cold case cards when I stumbled across Lisas, she said.

Since 2010, the state Division of Criminal Justice has released four cold case playing card decks, with Berry featured in the second edition.

At first, I saw 18-year-old female, then 1985. I was like, wow, 35 years and this girls murderer hasnt been caught. I chose Lisas story because nobody deserves to be left without answers for that long, DiNunzio said.

Childhood friend Nadine Bailey said she thinks of Berry to this day. Lisa was a shining star, she said. She would have done amazing things, I just know it.

Middletown police say Berry said goodbye to her mother that evening and headed out from Braeburn Lane, turned on to Highlands Crescent and then right onto Westlake Drive. Along her path, Berry was seen by, and talked to, multiple people, authorities said.

At the time, police said, Westlake Drive was heavily wooded with only a few condominium complexes, and construction was underway on a new one. The Carriage Crossing Condos are located there now.

After being missing for a day, Berrys body was found by Westfield volunteer firefighters face down in a septic percolation hole filled with about 3 feet of water in the woods nearby, police said.

Berry was the first member of her family bound for college, her brother Bob Berry said in the documentary.

In an interview last year with Hearst Connecticut Media, Bob Berry said he was the one who identified his sisters body

Lisa Berry, the joy of our whole family, was buried on his birthday, Bob Berry told DiNunzio during their interview.

Berry is buried at Indian Hill Cemetery on Washington Street, according to Bailey.

Nearly 40 years later, Bob is still struggling, Bailey said.

The teen had stayed home from school that day because she wasnt feeling well, her brother said in the documentary. When she left, it was the last time he saw her, he told DiNunzio. She just never came back, he said.

The family called police to report her missing, but at the time, someone had to be missing for 24 hours before an investigation was launched, her brother said in the documentary.

She was the most beautiful person youd ever want to meet, he said last year. Anybody that met her walked away with a smile.

In the three decades since her death, both of Berrys parents died without knowing their daughters killer  father William M. Berry in 1988 at age 68, and mother Patricia Berry, 79, in 2011.

Izzy was a true joy to meet, and her heart for this case was a true blessing, Bailey said. I tried to take her back in the past 36 years ago to a different time, before cellphones and social media, to truly get a small glimpse into my sweet and special friend.

Bailey took DiNunzio to the Woodrow Wilson High School track and shared pictures of Berry. Loved by so many, she lived each day to the fullest in her 18 years here, Bailey said.

The tour ended at Indian Hill Cemetery. The day was beautiful, Bailey said. It rained and we knew God was shedding his tears with us.

In July 2015, Middletown police announced investigators had revived their search for the teens killer, following a federal court ruling that allows DNA previously not tested to be considered as new evidence.

In 2011, and then again in 2015, police sent evidence from the case to the state laboratory for analysis, hoping advances in DNA technology would turn up clues.

However, all tests came back inconclusive, Middletown Police Detective Elias Martz said last year. He took over the cold case in 2019.

Gone but never forgotten, Bailey said, memorializing her friend. You will be in our hearts forever.

Anyone with information is asked to call Martz at 860-638-4140. Police said anonymous tips will be protected.
RUTLAND, Vt. (AP)  A second man indicted over a failed plan to build a biotechnology plant in northern Vermont using millions of foreign investors money raised through a visa program changed his plea Wednesday, pleading guilty to two charges in a deal in which eight charges were dropped.

William Kelly, 72, was indicted last year on multiple fraud charges along with Miami businessman Ariel Quiros, the former owner of Jay Peak and Burke Mountain ski resorts in northern Vermont, and former Jay Peak president William Stenger. Kelly was an advisor to Quiros.

The indictment accused the men of conspiring to devise a scheme between 2011 and 2016 to defraud investors in the AnC-Bio project in Newport. The EB-5 visa program encourages foreigners to invest in U.S. projects that create jobs in exchange for a chance to earn permanent U.S. residency.

According to court records and proceedings, the AnC-Bio project was designed to raise $110 million from 220 immigrant investors to construct and operate the biotechnology facility. The investors could qualify for permanent resident status by investing $500,000 in an approved commercial enterprise.

In order to obtain a green card, each investor needed to demonstrate that the investment would create 10 jobs. About 169 investors invested about $85 million in the project, in addition to paying $8 million in administrative fees," the U.S. attorney's office said.

In a remote hearing, Kelly admitted that he and his co-conspirators misled AnC Vermont investors about how investor funds would be used, about how many jobs would be created by the project, and about the timeline for this job creation, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Kelly pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of concealment of material information. He also has agreed to cooperate with the investigation.

Kelly faces a maximum of three years in prison.

Quiros, of Key Biscayne, Florida, pleaded guilty last August to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and the concealment of material information. Nine other charges were dropped as part of the plea deal. Under the plea agreement, Quiros will serve just over eight years in prison and will be sentenced after Kelly and Stenger are sentenced if convicted. Stenger has pleaded not guilty.

___

Associated Press writer Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.
Evaly and Fair Electronics officials pose for a photo at a programme held recently in Dhaka. They organised the programme to celebrate the fact that in the last five months, Evaly has delivered one lakh units of Samsung products to customers across Bangladesh.  Press Release

In the last five months, the local e-commerce marketplace Evaly.com.bd has delivered different types of electronics products of Samsung brand, including televisions, refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners, to at least one lakh households across Bangladesh, said a press release.

Evalys customers across the country have received Samsungs products through home- delivery.

Evaly and Fair Electronics, an authorised manufacturer and distributor of Samsung products in Bangladesh, confirmed the information recently.

Evaly and Fair Electronics collaborate to deliver a wide range of Samsungs, a South Korea-based technology company, products to consumers at affordable prices.

As a result, Samsung announced the sale of products at attractive discounts for customers.

Mohammad Rassel, managing director and chief executive officer of Evaly, said People can easily order the desired product through Evaly. Evaly and Fair Electronics have delivered at least one lakh units of products to the customers in the last five months.

Mohammed Mesbah Uddin, chief marketing officer of Fair Group said, Fair Electronics is the proud manufacturer of Samsung Mobile and Electronics in Bangladesh. We are thankful and grateful to everyone for taking the products produced in Bangladesh. In the last five months we have delivered 1 lakh units of Samsung products to customers doorstep through Evaly.

Kazi Nasir Uddin, chief financial officer of Fair Group, said, Through Evaly, were getting more orders for Samsung items. Evaly and Fair Electronics are working together to complete the delivery within the stipulated time to ensure customer satisfaction.

Fair Group director Firoze Mohammad said, We are working with the government to build a digital Bangladesh and we are happy to take part in the digitisation of Bangladesh through Samsung technology.
DAKAR, Senegal (AP)  The African Union has suspended Mali and is threatening sanctions after the junta leader grabbed back control of the government last week, marking the second coup d'etat in only nine months.

The AU issued the threat late Tuesday when it announced Mali was suspended from all activities "until normal constitutional order has been restored in the country.
BEIJING  Fifteen more COVID-19 cases have been reported in the southern Chinese province of Guangzhou, with a report saying the coronavirus variant in the latest outbreak is more transmissible than in previous clusters in the country.

The city of Guangdong has locked down neighborhoods and requires anyone wishing to leave the province to show a negative virus test taken within the past 72 hours.

Respected business magazine Caixin quotes the chief infectious disease specialist at the hospital in Guangzhou where the latest cases are being treated as saying the patients are carrying a heavier viral load than in past, making it easier to pass the virus to others.

Guangdong, which borders on Hong Kong, has reported around 50 cases as of Thursday.

___

MORE ON THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

 Japan gives $800M to UN-backed COVID-19 vaccine program

 AstraZeneca starts deliveries of Thailand-made vaccines

 EU eyes revamp of ID check-free zone to improve travel flow

 Sinovac vaccine restores one Brazilian city to near normal

___

 Follow more of APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

___

HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

LOS ANGELES  The state of California has agreed to pay more than $2 million in legal fees in a settlement with churches that challenged pandemic closure orders.

Church lawyers who successfully took their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court said Wednesday that the state has agreed not to impose restrictions on houses of worship that are more stringent than those for retail businesses.

Several churches challenged Gov. Gavin Newsoms restrictions as violations of their First Amendment right to worship.

Newsoms office says the governor put the health of Californians first and the settlements provide clarity on how public health standards can be applied to churches.

___

UNITED NATIONS  The International Labor Organization says the COVID-19 pandemic has created an unparalleled global labor market crisis that will affect the job market for years.

The U.N. agency said in a report Wednesday an estimated 8.8% of total working hours were lost last year. It says that is the equivalent of the hours worked in one year by 255 million full-time workers.

The Geneva-based agency estimates that if there had not been a pandemic, the world would have created 30 million new jobs in 2020.

It says that this year, working hours lost corresponded to 140 million full-time jobs in the first quarter and 127 million in the current quarter.

The agency projects that an uneven economic recovery expected to begin in the second half of 2021 will create 100 million jobs this year and an additional 80 million in 2022. It says that is still short of pre-pandemic levels.

___

DENVER -- Colorado will give $50,000 scholarships to 25 students who have received coronavirus vaccinations in another incentive to get as many state residents vaccinated as possible.

Gov. Jared Polis said Wednesday that Colorado resident students ages 12 to 17 who have received at least one vaccine dose are eligible.

The Denver Post reports that those chosen in random drawings starting Monday can use their scholarships in the post-secondary educational institution of their choice, both inside and outside Colorado.

Polis previously unveiled a lottery to reward a total of five vaccinated residents $1 million each to promote coronavirus vaccinations. Money for the scholarship and lottery programs comes from federal coronavirus relief funds.

Several U.S. states, including Maryland, Ohio, New York and Oregon, have introduced vaccine-incentive lotteries.

___

NEW YORK  The worlds leading COVID-19 vaccines may offer lasting protection that diminishes the need for frequent booster shots.

Thats according to scientists, who are finding clues in how the body remembers viruses. But they say more research is needed and that virus mutations are still a wild card.

Critical studies are underway, and evidence is mounting that immunity from the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna doesnt depend exclusively on antibodies that dwindle over time. The body has overlapping layers of protection that offer backup.

Scientists do not yet know whats called the correlate of protection, the level below which antibodies cannot fend off the coronavirus without additional help. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. governments leading infectious disease expert, told a Senate subcommittee last week that vaccine protection would not be infinite.

Pfizer and Moderna officials have said people might need yearly shots, just like with flu vaccinations. The companies plan to have some candidates ready this fall. But companies wont decide when boosters get used. Thats up to health authorities in each country. Some experts say boosters may be needed only every few years.

___

SANTA FE, N.M. -- Each of New Mexicos 33 counties is now operating in the least-restrictive category when it comes to pandemic-related health mandates.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a new statewide public health order Wednesday as state officials pointed to a decreased risk of spreading COVID-19.

Absent the order, five counties would have slipped back into the more restrictive yellow category. Health officials reported an average of fewer than 100 cases each day over the long holiday weekend.

Lujan Grisham plans to end the states color-coded risk system at the end of the month as long as 60% of residents are fully vaccinated.

-

TORONTO  Canadas most populous province says schools will not reopen for in-person learning for the rest of the academic year.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says returning kids to schools will lead to thousands of news cases. He says schools will keep teaching students online this month. Schools across the province moved learning online in mid-April amid an escalating third wave of the coronavirus.

Cases have since declined and the province recently unveiled a reopening plan set to take effect in mid-June, but schools werent part of it.

The provinces top doctor, along with the vast majority of his regional counterparts and other experts, have said students should return to classrooms for their well-being. Ford sought advice on the matter last week and has spent the past few days coming up with his decision.

___

CHELSEA, Mass. -- Getting a coronavirus shot in Massachusetts could save residents a few dollars off their grocery bills, Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday.

Starting Thursday, shoppers who get their vaccine at clinics set up outside one of a select few Market Basket supermarkets in the state will get a $25 store gift card, the Republican governor said at a news conference in Chelsea.

We know these are convenient community locations. Theyre very heavily traveled, as anybody whos ever been to one knows, Baker said. The mobile vaccine clinics will be set up at Market Basket stores in Chelsea, Fall River, Lawrence, Lynn and Revere, some of the communities that suffered most during the pandemic. No appointments are necessary. Shots will be available Thursday, Friday and Saturday and again on June 10 to 12.

___

PARIS  French President Emmanuel Macron is moving up the COVID-19 vaccination schedule, saying youth ages 12 to 18 can get inoculations starting June 15.

The announcement came just three days after 18-year-olds began getting vaccinated. Frances vaccination campaign got off to a slow start but is moving full speed ahead. More than 40% of the population has received at least one injection.

Numbers of COVID-19 cases have fallen dramatically in recent weeks, along with deaths, leading to what Macron called reasonable optimism for the future as the nation reopens in phases. Outdoor cafe terraces opened last month and a nightly curfew was moved from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. In one week, the curfew will start at 11 p.m., when restaurants can seat clients indoors, with limits.

___

MADRID -- Spains government and regional authorities have agreed to allow some bars and night clubs to reopen, 10 months after they closed nationwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Authorities want coordinated national rules for easing lockdown restrictions over the summer. The new rules on re-openings hinge on regions coronavirus case rate per 100,000 population over 14 days and the number of available beds in local hospitals.

Health Minister Carolina Darias says low-risk regions could open their bars until 2 a.m. with 50% of indoor capacity. Patrons can consume food and drink only when seated, and bar owners must note the contact details of patrons in case of a later outbreak.

In higher risk regions, bars must remain closed. Currently, about half of Spains 17 regions meet the criteria for reopening bars and discotheques.

Spains virus incidence rate per 100,000 population over 14 days  a key pandemic metric is 118. Darias says one in five Spaniards have had both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. New deaths reported Wednesday took the countrys total to just over 80,000.

___

MINNEAPOLIS  Both Minneapolis and St. Paul are ending coronavirus mask requirements as vaccination rates improve.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey imposed the indoor mask mandate last spring, two months before Gov. Tim Walz issued a similar statewide mask order. Frey says the mandate was lifted because more than 78% of city residents age 15 and older have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. St. Paul officially ends its mandate Wednesday.

The statewide mask mandate ended May 14 shortly after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that fully vaccinated people no longer needed to wear masks.

___

LONDON  British health officials say three-quarters of the U.K.s adult population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

Figures released Wednesday show 75.2% of all people 18 and over have received a shot, and 49.5% have received both doses. Britain is racing to vaccinate all adults and curb a possibly more contagious variant that was first identified in India and is spreading across the U.K.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock says reaching the milestone less than six months after the first shot given in the U.K. on Dec. 8, was an incredible step forward.

Speaking as the U.K. hosted an international meeting to encourage vaccination, Hancock says a key to the high level of vaccine acceptance in the U.K. was ensuring the process was fair, by giving vaccines first to the elderly and those at most risk.

He says, We Brits love queuing and theres nothing more upsetting than someone jumping the queue.

___

LISBON, Portugal  Portugals government is urging everyone to get tested regularly for the coronavirus, even if they have no symptoms.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa says a requirement to wear masks indoors, and outdoors if a sufficient distance between people isnt possible, will remain in place because there is no certainty that vaccinated people dont transmit the coronavirus.

Although Portugal has significantly eased its limits on movements and gatherings after the pandemic ebbed, authorities are wary of possible new surges. Health experts say last months large street celebrations in the capital of Lisbon after a local soccer team won the national championship and the arrival of thousands of British tourists in the southern Algarve vacation region could trigger new surges.

Costa says the government still recommends working from home. Bars and night clubs will remain closed until at least the end of August.

Portugals coronavirus incidence rate per 100,000 population over 14 days  a key pandemic measure  stands at 64.

Nearly 40% of the population of 10.3 million has received a first vaccine and almost 20% has been fully vaccinated.

___

WASHINGTON  Free beer is the latest White House-backed incentive for Americans to get vaccinated for COVID-19. President Joe Biden is expected to announce a month of action on Wednesday to get more shots into arms before the July 4 holiday.

Biden is set to update the nation the vaccination roll-out and his plans to get 70% of adults partially vaccinated by Independence Day. Thats key to his goal of returning the nation to a pre-pandemic sense of normalcy this summer.

The latest vaccine incentive, provided by Anheuser-Busch, builds on others such as cash giveaways and sports tickets to keep up the pace of Americans getting shots.

To date 62.8% of the adult U.S. population have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 133.6 million are full vaccinated. The rate of new vaccinations has slowed again to an average below 600,000 per day.
LONDON (AP)  Three-quarters of Britain's adult population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, the government said Wednesday, as it warned that deadly misinformation was undermining the global inoculation effort.

The Department of Health said that 75.2% of people 18 and over in the U.K. have received a shot, and 49.5% are fully vaccinated after two doses.

Britain is racing to vaccinate all adults and curb a more contagious delta variant of the virus, which was first identified in India and is spreading rapidly in the U.K.

The U.K. has recorded almost 128,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest toll in Europe. A mass vaccination campaign that started in December has brought new infections and deaths down sharply, but confirmed cases are once again rising, though daily deaths remain low.

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock called the 75% milestone a big step forward, but he warned that a worldwide pandemic of misinformation threatened the vaccination campaign.

The speed of misinformation is a deadly threat, Hancock said at an international meeting organized by Britain to encourage vaccine uptake.

The one-day Vaccine Confidence Summit, attended virtually by diplomats, politicians and academics who included U.S. coronavirus response chief Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers of Disease Control.

Heidi Larson, a professor of anthropology who leads the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the pandemic had heightened issues around vaccine misgivings that had been brewing for a while.

COVID has laid bare a lot of underlying issues of trust and distrust Larson said, At the same time, the digital revolution sped information and misinformation around the world.

She said when European nations flip-flopped on administering AstraZeneca shots  which has been withdrawn or limited in some countries because of a link to rare blood clots  it shook the confidence of a number of African countries in the vaccine.

That global knock-on effect is another phenomenon were seeing in a different light, said Larson, who spoke at Wednesdays meeting.

She said the best thing governments could do was to bridge the massive divide in access to vaccines around the world.

Wealthy countries have scooped up hundreds of millions of doses, while supply problems and reluctance by nations, including Britain, to share doses before their own populations are fully inoculated has slowed a United Nations-backed effort to distribute vaccines to low- and middle-income countries.

Vaccine supplies will be high on the agenda when Hancock meets Thursday with health ministers from the Group of Seven rich nations at Oxford University, where the AstraZeneca vaccine was developed. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to host U.S. President Joe Biden and the other G-7 leaders at a summit in southwest England next week.

Britains government has faced strong criticism for missteps in handling the pandemic, including hesitation about putting the country into lockdown in March 2020 and testing failures that saw people with the virus released from hospitals to nursing homes, where thousands of residents died.

But its vaccination campaign has been widely praised. Britain secured early contracts for multiple vaccines  four of which have been approved for use  and has used medics, soldiers and volunteers to give more than 65 million doses at thousands of sites.

Hancock said Britain had bolstered vaccine confidence by using trusted voices  including naturalist David Attenborough and Queen Elizabeth II  to disclose that they had received a shot and to deliver a pro-vaccine message.

He said another key factor was ensuring the process was fair, by giving vaccines first to the elderly and those at most risk, then moving down the age groups in an orderly way.

We Brits love queuing, Hancock said. And theres nothing more upsetting than someone jumping the queue.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  Republicans who control the Legislature's budget-writing committee scrapped Gov. Tony Evers' plan Wednesday to hand the Department of Workforce Development $15 million to improve how it administers unemployment benefits.

The agency has been plagued by lengthy delays in getting checks to people who have lost their jobs since the COVID-19 pandemic began last year. According to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the department was taking two weeks to adjudicate applicants' eligibility details as of mid-May, up from nine days in the first week of March. Appeals were taking an average of 78 days to process as of mid-May, up from 74 days in the first week of March.

Evers' 2021-23 budget would have given the department $15 million to bolster administrative efforts and would have made the appropriation permanent going forward.

Republicans on the budget committee erased the proposal Wednesday. Committee co-chairman Rep. Mark Born told reporters before the vote that if Evers wants to improve unemployment benefit administration he should use federal aid. Wisconsin is in line to receive about $2.5 billion in pandemic relief funds under the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Evers' budget would have given the DWD nearly $80 million to modernize its computer system, but the provision was among hundreds of the governor's proposals that Republicans erased from the budget last month.

Republicans instead decided to prioritize training workers to help employers who insist they can't find enough employees as the state emerges from the pandemic. They voted Wednesday to boost funding for a program for vocational training for the disabled, and youth and adult apprentice programs.

They also inserted provisions in the budget that calls for the DWD to study whether it could adjust weekly unemployment benefits based on the state's unemployment rate and create a rule implementing drug testing for benefit applicants.

We have a workforce crisis on our hands, said Republican Rep. Shannon Zimmerman. We're making a difference. We're taking a step in the right direction to address the workforce (shortage)."

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos suggested earlier Wednesday that the state should do more to stop job applicants from skipping interviews. Republicans also have been pushing to end a $300 unemployment supplement they say encourages people to stay home.

Rep. Evan Goyke, a Milwaukee Democrat, said the Republican moves don't go far enough.

If theres a crisis and we need to take action, why arent you taking action? he said. Another missed opportunity.

In other actions Wednesday, Republicans on the committee:

 Killed a Democratic motion to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. Evers included the provision in his budget but Republicans on the committee erased it as they eliminated hundreds of the governor's proposals from the spending plan last month;

 Wiped out the governors plan to create $20 million in grants for food pantries and food banks;

 Approved spending $319,200 on body cameras for DNR wardens and data storage. The state Department of Administration estimates an individual camera costs about $1,000; the committees action would provide enough money to buy 145 cameras. Evers budget called for spending $406,000 to buy 290 cameras for wardens and cover data storage; and

 Raised the cost of a duck hunting stamp from $7 to $12 as Evers had proposed. The move comes as a national decline in duck hunting has led to reduced revenue for waterfowl conservation projects.

Rep. Mark Born, the committee's other co-chairman, told reporters that he expects the committee will finish its budget revisions in the next few weeks and that the Legislature will take floor votes by the end of June.

State law requires the new budget to be in place by the start of the next fiscal year on July 1, but that's largely a symbolic target. Funding for state agencies and programs will continue at current levels until Evers signs a new budget.
GUILFORD  State Sen. Christine Cohen said Wednesday that lawmakers will work in future sessions to clarify language in a bill providing tax breaks to the states shell fishers, after the measure was overwhelmingly approved last week despite concerns from some shoreline towns.

The bill, sponsored by Cohen, would expand the definition of farmland to include undersea shellfish beds and other waterfront properties used by shell fishers under a decades-old law that allows agricultural land to be taxed at lower rates. The House voted 140-4 last week to send the bill to Gov. Ned Lamont.

Advocates, including the Connecticut Farm Bureau, argued that the measure will treat shell fishers more fairly as compared to land-based farmers, and that it will provide a boost to commercial operations and the overall health of Long Island Sound.

This is a huge deal for aquaculture in the state, said Cohen, D-Guilford, cochairperson of the Environment Committee.

Push back, however, arose from questions about the cost to shoreline towns that stand to lose revenue under the measure.

Randy Collins, a lobbyist for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, said he requested a more detailed study of the bills cost after it was passed out of the Senate in April. That study was not done, however, and a fiscal impact prepared by legislative staff simply said that any potential reductions in revenue would not be felt until fiscal year 2023.

We never got any kind of resolution on our concerns, Collins said this week. No one was interested in amending [the bill] because it would have slowed it down.

A spokesman for Lamont said the governors office is still reviewing the bill, though Collins said he expected it to be signed given the overwhelming support in the legislature.

Cohen said Wednesday that she was in conversations with the Department of Agriculture in hopes that a signing ceremony could be held at one of the states commercial shellfish operations along the coast.

State Rep. Anne Hughes, D-Easton, one of four Democrats who voted against the bill in the House, said her concerns hinged on the potential environmental impacts from the legislation.

I know its a short-term win for the shell-fishing community, but we have to consider the climate crisis, Hughes said.

Collins said his biggest concern with the bill was language that included waterfront properties used by shell-stock shippers under the expanded definition of farm property eligible for tax breaks. Such a definition, he said, blurred the line, between purely agricultural land and properties used by companies that ship agricultural products.

Under a state law enacted in 1963, farmland and other open spaces used for agriculture are taxed at lower use rates rather than at their fair market value. Collins said that taxing underwater shellfish beds at similarly favorable rates would not be in conflict with the intention of the law  or of great concern to most towns  though he said the inclusion of waterfront property was akin to extending the tax break to milk-truck drivers and other nonfarmers.

Asked about concerns raised by CCM, Cohen said that the bill was never intended to include shipping and delivery companies that do not cultivate their own products, and that lawmakers would seek to add language in future sessions clarifying that.

This is not for, say, a fish company that imports their shellfish and then ships them, Cohen said.

According to a press release put out by Cohens office in April, Connecticuts shellfish industry generates $30 million each year and employs roughly 300 people.

There are also more than 60 shellfish shipping and packing companies in the state, according to records from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, with major bases of operation in Norwalk, Stratford, Guilford and Branford.
MIDDLETOWN  A couple was in custody Tuesday night after a 4-year-old boy was found safe soon after an Amber Alert was issued for him, police said.

The Middletown child, Armel Muhammed, was found safe at a 5th Avenue Motel in Wethersfield, police said.

Middletown police said Mario Jenkins, the childs uncle, had been entrusted with his care. When Jenkins went to work, the child was in the care of Stephanie Fonda, a family friend, police said.

Fonda, 39, had taken Jenkins car without his permission, according to police. Police said she was last seen driving a 2010 Chevy Malibu and was believed to be with her husband, 37-year-old David Fonda.

Police said David and Stephanie Fonda were in custody Tuesday night and charges were expected to be filed by New Britain police.

The child had been last seen in New Britain Monday around 9 p.m., according to police. Middletown Police had been notified the child was missing Tuesday around 3:20 p.m., a release read.

Amber Alerts are typically issued when law enforcement believe a child has been abducted and there is imminent danger, according to the Department of Justice.

Before the child was found, Middletown police spokesperson Lt. Brian Hubbs said he didnt know of any specific danger to the child. In an update to press streamed by NBC Connecticut, police said the boy would be sent to a hospital as a safety precaution, to make sure the child is OK.
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  Michigan businesses with COVID-19 safety protocols could seek a refund for sales taxes paid on personal protective equipment, disinfectants and plexiglass barriers under bills nearing the desk of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The Senate unanimously approved the Republican-sponsored legislation Wednesday. It previously cleared the House but goes back for a final vote because changes were made.

The sponsor, Rep. Jim Lilly of Ottawa County's Park Township, has said the cost of protective equipment is among challenges businesses face in the coronavirus pandemic. The tax break would apply both in the future and retroactively  to March 10, 2020.

"With this legislation, we have a fantastic opportunity to help, Lilly said in March. "Keeping people safe should not be a barrier to keep a business open, earning a living, and keeping our economy and communities strong.

The nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency says the bills would reduce sales and use tax revenue to the state's multibillion-dollar general and school aid funds by an unknown and potentially significant amount. It estimates the impact at more than $18 million annually but says that likely does not include items such as antibacterial soap, disinfectants and hand sanitizers.

It is not clear if the Democratic governor will sign the measures, which are supported by the business lobby.

"The Michigan Department of Treasury took no position, as it was considered pandemic relief," agency spokesman Ron Leix said. With an estimated impact to be $18.5 million, we indicated that the bills needed to part of a budget conversation and fully funded.

___

Follow David Eggert at https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00
UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, on Wednesday cleared its position regarding protection and assistance towards Rohingyas both in Coxs Bazar and Bhasan Char, saying that they would continue to be present in various places around the country indicating the inclusion of Bhasan Char.

The government has made a very important investment in Bhasan Char. Bhasan Char is a much better place than Coxs Bazar camps, Raouf Mazou, UNHCR assistant high commissioner for operations, told reporters after their meeting with foreign minister AK Abdul Momen.

He said that they were with the government of Bangladesh and they always worked with the government. Were present in Coxs Bazar. Well continue to be present in various places around the country and will work with the government to ensure assistance to refugees.

Raouf said anybody may feel isolated in Bhasan Char but they must have economic activities apart from education and healthcare facilities.

Gillian Triggs, the assistant high commissioner for protection, said they were here to work and support the government in ensuring the protection of these Rohingyas.

The UNHCR official said that was the mandate from the United Nations, and they did so under that mandate.

Its the biggest refugee camp in the world. We fully support the prime minister, Sheikh Hasinas, policy, Gillian said, adding that the aim is to see repatriation.

Appreciating the prime ministers leadership, she said the UNHCR has been grateful for generous hospitality of Bangladesh for many decades, including a big burden in the last four years. They should go home.

On the third country settlement, the UNHCR officials said there was an opportunity for a third country settlement that can be explored  small numbers  but it is not a long-term solution.

Foreign minister Momen said they had been trying hard for repatriation of Rohingyas as Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas.

Its almost four years, he said, adding that the UNHCR officials saw the plight of Rohingyas who are very frustrated due to delay in repatriation.

The foreign minister urged the UNHCR to give more focus on Rakhine State and take Rohingya leaders to Rakhine to allow them to see the situation there.

Momen said Rohingyas want economic activities and money to live on.

The foreign minister said the military government might listen to the UN if much pressure is given resulting in a hope for repatriation.

During the UNHCR senior officials visit to Bhasan Char, a large number of Rohingya gathered together and expressed their frustration.

The two senior officials of the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, arrived here on Sunday on a four-day visit and saw the Rohingya situation both in Coxs Bazar Rohingya camps and Bhasan Char.

In absence of any progress in repatriation, they expressed desperation to get out of the present situation and requested to consider relocation to a third country, said the ministry of foreign affairs.

The Rohingyas demanded the UNs presence in Bhasan Char to ensure facilities such as education, livelihood activities, skill development etc, MoFA said.

They also confirmed to the AHCs that their relocation to Bhasan Char was completely on a voluntary basis.

In recent times, there have been a number of important visits to Bhashan Char, including the visits of the OIC assistant secretary general, the 18-member UN team and most recently a group of Ambassadors.

During all these visits, the Rohingyas spontaneously and happily interacted with the visiting guests both in informal and formal settings.

The MoFA said Rohingyas are Myanmar nationals and any arrangement for them in Bangladesh; be it in Coxs Bazar or in Bhasan Char; is purely on a temporary basis until they return to their country.

The Rohingyas also want to return to their homeland and all including the UNHCR need to work constructively to that end, said the ministry.

The UN is expected to assume their responsibility and operate within their mandate taking into account the ground reality and concerns of the host community, Bangladesh says.

The government of Bangladesh, on its part, is ready to address any realistic needs and concerns of the Rohingyas, said the foreign ministry.
Scientists have found clues that the worlds leading COVID-19 vaccines offer lasting protection that could diminish the need for frequent booster shots, but they caution that more research is needed and that virus mutations are still a wild card.

Critical studies are underway, and evidence is mounting that immunity from the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna does not depend exclusively on antibodies that dwindle over time. The body has overlapping layers of protection that offer backup.

Pfizer and Moderna have fueled booster questions by estimating that people might need yearly shots, just like with flu vaccinations, and the companies are working to have some candidates ready this fall. But companies will not decide when boosters get used. That will be up to health authorities in each country.

Other experts say boosters may be needed only every few years.

I would be surprised if we actually needed a yearly booster shot, said Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine specialist at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia who advises the Food and Drug Administration.

They point to ways the immune system remembers the coronavirus so that once original antibodies fade, the body's defenses can swing back into action if a person is exposed again.

Im pretty optimistic. I wouldnt rule out the need for boosters, but the immune response so far looks actually quite impressive, University of Pennsylvania immunologist John Wherry said.

Antibodies that form after vaccination or natural infection do wane naturally, but there's evidence that those levels remain strong for at least six to nine months after mRNA vaccination and possibly longer. They also appear effective against worrisome virus mutants, at least for now.

Scientists do not yet know what's called the correlate of protection, the level below which antibodies cannot fend off the coronavirus without additional help.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. governments leading infectious disease expert, told a Senate subcommittee last week that vaccine protection would not be infinite.

I would imagine we will need, at some time, a booster, Fauci said. What were figuring out right now is what that interval is going to be.

To date, 62.8% of the adult U.S. population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 133.6 million, or more than 40 percent, are full vaccinated. The rate of new vaccinations has slowed to an average below 600,000 per day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats closing in on President Joe Bidens goal of 70% with at least one inoculation by July 4.

Infections and deaths continue to fall. The nation's seven-day average for daily new cases fell to less than 17,300 on Tuesday, down from more than 31,000 two weeks ago. Daily deaths declined to 588, down from 605, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In all, the virus has killed more than 595,000 people in the U.S.

So-called long-lived plasma cells are one of the body's backups. Immunologist Ali Ellebedy at Washington University in St. Louis found that nearly a year after people recovered from mild COVID-19, those plasma cells had migrated to the bone marrow where they were continuing to secrete antibodies. Thats why although antibodies do diminish with time, they have not disappeared.

Now Ellebedy is hunting for the same cells in vaccine recipients, and while the research isnt finished, hes finding hints that they're forming.

An even more important backup system comes in the form of memory B cells. If existing antibodies are not enough to stop the coronavirus, memory B cells are poised to churn out large numbers of new antibodies, Ellebedy explained. Numerous studies have found those memory cells after COVID-19 vaccination.

And if the virus makes it past those defenses, yet another immune branch  the memory T cells  jumps in to eliminate infected cells and prevent severe illness.

With different coronaviruses that cause common colds, people tend to get re-infected every two to five years, Wherry noted.

Based on natural immunity against those related viruses, we are sort of expecting our immunity may decline, he said. But we don't know. For these mRNA vaccines, we may be doing better than nature, better than a natural infection.

So far, health authorities agree that the most common COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. and Europe protect against the virus mutations that are currently circulating, though not as strongly as they guard against the original virus.

Why? The vaccines mimic the protein that covers the outer surface of the coronavirus, and only certain spots of that protein are mutating, said FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks. The mRNA vaccines in particular make antibody levels skyrocket after the second dose. Those levels are so high that they offer some protection even when the vaccine and the variant are not a perfect match.

With so many people still unvaccinated, opportunities abound for more mutations to occur. The biggest sign that a booster might be necessary would be a jump in COVID-19 cases in fully vaccinated people, especially severe illnesses and especially if the infections are caused by a new variant.

To get ready, people vaccinated a year ago as part of the first Pfizer and Moderna vaccine trials now are being enrolled in studies of additional shots  either a third dose of the original or versions that have been updated to match a variant that first emerged in South Africa. Moderna says preliminary findings are promising. More results are due this summer.

The National Institutes of Health also just began testing a system in which patients are given a different brand of booster than their original vaccination, to see if it is effective.

Most of the world's population has yet to receive a first dose. With different countries using different kinds of vaccines, decisions on booster shots may vary widely. Already, the United Arab Emirates has offered a third dose to recipients of a Chinese-made shot, the first formal introduction of any kind of booster.

If boosters eventually are called for, they will not be needed all at once because antibodies fade gradually rather than disappearing suddenly.

Even if we require boosters or get to the point where we see immunity waning a little bit, we still are going to be far better off than we were a year ago, Wherry said.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The U.S. Air Force will not devote funding toward the MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopter in its fiscal 2022 budget request because of a Federal Aviation Administration certification problem, service officials say.

The service will delay asking lawmakers for funding for the helicopter, which is scheduled to replace its UH-1N Huey, until next year, said Carlos Rodgers, the deputy for budget at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller.

"We are deferring the procurement of the MH-139 until 2023," Rodgers told reporters during a briefing Friday. "It's not in the budget in FY22 due to an FAA certification issue that we have experienced."

Read Next: Gadsden Flag Patch on Airman's Uniform Wasn't Authorized, Officials Say

In September 2018, the service picked Boeing Co. to build the replacement for the Huey, at a cost of approximately $2.38 billion. The service plans to buy 84 MH-139 aircraft.

Last year, the Air Force requested $212 million for the first low-rate initial production of eight MH-139 helicopters, manufactured in partnership with Leonardo. The aircraft is based on the AW-139, Leonardo's commercial version of the helicopter.

Air Force officials on Friday did not disclose the reason for the certification delays.

The service took delivery of its first MH-139 at Duke Field, Florida, in December 2019. The helicopter will be used for aerial protection of missile sites under Air Force Global Strike Command. The command's Detachment 7 is at Duke Field to support testing and evaluation of the new helicopter.

Military pilots began flight training in early 2019 on the commercial AW-139 to receive certification to fly the military helicopter. In February 2020, the service completed its first combined test flight of the multi-mission helicopter with a Boeing pilot at the helm.

But last June, Inside Defense reported that the MH-139 had not obtained another crucial FAA certification that dictates when the aircraft can begin additional military flight tests. That same month, the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, issued a report stating the helicopter's final speed and range requirement may not be met because of its weight.

"The program completed its critical design review in June 2019 -- five months ahead of schedule," the GAO said in the report. "However, the helicopter, as it is currently designed, may not be able to meet all performance requirements if the final weight of the aircraft exceeds design parameters.

"If an appropriate weight is not achieved, the aircraft may not be able to meet requirements for speed or range," it added.

The GAO said Boeing had noted that the FAA could require additional testing -- resulting in potential schedule delays and increased costs -- to demonstrate the engine's power before it can certify the helicopter's airworthiness.

Responding to the report at the time, Air Force spokeswoman Maj. Cara Bousie told Defense News the Air Force "does not anticipate additional testing will be required to demonstrate engine power" after discussing the matter with the FAA.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.

Related: More Than a Decade Later, the Air Force Finally Picks a Huey Replacement
A bill sponsored by a Marine veteran in Congress could bring Department of Veterans Affairs benefits closer to Native American veterans at Tribal Colleges and Universities, or TCUs.

The Native VetSuccess at Tribal Colleges and Universities Pilot Program Act , H.R. 2878, passed the House and was referred to the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on May 19. The bill would increase funding for the Veteran Technology Education Course, or VET TEC, program; bolster student veteran housing benefits; and enable partnerships between the VA and nonprofit organizations, states, tribes and localities to fight veteran homelessness.

Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., reintroduced the bill in the House on April 28, along with co-sponsors Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D.; Rep. Tom O'Halleran, D-Ariz.; and Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla.

"H.R. 2878 helps us keep our promise to Native veterans, a group that has fought for this country in every war since the American Revolution," Gallego, a Marine Corps combat veteran and member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a statement after the bill passed that chamber. "I am proud to have worked across the aisle to assemble this legislative package to help improve access to economic and educational opportunities for veteran communities. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to get it signed into law."

Approximately 14,627 active-duty service members identify as American Indian or Alaska Native, according to a 2019 demographics report from the Defense Department.

O'Halleran told Military.com that Native American vets have played a vital role in the U.S. military.

"Our veterans have done so much for our country, and Native Americans have had the highest level of participation in our military on a per capita basis throughout America's history," he said. "We need to acknowledge that, but the best thing we can do for our veterans is to make sure they're highly educated, and help them and their families out."

O'Halleran represents Arizona's 1st Congressional District, where 22.3% of residents are Native American, according to 2018 data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

"We have veterans that have to travel five hours one way to get care and then turn around and go five hours back in the same day," O'Halleran told Military.com. "Even with the added funding that we've seen, it still hasn't gotten to a level where a veteran, whether on tribal lands or in rural America, is getting treated the same as a veteran in urban environments. They need to be able to get the benefits that they deserve."

Native American veterans face unique challenges as they transition from military to civilian life, Johnson said in a statement to Military.com.

"Currently, at TCUs, there is no specific programming to help Native Veterans make the transition from active duty to college life," he said. "By expanding the already successful VetSuccess on Campus program to TCUs, Native veterans will be able to access on-campus benefits assistance and counseling that other veterans currently benefit from."

Johnson said he decided to co-sponsor the bill because "educational  programs are critical to the long-term success of our Native veterans."

Moving forward, O'Halleran said that the government "needs to understand that they have to get out there" and proactively reach out to Native veterans.

"There's a fairness issue, and we need to make sure that people start to understand that we have to reach out to our veterans. You can't just sit in Phoenix or Tucson and say, 'Oh, we have a hospital here, or we have a program here," he said. "We need to continue down the path of treating our veterans in these tribal and rural areas to the same level as we treat people in the rest of America."
The crew of a C-17 Globemaster III observed flying over Ireland last month on an alleged sightseeing tour had filed that flight plan with the Air Force and local air traffic control, according to officials.

The C-17, assigned to March Air Reserve Base, California, made headlines overseas after aircraft spotters -- and some disgruntled citizens -- noticed the massive aircraft moving through Irish airspace May 18. According to The Irish Mirror, the pilot, a native of the area, wanted to descend low to give his crew a glimpse of his hometown, as well as a few other locations such as the Cliffs of Moher.

"I am a native of Longford, Ireland, and so we are just giving everybody out here a little hello from us," the pilot is heard saying over the air traffic control recording, the Mirror reported.

Read Next: Iran's Largest Warship Catches Fire, Sinks in Gulf of Oman

Despite claims that the transport crew disrupted air traffic for their "joyride," they did not deviate from the flight plan already filed and maintained radio contact with either Shannon or Dublin air traffic control for the duration of the flight, said Maj. Perry Covington, a spokesman for March.

"The crew was on a mission approved by Air Force Reserve Command and flying on an approved flight plan," Covington said Tuesday. The crew had requested an altitude change to fly lower, but they did not do so in accordance with safety protocols, he added.

Following the news reports, Air Mobility Command leadership had questions for the crew, but Covington said he was unaware of any official investigation into their conduct.

There were four pilots, two loadmasters and a member from the base maintenance group acting as the flying crew chief on board, he said.

According to the Single Mobility System, a web-based portal that tracks mobility assets, the flight plan recorded the crew leaving March; stopping in Bangor, Maine, for fuel; and then landing in Casement Aerodrome, also known as Baldonnel, a military air base southwest of Dublin, Covington said.

The C-17 -- call sign SLAM69 -- eventually touched down at Scotland's Glasgow Prestwick Airport, where it remained overnight. The crew had diplomatic clearance to land in both locations, Covington said.

"It is standard procedure for a training mission to go into more than one airfield so our pilots can become proficient in flight planning, landing and taking off from unfamiliar fields," he said in an email. "It is also standard for a crew on an operational mission in the C-17 to make multiple stops. This training mission mirrored what could be a standard duty day and pace that our C-17 crews could expect on an operational mission."

The following day, the crew flew a local mission out of Prestwick; returned to Prestwick for a second night's stay; and finally headed to Bangor for a fuel stop before returning to March.

Eoin O Broin, an Irish Sinn Fein member of parliament whose district includes Baldonnel, told the Mirror that several of his constituents had complained about the C-17. He said he would make inquiries with Defence Minister Simon Coveney about the aircraft's "noisy" arrival.

In 2019, a C-17 out of Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, broke diplomatic protocols to land at Shannon to transport a badly wounded sailor to University Hospital Limerick, about 30 minutes from that airport.

Prestwick itself has seen increased U.S. military flight traffic in recent years.

According to data provided by Air Mobility Command, there was an uptick of cargo aircraft, primarily C-17s, stopping there between 2015 and 2019. AMC aircraft landed at Prestwick 936 times during that time, including 659 overnight stays in the area, officials said in 2019.

Sending traffic to Prestwick has taken some strain off bases such as Ramstein, Germany, which typically sees heavy cargo aircraft and tanker traffic, and Lakenheath, England, which hosts an abundance of fighter aircraft, an instructor pilot who flies mobility aircraft told Military.com in 2019.

"If the main military bases are at capacity, then lower-priority missions will be pushed to locations like Prestwick to ensure they can keep moving and not [have to] wait for openings at the military bases," the instructor pilot said. "And the United Kingdom is accommodating with Diplomatic Clearance, whereas other countries, [it] requires days to weeks advanced coordination, and other airports may not have the ability to handle the volume or flexibility required for AMC missions."

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @oriana0214.

Related: Air Force Defends C-17 Crew's Stopover at Scotland Trump Resort
The Coast Guard would receive only a 2% increase under President Joe Biden's proposed fiscal 2022 budget, with less funding for non-mandatory expenses, or discretionary spending, than it received last year from Congress.

But a planned 6% increase in the service's critical operations and support budget is a boost service officials say they need to address immediate issues such as maintenance backlogs.

Under the Department of Homeland Security's $52.2 billion 2022 budget plan released Friday, the Coast Guard has requested $13.1 billion, including $10.9 billion for discretionary funding.

The proposal also includes funding for shore facility improvements in Charleston, South Carolina; Kodiak, Alaska; Cape May, New Jersey; and Honolulu, Hawaii, as well as new housing in Portage, Michigan. And it supports a 2.7% pay increase for active-duty Coast Guard members -- the same as in the Department of Defense budget for DoD service members.

Read Next: Air Force's 'Grey Wolf' Huey Replacement Helicopter Goes Unfunded in DoD Budget Request

The amounts are higher than last year's budget request under President Donald Trump, who requested $12.33 billion in overall funding and $10.24 billion in discretionary spending for the service.

Late last year, however, Congress increased the service's discretionary funds to $10.98 billion to improve Coast Guard housing and upgrade the service's aging technology and communications systems. With that increase, the fiscal 2022 budget proposal asks for 0.06% less in discretionary spending than the service received last year.

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz has sounded an alarm on the effects that budget control measures had on the service from 2012 to 2019, forcing the Coast Guard to choose between supporting operations or conducting maintenance and repairs.

During a speech at the Surface Navy Association's annual symposium in January, Schultz said the service needs "a booster shot of sorts, about $900 million to $1 billion to address our most pressing needs."

During his annual state of the Coast Guard address, he specified that the service must have sustained growth of 3% to 5% in its operations and support budget -- which covers operations; command, control and communications; contingencies and disasters; shore infrastructure; and additional personnel -- to maintain readiness.

The Biden proposal meets that request, increasing spending in that category by 6.3%, to $535 million.

"The Coast Guard's fiscal 2022 President's Budget provides a critical increase to operations and support funding to address the service's immediate readiness concerns, including depot-level maintenance backlogs," said spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Brittany Panetta in a statement Tuesday.

The budget proposal includes $1.64 billion for procurement, construction and improvements,

$620 million less than it received last year and $130 million less than it was awarded in fiscal 2020.

The procurement account includes $170 million for management and long-lead time materials for the Polar Security Cutter program to prepare for construction of two ships; $597 million to build the service's fourth offshore patrol cutter and materials for a fifth; and $15 million for sustaining the Polar Star, the service's only currently running heavy icebreaker.

The procurement budget also includes $221 million to sustain aviation assets, including more than $85 million to adapt or modernize HC-27J Spartan cargo aircraft and HC-130 Hercules aircraft for Coast Guard use; $102.8 million to upgrade MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters; and $32 million to sustain the service's MH-65 Dolphin helicopter fleet.

The budget also calls for $500,000 for unmanned aerial systems for the service's national security cutters.

"The [budget] maintains momentum on the offshore patrol cutter and polar security cutter -- the service's two highest acquisition priorities," Panetta said. "[It] provides critical investments to grow the MH-60 fleet; sustain operational capability; recapitalize aging infrastructure and IT systems; and recruit, train and retain a diverse workforce."

In a letter accompanying the Coast Guard's budget release, Schultz cautioned that the service may soon face difficulties responding to disasters, such as those seen during the 2020 hurricane season, and "adequately conducting our statutorily mandated missions."

But, he said, the request is a "direct reflection of continued focus and commitment to ensuring U.S. Coast Guard readiness."

"I'm certain that with the continued support of Congress, the Coast Guard will remain Semper Paratus -- Always Ready," Schultz wrote.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

Related: Coast Guard Grounds Some Search-and-Rescue Helicopters As It Struggles to Find Spare Parts
The Army on Tuesday evening said it is not investigating recent comments by retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn that seemed to endorse a Myanmar-style coup in the United States.

Flynn, who briefly served as former President Donald Trump's national security adviser, made his comments Sunday while on stage at a "For God & Country Patriot Roundup" conference in Dallas. The event was attended by adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory and many who support the unfounded belief that the presidential election was stolen from Trump.

A video of the conference shows an audience member asking Flynn, "I want to know why what happened in Myanmar can't happen here?"

Cheers erupted from the crowd, and Flynn responded, "No reason. I mean, it should happen here. No reason. That's right."

Read Next: Air Force's 'Grey Wolf' Huey Replacement Helicopter Goes Unfunded in DoD Budget Request

Myanmar's military seized control of the country in a coup d'etat Feb. 1, returning the country to military rule. Violence has since erupted as Myanmar's military seeks to put down a protest movement. The New York Times reported that thousands have been injured and more than 600 killed in the violence.

Flynn reportedly walked back his comments Monday. CNN reported that a message posted to the social media website Parler from an account used by Flynn said that his words had been misinterpreted.

"Let me be VERY CLEAR -- There is NO reason whatsoever for any coup in America, and I do not and have not at any time called for any action of that sort," CNN quoted the message as saying.

Criticism of Flynn erupted swiftly after footage of his original comments spread online, including from some Republicans. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., tweeted a story Monday about Flynn's comments and wrote, "No American should advocate or support the violent overthrow of the United States."

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Air National Guard lieutenant colonel and Illinois Republican, tweeted another story about Flynn's comments Monday and said, "Wow. NO. We will defend our Constitution."

Kinzinger then suggested he might investigate potential consequences for Flynn's comments. A person responded to Kinzinger and asked whether Flynn is immune from military punishment because he is now a civilian.

Kinzinger replied, "Depends if he has a pension. Not sure but I certainly will explore."

When asked whether the Army was reviewing or otherwise investigating Flynn's comments, Army spokesman Lt. Col. Gabriel Ramirez told Military.com the service is aware of his statements. But, he added, "The Army is not investigating these statements further at this time."

When asked at a press briefing Tuesday if the military plans to recall Flynn to active duty and court-martial him over his comments, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said he knows of no plans or interest in the Defense Department to do so.

He declined to offer a comment specifically on Flynn's remarks.

Recalling retirees to active duty for a court-martial remains a rarity, reserved for the most serious crimes. But even in the most high-profile Article 32 hearing of a general officer in the past decade -- the case against retired Army Maj. Gen. James Grazioplene, who was charged with sexually abusing his daughter in the 1980s -- he was not recalled. An Army judge later dismissed the charges, citing a statute of limitations on the charges.

Cases challenging the military's authority to court-martial retirees are currently winding their way through the court system, including United States v. Begani and Larrabee v. Braithwaite.

-- Patricia Kime contributed to this story.

-- Stephen Losey can be reached at stephen.losey@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StephenLosey.

Related: Top Military Court Considers Challenge to DoD's Authority to Court-Martial Some Retirees
WASHINGTON  A judge has thrown out a lawsuit from a former Marine who was jailed in Iran for more than four years and then denied a multimillion-dollar payout from a special U.S. government victims' fund after an FBI espionage investigation into his travels.

Judge Richard Hertling of the Court of Federal Claims said in a ruling dated Friday that the court lacked jurisdiction to overturn decisions of the special master who oversees the fund. A lawyer for Amir Hekmati said Tuesday that he was disappointed by the ruling.

We will, of course, pursue a prompt and vigorous appeal, and we are confident that ultimately the facts will prevail, said the attorney, Scott D. Gilbert.

Hekmati, who in 2016 was released as part of a prisoner swap, was initially awarded a default judgment after Iran failed to contest his allegations that he was wrongfully imprisoned and brutally tortured there on suspicion that he had been spying for the CIA.

Such awards are made from a fund for victims of state-sponsored terrorism that is administered by the Justice Department through a special master and that caps payments at $20 million, the amount Hekmati and his lawyers say he was entitled to receive.

He was told in late 2017 that his claim was eligible for payment from the fund. But no money came, and the Justice Department told Hekmati's lawyers in 2019 that it planned to reconsider its earlier position that Hekmati was eligible for an award. Kenneth Feinberg, renowned for overseeing payments to victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, was reappointed special master of the fund for the purpose of reconsidering Hekmati's claim.

In January 2020, he told Hekmati's lawyers that he had concluded that Hekmati was ineligible for a payout. He cited documents revealing a decade-old FBI espionage investigation into whether Hekmati had traveled to Iran with the intent of selling classified information.

Feinberg said the records raised questions about whether Hekmati had misled the U.S. government when he said his primary purpose in traveling to Iran was to visit his ailing grandmother.

Hekmati has vigorously disputed the espionage suspicions and has never been charged.

Lawyers for Hekmati, who was raised in Michigan and served as an infantryman and interpreter in Iraq before being honorably discharged from the Marines in 2005, say any suggestion he could have been a spy for Iran is impossible to square with the way he was imprisoned and tortured there. They note that he was initially awarded payment from the fund well after the FBI investigation was underway, and that he's never faced any charges.

The judge's 18-page order did not delve into the specifics of the dispute and instead simply turned on a legal question of jurisdiction.

The special master administers the Fund, and only the special master has the authority to determine when a claim is an eligible claim, Hertling wrote.

Hekmati's lawyers plan to keep fighting before a federal appeals court to reverse what Gilbert described as the Justice Departments disgraceful attempt to deny him the compensation to which he is clearly entitled.

Make no mistake, Amir Hekmati is an American hero, and the actions of our Department of Justice in this matter are anathema to everything we hold dear and that Amir and all other members of our armed forces risk their lives for every day. Gilbert said in a statement. "We will never stop until justice for Amir Hekmati has been achieved.

This article was written by ERIC TUCKER from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.
TOKYO  The new head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command held talks with top Japanese officials on Tuesday and reaffirmed their alliance amid Chinas increasingly assertive claims to contested areas in the region, officials said.

Adm. John Aquilino, who assumed the post in April, and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi shared their concern about Chinas continuous and intensified attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the East and South China Seas," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Under the current circumstances, the importance of the alliance is greater than ever, Motegi told Aquilio in his opening remarks.

The two sides also reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and agreed to further strengthen their joint response capability and deterrence to achieve a free and open Indo-Pacific.

Japan and the U.S. have been promoting the goal of a free and open Indo-Pacific, a defense and economic framework, in a group known as the Quad, which also includes Australia and India, that is seen as a move to counter Chinas increasing influence in the region.

China has criticized the group as an exclusionist bloc based on a Cold War-era mindset.

Japan is looking to bolster its military capabilities amid a deepening territorial row with China in regional seas. It is increasingly concerned about Chinese activity in and around Japanese-claimed waters surrounding the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, which China also claims and calls Diaoyu.

Japan's postwar constitution has limited the use of force to self defense, but the country has in recent years expanded its military role, capability and budget.

Aquilino also held similar talks with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi and top Japanese military officials and discussed North Koreas nuclear and missile programs. the Foreign Ministry said.

This article was written by MARI YAMAGUCHI from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.
The Pentagon's chief spokesman on Tuesday stood by efforts to improve diversity and inclusion in the military, even as criticism from some conservative lawmakers and commentators has grown.

During a news conference Tuesday, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the Defense Department respects lawmakers' oversight role, but he declined to comment on any specific efforts from legislators.

He said the department is focused on defending the nation, adding that doing so means creating an environment where talented people feel comfortable working.

Read Next: C-17's 'Sightseeing Tour' Over Ireland That Drew Complaints from Locals Was Pre-Approved, Base Says

"You need good people," Kirby said. "And if you meet the standards, and you're qualified to be in the military, and you're willing to raise your hand and serve this country, we want you to be able to do it ... free of hate and fear and discrimination.

"That's the very least we can do," he continued. "And there's no apologies for that. No apologies whatsoever for wanting to create that kind of a working environment."

Kirby's comments come amid a rising chorus of conservatives decrying DoD programs -- which Pentagon leaders say are to improve diversity and inclusion, or to root out extremists in the ranks -- as examples of excessive political correctness. Some lawmakers have derided the efforts as "wokeness" run amok or persecution of service members with conservative beliefs.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, a former Navy SEAL, launched a webpage last week inviting service members to anonymously blow the whistle on "woke ideology" in the military.

"Enough is enough," he wrote on Twitter when announcing the website. "We won't let our military fall to woke ideology."

Crenshaw said submissions would be shared with the office of Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., adding that they plan to publish, anonymously and with submitters' permission, "egregious complaints" about "what's happening in our military."

"For too long, progressive Pentagon staffers have been calling the shots for our warfighters, and spineless military commanders have let it happen," Crenshaw continued. "Now we are going to expose you."

Last month, some Republicans rallied around Space Force Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier, who was fired from squadron command over comments he made on a podcast promoting his new book. Lohmeier argued that Marxist and leftist ideologies are taking over the military and weakening it in the process.

He said on the podcast that "leftist" practices such as diversity and inclusion training are causing the divisive climate in America.

In a May 22 statement, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., said he is concerned about how the Pentagon handled Lohmeier's case.

"Members of our military should not only be able to speak out against Marxism, but they should be encouraged to do so -- as long as they follow the rules and laws already in place," Inhofe said.

The military in recent years -- going back to the Trump and Obama administrations -- has made improving diversity a priority. Defense leaders have argued that the military cannot afford to discourage talented young women or members of minority groups from joining or advancing if it is going to be at its strongest.

For example, Air Force officials have consistently made improving the diversity of the service's pilot ranks -- in which women and minorities are underrepresented -- a top priority.

Last month, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Army Gen. Mark Milley said in a speech that the military must widen advancement opportunities for Black service members, who remain significantly underrepresented in the top ranks.

"Opportunity in our military must be reflective of the diverse talent in order for us to remain strong," he said during a May 5 ROTC commissioning ceremony at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Some Twitter commenters mocked Crenshaw's effort to collect stories about excessive political correctness. They began submitting, and then sharing on Twitter, parody complaints that were, in actuality, thinly veiled references to service members in movies such as "Stripes" and "A Few Good Men."

"My Sgt Referred to me as Francis even after I VERY SPECFICALLY ASKED NOT TO BE ADDRESSED THAT WAY," one commenter wrote as if he were the high-strung character nicknamed "Psycho" in "Stripes." "One of my comrades ... sounds suspiciously like Garfield and I'm pretty sure our battle tank is actually an RV. This is not a way to maintain military discipline."

-- Stephen Losey can be reached at stephen.losey@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StephenLosey.

Related: Space Force CO Fired Over Comments About Marxism in the Military Now Subject of IG Probe
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina

Denouncing the recent Israeli attacks, Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday told Parliament that Bangladesh is always with the Palestinian people and will continue to extend all sorts of assistance to them.

Were always with Palestinian people. We did extend all sorts of assistance to them in the past, and are doing so today and will surely do that in the future, Hasina said.

The prime minister said this when she took part in the discussion on a condolence motion in the House.

Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury moved the condolence motion in the House in the beginning of the Budget Session of the 11th Parliament, aiming to express profound grief at the death of two sitting MPs Abdul Matin Khasru and Aslamul Haque, one former minister, 11 ex-MPs, some noted dignitaries and those who lost lives to Coronavirus both at home and abroad, and in two recent waterway accidents in the country, and the latest Israelis attacks on Palestine and the cyclone Yaas.

The prime minister strongly condemned the cruel attacks carried out by Israel. What happened in Palestine is extremely inhumane. Children were crying and roaming around there, losing their parents. It can't be tolerated, she said.

It is truly sad that the young children were injured and subjected to torture while they lost their parents, Hasina said adding that Israel carried out the attacks on Palestine.

Coming down heavily on international organisations, Hasina said some international organisations had raised their voice for humanity many times in the past, but why were many of them silent this time? she questioned.

The prime minister sought the salvation of departed souls of those who were killed in the Israeli attacks.
Capt. Alex Morrow is a former instructor at the U.S. Army Physical Fitness School, where he certified Master Fitness Trainers to apply strength and conditioning fundamentals to improve units' physical readiness training. He publishes Army-oriented fitness content at @mops_n_moes.

Despite still being in the implementation phase, the Army Combat Fitness Test, or ACFT, is already improving lethality and readiness across the service. While there are valid discussions happening about failure rates, logistical challenges and promotion policies, we should not overlook the significant improvements in the Army's fitness culture that have already taken place.

Fundamentally, ACFT failures do not indicate a problem with the test itself. Instead, they reveal a lack of physical readiness among troops that the ACFT's predecessor, the Army Physical Fitness Test, allowed us to ignore. As a result, leaders are focusing on physical training in a way they did not need to previously.

Walk into any gym on any Army installation, and you will see physical training being conducted of a higher quality than ever before. Compound, structural exercises that increase whole body strength are more frequent. Evidence suggests that this has the potential to reduce acute injuries by one-third and overuse injuries by half. For those who argue that this is dangerous without proper training, our noncommissioned officer corps has demonstrated the ability to conduct effective training on far more complex tasks.

The dreaded leg tuck (no longer the most failed event, according to recent U.S. Army Forces Command data) means that soldiers' constant push-ups are now balanced out with upper-body pulling training, which will help mitigate our high rates of shoulder injuries. Rather than indicating a problem with the test itself, soldiers' initial struggles with this event highlight leaders' failure to follow existing Physical Readiness Training doctrine. The leg tuck has been part of prescribed climbing drills for more than a decade.

A brief search of "#ACFT" on Instagram shows how many soldiers, units and even private organizations have stepped up their efforts. From individuals celebrating leg tuck progress, to units conducting familiarization training, to gyms and trainers offering workout ideas, the entire Army community is making physical training a priority like never before. Active-duty units spend five to eight hours a week on PT, but it took the ACFT to get us to take it seriously.

The Master Fitness Trainer Course has also seen a surge in interest, with MFTs across the active-duty, Reserve and National Guard components updating their units' programs. They are certainly involved in training ACFT graders, but their greatest impact comes from developing challenging, balanced and safe programs that will increase fitness levels and decrease injury rates. Continuing education for MFTs has become a priority, with installations offering opportunities to pursue strength and conditioning certifications, or hosting summits that bring in medical providers and human performance experts.

Prior to the ACFT implementation, MFTs were consistently sidelined in favor of workouts based more on tradition than evidence. Suddenly, many of these NCOs are reaching out to the Physical Fitness School because they are being asked to do the job for the first time in years. This comes with plenty of challenges and a steep learning curve, but it reinforces that the new test is driving greater leader involvement in physical training than ever before. This is an extremely positive development that will pay dividends in terms of increased readiness, reduced injuries, and a dramatically improved fitness culture.

A major component of the increased social media activity is the formation of communities focused on supporting each other. Recently created Facebook groups include "ACFT Training Community," "ACFT Training for Army Women," and "ACFT Training for Pregnant and Postpartum Soldiers" -- plus many local versions of these pages for specific installations. In these groups, soldiers are sharing best practices, as well as providing motivation and accountability for each other. There are certainly individuals expressing their frustration but, more often, successes are celebrated and progress is encouraged.

While some have expressed concerns about the $30 million price tag for fielding the ACFT, it should be viewed as a small investment in the Army's primary weapon system -- the soldier. At the same time as the service rolled out the ACFT, it also released lists of program cancellations and reductions that total roughly $2.1 billion. A reduction in laser designator upgrades offsets the entirety of the ACFT fielding, while a delay in Bradley fighting vehicle upgrades saves the equivalent of seven times the entire ACFT. If we're going to live up to the "People First" ideal, investments in individual soldier readiness are critical.

Several installations have also made significant investments in soldier physical performance. ACFT-oriented functional training facilities have appeared at Fort Drum, New York; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; and Fort Richardson and Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Many locations are revitalizing human performance programs, such as the Mountain Athlete Warrior at Drum; Lightning Athlete Warrior in Hawaii; and Big Red One Performance/Readiness Optimization at Fort Riley, Kansas. Army Wellness Centers are providing individualized assessments and programs, and MWR facilities are offering tailored functional fitness classes.

As we approach October, the question is no longer "will the ACFT work?" but "how can we capitalize on this momentum?" If units haven't embraced the ACFT yet, they are already falling behind. Leaders need to empower their Master Fitness Trainers and modernize their physical training programs.

The old standby of long runs three days a week with a couple days of "muscle failure" push-ups and sit-ups is no longer sufficient, and the overuse injuries that come with it are no longer acceptable. We are beginning to treat our soldiers like tactical athletes, and the resources provided are already showing a return on investment.

-- The opinions expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Military.com. If you would like to submit your own commentary, please send your article to opinions@military.com for consideration.
Before the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade in 1978, former U.S. Army soldier Gilbert Baker assembled a group of 30 fellow activists in the citys Gay Community Center. He wanted to create something that would be an enduring symbol of the surging pride within their community and a symbol of the long-sought freedom to be themselves.

Baker was creating the first rainbow Pride flag. He chose the rainbow to be a beautiful representation of the diversity and spirit among the citys gay community.

Raising it up and seeing it there blowing in the wind for everyone to see. It completely astounded me that people just got it, in an instant like a bolt of lightning -- that this was their flag. It belonged to all of us. It was the most thrilling moment of my life, he later told San Francisco Travel. Because I knew right then that this was the most important thing I would ever do -- that my whole life was going to be about the Rainbow Flag.

In honor of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month, Naval Air Station Key Wests Sailors and civilians display a 100-foot section of the original Key West sea-to-sea Pride Flag in front of the main gate. (U.S. Navy Photo/Jolene Scholl)

Author Randy Shilts wrote about Bakers time in the Army in his 1993 book, Conduct Unbecoming: Gays & Lesbians in the U.S. Military. Baker originally was drafted into the U.S. Army after a troubled upbringing in Chanute, Kansas. In 1970, he was sent to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, where his Army family hoped they would make a man out of him.

Instead, he refused to use a weapon and resisted the threats leveled against him from his family and the Army. They cut a deal: Baker would finish basic training without incident, and he would become a medic. He met his part of the bargain, and he was stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco. Now Pvt. Baker, he became a surgical nurse at Letterman Army Hospital.

By 1970, San Francisco had become known as "The Gay Capital of America," several gay rights groups had been founded in the city and the community there had an established voting bloc that gave them real political clout. It still faced discrimination, but nowhere else in the country gave the LGBTQA+ community as much freedom or possibility for openness.

San Francisco had a thriving culture for Baker and the many other Americans like him to be a part of. When it came time for him to leave the Army, Baker did not return to Kansas. He found a new home.

An estimated 375,000 people joined the 1978 Gay Freedom Day Parade in San Francisco that year. It was the largest single demonstration for any cause since the Vietnam anti-war protests. Bakers creation was the official symbol of the parade.

Other symbols had been in use for a long time. The Greek letter lambda had been used since 1970, because it was the ancient symbol of the Sacred Band of Thebes -- a legendary group of all-male lovers who were known to fight to the death for one another.

The pink triangle, once used by the Nazis to mark homosexual men in concentration camps, was reclaimed as a symbol of the communitys fight against persecution. Baker found them obscure and depressing, respectively.

He wanted his symbol to have a thoroughly positive meaning for everyone involved. In choosing the rainbow as a theme for his flag, he also picked the colors and what they represented. In an interview before his death in 2017, he told San Francisco Travel why he chose them:

... hot pink stood for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, turquoise blue for art, indigo for harmony and violet for spirit.

He already taught himself how to sew so he could make his own clothes, but making the first Pride flag was a Herculean task. Baker and his volunteers hand-dyed a thousand yards of cotton into the eight different colors. They then sewed the stripes together by hand.

The flag may have become a little different from Bakers original colors, as hot pink was not a standard manufacturing color and turquoise was dropped to give the flag equal halves. But in the 40 years since, it morphed into an international symbol of pride and community for LGBTQA+ people around the world.

A Gilbert Baker memorial at The Castro Theatre in San Francisco, June 2017. (Mitch Altman)

The rainbow is so perfect because it really fits our diversity in terms of race, gender, ages, all of those things. Plus, its a natural flag -- its from the sky, he said.

Baker died in his sleep in his New York City home on March 31, 2017; he was 65 years old. At the time, he was planning to return to his hometown of Chanute, Kansas, where the local community college was set to host the inaugural Gilbert Baker Film Festival.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

Want to Learn More About Military Life?

Whether you're thinking of joining the military, looking for post-military careers or keeping up with military life and benefits, Military.com has you covered. Subscribe to Military.com to have military news, updates and resources delivered directly to your inbox.
As you exit the military to begin your civilian career, you'll likely take inventory of the exportable skills, transferrable talents and relevant experiences that might make you a viable candidate. Then you'll consider what kind of job you want and the compensation package you desire.

But have you considered your reputation? What if you learned that the way others perceive you could be more valuable than certifications or track record? Would it surprise you to hear that people perceiving you negatively could hurt your chances of landing your dream job?

What Is Reputation?

Reputation is how you're known and the beliefs others have of you. The people you interact with, those who've heard of you or people who find you online form beliefs about who you are, what you value and what you can offer. Then, based on those beliefs and what they perceive, they decide whether they want to get to know you and possibly hire or engage with you.

As you exit the military, your reputation may be primarily with fellow service members, leaders and civilians you interacted with as part of your job in uniform. Perhaps you joined platforms, such as LinkedIn and Facebook, where your reputation became accessible to people you've not directly been in contact with. As you move out of the military and into the private sector, managing the way others perceive you will -- and should -- become important.

Remember: Others decide whether to hire you, refer you, endorse and/or support you based on how they perceive you.

Reputation Challenges

There are many things that can impact your reputation negatively, including:

Mistakes or behavior that isn't deemed appropriate and causes others to feel uncomfortable

Posting something online that you later regret (because it was offensive, misunderstood or inappropriate)

Associating with people who have tarnished reputations (guilt by association)

And the list goes on. It's also troubling to hear, but you may find your reputation tarnished through no fault of your own: You were in the wrong place at the wrong time, were misunderstood (that can be a real problem for veterans who become characterized by myths and misperceptions about "all veterans") or were the subject of workplace mobbing, bullying and scapegoating.

When Your Reputation Needs Fixing:

In my new book, "Control the Narrative: The Executive's Guide to Building, Pivoting and Repairing Your Reputation," I offer several steps to repair reputation damage.

Step 1: Assess the Damage

"... Ask yourself if there's truth to what's unfolding. Is someone spreading rumors about you and your abilities?  Did you lose your cool with a peer in front of the company and someone filmed it? ... As best you can, evaluate what has happened, what potentially can come from it, and what impact (positive or negative) it can have on your career and reputation."

Step 2: Don't Ignore the Situation

"... Ignoring the situation can give others the time to create and build a narrative that works against you. While your strategy may include holding back for a bit, always be prepared to respond."

Step 3: Resist Taking Down All of Your Social Media

"...Your strategy for working through the situation will dictate how, when and where to remove yourself online, but remember that by doing this, you're removing any possibility someone learns a contrary view to what they've seen that's unflattering or hurtful."

Step 4: Separate Emotion from Fact

"... When you get emotional about the situation, you might react spontaneously, erratically and defensively, which means you are not acting with intention and clarity. Instead, surround yourself with a team ... who will help you maintain perspective, keep you calm and advise you on the options presenting themselves."

Step 5: Set Goals and Create Action Steps

"Fashion a plan to articulate where you are now, where you want to be and how you'll get there. ... Set a clear goal and then chart the steps you'll need to implement to achieve that goal."

You might need to apologize to someone, refrain from mentioning what happened or take accountability for your actions publicly. Each of these steps should be considered carefully.

A poor or tarnished reputation can be devastating to your personal and professional life. Instead of hoping things will resolve themselves, take control, recognize the issue and then resolve it.

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.
The Giants made a number of roster moves on Tuesday, provided here by Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group (via Twitter). On the pitching front, San Francisco purchased Dominic Leones contract from Triple-A and optioned righty Nick Tropeano. The recently-acquired Sam Delaplane was also moved to the 60-day injured list.

The well-traveled Leone has a 4.09 career ERA over 253 career innings for the Mariners, Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, Cardinals, and Indians, for whom he pitched in 2020. Tropeano, 30, pitched well in four appearances, giving up just one earned run in six innings. He threw two scoreless against the Angels on Monday, so his demotion could simply be about getting a fresh arm in the bullpen.

The Giants also made a change behind the plate, placing Curt Casali on the 10-day injured list with a left wrist sprain. Hes not expected to be out for more than the 10-game minimum, writes Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Those hoping to see top prospect Joey Bart will be disappointed, however. Its reasonable to assume that the short-term nature of the injury does not warrant disrupting Barts development.

Instead, Chadwick Tromp has been recalled to serve as Buster Poseys backup behind the plate for the next 10 days. The 26-year-old backstop debuted last season, posting a 65 wRC+ in 64 plate appearances.

Lastly, Crowley adds that Evan Longorias injury appears to be a mild intercostal strain, and hell avoid a stint on the injured list. Longoria is enjoying a resurgent season at the plate this year with a 139 wRC+ and 1.5 fWAR through 178 plate appearances.
Have you just started a business, then you need to have a web presence. Because customers will turn to the internet for everything. So, you need to have a well-designed website in order to stand out to you competitors. But how are you going to do that? You can either hire someone to do it or do it yourself. If youre planning on building a website yourself. Youre going to need some help. Thats why we have listed six tips to successfully build a website.

1. Start with a plan

If you want to build your own website, you need to make a plan. Write down why you want to create a website, what the goal is, what visitors of your website need to see and read and what you want your website to look like. Also decide when you want your website to go live. If you experience troubles during the process of creating your website, you can always go back to the basics and remind yourself why and how youre doing this.



2. Select a domain name

You need to decide what the name of your website is going to be. The domain name (or internet address/url), needs to show what business your company is in. Lets take the website e-Carnavalskleding as an example. This is the website from a Dutch company that, as the name suggests, sells clothing for carnival (Dutch: carnavalskleding). Which is a week long festival in the south of The Netherlands. However, this website sells more than just carnival clothes. It also sells christmas dresses (Dutch: kerstjurk) and festival accessories. This domain name shows a peek of information of what kind of products you can buy.



3. Register your domain name

If youve found a good domain name, you should check if its still available. Is that the case? Then you should register it. A registrar can do this for you; they also arrange a hosting package for you.



4. Select a content management system (CMS)

Selecting the right CMS is important for your website. With the CMS (content management system), a smart software application for your website, you can manage and adapt your website even if you dont have a lot of technical skills. You can pick a content management system like Magento, WordPress of Joomla.



5. Create a nice design and fill the website with content

Once youve selected a CMS, you can start designing your website and fill it with content. Its important to keep SEO (search engine optimization) in mind when youre creating your website. You want your website to look good and to be informative for potential customers, but you also want it to rank good in the search engines.



6. Arrange hosting for your website

The last step to go live with your website, is arranging the hosting. With a hosting package, you get a spot on the server. You have to pay for hosting, but dont worry, it doesnt have to cost a lot of money. The exact price depends on the size of hosting you need for your website. If you have a simple website, the prices start at a few euros a month. You can purchase a hosting package at the same company that has registered your domain name.
The West Africa Regional Magazine, (TWARM) has honoured some highly rated Ghanaian entrepreneurs and business owners at its special awards ceremony held at the Volta Serene Hotel in Ho, The Regional Capital.

The West African Regional Magazine (TWARM) Achievers, Business and Leadership Awards celebrates individuals and organisation for their achievements and excellence in various sectors. The event was rebranded as TWARM with the inclusion of awardees from across the continent.

The event brought together some movers and shakers in the manufacturing, real estate, digital and electronic, hotel and tourism sectors among others.

The awards ceremony was organised to celebrate Africa leading lights and Achievers. The TWARM achievers awards is presented to individuals and corporations in the business and political arena who have stood out in excellence in their various fields of endeavour. The event was held

The event was a precursor to The Africa regional Journal (TARJ) Forum which is to be held at the Radisson Blue Hotel and Convention centre in Kigali, Rwanda, from 26th to 27th November 2021. The forum will tackle issues hindering development in the continent, and focus on sectors which can contribute to development. intellectuals and professionals in various sectors have been invited as Speakers during the forum.

About 12 renowned personalities were award at the event including Alfred Korley Martey, CEO, Freddies Corner, Chris Dormenya, CEO of CHRISBILL Group of Companies, Tony Kwasi Kwansare, CEO of DEBRIDGE Industries, Mr Johnson Tord, President of Escort Group of Companies Mr Ofori Sarpong, CEO, Special Ice Company Limited, Osei Kwame Despite, CEO Despite Group of Companies, Mr Wisdom Venunye Attakpah, Chief Executive Officer of AWAK Company Limited

The award winners include, Mr Alfred Karlie, Martey, CEO OF Freddies Corner for humanitarian award in recognition of his contribution to the less privileged of society, with numerous donations to the village of Hope Orphanage at Bawjiase Orphanage, Osu Childrens Home Akropong School for the blind among others.s

Addressing participants at the forum, the Publisher of the West Africa Regional Magazine Rossette Aliu commended the award winners and urged them to strive and participate in the Africa Regional Forum (TARJ) slated for Kigali in Rwanda in November 2021. She also urged other entrepreneurs and businesses to register for the event to exhibit their product and services on the widely recognised business and investment platform. She indicated that Regional Integration has been part of the African Continents overarching strategy for economic transformation over the past five decades. She indicated that one of the suggested approaches to building a strong integrated union when the Africa union commemorated its 50th anniversary was through a regional group such as the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS), East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The key question here is why countries involvement in regional integration in subSaharan Africa failed to foster competition, access to wider markets, larger and diversified investments, production, socio economic stability and bargaining power.

What are the fundamental challenges to trade? (the free movement of goods and services) that needs to be addressed in order to fully reap the benefits of regional integration in Africa? Trade is widely accepted as an important engine of economic growth and development. there are many regions and countries of the world that have been able to lift their people from poverty to prosperity through trade. Although the African economy is characterised by a relatively high degree of openness, with the ratio of exports and imports to GDP on the increase in the past few years, trade has not served as a potent instrument for the achievement of rapid and sustainable economic growth and development for many of the countries. as a consequence, Africa remains the most aid -dependent continent in the world, unable to eliminate poverty through trade.

African countries do not trade much with one another thus they have been unable to take full advantage of the economies of scale and other benefits such as income and employment generation that greater market integration might have provided. due to the face that Africa does the bulk of its trade with the outside world and exports are heavily concentrated on primary commodities, the continent has been particularly vulnerable to external microeconomic shocks and protectionists trade policies. However, the continent can only reduce its vulnerability to external shocks and improve its economic performance if market integration is deepened and countries do more to promote intra-regional trade.

On his part the Chief Executive of DEBRIDGE Industries limited urged corporate institutions and industries to take advantage of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area to expand their operations and businesses, and make more wealth. he said due to commitment and hard work he has been able to benefit from the government of Ghanas one District one factory project and established one of the biggest tile manufacturing factories in Ghana.

Debridge industries limited is into manufacturing of superbond tile adhesives, tile grout suitable for laying ceramic, porcelain, granite, mosaic and marble tiles and cement admixtures. The products have been certified by the ECOWAS trade Liberalization scheme (ETLS) the ministry of trade and industries and CSIR .

About African Regional Journal

The African Regional Journal was introduced to promote regional economic, infrastructure and trade expansion in Africa, through the publication of annual in-depth research on African economies and trade developments. The Journal will cover broad areas of regional economic activities to provide both local and international investors with the requisite information that would enable them to make informed decisions on business and investment opportunities within regional economies in Africa.

About Tarj Forum and Trade Fair

The Third edition of TARJ FORUM & TRADE FAIR will be held 25th-27th November, 2021 in Kigali. This forum and trade fair will be a platform that will bring together businesses and investors in the continentwith the aim of promoting trade and economic development in Africa. The occasion will equally be used to recognize achievers and business leaders who have excelled in their vocations and business in Africa.an Regional Journal was introduced to promote regional economic, infrastructure and trade expansion in Africa, through the publication of annual in-depth research on African economies and trade developments. The Journal will cover broad areas of regional economic activities to provide both local and international investors with the requisite information that would enable them to make informed decisions on business and investment opportunities within regional economies in Africa.

About Tarj Forum and Trade Fair

Third edition of TARJ FORUM & TRADE FAIR will be held 25th-27th November, 2021 in Kigali. This forum and trade fair will be a platform that will bring together businesses and investors in the continentwith the aim of promoting trade and economic development in Africa. The occasion will equally be used to recognize achievers and business leaders who have excelled in their vocations and business in Africa.
The leader of Western Sahara's independence movement will leave Spain on Tuesday night, the Spanish government said, after his reception for medical treatment triggered a diplomatic row between Rabat and Madrid.

The announcement by Madrid came just hours after a Spanish judge declined to order that Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali, who is under investigation in Spain for torture and genocide, be taken into custody.

The decision meant there was nothing to stop Ghali from leaving Spain, a scenario feared by Morocco and the complainants who wanted him to face trial in the country.

Ghali denied the allegations against him as he testified by video conference from a hospital in northern Spain where he has been recovering from a severe case of Covid-19.

Ghali "planned to leave Spain tonight on a civilian plane from Pamplona airport", the Spanish foreign ministry said, adding it had informed Morocco.

"Mr Ghali's freedom of movement is not limited" because the judge had not ordered him into custody, it stressed.

The ministry did not say where his flight was headed, but the likely destination was believed to be Algeria, which supports the Polisario Front.

Two investigations

Spain says he was allowed into the country in April for treatment as a humanitarian gesture but the move has greatly angered Morocco.

The dispute is widely believed to have been at the root of a brief migrant crisis last month, when 10,000 people surged into Spain's tiny North African enclave of Ceuta as Moroccan border guards looked the other way.

Ghali is facing two investigations in Spain following accusations of genocide, murder, torture and disappearances made against him by a Sahrawi activist and a Spain-based Western Sahara rights group.

During the closed-door hearing at the National Court in Madrid, the judge turned down a request from the complainants for Ghali to be taken into custody and turn over his passport, saying he posed no flight risk.

Ghali, who is also the president of the Sahrawi Democratic Arab Republic, a self-declared state since 1976, was only asked to provide an address and a telephone number in Spain where he could be reached.

Spanish government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said Ghali could "return to his country of origin, where he came from" once he had recovered his health.

Algerian plane returns

Spanish online newspaper El Confidencial reported that an Algerian government plane had departed on Tuesday morning to the Spanish city of Logrono where Ghali is hospitalised to pick him up -- but had then been turned back.

A UN-backed referendum on self-determination has been repeatedly postponed. By RYAD KRAMDI (AFP)

A "state" jet flying from Algeria to Logrono turned back on instructions from the Spanish military, a spokesman for civil air authority Enaire told AFP.

Citing diplomatic sources, Spain's El Pais newspaper said Ghali was "critically ill" when he arrived on a medicalised Algerian government plane on April 18, bearing a diplomatic passport.

It said he was admitted to the hospital under a false name for "security reasons".

Rabat, which considers Ghali to be a war criminal, has demanded a "transparent investigation" into Ghali's arrival in Spain with what it said was a forged passport.

His Polisario Front has long fought for the independence of Western Sahara, a desert region bigger than Britain, which was a Spanish colony until 1975.

Morocco controls 80 percent of the territory, while the rest -- an area bordering Mauritania that is almost totally landlocked -- is run by the Polisario Front.

'Totally false'

One of the lawsuits relates to allegations of torture at Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, a town in western Algeria.

The accusations were made in 2020 by Sahrawi activist Fadel Breika, who also holds Spanish nationality.

While a Spanish court initially rejected the complaint, it agreed to reopen the case earlier this year.

"The tortures are confirmed by thousands of witnesses," said Breika's lawyer, Maria Jose Malagon Ruiz del Valle.

The second investigation relates to allegations of genocide, murder, terrorism, torture and disappearances made in 2007 by the Sahrawi Association for the Defence of Human Rights (ASADEDH) which is based in Spain.

Ghali's lawyer, Manuel Olle, said the accusations against his client "are totally false" and are "politically motivated to target the credibility of the Sahrawi people".

The UN refers to Western Sahara as a "non-self-governing territory".

After 16 years of war, Rabat and the Polisario signed a ceasefire in 1991, but a UN-backed referendum on self-determination has been repeatedly postponed.
The African Union announced it was suspending Mali with immediate effect and threatened the impoverished country with sanctions, after a second military coup in nine months.

The putsch has sparked deep concerns over stability in the volatile Sahel region and warnings of economic penalties from across the international community.

The AU "decides... to immediately suspend the Republic of Mali from participation in all activities of the African Union, its organs and institutions, until normal constitutional order has been restored in the country", the body's Peace and Security Council said in a statement late Tuesday.

The move follows a similar suspension on Sunday from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

In its statement, the AU called for the military to "urgently and unconditionally return to the barracks, and to refrain from further interference in the political processes in Mali".

It warned that if the military did not hand back power to civilian transitional leaders, "the Council will not hesitate to impose targeted sanctions and other punitive measures".

Condemning the coup "in the strongest terms possible", it added it was "deeply concerned about the evolving situation in Mali and its negative impact on the gains made thus far in the transition process in the country".

Map of Mali.. By (AFP)

Strongman Colonel Assimi Goita was at the ECOWAS crisis summit in Ghana on Sunday to argue the military's case but has now returned to Mali.

Goita last August led army officers who overthrew elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, following mass protests over perceived corruption and a bloody jihadist insurgency.

After the takeover, the military agreed to appoint civilians as interim president and prime minister under the pressure of ECOWAS trade and financial sanctions.

Elections pledge

But in a move that provoked diplomatic uproar, soldiers last week detained transitional president Bah Ndaw and prime minister Moctar Ouane, releasing them on Thursday while saying that they had resigned.

Mali's constitutional court completed Goita's rise to full power on Friday by naming him transitional president.

ECOWAS refrained from reimposing sanctions -- a move it had adopted after the first coup. By Nipah Dennis (AFP/File)

With the junta going back on its previous commitment to civilian political leaders, doubts have been raised about its other pledges, including a promise to hold elections in early 2022.

The junta said this week it would continue to respect that timetable, but added that it could be subject to change.

The United States and Mali's former colonial master France had both threatened sanctions in response to the second coup.

But ECOWAS, at a crisis summit in Ghana on Sunday, refrained from reimposing sanctions -- a move it had adopted after the first coup.

The 15-nation bloc still pushed for Mali to transition to civilian rule under a previously agreed timetable.

The bloc suspended Mali from ECOWAS until February 2022, "when they are supposed to hand over to a democratically elected government," Ghana's Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey said after the meeting.

Supporters celebrated the arrival of the new President of Mali's transitional government Assimi Goita as he returned the ECOWAS meeting. By Michele Cattani (AFP)

Mali is among the world's poorest countries, and the previous ECOWAS sanctions hit hard.

It is also battling a jihadist insurgency which first emerged in the north of the country in 2012 and has since spread to Burkina Faso and Niger, leaving swathes of the vast nation of 19 million people outside government control.
The prices of goods pegged in United States dollars have shot up as businesses comply with the controversial Statutory Instrument 127 of 2021 which mandates them to use the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)s auction exchange rate.

The local currency is officially at ZWL$84 against the greenback while in the parallel market it is pegged at ZWL$100 or more against the USD.

According to the SI 127, gazetted last week, businesses that refuse payment at the ruling exchange rate will be fined a fixed penalty of the amount of ZWL$50, 000 or an amount equivalent to the value of the foreign currency charged for the goods or services in question (whichever is the greater amount).

Despite the central bank having given businesses a grace period of two weeks to comply, some traders have since effected price increases in USD.

A snap survey by CITE in the city centre Tuesday morning showed that some supermarkets and furniture shops had increased prices in the USD although not displaying them.

Prices are now quoted in the local currency only in some shops with customers told the exchange rate upon asking.

At one furniture shop, a CITE reporter was told that a television stand going for ZWL$19 500 was also selling at US$232 using the exchange rate of US$1: ZWL$84.

Before SI 127, one would only pay US$195 or even less for the same product. Its unfortunate that we have to now use the governments exchange rate, said a shop attendant.

At one supermarket, an attendant also said they were left with no choice but to comply with the law, adding they were still giving some discount to those who buy using foreign currency.

However, some supermarkets such as Greens and Tilus were still using the parallel market exchange rate which pegs the USD at ZWL$115.

Meanwhile, industry leaders are expected to meet the government this week in Harare to deliberate on concerns arising from the new exchange rate regulations. Cite.org.zw
The Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin said Ghanas high seas are increasingly serving as an attractive destination for maritime pirates targeting commercial cargo and fishing vessels using the Gulf of Guinea, the ECOWAS Parliament has heard.

Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin who doubles as Member of Parliament leads Ghanas delegation to the regional legislative body.

He told the House in Nigeria yesterday that there have been six recorded pirate attacks on ships in Ghanaian waters in 2020 alone.

Piracy is increasingly becoming an emerging threat to Ghanas maritime security, the 43-year-old Deputy Majority Leader in Ghanas legislature told colleague Members of the ECOWAS Parliament sitting in Abuja.

The Gulf of Guinea has become a hotspot for piracy in recent times, he said, adding that relative to zero piracy cases in 2019, Ghana recorded six piracy cases in 2020.

Read full speech below:

Maritime Piracy  The Global Picture

Although piracy has long been a significant problem globally, it was only recently that Ghanas high seas started to gain notoriety for the crime. According to some figures, contemporary maritime piracy peaked in 2010, with around 445 reported incidents. Figures covering 2020 show that while pirates attacked 162 ships in 2019, the number of ships attacked grew to 195 in 2020. Half a dozen of those attacks took place along the coast of Ghana. As one report suggests, 135 crew members were kidnapped from their vessels in 2020, compared to 134 in 2019, with the Gulf of Guinea accounting for more than 95% of crew numbers kidnapped [globally].

A 2014 report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) calls piracy off the coast of Somalia an organized crime and, given the scale, level of sophistication and degree of violence of incidents reported, may be considered a special case. The pirates, the report said, are essentially motivated by the prospect of large monetary gains from ransom payments and cargo theft

Also, Statista, a globally respected website that serves as a source of credible social and economic data, reports that the regions most likely to come under threat from pirate attacks include Indonesia, Malaysia, and Nigeria. It is believed that the abundance of natural resources in the countries themselves or adjacent areas serves as pirates attractions. Thus, as Statista has found, strategic passages for oil transport such as Bab-el-Mandeb, near Somalia, or the Strait of Malacca off the Indonesian coast have become notorious targets for maritime crime. In the context of Ghana, a nation that started commercial drilling and export of crude oil in 2010, it is unclear whether the increasing cases of pirate attacks can be linked to the riches of the oil industry.

Maritime Piracy  The Economic Cost

Brandon Prins, a Professor of Political Science & Global Security at the University of Tennessee, published an article in May this year. In it, he argues that mainly piracy ultimately affects developing countries with weak governments. The reason is that criminals, insurgents and other groups see opportunities to raise money for their land-based battles by stealing from passing ships. For instance, militant groups in Nigeria, particularly in the Niger River Delta region and the Gulf of Guinea, siphon oil off tanker ships and resell it on the black market.

The cost of pirate attacks runs into millions of dollars. As an example, a 2020 report of the European Union on maritime piracy states: Today, the most common form of maritime piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea is the hijacking of ships, with a focus on kidnapping and ransom payments. In West Africa, the economic cost of piracy was estimated at more than 750 million in 2017.

Titled Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea EU and international action, the report makes it clear that regional cooperation is a central mechanism for fighting maritime crime in general and tackling piracy and armed robbery at sea in particular. After long neglecting their maritime zones, the report says, states in the Gulf of Guinea are becoming increasingly aware of maritime security. As maritime security in Africa also has a global impact, maritime crime in the Gulf of Guinea has become a global concern.

Maritime Piracy  Ghanas Response

Heightened Somali piracy after 2005 forced significant international activities like naval missions, capacity building programmes, and training programmes in the Horn of Africa region to contain the threat. Indeed, Kenya and Djibouti, which are two nations directly affected by the activities of pirates, have since completed widespread reforms in their respective maritime sectors through new national efforts and support from foreign partners.

The foregoing international activities and national efforts mean that the pirates are, in the words of Statista, paying most dearly for maritime crime. In Somali waters, at least 149 crew members were held hostage in 2011, and over 100 pirates were killed  mostly by naval forces such as armed guards, who [protect] merchant ships.

According to a publication titled Why pirates attack: Geospatial evidence, research suggests that anti-piracy actions matter but are insufficient in curbing piracy. The number of pirate attacks drops by 10 per cent for each naval base located in a maritime cell. Naval Patrols have been remarkably effective in reducing piracy near the Gulf of Aden; their absence in the Gulf of Guinea is considered one reason why pirate attacks have persisted there.

In his presentation in Abuja, Afenyo-Markin, who holds a Masters degree in International Politics and Security Studies from the United Kingdoms University of Bradford, sent signals to the maritime industry that Ghana would not allow pirates to hold the nations high seas hostage. In a bid to make the nations coast an unattractive destination for pirates, the Government of Ghana, according to him, is equipping the nations Navy to enhance surveillance on the countrys territorial waters. Additionally, Ghana will also seek to collaborate more with countries along the Gulf of Guinea to develop coordinated maritime strategies to deal effectively with the rising incidence of piracy. He, however, did not give specific details on the intended strategies.

The Efutu MPs comments come weeks after an attack by pirates in late May saw the kidnapping of at least five crew members on a fishing vessel approximately 65 NM (120 km/75 miles) south of the seaport of Tema. Those kidnapped included a Korean, a Russian, and three Chinese nationals. No ransom demand or casualties were immediately reported.

Other Security Concerns

The Country Report presented by Afenyo-Markin in Abuja also highlights measures Ghana is taking to deal with other security concerns like terrorism and attacks by nomadic herders.

In his words, The recent surge in terrorist activities in neighbouring and other countries in the sub-region places the country at risk of [a] terrorist attack. He told the House that in the past year, the Ministry of National Security stepped up its counter-terrorism efforts to avert an occurrence of a terrorist attack particularly at the Northern frontier which borders Burkina Faso.

It is important to state that in 2017, Ghana launched its framework for countering terrorism and violent extremism. The framework contains [an] overarching plan and multifaceted roles to be played by all State Security and Intelligence agencies to prevent terrorism and violent extremism. A major step towards the implementation of the framework was the establishment of the Counter-terrorism fusion centre. The Fusion centre, according to him, monitors developments regarding terrorism in the sub-region, analyses terrorist threats, and provides strategic warning and recommendations for action.

He adds: Additionally, Operation Conquered Fist, an operation led by the Ghana Armed Forces, was launched to prevent terrorist infiltration into the country. So far, the operation has been successful. It is also worth mentioning that Ghana continues to collaborate with neighbouring countries to combat terrorism. This has even become more important given recent indications of plans by terrorist groups to expand their activities to countries along the Gulf of Guinea.

Ghana, according to Afenyo-Markin, spearheaded the Accra Initiative [which] is made up of countries including Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast. In his words, the initiative has served as an excellent platform for enhanced intelligence gathering and coordination of joint operation of security agencies of member countries all aimed at curbing the spread of terrorism.

Turning his attention to the activities of nomadic herders, which often result in conflicts between herdsmen and residents of crop farming communities, Afenyo-Markin admitted that the security issues flowing from their activities remain a perennial problem. However, he told the House that Operation Cowleg and the introduction of the Cattle Ranching Program have primarily tamed the situation.

Whereas Operation Cowleg, he explains, prevents the herders from invading Ghanaian communities with their cattle, the Cattle Ranching Program provides grazing spaces for cattle from communities. He adds: Cognisant of the current developments in Nigeria regarding clashes between herders and crop farming communities, the Ministry of National Security continue to implement a similar development in Ghana. In recent times, investigations have revealed the involvement of most of these nomadic herdsmen in criminal activities in the country, notably highway robberies, attacks on merchants, and kidnapping citizens for ransom. The police have intensified patrols, particularly in the Northern part of the country where the phenomenon is rife.

The ECOWAS Parliament, also known as the Community Parliament, is one of the pillars of the Economic Community of West African States. On its official website, the House is described as the Assembly of Peoples of the Community serving as a forum for dialogue, consultation, and consensus for Representatives of the people of West Africa to promote integration. It was established under Articles 6 and 13 of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty of 1993.

Ghanas President, Nana Akufo Addo, who currently chairs the Authority of Heads and Government of ECOWAS, was the Guest of Honour at the 2021 First Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament, which opened on 27 May 2021.

---citinewsroom
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) branch in Germany has backed President Akufo-Addos new approach to fighting illegal mining (galamsey).

The group said no excavator is worth more than the countrys water bodies and forests.

In the last few months, the government through Operation Halt has intensified the fight against illegal mining.

Soldiers and Police officers who have been working under Operation Halt patrol illegal mining sites seized mining equipment including excavators and burnt them.

In the midst of the condemnation to the latest approach by H.E Akufo-Addo in the burning of excavators, NPP German has released a statement to back the President.

According to the group, the burning of excavators is necessary because excavators are not worth more than the countrys water bodies that have suffered due to the activities of illegal miners.

Many in the media are condemning the burning of excavators. They are proposing other alternatives. But the bottom line is that no excavator is worth more than our water bodies and our forests, part of a press release from NPP Germany signed by Communications Director Nana Osei Boateng reads.

It continues, We can tell how much an excavator costs but how much is one river in Ghana? We can tell how much an excavator costs and again I ask how much is the soul of the thirteen youth gone under the pit?

The NPP Germany says they pray God guides President Akufo-Addo to the finish line in the war he has started against illegal mining.

Below is the press release from NPP Germany:

Mining has featured in the economics of our nations commodity market even before Ghana gained independence. It has indeed been a fulcrum for development for the nation and many other individuals who traded in our natural stones. We have such a treasure to fall on and likewise many other natural treasures.

The effects of mining indiscriminately in Ghana has for some time now become unbearable. Illegal miners which comprises both foreigners and indigenous people have resorted to raping our lands to enrich themselves and while doing this, destroy our vegetations, farms and have touched the soles of almost every water body in the country. From colourless to coffee brownies, our waters are no more human-friendly.

In an attempt to stop this creeping poignant story, Government has ordered all illegal miners to evacuate from their sites and remove all machinery from sites else excavators will be burnt alongside all machinery.

Recent alarming stories about 13 illegal miners in Ghana who are assumed to be dead under the pit following a collapse of the mining pit are not the ones we desire. These young ones could have been alive by now and contributing their quota to the nation, their families and themselves rather than wasting it on such a costly expedition.

Many in the media are condemning the burning of excavators. They are proposing other alternatives. But the bottom line is that no excavator is worth more than our water bodies and our forests. We can tell how much an excavator costs but how much is one river in Ghana?

We can tell how much an excavator cost and again I ask how much is the soul of the thirteen youth gone under the pit.

The Presidents declaration of war against illegal mining is fully supported by the nation and the operation shall go on unabated. Detractors are as usual trying their best to sway the minds of many on the militarys action of burning the machinery of these illegal members of our community, that in itself is a matter of good over evil on the part of the detractors which will go nowhere.

May God guide the President to the finish line in the war he has began.

Long live Ghana, the President and the NPP.

Signed

Nana Osei Boateng

NPP Germany Branch Communications Director.
Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, is outraged over what he terms as the unilateral position by the Governing Board of Achimota School to appeal the High Court ruling ordering the institution to enroll the two Rastafarian students who were earlier denied admission into the school.

The Minister says it is not in the place of the board to take such a decision.

I am very surprised, the Board cannot take that unilateral position to go back to court, Dr. Adutwum said.

He was speaking on Metro TV's late night show, Good Evening Ghana.

The Minister expressed dissatisfaction with the Boards action saying,  Boards of High Schools are constituted by the Minister. Instructions for the running of the schools are provided by the Director General of the Ghana Education Service

Dr. Yaw Adutwum also stated that the Ministry and management of the Ghana Education Service (GES) will soon come out on the way forward.

He also disclosed that while waiting on the Attorney General for details on the ruling, a meeting between the Ministry, school authorities and the Board is to be arranged later today, [Wednesday, June 2, 2021] for further deliberations on the matter.

I am waiting for the full briefing of the Attorney General. I am meeting with the Headmistress of Achimota School and the Board for a decision to be made.

One can contemplate if the schools administration will obey any further instructions from the Ministry or the GES on the latest development

This is because, although the GES had initially directed Achimota School to admit the students, it however backtracked after pushback from the school's stakeholders and further engagements.

---citinewsroom
Although piracy has long been a significant problem globally, it was only recently that Ghanas high seas started to gain notoriety for the crime. According to some figures, contemporary maritime piracy peaked in 2010, with around 445 reported incidents. Figures covering 2020 show that while pirates attacked 162 ships in 2019, the number of ships attacked grew to 195 in 2020. Half a dozen of those attacks took place along the coast of Ghana. As one report suggests, 135 crew members were kidnapped from their vessels in 2020, compared to 134 in 2019, with the Gulf of Guinea accounting for more than 95% of crew numbers kidnapped [globally].

A 2014 report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) calls piracy off the coast of Somalia an organized crime and, given the scale, level of sophistication and degree of violence of incidents reported, may be considered a special case. The pirates, the report said, are essentially motivated by the prospect of large monetary gains from ransom payments and cargo theft

Also, Statista, a globally respected website that serves as a source of credible social and economic data, reports that the regions most likely to come under threat from pirate attacks include Indonesia, Malaysia, and Nigeria. It is believed that the abundance of natural resources in the countries themselves or adjacent areas serves as pirates attractions. Thus, as Statista has found, strategic passages for oil transport such as Bab-el-Mandeb, near Somalia, or the Strait of Malacca off the Indonesian coast have become notorious targets for maritime crime. In the context of Ghana, a nation that started commercial drilling and export of crude oil in 2010, it is unclear whether the increasing cases of pirate attacks can be linked to the riches of the oil industry.

Maritime Piracy  The Economic Cost

Brandon Prins, a Professor of Political Science & Global Security at the University of Tennessee, published an article in May this year. In it, he argues that mainly piracy ultimately affects developing countries with weak governments. The reason is that criminals, insurgents and other groups see opportunities to raise money for their land-based battles by stealing from passing ships. For instance, militant groups in Nigeria, particularly in the Niger River Delta region and the Gulf of Guinea, siphon oil off tanker ships and resell it on the black market.

The cost of pirate attacks runs into millions of dollars. As an example, a 2020 report of the European Union on maritime piracy states: Today, the most common form of maritime piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea is the hijacking of ships, with a focus on kidnapping and ransom payments. In West Africa, the economic cost of piracy was estimated at more than 750 million in 2017.

Titled Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea EU and international action, the report makes it clear that regional cooperation is a central mechanism for fighting maritime crime in general and tackling piracy and armed robbery at sea in particular. After long neglecting their maritime zones, the report says, states in the Gulf of Guinea are becoming increasingly aware of maritime security. As maritime security in Africa also has a global impact, maritime crime in the Gulf of Guinea has become a global concern.

Maritime Piracy  Ghanas Response

Heightened Somali piracy after 2005 forced significant international activities like naval missions, capacity building programmes, and training programmes in the Horn of Africa region to contain the threat. Indeed, Kenya and Djibouti, which are two nations directly affected by the activities of pirates, have since completed widespread reforms in their respective maritime sectors through new national efforts and support from foreign partners.

The foregoing international activities and national efforts mean that the pirates are, in the words of Statista, paying most dearly for maritime crime. In Somali waters, at least 149 crew members were held hostage in 2011, and over 100 pirates were killed  mostly by naval forces such as armed guards, who [protect] merchant ships.

According to a publication titled Why pirates attack: Geospatial evidence, research suggests that anti-piracy actions matter but are insufficient in curbing piracy. The number of pirate attacks drops by 10 per cent for each naval base located in a maritime cell. Naval Patrols have been remarkably effective in reducing piracy near the Gulf of Aden; their absence in the Gulf of Guinea is considered one reason why pirate attacks have persisted there.

In his presentation in Abuja, Afenyo-Markin, who holds a Masters degree in International Politics and Security Studies from the United Kingdoms University of Bradford, sent signals to the maritime industry that Ghana would not allow pirates to hold the nations high seas hostage. In a bid to make the nations coast an unattractive destination for pirates, the Government of Ghana, according to him, is equipping the nations Navy to enhance surveillance on the countrys territorial waters. Additionally, Ghana will also seek to collaborate more with countries along the Gulf of Guinea to develop coordinated maritime strategies to deal effectively with the rising incidence of piracy. He, however, did not give specific details on the intended strategies.

The Efutu MPs comments come weeks after an attack by pirates in late May saw the kidnapping of at least five crew members on a fishing vessel approximately 65 NM (120 km/75 miles) south of the seaport of Tema. Those kidnapped included a Korean, a Russian, and three Chinese nationals. No ransom demand or casualties were immediately reported.

Other Security Concerns

The Country Report presented by Afenyo-Markin in Abuja also highlights measures Ghana is taking to deal with other security concerns like terrorism and attacks by nomadic herders.

In his words, The recent surge in terrorist activities in neighbouring and other countries in the sub-region places the country at risk of [a] terrorist attack. He told the House that in the past year, the Ministry of National Security stepped up its counter-terrorism efforts to avert an occurrence of a terrorist attack particularly at the Northern frontier which borders Burkina Faso.

It is important to state that in 2017, Ghana launched its framework for countering terrorism and violent extremism. The framework contains [an] overarching plan and multifaceted roles to be played by all State Security and Intelligence agencies to prevent terrorism and violent extremism. A major step towards the implementation of the framework was the establishment of the Counter-terrorism fusion centre. The Fusion centre, according to him, monitors developments regarding terrorism in the sub-region, analyses terrorist threats, and provides strategic warning and recommendations for action.

He adds: Additionally, Operation Conquered Fist, an operation led by the Ghana Armed Forces, was launched to prevent terrorist infiltration into the country. So far, the operation has been successful. It is also worth mentioning that Ghana continues to collaborate with neighbouring countries to combat terrorism. This has even become more important given recent indications of plans by terrorist groups to expand their activities to countries along the Gulf of Guinea.

Ghana, according to Afenyo-Markin, spearheaded the Accra Initiative [which] is made up of countries including Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast. In his words, the initiative has served as an excellent platform for enhanced intelligence gathering and coordination of joint operation of security agencies of member countries all aimed at curbing the spread of terrorism.

Turning his attention to the activities of nomadic herders, which often result in conflicts between herdsmen and residents of crop farming communities, Afenyo-Markin admitted that the security issues flowing from their activities remain a perennial problem. However, he told the House that Operation Cowleg and the introduction of the Cattle Ranching Program have primarily tamed the situation.

Whereas Operation Cowleg, he explains, prevents the herders from invading Ghanaian communities with their cattle, the Cattle Ranching Program provides grazing spaces for cattle from communities. He adds: Cognisant of the current developments in Nigeria regarding clashes between herders and crop farming communities, the Ministry of National Security continue to implement a similar development in Ghana. In recent times, investigations have revealed the involvement of most of these nomadic herdsmen in criminal activities in the country, notably highway robberies, attacks on merchants, and kidnapping citizens for ransom. The police have intensified patrols, particularly in the Northern part of the country where the phenomenon is rife.

The ECOWAS Parliament, also known as the Community Parliament, is one of the pillars of the Economic Community of West African States. On its official website, the House is described as the Assembly of Peoples of the Community serving as a forum for dialogue, consultation, and consensus for Representatives of the people of West Africa to promote integration. It was established under Articles 6 and 13 of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty of 1993.

Ghanas President, Nana Akufo Addo, who currently chairs the Authority of Heads and Government of ECOWAS, was the Guest of Honour at the 2021 First Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament, which opened on 27 May 2021.
Business leaders and other dignitaries are expected to join MTN Ghana as it launches its 25th anniversary celebration later today, Wednesday, 2nd June, 2021 at Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel in Accra.

Due to Covid -19 restrictions and safety protocols, there will be restricted in-person attendance. However, customers and stakeholders can watch the live event on the Facebook page (mtn.com.gh) and YouTube channel of MTN Ghana. It will also be broadcasted live on Tv3 and UTV at 11am prompt.

Scancom Ltd (MTN Ghana) was incorporated in 1994 as a private limited liability company. It began operations in Ghana in 1996 with initial coverage in Accra and Tema. Since then, the company has extended its services to all sixteen regions, key districts, towns and many rural areas. MTN currently has the widest network coverage in the country. Following its Initial Public offer, the regulations of the company were amended to become a public company now known as Scancom PLC.

The business which started with 20 staff has thousands of workforce and millions of customers. The brand has evolved over the years from Spacefon to Spacefon Areeba, Areeba and MTN.

The company has led several technological and digital innovations in the telecoms sector and has contributed immensely towards the development of Ghana through various projects and initiatives.

MTN is currently recognized as the number one telecommunications network in Ghana with numerous of awards.
Listen to article

Ghana Navy Patrol Boats have been dispatched following the kidnapped of five crew members on board a Ghanaian vessel by suspected pirates at the south of Cotonou, Benin.

The five kidnapped crew members were four Koreans (Captain, Chief Deck Officer, Chief Engineer and Boatswiains Mate) and one Filipinos (Refrigeration Engineer).

However, the remaining 31 crew comprising 30 Ghanaians and one Korean are reported to be safe and back in Tema.

There are growing concerns as a result of the second Ghanaian registered vessel being attacked in less than two weeks after initial attack on Atlantic Princess at Ningo-Pramrpam by Nigeria pirates.

According to information available to DGN Online on May 26, 2021 the Ghanaian registered vessel was reportedly conducting fishing activities in Ghanaian waters since leaving Tema harbor and crossed into Benin waters on May 30, 2021.

The crew reported sighting a suspected vessel at the horizon about an hour before the attack but could not ascertain whether the two skiffs were launched from the vessel.

The vessel later was swiftly approached by two pirate skiff boats forcing it to stop.

Seven pirates all armed with weapons boarded the vessel and rummaged the vessel before they took away the aforementioned crew, personal belongings and valuables.

The pirates disembarked the vessel with the five crew members and a report was made to the security authorities as the vessel is currently sailing back towards Tema port.

---Daily Guide
Listen to article

JOHANNESBURG, June 2nd -- The Ichikowitz Family Foundation, a leading African foundation encouraging active citizenship across the continent, has won two prestigious SABRE Awards for its global campaign to raise awareness of its inaugural African Youth Survey 2020, the most comprehensive survey of Africas youth to date.

The Ichikowitz Family Foundation was awarded the winner of the Non-Profit category and a Certificate of Excellence in the Southern Africa region for exceptional branding, reputation and engagement, alongside African Public Relations network Burson Cohn-Wolfe (BCW) Africa and the Washington D.C.-based Amsterdam Group.

The SABRE Awards, produced by PRovoke Media, are the world's largest Public Relations awards programme, dedicated for more than 20 years to benchmarking and commemorating the best campaigns from across the globe.

The Foundations African Youth Survey 2020, an unprecedented, multinational study designed to examine the critical issues affecting Africas youth and thus offer the world a better understanding of this important demographic, was conducted by global research and polling firm, PSB Insights. The study encapsulated the polling of 4,200 young African men and women aged 18-24 across 14 Sub-Saharan African nations; Congo-Brazzaville, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Mali, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Ivor Ichikowitz, Chairman of the Ichikowitz Family Foundation, stated that, Our vision for the African Youth Survey was to give a voice to one of the worlds most important and least understood demographics. Africas young people want their voices to be heard. They demand the opportunity that inclusivity brings for their community, their nation and their continent to compete on a global stage like never before. They advocate for tolerance in the face of refugee crises and conflict, acknowledge the fragility of democratic values, showcase a commitment to make their lives and those around them better and in doing so, offer for the continent the promise of a brighter tomorrow.

The key findings of the research have identified a strong sense of Afro-Optimism, confidence in entrepreneurship and that despite facing numerous challenges a significant majority of Africas youth believe the 21st Century will be the African century.

Ivor Ichikowitz added: Only by reaching an audience of billions will we be able to counter the outdated and negative stereotypes of the African continent. We are very proud of this campaign and we believe that it has a crucial role to play in changing the hearts and minds of people around the world. The Ichikowitz Foundation dedicates this award to the youth of Africa and to the future of the continent they are creating.

Among other themes, the survey explored crucial issues such as African identity, innovation and entrepreneurship, citizenship, infrastructure, leadership, inclusivity through the embrace of modern technology, appreciation for governance, education and the environment.

The Ichikowitz Family Foundation has commissioned the second edition of the African Youth Survey which will be conducted across 15 African nations. Results of the 2021 Survey are expected during the second half of the year.

The winners of the 2021 SABRE Awards Africa were celebrated on May 27th, 2021 through a virtual global ceremony.
President Akufo-Addo has officially launched Ghanas campaign for a Non-Permanent Seat on the UN Security Council.

Ghana has held a seat on the United Nations Security Council on three separate occasions. Its first time was during the 1962-1963 term, the second came after two decades later for the 1986-1987 term, and then for the third time from 2006-2007.

Speaking at a virtual reception to launch the countrys bid for reelection, President Akufo-Addo indicated that with a greater percentage of the agenda of the Security Council being focused on Africa, Ghanas experience and pedigree in peace and security on the continent makes her particularly well placed to provide insights on the range of critical issues of concern to the Council.

He added that Ghanas continuous leadership in regional security and interventions in West Africa have resulted in the resolution of various political impasses in some countries in the region, including in Togo, Ivory Coast and in recent times in Mali.

The President also touched on the regional effort of ECOWAS under his chairmanship which pushed for a peaceful conduct of elections in Benin, on 11th April 2021.

Ghanas Foreign minister Shirley Botchwey noted that Ghanas role is pivotal to ensuring peace in Africa while reiterating Ghanas commitment to collaborating with the United Nations and all its Member States to address global challenges.

We will work with each Member State on the Security Council to ensure that the world will not only build back better after this COVID-19 pandemic, but ensure that peace and security will be enhanced for humanity in the face of current and future global challenges. That is why Ghana has chosen Enhancing Global Peace and Security for Sustainable and Inclusive Development as its theme during her tenure on the United Nations Security Council. This theme, we believe, encompasses and addresses the various complexities of international peace and security, she said.

Ghana is hopeful that it will secure enough votes to occupy the non-permanent seat which is due for June this year.
The Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association has debunked reports that its members are being evicted from their present location by the Greater Accra regional minister Henry Quartey.

The Association said the relocation is at their own request.

They explained in a statement that they put the request before President Nana Akufo-Addo when he visited them as part of his Greater Accra regional tour in November 2020 in the round-up to the election.

The request according to the Association was as a result of:

 Our present place has outlived its usefulness and that not even 10% of our shops there do have toilet and urine facilities.

 The place is so congested that our customers dont find it convenient to come there and patronize our goods as a result of people selling in the middle of the road as well as people repairing vehicles in the road.

 There is always traffic there making it uncomfortable for our customers to drive through

 That because the place is not gated unscrupulous people go around various workshops within the city and pick discarded parts, bring them to Abossey Okai, polish them and resell to unsuspecting customers

The statement noted that it is against these that the public must understand it is the association that is calling for the relocation and not that the minister is ejecting them.

The association disclosed that the Greater Accra regional minister after a stakeholder engagement as part of his Make Accra Work Again Project has pledged his support for the construction of an ultra-modern spare parts hub which will include shops, banks, police stations, hospitals and even estates.

The relocation according to the spare part dealers is expected to commence at the end of the year.

---classfm
Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has cautioned John Mahamas running-mate in the 2020 elections, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang to be mindful of her comments on Free SHS and its implementation.

We dont have to say things that we cannot substantiateWhen you speak, the world listens and I plead with the hon minister [Naana Jane] that she should measure her words carefully when talking about WASSCE and WAEC, an international organization Dr Adutwum cautioned.

Dr Adutwums comments come after Prof Opoku-Agyemang in an interview with Woezor TV questioned why Ghanaians are enthused over the performance of SHS students in the 2020 WASSCE exams on the back of the widespread reports of leakages and cheating.

We have also heard and seen students who wrote an exam, came out and it was like, you know we had an earthquake in this country, it wasnt like one school or two schools this same groups performance is supposed to be outstanding that we shouldnt be talking, it is the group I am referring to, she said.

She added, And they went and wrote the exams we heard of the leakage of the exams, we heard of invigilators being compromised, we heard many things and we also saw the students come out and speak about, no this is not what we were told will happen, now these students have As and we are happy? It is up to us.

Reacting to this on Good Evening Ghana, the Minister for Education said, the students ought to be commended for their sterling performance in the midst of the pandemic.

Under her watch as the Minister of Education in 2015, 23.9% of the students obtained Al to C6 in Maths; under Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in the midst of COVID-19, these students courageously sit for the exam and obtain a score of 66.05% and madam, the least you can do is commend the hardworking teachers, headmasters [and mistresses] of this nation who supported these students through thick or thin in the midst of COVID-19, they did the impossible.

They did so well and instead [of] commending them, you look at these young men and women and tell them that they cheated. WAEC has an algorithm to detect students who have cheated and catch them every year. Let me tell you what this hon minister [Naana Jane] has taken for granted is that when you speak in Ghana, you speak to the entire globe because of what she said, some students may not get scholarships to certain universities around the world because they are going to look at them and say youve cheated you dont deserve to get the scholarship from us.

---starrfm


A Zimbabwean scientist has set up a research institute as a way of turning to science to find solutions to the countrys healthcare challenges.

Brighton Samatanga, 36, a molecular biophysicist and founder of The Biotech Institute, reached professorship in Germany. In August 2020 he returned home to set up what is reputedly the countrys first privately-owned research institute.

The research institute is a hub of many things. We have three departments: technical services, research and education. We have a team of researchers and graduate students in our labs. Our aim is to bring the foremost molecular technology to Zimbabwe as a way to strengthen the countrys health system, Samatanga told TimesLIVE.

At the research institute, Samatanga is currently working on CRISPR, a new technology that facilitates making specific changes to organisms DNA.

Compared to previous techniques for modifying DNA, this new approach is fast and very accurate. Our aim to use CRISPR to edit genes of crops such as maize to help them become resistant to drought. We dont just want to apply it, we want to understand how it works and make it better. We use the same technology for biomedical applications. Some genetic diseases in people can be corrected by making one or two substitutions, or gene editing, he said.

The Biotech Institute has come up with an effective way to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic when it comes testing.

When I set up the research institute, it was at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic and it made me focus on technologies that can provide fast Covid-19 testing turnaround time. We have a portable battery-powered system known as the RT-LAMP. It can test for Covid-19 in 35 minutes. With a test like this, you can detect the virus quickly and avoid transmission.

I am using all the competencies I gained during my time in Europe to try to make a difference back home, said Samatanga,

TimesLIVE
Human activities such as cutting down forests, improper waste disposal, use of fertilizers, burning of coal and petroleum products and gas (fossil fuels), continue to have a brunt on the environment. These are leading to changes in average weather conditions such as temperature and rainfall, affecting natural resources and livelihoods.

Community engagement and sensitization is recognized as critical to the global response to climate change. In this regard, the National Designated Authority (NDA), which is the Economic Strategy and Research Division (ESRD) at the Ministry of Finance, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under the Green Climate Fund Readiness Support is carrying out outreach at the sub-national level.

The exercise is to engage key stakeholders, sensitize and disseminate information on the Green Climate Fund (GCF) processes in selected local languages (Dagbani, Ewe, Ga and Twi) in pilot districts in Ashanti, Volta, Northern and Greater Accra regions of Ghana. The aim is to improve the understanding on the GCFs funding process to enhance stakeholder engagement and direct access to the fund, to accelerate climate actions in Ghana.

When I hear of climate change, I always ask myself what exactly it is. Today, I understood what it is and realized that it is our activities that are affecting the environment, so we must change our behaviours, noted Ophelia Yeboah, Ashanti Regional President of the National Association of Cosmeticians and Hairdressers.

The dissemination outreach targets key stakeholders including women and youth groups, district assembly officers, civil society organisation representatives, community leaders, and representatives of the regional coordinating councils.

Nana Afum Amoah Agyako II, the Sub-Chief (Kontihene) of Asante Achim Domeabra in the Agogo District of the Ashanti Region, commended the sensitization efforts, noting that it has improved their understanding of climate change and global efforts to mitigate the impacts.

We are destroying the environment and suffering the consequences. It can only take us to revert the situation and it is good to know that community involvement in projects supported by the Green Climate Fund is key. I am also happy to know that we can also access the fund by working on proposals, said Nana Amoah Agyako.

The Green Climate Fund was established by 194 governments to support efforts of developing countries in responding to the challenges of climate change. In line with this, Ghana obtained Readiness Support from the GCF to strengthen the capacity of the National Designated Authority, which is the Economic Strategy and Research Division at the Ministry of Finance. The support is to enhance the NDAs capacity in coordinating and monitoring climate finance, stakeholder engagement, enhancing direct access and mobilizing resources from the private sector.

As required by the GCF, the dissemination outreach improved the participants understanding of climate change, created awareness on the GCF projects submission processes (no-objection procedures) in local languages and related actions such as stakeholder engagements and country programming in relation to Ghanas Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The facilitators at the outreach include Mr. Kingsley Amoako, a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the NDA, from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Mr. Foster Gyamfi and Mr. Robert Mensah, both from the NDA/ Ministry of Finance.

Undp Gh Gcf Agogo- Facilitators On Front Row- Small

Undp Gh Gcf Nana-small
The TV3 Upper East Regional Correspondent, Mohammed Rabiu Tanko, was Wednesday morning arrested by officers of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority at the Paga-Burkina Faso border while he was covering a story.

The officers are also reported to have fired multiple warning shots at the time of his arrest, ostensibly to scare him.

Mr. Tanko had gone to the area Wednesday morning to ascertain allegations made by some articulator truck drivers who allege that custom officers at the border charge what they describe as exorbitant prices as parking fees.

They allege that the custom officers at the duty parking place illegally charge each driver GHC 50 without issuing receipts. They thus resolved not to pay the money and have since parked there since Tuesday.

According to Rabiu, on getting to the entrance of the parking lot at the border, he saw the drivers agitated in the presence of some custom officers and immediately he decide to start filming with his phone.

Then within some few seconds, the custom officers spotted me and rushed on me, seized the phone, telling me why am I taking [the video]? , he explained.

The journalist said he attempted explaining himself but they would not take any of his explanations neither did they care that he properly induced himself and showed his ID card.

They held my shirt through the neck and pulled my ID card away, they removed the ID card from the holder  then they started firing [warning shots] again and pulled me to their office.

He said it took the intervention of their boss to cease fire and to take him to their office where he was shouted at asked repeatedly why he did not seek permission before filming.

Mr. Tanko said he explained that he arrived when the agitation was ongoing and so he wanted to capture that agitation before going to the officers for their response. But they insisted and compelled him to delete all the videos from the phone before handing it back to him.

According to him, the agitated drivers thronged the officer while he was held for interrogation.

He has since been freed.

---3news.com
Member of Parliament for Yendi Farouk Aliu Mahama has on Monday, 31st May, 2021 paid a courtesy call on H.E Kati Csaba, the Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana at her residence in Accra.

The visit forms part of efforts to build valuable friendship and collaborations between the humanitarian agencies of Canada and the leadership of Yendi.

They amongst other things discussed achieving results in Women Empowerment, Girl-Child Education, Sanitation and Agriculture in the Yendi constituency.

H.E Kati Csaba commended the efforts of Alhaji Farouk Mahamain Women-Empowerment, Girl-child Education.

She also expressed interest to collaborate with the son of the late former Vice Presidents NGO, Partnership for Poverty Reduction (PPR) in the aforementioned areas of mutual interest.

On his part, Alhaji Farouk Mahama expressed his delight at meeting the High Commissioner and officials of the Commission to such an important discussion.

The legislator said the good people of Yendi are looking forward to welcoming the Canadian businesses to explore investment opportunities in the ancient town.

Present at the meeting were diplomats and mission officers of the Canadian High Commission in Ghana.
Charles Adu Boahen, the Minister of State nominee at the Ministry of Finance, says he resigned from his company Black Star Advisors in 2017, and does not engage in their business dealings.

According to him, all other contrary claims are not true and should be disregarded.

NDC Member of Parliament for the Bolgatanga Central Constituency in the Upper East Region, Isaac Adongo, had asked the Appointments Committee to reject the nominee.

Mr. Adongo insisted that the nominee in his previous position as the Deputy Finance Minister granted an undue benefit to his company through fees and charges on bonds issued by the state in which the said company was advisors to the bonds.

So the reason we are borrowing 60 billion, 70 billion, and 280 billion; is not because Ghana needs it, but because some people need the money. Ken Ofori-Atta and Charles Adu Boahen benefited from that money through the fees they get for their company. So I am calling on them as a matter of conscience to withdraw those companies immediately.

As for Charles Adu Boahen who is due for vetting, I want him to do the honourable thing and withdraw Black Star Brokerage before Wednesday. I want to assure them that this particular activity, I will not relent on it, and I am going to the extent of petitioning the IMF and the World Bank, I will also petition the International Investor community and I will petition CHRAJ to look into this. I will make their issuance of bonds a murky business in 2021, and I urge the Appointments Committee to reject his nomination for the interest of mother Ghana.

But appearing before the vetting committee on Wednesday, June 2, 2021, Mr. Adu Boahen insisted that he does not meddle in the affairs of his company since he resigned in 2017.

Mr. Chairman, as I mentioned earlier, I resigned from the board and management of Black Star Advisors in 2017. I have no role, and I do not participate in their business dealings.

---citinewsroom
Listen to article

In January 2017 when this government began, this was the state of Ghana's upstream petroleum sector. Ghana had 16 offshore licences; 3 were producing fields  Jubilee, TEN and Sankofa Gye Nyame.

Hess Pecan Field-Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points was appraised and ready for development; Hess Left and sold out to Aker and the rest was history. That field is still begging to be developed. 12 blocks in exploration stages all had obligations to either acquire some amount of 2D or 3D seismic and or drill an exploration well. This obligation was well negotiated for in the various Petroleum Agreements signed by the then government.

From 2017 to date, only 4 explorations wells have been drilled by AGM (2 wells under amended terms- if you recall these amended terms reduced Ghana's take from 43% to 18%. Eni (1 well) and Springfield (1 well) for which 3 oil and gas discoveries were made.

The question must be asked; how is it that most of the operators are not performing as expected? If the companies are breaching termination clauses in the various Petroleum Agreements, why are the Agreements not being terminated?

Under the NDC government, 3 non-performing petroleum agreements were terminated as required by law.

In 2018, ExxonMobil entered Ghana under pump and pageantry having been given very juicy terms by the government.

The petroleum agreement signing ceremony was done at the flagstaff house by President Akufo-Addo himself, a clear departure from the normal practice where the Minister of Energy normally supervises the signing ceremony.

They were obligated to acquire 3D seismic and later drill an exploration well. Having enjoyed preferential treatment in the sector, most Ghanaians and industry watchers were expecting an aggressive exploration on their Block.

ExxonMobil managed to license data from a seismic contractor called PGS, and worked on the data. It was expected that Exxonmobil will go ahead after the geological and geophysical study to drill the obligated well. However, ExxonMobil has served notice to Ghanass Ministry of Energy that they will not continue into the next phase to drill the exploration well.

In 2018, the Government organized Block licensing rounds which were publicized around the world. It was reported that 3 companies won blocks offshore Ghana. However, from 2018 to date, not much has been done to award the blocks to ensure that exploration activities pick up. Thanks to the good leadership under the NDC, the only producing fields in Ghana today are Jubilee, Sankofa, and TEN fields, none have been added. Unfortunately, these fields are declining as we continue production each day of the year. Jubilee has been producing oil and gas since 2010. We have already produced about 50% of the Field Reserves.

TEN and Sankofa are also going down. If exploration is not prioritized, the industry will die off. If Ghana does not find more hydrocarbon resources and develop these fields, the worse fear is that the service industry, which is already feeling the impact of the lack of activity and is dying slowly will go into bankruptcy if the trend continues, and this must worry well-meaning Ghanaians. It is only fair to ask; Is Ghana losing its place as the preferred investment destination of the upstream sector in the sub-region under this government?



The writer, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah is a former Energy and Petroleum Minister under the erstwhile John Mahama administration, and Member of Parliament for Ellembele Constituency in the Western Region.
France reduced its arms exports by 41 percent in 2020 with weapons contracts worth 4.3 billion euros. A report issued by the French Ministry of Defence blames the Covid-19 crisis and the lack of big contracts for the decline.

French arms exports declined dramatically in 2020, as a result of the global health crisis and the absence of major contracts, according to the annual report on arms exports submitted to parliament by the Ministry of Defence on Tuesday.

In 2020, orders were worth 4.9 billion euros, compared to 8.3 billion euros the previous year.

The biggest clients were Saudi Arabia (704 million), the United States (434 million) and Morocco (426 million).

The sales figures were lower than in 2019 due to "constraints linked to the global health crisis which pushed back several arms prospects to 2021...and the absence of major contracts exceeding 500 million euros for the year 2020", according to the report.

However, the ministry said the decrease in sales "does not reflect a fundamental trend" given the recent signing of large sales contracts for Rafale jet fighters to Egypt (30 aircraft worth 4 billion euros), Greece (18 aircraft, including 12 used) and Croatia (12 used Rafales).

Major arms market

French arms exports had already showed an 8.6 percent decline in 2019, in the wake of major sales of Rafale fighter jets to Egypt, India and Qatar in previous years.

The European zone represents France's major arms market for the second consecutive year with 25 percent of sales (15 percent for EU countries and 10 percent for other European clients) with the UK and Greece being among France's top six customers.

The Middle East zone accounts for 24 percent of orders, and the Asia-Pacific region for another 22 percent or "a slightly higher share than that observed over the past three years". Africa accounts for 16 percent of total orders.

War in Yemen

French arms sales to Saudi Arabia continue to be a matter of concern for NGOs. Late last year, several rights groups issued a joint press release, saying that parliamentary control is essential since French arms sales have been shown to be responsible for certain serious violations of humanitarian law, particularly in Yemen (where Saudi Arabia is fighting a brutal war), where those violations have dramatic consequences for the civilian population".

In December 2018, the Foreign Affairs Committee of France's parliament established a fact-finding mission on arms export control, headed by MPs Michele Tabarot and Jacques Maire, as a result of negative public opinion and NGO mobilisation against French arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, likely to be used illegally against civilians in Yemen.

French weapon sales to Saudi Arabia were first exposed to the public by the investigative website Disclose, in a report entitled "Made in France".

(with agencies)
Population Census is the official enumeration of all persons in a country at a specified time. The enumeration includes the collection, compilation, evaluation, analysis, publication and dissemination of demographic, social and economic statistics relating to the population.

In Ghana, this is generally conducted every decade to provide essential information on citizenry spatial distribution, age and sex structure, and other key social and economic characteristics.

Over the last decade, the Government of Ghana, businesses and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) relied heavily on the 2010 Population and Housing Census for developmental processes including the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS), the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA) and an Agenda for Jobs: Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for all.

Globally, this data was utilized in interventions geared towards the attainment of the African Unions Agenda 2063, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other developmental processes.

However, the 2010 Population and Housing Census data is outdated as the country has witnessed a significant increase in population and in relation to social and economic characteristics. This makes the 2021 Population and Housing Census exercise the most desired and waited-for document to accelerate national and global development process.

Northern Regional Minister, Hon. Alhaji Shani Alhassan Shaibu

In line with this, the Northern Regional Minister, Hon. Alhaji Shani Alhassan Shaibu in his statement at the launch of the 30-days countdown to the 2021 Census Night stressed that, civil society organizations, businesses and government as far as planning, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes are concerned, is lacking reliable and timely data.

He said the 2021 Population and Housing Census will provide a huge amount and variety of data to support both national and global development processes.

The benefits of the census are enormous. Information will be collected on every structure and their uses, water and sanitation resources, households and individuals, thereby providing reliable and disaggregated data to lowest levels of administration and geography, including rural and urban differentiation, he said.

He added that the census will enable the regions and districts to obtain relevant data to support key decisions, including data on the proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements or poor housing conditions.

Hon. Shaibu expressed optimism that, the data obtained from the census will help to attract new businesses to the regions, districts and localities, adding that, the data is critically needed by the Regional Coordinating Councils for the purpose of planning and formulation of policies geared to the creation of jobs, eradicating poverty and all forms of inequalities and vulnerabilities in the districts and regions, and generally to ensure that we leave no one behind in our development agenda.

He assured that the Regional Coordinating Council will ensure necessary security measures to protect enumerators, census officials and citizens for a smooth conduct of the census in the Northern region.

The Council will continue to build the needed systems, bring together diverse expertise, mobilise resources, and support strategies to support the conduct of a successful Census, he added.

He urges the populace to avail themselves of the exercise to enable the country obtain reliable and timely data to accelerate national and global development.
Listen to article

African governments have been challenged to rethink revenue mobilisation strategies as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to exacerbate debt stress levels across the continent. This was said during the Plenary Session of the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) Biannual Research Workshop held under the theme of "Covid-19 Pandemic and Public Finance in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities", on Monday 31st May 2021.

Speaking at the event, World Bank Group Vice President and Chief Economist Prof. Carmen Reinhart said most economies across the world, inclusive of several African countries entered the pandemic when they were at high risk of or in debt distress levels occasioned by rising debts, slowing growth and weak financial conditions.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the challenges that existed before the pandemic, worsening the debt situation even further. The need to spend more on public health and social safety nets programmes coupled with a slowdown in economic activities are all exerting considerable pressure on government finances," Prof. Reinhart said. "Several governments across the continent are forced to run wide fiscal deficits that are slowly translating into increasing debt and debt distress."

"Covid has been an exceptionally regressive crisis. It's regressive within countries and regressive across countries," she added.

Since 2020, the Covid-19 crisis has deepened and continues to affect the broader economy and people's livelihoods. This has forced various governments across the continent to roll out various programmes to support the adversely impacted households, whilst financing its operations and public service. Unfortunately, many African countries have relatively high levels of debt and that means that they do not have enough fiscal resources to respond to the crisis and to help people, leading to debt stress levels.

"We are facing a more protracted downtime as conditions haven't normalised tourism, cross-border activities, and other key sectors of the economy. In Africa, the income per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is not going to recover to its pre-crisis levels in 2021, thus the biggest challenge of avoiding debt looms very largely."

Against this backdrop, Prof. Reinhart highlighted the following policy priorities going forward:

Debt restructuring - borrowing from the historical debt restructuring lessons.

Resource mobilisation by tackling fiscal problems through austerity measures.

Widening of the revenue base to help reduce the debt levels and finance social services amidst the pandemic.

Building safety nets through digital financial platforms to enable effective distribution of the government benefits.

Climate financing - Engaging green finance while tackling climate-related risks that have been accumulating over time.

On his part, AERC Executive Director Prof. Njuguna Ndung'u said the pandemic has exposed the structural vulnerabilities of most African countries from health financing, health infrastructure, social safety nets, economic diversification, and public finance.

"The negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are visible in all the African regions, but most affected are in southern and western Africa," Prof. Ndung'u said. "Some African countries have fared better than others depending on their initial conditions. The countries that were already having debt distress fared even worse, he added."

Due to the devastating impact of the pandemic, African economies are witnessing the reversals in the gains made over the last 20 years in terms of poverty reduction and employment creation.

Across the continent, millions of people are going without jobs, cost of living has increased. Interestingly the pandemic has brought out the capacity of citizens to help each other. Private citizens mobilize resources to uplift the poor, the needy, and to defray medical expenses for the sick.

"There's an opportunity to institute strong social protection programmes in Africa to ensure support for the poorest and cushion against those marginalised and future negative shocks- but dependent on fiscal space," He noted.

The 54th plenary session of the AERC Biannual Research Workshop set the context for deliberations on a broad range of issues including challenges and opportunities in reforming the state of public finance in Africa.

Special Session in Honour of Prof. Benno Ndulu

Led by Jeffrey Fine, the Founding Executive Director of the AERC, various speakers made their contributions in the Special Session that was organized to honor Prof. Benno Ndulu, one of the most celebrated academic in Africa, policy leader and founder of AERC.

The late Prof. Ndulu, passed away on the 22nd February 2021. Benno, a celebrated Economist, Mentor and Scholar, was the first Director of Research and the first African Executive Director of the AERC. He was also a member of the AERC Board, Chair of the AERC Programme Committee, founder member of the AERC African Central Bank Governors Forum, thought leader and paper presenter and discussant at AERC policy workshops. His commitment and dedication to the AERC and its mandate to build research capacity in Africa is highly commendable.
Listen to article

National Communications Director of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi says the Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Quayson has petitioned the Chief Justice to direct the judge presiding over his dual citizenship case to recuse himself.

This follows alleged commentary by the judge, Justice Kwasi Boakye, deemed by the NDC to be biased against the incumbent MP.

Michael Ankomah-Nimfa, a resident of Assin Bereku in the Central Region, filed a petition at the Cape Coast High Court seeking to annul the declaration of Mr. James Gyakye Quayson as the Member of Parliament for the Assin North constituency.

He was challenged for having dual citizenship, contrary to the expressed provision of Article 94 (2) (a) of the 1992 constitution of Ghana, which states that a person shall not be qualified to be a member of Parliament if he or she  (a) owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana.

In an interview with Citi News after Wednesday's court hearing in Cape Coast, Sammy Gyamfi stated that the Assin North MP had petitioned the Chief Justice to direct the judge to recuse himself from the case over instances that might constitute bias.

The statement the presiding judge made in court that day showed that he had already taken a position even before the counsel addressed him on that important issue. So because of the likelihood that there will be bias, and that the first respondent will not have a fair hearing before this presiding judge, the counsel made an oral application for this presiding judge to recuse himself which he heard in chambers and turned down.

Subsequently, the first respondent himself petitioned the Chief Justice of Ghana to appeal for him to intervene in the matter and ensure that the judge recuses himself so that justice will not only be done but seen as well, he added.

Meanwhile, the NPP in the Central Region maintains that the NDC is delaying the case.

This follows the failure of the first respondent to be represented by a lawyer in court after the withdrawal of Abraham Amaliba as the legal representative for the NDC MP.

Mr. Amaliba, one of the lawyers defending Mr Gyakye Quayson filed an application to withdraw his services.

Citing comments made by the judge in previous hearings which he believed might constitute bias, Mr. Amaliba, on Tuesday, May 18, 2021, moved for the judge to recuse himself from making further statements in open court which appear to indicate a pre-determined outcome of the substantive case.

Part of his application read That although your lordship refused my prayer to recuse yourself on grounds, inter alia, that you don't remember ever making the alleged comment, I remain of the strong conviction that there is a real likelihood of bias, and my continuous presence in the matter as counsel with such a conviction, will not augur well for the interest of my client and administration of justice.

---citinewsroom
New Caledonia is to hold a third and final referendum on independence from France on 12 December  a date chosen after a week of talks in Paris between French officials and leaders from the Pacific territory.

A yes vote would see New Caledonia assume full sovereignty after a two-year transition period. A no vote would require a new status to be drawn up for the archipelago  a document that would also need to be put to a referendum.

Despite voters in New Caledonia twice rejecting independence  in 2018 and 2020  France granted a request by the island's pro-independence party to hold another vote.

Under the rules of the 1998 Noumea Accord, which set out a 20-year path towards decolonisation, up to three referenda on independence are allowed.

The gap between supporters and opponents of independence narrowed significantly in the second referendum, with those in favour rising from 43.3 percent to 46.7 percent.

Valuable subsidies

While New Caledonia has a large amount of autonomy, it relies heavily on France for defence, health and education  receiving 1.5 billion euros in subsidies in 2019 alone.

Prime Minister Jean Castex has asked the yes campaign, made up mostly of indigenous Kanaks, to be clear about how those economic subsidies would be replaced.

Colonised by Napoleon in 1853, New Caledonia has 25 percent of the world's nickel reserves, while the coastlines around the island allow France strategic access to Pacific waters.

Around 41 percent of the population is Kanak people, while people of European origin, who are known as Caldoches and are largely in favour of remaining French, make up 24.1 percent.

The leftover 35 percent of the island's population of 270,000 people, who mostly come from nearby countries, fall into both camps.
WHOs authorization means the vaccine can be bought by donors and other U.N. agencies for use in poorer countries, including in the U.N.-backed initiative to distribute COVID-19 vaccines globally known as COVAX. The effort has been slowed considerably after its biggest supplier in India said it would not be able to provide any more vaccines until the end of the year due to the latest surge of new infections now ravaging India.
The nominee for Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen, has disclosed that the COVID-19 pandemic cost the country GHS21 billion.

The nominee, who served as a deputy Finance Minister in President Akufo-Addos first term , made this known when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament today, Wednesday, June 2, 2021.

According to him, GHS18 billion of the said amount was funded through borrowing, with the remaining amount sourced from grants and the Stabilisation Fund.

COVID-19 cost us [Ghana] about GHS21 billion. Of that amount, about GHS18 billion of it was funded through borrowing, and the rest came to us as grants, [along with] some monies from the Stabilisation Fund.

When further pushed by the Minority Leader, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu as to what percentage that represents in GPD terms, Mr. Adu Boahene stated that it represents 13% of Ghanas GPD.

Ghana's debt crosses GHS300 billion mark as debt-to-GDP ratio drops to 70.2%

Ghana's total public debt stock has increased once again according to new data released by the Bank of Ghana.

The debt stock which ended 2020 at GHS291.6 billion, saw about GHS13 billion being added in the first quarter of 2021.

This represents an increase of about 4 percent, and brings Ghana's total public debt as of the end of March 2021 to GHS 304.6 billion.

The new debt figure brings Ghana's debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio to 70.2% as of the end of March 2021.

This is lower than the debt to GDP ratio of 76.1% recorded at the end of 2020 according to data from the Central Bank.

The reduced debt to GDP ratio despite an increase in the overall debt figure, can be attributed to the projected GDP figure of GHS433.6 billion for the year 2021.

The new GDP figure represents an increase of about 13% over the GDP figure for 2020 which stood at GHS383.3 billion.

A breakdown of the debt numbers shows that the component of the debt secured outside the country remained relatively stable in the first quarter even dropping marginally to GHS141 billion in March, from the GHS142.5 billion recorded in January and February of this year.

The external debt component as of the end of March 2021 made up 32.5 % of the total value of the economy which is projected to be about GHS434 billion for 2021.

On the other hand, the component of the debt secured locally increased steadily in the first 3 months of 2021. That is an increase of about GHS 14 billion from January to March this year, bringing total domestic debt to GHS163.6 billion at the end of the period under review, representing 37.7 per cent of the projected GDP for 2021.

The domestic component of the total public debt contains the financial sector resolution bond which was GHS15.2 billion as of the end of March 2021.

---citinewsroom
Brahim Ghali, leader of the Polisario Front, the separatist group in the disputed Western Sahara, has arrived in Algeria after a Spanish court decided not to detain him in connection with allegations of human rights abuses, following weeks of hospital treatment that triggered a row with Morocco.

Algeria supports the Polisario Front in its campaign against the Moroccan government, which claims sovereignty over Western Sahara  a former Spanish colony.

Polisario Front spokesperson Jalil Mohamed was quoted by Reuters news agency on Wednesday as saying that Ghali had arrived in Algeria, safe and sound.

Ghali's stay in a Spanish hospital, where he was treated for complications arising from Covid-19, led to a diplomatic row between Spain and Morocco. The Moroccan government claims he entered Spain in mid-April using a forged passport.

Then last month, in what was widely seen as a retaliatory political gesture, Moroccan border guards did nothing to stop some 8,000 migrants entering Spain's tiny North African enclave of Ceuta.

Most were immediately returned to Morocco, but hundreds of unaccompanied minors, who cannot be deported under Spanish law, remain.

Madrid judge rejects detention

Meanwhile on Tuesday, a judge in Madrid rejected a request by prosecutors to detain Brahim Ghali in connection with alleged human rights abuses.

Ghali is the subject of two investigations in Spain. One relates to allegations of torture at Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, a town in western Algeria.

The accusations were made in 2020 by Polisario dissident Fabel Breica, who also holds Spanish nationality. A Spanish court initially rejected the complaint but earlier this year it agreed to reopen the case.

The second investigation relates to allegations of genocide, murder, terrorism, torture and disappearances made in 2009 by the Sahrawi Association for the Defence of Human Rights (ASADEDH), which is based in Spain.

Santiago Pedraz, the Spanish judge handling the case, refused to impose any precautionary measures  such as seizing the Polisario leader's passport as requested by the complainants  arguing there are no "clear indications of his involvement" in the crimes of which he has been accused.

Ghali is also the president of the Sahrawi Democratic Arab Republic, a self-declared state since 1976 which claims authority over the disputed territory of Western Sahara  80 percent of which is controlled by Morocco, the rest by the Polisario Front.

Rabat considers Ghali to be a war criminal.
Targeted measures are needed to ensure women equally benefit that will arise from opportunities from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), an official from the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), has said.

Ms Thokozile Ruzvidzo, the Director of Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division, United Nations ECA, made this appeal to African countries at a roundtable on Human Capital: Culture and Heritage, during the 2021 Africa Dialogue Series, monitored by the Ghana News Agency.

She said trade alone could not change the fact that women, who played a significant role in Africa's economy, remained underpaid and underemployed compared to men.

Ms Ruzvidzo said women remained vulnerable to high levies, bribes, harassment, confiscation of goods, and violence, especially in Africa's informal cross-border trade where they made up 70 per cent of merchants.

Women are not a homogenous group. AfCFTA will affect them differently based on their education, economic status and location. Understanding the gender impacts of trade under AfCFTA is critical in ensuring equality of opportunity for women and men, she said.

We know that trade can be a powerful driver of gender equality but that can only happen if we implement measures, which stamp out inequalities across the whole system.

The AfCFTA is the world's biggest free trade area, with a market of 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of $3.2 trillion. The agreement creates new jobs and business opportunities across Africa.

However, similar to global trends, women are not benefiting from international trade as much as men.

According to the International Trade Centre, only one per cent of the global government procurement market is currently offered to women-owned businesses.

Research shows that this imbalance reduces GDP and perpetuates poverty, unproductivity and inequality.

To address this gap, Ms Ruzvidzo shared three recommendations with participants.

First, she said, countries needed to adopt a gender-sensitive approach to the implementation of AfCFTA, especially in areas that directly affected women.

Specific measures could range from customs cooperation to trade facilitation, legal protection from discrimination, sanitary services and administrative support, which will offer women a better, fairer and safer trading environment.

Second, specific continental frameworks are needed to address gender-based barriers, which will guarantee that trade opportunities reach and benefit every African.

Ms Ruzvidzo said: For instance, introducing a continent-wide Simplified Trade Regime that is sensitive to the needs of small-scale female traders can bring those traders into the formal trading system, enabling them to grow and thrive.

Similar interventions that addressed obstacles women faced could improve the productivity and competitiveness of women-owned businesses and enable female farmers to access regional markets, she said.

Recognising the digital uptake in the COVID-19 pandemic, the final recommendation focuses on scaling up digitisation efforts to help industrialise and diversify the African economy.

The overarching principle in Ms Ruzvidzo's recommendations is to ensure women's interests and concerns inform the policy, legislative and procedural frameworks to facilitate trade under the AfCFTA.

She said that would ensure no one was left behind and the full potentials of trade liberalisation were positively harnessed for a healthy African economy.

Participants on the roundtable included leading academics, development experts and civil society representatives.

---GNA
The leader of Western Sahara's independence movement returned to Algeria Wednesday after six weeks of medical treatment in Spain that unleashed a tetchy diplomatic standoff between Rabat and Madrid.

Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali flew out of Pamplona airport in northern Spain overnight, with a Spanish government source telling AFP on Wednesday morning he was "in Algeria".

Ghali arrived in Algiers at around 3:00 am (0200 GMT), where he will continue his recovery from a severe case of Covid-19, top Polisario official Abdelkader Taleb Omar told Algeria's APS news agency.

He added that Ghali's improving health meant he no longer needed hospitalisation in Spain.

However Ghali was nonetheless immediately admitted to a military hospital in Algiers, where he was visited by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and army chief of staff Said Chengriha, Algerian public television showed.

Tebboune described the visit as "his duty" and reaffirmed his support for Ghali's cause, APS reported. The Algerian president also thanked Spain for welcoming Ghali and for the "delicate" care he had received.

Algeria is the main supporter of the Polisario Front, which has for decades fought Morocco for the independence of Western Sahara, a desert region bigger than Britain which was a Spanish colony until 1975.

Ghali's imminent departure had been announced late Tuesday by Spain's foreign ministry -- who had informed their Moroccan counterparts -- without saying where he was going.

His departure came hours after he was quizzed by a Spanish judge over allegations of torture and genocide, which he denied, in a video hearing from a hospital in the northern town of Logrono.

Map of Western Sahara. By (AFP)

During the hearing, the judge declined to issue any precautionary measures such as seizing Ghali's passport or holding him in preventative custody, saying there were no "clear indications of his involvement" in the alleged crimes.

Critically ill, Ghali secretly landed in Spain on April 18 aboard a medicalised Algerian government plane, sparking a diplomatic standoff with Morocco.

From 'blackmail' to 'respectful ties'

The incident triggered a string of terse exchanges which sharpened after up to 10,000 migrants surged into Spain's North African enclave Ceuta, as guards in neighbouring Morocco looked the other way.

The Socialist government of Pedro Sanchez accusing Rabat of "blackmail" and "aggression" over the influx.

It was not immediately clear how Ghali's departure from Spain would affect the tension -- although Madrid appeared to be easing its tone on Wednesday, with Sanchez's deputy Carmen Calvo speaking of "respectful and constructive relations" and "common interests".

Ghali spent six weeks in a hospital in northern Spain recovering from Covid-19. By ANDER GILLENEA (AFP)

Rabat remained silent, although it too had sought to step back from the crisis on Tuesday, with King Mohammed VI saying Morocco wanted to "settle definitively" the situation of the unaccompanied minors still in Ceuta.

However, on Monday it had said the crisis between the two countries "would not be resolved with (Ghali's) departure" because it was linked to Spain's position on Western Sahara which was "a sacred issue for the Moroccan people".

Speaking to AFP, a diplomatic source said the Moroccans had been "threatening to break off diplomatic relations with Spain for a few days now.

"But the question is whether they will go that far, and if not, what options are on the table after the rhetorical outburst of the last few days."

Strategic resources

Isaias Barrenada, an expert on international relations at Madrid's Complutense University, said Ghali's departure meant Morocco had nothing left to complain about.

Ghali's presence in Spain "was just an easy pretext... to put pressure on Madrid and its position on the Sahara," he told AFP.

Morocco's authorities have long wanted Spain to acknowledge their authority over Western Sahara, as Washington did in December under former president Donald Trump.

But Spain says a solution to the status of the disputed territory can only come from a United Nations-brokered agreement.

Considered a war criminal by Morocco, Ghali has headed the Polisario Front since 2016 and is president of the Sahrawi Democratic Arab Republic, a self-declared state in an almost-landlocked area flanking Mauritania's border.

It covers around a fifth of Western Sahara, while the rest is run by Morocco.

Rabat has offered Western Sahara autonomy but insists that the territory, which is rich in phosphates and offshore fishing, is part of the Moroccan kingdom.
Listen to article

The Ashanti Regional Police Command says the 43-year-old man who was shot during a robbery incident at Buokrom Estate in Kumasi has passed on.

According to the police, in the early hours of Tuesday, June 1, 2021, four armed men on a motorbike stormed a non-bank financial agency and stole an amount of GHS 138,000.

Speaking to the media at a news conference, the Public Relations Officer of the Ashanti Regional Police Command, ASP Godwin Ahianyo, called on the public to assist them to arrest the culprits.

The armed men in the process shot a customer who was later identified as Collins Dapaah Hayford aged 43. The victim was rushed to the Manhyia Hospital for treatment but was pronounced dead on arrival. His body has since been deposited at the Ebenezer Hospital Morgue pending an autopsy. Meanwhile, the police is picking some reliable leads that will help apprehend the perpetrators of this heinous crime. The command would like to inform the public through the media that all cases of crimes reported in the region are under investigation. Some are in court and others are pending to be sent to court anytime soon he said.

ASP Godwin Ahianyo also disclosed that four suspected notorious armed robbers in the region have been arrested and remanded into police custody.

The suspects are Mustapha Adams 37, Ibrahim Adamu 39, Aseidu Ona Alas L.ion 33, and Mohammed Abubakar, 33. The suspects are in police custody assisting with the Police investigation. It will be recalled that on Thursday 25th March, 2021, one Emmanuel Antwi aged 40 now deceased was robbed of Toyota Prado vehicle by three armed men, he said.

Also, he says these suspects have been arrested in relation to other related robberies in the region.

Investigation so far has revealed that the above-named suspects perpetrated that crime. Subsequent investigation has also established that these suspects are involved in many other robberies cases reported in the region he said

Meanwhile, residents who live in Buokrom Estate say the level of insecurity in the area is worrying.

A troubled resident who spoke to Citi News said almost every week there are armed robbers patrolling all over this place.

Another resident said armed robbers have been breaking into the containers here. By the time you will come in the next morning, you will realize that almost all of your goods are gone. We are afraid for our lives.

The Assembly Member should rather volunteer to bring the police if the government is not willing to bring the police around here. We the inhabitants will pay for it. We are pleading with the government to bring policemen here. There should even be a police checkpoint over here. If we dont get police protection; we cannot feel safe.

---citinewsroom
An Accra Circuit Court on Wednesday convicted a 47-year-old woman for possessing Indian hemp.

Rita Atsufui Koffie admitted the offence and she was convicted on her own plea but the sentence was deferred to Thursday.

Mrs Susana Eduful, the judge, had earlier ordered a pregnancy test on Rita.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr Evans Kessie told the Court that Rita was a trader, living at Shukura near Dansoman.

He said upon a tip-off, the Police arrested Rita on September 9, 2020, at about 1600 hours with three buckets of the Indian hemp soaked in liquid, popularly known as lacka as well as quantity of the dried leaves.

ASP Kessie said the exhibit was sent to the laboratory for examination where it tested positive.

---GNA
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says Government is employing the application of digital technology to stimulate the growth and transformation of the Ghanaian economy, and, thereby, help ensure that every Ghanaian derives maximum benefit from this process.

Speaking at the launch of the 25th anniversary of MTN, on Wednesday, 2nd June 2021, President Akufo-Addo stated that, since assuming office in 2017, his government has taken decisions that have provided the necessary impetus to stimulate the economy on several levels.

We recognized that having a national database was one of the critical elements of a digital economy, and instituted that as a matter of priority by implementing the National Identification programme, and completing the first phase of the National Digital Property Addressing System, to support geolocation and the issuance of postal codes, he said.

Addressing the gathering, the President noted that, in order to make the Ghana Card the primary source of identification to access services in the country, majority of Ghanaians have been enrolled onto the National Biometric Identity Card, adding that it will enhance coordination amongst state institutions, and provide significant benefits to citizens.

Indeed, just last year, the National Health Insurance Card was integrated with the Ghana Card as part of the consolidation process. It has also been integrated with GRA to form the TIN number, and it will be used to verify all SIM registrations shortly. The overall objective of Government is to integrate all databases for effective administration of the country. Big data analytics, machine learning, and internet of things are becoming a reality in Ghana, he added.

President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation is also embarking on an ambitious national broadband infrastructure development programme for the ICT Sector, with a special focus on providing total connectivity to the unserved and underserved communities in the country.

The Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion Project, he indicated, is currently being rolled out, and construction of 2,016 solar powered cell sites across the country has begun in earnest, to provide voice and data connectivity to millions of rural dwellers and facilitate national roaming too.

In addition to this, he stressed that a Common Monitoring Platform (CMP), which monitors communication traffic and provides real-time verification of transactions in the telecommunications sector, has been established as a measure of transparency and accountability to build trust and improve the working relationship between government and players in the industry.

Government is committed to ensuring efficiency in the delivery of public services, and has rolled out e-government services, including the introduction of paperless port operations, e-procurement, e-parliament, e-justice, e-registrar, and the use of the smart workplace virtual office application, amongst other initiatives, he said.

President Akufo-Addo continued, An electronic platform for the payment of all government goods and services, the ghana.gov.gh platform, has been established to promote efficiency and transparency in revenue collection, and improve upon the security of transactions in the public sector.

Through the Accra Digital Centre, the President told the gathering Government is providing state of the art, commercial office spaces for ICT businesses and BPOs, and trains the youth in startup businesses.

Having established the mobile money interoperability platform to promote seamless flow of cash amongst the various networks, President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that he is proud that Ghana is the first African country to introduce a universal QR Code, which has the ability to meet the needs of both banked and unbanked customers by facilitating payments from multiple funding sources, such as mobile wallets, cards or bank accounts, on any platform.

With the digital revolution faced with security and data privacy challenges, he indicated that Government has put in place the right cyber security and data protection laws to sustain the quality of experience in the use of digital services.

Following the coming into force of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), President Akufo-Addo was confident that digital platforms, systems and technology will play pivotal roles in the success of the AfCFTA.

He, thus, urged MTN and, indeed, all players in the industry to continue to collaborate with Government, as we roll out further initiatives to deepen digitalisation in a more sustainable way.
The Ghanaian governments failure to tackle illegal fishing has resulted in a second yellow card  a formal warning that could lead to a seafood export ban to the EU. The recently appointed Fisheries Minister must break with the past to enforce Ghanas own laws and eradicate illegal fishing, while ensuring transparency across the industry that will expose illegal operators and reward those who abide by the law.

Ghanas waters have been plagued by illegal fishing for decades. In particular, saiko is a severely destructive form of illegal fishing, where industrial trawlers illegally target the staple catch of small-scale canoe fishers and transfer it to specially adapted boats at sea for sale at local markets. The practice is having a severe impact on Ghanas small pelagic fish populations, and sardinella is already on the brink of collapse, with landings having crashed by 80% over the past twenty years.

Ghana was first issued with a yellow card by the EU in 2013, and this was lifted in 2015 as a result of new legislation and a clear fisheries management plan. However, while these policies are well constructed, they have not been implemented or enforced, allowing the situation to deteriorate and leading the European Commission to re-issue a yellow card warning. Ghana is the second country ever to have been re-carded in this way and must now urgently work to eradicate illegal fishing by vessels flying its flag and operating in its waters.

The key to safeguarding Ghanas fisheries and the livelihoods of 2.7 million Ghanaians that rely on them, is drastically improving transparency of the fleet, says EJF, which has worked to alert the government of illegal fishing since 2017.

Currently, the Ghanaian fishing industry suffers from a shocking lack of transparency. This allows illegal operators to disguise the identity, ownership and history of fishing vessels, avoiding detection and sanctions. As a result, illegal fishing is rife and vast over-capacity in the fishing fleet continues to decimate fish stocks.

Around 90% of Ghanas industrial fishing trawlers are owned by Chinese corporations despite foreign ownership or control being illegal, investigations by EJF have shown. The lack of transparency allows these operators to set up opaque corporate structures and work through Ghanaian front companies to obtain licences to fish.

This means that Ghana is losing out on up to 23.7 million US dollars every year in revenue.

Fines for illegal fishing  which has been linked to Chinese companies  are often below even the minimum stipulated by Ghanaian legislation and do not meet Ghanas responsibilities under international law. Ghanas licensing fees are also far lower than other states in the region, under the misplaced justification that they are intended for local, not foreign, vessels.

CEO and founder of the Environmental Justice Foundation Steve Trent says: Now is the time to eradicate illegal fishing in Ghana once and for all. Saiko is precipitating a human and ecological crisis, with fish stocks on the brink of collapse and livelihoods and food security on the line. Ghana has the means to end saiko, and it is important that it takes steps to do so immediately.

Transparency is a low-cost, highly effective means to tackle illegal fishing, improve accountability and support meaningful participation in decision-making. Simple measures that Ghana can take today include publishing fishing licence lists and punishments for illegal fishing  where the true beneficial owners are clear in both cases. The Honourable Minister Hawa Koomson now has an opportunity to work with the EU to introduce robust transparency measures and fully implement Ghanas laws. His Excellency President Nana Akufo-Addo should look to secure a legacy that will safeguard Ghanaian jobs and food security.

Notes for editors
The Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) has called on the Achimota School and the Ghana Education (GES) to respect the decision of the court and admit the two Rastafarian students previously denied admission into the school.

In March this year, Tyron Iras Marhguy and Oheneba Kwaku Nkrabea were denied admission into Achimota School for refusing to cut down their dreadlocks.

The duo had passed their qualifying examinations and had been selected into the school through the computerized placement system.

Outraged by the decision, the two boys led by their parents sued the school to challenge its stance and have it overturned.

After months, an Accra High Court ruled in favour of the two Rastafarians and ordered the Achimota School to admit them immediately.

Having followed the issue keenly, GNECC has released a statement to urge the parties involved to adhere to and respect the decision of the court.

GNECC wishes to urge the Ghana Education Service and the authorities of the Achimota School to respect the High Court ruling and admit the students," part of a GNECC statement has said.

Moving forward, the Coalition has called for stakeholder dialogue to come out with a national guideline to govern all schools in the country to ensure there is uniformity in the way matters of the nature of what happened between the Achimota School and the Rastafarian students are handled.

We seek to reiterate our call for the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to call for a National Stakeholders dialogue to introduce National Guidelines that will govern all schools in Ghana and bring uniformity in the way matters of this nature are handled.

This will ensure that the best interest of all Ghanaian children and other stakeholders are catered for, GNECC statement concludes.

Find below the full statement from GNECC:
Listen to article

The former National Coordinator of the now-defunct Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), Mr Abuga Pele, who is currently in jail for causing financial loss to the state, has been admitted to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge Hospital) for some health challenges.

Graphic.com.gh reports that a source at the hospital confirmed that Mr Pele was currently in critical condition at the High Dependency Unit (HDU) of the hospital, after he was taken there from the Nsawam Maximum Security Prison last week.

It is not clear what the hospital is treating the incarcerated politician for.

"He is currently on level two so that is a critical condition, the website quoted the source as saying.

Mr Pele and businessman Philip Akpeena Assibit were sentenced to a total of 18 years in prison on February 23, 2018 for their involvement in the GH4.1 million GYEEDA scandal.

The two were put before court in 2014.

The court concluded that Mr Pele entered into an unlawful agreement with Mr Assibit, prevailing on the state to make payments when no work had been done.

He has since served about three years at the Nsawam Maximum Security Prison from where he was rushed to the hospital on health grounds last week.

False claims

Mr Assibit, for his part, made false claims for payments to the tune of GH 3.3 million as services provided to the erstwhile National Youth Employment Programme.

The said amount included developing an exit programme and securing a grant of GH65 million from the World Bank.

Pele, who is also a former Member of Parliament for Chiana-Paga in the Upper East Region, is serving six years, while Assibit is serving 12 years in prison.

Lower sentence

The former MP was slapped with a lower sentence because the court held that there was no evidence that he benefited from the proceeds of the crime.

Before sentencing, the lawyers pleaded with the presiding judge, Justice Afia Serwaah Asare Botwe, for lenient sentences.

Source: graphic.com.gh
Gov. Jim Justice announced the new initiatives to ramp up the states meager vaccination numbers, according to Vice News. Only about 40% of the Mountain States adult residents have received at least one dose and only 33% are fully vaccinated. compared to 57% in New York state.
The Ashanti Regional Police command has arrested four suspects for their involvement in various cases of armed robbery in the region.

They are Mustapha Adams, 37; Ibrahim Adamu, 39; Seidu Bona alias "Lion", 33; and Mohammed Abubakar, 33.

Addressing the media today, Wednesday, 2 June 2021, the Public Relations Officer of the regional police command, ASP Godwin Ahianyo, said the suspects, on 25 March 2021, shot and killed an engineer with Joshop Construction and robbed him of his Toyota Prado with registration number GN 4131-20.

The victim, Mr Emmanuel Antwi, 40, was rushed to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital but died later while on admission.

Mr Ahianyo said the same suspects were involved in a robbery incident that took place on 4 April 2021, where the victim was robbed of his Toyota RAV 4 at gunpoint at Kenyase Bampenase, a suburb of Kumasi.

He said investigations also revealed that they were the same armed robbers who attacked and robbed the Municipal Chief Executive of Asokore Mampong of his Toyota Hilux with registration number GW 2473-16 on February 12, 2021.

ASP Ahianyo said they again attacked and robbed another victim on 15 April 2021 of his unregistered Range Rover at Buokrom F-line.

He further said on 25 April 2021 around 9:00 pm, suspect Mustapha Adams together with two of his accomplices who are on the run, again robbed a Honda Accord DV-trade-plated car with registration number 4894A at Achiase near Kenyase.

ASP Ahianyo said on 28 April 2021, Mustapha Adams and Mohammed Abubakar also attempted to rob a DV-trade-plated Toyota 4 Runner at gunpoint at Kenyase Abram but luck eluded them and were arrested by the police.

He said they later led the police to arrest the other two suspects and have all been arraigned and remanded into police custody to assist the police with investigations.

---classfm
Listen to article

Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu has said his caucus is following a case in which an officer at Jubilee House was picked up by the office of national security in connection with illegal small-scale mining (galamsey).

The Tamale South MP told journalists at media engagement in parliament that: We are demanding greater transparency even in the presidents quest to fight galamsey.

I hear a gentleman was picked up some few days ago at Flagstaff House  one Damoah  and we are following closely, he revealed.

He warned: Nobody should make an attempt to cover up what his doings have been relative to his engagement or involvement in galamsey.

Divulging further information on that matter, Mr Iddrisu said: He was picked up by the National Security and they are trying to cover up but we are following very closely.

So, the president is fighting his own people and we are beginning to know them, he added.

A few weeks ago, some alleged national security operatives who were arrested for engaging in illegal mining in the Atewa Forest said the office of the president sent them into the reserve to undertake that activity.

The accused persons made the revelation in anger after the Koforidua Circuit Court B presided over by Her Honour Mercy Addei Kotei, refused to grant them bail on Monday, 24 May 2021.

Seated in handcuffs in a bus, the 32 suspects accused the governing New Patriotic Party of using and dumping them.

You sent us to Ayawaso in the 2020 election, you sent us to Kumasi to make a show but today you are calling us thieves; meanwhile, it is the office of the President that sent us to the Atewa Forest. NPP is not a good party. We will show them, they threatened angrily.

The 32 accused persons are George Asante, Kwaku Frimpong, Alfred Kyei, Yaw Opoku, Richard Nartey, Paul Osei Kuffour, Dominic Beblie, Samuel Kofi Edusei, Silas Boakye Gyan, Joseph Oduro Asare, Mukaila Attah, Stephen Opoku, Michael Quansah, Derrick Adu Kwakye, Razark Suleman, Stephen Kofi Felan, Dominic Ghansah, Robert Nartey Tetteh, Eric Addei, Yakubu [email protected] Jordan 1 and Benlord [email protected] Commander.

---classfm
Ivory Coast's exiled former president Laurent Gbagbo can decide when he returns to the country, the national reconciliation minister said Wednesday.

Gbagbo is a highly controversial figure in Ivory Coast, where he was forced out a decade ago after a civil war that claimed thousands of lives.

His party said on Monday that he would return on June 17, following his acquittal on crimes against humanity charges linked to the civil war.

"We have learnt that he is returning on June 17 and we take note of that," minister of national reconciliation Kouadio Konan Bertin told reporters after meeting with Assoa Adou, secretary general of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), Gbagbo's political party.

"Gbagbo is a free man, acquitted" of the crimes against humanity charges by the International Criminal Court, said Konan Bertin.

"It's up to him to decide when he returns to his country," he explained, adding that "we must now work to ensure that it's a peaceful return".

As a former head of state, Gbagbo "has a special status" and consequently special measures must be taken, including in the matter of security, he said.

'New phase'

Ivory Coast. By Laurence SAUBADU (AFP)

Gbagbo was acquitted by the ICC in 2019, and an appeal against that ruling failed in March, opening the way for his return.

Following the acquittal, President Alassane Ouattara authorised Gbagbo's return to the country by granting him the status due to his rank as former head of state.

Speculation of when that will be has been building for months, and his supporters say they want to welcome him in triumph.

But the government is in favour of a lower-profile return, wary of potential unrest if tens of thousands of his supporters turn out.

Communications Minister Amadou Coulibaly, who is also government spokesman, said that in order to set a date "consensually... arrangements must be implemented," notably for Gbagbo's safety.

Gbagbo's refusal to concede defeat in presidential elections in 2010 triggered a showdown with victor Ouattara and dug a deep rift in the country along north-south lines.

He was arrested in April 2011 and transferred in November that year to the ICC in The Hague.

Demonstrators at a small anti-Gbagbo protest in Abidjan last month. The placards read: 'Yes to justice,' 'Our wounds are still open' and 'What about the 3,000 dead?'. By Issouf SANOGO (AFP)

The pro-Gbagbo camp is portraying their leader as an elder statesman who can calm political waters that reached storm pitch last year.

Scores of people died in election-related violence after Gbagbo's erstwhile rival Ouattara announced he would bid for a third term in office -- a move that critics said breached the constitution.

Gbagbo's return will be the start of a "new phase", Assoa Adou said on Monday -- "an important phase for the future of Ivory Coast, the phase of reconciliation, peace, the reconstruction of our country".
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said government will partner private sector players in the telecommunications sector to deploy technology that will progress the digitalization and transformation of the economy.

Speaking at the launch of MTN Ghana's 25th Anniversary Celebration, in Accra, he said the government was employing digital technology to stimulate economic growth and ensure efficiency in the delivery of public services.

Thus, the President called for better telecommunications services from the service providers, emphasising that the provision of quality, affordable and reliable telecom services was critical in driving innovation and accelerating economic growth.

Whilst commending MTN, Ghana for sustaining its investment in the country, and for consistently creating and deploying innovative technologies, products, and services over the years, the President urged the company to strive even harder to address the concerns of the public who wanted improved services.

He applauded the telecommunications giant for taking the lead in the transformation and expansion of the country's telecommunications industry and urged the company and other players in the private sector to support the government to achieve its digitization agenda.

The President said the Government would collaborate with industry players to remove all barriers that stifled digital competition, noting that a healthy competition in the telecommunications sector was what would engender innovation and better service to the Ghanaian people.

MTN Ghana's entry into the Ghanaian telecom market, he said, had proven that we must all act collectively to ensure competition thrives in an atmosphere of fairness and equity.

The Government had adopted policy measures that would promote and ensure a level playing field for industry players, he said, and urged all players to continue to collaborate with it as we roll out further initiatives to deepen digitalization in a more sustainable way.

Currently, MTN is investing some 150 million dollars to improve the rural network and another $25 million funds to support the development of the country's digital ecosystem and an IT hub in the country.

Board Chairman of MTN Ghana, Mr Ishmael Yamson said, the anniversary afforded the company the opportunity to take stock and plan to continue its leading role in improving customers' experience and developing the country's digital ecosystem.

He emphasised that developing a robust digital environment was prerequisite in harnessing the full potential of the African Intercontinental Free Trade Area.

---GNA
An Accra High Court has adjourned the murder trial of J.B. Danquah Adu, the former Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa North, to June 14, 2021.

The adjournment was to enable defence counsel to continue with further cross-examination of Stephen Apraku, the former legislature's security man.

Earlier, Apraku, answering questions administered by Mr Yaw Dankwah, Counsel for the two accused persons, told the court that he could not tell the time he patrolled the legislature's house before sleeping on the day of the incident.

According to the second prosecution witness, he patrolled the house as and when he felt it was necessary.

He said it was the last person who got to the house that normally locked the main door.

Apraku told the court that the former MP's building was not detached from the Boys' Quarters and that there were three entrances to the house, with four bedrooms.

He said he could not tell the time he slept off after patrolling the house on the day of the murder.

Two persons have been held for their roles leading to the death of J.B. Danquah Adu on February 9, 2016, at Shaishi, near East Legon.

They are Daniel Asiedu, aka Sexy Dondon, and Vincent Bossu, aka Junior Agogo.

Asiedu is being held for murder and Robbery.

Asiedu and Bossu are being held on the charge of conspiracy to rob.

The accused have denied the charges and they have been remanded lawfully into prison custody by the court, presided over Justice Mrs. Lydia Osei Marfo.

---GNA
Page Content

April 15, 2020

Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, today received a telephone call from the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres.

The Secretary General of the United Nations expressed his deep gratitude for the Kingdom's announcement of providing humanitarian support to Yemen in the amount of $500 million U.S. dollar, expressing his thanks to the Kingdom for its efforts in achieving advanced results and the reaching of the Yemeni parties to the desired peace, highly appreciating the great efforts of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in this regard.

The Secretary General of the United Nations also praised the Kingdom's great efforts in leading the G20, and the initiatives it had presented in the framework of international efforts to combat the Corona pandemic.

For his part, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince affirmed the Kingdom's keenness on achieving the interest, security and stability of the brotherly Yemeni people, stressing that the Kingdom will continue to play its role in preserving the security and stability of the region and the world.
The All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) has requested Debashish Panda, secretary in the department of financial services (DFS) in the Union ministry of finance, to immediately deploy guards or caretakers at all automated teller machine (ATM) kiosks across the country.

Citing a recent incident in Kolkata related with man in the middle (MiTM) hacking using the ATM, Soumya Datta, general secretary of AIBOC, in a letter, says, "The immediate challenge confronting banks is to fortify the safety and security arrangements by deploying caretakers and to bolster internal security system. All stake holders are required to upgrade their ATM security to thwart such MiTM attacks."

AIBOC, the apex trade union organisation of bank officers in the country representing over 320,000 members, says it is concerned over the spate of ingenuous ATM frauds perpetrated through sophisticated hacking attack that have surfaced at several cities of the country.

Man in the Middle or MiTM ATM hacking involves bypassing of systems, in which cyber criminals secretly intercept the two-way encrypted messaging and data transfer between an ATM and its bank servers and manipulate it to prompt ATMs to spew cash from unguarded ATMs.

"It is learnt that there are too many uncanny links of the modus operandi used in Kolkata and used by fraudsters at Faridabad a couple of months ago. The losses due to highly sophisticated cyber-attacks can run into crores," AIBOC says.

Mr Datta points out that all such frauds are taking place in unguarded ATMs, despite having e-surveillance being installed. He says, "The lacunae being that such surveillance are not real time and the fraudsters taking advantage of the vulnerability of the unguarded ATM kiosks. It appears that almost all banks have taken a conscious decision to withdraw security guards or caretakers at their ATM Kiosks to reduce overheads, which has backfired."

"Such decision of the bank management has drained out crores of rupees through sophisticated cyber-attacks on ATMs that far outweigh the so-called savings from withdrawal of guards or caretakers. At this point of time, it appears that the banks and the vendors are sustaining substantial financial loss. The quantum of loss sustained could be a staggering amount if all banks undertake an immediate reconciliation of the accounts," the general secretary of AIBOC says.

The bank officers' union requested Mr Panda to critically review the whole problem and accordingly initiate suitable measures and take up the matter with the banks as well as the state governments for ensuring adequate security arrangements at the ATM sites.

After a ghastly attack on a woman trying to withdraw cash at an ATM in Bengaluru, few years ago, Dr Charan Singh, RBI chair professor at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB), has said, "Commercial banks, who are transacting business through ATMs, are covering their cost. If a customer comes to a branch, the bank incurs cost on infrastructure and personnel but by providing an ATM, the bank has reduced its cost. It has a fixed cost in terms of a machine, some servicing cost but overall, the transacting cost is much lower than serving the customer in a branch. So, it is the responsibility of the bank to ensure security in and around ATMs. The responsibility is not that of the police. They can not police every service in public domain. Responsibility lies squarely with the bank."

"The RBI is basically concerned with regulation and supervision of the banking system. They would give directions. I think RBI should play a role in giving clear directions to the commercial banks as to the venues of setting up ATMs," Dr Singh had said in an interview to Kavitha Kumar.

In 2016, the Guwahati High Court had issued several directives to banks, that included placing security guards at all ATMs. This direction was later stayed by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday made scathing remarks on Centre's vaccination policy against COVID-19, terming the replacement of free vaccination in the first two phases with paid vaccination for persons between 18-44 years as prima facie as 'arbitrary and irrational'.

In a 32-page ruling, a bench, comprising justices DY.Chandrachud, L. Nageswara Rao and S. Ravindra Bhat, said: "Due to the importance of vaccinating individuals in the 18-44 age group, the policy of the Central government for conducting free vaccination themselves for groups under the first 2 phases, and replacing it with paid vaccination by the state/UT governments and private hospitals for the persons between 18-44 years is, prima facie, arbitrary and irrational."

The Court noted that persons between 18-44 years of age have not only been infected by Covid-19 but have also suffered from severe effects of the infection, including prolonged hospitalisation and, in unfortunate cases, death.

"Due to the changing nature of the pandemic, we are now faced with a situation where the 18-44 age group also needs to be vaccinated, although priority may be retained between different age groups on a scientific basis," it said.

Healthcare workers (HCWs), frontline workers (FLWs) and persons above the age of 45 years, were prioritised in phases-1 and 2 for obtaining COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccination policy was substantially changed for persons between 18-44 years of age.

The liberalised vaccination policy requires some of these persons to pay for the vaccines, limited vaccines were made available for this category with the state/UT governments/private hospitals, and an additional requirement of mandatory digital registration through CoWIN.

The top court noted that vaccination of the nation's entire eligible population is the singular most important task in effectively combating the pandemic in the long run.

Citing issues with vaccination policy, the amicus curiae, in the matter, said states and municipal bodies unsuccessfully negotiated with foreign manufacturers to procure vaccines and the Centre is better placed to use its monopoly as a buyer to bargain for higher quantities of vaccines at reasonable prices.

"We find that the submissions urged by the Amici are extremely pertinent and have indicated that in practice, the liberalised vaccination policy may not be able to yield the desired results of spurring competitive prices and higher quantities of vaccines," the bench noted.

The Centre said the Union Budget for financial year 2021-2022 had earmarked Rs3,5000 crore for procuring vaccines. However, the top court said in light of the liberalised vaccination policy, the Centre is directed to clarify how these funds have been spent so far and why they cannot be utilised for vaccinating persons aged 18-44 years.

Justifying its intervention on vaccine policy, the top court said judicial review and soliciting constitutional justification for policies formulated by the executive is an essential function, which the courts are entrusted to perform. "Our Constitution does not envisage courts to be silent spectators when constitutional rights of citizens are infringed by executive policies," it said.

The top court added that the current vaccine policy enables state/UT governments and private hospitals to procure 50% of the monthly Central Drugs Laboratory-approved doses in the country at a pre-fixed price.

"The justification for this policy has been adduced in a bid to spur competition which would attract more private manufacturers that could eventually drive down prices. Prima facie, the only room for negotiation with the two vaccine manufacturers (Bharat Biotech and Serum Insititute of India) was on price and quantity, both of which have been pre-fixed by the Central government. This casts serious doubts on UoI's justification for enabling higher prices as a competitive measure," it said.

The bench contended that if the Centre's unique monopolistic buyer position is the only reason for it receiving vaccines at a much lower rate from manufacturers, it is important for the Court to examine the rationality of the existing liberalised vaccination policy against Article 14 of the Constitution, since it could place severe burdens, particularly on states/UTs suffering from financial distress.

The judgement was passed in the suo motu case initiated by top court to deal with issues relating to COVID-19 management in the country. On 31st May, the Supreme Court had shot a volley of tough questions at Centre in connection with its COVID vaccine policy, and flagged various flaws: shortage of vaccine doses, pricing issues, registration for vaccination, and lack of vaccine, especially for the rural areas in the country.

Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.
The court had previously expressed some concern about Maxwells claim that Metropolitan Detention Center staff shined a flashlight every 15 minutes into her cell overnight, preventing her from sleeping. That concern has not resulted in any changes to security measures for the high-profile 59-year-old prisoner.
Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has banned Indore-based Capital Heed Financial Research's sole proprietor Shailendra Sen from the capital markets for three years for furnishing false information to the regulator in his application for registration as an investment advisor.

During the period of debarment, the existing holding of securities, including the holding of units of mutual funds of Mr Sen, shall remain frozen.

In the order, SK Mohanty, whole time member (WTM) of SEBI noted that while seeking registration from the regulator as an investment advisor in his individual capacity, Mr Sen was under a statutory obligation to disclose his prior activities related with securities market, including the unauthorised investor advisory activities undertaken by his partnership firm, in a true and correct sense to the regulator.

Despite this, he knowingly made a false declaration in his application form for registration as an investment advisor, stating that he was not engaged in investment advisory services prior to filing his application and thereby he has intentionally furnished false, misleading, and wrong information to SEBI in violation of the clauses 1 and 8 of the code of conduct specified under investment advisor (IA) rules, SEBI says in its order.

SEBI further noted that Mr Sen had also failed to disclose the fact of his earlier engagement in the activities of Cash Cow Broking and Advisory Solution (Cash Cow) in the capacity of a partner in the firm, even after the certificate of registration for Capital Heed was granted to him and such failure on the part of him to disclose such information, which was not disclosed at the time of obtaining the registration, has led to violation of the investment advisor (IA) regulations.

Pursuant to complaints lodged in the SEBI Complaints Redress System (SCORES) against Cash Cow alleging that the firm has given investors a commitment of assured returns, SEBI conducted an investigation into the affairs of Cash Cow.

During the investigation, the bank account opening forms (AoFs) and know your client (KYC) documents of Cash Cow revealed that one of the three partners of Cash Cow, i.e., Shailendra Sen was also simultaneously registered with SEBI as an IA under the sole proprietorship named Capital Heed Financial Research. That is when the whole story unravelled.

Further, it was also observed from the website of the Capital Heed that the Mr Sen misrepresented to investors that it can provide portfolio management services (PMS) although it did not hold a certificate of registration from SEBI to do so, thereby violating PMS norms, SEBIs order said.

In view of the prima facie findings in the interim order that Mr Sen, through his partnership firm Cash Cow, had already indulged in unregistered investment advisory activities, it was observed that he has prima facie knowingly made false statement or declaration in the application form for registration as IA by stating that he was not engaged in any investment advisory services prior to making such application and accordingly did not disclose his association as a partner in Cash Cow.

SEBI noted that an entity which is granted registration as an investment advisor is required to act in a manner and comply with all applicable regulatory requirements which are in the best interests of its clients and uphold the integrity of the securities market. As the arena of investment advisory is fundamentally vast and complex, the IA Regulations have prescribed broad checks and balances to keep the interest of the investors protected from any kind of untoward treatment in the hands of unscrupulous investment advisors. The Code of Conduct spells out the general duties of the investment advisor to act honestly and fairly to serve the best interest of the clients in a fiduciary manner and to keep intact the integrity of securities market.

Allowing an investment advisor, who had obtained a certificate of registration on the basis of false, misleading or wrong information, to register new clients would not have been in the best interest of new investors and the orderly development of the securities market. Moreover, the instant proceeding is not being conducted either in the exercise of any appellate or power of revision of order but in continuation of the interim order (which has not even been challenged by the noticee), the order said.

Accordingly, SEBI through its order restrained Mr Sen from 'accessing the securities market and further prohibited from buying, selling or otherwise dealing in securities, directly or indirectly, or being associated with the securities market in any manner whatsoever, for a period of three years'.

Mr Sen has also been directed to resolve the complaints, if any, pending against him in the SEBI Complaints Redress System (SCORES) within a period of 30 days.

Within a period of 3 months from the date of this order, Sen has to furnish a report to SEBI, duly certified by a Chartered Accountant, certifying that all the complaints against Sen have been resolved.

In case of failure to comply with the directions, he will be prohibited from the capital markets for an additional period of two years or for such time all the complaints are resolved, whichever is later, SEBI said.

In an ex-parte interim order in November 2019, SEBI had already banned Sen from the capital markets till further orders. Hence, while calculating the time period of ban, SEBI acknowledged that the period of restraint already undergone by Sen through the interim order will be adjusted.
Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi's elder brother Chetan Chinu Bhai Choksi had met the Leader of Opposition of Dominica, Lennox Linton, and agreed on a deal that in exchange for token money and promise of election donation, the opposition leader will press Choksi's matter in the Parliament, Associate Times, a news outlet based in the Caribbean island nation, reported on Tuesday.

The news outlet claimed that Chetan had landed in Dominica on May 29 on a private jet and met Linton in Marigot the next day.

It claimed that the meeting between the two men lasted for two hours at Linton's home, where they discussed several aspects related to Choksi's arrest and "agreed on the commitment that in exchange for token money and promise of election donation, the opposition leader will press the matter in the Parliament".

The report further said that Choksi's brother got into an agreement with the Dominican opposition leader and promised him election funding for pushing the abduction theory.

The news outlet also claimed that Chetan disclosed during the conversation that Choksi had reached Dominica on his own, but they required the assistance of the opposition to tackle the matter in court and against the Dominica government to make them believe that he was abducted by Antiguan and Indian police.

Choksi, who is wanted in India in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case, went missing on May 23 from Antigua, sparking a massive manhunt. He was captured in Dominica on May 27.

A Dominica court has restrained the deportation of Choksi until further orders while hearing the habeas corpus filed by his lawyers. The court will next hear the matter on Wednesday.

Earlier, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne and the prime opposition party in the island nation, UPP, had locked horns over the issue of deporting the fugitive diamantaire to India.

Choksi is wanted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the PNB loan fraud case.

An eight-member team of the CBI, ED, MEA and CRPF has been camping in Dominica since Saturday. The team is there with the documents related to case of Choksi.

Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.
Software major Infosys has said that it has initiated an internal investigation in the matter of insider trading in its scrip wherein the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has barred two of its employees among others.

In a statement, the company said that on Tuesday, it was informed of the interim ex-parte order by the capital market regulator

"The company will extend full cooperation as required to the SEBI on the matter. Additionally, as a result of the order, an internal investigation is being initiated and appropriate action will be taken on conclusion of such investigation," it said.

Infosys added that it has a "well-defined Code of Conduct covering all its employees and an Insider Trading Policy that governs dealing with unpublished price sensitive information."

In an order on Monday, SEBI barred eight entities, including individuals and two financial companies, for being involved in insider trading in the scrip of Infosys.

The entities are Pranshu Bhutra, Amit Bhutra, Bharath C Jain, Manish C Jain, Ankush Bhutra, Venkata Subramaniam VV, and firms Capital One Partners and Tesora Capital.

The investigation found that the total proceeds generated from insider trading were over Rs3.06 crore.

SEBI has directed the impounding of the bank accounts of those involved and also asked them to create an escrow account jointly and severally and deposit the impounded amount in that account, within 15 days from the order.

Pranshu Bhutra, a senior corporate counsel of Infosys, being an officer or employee of the software major, is a connected person and was reasonably expected to have access to the UPSI (unpublished price-sensitive information) and on preponderance of probability basis, he was in possession of the UPSI, the order said.

Amit Bhutra and Bharath C Jain are working partners of Capital One, while, as per a partnership deed of Tesora Capital, Amit Bhutra, Ankush Bhutra and Manish C Jain are working partners of Tesora.

As per the SEBI order, Capital One Partners and Tesora Capital had made illegal gains of Rs2.79 crore and Rs26.82 lakh, respectively, by indulging in insider trading while in possession of UPSI, pertaining to the corporate announcement of audited financial results for the quarter ended 30 June 2020 made by Infosys.

"Capital One and Tesora had traded in the scrip of INFY in the F&O segment just prior to announcement of financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2020 and soon after the announcement, subsequently offloaded/squared off their positions such that net positions were zero," said the order dated 31st May.

SEBI said that, separately, Venkata Subramaniam VV, a senior principal, corporate accounting group of Infosys, has been identified as a designated person by the company for the purpose of the UPSI.

The regulator noted that he had been in frequent communication with Pranshu Bhutra through professional relationship as both are employees of Infosys and had telephonic communication during the UPSI period.

The order copy said that on a preponderance of probability basis, Venkata Subramaniam had communicated the UPSI to Pranshu Bhutra and Pranshu Bhutra had procured UPSI from Venkata Subramaniam, and thereby, both had prime facie violated the provision of SEBI Act and PIT Regulations.

Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cancelled licence of Pune-based Shivajirao Bhosale Sahakari Bank, since the lender does not have adequate capital and earning prospects. More than 98% of the depositors of the cooperative bank will receive full amount of their deposits from the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC), RBI says.

"Consequently, the bank ceases to carry on banking business, from the close of business on 31 May 2021. The Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Maharashtra has also been requested to issue an order for winding up the bank and appoint a liquidator for the bank," the banking regulator said in a release issued last week.

The central bank listed out reasons for the cancellation of the licence of the bank.

The bank does not have adequate capital and earning prospects. As such, it does not comply with the provisions of section 11(1) and section 22 (3) (d) read with section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

Further, RBI says, the bank has failed to comply with the requirements of section 22(3) (a), 22 (3) (b), 22(3)(c), 22(3) (d) and 22(3)(e) read with section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

The continuance of the bank is prejudicial to the interests of its depositors. The bank with its present financial position would be unable to pay its present depositors in full. Public interest would be adversely affected if the bank is allowed to carry on its banking business any further, the central bank says.

Just three months back, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested four persons on charges of defrauding this bank to the tune of Rs 71.78 crore deposited by small investors. The fraud was noticed by the RBI in 2019.

On 26 April 2019, during a periodic visit to the head office of Shivajirao Bhosale Co-operative Bank Ltd, the RBI team noticed various discrepancies in records or books of accounts of the bank.

Investigations revealed that Anil Shivajirao Bhosale, who was the director of the bank had misused his position and conspired with the co-accused and siphoned off the amount from the bank and its branches for personal gains.

The agency during the investigation unearthed the connivance of all accused in the report submitted by the bank auditor. They were found cheating, defrauding, and siphoning off the public funds (which were deposited by the small investors) in Shivajirao Bhosale Co-operative Bank.
GREAT FALLS, Mont. - On Friday, Ron Martin closed out a 20 plus career with Great Falls Fire Rescue.

Martin made his way through the ranks at GFFR, starting on the truck floor as a Firefighter Paramedic, Engineer, Captain. Training Officer, Deputy Assistant Chief and lastly as the Deputy Fire Marshal, where he served the citizens of Great Falls for the last seven years.

During his time as Deputy Fire Marshal, Martin helped shape the Fire Prevention Bureau and bring it to the standards it operates under today, according to a press release.

He served in the Montana Air National Guard Fire Department for 24 years in a variety of leadership roles on multiple deployments, until he retired in November 2020 as an Operations Chief.

Martin is moving onto the State Fire Marshal's Office, where his legacy of service will continue as he serves the citizens of Montana as a Deputy State Fire Marshal.
UPDATE: JUNE 2 AT 10:15 A.M.

HELENA, Mont. - The Missing Endangered Person Advisory has been cancelled for Christina Kennedy Wednesday.

According to the Montana Department of Justice, Kennedy was found and she is safe.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

HELENA, Mont. - The Helena Police Department put out a Missing Endangered Person Advisory for a missing woman.

According to the MEPA from the Montana Department of Justice, Christina Kennedy, 69, left her home Tuesday morning and did not come back in the evening like normally.

The DOJ said Kennedy has mental health issues, does not have her medication and might be unstable--there is concern for her safety and wellbeing. She reportedly has a history of entering strangers' homes without invitation.

Kennedy is described as a white woman who stands 5-feet, 7-inches tall, weighs 150-pounds, has gray hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a calf-length skirt.

The DOJ said she is believed to be in the Helena area.

Anyone with information on Kennedy is asked to call the Helena Police Department at (406)447-8461, or call 9-1-1.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  The al-Kawlaks, a family of four generations living next door to each other in downtown Gaza City, were utterly unprepared for the inferno.

Like others, they were terrified by the heavy bombing in Israel's fourth war with Gaza's Hamas rulers that began May 10. The explosions felt more powerful than in previous fighting. At night, parents and children slept in one room so they would live or die together.

Yet the relatively well-to-do Rimal neighborhood where the family lived in a cluster of apartment buildings seemed somewhat safer than areas along Gazas border with Israel, which had been devastated in this and past fighting.

Then one night disaster struck. Azzam al-Kawlaks four children had gone to bed, and he and his wife were preparing to join them.

At around 1 a.m. on May 16, a thunderous boom shook his top-floor apartment, followed quickly by a second and third. The floor cracked below our feet and the furniture was thrown to the wall, the 42-year-old engineer said.

The four-story building collapsed, with Azzams apartment dropping to the ground. The family escaped through the kitchen balcony, now almost ground level. Bizarrely, the laundry hanging on a clothesline seemed untouched.



It took a day for the full horror to emerge, as bodies and survivors were pulled from the rubble. The family and neighbors used ropes to clear chunks of concrete, working alongside ill-equipped rescue teams.

By nightfall, the family's death toll stood at 22. Eight bodies were dug out of Azzams building and 14 from the one next door. The dead included 89-year-old family patriarch Amin, his son Fawaz, 62, his grandson Sameh, 28, and his great-grandson, 6-month-old Qusai.

Just a day earlier, Qusais parents had celebrated a small milestone, his first tooth. Azzams two younger brothers were killed. Three nieces  5-year-old Rula, 10-year-old Yara and 12-year-old Hala  were found in a tight embrace, their bodies the last to be pulled out, said Azzams surviving older brother, Awni.

The bombing along several hundred meters (yards) of al-Wahda Street took just minutes. In all, it brought down three houses  two in the al-Kawlak compound and one nearby  and killed a total of 43 people, making it the single deadliest air raid of the 11-day war.

Israel said the target was a Hamas tunnel underneath the street, part of what it called a roughly 350-kilometer-long (220-mile) underground network. The tunnels served offensive and defensive purposes, military officials said, accusing Hamas of using civilians as human shields.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said during a war-time briefing that the military target in Rimal collapsed, causing nearby houses and their supporting structures to collapse as well. That caused a large amount of civilian casualties, which were not the aim, he said.

He said the army was reviewing the incident and adjusting the analysis and the ordnance used in the future to prevent similar events from occurring again. Its not a totally mathematic exercise in choosing the ordnance, he said.

He said Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes in areas just as densely populated, with far fewer casualties.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz told foreign journalists this week that Israel does everything it can to avoid civilian casualties, but Gazas crowded urban landscape makes it virtually impossible to avoid them altogether.

Hamas is aiming to hit civilians by purpose and we are trying our best for that not to happen, he said.

The fighting began May 10 after Hamas fired rockets toward Jerusalem in support of Palestinian protests against Israels heavy-handed policing of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a site sacred to Jews and Muslims, and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers. In all, Hamas fired more than 4,000 rockets toward Israel during the war, while Israel said it struck hundreds of targets linked to militants in Gaza.



At Gaza City's main police compound, Capt. Mohammed Meqdad picked through pieces of bomb fragments in a cardboard box labeled al-Wahda Street."

Two had serial numbers identifying them as fitted with Joint Direct Attack Munition kits manufactured by Boeing Co. at its factory in St. Charles, Missouri, to make them so-called smart bombs, able to be guided to a target by GPS or lasers. Boeing did not answer questions about the bombing, only saying in a statement: In accordance with U.S. law, the U.S. government authorizes and provides strict oversight for all defense exports.

Meqdad said that based on the fragments, the bombs that brought down the al-Kawlak homes were likely GBU-31s, packed with 430 kilograms (945 pounds) of high explosives. The GBU-31 typically is used for large buildings, but also can destroy underground targets, said N.R. Jenzen-Jones, the director of Armament Research Services, a specialist arms investigations firm.

The bombs carry a powerful blast, meaning surveillance, intelligence-gathering, pre-planning and the correct choice and explosive punch of the weapon should be carefully considered before an attack, he said.

The intrinsic wide-area effects of large explosive munitions mean they must be used judiciously in the urban environment, he said.

The Israeli military did not respond when asked what bombs were used in the al-Wahda Street strikes.



Earlier this year, the International Criminal Court began investigating Israel and Hamas for possible war crimes going back to the previous 2014 war. This includes random Hamas rocket fire toward Israeli communities  widely seen as a violation of the rules of war  and some of Israels deadliest practices, such as the toppling of high-rises that killed entire families in pursuit of militants.

Two Gaza rights groups  al-Mezan and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights  have been documenting Israels strikes and incursions for years. This time, they again interviewed survivors, including the al-Kawlaks, visited hospitals, took photos and collected death certificates, in preparation for possible new submissions to the ICC.

Samir Zakout of al-Mezan and Mohammed al-Alami of PCHR said they believe the al-Wahda Street bombings  along with other deadly airstrikes  violated the laws of war, arguing the value of any possible military target was dwarfed by significant harm to civilians.

Zakout accused Israel of intentionally using excessive firepower to sow fear, saying it was one of the direct goals of the war.

The Israeli military does not recognize the ICC, but says its airstrikes are cleared by lawyers to make sure they comply with international standards. During the fighting the military released video of what it said were air force teams calling off strikes because they spotted children in the vicinity. In many cases, it ordered occupants to evacuate buildings before bombing them.

International law professor Paola Gaeta said that certainly we are witnessing something which is wrong, referring to civilian deaths, but there is a high threshold for proving a war crime. This includes proving disproportionate use of force and intentional targeting of civilians, said Gaeta, who teaches at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.

If Israel says it made a reasonable mistake in calculating the amount of explosives in the al-Wahda Street strike, this could serve as a defense, she said.

In all, 254 people were killed in Gaza in this war, including 67 children and 39 women. according to the Gaza health ministry. Hamas has acknowledged the deaths of 80 militants. Twelve civilians, including two children, were killed in Israel, along with one soldier.



Awni al-Kawlak keeps 22 death certificates in a briefcase, along with the deeds for the two destroyed homes. A third family house was damaged and awaits demolition. The family business, a generator repair shop, was also destroyed. Two apartment buildings, including Awnis home, remain intact.

Sitting in a courtyard behind the rubble, the 49-year-old shrugged when told of Israels apparent acknowledgement of error. What will I do with this information? he said. I lost my livelihood and I lost my brothers and their children.

The fear that justice will never come makes it harder for the family to deal with loss, he said. He worries that Gaza and its problems, including a suffocating blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt since 2007 to contain Hamas, will soon sink back into oblivion.

We know that the world is now empathetic, but after a while it will forget our problem, he said. Even when they remember us again, they will remember us as numbers.



Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Hong Kong: Rail project proposal under study

The Government is studying the South Island Line (West) proposal submitted by the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC).

Secretary for Transport & Housing Frank Chan made the statement when responding to questions in the Legislative Council today, noting the Government received the project proposal from MTRC last December.

Mr Chan said that relevant departments will consider the way forward taking into account the growth in transport demand from the development at the south of Pok Fu Lam near Wah Fu, the redevelopment timetable of Wah Fu Estate and the Invigorating Island South initiative.

Noting that the Government expects the population of Pok Fu Lam will have more significant growth only after the completion of Wah Fu Estate's redevelopment, he said works for the railway project can only be carried out after the estates residents have moved to reception estates at Pok Fu Lam South.

The transport chief added the Government will consult the public in line with established procedures before finalising the railway scheme for the South Island Line (West).

This story has been published on: 2021-06-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Violent crime on surge in U.S. amid COVID-19 pandemic

Xinhua) 14:06, June 02, 2021

Relatives mourn for victims of a mass shooting in San Jose, California, the United States, May 27, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)

Murder rate in the United States surged by 25 percent in 2020 -- the first time the United States has seen over 20,000 annual murders since 1995 -- up from 16,000 the previous year.

WASHINGTON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Violent crime in U.S. cities surged to record levels as the nation was struggling in the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts said deteriorating security could affect midterm elections next year.

Statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation show the murder rate surged by 25 percent in 2020 -- the first time the United States has seen over 20,000 annual murders since 1995 -- up from 16,000 the previous year.

This occurred in the nation's major cities, and is showing no signs of abating.

The New York Police Department reported early in May that shootings were up 166 percent in April, compared to the same period last year.

Relatives mourn for victims of a mass shooting in San Jose, California, the United States, May 27, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)

In Chicago, murders surged 50 percent from 2019 to 2020, most of the victims being people of color, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

Homicides surged in the U.S. state of California by 27 percent from 2019 to 2020 -- the largest one-year rise in 30 years, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Carjackings -- when an assailant forces a driver out of a car with a gun and steals the automobile -- have suddenly become a major problem in Washington DC, the nation's capital. The most recent DC police data shows that over 200 carjackings were reported in DC and the counties around it between January and April this year. That's a massive surge from the 60 carjackings reported in 2020 in the same period.

Linda Scott, a housewife outside the DC area, told Xinhua: "I tell friends who are visiting not to drive through DC," she said.

Rhonda Kim, in business management outside DC, told Xinhua that she "refuses" to drive into DC at night.

Asian hate crimes have surged 146 percent in 26 of the largest jurisdictions in the United States in 2020, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. Experts said they are accelerating.

People holding a bilingual banner take part in a Stop Asian Hate rally in Oakland, San Francisco Bay Area, the United States, May 15, 2021. (Photo by Dong Xudong/Xinhua)

Mayors of many of the most violent cities are Democrats, and experts said that could hurt the party in the lead up to next year's midterm elections.

"The surge in violent crimes is not helping the Democratic mayors," said Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West.

"It highlights a breakdown in the law that has occurred during COVID and the financial challenges people have had. Republicans are starting to use this issue against (U.S President Joe) Biden and will continue to do so as long as the numbers remain high," West said.

Republican Strategist and TV news personality Ford O'Connell said: "This is a real problem for the Democrats headed into the midterms," which are slated for next year.

Indeed, midterm elections are historically won by the party not in the White House, and surging crime in America's cities adds to Democrats' woes, experts said.

Republican lawmakers in major U.S. cities, such as Atlanta, in the U.S. state of Georgia, are already capitalizing on the surge in murders. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr last month vowed to "fill the void created by Atlanta officials' failure to lead."

While U.S. President Joe Biden, during the 1990s, was known as tough on crime, some Democrats fear that voters may no longer make this association. Rather, they fret that voters may believe Republicans' narrative that the entire party, not just its left wing, wants to de-fund the police.

"Can Republican candidates exploit the issue? Yes, they will. Can they make it the top, election-winning issue? In some mayoral races they may be able to. Will it work as a national issue? They and (former U.S. President Donald) Trump got some mileage out of it in 2020, but not enough. They would need for the problem to keep rising," said Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the center for international and security studies at the University of Maryland.

WHAT'S BEHIND THE VIOLENCE?

Republicans and law enforcement said the surge in violence is due to de-fund the police movements nationwide, which have demoralized law enforcement. The movement began to pick up steam last year after George Floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed by police.

John, a police officer in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, told Xinhua that criminals have become emboldened, as police are now less motivated to react to every instance of violence unless it's something major.

Policemen stand guard near a shooting scene in Times Square in New York, the United States, May 8, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

The officer did not provide his last name, as he is not cleared to speak with media.

In an opinion article in USA on Tuesday, Jason Johnson, former deputy police commissioner for the U.S. city of Baltimore and the president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, argued that public officials' "growing hostility toward policing left law enforcement demoralized, debilitated and, in some cases, de-funded."

"Even the most dedicated officers, who now face a greater risk of being sued, fired or prosecuted for doing their job, feel pressure to pull back," Johnson said.

"To mitigate that risk, police take a more passive approach," Johnson argued.

Patrick Sharkey, a sociologist at Princeton University and expert on crime, told the Atlantic Monthly in a recent interview that in areas where institutions break down, people feel like they're on their own, and that creates conditions where violence becomes more likely.

"Last year, everyday patterns of life broke down... Schools shut down. Young people were on their own. There was a widespread sense of a crisis...That type of destabilization is what creates the conditions for violence to emerge," Sharkey argued.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Hongyu)
With infrastructure talk happening in Washington every day, now is the time for a big, bold investment in a high-speed rail that will further economic prosperity in the Northeast for years to come, said Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Long Island). Its on all of us in the Northeast to build a coalition and do all we can to make high-speed rail a reality.
After a year of isolation and quarantining due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Broadway Block Parties are a safe and fun way to gather with friends and family in downtown Lorain. Rockin on the River is such a fun way to spend a Friday night in Lorain, and we are putting together the Broadway Block Parties to encourage folks to spend some time supporting our great small business before heading over to Black River Landing for a great concert.

Main Street Lorain Executive Director Max Schaefer

Pull Quote
@MJ_JournalRick on Twitter

Richard Payerchin covers Lorain City Hall, business news and other interesting stories for The Morning Journal. Reach the author at rpayerchin@MorningJournal.com or follow Richard on Twitter: @MJ_JournalRick.
Assaulting people is as much a crime in our facilities as it is on the streets, and we will work with the Bronx DA to hold this individual accountable  and, more importantly, do all we can to productively occupy people in our custody to reduce violence and assure the safety of those who live and work here, Kersten said in a statement.
MOULTRIE, Ga.  After 25 years with the Colquitt County High School Choir Program, director Travis Kern has just completed his final year before retirement. Kern has been teaching for 28 years. Twenty-five of those have been with Colquitt County.
Moultrie, GA (31768)

Today

Partly cloudy early. Scattered thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High around 90F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  Elaine Bryant, a deputy Detroit police chief, will become Columbus' next police chief, making her the first Black woman to lead the force.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther named Bryant, as the new chief of the Columbus Division of Police  making good on a promise by the mayor of Ohios capital and largest city to choose a candidate from outside the 1,900-officer agency for the first time in department history.

I have faced many obstacles in my journey, some because of my gender and some because of my race, Bryant said in her first time speaking as chief. Ive never let these obstacles stand in my way.

The announcement followed months of turmoil within the department amid a series of high-profile fatal police shootings of Black men and children.

At this time in Columbus, its tough to imagine a more important decision than this, Public Safety Director Ned Pettus Jr. said. Our next chief of police will lead a force full of exceptionally talented and dedicated professionals.

He added," She will also take on some of the most urgent problems facing law enforcement across America."

Some of those problems Bryant already faced as deputy chief with the Detroit police department, where she held several positions since 2000, including commander over the agencys major crimes unit. In her application, she promoted her skills in several areas, including community relations, emergency preparedness, strong administrative background, investigative and proactive policing.

We need a police chief who is committed to change. We need a leader with extensive experience in law enforcement, as well as sound judgment, empathy, and a commitment to community policing, Ginther said during a press conference Wednesday. We have found all of this in Elaine Bryant.

But while Bryant's selection will make history within the force, she made it clear that addressing systemic racism within policing is not her only priority upon starting the job.

A lot of people make the assumption that because you are a minority that you're just going to strictly address minorities, Bryant told reporters. No, this is about inclusion. It's about equity for everyone. Everybody has a place at this table.

The selection had come down to Bryant and finalists Avery Moore, an assistant Dallas police chief, and Ivonne Roman, the former chief of the Newark, New Jersey, police department.

Roman tweeted her congratulations Tuesday to Bryant. Sending a BIG CONGRATS to Detroits Deputy Chief Elaine Bryant on being selected as the next Columbus, OH Police Chief. She was stellar during the town hall and the residents of Columbus are lucky to have her, she tweeted.

In addition, Moore told WTTE-TV and The Columbus Dispatch he was not selected. I was disappointed, Moore told the Dispatch. I had hoped to have the opportunity, but Im very busy in Dallas and Ive got to keep working.

Ginther has been adamant that the new chief come from outside the department, saying that was the only way to enact the kind of broad, cultural changes he was seeking in the agency.

As part of the selection process, Columbus also created a first-ever assistant chief post to allow the next chief to bring his or her own team. Ginther has said candidates wanted that ability to allow them to put their own plans in place.

In January, Ginther forced out the man he selected for the job in 2019  Chief Thomas Quinlan, a veteran Columbus officer  saying he'd lost confidence in Quinlan's ability to make needed changes.

The announcement comes at a time of historic reckoning for the department. Ginther and other officials invited the Justice Department in April to review the agency for deficiencies and racial disparities in several areas.

The department is also under scrutiny for recent fatal shootings of Black people by white officers, including the death of 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant on April 20.

Earlier this month, the city agreed to pay $10 million to the family of Andre Hill, a 47-year-old Black man who was shot and killed by former Officer Adam Coy as Hill walked out of a garage holding a cell phone. It's the largest civil settlement in Columbus history.

Coy, who is white, was fired after the shooting and has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and reckless homicide in the Dec. 22 death of Hill.

Also this month, a federal judge ordered the city to alter the way it responds to mass protests, saying officers ran amok during protests over racial injustice and police brutality last summer.

The union representing Columbus officers has criticized what it calls politicians' constantly vilifying officers.

The Columbus agency  like many big-city departments  is juggling calls for internal change even as it battles a spike in gun violence. Columbus saw a record 174 homicides in 2020 and as of mid-May had recorded 74 so far this year, a figure not reached until late July of last year.

___

Farnoush Amiri 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.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP)  Malaysia's government will issue a diplomatic protest over an intrusion by 16 Chinese military aircraft into its airspace, the foreign minister said.

Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said late Tuesday that he will summon the Chinese ambassador to explain this breach of the Malaysian airspace and sovereignty." The Chinese Embassy denied the planes violated Malaysias airspace.

Malaysia's air force said its radar picked up the Chinese aircraft Monday near Malaysian-administered Luconia Shoals, a rich fishing ground in the disputed South China Sea. The Chinese planes then moved nearly 60 nautical miles (110 kilometers) off the coast of Sarawak on Borneo island.

After attempts to contact the aircraft failed, the air force sent its fighter planes to identify them. It said they were Ilyushin Il-76 and Xian Y-20 strategic transporters, flying at between 23,000 and 27,000 feet (7,000 and 8,000 meters)  an altitude typically used by commercial flights. Malaysia called the incident a serious threat to national sovereignty and flight safety."

Malaysias stand is clear having friendly diplomatic relations with any countries does not mean that we will compromise our national security," Hishammuddin said in a statement. He said he will relay Malaysias serious concern on the matter to his Chinese counterpart.

The Chinese Embassy defended the activity, saying its military planes didn't violate Malaysia's airspace and had exercised freedom of overflight in the area. It said they were carrying out routine flight training and didn't target any country.

During the training, the Chinese military aircraft strictly abided by the relevant international law and did not enter the territorial airspace of any other country, the embassy said in a statement.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin repeated those assertions and said the planes were flying over the southern waters of the Spratly Islands, which China calls Nansha and claims as its territory.

China has been in communication with the Malaysian side about the issue, Wang said at a daily briefing.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea on historic grounds. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have overlapping claims, and tensions have ramped up since China built several man-made islands and turned them into military outposts.

The strategically important area straddles some of the worlds busiest sea lanes and is also rich in fisheries and may hold underground oil and natural gas reserves.

Malaysia says Chinese coast guard and navy ships intruded into its waters in the South China Sea 89 times between 2016 and 2019. Malaysia has filed six diplomatic protests to China, including one in 2017 in response to a Chinese note asserting its claim to the South Luconia Shoals.
Another storyline involved Francisco working as an architect making a major presentation for a $12 million project in Dubai. Francisco claimed to win a big contract, but needed money to complete the deal because his bank account had been frozen, according to the complaint. A third victim who fell for that false narrative sent more than $130,000.
The chemical engineering duo looks at ways to improve vaccine production, which would lower costs and help keep communities safer from viral diseases like COVID-19.

For the second year running, the doctoral student and faculty mentor winners of the Bhakta Rath Research Award hail from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Michigan Technological University.

Pratik Umesh Joshi recently earned his PhD. As a doctoral candidate, he was advised by Caryn Heldt, who is the director of the Health Research Institute at Michigan Tech and runs the COVID-19 testing lab. Heldt is also the James and Lorna Mack Chair in Bioengineering and a professor of chemical engineering. Their research focuses on scaling up viral vaccine methods by creating better ways to isolate the virus needed to make the vaccine effective.

As Joshi explains, the vaccine production process has three main stages: upstream, downstream and formulation. Production starts upstream with a small tube of stock viral particles. Then, that small amount is increased in cell culture bioreactors where viruses replicate in the cells, eventually making enough viral particles to yield millions of doses downstream. However, before a vaccine can be formulated, the target viral product needs to be extracted from the cell culture broth  everything else is considered a contaminant. Imagine a spoon that scoops your favorite ingredient from a soup. Like that spoon, Joshi and Heldt work on cost-effective and efficient methods to get viral particles out of the cell broth.

"Dr. Joshi and Dr. Heldt have worked to develop a scientific framework that potentially can be used in large-scale production of vaccines and therapeutics, while improving the separation efficiency and process economics." Pradeep Agrawal, chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering

Q: Whats your project about?

About the Researcher Pratik Umesh Joshi Research Interests Vaccine development

Capsid protein biochemistry

Virus characterization

CH: We are interested in finding ways to produce vaccines on an industrial scale that saves time and money. Recent manufacturing issues with the COVID vaccines demonstrate that the process is time-consuming and expensive. We want to understand a nonconventional extraction method that could make vaccine manufacturing less expensive and allow the product to get to the market faster.

PJ: In a broader scope, our work is intended to develop innovative and robust processes to upgrade the vaccine manufacturing potential. Our project involved using a liquid-liquid extraction-based system, called aqueous two-phase systems, to separate viral products from impurity. This technique is designed as a part of the downstream stage. The goal was to develop a framework to optimize the separation process to achieve high virus recovery. The high virus recovery was of prime interest because the commercial downstream processing, as per the literature, recovers only 30% of virus particles generated in the upstream stage. Our goal was to innovate the two-phase systems to improve virus recovery.

Q: Where did you get the idea?

CH: For many years, I have been excited about finding ways to measure the surface properties of viruses. We have found that viruses are fairly hydrophobic compared to proteins and other molecules in the body. So, it seemed like this could be a property that could be used for separation and purification. The extraction method we use is gentle for vaccine molecules but separates based on hydrophobicity.

PJ: Our project was divided into two main sections. The first part was to develop a guideline to optimize the virus recovery in aqueous-two phase systems by understanding the separation driving forces. The second part was to elevate the driving forces and modify the systems to keep viral products stable and keep processing equipment happy so they dont overload on energy and cost. Both sections used a significant discovery by the lab about the virus surface just when I joined the group. The study showed that the virus surface is more hydrophobic than proteins. When I joined the group, I was working on a project that utilized viral surface hydrophobicity to develop a different system. Then it was a matter of connecting the dots from literature and our labs findings.

About the Researcher Caryn Heldt heldt@mtu.edu

906-487-1134 Research Interests Bioseparations

Virus removal and detection

Biosensors Researcher Profile

Q: How have your methods helped make the project successful?

CH: Pratik is a great scientist. He not only found ways to purify viruses, but he used scientific knowledge to improve the process. His digging into the literature to find ways to improve the process led to the projects success.

PJ: I remember a quote by Dr. Heldt: Easy research has already been done. As younger scientists, we have to dig into the literature and find ways to achieve a target with the scientific hints scattered in the literature. This needs patience and perseverance.

Q: What challenges help build that patience and perseverance?

PJ: Viruses are incredibly tricky to work with and the biggest challenge is measuring them. Most of our measurements are based on detecting active viruses in cell cultures. The detection is based on looking at the effect of viruses on live cells. Viruses and cells are both sensitive to most of the conditions except the inherent culture conditions.

CH: Yes, the most difficult part of our work is that viruses are small and, relative to many other things, are found in very low concentrations. This makes many measurements difficult. What works to measure other biological therapies will not work for viral vaccines, so we must continue to innovate and find novel techniques to measure the surface interactions of viruses.

PJ: The other challenge is to maintain a high pace of research productivity. It takes roughly about a week to get the results of one set of experiments from the cell-culture-based assays. The decision-making process of changing the experimental parameter cannot be done quickly.

"This award recognizes exceptional scientific and technological research. I am impressed by the insightful work that has been conducted by Dr. Joshi with his collaborating faculty member Dr. Heldt in the area of single-phase viral enrichment." Janet Callahan, dean of the College of Engineering

Q: What do you find most interesting about your work?

CH: I love the combination of science and application this work provides. While our ultimate goal is improved purification, we use our understanding of surface science to accomplish this goal. We are interested in how a virus, at the nanometer scale, interacts with different solutions. It is fun to hypothesize different interactions that explain the separation processes we observe and then to design experiments to test our hypotheses.

PJ: I am an admirer of the immense complexity of natures work. If you look at viruses, they seem to be just nanosized cages enclosed with a small piece of genetic information. However, the diversity in structural features and functioning is fascinating to study. The interesting part for me is decoding that complexity and mixing it with the engineering fundamentals to develop health care technologies.

Q: Who benefits from your research?

CH: We hope everyone can benefit from our work. Our goal of bringing vaccines to market faster and with a lower cost will make vaccines available around the world. We also want to bring more flexible manufacturing practices to our industrial partners so they can produce new vaccines very quickly for the next epidemic or pandemic.

PJ: We do multidisciplinary research. We develop technologies to upgrade vaccine manufacturing processes and add fundamental knowledge to the scientific community. Upgrading vaccine manufacturing technologies will help meet the global demands of life-saving health care supplies. The basic science will add a layer to the knowledge pyramid and help other researchers develop innovative technologies.

Q: What makes a mentoring relationship thrive?

CH: I believe mentoring is about presenting different options. I cannot tell anyone what is the best path for them. I can tell them what paths exist and maybe some of the pros and cons of each path. But I try not to give any exact answers.

Pratik was easy to mentor because he is thirsty for knowledge. He is excited to learn and this makes for the best mentee.

PJ: There are two ways of crossing a lake by a bridge. Someone can build a bridge for me or show me how to build a bridge. For me, mentoring is about making the mentee aware of how to build a bridge, because a bridge built for one lake may not work for another. If I know how to design and construct a bridge, I can cross any lake I want to.

In this bridge-building process, Dr. Heldt gave me time and freedom to think, to support building projects and to gain exposure to enhance professional development. I am extremely fortunate to have such a dynamic mentor!

Michigan Technological University is a public research university, home to more than 7,000 students from 54 countries. Founded in 1885, the University offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, and social sciences. Our campus in Michigans Upper Peninsula overlooks the Keweenaw Waterway and is just a few miles from Lake Superior.
We'll keep you connected to all the updated local news and information about what's happening in Murfreesboro and Rutherford County!

Click Here to Subscribe!
Anthony Christopher Mendonca worked as an IT worker for the Department of Education through a temp agency at a middle school and an elementary school around the time he started downloading videos of pre-pubescent kids having sex with adults, the feds said in court papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court Wednesday.
Discuss this article with your neighbors or join the community conversation.

Click here to get access
The victim, who is in her 60s, was waiting for a Queens-bound J train at the Broadway Junction stop in Cypress Hills at about 1:30 p.m. when the man pushed her, cops said.
Jacksonville Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Michael T. Davidson, 32, of 328 E. Independence Ave. was arrested at 8 a.m. Tuesday on charges of delivery of methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia after being stopped at North Kosciusko and West State streets. He also was cited on a charge of failing to signal, according to police.

OTHER REPORTS

 A man told police he was hit in the head with an unknown object about 12:33 a.m. Tuesday in the 600 block of Jordan Street.



Pike County

Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Amanda L. Westfall, 40, of Griggsville was arrested at 8:11 p.m. May 26 on a charge of driving while license is revoked or suspended.

 Paul J. Sultzman, 38, of Hannibal, Missouri, was arrested at 4:40 a.m. Monday on a charge of possession of methamphetamine.

 Benjamin A. Booth, 32, of Pearl was arrested at 1:56 p.m. May 25 on a charge of driving under the influence.

 Donald L. Shelton, 45, of Peoria was arrested at 9:47 a.m. May 26 on a reckless driving charge.

 Diane L. Little, 59, of Pittsfield was arrested at 6:15 p.m. May 25 on a charge of driving under the influence.

Pittsfield Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Donald E. Sydney, 52, of Pittsfield was arrested at 6:56 p.m. Thursday on a charge of predatory criminal sexual assault.

 David A. Burgess, 32, of Pittsfield was arrested at 2:23 a.m. Saturday on a charge of driving while license is revoked or suspended and on a Pike County petition to revoke probation.

Compiled by David C.L. Bauer
A Mason City man is facing felony charges after being accused of distributing child pornography through social media applications.

Illinois State Police Division of Criminal Investigations officials said an investigation began in late January and resulted in a search warrant being served March 23 on the residence of Cole Harris, 25, of Mason City.

Based on evidence gathered during the investigation and search, the Mason County States Attorneys Office on May 26 approved four counts of possession of child pornography against Harris.

He turned himself in to authorities the following day, and has since been released after posting a $100,000 bond, according to police.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)  Bob Baffert is on track to have his record seventh Kentucky Derby victory taken away and won't be able to run any horses in the prestigious race for the next two years.

Churchill Downs on Wednesday suspended the Hall of Fame trainer for two years after an additional drug test of Medina Spirit confirmed the presence of the steroid betamethasone in the Kentucky Derby winners system. The next step could be the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission disqualifying Medina Spirit, and now Baffert won't be able to enter any horses in the Derby or other races at the storied track through the spring of 2023.

Reckless practices and substance violations that jeopardize the safety of our equine and human athletes or compromise the integrity of our sport are not acceptable and as a company we must take measures to demonstrate that they will not be tolerated, Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen said in a statement. Mr. Bafferts record of testing failures threatens public confidence in thoroughbred racing and the reputation of the Kentucky Derby. Given these repeated failures over the last year, including the increasingly extraordinary explanations, we firmly believe that asserting our rights to impose these measures is our duty and responsibility.

Churchill Downs initially suspended Baffert indefinitely pending the investigation and now said it reserves the right to extend Bafferts suspension if he has any other violations in other states. Baffert has had five in the past 13 months.

Maryland racing officials allowed Medina Spirit and Baffert-trained Concert Tour to run in the Preakness on May 15 only after undergoing three rounds of prerace testing. New York banned Baffert indefinitely and prevented him from entering any horses in the Belmont Stakes.

The stunning ban by Churchill Downs could have a domino effect that takes off the trail completely the only trainer to win the Triple Crown since 1978.

A Maryland Jockey Club spokesman did not expect to make any kind of formal announcement Wednesday. New York Racing Association spokesman Patrick McKenna said its suspension remains in effect and that the NYRA "will make a determination regarding the length and terms of Mr. Bafferts suspension at the appropriate time and based on information generated by the ongoing investigation in Kentucky.

Earlier Wednesday, lawyers for Baffert and Medina Spirit owner Amr Zedan confirmed the split-sample test came back positive for betamethasone.

Baffert's attorney, Craig Robertson, said the second test showed 25 picograms of the steroid, after 21 picograms were found in the first sample. Even a trace amount of betamethasone  a picogram is a trillionth of one gram  is prohibited on race day in Kentucky, Maryland and New York, which are home to the sport's Triple Crown races, and considered a violation.

Robertson said additional testing is being conducted to try to trace the source of the drug to an ointment to treat a skin infection and not an injection. He and Zedan attorney Clark Brewster said they expect tests to show the ointment is responsible and not injections into one of the horse's joints.

"I think that will shed the light most prominently on the issue here for us," Brewster told The Associated Press by phone. The whole basis for listing betamethasone is because its injected into a joint and they want you not to inject the joints too close to the race, so the whole substantive basis is out the window if its a salve, and it can be proven scientifically and empirically to be the salve.

Rules in Kentucky do not differentiate punishment based on the source of the substance, which can be given to horses to help their joints and Baffert believes came from the dermatitis ointment. Churchill Downs said Medina Spirit would be disqualified if the split sample came back positive for betamethasone.

A spokeswoman for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation. Sherelle Roberts-Pierre said the commission values fairness and transparency and will provide information to the media and public at the close of an investigation.

Brewster said he hoped the additional tests would come back in a week to 10 days.

At the end of the day, we anticipate this case to be about the treatment of Medina Spirits skin rash with Otomax, Robertson said. We will have nothing further to say until the additional testing is complete.

If Medina Spirit is disqualified, Mandaloun would be elevated as the winner of the May 1 Kentucky Derby.

I cant control the outcome of that, so its something I give very, very little thought to, said Brad Cox, who trains Mandaloun and would be the first trainer from Louisville to win the race.

Baffert initially denied wrongdoing in a May 9 news conference announcing the positive result, which he called the biggest gut-punch in racing for something that I didnt do. He later cited the antifungal ointment as a potential cause.

Asked if he thought tests showing evidence of the steroid coming from an ointment would change the outcome, Brewster said: Youre asking me to predict the behavior and the decision-making of others, but if you ask me should  absolutely.

This would be the second Derby disqualification in three years after 2019 winner Maximum Security was DQd for interference following the race and Country House declared the winner. The only previous time that a Derby winner was disqualified after the fact for failing a postrace drug test was 1968 with Dancers Image.

___

Whyno reported from New York.

___

More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
You cant tell by looking at it, but the Ferris wheel in Jacksonvilles Community Park is more than 100 years old.

It has entertained citizens for generations  connecting them in a special way to their grandparents and great-grandparents, and all the great memories of days gone by.

This used to be out in Nichols Park, David Fisher, a member of the Jacksonville Rotary Club, said. The Rotary Club has owned and operated the wheel since the late-1950s. I can remember riding it when I was a little kid. We would go out there and have a family reunion picnic, and me and all the cousins would get herded over to the Ferris wheel. I think it was a nickel to ride at that time.

Big Eli No. 17 is the name of this particular wheel, and all the wheels that have come before and after it remain an example of inspiration from its original source  George Ferris magnificent Observation Wheel from both the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago, and the storied 1904 Worlds Fair in St. Louis.

No one had ever seen anything like it before. A giant wheel with enormous passenger cars that were so big they would one day be sold off and converted to buses.

Some were afraid of it and couldnt handle the 20 minutes it took to make a full rotation. But a majority was marveled by it  it boasted an type of elegance and ingenuity that only the approaching 20th century was sure to provide.

One of those people throwing their necks back and tilting their head to the sky was William E. Sullivan. W.E. Sullivan for short.

Sullivan was the owner of the Eli Bridge Co., and not long after witnessing Ferris wheel at the 1893 Columbian Exposition, he returned home to build a factory that would focus on building Ferris wheels for the world to enjoy.

Today, the Eli Bridge Co. is still making Ferris wheels, but its good ol No. 17 that holds a special place in the heart of everyone that has called Jacksonville home.

And its the mission of the Rotary and Fisher to keep the wheel turning.

We have to have this annually inspected for safety, he said. We are regularly complimented by the inspector on how good of shape we keep our wheel. Theyre very happy with the way we take care of it.

Big Eli No. 17 is nestled in the corner of the park at the intersection of Morton Avenue and Main Street. Its surrounded by blooming trees and chainlink fence  giving it its own space all to itself.

Two pieces of tape on the gate pole serve to determine every young riders fate. You must be tall enough to the first strand to ride. A few inches higher, and you dont need an adult to enjoy the child-like excitement that comes with each spin.

It tears my heart out to tell a kid they cant ride, but I have to do that for safety, Fisher said. Absolutely have to stick to our safety rules.

But its not all about giving unfortunate news to little ones. Many times its the pure joy Fisher witnesses that makes maintaining and operating the wheel very worthwhile.

I had a 90-year-old woman come out here, live here all her life, and had never rode, Fisher said. Her granddaughter brought her out here and they rode. She loved it.

He also tells of a time when children with special needs and sensory issues rode the wheel. The experience for the child was a success. The experience for Fisher was, as he describes it, heartwarming.

The wheel can be used for private events, and even for special photo opportunities.

We had a wedding party approach us, Fisher said. He had proposed on a different Ferris wheel, but they wanted pictures in their tuxes and gowns for the whole bridal party.

I had this wheel full of long dresses and tuxes. It was great.

Fisher is the overseer of No. 17, and between himself and his fellow operators, its a volunteer effort.

Were 100 percent volunteer, he said.

Ride sessions go for about three minutes. A nice, healthy ride, Fisher said. And we move people through very quickly. Youre not in line very long. And now that life is returning to a form of normalcy, its Sunday evenings that are giving riders memories to cherish.

Its a Sunday afternoon thing thats really blossomed, Fisher said. We have free rides every Sunday afternoon from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. from Memorial Day through Labor Day  and sometimes a little beyond.
Western Sahara independence chief leaves Spain for Algeria View Photo

MADRID (AP)  The leader of a movement seeking independence from Morocco who is at the center of a diplomatic row flew out of Spain to Algeria, arriving in the middle of the night before being taken to an Algerian military hospital Wednesday.

Brahim Ghali was released from a hospital in northern Spain following more than six weeks of treatment after contracting COVID-19, according to a statement sent to The Associated Press by the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which is based in refugee camps in western Algeria.

Morocco has denounced Spain, a strategic partner, for allowing Ghali to secretly enter the country. Morocco considers Ghali, 71, to be a terrorist. Amid the dispute, thousands of migrants crossed the border from Morocco into Spain as Moroccan authorities appeared to relax border controls last month.

After Ghalis arrival in Algeria on Wednesday, he was taken to the Ain Naadja military hospital  and received a visit from Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and army chief of staff Said Chengriha, according to Algerian state news agency APS. Algerian state television showed images of the visit, with Ghali hooked up to an oxygen machine.

Ghali is the leader of the Polisario Front, an Algeria-backed pro-independence movement representing the local Sahrawi people of Africas mineral-rich Western Sahara, and of the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Morocco annexed the Western Sahara in the 1970s after Spains colonial administration ended. It considers the vast territory part and parcel of the Moroccan kingdom. The Polisario Front has long tried to end Moroccan rule over the region.

Ghali departed hours after testifying Tuesday via videoconference in a Spanish investigation into allegations against him of torture, genocide and other crimes. A Spanish magistrate ruled after Ghalis testimony that he should remain free while the investigation continues.

Ghali flew out of Pamplona airport.

Ghali thanked Algeria for its support, according to APS. The Algerian president praised Ghali for testifying in the Spanish investigation. You gave the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic the image of a state of law. It is in the nature of revolutionaries and militants to respect the law.

There was no official public reaction Wednesday from Morocco to Ghalis departure.

The representative in Algeria for the self-declared state said Ghali arrived in Algiers at 3 a.m. to continue his recovery. Abdelkader Taleb Omar said on Algerian radio that the expansionist Moroccan regime has bit the dust with a sharp diplomatic failure.

Ghalis presence in Spain infuriated Morocco and triggered a diplomatic crisis between the two countries, which have been cooperating in fighting terrorism, drug smuggling and migration into Europe.

In a stinging rebuke, Moroccan authorities also questioned publicly whether Spain could be trusted.

Spain, like most other Western countries, has urged a negotiated solution through the United Nations to the question of Western Saharas future. But the issue became clouded last December when the U.S. Trump administration formally recognized Moroccos sovereignty over Western Sahara in return for Rabats normalization of ties with Israel.

Spanish government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said Wednesday she hoped Ghalis departure would help draw a line under the tensions with Morocco.

We have to let high diplomacy do its work, she told reporters.

But she also pushed back against Rabats pressure.

Spain enjoys national sovereignty, so Spanish foreign policy is decided by its government, its parliament, and our decision-making on international issues cannot be subjected to any conditionality, she said.

Ghali checked into the Spanish hospital under a false identity after arriving by plane last month with an Algerian diplomatic passport and with the consent of the Spanish government, which said it acted on humanitarian grounds.

Rabat withdrew its ambassador to Madrid and said it wouldnt fill the position if Ghali left Spain under the same cloak of secrecy.
A few minutes later, the third man walked up an alley away from the park, followed by Rivera, who was wiping his hands on his hooded sweatshirt, according to a criminal complaint.
Canadian minister says pope needs to apologize to Indigenous View Photo

TORONTO (AP)  Canadas Indigenous services minister said Wednesday that Pope Francis needs to issue a formal apology for the role the Catholic Church played in Canadas residential school system, days after the remains of 215 children were located at what was once the countrys largest such school.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government also pledged again to support efforts to find more unmarked graves at the former residential schools for Indigenous students  institutions that held Indigenous children taken from families across the nation.

Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tkemlups te Secwepemc First Nation in British Columbia has said the remains of 215 children were confirmed last month at the school in Kamloops, British Columbia, with the help of ground-penetrating radar. So far none has been excavated.

The Kamloops Indian Residential School was Canadas largest such facility and was operated by the Roman Catholic Church between 1890 and 1969 before the federal government took it over as a day school until 1978, when it was closed. Nearly three-quarters of the 130 schools were run by Catholic missionary congregations.

A papal apology was one of the 94 recommendations made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up as part of a government apology and settlement over the schools, and Trudeau personally asked the pope to consider such a gesture during a visit to the Vatican in 2017.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops announced in 2018 that the pope could not personally apologize for residential schools, even though he has not shied away from recognizing injustices faced by Indigenous people around the world.

I think it is shameful that it hasnt been done to date, Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said.

There is a responsibility that lies squarely on the shoulders on the Catholic bishops of Canada, he added.

Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett added that an apology by the Pope would help those who suffered heal.

They want to hear the Pope apologize, she said.

Trudeau said in 2018 he was disappointed by the Catholic churchs decision.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops didnt immediately respond to a message seeking comment for the latest call for a formal public apology by the Pope.

Former Pope Benedict met with a group of former students and victims in 2009 and told them of his personal anguish over their suffering, Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said at the time.

From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 First Nations children were required to attend state-funded Christian schools as part of a program to assimilate them into Canadian society. They were forced to convert to Christianity and not allowed to speak their native languages. Many were beaten and verbally abused, and up to 6,000 are said to have died.

The Canadian government apologized in Parliament in 2008 and admitted that physical and sexual abuse in the schools was rampant. Many students recalled being beaten for speaking their languages. They also lost touch with their parents and customs.

The archbishop of Vancouver apologized Wednesday.

I am writing to express my deep apology and profound condolences to the families and communities that have been devastated by this horrific news, Archbishop Michael Miller tweeted. The Church was unquestionably wrong in implementing a government colonialist policy which resulted in devastation for children, families and communities.

First Nations leaders are calling for an examination of other former residential schools.

Trudeaus ministers said the government will help preserve gravesites and search for potential unmarked burial grounds at other former residential schools. But Trudeau and his ministers have stressed need for Indigenous communities to decide for themselves how they want to proceed.

We will be there to support every community that wants to do this work, Bennett said.

The government previously announced $27 million Canadian (US$22 million) for the effort. Bennett called that a first step.

I know people are eager for answers but we do have to respect the privacy and mourning period of those communities that are collecting their thoughts and putting together protocols on how to honor these children, Miller said.

Indigenous leaders plan to bring in forensics experts to identify and repatriate the remains of the children found buried on the Kamloops site. Perry Bellegarde, chief of the Assembly of First Nations, spoke with Trudeau this week and urged him to work with First Nations to find all the unmarked graves of our stolen children.

Murray Sinclair, the former chair of the reconciliation commission, said more sites will be found.

We know there are lots of sites similar to Kamloops that are going to come to light in the future. We need to begin to prepare ourselves for that, Sinclair said.

The reconciliation commission has records of at least 51 children dying at the school between 1915 and 1963. It identified about 3,200 confirmed deaths at schools throughout Canada, but noted the schools did not record the cause of death in almost half of them.

By ROB GILLIES

Associated Press
Germany welcomes EU tax transparency deal for big companies View Photo

BERLIN (AP)  Germanys finance minister on Wednesday welcomed an agreement requiring large companies in the European Union to reveal how much tax they paid in which country.

The deal late Tuesday between representatives of the EUs 27 nations and the European Parliament ends five years of haggling over country-by-country reporting rules for corporations with total consolidated revenue of more than 750 million euros (currently about $917 million) across more than one country in each of the past two consecutive financial years.

Among the companies affected will be major international corporations such as Google and Amazon, which have used entities in low-tax countries such as Ireland and Luxembourg to reduce their tax burden elsewhere.

This is a huge step for greater tax justice, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said.

The new rules create greater transparency so that international corporations cant wiggle out of their tax obligations, he added. There needs to be an end to dirty tax tricks finally.

The European Union estimates that tax avoidance measures by large companies costs the bloc more than 50 billion euros ($61 billion) each year.

Some campaigners lamented that the deal, which still needs to be formally approved, only requires companies to provide detailed figures on their tax payments in the EU and almost two dozen non-EU countries on the blocs of black or grey lists of uncooperative tax havens.

Chiara Putaturo of the aid group Oxfam said the agreement allows companies to obscure how much tax theyre paying in three-quarters of the worlds countries, including jurisdictions such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Switzerland.

Similar legislative efforts to require country-by-country reporting of corporate taxes are underway in the U.S. Congress.
At Least 10-Percent Of Worlds Giant Sequoias Killed In Fire

Smoldering Giant Sequoia From Castle Fire View Photo

A new study looks at the impact of a wildfire last year in the Sierra Nevada that killed between 7,500 to 10,000 redwoods in the Sequoia National Park.

The Castle Fire in August of last year scarred over 130,000 acres and burned through 10 giant sequoia groves. The Associated Press reports that federal researchers determined that anywhere from 10-14-percent of the worlds giant sequoias were killed in the fire.

Researchers used satellite imagery to make the determination. Giant sequoias are fire-adapted and often resistant to wildfires. However, the built-up vegetation, and the high severity of the blaze, led to the destruction.

The Castle Fire ignited as a result of a series of lightning strikes in the Golden Trout Wilderness area.
Irans largest warship catches fire, sinks in Gulf of Oman View Photo

TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  The largest warship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, the latest calamity to strike one of the countrys vessels in recent years amid tensions with the West.

The blaze began around 2:25 a.m. and firefighters tried to contain it, the Fars news agency reported, but their efforts failed to save the 207-meter (679-foot) Kharg, which was used to resupply other ships in the fleet at sea and conduct training exercises. State media reported 400 sailors and trainee cadets on board fled the vessel, with 33 suffering injuries.

The ship sank near the Iranian port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran on the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz  the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. Satellite photos from Planet Labs Inc. analyzed by The Associated Press showed the Kharg off Jask with no sign of a fire as late as 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Photos circulated on Iranian social media showed sailors wearing life jackets evacuating the vessel as a fire burned behind them. Fars published video of thick, black smoke rising from the ship early Wednesday morning. Satellites from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that track fires from space detected a blaze near Jask that started just before the time of the fire reported by Fars.

Iranian officials offered no cause for the fire aboard the Kharg, though they said an investigation had begun.

Meanwhile, a massive fire broke out Wednesday night at the oil refinery serving Irans capital, sending thick plumes of black smoke over Tehran. It wasnt immediately clear if there were injuries or what caused the blaze at the Tondgooyan Petrochemical Co., though temperatures in the capital reached nearly 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and hot summer weather in Iran has caused fires in the past.

The fire Wednesday aboard the Kharg warship follows a series of mysterious explosions that began in 2019 targeting commercial ships in the Gulf of Oman. The U.S. Navy accused Iran of targeting the ships with limpet mines, timed explosives typically attached by divers to a vessels hull.

Iran denied that, though U.S. Navy footage showed Revolutionary Guard members removing one unexploded limpet mine from a ship. The attacks came amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehrans nuclear deal with world powers. Negotiations on saving the accord continue in Vienna.

In April, an Iranian ship called the MV Saviz believed to be a Guard base and anchored for years in the Red Sea off Yemen was targeted in an attack suspected to have been carried out by Israel. It escalated a yearslong shadow war in the Mideast between the two countries, ranging from strikes in Syria, assaults on ships and attacks on Irans nuclear program.

The Israeli prime ministers office did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday regarding the Kharg. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the U.S. was aware of the loss of the ship, but declined to comment further.

State TV and semiofficial news agencies on Wednesday referred to the Kharg, named after the island that serves as the main oil terminal for Iran, as a training ship. The vessel often hosted cadets from the Imam Khomeini Naval University on the Caspian Sea.

Like much of Irans major military hardware, the Kharg dated back to before Irans 1979 Islamic Revolution. The warship, built in Britain and launched in 1977, entered the Iranian navy in 1984 after lengthy negotiations. That aging military equipment has seen fatal accidents as recently as Tuesday, when a malfunction in the ejector seats of an Iranian F-5 dating back to before the revolution killed two pilots while the aircraft was parked in a hangar.

In recent months, the navy converted a slightly larger commercial tanker called the Makran to use it as a mobile launch platform for helicopters. The Kharg also could launch helicopters on a smaller scale.

But the newer vessel likely cant fill the role of the Kharg, which could handle both refueling and replenishing supplies of ships at sea, said Mike Connell of the Center for Naval Analysis, an Arlington, Virginia-based federally funded nonprofit that works for the U.S. government.

The Kharg also was seaworthy enough to sail through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea and into South Asia in the past and could lift heavy cargo.

For the regular Iranian navy, this vessel was very valuable because it gave them reach, Connell said. That allowed them to conduct operations far afield. They do have other logistics vessels, but the Kharg was kind of the most capable and the largest.

The sinking of the Kharg marks the latest naval disaster for Iran. In 2020, during an Iranian military training exercise, a missile mistakenly struck a naval vessel near Jask, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15. Also in 2018, an Iranian navy destroyer sank in the Caspian Sea.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Joseph Krauss in Jerusalem and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

By AMIR VAHDAT and JON GAMBRELL

Associated Press
Federal judge declines to order fireworks at Mount Rushmore View Photo

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP)  A federal judge on Wednesday rebuffed South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noems efforts to force the National Park Service to grant the state permission to shoot fireworks from Mount Rushmore National Memorial to celebrate Independence Day this year.

Noem sued the U.S. Department of Interior in an effort to reverse the decision to deny the states permit for the pyrotechnic display. The Republican governor successfully pushed last year for a return of the event after a decadelong hiatus. But the National Park Service denied it this year, citing safety concerns and objections from local Native American tribes.

The opinion and order from Chief Judge Roberto Lange of the federal district court of South Dakota meant that the night sky over Mount Rushmore will be devoid of the states fireworks on Independence Day this year.

Noem has decried the decision to deny the fireworks permit as political and made a patriotic argument for holding fireworks at the massive monument. The event last year gave former President Donald Trump an opportunity to make a fiery speech at the monument. The state had signed an agreement with the federal government under Trump to work towards having the fireworks display this year.

However, Noems lawsuit also reignited legal skirmishing between her and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, which opposed the event on the grounds that the Black Hills, which contain Mount Rushmore, are sacred to the Lakota people.

In a statement responding to the judges decision, Noem blamed President Joe Bidens administration for cancelling the fireworks, saying it was on completely arbitrary grounds.

But rest assured, this fight is not over, she said, promising to appeal the decision in an effort to restore the event next year.

In a 36-page opinion and order, Lange, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, wrote that he liked the idea of having a fireworks display to celebrate Independence Day, but declined to order the National Park Service to allow it because it would be improper judicial activism for this Court to disregard settled law on how federal agencies are allowed to make decisions.

Lange wrote: This country could use a good celebration of its foundational principles of democracy, liberty, and equal protection of law, after a pandemic that has disrupted society and business and has killed nearly 600,000 United States citizens to date, after an insurrection and physical incursion of the United States Capitol while Congress was convening to certify the outcome of the presidential election, and after this nation has become so sadly divided by the politicization of so many issues, likely to include even the outcome of this case.

By STEPHEN GROVES

Associated Press
Video: Black man killed by police aimed gun at officer View Photo

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)  Dramatic video footage released Wednesday by California police shows a Black man walking around an unmarked police vehicle, opening the door and pointing a gun at an undercover officer inside before the man was fatally shot.

San Jose Police Chief Anthony Mata said two undercover officers were conducting surveillance Monday on 31-year-old Demetrius Stanley and had no plans to arrest or confront him. Stanley, however, opened the car door and pointed his firearm, forcing the officer to fire, Mata said.

Officers did not want, or anticipate, a confrontation that night, and did everything possible to avoid having one. Unfortunately, the officers have no control over the actions of others, the chief said at a news conference.

Officials released still images of the shooting Tuesday but no details shortly before more than 100 demonstrators marched along street and a freeway to protest Stanleys death.

Family members and some of those who participated in the protest accused police of withholding key details about the shooting. They said home-security video showed the officers were in plainclothes and an unmarked vehicle, and did not announce themselves as police, the Mercury News reported.

They said Stanley did not know he was dealing with police.

Mata said Stanley had acknowledged committing a March 12 armed robbery and was arrested and released on bail. On Monday, undercover detectives pursuing other allegations related to the robbery were trying to confirm where Stanley lived when he came out of his house carrying a gun and went toward one of the plainclothes officers on the street, the chief said.

The officer walked away quickly and Stanley returned to the house, tucking the firearm into the waistband of his shorts, Mata said. Another officer in the unmarked vehicle did not attempt to exit the car or confront Stanley.

Stanley then walked to the vehicle and opened the door with the firearm in his other hand, Mata said.

Fearing for his life, the officer fired his weapon at Stanley, he said.

Mata declined to name the officer, a 14-year police veteran, given the nature of the officers duties. Police said they recovered a 9mm unregistered ghost gun with an illegal high capacity magazine at the scene.

The protest march was led by the BLACK Outreach SJ and HERO Tent activist groups that protested last spring after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and the San Jose Police Departments violent response to protests in the wake of the killing.

Theyre going to try and say that it was as simple as he pointed guns at police officers, but thats not what happened, said Lou Dimes, president of BLACK Outreach SJ. He was being stalked by people in plain clothing who didnt identify themselves as police officers. He thought he was in danger.
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service hosted its annual Field Scout School on Friday at the Ollie Liner Center.

Blayne Reed, Texas AgriLife Extension and Integrated Pest Management agent, described the event as an educational tool for first time scouts to learn proper procedures when inspecting cotton, corn and sorghum fields.

Field scouts can help growers in the fields with everything from technology adoption to maintaining pest and weed control, Reed said.

With six guest speakers, the training covered extensive information regarding what to look for while on the job. However, according to Reed, the main goal was to stress the need for field scouts.

Although the industry heavily relies on technology, Reed argued scouts play a crucial role in maintaining a healthy crop.

Technology is great, but we still have to go back to the basics, Reed said. There is no satellite or robot that can do what the human field scout can. Its a critical lost art.

When in the field, scouts must detect potential threats throughout the plants entire lifecycle. Reed said when scouts correctly identify a problem, they can save farmers thousands of dollars. However, they can also cost producers a substantial amount if they were to miss anything.

Pat Porter, district entomologist, said he agrees scouting is an important component within the industry.

There are people who are depending on you for their livelihoods, Porter said.

Although the event is primarily intended for incoming field scouts, one attendee said experienced inspectors can also benefit from the training.

Jerik Reed, a three-year field scout from Tulia, Texas, said the event is a great way to refresh his memory.

You can never stop learning, Jerik said. The industry is constantly changing, and we need to remind ourselves of what to specifically look for.

In addition to the field scout school, the extension will also provide semi-biweekly training sessions at the Halfway Experiment Station. The trainings will be free for AgriLife personnel, and other professionals may attend with a $75 fee per session. For more information, contact Reed at blayne.reed@ag.tamu.edu.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus opponents announced Wednesday that they have reached a deal to form a new governing coalition, paving the way for the ouster of the longtime Israeli leader.

The dramatic announcement by opposition leader Yair Lapid and his main coalition partner, Naftali Bennett, came shortly before a midnight deadline and prevented what could have been Israel's fifth consecutive election in just over two years.

This government will work for all the citizens of Israel, those that voted for it and those that didnt. It will do everything to unite Israeli society, Lapid said.

The agreement still needs to be approved by the Knesset, or parliament, in a vote that is expected to take place early next week. If it goes through, Lapid and a diverse array of partners that span the Israeli political spectrum will end Netanyahus record-setting but divisive 12-year rule.

Netanyahu, desperate to remain in office while he fights corruption charges, is expected to do everything possible in the coming days to prevent the new coalition from taking power. If he fails, he will be pushed into the opposition.

The deal comes at a tumultuous time for Israel, which fought an 11-day war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip last month while also experiencing mob violence between Jews and Arabs in cities across the country. The country also is emerging from a coronavirus crisis that caused deep economic damage and exposed tensions between the secular majority and the ultra-Orthodox minority.

Under the agreement, Lapid and Bennett will split the job of prime minister in a rotation. Bennett, a former ally of Netanyahu, is to serve the first two years, while Lapid is to serve the final two years  though it is far from certain their fragile coalition will last that long.

The historic deal also includes a small Islamist party, the United Arab List, which would make it the first Arab party ever to be part of a governing coalition.

In the coming days, Netanyahu is expected to continue to put pressure on hard-liners in the emerging coalition to defect and join his religious and nationalist allies. Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin, a member of Netanyahu's Likud party, may also use his influence to delay the required parliamentary vote. There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu or Likud.

Lapid called on Levin to convene the Knesset for the vote as soon as possible.

Netanyahu has been the most dominant player in Israeli politics over the past three decades  serving as prime minister since 2009 in addition to an earlier term in the late 1990s.

Despite a long list of achievements, including last years groundbreaking diplomatic agreements with four Arab countries, he has become a polarizing figure since he was indicted on charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in 2019.

Each of the past four elections was seen as a referendum on Netanyahus fitness to rule. And each ended in deadlock, with both Netanyahus supporters as well as his secular, Arab and dovish opponents falling short of a majority. A unity government formed with his main rival last year collapsed after just six months.

The new deal required a reshuffling of the Israeli political constellation. Three of the parties are led by hard-line former Netanyahu allies who had personal feuds with him, while the United Arab List made history as a kingmaker, using its leverage to seek benefits for the country's Arab minority.

This is the first time an Arab party is a partner in the formation of a government, said the party's leader, Mansour Abbas. This agreement has a lot of things for the benefit of Arab society, and Israeli society in general.

Among the concessions secured by Abbas were agreements for legal recognition of Bedouin villages in southern Israel, an economic plan for investing 30 billion shekels ($9.2 billion) in Arab towns and cities, and a five-year plan for combating violent crime in Arab communities, according to Army Radio.

Lapid, 57, entered parliament in 2013 after a successful career as a newspaper columnist, TV anchor and author. His new Yesh Atid party ran a successful rookie campaign, landing Lapid the powerful post of finance minister.

But he and Netanyahu did not get along, and the coalition quickly crumbled. Yesh Atid has been in the opposition since 2015 elections. The party is popular with secular, middle-class voters and has been critical of Netanyahus close ties with ultra-Orthodox parties and said the prime minister should step down while on trial for corruption charges.

The ultra-Orthodox parties have long used their outsize political power to secure generous budgets for their religious institutions and exemptions from compulsory military service. The refusal of many ultra-Orthodox Jews to obey coronavirus safety restrictions last year added to widespread resentment against them.

Bennett, 49, is a former top aide to Netanyahu whose small Yamina party caters to religious and nationalist hard-liners. Bennett was a successful high-tech entrepreneur and leader of the West Bank settler movement before entering politics.

In order to secure the required parliamentary majority, Lapid had to bring together eight parties that have little in common.

Their partners include a pair of dovish, left-wing parties that support Palestinian independence and three hard-line parties that oppose major concessions to the Palestinians and support West Bank settlements. Lapid's Yesh Atid and Blue and White, a centrist party headed by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and the United Arab List are the remaining members.

The coalition members hope their shared animosity toward Netanyahu will provide enough incentive to find some common ground.

Today, we succeeded. We made history, said Merav Michaeli, leader of the dovish Labor Party.

The negotiations went down to the wire, with Labor and Yamina feuding over the makeup of a parliamentary committee.

Earlier this week, when Bennett said he would join the coalition talks, he said that everyone would have to compromise and give up parts of their dreams.

In order to form a government, a party leader must secure the support of a 61-seat majority in the 120-seat parliament. Because no single party controls a majority on its own, coalitions are usually built with smaller partners. Thirteen parties of various sizes are in the current parliament.

As leader of the largest party, Netanyahu was given the first opportunity by the countrys figurehead president to form a coalition. But he was unable to secure a majority with his traditional religious and nationalist allies.

After Netanyahus failure to form a government, Lapid was then given four weeks to cobble together a coalition. That window was set to expire at midnight.

Lapid already faced a difficult challenge bringing together such a disparate group of partners. But then war broke out with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip on May 10. The fighting, along with the eruption of Arab-Jewish mob violence in Israeli cities during the war, put the coalition talks on hold.

But after a cease-fire was reached on May 21, the negotiations resumed, and Lapid raced to sew up a deal. He reached a breakthrough on Sunday when Bennett agreed to join the opposition coalition.

___

Associated Press Writer Ilan Ben Zion contributed to this report.
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP)  At least a tenth of the worlds mature giant sequoia trees were destroyed by a single California wildfire that tore through the southern Sierra Nevada last year, according to a draft report prepared by scientists with the National Park Service.

The Visalia Times-Delta newspaper obtained a copy of the report that describes catastrophic destruction from the Castle Fire, which charred 273 square miles (707 square km) of timber in Sequoia National Park.

Researchers used satellite imagery and modeling from previous fires to determine that between 7,500 and 10,000 of the towering species perished in the fire. That equates to 10% to 14% of the worlds mature giant sequoia population, the newspaper said.

I cannot overemphasize how mind-blowing this is for all of us. These trees have lived for thousands of years. Theyve survived dozens of wildfires already, said Christy Brigham, chief of resources management and science at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

The consequences of losing large numbers of giant sequoias could be felt for decades, forest managers said. Redwood and sequoia forests are among the worlds most efficient at removing and storing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The groves also provide critical habitat for native wildlife and help protect the watershed that supplies farms and communities on the San Joaquin Valley floor.

Brigham, the study's lead author, cautioned that the numbers are preliminary and the research paper has yet to be peer reviewed. Beginning next week, teams of scientists will hike to the groves that experienced the most fire damage for the first time since the ashes settled.

I have a vain hope that once we get out on the ground the situation wont be as bad, but thats hope  thats not science, she said.

The newspaper said the extent of the damage to one of the worlds most treasured trees is noteworthy because the sequoias themselves are incredibly well adapted to fire. The old-growth trees  some of which are more than 2,000 years old and 250 feet (76 meters) tall  require fire to burst their pine cones and reproduce.

One-hundred years of fire suppression, combined with climate change-driven hotter droughts, have changed how fires burn in the southern Sierra and that change has been very bad for sequoia, Brigham said.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon have conducted controlled burns since the 1960s, about a thousand acres a year on average. Brigham estimates that the park will need to burn around 30 times that number to get the forest back to a healthy state.

The Castle Fire erupted on Aug. 19 in the Golden Trout Wilderness amid a flurry of lightning strikes. The Shotgun Fire, a much smaller blaze burning nearby, was discovered shortly afterward, and the two were renamed the Sequoia Complex.

___

The headline of this story has been corrected to say the fire destroyed 10% of all giant sequoias, not 10% of all redwoods.
Wet conditions didnt stop dozens from gathering at the Plainview Cemetery on Monday morning.

The American Legion Unit 260 of Plainview and the City of Plainview held a Memorial Day ceremony to honor fallen veterans and their families.

Mayor Charles Starnes served as the master of ceremonies for the 30-minute event that included the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of America. Doug Yates, pastor of the Church of Nazarene, and Evan Weiss, minister of the 9th and Columbia Church of Christ, offered prayers and invocations.

During his short speech, Starnes noted that the Plainview Cemetery was the final resting place for 5,300 military veterans, including Medal of Honor recipient Isaac L. Thomas.

Kim Horne, director of Hale County Meals on Wheels, talked about the organizations recent $75,000 grant from the Texas Veterans Commission. She also noted that Ashley Mayberry  who was also on hand  is currently the assistant director of the program and will take Hornes place when she retires in the next year.

Carl Hartman, a 21-year military veteran, served as the guest speaker. Hartman spoke of the evolution of Memorial Day and how its intended to honor those that paid the ultimate sacrifice.

During the apex of his speech, Hartman said that while some arent fans of how certain people celebrate the holiday, hes all for it, so long as they take a moment to remember those who died so they have the freedom to celebrate in their own way.

A 21-gun salute was conducted by the Hale County Sheriffs Offices honor guard.
If I had a weapon, I would kill you, the man told the two uniformed agents as he rode alongside their moving van near Rivington and Allen Sts. on the Lower East Side about 2 p.m. Tuesday, according to cops.
Thursday, May 27

Plainview police responded to the 700 block of Fresno on Thursday in reference to an assault. The incident was reported at 2:40 a.m.

Police were called to the 700 block of Fresno St. on Thursday in reference to an assault. An individual cut the wrist of her live-in boyfriend with her fingernail causing pain and visible blood. The call was reported just after 2 p.m.

A man was arrested at the 400 block of Utica on May 27. Officers responded to the location of the arrest around 3:20 p.m. The individual was charged with failure to identify a fugitive with the intent to give false information and with an active warrant out of Hale County.

A man was arrested at the 2700 block of Olton Road on May 27 around 6:30 a.m. The individual was charged with public intoxication with three prior convictions.

A crash was reported at the 3200 block of W. 10th St. on May 27 around 10:20 p.m. Vehicle damage was reported.

A burglary was reported at the 400 block of Bryan on May 27 around 11:30 p.m.
Ben Margot /Associated Press

Tesla Motors moves quickly. That could certainly be said about the cars they produce, but thats also more of a general observation  when it comes to the companys Gigafactory Texas project, its making impressive progress getting a massive manufacturing facility off the ground. For people looking to buy an electric vehicle, its excellent news. But for residents of Texas whod hoped that this might enable them to buy a Tesla locally  well, thats where things get complicated.



As it turns out, theres a law on the books in Texas thats responsible for that complication. At The Verge, Mitchell Clark has a rundown of whats at stake. A Texas law currently says that automakers cannot sell cars directly to consumers; if someone in, say, Austin or San Antonio wants to purchase a Texas-made Tesla, that Tesla would first have to be shipped out of state before the sale is made.



If your initial thought here is that thats a remarkably energy-inefficient way to sell an energy-efficient car, youre absolutely on to something. Its certainly possible to change the law, but  according to the article  they missed their window to do so in the current legislative session. Did we mention that the Texas legislature only meets every other year?



Clark notes that there is one possible solution to this dilemma: the states governor could call a special session to address the law, something which would also benefit other electric vehicle manufacturers using a direct-to-consumer model. Will that take place? A lot is riding on it  both literally and metaphorically.
Click here to read the full article.

Arlene Golonka, a veteran character actor best known for playing Millie Swanson on Mayberry R.F.D., died Monday in West Hollywood, Calif. She was 85.

Her niece Stephanie Morton, said she had been suffering from Alzheimers.

She lived and breathed being an artist, being an actress was who she was born to be, said her niece, She was a very wise woman who I was lucky to call my aunt.

She loved to teach, said Morton, who said her acting students over the years included Halle Berry.

With a career spanning over 45 years, Golonka played recurring roles on The Doctors, Joe & Valerie and 1st & 10 and appeared in episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, M*A*S*H and The King of Queens. On The Andy Griffith Show, Golonka played Millie Hutchins, the girlfriend of Sam Jones (Ken Berry) on two episodes, and she reprised the role as Millie Swanson on Mayberry R.F.D. across 34 episodes.

Born on January 23, 1936, Golonka spent her childhood in Chicago, hopping between singing and acting classes and studying at the prestigious Goodman Theatre. At age 19, she moved to New York and began a career on Broadway and in films made in New York City, studying under Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner and Uta Hagen.

As a member of The Actors Studio, Golonkas first major production was The Night Circus with Ben Gazzara, which started in Connecticut and then moved to Broadway for seven performances.

In the late 1960s, Golonka relocated to Los Angeles, where she continued playing small roles on the big screen while also venturing into television. Golonka soon established herself as one of the hardest-working character actors in Hollywood, appearing in dozens of series over the next three decades. In shows like That Girl, The Streets of San Francisco, Fantasy Island and Murder, She Wrote, Golonka even reappeared as different characters.

Her film roles included Airport 77, Hang Em High with Clint Eastwood and The In-Laws.

Golonkas voice appeared on the 1965 comedy album You Dont Have to Be Jewish and in animated TV programs such as Speed Buggy, The New Yogi Bear Show, Capitol Critters, Yogis Treasure Hunt and The New Scooby-Doo Movies.

She is survived by a sister and nieces and nephews.

Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Courtesy, Slide the Slopes

Move over Schlitterbahn, there's a new water park in town. On Thursday, June 10, Slide the Slopes, an inflatable water and tubing course, opens in New Braunfels, just in time for summer fun (and heat).

The new attraction, which boasts to be the "longest and biggest inflatable slip and slide festival in the world," is located at the Texas Ski Resort 6700 I-35 in New Braunfels through September 10.
Mark your calendars  a new marijuana-inspired sandwich shop is opening later this month.

Cheba Hut, a Colorado-based franchise that specializes in "toasted" munchies, told MySA.com it's opening its Alamo Ranch location on Tuesday, June 29. The new joint is located at 11911 Alamo Ranch Pkwy.

READ ALSO: I tried the new BTS meal at McDonald's. Here's why it's great.

According to its website, the "toasted" sub shop offers over 30 signature sub sandwiches, like the Chronic (roast beef, barbecue, green bell pepper, 'shrooms, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, and house dressing) and dank (genoa salami, pepperoni, marinara, double provolone, and shake).

In addition to the subs, the shop also has a munchies menu with items like French onion soup and garlic cheese bread. The menu also features Rice Krispies treats and "Cottonmouth Cures" (sodas, ice tea, and Kool-Aid).

Cheba Hut was founded by Scott Jennings, established in 1998 in Tempe, Arizona. The first store was opened near the campus of Arizona State University where Jennings attended college. Now headquartered in Colorado, the company currently has more than 40 franchises across 14 states.

In Texas, Cheba Hut has a location in Dallas and Austin. Once open, the new location in San Antonio will have hours from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Sunday, according to its Facebook page.
Express-News archive photo

Emo night is every night. We shouldn't have to wait until the last Wednesday of every month to jam out to old and new emotional rock songs at Brass Monkey.

In San Antonio, many bars offer the same music as Brass Monkey does during its emo event, like My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, Paramore, Brand New, and more.
San Antonio will get a taste of Houston's famed Turkey Leg Hut next weekend.

The popular Houston restaurant, known for over-the-top turkey legs, will host a pop-up weekend event at the Freeman Coliseum Parking Lot from June 11-13.

The restaurant's Cajun bowls will accompany the "fall of the bone" signature item on the trip to San Antonio. Turkey Leg Hut typically warrants large crowds that celebrities like Kevin Hart, 50 Cent and James Harden tend to pop up in.

RELATED: San Antonio chef 'rocked it out' on Food Network's 'Chopped'

Customers have the option of stuffing their turkey legs with everything from Cajun Mac and Cheese to shrimp alfredo. There's also a Hennessy Cognac Glaze to top it off.

Were so excited to be coming to San Antonio, Turkey Leg Hut Co-Founder Nakia Price said in a news release. Weve had a lot of requests for a visit to this area on social media and we are glad to finally be able to share a taste of our signature menu with the San Antonio community!

READ MORE FROM MADALYN: Highly acclaimed Jerk Shack opening third San Antonio location at Hemisfair

Nakia Price and co-founder Lynn Price started the business in family owned parking lot near the Houston Rodeo in 2015. In 2017, the turkey business expanded into a brick-and-mortar location in Houston's Third Ward.
As Woody Harrelson was graduating high school in small town Ohio and working a summer job at an amusement park before launching his Academy Award-winning acting career, his estranged father was taking a hit man job to kill U.S. District Judge John H. Wood Jr. in San Antonio.

On May 29, 1979, a single shot rang out in an Alamo Heights neighborhood, echoing through the city and beyond. The killing marked the first time a federal judge had been assassinated in the U.S. and is "still etched in the city's lore," as San Antonio Express-News archives describe. The federal building on Cesar Chavez Boulevard now bears the judge's name.

Wood was known as "Maximum John" for the tough punishments he gave drug traffickers, according to San Antonio Express-News archives.

The actor's dad was hired by Jamiel "Jimmy" Chagra for $250,000 to assassinate Wood, who was scheduled to preside over the drug lord's trial. The elder Harrelson assumed the alias "Bill Bannister" and carried through with his fatal plan, shooting the judge with rifle outside his Alamo Heights townhome while Wood was heading out for work.

"It was the crime of the century, in San Antonio for sure," local defense lawyer Alan Brown told the San Antonio Express-News in 2017. "It was the first time someone assassinated a sitting federal judge. It was such an iconoclastic case, because it was believed a federal judge could not be touched."

READ MORE FROM MADALYN: A Beverly Hills socialite was entombed in her Ferrari in San Antonio 44 years ago

The FBI spent "thousands of man hours" and more than $11 million in the search for Wood's killer. Charles Harrelson was eventually convicted in 1982 and sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus 5 years for the slaying.

In 1988, Woody Harrelson told People magazine that his father left his mother in 1968, when the actor was 8. He noted the conviction as a "travesty," but said he did not feel Charles Harrelson was "much" of a parent.

"I don't feel he was much a father," Woody Harrelson said in the People interview "He took no valid part in my upbringing."

The "Kingpin" actor did say that the two had grown closer since Charles Harrelson started his prison sentence. He stood in for his dad when he was married by proxy, but told People that was still trying to figure out if he saw his father more as a friend or a parent.

He offered another favor in 1997 when he bankrolled his father's unsuccessful appeal and attended the federal proceedings with his brothers in Texas and Colorado.

Charles Harrelson died in a Colorado prison in 2007; he was 68.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden is stretching the facts when he suggests that two moderate Democrats in the Senate might be a reason why his legislative agenda, such as a sweeping voting rights bill, isnt quickly getting done on Capitol Hill.

In a Senate divided 50-50 where legislation effectively needs 60 votes to pass, Biden points to an obstacle that doesn't exist. He said the lawmakers, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, actually vote more with my Republican friends.

Thats not true.

BIDEN: June should be a month of action on Capitol Hill. I hear all the folks on TV saying, Why doesnt Biden get this done? Well, because Biden only has a majority of, effectively, four votes in the House and a tie in the Senate, with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends.  remarks Tuesday in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

THE FACTS: His implication about their voting records is wrong.

While Manchin and Sinema have indeed been more likely than other Democrats in either the Senate or House to cross party lines, its not true they vote more often with Republicans than with fellow Democrats. And they haven't done so in Biden's presidency. So far, theyve aligned with Biden 100% of the time.

According to CQ Roll Call, Manchin voted against his partys majority 38.5% of the time last year, while Sinema did so for 33.1% of the votes. Democratic Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama, who lost his reelection race in November to Republican Tommy Tuberville, was third at 32.2%.

In the House, Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah, most frequently voted last year against his party, at 27.3%, followed by Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., at 23.7%. Both lost to Republican challengers in November.

Manchin and Sinema have also supported Bidens position in every instance so far this year, including numerous confirmation votes on Biden nominees, COVID-19 relief and the commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to FiveThirtyEights count. Sinema was not in town for last weeks vote on the Jan. 6 commission, citing a family matter, but said she would have backed it if she were.

The two senators, however, are opposed to eliminating the 60-vote filibuster, a procedural hurdle that effectively requires a supermajority to pass legislation. They are now being pressed anew to reconsider their opposition after too few Republicans joined with Democrats to create the bipartisan Jan. 6 commission.

Manchin also opposes the election overhaul bill that would expand and mandate early voting, same-day registration and other long-sought changes that Republicans reject.

Still, its not just Manchin and Sinema who oppose doing away with the filibuster. As many as 10 Democratic senators are reluctant to change the rules even for key legislation such as the voting rights bill. Biden himself has not said he wants to end the filibuster.

Manchins office declined to comment on Biden's remarks, and Sinemas office didnt respond to messages. In a statement last month, Manchin said he was proud of CQs latest ranking showing him to be the most bipartisan lawmaker in the Senate.

Biden didn't identify the two senators by name, but there was no mistaking whom he meant. White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday said Biden was not criticizing them in his remarks but was instead explaining the process to pass legislation in the Senate. She added that they would no doubt be proud of their independent streaks" and their votes representing their states.

He considers them both friends, Psaki said. He considers them both good working partners. And he believes that in democracy, we dont have to see eye to eye on every detail of every single issue in order to work together. And he certainly thinks that reflects their relationship.

___

Associated Press writer Alexandra Jaffe contributed to this report.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE  A look at the veracity of claims by political figures.

___

Find AP Fact Checks at http://apnews.com/APFactCheck

Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck
AP

LAS VEGAS (AP)  Police appealed again Tuesday to teachers, grandparents, relatives and adults who work with children to identify a slain boy whose body was found by hikers near a highway between Las Vegas and rural Pahrump.

Las Vegas police homicide Lt. Ray Spencer said investigators have checked hundreds of tips in states including California, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Nebraska and Iowa since the body was discovered about 7 a.m. Friday. None proved fruitful.
An NYPD Emergency Services Unit armed with a circular saw was called in to detach protesters from each other as they blocked traffic on Broadway near Chambers St. around 12 p.m.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)  The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a death row inmate's argument that he received ineffective counsel and prosecutors withheld important evidence during his trial for killing a central Missouri couple.

Jesse Driskill, of Lebanon, was sentenced to death in 2013 for killing 82-year-old Johnnie Wilson and 76-year-old Coleen Wilson at their home near Lebanon. The couple had just celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary when they confronted Driskill burglarizing the house on July 26, 2010.
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP)  A Los Angeles County firefighter appeared to have a longstanding job-related dispute with the colleague he fatally shot at their small, rural fire station in what was Californias second deadly workplace shooting in less than a week, authorities said Wednesday.

The gunman also critically wounded a fire captain at the station about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Los Angeles on Tuesday before setting his house on fire in a nearby community and apparently killing himself, officials said.

Preliminary interviews with other employees at Fire Station 81 indicate the shooter and the fellow veteran firefighter who was killed had some workplace beef, said Los Angeles County sheriffs Lt. Brandon Dean, who is overseeing the homicide investigation.

It sounds like they didnt like each other, Dean told The Associated Press, without elaborating.

He said investigators will review the Fire Department's personnel files to see if any official complaints had been made or disciplinary actions had been taken before the bloodshed. It was not immediately clear how long the two had worked together at the station in Agua Dulce, a rural community of about 3,000 people in the desert of northern Los Angeles County.

The coroners office on Wednesday identified the firefighter who died as Tory Carlon, a 44-year-old fire specialist who drove the fire engine. He was shot several times in the upper torso, authorities said. Carlon had three daughters and had been with the department for more than 20 years.

Hundreds of people honored him at a vigil Tuesday night at a park near the station, remembering him as a devoted father and committed firefighter who mentored younger colleagues.

Together with all Californians, we mourn the tragic and senseless loss of a brave and dedicated firefighter and community leader whose selfless service will not be forgotten," Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement Wednesday.

Authorities say the gunman was off-duty when he went to the fire station and began shooting, authorities said. He then drove to his house and set it on fire.

As police swarmed the area, he was found dead in an empty pool. Its believed he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, sheriffs officials said. Investigators seized a handgun at the home.

The 54-year-old fire captain who was wounded was in critical but stable condition. He is expected to survive, Dean said. Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the captain had previously been a deputy before transferring to the Fire Department.

Detectives believe the captain, who wasnt identified, heard the shooting and went to find the source of the gunfire. It wasnt clear if he tried to intervene or the attacker turned the gun on him, Dean said.

The gunman was 45-year-old fire specialist Jonathan Tatone, the coroners office said. Property records show Tatone owned the home that burned in the community of Acton, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the fire station. He bought it last July.

Tatone was a county firefighter since at least 2012, according to public payroll and pension records kept by Transparent California. Fire Department officials did not immediately release more details about his employment.

The small station where the shooting occurred  one of 172 throughout Los Angeles County  has only four firefighters per shift and 12 total assigned to it. Employees typically work 24 hours at a time and sleep at the station.

Tuesday's shooting occurred less than a week after Samuel Cassidy, 57, opened fire at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus and rail yard in San Jose, killing nine of his co-workers and then himself as law enforcement closed in. He had rigged his home to burn before heading to his longtime workplace.

Cassidy had a short fuse at times and a longtime grudge against his workplace, but the exact motive for the shooting was under investigation. Body camera footage from a Santa Clara County sheriff's deputy who went into a building as shots were being fired was released Tuesday.

___

Associated Press writers Christopher Weber and Robert Jablon in Los Angeles contributed to this story.
Texans, free fishing day is coming up.

On Saturday, anglers across the Lone Star State can fish for free and without a fishing license in any public waterbody, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

READ ALSO: Enchanted Rock State Natural Area will have no drinking water for weeks

Craig Bonds, TPWD Inland Fisheries Director, stated in a release the free fishing day is a great opportunity for anglers to share their knowledge, skills, equipment and love for fishing with a new participant.

"We hope those trying fishing on this special day will also learn that purchasing a license is an act of conservation," Bonds added in the release. "A fishing license purchase is one of the simplest and most effective ways people can support fisheries science and management."

To help celebrate the day, TPWD offers multiple resources to provide fun, high-quality fishing opportunities to anglers of all skill levels and all ages. The following are some tips:
Former President Donald Trump endorsed Gov. Greg Abbott for reelection on Tuesday, giving him an early and crucial stamp of approval as he confronts a possibly competitive primary.

Abbott has already drawn a challenge from former state Sen. Don Huffines of Dallas. Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller also has been considering a run, while Texas GOP Chairman Allen West has not ruled it out.

"Greg Abbott is a fighter and a Great Governor for the incredible people of Texas," Trump said in a written statement, praising Abbott's record on issues including border security and gun rights. "Governor Greg Abbott will continue to be a great leader for the Lone Star State, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement for re-election. He will never let you down!"

MORE POLITICS: TEXAS MAN WHO PLANNED 'MASS CASUALTY EVENT' AT WALMART HAD ASSAULT WEAPONS, RACIST SYMBOLS

The endorsement comes two days after Democrats in the Texas House killed Abbott's priority election bill by walking out of the chamber and denying the House a quorum on the final day to pass legislation before the regular session's end. Huffines said the failure of the legislation in the regular session  Abbott has vowed to revive it in a special session  showed a lack of leadership by the governor.

Trump said in the statement that Abbott is "all in on Election Integrity."

Trump's backing of Abbott is particularly disappointing to Miller, who has portrayed himself as one of Trump's closest allies in Texas. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who chaired both of Trump's presidential campaigns in Texas, has already gotten Trump's endorsement for another term in 2022.

Abbott thanked Trump for his endorsement in a statement that called the former president a "great friend of Texas."

The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Sports

Copa America: Brazils president Bolsonaro defends decision to host

BRASILIA, JUN 2 (AGENCIES) | Publish Date: 6/2/2021 1:10:23 PM IST

Brazils president has defended its hosting of the Copa America tournament despite the raging Covid pandemic.

There has been widespread criticism after the South American Football Association (Conmebol) announced on Monday that Brazil would be hosting the event, due to start next week.

A Supreme Court judge has ordered President Jair Bolsonaro to provide more information on the decision.Brazil has been hit hard by the pandemic, with nearly 463,000 deaths.

Bolsonaro said the decision was not up for discussion and that the tournament, which involves players across South America, did not pose a health risk.

He said on Tuesday that he had spoken with the health minister and they had agreed to host the event.

As far as it is up to me, and all the ministers, including the health minister, it is all decided, Bolsonaro told his supporters in Brasilia.

From the beginning I have said about the pandemic: I regret the deaths, but we have to live, he added. But the decision has been criticised by a number of lawmakers in the country.

The Supreme Court has given Bolsonaro five days to submit information on the governments decision to host the tournament after the opposition Workers Party filed a suit objecting to the tournament.

Bolsonaro has announced that four states including Rio de Janeiro will host the matches however fans will not be able to attend. At least six states said they would not be hosting matches due to the pandemic, AFP news agency reports.

The Copa America was originally set to be co-hosted by Argentina and Colombia in 2020 but the tournament was pushed back a year due to the pandemic.

Colombia were removed as hosts last month amid widespread protests against the government, with Argentina later stripped of the role too due to rising Covid-19 cases.
Yves here. Shame that momentum trading, aka, betting on dumber money than you providing an exit, has become tantamount to investing. Maybe a few more episode like Katerra will change that. And mind you, thats with Wolf stressing that Katerra was pretty legit by the standards of unicorns.

By Wolf Richter, editor of Wolf Street. Originally published at Wolf Street

Incremental progress isnt enough  we are pursuing transformational change on a massive scale, says the LinkedIn profile of Katerra, a six-year-old Silicon Valley unicorn startup. Katerra exists to help transform construction through technology  every process and every product, it says. It had received about $2.2 billion in funding, largely from SoftBanks Vision Fund, to disrupt the commercial construction industry through technology, as it says.

But its shutting down and will lay off the remaining employees  it once had as many as 8,500 employees before the layoffs started  and abandon numerous construction projects that it had agreed to build, according to sources cited by The Information.

The executive that informed employees on June 1 in a video call of the shutdown and layoffs told them that the company didnt have enough cash for severance packages or unused paid time off. The executive blamed the out-of-money moment on the effects of the Pandemic and the rising costs of labor and construction materials, according to The Information.

Katerra was in the business of modular commercial construction  apartment buildings, office buildings, and other commercial buildings, with the goal of transforming construction through innovation of process and technology, as it still says on its website.

This type of big commercial building is where modular construction is the most promising, but with enormous pitfalls.

So it says that its Katerra Building Platforms take the risk out of construction by applying the principles of repeatable manufacturing to entire buildings. Katerra buildings are made from manufactured assemblies and components; including wall and floor panels, casework, bathroom and kitchen kits, and more, it says. But the risks are not at all taken out.

Michael Marks, Katerras co-founder and CEO was fired in May 2020. Paal Kibsgaard, former CEO of Schlumberger, and the COO of Katerra at the time, was named the new CEO. He stepped down in May 2021. And Katerra is currently being run by folks from the consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal, according to The Information.

This is the second major SoftBank backed company to collapse this year before reaching the IPO window; the first being Greensill, the supply-chain finance giant that collapsed and filed for insolvency in March. Its German bank was taken over by banking regulators, amid allegations of missing funds.

Credit Suisse, which packaged Greensills supply-chain-finance notes into funds that it sold to investors as low-risk money-market-style investments  including $435 million in notes by Katerra  is now having a lot of heartburn, as are the investors in the funds.

Yet, last December, months before its own collapse, Greensill was shanghaied by SoftBank into bailing out Katerra to avert a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. As part of the bailout, Greensill forgave Katerra $435 million in supply-chain debt in exchange for about 5% of the companys worthless equity.

SoftBank plowed another $200 million into Katerra, after having already plowed $200 million in bailout funds into it in May that year, at the time Kibsgaard was named CEO. And that was enough to cashflow Katerra through May 2021. But thats it.

One collapsing Vision-Fund-backed company bailing out another Vision-Fund-backed company and then both collapsing in sequence is a dubious practice, but apparently no big deal in the world of SoftBanks unicorns.

The thing is, Katerra simply didnt make it to the IPO window in time, and wasnt acquired by a SPAC in time to then be dumped into the lap or retail investors. Its one of the exceptions in SoftBanks bailiwick.

Greensill is another exception that didnt make it out the IPO or SPAC window. WeWork, which scuttled its IPO in 2019 and lost another $3.2 billion in 2020, is now trying to go public via merger with a SPAC to dodge the fate of becoming the third big exception in SoftBanks bailiwick.

But the unicorns that recently went public via IPO or SPAC are burning a running ton of cash, and some dont even have revenues to speak of. Katerra at least had a real business, real projects, and real revenues.

Katerra tried to grow by offering services, such as architecture, and by building factories in various cities that assembled components for its construction projects, and by buying other construction companies  and in that respect it was a rollup similar to Compass in the real estate brokerage sector, another SoftBank backed company that lost $1 billion over the past three years, including the loss in Q1. But Compass did make it out the IPO window on April 1, though its stock [COMP] has cratered, closing today at $12.93, down 41% from its intraday high on its first trading day.

Katerra co-founder and former CEO Marks, and now a VC, calls Katerra in his profile on LinkedIn a technology company optimizing every aspect of building design, materials supply, and construction. Turns out what the company was really very good at  like so many unicorns  was disrupting an industry by burning large amounts of cash.
I began my journalism career in Nashville in 1990, with my current position with Nashville Post having evolved since October 2000 (when I was with the now-defunct The City Paper, a sister publication of the Post starting in 2008).

Follow William Williams Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today
(Natural News) There is already talk about the possible need for Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) booster shots because getting double-jabbed with mRNA poison is apparently not enough to stop the spread.

Mainstream medicine, at the cue of Big Pharma, is rolling out stories as we speak claiming that people may need to get vaccinated several times a year because wealthy pharmaceutical CEOs say that not getting regularly injected for the Chinese Virus will cause another plandemic.

The claim is that the immunity brought about by the injections wanes over time, and must continually be re-upped in order for people to stay safe against future Chinese Virus infections.

Using language like breakthrough infections and variants to continue scaring the gullible, Big Pharma is already setting the stage for constant jabs that people can get regularly while on the way to work or going through the drive-thru at McDonalds.

While not flat-out declaring as of yet that those already injected for the Chinese Virus will need to get even more injections, the media and Big Pharma are setting the stage for it by publishing nonsense about how science may at some point determine it to be necessary.

To me, the threshold for boosters would be to see fully vaccinated individuals getting breakthrough infection severe enough to land them in the hospital, stated Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore.

We have not crossed that threshold.

America has crossed the Rubicon into total medical fascism

Anyone familiar with even basic virology will immediately see that these so-called vaccines are hardly such if they do not provide lasting immunity. The whole point in getting vaccinated is to produce lasting immunity, not just a few months of protection followed by the need for ever more injections.

In what parallel universe is talk about such a scenario even taken seriously at all? At what point did modern medicine become a never-ending infomercial for nonstop Big Pharma injections?

We have really crossed the Rubicon into total medical fascism, and millions of Americans see nothing wrong with it. Heck, many of them are eager to line right up for their next injection, followed by the next, until eventually they just die from the toxic overload.

Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the two manufacturers of mRNA injections for the Chinese Virus, say that their jabs only remain effective for six months. Pfizer officials announced back in February that they are already testing a third booster shot for those who already received the companys first two shots.

AstraZeneca, which manufacturers an adenovirus injection containing actual spike protein, says its booster shot could be necessary every three months.

Anthony Fauci is in agreement that regular booster shots are needed to keep everyone safe against Chinese Germs. He told a Senate subcommittee recently that he does not believe that existing Chinese Virus injection protection is going to be infinite.

Its just not, Fauci whined. So I would imagine we will need, at some time, a booster.

The private corporation known as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is doing its part to spread the propaganda by claiming that booster shots are perfectly normal, and exist with the dozens of other injections that are routinely given to children and newborn babies.

Regular booster shots for the Wuhan Flu of course means big bucks for Big Pharma, which is chomping at the bit to rake in additional billions every few months on continual vaccine sales. Based on this and Americans seeming unwillingness to resist such medical tyranny, we expect that China Virus booster shots will soon become a thing.

More of the latest news about Chinese Virus injections can be found at ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

Healthline.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) When you think of indoor air pollution, you might imagine a home with a wood-burning stove or a smoky bar. One environment that may not come immediately to mind is a school, but the unfortunate truth is that indoor air pollution in classrooms around the world is putting childrens health in jeopardy.

A study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology revealed that the air in some classes actually contains even higher levels of tiny pollutants than youd find in the polluted air outdoors. This means kids are not getting a break from poor-quality air.

Studies have found toxic pollutants inside classrooms in the United States, Australia and Europe. In England, around 6,500 primary, nursery and secondary schools were in places where toxic indoor particle levels exceeded the limits recommended by the World Health Organization. Many of these schools are situated near busy roads. These particles are widely considered the most dangerous kind of indoor air pollution, thanks in no small part to how easily they can make their way into childrens lungs and bloodstreams.

Besides the many dangerous health effects of indoor air pollution, it is impacting childrens academic performance. One study showed that placing air filters in school classrooms that filter our toxic pollutants led to improvements in school performances. Specifically, installing air filters resulted in a 0.20 rise in overall math scores and a 0.18 rise in English scores.

Study author Mike Gilraine of New York University said: The results indicate that air filter installation is a highly cost-effective policy to raise student achievement and, given that underprivileged students attend schools in highly polluted areas, one that can reduce the pervasive test score gaps that plague public education.

Research suggests that air filters can drive students grades up just as much as cutting class sizes can. Scientists equated the improvements in scores to around 2.5 months of extra learning. Air filters improve air quality in classrooms by removing toxic particles, and this includes the pollutants that are emitted by vehicles and industry.

Are masks making a bad situation worse?

Of course, this study was carried out before mask mandates. These days, many schools are requiring children to wear masks all day because of COVID-19, which only makes it even harder for them to breathe. Moreover, scientists have discovered that some of the face masks being used by the general public, children included, contain environmental pollutants, carcinogens and other toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde and aniline.

Perfluorocarbons are also being found in masks. Experts say they are used as fluid repellents as the chemicals can repel viruses. Although PFC concentrations in masks are within safe limits on the surface, wearing the masks for extended periods  as kids do in school  is enough for exposure to surpass safe limits over time.

Even the EPA is concerned

According to the EPA, indoor air problems can be subtle and will not always have immediately obvious impacts on health. Symptoms of exposure can include shortness of breath, sneezing, coughing, nausea, headaches and irritation to the nose, throat, eyes and skin. Students with asthma, allergies, chemical sensitivities, suppressed immune systems and respiratory diseases may be more vulnerable. In addition, because childrens bodies are still developing, it may make them even more susceptible as they breathe more air in proportion to their body weights than adults do.

If your child has health complaints associated with particular times of the day or week and other students have similar complaints or their problems only occur when they are in school, it is time to contact school officials and teachers to request that air filters be installed in classrooms. School-aged children spend a significant amount of time inside school buildings, so ensuring high-quality classroom air is essential.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalHealth365.com

NaturalNews.com

DailyMail.co.uk

EPA.gov

EPA.gov
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission allows residents to kill iguanas, but it must be done humanely, such as shooting them with a pellet gun, stabbing them in the brain or decapitating them in a way that they do not feel pain. Freezing, drowning and poisoning is illegal.
(Natural News) Dr. Norman Swan of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) now believes that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, may have leaked from a lab in Wuhan.

They cant find the bat. The Chinese have been out there looking for the bat and the Chinese would trumpet the bat if they found it because it would take the heat off the Institute of Virology, Swan said recently on ABC.

He was referring to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which allegedly received funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to do gain-of-function research. Describing the lab experiments, Swan said: Two or three years ago they were doing what were called gainer function tests, they were fiddling with the genetic structure of coronavirus to see what would make into a pandemic virus.

Gain-of-function research is a risky area of study that makes viruses even more contagious.

Theres an indication that virologists in the institute got sick in November [2019] with an illness, Swan said. So there are increasing signs that the institute of virology may well be the source.

The WIV is a biosafety level 4 laboratory, which is the highest level biocontainment certification, but U.S. Embassy officials issued two diplomatic cables warning about inadequate safety at the lab after a visit in 2018. According to the Washington Post, one of the cables warned that the labs work on bat-based coronaviruses represented the risk of a new SARS-like pandemic.

In May last year, Swan favored the idea that the virus jumped to humans from an animal host in the wild over the lab-leak theory, which he deemed so unlikely.

Its on the outer bounds of possibility, but really so unlikely that you could say pretty definitely that its not the case, he said of the lab-leak theory.

The shift in the narrative may have something to do with the change of administration in the U.S. Critics believe that ABC vigorously rejected the lab-leak theory last year mainly because of the left-leaning media outlets bias against then-President Donald Trump.

In April last year, Trump said he had a high degree of confidence that the coronavirus came from a lab and claimed to have seen evidence to support his certainty.

With President Joe Biden starting to embrace the lab-leak theory, Swan and ABC do as well.

Biden administration explores lab-leak theory

Earlier this week, Biden ordered his intelligence officials to explore it more closely. The shift came after an intelligence report said three staff at the WIV sought hospital treatment for COVID-like symptoms in November 2019.

On Wednesday, May 26, Biden said the intelligence agents were divided on the two possible scenarios: laboratory leak or natural transfer in the wild.

I have now asked the intelligence community to redouble their efforts to collect and analyze information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion, and to report back to me in 90 days, said Biden. As part of that report, I have asked for areas of further inquiry that may be required, including specific questions for China.

Biden also directed national laboratories to assist with the investigation.

The United States will also keep working with like-minded partners around the world to press China to participate in a full, transparent, evidence-based international investigation and to provide access to all relevant data and evidence, he said.

But he also said a final answer may never be found given the way that China refused to cooperate in the early days of an outbreak, which has gone on to kill more than 3.5 million people around the world.

Bidens statement marked a sharp turn for an administration that repeatedly expressed skepticism for the lab-leak theory.

During a recent White House briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden administrations top infectious diseases expert and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said he still thinks the most likely explanation is a natural transfer to humans but that a deeper investigation is needed.

Because we dont know 100 percent what the origin is, its imperative that we look and we do an investigation, he said. (Related: Questions over social media censorship of Wuhan lab leak after Fauci admits possibility.)

The World Health Organization (WHO) released a joint report with Chinese scientists in March after a team spent four weeks in Wuhan. But its findings were criticized amid concerns that investigators were delayed and lacked access to original samples.

This week Andy Slavitt, White House coronavirus adviser, said the report had failed to explain how COVID-19 first emerged. We need to get to the bottom of this and we need a completely transparent process from China, he said.

Mainstream media change narrative as they see fit

Swan and ABC are not the only left-leaning journalist and media outlet to have a change of opinion about the lab-leak theory.

On May 1 last year, CNN reported that Trump had contradicted the intelligence community by claiming to have seen evidence the virus came from a lab. Four days later, CNNs editor-at-large Chris Cillizza attacked Trumps assertion in his piece titled: Anthony Fauci just crushed Donald Trumps theory on the origins of the coronavirus.

The Washington Post, New York Times, NPR and Huffington Post were equally dismissive of suggestions that the virus could have come from a laboratory.

On April 30, 2020, the Washington Post published an article headlined Chinese lab conducted extensive research on deadly bat viruses, but there is no evidence of accidental release; also on April 30, 2020, the New York Times described the efforts from the Trump administration to get to the bottom of the viruss origins as a political witch hunt; on April 23, 2020, NPR stated: Virus researchers say there is virtually no chance that the new coronavirus was released as result of a laboratory accident in China or anywhere else; and on April 7, 2020, the Huffington Post published a story headlined A Toxic Infodemic: The Viral Spread Of COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories.

The narrative started to change in recent months. The left-leaning mainstream media are now publishing stories suggesting the possibility that the virus originated from a Wuhan lab, and interviewing people who believe the lab-leak theory. (Related: Left-wing media conveniently forgets they claimed lab origin theory for covid-19 was debunked.)

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNNs chief medical correspondent, spoke on March 26 to Robert Redfield, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC). Redfield said that he had concluded the virus escaped from a lab.

On May 24, CNN admitted that there may be more to the Wuhan lab than initially believed. The network published an update: New information on Wuhan researchers illness furthers debate on pandemic origins.

On April 30, the Washington Post published an opinion piece urging the World Health Organization (WHO) to carry out an investigation into what happened to determine if the virus did come from a lab.

Earlier this month, two former science reporters of the New York Times  Nicholas Wade and Donald McNeil  both said they now felt it was possible, likely even, that the virus came from a lab.

On May 24, the Huffington Post followed up on the report about the hospitalization of the Wuhan lab workers in 2019. Wuhan Researchers Were Hospitalized With COVID-19 Symptoms Pre-Pandemic: Reports, its headline said.

NPR shifted its narrative with a March 31 story headlined Calls For An Open Investigation Into The Possibility COVID-19 Leaked From A Lab.

Follow Pandemic.news for more news and information related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk 1

WSJ.com

BBC.com

DailyMail.co.uk 2
(Natural News) China built more than three times as much new coal-fired power capacity in 2020 as all other countries in the world combined, according to a February report from the San Francisco-based organization Global Energy Monitor.

The report showed that China commissioned a total of 38.4 gigawatts (GW) of new coal capacity last year, which was equivalent to building more than one large coal plant every week. The rest of the world, on the other hand, commissioned just 11.9 GW.

The communist country also proposed more than 73.5 GW of new coal-fired power projects last year, or five times that of all other nations combined. In addition, it has 247 GW of coal power projects under development  a 21 percent increase from 2019 and nearly six times Germanys entire coal-fired capacity.

These figures highlighted the glaring disconnect between Chinas recent moves and the rest of the worlds commitment to forestalling an alleged climate catastrophe. While Beijing loosened restrictions on coal plant construction to boost its economy after the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic hit, other countries including the United States announced ambitious emission targets and took up initiatives to reduce their reliance on coal-fired power.

President Joe Biden, for example, vowed to reduce the countrys emissions by at least 50 percent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. To achieve this, he made reducing carbon dioxide from fossil fuels a core part of his $2.2 trillion infrastructure plan.

China did set its own emission targets, with President Xi Jinping pledging to achieve peak emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. But pundits questioned how the country would achieve this when it is heavily dependent on coal.

Energy security in the Chinese context primarily means coal, said Li Shuo, a climate policy adviser at Greenpeace East Asia. Beijings chief concern in the short term is growing the countrys economy by around six percent per year, and a major threat to this is a lack of energy to drive its economy, according to Chinas latest Five-Year Plan.

So how do you reconcile these two narratives? Li said, referring to Beijings conflicting aims to grow its economy and cut its emissions. I dont think the plans that have been announced have given us a clear answer.

Biden bets big on unreliable renewables

Biden and other world leaders are betting big on renewable energy to achieve their emission targets, but research suggested that these might not be as reliable as thought. A study published last year found that the global share of the total primary energy supply from solar and wind energy was only around 1.8 percent. This was despite an exponential expansion in wind and solar power capacity since 1990.

The study also predicted that wind and solar power generation will not improve that much in the coming decades. This was due to the high costs of renewable energy storage and the fact that wind and solar are unreliable. The wind must be blowing and the sun must be shining to generate electricity, potentially making energy supply intermittent.

But Biden is forging ahead with his clean energy plans and even urged other countries to ramp up their investment in clean energy. Every country will need to invest in new clean energy technologies as we work forward to deal with net-zero emissions, he said during a major summit of governments at the White House in April. (Related: Biden hands over control of Americas power grid to communist China.)

Meanwhile, Bidens pursuit of his climate agenda could spell the end of coal in America. Analysts said that Biden must stop coal-fired power generation and invest heavily in clean energy technologies to achieve his emission target.

Shutting down all coal plants could have significant implications for mining states, where coal has long been the lifeblood of communities. In Wyoming, the countrys top coal producer, coal is the state governments second-largest source of tax revenue, contributing more than $1 billion in taxes. The states coal plants also employ thousands of residents and compensate coal miners an average of $82,000 before benefits.

Learn more about how Bidens climate agenda is destroying America at ClimateAlarmism.news.

Sources include:

ClimateDepot.com

GlobalEnergyMonitor.org[PDF]

Politico.com

GreenBiz.com

TheGuardian.com

EENews.net

WyomingMining.org
(Natural News) After recently announcing that all employers who push Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) injections on their employees can and will be held liable for any adverse reactions that ensue, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has decided to remove all reporting requirement from the provision.

OSHA had earlier noted on its website that employers would need to report all work-related injuries stemming from Wuhan Flu shots. However, the federal agency is suddenly backtracking, presumably due to political pressure from the Branch Covidians to shield large corporations from scrutiny.

In early May, the website of OSHA, which operates within the Department of Labor (DOL), updated its website to state the following:

If you require your employees to be vaccinated as a condition of employment (i.e., for work-related reasons), then any adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine is work-related. The adverse reaction is recordable if it is a new case under 29 CFR 1904.6 and meets one or more of the general recording criteria in 29 CFR 1904.7.

More recently, that section has been altered to state this instead:

DOL and OSHA, as well as other federal agencies, are working diligently to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations. OSHA does not wish to have any appearance of discouraging workers from receiving COVID-19 vaccination, and also does not wish to disincentivize employers vaccination efforts. As a result, OSHA will not enforce 29 CFR 1904s recording requirements to require any employers to record worker side effects from COVID-19 vaccination through May 2022. We will reevaluate the agencys position at that time to determine the best course of action moving forward.

Biden White House responsible for OSHA reporting change

According to the non-profit group Liberty Counsel, this suspension does not mean that employers can no longer be held liable under workers compensation laws or under civil personal injury lawsuits. If an employee gets injured due to being forcibly injected for the Chinese Virus, the employer that mandated it will be on the hook.

Corporations like Delta Airlines that have proudly announced plans to make Wuhan Flu shots mandatory for all employees might want to think twice about that as the lawsuits are certain to start flooding the courts.

Liberty Counsel has determined that China Joe and his cabinet are directly responsible for pressuring this change, as it will help to shield Big Pharma, Anthony Fauci and other plandemic players from the inevitable fallout of this mass injection experiment.

No doubt receiving pressure from the Biden administration, OSHA suspended the enforcement requirement to record adverse injuries or death from COVID shots until May 2022 in order to push the COVID shots, Liberty Counsel explained in a press release.

This politically motivated change by OSHA is unprecedented.

So not only is Big Pharma shielded from all liability in the event that someone who voluntarily gets injected dies or suffers serious injury, but now Beijing Biden wants employers who force vaccines on their employees to also be at least partially shielded from any negative outcomes.

The fact that OSHA will not enforce recording requirements does not alter the legal liability of employers who require, coerce, or incentivize employees to take COVID shots, Liberty Counsels Mat Staver clarified.

OSHAs suspension of the recording requirement so as not to discourage experimental COVID shots reveals that the Biden administration could [not] care less about the collateral damage being caused by the COVID shots. The people can see this biased agenda. They are not stupid.

None of the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) injections currently being administered have received formal approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), by the way. All of them maintain emergency use authorization (EUA).

More related news about mandatory Wuhan Flu shots can be found at ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

TheEpochTimes.com
Thousands of medical doctors say the pandemic was planned

(Natural News) A group of almost one thousand medical doctors in Germany called Doctors for Information, which is supported by more than 7,000 professionals including attorneys, scientists, teachers etc., made a shocking statement during a national press conference: (1)

The Corona panic is a play. Its a scam. A swindle. Its high time we understood that were in the midst of a global crime.

This large group of medical experts publishes a newspaper with circulation of 500,000 copies every week, to alert the public about the misinformation in the mainstream media about the coronavirus. They also organize mass protests with millions of people throughout Europe.

(Article republished from StopWorldControl.com)

Hundreds of Spanish medical doctors say the pandemic was created

In Spain a group of 600 medical doctors called Doctors for Truth, made a similar statement during a press conference.

Covid-19 is a false pandemic created for political purposes. This is a world dictatorship with a sanitary excuse. We urge doctors, the media and political authorities to stop this criminal operation by spreading the truth. (2)

World Doctors Alliance: Greatest Crime in History

Doctors for Information and Doctors for Truth have joined forces with similar groups of practitioners around the world, in the World Doctors Alliance (2A). This historic alliance connects more than one hundred thousand medical professionals around the world. They reveal how the pandemic is the greatest crime in history, and offer solid scientific evidence for this claim. They also take legal actions against governments who are playing along with this criminal operation.

World Freedom Alliance: Connecting Attorneys

Similarly, the World Freedom Alliance was formed  a network of attorneys, medical experts, politicians, bankers, and many other professionals who are working together to expose the Covid Crime, and who are starting to build a new world of freedom. They want to make sure these kinds of worldwide scams, that destroy millions of lives, can never occur again.

WHAT DO THEY KNOW?

Why are thousands of medical experts worldwide saying the pandemic is a global crime? What do they know, that we dont? Lets have a look at some interesting facts

Millions of COVID-19 test kits sold in 2017 and 2018

The new COVID-19 disease appeared in China towards the end of 2019. Thats why it was named COVID-19, which is an acronym for Corona Virus Disease 2019. Data from the World Integrated Trade Solution, however, shows something astonishing:

In 2017 and 2018  two years before COVID-19  hundreds of millions of PCR test kits for COVID-19 were distributed worldwide.

Let this sink in for a second: literally hundreds of millions of COVID-19 test kits were exported and imported, all over the world, during 2017 and 2018.

Hundreds of millions!

Quick! Hide it!!

This baffling data was discovered by someone on September 5, 2020, who posted it on social media. It went viral all over the world. The next day, on September 6, the WITS suddenly changed the original label COVID-19 into the vague term Medical Test Kits. However, they forgot to delete one detail: the bottom of the webpage still showed the product code for these Medical Test Kits: 300215 which means COVID-19 Test Kits.

A few weeks later, the HS code was also changed by the WITS to Medical Test Kit. But their cover up came too late: this critical information was uncovered and is being revealed by millions worldwide. You can download a PDF that shows the original data of this website. It can also be seen on the web archive.

Two years before the outbreak of COVID-19, nations around the world started exporting hundreds of millions of diagnostic test instruments for COVID-19.

The argument used to deny this discovery is that the label COVID19 was only added in 2020. That however doesnt hold up, since the very product code for these test kits is COVID-19 Test Kit.

It also doesnt change the fact that two years before the pandemic, suddenly virtually every nation in the world started distributing hundreds of millions of medical test kits that are specifically used for COVID-19.

Even without the label COVID-19, it is extremely uncommon and strange, that the entire world suddenly imported and exported literally hundreds of millions of Medical Test Kits.

What did they know? What were they preparing for?

MASS DISTRIBUTION

Why did the entire world explode in mass distribution of hundreds of millions of Medical Test Kits, right before the worldwide pandemic hit?

In 2017, Fauci guaranteed a pandemic within the next two years

In 2017, Anthony Fauci made a very strange prediction, with an even stranger certainty. With complete confidence, Fauci guaranteed that during the first term of President Trump, a surprise outbreak of an infectious disease would surely happen. Heres what he said: (3)

There is NO QUESTION there is going to be a challenge for the coming administration in the arena of infectious diseases. There will be a SURPRISE OUTBREAK.

Theres NO DOUBT in anyones mind about this.

How could Fauci guarantee a surprise outbreak to happen during the first term of the Trump administration? What did he know, that we dont?

In the next two years there will be a SURPRISE OUTBREAK. Theres NO DOUBT in anyones mind about this.  ANTHONY FAUCI

Bill and Melinda Gates guaranteed an imminent global pandemic

In 2018 Bill Gates publicly announced that a global pandemic was on its way, that could wipe out 30 million people. He said this would probably happen during the next decade. (4)

Melinda Gates added that an engineered virus is humanitys greatest threat, and also assured that this would hit humanity in the coming years. (5)

Let their choice of words resound into your mind for a moment

A global pandemic is ON ITS WAY. An ENGINEERED VIRUS is humanitys greatest threat. This will happen in the NEXT DECADE.  BILL AND MELINDA GATES

Practicing for a pandemic

Bill Gates is the worlds number one vaccine dealer, who has doubled his fortune of 50 billion dollars to over 100 billion, simply by dealing in vaccines all over the world. He said this has been his best business investment ever. A few months before the outbreak, Bill Gates organized an event in New York City, called Event 201. Guess what the event was all about? It was a coronavirus pandemic exercise.

Yes, you read that right: Bill Gates organized a coronavirus pandemic exercise, right before the coronavirus pandemic happened!

Bill Gates created a practice event for a global coronavirus pandemic, right before a global coronavirus pandemic happened.

Excitement about selling vaccines in the next year

Shortly after this exercise for a coronavirus pandemic, Bill Gates tweeted:

Im particularly excited about what the next year could mean for one of the best buys in global health: vaccines.

Think about this: the worlds no. 1 vaccine dealer guarantees a global pandemic to occur in the next few years, and his wife says we should all fear an engineered virus that is on its way. Then they organize an exercise for an imminent global pandemic and say vaccines will be the only solution. Next Bill Gates tweets how excited he is about selling vaccines in the next year. Immediately after that, the announced pandemic breaks out.

And indeed, right away Bill Gates proclaims that the only solution for humanity is to buy his vaccines

2020 coronavirus pandemic predicted in 2013

The next bit of information is particularly interesting because it shows how much information is available, for those who dare to do the research. Back in 2013, a musical artist with the peculiar name of Dr. Creep wrote a rap song called PANDEMIC. Nothing special about that, were it not that one of his lyrics reads: (6)

2020 combined with CoronaVirus, bodies stacking.

How is it possible that an unknown musician could accurately predict a coronavirus pandemic to occur seven years later?

The song also predicted the riots that raged throughout America, during this pandemic:

The State is rioting, using the street outside. Its coming to your windows.

Again: how could a shady artist know, back in 2013, that in 2020 a coronavirus would sweep the earth, followed by mass rioting? His answer is interesting:

I did research back in 2012, and read the so called conspiracy theories. You know, those investigations the media doesnt want us to look into. According to those theories, pandemics were bound to happen in the decade of 2020  2030. So I wrote the song Pandemic about it.

Get it? This man did research into what is commonly referred to as conspiracy theories. Stuff we are programmed to disregard as nonsense. But apparently those investigations arent always so stupid after all, since some of them accurately predicted that exactly in 2020 this pandemic and the riots would happen.

What else can be discovered when we start doing research? Keep reading to learn more

Read more at: StopWorldControl.com and Truth.news
(Natural News) When you get cancer really bad and the cells are taking over your vital organs or brain, and once youve been given several rounds of chemotherapy, surgery and radiation, and nothings changing, the doctors send you home to die. Thats because the mechanism in your cells that controls the reproduction is broken in cancer cells, so they can reproduce uncontrollably, and thats hard for your body to beat back, especially when youve been carpet bombed with chemo and radiation treatments. Well, come to find out, the SARS-CoV-19 mRNA vaccines make your cells function in a very similar warped and dangerous way.

The spike proteins that the CDC and every MD are spewing advice about are the same spike proteins that scientists recently discovered find their way into the bloodstream and multiply uncontrollably, causing blood clots, heart damage, brain damage, and can kill human babies before or after birth. So what happens to Americas work force when everybody thats inoculated starts dropping like flies? It wont be the unvaccinated that cant get a job, because that may be the only living folks left.

The Covid vaccines are like cancer-causing vaccines, because the spike proteins reproduce out of control, just like cancer cells

The Covid vaccines are like cancer, because they instruct the bodys DNA to produce proteins uncontrollably by destroying the mechanism that controls production, and replacing it with one that your human body does NOT control. Thats what mRNA really means, and this is pro-science, real scientific research being made available by a viral immunologist, mRNA vaccine researcher, and associate professor named Byram Bridle, who works at the University of Guelph, Ontario.

Folks, this is the ultimate Paul Revere call, but this time it aint the British that are coming for your guns and your freedoms; its the vaccine manufacturers and the Marxists planning a genocide-style wipeout of 150-million-plus Americans. The rest of us non-vaxxers will be employed, no doubt, to help carry all the vaccinated bodies to the FEMA-funded crematoriums located in every Metropolitan city.

We made a big mistake. We didnt realize it until now, says Byram Bridle, a viral immunologist whos now admitting that the spike proteins the mRNA vaccines force the human DNA to produce arent preventing disease and disorder but creating disease and disorder. He calls these spike proteins a dangerous toxin for the body, brain and central nervous system. It was a big mistake says Bridle. The protein is now linked directly to blood clots.

Will the booster shots for Covid boost the uncontrollable production of spike proteins in the blood, the same way flu shots boost cancer?

Just how many people are going to die from this, because its not a matter of if anymore  its when and how many. Will Amazon and Craigslist join forces with FEMA and DHS and recruit a bunch of workers (the unvaccinated) for assisting companies responsible for the mass burials (probably at sea) and mass cremations?

We thought the spike protein was a great target antigen, we never knew the spike protein itself was a toxin and was a pathogenic protein. So by vaccinating people we are inadvertently inoculating them with a toxin, the virus researcher added. He said its not so easy to find in Google, but theres many more avenues for finding out the real science behind all this madness of rushing to vaccinate the world against a virus thats only killing .4 of one percent of humans (and thats mostly people fighting cancer, diabetes and heart disease already).

Now, before all you crazy naysayers try to discredit this virologist, he just so happens to be so good at what he does that he was awarded a $230,000 government grant LAST YEAR to develop the Covid vaccine.

Virologists had made hypothesis about mRNA working like traditional vaccines, but the spike protein gets into the bloodstream and circulates for days following injection, then accumulates in the liver, spleen and adrenal glands, and in very high concentrations in the ovaries. Talk about population control. This all-in-one inoculation kills those alive while preventing new births from ever coming to be.

And that folks, is why the CDC, the CCP, and the Biden Regime are pushing SO HARD for that 70 percent vaccinated threshold (genocidal tipping point for installing communism literally overnight in the USA). This is not just too much mercury in a flu shot, this is a series of vaccines that instruct your cells to clog your blood.

Whats next for the vaccine Nazis?

So, whats next for the vaccine Nazis? Before they come door-to-door and force vaccinate everyone at gunpoint, there are several more stops to pull out for the insane Marxists to reach their genocide goal of vaccinating at least 70 percent of the US populace, marking them for the big extinction event. Heres how it will most likely all play out:

Soon, all corporations, chain stores and large scale companies will demand full vaccination with proof of CDC vaccine cards, bracelets or passports for all employees to keep their job.

Soon, all small-to-medium-sized businesses, including all of those self-run, will be bankrupted by the upcoming Plandemic II long-term lock down.

Soon, nobody will be allowed to travel international or even state to state without a vaccine passport.

Soon, evil retail giant Amazon and all major grocery retailers will end all sales to customers and food deliveries to homes when customers cannot prove vaccination records.

Soon, no hospitals or doctors will be allowed to see patients who are not vaccinated, not even for emergencies at the hospital (unless you agree to the death jabs when you arrive).

Tune your internet frequency to Pandemic.news for updates on these crimes against humanity being delivered under the guise of inoculation. Plus, learn how to best prepare for the upcoming VACCINE PANDEMIC and communist apocalypse. Now hear the whistleblower of the century talk about the REAL SCIENCE behind mRNA:

Sources for this article include:

Pandemic.news

NaturalNews.com

LifeSiteNews.com
The Woods Hole, Marthas Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority has been the target of a ransomware attack that is affecting operations as of Wednesday morning. As a result, customers traveling with us today may experience delays, the authority tweeted. A team of IT professionals is currently assessing the impact of the attack. Additional information will be provided upon completion of the initial assessment.
(Natural News) New research shows that the coronavirus spike protein from COVID-19 vaccination unexpectedly enters the bloodstream, which is a plausible explanation for thousands of reported side-effects from blood clots and heart disease to brain damage and reproductive issues, a Canadian cancer vaccine researcher said last week.

(Article by Celeste McGovern republished from LifeSiteNews.com)

We made a big mistake. We didnt realize it until now, said Byram Bridle, a viral immunologist and associate professor at University of Guelph, Ontario, in an interview with Alex Pierson last Thursday, in which he warned listeners that his message was scary.

We thought the spike protein was a great target antigen, we never knew the spike protein itself was a toxin and was a pathogenic protein. So by vaccinating people we are inadvertently inoculating them with a toxin, Bridle said on the show, which is not easily found in a Google search but went viral on the internet this weekend.

Bridle, a vaccine researcher who was awarded a $230,000 government grant last year for research on COVID vaccine development, said that he and a group of international scientists filed a request for information from the Japanese regulatory agency to get access to whats called the biodistribution study.

Its the first time ever scientists have been privy to seeing where these messenger RNA [mRNA] vaccines go after vaccination, said Bridle. Is it a safe assumption that it stays in the shoulder muscle? The short answer is: absolutely not. Its very disconcerting.

Vaccine researchers had assumed that novel mRNA COVID vaccines would behave like traditional vaccines and the vaccine spike protein  responsible for infection and its most severe symptoms  would remain mostly in the vaccination site at the shoulder muscle. Instead, the Japanese data showed that the infamous spike protein of the coronavirus gets into the blood where it circulates for several days post-vaccination and then accumulated in organs and tissues including the spleen, bone marrow, the liver, adrenal glands, and in quite high concentrations in the ovaries.

We have known for a long time that the spike protein is a pathogenic protein. It is a toxin. It can cause damage in our body if it gets into circulation, Bridle said.

The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is what allows it to infect human cells. Vaccine manufacturers chose to target the unique protein, making cells in the vaccinated person manufacture the protein which would then, in theory, evoke an immune response to the protein, preventing it from infecting cells.

A large number of studies has shown that the most severe effects of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, such as blood clotting and bleeding, are due to the effects of the spike protein of the virus itself

What has been discovered by the scientific community is the spike protein on its own is almost entirely responsible for the damage to the cardiovascular system, if it gets into circulation, Bridle told listeners.

Lab animals injected with purified spike protein into their bloodstream developed cardiovascular problems, and the spike protein was also demonstrated to cross the blood brain barrier and cause damage to the brain.

A grave mistake, according to Bridle, was the belief that the spike protein would not escape into the blood circulation. Now, we have clear-cut evidence that the vaccines that make the cells in our deltoid muscles manufacture this protein  that the vaccine itself, plus the protein  gets into blood circulation, he said.

Bridle cited the recent publication of a peer-reviewed study which detected spike protein in the blood plasma of three of 13 young healthcare workers that had received Modernas COVID-19 vaccine. In one of the workers, the spike protein circulated for 29 days.

Effects on heart and brain

Once in circulation, the spike protein can attach to specific ACE2 receptors that are on blood platelets and the cells that line blood vessels. When that happens it can do one of two things: it can either cause platelets to clump, and that can lead to clotting. Thats exactly why weve been seeing clotting disorders associated with these vaccines. It can also lead to bleeding. Bridle also said the spike protein in circulation would explain recently reported heart problems in youths who had received the shots.

The results of this leaked Pfizer study tracing the biodistribution of the vaccine mRNA are not surprising, but the implications are terrifying, Stephanie Seneff, a senior research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told LifeSiteNews. It is now clear that vaccine content is being delivered to the spleen and the glands, including the ovaries and the adrenal glands. The released spike protein is being shed into the medium and then eventually reaches the bloodstream causing systemic damage. ACE2 receptors are common in the heart and brain, and this is how the spike protein causes cardiovascular and cognitive problems, Seneff said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently announced it was studying reports of mild heart conditions following COVID-19 vaccination, and last week 18 teenagers in the state of Connecticut alone were hospitalized for heart problems that developed shortly after they took COVID-19 vaccines.

AstraZenecas vaccine was halted in a number of countries and is no longer recommended for younger people because of its link to life-threatening and fatal blood clots, but mRNA COVID vaccines have been linked to hundreds of reports of blood clotting events as well.

FDA warned of spike protein danger

Pediatric rheumatologist J. Patrick Whelan had warned a vaccine advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration of the potential for the spike protein in COVID vaccines to cause microvascular damage causing damage to the liver, heart, and brain in ways that were not assessed in the safety trials.

While Whelan did not dispute the value of a coronavirus vaccine that worked to stop transmission of the disease (which no COVID vaccine in circulation has been demonstrated to do), he said, it would be vastly worse if hundreds of millions of people were to suffer long-lasting or even permanent damage to their brain or heart microvasculature as a result of failing to appreciate in the short-term an unintended effect of full-length spike protein-based vaccines on other organs.

Vaccine-associated spike protein in blood circulation could explain myriad reported adverse events from COVID vaccines, including the 4,000 deaths to date, and nearly 15,000 hospitalizations, reported to the U.S. governments Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) as of May 21, 2021. Because it is a passive reporting system, these reports are likely only the tip of an iceberg of adverse events since a Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare study found that less than one percent of side-effects that physicians should report in patients following vaccination are in fact reported to VAERS.

Nursing babies, children and youths, frail, most at risk

Bridle said the discovery of vaccine-induced spike protein in blood circulation would have implications for blood donation programs. We dont want transfer of these pathogenic spike proteins to fragile patients who are being transfused with that blood, he said.

The vaccine scientist also said the findings suggested that nursing babies whose mothers had been vaccinated were at risk of getting COVID spike proteins from her breast milk.

Bridle said that any proteins in the blood will get concentrated in breast milk, and we have found evidence of suckling infants experiencing bleeding disorders in the gastrointestinal tract in VAERS.

Although Bridle did not cite it, one VAERS report describes a five-month-old breastfed infant whose mother received a second dose of Pfizers vaccine in March. The following day, the baby developed a rash and became inconsolable, refused to nurse, and developed a fever. The report says the baby was hospitalized with a diagnosis of Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, a rare blood disorder in which blood clots form in small blood vessels throughout the body. The baby died.

The new research also has serious implications for people for whom SARS Coronavirus 2 is not a high risk pathogen, and that includes all of our children.

Effect on fertility and pregnancy?

The high concentration of spike protein found in testes and ovaries in the secret Pfizer data released by the Japanese agency raises questions, too. Will we be rendering young people infertile? Bridle asked.

There have been thousands of reports of menstrual disorders by women who had taken a COVID-19 shot, and hundreds of reports of miscarriage in vaccinated pregnant women, as well as of disorders of reproductive organs in men.

Vicious smear campaign

In response to a request, Bridle emailed a statement to LifeSiteNews on Monday morning, stating that since the radio interview he had received hundreds of positive emails. He added, too, that a vicious smear campaign has been initiated against me. This included the creation of a libelous website using my domain name.

Such are the times that an academic public servant can no longer answer peoples legitimate questions with honesty and based on science without fear of being harassed and intimidated, Brindle wrote. However, it is not in my nature to allow scientific facts to be hidden from the public.

He attached a brief report outlining the key scientific evidence supporting what he said in the interview. It was written with his colleagues in the Canadian COVID Care Alliance (CCCA)  a group of independent Canadian doctors, scientists, and professionals whose declared aim is to provide top quality, evidence-based information about COVID-19, intent on reducing hospitalizations and saving more lives.

A focus of the statement was the risk to children and teens who are the target of the latest vaccine marketing strategies, including in Canada.

As of May 28, 2021, there have been 259,308 confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Canadians 19 years and under. Of these, 0.048% were hospitalized, but only 0.004% died, according to the CCCA statement. Seasonal influenza is associated with more severe illness than COVID-19.

Given the small number of young research subjects in Pfizers vaccine trials and the limited duration of clinical trials, the CCCA said questions about the spike protein and another vaccine protein must be answered before children and teens are vaccinated, including whether the vaccine spike protein crosses the blood-brain barrier, whether the vaccine spike protein interferes with semen production or ovulation, and whether the vaccine spike protein crosses the placenta and impacts a developing baby or is in breast milk.

LifeSiteNews sent the Public Health Agency of Canada the statement of CCCA and asked for a response to Bridles concerns. The agency responded that it was working on the questions but did not send answers before publication time.

Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson did not respond to questions about Bridles concerns. Pfizer did not respond to questions about how long the company was aware of its research data that the Japanese agency had released, showing spike protein in organs and tissue of vaccinated individuals.

Updated on June 1, 12:15 p.m. to include an additional comment by Stephanie Seneff.

Read more at: LifeSiteNews.com and Pandemic.news


A new study has discovered spider bites from noble false widow spiders could be so severe that it could hospitalize its victim. The discoveries, released in the international medical journal Clinical Toxicology, gave a confirmation that some bite victims can experience symptoms almost the same as that of true black widow spiders, and in the most extreme cases will require hospital treatment.

Noble False Widow Spider

The noble false widow is endemic to Madeira and the Canary Islands, and it resembles the deadly black widow, although they are significantly less harmful.

However, a team of scientists from the University of Ireland Galway discovered that the species may be more dangerous than originally believed. Scientists assert the false widow now has the possibility of becoming one of the most invasive species of spider in the world. The species was first discovered in Britain over 140 years ago, but the numbers have increased all of a sudden in recent decades, notably expanding its density and range.

The reasons for the rising numbers of these species are not clear, but researchers have given a suggestion that a new generation mutation within the species may have made the noble false widow adapt more to new environments.

Also Read: Science Explains How These Spiders Can Fly

The Spread of Noble False Widow Spider

Human movement has contributed largely to the escalation throughout North Africa, Europe, West Asia and parts of South and North America, with the spiders capable of moving around through the likes of shipping crates and containers all over the world. The noble false widow in parts of Ireland and Britain has become one of the most common species of spider seen in and nearby urban habitats.

Head of the venom systems lab at NUI Galway and also a senior author of the study, Dr. Michel Dugon said: "In addition to their medically important venom, Noble False Widows are very competitive and adaptable in the wild." This species was nearly unknown in the UK, Ireland, or in continental Europe two decades ago. He also said more knowledge about its behavior, origin, genetics, and developmen is yet to be acquired.

He said one thing is certain though: this species has come to stay, and we must learn how to exist with it.

Envenomation

With the increasing numbers of false widows all over our homes, bites are now becoming more frequent and experts are starting to realize the full medical usefulness of these spiders.

The study discovered that nearly all bites took place in and around the home, with 88 per cent taking place when the victim was asleep in bed or when the spider was stuck in clothing. Envenomation (process by which venom is injected by the bite or sting of a venomous animal) symptoms from a false widow bite can be both systemic and localised, and range from slight to debilitating pain, and mild to serious swelling.

Related Article: Finding Nemo? New Species of Peacock Spider With Orange and White Face Named After Pixar Character

For more news, updates about spiders and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News!
According to information published by Tass on June 6, 2021, Sudan will review its naval base agreement with Russia, because some of its provisions are harmful to the countrys interests, Sudanese Chief of General Staff Muhammad Othman al-Hussein said in an interview with the Blue Nile TV channel.

Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link

The Chinese sailors man the rail aboard the guided-missile destroyer Jinan as the warship arrives at the Port Sudan in the Republic of Sudan on the morning of August 25, 2015 (Picture source: China Military)

The general said that the deal will be put into practice if it is mutually beneficial and does not harm Sudans interests.

Muhammad Othman al-Hussein said his country was "open for military cooperation with the United States" but denied any connection between the review of the deal with Moscow and the improvement of relations with Washington.

In late April, Sudan announced it was suspending an agreement with Russia to build a naval base in the country. According to the channel, the agreement will be suspended "until it is approved by the legislature," which is non-existent at the country so far.

The news broke out in early December 2020 that Russia and Sudan had struck the agreement to build a naval logistical support and maintenance facility in the African country. The naval logistics base is designed for carrying out repairs, replenishing supplies and for the crewmembers of Russian naval ships to have a rest. Sudan will hand over to Russia for free for the entire period of the agreements duration the territory and the real estate that comprises the coastal zone and the water area with the mooring front (the berths for the floating craft). The military and civilian personnel should not exceed 300 people and maybe increased upon agreement with Sudan, the document stipulates.

The agreement will be in effect for 25 years with an automatic extension for 10 years if neither party notifies the other party in writing through diplomatic channels no less than twelve months before the expiry of the relevant period about its intention to terminate it.

Former president Omar Bashir, who held the post for 30 years, was ousted as a result of a military coup on April 11, 2019.

Five countries already have a base in Djibouti including Japan, United States, Italy, France, and China.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army Support Base in Djibouti is a military base operated by the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), located in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.

It is the PLAN's first overseas military base and was built at a cost of US$590 million. The facility is expected to significantly increase China's power projection in the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean, as well as the PLAN's blue water capabilities.

The People's Liberation Army Navy has used the base to conduct anti-piracy operations off of the coast of Djibouti and around the Horn of Africa. It is also said to have taken part in activities such as intelligence collection, non-combat evacuation operations, peacekeeping operations support and counterterrorism.

 Copyright 2021 TASS Navy Recognition. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The emergency alert banner popped up at the top of cellphones statewide Tuesday night, informing residents that a 4-year-old child had been allegedly abducted in Connecticut.

The alert was issued around 8 p.m. The young boy was found unharmed at a motel in Wethersfield later that night. Police took a couple into custody in connection with the incident.

The boy had been in the care of his uncle, police said. But when the uncle needed to leave for work, the man left the child with a family friend, identified by police as Stephanie Fonda.

Fonda, 39, took the boy and the uncles vehicle without his permission, police said. She and her husband, David Fonda, 37, are expected to face charges.

Police said the child was last seen in New Britain around 9 p.m. Monday. Middletown police were notified the child was missing around 3:20 p.m. Tuesday. Before authorities found the child, Middletown police said they didnt believe the boy was in any specific danger.

Its unclear why it took more than four hours for an Amber Alert to be issued, but authorities said it immediately goes out once they have enough information to meet the criteria for the alert. Once the message was sent, devices across the state blared as cellphones received the alert.

We look for known locations that people will put themselves in or hide out, Middletown Police Lt. Brian Hubbs said during a press conference shortly after the boy was found unharmed Tuesday night.

Its a huge relief for everyone involved, especially the mother who Im sure (was) frantic and (is) now extremely excited, Hubbs said.

He said law enforcement take these types of incidents very seriously.

When theres an Amber Alert, its pretty much no holds barred, Hubbs said. We will look anywhere and everywhere ... Well reach out to every local resource, every state resource we have ... Really, no stone goes unturned when it comes to identifying or locating a child.

This was the first Connecticut Amber Alert since a kidnapping last month in Wolcott where a 5-year-old child was in the backseat of a vehicle that was stolen from a local convenience store around 11:30 p.m. on May 3.

Wolcott police said once authorities learned what happened, a be on the lookout broadcast was issued and an Amber Alert quickly processed. Area towns were immediately notified. The child was found unharmed in the abandoned vehicle around 1:45 a.m. on May 3.

Before the Wolcott incident, the last time authorities turned to the Amber Alert system in Connecticut was for Vanessa Morales, kidnapped in December 2019 from her Ansonia home after her mother, Christine Holloway, was killed. Vanessa, now 2, has never been found, despite sightings of children who resembled her in Bridgeport and California. The childs father, Jose Morales, faces charges in connection with Holloways death.

Nationwide, there were 145 Amber Alerts issued in 2019, according to an annual report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The system used for Amber Alerts is the same as the one Connecticut uses during severe weather emergencies. The NCMEC said the system does not track whereabouts of devices, but rather broadcasts the alert to any phone that is within range of cellphone towers in the geographic area where the alert was issued.

Anyone who might not have received the alert Tuesday night should check for any possible software updates and make sure the phone is connected to LTE.

A Silver Alert is issued for a person believed to be missing. Amber Alerts are reserved for children ages 17 and under who authorities believe have been abducted.

Once police respond to the scene of a potential kidnapping, they gather any description possible of the child, alleged suspects and the vehicle if one is involved, according to the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.

That information is sent to the Connecticut State Police Message Center and is recorded on an audio alert message. That message is sent to all radio and television stations across the state through the Emergency Alert System, DESPP said.

The goal of the Amber Alert System is to instantly notify the entire state, so everyone may assist in the search for the safe return of the child, DESPP said. The public immediately becomes the ears and eyes of law enforcement and can assist in the search for the missing child.

The Amber Alert system dates back to the mid-1990s.

The system got its namesake from Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl who was abducted in Texas on Jan. 13, 1996. She was later found killed. Her killer has never been caught. Wanting to do something in the aftermath of her kidnapping, officials in Texas went to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and formed the Amber Alert system.

Since the systems inception through April, a total of 1,064 children have been rescued specifically because of Amber Alerts, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. During that same time, 92 of those children were rescued because of wireless emergency alerts.
Patrick Semansky/AP

BEIJING (AP)  Chinas chief economic envoy and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen held their first meeting by video Wednesday, but the two sides gave no indication when negotiations on ending their tariff war might resume.

Vice Premier Liu He and Yellen discussed the economic situation, bilateral cooperation and other issues of mutual concern, the Commerce Ministry said. Yellen's department said she also discussed frankly tackling issues of concern. They gave no details.
LaTosha Brown opened with a song.

Speaking about voting rights one recent spring day in Selma, Alabama, the Black activist delivered the civil rights anthem Keep Your Eyes on the Prize in a voice showcasing her background as a jazz singer. She told her audience, through music, that the fight for equal access to the ballot box was as urgent as ever.

The song drew cheers from a few dozen listeners, young and old, who had gathered before the brown-bricked African Methodist Episcopal church in a city known for its poverty as much as for its troubled racial past.

For Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, the song served to introduce a question.

Close your eyes, she said. What would America look like without racism?

How will we ever create what were not even envisioning? There was nothing that was brought into the real world that was not first envisioned.

A year after the police killing of George Floyd galvanized public attention to racial injustices, amid a barrage of restrictive voting laws being passed by state legislatures, Black Voters Matter is redoubling its march toward its North Star: increasing the political power of Black communities.

Like many groups that serve predominantly Black communities, the organization was flooded with donations after Floyds death. A year later, the impact is visible: The group says it gave $10 million to 600 community-based groups in 15 states, mostly in the South, who, among other things, registered voters, held phone banks, sent millions of text messages, and canvassed communities reminding people to vote.

Those efforts are widely credited with helping fuel Black voter turnout in Georgia, which, in part, led to Democrats scoring victories in the presidential and U.S. Senate races that gave them control of both houses of Congress and helped President Joe Biden enact his legislative agenda. Now, in the face of new restrictions on voting in areas heavily populated by people of color, new challenges are emerging.

Brown, the co-founder of Black Voters Matter, estimates that Black Voters Matter, which received more than $30 million in donations last year, has about 90,000 unique donors. Most of its donations were small gifts from ordinary Americans.

The groups operations are run through two channels. One is the Black Voters Matters Fund, a social welfare organization that can engage in political activity, like lobbying. The other is the Black Voters Matters Capacity Building Institute, a nonprofit that funds voter education, registrations and other programs to expand access to voting. (Contributions to the Capacity Building Institute are tax-deductible; donations to the Fund are not).

After the racial justice protests, most of the donations flowed into the Capacity Building Institute, which from June 2020 to the end of last year received $18 million  a 414% jump from the sum it collected in 2019, according to Alexis Buchanan Thomas, Black Voters Matter's development director, though the increase was driven in part by the 2020 elections.

Brown says $3 million earmarked for advocacy work was distributed to several dozen community-based groups. An additional $7 million was given to help local organizations run their own operations and conduct voter engagement work, including voter registrations.

About $6 million was also used to support Black Voters Matters own get-out-the-vote activities and provide local organizations with vans for transportation, graphics support and radio advertising, among other needs. The main goal for Black Voters Matter, Brown says, has been to strengthen these organizations for the long run.

The roots of Black Voters Matter date to 2016, borne of the painful frustration Brown says she and the organizations other co-founder, Cliff Albright, felt about the nationalist, racist rhetoric of former President Donald Trump and a national discourse that didnt include Black folks." In philanthropy circles, Black Voters Matter is whats called an intermediary  an organization that donors can turn to when they want to fund nonprofits but lack the expertise or connections to do so directly.

The South is a region that is growing tremendously and shifting tremendously. But its also, unfortunately, a hotbed for regressive innovation, such as efforts restricting voting rights," said Jerry Maldonado, the director of the Cities and States program at the Ford Foundation, which, in 2020, donated $1.8 million to the nonprofit. The South is a region that is growing tremendously and shifting tremendously. But its also, unfortunately, a hotbed for regressive innovation, such as efforts restricting voting rights.

Many restrictive voting laws have been passed in Southern states since a 2013 Supreme Court ruling threw out a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The provision had required officials in jurisdictions with a history of discriminatory practices to receive federal approval before making changes to the voting process.

This year, Republican lawmakers in Georgia, Florida and other states have passed new voting restrictions, based largely on unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud by Trump and his allies. Critics argue the new laws mainly serve to suppress minority votes.

One Southern state that will always be special to Brown is Alabama. Its where her grandmother, whom she calls her soulmate, was barred from voting for most of her life under Jim Crow laws. And, its where she lost a close Democratic primary race in 1998 for a seat on the Alabama State Board of Education by about 200 votes, even though a sheriff found 800 uncounted votes in a safe minutes after her loss was certified.

For Brown and Albright, the focus of the work is not only on presidential and state-wide elections but also on local races that often have a more direct impact on communities. This raises concern about the lack of consistency they see in donations to Black Voters Matter.

As we got further and further away from the protest, a lot of organizations, including us, saw those donations going down on a daily basis, said Albright. We understand that any given month or any given year, the funding world, or individual donors, might be looking for the next shiny thing. We know that we have to find ways to be independently self-sustaining.

____

The Associated Press receives support from the Lilly Endowment for coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of APs philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
Contributed photo

West Point Military Historian Richard Anderson in a talk titled: Prelude to D-Day: The secret plan to forge Anglo-American military coordination, will recount a little-known World War II mission in the spring of 1941, when the U.S. was still officially neutral, aimed at forging cooperative ties between British and American forces. This will occur this Friday at the New Canaan Mens Club meeting at Morrill Hall in St. Marks Epsicopal Church, which is located at 111 Oenoke Ridge Road in New Canaan.

The U.S. Army Special Observer Group, called to prevent potential enemies from discovering the groups purpose, worked with the British to develop strategic plans to employ U.S. forces in Europe if and when the U.S. entered World War II. While much of the early work became obsolete as conditions changed in the European theater, Andersons talk will provide insights about the ways the early planning steps played an essential role in preparing for the cross channel attack known as the D-Day invasion.
New Castle, PA (16103)

Today

Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 83F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 56F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.
E China's Qingdao becomes world's false eyelash hub

People's Daily Online) 15:48, June 02, 2021

Qingdao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong province, has witnessed booming development in its false eyelash and high-end wig manufacturing sectors, creating an export value of billions of yuan a year.

Pingdu city in Qingdao is home to a total of 5,000 registered eyelash producers, of which the number currently engaged in lash-related production, processing and trade exceeds 1,000, with a total production value of 7 billion yuan (about $1 billion).

(Photo/qingdaonews.com)

In addition, the output of fake eyelashes in Pingdu accounts for 80 percent of the national total and 70 percent of the global total, respectively.

Among them, Changle district of Dazeshan town, one of the largest eyelash producing centers in Pingdu, is filled with specialized stores that sell related semi-finished or peripheral products. Although lash producers in the district are dominated by family workshops, there has also been an emergence of modern modes of production.

In a newly established eyelash manufacturing enterprise of Changle district, a standardized production environment featuring workers in uniform and clean working tables ensures maximum product quality and stability.

In addition to an improvement of product quality, some producers have turned to new designs as a means of enhancing product value. For instance, Deng Xiaojun, a post-90s man who has been working in the field for more than a decade, applied for the first patent for a false eyelash related invention in 2015, boosting the price of a lash product that originally sold for 5 yuan by 3-4 yuan.

Today, Deng's company, which rolls out an average of 100 types of new products annually, has seen increased profitability in its patent-protected products.

In addition to fake eyelashes, Qingdao is also emerging as a major cradle of high-end human hair products, meeting 40 percent of global demand.

Ligezhuang, a suburban town of Qingdao with an area of just 75.8 square kilometers, is home to a total of more than 300 hair product manufacturers, creating jobs for 12,000 people with an annual output value of 2.8 billion yuan last year.

According to Ye Jingming, head of a hair products company in Jiaozhou city, Shandong province, after setting up their own websites and brands, their sales mode of hair products has transformed from being one of sole reliance on third-party cross-border e-commerce platforms to one that involves customized sales to high-end terminal consumers.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Bianji)
As a recent retiree, I am taking the opportunity to turn my attention to some of the many vignettes of life that by dint of career and family have been neglected these many years, Simon wrote in a letter to the librarians. In that context, I am returning with this letter an overdue item (by my count, approximately 17,480 days overdue as of this writing).its quite late, and Im quite sorry!
Newburyport, MA (01950)

Today

Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. High 81F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies in the evening, then becoming cloudy overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 60F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
By PTI

MUMBAI: Amid a once-in-a-century pandemic that has forced employees to work from home across the world, global investment firm Fidelity International has launched a dynamic policy that offers its workforce the option to choose the location and timing of their office hours as a permanent move.

The latest initiative adds on to a suite of recently announced employee benefits including family care leaves and enhanced parental leaves as the pandemic has forced the world indoors from last year.

The dynamic work policy comes into force immediately and offers the flexibility to balance home and office working, Fidelity International, which handles over US $700 billion in clients' assets, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The biggest beneficiary market will be India as Fidelity employs about 3,200 here, more than a third of its total global workforce of 9,000.

"Dynamic working means that the majority of our employees will have the flexibility in managing their own working patterns -- flexibility in where they work from and flexibility in when they work," Fidelity's Global Chief Executive Anne Richards said.

ALSO READ | Bored of work from home? Try IRCTCs work from hotel package

Although some of the roles are location-dependent or require pre-defined hours, which are driven primarily by client needs, this new way of working aims to give the employees as much flexibility as possible, she said.

Richards added that its offices across the world will become centres of community, collaboration, creativity and learning.

"Over the course of the past year, many things have changed in our daily lives and one of those is the way we work. We've learned that we can adapt brilliantly as individuals and as teams and run our business in a way that we never imagined possible," she said, adding that the new employee policy is based on the feedback from their workforce.

Having satisfied employees leads to satisfied clients so we believe this is a real and positive step and a change for our people, our clients and our business.

ALSO READ | Will work from home outlast virus? Ford's move suggests yes

It is also an iterative process and we will continue to listen, learn and build on our experience from the last year, she added.

The privately-held Fidelity International has been offering investment solutions and services and retirement expertise to over 2.5 million customers for over 50 years and operates in over 25 countries.

Its customers include central banks, sovereign wealth funds, large corporates, financial institutions, insurers and wealth managers, apart from private individuals.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: In order to incentivize investments and facilitate easier fund structure in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) of Gujarat GIFT City, the government is now looking to allow variable capital companies (VCC) to operate there.

A committee set up by the IFSC Authority has recommended the adoption of a VCC-like legal structure for the purpose of conducting fund management activity in IFSCs, according to a press statement by the ministry of finance.

The committee has noted that the legal framework governing fund management entities should allow effective segregation and ring-fencing of different pools of asset, the ability to issue different classes of shares, alterations to the funds' capital structure without regulatory approvals and the freedom to choose the appropriate accounting standards applicable to funds with different characteristics, along with the ability to wind up quickly.

Variable Capital Companies are corporate structures that allow a fund to set up multiple sub-funds under its umbrella as and when needed, and hence the capital of the fund (or company) keeps changing. They can be started by a single shareholder, and funds under a VCC can be ring-fenced -- that is, assets and liabilities of each fund can remain segregated.

"AIFs (Alternate Investment Funds) in India are typically set up in the form of trusts. Thus, allowing alternative structures like VCC which was introduced by Singapore last year and which has already got a lot of attention of the global fund managers could be a game-changer as far as the future of the GIFT IFSC is concerned," says Dhaval Jariwala, a Mumbai-based chartered accountant.

Meanwhile, the market regulator -- Securities and Exchange Board of India -- has cleared another hurdle to incentivize investment in the Gujarat GIFT City. It has given its nod to Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) to relocate their funds to GIFT City, which is considered an overseas jurisdiction for taxation purposes.

In a circular issued on Tuesday, the market regulator said that FPI (original fund or its wholly-owned special purpose vehicle) may seek approval of a one-time 'off-market' transfer of its securities to a 'resultant fund' in the GIFT City. The government has already made such transfers tax-free.

Sunil Gidwani, partner, Nangia Anderson LLP, says that the move may encourage India-specific funds who otherwise route their investments through Mauritius or Singapore to relocate to GIFT City.

However, he does not expect large global funds with a small exposure in India based out of places like Luxembourg or the Netherlands to relocate to the Indian IFSC, as they fear complex Indian laws and policy uncertainty.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: The sluggish international trade caused by rising COVID concerns has taken its toll on the Indian seafood export sector. The countrys seafood exports contracted by 10.88 percent in 2020-21 as the volume declined from 12,89,651 tonnes in 2019-20 to 11,49,341 tonnes this financial year.

In 2019-20, India had exported 12,89,651 tonnes of seafood worth Rs 46,662.85 crore. The decline in terms of rupee value is 6.31 percent, while it is 10.81 percent in dollar value.

The leading importers were the USA, China, and the European Union, while frozen shrimp retained its position as the major export item followed by frozen fish.

The pandemic has drastically affected seafood exports during the first half of the year, but they revived well during the last quarter. The aquaculture sector performed better during this fiscal by contributing 67.99 percent of exported items in dollar terms and 46.45 percent in quantity, said Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) Chairman K S Srinivas.

Frozen shrimp contributed 51.36 percent of the exports in quantity and 74.31 percent of the total dollar earnings. The USA remained the largest importer, accounting for 2,72,041 tonnes followed by China (1,01,846 tonne), European Union (70,133 tonnes), Japan (40,502 tonnes), South East Asia (38,389 tonnes), and the Middle East (29,108 tonnes).

However, shrimp exports declined by 9.47 percent in dollar value and 9.50 percent in quantity. The overall shrimp export was 5,90,275 tonnes worth USD 4,426.19 million. The export of Vannamei (white leg) shrimp decreased from 5,12,204 tonne in 2019-20 to 4,92,271 tonne in 2020-21. Of the total Vannamei shrimp exports, 56.37 percent was exported to the USA, followed by China (15.13 percent), European Union (7.83 percent), South East Asia (5.76 percent), Japan (4.96 percent), and the Middle East (3.59 percent).

Japan, the major market for Black Tiger shrimp, had a share of 39.68 percent in dollar terms, followed by the USA (26.03 percent), South East Asia (9.32 percent), EU (8.95%), the Middle East (6.04 percent) and China (3.76 percent).

Frozen fish, with a share of 16.37 percent in quantity and 6.75 percent in dollar earnings, retained the second position in the exports basket though its shipments plummeted by 15.76 percent in quantity and 21.67 percent in dollar terms.

Frozen squid and frozen cuttlefish exports declined in volume by 30.19 percent and 16.38 percent, respectively. However, the export of dried fish showed an increase of 1.47 percent and 17 percent in quantity and rupee value, respectively.

Shipments of chilled and live fish, which were negatively affected due to the reduced air cargo connectivity, fell by 16.89 percent and 39.91 percent in volume, respectively.

The share of capture fisheries reduced from 56.03 percent to 53.55 percent in quantity. However, tilapia and ornamental fish performed well with 55.83 percent and 66.55 percent increase in quantity and an uptick of 38.07 percent and 14.63 percent in dollar earnings, respectively. Tuna showed a 14.6 percent increase in quantity, but its dollar earnings fell 7.39 percent. Crab and scampi exports

reduced both in quantity and value.

Several factors, including the pandemic impact, have negatively impacted seafood exports, said Srinivas. On the production side, there were reduced fish landings due to fewer fishing days. Slow logistics movements and market uncertainties added to the crisis. Scarcity of workers in fishing and processing plants, paucity of containers at seaports, increased air freight charges and limited flight availability affected exports, especially of high-value chilled and live products, he said.
By PTI

MUMBAI: Jewellery retailer Malabar Gold and Diamonds on Wednesday said it has earmarked Rs 8 crore towards providing 1 lakh free COVID-19 vaccines in association with charitable organisations and hospitals.

"As the country is battling a resurgent wave of COVID-19 cases, vaccination has become extremely important to prevent the pandemic spread. This initiative is the first step in our contribution to the nationwide vaccination drive," Malabar Group Chairman M P Ahammed said in a statement.

He added that the company will use its services and infrastructure to reach out to and vaccinate those who are most vulnerable to the disease.

"We have earmarked Rs 8 crore for the vaccination drive," Ahammed said.

The drive will be held at both the company premises and through tie-ups with leading hospitals.

The announcement comes on a day when the Supreme Court asked the Centre to file an affidavit furnishing the complete data on purchase history of all Covid vaccines -- Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V -- till date.

All these details will have to be filed through an affidavit within two weeks, the court said.

The Court ordered that the affidavit should clarify the dates of all procurement orders placed by the government, the quantity of vaccines ordered and the projected date of supply.

The Court also sought information on the percentage of population that has been vaccinated with one dose and both doses.

(With Online Desk inputs)
There has been plenty of buzz surrounding cicadas and cuisine lately. As soon as people learned that billions of the noisy insects from Brood X would resurface this spring in 15 eastern states  including New York  after 17 years underground, recipes incorporating the bugs have swirled online.
Arshad Khan By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Recently disclosed earnings data for India's travel and hospitality service providers highlights the damage that the pandemic is wrecking on the vast sector. Thomas Cook India's (TCIL) consolidated FY21 loss, for instance, ballooned to Rs 416 crore from Rs 69 crore in FY20.

"The performance was impacted due to the pandemic," said the company, whose operations range from providing leisure and corporate travel packages to running properties such as Sterling Holiday Resorts.

However, TCIL added that it continues to maintain short-term liquidity and balance sheet strength "given the uncertain environment" with a continued focus on cash conservation. The company boosted its cash reserves by securing fresh funding of Rs 435.7 crore from its parent Fairbridge Capital (Mauritius) Limited during the year.

Gurugram-based online ticketing giant MakeMyTrips (MMT) revenue fell by a whopping 68 per cent year-on-year in FY21 to USD 163 million and it reported a USD 56 million loss during the financial year.

MakeMyTrip is India's largest online travel agency and has an over 50 per cent market share in all the verticals. The company pointed out that the pandemic has severely impacted travel demand by affecting consumers sentiment and their willingness to travel.

This caused airlines and hotels in India and around the world to operate at significantly reduced service levels throughout much of calendar year 2020, it added. The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) estimates that the Indian hotel industry has taken a hit of over Rs 1.30 lakh crore in revenue for the fiscal year 2020-21.

Likewise, Hotel Association of India (HAI) said more than 40 per cent of hotels have shut or are on the brink of closure, while 70 per cent of overall jobs are now in danger directly or indirectly. "We currently expect the impact of the second wave on our financial results to be greater in the first quarter of FY22... travel demand has been significantly impacted during April and May 2021," said MMT.

The sector is now pinning its hopes on a relief package from the government.
Nirupama Viswanathan By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: About 20 percent of Chennai's population have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and about 6 percent have got both the doses. According to the city corporation's data, 20,23,145 persons have been administered the vaccine (one or both doses) as of Monday. This is about 20 percent of the city's estimated population of 80 lakh.

Of these, 14,47,392 have been given the first dose and 5,75,753 have been given the second dose.

The city corporation has vaccinated 2,659 persons with disabilities of which 2464 were given the first dose and 195, the second dose.

ALSO READ: Amid hesitancy towards testing, Chennai officials assure home isolation if kids turn Covid +ve

On Tuesday, Chennai recorded one of its lowest vaccination numbers since the launch, with only 5996 persons getting the jab due to a shortage of vaccines. It had suspended special vaccination camps for the 18-45 age group that are usually conducted across all 15 zones of the city to mobilise residents.

On Monday, it vaccinated 10,325 persons, while on Sunday the figure was 7834. Usually, the city corporation maintains an average of 25,000 to 35,000 vaccinations in a day. When the vaccination drive began, the city corporation had targeted vaccinations of 50,000-60,000 persons in a day.

The city corporation is currently vaccinating newspaper distributors, milk suppliers, roadside vendors, staff in grocery stores and pharmacies, auto, car and bus drivers, electricity board staff, local body staff, government staff, construction workers, those working in essential industries, teachers in schools and colleges, transport department staff, those working in ships and airlines between the ages of 18-45 and those over 45 years of age.
Omjasvin MD By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: People aged between 18 and 44 are in a fix as the city corporation is giving COVID-19 vaccines only for those above 45 years due to a shortage.

The corporation, which till recently was vaccinating around 20,000 people a day, was able to vaccinate only 5996 people on June 1.

Many residents who visited UPHCs have been turned away due to the shortage. We heard there were 4 lakh additional doses but only after visiting the UPHC did we know it was only for the 45 and above age group. The staff do not know when the new stock will come, said Ravi Krishna, who lives in Vepery.

People below 45 with comorbidities such as obesity and juvenile diabetes are the most affected due to this shortage. I have an asthma issue and I was hoping to take the vaccine in the first week of June, but now I have to wait, said Sumithra R, a resident from Anna Nagar.

ALSO READ: About 20% of Chennai's residents have got at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine

While the state received 4.95 lakh fresh doses, the Centre has only allowed the state to use the vaccines for the age group of 45 and above.

Officials also pointed out that by using it for this specific age group, there are adequate doses for those who wanted to take their second dose. We do not know when the fresh stock for the 18-44 age group may come, said a corporation official.

While Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Tuesday said that 42 lakhs doses were to arrive in phases from June 6, Chief Minister MK Stalin has urged the Centre to send its June stock in the first week itself.

The state also hopes to ramp up vaccine production once the vaccine manufacturing plant in Chengalpet begins operation.

Officials said the vaccine camps for the 18-44 age group were also suspended due to the shortage. We will resume the bulk registration camps only after fresh stock comes, said officials.

Meanwhile, officials said 2464 first doses and 195 second doses were administered for people with disabilities in Chennai.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The fear of their children being taken away to Covid care centres or hospitals, if they test positive, has dissuaded many parents in Chennai from taking their kids for Covid-19 testing, despite the children showing symptoms.

A sector worker who undertakes fever surveillance in Perungudi zone said that in one such instance, a family refused to let the workers check their childs body temperature. They had found out the previous night that the child had fever, but did not want us to check as they were scared we would take him away if he tested positive. Neither of the parents had fever, he said on the condition of anonymity. The 12-year-old boy is said to have tested negative later.

As on Monday, 3,723 children (in the age of 0-19) of the total active cases of 35,425 were currently Covid positive -- around 10.5 per cent. At the same last year, 1,613 of total 13,889 cases (active and recovered) had tested positive.

A 37-year-old resident, on the condition of anonymity, said that his son had started running a temperature two days ago. We had a tele-consultation with doctors available at Corporation helpline and were advised to get him (the child) tested for Covid, if the fever persisted for one more day. But, we are planning to just monitor him for now, because in children, the fever is usually mild and goes away soon. So we dont want to get him tested and stress him out. He is already frightened that he will be admitted (to a hospital).

Senior Corporation officials told Express that there was no need to panic since the standard protocol was to recommend home isolation when it comes to children. For children, our regular procedure is to allow home isolation, and since they come under below-45 age category, they will be triaged right at home and need not come in person even to the screening centres, said an official.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Stating that the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic claimed several young lives, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday observed that younger generation should have been vaccinated first as youths are the nations' future.

The court, however, made it clear that it was not at all saying the lives of older people are not important as the emotional support which the elderly persons provide to a family cannot be discounted.

Justice Sanghi, speaking for himself, said that in the second wave of COVID-19, it was the younger generation which was more affected and they were not getting vaccines and added "I dont understand this vaccination policy at all."

"I can speak for myself... You have announced the vaccination policy for 18 to 44 years old persons now but you dont have vaccines. Then why you have to make a declaration when you dont have the vaccines? We have to invest in the future but we are sidelining them," Justice Sanghi said.

"We have to secure our future for that we need to vaccinate our younger generation and here we are giving priority to 60 plus who have lived their lives. It is the younger lot which is the future, we are on our way out," he added.

The judge pointed out that so many young people have lost their lives to COVID-19. He added that in this time of crisis, if a choice has to be made, "we have to choose the younger one because an 80-year-old person has lived his live and he will not take the country forward".

"Ideally, we should be able to save everyone but if we have to choose, we have to save younger people," the judge said. When the Centre's counsel said only God can help us now, the judge said this is the area where even God cannot help us if we do not act ourselves, noting the facts and figures.

"Why are you feeling shy? It is the duty of the government to lay down the way forward. Other countries have done it. In Italy, they said sorry to old people for not having beds," Justice Sanghi said. The court's observations came while hearing pleas relating to management of COVID-19 crisis in Delhi, including shortage of medicine to treat black fungus.

'Even God cannot help if we dont act ourselves'

When the Centres counsel said only God can help us now, the judge said this is the area where even God cannot help us if we do not act ourselves, noting the facts and figures. The court's observations came while hearing pleas relating to management of COVID-19 crisis in Delhi
Steni Simon By

Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A new academic year has begun and this year too, classes are being held online through KITE Victers channel and other virtual platforms. But for Kiran Sanal, a Class X student at Government Model VHSS, Vellanad, who lives in the tribal settlement of Melehamla situated about 20km from Kottoor, there is no excitement of a new academic year. It is just another year when Kiran will be missing out on his online classes due to the lack of a smartphone or laptop.

Kiran says,  As my house is inside the forest and far away from the school, I used to stay at the Boys Home in Vellanad when I had classes. During holidays, I used to come to my settlement. However, ever since the pandemic began and schools closed with learning shifting to online platforms, we were sent back to our settlements. Neither of my parents own a smartphone and for the past one year, I havent been able to attend online classes.

There are many students like Kiran staying in the tribal settlements in the Agasthyarkoodam forest range and Kottoor who stay at various hostels to continue their studies since the schools are situated far from their homes. While the nearest upper primary school is situated at Kottoor, 12km from Podiyam, a tribal settlement, the high school and higher secondary school are situated at Utharamkode and Kuttichal, which are 17km and 20km, respectively, from their settlements. Though the online classes started one year ago, many students in tribal settlements are struggling to attend online classes as they have no access to facilities such as smartphones or laptops.

Tribal children hard hit, reveals survey

In a recent survey conducted by Kanal Innovations, an NGO, on the impact of the pandemic on learning, it was found that the students in tribal areas were able to attend only less than an hour of online classes due to lack of mobile phone connectivity and other issues such as power outage.

Nearly 30 students from the tribal settlements in Kottor, Amboori and other nearby settlements in the district took part in the survey. While the survey revealed that five children were forced to use just one phone to attend classes, others had to miss live streaming of classes due to lack of proper internet connectivity in the area. There are already many dropouts as parents prefer to retain their children at home owing to lack of transportation modes. If facilities for online classes are not provided, it will lead to more dropouts, said Anson P D Alexander, director, Kanal Innovations.

Covid spread thwarts other option

Kuttichal grama panchayat president G Manikanthan says,  In the 27 tribal settlements in the panchayat, there are about 200 school students. Since the people in the tribal settlements dont have facilities such as phones or laptops, we had arranged television sets at various employment guidance centres last year through which some students were able to attend online classes.

However, this year, it is difficult to bring the children to the centres since the number of Covid patients in tribal settlements has increased.Last year, forest department officials had also stepped forward to help the tribal children from the Kottoor section who were facing difficulties in attending online classes. We were able to arrange computers and television sets at the Employment Guidance Centre of the Kottoor forest office where nearly 75 students could attend the online classes. This year, we were planning to arrange the facility but due to Covid-19 threat, we havent been able to do it yet, said K C Sinukumar, section forest officer, Kottoor.

DOUBLE THE PROBLEM

Tribal tudents cannot be allowed to watch online classes on TV sets arranged at employment guidance centres of forest departments because of spread of Covid cases among tribals

In a recent survey conducted by Kanal Innovations, an NGO, on the impact of the pandemic on learning, it was found that the students in tribal areas were able to attend only less than an hour of online classes due to lack of mobile phone connectivity and other issues such as power outage
By PTI

NEW DELHI: It was shortly after the release of "Masaan" in 2015 that director Dibakar Banerjee got together with lyricist-writer Varun Grover to discuss a possible collaboration.

The result was "Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar", a film that Grover says explores 'grim realities' of class and gender without being dark.

Grover had been a fan of Banerjee, known for films such as "Khosla Ka Ghosla", "Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye", and "Shanghai".

Banerjee, on his part, liked authentic India presented in "Masaan", written by Grover and directed by Neeraj Ghaywan.

"We started talking and soon realised our worldviews are very similar. Both of us believe you should have something to say through your art, not necessarily political but something that you have seen through a different point of view and you want to share," Grover said, recalling that initial conversation six years ago.

Banerjee had an initial brief for Grover -- two runaways of different genders and backgrounds who don't like each other but have to stick together to survive and the people they encounter on the way.

The story was open for interpretation and world-building from there.

"Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar", a road film that travels from the luxe world of Delhi-NCR and its seedy underbelly to the small town of Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand, stars Parineeti Chopra as Sandeep and Arjun Kapoor as Pinky in a fun gender name flip.

ALSO READ | Men and women should be allowed to exist in different range of relationships: Arjun Kapoor on 'Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar'

"We decided we will not make a love story. We will talk about the world around us, and how different kinds of power equations play out in our world," Grover told PTI in a telephonic interview from Mumbai.

"The plan was to make a film where, by the end of it, both the central characters are at least more aware of each other's world," he added.

It has taken six long years for the film, which was released on Amazon Prime Video on May 20, to be seen by a wider audience.

The film's initial release was postponed due to the pandemic last year.

And when it was released to mixed reviews this year, the country was already in the middle of the second wave.

Grover said he had given up all hope it would ever see the light of the day and is relieved the film is out for people to watch, like or dislike or maybe discover it years later.

"I accept all reviews -- good or bad. Every interpretation of every film is right. Someone who didn't like the film is speaking their truth. But the film must get a release, especially in the age of OTT platforms. You can discover a film years later which was not possible in theatres," he said.

"It is good to see that people are getting the core ideas we wanted to talk about in the film. We didn't want people to say 'issues were good, but the film was bad'. What we want is people to say, 'the film was good but the layers that you put in it were also good'. The good thing is the people who have reached the layers have liked the film. That is heartening and unexpected at the same time."

A lot of discussions and detailing went into giving the characters, even the smallest ones, a lived-in quality, and familiarity, Grover said.

"We worked on each and every character separately. There were weeks when we did not talk about Sandeep and Pinky at all. There is Munna, a Salman Khan fan, or there is Uncle who finds power equations in bad-mouthing the neighboring hotel or the small-town bank manager."

Kapoor's Pinky was the most challenging character to write while Uncle, played by Raghuvir Yadav, was the most fun.

"Pinky is not an easily likable character, is a bit sexist and has other complexities. We wanted to make him a bit more understandable. It took more time to etch the backstory of the character." he said.

The film may deal with grim realities but both Banerjee and Grover did not want it to be dark.

They were also conflicted about how to end the film.

"We had three-four endings for the film. Just before the film went to shoot we were conflicted about how we should end the story. Happy, sad or open ending. But in the end, we went with this because somewhere we thought that the film already had many elements that could be sad and triggering," Grover said.

"We have maintained this (rhythm) that the film is not very dark while it is talking about the grim realities of our times. Somewhere we felt that we should give a ray of hope in the end, however unrealistic it may be. We wanted to give an imaginary hope," he added.

The multi-talented artiste, who is a writer, poet, stand-up comedian and runs comedy group Aisi Taisi Democracy with Sanjay Rajoura and Rahul Ram, said writing films is a "time-consuming process".

He said he began discussing "Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar" in 2015, started writing it in 2016, finished it in 2017, the movie was shot in 2018 and it has been released now.

Notwithstanding the time taken, Grover loves watching movies and considers movie writing a "privilege".

"With films, you never know if it will ever be made and when. I wrote a film two years ago and I don't know if it will ever be made. At least a year goes into writing a film. The hard work you do for a year, sometimes you get to see its fruits after three years."

"That period is very difficult. You start losing faith in yourself. You wonder whether people will like the film or not as it has been quite dated. I do stand-up comedy or write songs. Today, songs are created after the film is complete, so that is a quicker process."

"Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar" also stars Neena Gupta, Jaideep Ahlawat, Sukant Goel, Rahul Kumar, and Archana Patel.
By ANI

NEW DELHI: Two days after sharing an intriguing teaser of Vidya Balan's upcoming film 'Sherni', the makers have dropped the power-packed trailer of the highly-anticipated movie.

By unveiling the first trailer of 'Sherni', Amazon Prime Video has indeed piqued the curiosity of all the Vidya Balan fans who were waiting to watch her powerful performance after almost a year.

The nearly two-and-a-half-minute trailer sees the 42-year-old actor in the lead, as an upright Forest officer Vidya, who powers through the brutal beasts of social barriers set by the patriarchal society and the lackadaisical attitudes within her department.

The exciting trailer showcases Vidya's incredible journey, set in a world full of quirky yet relatable characters, as she navigates through her marriage with her rather unusual job, all this while trying to resolve the man-animal conflict.

The trailer also shows that the film will have an eclectic mix of actors like Sharad Saxena, Mukul Chaddha, Vijay Raaz, Ila Arun, Brijendra Kala and Neeraj Kabi in key roles.

Speaking about working on this unconventional entertainer, the director of the movie- Amit Masurkar shared, "Sherni is an intricately-layered story, exploring the complex issues of conflict between humankind and animals. Vidya Balan plays a mid-level forest officer who despite obstacles and pressures, works with her team and local allies to preserve a balance in the environment."

"Working with her, the amazing ensemble cast and the uber-talented crew has been an incredible experience for me. I hope that releasing Sherni on Amazon Prime Video will help this story reach a wide and diverse audience both in India and across the world," he added.

On the other hand, Vidya also shared her excitement on the trailer launch, and said, "Ever since I first heard the story of Sherni, I found the world fascinating and so far removed from my own. Also, the character I play, Vidya is a woman of few words but many dimensions."

"The film deals with a sensitive topic that touches upon respect, mutual understanding, and co-existence, not just between man-animal, but between humans as well. It gives me immense joy to bring this unique character and story to the global audience through Amazon Prime Video and hope to engage them in unexpected ways," she concluded.

Directed by Amit Masurkar of 'Newton' fame, the film will premiere on Amazon Prime Video. With Vidya in the lead, 'Sherni' is a fictional story that takes us on the journey of a forest officer who strives for balance in a world of man-animal conflict.

Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Vikram Malhotra and Amit Masukar, the film will exclusively release on Amazon Prime Video on June 18, across the globe in 240 plus countries. (ANI)
Harpeet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: A student from Chennai, another one from Mysore, then Kochi, Mumbai, Panaji, and Indore -- all are attending free online classes on trigonometry and algebra from Sanjeev Kumar, a government school teacher from Bathinda.

He is conducting classes of 3,500 students of Class VIII to XII mainly from Tamil Nadu, Kerela, and Jammu and Kashmir. Also, more than 80 students from Kenya, UAE, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia have joined his classes.

The 43-Year old Sanjeev Kumar, who has more than 18 years of experience, says, "Since last week of March 2020, I'am conducting free online classes of mathematics for students of Class VIII to XI as then I had ample time due to lockdown. The students are from various parts of the country. I conucted the first class on March 29, 2020 with just 50 students. The next day, I got 350 messages. Within 10 days, there were 600 to 700 students."

"Till March 31, 2021, I had 2,500 students. About 700 of them left as most of them were of Class XII and they had completed their studies. We were left with 1,800 students and in April, another batch of 1,700 students joined. Now we have more than 3,500 students. The maximum students are from Kerela, Tamil

Nadu, and Jammu and Kashmir. We have got many requests from Telengana too. Also, more than 80 students from UAE, Saudi Arbia, Kenya, and Malaysia also joined," he says.

"As number of students grew, we purchased a zoon business plan and decided to teach students class wise. We gave them codes as per their class and just 10 minutes prior to the class, we send them the password to join the classes on zoom. Many parents too started attending the classes to see the performance of their children.

"There are five classes daily for one hour each. I take two special extra classes per week for the students of Kenya and UAE to clear their doubts and also twice a week classes to prepare students for National Talent Search Examination (NTSE)," he says.

Kumar, who had also invited 15 noted doctors, educationists and actors to give lectures, says, "From this session, I have started taking one-hour online live

tests of students after teaching a chapter and give the students feedback on their performance. We select the topper of the test and courier the gift the child a subject-related book worth Rs 500."

Kumar's wife, also a teacher, sends notes to all children.

Adarsh of Class IX, who studies in Saudi Arabia, says, "His classes has helped me a lot. He taught me the headrest topics in the easiest way in limited time."

"The classes are wonderful and understandable as all your doubts are cleared in no time. I hope, the classes continue," says Bhavneet Kaur from Malaysia.
Bagalavan Perier B By

Express News Service

VILLUPURAM: In dire times such as now, a shred of compassion and resolve to help can go a long way in lifting peoples spirits. In one such instance, a photo studio owner distributed gifts to residents of a quaint village near Ulundurpet, to encourage them to get vaccinated.

Last three days, a medical team from a rural health centre at Kiliyur has been conducting vaccination camp in Kunnathur village. Owing to misinformation and unfounded fears, only 25 people from the village that houses around 3,000 adults, received the vaccine dose. In this situation, R Thambidurai (30), a photo studio owner in the village, devised a plan.

I arranged some kitchen utensils like plates, tiffin boxes and tumblers, and decided to gift them to the people taking vaccine on Monday. My trick worked and 80 people from the village took the dose, which is over thrice the number of persons who took the vaccine on the first two days. Actually, more people would have taken the jab if vaccine stock was available. The medical team had brought less vials considering the previous days turnout.

In another incident, a Puducherry-based man, who has settled in Delhi and runs a chain of restaurants, extended his vacation in Puducherry to help the needy during this pandemic situation. As our restaurants in Delhi were closed due to the lockdown, my parents and I came to Puducherry for a vacation, said DM Varun.

During the stay, I saw lots of people struggling in the border areas and the number of positive cases were increasing day by day. I began to distribute rice, vegetables, herbal masks and sanitisers to auto drivers, roadside vendors and others. I want to help more people tide over this crisis, Varun added.
Collins, the bar owner, told police that she was getting ready to close when she heard two pops, then one more gunshot and the sound of a liquor bottle breaking, according to the police report.
Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: Militants on Wednesday evening shot dead a BJP leader in Tral area of south Kashmirs Pulwama district in Jammu and Kashmir. A woman was also injured in the militant firing

A police official said militants fired from point-blank range at BJP leader Rakesh Pandita at Tral Payeen area of Pulwama district in the evening.

Pandit, who is a Kashmiri Pandit and a councillor of Tral Municipal Committee, sustained multiple bullet injuries in the militant attack and was shifted to nearby hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.

The injured woman, who is said to be the daughter of Panditas friend, has been hospitalized.

Immediately after the militant attack, police and CRPF men rushed to the area and launched a search operation to track down the militants responsible for the attack. The search operation was going on when reports last came in.

A police official said preliminary investigation revealed that three militants were involved in the attack and their identity is being ascertained.

The BJP leader, according to a police spokesman, was provided two Personal Security Officers (PSOs) and secured hotel accommodation in Srinagar. He said the BJP leader went to Tral without taking PSOs along with him.

BJP spokesman Manzoor Bhat said Pandita had visited Tral as one of his relatives residing there had died a week back.

We strongly condemn the militant attack, he said and urged police to identify and punish the militants involved in the attack.

Bhat said the attack reflects the frustration level of militants and BJP wont be cowed down by repeated attacks on its workers and leaders by militants in the Valley.

Former J&K Chief Minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the killing of BJP leader.

Shocked to hear that BJP leader Rakesh Pandit has been shot dead by militants. These senseless acts of violence have brought only misery to J&K. My condolences to the family & may his soul rest in peace, Mehbooba tweeted.
By Express News Service

LUCKNOW: Weeks after the ruling BJPs poor show in the three-tier panchayat polls and amid growing speculation on Yogi Adityanaths cabinet reshuffle, a high-powered panel landed in the state capital to draw the strategy for the 2022 Assembly poll in the in politically-crucial Uttar Pradesh.

Partys national general secretary (organisation) B L Santosh and partys in-charge for UP Radha Mohan Singh reached Lucknow for a two-day meeting with top functionaries and senior ministers.

After meeting Yogi Adityanath, state party president Swatantra Deo Singh and state general secretary (organization) Sunil Bansal on Monday evening, the two leaders held discussions with senior functionaries from other parts of the state.

Besides, there were closed-door meetings with senior ministers, including two deputy CMs Dr Dinesh Sharma and Keshav Prasad Maurya, and other ministers, including Siddharth Nath Singh, Suresh Khanna and Satish Chandra Dwivedi on Tuesday.

According to BJP sources, the detailed report of the two leaders would form the foundation of the partys strategy for polls, which are barely ten months away.

While the deputy CMs Dr Dinesh Sharma and Keshav Prasad Maurya said the meetings were part of devising a roadmap for next Assembly polls, the central leaders are believed to have delved into various issues, including coordination between the party and government, handling of the pandemics second wave. Speculations are rife about the possibility of bureaucrat-turned BJP MLC A K Sharmas inclusion in the cabinet as deputy CM or a minister.
By PTI

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday dubbed as "hoax" the Centre's claim of vaccinating the entire population above the age of 18 years by 2021, and asserted that the union government must provide jabs free of cost to states.

"That claim is just a hoax. The Centre says things like these. Before the Bihar elections, they had promised to inoculate its population after the elections, but nothing happened," she told reporters at the state secretariat.

Banerjee said considering the gap between doses, the process to vaccinate the entire eligible age group should take six months to a year to complete.

ALSO READ | Alapan Bandyopadhyay chapter is over, Bengal govt will provide him full support: CM Mamata Banerjee

She said her government has spent Rs 150 crore to procure vaccines, but only 1.4 crore of the state's over 10- crore population could be inoculated so far.

"The Centre is not sending vaccines to states. Whatever little stock that is supplied, gets depleted within days. It must give free vaccines to state governments," she said.

The central government had on Monday said it expects to inoculate the country's adult population by the end of the year.

ALSO WATCH:
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday listed two crucial parameters for opening up districts after weeks of heavy restrictions to contain Covid-19: test positivity rate of less than 5 per cent for at least a week; and a minimum of 70 per cent vaccination coverage for the vulnerable groups.

There are 344 districts in India as of now that have a positivity rate of under 5 per cent. But there is no publicly available data yet on the districts that are anywhere near the 70 per cent cut-off point of vaccination among vulnerable groups.

The vulnerable population comprises people above the age of 60 as also the 45+ with comorbidities.

Gradual lifting (of lockdown) will not witness a massive surge. However, we have to ensure that vaccination is prioritised. The vaccination rate for the vulnerable population must be up to 70% and Covid-appropriate behaviour should be followed, said Balram Bhargava, ICMR Director General.

The World Health Organization recommends a positivity rate of under 5% for at least two weeks before an outbreak can be considered to be under control in a geography.

As coronavirus cases across India are now showing a declining trend, many states that had resorted to lockdowns are slowly opening up but some like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Chhattisgarh have extended the Covid-related curbs with specific relaxations.
By Express News Service

GUWAHATI: Doctors in Assam are boycotting OPD services on Wednesday in protest against the assault on a junior colleague even as Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he was personally monitoring the investigation.

24 culprits involved in this barbaric attack have been arrested and the chargesheet will be filed at the earliest. I am personally monitoring this investigation and I promise that justice will be served, Sarma tweeted.

In another tweet, he wrote: Such barbaric attacks on our frontline workers wont be tolerated by our administration.

Dr Seuj Kumar Senapati was brutally beaten up by a group of people following the death of a Covid patient at the Odali Model Hospital in Hojai district of Central Assam on Tuesday. Most of the accused were family members and relatives of the deceased.

In a video of the incident that has gone viral on the social media, some people are seen attacking the young doctor with utensils, other blunt weapons and kicking him.

24 culprits involved in this barbaric attack have been arrested and the chargesheet will be filed at the earliest.



I am personally monitoring this investigation and I promise that justice will be served. https://t.co/CVgRaEW0di  Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) June 2, 2021

The relatives told me the patient was serious but when I examined his health condition, I found him to be already dead. Soon, they started vandalising the hospital furniture and attacking me, Dr Senapati said.

Incidentally, it was said to be his first day in service.

Earlier in the day, CM Sarma had mentioned the names of 22 people identified as the culprits. They were Md Kamaruddin, Md Jainal Uddin, Rehanuddin, Saidul Alam, Rahim Uddin, Rajul Islam, Tayebur Rahman, Sahil Islam, Rahimuddin, Abdul Kalam, Nurzul Islam, Abdul Gumi, Dilwar Hussain, Abdul Hussain, Anuwar, Nasirrudin, Alimuddin, Jamil Ahmad, Sarifuddin, Safiquddin, Matibur Rahman and Miss Misba Begum.

The Assam Medical Service Association, which called for boycott of the OPD services, warned that if such an incident recurred in the future, it would cease all services across the state. It demanded the beefing up of security at all hospitals.

Assam Health Security Force should be raised immediately. As raising it will take time, we request for the immediate recruitment of temporary security personnel, the Association said.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI /BENGALURU /HYDERABAD: Amid concerns that children, who are not vaccinated against the coronavirus, might be the biggest casualty in the next pandemic wave, the Centre on Tuesday said it will soon issue guidelines for Covid-19 management in kids and prepare hospital infrastructure to face any influx of child patients.

However, Dr VK Paul, Niti Aayog member (health) and chairman of national Covid-19 task force, on Tuesday said that so far, only 2-3% of Covid-infected kids have required hospital care. Dr Paul, who himself is a paediatrician, averred that available scientific evidence suggests children are less susceptible to severe disease.

He said the government is nevertheless prepared for any exigency. We will strengthen our facilities as required and do an audit of what is required and what might be required in a worst-case scenario, he said. According to public health expert Chandrakant Lahariya, serosurveys have shown prevalence of infection was similar across all age groups. So, a large number of kids may have been affected already, he said. But not many kids became seriously ill. This is because unlike adults, children have smaller number of ACE 2 receptors, which the coronavirus uses to enter human cells, he added.

While some doctors have advocated flu shots for kids to guard against Covid, a senior paediatrician in AIIMS, Delhi said it may not be suitable for India. The flu shots are prepared for influenza virus strains prevalent in Europe, he said.

Expressing similar views, Dr Jagadish Chinappa, a consultant child specialist at Manipal Hospitals in Bengaluru, said vaccinating kids with flu shots will not protect them from the risk of Covid-19 infection. However, it will help avoid the confusion if the cough, cold and fever in children are due to Covid-19 or influenza.

The Indian Paediatric Society has recommended vaccinating children to only reduce the need for Covid testing, decrease the burden on the healthcare system and protect children from influenza and not because the flu shot will prevent Covid-19. They are two different vaccines, he added.

Study on alternatives not conclusive

There are also studies published on vaccinating children with polio vaccines, but that is not proven on a mass scale. The country needs to wait for the specific vaccine and, when there are no proper studies and enough data to vaccinate children with polio drops, etc, it is better all such things are avoided, Dr Jagadish Chinappa of Manipal Hospitals noted.

Dr Asha Benakappa, paediatrics head at Chandramma Sagar Hospital and Research Centre, Bengaluru, said, Both are different viruses with different receptors. We can only say the immune system will be activated, as children have missed their routine vaccination and annual viral infections, because of respiratory hygiene and closed schools. This will boost the immune system.

It is like training the warriors inside the body with some skills to fight the virus, if not specifically Covid-19, said Dr Dinesh Kumar Chrila, director of intensive care services at Rainbow Hospitals, Hyderabad. According to him, there are two scientific reasons why vaccinating children under 10 with flu shots is a good idea because it would prevent co-infections if affected with Covid-19 and reduce severity. Also, it will ensure there is no misdiagnosis.

Rising child Covid patient count in Maharashtra adds to worry

Mumbai: Covid infection among children is soaring in Maharashtras Ahmednagar district, the latest report by the state health department shows. As many as 9,416 positive cases among children below 18 years of age were reported from Ahmednagar.

In April, 757 positive cases were reported among children below five years, while there were 1,510 cases of infections among the 5-10 year-olds, and 5,340 among 11-18 year-olds. In March, 188 children below the age of five years were infected. This number was higher among the 6-10 years age group at 270, and even higher among the 11-18 years category  1,173
By Express News Service

LUCKNOW: A multi-pronged probe has been started by the Uttar Pradesh Police into the alleged gas cylinder blast, which triggered of collapse of two attached houses, killing eight members of a family in Gonda district on Tuesday night.

With the rescue teams and police yet to find remains of the exploded gas cylinder from the debris in the congested locality in Wazeerganj area of Gonda district, sniffer dog squad, bomb detection and disposal squad have been pressed into action at the spot. A team of the state police's anti-terrorism squad has also arrived from Ayodhya to investigate the incident.

According to Gonda SP Santosh Mishra, the incident happened at around 10.30 pm in the house of small farmer Noorul Hasan. One of the family members called the Dial 112 service to inform about a gas cylinder blast having triggered the collapse of large portion of the house.

The police team rushed to the spot and rescue operations started in the night only. In all, 15 persons, all from the same family, were taken out of the debris, but while seven had died on spot, while one person succumbed to injuries at the hospital.

The deceased included head of the family Noorul Hassan's three sons, aged 35, 23 and 11 years, his 38-year-old daughter, 37-year-old daughter-in-law and three grandchildren, youngest of them being a 2-year-old boy.

Seven persons injured in the incident, including 60-year-old Noorul Hassan.

"Our first priority was to rescue those trapped in the debris and ensuring their timely treatment. Our other teams, including the sniffer dog squad, bomb detection and disposal squad are now at the spot to speed up investigations into the incident," Gonda SP said.

According to sources, since the affected family hailed from Manihar community (which is skilled in making of firecrackers), the police probe is looking into all possible angles. The ATS too have joined the district police in the investigations.

According to Gonda DM Markandey Shahi, since the family is primarily an agrarian family, they will be eligible for the benefits unde the Farmers Insurance Scheme and the National Family Benefit Scheme.
By Express News Service

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court has asked the Assam government as well as the Centre to file a detailed reply on the status of some 400 people from West Bengal who fled to Assam in the face of violence following the declaration of Assembly election results on May 2.

After hearing two public interest litigations filed by individuals, Abhijit Sarma from Assams Dibrugarh and Ravi Chhedilal from Mumbai, the bench of Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak also sought the status of the condition of children, lodged in makeshift camps in Assams Dhubri, from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

The matter will be heard again on July 14 after the court receives the replies within three weeks.

When the people, including women, from West Bengals Cooch Behar district crossed over to Dhubri over a period of three days, the Assam administration had sheltered them in two makeshift camps.

ALSO READ | 162.5 cm tall IRS officer who wants to join IPS accuses medical board of selling him short

On May 14, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had visited one of the two camps and met the inmates.

These people are so terrified that they told me they could be attacked because I met them. They are facing political vendetta for opposing the ruling party (Trinamool Congress), he had said then.

Meanwhile, Assam BJP chief Ranjeet Kumar Dass said the party would demand the imposition of Presidents rule in West Bengal.

The BJP believes in democracy. If (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee fails to restore it in her state, we will not only demand the imposition of Presidents Rule but will also launch an agitation in Assam, Dass said.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Some of the hit songs of actress Juhi Chawla's movies made their way in the proceedings before the Delhi High Court on Wednesday when a man started singing them during the virtual hearing relating to the Bollywood star's plea against the 5G wireless network.

The action of the man resulted in the periodic interruption of hearing and on the judge's directions, the person was repeatedly removed from the hearing, but he kept on joining and started singing till the time the proceedings were locked.

Chawla also joined the virtual proceedings from South Africa.

ALSO READ | Delhi HC reserves order on Juhi Chawla's suit against implementation of 5G technology in India

The man, who was logging in the virtual hearing with different names first started singing "Ghoonghat ki aad mein dilbar ka didaar adhura' from her block buster movie 'Hum hai rahi pyar ke' and he was then removed.

He again joined the proceedings and started singing from her another hit film Naajayaz "Lal lal hoton pe gori kiska naam hai" Juhi Chawla' and was again removed from the hearing.

The third time, he joined and sang 'Meri banno ki aayegi baraat ke dhol bajao ji' from the movie Aaina.

At the outset, the man was heard saying "where is Juhi Ma'am I can't see her" and when the judge asked the court master to mute the concerned person, he said "you want to mute me. Oh really! Initially, he joined the hearing with the name of Azaan, thereafter, changed name to Manisha Koirala and then to Janvi.

The film star herself on her Twitter account last evening had shared the link for joining the proceedings.

She had tweeted "if you do think this concerns you in any way, feel free to join our first virtual hearing conducted at Delhi High Court to be held on 2nd June, 10.45 AM onwards".

Justice J R Midha asked the court master to lock the proceedings and to contact Delhi Police and ask them to identify the person so that a contempt notice could be issued against him for his conduct.

On a lighter note, Chawla's lawyer said maybe the person is already affected by the radiations.
By Express News Service

BHOPAL: A day after the Centre nixed the CBSE Class 12 examinations and the CISCE followed suit, Madhya Pradesh announced cancellation of the state board's Clasd 12 examinations.

Announcing the decision not to conduct the MP Board of Secondary Examinations (MPBSE) Class XII exams after high level meeting with all stakeholders on Wednesday, the CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said: "Right now life is more important than career. Saving precious lives of children comes first and securing career can come later. At the time of Covid pandemic we cannot put mental burden of exams on our children."

He also announced formation of a group of ministers (GoM), which in consultation with experts will finalise the procedure of assessing the students performance, who would have taken the Class XII exams.

ALSO READ | Gujarat government cancels state board exams for class 12

Further on the lines of CBSE, the CM also announced that the students who aren't satisfied with their assessment/results, will have the option to take the Class XII exam when the Covid crisis is over or situation becomes conducive for exams.

As per sources, around 7.5 lakh students would have taken the MPBSE's Class XII exam.

The MPBSE's Class X exams, which were to be taken by around 10 lakh students, have already been cancelled and the students result will be declared based on their internal assessment.

Last year, the MPBSE had conducted Class XII examinations after the slowdown of the first Covid wave, while results of Class X examinations, which couldn't be completed due to peaking of the first wave, were declared based on the results of exam papers already held.
Chauvin is accused of violating Floyds rights when he restrained him face-down despite the fact that he was calling out for help during the confrontation on May 25, 2020, according to a federal indictment. He appeared Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota from the Oak Park Heights detention facility before Magistrate Judge Becky Thorson on charges including Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law in connection with Floyds death.
By PTI

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Wednesday announced a "corona free village" contest with an aim to encourage steps to curb the spread of COVID-19 in rural areas of the state.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray recently lauded efforts made by some villages to stem the spread of the viral infection and announced the "My Village Corona Free" initiative.

The "corona free village" contest is part of the initiative announced by the chief minister, state Rural Development Minister Hasan Mushrif said in a statement.

Prizes will be given to three village panchayats doing good work in COVID-19 management in each revenue division.

ALSO READ | Maharashtra Covid-19 mortality rate beginning to ebb, CM Uddhav sets target of zero

The first prize will be of Rs 50 lakh, second of Rs 25 lakh and third of Rs 15 lakh, the minister said.

There are six revenue divisions in the state, hence there will be a total of 18 prizes.

The total prize money is Rs 5.4 crore, he said.

The villages which win the contest will also get an additional amount equivalent to the prize money as encouragement, and itwill be utilised for development works in those villages, the minister said.

The participating villages will be judged on 22 criteria, he said, adding that a committee will be set up to judge the villages.

Thackeray in a virtual address on Sunday lauded Ruturaj Deshmukh (21), the youngest sarpanch in Maharashtra, and his task force to keep their Ghatne village in Solapur district free of coronavirus.

On Tuesday, Maharashtra recorded 14,123 new COVID-19 cases, taking the infection tally to 57,61,015, while 477 fresh deaths and another 377 deaths previously unreported pushed the fatality count to 96,198, as per official data.
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: A Meghalaya womans filing of an FIR with the police alleging that she was sexually abused by National Peoples Party (NPP) legislator Thomas Sangma made Opposition Congress to demand his removal from some Assembly panels.

The NPP is a key constituent of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government. The accused legislator is the chairman of the Assembly Committee on Estimates and a member of the Committee on Public Accounts. He is also the chief advisor to Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma.

In a letter to Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh, senior Congress leader Ampareen Lyngdoh said given the seriousness of the accusation against the MLA, he should be removed from the House committees.

When a serious accusation of this nature arises against a member of this Assembly, it shocks the conscience of society and puts a huge expectation on the representatives of the people to ensure that principles of accountability are held in utmost regard, Lyngdoh wrote.

She said as the chairperson of the Assembly Committee for the Empowerment of Women, she was committed to ensuring that justice was not denied, especially to women.

Lyngdoh highlighted the case of former MLA Julius Dorphang who was removed from some House committees in 2017 after an FIR was lodged against him with a similar charge.
By PTI

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government plans to put most of the new COVID-19 patients in institutional isolation instead of home quarantine, officials said on Wednesday.

The intention was to avoid the patients' family members catching the infection, said Dr Archana Patil, director of health services, state health department.

"The government has therefore asked all district collectors to increase the number of beds (in isolation centres)," she told PTI.

Dr Patil clarified that this did not mean that active COVID-19 patients who are in home isolation at present would be shifted to government facilities.

"The plan is to admit most of the new COVID-19 cases in institutional quarantine," she said.

Another top health official said, "The government has asked the districts with higher positivity rate to ramp up their capacity to accommodate more patients for treatment." During the second wave of the pandemic which began in March, patients with mild symptoms could stay at home, but in many cases this led to their family members catching the viral infection, officials said.

Talking about vaccination, Dr Patil said the pace was very slow due to the limited supply of doses.

"Today we received some nine lakh vials of Covishield from the Serum Institute of India.

This stock would be exhausted in the next couple of days," she said.

The shortage of vaccines was also a factor which led the government to put stress on institutional quarantine, she said.

"With institutional quarantine, we hope to bring down the rate of infection," Dr Patil added.

The state government imposed strict restrictions on people's movements and businesses from April 14.

The COVID-19 cases in the state have now fallen from 60,000-plus per day in April to below 20,000.
By PTI

FIROZABAD: In a bid to encourage Covid vaccination, the district administration here has ordered that government employees will not receive their salaries unless they are vaccinated, an official said here on Wednesday.

Chief Development Officer, Charchit Gaur said that District Magistrate Chandra Vijay Singh has issued an oral order of "no vaccination, no salary".

As per the order, if an employee does not take Covid vaccine, the department will initiate action and stop their salary for the month of May, Gaur said.

District treasury officer and other departmental heads have been given directions to implement the order and were asked to make a list and ensure vaccination, he said.

The CDO said that the employees are trying to get themselves vaccinated in fear that their salary might be stopped.
By PTI

THANE: Over 400 fake voter ID cards were seized from a flat in Kalyan town in Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Wednesday.

Acting on a tip-off, local revenue department officials raided the flat on Tuesday and found the fake voter ID cards in the premises, they said.

An offence under relevant section of the IPC has been registered against the flat owner, Kamlesh More, at the Khadakpada police station, the police said.

No arrest has been made so far and further probe was underway, they added.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: A court on Wednesday rejected a Delhi Police plea for three more days of custodial interrogation of wrestler Sushil Kumar in connection with the alleged murder of a young wrestler at Chhatrasal Stadium, and sent him to nine-day judicial custody. The Olympic medallist faces charges of murder, culpable homicide and kidnapping.

Metropolitan Magistrate Rashmi Gupta said, As per the settled law, PC [police custody] remand should not be granted in a mechanical manner. It should be granted only when the situation warrants and it is justified. Sushil was arrested on May 23. The court had initially remanded him to six days of police custody, which was later extended by four more days on May 29. He was produced in the court after the expiry of his extended custody.

Sushil Kumar and his associates allegedly assaulted Sagar Dhankar and two of his friends Sonu Mahal and Amit Kumar at the stadium on the intervening night of May 4 and 5 over a property dispute. The 23-year-old Dhankar succumbed to the injuries later.

Police has called Sushil the main culprit and mastermind of the alleged murder and said there is electronic evidence wherein he and his associates could be seen beating Dhankar with sticks.

Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava, representing the police, told the court that Sushil is not cooperating and that his custody is required to recover his mobile phone and the weapon of offence.

He called it a cold-blooded murder as he referred to the purported video of the brawl. Advocate Pradeep Rana, representing Sushil Kumar, said that his clients further custodial interrogation is not required as he is merely a victim of circumstances and not a dreaded criminal.

Co-Accused also in Judicial custody

Ajay Kumar Sehrawat, a co-accused in the murder case, was also sent to judicial custody for nine days. Ajay was arrested along with Sushil Kumar from Mundka area by Delhi Police.
Sudhir Suryawanshi By

Express News Service

MUMBAI: Following a rise in Covid cases in Maharashtras rural areas, the government has decided to reserve 80 per cent of hospital beds for the pandemic patients and fix the charges for medical treatment in private hospitals.

CM Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday asked district authorities to ensure implementation of the order in letter and spirit across rural areas. Private hospitals have to reserve 80% of the beds and charge the patients as per the government rate card. The rest of 20 per cent beds will be charged as per prescribed rates, said Health Minister Rajesh Tope.

Tope said the government had received several demands asking for a reduction in the treatment cost in private hospitals. He said the authorities would conduct hospital audits to verify whether the hospitals have followed the government order.

As per the notification, the bed charges are Rs 4,000 per day for the A category hospitals, Rs 3,000 for the B category and Rs 2,400 for C category. Nursing, testing, medicines and food are also included. High-cost testing, checking and costly medicines are excluded from this package.

For the ICU ventilators, the bed charges for A category city hospitals are Rs 9,000, Rs 6,700 for the B category and Rs 5,400 for the C category hospitals. The state government has fixed different rate for ICU beds for Covid 19 patients, which are Rs 7,500 for A category hospitals, Rs 5,500 for B category while Rs 4,500 for C class city hospitals.

In the A category, metro cities -- Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nagpur - are included. In the B category come Nashik, Aurangabad, Amaravati and other two-tier cities. In the C category, all rural districts are included.
Sudhir Suryawanshi By

Express News Service

MUMBAI: A day after he met NCP chief Sharad Pawar, former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday called on his loyalist-turned-bitter foe Eknath Khadse at the latters village in Jalgaon district.

While the meetings sparked speculations about a new political arithmetic in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut sought to downplay the development, quipping Sharad Pawar may have advised Fadnavis on how to be a good opposition leader.

The NCP, too, maintained there was nothing political about Fadnavis visit, with party chief spokesperson Nawab Malik saying the Maha Vikas Aghadi under Uddhav Thackeray was going strong. However, analysts speculated that Fadnavis was BJPs emissary to Pawar, with whom the saffron party has been seeking an alliance for a long time.

Devendra Fadnavis may have been sent by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to reopen the dialogue with NCP at a time it is being criticised for its Covid handling. BJP is on a sticky wicket and they require a leader of Sharad Pawars stature to tackle the situation. However, it is too early to say anything, political observers said.

Fadnavis visit to his former political Guru and the present foe Khadse, too, raised eyebrows.

Before leaving BJP, Khadse had accused Fadnavis for poorly treating him and forcing him to resign as minister on flimsy grounds. Khadse was not given ticket in 2019 polls, instead his daughter Rohini was made the BJP candidate. She was steamrolled by Shiv Sena candidate.

Asked about any political angle to the meeting between Pawar and Fadnavis, Shiv Sena leader Raut said the BJP leader himself termed it as a courtesy meet.

Earlier also there were speculations in political circles when Raut met Fadnavis in September last. However, Raut had then said the meeting pertained to an interview of Fadnavis which he planned to conduct.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Dominica High Court on Wednesday ordered that diamantaire Mehul Choksi be produced before a magistrate there to answer charges of his illegal entry into the Caribbean island country, local media reported.

Dominica High Court Judge Bernie Stephenson issued the orders after nearly three hours of hearing on a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of Choksi who had claimed that he was abducted from neighbouring Antigua and Barbuda and forcefully brought to the Caribbean Island nation.

She adjourned the habeas corpus matter till Thursday, Dominica News Online reported.

Rejecting the submission of Choksi who is wanted in India in an alleged Rs 13,500 crore loan fraud case in Punjab National Bank and has an Interpol Red Notice against him, the prosecution said the habeas corpus petition does not stand as he had illegally entered the country and was subsequently detained.

His lawyers, however, alleged that he was kidnapped from Jolly Harbour in Antigua and brought to Dominica on a boat, about 100 nautical miles away.

"Our stand that Mr Mehul Choksi is in illegal detention as he was required to be produced within 72 hours before the magistrate and was not so produced has been vindicated.

In order to remedy this, he has been asked to be produced before the magistrate.

This establishes illegal detention of Mr Mehul Choksi as pleaded by the defence," Choksi's lawyer Vijay Aggarwal said.

"The matter being heard is of habeas corpus petition...and not of his repatriation to India. His citizenship is not in question before the court....Contrary to numerous media reports, there was no discussion regarding Government of India," Aggarwal said.

The diamantaire, who mysteriously went missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda where he had been staying since 2018 as a citizen, was detained in neighbouring Dominica for illegal entry after a possible romantic escapade with his rumoured girlfriend.

Choksi's wife Preeti told reporters that the woman in question was not his girlfriend.

She said the woman was known to him and used to go on walks with him.

She said Choksi was abducted by people looking like Indian and Antiguan when he had gone to meet the woman.

During Wednesday's trial, Choksi was present through video-conferencing from Dominica China Friendship Hospital while his lawyers were present physically in court.

The judge asked authorities to share court documents with Choksi who is admitted at the Hospital.

His lawyers said that he does not feel safe in police custody and that he should be sent back to Antigua and Barbuda, local media reported.

He also said he would pay for his security and raised the issue of injury marks found on his body and him being hospitalised.

In case of an adverse order, Choksi has the option of appealing in higher courts.

Last week, the Government of Dominica had issued a press statement that it was verifying the status of Choksi's citizenship with Antigua and Barbuda.

"Once the information is provided by the Antigua authorities, possible arrangements will be made for Mr.

Mehul Choksi to be repatriated to Antigua," the statement had said.

A team of multi-agency officials led by a CBI DIG has gone to Dominica to bring Choksi to India if court there clears his deportation to India, officials said.

Choksi's arrest has created turbulence in the calm political waters of the neighbouring Caribbean Island countries -- Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica --where allegations have been levelled against opposition parties supporting the businessman having an Interpol Red Notice against him.

Dominican Leader of Opposition Lennox Linton had to issue a denial on the reports of meeting Chetan Choksi, the brother of Mehul Choksi, or receiving any money from him.

"I do not know Chetan Choksi. I have never seen him. I have never spoken to him. I have never met with him," Dominica News Online quoted a video message released by Linton.

Local media outlet Associate Times had alleged that Choksi arrived on a private jet on May 29 and met Linton at his home in Marigot locality the next day for nearly two hours where he gave token money of USD 2 lakh and promised funding for elections in return for raising the issue in Parliament.

The outlet alleged that Linton was quiet on the Mehul Choksi affair till meeting his brother Chetan.

After the meeting, he started attacks on the government over the arrest of the fugitive diamantaire.

Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted for allegedly siphoning Rs 13,500 crore of public money from the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) using letters of undertaking.

While Modi is in a London prison after being repeatedly denied bail and is contesting his extradition to India, Choksi took citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in 2017 using the Citizenship by Investment programme before fleeing India in the first week of January 2018.

The scam came to light subsequently.
Sumi Sukanya dutta By

Express News Service

MUMBAI: Mumbai based Haffkine Biopharma may not be in position to contribute to the Centres ambitious projection of nearly 55 crore doses of Covaxin between August-December as it has emerged that the Maharashtra government undertaking could start manufacturing the vaccine only from February next year.

The works have now begun at the facility to set up an advanced lab with a capacity to manufacture 22.8 crore doses of Covaxin, Indias first and only indigenously developed Covid19 vaccine jointly developed by Bharat Biotech and the National Institute of Virology-ICMR, every year.

Bharat Biotech, facilitated by the Union government, has signed pacts with three companies--the two being central undertakings BIBCOL and Indian Immunologicals, apart from Haffkine to scale up Covaxin production.

Government sources told The New Indian Express that a formal MoU between Bharat Biotech and Haffkine, which has received a 64 crore grant from the Centre and 94 crore from Maharashtra, however is still in the process of being signed.

A statement by the government said that the production will take place at the Parel complex of the company, adding that works have started on war footing to set up a biosafety level 3 lab, required for making a vaccine like Covaxin which is based on inactivated virus.

Sandeep Rathod, managing director of Haffkine BioPharma said the company plans to produce nearly 2 crore vaccine doses a month, adding that the company is looking at a timeline of eight months and the work is being executed on a war footing.

The vaccine production process involves two stages  drug substance and final drug product, the official explained.

He added that for production of drug substance the firm needs a sophisticated lab, while Haffkine, an offshoot of the 122-year-old Haffkine Institute- one of the oldest biomedical research institutes in the country- already has the fill-finish facility.

Bharat Biotech which as of now has a production capacity of about 2 crore doses per month for Covaxin, has been able to supply only about 90 lakh doses in May and the same quantity is expected in June.

The company however has said that it is roping its wholly-owned subsidiary Chiron Behring in Gujarat for quick ramp of the production of Covaxin, by an additional 20 crore doses per year. The plant however will be in position to start producing the vaccine only September onwards.

Though it is not clear what exactly will be the production capacity of the other two government PSUs, roped in for Covaxin production but given that setting up of BSL 3 level lab alone could take 6-8 months, experts have raised doubts that 55 crore Covaxin doses can be available during the last 5 months of this year.

ALSO WATCH | Is highly infectious B.1.617 variant spreading at a frightening speed?
I after much reflection realize it is time for me to remove myself from this type of behavior. I can be much more effective outside of the entanglement of the City Council. I am a Patriot, I am a proud Huntington Beach resident, I am an American who will always fight for my country and our Constitution, he wrote.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Wednesday accused the Central government of "hiding" the actual coronavirus death figures, even as he urged people to raise their voice for universal free vaccination.

"GOI is hiding actual Covid deaths," he said in a tweet, tagging a media report that conducted a survey on who people thought were responsible for coronavirus deaths.

Gandhi also launched a campaign to pressure the government for universal free vaccination in the country.

"Vaccine is the strongest protection against the corona pandemic. You should also raise your voice for providing free vaccination to the people of the country - wake up the central government," he said on Twitter, using the hashtag #SpeakUpForFreeUniversalVaccination.

He also shared a video highlighting the shortage of vaccines.

His sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also tweeted for universal free vaccination and slammed the government over a "confused and dithering" vaccination program.

"We are one of the biggest vaccine-manufacturers in the world. Yet only 3.4% of our population is fully vaccinated.

Who is responsible for India's confused and dithering vaccination program," she asked in the tweet.

She said that on August 15 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared that there was a plan in place to vaccinate every Indian.

But it is now mid-2021, and the country's inoculation rate is just 1.9 million people per day, whereas "we need 7 to 8 million people to be vaccinated per day to achieve that target", she said.

"The Centre first took all responsibility, after that as the 2nd wave hit it started to abdicate responsibility to the states.

Other federal countries like Germany and the USA have followed a completely different process, where the Centre has procured the vaccines and distributed it to states," she asked in a video tagged in the tweet.

"Why did the Modi government not do so?" The Congress has been critical of the government's handling of the pandemic and has slammed the vaccination policy.

The party has also been demanding free vaccination for all and has urged the Centre to procure jabs and provide them to states.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram questioned the government over delay in giving approval to foreign-made vaccines.

"Our suspicion that the govt had not approved any vaccine other than Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik has been proved correct.

Why did govt go through the charade of negotiating quantities with Pfizer & Moderna without first giving Emergency Use Approval (EUA) to their vaccines? "Why has it taken 8-9 months for the government to decide to give approval when the U.S. and other countries had granted approval? Remember, Dr Manmohan Singh had made this specific suggestion in his letter which got a rude reply from the Union Health Minister!" he said in a series of tweets.
Hindol Sengupta By

Despite a dreaded pandemic, investor interest in India continues to soar. In the latest foreign direct investment (FDI) data released by the Ministry of Commerce, India received a record $81.72 billion of investment during the financial year 2020-21 compared to $74.39 billion in 2019-20.

Not just that, FDI equity inflow rose in the same period by 19% to $59.64 billion from $49.98 billion. It was also a year when computer hardware and software as a category soared ahead of the usual list topper services; in fact, services was bumped off to third position by construction (infrastructure) activities.

No doubt as the economy swings into action after the pandemic, services shall grow exponentially again, but there is a bigger story in these numbers that is worth telling.

In these pages, I have earlier written about the process of deep digitisation that is currently happening in the country. This means that in almost every aspect of public life, and at every touchpoint between governance and the citizen, or the market and the citizen, digital technology is becoming the connector, the interface, the glue. From the investments raised by Reliance Industries for its digital ventures, to the ever-increasing numbers of unicorns (or start-ups that have a valuation of more than a billion dollars)earlier, in April, in a span of just four days, six start-ups acquired unicorn statusthe giant digital transactions landscape, the burgeoning SaaS (software-as-a-service) business, and other initiatives including direct transfers of government funds using digital technology, this is increasingly one of the most attractive investment reasons to look at India.

To make this more attractive, the government has introduced benefits through the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes in electronics and removed the archaic information technology-enabled services and the BPO (business process outsourcing) industry.

But this is only one part of the story. Consider why the interest is growing in construction and infrastructure. India is looking to spend $1.4 trillion in the coming years in building infrastructure, including roadways whose pace have been hitting the record books. Among the latest plans are to build a series of green highway corridors, in some places with the World Bank as partner. From inland waterways to highways, tunnels and roads in the remotest parts of the country, including the high Himalayas and the most distant corners of the Northeast, the action in infrastructure has been relentless despite the pandemic. Interesting innovations are also unfolding in infrastructure like the testing of the use of plastic waste in road construction.

Writing soon after the Budget announcement, I had described it as Narendra Modis New Deal, based on the familiar combination of relief, recovery and reform. The coming of the second wave of the coronavirus has shown us the importance of relief as a key ingredient of economic resilience and recovery. And the impetus for reform is more striking than perhaps ever. There is little doubt that the world to come would be divided into pre-Covid and after-Covid. And after-Covid is a whole new world.

This is the opportunity that investors are banking onthink of it as a double barrel of infrastructure push, on one side is digital infrastructure designed to change the contours of societal interaction at every level, and on the other the unrolling of new physical infrastructure is bridging the last-mile disconnect. From banking for the unbanked to farm produce for the palate conscious, there is little that these two engines cannot deliver.

These twin influences add up to a fundamental societal change that is likely to create a whole new generation of consumers, buyers, users who would propel future demand, and profits.

The history of FDI, in my mind, can be divided into two parts. The first happened after liberalisation in 1991, and really took off at the turn of the millennium. This is the phase where there were areas that were literally being discovered by investors, and there was a certain novelty and braggadocio in that age. With the arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modis government in 2014, we are in the second phase of our FDI history. This is a far more mature phase, and investors are noticing the depth of the India story, the longevity, rather than just the opportunity.

As the world starts to accept that living with waves of Covid is perhaps going to be a regular feature of our collective future, the search for longevity of opportunity is likely to lead to India quite frequently.

Hindol Sengupta

Vice President & Head of Research at Invest India, GoIs national investment promotion agency

(hindol.opinion@gmail.com)


K Jayakumar By

The Supreme Court recently observed rather sternly that it is time to define the limits of sedition. The heartening observation has not come a day early. There is no period in our history when Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, pertaining to sedition, has been invoked as often as today. The Centre and several state governments have been rather too quick to invoke this grave section routinely when faced with divergent voices and criticism. Instances where the UAPA and other strident laws have been invoked for apparently minor offences are also on the rise. In all such instances, the provocation for initiating arrests and denial of bail is criticism of the government on a particular issue or policy, or expression of a view divergent from that of the regime in power.

The recent observation of the Supreme Court was made in the context of the Andhra Pradesh government clamping the sedition law on two TV channels that had criticised its inept handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Some time ago, the arrest of the young environment activist Disha Ravi had invited national and international concern. A Facebook post by a young man pleading for an oxygen cylinder for his ailing grandfather had invited the wrath of the UP government, which proceeded against him for maligning the image of the government. Publication of photos of bodies of the dead floating on the Ganga too had been resisted by the UP government.

Social media posts by activists and people with differing viewpoints are invariably assaulted (online mercifully) by pro-government enthusiasts in unbecoming language. The Malayalam actor Prithviraj, who had returned from Lakshadweep, had remarked that the developments in the island are a matter of concern. Within a few hours, social media was abuzz with abusive responses in the choicest noxious diction. The Facebook account of the noted poet Satchidanandan was blocked for 24 hours at the behest of the government after he had aired some critical comments. Such instances are on the rise. The Centre has already issued restrictive rules to control the contents in OTT platforms. The latest rules to regulate social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, etc., are facing legal challenges on the ground that they infringe upon the norms of individual privacy.

This continuous watchfulness, bordering on obsession with criticism or dissent, is showing its slow and uneasy effect on several intellectuals, academics, columnists and journalists. They are confronting the tragic realisation that governments not only attach scant value to these informed suggestions and counterviews but are keen to demonise them. Besides, it often triggers online and offline harassment. It is not without reason that some newspapers and magazines are wary of publishing articles critical of the government.

To say that democracy decays in the absence of criticism, discussions and debates is stressing the obvious. What is intriguing, however, is the pathological desire of governments to hear only eulogies. What other meaning can be read into this nervousness and thoughtless clamping of sedition and other strident laws on journalists and dissenters? It means: no criticism, only praises. That presupposes a mindset of those in power to treat their decisions and actions as perfect, something that cannot be improved any further! Without some concerned individual pointing out fault lines and shortcomings, and offering alternatives, how does any government improve its accountability, responsiveness and efficiency? In the present traumatic times, when human life is beset with deprivation, difficulties and mortality, it is only natural that the media and sensitive individuals draw attention to instances of human misery. They should be treated as the declaration of the inherent faith in the government and its capacity to respond rather than disloyalty and treason.

It would be too far-fetched for governments to believe that there are no dissenting or critical voices on several serious issues affecting the country. Every citizen cannot be expected to believe that the demands of the agitating farmers are unreasonable or that they are being manipulated by anti-national forces. Those who think that the vaccine policy should have been more thoughtful, egalitarian and humane cannot be treated as anti-people. Someone who questions the veracity of government statistics on Covid deaths is not anti-national. They are entitled to their views. Other than through print, electronic and social media, how can people express themselves? A pliant, silent and uncritical citizenry is not what gives democracy its sheen and sinews. The Indian We, the people, emboldened by our sterling Constitution, were always proud of the fundamental right to express our views without fear. This freedom available to the citizens is what makes them the practitioners and inheritors of guaranteed democratic values. Any sustained assailing of this space can only be treated as an attempt to replace truth with power.

Apart from the practical decimation of its legitimacy, continued vindictive intolerance of democratic governments towards criticism and dissent is an act of self-blinding. It forfeits valuable opportunities to resolve issues that are draining the governments energies. Nothing can be more lethal in a democracy than self-righteousness and self-blindness. The legislature, opposition parties and the media are the major sources of alternative views. What is couched in the language of criticism or attack on the government often contains an alternative point of view for the government to consider. Castigating those who criticise or hold another view makes any government an airtight chamber. Devoid of ventilation, the air inside the chamber is soon bound to be fouled. Democracy wilts in that staleness. As critical as oxygen is for the breathless Covid patient, freedom of thought and expression is to a citizen in a democracy.

K Jayakumar

Former Kerala chief secretary and ex-VC, Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam Varsity

(k.jayakumar123@gmail.com)


The Central governments handling of the Covid-19 pandemics second wave has far more critics than admirers. From the common man and opposition parties to the Western press and sections of the domestic media, the consensus among all is that the Narendra Modi government has been found wanting and it has mishandled the health emergency. But the decision to scrap the Class 12 board examinations in light of the pandemic will be hailed by all. This would not have been easy as it went against the majority view to go ahead with examination, albeit in a truncated manner. If reports are to be believed, more than 30 states and Union Territories had favoured a shortened examination. But the Modi government has rightly ignored that view and scrapped the exam.

What swung the decision in favour of the cancellation has not been officially shared but there could be many reasons. One, although the second wave is ebbing in most states, there are some places where the disease is still cresting. Students belonging to regions where the situation is still dire would have been at a disadvantage. Two, a majority of the students are not eligible for the Covid vaccine as they are yet to turn 18, the age required for vaccination. Such students would naturally feel totally unprotected from the virus and their stress levels would have been much higher than that of others. Three, in a lockdown situation, many students without access to proper transportation facilities would have found it difficult to reach examination centres. Given all these challenges, the cancellation of the exam was in the best interest of all.

The next task before the government is to devise an impartial methodology to evaluate and assess the students and allot marks. Many of the brighter students will feel aggrieved by the cancellation as they would have most probably fared better if the examinations were held. But even such students will readily acknowledge that the potential risks of writing the exam would not have been worth it. The junking of the exam into the dustbin appears to be this governments best decision on the pandemic so far.
By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL), which has been bridging the gap between demand and supply of medical oxygen in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, has imported three cryogenic oxygen tanks from Singapore. The tanks, which are expected to reach Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday night or early Thursday, will be handed over to the State government free of cost. Each cryogenic tank with a capacity of 1.4 crore litres of medical oxygen (total 4.2 crore litres) will meet the present and future needs of the State.

A special defence flight from Singapore landed with the tanks at Panagarh Air Force Station in West Bengal at 6 PM on Tuesday and the tanks were moved to Durgapur Steel Plant, 35 km away, for filling them with oxygen. After the filling, the three tanks will be transported via rail route, and they will reach AP by Wednesday night or Thursday morning, said MEIL vice-president P Rajesh Reddy. MEIL has already imported 11 cryogenic tanks from Bangkok (Thailand) and handed over them to the Telangana government free of cost. Cryogenic tanks are critical in transportation of liquid medical oxygen. They are short in number that led to a gap between demand and supply of LMO in several States during Covid.

With the cooperation from the Centre and the State government, MEIL is importing tanks ahead of schedule. The tanks will bring liquid medical oxygen from the oxygen production centres allotted to our State and deliver it directly to hospitals. At the same time, these tanks are also used to supply directly to hospitals depending on their needs, MEIL added.It further noted that it is continuously producing oxygen at its Bollaram plant and supplying it for free to AP, Telangana and other States.On an average, MEIL has supplied nearly 400 oxygen cylinders with an average capacity of 7,000 litres per day to at least 17 hospitals. From May 9 to 31, it has supplied more than 56,000 MT of LMO. It has set up a special team to monitor supply of oxygen and the team is working round the clock, the company said in a statement.
Bansy Kalappa By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: 25 years after JDS leader HD Deve Gowda ascended the Prime Ministers seat  on June 1, 1996  the party is celebrating the event, hoping to revive and reinvent the regional outfit. Gowda (88), one of two prime ministers from this side of the Vindhyas, and Karnatakas kingmaker even today, had been catapulted into the top post after P V Narasimha Rao of the Congress failed to garner the numbers, as also Atal Behari Vajpayee of the BJP. Vajpayee had been sworn in Prime Minister, but fell short of numbers and resigned after 13 days. It was the United Front, a coalition of regional parties, which went on to form the government.

Celebrating this moment in history, the JDS on Tuesday launched a blitzkrieg of activities, with an eye on the 2023 election in Karnataka, and the bigger power game in 2024. JDS leaders said that with the BJPs performance slipping and the Congress failing to catch up, they smell an opportunity for another coalition in 2024, where the JDS could play a key role, just as it did in 1996. Gowda, who spoke exclusively to TNIE, said, There is a possibility of a coalition in 2024, and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee could play a role.

Former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy is the prime mover behind the activities. We will have the abhiyan for 25 days, till June 25, where important persons, politicians and journalists will recall the achievements and their memories of former PM Mr Deve Gowda and his tenure. Many youngsters do not know HD Deve Gowda and his contribution to the nation, Kumaraswamy said. We will follow it up with a series of activities on April 21 next year, when he demitted office.

The party will be playing the Mannina Maga card, highlighting the fact that the panche clad, ragi mudde eating farmer was the only Kannadiga to become Prime Minister. Kumaraswamy recalled how the accidental PM had helped mop up Rs 30,000 crore black money, a stupendous feat in those days. He had many plans to bring back black money from foreign banks, but his government collapsed after differences with Congress leader Sitaram Kesari.

The JDS hopes to keep the momentum going till the Karnataka elections. We want to come to power on our own strength in 2023. The people have given both BJP and Congress a chance, we are requesting them to give our party a chance. I have a five-point programme, Pancha Ratna, which will benefit people immensely, Kumaraswamy said.
Express News Service

BENGALURU: Karnatakas Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar drew flak from parents and students for wanting to gauge the states Covid situation before deciding on canceling the second PU exams, conducted by the State PU Board. Earlier, the Centre decided to cancel the CBSE Class 12 Board exams and it was followed by ICSE too calling off the crucial exams.

On Tuesday, Suresh Kumar in a press release said that the academic status of those following the state syllabus, opinions on evaluation and considering the health of students, a decision will be taken at the earliest. No decision was taken as of Tuesday by the education department about the state board examinations, a top official told TNIE. We were keenly watching the Government of India decision on CBSE Class 12 exams. We will hold discussions with stakeholders hopefully tomorrow (Wednesday), the official said. An appropriate response will be given after considering the present situation, he added.

However, Twitterati chastised Suresh Kumar for showing no concern for state board students. Requests poured in to cancel the Class 10 SSLC and Second PU board exams in the State. If they (CBSE and ICSE) dont have the exams, then why for state? There should not be partiality in studies. We are not even well prepared for the examinations and we dont know how the state will hold retrospective evaluation, Bindu, a student of state board, said.

Meanwhile, Mansoor Ali Khan, General Secretary, Managements of Independent CBSE Schools Association (MICSA), said that the Centres decision is wise. Exams are too risky. CBSE now has to come up with guidelines on how to evaluate the Class 12 students, he added.There was a mixed response from parents and students. A parent told TNIE, As a mom I am not happy, as my child is bright and was expecting 92 per cent. The preparations were done well. She also topped the pre-boards, and was expecting the same for the boards.

Its about the safety of students. However, there should have been another option. We are concerned about how these students will decide on their next step as exams would have helped them get a clearer idea. Students might take their opportunity for granted because for us Class 12 exams have been a testing factor, and that is when we prepare best for the examination, said C Jaiswal, whose son is in a CBSE board school.

However, anxiety still prevailed in some students about the evaluation process and how they would be graded. I feel good, but scared of what the percentage is going to be as we do not know how it is being calculated and allotted. Exams were postponed for so long and there were meetings, but no final decision was taken. Finally, it is good to know all are going to be safe, said Sanjana Nair, a CBSE student from Kendriya Vidyalaya.Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Higher Education Dr Ashwath Narayan, who lauded the Prime Ministers announcement, was flooded with requests on social media to cancel VTU exams as well.
By Express News Service

KANNUR:"Finally, I want to say only one thing. If you have not been satisfied by hunting us down till now, we, including our children, would come to Caltex junction holding our heads high. Finish us off with a single chop." This is the concluding part from a heart-rending Facebook post of media person Vineetha Venu, who and her husband Sumesh, a civil police officer, have allegedly been harassed and threatened by the CPM and its cyber warriors for more than three years.

What forced her to post the long note on FB is the latest organised cyber bullying which, she alleged, was by CPM and its well-oiled social media team. She says her husband has become a victim of moral policing by some CPM workers .

In the post, she described in detail about the latest incident. According to it, last Wednesday, Sumesh was on his way to visit his friend at Cheengakundam near Iritty. The friend is a military man and is posted in the Northeast India. As per the friend's request to visit his parents. Sumesh, who works at Chombala police station, decided to visit them after his duty hours. On his way, he received a phone call and stopped his bike and got down from it. As he walked a few steps forward speaking with the friend, some people came and stopped him. That was the beginning. Though Sumesh tried to convince them about the purpose of his visit, they didn't believe him and started harassing him. It was only when the police patrolling team from Iritty station reached the spot that they let him go.

At the police station, Sumesh gave his statement on the incident. Since nothing serious had taken place, Sumesh didn't file any complaint against those were allegedly moral policing.

"What happened was a clean act of moral policing," said Vineetha. But, things have taken an ugly turn from the next day as cyber soldiers of CPM started maligning Sumesh by spreading the videos of the moral policing incident through WhatsApp groups and FB.

To make matters worse, a baseless report appeared in the party mouthpiece, in which it was said that an investigation had been launched against a police officer who was caught by local residents in suspicious circumstances, she said.

The cyber bullying is part of a political vendetta, says Vineetha. "Everything started when I gave some reports against the party in connection with the murder of Youth Congress worker Shuhaib. My husband is a pro-UDF police association member and both of us have been harassed by the CPM for taking a stand against the party in connection with the Shuhaib murder."

In the WhatsApp groups of police officers, Sumesh was being threatened, warning him that his limbs would be chopped off. Vineetha was stalked at many places and feared that their children would be attacked. "It was tough to survive those harrowing days," she said.

When she lodged a complaint, it was investigated by the Crime Branch. The investigation was a farce as the officer in charge of investigation had acted rudely with her without even giving her the consideration of being a woman, she alleged. After she complained about it, the investigating officer explained that it was only a joke. "What kind of a joke it was?" she asked.

Sumesh was transferred seven times in the last three years. When Vineetha had reported about the leak of data from the Covid app of police on the TV news channel in which she was working, Akash Thillankeri, an accused in the Shuhaib murder case, campaigned that the news was leaked to her by her husband, she said. "I was not the first reporter to air that news," she said. "My husband was transferred to Palakkad during the lockdown period due to this incident. Following continuous attack from the CPM and its cyber teams, I had to resign from my job as I was not able to cope up with the situation."

"The mental trauma, we have been undergoing is beyond words," said Vineetha. "Through this post, we don't seek anybody's support. Though I had tried to write about it many times before, I couldn't do it out of fear. Many people would think this is silly, but I want to remind such people that if it is me today, it could be themtomorrow," she said.

As Vineetha Venu's Facebook post went viral, the CPM Iritty area committee denied the role of party members in the incident. "The FB post of the wife of the police officer was not based on facts and purely emotional. She says that CPM has been hunting them down unnecessarily. The local people and a few persons who were at the spot during the incident know what had taken place. The party refutes all allegations raised by the media person as they are baseless. Everybody knows about the politics of the CPM and the tactics he (the said officer) had used during the last LDF government's term. The support of the people is the strength of CPM and the party will face these allegations also with the support of the people," a statement issued by the area committee said.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state assembly on Wednesday passed unanimous resolution demanding the Centre to provide Covid vaccines free of cost and in a time-bound manner.

The resolution moved by the health minister Veena George was also critical of the vaccine policy which pushed the states to compete in the market for vaccine purchase.

The resolution also mooted the use of provisions of compulsory licensing to make vaccines in public sector pharmaceutical companies.

It also sought to allow other vaccines which got the approval of WHO for emergency use and those approved by health regulators in Europe (European Medicines Agency), United Kingdom (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency), Japan (Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency) and USA (Food and Drug Administration), for use in India.

The resolution was passed after incorporating some of the suggestions made by the opposition parties. The opposition UDF extended full support to the government in the fight against the pandemic.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Assembly on Wednesday witnessed noisy scenes with the UDF MLAs protesting the remarks of Health Minister Veena George that the Opposition was trying to depict the health workers engaged in COVID duty in poor light for political reasons. Though the Opposition sought to discuss the COVID situation in the state as an adjournment motion during Zero Hour, Speaker M B Rajesh disallowed it, saying a debate could not be allowed.

While moving the notice, M K Muneer said it is yet to be ascertained which variant of the virus has caused more deaths in the state, adding that there has been an attempt to cover up Covid deaths in the state. It is not right to project Kerala as the lead state in COVID containment measures by not showing the actual numbers of deaths, he said. He also alleged there has been discrimination in the distribution of COVID vaccines by giving undue consideration to Pathanamthitta.

Later, while replying to an adjournment motion notice, Veena George said the Opposition should not try to depict the COVID containment work of Kerala in poor light. This led to noisy scenes in the assembly with Opposition members led by V D Sathesshan rising from their seats to register their protest. The minister should retract her statement as the Opposition has never tried to belittle the health workers or COVID containment work of the state government, he said.

Replying to the allegations, the minister said the allegation that the state government didn't show the actual COVID deaths was baseless. There are World Health Organisation guidelines to confirm the COVID deaths based on which each death is being confirmed, she said. The highest number of COVID deaths was recorded in the age group of 70-80, she added. Satheeshan in his reply reiterated the support of the Opposition to the state government in dealing with the pandemic.

The state has received enough time to prepare for the second wave and it is time to stand united to face the third wave, he said. While repeating the suspicion over the COVID death figures, Satheeshan said the state should form its own guidelines to report these deaths by holding a study as the Opposition is concerned over the families hit by the pandemic. All the families who lost their members to COVID should get the benefits announced by the state government, he said.

MLA forced to take oath again

First-time MLA A Raja had to take his oath again on Wednesday. This was after the oath he had taken earlier was neither with solemn affirmation nor in the name of God.

He was told to take the oath again after a word which indicates the solemn pledge went missing from the note he was given during the swearing-in ceremony.

On Wednesday, he took the oath in Tamil before the Speaker M B Rajesh. According to the Constitution, MLAs are required to swear either in the name of God or by making self-affirmation. The oath taking is usually annulled whenever this provision is violated.
All of a sudden we heard rounds shooting out, a witness sitting on his porch nearby told Dayton Now. Heard five rounds shoot out  pop pop pop, pop pop pop  and then a couple seconds later another five, and then another two. And it sounded like it was ricocheting off of something, the ground or the building or something.
M S Vidyanandan By

Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When the CPM state secretariat met here 10 days ago, there were rumours that the leaders would reach a consensus to reduce the number of personal staff members of ministers, owing to the states financial crisis and the pandemic situation. But, the CPM secretariat decided to allow 25 personal staff members for each of the 21 ministers and for three other cabinet-rank public servants  speaker, deputy speaker and chief whip.

As per convention, the Opposition leader will also be eligible for the same number of personal staff. The reason cited by leaders was that there was a reduction, from 30 to 25 personal staff members, made in 2016 when the LDF came to power after being in the opposition for five years. Not just the ministers who handle heavyweight portfolios, but those in charge of namesake depart - ments are also eligible for the same number of personal staff. The practice is continuing unchallenged as appointment of personal staff is the one bait used by major political parties to woo fulltime workers.

Every five year, a batch of dedicated party workers who are armed with recommendation letters from local party units, get into the personal staff. Apart from salary for five years, the personal staff are eligible for pension benefits proportional to their years of service till their death.

Dr J Prabhash, political scientist and former provice- chancellor of the Kerala University, said it is high time the state limited the number of personal staffers of ministers and of those holding cabinet rank. Considering the states strained finances and Covid pandemic, the upper ceiling on personal staff appointments should be brought down, he told TNIE. He, however, does not support the call to make all personal staff appointments by way of deputation.

Personal staff appointment should not be mere cost-benefit analysis

It should not be a mere cost-benefit analysis. The minister is into policy making and requires trusted people linking him with the people. Appointments should be a happy blend of political appointments and deputations, Prabhash said.Going by previous tenures, it can easily be observed that over 90% of appointees are sympathisers of the ruling party or nominees of senior leaders. The CPM even deploys its activists in the personal staff of ministers of weaker constituent parties. Last time, half of the staff of Congress (S) nominee Ramachandran Kadannappally was appointed by the CPM. During the 2006 V S Achuthanandan government, the then health minister P K Sreemathy landed in a controversy by appointing her daughter-in-law Dhanya Nair as a cook in her official residence. Later, CPM directed the minister to sack her after TNIE reported about the appointment.

The previous Pinarayi Vijayan-led government alone made at least 325 appointments (other than deputation appointments) in the offices of the chief minister and 19 other ministers, as per the records available with the government.

The previous LDF government had spent at least Rs 25 crore per annum for paying salaries to personal staff members of ministers who were recruited directly. In the last five years, the government had spent around Rs 125 crore for maintaining large teams of personal staff members of each minister. According to an estimate based on the budget records and revised salary scale of personal staff, the government spent Rs 1.82 crore every month for the salary of 304 persons directly appointed by the 19 ministers. If the salary expense of direct recruits in CMO is added, this figure will cross Rs 2 crore. The estimated figure is only for salary while personal staff members are entitled for reimbursement under various heads, the details of which are not available.

Similar personal staff postings were made by the Opposition leader, speaker, deputy speaker, government chief whip and persons holding cabinet status. Going by the budget records, at least Rs 6 crore might have been spent by other leaders with cabinet rank per year to pay personal staff members. The five-year burden created by them will be at least Rs 30 crore. That means the total burden on exchequer caused by direct recruits to personal staff from 2016-21 is at least Rs 155 crore!

During the tenure of the previous government, cabinet rank was conferred on Achuthanandan (chairman of administrative reforms commission) and R Balakrishna Pillai (chairman of Welfare Corporation for Forward Communities). While Achuthanandan appointed around 20 staffers, Pillai restricted the number to less than 10.

In April, the government revised the salary of personal staffers in line with the revision made for government employees. As per the order issued by general administration department, ministers and Cabinet-ranked persons can make appointments to 15 posts ranging from private secretary to confidential assistant and cook. The highest paid is the private secretary (scale of pay

Rs 1.07 lakh-Rs 1.6 lakh) and the lowest were the office attendant and cook categories which shared the salary scale of Rs 23,000-Rs 50,200. All are eligible for 7% DA, house rent allowance and other perks available to government employees. The minimum monthly salary of a PS would be Rs 1.48 lakh and a cook Rs 26,910.

The order also hints at the quality of appointments made so far. It says persons with required qualification can only be appointed as computer assistant and confidential assistant from the date of that order. The tenure of a personal staff member ends with the tenure of the administrator who appointed him. The staffer will get lifelong pension though the amount is less when compared to that of a normal government officer of his rank. In case of the pensioners death, his spouse will get a family pension benefit.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday pitched in for a consensus on centralised procurement of vaccines and a decentralised method in which the states can determine their mechanism to ensure universal vaccination.

In a letter to chief ministers of all states, Naveen said that no state is safe unless all states adopt vaccination as top most priority and execute it on a war footing. Under the above circumstances, the best option available is for the Government of India to centrally procure the vaccines and distribute among

the states so that our citizens are vaccinated at the earliest, he added.

Naveen said that at the same time, the execution of the vaccination programme has to be centralised and states allowed the flexibility to determine their own mechanisms to ensure universal vaccination. Many hilly areas cannot access internet and therefore online registration has to be flexible to allow the states

to give priority to vaccinate some vulnerable tribes, he added.

Stating that it is perhaps the greatest challenge the country has faced after independence struggle, the Chief Minister called upon all the states to set aside all differences, political or otherwise, and come together in true spirit of cooperative federalism to save precious lives of people and their hard earned livelihoods.

The Chief Minister said that all the state governments should come to consensus on these issues for early resolution of the vaccination problem. We should act fast before any third wave comes and creates further havoc, he added.

Stating that countries which have focused on vaccination programme have seen remarkable improvement in their Covid situation, the Chief Minister said the states will have provide this healing touch to the people.

Naveen said that after the Centre announced phase 3 of the vaccine policy and allowed vaccination of people of 18-45 age group, there has been great demand from the citizens. Though many states have floated global tenders for procurement of vaccines, it is clear that global vaccine manufacturers are looking

forward to the Centre for clearances and assurances, he said, adding, they are unwilling to get into supply contracts with the state governments. Domestic vaccines manufacturers are also having supply constraints and not able to commit required supplies, he added.

He said that the Odisha government has written to the Centre in this regard and talked to some of the CMss who share the same view. But the state governments should come to a consensus for early resolution of the problem, he added.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: Even as uncertainty looms large over commencement of new academic session owing to relentless surge in Covid-19 cases, the School and Mass Education department is laying more stress on digital learning.

School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash said though the government was hoping that the 2021-22 academic session will commence as usual by July-August, due to second wave of Covid-19, no final decision in this regard has yet been taken.

We have to wait till things improve on the ground or till the lockdown is lifted before taking a decision, Dash said, adding online classes are the only option for now. To ensure the studies of children are not hampered during this period, Odisha is focusing on e-learning through WhatsApp, Diksha portal, DD telecast and other platforms.

With classroom teaching remaining affected for more than a year, there was no announcement of summer vacation this year.

The Minister said in view of the situation, the department has extended the admission process in government and other Board Of Secondary Education (BSE) affiliated schools till June 30.

Students of Class I to IX have already been promoted. However, there are students who are switching from private schools. Accordingly the last date for admission has been extended, he said.

The Minister said evaluation of Class X students affiliated to BSE is continuing in alternative mode. On Plus II exam, he said a decision may be taken this week.

We, however, will wait for the Supreme Court hearing in the CBSE matter on June 3 and the move of the Central Board before taking a decision on Plus II Exams, Dash said.
Binita Jaiswal By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The sudden demise of her doting grandfather due to Covid-19 infection last December still haunts S Ananya, an eight-year-old girl. Traumatised ever since, the happy-go-lucky girl has now gone completely silent. The toll it took on her mental health is so devastating that she is now afraid of going even to her terrace. Whenever her parents are about to step out, she begins weeping inconsolably and pleads them to stay home.

Her mother Sangeetha is concerned about the girls behavioural change. It has become difficult for us to deal with her. Even if I have to go out to buy vegetables, she starts crying and pleads me not to step out. She says I would also die like her grandfather if I stepped out. It is painful to see my kid so terrified, she says. Ananyas parents have sought help from a psychologist who visits her for counselling.

Unfortunately, Ananya is not alone. Many children quietly suffer from mental health issues which arise out of loss of their loved ones to Covid or the fear induced by the disease or getting infected. If not attended appropriately and in time, these will have a lasting impact on the mental wellbeing of the children. Everyone speaks about the mental health problems of adults.

But there is hardly any awareness on the need to address those of children. In this Covid second wave, many young people have died leaving their children behind; many children get infected and hospitalised. All these traumatic experiences are taking a severe toll on the mental health of our children, Andrew Sesuraj, convenor of Tamil Nadu Child Rights Watch (TNCRW), told TNIE.

A lot of children are struggling to deal with fear, grief and helplessness during the pandemic period, and if the issues are not addressed in time, they can trigger suicidal thoughts in children, warns Dr S Bharathi, a psychologist.

Sesuraj said he keeps making requests to district child protection officers in all the districts to identify children who have lost their dear ones to Covid or have tested positive for the infection themselves and send volunteers to interact with them so as to assess their mental health condition.

Speaking at a webinar organised recently to address the issues of children during the pandemic, Aarti Rajaratnam, a leading child psychologist, said, The role of kids families is crucial under these difficult circumstances. The families should interact more with the children and help them cope with the grief by giving them counselling.
Debjani Dutta By

Express News Service

PUDUCHERRY: In the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 70 percent of infections in Puducherry have been caused by the Delta strain (B.1.617.2), the one sampled in India, while 18 to 20 percent of infections have been caused by the Alpha strain (B.1.1.7), the one documented in the UK, and 2 to 3 percent by the Beta variant (B.1.351) first sequenced in South Africa.

So far, Puducherry has sent 200 samples for sequencing genomes of the novel coronavirus samples to NIMHANS, Bengaluru, which has been designated for Puducherry by the National Centre of Disease Control for variant analysis.

Accordingly, the results of 187 samples analysed have shown that 145 were found to be the Delta strain, 37 Alpha strain and five Beta strain, according to data from the Department of Health and Family Welfare.

The Delta virus has the highest transmissibility of (++++) as compared to Alpha strain (+++) and Beta strain (+). The Beta strain has the highest immune evasiveness (++++) followed by Delta (++), while for Alpha it is nil.

"The extent of protection from natural infection or vaccination is complete for some strains and incomplete for some others," Dr M. Vivekanandan Pillai, Professor and Head, Emergency Medicine and Trauma, JIPMER and Nodal officer, COVID, JIPMER told The New Indian Express. But in general even if one gets infected with another strain, there is still very good protection against severe disease and death, said Dr Vivekanandan who is also a member of the Puducherry governments High Level Expert Committee for COVID.

The Health Department is not concentrating on the strain of virus that has infected people, but on cure and management. Despite several variants of COVID, in Puducherry very few people have been infected for the second time, Director of Health and Family Welfare Dr S Mohandass said. Only one among 500 to 600 people got infected. The COVID vaccines are said to be effective against these strains of the virus and give the same kind of protection, said the Health Director.

Meanwhile, the department has stepped up its vaccination drive. The Health Department programme called "Vaccination on the Street" was launched by Lt Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan from Wednesday. Member of the Legislative Assembly Anibal Kennedy, Health Secretary T Arun and State Health Project Director Dr Sriramalu were also present.

The goal of the programme involving legislators is reaching out to everyone, said Arun. Puducherry has adequate stock of vaccines, he said, appealing to people to come forward and get vaccinated. The vaccination is done with an equipped ambulance and doctors, he said.

Besides, safety practices such as wearing a mask, washing hands and maintaining social distancing need to be continued to prevent COVID infection, he said. It is the intention of the government to control the outbreak with the help of public awareness, he added.

Meanwhile, Puducherry on Tuesday reported 979 fresh cases and 14 deaths.
Pinto Deepak By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Prashanth Vadinams release from the Pakistani jail he was lodged in for a year came sooner than anticipated for his family. In fact, the techie himself didnt expect to be released immediately after his prison sentence. They (Pakistani officials) were going to brand me a spy, and I would have faced charges for the same too. But very soon, they found out that I was not in the country for spying, said Prashanth, who was caught crossing the Pakistan border illegally in 2017.

After he was deported and handed over to the emigration officials at Attari border, the Cyberabad police escorted him to the city on Tuesday, where he was reunited with his elder brother Srikanth. They left for their native place in Visakhapatnam, where his family currently resides, after completing all the official formalities.

It was earlier reported that Prashanth had left his home in Hyderabad in 2017, and set out to Switzerland on foot to meet his lover. He later confirmed that he wanted to travel to Switzerland for personal reasons, and that he decided to walk all the way to the country as he did not have sufficient funds. His family, who thought he had gone missing, had lodged a complaint with the police back then.

Cyberabad Commissioner of Police VC Sajjanar said though they had registered a missing case, their investigation did not yield any result for a long time. Finally, we learnt about his whereabouts. We thank the Union Home Ministry and the External Affairs Ministry for taking special interest in the case and bringing Prashanth home, he said.

Thanking the Police Department, State and Central governments for his release, Prashanth said that he would forever be indebted to them. There are several people from India languishing in Pakistani jails. But I am one of the fortunate few to return home safe, he said.

People of Pakistan were helpful, says Prashanth

Recalling his days in Pakistan, Prashanth said that he was taken good care of by the people. Some even helped me with computer literature and improving my academic skills. I wish to find a job with the skills I have acquired, he said.

When asked if he was mistreated, Prashanth said, Criminals are treated in Pakistan the same way theyre treated in India. But the people are very friendly like ours. Many a time, they have shared food with me.

What was his plan?

Before leaving home, Prashanth had made plans to walk to Switzerland via Pakistan and Europe. On Google Maps, he found that it would take 61 days for him to reach Switzerland, covering 7,500 km.

Two days before the journey, he had tried to leave home. But his mother found out and stopped him. He then took a train to Bikaner in Rajasthan and crossed the border.

Had I listened to my mother, my situation would have been completely different. I urge all youngsters to listen to their parents, he said. He was lodged in the Kot Lakhpat Central Jail in Lahore, Pakistan, serving a one-year sentence for illegally entering the country. He was initially suspected to be a spy, but Pakistan Army officials found that he was a civilian, and handed him over to local authorities.

AMBITIOUS ADVENTURE GONE HORRIBLY WRONG

Before leaving home, Prashanth had made plans to walk to Switzerland via Pakistan and Europe. On Google Maps, he found that it would take 61 days for him to reach Switzerland, covering a distance of 7,500 km
By PTI

BEIJING: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will host a trilateral meeting with his counterparts from Pakistan and Afghanistan on Thursday to discuss the Afghan peace and reconciliation process, as Beijing stepped up its diplomacy with the two nations in the wake of the US troops withdrawal from the war-torn country.

Wang will chair the fourth China- Afghanistan-Pakistan trilateral foreign ministers meeting via video link in which his counterparts from Pakistan and Afghanistan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Mohammad Haneef Atmar, would take part, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday.

The three foreign ministers will have in-depth exchanges of views on the Afghan peace and reconciliation process, practical cooperation and counterterrorism and security cooperation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing here.

Last month, China offered to host peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban militants to forge peace in view of the US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan by September.

US President Joe Biden in April 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.

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, the US has agreed to withdraw all its soldiers from Afghanistan in 14 months.

Asked about China's expectations from the meeting, Wang said since its inception in 2017, the trilateral meeting had been held three times and achieved positive outcomes.

"As agreed by all, the fourth dialogue will be chaired by China. Now the unilateral withdrawal of the US and NATO forces in the critical stage, the Afghan peace and reconciliation process poses new uncertainties to its domestic situation and regional security," he said.

The fourth dialogue will focus on the peace and reconciliation process in Afghan cooperation, security and counterterrorism, he said.

The abrupt US troop pull-out has raised concerns in Beijing that this may lead to the regrouping of Xinjiang's Uygur Muslim militants in Afghanistan which shared borders with China.

China wants Afghanistan's future leadership to pursue a moderate policy, promote a foreign policy of peace, maintain a friendship with neighbouring countries and firmly combat all forms of terrorism.

Wang, who held telephone talks with Qureshi and Atmar last month, said China expects the UN to play its due role after the withdrawal of the US forces.

Wang also said that the eight-member Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), of which India and Pakistan are members, should pay more attention to the situation and Afghanistan's neighbours to strengthen communication, speak in one voice and take coordinated actions.

China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan are the SCO members.
By PTI

UNITED NATIONS: The highly-infectious COVID-19 variant first detected in India "threatens" to rapidly spread in the sub-region, including among refugees, the UN refugee agency has said as it warned of vaccine shortages in the Asia-Pacific region, including for asylum-seekers.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Andrej Mahecic, at a press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday, said that the fragile health systems in many countries in the Asia and Pacific region have struggled to cope with the recent surge of coronavirus cases.

"We are particularly worried about the situation in the Asia and Pacific region, which in the past two months has experienced the largest increase in the number of cases globally," he said. The UNHCR spokesperson said that over this period, there have been some 38 million recorded COVID-19 cases and more than half a million deaths.

"The lack of hospital beds, oxygen supplies, limited Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacities and scarce health facilities and services have worsened outcomes for those infected with COVID-19, particularly in India and Nepal. The highly infectious variant of the virus which first emerged in India threatens to rapidly spread in the sub-region, including among refugee populations," Mahecic said.

The B.1.617 COVID-19 variant, first detected in India, is divided in three lineages -- B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that only B.1.617.2 is now a "variant of concern", observing that lower rates of transmission have been observed for the other two lineages, making them no longer variants of concern.

The B.1.617.2 is now labelled variant Delta and has been reported in 62 countries as of June 1. With COVID-19 raging in many parts of the world, the UNHCR warned of shortages of vaccines in the Asia-Pacific region, including for refugees and asylum-seekers.

UNHCR spokesperson Mahecic said: "We urge an immediate and stronger support for the COVAX initiative, a worldwide effort aimed at achieving equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. This is critical to save lives and curb the impact of the virus, particularly in developing nations. These countries host the vast majority of more than 80 million forcibly displaced people in the world. Yet so far, they have benefited from only a fraction of the world's COVID-19 vaccines."

The UNHCR stressed that no one can be left behind in the global effort against the coronavirus. "The pandemic will be defeated only when vaccinations become available everywhere on an equitable basis," the agency said.

It said that the current delays in vaccine shipments, brought about by limited supplies to COVAX, mean that some of the world's most vulnerable people remain susceptible to the virus. "The UNHCR is adding its voice to the calls for countries with surplus doses to donate to COVAX, and for manufacturers to boost supplies to the COVAX facility," Mahecic said.

The UN refugee agency said that refugees remain especially vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19 as overcrowded settings, coupled with limited water and sanitation facilities, can contribute to increased infection rates and an exponential spread of the virus.

It said that in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, where almost 900,000 Rohingya refugees are living in the single largest and most densely populated cluster of refugee camps in the world, the number of cases has increased considerably in the last two months.

As of May 31, there have been over 1,188 cases among the refugees, with more than half of these cases recorded in May alone. There is also a "worrying increase" in the number of COVID-19 cases among refugees and asylum-seekers in Nepal, Iran, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Some refugees, including in Nepal, have already received their first vaccine dose with COVAX-provided supplies while among the Rohingya refugees in the camps in Bangladesh, not a single vaccine has been administered yet, given the scarcity of supplies in the country, the UN refugee agency added.

On Wednesday, India reported 1,32,788 new coronavirus infections, taking the country's tally to 2,83,07,832, according to the Union Health Ministry. The COVID-19 death toll climbed to 3,35,102 with 3,207 fresh deaths, it said, adding that the active cases were recorded below 20 lakh for the second consecutive day.
By AFP

BEIJING: China wants its women to have more children but for many young people, the government's big promises of support mean little because of soaring living costs and changing mindsets about families.

On Monday, the world's most populous nation further relaxed its strict family planning controls, allowing couples to have three children after just 12 million Chinese were born last year -- a record low. But high costs, limited space and social norms shaped by decades of limits on family size will impede efforts to boost China's 1.41 billion population, experts warn.

"A lot of the women around me are quite repulsed by the idea of having children. So don't even talk about having three," 22-year-old masters student Yan Jiaqi told AFP in Beijing.

In 2016, China relaxed its "one-child policy" -- one of the world's strictest family planning regulations -- allowing couples to have two children as concerns mounted over an ageing workforce and economic stagnation.

The latest easing is part of an increasingly desperate effort to stir a demographic boom before China's remarkable growth story is bogged down by the healthcare and pension bills for hundreds of millions of elderly.

For the country's Communist leadership to be successful, it will have to persuade people like Yang Shengyi, a 29-year-old father of two, to have one more child. As he visited a Beijing toy store with his family, Yang said two young sons were already more than enough in the competitive squeeze of China's capital.

"We don't have that much money and there's not enough space at home, so I don't think there's any reason to have a third child. When our second child was born, there was suddenly only half of everything, and where we could originally give each child 100 percent we can now only give 50 per cent," he told AFP.

Paying for the past

For others, the thought of having any children at all or even marriage is off the table, as urban life takes its toll -- long working hours, expensive housing, and a punishing ladder into decent education. "Young people today might not have any thoughts of carrying on the family name, and feel that their own quality of life is more important," Yan Jiaqi said.

This increasingly pervasive attitude has alarmed China's leaders, prompting Monday's policy pivot. But the vague pledges to support couples -- and women in particular -- with work-life balance if they have more kids did not make fast friends on Chinese social media.

Instead, the new policy prompted derision among young Chinese already struggling with intense workplace competition and the pressure of supporting elderly parents without siblings to share the costs, thanks to the "one-child" edict.

Social media users circulated memes making light of the idea of having children -- including an image of a discount-price triple-decker bunk bed -- and celebrating the relative financial freedom of childlessness.

Others made raunchy jokes about boosting population growth.

'Too late and too little'

Experts say changing socio-economic conditions -- including the intense educational investments families make in their children and women wanting more say in their careers and family lives -- mean the government will need to do more than simply easing the rules. "Having just one child or no children has become the social norm in China," Yi Fuxian, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told AFP.

China's fertility rate stands at 1.3 -- below the level needed to maintain a stable population, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Other countries in East Asia have also struggled to boost birth rates, with families shrinking in South Korea, Japan and Singapore despite government incentives.

Yi said the relaxed birth policy was "too late and too little", and that China's best hope was to model its policies after Japan, "for example, providing free childcare, free education, housing subsidies for young couples".

"Young people are under a lot of pressure. They have no time to take care of kids at home because of work, and if they take care of kids full time, that means no work," a woman visiting the Bund in Shanghai with her only child, who did not give her name, told AFP.
By ANI

ROSEAU: Indian-born fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi's brother, who is also a bank defaulter, has allegedly promised election funding Dominica's Leader of the Opposition Lennox Linton in exchange for pushing Mehul's abduction theory, Associates Times reported citing sources.

The sources said Chetan Chinu Bhai Choksi had met Linton on May 30, where they discussed several aspects related to Mehul Choksi's arrest and agreed on the commitment that in exchange for token money and promise of election donation, the opposition leader will press the matter in Parliament.

They also confirmed to Associates Times that Chetan disclosed during the conversation that Mehul had reached Dominica on his own, but they require the assistance of the opposition to tackle the matter in court and against the Dominica government to make them believe that he was abducted by Antiguan and Indian police.

Sources said Chetan gave Linton token money of USD 200,000 and promised him more than a million-dollar of financial assistance in the upcoming general elections, in exchange Linton would issue statements favouring Mehul.

Associates Times reported that Linton, who had remained mum on the matter, has now aggressively initiated his attacks on the government after the meeting with Mehul Choksi's brother.

It also reported that the Dominican Leader of Opposition has a long history of taking money from people for delivering unauthorized promises. Al Jazeera reported that in 2019, Linton had promised a diplomatic passport to some investor in exchange for election funds amounting to about USD 200,000.

In October 2017, Linton also allegedly supported the separation propaganda of Brahim Ghali, who is facing critical criminal charges in the National Court of Spain. This image of the leader has raised questions on his instant stand in favour of Mehul Choksi, who is wanted for fraud charges in India.

However, in an exclusive interview with ANI, Linton denied the allegations, claiming that he has never known or met Chetan Choksi. "I don't know Chetan Choksi, I have never seen Chetan Choksi. I've never spoken to or with Chetan Choksi, I think there is an online story coming from a publication called Something times, I've never seen this website. I think this publication must be associated with passport selling friends of some of these governments in the region," he told ANI.

He also said the report was a 'total lie' and there was absolutely no truth to it, adding that he had no private residence in Marigot, as it was blown away by a hurricane and that he was not even present in Marigot on May 30, as suggested by Associates Times. "I have not received any money from anybody in exchange for favours or as a result of things that have done or not done or promised to do or not do," he said.

Calling the report an 'absolute garbage', Linton said the political opposition in Dominica had no contacts with Mehul Choksi, his agents or his associates.

"We have not met with Mehul Choksi and his associate and not even his family members. We don't know them. There is absolutely no arrangement for them to for any funding for the campaigning or anything there is no such arrangement. This is absolutely false..," he said.
Unsure of what to do, and with no time before the event to run to a shoe store, Peters began to panic before he saw John Butler, a paraeducator at the school. The student explained to the teacher what was happening and the two went to talk to the woman who had barred Peters from entry. However, Peters having an adult side with him did not help his cause.
By PTI

JOHANNESBURG: An over-a-century-old silver statue of revered Hindu deity Shakti, brought by an indentured labourer from India, was stolen along with a number of other items from a temple in South Africa, leaving the community heartbroken with the theft of the historical idol.

The statue, made of solid silver, was among a number of items stolen from the Arupta Temple in the mainly Indian suburb of Isipingo Hills in Durban, where the first indentured labourers landed by boat in 1860.

Trustee of the temple Omela Moodley said that her grandfather Murugasa Coopsamy Naicker had initially kept the statue in his private temple at his residence in another suburb of Durban, Clairwood, but after his death, it was donated to the temple when the surviving family relocated there.

Moodley told the weekly Post that burglars gained entry to the temple through a window in the resident priest's living quarters.

"We currently don't have a resident priest so the room was not occupied. The suspects removed the burglar bars, went into the temple, and stole more than five statues and all our lamps.

"They basically took anything that was brass. The caretaker notified us about the robbery the following day. With the items stolen, it felt like our temple had vanished overnight," Moodley said.

She said her grandfather became a successful builder after his period of indenture ended following his arrival in the country from India in 1886.

He made a trip back to his village in south India in the early 1900's and returned with the statue.

"It was beautiful. It was made of solid silver and it was heavy but it could be carried by a single person. It is heartbreaking to see our religious items, one of which had so much history, be taken like it is nothing," Moodley said.

She said the temple committee would be meeting soon to discuss a way forward and whether the items would be replaced if they are not found.

Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele confirmed the theft and said a case of housebreaking was being investigated.

However, some devotees believed that even if the culprits were found, the statues were likely to have been melted down already and sold for their intrinsic value.
By PTI

BEIJING: President Xi Jinping has called for better international communication, urging the bellicose official Chinese media and "wolf warrior" diplomats to adopt a tone that displays openness and conveys modesty, in what observers see as a rare admission of Beijing's growing isolation exacerbated by COVID-19.

Xi, 67, who carries the image of being the most powerful Chinese leader after 'Chairman' Mao Zedong with possible life-long tenure in power, in a candid conversation at a group study session of the Politburo of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) on Monday said, new concepts, domains and expressions should be created to tell China's stories in a better way.

In a comment seen as an expression of dissatisfaction with the current lot of wolf warrior, diplomats and bellicose official media outlets, Xi spoke of the need for conveying the message with modesty and humility.

Xi said a tone that displayed openness, confidence and conveyed modesty and humility must be maintained, the state-run China Daily said in its report on the speech.

China needs a voice that matches its national strength and international status, it said.

"It is necessary to give better play to the role of high-level experts and use platforms and channels such as important international conferences and forums and foreign mainstream media to speak out," Xi said.

He also emphasised the efforts to introduce the Chinese culture abroad and strive to shape a reliable, admirable and respectable image of the Communist giant.

"It is necessary to make friends, unite and win over the majority, and constantly expand the circle of friends [when it comes to] international public opinion," Xi was quoted as saying.

Asked whether China will take a different approach in its diplomatic efforts in the light of Xi's remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing here on Wednesday that the comments were in line with China's "peaceful development".

"I want to stress that enhancing and improving our international publicity work and better build our capability in international publicity will help China to create a more favourable external environment for our reform and development," he said.

"This is in line with what we need for China's peaceful development as well as reform and opening up. It is also conducive to the trend of peace and development. It is both in the interest of China and beyond," Wang said.

Significantly, Zhang Weiwei, who served as an English interpreter for Deng Xiaoping, the moderate Chinese leader who succeeded Mao Zedong, was chosen to make a presentation on the status of China's communication at the meeting presided over by Xi.

Zhang, the director of the China Institute of Fudan University in Shanghai, gave advice for relevant work and the CPC leaders listened to his presentation attentively, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported without disclosing details.

Chinese diplomacy and the official media have undergone a makeover ever since Xi came to power in 2012, becoming the leader of the CPC, the military and the Presidency.

Since then, China's diplomacy acquired a more aggressive tone while the official print and television media modernised on a scale and speed not seen before, and sought to forcefully push China's narrative on contentious issues.

The tone of the official media, especially by the CPC-run publications like the tabloid Global Times, has become increasingly belligerent, amid Beijing's adverse international image following the emergence of the deadly coronavirus in Wuhan in 2019 which later became a horrific pandemic, resulting in over three million deaths globally.

China is also aggressively pushing its narratives to counter the international pushback on the disputed South China Sea, allegations of the genocide of Muslim Uygurs in Xinjiang, repression of Tibetans in Tibet and the imposition of Beijing's national security law over Hong Kong against massive opposition from local people.

Xi's remarks came amid China's deepening feud with the US and negative perceptions of China at record high levels in many parts of the world, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday.

Chinese observers said Xi's call was a rare admission of Beijing's isolation that has been exacerbated by aggressive "Wolf Warrior" diplomacy and ineffective propaganda and influence campaigns abroad, the Post report said.

His comments also suggest how Beijing will seek to shift the unfavourable narratives in its ideological and geopolitical wrangling with Western democracies, it said.

Commenting on Xi's speech, Beijing-based analyst Wu Qiang said: China is facing the worst international isolation since the reform and opening-up in the late 1970s, but it seems the leadership has not been able to find any solutions.

 Xi has effectively admitted the failure of China's external communications and the country's isolation, which could be attributed to a lack of convincing communications strategies and good China stories, Wu told the Post.

But I don't think there will be any change to the assertive diplomatic approach apart from some fine-tuning, he said.

Gu Su, a political scientist at Nanjing University, said poor communication and combative diplomats were holding back China's efforts to fix its image.

"Xi's remarks appear to be related to Washington's move to use an international investigation into the origins of the coronavirus to target China, which has gained momentum in recent weeks," he said.

"While it's good that state leaders realise the problems we face, it would be naive to expect the media can make a big difference to how China is perceived around the world," he said.

Gu said an overhaul of foreign policy was needed, and polishing its communications strategy would not be enough for China to improve relations with other countries.

Xi's remarks "can be seen as a general assessment of global opinion on China, which is far from satisfactory," Post quoted an expert, who declined to be named.

In view of Xi's well-publicised comments in the official media, speculation is rife whether there will be a change of tone and tenor of Chinese diplomacy and the official media in its communication with the world.
Help support your local hometown newspaper/website. Independent local news reporting matters. Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription, for as little as $3, so we can continue to provide independent local reporting on our communities.
In 2012, Daymon Patterson ordered a double bacon cheeseburger and Cajun fries from the Five Guys location in Farmington, across from Tunxis Community College. He settled into the drivers seat of his car and turned on his camera to shoot another fast-food review video for YouTube, like hed been doing for three years prior.

There was something different about this one, though. It may have been his trademark exuberance, or the moment when he bit into the bacon, raised his fist and excitedly sang damn, damn, DAMN! The review video went viral, to the tune of nearly 11 million views, and a remixed version, set to music by the Gregory Brothers, garnered nearly four times that many views.

Patterson, known as Daym Drops, was an instant star. The Connecticut native, who grew up in Stratford and now lives in New Britain, appeared on national television with Dr. Oz, Jimmy Fallon and Rachael Ray. He hosted his own Travel Channel series, Best Daym Takeout, in 2013, and starred in fast food commercials. And on June 9, he can add Netflix star to his resume, as his new series, Fresh, Fried & Crispy, launches on the streaming service.

All of this, since 2009 to now, has been for this very moment, Patterson says, referencing his first forays into YouTube food criticism.

The series takes Patterson to cities like St. Louis, San Diego, Denver, Cleveland and Birmingham, Ala. as he seeks out the best fried dishes in each destination, coming from the streets, fancy restaurants, and home kitchens.

Patterson said he was approached by production company Ugly Brother Studios to shoot a pilot for the show, and he was thrilled when Netflix picked up the series. As the production team planned out the travel schedule, he gave his input, telling them hed like to focus on locally-owned places revered by those who live there.

[It was] three or four locations [in each city] that folks always talk about, they always have to go to, he said. When I finally get there and Im talking to the owners, and then I get the backstory of how they even opened the restaurant, their passion for food, and it was just amazing. I had a job of responsibility at that point, to be able to tell this story in a larger way.

Patterson infuses his affable personality into each scene. When presented with a fried bologna sandwich in St. Louis, topped with pimento cheese and fried sunny-side-up egg, he kisses the top of it before taking a bite. In Baltimore, he edits a colossal crab sandwich made with fried soft-shelled crab and a crab cake, whipping off the fresh lettuce and tomato (or in his parlance, crunchy water, and red ring of death) and replacing them with Old Bay potato chips.

In Las Vegas, at Slaters 50/50, they present him with the Whale Burger, with a pound of Wagyu beef, truffle cheese, a fried lobster tail, slab bacon and a gold-dusted bun, served with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot. After taking a bite, he hunches over the table, speechless. Me and the burger are having a moment, he tells the manager.

Patterson shot the series over two months last year, he said, and he and the crew remained in a bubble to minimize any possible COVID exposure, testing regularly and staying in their hotel rooms when not filming.

Thats what you had to do to keep safe...the ultimate goal was to be able to showcase these mom and pops, and we can't possibly do that if we're outside, and individuals are starting to get sick, he said. So we just we kept it a close knit family, for those two months straight, and we made it through.

Patterson made digital content creation his full-time career after the viral Five Guys video, leaving his job as a buyer for CarMax in Hartford. Before that, he was an assistant manager at Walmarts Rocky Hill location.

Hes also branched out into other ventures: he has an ownership stake in the Windsor location of MofonGo, a Puerto Rican restaurant, and he launched the Daym Drops Diner concession stand in partnership with the Hartford Yard Goats at Dunkin Donuts Park this season, selling his take on ballpark fare. (Hint: Theres a slab of bacon on a stick.)

Hes also the marketing director for Impossible Kicks, a sneaker boutique with locations at the Westfarms Mall in Farmington and The Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey. Two more locations are planned for Orlando and Tampa.

Patterson hopes the series will inspire others to find as much pleasure discovering these spots as he has.

I just want them to say, Listen, I need to go to where Daym Drops went; I have to be there, and I don't care where it is, how far I have to drive... I just need exactly what he had, so I could experience what that man experienced, he said.

Because I go through some raw emotions in this show that you've never seen before. On any given food show, I promise you...to the point where you're like, I need to have that exact same experience at that mom and pop location, I need to be there, and I need to be there yesterday.

Fresh, Fried & Crispy launches June 9 on Netflix. See more at netflix.com.
Free access for current print subscribers

As a home delivery subscriber, you get free unlimited digital access to news-daily.com including stories, photos, obituaries, e-edition and more on your computer, tablet or phone.

All you need is your print subscription account number and your last name.

Don't know your subscription number? Email access@news-daily.com with your delivery address.

Activate your account now.
[Vargas] could have handled it differently. You know, she was there, her husband was there, I was there, nothing would have happened. Nothing bad like that, Brunos owner told KTRK. I was asleep and I had a dream hearing the little boy crying, and thats what woke me up when I was sleeping yesterday.
popular top story

Tuesday's vaccination updates: Champaign County active cases fall to 157, lowest point since first week of UI's fall semester; 5 of 25 COVID patients at Carle Urbana in ICU
Governor: 'I know the Republicans are already planning to sue. Thats their goal. Their goal is just to throw a wrench into the process hoping to get their own map.'
Passed on for the governor's signature: bills to allow for college sports betting and phase out school isolation practices. Failed: a bill to reclassify small amounts of drug possession, including heroin and cocaine, from a low-level felony to a misdemeanor.
Reporter

Debra Pressey is a reporter covering health care at The News-Gazette. Her email is dpressey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@DLPressey).
One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021
Brett Kepley is a lawyer with Land of Lincoln Legal Aid Inc. Send questions to The Law Q&A, 302 N. First St., Champaign, IL 61820.
The underage driver was making her way to California when she went into the wrong way of an off-ramp and crashed the car right into the semitrailer, said Lt. Sean McCarthy, of the West Valley City Police Department.
This Wednesday, June 24, 2020 photo shows John Sanders in Sandusky, Ohio. Sanders, who was hit in the face with a bean bag and blinded in one eye during a protest last year in downtown Cleveland, has sued the sheriff's deputy who shot him. The complaint filed Saturday, May 29, 2021, by Sanders says the Cuyahoga County sheriff's deputy shot him from behind a broken window as he walked away from the county Justice Center after taking photos.
*Lab confirmed cases only; **Includes cleared backlog of pending antigen tests dating to Nov. 1; ***Begins data from the Ohio Department of Health

Weekly number of new COVID-19 cases reported in Lake County. Figures are as of 2 p.m. on Tuesdays and are included in the Lake County General Health Districts weekly coronavirus data reports. All figures include confirmed and probable cases, unless otherwise noted.
Love Conquers Ale: Samuel Adams and New Belgium Come Together with GLAAD to Support a More Inclusive Future
Ohio House passes bill to keep income taxes where work is done
When it comes to food and wine, the best way to learn is by tasting.

A class at The Loretta Paganini School of Cooking in Chester Township typically concludes with a tasting of the foods taught or demonstrated. Usually, in fact, its a full meal.

But a wine dinner at Sapore, chef Loretta Paganinis small restaurant situated on Mayfield Road between the cooking school for consumers and her International Culinary Arts and Sciences Institute for professional chefs, is a learning experience embedded in an extraordinary meal. Sapore, which means taste in Italian, is an expression of Paganinis expertise in the kitchen, which has been fine-tuned by her travels.

- Advertisement -

Tim and Mary Hurley of Mentor, who traveled to Sicily in 2015 with one of the small groups Paganini leads each year, were among the 22 people at a recent Italian wine dinner at Sapore.

Cole Davis, representing Cutting Edge Selections wine merchant, selected Italian wines to pair with each of five courses.

The Hurleys' trip to Sicily, from which Marys ancestors hail, was one of the best experiences of their lives, they said. So signing up for the Italian Wine Dinner was a natural.

Id go again in a heartbeat, said Mary about the Sicily trip. I especially enjoyed going to the markets. We were given a list of things to get and would bring them back and prepare a meal with them.

Italian comfort foods inspired by the memories they spark for Northeast Ohio chef Loretta Paganini grew up in Bologna, considered by many to be the breadbasket of Italy. In t

Many of the recipes for the wine dinner were for dishes Paganini and her groups sampled at restaurants on various trips. The late-May menu included roasted baby artichokes in a lemon dill sauce, a favorite of many. Paganini also served Tortellini Stuffed with Ricotta and Swiss Chard, a recipe she discovered at Da Cesari Restaurant in her hometown of Bologna, and Seared Duck Breasts with Grappa and Acacia Honey Glaze, which she got from Ai Mercanti Restaurant in Venice. The Chocolate Mousse dessert came from Vecchio Roma in Rome.

The Hurleys most enjoyed the Burrata Caprese Napoleon second course that is todays recipe for readers. Paganini got that recipe at the Lido del Faro restaurant on the Italian island of Capri near Sorrento.

Recipes for the dishes served at Sapore dinners always are distributed to those in attendance. Mary Hurley often makes them with her son-in-law, a proficient home cook.

The red Villa Barbi Rosso from Umbria is a wine that goes especially well with tomatoes, Davis told the diners.

Because fresh tomatoes dont reach their flavorful best until August, Paganini took a break from the kitchen to share a tip as guests were served the burrata-topped tomato.

You bake them with olive oil for a few minutes, Paganini said. It makes all the difference.

Burrata is a ball of pillowy fresh mozzarella prepared by hand with a pouch inside where a mixture of mozzarella strings and cream is carefully sealed. When broken open with a fork, the more liquidy center oozes out to accent the tomato and basil.

Burrata, often available at Heinens, must be eaten when very fresh.

The next special dinner at Sapore is a Crab Feast at 6 p.m. June 23. Call 440-729-1110 for reservations.

Recipe

Burrata Caprese Napoleon

(serves 8)

Ingredients

8 fresh burrata mozzarella

8 large salad tomatoes, cut in half

 cup high-quality olive oil

 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh basil chips

Balsamic reduction

Instructions

To make the basil chips, fry basil leaves in oil until crisp. Drain on paper towels.

Season tomato halves with salt and pepper and drizzle lightly with olive oil.

Roast at 350 degrees on a sheet pan for 20 minutes.

For balsamic reduction, boil down one-third cup balsamic vinegar for 5 minutes until thick and syrupy. Set aside.

Combine olive oil, one-fourth cup balsamic vinegar, honey, sugar, chopped basil, salt and pepper and whisk for a minute or two.

Place roasted tomato on a plate, top with basil chip and burrata.

Sprinkle with chopped basil.

Drizzle with dressing and finish with balsamic reduction.

 Courtesy of Loretta Paganini from the Lido del Faro restaurant on Capri (lidofaro.com)
The routine use of the glycosylated hemoglobin test to track blood sugar levels in the general population can identify individuals with more advanced atherosclerotic disease. Currently used in the diagnosis and management of diabetes, glycosylated hemoglobin can provide a useful estimate of atherosclerotic disease, and therefore of cardiovascular risk, in individuals without diabetes with or without possible prediabetes. This is the main finding of a study carried out by scientists at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC).

The advance heralded by the CNIC study is the use of this blood-sugar measure in apparently healthy middle-aged individuals who do not have diabetes mellitus but with or without possible prediabetes. When used in combination with traditional risk factors (hypertension, dyslipidemia, and smoking), the glycosylated hemoglobin test more accurately distinguishes between people at high and low risk of atherosclerotic disease.

The study, published today in The Journal of American College of Cardiology (JACC), proposes that, because glycosylated hemoglobin levels can easily be reduced through lifestyle changes, the test should be at the front line of risk reduction strategies.

The glycosylated hemoglobin diagnostic test is cheap, accessible, and widely used in daily clinical practice, explained Dr. Xavier Rossello, CNIC scientist and cardiologist at Hospital Universitario Son Espases in Palma de Mallorca. The test can therefore be put to immediate use to calculate the degree of subclinical atherosclerosis in the general population.

According to CNIC General Director Dr. Valentin Fuster, this new information "will help to provide a more personalized assessment of cardiovascular risk at almost no additional cost, paving the way to personalized treatment plans principally focused on lifestyle changes, followed when necessary by treatment with antidiabetic drugs."

The study forms part of the collaborative PESA-CNIC-SANTANDER project, which is led by Dr. Fuster. Begun in 2010 and recently extended until 2030, the PESA-CNIC-SANTANDER study is one of the most important cardiovascular prevention studies in the world.

Atherosclerosis is usually only detected at advanced stages, after it has already triggered a cardiovascular event such as a myocardial infarction or stroke. Events of this type severely worsen patient prognosis, and the early detection of atherosclerosis--the underlying cause--is therefore vital for extending lifespan and quality of life.

The new CNIC finding provides a simple way to increase the accuracy of cardiovascular risk ranking in individuals without diabetes with or without prediabetes.

The glycosylated hemoglobin test was especially useful in identifying subclinical disease in participants classified at low risk according to traditional scores; it made less of a contribution to risk calculation for individuals who already had a moderate level risk according to other risk factors." Dr. Xavier Rossello, CNIC scientist and cardiologist, Hospital Universitario Son Espases in Palma de Mallorca

The authors conclude that "this study establishes glycosylated hemoglobin as a mass-use biomarker because its greatest benefit is in individuals at low cardiovascular risk, who form the immense majority of the general population and account for most cardiovascular deaths in absolute terms."

The study was conducted by a multidisciplinary team that included physicians, biologists, statisticians, bioinformaticians, nurses, and many other professionals who, with together with the Banco Santander employees who make up the study population, make the PESA study possible.
A clinical trial examining the efficacy of two devices to monitor and detect atrial fibrillation (AF), or an irregular heartbeat, in ischemic stroke patients--one an implantable device that monitors over 12 months, the other an external device that monitors over a 30-day period--found the implantable device is more than three times more effective in detecting AF, and both are a significant improvement over the current standard of care in Alberta, Canada.

The Post-Embolic Rhythm Detection With Implantable Versus External Monitoring (PER DIEM) study, led jointly by University of Alberta and University of Calgary researchers, was published today in the journal JAMA. The findings are expected to significantly change practice in how clinicians look for AF in Albertan patients following ischemic stroke.

We know that (the current method of monitoring) isn't as effective as it could be in picking up atrial fibrillation from this study because regardless of which arm of the study patients went into, we were picking up anywhere from five to 15 per cent extra atrial fibrillation. We found in the study there were a lot of patients with undetected atrial fibrillation, even after they received the standard cardiac monitoring." Brian Buck, stroke neurologist and associate professor of medicine at the U of A

Atrial fibrillation causes about one in four strokes in Alberta. Detecting it early is key to preventing further disabling strokes in patients who have already experienced ischemic stroke, a type of stroke caused by a blockage in an artery that supplies blood to the brain. If atrial fibrillation is detected, clinicians have treatments--mainly blood thinners--that can reduce the risk of stroke by almost 70 per cent.

The standard test in Alberta for AF is a 24-hour electrocardiogram monitor. In the PER DIEM trial, 300 Albertan patients who had suffered a stroke were randomized to one of two new devices that can monitor for AF for longer durations. The study showed that the implantable device picked up three times more new AF than the 30-day monitor (15 per cent versus five per cent). All of the patients in the clinical trial with new AF were started on blood thinners.

"We didn't expect that we would get such a dramatic increase with the longer recording, even though it intuitively makes sense," said study co-author Michael Hill, professor of neurology at the University of Calgary and senior medical director for stroke with Alberta Health Services' Cardiovascular and Stroke Strategic Clinical Network. "Most people suspected that detection rates apply to only certain subtypes of ischemic stroke. This study showed that theory is not correct."

"We believe that those patients that were identified with atrial fibrillation are now, for the rest of their lives, going to have a much lower risk of having a stroke in the future," added Buck, who is also a member of the U of A's Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute.

One of the patients who took part in the trial was Norman Mayer, the sitting mayor of the central Alberta community of Camrose for the past 32 years. Mayer recalls being admitted to the emergency department about five years ago after not feeling well and experiencing sudden pain. After examination, the clinicians on duty informed him that he had likely experienced a minor stroke.

After being stabilized, Mayer was informed of the clinical trial and given the option of participating. After giving his consent, he was randomly assigned to the group of patients who were given the implantable monitoring device.

"It was the luck of the draw, and the advantage of it was that it's inconspicuous and wearing (an external device) would not have been very appealing to me," said Mayer. "So I had (the implantable device) tucked into my chest. It's there and nobody knows about it except for me and my doctor.

"It gives you a bit of a comfort level, I guess. It's not bothering you. It's just there and a part of life," he added. "It gives you the feeling that if something was to go wrong, somebody's going to be in touch to let you know (what steps need to be taken)."

With better monitoring, clinicians may be able to diagnose much more AF after stroke and dramatically reduce the risk of future disabling stroke. According to the Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technology Assessment (CADTH), the external device costs about $1,000 per patient to administer, while the implantable device typically costs over $5,000 per patient. The implantable device had the added advantage of remote monitoring, reducing the need for trips to the hospital--an important consideration for rural Albertans. The team says an in-depth cost-benefit analysis is needed to determine the best approach to providing superior care while also providing savings for the health-care system.

"The biggest problem with stroke is that it dramatically impacts people's lives. So you take a healthy, independent person with a big disabling stroke, and they often end up being dependent on others for help with care. So that's terrible for patients and it's very expensive for the system. If you can prevent even a few of those big disabling strokes per year, it helps the person and reduces the burden on the health system," said Buck.

"This new evidence will help guide selection of what strategy is best going forward," added Hill. "We need to go beyond (24-hour monitoring) for Albertan patients. But if the system is going to pay for this technology, we need to know more definitively that patients are going to end up with lower stroke rates in the future."

The researchers say studies to this point have shown a trend in that direction, but more work is needed to prove it definitively. They hope to address those questions in future research.

The PER DIEM study was conducted as one part of the overarching Performance Evaluation & Rhythm Follow-up Optimization with Remote Monitoring (PERFORM) project led by the University of Calgary's Derek Exner with the Libin Cardiovascular Institute. The research was funded through Alberta Innovates' Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Health System (PRIHS) program and in part through the Alberta Innovates CRIO grant program (QuICR Alberta Stroke Program). Industry partner Medtronic also gave in-kind support to the study.
Simulators have long been used for training surgeons and surgical teams, but traditional simulator platforms typically have a built-in limitation: they often simulate one or a limited number of conditions that require performance of isolated tasks, such as placing an intravenous catheter, instead of simulating and providing opportunities for feedback on the performance of multiple interventions that a trauma victim may require at the same time. To overcome this limitation, the Advanced Modular Manikin (AMM), an innovative simulation platform that allows integration of other simulation devices, was developed and field testing was conducted, with support from the Department of Defense (DoD).

The DoD subcontracted with the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Division of Education to conduct field testing of the AMM. The results have been published online in advance of print by the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. Robert M. Sweet, MD, FACS, MAMSE, of the department of surgery at the University of Washington, served as principal investigator (PI) of the DoD contract to build the AMM. Ajit K. Sachdeva, MD, FACS, FRCSC, FSACME, MAMSE, Director, Division of Education, American College of Surgeons, served as the PI for the subcontract to conduct field testing.

The investigators reported that members of trauma teams at a testing site preferred the integrated AMM platform including a "peripheral" simulator over the "peripheral" simulator alone, in terms of realism, physiologic responses, and feedback they receive on the multiple and overlapping interventions they perform on a simulated trauma patient. Corresponding study author Dimitrios Stefanidis, MD, PhD, FACS, FASMBS, FSSH, of the department of surgery at Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, described the AMM as "more of a platform rather than a manikin."

The DoD supported development of the AMM through a contract with the University of Minnesota and the University of Washington. The goal was to create an open-source simulation platform that permits integration of a number of simulators, known as "peripherals," into a singular, comprehensive training platform. A Steering Committee composed of leaders and staff of the ACS Division of Education and the Research and Development Committee of the ACS-Accredited Education Institutes, along with leaders from the Development Team of the AMM Project created the model for field testing the AMM.

The AMM platform, along with the 'peripherals,' can help to address the need for more robust simulators that focus on open procedures and interprofessional teamwork. The ability to integrate the anatomic and physiologic elements of the simulation is an important advance. The experience with the trauma scenario may readily be extended to other surgical procedures and settings." Ajit K. Sachdeva, MD, FACS, FRCSC, FSACME, MAMSE, Director, Division of Education, American College of Surgeons

Corresponding author Dr. Stefanidis explained that with most traditional simulators, instructors have to manipulate vital signs to respond to specific actions of the learner. He pointed out that the AMM promotes "a learner experience that is more based on the actual physiology of what's happening to the patient." The AMM platform allows different members of the trauma team to perform different tasks concurrently--one inserts a breathing tube, another starts an intravenous line, another performs a splenectomy. "All of these interventions impact the physiology," he said.

The researchers evaluated team experience ratings of 14 trauma teams consisting of 42 individual members who performed tasks on the integrated AMM platform and the standalone "peripheral" simulator. Team experience ratings were higher for the integrated AMM platform as compared with the standalone "peripheral" simulator. Among the team members, surgeons and first responders rated their experience significantly higher than anesthesiologists, who noted higher workload ratings. In focus groups, the team members said they preferred the AMM platform because of its increased realism, and for the way it responded physiologically to their actions and the feedback it provided.

Dr. Stefanidis explained how the AMM can potentially aid in training trauma teams. "Trauma requires exemplary teamwork," he said. "When we see patients who are injured, there are typically multiple providers who take care of them simultaneously--trauma surgeons, emergency room physicians, anesthesiologists, orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, nurses, respiratory therapists, etc. So, it's extremely important to also be able to train these teams in a low-stress simulation environment, such as by using the AMM, where they can hone their skills, individually and as a team, and perform at their best when faced with the very high-stress clinical environment."

The AMM platform offers other benefits for improving the training and proficiency of trauma teams, said the field study PI, Dr. Sachdeva. "Specific training models could be standardized and the situation made increasingly complex in this safe simulation environment," he said.
As of March 2021, California had one of the least equitable vaccine distribution programs for COVID-19 in the US. To address this, Governor Newsom ordered that 40% of Californias vaccine supply be reserved for the census tracts in the lowest quartile of the Healthy Places Index (HPI).

California is planning to lift all state-wide restrictions and fully open on 15 June, 2021 using four primary indicators to assess readiness: 1. county-wide adjusted daily case rates, 2. county-wide test positivity rates, 3. health equity measurement based on test positivity rates in the lowest-quartile HPI tracts, and 4. vaccine equity measurement based on total vaccinations in the states most vulnerable neighborhoods.

Examining vaccine equity and vaccine coverage forecasts in California in various scenarios

Researchers from the University of California, Davis recently conducted a short investigation to examine current vaccine equity and forecasts of vaccine coverage in California by June 15, 2020, in various scenarios. This study is published on the preprint server, medRxiv*.

The researchers collected HPI data for individual census tracts from the Public Health Alliance of California and single-dose and full-dose vaccination rates for each county from the California Department of Public Health. They investigated current vaccine equity using simple linear regression between the county mean HPI and single and 2-dose vaccination rates. They also predicted future vaccination coverage per county with the help of a compartmental mathematical model based on the 30-day average rate with 4 different rate-change scenarios.

Results show that at the current vaccination rate, over 50% of the population will be fully vaccinated by June 15

The study results showed a strong positive association between the county mean HPI and both the single and full dose vaccination rates. Counties in the San Joaquin Valley region had steadily low HPI values and vaccination rates.

The observations predict that 66.2% of the state population will have at least a single dose of the vaccine and 53.8% will be fully vaccinated by June 15 provided the current rates are maintained. However, the model predictions have some disparities when broken down by county, as only 18 out of 58 counties are expected to reach or exceed a 50% fully vaccinated rate by June 15.

Of the eight counties (San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, and Kern), seven are in the lowest quartile for county mean HPI, and Fresno currently leads the fully vaccinated rate among them at 31%.

Statewide predictions from the simple compartmental model.

Vaccine hesitancy due to social and demographic factors is the reason for insufficient vaccination rates

According to the authors, a clear association between county HPI and vaccination rates shows that California has no equitable foundation to initiate opening plans, despite previous equity programs. Although when observed as an entire state, California may be in an optimistic position for lifting restrictions in June 2021, the success is largely restricted to urban centers and is not homogenous across the state. The least vaccinated counties are also the ones with the most vulnerable populations.

Vaccine hesitancy driven by social and demographic factors is cited as a major reason for the state not achieving adequate vaccination rates. According to a vaccine hesitancy survey, the temporary pause of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine led to hesitancy in 39% of unvaccinated Hispanic women.

If nothing changes with respect to vaccination rates, many of the vulnerable counties may not be ready to open without consequences by June 15. The authors recommend closer, more sophisticated examinations in order to characterize the various leading to larger-scale inequities in vaccination.

This simple studys use of an aggregate vulnerability index likely obscures how different aspects of vulnerability have led to inequities across the state.

*Important Notice

medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
An honest days pay for an honest days work, said sponsor Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens). Under the incredible leadership of our Senate Majority Leader, the New York State Senate is taking action to protect construction workers from the hundreds of millions of dollars that are stolen from them every year by unscrupulous contractors and subcontractors.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that today Real Water Inc., a Nevada-based bottled water manufacturer, agreed to cease operations until they can comply with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) and other requirements listed in a consent decree.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey entered a consent decree of permanent injunction on June 1between the U.S. and AffinityLifestyles.com Inc. (majority shareholder of Real Water Inc.), Real Water Inc., Brent A. Jones, president of Real Water Inc., and Blain K. Jones, vice president of Real Water Inc.

We are committed to preventing harmful products from entering the nation's food supply, and we will take enforcement action when a company fails to follow the law. The FDA, together with our federal counterparts at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), aggressively pursued this injunction and we will continue to take swift action to protect consumers." Judy McMeekin, Pharm.D., FDA Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs

According to the complaint filed by DOJ on behalf of the FDA, defendants violate the FD&C Act by operating facilities that fail to meet preventive controls requirements to control food hazards. The complaint also alleges that defendants violate the FD&C Act by failing to follow current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) requirements for bottled water. The complaint further alleges that defendants' products are adulterated within the meaning of the FD&C Act because they have been prepared, packed or held under insanitary conditions whereby they may have become contaminated with filth or may have been rendered injurious to health. Additionally, the complaint alleges the defendants' products are misbranded because their labels fail to declare the common or usual name of each ingredient.

The consumption of "Real Water" brand alkaline water was the only known common link between five cases of acute liver failure in children that occurred in November and December 2020 that was reported to the FDA in March. Since then, 11 additional cases of acute non-viral hepatitis in adults, including one death of a woman with underlying medical conditions, have been identified as possibly linked to the consumption of Real Water brand alkaline water. The FDA issued an outbreak advisory on March 16 and continues to investigate, along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Southern Nevada Health District. On March 24, Real Water Inc. of Mesa, Arizona, and Henderson, Nevada, issued a recall of all sizes of its Real Water brand drinking water and concentrate.

The consent decree requires defendants to cease operations until they complete corrective actions, including, hiring a qualified independent expert to inspect their facilities to ensure they comply with the FD&C Act and its implementing regulations. Under the consent decree, defendants may not resume operations until they establish and implement procedures that are adequate to ensure continuing compliance with CGMP and preventive controls requirements and receive authorization from the FDA.

Consumers who think they may have been sickened by defendants' products, including Real Water Drinking Water, Real Alkalized Water and Real Alkalized Water Concentrate, should seek the assistance of a health care professional and contact the FDA to report problems with this or any FDA-regulated product.
One person in 2000 suffers from a microdeletion of chromosome 22 that can lead to the development of psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, in adolescence. In addition to symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions, psychotic disorders also comes with a progressive decline in intelligence quotient (IQ). If current drug treatments are successful in containing psychotic symptoms, nothing can be done to prevent the deterioration of intellectual skills that leads to loss of autonomy.

Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, have discovered that prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) - a class of drugs used to treat anxiety and depression -in late childhood can reduce the deterioration of intellectual abilities, and have a neuroprotective effect on some of the brain regions affected by the psychotic illness. This study, to be read in the journal Translational Psychiatry, opens up a new field of research and new hope for people affected by the microdeletion of chromosome 22.

The average IQ is around 100 points. However, for people who may develop a psychotic illness, such as those with a microdeletion of chromosome 22, the average drops to 70-80 points. "The problem is that when a psychotic disorder occurs, such as schizophrenia, the brain frontal lobe and the hippocampus are particularly affected, which leads to the gradual deterioration of already below-average intellectual capacities", explains Valentina Mancini, a researcher in the Department of Psychiatry at UNIGE Faculty of Medicine and first author of the study. From then on, the average IQ drops to around 65-70 points, leading to a loss of autonomy that requires a protected environment. "At present, drug treatments manage to contain psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations, anxiety or distortion of reality, but there is no treatment that can reduce the deterioration of affected people's intellectual capacities", notes the Geneva researcher.

200 patients followed over a 20 years period reveal a possible solution

The team of Stephan Eliez, professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UNIGE Faculty of Medicine, has been following 200 patients affected by the microdeletion of chromosome 22 for the past 20 years. "30 to 40% of them developed schizophrenia psychotic disorder", he explains. "Thanks to this cohort, we found that people suffering from this syndrome lost 7 to 8 IQ points from childhood to adulthood. This figure rises to 15 IQ points for those who developed psychotic disorders."

Yet the physicians noted that two to three teenagers a year are exceptions, and even gained IQ points. Why? "We made a comprehensive analysis of these patients' medical data to find out any common feature in the treatments prescribed to them by their GP", explains Valentina Mancini. Two observations caught their attention.

The first is the prescription of small, regular doses of SSRIs - a drug that increases the levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in the regulation of behaviour - in late childhood and throughout adolescence. "These drugs increase neurogenesis and act on synaptic plasticity. They are prescribed today to reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms", explains the Geneva researcher. And the younger the patients received this treatment, at around 10-12 years of age, the more the frontal lobe and the hippocampus - and therefore the intellectual capacities - were preserved from deterioration caused by the psychotic illness. The second observation is that a neuroleptic drug - prescribed in small doses to control psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions - also seems to have a positive effect if added to SSRIs during adolescence. "These two medications, especially when combined, have thus preserved the anatomical structure of the brain affected by the degradation responsible for the decline in intellectual capacity", remarks Stephan Eliez.

A promising discovery for the future of people at risk of psychosis

This study provides for the first time an indication of a neuroprotective preventive treatment for the development and preservation of IQ. "It should be stressed that too great a deterioration of intellectual skills progressively leads to a very problematic psychosocial dependence. Here, we could succeed in protecting this population", notes Stephan Eliez.

Once the results of this study are confirmed, the effect of SSRIs could be tested on other types of patients and possibly prescribed preventively to people at risk of intellectual deterioration, such as individuals with other genetic syndromes like Fragile X or Down's syndrome, or children of schizophrenic parents.

We also want to investigate whether the 3% to 4% of adolescents in the general population who develop psychotic symptoms would see this risk reduced by taking this drug." Valentina Mancini

The Geneva team will now compare the results obtained from their research cohort with international databases in order to confirm the neuroprotective role induced by these treatments prescribed at the end of childhood, adolescence being the critical phase for the onset of psychotic diseases.
A research team led by the University of Minnesota Medical School has been awarded a $5 million grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH) to conduct a clinical trial that hopes to identify the most effective approach to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in childhood obesity.

Lead investigator of the study, Jerica Berge, PhD, MPH, LMFT, CFLE, is a professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the U of M Medical School and will lead an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the U of M and the University of Georgia.

The study will use combinations of intervention methods - including ecological momentary intervention, home visiting and video feedback in partnership with community health workers. The ecological momentary intervention method, defined as real-time treatments provided to people via their smartphones during their everyday lives, will provide parents with stress reduction tips and resources.

Virtual or hybrid home visits and video feedback will be delivered by community health workers to provide counseling on the home food environment. The team will use the intervention methods to examine whether or not increasing the quality and quantity of family meals reduces childhood obesity disparities.

With the low-to-moderate success with childhood obesity interventions to date and the persistent obesity disparities across race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status, there is a need to approach childhood obesity in a new and innovative way. We hope this study will change clinical practice by creating a new model of treatment to be used in primary care settings to reduce childhood obesity disparities." Jerica Berge, PhD, MPH, LMFT, CFLE, Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, U of M Medical School

The five-year grant is supported by the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
In an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pathogen, vaccination efforts have been implemented in most countries.

Two of the vaccines developed to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection are the novel messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines: the Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) and the Moderna (mRNA-1273) vaccines.

Despite this vaccine type's novelty, mRNA vaccines have been studied by scientists for decades. Moreover, both vaccines underwent extensive testing and rigorous clinical trials to determine their safety and efficacy.

Against the backdrop of a global public health emergency, clinical trials and regulatory body approval for both mRNA vaccines had been compressed into a shorter timespan than usual for novel pharmaceuticals like these. However, no safety measures had been compromised in the process, and all of the usual protocols were still followed within this expedited timeframe.

The pharmaceutical companies made this possible by conducting overlapping clinical trials, which involve human testing and occur in three phases that scale up each time. Meanwhile, some regulatory bodies  like the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the UK  conducted a 'rolling review' of the trial data for both vaccines as and when it was made available. This is an emergency measure that is employed to speed up the process in pressing instances like global pandemics.

This said, as with all pharmaceuticals, a small subset of individuals are unfortunately susceptible to adverse reactions, something which is not always detected at the clinical trial level. This includes, though is not limited to, anaphylaxis or allergic reactions to ingredients that vaccines sometimes contain or are stored in.

A new report from a team of scientists at the Centre for Research in Molecular Modeling, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Concordia University in Canada, has aimed to determine the potential causes of anaphylaxis or allergic reactions reported in some individuals after receiving COVID-19 vaccines, including the mRNA vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

What is anaphylaxis?

Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction to food, medication, or venom. Most cases are caused by eating foods known to cause allergies like nuts, being stung by a bee, or taking medicine or a vaccine with allergenic ingredients.

Symptoms of anaphylaxis include rashes, abdominal pain, coughing, slurring of speech, swelling of the face, wheezing, difficulty breathing, a low pulse, and shock.

Immediate treatment is crucial to prevent severe complications or death. An injection of epinephrine (adrenaline) is crucial to combat the reaction. Doses of this drug come in an auto-injector that should be kept at all times by people who have a known history of severe allergic reactions.

Some people who receive vaccines may suffer from allergic reactions. Patients who experience anaphylaxis or an immediate allergic reaction following a dose of any COVID-19 vaccine should not be given an additional (booster) dose. If the reaction is severe, immediate treatment is needed.

Glycoprotein-induced anaphylaxis

Despite being widely used, severe allergies were reported in both recipients of the BNT162b2 and the mRNA-1273 vaccines. The authors explained the potential causes of these reactions in a new study in the journal Interdisciplinary Sciences: Computational Life Sciences.

First, they explained that these reactions might be due to glycoprotein-induced anaphylaxis.

The immunological glycoprotein molecule, SARS-CoV-2's main epitope, binds with the membrane receptor-like the immunoglobulin E (IgE) on the T or B cell of the body's immune system. The IgE-allergen complex that connects with the receptor on mast cells or basophils triggers allergic reactions and the release of histamines, leukotrienes, and prostaglandins.

As a result of vaccination, the mRNA vaccine is converted into protein fragments inside the human body. These are presented on the cell surface and are recognized by the human immune cells. Also, they alarm the T helper cell-mediated immune response to release interleukins by activating the allergen-specific B cells and IgE antibody production.

In some people, nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccines translated into fragments of spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 may contain water-soluble glycoprotein fragments or allergens that can trigger an anaphylactic reaction.

Stabilizer-induced anaphylaxis

Another possible reaction is stabilizer-induced anaphylaxis. Both the mRNA vaccines contain two stabilizing agents like sucrose and Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG).

Sucrose or carbohydrate intolerance may not alter the immune system and may cause common allergic reactions like gastrointestinal disturbance. Meanwhile, PEG is usually used for surface components of lipid nanoparticles that have higher stability, circulation half-life, and reduced immunogenicity.

The mRNA vaccines are easily degraded by the natural enzymes in the human body, which require having PEG-lipid nanoparticles coating to protect them during circulation in the body. Some reports showed that PEG encapsulated nanomedicine reportedly could cause pseudo-allergic reactions.

Also, when mRNA-free PEG in lipid nanoparticles float on the cell surface, they can interact with IgE antibodies, triggering the immediate release of inflammatory and pro-inflammatory mediators like prostaglandins, histamine, and proteases.

Conclusions

As more data is being gathered over the course of the COVID-19 vaccination campaigns worldwide, public health authorities are gaining a clearer picture of which vaccine models are more prone to producing adverse effects in certain groups of people. This data will help minimize adverse outcomes and ensure the right vaccine models are given to the right individuals, and that those at severe risk of adverse reactions forgo COVID-19 vaccination if necessary.

The allergic reactions of the participants need to be identified or screened frequently by questionnaires and IgE testing before and after vaccination to monitor unpleasant adverse effects of the vaccine. In this concern, promising research outputs are needed to confirm the safety of the currently formulated mRNA vaccines," the researchers concluded in the study.
A new study analyzing the association between an individual's genetics (genotype) and their observable characteristics resulting from the interaction of genetics and the environment (phenotype), contributes new knowledge to the understanding of human complex traits and diseases.

The study titled, "An atlas of alternative polyadenylation quantitative trait loci (3'aQTLs) contributing to complex trait and disease heritability," was recently published in Nature Genetics. Led by University of California, Irvine professor of bioinformatics Wei Li, PhD, the Grace B. Bell chair of the Department of Biological Chemistry at UCI's School of Medicine, this new research unlocks how much differences in people's genes account for differences in their traits and what can be attributed to the effects of the surrounding environment.

Our research is of particularly importance as it offers interpretations that explain how natural variations can shape human phenotypic diversity and tissue-specific diseases. Our most exciting finding was that certain events in human genes can explain a substantial proportion of trait heritability." Wei Li, PhD, the Grace B. Bell chair of the Department of Biological Chemistry at UCI's School of Medicine

It was well known that 3'-UTR alternative polyadenylation (APA) occurs in approximately 70 percent of human genes and substantively impacts cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation and tumorigenesis. But, until now, the association of APA events with disease risk and complex human traits was not well understood.

Genome-wide association studies have identified thousands of noncoding variants associated with human traits and diseases. However, the functional interpretation of these variants has proven to be a major challenge. In this study, researchers constructed a multi-tissue atlas of human 3? UTR alternative polyadenylation (APA) quantitative trait loci (3?aQTLs), containing approximately 0.4 million common genetic variants associated with the APA of target genes, identified in 46 tissues isolated from 467 individuals (Genotype-Tissue Expression Project).

"From our findings we could show that specific molecular features associated with human phenotypic variations contribute substantially to the molecular mechanisms underlying human complex traits and diseases," explained Li.

The research team is continuing to study these molecular mechanisms to test the novel 3aQTLs genes for diabetes, prostate cancer, Alzheimers Disease and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
A team of researchers from universities in California and Texas has found immunization rates for children in Texas for a wide range of diseases, including polio and measles, have dropped steeply during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The researchers, from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, University of San Francisco, Texas A&M, Rice, and Baylor, found a 47% relative decline in immunization rates between 2019 and 2020 among 5-month-olds and a 58% decline among 16-month-olds. They also saw a small decline (5%) among 24-month-olds, and no decline in vaccines commonly received at birth.

"The vaccinations being missed are for diseases that can deadly, and which have been  largely  defeated in the United States through vaccination campaigns," said Dr. Annette Regan, a UCLA Fielding School of Public Health assistant professor of epidemiology who also teaches at the University of San Francisco.

"One of the problems in Texas is that these COVID-related declines are superimposed on increases in state vaccine exemptions and pre-existing declines in rates of some childhood vaccines over the last five years, due to an aggressive anti-vaccine movement," said Regan, senior co-author of the study.

"Continued declines in childhood immunization coverage due to COVID-19 could lead to co-endemics of measles and other vaccine preventable diseases."

The study  "Childhood immunization during the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas"  is being published in the June edition of the peer-reviewed journal Vaccine; it is currently available in electronic form. Co-authors include Dr. Peter Hotez, with the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy and the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor.

"As terrible as COVID has been, we still must face the reality that it's social disruption and subsequent vaccine declines could lead to a return of other childhood infections," Hotez said.

The researchers say the drop in vaccinations stems from multiple issues. These include that in 2020, the state of Texas implemented social distancing guidelines in order to prevent pandemic-related surges at hospital emergency rooms and in intensive care units. As noted in other states, an unintended consequence of these activities has been significant declines in childhood immunizations.

Despite recommendations from the CDC in March, 2020, for states to issue guidelines for continuing vaccinations for children under 2, physical distancing policies have produced reductions in the availability and use of routine childhood vaccinations in several states.

State-sponsored shelter-in-place mandates in some states, including Texas, resulted in reductions in uptake of routine childhood vaccination, partly due to the closing of vaccination sites and parental fears of disease risk from pediatrician visits.

As another example, Massachusetts reported a 68% decline in vaccine doses administered in the first two weeks of April in 2020, in comparison with the same period in 2019. Other states, including Minnesota and Michigan, have also reported a decrease in the uptake of measles vaccination. Additionally, New York City reported a 63% decline in the number of vaccine doses administered to children during a six-week period in the pandemic lockdown.

Nationally, the CDC has noted significant declines in childhood vaccination rates in association with social distancing mandates. This includes more than 50% decline in measles-containing vaccinations (MCV) for young children, as well significant declines in other non-influenza vaccines.

Data for routine pediatric vaccines from Vaccines for Children Program (VFC) and Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) from January 6April 19, 2020, found the sharpest decline in measles immunization uptake in the United States following the week after the national emergency declaration on March 13, 2020.

In Texas, the declines in immunization rates were found to be larger in Texas' rural counties than in urban areas. Children in rural parts of the states already face problems with access to medical care and vaccinations, the authors said.

Childhood immunizations protect children from highly infectious diseases, such as measles. Therefore, it is critical that health care providers, policymakers, and public health officials continue to implement strategies that prioritize well-child visits and immunization for children in Texas." Tasmiah Nuzhath, Study Co-Author and Researcher, University of San Francisco, Texas A&M

Methods:

The team analyzed data from the Texas Immunization Registry (ImmTrac2) to assess changes in children's recommended vaccination coverage over a 10-year period, encompassing before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

This is an opt-in registry that obtains and stores vaccine records from different sources including health care providers, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), and Vital Statistics Unit (VSU). Because this was a secondary data analysis, the Texas A&M University Institutional Review Board deemed it exempt from human subject research.
In the early days of COVID-19 vaccine development, a new social media platform provided a place for like-minded people to discuss vaccines, share misinformation and speculate about the motivations for its development. A new study from the University of Kansas shows people flocked to Parler to discuss the vaccines in an echo chamber-type environment, and those conversations can shed light about how to communicate about vaccine efficacy during health crises.

COVID-19 vaccine vial and syringe photo from the U.S. Census Bureau.In the runup to the 2020 election, then-president Donald Trump claimed a COVID-19 vaccine could be ready before people went to the polls. About that time, millions were flocking to Parler, a new social media platform that promised a free speech environment via unregulated posts.

A trio of KU doctoral students in journalism & mass communications analyzed a sample of 400 posts on the platform between November 2020 and January 2021 about the vaccines. Results showed people followed messages of conservative political leaders, shared misinformation and reinforced messages shedding doubt on vaccine efficacy.

Around October last year, we were hearing a lot of buzz around a new social media platform, Parler, not just in the political field, but in the health field as well. We wanted to understand more about what was being said about COVID-19 vaccines specifically, as we noticed a shift in the conversation from developing vaccines to distrusting science around the efficacy of vaccines." Annalise Baines, Study Lead Author

The study, co-written by Baines, Muhammad Ittefaq and Mauryne Abwao, was published in the journal Vaccines.

A thematic analysis of the posts, known as "parleys," showed users discussing the vaccines in five distinct themes:

Reasons to refuse the vaccine

Side effects

Population control through the vaccines

Children getting vaccinated without parental consent

Comparison of other health issues with COVID-19

Previous research has extensively examined communication via social media, but Parler, a relatively new platform that has undergone controversy and was deplatformed for several weeks following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, has not been studied widely. The authors, who study environmental, health communications, and new social and digital media topics, analyzed how people discussed vaccines, an important public health issue, among like-minded individuals.

While the research didn't compare users' political leanings, the platform was widely popular with conservative users and was touted as an alternative to sites such as Twitter or Facebook, which they accused of anti-conservative bias.

"If you live in a bubble in which you only hear from people who share the same views as you and information that supports that, that tends to reinforce what you already believe in. It's also about people you trust. We didn't have demographic information on users, but we did find echo chambers existed there, and people even used the hashtag #echo," Ittefaq said.

Among the five key themes, users frequently used hashtags to further spread their content, such as #nocovidvaccine, #novaccine, #wedonotconsent, #vaxaware, #wakeupworld. Users also shared polls showing people in the U.S. and Europe didn't want a vaccine, or they shared dubiously sourced news stories about nurses who suffered from Bell's palsy after getting the dose. This finding also appeared in the second most frequent theme regarding side effects. Users shared posts about people dying after receiving the vaccine or who had cognitive effects or were hospitalized.

"Some of the reasons for vaccine hesitancy are deemed legit, and the major concerns may have been a result of people being skeptical of the side effects," Abwao said. "Currently, we have experienced cases where some vaccines have been discontinued; however, this should not deter people from getting vaccinated."

One of the most popular conspiracy theories shared was that vaccines were being developed as a means for government or a new world order to control the population, according to the KU researchers. Frequent conspiracies involved the use of microchips via the vaccine or an enzyme that would control the population, the study found. People often included links, videos and images with such parleys, though when sources were included they were from unverified sites or contained videos that were purported to be leaked from the government.

In other themes, users shared posts claiming schools would vaccinate children without parents' consent or cast doubt on the pandemic's severity, comparing it to other health issues such as the flu, or citing abortion statistics to claim it was not as deadly as commonly reported. Common hashtags in those themes included #scamdemic, #plandemic, #idonotconsent, #covidhoax and #nocovidvaccine.

The findings illustrate several key points in health communications and social media use, the authors said. People listen to the messages of elected officials and will adhere to them, such as Trump calling the virus a hoax or U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz's endorsement of Parler as a place to share opinions on current issues.

The views shared by people can not only spread misinformation but can also be informative for policymakers and public health officials to counter anti-vaccination rhetoric, the KU researchers said. On the Parler platform anyone can post claims online without going through verification steps and share that information with others. This can be dangerous, especially for those who might be more vulnerable and not be able to identify misinformation, Baines said.

Public health officials have a difficult job in which they are trained to perform science and share findings, not to combat misinformation, Ittefaq said. But, if they are able to use credible information through stories of individuals and trusted experts, they can help disseminate credible information on health crises to the public. Failing to do so can have negative ramifications in future public health crises, he added.

The analysis shows people listen to those similar to themselves, and that if public health officials can share valid information with people who can share it with their peers, they will have greater success in situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, in which people continue to seek valid information about the vaccines.
When the pandemic sidelined in-office visits at his practice, Dr. Dael Waxman "wasn't exactly thrilled with being at home." But he quickly shifted gears to video and telephone appointments.

Now, he finds, there are good reasons to keep these options open even as in-office visits have resumed and many parts of the country have sharply loosened coronavirus restrictions.

One is that some patients "have to overcome a lot of obstacles to get to me," said Waxman, a family physician with Atrium Health in Charlotte, North Carolina. "I have lots of single mothers. They have to leave work, get their kids out of school and then take two buses. Why would they want to do that if they don't have to?"

Telehealth served as a lifeline for many during the pandemic, ramping up from a minority share of office visits to a majority, at least for a while. Still, it cannot replace hands-on care for some conditions, and for those not blessed with speedy broadband internet service or smart devices it can be difficult or impossible to use.

As things head toward a new normal, lawmakers and insurers, including Medicare, are debating how to proceed, the biggest question being whether to continue reimbursing providers at the same payment rate as for in-person coverage once the covid public health emergency ends.

While that debate rages  one side pointing to the costs associated with setting up such services, the other arguing that payment rates should decline because telehealth services are cheaper to provide  patients are left to decide if such visits meet their needs.

KHN put such questions to physicians, who gave tips on the types of concerns that are best handled in person, and when video visits are most useful. Not surprisingly, they recommended that patients ask their provider which type of visit is most appropriate for their particular circumstance.

Four additional things we learned:

1. Some things just need to be done in person.

Chest pains, new shortness of breath, abdominal pain, new or increased swelling in the legs  all those things point to the need for an in-person visit. And, of course, blood tests, vaccinations and imaging scans must be done in person.

"If your blood pressure is really high or you have some symptoms of concern like chest pain, one needs to go to the office," said Dr. Ada Stewart, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, which posted an online guide for telemedicine visits.

If patients are concerned enough about the situation that they are considering going to an urgent care clinic or even an emergency room, "they should be seen," said Waxman. And that would occur in person.

If a condition, even something seemingly simple, hasn't resolved in a reasonable time, go to the office. Waxman recalled a patient with an eye issue who went to urgent care and received antibiotics, but the eye was still irritated after treatment.

"Because it had not resolved, I was worried about shingles of the eye," he said. It turned out not to be shingles, but a different problem, Waxman learned after referring the patient to an ophthalmologist.

In-person visits can also prove more productive because a physician gains visual clues to what might be wrong by watching how a patient walks, sits or speaks.

While video visits are wonderful, said Dr. David Anderson, a cardiologist affiliated with Stanford Health Care in Oakland, California, sometimes things come up in person that might not over video.

"I can't say how many times I sit with a patient and I think we're done  then the thing that's really the problem gets brought up and we spend the next 45 minutes on it," he said.

Finally, a good reason to go in is, simply, if that's what you prefer.

"I had a patient the other day who said he could have done a phone visit but was old-school and just preferred being in the office," Waxman said.

2. Sometimes a televisit is better.

It's not always necessary to trek into a medical office or clinic.

Stewart, at the family physician group, said check-ins for chronic conditions, such as diabetes or hypertension, "that are basically under control" can easily be handled remotely.

Cardiologist Anderson concurred, especially for periodic assessments or checking how a patient is handling a new medication.

"If I have a [stable] 82-year-old patient and her daughter needs to miss work and come from 30 miles away to bring Mom in for us to sit there for 15 minutes to chat, that's something where the efficiency of a video visit is good," he said. But if that same patient complains that "when they take a morning walk, they are short of breath and they were not before, that person I would want to see face to face."

And, sometimes, video follow-ups for stable patients with chronic illnesses are preferable. "On the phone or by video, I found there to be a lot more non-distracted time for education," he said.

It is helpful if patients can monitor their blood sugar or blood pressure at home and then report their statistics during the televisit.

But some patients cannot afford a home blood pressure monitor, so that can be a limitation, Waxman cautioned. And even those who have a monitor should initially take it into the office to make sure it is accurate, he said.

Some dermatologic conditions  think rashes and such  can be handled by video, so long as the patient is comfortable using the camera on their smartphone or computer tablet and can get a good picture of the problem area. While 70% to 80% of skin issues can start with a video visit, he estimated, the rest require in-person evaluation, perhaps even a biopsy.

3. Everything works better when both sides prepare.

Both patients and providers can get the most out of a video visit if they first take a few simple steps, the experts said.

Find a quiet place without distractions. Turn off the TV. Have a family member present if you want a second set of ears, but choose a private setting if you don't.

"You will not believe the circumstances where people Zoom in to me," said Anderson.

Some are in their cars, "maybe because that's the best place where they get internet service," or they're in their pajamas, just finishing breakfast.

"There's a whole lack of preparation and seriousness that occurs," he said.

Have a list of medications you're taking and write down the problem or symptoms you wish to discuss, as well as specific questions you have, to make the most out of the time available, advised Stewart.

Providers, too, need to take steps.

Anderson said they should read patients' medical records ahead of time and focus because there are fewer cues to a patient's concerns over video than in person.

Physicians "have to be doubly vigilant," Anderson said, pay attention to all their suspicions and be extra thorough because "it would be much easier to miss something important."

4. What might happen next?

Some advocates say insurers should make sure that their reimbursement policies don't favor one type of visit over another and that no patient feels pressured into a televisit.

During the covid emergency, Congress and the agency that oversees Medicare temporarily made it easier for beneficiaries to use telehealth  for instance, by removing geographic restrictions and allowing audio-only visits in some circumstances. Medicare also began reimbursing providers equally for telehealth and in-person care.

Many private insurers followed Medicare's lead; some also voluntarily waived cost-sharing requirements for telehealth patients.

Many expect Medicare Advantage plans to keep covering televisits once the emergency is officially over, and traditional Medicare could follow suit. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, a nonpartisan agency that advises Congress, has recommended temporarily continuing to cover some services while the agency gathers data about a wide range of effects, including concerns that telehealth raises spending and the advantages it may offer.

That data is important, said Fred Riccardi, president of the Medicare Rights Center. The expansion has helped many Medicare beneficiaries, he added, but "has left some communities behind," including the oldest adults, those with disabilities and those in areas with spotty internet service. And future policies should ensure that patients who prefer in-person visits can continue them, he said.

Anderson, the cardiologist, agreed that televisits "have a wonderful place" in the range of options, but he warned against cost-saving measures by insurers that might require patients to have a video visit before being granted coverage for an office visit.

"I would see that as an unfortunate delay in care," he said.
Researchers from the Rush University Medical Center developed a novel method to monitor the brain health of patients to improve the early diagnosis and treatment of certain diseases including Alzheimers disease and dementia. This cognitive clock, which is the term that has been coined for this new screening technique, involves measuring an individuals cognitive age, rather than their chronological age, to assess the patients risk of poor health outcomes.

Brain Health. Image Credit: HQuality/Shutterstock.com

Physical vs. mental aging

Aging, which is used to describe the increase in an individuals chronological age, generally increases an individuals risk for adverse health outcomes including dementia, disability, and mortality. While the link between advancing age and disease development has been widely documented, it is important to note that aging does not affect all people uniformly.

The cognitive decline that occurs in certain neuropathologies like Alzheimers disease and dementia, for example, is weakly related to the patients chronological age. Therefore, it appears that deteriorating brain health as a result of certain pathologic factors has a more significant impact on the development of these neurological diseases as compared to chronological age alone.

How can brain health be measured?

A considerable amount of research has been conducted over the past several decades to identify the different biomarkers that are responsible for a wide range of neurodegenerative and vascular pathologies. Despite these efforts, many of these hallmarks of brain aging cannot be identified while the patient is still alive, as they often require histopathological analysis of the brain. As a result, there remains a limited ability of healthcare practitioners to accurately assess brain health to more accurately predict the patients cognitive and other health outcomes.

Recently, researchers at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois developed the cognitive clock as a tool to monitor the brain health of patients by assessing their cognitive performance. The criteria for the 1,057 participants of this study included the absence of cognitive impairment at baseline, as well as a valid Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score that was repeated once a year for up to 24 years before the patients died.

During these annual clinical evaluations, the patients would undergo various neurologic examinations, cognitive assessments, and medical history interviews. Repeated MMSE scores were used as the primary cognitive measure in this study.

Some of the different questions that were incorporated into these evaluations included:

What is todays date?

What town, county, and state are we in?

I am going to name 3 objects. After I have said them, I want you to repeat them back to me. Remember what they are because I will ask you to name them again in a few minutes: Apply, Table, Penny.

Please write a sentence.

Take this piece of paper in your right hand, fold it in half with both hands, and put it in your lab.

Here is a drawing. Please copy the drawing on the same piece of paper.

Please repeat the following: No ifs, ands, or buts.

What are the 3 objects I asked you to remember a few moments ago?

In addition to cognitive function testing, the researchers also collected the brains of test subjects after they had died for a post-mortem magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, as well as neuropathologic assessment of brain sections. Taken together, the results of the participants yearly cognitive assessments and the pathologic findings following their death were analyzed to determine the contribution of their cognitive age or chronological age to their causes of death.

Assessing the efficacy of the cognitive clock approach

In their study, the researchers at Rush University found that an individuals cognitive age, rather than their chronological age, was a better indicator of Alzheimers disease dementia, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and mortality. Furthermore, cognitive age was found to more strongly be associated with neurobiological indices of brain health including neuropathology and total brain mass.

One important finding of this study is the fact that chronological age is an inadequate prognostic indicator of cognitive impairment and other adverse health outcomes. In fact, individuals of older cognitive age as compared to their chronological age at death were found to experience a higher frequency of dementia diagnosis, a more rapid time to death, a greater burden of potent neuropathologies, and overall lower cognitive scores.

Another significant finding of the current study was that cognitive age is a better predictor for Alzheimers disease, dementia, and death, as compared to chronological age. In fact, higher cognitive age was found to be more closely related to neurobiological indices including neuropathology and overall brain mass as compared to chronological age. Taken together, these findings indicate that a consistent evaluation of the cognitive age of patients could have an important role in the clinical setting to improve the early and accurate diagnosis of certain health conditions.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a longtime Democratic state lawmaker, comes to his new role well known for pursuing an unabashedly progressive agenda on criminal justice issues. He has pushed for legislation to eliminate cash bail and to ban for-profit prisons and detention centers. But Bonta also has a distinctive record on health care, successfully advancing legislation to protect consumers from so-called surprise medical bills when they inadvertently get treatment from out-of-network providers and framing environmental hazards like pollution as issues of social justice.

He was among the Democratic lawmakers leading the charge at the California Capitol to take on Big Soda, pushing to cut consumption of sugary drinks through taxes and warning labels. Such proposals so far have faltered under the influence of the soda industry.

Bonta, 49, was an infant when his family, in 1971, moved to California from the Philippines, where his parents worked as missionaries. His father, Warren Bonta, a native Californian, worked for the state for decades as a health care official, setting up clinics to expand access to medical care in rural and refugee communities. Rob Bonta's first elected position was to the Alameda Health Care District, overseeing local medical services.

Appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom this year, Bonta in April succeeded former state Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who was tapped by President Joe Biden to serve as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In the weeks since, Bonta has beefed up the number of lawyers working in the Department of Justice's Bureau of Environmental Justice and has created a Racial Justice Bureau that he said will play a pivotal role in ensuring equal access to health care for Black and Latino residents.

A graduate of Yale Law School, Bonta spent nine years as a deputy city attorney in San Francisco before his election to the state Assembly in 2012, representing Oakland and the East Bay. He was the first Filipino American elected to the California legislature, and is now the first Filipino American to serve as the state's chief law enforcement officer.

As attorney general, Bonta said he envisions a far different relationship with the Biden administration than his predecessor had with the Trump administration. Becerra emerged as one of former President Donald Trump's fiercest critics during his tenure as the state's top cop, filing more than 120 lawsuits to oppose Trump administration policies on the environment and health care, including leading the ongoing fight to preserve the Affordable Care Act in its case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Vice President Kamala Harris also once served as California's attorney general, and Bonta said he sees tremendous opportunity to shape a more progressive agenda on issues such as reproductive health and universal, single-payer health care working in concert with the new administration.

Bonta spoke with KHN about how health care would shape his agenda as attorney general. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Your predecessor made health care a priority. Will it be one of yours?

It's going to be a top priority for me, and it was a top priority for me as a legislator. I was chair of the Assembly Health Committee or a health committee member the entire time I was there, almost nine years. Before that, I was on a health care district board. My very first elected office I ever had was making sure we provided true access to high-quality, affordable health care to the community that I served.

This is a really foundational part of who I am, and who my family is  our legacy and our values and what we stood for. I think health care is a right, not a privilege. Its for all, not the few.

Q: You've said you would make racial justice a priority. Do you believe racism is a public health crisis?

Yes, I do. Covid-19 revealed a lot of what was inequitable and racist about our systems  the disparate impacts that we saw, the inequity that we saw. And I think racism is not just a public health crisis  it is a public health crisis  but it also infects our economic system, it infects our criminal justice system, it infects all of our systems. And it has led to a public health crisis.

Q: What does that look like in health care? How does inequity show up?

It looks like making sure that in health care there aren't disparate impacts on communities of color. That race is not correlated to less access or less quality, and making sure that no one is left out. That can look like access to reproductive health care; that can look like access to real health insurance as opposed to sham health insurance plans. It can look like a charge that is inappropriately placed on a vaccine  vaccines are supposed to be free. That's something else we worked on recently.

Q: Can you elaborate?

Through a joint investigation with U.S. Health and Human Services, as well as the U.S. attorney's office, we identified that vaccines  which should be provided to individuals for free under the law  that a charge was being placed on the vaccine.

The vaccine should be universally accessible. And when that isn't being done, barriers are being put up in vulnerable communities, keeping people from their vaccine that we all need right now. That is a problem. We put out an alert and reminded people of the laws that provide free vaccines to all individuals under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program.

Q: What areas of environmental health might you look into?

The building of huge warehouses. In the Inland Empire, there are quite a few being built. Theyre being built adjacent to or in disadvantaged communities. And all the goods movement activity  and all of the emissions that are created from the goods movement  create a threat, and a risk to those communities.

Q: Like Amazon, for instance? The corporation has come under scrutiny for environmental harms associated with its sprawling warehouses.

Yeah. These warehouses have really created problems for disadvantaged communities in California. We expanded the Bureau of Environmental Justice to provide more resources and more ability to go after big polluters, and to protect communities that live at the intersection of poverty and pollution who are being forced to drink dirty water and breathe unhealthy air.

I see the role of the attorney general as standing up for everyday people who are abused or hurt and neglected or mistreated, and generally protecting the little guy from the overreach and abuse of power of the big guy.

We have more authority in the environmental realm than in many other areas. And we want to use those tools  that authority, that influence, that power  to protect communities, often low-income communities, often communities of color, who are being hurt by polluters.

Q: Becerra filed a lawsuit and sponsored legislation going after health industry mergers alleged to be anti-competitive, a practice he argues drives up health care prices. Will you continue to go after anti-competitive practices in health care?

That's definitely a priority. Thats a critical tool in the toolbox that the California attorney general uniquely has to approve  or put conditions on, or not approve  proposed mergers involving a nonprofit hospital.

The lens to see that through is: How does it impact patients? How does it impact access to quality care, and cost of care? And so that is exactly why the attorney general has that role, to review these proposed mergers with an eye towards patients and communities that dont necessarily have a voice in the merger.

Q: As attorney general, do you support single-payer health care?

My involvement will be different. Having said that, I co-authored the single-payer bill from a few years back. And I was a co-author of this year's single-payer bill that Assemblyman Ash Kalra was leading that I think is no longer moving. [Kalra has withdrawn the bill from consideration for this year.]

I support single-payer health care. I support universal health care. I think single-payer health care is a way to get to that aspiration.

As the attorney general, I enforce the law. We dont have a single-payer law in California. So, Ill enforce the existing laws, which are very strong, to help make sure Californians have the most accessible, affordable, highest-quality health care.

Q: The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a Mississippi abortion case that some say could threaten abortion rights at the state level. If upheld, how could that affect the abortion protections in California?

Thats going to be a really important case for reproductive freedom, and important, in my view, for California to be involved in given our leadership in this space. As the case gets briefed and prepped for consideration and argument before the U.S. Supreme Court, I expect we will be very active in making arguments to the court to help guide [the justices'] thinking and their decisions.

Q: What will California's relationship with the federal government be like?

I think the posture and the relationship between the federal administration and California over the last four years are very different than what they will be for the next four.

Attorney General Becerra was the warrior and the champion that we needed, and that was necessary as we faced a full-frontal assault on California, our people, our values and our resources, and he fought back and protected us and defended us and stood up for our values time and time again.

Now, I think we have a Biden-Harris administration that largely does agree that we should have, certainly, the Affordable Care Act, that we should have reproductive freedom, that we should address the inequities in our health care system, that we should have affordable, accessible, high-quality health care for all  and will help us get there.

So, with the new administration, I look to collaboration. California can and should continue to be who we are. We lead. We go first. We pioneer. Were bold and were big in how we think. That's who we are, so that leading role is our natural place to be, including in health care.

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.
Kids in Lhasa celebrate Children's Day

Ecns.cn) 16:24, June 02, 2021

Photo taken on Jun 1 shows parent-child dance on Children's Day in a kindergarten in Lhasa. Various activities including art shows and games have been held in kindergartens and primary schools in Lhasa to celebrate International Children's Day. (Photo/ China News Service).

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Hongyu)
Cuomo has said in the past that he will seek a fourth term next year, although he has been mum on his future plans amid the myriad ongoing investigations and calls for his resignation coming from Republicans and Democrats alike.
Two easily measurable signs of health -; respiration rate and blood-oxygen saturation -; are distinctly predictive of higher mortality among patients hospitalized with COVID-19, according to a study examining the cases of inpatients with COVID-19 at Rush University Medical Center and University of Washington Medicine hospitals.

Notably, the study authors said, anyone who receives a positive COVID-19 screening test can easily monitor for these two signs at home to see if or when they need to seek urgent medical care.

This context is lacking in current guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which tells people with COVID-19 to seek medical attention when they experience overt symptoms such as "trouble breathing" and "persistent pain or pressure in the chest" -; indications that may be absent even when respiration and blood oxygen have reached dangerously low levels, authors say.

Henry Huang, MD, a cardiologist at Rush University Medical Center, who is affiliated with the study, said these findings suggest that by the time some people with COVID-19 feel bad enough to come to the hospital, a window for early medical intervention might have passed.

We found that patients who presented to the hospital with hypoxemia (below 92% O2/oxygen saturation) or tachypnea (respiratory rate above 22 breaths per minute) had significantly lower in-hospital survival. Because not all patients who are hypoxic necessarily have symptoms, existing CDC guidelines should be recast to account for asymptomatic patients who are high risk." Henry Huang, MD, Cardiologist, Rush University Medical Center

Researchers of the study examined the cases of 1,095 patients age 18 years and older who were admitted with COVID-19 to UW Medicine hospitals or Rush University Medical Center from March 1 to June 8, 2020. The lone exclusions were people who chose "comfort measures only" at time of their admission.

While patients frequently had hypoxemia (low blood-oxygen saturation; 91% or below for this study) or tachypnea (fast, shallow breathing that rises to 23 breaths per minute for this study), few reported feeling short of breath or coughing, regardless of blood oxygen levels.

The study's primary measure was all-cause in-hospital mortality. Overall, 197 of the patients included in the died in the hospital. Compared to those admitted with normal blood oxygen, hypoxemic patients had a mortality risk 1.8 to 4.0 times greater, depending on the patient's blood oxygen levels.

Similarly, compared to patients admitted with normal respiratory rates, those with tachypnea had a mortality risk 1.9 to 3.2 times greater. In contrast, other clinical signs at admission, including temperature, heart rate and blood pressure, were not associated with mortality.

Nearly all patients with hypoxemia and tachypnea required supplemental oxygen, which, when paired with inflammation-reducing glucocorticoids, can effectively treat some acute cases of COVD-19.

The findings will have an impact on primary care and virtual care providers, who typically are the first-line clinical contacts for people who have received a positive COVID-19 test result and want to monitor meaningful symptoms.

Huang says the best way for people to monitor these sometimes-silent symptoms at home is to use portable pulse oximeter devices to monitor for a blood-oxygen level below 92%. These devices are readily available and inexpensive tools to monitor blood oxygenation levels and identify if a person needs to come to the hospital. If you don't have access to a portable pulse oximeter, you also can check your respiration rate by counting the amount of times you breathe over the course of a minute.

If your blood-oxygen level falls below 92%, or your respirations rate rises to 22 to 23 breathes a minute, you should immediately call your doctor.
For many people, the need to go grocery shopping is met with a sigh, or an "ugh." It's generally not considered to be an enjoyable experience.

For moms who shop using WIC benefits, it can be a downright awful experience, one that's often made worse by difficulty finding eligible products and dealing with a lengthy checkout process. Add kids in tow and it's enough for many moms to forego re-enrolling in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, commonly known as WIC.

But researchers at the University at Buffalo are working on ways to improve the WIC shopping experience so that customers stay in the program. Moreover, they're working with a Western New York-based supermarket chain on a pilot project aimed at making it easier for WIC customers to find and use eligible products.

The team, which includes a researcher from North Carolina State University, recently published a study in the Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition that is among the first to examine both barriers to and possible strategies for WIC shopping.

WIC provides supplemental foods and nutrition education to low-income pregnant and postpartum women with infants and children up to age 5 whose household incomes are below state-defined thresholds.

While WIC has been proven to improve children's health, participation in the program isn't great, with some reports indicating that as few as 73% of infants, 38% of children and 67% of pregnant and postpartum women eligible for WIC actually participate.

"The restrictions on the foods that families can buy with WIC make the shopping experience difficult, but there are some things that stores can do to make it easier, such as using product placement and signage. Better staff training helps a lot, too," says Lucia Leone, PhD, the study's lead author.

Poor shopping experiences can lead people to drop off WIC or not re-enroll because they feel like the time and frustration isn't worth it. This leaves them without a benefit that we know improves children's health." Lucia Leone, PhD, Study Lead Author and Assistant Professor of Community Health and Health Behavior, School of Public Health and Health Professions, University at Buffalo

WIC barriers

Researchers identified several key barriers to shopping with WIC. In addition to restrictions on eligible foods, another common challenge is identifying the correct product size (11 oz. vs. 14 oz., for example) and type (low sodium vs. regular). New York State now has an app to help identify which items are eligible, but it doesn't let you know where to find them in a specific store.

Until recently, further confusion often ensued during checkout, which was challenging when the cashier wasn't well trained, a common occurrence given the frequent turnover among grocery store staff. The checkout experience has improved, Leone notes, with the implementation of electronic benefits transfer (EBT) for WIC, which occurred after this study took place. The WIC EBT system replaced the paper vouchers shoppers used previously.

Then there's the obstacle of product availability, an issue that was exacerbated over the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which retailers struggled to keep certain products in stock due to high demand.

WIC doesn't allow replacement products, so if a shopper can't find a 12 oz. box or larger of a plain cereal during her first shopping trip, she will then have to make a special trip, possibly visiting multiple stores.

In addition, WIC benefits can't be redeemed online. "This meant that parents had to choose between bringing small children to the store during a pandemic or not fulfilling their benefits," Leone says.

"Aside from the shopping issues, some families struggle to use all of the products if they are not items their family eats regularly," she adds.

There's also the issue of stigma, as many WIC shoppers express worry about how other customers perceive them.

Strategies for an improved experience

For this study, researchers in 2015 conducted eight focus groups involving 63 women in Erie and Niagara counties in Western New York. Participants described some of the challenges associated with WIC, and also talked about what worked well.

One such strategy is "shelf-talkers," or special signs that denote WIC eligible products, making them easier to find. The signs help reduce search time and alleviate confusion at checkout. New York State regulations, however, don't allow most stores to use shelf-talkers. Nor can retailers offer WIC-only sections.

Of course, well-trained grocery store staff, especially cashiers and store managers, also improve a shopping trip by cutting down on the amount of time spent cashing out.

Additional strategies mentioned included having a WIC product guide available in store and allowing WIC shoppers to use self-checkout.

Partnering with Tops to improve WIC shopping experience

There is currently no research available on the role of retailer interventions to improve WIC redemption and/or retention rates.

That's why Leone and her team are piloting a project with Tops Markets on Niagara Street in Buffalo.

"The goal of this project is to make it easier to use WIC products by sharing recipes made with mostly WIC products," Leone says. "More importantly, all those items will be 'bundled' together in the store so that families can quickly go in and find all of the WIC items they need for the recipe in one place rather than searching around the store."

Customers won't have to purchase all the products, but, Leone notes, they tend to purchase bundled items because of perceived convenience. Non-WIC families can take advantage of these kid-friendly meal deals, too. Some items in the recipe bundle will also be on sale.

The bundled items are not sold in a package together, but are instead tied together by a recipe and located together in the store to make shopping for WIC products more convenient.
Researchers world-wide are focused on clearing the toxic mutant Huntingtin protein that leads to neuronal cell death and systemic dysfunction in Huntington's disease (HD), a devastating, incurable, progressive neurodegenerative genetic disorder.

Scientists in the Buck Institute's Ellerby lab have found that the targeting the protein called FK506-binding protein 51 or FKBP51 promotes the clearing of those toxic proteins via autophagy, a natural process whereby cells recycle damaged proteins and mitochondria and use them for nutrition.

Publishing in Autophagy , researchers showed that FKBP51 promotes autophagy through a new mechanism that could avoid worrisome side effects associated with rapamycin, an immune-suppressing drug which also extends lifespan in mice. They show both rapamycin and the small pharmacological inhibitor of FKBP51, SAFit2, protect HD neurons but that the mechanisms of the two drugs are distinct.

The possibility of avoiding the negative side effects of rapamycin

Researchers focused on a family of binding proteins called FKBP's and specifically on FKBP51, which was most changed in mouse and human stem cell models of HD. During the course of the study scientist found that FKBP51 acts on a pathway independent of mTOR (mammalian Target of Rapamycin), which is associated with rapamycin.

Scientists also identified a small molecule, SAFit2, which crossed the blood-brain barrier and promoted autophagy and reduced the toxic disease-causing protein through that mTOR-independent pathway.

Rapamycin can have both positive and negative effects and this new molecule could give us a way to go after the toxic proteins without those complications." Lisa Ellerby, PhD, Professor and Study Director, Buck Institute

Ellerby added that the findings are also significant for the aging field.

"We know that FKBP's get dysregulated during aging, a phenomena which likely contributes to the accumulation of toxic proteins associated with other age-related diseases. SAFit2, which is neuroprotective, could give us another option to promote autophagy and clear out disease-causing proteins or proteins accumulated during disease and aging which are correlated with other conditions."

FKPB51 has been implicated in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases as well as post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia.

The first author of the work, Barbara Bailus, PhD, is a former postdoc in the Ellerby lab. "The fact that SAFit2 crosses the blood brain barrier is significant," said Bailus, who is now an Assistant Professor of Genetics at the Keck Graduate Institute in Claremont, CA.

"In our mouse models of HD, the small molecule interacted with FKPBP51 and cleared toxic proteins in both the cortex and the striatum which is part of the neural circuit necessary for voluntary movement."

The Ellerby lab will do pre-clinical work with SAFit2, which was developed by a collaborator, Dr. Felix Hausch, PhD, at the Technical University in Darmstadt, Germany.

Current status of clinical trials for HD

The recent failure of an experimental drug tested in Europe and Canada against HD highlights the desperation of patients who are forced to deal with a malady that usually sees it victims dying about 20 years following the onset of observable symptoms. The drug was developed by Ionis and Roche, and is an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO).

It was designed to silence the gene responsible for HD, and had to be injected into the fluid-filled space between the thin layers of tissue that cover the brain and spinal cord.

While the details of the failed trial are not published yet, Ellerby says the drug appeared not to diffuse into the entire brain, the ASOs may have unanticipated toxic effects and the ASOs do not reach all affected peripheral tissues. HD affects coordination and leads to cognitive decline and psychiatric problems.

"While we had hoped that this drug would ultimately work for patients in desperate need of treatment, those of us in the field have been aware that we need less invasive treatments for HD that are more likely to be easily tolerated," said Ellerby.

"I don't know if we'll be able to do that with this small molecule, but at this point it does show potential and we look forward to evaluating its effects in pre-clinical experiments."
A new study published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine finds critical links between job loss and physical inactivity in young adults during the U.S. Great Recession of 2008-09 that can be crucial to understanding the role of adverse economic shocks on physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the first study to examine how job losses during the Great Recession affected the physical activity of young adults in the United States.

The study by Dickinson College economist Shamma Alam and Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health economist Bijetri Bose looked at Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data for young adults age 18 to 27--a phase of development associated with maturation and significant social, psychological and economic changes. They found that job losses experienced by the individual during the Great Recession reduce the likelihood of physical exercise by a significant 6.3 percentage points. This as action plans established by the World Health Organization and United Nations call for a 10 percent reduction in physical inactivity by 2025 and 2030, respectively.

Our study finds that young adults from the Great Recession, who form the core part of the millennial generation today, suffered from significantly lower physical activity, which typically leads to worse physical health outcomes such as increased obesity. The Great Recession--considered the longest since the Great Depression--presents enormous economic implications and lessons that are relevant for the current COVID-19 induced economic downturn." Shamma Alam, Dickinson College Economist

While the Great Recession had a disproportionately high 19% unemployment rate among young adults, unemployment for young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic has been much higher, peaking in 2020 at approximately 33 percent for those age 16-19; 26 percent for those age 20-24; and 16 percent for those age 25-29. Additionally, according to Pew Research, young adults age 18-29 also have--more than any other age group-- used money from their savings or retirement account, borrowed money from friends or family and received unemployment benefits since the coronavirus hit in February 2020.

Alam suggested these known decreases in physical activity during significant economic downturns also could have implications for the mental health of young adults. "Physical activity significantly went down following job losses during a major recession like the Great Recession likely because of negative mental health outcomes suffered by the individuals. When individuals are worried about their jobs and livelihood, they do not feel like exercising. Therefore, we are likely to see similar effects on physical activity during the current COVID-19 induced recession," said Alam, adding that in addition to job losses, stay-at-home orders had negative effect on young adults' mental health, which may then negatively affect physical activity.
Announcing a new article publication for BIO Integration journal. In this article the authors Craig S. Carlson and Michiel Postema, from University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa and Tampere University, Tampere, Finland discuss deep impact of superficial skin inking: acoustic analysis of underlying tissue.

Skin tattoos are a common decoration, but profound scientific study on whether a skin tattoo alters the acoustic response from superficial tissues, and therefore from underlying tissue, was previously lacking; thus, any quantitative effects were unknown.

This study is the first to investigate the nature of artifacts in ultrasound images, which have been observed to originate from tattooed skin. The work was conducted theoretically and experimentally using extremely simplified cases of perfectly flat and homogenous layered media and in tattooed pork. The measured speeds of sound of tattooed materials were higher than those of their uninked counterparts.

The authors concluded that the artifacts observed in in vitro and in vivo brightness-mode scans were explained from near-vertical transitions between areas of different sound speeds. In addition, phantom material is a suitable acoustic alternative for live human skin.

In summary, the presence of superficial tattoos has a small but quantifiable effect on the acoustic response from deeper tissues. The study integrated acoustic physics, biomaterials research, mechanical engineering, and medical imaging to increase knowledge on tattooed skin.

Article reference: Craig S. Carlson and Michiel Postema, Deep impact of superficial skin inking: acoustic analysis of underlying tissue. BIO Integration, 2021.

BIO Integration is fully open access journal which will allow for the rapid dissemination of multidisciplinary views driving the progress of modern medicine.

As part of its mandate to help bring interesting work and knowledge from around the world to a wider audience, BIOI will actively support authors through open access publishing and through waiving author fees in its first years. Also, publication support for authors whose first language is not English will be offered in areas such as manuscript development, English language editing and artwork assistance.
Cassandra Rollins' daughter was still conscious when the ambulance took her away.

Shalondra Rollins, 38, was struggling to breathe as covid overwhelmed her lungs. But before the doors closed, she asked for her cellphone, so she could call her family from the hospital.

It was April 7, 2020  the last time Rollins would see her daughter or hear her voice.

The hospital rang an hour later to say she was gone. A chaplain later told Rollins that Shalondra had died on a gurney in the hallway. Rollins was left to break the news to Shalondra's children, ages 13 and 15.

More than a year later, Rollins said, the grief is unrelenting.

Rollins has suffered panic attacks and depression that make it hard to get out of bed. She often startles when the phone rings, fearing that someone else is hurt or dead. If her other daughters don't pick up when she calls, Rollins phones their neighbors to check on them.

"You would think that as time passes it would get better," said Rollins, 57, of Jackson, Mississippi. "Sometimes, it is even harder.  This wound right here, time don't heal it."

With nearly 600,000 in the U.S. lost to covid-19  now a leading cause of death  researchers estimate that more than 5 million Americans are in mourning, including more than 43,000 children who have lost a parent.

The pandemic  and the political battles and economic devastation that have accompanied it  have inflicted unique forms of torment on mourners, making it harder to move ahead with their lives than with a typical loss, said sociologist Holly Prigerson, co-director of the Cornell Center for Research on End-of-Life Care.

The scale and complexity of pandemic-related grief have created a public health burden that could deplete Americans' physical and mental health for years, leading to more depression, substance misuse, suicidal thinking, sleep disturbances, heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure and impaired immune function.

"Unequivocally, grief is a public health issue," said Prigerson, who lost her mother to covid in January. "You could call it the grief pandemic."

Like many other mourners, Rollins has struggled with feelings of guilt, regret and helplessness  for the loss of her daughter as well as Rollins' only son, Tyler, who died by suicide seven months earlier.

"I was there to see my mom close her eyes and leave this world," said Rollins, who was first interviewed by KHN a year ago in a story about covid's disproportionate effects on communities of color. "The hardest part is that my kids died alone. If it weren't for this covid, I could have been right there with her" in the ambulance and emergency room. "I could have held her hand."

The pandemic has prevented many families from gathering and holding funerals, even after deaths caused by conditions other than covid. Prigerson's research shows that families of patients who die in hospital intensive care units are seven times more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder than loved ones of people who die in home hospice.

The polarized political climate has even pitted some family members against one another, with some insisting that the pandemic is a hoax and that loved ones must have died from influenza, rather than covid. People in grief say they're angry at relatives, neighbors and fellow Americans who failed to take the coronavirus seriously, or who still don't appreciate how many people have suffered.

"People holler about not being able to have a birthday party," Rollins said. "We couldn't even have a funeral."

Indeed, the optimism generated by vaccines and falling infection rates has blinded many Americans to the deep sorrow and depression of those around them. Some mourners say they will continue wearing their face masks  even in places where mandates have been removed  as a memorial to those lost.

"People say, 'I can't wait until life gets back to normal,'" said Heidi Diaz Goff, 30, of the Los Angeles area, who lost her 72-year-old father to covid. "My life will never be normal again."

Many of those grieving say celebrating the end of the pandemic feels not just premature, but insulting to their loved ones' memories.

"Grief is invisible in many ways," said Tashel Bordere, a University of Missouri assistant professor of human development and family science who studies bereavement, particularly in the Black community. "When a loss is invisible and people can't see it, they may not say 'I'm sorry for your loss,' because they don't know it's occurred."

"You would think that as time passes it would get better. Sometimes, it is even harder.  This wound right here, time don't heal it." Cassandra Rollins, of Jackson, Mississippi

Communities of color, which have experienced disproportionately higher rates of death and job loss from covid, are now carrying a heavier burden.

Black children are more likely than white children to lose a parent to covid. Even before the pandemic, the combination of higher infant and maternal mortality rates, a greater incidence of chronic disease and shorter life expectancies made Black people more likely than others to be grieving a close family member at any point in their lives.

Rollins said everyone she knows has lost someone to covid.

"You wake up every morning, and it's another day they're not here," Rollins said. "You go to bed at night, and it's the same thing."

A lifetime of loss

Rollins has been battered by hardships and loss since childhood.

She was the youngest of 11 children raised in the segregated South. Rollins was 5 years old when her older sister Cora, whom she called "Coral," was stabbed to death at a nightclub, according to news reports. Although Cora's husband was charged with murder, he was set free after a mistrial.

Rollins gave birth to Shalondra at age 17, and the two were especially close. "We grew up together," Rollins said.

Just a few months after Shalondra was born, Rollins' older sister Christine was fatally shot during an argument with another woman. Rollins and her mother helped raise two of the children Christine left behind.

Heartbreak is all too common in the Black community, Bordere said. The accumulated trauma  from violence to chronic illness and racial discrimination  can have a weathering effect, making it harder for people to recover.

"It's hard to recover from any one experience, because every day there is another loss," Bordere said. "Grief impacts our ability to think. It impacts our energy levels. Grief doesn't just show up in tears. It shows up in fatigue, in working less."

Rollins hoped her children would overcome the obstacles of growing up Black in Mississippi. Shalondra earned an associate's degree in early childhood education and loved her job as an assistant teacher to kids with special needs. Shalondra, who had been a second mother to her younger siblings, also adopted a cousin's stepdaughter after the child's mother died, raising the girl alongside her two children.

Rollins' son, Tyler, enlisted in the Army after high school, hoping to follow in the footsteps of other men in the family who had military careers.

Yet the hardest losses of Rollins' life were still to come. In 2019, Tyler killed himself at age 20, leaving behind a wife and unborn child.

"When you see two Army men walking up to your door," Rollins said, "that's unexplainable."

Tyler's daughter was born the day Shalondra died.

"They called to tell me the baby was born, and I had to tell them about Shalondra," Rollins said. "I don't know how to celebrate."

Shalondra's death from covid changed her daughters' lives in multiple ways.

The girls lost their mother, but also the routines that might help mourners adjust to a catastrophic loss. The girls moved in with their grandmother, who lives in their school district. But they have not set foot in a classroom for more than a year, spending their days in virtual school, rather than with friends.

Shalondra's death eroded their financial security as well, by taking away her income. Rollins, who worked as a substitute teacher before the pandemic, hasn't had a job since local schools shut down. She owns her own home and receives unemployment insurance, she said, but money is tight.

Makalin Odie, 14, said her mother, as a teacher, would have made online learning easier. "It would be very different with my mom here."

The girls especially miss their mom on holidays.

"My mom always loved birthdays," said Alana Odie, 16. "I know that if my mom were here my 16th birthday would have been really special."

Asked what she loved most about her mother, Alana replied, "I miss everything about her."

Grief complicated by illness

The trauma also has taken a toll on Alana and Makalin's health. Both teens have begun taking medications for high blood pressure. Alana has been on diabetes medication since before her mom died.

Mental and physical health problems are common after a major loss. "The mental health consequences of the pandemic are real," Prigerson said. "There are going to be all sorts of ripple effects."

The stress of losing a loved one to covid increases the risk for prolonged grief disorder, also known as complicated grief, which can lead to serious illness, increase the risk of domestic violence and steer marriages and relationships to fall apart, said Ashton Verdery, an associate professor of sociology and demography at Penn State.

People who lose a spouse have a roughly 30% higher risk of death over the following year, a phenomenon known as the "the widowhood effect." Similar risks are seen in people who lose a child or sibling, Verdery said.

Grief can lead to "broken-heart syndrome," a temporary condition in which the heart's main pumping chamber changes shape, affecting its ability to pump blood effectively, Verdery said.

From final farewells to funerals, the pandemic has robbed mourners of nearly everything that helps people cope with catastrophic loss, while piling on additional insults, said the Rev. Alicia Parker, minister of comfort at New Covenant Church of Philadelphia.

"It may be harder for them for many years to come," Parker said. "We don't know the fallout yet, because we are still in the middle of it."

Rollins said she would have liked to arrange a big funeral for Shalondra. Because of restrictions on social gatherings, the family held a small graveside service instead.

Funerals are important cultural traditions, allowing loved ones to give and receive support for a shared loss, Parker said.

"When someone dies, people bring food for you, they talk about your loved one, the pastor may come to the house," Parker said. "People come from out of town. What happens when people can't come to your home and people can't support you? Calling on the phone is not the same."

While many people are afraid to acknowledge depression, because of the stigma of mental illness, mourners know they can cry and wail at a funeral without being judged, Parker said.

"What happens in the African American house stays in the house," Parker said. "There's a lot of things we don't talk about or share about."

Funerals play an important psychological role in helping mourners process their loss, Bordere said. The ritual helps mourners move from denying that a loved one is gone to accepting "a new normal in which they will continue their life in the physical absence of the cared-about person." In many cases, death from covid comes suddenly, depriving people of a chance to mentally prepare for loss. While some families were able to talk to loved ones through FaceTime or similar technologies, many others were unable to say goodbye.

Funerals and burial rites are especially important in the Black community and others that have been marginalized, Bordere said.

"You spare no expense at a Black funeral," Bordere said. "The broader culture may have devalued this person, but the funeral validates this person's worth in a society that constantly tries to dehumanize them."

In the early days of the pandemic, funeral directors afraid of spreading the coronavirus did not allow families to provide clothing for their loved ones' burials, Parker said. So beloved parents and grandparents were buried in whatever they died in, such as undershirts or hospital gowns.

"They bag them and double-bag them and put them in the ground," Parker said. "It is an indignity."

Coping with loss

Every day, something reminds Rollins of her losses.

April brought the first anniversary of Shalondra's death. May brought Teacher Appreciation Week.

Yet Rollins said the memory of her children keeps her going.

When she begins to cry and thinks she will never stop, one thought pulls her from the darkness: "I know they would want me to be happy. I try to live on that."
Donna M. Seifried, 78, passed away on Friday, June 11, 2021, at her home surrounded by family. She was a receptionist at Price Waterhouse Coopers, a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and a native of Salina, KS. She is survived by her husband William "Bill" Seifried of Jeffersonville, I
Jeffersonville, IN (47130)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.
This was not a riot. This was a massacre, among the worst in our history, but not the only one, and for too long forgotten by our history. As soon as it happened, there was a clear effort to erase it from our memory, Biden said at the Greenwood Cultural Center after touring an exhibit about the massacre and meeting with three survivors who are all between the ages of 101 and 107.
Lee Hamilton is a Senior Adviser for the Indiana University Center on Representative Government; a Distinguished Scholar at the IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies; and a Professor of Practice at the IU ONeill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years.
(Newser)  After serving 25 years, a Sicilian Mafia boss who confessed to his involvement in more than 100 killings has been paroled from prison. "Giovanni Brusca, the man who destroyed my family, is free," said Tina Montinaro, per the BBC. Her husband was killed when Brusca set off a road bomb in 1992 that took the life of Italy's top investigator of the Mafia, judge Giovanni Falcone. "This is not the 'justice' that Italians deserve," a politician said. Three bodyguards and Falcone's wife were killed in the explosion. Brusca later became an informant whose testimony helped authorities combat the Cosa Nostra and allowed him to avoid a life sentence, per the Washington Post. A woman whose 14-year-old brother, Giuseppe, was killed by Brusca because his father was an informant, his body dissolved in acid, questioned the practice.

story continues below

Italy should reconsider "this system that rewards all government collaborators, even those responsible for massacres and hundreds of murders," Nicola Di Matteo said. Law enforcement has defended it, though some politicians have said perhaps it shouldn't be offered to someone with as many deaths on his hands as Brusca, who's known in Italy as the "people-slayer." Brusca, 64, will be on parole for four years. "He has collaborated with justice only to get the benefits," said Rosaria Costa, whose husband was a bodyguard killed with Falcone. Maria Falcone, the judge's sister, said that Brusca's release saddened her but that she understood that officials were following the law. "Regardless of what one may think of the atrocities he committed at the time, there was a collaboration" that helped the government, the lead Mafia prosecutor said, per Reuters. (Read more Sicilian mafia stories.)
(Newser)  The editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association announced his resignation Tuesday following an outcry over a tweet and podcast that questioned the existence of structural racism in medicine. Dr. Howard Bauchner had been on leave since March during an investigation of remarks made by deputy editor Dr. Edward Livingston, the New York Times reports. A tweet promoting the podcast claimed "no physician is racist." "I remain profoundly disappointed in myself for the lapses that led to the publishing of the tweet and podcast, Bauchner said in a statement. "Although I did not write or even see the tweet, or create the podcast, as editor-in-chief, I am ultimately responsible for them."

story continues below

Critics accused JAMA of ignoring a huge amount of evidence of structural racism in medicine and said the journal had failed to diversify its staff or focus on inequalities in medicine, BuzzFeed reports. Bauchner's resignation "was a goal for some people. It wasn't mine," tweeted Black cardiologist Dr. Raymond Givens, a prominent critic of the lack of diversity at JAMA and other medical journals. "My goal isn't about a person but about societal change. I don't see this as a cause for celebration but a call to get to work." He tells the Times it will take more than appointing a new top editor of color to fix the issues at JAMA. Givens says he wants to see a new editor-in-chief "who is willing to take a stand, push to move things forward." (Read more JAMA stories.)
(Newser)  You may be hearing "Karen" thrown around a lot lately, but it's becoming less common as an actual name. Fewer newborn babies were named Karen in the US in 2020 than in any year since 1932, the Huffington Post reports based on Social Security Administration data. Karen, the third most popular name for girls in 1965, was in the top 150 female names as of 2003. It has slowly fallen in popularity since then, ranking in the 500s in 2015-17. It ranked 637 and 660 in 2018 and 2019, respectively. But in 2020, it fell dramatically to No. 831, with only 325 baby girls named Karen, compared to nearly 33,000 in 1965, per HuffPost. The outlet notes Katrina and Isis also fell in popularity, dropping out of the top 1,000 names, following the 2005 hurricane and rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a terrorist group offshoot of al-Qaeda.

story continues below

Karen has become a slang term for "an obnoxious, angry, entitled, and often racist middle-aged white woman who uses her privilege to get her way or police other people's behaviors," according to Dictionary.com. Per the BBC, Karen refers to "the kind of person who demands to 'speak to the manager' in order to belittle service industry workers, is anti-vaccination, and carries out racist micro-aggressions, such as asking to touch black people's hair." There's no clear evidence that this usage influenced new parents. But the Seattle Times wonders "how could it not, with connotations like the 'Central Park Karen' who falsely called police to say a Black bird-watcher who had asked her to comply with the rules ... had actually threatened to harm her? Or the so-called SoHo Karen, who wrongfully accused a Black boy of stealing her cellphone?" (See the most popular baby names for 2020.)
(Newser)  "As a fire chief I never thought when our firefighters face danger that they would face that danger at one of our community fire stations," Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby told reporters Tuesday afternoon. Osby said an off-duty firefighter killed a colleague and wounded another Tuesday morning at a fire station in Agua Dulce, around 45 miles north of Los Angeles, NBC reports. The man then fled to his home in Acton, around 10 miles away, and set it on fire before apparently shooting himself, sources tell ABC7. Sheriff's Lt. Brandon Dean says a SWAT team and hostage negotiators were sent to the scene but never made contact with the suspect, KTLA reports.

story continues below

The home burned to the ground Tuesday afternoon and firefighters made a water drop to prevent the fire spreading to nearby brush. The suspect was found dead in an empty pool. Authorities say the gunman was a firefighter specialist and engineer. Sources tell ABC7 that he was involved in an ongoing workplace dispute with the man who was killed. "He was not scheduled to work today. He came back and confronted the on-duty personnel," Osby said, per the AP. The chief said the man fatally shot at Fire Station 81 was a 44-year-old fire specialist who had been with the department for 20 years. Osby said the man was "truly dedicated, one of our better firefighters and a true loss to our department." The injured man, a 54-year-old fire captain, was hospitalized in critical but stable condition. (Read more California stories.)
(Newser)  When former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin pardoned hundreds of people after his 2019 election loss, he said he was a "big believer in second chances." Authorities now have a second chance to put one of them back behind bars. Convicted killer Patrick Baker has been arrested on a federal charge of murder committed during a robbery and kidnapping related to drug trafficking, reports the AP. The charges relate to the shooting death of Donald Mills during a 2014 home invasion, which led to Baker's conviction on state charges including reckless homicide and robbery. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison in 2017 but served just two years before he was pardoned.

story continues below

Baker's 2019 pardon was especially controversial because his family had hosted a fundraiser for Bevin and donated thousands of dollars to the Republican's campaign, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports. "We knew corruption was involved with the former pardon of Patrick Baker," says Melinda Mills, the slain man's sister. "He knows he's guilty, so does everybody else." Legal experts say that despite constitutional protections against double jeopardy, Baker can be legally prosecuted under the "dual sovereignty doctrine," which allows state and federal authorities to prosecute somebody for the same actions. Baker, who also faces a federal drug trafficking charge, appeared in federal court Tuesday and was told the maximum sentence he could face is the death penalty. (Read more Kentucky stories.)
The region is well-known for having one of the worlds largest populations of Bengal tigers, the creatures most often targeted by the 50-year-old poacher. Authorities said Talukder would often sell the cats pelts, bones and flesh to black market traders, who in turn, would sell them in China and beyond.
(Newser)  What's better than hearing your name read aloud at commencement? This: As Saturday's graduation ceremonies came to a close, Ohio's Wilberforce University President Elfred Anthony Pinkard let the 2020 and 2021 graduates know they would all be exiting without any student debt to the university. Cleveland.com reports some $375,000 of student debt was forgiven thanks to the United Negro College Fund, Jack and Jill, and other funding sources. The forgiveness doesn't impact any federal, bank, or personal loans the students have taken out but covers fines and fees as well as tuition balances that were being paid directly to Wilberforce, reports CNN. Wilberforce is the country's oldest private HBCU. The Washington Post reports it has about 700 students, 166 of whom were in the current graduating class.

story continues below

"As these graduates begin their lives as responsible adults, we are honored to be able to give them a fresh start by relieving their student debt to the university," says Pinkard. News of that fresh start was met with cheers. The Post describes one student as "awestruck, mouth agape." The school notes in a press release that HBCU grads typically have "staggering" amounts of student debt. "According to the American Association of University Women, Black women ... have the highest student debt loan of any racial or ethnic group. For these 2020 and 2021 Wilberforce students, those statistics have now narrowed." The Post shares some of the rich history of the school, which dates to pre-Civil War days: It was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and counted WEB Du Bois among its faculty; he met his wife there. (Read more uplifting news stories.)
(Newser)  A chemical-laden cargo ship that burned for 13 days off the coast of Sri Lanka has now sunk, along with hundreds of tons of oil in fuel tanks, in what CNN calls "one of the worst ecological disasters in the country's history." Crews managed to put out fires on the MV X-Press Pearl, anchored outside Colombo, almost two weeks after they were sparked by an apparent nitric acid leak. But efforts to prevent the ship's sinking were thwarted by rough seas and monsoonal winds, reports the BBC. Sri Lanka's Marine Environment Protection Authority confirmed Wednesday that the ship registered to Singapore-based X-Press Shipping, transporting 81 containers of "dangerous goods," was sinking due to a rear water leak, per CNN. An effort to tow the sinking ship to deeper waters was abandoned after its rear end struck the seabed, Reuters reports, noting the full ship then sank.

story continues below

The dumping of fuel, nitric acid (used to make explosives and fertilizers), and several other chemicals "will basically destroy the whole bottom of the sea," environmentalist Dr. Ajantha Perera tells the BBC. The head of the regional fishing union adds it's "a death blow" for the industry. MEPA expects damage to pristine beaches along a 20-mile stretch of the country's west coast. Oil and debris have already washed ashore near Negombo, north of Colombo. Locals are furious that Sri Lanka permitted the ship in its waters: X-Press Shipping said the nitric acid leak was detected May 11 but the ship wasn't allowed to stay put during stops in Qatar and India. The ship was 9 nautical miles from Colombo when the fire broke out on May 20. The ship's captain, chief engineer, and a second engineer are barred from leaving Sri Lanka amid investigations. (Read more Sri Lanka stories.)
(Newser)  Police say a Florida man agreed to take his son out for a "drive-by" shooting using a paintball marker, which ended with the 10-year-old boy being shot with a real gun. Michael Williams, 26, drove his van as his son leaned out, firing off paintballs into a crowd of young people gathered outside a home in Opa-locka on Sunday, police say. Believing "he and his family were under attack," homeowner Gregory Barns pulled out a gun and fired a single shot at the van, police add, per the Miami Herald. The 10-year-old was hit, but that was just the start. The boy then fell out of the vehicle and was run over, according to a police report. It notes Williams then grabbed the boy, put him in the van, and headed home, where the boy's mother called 911.

story continues below

The boy was rushed to a hospital. His current condition is unclear, though he's expected to survive. His father has been booked on a charge of child neglect with great bodily harm. Police say the shooting was the boy's idea, but that Williams "acted recklessly by agreeing" to it. One witness said Williams and his son were wearing ski masks. But Williams denied that to WSVN. He said children were running around shooting paintballs at each other when his son was hit with a real bullet. The Washington Post notes gun violence is a real problem in Miami-Dade County's Opa-locka. One person was killed in a drive-by shooting in nearby Wynwood on Friday, per the AP. By the end of the weekend, three people had been killed and 30 injured in shootings across the county, per CBS Miami. (Read more shooting stories.)
(Newser)  A Florida man tried unsuccessfully to duck animal cruelty charges by claiming he had every right to beat an iguana to death under the state's "stand your ground" law. The law allows for the use of deadly force if a person "reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm," per CNN. In the case of PJ Nilaja Patterson, accused of brutally beating an iguana to death in Lake Worth in September, his lawyers claimed Patterson had saved the 3-foot-long iguana from getting hit by cars when a crowd caused the animal to become agitated and it bit Patterson's arm, causing a wound that required 22 staples. In what lawyers said was an act of self-defense, Patterson then "kicked the iguana as far as he could."

story continues below

This was "reasonable" because the iguana "was first to engage with physical violence," the lawyers wrote in a motion to dismiss the charges. They noted Patterson believed the "wild beast" could have "injected poison" into him, "thus he rushed to incapacitate the iguana the best way he could in order to preserve its antidote." Judge Jeffrey Gillen did not agree, denying the motion Friday. Prosecutors had noted Patterson spent 30 minutes torturing the defenseless iguana, kicking it at least 17 times, without provocation, in an episode caught on video, per the South Florida Sun Sentinel. A doctor with Animal Control said the iguana died after suffering "painful and terrifying" injuries, including a lacerated liver and tongue, fractured pelvis, and internal bleeding. Patterson faces up to five years in prison if convicted. (Read more Florida stories.)
(Newser)  Images of of Australian soldiers drinking from what was allegedly a dead Afghan's prosthetic leg in an unauthorized bar called the Fat Lady's Arms may play a big role in an upcoming trial. Lawyers for former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith say they are still working to process hundreds of photos from the bar inside Australia's special forces base in Afghanistan, the Guardian reports. The leg used as a drinking vessel was allegedly taken back to the base as a souvenir after Roberts-Smith shot its owner in 2009. The decorated former soldier is suing Australian newspapers including the Sydney Morning Herald for defamation over stories alleging he "broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement" and committed war crimes.

story continues below

Lawyers for Roberts-Smith say his ex-wife, Emma Roberts, leaked the images to the media, though the newspapers being sued dispute this, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports, with one alleging the images were found on USB drives Roberts-Smith buried in his backyard. His lawyers said he did shoot the Afghan man but another soldier brought the leg back to the base and Roberts-Smith was "disgusted" when it was used for drinking games. The lawyers say the slain Afghan man was a Taliban soldier but the newspapers say he was a civilian. The defamation trial, which begins Monday, is expected to hear from Roberts-Smith's ex wife, along with other former soldiers and Afghan civilians whose family members were killed. The Morning Herald reports that war crimes investigators will be monitoring the trial. (Read more Australia stories.)
(Newser)  The worlds largest meat processing company is getting back online after production around the world was disrupted by a cyberattack just weeks after a similar incident shut down a US oil pipeline. Brazils JBS SA said late Tuesday that it had made "significant progress" in dealing with the cyberattack and expected the "vast majority" of its plants to be operating on Wednesday, the AP reports. "Our systems are coming back online and we are not sparing any resources to fight this threat," Andre Nogueira, CEO of JBS USA, said in a statement. JBS notified the federal government the ransom demand came from the ransomware gang REvil, which is believed to operate in Russia, according to a person familiar with the situation who is not authorized to discuss it publicly, per the AP.

story continues below

REvil has not posted anything related to the hack on its darkweb site. But thats not unusual. Ransomware syndicates as a rule dont post about attacks when they are in initial negotiations with victimsor if the victims have paid a ransom. JBS is the second-largest producer of beef, pork, and chicken in the US. If it were to shut down for even one day, the country would lose almost a quarter of its beef-processing capacity, or the equivalent of 20,000 beef cows, according to Trey Malone, an assistant professor of agriculture at Michigan State University. JBS said the cyberattack affected servers supporting its operations in North America and Australia; backup servers werent affected. JBS didnt say which of its 84 US facilities were closed Monday and Tuesday because of the attack.

(Read more cyberattack stories.)
(Newser)  A California hiker survived a 30-foot fall Monday after trying to stop a companion from plunging off a mountain ridge in Sequoia National Park. Rescue crews were able to pull the woman, 45, to safety from a ledge, but the man she was trying to save fell 500 feet to his death, park service officials said. She'd grabbed the man, 56, when he lost his balance on the summit ridge of Mount Russell, CBS reports, and they both fell. Another hiker in the group used a GPS beacon to call for help, per CNN. The woman, also from California, was taken by air to a hospital in Reno, Nevada, where she had surgery. Crews were able to recover the man's body the next day. None of the hikers was identified.

story continues below

It was one of a rash of emergency calls for rescue crews at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park over the Memorial Day break, at least one of which happened at the same time. "The parks responded to eight separate search and rescue incidents over the three-day holiday weekend," officials for the parks said. They said they anticipate a busy summer at the parks and asked visitors to be prepared. "Understand completely that you may need to be self-sufficient in the event of an emergency," a parks statement said. "There is never any guarantee that rescuers will be able to reach you quickly." (Read more hiker death stories.)
(Newser)  Authorities in New Jersey asked the public to help identify an enormous skull found on a beach over the weekendand some people got creative. One person guessed that the skull found by state police in the sand at Island Beach State Park after a storm came from a pterodactyl, while another suggested the remains of Jimmy Hoffa had finally been found, the New York Daily News reports. Another person correctly guessed that the skull belonged to a minke whale. Authorities confirmed Wednesday that it was a whale's skull and said it apparently hadn't been washed up by the storm, NJ.com reports. Instead, it came from an 11-foot minke that was buried deep under the sand after it washed up last June. (Read more New Jersey stories.)
The Opposition has disputed this, because a blueprint for the Ministry of Education initiative Te Hurihanganui, mentions the need to build "critical consciousness", which it says means "recognising white privilege".

Staff at the Ministry of Education and the Education Review Office have attended workshops called Beyond Diversity - Courageous Conversations About Race, which includes a chapter specifically on 'white privilege'.

ACT leader David Seymour accused Ardern at the time of being in "la la land" after she told The AM Show the words 'white privilege' are not included in the education curriculum.

Ardern acknowledged it may have been used "in a particular classroom", referring to a Whangarei primary school pupil who reportedly had to talk to their fellow students about what they had done to recognise their white privilege.

But she said it is not a focus of the Government.

"It's not something that we're teaching, and so my push back would be to say that because it's not core to what we are doing right now as a Government, it's not something that I've dwelt on."

National's education spokesperson Paul Goldsmith asked Tinetti in Parliament on Wednesday how Ardern could say teaching white privilege is not part of the Government's agenda when it's mentioned in Te Hurihanganui.

"White privilege is not part of the New Zealand curriculum," Tinetti said.

"I would like to inform the member, though, that the education system in the past hasn't worked for everyone in this country. It is inequitable. One of the biggest reasons for this is systemic racism.

"Te Hurihanganui is one resource that works with communities to address this.

"Te Hurihanganui is a professional resource for teachers. Let me help the member understand the difference between teaching children curriculum and building and supporting teacher competence and capacity.

"Te Hurihanganui is about critical thinking, understanding who teachers are, the impact of their behaviour on students, and understanding others' world views."

She went on to say that while white privilege is not part of the curriculum, "injustice, inequality and privilege are themes that are explored in some teaching resources to build cultural competency amongst our teaching workforce".

She added: "Not talking about these concepts does Pakeha a disservice and Maori children will continue to grow up thinking their position at the bottom of the heap is their fault rather than the systems that keep them there."

Seymour says it raises implications for teachers.

"What are teachers supposed to say to a 'white' child who may have no money or food at home, be abused, face a learning challenge, or any other challenge? How is it that their colour makes them privileged regardless of their individual circumstances?"

He said Kiwi kids deserve a "positive and inclusive" education.

"The Government needs to front up and tell New Zealanders why it is instead allowing such radical and divisive ideas to be taught to our kids."

National leader Judith Collins has called for those behind Te Hurihanganui to be sacked.
Collins told The AM Show on Wednesday morning that Parliamentary Services have not briefed her on the incident, but she has been advised by Dr Smith that a staffer yelled at him and he shouted back.

"Another person, a staff member of another MP, also heard that and recorded it, made a complaint to Parliamentary Service. Nick's staff member did not complain to Parliamentary Service," Collins said.

Asked if making such a recording was underhand, Collins questioned its legality.

"It is also, I would have thought, illegal. Prima facie, under the Crimes Act, recording a conversation of which you are not a party without anyone's permission, that person's permission, might well be illegal."

The leader told The AM Show Dr Smith rang her on Monday to advise her that he would be retiring. She said he told her late last year that he wasn't sure he would see out the term and that he wasn't enjoying being a List MP.

"I think he has been under a tremendous amount of stress and he said, look he has got other things he can do now, and he does have other things to do."

Collins said he's been a hard-working MP, loyal to his former electorate.

"Nick has been there for 30 years. In that time, I am not aware of any personal grievance that has ever been brought against him," she said.

"He has been an extremely hard-working MP. In fact, many would say too hard because he has just never given himself a break. He is very, very passionate about his work. He has been immensely loyal to Nelson. It was Nelson this and Nelson that."

However, Newshub has spoken to a number of former National Party staffers who'd either been directly affected by Dr Smith's behaviour or witnessed it. None would speak on the record.

What the former staffers said:

"Smith was notorious for that red mist"

"One of the most difficult assholes I've ever worked for"

"I have no fond memories of that guy"

Some said Dr Smith's behaviour was well-known by every National leader dating back to Jim Bolger.

Dr Smith declined an interview with Newshub on Tuesday.
A vigil was held in the wake of Everards death in Clapham Common, which was part of her route home on the night she died. Kate Middleton brought flowers and paid her respects alongside mourners at the event, which was later broken up by police. A demonstration slated for that evening had been canceled due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, but supporters showed up anyway after sunset.
A leading economist says pouring millions into hosting the America's Cup is a waste of money.

Team New Zealand is currently in exclusive negotiations to host the next event, but a massive offer might not be enough to keep it in Auckland.

In a bid to ensure the event stays, the Government and Auckland Council have put together an offer reportedly worth $100 million.

"Can Auckland afford it?" asks Mayor Phil Goff. "I've made it very clear that we're not about to throw money at any project.. and we've already invested the money that was needed for the infrastructure."
Advocates are calling for the restoration of an old London cemetery after a decomposing limb was found protruding from a vandalised tomb.

Graves in West Norwood Cemetery are in memory of leading members of the Greek community in 19th Century London, but in recent years have been heavily neglected and vandalised.

Dr Victoria Solomonidis-Hunter, a Greek-British associate lecturer at University College London, told The Guardian she was shocked to discover the "heartbreaking state of decay".

She particularly noted the condition of a monument by the Vagliano Brothers.

"One of the most beautiful monuments is that of the Vagliano Brothers, who - among other major works - funded the National Library of Greece in the late 19th century. The monument is a copy of the Tower of the Winds [erected in Athens about 100-50BC]. It is in a bad need of restoration. Pigeon droppings inside are 70cm high."
A 79-year-old Colombian woman has been found dead and reportedly "eaten from the waist up" after she lay undiscovered in her Madrid apartment with seven cats for around three months.

El Mundo reported the apartment, owned by the Madrid Social Housing Agency, began to stink after neighbours had already been concerned about the woman for weeks.

"Sometimes it smelled bad from the cats and the boxes of food that came up, but this time there was a very strong plague," a neighbour told El Mundo.

When police were called to the apartment on Monday, May 24, her home was filled with rubbish and cat faeces.

After discovering the body, one officer told a neighbour the woman had been "eaten from the waist up", El Mundo reported.

"A national police officer told us that it was the worst thing he had seen since he worked," the neighbour told El Mundo.
Shamokin, PA (17872)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High near 75F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Variable clouds with thunderstorms, especially during the evening. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.
Let us know what you're seeing and hearing around the community.

Submit here
The library has been closed with a kiosk outside the front door, but is planning to open this week for appointment browsing.
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.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain is committed to exerting all efforts and continuing to work to expand joint Gulf action towards more achievements. This was emphasised by Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani as he received in his office yesterday Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Dr Nayef Falah Al Hajraf and his accompanying delegation on their official visit to the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Dr Al Zayani made the assurance which is in line with the noble directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

The Minister welcomed Dr Al Hajraf, praising his tireless efforts to advance joint Gulf action and promote areas of joint cooperation, which comes in fulfilment of the aspirations of the leaders of the GCC countries towards further Gulf cooperation and integration in various fields and to cement the bond between the GCC countries and peoples.

Dr Al Zayani also commended the positive outcomes of the meetings of the councils and specialised ministerial committees to implement the decisions of the Supreme Council and the Ministerial Council and to enhance the joint Gulf action process.

He noted the sincere efforts made by the General Secretariat, under the leadership of its Secretary-General, to consolidate cooperation relations between the GCC countries and the rest of the world as well as strengthening the position of the council regionally and internationally.

The Secretary-General expressed his appreciation for the efforts exerted by the Kingdom, as the current president of the GCC, to advance the joint Gulf cooperation process and achieve the aspirations of the leaders of the GCC member states.

He wished the Kingdom of Bahrain continued progress and prosperity under the leadership of His Majesty the King. The meeting included preparations for the Ministerial Council meeting, which will be held at the headquarters of the General Secretariat in Riyadh on June 16.

It also discussed a number of issues related to strengthening joint Gulf cooperation. The meeting was also attended by the Undersecretary for Political Affairs, Dr Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, and the Head of the GCC Affairs Sector, Abdulaziz Mohammed Al Eid.

On the side of the General Secretariat, it was attended by the Advisor to the Secretary-General and General Supervisor of Protocol Affairs, Ayman Abdullah Al Muhanna, and Director of the Coordination and Follow-up Department at the General Secretariat of the GCC Council, Tariq Al Fadhel.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Speaker Fawzia bint Abdullah Zainal has praised the relations between Bahrain and Japan and its continuous development at all levels. She attributed the growing bilateral ties to the constant care of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Emperor Naruhito of Japan.

This came as Speaker Zainal received yesterday newly appointed Japanese Ambassador to Bahrain Miyamoto Masayuki in the presence of Deputy Abdul Nabi Salman, First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. She wished the Ambassador success in performing his diplomatic duties in the Kingdom.

The Speaker affirmed the Representatives Councils keenness to enhance cooperation, especially those related to the parliament. Zainal noted the parliaments interest in opening up to a higher level of joint work with the legislative institution in Japan, with coordination and exchange of experiences, and intensifying meetings, to achieve mutual interests and support joint projects in all fields, especially economic, investment and technological.

The Ambassador stressed his pride in representing his country in the Kingdom, noting the growing bilateral relations, and affirming his aspiration for further growth and progress in these relations.
Yonkers: As a Christian man, I must say: I can no longer excuse the Jewish claim of righteousness in Palestine. The Holocaust happened, and I am sorry that we humans are so capable of doing evil to others who arent like us. But I cannot sit by and again watch the taxes that I paid being used every time a bomb is dropped in Palestine. Jewish people in Palestine must stop threatening people like they were threatened in Germany. I cannot agree that building walls and blockading and terrorizing people to make them move from their homes is morally right. Maybe that is why the rockets were landing in Israel. Its my opinion that the time is right for a new idea: Make Israel and the occupied lands a new country  a country for every Jew, Muslim and Christian to live and worship in peace. Thats how my tax money that we send to Palestine should be spent. Joe Gomes
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Health Minister Faeqa bint Saeed Al Saleh has congratulated World Health Organisation Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the success of the 74th session of the World Health Assembly, held in Geneva on May 24-31.

Al Saleh expressed her pride in the WHO director generals closing remarks in which he reminded delegates that the theme of the assembly was Ending this pandemic, preventing the next: building together a healthier, safer and fairer world. She lauded the resolve to strengthen both WHO and global health security and the recommendation for a treaty on pandemic preparedness and response.

The Minister commended Dr Tedros tireless endeavours and the WHO teams to make the 74th session a success, despite the difficult conditions sweeping the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and their great efforts to ensure the participation of all members in this event and the adoption of numerous reports, resolutions and recommendations.

Al Saleh praised the active role of the organization and its support of all member states to continue joint efforts to overcome the pandemic.

The Minister paid tribute to all front line workers across the world and their noble roles in providing various services to confront the virus.
Citizens will offer input on the proposed parks sales tax and the American Rescue Plan Act funds after the city council unanimously approved two citizen committees during their meeting Tuesday.

Both citizen committees will help the council make funding decisions for the $39.6 million in COVID-19 funds and the potential $55 million the sales tax could generate in ten years.

I think citizens input is vitally important, said City Councilman Marty Novak. We want as much of that as we can get.

The citizen committee for the proposed parks sales tax will identify, review, prioritize and recommend parks projects that would receive revenue from the sales tax. The committee will also recommend a financing plan and market the program to voters before the August 3 election.

Ive got a spreadsheet thats 15 pages long with all the projects the Parks and Rec (Department) could handle, Novak said. But obviously, we want to select whats going to benefit the city and the parks most.

The committee will have a lot of work on their hands, as the council wants the full list of projects by June 21. This allows time to prepare and educate voters on exactly what the tax will be used for before they go to the polls.

Theres been a lot of legwork done by Chuck Kempf and the Parks Department, so it can give us an idea of what really the most essential needs are, so we can kind of get pointed in a direction thats going to do the most good, Novak said.

The eight-member committee  all nominated by the council  includes Ben Burtnett, Chris Clark, Robert Dempster, Scott Mooney, Dennis Rosonke, Frank Still, Terry Turbak and Peggy Voltz.

Id like to see some cohesion with the city council, deciding the list of projects that can best benefit the city of St. Joseph and present it to the council, present that to the citizens for the vote, Novak said.

The other citizen committee, for the American Rescue Plan Act funds, will review applications and make recommendations on how to allocate the $39.6 million. Thus far, the city has received 43 applications totaling $45 million.

We want public input on both, Novak said. The American Rescue Act funds  I think citizen input is good, because obviously, as a council, we cant come up with all the answers.

This six-person committee is made up of citizens with experience in business, finance, community engagement, social services and public facilities. It includes Tama Wagner, Kylee Strough, Joe Houts, Scott Meierhoffer, Corky Marquart and LaTonya Williams.

Other notable

bills and resolutions that passed:

Contrary Creek cleanup

The council unanimously approved waiving fees at the landfill for the disposal of trees and waste removed from Contrary Creek as part of the coordinated cleanup.

Sewer rehab

The council unanimously approved $668,408.42 for sanitary sewer rehabilitation using cured-in-place pipes throughout town.

Airport road construction

The council unanimously approved a $162,775 grant from the Missouri Air National Guard to pay for the installation of a box culvert and waterline relocation caused by the Guards move to the north end of Rosecrans Memorial Airport.

Police equipment

The council unanimously approved two separate bills. One was $41,201 to purchase outer vest carriers for police officers. The other was $6,950 for a lawnmower at the outdoor gun range.

Main Street repairs

The council unanimously approved $93,682 for concrete street repairs on Main Street, from Market Street to Chestnut Street.

Bode Sports Complex renovations

The council unanimously approved $33,000 for renovations at the outdoor athletic courts at the Bode Sports Complex.
As financial assistance starts to shift, local resources still are available to those who need it.

Kisha Thomas, director of the Welcome Center at Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph, said the charity received funding to help families and individuals with bills.

We are able to assist with rental for people who own or rent their properties. Thats for mortgages, lease(s), and were also able to pay the rental fee on a trailer unit or lot, Thomas said.

The St. Joseph City Council voted to fund the charity by allocating $250,000 worth of CARES Act funds in February, according to Catholic Charities.

Thomas said funding can also go toward paying utilities and helping people stay current on their bills.

In addition, the organization can help those that are unemployed as well as under-employed.

When we talk about serving those who are underemployed, that just basically means that that person is employed, but they dont make enough to sustain their lifestyle, Thomas said. Part of our job here, too, is not only to help clients stay in their household ... we also want to get them employed with employment, that they can sustain their families, that they are able to make enough to make sure that their families have all their basic needs.

Thomas said this also includes helping find reliable transportation and food.

The funding is enough to cover a total of six years. However, Thomas believes the funding will be spent in two years because of the need in St. Joseph.

We may be talking about the St. Joseph CARES right now. But we have other pots of money. If a client does not qualify for this particular funding source, then thats where my staff communicates with me to say, well, we have a client in need. We just want people to know not to give up and to be patient.

For those interested, call (816) 232-2885 each Monday at 8:15 a.m. to receive an appointment for help with financial assistance.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  Democrat Melanie Stansbury won election to Congress for New Mexico on Tuesday with a campaign closely tied to initiatives of the Biden administration.

Stansbury prevailed in an open, four-way race to fill a vacant seat previously held by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. The 42-year-old state legislator outpaced her Republican rival by more than 30,000 votes, garnering roughly six of every 10 votes as ballots were tallied into the night.

Stansbury closely tethered her bid for Congress to proposed and enacted Democratic legislation on pandemic relief, infrastructure spending and interventions to slow climate change. Her victory shores up the Democratic majority in Congress ahead of 2022 midterm elections.

She strode on stage in Albuquerque with both arms raised high, in celebration of her win. Thanking supporters and volunteers, she said the grit and determination that fueled her campaign was learned from her own mother, who worked in a denim factory and later as a crane operator.

When the moment demands it, when our families and our communities demand it, when our country demands it, we step up and find the solutions for communities and we figure it out, Stansbury said. And that is exactly what we did in this campaign and that is why I am standing before you tonight.

Stansburys victory preserves an all-female House delegation for the state. She defeated third-term Republican state Sen. Mark Moores to fill an Albuquerque-based seat that has been held by Democrats since 2009.

Libertarian nominee Chris Manning and independent Aubrey Dunn Jr. campaigned unsuccessfully to represent the 1st Congressional District, which encompasses Albuquerque, rural Torrance County and other outlying areas that include the Indigenous community of Sandia Pueblo.

Stansbury reiterated her push for a $15 minimum wage, economic and racial equality and police reforms. She said theres a lot of work to do and she wants to give everyone a seat at the table as the country and its infrastructure is rebuilt.

Amid Election Day voting, she emphasized the need for a major round of federal infrastructure spending.

"This is especially important for New Mexico because it includes funding for things like broadband and clean energy, Stansbury said.

The districts voters have heavily favored Democratic candidates in recent years, shunning former President Donald Trump with a gap of 23 percentage points in 2020 and reelecting Haaland with a margin of 16 percentage points as voter participation reached an all-time high.

Tuesdays election is among a handful of races to fill vacancies in Congress ahead of 2022 midterm elections. Democrats held a 219-211 majority in Congress going into Tuesdays vote in New Mexico.

Moores tried unsuccessfully to flip the seat to Republican control by highlighting concerns about crime in Albuquerque and painting his Democratic opponent as a radical progressive.

Sean Patrick Maloney, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said from New Mexico that enthusiasm is up among Democrats and that Stansbury's win helps ensure work can continue in Washington on the Democratic agenda.

New Mexicos 1st District seat has consistently been a stepping stone to higher office for Republican and Democratic politicians, including now-deceased Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr., former U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The district relies heavily on federal military and research funding as home to Kirtland Air Force Base and Sandia National Laboratories.

Trump in 2020 fell flat with Albuquerque-area voters after he sent federal agents to bolster local law enforcement efforts.

Republicans last year flipped the states sprawling 2nd Congressional District in southern New Mexico as Yvette Herrell of Alamogordo ousted incumbent U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small.



Lee reported from Santa Fe, New Mexico.



This version corrects that winning candidate's last name is Stansbury, not Stanbury.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man accused of taking pictures up a woman's dress at a Columbia grocery store has bonded out of jail.

Ronald Dameron was arrested by the Columbia Police Department on Monday for invasion of privacy. At the time of the arrest, court documents stated that Dameron was currently out on bail for the same offense of invasion of privacy.

According to court documents, a woman was shopping at the Schnucks off of Forum Boulevard in Columbia last week when she said she felt someone behind her. The victim reported seeing Dameron trying to take a picture under her dress.

Dameron has previously been convicted of multiple invasion of privacy offenses stemming from 2010-2014. He was also convicted of third-degree assault back in February of 2012, according to court documents.

Police say Dameron has been arrested six times before this incident for invasion of privacy.

Dameron's bond was set at $10,000 cash only. He has since bonded out of the Boone County Jail.
LIBERTY  Missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will help clean up and landscape the historic home where Alexander Doniphan stayed during the Civil War, now currently owned by local community service leader Clay Lozier lives.

In the late 1830s, Alexander Doniphan defended Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum and a number of other church leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who were imprisoned in what is now the Historic Liberty Jail. On May 22, several missionaries and members of the Church will provide service to the current owners of the historic home owned by Doniphans family.

The home on Moss is about a block away from Doniphans resting place in the Fairview-New Hope cemeteries.

Danny Campbell, who served as the local liaison for the younger missionaries, said Loziers house needed some refreshing, especially the creating a new pathway from the house to the guest house in the backyard.

We have about 17 volunteers out here helping with this service project, he said. The church has 60,000 missionaries worldwide, reaching out to help in many, many ways.

Even the area bishop, Kirk Sanford, joined in shoveling dirt and loading wheelbarrows.

Its a good opportunity to out and serve, he said. There are a lot of blessings to those who serve and to those who benefit from that act of service.

The missionaries came from all over, Elder Andy Liljenquist hails from Bountiful, Utah.

We just help people, he said. Its fun and its good community. We aim to help whatever and whenever people need it.

While the male missionaries were in the back carving the new walkway, the wheelbarrows full of dirt were being taken to Sisters Janeal Rydalch from Idaho Falls, Idaho and Sister Leah Holt from Mesa, Arizona. The two young women were clearing a large flower bed, cleaning it out and leveling the bed with the transferred dirt.

Lozier, who serves on the Liberty Parks and Recreation Board as well as the Liberty Historic District Review Committee, said he had exchanged some phone numbers with some of the younger guys when they came to shovel snow from one of Loziers neighbors driveways.

They wanted to offer a hand, he said. They are really sincere and nice people. They want to offer community service. Getting young people involved is a real gift.
DANBURY  A family-owned pool contractor that got its start here in 1921 wants to expand its industrial facility on the Bethel border by building a $1.5 million addition.

Under the proposal, which will be weighed at a public hearing on Wednesday, Nejame & Sons would keep its headquarters at 91 South St. and build a 7,000-square-foot addition onto the service shop at its 2-acre lot on the Bethel border.

Tom Nejame Sr., a third-generation co-owner of the family business, said that while the coronavirus stifled what had been a booming business, the public health crisis is also making more people consider pools in their back yards.

People are basically staying home because they are sick of traveling with all these restricted conditions, Nejame said on Tuesday. They are starting to look at their back yards and saying Im going to enjoy myself right here.

The new building, which would be used for carpentry, stone-cutting, sheet metal work, and the repair of company equipment and trucks, would dwarf the 1,000-square-foot shop with the gambrel roof at 44 Payne Road. The site would also be used to mix cement, to store building materials and to park vehicles.

Well be doing what weve always done at this site, except the building will keep us out of the weather, Nejame said. Originally we were approved for a building, but now were just going for a new site plan.

Nejame is referring to an 11,000-square-foot building that Danbury planners approved in 2009 which was never built because of the slow economy.

Today, the family business that began as a grocery story when Nejames grandfather came here from Lebanon has expanded with an office in nearby Carmel, N.Y. Nejame and his brothers are preparing the fourth generation for positions of leadership in the family business.

The new building and the industrialized use of the Payne Road site wont bother Nejames neighbors in the single-family neighborhood across the street in Bethel, because the family will screen the property with fencing to supplement the hedge rows, he said.

Nejame added the family has heard no complaints from the neighbors to the north, Danbury Congregation of Jehovahs Witnesses.

The wide variety of materials and equipment proposed to be stored on this property require the applicant take special measures to ensure these areas are clearly delineated so zoning compliance can be determined and access can be maintained at all times for emergency vehicles, a city Planning Department memo reads. The haphazard placement of outdoor storage materials and equipment will not be permitted.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
3 1 of 3 H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Contributed Photo / contributed Show More Show Less 3 of 3





DANBURY  Community members are encouraged to decorate the city in blue and orange to celebrate Danbury High Schools Class of 2021.

The Parent Teacher Organization has announced a week-long celebration of the Class of 2021 that will begin this Thursday and end next Thursday, June 10, when the seniors will graduate.
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP)  The town of Brattleboro is ending its pandemic-related mask mandate starting on Friday.

The select board voted 4-1 on Tuesday to lift the mandate requiring masks inside establishments.

Board member Jessica Gelter voted against the move, saying she had concerns about immunocompromised community members and children who cannot be vaccinated yet, the Brattleboro Reformer reported.

Vermont ended its mask mandate for fully vaccinated people on May 14 following federal guidance. Unvaccinated people are still urged to wear face coverings and municipalities and establishments can keep their own mask rules.

I think the best way we can act to help the retail community is to rescind the order, allowing people to wear masks if they choose and allowing us to come back and strike up the order again if theres some sort of threat in the community that we think requires our action, said Brattleboro Select Board Chairwoman Elizabeth McLoughlin.
When the 2015 Cullors video, from a Harvard panel, circulated on Instagram and Twitter, I couldnt look away. Arab Israelis, Jewish Israelis, Jews and non-Jews alike posted, texted, reposted and tweeted. What qualified Cullors to call for the end of a country, the only genuinely democratic nation in the Middle East? Even if she were an expert on Middle East politics and had lived there for many years, how would ending an entire countrys existence bring peace? Furthermore, it was and is precisely this kind of behavior and reckless propaganda that has promoted destruction and given license to anti-Semitic attacks against Jews around the world.
BEIJING (AP)  China is showcasing economic development in its northwestern Xinjiang region to fight allegations of human rights abuses there.

The regions government organized an international Zoom call featuring numerous testimonials from Muslim ethnic minorities native to Xinjiang. More than 1 million people have been held in a vast system of prison-like detention centers as part of a drive for cultural and political assimilation that the U.S. and some other Western governments have described as genocide.

China says the system is intended to deradicalize those influenced by jihadist ideology and teach job skills, and has fought accusations of human rights abuses by pointing to social stability and economic development in the vast region. In past years, hundreds were killed in attacks blamed on Islamist radicals, sparking a massive security clampdown.

The government has held near-weekly news conferences in Beijing and organized visits to Xinjiang by diplomats and journalists to counter accusations of political persecution, birth control imposed on Muslim women and forced labor, among other abuses.

Uyghurs and other minorities are generally seen as benefiting less from the region's economic development than members of China's dominant Han ethnic group who have flooded into the region over recent decades.

Wednesday's Zoom call, which linked the regional capital of Urumqi with China's mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, showed how Beijing is stepping up its efforts to put its case before a global audience. Along with the testimonials and presentations by Chinese officials, foreign diplomats from allies such as Belarus and Pakistan also offered endorsements of Chinese policy.

China's representative in Geneva, Chen Xu, repeated Beijing's assertation that accusations over its Xinjiang policies were lies concocted to smear China's image, obscure Xinjiang's development and attempt to restrain China's developments."

Such attempts are doomed to failure," Chen and other officials said during the call.

The new push comes days before a peoples tribunal is to open in Britain on allegations of genocide against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim people in Xinjiang.

The tribunal is expected to draw dozens of witnesses, although it has no government backing. China has denounced it as a violation of international law and order."

The hearings are to be chaired by prominent lawyer Geoffrey Nice, who led the prosecution of ex-Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and worked with the International Criminal Court.

While the tribunals judgment is not binding on any government, organizers hope the process of publicly laying out evidence will compel international action on the alleged abuses.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  A bill that declares racism a public health crisis in Connecticut, an issue proponents contend was highlighted by the coronavirus pandemic and needs to finally be quantified and addressed, heads to Gov. Ned Lamont's desk.

The wide-ranging legislation passed on a bipartisan vote of 114 to 33 following a lengthy and at times emotional debate that often focused on race. State Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, co-chairman of the Public Health Committee, noted how the final vote by the General Assembly on the bill was taking place on the 100th anniversary of the massacre that destroyed a thriving Black community in Tulsa known as Black Wall Street.

This is an important bill for this legislature on this very important day, said Steinberg.

He pointed out how the Oklahoma legislature in 1907 had passed a bill, also known by the name SB 1, which imposed Jim Crow laws legalizing racial segregation in the state that made it all too easy" for that community to be destroyed and ultimately turned into a commercial and industrial section of the city.

In Connecticut, Steinberg said, minority neighborhoods have often been located near pollution-causing factories, highways and commercial areas that can have a direct negative impact on people's health.

The bill we have before us today seeks to address or redress in some ways some of those disparities created by racism, he said.

The bill creates a new state commission that will be charged with documenting the effect of racism on public health in Connecticut. The group is supposed to come up with its first strategic plan by Jan. 1, 2022, for state lawmakers to begin eliminating health disparities and inequities in areas ranging from access to quality health care to air and water quality.

A new study of the recruitment and retention of minority health care workers is also included in the bill, as well as a provision that requires state agencies, boards and commission to collect demographic data concerning race. Also, Connecticut hospitals will be required to include implicit bias training as part of their staff training and working group will be created to improve breast cancer awareness and prevention, especially within communities of color.

Rep. Kimberly Fiorello, R-Greenwich, took issue with declaring racism a public health crisis in Connecticut, arguing there are many reasons for disparities in society.

I'm very concerned about this bill. It comes out straight-forward in saying that all of us, everyone here, everyone in our whole state has to accept as fact that racism ... is blatantly happening everywhere in public health in this state," she said. "Does that ring true to the good people of Connecticut?"

Rep. Brandon McGee, D-Hartford, noted that racism can be insidious, driven by public policies that this legislation will help address by requiring health information data by race to be collected  something some lawmakers have been seeking for years to quantify the impacts of racism.

Without it we cant necessarily root out the racism embedded in our status quo or course correct when weve made an assumption that a policy will address inequities or inequalities if the data shows it doesnt, McGee said.

Among the other aspects of the bill, the state Department of Public Health will be required to study Connecticuts response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the legislation creates a new gun violence intervention and prevention advisory committee that will coordinate various groups, including community outreach organizations and victim service providers, to work on a plan to reduce street-level gun violence in the state.
WASHINGTON (AP)  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is ruling out a presidential commission to study the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, telling House Democrats on Tuesday that having President Joe Biden appoint a panel is unworkable even after the Senate blocked an independent probe last week.

Pelosi laid out possible next steps after Fridays Senate vote, in which Senate Republicans blocked legislation to create an independent, bipartisan panel to investigate the siege by former President Donald Trumps supporters. She proposed four options for an investigation of the attack, according to a person on the private Democratic caucus call who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations.

The first option, Pelosi said, is to give the Senate another chance to vote on the commission. Six Republicans voted with Democrats to move forward with the bill, and a seventh missed the vote but said he would have backed it. That means Democrats would only need support from three additional Republicans to reach the 60 votes needed for passage. The commission would be modeled after a highly respected panel that investigated the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The other options involve the House investigating the attack, meaning the probes would be inherently partisan. Pelosi suggested that she could appoint a new select committee to investigate the siege or give the responsibility to a single committee, like the House Homeland Security panel, which wrote the original bipartisan bill to create the commission. Alternately, Pelosi said committees could simply push ahead with their own investigations that are already underway.

But the speaker said she believed a commission appointed by Biden  an idea pitched by some in her caucus after Fridays Senate vote  was not a workable idea in this circumstance" because Congress would still need to approve money and subpoena authority for the panel.

Pelosis comments come as members of both parties have pushed for a deep dive into the insurrection, which was designed to interrupt the presidential electoral count and was the worst attack on Congress in two centuries. Four rioters died in the attack, including a woman who was shot by police as she tried to break into the House chamber while lawmakers were still inside. The rioters brutally beat police and broke in through windows and doors as they hunted for lawmakers and called for Trumps defeat to be overturned.

The White House has not yet said whether Biden would try to appoint a commission without Congress. On Friday, White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the president has been clear that the shameful events of Jan. 6 need to be independently and fully investigated and that he remains committed to that.

We will continue to work with Congress to find a path forward to ensure that happens, she said.

After the Senate vote, some Democrats urged Biden to move on his own.

In light of the GOPs cowardly filibuster of a bipartisan January 6th commission, I urge President Biden to form and appoint a Presidential Commission to fully investigate the insurrection at the United States Capitol, to identify the individuals and organizations who plotted or were involved in those violent acts, and to make recommendations to prevent such an attack from ever recurring, said Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly in a statement over the weekend.

Its uncertain whether the Senate would hold another vote on the commission and whether any additional Republicans would support it. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left open the possibility of a second attempt, saying after the vote that the events of Jan. 6 will be investigated.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., opposes the commission, saying he believes the panel would be partisan even though it would be divided evenly between the two parties. McConnell's criticism came after Trump opposed it and called the legislation a Democrat trap.

Still, six in McConnells caucus defied him, arguing that an independent look was needed, and Pennsylvanias Pat Toomey would have brought the total to seven but for a family commitment, his office said. The Republicans who voted to move forward on the bill were Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Rob Portman of Ohio and Mitt Romney of Utah.

The House passed the bill in May, with 35 Republicans voting with Democrats to pass it.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Senates top Republican on Tuesday linked Democrats efforts to make it easier to sue police officers to problems many law enforcement agencies are having recruiting and retaining personnel, drawing a hard line on the thorniest divide between bargainers seeking compromise on legislation revamping police procedures.

The remarks by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., suggested it would be difficult to win crucial Republican votes for a deal erasing the protection that individual officers generally have from civil lawsuits. The Democratic-run House approved legislation earlier this year ending that shield, and many Democrats and social justice groups want its elimination included in any agreement.

Speaking to a group that included police officers at an event in Owensboro, Kentucky, McConnell said their job often involves physical confrontations like breaking up fights.

If every single one of these incidents becomes a potential personal lawsuit, I'm not going to ask for a show of hands but I'm not sure any of you guys are going to want to do what you do. I mean, how could you recruit?" he said.

McConnell made similar comments in early May, an assertion that some experts have supported but other say is unfounded or one of many factors. But Tuesdays remarks came days after South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the chief Republican bargainer, indicated he wants to strike a deal this month with Democrats on the effort or halt talks, suggesting time is running out.

Just the discussion of this issue, as you've seen in some of the major cities across the country, police retirements are up, recruitment is down, McConnell said of officers' legal protections. He called Scott a very credible spokesman for this issue, and I'm confident that if we can get a bipartisan agreement, he'll be the author."

Scott has proposed retaining the legal shield, called qualified immunity, for individual officers but making it easier to sue departments.

An aide to McConnell provided news articles in which officials and union leaders cited problems attracting and retaining officers in cities including Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Louisville, Kentucky.

Some of those quoted said efforts to strip officers' immunity contributed to the problems. Some cited other problems as well, including the outcry against fatal shootings by police of Black people around the country, especially last year's killing of George Floyd by a now-former Minneapolis officer who's been convicted in the death.

James Burch, president of the National Police Foundation, said there's a lack of national data on recruitment and retention and that many groups besides police face hiring problems. Burch, whose group is a nonpartisan research organization, rejected the assertion that congressional negotiations over qualified immunity was a significant factor.

In the absence of any clear path or actual change to qualified immunity at the federal or national level, it seems implausible that officers would be retiring early due to the debate over or even threats to qualified immunity," he said in a written statement. Wed be more confident pointing to job conditions and impacts, low pay, long hours and negative sentiment as possible causes.

Aides to Scott, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democratic bargainers Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and California Rep. Karen Bass did not provide comments on McConnell's remarks.

The negotiators are also discussing provisions that could curb chokeholds and no-knock warrants, boost reporting requirements on the use of force and check the transfer of military equipment to police.

In a Senate divided 50-50 along partisan lines, Democrats would need support from at least 10 Republicans to overcome GOP procedural delays aimed at killing an agreement.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  Republican legislative leaders made a fresh push Wednesday for ending Democratic Gov. Tim Walz's reliance on emergency powers to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, while state health officials reported continued progress on vaccinations and other key measures.

Rep. Barb Haley, of Red Wing, and Sen. Jeff Howe, of Rockville, touted a bill that they said would preserve Walz's ability to procure and distribute vaccines, and to obtain federal aid, while restoring the normal balance of power between the governor and Legislature.

But the two lawmakers  joined by Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, of East Gull Lake, and House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, of Crown  said they got a cold reception late last week when they presented Walz with their proposal, which they said is based on Alaska's off-ramp" for ending its emergency declaration.

"I counted up the days this morning  it's been nearly 500 days," Haley told reporters.

Walz spokesman Teddy Tschann said the governor is committed to working with lawmakers but the plan has serious holes.

Unfortunately, the proposal put forward by Minnesota Republicans is not a serious plan  it would slow down vaccination, jeopardize hundreds of millions of dollars in hunger relief, and end the eviction moratorium overnight with no plan to provide an off ramp for renters or landlords as we come out of the pandemic, Tschann said in a statement.

Walz is required to call a special legislative session by June 14 as a condition for extending his powers under the peacetime state of emergency that he declared in March 2020. Currently 44 states are under such declarations. The GOP-controlled Senate has voted to end his emergency powers eight times since May 2020, while the House GOP minority has tried unsuccessfully to force a vote 19 times but has been blocked by the House Democratic majority.

But the main work of the special session will be passing a $52 billion two-year budget, which lawmakers were unable to finish during their regular session. Negotiations are continuing in hopes of averting a July 1 state government shutdown.

The governor has already rolled back most of the statewide restrictions he imposed with his emergency powers, including a statewide mask mandate. Minneapolis and St. Paul this week lifted their local mask requirements. Heath Commissioner Jan Malcolm and the state's infectious disease director, Kris Ehresmann, told reporters Wednesday that they couldn't think of any other communities that still had mask mandates in place.

However, private businesses can require masks for employees and customers, and a mandate remains in place in schools.

It's never wrong to wear a mask, Ehresmann said. So if people have been advised by their health care provider or feel more comfortable wearing a mask, even as the mandates are gone, it's never wrong to wear a mask.

Malcolm noted during their briefing that Minnesota's COVID-19 metrics continue to show encouraging improvements. The state reported just 128 new cases and no new deaths between Sunday afternoon and early Tuesday. She said the state's seven-day average test positivity rate has fallen to 3.4%, which is now below the state's caution level." The state is down to only 12% of its hospital beds being used for COVID care. And over 70% of residents over the age of 16 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area have now had at least one vaccine dose, she said.

The percentages are lower in the rest of Minnesota but the state as a whole is still much less vaccine-hesitant than the rest of the country, said Dr. Nathan Chomilo, the department's vaccine equity director. First-dose vaccination rates have been highest among Minnesotans identifying as Asian or Pacific islanders, he said, but the Black and Hispanic communities have made some of the state's highest gains in recent weeks.
As part of its commitment to strengthening communities and bridging gaps, First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv) is working alongside Reconciliation Education and BMO Financial Group to launch Nisitohtamowin , a new introductory eLearning course to promote healing, equity and respect of Indigenous cultures and values in Canadian Society.

Available to Canadians throughout the month of June, Nisitohtamowin, which means "understanding" in Cree, is intended to help foster greater understanding of Indigenous perspectives through education, which can lead to stronger relationships and enhanced opportunities for the economy, communities, the environment and beyond. The course was developed in support of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's calls to action and recommendations on education, with a section that provides an introduction to the legacy and impact of Indian Residential Schools, including a personal account shared by Residential School Survivor and Dene Elder Margaret Reynolds.

"The tragic news regarding the remains of 215 children found at Kamloops Indian Residential School uncovers the pain and hurt felt across Indigenous communities," said Elder and Residential School Survivor, Margaret Reynolds, who sits on the Elders (kehte-ayak) Council and Board of Governors for First Nations University of Canada. "We ask everyone to take a moment of silence to honour these children, their families and communities. We ask the Creator to give strength and blessings to all those hurting and impacted by this news."

"The painful news that has emerged regarding the Kamloops Indian Residential School underscores the critical importance of truth and reconciliation in Canada. The legacy and impact of Indian Residential Schools has not been taught widely and so education is key to understanding, " said Dr. Bob Kayseas, Interim President, Vice President Academic, First Nations University of Canada. "The path to greater well-being and prosperity for Indigenous peoples is through education, and the path to respectful relationships where we can all coexist and lift each other up is through reconciliation education. Nisitohtamowin is just the first step on the journey -- we encourage all participants to seek further learning opportunities either with Indigenous Peoples in your own region or at First Nations University of Canada."

Financial Assistance and Supports to Indigenous Students

In addition to the eLearning initiative, BMO is providing a $250,000 gift that will enable FNUniv to provide financial assistance and supports to Indigenous students through their academic year, including entrance level scholarships, Indigenous business student scholarships, and emergency bursaries.

Over the last three decades, BMO has had a leading presence in supporting long-term sustainable economic growth for Indigenous communities and is committed to progress for Indigenous peoples across three pillars that reflect the Truth & Reconciliation Commission call to action for corporate Canada: education, employment, and economic empowerment. Along with the BMO Sharing Circle (BMO's Enterprise Resource Group for Indigenous colleagues) and BMO's Indigenous Advisory Council  comprised of First Nations, Metis and Inuit leaders from across the country  the eLearning initiative promotes inclusion, education and progress against the calls to action.

"The recent tragic news from Kamloops, B.C. has only strengthened BMO's commitment to playing a role in reconciliation through education. We're grateful to have partnered with First Nations University of Canada and Reconciliation Education through 2020 to develop Nisitohtamowin, which, among other things, honours the stories of Residential School survivors," said Michael Bonner, Head, Canadian Business Banking, BMO Financial Group. "Nearly 80 per cent of our employees have completed this learning to date and we are honoured to be able to share it now with the rest of Canada during National Indigenous History Month. As part of our commitment to supporting Indigenous communities through education, employment and economic empowerment, we're also pleased to be able to help First Nations University provide scholarships to its students."

Click here to register for the free Nisitohtamowin eLearning course or visit: www.fnuniv.ca/reconciliation . For more information about BMO's commitment to supporting Indigenous communities, click here or visit: www.bmo.com/indigenous-commitments

About First Nations University of Canada

The First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv) was founded in 1976 and is a First Nations owned post-secondary institution that aspires to have transformative impact by bridging our ceremonies, knowledge keepers, languages, and traditions with the delivery of high-quality post-secondary education that will lead to the pride and success of all students, First Nations communities and Canada. As of Fall 2020, FNUniv has over 6,000 active students and more than 5,600 alumni. For more information about FNUniv, please visit http://fnuniv.ca.

About Reconciliation Education

Reconciliation Education is an e-learning producer of online resources since 2014. These courses promote a renewed relationship between Indigenous Peoples and Canadians through transformative multi-media learning.

Developed in partnership with First Nations University of Canada, our award-winning resources assist the workplace and education sectors meet the Truth and Reconciliation Commission' Calls to Actions. These courses have reached over 76,000 Canadians from across the country. For more information please visit:

www.reconciliationeducation.ca

About BMO Financial Group

Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a highly diversified financial services provider - the 8th largest bank, by assets, in North America. With total assets of $950 billion as of April 30, 2021, and a team of diverse and highly engaged employees, BMO provides a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers and conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, BMO Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets.

SOURCE BMO Financial Group

For further information: For media inquiries only, please contact: Bonnie Rockthunder, Senior Communications Officer, First Nations University of Canada, Cell: 204.292.3253, Email: [email protected]; Kelly Hechler, Senior Manager, Media Relations, BMO Financial Group, 416-867-3996, [email protected]

Related Links

www.bmo.com


CALGARY, AB, June 2, 2021 /CNW/ - The health and well-being of Canadians are top priorities for the governments of Canada and Alberta. Investments in Alberta's public infrastructure during this extraordinary time help keep people safe, while also creating jobs, supporting local businesses and economies, and making communities more sustainable and resilient.

Today, the Honourable Jim Carr, Minister and Special Representative for the Prairies, on behalf of the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, and Prasad Panda, Alberta's Minister of Infrastructure, announced funding for 362 infrastructure projects that will repair and upgrade housing for seniors and families with low income in 95 communities across the province. They were accompanied at the announcement by the Honourable Deb Schulte, Minister of Seniors; The Honourable Josephine Pon, Alberta's Minister of Seniors; and Naheed Nenshi, Mayor of Calgary.

For example, in Calgary and Edmonton, the funding will help improve the facilities' ventilation, air conditioning and heating systems, and upgrade security and fire systems, among other projects. Other communities across the province, including Fort Chipewyan, Hinton, Okotoks, Spruce Grove, Olds and Wetaskiwin, will also benefit from accessibility upgrades, updates to nurse call systems, and roof replacements in order to protect the safety of residents, staff and visitors.

The Government of Canada is investing nearly $25.6 million in these projects through the COVID-19 Resilience Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program with the Alberta government providing nearly $6.4 million. In total, this represents a combined infrastructure investment of more than $31.9 million.

Quotes

"Our government is taking strong action to protect the health and safety of all Canadians by investing in projects that will grow local economies as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Today's announcement of nearly $25.6 million in federal funding is integral to this work, as it will improve housing facilities for seniors and families across Alberta. The Government of Canada's infrastructure plan invests in thousands of projects, creates jobs across the country, and builds cleaner, more inclusive communities."

The Honourable Jim Carr, Minister and Special Representative for the Prairies, on behalf of the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities

"We're committed to delivering results for seniors in Alberta. These renovations will help prevent infection transmission, increase safety and enhance seniors' quality of life in apartments and lodges that provide them independent and supportive living. In particular, upgrading ventilation systems to ensure cleaner air will be critical to the health and safety of residents."

The Honourable Deb Schulte, Minister of Seniors

"By investing in these infrastructure projects today, the Alberta government is taking care of its facilities for the future, while creating good-paying local jobs and promoting healthy economic activity in Alberta communities right when the help is needed most."

Prasad Panda, Minister of Infrastructure

"By investing in capital maintenance and renewal projects, Alberta's government is ensuring seniors and families in 95 communities across the province have access to a safe, secure, and affordable place to call home, while protecting livelihoods by putting Albertans to work."

Josephine Pon, Minister of Seniors and Housing

"If we have learned anything over this past year, it's the importance of everyone in our community having a safe place to call home. I am glad that all orders of government have been able to work together to ensure that these necessary upgrades are complete."

Naheed K. Nenshi, Mayor of Calgary

"I'm pleased Edmontonians will benefit from these federal and provincial investments that will help create much-needed jobs while improving family and seniors housing in Edmonton. Overall, this investment is helping to ensure we're building back from this pandemic in a more resilient way."

Don Iveson, Mayor of Edmonton

Quick facts

To support Canadians and communities during the current pandemic, a COVID-19 Resilience Stream has been added to the over $33-billion Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program to help fund pandemic-resilient infrastructure. Existing program streams have also been adapted to include more eligible project categories.

Investing in Infrastructure Program to help fund pandemic-resilient infrastructure. Existing program streams have also been adapted to include more eligible project categories. Under the COVID-19 Resilience Stream, the federal cost share for public infrastructure projects is 80 per cent in the provinces, and 100 per cent in the Territories and for projects intended for Indigenous communities.

Through the Investing in Canada plan, the federal government is investing more than $180 billion over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and Canada's rural and northern communities.

over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and rural and northern communities. As part of the Investing in Canada plan, the Government of Canada has invested over $5 billion in more than 430 infrastructure projects in Alberta .

Related product

Backgrounder

Canada and Alberta invest in over 360 projects to upgrade housing for seniors and families in 95 communities

Funding through the Investing in Canada plan will support infrastructure projects in Alberta. The Government of Canada is investing nearly $25.6 million in these projects through the COVID-19 Resilience Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program with the Alberta government providing nearly $6.4 million. In total, this represents a combined infrastructure investment of more than $31.9 million.

These projects will help keep residents, staff and visitors safe and healthy, by improving ventilation, air conditioning and heating systems, upgrading security and fire systems, and more.

Project information

Location  Number of projects Project Details Federal Funding Provincial Funding Calgary  68 projects  Improvements to suites at 15 sites, including to accessibility;  Rehabilitation of building exteriors at 23 sites;  Upgrades to fire alarm systems at two sites;  Replacements to interior plumbing at two sites;  Rehabilitations to building interiors at one site, including the replacement of fixtures and finishes in all resident units and/or common areas;  Rehabilitation to elevators and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems at seven sites; and  Enhancements to safety systems and roof replacement at nine sites. $5,685,504 $1,421,378 Edmonton  33 projects  Improvements to suites at six sites, including to accessibility;

 Rehabilitation of building exteriors at nine sites;

 Upgrades to fire alarm systems at one site;  Upgrades to security systems including exterior lighting and the addition of video surveillance capabilities at two sites;

 Replacements to interior plumbing at two sites;

 Rehabilitations to building interiors at one site, including the replacement of fixtures and finishes in all resident units and/or common areas;

 Rehabilitation to elevators and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems at seven sites; and

 Enhancements to safety systems and roof replacement at four sites. $5,342,720 $1,335,680 10 municipalities  23 projects  Improvements to suites at 14 sites, including to accessibility;



 Replacements to interior plumbing at one site;

 Rehabilitation to an elevator at one site; and

 Replacement of nurse call system at three sites. $850,160 $212,540 Elk Point Hanna Hinton Irma Lac La Biche Mallaig Plamondon Provost St. Paul St. Vincent 15 municipalities  29 projects  Improvements to suites at five sites, including to accessibility;

 Rehabilitation of building exteriors at three sites;

 Upgrades to fire alarm systems at one site;

 Replacements to interior plumbing at five sites;



 Rehabilitations to building interiors at two sites, including the replacement of fixtures and finishes in all resident units and/or common areas; and



 Replacement of roofs including shingles, eavestroughs, and downspouts at nine sites. $791,320 $197,830 Berwyn Cereal Edson Falher Faust Fort Chipewyan Grimshaw Hanna Hardisty High Prairie Kinuso Manning Peace River St. Paul Wainwright 45 municipalities  123 projects  Improvements to suites at 25 sites, including to accessibility;

 Rehabilitation of building exteriors at 24 sites;

 Upgrades to fire alarm systems at four sites;  Upgrades to security systems including exterior lighting and the addition of video surveillance capabilities at one site;

 Replacements to interior plumbing at one site;

 Rehabilitations to building interiors at 14 sites, including the replacement of fixtures and finishes in all resident units and/or common areas; and

 Rehabilitation to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems at 11 sites;

 Replacement of aging electrical panels and wires, and other electrical rehabilitation, at 13 sites;  Replacement of roofs including shingles, eavestroughs, and downspouts at 16 sites; and



 Replacement of nurse call system at three sites. $6,551,152 $1,637,789 Alix Anzac Barrhead Bentley Black Diamond Blackfalds Blairmore Bow Island Boyle Brooks Calgary Camrose Canmore Cardston Carmangay Crowsnest Pass Drumheller Eckville Edmonton Evansburg Fairview Fort Assiniboine Fort Saskatchewan High River Hythe Lacombe Lethbridge Lloydminster Medicine Hat Mirror New Sarepta Olds Red Deer Sherwood Park Spirit River Stettler Taber Thorhild Thorsby Three Hills Torrington Two Hills Vulcan Wanham Wembley 42 municipalities  86 projects  Improvements to suites at 24 sites, including to accessibility;

 Rehabilitation of building exteriors at 15 sites;



 Upgrades to fire alarm systems at four sites;



 Upgrades to security systems including exterior lighting and the addition of video surveillance capabilities at one site;



 Replacements to interior plumbing at nine sites;

 Rehabilitations to building interiors at three sites, including the replacement of fixtures and finishes in all resident units and/or common areas; and

 Rehabilitation to elevators and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems at 15 sites;

 Enhancements to safety systems and roof replacement at three sites; and

 Replacement of nurse call system at three sites. $6,336,896 $1,584,224 Acme Ashmont Athabasca Beaverlodge Big Valley Black Diamond Bon Accord Boyle Brooks Camrose Canmore Coaldale Cochrane Daysland Entwistle Evansburg Fort McMurray Grande Prairie High River Innisfail Lacombe Lethbridge Medicine Hat Morrin Okotoks Olds Red Deer Red Deer County Sherwood Park Spruce Grove St. Albert Stettler Stony Plain Strathmore Sundre Trochu Two Hills Wetaskiwin Whitecourt Wildwood Willingdon Winfield Total Projects  362

$25,557,752 $6,389,441

TOTAL FUNDING $31,947,193

Associated links

Investing in Canada: Canada's Long-Term Infrastructure Plan

http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/plan/icp-publication-pic-eng.html

Investing in Canada Plan Project Map

http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/map

Federal infrastructure investments in Alberta

https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/plan/prog-proj-ab-eng.html

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn

Web: Infrastructure Canada

SOURCE Infrastructure Canada

For further information: Michelle Johnston, Director of Communications, Office of the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, 613-298-7386, [email protected]; Hadyn Place, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Infrastructure, 780-643-6322, [email protected], Adrienne Beattie, Senior Communications Strategist, Office of the Mayor, The City of Calgary, 403-333-2272, [email protected]; Media Relations, Infrastructure Canada, 613-960-9251, Toll free: 1-877-250-7154, Email: [email protected]

Related Links

www.infrastructure.gc.ca


"As Canadians, we are proud of our nation's natural beauty, but we often assume marine plastic pollution is a problem elsewhere and are unaware of our own contribution to the issue," said Mike Bascom, Sr. Marketing Director, Corona Canada. "Corona recognizes that change needs to start with our own production lines and making market-leading changes to our beer packs is a tangible way we can set an example for the industry."

In 2019, Corona Canada replaced all plastic packaging on its cans on Canadian store shelves with new compostable cardboard packaging. This year, in partnership with the GITEC (Global Innovation and Technology Center), Corona furthers its packaging commitments by launching revolutionary packaging for six-pack beer bottles, becoming the first global beverage brand to take surplus barley straw to create an innovative paper packaging solution. The process uses 90 per cent less water in its pulp production than the traditional raw wood process, along with less energy and fewer harsh chemicals. This fall, Corona will also be making further technology-based packaging advancements and will be among the first in the world to introduce a state-of-the-art innovation in paperboard packaging.

Corona has a history of protecting paradise so that we can all continue to enjoy it. Since 2017, Corona has cleaned over 1.6 million square meters of Canadian shorelines and this year, that number is set to increase. For every specially marked pack of Corona sold in Canada, one square metre of Canadian shoreline will be cleaned, in an effort to clean an incremental two million square metres by the end of 2021.

Shoreline cleanups are more relevant than ever as the impact of COVID-19 has increased the use of single-use plastics and pollution, which is contributing to polluting our shorelines. Corona's partnership with Ocean Wise will aim to clean more of Canada's shoreline through dedicated collaboration and united efforts, making it a timely and needed collaboration.

"This partnership with Corona Canada helps encourage Canadians to take part in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup," said Laura Hardman, Director of Plastic-Free Oceans at Ocean Wise. "Educating Canadians on plastic pollution is important. Once in the environment, plastic litter has dramatic impacts on wildlife and ecosystems. By adopting solutions we already have available today, we can reduce plastic flow into the ocean by as much as 80 per cent. With Corona's help, we can raise awareness of this issue and mobilize Canadians to take action to protect our oceans."

To drive further awareness of Canada's pollution problem and in recognition of World Oceans Day (June 8), during the month of June Corona will be popping up at waterfront locations in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, shocking Canadians with figures made with plastics removed from Canadian shorelines. The figures, aptly named Corona's Plastic Beachgoers, embody our collective contribution to plastic pollution and were created to actualize the jarring statistic that, on average, Canadians use over 125 kilograms of plastic per person every year1, which is almost twice the average body weight. The Beachgoers will highlight the harsh reality of shoreline pollution in Canada, aiming to educate Canadians on the impact our lifestyle choices can have on our environment, as well as providing Canadians another way to learn about Corona's shoreline cleanups in partnership with Ocean Wise. The Beachgoers will include a QR code that drives Canadians online where they can sign up for a local self-lead cleanup.

For more information or to sign-up for a local shoreline cleanup, as well as learn about other Corona tools, please visit protectparadise.ca.

1 Environment and Climate Change Canada - Economic Study of the Canadian Plastic Industry, Market and Waste, ECCC. 2019

About Corona Canada

First brewed in 1925, Corona is a pioneer in the beer industry by being the first to use a transparent bottle showcasing its purity and high quality to the world. No Corona is complete without the lime. Naturally adding character, flavour and refreshment, the lime ritual is an integral part of delivering an experience that is truly unique to Corona. The brand is synonymous with the beach and celebrates time outdoors. It invites people to pause, relax and disconnect to reconnect with our essential nature. For more visit https://www.coronaextra.ca

About Ocean Wise

Ocean Wise is a globally focused conservation organization on a mission to protect and restore the world's oceans. Through research, education, direct-action conservation and field projects, Ocean Wise empowers communities to take action for ocean health. Ocean Wise is focused on tackling three major ocean challenges: overfishing, ocean pollution and climate change. Ocean Wise is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, with staff and initiatives across Canada. Learn more at ocean.org.

SOURCE Corona Canada

For further information: Veronica Bart, Manager, Communications, Labatt Breweries of Canada, [email protected], 647-926-5028; Madeline Geddes, Senior Consultant, Veritas Communications, [email protected], 647-389-9073, Benjamin Aube, Communications Coordinator, Ocean Wise, [email protected], 613-981-0093
OTTAWA, ON, June 2, 2021 /CNW/ - A strong and vibrant women's movement is part of the foundation of a more inclusive Canada, where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. The Government of Canada continues to support women's and equality-seeking organizations to ensure women are given the opportunity to fully participate in Canada's social, economic and democratic life.

Today, the Honourable Jim Carr, Special Representative for the Prairies, on behalf of the Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development, announced $1.72 million for five organizations across the Prairies:

Alberta Network of Immigrant Women - $300,437

Action Coalition on Human Trafficking Alberta - $399,490

Alberta Native Friendship Centres Association - $377,934

Bonnyville Friendship Centre - $198,000

Ikayuktiit Incorporated Inc. (MB) - $450,000

With this funding, these organizations will be able to increase their capacity to continue their important work to address gender equality issues in their communities and to overcome the unique challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has placed on women.

These investments will also help the organizations develop partnerships, implement strong policies, procedures, and services to better support those who need it most, including survivors of human trafficking, and help women develop leadership skills, be safe, become financially secure, find full-time employment, and meaningfully engage in all aspects of life in Canada.

Much more work remains to be done to achieve gender equality. By partnering, investing and supporting organizations like these, Canada is better equipped to address the systemic barriers to gender equality  bringing us all one step closer to a safer, better, more inclusive Canada for everyone.

Quotes

"Today's investment of $1.72 million will support important work that ensures women and underrepresented groups have more economic opportunity, including equal access to leadership roles. As a direct result of ongoing investment our government has made, in 2019-2020 alone, an estimated six million people were positively impacted by projects just like these. Frontline organizations are an integral part of shaping a stronger, more inclusive Canada."

The Honourable Jim Carr, MP, Special Representative for the Prairies

"Alberta Network of Immigrant Women is pleased to be the recipient of a grant from Women and Gender Equality Canada. We look forward to starting this project and hope our work contributes to highlighting how important it is to provide a level economic playing field for immigrant women and how critical it is that stakeholders participate in creating equitable hiring practices for all marginalized members of our society."

Kamal Sehgal, Executive Director, Alberta Network of Immigrant Women

"ACT Alberta is pleased to partner with Women and Gender Equality Canada to prevent and disrupt human trafficking throughout the province. With over a decade of experience leading anti-human trafficking initiatives throughout the province, we are excited to expand our existing education and response programs to underserved regions. This multi-year investment will develop understanding and response for participating organizations and help end a crime that targets the most vulnerable in our communities"

Jessica Brandon, Interim Executive Director, Action Coalition on Human Trafficking Alberta Association

"There are few Indigenous specific supports, programs, or interventions in Alberta regarding human trafficking and exploitation despite the disproportionate number of Indigenous victims. This funding will support the ongoing good work of the 21 Friendship Centres across Alberta to address Indigenous gender and structural inequalities to meet the needs of Indigenous women and youth through this upstream prevention model. Through culturally appropriate content and traditional knowledge our project focuses on empowering Indigenous youth in our 21 Friendship Centre communities to educate, create awareness, and advocate as agents of change to prevent the trafficking and exploitation of their Indigenous peers."

Joanne Mason, Executive Director, Alberta Native Friendship Centres Association

"Bonnyville Canadian Native Friendship Centre is extremely pleased with the announcement of our successful grant, Iskwew Iskowtew Project (Where People Gather to Heal). When Women and Gender Equality Canada announced the call for proposals our Community Initiatives Coordinator, Janet Gobert acknowledged a gap in our service provision which had the potential to be bridged by this proposed funding opportunity. Due to prior funding restrictions, Bonnyville Friendship Centre had only set the foundation of offering minimal service to those directly involved in human trafficking and those impacted. Bonnyville Friendship Centre looks forward to working with a strong advisory board of representatives from the Bonnyville community district in addressing this need within our community."

Lauri Fitzpatrick, Executive Director, Bonnyville Friendship Centre

"On the heels of devastating news regarding the discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential Schools, it behooves us all to remain steadfast on surrounding ourselves with government allies who are committed to reconciliation in action with Inuit, First Nations and Metis in Canada. Ikayuqtiit Incorporated, the charity organization created by Manitoba Inuit Association to improve health, education and employment outcomes for Inuit in Manitoba, are pleased to strengthen the commitment to Inuit by Women and Gender Equality. We are the recipients of a multi-year investment in building the capacity of our organization whose outreach to Inuit is critical during an incredibly challenging time of COVID-19 and its disproportionate impacts on Inuit in Manitoba."

Rachel Dutton, Executive Director, Ikayuqtiit Inc.

Quick Facts

In June 2020 , Canada was recognized by CARE as having the most gender-responsive plan to address COVID-19.





, was recognized by CARE as having the most gender-responsive plan to address COVID-19. Part of the funding announced today comes from Women and Gender Equality Canada's Women's Program, and a 2018 Budget announcement of $100 million over five years to support a viable and sustainable women's movement across Canada . Budget 2019 invested a further $160 million over five years in this program, starting in 201920.





over five years to support a viable and sustainable women's movement across . Budget 2019 invested a further over five years in this program, starting in 201920. Projects funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada reached approximately six million people in 2019-20, reducing barriers in areas of economic equality and gender-based violence, and building capacity and confidence in the areas of leadership.





In 2019, the federal government introduced its $75 million National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking. This includes dedicated funding to create and maintain the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline, a multi-lingual, 24/7 service that connects callers to supports and services. This hotline is a secure avenue for providing tips or reporting human trafficking to authorities.





National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking. This includes dedicated funding to create and maintain the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline, a multi-lingual, 24/7 service that connects callers to supports and services. This hotline is a secure avenue for providing tips or reporting human trafficking to authorities. The National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking builds on and complements Canada's Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence. It also advances the implementation of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls' Calls for Justice.





Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence. It also advances the implementation of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls' Calls for Justice. To ensure that anyone facing gender-based violence has reliable and timely access to protection and services, no matter where they live, Budget 2021 committed $601.3 million over five years to advance towards a new National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. This includes increased funding for initiatives to end human trafficking.





over five years to advance towards a new National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. This includes increased funding for initiatives to end human trafficking. In February 2021 , Women and Gender Equality Canada launched the Feminist Response and Recovery Fund, a call for proposals totaling $100 million that will support equality-seeking projects helping those in greatest need.

Associated links

SOURCE Women and Gender Equality 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; Media Relations: Women and Gender Equality Canada, [email protected], 1-855-969-9922

Related Links

http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/


Its as if they were all laying the groundwork for the book, Gun Control in The Third Reich: Disarming the Jews and Enemies of the State, published later that year by the Independent Institute, a small think-tank in Oakland. Research for this book was partly funded by the NRA. Its author, Stephen P. Halbrook, is the nations best-known pro-gun lawyer. Several years before, during the watershed gun rights case Heller vs. District of Columbia that established that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep arms, Halbrook filed a successful amicus brief on behalf of 250 members of the House of Representatives, 55 senators, and the president of the Senate, then-Vice President Dick Cheney.
First new systemic therapy in more than 15 years for cancer related to asbestos exposure

MONTREAL, June 2, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Today, Bristol Myers Squibb Canada (BMS) announced Health Canada's approval of OPDIVO (nivolumab) 360 mg every three weeks or 3mg/kg every two weeks plus YERVOY (ipilimumab) 1 mg/kg every six weeks (injections for intravenous use) for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) who have not received prior systemic therapy for MPM.i This is the first and only dual immunotherapy treatment for the condition. Unlike traditional cancer therapies that target the tumour directly, immuno-oncology activates the body's own immune system to help recognize and attack cancer cells.ii

"Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a devastating cancer commonly related to exposure to asbestos. When faced with a diagnosis, patients currently have very few treatment possibilities," said Dr. Quincy Chu, medical oncologist, Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton. "This approval is particularly important because it is the first dual immunotherapy developed to treat this disease. That means we now have an entirely new therapeutic option, helping us better support Canadian patients diagnosed with mesothelioma."

Mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive form of cancer that is mainly caused by asbestos exposure.iii Mesothelioma most often affects the pleural lining (the lining surrounding the lungs).iv Currently in Canada, the overall 5-year survival rate for mesothelioma is 7%.v Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM) accounts for approximately 80%85% of cases.vi

"Today's approval represents an important step in addressing the challenging needs of people diagnosed with this devastating, life threatening cancer most commonly found in the lining surrounding the lungs, said Eudice Goldberg, Chair, Board of Directors, Canadian Mesothelioma Foundation. "With a poor long-term survival rate, any new treatments are welcomed by the mesothelioma community."

The Health Canada approval was based on a pre-specified interim analysis from the Phase 3 CheckMate-743 trial in which OPDIVO+YERVOY demonstrated superior overall survival (OS) versus the platinum-based standard of care chemotherapy.[vii] The primary endpoint of the trial was OS in all randomized patients.i Additional efficacy outcome measures included progression-free survival (PFS), and objective response rate (ORR).i

"We are pleased and proud to have OPDIVO + YERVOY now approved for the treatment of patients diagnosed with the most common form of mesothelioma," said Al Reba, General Manager, BMS Canada. "At BMS, our commitment to patients is an everyday, all-the-time promise. We continue to pursue innovative therapies that can help improve both patients' survival and quality of life."

About CheckMate-743

CheckMate-743 (NCT02899299) is an open-label, multi-center, randomized Phase 3 trial evaluating OPDIVO plus YERVOY compared to chemotherapy (pemetrexed and cisplatin or carboplatin) in patients with histologically confirmed unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma and no prior systemic therapy or palliative radiotherapy within 14 days of initiation of therapy.viii

Health Canada and Project Orbis Collaboration Aims to Provide Earlier Availability to Cancer Treatmentsix

Project Orbis is an initiative of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncology Center of Excellence. This submission was part of the FDA's Project Orbis initiative, enabling concurrent review by the health authorities in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Switzerland and Canada.

About Bristol Myers Squibb Canada Co.

Bristol Myers Squibb Canada Co. is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Bristol Myers Squibb Company, a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. Bristol Myers Squibb Canada Co. employs more than 400 people across the country. For more information, please visit https://www.bms.com/ca/en.

About Bristol Myers Squibb

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.

Celgene and Juno Therapeutics are wholly owned subsidiaries of Bristol Myers Squibb Company. In certain countries outside the U.S., due to local laws, Celgene and Juno Therapeutics are referred to as, Celgene, a Bristol Myers Squibb company and Juno Therapeutics, a Bristol Myers Squibb company.

__________________________________ i Canadian Product Monograph. Revised May 28, 2021.

https://www.bms.com/assets/bms/ca/documents/productmonograph/OPDIVO_EN_PM.pdf ii Canadian Cancer Society. Immunotherapy. https://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/diagnosis-and-treatment/chemotherapy-and-other-drug-therapies/immunotherapy/?region=on. Accessed Nov 4, 2020. iii https://survivornet.ca/learn/health-concerns-for-cancer-patients/asbestos-mesothelioma-lung-cancer/mesothelioma/ Accessed Nov 4, 2020. iv https://survivornet.ca/learn/health-concerns-for-cancer-patients/asbestos-mesothelioma-lung-cancer/mesothelioma/ Accessed Nov 4, 2020. v Canadian Cancer Society Survival statistics for mesothelioma. http://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-type/mesothelioma/prognosis-and-survival/survival-statistics/?region=on Accessed Nov 4, 2020. vi Shavelle R et al. Lung Cancer Int. 2017; http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/2782590 vii Clinical trial (n=302) (Hazard Ratio [HR]: 0.74 [95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 0.61 to 0.89]; P=0.002), with a median OS (mOS) of 18.1 months (95% CI: 16.8 to 21.5) versus 14.1 months (95% CI: 12.5 to 16.2), respectively.1 These results were observed after 22.1 months of minimum follow-up.3 At two years, 41% of patients treated with Opdivo + Yervoy were alive and 27% with chemotherapy. viii https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02899299?term=CheckMate-743&cond=Mesothelioma&draw=2&rank=1 Accessed Nov 4, 2020. ix U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Project Orbis. https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/oncology-center-excellence/project-orbis. Accessed Nov 4, 2020.

SOURCE Bristol Myers Squibb

For further information: For media requests please contact: Rachel Yates, Corporate Affairs, Bristol Myers Squibb Canada, [email protected]; Anna Campbell, GCI Canada, 416-728-3813, [email protected]
"Since the IONIQ 5 was revealed earlier this year, it's the vehicle our dealers, existing customers and new fans of the Hyundai brand are most eager to experience, and we can see why. IONIQ 5 offers progressive design, the versatility, space and capability of a utility vehicle, with the low cost of ownership and driving pleasure one can only achieve from driving fully-electric," says Don Romano, president and CEO of Hyundai Canada.

The Rapid Progression of Hyundai Canada's EV Business

Hyundai Canada is committed to leading the growth of mainstream EV adoption in Canada and meeting the needs of the increasing number of consumers who are interested in switching to an EV. A recent example of this commitment is Hyundai recently making all four of its fast chargers located at the Hyundai Canada headquarters in Markham, Ontario free and accessible to all EV owners, regardless of whether or not they are a Hyundai customer.

IONIQ 5 joins an already well-rounded emission-free portfolio at Hyundai currently consisting of the Ioniq, the Kona EV, and the NEXO fuel cell SUV. For those seeking plug-in or hybrid options, Hyundai offers electrified versions of the additional Ioniq vehicles, Elantra, Sonata, Tucson and Santa Fe.

With well over the majority of the portfolio now electrified, Hyundai Canada dealers are fully committed to enhancing their operations in order to continue to provide an exceptional EV customer experience at every turn. Hyundai Canada's entire dealer network is now fully committed to becoming EV-certified in accordance with Hyundai's Dealership EV standards. These standards include: upgrading charging capability, extensive training for dealership staff and purchasing the necessary tools to service electric vehicle batteries.

IONIQ 5 is part of Hyundai Motor Group's plan to introduce 23 BEV models and sell 1-million BEV units worldwide by 2025. Following the launch of IONIQ 5, Hyundai will expand its BEV lineup with IONIQ 6, a midsize electric sedan, and IONIQ 7, a large electric SUV.

"IONIQ 5 addresses the range needs and overall space and functionality concerns many customers have about taking the leap to drive electric. Not only is the all-new IONIQ 5 a vehicle that re-defines the possibilities of the EV lifestyle, it signals the next phase in Hyundai's growing emission-free vehicle lineup," concludes Romano. "The market and its offerings are evolving. The Canadian customer is steadily starting to embrace the idea of driving electric, and in signature Hyundai style, we are ready to meet them there with what they expect, and more."

Canadians can begin pre-ordering the IONIQ 5 today. For more information and to pre-order the IONIQ 5 CUV, please visit: https://www.hyundaicanada.com/en/coming-soon/2022-ioniq-5/pre-order

About the Hyundai IONIQ 5

IONIQ 5 in Canada is available with two battery pack options: 58 kWh or 77.4 kWh, and a range of drive combinations to fit the needs of every customer. Customers can mate the 77.4 kWh battery pack to two electric motor layouts, either with a rear motor only or with both front and rear motors. The top-of-the-line dual motor setup is an all-wheel drive (AWD) option producing a combined power output of 320 horsepower and 446 lb-ft. of torque. An IONIQ 5 with this configuration can go from 0 to 100 kilometres in just over five seconds. The single-motor layout (2WD) with a rear motor and 77.4 kWh battery pack offers 225 horsepower and 258 lb.-ft. of torque.

When equipped with a single motor (2WD) and the 77.4 kWh battery, IONIQ 5's targeted maximum driving range on a single charge is up to 480 kilometres. The estimated ranges for the Canadian IONIQ 5 lineup are as follows:

MODEL ESTIMATED RANGE Essential RWD SR 354 kilometres Preferred RWD SR 354 kilometres Preferred AWD LR w/Ultimate Package 400 kilometres Preferred AWD LR 435 kilometres Preferred RWD LR 480 kilometres

The IONIQ 5 sets the benchmark to redefine the electric mobility lifestyle with sustainable and innovative features. IONIQ 5 is built on Hyundai's dedicated BEV architecture called Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP), enabling it to have unique proportions on an elongated 3,000 mm wheelbase  the longest wheelbase in Hyundai's North American product lineup. With short overhangs and no engine bulk forward, the entire vehicle becomes useful, and with E-GMP, IONIQ 5 offers innovative interior design with eco-friendly materials, reflecting Hyundai's commitment to sustainability by utilizing eco-friendly materials and nature-inspired colours. The seats, headliner, door trim, floor and armrest sustainably sourced materials, such as recycled PET bottles, plant-based (bio PET) yarns and natural wool yarns, eco-processed leather with plant-based extracts, and bio paint with plant extracts.

Where the IONIQ 5 truly shines is in its charging functionality, outclassing previous generation competitors' capability. IONIQ 5's E-GMP can support both 400-V and 800-V charging infrastructures. The platform offers available 800-V charging capability, and can accommodate 400-V charging, without the need for additional components or adapters. The multi-charging system is a world's first patented technology that operates the motor and inverter to boost 400 V to 800 V for stable charging compatibility.

Strong performance blended with ultra-fast charging and a Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) function as well as advanced connectivity and driver assistance features offer the ultimate in-car experience while ensuring safety. The IONIQ 5 offers a plethora of the latest advanced technology and safety features. For the first time in a Hyundai, the IONIQ 5 features a Head-Up Display (HUD) with Augmented Reality (AR) mode, turning the windshield into a display screen. Other features include Highway Driving Assist 2 making highway driving more convenient and Hyundai's suite of proven safety technology such as Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist; and Intelligent Speed Limit Assist and Driver Attention Warning.

About Hyundai Auto Canada Corp.

Hyundai Auto Canada, established in 1983 and headquartered in Markham, Ontario, is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company of Korea. Hyundai vehicles are distributed throughout Canada by Hyundai Auto Canada and are sold and serviced through more than 221 dealerships nationwide. Hyundai is also the first to offer a second-generation zero-emissions Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle to Canadian customers, called the NEXO. More information about Hyundai and its vehicles can be found at www.HyundaiCanada.com.

For more information about Hyundai and its products, please visit www.hyundainews.ca or contact a representative of the public relations team below.

SOURCE Hyundai Auto Canada Corp.

For further information: Jenn McCarthy, National Manager, PR, Hyundai Auto Canada Corporation, [email protected], 416-770-0842; Mohga Hassib, Coordinator, PR, Hyundai Auto Canada Corporation, [email protected], 905-948-6882; Jackie Kleinburg, Senior Account Manager, The Colony Project, [email protected]

Related Links

www.hyundaicanada.com


Successful Conference, hosted by French President, Emmanuel Macron , sees further assistance from leading countries to clear Sudan's external debts, including a bridge loan of $1.5B from France to clear Sudan's arrears with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a $2B grant from the World Bank for economic development projects and Saudi Arabia's expressed interest in forgiving $4.5B of its loans to Sudan ;





, sees further assistance from leading countries to clear external debts, including a bridge loan of from to clear arrears with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a grant from the World Bank for economic development projects and expressed interest in forgiving of its loans to ; Richard Clark , President and CEO of Orca, was invited to represent the mining industry in the Energy and Mining Panel;





, President and CEO of Orca, was invited to represent the mining industry in the Energy and Mining Panel; Orca is in the final stage of negotiation with the Government of Sudan regarding the execution of a mining lease and shareholder agreement for the development of Block 14;





regarding the execution of a mining lease and shareholder agreement for the development of Block 14; Orca appoints HCF to act as the Company's financial advisor in its continuing discussions with potential lenders regarding the financing of Block 14;





The Company is planning an exploration program at Block 14 to expand the high-grade core (2 Moz at 2 g/t gold) at Galat Sufar South ("GSS") and to test previously discovered high-grade targets on its concession; and





An operations office has been set up in Dubai and the office in Khartoum is being expanded to facilitate Block 14's development.

DETAILS

MEDEF's Paris Conference on Sudan

On May 17, 2021, MEDEF held its Conference on Sudan in Paris, France and brought together political leaders, banking representatives and corporate executives from different sectors to discuss investment opportunities in Sudan. Organised by French President, Emmanuel Macron, the Conference encouraged private investors to return to Sudan as it emerges from three decades of isolation and rebuilds its shattered economy. President Macron invited Sudan's bilateral creditors to help lighten Sudan's debt burden. Germany and Norway were among the other Paris Club members to join France and US in this effort.1

At the conference, the French Government announced its decision to provide a $1.5B bridge loan to Sudan to settle arrears with the IMF. Saudi Arabia expressed its readiness to forgive $4.5 billion of its loans to Sudan2. Additionally, the World Bank is set to provide the country with a $2 billion grant for economic development initiatives. UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, urged leading countries to aid Sudan in "consolidating its democratic transition, rebuild its economy and deliver sustainable peace and development for all its diversity."3

Since its designation as a State Sponsor of Terror (SST) was rescinded by the U.S., Sudan has demonstrated resolve to rejoin the international community and the Conference confirmed that major countries globally are ready to support this resolve and invest in Sudan. As well, the private sector represented at the Conference expressed strong interest in Sudan as an emerging market ready to welcome foreign private investment in all sectors of the economy. Richard Clark, President and CEO of Orca Gold Inc., was invited to speak on behalf of the emerging mining industry in Sudan as part of the Energy and Mining segment of the Conference alongside executives from General Electric, Siemens Energy and Baker Hughes  see Photos in News Release.

"We have been quiet but very busy and effective since Sudan came off the SST list," commented Richard Clark, President & CEO of Orca Gold Inc. "I have made multiple trips to Sudan since the beginning of the year and have forged a strong relationship with the new Cabinet of the government of Sudan. I wish to extend my appreciation and gratitude to his Excellency Dr. Mohamed Bashir Abu Numo and his ministerial colleagues for their strong support to date and look forward to working closely with them to advance Block 14 towards production. It was an honor to be invited to attend MEDEF's conference in Paris. I was delighted to see the serious interest in and commitment to political stability and economic growth expressed by both the government and private sectors represented at the Conference. For Orca, the Conference showcased our Block 14 project as the principal mining investment opportunity in Sudan, ready for immediate development and demonstrating extremely strong economics. We are already seeing benefits from this exposure with increased interests in Block 14 as an investment opportunity. We are looking forward to working with HCF to evaluate the various proposals we have on the table and to work towards securing finance to construct a commercial gold mine at Block 14."

Block 14 Gold Project

The Company is in final discussions with the Government of Sudan towards the signing of a shareholder agreement and issuance of a mining lease for the proposed mine, and at the Paris Conference the Government of Sudan agreed to grant a two-year extension to the Company's exploration license (1,000km2).

Orca is currently planning an exploration program that will include expanding the high-grade core of GSS (2 Moz of 2 g/t gold  see Corporate Investor Presentation) and following up on previously defined targets within the Block 14 exploration license (1,000km2) including Area 3A: 20m at 9.90 g/t Au, GSN: 7m at 8.55 g/t Au and Liseiwi: 24m at 3.89 g/t Au, 10m at 15.32 g/t Au.

Corporate Update

Orca Gold DMCC, the Company's new operations office in Dubai, UAE is now in full operation and office expansion in Khartoum is well underway. The office in Dubai will act as a base for Orca's management/operations team as the Company enters construction phase.

Considering burgeoning interests from potential lenders, Orca appoints HCF as a financial advisor to assess financing opportunities and develop the corresponding funding strategy and timetable to achieve mine construction.

Established in 2003, HCF is a leading independent corporate finance advisory boutique based in London, UK. The Advisor has in-depth technical and financial expertise across the natural resources sector and have a strong history of securing funding for metals and mining projects in Africa. HCF has advised on numerous transactions for TSX-listed companies and has completed financing structures totaling more than US$12 billion.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Richard P. Clark"

Richard P. Clark | CEO & Director | Orca Gold Inc. | 604.689.7842

About Orca Gold Inc.

Orca Gold Inc. (TSX-V: ORG) is a Canadian resource company focused on exploration and development opportunities in North Africa. Led by a board of directors made up of industry experts and a management team with a track record of discovering and building significant mines globally, Orca is developing one of the leading gold projects in Africa. The Company is currently focused on its 70%-owned Block 14 Gold Project in the Republic of the Sudan on which a Feasibility Study was completed in November 2018 and revised in September 2020.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information", within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur", "be achieved" or "has the potential to". The forward-looking information contained herein is provided for the purpose of assisting readers in understanding management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes.

Forward-looking statements contained in this press release may include statements regarding the use of proceeds, the closing of the Private Placement, the future operating or financial performance of the Company and the financial metrics reported in our feasibility study, which involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may not prove to be accurate. Actual results and outcomes may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in these forward-looking statements. Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations. Among those factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: the requirement for regulatory approvals; enhanced uncertainty in global financial markets as a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic; unquantifiable risks related to government actions and interventions; stock market volatility; regulatory restrictions; that the Feasibility Study may not represent a viable development option for Block 14 and that the assumptions set out therein (particularly with respect to the economics of Block 14) may prove to be untrue or inaccurate; that actual Mineral Reserves and Resources at Block 14 and the grades thereof may be less or different in nature than those contained in the Feasibility Study; that the Company may not meet the production estimates set out in the Feasibility Study; that the life of mine at Block 14 may be shorter than anticipated; that the Company may not receive the necessary permits on time, or at all; risks related to cost overruns and the changes of the cost of inputs; that the development and mining of Block 14 may experience delays and may not proceed on the expected timeline, or at all; that the Company may develop Block 14 in a different manner than is set forth in the Feasibility Study and other risk factors listed from time to time in our reports filed with Canadian securities regulators on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made as of the date of this press release 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.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Orca Gold Inc.

For further information: Elina Chow, VP, Corporate Strategy, 416.845.8495, [email protected]

Related Links

http://www.orcagold.com/


In Canada, 15.6% of all Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are owned by women (2017) 1 . Though some of these businesses have made considerable progress over time in numerous areas such as access to financial resources, export activity, innovation and adoption of digital technology, only 18.5% 2 of women-owned businesses actually grew their sales and revenue to become a medium to high-growth SME. What causes these businesses to not be able to grow to that next level? Some commonly found issues were lack of resources, limited knowledge on RFPs, lack of community-support and mentors, not being ready for doing business with large corporations and not having access to networking opportunities with procurement leaders.

WBE Canada's Tools For Growth is designed to serve women owned businesses from across all industries. It is best suited for businesses ready to scale up, from solopreneurs, through micro to small size especially those eager to prepare their business for opportunities within corporate and government supply chains. This resource is intended to help women-owned businesses prepare and scale up before they apply for certification and start developing connections within supply chains. WBE Canada is determined to connect these businesses with relevant information and business tools to stimulate their growth.

"One of the biggest challenges continues to be the size of women-owned businesses in Canada. While a growing number of corporations and government organizations are eager to diversify their supply chains, many of these opportunities are lucratively available to larger businesses with proven revenue streams," said Silvia Pencak, President of WBE Canada. "There is no lack of support for women-owned businesses in Canada, quite the opposite - there's so much support that it's confusing women owners. WBE Canada is committed to supporting the growth of Canadian women-owned businesses, simplifying the process for them and connecting them to relevant resources. We intend to do so in partnership with our own Certified WBE community and our Partner organizations. It will take a community to raise women's voices in Canadian business landscape."

Tools For Growth provides access to Training Resources, Access to Workshops and Events , Discounts and Specials and more!

About Tools for Growth

Tools for Growth was originally designed as a Resource and Training library for the Certified Women Business Enterprise (WBE) community. With the increased awareness around supplier diversity and WBE certification more startups, solopreneurs and smaller businesses without previous experience in B2B sales started to join the WBE community. This presented an opportunity for WBE Canada to help these businesses to prepare and scale up before investing their time and resources in WBE certification. This program is designed as a springboard to certification and corporate/government sales. Learn more

About WBE Canada

Women Business Enterprises Canada Council (WBE Canada) is a Canadian non-profit organization with a vision of empowered women-owned businesses with equal access within corporate and public procurement. WBE Canada certifies, equips and promotes majority-owned, managed, and controlled women's businesses for corporate and government supplier diversity programs. They also support development and improvement of supplier diversity programs in Canada. To learn more about WBE Canada click here .

____________________________ 1 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises - Government of Canada - 2017 2 Statistics Canada: Research Blog: Women-owned businesses in Canada - 2019

SOURCE WBE Canada

For further information: Media inquires - Contact Sharon Ferdinands at [email protected]

Related Links

https://wbecanada.ca/


NewsX recently interacted with the President and CEO of AGI Glaspac, Rrajesh Khosla as part of its special series NewsX India A-List, where he explained the growth of the glass market especially during these tough times. Talking about the establishment and journey of AGI Glaspac in 1972, Mr Rrajesh said, the company primarily focuses on the container glass market, making and producing 1600 tons of container glass and 70 million bottles per day.

When asked about the mega expansion plan in Bhongir, he said, part one of the expansion focuses on the speciality glass segment. This glass will be produced for pharmaceuticals, perfumery, biomedicals etc. It will be serving a niche market. Once everything opens after covid, it will be in great demand in European and American market. India will be advantaged as well. He further added that Bhongir is already our establishment. We are producing more than 1000 ton glass per day and it is probably the biggest single location glass manufacturing industry in the world. All infrastructure and facilities are there. Telangana is a good state and it helps in the industrial growth.

Speaking about the overall market share and the brand value in correlation to other industries, Mr Rrajesh said, India produces almost 7500 to 8000 tons per day and we produce 1600 per day. Almost 20 per cent of the Indian market is our share. But talking about the value-added products, market share is much higher.

While talking about the factors that have driven the growth story of Glaspac, he said, Good and healthy relations with customers, investing in new technologies, sustainability and environment concerns are our prime focus. He added, the area where we are not present right now is the cosmetic and perfumery sector. And we think this is the right time to enter into the market, as the USA and Europe are about to sign some trade deals with India and new markets are going to open up. So once we open up and we will be well placed in the market.

He said that as of now Glaspac exports to the USA, Canada, Europe and Africa, which is nearly 10 per cent. However, they hope to export to New Zealand and Australia, where there is a big wine market. Earlier China had a market there, probably with the new dynamics, he hopes that India will get a chance to enter there.

According to him, the good thing that happened during the pandemic is that companies understood their resilience power and how to survive in these tough times. He says in every aspect, the supply chain got disturbed. There were not any supporting systems and the customers were not sure. However, everyone understood the need to be together. Now a visibly strong relation with supply chain and employees can be seen and the commitment level of every employee has multiplied. Along with this, the strengthening of the whole system has increased dramatically.

Atma Nirbhar, in his opinion, is the right mantra at the right time. Stating an example he added, we were not bothered by vials and almost 50 per cent of bottles have been imported from China. Once the pandemic hit and phr=pharmaceuticals wanted that, we understood its importance.154-ton furnace, one line is dedicated to the vials now, which is produced and sold to the Indian pharmaceuticals which were dependent on China. We strongly believe in Atma Nirbhar, but I do understand that before we switch a hundred per cent over to India, we have to work within ourselves. We should be able to provide what other countries have been providing and satisfy customers needs and I consider that as a major step. It is not only going to increase the economy or output but will also generate employment and within that, there will be further employment and high-end employments.

The future lies optimistically before Mr Rrajesh and his team as he believes that whatever disturbances happen to the supply chain, we are gonna bounce back and new investments are going to come.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced the cancellation of CBSE Class 12th board exams this year. He tweeted that the government has taken a decision that is student-friendly and one that safeguards the health as well as future of our youth.

Amid uncertainty and stress over Covid-19 situation in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced that there would be no Class 12th board exams this year. Stressing the governments concern over the health and safety of lakhs of students across the country, PM Modi said that the decision has been taken in the interest of students and emphasised the need for sensitivity towards students who have been found themselves in anxiety over their future for almost a year now.

The Government of India has decided to cancel the Class 12th CBSE Board Exams. After extensive consultations, we have taken a decision that is student-friendly, one that safeguards the health as well as future of our youth, PM tweeted. The official release from the Education ministry further clarified that CBSE will take steps to compile the results of students as per a well denied objective criteria in a time-bound manner.

Even though there is a section of students and parents who are relieved with the decision, many are worried about the big question- if there are no board exams, how will students be graded?

Some of the questions that need evaluation and introspection are  How will schools ensure free and fair marking? Will cut offs still be the sole criteria for college admissions? Can students not satisfied with their results ask for re-evaluations? Will entrance exams be mandatory for college admissions? More importantly, how will students with no Internet access be included in the new normal of online education?
One new study has suggested that origin of the virus might not be in China suggesting antibodies to either the virus or a variant were detected in Italy in 2019. The Italian researchers stressed the findings raised questions about when the virus first emerged rather than where.

As the world battles the ravaging Covid tsunami, at World Health Organizations request samples suggesting the coronavirus was circulating outside China by October 2019 have been re-tested. As the novel coronavirus has rampaged, Wuhan Institute of Virology has been pulled over and held accountable for conducting risky gain of function research on coronaviruses. With increasing calls for a fresh probe into the origins of Covid-19, an explosive new study has found that Chinese scientists created the virus in a lab in Wuhan.

However with increasing international pressure to learn about the origins of the virus, President Joe Biden ordered his administrators to find out answers at the earliest. WHO reacted to Bidens request and said his administration is probing rival theories clouted by political ambitions. Covid-19 was first identified in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, while Italys first patient was detected on February 21 last year in a small town near Milan.

One new study has suggested that origin of the virus might not be in China suggesting antibodies to either the virus or a variant were detected in Italy in 2019. The Italian researchers findings, published in scientific magazine Tumori Journal, showed neutralising antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in blood taken from healthy volunteers in Italy in October 2019 during a lung cancer screening trial. Most of the volunteers were from the northern region around Milan, which was the first and hardest hit by the virus in Italy.

This prompted Chinese State media to suggest the virus might not have originated in china, although the Italian researchers stressed the findings raised questions about when the virus first emerged rather than where.

Also Read: New UK study on Wuhan Lab exposes link behind Chinese scientists creating the virus

The Wuhan lab is also getting investigated for negligent safety standards as well as for being under the direct control of the Chinese military, the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had officially declared that the seafood market in Wuhan may have been a victim of the virus and a super spreader.
16 Chinese military jets were spotted conducting suspicious activities over the South China Sea on Monday. Malaysia has decided to a diplomatic protest note to China's envoy, seeking an explanation for the breach of airspace and sovereignty.

Malaysias Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein on Tuesday said he would file a diplomatic protest note to Chinas envoy, seeking an explanation for the breach of airspace and sovereignty. According to the Malaysian air force, the 16 Chinese military jets were spotted conducting suspicious activities over the South China Sea. On Monday, Malaysias air force scrambled aircraft when the planes went within 60 nautical miles (110 kilometers) of Sarawak, Malaysias Borneo state conduct visual confirmation. The incident was termed as a serious threat to national sovereignty and flight safety, according to the report.

The air force said, despite being told to do so many times, the Chinese planes failed to contact regional air traffic control. According to Chinas embassy in Kuala Lumpur, the jets were doing regular flight training and strictly abided by international law without breaching other countries airspace.

A spokesperson said, China and Malaysia are friendly neighbours, and China is eager to maintain bilateral friendly discussions with Malaysia in order to safeguard regional peace and stability together. Hishammuddin has made his point clear that having a good diplomatic relationship with any country does not mean Malaysia will sacrifice its own national security.

China has been pushing a broad claim for doing unlawful activities over the South China Sea, which sees around $3 trillion in ship-borne trade pass through each year. It has also developed military facilities on artificial islands.
She added, Showcasing one of my films here has always been a dream of mine. I am flattered that Cannes thought of me and I am very honored to be able to share a few words of wisdom or tell an adventure or two with a new generation of filmmakers.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP)  Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced Wednesday that she's running for reelection, citing her record over the last four years that includes the state's emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ivey, 76, made the announcement in a video message released by her campaign. The Republican emphasized her administration's investment in infrastructure, job creation, Alabama's pandemic recovery and its low unemployment rate.

Alabama is working again, and the best is yet to come," Ivey said in her distinct Southern drawl.

The COVID crisis has tested us all, but together we've met the call with the same things that make us who we are  faith, resilience and a good old-fashioned bucket load of common sense. The result: a future brighter than any other in America," Ivey said.

The incumbent governors entry into the 2022 race likely will discourage some gubernatorial hopefuls from jumping into the fray. Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth had said he will not run for governor if Ivey seeks another term. No Democrat has declared an intention to run yet.

Speaking with reporters later in the day, Ivey said she is running on her record and to tackle unfinished business. Ivey cited education, the state prison system and job creation as priorities.

We've got several items that need attention. One is meaningful education reform. Certainly, we'll finish out the prison project. We'll be working with the legislators on that project. And keeping our people employed gainfully and adding more jobs, Ivey said.

Ivey faced both praise and criticism for her handling of the pandemic. Unlike some Southern governors, she issued a statewide mask order, a move that was criticized by some conservatives but won her praise from health officials and others for following scientific recommendations. The state mask order has since ended.

She has often embraced GOP priorities during her four years in office, including signing the nation's most stringent abortion restrictions into law, making performing an abortion a felony in nearly all cases. The 2019 law, swiftly blocked by the courts, was part of a wave of restrictions passed by Republican-led legislatures that were aimed at getting the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit the issue of abortion.

Ivey also won a political victory in 2019 with legislative approval of a gas tax increase to fund road and bridge construction and improvements at the state docks.

While Alabama's state prison crisis was decades in the making before Ivey took office, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state last year over its management, saying male prisoners live in unconstitutional conditions with excessive levels of violence. The state prison system disputes the claims.

Hours after making the announcement, Ivey spoke with reporters and greeted diners at a restaurant not far from the Alabama Capitol.

I think she has done a great job particularly with the corona(virus) situation. She's done a very good job of injecting a lot of common sense into her decisions, said retired Air Force Col. Joe Panza, who now serves as executive director of the Air University Foundation. She took some heat for it, but that is what leadership is all about," Panza, 82, said.

In a statement on Twitter, the Alabama Democratic Party said, "Alabama can't afford 4 more years."

Kay Ivey claims that AL has a future brighter than any other in America' but after a decade of total GOP control, AL still ranks at the bottom of every list, whether it's healthcare, education, or vaccinations," the party tweeted. In a statement, the Democratic Party said the state needs a governor who will support a raise in the minimum wage to $15, legalized marijuana, Medicaid expansion and other policy changes.

Ivey is the states second female governor and the first Republican woman elected to the position.

She had been lieutenant governor when she succeeded Gov. Robert Bentley in 2017. Bentley suddenly resigned in the midst of an impeachment investigation partly centered on his relationship with an aide.

She won election to her first full term the next year, defeating Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox as the GOP dashed Democrats hopes of making gains in the deeply red state. Ivey, who is two years younger than President Joe Biden, faced indirect questions about her health during the 2018 race, but easily won her party's nomination and then the general election.

In 2019, Ivey announced she was undergoing radiation treatments after she was diagnosed with Stage 1 lung cancer. Last year, she said medical scans show the treatment worked and she is cancer-free.

Ivey on Wednesday brushed aside a question about her health and said she has the stamina to handle another term.

"Four more years and more if I could run again," Ivey said. Ivey by law is limited to two consecutive full terms.
NUCSOARA, Romania (AP)  Sometimes, one simple test can change a life.

Dozens of Romanian children had their eyes examined for the first time in a remote area of the southern Carpathian Mountains.

The humanitarian organization Casa Buna, or Good House, arranged the eye tests in Nucsoara, which comprises several villages. Routine eye exams are recommended from early infancy, but many children in the impoverished rural community had never been screened by an ophthalmologist.

Given that out of 30 children tested, 20 needed glasses, I think such ophthalmic caravans are needed in as many villages in the country as possible, Mioara Marinescu, the volunteer ophthalmologist at Saturday's event, told The Associated Press.

The importance of testing childrens eyes is not limited to needing corrective lenses. Amblyopia, the condition known as lazy eye, is estimated to affect 1% to 5% of children worldwide, and missed cases can lead to long-term problems.

While examining children, Marinescu found three with amblyopia, a disorder she says can limit access to certain professions in adulthood.

Unfortunately in our country, children do not receive education or health equally, the eye doctor said.

Valeriu Nicolae, who founded Casa Buna in 2007, comes from a poor Roma community himself. Poor eyesight can have a serious, negative impact on childrens educational outcomes, he said.

Teachers think the kids hate to read, but in fact, they hate to read because they cannot read because their eyesight is poor, Nicolae said. Kids who cannot read because their eyes are really bad are useless in the educational process. They get fed up and they drop out.

The volunteer organization supports more than 300 children and their families, putting a strong emphasis on encouraging the children to pursue education. The group has played a prominent role in supporting children throughout the pandemic.

Casa Buna arrived in Nucsoara, 200 kilometers (120 miles) northwest of the capital Bucharest, more than a year ago. Volunteers visit every two weeks, bringing aid to 94 children and their families.

It was the start of the pandemic, and practically none of these kids had internet or computers. We put computers in all of their houses, made sure they have internet ... and all they need to stay online to continue their education, Nicolae said.

Dozens of volunteers participated in the eye-screening event, including motorcyclists from the group Bikers for Humanity. The volunteers organized activities and games to entice as many children as possible. Casa Buna also brought youngsters gifts for International Children's Day, held on June 1.

Well do (eye testing) this year in nine villages. We hope to make anywhere between 600 to 1,000 pairs of glasses, said Nicolae, whose tireless campaigning for better childrens education has won him international awards.

Romania, which has a population of more than 19 million, has the highest percentage of children at risk of poverty and social exclusion in the entire 27-nation European Union  35.8% compared to an EU-wide average of 22.5%, according to statistics agency Eurostat.

Child poverty is most prevalent in the countrys rural communities, where one in two children lives in poverty.

From birth, we should all have equal opportunities in education and access to health care," ophthalmologist Marinescu said. "Regardless of the geographical area in which we are born.
Ben Lambert / Hearst Connecticut Media

HAMDEN  A man who may have lost control of an ATV while riding it near Gaylord Mountain and West Woods roads has died, police said.

The man was found on the power line trails at about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, police said. Officers had gone to the location after receiving a report of accident involving an all-terrain vehicle, police said.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  Joseph Latino, bishop emeritus of the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, died Friday at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the diocese said. He was 83.

The diocese said Tuesday that a Mass of Christian Burial is set for 11:30 a.m. June 9 in Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in downtown Jackson.

Latino was named the 10th bishop of Jackson on Jan. 3, 2003, and was ordained as bishop and installed on March 7, 2003, the diocese said. He retired Dec. 12, 2013.

In March 2006, the Diocese of Jackson agreed to pay $5.1 million to 19 people who claimed they were molested by priests over three decades. The diocese also agreed to remove any person against whom there has been a credible allegation of abuse for any position of influence over policy and decision making regarding sexual abuse claims.

I sincerely hope that this settlement will bring a sense of peace to all those who have suffered as a result of the acts of a few, Latino said in a statement at the time.

The Jackson diocese formed an office for the protection of children while Latino was bishop.

Latino was a New Orleans native and was ordained as a priest in 1963. He served as a parish priest in New Orleans and three other Louisiana cities  Metairie, Houma and Thibodaux. The Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux was established in 1977, and Latino served in several positions there. In 1983, Pope John Paul II named him a prelate of honor with the title of monsignor.

Bishop Latino was most gracious to me from the outset and remained a prayerful and steady friend and colleague from the time I was ordained and installed on Feb. 6, 2014, the current bishop of the Jackson Diocese, Joseph R. Kopacz, said in a news release Tuesday. "May he rest in peace."
WEST HAVEN  The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System received nine notices of unsafe and unhealthful working conditions following a U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection after two maintenance workers died in a steam explosion in November.

In a statement, OSHA said the explosion that killed Euel Sims Jr., 60, and Joe ODonnell, 36, happened after a metal fixture on a main steam line blew off after the two were making repairs.

The VACT failed to protect employees from struck-by and burn hazards, OSHA said in a written statement released Wednesday.

An email seeking comment was sent to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center spokeswoman.

Sims, a Navy veteran and employee of the health care system from Milford, and ODonnell, a Danbury resident and steamfitter for Danbury-based contractor Mulvaney Mechanical, had their deaths ruled as accidental by Chief State Medical Examiner Dr. James R. Gill.

A subsequent OSHA inspection found multiple deficiencies with the health systems control of hazardous energy system.

These fatalities could have been prevented if the employer had complied with safety standards that are designed to prevent the uncontrolled release of steam, OSHA Area Director Steven Biasi said in a statement. Tragically, these well-known protective measures were not in place and two workers needlessly lost their lives.

OSHA issued nine notices of unsafe and unhealthful working conditions to VACT for one willful, three repeat and five serious violations, the statement said. OSHA also cited Mulvaney Mechanical for four serious violations with $38,228 in proposed penalties.

Those that were repeat violations relate to violations brought before VACT by OSHA in December 2015.

OSHA is unable to impose fines upon another governmental agency, but the agency stated that if the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs were a private sector employer, the total penalty amount would be $621,218.

Both the VA health care system and Mulvaney Mechanical have 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHAs area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

In a statement, VACT spokeswoman Pamela Redmond said the agency is cooperating with OSHA.

Immediately following the incident, a VA Board of Inquiry convened to investigate the events, space, and infrastructure and to provide recommendations for improvement. Many of these recommendations have since been implemented. VA Connecticut will continue to work closely with OSHA and all relevant VA entities to address the issues identified in the report, she said. The entire health care system has placed a greater emphasis on safety with the adaptation of High Reliability Organization principles, which make safety the responsibility of all employees and empowers employees at every level to immediately raise safety concerns.

A representative for Mulvaney Mechanical said the company has no response right now.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a statement that OSHAs findings reflect a need for a greater federal investment in infrastructure within the VA system.

This critical report strongly reinforces my repeated calls for renovating and rebuilding the VA West Haven facility to bring it into the 21st century, he said in an email.

Blumenthal said he heard from system leadership that they are committed to correcting the procedures and weaknesses that led to the explosion. I want to thank Director Al Montoya and his entire team for their positive and proactive response to addressing these failures, the senator said.

I commit to fighting for the investment necessary to rebuild and reconstruct VA West Haven as part of the presidential infrastructure package now under consideration by Congress, he said.

The November 13 tragedy was simply the latest and perhaps most serious of costly infrastructure failures, including burst pipes, insect infestations, and other signs of infrastructure collapse, Blumenthal said. Ultimately patching them with short-term fixes is more expensive than starting over.

OSHA said in the statement that the VACT program allegedly failed to:

Properly shutdown to avoid additional or increased hazard(s) to employees.

Relieve or render safe all potentially hazardous residual energy such as condensate water.

Maintain adequate procedures for isolating each steam main branch supplying campus buildings.

Conduct a periodic inspection of all lockout-tagout procedures to correct any deviations or inadequacies.

Provide adequate training to supervisory employees.

Retrain employees when there was a change in their job assignments, or a change in machines, equipment or processes that presented a new hazard.

Notify affected employees of the application and removal of lockout or tagout devices.

Inform Mulvaney Mechanical of VACTs lockout/tagout procedures.

Ensure each authorized employee affix a personal lockout or tagout device to the group lockout device before working on the machine or equipment.

brian.zahn@

hearstmediact.com
Contributed photo

WEST HAVEN  Two new faces have joined the citys emergency services after being sworn in at a recent ceremony.

Vincent Del Vecchio and Thomas OToole were sworn in as West Havens newest firefighter/paramedics May 28 at the Minor Park Station on Fairfax Street, according to a release from the city.
Niagara Falls, NY (14301)

Today

Considerable clouds early. Some decrease in clouds later in the day. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 82F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low 59F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.
Listen, I hope that in playing Mare as a middle-aged woman  I will be 46 in October  I guess thats why people have connected with this character in the way that they have done because there are clearly no filters, she said during a recent interview with The New York Times. Shes a fully functioning, flawed woman with a body and a face that moves in a way that is synonymous with her age and her life and where she comes from. I think were starved of that a bit.
Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has reacted to the recent comment by President Muhammadu Buhari s...

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has reacted to the recent comment by President Muhammadu Buhari saying he would clamp down on those destroying government facilities in the South-East.

President Buhari, while receiving briefing from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu over destruction of the commissions offices by unknown gunmen in the region, said he would soon shock those behind the attacks.

According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President stated that the attacks in the South-East were aimed at destroying the image of his administration.

Reacting to the statement, the Biafra freedom fighter said no soldier deployed to the region would return alive.

Kanu made the assertion on Wednesday via a tweet on his official Twitter handle.

The tweet reads, Its not for the living to respond to the dead but given the lack of reasoning prevalent in the #Zoo Nigeria, I wish to assure @GarShehu, the Jihadi midget @elrufai & that Fulani lapdog Femi Adesina that any army they send to #Biafraland will die there. None will return alive.
The new Chairman, Governing Council of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, has said his colleagues across the 35 fede...





The new Chairman, Governing Council of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, has said his colleagues across the 35 federal polytechnics across the country were worried by the ongoing nationwide strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP).

Oyedepo said the situation became worrisome coming at a time technical education was becoming the topical issue of national interest.

The Chairman spoke in Ado Ekiti, on Wednesday, during a courtesy visit to the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe, in his palace.

Oyedepo and members of his Council also paid similar homage to the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the Local government Chairman, Mrs Omotunde Fajuyi and the founder of Afe Babalola University, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN).

On the protracted strike being staged by ASUP, Oyedepo said the industrial action was disrupting the system and causing serious friction in the countrys technical education.

The nation has 35 Federal Polytechnics and all the Chairmen and members of the Council in these institutions are worried. We are concerned because it is disrupting the system, he said.

The students are no longer allowed to be on campus as a result of this. We are going to take some concrete steps to resolve the issue with the FG.

Now that the councils are constituted, we will interface with the Minister of Education, so that the problem can be solved. How can we be in schools when students are not on campus?.

Oyedeoo added that the Polytechnic has written to the state government since 2020 to relocate SurajuDeen Nursery and Primary school built on the institutions land, expressing regret about the delay of the state government in hearkening to the request.

Council was reliably informed that the Over 400 hectares of land belonging to the Polytechnic have been and is still being encroached, leaving the Polytechnic community porous and vulnerable to attacks. We appeal to the community leaders to help stop this.

Oyedepo also revealed that his mission is to upgrade the institutions development through partnerships with critical stakeholders.

We are not saying the Polytechnic should be a university, but it can be given the power to award degrees as obtainable in some institutions abroad even as a Polytechnic because we have the facilities.

The first Governing Council Chairman of the Polytechnic, Chief Afe Babalola(SAN), stated that his university will cooperate with the Polytechnic for a robust exchange of academic ideas that can be of immense benefit to the country.

The Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe, appealed to the council to work hard to promote the image of the polytechnic and make it a model in the country.

Oba Adejugbe assured that the community would do everything possible to checkmate land encroachment in the institution, saying all the mistakes causing the problem will be addressed.
Aisha Yesufu, activist and social media commentator, has described President Buharis threat to deal with those who want to destroy his go...

Aisha Yesufu, activist and social media commentator, has described President Buharis threat to deal with those who want to destroy his government as a terrorist statement.

Buhari on Tuesday after a security briefing about the attacks on facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the South East categorically threatened to deal with those who, according to him, want to destroy his government.

Buhari said such individuals or groups will receive the shock of their lives as they will be treated in a language they will understand.

And Yesufu, popular for her involvement in the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement, also slammed governors of the South East for keeping mute in the face of such a threat.

The activist further claimed that the hands of Buhari and Vice Prof. Yemi Osinbajo are stained with blood of those killed by their orders.

This is a terrorist statement, she tweeted.

This government is the Buhari/Osinbajo government. Both stained with the blood of the people directly killed by the orders of the govt and the blood of the people indirectly killed by the incompetence of the govt. The duo is absolutely responsible for the atrocities in our land.

I once said that South South Governors are the worst but I think South East Governors have taken over from them!
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has condemned the assassination of his Senior Special Assistant on Security, retired Assistant Inspec...

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has condemned the assassination of his Senior Special Assistant on Security, retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, Christopher Dega.

Ortom described the death as a huge blow to his administration and the entire state.

Gunmen on Tuesday shot dead Christopher Dega.

He was murdered by unknown gunmen in Jos, the Plateau State Capital.

Speaking to newsmen at Benue Peoples House, Makurdi, on Wednesday, the Governor lamented that the retired AIG was very active even in retirement.

He said it was painful that he was gunned down in such a gruesome manner.

Retired AIG Dega served with me here and this is someone who has retired but is not tired and was very active. So for him to have been murdered in the manner they did, a retired AIG gunned down. This is very sad.

Ortom stressed that insecurity had bedevilled the North East, North West and North Central, South South, South East, South West, and called on security agencies to find the killers of his aide.

He sympathized with the family, friends and former colleagues of the deceased and prayed to God to grant him eternal rest.
Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 81F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Isolated thunderstorms during the evening hours. Skies will become partly cloudy overnight. Low 61F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
For the first two days, I could handle just having one drink. But it was because I sat there and was like, Youre only having one drink, and youre going to prove to everyone that youre normal now and you can do this. And then all of a sudden, everything is falling apart, she said.
The body of an unidentified female was found last Friday in the northbound lanes near Tubac.
Its empty now  boarded-up, run-down and waiting. Has been since Hurricane Katrina notoriously delivered New Orleans its watery gut-check in 2005.

But even in its abandoned state, the little temple on Live Oak Street in New Orleans Hollygrove neighborhood feels like something special. Something important. Something that might soon be lost if people dont take notice.

Reader Stanley Taylor noticed. He wrote recently, asking about what he accurately describes as a fascinating structure in Hollygrove.

A marble plaque affixed to the front of the building offers a good starting point, identifying the building at 3019 Live Oak St. as the St. Anthony Divine Spiritual Temple  named in honor of the patron saint of lost things, which is probably poetic on some level.

The plaque indicates the church was founded in 1946, although articles in The Times-Picayune archives indicate its founder, the Rev. Wilbert August Hawkins, had been preaching the word since at least 1942.

In those early days, he held services on the side of his house at 3201 Cherry St., a block over from Live Oak. Hawkins clearly had bigger plans, though, and by 1950, he was preaching in his new church.

More accurately, he was preaching in his congregations new church.

It was built by the congregation, former church member Melvin Washington told Bruce Sunpie Barnes and Rachel Breunlin for a 2012 piece they penned for SouthWritLarge.com. People donated their time and labor. My daddy donated the steel and laid the foundation for the church to be built on. I was a little boy. I used to pick up one cement block at a time and give it to Deacon St. Cyr to help build the church.

What emerged on the long, rectangular lot on Live Oak was a 1,682-square-foot church with a stuccoed, two-story vestibule on its end closest to the street. It was on that second floor that Hawkins reportedly kept his offices.

Centered over the main entrance, between two second-story windows, was a near-life-size statue of St. Anthony, as he is traditionally depicted: wearing his brown Franciscan robes while holding three Madonna lilies in one hand and the Christ child in the other.

The overall effect  the stucco, the statue  lends the building a distinct Mission feel, like a bit of the American Southwest or Mexico plopped down in the middle of a predominantly Black New Orleans neighborhood.

The cornerstone to the church wasnt laid until March 1952, newspaper records show  an event marked with a parade from 2910 Olive St. to the new building  suggesting work on it had continued in some fashion until then.

Once inside, Washington remembered, one would find altars with big human-like statues of Jesus, his mother, St. Anthony, and a big old statue of Black Hawk. I was told Black Hawk was the Indian chief, and he was the protector. People would pray with their hands on the statue.

Also, as with so many Black churches, there was music  lots of music. That, combined with the charisma of Hawkins, was a big part of what kept St. Anthony Divine going.

Then, in 1976, then-Bishop Hawkins died.

Slowly, the church died, too. By the 2000s, the only mentions of St. Anthony Divine Spiritual Temple were in the obituaries, as former congregants joined Bishop Hawkins in the great hereafter.

In 2018, after years of sitting idle, the church building was sold to a private owner.

Today, 71 years after it first hosted services, it awaits its next chapter.

Thanks to Stanley Taylor for suggesting St. Anthony Divine Spiritual Temple as a topic. Know of a New Orleans building worth profiling in this column, or just curious about one? Contact Mike Scott at moviegoermike@gmail.com.
Commentary: Washington's endless eavesdropping and boundless world domination pursuit

Xinhua) 16:29, June 02, 2021

BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The world might be curious about how U.S. President Joe Biden is going to explain to his European counterparts during his upcoming transatlantic trip as Washington was exposed, once again, bugging its European allies.

The exposure of the latest spying scandal must be hurtful and frustrating for America's European allies. They have been expecting a Washington they can trust and count on since the Biden team took power. That wish could take a hard hit if what the Danish media has reported can be proved true.

Already, France and Germany have responded by denouncing the spying as "unacceptable," and demanding "full clarity" from the U.S. side. However, they made similar demands when Washington's hacking programs were brought to the sunlight back in 2013 by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. And according to reports in the Danish press, the bugging continued.

Thus the most probable ending of the ongoing bugging drama is highly likely to be the same as that of the last one: European countries issuing censure on Washington's betrayal to save some face; Washington offering some falsehearted promises and then keeping eavesdropping anyway.

The recurring wiretapping saga is perhaps the best footnote for Washington's hypocrisy, hubris and the impulse to rule it all in the world.

In words, Washington deplores cyberattacks, and pledges to build a "clean network." In practice, it is building an empire of hacking, wiretapping and sabotage, bugs almost anyone it wants, even its "allies," and hypes up groundless national security charges against other countries.

While Washington has always bragged about its numbers of allies across the world, it is always those America's treaty allies that get hurt and insulted from time to time. The past four years have shown the Europeans just how abusive Washington can be. And no one can guarantee those days would not return in the future.

Frankly, in the eyes of Uncle Sam, allies in Europe are just servants for America's geopolitical priorities, instead of real-deal friends. Europe's interests could be expendable as long as Washington's interests are at stake.

Thus there is not much need for Washington to cherish or invest in what is needed the most between allies -- trust.

The reason why the United States wants to tap as many as it can is because it wants to control as much as it wants: energies and technologies, money and markets, public opinions and data.

As a matter of fact, the recurring spying saga testifies to the fact that Washington not only cares little about paying due respect to European countries, but also harbors a deep-seated suspicion towards them.

For those at the helms of Washington, a strong and independent Europe could drift away from America's orbit. That must be prevented.

However, the world is different from what it was after the end of the Cold War. It is now an age of multipolarity where all countries must work together in the face of pressing global challenges, and build a common future. Yet Washington's brazen self-serving only show that the country still clings to the unipolar past that is already gone.

For the shared interests of the international community, it is perhaps the time to start entertaining how to respond to Washington's boundless zeal for global hegemony.

And at the moment, many in major European capitals might still be trying to convince themselves that the Biden White House is different and can treat them fairly and with decency. Well, just let time tell. In the meantime, they had better be careful with their cellphones. The Big Brother is watching and listening.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Hongyu)
People can sometimes just be unkind, Winston told THR. I wish they werent. I loved working with him. Hes a brilliantly funny man and I thought he had some great one-liners in the show. I felt just happy and lucky to be in his presence and directing him on something like this.
Carnival Cruise Lines is preparing its ships to resume sailings from New Orleans following the decision last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to green-light sailings from Miami, Galveston and Canaveral.

Over the past 16 months, the cruise line operator has implemented a rolling moratorium, whereby it continued to take bookings but then canceled the cruises and offered passengers refunds or credits. The latest extension was in May when it canceled New Orleans sailings through to the end of July.

Carnival has fully booked the Glory, one of the two vessels it sails from the Port of New Orleans, for a number of seven-day cruises in August, commencing Aug. 1 and running through Aug. 29, according to one of its booking officials, who asked not to be quoted by name. But no firm date is set for the first cruise to sail.

"We're just getting the ships in place and the crews vaccinated and then when the ship is considered 'green' by the CDC, and when we sign the agreement with the Port of New Orleans, we'll have some clarity on sailing dates," the official said.

Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen said the company had no comment about renewed sailings from New Orleans, apart from noting that it has previously said it won't sail from there until August at the earliest.

The cruise line moratorium has left a big gap in the New Orleans tourism industry, which saw a record 1.2 million cruise passengers come through the city in 2019. Carnival, the largest U.S. operator, accounted for 80% of that traffic.

The CDC and Carnival on Friday agreed on a so-called Phase 2A agreement that sets out a stringent set of rules, including certifying the vaccination of crew and passengers as well as maintaining distancing, masking and other prevention protocol. The operator must also have plans in place with the port and the local health authority about prevention and how to react in the event of an outbreak.

As well as the three ports in Florida and Texas, Carnival Cruise Lines said it also expects to restart its cruise sailings from Seattle at the end of July.

The August sailings from New Orleans are booked at about 70% of Glory's normal capacity, which ordinarily can take just under 3,000 passengers, the Carnival booking official said. The Glory normally sails year-round, seven-day excursions. Some go from New Orleans to Key West, Florida, and the Bahamas before returning to home port, while others go to the western Caribbean.

Gulliksen declined to comment on the possibility of an August resumption.

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 Glory currently is in dry dock in Marseille, France, where servicing includes alterations to make it compliant with the distancing protocol. Carnival is also in the process of ensuring the crew  most of whom are foreign nationals, including many from countries that have much lower vaccination rates than the U.S.  are vaccinated and certified, the Carnival official added.

The Carnival Valor, which has a similar capacity of about 3,000 passengers and 1,200 crew, is in dry dock in Italy for a refurbishment that is expected to keep it out of commission until November at the earliest.

Renee Aragon-Dolese, a spokesperson for Port Nola, said officials there are currently working with Carnival on a plan to comply with CDC guidelines, but she couldn't say when that might be completed.

"The entire industry wants to ensure that when and as cruising does resume, appropriate timing and procedures are in place to protect the health and safety of our guests, crew and our community," Aragon-Dolese said.

The port has been losing more than $1 million a month in fees from cruise ships while the moratorium has been in place.

The CDC loosening also raises hopes that operators other than Carnival will return.

"We anticipate announcements from Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruise Line in the coming weeks for scheduled sailings from New Orleans," Aragon-Dolese said.

Disney Cruise Line, which made its debut in January 2020, is scheduled to return to New Orleans in February 2022 for its limited seasonal sailings.
Three Louisiana State Police troopers who bragged over text messages about an ass whoopin they had just doled out on a Black motorist last year in Richland Parish are named in the latest civil rights lawsuit alleging excessive force by troopers patrolling the states northeast corner.

The federal lawsuit filed last month by Antonio Harris mirrors allegations raised by State Police investigators against three troopers over his beating and an alleged attempt to conceal it. Some of the same troopers are also implicated in other beatings of Black motorists, as a scandal deepens over racist policing and suspected coverups within the state's premier law enforcement agency.

Four current or former members of the predominantly White Troop F, based in Monroe, have been booked on criminal charges, suspected of using excessive force in traffic stops of Black motorists. Charges against three of them -- Jacob Brown, Dakota DeMoss and George Harper -- include counts related to Harris beating after a high-speed chase on May 23, 2020.

Brown blatantly lied in multiple reports detailing Harris' arrest, criminal investigators say.

Brown wrote that he pulled over Harris, of Jackson, Mississippi, for drifting across lanes, checked his criminal history and found multiple warrants. While he waited for backup, Harris jumped back in his Hyundai Sonata and led troopers on a 29-mile chase that reached 150 mph before the troopers deployed a tire deflation device.

Brown claimed that Harris ran off into a cornfield before complying with orders to lie on the ground. His report says Harris refused to show his hands or obey commands and that he fought with troopers before they began to pummel him with what Brown described as tactical strikes.

In his use-of-force report, which was approved by two supervisors, Sgt. Bruce Robinson and Capt. John Peters, Brown did not check a box to indicate if body-worn cameras had captured the incident. State Police investigators later found they had, and that the footage revealed that Harris had immediately surrendered after exiting his car, splaying his hands and legs on the ground.

DeMoss ran up to deliver a knee strike, then swatted Harris in the face before turning off his body cam. Harper then ran up gripping a heavy flashlight and flipped over his body camera to face the ground, Sgt. Gustave Bethea wrote in an affidavit seeking the troopers' arrests. Harper punched Harris in the head several times while holding the flashlight, Bethea wrote.

Im going to punish you, dumb bitch, Harper told the Mississippi man, according to investigators.

Brown and DeMoss both yanked Harris by his hair.

At no time did Harris resist, Bethea wrote.

After Harris was taken to jail, the troopers exchanged texts.

He gonna be sore tomorrow for sure, Brown texted. BET he wont run from a full grown bear again.

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

Bet he dont even cross into LA anymore, DeMoss replied.

It warms my heart knowing we could educate that young man, crowed Brown. His father, Bob Brown, was chief of staff to former State Police Superintendent Kevin Reeves, who had led Troop F as its commander before taking the agency's top job. Both Reeves and Bob Brown resigned from State Police late last year.

Richland Parish prosecutors later said that Jacob Brown never told them there was video of Harris' arrest. The State Police criminal investigation found Browns sworn account to be wholly untrue.

All three troopers face counts of simple battery and malfeasance in office for their roles in Harris beating; Brown, who has since resigned from the force, faces an additional count of obstruction of justice.

Brown was arrested for the first time in December, accused of beating Aaron Bowman 18 times with a flashlight, breaking his ribs and arm and gashing his head.

Investigators said Bowman, while he was resisting, did not appear aggressive toward the officers. They said Brown miscategorized the body camera footage and failed to label the recording, which they viewed as an intentional attempt to hide the video from any administrative review or criminal investigation.

Bowman, who is Black, was beaten just weeks after Troop F members repeatedly tased, beat and dragged Ronald Greene across a Union Parish road in an eerily similar encounter. Brown wasn't involved in that arrest, which ended with Greene dead at age 49.

DeMoss was one of the first of at least six troopers at the scene of Greene's beating and death. Leaked video from his body camera, showing troopers repeatedly tasing and pummeling Greene, was published last month by the Associated Press, sparking a public outcry and suspicions of a long-running coverup within State Police. A federal investigation into Greenes death is ongoing.

State Police face separate federal civil rights lawsuits from Greenes family, Bowman, and now Harris, from encounters with Troop F.

All three of the troopers charged in Harris arrest were relatively recent members of Troop F, which patrols the roads of a dozen northeast Louisiana parishes. State records show that Brown joined State Police in 2014, DeMoss in 2016 and Harper in 2017.

Brown and another trooper, Randall Dickerson, also face criminal charges in the July 2019 arrest of Morgan Blake during a traffic stop and drug search that yielded 13 pounds of marijuana.

State Police investigators claim that Brown threw Blake to the ground before Dickerson turned off his body camera and punched him five times in the head.
The families of his victims long waited for this day.

After years of courtroom outbursts and delays, New Orleans serial killer Joseph Brant on Tuesday was forced to sit quietly and listen as loved ones of two of the four woman he murdered spoke about their loss.

Brant pleaded guilty to three murders last month, in addition to a fourth hed admitted to in 2016, and hes now serving four life prison sentences. On Tuesday, several friends and family members gave victim-impact testimony about Kirsten Brydum and Jody Johnson, two of the women Brant killed in his 11-month spasm of post-Hurricane Katrina violence.

Nothing I will say changes anything, said Brydums mother, Mamie Page. But it does give me the opportunity to tell the world what you stole from me, from all of us. You stole my baby."

Page appeared as one face on a grid of many others during the court's video conference hearing, which was delayed by Brants erratic courtroom behavior and slowdowns caused by the pandemic.

+6 New Orleans serial killer pleads guilty to murdering three women after Hurricane Katrina A serial killer who stalked downriver New Orleans neighborhoods after Hurricane Katrina pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder 

Over Pages right shoulder was a picture of her daughter. Brant sexually assaulted and murdered Brydum, 25, after spotting her riding her bicycle in the 9th Ward on Sept. 27, 2008. The San Francisco-based activist had arrived in town only hours before, with big dreams of connecting local activists to those in other marginalized communities.

It was the last known killing in a series of them that began on Oct. 17, 2007 when Brant attempted to rape a woman at knifepoint, killed her and burned her body inside a stolen car near Treasure and Arts streets in the St. Roch neighborhood. The woman has not been identified. He then killed Jody Johnson on Jan. 11, 2008 and Jessica Hawk on Aug. 11, 2008.

The crimes remained unsolved for years until Brant confessed to killing Hawk in September 2013. Nearly five years later, he confessed to the other slayings, investigators have said. Only last month did he formally plead guilty to those three killings.

His microphone muted, Brant wore a white t-shirt and stared at a screen as he appeared via video link from prison.

Page described Brant, 51, as a mothers worst nightmare as she spoke about her daughters brief but eventful life. Brydum started a free market in a San Francisco park, provided meals to the homeless and dived into dumpsters to feed the hungry, Page said.

She would even have compassion for you, Page said. This process is personally debilitating, the pain is excruciating, but I have survived because of Kirsten.

One friend, Marika Maypop, recalled Brydum as an inspiring force who fought the injustices of this misogynist, white supremacist, capitalist world with a smile. Maypop, who lives in New Orleans, said images of Brant torturing and killing his victims have haunted her. But before the hearing, Maypop summoned guidance from her friend and decided that she had to forgive, 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

Forgiveness is changing the present moment, not changing the past. Forgiveness is giving up hope for a better past. And forgiveness is choosing to suffer less, even though you are deeply hurting, Maypop said. May peace fill your soul, Joseph, may you be free from suffering.

'I miss Kirsten's loving voice every day': Victim's family reacts to news of confession Nearly a decade after the murder of Kirsten Brydum, a 25-year-old social activist from San Francisco, a grand jury has indicted a man who says

The prospect of Brant spending his life in a prison cell isnt full justice, several survivors said. Instead, they believe it is up to everyone to put an end to the root causes of the violence that Brydum suffered.

In life, Brydum believed that she should be able to travel as freely as any man, her partner John Viola said in a statement that was read by a family friend. In sexually assaulting and killing her, Brant attempted to reduce her to nothing more than a sexual object.

When no person fears attack because of their perceived gender, that is the justice Kirsten deserves, Viola said. It is a challenge to me, and a challenge to you, to participate in that cultural shift. All the punishment in the world will not accomplish this. We all must take responsibility for the culture of rape that we live in.

Friends and family were split Tuesday on whether to extend Brant forgiveness. Viola said he would consider it, if Brant works to prevent others from committing similar crimes. There must be something good inside Brant if he was willing to confess to Hawks murder and then three more, Viola said. Perhaps he realized he would be a danger to other women.

+7 'Serial killer' serving life for murder now accused in killings of 3 more N.O. women A man serving life for murdering a Bywater woman in 2008 was accused of killing three more women in a stunning indictment unveiled on Thursday. Joseph Brant, 48, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the indictment obtained by the office of Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro.

However, the sister of another victim said she still wishes Brant had received a death sentence.

Jana Wood, the sister of Jody Johnson, said shed lost her child at nearly the same time as her sister, and their father died never knowing the identity of Johnson's killer.

She wasnt just a woman on the street. She wasnt trash, Wood said in a statement read by Assistant District Attorney Andre Gaudin. I worshipped my sister. He took everything I had, and I have never been the same.

Brant didnt speak at the hearing, which came nearly a month after an appearance where he used a profanity to describe his court-appointed attorney and argued about the details of his crimes.

However, he appeared to signal to Brydums survivors after Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Robin Pittman said the case was finally closed. Folding his hands together as if to pray, Brant nodded toward the screen.

There were no relatives of the first woman Brant murdered and set on fire. She has never been identified, and court records refer to her only as Jane Doe.
An Avondale man has been jailed on a charge of attempted second-degree murder after authorities say he shot his ex-wife's boyfriend in the face during an argument Friday evening on the West Bank, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office.

The victim, a 37-year-old from Marrero, was shot in the eye and was in critical condition Wednesday, said Capt. Jason Rivarde, a Sheriff's Office spokesman.

The shooting occurred outside the victim's residence in the 4600 block of Bayou Nock Drive in Marrero's Estelle neighborhood, according to authorities. The accused gunman, Anthony Gurtner, 40, had gone to the house about 6:30 p.m. to pick up the three children he shares with the victim's girlfriend.

It's not clear whether there had been any previous animosity between Gurtner and the victim. But the two argued after Gurtner pulled into the residence's driveway, according to Rivarde.

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

"As the victim approached the suspect's vehicle, the suspect shot him in the face," Rivarde said.

+2 Killed in the line of duty, JPSO Detective Stephen Arnold laid to rest Tuesday The flags in front of the Jefferson Performing Arts Center in Metairie billowed at half-staff Tuesday morning as relatives and members of law 

Gurtner remained at the scene and was later detained by deputies, according to authorities. In addition to the count of attempted murder, he was booked with an outstanding traffic violation.

Gurtner was being held Wednesday at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna in lieu of $250,500 bond.
Brione Rodgers and her 12-year-old cousin, Todriana Peters, stopped at a party in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward only to pick up a phone charger from Todrianas brother, so they could call their grandmother.

The trip was supposed to take mere minutes, Rodgers said. But Todriana didnt make it out alive. She was hit by stray gunfire that erupted Sunday night while she was outside the home hosting the party, killing her and wounding two others in the 500 block of Delery Street.

Rodgers and relatives spent Tuesday coming to grips with the grim sequence of events that ended the life of a girl who had just completed the sixth grade at Schaumburg Elementary School in New Orleans East, where she made fast friends through her love of dancing, fashion and social studies and her outspokenness.

That was my baby, said Rodgers, who held Todriana during her last moments. Yall [left] a hole in our family.

In a year where gun violence has been surging across New Orleans and much of the United States, Memorial Day weekend was particularly brutal, leaving at least three local people killed and 13 wounded. The violence showed no signs of slowing Tuesday, when at least five more people were shot across New Orleans, one fatally.

Todrianas case, which as of Tuesday evening had not led to any arrests, stands apart because of her youth and the tangled circumstances that left her in harms way.

It started when Tommie Jones, who owns the home at 524 Delery St., decided to let his nephew throw a party to celebrate graduation from Chalmette High School. Jones acknowledged he had previously operated the home as a short-term rental. But the rental license expired last year, and Jones said Tuesday that he simply let his nephew and his friends borrow the house for their party.

Among the guests was Todrianas 18-year-old brother. Rodgers, who is also 18, had taken Todriana with her to another gathering for younger children just a few blocks away. Relatives said Todriana sent a text message earlier in the day begging her mother for permission to go to that party because she wanted to enjoy herself after a long school year. Rodgers said there was only one condition: That Rodgers would take her.

When the childrens gathering was over, Rodgers and Todriana were supposed to go to their grandmothers house. They would need to call her ahead of time so shed be ready to let them in, but both Rodgers and Todrianas phones were dead. They decided to meet up with Todrianas brother at the graduation party.

Rodgers, who was standing outside the car with Todriana, went across the street to get a girls phone number for Todrianas brother.

As Im walking across the street, Rodgers said, the shots rang out.

It was about 10:30 p.m. Someone had started firing at a crowd outside the home. Todriana, an 18-year-old man and a 19-year-old man were hit.

The injured went to a hospital on their own to receive treatment.

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

Rodgers helped carry her little cousin into the home hosting the party. A woman, who didnt want to be identified, tied a towel around the girls leg and had someone else apply pressure to a wound on her head.

12 year-old girl shot at graduation party Sunday identified A 12-year-old girl who was fatally shot while attending a graduation party in the Lower 9th Ward on Sunday has been identified.

I saw a body on the ground and dropped to my knees in tears, Rodgers said of the moment. I didnt want to leave her in the street.

Paramedics rushed the girl to a hospital, but she was pronounced dead there. Police havent publicly discussed a possible motive for the gunfire.

Two days later, her principal at Schaumburg stood near the front entrance of the school and paid tribute to the 12-year-old girl he knew for half her life. She was always someone who was in the mix of something, Maurice McMorris said.

Todriana had a large family, and most of her siblings and cousins had gone to Schaumburg, including Rodgers and Todrianas little brother, Todd, still a student there.

McMorris and Todrianas aunt, Tasha Rodgers, said Todriana hailed from a tight family that let her be a kid and express herself through dancing and her sporty, matching fashion sets. She spent some of her early life in Columbia, Mississippi, her grandmothers hometown, never losing the signature country accent in that region.

TikTok videos posted under Todrianas name hint at her personality, showing her dancing to upbeat hip-hop music, sometimes with friends and, in one, with a beauty store employee. McMorris said Schaumburg was trying to recruit Todriana to join the dance team,but Tasha Rodgers said her niece was resisting, because she wanted to choreograph her own dances rather than be told what routines to follow.

12-year-old girl attending graduation party killed in triple shooting in New Orleans A 12-year-old girl was shot and killed while attending an outdoor graduation party in Holy Cross late Sunday night when unknown assailants beg

McMorris said he is still trying to figure out what he will say to her classmates upon their return this fall. He wants the world to understand that Todrianas murder wasnt her fault.

She  was a victim of whats happening far too often in the city, of young people being in the wrong place at the wrong time, McMorris said.

Brione Rodgers said she had a message for whoever killed Todriana.

I just want you to know that yall took our baby, Rodgers said. I want yall to be mindful of what yall are doing on the streets. Its wrong.

Danny Monteverde contributed to this report.
The owner of a New Orleans tattoo shop surrendered Wednesday to Alabama authorities who charged him with stealing a Confederate monument during a bizarre ransom plot that threatened to turn the relic into a toilet.

Jason Warnick, 32, faces one count of first-degree theft of the Jefferson Davis Memorial Chair, which was reported stolen from a cemetery in Selma, Alabama. But in a defiant news conference held after Warnick posted a $30,000 bond for his release from custody, his attorney argued that Warnick had never even been to Selma previously.

I dont often stand in front of reporters and proclaim actual innocence of a client,  [but] in this case I have no qualms about it, Michael Kennedy said. My client has never been here before. He did not commit any theft of any item, be it of historical value or not. He has nothing to do with this, and we look forward to proving" it.

+2 In Confederate monument ransom plot, New Orleans police arrest third suspect A third suspect linked to the strange ransom plot involving a threat to turn an Alabama Confederate monument into a toilet was jailed in New O

The district attorney for the county including Selma told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Warnick "did it." Michael Jackson said authorities suspect Warnick or someone he knows learned of the monument during an annual tour of historic homes in Selma, and investigators allege they have a photo of Warnick with the chair.

Though Kennedy now says prosecutors wont commit to an exact date for when Warnick is purported to have stolen the chair, a 500-pound stone relic is estimated to be worth $500,000, news media reports in Alabama initially said it was taken March 19.

Following the theft, a group calling itself White Lies Matter issued threats to urinate and defecate on the chair if its owners, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, did not hang a specific banner outside the organization's headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, by April 9, the 156th anniversary of the Confederate surrender ending the Civil War.

That banner contained a quote from a Black Liberation Army activist wanted in the murder of a New Jersey state trooper in 1973: The rulers of this country have always considered their property more important than our lives.

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 path leading investigators to Warnick began with the public offering of a $5,000 reward for the chair recovery. Authorities received a tip that the monument was being held inside a storage room of a tattoo shop that Warnick and Kathryn Diionno, 24, own in the 1000 block of Touro Street in Faubourg Marigny.

New Orleans police said that on April 8, they moved to arrest Warnick and Diionno on a count of possessing stolen property after finding surveillance video showing several people hauling the hulking chair out of their shop and into the back of a rental van. They booked a third suspect, 35-year-old Stanley Pate, on the same count two days later.

Meanwhile, after someone sent the monuments GPS coordinates to the United Daughters of the Confederacy, police recovered the chair at the intersection of North Galvez and Feliciana streets in the St. Claude neighborhood.

Kennedy, who is working alongside Miles Swanson and Alabama lawyer Hank Sanders to represent Warnick, on Wednesday said that the Orleans Parish District Attorneys Office hasnt decided whether to charge his client or any of his co-defendants on their arrests for possession of stolen property. Nonetheless, prosecutors in Alabama had recently upped the ante against Warnick and secured a grand jury indictment charging him with stealing the Davis chair from the Selma cemetery.

With Warnick standing at his side, Kennedy said he is unsure how prosecutors made that leap, given his assertion that his client has never before been to Selma. Kennedy also said Warnick doesnt belong to White Lies Matter or any other activist group.

Commissioned in 1893, the Davis chair commemorates the Confederates only president, who was also a slave owner. Activists have increasingly attacked such monuments ever since a counter protester was killed in 2017 during a white supremacist rally against the removal of a Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia.

An attorney and activist at Wednesdays news conference, Faya Rose Toure, said she believes Warnick is innocent. But, she added, I want to applaud the people who did take that monument of hate from a public cemetery.
A 19-year-old man was killed Tuesday night in a shooting in Algiers, New Orleans police said. His name has not been released.

The shooting was reported to police at 11:35 p.m. in the 4400 block of MacArthur Boulevard (map). When police arrived, they said they found a man lying on his back on the sidewalk. He had been shot and he died at the scene.

No other details were immediately available, including a possible motive or suspect.

Anyone with information is asked to call Homicide Detective Brett Mathes at 504-658-5300 or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.
Loyola University on Tuesday joined other New Orleans colleges in mandating a COVID-19 vaccine for students before the fall semester begins.

"We have always required vaccinations for diseases ranging from measles to meningitis, and today we will join a growing number of other universities in requiring the COVID-19 vaccine," President Tania Letlow said.

Tulane to require students to be vaccinated in fall; joins Xavier and Dillard in mandating shots Tulane University said Thursday it will mandate that all students get the COVID-19 vaccine next semester, joining a growing number of institut

Loyola said the university's Student Government Association requested a vaccine requirement and that a survey showed 93% of students were or are planning to get inoculated. The deadline for the approximately 4,500 Loyola students to prove they are vaccinated is July 16; otherwise, they will not be allowed on campus, Tetlow said.

Students may seek an exemption "for health reasons, religious reasons or deeply held philosophical reasons" but will then be required to wear masks, practice social distancing and quarantine if they are exposed to the coronavirus. International students who cannot receive a vaccine in their country must consult Loyola officials.

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

Should LSU mandate the COVID vaccine? Here are the legal issues that complicate it LSU faculty members are pushing to make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for the campus community ahead of the fall semester.

Neither Loyola's email announcement nor its website included information about a faculty or staff COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Other New Orleans universities that have announced inoculation requirements include Tulane, Xavier and Dillard University.

University of Holy Cross officials said they would decide in June, while the University of New Orleans had no plans to require the vaccine. A spokesperson said Delgado Community College spokesperson will encourage the vaccine but not mandate it.
Henderson Lewis Jr., the New Orleans public school superintendent who is credited with leading schools' return from state to local oversight, will step down from his post in 2022, he said Tuesday.

Lewis, 46, said that after 25 years as an educator, and after what will be seven years leading the country's only all-charter school district, it's time to move on. Though he's eyeing retirement when his contract ends June 30, 2022, he did not rule out the chance that he would take another education post.

"The time is right for me to think about how to be able to support the (school) board in a transition, so that they can find my successor and to continue to move the work forward, to support the community," Lewis said.

Over his tenure, "we have not only rebranded ourselves as NOLA Public Schools, but given a new day and a new sense of hope to our students and our families."

Lewis counts among his accomplishments the return of schools to local control, navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the virtual learning it demanded, and working diligently to bring up the district's academic record, one of the fastest growing in the state.

The system he leaves behind is still grappling with questions of equity in the wake of a national reckoning on race sparked by the death of George Floyd last year, as evidenced by its debate over the renaming of schools named for slave owners or white supremacists, and a racial equity audit on system policies due out this summer.

It must also set a course for its future. Lewis is expected to present a strategic plan this summer that his successor will follow or tweak, as the Orleans Parish School Board's existing strategic plan is due to expire this year.

Lewis, a St. Bernard Parish native, spent three years as head of the East Feliciana School System before coming to New Orleans. He has also served as a St. Bernard Parish School Board member, academics director for the Algiers Charter School Association, a school principal and a teacher.

The School Board found itself at a crossroads when Lewis was hired in 2015, as it had for years tried and failed to lure autonomous charters back to its purview. When given the choice to leave the state's turnaround agency, the Recovery School District, after improving their scores under state oversight, most schools passed on that chance, citing past mismanagement and a lack of leadership from OPSB.

So Lewis put school returns first on his agenda. Within a year of his hiring, state lawmakers mandated what Lewis called a "reunification" of all schools by 2018 -- a deadline that was met.

"'The unifier' -- I'm proud of that title," Lewis said, pointing to a headline from a story that hangs, framed, on the wall in his spotless office. "Even though I believe everyone had the same idea and the same desire for students to be educated, they were just in different places."

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

Nolan Marshall Jr., the School Board's longest-serving member, remembers that time well.

"He fit exactly what we needed," Marshall said. "He provided the stable leadership we needed to give the Legislature confidence to return our schools, and he managed the framework that was needed to hold those schools accountable."

Under Lewis' leadership, the district's awards to disadvantaged business enterprises have increased, its minimum wage for food service employees has risen to $15 per hour, and its graduation rates have increased, School Board President Ethan Ashley added.

"While during his tenure, our district has accomplished much, even in the face of insurmountable challenges, I will say that we are grateful to have another year with Dr. Lewis to add on to the accomplishments," he said.

When Lewis arrived in 2015, schools under the OPSB and the RSD scored a C on average. In 2019, the latest year that school grades were calculated, the city's schools were again graded a C. But the district's progress record, a relatively new measure of how much individual students improve over time, was a B that year. Lewis said he is most proud of that growth.

The president of the United Teachers of New Orleans, Wanda Richard, wished Lewis well on Tuesday and urged the School Board to "work to incorporate the voices of teachers, school employees, parents and students" in the selection process for the next superintendent.

The board intends to have a meeting to discuss next steps on June 8, Ashley said. Lewis is expected to assist with the transition.

His best piece of advice to his successor?

"First seek to understand what is in place. It's a very unique system... it's the only one in America that's like this," Lewis said.
Hogan was born in Queens on Sept. 28, 1933. After serving the United States overseas during the Korean War, he returned back to New York City where he studied engineering at NYU. Following poor results from an engineering aptitude test, Hogan decided to go into acting in hopes that he would find his calling there.
Louisiana will spend almost $1 billion on coastal restoration and hurricane protection in the fiscal year that begins July 1, including 18 projects using dredged sediment to rebuild almost 14,000 acres of wetlands, marsh and ridge, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Wednesday.

The money also will pay for another 109 miles of new or improved hurricane levees protecting coastal populations across the state, the start of construction on the new Houma Navigation Canal lock and completion of the Bayou Chene flood control structure, Edwards told the online State of the Coast conference.

Opening the three-day biennial event, Edwards said 16 state agencies have undertaken a vulnerability assessment to address how Louisianas rapidly eroding coastline will affect the government's ability to serve the public. Overseen by chief resilience officer Charles Sutcliffe, the two-year effort requires the agencies to explain how wetlands loss and climate change will affect their assets, including buildings, property, equipment and other infrastructure, as well as their direct and indirect effects on services.

The report is to address both acute effects of hurricanes and floods and chronic challenges of rising seas and salinity changes.

"Working together, we can achieve a more resilient, prosperous, equitable and sustainable state," Edwards said.

Gov. Edwards' plan to combat sea level rise in Louisiana? It starts with greenhouse gas emissions Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Thursday that his administration plans to embark on an ambitious expansion of coastal restoration and flood pr

Environmental news in your inbox Stay up-to-date on the latest on Louisiana's coast and the environment. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Five coastal restoration projects in fiscal 2022 are aimed at reversing the effects of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, a navigation shortcut between the Gulf of Mexico and the Industrial Canal in New Orleans. It opened in 1965 and was ordered closed by Congress in 2009 because of its lack of use and its environmental disruption of wetlands east of the river.

All five projects have either just begun construction or will begin in the next few months:

The Golden Triangle Marsh Creation project will restore about 774 acres of wetlands in the northwest corner of Lake Borgne, at the confluence of the MR-GO channel and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The project costs $57 million and is being funded by BP oil disaster money through the federal RESTORE Act and the disaster's natural resource damage assessment.

The New Orleans Landbridge Shoreline Stabilization and Marsh Creation project will restore and protect about 290 acres of wetlands along Chef Menteur Highway on both the Lake Pontchartrain and Lake St. Catherine shorelines. The project costs $25.4 million, being funded by the federal-state Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act.

The Biloxi Marsh Living Shoreline calls for installing as much as 11 miles of bio-engineered oyster reefs along the shoreline of Eloi Bay near Bayou La Loutre in St. Bernard Parish. It costs $69.8 million.

The Bayou La Loutre Ridge Restoration and Marsh Creation project will create almost 19 miles of ridge and 193 acres of new marsh and nourish another 248 acres of eroding marsh with sediment along the bayou and southeast of Lena Lagoon. The $25.8 million project is funded by the federal-state act.

Increment 1 of the Lake Borgne Marsh Creation project will create or nourish about 2,700 acres of marsh along the southwestern corner of the lake in St. Bernard Parish. It is being funded with BP natural resource damage money and costs $114.8 million.

Arthur Johnson, director of the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development and a member of the MR-GO discussion panel at State of the Coast, said his organization has been talking with state and New Orleans officials about identifying programs that can train residents with skills to obtain jobs in these and other restoration projects. St. Bernard Parish President Guy McInnis said Nunez Community College in Chalmette might be just such a training source, pointing to a global positioning system course taught there in support of restoration efforts.

+13 Here's why Mississippi River diversion was proposed, how it might work Picture an hourglass lying on its side, the top resting in the Mississippi River to capture the sands of time floating downstream from the Mid

The State of the Coast conference is sponsored by the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, The Water Institute of the Gulf, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and Louisiana Sea Grant. It continues with online sessions Thursday and Friday.
Having already broken from the Republican party line on whether Donald Trump incited the violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy may not have struggled much over his vote last week in favor of creating a commission to investigate the attack.

The people who are going to be mad at him for supporting a deep dive into that horrific day were mad already, because Cassidy has long since tipped his hand.

Early on, he was one of a handful of prominent Republicans who argued that the people had spoken, that Joe Biden's Electoral College victory had been repeatedly verified by judges and state election officials of both parties, and that democracy depends on a peaceful transfer of power. He was the only Louisiana Republican in Congress to reject last-ditch challenges to results in individual states, even after the hordes had pushed through overmatched Capitol Police defenses and come for all of them.

And of course, he was one of only seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump at his impeachment trial for his actions leading up to and on Jan. 6, explaining his vote in the simplest of terms: Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty.

So lets say right here that Cassidys willingness to challenge the partys fealty to Trump and his toxic lies separates him from most of his GOP colleagues, at least some of whom are sensible enough to know better. It sets him apart from his Louisiana Senate colleague John Kennedy. It sets him apart from Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, who was himself the target of a previous, nearly deadly attack, and who helped usher former GOP House conference chair Liz Cheney out of leadership for remembering and talking about Trumps atrocious behavior. It sets him apart from Mike Johnson, R-Benton, who rallied House Republicans to back a junk lawsuit seeking to overturn the election, and Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, and Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, and from Julia Letlow, R-Start, who wasnt in Congress yet on Jan. 6 but who got right with the program and voted against the commission.

It also sets him apart from the partys congressional leadership, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who once called Trump morally responsible for the attack but who leaned on his members to oppose the commission. And it sets him apart from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who begged Trump to send help on Jan. 6, said the former president bears responsibility for the attack soon after, and yet now rejects the terms of a deal to investigate that his own emissary successfully negotiated with Democrats, perhaps because more of his own interactions with Trump that day would come out.

Cassidy didnt muster as eloquent a defense of his position as Alaskas U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who called out her colleagues for focusing on the next election cycle rather than confronting deep lingering challenges to the party and to the democracy.

But he did make a point that needed to be made, in a comment that can be read as less a statement of principle than of practicality.

The investigations will happen with or without Republicans. To ensure the investigations are fair, impartial, and focused on the facts, Republicans need to be involved, he said.

That second part surely gives many of his colleagues too much credit, given their intense desire to move past a problem that Trump is still exacerbating with continued false claims of a stolen election. But Cassidys right that, if Republicans wont take part, Democrats will go ahead and investigate without them.

And that raises a vital question that also hangs over Biden and the Congressional Democratic majoritys legislative agenda  as well as the fate of the filibuster, which Republicans used to block the bipartisan commission in the first place.

Does Cassidys party want to be a partner in governing and in facing the countrys problems head-on? Or does it just want to be the opposition?

We have his answer. Sadly, we also know how much of an outlier he is among his peers.
Students at Southgate Elementary School in Moore made paper flowers while learning about the Tulsa Race Massacre. A paraprofessional who works with special education students at the school created a large display in the hallway using the students' projects.
Norman, OK (73070)

Today

Mostly clear this evening. Increasing clouds with thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Mostly clear this evening. Increasing clouds with thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%.
Fishers, In. - TCC, a subsidiary of Round Room LLC, the largest Verizon Authorized Retailer in the U.S., recently held its second annual Kids Rock Community Event.

During the event, TCC selected 25 in-person children's camps across the country to receive a $2,000 donation to cover expenses as children return for the summer. The company donated $50,000 in total this year.

Of the 25 camps selected, five are located in Pennsylvania: Pocono Environmental Education Center in Dingman's Ferry, College Settlement in Horsham, Aaron's Acres in Lancaster, Sewickley Valley YMCA in Sewickley, and Camp Karoondinha ("Camp K") in Union County.

More than two-thirds of summer camps were closed last year due to the pandemic. After a year of uncertainty and limited social interaction, their returns this summer will bring relief and joy to children across the nation, said Scott Moorehead, CEO of Round Room, parent company of TCC.

Many of us attended summer camps growing up and we understand their importance to these kids, which is why all of us at TCC are excited to support local camps that are back in action this summer through our Kids Rock Community Event.

TCC held its first Kids Rock event last summer and donated more than 5,500 duffle bags filled with essential hygiene products to foster care agencies nationwide.

The company also recently donated over 500 appreciation boxes to schools across the U.S. to honor teachers for navigating education during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns. Last year, TCC donated more than 140,000 backpacks with school supplies to kids within its 43-state service area. The companys nonprofit organization, TCC Gives, recently surpassed $2.5 million in donations to local nonprofits across the country.

Correction Camp Karoondinha was incorrectly located in Williamsport. The aritcle has been updated to reflect that Camp Karoondinha is outside Glen Iron in Union County.
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters.

Harrisburg, Pa.  Internal systemic failures were behind the Wolf administrations bungling of a statewide referendum that would provide legal recourse to survivors of child sexual abuse, according to a much-anticipated report released May 26.

The Office of State Inspector General found no evidence that the administrations failure to advertise the proposed constitutional amendment as required was deliberate or the result of outside pressure or intentional malfeasance.

But it did find the Department of State, which oversees elections, had no formal or written process in place for ensuring referendums appear on the ballot. There was also little, if any, executive oversight or staff training  a chronic complaint from employees interviewed for the inquiry  and paltry communication between the various bureaus within the department that are responsible for getting questions on the ballot.

The Department of State, according to the report, lacked executive oversight, written policies and procedures, proper staff training, and consistent communication of the process.

The agencys error meant the referendum could not appear on the May ballot, as had been planned, devastating the states community of survivors who have pushed for it for nearly two decades.

Shortly after learning of the mistake earlier this year, the departments secretary, Kathy Boockvar, publicly acknowledged the error and announced she would resign. On Wednesday, state officials said the departments head of legislative affairs, whose job includes tracking legislation, had also resigned  although they would not say whether it was related to the mistake.

Veronica Degraffenreid, the departments acting secretary, apologized Wednesday for the error, saying: It was so horrifying to me and everyone at the Department of State that a grave error  at the department  added to the pain of any victim of abuse.

Degraffenreid said her agency has already instituted a number of changes to ensure such a mistake never happens again, among them, implementing what she called a top-down process that puts high-level staff in charge of monitoring every aspect of getting a question on the ballot.

The inspector generals investigation was ordered by Gov. Tom Wolf and involved interviews with nearly two dozen current and former employees and a review of electronic communications and other internal department documents. But even the reports release Wednesday did not seem to satisfy Republican lawmakers.

At this point, it seems to have raised more questions than answers, Sens. Lisa Baker (R., Luzerne) and Dave Argall (R., Schuylkill) said in a joint statement. The two committee chairs are scheduled to hold a joint hearing on how the error occurred next month.

Rep. Jim Gregory (R., Blair), a survivor of child sexual abuse, said one of his biggest disappointments is that even though the report revealed major administrative failures, resignations were accepted  but nobody was fired.

Thats unconscionable to me, unconscionable to victims, he said.

The proposed ballot question centers on whether to allow a two-year reprieve in state law so older survivors of child sexual abuse can sue the perpetrators and the institutions that covered up for them. Those survivors are currently too old under the statute of limitations to bring such legal claims.

A number of victims of Catholic priests say it took them years to break their silence on the abuse they endured. Without a reprieve, they say they are left with no legal recourse, even in the face of multiple grand jury investigations in Pennsylvania that revealed every Catholic diocese in the state covered up decades of clergy sexual abuse.

Lobbyists for the Catholic Church and the insurance industry vehemently oppose the proposed two-year window.

The GOP-controlled legislature had wavered over the years on the best way to offer relief to survivors. In the end, leadership decided legal recourse could only be offered by amending the Pennsylvania Constitution, a lengthy process.

Under state law, any proposed changes to the constitution must be approved by the legislature in two consecutive sessions, each of which spans two years. The proposed change is then placed on the ballot for voters to make the ultimate decision.

After each passage, the Department of State is required to advertise the proposal in all 67 Pennsylvania counties.

The legislature approved the proposed two-year reprieve in its 2019-2020 session and was on track to pass it again in the current session in time for it to appear on the May ballot.

But because of the Department of States failure to advertise the question, the process needed to start again. Both chambers have once again given first approval to the proposed amendment, but the earliest a question can appear on the ballot is 2023.

Lawmakers want to figure out a way to speed up the timeline, but that effort has become mired in political disagreement. The House of Representatives now favors passing a traditional bill to establish the two-year reprieve, rather than using the constitutional amendment process.

But many Republicans in the state Senate, led by newly elected Majority Leader Kim Ward of Westmoreland County, contend that the only legal way to make the change is to amend the constitution. In taking that position, she has placed herself at odds with the Senates top Republican, Jake Corman of Centre County.

Ward, who controls the flow of legislation on the floor, has been silent on whether she will allow a vote on a bill establishing a two-year window. Weeks have gone by since a key Senate committee approved legislation to do just that.

Survivors groups have taken notice. In a statement this week, they accused Ward of obstructing the bills passage.

Its indefensible that Sen. Ward continues to protect predators and the institutions that have shielded them over our children and the thousands of survivors of child sexual abuse who have been promised a lookback window legislation for years, said Michael and Deborah McIlmail, parents of Sean McIlmail, a clergy abuse survivor who died several years ago. This bill wont bring our son back but it will help chart a path forward and expose hidden predators and protect our children today who remain at risk of abuse.

WHILE YOURE HERE... If you learned something from this story, pay it forward and become a member of Spotlight PA so someone else can in the future at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.




Selinsgrove, Pa. - Brood X, also known as periodical, cicadas have begun emerging from their 17-year slumber and Susquehannas Matt Wilson urges us to sit back and enjoy the ride.

These little guys can't bite, they won't eat your plants, and generally can't cause any harm; they only bring joy in my opinion, said Wilson, scientist with Susquehannas Freshwater Research Institute.

Cicadas are the masters of mass emergence, Wilson said. Depending on the species, they emerge every 13 or 17 years to mate. You might notice those are both prime numbers, and there are hypotheses to suggest that's no coincidence.

If you have a really long lifespan underground, then appear for just a few weeks after more than a decade AND do so on a prime number, it's virtually impossible for any predator to maximize their consumption of you when you emerge, Wilson explained.

This lack of predator adaption is particularly useful for cicadas because they can't bite or really defend themselves in any way, so the only defense is for as many to pop out of the ground at once, fill every predator's belly, and the remainders are free to move about and mate as they please.

This brings us to another point about the cicada  theyre a tasty treat for everything from snakes and birds to rodents and wasps. Everything eats cicadas, Wilson said.

They are big, clumsy, full of protein, and have no defenses. Who wouldn't want to grab that free meal?

Humans can also snack on cicadas  you just have to eat them at the right time. Cicadas are at their most appetizing immediately after they have emerged from the ground and shed their exoskeleton. At this stage they will appear white, with a few splotches of yellow.

I've heard they taste like asparagus, Wilson said. I look forward to trying it this year!

The cicada emergence has already begun at points south of central Pennsylvania. Wilson predicts we will begin seeing them in the next one to four weeks. They emerge when the soil temperature hits 64 F and prefer a good rain.

They wont all appear at once though, so combined with the normal cicadas we hear every summer, we can expect cicada summer to last until August.

Although they are big (1 to 2 inches with a wingspan of 3 to 4 inches) and loud (90 to 100 decibels or as loud as a lawn mower), Wilson urges us to soak in all nature has to offer.

This is a truly incredible natural phenomenon that will only happen a few times in any of our lifetimes, Wilson said. Consider pulling up a lawn chair and marveling at it. It's like a living version of Halley's Comet that keeps you company for over a month. What on earth could possibly be better?
Pennsylvania State Police in Milton investigated a number of recent incidents in Northumberland, Montour and Union counties:

Drug Possession, 3:35 p.m. May 27, Milton Borough, Northumberland County. Police said Wayne Steinke, 58, was in possession of illegal drugs. Charges were filed at the office of District Judge Michael Diehl.

DUI on View Drugs, 9:27 p.m. May 24, Mahoning St. and Eastern Ave., Turbot Township, Northumberland County. Police pulled over a vehicle and determined the driver, Kenneth Fowler, 34, of Milton, to be under the influence of marijuana. Charges were filed at the office of District Judge Michael Diehl.

DUI Crash Drugs, 6:03 p.m. May 24, U.S. 15 North and Interstate 80 East, White Deer Township, Union County. Police responded to a report of a hit and run crash that occurred on Route 15 near the intersection with I-80. The vehicle and driver were located a few minutes after the crash occurred. The driver, Allen Preston, 38, of Canton, was found to be under the influence of a controlled substance, according to state police. Charges were filed at the office of District Judge Jeffrey C. Mensch.

Found Property, 8 a.m. May 24, River Rd., Delaware Township, Northumberland County. PSP Milton is in possession of a lost bicycle recovered in the area of River Road near Dewart in Delaware Township, Northumberland County. The bicycle is a Pacific Evolution mens mountain bike. Anyone with information or who can identify the bicycle may contact PSP Milton.

Theft by Deception ID Theft, May 23, River Rd., White Deer Township, Union County. Police said a suspect used a victims identity to open a bank account and change the victims unemployment information.

Theft of Services, 11:57 a.m. May 23, McEwensville Borough building, 2578 Susquehanna Trail, McEwensville Borough, Northumberland County. Police said two unknown white male suspects dumped trash into the dumpster located at the borough building. Anyone with information may contact PSP Milton and reference incident number PA21-689056.

Harassment Physical Contact, 8:48 a.m. May 23, Mexico Rd., East Chillisquaque Township, Northumberland County. Police were called to a location on Mexico Road for a domestic incident. According to state police, Gerald Sakers, 29, of Milton, struck a female victim multiple times causing visible bruises and marks. Harassment charges were filed at the office of District Judge Michael Diehl.

Harassment Physical Contact, 11:05 a.m. May 21, Atlantic Ave., West Chillisquaque Township, Northumberland County. Police investigated an altercation that took place between a man and a woman. Timothy Danley, 21, of Sunbury, was cited for harassment.

Drug Possession, 10:47 a.m. May 20, 360 White Deer Run Rd., Gregg Township, Union County. Police responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle. Upon further investigation, police found that the passenger, Robert Jackson, 49, of Philadelphia, was wanted and was in possession of cocaine. Jackson was arraigned by District Judge Jeffrey C. Mensch on charges of being a fugitive from justice and drug possession.

Unauthorized Use of Motor Vehicle, 1:19 p.m. May 14, 202 Broad St., Kelly Township, Union County. Police investigated an incident in which a suspect took a victims vehicle without her permission.

Drug Possession, 7:20 a.m. April 14, Interstate 180 West, Delaware Township, Northumberland County. Police pulled over a vehicle due to traffic violations. Upon making contact with the driver, Dawn Roberts, 49, of Montandon, police determined she was under the influence of a controlled substance. Standardized field sobriety tests were administered and Roberts was taken into custody for suspicion of DUI. Charges were filed at the office of District Judge Michael Diehl.

Anyone with additional information may contact PSP Milton at (570) 524-2662.
Washington, DC. - U.S. Rep. Fred Keller (R-PA 12) introduced the Protecting Our Wellbeing by Expanding Russian Sanctions Act or the POWERS Act, legislation that would immediately reinstate sanctions on Russias Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

In May, President Biden waived sanctions on Nord Stream 2, a gas pipeline that will supply Europe with Russian gas once completed.

"After the Colonial Pipeline hack, the Biden administration faced an important decision: either invest in American energy and make it more secure or continue down a radical path that makes our nation reliant on energy from nations that do not have our best interests in mind," said Rep. Keller about the bill.

"Unfortunately, the presidents decision to lift sanctions on the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipelinewhile simultaneously hampering domestic energy productionmakes it clear where this administration stands. Im proud to introduce the POWERS Act and prioritize American energy," a statement from Keller continued.

Full text of the legislation can be found here.
Watkinsville, GA (30677)

Today

Thunderstorms this evening followed by a few showers overnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms this evening followed by a few showers overnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%.
Editor's Note Editor's Note: October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. February is Black history Month. March is Women's History Month. June is Pride Month. While this letter shares an opinion, the existence of Pride Month is a fact. Previous articles regarding Pride Month have elicited particularly disrespectful comments. Please note, comments that include homophobic or otherwise derogatory or demeaning content will be deleted.

Its 2021 and another years LGBTQ+ Pride Month is upon us. Now that were well into the 21st century, this begs the question: Does Pride Month still matter?

Every June, Pride Month serves several purposes for the LGBTQ+ community. Yes, there are many celebrations and parades during this month and rightfully so. Weve made a few strides in our ongoing struggle towards full equality and equity, both legally and in society. We can legally marry in any state. Were beginning to gain some equality within legal and educational systems.

Society as a whole are beginning to be more accepting.

Thats all well and good but our struggle is still far from over. For many people in rural areas like ours, Pride events present sometimes their only opportunity each year to be truly themselves in a celebratory and more accepting atmosphere, albeit its typically in a larger city far from their hometowns.

Anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry is still alive and well here in our region, in 2021. The thing that makes that an even sadder statement of truth is the fact that our area is far from alone in this regard.

Pride Month is not only about parties and parades. This month also serves to remind and educate ourselves about our collective history as a movement and to re-energize our determination to keep forging forward until full equality and equity are no longer merely dreams.

In 2021 Pennsylvania, we still see our state legislators either voting against pro-equality bills, refusing to allow pro-equality bills to be voted on in committees so they can advance to the floor, or introducing harmful anti-equality and pro-discrimination bills.

Those legislators are trying to maintain their death grip on superiority and power, under any guise and at any cost or harm to the LGBTQ+ community.

Most of our legislators from northcentral Pa. consistently act against equality for LGBTQ+ individuals. Their anti-LGBTQ+ actions and inactions make them complicit in the continuation of discrimination and violence against our LGBTQ+ community. Pennsylvania should be encouraging our youth to stay here. Pennsylvania should be enacting pro-equality and anti-discrimination laws to encourage businesses to invest here. Our legislators are doing the exact opposite.

In 2021 rural northcentral Pa., LGBTQ+ folks are still sometimes the target of animosity, bigotry, hatred, discrimination, property damage, and violence. Much of this goes under-reported, for a few reasons.

For those in our LGBTQ+ community who are people of color and/or are transgender, gender-non-conforming, or intersex, these aspects of their identity can compound and intensify the bigotry and violence that gets directed at them.

Lets re-commit ourselves to the work of anti-racism in our daily lives and within our organizations and communities. Lets re-commit to practicing the values of diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging. Lets commit to volunteering more of our time, skills, and donations to local justice-oriented organizations.

As a community, we LGBTQ+ people still have a lot of work ahead of us. Some of us whove been around the activism and advocacy block more times than we care to recall need to remember to mentor people to replace us. Its time for some of us to be ready to pass the torch to the next generation of leaders, thinkers, movers, shakers. Lets encourage them and teach them the skills to take that torch and run with it.

For many of us within the LGBTQ+ community, Pride Month still matters and will continue to matter for many years to come. This Pride Month, lets celebrate who we are, our accomplishments, our history, and each person whos striving to create a better future for all of us.

Stay safe, take care of each other, and remember to vote in every election as though your rights and lives depend on it. Because they do.

--

The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed in this letter to the editor do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of NorthcentralPa.com.
Students from West Scranton High School were dismissed Tuesday morning when a bobcat was found to be running loose in the building. The problem was, it wasnt a bobcat.

The cat, identified through a microchip, is an exotic breed of housecat called a Clouded Jack cat. Clouded Jacks do closely resemble bobcats, which explains why, when seen on the school surveillance camera, the cat was mistakenly identified.

The cat, named Kakashi, has been reunited with its family.
Support Local Journalism

Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by subscribing.
Rome News-Tribunes Hometown is looking for some good news. Send submissions to Executive Editor John Bailey by calling 706-290-2282 or by email at romenewstribune@RN-T.com.
Corvallis, OR (97331)

Today

Periods of rain. Low near 60F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low near 60F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch.
Rome, GA (30161)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds light and variable.
Titled Pale Blue Dot, the first concert in the series is designed to remind the audience of our universal connection to one another. Composers and artists on the program come from Australia, Bolivia and the United States.
Those concerns were sent to DeSantis in a letter led by U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee, along with members of the Florida Democratic delegation. Florida unemployment benefits, even with federal assistance, are not a substitute for a well-paying job, reads part of the letter dated May 28.
Why 'The Crown' star Gillian Anderson is probably not the hard-ass you think she is
The well standards that make up the Long Island iced tea, oft busted out with Tom Cruise Cocktail moves in places like the fabled Oak Beach Inn, are vodka, gin, rum, tequila and triple sec. Add sour mix or lemon juice, top with cola and youve got an impossible miracle of mixological chemistry: a drink that seems cobbled together with half-consumed leftovers from the bus tub that somehow tastes like tea.
Napoleon, OH (43545)

Today

Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 86F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Low around 60F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.
Roseburg, OR (97470)

Today

Cloudy skies this evening. A few showers developing late. Low 62F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening. A few showers developing late. Low 62F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
During a press conference after Simpsons arrest, OPD Detective Annemarie Esan said several people were involved in the shooting, which appears to have been gang-related. OPD officials have said Tavyiah was not affiliated with a gang and was not the intended target of the shooting.
Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com.
A concert featuring Chicagoland songwriters in downtown Hobart Sunday will raise money for the Humane Society of Northwest Indiana at a time when it's been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

The 2021 Songwriters Circle for Critters will take place at the Annual Tom Lounges' Charity Birthday Bash from 5to 8 p.m. Sunday at the Hobart Art Theater at 230 Main St. in downtown Hobart.

"This is a charity fundraiser for the Humane Society of Northwest Indiana and 100% of the net funds raised through this event will benefit HSNI and used to aid their mission to take in and help homeless and abused animals find safe and caring homes," Tom Lounges said.

Performers include Robby Celestin, Leslie Hunt, Eric Lambert and Ivy Ford. Lounges, a Region music journalist, radio personality and record store owner, will emcee the event and donate celebrity songwriter items for a "drop your ticket" bucket drawing.

"The four exceptional artists will gather together on this special evening to discuss songwriting and to perform some of their original compositions as a collective while sharing the stage in a unique 'songwriters circle' format," Lounges said.
Another Lake County resident was reported dead from COVID-19, updated data provided Wednesday showed.

The death was included among 11 more reported statewide. A total of 13,220 Hoosiers have died from the respiratory disease to date, according to statistics from the Indiana State Department of Health.

New deaths were reported between March 16 and Monday.

Local death totals include 999 in Lake County, 296 in Porter County, 219 in LaPorte County, 52 in Jasper County and 35 in Newton County, following corrections to the previous day's totals, statistics from ISDH and the Porter County Health Department showed.

Positive case totals included 55,032 in Lake County, up 14; 19,012 in Porter County, up two; 12,310 in LaPorte County, up eight; 3,816 in Jasper County, no change; and 1,112 in Newton County, up three.

A total of 91,282 Hoosiers in Northwest Indiana have tested positive for the respiratory disease to date.

Across Indiana there were 282 new cases, pushing the state's overall total to 744,474. New cases were reported Tuesday.

All data was provisional and subject to change as more information is reported to the state.
GARY  The Steel City is making history with its first executive order in support of National Pride Month, which is celebrated every June.

On Tuesday Mayor Jerome Prince's office announced the issuing of the order, which bolsters the the celebration and inclusion of LGBTQ communities.

Prince said the initiative was overdue in Gary's 115-year-old history.

Just as Gary steel built nations and economies, we are about building up people and communities, Prince said. We are a welcoming city, and we will not tolerate hate or the denial of anyones human rights, responsibilities and personal freedoms.

The executive order calls on the city to help dispel prejudice and "work to build a bridge to understanding and acceptance until gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered, queer, plus individuals are afforded the same rights and responsibilities as all Americans."

Prince said the city has also updated its ordinances to include and protect LGBTQ communities.

I have every condence our Common Council agrees with treating all of our residents and businesses equally, and I look forward to their support for this important cause, Prince said.
CICERO  A Hobart man who was shot in the head Monday while driving for Uber has died, a family member confirmed.

Joe Schelstraete, 38, was taken off life support at 11:41 a.m. Wednesday, his aunt Kim Bova told The Times.

Schelstraete was taken to Loyola University Medical Center after the shooting, and the family was making arrangements for his organs to be donated.

"It is a really senseless tragedy," Bova said of her nephew's death.

Bova said Schelstraete was brain-dead since the initial gunshot wound to his head. She recalled that first responders said he had no pulse when they first arrived to the crime scene after 7:35 p.m. near 23rd Street and 55th Avenue.

Cicero police have said the situation appeared to be a robbery-turned-shooting while Schelstraete was trying to pick up a customer.

Schelstraete stopped his vehicle in the middle of the road when four males came out of the gangway between 5437 and 5439 West 23rd Street, according to a news release from the Town of Cicero. Authorities described the suspects as black males aged in their late teens or early 20s.
A man who drank 10 beers before getting behind the wheel flipped his car on a Florida bridge and was hospitalized for days before recovering and being booked into jail, police said Tuesday.
Hannah subsequently grabbed a knife and stabbed Miller in the shoulder and leg, causing Miller's death.

Miller's brother, Romell Watson, told the judge May 25 that Miller didn't always make the best decisions but he didn't deserve to be killed.

"He just had a grandbaby that he didn't get to see," Watson said.

Miller was one of nine siblings, and his homicide has been hard for the family, Watson said.

"Justice for my family would be if you could give Mr. Hannah a life sentence," he said.

Defense attorney Lemuel Stigler said Hannah never intended to kill Miller, who began choking Hannah and pushed Hannah up against a wall after Hannah talked to Miller about the landlord.

Witnesses told police Miller was heard saying he would kill everyone in the house.

"Mr. Miller decided to take it out on the smallest person there, Mr. Hannah," Stigler said.

Miller was 6-foot-2 and 170 pounds, while Hannah is 5-foot-5 and about 120 pounds, he said.
HAMMOND  A Merrillville man will remain behind bars a little longer for selling heroin near some local school classrooms.

U.S. District Court Judge Philip P. Simon imposed a 30-month sentence Monday on 44-year-old Gregory Lemon.

The judge turned Lemon over to the U.S. Marshals Service to remain in federal custody, but only for a short time more.

Lemon already has served about two years in a local jail, since his initial arrest, awaiting the resolution of his drug case.

He pleaded guilty Feb. 19 to a charge of heroin distribution within 1,000 feet of a school under a plea agreement with the U.S. attorneys office.

Lemon gave up his right to a jury trial in return for the government recommending he receive a more lenient sentence than the 40-year maximum prison term allowed under law.

Lemon admitted in his plea bargain to accusations he possessed and sold more than 4 ounces of heroin and acetylfentanyl, illicit opiates responsible for thousands of overdose deaths annually.
GARY  A man was rushed to a hospital upon being shot several times late Tuesday  the latest in a string of shootings across the city since the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend.

Gary police found the 44-year-old Gary man in surgery at a local hospital, where they responded after they were initially dispatched for a shooting about 9 p.m. to the 700 block of Clark Road, said Lt. Dawn Westerfield.

Officers found no victim when they arrived and were later redirected to the hospital after learning of a walk-in patient who suffered gunshot wounds.

A witness told police he and the victim were talking inside the victim's vehicle before the shooting erupted. The witness had reportedly left to speak with someone else and then heard gunshots, Westerfield said.

It was then, the witness told police, he saw an unknown black male about 5 feet, 6 inches tall shoot inside the vehicle and then flee.

The witness ran over to the vehicle and saw the victim had been shot several times. He then put the victim in the passenger side and drove him to the hospital, Westerfield said.

Sgt. William Fazekas is investigating.
GARY  Several people were wounded in shootings across the city during Memorial Day weekend.

About 11:30 p.m. Monday, officers responded to the 4800 block of Madison Street, where a 23-year-old woman and 19-year-old man were shot, said Gary police Lt. Dawn Westerfield.

Police initially responded for a report of shots fired and learned upon arrival that the woman had arrived to a local hospital with a gunshot wound.

They also discovered two vehicles struck by gunfire at the scene.

At the hospital, an officer found the woman with a wound to the lower back of her head, but with no significant trauma, Westerfield said.

The woman told police she had been at a Memorial Day barbecue and was being driven home when gunfire erupted. It was then she started firing a handgun randomly from inside the vehicle she was in, Westerfield said.

Later, around midnight, police were dispatched again to a local hospital for another patient who had been shot in the 4800 block of Madison Street.

The 19-year-old man said he was shot while inside a vehicle and taken to the hospital shortly afterward.
HAMMOND  The new Hammond Central High School is on track to welcome students this fall.

David Yancey from Skillman Corp. updated the School City of Hammond's Board of Trustees on the progress of the new high school at its meeting Tuesday night. The update included photos of the spaces, an outline of what work is still left and a look at the budget. If all goes to plan, the school should be ready for move in by July.

The new high school will house 1,820 students from Hammond High, Clark Middle/High School and Gavit Middle/High School, The Times previously reported. Clark and Gavit are set to close at the end of the school year.

Over the next four weeks, Yancey said they will continue to install lockers and intercom and camera systems in the academic offices and classrooms. The casework and trim fixtures on the third floor academic wing will be completed along with landscaping, seeding and fencing around generators, loading dock and courtyard.

Other work to be done over the next month include installing furniture, phone lines for elevators and continuing final inspections. After furniture is in, they will begin the final cleaning.
Another $10.5 million was awarded to community organizations working with schools across the state, so some, but not all of that money will reach students in Northwest Indiana. For example, the Central Indiana Educational Service Center was awarded $2.6 million and is partnering with schools across 18 counties, including Lake and Porter.

More than $122 million in state grants was awarded to 110 community partners and schools across the state through Indiana's Student Learning Recovery Grant Program, according to a news release from IDOE. The money is meant to help accelerate learning this summer and beyond.

We know that igniting student learning demands unprecedented collaboration from us all  educators, local leaders, community groups, parents and beyond," Gov. Eric Holcomb said in the release. "As these programs launch now and over the coming weeks, its an exciting time to be in an Indiana classroom.

The community groups and educational institutions that were awarded grants will offer focused tutoring, afterschool programming and other support programs to help students with literacy, math and college and career readiness this summer and beyond, the release said.
CROWN POINT  The fate of a recovery home in the 1700 block of East 106th Place in the Waterside Crossing subdivision remains unknown.

In a 5-minute special meeting Tuesday, the Crown Point Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously agreed to send an unfavorable recommendation to the City Council for a variance to operate a group home.

Based on Mr. (Mark) Crandley's testimony, and his letter submitted to the board that this was a variance for a group home. Now, he doesn't want a group home. The neighbors don't want a group home. And I'm certainly not in favor of it, I make a motion to deny, Board Member John Marshall said.

The matter had previously been deferred twice.

Following the meeting, Waterside Crossing residents called the decision great news, and said they are looking forward to Mondays council meeting.

"That's everybody's concern. If they do vote them in, how are they going to be regulated? And with all their lying that they did, how could you trust them to play by the rules?" said Dan Bajda, a retired Lake County Sheriffs Department officer who lives next door to the home.
VALPARAISO  Valparaiso Universitys lawsuit against the city has been dismissed, paving the way for two of the Uptown East apartment buildings to be converted into affordable housing.

The two buildings face Lincolnway, with businesses remaining on the ground floor. The upper floors, which had been used for student housing, will be renovated for use as apartments.

The university had sued the city, saying the project would have inadequate parking for residents, creating problems for VU.

Porter Superior Court Judge Michael Fish dismissed the lawsuit Friday, leaving open the opportunity for the university to appeal the decision.

A university spokesperson did not immediately respond late Friday to an email seeking comment and was not available Tuesday.

Mayor Matt Murphy said he appreciated Fishs decision.

My hope is Valparaiso University will now focus its energy on helping our community workforce instead of more needless litigation, Murphy said.

President Jose Padilla recently spoke about building bridges and consensus within the Valparaiso community, Murphy said. This would be a good opportunity to start.
HEBRON  A 10.5-mile Veterans Memorial Trail is being built between Hebron and Crown Point, supplementing the Veterans Memorial Parkway used by motorists.

In Hebron, a memorial to veterans who served in the Middle East for the last half century will be built. A committee is planning to examine the preliminary plan by consultant Abonmarche to see whether to whittle the $616,000 estimated cost or otherwise refine it, Veterans Memorial Parkway Commission member Don Ensign said.

Weve been involved in the Middle East in one way, shape or form for 50 years or better, he said. Until he began work on this memorial, Ensign didnt realize the United States had been involved in so many different areas in the Middle East.

The commission has the name of 27 American men and women from throughout Northwest Indiana who died in service to their country while stationed in Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan.

Memorials for World War I, World War II and the Holocaust are planned for a site on 113th Street in Crown Point, near the Crown Point Sportsplex. An architectural design group out of Israel is designing it, Ensign said. The commission still needs to figure out the cost, what might have to be cut out and what needs to be done to start fundraising.
Surratt, now 79, a truck driver and former resident of Aliquippa, implicated himself in four cases  the 1977 slayings of William and Nancy Adams in Beaver County, Guy and Laura Mills in McConnellsburg and Joel Krueger in Bedford County; and the 1978 death of John Shelkons in Beaver County.
CHICAGO (AP)  Chicago saw a drop in the number of homicides in May compared with the same month last year and it ended with fewer killings than any Memorial Day weekend in a decade, the police superintendent said Tuesday.

And while there have been more homicides so far this year  252 compared with 240 for the same five-month period last year  May ended with 65 homicides compared with 84 during the same month in 2020.

Police dispatched more officers to the street for the holiday weekend, when gun crime typically spikes, and the department reported 32 people were shot, including four fatally. Last year, 49 people were shot, 10 of whom died.

Superintendent David Brown said the holiday weekend's drop in homicides came after Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a new strategy in which police, educators, library workers and others would be dispatched to 15 police beats on the West and South sides, where much of the city's violent crime occurs.
WEDNESDAY PUZZLE  Happy Pride month to all who celebrate!

And happy New York Times Crossword debut to Jesse Goldberg, who brings us this timely puzzle. Its a solid, well-made grid that shows us how a constructor can make a crossword with a fascinating theme and still manage to get this columnist all choked up.

Sorry, let me try that again. Make that: Its a solid, well-made grid that shows us how a constructor can make a crossword with an interesting theme and still remember a pivotal occasion in a meaningful way.

Actually, both work. Welcome, Mr. Goldberg.

Tricky Clues

15A. Man found in America? sounds like a really vague clue on its surface because there are more than 124 million men in the United States alone, but thats not where this clue is going. We are looking for a mans name inside the word America. Hi, ERIC.

22A. In advertising, a tear sheet is a single page torn from a publication to prove that an advertisement has run. In this puzzle, its an easily torn TISSUE.
Think about all of the favors that Eric had to trade to get to this point, climbing the ladder over this last number of years, scheming about his run, thinking, Oh, this is going to be my big chance, Mr. Yang said, speaking at his campaign office in Bensonhurst. Eric: Your moment has passed.

The broadsides showcased the deepening rivalries and sharply divergent visions for how to lead the city forward, with the crowded field of candidates differing over ideology and the question of what qualifications matter to become mayor.

The last debate was defined by public safety more than any other issue, with candidates battling over whether to add more police to the subways, and Ms. Wiley and Mr. Adams tangling over his record on the policing tactic of stop-and-frisk. Amid a spike in shootings, a spate of anti-Asian and anti-Semitic attacks and clear differences between the candidates on issues of police funding and how to reduce violence, matters of crime and justice may take center stage again on Wednesday.

Mr. Yang, Mr. Adams, Ms. Garcia and Raymond J. McGuire, a former Citi executive, are considered to be relative moderates in the liberal field, especially on issues of public safety and dealings with the business community.

Ms. Wiley, Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, and Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive, have competed with each other to emerge as the left-wing standard-bearer in the race, supporting, by varying amounts, sweeping cuts to the Police Departments budget and staking out a range of other left-wing positions. The former housing secretary Shaun Donovan has also taken several deeply progressive positions while maintaining close ties to the Democratic Party establishment, but has yet to emerge as a favorite of either the donor class or the activist left.

The battle for the left has grown increasingly muddled over the last month or so. Mr. Stringer had gained significant traction with key left-wing leaders and organizations, but an allegation of unwanted sexual advances tied to a 2001 campaign, which he has firmly denied, sapped that momentum, though he remains well-funded and maintains the backing of other vital supporters, including some in the labor movement.
WASHINGTON  President Biden said on Tuesday that he had directed Vice President Kamala Harris to lead Democrats in a sweeping legislative effort to protect voting rights, an issue that is critical to his legacy but one that faces increasingly daunting odds in a divided Senate.

Today, Im asking Vice President Harris to help these efforts, and lead them, among her many other responsibilities, Mr. Biden said during a trip to Tulsa, Okla. With her leadership and your support, were going to overcome again, I promise you, but its going to take a hell of a lot of work.

The president was in Oklahoma to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa massacre, when a white mob destroyed a vibrant Black business district and killed as many as 300 people. The massacre was one of the worst outbreaks of racist violence in American history, and it has gone largely ignored in history books.

Mr. Biden told the crowd that he saw the protection of voting rights as one of the most fundamental  and most endangered  pathways to ensure racial equity.
Missing from the rollout, though, was a plan to cancel student debt  which disproportionately affects Black students  or to address the issue of reparations, federal repayments that relatives of Tulsa victims say could restore what was erased. White House officials have said that the president supports a study of the issue, as he does with the broader issue of reparations for Black Americans.

The N.A.A.C.P. and other civil rights groups have criticized the Biden administration for not taking the step to cancel student loans, saying it is one of the biggest obstacles holding back Black people from sharing in the wealth of other Americans.

Student loan debt continues to suppress the economic prosperity of Black Americans across the nation, Derrick Johnson, the N.A.A.C.P. president, said in a statement. You cannot begin to address the racial wealth gap without addressing the student loan debt crisis.

On the way to Tulsa, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House principal deputy press secretary, told reporters aboard Air Force One that the administration had provided billions in funding to Black colleges as part of its $1.7 trillion coronavirus plan. But she did not answer questions about alleviating the financial stress of those who currently have student debt.

In a briefing for reporters on Monday night, administration officials insisted that the other steps would help Black people around the country, particularly in hard-hit communities like Greenwood.

Mr. Bidens visit to Tulsa was a somber one. Before he delivered remarks, he met privately with survivors of the massacre, each between the ages of 101 and 107, whom he mentioned throughout his speech.

The violence started after the arrest of Dick Rowland, 19, a Black shoe shiner who was accused of assault against Sarah Page, 17, a white elevator operator. Accounts vary about what happened, but a common theory suggests Mr. Rowland tripped and grabbed onto the arm of Ms. Page while trying to catch his fall. She screamed, and he ran away, according to the commission report.
Mr. Moores, a state senator, ran almost entirely on crime and related issues. He assailed Ms. Stansbury for endorsing a bill in Congress that would shift money away from police departments, noting that there have been twice as many murders in Albuquerque this year as there were at this point in 2020.

Ms. Stansburys victory illustrates that the crime issue alone is insufficient for Republicans to win on in Democratic-leaning districts, at least when their candidates receive little financial help from the national party, as was the case with Mr. Moores.

Special elections in the first year after a president is newly elected can often carry grim tidings for the party in control of the White House. And with few such contests this year taking place on even remotely competitive terrain, Democrats moved aggressively to ensure that they were not caught by surprise in New Mexico.

Ms. Stansbury enjoyed a commanding financial advantage while benefiting from the Democratic tilt of the district, the First Congressional, which President Biden carried by 23 percentage points last year.

She also moved to rebut Mr. Mooress line of attack, broadcasting a commercial that featured a retired sheriffs deputy and trumpeted her work in the Legislature bringing state dollars for law enforcement back to Albuquerque.
The tabloid publishing company that paid $150,000 to a former Playboy model in 2016 to suppress her account of an alleged affair with Donald J. Trump, then a presidential candidate, has agreed to pay $187,500 to the Federal Election Commission to settle accusations that the company violated campaign finance law in making the payment.

The commission found that the firm, American Media Inc., and its former chief executive, David J. Pecker, had knowingly and willfully violated campaign laws by secretly routing the $150,000 payment to the former model, Karen McDougal, in coordination with senior officials with the Trump campaign, including Michael D. Cohen, who served as Mr. Trumps personal lawyer at the time.

The idea behind the payment scheme  a method known as catch and kill  had been to buy the rights to Ms. McDougals story and then never publish it. The details of the effort came out widely in 2018 during Mr. Cohens federal trial for, among other things, campaign finance violations.

Mr. Pecker and Mr. Trump had been friends and allies, and American Media tried to argue to the commission that payments for silence are not contributions or expenditures because silence is not a thing of value, according to the settlement, which is known formally as a conciliation agreement.
VENICE  It was perhaps inevitable that many of the questions asked of Hashim Sarkis, the curator of the 17th International Architecture Biennale, during the events media preview, were about the pandemic.

After all, the exhibition, which opened in May and runs through Nov. 21, got bumped by a year, and various restrictions remain in place, limiting travel to Venice.

And after a bizarre 15 months that blurred the boundaries between the office and home, and challenged the very theme of the Biennales main exhibition  How Will We Live Together?  it was only natural for journalists to ask, in a persistent and anxious way, as Sarkis put it at the news conference, how the pandemic changed architecture and how architecture is responding.

Although the exhibition had been planned before the coronavirus swept the world, Sarkis, a Lebanese architect and dean of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that it spoke to a series of longstanding global issues  climate change, mass migration, political polarization and increasing social, economic and racial inequalities  that had contributed to the viruss global spread.
LONDON  At Night All Blood Is Black, a short novel about a Senegalese soldiers descent into madness while fighting for France in World War I, was named on Wednesday as the winner of the International Booker Prize, the prestigious award for fiction translated into English.

David Diop, the books author, shares the prize of 50,000 pounds, about $71,000, with Anna Moschovakis, who translated the work from its original French.

Diops main character kills German soldiers, then cuts off their hands, partly to avenge a friends death, and Lucy Hughes-Hallett, the chair of the judging panel, said in an online news conference that the novel was both frightening and appalling in its violence.

But she said that bloodiness didnt lessen the novels importance. The whole of tragedy depends on the dichotomy between the awfulness of what youre being told, and the beauty of the way its being expressed, she said.
6 wounded in car bomb blast in E. Afghanistan: official

Xinhua) 16:38, June 02, 2021

JALALABAD, Afghanistan, June 2 (Xinhua) -- At least six people were wounded in a car bomb blast targeting a security forces' convoy in Jalalabad city, capital of eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar Wednesday, a local official confirmed.

"The blast occurred along a busy road in Police District 4 near the local airport in the morning when the convoy belongs to national intelligence agency's Special Operations Forces was passing by the area," a police officer who declined to be named told Xinhua.

It was not immediately known if the wounded were from the convoy.

The blast sent a column of thick smoke into the sky and triggered panic, the official said

Farid Khan, a provincial police spokesman, told Xinhua that details about the incident will be shared with media later in the day.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Hongyu)
The blogs closing comes less than a month after that announcement as it struggled to receive even a fraction of the engagement from his social media posts, NBC News reported.
In 1947, having left Nazi-occupied Vienna for the quaint idyll of Princeton, N.J., seven years before, the mathematician Kurt Godel was studying for his citizenship exam and became preoccupied with the mechanisms of American government. A worried friend recalled Godel talking about some inner contradictions in the Constitution that would make it legally possible for somebody to become a dictator and set up a fascist regime. Godel started to bring this up at his actual examination, telling the judge that the United States could become a dictatorship  I can prove it!  before his friends (one of whom was Albert Einstein) managed to shut him up so that the naturalization process could go on as planned.

Its the kind of unruly eruption that Stephen Budiansky showcases to potent and entertaining effect in Journey to the Edge of Reason, his account of Godels life and work. Godels incompleteness theorem, which he presented in 1930, when he was 24, upended his professions assumption that mathematics should be able to prove a mathematical statement that is true. Godels proof landed on a mathematical statement that was true but unprovable.

For interested readers, Budiansky supplies an appendix that moves through Godels proof, step by step, but granular knowledge of formal logic isnt essential for anyones enjoyment of this moving biography. Budiansky  whose impressive and impressively varied output includes a novel, a book about Oliver Wendell Holmes, another about post-Civil War violence and a history of cats  brings a polymaths interest to bear on a man whose life intersected with the political and philosophical upheavals of the 20th century.

Godel was born in 1906 to a prosperous German-speaking family in Brunn, in the Moravian part of the Hapsburg Empire. His was a happy childhood, in what the writer Stefan Zweig called the golden age of security, before the empire collapsed with World War I. From the age of 4, Godel was known as Herr Warum, or Mr. Why. He would later tell a psychiatrist that he was always curious, questioning authority, requiring reasons. He experienced this as a delight, not a burden: The highest aim of my life (conceived in puberty) is pleasure of cognition.
4. The U.S. is trying to persuade other countries to back a global tax.

During a meeting this week of Group of 7 finance ministers, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will try to win support for a broad agreement that could put an end to global tax havens and establish a global minimum tax. Such a deal has been elusive for years, as countries like Ireland have sought to keep their taxes low to attract global investment.

The Biden administration has made securing a global tax a priority as it looks to raise corporate taxes at home. So far, Canada, Italy and Japan have signaled their support for a 15 percent minimum corporate tax plan, but it has not yet been endorsed by Britain.

Separately, a new analysis of Census Bureau surveys argues that the latest rounds of stimulus checks significantly improved Americans ability to buy food and pay household bills, and reduced anxiety and depression.

The Times also took a closer look at how the long-struggling Main Street of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., survived the pandemic. ($21 million in government loans helped.)
Activist investors who dealt a stunning defeat to Exxon Mobil last week secured a third seat on the companys board on Wednesday when the oil giant announced updated results of a shareholder vote.

While the first two new dissident board members were oil company veterans, the newest member, Alexander A. Karsner, has strong environmental credentials and is expected to pose more of a challenge to senior management. Mr. Karsners election sharpened the investor rebuke of the companys management, which has produced lackluster returns for about a decade.

Investor discontent with Exxon had been building because the company has invested in a number of projects, acquisitions and strategies that have not paid off, including Canadian oil sands and natural gas fields. Critics also believe that the company has been very slow to adapt to a changing energy industry and done too little to reduce carbon emissions even as many European oil companies began investing in wind turbines, solar farms and hydrogen.

The investors challenging Exxon were led by a small hedge fund called Engine No. 1. Last week the activists secured enough votes to put two people on the oil producers board, the first time candidates picked by the companys management have lost an election, according to analysts. Engine No. 1 has sought to push Exxon to move toward cleaner energy and away from oil and gas.
The brewing giant Anheuser-Busch said on Wednesday that it would offer Americans another incentive to get vaccinated: free beer.

The company said in a statement that it would buy Americas next round of beer, seltzer or nonalcoholic beverage once the country reached President Bidens goal of having 70 percent of the adult population get at least one coronavirus vaccination by July 4. So far, 63 percent of adult Americans have received at least one dose.

We pride ourselves on stepping up both in times of need and in times of great celebration, and the past year has been no different, said Michel Doukeris, the chief executive of Anheuser-Busch, which will offer adults a $5 virtual credit card for beverages if the vaccination goal is met. As we look ahead to brighter days with renewed optimism, we are proud to work alongside the White House to make a meaningful impact for our country, our communities and our consumers.

Reaching the vaccination goal by Independence Day may not be easy. The pace of vaccinations in the United States has slowed, with the biggest gains in recent weeks made in vaccinating 12- to 15-year-olds, who are not eligible for the free beer. However, progress has been made in reaching some groups with the highest rates of vaccine hesitancy, including Latinos and people without college degrees, according to the Kaiser Foundation.
The perpetrators of a ransomware attack that shut down some operations at the worlds largest meat processor this week was a Russian-based cybercriminal group known for its attacks on prominent American companies, the F.B.I. said Wednesday.

The group, known as REvil, is one of the most prolific of the roughly 40 ransomware organizations that cybersecurity experts track and has been identified as responsible for a coordinated strike against operations in almost two dozen Texas cities in 2019.

The group is among dozens of ransomware groups that enjoy safe harbor in Russia, where they are rarely arrested or extradited for their crimes. REvil, which stands for Ransomware Evil, is known as a ransomware as a service organization, meaning it leases its ransomware to other criminals, even the technically inept. One of its previous affiliates was a group called DarkSide, which was responsible for the ransomware attack last month on Colonial Pipeline, a conduit for nearly half the gas and jet fuel to the East Coast. DarkSide is believed to have split off from REvil last year.

REvil is considered one of the most sophisticated ransomware groups and has demanded as much as $50 million to recover data belonging to companies as prominent as Apple. Its attack on JBS, a Brazilian company that accounts for roughly a fifth of cattle and hog slaughter in the United States, temporarily shut down some operations at a time when prices were already surging for beef, poultry and pork.
Retailers were asking and requiring you to wear masks, said Willy Solis, a shopper for the delivery app Shipt in Denton, Texas, who works in stores like Target, Kroger and CVS. A large majority of people were still doing the right thing and wearing them.

Since the C.D.C. announcement, however, its been a complete shift, Mr. Solis said. Denton, like Yorktown, sits in a county that supported former President Donald J. Trump by a single-digit margin in the November election.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 97 percent of Democrats said in a March poll that they wore a mask at least most of the time when they might be in contact with people outside their homes, and a similar portion of Democrats said they believed masks limit the spread of coronavirus.

That compared with only 71 percent of Republicans who said they wore a mask outside the home at least most of the time, and just half said they thought masks were effective.

That suggests that a significant number of Republicans have worn masks only to comply with rules, not because they believed it was important, said Ashley Kirzinger, the Kaiser foundations associate director for public opinion and survey research. She cited polling showing that Republicans were also less likely to be vaccinated.

Matt Kennon, a room-service server at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Miss., said that before the C.D.C. relaxed its recommendations, the resorts policy was that all guests must wear masks in common areas unless they were eating, drinking or smoking, and that it was strictly enforced.

There were several security checkpoints around the place where wed have someone from security let them know, Please put on a mask, said Mr. Kennon, a shop steward with his union, UNITE HERE. There were stations with disposable masks for guests to wear in case they didnt have one.
The nonprofit Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts has evolved since it was created by the food luminary in 1995 to provide grants to support culinary scholarship, training and education. Ms. Child died in 2004, and in 2015 the Foundation established the Julia Child Award to celebrate individuals who have had a significant impact on the American food scene. The seventh annual award is going to Toni Tipton-Martin, a writer and editor who has fostered the appreciation of African-American cooking, and has worked with families, teenagers and young food professionals to increase their awareness of it. She plans to use her award, a $50,000 grant, for mentoring and training the next generation of food writers. There will be a formal presentation on Nov. 4 at the Smithsonians National Museum of American History in Washington, where Julia Childs kitchen is on display.

Julia Child Award, juliachildaward.com.

Follow NYT Food on Twitter and NYT Cooking on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. Get regular updates from NYT Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice.
Dr. Givens, who is Black, said he did not object to the topic of the controversial podcast. But to discuss whether structural racism exists without having experts on that topic nor Black physicians present was a complete breakdown of scientific thinking, he said. If thats not structural racism, or even meta-structural racism, I dont know what is.

In October, Dr. Givens contacted Dr. Rubin, editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, and Dr. Bauchner, pointing out the disparities in staffing at their journals.

I note with humor but absolute sincerity that there are more editors named David at your journals than Black and Latinx editors combined or East Asian and South Asian editors separately, he wrote. Dr. Rubin responded and arranged a meeting to hear more. Dr. Bauchner did not reply, according to Dr. Givens.

People are just really resistant to the very possibility that somebody might call them a racist, or that we might suggest that they hold racist views or ideas, Dr. Givens said. And because of that, theres this unwillingness, or really this tendency, to shut down the conversation whenever it goes there.

In an interview, Dr. Rubin acknowledged that the journals staff was not diverse enough, but said the low turnover among editors presented challenges to hiring new people.

Since his arrival, the journal has added four editors and four editorial board members, and in June, introduced a section of the journals website called Race and Medicine. Although the journal does not have self-reported information on race, half of the new additions are people of color, and three  including the new executive editor  are women, he said.

Thats a step in the right direction, but journals will also have to learn to address racism more directly in order to improve lives, Dr. Bassett said. As health commissioner of New York City from 2014 to 2018, she made confronting racism a central part of her work.
Moxie Pengs The Little Prince(ss) is one of the highlights of the bunch, as it delicately traverses the notion of gender through two 7-year-old children, Gabriel (Kalo Moss) and Rob (Ching Yin Ryan Hu). Gabriels family is supportive of the childs interest in ballet, but Robs conservative Chinese father struggles to see outside his rigid view of masculine expectations. Gender fluidity is a frontier that still has a lot of room for exploration, and it is especially interesting to see it in the context of Asian American families.

Then there are two Mexican American shorts. The Last of the Chupacabras, by Jessica Mendez Siqueiros, is an endearing depiction of modern Mexican folklore. Living in a fictional town where anything that strays from the white American norm is shocking, an old woman summons an ancient creature called a chupacabra. What results is far more adorable than terrifying.

But the real standout is Growing Fangs, another Mexican American tale. Like Chupacabras, it has supernatural elements, but Ann Marie Pace, who wrote and directed, illustrates the identity crisis of a Mexican American through a comedy about a teen girl who struggles to balance her human side with her vampire side. Val transfers from a normal public school to a monster school, where she tries to fit in and keep her human side hidden. In just 19 minutes, Pace creates such a vividly lived-in world  a glimpse into a bigger story thats better than most TV pilots. You immediately get a sense of the family dynamic (human father, vampire mother and grandmother, and an especially bloodthirsty younger brother) and the hierarchy at school, with popular vampire cheerleaders and a benevolent witch who serves as the school nurse and helps Val realize she is human and vampire, not half anything. As Val, Keyla Monterroso Mejia is a charismatic star with precise comedic facial timing. Id be disappointed if Growing Fangs isnt made into a feature film or, better yet, a bilingual Jane the Virgin-like series that touches on elements of heartfelt family drama and telenovela comedy. And Id be very disappointed not to see Paces name, or Mejias, on bigger projects soon. Launchpad, do your thing.
This is a state where, if a renter falls behind, they have five days after getting an eviction summons to pay up or else go into default and face life on the streets. A state where anti-renter laws are far more likely to punish Black Floridians, who are far more likely to be renters than homeowners.
To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

When the nations largest school system shuttered last spring, the one million students that had flooded its classrooms were abruptly sent home. Tens of thousands of teachers had just a few days to collect their papers and prepare for online classes before schools were mostly emptied. But in the absence of children and educators, there was a vast and often unseen force of essential school staff that never left New York Citys 1,800 school buildings.

A network of staffers  including cooks, custodians, maintenance workers and nurses  became part of something like a wartime effort to keep city schools clean, functioning and ready to eventually welcome children back.

As this disrupted school year draws to a close, parents, educators and students are looking forward to the return of normal schooling in September. But the city would not have been able to safely reopen schools at all without the grueling, dangerous work done by employees in cramped basement offices, boiler rooms and kitchens.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will host a fund-raiser for the first time since overlapping scandals engulfed his administration and prompted calls for his resignation  the latest indication that he is gearing up to run for re-election.

The fund-raiser, which will take place on June 29 at an undisclosed location in New York City, was advertised as a summer reception in a campaign email to supporters, who will need to fork over $10,000 per person, or $15,000 for two people, to attend.

The mere act of holding a high-dollar, in-person fund-raiser after the end of the legislative session inflamed Mr. Cuomos critics, even as it underscored his everything-is-normal strategy in the face of several federal and state investigations into his personal conduct and the actions of his administration.

The fund-raiser comes as Mr. Cuomos poll numbers have stabilized in recent months and he has dedicated most of his time to shoring up public support. Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, has a sizable $16.8 million cash on hand, according to campaign filings from January, and he appears intent on adding to it before the next filing in July.
Whoever wins the race to become the next Manhattan district attorney will take over one of the most contentious, highest-profile criminal investigations in the offices history: the inquiry into former President Donald J. Trump and his business.

Two of the leading candidates in the Democratic primary field, Alvin Bragg and Tali Farhadian Weinstein, have had past contacts with Mr. Trumps administration  dealings that could become an issue if one of them becomes district attorney.

Mr. Bragg, a former official with the New York attorney generals office, reminds voters frequently that in his former job, he sued Mr. Trumps administration more than a hundred times.

Ms. Farhadian Weinstein, who once served as general counsel to the Brooklyn district attorney, has been less vocal about Mr. Trump. She only occasionally notes her involvement in a successful lawsuit against the Trump administration. And she has not spoken publicly about once interviewing with Trump administration officials for a federal judgeship early in his term.
And finally: Broadways rebound takes another step

The Timess Michael Paulson writes:

The return to stage is gaining steam.

The producers of Pass Over, a bracing play about two Black men trapped on a street corner, announced this week that they plan to begin performances on Broadway in the first week of August, advancing the industrys planned restart by nearly a month.

Every single day it feels like New York specifically, and Times Square in a focused way, is coming back to life, and I want our show to be part of that, the shows playwright, Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu, said. I want our show to be a very visible and very instrumental part of leading that charge, and so after we had done our due diligence and I knew that it was a safe thing to do, I said yes.

Broadway has been closed since March 12, 2020, and resumption plans have shifted several times. Three juggernauts, Hamilton, The Lion King and Wicked, chose the initial restart date  Sept. 14  and then Hadestown chose Sept. 2. Pass Over now has the earliest performance date announced thus far. But it remains possible that another show could begin even sooner.

Still, Pass Over has some characteristics that make it easier to stage in this era: The cast consists of three actors, and the show runs an intermission-free 85 minutes. The play is also timely: The two leads are immobilized by their fear of dying at the hands of the police, a concern that has been much a part of the national conversation over the past year.

The producers said that they expect to perform to full-capacity audiences at the August Wilson Theater  an anticipated 1,190 seats, during previews as well as post-opening  and that they will consult with the health authorities and labor unions before determining which safety protocols will be in place.

This is not about opening early, opening first or anything like that, said Matt Ross, the plays lead producer. It was about, How soon can we bring this story, which I feel is really vital, to audiences? and How soon can we employ people in a way that is safe and responsible? We feel that this is the right time for us.
A federal judge last month struck down the eviction moratorium put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Though the judge stayed her decision pending appeal, the ruling is a harbinger of the inevitable: the end of the federal eviction moratorium, which is set to expire on June 30. With millions of tenants behind on rent and emergency rental assistance only now beginning to be disbursed, few states are ready for this eventuality.

According to the Covid-19 Housing Policy Scorecard  which is run by the Eviction Lab at Princeton, where I work  only two states, Minnesota and Washington, afford renters strong pandemic-related protections, defined as freezing the eviction process in most or all cases. Thirty-nine states have few, if any, protections. No state that voted for Donald Trump in 2020 is still offering meaningful protections to renters.

The C.D.C. moratorium, which has now been in place for nine months, limits landlords ability to evict tenants who fall under certain income thresholds or are unable to pay rent because of a medical or economic hardship. Tenants must attest  and often prove under cross-examination in court  that they have made good-faith efforts to get rental assistance and have nowhere to go if evicted.

In anticipation of the end of federal renter protections, progressive housing activists persuaded lawmakers to make a robust investment in emergency rental assistance. Congress appropriated $25 billion in the Consolidated Appropriations Act in December and an additional $21.55 billion in the American Rescue Plan in March. These funds are intended to help renters catch up on back rent and to support landlords struggling to make mortgage and utility payments because of missed rent.
When I wrote a couple of columns criticizing Israel as well as Hamas over the recent Gaza war, I had pushback from readers who asked: So what would you have Israel do?

How should, in fact, Israel respond when Hamas launches thousands of rockets? Ryan asked. On my Facebook page, Joel put it this way: Mr. Kristof, what do you recommend that Israel do in response to rocket attacks? What would the American response be to repeated rocket attacks from Mexico or Canada on American cities?

We probably would not turn the other cheek: When the Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa attacked a New Mexico town in 1916, the United States sent 6,000 troops into Mexico (albeit after getting Mexicos permission). And in response to the 9/11 attacks, America invaded both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Yet its also fair to note that this impulse to lash out didnt work out any better for America than it has for Israel: Pancho Villa escaped, our ruinous Iraq war benefited Iran, and we are now retreating from Afghanistan with the Taliban resurgent. As well see, other countries have dealt with attacks far more judiciously.
They speak up if the balance is off. Almost all of the couples I spoke to said that talking when they were starting to feel resentful about the division of labor was essential to their happiness. Theres nothing left unsaid from my side, said Inbal Austern, 42, a toy designer and mom of two kids in Buffalo.

Part of that speaking up is also being observant about your spouses level of work. Austerns wife, Ariel Aberg-Riger, 39, who works as a visual storyteller, said, When things get out of balance, I become increasingly stressed, and I become angry and passive-aggressive. But Austern knows her well enough to know when Aberg-Riger is becoming overwhelmed. You see her huffing and puffing, Austern said  and so she knows its time to have a discussion about their division of household labor.

When Schultes balance was off in her own home, and she was full of resentment about how little domestic work her husband was doing, they started going on long walks together. I literally interviewed him: how did we get here? Why didnt you ever take a paternity leave, did you know I have been mad at you for 15 years about that? Letting it fester for more than a decade was not healthy for her, but those walks set the stage for them to completely reorient their domestic world. They started with little tweaks, like it was always her husbands job to unload the dishwasher.

They take time for themselves. Jaclyn and Josh Greenberg are in their 40s, live in New Jersey, and have three children who are 11, 9 and 7. Their middle child is not able to walk or talk and is dependent on his parents, Jaclyn said, and has numerous appointments with doctors and therapists. They are both fully in the loop about care for all three children, so that when one of them is feeling burned out, the other can step in seamlessly. If I need to punt to him, hes already pretty clued in, Jaclyn, who is a freelance writer, said. I tend to be better about taking time for self-care, I encourage him to do the same. Its about knowing you have reached your limit, she said. She goes for a walk or talks to a friend. There are times when one of us needs to hit the reset button, said Josh, who is an analytics professional, and the other takes over the domestic load.

They push back against gendered expectations. Even if you are intentional and meticulous about not having a gendered division of labor inside your four walls, there is work to be done in training other people. Devan and Debora Sandiford, who are both 36, have two boys and live in Brooklyn, said that from their first pediatricians appointments there was an assumption that Debora was the keeper of baby information. The doctor would turn to me and ask me a question when were all together, and Devan only has the answer, Debora, who works in global health and teaches Pilates, said.
If the San Andreas fault was present on Venus, you would have no idea from Magellan data, Dr. Smrekar said. We only have just like a very crude topographic map.

The floors of craters on Venus are dark, but no one knows if that is because they are lava flows from recent eruptions or accumulated sand dunes. Thats a super important question for understanding the history of volcanism, Dr. Smrekar said.

Another instrument, a spectrometer, will be able to peer through the cloud deck and study what the rocks on the surface of Venus are made of. We have no information whatsoever about the global composition, she said.

That will test a hypothesis that some parts of Venuss crust are similar to Earths continents while most of the rest are like the basalt that form Earths seafloors.

Well also use that spectrometer to look for active volcanism, for recent volcanism, Dr. Smrekar said. And for evidence of water coming out of volcanoes. Theres been this idea that maybe Venus is dry in the interior.

Studying Venus will also shed light on the other rocky planets in the solar system including Earth. We hope these missions will further our understanding of how Earth evolved and why its currently habitable when others in our solar system are not, Mr. Nelson said.

Data from one will help scientists interpret observations from the other, scientists said.

Ive often said Mars is cool, and Venus is way hotter, Dr. Garvin said. I think well be able to actually show that by the time these missions are finished.
Before fame: Ms. Najjar was born in Washington, D.C. and moved to London as a baby. I grew up in London, went to a very strict all girls British school, but then wanted to totally rebel against that and was obsessed with California and moving to California, probably because I watched a lot of The O.C. in high school, she said. I was like, those people really have it figured out. They seem to have a great life. Theyre always driving to the mall and getting froyo.

At 19, she moved to California to attend Stanford University. She studied English literature and creative writing before moving to New York City to attend Parsons School of Designs fashion journalism program. She now has lived in Los Angeles for two years. Moving around has helped her with her content. I love knowing about what makes a city tick.

Advice: Ms. Najjar provides dating and life advice to her followers, hosting Q. and A. sessions on TikTok and Instagram where she discusses how to navigate life when youre just starting out. I think your 20s are a really mis-marketed decade, she said. I felt a lot of pressure in my 20s. Ive had literally like 19 jobs in the course of the past ten years. So I would say, first of all, dont worry.

I think it can be super overwhelming when people say, just follow your passion, Ms. Najjar said. If you follow your curiosity and just continue to pull the thread, that will lead you in the right direction.

Favorite follower: Iggy Azalea is my friend on TikTok, she said. Paris Hilton follows me. I mean, I really cant believe it. Thats the thing about TikTok, you never know whose For You page youre going to land on.
It was disappointing. There was a lot of work that went into that, Bracy said. We had a great budding partnership with Valencia and we were working with scripts and working with distributors for a movie. And so its disappointing that the governor didnt see the value in bringing attention to the massacre in this way, letting the story be told nationally.
While in Italy last year to install her multimedia work Sex (2021) at the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, the German artist Anne Imhof came across an abandoned seven-floor office complex, built in the 1970s, in the Parella neighborhood of Turin. She was captivated by the fat bubble letters of the graffiti that decorated its smoked glass walls, as well as the tags etched into its filthy surface. Over the past decade, Imhof has made a name for herself creating immersive, operatic works that explore the isolation incurred by our increasingly digitally mediated, consumption-driven society and, to her, the structure was rife with symbolism: a site of labor transformed into an illicit canvas.

In May 2020, with the help of the Berlin-based architecture studio Sub, she salvaged the buildings facade after the complex was demolished, then shipped it pane by pane to Paris, where she has used the materials to transform the vast three-floor interior of the Palais de Tokyo into a vertiginous fortress of steel and mirrors for her solo show Natures Mortes, which opened earlier this month. Where the venue once had white interior walls, there are now towering screens of glass, which Imhof opted to leave dirty, and across the museums second floor, she has constructed an extensive glass maze that aims to disorient with both its winding layout and its partitions varying degrees of grime-induced opacity. In October, she will activate this environment with a troupe of performers, who will crawl on all fours, carry each other and walk around the space at varying extremes of speed and slowness in a haunting, processional choreography.
The Restaurant at Meadowood Residency began on March 3. Over the course of five weeks, it got the culinary equivalent of a standing ovation: all 44 dinners Mr. Kostow presided over at the Ojai Farmhouse sold out, including a finale weekend of meals in May that featured wine pairings from the renowned Krug Champagne house and Harlan Estate, a famed Napa Valley producer of Bordeaux-style blends. Tickets for that dinner cost $999 per person.

They sold out within the first hour, said Ben Kephart, the Ojai Valley Inns director of operations. Its crazy. Thats about as much as you can charge for a dinner anywhere. It shows you how much of a demand there is, and it speaks to people wanting to get out and support a venture that they feel is deserving.

One of Mr. Kostows March dinners in Ojai offered 13 courses, several pours of wine, and, maybe most importantly, the opportunity to dress up and people watch (from well over six feet away). It felt like the opposite of sitting on the couch, numbly chewing Postmates by the glow of Netflix. Apparently, people want that.

We could have had a month of these dinners, straight, said Mr. Kephart. Thats how many people tried to book them.

Besides Mr. Kostow, the Farmhouse has played host to chefs such as Nancy Silverton, the grande dame of Italian food in Los Angeles. Next month brings David Castro, the chef of Fauna in Baja California, which was recently honored by Worlds 50 Best, one of the hospitality industrys major ratings organizations, as well as Neal Fraser, the owner of the revered eatery Redbird in Los Angeles.

Across the country and south of the border this summer and fall, similar guest chef-resort collaborations are in the works:
What about the argument from the pharmaceutical companies, saying that waiving the patents wont lead to doses anytime soon?

We are not suggesting that intellectual property alone is going to be useful, but in combination with tech transfer and with massive investments in manufacturing capability, we could go faster than we are now. Are we going to switch on like a light switch and have 10 billion new doses? No. But the time to build was yesterday, and the second-best time to build is now.

Another thing, Im 58 years old, and this is my second pandemic. Its almost a matter of certainty that were going to see another global pandemic. Global preparedness is not about the charity or intervention of a beneficent donor nation. Its about creating capacity throughout Latin America and Asia and other places, so that next time we need to turn on the faucet for billions of doses of vaccines, were not waiting for Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca to scale up. And were not in a mad dash  like doing runs on toilet paper like we did last year. The question is, wouldnt you rather be more prepared next time around than you were this time?

Are there lessons in your experience for today?

Its deja vu all over again.

In the old days of H.I.V., the idea was that antiretroviral therapy was something that people in the global north could have, but it was too complicated for it to be deployed in African health systems. The idea from some people was, you dont do these sophisticated interventions in poor countries with rudimentary health systems. But the Thais, the Brazilians, the South Africans, basically people all around the world said, No, we dont deserve to die based on your notion of what our countries are capable of.

Back then, we were also told, Dont you dare support other countries making generic antiretroviral drugs or else you are going to destroy the goose that lays the golden egg. Youll never see another AIDS drug again for the rest of your life. Its completely not true. The pharmaceutical industry has prospered and thrived, and used this as an excuse to basically push back against any sort of regulation or restraints for almost 60 years.

The next pandemic?

This week, a 41-year-old man in the Chinas Jiangsu Province became the first known human to become infected with a strain of the bird flu known as H10N3.
A father and son in Nevada were ordered on Monday to halt distribution of their branded bottled waters after five children were reportedly sickened after drinking the products, which federal prosecutors said consisted of tap water processed with various chemicals.

Companies run by the men, Brent A. Jones and Blain K. Jones, violated the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act by distributing adulterated and misbranded bottled water, the Justice Department said in a statement on Tuesday. In an order signed on Monday, Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey of the U.S. District Court for Nevada formalized a settlement in which the Joneses agreed to stop processing the products and destroy any in their possession.

According to the complaint, which was filed last month at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the F.D.A. received information that at least five children had experienced cases of acute non-viral hepatitis, a condition that can lead to liver failure, after drinking an alkaline water product branded as Real Water.

Other complaints involving Real Water reported nausea and vomiting. As a result, the agency warned consumers, restaurants, distributors and retailers not to drink, cook with, sell or serve the product.
WASHINGTON  The British-Swedish company AstraZeneca is negotiating with the federal government to shift production of its coronavirus vaccine from a troubled plant near Baltimore to a factory owned by the pharmaceutical company Catalent, according to people familiar with the governments plans.

Catalent already produces AstraZenecas vaccine for export at a factory in Harmans, Md., south of Baltimore. It is now in discussions to retrofit a production line there to make the vaccine for the federal government, taking over for Emergent BioSolutions, which was forced to stop manufacturing AstraZenecas vaccine more than six weeks ago after a major production mishap.

While it is unclear when the new line could begin operating, any extra doses that Catalent produces for the government are also likely to be exported because the United States has not yet authorized the AstraZeneca vaccine for domestic distribution and has enough of other vaccines to meet demand.

We can confirm we are working with Catalent but have not disclosed specific details on supply, said Holly Campbell, a spokeswoman for AstraZeneca. A spokesman for Catalent, which is based in New Jersey, declined to comment.
AstraZeneca in Talks to Switch Factories to Produce Vaccines for U.S. Government Wealthier countries and private foundations pledge $2.4 billion to help the global vaccination effort.

Ejected from a troubled plant, AstraZeneca is in talks about producing vaccine for U.S. government at another site. Nurses prepared doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in Taipei, Taiwan, on Wednesday. Credit... Ann Wang/Reuters WASHINGTON  The British-Swedish company AstraZeneca is negotiating with the federal government to shift production of its coronavirus vaccine from a troubled plant near Baltimore to a factory owned by the pharmaceutical company Catalent, according to people familiar with the governments plans. Catalent already produces AstraZenecas vaccine for export at a factory in Harmans, Md., south of Baltimore. It is now in discussions to retrofit a production line there to make the vaccine for the federal government, taking over for Emergent BioSolutions, which was forced to stop manufacturing AstraZenecas vaccine more than six weeks ago after a major production mishap. While it is unclear when the new line could begin operating, any extra doses that Catalent produces for the government are also likely to be exported because the United States has not yet authorized the AstraZeneca vaccine for domestic distribution and has enough of other vaccines to meet demand. We can confirm we are working with Catalent but have not disclosed specific details on supply, said Holly Campbell, a spokeswoman for AstraZeneca. A spokesman for Catalent, which is based in New Jersey, declined to comment. AstraZeneca has been searching for a new manufacturing partner since the federal authorities decided that Emergent, which has received hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government to manufacture vaccines, was not capable of producing the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnsons vaccines simultaneously. The decision came after Emergent workers accidentally contaminated a batch of Johnson & Johnsons vaccine, ruining 15 million doses. That episode has led to cascading problems for Emergent, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. Federal regulators asked Emergent to halt all production at its plant while they inspected it. Inspectors returned on Wednesday for another on-site review, according to people familiar with the process. Regulators are also insisting that Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca provide extensive proof that batches of their vaccines produced by Emergent meet regulatory standards before allowing them to be released either for domestic use or for export. While no doses of any vaccine produced by Emergent have been distributed in the United States, the Biden administration had been counting on tens of millions of AstraZeneca doses to fulfill its promise to help other countries in need. The federal decision to strip Emergent of the responsibility to manufacture AstraZenecas vaccine reduced the risks and complexity of the factorys operations. But it left AstraZeneca temporarily unable to produce its vaccine for the government. Last May, the Trump administration pledged up to $1.2 billion to AstraZeneca to finance the development and manufacturing of its vaccine, and to supply the United States with 300 million doses if it proved effective. With the country awash in other vaccines, AstraZeneca doses seem mainly bound for export. Federal officials say some might still be useful as booster shots, should those be needed and should AstraZenecas vaccine be cleared for distribution in the United States. Some experts say they worry that producing more AstraZeneca vaccine in the United States will use up valuable materials that might be better directed overseas or to make other vaccines. One federal official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss continuing talks, said the government was renegotiating AstraZenecas contract, at least partly to shift production to Catalent from Emergent. The official estimated that Catalent could produce about 25 million to 35 million doses of AstraZenecas vaccine a month on its new line  a rate similar to that expected from Emergent. Unlike Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Moderna, AstraZeneca has not sought authorization from the Food and Drug Administration to distribute its vaccine for emergency use in the United States. Without an obvious or immediate need in this country, AstraZeneca officials are leaning against pursuing authorization here, according to people familiar with their thinking. The company could still pursue licensure, a lengthier and more complicated process. The AstraZeneca vaccine appears to be linked to a very rare but sometimes fatal blood clotting disorder, similar to the side effects that led to a pause in administering the Johnson & Johnsons vaccine in the United States. Many European countries temporarily stopped using the AstraZeneca vaccine this year after a small number of clotting episodes, but they have largely restarted, in some cases with restrictions on what age groups should receive it. The vaccine is being used in 173 countries. President Biden in late April committed to sharing 60 million doses of AstraZenecas vaccine. Jeffrey D. Zients, the White Houses Covid-19 response coordinator, said last month that 10 million of those doses could be released to other countries soon, with the rest to be shared in months, pending an F.D.A. review. Mr. Biden later expanded his pledge, promising to send 20 million doses of other coronavirus vaccine overseas. Samantha Power, the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, told lawmakers last week that three-fourths of the excess supply in the United States was likely to go to Covax, an international vaccine-sharing initiative, with the rest distributed through bilateral agreements. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said this week that the administration would announce an overseas distribution plan within two weeks. Rebecca Robbins and Benjamin Mueller contributed reporting. Noah Weiland, Sharon LaFraniere and

Vaccine efforts for low-income nations get an extra $2.4 billion in promises. Ethiopian Airlines workers unloading vaccines in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in March. Credit... Tiksa Negeri/Reuters Financial support for Covid-19 vaccination efforts in lower-income nations received a $2.4 billion lift on Wednesday when world leaders met at a virtual summit hosted by the Japanese government and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The funds were pledged by wealthier countries, foundations and private companies. Five countries  Belgium, Denmark, Japan, Spain and Sweden  also announced plans to share a total of 54 million doses from their domestic supplies with countries in need. The support is primarily designated for Covax, a year-old initiative promoting equity in the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines. It has shipped more than 77 million doses to 127 countries and is led by Gavi, the World Health Organization and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. The funds were sought to buy additional vaccine doses for the countries least able to afford them and to invest in new vaccine candidates. Ability to pay should not determine whether someone is protected from this virus, said Dr. Seth Berkley, the chief executive of Gavi. To date only 0.4 percent of all Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered in low-income countries, according to the World Health Organizations director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who spoke at the meeting. In many countries, even the most vulnerable adults and health care workers have not received vaccinations. Dr. Berkley said that on average, wealthy countries had vaccinated more than a third of their populations, whereas low income countries had vaccinated less than 1 percent. How quickly wealthier countries deliver on their promises to share doses remains to be seen; most previously announced gifts have yet to be delivered. The largest new financial pledge, $800 million, came from Japan, which also said it would eventually share 30 million doses of locally produced vaccines. To date, it has administered only about 14 million shots to its own population. The United States previously announced $2 billion in support for Covax, and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the summit meeting but did not address ongoing calls for the United States to move more quickly to share its vaccine supply, especially as its vaccination rates increase and cases of Covid-19 fall sharply. Our collective future depends on the collective response to the global crisis, Ms. Harris said. The challenge before us is to provide equal access. She added: People are still contracting Covid-19. People are still dying every day. And that is why we must work together to get people vaccinated as quickly as possible in every nation throughout the world. New pledges came from countries including Australia, France, Kuwait, Mauritius, Mexico, Switzerland and Vietnam. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mastercard and the Visa Foundation were among institutions committing funds, and the European Investment Bank announced additional financing to support cost-sharing with African Union countries. As of Wednesday, $9.6 billion had been raised for Covaxs Advance Market Commitment, a financing mechanism to secure vaccines for low- and middle-income economies

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

New York City will offer Covid vaccines at some public schools. Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 1:02 - 0:00 transcript New York City Schools Will Offer Covid Vaccines Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday that vaccine sites will open at New York City schools as a way to increase vaccination rates among ages 12 to 17. The program will start on Friday at four schools in the Bronx and expand to all five boroughs within the month. Starting on Friday in certain schools, were going to pilot something very exciting. Were going to start launching in-school vaccination sites. This is something I think is going to open up a world of possibilities. Were working with our Health Department, our Department of Education, with the U.F.T., we want to make schools a place where kids can get vaccinated. Now, for so many kids, of course, that has only been a recent possibility. So were going to start this in certain schools around the five boroughs. Were going to see how it goes. Were going to get the most done, we can between now and the end of school later this month. But its going to be a way to reach a lot of young people quickly, and its going to be a way to encourage parents to understand how incredible it is, what a great feeling it is to know your child is safe. So well start schools on Friday, expanding more over the days ahead. We will be in all five boroughs in schools, vaccinating kids, select locations, not everywhere yet, but select locations. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday that vaccine sites will open at New York City schools as a way to increase vaccination rates among ages 12 to 17. The program will start on Friday at four schools in the Bronx and expand to all five boroughs within the month. Credit Credit... Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times New York City, with the nations largest school district, is hoping to increase vaccination rates among children age 12 to 17 before they close their books and head out for the summer on June 25. We want to make schools a place where kids can get vaccinated, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in announcing the plan Wednesday during a news conference at City Hall. Later, he added, Were going to get the most done we can between now and the end of school later this month. Mr. de Blasio said that the program would start on Friday with mobile vaccination vehicles at four schools in the Bronx. Meisha Porter, the citys schools chancellor, said on Twitter on Thursday that the mobile vaccination clinics would be available on Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Bronx Writing Academy; Junior High School 22; Junior High School 118; and Middle School 180. Ms. Porter added that mobile clinics would be stationed at an additional three schools from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday and Monday: Intermediate School 90 in Manhattan; Middle School 88 in Brooklyn; and Public School 214 in the Bronx. According to city data, the Bronx has the lowest rate of fully vaccinated residents, with 35 percent, below the citywide rate of 44 percent. (Brooklyn has 38 percent, Staten Island 41 percent, Queens 48 percent and Manhattan 55 percent.) This data echoes what officials have seen nationwide suggesting that vaccines have been given disproportionately in areas with wealthy and white residents, even though the pandemic hit low-income communities of color the hardest. The program is being conducted in collaboration with the citys education and health departments, as well as the teachers union, the mayor said. Offering vaccines at middle schools is part of a national shift away from large vaccination facilities used earlier in the pandemic. Health officials are now relying on smaller, more community-based sites, which may be more trusted and accessible to those who have not yet been vaccinated. Officials throughout the country have also begun offering a host of incentives: college tuition, cash lotteries, even beer and, separately, guns. Younger people were among the most recent group to become eligible for the vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for people as young as 16 in December, and children aged 12 through 15 became eligible for that vaccine last month. This led to an immediate bump in the nations vaccination rates, but, as with other groups, that initial burst faded somewhat over time. Having mobile vaccination clinics at schools, Mr. de Blasio said, is going to help reach more and more young people and continue to keep New York City ahead of the national average for youth vaccination. Azi Paybarah and

California agrees to pay $2 million in legal fees in cases of churches that challenged Covid restrictions. One case brought by the South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista was settled in the agreement. Credit... KUSI California has agreed to pay more than $2 million in legal fees in a pair of settlements with churches that challenged the states restrictions on houses of worship during the pandemic. The settlements also require that the states restrictions on churches do not exceed those placed on businesses, according to lawyers for the plaintiffs who announced the deal. Restrictions on churches cannot be more severe than restrictions on retail, Paul Jonna, a lawyer for one of the churches, said in a statement. Christopher Ferrara, another attorney representing the plaintiffs, said, If favored businesses are allowed 100 percent occupancy during a pandemic, so must churches be allowed. A spokesman for Gov. Gavin Newsom played down the settlements, saying in a statement that they provided clarity and certainty to the public around the public health standards applicable to places of worship following recent rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court. In November, the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision that served as a warning shot to governors, striking down Gov. Andrew M. Cuomos restrictions on houses of worship in New York. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the courts three liberal members dissented. The agreement settles one case brought by the South Bay United Pentecostal Church, in Chula Vista, in San Diego County, and one brought by the Rev. Trevor Burfitt, a Roman Catholic priest with five churches in four counties in the state. They were represented by the Thomas More Society, a conservative nonprofit law firm historically focused on religious liberty issues. The firm will get $1.6 million in legal fees from the South Bay case and $550,000 in the Burfitt case.

Canada will soon allow vaccine mixing for second doses. A vaccination site administering the Pfizer vaccine in Canada last month. Credit... Carlos Osorio/Reuters Facing vaccine shortages, Canadas immunization advisory body is recommending that some Canadians follow up their AstraZeneca shots with a different vaccine on the second dose. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization said on Tuesday that people who had received a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine could be given either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines as their second dose. It also said that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines could be used interchangeably, although it recommended sticking with a single brand when possible. While Canadas health care system has generally been efficient in dispensing shots, no vaccines are manufactured in the country and larger shipments did not begin arriving until the past several weeks. To ensure that the maximum number of Canadians have some protection, Canada focused on getting at least one dose to as many people as possible. While 62 percent of Canadian adults have been given at least one shot, only 5.7 percent are fully vaccinated. The advisory panels recommendation came as many provinces are starting to ramp up second doses, and it may resolve a potential headache. Most of the increased shipments of vaccine have come from Pfizer, while supplies of the Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines have been in much shorter supply. To date, 19.3 million doses of Pfizers vaccine have come to Canada, compared with 5.7 million doses of Moderna and 2.8 million Astra Zeneca shots. The ability to substitute Pfizers vaccine for second doses eliminates concerns about limited supplies. The advisory panel said that its recommendation followed similar advice from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Spain and Sweden. Several studies have shown that mixing vaccines is safe and effective, the committee said. Seven of Canadas 10 provinces, whose health care systems perform the vaccinations, have said they will allow people to change course between doses.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

Facing his July 4 vaccination deadline, Biden touts a major campaign, including free child care through big providers. Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 1:25 - 0:00 transcript Biden Announces Intensified Vaccine Campaign President Biden announced on Wednesday an accelerated effort to vaccinate Americans by his proposed July 4 deadline. Were announcing a monthlong effort to pull all the stops, all the stops, to free ourselves from this virus, and get to 70 percent of adult Americans vaccinated. Im going to take everyone, you know, its going to take everyone, everyone  the federal government, the state governments, local, tribal and territorial governments, the private sector and most importantly, the American people, to get to the 70 percent mark so we can declare independence from Covid-19 and free ourselves from the grip it has held over our lives for the better part of a year. Each of you has the power to help us gain this freedom as a nation. If you get a shot this week, you can be fully vaccinated by July 4  by the week of July the 4th  and you can celebrate Independence Day free from fear or worry. All over the world, people are desperate to get a shot that every American can get at their neighborhood drugstore at no cost, with no wait. Every American over 12 years of age, no matter where you live, what you believe, who you voted for, has the right to get vaccinated. Its your choice. So please exercise your freedom, live without fear. We need to be one America, united, free from fear this fall. President Biden announced on Wednesday an accelerated effort to vaccinate Americans by his proposed July 4 deadline. Credit Credit... Naima Green for The New York Times President Biden, facing a self-imposed July 4 deadline to have 70 percent of U.S. adults at least partly vaccinated against the coronavirus, tried Wednesday to rally the nation to meet that goal, announcing an offer of free child care for parents and caregivers while they receive their shots and a national canvassing effort resembling a get-out-the-vote drive. Declaring June a National Month of Action, Mr. Biden appeared at the White House to implore Americans not only to get vaccinated, but also to help persuade their friends and neighbors to do so. He laid out an aggressive campaign that will include incentives from sports leagues, like free tickets to the Super Bowl and to Major League Baseball games, and from private companies. United Airlines is offering a year of free flights in a sweepstakes open only to vaccinated Americans, and Anheuser-Busch has promised free beer to adults on Independence Day if the nation meets the presidents goal. Thats right, get a shot and have a beer, Mr. Biden declared. Free beer for everyone 21 years and over to celebrate the independence from the virus.

A man in China is found to have H10N3 bird flu, a reminder of a continued concern for pandemic flu. Sterilizing a poultry market in Wuhan, China, in 2013. The Chinese government on Tuesday announced the worlds first human case of the H10N3 strain of bird flu. Credit... Agence France-Presse  Getty Images A 41-year-old man in Chinas eastern Jiangsu Province is the first known human to be infected with a strain of bird flu known as H10N3, Chinas National Health Commission said on Tuesday  a development that experts said merited close monitoring because of an underlying continued risk of pandemic flus. Avian viruses do not typically spread among humans, but they can pose a danger if they mix with a human virus, said Raina MacIntyre, the head of the biosecurity program at the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales in Australia. If someone has human flu and is infected with bird flu, the two viruses can swap genetic material, she said. Thats why you see the concern for pandemic flu arising in countries where humans and livestock have very close contact. The Health Commissions announcement said that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission in the Jiangsu case. Contact tracing and surveillance have not uncovered any other infections, officials said. Influenza viruses differ from coronaviruses, and the World Health Organization is working with the Chinese government to monitor the case, according to a statement from the W.H.O. division in Beijing. The man began feeling feverish at the end of April and was hospitalized on April 28, the Chinese government statement said. On May 28, genome sequencing by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention determined that he had been infected with H10N3. The government announcement did not say how the man had been infected, and the W.H.O. said the source of infection was still unknown. The mans condition has stabilized, and he is ready to be discharged, the government said. Professor MacIntyre said that usually the people infected by avian viruses are those who are in prolonged close contact with the birds, such as poultry handlers. The W.H.O. said that H10N3 had been detected periodically in birds in live bird markets as early as 2002, but that the virus was unlikely to kill birds or lead to many signs of illness. As long as avian influenza viruses circulate in poultry, the organization said, sporadic infection of avian influenza in humans is not surprising, which is a vivid reminder that the threat of an influenza pandemic is persistent.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

As the U.S. starts a return to normal, some countries have their worst outbreaks yet. Family members of a Covid-19 victim praying at a hospital mortuary before their relatives burial in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in late May. Credit... Lim Huey Teng/Reuters In Colombia, nearly five hundred people a day have died of the coronavirus over the last three weeks, the nations most dramatic daily death rates yet. Argentina is going through the worst moment since the pandemic began, according to its president. Scores are dying daily in Paraguay and Uruguay, which now have the highest reported fatality rates per person in the world. The vaccines are coming too late, said Maria Victoria Castillo, whose 33-year-old husband, Juan David, died in May as he waited for the Colombian government to extend shots to his age group. Deep into the second year of the pandemic, the world is dividing along a powerful, and painful, line: Those who have vaccines, and those who do not. As rich nations like the United States prepare for a return to normalcy  at least half of the populations there and in Britain and Israel have received at least one dose of a vaccine, sending cases plummeting  some poorer nations, scrambling for shots and heaving under weary health systems and exhausted economies, are seeing their worst outbreaks since the start of the pandemic. This is the case in Malaysia, Nepal and other nations in Asia. But in few places is the situation as bleak as South America, which has the highest rate of new infections in the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay have all ranked in the top 10 in cases per 100,000 residents over the past week. Julie Turkewitz and

Without humans around, Sri Lankas zoo animals enjoy a pandemic baby boom. Tourists outside the Dehiwala National Zoo in Colombo, Sri Lanka, last year, when it was closed because of the coronavirus. Credit... Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters COLOMBO, Sri Lanka  To prevent the worst of Covid devastation, Sri Lanka imposed lockdowns and stopped flights from abroad for nearly a year, battering the economy and drying up a vital tourism industry. For animals in the island nations zoos, however, its been a jolly time. Amid the absence of visitors, animal births in the zoos rose 25 percent over the past year, according to Ishini Wickremesinghe, the director general of Sri Lankas Department of National Zoological Gardens. Particularly striking, she said, is that several animals that do not have a history of breeding in local zoos have given birth. Animals are actually having a less-stress and relaxed time with no people around, she said. Sri Lanka closed its zoos in March 2020, briefly reopening to visitors earlier this year before closing again as coronavirus infections rose. Among the animals that have bred for the first time are a black swan, a white peacock and a nilgai, the largest antelope in Asia. Others that have produced offspring include an Arabian oryx, a black duck, a scimitar-horned oryx and a zebra. We also have three new lion cubs, Ms. Wickremesinghe said. After years, the animals really got a good break. The cubs are about six months old now. With no visitors around, adult lions are free to roam around their enclosures and consort with potential mates. At Sri Lankas wildlife parks, officials could not confirm whether breeding was on the rise, but animals are definitely stress-free, said Manoj Vidyaratne, the warden of Yala National Park on the islands southeastern coast. Usually, we see about 400 vehicles in the park daily, he said, but this time there is no one. Creatures in captivity elsewhere, too, have taken advantage of the pandemic to procreate. Last April, two giant pandas successfully mated at the Hong Kong zoo, which was closed to visitors due to the coronavirus. Sri Lanka, an early success story in containing the spread of the virus, has experienced a recent surge and is recording nearly 3,000 new daily infections, according to a New York Times database. The pandemic has worsened the economic woes of a country that was already struggling to recover from terrorist attacks in 2019. Sri Lankas zoos, which house about 4,000 species, are among the tourism-dependent countrys major attractions, drawing more than three million visitors a year before the pandemic. Despite the impact on revenue, Ms. Wickremesinghe said she hoped to keep the zoos closed until cases drop, fearing that primates could catch the virus from an infected visitor. We dont know what to do if that happens, she said.

Global roundup India cancels exams for over a million 12th graders, and other news from around the world. Students taking supplementary exams in Bhopal, India, in September. Credit... Sanjeev Gupta/EPA, via Shutterstock The Indian government, still trying to control a devastating second wave of the coronavirus, has canceled national exams for 12th graders, affecting the fates of more than a million students. The decision to call off the exams, which had been postponed from the spring, came late on Tuesday at a meeting of senior officials chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It showed that concerns around the spread of infections remain serious even as Indias official case count has dropped significantly from its peak a month ago. Students, parents and teachers are naturally worried about the health of the students in such a situation, Mr. Modi said in a statement. Students should not be forced to appear for exams in such a stressful situation. After India recorded more than 400,000 cases a day a month ago, the most in any country since the pandemic began, new infections there have dropped by more than half. Yet India is still averaging more than 3,000 deaths per day, a number that experts believe is a significant undercount. On Wednesday, the government reported 132,788 new cases and 3,207 deaths from the virus. Most states remain under some form of lockdown, and hardly any of Indias young people have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. The Indian government only last month opened vaccinations to people under 45, and a shortage of doses has meant that most states have made little progress in inoculating the young. About 12 percent of people in the country have received at least one dose of a vaccine, according to a New York Times database. This is the right step, said Renu Singh, the principal of Amity International School in Noida, a suburb of New Delhi. Most important is the safety, security and health of the child. Children are not vaccinated. If they come to school, they will be exposed. Antra Rajpoot, a 12th grader at the school, said that the idea of sitting for an exam with large numbers of students felt really unsafe. The governments decision definitely brought about a sense of certainty, safety, and its a very happy decision. Without the exams, which help determine placement in colleges and professional schools, Mr. Modis office said that the Central Board of Secondary Education, which administers the tests, would come up with an alternate method of assessing student performance. In other news around the world: President Emmanuel Macron of France announced on Wednesday that all 12- to 17-year-olds would be eligible for vaccination starting in mid-June. Speaking on a visit in the southwest part of the country, Mr. Macron noted that half of all French adults had already received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine, but he asked the country to remain extremely cautious and vigilant and said a nationwide mandate on outside mask wearing would be lifted only gradually over the coming weeks and months.

Australias second largest city, Melbourne, extended a lockdown for one more week as authorities try to contain an outbreak of the coronavirus variant first detected in India. Six new coronavirus cases were recorded on Wednesday in the state of Victoria, bringing the total in the outbreak to 60 cases. Melbournes five million residents are only allowed to leave home for essential purposes. The lockdown will remain in effect until at least June 10. Hari Kumar, Aurelien Breeden and

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

How one declining Main Street survived the pandemic asteroid. Carleen Hartman, the owner of Hartman Jerk Chicken in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Originally from Jamaica, she moved to the city from New York a decade ago. Credit... Jonno Rattman for The New York Times Main Street in Wilkes-Barre, a city of 41,400 people in northeastern Pennsylvania, is not a place dominated by chic restaurants or perfectly manicured sidewalks. On many blocks sit empty storefronts and businesses that seem suited to a bygone era. Even before the pandemic, the city had to work hard to keep its downtown vibrant and compete with strip malls and big-box stores. But it faced its biggest test starting last March. The pandemic was like an asteroid heading toward Earth, said Larry Newman, the executive director of the Diamond City Partnership, a nonprofit involved in revitalizing downtown Wilkes-Barre. Main Street businesses across the United States rely almost entirely on foot traffic. Rescuing small businesses, which make up more than 40 percent of the countrys economy, was seen as imperative for leaders in Washington and small cities like Wilkes-Barre. Jonno Rattman , Michael Corkery, Alana Celii and
A Florida man who was among the angry mob that entered the Senate on Jan. 6 pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a single felony count, becoming the second person so far to publicly admit wrongdoing in connection with the riot at the Capitol.

Paul A. Hodgkins, 38, of Tampa, was caught on video breaching the Senate while carrying a Trump flag. At a hearing in Federal District Court in Washington, Mr. Hodgkins pleaded guilty to the top charge in his case: obstructing an official proceeding of Congress. As part of an agreement with the government, four lesser charges were dismissed.

Under the plea agreement, the government recommended that Mr. Hodgkins, a crane operator, receive a sentence of 15 to 21 months in prison. His case provides an early hint of the penalties that some 200 similarly charged defendants may face if they plead guilty too.

About 450 people, from nearly every state, have been charged in connection with the riot, which contributed to the deaths of five people and resulted in injuries to nearly 140 police officers. About half of those facing charges have been accused of misdemeanors  largely trespassing and disorderly conduct  and may be sentenced to little or no prison time.
Katie Hobbs, the Democratic secretary of state in Arizona, who gained national attention for her stalwart defense of the states electoral system in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, announced on Wednesday that she was running for governor, portraying herself as a pragmatic leader who does not back down in the face of criticism and threats.

Ms. Hobbs has become a frequent fixture on cable news shows since the fall  first as Arizonas vote count continued for several days after Election Day in November, and again this spring as Republicans conducted a widely criticized audit of ballots cast in Maricopa County. Ms. Hobbs has repeatedly condemned the partisan recount as a dangerous threat to democracy and has assigned observers to track problems with the process.

We did our job, she said in a video announcing her bid. They refused to do theirs. And theres a lot more work to be done.
Ms. Haaland has also pledged to bring more federal resources to bear on missing and murdered Indigenous people, especially women, work she began as a member of Congress. She has helped create a missing and murdered unit and worked on enacting the Not Invisible Act, which established a commission led by the Interior and Justice Departments on reducing violent crime against Indigenous people.

Ms. Haaland, 60, was born in Winslow, Ariz., to Mary Toya, a Laguna woman, and John David Haaland, a Minnesotan of Norwegian descent. Both parents served in the Navy, and Mr. Haaland, a Marine, earned a Silver Star for heroism in Vietnam. Ms. Haaland lived a peripatetic early life, changing schools frequently before the family settled in Albuquerque. Her ancestral home is in the Laguna Pueblo village of Mesita, population 800, and for 25 years, her mother worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Ms. Haaland raised her child Somah alone, often struggling to make ends meet. Ms. Haaland enrolled in the University of New Mexico at the age of 28, eventually earning a law degree. She has said that she and her child both still have student loans.

Ms. Haaland plunged into politics while running a small salsa-making business. She was also chairwoman of the Laguna Development Corporation, a business owned by the Pueblo of Laguna whose many ventures benefit the tribal economy, and include World Famous Laguna Burger restaurants and the sprawling Route 66 casino and hotel complex in Albuquerque.

In 2018, four years after a failed bid for lieutenant governor of New Mexico, Ms. Haaland ran for a House seat and won. Expectations had abounded then, too. A campaign intern, DeChellie Gray, a Navajo, recalled when Ms. Haaland returned from a long walk in Albuquerque and said that a homeless man had approached her at a bus stop. Ive heard your story about being sober, he told Ms. Haaland, who has been sober for three decades. I want you to be in Congress because you understand my life struggles.

Ms. Haaland and Representative Sharice Davids, Democrat of Kansas, took office in 2019 as the first two Native women in Congress. Ms. Haaland wore a traditional ribbon skirt, turquoise jewelry and moccasin boots for her swearing-in, but for all her significance, she was a low-key House member, not part of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs squad and no ones idea of a firebrand.

And yet she soon became a favorite of the left, championed by Hollywood actors like Mark Ruffalo, who called her nomination a significant step towards healing some of the deepest wounds of the past. Ms. Haaland was not angling for the Interior Department job when Julian Brave NoiseCat, a young writer and political strategist, began a little guerrilla campaign for her nomination that grew into a groundswell, with progressive activists and celebrities joining American Indians in support.
Ireland has been one of the most vocal critics of the Biden proposal. Its 12.5 percent corporate tax rate has helped fuel the so-called Celtic Tiger economy since the 1990s, luring Google, Facebook and other corporate giants to establish European beachheads in Dublin, creating jobs and greatly enriching the Irish treasury.

Paschal Donohoe, Irelands finance minister, has said Dublin wants acceptable tax competition between countries to continue.

I believe that small countries, and Ireland is one of them, need to be able to use tax policy as a legitimate lever to compensate for the advantages of scale, location, resources, industrial heritage, and the real material and persistent advantage that is sometimes enjoyed by larger countries, he said during a virtual summit meeting in April.

In Hungary, where the corporate tax rate is 9 percent, the government of Viktor Orban has said setting a higher rate would be unfair, and that countries have the right to make sovereign decisions on taxes. The Czech Finance Ministry has said tax harmonization set by the United States would mean an increase in the corporate tax rate for Czech companies.

The negotiations over the global minimum tax are part of a broader fight over how to tax technology companies and build on talks that were underway during the Trump administration. The pace of the negotiations have accelerated this year after the Biden administration stepped up its diplomatic efforts with traditional American allies and offered some new proposals that European countries found more palatable than what Ms. Yellens predecessor Steven Mnuchin supported.

I think that the United States has taken on a much more public role in the last few months, said Lilian V. Faulhaber, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, adding that this weeks talks would be an indicator of whether recent signs of progress were real. Up until now, countries have been able to express general support without really putting their money where their mouth is.

Ms. Yellens proposal on the minimum tax stoked elation in France, Germany and other high-tax European countries that have agitated for what they say is an urgently needed tax revolution at a time when digital giants like Facebook and Amazon have become as wealthy and powerful as sovereign states.
In the motion to dismiss, Lees attorneys cited a ruling last year by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that concluded the secretary of state was not a proper defendant in a case involving the order in which candidates are placed on Florida ballots. Lees attorneys said the 2020 ruling requires the plaintiffs in the challenge to the new elections law to link the secretary to the injuries they allege and the relief they seek. This the plaintiffs do not do in their complaint.
Liccardo said that requiring drivers to carry auto insurance has helped cut down on fatalities from car crashes, so having the private insurance industry get involved would help incentivize responsible gun ownership and defray the cost of gun violence to taxpayers, who pay for emergency and law enforcement services.

The mayor first proposed the idea in 2019 in the wake of the Gilroy shooting, but he said the pandemic delayed progress on the measure.

We were working with an epidemiologist at the county, so we put that aside, he said. Now, I think were ready to come back.

Of course, gun laws at every level have faced intense and sustained legal challenges. Liccardo told me hes not delusional about the fact that a gun regulation ordinance would require a vigorous legal defense. But he said that city-level policy changes could provide ideas that Congress and even the state legislature would not be nimble enough to enact.

No one would say that it would be ideal for each city to come up with its own policies, he said. But we recognize that cities can be laboratories for policy innovation.

For more:
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo  The volcano is quieter now.

Smoke and ash billow from the cone of Mount Nyiragongo, one of the worlds most active volcanoes, instead of the molten lava that streamed from its flanks on May 22, killing dozens of people and destroying 5,000 homes in nearby Goma.

The tremors and aftershocks that terrorized the city, collapsing buildings and triggering a mass evacuation, have largely stopped too. Scientists who dare to once again approach the steaming volcano say the danger appears to have passed  for now.

Im not ruling out the possibility of another eruption, Dario Tedesco, a volcanologist who has studied Congos volcanoes since 1995, told journalists on a visit to the crater of an adjacent, smaller volcano, on Sunday. But statistically there is very little chance this will happen.
Facing vaccine shortages, Canadas immunization advisory body is recommending that some Canadians follow up their AstraZeneca shots with a different vaccine on the second dose.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization said on Tuesday that people who had received a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine could be given either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines as their second dose. It also said that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines could be used interchangeably, although it recommended sticking with a single brand when possible.

While Canadas health care system has generally been efficient in dispensing shots, no vaccines are manufactured in the country and larger shipments did not begin arriving until the past several weeks. To ensure that the maximum number of Canadians have some protection, Canada focused on getting at least one dose to as many people as possible. While 62 percent of Canadian adults have been given at least one shot, only 5.7 percent are fully vaccinated.

The advisory panels recommendation came as many provinces are starting to ramp up second doses, and it may resolve a potential headache.
This is the case in Malaysia, Nepal and other nations in Asia. But in few places is the situation as bleak as South America, which has the highest rate of new infections in the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay have all ranked in the top 10 in cases per 100,000 residents over the past week.

Social networks in Paraguay have become obituaries in motion: Rest in peace professor, reads one. My mother has died, reads another, my heart is broken into a million pieces. In Argentina, in-person classes in Buenos Aires province, the countrys most populous district, have largely been called off as officials scramble to control cases.

Ms. Castillo said the death of her husband, a father of three, had left her so disillusioned that she has come to believe the globes only solution is God.

Six weeks ago, Claudia Lopez, the mayor of Colombias capital, Bogota, told residents they should ready themselves for the worst two weeks of their lives. But instead of reaching a peak, followed by a fall, new cases and deaths have surged  and then stayed there.
A 41-year-old man in Chinas eastern Jiangsu Province is the first known human to be infected with a strain of bird flu known as H10N3, Chinas National Health Commission said on Tuesday  a development that experts said merited close monitoring because of an underlying continued risk of pandemic flus.

Avian viruses do not typically spread among humans, but they can pose a danger if they mix with a human virus, said Raina MacIntyre, the head of the biosecurity program at the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

If someone has human flu and is infected with bird flu, the two viruses can swap genetic material, she said. Thats why you see the concern for pandemic flu arising in countries where humans and livestock have very close contact.

The Health Commissions announcement said that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission in the Jiangsu case. Contact tracing and surveillance have not uncovered any other infections, officials said.
For more than 20 years, the husband and wife were stalwarts of their evangelical community: pastors who founded a small church in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where they led services and distributed food and clothing to the needy.

Now, the couple are pariahs. They have been blamed by the authorities for a major coronavirus outbreak, are facing a criminal investigation and have been held accountable on social media for a lockdown in their neighborhood and a ban on religious services nationwide.

The Protestant pastors, Phuong Van Tan and Vo Xuan Loan, who are hospitalized with Covid-19, are accused by city health officials of allowing parishioners to pray together without wearing masks, a violation of coronavirus protocols that officials say resulted in an outbreak in May linked to more than 200 cases.

Vietnam has prided itself on successfully containing the coronavirus since the pandemic began. As the countrys neighbors tallied their dead and imposed nationwide lockdowns, the Vietnamese government kept the virus at bay by relying on strict quarantine measures, diligent contact tracing and localized lockdowns.
PARIS  A new, heavily annotated version of Adolf Hitlers Mein Kampf was published in France on Wednesday, aiming to break down his hate-filled, anti-Semitic ideology with expert analysis and a new translation that better conveys the original texts muddled prose.

Published by Fayard, a French publishing house, the book  Historicizing Evil: A Critical Edition of Mein Kampf  runs to nearly 1,000 pages, with twice as much commentary as text. Scholars, researchers and teachers are the main target audience.

Mein Kampf, or My Struggle, the Nazi leaders manifesto and memoir, first appeared as two volumes in 1925 and 1927 and was banned in Germany by the Allies in 1945. It was not officially published again there until 2016, when a team of scholars and historians released a nearly 2,000-page edition with thousands of annotations after a 70-year copyright held by the state of Bavaria expired.

The version published in France on Wednesday is an extended adaptation of that edition, with contributions from over a dozen experts and historians led by Florent Brayard, a French historian specializing in Nazism and the Holocaust, and Andreas Wirsching, the director of the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich, which had led work on the German version.
LONDON  British archaeologists uncovered more than a dozen decapitated skeletons in a discovery that, they said in a new paper, sheds light on how the ancient Romans used capital punishment as their grip on Britain slipped in the late third century.

Archaeologists at the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, a company that provides archaeological services, uncovered three small Roman cemeteries at the edge of a farm in Cambridgeshire, about 70 miles north of London, in excavations between 2001 and 2010. After studying the remains, they found that 17 of the 52 skeletons were decapitated, a much higher rate than in other Roman cemeteries, according to a research paper published last month in the journal Britannia by Cambridge University Press.

Isabel Lisboa, the archaeologist who led the excavations, said the people buried in these cemeteries were most likely decapitated as punishment for crimes. Scholars have also explained Roman beheading practices with other theories including the execution of enslaved people, human sacrifices, fertility rituals, military trophy taking and post-mortem punishment.
CEUTA, Spain  Daouda Faye, a 25-year-old migrant from Senegal, was elated when he heard that Moroccan border guards had suddenly started waving in undocumented migrants across the border to Ceuta, a fenced-off Spanish enclave on the North African coast.

Come on in, boys, the guards told him and others as they reached the border on May 17, Mr. Faye said.

And in they went  by the thousands.

Normally, Morocco tightly controls the fenced borders around Ceuta, a six-mile-long peninsula on Moroccos northern coast that Spain has governed since the 1600s. But now its military was allowing migrants into this toehold of Europe. Over the next two days, as many as 12,000 people flowed over the border to Ceuta in hopes of reaching mainland Spain, engulfing the city of 80,000.
Space is hard. As you know, as you see the development of various space systems in the past, there have been delays, Nelson said. When you go further and further away from the Earth with new technologies, we have seen, historically, delays. Will they occur? I cant answer that question. I know the goal is 2024, but I think we have to be brutally realistic that history would tell us because space development is so hard that there could be delays to that schedule for the first demonstration flight of landing humans and returning them safely to Earth.
Wide-Ranging Israel Coalition Reaches Deal to Form Government Negotiating as the clock ran down, Israeli parties ranging from the left to the far right, including an Arab bloc, agreed on a coalition government. Image Naftali Bennett, left, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2020. Credit... Sebastian Scheiner/Associated Press This briefing has ended. Follow our latest coverage of the Israeli election and its aftermath here.

Israeli opposition makes a coalition deal to topple Netanyahu. Image Naftali Bennett, left, and Yair Lapid in Parliament on Wednesday. The two would split a term as prime minister if their negotiations succeed. Credit... Ronen Zvulun/Reuters JERUSALEM  Israeli opposition parties on Wednesday reached a coalition agreement to form a government and oust Benjamin Netanyahu, the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history and a dominant figure who has pushed his nations politics to the right. The announcement by the parties could lead to the easing of a political impasse that has produced four elections in two years and left Israel without a stable government or a state budget. If Parliament ratifies the fragile agreement in a confidence vote in the coming days, it will also bring down the curtain, if only for an intermission, on the premiership of a leader who has defined contemporary Israel more than any other. The new coalition is an unusual and awkward alliance between eight political parties from a diverse array of ideologies, from the left to the far right. It includes the membership of a small Arab party called Raam, which would become the first Arab group to join a right-leaning coalition in Israeli history. While some analysts have hailed the coalition as reflecting the breadth and complexity of contemporary society, others say its members are too incompatible for their compact to last, and consider it the embodiment of Israels political dysfunction. The alliance would be led until 2023 by Naftali Bennett, a religiously observant former settler leader who opposes a Palestinian state and wants Israel to annex the majority of the occupied West Bank. He is a former ally of Mr. Netanyahu often described as more right-wing than the prime minister. If the government lasts a whole term, it would then be led between 2023 and 2025 by Yair Lapid, a centrist former television host considered a standard-bearer for secular Israelis. The son of American immigrants, Mr. Bennett, 49, is a former software entrepreneur, army commando, chief of staff to Mr. Netanyahu and defense minister. His home is in central Israel, but he was once chief executive of an umbrella group, the Yesha Council, that represents Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Until the most recent election cycle, Mr. Bennett was part of a political alliance with Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right leader. Though Mr. Bennetts party, Yamina, won just seven of the 120 seats in Parliament, the anti-Netanyahu forces could not form a government without his support, allowing him to set the terms of his involvement in the coalition. Mr. Lapid, 57, is a former news anchor and journalist who became a politician nine years ago and later served as finance minister in a Netanyahu-led coalition. His party placed second in the general election in March, winning 17 seats. But Mr. Lapid considered the ouster of Mr. Netanyahu more important than demanding to go first as prime minister.

Netanyahu vows to fight on as difficult details may yet doom the proposed coalition. Supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu protested the proposed coalition in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. Credit... Jack Guez/Agence France-Presse  Getty Images Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the precipice of being ousted from office after more than a decade in power, made it clear on Thursday that he intended to fight on. All the lawmakers who were elected by right-wing voters must oppose this dangerous left-wing government, he wrote on Twitter. By midday, he had begun an all-out campaign against the nascent coalition of opposition parties, listing concessions that he claimed Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett had made to secure an alliance with Raam, the Arab Islamist party. His bellicose claims signaled what could be a bitter fight in the days ahead. They also came as details about the fraught last-minute negotiations to secure an alliance started to come into focus. Mr. Lapid, the leader of the Israeli opposition, had until midnight on Wednesday to cobble together an unlikely coalition to topple Mr. Netanyahu. He needed almost every minute  leaving it until 11:22 p.m. to inform Reuven Rivlin, Israels largely ceremonial president, that he had assembled an eight-party alliance formed of hard-right parties, leftists, centrists and Arab Islamists. The government will do everything it can to unite every part of Israeli society, Mr. Lapid said in a statement released shortly after his call with Mr. Rivlin. Mr. Lapids celebrations will be put on hold for several days, however. The speaker of the Israeli Parliament, Yariv Levin, is a member of Mr. Netanyahus party, Likud, and can use parliamentary procedure to delay the confidence vote until June 14, constitutional experts said. That would give Mr. Netanyahus party time to pile pressure on wavering members of Mr. Lapids fragile coalition, in a bid to persuade them to abandon the new alliance. Many of them feel uncomfortable about working with one another and have made difficult compromises to join forces to push Mr. Netanyahu from office. Officials of several of the parties making up the new alliance said early Thursday that the internal coalition agreements between them, and even the distribution of ministerial posts, had not yet been finalized. Mr. Lapid agreed to give Naftali Bennett, a hard-right former settler leader who opposes Palestinian statehood, the chance to lead the government until 2023, at which point Mr. Lapid will take over. Having these tensions on full display even before the coalition was officially formed has left many Israelis wondering whether it will last more than a few months, let alone its full term. Should the coalition collapse, analysts believe, Mr. Lapid may emerge with more credit than Mr. Bennett. While Mr. Bennett gets first crack at the premiership, his decision to work with centrists and leftists has angered his small following. Lapid has made a very strong set of decisions, conveyed an amazing level of maturity and really made a big statement about a different kind of leadership, said Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israeli political analyst and pollster at the Century Foundation, a New York-based research group. That will not be lost on the Israeli public. Isabel Kershner and

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

What are the next steps before the new coalition could take power? Image Yair Lapid, the opposition leader. Credit... Gil Cohen-Magen/Agence France-Presse  Getty Images Now that Israeli opposition parties have reached agreement on a coalition government, they have up to seven days to present the government to Parliament for a vote of confidence. Some disagreements within the fractious coalition were still being ironed out until shortly before the deadline on Wednesday, at midnight in Israel. And with the fate of the new coalition dependent on a narrow margin and hanging on every vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies were on the hunt for potential defectors leading up to the announcement and signaled that they would continue until the vote of confidence. The coalition, ranging from right to left, is united primarily by its opposition to Mr. Netanyahu, the prime minister since 2009. Israel has held four parliamentary elections in two years, all of them inconclusive, leaving the country without a stable government or state budget. If the opposition fails to form a government, yet another election could result.

Is Naftali Bennett, poised to become prime minister, an ideologue or a pragmatist? Image Naftali Bennett, right, at an election campaign event in 2019. Credit... Dan Balilty for The New York Times Naftali Bennett, who is poised to become Israels next prime minister, is a former high-tech entrepreneur best known for insisting that there must never be a full-fledged Palestinian state and that Israel should annex much of the occupied West Bank. The independently wealthy son of immigrants from the United States, Mr. Bennett, 49, entered the Israeli Parliament eight years ago and is relatively unknown and inexperienced on the international stage. That has left much of the world  and many Israelis  wondering what kind of leader he might be. A former chief of staff to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels longest-serving prime minister, Mr. Bennett is often described as more right-wing than his old boss. Shifting between seemingly contradictory alliances, Mr. Bennett has been called an extremist and an opportunist. Allies say he is merely a pragmatist, less ideological than he appears, and lacking Mr. Netanyahus penchant for demonizing opponents. In a measure of Mr. Bennetts talents, he has now pulled off a feat that is extraordinary even by the perplexing standards of Israeli politics. He has all but maneuvered himself into the top office even though his party, Yamina, won just seven of the 120 seats in the Parliament. Mr. Bennett leveraged his modest but pivotal electoral weight after the inconclusive March election, Israels fourth in two years. He entered coalition talks as a kingmaker and appears ready to emerge as the one wearing the crown. Mr. Bennett has long championed West Bank settlers and once led the council representing them, although he is not a settler. He is religiously observant  he would be the first prime minister to wear a kipa  but he will head a governing coalition that is largely secular. He would lead a precarious coalition that spans Israels fractious political spectrum from left to right and includes a small Arab Islamist party  much of which opposes his ideas on settlement and annexation. That coalition proposes to paper over its differences on Israeli-Palestinian relations by focusing on domestic matters. Mr. Bennett has explained his motives for teaming up with such ideological opposites as an act of last resort to end the political impasse that has paralyzed Israel. The political crisis in Israel is unprecedented on a global level, he said in a televised speech on Sunday. We could end up with fifth, sixth, even 10th elections, dismantling the walls of the country, brick by brick, until our house falls in on us. Or we can stop the madness and take responsibility.

The Arab party Raam makes history within coalition. Image Mansour Abbas, center, leader of the Arab party Raam, at a campaign event in February. Credit... Dan Balilty for The New York Times One of the most unlikely kingmakers involved in the formation of a new government is Mansour Abbas, the leader of the small Arab party known by its Hebrew acronym, Raam, with four seats in the current Parliament. Under an 11th-hour deal, Raam formally agreed to join a Lapid-Bennett coalition government, though it would not hold any Cabinet seats. That was something of a surprise, as the party was expected to remain outside the coalition, while supporting it in a confidence vote in the Parliament. Some Arab lawmakers played a similar role by supporting Yitzhak Rabins government from the outside in the 1990s. For decades, Arab parties have not been directly involved in Israeli governments. They have been mostly shunned by other parties, and are leery of joining a government that oversees occupation of the Palestinian territories and Israels military actions. But after decades of political marginalization, many Palestinian citizens, who make up a fifth of Israels population, have been seeking fuller integration. Israels early, leftist governments included Arab parties that were closely affiliated with the mostly Jewish parties. Raam would be the first independent Arab party in government, and the first Arab party of any kind in a right-leaning government. Raam has been willing to work with both the pro- and anti-Netanyahu camps since the March election and to use its leverage to wrest concessions for the Arab public. The party has refused to commit to a deal unless it gets assurances for greater resources and rights for Israels Arab minority, including reforms to housing legislation that potential hard-right coalition partners do not accept.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

Right-wing lawmakers face intense pressure to reject the opposition coalition. Image Supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv in 2019. Credit... Corinna Kern/Reuters Sitting in her office in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon, Idit Silman, a hard-right lawmaker, flicked through hundreds of recent text messages from unknown numbers. Some were laced with abusive language. Some warned she was going to hell. All of them demanded that her party abandon coalition negotiations with an alliance of centrist, leftist and right-wing lawmakers seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time in 12 years. Its very hard, Ms. Silman said. People would rather put pressure on Idit Silman than see Benjamin Netanyahu leave Balfour Street, she added, in a reference to the location of the prime ministers official residence. As opposition negotiators race to meet a midnight deadline to agree on a new government, supporters of Mr. Netanyahu and his Likud party were working overtime to pressure Ms. Silman and other members of the right-wing Yamina party. Many right-wing Israelis see Yaminas turn against Mr. Netanyahu as a betrayal. This onslaught gave Ms. Silman and her colleagues pause for thought  and an incentive to be seen as prolonging the negotiations for as long as possible. Though Yamina did finally join the coalition on Wednesday night, Mr. Netanyahus party, Likud, is likely to continue to play on these fears. Parliament might not hold a vote of confidence in a new government for another 10 days, giving Mr. Netanyahu more time to persuade Yamina lawmakers to reverse course. His party has already promised to keep goading Ms. Silman and her colleagues. Behind the scenes, said a senior Likud official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, the Likud party is ramping up the pressure, particularly on the weakest links. The pressure has been relentless for days, since the phone numbers of Ms. Silman and her colleagues, they say, were posted on several WhatsApp and Facebook groups. That has prompted a barrage of messages  and not just from Israelis. Evangelical pastors in the United States have weighed in, and so have Hasidic activists in Britain, among many others. The Likud party denies accusations that it posted any numbers publicly. When Ms. Silman turned up at her local synagogue last week, she found several slick posters outside, each with her portrait overlaid with the slogan: Idit Silman stitched together a government with terror supporters. For days, protesters have picketed her home, shouted abuse at her children, and trailed her by car in a menacing fashion, she said. Yaminas leader, Naftali Bennett, decided to negotiate with the opposition on Sunday night, after months of wavering. His calculus was based on realism, analysts say: Mr. Netanyahu cannot form a coalition, even with Mr. Bennetts support. So Mr. Bennett can either fall in with the opposition, who have offered him the chance to be prime minister  or force the country to a fifth election in little more than two years. We always ask ourselves this question, Ms. Silman said on Wednesday afternoon. Is it right? Can we do something else? Patrick Kingsley and

Would a new government mean a profound shift for Israel? Image A rally in support of change government proposed coalition in Tel Aviv, on Monday. Credit... Amir Cohen/Reuters Naftali Bennett, who leads a small right-wing party, and Yair Lapid, the centrist leader of the Israeli opposition, have joined forces to try to form a diverse coalition to unseat Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels longest-serving prime minister. Spanning Israels fractious political spectrum from left to right, and relying on the support of a small Arab, Islamist party, the proposed coalition, dubbed the change government by supporters, could signal a profound shift for Israel. Its leaders have pledged to end the cycle of divisive politics and inconclusive elections. The opposition parties announced a coalition agreement on Wednesday. But even if they survive a vote of confidence in the Parliament and form a government, toppling Mr. Netanyahu, how much change would their change government bring, when some of the parties agree on little else besides antipathy for Israels longest-serving leader? Mr. Bennett, whose party won seven seats in Parliament, is often described as further to the right than Mr. Netanyahu. While Mr. Netanyahu eroded the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mr. Bennett, a religiously observant champion of Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, openly rejects the concept of a sovereign Palestinian state and has advocated annexing West Bank territory. Still, though the coalition will include several parties that disagree on both those issues, they have agreed to allow Mr. Bennett to become prime minister first. If the coalition deal holds, Mr. Bennett would be replaced for the second part of the four-year term by Mr. Lapid, who advocates for secular, middle-class Israelis and whose party won 17 seats. By conceding the first turn in the rotation, Mr. Lapid, who has been branded as a dangerous leftist by his opponents on the right, smoothed the way for other right-wing politicians to join the new anti-Netanyahu alliance. In a measure of the plot twists and tumult behind this political turnaround, Mr. Bennett had pledged before the election not to enable a Lapid government of any kind or any government reliant on the Islamist party, called Raam. The coalition would stand or fall on the cooperation between eight parties with disparate ideologies and, on many issues, clashing agendas. In a televised address on Sunday night, Mr. Bennett said he was committed to fostering national unity. Two thousand years ago, there was a Jewish state which fell here because of internal quarrels, he said. This will not happen again. Not on my watch.

Isaac Herzog will be Israels new president. Image Mr. Herzog, left, seen here with Yariv Levin, Speaker of the Knesset, will take over from the current president, Reuven Rivlin, in July. Credit... Pool photo by Ronen Zvulun Even as the country and its Parliament remained deeply divided over the formation of a new government, Israeli lawmakers came together on Wednesday to elect a new president, Isaac Herzog, a former leader of the Labor party and government minister. Displaying a rare degree of consensus in a secret ballot, they voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Herzog, who currently serves as the chairman of the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency for Israel, which helps deal with immigration, interacts with the Jewish diaspora and runs social programs. The president plays a mostly symbolic role as a national unifier in Israels fractious parliamentary democracy, where the prime minister wields the most power. One of a presidents main responsibilities is to grant a candidate the task of forming a government after elections. In Israels current, fragmented politics, which have produced four inconclusive elections in two years, that involves more than the usual level of skill, legal interpretation and discretion. The president can also play an important role in Israeli diplomacy and has the power to pardon convicted criminals and exercise clemency by reducing or commuting sentences. Mr. Herzog, 60, the grandson of the first chief rabbi of Israel and the son of one of the countrys earlier presidents, Chaim Herzog, will take over from the current president, Reuven Rivlin, in July. Our challenges are many and should not be taken lightly, Mr. Herzog said in his acceptance speech. I intend to be the president of all Israelis, to lend an attentive ear to every position and respect every person.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

The Israel-Gaza conflict hanging over the countrys political shift. Image Smoke and flames rose after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on May 10th. Credit... Mohammed Saber/EPA, via Shutterstock Less than a month ago, an eruption of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip plunged Israeli and Palestinian communities into chaos. As the civilian casualties grew, overwhelmingly on the Gaza side, the conflict polarized Israeli society, and the world, in ways seldom seen before. At least 230 people were killed in Gaza during the war, including at least 65 children, while in Israel at least 12 were killed, including two children. Gazas infrastructure, already ailing, was gutted by Israeli airstrikes on the densely populated territory. And Israeli towns and cities within range of Hamas rockets went into repeated, frightening lockdowns in shelters. The war also spurred unrest within Israel and the occupied territories that has been more explosive than any in years. It has inspired a new era of Palestinian activism, and has shifted the ground politically, coloring the drama that was playing out in Israel on Wednesday. Here is what to know about the 11-day war, and its lasting effects.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the precipice of being ousted from office after more than a decade in power, made it clear on Thursday that he intended to fight on.

All the lawmakers who were elected by right-wing voters must oppose this dangerous left-wing government, he wrote on Twitter.

By midday, he had begun an all-out campaign against the nascent coalition of opposition parties, listing concessions that he claimed Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett had made to secure an alliance with Raam, the Arab Islamist party.

His bellicose claims signaled what could be a bitter fight in the days ahead.

They also came as details about the fraught last-minute negotiations to secure an alliance started to come into focus.
CAIRO  Mysterious fires sank Irans largest warship and burned a big Tehran oil refinery on Wednesday  seemingly unconnected blazes that nonetheless raised suspicions the country had once again been targeted by Israeli saboteurs.

The fires broke out hours apart as Iran was reporting progress in talks aimed at resurrecting the international nuclear agreement scrapped three years ago by the Trump administration, which the Biden administration wants to restore. Israel, which regards Iran as a dangerous adversary, opposes such an accord, contending it will not stop Iran from weaponizing nuclear fuel.

Revival of the accord would alleviate onerous economic sanctions imposed by the United States in exchange for guarantees that Iranian nuclear work remains peaceful.

Iran has sought to prevent recent acts of sabotage from derailing the nuclear negotiations. But it has acknowledged serious security holes and Israels infiltration abilities, including an explosion that wrecked part of its Natanz uranium enrichment complex less than two months ago.
Naftali Bennett, who leads a small right-wing party, and Yair Lapid, the centrist leader of the Israeli opposition, have joined forces to try to form a diverse coalition to unseat Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels longest-serving prime minister.

Spanning Israels fractious political spectrum from left to right, and relying on the support of a small Arab, Islamist party, the proposed coalition, dubbed the change government by supporters, could signal a profound shift for Israel. Its leaders have pledged to end the cycle of divisive politics and inconclusive elections.

The opposition parties announced a coalition agreement on Wednesday. But even if they survive a vote of confidence in the Parliament and form a government, toppling Mr. Netanyahu, how much change would their change government bring, when some of the parties agree on little else besides antipathy for Israels longest-serving leader?

Mr. Bennett, whose party won seven seats in Parliament, is often described as further to the right than Mr. Netanyahu. While Mr. Netanyahu eroded the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mr. Bennett, a religiously observant champion of Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, openly rejects the concept of a sovereign Palestinian state and has advocated annexing West Bank territory.
He is best known for views on settlements, annexation and Palestinian statehood that many on Israels left and center  not to mention much of the world  consider not just wrong but dangerous. Yet his coalition spans Israels fractious political spectrum from left to right, and relies on the support of a small Arab, Islamist party.

That coalition proposes to paper over its differences on Israeli-Palestinian relations by focusing on domestic matters.

Mr. Bennett has explained his motives for teaming up with such ideological opposites as an act of last resort to end the political impasse that has paralyzed Israel.

The political crisis in Israel is unprecedented on a global level, he said in a televised speech on Sunday. We could end up with fifth, sixth, even 10th elections, dismantling the walls of the country, brick by brick, until our house falls in on us. Or we can stop the madness and take responsibility.

Now Mr. Bennett faces the greatest challenge of his political career, trying to hold that unlikely coalition together, to vault from being a second-tier figure to a national leader, and to maintain relations with Israels most important ally, the United States. President Biden has been cooler toward Mr. Netanyahu than Mr. Trump was.

There will be, I think, a collective sigh of relief within the Biden administration that they have new, young Israeli blood to deal with, said Martin S. Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel and a former special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Mr. Bennett will be pressured by the settler right to deliver for them, Mr. Indyk said, but it appears that he has already accepted that he wont be able to pursue that agenda.
Many right-wing Israelis see Yaminas turn against Mr. Netanyahu as a betrayal.

This onslaught gave Ms. Silman and her colleagues pause for thought  and an incentive to be seen as prolonging the negotiations for as long as possible. Though Yamina did finally join the coalition on Wednesday night, Mr. Netanyahus party, Likud, is likely to continue to play on these fears.

Parliament might not hold a vote of confidence in a new government for another 10 days, giving Mr. Netanyahu more time to persuade Yamina lawmakers to reverse course.

His party has already promised to keep goading Ms. Silman and her colleagues.

Behind the scenes, said a senior Likud official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, the Likud party is ramping up the pressure, particularly on the weakest links.

The pressure has been relentless for days, since the phone numbers of Ms. Silman and her colleagues, they say, were posted on several WhatsApp and Facebook groups. That has prompted a barrage of messages  and not just from Israelis. Evangelical pastors in the United States have weighed in, and so have Hasidic activists in Britain, among many others.

The Likud party denies accusations that it posted any numbers publicly.

When Ms. Silman turned up at her local synagogue last week, she found several slick posters outside, each with her portrait overlaid with the slogan: Idit Silman stitched together a government with terror supporters.
Quiz: How Well Do You Understand Todays Crime Trends?

Crime has emerged as a significant issue in the U.S. during the pandemic. But context can be lost amid the headlines and partisan claims. How well can you separate fact from fiction on this topic?
French/West/Vaughan launches Devil's Advocate fragrance line, a collaborative effort between pop star Iggy Azalea and private-equity backed beauty and cosmetic company Merveilleux Beauty. FWV chief executive Rick French will serve as a special advisor to the company. His Raleigh-based investment vehicle RDF Capital is backing the new company alongside NYC-based credit investment and specialty finance firm Brevet Capital. FWV says that the fragrance launch represents its re-entry into the licensing space. The promotional campaign for the new line, which kicked off June 1, is targeted at audiences including Azaleas more than 53 million social media followers and fans of her music. She will continue to expand her footprint in the beauty space throughout the year with additional announcements.

V2 Communications adds AI-driven decision intelligence platform Tellius to its client roster. The agency will create a media relations program leveraging corporate and product news and thought leadership to position Tellius as a leading decision intelligence vendor. It will also develop an analyst relations program focused on cultivating relationships with data and analytics organizations. V2 has already handled Tellius public announcement of its recent Series A funding round. By bridging the insights gap caused by silos between dashboards and AI tools, Tellius is opening the door for every organization to get faster, more accurate, and more valuable insights from their data, said V2 co-founder and partner Jean Serra

Propulsion PR, a vegan-owned public relations firm, is selected as agency of record for Animal Agriculture and Climate Change, a global nonprofit headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa. Propulsion will manage earned media strategy, celebrity environmental activist outreach and support digital marketing efforts to help the organization extend its leadership position in the veganism, animal cruelty and climate change discussion. Animal Agriculture and Climate Change is dedicated to raising awareness about the negative impact animal agriculture and the consumption of animals has on the environment. "Promoting a vegan world is not simply a passion project for us, it's our duty as communicators who understand the future of our planet is truly at stake," said Propulsion founder and managing director Lucas Seiler.
Singapore is a global leader in logistics. In 2018, Singapore ranked 7 out of 160 countries in the latest Logistics Performance Index (LPI) and scored extremely close to the top global and regional performers. It is one of the main global trading hubs and has one of the most developed warehousing markets in the world. Keeping the lead is therefore essential.

Fostering competition in ASEAN is a project that reviews regulatory constraints on competition in the logistics sector in all ten ASEAN member countries to identify regulations that hinder the efficient functioning of markets and create an unlevel playing field for businesses.

It comprises two parallel components: competition assessment reviews of specific logistics sub-sectors and competitive neutrality reviews of small-package delivery services. The project is undertaken in partnership with ASEAN and funded by the ASEAN Economic Reform Programme under the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (UK Government).

As a result of the project two reports, a competition assessment and a competitive neutrality assessment will be issued for each ASEAN member state.

Reports

A competition assessment of the logistics sector and a competitive neutrality review of small-package delivery services were virtually launched in co-operation with the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore on 4 June 2021.
THE plan to build an airport near Tubber looks set to be grounded after Offaly County Council dropped its support for the project.

Last week councillors backed a change to the county development plan following pressure from the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and the council executive.

The removal of the airport objective was also urged by planning and development expert Fergal McCabe.

Instead of specific reference to an airport, the draft county development plan, which is scheduled for final adoption in September, will say the council supports the provision of a green international trade and distribution zone based on international air connectivity, in either Offaly or the Midlands.

Explaining the change at a meeting of the local authority by Zoom, council planner Lorraine Mitchell said the new policy was quite similar to its predecessor.

Ms Mitchell referred councillors to a submission from the company behind the airport proposal, Midlands Airport Development Ltd, which sought to develop an international trade and distribution zone anchored by an international cargo and passenger airport with a 3.5km runway at Tubber to act as a reliever of pressure on Dublin airport.

The zone would involve nine clusters - aviation, education, intelligent green energy infrastructure, logistics, ICT, food and lifesciences, advanced manufacturing, leisure and conferencing and up to 3,000 residential units in the form of a smart/super rural city.

Councillors were told the Dublin Airport Authority opposed the continued inclusion of the airport reference in the plan, saying there was no supporting regional or national policy relating to it.

In its submission, the DAA pointed to the National Aviation Policy, which makes no reference to the development of a Midlands airport, and only mentions the existing airports in Knock, Donegal, Kerry and Waterford.

Regional airports in Ireland were developed in the 1980s to provide improved connectivity both nationally and internationally and significant social and economic benefits to the regions that they served, particularly at a time when rail and road connections were poor, the national policy, which dates from 2015, says.

However, as mentioned, improvements to the surface transport network in the intervening period have impacted on regional airports role as regards domestic connectivity. Today, regional airports continue to be important because of a level of international connectivity that they bring to a region for tourism and business. Donegal, Waterford and Kerry airports are important to the area in which they are located. [Knock] plays a more regional role in terms of access than other airports given its location in the North West. These airports should be given the opportunity to grow to a viable, self-sustaining position, particularly considering the contribution that they make to their regional and local economies.

The Government's National Planning Framework does not refer to a Midlands airport either, but does support the second runway at Dublin airport and backs significant investment in Irelands other airports and ports.

The DAA also noted the absence of support for the provision of aviation services in both the Eastern & Midland Regional Assembly Regional Spatial & Economic Strategy 2019-2031 and Ireland's Regional Airports Programme 2015-2019.

In his submission, Mr McCabe said the council's support for an airport in Offaly, in advance of a land use and economic survey with strong environmental inputs, would directly conflict with the principles of proper planning and sustainable development.

He said the Government's Project 2040 and regional policy 2019-2031 both nominated Dublin as the sole commercial airport for the region and neither make any reference whatsoever to alternative of competing facilities  in particular to any need for an airport in Offaly.

Ms Mitchell told councillors the wording being proposed in the draft plan was partly based on the submission from Midlands Airport Development Ltd.

The new draft objective reads: It is council policy to support the provision of a green international trade and distribution zone based on international air connectivity within the county or the midlands where it would contribute towards the proper planning and sustainable development of the county, comply with all environmental legislation, and policies and objectives contained within this Plan and would be consistent with higher level planning documents, including the National Planning Framework and the Eastern and Midland Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy.

Responding to a query from Cllr Frank Moran, Fianna Fail, Ms Mitchell said Midlands Airport Development had been unsuccessful in an application for a grant under the rural regeneration and development fund.

In a submission to the council in October, Midlands Airport Development chief executive, the Tullamore architect Patrick Little, said the company proposed the development of a carbon neutral trade zone anchored by a new international airport in the centre of Ireland.

The project would create 5,200 jobs directly and indirectly, and through induced employment opportunities.

Mr Little argued that current regional policy specifically calls on local authorities to anticipate and support emerging innovations and enterprises and noted a reference to access to international markets through airports and ports, and serviced lands.

His company proposed an airport at the centre of a privately funded international trade and development zone connected to the Dublin/Galway rail line which would add 500bn to the regional economy.

The plan said the proposed location, Tubber, is a rural area in the heart of the Midlands region and almost equidistant from Tullamore, Mullingar and Athlone.

The company said Dublin airport has 86% of Ireland's air traffic but remains the only airport in Leinster, a province which has 38% of the country's population.

The Midlands region has an airport catchment population of 2.4 million people, compared to Dublin's catchment of 2.1 million, the company added.
Sand fencing, above, is contributing to the restoration of sandy beaches and the dune system along Lake Ontario in Oswego County.
A 54-year-old Offaly man was convicted of assaulting another man with a saucepan at last Monday's sitting of Tullamore District Court.

Michael Carroll, 54, Clonlee, Kinnitty had denied striking Percy Moyles at Clonee on September 9, 2020, when he came before Judge Bernadette Owens.

In his evidence, the injured party Mr Moyles said that on the above date he had received a call to say some of his sheep were on a public road. He went to investigate and there were indeed sheep loose. He said he put them into another field but after counting them he knew he was short.

Mr Moyles said he drove down a laneway and into a disused yard and when he was coming out, the defendant Michael Carroll drove in front of him and "cut him off" with his jeep.

Percy Moyles said he had both windows down on his own jeep and there was a saucepan on the passenger seat which he said he used to bring food for his dog.

He said Michael Carroll began shouting at him, he then reached in through the window, grabbed the saucepan, and "whacked him". He said he struck him a second time. "I thought my arm was broken," he said.

Mr Moyles said Michael Carroll then opened the passenger door and struck him five more times with the saucepan. He said he backed into a corner of his vehicle to get away from Michael Carroll and he must have accidentally pushed down the lock on the door, "I couldn't understand why I couldn't get out," he said.

He said he was shocked and phoned the gardai. He said the gardai called to him at around 4pm that afternoon. "I was quite anxious. I was quite fearful," he said.

Sgt James O'Sullivan said there were photographs which were taken by a friend of Mr Moyles.

However, solicitor for the defendant, Donal Farrelly, said he was not accepting the photographs as there was no proof they were taken by photographer Martin McCarthy as he had since passed away.

In her evidence, Garda Ann McDonnell, said she took a statement from Mr Moyles along with six photographs of his injuries. She also had a medical report on Mr Moyles from Wilmer Medical Centre which she handed to the judge.

She said she arrested Mr Carroll and charged him with section 3 of the non-fatal offences against the person act.

Donal Farrelly solicitor put it to Mr Moyles that there was a history between him and Mr Carroll.

Percy Moyles said the defendant had rented his land some years earlier. It had gone into insolvency and Mr Carroll owed him 26,000. But he added that this had nothing to do with this particular incident.

Mr Farrelly also questioned Mr Moyles about the saucepan and added that in his statement he said Michael Carroll had thrown it at him and he had said this almost as an afterthought.

Mr Moyles insisted that Michael Carroll did throw the saucepan at him on two occasions.

Mr Farrelly also put it to him that he had shot Michael Carroll's dog. Percy Moyles said he did shoot the dog as it had been threatening his sheep. Mr Farrelly then put it to him that he had also threatened Mr Carroll's son. Percy Moyles denied this saying Michael Carroll's son had come into his field after he shot the dog and said "I suppose you are going to kill me too."

Mr Farrelly then asked Percy Moyles why he had left it four days before attending a doctor. He also asked why he hadn't shown his injuries to the gardai. "I may not have shown them because the bruises didn't show for a few days," he answered.

Judge Owens said she didn't think 4 days was an unreasonable amount of time before attending the doctor.

In his evidence, Michael Carroll said Percy Moyles had come up his lane and drove into a yard adjacent to his lane. He said he was having a cup of tea when he heard the jeep reversing back. He said when he saw him, Percy Moyles sped up and "drove at him". Michael Carroll said he opened the door of the vehicle and a verbal argument took place. He said he asked Percy Moyles what was his problem and he replied "you are."

Mr Carroll denied hitting Percy Moyles with a saucepan. "I'm telling you categorically I didn't hit him. I didn't grab anything," he said. He went on to say there was "bad blood" between them.

Detective Sgt Fergus Hogan drew a sketch of where Michael Carroll claimed he got caught when Mr Moyles reversed his vehicle. He said a triangle had formed between the open door of Percy Moyle's jeep, a pillar and a gate.

Judge Owens asked Mr Carroll had he reported Mr Moyles for driving at him. He said he didn't.

In his summation, solicitor Donal Farrelly told Judge Owens that all she had before her was an allegation. He said the gardai didn't see the injuries on Mr Moyles and it had taken him 4 days before attending a doctor. He said the sheep were found a few miles away. He said Mr Carroll had gone to the gardai of his own volition and there was a history between the two men.

He said Mr Carroll was a 54-year-old married man with four children who was never in trouble before.

In reaching her decision, Judge Owens said she had the medical report on Mr Moyles from the doctor. She said if she was to accept Mr Farrelly's argument it would mean Mr Moyles had inflicted the injuries on himself.

Having heard all the facts she said she had to take into account that there was a history between the two men and where the assault had happened. She noted Mr Carroll had no previous convictions.

She asked if Mr Moyles wanted to give a victim impact statement, but he declined.

She said she was convicting Mr Carroll and directed him to pay 500 to the Saint Vincent de Paul. She said if this was done she would apply the probation act. If not she would impose a fine of 500 on Mr Carroll.

She told Mr Farrelly if his client wished to appeal she would fix recognisance on Mr Carroll's own bond of 250.
Speaking in the Dail last night on a Sinn Fein Bill to improve transparency in the insurance sector Sinn Fein TD for Laois-Offaly Brian Stanley said:

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. Insurance companies have ripped off the public for too long. The insurance sector made profits of 142 million last year, yet premium prices kept increasing. This Sinn Fein legislation would force insurance companies to pass on savings to their customers and reduce premium prices as a result of new personal injury guidelines.

"A recent survey by Sinn Fein found that 58% of respondents had seen their premiums increase. This is despite the new guidelines. Our legislation forces the industry to outline to the Central Bank how it has passed on the savings to the public. Similar legislation has been enacted in Britain and governs the practices of all relevant companies there such AIG, AXA, Aviva, Alliance and RSA, all of which operate in this country.

Dual pricing is another issue on which Deputy Doherty has done a lot of work. This practise was banned by the FCA last Friday yet continues here in Ireland. The British ruling affects both home and motor insurance. Dual pricing involves the overcharging of loyal customers on renewal premiums and can drive up prices by in the region of 35%. The Central Bank has recently investigated this practice in Ireland thanks to complaints submitted by Deputy Doherty and Sinn Fein and it found that the practice was widespread. It meant that 'hose customers with the longest tenure' were 'paying the most'.

"We need to see action on both these fronts. We need action now to outlaw these practices. The ball is firmly in the Government's court, and any thoughts of delaying this are outrageous. There has been too much delay and there should be no more delays. It is time to act.

Following the Governments move to amend the Sinn Fein legislation. Brian Stanley TD accused them of Kicking the can down the road and letting the insurance companies off the hook again."
What's Included

With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 716-372-3121 or email nfinnerty@oleantimesherald.com.
Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - The Tunisian ministry of Defence Wednesday announced that its naval units had recovered the bodies of two illegal Sub-Saharan migrants and rescued 109 others after the shipwreck of their two boats on Tuesday off the Tunisian coasts
Are you a current print subscriber? You qualify for online access to the Omak Chronicle. To receive your access, create a website account and then verify your print subscription or e-edition subscription with your subscriber number, which may be found on your bill or mailing label.
US President Joe Biden visited Tulsa, Oklahoma where he led remembrance of one of the nations darkest moments of racial violence, marking the 100th anniversary of the destruction of a thriving black community in the neighbourhood of Greenwood.
The United Nations Human Rights Office is calling on all levels of Canadian governments to investigate the deaths of Indigenous children at residential schools and to intensify efforts to find those who are missing.
TOKYO/LONDON: Member nations of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on Wednesday agreed to allow Britain to start the process of joining the pact, Japan's economy minister said.
The 25 percent levies, which were applied to goods from Austria, Britain, India, Italy, Spain and Turkey, were immediately postponed for 180 days while talks proceeded.
courtesy Kootenai Brown Museum

William Samuel Lee

It has been an interesting and important exercise for me, through the last 15 years, to glance backwards into the lives of the early pioneers of the Crowsnest Pass. The earliest settlers here literally carved out a place for themselves and helped create a legacy that carries forth to this day.



If we step way back to the very beginning, one of the most prominent names that comes to mind is that of Lee. Principally William Samuel Lee, an adventurer born in England in 1832, who came to New York by sailing ship and made his was westward to the California Gold Rush . Like many, he never struck it rich and later spent some time living by hunting and trapping in Ohio before he made his way north in 1867 to Canada. He set up a trading post at what is now known as Lee Creek near Cardston but by 1870 had moved to the Pincher area to run yet another trading post for the Hudson Bay Company.

Dealing in buffalo robes, furs and raising horses and cattle was his trade. His post also served as a stopping place for travelers. In 1871 he married a Blood First Nations woman known as Gutosi-ke-ake (Rosana), who would eventually bear him three girls and five boys. William was particularly taken by the beauty of a nearby lake where he eventually built his home. By then his holdings consisted of about 25,000 acres and a couple thousand cattle, which he eventually herded down to his new home which he called Lee Lake in 1880.

continued below ...

This is where the story begins to build a Pass connection. Herds need bulls and bulls need to be put into summer pasture. So William got a lease from the North West Territories Council for a mind boggling tract that ran from Frank to the BC border. Dont forget the Pass was a tree-covered wilderness back then. Stockman and ranchers from all parts of the province used to set up a spring camp in the Blairmore area. There they would string a fence at the east end of Blairmore that ran down from Turtle Mountain across the river and up the side of Goat (Bluff) Mountain. The narrowest spot. It made sense. It was there they conducted their roundup.



In Crowsnest and Its People I found an astounding anecdote about a terrible setback to Lees mostly prosperous times that involved a stampede in the winter of 1886, when blizzard conditions drove the frightened cattle (800) over the steep banks of the Castle River to their destruction.



Another setback for William Lee was the discovery that his beautifully set home at Lee Lake was built on Hudson Bay Company land. William was not interested in being a tenant on land he had hewn from the wilderness. He was an independent sort and was not about to pay taxes either. The Company decided to put Lee off the land and annex his buildings but before they could do that he pulled off an unprecedented move. And move he did. His house and barns and outbuildings to the northern end of his property eight miles north of Burmis. This was no small feat back then as there were no highways or bridges.

continued below ...

This is now the former Milvain property up North Burmis Road. William set up homesteading there along with sons Henry and John. The Lee story moves closer to the Pass again in 1893 when son Henry, who was 19 at the time, rode out with a friend on a fishing trip. Their ride took them from the Lundbreck area all the way to Frank. While fishing just west of Turtle Mountain he said in a 1952 interview, I came upon this pond and it was running white just like milk.



The milky pond was of course the sulphur springs. That very fall he led his father William back to the site and Lee Senior filed a claim on the area. He reportedly operated a spa there. After several years Lee sold the rights to Mr. Gibeau who opened a boarding house near the springs. Eventually the Frank Sanatorium was built in the area but that is another story. (Pass Herald - The White Plague  April 12, 2011)



William Samuel Lee struggled with a long bout of pneumonia in the fall of 1896 and despite determined visits three times by Dr. Mead, he passed that November on his Rock Creek property. He is buried in Pincher Creek, a town it appears that is named after a set of horseshoe pinchers he lost in a creek in 1868. They were found ten years later by Mounted Policeman who referred to the site as Pincher Creek



Williams son Henry Lee, discoverer of the sulphur springs, ranched at Rock Creek until 1918 and then moved to Blairmore. Henry shared some of fascinating memories in 1952 interview where he talked about the massive spring roundups when stockmen and riders from all over the country came together into one big party. Henry described the set up as resembling a small village of tents of all descriptions. He also recalled that it was not uncommon for as many as two thousand animals to be branded in one day.

continued below ...

In Blairmore Henry worked for West Canadian Collieries for almost thirty years before he retired on his old age pension. Henry lived to the age of 93 and passed in 1968. In 1952 Henry and his wife Mary Ann Holloway celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary here and as was the protocol back then, received a telegram from Queen Elizabeth. Five years later they celebrated their 65th and Mary passed shortly before they would have seen their 70th in 1962.



Vern Decoux, in his 1952 interview of a then 78 year old Lee stated, Today, Henry Lee is as sturdy a man for his age as can be found anywhere. He still has all his teeth except two and this he credits to his almost constant use of chewing tobacco. Oh great. Thats just what the cowboys around here need to hear.



Henrys wife Mary Ann Holloway was born in Pincher in 1880. Her father, Mart Holloway, was another famous pioneer of the Crowsnest Pass area. Mart came over on the same sailing ship as William Lee and is credited with being the first to mine coal in the Lundbreck area. He was also one of the original gold seekers and rode with Tom Lemon in search of his mine. Crowsnest and Its People has the following side note written by Charlie Drain about Mart that is pretty wild.



It reads as follows. Mart Holloway acquired his wife in a manner that equates to the best Hollywood traditions of how it was in the old West. Riding across the prairie looking for stray cattle, he saw an Indian maiden being chased by a man with an axe, obviously with the intent to take her life. Mart spurred his horse to a gallop, reached down and grabbed the frightened girl by the waist and carried her to safety. They were married in Pincher the next day.

continued below ...

Henry and Mary Ann Lee had four children. Bill, Janice, Beatrice and Liza. Beatrice married Benjamin Van Loon and had amongst others a son also named Benjamin (Buddy) Van Loon. Buddy passed in 1930 and he and his wife Edith had six children, one of which was William Bubba Van Loon who passed this May 15th at the age of 62. And so, the legacy of these early seniors and their offspring continues. To Shelly, Billy, Hailey and Reid you have my sincerest condolences. Your family roots are long and remarkable.



We must always remember to acknowledge our pioneers and their descendants that walk among us. Be proud of you family heritage.

HOME PAGE
The military is still trying to figure out what exactly went wrong and how its troops ended up storming the factory.
Digital Journal 02 Jun 2021

Airline companies said flights between Germany and Russia had resumed Wednesday evening, after each country blocked the others..
The US Supreme Court has declined to hear Johnson & Johnson's appeal against a $2.12bn (1.5bn) damages award to women who say they developed ovarian cancer from using the company's talc products.
Historians say that as many as 300 African American residents lost their lives in the 1921 race massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and nearly 10,000 people were left homeless.
President Joe Biden was in Oklahoma Tuesday, becoming the first sitting US president to commemorate the anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre
Iran's largest naval ship was on fire for 20 hours before it finally went down in the Gulf of Oman. The military did not comment on the cause of the fire, but local reports suggest a problem in the engine room.
Isaac Herzog has been elected as the new President of Israel, as opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu try to reach a last-ditch agreement on a new coalition government.
Australian authorities have described the variant as an "absolute beast" that could threaten lives. International flights are resuming in Vietnam's two biggest cities. Follow DW for the latest.
 2008-2021 One News Page Ltd.

All rights reserved.

One News is a registered trademark

of One News Page Ltd.
A Dutch parents group claims that TikTok is putting children at risk with its content and is collecting too much data. They claim the Chinese smartphone app is in breach of EU law.
 31 May / 13 June 

 7-  ,   I   (325).

.       .    (1918).

  -,  ,    (    7-  ).

    ....  .
The move comes amid escalating tensions between Russia and the West after Belarus diverted a passenger jet to arrest a dissident journalist.
The UK government has begun negotiations with AstraZeneca to secure a "variant vaccine" that can tackle the South African variant, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.
FactCheck.org 03 Jun 2021

President Joe Biden went too far when he claimed he hasn't gotten more done legislatively because Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe..
On Tuesday, Joe Biden became the first sitting American president to commemorate the anniversary of the destruction of a prosperous Black community by a white mob that left up to 300 people dead and 10,000 homeless.
Sydney (AFP) June 1, 2021



The new head of the OECD is an Australian former minister born in Belgium known as a formidable backstage operator but also shadowed by a controversial record on climate change. Australia's longest-serving finance minister, 50-year-old Mathias Cormann was appointed head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in March and took over on Tuesday. He is the first person
Bangkok (AFP) June 1, 2021



Three Myanmar journalists who illegally crossed into Thailand to flee a military crackdown have been fined and could face deportation, a member of their legal team said Tuesday, warning the trio's lives will be in danger if they are sent home. The journalists, who worked for the Democratic Voice of Burma news website, were arrested along with two Myanmar activists in the northern city of Chi
Other countries have their own human rights issues and their organization, ASEAN, is not set up to tackle anyones domestic politics
Former Las Vegas Police Lt. Randy Sutton argued on "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday that Amazon is sending a message to law enforcement officers that they don't care about them and only care about "an agenda on the left" by allowing the sale of "Blue Lives Murder" merchandise on its platform.
People 01 Jun 2021

"Even though it shouldn't have to be like this, I'm proud of you for putting your foot down. Your mental health matters and should..
Jimmy Kimmel is one of the many Americans appalled that Trump ally Mike Flynn pretty much straight up said he thinks there should be a military coup in the United States in order to undo the 2020 election. And during his monologue Tuesday, Kimmel also took issue with the way the disgraced former general lied about those comments when they were made public.



Flynn, best known for lying to the FBI about his illegal work on behalf of foreign governments, and for several seditious comments during the 2020 election, appeared over the weekend at QAnon conference in Dallas. Adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory are widely supportive of the military coup in Myanmar and have embraced the treasonous idea that the US military should do the same thing here on behalf of Donald Trump. And when an attendee asked Flynn why a Myanmar-style military coup cant happen in the US, Flynn said this:



No reason, I mean, it should happen here. No reason. Thats right.



After video proving that he made the comments was posted online, Flynn denied that he made them. Which, ok.



Kimmel brought all of this up during his monologue. Trumps old pardon pal Michael Flynn  a man who admitted to lying to the FBI  went to prison for it  appeared at what was essentially Q Anon-con this weekend, where he quite plainly  supported an idea from a man in the crowd  who asked why we dont just overthrow the government?



Kimmel played the clip of Flynns comments, and then reminded the audience of how scary they are. Myanmar is a country in Southeast Asia  in February  the military seized control of the company  of the country  they refused to accept the results of the election there  so they organized a coup. Thousands of protestors have been imprisoned. Hundreds have been killed. And General Lie-senhower up there  thinks we should do that here too, Kimmel said.



Although  after it was suggested that he be court-martialed for that remark- Flynn tried to walk it back, Kimmel continued. He wrote: Let me be very clear  there is no reason whatsoever for any coup in America, and I do not and have not at any time called for any action of that sort.'



Except for  this weekend  when you did it on video. And the times you did it leading up to January 6th, Kimmel added.



Watch the whole monologue above. The Flynn stuff kicks in about 4 minutes in.



*Related stories from TheWrap:*



Trump's Newsmax Interview on Tuesday Got Half as Many Viewers as a 'Chopped' Rerun



Trump Says Fox News 'Totally Lost Its Way,' Blames Board Member Paul Ryan



Trump Shocked That Washington Post CEO Also Heads Reagan Library: 'How the Hell Did That Happen?'
Welcome back pirates! As you make your return to campus The East Carolinian has created a forum that centers around topics within the community where readers can express their experiences and concerns. With the new guidelines set in place by East Carolina University do you feel as these precautions will keep you safe?

Survey
Romy Walthall, an actress who appeared in John Woos 90s action film Face/Off and in movies such as The House of Usher and Camp Nowhere, has died. She was 57.



Walthall died on May 19 of cardiac arrest. Her son, actor Morgan Krantz, shared the news of his mothers passing in a social media post on May 27.



Rip Mom. I love you, Krantz wrote.



Walthalls daughter Isabella Israel also shared a tribute to her late mother on Instagram.



She was everything at once. She was my first love. My best friend at times and my sworn adversary at others. She was the most beautiful woman Ive ever seen and she was wicked and fun and light and dark and she possessed the kind of magic that you truly just dont see, she wrote. Im terrified of the world without her (how drab!) but so excited for wherever shes heading next. Theyd better gird their loins! All she ever wanted was for me to live my dreams and I think its no coincidence that she left earth once she knew I was finally safe and happy.



Romy Walthall, who also worked under the name Romy Windsor, was born in Pasadena, Texas and was discovered by a modeling agency when she was 17. She later moved to Los Angeles and landed a role in 1984s Thief of Hearts, which was a thriller produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. She followed that up with the TV movie A Bunnys Tale, in which Kirstie Alley played Gloria Steinem going undercover to investigate the conditions that Playboy bunnies worked under.



Walthall also had a number of other TV roles, including guest appearances in shows such as Matlock, Man of the People, Civil Wars, Dragnet, 8 Simple Rules, L.A. Law and The X-Files.



Walthalls final on-screen role came in 2011s 0s & 1s, directed by Eugene Kotlyarenko.





View this post on Instagram



A post shared by Morgan Krantz (@morgankrantz)









View this post on Instagram



A post shared by Isabella Israel (@bellaisrael)




An unexpected discovery by an Iowa State University researcher suggests that the first humans may have arrived in North America more than 30,000 years ago - nearly 20,000 years earlier than originally thought.



Andrew Somerville, an assistant professor of anthropology in world languages and cultures, says he and his colleagues...
The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See announced on Tuesday, June 1, that it was displaying the rainbow LGBT Pride flag for the month of June, which is celebrated as LGBT Pride month.



The United States respects the dignity and equality of LGBTQI+ people. LGBTQI+ rights are human rights, the embassy stated on...
SWNS STUDIO 26 Apr 2021

The average adult starts to feel stressed if they are just 10 minutes late for a social event or meeting, according to research.A..
The Foreign Ministry of Malaysia on Tuesday said it would summon China's envoy to explain an "intrusion" by 16 People's Liberation Army...
Bleacher Report AOL 03 Jun 2021

A coalition of Israeli political parties announced they had agreed to a deal to form a new government, paving the way for the..
Key Tips for Preparation and Entry to the Dutch Marketplace

Published June 2, 2021 by Lee R

The Dutch market is the going to have a couple waves of competitive entry that all participants need to effectively prepare for.

The Dutch market is clearly emerging as the flavor of the month for new markets in 2021.

Landscape

Since opening the long-awaited licensing window on April 1, Dutch Gaming Authority Kansspelautoriteit has hosted 28 individual operator license applications for the new market set to open October 1.

Expert Insights Here

With KSA chairperson Rene Jansen stressing that the intention of the law is to channel players from illegal providers to legally reliable providers, R Franco Group CCO Mario Benito; Gaming 1 COO Sylvain Boniver; and Relax Gaming Chief Regulatory Officer Alexia Smilovic Rnde provided their insights to casinobeats in an enlightening interview whose highlights we share.

Compliance First

Rnde reminds of the myriad of considerations to be made to entering any new market, with the key consideration for the Netherlands being a track record of compliance, or full preparedness and demonstration of ability to be compliant for new operators.

Local and Probable Regulations

Benito calls for companies to remain flexible to account for nuances in regulatory practice in the Netherlands (just as any other new jurisdiction entering into), with no amount of diligence ever too little. And to expect maximum stake its that are currently trending in European regulation models.

Waves While Cooling Off

Boniver cites the key cooling off period enabling participants to operate while regulation is being put into place in the Dutch market as a time in which big names will come in from the bricks and mortar sector (Jack's Holland Casino, FairPlay) to compete with incoming iGaming giant Bet365 in a first wave of integration. Boniver says a second wave of big names is due next April, adding a round of top tier EU brands to the Dutch market to bring the Dutch market to an estimated total of 70 operators by next year.

Going In

Smaller brands looking to make their mark in the Dutch market should focus on regional advantages that have helped them emerge, with the experts consulted suggesting that a three-pronged focus on great games, close player observation and strong communication with the operator are essential keys for success in the wondrous environment that the Dutch market is shaping up to offer.
Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

Following the announcement of Paola Mantovani joining London-based Argentium as a Principal and Head of Investor Relations, the systematic crypto arb hedge fund appointed a Head of Business Development for Australia/New Zealand.

According to a company statement, Simon Winston Smith has joined Argentium as a Principal and Head of Business Development for Australia/New Zealand. Simon has over 20 years of experience in investment banking, most recently as a partner in an investment banking boutique operating in the Asia Pacific.

Before this, he held the role of Chief Operating Officer and Head of Capital Markets at Greenway Capital. Before Greenway, he was Managing Director and Co-Head of Japanese Equities at JPMorgan Chase in Tokyo. Simon started his career with Goldman Sachs & Co where he went on to establish and lead the Equities Division in Australia.

Paul Frost-Smith, CEO of Argentium, said: "I am delighted to work with Simon again, after our time at JPMorgan together in Tokyo. My impression is that we can deliver a lot to the institutional market and family offices in Australia and New Zealand and Simon knows these folks well. We now have all of our bases covered".

Meanwhile, the crypto arb hedge fund also announced that it has completed its Advisory Board, adding Pierre Gourmet who has more than 25 ye......................

To view our full article Click here
16 well-known tea enterprises in East Chinas Anhui province attended the 4th China International Tea Expo, held in late May in Hangzhou, capital of East Chinas Zhejiang province.

Jointly hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Zhejiang provincial government, the five-day expo aimed to build tea brands and promote tea consumption. It kicked off on May 21, also observed as International Tea Day.

A total of 16 companies from Anhuis five tea-growing regions - Huangshan, Luan, Anqing, Chizhou and Xuancheng - as well as Chuzhou took part in the event, showing the provinces branded tea like Huangshan Maofeng and Luan Guapian.

With the theme of Tea and the World Share Development, the expo attracted 20 countries ambassadors to China and the United Nations resident coordinator in China.

A forum on international tea industry and a tea culture forum were held during the expo.




AGENCY [mdash]MaryAnn Wanner, 75, of Agency, died at 4:45 a.m. June 9, 2021 at Ridgewood Specialty Care. She was born February 18, 1946 in Lake City, IA to Lubbert and Erma DeVries. She married Martin Joseph Wanner and he preceded her in death on March 18, 2021. MaryAnn had worked as a beaut
Do you appreciate the work we do as the only independent media outlet dedicated to serving OU students, faculty, staff and alumni on campus and around the world for more than 100 years?

Then consider helping fund our endeavors. Around the world, communities are grappling with what journalism is worth and how to fund the civic good that robust news organizations can generate. We believe The OU Daily and Crimson Quarterly magazine provide real value to this community both now by covering OU, and tomorrow by helping launch the careers of media professionals.

If youre able, please SUPPORT US TODAY FOR AS LITTLE AS $1. You can make a one-time donation or a recurring pledge.
NEW YORK (AP)  Ally Financial said Wednesday that it is ending overdraft fees entirely on all of its bank products, becoming the first large U.S. bank to end overdraft fees across its entire business.

It's a major move by Ally, one of the nation's largest banks, and for the industry, which has been reliant on overdraft fees for decades to boost profits, often at the expense of poorer Americans who can't afford to pay such fees in the first place.

Critics of the practice often cite what they call the $38 cup of coffee, where a bank customer uses a debit card to buy a coffee, overdrafts, and ends up paying a $35 fee on top of the $3 drink.

In its announcement, Detroit-based Ally cited specifically the impact that overdraft fees have on Black and Latino households, which are historically poorer than their white counterparts and are hit with overdraft fees more often. It's also a common reason why Black and Latino households choose to be unbanked, that is being without a bank account, in order to avoid the fees that often come with these accounts.

Overdraft fees can be a major cause of anxiety," said Diane Morais, president of consumer and commercial banking at Ally Bank, in a statement. "It became clear to us that the best way to relieve that anxiety was to eliminate those fees.

The announcement affects roughly 3.6 million checking, savings and money market accounts, the bank said.

Ally did not earn significant fees from overdrafts. The most Ally charged each customer for overdrafting an account was $25 per day, instead of per transaction. Morais said roughly one out of every 12 Ally bank customers overdrafted at some point. Ally does not expect that scrapping overdraft fees will have a major impact on the companys full-year profit forecasts.

Customers who do overdraft with Ally will get their transactions approved at the bank's discretion, with the smaller transactions likely to be approved. Customers will have six days to bring the account back into positive territory.

The pressure to end overdraft fees has been intensifying for years. Politicians such as Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have used their positions in Congress to push bank CEOs to reconsider their usage of the fees. Regulators such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have also pushed banks to come up with solutions to stop charging customers $35 for an overdraft.

In response, the industry has been inching away from overdraft fees, albeit reluctantly. Large banks like Bank of America and Wells Fargo both now offer products without overdraft fees, although they come with more limited features than their other accounts. Many banks suspended overdraft fees early last year when the pandemic struck. Other banks, like regional banking giant PNC, have introduced features to their bank products to help avoid the fees in the first place.

However, Ally is the first big U.S. bank to get rid of overdraft fees altogether.

But banks are still heavily reliant on overdraft fees for revenue. The industry collected more than $12 billion in overdraft fee revenue last year alone, according to industry research.

___

This story has been updated to correct that Ally is headquartered in Detroit, not Charlotte, North Carolina.
KIGALI, Rwanda (AP)  In a key speech on his visit to Rwanda, French President Emmanuel Macron said he recognizes that France bears a heavy responsibility for the 1994 genocide in the central African country.

Macron solemnly detailed how France had failed the 800,000 victims of the genocide but he stopped short of an apology.

France was not an accomplice in the genocide but ended up siding with Rwandas genocidal regime" and bore an overwhelming responsibility in the slide toward the massacres, the French leader said, speaking Thursday at the genocide memorial in the capital, Kigali.

France has a role, a history and a political responsibility in Rwanda. It has a duty: That of looking history in the face and recognizing the suffering that it inflicted on the Rwandan people by favoring silence over the examination of truth for too long, Macron said.

When the genocide started, the international community took close to three months, three interminable months, before reacting and we, all of us, abandoned hundreds of thousands of victims.

Frances failures contributed to 27 years of bitter distance between the two countries, he said.

I have to come to recognize our responsibilities, Macron said.

Although Macron didnt apologize, he won praise from Rwandan President Paul Kagame for his powerful speech.

His words were something more valuable than an apology, they were the truth, Kagame said. This was an act of tremendous courage.

Kagame and Macron both signaled that a page had been turned in France-Rwanda ties.

This visit is about the future, not the past, Kagame said, adding that he and Macron discussed a range of issues, including investment and support for businesses.

Macron said they were opening a new page and rebuilding ties that are strong and irreversible. He said that he asked to be able to appoint a French ambassador to Rwanda, after six years where France has been without one in the country.

Appearing to explain his lack of apology, Macron said: A genocide cannot be excused, one lives with it.

Instead, he explained that he decided to apply the white light of truth to Frances role in the genocide and recognize its responsibilities.

This recognition is what I can give. A pardon is not mine to give, Macron said, promising beefed-up efforts to bring genocide suspects to justice.

Macron also said that hed come with 100,000 coronavirus vaccines for Rwanda.

Rwandans who had hoped for an apology said they were disappointed by Macrons speech.

We dont want to hear him talk about responsibility, about Frances role in the genocide," genocide survivor Dan Karenzi told The Associated Press. "We, the survivors, wanted to hear Macron apologizing to us officially. I am really disappointed.

The opposition Rwandese Platform for Democracy party tweeted ahead of Macrons speech that it hoped he would apologize honestly and promise to pay reparations to genocide victims.

Macron arrived in Kigali early Thursday and met Kagame at the presidential residence. Macron then toured the memorial to the frenzied 1994 slaughter in which Hutu extremists killed mainly minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus who tried to protect them.

Macrons trip builds on a series of French efforts since his election in 2017 to repair ties between the two countries.

Two reports completed in March and in April that examined Frances role in the genocide helped clear a path for Macrons visit, the first by a French president in 11 years.

The previous visit, by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010, was the first by a French leader after the 1994 massacre sent relations into a tailspin. Rwandas government and genocide survivor organizations often accused France of training and arming militias and former government troops who led the genocide.

Kagame, who has been Rwandas de facto leader since 1994 and its president since 2000, has won praise abroad for restoring order and making advances in economic development and health care. But rights watchdogs, dissidents, and others accuse Kagame of harsh rule.

___

Leicester contributed from Le Pecq, France.
A 49-year-old Lupton man sustained fatal injuries in a Tuesday afternoon crash.

Michigan State Police (MSP) Tri-City Post troopers responded to the fatal traffic crash involving a tractor trailer at 2:40 p.m. June 1, 2021. The crash occurred on M-30 near West Curtis Road and caused the highway to be closed for several hours.

Preliminary investigation indicates that the single vehicle crash occurred when the 2008 International, which was hauling milk, ran off the roadway and rolled over into the ditch, according to a news release MPS issued early Wednesday morning. The driver, Daniel Abe Grezesak, a 49-year-old-male of Lupton, sustained fatal injuries.

This traffic crash remains under investigation.

The Michigan State Police was assisted at the scene by the Midland County Sheriffs Office, Jerome Township Fire, Mid-Michigan Medical Center EMS, Coles Towing and Mikes Towing.
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Andrew Mullin.

Friday, May 28

11:22 p.m.  A 20-year-old Midland female was cited for no insurance and minor in possession of alcohol-second offense, after a traffic stop in Hope Township. The female's vehicle was towed, and the female received a ride home from a friend.

9:53 p.m.  A deputy responded to a Lee Township residence for a report of a possible breaking and entering in progress. Deputies arrived moments later and were unable to locate the suspects. Contact was eventually made with a 35-year-old male who was involved in the incident. The male was given a trespassing notice. At the time of this report, no crime had been committed, however, the investigation is ongoing.

8:58 p.m.  A deputy was dispatched to a Lee Township residence to follow up on a previous incident where a trailer house window was spray painted. The 34-year-old suspect, who spray painted the neighbor's window, hired someone to clean the spray paint off as restitution. The victim was upset that someone was on his property to clean the window and requested that a deputy advise the suspect that he did not want anyone on the property. The suspect was advised not to make any more contact at the residence. No further assistance was requested.

8:20 p.m.  Deputies responded to a Mills Township residence regarding a dispute over personal property left after a death in the family. Deputies spoke with all parties involved and they agreed to settle the matter during a trustee meeting next week. All family members involved were calm and cooperative while deputies were on the scene. No further assistance was requested.

7:42 p.m.  A deputy spoke with a 39-Jerome-Township male regarding his 31-year-old Midland ex-girlfriend calling him multiple times. The male was advised the process to obtain a personal protection order.

7:31 p.m.  A deputy responded to the ER for a report of an intentional overdose that occurred in Greendale Township with a 30-year-old Greendale Township man. A mental health petition was completed.

6:54 p.m.  A deputy contacted a Homer Township female who stated her current boyfriends ex-girlfriend trespassed at her house. Contact was made with the female, who advised she was dropping off a mutual child between her and the complainants boyfriend. A report is being sent to the Midland Prosecuting Attorneys Office for review.

3:55 p.m.  Deputies, EMS, and Homer Township Fire Department personnel were dispatched to a two-car crash in Homer Township. Both drivers were treated at ER. The at-fault driver was cited for failing to yield.

3:19 p.m.  Officers responded to a vehicle crash on West Wheeler Street.

2:47 p.m.  A 70-year-old Homer Township resident accidentally gave out her social security number to an unknown person over the phone. She realized it was a fraud attempt before there was any financial loss. She was given an identity theft checklist and advice on how to prevent situations like that in the future.

1:36 p.m.  A deputy took a report of an attempted unemployment fraud of a 65-year-old Larkin Township woman. There was no financial loss.

1:00 p.m.  A Homer Township citizen called the sheriff's office due to a neighbor's dogs continuously barking. A deputy checked the area and did not hear any dogs barking, but as a courtesy, spoke with the female owner of five dogs and offered suggestions. The deputy also advised the caller of the procedures to contact their township supervisor if they desire enforcement.

12:14 p.m.  Officers responded to a verbal domestic situation at East Haley Street.

4:34 a.m.  Officers made a warrant arrest in the area of Russell Street and Sylvan Lane.

3:53 a.m.  A deputy located a vehicle that was involved in an accident on a Lincoln Township roadway. There was no one around the vehicle. The 22-year-old Midland female driver was later located and issued multiple citations reference the incident.

12:09 a.m.  A deputy was dispatched to Mills Township regarding an unoccupied pickup truck that was on its side in the ditch. The driver did not report the incident. The vehicle was impounded and the 29-year-old male driver was later identified and issued citations.

Thursday, May 27

11:33 p.m.  A deputy and a Midland Police officer responded to a Mills Township residence for an assault. A 50-year-old Mills Township male was arrested for domestic violence and lodged at the Midland County Jail. A 46-year-old woman and a 16-year-old male had minor injuries. A report has been forwarded to the prosecuting attorneys office for review.

11:14 p.m.  A 22-year-old North Carolina female was cited for no insurance, running a red light and expired registration after a traffic stop in Greendale Township. The womans vehicle was towed, and a family member picked her up.

10:11 p.m.  A 21-year-old homeless male was arrested on an outstanding warrant out of St. Louis Police Department for a traffic violation. The male was turned over to the St. Louis Police Department. A report is being sent to the prosecutor's office for review of possible charges.

7:27 p.m.  A 67-year-old Homer Township female advised that she arrived home from running errands and noticed her mailbox and wooden fence were struck by a vehicle. A deputy checked the area, but the suspect vehicle was not located. Total property damage was $300 and no suspects are currently known.

6:57 p.m.  A deputy contacted a 39-year-old Jerome Township female who is continually calling 911. The female's calls are not an emergency. A report is being sent to the prosecutor's office for review of possible charges.

3:57 p.m.  A deputy was dispatched to an Ingersoll Township residence regarding a loose sheep. The deputy located the owners and escorted him to his sheep which were walked back home.

2:03 p.m.  A 39-year-old male in Jerome Township reported his 31-year-old ex-girlfriend showed up at his house unannounced. The female has been calling the complainant 30-40 times a day. The complainant requested the female be contacted and advised not to contact him. Deputies spoke to the female who agreed not to contact the male.

1:37 p.m. A deputy was dispatched to a Homer Township residence regarding a female with two warrants out of Midland County. A deputy located the female and placed her under arrest without incident. She was transported to the Midland County Jail.

9:09 a.m.  A new gray truck failed to pay for $51.54 in fuel in Coleman. No plate was obtained, and the direction of travel is unknown.

3:10 a.m.  A deputy stopped a 27-year-old male for speeding. During the contact, it was discovered the male didn't have a valid driver's license. The male was cited for driving with a suspend license, and no insurance. The male was given a verbal warning for speeding. A report is being sent to the prosecutor's office.

1:26 p.m.  A deputy was dispatched to a Larkin Township residence in reference to a suspicious bright light in the backyard. Deputies checked the back yard and discovered the bright light was the moon. The caller did not want contact.

1:17 p.m.  Deputies were dispatched to speak with a 20-year-old female in Lee Township. The female believed an unknown truck was following her. Deputies followed the female home, to make sure she arrived home safe. Deputies didn't locate the unknown truck.
To the editor:

I commend the MDN for its special section commemorating the 2020 mid-Michigan dam failures.

A citizen of Midland since 1944, Ive witnessed a number of local hydrological events. Fortunately, Ive lived for the past 50 years on a ridge about 1,000 feet from, but 21 feet higher, than Sturgeon Creek, a tributary to the Tittabawassee River flowing through West Midland. Having analyzed the 2020 event as an environmental engineer, I wanted to share my perspectives of floods vs. inundations."

My family owns a fifth-generation cottage on the shore of Crystal Lake, the ninth largest inland lake in Michigan since 1928. In 1873, during an attempt to build a canal to nearby Lake Michigan, a temporary dam was breached and the level of the 10,000 acre lake dropped precipitously by 17 feet as 56 billion gallons of water rushed in a torrent downstream. It was the largest inundation from an inland lake due to an artificial cause (a dam breaching) in U.S. history  a record held for 147 years (until surpassed by the May 2020 Midland event)! It was about 15 times larger than the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, flood of 1889 (also caused by a dam breaching!).

The flood of 1893 set the local standard for Midland until the 1986 flood (called "the worst natural disaster in the state's modern history" up until the 2020 event, which was considered a 500-year event). The later, however, was an unnatural manmade disaster, an inundation and not a true flood." It was caused primarily by the breaching of two of four dams impounding four small lakes  the result of years of deferred maintenance, negligence, and federal and state regulation.

People who live at the lower ends of watersheds cannot be isolationists. Pretty soon they will notice that water flows, and that will set them to thinking about the people upstream (and) further thinking about the people downstream. Such pondering shows us the golden rule: Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you." (American essayist Wendell Berry, Watershed & Commonwealth.")

STACY DANIELS

Midland
Summer is the perfect time to take a scenic float in Colorado. Here are 8 of the best lazy rivers for tubing in Colorado this summer. Grab your tube, throw on some shades, and get ready to relax as you float down the river!

River Tubing (Photo) Credit BluIz60 (iStock) Clear Creek, Golden (Photo) Credit foto_graffiti (Flickr) Yampa River, Steamboat Springs (Photo) Credit Wild Frog Photography (Flickr) San Juan River, Pagosa Springs (Photo) Credit Pagosa Outside Poudre River, Fort Collins (Photo) Credit Joe Flood (Flickr) South Platte River, Denver (Photo) Credit Kent Kanouse (Flickr) North Star Nature Preserve, Aspen (Photo) Credit Thaddeus Roan Animas River, Durango (Photo) Credit amygdala_imagery (iStock) Arkansas River, Salida (Photo) Credit Jacob Boomsma (iStock) Medano Creek (Photo) Credit Spencer McKee (copy)

Leslie James Leslie James is all about Colorado when it comes to writing features, sharing adventures, and creating colorful galleries. She loves camping, hiking, mountain biking and snowboarding. Leslie joined OutThere Colorado in November 2020. Follow Leslie James Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today
Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The coronavirus pandemic presents an opportunity for Africa to reinvent its economic growth plan, a governance think-tank, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, said on Wednesday
Kampala, Uganda (PANA)  Uganda and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have reached a staff-level agreement on a three-year US$1 billion financing package for a reform programme aimed at tackling the near-term impact of COVID-19 and helping Ugandas recovery by safeguarding macroeconomic stability and generating more inclusive growth
BLOOMINGTON  A year ago, Bloomington-Normal police learned to change tactics quickly as civil unrest led to looting and property damage, following the death of George Floyd.

In the nights following, we sort of regrouped and we formulated a plan and we were successful in preventing issues, said Normal Police Chief Rick Bleichner, recounting the local agencies work after the first night of looting.

On the afternoon of May 31, 2020, a motorcyclist drove into a lingering crowd after 1,000 people gathered for a peaceful rally in downtown Bloomington to protest Floyds murder at the hands of former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin.

Marshall Blanchard, who has since pleaded guilty to one count of hate crime and two counts of failure to give information after a motor vehicle accident, was the first arrest in McLean County connected to the civil unrest that spilled into June.

More than 40 additional people, including five minors, have since been arrested and charged for involvement in burglary, looting and mob action at several Bloomington-Normal retailers.

I think the Target part of it was the worst part and then obviously the next night Bloomington had an issue at Eastland Mall, Bleichner said, of the two nights that brought the most damage. After Target, "We had a unified command post where we were doing police operations out of, and that certainly helped with some of those responses between us and Bloomington and county and state police and ISU."

In the overnight hours of May 31 and into June 1, hundreds gathered outside Target. Some engaged with police verbally, some threw frozen water bottles, rocks and things like that and others, who werent spurring confrontation, just took advantage of that as an opportunity to help themselves to things that didnt belong to them, Bleichner said.

 Please log in to keep reading. {{featured_button_text}} Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Stores including Walmart, Read's Sporting Goods and Kohls sustained damage and were burglarized between May 31 and June 2, sending police into heightened alert for the remainder of the week.

Preventative measures, like cement barricades and boarded windows and doors, were placed in some areas as well as an increase in police presence in commercial areas of the community. The looting and rioting cost almost $205,000 in police overtime and vehicle damage.

Since that week, at least 25 people have been sentenced for crimes related to the burglary, looting and mob action. Of those, two were given prison sentences.

Anthony Crose, 21, was initially charged with four counts of mob action, but three of those were dismissed when he pleaded guilty to one. He was given two and a half years in prison for the charge. Police identified him as one of the main instigators in the violence that unfolded at Target.

Micah Pacquette, 23, was charged with looting at Kohls, criminal damage to government property (a police vehicle), mob action, burglary and aggravated battery of a peace officer. He pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and burglary in May and was sentenced to eight years in the Department of Corrections.

At least 12 cases are still pending. The majority of those who have taken plea deals have been given jail sentences, coupled with probation. Some also were ordered to complete community service, and those directly involved with damage or theft were ordered to pay restitution to the involved stores or police departments.

But Bleichner said the departments havent found everyone who was involved.

We have some that we have not been able to identify, but those still remain open. If we do get further information, we certainly would proceed on those investigations, he said. We did a lot of excellent work by our staff and weve got many people that weve held accountable, but there are still some that we werent able to identify yet.

Since that night, officers have undergone more training, in addition to the annual crowd control training they typically complete.

Weve done a lot since that time to improve our planning and our training. I wouldnt say that it was overly deficient prior to that, but we realized that we had to change our tactics and well continue to look at that, Bleichner said. Its not just a one and done. We look at, as things unfold and things happen around the country, it gives us an opportunity to look at What if that were to happen here and would we be ready to deal with it?

Contact Kelsey Watznauer at (309) 820-3254. Follow her on Twitter: @kwatznauer.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0

Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
BLOOMINGTON  An investigating committee from the American Association of University Professors is highly critical of Illinois Wesleyan Universitys actions in eliminating four programs last year, calling the process contrary to accepted principles and the faculty handbook.

President Georgia Nugent, in a statement emailed to The Pantagraph on Tuesday, said the university strongly disagrees with the AAUPs findings.

The University adhered to the guidelines of the AAUP throughout last years academic program review process. We remain committed to continuing collaborative efforts with our University community to bring new vitality to the future of liberal arts education at Illinois Wesleyan, she said in the email.

Unlock all of our digital content. Our new offer: $3 for 3 months Community news. Videos. The latest updates from close to home and around the world. Support local journalism by becoming a Pantagraph member today.

However, Michael Theune, an IWU English professor who was vice chair of the facultys Council on University Programs and Policy when these decisions were being made, said the report brings a certain degree of vindication to the facultys concerns.

Last year, the board acted in July to discontinue programs in French, Italian, religious studies and anthropology. Originally, nine faculty members were to be affected by the discontinuation, but the university found other positions or came to retirement agreements with all but one tenured faculty member.

Although only one affected faculty member was terminated, the investigating committee said in its report that faculty leaders saw it as a matter of principle.

If this can happen to one of us, it can happen to any of us, the faculty leaders said in a letter summarized in the report.

The effect on faculty morale at Illinois Wesleyan University has been baleful. This, too, is something about which all interviewed parties agreed, the report said.

 Please log in to keep reading. {{featured_button_text}} Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Theune said Tuesday, its a little hard to determine (current morale) because essentially everyone has been teaching remotely making it hard to meet with colleagues, but I would agree with the report. My sense is that morale is low.

Proposed program changes triggered rallies and calls to action on the liberal arts campus last year.

The board back-pedaled from one of the initial recommendations to downsize the School of Music amid protests from alumni, postponing that and some other recommendations from a Program Evaluation Task Force.

In her emailed statement, Nugent said, It was disappointing, but not surprising, that this advocacy group for faculty interests decided to move forward with an investigation of Illinois Wesleyan and seven other universities for what AAUP considers departures  from normative standards of academic governance.

She wrote, Notwithstanding the AAUPs obvious lack of impartiality, the University cooperated fully with the investigation process.

At issue is whether the program discontinuances were educational in nature or driven by financial considerations and whether every effort was made to find suitable positions within the institution for those affected.

Two faculty members accepted tenured appointments in other departments; two entered phased-retirement agreements; two chose to continue teach until retirement age and two chose to enter separation agreements with the university.

In a response to the report provided to AAUP, Nugent and board chair Tim Szerlong described it as an incomplete factual record that relies on hearsay, and furthermore, misrepresents facts in a number of ways.

The IWU administration rejected the report in its entirety saying , Not only does it accept without question faculty assertions that we believe to be inaccurate, but in doing so the report chooses to reiterate and emphasize particularly emotional and inflammatory language, rather than presenting an objective account.

But Theune said the administration has not specified what the alleged inaccuracies or misrepresentations are.

The university declined a request from The Pantagraph for examples of what it believed to be inaccurate or misrepresented.

Contact Lenore Sobota at (309) 820-3240. Follow her on Twitter: @Pg_Sobota

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0

Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
A federal judge on Tuesday granted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich an early end to his two-year period of supervised release, marking an official end to a criminal case that rocked Illinois when the FBI knocked on the governors door 12  years ago.

The one-sentence order from U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis stated simply that early termination of supervision is granted as to Rod Blagojevich, though the underlying document was not available to the public. The judge noted in the order that the motion was agreed to by prosecutors.

The move comes 16 months after then-President Donald Trump commuted Blagojevichs 14-year prison sentence, springing the former governor more than four years early. Trump had left intact, however, Blagojevichs two-year period of supervised release  the federal equivalent of parole  which had been scheduled to expire in February 2022.

The terms of Blagojevichs supervised release period, originally imposed by U.S. District Judge James Zagel, were standard, including not committing any new crimes, not leaving the jurisdiction without permission, and checking in periodically with a probation officer, court records show.

 Please log in to keep reading. {{featured_button_text}} Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Blagojevich, 64, was arrested in December 2008 on an array of corruption charges, including the proposed sale of President-elect Barack Obamas Senate seat and trying to shake down executives from a childrens hospital and the horse racing industry for campaign contributions in exchange for official acts in office. He was convicted in June 2011 and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Since being released from the federal prison camp in Littleton, Colorado, Blagojevich has earned money by making videos on Cameo, a website where users pay for personalized video messages from celebrities, and has hosted a weekly podcast called The Lightning Rod for WLS-AM radio.

He was also disbarred from practicing law by the Illinois Supreme Court.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
SPRINGFIELD  Building on previous efforts, a bill that would essentially compel the closure of all existing immigration detention centers in Illinois is headed to Gov. J.B. Pritzkers desk.

Senate Bill 667, also known as the Illinois Way Forward Act, cleared the Illinois Senate on Friday with a 36-19 vote. It passed the Illinois House 68-47 on Monday.

The legislation would ban local governments from entering into immigration detention contracts with U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If signed into law, those with existing contracts would be forced to end them by Jan. 1.

There are currently only three facilities with such contracts: the Jerome Combs Detention Center in Kankakee; the McHenry County Jail in suburban Chicago; and the Pulaski County Detention Center in deep Southern Illinois.

The bill would erase ICEs physical footprint in Illinois. The federal agency would still have the ability to build and operate its own facility in the state, but it typically contracts with local governments and private companies for its detention operations.

Immigration enforcement continues to harm communities in Illinois and separate our families, said state Sen. Omar Aquino, D-Chicago, the bills sponsor. Its important that no matter where you live in Illinois, local police cannot collaborate with ICE on civil immigration enforcement.

The legislation would add to an array of laws signed in recent years that have made Illinois one of the most immigrant-friendly states in the country.

 Please log in to keep reading. {{featured_button_text}} Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

It amends the Illinois Transparency and Responsibility Using State Tools (TRUST) Act, a law signed by then-Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2017 that prevents law enforcement from detaining individuals solely based on their immigration status.

In 2019, Pritzker signed legislation banning privately-run detention facilities. This was done partially in response to a proposed 1,200-bed facility in Dwight. Plans were subsequently dropped.

Aquino said the current legislation finishes the job started by that job.

The bill was pushed by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and several local, grassroots organizations.

While we have been organizing to end ICE contracts at the county level, we are also pushing SB 667 to end local contracts with ICE all across Illinois, said Amanda Hall, a member of the Coalition to End the ICE Contract in McHenry County. This bill is critical for ensuring safety for our families and neighbors, while setting a precedent for other states across the country to say no to ICE detention.

It was opposed by law enforcement groups, including the Illinois Sheriffs Association and the Fraternal Order of Police. Republicans also opposed the bill.

I think the first TRUST Act had a place but this ties law enforcements hands within the state, such that they are effectively not able to do their duties, said state Sen. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy.

The legislation would not prevent local law enforcement from collaborating with federal agencies on criminal investigations.

Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan had no arrangement with anyone to help Commonwealth Edison win key legislation in Springfield in exchange for bribes, lawyers for four people charged in the bombshell corruption case argued in a court filing Tuesday.

The filing on behalf of Michael McClain, Anne Pramaggiore, John Hooker and Jay Doherty asked U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber to toss several of the key elements of the case, including allegations of bribery conspiracy involving jobs doled out by ComEd to associates of the then-powerful House speaker.

The filing argued that the U.S. attorneys office has improperly used the federal bribery statute to criminalize recommendations forwarded by Madigan to ComEd officials  what the defense lawyers called a routine practice that falls well within the bounds of legal political horse-trading.

The government does not allege any connection between the jobs and any actions by (Madigan), the filing stated. Adopting the governments view would put huge numbers of American citizens at risk of prosecution for their ordinary participation in the political process.

The argument had the familiar ring of many other federal political corruption cases in Chicago, where defense attorneys have long accused prosecutors of bending the law in order to charge a high-profile elected official.

In fact, the brief cites the case against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who famously argued that his efforts to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama in 2008 were not tied directly to any campaign donations, jobs or other things of value, and therefore did not constitute a bribe.

It also references another famous Illinois politician, Abraham Lincoln, noting that the revered former president once asked in May 1863 that U.S. Trust Corp. hire the nephew of a Union Army general killed in a Civil War battle.

Even Abraham Lincoln, renowned for his honesty, made job recommendations while serving as president, the motion stated.

 Please log in to keep reading. {{featured_button_text}} Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

The motion marked the second legal challenge in the case since the indictment was brought last November. Last month, attorneys for Doherty, a onetime consultant to ComEd and former head of the City Club of Chicago, argued in a legal filing that prosecutors had failed to present to the grand jury any evidence that jobs, internships or board seats mentioned in the indictment were not bona fide.

The 50-page indictment accused McClain, a retired lobbyist and one of Madigans closest confidants, of orchestrating the nearly decadelong scheme by ComEd to win Madigans support for its legislative agenda.

The indictment alleged that beginning in 2011, the defendants arranged for various associates of Madigan  including his political allies and campaign workers  to obtain jobs, contracts and monetary payments from ComEd even in instances where they did little or no actual work.

McClain and the other defendants also conspired to have ComEd hire a Madigan-favored law firm and lawyer, previously identified in public testimony as Victor Reyes of Reyes Kurson, and to accept into ComEds summer internship program a certain number of students who lived in Madigans 13th Ward, according to the charges.

Pramaggiore, the onetime CEO of ComEd, and McClain also allegedly took steps to have Juan Ochoa, the former head of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority of Chicago, appointed to ComEds board of directors at the request of Madigan and McClain, the indictment stated.

The motion filed Tuesday asked Leinenweber to toss the specific counts related to Reyes and Ochoa, as well as a count alleging the defendants conspired in 2019 to pay key members of Madigans 13th Ward operation $5,000 a month in consulting fees through Dohertys firm, Jay D. Doherty & Associates.

There are no allegations that any defendant expected that ComEd would receive any benefit from (Madigan) in exchange for those things of value, the motion stated. Nor are there allegations that any defendant understood that he or she was obtaining anything at all from (Madigan) in exchange.

All four defendants have pleaded not guilty to the indictment. Another former ComEd executive, Fidel Marquez, pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy last year and is cooperating with prosecutors in the probe.

Madigan, who stepped down from his role as speaker in January and later resigned his legislative seat, has not been charged in the case and has denied wrongdoing.

The alleged scheme first came to light in July 2019, when the U.S. attorneys office announced ComEd was being charged with bribery under a deferred prosecution agreement in which the company agreed to pay a record $200 million fine.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Illinois was on track to shed all remaining COVID-19 business restrictions and fully reopen the state by June 11.

There are no capacity limits in Phase 5, the final phase in the state's reopening plan. Large gatherings may resume without restrictions. Anyone over 2 years old who is not vaccinated is still required to continue to wear a mask when unable socially distance from others.

The state continues to monitor virus numbers especially to see how Memorial Day weekend affected the spread of the virus, the governor said during a news conference in Peoria Wednesday.

Pritzker defends new Illinois budget pushed through by Dems with $1 billion in projects Gov. J.B. Pritzker defended the $43.2 billion state budget bill passed by the General Assembly late Monday and early Tuesday amid complaints f

 Please log in to keep reading. {{featured_button_text}} Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

"As the numbers are coming down, I just looked at them on my way here, we have declining numbers of cases, declining numbers of people in the hospital, declining numbers of people in the hospital with COVID," Pritzker said. "So, my expectation is on June 11 as projected, we will move to Phase 5."

As vaccination rates increased, the number of infections, deaths and hospitalizations decreased dramatically in April and May. As of Tuesday, more than 67% of Illinoisans had received at least one dose and nearly 51% were fully vaccinated, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. From May 25 to 31, the percentage of COVID-19 tests coming back positive was 1.6%.

If COVID-19 numbers remain low, Illinois will move into Phase 5 a week from Friday.

As of Wednesday, the entire state was in a "bridge phase" between the fourth and fifth phases. Some capacity limits remained in the bridge phase.

Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
JACKSONVILLE  An often-praised, sometimes-maligned vigilante group that targeted online sexual predators said it is ending its work in the wake of the indictment of its founder.

KTS Predator Hunters has been credited with helping expose hundreds of potential pedophiles since launching in 2019. Group members said they would never make first contact but would converse online with men who thought they were chatting with underage girls. Face-to-face meetings eventually would be arranged, during which predators would be met by law enforcement officials instead of teenagers  many times while KTS taped or live-streamed the meeting for its 40,000-plus followers.

KTS  short for Keep Them Safe  said it would work closely with, and enjoyed a strong professional relationship with, many law enforcement agencies.

That was until a dispute last summer with Madison County authorities, who said they were not alerted to a KTS "sting" meet up in Alton in July. The event initiated friction between the groups, and last month a grand jury indicted KTS leader Kyle P. Swanson, 30, of Wood River on felony counts of unlawful restraint and obstructing justice and a misdemeanor assault charge.

The indictment, which is a formal charge by a grand jury and is not proof of guilt, accuses Swanson of detaining and threatening a man Jan. 12 in a Madison County parking lot as part of KTS Predator Hunters activities.

Swanson is free on $40,000 bail and scheduled to appear in court June 11 for a preliminary hearing. Supporters are organizing a peaceful protest outside the courthouse starting at 9 a.m. that day. A change.org petition calling for charges to be dropped had drawn 5,397 signatures as of Monday afternoon.

 Please log in to keep reading. {{featured_button_text}} Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.

Swanson, an Army combat veteran with a criminal justice background, said the group was created to "inform the public of child predators" in communities. He has called the charges "ridiculous."

Madison County State's Attorney Tom Haine said in a statement, however, that "the grand jury's decision ... reflects the fundamental idea that when members of a community decide to take justice into their own hands, even for laudable purposes, they can place themselves and others in danger and damage potential cases."

Swanson said KTS will keep its popular Facebook page operational but will no longer conduct any operations.

"It's with a heavy heart that I am announcing the closing of KTS Predator Hunters LLC," he posted. "During this time, we have brought a huge amount of awareness to our community of sexual predators and how bold they are to meet children in broad daylight in any population."

He said he has enjoyed the time and is proud of the work the group has done, but that "I just need to move on and figure out our next step," he told followers. "The mental exhaustion that comes with a business like this is just way too hard to let it keep going as it is."

Just months ago, a civil lawsuit against the group was dismissed. The group had been sued by a man who claimed he was defamed by false statements and that KTS followers had caused his family to be harassed.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
It's being reported today that EU draft rules aimed at reining in the power of Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon should only target these four U.S. tech giants, a leading EU lawmaker said, signaling a tougher stand than EU antitrust regulators.

Proposed by European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager last year, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) could force U.S. tech giants to change their lucrative business models and ensure a level playing field for smaller rivals.

The DMA defines online gatekeepers as companies with more than 6.5 billion euros ($8 billion) in annual European turnover in the last three years or 65 billion euros in market value in the last financial year, and which provide a core platform service in at least three EU countries.

The EU competition enforcer should be able to designate in a month which gatekeepers should be subject to the rules instead of its proposed three-month period, he said.

The European Parliament lawmaker Andreas Schwab, which is leading the file for the EU body, stated in his report that "The DMA should be clearly targeted to those platforms that play an unquestionable role as gatekeepers due to their size and their impact on the internal market."

The Reuter's report further noted that "Schwab also proposed beefing up a list of donts set out by the Commission, among them a halt to tech giants to favoring their own services on their platforms or harvesting data from their platforms to compete with their business users."

This is clearly a shot aimed at Apple based on the previous warnings to Apple about Spotify's complaint. Spotify is still whining in a report by The Verge that was perfectly timed to the EU lawmaker's commentary issued today. Patently Apple covered this issue back in an April report titled "In a 'Statement of Objections' The EU Commission warns Apple that it's App Store is abusing its dominant position."

For more on today's report, read the full Reuters report from the Financial Times.

For more information about the coming Digital Markets Act (DMA), read Patently Apple's December 2020 report titled "The EU Commission has published their New Rules for Digital Platforms in the form of the Digital Services & Digital Market Acts."
Proactive analyst Emma Ulker talks to Proactive London about Open Orphan ( ).

She says ORPH has firmly established its core pharma services offering, underpinned

by the world-leading quarantine facilities, unique challenge study models and its established clinical trial services.

ORPH is focusing on converting an extensive and substantial amount of non-Covid-19 related services worth over 100mln. This is in addition to substantial contracts already

signed with the UK Government for COVID-19 vaccine challenge studies.

Click here to read Proactive analyst Emma Ulker's latest research note on 'Open Orphan: Unlocking the value of non-core assets'
Today, the 3rd of May, is marked in the Christian calendar as the Feast of the Holy Cross.

Its the day people honor Helenas discovery of the true cross.

Helena is the mother of Constantine the Great. Dont want to confuse him with those lesser Constantines. Apparently the Brits like to say she was English, and want her to have been the daughter of a king. Others suggest a lower rank, including stable maid. Which, frankly, I would much rather.

Whatever, it doesnt look like her life was all that easy. Until her son took over as head of the Roman Empire. Then things changed. She was a pious person, an actual Christian, I believe. Unlike her son who was in the tyrant business above all else. He, the son, actually seemed to have trouble distinguishing Jesus from Sol Invictus.

Not so, Helena. Her major contribution was to the religious tourist industry in Israel & Palestine. As well as giving the relic industry a much need shot in the arm.

Between 326 and 328 Helena traveled to the Holy Land and her tour guides at the time helped her to discover the sites of the nativity in Bethlehem, the ascension, Jesus tomb, the true cross, including several of the nails, as well as, on a side trip, the site of the burning bush.

Pretty cool. And I have no doubt she believed these were all exactly what they were presented as.

And. If you go to Israel and Palestine today to visit the sites of Jesus life, youre pretty much walking in Helenas footsteps.

And that set me to thinking. The relics, theyre interesting. And worth thinking about.

But I believe the more important thing is that thing I joked about being the religious tourist industry.

Theres something important in that. And, for me, Helena offers something more when we think of her journey to the holy land, and maybe anyones journey to any holy land.

Some years ago I was in the First Unitarian Church in New Bedford, in Massachusetts. It was some sort of clergy gathering. I recall being caught by the astonishing Tiffany mosaic above the pulpit.

Even partially obscured by some amateurs attempt at preservation through a thick application of shellac, you cant miss how amazing it is, and the luminosity of the mosaic shining though, the image, titled, of course, Lifes Pilgrimage. At three hundred square feet it is the largest of Tiffanys many mosaics.

I would add, like that grand mosaic, some things in life are unavoidable. Im coming to suspect pilgrimage is one of them. Helens for sure. But, also ours.

The mosaic features a bearded man on what is obviously a dangerous mountain path with an angel just behind him. Made me think of that once ubiquitous bumper sticker, Not all who wander are lost, a slight paraphrase of a line in a poem in J. R. R. Tolkiens novel, the Fellowship of the Ring, Not all those who wander are lost. And there I was confronted with wandering, thinking Im doing one thing, going to a meeting, and what does it turn out to be but a pilgrimage!

And, talking about images that point the way. That way is seen, always, as the line goes, through a glass darkly. Theres always some confusion. The way is cloudy, like going through a mist. And, and, there in front of me, the glory was indeed partially obscured by that well-meaning but wrong-headed shellac. Seems an important point. Like Helenas gullibility along with her piety.

The online version of my personal favorite dictionary for American English, Merriam-Webster gives two definitions for that word quest. First as a journey made in search of something and second, a long and difficult effort to find or do something. Pilgrimage, as it turns out, is also given two definitions. The first is a journey to a holy place and the second is a journey to a special or unusual place.

The dictionary goes on to cite the first usages for both English words in the fourteenth century. That can be a bit confusing as pilgrimage is one of the oldest of spiritual practices, and the idea of a quest is perhaps the oldest literary motif there is, songs of quest were sung around campfires, and became the subjects of the first bards in far distant antiquity. The quest is our human desire to find the treasures of our hearts. Pilgrimage is the journey of the heart. They are something critical for us, if we ever want to move from our status quo, from the comfortable shallows of our lives, and into our depths.

And, lets be clear, like pretty much all spiritual practices, pilgrimage can be a way of avoiding the real deal, becoming tourists rather than pilgrims. Theres that famous story where a businessman, infamous for his harsh dealings with others, telling Mark Twain of his plans to take a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Im going to climb Mt Sinai, he explains. And from the top of the mountain Im going to read out the Ten Commandments to the world. Twain replies, somewhat dryly, I imagine, Or, you could stay in Boston, and try to keep them. There is that.

Ive known people who see their spiritual journey as a pilgrimage in a way that misses the point. The dream quest for them is a running away from the problems and difficulties of life. I suspect we need to take heed of that Buddhist text which proclaims, how sad that people ignore the near, and search for truth afar. Pilgrimage is not about running from, but rather running to.

Pilgrimage is a lot like that Medieval Jewish story of the man who dreams of a treasure buried by a lamppost at the edge of a bridge, who takes off on his quest, on his pilgrimage, and after much hardship finds the spot. While digging at the foot of the lamppost a policeman stops him. When the pilgrim tells his story, the policeman laughs and says he had such a dream himself, and in minute detail describes the mans own basement. But, the policeman continues, you dont see me chasing off after such things. Leaving the man in peace to return home and dig up the treasure.

That man had to wander in order to come home. Lifes pilgrimage is taking that walk, wandering out, and then going home. Often in order to find the true treasure we need to step out, to walk about, to experience the sacred way, in order to find our home.

Its as natural as breathing. Who, as a child or, maybe today, hasnt had a fantasy about embarking on an adventure and toward some wonderful object? This intuition, dream, aspiration, is about as baseline human as it gets. We all, or, just about every one of us, dreams of that better. I suggest the dream version is itself the origin of all quest. And, I think pilgrimage brings the dream of quest down to the earth. Pilgrimage is what we actually do out of that great dream.

Its about taking that walk, long or short, home.

One would be hard put to find a religion that doesnt honor pilgrimage one way or another. Theres the Spanish Way of St James, one of the great Medieval Christian pilgrimage routes, a path I know a number of us have walked, second only, perhaps to making ones way to Jerusalem. And, thats just two of many, many Christian pilgrimage sites. In ancient Judaism the Temple was a destination for pilgrims and even today Jews make their way to that last standing remnant of Herods temple to remember and to pray. Throughout the Muslim world there are many pilgrimage sites, the great Haj, one of the five foundations of Islam, merely being the most notable. In India, Hindus have numerous sites of pilgrimage. Buddhists make their way to the sites of the Buddhas life and other great shrines.

Of the great religions, only Confucians, at least once in government, were suspicious of pilgrimage. Suspicious of peasants leaving home, I suspect, and of the social disruptions that can follow such journeys of discovery. Frankly, I find that negative take on pilgrimage particularly informative. Pilgrimage, rightly done, disrupts the order of things. And, I notice in modern times people marked by the many positive aspects of Confucianism like to visit the site of the masters birth in what is today the city of Qufu. So, now, even Confucians have pilgrimages.

Pilgrimage is not even bound by the terms faith or spiritual, at least in its usual sense. Think of the Freedom trail up in Boston. Or, mixing it all up for me, secular and spiritual, taking a walk around Walden Pond, something Ive done nearly annually since moving to New England. We might discuss circumambulation and its close cousin, walking the labyrinth as variations on pilgrimage.

So, what about us? You know, you and me, faithful and faithless. Us. How can we encounter pilgrimage as our spiritual practice? I suggest we can, each of us, claim pilgrimage as part of our spiritual lives.

There are dangers. But when are there not?

And who knows what we might find? Maybe a splinter of the true cross. More possibly, a hint at our true home

Who knows?

A mind bubble on a Monday morning, on a festival dedicated to a pilgrimage and a finding.
The Economic Policy Advisor and Spokesperson to the Vice-President Dr Gideon Boako has admonished parents to encourage their children to seek education to the highest level instead of seeking immediate employment after senior high school education.



Dr Boako said although socio-economic challenge sometimes plays a major hindrance in this regard but said quality education called for sacrifice, stressing that investing in the education of the children was necessary to address child delinquency and secure a better future.



Dr Boako noted this when he was invited by Rev, Father Francis Ayana the Parish Priest of the Roman Catholic Church at Yamfo in the Tano North Constituency to speak to the congregants on education among other issues.



He explained that it's good to seek for an early employment to provide assistance to the family but will be more prudent if students prepare themselves adequately for the job market by pursuing higher education.



According to him, education was a shared responsibility and that a country that failed to develop its people intellectually faced the challenge of opting out of the global village where knowledge and transformation were the order of the day.



He averred that, children needed to be adequately prepared to develop specific sets of moral and academic skills and abilities at the pre-school level before they graduated to the basic school and subsequently to the tertiary level.



He explained that, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President, will continue to increase the manpower resources and teaching facilities, including the use of ICT teaching aids, of public tertiary institutions to support the expected increases in student population from the Free SHS graduates.



He said the government will continue to inject standards and professionalism into the education sector. It will ensure that, teacher education and continuous professional development, working conditions, recruitment and retention, career structure and pathways for progression among others are upscale.



Dr Gideon Boako also visited the chief of Susuanso Nana Obrimpong Antwi Tabiri who was marking his 55th anniversary at Susuanso in the Tano North Constituency.

Source: Kwabena Manu/Peace fm/Bono East correspondent.









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 Speaker of Ghana's Parliament, right Honourable Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, today hosted the Executive Committee of Wisconsin International University TESCON in a historic visit.



Mrs. Kate Addo, the Director of Public Affairs of Parliament welcomed the recently sworn-in executives of TESCON and requested for the purpose of the visit.



The TESCON president, Prince A. A. Sadat, stated that their courtesy call on the Speaker was to introduce themselves as young political actors and also request the speaker to intervene on the matter of some private universities preventing partizan political activities on their campuses contrary to Article 17, 21(1) and 25 of Ghana's constitution. He also appealed to the speaker of parliament to use his good office to create an avenue for mentorship and training for student politicians to learn under the feet of parliamentarians and also commended the speaker for his passion for youth development and empowerment.



The Speaker of parliament in his introductory remarks commended the TESCON Executives for taking the bold initiative to pay a courtesy call on him. He described the visit as historic because this was the first time a student political wing paid a courtesy call on a speaker who was not from the political party of the incumbent government. The third most important person in Ghana (Number 3) went on to advice the delegation to guard their integrity and attitude because it constitute 70% of their success rate. He also pledge to create the enabling environment for youth empowerment and development. He further promised to pay a working visit to the Wisconsin International University College relative to request of the student leaders.



Other dignitaries present at the event includes Hon. Kofi Attor, a former MP and Special assistant to the speaker and Hon. Samuel Okujato Ablakwa, MP for for North Tongo and ranking member for parliament's foreign affairs committee. Hon. Attor adviced the young politicians to seek knowledge, humble themselves, network well, be patriotic to their nation and show respect to everyone and they will go far in politics.



Hon. Ablakwa on his part, indicated that he had to leave other equally important engagements participate in this novel event. He commended the TESCON Executives for the great show of maturity, nationalism, decency and tolerance and strengthening the tenets of multiparty democracy. He admonished the executives to leverage on their position as the intellectual wing of their political party to do more research, learn and offer alternative policy initiatives and scientific data.



The TESCON president, Prince Sadat, in his concluding remarks thanked the right Honourable Speaker for accepting their request to pay him a courtesy call and expressed their heartfelt appreciation to the speaker, MP's and the staff of parliament for what they learnt from their experience and knowledge in the over an hour engagement. He further indicated their readiness to honour such learning opportunities.



Other Executives present were Benny Ato Sam (Vice President), Rhoda Eshun (Treasurer), Villy Acheampong (Research Officer), Gabriel Nyarko (Organiser), Belinda Naana Abrome (Women Commissioner), Stephen N.N Anum (Communication Officer) and Florence Sackey (Deputy Women Commissioner)

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
Today, in Takoradi, the GNPC Foundation has donated 2400 Classroom furniture to selected Basic and Senior High Schools in the Western Region.



The distribution of the facilities forms part of the Foundations School Infrastructure Program aimed at augmenting the infrastructure base of needy schools and contributing to improved academic experience by both students and teachers.



Head of the Environment & Social Amenities Unit at GNPC Foundation, Madam Lubaabat Habib-Jawulaa, said the gesture is in response to requests received from several educational institutions within the Western Region and amongst which 17 beneficiary schools were selected based on the outcome of the Needs Assessment conducted by the Foundation.



She reiterated that the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), through the Foundation, remains committed to providing requisite educational infrastructural support to Ghanaian communities and schools across the Country.



Presenting the items to the School Heads and Representatives, the Western Regional Minister, Hon. Okyere Darko Mensah, thanked GNPC for its partnering role in Ghanas educational sector and beyond.



He tasked the beneficiary schools to ensure proper care of the facilities to serve many more students in the future.



On his part, the Chief Executive of Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA), Hon. Abdul Mumin, thanked the Foundation for its continuous intervention programmes across the country and expressed the gratitude of the people of the Western Region for the donation which he said would ease the pressure on the shoulders of school authorities, teachers, students and pupils in establishing more conducive learning and teaching settings.



Also present at the short ceremony were Madam Joyceyn Ekuba Amihere, HR, GES Western Region and Madam Jenny Seeormuku, Internal Audit, GES.





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
Lawyer George Tetteh Wayoe who is the counsel for the two embattled Rasta students, Tyron Iras Marhguy and Oheneba Kwaku Nkrabea, has backlashed the President of NAGRAT, Mr Angel Carbonu for speaking against the ruling of the High Court ordering Achimota School to admit the two students.



An Accra High Court has ordered Achimota School to admit the two Rastafarian students it denied enrollment.



In March this year, Achimota School issued admission letters to the two students but indicated that they would only be enrolled on the condition that they shave their dreadlocks in accordance with the Schools academic regulations.



However, the Human Rights Division of the High Court presided over by Justice Gifty Agyei Addo, ruled that the fundamental human rights of the two students cannot be limited by the rules in question.



Tyron Iras Marhguy and Oheneba Kwaku Nkrabea sued the Schools Board of Governors, the Minister of Education, the Ghana Education Service, and the Attorney General to enforce their fundamental Human Rights.



The applicants asked the court to, declare that the failure and or refusal of the 1st Respondent (Achimota School Board of Governors) to admit or enrol the Applicant on the basis of his Rastafarian religious inclination, beliefs, and culture characterized by his keeping of Rasta, is a violation of his fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed under the 1992 constitution particularly Articles 12(1), 23, 21(1)(b)(c).



Commenting on the ruling of the Accra High Court, the President of NAGRAT, Mr Angel Carbonu is believed to have said that the ruling of the court will pave way for all manner of practices to override the rules of various secondary schools.



But reacting to the comment on Okay FMs 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, the private legal practitioner chided Carbonu that his argument on the ruling is exposing his ignorance of the law as no school rule can override the fundamental human right of every child to education.



He stressed that the students are not keeping dreadlocks for a lifestyle but for a religious purpose and for that matter cannot be the basis for Achimota Secondary School to deny them admission into the school.



When there is an issue, there should be further education to enlighten people, and so what our brother Angel Kabonu is saying in this discourse after the High Court ruling on the Achimota case will not help to educate people, because he is exposing his ignorance, he chided.



He advanced his argument that Rastafarians cannot be equated to any unrecognized religious practice as Angel Carbonu tried to make it seems to be in his argument; adding that, Rastafarians believe in God and in the Bible with the exception that they dont worship God from the role of Christianity.



Meanwhile, the Judge, during the ruling, argued that, on the probabilities of the evidence that were adduced before the court, she doesnt think Achimota School and proponents, including GES and the Attorney Generals Department, have made a compelling argument as to why those two students should not be admitted, especially given their rights to education as well as their rights to express their religious freedom.



Watch video below





Source: Daniel Adu Darko/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
Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt, has asked the parents of the Rastafarian students who were refused entry into the Achimota school not to send their children to the school.



Kwesi Pratt said this while commenting on the Accra High Court ruling in favour of the students.



In March this year, management of the Achimota School refused to admit two Rastafarian students, Tyron Iras Marhguy and Oheneba Kwaku Nkrabea, because they have dreadlocks.



The school indicated that the students would only be enrolled on condition that they shave their dreadlocks which, according to the management, is in accordance with the schools rules.



The school incurred the wrath of the Rastafarian parents who sued the Achimota school, the Minister of Education, Ghana Education Service and the Attorney General and prayed the court to declare that the failure and or refusal of the 1st Respondent (Achimota School Board of Governors) to admit or enroll the Applicant on the basis of his Rastafarian religious inclination, beliefs and culture characterized by his keeping of Rasta, is a violation of his fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed under the 1992 constitution particularly Articles 12(1), 23, 21(1)(b)(c).



They also demanded ''an order directed at [Achimota School] to immediately admit or enrol the applicant to continue with his education unhindered'' and also sought compensation for the ''inconvenience, embarrassment, waste of time, and violation of his fundamental human rights and freedoms''.



The Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court presided by Justice Gifty Agyei Addo, giving verdict on the case, ordered the Achimota School to admit the students.



The court ruled that the fundamental human rights of two students cannot be limited by the rules, therefore the school must enroll the students with their dreadlocks.



But Kwesi Pratt has advised the students not to attend the Achimota school.



He believes the students' stay in the school will be made uncomfortable because they are going to meet the same authorities who refused to admit them.



He added that the students will also face some stigma because of their parents' legal action against the school, therefore advising the parents to find a different school for them.



"Maybe, in the interest of the children, they shouldn't go to the Achimota school. If I were their parent, I wouldn't allow them to go to the Achimota school. The victory has already been achieved. The rules have been set for the future. It's a major victory for the Rastafarian community. That's enough! Why do you push it to the extent that the children must by all means go to that school? The authorities of the school are at the school. They're still in authority and so on. It's not comforting for the children. All eyes will be on them; I don't think it's the best thing," he said.







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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

Featured Video
Kwesi Pratt has applauded the parents of the two Rastafarian students who were refused enrollment into the Achimota school for taking legal action.



The management of the Achimota School, in March this year, indicated that the school would allow the Rastafarian students named Tyron Iras Marhguy and Oheneba Kwaku Nkrabea to be enrolled only when they shave their dreadlocks.



The school insisted the students must cut their dreadlocks because it is in accordance with the schools rules.



Parents of the students expressed their dissent to the decision by the Achimota school and sued the school, the Minister of Education, Ghana Education Service and the Attorney General.



They prayed the court to declare that the failure and or refusal of the 1st Respondent (Achimota School Board of Governors) to admit or enroll the Applicant on the basis of his Rastafarian religious inclination, beliefs and culture characterized by his keeping of Rasta, is a violation of his fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed under the 1992 constitution particularly Articles 12(1), 23, 21(1)(b)(c) and further requested ''an order directed at [Achimota School] to immediately admit or enrol the applicant to continue with his education unhindered'' and also sought compensation for the ''inconvenience, embarrassment, waste of time, and violation of his fundamental human rights and freedoms''.



The Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court presided over by Justice Gifty Agyei Addo ruled in favor of the students and ordered the Achimota School to admit them stressing their fundamental human rights cannot be limited by the rules.



Speaking on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'', the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper noted that seeking redress in court by the parents was the right way to settle the issue.



He commended the Rastafarian community for not resorting to violence or backing down but rather putting the laws of the nation to work.



To him, the court ruling is a ''major victory for the Rastafarian community''.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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

Featured Video
President of NAGRAT, Mr Angel Carbonu says the teachers of all the Senior High Schools in the country will comply with the Accra High Court ruling that enjoins Achimota Senior High School to admit the two Rasta students who were denied admission based on their dreadlocks.



According to him, the ruling of the Accra High Court is not only limited to Achimota Senior High Court but rather to all Senior High Schools across the country as the ruling has now empowered students belonging to all manner of a religious group.



The court has ruled and if you like, you can come to school with the hairstyle of the Titan of the Mohican and we [teachers] will teach you. Some students can even come to school in jelly curls, afro or dreadlocks; that is no more our problem . . . today it is Rasta and tomorrow it can be Fetish Priest or Priestess because per the ruling of the court, they are all welcome and accepted in schools, he noted.



There are some people whose religion dont allow them to wear sandals. We [teachers] lose a dime or a thing. We cannot limit the ruling to only Achimota School but all Senior High Schools in the country, he stressed.



Speaking on Okay FMs 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, Angel Carbonu explained that the rules in Achimota Senior High School is not about Rasta but instead it is about keeping a certain hair in order for students to conform to the rules and regulation of the school.



He added that part of obeying school rules and conforming to school rules is part of training and an upbringing of a child; explaining why students have to follow certain rules and regulation in senior high schools.



He maintained that the Achimota School rule is not targeting Rastafarians or any particular religion except that it is the standard rule, but since the court has ruled against it on the ground of human right, the teachers are enjoined by the law to obey the ruling.



He revealed that the teachers are not bothered, indicating that they will act cold towards it as their mandate as teachers do not include raising and disciplining students but rather are being paid by the government to teach.



He was of the view that the ruling of the Court is a recipe for indiscipline which used to exist in the 1980s which the teachers with the management of Ghana Education Service fought to bring it under control; thus, the recent conformity to rules in schools is as a result of their effort.



If they want to return to those days then that is their problem. We the teachers, dont give a damn. We have not lost anything. It is the problem of the society; the society gets the type of youth they want in that society, he fumed.

Source: Daniel Adu Darko/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
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged African media practitioners not to sacrifice integrity and the future of their respective societies on the altar of instant scoop or ill-considered publication The media, he said, should only be concerned about reporting the facts and must not and cannot take the national cohesion of our countries and their stability for granted.



President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged African media practitioners not to sacrifice integrity and the future of their respective societies on the altar of instant scoop or ill-considered publication



The media, he said, should only be concerned about reporting the facts and must not and cannot take the national cohesion of our countries and their stability for granted.



The President made the call when he addressed the opening of the two-day African Journalists Leadership Conference, organised by the Federation of African Journalists in Accra on Tuesday.



The Conference, which brings together leaders of regional and national media organizations across Africa, will discuss strategies to promote press freedom and shape the media industry, as well propose steps to enhance the working conditions of journalist on the continent.



Held on the theme: Building Stronger Unions to Enhance Journalism and Media Freedom, the conference is expected to come out with a Declaration which will articulate the future direction of journalism in Africa.



Noting the immeasurable power the media wielded to build the confidence and values of societies and their institutions, President Akufo-Addo said the conference should also seek to address the phenomena of misinformation campaigns and fake news, propagated most times by some in the media.



The tendency to report on only one side of a story and pass judgment on it without wanting to learn or give a fair amount of reportage to the other side stifles the truth... The media should only be concerned about reporting the facts and should not lend themselves to being bought or being used to destroy the reputation of others, he stressed.



The President further urged journalists on the continent to use their influence to build the confidence and values of societies and their institutions, and enjoined them not to sacrifice the integrity and future of their societies for any any consideration whatsoever.



On the liberty of the media, President Akufo-Addo stressed that the critiques preferred by citizens and officialdom on the work undertaken by the media can in no way be described as an attack on media freedom.



He indicated that when journalists are physically attacked or prevented from doing their work, no matter where in the world it takes place, that is an attack on media freedom, and must be roundly condemned by all.



The President noted however that critiquing the work of a journalist cannot constitute an attack on media freedom, saying, That certainly cannot be described as an attack on media freedom.



Having the freedom to criticize and oppose should also mean that the media is ready to accept and work with criticisms of its work by the citizenry or officialdom. That, for me, is one of the surest ways of improving the public discourse of our respective countries, and we should all strive towards realizing this.



President Akufo-Addo assured the Conference of his commitment to empowering the citizen, media and civil society, So we can all play our roles in realizing our vision of building a progressive and prosperous Ghana.



As President of Ghana, I assure you that the Ghanaian people will continue to exercise their right to free expression to the very end, because of their determination to build a free, open society with accountable governance, no matter the cost, he added.

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
Leading steel manufacturing company in Ghana, B5 Plus Limited bagged two awards at the 2021 edition of the Ghana Manufacturing Awards.



The fifth edition of the awards came off at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra on May 28, 2021 with major stakeholders in the manufacturing field in attendance.



The awards is to identify projects and individual achievements that have enabled manufacturers to set themselves apart from their competitors and produced clear and compelling value, return on investment, and other relevant results.



The event which is organised by Xodus Communications in partnership with the Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Business Development brought about over 200 manufacturers together at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra.



B5 Plus Limited was named the manufacturing company of the year and an honorary awards in one district one factory, an initiative from the government.



Receiving the awards, the astute businessman was grateful to the organizers for the recognition and believes the award will go a long way to keep him on his toes to do more for the sector.



He was also grateful to workers at B5 Plus Limited for their dedication to the growth of the company and urged them to continue working harder for the betterment of Ghana.



CEO of B5 Plus Limited, Mukesh Thakwani dedicated the awards to the entire staff at B5 Plus Limited who have been behind the company through tick and thin.



B5 Plus Ghana Company Ltd is West African, manufacturing, fabricating, and trading enterprise with the vision to become the worlds steel industry benchmark through the excellence of its people, its innovative approach and overall conduct.



With corporate headquarters in Tema Ghana, today, B5 Plus Limited operate in all the ECOWAS Countries, with a significant presence in African steel as an integrated manufacturer of steel and finished steel products.



The principal product is steel products which come in seven major categories: Mild Steel, High Tensile & Iron Rods, Galvanized Products, Stainless Steel, Marine & Mining, Roofing & Nails and Concrete & Fencing.



As a supplier, B5 Plus Limited are accessible business partner who can ensure quality and security of supply, and value strong relationships with their customers and believe that commercial relationships are a learnt skill.











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
We believe that Jersey Oil & Gas will successfully secure a farm-in partner to fund the development of the GBA, said WH Ireland analyst Brendan Long.

WH Ireland sees huge upside to the ( ) share price as the stockbroker looks to a possible farm-out deal that will propel forward the Greater Buchan Area (GBA) oil field project in the North Sea.

In a note WH Ireland, which acts as broker to Jersey, said it believes the company is progressing the GBA project apace towards first oil by late 2025.

At the same time, WH Ireland repeats an estimate of fair value pitched at 622p  versus a prevailing price of 152p in London.

We believe that Jersey Oil & Gas will successfully secure a farm-in partner to fund the development of the GBA, said WH Ireland analyst Brendan Long.

We premise this opinion on the significant scale of the project, the low-risk nature of the Buchan field (benefiting from 36 years of production data), the materiality of the project's immediately adjacent discovered satellite fields, running room provided by drill-ready exploration targets, rising commodity prices, the quality of the sub-surface work which benefits from recently acquired high-resolution 3D seismic data, the scarcity of high-quality conventional growth opportunities, the exceptionally high environmental standards of the project (electrification from shore) and the improving balance sheet strength of energy companies.

We believe rising crude oil prices have a direct bearing on the attractiveness of the project.

Earlier today, Jersey announced a milestone in GBAs progression with the submission of a concept selection report to the UK Oil and Gas Authority.

The company highlighted that the submission marked a significant milestone in delivering maximum value from GBA.

It also told investors that a farm-out process is underway, and, it has seen broad interest and participation from multiple parties.

GBA is planned as a net-zero solution  with emissions estimated to be less than 1kg of CO2 per barrel of oil equivalent of production, which is substantially below the North Sea average of 22kg per barrel.

The submission of the CSR ahead of schedule is testament to the growing project team's continued hard work," said Jersey chief executive Andrew Benitz.

Jersey also noted that the projects 'supply chain action plan' was issued to the OGA and it is evaluating export pipeline options. Tendering is underway for the projects front-end engineering and design (FEED) and an application has been made to the OGA for the company to be appointed an OSD Installation Operator.
Ghana will work to promote the collective interest of all member states of the UN with a place on the non-permanent seat of the Security Council, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said.



He has, therefore, called on all member states to support the countrys bid to replace Niger on the seat.



We are appreciative of the endorsement of our candidature by both the ECOWAS and the African Union and I wish to assure all member states that we will work to promote our collective interest, as spelt out in the UN Charter, he added.



President Akufo-Addo, who was addressing a virtual campaign launch of the countrys fourth bid for the non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council 2022-2023 yesterday, said: Our quest for the seat is to declare our preparedness to partner members to bring our experience to bear.



The meeting was on the theme: Enhancing global peace and security for sustainable and inclusive development.



Virtual meeting



The virtual meeting was under the auspices of Ghanas Permanent Mission to the UN, led by Ghanas Ambassador to the UN, Mr Harold Agyeman.



It brought together other ambassadors and foreign representatives, such as Messrs Mohammed Edrees of Egypt, Martin Kimani of Kenya, Taye Atske Selassie Made of Ethiopia, Duncan Larki of Uganda, Omar Kadiri of Morocco and Michael Kanu of Sierra Leone.



They all traced their countries historical relations with Ghana since independence and also highlighted Ghanas immense contribution in security and peace-building, anti-terrorism and issues of climate change.



President Akufo-Addo said Ghana prided itself as a country that had advocated good neighbourliness, pursuance of peaceful settlement of disputes, respect for the rule of law and human rights of all persons, regardless of race, colour, gender or religion.



Those principles, he said, which were enshrined in the Constitution of Ghana, also resonated well with the UN Charter, as well as the work of the UN Security Council.



Rationale



The President said Ghanas quest for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council was to declare its preparedness to partner with the rest of the councils members to further bring our experience and competence to bear on the work of the Security Council by contributing to the sustenance of global peace and security.



He said Ghanas pedigree in peace-keeping and professionalism had led to it being ranked as the 10th contributor of peacekeepers to the council.



President Akufo-Addo added that the countrys continued leadership in regional security and interventions in West Africa had resulted in the resolution of many political impasses in countries such as Togo, Cote dIvoire and in recent times, Mali.



Currently, under my leadership, Ghana spearheaded a regional effort towards the peaceful conduct of elections in Benin on April 11, 2021. And as Chairman of ECOWAS, Ghana will relentlessly continue to collaborate and cooperate with member states to enhance partnerships with the AU and the UN to help maintain peace and stability in the Sahel, he said.



Our service to the UN General Assembly, notably during the 19th Session under the Presidency of our compatriot, Alex Quaison-Sackey, the first African to have served in that capacity, and the appointment of the illustrious son of Ghana, Kofi Annan, as the seventh UN Secretary-General, all testify to Ghanas unwavering commitment and contribution to global governance and multilateralism, the President added.



He also put the spotlight on the role of female Ghanaians in peace-keeping, saying: Ghana has moved a step farther by increasing the deployment of uniformed female personnel in peace operations, in line with Security Council Resolution 1,325 on Women, Peace and Security and its subsequent resolutions.



My governments decision to steadily increase the deployment of female personnel is based on our conviction that women possess unique leadership qualities and skills and are also more suited to peace-building, conflict resolution, as well as nurturing a culture of peace.



Appreciation



The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, expressed appreciation to ECOWAS members for their support and endorsement, which she said encouraged Ghana to contest for the position for the good of all.



She also called on member states to support Ghana during the elections on June 11, this year, pointing out that our previous bids to serve on the Security Council received broad support from you and we are thankful for the excellent cooperation and friendship we continue to enjoy with all member states.













Source: graphiconline.com









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

Featured Video
The Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, has bemoaned the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the countrys progress towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but said measures were underway to make up for the loss.



He said although the country had reported marked progress towards meeting the targets in 2019, the outbreak of the virus in March last year had set us back significantly.



He said at the launch of the 2020 SDGs Budget Report in Accra last Thursday, that the pandemic had led to a deterioration in economic growth, with the attendant effects on job losses, inequality in access to education and health services, among others.



Third report



The 2020 report is now the third in the series after a baseline report was released in 2018.



It tracks budget allocations to each of the 17 goals as part of efforts to keep tabs on the countrys progress towards attaining the SDGs.



Among other things, the report gave account of the sources of the funding as well as allocation on regional bases.



COVID-19 effects



Delivering his keynote address at the event, Mr Ofori-Atta said: We all know that in 2020, the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic set us back significantly in the progress we had made towards the SDGs. At the time when Ghana was reporting its progress during the United Nations (UN) Voluntary National Review in 2019, we reported progress in the following areas: economic growth, education and job creation, he said.



He, however, explained that since the world was ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, these same areas had reported deterioration, including decline in GDP growth from a projected 6.8 per cent to 0.4 per cent, increasing inequality in access to education, and job losses, especially in the hospitality sector.



In 2021, we recognise that the pandemic is not a passing frigate but at least a three-year ice age; and that the full impact of the pandemic on our populations, our societies, and our economies is not over, he added.



Mitigating measures



In spite of the drawback, the minister said the government was rolling out various initiatives to help contain the effects of the pandemic and make up for the deterioration in progress.



He mentioned the launch of the GH100 billion Ghana CARES Obaatanpa initiative, which was a COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalisation Programme (CAP) intended to jumpstart the Ghanaian economy through industrialisation, digitalisation and enterprise development while working with the private sector to inject more private capital into the economy.



He said the CARES programme outlined various policy initiatives that aligned national incentives towards accelerating the recovery and structural transformation.



Mr Ofori-Atta said phase one of the programme comprised stabilising the economy during which the government spent about GH8.1 billion to preserve livelihoods.



He said the next was the revitalisation and transformation phase and would span between 2021 and 2023 under which there would be a strong focus on industrialisation, intra-African trade, and digitalisation.



These focus areas will drive the economic recovery plan over the next three years and provide the fiscal stimulus for economic revitalisation to build back better and greener. As a result, we expect to record average GDP growth of five per cent over the medium term, he added.



Allocations



Meanwhile, the 2020 SDGs Budget Report showed that goal four enjoyed the highest budget allocation while goal six suffered the least funding last year.



While goal four, which aims at attaining quality education, was allocated GH5.8 billion last year, goal six, which talks about affordable and clean energy, was given GH13.6 million.



On goal four, the report said GH 5.4 billion was allocated at the ministries, departments and agencies (MDA) level, while GH 403 million was apportioned for the MMDAs under last year.



In total, an amount of GH5.8 billion was allotted to goal four in the national budget, it said, noting that the funds were sourced from the government, the annual budget funding amount (ABFA) from petroleum revenues, development partners, internally generated funds (IGF) and statutory funds.













Source: graphiconline.com









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

Featured Video
Former Central Regional Minister, Kwamena Duncan, has objected to calls that the parents of the two Rastafarian students whose enrollment into Achimota school was disallowed should not send their children to the school even after winning their court case.



In March this year, Achimota School issued admission letters to the two students but indicated that they would only be enrolled on condition that they shave their dreadlocks in accordance with the schools academic regulations.



Parents of the Rastafarian students, Tyron Iras Marhguy and Oheneba Kwaku Nkrabea, refused to cut their children's dreadlocks but sued the Achimota school, the Minister of Education, Ghana Education Service and the Attorney General.



The applicants asked the court to declare that the failure and or refusal of the 1st Respondent (Achimota School Board of Governors) to admit or enroll the Applicant on the basis of his Rastafarian religious inclination, beliefs and culture characterized by his keeping of Rasta, is a violation of his fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed under the 1992 constitution particularly Articles 12(1), 23, 21(1)(b)(c).



They also requested "an order directed at [Achimota School] to immediately admit or enroll the applicant to continue with his education unhindered" and also sought compensation for the "inconvenience, embarrassment, waste of time, and violation of his fundamental human rights and freedoms".



Following the law suit, the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court presided by Justice Gifty Agyei Addo ordered Achimota School to admit the students, ruling that the fundamental human rights of two students cannot be limited by the rules.



Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt, speaking on the issue, asked the students' parents not to send them to the school.



"Maybe, in the interest of the children, they shouldn't go to the Achimota school. If I were their parent, I wouldn't allow them to go to the Achimota school. The victory has already been achieved. The rules have been set for the future. It's a major victory for the Rastafarian community. That's enough! Why do you push it to the extent that the children must by all means go to that school? The authorities of the school are at the school. They're still in authority and so on. It's not comforting for the children. All eyes will be on them; I don't think it's the best thing," he argued.



But Kwamena Duncan disagrees with Kwesi Pratt and any other proponent who suggests the students shouldn't attend the school.



Speaking on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'', the former Minister held that nobody can hate the students neither can the authorities make their stay in the school uneasy, hence urging the parents to ''let their children go to the school''.



''What is it? What can they do to them?...Who can hate them?'', he queried.



"It's not the Headmistress. It is not the teachers. It was a certain misunderstanding that cropped up. I don't think the Achimota teachers will say you have gone to court and won the case, so we won't teach you. No, no, not at all; they will continue to be professional...The kids were put there by the system. They must go to school," he emphasized.



He charged the Minister of Education, Yaw Adutwum, to "quickly insist for the kids to go to school. Our system that we run, as a constitution, as a democracy; it must be one that we all abide by the law and must be seen to do what the law directs quickly [quickly]. That is what will continue to build the confidence''.







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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

Featured Video
Wilmar Africa Limited producers of Frytol & Fortune rice among others has won two great awards at the just ended 5th edition of the 2021 Ghana Manufacturing Awards held at Kempinski Hotel in Accra.



The awards won were Agro-Processing Company of the year and the Marketing Campaign of the year.



These prestigious awards are a recognition of the company's dedication in building the Agro-processing industry and as well as being a highly respected company advocating for best business practices in the sector. The Marketing Campaign of the Year was awarded to Fortunes Campaign titled Fortune brings us together Just Like Mom and Frytol Campaigns executed during the covid period.



Speaking to the media after receiving the awards on behalf of the company, the General Manager of Wilmar Africa Limited, Mr. Kwame Wiafe thanked the employees of the company for their commitment to pushing the vision and mission of the company.



"Wilmar Africa Limited is indeed grateful to all the consumers and trade partners who have been the heart and soul of their brands. Their loyalty is everything to us. We dedicate this award to all the consumers, employees and trade partners"



In Ghana, Wilmar Africa Limited is one of the leading Fast Moving Consumer Goods company (FMCG) committed to the processing, packaging and distribution of a wide variety of consumer products and brands such as Frytol, Fortune, Viking, Alife and Jamaa for local and international markets.



The Manufacturing Awards is a yearly awards scheme organized by Xodus Communications under the auspices of the Ministry of Trade and Industry with the aim to educate, empower, encourage and reward all manufacturing industries and stakeholders who have been working hard across the country.

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
The Tema Regional Police Command has arrested a 21-year-old woman for allegedly stabbing her father to death.

The suspect, Daniella Nyarkoh, a senior high school graduate, is said to have committed the act while her father, Mr Alex Nyarkoh, who is about 70-years-old was in bed.



The incident happened last Sunday, May 30, at Tema Community 2.



According to the acting Public Relations Officer of the Tema Regional Police Command, Chief Inspector Stella Dede Dzakpasu, at about 6:45am, the suspects brother, lodged a complaint about the incident.



She said the police proceeded to the scene and found the deceased lying in a pool of blood.



She said an inspection of the body conducted by the police revealed multiple fresh wounds on the head and the throat.



She said two kitchen knives were also retrieved at the crime scene.



Strange behavior



According to the police, preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect had exhibited a strange behaviour over the past week and was sent to a prayer camp at Tema New Town on Saturday, May 29.



The parents were however advised to send the suspect to a psychiatric hospital for treatment.



However, the following day, Sunday, May 30, the suspect started behaving strangely again and rushed to the store room to pick two knives and subsequently stabbed her father to death while he was in bed.



The body of the deceased has been conveyed to the Tema General Hospital mortuary for preservation awaiting autopsy.













Source: graphiconline.com









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

Featured Video
Former Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Florence Abena Dolphyne, has appealed to fathers to fully participate in the nurturing and training of their daughters to encourage them to strive for bigger roles in life.

She said most of the lessons which influenced her successful career in academia were passed on by her father who took keen interest in her upbringing.



Fathers should not leave the responsibility of the upbringing of the girl-child to women alone because if fathers contribute to the raising of the child, it will go a long way to benefit this country, she said.



Prof. Dolphyne made the appeal at the launch of her autobiography, From Achinakrom To Pro-Vice Chancellor, at the auditorium of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Accra last Wednesday.



The venerable academic, who achieved a lot of firsts as a woman, emphasised that giving birth to a woman or only women was not a curse.



Having a daughter is not punishment, she said.



Academic community



The ceremony brought together notable figures in the local academic community, including the current Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Nana Aba Appiah-Amfo; former Minister of Education and running mate of former President John Mahama in the 2020 elections, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman, and wife of former Vice-President Paa Kwesi Amisah-Arthur, Mrs Matilda Amissah-Arthur, who wrote the foreword to the book.



Renowned economist, Mr Kwame Pianim, who chaired the function, described Prof. Dolphyne as a champion of African morals and a simple but efficient woman who put Achinakrom on the map.



He said the successes chalked up by Prof. Dolphyne should inspire the younger generation.



Lets help our women, and support and recognise linguistics to support lawyers and politicians for the development of the country, he said.



First woman



Prof. Appiah-Amfo paid glowing tribute to her mentor and the woman she said paved the way for other women in the country to rise to positions of leadership.



She said Prof. Dolphyne was a real trailblazer who became the first woman in Ghana to obtain a doctorate degree in linguistics, the first woman to become an associate professor and the first woman to become a dean.



She said Prof. Dolphyne was also the first woman to become a Pro-Vice Chancellor in a Ghanaian university.



Prof. Appiah-Amfo said the achievements of Prof. Dolphyne opened gates for other women in academia, including herself.



In the Linguistics Department, she was the only woman who taught us, she said.



The book



The book is a personal history of Ghana from pre-independence by someone who helped to shape Ghanas education system, womens rights during the UN decade for women, and human rights through Ghanas Truth and Reconciliation Commission.



It is a book that tells the story of Mmofraturo as related to the training of girls to influence their world before the advent of militant feminism.













Source: graphiconline.com









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

Featured Video
In Kumasi, the widespread encroachment on lands earmarked for railway redevelopment is hampering the redevelopment of the Ashanti Regional corridor of the Western Railway line.

The situation is equally terrible in the national capital, Accra, where squatters have taken over tracts of land along railway lines.





Since President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo cut the sod for the renovation of the railway lines in the Ashanti corridor in September last year, the contractor has not been able to move to site as a result of the massive encroachment.



The worst affected area is the regional capital, Kumasi, where the first phase of the multi-million dollar railway development project was to be undertaken between Adum and Kaase, a distance of six kilometres.



Some of the structures that have found their way onto the lines include residential homes, cold stores, churches, school buildings and warehouses.



At the centre of the city at Adum, what used to be the railway station and adjoining lands are now occupied by a market where food items are sold, mostly in ramshackle wooden structures.



Worried over the situation, the Ghana Railway Authority (GRA) has resorted to dialogue with the encroachers and other people affected by the project to get them to vacate the land for the contractor to start work.



The acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GRA, Mr Yaw Owusu, told the Daily Graphic, after one of such engagements at Kaase, that the encroachment was particularly heavy on the Kaase-Adum line in Kumasi, which formed part of the first phase of the project in the region.



He said the contractor had not been able to start work due to the encumbrances the encroachment had occasioned.



Some unauthorised structures raised by encroachers along the railway line from Odawna to the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange. Picture: ESTHER ADJEI



Appeal



Interacting with the media last Saturday, Mr Owusu appealed to those whose structures were on the right of way to, as a matter of urgency, remove them or face forcible ejection.



The few of us who chose to develop on railway lines are holding all of us to ransom because the project has stalled and unless we clear these structures, the benefits of a modern railway transportation system, as envisaged by the President, will be elusive, he stated.



Already, he said, the authority was on the ground holding discussions with those concerned to vacate the areas and not to unduly delay the project, which he said was key to the transformation of the transport sector.



Engagements



Mr Owusu said the sector Minister, Mr John-Peter Amewu, would also lead a series of stakeholders engagements to get the people to leave the project site and allow work to start.



Key among the stakeholders are the chiefs and the political leaders of the affected communities, who will engage the people to vacate the land.



Compensation



During the sod-cutting ceremony to hand over the project to the contractors last year, the then Minister in charge of Railway Development, Mr Joe Ghartey, had told the media that the government would engage those who would be affected by the new line and compensate them appropriately.



However, he said, those who had built on the existing lines would not receive any compensation, since the structures were illegally erected,



Project



In September last year, President Akufo-Addo cut the sod for work on the 83.5-kilometre standard gauge railway line from Kumasi to Obuasi, which formed part of the new Western Line project to connect the Ashanti to the Western Region.



The first phase of the project involved the construction of a six-kilometre line between Adum and Kaase, estimated to cost $48 million and which was expected to be completed within 12 months.



The contractor for the project is David Walters Company Limited, a wholly owned Ghanaian firm.



Accra situation



In Accra, the Daily Graphic observed that the encroachment on railway lands was mostly at Tudu in the city centre, with makeshift residential settlements close to the railway tracks, reports Kester Aburam Korankye.



The settlements, created by squatters, stretch through Odawna, Avenor, Abofu, Alajo, Tesano, Achimota and Dome.



The settlements, according to sources familiar with the areas, also served as brothels and safe havens for criminals.



Commercial activities



When the Daily Graphic monitored activities on the stretch last Sunday evening and Monday morning, it was observed that most of the encroachers were petty traders, but there were also established businesses in the areas.



For instance, at Odawna and the Neoplan Station around the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, scrap dealers, car washing bays, mechanic shops, carpentry shops and drinking bars dominated the business activities.



There were, however, a few lotto kiosks, eateries, mobile money stalls and second-hand clothing sales points.



In some cases, scores of broken down vehicles had been abandoned on the rail lines.



The activities of the squatters had also led to the generation of heaps of waste along the shoulders of the rail lines and in the belly of the sleepers.



Fear of ejection



Some of the squatters who spoke to the Daily Graphic expressed fear of ejection.



A squatter along the Odawna stretch, Madam Afia Kumah, said a demolition exercise conducted about two months ago affected her makeshift house, which also served as a drinking bar.



She called on the government to properly resettle squatters before ejecting them or destroying their properties.



Demolition eminent



Reacting to the situation, Mr Owusu told the Daily Graphic in an interview that by June 3, this year, the authority would have completed the compilation of data on all people and establishments that had encroached the right of way of railway lines in Kumasi.



According to him, the exercise and others would be conducted to make way for the demolition of structures on the railway lines.



We want to do a final compilation of the affected people, after which there will be a road show to have one-on-one discussions with them, he said.



He added that notification of demolition would then be sent out, while a complaint desk would be set up by the authority to address the concerns of affected people.



Explaining which categories of people were likely to be affected, Mr Owusu said structures within 60 metres from the centre of the railway line, on both ends, would be marked for demolition.



He said such people who had encroached on railway lands would not receive compensation, nor would they be prosecuted for their activities, although the government would bear the cost of the demolition.



He said although some businesses along the railway lines had leases to occupy such spaces, they were not expected to put up permanent structures.



That category of operations, the CEO explained, would be notified six months ahead of any demolition exercise to enable them to vacate the places.



Mr Owusu said the government was poised to complete the demolition exercise in Kumasi by the end of the year, while an arrangement was made to deal with the situation in Accra.

Source: graphiconline.com









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

Featured Video
President Akufo-Addo says he will prefer a vibrant and reckless media in Ghana and the rest of Africa rather than a praise-singing and a sparing one.



In his special guest of honour address at the African Journalists Leaders Conference organized by the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), today the 1st of June 2021 at the Alisa Hotel, under the theme: Building Stronger Unions to Enhance Journalism and Media Freedom, President Akufo-Addo said as President of the Republic, he will continue to ensure the safeguarding of the freedoms of journalists as they go about their work.





I maintain that I prefer a boisterous, even reckless media to a sparing one President Akufo-Addo said.



As President of the Republic, I have seen to the passage of the right to information Act, which is meant to give effect to Article 21 (1) f of the Constitution of the Republic, which states All persons shall have the right to information subject to self qualifications and laws as a necessary in a democratic society. Several preceding administrations have shied away from taking such a step President Akufo-Addo added.



President Akufo-Addo noted that the culmination of all these have meant that the Ghana citizen through the presence of a dynamic media is able to give boldly and freely his or her feedback on policies and programmes of government. Civil society groups are able to interrogate fearlessly government actions and positions, compare them to best global practices and offer views and critiques in complimenting efforts of government and the political opposition is able to raise decent openly, canvas for alternative viewpoints and by so doing, offer our citizens alternatives to consider on all key issues of our national discourse.



criticizing the medias work



In his remarks, President Akufo-Addo observed that there is a new developing trend in the media landscape on what constitutes an attack on the media. He indicated that to the extend that the media is allowed to criticize and take on officialdom and the rest of the citizenry means that the media should also be ready to accept review and criticism of it work from the citizenry and officials of State.



On a day like this, it is also important to consider some of the emerging challenges to media freedom. One of them is what constitutes an attack on media freedom. It can not be right no matter where in the world, that journalists are physically attacked or prevented from doing their work. Once that happens, it is an attack on media freedom and it must be roundly condemned by all President Akufo-Addo stated.



However, there seems to be an emerging narrative which is being proffered by some in Ghana that critiquing the work of a journalist constitutes an attack on media freedom. That certainly cannot be described as an attack on media freedom. Having the freedom to criticize and oppose should also mean that the media is ready to accept and work with criticism of its work by citizenry or officialdom. That for me is one of the surest ways of improving the public discourse of our respective countries and we should all strive towards realizing this President Akufo-Addo further noted.



Plea for Media Attention on three Issues



President Akufo-Addo took advantage of the international gathering of journalists to solicit the support of journalists on the African continent to pay attention in the reportage to three issues he says are of Continental significance for which the committed partnership of the media and African governments in needed.



The issues according to the President are the fight against terrorism and violent extremism which is threatening the stability of all regions of the African continent, the fight against climate change including the preservation of the integrity of the environment and water bodies as well as the fight against the illicit flow of funds from the African continent which is conservatively estimated to be about eighty billion united states dollars ($80,000,000,000.00) a year.



These are all menaces to the health, progress, and stability of our nations and continent. We should stand shoulder to shoulder in ridding our continent and nations of them. President Akufo-Addo suggested to attendees of the conference.



The FAJ



The Federation of African Journalists is the regional organization of IFJ affiliates in Africa  providing a vital collective voice in defence of the social and professional rights of all African journalists.



Founded in 2007, FAJ provides support and solidarity to unions and associations with a mandate to promote trade union development in the media industry in Africa, to address professional issues, to protect and defend freedom of expression and the right to information as well as journalists human rights, as laid down in the Declaration of Principles of Freedom of Expression in Africa.



FAJ, as the largest organisation of African journalists, is a vital representative voice at a Pan-African level, speaking for journalists at the United Nations, UNESCO and AU. FAJ activities are governed by its constitution adopted by the triennial Congress which also elects a steering committee and officers.









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

Featured Video
The Ashanti Regional Police Command has arrested four (4) suspected armed robbers for their involvement in various cases of armed robbery in the Region.



The suspects are Mustapha Adams 37 yrs, Ibrahim Adamu 39 yrs, Aseidu Bonah alias Lion and Mohammed Abubakar 33 yrs. The suspects are all in police custody assisting with investigations.



It would be recalled that on Thursday 25th March 2021 one Emmanuel Owusu Antwi, 40 years, now deceased, and an Engineer with Joshop Construction was robbed of his Toyota Prado vehicle with registration numberGN4131  20 and was shot in the process by three (3) armed men.



The victim sustained gunshot wounds and was rushed to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital for treatment but later died whilst on admission.



Investigation so far has revealed that the above-named suspects perpetrated that crime.



Subsequent investigations have also established that these Suspects are involved in many robbery cases reported in the Region such as the one that took place on 4th April 2021 where the victim was robbed of his Toyota RAV 4 at gunpoint in Kenyase Bampenase, a suburb of Kumasi.



An investigation has also established that the same suspects attacked and robbed the Hon. MCE of Asokre Mampong of his Toyota Hilux with registration GW2473  16 on 12th February 2021. The suspects again attacked and robbed another victim on 15th April 2021 of his unregistered Range Rover at Buokrom F- line.



On 25th April 2021, at about 9:00pm suspect Mustapha Adams, one of the named armed robbers together with two of his accomplices who are on the run again robbed a Honda Accord DV Trade Plate with registration number 4894A at Achiase near Kenyase.



On 28th of April, 2021 Mustapha Adams and Mohammed Abubakar attempted to rob a Toyota 4 Runner with DV Trade Plate at gunpoint at Kenyase Abrem but luck eluded them and they were arrested by the Police. They later led Police to arrest two other Suspects.



They have all been remanded in Police custody by a court of competent jurisdiction to assist in Police investigation.



CONSULT AGENCY LIMITED DAYLIGHT ROBBERY AT BUOKROM



In another development, yesterday Tuesday 1st June 2021 at about 3:00pm four (4) armed men on two Motorbikes attacked the Consult Agency Limited at Buokrom Estate junction and robbed them of an amount of about One Hundred and Thirty Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS 130,000.00).



The armed men in the process shot one customer who was later identified as Collins Dapaah aged 43 years.



The Victim was rushed to the Manhyia Hospital for treatment but was pronounced dead on arrival. His body has since been deposited at the Ebenezer Hospital Mortuary pending autopsy.



Meanwhile, the Police are picking some reliable leads that will help in apprehending the perpetrators of this heinous crime.



The Police Command assured the public that all cases of crime reported in the Region are being investigated.







Source: kasapafmonline.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
Huawei Ghana has revealed that their flagship Huawei ICT Training (HIT) program will boost Ghanas digital economy when implemented. The program which will train more than 10,000 Ghanaians in information and communications technology (ICT) within the next three years forms part of the companys commitment to grow the capacity of the people in ICT through the Huawei ICT Training (HIT) Program and support Ghana's vision of becoming the digital hub of Africa.



Speaking on the relevance of the HIT initiative, the Public Relations Manager at Huawei Ghana, Mr. David Appiah said that ICT skill development is crucial for industry and economic growth, therefore for any country to fully achieve a thriving digital economy, its crucial for the ICT Skill capacity of citizenry to be developed as it serves as the bridge that connects a robust digital infrastructure and systems to the end-consumer. 



As countries and industries transition to go fully digital, the need for skilled human resource to effectively manage the digital resources for enhanced delivery of services and to enable the citizenry and/or end users to enjoy the maximum benefits remains equally important. More so for the end user or the beneficiary to be able to enjoy digital services, basic ICT skills is required to enable them navigate their way through the processes to enjoy these services and that is why ICT Skill training cannot be done without in this regard. Mr. Appiah said



Mr. Appiah made this known when the company organized the maiden edition of the Huawei Day with Media in Accra. According to him, the HIT program is in three segments namely the Hi-Class Program (Huawei Intelligent Ghana Hub Class), ICT Academy (University Talent Program) and the Technology-enabled Open Schools System (TOSS) which will benefit Public servants and Industry Professionals, Tertiary and TVET students and Basic Schools respectively.



As an industry leader, Huawei also offers professional ICT certification courses to bridge the ICT industry talent gap. Huawei will therefore offer training in the areas of trending technologies like AI, LTE, 5G, Quality of Service (QoS) and Digital Economy to relevant state officials and industry partners. The company has also established a training facility in partnership with Mast Infrastructure Ghana to offer practical training in the areas of Equipment Installation, Fibre works, Height works and equipment configurations to field Engineers and Riggers.



Through the University Talent program, the ICT Academy has signed on about 15 top Ghanaian Universities as authorized partners and currently working with the Ministry of Education to expand the program which offers professional courses in the areas of Routing and Switching (Networking), DataComm, Cloud Computing, 5G among others to TVET institutions across the country. This program is mainly aimed at bridging the gap between Academia and Industry while also growing Ghanas ICT Talent pool.



Finally the TOSS project which is being implemented in partnership with UNESCO as part of our TECH4ALL initiative to ensure that deprived (K12) or Basic School students get access to quality education through the use of innovative technologies. The Ministry of Education has thrown its weight behind this project which Huawei is funding with USD 1M for the next three years.



At Huawei, we continue to work with the Government, Industry Partners, Customers and Academia to offer ICT Skill Training, Workshops and Seminars in relevant and trending industry courses and topics to contribute to Ghanas ICT Talent pool. In Ghana, our Huawei ICT Talent (HIT) Program has seen a lot investment from our end and we continue to invest in the nurturing of ICT talents through ICT skill training and has so far benefitted over 5000 Ghanaians. Mr. Appiah said.



During the event the company revealed that they expect to sign a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Communications and Ministry of Education to implement the HIT initiative.



The Huawei Day with the Media was organized by Huawei Ghana as part of efforts to engage the media, to strengthen relationship and share the companys contributions toward building a digital economy, while giving the media the opportunity to better understand operations on Huawei in Ghana.

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
FTSE100 made a healthy start as oil shares improved on crude rising to US$71 per barrel. Londons blue-chip index rose 25 to 7.105.

The UK government has started talks with Oxford University and (AZN.L) about a new version of thier COVID-19 vaccine that targets the South Africa variant of the virus. The extra doses would be tailored for this specific variant with the UK said to be funding trials of its development.

Zoom ( ) reported better than expected earnings overnight but was cautious about demand tailing off as people start to return to the office. Even so, the video conferencing firm forecast full year revenues of almost US$4bn, an increase from previous estimates.

Jammie Dodgers and Wagon Wheels are going continental. Burtons, the UK manufacturer of the iconic biscuits has been snapped up by Ferrero of Rocher and Nutella fame for a reported 300mln.

Among the small caps, Quantum Blockchain PLC ( ) has signed a service agreement with a cryptography expert. The goal is to speed up the Bitcoin mining process and save more energy.

( ) is making progress in preparing its lead asset for the final stage of clinical trials next year. The candidate reduces the recurrence of C.difficile infections in the gut, the main cause of hospital-acquired infection in the US.

( ) can go ahead with production at its project in Egypt after receiving government approval. The discovery is located in the desert and is operated by Kuwait Energy Egypt.
Member of Parliament for Ketu South in the Volta Region, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, has described the hard-pressed situation of residents in her constituency occasioned by a tidal wave on Saturday, May 29, as leaving them between government and the deep blue sea in that part of the country.



She emphasized the lack of relief efforts by government through the auspices of the National Disaster Management Organization(NADMO) to the survivors and residents of the affected communities such as Agavedzi after the onslaught of the tide.



She underscored the point that aside from over twenty houses being washed away by the sea, it is not only the residents who stand to lose from the disaster but government too, as the sea is now only 10 meters away from engulfing the road and the streetlights in the area.



She said this in an interview with TV3, Monday, May 31.



Hon. Gomashie was reacting on the back of the disaster struck by a tidal wave over the weekend on the residents of the Ketu South constituency razing down about twenty houses and displacing many livelihoods in what she describes as leaving them between government and the deep blue sea.



I recall that in 2017, I was in the community with Hon. Atta Akyia when the same thing happened, all the houses we saw together are not there today. We have less than 10 meters for the sea to completely take the road and that will include the electric poles, the water, so its not just the houses, its not just the people losing their properties but also the state losing the investments made on that road, that is the only link between Aflao and Keta. It is depressing, it is devastating, these are the same people who can find any livelihood because the borders have been closed since March of last year. Already they were on their knees and then now they have to deal with the sea, its between the government and the deep blue sea she pointed out the dire situation in the area.



She went on to say that there really isnt much left for the people, the hopelessness that they feel, its almost as if we are not appreciating the seriousness of the problem. The people were not able to take care of themselves adequately when the borders were open and the borders had been closed and they were struggling, then the sea attacked them. As we speak, the Regional Minister is aware, the MCE is aware, the NADMO Coordinator is aware, they have all been there, these three people that I have mentioned have all been there. My hope is that, in this situation, I would expect that they would bring immediate relief to the people no matter how small it is. By now somebody should have provided the kind of things that NADMO always provides when there is a disaster.



There is a company in the community that has sent some relief items on their own and this was the last time it happened before this one and then its been zero, nothing. Nobody has made the effort to send them something to rely on as we wait for the big things to be done. This last one(tidal wave) we lost about twenty homes, the one in 2017 I have lost count of but the current one we lost about twenty houses. So apart from the houses that have been lost, there are other things on the stretch, so its terrible she stressed.



Asked what kind of conversations the survivors are having among themselves now that they are displaced since she has been there, she said desperation, fear, its so depressing I dont even have the words to describe whats happening in our language. Im hoping that we wont be hedging and hiding behind we are dealing with it, no this is the time to deal with it. If its heavy infrastructure, it needs a lot of money, I understand but we can do it. If we can find money to do a lot of things that are capital intensive, this is one of them, lets find the money and save the lives of the people. If the sea takes the road, its going to hit into the other parts, so what we are looking at is not a small group of people. The cost of that road which may go and trying to find another to link the two constituencies, which is Ketu South and Keta will be more.



And when that happens, it will cut off water supply and electricity supply to adjoining communities, this is terrifying. And please I dont want to hear things like you didnt do this and you didnt do that, lets deal with it now, the reason why we didnt do it yesterday is the reason why we must do it now. I dont want to hear this it wasnt done before, so what should I look on while people suffer? In 2017 when I responded to the call, I was not in government, but I am an indigene of the place, so when they called me, I ran there. Lets deal with the situation, lets save the people and no excuse is good enough she charged the government.







Source: 3news.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
Ugandas Transport Minister General Katumba Wamala has been shot and injured by unknown gunmen near his home in the capital Kampala.



Eyewitnesses say the gunmen were riding on a motorcycle.



General Wamala is a former army commander.



Over the last few years, the country has been rocked by such shootings by armed men riding on motorcycles.



In June 2018, Ibrahim Abiriga, a flamboyant politician and ardent supporter of President Yoweri Museveni, was shot and killed near his home.



Former police spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi was assassinated in a similar manner in April 2017.



A magistrate and several Muslim clerics were killed in the same way.



None of the assassinations has ever been successfully investigated or prosecuted.







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
Gunmen attacked a car carrying Ugandan Minister of Works and Transport, General Katumba Wamala, in an attempted assassination, killing his daughter and driver.



It was gathered that four attackers on motorcycles opened fire at a vehicle carrying the former army commander, in the Kampala suburb of Kiasasi, on Tuesday morning, June 1.



According to reports, the assailants trailed Gen. Katumba's vehicle with reg number H4DF 2138 before opening fire on them.



General Wamala survived with bullet wounds in his left arm and chest and was rushed to Malcom Clinic and later Nakasero. Unfortunately, his daughter Brenda Nantongo Wahala and driver Haruna Kayondo died on the spot.



The former commander was reportedly on his way to attend a vigil for his mother-in-law at the time of the shooting.



Images circulating on social media showed Wamala with his mouth open, in apparent distress beside the car and his light-colored trousers splattered with blood. Images also showed bullet holes in a car window and casings on the ground.



"There was a shooting involving him ... he is hurt and he's been taken to the hospital, his driver was killed," said Army spokeswoman Brigadier Flavia Byekwaso.



According to local media, General Wamala has enjoyed a distinguished career. Before appointment as works minister by President Yoweri Museveni in December 2019, Wamala had served as the Chief of Defence Forces (2013-2017) in the Uganda Peoples Defence Force (UPDF).



Meanwhile,his daughter, Brenda had recently returned from the United States of America.



"Brenda had just returned from the US. She only started working recently, said Joyce Ssentongo, an in-law to Gen. Wamala.



Ssentongo described the slain daughter as a humble girl who had a whole bright future ahead of her.













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
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says his administration will do all it can to make media practice safe in Ghana. Nana Akufo-Addo says Ghanas position as the second safest nation for practising journalism in Africa should be commended but insists that the country can do better.



Speaking at the opening of the African Journalists Leaders conference in Accra, President Akufo-Addo said recent attacks on journalists in the line of duty should be condemned by all.



The decision to select Ghana for this years conference is because of the conducive environment for media practice and impressive ranking in Africa on the latest world press freedom index. Our aim is to be number one on the continent.



We will work hard to ensure that we attain this. It cannot be right, no matter where [you are] in the world, that journalists are physically being attacked or prevented from doing their work. Once that happens, it is an attack on media freedom and must be condemned by all, President Akufo-Addo.



Recently, President Akufo-Addo refuted the perception that his government is overseeing a culture of silence.



The President also challenged claims that press freedom has suffered under his presidency.

When it comes to the press, I am certain I have nothing to apologise for, with reference to anything I have ever done or said, he said during a special congregation in his honour at the University of Cape Coast.



President Akufo-Addo again touted the role he played under the Kufuor administration in repealing the criminal libel law.

I have been a part of and sometimes led the struggle for individual rights and freedom of the press in this country. I believe in it. it is part of my makeup.



Though Ghana ranks 30th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders has expressed concern with the fact many cases of police aggression against journalists have gone unpunished.



The 2020 World Press Freedom Index report also noted that some journalists covering the effectiveness of the governments measures against COVID-19 were attacked by police in 2020.



Over the course of the Akufo-Addo administration, the government has been criticised on these points, as well as the closure of some prominent pro-opposition radio stations.



The conduct of National Security personnel towards Citi FM journalists on May 13 was the most high-profile incident of state action so far against journalists in 2021.

One of the Citi FM journalists, Caleb Kudah, was tortured whilst in National Security custody.



Before this, the National Security personnel, in another notable incident in July 2018, arrested and tortured two journalists after the publication of an article that criticised the National Security Minister, Albert Kan Dapaah.



The governments response so far to these incidents has been largely condemned, with many suggesting that it gives the impression that the state is either complicit or tacitly supports such actions against journalists.

Source: citinewsroom









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 pen (or keyboard) truly is mightier than the sword. Words have an indescribable power that can be helpful or harmful. There are many amazing motivational quotes out there, and celebrities usually have some great advice or stories that can make a big impact. Actor Shivam Phutela often shares his powerful quotes on social media.



Social media is a tough world, so good mentors or even following authority figures can help you be successful. There is no shortage of informational sources out there, and you can easily do your homework on someone to determine how legitimate they are.



"One of the most important steps you can take is to take your personal brand seriously," says Shivam Phutela. With a true passion for making it big, Shivam Phutela offers invaluable expertise when it comes to setting yourself apart. While Shivam Phutela is highly successful, he is firmly rooted in common sense. Here is some advice he has to offer after building a strong social media presence and a massive fanbase over the years.



1. "If you don't know who you are, how will anyone else?"



2. "Get behind something you believe in."



If you start something based on something you are not happy about, you will never have the genuine passion needed to be successful. "You need to wake up each morning excited about your personal brand or your company, not dreading going to work," states Shivam Phutela. This is as important for you as it is for your customers because they will know if you believe in what you are offering them.



3. "Stick with a field you love and offer a product or service that is missing from that field."



4. "Find your tribe."



Shivam Phutela is on point when he says if you don't believe in your brand, why should anyone else? It doesn't matter how specialized or niche your business is; potential customers are out there. In all honesty, unique businesses can find unparalleled success by offering solutions other companies don't. This goes back to the importance of finding your tribe or a highly targeted customer group that shares your philosophies, outlook, and core beliefs.



5. "You have to believe in your brand before others can."



6. "People will know when you aren't genuine."



7. "Transparency matters more than ever and is a key component of success."



If you have built your personal brand on these principles, you have likely based it on something you feel strongly about and have a deep connection to. This is the first step to success and one that is sadly overlooked. Do not be blinded by dollar signs; look for something that will make a positive impact as this is what really leads to revenues.









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
Controversial Ghanaian dancehall and afrobeat artist Charles Nii Armah also known popularly as Shatta Wale has rendered an apology to the road contractors who were allegedly assaulted during the brawl.



It would be rec alled that Shatta Wale and his Nima boys caused confusion on the East Legon road which was under construction. According to reports, one Mr. Kennedy Acquah alleged that he has been assaulted by the artist during the brawl in the late hours of yesterday, May 31st, 2021. The apology comes hours after Kenneth Acquah, a project manager at Oswal Investment Limited demanded a public apology from Shatta Wale for ordering some thugs to attack him and other road construction workers.



Hi, my name is Shatta Wale as you all know and I believe that there is some news circulating around me and having a fight with some contractors, and like Im saying, the man in question is my dad, my friend.



Hes somebody that I always wanted to meet but its so unfortunate things had to happen this way but I also want to say sorry to Kennedy for everything that happened. I believe he will find a place in his heart to forgive me



The musician also denied paying the said contractor any amount of money for the construction.



To all the bloggers too that are saying Ive given some contractor 4 million Ghana cedis. I believe you guys should really stop circulating false news. Ive not given nobody 4 million Ghana cedis or dollars.. he said.









Shatta Wale apologises to road contractors for alleged assault pic.twitter.com/tVyRMrERIJ



 Scoopy Vibes (@ScoopyVibes) June 1, 2021









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 facade of the headquarters of the Department of National Defence is pictured in Ottawa, on April 3, 2013. Veterans ombudsman Nishika Jardine is calling for the creation of a peer-support program for those who have experienced sexual trauma while serving in uniform. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Standard Chartereds move is one of the strongest moves by a mainstream bank into the crypto space

( ) is to set up a cryptocurrency trading platform in the UK and Europe in a contrary stance to Asia- focused rival ( ).

The venture will be aimed at institutions and be developed through a joint venture between its digital arm SC Ventures and BC Technology, which operates Hong Kong-licensed cryptocurrency exchange OSL.

Mainstream banks have so far been by and large reluctant to embrace cryptocurrencies fully given uncertainty over their volatility and uncertain regulatory status in key countries such as the US and UK.

Standard Chartereds move though is one of the strongest moves into the arena and especially when compared with , which has no plans to establish a cryptocurrency platform or to sell them to clients chief executive Noel Quinn said last month.

Other banks, though, are starting to tailor strategies to deal with the boom in cryptocurrencies.

recently reopened its trading desk while JP Morgan said in April it was preparing a bitcoin fund in what was a 180-degree about-turn for its boss Jamie Dimon who had previously dubbed the currency a fraud.

Standard Chartered said the new platform will target the European market, connecting institutional traders with counterparties trading bitcoin, ether and other digital assets.

"We have a strong conviction that digital assets are here to stay and will be adopted by the institutional market as a highly relevant asset class," Alex Manson of SC Ventures said in a statement.
The last thing you expect to see while spending a quiet day fishing is a Bigfoot moving about on the shoreline and throwing rocks. A Kentuc...
Cole Smith receives a Moderna variant vaccine shot from clinical research nurse Tigisty Girmay at Emory Universitys Hope Clinic in Decatur, Ga. As of June 2021, scientists have found clues that the worlds leading COVID-19 vaccines offer lasting protection that could diminish the need for frequent booster shots, but they caution that more research is needed and that virus mutations are still a wild card.  AP Photo/Ben Gray, File
Thank you for reading the Philadelphia Tribune.

You have exhausted your free article views for this month. Please press the "subscribe" button below and see our introductory price of $0.25 per week for 13 weeks. Otherwise, we look forward to seeing you next month.
Anatoly Filatov Takes Down GGPoker Super MILLION$

June 02, 2021 Matthew Pitt

Russian superstar Anatoly Filatov bagged himself a $325,957 prize after finishing first from 149 entrants in the latest edition of the GGPoker Super MILLION$. Filatov was the chip leader at the start of the final table and built on his strong start to become the latest Super MILLION$ champion.

Super MILLION$ Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize 1 Anatoly Filatov Russia $325,957 2 Bruno Volkmann Brazil $254,559 3 Sergei Denisov Russia $198,800 4 UncleToni Macedonia $155,254 5 David Peters Canada $121,247 6 Isaac Haxton Canada $94,689 7 Joakim Andersson Turkey $73,948 8 Juan Pardo Andorra $57,750 9 Elio Fox Mexico $45,100

Elio Fox performed heroics at last weeks final table, coming from one of the shortest stacks to chop the event. Fox could not repeat the previous weeks form this time round, and was the first finalist out of the door.

Fox busted during the 20,000/40,000/5,000a level. David Peters min-raised to 80,000 with king-ten of hearts, Fox three-bet all-in from the button for 410,582 with ace-jack of clubs, and Peters called. Peters flopped a king and picked up a flush draw, leaving Fox drawing extremely thinly. Both the turn and river bricked, and Fox bowed out in ninth place.

Juan Pardo was the next to fall, his eighth place exit bagging him a $57,750 payout. The blinds were now 30,000/60,000/7,500a, and Bruno Volkmann open-shoved from the small blind. Pardo called off his 1,071,413 chips before turning over ace-queen. Volkmanns jack-eight needed some help from the community cards, and it arrived in the shape of jack on the river.

Seventh place and $73,948 went to Joakim Andersson who had been nursing the shortest stack from the moment the final tables action began. Andersson busted in a coinflip with Isaac Haxton. His exit hand started with Haxton min-raising to 120,000 with ace-king of diamonds from under the gun. Andersson responded with a three-bet to 366,225 with pocket eights from late position, a raise that left him only 295,319 chips behind. Haxton jammed all-in, and Andersson called. An ace on the flop won the hand for Haxton and left Andersson with a shade over one big blind. He busted in unspectacular circumstances a couple of hands later.

Will You Become the First Member of GGPokers Team Champions?

Sick Hand Send Haxton to the Showers

Haxton could not put Anderssons chips to good use and was the next player out of the door, although his exit hand was cruel. Haxton raised to 132,000 with seven-six of spades from the button, and Volkmann called in the big blind with nine-seven. The flop fell five-six-king, and both players checked. The turn was a four, Volkmann led for 253,740, and Haxton called. An eight on the river improved both players to a straight, but Volkmanns straight was superior. Volkmann shoved all-in, and Haxton called off his 814,448 chips only to discover his hand was an expensive second best one.

Everyone else was now guaranteed a six-figure prize, $121,247 to be exact. Peters collected this sum shortly after Haxtons untimely demise. The active Volkmann min-raised to 70,000 before calling when Peters three-bet shipped it in for 1,559,067. It was ace-jack for Peters and the dominating ace-king for Volkmann. Both players flopped an ace, but Peters could not find any of the three remaining jacks, and he exited in fifth place.

Macedonias UncleToni joined the busted players soon after Peters exit. UncleToni won his seat in this event for $1,000 and turned that into $155,254. The Macedonian busted at the hands of Filatov, who opened to 140,000 with pocket kings and snap-called when UncleToni ripped it in for 1,017,636 with what turned out to be pocket tens. UncleToni turned a ten to soar into the led, but had his wings clipped when Filatov spiked a king on the river. Ouch.

Three-handed play lasted 40 minutes and ended with the elimination of Sergei Denisov. Volkmann found jacks on the button and raised twice the big blind to 200,000. Denisov fired in his 15 big blind stack with king-seven of clubs and busted despite turning a club flush draw.

Filatov held a 9,006,663 to 5,893,337 chip lead over Volkmann going into heads-up. It did not take long for Filatov to press home that advantage, only five hands to be exact.

The final hand saw Filatov raise to 200,000 with pocket nines, Volkmann make it 745,225 with ace-king, and Filatov jam all-in. Volkmann call off the 40 big blinds he had behind, and it was off to the races for the title of Super MILLION$ champion. Volkmann flopped an ace to take the lead but the board four-flushed with spades to gift Filatov the victory thanks to him holding the nine of spades!

Niklas Astedt Leads Final 9 of the GGPoker WSOPC Main Event

$5 Million Guaranteed Super MILLION$ Anniversary Edition

June 6 sees the Super MILLION$ celebrate its first anniversary and GGPoker is boosting the guarantee to a whopping $5 million. The buy-in remains the same $10,300 but there are five flights to compete in, each with dozens of satellite from $525.

Day 2, where all the $5 million is awarded, takes place on June 14 under the watchful eye of the GGPoker Twitch and YouTube commentary team!
Caspin Resources ( ) is continuing detailed logging at the Yarawindah Brook Nickel-Copper-PGE Project in Western Australia, where diamond drilling recently completed two holes for a total of 601.6 metres.

Both holes encountered significant widths of sulphides.

The first hole, YAD0017, intersected several zones of disseminated sulphide typically around 1 to 3% by volume, consistent with that observed in nearby hole, DNN05.

Sulphide mineralisation occurred between 66.2 metres to 314.3 metres downhole, with distinctly more intense sulphide zones (up to around 15% based on visual inspection) at 68 metres, 156 metres and 308 metres.

Delivered exactly what we wanted to see

Chief executive officer Greg Miles said at the time: The two holes at Yarabrook Hill have delivered exactly what we wanted to see, that is, mafic and ultramafic rocks with broad zones of copper and nickel sulphide mineralisation which we believe is a good visual proxy for potential PGE mineralisation.

The holes are 1.25 kilometres apart, so the scale of the opportunity is significant.

Now we wait with anticipation for the assay results.

Next drilling program underway

In the meantime, Caspin has begun planning its next work program at Yarawindah, which has been supported by a co-funded drilling grant through the WA Government Exploration Incentive Scheme.

Miles continued: This is going to allow us to drill the deepest hole at Yarabrook Hill to date and provide us with a huge amount of new geological information as well as another opportunity for discovery.

Through an airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey at Yarawindah in December 2020, the company identified new conductor targets, including multiple priority anomalies demanding immediate follow-up.

Of these, there was a 1.3-kilometre long anomaly along strike from the previously recognised sulphide mineralisation known as XC-29.

A maiden drilling program was conducted on the XC-29 anomaly in April 2021 with assays pending.

Neighbouring Chalices Julimar discovery

Yarawindah is 100 kilometres northeast of Perth in the emerging nickel-copper-PGE sulphide New Norcia province.

The project comprises a ground position of more than 400 square kilometres and lies around 40 kilometres north from s ( ) ( ) (FRA:C8U) recent high-grade Julimar nickel-copper-PGE discovery.

The New Norcia region is deeply weathered, with little fresh rock outcrop and extensively covered by cultivated farmland, which has impeded previous exploration.

Despite the presence of known nickel-copper occurrences discovered in the 1970s, most historical exploration has focused on surficial bauxite deposits.

As a result, there is a paucity of deeper, bedrock drilling and the geology is poorly understood.

Mount Squires Project

The company has also kicked off work on its Mount Squires Project in Western Australia, which Caspin says is highly prospective for gold, copper and nickel.

Mount Squires is a large scale, greenfield-style gold and base metal project. Gold mineralisation was first identified at the Handpump Prospect by Western Mining Corporation (WMC) during geochemical surveying in the late 1990s.

Caspin has recently conducted soil geochemistry samples along the Handpump trend.

These have been submitted for analysis and assays are pending.

Most of the project is yet to have any form of modern exploration.

Targeting nickel-copper mineralisation

The company's objectives are geared towards reconnaissance-style soil geochemistry as well as drilling along a 50-kilometres long structural corridor, which if proved positive, can be followed by targeted RC and diamond drilling.

Mount Squires is also contiguous with the West Musgrave Nickel-Copper sulphide Project, operated by ( ) (OTCMKTS:OZMLF) (FRA:OXR) on the eastern tenement boundary.

Significant nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation has been found at the One Tree Hill Prospect, only 200 metres outside of the Mount Squires Project tenement boundary.

Caspin will continue to evaluate the potential for nickel-copper mineralisation along strike from the One Tree Hill prospect.
Itemizer-Observer

DALLAS  When Steve Betschart passed away on April 2, 2020, at the age of 71 due to complications in the early days of COVID-19, further public health restrictions never allowed friends and family to pay proper tribute to the popular community member.

Betschart began his teaching career at Dallas High School in 1970 as an intern and continued to teach American history, social studies, psychology and drivers education at DHS until his retirement in 2003.

But the first tribute by a large gathering of those closest to Betschart was performed on Memorial Day by his fellow Civil War re-enactors of the Sons of Union Veterans.

Betscharts love of history was expressed by his dedication to Civil War re-enacting. He was a member of the Northwest Civil War Council, the First Oregon Volunteer Infantry, and the Twentieth Maine living history groups for 31 years. He was also a member of the Sons of Union Veterans, and a brother of the Col. Edward D. Baker Camp No. 6 where he was serving as Junior Vice Commander at the time of his passing. He served two terms as camp commander in 2012 and 2013.

D.H. Shearer, Commander at the Col. Edward D. Baker Camp #6, is also pastor at the Nazarene Church Betschart attended and spoke at his graveside service last year.

There will be a church service later on at First Nazarene where he was very active, Shearer said. This is uniquely ours.

We as a group wanted to get together and pay tribute to him. We tried on several occasions, but always got preempted by the governor and new restrictions that would come down. Now, more than a year later, this is our first opportunity to pay tribute to a friend, and a brother, for we are a fraternal organization, Shearer added.

Shearer read from the original Memorial Day proclamation by Gen. John A. Logan from May 5, 1868. The service also included tribute from a President Abraham Lincoln impersonator, full color guard and 21-gun salute.
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.
Moncks Corner, SC (29461)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%.
Mount Pleasant Towne Centre soon will see a new restaurant and new stores as other shops relocate in the East Cooper retail center.

On the food front, the same team that brought Pakistani food offering Ma'am Saab to Charleston, is opening a new canteen-style venue called Malika at 1333 Theatre Drive in the space formerly occupied by Qdoba Mexican Grill, which closed during the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020.

Malika refers to "queen" in the Urdu language spoken in Pakistan.

"Street food is an essential part of everyday life in Pakistan," said Maryam Ghaznavi, chef and co-owner of Malika and Maam Saab. "Whether its a quick lunch with a friend, a midday tea ... or a quick snack to cool off after a summer shopping spree, we all turn to the ever-creative, never-disappointing foods sold by hard-working vendors along the busy streetsides."

Ghaznavi and her husband and restaurant co-owner, Raheel Gauba, live in Mount Pleasant, but they say South Asian food is not represented in their town.

"The best place in Mount Pleasant to have Pakistani food has been at our dinner table," Gauba said half-jokingly. "But that changes now. Were so excited to extend our dining room to our guests here in Mount Pleasant."

Ghaznavi promises to curate dishes that deliver on the complex flavors from the streets and canteens of Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and other Pakistani areas.

Customers can expect classic canteen dishes such as curried lentils with basmati rice and a selection of hot and cold drinks, including homemade lemonade.

Ghaznavi and Gauba plan to transform the former Jestine's Kitchen space on Meeting Street into Ma'am Saab by July or August after the Workshop incubator where the restaurant started closed in May.

Also at Towne Centre, Ivy & Leo, a womens clothing and accessories boutique, will open by mid-June at 1620 Palmetto Grande Drive between Hairy Winston and Pandora. It will be Ivy & Leo's third location in South Carolina. Other stores are in Myrtle Beach and Columbia.

Also in the apparel line, a new children's boutique will be announced by mid-June in the shopping center.

Meanwhile, two shops have changed locations at Towne Centre.

Las Olas, which offers swimwear, activewear and loungewear, has relocated and expanded into a larger site at 1612 Palmetto Grande Drive, where Apricot Lane operated before closing in April.

Also, locally owned women's shop Millie Lynn Boutique can now be found at 1608 Palmetto Grande Drive in the former Las Olas space.

New scent

A new retail store is on the way to downtown Charleston.

Tijon perfume, cologne and accessories shop, plans to host a grand opening July 1 in a 1,100-square-foot space at 344 King St., according to Carolina One Real Estate's commercial division, which represented the tenant.

The franchise operation was originally established in 2007 with a location in St. Martin. It also will offer a variety of classes to teach customers how to create their own custom fragrance that they bottle and take home.

Nailed down

A new downtown Charleston place to get pampered will celebrate its grand opening 11 a.m.-2 p.m. June 5.

The Nail Place at 243 Calhoun St. will offer raffle prizes, live music, light bites and refreshments as part of its official launch. Offering manicures and pedicures along with spray tans and facials, it's open by appointment 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

With more than 30 years of experience and 14 of owning her own salon, owner Ann Le said the spa features a pedicure wall fitted with comfortable chairs, offering privacy with half-wall separations on a raised platform. Each station comes with phone chargers.

Sign up for our new business newsletter We're starting a weekly newsletter about the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina. Get ahead with us - it's free. Email

Sign Up!

Parallel to the pedicure area are two manicure nail bars. Customers also can reserve a private VIP pedicure area at no additional charge.

Flagship furnisher

A Daniel Island-based home furnishings firm that started as a wholesale operation in 2016 is opening its flagship brick-and-mortar shop on the island.

Imagine Home will launch its grand opening June 7 at 297 Seven Farms Drive. The 1,250-square-foot shop will emphasize handcrafted materials from marginalized communities around the world, offering upholstery, lighting, artwork and other items, according to Ryan Lantz, director of marketing. His wife, Staci Lantz, is the CEO and owner.

Its products can be found with national online retailers such as One Kings Lane and Wayfair. A new e-commerce website will be offered later in June.

Oil check

A sixth Take 5 Oil Change shop is on the way to the Charleston region.

The Louisiana-based company plans to build a new store at 470 U.S. Highway 52 in Moncks Corner, across from Walmart Supercenter and Tractor Supply and adjacent to the new Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, according to Will Sherrod of the commercial real estate firm NAI Charleston, who handled the transaction.

Sherrod also represented the developer on the land purchase of the Take 5 site under construction at 217 St. James Ave. in Goose Creek. It's set to open in June.

He also handled the ground lease for the Myrtle Beach area's second Take 5 at U.S. Highway 17 Bypass and Inlet Square Drive in Murrells Inlet.

New leases

The commercial real estate firm Avison Young recently announced several new retail leases throughout the Charleston area.

Arthur Murray Dance Studio leased 3,720 square feet in The Shoppes at Bacons Bridge at 850 Bacons Bridge Road, Suites B & C in Summerville.

Nikita Hair leased 1,250 square feet at Grand Oaks Retail at 41 Grand Oaks Blvd., Suite B, in West Ashley.

Lizzie's Cafe leased 1,000 square feet in the Food Lion-anchored Johns Island Shopping Center at 2770 Maybank Highway, Suite G.

Getting fit

An Atlanta-based fitness brand is opening a second Charleston-area site.

SweatHouz plans to open in September at 835 Savannah Highway in West Ashley.

The fitness facility offers customers a chance to sweat out toxins, slim down and relieve stress in private infrared saunas.

"If youve never been before, the SweatHouz experience is unmatched if you want to relax, recover, rejuvenate and enjoy the most benefits in an upscale, luxurious environment with top-notch service," said Jamie Weeks, founder and CEO of Legacy Franchise Partners, owner of SweatHouz.

The region's first location opened at 1701 Shoremeade Road in Indigo Square Shopping Center in Mount Pleasant in 2020.
One of the nation's largest hospice care companies said Wednesday it has signed an agreement to purchase Charleston-based Heart of Hospice and its 16 locations.

LHC Group of Lafayette, La., did not disclose terms of the acquisition but said it expects annual revenues from the purchase will top $92.5 million.

Evening Post Industries, parent company to The Post and Courier newspaper, is selling the hospice group it bought in 2014. Since then, the company has grown to serve about 1,700 patients in five Southern states. LHC plans to continue operating the locations under the Heart of Hospice name.

The acquisition is expected to close during the third quarter of 2021, LHC said.

The Heart of Hospice deal comes on the heels of other acquisitions by LHC in recent months. The company said in May that it is acquiring Heart 'N Home Hospice in Oregon and two Casa de la Luz locations in Arizona. That followed five acquisitions during the second half of 2020, and the company said it aims to continue growing its portfolio.

Keith Myers, LHC's chairman and CEO, told Hospice News in May that the company will exceed its target of $150 million to $200 million in acquired annual revenue this year with several exclusive deals in various stages in negotiations.

Sign up for our new business newsletter We're starting a weekly newsletter about the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina. Get ahead with us - it's free. Email

Sign Up!

Hospice is competitive, but we look at it a little bit differently," Myers told the website. "Were building out a continuum of care. We know that we have volume to bring to the table from our home health operations and from hospital partners."

Publicly traded LHC now employs 30,000 people providing home health, hospice and other services in 35 states and the District of Columbia. Those locations reach 60 percent of the U.S. population age 65 and older.

The sale of Heart of Hospice follows Evening Post's announcement in April that it would spin off its newspaper division and other subsidiaries into three separate businesses to realign the holdings of the family-owned company. That restructuring is expected to be completed this fall.
EDITORS NOTE: In the coming weeks, My Charleston Weekend will share events and happenings curated by arts critic Maura Hogan for The Post and Couriers weekly Hot Sheet emailed newsletter. To sign up for the Charleston Hot Sheet, go to bitly.com/CHSHotSheet.

If you're out and about, you're sure to see an enlivened city. Do your part to power its artists and artisans. And enjoy!

Pick up picture-perfect postcard paintings at the Post House

The Charleston-based Artist Collective has long championed local artists, and their summer show, "Wanderlust," is no exception.

Featuring original postcard-sized pieces by artists from all four Artist Collective locations (Atlanta; Capital (Washington, D.C.); Charleston; and Nashville, Tenn.), the exhibition allows you to support regional artists in other places, too, all at the eye-catching Post House in Mount Pleasant.

A portion of the sales will benefit the nonprofit Fields to Families. (Pro tip: Can't make the opening? A pop up of pieces that do not sell will be available on artistcollectives.org the following day, June 4, at 11 a.m.)

When and where: June 3 from 4 to 7 p.m.; The Rose Room at Post House, 101 Pitt St., in the Old Village in Mount Pleasant.

Why it's hot: Small canvases, big vision.

Who it's for: Aesthetes who are big on collecting (and maybe short on wall space).

Kick it up with food, goods and a flick at Town Market on James Island

Spring into action on First Friday at the Town Market on James Island.

Along with 40 local vendors selling produce and food and offering workshops, too, indulge in delectable dishes like wood-fired pizza from First Name Basis or hummus and tabbuli from Kim's Mediterranean Kitchen. Learn how to chalk paint signs from Chucktown Chalk and Talk. Accessorize your home or wardrobe with a host of local goods.

At dusk, the event fires up an alfresco screening of "The Karate Kid." For a list of vendors, visit the market's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/thetownmarketonji/.

When and where: June 4, from 6 to 9 p.m.; Town Hall on James Island, 1122 Dills Bluff (using parking lot entrance at 1101 Camp Road) on James Island.

Why it's hot: Go local, get a kick.

Who it's for: One-stop shoppers mad about family-friend movies.

Go with Contemporary Flow for R&B at Brittlebank Park

Just off his S.C. Governor's Award for the Arts win, local phenom Charlton Singleton is ready for a Piccolo Spoleto pop-up at Brittlebank Park.

His band Contemporary Flow will lay down contemporary jazz, R&B and originals from Singleton himself. In addition to the Grammy-winning artist on trumpet and vocals, the band features Demetrius Doctor on keyboards, Stephen Washington on keyboards and vocals, LaVonta Green on bass and vocals, and James "JT" Rollerson on drums.

Bring chairs and blankets and prepare to melodically bliss out.

More on Piccolo Spoleto at http://piccolospoleto.com.

When and where: June 4 at 7 p.m.; Brittlebank Park, 185 Lockwood Blvd. in downtown Charleston.

Why it's hot: June is jamming out all over.

Sign up for the Charleston Hot Sheet Get a weekly list of tips on pop-ups, last minute tickets and little-known experiences hand-selected by our newsroom in your inbox each Thursday. Email

Sign Up!

Who it's for: Those ready for rhythm and blues with river views.

Get quacking at a Daniel Island brewery for local causes

The 15th annual Charity Duck Race on Daniel Island is on again this year, bringing together nine area Rotary Clubs to raise money for local charities.

This year, there's no actual water involved, but 30,000 rubber ducks will be set loose on a tarp at the New Realm Brewing Co. Adopt a duck for $10 each to be entered to win the $10,000 prize, with five second-place prizes of $1,000.

Charities include East Cooper Community Outreach (eccocharleston.org), East Cooper Meals on Wheels (ecmow.org), Service Above Self Student Grant Fund (www.charleston-rotary.org/2020/06/6-16-rotary-service-above-self-scholars), Halos (www.charlestonhalos.org) and Shifa Clinic (www.icnarelief.org/shifaclinics). Adoption deadline is noon June 5. To adopt, go to CharlestonDuckRace.com.

When and where: June 5 from 4 to 6 p.m.; New Realm Brewing Co., 880 Island Park Drive on Daniel Island.

Why it's hot: Local charities are worth making a flap about.

Who it's for: Anyone ready who wants to buoy local nonprofits.

Art-hop through Charleston County farms and markets

For the first time, South Carolina Ag + Art Tour, Clemson Cooperative Extension's free, self-guided tour of farms and markets featuring local artisans, includes those found in Charleston County.

Engage with painters, potters, sculptors and more at a host of special spots, from The Goatery at Kiawah River to Salty Oak Farm/Chucktown Acres in McClellanville; from Hickory Bluff Berry Farm in Holly Hill to MUSC Urban Farm in downtown Charleston.

When and where: June 5 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and June 6 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.; For locations go to clemson.edu/extension/agandarttour.

Why it's hot: The time is ripe for fresh farms and art.

Who it's for: Local loyalists keen for inspired field work.

If you wanna dance, you'll like Footlight Players' '80s cabaret

After a pandemic hiatus, the performers at Footlight Players are getting into the groove with cabaret performances at Queen Street Playhouse.

First up is "Decade of Decadence," an '80s cabaret celebrating the pop music of the era with backup from a live band.

Reunite with Footlight favorites (and new faces, too) as they belt out hits from Madonna, Whitney Houston, the Eurythmics and Janet Jackson.

Purchase tickets at web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1049573.

When and where: June 5 at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. (with another performance on June 11 at 8 p.m.; Queen Street Playhouse, 20 Queen St. in downtown Charleston.

Why it's hot: After the past year, the '80s look curiously quaint.

Who it's for: Anyone nostalgic for Spandex and side ponytails.
Running the South Carolina Pride Movement is never easy.

In a normal year, the organization puts on the Outfest block party in June, celebrating LGBT Pride Month and raising money for Famously Hot SC Pride, the larger festival that follows in October.

Theres the annual Presidents Ball, another marquee fundraiser. And then theres the activism thats at the core of Prides work on behalf of the states LGBT community  such as the Brave the Rainbow stickers youve likely seen in local shop windows, provided to broadcast their allyship.

But 2020 was hard in a different way. With all of Prides traditional events wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic, president Jeff March told Free Times it was hard to be patient.

It wrecked me, he said, explaining that the organization cut every expense it could to make sure there would be money for this years Outfest, which will start to fill the coffers for the rest of 2021.

This is my 10th year as president of South Carolina Pride. So it is a huge part of my existence, and my daily life, making sure all this goes smoothly and and happens and raising money and bringing awareness to people. It was hard to lay low, it was really hard to lay low. But we had to hang on to the hope that we were going to come back.

This weekend, Pride will make its big public return, hosting Outfest on Park Street in the Vista. Utica Queen, a contestant on the recent 13th season of RuPaul's Drag Race, will headline, alongside the events typical assemblage of local performers and the annual Miss Outfest pageant.

And there will, as ever, be vendors sharing information relevant to the LGBT community.

But while Prides events went dark in 2020, March was quick to point out that the year wasnt wasted. He endeavored to keep up outreach efforts, such as keeping those Brave the Rainbow stickers flowing. And confronted with budget difficulties  between sponsors pulling back and Columbia and Richland County hospitality tax funds drying up  he sought to forge new partnerships.

There's a lot of companies that always fund Pride events that are like, We're not supporting in-person events yet, he explained.

I was able to loop into a lot more companies that might be interested in us in the future. We do have a few new supporters coming in, March said of what he was able to accomplish during the pandemic. City officials, I had more time to test them out a little bit to make sure that they were doing the right thing for the LGBT community.

"I got to work with different organizations that I didn't have time, necessarily, to help before. So it was a great building experience for me, personally. And I think in the long run, it'll help Pride years down the line.

He noted that the organization considered shuffling its events lineup during the COVID-19 hiatus, coming back with the big Pride festival in June to avoid going a full two years without one, and moving Outfest to the fall. But between autumns more hospitable weather, the desire to keep college students involved, and the funding schedule that Pride relies on, it made sense to keep the events in their traditional spots on the calendar.

The president feels both excitement and pressure for Outfest to be one of the regions first pride events to return. He mentions Charleston Pride (which will host a virtual 5K Run/Walk for Pride Month in June), Augusta Pride (slated for June 25-26), Upstate Pride (which will celebrate Black Pride Week with a Greenville festival on June 26) and Charlotte Pride (which is planning to host 20th anniversary events between August and October) as groups that will watch this weeks Columbia event closely.

We're getting the start here for everybody to get back in season, so we have to do this right, March emphasized.

As far as what doing it right means, Outfest will be keeping COVID-19 protocols in place. Though the event is outdoors, masks will be encouraged, as will vaccinations.

Throughout the entire festival, we'll be shouting out from the stage for people to get vaccinated if they havent, March said.

Moved to a new spot due to construction, theyll utilize a parking lot along the 1200 block of Park Street to spread out vendors and give more room for the crowd to disperse.

Still, March anticipates a crowd about the same size as 2019, hoping for attendance to land near 5,000.

Hes grateful to not have to grapple with these decisions in a vacuum. He said hes had frequent discussions with other pride organizations and the leaders of other local festivals about how theyre handling 2021.

We are a tightly knit group of leaders in pride and just local festivals, March posited, bringing up folks like Dave Britt with the Rosewood Crawfish Festival and Phill Blair with the Jam Room Music Festival. They're always just a phone call away. ... We're friends, we're not competitors.

Outfest Columbia

June 5. 2-10 p.m. Free. 1200 block of Park Street. outfestcolumbia.org.
With a world-class base metals project and a fresh exploration strategy at hand, Aldoro is determined to be a stock to watch amid the green energy revolution.

Narndee is the companys flagship asset through which it aims to service the burgeoning battery metals industry.

( ) is moving closer to capitalising on the battery metals boom as it prepares for a drilling campaign while launching plans to spin out non-core gold projects.

In the last six months, the company has turned its focus to the WA-based Narndee Igneous Complex - a move that has seen Aldoros share price skyrocket from 15 cents in November to 33.3 cents in May.

The project has quickly become Aldoros flagship asset - a strong nickel-copper-platinum group element (PGE) play with unprecedented scale.

Now, with a major drilling campaign just weeks away and an imminent asset divestment, Aldoro is prepared to take the battery metals industry by storm.

Confidence builds at Narndee

On May 31, Aldoro noted rising confidence in an upcoming drilling program at the Narndee project, targeting nickel and PGE mineralisation.

The company will cover 5,000 metres with diamond drilling and focus on three high confidence anomalies. Work is slated to commence later this month.

Crucially, pre-drill surveying and exploration have revealed two of Aldoros priority drill targets lie in close proximity to historic drilling activity - a promising sign for the junior explorer.

Previous exploration at Narndee also points to a strong nickel-copper sulphide signature, which lies immediately west of Aldoros VC1 drill target.

As it gears up to drill at Narndee, Aldoro has concluded that the base metals exploration campaign will require much of its attention.

Its this realisation that led the company to make a major move - divest its gold tenements by listing its subsidiary on the ASX.

A new chapter for gold assets

To better prioritise Narndees exploration, Aldoro will entrust its Penny South, Ryans Find and Unaly Hill South gold assets to a spinoff company in a priority IPO.

Aldoro executive chairman Joshua Letcher said of the move: The Aldoro board carefully considered all available options to appropriately recognise the value of its gold exploration portfolio following a number of unsolicited approaches.

We resolved that the most value accretive way to recognise the inherent value in the gold portfolio for the company together with its shareholders was via a priority IPO spin-off into what is arguably the most leveraged WA gold exploration play to be listed on the ASX.

Aurum, Aldoros wholly-owned subsidiary, will raise up to $5 million to fund gold project exploration when it floats on the local share market in 2021s third quarter.

Existing shareholders will have priority access to the IPO, with 22.5 million shares up for grabs at 20 cents each.

After the float, Aldoro will hold onto five million Aurum shares and receive $200,000 to partially cover expenses incurred as it developed the gold projects.

Initially, Aldoro executives Joshua Letcher and Troy Flannery will represent the company on the Aurum board in non-executive positions.

Letcher continued: In its effort to maximise shareholder value via the priority spin-off, the resultant Aldoro company structure will be well-positioned to benefit from the continued groundswell of the electric vehicles thematic.

Aldoro will benefit from the sharpened focus on the Narndee nickel-PGE project where drilling is expected to commence next month.

Battery metals boom

Aldoros pivot to battery metals comes as the electric vehicle (EV) industry prepares to emerge as one of the decades core markets.

Significantly, with a compound annual growth rate of 22.6%, the global EV market is poised to reach $802.81 billion in value by 2027.

While much of the electric vehicle industrys popularity will initially play out in Europe and North America, base metals from powerhouses like Australia will become essential.

The companys Narndee complex is one of the worlds largest battery metal projects, meaning Aldoro well-positioned to fuel the boom.

Meanwhile, the explorer continues to develop its other WA-based nickel-copper-PGE plays - the Cathedrals Belt Nickel Project, Leinster Nickel Project and the Windimurra Igneous Complex.

With global nickel demand poised to jump to 2.6 million tonnes in 2040, Aldoro is determined to make its mark in the battery metals space.

Funded for exploration

As it prepares to drill at Narndee and capitalise on the green energy revolution, Aldoro has prioritised capital management, ensuring it is well funded to conduct exploration.

At the end of 2021s March quarter, the ASX-lister had in excess of $2 million in the bank to fund exploration activities.

Taking into account the quarters cash burn, the company has enough capital to sustain operations for five more quarters before it needs to tap investors for a cash injection.

Speaking of whats to come, Letcher concluded: The board of Aldoro anticipates a very busy exploration campaign over upcoming months progressing towards drilling and is confident for a resource discovery.
Georgetown, SC (29440)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High around 80F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds light and variable.
GREENVILLE  United Community Bank is growing again, this time reaching deeper into its North Carolina market area.

On May 27, the bank announced it would acquire Cornelius, N.C.-based Aquesta Bank in a deal that will add $752 million in assets to United Community Bank's $18.6 billion. Cornelius is an affluent community near Lake Norman just outside Charlotte. United already has 161 offices in five states  Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas. Aquesta, founded in 2006, has nine branches in the suburbs of Charlotte as well as in Wilmington, N.C. It also has loan offices in Raleigh, N.C., and in Greenville and Charleston, according to the announcement.

This was the second acquisition announcement for United Community Bank in as many weeks. On May 13, the bank announced it would be acquiring Greenville-based FinTrust in a deal that dramatically expands its financial advising operation.

United Community Bank, currently based in Blairsville, Ga., will move its headquarters into a new tower in downtown Greenville by 2024. Most of its executive staff already live and work in Greenville.

United Community Bank has tripled in size since 2012, and its chief executive officer, Lynn Harton, told The Post and Courier in February that he expects $2 billion to $2.5 billion in annual growth through new business and acquisitions in coming years.

"This transaction is consistent with our desire to expand into attractive and fast-growing markets that we know well," Harton said of the Aquesta acquisition.

According to the full announcement on the bank's website, the deal has a value of roughly $131 million, including about $12 million for outstanding options and warrants to acquire Aquesta common stock.

Quick hits

Sign up for our Greenville development newsletter. Get all the latest updates on the Upstate real estate market, more openings and closings, exclusive development news and more in your inbox each week. Email

Sign Up!

The rundown

Business headlines from around South Carolina.

The South Carolina legislative leaders most ardent about selling state-owned utility Santee Cooper said June 1 it is obvious there are no interested buyers and signed off on an overhaul proposal that leaves the utility publicly owned. Both the House and Senate will need to approve the compromise reached by some of the states most powerful lawmakers during a special session later this month.

and signed off on an overhaul proposal that leaves the utility publicly owned. Both the House and Senate will need to approve the compromise reached by some of the states most powerful lawmakers during a special session later this month. The 12-foot by 32-foot Hog Island Queen boat in North Myrtle Beach is readying for her maiden voyage in June as Royal Tiki Charters puts on some final touches. Billy Riggs, co-owner of Royal Tiki, said he and his business partner are in their early 60s and this is something theyve always wanted to do.

boat in North Myrtle Beach is readying for her maiden voyage in June as Royal Tiki Charters puts on some final touches. Billy Riggs, co-owner of Royal Tiki, said he and his business partner are in their early 60s and this is something theyve always wanted to do. Downtown Charleston restaurants shake off remnants of pandemic operations and look forward. Vaccinated back-of-house employees at Butcher and Bee last week were given the go-ahead to work without face coverings if they choose.

7-figure home sales

Two homes sold for more than $1 million over the past week  one on Lake Keowee and one in the mountains above Travelers Rest.

On the move

A Columbia-based strategic communications firm launched in 2013 is expanding its footprint, including a new hire in Greenville. NP Strategy, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Nexsen Pruet law firm, announced June 1, that four communications professionals were added to the firm's existing staff of 25 communications professionals working in eight offices in the Carolinas. Celesia Patterson is joining the company's Greenville office as a strategic marketing manager, according to the release. Also joining NP Strategy are Beverly Bowers (Columbia), Valentina Rojas (Charlotte) and Imani Frasier (Charlotte).

Back for more next week. Email your tips, releases and newsy bits to rgilchrest@postandcourier.com and amitchell@postandcourier.com.
Greenville County Council voted 8-4 to withhold $7,500 from a marketing effort for the Wings of the City temporary art exhibit in downtown Greenville.

Thank you, Jesus! a woman in the audience shouted after the vote as others applauded.

The split vote on June 1 came after a boisterous round of public comments between members of the public who spoke in favor of the exhibit and the countys support of it, or those opposed to the nine sculptures scattered throughout Falls Park and the Peace Center plaza.

Some labeled them demonic or pornographic and called for the public art to be removed for the sake of children. Others said County Council would be heading down a path of government censorship by weighing in on what types of art its accommodations tax committee recommends to receive money from the countys hotel tax.

The city of Greenville, along with the Hispanic Alliance and sponsors like Bank of America, brought the sculptures to town for a six-month exhibit that debuted in April. The city has already said the sculptures will stay and Mayor Knox White and all City Council members have expressed support.

The county's vote does not affect the art display, only the diversion of $7,500 away from the Hispanic Alliance.

The figures evoke the idea of freedom, diversity and inclusion and were brought to enrich Greenville culturally, said Francisco Sanchez, a member of the Hispanic Alliance's board of directors. In particular, he called four winged beings located in Falls Park the guardians of Greenville.

Carolyn Watson, a retired art history professor at Furman University, said she didnt see nudity per se as the problem because the anatomical realism is manipulated and covered by decorative features. She said the artists work features post-modern ambiguity and dehumanization, depicted by some of the sculptures wearing masks and in some figures, implicit sexual perversity.

Watson said the beaks and wings of the guardian figures relate an Aztec god Quetzalcoatl-Ehecatl, whose temple was built over the graves of over 200 human sacrifices.

Is this avatar of a bloodthirsty deity what you want as a guardian in Falls Park? Watson said.

Ellen Stevenson, chair of the Hispanic Alliance board, said it would be a huge missed opportunity if the council failed to support the exhibit.

Sign up for our Greenville weekly update newsletter. Sign up for weekly roundups of our top stories, news and culture from the Upstate. This newsletter is hand-curated by a member of our Greenville news staff. Email

Sign Up!

The collaboration in the community is promoting dialogue between the public and the artwork and between cultures. The exhibition celebrates the global spirit of the Upstate, symbolizing human connection across distance and the role of art as a universal language.

Chris Richardson, also with the Hispanic Alliance, said the Wings of the City exhibit marketing would have been funded by tourism to promote tourism and wasnt using funding from local taxes.

But Martha Gibbs of Simpsonville said we the people live here. She cited comments made by the Mexican artist Jorge Marin that creating the artwork is a work of exhibitionist exorcism that lets my demons, fantasies and ideals come out.

This is not what Greenvilles accustomed to, said Gibbs, a lifelong resident who said the county should support Christian and Southern values. We need to promote family-oriented art.

J.R. Stratton, who also spoke during public comments, called the exhibit wicked filth that is being brought to our community.  I like evocative art. I do not appreciate provocative art.

In May, County Councils finance committee stripped the funding from the nonprofit Hispanic Alliance over complaints from some county residents. The committee voted 4-1 to recommend the money be designated to Artisphere instead.

The item was included in the councils committee reports June 1, rather than as a consent item as it had been for the previous meeting. Councilwoman Liz Seman, who objected to it previously being on the consent agenda, reiterated her support for allocating $7,500 to the Hispanic Alliance. She said the council risked becoming overly entangled in the curation of art, which she said was too in the weeds as a council decision.

Councilman Dan Tripp disagreed, and said the council is responsible for these decisions.

Theres a reason these come to us for final approval, Tripp said. I dont think we should be curators of public art, but I think there are times as council members that we need to stand up and represent those who have a different view. So I do that tonight.

Semans motion to restore funding to the Hispanic Alliance failed 8-4, with councilmembers Seman, Lynn Ballard, Butch Kirven and Chris Harrison in favor. The motion to approve the full funding list with the added $7,500 going to Artisphere passed by a voice vote.
People who aren't able to travel outside their homes may soon have a new opportunity to get vaccinated for coronavirus with an expanded program through the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Begun as a pilot with the company Agape Care Group in late February in Hampton and Jasper counties, DHEC said June 2 the service is now available statewide.

People who are homebound and interested in having someone come to them to administer a COVID-19 shot can call 866-365-8110 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week.

"This will allow vaccination for homebound residents across South Carolina," said Dr. Jane Kelly, assistant state epidemiologist at DHEC. "We know that there are a large number of people who are absolutely homebound, or who have a lot of difficulty getting out to get vaccinated."

The program will run from June 1 through December.

Statewide numbers

New cases reported: 71 confirmed, 47 probable.

Total cases in S.C.: 491,937 confirmed, 101,589 probable.

Percent positive: 3.4 percent.

New deaths reported: 1 confirmed, 0 probable.

Total deaths in S.C.: 8,578 confirmed, 1,161 probable.

Percent of ICU beds filled: 64 percent.

S.C. residents vaccinated

DHEC's vaccine dashboard shows that 44.9 percent of the state's residents have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine.

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!

Hardest-hit areas

In the total number of newly confirmed cases, York County (12), Berkeley County (12) and Spartanburg County (10) saw the highest totals.

What about tri-county?

Charleston County had six new cases on June 2, while Berkeley County had 12 and Dorchester County had three.

Deaths

The death from COVID-19 confirmed June 2 was a person between ages 35 and 64.

Hospitalizations

Of the 221 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of June 2, 66 were in the ICU and 28 were using ventilators.

What do experts say?

Kelly said it is not yet absolutely certain that people who have received a vaccine against COVID-19 will need a booster.

"Right now all three vaccines are effective against currently circulating variants," Kelly said.

To find a vaccine near you, visit vaxlocator.dhec.sc.gov.
Summerville, SC (29483)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High 82F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.
Kingstree, SC (29556)

Today

Cloudy skies during the morning hours followed by scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. High 83F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds light and variable.
Create your account: sign up and get ahead on news and events

NO INVESTMENT ADVICE

The Company is a publisher. You understand and agree that no content published on the Site constitutes a recommendation that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy is...

In exchange for publishing services rendered by the Company on behalf of named herein, including the promotion by the Company of in any Content on the Site, the Company receives from said issuer annual cash...
Steve Garrison covers breaking news and public safety. He's a native of Chicago who previously covered courts and crime in Wisconsin, New Mexico and Indiana. He studied journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of Missouri.
A food truck owner in Berkeley County was arrested and charged with tax evasion after underreporting over $300,000 in sales, according to the South Carolina Department of Revenue.

Victor Sebastian Colbert, 56, of Hanahan, was arrested June 2 and charged with three counts of tax evasion related to his business, Chesapeke Blue, which operates the Cast Iron Food Truck.

Warrants showed the Berkeley County business owner did not report $340,225 in sales during tax years 2018 through 2020, evading a total of $27,220 in state sales tax.

Colbert told state revenue agency officials he knew he had underrepresented his sales. He could face up to five years in prison and a fine of $10,000 if convicted, according the state agency.

Attempts to reach Colbert by phone were unsuccessful on June 2.

Cast Iron Food Truck, which serves mainly barbecue fare, had been a part of Charleston's food truck scene for more than eight years. The food truck's Bob Marley Chicken Sandwich was featured in The Post and Courier in 2018.

Cast Iron Food Truck has also participated in food truck rallies in Hanahan, part of a larger effort by the city to attract more restaurants.
KIAWAH ISLAND  Plans to build a wall that would eventually allow homes to be built on Captain Sam's Spit  a teardrop-shaped isthmus at the end of this barrier island  have again been struck down by the S.C. Supreme Court.

The decision is a win for South Carolina conservationists in the long-running legal battle and carries far-reaching implications for how the state reviews development permits along the rapidly changing coast in the age of sea level rise.

The court ruled the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control erred in issuing permits for a 2,380-foot steel wall along the narrow neck connecting Captain Sam's to Kiawah.

The wall was meant to fend off erosion from the Kiawah River, which borders the island and spit on one side. Water has burst through the thin connection between the land masses at least three times before.

The Coastal Conservation League made multiple arguments against the permits in both court filings and a March 23 argument, chief among them that the wall would eventually lead to the washout of a rare sandy riverbank that kayakers and others use for recreation.

"What's at stake is a public trust resource," said South Carolina Environmental Law Project attorney Amy Armstrong, whose firm represented the league.

"We don't have any more of these tidelands. What we have is limited and so special and so well-used and well-loved that we've got to protect it," she said.

Trenholm Walker, attorney for builders Kiawah Development Partners, said his client was disappointed with the decision and will ask the court to rehear it. Developers intend to construct 50 homes on the roughly 150-acre spit of land.

"As found by the administrative law judge who heard all the evidence (in lower court), the limited development of Captain Sam's will be done in an environmentally sensitive manner that includes a permanent conservation easement preserving most of the property in a natural state in perpetuity," Walker wrote in an email.

According to the opinion authored by Justice Kaye Hearn, a lower court relied too much on economic benefits in allowing the permits; wrongly justified the span by focusing on a small portion that would protect Kiawah's Beachwalker Park; and let DHEC get away with a too-narrow interpretation of state law that protects tidal areas like beaches and marshes.

These "critical areas," as the state calls them, get special scrutiny when a developer proposes any structure inside them. In this case, builders planned to put the wall just outside of fast-advancing critical area, so DHEC didn't apply that close review before it approved the building plan.

On that point, Hearn wrote, "the expert testimony established it is not a matter of if but when the critical area will encompass the wall," and thus the impacts had to be considered.

That sets a legal precedent in other cases where developments are sited on land that may one day become tidal, Armstrong said. But she urged that the situation won't apply to most coastal developments because a pattern of erosion or sea rise would have to be documented on the project site.

"You cant turn blinders on when you know something is going to happen," Armstrong said. "Certainly, DHEC needs to be thinking about that going forward."

The acknowledgement from the state's highest court is a significant one, as climate change and sea level rise make sensitive ecological areas advance to what was once high ground. In some cases, higher tides have started to flood building sites as state lawmakers repeatedly extended the life of building permits.

A DHEC spokeswoman said the agency "is aware of and reviewing the Supreme Court's decision made earlier today."

Various aspects of the plan to develop Captain Sam's have been in the legal system since 2009, resulting in three cases that made it to the Supreme Court and five total arguments in front of justices.

Two of those arguments came after a party asked the state's highest court for a rehearing, or another chance to argue the legal issues at hand. It's unclear if the court will grant that chance again when the developers ask for it in this case.
Peeking into the window of the blue brick building alongside downtown North Augusta, the wide open space with a small couch and desk might not look like much. But for the members of the Collective, it's the place to kickstart their business opportunities.

Located at 523 Georgia Ave., Collective was created as a place for creatives and entrepreneurs to rent a workspace outside of their home on an as needed basis for $40 an hour.

The idea came out of necessity during the pandemic and as being a parent sustaining a business.

I had been home for six years and dont know many people. You are just out of the work realm and in mom mode, so I started messaging people on Instagram, Kari Rehnlund, one of the permanent Collective members and a graphic designer out of North Augusta, said. I know that theres a lot of photographers in this area and they might need a space to rent so I started messaging and started asking if they wanted to share a space.

Whenever I wanted to go anywhere, I had to go to a coffee shop and that isnt always the easiest, especially with COVID, most of them arent open, Megan Hutchins, another permanent Collective member and a Graniteville photographer, added.

Rehnlund also found Rebecca Evans and Sarah Tau through social media and were interested into turning the idea into reality. The space opened to the public last month and word of mouths well as social media has helped link their work to clients.

The city of North Augusta is so tight knit and we kind of feed off each other, Hutchins said. We have the Third Thursday and stuff so I think that being able to connect with other businesses and small businesses and other woman business owners I think is something that I really look forward to.

One such example is the Collective's partnership with Carolynn Collins of Honey Dripp Co., a female business that will be hosting a pop-up boutique for the brand Rio to Rome. The brand features bold colors and vivid patterns and plans on renting out the space three days a week as a storefront.

Its been nice to see even my name being connected with Collective, Collins said. A lot of who they know and who theyve partnered with and now have come followed me and partnered with me.

The women, all mothers, also try to foster a welcoming environment for their businesses and future clients.

Theres enough work for everyone and I think that its nice to see community over competition, Rehnlund said.

"I love to see women supporting women and not being in competition and I love that Im seeing that more and more, Collins added. I love the people aspect of it and I love getting to know different people and different things and I think I have met so many new people in a short amount of time.
Some punks busted up the Denmark Vesey statue over the weekend, and then some other punks spray-painted graffiti on Congresswoman Nancy Maces house.

They also hit three parks on Daniel Island early Monday. Which suggests some folks have really twisted ideas about how to commemorate Memorial Day.

This sort of vandalism has become all too common around Charleston in recent years, no doubt fueled by a crazed political environment and low-information voters stirring each other up on social media.

But vandalism accomplishes nothing, and it has to stop. Because you know who ultimately pays for all this idiotic, wanton destruction?

Yep, Charleston taxpayers.

Mayor John Tecklenburg sent a Livability Department crew out to Maces house on Monday to help clean up the graffiti that covered her house, as well as the sidewalk and the street in front of it.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, those city guys are getting pretty good at removing graffiti  theyve gotten a lot of practice on the Confederate Defenders of Charleston monument at The Battery. Its been defaced several times in recent years.

The assault on the Vesey statue, however, was next-level. Somebody took a sledgehammer or the like to the granite base of the Hampton Park monument. They hit it hard enough to punch through the rock and destroy some of the inscription  including his name.

Cowardly. Despicable, Mayor Tecklenburg said Tuesday. Its the same thing whether youre coming from the right or the left. Its despicable. I noticed on the statue, they started with his name, so let me say it: Denmark Vesey.

Vesey has always been a controversial figure around Charleston. In 1799, he won a lottery that allowed him to buy his freedom from slavery. In 1822, he was accused of plotting a slave rebellion  a constant worry in Charleston at the time  and hanged.

When the Vesey statue was proposed two decades ago, there was significant pushback from those on the right. Some people were outraged local leaders would choose to honor a man who allegedly wanted to kill white Charlestonians.

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!

Yes, many of the same folks who in 2020 declared it tyranny to be asked to wear masks to stem the spread of a deadly pandemic were apparently offended that someone might consider rebelling against actual slavery.

Of course, some of this vandalism is strictly racism run amok. Several years ago, the state put up a historical marker to Robert Smalls on The Battery. Smalls, a former slave and eventually a South Carolina congressman, stole a Confederate ship and escaped with his family and some other slaves in the middle of the Civil War.

The Smalls historical marker didnt make it more than a month before some knucklehead knocked it down. The state had to pay for a new one.

Crews have already removed the face of the Vesey statue base, and the mayor says it will be replaced as soon as possible. Theres no cost estimate yet, but you can bet this stunt will end up costing the city thousands of dollars. The statue, which went up in 2014, cost more than $100,000.

This is not the way we express our differences in Charleston, Mayor Tecklenburg says. Its not acceptable.

Hes right, of course  this isnt acceptable. No one has the right to destroy public monuments, and no one should be defacing the house of an elected official.

We should all be able to feel safe in our own homes, regardless of our political beliefs, Mace said on Twitter.

And shes right. Mace was complimentary of the citys efforts, and both her and Tecklenburg are eager to see the vandals caught and prosecuted. Charleston police are looking, but finding them may not be easy.

Outside of Maces house, someone painted an A in a circle, which is a common symbol for anarchy. And thats what all this is.

At Barfield Park on Daniel Island, someone spray-painted both MAGA and Black Lives Matter on city property. So, either we had rival tagging gangs out the same night  our very own East Side Story  or this is just the work of ignorant malcontents.

And unfortunately, these days that covers a lot of folks on the political spectrum.
The Biden administrations decision Tuesday to suspend oil drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was a welcome first step toward unwinding some of the environmental threats of the past four years.

The administration must strengthen that action by fully and permanently halting any drilling in one of Americas last remaining untouched wildernesses, which is home to polar bears and other wildlife. An environmental analysis and a legal review by the U.S. Department of Interior should provide the evidence needed to stop the ill-considered lease deals that were rushed through in the final weeks of the Trump administration, despite the issue being tied up in court.

U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, along with the rest of our congressional delegation, should use their influence to help slam the door shut on the awful drilling plan.

President Joe Biden was rightly criticized last month for defending a Trump administration plan for drilling elsewhere in Alaska and supporting a decision to open up public lands in Wyoming to oil and gas drilling.

One of those, the massive Conoco

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!

Phillips Willow Project on the north shore of Alaska, would create nearly 260 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions over its lifetime, about the equivalent of what 66 coal-fired power plants would produce, according to Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune. Environmental advocates also fear the project would divert the migration of caribou, impacting local communities ability to provide food for their families. Mr. Brune warned that the project, which would include 250 wells, a processing facility, hundreds of miles of pipelines and roads, and an airstrip, could impact polar bears, fish and other vulnerable species, and change Alaskas pristine northern reaches forever.

The administration should take another look at this arrangement and others with an eye toward being consistent in regards to protecting sensitive areas.

Its important to note that such decisions can be undone by future administrations, but the increased emphasis on renewable energy now should lead to less reliance on environmentally harmful fossil fuels in the years to come. That could make this pause in drilling an important event in stopping such action.

Mr. Trumps decision to support Arctic drilling was as rash as his plan to open the Atlantic Coast to oil exploration and drilling in the face of strong community opposition. There is no upside to risky drilling.
COLUMBIA  South Carolina lawmakers are poised to buy a 23-acre property on James Island that has operated as a Catholic convent for decades, saying it's a rare chance to preserve a pristine plot right on Charleston Harbor.

The House Ways and Means Committee advanced a budget proposal June 2 that includes $23.25 million to buy waterfront property owned by the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy  an isolated plot nestled between the water and surrounding suburban housing.

The land includes 750 feet of coastline, a chapel and dorms for the nuns, said Rep. Phillip Lowe, R-Florence, who made the proposal as subcommittee chairman for the Department of Natural Resources' budget.

"There are 23 acres of pristine land, the most beautiful scenery there, with trees overlooking the harbor," said Lowe, who toured the property last month.

"This is good news for South Carolina," he added. "As fast as were growing, we need to preserve things in Charleston and those heavy-growth areas, and this is the last place I could find on the harbor."

Legislators envision the property on a bluff being an ideal place for weddings, educational field trips, conferences and residents just looking to enjoy the scenery on walking and bicycle trails.

The land would be purchased by DNR, which already owns adjoining research site property where the pre-Revolutionary Fort Johnson once stood.

The state's parks and tourism agency would manage the public access and rent the buildings for events, legislators said.

"The sisters, unfortunately, were elderly and put it on the market for development," House Ways and Means Chairman Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, told his committee.

"We've saved it from development and have a pristine piece of property for South Carolinians to own," he added.

The property went out for bid several weeks ago, and many developers had already shown interest before legislators got involved, Smith said.

It's far from a done deal as the proposal must make it to the final state budget that's being ironed out this month in advance of the July 1 start of the new fiscal year. In the meantime, the land remains on the market.

"We're competing with others," said state Sen. Chip Campsen, R-Isle of Palms. "If we dont acquire this, it will end up being developed pretty intensively. And God's not making any more coastal real estate."

Sign up for updates! Get the latest political news from The Post and Courier in your inbox. Email

Sign Up!

Campsen made his colleagues aware of the buying opportunity.

Combining the 23 acres with other property owned by DNR at Fort Johnson used for marine labs will make more than 4,000 feet of peninsula shoreline available to the public for posterity, he said.

A phone message left with the sisters on June 2 was not immediately returned. But legislative leaders said the 192-year-old religious congregation, which moved to the property after World War II, would prefer the land be preserved rather than developed.

That will include conserving buildings that developers would likely want to demolish and telling visitors about the nuns' work.

"They've done amazing things," Campsen said, noting the sisters' legacy includes operating an orphanage, caring for Confederate and Union troops during the Civil War, and founding in 1882 what eventually became Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital.

Smith said he will push for the state to take advantage of any other similar preservation opportunities that might arise.

"I think its very important we preserve land for the average South Carolinian to be able to enjoy those resources," he said. "Unfortunately, now as beach property and rental property go up, its tough for people to go and vacation at the beach like we once did 20, 30, 40 years ago.

"This will be here for centuries of South Carolinians to enjoy the beauty this state has," he continued.

The House's budget-writing committee unanimously approved including the purchase in its $10.7 billion spending package, which the full House will debate next week.

Legislators are holding several short, limited sessions this month to wrap up work on the state budget.

Other differences with the Senate's version include a 3 percent cost-of-living raise for state employees. Senators provided a 2 percent raise across all agencies in the plan it advanced five weeks ago.
Veterans looked back to the years of the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign which is a decisive battle in the final stage of the Chinese Civil War.

Veterans gave away books to young participants during the event.

On May 31, an educational event about the history of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was staged in the Jiangdong Ecological Park in Wuhu, Anhui Province. The event invited two 90-year-old veterans, Zhao Yude and Shi Yongliang, to tell the stories of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign. More than 40 young Party members from construction units, communities, and border inspection stations participated in the event and got inspired by the veterans' wartime experiences and fortitude.
The company is on track to complete its drilling program at the project with 77% of drill holes completed to date.

The company will commence feasibility development programs on the project while the drilling program is in its final stages.

Elementos Limited ( ) ( ) (FRA:9EM) continues to confirm significant zones of mineralisation in the current drilling campaign at its flagship Oropesa Tin Project in Spain.

The company is on track to complete the drilling program objectives with 77% drill holes completed with the program reduced to 44 holes from 48 following a refinement process.

"Robust" knowledge

Chief executive officer Joe David said: The confirmation of the tin mineralisation continuity at Oropesa provides strong support that the companys geological knowledge of the deposit is robust."

READ: Elementos begins feasibility development programs at Oropesa Tin Project

David added: This continued confirmation has led to the recent announcement by the company to commence feasibility development programs on the project whilst the drilling program is in its final stages.

The latest drilling results from five holes (in addition to 22 diamond drill holes previously reported from the program) highlight significant zones of tin mineralisation, including:

12.5 metres at 0.8% tin from 36.3 metres;

6.7 metres at 0.31% from 67.1 metres;

15.9 metres at 0.28% from 100.6 metres;

9 metres at 0.3% from 84.6 metres;

10.1 metres at 0.24% from 124.1 metres;

16.5 metres at 0.23% from 19.4 metres;

5.5 metres at 0.39% from 42.7 metres;

22.9 metres at 0.28% from 6.1 metres;

8.6 metres at 0.21% from 59 metres; and

22.6 metres at 0.23% from 69.4 metres.

Drill program 77% complete

The three objectives of the drilling are to increase the confidence of existing inferred resources into indicated resources, confirm near-surface, possibly fault-controlled mineralisation that is currently not included in the 2017 geological resource model, and to test for additional near-surface resources from exploration targets identified from Induced Polarisation (IP) geophysical survey anomalies.

The company revised the proposed drilling program based on a review of information obtained from the drilling program to date, reducing it to 44 drill holes but adding an extra 270 metres of drilling (totalling 5,270 metres) due to the inclusion of two deeper resource conversion drill holes.

A total of 34 (77%) drill holes had been completed with assays received for 27 of the completed drill holes.

Shares have been as much as 10% higher intra-day to A$0.022.
Craving a primal scream these days? The Woman in Black is humbly and harrowingly at your service.

The long-running West End ghost play, which has inspired similarly spontaneous outbursts on Londons West End for 30 years, is now haunting Spoleto Festival USA 2021, having slipped in through a sort of pandemic portal.

Well, sure, its literally here due to its temporary COVID-19 closure at New York Citys McKittrick Hotel, where it was enjoying an acclaimed six-week run before the lockdown. The good news is that the hiatus created an opportunity for the production, which is directed by Robin Herford, to land in the festival lineup. It now inhabits Festival Hall with staggered socially distanced pods and a spare, ever inventive set by Michael Holt.

But are we sure thats really how the titular, terrifying black-garbed femme fatale who is oft-referenced in the work made its way to Charleston? After all, this centuries-old city is known for plenty of its own roaming apparitions. And they are, naturally, as hospitable as the next Charlestonian to wanderers from parts unknown.

This visitor wafts in from across the pond. Based on the 1983 British novel by Susan Hill, The Woman in Black was adapted for the stage by Stephen Mallatratt, who whittled it down to two main characters. They are a solicitor by the name of Arthur Kipps (Peter Bradley) and a young actor (Nick Owen), whom Kipps has enlisted to help him put down for posterity an eerie interlude from his younger years so he may sleep at night.

The two delve deeper and deeper into the unnerving goings on at Eel Marsh House, the property of the recently deceased Alice Drablow. The young Kipps had been dispatched by his law firm to the town of Crythin Gifford on the north coast of England to sort through her papers.

Its a play within a play, with the actor trying in vain to instruct his fact-focused client on dramatic craft to best share his tale. A successful storyteller, he repeats, conjures reality by way of imagination. Bobbing on a trunk becomes a ride on a horse-drawn carriage. Gazing at an expansive space before becomes Nine Lives Causeway, on which the estate sits.

Like paranormal phenomena, the crux of a tale well told lies as much in what is perceived as much as in what is actually seen. The key is leveraging imagination, the actor underscores repeatedly, until finally giving up and taking the role himself. And so with the likes of a clothes rack, said trunk and a loyal if invisible dog named Spider, we tap into our own imaginations, which become every bit as culpable in our increasing unease.

Commanding, energetic performances propel the suspense, with Owen whipping up escalating intrigue and Bradley weaving deftly in and out of numerous characters. Still, a star of this show is the playwright, Stephen Mallatratt. Creating gasps of terror in a traditional playhouse is a supernatural enterprise, and he methodically constructs a slow, subtle build, doing so as much by what is not shared as by what is.

What are those askance looks from the townspeople? Why cant the young solicitor find an assistant to help with all that paper sorting? From exactly where will the next fright erupt?

It must be noted that while we all understand the vagaries of the pandemic to serve up this engaging chestnut, the acoustics in Festival Hall at times challenged. Perhaps this was due to spaced-out seating in the cavernous, concrete-floored venue. And the production is certainly a far shriek from its cozy pub home at The McKittrick Hotel, which likely created a different dynamic.

Instead, some audience members where I was seated had to strain to catch the dialogue. It may well be the performers had to push to reach to the back of the house, too, thus changing that measured, intimate unfolding of the tale.

Nonetheless, there were ample starts and subsequent twitters as the crowd reacted and recovered from things that go bump and creak and screech in the night. The ride home from the show took on a creepy aspect, too, as we ventured out, amidst Charleston's old homes and darkened corners, which may well be the time-tested domain of our homegrown roving souls.

Follow our full coverage of Spoleto Festival USA 2021 here.
Editors Note: The Index-Journal is one of 16 newspapers collaborating with The Post and Courier on the Uncovered investigative project.

When officials and media gathered to watch Gov. Henry McMaster anoint John de la Howe as the Palmetto State's newest governor's school in December, there was more than a fresh coat of paint on the walls.

Roofs were rebuilt, bathrooms had new tile and modern fixtures, and students were already on campus. After two years of soul-searching and site work, John de la Howe emerged ready for its next chapter.

But an Index-Journal review of invoices and requisition forms found something hiding on the school's 1,300 acres in rural McCormick County.

Those charged with breathing new life into the Governor's School for Agriculture at John de la Howe's crumbling buildings flouted South Carolina procurement law while awarding hundreds of thousands of dollars in work, keeping the public, potential contractors and even state regulators in the dark.

At the center of this taxpayer-funded fiefdom is Facilities Director Ken Durham and his top deputy, Scott Mims.

It's the latest revelation from Uncovered, a partnership between The Post and Courier and community newspapers, including the Index-Journal, to shine a light on questionable conduct by government employees. The series has previously highlighted Mims' close relationship to a contractor he hired at the school and former interim President Sharon Wall negotiating a contract with a consultant she then joined  both of whom might have violated state ethics laws.

Tim Keown, the school's president, has not responded to an interview request from the Index-Journal. Emails seeking comment from Durham and Mims went unanswered.

Despite working in McCormick County, which had the state's third-lowest per capita income in 2010, they are among the top earners with their titles. Mims, a member of Edgefield Town Council, receives $70,674 a year, making him the highest-paid facilities maintenance manager listed in the state salary database. Durham, Edgefield's mayor, isn't listed but makes more. He rakes in $91,755.

Together, they exercise broad discretion in deciding who gets to participate in large portions of the renovations, which have topped $5 million.

Their approach? Divide.

A review of invoices dating back to 2018 found that while some major projects, such as significant roof work or building a security checkpoint, were put out to bid, others were spread across dozens of invoices and multiple vendors. This kept each request under thresholds for adverting work, seeking state approval or offering a competitive process. This opaque process allowed Durham and Mims to funnel hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to their contractors of choice, including one with close ties to Mims.

But artificially dividing purchases runs afoul of South Carolina law.

Legal limits

The morass of text that makes up procurement law is hardly tantalizing. It seems like a function of bureaucracy, perhaps even red tape.

But it's important.

This section of South Carolina code dictates how the government can spend the public's money. It's designed to create a competitive process that makes sure the government gets the best possible deal for the taxpayers. It's designed to make it difficult for greedy officials to line their pockets or funnel public funds to friends. It's designed to let the light shine in.

To accomplish this, the law sets limits and thresholds. For purchases of up to $10,000, an agency can spend just by certifying it's getting the best possible rate. Above that amount, purchasers are required to get multiple quotes or bids.

There's also a limit on how much an agency can spend without getting the state Division of Procurement Services to sign off. For John de la Howe, that cap is $50,000. That amount also triggers a requirement to advertise on the South Carolina Business Opportunities website, the ability for businesses to petition unfair treatment, and a requirement that contractors have bonds to cover damage and missteps.

Statute prohibits buyers from dividing purchases to thwart these limits.

While the law doesn't spell out what constitutes artificially dividing purchases, state procurement audits have highlighted a number of such violations over the years.

There have been occasional attempts to circumvent this provision by breaking up purchases from the same company for the same item  sometimes on the same day  to keep it below that level. For instance, Lander University divided $11,780 in printing services between two purchase orders. Auditors in 2017 said that was a no-no.

That same year, the state took issue with Will Lou Gray Opportunity School spending $42,437 with the same vendor for media planning and placement services across two years and seven purchases.

"Based upon the aggregated expenditures for each fiscal year exceeding $10,000 for media planning and placement, and the frequency of such procurements, the Agency should have solicited bids for such services," the audit found.

In another 2017 finding, Winthrop University was getting billed more or less quarterly from a cleaning service, with those invoices coming in at less than $10,000 apiece, but tallying $61,229 across eight payments. Officials said Winthrop should have awarded the service through a competitive process.

Auditors have dinged several other agencies for divided purchases. No agency has seen more than a handful of these, or at least not ones that were caught in these audits. More often than not, findings in these reports have been minor and lead to nothing more than assurances that an agency will comply with statute.

But the law does allow action when entities have major problems complying with state procurement law. It's even possible for an agency to lose its ability to oversee its own procurement process.

It's happened before.

At John de la Howe.

Donate to our Investigative Fund to support journalism like this Our public service and investigative reporting is among the most important work we do. Its also the most expensive reporting we do. We cant do it without your support. Donate Now

De la Howe, unscripted

It was like something out of a movie, Mary Cartledge told state leaders. She wouldn't believe it could be true if she hadn't seen it firsthand.

Days before a procurement audit at John de la Howe, then a school for troubled children, employees put page after page through a paper shredder, obliterating more than a year's worth of procurement documents. When auditors arrived and asked for documentation of 16 purchases, there was nothing to show them.

That wasn't the extent of the auditors' findings. The school bungled its handling of blanket purchase orders and failed to file reports on sole source, emergency, trade-in sale and unauthorized procurements. Training was a clear problem.

The scathing report became a topic of the Feb. 8, 2010, state Budget and Control Board meeting. Cartledge, then business operations director at de la Howe, had the challenging task of explaining to then-Gov. Nikki Haley what had happened: The agency was short-staffed, its employees ill-trained and the payables department did not realize the requisition forms and purchase orders had not been scanned.

After years of abiding by state procurement law, this was a slip-up and changes were made to ensure compliance, Cartledge said, trying to reassure the five-member board. Still, the body weighed whether to suspend the agency's spending authority from $50,000 to $25,000. Haley wasn't satisfied with the changes and decided to take it a step further, proposing to require all purchases receive approval from the state Division of Procurement Services.

Other members of the board agreed and voted to effectively strip the agency of its ability to purchase with taxpayer dollars, with auditors returning for 90-day checkups until the board was satisfied de la Howe was back on track.

On June 14, 2011, then-Superintendent Thomas Mayer had to explain why the school defied the board and paid 20 invoices without state approval and without creating purchase orders. He blamed incompetence, said two senior staffers were no longer there and admitted the school hadn't had a procurement specialist since 2007. It instead relied on an administrative assistant who wasn't trained in procurement.

Despite his assurances that he was addressing the shortcomings, a fuming Haley told him if problems persisted she would ask the Legislature to strip his agency of funding. Subsequent checkups, however, provided clean bills of health. On March 6, 2012  more than a year after the board stripped de la Howe of its purchasing authority  it lifted the suspension.

And the agency again controlled its own finances.

Divide, divide, divide

The rural campus was flush with contractors for much of the year leading up to its reopening to students in fall 2020.

As part of that work, de la Howe staff sought to renovate a number of bathrooms on campus. Instead of putting the project out to bid to see which contractor or contractors might emerge with the best rate, the staff decided to piecemeal out the project.

One contractor charged just over $75,000 across 11 invoices to retile bathrooms. Improvements by a local plumber, including installing a number of fixtures de la Howe bought, topped $30,000 across nearly 20 requisition forms. Another contractor added partitions and performed more contract work, with de la Howe paying more than $16,000 across three bills.

In total, the school spent about $120,000 to renovate bathrooms on campus  and that doesn't count supplies, which the school bought separately. Because it was spread across three companies and more than 30 purchases, the staff did not solicit a single bid or even a competing quote, nor did it need the state engineer to sign off on the work. Instead of a top state official guaranteeing the quality and safety of the final product, Mims was able to verify completion.

The qualified businesses that were shut out from work that was never advertised or put out to bid had no recourse because de la Howe's flouting of state procurement law kept the price of individual projects too low to allow protests.

Costs from some of the contractors crept up throughout the renovations, even with de la Howe providing the materials. The business that provided tiling work charged $5,700 the first time it retiled a gang bathroom in one of the cottages, then jumped the price to $9,975 and $9,995  just below the threshold for seeking quotes  for the six subsequent gang bathrooms. The plumber charged $3,250 to $3,500 to install fixtures in some of the same restrooms, then increased the price to $4,500 despite performing roughly the same amount of work.

The Index-Journal is waiting for de la Howe to release documents pertaining to its purchases of materials, which the newspaper requested more than three weeks ago. According to the state Comptroller's website, the school spent just shy of $25,000 on tiles across five purchases and nearly $30,000 for plumbing supplies across four bills during bathroom renovations. Without requisition forms, invoices or receipts, it is unclear whether these materials, which totaled $55,000, were used in the restroom renovations. What is clear is that keeping those individual purchases below $10,000 meant de la Howe did not have to seek multiple quotes or bids.

While these renovations had the highest dollar amount of divided projects, other needed services to get de la Howe ready were also contracted out piecemeal.

As of February, painting services from the start of renovations tallied nearly $200,000 across about 30 requisitions with one contractor. More than 20 of those, which totaled more than $94,000, were purchases under $10,000. One of the clearest cases of dividing was with the four wilderness classrooms, which were all painted at about the same time and spread across four purchase orders for $3,000 each, or a total of $12,000. Because each remained under $10,000, the agency avoided getting competing quotes.

Even some of the paint jobs that were more than $10,000 could have been combined to make for a larger job. Painting ceilings, walls and trim in five cottages totaled $86,000, but were divided into five projects  keeping it under the threshold for state approval, public advertising and bonding. Instead, the person who requested the work only needed three quotes from whichever companies he asked, with other businesses, state regulators and the public being none the wiser. Touch-up work, painting exteriors and other work at the cottages were split up among multiple smaller purchases, all below the $10,000 threshold.

Another example is work by an Edgefield roofing and tree company. The business had the lowest quote for roofing work at Carolina Cottage: extending the roofline cost $7,080 while reshingling cost $12,790, for a total price of $19,870. When it came time to do similar work on Abbeville Cottage the following month, the company charged $9,950 to extend the roofline and another $9,950 to reshingle, and de la Howe paid for the work in two purchases. The total: $19,900.

When de la Howe was ready for sidewalk work costing $70,000  above the agency's $50,000 spending cap  the job was divided into two tasks: demolishing old sidewalks and pouring new ones. Many of the quotes were solicited from Edgefield County companies, including one from a business that doesn't even list concrete work in its description in the state contractor's database. One quote came from a company in Georgetown that would have subcontracted out the project, nearly doubling the price.

The winning company for both projects was Faith Remodeling 2 Construction, which has a thin paper trail, but is owned by Shannon Philpott, a Trenton Town Council member who has been associated with Mims and some of his businesses for at least a decade. Philpott's residential developers license is connected to Edgefield Asphalt and Concrete, which Mims owns, and the online record for that license even lists Mims' home address.

It was unclear whether Mims reported a possible conflict of interest to Durham or de la Howe. Keown has not responded to an emailed question sent a month ago about whether there was a disclosure. The Index-Journal requested any such documentation under the Freedom of Information Act and is awaiting the production of those filings, should they exist.

The Index-Journal is still awaiting procurement documents detailing payments to other vendors that were requested more than three weeks ago, but payments visible on the Comptroller's website are mostly under $10,000. Among them:

The school paid more than $50,000 for flooring services across 12 payments and more than two years, with individual amounts ranging from $600 to $9,900.

A drywall company received $58,365 across eight payments, with just one exceeding $10,000  and it's unclear from the Comptroller's website whether that $13,500 sum was from a single purchase or multiple.

The agency made nine payments totaling nearly $30,000 to an electrical company last fiscal year, with the amounts ranging from $760 to $6,425. The same company was paid nearly $30,000 in a single payment in February, but it's unclear whether the payment is from a single purchase or if it's spread across multiple invoices.

A company that performed renovations and carpentry work tallied nearly $45,000 across 13 payments, which ranged from $800 to $6,300.

The school paid a little more than $20,000 to a siding and window company across four payments, the highest of which was $9,100.

In total, the school spent about half a million dollars in purchases under $10,000 as part of campus renovations  and perhaps far more  with a number of these expenditures likely violating state procurement law. A number of purchases above that amount, including paint and concrete work, also appeared to be divided in a way to avoid an open bidding process, bonding requirements and the approval of the Division of Procurement Services.

And the number of small purchases came with a substantial increase in paperwork. A weekly update sent Nov. 2, 2020, from de la Howe reported the procurement and finance departments saw a more than 270 percent increase in new purchase orders while having paid out more than $2.5 million so far that year.

During an interview with The Post and Courier and the Index-Journal in April, Durham defended his series of small purchases.

"Were smart enough to know what the hourly rate is so its just a good benefit and good service for the state," he said, referring to work performed by the plumber that totaled $90,575 across nearly 40 requisitions. "If I had gotten a large company in here and gotten a bid and gotten a change order every time they found something."

He stressed that he did nothing wrong.

"It doesnt look good as it could have if Id been more aware," Durham said. "It wasnt out of any bad intention."

Survive an audit

In weaving through the dos and don'ts of purchasing, the South Carolina Consolidated Procurement Code stresses no less than five times that documentation of the process "must be sufficient to satisfy external audit."

A key element is explaining the determination for each procurement. It's simple for purchases of up to $10,000. Somewhere on the requisition form, the requester should write five words: "Price is fair and reasonable."

Yet on 61 of the 78 purchasing requisition forms released for such purchases, those words don't appear.

Most also merely explain that pricing came from a phone call, something that limits documentation, with a few forms differing substantially in cost from the final invoice. For an urgent plumbing repair, the requisition form recorded a cost of $7,500, but the plumber only ended up charging $1,900. The same form initially labeled the repair an emergency, which was likely unnecessary and comes with greater reporting requirements. At some point in the process, someone crossed through the designation.

Because so many invoices and requisition forms were for similar work from one cottage to another, some had copy-and-paste problems, such as repeating a cottage name. For the sidewalk work, many of the quotes contain the full description of both projects despite de la Howe dividing them.

There was also nothing on any of the requisition forms that indicated why pieces of seemingly the same projects were divided.

Keep the sunshine out

Keown has pledged to be transparent throughout the requests made as part of Uncovered. Hugh Bland, who chairs John de la Howe's board, has also promised to be aboveboard  doing so after an hours-long meeting behind closed doors to discuss coverage of the agency.

But when it comes to releasing documents requested under the state's Freedom of Information Act, the school has taken its time.

The Post and Courier submitted a request on April 26 just after reporting on questionable behavior at the school. The agency took the full 10 business days allowed by law before responding to the request, but has yet to provide those documents. State law allows up to 30 calendar days for de la Howe to produce those records, and that countdown didn't start until The Post and Courier paid a deposit on the request. The agency has made the Index-Journal wait, too, using the full 10 days for two different requests from the Greenwood newspaper.

Each response contains the same paragraph: "Your request is granted in part and denied in part. The Agency will produce any responsive emails that are not exempt from disclosure under S.C. Code  30-4-40, state, or federal law and that meet the definition of public record under S.C. Code  30-4-20."

Which part is denied? It's not clear in the response. And that wording was used to respond to a request that sought procurement documents, not emails.

"A cardinal rule of life should be, 'When youre in a hole, stop digging.' This school is in a hole because its actions have caused the public to lose confidence in the integrity of the institution," longtime press attorney Jay Bender said after seeing de la Howe's response. "The law requires the school to respond to a request for public records by stating within a specified time whether a record will be made available, and the reason for the schools decision. ...

"As the Office of the Attorney General stated in a recent opinion, 'When in doubt disclose.' "

This language is not unlike the state Department of Revenue's response to Edward D. Sloan Jr., which was later the subject of Sloan v. SCDOR. In responding to a FOIA request from Sloan, the agency ended with: "If we are unable to locate, obtain or release the requested file(s) you will be notified of the decision and the reasons for it."

In that case, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that "DOR's response did not comply with the statutory dictates of FOIA. While DOR did respond to Sloan, its equivocal and evasive response was not a final opinion on the public availability of the requested documents and did not state whether the information requested by Sloan was publicly available for inspection, copying, or production."

When the Index-Journal first received the response informing it the "request is granted in part and denied in part," the newspaper informed the agency it did not comply with state law. It received no response.

While FOIA provides deadlines to ensure compliance, public bodies can use the public records law as a cudgel to slow or prevent the release of unsavory information, taking every available moment before responding or releasing information, and at times charging exorbitant rates for gathering information.

After becoming the subject of Uncovered, de la Howe decided to comply with a portion of FOIA and post on its website its rates for completing such requests. The agency charges 25 cents per page for copies and $25 per hour of work fulfilling FOIA requests.

According to FOIA, "The fee for the search, retrieval, or redaction of records shall not exceed the prorated hourly salary of the lowest paid employee who, in the reasonable discretion of the custodian of the records, has the necessary skill and training to perform the request." That employee would make in the neighborhood of $50,000 a year despite the work being largely clerical.

For one request from the Index-Journal, which sought invoices and other documentation of purchases from 12 vendors, the school estimated it would take 35 hours to complete "due to the volume of materials that must be searched by hand," running up a bill of $875  a prohibitive fee for many in the public who would want to pull back the veil on the school's opaque system for divvying out work.

Even a decade ago, when de la Howe faced state scrutiny for how it managed purchasing, the agency stored such documents digitally in a centralized system. Responding to an earlier request for similar documents for other vendors, the school was able to provide them in a short time with no charge.

The Index-Journal asked for an explanation about to labor charges for the request, offering to narrow the request to trim potentially unnecessary work for the agency. It also again noted that the agency's copy-and-paste response falls short of complying with FOIA and that the requested documents were likely not emails, but that is the only kind of record listed in the statement.

"I cannot speak to what happened ten years ago, nor will I argue with you about our response to your request," Hayley Belton, director of communications wrote in response. "The estimate we provided you is just that, as we obviously cannot know how long it will take to search, retrieve, and redact the documents until we actually do it."

She did not provide information on why the request was expected to take 35 hours to fulfill.
A man who admitted to attacking a 65-year-old man outside of a laundromat in Ordot, which ultimately led to the victim's death, will not have to spend any additional time in prison.

Anthony Frankie Cabrera Celis, 39, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide as a third-degree felony before Superior Court of Guam Presiding Judge Alberto Lamorena on Tuesday.

Celis was sentenced to three years in prison with all time suspended. He will be placed on three years' probation. Celis was also ordered to pay $20,000 in restitution to the victim's family.

Assistant Attorney General Sean Brown told the court that the victim's family was "content" with the overall agreement, as negotiations have been ongoing for nearly three years.

Assault complaint

On Nov. 2, 2018, Guam Police Department officers responded to an assault complaint at the Sunshine Plaza in Ordot.

Witnesses told police a man had assaulted George Guevara Diones outside the entrance to Krispy Klene Laundromat, and that the suspect left the area in a white Toyota pickup, Post files state.

Diones was rushed to Guam Memorial Hospital and was later admitted to the intensive care unit. He died several days later.

An autopsy determined Diones died from bleeding in the brain and his death was ruled a homicide, police said.

Detectives with the GPD Criminal Investigation Division identified Celis as the suspect based on additional witness interviews and information obtained by the registered owner of the vehicle that left the scene.
WHITE HOUSE: President Joe Biden speaks next to Vice President Kamala Harris before signing the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 20. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
The Post Register is offering free online access to all of our local coronavirus stories. Our ongoing coverage of our community relies on the generous support from our readers. To strengthen local journalism, please consider subscribing at apgidoffers.com. For daily updates in your inbox, sign up for our daily news headlines.
Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email circulation@postregister.com for help creating one.
Amazon doesn't currently sell cannabis products, but, it is supporting a bid for full Federal legalisation in America.

Some new recruits to Amazon.com Inc ( ) will no longer be disqualified for testing positive for cannabis in HR drug tests.

It comes as the e-commerce firm announced measures in support of the full legalisation of cannabis at Federal level.

Cannabis will be treated the same as alcohol in US states where the drug laws have changed, Amazon said in a company blog post. It will no longer be included in Amazons drug screening program, for positions that are not regulated by the Department of Transportation.

As it does for alcohol, the company said it will continue to carry out impairment checks including for cannabis and will test for all drugs and alcohol after any incident.

Amazon, which presently does not sell cannabis products on its online platform, at the same time said it will actively support The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021, the legislation which aims to legalise cannabis at the federal level, as well as expunge criminal records and drive investment in communities.
This article was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet. Randa Kriss is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: rkriss@nerdwallet.com.

RELATED LINK:

NerdWallet: Small-business grants: Where to find free money https://bit.ly/nerdwallet-free-money

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
@montcocourtnews on Twitter

Carl Hessler Jr. is a multi-media reporter who writes about crime and justice from the Montgomery County Courthouse for 21st Century Media Newspapers Greater Philadelphia area publications. Follow Carl on Twitter: @MontcoCourtNews
Judge Patrick Schiltz has presided over the Blue grand jury that handed up the federal indictments of Derek Chauvin and his former colleagues for the alleged violation of George Floyds civil rights. Someone privy to the work of the grand jury leaked news of the sealed indictment to Star Tribune reporter Andy Mannix, who broke the news in an April 29 story that gave no hint of the professional misconduct underlying it.

Mannixs story was based on a single source, so he must have been deemed highly reliable. I inferred at the time that it must have been someone within the circle of the Department of Justice (the local United States Attorneys office or FBI), but that is just a guess.

It is a shame that Mannix never bothered to ask his source the purpose of this redundant (in Chauvins case) or premature (in the case of Chauvins three former colleagues) prosecution. Unlike the grand jury leak, that might have served a constructive purpose.

Judge Schiltz has entered an order whose operative paragraph is this one:

To assist the Court in determining how to proceed with respect to the apparent violation of Fed. R. Crim. P. 6(e), the Court will order the United States and the State of Minnesota to provide the Court with a list of every person to whom a matter occurring before the Blue Grand Jury was disclosed by an employee or agent of either sovereign [i.e., the United States or the State of Minnesota]. The Court will also order the United States to show cause why it is not in the interest of justice for this Court to appoint independent counsel to investigate and possibly prosecute criminal contempt charges relating to the apparent disclosures of matters occurring before the Blue Grand Jury.

Today the United States has filed a motion seeking a two-week extension to respond to Judge Schiltzs order, from June 4 to June 18. In the weaselly words of the motion: The United States has been diligently working to compose and compile its response since the issuance of the Order and requires the additional time to coordinate and finalize its response to the Order. I have embedded a copy of the motion below via Scribd.

All the action in response to the order is taking place out of public view. I have been digging for information, but it is hard to come by. I can assure you, however, that the Star Tribune is doing precisely no digging. As of this moment the Star Tribune has no story posted on the motion for an extension.

The Star Tribune would prefer that this story go away. They would prefer that the story of the underlying misconduct and its role in it remain buried. The purpose of this series is to keep the story alive until it surfaces again in some form for public consumption.

In re Blue Grand Jury Motion by Scott Johnson on Scribd
The wave of violent crime in America is so pronounced that the mainstream media cant help but report it. But that doesnt mean the media must mention some obvious reasons why the nation might be experiencing the surge of violence.

This weekend, the Washington Post featured two stories on the the crime wave. This one focused on crime in Prince Georges County, Maryland, a predominantly black county just outside of Washington, D.C. This one reported on the nationwide surge.

According to the Post, Prince Georges County had suffered at least 56 killings as of this Sunday afternoon. Last year at the same time, the number was 30. And guess what. For the first time in a long time, lawmakers say, residents are once again citing safety as a top concern.

To what does the Post attribute the Countys rise in violent crime? The pandemic, historic unemployment, and ebbing social services.

But one can infer from the Posts article itself that even if these are causes, they are probably not the only ones. The Posts team of reporters (it took three of them to produce the story) note that the County beat back a previous crime wave in part by putting more officers in the streets [and] targeting high-crime neighborhoods.

Might it be that the current crime wave results at least in part from insufficient policing? After all, the Countys police department is the smallest it has been since 2012, according to the Post. And with the way the police is treated these days, its not clear why the officers who remain in the force would want to be in the streets actively targeting high crime neighborhoods.

Isnt it also possible that Prince Georges County is experiencing more violent crime because of all the criminals who have been released from prison? Clearly, these are plausible explanations. But the Post refuses to consider them.

The Posts other crime story features more of the same tap dancing. The title is Officials worry the rise in violent crime portends a bloody summer. Weve already had a violent winter and spring. According to the Post:

Scores of cities across the country have reported double-digit increases in shootings and homicides. In Columbus, Ohio, police have counted at least 80 homicides this year, more than double the same period last year. Bigger cities also continue to see increases. In Chicago, 195 people had been killed as of early May, the highest number in at least four years, according to police statistics. Nearly 1,300 people had been shot, according to a Chicago Tribune database that tracks such incidents. In Atlanta, the homicide rate is up 50 percent over this time last year, and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) said she and her police commanders have been struggling to come up with concise reasons as they brace for a potentially rough summer.

Concise reasons? How about the Atlanta mayors mistreatment of the police officer who killed a criminal who was violently resisting arrest and shooting at him? Given the mayors lack of support, what incentives do Atlantas cops have to engage in the kind of proactive policing that will reduce violent crime?

Why bother to confront criminals at all? You might have to shoot one and then be fired and prosecuted for murder.

These questions have probably occurred to Mayor Bottoms, but shes not letting on. Instead, according to the Post, she is considering a range of possibilities for the violence, including long-lasting emotional and psychological issues found among so-called long-haul victims of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Sure. Got a headache due to a past bout with covid? Feeling dizzy? Go out and shoot somebody.

Its odd that the Post, at the same time it blames job loss and isolation due to the pandemic for violent crime, worries that the violence could be especially pronounced this [summer] as Americans emerge back into society after a year of coronavirus-related shutdowns and restrictions. If the pandemics restrictions and economic impacts caused the surge in violent crime, why would the end of the restrictions and the lessening of the impacts make the situation worse?

Like Mayor Bottoms, the Post is tying itself in knots trying to avoid two obvious possible explanations for the crime wave  less policing and more violent criminals released from prison.

This isnt a case of overthinking the problem. Its a case of refusing to speak candidly about it for political and ideological reasons.
Yes, no matter what

Yes, but it depends on variety

No, for medical reasons, uncertainty

No, principle

Vote

View Results
Kim Houghtaling (at right) is presented with the 2019 Saskatchewan Arts Award for Individual Leadership. He is pictured with the award presenter, James Morton from the Jarislowski Fraser Partners Foundation. The awards presentation was held at the Frank and Ellen Remai Arts Centre in Saskatoon, Nov. 4, 2019.
Lithium looks set for a period of steady demand growth

Does Corp ( ) will have the greenest large-scale mining development project in the world?

It just might.

The Grota do Cirilo project in Brazil has several things going for it. First off, its the largest hard rock lithium deposit in the Americas. Second, all mining and processing will use clean hydro-electric power. Third, 90% of the water thats used in the processing plant will be recirculated back into the operation. Fourth, no hazardous chemicals are used to separate the lithium from the host rock. And fifth, if ongoing discussions are eventually successful, a significant portion of the resultant dry stack tailings will be recycled into the ceramics industry.

Thats not a bad start. But add into the equation that lithium itself is playing a central role in the ongoing green revolution through its use in electric cars, and Sigma Lithiums green credentials really do come out top of the class.

Its good on the social side too, in the medium term it is leading a development committee focused on attracting to their town industries that could, for example, recycle Sigmas tailings, eventually making it tailings free. In the immediate term, it is helping the vulnerable community with activities that include the gift of tonnes of disinfectant and sanitisers to local hospitals, and an ongoing distribution of thousands of food baskets to poor communities in the state of Minas Gerais, where Grota do Cirilo is situated.

So how have the stars aligned so well in the creation of this project, and why is it that the company isnt consistently featuring on everyones list of major lithium companies?

After all, when it gets going, production in 2022 will catapult Sigma into the ranks of the serious players in the lithium sector, and once a second phase of production is initiated output will be of a similar magnitude to that of famous billion-dollar names like SQM (NYSE:SQM) and Pilbara Minerals ( ).

The answers are straightforward enough.

First, this is a company thats been tightly held since inception, to the point where only around 43% of the shares float freely on the Venture Exchange. An imminent move to a major US stock exchange is likely to boost visibility and turnover, but dont hold your breath at this point for any further share issuance  the company is already fully funded into production.

Nevertheless, the new US listing is likely to coincide with the beginning of a significant re-rating for the company as the execution risk falls away.

Weve been working on detailed engineering and pre-construction work to further increase precision of construction capex, says Ana Cabral-Gardner, Sigmas co-chairman and chief strategy officer. The plan is to commence production in the summer of 2022.

Thats not too far away now in terms of standard mining development timelines, and so its perhaps not surprising to learn that three of the five major buyers of the worlds lithium have already locked in deals with Sigma.

Weve pre-sold all of our phase one production, says Cabral-Gardner. And the market changed so significantly in 2021, that we could have pre-sold all our phase two production too.

The major buyers, she says, like the continuity enabled by the large scale allowing them toplan at least five years ahead to ensure security of supply in the long-term. In the case of Sigma, production is likely to run for over twenty years or more, and plans are already afoot to step up from the initial output rate.

Phase two will likely follow on rapidly from the commencement of phase one, given how hot the commodities markets are currently running. It will take production up from the initial rate of 220,000 tonnes of ore per year to 440,000 tonnes, or 65,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent.

So its greener than almost any other project, and the product has buyers. But how about the economics?

There again, Sigma and Grota do Cirilo score well. The grades and the purity are extremely good, meaning that the returns per tonne of rock will be very favourable. As a result of the high quality spodumene, it uses a simpler processing plant, and together with the hydropower, that means operational costs are kept way down.Sofavourable indeed that Cabral-Gardner refers to it as the second richest hard rock lithium deposit in the world, with these large crystals of high purity spodumene.

It all adds up to a situation, she says, where Sigma is in a unique position to become a core supplier in the global lithium market.

Bear in mind too that the current production plans represent only a fraction of the potential on offer at Grota do Cirilo. The project comprises nine formerly worked mines, of which only two will be put into production in phases one and two. Those two mines alone will take Sigma up to the level of SQM today, so by gradually bringing others on stream, the company has flexibility to further scale up and keep pace with lithium demand, preserving its putative position as a new major.

This is why, says Cabral-Gardner, Sigma is very relevant and very large.

The green credentials are in the bag. And as far as investors are concerned, the plan is to be incredibly profitable with large operating margins.

In todays complicated mining and ESG environment, that looks like a rare win-win.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire brokered by Egyptian negotiators after their devastating 11-day conflict had killed hundreds and displaced thousands.

Both sides claimed victory in the conflict.

Before the truce, Hamas militants reportedly fired at least 4,300 rockets into Israeli towns but the vast majority of the rockets were shot down by Israeli defences, fell short of their targets or landed in unpopulated areas.

At least 12 persons, including two children, were killed, according to Israeli authorities, with over 500 injured.

On the other side, the Palestinian health ministry said 232 Palestinians were killed, which included 65 children, 39 women, and 17 elderly people, and and 1,900 were wounded due to the Israeli air strikes on Gaza Strip, which caused a widespread destruction of homes and critical infrastructure.

The casualty toll on both sides shows a clear disparity. This is because Israel, one of the countries with the best military and war forces in the world, has what Palestine does not.

One might wonder what kind of defence Israel have that helped it to defend her citizens in such a way that it took about 350 rockets to kill an Israeli excluding destroyed properties going by the recent conflict data.

A part of Israeli multi-tiered missile defence system is the Iron Dome. This system helps to protect the country from threats ranging from mortars (simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded weapon which launch explosive shells in high-arcing ballistic trajectories) to intercontinental ballistic missiles (primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery with minimum distance range of 5,500 kilometres).

This system has been in operation since it was declared operational in 2011 by the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries. It has been instrumental to Israel in the present and previous Gaza-Israel conflict. Reports have it that in 2012, 90 percent of rockets launched by Gaza were successfully shot down by the Iron Dome.

How the Iron Dome works

The Iron Dome Aerial Defense System has one purpose: to intercept rockets mid-air before they can kill civilians. When a rocket is fired into Israel, the Iron Dome radar detects it instantly, tracks its path and a team of soldiers in the operating room launches a missile on their own to intercept the rocket mid-air.

The rocket explodes on impact high above civilians on the ground. Every Iron dome operates day and night under any weather conditions against all short and medium range rockets and can respond to multiple threads simultaneously.

There are several Iron Domes operating around Israel right now. The Iron Dome is extremely mobile and regularly moved all over Israel. It is fit to work from any Isreali Navy warships at sea.

The Iron Dome is highly advanced, setting the bar high for all aerial defence systems that were built since and soldiers operators are ready at all times to defend Israels skies and keep the people safe.

The Iron Dome Aerial Defense System has one purposeto intercept rockets mid-air before they can kill Israeli civilians. We will not apologize for saving lives. pic.twitter.com/J0U8ct9bCt  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 18, 2021

Had the Iron Dome not been deployed, there would have been a great invasion on Israel by Gaza troops and the losses would have been more devastating, experts believe.

This was reemphasised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the truce.

Without Iron Dome, we would have had to have a ground invasion of Gaza to stop them (from) firing their missiles and the casualty list would have soared to stratospheric heights, Mr Netanyahu said.

ADVERTISEMENT

With Israel the only country with the warfare technology, U.S. President Joe Biden is now eyeing the aerial defence system for his country.

Mr Netanyahu suggested this in a tweet where he said President Biden had offered to help replenish the stocks of missile interceptors.

And I am also grateful to President Biden for offering to help replenish our stocks of missile interceptors. Thats so important to saving Israeli lives, and coincidentally, Palestinian lives.  PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) May 21, 2021
ADVERTISEMENT

The Nigerian Water Research Institute has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with WaterAid to enhance learning and capacity building on rural sanitation in the country.

Signed in Abuja on Tuesday, the MoU will focus on strengthening Nigerias action plan of ensuring universal access to sustainable and safely managed Water, Sanitation and Hygiene or WASH services for every Nigeria by 2030.

Three years ago, Nigeria declared a state of emergency on the WASH sector and launched a national action to revitalise the sector.

President Muhammadu Buhari, also in 2019, signed an executive order to ensure Nigeria becomes open-defecation free by 2025.

However, in spite of these commitments, Nigeria is said to still rank top among countries, globally, with the highest population of

people who defecate in the open, and with about 112 million people who lack access to basic sanitation.

MOU

Speaking shortly after the signing of the MoU, the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, said the agreement will augment other efforts on ground to help Nigeria end open defecation and improve WASH services.

He said the partnership also involves developing a curriculum in schools for students to learn about basic sanitation.

The director of the National Water Research institute, Emmanuel Adanu, said the commitment will help bridge the knowledge gap on sanitation. particularly in rural Nigeria.

Earlier, in her own remark, the WaterAid Country Director, Evelyn Mere, said, Under this partnership, we will develop modules and run certified short courses on the Rethink Rural Sanitation guide  an approach developed by WaterAid in collaboration with Plan International UK and UNICEF  to guide policy makers, planners and implementers on rural sanitation programming.

The partnership will promote learning and capacity building on rural sanitation in Nigeria working through a system-based approach to embed the principles and approaches to enhance, sustainable, equity and scale towards universal access by 2030. It will review and integrate the emerging framework for rural sanitation promotion in Nigeria
ADVERTISEMENT

The Action Alliance (AA) in Lagos State on Wednesday conducted its primary election to choose its chairmanship and councillorship flag-bearers in the forthcoming Local Government Election in the state.

The chairperson of the party, Adeyemi Abiola, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the end of the exercise that the party would contest only 11 seats in the July 24 poll.

We are contesting 11 seats in all, which comprise one chairmanship seat and 10 councillorship seats.

We are contesting the Igando-Ikotun Local Council Development Area (LCDA) chairmanship seat and 10 councillorship seats across three LCDAs which comprise Igando-Ikotun, Lagos Island, and Olorunda LCDAs.

In Igando-Ikotun LCDA, we are contesting in Wards A, B, C, D, E, F and G; in Lagos Island, we are contesting only in Ward F and G, while in Olorunda LCDA, we are contesting only in Ward E, Mrs Abiola said.

According to her, the candidates emerged unopposed and there are four women among the councillorship contestants on the platform of the party.

The Lagos residents should expect a better future if they vote for our party in the forthcoming election.

In this party, we value masses a lot and we appreciate people and their opinions. There is no `godfatherism in this party.

The sole chairmanship candidate of the party, Bola Omokorede, said the plights of the poor masses and unemployed youths prompted him to contest the top council seat.

Mr Omokorede, who noted that a lot could be done at the grassroots to alleviate the sufferings of the masses, said that if the electorate entrusted him with their mandates, efforts would be made to better their Iives.

One of the candidates vying for Igando-Ikotun LCDA Ward A Councillorship seat, Sunday Ogunnubi, told NAN that if voted for, the masses would be prioritised in all policies and programmes.

Mr Ogunnubi, who urged the youths to support his ambition, said that the progress and prosperity of the council depended on the youth.

We are not fake people. We are not going there just to make noise. We want to work for the masses, the candidate said.

Another councillorship candidate for Ward E in the same LCDA, Kaburat Rabiu, told NAN that, if elected, the empowerment of women and vulnerable groups would be her top priority.

Also, Ademola Adegoke, a Councillorship Candidate in Ward D of the same LCDA, said that he was moved to contest because of the youth and the plight of the masses.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) had rolled out a timetable and guidelines to conduct election into the 20 Local Governments and 37 LCDAs in the state on July 24 . (NAN)
In recent months, strident calls for the devolution of powers and restructuring of the Nigerian State have gained traction, heightened in the midst of numerous socio-political, economic and security challenges besetting the nation.

The calls are further buoyed by spiralling secessionist agitations by regional groups who have latched onto citizens disenchantment with the political class, economic downturn, rising insecurity, crimes and violence wracking swathes of the country.

PREMIUM TIMES recently reported how intelligence failure has largely crippled the abilities of the countrys security outfits to respond to crimes and violence even as they too have also come under deadly attacks by non-state actors especially in the South-east and South-south.

On the precipice?

Today, Nigeria is regarded as one of the most dangerous places in the world to live in. The 2020 Global Terrorism Index identified it specifically as the third most affected by terrorism.

More worrisome is that kidnappings carried out by non-state actors also increased in the past five years. A recent report noted that over $18 million was paid as ransoms for victims abducted between 2011 and 2020. More ransoms have been paid in 2021 for abducted persons, even as many such cases are unreported. Many victims, whose families were unable to pay such ransoms, have also been killed.

PREMIUM TIMES also reported how mass kidnapping of schoolchildren in Nigeria in the last seven years has increased. Due to the inability of the authorities to curb the trend, over 618 schools were closed in recent months by states in the north.

The pervasive insecurity has led to the formation of regional security outfits, which were initially birthed to tackle the perennial armed herders incursion into the southern flanks of the nation, but are now used to check other forms of crime.

While the South-west region now has the Amotekun corps, the South-east recently announced a plan to set up the Ebube Agu.

Other regions are mulling the same approach even as the central government totters while combatting horrendous crimes and violence.

In the midst of the challenges, the Boko Haram insurgency which has rocked the North-east for over 12 years is yet to abate with the deadly sect now extending its hold to more states. The sect has a not so willing ally in the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP) which also attacks security forces.

Armed bandits also continue to give security outfits, governors and communities in the north sleepless nights while highways across the nations have practically become a terrain to tread only for the brave and perhaps those who cannot afford the high cost of air travel.

In addition to the precarious multi-dimensional security and economic quagmire, regional groups calling for the breakup of the nation as presently constituted have gained attention and added to the upheavals shaking the nation to its roots.

Secessionist agitations

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), led by Nnamdi Kanu, a British-Nigerian political activist, is perhaps at the forefront of calls for a break-up of the Nigerian State.

The group, supported mainly by some Igbo, founded in 2012 by Mr Kanu, wants a separate nation of Biafra carved out of the Nigerian State. This has pitted him and his formidable group against Nigerianssecurity forces and led to his forced exile.

Prohibition by the federal government has not deterred its operations as the Eastern Security Network (ESN), its armed section, still has run-ins with security operatives in the South-east. Recent attacks on government facilities and security operatives have been linked to them by the Nigerian police, although the group has denied involvement.

IPOB, despite its emasculation by the heavy response of the government on its operations, is regarded as the largest pro-Biafran independence organisation by membership and has now become a source of worry for Nigerias unity.

Its activities are further strengthened by numerous websites and communication channels it uses to further its campaign for secession.

Historical

This is not the first time agitation for a state of Biafra would occur. Nigeria fought a bloody civil war between May 30, 1967, and January 15, 1970 which led to a massive loss of lives on the side of federal forces, the Biafran army and over a million civilians.

ADVERTISEMENT

Agitations for secession are not only restricted to the South-east. In the South-west, which has witnessed a spike in attacks on the farming populace by criminal herders, and rising kidnapping for cash, a similar agitation is ongoing.

Sunday Igboho, a self-acclaimed activist, challenged the federal government when he declared a Yoruba nation, in an apparent reference to the desire of the South-west to secede.

Experts say his crude methods of protesting perceived injustice against the Yoruba and his redress methods, which include superintending over armed thugs and attacking herders communities may have alienated him from a large segment of the regions population especially the elite and the middle-class.

But his gradual inroad into the consciousness of the larger, more populated rungs of the region and less than cursory attention from security forces recently made some of the leaders in the South-west pay more attention to the rising storm.



The group has already threatened that it would not allow elections in the region in 2023 after earlier saying it would kill all ambitious Yoruba politicians, who campaign for office.

For many who thought the agitations were only limited to the southern part of the country, they were stunned when the National Secretary of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, a prominent cattle herders group, said the Fulani ethnic group is more prepared for division of Nigeria than any other ethnic nationality.

Despite these growing agitations, there are many Nigerians who say secession is not the solution.

These opine that the political restructuring of the behemoth, Nigeria, and devolution of powers from the central government, which currently wields immense powers, to the constituent units, could assuage the anger of regional groups and tackle numerous socio-political and economic challenges.

A lawyer and civil rights activist, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, in an interview with Channels TV on May 21 said the agitations could easily be assuaged if a new foundation is laid for the country and the current structure and Constitution is reworked to ensure a more equitable distribution of power and resources.

The concept of the federal government holding resources and distributing to the regions is no longer acceptable and that is why we support the governors who want devolution of powers, he said.

We must first of all address the foundation. Even if we get the best of people to manage and pilot our affairs, the faulty document will not allow the people to get to their maximum potential, he adds. That document cannot be amended by people who are beneficiaries of that error (lawmakers). You hardly find a leader who has benefitted from that faulty system coming to correct the system. Except for Malam Shehu Yaradua (ex-president). He is the only leader who came out to say the system that produced me is faulty and I dont want to leave it as a legacy and he set up the Uwais panel, and they came up with some fantastic and impressive results which is lying in the coolers such as the 2014 national conference

Globally, devolution ensures that decisions are made closer to the local people, communities and businesses they affect.

Devolution also provides greater freedoms and flexibilities at a local level, meaning councils can work more effectively to improve public services for their areas.

Meanwhile, the governors of the 17 southern states, under the aegis of Southern Governors Forum (SGF), recently resolved to ban open grazing of cattle and also called for the restructuring of the country.

They have since been joined by other groups such as senators and members of the House of Representatives from the region, and recently the members of the minority caucus in the House of Representatives from the 19 northern states.

History of agitations, restructuring

Nigeria is not new to agitations for restructuring and redistribution of power from a usually powerful central authority, although the Biafran war was perhaps the only time such upheavals were allowed to fester and then cascade into full-blown war.

Post-colonial Nigeria, which also emerged after agitations, at independence retained the parliamentary system left behind by the British overlords to the chagrin of many, who wanted a break from the past.

The new constitution then effectively established a federal system with an elected prime minister supported by the head of state, a largely ceremonial office.

The nation also started off with the western, eastern and northern regions for ease of economic and political administration but agitations soon began in earnest after the colonial overlords turned their backs. The provinces which were colonial legacies were abolished later in 1976.

After the highly volatile 1962 census, ethnic conflicts erupted across the nation leading to the formation of the midwest region in August 1963. This was carved from the then Western region so as to accommodate Nigerians who believed they were neglected.

The three earlier prominent regions, largely controlled by Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani and the Igbo, had done little to assuage the feelings of abandonment by other ethnic groups. The undercurrents would later lead to more conflicts as regional leaders, apart from tackling themselves, also sought to protect their enclaves to the detriment of other minor groups, who craved greater recognition.

There were also internal rumblings in the regions. For instance, while the western government was battling to keep a unified front amid its internal crisis, a boycott of the federal election in December 1964 took the country to the brink.

Following the controversial elections of October 1965, the country was further polarised when in January 1966 some army officers, predominantly Igbo, killed Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa and two regional premiers in an attempt to overthrow the central government.

The attempts by Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, a major-general, who took charge of the nations affairs after the coup, to set up a unitary government after abolishing the regions were resisted by aggrieved groups.

The offshoot of the coup also led to distrust in the polity and cleavages in the military itself as the arrow-heads of Nigerias first coup were accused of deliberately promoting Igbo dominance.

In July 1966, northern officers staged a countercoup, where Mr Aguiyi-Ironsi was assassinated. A young Yakubu Gowon, who subsequently came to power had to contend with intercommunal clashes in the north and threats of secession in the south.

Mr Gowons attempt to craft a workable political structure, including promulgating a decree which divided the four regions (northern, eastern, western, mid-western) into 12 states, (six in the north, three in the west and three in the east) only led to more conflicts and agitations.

In May 1967, the Eastern regions consultative assembly gave warlord Odumegwu Ojukwu permission to establish a sovereign republic, Biafra, which set the stage for the tragic 30-month civil war where millions lost their lives.

Years later, after coups, counter-coups, changes in administration amidst unending ethnic tensions and attempts to paper the cracks, Nigeria has moved from the era of regions to having 36 states and a federal capital territory.

But the agitations are yet to abate on what works best for the largest nation of black people.

Underlying all of these (agitations) is the fact that changes have to take place as the country evolves, says Emman Shehu, Director, International Institute of Journalism, Abuja. Even the American nation, in terms of democracy, their constitution has evolved. We like talking about the American constitution but even their constitution has evolved. It isnt what it was by the time it was created by the founding fathers.

Every country evolves as anything that is living evolves. But the Nigerian problem is that there is too much politicisation of almost any issue you can think of. And this is made worse when we approach general elections. It is like people who have lost in the previous elections try to use restructuring as a threat to get what they want.

Global examples

Experts have defined restructuring as a transition from a lopsided federal political structure to a true federalism characterised by political inclusiveness, people-oriented constitutional amendments, resource control, electoral process, political representation, sharing of offices, citizens rights, protection of lives and properties, and building of enduring political infrastructure.

Restructuring is also viewed as a constitution review strategy aimed at helping the central government shed some of its powers and responsibilities and granting implementation to constituent units. It is aimed at bringing the government as close as possible to the people at the grassroots.

A few nations have successfully navigated this curve and delegated some of the powers of central governments to self-governing subsidiary governments, creating a de facto federation and regionalised unitary structures.

Some of these include Spain, the United Kingdom, Chile, Italy, New Zealand, China, Philippines and Serbia.

Past constitution amendment processes/conferences in Nigeria

There have been at least nine attempts at crafting a suitable constitution for Nigeria in its democratic sojourn.

About half of these attempts at constitution crafting actually ended successfully: 1960 (independence constitution), 1963, 1979, and 1999.

Earlier conferences in London had produced three constitutions pre-independence.

The 2014 National Conference, inaugurated by then President, Goodluck Jonathan, on March 17, 2014, was the last of such attempts.

There are already calls for a constitutional conference or as some say, meeting of ethnic nationalities aimed at amending the constitution and re-appraising the structure of the Nigerian State.

Federal lawmakers have already initiated a move to amend the 1999 constitution, which many have argued is a making of the military when it left power hurriedly in 1999.

The senate committee spearheading the process said it has received over 250 memoranda which have been analysed.

The committee has held several consultations and meetings to deliberate on the process and submissions in preparation for the public hearings at the national and zonal levels.

Following from the analysis of the memoranda submitted, the issues have increased from 13 to 16, including Gender Equity/Increased participation of Women and Vulnerable Groups in governance, the Federal Structure in governance and Power Devolution, among others, Ovie Omo-Agege, the Senate President has said.

To restructure or not?

But how far will these measures work to heal the widening lines of disunity etched on the nation across divides? And would restructuring and devolution of powers, which is an aspect the lawmakers would be considering, actually bring the needed solutions?

I dont believe restructuring will totally solve Nigerias numerous challenges. However, it will make governing less cumbersome and difficult. What we need mostly I think is the right people in power, even with this current system, the right people in position can still bring solutions, said Habib Oladapo, Programmes Manager, Civic Media Lab.

On the flip side though, after trying 20 years of this system and there seems to be no major success, it is only imperative we try something else, especially one that seemed to have worked in the past. So, although it doesnt guarantee Eldorado, I would say, yes.

So how will the process actually be implemented? IIJs director, Mr Shehu, offers some suggestions.

For me the solution lies in devolution (of powers) which is what happens in most countries. The three major areas that should be addressed are the judiciary, state legislatures, and the local governments, he said.

This current administration has asked that there should be such a devolution. The governors have refused. When you empower the local government, allow them the freedom to operate, this is going to reduce some of the pressures. Then, of course the judiciary, allow the judiciary the freedom to operate and then the state legislatures that are held to ransom by the various state governors. That way, we would have progress.

On the issue of security, this is a very important aspect of devolution. People are crying about state police. You only need to look across the nation to see the confrontation the governors have with the opposition or the people that they are not on good terms with. It frightens one to think of what the governors would do if they have the police at their beck and call.

Imagine if they now have state police across the country. It is going to create more insecurity rather than stemming the current insecurity.

On security, he suggested an overhaul rather than state policing.

The first step is to create a justice system that is fair to everybody. The justice system does not work fast enough to ensure that people who are involved in misdemeanour are punished appropriately and on time, he said. The other way is to ensure people trust the law enforcement agents. At the moment, there is a deficit of trust which is obvious if you have had any reason to be involved with law enforcement agencies.

We also need to empower numerically the law enforcement agencies. We dont have enough to actually police our various communities. It is not by creating state police. We could overhaul the police, do the same thing with the military. Also, their roles should be properly defined.

He advises Nigerians to take more than a cursory interest in the ongoing constitutional amendment process.

Devolution is a process and we cannot pack too many things into the process. Even in other countries that practice devolution, you will see that they take things one step at a time



More calls

Meanwhile, the PDP vice-presidential candidate in 2019, Peter Obi, says political restructuring of Nigeria will boost the nations economy and end insecurity.

He advised Nigerians to stop misleading others that restructuring is a deliberate plan to divide the country.

Rather, it should be seen as a move to build the ailing economy and restore adequate security in the country, he said.

Restructuring the country will bring out the comparative advantage of every state and our natural resources that are lying waste will be fully harnessed to boost the state economy, he added.

The Nigerian government should immediately begin the implementation of the All Progressives Congress Committee on Restructuring which, among others, recommends state policing and devolution of powers, the Nigerian Press Organisation has also said.

We hold that its implementation will curb the galloping rate of criminality, reduce tension across the country and reset the button of development.

The APC committee they refer to, also known as the El-Rufai Committee, was set up in August 2017 to articulate the partys position on true federalism.

The report had recommended state police, power devolution, independent candidacy during elections, referendum on national issues, and for public holidays to be moved to the concurrent list, among others.

The committee had reportedly engaged 8,014 people across the country to come up with the document. It said then that out of 24 issues which Nigerians indicated interest in, 12 important recommendations were selected.

The areas the committee recommended some form of restructuring included: the merger of states; derivation principle; devolution of power; fiscal federalism; independent candidacy; judiciary; local government autonomy; revenue allocation; citizenship; referendum; public holidays and state police.

The then National Chairman of the APC, John Oyegun, had said by the middle of February 2018, all structures of the party would have met to consider the report.

But the report is yet to be implemented, six years after the ruling party clinched power.
ADVERTISEMENT

Following ECOWAS suspensio of Mali over last weeks coup, the African Union has also suspended the West African country until normal constitutional order has been restored.

Contained in the communique of its 1001st meeting, the African Union Peace and Security Council on Tuesday said Mali risks being sanctioned if power is not returned to the civilian transitional government.

The AU said it strongly urges the Malian military to urgently and unconditionally return to the barracks, and to refrain from further interference in the political processes in Mali.

The communique further called for the creation of conducive conditions for an unimpeded, transparent and swift return to the civilian-led transition, based on the agreed transition roadmap for Mali.

If the country fails to comply, the council said it will not hesitate to impose targeted sanctions and other punitive measures against any spoilers of the current transition.

The AU also called for the release of all political detainees, including the interim President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane who had been under house arrest since they were released from military detention after they were arrested last Monday in a coup led by vice-president Assimi Goita.

Messrs Ndaw and Ouane were ousted from office barely nine months into their tenure as the head of a transitional government tasked with steering Mali back to civilian rule after a group of colonels, including Mr Goita, toppled former elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August.

The leaders were held at a military base outside the capital Bamako and were released only after they had resigned from their positions, amid international backlash.

Following their resignation, Mr Goita declared himself transitional president and said next years election would go on as planned. The constitutional court would validate his declaration a day later.
ADVERTISEMENT

A Senior Special Assistant to Benue Governor Samuel Ortom on Security, Christopher Dega, has been shot dead.

Mr Dega, a retired police officer, was killed in Jos, the Plateau State capital.

Benue and Plateau are neighbouring states in North-central Nigeria.

Although the full details of the killing were not available at the time of this report, Mr Dega was confirmed dead by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Terver Akase.

Mr Akase, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday, promised to send the governors reaction shortly.

Before his retirement from the police, Mr Dega had served as commissioner of police in Borno and Edo states.

Mr Degas killing occurred few days after the murder of a former political adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Ahmed Gulak.

Mr Gulak, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was shot dead on Saturday night by some gunmen in Owerri, Imo State.

Details shortly
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, has said more than 10,000 Nigerians have reported various degrees of side effects after they received their first doses of the vaccination against the coronavirus infection.

Mr Shuaib, who said this while speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, added the side effects include pain and swelling at the site of vaccination.

He added that more serious symptoms such as headaches, abdominal pain, fever, dizziness and allergic reactions have also been reported.

A total of 10,027 cases of mild Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) have been reported as of May 30th, while 86 cases of moderate to severe incidents have been reported, he said.

He, however, said all these individuals have since fully recovered.

According to him, five states have the highest records of AEFI as Cross River leads the chart with 1,040 while Kaduna reported 1,071 and Lagos, 796.

Mr Shuaib said in Yobe State, 555 cases were reported and 525 in Kebbi State.

Vaccination so far

Mr Shuaib said 1,956,598 of the targeted eligible Nigerians have so far received their first dose of the Oxford-Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

He said out of the above-stated number, 66 per cent are frontline workers, 22 per cent are healthcare workers, while 12 per cent belong to the elderly group.

He also said 73,465 Nigerians, including the president and the vice president, have received their second dose of the vaccine across 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Nigeria commenced vaccination of its citizens against COVID-19 on March 5, beginning with healthcare workers.

Healthcare workers are often at risk of exposure to infections, including COVID-19, as they are the first responders to patients.

To achieve herd immunity against COVID-19, Nigeria had set an ambitious goal of vaccinating 40 per cent of its over 200 million population before the end of 2021, and 70 per cent by the end of 2022.

The vaccination exercise will be done in four phases, according to the NPHCDA boss.

Special vaccination sites

Meanwhile, as part of efforts to ease the vaccination process for the people, the NPHCDA boss also announced the establishment of some special COVID-19 vaccination sites for administering the second dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines.

He said the special sites would accommodate those who cannot access states or facilities where they received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Mr Shuaib said; We acknowledge the possibility of some people relocating from the states where they took their first doses.

For this reason, we have made provision for special vaccination sites that could accommodate administering their second doses.

ADVERTISEMENT

He noted that some of the previous COVID-19 vaccination sites may be unavailable due to some circumstances.

Mr Shuaib appealed to Nigerians to visit the NPHCDA website (www.nphcda.gov.ng) to locate vaccination posts close to them for their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Accolades

In his remarks, a representative of the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Ganga Gupta, commended the immunisation agency and its leadership for the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive.

Mr Gupta said the challenge faced in the administration of the vaccine would be reaching out to citizens to go and receive their second doses.

All those who have received the first dose should please go back for their second dose because if you dont you should know that you are not fully protected, he said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative in Nigeria, Walter Mulombo, also commended Nigerias COVID-19 vaccination strategy.

Mr Mulombo said that other African countries are already looking up to Nigeria to learn how to roll out their vaccinations.

While lamenting that the African continent has received less than its share of vaccines from the COVAX facility, he stressed on the importance of the vaccines in ending the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said; Even though Africa is lagging behind, Nigeria is among the countries that is distributing the most COVID-19 vaccines.

We know that in terms of volume, we still have a long way to go because we have planned to vaccinate more than 100 million of our population, but its already a good learning base on how we can effectively roll out the COVID-19 vaccination.
ADVERTISEMENT

The Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has described the assassination of his Senior Special Assistant on Security, Christopher Dega, as a huge blow to his administration.

The governor said this while speaking to journalists on Wednesday at Benue Peoples House, Makurdi.

Mr Ortom said the retired Assistant Inspector General of Police was very active, even in retirement, saying it was painful that he was gunned down in such a gruesome manner.

Retired AIG Dega served with me here, and this is someone who has retired but is not tired and was very active. So, for him to have been murdered in the manner they did, a retired AIG gunned down. This is very sad, Mr Ortom stated.

He stressed that insecurity has covered the North East, North West and North Central, South-South, South East, South West of Nigeria and called on the security agencies to find the killers of his aide.

Mr Ortom sympathised with the family, friends and former colleagues of the deceased and prayed to God to grant him eternal rest.

Mr Dega was killed in Jos, the Plateau State capital, this newspaper earlier reported.

Benue and Plateau are neighbouring states in North-central Nigeria.

Before his retirement from the police, Mr Dega served as commissioner of police in Borno and Edo states.

His killing occurred a few days after the murder of a former political adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Ahmed Gulak.

Mr Gulak, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was shot dead on Saturday night by gunmen in Owerri, Imo State.
Partnering firm Rancho Nexo has the capabilities to sell as well as assist in the engineering, installation, and commissioning of the company's CO2 Delivery Solutions systems

( ) ( ) (FRA:4021) has entered into an automatically renewable one-year agreement with Rancho Nexo (RanchoNexo) to market and support CO2 Delivery Solutions technology in Mexico's protected agriculture market.

RanchoNexo is a corporation of both Ontario and Mexico with Mexican associates carrying on the business of promoting largely Canadian technologies in that Latin American market, according to a statement.

CO2 GRO said RanchoNexo has the capabilities to sell as well as assist in the engineering, installation, and commissioning of its CO2 Delivery Solutions systems.

Both companies will account for all project revenues and costs to deliver each project including external engineering, contracting, procurement of products, site commissioning, and related travel. Any net project revenue will be shared at an agreed-upon ratio.

CO2 GRO said the Mexican protected agriculture market includes hoop, shade and tunnel grow houses as well as greenhouses, all of which can easily employ CO2 Delivery Solutions technology to increase plant yields by up to 30% and profits by up to 100%. Mexico is the second-ranked protected agriculture market globally after China.

The company said all of Mexico's protected grow facilities can use its misting technology regardless of heat venting requirements and facility porosity.

Aaron Archibald, vice president of sales and strategic alliances for CO2 GRO, noted that the company established its Mexican connections through the Canadian Technology Accelerator cohort program which focused on the countrys agriculture-tech industry.

"Our participation in the program introduced us to a number of possible partners as well as growers and grower associations, Archibald said.

After extensive discussions we agreed to partner with RanchoNexo. The opportunity to work with a 20 year veteran Ag tech professional like Matt Grant, his Mexico partner Jose Moreno and local professional team is an especially good fit for us as we enter Mexico's protected agriculture market. At 5.8 billion square feet it represents an enormous opportunity to market CO2 Delivery Solution to protected agriculture growers, all of whom we believe can realize substantial benefits from employing our unique and patent protected technology."

Contact the author: patrick@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow him on Twitter @PatrickMGraham
ADVERTISEMENT

Twitter has deleted a post by President Muhammadu Buhari on his method on how to find lasting solutions to insecurity in the Southeast.

Mr Buhari in a tweet on Tuesday threatened to punish those bent on destroying Nigeria through insurrection.

He made reference to the civil war.

Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.

The presidents tweet generated furore as many Nigerians accused Mr Buhari of making a reckless comment.

Some citizens also asked Twitter to suspend his account saying his tweet expresses intentions of self-harm or suicide.

On Wednesday, Twitter deleted the post claiming it violated its rules.

Details soon
Nigerias minister of information, Lai Mohammed, has accused Twitter of bias against President Muhammadu Buhari.

The official was reacting to Twitters deletion of a tweet made by the President on Tuesday, threatening to rain civil war-like attention on those promoting insurrection and attacking national assets.

Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand, the now deleted tweet posted via his official twitter account read in part.

The president, who fought during the civil war, has been criticised by some Nigerians who see his statement as a veiled threat against the Igbo ethnic group who suffered casualties during the war.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) are currently seeking secession from the Nigerian state and this has pitched them against the Nigerian government.

Mr Buharis reference to the civil war caused controversy with the presidents handlers saying he was only referring to violent insurrectionists attacking public officials and institutions.

Violation

Twitter said the tweet violated one of its rules but failed to provide details of the particular violation.

However, the minister, while addressing journalists in the State House, said the platform chose ignore the inciting messages from the proscribed IPOB but was quick to enforce its rules on the president.

He said: Twitter may have its own rules, its not the universal rule. If Mr President, anywhere in the world, feels very bad and concerned about a situation, he is free to express such views. If an organisation is proscribed, it is different from any other which is not proscribed.

Two, any organisation that gives directives to its members to attack police stations, to kill policemen, to attack correctional centres, to kill warders, and you are now saying that Mr President does not have the right to express his dismay and anger about that?

I dont see anywhere in the world where an organisation, a person will stay somewhere outside Nigeria, and will direct his members to attack the symbols of authority, the police, the military, especially when that organisation has been proscribed. By whatever name, you cant justify giving orders to kill policemen or to kill anybody you do not agree with, Mr Mohammed said.

PREMIUM TIMES had earlier reported how assailants attacked INEC facilities across seven states this year alone.

Majority of these attacks took place in the South-east region, this newspaper also reported.

Nigeria is currently going through one of its roughest patches yet with mounting insecurity, bloodletting and violence wracking virtually all parts of the nation.

The security outfits also appear overwhelmed having become victims of attacks themselves.

The INEC Chairman, Mahmud Yakubu, on Tuesday, said that, so far, there had been 42 cases of attacks on the commissions offices nationwide, since the last general election.

Mr Buhari, in his last statement, also promised to provide all the commission needs to conduct the 2023 elections saying he has no intention of running for a third term in office as being insinuated in some quarters.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Nigerian constitution only permits two terms in office for presidents and Mr Buhari would be completing his second term in 2023.

Read Mr Mohammeds full statement:

On Twitter deleting President tweets on Biafra

Twitter may have its own rules, its not the universal rule. If Mr. President, anywhere in the world feels very bad and concern about a situation, he is free to express such views. Now, we should stop comparing apples with oranges. If an organisation is proscribed, it is different from any other which is not proscribed. Two, any organisation that gives directives to its members, to attack police stations, to kill policemen, to attack correctional centres, to kill warders, and you are now saying that Mr. President does not have the right to express his dismay and anger about that? We are the one guilty of double standards. I dont see anywhere in the world where an organisation, a person will stay somewhere outside Nigeria, and will directs his members to attack the symbols of authority, the police, the military, especially when that organisation has been proscribed. By whatever name, you cant justify giving orders to kill policemen or to kill anybody you do not agree with.

The mission of Twitter in Nigeria is very very suspect. Has Twitter deleted the violent tweets that Nnamdi Kanu has been sending? Has it? The same Twitter during the ENDSARS protests that was funding ENDSARS protesters, it was the first to close the account of former president of US, Trump. And you see, when people were burning police stations and killing policemen in Nigeria during ENDSARS, for Twitter, it was about the right to protest. But when a similar thing happened on the Capitol, it became insurrection. You see, we are not going to be be fooled by anybody. We have a country to rule and we will do so to the best of our ability. Twitter mission in Nigeria citing those two examples is very suspect. What is their agenda?

How does Mr. President speech that anybody who is destroyed infrastructure, who is destroying police offices, who is destroying INEC offices should be ready for the consequences, Is that inciting violence?

Asked why Shiek Gumi whose comment that has been justifying Boko Haram actions has not been picked,

He said: you are gain mixing things. If an organisation is proscribed abinitio, that organization does not exist in that country. There are many Nigerians, for instance, who have been inciting people against government.

Who appointed Gumi middleman between government and Boko Haram? Listen, for me, unless you come and tell me this what Gumi said that is inciting that you are comparing to Kanu anyway what were discussing is different. Were discussing Twitter. If you want to ask any question about Gumi or any other person, go ahead but please, be objective.

Theres so many people who have been spewing hate against Mr. President, against this governments. So if you want to comment be fair, dont take a position which is not objective. If we were to pick up everybody today who had been abusing this administration, the detention centres will be filled up and you will be the first person also to talk about lack of tolerance, lack of rule of law. But Im saying that you cannot compare anybody with Kano who boldly say, go and kill policemen. I think sometimespolicemen are brothers, they are our uncle, they are children. We kill them their wives become widows, their children become orphans. And what is the offence of these policemen? Because they are working to keep the country one. What about soldiers that are putting down their lives so that me and you can sleep? It is not acceptable anywhere in the world for anybody, anywhere, to stay in the comfort of wherever he is and now give directives to go and kill soldiers, go and kill policemen.
Two lecturers of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, who were involved in a sex-for-marks scandal, Boniface Igbeneghu and Samuel Oladipo, have been dismissed by the institution.

The universitys new governing council, which is headed by a medical practitioner and an alumnus of the institution, Lanre Tejuoso, took the decision on Monday during its second meeting since its constitution.

This decision was taken almost two years after the two lecturers were exposed in a 52-minute documentary by BBC Africa where a reporter, disguised as a 17-year-old admission seeker, to expose the randy lecturers

A statement issued on Wednesday by the universitys communication unit, corporate affairs division at the office of the vice-chancellor, said the dismissals were effective from Monday, May 31.

The statement reads in part; The Governing Council of the University of Lagos, at its meeting on Monday, May 31, 2021, approved the immediate dismissal of Dr. Boniface Igbeneghu of the Department of European Languages and Integration Studies, Faculty of Arts and Dr. Samuel Omoniyi Oladipo of the Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, from the services of the University.

Council, at its meeting, considered the report and findings of the Senate Committee set up to investigate allegations of sexual harassment levelled against them in a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World Service Investigative Series titled AFRICA EYE (which centred on sexual harassment in tertiary institutions)

The Council consequently decided and approved that both Dr. Boniface Igbeneghu and Dr. Samuel Omoniyi Oladipo be dismissed from the services of the university for misconduct, with effect from Monday, May 31, 2021 in line with section 18 of the University of Lagos Act 1967.

The university added that the council had mandated the university authorities to review its sexual harassment policy as may be necessary and institute effective strategies to prevent future occurrence.

Background

On October 7, 2019, the BBC released the documentary which focused on the inappropriate sexual advances of four lecturers from both the University of Ghana and UNILAG.

The quartet, Ransford Gyampo and Paul Butakor from the Ghanaian university and Messrs Igbeneghu and Oladipo from UNILAG were captured in the video which went viral.

The two West African universities immediately announced the suspension of the lecturers involved.

And in the case of UNILAG, Virgil Onyene, a professor, was appointed to chair the investigative panel to unravel the circumstances surrounding the allegations and make recommendations.

Delayed verdict

However, more than one year after the panel had submitted its report to the Senate of the university through the Oluwatoyin Ogundipe-led management of the university, no action was taken by the institution.

However, at various fora, the vice-chancellor linked the delay to the prolonged crisis that rocked the university over disagreements between the management and the universitys sacked governing council.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the former council, which was chaired by another alumnus and a businessman cum lawyer, Wale Babalakin, and the Ogudipe-led management had engaged in a supremacy battle leading to the suspension of both the vice-chancellor and the governing council by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr Buhari acted in his capacity as the Visitor to the university.

But following the reinstatement of Mr Ogundipe as the vice-chancellor and the dissolution of the Mr Babalakin-led council, a new council was inaugurated in April. The council held its inaugural meeting between May 4 and 5, and held the second meeting on Monday.

About the lecturers

Mr Igbeneghu, a PhD holder, is a former sub-dean of Faculty of Art and head pastor of a local Foursquare Gospel Church in Lagos.

ADVERTISEMENT

In the video, he invited the admission seeker to his office for tutorials and at their first meeting he asked: how old are you?

After responding, the lecturer commented on her appearance.

Dont you know you are a beautiful girl? Do you know I am a pastor and I am in my 50s but if I want a girl of 17 years, all I need is a sweet tongue and put some money, he said.

He later continued with the harassment of the undercover reporter oblivious that he was being filmed.

On his part, Mr Oladipo, also a PhD holder, is a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University.

He was a lecturer at the Bells University of Technology (BELLSTECH), Ota, Ogun State, a private university owned by a former President, Olusegun Obasanjo. He later joined the department of economics at the University of Lagos.

Mr Oladipos offence as captured in the video was that he took the undercover reporter to a popular joint for the lecturers on the campus which they nicknamed cold room.

The university management immediately shut down the cold room as soon as the documentary was released.

Meanwhile, PREMIUM TIMES learnt from a source, that the universitys Senate had recommended the dismissal of Mr Igbeneghu. It had said Mr Oladipo should be suspended for three years since he was never caught in any act.

However, a reliable source at the university who does not want to be quoted, said the governing council overruled the Senates decision, insisting that the two lecturers were guilty of the same offence.
ADVERTISEMENT

The minority caucus of the House of Representatives has called on the police to track the killers of Christopher Dega, the special adviser on security to Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State.

Mr Dega, a retired assistant Inspector general of police, was reportedly killed on Wednesday in Jos, Plateau State.

The caucus, in a statement by the minority leader, Ndudi Elumelu (PDP, Delta), condemned the killing of Mr Dega and other killings across the country.

Our caucus is shocked by such wicked and devilish act and calls on the police and other security forces to immediately track down and bring the killers to the full wrath of the law.

The Minority caucus is deeply grieved by the incessant killings across our nation under the administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and calls on the Federal Government to take more effective and proactive measure to stem the worsening tide of insecurity in the nation.

The Minority caucus condoles with the Governor of Benue State, Governor Samuel Ortom, as well as the family of AIG Dega (rtd) and supplicate to God to comfort them at this moment of grief.

The killing of Mr Dega occurred a few days after the murder of Ahmed Gulak, ex-aide of former President Goodluck Jonathan, in Owerri, Imo State.
ADVERTISEMENT

The Nigerian government has awarded the contracts for the construction of oxygen plant houses, installation and maintenance of oxygen production plants across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Abuja.

The project, which was awarded at a total sum of N5.6 billion, was approved at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday.

The meeting was chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.

While briefing the state house correspondents shortly after the meeting, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said the decision was part of the administrations efforts towards addressing the biting challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Mohammed said: The Minister of Health presented a memo, which was approved, for the emergency supply, installation and maintenance of oxygen production plants and construction of plant houses in each of the 36 States of the federation and Abuja.

The contract was approved in the sum of N5, 615, 127, 479 inclusive of 7.5 percent VAT, in favour of four different companies, with a completion period of 20 weeks.

He said COVID-19 has made oxygen a very critical commodity, and that the best way to address such was to make it available to save the people of the pandemic.

The minister also informed the journalists that the council approved the sum of N1.1 billion for the procurement of aviation security uniforms and accessories for use in various airports across the country.

The Minister of Aviation also got approval for the award of a contract for direct procurement for the design, manufacture and supply of aviation security uniforms and accessories. The sum total is N1,127,945.

The unique thing about uniforms for the aviation industry is that it has some International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards that would be followed.

He also further disclosed that the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs also got an approval of N864.7 million for two road contracts that were reportedly abandoned by previous administrations.

The Minister of Niger Delta got approval for Okpula-Igwartanta Phase I linking Imo and Rivers State, started in 2010. He got an approval for a variation of N620, 763, 000. He also got approval for erosion flood control on Ndemili-Utagba-Onitsha road in Delta State, started in 2014. The council today approved N244 million to augment the original contract sum, the minister said.
The ECOWAS Court sitting in Abuja has scheduled June 24 for ruling on Cape Verdean governments application asking for the reversal of the earlier judgment ordering the release of a Venezuelan, Alex Saab.

Giving an update on the case, the courts press unit said in a statement that the date was picked after the court heard the lawyers representing Cape Verde and Mr Saab on Tuesday.

Mr Saab, dual national of Venezuela and Columbia, is being detained in Cape Verde at United States of American governments request. He was arrested on June 12, 2020 while having a flight stopover in Cape Verde.

The West African archipelago countrys government plans to extradite Mr Saab to the U.S. where he is being wanted over money laundering charges pending against him since 2019.

While the extradition proceedings were ongoing in Cape Verde, Mr Saab was pursuing a suit at the ECOWAS Court challenging his arrest and detention.

In its judgment delivered on March 15, 2021, the regional court declared Mr Saabs arrest and detention as arbitrary and unlawful. This, the court held, was because, there was no red alert issued before the arrest was carried out.

It ordered the Cape Verdean government to release him and pay him $200,000 compensation.

The court also ordered Cape Verde to discontinue all proceedings and processes aimed at extraditing the applicant to the USA. As of that time, the countrys court had ordered Mr Saabs extradition to the U.S. and the Venezuelan appealed against the extradition order at the Supreme Court.

Two days after the ECOWAS Courts ruling, the Cape Verdes Supreme Court, ruling on Mr Saabs appeal, held that it was not bound by the regional courts judgment. It therefore made an order authorising the government to go ahead with the planned extradition.

Mr Saab further appealed to the countrys constitutional court which has yet to deliver what will be the final ruling on the legality of the planned extradition. He is being held in house arrest in Cape Verde pending the final judgment of the constitutional court.

While awaiting the Cape Verdean courts final decision on the extradition, the Southern District Court of Florida, where Mr Saab has been charged with $350 million money laundering charges, has declared him a fugitive evading trial since July 2019.

However, the Cape Verdean authorities also applied to the ECOWAS Court asking the court to review and reverse its judgment ordering Mr Saabs release.

Arguments

Arguing his clients case on Tuesday, Cape Verdes lawyer, Henrique Borges, maintained that Mr Saabs arrest was based on a red alert.

The court had ruled that there was no red alert issued as of the time Mr Saab was arrested.

But Mr Borges argued that it appeared so to the court because of difference in time zone between the U.S. which issued the red alert for his extradition and Cape Verde, which effected the arrest. He said with the time difference, the country was not in violation of the rights of the Venezuelan.

He also submitted that the court did not rule on its prior objection challenging the competence of the court to adjudicate on the matter.

On their part, Femi Falana and Jose Monteiro, lawyers representing Mr Saab, opposed Cape Verdean governments application, arguing that that there were no new facts raised by the applicant.

ADVERTISEMENT

They added that the governments pleadings had been argued before the court prior to the judgment. They added that the application before the court was not a request for revision of judgment but an appeal to the court to sit as an appellate court over its own judgment.

The court, after hearing both parties, adjourned the matter till June 24 for its decision.

The judges on the panel that heard the case were Edward Amoako Asante, Dupe Atoki and Januaria Costa.
ADVERTISEMENT

Political activist and SaharaReporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, says he was shot with a Federal Riot Gun on Monday and not a canister.

Mr Sowore said he would not have made a fuss about being tear gassed as earlier reported.

Based on information provided by his associates, this newspaper, on Monday, reported how a female police officer fired a tear gas canister at Mr Sowore at the Unity Fountain in Abuja.

He, alongside other protesters, wanted to demonstrate against the worsening security situation in the country when the incident occurred.

The SaharaReporters publisher, who suffered an injury, was later rushed to hospital for treatment.

Mr Sowore, who spoke to our reporter on Tuesday, said the female police officer shot at him with a Federal Riot Gun with a projectile.

The gun is usually used to fire non-lethal ammunition.

A canister as you portrayed it is a can filled with teargas. Why will I be making a fuss about being tear gassed? This one was a projectile. A 37 mm projectile.

And it tore up my thigh, I was hospitalised and treated. I had injuries. It was the same they did to me on January 1st 2021. They busted my nose with a headbutt. These police officers are known and Identified.

Mr Sowore further said the projectile created a gash due to blunt force impact.

Although the police outrightly denied any altercation with Mr Sowore and his group, human rights activists and organisations across the country have called on the federal government to investigate and bring to book those culpable.
Three North Central states of Niger, Kwara and Kogi have converged in Lokoja, Kogi state capital for the ongoing zonal public hearing for the review of the 1999 Constitution.

The two-day event organised by the House of Representatives special Committee on the review of the 1999 constitution, started on Tuesday and will end on Wednesday at different venues across the country.

Recall that the Senate version of the event held last Tuesday and Wednesday.

Members of labour unions, politicians and other groups are at the Kogi state Government House in Lokoja, where the North Central section of the event is taking place.

Governor Yahaya Bello declared the public hearing opened on Tuesday and some presentations were made by various groups.

PREMIUM TIMES brings you updates of events on the final day of the session.

10:53 a.m: Members of the House of Representatives led by the Chairman of the Lokoja Centre of the constitution review exercise, Hon. Tajudeen Abass, arrive at the venue.

10:57 a.m: Opening prayers in both Christian and Islamic ways.

11:05 a.m: Chairman of the Lokoja Centre, Mr Abass giving a recap of the Tuesday session.

11:13 a.m: You are at liberty to expand the scope of your memorandum or submit new ones before next Monday.  Mr Abass.

11:17 a.m: Technical session for Wednesday commences with Yakubu Haruna, who is seeking creation of additional 15 local government areas in Kogi.

11:25 a.m: While presenting the groups memorandum, Bamidele Suru of Leadership Integrity Forum (LIF) suggests that dual citizenship be forbidden for political office holders.

11:31 a.m: Abdulmumin Ogejah canvasses for the creation of Ajaokuta East local government area.

12:03 am: Manzuma Mammah from Kwara State proposes creation of Edu state from Niger and Kwara states.

ADVERTISEMENT

12:15 p.m: Daniel Makolo, representing a Coalition of Cultural and Development Association in Igala Kingdom, wants the federal government to hands-off generation and distribution of electricity and other matters.

12:25pm: Muslim Congress represented by Quasim Opakunle advocates gender equality in the constitution.

12:51pm: House of Reps member, Shaba Ibrahim, addresses the notion that the 1999 constitution is illegal

12:58pm: Kogi State magistrates, represented by Ibrahim Eleson, call for the amendment of Section 318 of the 1999 Nigeria Constitution to include Magistrates in the definition of Holders of Judicial Office.

1:08pm: The Chairman of Kogi chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria, Bishop John Ibenu, presenting the concerns of the Christian group.

1:19pm: Theres need for proper definition of who is a citizen if Nigeria in the constitution  Daniel Dakolo, lawyer representing a Coalition of Cultural and Development Association in Igala Kingdom.

1:21pm: Secretariat on a short recess as Presiding Reps member attends to an important issue.

1:28pm: Firm, Alter Consult, seeks modification of the Value Added Tax (VAT) and that 43 percent should be allocated to local authorities.

1:38pm: Ane Igala Restoration, a socio-cultural group in Kogi state represented by Ocholi Odekina, declares support for ban on open grazing

2:00pm: Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Kogi Chapter, represented by Hamza Bello Muhammed (Assistant Secretary), want scholarships for Fulanis

2:40pm: House of Reps member, Asuku Bello, giving the vote of thanks as the two-day event comes to an end.

END
ADVERTISEMENT

The police in Niger State have debunked reports suggesting that the Registrar of the National Examination Council (NECO), Godswill Obioma, was assassinated.

The attention of Niger State Police Command has been drawn to a publication circulating in some sections of social media and national dailies that NECO Registrar, Prof. Godswill Obioma was murdered by unknown gunmen in Minna.

This story is totally false, untrue and a pure piece of fake news, the police spokesperson in the state, Wasiu Abiodun, said in a Wednesday statement.

He said the family of Mr Obioma formally announced that he died after a brief illness at National Hospital Abuja on Tuesday.

Members of the public are hereby urged to disregard the fake news and news reporters are advised to always verify their report before publication to avoid creating unnecessary panic and fear in the public domain, Mr Wasiu stated further.

The late NECO boss, was, until his appointment to head NECO, was the Ebonyi State Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He is survived by his wife and children.

His son, Godswill Alexander Obioma (Junior), had earlier confirmed the death of Mr Obioma to the NECO management.

In a telephone interview with this newspaper, he confirmed the message earlier sent to the examination body, stating that he died of a natural cause.
ADVERTISEMENT

The Senate has passed a bill that seeks to end discrimination between First Degrees and Higher National Diplomas (HND).

The bill scaled the third reading on Wednesday, after the lawmakers received and considered the report of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions, which contained six clauses.

The report was presented by the chairman, Ahmad Kaita.

The bill, sponsored by Ayo Akinyelure (PDP, Ondo Central), seeks to resolve the controversy over wage disparity and gross discrimination against HND holders in the public and private sectors of the economy.

It also seeks to promote Nigerias technological advancement by encouraging many qualified candidates to pursue polytechnic and technological studies.

In his lead debate during the second reading, Mr Akinyelure had said discrimination against HND holders threatens to ruin the nations core policy thrust of evolving a technological and scientifically based society.

Findings, he said, had proved that some polytechnic graduates were, in some cases, better on the field than their university counterparts.

A government employment policy that places degree holders ahead of HND holders without recourse to the skill and ability of the HND holders, thereof, does more harm than good to the nations development plans, he said.

Some senators, however, argued that rather than seeking to abolish the dichotomy, efforts should be made to transform all polytechnics to degree-awarding institutions.

A public hearing on the bill was held in March and concerned parties, who submitted their memorandum, supported the legislation.

Presenting the report, Mr Kaita said the bill, when passed and assented to, will give polytechnic graduates confidence and impact on the countrys economy, positively.

The lawmakers, thereafter, did a clause-by-clause consideration of the bill in the Committee of the Whole, after which it was passed.

Congratulations to the senate. This particular issue has been on the front burner for a long time. I recall that in the House (of Representatives) between 2003 and 2007, this was one bill that was so important and it is a way of encouraging our polytechnic graduates.

This should not take away the kind of training they give but should be a motivation for our polytechnic graduates, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan remarked.

The House of Representatives has since passed its own version of the bill. A conference committee will be set up by both chambers to harmonise the proposed law after which the bill will be sent to the president for assent.
The company expects to sell the crop on a business-to-business basis to a licensed producer with a sales license, on a predetermined or spot basis

CEO Elise Coppens said the firm is 'excited about the potential upside in the US market and the magnitude of the opportunity that still exists south of the Canadian border'

AgraFlora Organics International Inc ( ) (FRA:PU31) (OTCPINK:AGFAF) CEO Elise Coppens told shareholders that the first wholesale crop growing at the Delta greenhouse in British Columbia is on track for processing and sale towards the end of summer this year.

In a letter to shareholders, Coppens said that the company has been focused on generating revenue through the sale of cannabis from the Delta facility.

AgraFlora is in a joint venture with Propagation Services Canada Inc (PSC), which operates a 2.2 million-square-foot greenhouse complex in Delta, British Columbia. The company has both an industrial hemp license and a standard cultivation license from Health Canada. Agraflora holds a 70% stake in PSC.

The first wholesale crop growing at the Delta greenhouse is on track for its cultivation, drying, processing and sale toward the end of this summer, said Coppens. We expect to sell the crop on a business-to-business basis to an LP with a sales license, either on a predetermined or spot basis, depending on the crops quality and based on the results obtained via lab testing.

However, Coppens said some "key operational steps need to take place" in order to ensure that the crop generates optimal yields.

As a point of interest, one of those steps is called de-leafing and we have about a 1.5-acre block of de-leafing to do on our crop, said Coppens.

We use pipe rails for radiant heat, which also serve as tracks for our crop work and harvesting carts. This makes moving up and down 68-metre rows a lot easier and more efficient.

In Europe, AgraFlora recently established a foothold starting in Germany with the acquisition of Farmako GmbH, a leading European medical cannabis distributor in the UK, Luxembourg, and Denmark.

Representing AgraFloras presence in the middle part of the value chain, Farmako continues to distribute cannabis-related products internationally for the company in Europe, said Coppens. The team, led by Katrin Eckmans, is currently working hard to develop a line of Farmako Extracts with suppliers in North Macedonia and Poland.

The AgraFlora boss also touched on how successful Farmako GmbH, has been in supplying its proprietary THC Testkits to Stadapharm GmbH.

As it turns out, launching the product at the end of last year was ideal from a timing perspective, since other players are now trying to enter the test kit market, said Coppens. Farmako used its first-mover advantage to secure a great distribution deal, establish a solid pharmacy-linked customer base and open the door for further wholesale deals.

The THC Testkit was developed and produced by Farmako in-house as a tool for pharmacists to detect THC and identify medical cannabis flowers and extracts easily, quickly and at low cost.

The Vancouver-based company's strategy is two-pronged - to supply the Canadian recreational market with high-potency flower, while also serving the European medical cannabis market. Now it is eyeing the US market.

Entering the US market, either directly, indirectly or as part of a transaction involving one or more third parties, remains a high priority for the management team and board of directors, said Coppens.

We are excited about the potential upside in the US market and the magnitude of the opportunity that still exists south of the Canadian border.

Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive
ADVERTISEMENT

President Muhammadu Buhari has transmitted to the Senate, a bill to increase the retirement age for teachers in the country from 60 to 65 years.

The bill also seeks to extend the years of service for teachers from 35 to 40 years.

The bill was conveyed in a letter to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, who read it out at the start of plenary on Wednesday.

In the letter, the president explained that the piece of legislation would provide for a harmonised retirement age for teachers in Nigeria.

The decision to increase the retirement age and service years of teachers, he said, was pursuant to Section 58(2) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

Transmission of the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Bill 2021 to the National Assembly for consideration.

Pursuant to Section 58 subsection 2 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), I forward herewith the harmonised retirement age for teachers in Nigeria Bill, 2021 for consideration by the Senate.

The harmonised retirement age for teachers in Nigeria bill 2021 seeks to increase the retirement age for teachers from 60 to 65 years, and also increase the possible years of service from 35 to 40 years, part of the letter read.

Further details of the legislation will be discussed on another legislative day when the lawmakers begin the process of its passage.

Mr Buharis letter comes about five months after the Federal Executive Council approved the extension of teachers retirement age as well as service years.

Meanwhile, Mr Lawan, during plenary, also referred the presidents request for the confirmation of Farouk Yahaya as Chief of Army Staff of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the Committees on Defence and Army.

The Defence Committee, which is chaired by Aliyu Wamakko (APC Sokoto), was mandated to be the lead Committee to screen the newly appointed army chief.
The Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) has demanded a compensation of N140 million from the Lagos State government for the planned demolition of its church house at Biney Street, Yaba, Lagos.

But reacting to the demand in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, the government says the church is only entitled to N19 million.

The churchs demand is contained in its petition sent to the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the state House of Assembly.

PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday obtained a copy of the churchs petition dated May 27, 2021 and signed on its behalf by its lawyer, Nojim Tairu.

The church alleged that a large chunk of the churchs premises, which serves as the headquarters of its Yaba group, was marked for demolition by the state through the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA).

It said it had been in possession of the land for over a decade and had peacefully occupied it until the Lagos State government marked its structures for demolition without giving any notice or providing reasons for its action.

The church said it found that some days earlier, a structure adjoining its building was demolished by agents of the state government, while another property on the other side of the church had been evacuated preparatory to demolition.

DCLM said it would not object to the state governments development efforts, but insisted that the proper procedure for acquiring private property for public use must be complied with.

The church specifically stated that a joint evaluation of the property and payment of adequate compensation ought to be done for the government to legitimately acquire the land for any public interest.

Whilst our client is not, in principle, against the development of the state and the governments proposal to use the section of her land for overriding public interest, the irreducible minimum in any clime is that the government and its agencies, being institutions and custodians of the law, must comply with applicable laws in such circumstance so as not to leave any room for speculations on their intentions/actions or worse still, set a dangerous precedent in that regard.

In the premise, we look forward to the appropriate formal communication from the government/its relevant agencies on the subject so as to elicit the needed cooperation from our client and set in motion necessary arrangements for what is due and needful in the circumstance, including proper/joint evaluation of the subject property and payment of adequate compensation thereof, part of the letter reads.

N140million property

To assist the government, the church said it had engaged estate valuers which put the value of the property at N140 million.

Meanwhile, in order to assist the state to expedite the required process, particularly if the speculated purpose of the land is correct, that is, an integral part of the states public transportation/hub, our client has taken the initiative of procuring the services of a firm of estate valuers to assess the property, the open market value of which was put at N140 million, as captured in the valuation report attached herewith, the petition also reads.

Lagos agency reacts

But LAMATA denied the churchs claims.

The issues raised in the petition by the Deeper Christian Life Ministry are untrue, LAMATAs Head of Corporate Communications, Kolawole Ojelabi, said in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Wednesday.

He said the Lagos State Government had in October 2020, embarked on a Redline Rail Project from Agbado to Marina all in a bid to improve public transport in the city.

According to Mr Ojelabi, all property owners and tenants in affected communities of Yaba and the rest were duly informed and compensated.

He said contrary to the claim in the petition, the government had formally communicated the planned demolition to the church.

ADVERTISEMENT

He also blamed the church for not cooperating with LAMATA to be compensated. He accused the church of rejecting the N19 million compensation offered by the government.

We (LAMATA) offered the church over N19 million as compensation for the unoccupied property. You see, when the government acquires a property for public use, it only pays for the depreciated value of the property, not the land itself, he said.

He added, They (the church officials) have been to our office twice. I have been to theirs twice.

We engaged the local government, market women, religious bodies and school authorities; members of the Community Development Association were invited. The meeting was held last year.

We engaged a consultant to enumerate everybody, property owners and tenants.

All the names and properties involved were published in the media.

All landlords were invited as part of a groundbreaking ceremony, where they were all compensated by the Lagos State Governor.

They claimed that they were not aware of the announcement for property owners to submit ownership documents. That is not true. The affected properties were all published in the media.

The church was not willing to cooperate with LAMATA. But this is a public interest project that everyone should key into.

Their title documents have been revoked by the Lagos State Government.

We have given them compensation value. They are contesting the amount of the compensation. Its strange for a church to misinform the public about the project.
The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, Tony Aziegbemi has been suspended from office for alleged misconduct.

This is contained in a statement issued on Wednesday by the spokesperson of the party in the state, Chris Nehikhare.

Mr Nehikhare said the suspension was based on the decision of the State Working Committee (SWC) of the party.

The SWC suspended the chairman for gross misconduct by brewing unnecessary tension and disunity among party members in the state.

The suspension was ratified by two third of the SWC members at the meeting on Tuesday in Benin.

The SWC resolved in a motion that Aziegbemi should step aside until the determination of the allegations against him, he said.

Mr Nehikhare added: Among the allegations, Aziegbemi was accused of gross misconduct by brewing unnecessary tension and disunity among party members in the state in a manner akin to bringing the party into disrepute.

This decision, hard as it is, is designed to bring sanity back to our party.

It would be like ignoring the elephant in the room if we ignore this macabre dance as Edo people have watched in utter amazement and disappointment how Aziegbemi has been roped and entangled by his actions and unfortunately too, his inactions in the management of the affairs of the party.

We are a disciplined party and pride ourselves as organised and focused on service delivery to our teeming supporters and of course, Edo people.

We urge our members and supporters to please remain calm as we embark on this self-cleansing exercise.

The party spokesperson said a committee set up to investigate the allegations against Mr Aziegbemi has been given one week to conclude the assignment, while the state Deputy Chairman of the party, Harrison Omagbon, would act as the chairman, pending the determination of the case.

Obaseki accused of favouring former associates in APC

Mr Aziegbemis suspension comes a few weeks after he had criticised Governor Godwin Obasekis style of leadership.

The PDP chairman, in a letter he jointly signed with the party secretary in the state, Hillary Otsu, accused Mr Obaseki of marginalising the PDP in his political appointments so far and also making moves to sack the party structure in the state.

The duo said the letter was written on behalf of the expanded State Working Committee of the party.

Mr Obaseki had defected from his former party, the All Progressives Congress to the PDP where he contested and won the election for his second term.

Edo people voted for PDP and Godwin Obaseki to deliver the dividends of democracy to them.

If he wishes to appoint only his friends and former APC colleagues in his cabinet and sundry positions and leave out the legacy PDP members, so be it, said Mr Aziegbemi in the letter which was sent to the national leadership of the PDP.

ADVERTISEMENT

(NAN)
ADVERTISEMENT

The Nigerian Army has said its men in Sabon Birni, a border town between Sokoto State and Niger Republic, have intercepted and killed three gunrunners moving weapons on foot into Nigeria.

Army spokesperson, Mohammed Yerima, stated this on Wednesday in a statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES.

The incident comes in a time when proliferation of small arms has been named as the major reason for insecurity across Nigeria with scores killed and kidnapped on a weekly basis.

Politicians have often been accused of being behind the proliferation of illegal firearms around the nation.

A former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, said recently that there are over six million weapons in circulation around the country.

Mr Yerima, a brigadier general, however, in the statement, said the three suspects were killed in a successful ambush laid by the army troops.

Some of the items recovered include RPG bombs and RPG chargers, machine gun, AK47 assault rifle and other accessories as well as different calibre of assorted ammunition.

Read full statement:

PRESS RELEASE

NA TROOPS NEUTRALISE 3 GUNRUNNERS, RECOVER WEAPONS IN SOKOTO BORDER TOWN

Nigerian Army troops operating around Sabo Birni border town of Sokoto State neutralised 3 gunrunners and recovered weapons on 1 June 2021. This was made possible following a credible information of gunrunners moving weapons on foot from Niger Republic into Nigeria around 11pm. The highly vigilant troops mounted a successful ambush along the suspected route close to Garin Naimaimai Village and neutralised the 3 gunrunners. Items recovered include RPG bombs and RPG chargers, machine gun, AK47 assault rifle and other accessories as well as different calibre of assorted ammunition.

The Chief of Army Staff Maj Gen Faruk Yahaya commended the efforts of the troops and urged them to sustain operational in dominating all the illegal routes around the border areas with Niger Republic to frustrate any movement of weapons and ammunition into the country.

You are please requested to disseminate the information to the general public.

MOHAMMED YERIMA

Brigadier General

Director Army Public Relations

2 June 2021
Many Nigerians flooded the social media space on Wednesday to criticise President Muhammadu Buhari following Twitters removal of his controversial tweet many believed was targeted at Igbo-dominated South-eastern region of the country.

The reactions to Twitters verdict had shot Mr Buhari to the position of the second most trending Nigerian topics on the microblogging site as of the time of filing this report on Wednesday.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how Twitter deleted Mr Buharis tweet which was seen as a veiled threat to the South-east region.

He issued the threat in reaction to escalating violence across Nigeria, especially in the region.

Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand, he wrote on Tuesday.

Furore

The presidents tweet generated furore as many Nigerians accused Mr Buhari of making a comment which opened the wounds of the Nigerian civil war which claimed millions of lives.

Some citizens had also asked Twitter to suspend his account saying his tweet expresses intentions of self-harm or suicide.

On Wednesday, Twitter deleted the post claiming it violated its rules.

Reaction

In reaction to Twitters action, the federal government said it is suspicious of Twitters mission in Nigeria.

The mission of Twitter in Nigeria is very very suspect. Has Twitter deleted the violent tweets that Nnamdi Kanu has

been sending? Has it? Nigerias information minister, Lai Mohammed, told journalists in Abuja Wednesday.

He also accused the social media platform of fueling crisis in the country during #EndSARS protest last

year.

The same Twitter during the ENDSARS protests that was funding ENDSARS protesters, it was the first to close

the account of former president of US, Trump. And you see, when people were burning police stations and killing policemen in Nigeria during ENDSARS, for Twitter, it was about the right to protest.

But when a similar thing happened on the Capitol, it became insurrection. You see, we are not going to be be fooled by anybody. We have a country to rule and we will do so to the best of our ability. Twitter mission in Nigeria citing those two examples is very suspect. What is their agenda?

Nigerians react

Many Nigerians stormed the social media to criticise Mr Buhari.

One of these is Ekiti State former governor, Ayodele Fayose, who said Twitters action showed how powerless Mr Buhari is on social media.

When is Mr President Buhari using his power as Commander-in-chief to show Twitter pepper for deleting

his tweets? Or Twitter will just delete our Presidents tweets just like that and there wont be consequences?

Nigeria is boiling everywhere and all that the President can do is to be threatening genocide up and down? Now that Twitter has dealt with our almighty President Buhari, wont he deal with Twitter too? Like Trump, like Buhari.

It is obvious that those using the Presidents powers for him do not know when and where to stop their power-madness. Regrettably, Twitter may not know that Buhari is not the one operating the handle. Can our President operate Android Phone not to talk of making genocidal tweets?

ADVERTISEMENT

See other reactions below:

Jack appreciation tweet. Like and retweet for this man abeg, he's very sensitive #Buhari pic.twitter.com/sVYb4fRL7q  Endurance || Omo Iya Oyinbo (@Paul_Endurance1) June 2, 2021

See how happy many have been on this bird app after realising Jack deleted Bubu's genocidal tweets. RT for our uncle Jack Like for our traveler presido #Buhari pic.twitter.com/GuTO92FxRy  Effiong John (@effiongjohn10) June 2, 2021

Congrats Jack, you just earned yourself 10pts.



It is Twitter FC (10)  Buhari FC (0).



It's really disappointing we wanted #Buhari speak, now he's spoken something unheard of & has been dealt with. He might be the next Trump on this bird app.



Shame to Tolu & Garba Shehu pic.twitter.com/TQHpfwynPL  OllyKween (@olathrives) June 2, 2021

See why Twitter couldn't open their office here? Combined team of EFCC, DSS, NDLEA, NCDC, FRSC, NPF for raid them  $AYOBAMI (@dondekojo) June 2, 2021

Twitter has removed Buharis tweet that roused the ghosts of Biafra and stated it violated their rule. Its distasteful, ill-intentioned and shouldnt be defended by anyone who respects the wisdom of our parents who signed that the war was one with neither victors nor vanquished.  Gimba Kakanda (@gimbakakanda) June 2, 2021

Twitter deleted the tweet made by the President's handle. Expect cronies to talk about Twitter is interfering with Nigerian politics. Rather than see through their bias and how nonsense that tweet was. Well done guys.  Aproko Doctor (@aproko_doctor) June 2, 2021

General @MBuhari is not fit to be Nigerias leader. He is a Northern irredentist. Even in the North, his loyalty is to his tribe, to the exclusion of other Northern ethnicities. Look at his threat of war against the SE. Im ashamed of our leadership#TwitterSuspendBuharisAccount  Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) June 2, 2021

The likes of Tolu Ogunlesi, Bashir Ahmad will now have to re-read their notes before punching the tweet button. More than the President's handler, they know what it means to have one or two strikes from Jack's Twitter.  Gabriel Ogunjobi (@GabrielOgunjob1) June 2, 2021

You have a country to rule? Rule? You have a people do lead, a country to lead, not rule but I don't expect anyone under General Buhari to know the difference. https://t.co/Cvr5CNAABR  Banjo, Damilola (@RealBanjo) June 2, 2021

https://twitter.com/DrOlufunmilayo/status/1400117120239902727?s=19

https://twitter.com/GaniuBolaji/status/1400121524410105861?s=19

Twitter has taken down the tweet from that tyrant Buhari. They say it violates their rule. Since we haven't tasted democracy since 2015, twitter has given us a lil taste of it.  FS Yusuf (@FS_Yusuf_) June 2, 2021

https://twitter.com/DrOlufunmilayo/status/1400117120239902727?s=19
As we all move on slowly from the tragedy, to continue in our roles and to forge ahead in this fight, Lt General Attahirus dedication, vigour, crystal-clear vision and dogged commitment have ensured that he will remain the unforgettable general, who departed suddenly in the middle of a war.

All losses, at all levels of life, are traumatic. But a loss resulting from a sudden and unexpected death, particularly of a national figure, tends to be several times more so. For the immediate circle (personal and professional) of the deceased, such an event may border on the cataclysmic. It punctures the psyche and leaves a tear in the fabric of the mind.

Work is abruptly cut short. Plans made with assured certainty are, in a matter of minutes, doomed to remain forever unexecuted. Appointments are instantly voided, and dozens of loose ends are left hanging, never to be tied up.

The bustle of public life and urgent national assignments are brought to a forced and destabilising halt. Phone numbers dialled frantically in disbelief no longer connect, and WhatsApp messages from only a very short while back are pored over, as the last seen time fades further and further into the past.

This shock may eventually subside into numbness and resigned acceptance, but the stark lack of closure in most cases, will always remain.

His close links with Kaduna State, and the spirited efforts by the government against armed bandits and terrorists meant that military deployments had to be sustained at various flashpoints. General Attahiru immediately gave us renewed confidence and ensured that we had prompt attention in this regard.

Such was the confusion, pain and bewilderment one felt on receiving the news of the ill-fated plane crash of Friday, May 21. Almost two weeks on, I am trying to recover and navigate the debris of that devastating event as I put pen to paper.

I had been in close and regular communication with the late COAS since his appointment in January. Given my role as the Kaduna State Governments liaison with security agencies, the intersection of our duties was inevitable.

His close links with Kaduna State, and the spirited efforts by the government against armed bandits and terrorists meant that military deployments had to be sustained at various flashpoints. General Attahiru immediately gave us renewed confidence and ensured that we had prompt attention in this regard. Over the last few years, the Kaduna State Government had already enjoyed a robust relationship with the Nigerian Army. Attahirus predecessor, Lt General T.Y. Buratai (a good man who we will continue to appreciate) along with General Abayomi Olonisakin and Air Marshail S.B. Abubakar, had laid a solid base for collaboration. During his brief tenure, General Attahiru saw that the relationship was consolidated even further. Lt General Attahiru was a disciplined, highly professional and determined soldier. He was ready and fully committed to the daunting battle to which he was assigned. He had a lot to give to that fight. Sadly, he exited the arena all too abruptly. Lt General Ibrahim Attahiru displayed reassuring ebullience and determination. He radiated clarity of purpose from the first day, and appeared maximally ready to steer the Nigerian Army towards the vanquishing of all prevailing security threats. He was enthusiastic about our cooperation against banditry, terrorism and criminality in Kaduna State, and indeed in the region.

It was in the course of our ongoing cooperation that we had planned to meet up at the Nigerian Army Depot, Zaria, for the Passing Out Parade, which was to hold on Saturday May 22. He departed Abuja for Kaduna late on that rainy Friday afternoon. The rest, as they say, is history, as I am still trying to understand the shock I felt on receiving the news of the crash that evening.

Lt General Attahiru was a disciplined, highly professional and determined soldier. He was ready and fully committed to the daunting battle to which he was assigned. He had a lot to give to that fight. Sadly, he exited the arena all too abruptly.

As we all move on slowly from the tragedy, to continue in our roles and to forge ahead in this fight, Lt General Attahirus dedication, vigour, crystal-clear vision and dogged commitment have ensured that he will remain the unforgettable general, who departed suddenly in the middle of a war.

May the souls of all who lost their lives in the crash rest In peace and may God bless all that they left behind.

Samuel Aruwan, is the Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Kaduna State.
ADVERTISEMENT

The National Assembly must now rise above sentiments to put the plights of the indigenous people of the FCT on top of their priority as they pursue their new agenda of amending Nigerias most derided constitution. Correcting the injustices done to the very accommodating people of FCT through this constitution amendment is the only recipe to avoid the looming danger

Zephaniah Dantani was excited to hear the good news of his success at the job interview to recruit young professionals for the Central Bank of Nigeria. He was overwhelmed with emotions as he hurried up to confirm from his electronic mail the good news broken to him a while ago via a text message sent to his phone.

Waoh! What a sweet end to the harrowing five stage interview process that began twelve weeks ago!, he enthused as he opened his mail. The exercise had commenced with a written test that was used to reduce the two hundred and fifty thousand young job seekers shortlisted to a more manageable three thousand applicants who had two more tests to write before they could qualify for the two technical stages that would determine the successful applicants. Even though he knew he performed very well at the fifth and final stage, he wasnt quite sure whether he would be one of the final lucky 150 people who would be picked eventually from amongst the 650 finalists. He felt he was in adream land of sort as he hurriedly began to search for the message that was sent to him by CBNs Human Resources Department.

There you are!, he shouted ecstatically and opened the mail. The message confirmed the good news in greater details and directed him to click the link to the acceptance form that must be filled and submitted before resuming work in two weeks. As he clicked the link and scrolled up and down to survey the required information in the form, his mien suddenly changed and his excitement fizzled away like smoke in a dark night.

The transition in his countenance was so deeply troubling that anyone watching nearby would wonder whether he was asked to go bring his dead great grandmother along with him as a condition for resuming work in the new job. Amazingly, that wasnt the case. The source of his sorrow was the section of the form which required him to select his state of origin from the 36 options provided.

Filling forms for university admissions, telephone subscription, applying for international passport, drivers licence, jobs and so on have somehow been Dantanis greatest nightmare since he became old enough to fill forms by himself. He always got confused and sorrowful whenever he reached the part of the process where he had to fill his state of origin because he is one of the over two million Nigerians without a state of origin. All the forms always provide a space for him to fill the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as his place of residence but customarily leaves out the FCT as one of the options whenever information about his state of origin is required.

The burden of statelessness is only one of the many burdens of the indigenous people who are the original owners of the land housing Nigerias capital city. The systemic marginalisation they are forced to endure every single day is the king of all their burdens. They have lost a huge chunk of their farmlands

While applying for university admission seven years ago, he was forced to select Niger State, even though he is not from any town or local government area in there. If he had refused to pick one of the states near FCT as his home state, he would never have been able to submit his form, no matter how many times he tried. His parents and grandparents are from Bwari in the Federal Capital Territory, but sadly the FCT is not a state in Nigeria.

The Constitution of Nigeria in Chapter 8 deals with the issue of the FCT. It states that the FCT shall be treated as if it is a state, yet the document recognises only 36 states. That foundational error has rendered not only Dantani, but all the indigenous people of the Capital Territory stateless and this always forces them to lie and select any of the adjoining states of the FCT that is nearest to their village, as their state of origin whenever they have to fill out a form.

The burden of statelessness is only one of the many burdens of the indigenous people who are the original owners of the land housing Nigerias capital city. The systemic marginalisation they are forced to endure every single day is the king of all their burdens. They have lost a huge chunk of their farmlands, with all the history behind those lands, and they are losing more and more with every new day that breaks.

If there ever is any hope that the injustice done to these ever peaceful and considerate people will ever be addressed, the constitutional amendment being touted by the ninth National Assembly appears to be the quickest semblance of hope. The lawmakers should be courageous and caring enough to seize this opportunity to address the pains of the people who have been made to suffer all manners of systemic marginalisation for over four decades, as their supreme sacrifice to give Nigeria a better capital city.

Asides from being made stateless, they are being made landless too. Their farmlands are the foundation of the new modern city we enjoy today. With every new district opened up for development, the livelihoods, culture, history and memories of thousands of them disappear with the bulldozers that clear the land.

All well meaning people of Nigeria and the world must stand up in concert with the original inhabitants of the FCT from now on to put the key constitutional and governance issues undermining their political, civil, economic and cultural rights on the platform of change.

The original inhabitants of the FCT have been directly denied the enjoyment of many of their rights as enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) since General Muritala Muhammed approved Justice Akinola Aguda and his panels selection of the 8,000 square kilometres of land as the most suitable location for Nigerias new capital city in 1976. The disruption and dislocation the original inhabitants have experienced is apparent in their loss of basic political, cultural and economic rights. The relocation of Nigerias capital city from Lagos has taken a serious toll on the lives, livelihoods, economic opportunities and cultural repositories of the people.

Erroneously, many people had thought that the Federal Government of Nigeria had compensated the people of FCT for their land taken over to build Abuja. Only a few people know that the Olusegun Obasanjo government that succeeded General Muhammed couldnt pay the over $6 billion needed to compensate the original owners of FCT because the agreed sum was, as at that time, Nigerias budget for three years. Subsequent governments have either been pushing the compensation issue aside since then or merely begging the issue.

The National Assembly must now rise above sentiments to put the plights of the indigenous people of the FCT on top of their priority as they pursue their new agenda of amending Nigerias most derided constitution. Correcting the injustices done to the very accommodating people of FCT through this constitution amendment is the only recipe to avoid the looming danger that continuous neglect and violation of the rights of the people of FCT exposes the nation to.

All well meaning people of Nigeria and the world must stand up in concert with the original inhabitants of the FCT from now on to put the key constitutional and governance issues undermining their political, civil, economic and cultural rights on the platform of change.

The original inhabitants of our nations capital have been at the receiving end of unjust dispossession of their lands and livelihoods without proper compensation for far too long. Its time to right the wrong.

Olanrewaju Osho is the Executive Director of Inspire Nigeria Initiative. He ran for election in 2019 to represent the Federal Capital Territory in the Senate as the candidate of Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP).
When we talk about the challenges within the Nigerian healthcare system, we are often quick to criticise the government or the health workers dealing directly with patients. But what about the people whose job it is to ensure the efficient functioning of these institutions? Poor management and organisation will equal lead to poor patient care.

My phone beeped at 1 a.m. The text message from my sister was brief: Daddy is in the hospital.

A quick call established that they had spent the past five hours trying to get my 65-year-old dad  who had severe headache and delirium  admitted into the emergency ward of a government hospital in Lagos.

My father is a doctor who has given over 35 years of his life to the Nigerian healthcare system. Yet, he was at the brink of death  not because his ailment was incurable but because treatment was being delayed with hurdles set by poor hospital management and lack of staffing.

When he was finally admitted, he was put on an unclean bed without a bedspread. A hospital staff member screamed at the family to get their own bedspread, as there was none available due to crowding in the wards.

We could explain this away by saying Its the pandemic. But Nigerians will tell you that this is a common occurrence in many government and primary healthcare centres in Nigeria.

Nigeria has a deficit in the number of qualified doctors: the country needs about 237,000 doctors to ensure the populations health needs are catered for but currently has only about 35,000. Each day it loses doctors to foreign hospitals, as they leave in search of better salaries or, given the number of unpaid staff, any salary at all.

In addition, our healthcare system already struggles with more patients than hospital beds  which was true even before the pandemic. Compared to the global average of 26 hospital beds per 10,000 people, we have just five. We are talking of about just 134,000 beds to a population of 211 million people. The United Kingdom, which has less than half of Nigerias population with just 68 million people, can boast of over 170,548 hospital beds.

The COVID-19 pandemic is not to blame for the state of our hospitals or how we treat patients. The pandemic has merely opened our eyes to the preexisting problems.

And one of these is proper hospital management.

Good management of government hospitals is an important aspect of making healthcare accessible by everyone in Nigeria. We have more premature deaths due to hospital delays and lack of organisation than sickness.

While we were relieved that we got our father a bed, we were met with a sleep-deprived intern assigned to administer care to him. The doctor had been on a 72-hour weekend call and was obviously exhausted.

But the hospital was short staffed, so he had to do the work of three interns. He told us to wait another 24 hours to see the consultant.

We were later told that my dad had suffered a stroke. It was clear that a single further delay in administering care could take his life.

Although my dad survived the hours of waiting, many others do not.

Earlier this year, a woman died in Lagos after being turned down from different hospitals due to the lack of bed space. My dad was also turned down by many hospitals until we called someone who could assist.

Ironically, days after struggling to get him admitted, we had to wait for over three days to get him discharged. While it is not unusual for hospitals to delay discharging patients who have not paid their bills, this delay was because the attending doctor was too busy to sign the release form.

Good management of government hospitals is an important aspect of making healthcare accessible by everyone in Nigeria. We have more premature deaths due to hospital delays and lack of organisation than sickness.

When Nigerians are faced with life threatening emergencies, we already have huge out-of-pocket costs to worry about. Families should not also be concerned about getting a bed  or even clean sheets for that matter.

ADVERTISEMENT

the Ministry of Health needs to create a centralised monitoring system that ensures standard delivery of care at all levels. This will ensure a smoother processing of patients through the system, with quicker admissions and discharge times. Discharging at the right time means more bed space; and more bed space means more money for hospitals.

When we talk about the challenges within the Nigerian healthcare system, we are often quick to criticise the government or the health workers dealing directly with patients. But what about the people whose job it is to ensure the efficient functioning of these institutions? Poor management and organisation will equal lead to poor patient care.

We must take action now to ensure more administrative strength in our health institutions. Here are few ways we can:

First, medical schools should incorporate management skills into the curriculum for future healthcare professionals: As we are teaching our healthcare students to handle the worst clinical scenarios, we should also teach them how to take executive decisions. These are the people who will end up managing our hospitals. Implementing this now is important to get them ready for the leadership challenges of our healthcare system.

Second, health regulatory and licensing boards must ensure all hospital administrators are enrolled in continuous programmes that will build their leadership abilities, people skills and critical thinking; managing a hospital demands great people-handling skills, problem solving and emotional intelligence. A deep knowledge of our healthcare system is not enough to run a hospital and keep employees on track.

Third, government hospitals should create mentoring opportunities for hospital administrators. Mentoring can help them learn from other administrators globally. This allows for them to share skills and institutional knowledge. It also creates room for thoughtful feedback and support.

Fourth, the Ministry of Health needs to create a centralised monitoring system that ensures standard delivery of care at all levels. This will ensure a smoother processing of patients through the system, with quicker admissions and discharge times. Discharging at the right time means more bed space; and more bed space means more money for hospitals.

Yes, the Nigerian health system needs a whole lot of work to be done but lets start with good management, so that families can have better experiences and quality care.

If we cannot trust our hospitals to provide bedspreads, how can we trust them with our lives?

Adekemi Adeniyan is a rural dentist breaking down barriers to oral health for underserved communities to ensure equitable health access for all in Nigeria. Follow her on twitter @PstDrKemi
Wherelaws or regulations are used to prevent the continuing spread of harmful misinformation, as was the case against financial hoaxes in Uganda and dangerous public health misinformation in South Africa, its plausible they may directly reduce harm. However, punitive laws do little to deter and nothing to correct false information and thus curb harm

In a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country like ours, fake news is a time bomb, Information Minister Lai Mohammed warned journalists at a briefing in 2018. In recent weeks, many anarchists have been doing everything possible to detonate the bomb. To disarm the bomb, his government would educate Nigerians to identify fake news at source. We do not intend to resort to coercion or censorship, the minister pledged. Instead, he proposed ways the public could identify false information: These simple measures may not end fake news, but they will go a long way in stemming its spread.

A few weeks later, President Macky Sall of Senegal went further, calling publicly on his education minister to come up with a plan to promote media literacy in schools. This would counter fake news and other false information, because the Internet is becoming sabotaged by bad practice, the president declared.

Since concern rose worldwide in 2016 about the effects of misinformation  from provoking vigilante violence in Ethiopia to the use of ineffective medical treatments for Ebola and COVID-19  calls for new knowledge and skills to be taught in schools as an antidote to falsehoods, have grown.

Last year, seven colleagues and I examined what has been done since in policy responses across Africa. In two linked research reports published this month, we found that governments in 12 countries studied had in fact resorted to punitive laws, censoring public debate and, in six of seven countries studied, done almost nothing to promote misinformation literacy in state-run schools.

A near doubling of laws on false information, no reduction in misinformation harm

As we discovered, between 2016 and 2020, 10 of 11 countries surveyed  Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote dIvoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda  introduced or amended laws or regulations penalising the publication of false information. The other country, Senegal, used existing laws for the same purpose.

If or when media literacy is taught, it bears little relation to the knowledge and skills needed to identify misinformation, with topics ranging from civic education and behaviour in Ghana to self-awareness and problem-solving in Kenya. If it is to succeed, it needs to build on work done by colleagues last year on news literacy

Where these laws or regulations are used to prevent the continuing spread of harmful misinformation, as was the case against financial hoaxes in Uganda and dangerous public health misinformation in South Africa, its plausible they may directly reduce harm. However, punitive laws do little to deter and nothing to correct false information and thus curb harm, once the false information is in circulation. More than that, ten of the 31 laws or regulations we studied require no evidence that the false information (if it was false) caused or risked harm, before it is penalised. A further six related to harms such as the annoyance of ministers, which are not legitimate under international law.

The laws fail to address the different types of misinformation, what and who drives them, and the effects they have. One of their biggest causes is the lack of easy public access to reliable information. This is not acknowledged in these laws. Like the flawed approach proposed in Europe, requiring tech platforms to take down illegal content or face heavy fines, they are tackling only part of the problem. As Christine Czerniak, of the World Health Organisations infodemic team said recently: I think universal access to credible information is really the goal here. Its not just about staying in that reactive space but trying to proactively amplify helpful information.

One glimmer of light is that some countries seem to recognise this. Countries such as South Africa, with legal frameworks that allow independent fact-checking initiatives to work, enable an effective means of correcting misinformation, reducing harm. Malawi, in 2016, introduced a new law obliging broadcasters to air counter-versions from those affected by an assertion of (a false) fact. Senegal, in 2017, introduced a new self-regulatory press code aimed at raising standards against misinformation.

In the Western Cape, a first step toward teaching misinformation literacy

By contrast with the zeal for punishing false information, our second report found that in six of seven countries studied  Cote dIvoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and Uganda  traditional media literacy was barely included in the main state school curricula. Obstacles to teaching media literacy start with bureaucratic challenges and political will  from the underfunding of schools and poor teacher training to the perception of planners that curricula are already crowded. Media literacy is not the responsibility of any existing discipline, curriculum expert Professor Amadou Camara in Senegal told us. In Uganda, media literacy is not a priority, Dr Grace Baguma, Director of the National Curriculum Development Centre said. The focus is on getting the learners literate in numeracy, literacy, science mainly, she explained.

If or when media literacy is taught, it bears little relation to the knowledge and skills needed to identify misinformation, with topics ranging from civic education and behaviour in Ghana to self-awareness and problem-solving in Kenya. If it is to succeed, it needs to build on work done by colleagues last year on news literacy, and promote knowledge and skills in a sub-set of media literacy that we call misinformation literacy.

In a bleak picture, it was encouraging that a first step has been made towards teaching misinformation literacy in South Africa. In 2020, the Western Cape introduced a new online safety programme, aimed at establishing a mindset of click restraint, the ability to evaluate the credibility of websites

Misinformation literacy  knowledge and skills to identify misinformation

Context: the context in which misinformation and accurate information are produced; Creation: who creates misinformation and who creates accurate information; Content: the main types or forms of false content, and how to identify key features distinguishing this from fair and accurate content; Circulation: the processes by which false and accurate information circulate, and can thus be identified; Consumption: the reasons for which individuals, ourselves included, consume and believe false information; Consequences: the consequences of believing and sharing false information.

In a bleak picture, it was encouraging that a first step has been made towards teaching misinformation literacy in South Africa. In 2020, the Western Cape introduced a new online safety programme, aimed at establishing a mindset of click restraint, the ability to evaluate the credibility of websites and the understanding of the effects of misinformation, Ismail Teladia, senior curriculum planner for Life Orientation, told us. It does not cover all we know of harmful misinformation but brings a focus no previous curricula has done. Its a start.

10 steps to reduce misinformation harm, without curbing freedom of expression

Introduce misinformation literacy in school curricula;

Provide teacher training, resources and support;

Make assessments (with benchmarks) for misinformation literacy skills and knowledge;

Engage with traditional and social media to promote the key knowledge, skills, required;

Enabling public figures and institutions to set higher norms of accuracy, honesty*;

Activate standards-based independent systems of media regulation;

Improve access to official information on important topics;

Support systems to promote the accuracy of official information

Work with other countries on a transparent, standards-based approach to content moderation by global tech companies

Revise false information laws to comply with international law and apply only when severe harm or risk of harm is proven

*This is optimistic, we know.

Peter Cunliffe-Jones is a visiting researcher at University of Westminster and the founder of Africa Check.

ADVERTISEMENT

The other seven colleagues on this project include Assane Diagne, Alan Finlay, Dr Sahite Gaye, Wallace Gichunge, Dr Chido Onumah, Cornia Pretorius and Dr Anya Schiffrin.
ADVERTISEMENT

Polaris Bank has restated that its newly-launched digital banking platform, VULTe, is a quick self-service innovation aimed at delivering greater value and benefits to existing and new customers of the Bank.

The Chief Digital Officer (CDO) of Polaris Bank, Dele Adeyinka, while highlighting the unique features and benefits of VULTe, said that VULTe is a convenient, easy and quick self-service digital solution, which allows users (new and existing) access to a range of banking services hard to get elsewhere.

The services include: account opening and Wallet (NGN and USD), airtime and data Top-up; fund account; funds transfer; bills payment; pay day loan; lifestyle and events (Discover); Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and Branch/Agent locator.

Others are; viewing of transactions history, generation of bank statements, profile settings like hide/show balance, hide/show accounts, forgot user ID/password, reset PIN etcetera, and banking services such as limit increase, request card/cheque book, block account/card, etc.

Mr Adeyinka said, VULTe is built as a platform where value providers and value consumers align with payment as a fundamental medium of exchange.

VULTe, the CDO added, is a new, more stable and robust platform that offers higher availability and transaction success rate for users, and is a fully homegrown digital solution developed internally by Polaris Banks Digital Banking and Information Technology Teams.

It is Omni-channel; it is accessible with same credentials and consistent user experience on both web and mobile platforms. It is more flexible and scalable, and guarantees better user experience because it offers seamless onboarding and usage. It is 100 per cent self-service, hence customers do not have to visit any branch of Polaris Bank before they can onboard unto the platform  either to register  or perform an account opening task. VULTe is the go-to for those that require instant access to loans, the CDO stated.

Speaking further, Mr Adeyinka said other exciting offerings of VULTe include; a customer reward program, which offers a 30-day free funds transfers for new users and double airtime bonus.

It is our desire that VULTe users become passionate users and make VULTe their first choice for fund transfers. In order to drive that behaviour, new users would be granted 30 days free transfers as welcome package on the platform for them to enjoy the seamless transactions on VULTe at no cost. Also, customers get double airtime bonus daily on their 833rd airtime, he enthused.

VULTe by Polaris Bank launched on May 18, is a customer self-service innovation that puts the Bank in the hands of customers 24/7, and enabling them to have total control.

Polaris Bank prides itself in delivering exceptional customer experience, leveraging best-in-class/state-of-the-art Information and Communication Technology. By focusing on ICT solutions across multiple service delivery channels (mobile banking, ATMs, POS and online platforms), Polaris Bank maintains a pivotal role in the Nigerian banking industry, providing customers with simple, convenient and secured banking services.
( ) (OTCQB:PLNHF) Co-CEO Bob Groesbeck tells Proactive the recently passed Bill 341 allowing existing licensed dispensaries to operate a consumption lounge co-located with the dispensary is 'a big deal' for the vertically integrated cannabis company.

Groesbeck says the Nevada company has reserved 'an expansive dedicated space' within its Las Vegas SuperStore for a consumption lounge which it will look to get built 'as soon as possible.'
ADVERTISEMENT

An inmate, who was said to be one of the escapees from the April 5th jailbreak in Imo State, Onyemachi Maduabuchi, has been re-arrested in Lagos.

Mr Maduabuchi was re-arrested for allegedly stealing a sim and memory card at a church he was taken to for special deliverance service.

Muyiwa Adejobi, the police spokesperson in Lagos State, said in a statement on Tuesday that the suspect was re-arrested on April 23.

The statement reads in part; The suspect, who fled Owerri that same day, 5th April, 2021, moved to his village, Fegge in Onitsha, Anambra State, to meet his mother who later linked him up with his elder sister, Amarachi Maduabuchi, f, of Customs Bus Stop Ijegun, Lagos. The sister thereafter invited him to Lagos on 19th April, 2021.

The suspect was kept in the sisters house where she used to lead him to church for special deliverance service. In the process, after the night vigil on 20th April, 2021, at Bride Assembly Church, Ijesha Area of Lagos State.

The suspect allegedly stole the sim and the memory cards of a member (name withheld) of the church before he was evetually arrested and the stolen items recovered from him.

Mr Adejobi said police investigation revealed that the suspect has been standing trial since 2009 for conspiracy, armed robbery and arson before Nna Amadi of Ngbidi High Court 1, at Ngbidi in Imo State before the jailbreak.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how gunmen invaded the Imo Correctional Facility in Owerri on April 5 and freed 1,844 inmates.

48 out of the fleeing inmates were recaptured in Owerri few days after the incident. Out of this number, 11 were recaptured by officers of the Nigerian Police Force, Airforce Base, Owerri. Another fleeing inmate was re-arrested by the police in Akwa Ibom.

The suspect is said to have confessed to the crime while the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Hakeem Odumosu, has directed that he should be handed over to the Nigerian Correctional Service for further investigation and necessary action.

The statement said the arrested inmate was in custody and that the police will continue with its efforts to make Lagos State safe and peaceful for all and sundry.
Enugu State on Tuesday commenced administering second jabs of the COVID-19 vaccine to residents, especially health workers, security officials, the elderly and critical leaders.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that the state government on March 8, received 65,400 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Abuja.

The vaccination began across the state on March 19.

Flagging-off the exercise in Enugu, the Commissioner for Health, Ikechukwu Obi, urged residents that took the first jab to endeavour to take the second jab to complete their dosage and get protected.

Mr Obi, a medical doctor, however, reminded the residents to continue to observe all COVID-19 preventive measures, adding that the state government would continue to strengthen all COVID-19 responses and team work.

Individuals in the state have a vital role to play in checkmating the spread of the pandemic even at the community level by always wearing their face masks.

They are continuously advised to maintain social and physical distancing as well as avoid crowded social gatherings or events.

Always washing your hands with soap under running water is vital now as it checks COVID-19 as well as other air-borne diseases, he said.

The commissioner said the state government has continued to deepen and widen its COVID-19 response and other epidemiological monitoring.

We are leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that our people are protected and the state governor, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, is giving health workers all the necessary support, he said.

George Ugwu, the executive secretary, Enugu State Primary Health Care Development Agency (ENS-PHCDA), in his remarks, said the state has successfully concluded the administration of the first jabs of the vaccine.

Mr Ugwu, a medical doctor, said the state performed creditably well and is among the first seven states to have successfully administered the first jab according to the quantity of dose made available.

With the support of Governor Ugwuanyi, we were able to reach out and got 33,800 persons vaccinated with the first jab within a record time.

It places Enugu State as the best among the South-East states and other states, he said.

Okechukwu Ogbodo, a medical doctor, who took the first shot in the state, said the vaccine is safe and secure.

Since I took the first jab, I have not noticed any side effects, he said.

Mr Ogbodo, who is the Head of Enugu State Isolation Centre at the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, urged those who took their first jabs to ensure they complete their dosage by taking the second jab.

We have been monitoring one another at the centre and so far we have not noticed any side effects from any of our immediate staff and other health workers in the teaching hospital, he said.

ADVERTISEMENT

NAN recalled that the ENS-PHCDA deployed 102 trained vaccination teams to Primary Health Care centres and established health centres in each of the 17 local government areas of the state for the exercise.

(NAN)
ADVERTISEMENT

The Police in Ondo State on Wednesday arrested a 35- year-old man, Kelvin Abugu, for allegedly raping a nine-year-old girl in the state.

Bolaji Salami, the Commissioner of Police, made this known in Akure when parading 11 suspects alleged to have committed different offences and giving an account of his stewardship since assuming duty in the state in May.

Mr Salami explained that on May 2, the victims mother reported to the police that she saw her daughter passing out blood from her private part.

He said that when Emmanuel asked her daughter, she said it was Kelvin Abugu, who inserted his hand and later his penis into her private part.

According to him, the police swung into action and Mr Abugu was immediately arrested and later owned up to the offence.

Mr Salami said the police had completed its investigation and the case was ready for prosecution, but for the closure of the courts due the judicial workers strike.

Strides

Speaking on the commands achievements, the CP attributed the successes to the ability of the officers to control situations, maintain a high degree of professionalism and integrity in the discharge of their functions.

Like I always say, my system of policing is devoid of advertising, however, it is appropriate to tell someone sometimes exactly who you are and what you are doing.

Under this same period, we have arrested various criminals for various offences, some of which were through media cooperation and useful information from members of the public.

In one month, we arrested 11 suspects, recovered 26 generating sets and one Honda CRV Jeep.

Therefore, I am also using this medium to ask for more of media collaborative efforts and the good people of Ondo State to ensure that the Sunshine State remains the lowest crime rate in the country, he said. (NAN)
The Lagos State Government has donated 300 coconut seedlings to the Teaching and Research Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, for the establishment of a coconut plantation.

The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, handed over the seedlings at the Lagos Farm Centre, Oko Oba, Agege, on Wednesday.

Ms Olusanya said the collaboration was part of the states ongoing coconut development initiative aimed at promoting and expanding the coconut value chain in the country.

The commissioner, who was represented by Dapo Olakulehi, General Manager, Lagos State Coconut Development Authority (LASCODA), said the government would continue to collaborate with both private and public institutions to promote coconut research and development.

This is primarily due to the report by World Atlas that there is an increase in the demand for coconut products by 500 per cent in the past five years, which led to the discussion on ways by which the Lagos State Government and Nigeria at large can benefit from this global market.

In order to benefit from this market, there is need to create more awareness and promote the production, processing and utilisation of coconut.

This will encourage and engage more people to take advantage of this global opportunity, the commissioner said.

Ms Olusanya noted that the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had provided over one million coconut seedlings to farmers either directly from the government or indirectly through the coconut out-grower scheme.

She said that the coconut seedlings were not only for farmers in the state but for all others across the country who wished to venture into coconut production with Lagos State, being the final destination for its processing and commercialisation.

Ms Olusanya said: with the increase in awareness on the potentials of the coconut value chain, the state government has been training and empowering a lot of processors on the utilisation of coconut for commercial purposes both for local and export purposes.

Furthermore, the state government is encouraging investors to venture into the processing of coconut into edible coconut oil, coconut milk, coconut water and coconut flour or non-edible processing of coconut into coconut shell charcoal, coconut coir fibre and peat. This is to ensure the full utilisation of coconut.

On the non-edible processing, a project/investment document for the establishment of coconut husk processing factory for the production of coconut coir fibre which is used to make jute bags, slippers, mats and Coco peat used in hydroponics has been developed.

With already established market both local and international, this agri-business is highly lucrative and hence, the state government is calling on investors to partner in this regard.

The commissioner said the 300 seedlings given to OAU to be established on 1.5 hectares of land, was one of many collaborations, citing other institutions who had benefited from the initiative to include Olabisi Onabanjo University who received 100 seedlings in 2019.

University of Lagos received 200 coconut seedlings to be planted at the Lagoon Front and many more.

It is important to note that the collaboration with these institutions is to encourage research on the coconut value chain and provide improved products and by-products for investors and consumers, Mr Olusanya said.

She thanked the OAU teaching and research farm for its interest in developing the value chain and looked forward to more positive collaborations.

ADVERTISEMENT

Elated

Receiving the 300 seedlings on behalf of the management of the institution, Jacob Adeyeye, lauded the collaboration, saying that it aimed to encourage production and research into the coconut value chain.

Mr Adeyeye said the seedlings would be used in engaging the students of the Faculty of Agriculture on the economic and environmental potentials of the coconut value chain.

He noted that the seedlings would be planted on a new plantation of 1.5 hectares to replace and support the old plantation.

There is a variant of garri produced by the university called Fortified Garri which is produced with coconut milk, lemon grass and cassava. But, due to the non-productivity of the aged plantation, the production of the fortified garri has been suspended.

With the new plantation in place, programmes like this can be continued sustainably and developed and we hope to expand the collaboration with Lagos State on coconut development to a wider scope.

This coconut plantation will add to the rich base of the programme and enable researchers with a hands-on approach to research into the crop, he said.

Mr Adeyeye noted that there was a need to harness the full potentials offered by the coconut value chain, saying that the lack of adequate plantations should be addressed.

One of the aims of collaborating with the LASCODA is to see how the youth in the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) can expand the scope of the resource base of coconut. (NAN)
While the Dearborn Heights City Council unanimously approved its 2021  2022 budget on June 1, it narrowly passed a one-percent administration fee against the summer and winter 2021 property taxes.

The fee will allow city officials to cover the cost of assessing property values, collecting property tax levies and covering the cost of the review and appeal processes.

In a close 4-3 vote, council members Ray Muscat, Zouher Abdel-Hak, Mo Baydoun and Tom Wencel voted in favor of the one-percent administrative fee, with Robert Constan, David Abdallah and Denise Malinowski-Maxwell opposed.

- Advertisement -

Sign up for our daily morning newsletter Click here and then look to the right side for the sign up to the morning newsletter for The News Herald, and you can get the top headlines de

Muscat said that he plans to make some inquiries on June 2 and 3, and might make some motions regarding the budget at a future city council meeting.

I have said yes to all of them, but I will be making some phone calls to some people, on a few items, because this document is fluid and can be changed, and my questions will be answered and I will be bringing forward the appropriate resolutions or motions to be looked at, he said.

Baydoun said he would be making some inquiries as well.

I just want to make it very clear that the last thing we want is to not being able to have that restricted fund in our accounts and then say we dont have enough, he said.

The citys 2021  2022 fiscal year balanced budget is for $54.35 million, with the tax levy for the 2021  2022 fiscal year set at 7.9948 mills.

A millage rate is the tax dollars assessed for each $1,000 of property value. One mill would be equal to $1 for every $1,000 of property value. Assessed value is based on a percentage of a propertys market value.

Voter-approved mills include: Act 345 Fire and Police Pension Plan, for 8.8926 mills; Public Safety, 1.8810 mills; solid waste disposal, 0.9404 mills; and a city library 0.8933 mills.

The city council approved a lump sum budget for the 20th District Court of $2.19 million, and a $2.4 million library budget.

The city council also approved an additional 2.0986 mills for garbage and rubbish disposal, and 0.8639 for library building improvements.

Dearborn Heights forms Ecorse Creek, Business commissions Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi, with the unanimous support of the City Council, established an Ecorse Creek Commission and a Commission on 

+2 Dearborn Heights welcomes two new police officers Two new officers have joined the ranks of the Dearborn Heights Police Department to start the month of June.

Brazen shoplifter escapes with full duffle bag in Dearborn Heights A thief took shoplifting to a new level by filling up a duffle bag with merchandise May 17 at Home Depot, 25451 Michigan Ave., in Dearborn Hei
Now that COVID-19 cases are declining and the majority of Minnesotans have received vaccinations, what activities are you most looking forward to resuming this summer?

You voted:
PLATTSBURGH [mdash] Anthony Tarricone, 94, of Plattsburgh, passed away Monday in his home with his loving wife by his side and under the care of hospice. He was born in Yonkers on Aug. 13, 1926, the son of George and Nancy Tarricone. He graduated Horton High School in Yonkers. He also gradua
Southbury, CT (06488)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. High near 80F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Overcast with rain showers at times. Low around 60F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
MADRID, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Algorand and Bnext join forces to revolutionize the remittances market in Europe and Latam. During 2020, Latam received more than 100bn USD and Spain sent more than 18bn USD, with Latin America receiving most of the remittances sent by Spain.

Bnext will take advantage of Algorand's high performing and cost effective blockchain infrastructure to make transactions extremely convenient and accessible, even compared to other fintech services.

The offering is based on more efficient and secure remittances, as all the operations are made possible on Algorand's public blockchain and carried out by Bnext and its commercial partners This includes Bitso, who will provide all the regulatory and exchange requirements so that the user experience for those sending and receiving funds is simple and instant.

The money will be transferred between Bnext users, even if they are in different countries, and will be faster and more secure than it is today to send money between Bnext users in Spain or in Latin America.

Bnext is the most powerful Marketplace of financial services in Spain and one of the most prominent in Latin America, with more that 700,000 users and a rapidly accelerating user base.

Algorand is a blockchain company that builds 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. With more than 500 global companies using their technology, 4.5 million assets issued on chain, and over 11 million accounts, the market cap of the Algo, the native currency of the platform, is over 3bn USD.

Working together, Algorand and Bnext anticipate processing more than 100m USD of remittances in the next 12 months, in an initial phase, prior to formally launching the product throughout Latam and Europe.

"This alliance is the first step to expand inclusive financial product offerings that are convenient and recurrent to immigrants that have been exploited by traditional remittance companies. Bnext and Algorand will provide an opportunity for this segment that goes beyond sending and receiving money," said Cristian Huertas, Head of Latam of Bnext.

"Bnext is completely disrupting the banking sector in the Spanish-speaking world by providing a more modern and simple way for users to globally transact and manage their finances. Their vision to provide accessible, inclusive alternatives is aligned with Algorand's own vision for the future of finance," said W. Sean Ford, COO of Algorand. "Both Bnext and Algorand have experienced rapid adoption and we are truly excited to be empowering them to more effectively server their growing user base."

About Bnext

Bnext is one of the first Spanish fintech companies, with prsence in Latam and a pioneer as an alternative to traditional banking, which makes it easier for people to control their money in order to live it more freely, simply and intelligently. For more information, visit https://bnext.es .

About Algorand

Algorand is building the technology to power the Future of Finance (FutureFi), the convergence of traditional and decentralized models into a unified system that is inclusive, frictionless, and secure. Founded by Turing Award-winning cryptographerSilvio Micali, Algorand developed a blockchain infrastructure that offers the interoperability and capacity to handle the volume of transactions needed for defi, financial institutions and governments to smoothly transition into FutureFi. The technology of choice for more than 500 global organizations, Algorand is enabling the simple creation of next generation financial products, protocols and exchange of value. For more information, visit www.algorand.com .

Contact: algorand@dittopr.co

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1229493/Algorand_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Algorand
Key research findings:

Vaccine rollout progressing well - 25% of our sample of over 13,000 people are now vaccinated

25% of our sample of over 13,000 people are now vaccinated Overall vaccine acceptance up from 63% to 66%, and 60% of people believe vaccines will be readily available to them, up 2%

from 63% to 66%, and 60% of people believe vaccines will be readily available to them, up 2% Notable differences between markets, particularly in markets where vaccination rates are lower

particularly in markets where vaccination rates are lower Significant numbers continue to be concerned about COVID-19 vaccines

Social media not a trusted source - only 5% of people trust social as their best source of information on COVID-19 vaccines

HONG KONG, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cigna's (NYSE:CI) International Markets business today published the second edition of its COVID-19 Vaccine Perception Study which shows that overall rates of vaccines acceptance have increased from 63% to 66% in a single month. The study, which aims to highlight perceptions and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines around the world, surveyed over 13,000 people across 11 markets.

Vaccine acceptance and perception of safety are improving

Improvements in vaccine acceptance were seen in China, Singapore, Thailand and Spain. The ongoing successful rollout of vaccines means that overall, 6 out of 10 of our respondents now believe the vaccine will be available to them, a month on month increase of 2%. This is good news for governments and health authorities as it reflects improving confidence in their vaccine rollout programs.

This month's data also shows that 55% of respondents now believe COVID-19 vaccines are safe. This is driven in part by the increased number of people who have already been vaccinated, across the 11 markets we have studied, 1 in 4 people who we surveyed have now received at least one shot.

Commenting on the report, Jason Sadler, President, Cigna International Markets said: "With global vaccine rollout progressing well, the report indicates that there is much to be positive about. Social acceptance plays an important role in trust, so being vaccinated, or knowing someone who has been vaccinated, leads to more positive views of the vaccine. 83% of those vaccinated trust COVID-19 vaccines are safe, whereas only 46% of those unvaccinated feel the same. Challenges remain, but the improved perception around vaccines and their safety should be welcomed."

Several markets still face issues regarding perceptions of vaccine safety. The difference between markets is striking. In South Korea for example, just 32% of respondents agreed the COVID-19 vaccines available are 'very safe', this compared to 80% in the UK and 78% in the UAE. The other markets where concerns about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines remain high include Taiwan, Thailand and Hong Kong, all of which had less than 40% of respondents agreeing they are safe.

To communicate the facts about safety effectively and encourage vaccine uptake, it is critical the authorities in these markets target their public information campaigns through the most trusted channels in their respective markets to have the greatest impact.

Our research busts some of the myths - social media is not a trusted source.

Throughout the pandemic, misinformation on social media has created obstacles to the successful handling of the pandemic and the vaccine rollout. However, Cigna's COVID-19 Vaccine Perception Study shows that only 5% of the respondents consider social media to be the most trusted source of information, despite the vast majority being social media users.

Social media falls behind government bodies, family doctors, private healthcare providers and TV news and documentaries. Although in the 18-34 age bracket social media is the fourth most trusted source, for the over 35s it falls to the seventh most trusted source. There is a marked difference between generations on this, with 7% of 18-34-year-old saying it is their most trusted source, while in the over 55s this number falls to just 2%.

Commenting on the research Dr Daniel Ober, Medical Officer, Cigna International Markets Americas said: "Our research shows people increasingly understand and trust COVID-19 vaccines. We know that vaccination is a critical part of ending this pandemic. The science demonstrates the overwhelming effectiveness of vaccines to prevent severe COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and even death. Getting vaccinated is the most important thing for us to do, not just for ourselves, but for those we love. Our advice is clear, get vaccinated as soon as you can!"

Download the report

Click here to download the full COVID-19 Vaccine Perception Study Report - 2nd edition

Click here to download the COVID-19 Vaccine Perception Study Report - 1st edition

Research methodology:

Cigna partnered with You Gov, the international research data and analytics group, engaged with 13,387 respondents between 16th and 20th April 2021. The respondents were a representative sample aged 18 or over, 52% male and 48% female, from across 11 markets: Mainland China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, UAE, UK and US.

About Cigna

Cigna Corporation is a global health service company dedicated to improving the health, well-being and peace of mind of those we serve. Cigna delivers choice, predictability, affordability and access to quality care through integrated capabilities and connected, personalized solutions that advance whole person health. All products and services are provided exclusively by or through operating subsidiaries of Cigna Corporation, including Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company, Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York, Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Express Scripts companies or their affiliates, and Life Insurance Company of North America. Such products and services include an integrated suite of health services, such as medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, vision, supplemental benefits, and other related products including group life, accident and disability insurance. Cigna maintains sales capability in over 30 countries and jurisdictions, and has more than 170 million customer relationships throughout the world. To learn more about Cigna, including links to follow us on Facebook or Twitter, visit www.cigna.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1246896/image_5010983_22394327_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Cigna
SAN FRANCISCO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With a large influx of entrepreneurs in 2021, a fine balance of home life and work life need to be obtained to avoid burn out. One solid idea that has worked for years for Upuia Ahkiong, an entrepreneur with over 3 businesses and newly engaged; is to create a 24-hour personal retreat.

Upuia Ahkiong Upuia Ahkiong

During Upuia's first year of life as an entrepreneur, even with wellness as her goal she found herself needing to restart her energy. "Becoming burned out even in a short amount of time, especially as someone is starting, happened to me," she said. She started her personal retreat and determined these 11 steps. "A relaxed mind, a creative mind has helped me return to my business and solve problems with more ease and excitement," states Upuia.

Personal Retreat Plan

Go look at your calendar and block out an entire day in advance. Let people know that you are doing a Personal Retreat for 24 hours (of course you will contact them if an emergency and them to you). Determine a few pain-points or unknown points to you: struggling with social media? Want to meet other entrepreneurs? Then that leads you to number 3. A few suggestions ( Google , WELA ) Find 1-2 online classes that address your above pain points to attend once you return. Post on social media: you are on a personal retreat and when you will return. Everyone loves a leader who knows how to take care of themselves. Purchase an essential oil, select a healing tea, and soothing music (you have become your own client for calmness). Here are my favorites: ( Essential Oils, Tea, Soothing music ) Wake up with no alarm and, if possible, wake up to the morning sun (blinds or curtains kept open). It creates a soft and soothing wakeup Smoothie time. Find a great recipe that makes you feel happy. Meditate or relax and listen to your calming music list. Stretch and move all of your joints from your wrists, hips and knees. Do a minimum of 30 minutes with nature. A walk outside. Sit outside: find an area that creates your ability to just enjoy really looking at nature. Really notice the color of the leaves, flowers, an animal that hops past you. What unique color did you see today? Pamper yourself that night. No phone. No TV. Take a long hot shower. Just you, an essential oil, decaf tea, soothing music. If you find your mind flooding with inspiration or ideas, jot them down in your notebook/journal. You may just have created a new evening habit.

Upuia Ahkiong Bio

Upuia is a first generation Samoan-Chinese American born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Owner and Founder of Kua Body , massage studio; WELA , a women's entrepreneur group; and VAAI , digital design company. She earned her M.S. in counseling psychology at Chaminade University of Hawaii and spent over 7 years in Education as a school counselor and teacher. Upuia became one of the first massage therapists at Google, Inc. and spent over 10 years helping to build a massage program that's well-established and indispensable.

Contact:

Jessica Gize, Founder PRgize

260-255-0077

[email protected]

SOURCE Upuia Ahkiong
"Carvel and Fudgie the Whale are an iconic duo when it comes to celebrating dads," said Nicolle DuBose, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Carvel. "By reviving some Carvel and Fudgie favorites this Father's Day, we're honoring all the moments cherished with dads throughout the years and the new memories yet to be made."

A Whale of a Cake for a Whale of a Dad  and a Hotline

Fudgie the Whale is synonymous with celebrations - especially Father's Day, the holiday for which Carvel originally created the mascot in 1977. Showcased across pop culture for decades, Fudgie's loveable character brings Carvel fans young and old back to their childhood roots.

Beginning today, fans can check us out on YouTube to watch a modern take on the classic Father's Day commercial featuring Fudgie and a re-creation of a gravelly voice many may know or recognize, and even have memories of growing up watching Carvel commercials on TV. The commercial also highlights the reinstated Carvel hotline - 1-833-FUDGIE1 - where fans can hear "Tom Carvel" serving up dad jokes. Warning: these dad jokes may get a little cone-y (get it, cone-y?)!

While Fudgie the Whale cakes cannot be ordered directly through the hotline, they are available at participating Carvel shoppes and on food delivery platforms. Visit Carvel.com/fathersday to find a Carvel shoppe and delivery availability  you can even find some throwback Fudgie merchandise for Dad this Father's Day.

Fudgie the Beer is Back!

In addition to the re-created commercial and hotline, Carvel is teaming up with Captain Lawrence Brewing to re-release the popular Fudgie the Beer, which quickly sold out after its original 2018 and 2019 releases.

Brewed with 6-percent ABV and Carvel's signature chocolate Crunchies, rich fudge and ice cream, Fudgie the Beer is the perfect dark, roasty and fudgie Father's Day treat - and will give Dad a little something extra to make this Father's Day a whale of a celebration.

Fudgie the Beer will be available leading up to and after Father's Day, while supplies last, at finer retailers wherever Captain Lawrence is sold across the East Coast. Visit FudgietheBeer.com or call 1-833-FUDGIE1 for more information. Must be 21+ to purchase.

To stay updated on all things Carvel this Father's Day and beyond, follow the brand on Twitter and Instagram at @CarvelIceCream, like it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CarvelIceCream or visit Carvel.com/fathersday.

About Carvel Ice Cream

The United States' first retail ice cream franchise, Carvel Ice Cream has become one of the best-loved and most recognized names in its industry. The company is a leading provider of premium soft ice cream and hand dipped ice cream products, as well as uniquely shaped ice cream cakes, including its signature Fudgie the Whale and Cookie Puss cakes. Atlanta-based Carvel currently has more than 400 franchised and food service locations. Visit www.carvel.com for more information, follow us on Twitter @CarvelIceCream and Instagram or become a fan on Facebook .

About Captain Lawrence Brewing

Captain Lawrence Brewing Co. is located just a short drive north of New York City, in Westchester County, NY, where it is the area's largest craft brewery, producing over 28,000 barrels of beer annually. Founded in 2006 by Scott Vaccaro, Captain Lawrence brews a wide range of beer styles, producing as many as one hundred brands in a year. Shortly after opening, the brewery began to gain widespread notoriety for their sour and barrel-aged beers, winning their first of eight GABF medals in 2007. Today, in addition to their award-winning sour beers, Captain Lawrence is widely known for brewing extremely Fresh IPAs, highly drinkable lagers, and a variety of specialty craft beers. Learn more at CaptainLawrenceBrewing.com and keep up with the Captain on Instagram @CaptLawrence

CONTACT: Shawn Jackson, [email protected]

SOURCE Carvel

Related Links

http://www.carvel.com


PINELLAS PARK, Fla., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Access Ready Reporter Issue 15 -The Reporter Newsletter is a service of Access Ready Inc. which is a nonprofit cross disability advocacy organization promoting a policy of inclusion and accessibility across information technology through education and best practices. The Board of Directors of Access Ready has deemed inaccessible information technology to be a clear, growing, and present danger to the civic, economic, and social welfare of people with disabilities.

This advocacy challenge developed when the SBE put out a request for proposal for a new pollbook system for use in Maryland elections. Then in the opinion of the Community partners the state rejected the proposal of the only accessible pollbook system that the organizations had been asked to test and give input on. In the opinion of the organizations and their legal counsel the rejection had been based on minor technicalities.

Read More

FOUR WAYS THE "AMERICAN JOBS PLAN" COULD REBUILD THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF DISABLED PEOPLE'S LIVES

Huge bundles of federal legislation are in the works that are designed to help all Americans, but could also address some of disabled Americans' most important and neglected priorities. Wednesday night, April 28, 2021, President Joe Biden addressed a joint session of Congress, outlining plans for a stronger American economy and a more just society. Read More

BUSINESS ACCESSIBILITY

HOW TO AVOID ADA LAWSUITS

Did you know your sales and service counter cannot exceed 36 inches in height (34 inches in California)? Did you know that most accessibility litigation begins in your parking lot? Did you know 36 inches is required between your clothing sales racks to maintain an accessible route? The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) matters for all businesses.

Read More

CURRENT LEGAL ACTIONS

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT MOVES TO INTERVENE IN DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION SUIT AGAINST CITY OF CHICAGO REGARDING PEDESTRIANS WITH VISUAL DISABILITIES

The Justice Department moved to intervene in a disability discrimination lawsuit that private plaintiffs with visual disabilities brought against the City of Chicago under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504). The department's proposed complaint alleges that the city fails to provide people who are blind, have low vision, or are deaf-blind with equal access to pedestrian signal information at intersections. Read More

DOJ LIGHTS A FIRE UNDER CHICAGO OFFICIALS TO SPEED UP ACCESSIBLE PEDESTRIAN SIGNAL INSTALLATION

Read More

GOVERNMENT SPOTLIGHT

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FINDS THAT ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, VIOLATES THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT AND THE U.S. CONSTITUTION

The Justice Department concluded today, based upon a thorough investigation, that there is reasonable cause to believe that Alameda County is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in its provision of mental health services, and that conditions and practices at the county's Santa Rita Jail violate the U.S. Constitution and the ADA.

Read More

HEALTHCARE ACCESSIBILITY

STUDY TO SHED LIGHT ON WOMEN LIVING WITH DISABILITIES, BETTER POSITION CLINICIANS TO HELP

Navigating the world with a physical or intellectual disability is hard enough. But for the 1 million American women living with disabilities who are of childbearing age, navigating the labyrinth of reproductive care, family planning and health care can leave them feeling frustrated, humiliated and unheard.

TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT

MAKERSPACE PROGRAM WILL HELP PROVIDE RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, AND THE COMMUNITY

A network of five brand new or renovated makerspaces are slated to open later this spring throughout Wyoming, offering exciting opportunities for anyone around Casper, Cheyenne, Evanston, Pinedale, and Rock Springs to gain access to best-in-class tech tools that can take their creative projects to the next level. Defined simply, a makerspace is a collaborative workspace for hands-on making, learning and exploring. These spaces are often creative community centers where people of all experience levels can learn how to tap into emergent technologies that they might not have at home

Read More

Contact

Douglas Towne

727-531-1000

[email protected]

Sponsored by Commonlook

Content Curation sponsored by Microassist

Circulation sponsored by eReleases

SOURCE Access Ready Inc
NEW YORK, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- More than four months after President Biden's inauguration, majorities of American Jews give him high marks for his performance as president, and his handling of U.S-Israel relations and the threat of antisemitism, according to a new national survey by the nonpartisan American Jewish Committee (AJC).

As with previous AJC surveys of U.S. Jews, there are clear divisions of opinion between self-identified Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews.

The questions on U.S. political issues, U.S-Israel relations, and the peace process are part of a larger survey that will be released later this month.

In the 2020 elections, 68% of the Jewish electorate report they voted for Biden, 21% for Trump, 4% for another candidate, and 5% did not vote. According to the new AJC survey, 12% of Orthodox, 61% of Conservative, 80% of Reform, 99% of Reconstructionist, 86% of Secular, and 71% of non-specified denomination voted for Biden. Distinctions between Orthodox and non-Orthodox views of how President Biden is handling a number of issues are consistent.

70 percent of American Jews approve and 26% disapprove of the job President Biden is doing as president. He has approval from 19% of Orthodox, 65% of Conservative, 80% of Reform, 99% of Reconstructionist, 85% of Secular, and 72% of those who have no specified denomination.

On President Biden's handling of U.S.-Israel relations, 58% approve and 27% disapprove. One in five (19%) strongly approve, 39% somewhat approve, 11% disapprove somewhat, and 16% disapprove strongly. Another 15% had no opinion. By denomination, those who approve are 21% of Orthodox, 47% of Conservative, 68% of Reform, 95% of Reconstructionist, 68% of secular, and 59% of no specified denomination.

On the threat of antisemitism, 64% approve and 23% disapprove of the president's handling of this issue. Only 35% of Orthodox approve, in contrast to 53% of Conservative, 70% of Reform, 96% of Reconstructionist, 74% of Secular, and 70% of no specified denominations.

The president received majority approvals on a range of other issues:

The Economy  71% approve and 27% disapprove.

The Iranian Nuclear Issue  55% approve and 32% disapprove.

Immigration  54% approve and 42% disapprove.

Race Relations  68% approve and 28% disapprove.

The COVID-19 Pandemic  79% approve and 19% disapprove.

Three-quarters of American Jews describe the current U.S.-Israel relationship as very strong (20%) or fairly strong (56%), while one in five say it is fairly weak (16%) or very weak (4%). There is unanimity across all denominations about the strength of bilateral relations  70% of Orthodox, 74% of Conservative, 84% of Reform, 91% of Reconstructionist, 77% of Secular, and 73% of no specified denomination.

On Israel's relationships with other countries in the region, one-third (33%) say they feel more optimistic than they were one year ago about peace between Israel and individual Arab countries. One in five (20%) say they are less optimistic about peace, while 46% say there has not been much change.

When asked about their optimism regarding peace between Israel and the Palestinians, 60% say there has not been much change in their feelings compared to one year ago, 25% state they are less optimistic and 14% are more optimistic. Results in AJC's 2020 survey were similar  55% said their views have not changed much about peace between Israel and the Palestinians, while 28% said less optimistic, and 16% more optimistic compared to one year ago.

The AJC survey, conducted by the research company SSRS, is based on telephone interviews carried out March 25 - May 9, 2021, with a national sample of 1,000 respondents aged 18 or older. The margin of error for total sample is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

AJC has been conducting annual surveys of American Jewish attitudes for many years. To view this portion of the 2021 survey, visit AJC.org/news/survey2021/US. View the 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 AJC surveys of American Jews.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

Related Links

http://www.ajc.org


INDIANAPOLIS, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- American College of Education is now offering a fully online MBA in Social Impact, a unique program that combines the rigor of a traditional business program with the power of doing good.

The program will be available with the August 23 term start at a total cost  including tuition and fees  of $10,325, making it among the lowest-priced MBA programs in the nation. The program can be completed in about 18 months (or less if the student chooses to take more than one course at a time).

"ACE's MBA in Social Impact is a strong, challenging business program with the important added element of social impact and corporate social responsibility that speaks to the ACE mission," said ACE President Dr. Shawntel Landry. "We welcome the opportunity to prepare leaders to excel, with the added distinction of understanding the business benefits and demands of social responsibility."

The online MBA in Social Impact is grounded in a rigorous and substantive business education that will prepare leaders to excel in the framework of social responsibility.

The core curriculum is composed of 28 credit hours, including a capstone, focusing on areas such as leadership theory, financial management, organizational behavior and change, and human resources management. Students also will choose nine credit hours in one of three social impact areas Sustainability, Diversity and Inclusion or Data Analytics  or choose a general business focus.

Each focus of study takes a deep look at the issue from the business perspective so students understand how incorporating socially responsible principles can benefit both the community and the organization.

"The ACE MBA in Social Impact is for business professionals who want a challenging master's experience with the added bonus of understanding how benefitting society also benefits business," said Marc Aguilera, chair of the ACE Department of Business. "It's everything in a traditional MBA, plus more."

About American College of Education

ACE is an accredited, completely online college specializing in affordable programs in education, nursing, healthcare, leadership and business. Headquartered in Indianapolis, ACE offers more than 70 innovative and engaging programs for adult students to pursue a doctorate, master's or a bachelor's completion degree, along with micro-credentials and certificate programs. In addition to being a leader in online education, ACE is a Certified B Corporation. Certified B Corporations are leaders of a global movement to use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. For more information, visit ace.edu.

SOURCE American College of Education

Related Links

http://www.ace.edu


NEW YORK, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- American Jewish Committee (AJC) congratulates Isaac Herzog on his election today as the 11th President of the State of Israel. He succeeds Reuven Rivlin, whose seven-year term ends next month.

"We wish President-elect Isaac Herzog much success in fulfilling the duties of this high office, which is vital to the well-being and standing of Israel in the global community," said AJC CEO David Harris, who has known Herzog for many years. "He brings enormous assets to the position, including an unusually deep understanding of world Jewry, including the American Jewish community. It is vitally important that Jews, whether in Israel or elsewhere, feel connected to, and welcomed by, the office of Israel's President. In that spirit, as we have with each President since the state's rebirth in 1948, we look forward to working closely with Mr. Herzog after he takes office on July 9."

AJC has cooperated with Herzog for decades, most recently as chairman of the Jewish Agency and, previously, in his political life. He is the son of Chaim Herzog, Israel's sixth president.

Following today's Knesset vote electing Herzog as president, he vowed to "build bridges" within Israeli society and "with our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora."

Herzog said: "The challenges are great and must not be underestimated. It is essential to tend to the bleeding wounds in our society. We must defend Israel's international standing and its good name among the nations; combat antisemitism and hatred of Israel; and protect the pillars of our democracy."

AJC, the global Jewish advocacy organization, was the first American Jewish organization, in 1961, to establish a full-time office in Israel. Today, Avital Leibovich is the director of AJC Jerusalem, which is housed in Beit Moses.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee
Artificial intelligence programmes used widely in climate science build an actual understanding of the climate system, meaning we can trust machine learning and further its applications in climate science, according to a new study.

Large, complex climate models are often impractical to work with as they need to run for months on supercomputers. As an alternative, climate scientists often study simplified models.

Generally, two different approaches are used to simplify climate models: A top-down approach where climate experts estimate what impact left out functions will have on the parts kept in the reduced model. And a bottom-up approach, where climate data is fed a machine learning programme, which then simulates the climate system.

The two methods turn out comparable results. It is a challenging problem, however, to physically understand data-driven (bottom-up) approaches to fully trust them. Do machine learning programmes "understand" that they are dealing with a complex dynamical system, or are they simply good at statistically guessing the right answers?

Intelligent solution

New research published in the journal Chaos by Manuel Santos Gutierrez and Valerio Lucarini, University of Reading, UK, Mickael Chekroun, the Weizmann Institute, Israel and Michael Ghil, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France, showed using computer simulations that a machine learning programme called Empirical Model Reduction (EMR) in fact knows what it is doing.

The study shows that this computer programme reaches comparable results to the top-down reductions of larger models because machine learning constructs its own version of a climate model in its software.

Manuel Santos Gutierrez, PhD student at the University of Reading, said: "I think what we do in this investigation is give some sort of physical evidence of why this particular data-driven protocol works. And that to me is quite meaningful, because the method has been in the atmospheric sciences for quite a long time. Yet there was still quite a lot of gaps in the understanding of the methodologies."

Encouraging and useful

The study indicates that the machine learning method is dynamically and physically sound and produces robust simulations. According to the authors, this should motivate the further use of data-driven methods in climate science as well as other sciences.

Valerio Lucarini, professor of statistical mechanics at the University of Reading, said: "It is a very encouraging step. Because in some sense, it means the data-driven method is intelligent. It is not an emulator of data. It is a model that captures the dynamical processes. It is able to reconstruct what lies behind the data. And that indicates these theoretical derivations give you an object which is algorithmically useful."

The result is important in a range of fields: applied mathematics, statistical physics, data science, climate science, and complex system science. And it will have implications in a range of industrial contexts, where complex, dynamical systems are studied but only partial information is accessible - like engineering of aeroplanes, ships, wind turbines, or in traffic modelling, energy grids, distribution networks.

The study is part of the European Horizon 2020 TiPES project on tipping points in the Earth system. TiPES is administered from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Full reference:

M. Santos Gutierrez, V. Lucarini, M. D. Chekroun, and M. Ghil , "Reduced-order models for coupled dynamical systems: Data-driven methods and the Koopman operator", Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science 31, 053116 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0039496

Image credit: TiPES/HP
STOCKHOLM, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ASSA ABLOY has signed an agreement to acquire MR Groups hardware division, a leading supplier of aluminum profile hardware and locks in Portugal.

"I am very pleased to welcome the MR Group hardware division into the ASSA ABLOY Group. This acquisition delivers on our strategy to strengthen our position in the mature markets through adding complementary products and solutions to our core business," says Nico Delvaux, President and CEO of ASSA ABLOY.

"We are committed to growing our mechanical core business and the acquisition of the MR Group hardware division will help us drive that through expanding our product portfolio and improving our regional footprint," says Neil Vann, Executive Vice President of ASSA ABLOY and Head of EMEIA Division.

MR Groups hardware division has some 380 employees, and the company was established in 1976. The main office is located in Agueda, Portugal.

Sales for 2020 amounted to about 23 MEUR (approx. 230 MSEK) with a good EBIT margin. The acquisition will be accretive to EPS from start.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions and is expected to close during the third quarter of 2021.

For more information, please contact:

Nico Delvaux, President and CEO, tel. no: +46 8 506 485 82

Erik Pieder, CFO and Executive Vice President, tel. no: +46 8 506 485 72

Bjorn Tibell, Head of Investor Relations, tel. no: +46 70 275 67 68

About ASSA ABLOY

The ASSA ABLOY Group is the global leader in access solutions. The Group operates worldwide with 48,000 employees and sales of SEK 88 billion. The Group has leading positions in areas such as efficient door openings, trusted identities and entrance automation. ASSA ABLOY's innovations enable safe, secure and convenient access to physical and digital places. Every day, we help billions of people experience a more open world.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/assa-abloy/r/assa-abloy-acquires-mr-group-s-hardware-division-in-portugal,c3358865

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/7333/3358865/1426268.pdf Press release (PDF) https://news.cision.com/assa-abloy/i/mr-1-16-9,c2920266 MR 1 16 9 https://news.cision.com/assa-abloy/i/mr-2,c2920267 MR 2 https://news.cision.com/assa-abloy/i/mr-3,c2920268 MR 3

SOURCE ASSA ABLOY
Ms. Novick was a co-founder of BlackRock in 1988; she transitioned from Vice Chairman to Senior Advisor as of February 2021. From the inception of the firm in 1988 to 2008, Ms. Novick headed the Global Client Group and oversaw global business development, marketing and client service across equity, fixed income, liquidity, alternative investment and real estate products for institutional and individual investors and their intermediaries worldwide. In 2009, Ms. Novick established BlackRock's Global Public Policy Group to provide a voice for investors .

"We are honored and privileged to announce that Barbara Novick has joined AFX's Board. She is a true trailblazer who has been at the forefront of finance, co-founding one of the largest asset managers in the world," said Dr. Richard L. Sandor, AFX's Chairman and CEO. "Our board looks forward to working with her and benefiting from her entrepreneurship and vision."

"Barbara Novick is an outstanding addition to the AFX Board. She is knowledgeable, experienced and well-regarded throughout the industry," said Sheila Bair, past chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. "I have known both Richard and Barbara for many years and look forward to seeing them combine their skills on critical issues related to the health of our financial system."

"I am delighted to join the American Financial Exchange, Dr. Richard Sandor, and other members of the AFX Board as they envision and blaze a trail toward the future of American banking," said Ms. Novick. "The world has changed, and the financial industry will come to recognize that the time for one single benchmark has passed, and we will find that multiple benchmarks tailored to the needs of individual banking sectors is the path forward. One size does not fit all, and the AFX AMERIBOR benchmark is a leader for those financial institutions that need a credit-based solution."

Ms. Novick serves on the Peterson Institute for International Economics Board, 100 Women in Finance Board, Center for Financial Stability Advisory Board, Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, and the Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership Advisory Board. Ms. Novick earned a BA degree, cum laude, in economics from Cornell University.

The other AFX directors are Arthur Kelly, Founder and Managing Partner of Chicago-based KEL Enterprises L.P., a private equity investment partnership (lead independent director); Robert Albertson, managing director and chief strategist in the financial services group at Piper Sandler (outside director); the Hon. J. Christopher Giancarlo, Senior Counsel, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and Former Chairman, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (independent director); and Andrew B. Lowenthal, Executive Vice President, Co-Head of Markets, for Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe representative).

Currently AFX membership across the U.S. includes 174 banks, and 1,000 correspondents, with combined asset of over $4 trillion. There are 44 non-banks that include insurance companies, broker-dealers, private equity firms, hedge funds, futures commission merchants, and asset managers. For more information about AFX or AMERIBOR, visit www.ameribor.net.

AFX Contact:

Laura LaBarbera

[email protected]

312-554-4904

312-805-6569

About AFX

The American Financial Exchange (AFX) was conceived of in 2011, initiated patent application in 2012 and published "Libor is Giving Derivatives a Bad Name" in September, 2012, incorporated in 2014 and began electronic trading in 2015. AFX is a self-regulated exchange, with 218 members across the 50 U.S. states. AFX offers a suite of innovative products to improve transparency and efficiency in the current interbank loans marketplace. AFX also facilitates the determination of a market-based interest rate benchmark called the American Interbank Offered Rate (AMERIBOR). AMERIBOR is an interest rate benchmark that reflects the actual unsecured borrowing costs of more than 1,000 American banks and financial institutions. In addition, AFX's AMERIBOR is in alignment with all nineteen Principles set forth by the International Organization of Securities Commission (IOSCO) for Financial Benchmarks.

SOURCE American Financial Exchange

Related Links

https://ameribor.net/


"Data centers support critical aspects of local, regional and international economic development. As demand for these facilities continues to grow, so does the demand for the resources necessary to power and cool them. Our partnership with Nautilus provides a much more environmentally sustainable solution that means we can help our customers meet soaring digital needs responsibly," said Peter Nelson, Director of Infrastructure Development at Bechtel Enterprises, the project development and financing arm of Bechtel.

Nautilus' data centers enable and support the energy-intensive, high-performance servers needed for artificial intelligence and machine learning applications that are increasingly critical in smart city, smart transportation, smart grid, telemedicine, public health and security solutions.

Nautilus' Total Resource Usage Effectiveness (TRUE) technology, is a patented closed-loop water cooling system that uses naturally cold water to keep server racks cool. TRUE consists of a state-of-art combination of maritime and industrial cooling methods that use 70% less power than traditional computer room air-conditioning uses for cooling, leading to a 30+% net reduction in energy-related CO2 and air pollution. The system uses naturally cold water from rivers, lakes or bays and returns all of it to its source after use. This is a dramatic improvement over the massive amounts of watertypically drinking waterconsumed by the evaporative cooling systems currently used by data centers. The system delivers additional environmental improvements including no refrigerants, no chemicals, no wastewater, no noise, and no harm to fish and wildlife.

"We are looking forward to working with the Bechtel team to transform the data center sector on a global scale," said James Connaughton, CEO of Nautilus. "Through this partnership, we will deliver sustainable, high-performance data center infrastructure and bring modern digital services to people around the world who need it most."

The duo combined has more than 100 years of experience in infrastructure development and delivery for operators across the US, UK, Europe, Middle East & Asia Pacific regions.

About Bechtel



Bechtel is a trusted engineering, construction and project management partner to industry and government. Differentiated by the quality of our people and our relentless drive to deliver the most successful outcomes, we align our capabilities to our customers' objectives to create a lasting positive impact. Since 1898, we have helped customers complete more than 25,000 projects in 160 countries on all seven continents that have created jobs, grown economies, improved the resiliency of the world's infrastructure, increased access to energy, resources, and vital services, and made the world a safer, cleaner place.

Bechtel serves the Energy; Infrastructure; Nuclear, Security & Environmental; and Mining & Metals markets. Our services span from initial planning and investment, through start-up and operations. www.bechtel.com

About Nautilus

Nautilus Data Technologies has created the world's most environmentally innovative, water-cooled data center infrastructure, setting new high-performance, efficiency, sustainability, and global scalability standards. Nautilus' patented TRUE ("Total Resource Usage Effectiveness") cooling system integrates proven maritime and industrial water-cooling technologies with next generation data center infrastructure to mark a new era of performance for the data center industry. TRUE reduces energy costs, eliminates water consumption, produces no wastewater, uses no harmful refrigerants or wastewater treatment chemicals, and lowers air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. TRUE further enables the widespread availability of high-performance computing for artificial intelligence and machine learning-based applications for remote education, telemedicine, telework, smart city, smart grid, smart transportation, gaming, and other valuable compute-intensive applications, accelerating global access to the substantial economic, social, and environmental benefits they provide. www.nautilusdt.com

Media contact:



Juliet Whitcombe

T : +44 (0)7917 722304

[email protected]

SOURCE Bechtel

Related Links

http://www.bechtel.com


ENERGI Fenestration Solutions USA Operations, Acquired by The Vision Group

Operations, Acquired by The Vision Group ENERGI Terrebonne Patio Door Division, Acquired by Novatech Group

ENERGI Laval Extrusions, Acquired by Thermoplast Extrusions

ENERGI, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is a leading North American platform in the vinyl fenestration solutions market with a broad portfolio of custom and proprietary window lineal systems, finished and knocked down patio doors, interior vinyl shutters, and PVC compounding. The company operates through six facilities across Canada and the United States, serving a highly diverse base of long-tenured customers. ENERGI's window and patio door systems are relied on by window and door manufacturers that value the company's designs, high quality, energy efficient products, superior aesthetics, and focus on customer service.

The Vision Group, headquartered in Woodbridge, Ontario, is a customer-focused, technology-driven group of companies focused on the building products industry. Vision's products include an array of applications, including custom window and door profiles, patio doors, railings, columns, fencing, and transportation. The Group's state-of-the-art extrusion facilities, paired with vertically integrated raw material compounding, tool and die design and manufacturing, and down-stream machine engineering, enable it to partner with a wide range of clients with various needs.

The Novatech Group, headquartered in Sainte-Julie, Quebec, manufactures patio doors, entrance doors, retractable screens, and custom-sealed glass. The company offers high quality products designed to improve its customers' residential experience, with a range of architectural products for the residential market. The Novatech Group's development encompasses the pursuit of excellence, automation, and innovation at all levels of the company.

Thermoplast Extrusions, headquartered in Laval, Quebec, manufactures window and door lineal systems in the Quebec and Eastern Canada market.

OpenGate Capital is a global private equity firm specializing in the acquisition and operation of businesses to create new value through operational improvements, innovation, and growth. Established in 2005, OpenGate Capital is headquartered in Los Angeles, California with a European office in Paris, France. OpenGate's professionals possess the critical skills needed to acquire, transition, operate, build, and scale successful businesses. To date, OpenGate Capital, through its legacy and fund investments, has executed more than 30 acquisitions including corporate carve-outs, management buyouts, special situations, and transactions with private sellers across North America and Europe.

About Brown Gibbons Lang & Company

Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) is a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm focused on the global middle market. The firm advises private and public corporations and private equity groups on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, financial restructurings, valuations and opinions, and other strategic matters. BGL has investment banking offices in Chicago, Cleveland, and Philadelphia, and real estate offices in Chicago, Cleveland, and San Antonio. The firm is also a founding member of Global M&A Partners, enabling BGL to service clients in more than 30 countries around the world. Securities transactions are conducted through Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Company Securities, Inc., an affiliate of Brown Gibbons Lang & Company LLC and a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. For more information, please visit www.bglco.com.

SOURCE Brown Gibbons Lang & Company

Related Links

www.bglco.com


JACKSONVILLE, Fla., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Blo Blow Dry Bar, North America's original blow dry bar and the world's largest blow dry bar franchise, announced today the signing of a six-unit franchise agreement to expand its brand in the northern Florida area. With this agreement, Blo Blow Dry Bar continues its growth momentum and inks the largest individual deal in the company's history.

Currently, Blo Blow Dry bar has nine successful locations open and operating throughout the Sunshine State, from Miami to Tampa to Jacksonville. The new six-unit agreement will bring another location to Jacksonville, slated to open in Q4 2021, with additional locations opening annually thereafter.

Spearheading this Florida expansion is Heather Stankard, an existing Blo Blow Dry Bar franchisee who has been operating the Jacksonville location since December of 2018. Stankard grew up in Cocoa Beach, earned a degree in nursing and has now been living in Jacksonville for nearly 30 years. After becoming a stay-at-home mom, she was itching to get back into a people-centric career and achieve a long-sought-after dream of running her own local business. Stankard was originally a guest of her local Blo Blow Dry Bar and offered to buy it which is when she joined the franchise system. Quickly after purchasing the location, she added makeup services which is now 20% of her overall business and has also seen significant growth with memberships. Starting as a huge fan and advocate of Blo Blow Dry Bar, Stankard is empowered to open more locations with the number one brand in this beauty and wellness space.

"I knew I needed to make a big change in my life and the Blo Blow Dry Bar opportunity couldn't have come at a more perfect time," said Stankard. "I drove by my local salon every day as it was being built, eagerly awaiting its opening, and became hooked after my very first blowout. I grew such a connection with the company and its employees so I started researching everything I could. Even with a background in nursing, I felt supported every step of the way by the Blo Blow Dry Bar corporate team. I never would've signed on for more stores if it wasn't for them."

Stankard plans to expand into northern Florida, Gainesville and Tallahassee, opening one location every year. The signed agreement covers territories in three counties, Clay, Duval and St. Johns. Building on this momentum, Blo Blow Dry Bar is targeting to open 40 more locations throughout the state within the next five years and company executives are seeking franchise partners to join this expansion in key markets.

"In franchising, growth is good but internal growth is better," said Patrick Pantano, Vice President, Franchise Development, Blo Blow Dry Bar. "When a proven franchisee like Heather doubles down on her current investment to open six more units, it speaks to the tremendous belief she has in the Blo concept and the support she receives. We are excited to have yet another 'empire builder' in our system developing a strong market in Jacksonville."

Meeting at the intersection of beauty and wellness, Blo Blow Dry Bar prioritizes self-care and wellness by cultivating a seamless and enjoyable experience for guests upon their arrival, during and after their services. Highlighting a range of services including popular blowouts, signature styles, makeup and more, expert stylists and artists offer guests an unmatched experience. People of all ages and stages of life can expect the pink carpet to be rolled out for their visit.

As an established brand with a proven business model, the franchise is leading the $47 billion a year industry and continuing to grow at a rapid rate. The company practices a collaborative approach in all its efforts, ensuring that new ideas are not only being brought to the table but added to the roster of existing services or incorporated into daily operations. Blo Blow Dry Bar goes beyond beauty  it is strategically positioned to meet growing customer demands and provide a superior service with consistent results.

"We've significantly grown since our inception and have set goals to enhance more lives in the Jacksonville and northern Florida communities through this new agreement," said Vanessa Yakobson, CEO of Blo Blow Dry Bar. "Our franchise has been built on a streamlined business model, entrepreneurial-minded franchisees and a collaborative, tight-knit community that will lead to continued success of this company."

Blo Blow Dry Bar is currently seeking single- and multi- unit operators to join the brand's rapid expansion. For more information about franchise opportunities visit https://franchise.blomedry.com/.

About Blo Blow Dry Bar

Blo Blow Dry Bar is North America's original blow dry bar and the world's largest blow dry bar franchise. The company transformed beauty norms and reinvented the salon industry when it launched the "no cuts, no color" concept: only blow outs. Since opening its first location in Canada in 2007, Blo has grown to over 130 locations across the U.S. and Canada and continues to expand rapidly. With a mission to enhance the lives of those in the community through the power of flawless blow outs and beauty services, Blo Blow Dry Bar offers perfectly styled hair and exceptional customer experiences seven days a week. For more information visit www.blomedry.com.

Media Contact: Marisa Beaumont, Fishman Public Relations, 414.366.3317, [email protected]

SOURCE Blo Blow Dry Bar
PORTLAND, Ore., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Blood Culture Test Market by Product (Consumables, Instruments, and Software & Services), Method (Conventional and Automated), and Application (Bacterial, Fungal, and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20202027." According to the report, the global blood culture test industry was pegged at $3.90 billion in 2019, and is expected to hit $8.18 billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 9.3% from 2020 to 2027.

Download Sample Report at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/11479

Drivers, restraints, and opportunities-

Increase in prevalence of infectious diseases, bloodstream infections, and sepsis, rise in demand for advanced diagnostic techniques, and surge in R&D activities and strict regulations from government fuel the growth of the global blood culture test market. On the other hand, high cost of automated blood culture instruments and lack of skilled professionals and laboratory technicians impede the growth to some extent. However, rise in adoption of new technology is projected to pave the way for lucrative opportunities for the key players in the industry.

Covid-19 scenario:

The outbreak of the pandemic led to a steep increase in demand for blood culture test, as it is used to detect the presence of virus in a patient's body.

However, extended lockdowns across the world affected the market to some extent.

The consumables segment to dominate by 2027-

Based on product, the consumables segment garnered the major share in 2019, generating more than three-fifths of the global blood culture test market. The segment is also anticipated to garner the fastest CAGR of 9.7% during the forecast period. This is due to increase in use of blood culture media, kits, reagents, and assay by various laboratories for the purpose of diagnosis to provide appropriate treatment.

Enquiry for Short-term and Long-term Impacts of COVID-19 at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/11479

The conventional segment to maintain the dominant share-

Based on methods, the conventional segment accounted for nearly three-fourths of the global blood culture test market share in 2019, and is anticipated to rule the roost by the end of 2027. This is attributed to extensive use of conventional blood culture tests in independent clinical laboratories and increase in application of conventional method in hospitals and pathology laboratories. Simultaneously, the automated segment would manifest the fastest CAGR of 9.7% throughout the forecast period.

North America garnered the major share in 2019-

Based on region, the market across North America held the highest share in 2019, generating nearly two-fifths of the global blood culture test market. This is owing to increase in prevalence of target diseases, rise in awareness & acceptance of novel diagnostic method, high expenditure on the healthcare sector, strong economic growth, and the presence of major market participants At the same time, the market across Asia-Pacific would cite the fastest CAGR of 11.3% from 2020 to 2027, owing to the presence of large target population and developing healthcare infrastructure in the province.

Frontrunners in the industry-

Becton

Dickinson and company (BD)

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

Bruker Corporation

F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd

T2 Biosystems, Inc.

Luminex Corporation

Autobio Diagnostics Co., Ltd

bioMerieux SA

Neogen Corporation (Abtek Biologicals)

OpGen Inc.

Avenue Basic Plan | Library Access | 1 Year Subscription |

Sign up for Avenue subscription to access more than 12,000+ company profiles and 2,000+ niche industry market research reports at $699 per month, per seat. For a year, the client needs to purchase minimum 2 seat plan.

Avenue Library Subscription | Request for 14 days free trial of before buying: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/avenue/trial/starter

Get more information: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/library-access



We have also published few syndicated market studies in the similar area that might be of your interest. Below are the report title for your reference, considering Impact of Covid-19 Over This Market which will help you to assess aftereffects of pandemic on short-term and long-term growth trends of this market.

Similar Reports:

Blood Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20202027

Blood Testing Technologies Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2019-2027

Blood Pressure Monitoring Devices Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2019-2027

Disposable Blood Bag Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20192027

Blood Processing Devices and Consumables Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20192027

Blood Screening Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20192027

Blood Lancet Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20192027

About Us

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 domain.

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

USA/Canada (Toll Free): +1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022, +1-503-446-1141

UK: +44-845-528-1300

Hong Kong: +852-301-84916

India (Pune): +91-20-66346060

Fax: +1(855)550-5975

[email protected]

Web: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com

Follow Us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/allied-market-research

SOURCE Allied Market Research
SOUTHFIELD, Mich., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The SME Education Foundation and Proviso West High School have welcomed BorgWarner as a significant corporate contributor enabling preparation for students pursuing careers in manufacturing and engineering.

Through the Foundation's Partnership Response In Manufacturing Education (PRIME) schools initiative, SME will provide a curriculum that's tailored to give students hands-on training on modern, industry standard equipment and allows them to explore futures in manufacturing, engineering and STEM-related careers.

BorgWarner Inc. is a global product leader in sustainable mobility solutions for the vehicle market and has manufacturing and technical facilities in 96 locations in 24 countries. The company employs approximately 50,000 worldwide.

"STEM initiatives and manufacturing are critical today and will be even more critical in the future for our youth," said Felecia Pryor, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, BorgWarner. "BorgWarner is committed to help shape future leaders in STEM and manufacturing fields by sharing our resources and partnering with great organizations like SME. We are excited to support and advance these efforts."

Proviso West High School, located in Hillside, Illinois, is part of the Proviso Township High Schools District. The district consists of three public high schools and draws students from 10 diverse communities. The schools serve more than 4,200 students.

"We are always looking to partner with organizations that focus on student success and on building the local economy," said Dr. James L. Henderson, the Superintendent at Proviso Township High School District 209. "This partnership with SME will give our students insight into what it takes to build a successful career. It will also give them a leg up when it's time to enter the workforce."

The goal of the partnership is to directly address talent shortages in the manufacturing and engineering fields. Students will develop skills, and often earn certifications, that prepare them to fill specific roles with companies based in their community.

"SME PRIME schools are central to our commitment to inspiring, preparing and supporting young people," said Rob Luce, Vice president of the SME Education Foundation. "Our partnership with Proviso West High School needs support and engagement of business leaders to bring it to fruition  we're proud to welcome these committed educators to our national team."

Since 2011, SME PRIME schools have been initiated in 60 communities across 22 states, creating opportunities for more than 100,000 students. In 2019 alone, the SME Education Foundation partnered with 12 new schools to create custom programs through partnerships with private industry. Companies interested in becoming involved with or learning more about the initiative can contact the Foundation at (313) 425-3227.

About the SME Education Foundation

As the philanthropic arm of SME, an internationally recognized nonprofit organization serving the manufacturing industry, the SME Education Foundation inspires, prepares and supports the next generation of manufacturing and engineering talent. The Foundation leverages the 90-year history and thought leadership of SME in the manufacturing and engineering industry to provide curated experiences for thousands of high school students at SME conferences and tradeshows and builds hands-on manufacturing programs in high schools across the country. The Foundation also awards millions of dollars in scholarships every year to graduating high school seniors and both undergraduate and graduate students. Through its SME PRIME program, the Foundation has reached over 100,000 students in 60 schools across 22 states. All Foundation activities are designed to empower young people to pursue careers in manufacturing and engineering.

Visit the SME Education Foundation at smeeducationfoundation.org . Follow @mfgeducation on Twitter or at facebook.com/SME.Education.Foundation .

About BorgWarner

BorgWarner Inc. is a global product leader delivering innovative and sustainable mobility solutions for the vehicle market. Building on its original equipment expertise, BorgWarner also brings market leading product and service solutions to the global aftermarket. With manufacturing and technical facilities in 96 locations in 24 countries, the company employs approximately 50,000 worldwide.

SOURCE SME Education Foundation
EATONTOWN, N.J., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CDS, the leading provider of multi-vendor services (MVS) for data centers worldwide, today announced that CRN , a brand of The Channel Company , has named the company for the first time to its 2021 Solution Provider 500 list thanks to a breakout 2020 that featured new innovation and leadership from CDS.

Each year CRN publishes its list of the top 500 solution providers, ranking the leading IT channel partner organizations across North America by revenue and other qualifications. This year's impressive list represents a remarkable combined revenue of over $403 billion, underscoring the immense impact and influence these partners have on the IT industry today.

Dan Newton, CEO, CDS, said, "CDS has been on a mission to provide our customers with a single view into their data centers through our Raytrix MVS platform, providing them with more control and freeing up budget for their modernization efforts. I'm honored that our hard work has been recognized, and that we have been included among the best-of-breed IT solution providers by CRN."

Blaine Raddon, CEO of the Channel Company, said, "CRN's Solution Provider 500 list serves as the industry standard for top-performing technology integrators, strategic service providers, and IT consultants, which makes it a valuable resource for technology vendors looking to partner with today's best-of-breed IT solution providers. On behalf of The Channel Company, I'd like to congratulate these companies for their incredible contributions to the growth and success of the IT channel."

To learn more about CDS, click here . The complete 2021 Solution Provider 500 list is available online at www.CRN.com/SP500 .



About CDS

CDS is the leading provider of multi-vendor services (MVS) for data centers worldwide. Its Raytrix MVS software platform offers a range of mission-critical data center hardware maintenance and support for high-end storage, server and network equipment. CDS offers post-warranty support services through OEMs and channel partners, servicing a diversified customer base throughout the Americas, EMEA, Asia Pacific, and Japan. The company's maintenance and support services are designed to extend the useful life of its clients' IT infrastructure, further increasing return on investment for these systems. CDS employs highly skilled, industry-certified engineers and dedicated account managers globally. Partnering with the leading data center infrastructure providers to deliver MVS on a global basis, CDS is assisting more than 700 customers in 45 countries to unlock spend in the data center across enterprise IT infrastructure with diverse maintenance needs and cost containment requirements.

About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers, and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com

Follow The Channel Company: Twitter , LinkedIn , and Facebook .

 2021 The Channel Company, LLC. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

The Channel Company Contact:

Jennifer Hogan

The Channel Company

[email protected]

SOURCE CDS

Related Links

http://www.thechannelcompany.com


DUBLIN, June 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Cell Analysis Global Market - Forecast to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The cell analysis global market is expected to reach $33,542.0 million by 2027 growing at a mid-single-digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027

Market growth is due to rising incidence of infectious and non-infectious diseases and demand for early detection, diagnosis & treatment, increasing government and private funding, increasing advancements in cell imaging technologies to reduce the cost & time during the drug discovery process, growing focusing on personalized medicine, the introduction of advanced technologies in single-cell analysis and emerging Asia-Pacific market. However, stringent government regulations, lack of skilled personnel to use advanced cell analysis Instruments, and the high cost of some of the instruments are expected to hamper the market growth.



The Asia-Pacific is the fastest-growing region in the cell analysis global market at a mid single-digit CAGR from 2020 to 2027 which is attributed to the increased scope for research activities in academic & research institutes, increasing outsourcing, increased incidence of chronic diseases (cancer) and infectious disease, increasing awareness about early screening (cancer) and prenatal test and their adoption in clinical care, increasing government and private investment for - cell-based research and also for the development & expansion single-cell analysis technologies and increasing number startup companies engaged in the development innovative solutions. However, lack of technical expertise, high cost of instruments, lack of skilled labors, and large scale clinical data challenges are some of the restraints for the cell analysis market in the region.



The cell analysis global market is competitive and all the players in this market are involved in innovating new and advanced products to maintain their market shares.

The key players in the cell analysis global market include Agilent Technologies, Inc. (U.S.), Becton Dickinson and Company (U.S.), Bio-Rad Laboratories (U.S.), Danaher Corporation (U.S.), Illumine Inc. (U.S.), Merck KGAA (Germany), Olympus Corporation (Japan), PerkinElmer, Inc. (U.S.), Promega Corporation (U.S.), Qiagen N.V. (Netherlands) and Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (U.S.).



Key Topics Covered:

1 Executive Summary



2 Introduction



3 Market Analysis

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Market Segmentation

3.3 Factors Influencing Market

3.3.1 Drivers and Opportunities

3.3.1.1 Rising Incidence of Infectious and Non-Infectious Diseases and Demand for Early Detection, Diagnosis & Treatment

3.3.1.2 Increasing Government and Private Funding

3.3.1.3 Increasing Advancements in Cell Imaging Technologies Reduce the Cost and Time Consumption for the Drug Discovery Process

3.3.1.4 Growing Focus on Personalized Medicine

3.3.1.5 Introduction of Advanced Technologies in Single-Cell Analysis

3.3.1.6 Emerging Asia-Pacific Cell Analysis Market

3.3.2 Restraints & Threats

3.3.2.1 Lack of Skilled Personnel to Use Advanced Cell Analysis Instruments

3.3.2.2 Expensive Cell Analysis Instruments

3.3.2.3 Maintaining Consistency, Reproducibility of Assays and Lack of Standardization

3.3.2.4 Stringent Regulatory Framework Limits Advancements in Cellular Analysis Market

3.4 Regulatory Affairs

3.5 Funding Scenario

3.6 Cell Analysis - Deals, Acquisitions and New Product Launch

3.6.1 New Product Launch

3.7 Deals and Acquisition

3.8 Technological Advancements

3.8.1 Introduction

3.8.2 Crisper Live Cell Imaging

3.8.3 Single-Cell Multi-Omics

3.8.4 Raman Live Cell Imaging

3.8.5 Droplet-Based Microfluidics in Single-Cell Analysis

3.8.6 Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry in Single-Cell Analysis (Icp-Ms)

3.8.7 Deep Learning and Ai in Microscopy

3.8.8 Intelligent Image-Activated Cell Sorting or Ai-Driven Cell Isolation Technology

3.8.9 Advanced Spatial Technologies in Cell Analysis

3.8.10 Digital Microfluidic Isolation of Single-Cells for -Omics (Disco)

3.9 Porter's Five Force Analysis

3.10 Market Share Analysis by Major Players



4 Cell Analysis Global Market, by Techniques

4.1 Introduction

4.1.1 PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction)

4.1.2 Sequencing

4.1.3 Microfluidics and Microarrays

4.1.4 Spectrometry

4.1.5 Microscopy

4.1.6 Cytometry

4.1.7 High Content Screening

4.1.8 Electrophoresis

4.1.9 Others



5 Cell Analysis Global Market, by Products

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Consumables

5.2.1 Assay Kits

5.2.2 Reagents

5.2.3 Microplates

5.2.4 Cell Culture Consumables

5.2.5 Others

5.3 Instruments

5.3.1 Cell Counters

5.3.2 Cell Microarrays and Microfluidics

5.3.3 Liquid Handling Systems

5.3.4 Cytometers

5.3.5 High Content Screening Systems

5.3.6 Microplate Readers

5.3.7 Pcr Instruments

5.3.8 Sequencing Instruments

5.3.9 Spectrometers

5.3.10 Microscopes

5.3.11 Other Instruments

5.4 Software and Services



6 Cell Analysis Global Market, by Application

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Cell Analysis Global Market, by Process of Application

6.2.1 Cellular Processes

6.2.2 Signal Transduction Pathway

6.2.3 Circulating Tumor Cells

6.2.4 Single-Cell Analysis

6.2.5 Epigenetic Target Analysis

6.2.6 Subpopulation Characterization

6.2.7 Drug and Candidate Screening

6.3 Cell Analysis Global Market, by Field of Application

6.3.1 Forensics

6.3.2 Therapeutics

6.3.3 Genomic Analysis

6.3.4 Stem Cell Analysis

6.3.5 Biomarker Research

6.3.6 Cell Imaging

6.3.6.1 Live-Cell Imaging

6.3.7 Diagnostics

6.4 Cell Analysis Global Market, by Therapeutic Area of Applications

6.4.1 Cancer Research

6.4.2 Genetic Testing

6.4.3 Infectious Diseases

6.4.4 Immunology

6.4.5 Others



7 Cell Analysis Global Market, by End-Users

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Hospitals and Diagnostic Laboratories

7.3 Academic & Research Laboratories

7.4 Pharmaceuticals and Biotech Companies

7.5 Contract Research Organisations

7.6 Cell Banks

7.7 Others



8 Regional Market Analysis



9 Competitive Landscape

9.1 Introduction

9.2 New Product Launch

9.3 Approval

9.4 Agreements, Partnerships and Collaborations

9.5 Acquisitions

9.6 Others



10 Major Player Profiles

10.1 Overview

10.2 Financials

10.3 Product Portfolio

10.4 Key Developments

10.5 Business Strategy

10.6 SWOT Analysis

Agilent Technologies, Inc.

Becton Dickinson and Company

and Company Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc

Danaher Corporation

Illumina, Inc.

Merck Kgaa

Olympus Corporation

Perkinelmer, Inc.

Promega Corporation

Qiagen N.V

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ucncoj

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


The Festival program remains largely unchanged from the 2020 season designed by Joel Revzen, Artistic Director and Conductor since the festival's inaugural season in 2012, until his death on May 25, 2020, from COVID-19. Classical Tahoe's Founding Concertmaster, Laura Hamilton, is serving as Interim Artistic Director.

Conductors Ming Luke, Tito Munoz, and Gabriela Diaz-Alatriste will lead orchestra concerts with soloists Laquita Mitchell, Emmanuel Ceysson, Nathan Hughes, Gilles Vonsattel, Amaryn Olmeda, the Brubeck Brothers Quartet. For a complete list of programming, visit classicaltahoe.org .

Eleven prize-winning Black and Latinx musicians will be in residence, rehearsing and performing with the Classical Tahoe Orchestra, and taking part in a customized experience of mentoring and networking. Classical Tahoe and Sphinx share musical ambassador Weston Sprott, Classical Tahoe Trombone, recipient of Sphinx Medal of Excellence, and Dean of the Preparatory Division at The Juilliard School.

PBS Reno will film and livestream seven concerts, July 30 through August 15, 2021. A fully-produced six-episode series will air in January 2022 and be available online and through the PBS Video App. PBS Reno broadcast of the 2020 Classical Tahoe series is available to view free of charge at PBSReno.org/classicaltahoe .

About Classical Tahoe

Classical Tahoe is a world-class celebration of arts that brings 70 virtuoso musicians from the top orchestras across America to North Lake Tahoe each summer to collaborate with international conductors and soloists for three weeks of orchestra and chamber music concerts, and free engagement programs. Classical Tahoe's 2020 Chamber Music Series was featured on PBS Reno.

Location: Classical Tahoe Pavilion, Sierra Nevada University, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village, Nevada.

Tickets: www.classicaltahoe.org or call 775-298-0245.

Karen Craig, Executive Director

[email protected]

775-298-0245

SOURCE Classical Tahoe

Related Links

www.classicaltahoe.org


A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Both restaurants, each with a distinct gastronomic direction and striking ambience, will be led by Executive Chef Joe Zanelli, a culinary master known for his experience manning some of the world's most prominent kitchens. With years of experience working alongside an inspiring amount of the industry's best, cultivating the incredible passion and creativity he brings to the craft today, Zanelli's newest adventures, Ember Grill and Rosewater Rooftop, will bear the now Delray Beach resident's unique signature  elevated cuisine with an unmistakable bend on sustainability and seasonality.

At Ember Grill, guests can expect a modern twist on the traditional neighborhood grill decorated in effervescent and friendly South Florida style. Think reimagined, elevated plays on American classics thoughtfully paired with celebrated wines and craft cocktails using only fresh, sustainable and local ingredients. Diners can take a front row at Ember's display kitchen to watch the menu come to life or relax on the plush, tropical, outdoor terrace. A specialty wood-burning Josper grill imported from Barcelona, Spain will serve as a central focal point to the restaurant. A private dining room will offer an ideal place for anything from intimate parties to lavish receptions or business meetings.

"Ember is your new classic, neighborhood American grill reimagined- an approachable yet cool place to gather with friends and comrades; it's a prime dining room with thoughtful spaces built for locals, executives and good friends seeking a great night out with quality eats, cocktails and good vibes.

Pineapple Grove Delray has its own artsy neighborhood charm and is deserving of more great restaurant experiences. We felt there was a void there to fill and are looking forward to introducing Ember Grill this summer," says Andy Masi, Founder/CEO, Clique Hospitality.

As for Rosewater Rooftop: get ready for a glistening rooftop restaurant, bar and eclectic lounge experience offering incomparable views of the city of Delray Beach. Rosewater's stunning 22,000-square-foot lush, tropical oasis will launch as one of Delray Beach's largest outdoor restaurant dining venues. With a kitchen helmed by acclaimed Executive Chef Joe Zanelli, Rosewater will bring a new culinary sensation to South Florida: global street cuisine, featuring the best in world dining trends and local street food.

Shareable small plates will be paired with a creative mixology and an "over-the-top" craft cocktail program. Sweeping baldachins, oversized umbrellas, trellises, and pergolas married to a lush tree canopy will provide shade coverage and texture to the diverse lounging and dining areas of Rosewater.

"Rosewater was designed to be South Florida's rooftop restaurant and lounge hotspot. Guests will want to make it a point to come early and stay for the view. The tropical landscape of the rooftop will deliver that perfect South Florida beachside escape. As we get closer to fall and high season we're looking to activate unique poolside lifestyle programming that we know locals and visitors will appreciate and enjoy." says Andy Masi.

Ember Grill will be open seven days a week serving lunch Monday through Friday 11am  3pm, dinner, Sunday through Thursday 4pm  10pm, Friday and Saturday, 4pm  11pm and brunch Saturdays and Sundays 11am -3pm. Visit https://embergrilldelray.com/

Rosewater Rooftop is open Sunday-Thursday 9am-10pm, Friday-Saturday 9am-11pm, Golden Hour daily 3pm-7pm and Sunday Soiree November through April 11am-7pm. Visit https://www.rosewaterdelray.com/

ABOUT CLIQUE HOSPITALITY

Clique Hospitality , founded by Andy Masi, is a collaboration of talented food and beverage professionals who have helped shape the dining and nightlife landscape along the West Coast for the past two decades. Masi has dedicated his life to making guests feel that a simple night out is more than just a memory, but also an experience. Clique is a boutique hospitality and marketing company with operations in Las Vegas, NV, San Diego, CA and Delray Beach, FL.

Clique specializes in approachable dining that sets trends, rather than following them. In its partnerships with many of the country's most prestigious hospitality corporations, including MGM Resorts International, Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, Pendry Hotels, Montage Resorts, and Red Rock Resorts, Clique is transcending hospitality through service, quality, and trendsetting design.

ABOUT MENIN

Menin headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida, is a privately held owner, developer and manager of commercial real estate properties. Menin has acquired, developed and remodeled, in excess of $1.5 billion of property in South Florida, Phoenix, New Orleans and throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Presently, Menin owns, manages and is in development of more than $750 million of commercial real estate. Current development is focused on urban commercial mixed-use, hospitality and multi-family projects in South Florida, along with select single-tenant acquisitions in upscale markets nationally. The company was founded by Craig Menin in 1985. menin.com

Press/Media Contact:

The Gab Group

561.750.3500

Michelle Soudry

[email protected]

SOURCE Clique Hospitality
Construction Software Innovator Wins Recognition for 4th Consecutive Year

TORONTO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - CMiC, the innovation leader in ERP and field operations software for the construction industry, has been designated a Gold Standard winner by Deloitte Canada for its multi-year Best Managed Companies honors. This year is the fourth consecutive year, and fifth time overall, that CMiC has been selected for the prestigious award.

Kari Lockhart, National Co-Leader of the Canada's Best Managed Companies program and Partner, Deloitte Private, notes, "In what may be the most challenging year for Canadian businesses since the program's inception, the 2021 Best Managed winners are a shining example of the importance of leadership, innovation, and resilience in the face of uncertainty."

CMiC and the other winners were specifically praised for emphasis on organizational purpose and the health and well-being of employees.

Lockhart further says, "These companies should not only be extremely proud of this designation, but for their organizational grit, continued adaptability and unwavering commitment to their people during a year when it was needed most."

"Organizational purpose and continuous improvement have long been core tenets of our business. Achieving those goals requires an intense commitment to our people and to our customers," says Mauricio Barberi, Chief Marketing Officer of CMiC and lead of the company's participation in Deloitte's annual recognition program. "We are proud to receive the Best Managed Companies designation once again and believe this honor reflects our purpose and passion to deliver the best unified accounting and project management platform for construction firms of every scope and scale."

Best Managed Companies is a flagship program presented by Deloitte Private, a division of Deloitte exclusively focused on serving private clients of all sizes. Generation after generation, Deloitte Private has been by the side of the entrepreneurs transforming Canada's economy  and under its wing, the Best Managed program includes 486 companies, offering a strong network to support the 37 new winners of 2021. The network continues its expansion beyond Canadian borders, now with presence in 37 countries globally.

This annual award recognizes the top privately-owned Canadian companies with annual revenues over $25 million. Specifically, the program considers a variety of factors, including organizational effectiveness, financial results and sustained growth. As a Gold Standard winner, CMiC has retained its status by demonstrating to the judges a continued commitment to entrepreneurial leadership, product innovation and a diverse workforce.

The awards are granted on four levels:

Best Managed winner: one of up to 50 new winners selected each year

Requalified member: repeat winners retaining their Best Managed designation for two additional years, subject to annual operational and financial review

Gold Standard winner: recognized after three consecutive years of maintaining their Best Managed status

Platinum Club member: winners that maintain a Best Managed status for a minimum of six consecutive years

About CMiC

As an industry pioneer, CMiC delivers complete and unified ERP and FIELD solutions for construction and capital projects firms. CMiC's powerful software transforms how firms optimize productivity, minimize risk and drive growth by planning and managing all financials, projects, resources, and content assetsfrom a Single Database Platform. With customers throughout North America and overseas, CMiC serves one-quarter of ENR's Top 400 Contractors and hundreds of small and mid-sized construction firms, from general and specialty contractors to heavy/highway and project owners. For more information, please visit www.cmicglobal.com.

About Canada's Best Managed Companies

Canada's Best Managed Companies continues to be the mark of excellence for privately held Canadian-owned and managed companies with revenues over $25 million. Every year since the launch of the program in 1993, hundreds of entrepreneurial companies have competed each year for this designation in a rigorous and independent process that evaluates their management skills and practices. Program sponsors are Deloitte, CIBC, Canadian Business, Smith School of Business, TMX Group and MacKay CEO Forums. For further information, visit http://www.bestmanagedcompanies.ca.

SOURCE Computer Methods International Corp. (CMiC)
PALO ALTO, Calif., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/  Cognoa , a pediatric behavioral health company developing diagnostic and therapeutic solutions for children living with behavioral health conditions, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the company's De Novo classification request for its autism diagnosis aid. The AI-based device is the first FDA-authorized diagnosis aid designed to help physicians to diagnose autism in the primary care setting.

Autism is an increasingly common neurodevelopmental condition that today affects one in every 54 children in the United States, a 178% increase in prevalence since 2000. While autism can be reliably diagnosed in children as early as 18 months, the average age of autism diagnosis has remained at 4 to 5 years old for decades. Non-white children, females, and those from rural areas or disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds are often diagnosed even later, or missed altogether. This reality means many children miss a critical neurodevelopmental window when early diagnosis and subsequent early interventions have the greatest potential to improve lifelong outcomes. Disparities in autism diagnosis are largely due to the lack of female and diverse representation in autism research to date. In addition, the reliance on diagnostic assessments that are time-consuming to administer within the specialty care setting and the growing shortage of diagnostic specialists contribute to the average three year delay between first concern and diagnosis.

"The current system is already at a breaking point as it is unable to provide early diagnoses and intervention opportunities to many children and families. With rapidly-rising autism rates, this crisis will only worsen without new approaches and innovations," said Dave Happel, CEO of Cognoa. "The FDA authorization of our diagnosis aid, Canvas Dx, is a significant milestone in Cognoa's development and a crucial step towards making early diagnoses more accessible to children and families - regardless of gender, ethnicity, race, zip code, or socio-economic background. We look forward to partnering with the healthcare community as we introduce Canvas Dx in the coming months."

"Primary care physicians are uniquely positioned to identify developmental delay and behavioral conditions. Many are already managing children with behavioral health conditions such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression," said Dr. Colleen Kraft, former American Academy of Pediatrics President and current Senior Medical Director of Clinical Adoption at Cognoa. "Canvas Dx will provide primary care physicians actionable information to better understand their patients' neurodevelopmental picture, allowing pediatricians, who are frequently the primary point of contact for families, to respond to early developmental concerns."

About Canvas Dx

Canvas Dx is an AI-based diagnosis aid designed to equip primary care physicians to accurately and efficiently diagnose autism in children at risk for developmental delay. Canvas Dx evaluates both caregiver information completed at home via an app and physician inputs, and if the information is sufficient, generates a result that the physician uses as an aid to diagnose or rule out autism and direct appropriate next-steps-in-care. From the time of parental or physician initial concern to diagnosis, Canvas Dx is designed to help facilitate a diagnosis in a few weeks - not months or years , as is standard in today's diagnostic processes - so that children and families can access early interventions and appropriate care sooner. With its AI algorithm trained using diverse datasets in terms of race, gender, educational level, and socioeconomic status, Canvas Dx has the potential to help primary care physicians avoid biases and disparities existing in the current autism diagnostic process. The FDA marketing authorization has been granted following a successful pivotal study in which the device exceeded study endpoints. To stay updated, visit https://www.canvasdx.com .

Canvas Dx Indication for Use

Canvas Dx is intended for use by healthcare providers as an aid in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for patients ages 18 months through 72 months who are at risk for developmental delay based on concerns of a parent, caregiver, or healthcare provider. The device is not intended for use as a stand-alone diagnostic device but as an adjunct to the diagnostic process. The device is for prescription use only.

About Cognoa

Cognoa is a pediatric behavioral health company developing diagnostic and therapeutic solutions with the goals of enabling equitable access to care and improving the lives and outcomes of children and families living with behavioral conditions, starting with autism. Cognoa's products are intended to be routinely prescribed by providers and covered by insurers. For more information, visit https://www.cognoa.com/ .

Media Contact

Joseph Moses

Headline Media

E: [email protected]

T: +44-7308-349-833

SOURCE Cognoa

Related Links

https://cognoa.com


EAST LANSING, Mich., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Conquer Accelerator announces its sixth season and summer 2021 cohort. The 10-week accelerator welcomes six selected teams to its East Lansing program: CrossBraining, Frizzmo, Nickels, Rebound AI, SafetySit, and Tandem.

"We're proud of what we've built over the last five years at Conquer Accelerator and we're only getting better," said Thomas Stewart, Conquer Accelerator Program Manager, "The teams we selected this year are a great example of how Michigan's entrepreneurial ecosystem has evolved and matured over the years. We're just happy to have had a small role in that development."

Originated in East Lansing, the accelerator program supports rising startups by providing $20,000 in funding, access to 40+ mentors, access to follow-on funding, and other essential resources. Conquer Accelerator is a collaborative effort made possible through partnerships with parent organization Michigan State University Foundation and its subsidiaries Spartan Innovations, Red Cedar Ventures, Michigan Rise, and University Corporate Research Park (UCRP).

2021's Conquer Accelerator East Lansing Teams:

CrossBraining is an early-revenue e-learning platform that scales personalized, hands-on learning.

is an early-revenue e-learning platform that scales personalized, hands-on learning. Frizzmo is a debit card that makes it easy to spend/save/give with every purchase.

is a debit card that makes it easy to spend/save/give with every purchase. Nickels uses behavioral science to solve bank customers' thorniest financial challenges.

uses behavioral science to solve bank customers' thorniest financial challenges. Rebound AI simplifies analytics by delivering insights, answers, and alerts through a chatbot for Amazon and Shopify sellers.

simplifies analytics by delivering insights, answers, and alerts through a chatbot for Amazon and Shopify sellers. SafetySit is a mobile backrest allowing clinicians to treat patients without additional staff, eliminating $1.8B of unnecessary/unsafe support labor in healthcare.

is a mobile backrest allowing clinicians to treat patients without additional staff, eliminating of unnecessary/unsafe support labor in healthcare. Tandem is a peer-to-peer payment app that allows a quick and easy way for couples to share expenses.

Since its inception, Conquer Accelerator has been committed to diversity and inclusion. Over 40% of the program's founders are from underrepresented backgrounds; Conquer Accelerator also introduced its first internship program during its Grand Rapids cohort, Conquer Accelerator Diversity in Entrepreneurship (CADE). The internship program aims to increase diversity within the entrepreneurial community even further by hiring young professionals from various ethnicities and backgrounds to collaborate with selected teams. This is the first year the East Lansing cohort will include CADE interns.

In addition to receiving interns, selected startups receive up to $20,000 in seed funding, tailored mentorship from leaders within their respective industries, a collaborative working space, as well as access to a network of angel and venture investors. Once companies move on from the accelerator, they become part of Red Cedar Ventures' investment portfolio.

"Our accelerator continues to evolve in so many positive ways," said Jeff Wesley, Red Cedar Ventures Director. "We expanded Conquer Accelerator to Grand Rapids and added our first CADE internship program to both locations. As we continue to grow startups, I feel proud of their accomplishments and dedication to advancing innovation, and I'm also proud of our team and their efforts to provide opportunities for our companies and ecosystem."

Conquer Accelerator has successfully launched 30 active startups and over 73% of these startups are still active today. Those companies have gone on to raise $1.6M in non-dilutive funding and total over $31M+ in additional funding. "Our portfolio of companies have been selected into TechStars, some have successfully exited, and other established companies have created jobs in their community," said Wesley.

Conquer Accelerator runs virtually from June 1st  August 6th. For more information about the teams, visit www.conqueraccelerator.com.

About Conquer Accelerator

Launched in 2016, Conquer Accelerator has invested over $700K into its startups. From streetwear to AI-assisted language learning, Conquer Accelerator accepts committed entrepreneurs who are ready to take their startups to the next level. Bringing together business and industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and university expertsnot to mention angel and venture investorsConquer alums have access to a powerful network. Learn more at conqueraccelerator.com .

SOURCE Conquer Accelerator

Related Links

https://www.conqueraccelerator.com


OAKLAND, Calif., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In patients with insulin-treated type 2 diabetes, the use of continuous glucose monitors is associated with better blood sugar control and fewer visits to the emergency room for hypoglycemia, a Kaiser Permanente study published June 2 in the journal JAMA found.

The monitors have previously been shown to improve glucose control for patients with type 1 diabetes. Continuous glucose monitors are now the standard of care for these patients.

"The improvement in blood sugar control was comparable to what a patient might experience after starting a new diabetes medication," said the study's lead author Andrew J. Karter, PhD, a senior research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research.

The retrospective, comparative effectiveness study included 5,673 patients with type 1 diabetes and 36,080 patients with type 2 diabetes treated with insulin who were self-monitoring their blood glucose. Between January 2015 and December 2019, on the recommendation of their doctors, 3,462 patients with type 1 diabetes and 344 with type 2 diabetes began using continuous glucose monitors.

Using statistical techniques that mimicked randomization in a clinical trial, the researchers evaluated before-and-after results among patients who initiated use of a continuous glucose monitor compared to the results among patients who did not. These analyses showed that continuous glucose monitors were associated with a decline in levels of HbA1c, a laboratory test used in the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes that measures blood sugar levels. The monitors also reduced emergency department visits and hospitalizations for hypoglycemia, or very low blood sugar. Hypoglycemia increases the risk for falls, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and death.

"Blood sugar levels that go too low can be dangerous," said the study's senior author Richard Dlott, MD, an endocrinologist and the medical director of population care for The Permanente Medical Group. "This study shows that continuous glucose monitors helped people stay close to their glucose targets without going too low."

For decades, people with diabetes have used finger sticks to test their blood sugar levels. Since 2017, Medicare has covered the cost of continuous glucose monitors for patients with diabetes who met certain qualifications. (Today, almost all people with type 1 diabetes qualify.) Continuous glucose monitors use a thin metallic sensor to detect blood sugar levels just under the skin. The sensor transmits blood sugar readings every 5 minutes to a receiver or smartphone. Continuous glucose monitors are available only with a prescription.

The study looked at patients with diabetes who started using continuous glucose monitors as prescribed by their doctor. To qualify under Medicare guidelines, a patient generally must give themselves 3 or more shots of insulin daily or use an insulin pump, perform blood glucose testing 4 or more times a day, and consistently communicate with a diabetes team every 3 to 6 months.

"Selective prescribing of continuous glucose monitors may partially explain the benefits we saw in these patients with type 2 diabetes," said Karter, who is also the associate director for the Health Delivery Systems Center for Diabetes Translational Research, sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. "Doctors appeared to have preferentially prescribed monitors to patients with a history of hypoglycemia or at high risk of hypoglycemia."

The next step, the researchers say, is to determine if there are other patients with type 2 diabetes whose blood sugar would be better and more safely controlled with continuous glucose monitors. "This study found that patients who used continuous glucose monitors had very good results compared to those who continued only with intermittent testing using finger sticks," said Dr. Dlott. "We now need to determine whether there are other patients who might also benefit, even if they don't meet all of the Medicare criteria. The newest technology isn't always better for everybody. We need to identify the people who are most likely to benefit."

The study was supported by an independent investigator award from Dexcom and funding from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The sponsors had no role in the design or conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Co-authors include Melissa M. Parker, MS, and Howard H. Moffet, MPH, of the Division of Research, and Lisa K. Gilliam, MD, PhD, of The Permanente Medical Group.

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 12.5 million members in 8 states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists, and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery, and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education, and the support of community health.

For more information, contact:

Sue Rochman, [email protected], 415-265-2418

Kerry Sinclair, [email protected], 310-710-0321

SOURCE Kaiser Permanente
"I've long admired Curtis' steadfast commitment to sustainability and his forward-thinking leadership on climate finance," said Kentaro Kawamori, CEO and co-founder of Persefoni. "Companies and investors need better solutions to meaningfully track and measure sustainability data and do so with the same confidence that they presently manage their financial transactions. Curtis will immediately help Persefoni accelerate our mission of making carbon accounting, analysis, and reporting more accessible across the market."

As a member of Persefoni AI's Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB), Ravenel will work alongside Tim Mohin  Persefoni's Chief Sustainability Officer and the former head of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)  and Robert G. Eccles  a founding chairman of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and visiting professor at the University of Oxford's Said Business School. The SAB works to advise the Persefoni board and executive team on best practices for integrating carbon accounting and risk modeling into its award-winning platform.

"My career has focused on the integration of sustainability and financial analysis, working closely with large enterprises and financial institutions. Persefoni's technology, ease of implementation / use and adaptability to increasingly sophisticated carbon accounting and management expectations allows organizations to effectively and efficiently deepen and broaden decision-useful modelling throughout an organization to achieve net-zero goals. It's the technology we need at this moment, and I look forward to advising Persefoni as it continues its impressive growth," said Ravenel.

In addition to his work establishing the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the COP26 Private Finance Hub, Ravenel is a Distinguished Fellow in Sustainable Finance at ClimateWorks Foundation. Recently, he served as the only non-European appointee of the European Commission's Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance and was a founding member of the Secretariat of the UN backed Climate Finance Leadership Initiative (CFLI). He also served on the boards of The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment (USSIF) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and was also appointed by the Obama Administration to serve on the U.S. Chapter of the G8 Advisory Board on Impact Investing.

"We live in a time when sustainability is at the forefront of our global financial system. Investors and financial institutions now recognize that it's critical to address this challenge, and corporations/organizations are racing to answer this demand," said Mohin. "There are few people in the world with Curtis' deep experience in sustainable finance and his trusted counsel will guide Persefoni to create the technology feature-sets needed to support this new reality."

About Persefoni

Persefoni AI is a SaaS company that enables enterprises and institutional investors to measure, analyze, plan, forecast, and report on their carbon footprint. The Persefoni AI platform leverages Artificial Intelligence 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 accounting and management system.

SOURCE Persefoni

Related Links

www.persefoni.com


NEW YORK, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- EDP, one of Europe's largest utility and energy companies, has deployed Vodafone Visual Assistance, Vodafone Portugal's solution powered by TechSee in multiple EDP subsidiaries for their consumers and field technicians. The utility is leveraging the technology to enhance operational efficiencies, such as to better resolve customers' issues, and to carry out remote site surveys prior to the installation of solar panels.

Vodafone Visual Support, powered by TechSee, enables consumers and technicians to receive augmented-reality based visual guidance through their smartphones, using a patented browser based technology. Thus, this solution allows agents' empowerment, decrease technical dispatches and is widely implemented in customer service centers of the leading global brands, and has delivered proven ROI with enhanced Customer Experience, improved margins and increased sales, as well as reduced service costs.

This launch is an outgrowth of the successful global partnership between Vodafone Portugal and TechSee that started in 2016, which has reflected the use of TechSee results in significant KPI improvements, including increased First Call Resolutions, and improved Customer Satisfaction

"We are excited to launch this new and innovative service, providing visual assistance to our end users for more efficient operations and enhanced customer experience."

- Jorge Simoes, EDP's Head of Digital Factory

The EDP deployment is a result of a long-standing partnership between TechSee and Vodafone, which began in 2016. Following the technology's success in the telecom's customer service centers across 12 countries, Vodafone is now bringing TechSee's innovative technology to new industries, opening the door to a new range of services provided by telecommunications companies, from home support (B2C) to utility services (B2B). EDP is exploring the possibility of expanding Vodafone Visual Support to additional subsidiaries and other geolocations in the future.

"Vodafone Portugal is committed to providing EDP with an innovative contact center technology to further enhance an optimal customer experience. With Vodafone Visual Support our agents will be able to provide a more complete and efficient service that will lead to greater customer satisfaction." according to Mafalda Alves Dias, Vodafone Portugal's Head of Large & Public Sector.

"We are excited to demonstrate the capabilities of our technology in the utilities sector, further extending our partnership with Vodafone and opening the door to new markets. TechSee continues to provide innovative visual assistance solutions, and Vodafone Visual Support is perfect for a range of industries."

- Ziv Orr, VP Business Development, TechSee

About Vodafone

Vodafone is a leading telecommunications company in Europe and Africa. Our purpose is to connect for a better future and our expertise and scale gives us a unique opportunity to drive positive change for society. Our networks keep family, friends, businesses and governments connected and we play a vital role in keeping economies running and the functioning of critical sectors like education and healthcare. Vodafone is the largest mobile and fixed network operator in Europe and a leading global IoT connectivity provider.

We operate mobile and fixed networks in 21 countries and partner with mobile networks in 48 more. As of 31 December 2020, we had over 300m mobile customers, more than 27m fixed broadband customers, over 22m TV customers and we connected more than 118m IoT devices.

For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com, follow us on Twitter at @VodafoneGroup or connect with us on LinkedIn.

About EDP

EDP is a global, vertically integrated utility company, present in 20 countries, in 4 continents. With a strong focus on innovation and sustainability, EDP is the fourth largest wind energy producer in the world and almost 66% of the energy provided to its 11 million customers is produced from renewable resources.

About TechSee

TechSee is global leader in Visual Assistance technologies for the smart home. TechSee revolutionizes the customer service domain by providing the first intelligent visual support solution powered by artificial intelligence and augmented reality. TechSee empowers technical support teams across the globe to execute visual and interactive remote diagnoses and resolutions of problems. The company is building a massive database of interactions and resolutions to enable customers to experience rapid, fully automated, robotic visual resolution of technical issues via their smartphones. TechSee is headquartered in Tel Aviv with offices in New York and Madrid.

SOURCE TechSee

Related Links

https://techsee.me


ALBANY, N.Y., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

AI in Medical Imaging Maret: Growth Summary

The healthcare sector is observing a string of advancements over the years. The technological advancements in the healthcare sector have led to the advent of novel devices and applications that have made detection and treatment process easier. Detection of diseases and disorders is crucial for treating and curing an individual without any hassles.

Early detection prevents the health deterioration of the concerned individual. Among all the technologies, AI in medical imaging has a prominent place. The growing popularity of AI in the medical imaging sector will prove to be a game-changer for the AI in medical imaging market across the forecast period of 2019-2027.

Medical imaging is the diagnostic process that involves the creation of visual aids and image representations of the body. It also has the potential to monitor the function and the performance of varied parts of the human body. Artificial Intelligence (AI) assists the healthcare professionals in conducting the image capturing process. All these aspects connected to the use of AI bode well for the growth of the AI in medical imaging market.

Download PDF Brochure  https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=76495

Transparency Market Research (TMR) has conducted extensive research on varied aspects related to the AI in medical imaging market. The analysts at TMR have projected the AI in medical imaging market to record a whopping CAGR of ~32 percent across the assessment period of 2019-2027. The global AI in medical imaging market, in terms of revenue, is prognosticated to reach a valuation of ~US$ 7.4 bn by 2027, the end year of the assessment period.

AI has expanded its wings across many sectors and medical imaging is one of the prominent sectors where it is making inroads. The AI in medical imaging market will observe tremendous growth prospects on the back of the increasing requirement for obtaining accuracy in the diagnosis of a particular body part or disease. Furthermore, AI has a plethora of features that help in increasing the convenience quotient. Thus, all these aspects prove to be prominent growth generators for the AI in medical imaging market.

Explore 235 pages of superlative research, current market scenario, and extensive geographical projections. Gain insights into the AI in Medical Imaging Market (Solution: Software Tools/Platform and Services; AI Technology: Deep Learning, Computer Vision, and Others; Image Acquisition Technology: X-Ray, Computed Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Ultrasound Imaging, and Molecular Imaging; End User: Hospitals, R&D Centers, and Laboratories & Diagnostic Centers; and Clinical Application: Cardiovascular, Neurology, Lung [Respiratory System], Breast [Mammography], Oncology, Pathology, Liver [GI], Oral Diagnostics, and Rest of Body) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2019 - 2027 at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ai-in-medical-imaging-market.html

Key Findings of the Report

Enhanced Interoperability to Bring Tremendous Growth Prospects for the AI in Medical Imaging Market

A lack of interoperability existed across the healthcare sector for a long time. With the advent of modern technologies, leveraging data became easier and hence, the healthcare sector is witnessing a rise in interoperability levels. An increase in digital health solutions blended with technological advancements will also serve as a breeding ground for the growth of the AI in medical imaging market.

Analyze global AI in Medical Imaging Market growth in 30+ countries including US, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Russia, Poland, Benelux, Nordic, China, Japan, India, and South Korea. Request a sample of the study

Research and Development Activities Contributing Immensely to the Growth of the AI in Medical Imaging Market

The research and development activities across the AI in medical imaging market have increased exponentially. The players in the AI in medical imaging market are investing heftily in research and development activities for finding new aspects related to the advancements in the technology of the AI in medical imaging market. These activities help in upgrading the features of the imaging systems, eventually enhancing the revenues of the players. The enhancement in revenues leads to an increase in the growth rate of the AI in medical imaging market.

Request the Covid19 Impact Analysis at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=covid19&rep_id=76495

AI In Medical Imaging Market: Well-Established Players

Major players in the AI in medical imaging market are:

Siemens Healthineers

Gauss Surgical

Qure.Ai

Samsung Electronics

Microsoft Corporation

Explore Transparency Market Research's award-winning coverage of the Global IT & Telecom Industry:

Contact Center Solution Market - Cloud contact center solutions have gained prominence during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. With the help of cloud, service providers are able to achieve more flexibility in managing customer operations using a remote workforce. On the other hand, the trend of home-sourcing is gaining traction in countries of Asia Pacific.

Image Tagging & Annotation Services Market - In order to increase the online visibility of important COVID-19 information, Federal Chief Information officers in the U.S. are being directed to incorporate a new set of vocabulary for tagging websites. This is evident since, along with the U.S., countries such as Russia, Brazil, France, and India are under the scanner for a second wave of coronavirus.

About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyse information.

Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

Contact

Mr Rohit Bhisey

Transparency Market Research

State Tower,

90 State Street,

Suite 700,

Albany NY - 12207

United States

USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Press Release Source: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/ai-in-medical-imaging-market.htm

SOURCE Transparency Market Research
COOKEVILLE, Tenn., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fastest Labs, a Drug, Alcohol and DNA Testing franchise, has added a new location in Cookeville, Tennessee to its growing list of facilities across America. This new location marks the first Fastest Labs in the state, having opened in April 2021, and is located at 545 E. Spring St. The growing franchise brand aims to develop an additional 12 locations across Tennessee, through strategic franchise partnerships, in territories including Chattanooga, Knoxville and Murfreesboro.

The newest franchisee to be welcomed to the Fastest Labs family, Amanda Howard, is an accomplished business owner and attorney. Howard's experience working with clients to get drug, alcohol and DNA testing is what prompted her to get involved with the drug testing franchise. Howard first realized the need for a solution within her community when she learned her clients would have to drive over two hours just to get tested at the nearest lab, and then wait several weeks to get results. On top of owning her own law practice, Howard is a single mom to two daughters and was looking for a franchise opportunity that would provide a solution to her community while being easy to manage as a working mother.

"What drew me to the Fastest Labs franchise opportunity was how easy they have made the process to open and run the business," said Howard. "Working with the Cookeville community, I saw a huge need for safe, quick and easy testing. Fastest Labs provided all of those options and their team worked with me every step of the way to make sure we are successful. They've created a system for franchisees to be supported by assisting us in finding a location, training and hiring a staff and more. They made opening my first location so easy and I'm definitely considering opening another facility in the future."

With a determined leadership team, committed group of franchise partners and a heightened demand for services, Fastest Labs has accelerated development efforts, with the goal of reaching 100 locations by year-end. The brand currently sits at 58 locations  with more than twelve in development  across 22 states. In the last year, the brand signed 19 franchise agreements, the most it's seen since it began franchising in 2010. Fastest Labs is on track to have a historic, record-breaking year as it is on track to continue hitting major milestones and breaking into new states across the country.

"We're excited to welcome Amanda to the Fastest Labs family, and her immense business knowledge is a huge asset to our team," said Dave Claflin, the CEO and Founder of Fastest Labs. "As we continue to grow our franchise, we are always looking for hard working and service-focused individuals, and Amanda exemplifies that. Her passion to serve the community and driven work ethic is truly inspiring, and we're eager to see all of her future success."

Fastest Labs is a non-medical drug testing franchise specializing in drug, alcohol and DNA testing services for private individuals and corporate America. Types of B2B services include urine screening, hair testing, fingernail testing, saliva testing, sweat patch testing, DNA paternity, background check and managing drug/alcohol programs.

Each location is committed to seeing individuals within five minutes of their arrival with no appointment necessary, as Fastest Labs' proprietary technology eliminates the need for paperwork. With their advanced system, test results are uploaded into an individual's client portal within seconds of testing. With a customer promise to offer the cleanest and fastest service in the industry, Fastest Labs is not offering COVID tests in their facilities.

For more information on Fastest Labs and its franchise opportunity, please visit https://www.fastestlabs.com/own-a-franchise/.

ABOUT FASTEST LABS

Fastest Labs is the premier drug, alcohol, and DNA testing franchise providing certified testing for both private and legal purposes. Fastest Labs delivers clean, fast testing with an extremely high level of customer service. With 58 units open in 22 states, the brand offers affordable lab tests for businesses, individuals, students, teens and corporations. Additionally, Fastest Labs has been recognized as a top franchise opportunity in 2021 by Franchise Business Review. For more information about Fastest Labs franchise opportunity, please visit: https://www.fastestlabs.com/own-a-franchise/.

Media Contact: Morgan Ganz, Fishman Public Relations, 847-945-1300, [email protected]

SOURCE Fastest Labs
Firm continues rapid global expansion to bring institutional-caliber investment management to Australian high net worth clients

SYDNEY, June 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fisher Investments, one of the world's largest independently owned, fee-only registered investment advisers, announced it will begin offering investment management services to Australian high net worth private clients via a subsidiary. The subsidiary, Fisher Investments Australasia Pty Ltd, has served institutional clients in New Zealand and Australia since 2013 and will now expand to serve individuals and families. The subsidiary will use the trademark, Fisher Investments Australia with private clients in Australia.

Australia is the 16th new international private client market Fisher Investments has entered, and the firm is preparing for even more growth ahead. "We're honored to help Australian high net worth private clients achieve their financial goals through our tailored portfolio management services, world-class customer service model, and structure that always puts our clients' interests first. But there are still so many more families around the world who need our investment help to meet their financial goals, and we plan on continuing to grow aggressively into new markets to meet their needs," said Fisher Investments' CEO Damian Ornani.

Carrianne Coffey, Fisher Investments' Senior Executive Vice President responsible for the firm's international private client operations, said, "After years of planning, we're excited to begin working with Australian families. Our dedication to putting our clients' interests first has proven successful everywhere we operate, and we look forward to helping Australian investors reach their financial goals with unparalleled service, continuous education and tailored portfolio management."

Fisher Investments Australia will base its operations in Sydney, and plans to begin soliciting potential clients by midyear. The firm is actively hiring candidates for sales, service and operations roles, and offers generous compensation plans, exciting benefits and flexible career paths. For information on career opportunities at all Fisher Investments locations, visit www.fishercareers.com.

About Fisher Investments

Fisher Investments is an independent, fee-only investment adviser based in the United States. As of 03/31/2021, Fisher Investments and its subsidiaries manage over $169 billion in assetsover $109 billion for North American private investors, $40 billion for institutional investors, $17 billion for European private investors and $1 billion for US small- to mid-sized business retirement plans. Fisher Investments maintains four principal business groups, which serve a global client base of diverse investors: US Private Client, Institutional, Private Client International and 401(k) Solutions. Founder and Executive Chairman Ken Fisher wrote the Forbes "Portfolio Strategy" column from 1984 through 2016, making him the longest continuously running columnist in the magazine's history. In recent years, Ken's columns have run consistently in major media outlets across almost every Western European country as well as material Asian countries, spanning more countries and more volume than any other columnist of any type in history. Ken has also authored 11 books, including four New York Times bestsellers on finance and investing. For more information on Fisher Investments, please visit www.fisherinvestments.com.

About Fisher Investments Australia

Fisher Investments Australia is a trademark of Fisher Investments Australasia Pty Ltd (ABN 86 159 670 667, AFSL 433312), which provides services to wholesale clients only and outsources portfolio management to its parent company, Fisher Investments. Investing in equities and other financial products involves the risk of loss. Fisher Investments Australasia Pty Ltd was established in 2013 and is based in Sydney.

SOURCE Fisher Investments

Related Links

https://www.fisherinvestments.com/en-us


Through this partnership, PowerBroker customers using McLeod Software will gain access to over 126,000 drivers in the FleetOps network.

TORONTO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - FleetOps, North America's fastest-growing capacity aggregation & load board network built exclusively for 3PLs is excited to announce its new integration with McLeod Software, which makes FleetOps' network of 126,000+ drivers available to haul loads accessible directly within McLeod's PowerBroker solution.

For freight brokerages using McLeod PowerBroker, this new integration allows them to easily post loads, access capacity, vet carriers, and have their loads covered directly within the McLeod platform. Giving brokers the ability to reduce the number of external applications required to run their business and maintain their current TMS processes, while allowing brokers access to a new subset of carriers interested in hauling their loads.

"From a brokerage perspective, this integration saves a significant amount of time, by giving them the ability to access a large network of carriers and easily secure coverage in the spot market," said Chris Atkinson, CEO of FleetOps.ai, "Without this integration, brokers typically resort to outbound calling, email blasts, or posting freight manually to individual load boards, which often results in multiple calls, inefficient negotiations, and a time-consuming booking process. Instead, FleetOps proactively brings the trucking companies to brokers by aggregating capacity across several ELD-powered load boards, then providing easy access to this network via McLeod's PowerBroker".



"McLeod Sofware is pleased to partner with FleetOps through their load boards to provide our PowerBroker customers additional options to help cover their loads," said Robert Brothers, VP of Product Development at McLeod Software.



As a certified partnership integration the FleetOps network will be free and available for use by qualified McLeod PowerBroker customers. To learn more about how to post and book loads with FleetOps reach out to your account manager today.

About FleetOps

Founded in 2017 by Chris Atkinson (CEO & Co-Founder), FleetOps is an on-demand freight marketplace that instantly matches freight from brokers to carriers with available capacity. The system does this by leveraging driver ELD data and Artificial Intelligence to improve on existing systems and increase efficiency in trucking.

Currently boasting more than 126,000 drivers available to haul loads, the company has raised over $8.5mm to date from investors including Resolute Ventures and Inspired Capital, and touts existing partnerships with C.H. Robinson, FleetComplete, Schneider, Loadsmart, Project 44, and Shipwell.

About McLeod Software

McLeod Software is the leader when it comes to software for trucking dispatch operations management, freight brokerage management, document imaging, workflow, EDI, and business process automation solutions for trucking, freight brokerage, third-party logistics, and shipper companies in the United States.

SOURCE FleetOps
"Being recognized by NAHMA has become a company goal for us," said Michael Schocker, president of FOURMIDABLE. "We are always honored to be considered, and thankful to the team that makes it possible."

FOURMIDABLE has seen significant growth since its founding in 1975, as it has managed various types of housing, including conventional apartments, public housing, government assisted, condominiums and commercial properties. Today, it manages 70 properties totaling 7,255 units.

NAHMA works on behalf of multifamily property managers and owners, serving as a leading voice for affordable housing management. The "Affordable 100" list ranks the largest affordable multifamily property management companies in the United States based on the total number of subsidized units managed. Each company must manage housing units that qualify for at least one of the following federal subsidies: HUD Project-based Assistance, Section 42 LIHTC, HOME funds, USDA Section 515, or Bonds.

About FOURMIDABLE

FOURMIDABLE is a national real estate management and brokerage company that specializes in managing, marketing and leasing market rate, tax credit, senior and family government assisted, public housing and rural development apartment communities. Founded in 1975, FOURMIDABLE currently manages 70 communities in 11 states, with approximately 7,255 units under management. FOURMIDABLE is a member of the elite AMO (Accredited Management Organization) and is an approved management firm for HUD, MSHDA and other State Agencies. Additionally, FOURMIDABLE affiliated companies offer support for property management companies and owners, including agility-pm, a provider of back office accounting, HR, IT and compliance support; eCrosstown, a provider of free Wi-Fi amenity services to apartment residents; and ePhonz, a specialized telephone product for apartment management companies.



For more information, please call 248-593-4603 or visit www.fourmidable.com

CONTACT:

Michael Schocker

248-593-4634

Sue Voyles, Logos Communications

734-667-2005

SOURCE FOURMIDABLE

Related Links

http://www.fourmidable.com


SAN DIEGO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Cancer Technologythe cancer research company using invisible dots to solve visible problems in healthcaretoday announced the appointment of M. Karen Newell Rogers, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Consultant and Advisor, a move that will strengthen GCT's research efforts in glioblastoma, nanoparticle technology, and X-ray activated therapeutic delivery systems.

In this role, Dr. Newell Rogers will coordinate collaborations with Barrow Neurological Institute, and scientists from the University of California San Diego as the team conducts pre-clinical studies towards the commercialization of a new glioblastoma treatment. She is also tasked with managing relationships and research efforts across GCT's other cancer and technology endeavors, including developing nanoparticle technologies for hospital and surgery center applications, and clinical trials for real-time trackable X-ray-activated therapeutics for glioblastoma and other cancers.

Dr. Newell Rogers brings a wealth of experience in biotechnology and cancer research to her new position at GCT, including her current role as Chief Scientific Officer at BCell Solutions. Previously, Dr. Newell Rogers was the Chief Scientific Officer for Aspire Biotechnology, Inc., and an adjunct professor and Senior Research Professor at the Trauma Health and Hazards Center at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. She has actively pursued research in physiology, biotechnology, neurology, biology, surgery, and immunology.

Newell Rogers holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Colorado and a Bachelor's degree in Microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin. She completed post-doctoral fellowships at the National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, McGill University, the Medical Research Council of Canada, and the Leukemia Society of America.

In addition to her new role at GCT, Dr. Newell Rogers will continue to serve as a Research Professor in the Department of Medical Physiology at Texas A&M Health Sciences Center, the Chief Scientific Officer at BCell Solutions, Inc., and an adjunct faculty member at the Barrow Neurological Institute.

The addition of Newell Rogers to the GCT team comes on the heels of the company's mini-IPO, which launched earlier this month on Manhattan Street Capital after the SEC previously qualified the company to raise $9 million under a Reg A+ registration. These forward movements represent significant investments by GCT to advance its efforts in the development of novel cancer-delivery technology and innovative new treatments for deadly diseases.

"We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Newell Rogers to the team at Global Cancer Technology. Her wealth of knowledge and experience in biotechnology and medical research is essential in our efforts to complete pre-clinical trials for new treatments for glioblastoma with our partners at UCSD and Barrow Neurological Institute," said John P. Clark, CEO of GCT. "Karen is joining us at a very exciting time when we are starting to see initial positive outcomes from our pre-clinical trials in the fight against glioblastoma. We are focused on making a difference in medical and cancer research, and Karen's expertise is going to help us change the future for not only scientists and doctors, but for patients and their families."

About Global Cancer Technology

Global Cancer Technology (GCT) is an emerging biopharmaceutical company that is pre-revenue and financially operates as a medical technology holding company. GCT holds numerous patents and other assets including licenses to commercialize nanoparticle technology for the treatment of COVID-19, cancer and other diseases requiring targeted therapeutic delivery. In collaboration with highly acclaimed academic institutions such as UCSD and Barrow Neurological Institute, along with recognized industry leaders, GCT aims to make novel therapies available to patients as quickly as possible. The company has already raised $1 million in a private placement. The SEC has recently qualified GCT to commence raising $9 Million under a Reg A+ registration.

Media Contact:

Amy C. Oliver

801-783-9067

[email protected]

"THE OFFERING MATERIALS MAY CONTAIN FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND INFORMATION RELATING TO, AMONG OTHER THINGS, THE COMPANY, ITS BUSINESS PLAN AND STRATEGY, AND ITS INDUSTRY. THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS ARE BASED ON THE BELIEFS OF, ASSUMPTIONS MADE BY, AND INFORMATION CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO THE COMPANY'S MANAGEMENT. WHEN USED IN THE OFFERING MATERIALS, THE WORDS "ESTIMATE," "PROJECT," "BELIEVE," "ANTICIPATE," "INTEND," "EXPECT" AND SIMILAR EXPRESSIONS ARE INTENDED TO IDENTIFY FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS, WHICH CONSTITUTE FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS. THESE STATEMENTS REFLECT MANAGEMENT'S CURRENT VIEWS WITH RESPECT TO FUTURE EVENTS AND ARE SUBJECT TO RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES THAT COULD CAUSE THE COMPANY'S ACTUAL RESULTS TO DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM THOSE CONTAINED IN THE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS. INVESTORS ARE CAUTIONED NOT TO PLACE UNDUE RELIANCE ON THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS, WHICH SPEAK ONLY AS OF THE DATE ON WHICH THEY ARE MADE. THE COMPANY DOES NOT UNDERTAKE ANY OBLIGATION TO REVISE OR UPDATE THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS TO REFLECT EVENTS OR CIRCUMSTANCES AFTER SUCH DATE OR TO REFLECT THE OCCURRENCE OF UNANTICIPATED EVENTS.

AN OFFERING STATEMENT REGARDING THIS OFFERING HAS BEEN FILED WITH THE SEC. THE SEC HAS QUALIFIED THAT OFFERING STATEMENT, WHICH ONLY MEANS THAT THE COMPANY MAY MAKE SALES OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED BY THE OFFERING STATEMENT. IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE SEC HAS APPROVED, PASSED UPON THE MERITS OR PASSED UPON THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE INFORMATION IN THE OFFERING STATEMENT. YOU MAY OBTAIN A COPY OF THE OFFERING CIRCULAR THAT IS PART OF THAT OFFERING STATEMENT FROM:

https://www.manhattanstreetcapital.com/offering-circular/26358

YOU SHOULD READ THE OFFERING CIRCULAR BEFORE MAKING ANY INVESTMENT."

SOURCE Global Cancer Technology

Related Links

https://www.globalcancertechnology.com/


FACTS AT A GLANCE Edition: 8; Released: May 2021 Executive Engagements: 2202 Companies: 425 Players covered include Amera-Seiki; ANDERSON EUROPE GMBH; Baileigh Industrial Holdings LLC; Benign Enterprise co.; CHIRON Werke GmbH & Co. KG; DATRON Dynamics, Inc; DMG Mori Seiki Co., Ltd; Doosan Machine Tools; EMCO Group; FANUC CORPORATION; Haas Automation, Inc.; Hurco Companies, Inc; JET TOOLS; KNUTH Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH; Makino Inc; Maschinen Wagner Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH; Okuma Corporation; Shandong Schuler CNC Machinery Co., Ltd.; TOP-ONE Machinery Co., Ltd.; TRIMILL, a.s.; Wells-Index Milling Machines and Others. Coverage: All major geographies and key segments Segments: Type (Horizontal Milling Machines, Vertical Milling Machines); End-Use (Industrial, Power & Energy, Automotive, Aerospace & Defense, Other End-Uses) Geographies: World; USA; Canada; Japan; China; Europe; France; Germany; Italy; UK; Spain; Russia; Rest of Europe; Asia-Pacific; India; South Korea; Taiwan; Rest of Asia-Pacific; Latin America; Argentina; Brazil; Mexico; Rest of Latin America; Middle East; Rest of World.

Complimentary Project Preview - This is an ongoing global program. Preview our research program before you make a purchase decision. We are offering a complimentary access to qualified executives driving strategy, business development, sales & marketing, and product management roles at featured companies. Previews provide deep insider access to business trends; competitive brands; domain expert profiles; and market data templates and much more. You may also build your own bespoke report using our MarketGlass Platform which offers thousands of data bytes without an obligation to purchase our report. Preview Registry



ABSTRACT-



Global Milling Machines Market to Reach $8.5 Billion by 2026

Milling machine is one of the most commonly used metal cutting machines. These machines are indispensable for metal cutting applications in a diverse spectrum of industries and commonly employed for drilling, slot cutting, gear cutting, fillet making, turning and chamfering functions. Milling machines are used to remove metal by moving a workpiece through the periphery of a rotating cutting tool such as a drill, tap or mill, across a metal block. These machines can simultaneously perform different cuts using multiple cutters. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Milling Machines estimated at US$6.4 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$8.5 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 4.9% over the analysis period. Horizontal Milling Machines, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to record 5.3% CAGR and reach US$6.4 Billion by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Vertical Milling Machines segment is readjusted to a revised 3.9% CAGR for the next 7-year period.



The U.S. Market is Estimated at $253.7 Million in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $3.7 Billion by 2026

The Milling Machines market in the U.S. is estimated at US$253.7 Million in the year 2021. China, the world`s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US$3.7 Billion by the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 5.5% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 3.2% and 4% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 3.9% CAGR. Growth in these markets will be driven by the growing focus on automation, five-sided machining, and multi-axis machining. Expensive nature of advanced milling machines and shortage of skilled labor are driving manufacturers to invest in R&D to develop automated diagnostic solutions and reduce the overall maintenance cost. More



MarketGlass Platform

Our MarketGlass Platform is a free full-stack knowledge center that is custom configurable to today's busy business executive's intelligence needs! This influencer driven interactive research platform is at the core of our primary research engagements and draws from unique perspectives of participating executives worldwide. Features include - enterprise-wide peer-to-peer collaborations; research program previews relevant to your company; 3.4 million domain expert profiles; competitive company profiles; interactive research modules; bespoke report generation; monitor market trends; competitive brands; create & publish blogs & podcasts using our primary and secondary content; track domain events worldwide; and much more. Client companies will have complete insider access to the project data stacks. Currently in use by 67,000+ domain experts worldwide.



Our platform is free for qualified executives and is accessible from our website www.StrategyR.com or via our just released mobile application on iOS or Android



About Global Industry Analysts, Inc. & StrategyR

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (www.strategyr.com) is a renowned market research publisher the world's only influencer driven market research company. Proudly serving more than 42,000 clients from 36 countries, GIA is recognized for accurate forecasting of markets and industries for over 33 years.



CONTACTS:

Zak Ali

Director, Corporate Communications

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Phone: 1-408-528-9966

www.StrategyR.com

Email: [email protected]



LINKS

Get Full Report Details

https://www.strategyr.com/market-report-milling-machines-forecasts-global-industry-analysts-inc.asp

Join Our Expert Panel

https://www.strategyr.com/Panelist.asp

Connect With Us on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-industry-analysts-inc./



Follow Us on Twitter

https://twitter.com/marketbytes

Journalists & Media

[email protected]

SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.strategyr.com


The winner will receive one year of free storage at U-Haul at Peach Street Marketplace and a deluxe U-Haul grill set as part of a prize package totaling more than $12,000. For more details, visit the contest page at happi927.com.

Event attendees can also enjoy local food trucks, store giveaways and a tour of the new facility. HAPPI 92.7 will have a DJ on site. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will be at 11 a.m., followed by an exciting twist on the winner reveal.

"This will be a fun family event for the community, and a memorable day for one lucky winner who will get a year of free self-storage at this beautiful U-Haul center," said Ean Livingood, U-Haul Company of Northwestern Pennsylvania president. "We invite folks to stop by June 5, see all that we have to offer and enjoy the festivities."

The 55,805-square-foot store includes 748 indoor self-storage units with climate-control options and high-tech security features at affordable price points. Customers can take advantage of U-Haul Remote 24/7 access; drive-in load/unload areas; ADA accessible units; free use of utility carts; U-Box portable moving and storage containers; U-Haul Truck Share 24/7; a spacious retail showroom with boxes and moving supplies; and much more.

"This facility at Peach Street and Interstate 90 is one of three new U-Haul stores in Erie," added Livingood. "We're investing in this community through our Company-owned facilities, and we invite local small businesses to supplement their income and grow their operations through the U-Haul neighborhood dealer program. We currently have four dealers in Erie helping us meet the community's moving needs and are looking for more. We're setting the standard for other companies who are willing to follow our lead."

Contact U-Haul Moving & Storage at Peach Street Marketplace at (814) 866-5053 or stop by to visit general manager Bruce Mackall and his team. Hours of operation are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and Sunday; and 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. Reserve equipment at uhaul.com or contact Reservations at 1-800-GO-UHAUL.

Mackall plans to hire at least 10 additional Team Members to staff the facility. U-Haul will look to hire locally to support job growth within the Erie community. U-Haul, honored as a "Best for Vets 2020" leading veteran-friendly employer by The Military Times, actively recruits veterans and gives them preference in the hiring process. Find U-Haul careers at uhauljobs.com.

U-Haul is also assisting independent storage companies in Erie and other markets through the U-Haul Self-Storage Affiliate program, offering a fully integrated business platform and uhaul.com listing. Visit webselfstorage.com for additional details and a free demo.

As an essential service provider, U-Haul continues to serve communities during the COVID-19 recovery while offering contactless business programs and enhanced cleaning protocols, including added steps for sanitizing equipment between customer transactions. U-Haul products are used daily by First Responders; delivery companies bringing needed supplies to people's homes; small businesses trying to remain afloat; college students; and many other dependent groups, in addition to the do-it-yourself household mover.

About U-Haul

Since 1945, U-Haul has been the No. 1 choice of do-it-yourself movers, with a network of 22,000 locations across all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. U-Haul Truck Share 24/7 offers secure access to U-Haul trucks every hour of every day through the customer dispatch option on their smartphones and our proprietary Live Verify technology. Our customers' patronage has enabled the U-Haul fleet to grow to approximately 176,000 trucks, 127,000 trailers and 41,000 towing devices. U-Haul offers nearly 774,000 rentable storage units and 66.7 million square feet of self-storage space at owned and managed facilities throughout North America. U-Haul is the largest installer of permanent trailer hitches in the automotive aftermarket industry, and is the largest retailer of propane in the U.S.

Contact:

Jeff Lockridge

Sebastien Reyes

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: 602-760-4941

Website: uhaul.com

SOURCE U-Haul

Related Links

www.uhaul.com


LOS ANGELES, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The California Science Center has presented Hands-On Science Camp to generations of young scientists and explorers throughout Los Angeles. Although our in-person camp will not take place this summer due to the COVID-19 health and safety measures that have been in place for over one year, the Science Center will continue to make science learning fun and accessible  "from our lab to your home."

Virtual Hands-On Science Camp will engage young minds, Pre-K to 8th grade in problem solving and inquiry through science and engineering. Beginning June 21 and continuing through August 6, weeklong daily camp sessions will be held on Zoom for 90 minutes with hands-on activities led by dynamic camp staff. Our small class sizes encourage children to connect with fellow campers and the instructor to receive the support and attention needed to succeed.

All materials needed for the hands-on investigations and explorations will be sent to the camper's home or can be picked up curbside upon request. Camps will also experience the Science Center through virtual tours of exhibits, live demonstrations and exclusive question-and-answer sessions with on-site scientists and animal care staff.

The Science Center is extending its summer outreach efforts through a Camp-in-a-Backpack community partner program, which collaborates with organizations such as School on Wheels, Para Los Ninos and the Brotherhood Crusade. These community partners will distribute Science Center backpacks to students in their organizations so that they may experience camp activities without the need for internet access or computers. Backpacks will contain age appropriate science activity guides and tools including a microscope, digital scale, calipers, an electronics kit and more. The primary focus of Camp-in-a-Backpack will be on developing scientific inquiry skills and gaining confidence and experience by using the tools. Participants will learn how to use a microscope, take detailed measurements, and make observations and comparisons. Throughout the summer, educators will also "pop-in" on the community partners to help distribute backpacks and conduct fun, hands-on activities with students.

"We are excited to offer Virtual Hands-On Science Camp and Camp-in-a-Backpack as alternatives this summer," says Gretchen Bazela, Deputy Director of Education. "The format allows us to continue our mission of making science accessible and fun by providing engaging activities and experiments that can be done anywhere."

For detailed information and registration forms for Virtual Hands-On Science Camp, please visit www.californiasciencecenter.org/programs/camp/summercamp. Scholarships are available for students and families with limited financial resources.

About the California Science Center

The California Science Center's mission is as follows:" We aspire to stimulate curiosity and inspire science learning in everyone by creating fun, memorable experiences, because we value science as an indispensable tool for understanding our world, accessibility and inclusiveness, and enriching people's lives."

The California Science Center and IMAX Theater are located in historic Exposition Park just west of the Harbor (110) Freeway at 700 Exposition Park Drive, Los Angeles, California 90037. The Science Center is open daily from 10am to 5 pm. Please view our website for updates on COVID safety requirements before planning your visit: https://californiasciencecenter.org/

Media Contact:

Paula Wagner

[email protected]

SOURCE California Science Center Foundation

Related Links

https://californiasciencecenter.org


OAKLAND, Calif., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Harborside Inc. ("Harborside" or the "Company") (CSE: HBOR) (OTCQX: HBORF) a California-focused, vertically integrated cannabis enterprise, today announced its executive team will participate in the following conferences in June 2021:

Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference is being held June 3-4, 2021 . Matt Hawkins , Chairman of Harborside, will present on Thursday, June 3, 2021 at 9:30 a.m. ET . More information on this event can be found here.

. , Chairman of Harborside, will present on at . More information on this event can be found here. Piper Sandler 41st Annual Consumer Marketplace Conference is being held June 3-4, 2021 . Management will host small group and one-on-one investor meetings throughout the conference.

41st Annual Consumer Marketplace Conference is being held . Management will host small group and one-on-one investor meetings throughout the conference. Grizzle Cannabis Con is being held on June 7, 2021 . Mr. Hawkins is scheduled to participate in a panel discussion at 1:00 p.m. ET . Click here to attend the panel discussion for free on YouTube.

For the latest news, activities, and media coverage, please visit the Harborside corporate website at www.investharborside.com or connect with us on LinkedIn ,

About Harborside:

Harborside Inc. is one of the oldest and most respected cannabis retailers in California, operating three of the major dispensaries in the San Francisco Bay Area, a dispensary in the Palm Springs area outfitted with Southern California's only cannabis drive-thru window, a dispensary in Oregon and a cultivation/production facility in Salinas, California. Harborside has played an instrumental role in making cannabis safe and accessible to a broad and diverse community of California consumers. In 2006, Harborside was awarded one of the first six medical cannabis licenses granted in the United States and today holds cannabis licenses for retail, distribution, cultivation, nursery and manufacturing. Harborside is currently a publicly listed company on the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") trading under the ticker symbol "HBOR". Additional information regarding Harborside is available under Harborside's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com .

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (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 involves discussions with respect to 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.

These forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time such statements were made. Actual future results may differ materially as 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 materially differ from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include: implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's operations; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets; expectations regarding the size of the cannabis markets where the Company operates; changing consumer habits; the ability of the Company to successfully achieve its business objectives; plans for expansion; political, social and environmental uncertainties; inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; employee relations and the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on cultivation, production, distribution, and sale of cannabis and cannabis-related products in the markets where the Company operates. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

The Company, through several of its subsidiaries, is indirectly involved in the manufacture, possession, use, sale, and distribution of cannabis in the recreational and medicinal cannabis marketplace in the United States. Local state laws where the Company operates permit such activities however, these activities are currently illegal under United States federal law. Additional information regarding this and other risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's business are contained under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Listing Statement dated May 30, 2019, and in the Company's management's discussion and analysis for the period ended September 30, 2020, filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Neither the CSE nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Harborside Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Heymarket announced its support for Instagram Messaging, opening up enterprise-level tools for businesses to connect with followers.

Heymarket, a leading conversational messaging platform for businesses, empowers brands to manage all of their messaging needs in a single, seamless interface. The platform offers cutting-edge features, including automations and popular SaaS integrations, to streamline workflows and improve communications between businesses and their customers.

Heymarket and Instagram Side-by-side of text conversation on the Heymarket and Instagram apps.

The new capabilities leverage the Messenger API for Instagram, launched today at Facebook's Developer Conference, F8 Refresh. The powerful API links Instagram business accounts with Heymarket, allowing teams to manage their Instagram Messaging with their CRM, eCommerce platform and business apps, while providing a single, shared inbox for other messaging channels.

Until now, brands had to manage their Instagram Messaging conversations separately from their other apps and messaging channels. Switching between platforms slowed teams' response times and overall productivity, creating a less streamlined experience for customers. Heymarket's support for Instagram Messaging brings these tools into one place, paving the way for improved team productivity and response times.

"We're excited to launch our support for Instagram Messaging," said Amit Kulkarni, CEO and Co-Founder of Heymarket. "By linking Instagram and their SaaS apps, businesses can provide better customer service and transform their Instagram engagement into sales, customer insights and growth. Heymarket makes that possible all within one streamlined interface."

"We are thrilled that Heymarket is launching their support for Instagram Messaging," said Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, VP of Platform Partnerships at Messenger from Facebook. "By integrating the Messenger API for Instagram, businesses and developers can effectively scale messaging workflows to better own the customer experience and build more authentic relationships."

When customers message brands through Instagram, businesses using Heymarket will see all incoming messages in their shared inbox. Team members can reply, route and assign messages to other agents. They can also set up automations to automatically respond to or assign messages based on their content or timing.

To use Heymarket and Instagram Messaging, brands must have a Facebook-approved business account on Instagram, a Facebook Page, and a Heymarket subscription. To learn more or to see Heymarket in action, sign up for a demo at heymarket.com .

About Heymarket

Heymarket empowers brands to build relationships using intuitive, secure, and personalized messaging. Over 1,500 businesses use Heymarket's web and mobile apps, including BarkBox, U-Haul, Blue Bottle Coffee, and Dignity Health Global Education. Heymarket was built by the same team that created Manymoon, one of the most popular online, social project management tools.

Media Contact

Hailey Colwell, Heymarket

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (415) 562-0800

SOURCE Heymarket
INDIANAPOLIS, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Indiana legislature voted to allow high school students, from or outside Indiana, to receive college credit through Cambridge Assessment International Education's (Cambridge International) AS and A Level examinations. With this new policy change as per House Enrolled Act 1549, all public colleges and universities in the state of Indiana will now award college credit to students earning a score of E or higher on AS and A Level examinations. This gives Cambridge International AS and A Level courses the same grade weighting as other advanced courses offered to high school students.

"Working with Cambridge International ensures that our schools are preparing future leaders for success in their college, careers, and communities," said Representative Robert Behning, Indiana's House Education Chairman. "The recent decision to give credit for Cambridge International AS and A Level examinations will encourage more students from both domestic and international schools to apply to Indiana colleges and universities and enable students to continue to strengthen communities here in our state."

Cambridge International Advanced is part of an internationally benchmarked program that allows students to take college-level courses while in high school. Cambridge International uniquely provides an instructional system across four stages (Primary through Advanced) that aligns rigorous curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment for all students in grades K-12. Indiana is now one of the increasing number of states where all public institutions grant credit for Cambridge International AS and A Levels, including Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, and Virginia. Indiana's public institutions have joined more than 850 U.S. colleges and universities, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Duke University, New York University, University of Washington, and University of Virginia who now accept Cambridge exams for credit and/or placement.

From 2012-17, 265 U.S. Cambridge students enrolled at a public or private college or university in the state of Indiana. Fifty-eight percent of those students enrolled at an Indiana public two- or four-year college or university, with 42 percent enrolling at a private college or university. In addition, 12 private colleges and universities across the state of Indiana recognize Cambridge International AS and A Levels. With this new policy, these student numbers are sure to increase.

"This recent decision provides well-prepared Indiana high school students with an incentive to stay in-state for college because they can now save time and money for their hard work in high school. This decision also allows out-of-state students to realize the same benefits when attending college in Indiana," said Mark Cavone, Cambridge International Regional Director, North America. "The Cambridge program provides academically rigorous curricula emphasizing critical thinking and produces well-rounded students that are prepared to excel at Indiana public institutions."

Each year, nearly 1 million students study in Cambridge programs worldwide, making more than 2 million exam entries. First introduced in the U.S. in 1995, the Cambridge International program has grown rapidly in popularity. Over the past decade, Cambridge Advanced exams in the U.S. have grown by over 200%. More Cambridge Advanced coursework and exams are now taken in the US than in any other country, and Cambridge International partners with schools across 35 states and the District of Columbia.

About Cambridge International

Cambridge International prepares school students for life, helping them develop an informed curiosity and a lasting passion for learning. We are part of Cambridge Assessment, a department of the University of Cambridge. Our international qualifications are recognized by the world's best universities and employers, giving students a wide range of options in their education and career. As a not-for-profit organization, we devote our resources to delivering high-quality educational programs that can unlock learners' potential.

SOURCE Cambridge International
BOSTON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Rye Development (Rye) is pleased to announce that Jay Anders, P.E., has joined the company as the Chief Operations Officer with a primary focus on the engineering, procurement, and construction of various hydropower projects in North America.

Anders joins Rye after spending the last 15 years in the hydropower consulting industry. Most recently, as the Associate Vice President and Deputy Director for Black & Veatch's (BV) Hydropower and Hydraulic Structures Department.

"Jay's deep experience and track record across multiple types of hydropower projects  ranging from pumped storage, run-of-river, and conventional hydropower make him a particularly good fit for strategically advancing Rye's diverse project portfolio," said Paul Jacob, CEO of Rye.

Prior to joining the consulting industry, Anders worked for over 13 years for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). While at TVA, he supported various hydropower plants upgrades, modernizations, and automation projects. He was the lead electrical engineer for the modernization of the Raccoon Mountain Pumped Storage Project.

In addition to his technical roles, Anders is engaged in the hydro industry through his involvement with the National Hydropower Association (NHA), currently serving as the Board Chair. He has also held previous leadership positions at NHA including serving as chair of the regional meetings committee, Waterpower Innovation Council (WIC), and Treasurer.

Anders is a registered professional engineer and a U.S. Navy submarine veteran. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, with a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and Master's in Engineering Management. He also holds a BA in Business Administration from Columbia College.

Rye Development is a leading U.S. hydropower developer with a current pipeline of over 22 projects in 8 States. Rye's development of new hydropower on existing dams, in conjunction with financing partner, the Climate Adaptive Infrastructure Fund, and Rye's development of new closed loop pumped storage, demonstrate Rye's commitment to the responsible development of untapped hydropower resources while maintaining rivers' balance of environmental and commercial requirements. Rye brings communities around the country substantial infrastructure, job creation, and a local source of renewable, non-consumptive energy.

SOURCE Rye Development
USS Theodore Roosevelt transits the Pacific Ocean on April 7, 2017. Photo: US Navy

US President Joe Biden is scheduled to submit the Fiscal Year 2022 budget to Congress on Friday. US media has disclosed in advance that in this $6 trillion budget, $753 billion will be used for defense, an increase of 1.7 percent over the 2021 figure. The huge investment in the US nuclear triad and the support in the Pacific Deterrence Initiative have received particular attention.

This is the largest budget with the most shocking national defense expenditure worldwide. It is worth mentioning that the 1.7 percent increase given by the Democratic government is considered too little by many Republicans. The US defense budget is still about four times that of China, and is almost the sum of the defense budgets of the 15 countries that follow. But there is still such a domestic response. People can imagine how distorted and deformed the US' overall national security concept is.

What the US wants is absolute security. One of its meanings is that it can overwhelm other major powers' will on key issues at critical moments. This is a completely unrealistic goal. The US still feels anxious despite the fact that its defense budget is far ahead. Washington always feels that the defense budget should grow.

The US' national defense has in fact gone beyond the traditional military field, pursuing the overflow of various functions to maintain global hegemony. The US economy is increasingly relying on the hegemony of the US dollar and the country's dominant position in international politics and ideology. The US' super military power has compensated for the weakening of its actual competitiveness in these systems.

In the past, US technological leadership and economic advantages were absolute. But now, such superiority is shrinking. It is complicated to maintain the leadership in those areas, but it is simple and encouraging to raise military expenditure. Thus, the US has unrestrainedly let itself stay deformed as a system.

However, this is destined to be very inefficient. It will cause fundamental trouble to the healthy functioning of the international community and disrupt people's traditional sense of national security. The US could have definitely been the most secure country worldwide, but it has always believed it has the most security challenges. As long as other countries' national strength has increased - although still not as strong as the US and they have no willingness to confront it - the US will have a sense of being threatened.

Washington has perverted greed for national security, and China's rise will definitely have a subversive psychological impact on the US. If China increases its military expenditure by one dollar, then the US will increase by a few dollars to maintain the gap with China. It will stop improving infrastructure or expanding people's welfare, but it will be still not even enough to put all other increased budgets into the defense budget. This is an ambition which is impossible to realize.

China will not be in an arms race with the US. The increase in China's defense budget and military strength is the natural result of economic development and technological progress. Everything happened naturally and China does not need to make difficult choices. China does not have the will to challenge the US worldwide, but we cannot allow the US to act arbitrarily in the West Pacific, especially in China's coastal waters, to harm China's interests. China's determination is also unwavering, and China's development and increasing military expenditure will be sufficient to support our will.

China will not seek to build a nuclear arsenal as large as that of the US, but our nuclear power building will continue to advance to consolidate sufficient and effective nuclear deterrence, especially deterrence against the US. We are convinced that we can achieve this more easily and realistically than the US' attempt to intimidate China by further strengthening nuclear power.

The US' more than $700 billion defense budget is a super show for itself and its allies. It aims at intimidating other countries, but it is only useless facing major powers like China and Russia. Even if the US doubles its defense budget, it cannot form a strategic repressive force against China and Russia as it imagines. Beijing and Moscow's capability of resolutely resisting the US in terms of their core interests will only be more sufficient.

The big bubble of the US military expenditure will eventually burst. It cannot be a compensation for other declines in US competitiveness for long. Time will prove this.
Maharashtra's Covid-19 daily deaths and new infections touched new lows on Wednesday and the toll remained below the 96,000 mark - the first time since May 13 it has not shot above the next thousand level, health officials said here.

Against 854 deaths on Tuesday, the state reported 553 fatalities (285 fresh and 268 previous), taking the toll to 96,751 now.

The number of fresh cases increased from 14,123 on Tuesday to 15,169, and the state tally climbed up to 57,76,184.

In Mumbai, for the second day running, the new infections remained below the 1,000 level, but increased from 830 on Tuesday to 923, taking the city tally to 707,041. Deaths went up from 23 on Tuesday to 31, with total fatalities in the country's commercial capital rising to 14,880.

The state death rate remained stable at 1.67 per cent, while the number of active cases dropped from 230,681 to 216,016.

As many as 29,270 fully cured patients returned home, taking the total to 54,60,589 while the recovery rate further improved from 94.28 per cent to 94.54 per cent.

The Mumbai Circle - comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, and Raigad districts - recorded a spurt in new cases, from 2,374 to 2,616 now, and the case load shot to 15,37,397, while with 50 more deaths, the toll rose to 27,965.
NEW YORK, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) is pleased to welcome two new members of its Board of Directors, Colleen Conner Ziegler and Bruce Dunbar.

Colleen Conner Ziegler has recently joined the LCRF Board of Directors. She is a lung cancer survivor and active patient advocate, diagnosed in May 2015 at the age of 58 with Stage IV ALK positive Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. She began, and is currently receiving, Alectinib as her first line of treatment and recognizes that research has made her treatment possible.

After a twenty-two-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, Ms. Conner Ziegler served in a variety of community-focused endeavors, including service on several Boards of Directors and Advisory Boards. Her primary focus prior to her diagnosis was on children's education as well as woman's health issues.

Following her lung cancer diagnosis, she turned her focus to lung cancer advocacy. Her advocacy work includes:

Founding member of Life and Breath (LAB), a grass root lung cancer organization, with the goal of raising awareness of lung cancer as well as funding for research

Founding member of ALKFusion, a patient driven organization whose vision is to initiate and support patient-centric research

Currently active ALKFusion representative, Lung Cancer Action Network member, LCRF Strategic Plan Taskforce member

Participated in the Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program

Volunteered with the Lungevity Peer-to-Peer mentor program that connects newly diagnosed patients with a mentor to guide them through their diagnosis and treatment

Participated in patient focused videos and print materials on lung cancer diagnosis, advocacy and living with lung cancer and Genentech's ALK Positivity Project

Volunteered with GO2 Foundation's annual Voices Summit

Co-authored and presented Patient Advocacy poster at the 2019 World Conference on Lung Cancer, Barcelona, Spain

Ms. Conner Ziegler lives in Rochester, New York with her husband, Tom, and their daughter Taya.

Bruce Dunbar has joined the LCRF Board after being involved with the organization since his diagnosis with Stage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer in 2017. As a direct beneficiary of lung cancer research, Mr. Dunbar is an active advocate for further efforts to improve screening, detection and treatment. In addition to his involvement with LCRF, he serves as a Consumer Reviewer for the Lung Cancer Program of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program and advocates for federal funding for lung cancer research through the GO2 Foundation's annual Voices Summit.

Mr. Dunbar's career spans more than 30 years in a variety of corporate communications, marketing and advertising roles including serving as Senior Vice President and Director of Corporate Communications for OppenheimerFunds, Inc. and Managing Director, Head of Wealth Management Communications, for Morgan Stanley. He also held senior client advisory roles at Teneo and Finsbury, Glover, Herrington and is currently a partner in communications advisor Coppertop Media.

Mr. Dunbar received an AB in History from Princeton University and an MBA from Columbia University's Graduate School of Business.

"We are delighted to welcome both Ms. Conner Ziegler and Mr. Dunbar to the LCRF Board of Directors," says Dennis Chillemi, Executive Director. "Their patient experience, passion for research, personal philanthropy, and many connections within the lung cancer community will bring a more diverse perspective to LCRF as we continue to bring hope to the lung cancer community through research."

To learn more about LCRF and its Board of Directors, visit www.lcrf.org.

About the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF)

The Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) is the leading nonprofit organization focused on funding innovative, high-reward research with the potential to extend survival and improve quality of life for people with lung cancer. LCRF's mission is to improve lung cancer outcomes by funding research for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of lung cancer. To date, LCRF has funded 383 research grants, totaling nearly $36 million, the highest amount provided by a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding lung cancer research. For more information, visit lcrf.org.

Contact:

Sheila Sullivan

Sr. Director, Marketing & Communications, LCRF

[email protected]

SOURCE Lung Cancer Research Foundation

Related Links

http://www.lungfund.org


DETROIT, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Adam J. Baginski has joined McDonald Hopkins as an Associate in the Business Department in the firm's Detroit office.

Baginski has experience assisting clients with corporate governance needs, mergers and acquisitions, and business reorganization and succession planning. He also works with clients to draft mergers and acquisitions and general corporate documents, agreements, and disclosures, as well as assisting clients with the execution of related transactions. Baginski has additional experience with the preparation of documents necessary for the formation of 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) tax-exempt nonprofit organizations.

Baginski earned his J.D. from Notre Dame Law School. He completed his bachelor's degree in political science at the University of Michigan.

He can be reached at 248.220.1340 and [email protected].

About McDonald Hopkins

Founded in 1930, McDonald Hopkins is a business advisory and advocacy law firm with locations in Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, and West Palm Beach. With more than 50 service and industry teams, the firm has the expertise and knowledge to meet the growing number of legal and business challenges our clients face. For more information about McDonald Hopkins, visit mcdonaldhopkins.com.

CONTACT:

David Carducci

McDonald Hopkins LLC

600 Superior Avenue, East, Suite 2100

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

Phone: 216.348.5814

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE McDonald Hopkins

Related Links

http://www.mcdonaldhopkins.com


CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Next week, MIT Technology Review, in partnership with Harvard Business Review, will host its annual conference on the future of work, EmTech Next 2021, virtually on June 8-10.

Part of the esteemed MIT Technology Review EmTech Event Series, this year's virtual EmTech Next will examine the new technologies and leadership strategies needed to navigate today's environment of constant change and to prepare for what's ahead on the workplace and workforce horizon.



EmTech Next speakers are world-renowned technology leaders and industry executives. Through mainstage sessions, thought-provoking interviews, and interactive deep dives, they'll walk through reliable and unbiased information, real-world-tested strategies, and the latest technology innovations to leave you with clear direction for the next 12 months of business.

Featured speakers include:

Chip Bergh , President & CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

, President & CEO, Levi Strauss & Co. Erik Brynjolfsson , Professor and Director, Stanford Digital Economy Lab, Stanford University

, Professor and Director, Stanford Digital Economy Lab, Anthony Chang , Chief Intelligence and Innovation Officer, Medical Director, Children's Hospital of Orange County

, Chief Intelligence and Innovation Officer, Medical Director, Children's Hospital of Orange County Ken Frazier , Chairman & CEO, Merck & Co., Inc.

, Chairman & CEO, Merck & Co., Inc. Aashima Gupta , Director, Global Healthcare Strategy and Solutions, Google Cloud

, Director, Global Healthcare Strategy and Solutions, Google Cloud Christie Lenneville , VP of UX, GitLab

, VP of UX, GitLab Jeetu Patel , Senior Vice President & General Manager, Security & Collaboration, Cisco

, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Security & Collaboration, Cisco Meerah Rajavel, CIO, Citrix Systems, Inc.

Ginni Rometty , Former Chairman and CEO, IBM

, Former Chairman and CEO, IBM Julie Shah , Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, CSAIL, MIT

, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, CSAIL, Jaime Teevan , Chief Scientist, Microsoft

, Chief Scientist, Microsoft Saadia Zahidi , Managing Director, World Economic Forum

EmTech Next's presenting partners are Deloitte Consulting LLP, one of the world's largest business consultancies and a leader in human capital consulting; Intel, an industry leader creating world-changing technology that enables global progress and enriches lives; and Siemens Digital Industries Software, offering a deep portfolio of software across a broad spectrum of industry domains. For additional partnership opportunities, please contact Andrew Hendler at [email protected].

For full conference details, registration, group discounts, and partnership opportunities, visit www.emtechnext.com. Follow the conversation on Twitter using #EmTechNext.

Media who would like to cover the event should reach out to [email protected] to learn more about obtaining press credentials.

About the EmTech Event Series

MIT Technology Review's EmTech series examines emerging technologies that will drive the new global economy. From mainstage keynotes to Q&As and small discussions, these events provide a curated view of the year's most important developments. EmTech gives attendees the opportunity to discover future trends and learn from the most innovative people and companies in the world. Established more than 20 years ago, EmTech events have become a must-attend for entrepreneurs, business leaders, innovators, policy influencers, media, and more. This year's EmTech events in the United States include EmTech Digital, March 23-25; EmTech Next, June 8-10; and EmTech MIT, September 28-30. Learn more.

About MIT Technology Review

Founded in 1899, MIT Technology Review is a world-renowned, independent media company whose insight, analysis, and interviews explain the newest technologies and their commercial, social, and political impacts. MIT Technology Review derives its authority from its relationship to the world's foremost technology institution and from its editors' deep technical knowledge, capacity to see technologies in their broadest context, and unequaled access to leading innovators and researchers. MIT Technology Review's mission is to bring about better-informed and more conscious decisions about technology through authoritative, influential, and trustworthy journalism. Subscribe. Listen. Follow: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram.

About Harvard Business Review

Harvard Business Review is the leading destination for smart management thinking. Through its flagship magazine, 10 international licensed editions, books from Harvard Business Review Press, and digital content and tools published on HBR.org, Harvard Business Review provides professionals around the world with rigorous insights and best practices to lead themselves and their organizations more effectively and to make a positive impact.

Media Contact:

MIT Technology Review

[email protected]

SOURCE MIT Technology Review

Related Links

http://www.technologyreview.com


BOULDER, Colo., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Truphone announces its partnership with nect WORLD  bringing state-of-the-art eSIM technology to its new nect MODEM product using built-in M2M eSIM chips and Truphone's connectivity solution: Truphone Connect.



nect MODEM is nect WORLD's solution for providing its customers with portable wireless internet. With nect MODEM, users get an all-in-one pocket WiFi solution for secure and reliable internet anywhere. As a USB VPN modem hotspot, nect MODEM delivers fast data to a user's laptop, ensures secure connection, and shares internet with up to 10 other devices.



nect MODEM is not just a piece of hardware, however. It also runs via a dedicated web app. From today, this application will be powered by Truphone Connect, Truphone's platform for enabling companies to bundle its connectivity and eSIM technology with their existing products. Utilising Truphone's global network, nect MODEM can seamlessly connect in more than 110 countries, including the US, Canada, and Europe.



Scott MacKenzie, Head of Product Management at Truphone said: "At Truphone, we've long since believed that the key to unlocking a more connected world is interoperability. That's how Truphone Connect was born. We built this technology from the ground up so that like-minded, forward-thinking companies like nect WORLD could share in our creation, and provide the same excellent service and seamless connection to their own customers."



Maryna Zaporozhets, CEO at nect WORLD added: "I am incredibly proud to announce our partnership with Truphone, an industry-leading company making the world more accessible through eSIM connectivity. Together with Truphone, we are working to erase the boundaries in global connectioncreating an ecosystem that enables everyone to enjoy safe and reliable internet wherever they go."



About Truphone



Truphone believes that connectivity can be easier, smarter and more efficient. Since 2006, we have built state of the art SIM software, intuitive management platforms and a powerful global network to make this a reality.



Every day, our technicians engineer better connections between things, people and business to make the world smarter. Headquartered in London, we have 15 offices across four continents and continue to expand globally.

To learn more, visit www.truphone.com



About net WORLD



At nect WORLD, we are united by a singular passion: the freedom to work from anywhere. We ensure the best internet experience for business professionals and frequent travellers by providing them with a secure and reliable connection for their laptops.



We brought this vision to life through nect MODEMa cellular USB modem with built-in VPN and hotspot functionality. It is not just hardware we created, though. nect MODEM is an easy-to-use portable device with a dedicated web app that makes it an all-in-one global connectivity solution for your workstation.



To learn more, visit nectmodem.com



Media Contact:

[email protected]



Photo(s):

https://www.prlog.org/12871826



Press release distributed by PRLog

SOURCE nect WORLD
CAMBRIDGE, ON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nectre's research and development teams have succeeded in designing and manufacturing a high-quality wood stove that meets the highest standards.

Nectre

After rigorous testing while working with our partners, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded the N65 emissions rate is 1.98 g per hour and has since approved the stove for 2020 certification. You can find the Nectre model listed under the cordwood, non-catalytic category on the U.S. EPA government website. For a full summary, see the Certification Documents listed in the Resources and Downloads section on Nectreusa.com.

"I am so proud of the continuous achievements being made by our innovative product engineers at Nectre, always pushing the limits of sustainability and performance," noted Robert Bartucci, CEO of Glen Dimplex Americas. "Nectre's success is built on innovation and hard work  and we are excited to introduce this new premium wood stove to North America."

The Nectre N65 Wood Stove is ready to turn heads in showrooms and update interior spaces of all varieties. Whether that is an off-grid cabin or a contemporary home in the city, the N65's sleek design is safe to use and will provide reliable warmth for you and your family.

About Nectre: Proudly designed in Australia and manufactured in New Zealand, Nectre wood-fire stoves and ovens are now sold in North America. With over a half century of rich tradition, the Nectre brand is committed to quality and the timeless warmth of wood. As a Glen Dimplex Americas brand, Nectre is part of a larger commitment to providing reliable, efficient heating solutions to customers who are looking for function with style. For more information, explore www.nectreusa.com.

Contact:

Digital Marketing

Cass Goulding | [email protected]

905-718-4212

Related Images

nectres-n65-gets-epa2020-certified.jpg

Nectre's N65 gets EPA2020 Certified



SOURCE Nectre
Scotsman Guide, the leading resource for mortgage originators, created its 9 th annual listing based on comprehensive, verified 2020 loan data of the nation's top-producing mortgage companies.

Responding to unprecedented consumer demand for historic-low mortgage rates, the company hired 2,776 new employees in 2020 and doubled its origination volume from 2019 to $30.5 billion last year. In total, New American Funding helped more than 104,000 individuals and families buy a home or refinance their existing mortgage.

Today, the company's servicing portfolio stands at 197,000+ loans for $51.4 billion.

"It's always a tremendous honor to be ranked as one of the nation's top mortgage lenders by Scotsman Guide," said CEO Rick Arvielo. "We serve purchase and refinance customers and the underserved communities with knowledge, transparency, and efficiency in helping them achieve the dream of homeownership."

Enhancing its market reputation, New American Funding currently has 174,000+ online reviews for an overall rating of 4.9/5.0 stars and an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. The company recently earned Fannie's Mae's Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards (STAR) award and continues to be one of the largest privately held retail lenders to Hispanics and Blacks. Last year, 36% of the company's home purchase originations went to minorities vs. the national average of 25.5%, according to HMDA data.

About New American Funding

New American Funding is an independent mortgage lender with a servicing portfolio of over 197,000 loans for approximately $51.4 billion, 181 nationwide locations, and about 4,800+ employees. The company offers several niche loan products and has made Inc. 5000's list of Fastest-Growing Companies in America six times. It offers state-of-the-art career training and provides its branch Loan Officers with innovative technologies to streamline the mortgage process.

SOURCE New American Funding

Related Links

www.newamericanfunding.com


DALLAS, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NoiseAware, the global leader in smart noise measurement, has joined forces with Futurestay, the Operating System for Short-Term Rentals, to provide automated guest messaging to AutoResolve noise issues, empowering hosts with a solution to prevent neighborhood disturbances.

NoiseAware

Futurestay's end-to-end property management platform automates distribution, direct bookings and guest communications. It now expands to include instant, automated detection and resolution of excessive noise without any effort or time spent by the host. NoiseAware automated intervention stops noise events 67% faster than manual intervention, on average.1 Hosts gain valuable time back to focus on other facets of their business.

Short-term rental travel has rebounded in summer 2021, already surpassing occupancy levels of 2019 according to AirDNA2. Many small-to-medium sized hosts and property managers rely on automated, remote resolutions to resolve issues within their properties while they focus on bookings and guest support. They now have the option to add automated noise resolution to their toolkit.

NoiseAware resolves 95% of noise disturbances remotely with its automated intervention protocol, reducing the risk for property damage and community disruption. NoiseAware's service is privacy-safe, measuring decibel levels rather than conversations or guest activity.

"NoiseAware leads the industry with full-service support for enterprise property managers, and our partnership with Futurestay allows us to provide that same standard of service to smaller property managers and even single-property hosts," said Andrew Schulz, NoiseAware CEO. "AutoResolve provides busy hosts with a 'set it and forget it' solution to reduce the work and worry of ensuring their property is safeguarded against unruly behavior."

"With the power of NoiseAware and the automation of Futurestay, hosts can mitigate noise issues and reduce risk even while they're sleeping," said S. Philip Kennard, Co-founder and CEO of Futurestay. "Our partnership brings this industry a step closer to solving all core needs for managers within a single, seamless Operating System."

For a limited time, the companies are offering three free months of service to new customers who would like to try with no additional obligation. In addition, NoiseAware is offering free sensors to all Futurestay customers. More information on signing up for the service found here: https://info.noiseaware.io/autoresolve-noise-disturbances-with-noiseaware-and-futurestay.

About NoiseAware

NoiseAware helps keep neighbors happy and property owners profitable by solving the number one cause of rental property damage  noise. Privacy-safe smart noise monitoring saves short-term rental property managers and hotel operators time and money, allowing them to maximize guest revenue and minimize hassle and expense. The company has protected more than one million stays and has helped short-term rental homeowners and managers save $105 million in lost rental revenue due to noise disturbances. NoiseAware helps create responsible guests, good neighbors, and community harmony. To learn more visit www.noiseaware.com.

About Futurestay

Futurestay is the Operating System for Short-Term Rentals, empowering thousands of small property management businesses in over 120 countries to thrive in the complex hospitality industry. Futurestay OS gives Independent managers a roadmap for success, automating distribution on leading channels, growing direct bookings and optimizing revenues. Winner of numerous innovation awards, Futurestay is on an industry changing mission to bring a simple, seamless Operating System to every Independent short-term rental manager. To learn more visit www.futurestay.com.

Media contact:

Madison Perry

[email protected]

888.847.5538



1 NoiseAware aggregated alert data, 2020-2021.

2 AirDNA Market Review, U.S. April 2021, https://www.airdna.co/blog/airdna-market-review-us-april-2021



SOURCE NoiseAware

Related Links

http://www.noiseaware.com


WATCH HILL, R.I., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ocean House Collection, New England's leading luxury hospitality brand, today announced the appointment of Dant Hirsch as President and Managing Director.

Ocean House Collection was founded by Charles and Deborah Royce in 2010 with the redevelopment of Ocean House, a Forbes Triple Five-Star hotel, now one of only 14 properties in the world to have that designation. Today, the organization consists of some of the most prestigious properties in the world, also including the Forbes Five-Star Weekapaug Inn.

"Dant has the leadership track record, the creativity and the vision to successfully lead this extraordinary collection of properties and our associates," said Charles and Deborah Royce. "His understanding of the luxury hotel industry enables him to provide a strategic direction for our capable team members, create exceptional and innovative experiences for our guests, serve our local community, and help position the organization for the future."

Hirsch comes to Ocean House Collection from Six Senses Hotels Resorts and Spas where he was General Manager of the New York property, leading the development of luxury guest rooms, condominiums, a membership club and food and beverage concepts. With extensive experience in luxury, Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five-Diamond properties, Hirsch served as General Manager at The Dominick in New York and Faena Miami Beach. He was also Regional General Manager of the Americas for COMO Hotels and Resorts, where he led the multimillion-dollar renovation and repositioning of Parrot Cay, the 1,000-acre resort property in the Turks and Caicos. Earlier in his career, he was Hotel Manager and Director of Operations for St. Regis Hotels and Resorts in Miami and Kauai. In addition, he served in leadership positions at the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota and Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Resort in British Colombia.

Hirsch received his bachelor's degree from Penn State University, where he was a Schreyer Scholar. He also holds a higher education certificate from Cornell University.

"I am excited and proud to be part of this esteemed hospitality organization," said Hirsch. "I look forward to carrying on the tradition of service excellence, creativity, and the positive connection the Ocean House organization has with the local community."

Hirsch will officially begin at Ocean House Collection on June 16. He and his wife Ana Maria and son Hayden will reside in the Westerly area.

About Ocean House Collection

Ocean House Collection is the curator of some of the most exceptional luxury hotels, resorts, restaurants and residences in the world. The collection is defined by its philosophy to provide extraordinary experiences to discerning travelers and the collection's award-winning properties offer inspiring amenities and creative connections to culinary, nature, art, design and wellness. The organization was founded in 2010 with the redevelopment of Ocean House, a Forbes Triple Five-Star hotel, one of only 14 in the world. Featuring three Relais & Chateaux hotels, the portfolio today includes: Ocean House (OceanHouseRI.com) and Watch Hill Inn WatchHillInn.com) in Watch Hill, RI; Forbes Five-Star Weekapaug Inn (WeekapaugInn.com) in Westerly, RI; Inn at Hastings Park (InnatHastingsPark.com) in Lexington, Mass.; and Preserve Sporting Club & Residences in Richmond, RI (PreserveSportingClub.com).

MEDIA CONTACT:

Laurie Hobbs at [email protected]

401.584.7014 or 612.220.1176 for editorial media

SOURCE Ocean House Collection
NEW YORK, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- One-quarter of people who take the drug methotrexate for common immune system disorders  from rheumatoid arthritis to multiple sclerosis  mount a weaker immune response to a COVID-19 vaccine, a new study shows.

Published recently in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, the study addressed disorders that result when the immune system, meant to fight disease and drive healing, is triggered abnormally. This in turn causes inflammation, the pain and swelling that come as immune cells rush into damaged or infected tissue, but often in the wrong amount or context. Called immune-mediated inflammatory disorders, they are typically treated with drugs that reduce inflammation, including methotrexate.

Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the new study looked specifically at patients' responses to the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, which they measured by looking at the antibodies produced in each patient by the vaccine. Once injected into the body, vaccine ingredients are meant to trigger the production of antibodies, immune proteins that specifically glom onto this viral target protein, disabling it and tagging it for removal from the body.

The lower antibody response in patients who take methotrexate does not necessarily mean that these patients are not protected against COVID-19, cautions co-first study author Rebecca Haberman, MD , clinical instructor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Langone Health.

"It is most important to state that patients should not be concerned about our study findings as the majority of patients with immune system disorders are responding well to the mRNA vaccines," Dr. Haberman says. "It is also possible that methotrexate is delaying, rather than preventing, an adequate immune response against COVID-19."

Researchers have known that rheumatoid arthritis patients who take methotrexate have a reduced response to seasonal flu vaccines. Because mRNA vaccines use a new mechanism of action that patients with these common immune disorders have not seen before, the researchers wanted to determine how well these patients are protected.

The research was conducted at NYU Langone and at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen Nuremberg in Germany and enrolled healthy people and patients treated for common immune-mediated disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis. Study participants received two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. The researchers analyzed blood samples to determine the amount of antibodies patients produced after receiving the vaccine and measured the activation of key immune system cells, including CD8 killer T cells, which are generated as part of the body's immune response.

The researchers found that over 90 percent of healthy subjects and patients taking drugs other than methotrexate to control inflammation in both the New York and German study groups mounted strong antibody responses. Patients with immune-mediated inflammatory disorders who were taking methotrexate achieved an adequate response in only 62 percent of cases. Similarly, while healthy patients and those with common immune disorders who were taking anti-inflammatory drugs other than methotrexate produced CD8 T cells, patients taking methotrexate did not show an increase in CD8 T cell activation after vaccination.

"More research is needed to understand why such a significant proportion of people with common immune disorders who take methotrexate have deficiencies in mounting an antibody and cellular response," says study co-senior author Jose U. Scher, MD , an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Langone. "This may not necessarily mean that the vaccine is not efficacious, but that alternate vaccine strategies need to be investigated."

These alternate vaccine strategies include potentially discontinuing methotrexate during the time these patients receive the vaccine, changing the dosage of methotrexate or possibly administering a booster shot to the vaccine, says Dr. Scher, who is also director of the Psoriatic Arthritis Center at NYU Langone. The research team is currently leading studies to determine the best course of action for these patients.

This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01 AR074500, T32 AR069515, and UM1 AI148574; a Rheumatology Research Foundation Scientist Development Award; the Bloomberg Philanthropies COVID-19 Initiative; the Pfizer COVID-19 Competitive Grant Program; The Beatrice Snyder Foundation; and The Riley Family Foundation.

Dr. Scher has served as a consultant for Janssen, Novartis, Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Sanofi and UCB, and Abbvie, and he has received funding for investigator-initiated studies from Novartis, Sanofi, Pfizer and Janssen. Dr. Haberman has received consulting fees from Janssen. Study co-investigators Peter M. Izmirly, MD , has received consulting fees from GSK and Momenta/Janssen; and Steven B. Abramson, MD , has received grants from Johnson and Johnson. Study co-corresponding author Mark J. Mulligan, MD , has received grants from Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and Sanofi and personal fees from Meissa Vaccines. All of these relationships are being managed in accordance with the policies and procedures of NYU Langone.

In addition to Drs. Scher, Haberman, Izmirly, Abramson, and Mulligan, other NYU Langone investigators are co-first authors Ramin Herati, MD, and Marie Samanovic-Golden, MD; and study co-investigators Rebecca B. Blank, MD, PhD; Michael Tuen, PhD; Sergei B. Koralov, PhD ; Joseph R. Allen; Rochelle L. Castillo, MD ; Amber R. Cornelius; Paula Rackoff, MD ; Gary E. Solomon, MD ; Samrachana Adhikari, PhD ; Natalie E. Azar, MD ; Pamela Rosenthal, MD ; Jonathan Samuels, MD ; Brian D. Golden, MD ; and Soumya M. Reddy, MD . Other researchers involved in the study are co-corresponding author Georg Schett, MD, PhD; co-first author David Simon, MD; and study co-investigators Raja Atreya, MD; Koray Tascilar, MD; and Markus Neurath, MD, at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen Nuremberg.

Media Inquiries:

David March

212-404-3528

[email protected]

SOURCE NYU Langone Health

Related Links

http://www.med.nyu.edu


LOS ANGELES, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Plug and Play, the world's largest global innovation platform, announced today its newest strategic partnership with the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce, Alliance for SoCal Innovation, and Downtown Center to transform Downtown LA into the next urban innovation hub. This collaboration looks to catalyze an environment of 'Live. Work. Play' in the Downtown LA area by establishing it as a formal innovation hub and uniting its local startup and corporate community.

"We want to play a part in creating a new generation of urban living. With our founding partners, we want to transform the Downtown LA area into an urban tech hub," said Michael Olmstead, Chief Revenue Officer at Plug and Play. "Our vision for this new Plug and Play location is to create a place where startups and corporations will have everything they need to live, work, and play."

Los Angeles has already proven to be an area where entrepreneurs can come to live and start successful companies as we have seen with some of Plug and Play's most recent investment stories such as Honey, a shopping platform that provides access to exclusive savings, deals, rewards, and discovery, which was acquired by PayPal in 2019 for $4 billion. Data from Pitchbook shows that the number of investments in startups made out of LA has increased by over 300% in the past 10 years. In addition, the average deal size has grown about 500% in the past 10 years. In 2020, the average deal size was about $15.5 million.

Plug and Play is no beginner to launching new programs in collaboration with city initiatives. Plug and Play operates in over 30 cities globally with offices across Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and now, Africa. This program will see Plug and Play sourcing, accelerating, and bringing together the best startups from LA and beyond to tap into the ecosystem's growing assets and resources.

"Downtown LA has all the critical ingredients to be a vibrant innovation district. Until now, what we have lacked is a unifying narrative that captures the compelling diversity of opportunity here and a flagship innovation platform that can galvanize innovators working in those sectors. By working together with a group of committed DTLA leaders, the L.A. Area Chamber, DCBID, and Plug and Play and focusing on a Live, Work, Play narrative, DTLA entrepreneurs are certain to thrive," said Andy Wilson, Executive Director, Alliance for SoCal Innovation.

"The Los Angeles region is already a hub of technology, global trade, investing, and so much more. We look forward to partnering with Plug and Play to highlight downtown as an innovation hub which provides a vibrant opportunity to live and work in the same community," commented Maria S. Salinas, President & CEO, L.A. Chamber of Commerce.

"DTLA is a place of innovation and creativity, where arts & culture meets technology & business, and where commerce & community come together to shape one of the most diverse and dynamic urban centers in the country. The Plug and Play partnership provides a perfect platform to connect corporate, civic, and entrepreneurial leaders around the core concept of a vibrant Live, Work, & Play city center and all the opportunity that embodies," said Nick Griffin, Executive Director, Downtown Center Business Improvement District.

Startups are only one element needed to help turn Downtown LA into an innovation hub, it also needs buy-in from local corporations. Corporations play a key role in the early success of a startup's life and this initiative hopes to bring together corporations and startups to collaborate and drive innovation forward.

"The 9-to-5 office workday has drastically changed over the past year. Developing a live, work, play community will allow entrepreneurs to thrive in an environment where they can do it all," said Stephan Fay, Director of Corporate Partnerships at Plug and Play. "We are looking forward to growing our ecosystem even further by collaborating with the most innovative companies in Southern California."

Plug and Play and the LA Consortium will co-host the first event on the 1010 Wilshire rooftop located in Downtown LA on Tuesday, June 29th. This event intends to gather interest from the initial founding members that will jointly work on this project.

The event will be open to the public, accessible via:

http://bit.ly/pnpla0629 (virtually)

http://bit.ly/networkLA (in-person)

Large industry players are encouraged to schedule a call with Stephen Fay, Director of Corporate Partnerships at Plug and Play, to learn how to become a partner of Plug and Play LA. Please visit the website to learn more: PlugandPlayTechCenter.com

About Plug and Play

Plug and Play is the leading innovation platform, connecting startups, corporations, venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we're present in 35+ locations across five continents. We offer corporate innovation programs and help our corporate partners in every stage of their innovation journey, from education to execution. We also organize startup acceleration programs and have built an in-house VC to drive innovation across multiple industries where we've invested in hundreds of successful companies including Dropbox, Guardant Health, Honey, Lending Club, N26, PayPal, and Rappi. For more information, visit

https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com

About Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce represents the interests of businesses in the Los Angeles region. The Chamber's mission: We design and advance opportunities and solutions for a thriving regional economy that is inclusive and globally competitive. Founded in 1888, the Chamber is the oldest and largest business association in the region. Its member companies work together to promote a prosperous economy and quality of life in the Los Angeles region. For more information, visit www.lachamber.com .

About Alliance for SoCal Innovation

The Alliance for Southern California Innovation (the "Alliance") is a not for profit formed in 2017 that has successfully brought together the heft of Southern California's top research institutions, local business leaders, and world-class advisors to focus on bridging critical gaps in the SoCal innovation ecosystem. The goal of the Alliance is to engage and unify SoCal's compelling diversity of talent, ideas, and perspectives in order to optimize the conditions for the region's innovators to bring breakthroughs to the world.

Downtown Center Business Improvement District

Founded in 1998, The Downtown Center Business Improvement District (DCBID) is a coalition of over 2,000 property owners in the central business district of Downtown Los Angeles. For over 20 years, the DCBID has been committed to enhancing the quality of life in the Downtown Center, a now bustling commercial and residential hub in the heart of the city which includes Bunker Hill, the Financial District, and the Jewelry District. From 24/7 safe and clean operations to a range of economic development initiatives, marketing programs, and community events, the DCBID helps a vibrant community of business leaders, retailers, artists, and residents reach its full potential.

Plug and Play Contacts

Stephen Fay: [email protected]

Mehrad Moeini: [email protected]

Tanya Ma: [email protected]

SOURCE Plug and Play
Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/02/2021 -- The Latest research study released by HTF MI "Global Automotive Management consulting Services Market" with 100+ pages of analysis on business Strategy taken up by key and emerging industry players and delivers know how of the current market development, landscape, technologies, drivers, opportunities, market viewpoint and status. Understanding the segments helps in identifying the importance of different factors that aid the market growth. Some of the Major Companies covered in this Research are Continental (Germany), BorgWarner (US), Eberspacher (Germany), Gentherm (US), Denso (Japan), Calsonic Kansei (Japan), Valeo (France), MAHLE (Germany), & Dana (US), etc.



Click here for free sample + related graphs of the report @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/3305377-global-automotive-management-consulting-services-market



Browse market information, tables and figures extent in-depth TOC on "Automotive Management consulting Services Market by Application (Engine cooling, Front air conditioning, Rear air conditioning, Transmission system, Heated/ventilated seats, Heated steering & Waste heat recovery), by Product Type (, Passenger car, Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV), Truck & Bus), Business scope, Manufacturing and Outlook  Estimate to 2025".



for more information or any query mail at sales@htfmarketreport.com



At last, all parts of the Global Automotive Management consulting Services Market are quantitatively also subjectively valued to think about the Global just as regional market equally. This market study presents basic data and true figures about the market giving a deep analysis of this market based on market trends, market drivers, constraints and its future prospects. The report supplies the worldwide monetary challenge with the help of Porter's Five Forces Analysis and SWOT Analysis.



If you have any Enquiry please click here @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/3305377-global-automotive-management-consulting-services-market



Customization of the Report: The report can be customized as per your needs for added data up to 3 businesses or countries or 2 analyst hours.

On the basis of report- titled segments and sub-segment of the market are highlighted below:

Global Automotive Management consulting Services Market By Application/End-User (Value and Volume from 2021 to 2026) : Engine cooling, Front air conditioning, Rear air conditioning, Transmission system, Heated/ventilated seats, Heated steering & Waste heat recovery



Market By Type (Value and Volume from 2021 to 2026) : , Passenger car, Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV), Truck & Bus



Global Automotive Management consulting Services Market by Key Players: Continental (Germany), BorgWarner (US),, Eberspacher (Germany), Gentherm (US), Denso (Japan), Calsonic Kansei (Japan), Valeo (France), MAHLE (Germany), & Dana (US), etc.

Geographically, this report is segmented into some key Regions, with manufacture, depletion, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Automotive Management consulting Services in these regions, from 2015 to 2026 (forecast), covering China, USA, Europe, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia & South America and its Share (%) and CAGR for the forecasted period 2021 to 2026.



Informational Takeaways from the Market Study: The report Automotive Management consulting Services matches the completely examined and evaluated data of the noticeable companies and their situation in the market considering impact of Coronavirus. The measured tools including SWOT analysis, Porter's five powers analysis, and assumption return debt were utilized while separating the improvement of the key players performing in the market.



Key Development's in the Market: This segment of the Automotive Management consulting Services report fuses the major developments of the market that contains confirmations, composed endeavors, R&D, new thing dispatch, joint endeavours, and relationship of driving members working in the market.



To get this report buy full copy @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=3305377



Some of the important question for stakeholders and business professional for expanding their position in the Global Automotive Management consulting Services Market :

Q 1. Which Region offers the most rewarding open doors for the market Ahead of 2021?

Q 2. What are the business threats and Impact of latest scenario Over the market Growth and Estimation?

Q 3. What are probably the most encouraging, high-development scenarios for Automotive Management consulting Services movement showcase by applications, types and regions?

Q 4.What segments grab most noteworthy attention in Automotive Management consulting Services Market in 2020 and beyond?

Q 5. Who are the significant players confronting and developing in Automotive Management consulting Services Market?



For More Information Read Table of Content @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/3305377-global-automotive-management-consulting-services-market



Key poles of the TOC:

Chapter 1 Global Automotive Management consulting Services Market Business Overview

Chapter 2 Major Breakdown by Type [, Passenger car, Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV), Truck & Bus]

Chapter 3 Major Application Wise Breakdown (Revenue & Volume)

Chapter 4 Manufacture Market Breakdown

Chapter 5 Sales & Estimates Market Study

Chapter 6 Key Manufacturers Production and Sales Market Comparison Breakdown

..

Chapter 8 Manufacturers, Deals and Closings Market Evaluation & Aggressiveness

Chapter 9 Key Companies Breakdown by Overall Market Size & Revenue by Type

..

Chapter 11 Business / Industry Chain (Value & Supply Chain Analysis)

Chapter 12 Conclusions & Appendix



Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, LATAM, Europe or Southeast Asia.



About Author:

HTF Market Intelligence consulting is uniquely positioned empower and inspire with research and consulting services to empower businesses with growth strategies, by offering services with extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist in decision making.
According to the agreement, Portonbio, as an exclusive CDMO partner, will provide KAEDI with CMC services for multiple CAR-T projects , including the process development and manufacturing of plasmids, viral vectors and CAR-T cells and IND filling (CMC part) support services. The indication of the first project of our collaboration, KD-025 CAR-T, is liver cancer and glioma. The results of its preclinical research have been published in the leading international journal of tumor immunotherapy and ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology). At present, a multi-center clinical trial of KD-025 CAR-T POC is being carried out and a number of cases of clinical infusion have been completed with no obvious toxicities and side effects being observed. At the same time, the product is being applied for IND at home and abroad.

Dr. Hongjiu Dai, Chairman and CEO of KAEDI, said: "We are very pleased to have a strategic cooperation with Portonbio. KAEDI has successfully developed a pipeline of several CAR-T new drug candidates for malignant solid tumors. We believe that Portonbio's excellent technical team and professional CDMO platform can help KAEDI quickly and efficiently promote the drug candidates in our pipeline and accelerate the development process of our cell therapy drugs."

"We are very honored to contribute to KAEDI's innovative research in the field of cell therapy", said Mr. Nianfeng Ju, Chairman and CEO of Portonbio, "Portonbio has established an integrated CDMO service platform for plasmids, viral vectors and cell therapy products, and has an experienced expert team and unique technical advantages. We hope to accelerate the marketing process of KAEDI CAR-T products through this cooperation, jointly promote the breakthrough of cell therapy products in the field of solid tumor, and enable the patients' early-access to the therapies."

About KAEDI

KAEDI is a clinical stage biotech company. The company is committed to the research and development of new CAR-T cell and gene therapy drugs for malignant solid tumors. Relying on the company's advanced synthetic biology technology platform KD SmCAR, KAEDI has successfully developed several R&D pipelines of CAR-T first-in-class drugs for malignant solid tumors, including the second generation of CAR-T, dual-targeted fourth generation CAR-T and allogeneic CAR-T, which have applied for dozens of patents at home and abroad and eight authorized.

Preclinical research results of KD-025 CAR-T products targeting NKG2DL for liver cancer and glioma were published in Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, Cancer Immunology Research and ASCO. At present, a multi-center clinical trial of KD-025 CAR-T POC is being carried out, and a number of cases of clinical infusion have been completed with no obvious toxicities and side effects being observed. At the same time, the product is being applied for IND at home and abroad. http://www.cartbiomed.com/china/

About Portonbio

Founded in 2018 and located in Suzhou, China, Porton Biologics Ltd. (Portonbio) is a subsidiary of the globally recognized CDMO Porton Pharma Solutions Ltd. (SZSE Stock Code 300363). Portonbio offers global biotech companies a seamlessly integrated, cGMP-compliant manufacturing platform spanning plasmids, viral vectors and cell therapeutics to enable early to late-phase clinical trials and full commercial production.

Featuring a world-class senior management team with global experience, Portonbio's "Customer First" approach to Gene and Cell Therapeutics (GCT) manufacturing is anchored by our core principles of "Compliance, Expertise and Open Collaboration". Operating to rigorous, internationally harmonized Quality Management and IP protection standards, Portonbio is bringing innovative and highly flexible development and manufacturing solutions to the complex challenges in the GCT space  ultimately enabling the public's early access to good medicines.

https://www.portonbio.com/

SOURCE Porton Biologics
NEW YORK, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Schaller & Weber, New York City's most iconic butcher shop and purveyor of German and Northern European specialty foods today unveiled a new brand identity and package design ahead of the launch of several new offerings. The new branding features a cleaner, more contemporary aesthetic to match the exciting growth that Schaller & Weber continues to see as consumers reach for high-quality meats and charcuterie. Along with the new branding, Schaller & Weber is also proud to introduce exciting new products including a line of grab-and-go snack trays featuring a Beef & Butterkase option, grab-and-go ABF Sliced Deli meats, and new antibiotic free sausage recipes.

The refreshed Schaller & Weber branding showcases a brighter, more premium look with images and information that highlight the German and Northern European heritage and long-standing history that the world-class butchers have represented for over 85 years. Customers will notice subtle touches, including the backing of the sausages featuring the updated logo, in a design connected to the iconic butcher paper used to wrap each custom cut piece of meat at the New York store.

"Our new brand identity speaks to both our legacy  with subtle nods to some of our past branding  while looking distinctly more premium and clean," said Jeremy Schaller, third-generation owner and operator of Schaller & Weber. "Our new branding features both more transparent information about the products themselves, as well as nuanced features to the German and European lifestyle that our products are a part of. We are so excited to reintroduce our brand to our customers, and to provide them with some exciting new products that feature the distinct flavors and quality they expect from Schaller & Weber, and with some new items we think they'll love."

Over the course of 2021 all Schaller & Weber products will be updated with the new branding. New and rebranded products will focus on sourcing humanely raised, antibiotic free meats, along with updated recipes without artificial ingredients. Shoppers can expect to find updated versions of their favorite sausages, deli meats, specialty items and pates before the end of the year. In addition to refreshed branding and packaging, Schaller & Weber is launching a line of meat and cheese snack trays. The fun to enjoy, on-the-go trays will feature German and European meats  pre-sliced  offering consumers the distinct flavors that come from hardwood smoke, as well as adding a much-need beef option to this pork dominated field. Perfect for picnics, work and school lunches, and on-the-go snacking, the new snack trays are also Keto and low-carb friendly.

Schaller & Weber has been serving New Yorkers for over 80 years and, in addition to its brick and mortar location, is proud to offer its products nationwide. Available at select supermarkets, gourmet stores and several NYC restaurants, Schaller & Weber deli meats and products are made with only the finest quality ingredients. To learn more about Schaller & Weber, please visit www.SchallerWeber.com, like them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SchallerWeber or follow on Instagram @schallerweber.



About Schaller & Weber

Since 1937 Schaller & Weber has set the standard for authentic German and European meats, charcuterie, and specialty items. Founded by Ferdinand Schaller & Tony Weber, today Schaller & Weber remains a New York City institution with Ferdinand's grandson, Jeremy Schaller, at the helm. Nearly a century after first opening their doors, the Schaller family continues to produce one-of-a-kind products and old-world delicacies they have become known for while introducing new items for the modern palate. Though the times have changed, the expert techniques and craftsmanship remain the same, making Schaller & Weber meats and products a gold standard for plates in discerning homes and restaurants around the country. For more information, please visit www.SchallerWeber.com.

SOURCE Schaller & Weber

Related Links

https://schallerweber.com


NORTHBROOK, Ill., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hilco Global is proud to announce that Charmy Shah and Simone Probyn are profiled in the May 2021 Women in Secured Finance issue of The Secured Lender. Anu Krishnan and Farla Efros were named Top Women in Asset-Based lending in the ABF Journal's inaugural Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (DE&I) issue. These four extraordinary Hilco Global executives are being honored and recognized for their significant leadership and contributions in the finance industry.

Charmy Shah serves as Senior Vice President, Strategic and Financial Planning at Hilco Global and is responsible for coordinating overall corporate strategy. Ms. Shah oversees the annual and strategic planning process, acts as a critical liaison with Hilco Global's lenders, and evaluates investments and M&A opportunities. Her many achievements during her 15+ year career at Hilco include developing the management reporting and forecasting models and processes; negotiating numerous credit agreements and amendments; and managing the financial diligence process to facilitate a partnership with Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec.

Simone Probyn serves as the Managing Director for Finance and Operations at Hilco Valuation Services Europe and is responsible for the company's financial matters and the operations for each of the office locations in Europe and the UK. She has been with the company since 2018. She is instrumental in transforming the company's IT systems from traditional server-based systems to cloud-based systems and implementing collaborative working methods. Ms. Probyn is working closely with the organization's executives to expand and improve service lines, prepare business plans, and provide advice and guidance for developing new income streams for the company.

Anu Krishnan serves as Chief Accounting Officer for Hilco Global. Her responsibilities include oversight of the corporate accounting function of Hilco Global, setting corporate accounting policy, driving continuous improvement in the company's internal control environment, and spearheading finance optimization. Ms. Krishnan started with Hilco Global in 2020 and is leading the company's finance team to streamline and optimize the organization's accounting and financial systems.

Farla Efros serves as President of HRC Retail Advisory, the retail consulting affiliate of Hilco Global. Since 1998, she has been working with leading retail executives to generate enterprise value and improve earnings. As co-founder of HRC Retail Advisory, she leverages her 20+ years of experience to help retailers create high-performing organizations that improve financial and operating performance. Ms. Efros regularly appears on BNN Bloomberg and is frequently quoted in leading retail and business publications and has presented at leading industry conferences, such as Shoptalk and Luxury Daily.

The Secured Lender is a publication of the Secured Finance Network (SFNet). For the last six years, The Secured Lender celebrates the individual accomplishments of women who have distinguished themselves in the secured finance industry. In addition to the annual publication, SFNet also provides women in the secured finance industry with a forum that promotes networking, education, and advocacy among its female members.

For over 20 years, ABF Journal is an independent publication of industry news, articles, and information for commercial finance professionals. The first quarter 2021 edition is ABF Journal's inaugural issue focused on DE&I topics and is the first time the organization is honoring the top women in the Asset Based Lending industry.

About Hilco Global : Hilco Global (www.hilcoglobal.com) is a privately held diversified financial services company and the world's preeminent authority on maximizing the value of assets for both healthy and distressed companies. Hilco Global operates as a holding company comprised of over twenty specialized business units that work to help companies understand the value of their assets and then monetize that value. Hilco Global has over a 30-year track record of acting as an advisor, agent, investor, and/or principal in any transaction. Hilco Global works to deliver the best possible result by aligning interests with clients and providing them strategic insight, advice, and, in many instances, the capital required to complete the deal. Hilco Global is based in Northbrook, Illinois, and has 650 professionals operating on five continents.

SOURCE Hilco Global

Related Links

www.hilcoglobal.com


Several high-level Nepalese leaders and representatives of "hydrogen-oxygen generators for Nepal's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic" participated in the video conference call including, Chairperson of National Assembly of Federal Parliament of Nepal, Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, Nepali Deputy Prime Minister and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) Ishwor Pokharel, Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) and former Prime Minister, Prachanda, Chairperson of People's Socialist Party, Upendra Yadav, President of Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP), Narayan Man Bijukchhe, Chair of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Pashupati SJB Rana, and Member of Nepali Congress Central Working Committee, Narayan Khadka.

Shanghai and Nepal are more than 4,500 kilometers apart, but friendship between China and Nepal has been well-established for thousands of years. As friendly neighbors, the two countries have helped each other many times throughout history. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, Nepal donated 100,000 masks to China. Now, the pandemic in Nepal is rebounding fast. At a time when there is an urgent shortage of epidemic prevention supplies, especially respiratory equipment, China has responded with concrete actions.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in Nepal, the Chinese government along with non-government institutions, have taken immediate action to provide urgently needed medical supplies, equipment and vaccines to Nepal, and shared experience in the prevention and treatment of the epidemic with the Nepalese. Due to the overwhelming outbreak in Nepal, breathing equipment is in urgent need, just as in India previously. To add to the difficulties, Nepal is a country located on a plateau with an average altitude of 4500 meters. Some breathing equipment used in the plains region does not adapt to a high-altitude environment, so more effective breathing equipment with higher adaptability is needed to fight the epidemic in Nepal.

As early as the initial outbreak stage in Nepal, Asclepius Meditec donated 20 hydrogen-oxygen generators to non-governmental organizations in Nepal, which won high praise from the recipients. In addition, a test recently done by Asclepius Meditec on the Tibetan plateau has proved that Asclepius hydrogen-oxygen generators can operate normally at heights of 3,700 meters and 4,700 meters. Due to the oxygen-carrying capacity of hydrogen molecules, the hydrogen-oxygen generator has a relatively obvious effect in improving the blood oxygen saturation of the human body, showing high potential to alleviate COVID-19 patients with symptoms such as dyspnea (shortness of breath) at high altitudes.

Moreover, the anti-inflammatory performance of hydrogen molecules can be adjuvant therapy for chronic diseases. The Asclepius hydrogen-oxygen generator, with gas production of 3000ml/min, containing 66.6% hydrogen and 33.3% oxygen, has been used on the frontline of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in China. The inhalation of 3000ml/min with 66.6% hydrogen and 33.3% oxygen has been included in the national diagnosis and treatment protocol for COVID-19 diseases three times, helping to reduce hospitalization periods and relieve dyspnea and other symptoms in severe patients.

Therefore, the Asclepius hydrogen-oxygen generator is one option in helping Nepal to tackle the dilemma of ventilators. Entrusted by the country, Asclepius Meditec feels an extreme sense of pride to participate in China's donation to Nepal.

Based on experience of various aspects, Asclepius Meditec has the confidence to implement the tasks assigned by the country. Lin Hsinyung, President of Asclepius Meditec has decided to donate 100 Asclepius hydrogen oxygen generators to Nepal, hoping to help the people suffering from the epidemic and save more patients.

Asclepius Meditec will, as always, actively respond to the call of the country as well as contributing its strength to the global anti-epidemic fight, helping all human beings to completely overcome COVID-19. As a medical enterprise with its own mission to save lives, Asclepius Meditec has always opened its arms and is willing to work together with people with lofty ideals in kind cooperation, making continuous efforts to save more lives.

SOURCE Asclepius Meditec
SEOUL, South Korea and SAN JOSE, Calif., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SK Inc. C&C, a part of SK Group in South Korea, and BriteLab in Silicon Valley announced today for the signing of the partnership agreement to collaborate in join development for the Global Manufacturing Business in the U.S. Market

Some of the highlights of the joint effort will include:

Collaboration between BriteLab's AMHS (Automated Material Handling System) and SK Inc. C&C's Smart Manufacturing Platform and Solutions

Development new digital business, such as AI-based component quality inspection with high demand from BriteLab's current customers

Cooperation to apply manufacturing specialized Vertical Solutions of SK Inc. C&C, such as "iFactory Smart Vision."

Co-development manufacturing high-tech business for the U.S. based CM/CE customers

Seong-ha Park, CEO of SK Inc. C&C announced today that SK Inc. C&C has signed a partnership agreement with BriteLab which has specialty in the Automated Material Handling Systems in the U.S. for Global Manufacturing Hi-Tech Joint Development.

BriteLab, Inc., located in San Jose, CA, is the leading semiconductor AMHS company in the United States.

Current customers for its AMHS install bases include Texas Instruments (TI), NXP Semiconductors, On-Semi, Global Foundry, ST Micro, TSMC, SSMC, and UMC. BriteLab currently has 24 global 200mm and 300mm foundry customers.

The agreement between SK Inc. C&C and BriteLab is to promote the expansion of manufacturing high-tech business based on Britelab's AMHS platform. By combining SK Inc. C&C's multiple manufacturing software solutions, the joint partnership is set to offer best-of-breed smart manufacturing platforms and solutions which be successfully implemented in the manufacturing industry.

BriteLab's AMHS offers Overhead Hoist Transport (OHT) system utilizing the robotic systems in the high-tech factory utilizing sophisticated robots from the ceiling and the floor of production lines. The robots are autonomous vehicles managed and controlled by software to support fast and accurate automation in the production of high-tech materials in the factories.

Under this agreement, the two companies have established a Joint Working Group (JWG) utilizing BriteLab's AMHS commercialization of manufacturing high-tech solutions that meet the customer demands.

SK Inc. C&C's "iFactory Smart", which has proven excellence in the South Korean precision manufacturing industry, will now be offered to customers in the U.S. through Britelab. "We are excited to be working with SK Inc. C&C especially its AI-based quality management solution using 'vision' systems," said Steven Kwak, CEO of BriteLab.

SmartVision is an artificial Intelligence package solution developed by SK Inc. C&C and has the ability to read the smallest unit pixel of the screen and quickly train the A.I. modules to read the information in real-time. It is highly utilized in the ESG (EnvironmentSocialGovernance) field, such as quality control (QA) work that removes defects in parts and finished products throughout the production process as well as application in the water quality management. By collecting images created through cameras or CCTV and analyzing the data, SmartVision can quickly perform a highly accurate inspection tasks that previously required operators to use expensive, separate quality equipment which can lead to poor inspection, product identification, and dimension measurements.

The two companies are also exploring manufacturing high-tech businesses for BriteLab's current customer install base outside of semiconductor business as BriteLab provides Contract Manufacturing (CM) and Contract Engineering (CE) service in the U.S. BriteLab provides robotics and production automation platforms in autonomous vehicle and robots, factory automation robots, data center monitoring robots, smart machines, and autonomous drones. With BriteLab's CM and CE business and in conjunction with SK Inc. C&C solutions, the companies plan to offer a digital platform-based manufacturing high-tech digital service in connection with its customers with the signing of the partnership agreement. "By combining BritetLab's AMHS-based manufacturing logistics capabilities and SK Inc. C&C's manufacturing automation capabilities, we look forward to creating a manufacturing high-tech business that will lead customers' digital innovation. As a result, we will actively engage in marketing to our global customers as well as here in the U.S.," said Steven Kwak, CEO of BriteLab.

"With our partnership with BriteLab, we look forward to expanding the global business together for the manufacturing vertical solutions business and will introduce customer-friendly digital services to meet the needs of BriteLab's manufacturing customers in the U.S.," said Young-dae Kim, Director of Digital New Business Development at SK Inc. C&C

About SK Inc. C&C, Co. Ltd.

SK Inc. C&C is the de facto holding company of the SK Group, the third largest conglomerate group in South Korea. The company offers IT services, platforms, and solutions in system integration, and system maintenance & repair to every sector of industry, including finance, communication/media, energy/chemical, logistics/services, and the public sector. www.skcc.co.kr

About BriteLab, Inc.

BriteLab, based in San Jose, was established in 2007 as a Contract Manufacturing ODM Engineering services company providing services in manufacturing automation for Automotive, BioSciences, Robotics, and E-Mobility. Today, in addition to its CE & CM business, BriteLab offers its own OEM AMHS solutions to all leading semiconductor fabs around the world. BriteLab is a subsidiary company of PHC (www.globalphc.com), a multinational Tier-1 automotive parts manufacturer based in Daegu, South Korea.

www.britelab.com

SK Inc. C&C Contacts

Media:

Min Kyung-dong

PR Team Leader

82-10-8797-2715

BriteLab Contacts

Media & Marketing

Peter D. Kim

General Manager

1-408-209-1942

[email protected]

SOURCE BriteLab, Inc

Related Links

www.britelab.com


With strong capabilities experience in optical and system integration, STL is expanding its focus and expertise on the network edge. STL's Access Solutions business unit is dedicated to open access networking solutions in the software-defined, FTTx broadband and Open RAN 5G wireless. This highly specialised advisory council will guide the technology strategy and solution roadmap for the company.

Hank Kafka, instrumental in launching the ORAN / Open RAN ecosystem, is a wireless networking leader and innovator. He has been a key figure in the maturation of the mobility industry. Hank has been Vice President of Wireless Technologies and Architecture - AT&T and currently serves as an O-RAN ALLIANCE Executive Committee member and an alternate board member. He holds an MSEE degree from the University of Illinois.

Guy Lupo has been instrumental in creating the Network as a Service (NaaS) software concept and getting it adopted by the TMForum for use by the industry. He is an innovator and disruptor who comes with over 30 years of experience. Guy has led multiple successful ventures across Australia and Israel, including stints at Telstra Bluereef and more. He is pursuing a PhD degree from Swinburne University in Australia. His expertise in software systems and security in building scalable and cost-effective software-defined networking products will contribute greatly to STL's efforts in this area.

John B. Medamana, instrumental in creating networking products and services accounting for multi-billions of dollars of revenue, was an early pioneer in architecting and fielding Telco data networks. He has deep expertise in optical systems, routing, switching, and PON (Passive Optical Networks). John now serves as a senior-level technology and product strategy consultant for the networking industry. Previously, he served as AT&T Vice President, Network and Services Development. John holds a master's degree from IIT Madras, India.

Congratulating these new members, Chris Rice, CEO of STL Access Solutions, said, "We are proud and privileged to welcome such industry luminaries to our newly formed Technology Advisory Council. Each of them has had a significant impact in their respective areas of data networking and routing, wireless networks, or software systems. They have also been instrumental in driving 'openness' in their respective areas, disrupting the industry norm for the better. We are fortunate to have their expertise as we build and grow the company. Their expertise will help us build global capabilities dedicated to delivering open, scalable, and programmable solutions across fibre and 5G access networks."

About STL - Sterlite Technologies Ltd

STL is an industry-leading integrator of digital networks.

Our fully 5G ready digital network solutions help telcos, cloud companies, citizen networks, and large enterprises deliver enhanced experiences to their customers. STL provides integrated 5G ready end-to-end solutions ranging from wired to wireless, design to deployment, and connectivity to compute. Our core capabilities lie in Optical Interconnect, Virtualised Access Solutions, Network Software, and System Integration.

We believe in harnessing technology to create a world with next-generation connected experiences that transform everyday living. With a global patent portfolio of 569 to our credit, we conduct fundamental research in next-generation network applications at our Centre of Excellence. STL has a strong global presence with next-gen optical preform, fibre, cable, and interconnect subsystem manufacturing facilities in India, Italy, China, and Brazil, along with two software-development centres across India and a data centre design facility in the UK.

stl.tech | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube

SOURCE Sterlite Technologies Ltd. (STL)
EXTON, Pa., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ricoh USA, Inc. , today announced that 11th grade students Charikleia Moraitaki and Maria-Eleni Batatoudi of Athens College in Psychiko, Greece, are the winners of the 16th annual Ricoh Sustainable Development Award (RSDA) presented at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (Regeneron ISEF). The innovators have been awarded a $10,000 scholarship for their winning invention, "Solar Park with Photovoltaic 3D-printed Trees: Technology Allies with Nature." The RSDA honors students who develop innovations that strengthen environmental sustainability and support Ricoh's global commitment to pursue excellence, improve quality of life and drive sustainability in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

"Ricoh is proud to honor, celebrate and support students who take action to support environmental sustainability through innovation and break with the status quo to create long-term value for our communities, society and the planet," said Donna Venable, Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Deputy General Manager, Shared Services, Ricoh North America. "Ricoh's commitment to environmental sustainability has been a long-standing component of the Ricoh Way and our Spirit of Three Loves that inform how we do business. Charikleia and Maria-Eleni's work exemplifies the type of groundbreaking innovation and allegiance to creating a more sustainable future that Ricoh puts at the center of everything we do, and we are delighted to participate in the students' future success."

Moraitaki and Batatoudi won the RSDA at Regeneron ISEF, the world's largest international pre-college science competition. Owned and produced by the Society for Science, Regeneron ISEF provides a platform for the best and brightest young scientists to showcase their science, technology, engineering or math research. This year, a total of 1,833 finalists from 64 countries, regions and territories competed for more than $5 million in awards and scholarships.

Finalists' projects were evaluated by how well they harmonize practical business and environmental sustainability, as well as how they align with Ricoh's Sustainable Environmental Management Pillars. Judgement criteria included project novelty, readiness, development, cost efficiency, global applicability and creativity. Submitting students were also evaluated on their willingness to learn new things and ability to overcome obstacles.

Moraitaki and Batatoudi's innovation is a 3D-printed forest made from eco-friendly materials that is designed to tackle the global energy crisis and combat climate change by harvesting solar energy. The innovators' prototype takes the form of a tree  nature's own perfect, energy-harnessing design  with panels, or "leaves," made of photovoltaic cells to harvest solar energy. The model tree includes three critical innovations: 1) a gyroscopic mechanism that adjusts the leaves' position and inclination toward the sun for maximum solar absorption; 2) an automated process to control individual tree height when model trees are arranged in a forest array to capture maximum energy; and 3) a revolution system to prevent excess heat from reducing output efficiency. The long-term project goal, as envisioned by its creators, is to build photovoltaic parks and forests with 3D-printed trees that harvest solar energy and offer a pleasing aesthetic that complements the natural landscape.

"Congratulations to Charikleia Moraitaki and Maria-Eleni Batatoudi on winning the RSDA from Ricoh at the 2021 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair," said Maya Ajmera, President & CEO of the Society for Science and Publisher of Science News. "The students who competed in Regeneron ISEF this year conducted their research under unique circumstances, given the current pandemic. Their dedication to conducting scientific and engineering research gives me hope for the future."

The RSDA is a prime example of the many ways in which Ricoh is helping to build a more sustainable society. In addition to its ongoing support of the scholarship program, Ricoh has committed to seven material issues and SDGs and set 14 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) targets linked with the material issues. Ricoh has also won ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year award for six consecutive years and signed the RE100 pledge to work toward sourcing 100% of its energy from renewable sources in the coming decades.

With this most recent RSDA win, Ricoh has totaled more than $440,000 in scholarships awarded for sustainability projects at Regeneron ISEF. The RSDA has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships to more than 35 students since its inception in 2005. The program underscores Ricoh's continued investment in sustainability.

For more information about Ricoh, click here or follow the company's social media channels on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

| About Ricoh |

Ricoh is empowering digital workplaces using innovative technologies and services, thus enabling individuals to work smarter.

With cultivated knowledge and organizational capabilities nurtured over its 85-years history, Ricoh is a leading provider of document management solutions, IT services, communications services, commercial and industrial printing, digital cameras, and industrial systems.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group has major operations throughout the world and its products and services now reach customers in approximately 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ended March 2021, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 1,682 billion yen (approx. 15.1 billion USD).

For further information, please visit www.ricoh.com

 2021 Ricoh USA, Inc. All rights reserved. All referenced product names are the trademarks of their respective companies.

SOURCE Ricoh USA, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.ricoh-usa.com


CENTENNIAL, Colo., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AlloSource, one of the largest allograft providers in the U.S., creating innovative cellular and tissue products to help surgeons heal their patients, today announced Plastic and Reconstructive SurgeryGlobal Open published the findings of a study titled "The Biomechanical Properties of Meshed vs Perforated Acellular Dermal Matrices," which found meshed AlloMend Acellular Dermal Matrix (ADM) exhibited superior fluid egress properties. Fluid egress matters to patient healing because it facilitates the removal of potentially harmful post-surgical buildups of serosanguineous fluid which can cause complications.

The article describes how functional properties differed between meshed and perforated varieties of ADM, relative to both fluid egress and to the amount of surface area available for incorporation, enhancing reconstruction. Drs. Pankaj Tiwari and Ergun Kocak from Midwest Breast and Aesthetic Center in Columbus, OH, along with colleagues, collaborated to report the findings.

"Our work on AlloMend began years ago and in that time, we have seen many positive patient results," said Dr. Ross Wilkins, AlloSource Senior Medical Director. "The data in this study captures the science behind these results."

AlloMend ADM offers a flexible and reliable graft for demanding soft tissue applications. The allograft's nature offers consistent handling characteristics enabling precision placement, and it is available in a variety of thicknesses and sizes for a wide range of surgical applications. AlloMend is also shelf-stable and conveniently pre-hydrated, so it is immediately ready-to-use.

Please visit Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery  Global Open to read the full article on the study. For more information on AlloMend, visit https://allosource.org/products/allomend/.

About AlloSource

Founded in 1994, AlloSource is a nonprofit leader in providing allografts that maximize tissue donation to help surgeons heal their patients. The company has grown into one of the largest tissue networks in the country creating more than 200 types of precise bone, skin, soft-tissue and custom-machined allografts for use in an array of life-saving and life-enhancing medical procedures. As a world leader in cell-based products, cartilage tissue for joint repair and skin allografts to help heal severe burns, AlloSource's products bridge the proven science of allografts with the advanced technology of cells. The company is accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks and is headquartered in Centennial, CO. For more information, please visit allosource.org.

Media Contact

Cindy Mason

AlloSource

720. 873. 4744

[email protected]

SOURCE AlloSource

Related Links

http://www.allosource.org


This year's report analyzed claims from 20172020 for more than 45,000 members. Sun Life will present a webinar on June 8 to provide insights on the report, with Jennifer Collier, R.N., senior vice president of Stop-Loss & Health; Mike Huppert, vice president of Actuarial & Risk Management; and Lisa Hundertmark, R.N., director of Clinical Services. Click here to register.

"We monitor these trends closely to make sure our employer clients and their employees get the care and support they need," said Collier. "Delayed screenings during the pandemic may result in some conditions, particularly cancer, being more advanced in their progression than they normally would have been at the time of diagnosis. It is crucial to support members with serious medical conditions and make sure they have access to the proper care and treatment, which is why we recently announced our intention to acquire PinnacleCare, a leading U.S. healthcare navigation provider that will help our members find the best physicians and centers of excellence for their specific condition."

Mental health spotlight

The pandemic likely contributed to the notable rise in claims related to mental health. In 2020, members with a stop-loss (high-cost) claim related to a mental health disorder rose 21 percent, and overall spend on mental health claims increased nearly 25 percent. The average cost in 2020 of a mental health claim per person was approximately $80,000. Experts expect a sustained impact to mental health in the wake of the pandemic, even after it ends. According to a recent report from Kaiser Health, women with children were almost 10 percent more likely to report symptoms of depression or anxiety in 2020, and essential workers were 12 percent more likely to report mental health disorders than non-essential workers. The Kaiser report also showed that the pandemic disproportionately affected mental health in communities of color, and that healthcare workers reported more vulnerability to emotional distress due to fears of contracting the virus or infecting loved ones, as well as a more stressful work environment.

"Mental health is health," added Collier. "Often the symptoms and signs are harder to detect, even in the people we see or talk to every day. We encourage our clients to continue focusing on workplace mental health, which will foster positive impacts to their employees' overall health and well-being."

Other key takeaways from Sun Life's report include:

COVID-19 cost factors

The highest COVID-19 claim was $3 million .

. Contributing factors that drove COVID-19 claims costs included long inpatient stays, duration of treatment, extensive diagnostics, cost of medication, complications, comorbidities and continued care.

The relatively small number of COVID-19 cases that were severe enough to result in a stop-loss claim averaged approximately $340,000 per patient, with infection and respiratory failure as the most common comorbidities contributing to high costs.

per patient, with infection and respiratory failure as the most common comorbidities contributing to high costs. Other COVID-19 comorbidities that generated high costs in 2020 were acute renal failure, encephalopathy (brain damage), pneumonia, and cardiac dysrhythmia (abnormal heartbeat).

Cancer trends

In 2020, members with a cancer claim increased by 16.1%; members with prostate, colon, or breast rose by 27%, 19% and 12% respectively.

Experts predict there may be a significant increase in the coming years in cancer diagnoses and cancer-related deaths due to missed screenings and delayed diagnoses during 2020.

Specialty drug costs

Nine out of the top 10 costliest injectable drugs are used to treat cancer, with average costs per patient ranging from about $40,000 to $174,500 .

to . The two drugs with the highest average costs are Soliris and Ultomiris, used to treat blood disorders, with an annual average per person cost of about $420,100 and $492,900 respectively.

and respectively. Postponed clinical trials during the pandemic may result in delayed approvals and fewer new drugs in 2021.

Million-dollar claims

Million-dollar+ claims increased 9% from 2019 to 2020.

The highest medical claim in 2020 was for cancer, totaling $6.3 million .

. The most frequent $3 million-dollar+ conditions in 2020 included cancer, birth conditions, COVID-19 and pulmonary collapse.

There is no single driver of million-dollar claims; most are driven by some combination of complicated procedures, high-cost drugs, advanced life-sustaining treatments, and long in-patient hospitalizations, regardless of diagnosis.

Other pandemic impacts

Costs for transplants actually decreased from an average of approximately $303,000 per patient in 2019 to $140,000 in 2020, which could be a result of:

per patient in 2019 to in 2020, which could be a result of: Less ongoing treatment and in-patient aftercare.



Changes of treatment sites from larger hospitals to smaller community centers and home infusions.

"Medical trends that we see through our research reports prompted us to take a step back to consider how people utilize and interact with their healthcare, and how we can better serve our clients' evolving needs with new capabilities," said Dan Fishbein, M.D., president of Sun Life U.S. "Through concepts like care navigation, in-depth research, and investments in digital benefits solutions, we are doing more to help our clients and support our members."

Stop-loss insurance provides financial protection for employers who self-fund their medical plans, which provides more plan design flexibility and cost-containment options, but also means the employer takes on financial risk. According to Kaiser Health, 67 percent of U.S. workers are in a self-funded health plan. Sun Life is the largest independent stop-loss provider in the country, covering more than 4.5 million lives.

About Sun Life

Sun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing insurance, wealth and asset management solutions to individual and corporate Clients. Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of March 31, 2021, Sun Life had total assets under management of C$1,304 billion. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com.

Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.

In the United States, Sun Life is one of the largest group benefits providers, serving more than 55,000 employers in small, medium and large workplaces across the country. Sun Life's broad portfolio of insurance products and services in the U.S. includes disability, absence management, life, dental, vision, voluntary, supplemental health and medical stop-loss. Sun Life and its affiliates in asset management businesses in the U.S. employ approximately 5,500 people. Group insurance policies are issued by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (Wellesley Hills, Mass.), except in New York, where policies are issued by Sun Life and Health Insurance Company (U.S.) (Lansing, Mich.). For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com/us.

Forward-looking information

Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking within the meaning of applicable securities laws and are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Some of these assumptions and risks and uncertainties are described in Sun Life Financial Inc.'s (the "Company") news release announcing the acquisition of PinnacleCare under the heading "Forward-looking information", the Company's annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2020 under the heading "Risk Factors" and the Company's other filings with Canadian and U.S. securities regulators. The results or events predicted in these forward-looking statements may differ materially from actual results or events and we cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will materialize. Except as may be required by law, we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement made in this news release. See Section O  Forward-looking Statements of the Company's 2020 annual MD&A for additional information concerning forward-looking statements.

Media contacts:

Devon Fernald

Sun Life U.S.

781-800-3609

[email protected]

Connect with Sun Life U.S.

https://www.facebook.com/SLFUnitedStates

https://www.linkedin.com/company/sun-life-financial

https://twitter.com/SunLifeUS

SOURCE Sun Life U.S.

Related Links

www.sunlife.com/us


"Supermicro is investing in the future of the data center, whether on-premises or for public clouds," said Charles Liang, president, and CEO, Supermicro. "With this expansion of our manufacturing capability, we will be able to quickly ship large quantities of individual servers or within fully tested racks directly to our customers. We will have worldwide coverage and capacity to meet the increasing demand for servers and storage systems as more enterprises continue their digital transformation."

The new manufacturing facilities will enable Supermicro to keep costs low by leveraging US design excellence with lower-cost manufacturing in Taiwan. By mid-summer 2021, Supermicro will have the capacity to produce over two million severs per year, effectively doubling capacity. Rack level design reduces pricing for customers, and Supermicro will deliver fully configured and tested racks to customers globally through the Supermicro Rack Scale Plug and Play Solutions capability. The assembly lines will produce a range of servers and rack level integration consisting of Supermicro products and third-party components.

Rack Scale Plug and Play Solutions

Pre-defined racks of expertly selected servers, storage, and networking components, working together, will result in solutions that are perfectly matched to existing and future workloads. Solutions will consist of optimized servers and storage systems for Cloud, AI, 5G/Edge, and Enterprise workloads. The new rack solutions are designed for efficiency with superior thermal functionality and equipped to support the latest liquid cooling options for the growing number of racks requiring high-density efficiency and performance.

Supermicro at Computex Taipei 2021

Supermicro CEO, Charles Liang, headlined the first day at COMPUTEXForum with a keynote address on the latest system innovations and storage solutions for dynamic markets, including Cloud, AI, 5G/Edge, and Enterprise.

COMPUTEXForum Address:

Time Agenda Spokespersons June 2, 2021

(Wed) (GMT+8)

10:30am-11:00 Presentation  Charles Liang, Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer,

Chairman of the Board, Supermicro

In addition to the COMPUTEX Forum presentation, Supermicro will host a virtual booth and demonstrate a wide range of server and storage options. Supermicro systems feature a choice between 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors or 3rd Gen AMD EPYC processors. In addition, Supermicro continues to support the latest generation of NVIDIA-Certified Systems, including NVIDIA Ampere architecture GPUs, NVIDIA BlueField-2 DPUs, and NVIDIA ConnectX-6 InfiniBand adapters.

Supermicro offers over 200 application-optimized systems, including:

SuperBlade 

Twin Product Family (BigTwin  , TwinPro  , and FatTwin  )

, TwinPro , and FatTwin ) Rackmount Product Family (Ultra, Hyper, and CloudDC)

GPU-optimized systems

Telco/5G and Edge servers

These systems enable organizations worldwide to expand their computing capacity for various industries while reducing their energy usage. This breadth of offerings, combined with our expanded global manufacturing capabilities, ensures that Supermicro can meet the growing demands of customers worldwide.

To learn more about Supermicro www.supermicro.com

About Super Micro Computer, Inc.

Supermicro (SMCI), the leading innovator in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology, is a premier provider of advanced Server Building Block Solutions for Enterprise Data Center, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, and Edge Computing Systems worldwide. Supermicro is committed to protecting the environment through its "We Keep IT Green" initiative and provides customers with the most energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly solutions available on the market.

Supermicro, Server Building Block Solutions, and We Keep IT Green are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Super Micro Computer, Inc.

Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries.

All other brands, names, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Super Micro Computer, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.supermicro.com


Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/01/2021 -- Advance Market Analytics published a new research publication on "Consultancy Services Market Insights, to 2026" with 232 pages and enriched with self-explained Tables and charts in presentable format. In the Study you will find new evolving Trends, Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities generated by targeting market associated stakeholders. The growth of the Consultancy Services market was mainly driven by the increasing R&D spending across the world.



Some of the key players profiled in the study are:

Accenture (Ireland) , Bain & Company (United States), Boston Consulting Group (United States), Booz Allen Hamilton (United States), Deloitte (United States), Ernst & Young (United States), KPMG (Canada), McKinsey & Company (United States), Mercer (United States), PricewaterhouseCoopers (United States).



Get Free Exclusive PDF Sample Copy of This Research @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/116932-global-consultancy-services-market



Scope of the Report of Consultancy Services

Consulting services refer to many different advisory disciplines in the field of strategy and management. The role of consultants is a crucial outsourcing industry. Increasing demand for customized solutions from the IT industry driving the demand for IT consulting services. Moreover, the increasing number of entrepreneurs is expected to further supplement the growth of the industry. In addition, rising demand from developing economies such as India, China, Japan, and others expected to fuel the growth of consulting services during the forecasted period.



The titled segments and sub-section of the market are illuminated below:

by Type (Strategy Consulting, Management Consulting, Operations Consulting, Financial Advisory, HR Consulting, IT Consulting), Application (Data Consultancy, Content & Conferences for Banking, Business Valuations and Exit Planning, Others), End User (Large Enterprises, SMEs (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises))



The Consultancy Services Market report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, geography segment, end use/application segment and competitor segment and manufacturing technology. Then, the report explores the international major industry players in detail.



Market Trends:

Adoption of Various New Technologies by Business Heads Leading to Requirement of Expertise

Entry of Small Consultancy Firms Providing Solutions at Reasonable Rates



Opportunities:

Increasing Demand Form Midsize Organizations to Beat the Competition

Growing Demand from the Developing Economies



Market Drivers:

Growing Economy, And High Focus On Business Expansion

Increasing Focus on Improving Quality and Efficiency of Production Process



Challenges:

Difficulty in Providing Accurate Predictions for Every Opportunity

Data Insufficiency In Case Of Some Niche Markets



Region Included are: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Oceania, South America, Middle East & Africa



Country Level Break-Up: United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, South Africa, Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Germany, United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Turkey, Russia, France, Poland, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, India, Australia and New Zealand etc.



Have Any Questions Regarding Global Consultancy Services Market Report, Ask Our Experts@ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/enquiry-before-buy/116932-global-consultancy-services-market



Strategic Points Covered in Table of Content of Global Consultancy Services Market:

Chapter 1: Introduction, market driving force product Objective of Study and Research Scope the Consultancy Services market

Chapter 2: Exclusive Summary  the basic information of the Consultancy Services Market.

Chapter 3: Displaying the Market Dynamics- Drivers, Trends and Challenges & Opportunities of the Consultancy Services

Chapter 4: Presenting the Consultancy Services Market Factor Analysis, Porters Five Forces, Supply/Value Chain, PESTEL analysis, Market Entropy, Patent/Trademark Analysis.

Chapter 5: Displaying the by Type, End User and Region/Country 2015-2020

Chapter 6: Evaluating the leading manufacturers of the Consultancy Services market which consists of its Competitive Landscape, Peer Group Analysis, BCG Matrix & Company Profile

Chapter 7: To evaluate the market by segments, by countries and by Manufacturers/Company with revenue share and sales by key countries in these various regions (2021-2026)

Chapter 8 & 9: Displaying the Appendix, Methodology and Data Source



finally, Consultancy Services Market is a valuable source of guidance for individuals and companies.



Research Methodology:

- The top-down and bottom-up approaches are used to estimate and validate the size of the global Consultancy Services

- In order to reach an exhaustive list of functional and relevant players who offer Consultancy Services various industry classification standards are closely followed such as NAICS, ICB, SIC to penetrate deep in important geographies.

- Thereafter, a thorough validation test is conducted to reach most relevant players specifically having product line i.e. Consultancy Services.

- In order to make priority list sorting is done based on revenue generation as per latest reporting with the help of paid databases such as Factiva, Bloomberg etc.

- Finally the questionnaire is set and specifically designed to address all the necessities for primary data collection after getting prior appointment. This helps us to gather the data for the players' revenue, profit, products, growth etc.

- Almost 80% of data is collected through primary medium and further validation is done through various secondary sources that includes Regulators, World Bank, Association, Company Website, Annual reports, press releases etc.



Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/reports/116932-global-consultancy-services-market



Try a limited scope research document specific to Country or Regional matching your objective.

GET FULL COPY OF United States Consultancy Services market study @ --------- USD 2000

And, Europe Consultancy Services market study @ --------- USD 2500



Note  In order to provide more accurate market forecast, all our reports will be updated before delivery by considering the impact of COVID-19.

(*If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.)
Demand is increasing for a cloud-native data center infrastructure with the performance, efficiency, and the superior TCO of at-scale on-prem systems that can be delivered as a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution. Data center solutions require integrating many diverse products and technologies, including servers, storage, networking, and software, to deliver quality, performance, security, and scalability. Rack Scale Plug and Play Solutions provide a turn-key option designed and tested for specific workloads by a global team of Supermicro data center experts. The offerings include state-of-the-art options for superior performance, including new liquid-cooled configurations that deliver optimum efficiency and operate with lower costs and reduced environmental impact. Supermicro works directly with customers on the system architecture, workload demands, and final solution validation. Supermicro's manufacturing facility contains a complete 1-megawatt rack-level burn-in facility, incorporating L11/L12 testing, as well as benchmarking tools and experts.

"With Rack Scale Plug and Play, we are bringing our system design expertise and building block architecture to the rack level to deliver true at scale data center solutions, helping our customers to deploy a complete tested, and validated solution with minimal lead time," said Charles Liang, president, and CEO, Supermicro. "We have created rack level solutions that are targeted at the fastest growing and most demanding workloads, including Cloud, AI, and 5G. Designed for superior performance, efficiency, and costs, the solutions incorporate state-of-the-art technologies, including the latest 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors, high-density SuperBlade configurations, GPU Optimized systems with up to 16 GPUs, and all-flash NVMe petascale storage systems."

Selected Rack Level Designs

The Supermicro rack level designs are initially targeted for Cloud, AI, 5G/Edge, and High Performance Computing (HPC) is built from Supermicro's entire line of over 100 application-optimized systems. These building blocks include Hyper, SuperBlade, the Twin Product Family (BigTwin, TwinPro, and FatTwin), Ultra, CloudDC, GPU, Telco/5G, and Edge servers, and feature the 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors.

Charles Liang, CEO of Supermicro, presented Rack Scale Plug and Play Solutions at Computex Taipei on June 2, 2021.

To learn more about Supermicro Rack Level Solutions, please visit:

www.supermicro.com/rack-scale-plug-and-play

About Super Micro Computer, Inc.

Supermicro (SMCI), the leading innovator in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology, is a premier provider of advanced Server Building Block Solutions for Enterprise Data Center, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, and Edge Computing Systems worldwide. Supermicro is committed to protecting the environment through its "We Keep IT Green" initiative and provides customers with the most energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly solutions available on the market.

Supermicro, Server Building Block Solutions, and We Keep IT Green are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Super Micro Computer, Inc.

Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries.

All other brands, names, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Super Micro Computer, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.supermicro.com


"200 Clayton is a high-quality, generational asset designed to meet high market demand for contemporary class A office space in Cherry Creek North," said BREG CEO Doug Wells. "Cherry Creek North is an iconic location that combines an idyllic mix of work and leisure amenities and 200 Clayton will stand brightly at its center."

Designed by The Beck Group, 200 Clayton features premier retail space and institutional quality commercial offices. GH Phipps has been named general contractor, with Denver CBRE's Blake Holcomb and Brian Hutt leading the leasing effort to current and new market entrants.

OmniTRAX, The Broe Group's transportation affiliate, will anchor the project and occupy the 2nd and 3rd floors of 200 Clayton. Active negotiations with unaffiliated prospective tenants are now underway for the remaining institutional quality office space on floors four through eight.

"200 Clayton offers a world class space and location that are ideal for OmniTRAX's continued rail growth," said OmniTRAX CEO Dean Piacente. "This move secures our long-term headquarters while maintaining our proud heritage as a Colorado company."

About Broe Real Estate Group

Broe Real Estate Group, an affiliate of The Broe Group, acquires, develops and manages commercial real estate assets. Affiliated companies own and manage office and industrial properties, medical office buildings and multi-family communities across the country, including premier assets in many of the most desirable markets. The Broe Group has a 40-year history of value-add real estate investing in Northern Colorado and across the United States. We improve value though the implementation of focused business plans that increase cash flow and create stable income streams. Additional information is available at broerealestate.com .

About The Broe Group

Founded in 1972, The Broe Group is a private, multi-billion-dollar investment group with diversified holdings in real estate, rail, infrastructure, energy, agriculture, water, healthcare and technology throughout 37 North American states and provinces. Its deep operational knowledge derived from owning and operating multi-billion-dollar businesses and the global economic insights gleaned from serving its vast Fortune 500 clientele are strategic differentiators. The Broe Group's entrepreneurial focus enables it to find true value wherever it resides. For more information, visit broe.com.

SOURCE Broe Real Estate Group

Related Links

https://broerealestate.com


MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Eightfold AI , the provider of the Talent Intelligence Platform, today announced its integration partnership with Greenhouse , the hiring software company, and availability of the Eightfold Talent Intelligence Suite for all Greenhouse customers. Powered by the largest global talent data set, the Eightfold Talent Intelligence Suite delivers a competitive edge in hiring and managing a diverse, qualified contingent and full-time workforce.

"Our partnership with Greenhouse is critical to the advancement of our mission to provide the right career to everyone in the world," said Ashutosh Garg, Founder and CEO of Eightfold AI. "We're working closely with Greenhouse to help companies understand each candidate's capabilities and skills in order to create concrete, future orientation talent strategies."

Eightfold AI and Greenhouse users will immediately benefit from the ability to:

Fill roles faster with candidates who will deliver and succeed within established budgets

Deliver a candidate experience that attracts a talented labor pool

Lift diversity hiring strategies using Equal Opportunity Algorithms to ensure every recommendation uses only relevant data, and never uses factors such as age, race, gender, or disability status.

Improve recruiting with transparency and trust

Deploy a single AI-powered source-to-offer solution

Grounded in Equal Opportunity Algorithms, the Talent Intelligence Platform uses deep-learning AI to help each person understand their career potential, and each enterprise understand the potential of their workforce. Eightfold customers report substantial benefits throughout their talent processes, including 100 percent increase in recruiter efficiency, 35 percent faster time-to-fill, 60 percent higher qualified candidate volume, 88 percent more employee referrals, and more.

"To attract and hire top performers, companies must be aligned on the importance of hiring and commit to a talent strategy that prioritizes both new candidates and their existing talent pool," said Jon Stross, President and Co-founder, Greenhouse. "Partners like Eightfold AI share our passion for structured, repeatable and scalable hiring processes and the role they play to help companies create a competitive advantage through their candidate experience."

Join Eightfold, Greenhouse, Proactive Talent and Noom on June 8 to hear Jon Stross and Ligia Zamora, Chief Marketing Officer of Eightfold AI, discuss how to hire for potential using deep learning. Register for Open Forum: Building Belonging on June 16 to learn more about how to create an inclusive hiring experience in a hybrid working world.

Greenhouse.io users can learn more about Eightfold AI and schedule a demo here . To learn more about the Greenhouse Partner Hiring Cloud visit greenhouse.io/integrations.

About Eightfold AI

Eightfold AI delivers the Talent Intelligence Platform, the most effective way for organizations to retain top performers, upskill and reskill the workforce, recruit top talent efficiently, and reach diversity goals. Eightfold AI's patented, deep learning artificial intelligence platform empowers enterprises to turn talent management into a competitive advantage. For more information, visit www.eightfold.ai.

Eightfold.ai delivers the Talent Intelligence Platform, the most effective way for organizations to retain top performers, upskill and reskill the workforce, recruit top talent efficiently, and reach diversity goals. Eightfold.ai's deep learning artificial intelligence platform empowers enterprises to turn talent management into a competitive advantage. Eightfold's AI-powered platform integrates readily with Greenhouse, and is used by Greenhouse customers worldwide. Eightfold customers are seeing substantial benefits to their talent acquisition processes, including 100 percent increase in recruiter efficiency, 35 percent faster time-to-fill, 60 percent higher qualified candidate volume, 88 percent more employee referrals, and more. With Eightfold, customers are also boosting their DE&I strategies. Eightfold's Equal Opportunity Algorithms ensure that every recommendation provided by the AI is unbiased. Features including Anonymous Screening and Diversity Analytics support the fairness goals of your organization.

About Greenhouse:

Greenhouse is the hiring software company. We help businesses become great at hiring through our powerful hiring approach , complete suite of software and services, Hiring Maturity TM methodology and large partner ecosystem  so businesses can hire for what's next.



Based in New York City with offices in San Francisco, Denver and Dublin, Greenhouse Software has over 4,500 customers. Some of the smartest and most successful companies like HubSpot, Buzzfeed, J.D. Power, Booking.com, Scout24 and Warby Parker use the Greenhouse hiring software platform to improve all aspects of hiring, helping them to attract top talent.



Greenhouse has won numerous awards including Inc. Magazine Best Workplace (2018  2021) and Glassdoor #1 Best Place to Work, Forbes Cloud 100, Deloitte Technology Fast 500, Inc. 5000, Crain's Fast 50.



 2021, Greenhouse Software, Inc. All rights reserved. "Greenhouse Hiring Maturity", "Talent Makers", and the G Logo are trademarks of Greenhouse Software, Inc.

SOURCE Eightfold AI
As "The ElleVet Project" travels throughout the Golden State in its branded 32 foot RV dubbed the "ElleVan," the organization collaborates with city officials and municipalities to host a rotating team of compassionate and professional veterinarians to provide free veterinary care to the most vulnerable animals. Community-focused sponsors are again donating medical supplies, food and assistance to the project. Services include vaccines, flea and tick preventatives, deworming, and general checkups, along with emergency surgeries and other services as needed. The ElleVet project is unique in that the team travels to where the homeless congregate, to locate pets that may never have had veterinary care.

Knowing more about what to expect on a relief tour of this magnitude, company co-founders Amanda Howland and Christian Kjaer have raised their 2021 expectations for "The ElleVet Project" to treat 1,000s of pets in need, doubling the 2020 California tour.

"The ElleVet Project" mobile veterinary relief tour begins in San Diego on June 16, 2021 and travels to Los Angeles, Orange County, Studio City, Riverside, San Francisco, Sacramento, Modesto, Bakersfield, Stockton, Patterson, Lake County and will end in Las Vegas, NV in September. A complete list of locations and dates can be found at www.theellevetproject.org.

Previously known as the "Pets In Need Project," ElleVet's new 501(c)(3) organization "The ElleVet Project" was formally established in April 2021 as a charitable branch of ElleVet Sciences dedicated to giving back and helping homeless and vulnerable animals.

Howland and Kjaer originally developed the project in 2020 as a pilot program in response to COVID-19, knowing the homeless had even fewer resources than usual, and their pets were in a very vulnerable position. Last year's project team treated more than 1,200 pets.

"Last summer the Project resonated with people in a way we couldn't have imagined," reflects Howland. "It was a tremendous learning experience for us and now we're extremely motivated to make an even greater impact this time around. We're confident we can streamline what we're doing to serve many more pets this year."

The pilot project attracted support from veterinarians across the country and assistance from many celebrity supporters including animal lovers Demi Moore, Jane Lynch, Sarah Paulson, Rumer Willis, Judy Greer, Amanda Schull, Mark Steines, Rich Eisen, Georgia May Jagger, Manolo Gonzalez Vergara; along with dog influencers such as Norbert the Dog, Glee the Golden Retriever and Louie the Golden Retriever.

One of the unexpected outcomes of the first tour was how the project affected the pet owners and caregivers.

"It was often times a heart-wrenching experience to see how much our efforts affected and impacted the owners of the pets we were able to assist, and that's why we wanted to expand our vision for the project," reports ElleVet Sciences CEO Kjaer, who anticipates the project will expand across the U.S. within three years.

"People told me that by giving medical care to their pets, it literally allowed them to put food on their own tables," he adds. "That kind of feedback is hugely uplifting, and is key to why we're coming back and planning to grow the project nationwide."

Free services to pets of the homeless cannot come without the generous support of corporate and private donations, and the faster "The ElleVet Project" receives donations the sooner they can dispatch more mobile veterinary units around the country.

More information about donations in support of "The ElleVet Project" can be found at the project's website: https://ellevetproject.org. All Donations go towards vaccines, medical supplies, and emergency surgeries.

To see "The ElleVet Project" efforts in action during last year's mobile relief tour in California, visit this link: YouTube/TheElleVetProject. Additional photos and highlights are available at @Ellevetproject on Facebook and Instagram or at ellevetproject.org .

Editor's Note: Dates and locations are subject to change and will be posted at www.theellevetproject.org.

CONTACT:

Hope Diamond, [email protected]

SOURCE The ElleVet Project
AUSTIN, Texas, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fagron North America, a global leader in pharmaceutical compounding, debuts the most advanced genetic test supporting medical practitioners' assessment and treatment of hair loss in the US: TrichoTest.*

TrichoTest is a genetic test performed on patients' DNA that analyzes 13 genes and 48 genetic variations related to alopecia, including androgenetic alopecia, alopecia areata, and telogen effluvium. This genetic test is based on state-of-the-art DNA microarray technology and utilizes a patented algorithm to provide a personalized treatment recommendation to medical practitioners from 175 million therapeutic alternatives. TrichoTest analyzes prostaglandins metabolism, inflammation, androgenic effect, vasodilation and blood circulation, collagen synthesis, vitamins and minerals metabolism, and insulin-like growth factor metabolism.

Introducing the most advanced genetic test supporting assessment and treatment of hair loss: TrichoTest, by Fagron. Tweet this

Alopecia is a progressive and multifactorial condition related to endogenous and exogenous factors. Often, endogenous factors are genetics and associated with gene expression. The most common type of hair loss, known as androgenetic alopecia, is hereditary. If left untreated, hair loss usually progresses over time. TrichoTest is the most complete genetic test for alopecia, analyzing genetic factors and other relevant patient characteristics.

TrichoTest supports treatment efficacy. The test results can help medical practitioners develop a personalized treatment plan for their patients, which may include compounded topical solutions, oral supplements, and prescription hair care products.

Today, TrichoTest is the only complete genetic test for alopecia and hereditary hair loss in the US market.

Click here to receive more information on TrichoTest or Fagron Genomics.

About Fagron North America

Fagron North America (NA), a top-tier pharmaceutical supplier, is focused on creating the future of personalizing medicine through investments in genomics, technology, pharmacy essentials and 503B outsourcing.

Fagron Inc., a Fagron NA brand, produces high-quality, innovative pharmaceutical raw materials, equipment, and supplies to prepare personalized medication in the pharmacy. Fagron Inc. offers a broad product portfolio across oral and topical compounding ingredients. As a global leader in pharmaceutical compounding, Fagron supports patient-focused medication that works to improve quality of life.

*TrichoTest is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease. Any recommendations given to the requesting medical practitioner are for informational purposes only and no individual is required to use any products mentioned in a report.

SOURCE Fagron North America
Albright answers Q's on Iran nuke program, new IAEA report & his new book: Iran's Perilous Pursuit of Nuclear Weapons.

When: Thursday, June 3, 2021

10 AM EST Albright Briefing // 10:30 AM Expert Panel Discussion

Where: Zoom  Get link to Press Briefing & Panel Discussion

Albright will discuss and be available to answer questions on Iran's past and current nuclear weapons capabilities and recent IAEA reports on Iran's nuclear advances, safeguards issues, and continued stonewalling of inspectors. He will shed light on statements made by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi that Iran must come clear on its past undeclared nuclear work before prior to any agreement on the 2015 JCPOA, saying the two issues are "inextricably" linked; the meaning of undeclared nuclear material; and secret nuclear weapons related sites recently unveiled.

The briefing will be followed by an expert panel discussion.

Albright's new and timely book (written with Sarah Burkhard and the Good ISIS Team) is the most extensive ever produced on Iran's decades-long pursuit of atomic weapons. Their story starts during the dark days of the Iran/Iraq war when the Islamic Republic decided to build the ultimate weapon. It follows Iran's crash nuclear weapons program in the early 2000s and its subsequent persistent efforts to become a nuclear weapons power. The authors from the Institute for Science and International Security had unparalleled access to Iran's Atomic Archive  a vast trove of documents stolen by Israeli spies from a government warehouse in 2018.

Read the related Washington Post exclusive and Wall Street Journal editorial.

INFO: Iran nuke sites Unknown Prior to the Nuclear Archive Seizure & Sill Not Inspected

KEY Highlights from Iran's Perilous Pursuit of Nuclear Weapons, released 5/17/21:

1) The Amad Plan, the codename of Iran's crash nuclear weapons program in the early 2000s, was far larger and made much more progress than previously known.

2) About half of the Amad sites were unknown by Western intelligence and the IAEA until after the seizure of the Nuclear Archive.

3) Under international pressure, fearful of military attack, the Amad Plan was driven to downsize and deeper secrecy. However, Iran's decision to halt the Amad Plan merely served as a tactical retreat, not an abandonment of its nuclear weapons ambitions or activities.

4) Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, until his murder in December 2020, was the undisputed leader of Iran's nuclear weapons program. He was the Leslie Groves of Iran's nuclear weapons program, a person who brought great managerial skills and political clout to the task of shepherding the various pieces and talents of Iran nuclear weapons efforts.

5) Fakhrizadeh was the third of five key leaders of the Amad Plan and its continuation who have died violent deaths. The two others narrowly escaped death.

6) Today, Iran does not appear to have a program focused on the actual building of nuclear weapons. At best, its intentions remain unclear. But it does appear to have a program to be prepared to make nuclear weapons and to do so on short order.

7) The Islamic State remains on the brink of becoming a nuclear weapons power; its nuclear material production capabilities stronger than ever, its weaponization capabilities lurking under the surface. Iran is today able to build nuclear weapons faster than in 2003.

For more information or to contact The Good ISIS, please email [email protected]

Contact: Sarah Burkhard

[email protected]

Phone:202/547-3633

SOURCE The Good ISIS

Related Links

https://www.isis-online.org


Starring Jason Castro as Jesus Christ, Black Easter is nothing short of action-packed, centering on a group of young geniuses responsible for creating a time travel machine only to find that extremists, led by the financer of the machine, are attempting to use it for religious assassination. But their interference in the evil plot causes mankind to enter an apocalypse leaving the fate of the world in the hands of a genius with no faith and a man who has lost his. The film also stars Gerardo Davila and Johnny Rey Diaz.

"My goal with Black Easter was to create a movie that was not only highly entertaining and filled with excitement at every twist and turn but one that also leaves the audience with a taste of the Gospel in a way that they don't feel like they're being lectured to," said Carroll. "Everybody always says 'Why doesn't someone make a good Christian movie, something that isn't preachy?' Well, now we have one.

With a pre-release at select Studio Movie Grill theaters, Black Easter has received widespread prestigious international attention including being crowned 'Best Action Screenplay' at the Los Angeles Film Awards, 'Best Featured Script' at the Calcutta International Cult Film Festival and 'Best Original Screenplay Winner' at the London Independent Film Awards in addition to being honored at the Barcelona Film Festival. Early critics have also given the film a coveted positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Black Easter will be available for viewing exclusively to Amazon Prime subscribers. To learn more visit, https://blackeastermovie.com/.

About Black Easter

Black Easter is a critically acclaimed, science fiction cult blockbuster debuting to audiences everywhere on Amazon Prime on June 24. Centering around an extremist group's mission to assassinate Jesus Christ by way of time travel, Black Easter is packed with drama and adventure. The film is rated PG-13. For more on Black Easter, visit https://blackeastermovie.com/.

Media Contact:

Jim Carrol

[email protected]

9727540080

SOURCE Black Easter

Related Links

http://blackeastermovie.com/


WASHINGTON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Postal Service recognized Postal Customer Councils (PCCs) throughout the nation for their outstanding achievement and innovation during the unique challenges of the past year. Winners of the 2021 PCC Leadership awards were announced during a virtual event held yesterday.

PCCs are a grassroots network that provides a channel for USPS business mailers and the Postal Service to continue building upon their relationships so they can increase the use of mail and work on solving concerns and challenges that they both face. The relationship provides a means to share best mailing and shipping practices, and gives PCCs around the country the opportunity to connect and learn from each other.

Each year, PCC Leadership Awards are presented by the Postal Service in recognition of exemplary work to strengthen and grow the PCC network. More than 296 nominations were submitted this year, the highest number in the 60-year history of the competition.

Top honors were presented to PCC groups that achieved overall excellence in their efforts to serve their communities. The PCCs offered innovative solutions for unique challenges during a year that has created greater challenges for businesses of all sizes.

 PCC of the Year  Metro Market Greater Baltimore PCC  PCC of the Year  Large Market PCC of Providence  PCC of the Year  Small Market Central Missouri PCC

Scott Hooper (Greater Dallas PCC) received the 2021 District Manager of the Year Award. Hooper was recognized for his consistent leadership, support and active involvement in all PCCs in his district.

San Diego PCC was recognized with the 2020 Up and Comer Award for implementing initiatives that propel the chapter to thrive in all areas.

The following categories recognized winners with Gold, Silver or Bronze awards:

PCC Postal Member of the Year honors went to postal employees who excelled in their efforts with their local PCCs.

 Gold Jonathan Castillo (Sierra Coastal PCC)  Silver Mike Allison (Greater Oklahoma PCC)  Bronze Jacquelyn Villemaire (Tampa Bay Suncoast PCC)

PCC Industry Member of the Year award winners are tireless supporters of the Postal Service, constantly advocating postal products and services.

 Gold Stan Fredrick (Central Missouri PCC)  Silver Margaret Leger (Houston PCC)  Bronze Wes Friesen (Greater Portland PCC)

Innovation of the Year is presented to PCCs that demonstrate out-of-the-box thinking and implement creative ideas that can be replicated by all PCCs.

 Gold Sierra Coastal PCC  Silver South Jersey PCC  Bronze Houston PCC

Communication Excellence is awarded to PCCs that excel in implementing effective and creative communication programs using various touchpoints to reach their members.

 Gold Sacramento PCC  Silver Santa Ana District PCC  Bronze Central Arkansas PCC

Education Excellence is given to PCCs that have incorporated unique educational topics, speakers and workshops to increase knowledge within their PCC.

 Gold Greater Baltimore PCC  Silver Greater Portland PCC  Bronze Greater Charlotte PCC

Membership Excellence Award recognizes PCCs that implement strategies to grow membership and keep members engaged.

 Gold Inland Empire PCC  Silver Twin Cities PCC  Bronze Chicago PCC

The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

Please Note: For U.S. Postal Service media resources, including broadcast-quality video and audio and photo stills, visit the USPS Newsroom. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the USPS YouTube channel, like us on Facebook and enjoy our Postal Posts blog . For more information about the Postal Service, visit usps.com and facts.usps.com

Contact: Sara Martin

(C) 202-603-6675

[email protected]usps.gov

usps.com/news .

SOURCE U.S. Postal Service

Related Links

http://www.usps.com


WASHINGTON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Press Club and the National Press Club Journalism Institute condemned the escalating harassment and intimidation of journalists in Nicaragua.

National Press Club President Lisa Nicole Matthews and NPC Journalism Institute President Angela Greiling Keane issued the following statement:

"The recent wave of prosecutorial overreach in Nicaragua appears motivated to silence independent journalists. It is unjustified and should stop. Press freedom is a basic human right, and Nicaraguans should not be denied it."

Prosecutors in Nicaragua called in at least 20 journalists in May for "interviews," and in some cases threatened the journalists with indictment. In addition, police conducted raids on several newsrooms, confiscating equipment.

The harassment campaign appears to grow out of the Nicaraguan government's targeting of Cristiana Chamorro, a human rights and press freedom advocate who has expressed an interest in challenging Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's quest for a third term, and her journalist brother, Carlos Fernando Chamorro.

One of those summoned to testify in the investigation of Christiana Chamorro, Maria Lilly Delgado, was called twice to testify and was indicted, after prosecutors had threatened to indict her and other journalists who showed up accompanied by lawyers.

"They said if we insisted on the presence of our defense lawyers, the Prosecutor's Office would have to change us from the status of witnesses to defendants," said Delgado, the Managua correspondent for Univision, in an interview with the "100 % Noticias" news site.

The Nicaraguan Ministry of Interior is investigating Cristiana Chamorro over alleged money laundering at Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, where Chamorro served as executive director until February.

The U.S. State Department, which has been a major funder of the human rights group, said regular audits turned up no evidence of financial irregularities.

Founded in 1908, the National Press Club is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. The Club has 3,000 members representing nearly every major news organization and is a leading voice for press freedom in the United States and around the world.

The National Press Club Journalism Institute, the Club's non-profit affiliate, promotes an engaged global citizenry through an independent and free press and equips journalists with skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire civic engagement.

Contact: John Donnelly, NPC Press Freedom Team Chairman: [email protected], 202.650.6738

SOURCE National Press Club

Related Links

http://press.org


Request a Free Sample Report to Know More

Leading global suppliers can assist buyers in realizing high-cost savings through their efforts on areas such as backward integration, supplier synergies, reducing total ownership cost, conference participation, manage ad hoc spend, quality management, negotiate on pricing and contractual terms, managing labor price volatility, and cost of quality impact. Collaborations with global suppliers will also help buyers in cost-saving and ensuring high-quality procurement in the dynamic market.

The report also offers information on the upcoming trends and challenges that will influence market growth.

Download Our Free Sample Report

Direct Marketing Services Market: Key Price Trends

The pressure from substitutes and a moderate level of threat from new entrants has resulted in the moderate bargaining power of suppliers.

This makes it extremely important to get the pricing and pricing model right. Buyers should align their preferred pricing models for Direct Marketing Services with the wider industry and identify the cost-saving potential.

Price Strategies and Benchmark

Identify favorable opportunities in Direct Marketing Services 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

Explore more about market opportunities: Enquire about the report before purchasing

Some of the top Direct Marketing Services suppliers listed in this report:

This Direct Marketing Services procurement intelligence report has enlisted the top suppliers and their cost structures, SLA terms, best selection criteria, and negotiation strategies.

WPP

Alliance Data Systems

Omnicom Group

Interpublic Group

Harte Hanks

Publicis Groupe

Regional Analysis

Further breakdown of the market segmentation at requested regions.

Market Player Information

Detailed analysis and profiling of additional market players, vendor segmentation, and vendor offerings.

Know the strategies adopted by vendors during the COVID-19 Recovery Phase.

Speak to our Analyst for a Customized Report

Related Reports on Information Technology Market:

Brand Management Services - Sourcing and Procurement Market Intelligence Report: Social media channels are becoming integral parts in their brand positioning strategies as these provides actionable insights in the form of online consumer data that can be leveraged by using analytics tools to evaluate a brands' performance and to fine-tune the marketing strategy.

IT Consulting - Sourcing and Procurement Market Intelligence Report: The IT consulting industry is set to witness a spend growth of over USD 20 billion with spend momentum to accelerate at a CAGR of more than 2% by 2024. Buyers from logistics, chemical, and energy sectors are embracing digitization that includes the rapid adoption of cloud-based platforms to improve efficiency as well as to reduce their operational costs.

with spend momentum to accelerate at a CAGR of more than 2% by 2024. Buyers from logistics, chemical, and energy sectors are embracing digitization that includes the rapid adoption of cloud-based platforms to improve efficiency as well as to reduce their operational costs. Creative Agency - Sourcing and Procurement Intelligence Report: The creative agency industry is set to witness a spend growth of over USD 90 billion with spend momentum to accelerate at a CAGR of more than 5% by 2024. This spend growth will be attributed to the increase in digital advertising spend as most of the brands prefer digital advertising to target precise segments of the audience.

To access the definite purchasing guide on the Direct Marketing Services that answers all your key questions on price trends and analysis:

Am I paying/getting the right prices? Is my Direct Marketing Services TCO (total cost of ownership) favorable?

How is the price forecast expected to change? What is driving the current and future price changes?

Which pricing models offer the most rewarding opportunities?

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

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

Contact

SpendEdge

Anirban Choudhury

Marketing Manager

Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340

https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us

Report: www.spendedge.com/report/market-research-services-market-procurement-research-report

SOURCE SpendEdge

Related Links

https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us


Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/02/2021 -- HTF MI Analyst have added a new research study on Title Global Helicopter Engines Market Research Report with Opportunities and Strategies to Boost Growth- COVID-19 Impact and Recovery with detailed information of Product Types [, Piston Engine, Gas Turbine Engine & Stamping Engine], Applications [Commercial, Military & Others] & Key Players Such as Rotax, Rolls-Royce, RotorWay International, ITP Group, Safran, Honeywell, Hamilton Sundstrand, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., Voronezh Mechanical Plant, Klimov, ULPower Aero Engines, MDAeroGroup, GE Aviation, IHI Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., HP Aviation, Aircraft Specialities Services & Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp etc. The Study provides in-depth comprehensive analysis for regional segments that covers North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa with global outlook and includes Clear Market definitions, classifications, manufacturing processes, cost structures, development policies and plans. The facts and data are well presented in the Helicopter Engines report using diagrams, graphs, pie charts, and other pictorial representations with respect to its current trends, dynamics, and business scope & key statistics.



If you are a Helicopter Engines manufacturer and deals in exports imports then this article will help you understand the Sales Volume with Impacting Trends. Click To get FREE SAMPLE PDF (Including Full TOC, Table & Figures)



Impact Analysis  Global Helicopter Engines Market Research

Analysts at HTF MI constantly monitor the Helicopter Engines industry factors with impacts of current events; with this study an update of how industry players have tackled latest scenario and what key strategies have made significant difference is showcased.



Key Highlights from Helicopter Engines Market Study.



Revenue and Sales Estimation  Historical Revenue and sales volume is presented and further data is triangulated with top-down and bottom-up approaches to forecast complete market size and to estimate forecast numbers for key regions covered in the report along with classified and well recognized Types and end-use industry. Additionally, macroeconomic factor and regulatory policies are ascertained in Helicopter Engines industry evolution and predictive analysis.



Manufacturing Analysis the report is currently analysed concerning various product type and application. The Helicopter Engines market provides a chapter highlighting manufacturing process analysis validated via primary information collected through Industry experts and Key officials of profiled companies.



FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS: In order to better understand Helicopter Engines market condition five forces analysis is conducted that includes Bargaining power of buyers, Bargaining power of suppliers, Threat of new entrants, Threat of substitutes, Threat of rivalry.



Competition  Leading players have been studied from Helicopter Engines Industry depending on their company profile, product portfolio, capacity, product/service price, sales, and cost/profit.



Demand & Supply and Effectiveness  Helicopter Engines report additionally provides distribution, Production, Consumption & EXIM** (Export & Import). ** If applicable



Have Any Query? Ask Our Expert @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/3306782-global-helicopter-engines-market-22



Geographically, the following regions together with the listed national/local markets are fully investigated:

- APAC (Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, India, and Rest of APAC; Rest of APAC is further segmented into Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, New Zealand, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka)

- Europe (Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, Rest of Europe; Rest of Europe is further segmented into Belgium, Denmark, Austria, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania)

- North America (U.S., Canada, and Mexico)

- South America (Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Rest of South America)

- MEA (Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa)



The Latest Trends, Product Portfolio, Demographics, Geographical segmentation, and Regulatory Framework of the Helicopter Engines Market have also been included in the study.



Market Growth by Applications: Commercial, Military & Others



Heat map Analysis, 3-Year Financial and Detailed Company Profiles of Key & Emerging Players: Rotax, Rolls-Royce, RotorWay International, ITP Group, Safran, Honeywell, Hamilton Sundstrand, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., Voronezh Mechanical Plant, Klimov, ULPower Aero Engines, MDAeroGroup, GE Aviation, IHI Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., HP Aviation, Aircraft Specialities Services & Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp



Market Growth by Types: , Piston Engine, Gas Turbine Engine & Stamping Engine



Book Latest Edition of Study Global Helicopter Engines Market Study @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=3306782



Introduction about Global Helicopter Engines



Global Helicopter Engines Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) [, Piston Engine, Gas Turbine Engine & Stamping Engine] in 2018

Helicopter Engines Market by Application/End Users [Commercial, Military & Others]

Global Helicopter Engines Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Applications

Global Global Helicopter Engines Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2025)

Helicopter Engines Competition by Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application

Helicopter Engines (Volume, Value and Sales Price) table defined for each geographic region defined.

Global Helicopter Engines Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data

Key Raw Materials Analysis & Price Trends

Supply Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers, Industrial Chain Analysis

........and view more in complete table of Contents



Check Complete Report Details @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/3306782-global-helicopter-engines-market-22



Thanks for reading this article; HTF also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research according to clientele objectives. Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report like North America, Europe or Asia



About Author:

HTF Market Intelligence consulting is uniquely positioned empower and inspire with research and consulting services to empower businesses with growth strategies, by offering services with extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist in decision making.
DENVER and WASHINGTON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Valid Eval, a provider of secure SaaS platform solutions that help manage complex group evaluations with transparency, efficiency and accountability, announced today it was awarded the SBIR Phase III contract through the General Services Agency (GSA) to implement large-scale evaluation services for the Department of Defense (DoD) Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology [ASA(ALT)] in support of the U.S. Army's Applied Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program and the Army's xTech prize competition program.

This contract award supports ASA(ALT) and the U.S. Army Futures Command, Army Research Laboratory by providing the Valid Eval tool and services to assist traditional source selection technical evaluators in assessing and selecting innovative defense technologies and solutions. Valid Eval will continue to help the Army bring innovative commercial technology to achieve Army Modernization Priorities as the engine behind assessing small business technical solutions through xTech, the Army's expeditionary technology search prize competition program to engage non-defense businesses.

"Valid Eval helps DoD bring speed, integrity and the analytic underpinnings to acquisition process and programs," said Adam Rentschler, CEO and co-founder of Valid Eval. "We must ensure our servicemen and women are the best equipped in the world. Now, more than ever, battlefield advantages are rooted in technology overmatch. As technical breakthroughs accelerate globally, acquisition professionals are more important than ever. At Valid Eval, we believe we can help support DoD's modernization with a modern, agile and evidence-based acquisition methodology. We do so across the materiel developments process from basic research through sustainment."

The Army's flagship xTech prize competition  xTechSearch - allows selected small businesses access to pitch novel technology solutions directly to Army leadership, with open calls for white papers solicited twice per calendar year. In order to improve the efficiency and quality of evaluations and feedback to the companies, the Valid Eval assessment and feedback tool was selected back in 2019 to execute evaluations, conduct data analysis, and provide company and evaluator feedback for xTechSearch. Valid Eval has now been adopted for the broader Army xTech prize competition program to support all Army-sponsored prize competitions with 11 competitions supported to date.

"With the Applied SBIR program and Army prize competitions, our goals are to dramatically accelerate the Army's adoption of cutting-edge technologies and to build excellent relationships with non-traditional defense contractors," said Dr. Matt Willis, Director, Army Applied SBIR and Prize Competitions at HQDA ASA(ALT). "This tool allows us to take the proven workflows and capabilities from xTech and apply them more broadly. It unlocks the ability to seamlessly pull in experts from across the Army: warfighters, technologists and acquisition professionals. We're building a template for more agile, nimble and better-informed acquisition for DoD and the rest of the U.S. government."

The Valid Eval assessment and feedback tool was first piloted for xTechSearch in 2019, leading to its adoption for the Army SBIR program. In 2021, the Army will conduct evaluations, data analysis and provide company and evaluator feedback for xTech and SBIR topics using Valid Eval.

"Not only does Valid Eval collect and analyze decision-making data, it provides quality feedback to industry so they can then improve their products and better serve the mission," said Jacob Ablowitz, CTO and COO of Valid Eval. "Our technology simplifies complex acquisition processes to defend against adversaries and improve capability development while hardening processes to easily complete audits and withstand bid protests. We do so in a cutting-edge DevSecOps environment."

The Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology supports continuous modernization of the U.S. Army through the timely development and delivery of overmatch capability to deter adversaries and win our Nation's wars. The U.S. Army Futures Command was established in 2018 to lead Army modernization, providing future warfighters with the concepts, capabilities and organization they need to dominate future battlefields. Valid Eval's support of the Army SBIR and xTech programs is part of this rapid modernization process by transforming source selection and evaluation processes. By modernizing the acquisition process, Valid Eval serves as a model for how defense acquisitions can accelerate and improve integrity and outcomes at the same time.

The company also supports innovation pipelines for the U.S. Space Force, Department of Transportation and Department of Energy.

About Valid Eval

Valid Eval is an online evaluation system for organizations that make and defend tough decisions. Its secure SaaS platform works efficiently at virtually any scale to allow customers in the private and government sectors to involve a wide range of applicants, subjects, domain experts, and judges in evaluation and decision-making processes all with an unprecedented degree of transparency, efficiency and accountability that builds trust in the process. Combining best practices from the learning sciences and systems engineering, Valid Eval delivers defensible, data driven results and provides robust reporting tools that help measure and monitor performance and demonstrate mission alignment.

Learn more at: https://valideval.com/

CONTACT:

B.J. Talley

[email protected]

SOURCE Valid Eval
Latthivongskorn and Rojas Marquez receive the 2021 Vilcek-Gold Award for their leadership in establishing Pre-Health Dreamers (PHDreamers) with Angel Ku. PHDreamers is a collective organization that provides information and resources to young immigrants who want to pursue higher education and careers in healthcare. They also receive the award in recognition of their advocacy in support of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Both have spoken publicly on the humanitarian impacts of immigration policy, and about the value of programs like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). In 2017, Rojas Marquez provided testimony at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in support of the DACA program, and Latthivongskorn was a plaintiff in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California the case that brought DACA before the Supreme Court of the United States in 2019.

Latthivongskorn is a resident physician at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center; he completed his doctor of medicine degree at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and has a Master of Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Rojas Marquez is an incoming resident physician at Boston Medical Center and holds a doctor of medicine degree from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and a Master of Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Latthivongskorn and Rojas Marquez' commitment to advocacy in support of undocumented immigrants is compelling and personal. Both Latthivongskorn and Rojas Marquez immigrated to the United States with their families when they were childrenLatthivongskorn from Thailand when he was 9 and Rojas Marquez from Mexico when she was less than a year old. Due to their respective ages at the time of their arrival in the United States, both were eligible to apply for DACA; both are currently DACA recipients. As adolescents, they witnessed their families encounter obstacles to accessing healthcare as a result of their immigration status; as a result of these experiences, they sought careers in healthcare and public health so that they could provide the kind of care to others that their own families struggled to receive.

"The advocacy of Jirayut 'New' Latthivongskorn and Denisse Rojas Marquez has offered immigrants greater access to education, opportunity, and representation," said Dr. Jan Vilcek, CEO and chairman of the Vilcek Foundation. "As DACA recipients and young medical professionals, their leadership is grounded in their own experiences. We recognize New and Denisse as the joint recipients of the 2021 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare to highlight the outstanding contributions that immigrants are making to our communities, our healthcare system, and our country."

Dr. Richard I. Levin, president and CEO of the Gold Foundation, said: "Humanism, like medicine itself as [William] Osler said, knows no boundaries or borders. We are honored to partner with the Vilcek Foundation to recognize the groundbreaking contributions of Jirayut 'New' Latthivongskorn and Denisse Rojas Marquez, both young doctors who have helped illuminate the way forward for so many others in advocating for a more fair, a more diverse, and thus a more humanistic healthcare system."

The 2019 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare was presented to Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha for her advocacy to address the lead-poisoning epidemic in Flint, Michigan. In 2020, the Vilcek-Gold Award was bestowed upon Dr. Vivek Murthy19th and 21st Surgeon General of the United Statesfor his multi-faceted approach to addressing the opioid crisis, and for his advocacy and support of human- and community-centered care.

Hanna-Attisha reflected, "In a year like no other, our young healthcare leaders have bravely and tirelessly stood up for justice, equality, democracy, and opportunity. Leading the revolution, New and Denisse have paved the way for countless immigrants to not just dream, but to realize, a career in health care."

The Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare includes an unrestricted cash prize of $10,000, and a commemorative heart-shaped trophy. The award will be presented to Latthivongskorn and Rojas Marquez at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Annual Meeting in November 2021.

Read more about the Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare at the Vilcek Foundation.

The Vilcek Foundation

The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation for the arts and sciences. The foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation was inspired by Jan and Marica's respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $5.9 million in prizes to foreign-born individuals and has supported organizations with over $5.3 million in grants.

The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3).



The Arnold P. Gold Foundation

The Arnold P. Gold Foundation was founded in 1988 with the vision that healthcare will be dramatically improved by placing the interests, values, and dignity of all people at the core of teaching and practice. The Gold Foundation champions humanism in healthcare, which the foundation defines as compassionate, collaborative, and scientifically excellent care; the foundation embraces all, and targets any barriers that prevent individuals or groups from accessing this standard of care. The Gold Foundation empowers experts, learners, and leaders to create systems and cultures that support humanistic care for all.

The Arnold P. Gold Foundation is a public not-for-profit organization, a federally tax-exempt organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3).

Contact

Elizabeth Boylan

The Vilcek Foundation

212-472-2500

[email protected]

SOURCE The Vilcek Foundation

Related Links

http://www.vilcek.org


DENVER, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- DaVita Kidney Care, a leading provider of home dialysis, launched virtual support groups through DaVita Care Connect, a mobile health platform designed for home dialysis patients, to help create community and belonging for those treating at home.

"Patients treating at home sometimes feel isolated and miss connecting with other people they feel they can relate to, which causes some patients to leave home treatment," said Dr. Martin Schreiber, chief medical officer for DaVita Home Modalities. "By using our virtual platform to connect home patients with one another, we hope to create a sense of community, belonging and extended support."

Led by DaVita Home support specialists, the support groups encourage live, two-way communication between patients to ask questions and share experiences. Sessions are available for DaVita patients at no extra cost and can be scheduled daily or weekly within DaVita Care Connect.

"One way to thrive on home dialysis is by having an outlet to connect directly with other home dialysis patients," said Cassidy Roupe, licensed clinical social worker, national virtual patient support group facilitator for DaVita. "Our virtual support groups provide a community for patients that's available right at their fingertips. Sessions are structured as a safe space for meaningful conversation, where challenges and successes related to treating at home can be discussed and celebrated."

Support specialists and patients cover a wide-range of topics in the sessions, including:

What to expect when you're new to home dialysis

The path to a kidney transplant

Living life to its fullest while on dialysis

Balancing family, friends, work and dialysis

Stress management

Launching virtual support groups marks another milestone in DaVita's commitment to improve the experience of care for patients at home. DaVita's ongoing investments to strengthen its digital home dialysis platforms have helped patients thrive at home. In fact, more than 50% of DaVita's home patients use its platforms, such as telehealth and home remote monitoring, to experience similar care, confidence and safety as an in-center experience, from the comfort of home.

Offering a convenient, connected and confident experience for patients is at the core of DaVita's home dialysis program. As a pioneer in the kidney care community, DaVita offers a range of innovative solutions to support patients' needs at every stage and setting in their care journey, ensuring seamless continuity of care through life's changes.1

More information about how DaVita is transforming care for patients treating at home is available at DaVita.com/Home.

About DaVita Inc.

DaVita (NYSE: DVA) is a health care provider focused on transforming care delivery to improve quality of life for patients globally. The company is one of the largest providers of kidney care services in the U.S. and has been a leader in clinical quality and innovation for more than 20 years. Through DaVita Kidney Care, the company treats patients with chronic kidney failure and end stage kidney disease. DaVita is committed to bold, patient-centric care models, implementing the latest technologies and moving toward integrated care offerings for all. Through these efforts, DaVita has also become the largest provider of home dialysis in the country. As of March 31, 2021, DaVita served 202,600 patients at 2,827 outpatient dialysis centers in the United States. The company also operated 323 outpatient dialysis centers in ten countries worldwide. DaVita has reduced hospitalizations, improved mortality, and worked collaboratively to propel the kidney care industry to adopt an equitable and high-quality standard of care for all patients, everywhere. To learn more, visit DaVita.com/About.

Contact Information

Media:

Halie Peddle

(303) 550-6349

[email protected]

1 Service provider and modality choice are decisions made exclusively between the patient and their treating nephrologist.

SOURCE DaVita Kidney Care

Related Links

https://www.davita.com/


With this declaration, Andersen joins a growing coalition of companies calling for the urgent passage of the Equality Act  federal legislation that would modernize our nation's civil rights laws by including explicit protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) people, as well as improve protections for women, people of color and people of all faiths.

"Every person has a right to equality and to live without fear of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity," said Jay Lund, chairman and CEO of Andersen Corporation. "We committed to this cause, with the support of our employees, because we truly believe the best future comes when every person has equal opportunity to achieve their full potential."

"We call on congress to move this important piece of legislature forward and help ensure every one of Andersen's 10,000 employees and their loved ones, including those who identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community, have the same protections and opportunities," Lund continued.

For nearly 120 years, Andersen has celebrated diversity and championed its longstanding philosophy of working "all together" to create a special, inclusive and rewarding place to work for all employees. The Minnesota-based company is committed to furthering its culture of inclusion in support of and allyship with its LGBTQ+ workforce, advancing internal equity policies and programs to support existing LGBTQ+ employees, and attracting new talent.

Andersen is an equal employment opportunity employer, and shares its policy publicly on AndersenWindows.com, making it visible to job candidates, customers, vendors and homeowners.

"While we've come a long way in the fight for equality, millions of people are still vulnerable to discrimination because of who they are and who they love," said Alan Bernick, senior vice president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary, who is also executive sponsor of Andersen's PRIDE+ employee resource network. "Our country must guarantee non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people by moving forward on this landmark legislation."

Earlier this year, Andersen Corporation was named a Forbes Best Employer for Diversity 2021. The company also committed to participating in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2021 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), the nation's foremost benchmarking survey and report measuring corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ workplace equality. Through participation in the CEI, Andersen is creating more transparency regarding internal policies and communicating its commitment to an LGBTQ+ workforce.

Building an equitable community and using inclusive language also extends to how Andersen's team engages with homeowners and customers.

"In my role, we teach the importance of inclusivity when first engaging with our customers which sets up the rest of their experience with Andersen," said Benjamin Amundson, a member of Andersen's PRIDE+ employee resource network who is a retail marketing representative at Renewal by Andersen, the full-service window replacement division of Andersen. "The intentionality Andersen has put into creating an equitable and inclusive environment has been inspiring to witness  we're making giant strides to make our workplace a different and better environment for all."

The Business Coalition for the Equality Act includes more than 400 major U.S. corporations with operations in all 50 states, headquarters spanning 33 states and a combined $5.7 trillion in revenue. It is believed to be the largest business coalition to ever come together to speak out in support of legal LGBTQ+ equality.

*2020 Andersen brand surveys of U.S. homeowners.

ABOUT THE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FOUNDATION

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation is the educational arm of America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

ABOUT ANDERSEN WINDOWS & DOORS

Andersen was founded in 1903 on the philosophy of working "all together" to deliver on its promise to its customers. Andersen delivers products for the way people live, unmatched performance for the comfort and security homeowners desire, and endless design options to achieve any style.

Headquartered in Bayport, Minn., Andersen Corporation and its subsidiaries manufacture and market window and door products under the Andersen, Renewal by Andersen, EMCO, Weiland, MQ and Heritage brands. Andersen, a privately held company with more than 10,000 employees, operates manufacturing sites across North America and Europe. Andersen has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2021 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year  Sustained Excellence Award. Visit us at andersenwindows.com.

Follow us on Facebook @AndersenWindows, Twitter @AndersenWindows, and Instagram @andersen_windows.

 2021 Andersen Corporation. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Andersen Corporation

Related Links

https://www.andersenwindows.com


ST. LOUIS, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Anheuser-Busch, the country's leading brewer, today announced a national campaign with the White House to help meet President Biden's goal of encouraging as many Americans as possible to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by July 4th. With many parts of the country in a pivotal transition phase, the brewer is doubling down on its pledge to use its unique capabilities and deep connection to consumers to lead a strong and safe recovery by encouraging consumers to get their vaccines with its biggest beer giveaway in history.

"At Anheuser-Busch, we are committed to supporting the safe and strong recovery of our nation and being able to be together again at the places and with the people we have missed so much. This commitment includes encouraging Americans to get vaccinated, and we are excited to buy Americans 21+ a round of beer when we reach the White House goal," said Michel Doukeris, CEO, Anheuser-Busch. "We pride ourselves on stepping up both in times of need and in times of great celebration, and the past year has been no different. As we look ahead to brighter days with renewed optimism, we are proud to work alongside the White House to make a meaningful impact for our country, our communities and our consumers."

As part of Anheuser-Busch's " Let's Grab A Beer " initiative aimed at playing an active role in the country's recovery and making the moments that we come together over a beer even better, the brewer will offer its biggest beer giveaway ever to give eligible adults another reason to get their vaccines by July 4th. When the nation reaches the White House's goal of 70% of adults partially vaccinated, Anheuser-Busch will buy America's next round of beer, seltzer, non-alcoholic beverage or other A-B product*  inclusive of over 100 brands  to enjoy with family and friends. Adults 21+ will simply upload a picture of themselves in their favorite place to grab a beer, whether with friends at their favorite local bar and restaurant or with family in their very own backyard at MyCooler.com/Beer to enter to receive a beer on A-B.

"For us, everything begins and ends with people, and consumers are at the center of everything we do," said Marcel Marcondes, CMO, Anheuser-Busch. "Since last March, we've been focused on pivoting all our plans in order to ensure that our brands remained relevant and meaningful, through tangible actions. And now that we are at this pivotal moment where people are excited to be together again, it only makes sense that we would unite our full portfolio and take this action to encourage people to get vaccinated. There's never been a better time to be able to say, 'let's grab a beer.'"

Today's announcement is also another way Anheuser-Busch is using its unique capabilities in support of COVID-19 safety and recovery. In addition to producing and donating hand sanitizer to support critical relief and safety efforts, the brewer's brands have also stepped up to provide consumers a sense of joy, comfort and normalcy. Most recently, Budweiser, celebrated National Beer Day with a reminder that COVID-19 vaccines can help bring people back together in a film that marked the next chapter of the partnership between Budweiser and the Ad Council COVID Collaborative's COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative. The King of Beers also rewarded those 21+ who showed proof of vaccination with a "Beer on Bud". To bring back some much-needed fun and be sure everyone across America has the best summer ever, Bud Light introduced the "Bud Light Summer Stimmy" a proposal designed to hook 21+ fans up with prizes worth up to a total of $10 million.

To help prepare the on-premise for safe and successful re-openings, the brewer joined the National Restaurant Association's Restaurant Revival Campaign as the exclusive beer partner, and through Stella Artois, committed $2.25 million to the ServSafe Dining Commitment. The partnership with the National Restaurant Association was part of Anheuser-Busch's broader commitment to lifting up the bar and restaurant industry. In addition to donating over $5 million in partnership with the U.S. Bartenders Guild, the James Beard Foundation and others, the brewer's brands highlighted local restaurants that were "Open for Takeout," and encouraged consumers to safety return to the on-premise with "Your Table Is Ready," in addition to other programs.

Earlier this year, as part of its commitment to leading the recovery, Anheuser-Busch announced it is planning to invest more than $1 billion over the next two years in its facilities to drive economic prosperity in communities across the U.S., further fortify its operations, and strengthen connections to its consumers. The brewer has since announced several significant investments as part of that commitment, including nearly $300 million to produce Stella Artois in the U.S. and $100 million in its St. Louis brewery to support domestic operations for EverGrain, an innovative barley ingredient company.

Read more about Anheuser-Busch's support of COVID-19 recovery efforts here.

About Anheuser-Busch

For more than 160 years, Anheuser-Busch has carried on a legacy of brewing great-tasting, high-quality beers that have satisfied beer drinkers for generations. Today, we own and operate more than 120 facilities, including breweries, wholesaler distribution centers, agricultural facilities and packaging plants, and have more than 19,000 colleagues across the United States. We are home to several of America's most recognizable beer brands, including Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob ULTRA and Stella Artois, as well as a number of regional brands that provide beer drinkers with a choice of the best-tasting craft beers in the industry. From responsible drinking programs and emergency drinking water donations to industry-leading sustainability efforts, we are guided by our unwavering commitment to supporting the communities we call home. For more information, visit www.anheuser-busch.com or follow Anheuser-Busch on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

*LET'S GRAB A BEER GIVEAWAY. No Purchase Necessary. Open to US residents (excluding AL, CA & TX residents) 21+. Begins when 70% of U.S. adults receive at least one (1) COVID-19 vaccine dose as determined by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") and ends at 11:59 EDT on the seventh (7th) day following the date that the CDC confirms that 70% of adults have received at least one (1) COVID-19 vaccine, or until all prizes have been awarded, whichever comes first. See Official Rules at MyCooler.com/beer for prizes and details. Void where prohibited. Prize is a $5.00 virtual debit card that can be used to purchase one (1) Anheuser-Busch product.

SOURCE Anheuser-Busch

Related Links

https://www.anheuser-busch.com/


PHILADELPHIA, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Art City Vets & Urgent Care, a full-service veterinary clinic that provides general care, sick visit support, and emergency services, this week announced amid the pandemic and other business shutdowns, they are opening a brand-new wellness center across the street from their current practice.

Specializing as a veterinary hospital that will provide services to dogs, cats, and exotic pets, the new center will see primary care appointments including vaccines, exams, sick visits and husbandry consultations.

Dr. Edward Aller, owner and practicing veterinarian, opens new veterinary wellness center.

"We want to be able to help as many pets as possible, so we felt this expansion and opening of a new facility made sense for our team," said Dr. Edward Aller, Owner and Veterinarian at Art City Vets. "No pet should ever be turned away from the care and medical attention that they deserve. While other industries are battling the fallout of the pandemic, we are proud to report that the demand for our services has defied the odds and has never been stronger."

The new veterinary hospital is a super-modern and agile operation, providing cutting-edge veterinary medicine to all clients. Dr. Aller is currently a practicing veterinarian at the first clinic, which means the new hospital team will have real-time, current experience and oversight.

Additionally, Art City Vets is a proud partner of nonprofit rescue organizations that work together to save pets' lives while giving the nonprofit members discounts and incentives as pets wait for their forever home in their care. The team also does a lot of community outreach and sponsorships to support the greater Philadelphia region.

"We are team players here, which is why we go above and beyond providing our expert veterinary care," said Dr. Aller. "We know that not all pet owners can afford vet visits and care, which is why we proudly partner with nonprofits that are making this kind of medical accessibility that much easier. Spread the word on the opening of our new veterinary hospital today."

Art City Vets & Urgent Care opened in 2018, quickly extending their services to accommodate all of the pets in Philadelphia and beyond. Beyond offering check-ups and ER support, the team also sees a variety of small animals, including rabbits, guinea pigs, and rodents for wellness or sick exams. Lastly, Art City Vets includes a robust in-house veterinary pharmacy, blood work services, x-rays and radiology services, state-of-the-art surgical equipment, and dentistry for oral health.

The new veterinary hospital address is as follows: 2000 Hamilton Street, Suite 109, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19130.

For more information, or to make an appointment with the Art City Vets team, visit: https://artcityvets.com/

Contact: Dr. Edward Aller

Art City Vets Wellness Center

[email protected]

215-563-8387

Related Images

dr-edward-aller.jpg

Dr. Edward Aller

Dr. Edward Aller, owner and practicing veterinarian, opens new veterinary wellness center.



SOURCE Art City Vets & Urgent Care
HERNDON, Va., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Artel, LLC has signed a Basic Ordering Agreement ("BOA") with the NATO Communications and Information Agency ("NCIA"). The scope of the agreement extends to the supply of Artel's satellite communication, terrestrial and engineering solutions to NATO and NATO bodies, and includes any government agency, including military forces, of the thirty NATO Member Nations.

The BOA is a framework that enables a streamlined process for eligible parties to purchase satcom and terrestrial solutions directly from Artel, as a prequalified NATO vendor, or by using NATO as their contracting agent.

"Artel provides cost-effective, on-time delivery of global terrestrial and network communication services, cyber security, risk management, and information technology solutions and we are pleased to be extending these services to the NATO member nations" said Paul Domorski, Artel's Chief Executive Officer.

For more information about Artel, visit artelllc.com, or email us at [email protected]

SOURCE Artel

Related Links

http://www.artelllc.com


NEW YORK, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AXA XL Insurance today announced the appointment of Andrew Diesel as Casualty Risk Consultant -- Fleet in the Americas. Based in Dallas, TX, Andrew will provide technical support to AXA XL's underwriters and clients primarily in the U.S. and Canada. Andrew will be responsible for executing value-added engagements with clients, including in partnership with our growing ecosystem tech partners, as well as working with our underwriters to better support these clients.

Commenting on the appointment, Jonathan Salter, Global Head of Risk Consulting, said: "As we continue to expand our Risk Consulting capabilities, it is incredibly important we invest in the areas that impact our clients. The challenges facing fleets of all sizes in the Americas over the last several years are well known in the industry, and as a prior fleet manager, Andrew is intimately aware of the unique risks in this space. This technical insight, coupled with his experience in client consulting services with major insurance brokers, makes Andrew an ideal partner for clients and underwriters alike."

Richard Burggraf, Head of Portfolio Strategy, Data & Analytics, and Technology for U.S. Risk Management at AXA XL said: "Clients are proactively seeking innovative solutions to meet the challenges of their evolving operational and risk landscape. Andrew's experience in developing risk control offerings as both a fleet specialist and broker will complement our expanding suite of risk consulting services for our clients."

Andrew has nearly 10 years' experience in fleet management and consulting. He previously served as a Senior Risk Control Consultant at Gallagher, where he had responsibility for implementing the National Risk Control Strategy and led the National Fleet and Transportation working group.

AXA XL Risk Consulting supports large and multinational corporations in identifying, evaluating and preventing their risks. We provide pragmatic risk management solutions and consulting services to keep your business moving forward. Our Casualty Risk Consulting team is comprised of experts in general liability, product liability, environment, occupational safety & health, and vehicle fleet.

Follow AXA XL on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

ABOUT AXA XL[1] AXA XL1, the property & casualty and specialty risk division of AXA, provides insurance and risk management products and services for mid-sized companies through to large multinationals, and reinsurance solutions to insurance companies globally. We partner with those who move the world forward. To learn more, visit www.axaxl.com ABOUT AXA XL1 INSURANCE AXA XL1 Insurance offers property, casualty, professional, financial lines and specialty insurance solutions to mid-sized companies through to large multinationals globally. We partner with those who move the world forward. To learn more, visit www.axaxl.com MEDIA RELATIONS: Elizabeth Small Communications Manager, Americas [email protected] +1 212 915 6866

1AXA XL is a division of AXA Group providing products and services through three business groups: AXA XL Insurance, AXA XL Reinsurance, and AXA XL Risk Consulting.

SOURCE AXA XL
SAO PAULO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BRF S.A. ("BRF") today announces the commencement of an offer to purchase for cash up to the Maximum Amount (as defined below) of the outstanding 4.875% Senior Notes due 2030 (the "2030 Notes" or the "Notes") issued by BRF (the "Offer").

The Offer is made upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the offer to purchase dated June 2, 2021 (the "Offer to Purchase"). The Offer is not contingent upon the tender of any minimum principal amount of Notes, but BRF will only purchase 2030 Notes up to the total purchase price, including any applicable Tender Consideration (as defined below) and Early Tender Premium (as defined below) but excluding any applicable Accrued Interest (as defined below), not to exceed U.S.$180 million (the "Maximum Amount"). Accordingly, if the Maximum Amount is reached in respect of tenders made on or prior to the Early Tender Date (as defined below), no 2030 Notes that are validly tendered after the Early Tender Date will be accepted for purchase, even if validly tendered and not validly withdrawn, and any 2030 Notes tendered on or prior to the Early Tender Date and accepted for purchase on the Early Acceptance Date (as defined in the Offer to Purchase) or the Expiration Date (as defined below), if the Early Settlement Right (as defined below) is not exercised, will be accepted on a prorated basis such that BRF purchases an aggregate principal amount of 2030 Notes that would result in the total purchase price, including any applicable Tender Consideration and Early Tender Premium but excluding any applicable Accrued Interest, not exceeding the Maximum Amount in the Offer.

The following table sets forth certain information relating to the Offer.

Title of

Security CUSIPs ISINs Principal Amount

Outstanding Maximum

Amount(3) Tender Consideration(1) Early Tender Premium(1) Total Consideration(1)(2) 4.875% Senior Notes due 2030 10552T AG2 / P1905CJX9 US10552TAG22 / USP1905CJX94 U.S.$750,000,000 U.S.$180,000,000 U.S.$1,017.50 U.S.$30 U.S.$1,047.50

(1) The amount to be paid for each U.S.$1,000 principal amount of 2030 Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase, excluding Accrued Interest on the 2030 Notes to the applicable Settlement Date (as defined below).

(2) The Total Consideration equals the Tender Consideration plus the Early Tender Premium.

(3) The Maximum Amount equals a total purchase price, including any applicable Tender Consideration and Early Tender Premium but excluding any applicable Accrued Interest, of U.S.$180.0 million.

Indicative Timetable for the Offer:

Commencement of the Offer June 2, 2021



Withdrawal Date 5:00 p.m. (New York City time) on June 15, 2021, unless extended by BRF in its sole discretion.



Early Tender Date 5:00 p.m. (New York City time) on June 15, 2021, unless extended by BRF in its sole discretion.



Early Settlement Date If BRF elects to exercise the Early Settlement Right (as defined below), promptly after the acceptance by BRF for purchase of the 2030 Notes validly tendered before the Early Tender Date and not withdrawn on or prior to the Withdrawal Date (as defined below), upon satisfaction (or waiver by BRF) of each and all of the conditions set forth in this Offer to Purchase.

BRF expects that the Early Settlement Date, if any, will be on or about one Business Day following the Early Tender Date, which would be on June 16, 2021, unless the Early Tender Date is extended by BRF in its sole discretion.



Expiration Date 11:59 p.m. (New York City time) June 29, 2021, unless extended by BRF in its sole discretion.



Final Settlement Date Promptly after the acceptance by BRF for purchase of the 2030 Notes validly tendered after the Early Tender Date but on or prior to the Expiration Date, upon satisfaction (or waiver by BRF) of each and all of the conditions set forth in this Offer to Purchase.

BRF expects that the Final Settlement Date will be on or about one Business Day following the Expiration Date, which would be June 30, 2021, unless the Expiration Date is extended by BRF in its sole discretion.

The Offer will expire at 11:59 p.m. (New York City time) on June 29, 2021, unless earlier terminated or extended by BRF (such time and date, as the same may be extended, the "Expiration Date").

Holders of 2030 Notes who validly tender and do not validly withdraw their 2030 Notes on or prior to 5:00 p.m. (New York City time) on June 15, 2021, unless extended (such time and date, as they may be extended, the "Early Tender Date"), will be eligible to receive the total consideration of U.S.$1,047.50 per U.S.$1,000 principal amount of 2030 Notes tendered (the "Total Consideration"), which includes an early tender premium of U.S.$30 per U.S.$1,000 principal amount of 2030 Notes validly tendered on or prior to the Early Tender Date and not validly withdrawn on or prior to the Withdrawal Date (the "Early Tender Premium"). Holders who validly tender and do not validly withdraw their 2030 Notes after the Early Tender Date, but on or prior to the Expiration Date, will be eligible to receive the tender consideration of U.S.$1,017.50 per U.S.$1,000 principal amount of 2030 Notes tendered (the "Tender Consideration"). The Tender Consideration does not include the Early Tender Premium. 2030 Notes tendered may be withdrawn at any time on or prior to 5:00 p.m. (New York City time) on June 15, 2021, unless extended by BRF in its sole discretion (such time and date, as they may be extended, the "Withdrawal Date"), but not thereafter.

If any 2030 Notes are purchased in the Offer, 2030 Notes validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) on or prior to the Early Tender Date will be accepted for purchase in priority to any 2030 Notes validly tendered in the Offer after the Early Tender Date. Accordingly, if the Maximum Amount is reached in respect of tenders made on or prior to the Early Tender Date, no 2030 Notes that are validly tendered after the Early Tender Date will be accepted for purchase, and any 2030 Notes tendered on or prior to the Early Tender Date and accepted for purchase on the Early Acceptance Date (or the Expiration Date, if the Early Settlement Right is not exercised) will be accepted on a prorated basis such that we purchase an aggregate principal amount of 2030 Notes that would result in the total purchase price, including any applicable Tender Consideration and Early Tender Premium but excluding any applicable Accrued Interest, not exceeding the Maximum Amount in the Offer.

In addition to the applicable Total Consideration and the applicable Tender Consideration, as applicable, holders whose 2030 Notes are accepted for purchase in the Offer will also receive accrued and unpaid interest ("Accrued Interest") from, and including, the last interest payment date to, but not including, the Early Settlement Date and the Final Settlement Date (each, a "Settlement Date"), as applicable.

BRF reserves the right, but is under no obligation, at any point following the Early Tender Date and before the Expiration Date, to accept for purchase any 2030 Notes validly tendered and not subsequently withdrawn on or prior to the Early Tender Date (the "Early Settlement Right"). The date of payment for 2030 Notes purchased pursuant to the Early Settlement Right (the "Early Settlement Date") will be determined at BRF's option and is currently expected to be June 16, 2021, subject to all conditions of the Offer having been either satisfied or waived by BRF. All 2030 Notes tendered and accepted for purchase that have not been settled on the Early Settlement Date, if any, will be settled on June 30, 2021, promptly following the Expiration Date. In all cases, the total principal amount of 2030 Notes accepted for purchase by BRF may be subject to proration based upon the Maximum Amount as described in the Offer to Purchase.

Completion of the Offer is conditioned on the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions described in the Offer to Purchase. BRF has the right, in its sole discretion, to amend or terminate the Offer at any time, subject to applicable law.

BRF has retained Banco BTG Pactual S.A.Cayman Branch and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. to serve as dealer managers and D.F. King & Co., Inc. to serve as information and tender agent for the Offer. The Offer to Purchase and any related supplements are available at the D.F. King & Co., Inc. website at www.dfking.com/brf. The full details of the Offer, including complete instructions on how to tender Notes, are included in the Offer to Purchase. Holders of Notes are strongly encouraged to carefully read the Offer to Purchase, including materials incorporated by reference therein, because they contain important information. Requests for the Offer to Purchase and any related supplements may also be directed to D.F. King & Co., Inc. by telephone at +1 (212) 269-5550 or +1 (866) 856-3065 (US toll free) or in writing at [email protected]. Documents relating to the Offer, including the Offer to Purchase, are also available at www.dfking.com/brf. Questions about the Offer may be directed to Banco BTG Pactual S.A.Cayman Branch by telephone at +1 (212) 293-4600 (collect) or by email at [email protected] and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. by telephone at +1 (212) 723-6106 (toll free) or +1 (800) 558-3745 (collect).

This press release shall not constitute an offer to purchase or a solicitation of acceptance of the offer to purchase, which are being made only pursuant to the terms and conditions contained in the Offer to Purchase. The Offer is not being made to, nor will BRF accept tenders of Notes from, holders in any jurisdiction in which the Offer or the acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities or blue sky laws of such jurisdiction. In any jurisdiction where the laws require the Offer to be made by a licensed broker or dealer, the Offer will be made by the dealer managers on behalf of BRF.

None of BRF, the information and tender agent, the dealer managers or the trustee with respect to the Notes, nor any of their respective affiliates, makes any recommendation as to whether holders should tender or refrain from tendering all or any portion of their Notes in response to the Offer. None of BRF, the information and tender agent, the dealer managers or the trustee with respect to the Notes, nor any of their respective affiliates, has authorized any person to give any information or to make any representation in connection with the Offer other than the information and representations contained in the Offer to Purchase.

Neither the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, any U.S. state securities commission nor any regulatory authority of any other country has approved or disapproved of the Offer, passed upon the merits or fairness of the Offer or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of the disclosure in the Offer to Purchase.

About BRF

BRF is a sociedade anonima (corporation) organized under the laws of the Federative Republic of Brazil. Our principal executive offices are located at Av. das Nacoes Unidas, 8501  1st Floor, Pinheiros, 05425-070, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil, and our telephone number at this address is +55-11-2322-5000/5355/5048.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release may be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Other than statements of historical fact, information regarding activities, events and developments that BRF expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements based on management's estimates, assumptions and projections. Many forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "believe, "estimate" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are predictions only and actual results could differ materially from management's expectations due to a variety of factors, including those described the section titled "Risk Factors" in BRF's Annual Report for fiscal year 2020 on Form 20-F. All forward-looking statements attributable to BRF are expressly qualified in their entirety by such risk factors. The forward-looking statements that BRF makes in this press release are based on management's current views and assumptions regarding future events and speak only as of their dates. BRF assumes no obligation to update developments of these risk factors or to announce publicly any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements that BRF makes, or to make corrections to reflect future events or developments, except as required by the U.S. federal securities laws.

DISCLAIMER

This press release must be read in conjunction with the Offer to Purchase. This announcement and the Offer to Purchase contain important information which must be read carefully before any decision is made with respect to the Offer. If any holder of Notes is in any doubt as to the action it should take, it is recommended to seek its own legal, tax, accounting and financial advice, including as to any tax consequences, immediately from its stockbroker, bank manager, attorney, accountant or other independent financial or legal adviser. Any individual or company whose Notes are held on its behalf by a broker, dealer, bank, custodian, trust company or other nominee or intermediary must contact such entity if it wishes to participate in the Offer. None of BRF, the dealer managers, the information and tender agent and any person who controls, or is a director, officer, employee or agent of such persons, or any affiliate of such persons, makes any recommendation as to whether holders of Notes should participate in the Offer.

BRF S.A.

Investor Relations Department

Av. Nacoes Unidas, 8,501, 1st floor

05425-070  Sao Paulo  SP  Brasil

Tel.: 11 2322-5377

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE BRF

Related Links

https://www.brf-global.com/en


VENTURA, Calif., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Meet Kevin Paffrath campaign announced that he has successfully raised over a quarter of a million dollars only 2 weeks after announcing his candidacy. The money was raised from over 3,000 individual donors with no single donation totaling more than $5,000. The average donation amount was approximately $73 with $230,000 already received and another $20,000 committed. None of these donations are from the candidate or family members. Paffrath claims this shows the movement to recall Newsom is NOT just a "Republican recall," the recall is a symptom of Gavin Newsom's failures to lead California in solving our Homeless Emergency, Housing Emergency, Traffic Emergency, and Schooling Emergencies.

Meet Kevin Paffrath For Governor Campaign

Meet Kevin Paffrath's has a 20-part plan to solve California's crisis including declaring 4 states of emergency:

State of Emergency: Ending Homelessness within 60 days.

Ending Homelessness within 60 days. State of Emergency: Housing Crisis: State to Takeover ALL Building and Safety/Development for Expediting Building Permits IMMEDIATELY.

Housing Crisis: State to Takeover ALL Building and Safety/Development for Expediting Building Permits IMMEDIATELY. State of Emergency: Creating Future Schools to immediately provide a free path to financial, vocational, high school, and college education in ONE platform.

Creating Future Schools to immediately provide a free path to financial, vocational, high school, and college education in ONE platform. State of Emergency: Transportation: Immediately authorizing and requiring private proposals for tunnels, variable toll roads, mass transit, roads, and ending High-Speed-Rail Funding.

Additional priorities include no income tax on the first $250,000 of income and legalizing gambling both in-person and online.

Media Inquiries: [email protected]

20-Part Plan: www.MeetKevin.com

Related Files

06:02:2021.pdf

Related Images

image1.jpg

SOURCE Meet Kevin Paffrath For Governor Campaign
Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/02/2021 -- According to a new market research report "Optical Wavelength Services Market by Bandwidth (Less than 10 Gbps, 40 Gbps, 100 Gbps, and More than 100 Gbps), Application (SONET, Ethernet, and OTN), Interface (Short Haul, Metro, and Long Haul), Organization Size, and Region - Global Forecast to 2023" published by MarketsandMarkets, the global OWS market size expected to grow from USD 3.3 billion in 2018 to USD 4.9 billion by 2023, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.5% during the forecast period. The adoption rate of OWS solutions is expected to grow, owing to the increasing demand for high-speed internet and bandwidth-intensive applications, and a need for minimizing capital expense and IT resource.



Browse in-depth TOC on "Optical Wavelength Services Market"

43- Tables

34- Figures

109- Pages



Download PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=81649158



Among interface areas, the Ethernet segment to hold the highest market share during the forecast period



In OWS, Ethernet carries the highest market share as it is a cost-effective option for server connectivity. As compared to other interfaces, i.e. OTN and SONET, Ethernet has the highest number of installations and offers top cost performance among others. Gigabit Ethernet is the extended version of Ethernet which can offer tenfold speed than the traditional Ethernet. Wavelength services enable high bandwidth gigabit Ethernet network connections to be deployed faster.



Among application, the metro segment holds largest market share during the forecast period



The increasing bandwidth demand and connectivity between Data Centers (DCs) along with adoption of consumer 4K and higher video content and services on n number of devices are major drivers for the adoption of metro applications. Most of the service providers are looking forward to increase the wavelength speed by moving to metro applications.



In terms of regions, North America to account for the largest market size during the forecast period



North America is expected to be the main revenue contributor to the OWS market. The growth in this region is expected to be driven by the presence of prominent OWS providers, such as Zayo, Verizon, GTT, CenturyLink, and AT&T. Moreover, the presence of a large number of optical wavelength solution providers in the country creates a healthy competition, which would benefit the growth of OWS in the future.



Request Sample Pages @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=81649158



In the OWS market, the key and emerging market players include Zayo Group (US), Nokia (Finland), Verizon (US), GTT (US), CenturyLink (Louisiana), AT&T (US), Sprint (US), Comcast (US), Colt Technology Solution (UK), Crown Castle (US), Windstream Enterprises (US), Charter Communications (US), Cox Communications (US), Jaguar Network (France), and CarrierBid (US).



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/optical-wavelength-services.asp
Appoints Google Executive and Former Wall Street Analyst Carlos Kirjner as Celonis Chief Financial Officer

NEW YORK and MUNICH, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Celonis, the global leader in execution management, today announced a $1 billion Series D round, increasing its post-money valuation to more than $11 billion. In addition, Carlos Kirjner, a technology industry veteran and former top-ranked Wall Street analyst, joined as Chief Financial Officer from Google, where he led finance for its flagship advertising business and key product areas.

This round comes just six months after Celonis launched its groundbreaking new product, the Execution Management System (EMS), which provides companies a modern way to run their business processes entirely on data and intelligence. The new Celonis EMS addresses the fundamental limitations of running business processes across a complex set of aging and fragmented transaction systems, devices and edge applications, and triggered the creation of the execution management industry.

New Celonis investors Durable Capital Partners LP and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. co-led the round, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Splunk Ventures and a group of principal investors. Also joining the round were existing investors including Arena Holdings.

"Celonis uniquely sits at the center of one of the biggest technology trends of our time -- modernizing businesses with data-driven and intelligent execution," said Henry Ellenbogen, the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Durable Capital Partners. "Celonis is a rare gem that has a massive market potential to create a new and modern way to run your business."

"As companies grow, inefficiency creeps in and business execution becomes a struggle. Employees feel it, customers feel it, and it leads to significant financial losses and environmental impact," said Alex Rinke, co-CEO and co-founder of Celonis. "We are thrilled and honored that the rise of execution management is defining a new software stack that helps customers reimagine how they execute. It is the biggest shift in software since cloud computing."

"Business execution is what sets the leaders apart from the laggards," said Carsten Thoma, co-founder of Hybris and Celonis board member. "No transformation can happen without fixing the processes that drive day-to-day execution. That's why Celonis is in such a unique position to lead the execution management category."

Celonis pioneered the process mining category 10 years ago when it first developed the ability to automatically X-ray process problems. Today Celonis is leveraging this foundation to pioneer the execution management industry and change business processes. Celonis is growing by triple digits year-over-year. Thousands of organizations have adopted Celonis including Fortune 500 companies such as Danaher, Dell, Kimberly-Clark, L'Oreal, and Pfizer. Celonis has more than 1,300 global employees and is headquartered in New York and Munich.

Appoints Carlos Kirjner as Chief Financial Officer

Carlos Kirjner joins Celonis as its new Chief Financial Officer to guide the company through its next stage of hyper growth. Kirjner most recently served as vice president of finance at Google, where he led finance for business and product areas generating about $150 billion annually in revenue and was responsible for tens of thousands of employees. He covered Google's advertising business, including engineering and sales; Google Search; and Google Maps.

Before Google, Carlos worked at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. as the No. 1-ranked equity research analyst covering the Internet sector, and he was one of the first analysts to call out the importance of the cloud. He started his career at McKinsey & Co. in the late 1990s, where he was a partner in the tech and telecom practices. Carlos holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from the University of California at Berkeley.

As part of the executive management team, Kirjner will be responsible for the global finance organization and strategy.

"Carlos is a visionary business leader with a proven track record of spotting some of the biggest industry trends long before others and of operating in a fast-moving environment at scale," said Bastian Nominacher, co-CEO and co-founder of Celonis. "He has the foresight and experience to drive our ambitious goals of being a category-defining company that is built for long-term growth and impact."

Creating Customer Value and Momentum

The company's growth and innovation have triggered clear momentum for the execution management category.

Thousands of customers are shifting their spending away from the legacy stack dominated by aging and rigid transaction systems to running their businesses with modern execution management systems. In the last six months, more than 40,000 business execution and process experts attended the Celonis Execution Management World Tour and Celosphere 2021 , the industry's first execution management conference.

At Celosphere, Celonis announced that customers were eliminating billions in corporate inefficiencies by modernizing process execution. Celonis also launched the breakthrough $10 Million Dollar Execution Capacity Challenge , where Celonis will either find $10 million in trapped capacity or donate $100,000 to a joint charity.

Driving Industry Ecosystem Standardization

The entire business consulting and integration industry is quickly adopting Celonis as the standard of excellence for modernizing their customers' business execution. In March 2021, IBM and Red Hat announced a strategic partnership with Celonis to transform business execution for their global customers.

In April 2021, Celonis announced its Execution Management Without Limits program that will enable more than one million business consultants to conduct customer engagement with Celonis process mining and execution management products. And in just six months, since launching the Celonis Studio, the execution management ecosystem has developed more than 80 execution applications and hundreds more are in development.

Attracting CEO and Executive Alignment

The most senior CEOs and successful business operators are aligning to help set new standards and best practices in applying data and intelligence to execution with Celonis. Celonis recently announced the formation of the Celonis Business Execution CEO Council with a legendary group of Fortune 500 business operators to support the Celonis business execution agenda.

Celonis Funding History

The Series D follows previous investment rounds of $290 million from a Series C in November 2019, $50 million from a Series B in June 2018, and $27.5 million from a Series A in June 2016.

About Celonis

Celonis believes that every company can unlock its full execution capacity. Powered by its market-leading process mining core, the Celonis Execution Management System provides a set of applications, and developer studio and platform capabilities for business executives and users to eliminate billions in corporate inefficiencies. Celonis has thousands of customers, including ABB, AstraZeneca, Bosch, Coca-Cola, Citibank, Danaher Corporation, Dell, GSK, John Deere, L'Oreal, Siemens, Uber, Vodafone and Whirlpool. Celonis is headquartered in Munich, Germany and New York City, USA and has 15 offices worldwide.

Contact:

Isabell Horvath

Director, Global Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE Celonis

Related Links

https://www.celonis.com


With Claritas, Centriply is pushing to provide answers to "what does the potential of TV look like in the future?" Tweet this

Mike Nazzaro, Claritas' CEO remarked, "The bottom line is that not all identity graphs are the same. Many identity vendors can help you build customer segments. And others can link those customer segments to multiple marketing channels. But there aren't many vendors that can do both. Our Identity Graph supports customer identification, campaign delivery and ROI optimization to make your marketing campaigns as seamless as possible. Partnering with Centriply means marketers can quickly execute highly profitable omnichannel campaigns that reach specific customer segments across their preferred channels."

Centriply's (www.centriply.com) cross-screen use of audience data gives advertisers deeper insight into demographics, income, purchase history and behavioral preferences to make the right marketing decisions and better connect with people, then compares costs for the best media opportunities. "This is all part of our effort to bring a 'frictionless' planning process into the media buying marketplace. We have significant investment in our technology, and our staff, who look forward to bringing the benefits of cross-screen data and metrics to our clients." Lewis explained.

"Presenting a data-driven approach is paramount to a cohesive solution for clients that reduces waste and increases impact while extending reach. Combining premium inventory of linear TV and OTT we can choose from over 600 million impressions a week. It's a large-scale solution that can be delivered to our clients with quick turnaround and accuracy. This speeds the planning process by having these segments at our fingertips," said Leslie Holasek, EVP Media Services. "Our ability to deliver precise and actionable analysis of the potential performance of TV inventory, gives our clients outstanding new options. They can be creative and respond with leading edge tactics that are unique in this arena. Our intuitive platform puts planners in control so they can consider opportunities, while retaining the data segment values all the way through the buying and attribution stage."

"Together with Claritas we're pushing our platform to provide answers to the question; what does the potential of TV look like in the future? Centriply's Advanced Linear TV ad campaigns can improve the experience and abilities of planners and buyers of media across the TV industry," Holasek concluded.

This integrated service paves the way for even more layers of information to be applied to audiences, location and inventory with accuracy and richer detail than can be achieved with traditional approaches. The Centriply team is pushing to accelerate the transformation of cross screen marketing while reinforcing our abilities as the Search Engine for TV Audiences.

To become a partner, or request a demonstration, contact Rich Kaufman, [email protected]

About Centriply

Centriply is an independent media agency on a 25-year mission to give agencies and brands the technology that taps into the scale of linear TV with the abilities that digital marketers expect. www.centriply.com

About Claritas

For nearly 50 years, Claritas' unparalleled knowledge of the American consumer has yielded the most adopted segmentation in the industry, helping marketers identify their best customers. Through key acquisitions, the company has transformed into a marketing leader, now offering a single-source suite of solutions that give marketers the ability to identify their ideal audiences, deliver multichannel marketing engagements with precision and leverage measurement tools to optimize their media spend across online and offline channels and thus drive better marketing ROI. With an accuracy-first foundation, the robust Claritas Identity Graph serves as the engine that drives these powerful solutions, encompassing a proprietary data set of over 255 million consumers across over 600 million devices and 10,000+ demographic and behavioral insights. More information can be found by visiting www.claritas.com.

For more information, contact: Cort Irish Claritas 402 -415 -7764 [email protected]

Claritas and the Claritas logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Claritas, LLC. Centriply logo is registered trademark of Centriply.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Shelley Stansfield

Centriply

917-721-6052;

[email protected]

SOURCE Centriply

Related Links

http://centriply.com


SINGAPORE, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- China Yuchai International Limited (NYSE: CYD) ("China Yuchai" or the "Company") announced today it has entered into a strategic partnership agreement with an electric vehicle ("EV") bus producer in China, Guangxi Shenlong Automobile Manufacturing ("Sunlong").

According to the strategic partnership agreement, China Yuchai and Sunlong will join technologies to develop new energy vehicles based upon China Yuchai's four new energy powertrain systems including the ISG power generation powertrain ("YC IE-Power"), e-CVT power-split hybrid powertrain ("YC e-CVT"), integrated electric drive axel powertrain ("YC e-Axel"), and a fuel cell system ("YC FCS"). In addition to product development, China Yuchai and Sunlong will leverage each other's supply chains and distribution networks, especially in international markets, with a focus on entering into the southeast Asian markets.

Headquartered in Nanning, Guangxi Province, Sunlong specializes in new energy buses, and logistical vehicle development and production in southern China. In the past, China Yuchai has supplied its electric direct drive system, hybrid system and Nat VI-compliant CNG natural gas engine to Sunlong for its vehicles sold in southern and western China. In April 2021, the first batch of Sunlong buses featuring China Yuchai's new energy powertrain systems was successfully delivered to the Nanning local public transit operator.

Mr. Weng Ming Hoh, President of China Yuchai, commented, "We are excited to ink this important strategic partnership with Sunlong and make further inroads into the fast-growing new energy vehicle market in China and abroad."

About China Yuchai International

China Yuchai International Limited, through its subsidiary, GYMCL, engages in the manufacture, assembly, and sale of a wide variety of light-, medium- and heavy-duty engines for trucks, buses, passenger vehicles, construction equipment, marine and agriculture applications in China. GYMCL also produces diesel power generators. The engines produced by GYMCL range from diesel to natural gas and hybrid engines. Through its regional sales offices and authorized customer service centers, GYMCL distributes its engines directly to auto OEMs and retailers and provides maintenance and retrofitting services throughout China. Founded in 1951, GYMCL has established a reputable brand name, strong research and development team and significant market share in China with high-quality products and reliable after-sales support. In 2020, GYMCL sold 430,320 engines and is recognized as a leading manufacturer and distributor of engines in China. For more information, please visit http://www.cyilimited.com.

Safe Harbor Statement:

This news release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "project", "targets", "optimistic", "confident that", "continue to", "predict", "intend", "aim", "will" or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, statements concerning China Yuchai's and the joint venture's operations, financial performance and condition are based on current expectations, beliefs and assumptions which are subject to change at any time. China Yuchai cautions that these statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on a variety of important factors such as government and stock exchange regulations, competition, political, economic and social conditions around the world and in China including those discussed in China Yuchai's Form 20-Fs under the headings "Risk Factors", "Results of Operations" and "Business Overview" and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Among others, if the COVID-19 pandemic is not effectively and timely controlled, our business operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected due to a deteriorating market for automotive sales, an economic slowdown in China and abroad, a potential weakening of the financial condition of our customers, or other factors that we cannot foresee. All forward-looking statements are applicable only as of the date it is made and China Yuchai specifically disclaims any obligation to maintain or update the forward-looking information, whether of the nature contained in this release or otherwise, in the future.

For more information:

Investor Relations

Kevin Theiss

Tel: +1-212-521-4050

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE China Yuchai International Limited

Related Links

http://www.cyilimited.com


"We are excited about the Common Ground Capital Fund Opportunity. Mr. Lee's numerous years of experience in architecture and development are definitely an advantage in providing speed to market and a well-designed product with minimized costs," says Scott Arnoldy, Founder of Triten Real Estate Partners. Mr. Arnoldy serves on the advisory board of the fund.

"The Common Ground Team includes local experts in the construction and property management industry and we're excited to support the new venture with fund administration and operations," says Christian Mack, Chairman of Trellis advisors.

"There are a lot of players in the space but they aren't focused on design or service. We intend to provide our investors with attractive returns without development risk. Volume and quantity is not our priority. We're interested in quality to ensure our assets maintain and increase in value," says Ty Lee, Managing Director of Common Ground Capital.

About Common Ground Capital: Common Ground Capital is focused on the acquisition of single-family residential assets in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex with future plans of expanding to other consistent growth markets in the US. The investment thesis is grounded in data related to growth statistics and demographics. Common Ground targets submarkets with specific criteria based on current and projected market demand.

Ty Lee

Common Ground Capital LLC

(214) 226-7113

[email protected]

SOURCE Common Ground Capital
NOIDA, India, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A comprehensive overview of the Connected Drug Delivery Devices market is recently added by UnivDatos Market Insights to its humongous database. The Connected Drug Delivery Devices market report has been aggregated by collecting informative data of various dynamics such as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This innovative report makes use of several analyses to get a closer outlook on the Connected Drug Delivery Devices market. The Connected Drug Delivery Devices market report offers a detailed analysis of the latest industry developments and trending factors in the market that are influencing the market growth. Furthermore, this statistical market research repository examines and estimates the Connected Drug Delivery Devices market at the global and regional levels. The Global Connected Drug Delivery Devices Market was valued at 219 million in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25.7% by 2027.

Market Overview

The Global Connected Drug Delivery Devices Market is booming due to increasing penetration of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the healthcare devices, increasing focus on patient compliance, quality of healthcare, rising awareness of costs, increasing use of self-administered drugs, rising healthcare programs, and initiatives to spread the connected drug delivery devices' awareness. For example, Propeller Health company has conducted around 60 connected medical programs to spread awareness of connected drug delivery devices. The company provides add-on devices for inhalers that are synchronized with the patient's software for the analysis of symptoms and diseases.

Request Sample Copy of this Report @ https://univdatos.com/report/connected-drug-delivery-devices-market-current-analysis-and-forecast-2021-2027

COVID-19 Impact

Due to COVID-19, each industry across the world is affected and its long-term effects are going to influence the growth of the industry in the upcoming period. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the market is experiencing significant growth on account of the increasing demand for drug delivery solutions to be used at home. Furthermore, the market is expected to observe enormous growth because of the increase in focus on improving patient compliance and quality of care, raising the awareness of associated costs, and increasing the use of self-administered therapy.

Ask for Price & Discounts @ https://univdatos.com/report/connected-drug-delivery-devices-market-current-analysis-and-forecast-2021-2027

Global Connected Drug Delivery Devices Market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated.

By Product, the market is primarily bifurcated into

Connected Sensors

Connected Inhaler Sensors

Connectable Injection Sensors

Integrated Connected Devices

Connected Inhaler Devices

Connected Injection Devices

Based on Product, the Connected sensors segment dominated the global Connected Drug Delivery Devices market and is expected to grow at a noteworthy CAGR of XX% to reach a market value of US$ XX billion by the year 2027.

By Technology, the market is primarily segmented into

Bluetooth

Near-field communication (NFC)

Other Technologies

Amongst Technology, Bluetooth accounted for the largest share in 2020 and is expected to grow at a significant CAGR of XX% during the forecast period 2021-2027.

By End-User, the market is primarily segmented into

Healthcare Providers

Homecare

Hospitals

Other end-users

Amongst End-users, Homecare accounted for the largest share in 2020 and is expected to grow at a significant CAGR of XX% during the forecast period 2021-2027.

Connected Drug Delivery Devices Market Geographical Segmentation Includes:

North America ( United States , Canada , Rest of North America )

( , , Rest of ) Europe ( Germany , United Kingdom , Italy , France , Spain , and Rest of Europe )

( , , , , , and Rest of ) Asia-Pacific ( China , Japan , India , Australia , and Rest of Asia-Pacific )

( , , , , and Rest of ) Rest of the World

North America is dominating the Connected Drug Delivery Devices market in 2020 and is anticipated to maintain its dominance during the forecast period.

Ask for Report Customization @ https://univdatos.com/report/connected-drug-delivery-devices-market-current-analysis-and-forecast-2021-2027

The major players targeting the market includes

Propeller Health (Reciprocal Labs Corporation)

Proteus Digital Health

BIOCORP

Merck KGaA

Adherium Limited

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.

Aterica Digital Health

Phillips Medisize

FindAir

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd

Competitive Landscape

The degree of competition among prominent global companies has been elaborated by analyzing several leading key players operating worldwide. The specialist team of research analysts sheds light on various traits such as global market competition, market share, most recent industry advancements, innovative product launches, partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions by leading companies in the Connected Drug Delivery Devices market. The major players have been analyzed by using research methodologies for getting insight views on global competition.

Key questions resolved through this analytical market research report include:

What are the latest trends, new patterns, and technological advancements in the Connected Drug Delivery Devices market?

Which factors are influencing the Connected Drug Delivery Devices market over the forecast period?

What are the global challenges, threats, and risks in the Connected Drug Delivery Devices market?

Which factors are propelling and restraining the Connected Drug Delivery Devices market?

What are the demanding global regions of the Connected Drug Delivery Devices market?

What will be the global market size in the upcoming years?

What are the crucial market acquisition strategies and policies applied by global companies?

We understand the requirement of different businesses, regions, and countries, we offer customized reports as per your requirements of business nature and geography. Please let us know If you have any custom needs.

For more informative information, please visit us @ https://univdatos.com/report/connected-drug-delivery-devices-market-current-analysis-and-forecast-2021-2027

About UnivDatos Market Insights

UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI) is a passionate market research firm and a subsidiary of Universal Data Solutions. We believe in delivering insights through Market Intelligence Reports, Customized Business Research, and Primary Research. Our research studies are spread across topics across the world, we cover markets in over 100 countries using smart research techniques and agile methodologies. We offer in-depth studies, detailed analysis, and customized reports that help shape winning business strategies for our clients.

Contact

UnivDatos Market Insights

Pawnendra Pawan

Client Development Lead

Ph: +91-7838604911

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://univdatos.com/

SOURCE UnivDatos Market Insights
Dubber now a standard feature on Cisco Webex Calling and UCM Cloud

Dubber compliant Call Recording included in all subscriptions

Cisco first Dubber Foundation Partner

MELBOURNE, Australia and DALLAS, Texas, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dubber Corporation Limited (ASX: DUB) (Dubber), today announced that Cisco Webex Calling and Cisco Unified Communications Manager Cloud (UCM) will now include Dubber call recording as part of all Cisco Webex and UCM services at no additional cost to users. See related blog post here.

Now, Webex Calling and UCM users with the ability to record any and all conversations as an included feature of their Webex subscription. If a user or business requires additional features such as extended storage, video recording, transcription, sentiment analysis or AI-enriched insights, they can simply upgrade their Dubber plan from within Cisco's Control Hub with immediate access and effect.

Business users that have compliance or regulatory requirements to record and store calls can easily ensure recording, replay and data storage via the Cisco Webex platform, meeting their compliance obligations, regardless of the employee work location - a major concern for businesses as a result of the significant shift to remote and hybrid workforce arrangements.

"Cisco and Dubber share a common vision of the way that voice data will become a critical resource for all businesses and users in the future. This marks a major milestone in increasing the ubiquity of Dubber as the Unified Call Recording and voice data layer for the world's leading collaboration platforms," said Steve McGovern, CEO, Dubber.

Cisco as a Foundation Partner

Additionally, Cisco will become Dubber's first major Foundation Partner. The Dubber Foundation Partner Program utilises the scale and native cloud capability of the Dubber platform, enabling a service provider to embed Dubber within their core service and make basic call recording available for every user as a standard feature. Dubber and its Foundation Partners are then able to cross and upsell richer functionality for compliance, AI services, additional storage, insights and more.

McGovern added: "Dubber Foundation benefits Cisco and Dubber customers with a required capability as a standard feature while providing for the broader journey whereby the content of calls can be transformed into rich, usable data for compliance, productivity, insights and customer engagement.

"Customers worldwide are responding to increased regulatory and compliance obligations for their businesses. Embedding tools, like Dubber call recording, as a standard service that is available to Webex users will help customers meet those requirements while enabling easy access to powerful advanced voice data services," said Lorrissa Horton, Vice President and General Manager of Webex Calling and Online.

"The Foundation Partner Program provides Dubber with a significant additional revenue stream while preserving our current revenue models and creating the opportunity to accelerate growth in our core products. Having 100% of a customer base enabled provides Dubber and Cisco the opportunity to significantly drive consumption and uptake of call recording and voice data services on the platform," said McGovern.

As well as being an embedded solution, Dubber addresses critical data, privacy and regulatory requirements while providing a simple and easy pathway to richer functionality as it is required. Dubber recordings and AI-enriched data can easily be unified in the Dubber Voice Intelligence Cloud alongside conversations from other end-points such as land-lines and mobile.

"Business and Government require more than personal call recording," said James Slaney, COO, Dubber. "They need conversations to be captured in a way that is compliant and converted to data for revenue intelligence, dispute resolution, proactive compliance and customer service. Today's announcement is proof not only of the scalability of Dubber, but the potential we and Cisco see in tapping voice data to improve the performance of businesses and governments worldwide."

Background: Dubber on Cisco Webex Calling and UCM Cloud:

Available to all Cisco Webex Calling and UCM Cloud users as of today

Dubber call recording on Cisco is free for any end user on the Webex Calling or UCM platforms

Provides unlimited recordings stored for up to 30 days and is easily upgraded to unlimited storage for longer periods of time.

Additional Dubber compliance, storage, transcription and AI plans are available immediately

Access Cisco blog post here.

Accessmore informationhere.

Access Dubber on Webex via Cisco Control Hub

Background: Cisco UCM Cloud & Cisco Webex Calling recording:

Cisco UCM Cloud provides enterprise-class call control, session management, voice, video, messaging, mobility, and conferencing services that are scalable, customizable, reliable, private and highly secure. In a sector where call recording is usually the domain of the contact centre, businesses can now switch on specific or all employees immediately paving the way for real-time insights across the entire organisation.

Cisco Webex Calling is a cloud-based phone system optimized for businesses of all sizes. It provides essential business calling capabilities for desktop, mobile, and remote workers and is delivered from the global Webex collaboration platform. Webex Calling leverages cloud delivery to provide flexibility, rapid innovation, predictable operating expenses, and instant global scale while protecting on-premises investments by connecting them to the Webex collaboration platform.

This announcement has been approved for release by Steve McGovern, CEO, Dubber.

About Dubber:

Dubber is unlocking the potential of voice data from any call or conversation. Dubber is the world's most scalable Unified Call Recording service and Voice Intelligence Cloud adopted as core network infrastructure by multiple global leading telecommunications carriers in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Dubber allows service providers to offer call recording for compliance, business intelligence, sentiment analysis, AI and more on any phone. Dubber is a disruptive innovator in the multi-billion dollar call recording industry, its Software as a Service offering removes the need for on-premise hardware, applications or costly and limited storage.

For more information, please contact:

Investors: Simon Hinsley UK Media: James Taylor | The PR Network [email protected] [email protected] +61 (0) 401 809 653 +44 (0)7796 138291



AU & NZ Media: Terry Alberstein US Media: Charlie Guyer, Guyer Group for Dubber [email protected] [email protected] +61 (0) 458 484 921 +1 617 599 8830

SOURCE Dubber
"We are excited to return to Bahia Blanca and continue our partnership with IEASA and YPF to deliver an energy solution that is flexible, cost-effective, and environmentally-friendly during a critical period of peak demand," said Daniel Bustos, Excelerate's Chief Commercial Officer. "We are confident the Exemplar can perform again with our local Argentine crew to support the country's energy transition and post-COVID economic recovery this winter."

The return of Excelerate's FSRU comes after the company won an international, competitive tender for seasonal regasification service in Bahia Blanca earlier this month. Excelerate developed the Bahia Blanca GasPort, South America's first LNG import terminal in 2008 and has also operated GNL Escobar, an LNG import terminal along the Parana River, since 2011.

Known as clean, flexible, and accessible, LNG helps countries like Argentina, reduce their dependence on carbon-intensive and more expensive fuel sources. Between 2016 and 2020, Argentina reduced its CO 2 emissions by approximately 9.5 million tons through the use of LNG instead of diesel and other liquid fuels.

For more information about Excelerate's LNG import solutions, visit: www.excelerateenergy.com.

About Excelerate Energy L.P.

Excelerate Energy L.P. is a US-based LNG company located in The Woodlands, Texas. It is part of a privately held U.S. energy group founded by George Kaiser. Excelerate is the pioneer and market leader in innovative floating LNG solutions, providing integrated services along the entire LNG value chain with an objective of delivering rapid-to-market and reliable LNG solutions to customers. Excelerate offers a full range of floating regasification services from FSRU to infrastructure development to LNG supply. Excelerate has offices in Abu Dhabi, Buenos Aires, Chittagong, Dhaka, Doha, Dubai, Rio de Janeiro, Salem, Singapore, and Washington DC. For more information, please visit the website www.excelerateenergy.com.

SOURCE Excelerate Energy L.P.
Cultivating a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion requires authenticity and accountability. Tweet this

"For more than a year Ferrara has made significant progress in DE&I, building and establishing the right programs, and setting a path towards lasting change to achieve our goal to be best in class," said Todd Siwak, CEO of Ferrara. "Our 2021 DE&I commitments are ambitious, measurable, and guided by our values in support of our team and communities," added Siwak.

The commitments are designed to strengthen bonds with employees, consumers, communities and partners and include:

Advance people of color and women in corporate leadership. Ferrara is dedicated to a goal of 30% BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) representation in director-level and higher positions by 2024 and a goal of women representing 50% of director-level and above positions by 2026.

Ferrara is dedicated to a goal of 30% BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) representation in director-level and higher positions by 2024 and a goal of women representing 50% of director-level and above positions by 2026. Expand university recruitment. Ferrara is ramping up recruitment and engagement efforts to connect with students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs).

Ferrara is ramping up recruitment and engagement efforts to connect with students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). Promote inclusive product marketing. Ferrara is committed to reflecting our consumers' diversity in our innovation, brand strategy and brand communications with multicultural representation in our insights, input from diverse stakeholders during campaign development and increased partnerships with BIPOC content creators and agencies.

Ferrara is committed to reflecting our consumers' diversity in our innovation, brand strategy and brand communications with multicultural representation in our insights, input from diverse stakeholders during campaign development and increased partnerships with BIPOC content creators and agencies. Boost philanthropy and foster economic equity. Ferrara will support local communities through annual donations, employee volunteering and in-kind giving. The company will bolster BIPOC entrepreneurs and small business owners through business education, mentoring and other resources to accelerate their growth.

Empathy in the Workplace Builds on Corporate Culture

In addition to increasing racial diversity, as an organization Ferrara believes it's imperative to increase diversity of perspective for greater equity and inclusion in the workplace.

To do so, Ferrara has adopted empathy as one of its core company values, as part of an initiative to infuse diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the company.

To begin the process of adding a new company value, a working group of employees conducted interviews across all business units and functions of the sweet snacking leader to understand how DE&I fit into its culture. The team's findings and subsequent recommendations led Ferrara to commit to meeting an expansive series of DE&I benchmarks, ultimately to foster meaningful connections with employees, communities, consumers and partners.

"We conducted an introspective look at our company values to ensure they reflect who we are today and who we hope to become," said Natasha Miller Williams, VP & Head of DE&I at Ferrara. "Empathy is our ability to see the world through someone else's perspective, then going a step further to seek out and embrace other points of view. The addition of empathy as one of our core values makes us a more thoughtful company in relating to each other, and in relating to consumers to create new, innovative products and to drive impact in the communities we serve."

Ferrara's core company values include empowerment, collaboration, agility, integrity and now empathy. Empathetic workplace teams cultivate trust, readily resolve conflict and strengthen commitments  all of which will help Ferrara continue building a culture of listening and sharing and deliver on DE&I and performance goals.

"Cultivating a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion requires authenticity and accountability. Both rely on our ability to be generous in our interpretations of each other," said Miller Williams. "We continue to seek ways to understand, learn and grow together and are committed to systemic changes to propel our company and communities to a more positive position."

A Sustained Push for Progress

With its new commitments, Ferrara will not only propel its own workforce forward but also aim to spur positive change in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) space. Ferrara has implemented proven DE&I best practices such as creating employee resource groups, establishing a diversity council, partnering with external organizations that focus on eradicating inequality and launching an internal Sweet Pairs mentoring program.

"Systemic and entrenched inequities were created over generations and we can't reverse their effect overnight," said Greg Guidotti, General Manager, Sugar Confections, Ferrara. "Ferrara is unwaveringly devoted to doing the work, taking material steps forward and going the distance. We are dogged in our pursuit of a more equitable, inclusive workforce, communityand world."

Ferrara is determined to be best in class in diverse representation and inclusivity in the FMCG industry. See the company's complete list of 2021 DE&I commitments at ferrarausa.com.

About Ferrara

Ferrara Candy Company, a company related to The Ferrero Group, is an emerging powerhouse in the North American confections and sweet snacking categories. A passionate team of nearly 6,000 employees works together to share delight in every bite through leading brands that have shaped the industry for more than 100 years. Our diverse portfolio of nearly 35 brands includes SweeTARTS, Trolli, Brach's, Black Forest and NERDS, along with iconic favorites like Lemonhead, Red Hots and Now and Later. Ferrara also manages the Keebler and Famous Amos businesses for The Ferrero Group. Headquartered in Chicago, Ferrara has an operational network of 20 locations in North America that includes manufacturing, distribution and R&D facilities. Learn more at www.ferrarausa.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Maria del Rio

Purpose Brand

[email protected]

SOURCE Ferrara

Related Links

http://www.ferrarausa.com


SAN FRANCISCO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bay Area residents can now get their beloved farmers market produce delivered to their doorstep and support local farmers at the same time. CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture), the Bay Area nonprofit that operates the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market has partnered with The FruitGuys , a family-owned and operated B Corp, to launch Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Delivered ( fpfmdelivered.com ). The online market will be curated by CUESA, while fulfilment will be managed by The FruitGuys, a 23-year veteran of home and office produce delivery.

The online marketplace provides shoppers with a robust, a-la-carte online shopping experience where they can choose from a variety of fresh, peak-season produce from local farms, learn about their growing practices and in turn, help farmers sell more of their produce. This past year has been particularly hard on many small farms who endured restaurant closures and reduced farmers market foot traffic. This direct online sales channel will help farmers by supporting them as they evolve, diversify and cater to the way consumer shopping behavior has changed during the pandemic and beyond.

"Finding our path out of the pandemic in a way that builds stability for rural food producers and urban residents alike requires innovation and adaptation," said Christine Farren, executive director, CUESA. "We see the steep economic challenges California family farmers face, which is why we are developing new ways to support them. Farmers markets remain critical to a resilient and equitable local food system and partnering with The FruitGuys to bring Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Delivered to life was the logical next step in expanding the ways we connect our community with fresh, local food for the times when they are unable to support our farmers in person at the market."

Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Delivered is an evolution of the former CUESA Farmers Market Box program that allowed curbside pickup of curated produce boxes from the market during the pandemic. CUESA sold close to 5,000 boxes and directed $175,000 to small farms and food businesses in the last year.

"We are honored and excited to work with CUESA as we expand our services and offerings," said Chris Mittelstaedt, founder and chief executive officer, The FruitGuys. "We've worked with a number of CUESA farmers for many years and this delivery program expands our mission to support small farms and community supported agriculture. We're also very excited to promote the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Delivered to our office clients as employees return to work in the Bay Area."

"When COVID hit, we, along with most other farm businesses, had to pivot," says third-generation farmer Sandi McGinnis of McGinnis Ranch, a diversified organic farm in Watsonville. "CUESA also pivoted very quickly and figured out the logistics to provide a safe way to still get fresh vegetables to people while helping out farms. We look forward to continuing this partnership with CUESA and The FruitGuys, with the same goal in mind."

CUESA's Ferry Plaza Farmers Market is widely known for its dedication to sustainable producers and wide variety of high-quality produce, beloved by locals and restaurant chefs alike. All produce on the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Delivered website will be sourced from Ferry Plaza Farmers Market farms within California. Home delivery is available within the San Francisco Bay Area.

For more information, please visit www.fpfmdelivered.com.

About CUESA

CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture) is a mission-driven 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to growing thriving communities through the power and joy of local food. Founded in 1994, CUESA operates the world-renowned Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and Mission Community Market in San Francisco. CUESA is a cutting-edge force in influencing how people grow, produce, and eat food in the Bay Area and beyond.

About The FruitGuys

The FruitGuys was founded in the kitchen of Chris Mittelstaedt's one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco in 1998 with the idea to help companies provide healthy options to employees during their workday. Today, the company is a proud B Corp and a trusted provider of farm-fresh fruit, produce, and snacks to businesses, schools, and homes across the country. Still a family owned and operated business, The FruitGuys is committed to its mission of fighting hunger in communities nationwide and supporting small farms and agricultural sustainability. @fruitguys on social.

Media Inquiries

For more information, photos, or interviews, please contact:

Tracy Rubin

JCUTLER media group

[email protected]

Brie Mazurek, Communications Director, CUESA

[email protected]

415-291-3276 x104

SOURCE The FruitGuys

Related Links

https://fruitguys.com


First patient dosed with QBiotics' lead oncology molecule tigilanol tiglate in combination with KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab) in a clinical trial collaboration with MSD (tradename of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ , USA)

, USA) The Phase Ib/IIa study will test the safety, optimal dose and tumour response of the combination in patients with late-stage unresectable melanoma and previous exposure to immune checkpoint inhibitors

The multi-centre study will enrol approximately 22 patients across a number of Australian sites

Melanoma is the most-deadly form of skin cancer, with more than 320,000 new cases diagnosed globally[1]

BRISBANE, Australia, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- QBiotics Group Limited (QBiotics), a life sciences company developing novel small molecule anticancer and wound healing pharmaceuticals, is pleased to announce that it has dosed the first patient in the Phase Ib/IIa clinical trial of the company's lead oncology molecule, tigilanol tiglate in combination with MSD's immune checkpoint inhibitor KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab) for patients with unresectable melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

The QB46C-H06 multi-centre, open label study will enrol approximately 22 patients with Stage IIIB to IV M1c-melanoma across a number of Australian sites over 24 months. The study will test up to three intratumoural doses of tigilanol tiglate at three escalating dose levels, administered 3 weeks apart in combination with intravenous pembrolizumab administered every 3 weeks for up to 24 months. The study will evaluate the safety, optimal dose and tumour response of the tigilanol tiglate and pembrolizumab combination in patients with late-stage unresectable melanoma, who have been previously exposed to immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Dr Victoria Gordon, Managing Director and CEO of QBiotics, said "We are very pleased to be collaborating with MSD in the fight against melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer prevalent worldwide, but especially so here in Australia.

Dr Gordon continued "Patients with unresectable melanoma who have received prior checkpoint inhibitors currently have limited effective treatment options. We hope to see that when combined, tigilanol tiglate and KEYTRUDA may produce additive anti-tumour immune responses, improving outcomes for patients."

Over the last decade, the global cases of melanoma have increased by nearly 50 percent, with more than 320,000 people diagnosed annually. This translates to approximately 60,000 melanoma-related deaths per year[1]. Australia has the highest melanoma rates in the world, with one person diagnosed every 30 minutes, and an estimated 1,300 deaths each year.[2]

Tigilanol tiglate is a plant-derived small molecule, administered by injection directly into a solid tumour. Injected tumours are rapidly destroyed by tumour cell necrosis, vascular disruption, and immune-mediated mechanisms.[3] Pembrolizumab is a systemic immune checkpoint inhibitor, which reactivates the immune system by blocking the activity of PD-1, an immune checkpoint protein that prevents T cells from recognising and killing cancer cells.[4]

"The commencement of this trial with our first patient dosed is a significant milestone for QBiotics and is underpinned by positive outcomes from our Phase I QBC46-H01 Phase I study using tigilanol tiglate as a monotherapy in 22 patients with a broad range of refractory solid tumours. In this Phase I study a single injection of tigilanol tiglate showed an injected tumour response rate of 60% (CR of 20%, PR of 28%, SD of 12%).[5] Non-injected (abscopal) responses in distal tumours were observed in two patients with melanoma[6]," said Dr Gordon.

FURTHER DR VICTORIA GORDON, CEO & MANAGING DIRECTOR, QBIOTICS GROUP INFORMATION [email protected] or +61 418 453 737



MEDIA JANE LOWE, IR DEPARTMENT ENQUIRIES [email protected] or +61 411 117 774

ABOUT TRIAL NCT04834973

A Phase Ib/IIa, multicentre, open label, dose-escalation study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary effectiveness of intratumoural tigilanol tiglate in combination with intravenous pembrolizumab in adult patients with unresectable, Stage IIIB to IV M1c melanoma.

The primary objectives are 1. To determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) or maximum feasible dose (MFD) level of a single intratumoural injection of tigilanol tiglate administered in combination with intravenous pembrolizumab (200 mg), and 2. To assess the safety and tolerability of i) A single injection of tigilanol tiglate at escalating dose levels (dose-escalation) administered in combination with pembrolizumab; and ii) Repeat injections of tigilanol tiglate (maximum of 3) administered in combination with pembrolizumab. Secondary objectives include tumour responses according to RECIST 1.1 criteria, including loco-regional control of injected tumour(s) and non-injected tumour(s), and survival in patients. For more information, visit https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04834973

ABOUT QBIOTICS

QBiotics is a public unlisted Australian life sciences company which discovers, develops and commercialises novel anticancer and wound healing pharmaceuticals for human and veterinary markets. Its lead molecule, tigilanol tiglate, is a small molecule anticancer pharmaceutical targeting a range of solid tumours across multiple species. QBiotics' business model is to develop products that have application in both veterinary and human markets. Success in the veterinary programs validates QBiotics technology and de-risks human development, while generating early, non-diluting revenues.

https://qbiotics.com

ABOUT TIGILANOL TIGLATE

Tigilanol tiglate is a small molecule being developed as an intratumoural treatment for solid tumours. It has a multimodal action that involves injected tumour responses as well as systemic responses in non-injected tumours. Complete destruction of the injected tumour is mediated via tumour vascular disruption, death of tumour cells by oncosis and immune-mediated mechanisms.3 Following tumour destruction, rapid wound healing has been shown to ensue.

A veterinary version of tigilanol tiglate (STELFONTA) is approved to treat canine mast cell tumours. STELFONTA is marketed in Europe, the United Kingdom and USA by QBiotics partner Virbac, a global animal health company. STELFONTA is also under review by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority. In a pivotal US study, a single injection of STELFONTA induced a 75% complete response, and an 88% complete response with two injections. There was no tumour recurrence in 89% of evaluable cases 12 months post-treatment.[7]

[1] Globocan, (2020) Melanoma of Skin, https://gco.iarc.fr/today/data/factsheets/cancers/16-Melanoma-of-skin-fact-sheet.pdf [2] Global Coalition for Melanoma Patient Advocacy, (2020) Melanoma Skin Cancer Report, https://melanomapatients.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2020-campaign-report-GC-version-MPA_1.pdf [3] Boyle et al., (2014) Intra-tumoural injection of the novel PKC activator EBC-46 rapidly ablates tumours in mouse models. PLoS One 9:e1068887. [4] Hamid et al., (2019) Five-year survival outcomes for patients with advanced melanoma treated with pembrolizumab in KEYNOTE-001. Annals of Oncology 30: 582588. [5] CR, complete response; PR, partial response; SD, stable disease. [6] Panizza et al., (2019) Phase I dose-escalation study to determine the safety, tolerability, preliminary efficacy and pharmacokinetics of an intra tumoural injection of tigilanol tiglate (EBC-46). EBioMedicine 50: 433-441. [7] De Ridder et al., (2020). Randomized controlled clinical study evaluating the efficacy and safety of intratumoral treatment of canine mast cell tumors with tigilanol tiglate. J. Vet. Inter. Med. 1-15.

SOURCE QBiotics Group Limited
The Board of New Zealand King Salmon advise that trading in the first half of FY22 (Feb to July 21) has been problematic. King Salmon is a difficult species to farm and there were issues with our fish in the warmer Pelorus Sound over the summer months that hindered growth in that region, after changes were made to our farming model. The smaller fish size and reduced biomass has progressively become more apparent with the completion of post summer weight assessments.

We believe this is temporary. Steps have been made to rectify the issue and we believe that fish sizes will be recovering by July and biomass should improve to a satisfactory position in October. The balance sheet remains strong.

The company has profitably closed out foreign exchange hedges that were surplus to requirements. Price increases have been notified to the market, with benefit to be seen in the second half.

In light of current trading conditions, we expect to provide more detailed guidance with the announcement of our half year results for the six months ending 31 July 2021.

Please see the link below for details

NZK Market Update

Source: New Zealand King Salmon Investments Limited

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Related News:

Tower Limited (NZX: TWR) Update on Financial Impact of Canterbury Floods

SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited (NZX: SKC) Earnings Guidance for FY21 Result

11th June 2021 Morning Report

Precinct Properties New Zealand Limited (NZX: PCT) Announces $284 Million Revaluation Uplift

10th June 2021 Morning Report

Me Today Limited (NZX: MEE) Opening of Offer to Retail Investors

Mercury NZ Limited (NZX: MCY) FY2021 EBITDAF Guidance Revised to $460 Million

9th June 2021 Morning Report

SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited (NZX: SKC) AUSTRAC ENFORCEMENT INVESTIGATION

8th June 2021 Morning Report


NEW YORK, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, FORTUNE announced the 67th FORTUNE 500, its annual list of the largest corporations in the United States, ranked by revenue for the 2020 fiscal year. The revenue threshold for 2021 FORTUNE 500 list was $5.4 billion, down 5% from last year. In total, FORTUNE 500 companies represent two-thirds of the U.S. GDP with $13.8 trillion in revenues (down 3%), $859 billion in profits (down 30%), $32.7 trillion in market value (up 60%), and employ 29.1 million people worldwide. 41 companies on the 2021 FORTUNE 500 are led by women CEOsan all-time high.

The cover of the June/July 2021 issue of FORTUNE.

Walmart took the top spot on the 2021 list for the ninth year in a row, generating $4.5 trillion cumulative revenue over that time. Amazon.com also held onto their No.2 spot with a 38% jump in revenue. In the No. 3 spot, Apple is the most profitable company on the 2021 FORTUNE 500, and the only company on the list valued over $2 trillion. At No. 4, CVS Health and CEO Karen Lynch make FORTUNE 500 history as the highest-ranked company ever to be led by a female CEO.

THE TOP TEN COMPANIES ON THE 2021 FORTUNE 500 LIST ARE:

Walmart Amazon.com Apple CVS Health UnitedHealth Group Berkshire Hathaway McKesson AmerisourceBergen Alphabet Exxon Mobil

As part of FORTUNE's Measure Up partnership with Refinitiv, global provider of financial markets data and infrastructure, the FORTUNE 500 list now includes a Diversity & Inclusion information online. Users will be able to sort the companies by a ranking based on their self-reported D&I data, provided by Refinitiv. FORTUNE has used this data to identify the top 20 Most Progressive Companies on Racial Inclusion. Microsoft (No. 15) takes top honors, followed by Centene (No. 24), Target (No. 30), Gap (No. 221), and Biogen (No. 228).

"A year ago, companies made a promise to end racial injustice in the workplace and broader society. To keep that promise, companies will need courage in sharing with the world a picture of what they look like today. From this starting point we can make real progress, as they say 'what gets measured gets managed,' comments David Craig, Group Head of Data & Analytics Division at LSEG and CEO, Refinitiv. US companies lead the world when it comes to collecting data on their employees' race and ethnicity. Through this partnership and Refinitiv's own ESG data and analytics we have developed a standard taxonomy to help simplify disclosure and give investors, customers and employees the information they now seek to measure progress."

FORTUNE and Qlik, the official analytics partner of the FORTUNE 500, also published the "The Pandemic Effect on the Fortune 500" interactive site. This visual experience, developed by Qlik, details the revenue and performance of the sectors and industries that shape the 2021 FORTUNE 500, along with taking users on a journey through the crises that have shaped the Fortune 500 over the years, especially the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

More on the FORTUNE 500:

See the complete FORTUNE 500 List here. The June/July 2021 issue of FORTUNE will be on newsstands June 7.

About FORTUNE

FORTUNE drives the conversation about business. With a global perspective, the guiding wisdom of history, and an unflinching eye to the future, we report and reveal the stories that matter today-and that will matter even more tomorrow. With the trusted power to convene and challenge those who are shaping industry, commerce and society around the world, FORTUNE lights the path for global leaders-and gives them the tools to make business better. www.fortune.com

Media Contact:

Alison Klooster

646-437-6613

[email protected]

SOURCE FORTUNE Media
FACTS AT A GLANCE Edition: 19; Released: February 2021 Executive Engagements: 3911 Companies: 69 - Players covered include Agilent Technologies, Inc.; Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.; CapitalBio Technology Inc.; Cepheid Inc.; Fluidigm Corporation; Hoffman-La-Roche Ltd.; Illumina, Inc.; OcimumBiosolutions Ltd.; PerkinElmer, Inc.; Takara Bio Inc.; Takara Bio USA, Inc.; Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and Others. Coverage: All major geographies and key segments Segments: Product Type (DNA Chip, Lab-on-a-Chip, Protein Chip, Other Product Types); Application (Drug Discovery & Development, Disease Diagnostics, Genomics, Proteomics, Agriculture, Other Applications) Geographies: World; USA; Canada; Japan; China; Europe; France; Germany; Italy; UK; Spain; Russia; Rest of Europe; Asia-Pacific; Latin America; Rest of World.

Complimentary Project Preview - This is an ongoing global program. Preview our research program before you make a purchase decision. We are offering a complimentary access to qualified executives driving strategy, business development, sales & marketing, and product management roles at featured companies. Previews provide deep insider access to business trends; competitive brands; domain expert profiles; and market data templates and much more. You may also build your own bespoke report using our MarketGlass Platform which offers thousands of data bytes without an obligation to purchase our report. Preview Registry



ABSTRACT-



Global Biochips Market to Reach $25.4 Billion by 2026

Biochip represents a solid substrate on which miniaturized test sites or microarrays are arranged. Biochip microarray technology is a testing platform where several experiments are performed at the same time to achieve rapid results and high throughput. Biochips (for example, lab-on-a-chip) thus serve as a "mini laboratory" where multiple analytes from a single sample are tested simultaneously. This replaces the need for several single-analyte assays, multiple blood draws, and higher reagent volumes, all of which also take up more time. Biochips provide exceptional resource, cost, and time savings. The device can be used for rapidly screening a number of biological analytes for a wide range of applications, including disease diagnosis and detection of hazardous biological agents in a system. Biochips are designed on the basis of microfluidic and microarray technologies, among which digital microfluidic biochips have gained significant popularity in the biochemical field owing to their high efficiency.

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Biochips estimated at US$13.1 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$25.4 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 11.7% over the analysis period. DNA Chip, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to grow at a 10.6% CAGR to reach US$9.7 Billion by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Lab-On-a-chip segment is readjusted to a revised 12.3% CAGR for the next 7-year period. This segment currently accounts for a 30.6% share of the global Biochips market.

The U.S. Market is Estimated at $5.7 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $2.4 Billion by 2026

The Biochips market in the U.S. is estimated at US$5.7 Billion in the year 2021. The country currently accounts for a 40.07% share in the global market. China, the world second largest economy, is forecast to reach an estimated market size of US$2.4 Billion in the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 13.9% through the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 9.9% and 10.5% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 11.7% CAGR while Rest of European market (as defined in the study) will reach US$2.8 Billion by the close of the analysis period.

One of the prominent factors driving growth for the market for biochips at the global level is the increasing chronic disorders prevalence, especially among the fast rising elderly population in countries across the world. Increasing cancer incidence has also augmented biochips usage for early identification of cancer cells. Biochips are being increasingly used in the development of personalized and targeted drugs for treating various cancers. Increasing interest among consumers in maintaining healthy lifestyles has also been resulting in demand growth for the chips. The COVID-19 pandemic had also led many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to increase their focus on creating more advanced biochips capable of detecting coronavirus. Biochips have been successfully employed by several companies for developing COVID-19 diagnostic tests. These lab-based tests score over traditional options owing to their ability to deliver faster results and allow users to process multiple specimens simultaneously. Growing microfluidic technology advancements have also over the years led to development of engineered biochips for numerous laboratory procedures. There are also now digital microfluidic biochips. Another important factor driving growth for the market is the growing consumer interest in less invasive surgeries. Increasing nanotechnology upgradations also promote market growth.

Protein Chip Segment to Reach $5.5 Billion by 2026

Protein chip or protein array represents a high throughput technique to investigate protein function and monitor their expression level. They are utilized as a popular technology for basic R&D. Protein microarrays involve proteins on glass membranes, micro titer wells, mass spectrometer plates and beads, to which probes labeled with fluorescent dyes are added. The fluorescent signal emitted by the probe-protein reaction can be read via a laser scanner and qualifies and quantifies the protein. Technological advancements in diagnostics, increasing prevalence of cancer and rising demand for personalized medicine, are all factors that boost the protein chip market. In the global Protein Chip segment, USA, Canada, Japan, China and Europe will drive the 12.6% CAGR estimated for this segment. These regional markets accounting for a combined market size of US$2.2 Billion in the year 2020 will reach a projected size of US$5.1 Billion by the close of the analysis period. China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. Led by countries such as Australia, India, and South Korea, the market in Asia-Pacific is forecast to reach US$516.1 Million Billion by the year 2026. More



MarketGlass Platform

Our MarketGlass Platform is a free full-stack knowledge center that is custom configurable to today`s busy business executive`s intelligence needs! This influencer driven interactive research platform is at the core of our primary research engagements and draws from unique perspectives of participating executives worldwide. Features include - enterprise-wide peer-to-peer collaborations; research program previews relevant to your company; 3.4 million domain expert profiles; competitive company profiles; interactive research modules; bespoke report generation; monitor market trends; competitive brands; create & publish blogs & podcasts using our primary and secondary content; track domain events worldwide; and much more. Client companies will have complete insider access to the project data stacks. Currently in use by 67,000+ domain experts worldwide.



Our platform is free for qualified executives and is accessible from our website www.StrategyR.com or via our just released mobile application on iOS or Android



About Global Industry Analysts, Inc. & StrategyR

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (www.strategyr.com) is a renowned market research publisher the world`s only influencer driven market research company. Proudly serving more than 42,000 clients from 36 countries, GIA is recognized for accurate forecasting of markets and industries for over 33 years.



CONTACTS:

Zak Ali

Director, Corporate Communications

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Phone: 1-408-528-9966

www.StrategyR.com

Email: [email protected]



LINKS

Join Our Expert Panel

https://www.strategyr.com/Panelist.asp

Connect With Us on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-industry-analysts-inc./

Follow Us on Twitter

https://twitter.com/marketbytes

Journalists & Media

[email protected]

SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.strategyr.com


Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Electric Hand Dryers estimated at US$530.2 Million in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$790.1 Million by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 6.9% over the analysis period. Automatic Electric Hand Dryers, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to record 7.8% CAGR and reach US$683.1 Million by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Push Button Electric Hand Dryers segment is readjusted to a revised 3.6% CAGR for the next 7-year period. The U.S. Market is Estimated at $168.9 Million, While China is Forecast to Reach $ 87.2 Million by 2026 The Electric Hand Dryers market in the U.S. is estimated at US$168.9 Million in the year 2021. China, the world`s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US$87.2 Million by the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 8.3% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 5.9% and 6.1% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 6.5% CAGR. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, hygienic and sanitary washrooms have gained significant importance as 80 percent of infections are transmitted through touch. The demand for these products is expected to be also propelled by increasing awareness regarding infections and focus on hand hygiene at workplaces.

In fact, public health is the focal point of public restroom design. With this perspective, the use of hand dryers is much sought after. Used paper towels and water is not a hygienic practice as it can breed germs. Wet stall floors, availability of soap, germ-laden door handles, availability of paper towels and wet seats are the main areas of dissatisfaction among users of public restrooms. With increasing clamor for better public restroom facilities, manufacturers have launched many innovative products that are faster and hygienic. Touch-free faucets and sensor-driven electric hand dryers with high efficiency are some of the design innovations that are gaining acceptance amid the pandemic. Most of the high-efficiency hand dryers, allow hand drying in less than 10 seconds. Traditional hand dryers have a press button to make them start. Automated hand dryers are activated by motion or proximity. More



MarketGlass Platform

Our MarketGlass Platform is a free full-stack knowledge center that is custom configurable to today's busy business executive's intelligence needs! This influencer driven interactive research platform is at the core of our primary research engagements and draws from unique perspectives of participating executives worldwide. Features include - enterprise-wide peer-to-peer collaborations; research program previews relevant to your company; 3.4 million domain expert profiles; competitive company profiles; interactive research modules; bespoke report generation; monitor market trends; competitive brands; create & publish blogs & podcasts using our primary and secondary content; track domain events worldwide; and much more. Client companies will have complete insider access to the project data stacks. Currently in use by 67,000+ domain experts worldwide.



Our platform is free for qualified executives and is accessible from our website www.StrategyR.com or via our just released mobile application on iOS or Android



About Global Industry Analysts, Inc. & StrategyR

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (www.strategyr.com) is a renowned market research publisher the world's only influencer driven market research company. Proudly serving more than 42,000 clients from 36 countries, GIA is recognized for accurate forecasting of markets and industries for over 33 years.



CONTACTS:

Zak Ali

Director, Corporate Communications

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Phone: 1-408-528-9966

www.StrategyR.com

Email: [email protected]



LINKS

Get Full Report Details

https://www.strategyr.com/market-report-electric-hand-dryers-forecasts-global-industry-analysts-inc.asp

Join Our Expert Panel

https://www.strategyr.com/Panelist.asp

Connect With Us on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-industry-analysts-inc./

Follow Us on Twitter

https://twitter.com/marketbytes

Journalists & Media

[email protected]

SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.strategyr.com


FACTS AT A GLANCE Edition: 6; Released: May 2021 Executive Engagements: 37995 Companies: 82 - Players covered include ABB Limited; Adalet; Allied Moulded Products, Inc.; APX Enclosures, Inc.; Atlas Precision Sheet Metal Solutions; Attabox LLC; Austin Electrical Enclosures; AZZ, Inc.; B&R Enclosures Pty. Ltd.; Eaton Corporation; Eldon Holding AB; Emerson Electric Co.; Fibox Oy AB; Hammond Manufacturing Ltd.; Hubbell Inc.; Legrand; nVent Electric plc; Rittal GmbH & Co. KG; Saginaw Control and Engineering; Schneider Electric SE (France). and Others. Coverage: All major geographies and key segments Segments: Material (Metallic, Non-Metallic); Mounting (Floor Mounted, Wall Mounted, Underground); End-Use (Power Generation & Distribution, Oil & Gas, Metals & Mining, Transportation, Other End-Uses) Geographies: World; United States; Canada; Japan; China; Europe (France; Germany; Italy; United Kingdom; Spain; Russia; and Rest of Europe); Asia-Pacific (Australia; India; South Korea; and Rest of Asia-Pacific); Latin America (Argentina; Brazil; Mexico; and Rest of Latin America); Middle East (Iran; Israel; Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates; and Rest of Middle East); and Africa.

Complimentary Project Preview - This is an ongoing global program. Preview our research program before you make a purchase decision. We are offering a complimentary access to qualified executives driving strategy, business development, sales & marketing, and product management roles at featured companies. Previews provide deep insider access to business trends; competitive brands; domain expert profiles; and market data templates and much more. You may also build your own bespoke report using our MarketGlass Platform which offers thousands of data bytes without an obligation to purchase our report. Preview Registry



ABSTRACT-



Global Electrical Enclosures Market to Reach $8.8 Billion by 2026

Electrical enclosure, which is a cabinet containing various electrical as well as electronic components, not just provide protection to components but are also designed to enhance overall aesthetic value. The enclosures exhibit properties such as protection against power dissipation, electrical breakdown and electromagnetic interferences. Growth in the global market is set to be fueled by rising demand for enclosures in various end-use industries. Rising demand for electricity and the subsequent efforts of the power industry worldwide to expand generation capacity is leading to greater demand for enclosures. Since renewable energy generation units involve the use of several sensitive electrical components as well as batteries that need to be protected to prevent system failures, the demand for electrical enclosures to ensure safety of the systems is on the rise. Rising demand for hygienic electrical enclosures in the food & beverage sector, given the enhanced emphasis on hygienic surroundings, sustained demand for robust enclosures from oil & gas, and metals & mining sectors, and the escalating needs of renewable energy sector are fueling market growth. Also favoring market is the growing adoption of IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things)-enabled enclosures, while the rising importance of intelligent transport systems is fueling need for electrical enclosures.

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Electrical Enclosures estimated at US$6.4 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$8.8 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 5.1% over the analysis period. Metallic, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to grow at a 4.8% CAGR to reach US$5.8 Billion by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Non-Metallic segment is readjusted to a revised 5.7% CAGR for the next 7-year period. This segment currently accounts for a 35% share of the global Electrical Enclosures market. Metal enclosures are generally used for addressing the conductivity needs of electrical safety bonding, and also to protection the enclosed content from any kind of electromagnetic interferences. Demand in the Non-Metallic segment is driven by their increasing adoption in oil & gas and metals & mining industries. The segment also benefits from the significant increase in research and development activity associated with non-metallic enclosure materials, whereby manufacturers have developed and launched enclosure products with characteristics that make them ideal for use in critical applications.

The U.S. Market is Estimated at $1.8 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $1.7 Billion by 2026

The Electrical Enclosures market in the U.S. is estimated at US$1.8 Billion in the year 2021. The country currently accounts for a 27.11% share in the global market. China, the world's second largest economy, is forecast to reach an estimated market size of US$1.7 Billion in the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 7.8% through the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 2.8% and 4.6% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 3.2% CAGR while Rest of European market (as defined in the study) will reach US$1.9 Billion by the end of the analysis period. In developed economies of North America and Europe, growth is fueled by the deployment of renewable energy power plants specifically those operating on wind and solar power. In the US, strong pace of industrial automation and trend towards smart homes augurs well for the electrical enclosures market. Growth in the Asia-Pacific region is being propelled by the steady rise in investments into expanding power generation and distribution infrastructure, especially in high growth economies of China and India. Governments' focus on increasing electrification rates, efforts to provide uninterrupted power to residential and industrial customers, and enhanced focus on renewable energy deployments are all driving growth in power infrastructure, thus fueling demand for enclosures. More



MarketGlass Platform

Our MarketGlass Platform is a free full-stack knowledge center that is custom configurable to today`s busy business executive`s intelligence needs! This influencer driven interactive research platform is at the core of our primary research engagements and draws from unique perspectives of participating executives worldwide. Features include - enterprise-wide peer-to-peer collaborations; research program previews relevant to your company; 3.4 million domain expert profiles; competitive company profiles; interactive research modules; bespoke report generation; monitor market trends; competitive brands; create & publish blogs & podcasts using our primary and secondary content; track domain events worldwide; and much more. Client companies will have complete insider access to the project data stacks. Currently in use by 67,000+ domain experts worldwide.

Our platform is free for qualified executives and is accessible from our website www.StrategyR.com or via our just released mobile application on iOS or Android



About Global Industry Analysts, Inc. & StrategyR

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (www.strategyr.com) is a renowned market research publisher the world`s only influencer driven market research company. Proudly serving more than 42,000 clients from 36 countries, GIA is recognized for accurate forecasting of markets and industries for over 33 years.



CONTACTS:

Zak Ali

Director, Corporate Communications

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Phone: 1-408-528-9966

www.StrategyR.com

Email: [email protected]



LINKS

Join Our Expert Panel

https://www.strategyr.com/Panelist.asp

Connect With Us on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-industry-analysts-inc./

Follow Us on Twitter

https://twitter.com/marketbytes

Journalists & Media

[email protected]

SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.strategyr.com


Table 1: Drill Hole Intersections

Hole ID Area / Vein From To Length1 Au Ag AuEq2 AgEq2



(m) (m) (m) (g/t) (g/t) (g/t) (g/t) LRGF-21-038 Favor 22.9 39.0 16.2 0.36 134.0 2.15 161.0

including 29.3 36.6 7.4 0.67 262.7 4.17 312.7

Salomon 111.8 119.5 7.7 0.28 93.6 1.52 114.3

including 115.8 118.9 3.1 0.55 189.7 3.08 230.8 LRGF-21-040 Salomon 74.3 90.5 16.2 0.28 97.1 1.57 117.8

including 88.9 90.5 1.6 1.35 484.3 7.81 585.8 LRGF-21-041 Favor 23.0 24.6 1.7 0.38 84.4 1.50 112.7

and3 94.2 152.5 56.1 0.31 82.5 1.41 105.4

incl. Salomon 123.1 124.4 1.3 3.57 975.0 16.57 1,242.9

incl. Guitarillas 148.2 148.9 0.7 0.49 197.5 3.12 234.3

Los Chivos 160.0 176.9 17.0 0.14 37.6 0.64 48.1

including 163.6 165.9 2.3 0.19 89.6 1.39 104.1 LRGF-21-042 Favor 10.9 24.5 13.6 0.20 97.5 1.50 112.6

including 14.4 18.3 4.0 0.44 227.4 3.47 260.4

And 49.9 126.3 76.4 0.13 47.1 0.76 56.9

including 68.1 75.7 7.6 0.58 103.3 1.96 146.8

including 99.3 104.8 5.5 0.34 197.0 2.96 222.3 LRGF-21-043 Favor 42.1 42.7 0.7 0.36 99.0 1.68 125.9

Salomon 103.5 105.8 2.3 0.19 35.0 0.66 49.1

and 134.0 135.1 1.1 5.61 0.4 5.62 421.2 LRGF-21-046 Favor 2.5 12.0 9.5 0.15 51.0 0.83 62.6

and 21.4 23.8 2.4 0.14 74.7 1.13 85.0

Los Chivos 87.7 108.0 20.3 0.21 56.3 0.96 72.0

including 88.2 95.0 6.8 0.48 118.5 2.06 154.3

including 93.5 95.0 1.5 1.21 314.0 5.39 404.5





1. Not true width 2. AqEq converted using a silver to gold ratio of 75:1 at recoveries of 100% 3. Excludes 2.3m of historically mined void. 4. Assays are still pending for holes LRGF-21-044 and LRGF-21-045.

Three of the four major veins (Salomon, Guitarrillas and Los Chivos) appear to converge into a 100m wide zone at the western end of the El Favor deposit in the vicinity of the Hundido Pit at an elevation of 1300m. The wallrock in between the veins is strongly silicified, altered and mineralized. This mineralization can be observed in outcrop at the Hundido Pit, underground in the Salomon Cross Cut and in the road cuts along the north side of the El Favor hill and in the drill holes. More holes are required in this area to determine the strike length and potential depth of these wide combined zones.

The Eastern end of the El Orito deposit (as presently defined) is located about 800 metres along strike to the west of the Hundido Pit (see Figure 2). Wide zones of precious and base metal mineralization were cut by drill holes at El Orito at elevations between 600 to 800m. Geological mapping, prospecting and sampling programs in the area between El Orito and the Hundido Pit have been accelerated and given priority.

Table 2: Drill Hole Locations

Hole ID Easting Northing Elevation Azimuth Dip Length LRGF-21-038 585375 2336611 1274 180 -45 287 LRGF-21-040 585479 2336569 1283 180 -45 267 LRGF-21-041 585183 2336523 1318 180 -45 246 LRGF-21-042 585652 2336767 1171 180 -45 305 LRGF-21-043 585482 2336630 1250 180 -45 274 LRGF-21-046 585425 2336405 1320 180 -45 156

VRIFY Slide Deck and 3D Presentation

VRIFY is a platform being used by companies to communicate with investors using 360 virtual tours of remote mining assets, 3D models and interactive presentations. VRIFY can be accessed by website and with the VRIFY iOS and Android apps.

Access the GoGold Company Profile on VRIFY at: https://vrify.com

The VRIFY Slide Deck and 3D Presentation for GoGold can be viewed at: https://vrify.com/explore/decks/9404 and on the Company's website at: www.gogoldresources.com.

Los Ricos District Exploration Projects

The Company's two exploration projects at its Los Ricos property are in Jalisco state, Mexico. The Los Ricos South Project began in March 2019 and an initial resource was announced on July 29, 2020 which indicated a Measured & Indicated Mineral Resource of 63.7 million ounces AgEq grading 199 g/t AgEq contained in 10.0 million tonnes, and an Inferred Resource of 19.9 million ounces AgEq grading 190 g/t AgEq contained in 3.3 million tonnes. An initial PEA on the project was announced on January 20, 2021 indicating an NPV 5% of US$295M.

The Los Ricos North Project was launched in March 2020 and includes drilling at the El Favor, La Trini, Casados and El Orito targets. During 2020, GoGold's exploration team identified over 100 targets on the Los Ricos North properties, demonstrating the significant exploration potential. The Company plans to drill 10 of these targets as part of its 2021 drilling program which is planned to exceed 100,000 metres of drilling and will be one of the largest in Mexico.

Procedure, Quality Assurance / Quality Control and Data Verification

The diamond drill core (HQ size) is geologically logged, photographed and marked for sampling. When the sample lengths are determined, the full core is sawn with a diamond blade core saw with one half of the core being bagged and tagged for assay. The remaining half portion is returned to the core trays for storage and/or for metallurgical test work.

The sealed and tagged sample bags are transported to the ActLabs facility in Zacatecas, Mexico. ActLabs crushes the samples and prepares 200-300 gram pulp samples with ninety percent passing Tyler 150 mesh (106m). The pulps are assayed for gold using a 50-gram charge by fire assay (Code 1A2-50) and over limits greater than 10 grams per tonne are re-assayed using a gravimetric finish (Code 1A3-50). Silver and multi-element analysis is completed using total digestion (Code 1F2 Total Digestion ICP). Over limits greater than 100 grams per tonne silver are re-assayed using a gravimetric finish (Code 8-Ag FA-GRAV Ag).

Quality assurance and quality control ("QA/QC") procedures monitor the chain-of-custody of the samples and includes the systematic insertion and monitoring of appropriate reference materials (certified standards, blanks and duplicates) into the sample strings. The results of the assaying of the QA/QC material included in each batch are tracked to ensure the integrity of the assay data. All results stated in this announcement have passed GoGold's QA/QC protocols.

Mr. David Duncan, P. Geo. is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the technical information of this release.

About GoGold Resources

GoGold Resources (TSX: GGD) is a Canadian-based silver and gold producer focused on operating, developing, exploring and acquiring high quality projects in Mexico. The Company operates the Parral Tailings mine in the state of Chihuahua and has the Los Ricos South and Los Ricos North exploration projects in the state of Jalisco. Headquartered in Halifax, NS, GoGold is building a portfolio of low cost, high margin projects. For more information visit gogoldresources.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT:

The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy of any of GoGold's securities in the United States.

This news release may contain "forward-looking information" as defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Los Ricos South and North projects, and future plans and objectives of GoGold, including the intention to undertake further exploration at Los Ricos North, and the prospect of further discoveries there, constitute forward looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking information is based on a number of factors and assumptions which have been used to develop such information but which may prove to be incorrect, including, but not limited to, assumptions in connection with the continuance of GoGold and its subsidiaries as a going concern, general economic and market conditions, mineral prices, the accuracy of mineral resource estimates, and the performance of the Parral project. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information.

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from GoGold's expectations include exploration and development risks associated with GoGold's projects, the failure to establish estimated mineral resources or mineral reserves, volatility of commodity prices, variations of recovery rates, and global economic conditions. For additional information with respect to risk factors applicable to GoGold, reference should be made to GoGold's continuous disclosure materials filed from time to time with securities regulators, including, but not limited to, GoGold's Annual Information Form. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date of this release.

SOURCE GoGold Resources Inc.

Related Links

http://www.gogoldresources.com/


The GraphDB text mining plugin integrates text mining algorithms and allows for generating new relationships between entities without coding or developing bespoke solutions and integration code.

The plugin comes with out-of-the-box support for popular text analytic services such as Ontotext's Tag API, GATE Cloud, and spaCy server, as well as an expressive mapping language, to register new services without coding. The extracted text annotations can be manipulated with SPARQL and either returned to the caller for further processing or stored directly into the repository where they will enrich the existing knowledge graph. This functionality covers a number of use-cases that rely on both RDF and text analytics.

Synchronize Downstream Systems with the Kafka Connector

The Kafka connector provides a means to synchronize changes to the RDF model to any downstream system via the Apache Kafka framework. This enables easy processing of RDF updates in any external system and covers a variety of use-cases where a reliable synchronization mechanism is needed.

Each Kafka connector instance will stay automatically up-to-date with the GraphDB repository data. The implementation is built on the same rock-solid framework as the existing Elasticsearch, Solr and Lucene connectors end employs multiple features that allow for precise mapping from RDF to JSON, such as defining fields based on property chains, nested document support as well as advanced filtering by type, literal language or a complex expression.

Standard Deployment on Kubernetes Using Helm Charts

GraphDB 9.8 comes with standard Helm charts and instructions that can help you get started with GraphDB Enterprise Edition on Kubernetes. Every component is configured with sensible defaults and it is very easy to customize it to meet your needs. The Helm charts are open source and provided as a reference for setting up complex GraphDB deployments.

Performance and Database Throughput Improvements

The new version of the GraphDB engine implements a major performance improvement in query evaluation due to optimized memory usage and algorithm optimizations. The LDBC SPB-256 benchmark showed around 50% increase in read performance, while the BSBM benchmark showed a 15% increase in read/explore operations. All changes are backward compatible and would positively affect large repositories under moderate to heavy query load.

Upgrade to RDF4J 3.6.3

GraphDB comes with the latest RDF4J 3.6.3, which includes many SHACL improvements and a SPARQL parser optimization.

About Ontotext

Ontotext is a global leader in enterprise knowledge graph technology and semantic database engines. Ontotext employs big knowledge graphs to enable unified data access and cognitive analytics via text mining and integration of data across multiple sources. Ontotext GraphDB engine and Ontotext Platform power business-critical systems in the biggest banks, media, market intelligence agencies, car and aerospace manufacturers.

Ontotext technology and solutions are spread wide across the value chain of the most knowledge-intensive enterprises in financial services, publishing, healthcare, pharma, manufacturing and public sectors. Leveraging AI and cognitive technologies, Ontotext helps enterprises get a competitive advantage, by connecting the dots of their proprietary knowledge and putting it in the context of global intelligence.

Headquartered in the year 2000 in Bulgaria, Ontotext has most of its revenues from big corporations across US, UK, Mainland Europe and Asia and partners with 5 of the biggest IT Services companies on Earth.

As a member of W3C, STI, Linked Data Benchmark Council, Enterprise Knowledge Graph Foundation and DBPedia foundation, Ontotext supports the development of the next-generation technology trends and standards. With hundreds of scientific publications and thousands of citations and followers, Ontotext's thought leadership extends to text analytics, semantic search and reasoning.

SOURCE Ontotext
STOCKHOLM, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Happy Plugs is proud to announce the addition of the Air 1 Zen to their family of truly wireless headphones at an extremely competitive price point of $79.99 USD. This marks the seventh generation of true wireless headphones for the brand and an exciting upgrade to their portfolio, already consisting of Air 1 Go, Air 1 Plus, and Air 1 ANC.

HAPPY PLUGS? OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES AIR 1 ZEN TRUE WIRELESS, THE WORLD PREMIER OF ITS ANTIMICROBIAL TECHNOLOGY

Air 1 Zen comes with Biomaster antimicrobial technology, an incredibly effective way to keep the earphones free from the growth of unwanted microbes that can cause degradation, discolouration, staining, and odours by up to 99.99%, The additive works 24/7 to protect the product surfaces, the inbuilt antimicrobial protection is effective for the lifetime of the product with no harmful effects*.

"In times where personal hygiene is important and finding serenity by escaping into music, Zen is a fitting name for our 7th generation of true wireless earphones. Adding another state of calmness, Happy Plugs Zen earphones come with antimicrobial technology, 99.9% effectiveness against bacteria and microbes", says Andreas Vural, founder of Happy Plugs.

Designed in Sweden to bring you the latest in fashion, function, and technology; The Air 1 Zen provides 6 hours of battery life in a single charge and 30 hours in total with the charging case. A 10-minute fast charge via the USB-C port gives you an additional 45 minutes of playtime.

Exceptional video conferencing and phone call experience.

With the software algorithm, the Air 1 Zen's microphones pick up speech and suppress ambient noise for the clearest possible calls of all our true wireless earphones.

Customisable Fit & Personal style

With 6 different ergonomically shaped ear tip sizes the Air 1 Zen fits securely to ensure an optimized fit in your ears. Designed with a contemporary look that remains faithful to the Happy Plugs' spirit of fashion tech, the Air 1 Zen blends seamlessly with your everyday style, whether it's a street look, tailored suit, or gym gear.

Media Room:

https://bit.ly/air1zen



Press Contact:

[email protected]

Technical Specifications:

Bluetooth Version: 5.2

Total Playtime: 30 hours

Wireless Talk Time: 6 hours

Battery for headphones: 45mAh

Battery for Charge Case: 600mAh

Full charge time: 1.5h

Driver Unit: 10mm

Support Codecs: SBC

Sensitivity: 107.5+/-dB

Frequency Response: 20-20k Hz

Impedance: 32

Latency: 120 ms

Size for Charge Case: 65x49x26 mm

Weight for Headphones: 4.5g grams

Weight for Charge Case: 46 grams

* The Biomaster antimicrobial technology does not protect the user or others against disease causing organisms and is not a substitute for good hygiene and/ or cleaning practices.

About Happy Plugs:

Happy Plugs is a Swedish house of lifestyle brands based in Stockholm. The company is a global leader in fashion tech with a mission to transform the consumer electronics industry by merging innovative design, fashion, and technology.



Happy Plugs is an award-winning lifestyle and fashion brand with the ambition of transforming essential tech accessories into fashion must-haves. Happy Plugs is available in the most prestigious concept, department, and retail stores in over 70 countries and 10,000 retailers worldwide. Private equity fund Scope Growth III LP is, together with the company's founder Andreas Vural, major shareholders of Happy Plugs.

Related Images

happy-plugs-wireless-earphones-air.jpg

Happy Plugs Wireless Earphones - Air 1 Zen

HAPPY PLUGS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES AIR 1 ZEN TRUE WIRELESS, THE WORLD PREMIER OF ITS ANTIMICROBIAL TECHNOLOGY

SOURCE Happy Plugs
OAKLAND, Calif., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Harborside Inc. ("Harborside" or the "Company") (CSE: HBOR),(OTCQX: HBORF) a California-focused, vertically integrated cannabis enterprise, today provided an update on its previously announced plan to purchase the Company's 47-acre production campus, which includes 200,000 sq. ft. of licensed cultivation space, including 155,000 sq. ft. of flower canopy space and 45,000 sq. ft. of nursery space in Salinas, California (the "Production Campus"). On June 1st, 2021, the Company completed the purchase of the Production Campus using approximately $10.84 million in funds drawn from its existing credit facility.

In November 2020, the Company announced it had engaged in a substantial upgrade of one of its approximately 45,000 square foot greenhouses at the Production Campus. The upgrades will be completed in Q2 2021, and include, among other things, the installation of blackout curtains, supplemental LED grow lights and new flooring in the greenhouse.

"We are thrilled to have completed the acquisition of our Salinas cultivation and production facility," said Peter Bilodeau, Interim CEO of Harborside. "With a soon to be expanded ecosystem of Harborside brands, including our recently announced acquisition of Sublime and their award-winning Fuzzies branded pre-rolls, this transaction will enable us to further expand our operations in Salinas to keep up with increasing consumer demand. In addition, with our newly lowered cost of capital, we will improve cash flow and decrease our overall costs of production from the facility, driving long term margin expansion."

"We are excited to have been able to put together a such favorable credit deal", added Tom DiGiovanni, CFO of Harborside. "The close working relationship we've developed with our bank over the past five quarters ultimately provided the Company with an industry leading cost of funds and the ability to better manage our working capital. We are looking forward to expanding our banking relationship as we continue to grow the business."

For the latest news, activities, and media coverage, please visit the Harborside corporate website at www.investharborside.com or connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

About Harborside:

Harborside Inc. is one of the oldest and most respected cannabis retailers in California, operating three of the major dispensaries in the San Francisco Bay Area, a dispensary in the Palm Springs area outfitted with Southern California's only cannabis drive-thru window, a dispensary in Oregon and a cultivation/production facility in Salinas, California. Harborside has played an instrumental role in making cannabis safe and accessible to a broad and diverse community of California consumers since 2006, when it was awarded one of the first six medical cannabis licenses granted in the United States. Today, the Company holds cannabis licenses for retail, distribution, cultivation, nursery, and manufacturing. Harborside is a publicly listed company on the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") trading under the ticker symbol "HBOR" and on the OTCQX Best Market under the ticker symbol "HBORF". Additional information regarding Harborside is available under Harborside's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (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 involves discussions with respect to 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.

These forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time such statements were made. Actual future results may differ materially as 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 materially differ from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include: implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's operations; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets; expectations regarding the size of the cannabis markets where the Company operates; changing consumer habits; the ability of the Company to successfully achieve its business objectives; plans for expansion; political, social and environmental uncertainties; inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; employee relations and the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on cultivation, production, distribution, and sale of cannabis and cannabis-related products in the markets where the Company operates. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

The Company, through several of its subsidiaries, is indirectly involved in the manufacture, possession, use, sale, and distribution of cannabis in the recreational and medicinal cannabis marketplace in the United States. Local state laws where the Company operates permit such activities however, these activities are currently illegal under United States federal law. Additional information regarding this and other risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's business are contained under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Listing Statement dated May 30, 2019, and in the Company's management's discussion and analysis for the period ended September 30, 2020, filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Neither the CSE nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Harborside Inc.
CANBY, Ore., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- HawkSoft announced its partnership with Duck Creek Technologies, a leading provider of SaaS insurance core systems. The partnership enables independent agencies using HawkSoft's management system to leverage policy and client data throughout the Duck Creek Platform. This integration gives mutual customers the ability to upload policy information directly to carriers using Duck Creek's Producer and AgencyPortal products.

"HawkSoft's mission is to push the independent agency channel forward, and a big component of that is deeper, direct connections into the systems utilized by insurance carriers," said Jerry Fox, Vice President of Carrier Relations at HawkSoft. "Partnering with Duck Creek is an amazing opportunity to diversify the routes available for an agent that get them to a direct interaction between their agency technology and the many carriers using Duck Creek solutions."

Duck Creek enhances the agent experience through integration from HawkSoft into Duck Creek's Producer and AgencyPortal products. This service includes prebuilt workflows for a seamless experience for policy quoting and issuance, all based on ACORD standards.

"Duck Creek continues to focus on delivering persona-based solutions to our carriers. Providing flexible agent experiences enables insurers to cover the broad spectrum of distribution within the agent channel," said Ken O'Sullivan, Principal Product Manager for Digital Engagement at Duck Creek. "Agents using the HawkSoft management system prefer as much of their workflow as possible to be embedded within the management system. This exciting partnership with HawkSoft provides an efficient solution to carriers for their agents using the HawkSoft management system."

Learn more about HawkSoft and Duck Creek at https://www.duckcreek.com/partner/hawksoft/

About HawkSoft

Since 1995, HawkSoft is a leader in management systems for independent insurance agencies that want effective workflows and a delightful experience for staff and policyholders. Created by independent agents, HawkSoft continues to evolve as a cutting-edge system that powers thousands of agencies. HawkSoft offers the following promise to insurance agents: your investment in HawkSoft will pay for itself in the first year. Learn more about HawkSoft's unique father-and-son story at www.hawksoft.com/story.

About Duck Creek Technologies

Duck Creek Technologies is a leading provider of core system solutions to the P&C and General insurance industry. By accessing Duck Creek OnDemand, 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 standalone basis or as a full suite, and all are available via Duck Creek OnDemand. For more information, visit www.duckcreek.com.

Media Contacts:

HawkSoft

Rushang Shah

VP, Marketing

866-884-4680

[email protected]

SOURCE HawkSoft

Related Links

http://www.hawksoft.com


SAN FRANCISCO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SALESFORCE CONNECTIONS -- Salesforce, [NYSE: CRM], the global leader in CRM, today announced that Herman Miller , a more than 100-year-old pioneer in design, is teaming up with Salesforce to continue to transform its online store and business strategy. Now, Herman Miller will be able to deliver a more cohesive omni-channel shopping experience, making it easier for customers to furnish and design their space at home, work and beyond.

With more people re-furnishing and redesigning their homes during the pandemic, Herman Miller saw a dramatic spike in online demand for furniture that supported remote work and lifestyles.

Transforming the online experience for shoppers

Herman Miller has redesigned its e-commerce experience from the ground up, based on more than 110 hours of customer research and user testing from over 200 participants. The new site has been developed to deliver a consistent, user-friendly experience with additional content that answers common shopper questions.

New features include enhanced storytelling content and an improved customer-centric navigation designed to provide easier access to popular categories like gaming. In addition, expanded product filtering and a new "Shop the Room" feature enables customers to browse products displayed in lifestyle images with the click of a button.

To meet customer expectations, speed and scalability needs, Herman Miller teamed up with Salesforce to redesign its ecommerce experience with new functionalities, making shopping more convenient and personalized for customers.

"For over a century, Herman Miller's purpose has been rooted around creating the best designs that improve peoples' lives. Our customers need a richer, more informative, more visual online experience that can give them the confidence to make highly considered furniture buying decisions," said Ben Groom, Chief Digital Officer, Herman Miller. "With Salesforce, we have become more integrated across all of our brands and our online shopping experiences now mirror the same quality as our products."

"Delivering a consistent and immersive experience is key to driving customer loyalty," said Lidiane Jones, EVP & GM, Salesforce Commerce Cloud. "With Salesforce, Herman Miller will be able to do just that  meeting their customers where they are, surfacing products that are most relevant and doing it all on a single platform."

Herman Miller has teamed up with Salesforce to better manage the entire customer experience for both their B2B and B2C businesses. Delivering a consistent experience across multiple brands around the globe is no easy task but with Salesforce, speed, scale and consistency are possible.

Commerce Cloud: Relaunching Herman Miller's ecommerce websites, including both Store.HermanMiller.com and DWR.com , on Commerce Cloud has resulted in increased conversion rates, simple add-to-cart functionality and faster site speed. Shoppers can now browse and buy products more easily with new features including tailored product recommendations, a streamlined checkout experience that allows customers to click on any product image to purchase the product, as well as a next-generation chat feature that allows shoppers to video chat with associates seamlessly from the website.

Relaunching Herman Miller's ecommerce websites, including both and , on Commerce Cloud has resulted in increased conversion rates, simple add-to-cart functionality and faster site speed. Shoppers can now browse and buy products more easily with new features including tailored product recommendations, a streamlined checkout experience that allows customers to click on any product image to purchase the product, as well as a next-generation chat feature that allows shoppers to video chat with associates seamlessly from the website. Marketing Cloud: Herman Miller is using Marketing Cloud Journey Builder to develop complex customer journeys and sophisticated email campaigns. By leveraging Interaction Studio, Herman Miller is also able to understand customer preferences across digital touchpoints, use that data to help better personalize customer interactions, and understand the impact of their strategies across channels.

is using Marketing Cloud Journey Builder to develop complex customer journeys and sophisticated email campaigns. By leveraging Interaction Studio, is also able to understand customer preferences across digital touchpoints, use that data to help better personalize customer interactions, and understand the impact of their strategies across channels. Sales Cloud: By using Sales Cloud, Herman Miller can better manage sales leads and opportunities across brands, monitor team performance, track sales insights, and automate manual tasks through a single dashboard. With every sales user on the same platform, Sales Cloud will provide a single source of truth for Herman Miller's customers.

By using Sales Cloud, can better manage sales leads and opportunities across brands, monitor team performance, track sales insights, and automate manual tasks through a single dashboard. With every sales user on the same platform, Sales Cloud will provide a single source of truth for customers. Service Cloud: COVID-19 has only increased the demands on customer service teams as case numbers multiply. Herman Miller has easily managed this increased case volume with the help of Service Cloud.

COVID-19 has only increased the demands on customer service teams as case numbers multiply. has easily managed this increased case volume with the help of Service Cloud. Experience Cloud: With Experience Cloud, Herman Miller is able to quickly manage and collaborate with dealers on projects like new store openings, new product lines and more, making it faster and easier for each dealer to sell their products successfully.

With Experience Cloud, is able to quickly manage and collaborate with dealers on projects like new store openings, new product lines and more, making it faster and easier for each dealer to sell their products successfully. Sustainability Cloud: Herman Miller is committed to making a positive impact on the environment. With Sustainability Cloud, Herman Miller is able to track its carbon footprint and other climate-related initiatives it has in place to achieve its 2023 Earthright goals.

About Herman Miller

Herman Miller is a globally recognized leader in design. Since its inception in 1905, the company's innovative, problem-solving designs and furnishings have inspired the best in people wherever they live, work, learn, heal, and play. In 2018, Herman Miller created Herman Miller Group, a purposefully selected, complementary family of brands that includes Colebrook BossonSaunders, Design Within Reach, Geiger, HAY, Maars Living Walls, Maharam, and naughtone. Guided by a shared purposedesign for the good of humankindHerman Miller Group shapes places that matter for customers while contributing to a more equitable and sustainable future for all. For more information visit www.hermanmiller.com/about-us.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, the global CRM leader, empowers companies of every size and industry to digitally transform and create a 360 view of their customers. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com .

Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase Salesforce applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM." For more information please visit https://www.salesforce.com , or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

SOURCE Salesforce

Related Links

http://www.salesforce.com


As Me Today Limited announced to NZX on Monday 31 May 2021, Me Today has agreed to acquire 100% of King Honey Limited from interests associated with Terry Jarvis for total consideration of $36 million.

In conjunction with the acquisition, Me Today also announced it intended to raise $15.75 million (at an issue price of 8.8 cents per share) to partially fund the acquisition, and has mandated CM Partners to assist with the capital raise.

Me Today is pleased to advise that it has received firm commitments for $10 million of new Me Today shares at 8.8c from a range of financial market participants and other wholesale investors. Me Today plans to raise the balance of $5.75 million through a retail offer to existing Me Today shareholders, clients of market participants and other members of the public. The share issues remain subject to shareholder approval intended to be sought in late June.

Me Today Chairman, Grant Baker said: The Board is delighted with the positive response to the wholesale offer, which we see as an endorsement of the King Honey acquisition. The Board also considers it is very important for the existing Me Today shareholders to have an opportunity to participate in the capital raising initiative. Me Today also wishes to open the retail offer to a wider range of retail investors with a view to broadening the Companys shareholder base.

Me Today anticipates that the documentation for the retail offer will be made available next week, once the Notice of Special Meeting of shareholders and related information has been released to the market.

Please see the link below for details

Me Today Placement to Wholesale Investors

Source: Me Today Limited

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Related News:

Tower Limited (NZX: TWR) Update on Financial Impact of Canterbury Floods

SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited (NZX: SKC) Earnings Guidance for FY21 Result

11th June 2021 Morning Report

Precinct Properties New Zealand Limited (NZX: PCT) Announces $284 Million Revaluation Uplift

10th June 2021 Morning Report

Me Today Limited (NZX: MEE) Opening of Offer to Retail Investors

Mercury NZ Limited (NZX: MCY) FY2021 EBITDAF Guidance Revised to $460 Million

9th June 2021 Morning Report

SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited (NZX: SKC) AUSTRAC ENFORCEMENT INVESTIGATION

8th June 2021 Morning Report


With the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Hershey's top priority in 2020 was the physical, emotional and economic well-being of its employees as it worked to make more moments of goodness for consumers at a time when it was needed most. The company made significant progress in its efforts to responsibly source cocoa while building healthy, prosperous cocoa communities, and took meaningful action to reduce its environmental footprint. Additionally, the company put racial equality at the forefront of its agenda, co-creating with employees a strengthened diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy, investing in underrepresented communities and taking action to help end systemic racism.

"2020 was a year of unprecedented challenges and hardship for us all, but also one of opportunity. At Hershey, our purpose  to make more moments of goodness  and our values of togetherness, integrity, excellence and making a difference, grounded our every effort as we put goodness into action by looking after one another and working together each and every day to make a positive impact," said Michele Buck, Chairman, President and CEO of The Hershey Company. "I am tremendously proud of the progress we made and the accelerated actions we took across ESG. There remains more work ahead for us, but by continuing to put our people first and focusing on what matters most to all of our stakeholders, we are confident about the future."

Notable milestones highlighted in Hershey's 2020 Sustainability Report include:

Managing Through COVID-19: Protecting the physical, emotional and economic well-being of its many stakeholders was Hershey's top priority throughout the pandemic. The company invested $1 million to convert traditional manufacturing operations to produce more than 40 million masks, a portion of which were donated to community organizations and schools in its hometown of Hershey, PA. The company also provided incremental incentives and appreciation pay to its front-line workers in manufacturing and retail workers globally, enhanced its facilities with new safety equipment to allow for physical distancing and procured personal protective equipment (PPE) and hand sanitizer for employees and suppliers alike. Recognizing the dramatic shift for employees working from home, Hershey offered new family-friendly benefits to employees and flexible calendar management to balance added responsibilities. To make an impact on a global scale, Hershey joined forces with its partners in Ghana , Belize and Mexico to educate sugar and cocoa farmers on safety guidelines and best practices to help these communities stay resilient and healthy.

Protecting the physical, emotional and economic well-being of its many stakeholders was Hershey's top priority throughout the pandemic. The company invested to convert traditional manufacturing operations to produce more than 40 million masks, a portion of which were donated to community organizations and schools in its hometown of Hershey, PA. The company also provided incremental incentives and appreciation pay to its front-line workers in manufacturing and retail workers globally, enhanced its facilities with new safety equipment to allow for physical distancing and procured personal protective equipment (PPE) and hand sanitizer for employees and suppliers alike. Recognizing the dramatic shift for employees working from home, Hershey offered new family-friendly benefits to employees and flexible calendar management to balance added responsibilities. To make an impact on a global scale, Hershey joined forces with its partners in , and to educate sugar and cocoa farmers on safety guidelines and best practices to help these communities stay resilient and healthy. Sourcing Cocoa Responsibly: At the heart of making the best chocolate in the world is sourcing the best cocoa grown around the globe  and Hershey continues to prioritize responsible cocoa sourcing to bring its iconic products to market sustainably. In 2020, Hershey achieved its 100% certified and sustainable cocoa commitment made in 2011 and further committed to 100% direct sourcing of all cocoa from Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana by 2025, enabling the company to have greater visibility and impact into where and how its cocoa is grown. Through its Cocoa For Good strategy, Hershey will continue its focus on supporting cocoa farmers and their families to be able to live healthy, prosperous lives in thriving ecosystems.

At the heart of making the best chocolate in the world is sourcing the best cocoa grown around the globe  and Hershey continues to prioritize responsible cocoa sourcing to bring its iconic products to market sustainably. In 2020, Hershey achieved its 100% certified and sustainable cocoa commitment made in 2011 and further committed to 100% direct sourcing of all cocoa from and by 2025, enabling the company to have greater visibility and impact into where and how its cocoa is grown. Through its Cocoa For Good strategy, Hershey will continue its focus on supporting cocoa farmers and their families to be able to live healthy, prosperous lives in thriving ecosystems. Strengthening Climate Action: Hershey set science-based targets to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50% across Scope 1 and 2 and 25% across Scope 3 by 2030, compared to 2018. The company detailed operational plans it is pursuing to deliver these goals including the development of renewable energy, investing in energy efficiency, improving the environmental sustainability of its packaging, working to stop land-use change in the agriculture production of ingredients and harnessing the passion of its employees on sustainability through new Green Teams that were launched during the year. In addition, the company has released its inaugural Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures report, detailing how Hershey incorporates considerations of climate risks and opportunities into its business. Hershey concluded 2020 with a 23.7% improvement in Scope 1 and 2 emissions and a 12.6% improvement in Scope 3 emissions against its baseline. These bold steps will support Hershey in ensuring the long-term sustainability of its business, the planet and its people.

Hershey set science-based targets to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50% across Scope 1 and 2 and 25% across Scope 3 by 2030, compared to 2018. The company detailed operational plans it is pursuing to deliver these goals including the development of renewable energy, investing in energy efficiency, improving the environmental sustainability of its packaging, working to stop land-use change in the agriculture production of ingredients and harnessing the passion of its employees on sustainability through new Green Teams that were launched during the year. In addition, the company has released its inaugural Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures report, detailing how Hershey incorporates considerations of climate risks and opportunities into its business. Hershey concluded 2020 with a 23.7% improvement in Scope 1 and 2 emissions and a 12.6% improvement in Scope 3 emissions against its baseline. These bold steps will support Hershey in ensuring the long-term sustainability of its business, the planet and its people. Advancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI): Hershey accelerated its focus on diversity, equity and inclusion with a refreshed enterprise inclusion strategy, new trainings, educational and career development resources for employees, and a $1.5 million investment in the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to provide scholarships for underrepresented populations. Today, the company is announcing new commitments to build a more diverse and inclusive workforce, with a goal of increasing the representation of people of color to 30-40% amongst its U.S. employees and of women globally to 47-50% by 2025. In 2020, we achieved 1:1 aggregate gender pay equity and by early 2021 we achieved 1:1 aggregate pay equity for salaried people of color in the United States . Hersheys seeks to maintain these existing achievements and has set a goal to achieve 1:1 pay equity for salaried employees worldwide. Hershey set additional leadership representation goals and disclosed its workforce diversity data. The company will achieve these commitments through The Pathways Project, a new enterprise strategy focused on inclusive hiring practices, targeted retention and advancement efforts and community engagement initiatives.

For more information on Hershey's Shared Goodness Promise, read the 2020 Sustainability Report. Additional information can be accessed in the company's Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB) index and UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework report and other reports available here.

About The Hershey Company

The Hershey Company is headquartered in Hershey, Pa., and is an industry-leading snacks company known for bringing goodness to the world through its iconic brands, remarkable people and enduring commitment to help children succeed. Hershey has approximately 17,000 employees around the world who work every day to deliver delicious, quality products. The company has more than 90 brands around the world that drive more than $8.1 billion in annual revenues, including such iconic brand names as Hershey's, Reese's, Kit Kat, Jolly Rancher, Ice Breakers, SkinnyPop, and Pirate's Booty.

For more than 125 years, Hershey has been committed to operating fairly, ethically and sustainably. Hershey founder, Milton Hershey, created the Milton Hershey School in 1909 and since then the company has focused on helping children succeed.

To learn more visit www.thehersheycompany.com

Follow:

Twitter

LinkedIn

Facebook

YouTube

Instagram

SOURCE The Hershey Company

Related Links

https://www.thehersheycompany.com


"Escaping the desert heat for Southern California's majestic beaches and refreshing outdoor shopping, dining, entertainment and activities is more affordable than ever," said Avelo Chairman and CEO Andrew Levy. "As America opens back up, traveling is at the top of everyone's list this summer, and there is no better destination than LA to cool your heels or get away with family and friends. With fares starting at $19, Southern California is more irresistible than ever."

Avelo serves Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (AZA) and Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR)  both more convenient, stress-free alternatives to the major international airports in each market. Flight XP110 departs AZA daily at 9:05 a.m., arriving BUR at 10:40 a.m. Flight XP109 departs BUR at 7:00 a.m. arriving AZA at 8:25 a.m. local time.

The route is served by 189-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft, one of the most fuel-efficient commercial aircraft globally, providing Customers with a large, comfortable cabin with more room, more seats and more seating options than the regional aircraft typically serving the airports in Avelo's network.

Whether Customers are departing or arriving, BUR offers a refreshingly hassle-free experience. Named the 2019 "Best U.S. Airport" by Fodor's Travel, BUR features include seamless curbside pickup and drop-off, smaller crowds, shorter walking distances from curb to gate, unrivaled speed for plane-to-carousel bag delivery, and shorter TSA security lines. No airport is closer to downtown LA, Hollywood, Pasadena and other attractions throughout Southern California  making BUR the ultra-convenient, stress-free gateway to Greater LA.

Flights between AZA and BUR can be booked on aveloair.com.

High-res media assets can be downloaded via the Avelo Newsroom.

About Avelo Airlines

Avelo Airlines was founded with a simple purpose  to Inspire Travel. The airline offers Customers time- and money-saving convenience, surprisingly low everyday fares, and a refreshingly smooth and caring experience through its "Avelo Soul of Service" culture. Operating a fleet of next-generation Boeing 737 aircraft, Avelo provides nonstop service between 11 destinations across the Western U.S. and its base at Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR). Later this year, Avelo will begin service to and from its first East Coast base at Tweed New Haven Airport (HVN). For more information visit aveloair.com .

*The introductory one-way $19 fare includes government taxes and fees. The fare is available on a limited number of seats and must be purchased for flights completed in June 2021. Additional fees for carry-on and checked bags, assigned seats and other optional services apply. For full terms and conditions see Avelo's Contract of Carriage.

SOURCE Avelo Airlines

Related Links

https://www.aveloair.com


Today, people's democracy in China is a three-pronged institutional arrangement comprising: (i) the Party's leadership, (ii) the people as the masters of the country, and (iii) rule of law. The purpose of this arrangement is to establish the people as the masters of the country, while the other two serve as a double guarantee for that.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) plays a leadership role as it represents the overall interests of the people, originating from China's long tradition of a "unified ruling entity" since the country's first unification in 221 B.C., and a leadership structure based on a meritocratic system of "selecting and electing" the best and the most competent to govern the country.

In today's politics, the Party's leadership effectively forestalls simple-minded populism, monetized politics or Western attempts to stage a "color revolution" in China. It is naive to assume that the people can rule a country without any organization providing leadership. Elections need to be organized, procedures established and external interference forestalled. All these tasks are performed by the CPC, a political institution of over 90 million members, larger than the German population, with broad representation and popular support, and committed to the public good.

As for rule of law, it requires first of all strict observance of the Constitution. The Chinese Constitution stipulates that the state shall serve the people and "uphold a fundamental economic system under which public ownership is the mainstay and diverse forms of ownership develop together." It adds that the state shall protect both public property rights and private property rights. Over 90 percent of Chinese households today own properties, a remarkable achievement by itself.

In China, the double guarantee ensures that the people are the masters of their country and their fundamental interests are well expressed and protected. People's democracy is not only a guarantee of people's properties, but also a series of institutions. They range from consultative democracy in each and every level of China's social and political life, to the world's most extensive use of opinion surveys on public policies, to soliciting public opinion directly via the Internet on all major policy issues, and to institutionalized democratic decision-making in producing five-year plans for the nation and for different localities. Each five-year plan goes through hundreds of rounds of consultations at all levels of the state and society.

In many ways, China's success is due to the quality of its decision-making process and efficiency of policy execution, which make the Chinese state far more responsive to the needs of the people than the Western model, as shown clearly in China's resolute fight against COVID-19. The Chinese model has ensured that most Chinese are beneficiaries of China's dramatic rise, and the country has witnessed the fastest improvement in people's living standards in human history.

The Chinese model is not perfect, but it indeed outperforms American democracy in many ways. For one thing, China's top legislature, as well as the local people's congresses, address issues of direct concern to the general public, from medical insurance to pension to education and environmental protection without the intervention of lobby groups as in the U.S. Congress.

Little wonder then that the Ipsos surveys over the past few years have repeatedly shown that around 90 percent of Chinese think their country is on the right track, more than double the number of Americans or British who think the same about their country.

The Democracy Perception Index 2020 released by Dalia Research showed that 73 percent of Chinese believed their country is a democracy while only 49 percent of Americans believed the United States is a democracy. What an interesting and changing time!

Comments to [email protected]

SOURCE Beijing Review
LEWISVILLE, Texas, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ophthalmic lens technology leader HOYA Vision Care announced today the official launch of its highly anticipated Visionary Alliance, a loyalty program designed to meet and exceed the professional needs of independent ECPs through a global knowledge base and business tools, advice, and support to help them to run their business their way - as an independent.

HOYA Vision Care, North America - Visionary Alliance

The Visionary Alliance is an exclusive community of independent visionaries complete with tools, benefits, and rewards. Supported by three loyalty tiers  Insider, Pro and Elite  each allowing ECPs to earn point multipliers as loyalty tier increases. Also with each level, exclusive value-added services are unlocked. Visionaries at all tiers receive a personalized, real-time dashboard that shows points earned and opportunities to earn more, as well as single sign-on (SSO) access to the Hoya Hub, Hoya Learning Center and monthly Hoya Business Review, Growth Programs, and preferred pricing on additional services. Additionally, there is no contract required, the program is free to join.

The Visionary Alliance is Structured by Level to Meet ECPs' Unique Business Needs:

Insider | Receive Rewards on eligible HOYA products, network with other visionaries, and access HOYA product and technology training modules.

| Receive Rewards on eligible HOYA products, network with other visionaries, and access HOYA product and technology training modules. Pro | Receive a guided lens consultation, access to a proactive patient engagement platform, reward multipliers on eligible HOYA products, expert-led webinars, and all the benefits of the Insider level plus more.

| Receive a guided lens consultation, access to a proactive patient engagement platform, reward multipliers on eligible HOYA products, expert-led webinars, and all the benefits of the Insider level plus more. Elite | Advanced access to new product trials, preferred pricing on website and social media management, Peer-2-Peer advisory panel membership, additional reward multipliers on eligible HOYA products, and all the benefits of the Insider and Pro levels plus more.

"As an independent ECP, the high quality of care I provide my patients is how I measure the strength of my business," said Dr. Thomas Gosling, owner of Optical Matters and member of HOYA's advisory board. "The Visionary Alliance is a place where we can share our knowledge and access helpful business resources, and I hope that the ECP community finds as much value in it as I do."

Eye care providers who would like to enroll today in the Visionary Alliance can click here or talk to their local HOYA Territory Sales Manager.

To learn more about the Visionary Alliance and other plans for 2021, HOYA Vision Care thought leaders will be onsite at the 2021 Vision Expo East in Orlando, Florida from June 2-5. Visit the company's booth, located at TF615, Level 2.

About HOYA

Founded in 1941 in Tokyo, Japan, HOYA is a global technology and med-tech company and a leading supplier of innovative high-tech and medical products. HOYA is active in the fields of healthcare and information technology, providing eyeglasses, medical endoscopes, intraocular lenses, optical lenses, as well as key components for semiconductor devices, LCD panels and HDDs. With over 150 offices and subsidiaries worldwide, HOYA currently employs a multinational workforce of 37,000 people. For more information, please visit hoya.com.

About HOYA Vision Care

For over 60 years, HOYA Vision Care has been a global leader in the eyeglass lens business. With a presence in over 50 countries, HOYA Vision Care has a proven expertise in lens designs and freeform surfacing technology combined with a leading position in high performance, quality AR coating. HOYA Vision Care's solid market portfolio includes VISION EASE, SEIKO and PENTAX optical lenses, as well as innovative products such as Yuniku, the world's first vision-centric, 3D tailored eyewear. The company employs over 16,000 employees worldwide with mass production facilities in Asia & Europe and over 40 local Rx laboratories globally. For more information, please visit hoyavision.com.

SOURCE HOYA Vision Care

Related Links

https://www.hoyavision.com/


CHICAGO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- HUB International Limited (Hub), a leading full-service global insurance broker, announced today that it has acquired the assets of Epstein Financial Services LLC and Epstein Financial Group LLC. (Epstein Financial). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Located in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, Epstein Financial is an independent Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) providing corporate retirement plan consulting, compliance and regulatory guidance, as well as wealth management services. Their significant experience and resources help clients maintain a successful retirement program that will assist their employees to achieve financial security.

Charlie Epstein, Principal and Founder of Epstein Financial, will join Hub Retirement and Private Wealth in Hub New England.

"We are excited to deepen our current capabilities with the exceptional marketing and sales expertise of Charlie and his team," said Timm Marini, Hub President of Western New England.

This move continues to strengthen Hub's retirement and wealth management services (Hub RPW) with the addition of talent and resources to develop more comprehensive strategies for clients. Hub RPW works to help plan sponsors create an offering that aligns with their business strategy, navigates fiduciary risk and helps employees pursue their financial goals. The several registered investment advisory affiliates in HUB RPW provide investment advisory services to clients whose total assets are approximately $105 billion.

Epstein Financial was represented by the consulting firm Wise Rhino Group for the transaction.

About Hub Retirement and Private Wealth

Hub Retirement and Private Wealth offers institutional and retirement services to for-profit and not-for-profit organizations and customized private wealth management services to individuals and families. Employees of Hub International offer securities through partner Broker Dealers not affiliated with Hub. Employees of Hub provide advisory services through both affiliated and unaffiliated Registered Investment Advisors (RIA). Global Retirement Partners, LLC, Silverstone Asset Management, LLC, Hub International Investment Advisory Services, Inc., and Sheridan Road Advisors, LLC are wholly owned subsidiaries of Hub International. Learn more about Hub Retirement and Private Wealth.

About Hub's M&A Activities

Hub International Limited is committed to growing organically and through acquisitions to expand its geographic footprint and strengthen industry and product expertise. For more information on the Hub M&A experience, visit WeAreHub.com .

About Hub International

Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Hub International Limited is a leading full-service global insurance broker providing risk management, insurance, employee benefits, retirement and wealth management products and services. With more than 13,000 employees in offices located throughout North America, Hub's vast network of specialists brings clarity to a changing world with tailored solutions and unrelenting advocacy, so clients are ready for tomorrow. For more information, please visit www.hubinternational.com.

CONTACT:

Media: Marni Gordon

Phone: 312-279-4601

[email protected]

M&A: Clark Wormer

Phone: 312.279.4848

[email protected]

SOURCE Hub International Limited

Related Links

www.hubinternational.com


BROOKFIELD, Wis., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hydrite Chemical Co., an integrated manufacturer and supplier of chemicals and related services, is excited to announce the expansion of storage capacity for both ATS= (ammonium thiosulfate) and the recently completed expansion of storage for Thio 25-17 (potassium thiosulfate) at its Terre Haute, IN plant to better serve customers in the Corn Belt. A 1.8-million-gallon tank was recently completed to expand Thio 25-17 storage, and a new 3-million-gallon tank is being constructed for ATS=. Hydrite is a leading manufacturer of sulfur derivatives and is committed to serving its retail partners.

Nate Ludtke, Executive Vice President - Sales and Business Development for Hydrite, commented, "We are excited to announce the expansion of our already significant storage infrastructure in Terre Haute, Indiana. Every spring brings new challenges, and with this additional storage we will be better positioned to respond to the needs of the market."

Hydrite has developed a reputation within the industry for providing excellence in chemical manufacturing with the most comprehensive level of technical expertise available. As a company with a strong commitment to quality and service, Hydrite continues to invest in people, technology, research, quality control, and training to offer products and systems that help deliver creative solutions.

To learn more, visit www.hydrite.com or call 262-792-1450.

About Hydrite Chemical Co.

Hydrite Chemical Co., a family-owned company established in 1929, is one of the largest independent providers of chemicals and related services in the United States. Headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin, Hydrite has a network of manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and laboratories located in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, California, and Texas with over 950 employees in 25 states. Hydrite owns and operates a private fleet of over 255 units including tractors, van trailers, tankers, and railcars.

Hydrite offers expertise in chemical distribution and manufacturing, food and dairy sanitation, organic processing, liquid sulfites, foam control and water treatment chemistries.

With over 5,000 items in its product portfolio, Hydrite's dedicated chemists, engineers, and technical service staff have extensive knowledge and experience to solve the most challenging formulation problems. Hydrite has a strong commitment to quality and customer responsiveness, and offers superior products and innovative solutions.

Media Contact:

Judy Allen

262-792-1450

[email protected]

SOURCE Hydrite Chemical Co.

Related Links

http://www.hydrite.com


ARMONK, N.Y., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has selected six school districts to receive its IBM Education Security Preparedness Grant, which totals $3 million. The in-kind grant was created to help United States K-12 public school districts proactively prepare for and respond to cyberattacks. With nearly 1,700 schools, colleges and universities in the U.S. impacted by ransomware in 2020, cyber preparedness is needed more than ever.1 Each grant will sponsor IBM Service Corps teams to deploy to the selected districts and provide in-kind security services with a value of $500,000.

IBM analyzed cybersecurity data from more than 250 U.S. K-12 school districts that applied for its Education Security Preparedness Grant announced in February 2021.

After careful review of applications, IBM selected recipients based on their cybersecurity needs and experiences, community resources and potential risks. The six school districts that will be receiving the in-kind grants are:

Brevard Public Schools  Viera, Florida

Public Schools  Poughkeepsie City School District  Poughkeepsie, New York

City School District  KIPP Metro Atlanta Schools  Atlanta, Georgia

Schools  Sheldon Independent School District  Houston, Texas

Newhall School District  Valencia, California

School District  Denver Public Schools  Denver, Colorado

After announcing the grant last February, IBM received more than 250 applications from U.S. K-12 school districts seeking to strengthen their security postures in response to the growing threats on the education space. In total, the applications represented more than 7,800 schools and more than 4 million students and provided noteworthy insights from school districts across the nation.

Key findings from the applications included:

Disparity in cybersecurity budgets: 50% of the districts had less than $100,000 for cybersecurity spending  for the entire school district. This is in comparison to larger school districts that cited cybersecurity budgets in the millions.

50% of the districts had less than for cybersecurity spending  for the entire school district. This is in comparison to larger school districts that cited cybersecurity budgets in the millions. Ransomware attacks: More than 40% of applicants experienced a ransomware attack.

More than 40% of applicants experienced a ransomware attack. Security training: More than 55% of school districts are operating without security training.

The grant, created as part of IBM's Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, will be an in-kind contribution in the form of resources and hours performed by IBM Service Corps teams of 6-10 people per district. Deployments will begin this summer and services will span developing incident response plans, providing basic cybersecurity training such as password hygiene, implementing strategic communication plans to use in response to a cyber incident and more.

"It's extremely encouraging to see how many school districts are taking an active role in trying to better their cybersecurity," said Christopher Scott, Director of Security Innovation, Office of the CISO, IBM. "This is not only an important decision as schools continue to operate remotely, but also as students look to get back to the classroom. We're excited to get to work with winners of the grants, and even more proud to be helping the various other districts that reached out for assistance."

IBM Education Security Preparedness Events

While six districts will receive the grants, IBM also created interactive cybersecurity preparedness events for all school district applicants to lend a helping hand in addressing their cybersecurity concerns.

Education Security Assessment Event: The event provided schools with the opportunity to identify their security pain points in a discussion with IBM Security experts who offered best practices and suggested courses of action.





The event provided schools with the opportunity to identify their security pain points in a discussion with IBM Security experts who offered best practices and suggested courses of action. Virtual IBM Cyber Range Experience for Public Education: During these events, school participants will simulate what it's like to respond to a cyberattack via the IBM Security Command Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts .

How Schools Can Prepare for Ransomware

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

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

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

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

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

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

For more resources for schools looking to improve their cybersecurity visit: ibm.biz/security-grant

About IBM Security

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

IBM Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

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

Media Contact:

Kim Samra

IBM Security External Relations

[email protected]

1 Emsisoft, The State of Ransomware in the US: Report and Statistics 2020 (2021)

SOURCE IBM

Related Links

www.ibm.com


BOISE, Idaho, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Idaho Health Data Exchange (IHDE), Idaho's statewide Health Information Exchange, announced a new long-term philanthropic financing partnership with Ethos Asset Management. Ethos, a private project financing provider with global operations, has committed to providing IHDE with a significant capital infusion of $8 million, in the form of a grant, that will continue for several years.

"Ethos has generously offered the opportunity for IHDE to sustain and increase this funding in the future which provides a significant foundation for BeyondHIE, the newly formed partnership that offers a comprehensive suite of services, technology, and project management to support value-based care," said Hans Kastensmith, Executive Director of IHDE.

Ethos recognizes the importance of building a more humane and fair economy and assisting in improving society as a whole. Ethos helps non-profit entities upgrade their financial structures by the global allocation of USD 1.42 billion for Philanthropic Financing Facility (PFF) in 2020/21 and has pledged to set aside 8% of annual profits for PFF operations in future years.

"IHDE and Ethos' new partnership allows for long-term fiscal stability in an increasingly unstable financial situation for Health Information Exchanges," said Jesse Meldru, IHDE's Director of Finance. "Changes to federal funding programs such as Hi-Tech Act coming next year are producing a void in capital nationally for health information exchanges. This changing landscape is producing instability in the market. This partnership will provide long-term financial support for IHDE and enable it to continue and improve on its innovative programs announced in late 2020 and into 2021."

Carlos Santos, CEO of Ethos Asset Management, stated, "We are delighted to be able to support IHDE through our Philanthropic Financing Facility (PFF). We recognize the importance of the innovative health data and health information infrastructure that IHDE has put in place. We whole-heartedly support IHDE's vision to meet patient and population health needs by enhancing the ability for Idaho's healthcare providers, community-based organizations (CBOs), and other stakeholders to access important health information technology."

IHDE's bold healthcare transformation initiatives have moved from the planning and program development stages to the measurement and continuous improvement stages. Stakeholders throughout Idaho can realize multiple value propositions through the extension of Ethos' gracious Philanthropic Financing Facility. IHDE's innovative technology stack weaves together best-in-breed SAAS (software as a service) solutions that enhance the collection and exchange of health and social determinant data, including adding aggregation and data analysis capabilities producing actionable insights to support clinical decision-making.

About IHDE:

Idaho Health Data Exchange (IHDE), a non-profit 501(c)(3) company, is Idaho's statewide Health Information Exchange, dedicated to meeting the needs of healthcare providers and ensuring that Idaho's citizens receive the most effective health services possible. To achieve these goals, IHDE is working with a wide array of stakeholders and actively building a best in breed technology infrastructure to provide access to reliable data and information, combining traditional healthcare data with other data sources to help address the medical, behavioral, and social needs that influence the well-being of Idahoans. In addition to technology enhancements to improve overall performance, an array of tools aimed at improving patient outcomes will be made available to IHDE participants, including an analytics platform, a telehealth platform, a remote patient monitoring system, and social determinants of health platform. As a trusted data sharing partner in Idaho, IHDE looks forward to bringing you a new suite of service offerings to improve the quality of health outcomes and reduce the cost of care. For more information, visit: https://www.idahohde.org/

About Ethos Asset Management:

Ethos Asset Management (Ethos) is an independent, US-based company with a global reach in resource mobilization and project financing. Providing financing to government and privately promoted projects in every continent and every sector, Ethos has developed a unique risk modulation model which allows them to provide financing in terms not available anywhere in traditional financial markets. Additionally, Ethos provides advice to structure projects and restructure debt. Ethos supports and develops their clients to navigate changing market environments to achieve their long-term goals with confidence. For more information about Ethos Asset Management, please visit https://www.ethosasset.com/.

About BeyondHIE:

BeyondHIE delivers improved outcomes using enhanced secure health care information, enabling payers and providers to meet their patients' health care needs with the full range of support ensuring outperformance on value-based reporting requirements. BeyondHIE delivers population level aggregated data at the right place and time. BeyondHIE makes consumer health information available when and where you need it; safe, informative, in your clinician's hands. For more information, please visit beyondhie.org.

SOURCE Idaho Health Data Exchange

Related Links

http://www.idahohde.org


YUGAWARA, Japan, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 2, 2021, IIJIMA-Ishou, a design firm based in the hot-spring town of Yugawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, west of Tokyo, submitted more than 400 works, an unprecedented number for a Japanese photographer, to opensea.io, the world's largest NFT marketplace.

NFT is a "Non-Fungible Token" issued for digital art (video, images, music, etc.), game items, digital trading cards, etc. The word "token" originally means "evidence, souvenir, substitute money, voucher, or gift certificate," and in the IT field, it means "data or device that proves something."

At opensea.io, IIJIMA-Ishou deals in artwork, trading cards, game items, and more. For artwork alone, more than 1.47 million NFTs have already been issued (as of May 27, 2021), but there are few contemporary art photographs and even fewer works by Japanese photographers. In the huge market of opensea.io, 400 photo NFTs are extremely rare. Especially, IIJIMA-Ishou's NFTs, limited to one per photo, are very rare.

IIJIMA-Ishou currently offers more than 400 NFTs (as of June 2), ranging from high-quality film photographs taken since the 1990s to the latest digital photographs. The NFTs include not only "beautiful Japanese scenery" but also works that propose "daily life in modern Japan" and "life based on new values."

https://opensea.io/collection/hinamameki

Photo1:

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M106672/202105275478/_prw_PI1fl_06N8R5ez.png

Also available is a high-resolution black-and-white photograph (taken in 1999) of "Matsubara (pine forest) at Night" in Higashi-Matsushima City, Miyagi Prefecture, which was lost in the tsunami of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011 (Equivalent to 60 million pixels in high resolution, 27 photos).

https://opensea.io/collection/yoge-no-matsubara1999

Photo2:

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M106672/202105275478/_prw_PI2fl_zFTL48y7.png

IIJIMA-Ishou has also published a photo collage documenting the vibrancy of the city while respecting portrait rights (82 photos).

https://opensea.io/collection/people-s-daily-life-theme-tatazumai

Photo3:

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M106672/202105275478/_prw_PI3fl_BXj9W6t2.png

From the rural town of Yugawara in Kanagawa Prefecture, a small design firm has begun to present its work to the world. IIJIMA-Ishou is using opensea.io to open new doors in contemporary art photography.

SOURCE IIJIMA-Ishou
SUNRISE, Fla., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Interim HealthCare Inc., the nation's leading franchise network of home care, senior care, home health and hospice and healthcare staffing services, today named Ashlee Burrows its 2021 Nurse of the Year. Ashlee is a registered nurse and case manager for Interim HealthCare of Lincoln, Nebraska, and is commended for going above and beyond to bring comfort and care through the unrivaled power of home-based care to medically complex patients and their families.

This honor is given to an individual who embodies Interim HealthCare's core values of integrity, compassion and customer focus. Nominations were submitted for extraordinary nurses from Interim HealthCare locations across the country as part of the company's annual celebration and recognition for National Nurses Month in May.

"We are grateful for Ashlee being honored as National Nurse of the Year," said Lynette and Mark Helling, owners of Interim HealthCare of Lincoln, Nebraska. "We have seen her continued growth, starting as a college student working as a home health aide, and later returning as an RN case manager. She is a caring and diligent nurse that has positively impacted the lives of our clients, as well as being a great member of our clinical team. We are very proud of her and the whole team takes joy in her receiving this award."

Since joining Interim HealthCare of Lincoln, Nebraska in 2015, Ashlee has developed unique expertise in caring for and building trusting relationships with medically complex patients. These individuals are often experiencing multiple healthcare diagnoses and compounding factors, from medical needs to psychological conditions and financial instability.

Ashlee also makes a special effort to integrate with needed community services for her patients, to regularly communicate with them and help them take an active role in their health as well as with family, case workers, group home and assisted living facility members who are involved in their care team.

"I'm so grateful to have chosen a career that allows me to impact so many lives in my community. I am honored to be recognized as Interim HealthCare's Nurse of the Year," said Ashlee Burrows. "Building one-on-one connections with my patients and helping to improve their health and lives is a true calling for me, and I am fortunate to have been called to such meaningful work."

To attract future award-winning employees, Interim HealthCare's 'Made for This' recruiting campaign matches those striving to serve, help, support, care and connect with a career in home healthcare. The company seeks employees for a range of career paths from paraprofessionals (home health, hospice and support aides) to LPNs, RNs, therapists, and CNAs. Interim HealthCare is also recruiting service-oriented people wanting to transition from other industries, or those looking to change healthcare careers to gain more flexibility and autonomy.

For more information about working with Interim HealthCare, please visit https://www.interimhealthcare.com/careers/.

About Interim HealthCare Inc.

Interim HealthCare Inc., founded in 1966, is a leading national franchisor of home care, hospice and healthcare staffing. It is part of Caring Brands International, which also includes UK-based Bluebird Care and Australia-based Just Better Care, both well-known franchise brands in their countries. With more than 530 franchise locations in seven countries, Caring Brands International is a global healthcare leader.



Interim HealthCare in the United States is unique in combining the commitment of local ownership with the support of a national organization that develops innovative programs and quality standards that improve the delivery of service. Franchisees employ nurses, therapists, aides, companions and other healthcare professionals who provide 25 million hours of home care service to 190,000 people each year, meeting a variety of home health, senior care, hospice, palliative care, pediatric care and healthcare staffing needs. For more information or to locate an Interim HealthCare office, visit www.interimhealthcare.com.

SOURCE Interim HealthCare Inc.

Related Links

http://www.interimhealthcare.com


System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951

/var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. 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(0x7fbff2eef300)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff39ba7f8)', '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(0x7fbff2eef300)') 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(0x7fbff39ba7f8)') 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(0x7fbff3823da8)') 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(0x7fbff39ba7f8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff39ba7f8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff2eeee50)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbff384e2a8)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbff384e2a8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
"Hong Kong has a unique mission and probably a more unique role in rebalancing the range of China subjects in which the international audience should have an interest," said Mr. Leung Chun-ying in the keynote speech titled "Mission and Role of Hong Kong in the Construction of National Image".

"Life is not a zero-sum game, where if one person wins, everyone else loses. No. We can all winFriday Culture is a media group which celebrates cultural diversity, promotes peace and shares insightful stories, in a good-humoured, positive way," Dr. Herman Hu stated in the welcoming address.

The forum was immediately followed by two panel discussions, the first of which focused on the Hong Kong perspective, with the theme of "Hong Kong in the Spotlight: Understanding a Multi-faceted City". Guests shared their views at the first panel, including Mr. C K Yeung, Former Associate Vice President, Hong Kong Baptist University and Mr. Ronnie Chan, Chair, Hang Lung Properties Limited.

The second panel discussion centred on telling the story of China with "How to tell China's Story in a Polarizing World" as the theme. In this section, the guests who shared their views included Tan Sri Dato' David Chiu, Chairman, i-CABLE Communications Limited and Ms. Pansy Ho, Group Executive Chairman, Shun Tak Holdings Ltd. All the guests offered incisive views on the topic.

About Hong Kong Coalition

Founded in 2020 with Mr. Tung Chee Hwa and Mr. Leung Chun-ying, the Hong Kong Coalition aims to support Hong Kong in starting a new and reaching greater heights by upholding the "One Country, Two Systems" principle.

About Friday Culture Limited

Founded in 2021, Friday Culture Limited is a multi-dimensional media company which celebrates cultural diversity, promotes peace and shares insight. Please visit its website: www.fridayeveryday.com.

To download event photos, videos and other relevant information:-

http://ftp.giftgift.hk

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rIblkC71NOF-YAMAFgQGtU9D9ZWkgCfU?usp=sharing

SOURCE Friday Culture Limited

Related Links

http://www.fridayeveryday.com


MONTREAL, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BCA Research, the world's leading provider of independent global macro research, today announces Irene Tunkel, CFA, has joined The U.S. Equity Strategy (USES) as chief strategist. USES combines both macro and micro strategies to offer a unique equity sector allocation perspective, while providing clients with a view that highlights sustainable trends. Tunkel will report to Nicky Manoleas, executive vice president, BCA Research.

"Tunkel is a senior investment professional, skillful in both quantitative and fundamental approaches to multi-asset investing," said Manoleas. "Her appointment strengthens BCA Research's focus on bringing together a wide range of experiences and points of view in macroeconomic discussions and debates."

Most recently, Tunkel served as senior macro strategist and portfolio manager on the multi-asset team for PGIM QMA at Prudential Financial. Previously, she was a multi-asset strategist and executive director in the CIO office at JP Morgan's private bank.

"I am thrilled to join a team of skilled analysts who provide critical macroeconomic data to investors searching for income during the pandemic and evolving fiscal and monetary policy," said Tunkel. "BCA Research's culture of deep analysis, fiery debate and collaboration among strategists is legendary for driving its long track record of navigating market uncertainty across regions, asset classes and sectors. Together, we'll continue the longstanding success of the USES product to bring timely, innovative ideas to our clients investing in US equities."

USES leverages BCA Research's top-down macro research methodology and combines it with equity sector expertise. Under Tunkel's strategic guidance, analysts publish reports weekly and provide daily updates while frequently collaborating with analysts from other strategies. They detail recommendations on 11 GICS1 sectors, 53 subsectors and size and style bias on a cyclical time horizon. Finally, USES offers investors the opportunity to engage directly with the strategist through webcasts, calls, and video conferences featuring Q&As.

Tunkel received her BA in economics from Brandeis University, completed graduate coursework in computational finance at Carnegie Mellon University, and received her MBA in financial management from the MIT Sloan School of Management. She also holds CFA designation.

About BCA Research

BCA Research is the leading independent provider of global investment research. Since 1949, BCA's mission has been to support its clients in making better investment decisions through the delivery of leading-edge analysis and forecasts of all the major asset classes and economies, as well as educating, informing and stimulating discussion through clear and thought-provoking research. BCA provides its services to investment professionals and multi-national corporations across six continents through a wide range of products, services and meetings. The firm maintains a head office in Montreal, with local offices in London, New York, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Sydney, Cape Town and Sao Paulo.

Media Contacts:

Darrell Oliver

Vice President, Head of Public Relations

W: 646.539.3640

C: 929.316.2708

[email protected]

Danielle Nemeth

[email protected]

SOURCE BCA Research

Related Links

https://www.bcaresearch.com


CHICAGO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (NYSE: JLL) announced today the appointment of Kylie Kendrick to the newly established role of Chief Operating Officer effective June 7.

Reporting to CEO Christian Ulbrich, she will be responsible for driving efficiency through robust and disciplined operational processes. She will have direct oversight for several of JLL's corporate functions, including Audit, Legal & Compliance and Sourcing & Procurement, as well as JLL Business Services (JBS) and Transformation Office.

Kylie Kendrick

"Kylie's focus as Chief Operating Officer will be to align and simplify our processes and continue to improve operational resilience and flexibility," said Ulbrich. "Optimized and strengthened operations will help to deliver innovative and effective client solutions and support our purpose of shaping the future of real estate for a better world."

Kendrick joins JLL from HSBC in London where she was Managing Director  Global Head of Wholesale Banking Operations. Her experience of over 16 years of driving operational excellence includes roles spanning business management, operations, transformation and strategy at large-scale financial institutions including Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Deutsche Bank AG, Barclays Plc and Deloitte Consulting LLP.

"I aim to apply my experience in complex organizations to help JLL build on its strong global platform and scale its operations for continued growth and success," said Kendrick. "This is an exciting time for JLL and I look forward to contributing to sustainable change that will optimize JLL's operational efficiency and globally aligned client services."

She holds a degree in Economics from Queensland University, a Postgraduate Diploma in Finance and Economics from Melbourne University and an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management.

About JLL

JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a leading professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management. JLL shapes the future of real estate for a better world by using the most advanced technology to create rewarding opportunities, amazing spaces and sustainable real estate solutions for our clients, our people and our communities. JLL is a Fortune 500 company with annual revenue of $16.6 billion in 2020, operations in over 80 countries and a global workforce of more than 91,000 as of March 31, 2021. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit ir.jll.com.

Contact: Gayle Kantro

Phone: +1 312 228 2795

Email: [email protected]

Connect with us

https://www.linkedin.com/company/jll

https://www.facebook.com/jll

https://twitter.com/jll

https://www.instagram.com/jll

SOURCE JLL-IR
TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC SEHK: 945

BOSTON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - John Hancock Investment Management, a company of Manulife Investment Management, announced today it has filed an application for an exemptive order to utilize Fidelity Investments' ("Fidelity") proprietary active equity ETF methodology to develop new ETFs. The use of the methodology will allow John Hancock Investment Management to add additional capabilities to its offering for investors.

"We are happy to have a partner like Fidelity who has the experience and expertise in developing a semi-transparent ETF structure and will allow us to continue to innovate our product offering for clients," said Andrew G. Arnott, CEO, John Hancock Investment Management and head of wealth and asset management, Manulife Investment Management, United States and Europe. "As a firm that strongly believes in the power of active management, developing our active ETF offering, while providing our investment teams with peace of mind through the use of Fidelity's structure, is a true win  win."

"As the ETF landscape continues to evolve, with investors becoming more aware of the potential benefits of the semi-transparent ETF structure, we are pleased to have the opportunity to develop the capability and plan for the future ETF investor," added Steven L. Deroian, co-head of retail product, John Hancock Investment Management.

John Hancock Investment Management launched its first ETFs more than five years ago. The firm's ETF offering has grown to 16 ETFs with more than $4.5 billion in assets under management, and includes corporate bond, U.S. and international equity portfolios, and a range of sector-specific products.

"We are excited to have John Hancock Investment Management license Fidelity's active equity ETF methodology as they work to develop an innovative ETF offering for their clients," said Greg Friedman, Head of ETF Management and Strategy at Fidelity. "We believe Fidelity's methodology is an industry leading approach, designed to operate seamlessly within the existing ETF market."

Fidelity's active equity ETF model employs an innovative "tracking basket" methodology, which maintains the benefits of the ETF structure, provides information to market participants to promote efficient trading of shares, and preserves the ability to add value through active management.

About John Hancock Investment Management

A company of Manulife Investment Management, we serve investors through a unique multimanager approach, complementing our extensive in-house capabilities with an unrivaled network of specialized asset managers, backed by some of the most rigorous investment oversight in the industry. The result is a diverse lineup of time-tested investments from a premier asset manager with a heritage of financial stewardship.

About Manulife Investment Management

Manulife Investment Management is the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 17 countries and territories. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement.

As of March 31, 2021, Manulife Investment Management had CAD $764.1 billion (US $607.6 billion) in assets under management and administration. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulifeim.com.

Request a prospectus or summary prospectus from your financial professional, by visiting jhinvestments.com/etf, or by calling us at 800-225-5291. The prospectus includes investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses, and other information that you should consider carefully before investing.

John Hancock ETFs are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC in the United States, and are advised by John Hancock Investment Management LLC. Foreside is not affiliated with John Hancock Investment Management LLC.

Shares of the ETF are not redeemable with the ETF other than in creation unit aggregations. Instead, investors must buy or sell the ETF shares in the secondary market at market price (not NAV) through a broker-dealer. In doing so, the investor may incur brokerage commissions and may pay more than net asset value when buying and may receive less than net asset value when selling.

Investing involves risks, including the potential loss of principal.

There is no guarantee that any investment strategy illustrated will be successful or achieve any particular level of results. This material is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be, nor shall it be interpreted or construed as, a recommendation or providing advice, impartial or otherwise, regarding any security, mutual fund, ETF, sector, or index. Investors should consult with their financial professional before making any investment decisions.

The shares of the ETF do not represent a deposit or an obligation of, and are not guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank or other insured depository institution, and are not federally insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other government agency.

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined by the United States securities laws. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the ETF's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

The "tracking basket" methodology maintains confidentiality of a portfolio's securities and trading strategies by disclosing a "tracking basket" comprised of select recently disclosed portfolio holdings, liquid U.S. ETFs that convey information about the types of instruments in which the fund invests, and cash and cash equivalents. This "tracking basket" is disclosed daily and is used to facilitate the creation and redemption process.

No products or investment vehicles offered by JOHN HANCOCK INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT are sponsored, endorsed, sold, or promoted by FIDELITY or any of its affiliates.

 2021 John Hancock Investment Management. All rights reserved.

SOURCE John Hancock Investment Management
Label Expansion Differentiates KEDRAB as First and Only Human Rabies Immune Globulin in U.S. to be Studied in Children Tweet this

Additional evidence to support the use of KEDRAB in children comes from real world evidence. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, no children in the U.S. treated with post-exposure prophylaxis have been reported to have had rabies between 2018 and April 2021.

Rabies is a life-threatening disease, but it is fully preventable if treated on time. It impacts approximately 40,000 people in the U.S. each year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), up to 40 percent of people exposed to a suspected rabid animal are children under 15 years of age.

"Improving the lives of people with rare and serious diseases is our most important mission at Kedrion Biopharma," said Kedrion Biopharma Chief Executive Officer, Val Romberg. "As the U.S. market's first and only human rabies immune globulin to be studied in children, KEDRAB is an excellent example of that dedication. Today's news will provide added peace of mind for physicians who choose KEDRAB in treating children who have possibly been exposed to rabies. We are especially proud of our partnership with Kamada, which has resulted in this significant step forward in global health."

"Kamada is excited to have a HRIG that can treat people of all ages in the U.S. with the FDA-approved label expansion for KEDRAB," said Amir London, Chief Executive Officer of Kamada. "We believe that this label update may support an increase of KEDRAB's U.S. market share. We anticipate that sales of KEDRAB will continue to grow meaningfully in the U.S., capturing a significant portion of the estimated annual $150 million U.S. HRIG market."

Kamada has been selling the HRIG product since 2003 in numerous territories outside of the U.S. under the brand name KAMRAB.

Kamada sold approximately 5 million ml of KamRAB to date, demonstrating significant clinical experience with the product. Under the clinical development and marketing agreement between Kedrion Biopharma and Kamada, Kamada holds the license for KEDRAB and Kedrion Biopharma has exclusive rights to commercialize the product in the U.S.

About KEDRAB

KEDRAB [Rabies Immune Globulin (Human)] is a human rabies immune globulin (HRIG) indicated for passive, transient post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) of rabies infection in persons of all ages when given promptly after contact with a rabid or possibly rabid animal. KEDRAB should be administered concurrently with a full course of rabies vaccine.

KEDRAB was approved by the FDA in August, 2017. KEDRAB is supplied in single-dose vials containing 2 mL or 10 mL of ready-to-use solution with a nominal potency of 150 IU/mL.

KEDRAB should be administered concurrently with a full course of rabies vaccine.

Important Safety Information:

Severe hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis, may occur with KEDRAB . Have epinephrine available immediately to treat any acute severe hypersensitivity reactions.

. Have epinephrine available immediately to treat any acute severe hypersensitivity reactions. KEDRAB is made from human plasma donors and may carry a risk of transmitting infectious agents, e.g., viruses, the variant Creutzfeld-Jacob disease (vCJD) agent and, theoretically, the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) agent.

Please see KEDRAB full prescribing Information for complete prescribing details. You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

About the KEDRAB U.S. Pediatric Clinical Study

KEDRAB's safety and effectiveness have been established in children. KEDRAB was evaluated in a two-center, open-label clinical trial in 30 pediatric patients exposed or possibly exposed to rabies virus for whom post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) was indicated. The primary objective of the study was to confirm the safety of KEDRAB in the pediatric population.

The patients were treated with KEDRAB at a dose of 20 IU/kg on Day 0 and active rabies vaccine on Days 0, 3, 7, and 14 as per the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations for rabies PEP. The patients ranged in age from 0.5 to 14.9 years; 46.7 percent were females, 6.7 percent were Asian, 23.3 percent were Black or African American and 70 percent were White.

Rabies virus neutralizing antibody (RVNA) titers and tolerability were assessed on day 14 following administration. Participant safety was monitored for 84 days. No serious adverse reactions, rabies infections, or deaths were recorded through day 84.

Of the 30 patients, 28 (93.3 percent) achieved a Day-14 RVNA titer 0.5 IU/mL, the World Health Organization recommended level. This secondary objective included the evaluation of antibody levels and effectiveness of KEDRAB in the prevention of rabies disease when administered with a rabies vaccine, according to the rabies PEP guidelines recommended by ACIP.

View the published U.S. Pediatric Clinical Study here.

About Rabies

Rabies is a preventable viral disease of mammals most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal. It is a serious and nearly always fatal infection. In the U.S., rabies in wild animals, especially raccoons, skunks, foxes and bats, accounts for most cases of rabies passed on to humans, pets, and other domestic animals. An acute, progressive viral encephalomyelitis, rabies carries the highest case fatality rate of any conventional etiological agent. Rabies is one of the oldest described infectious diseases, known for over 5,000 years.

About Kedrion Biopharma

Kedrion Biopharma is a leading international biopharmaceutical company that specializes in the development, production and distribution of plasma-derived therapeutic products for use in treating serious diseases, disorders and conditions such as immune system deficiencies and coagulation disorders. Kedrion has special expertise in the treatment of rare diseases and in the manufacture of hyper-immune products such as anti-hepatitis B, anti-tetanus and RhoGAM for prophylaxis against Rh sensitization and subsequent hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn. The company operates through a fully integrated business model from the collection of plasma in its own centers in the United States to fractionation and production in its manufacturing facilities located in Italy, Hungary and the United States.

Headquartered in Castelvecchio Pascoli (Italy), Kedrion has over 2,500 employees and a commercial presence in approximately 100 countries worldwide. Kedrion places a high value on the welfare of those who benefit from its products, as well as on the people and the communities it serves. Additional information about Kedrion Biopharma can be found at kedrion.com and kedrion.us.

About Kamada

Kamada Ltd. ("Kamada" or the "Company") is a global specialty plasma-derived biopharmaceutical company with a diverse portfolio of marketed products, a robust development pipeline and industry-leading manufacturing capabilities. The Company's strategy is focused on driving profitable growth from its current commercial products, its plasma-derived development pipeline and its manufacturing expertise, while evolving into a vertically integrated plasma-derived company. The Company's two leading commercial products are GLASSIA and KEDRAB. GLASSIA was the first liquid, ready-to-use, intravenous plasma-derived AAT product approved by the FDA. The Company markets GLASSIA in the U.S. through a strategic partnership with Takeda Pharmaceuticals Company Limited ("Takeda") and in other countries through local distributors. Pursuant to an agreement with Takeda, the Company will continue to produce GLASSIA for Takeda through 2021 and Takeda will initiate its own production of GLASSIA for the U.S. market in 2021, at which point Takeda will commence payment of royalties to the Company until 2040. KEDRAB is an FDA approved anti-rabies immune globulin (Human) for post-exposure prophylaxis treatment. KEDRAB is being marketed in the U.S. through a strategic partnership with Kedrion S.p.A. The Company has additional four plasma-derived products administered by injection or infusion, that are marketed through distributors in more than 15 countries, including Israel, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, India and other countries in Latin America and Asia. The Company has two leading development programs; a plasma-derived hyperimmune immunoglobulin (IgG) product as a potential treatment for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and an inhaled AAT for the treatment of AAT deficiency for which the Company is currently conducting the InnovAATe clinical trial, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, pivotal Phase 3 trial. The Company leverages its expertise and presence in the Israeli pharmaceutical market to distribute in Israel more than 20 products that are manufactured by third parties. FIMI Opportunity Fund, the leading private equity investor in Israel, is the Company's lead shareholder, beneficially owning approximately 21 percent of the outstanding ordinary shares.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts, including statements regarding: 1) Estimation that rabies impacts approximately 40,000 people in the U.S. each year and that up to 40% of people exposed to a suspected rabid animal are children under 15 years of age, 2) the belief that sales of KEDRAB has the potential to continue to grow in the U.S. by capturing a significant share of the estimated annual $150 million U.S. HRIG market, and 3) the belief that the new label extension further differentiate KEDRAB from other currently available HRIGs in the U.S. market. Forward-looking statements are based on Kamada's and Kedrion's current knowledge and its present beliefs and expectations regarding possible future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of several factors including, but not limited to, competition within, and entry of new treatments for, the U.S. HRIG market, corporate events associated with Kamada, Kedrion and their respective partners in relation to KEDRAB and the impact of general economic, industry or political conditions in the U.S., Israel or otherwise. The forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date of this announcement, Kamada and Kedrion undertakes no obligation to update publicly such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as otherwise required by law.

CONTACTS:

Kamada: Chaime Orlev Chief Financial Officer [email protected] Bob Yedid LifeSci Advisors, LLC 646-597-6989 [email protected] Kedrion Biopharma: Sheila A. Burke Method Health Communications 484-667-6330 [email protected]

SOURCE Kedrion Biopharma

Related Links

kedrion.us


Jeff Gilbert , vice president and chief scientific officer

, vice president and chief scientific officer Rose Paczkowski , chief financial officer

, chief financial officer Dan Buckley , director of projects and facilities

, director of projects and facilities Michelle Lutz , sales manager

, sales manager Sanessa Moens , assistant grower

The hydroponic growth process is an environmentally and socially responsible business practice that requires 90% less water than open-field farming. The greens are grown in nutrient-enriched water, not soil. The process creates produce that requires fewer natural resources and takes less time to grow. Climate, water and nutrients are all meticulously controlled throughout the process.

Currently, the products are available in limited distribution. The farm will be fully operational in summer 2021. Lakeland Fresh Farms products include:

Pure Romaine  smooth and crisp red and green baby romaine leaves.

Crisp 'n Clean  crunchy, sweet and serrated baby green leaves.

Always Aromatic Basil  fresh and flavorful large-leaf basil.

The greens are harvested and packaged hands-free year-round and go straight from harvest to stores and restaurants in just hours, allowing them to be enjoyed at the peak of freshness. Currently, the products are available through limited distribution at Meijer's Woodward Corner Market as well as Hollywood Markets, Plum Market, Market Square, Honey Bee Market, Market Fresh and Better Health Market & Cafe.

"More than ever before, there is demand for high-quality produce that is locally produced," said Corace. "The initial response from restaurants and supermarkets has been overwhelmingly positive. We look forward to expanding the availability of our products throughout the metro Detroit region."

About Lakeland Fresh Farms

Headquartered in Chesterfield Township, Mich., Lakeland Fresh Farms grows high-quality greens year-round, utilizing the most environmentally and socially responsible business practices. Lakeland Fresh Farms products are 100% free of pesticides and herbicides as well as animal byproducts. Each product is also packaged with 40% less plastic than traditional packaging and is 100% recyclable. For more information visit, lakelandfreshfarms.com.

SOURCE Lakeland Fresh Farms
As part of the agreement, Asia Bankers Club, Ashton Hawks and Golden Emperor are the appointed official agents for foreign quota sales, and will exclusively promote Lancaster Luminaire of Hanoi in all overseas markets outside of Vietnam, with Hong Kong as the first stop. A complex of luxury apartments, offices and retail podium, Lancaster Luminaire promises to bring a comfortable and fulfilling living experience. The starting price of a fully fitted and finished luxury residential apartment unit is USD195,000 / HKD1,500,000.

Lancaster Luminaire is located at Lang Street, a prime location of the CBD area Dong Da district which is the heart of traffic connection. The new CBD Nam Tu Liem is just 10 minute drive away. It only takes 15 minutes to move from Lancaster Luminaire to other major areas of the city, such as the Noi Bai International Airport, South of Tu Liem, Ho Tay Residences and Hoan Kiem district. Close to Lancaster Luminaire, Lotte Center Hanoi is only 5 minutes away, and Thu Le Park and Cau Giay Park are 3 minutes from the development. The unrivalled location is perfect for families and working professionals alike, surrounded by green space with seamless connection to the city centre. Moreover, some of the apartments on the higher floors will enjoy a scenic view of West Lake, one of the most significant lakes of the city.

The development is the first joint venture of Trung Thuy Group and Takashimaya subsidiary Toshin Development. Part of the Takashimaya Group, one of the leading department store operators in Japan, Toshin Development aims to bolster the project value leveraging their development track record in Japan and Ho Chi Minh City, particularly at Saigon Centre with anchor tenant Takashimaya. Meanwhile, after the successful development of Lancaster Nui Truc, Trung Thuy Group returned to Hanoi with Lancaster Luminaire as the latest addition to "Lancaster", the pioneer brand in the luxury real estate series in Vietnam.

Mr. Kingston Lai, Founder & CEO of Asia Bankers Club said, "Japanese department store chain operator Takashimaya is a familiar name for investors in Hong Kong. This exquisite urban development project in Hanoi by Toshin Development together with Trung Thuy Group, a Vietnamese high-end housing developer, would give high confidence to Hong Kong investors who are looking for real estate projects that are up to international standard in terms of construction and management. We are delighted to be the sole exclusive agent group for the foreign quotas of this development and to launch it globally."

Mr. Ivan Yam, Managing Director & Partner of Golden Emperor, comments, "Hanoi is Vietnam's centre of wealth and power, and the urban population is growing rapidly. The supply of brand new residential developments is far behind the population growth. Coupled with the stable GDP growth of Vietnam and the rise of middles class, it is expected that the housing market will recover very quickly once the pandemic is over. We believe this is a good entry point for investors looking to enter the real estate market of this emerging economy."

Mr. Frederick Ho, Director & Partner of Ashton Hawks adds, "A number of infrastructures in Hanoi are seeing completion in the coming years, improving urban planning in the city centre and the CBD. Lancaster Luminaire is location 10 minutes way from Cau Giay Station of Line 3, which is scheduled to complete by 2022. The location of this development project is also very convenient with shopping facilities, international schools, hospitals and CBD nearby. We expect a rich tenant pool of professionals with families and expats working in the current CBD and the new CBD Nam Tu Liem, with estimated rental yield as much as 7% per year*."

Mr. Nguyen Trung Tin, CEO of Trung Thuy Group stated, "After the success of Lancaster Nui Truc, Lancaster Luminaire is the next development of Trung Thuy Group in Hanoi, which showcases a remarkable concept by a combination of light inspiration and luxurious living style, bringing owners more than just a residential project. With the collaboration of Toshin Development and strategic partners, we believe that Lancaster Luminaire will become a breakthrough development in a promising market in Hanoi."

Lancaster Luminaire will be introduced exclusively by Asia Bankers Club, Ashton Hawks and Golden Emperor in Hong Kong from today. Units with foreign quotas are available only with these three appointed official agents. Interested investors can also obtain an overview on Vietnam's luxury property market and more information on foreign ownership quotas through their professional agent teams.

To download high-resolution project images, please visit https://bit.ly/34yZjoW.

*Rental Yield is projected and not guaranteed.

About Trung Thuy Group

Established in 1995, Trung Thuy Group strives to create artful and quality living spaces that enhance people's lives and maintain sustainable values for the next generations.

Trung Thuy Group is proud to be a leading real estate development brand with high-class projects trusted by customers in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and more.

trungthuy.com

About Toshin Development

Toshin Development was established in 1963 by Takashimaya Group. From that time, Takashimaya is still the pioneer corporation that operates department stores in Japan and worldwide,

Toshin Development is strengthening its position by expanding its global shopping mall network. With nearly 60 years of experience, Toshin Development aims to create a high-quality commercial component in Lancaster Luminaire which is expected to become a new symbol of Hanoi.

www.toshin-dev.co.jp

About Asia Bankers Club

The Asia Bankers Club is an investment club for banking and finance professionals in Asia. With a vast member base, the Asia Bankers Club organizes events for its members and provides physical assets for investments, such as properties, fine wines, art, timepieces, and collectables. Our members are from top tier investment, private and consumer banks, asset management companies, private equity firms, hedge funds, and sovereign wealth funds primarily located in key financial centres.

www.asiabankersclub.com

About Ashton Hawks

Ashton Hawks was established by a group of renowned investment gurus and private collectors who laid the very foundation of the discerning Ashton Hawks, balancing luxury leisure lifestyle and investment. Our headquarter office is located in Hong Kong, with overseas branches in Bangkok and Vietnam. Ashton Hawks' real estate portfolio is as diverse in style as it is in mega-estate location across the globe, and caters to luxury lifestyles of all kinds. Ashton Hawks takes pride in being a boutique yet original real estate consultant in the luxury market segment for the ultra-affluent.

www.ashtonhawks.com

About Golden Emperor

Golden Emperor Properties Limited is a Hong Kong-based company that offers international properties to clients in Hong Kong and globally. The company works with property developers from Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, the USA, Australia, Europe, and many others. The company has a team of dedicated sales agents that can provide consultancy and information on relevant transaction-related topics such as taxation, sales & purchase procedures, payment schedules, and many others.

www.goldenemperor.com

SOURCE Asia Bankers Club

Related Links

https://www.asiabankersclub.com/


VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LifeNet Health, the federally designated Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) that facilitates organ donation and transplantation throughout Virginia, is collaborating with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) to improve the way organs are transported in the United States.

As a beta test participant for UNOS' Organ Tracking Service, LifeNet Health volunteered to provide crucial feedback while using the service to monitor precious organs from donors in its Virginia service area to ensure they arrive safely to transplant hospitals. It was among 15 of the nation's 57 OPOs to participate in the pilot phase.

"This program allows us to use technology to know even more precisely where an organ is during every moment of its travel from the donor to the transplant center," said Todd Hubler, Vice President and Executive Director of the LifeNet Health OPO. "It provides extra certainty that the gifts we're entrusted with are being transported safely and efficiently to patients awaiting a second chance at a healthy life."

While a transplant team accompanies many organs during travel, some organs  such as kidneys  are transported by secure commercial and medical carriers. For them, the tracking system provides an additional layer of assurance that the organ is safely on its way.

UNOS is now offering the service for all OPOs after more than a year of developing, testing and improving the service based on direct feedback from the OPOs that participated in the test. The UNOS Organ Tracking Service utilizes GEGO Internet of Things (IoT) technology and is integrated into the systems that OPOs already use to package and label organs for transport and that hospitals use to view organs available for their patients.

"We built this service around the needs of the organ procurement organizations who are responsible for transporting organs recovered in their service area," said UNOS Labs Program Manager Casey Humphries. The OPOs' involvement helped ensure that the service works smoothly with their processes while also meeting the needs of transplant centers and their patients.

LifeNet Health's participation in the test program demonstrates its commitment to leveraging technologies to enhance the way it meets the needs of patients and hospitals. "We are proud to work closely with UNOS and other OPOs to further strengthen how organs are transported," said Rony Thomas, President and CEO of LifeNet Health, which has facilitated a record number of transplants in Virginia for each of the last three years. "This initiative reflects the teamwork and collaboration that donation and transplantation require, as well as our collective dedication to being diligent stewards of these gifts by continually improving the ways we work."

As the mission-driven, non-profit organization that works with the organ donation and transplantation community to save lives through transplantation, UNOS is solely focused on making more lifesaving transplants available, safely and equitably, to patients in need. "Providing organ procurement and transplant professionals tools that enable them to work more efficiently and save more lives is at the core of what we do," said Humphries.

About LifeNet Health

LifeNet Health helps save lives, restore health, and give hope to thousands each year. It is the world's most trusted provider of transplant solutions  from organ procurement to bio-implants and cellular therapies  and a leader in regenerative medicine, while always honoring the donors and healthcare professionals who enable healing. For more information about LifeNet Health, go to www.lifenethealth.org .

About UNOS

United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is the mission-driven non-profit serving as the nation's transplant system under contract with the federal government. We lead the network of transplant hospitals, organ procurement organizations, and thousands of volunteers who are dedicated to honoring the gifts of life entrusted to us and to making lifesaving transplants possible for patients in need. Working together, we leverage data and advances in science and technology to continuously strengthen the system, increase the number of organs recovered and the number of transplant performed, and ensure patients across the nation have equitable access to transplant.

SOURCE LifeNet Health

Related Links

http://www.LifeNetHealth.org


- Locus to use funds to focus on innovation, geographical expansion, and scaling the team

SAN FRANCISCO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Locus, a future-ready platform that automates supply chain decisions, today announced that it has raised $50 million in Series C funding led by GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, with participation from Qualcomm Ventures LLC and existing investors Tiger Global and Falcon Edge. Noted angel investors Amrish Rau, CEO of Pine Labs, Kunal Shah, CEO of Cred, Raju Reddy, founder of Sierra Atlantic, and Deb Deep Sengupta, former President & MD, SAP South Asia, also participated in the round.

Locus will majorly use the funds for improving geographical reach and building its research and development team to expand the product line.

"Quality & patient capital allows us to focus on path-breaking R&D, helping us deliver exceptional long term value to our customers, over incremental improvements. We will be recruiting more PhDs in our data science team and are looking to double our patents by 2022," said Nishith Rastogi, CEO, Locus.

Locus uses deep machine learning and proprietary algorithms to offer smart supply chain solutions to customers. The company's scalable solutions have resulted in $150 million+ savings in logistics costs, 70 million+ kilometer reductions in distance traveled, and 17 million+ kilograms reduction in GHG emissions for clients across sectors like e-commerce, retail, e-grocery, CPG/FMCG, home services, home deliveries, 3PL, transportation, and B2B distribution.

Locus works with top clients across North America, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Indian subcontinent. It has offices in the USA, the UK, India, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Germany.

Locus has been on an expansion spree in the Americas, bolstering its leadership with industry veterans such as Walter Heil, Senior Vice President, Business (Americas), and Michael D. Parmett, Vice President, Customer Success. Heil previously worked at Project44 and BluJay, while Parmett was a part of 3GTMS and Manhattan Associates.

"At this juncture, I would like to thank all our customers for placing their faith in us and being our partners in innovation. It gives us immense pleasure to know that we've added value to your supply chain and logistics operations. We are now looking to support our customers with a global footprint. Other than the geographies we are already present in, we are also investing heavily in Latin America and aggressively building our presence there," added Rastogi. "I would also like to thank the Locus team for the efforts they put in day in and day out. I hope we can show our gratitude by creating substantial wealth for all their efforts."

"Locus' smart product suite is optimizing supply chain efficiencies by using machine learning to deliver real-time tracking and insights for the last mile fulfillment," said Varsha Tagare, Sr. Director, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and Managing Director at Qualcomm Ventures. "We're excited to invest in Locus to enable logistics as a service and support their journey to become a global last-mile automation leader."

The company had earlier raised $30 million across multiple rounds.

About Locus:

Locus is a technology platform that uses machine learning and proprietary algorithms to automate complex supply chain decisions. Its smart supply chain solutions provide end-to-end visibility and enable enterprises to enhance their operational efficiency by reining costs, streamlining the customer experience, and reducing environmental impact.

Locus' scalable solutions include route optimization, real-time tracking and analytics, sales beat optimization, territory planning, vehicle allocation and network design. Our future-ready platform has resulted in $150 million+ savings in logistics costs, 70 million+ kilometer reductions in distance traveled, and 17 million+ kilograms reduction in GHG emissions across clients like Nestle, Mondelez, Unilever, BigBasket, Bluedart, Bukalapak, The Tata Group, and many others.

The company powers deliveries across North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, Middle East, ANZ, and the Indian Subcontinent. Visit www.locus.sh to know more or follow us on LinkedIn !

About GIC:

GIC is a leading global investment firm established in 1981 to manage Singapore's foreign reserves and secure Singapore's financial future. A disciplined long-term value investor, GIC is uniquely positioned for investments across a wide range of asset classes, including real estate, private equity, equities and fixed income. GIC has investments in over 40 countries and has been investing in emerging markets for more than two decades. Headquartered in Singapore, GIC employs over 1,700 people across 10 offices in key financial cities worldwide.

For more information about GIC, please visit www.gic.com.sg or follow us on LinkedIn .

About Qualcomm Ventures:

Qualcomm Ventures, acting through Qualcomm Ventures LLC or its affiliated entities, has been making strategic investments in technology companies that have the potential to dramatically transform our world since 2000. As a global investor, we look to help entrepreneurs build revolutionary businesses that reshape the world around us. For more information please visit: www.qualcommventures.com .

Media Contact:

Julie Solomon

610.764.1534

[email protected]

SOURCE Locus
BOSTON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has just filed long-awaited regulations which ensure that egg-laying hens are provided at least 1.5 square feet of living space each. The regulations also specify space requirements for breeding pigs and veal calves. The document can be obtained here.

The release of regulations by Attorney General Healey's Office is the result of a lawsuit filed by the Humane Farming Association (HFA)  the nation's leading farm-animal protection organization. HFA sued the Attorney General's Office for its failure to issue the regulations by January 2020 as required by law.

In 2016, Massachusetts voters approved Question 3, a ballot measure which requires that egg-laying hens be provided no less than 1.5 square feet of floor space each. The Attorney General had refused to issue Question 3 implementing regulations, while the egg industry fought for  and continues to push  legislation that would repeal the 1.5 square foot standard and replace it with a cruel 1 square foot per hen. Passage of such legislation would enable the industry to crowd 50% more hens into egg factories than allowed by the ballot measure. Question 3, which was approved by 78% of Massachusetts voters, is scheduled to take effect this January.

"We are gratified that our lawsuit prompted the release of these much-needed standards," said Humane Farming Association National Director Bradley Miller. "We can now devote our full attention to defeating the egg industry's proposed legislation (H. 864 & S. 36) which is designed to repeal these long-awaited standards. Passage of these rotten egg bills would be a devastating setback to farm-animal protection and a major betrayal of Massachusetts voters," said Miller.

About HFA

The Humane Farming Association (HFA) is dedicated to the protection of farm animals and operates the nation's largest farm-animal sanctuary. Founded in 1985 and over 270,000 members strong, HFA is nationally recognized for its groundbreaking anti-cruelty campaigns.

Contact: Bradley Miller (415) 485-1495

[email protected]

Related Links

https://www.hfa.org

https://stoptherotteneggbill.org/

SOURCE Humane Farming Association
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951

/var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. 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(0x7fbff38d7338)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff38d6f90)', '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(0x7fbff38d7338)') 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(0x7fbff38d6f90)') 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(0x7fbff38d6ac8)') 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(0x7fbff38d6f90)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff38d6f90)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff2eeddc0)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbff384ddc8)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbff384ddc8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
The Stealth Belt technology, now distributed by MellingMedical, will help improve the quality of life for veterans. Tweet this

According to a study published in Military Medicine, more than 100,000 surgeries per year in the United States result in the formation of an ostomy for fecal diversion. The varied reasons for ostomy creation include inflammatory bowel disease, cancer and other causes. A recent study by the University of South Alabama confirms wearing a Stealth Belt lessens leaking and skin irritation - increasing quality of life for those who wear them.

"Ostomies are a fact of life for many, but the life those patients traditionally experienced was incredibly limiting," said Stealth Belt founder Richard O'Hamill, who created the product after he had ileostomy surgery in 2008 as a result of Crohn's Disease. "We are proud to know that, thanks to MellingMedical, our products are improving quality of life for veterans who have sacrificed so much for our country."

For more information on MellingMedical's full line of medical/surgical supplies, durable medical equipment and pharmaceutical products, visit www.MellingMedical.com.



About MellingMedical



MellingMedical, a CVE-Verified Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), holds a Medical Equipment and Surgical Federal Supply Schedule (Med/Surg), as well as a Pharmaceutical Schedule, and currently serves more than 165 VA Medical Centers and 300 VA Outpatient clinics, all seven (7) VA CMOPs, 95 DoD Medical Facilities and Health and Human Services (HHS), including Indian Health Services (IHS) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC). MellingMedical provides access to innovative and cost-effective healthcare solutions in ophthalmology, optometry, urology and wound care, as well as a full range of pharmaceutical products through partnership with a diverse array of recognized quality manufacturing partners. Learn more at MellingMedical.com.

About Stealth Belt



Founded in 2009, Stealth Belt, Inc., has been designing, manufacturing, and shipping its unique line of ostomy & hernia belts to people with ostomies all over the world. Based in Johnson City, TN, with offices in the US and the UK, the company is committed to helping people with ostomies live normal and fulfilling lives so they have the confidence to "Go Anywhere. Do Anything." With the unique perspective of having ostomies themselves, founder Richard O'Hamill and VP of Marketing Collin Jarvis understand the challenges faced by those living with ostomies. Learn more at StealthBelt.com.

SOURCE MellingMedical

Related Links

http://www.MellingMedical.com


HAYWARD, Calif., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Microvi announced today that a Microvi MNE nitrate treatment system will be installed for the City of San Juan Bautista, California. This system will allow the city to ensure a supply of clean drinking water in a region that has seen consistently high levels of nitrate in their water sources.

Nitrate is one of the most widespread contaminants in drinking water globally, and its human health impacts are disproportionately felt in rural communities where groundwater contamination with agricultural runoff is pervasive.

Microvi Restores Critical Community Drinking Water for the City of San Juan Bautista

"In the past four years the City has shut-down two wells, and last March it had to shut down its newest well. After spending $750,000 on this new well, we are looking for a miracle," said Don Reynolds, City Manager of San Juan Bautista.

The City of San Juan Bautista relies on three wells to provide drinking water to a population of just over 2,000 residents. To better secure its source of drinking water, the City and the San Benito County Water District have partnered to import surface water six miles to the City's system to blend with the ground water. While importing water from nearby treatment plants is an option, treating water locally is significantly more cost-effective.

"As a mayor, and as a water quality specialist, I am beyond excited about implementing Microvi's nitrate treatment system for the City of San Juan Bautista," said San Juan Bautista's Mayor Leslie Jordan.

"We are pleased to offer the City of San Juan Bautista an effective and economical solution to treat the pervasive challenge of nitrate contamination," said Dr. Fatemeh Shirazi, CEO of Microvi. "This installation exemplifies Microvi's commitment to bring sustainable solutions to communities that need it most."

Unlike most nitrogen treatment solutions that come at a substantial cost, Microvi's MicroNiche Engineering (MNE) technology provides a cost-effective, scalable method that allows the utility to use existing infrastructure and staff to implement and maintain the system.

The project is funded in part through Microvi's partnership with climate-tech nonprofit Elemental Excelerator.

"This initiative reflects just one example of the acute need to scale innovations that provide equitable access to clean, drinking water in communities across Central California," said Kim Baker, Director of Water Innovation at Elemental Excelerator. "We are honored to continue supporting the critical work that innovative companies such as Microvi are pioneering to address water contamination efficiently, locally and sustainably."

This project comes at the heels of commercial projects with Sunny Slope Water Company and Cucamonga Valley Water District, as well as the recent commissioning of the first of its kind wastewater sidestream treatment project at Oro Loma Sanitary District's 12 MGD plant.

About Microvi

Microvi is a transformative biology company based in the San Francisco Bay Area that delivers next-generation biotechnologies for the water, wastewater, bio-based chemicals, biofuels and biopharma industries. Microvi offers commercial technologies around the world to reduce waste, increase productivity and provide disruptive economics across the value chain. Learn more at www.microvi.com.

About Elemental Excelerator

Elemental Excelerator is on a mission to redesign the systems at the root of climate change. In 2009, the non-profit launched a new model for funding climate tech deployment. Breaking down barriers to innovation alongside entrepreneurs provides Elemental unique insight into the policy, market, and technology innovation needed to build systems to uplift people and communities around the world. Elemental has invested in over 100 growth-stage companies and celebrated more than a dozen exits, funded more than 70 technology projects, and built a platform for scaling equitable, market-driven solutions to climate change. For more information, please visit elementalexcelerator.com.

Contact:

Karin Kidder

VP Marketing, Microvi

+1 (510) 344-0668

SOURCE Microvi

Related Links

http://www.microvi.com


LOS ANGELES, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nathan D. O'Malley , a Partner at Musick Peeler LLP's Los Angeles office, has been recognized as a Global Leader in Arbitration by Who's Who Legal.

From Zurich and Geneva to Abu Dhabi and Singapore, O'Malley has appeared in cases across the globe as head of the firm's International Litigation and Arbitration practice. "The practice of international arbitration involves transnational procedural norms and takes place within a legal framework that is different to that of domestic arbitration" O'Malley explains. His experience in the field includes acting in matters governed by the laws of various countries, including civil and common law jurisdictions and those that apply aspects of sharia law.

In addition to his work as counsel, O'Malley has also been appointed as an international arbitrator on multiple occasions by the ICC, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the ICDR and in ad hoc matters constituted under the UNCITRAL Rules.

O'Malley's arbitration skills caught the attention of independent researchers at Who's Who Legal, a leading legal publication that annually identifies the most prestigious experts in business law. The publication quoted peers and clients of O'Malley in a special edition published on the award, who hailed his "superb international experience" and "ability to rapidly mobilize a small, high-powered team that is very effective."

"I have enjoyed working across borders and in different jurisdictions throughout my career," said O'Malley. "But really, we just go where our clients need us and I am thankful to them for giving me that opportunity."

About Musick Peeler

Founded in 1954, MusickPeeler has offices in five major commercial centers across California with over 100 attorneys practicing in 16 disciplines. For more information, visit MusickPeeler.com .

SOURCE Musick Peeler LLP
WASHINGTON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Lee este anuncio de prensa en espanol aqui.

June 1 marked the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, which officially ends Nov. 30. After 2020 brought a record number of named storms in the North Atlantic basin, NASA is once again prepared to help understand and monitor these storms from the unique vantage point of space and is providing experts to discuss hurricanes and other extreme weather events.

Climate change is increasing the heat in the ocean basins and already making it more likely that storms will intensify faster and become stronger, a phenomenon NASA scientists continue to study.

Using data from its 20-plus earth-observing satellites, NASA plays a foundational role in the science of hurricanes. But when it comes to operational forecasting, the agency's main role is through its crucial partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NASA designs, builds, and launches NOAA's suite of satellites that provide the data that specifically feed numerical weather prediction models.

"NASA's cutting-edge science helps us answer questions that nobody else can, especially when it comes to understanding hurricanes and their impacts before, during, and after they make landfall," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. "As climate change intensifies and makes natural hazards like hurricanes more damaging, NASA is more committed than ever to innovative Earth science research. Our next-generation Earth System Observatory will build on NASA's existing capabilities to provide an unprecedented understanding of the Earth from bedrock to atmosphere, so we are better prepared to protect our communities from hurricanes and other extreme weather events."

NASA's goal for disaster preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery is bridging the gap between data and the people who need it. Before, during, and after a hurricane or storm makes landfall, NASA satellites are in prime position to identify impacts.

NASA works with local officials and first responders, federal agencies such as FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and infrastructure experts to determine what information they need and to supply it in usable formats in real time. Examples include information on infrastructure failures and disruptions, contaminated water supplies and other hotspots for urgent response needs.

NASA welcomes media inquiries about its role in studying and understanding hurricanes. The following NASA scientists, who represent a cross-section of expertise in hurricane science and application, are available for media interviews as scheduling allows:

Mara Cordero-Fuentes , an atmospheric scientist/meteorologist, fluent in both English and Spanish, with published research in hurricane science, plus 10 years' experience in data assimilation systems, tropical meteorology, climate interpretation, and weather forecasting

, an atmospheric scientist/meteorologist, fluent in both English and Spanish, with published research in hurricane science, plus 10 years' experience in data assimilation systems, tropical meteorology, climate interpretation, and weather forecasting Scott Braun , a research meteorologist who specializes in using computer modeling to recreate the components of hurricanes, including winds, rainfall, and in-cloud heating

, a research meteorologist who specializes in using computer modeling to recreate the components of hurricanes, including winds, rainfall, and in-cloud heating Dalia Kirschbaum , whose work focuses on rainfall-triggered landslide modeling, monitoring and mapping

, whose work focuses on rainfall-triggered landslide modeling, monitoring and mapping Will McCarty , a research meteorologist at NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office

, a research meteorologist at NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer , ocean physicist and program manager of the physical oceanography program at NASA Headquarters, who can speak to sea level rise, ocean warming, and the interplay between the oceans and tropical storms

, ocean physicist and program manager of the physical oceanography program at NASA Headquarters, who can speak to sea level rise, ocean warming, and the interplay between the oceans and tropical storms Mayra Oyola-Merced , an expert in atmospheric physics, field research, numerical weather prediction, and operational forecasting

, an expert in atmospheric physics, field research, numerical weather prediction, and operational forecasting Patrick Duran , who specializes in the synthesis of satellite observations with idealized modeling to explore the dynamics of tropical cyclone intensification

, who specializes in the synthesis of satellite observations with idealized modeling to explore the dynamics of tropical cyclone intensification Tim Hall , a senior researcher at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York , who specializes in tropical cyclones' relationship to climate and the hazard they pose to coastal communities

To inquire about interview availability with one or more of these scientists, please contact Peter Jacobs at: [email protected].

For general NASA hurricane science reference material, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/nasa-and-hurricanes-five-fast-facts

and

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/news/index.html

The following are some of NASA's most popular public-domain, open-source imagery products:

The record-breaking 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, visualized with overlaid tracks:

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4884

Satellite data showing 3D view of Hurricane Zeta's intense rainfall:

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4870

Latest precipitation analysis and animation of the past seven days (auto-updates):

https://gpm.nasa.gov/data/imerg

NASA "night lights" data shows Puerto Rico's power outages after Hurricane Maria:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZkwASBe2zo

The 2017 hurricane season, visualized by the movement of dust, smoke and sea salt:

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12772

All NASA-created content is in the public domain and free for media usage.

For other Earth science videos, visit:

https://www.youtube.com/NASAGoddard

For all NASA scientific data visualizations and animations, visit:

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


WASHINGTON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA has selected two new missions to Venus, Earth's nearest planetary neighbor. Part of NASA's Discovery Program, the missions aim to understand how Venus became an inferno-like world when it has so many other characteristics similar to ours  and may have been the first habitable world in the solar system, complete with an ocean and Earth-like climate.

These investigations are the final selections from four mission concepts NASA picked in February 2020 as part of the agency's Discovery 2019 competition. Following a competitive, peer-review process, the two missions were chosen based on their potential scientific value and the feasibility of their development plans. The project teams will now work to finalize their requirements, designs, and development plans.

NASA is awarding approximately $500 million per mission for development. Each is expected to launch in the 2028-2030 timeframe.

The selected missions are:

DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging)

DAVINCI+ will measure the composition of Venus' atmosphere to understand how it formed and evolved, as well as determine whether the planet ever had an ocean. The mission consists of a descent sphere that will plunge through the planet's thick atmosphere, making precise measurements of noble gases and other elements to understand why Venus' atmosphere is a runaway hothouse compared the Earth's.

In addition, DAVINCI+ will return the first high resolution pictures of the unique geological features on Venus known as "tesserae," which may be comparable to Earth's continents, suggesting that Venus has plate tectonics. This would be the first U.S.-led mission to Venus' atmosphere since 1978, and the results from DAVINCI+ could reshape our understanding of terrestrial planet formation in our solar system and beyond. James Garvin of Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is the principal investigator. Goddard provides project management.

VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy)

VERITAS will map Venus' surface to determine the planet's geologic history and understand why it developed so differently than Earth. Orbiting Venus with a synthetic aperture radar, VERITAS will chart surface elevations over nearly the entire planet to create 3D reconstructions of topography and confirm whether processes such as plate tectonics and volcanism are still active on Venus.

VERITAS also will map infrared emissions from Venus' surface to map its rock type, which is largely unknown, and determine whether active volcanoes are releasing water vapor into the atmosphere. Suzanne Smrekar of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, is the principal investigator. JPL provides project management. The German Aerospace Center will provide the infrared mapper with the Italian Space Agency and France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales contributing to the radar and other parts of the mission.

"We're revving up our planetary science program with intense exploration of a world that NASA hasn't visited in over 30 years," said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for science. "Using cutting-edge technologies that NASA has developed and refined over many years of missions and technology programs, we're ushering in a new decade of Venus to understand how an Earth-like planet can become a hothouse. Our goals are profound. It is not just understanding the evolution of planets and habitability in our own solar system, but extending beyond these boundaries to exoplanets, an exciting and emerging area of research for NASA."

Zurbuchen added that he expects powerful synergies across NASA's science programs, including the James Webb Space Telescope. He anticipates data from these missions will be used by the broadest possible cross section of the scientific community.

"It is astounding how little we know about Venus, but the combined results of these missions will tell us about the planet from the clouds in its sky through the volcanoes on its surface all the way down to its very core," said Tom Wagner, NASA's Discovery Program scientist. "It will be as if we have rediscovered the planet."

In addition to the two missions, NASA selected a pair of technology demonstrations to fly along with them. VERITAS will host the Deep Space Atomic Clock-2, built by JPL and funded by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate. The ultra-precise clock signal generated with this technology will ultimately help enable autonomous spacecraft maneuvers and enhance radio science observations.

DAVINCI+ will host the Compact Ultraviolet to Visible Imaging Spectrometer (CUVIS) built by Goddard. CUVIS will make high resolution measurements of ultraviolet light using a new instrument based on freeform optics. These observations will be used to determine the nature of the unknown ultraviolet absorber in Venus' atmosphere that absorbs up to half the incoming solar energy.

Established in 1992, NASA's Discovery Program has supported the development and implementation of over 20 missions and instruments. These selections are part of the ninth Discovery Program competition.

The concepts were chosen from proposals submitted in 2019 under NASA Announcement of Opportunity NNH19ZDA010O. The selected investigations will be managed by the Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as part of the Discovery Program. The Discovery Program conducts space science investigations in the Planetary Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The goals of the program are to provide frequent opportunities for principal investigator-led investigations in planetary sciences that can be accomplished under a not-to-exceed cost cap.

For more information about NASA's planetary science, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/solarsystem

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


"As a leader in health and wellness, we're committed to helping people reach their potential," said Terrence Moorehead, Nature's Sunshine CEO. "Supporting individuals' efforts to improve their lives through education, particularly within disadvantaged communities, was a natural outgrowth of that goal. We're excited to partner with the University of Utah to help build a more inclusive community and empower others to make a positive difference through their own success and accomplishments."

The Eccles School is an enthusiastic partner with Nature's Sunshine and is excited to offer this scholarship to students. The Eccles School will manage the scholarship application and award process. Nature's Sunshine scholars will have access to the Opportunity Scholars' mentors, tutors, academic advising, networking opportunities and anytime access to program staff.

"We here at the Eccles School are firm believers in the transformative power of education," said Taylor Randall, Dean of the David Eccles School of Business. "This fantastic partnership with Nature's Sunshine will allow us to provide multiple scholarships to diverse first-generation students, but the impact will certainly transform more than these individuals' lives. Their families and communities will benefit from their education for years to come, as will the business world."

The Nature's Sunshine Scholarship grew out of the company's Stronger Together series, which aimed to foster real conversations on diversity, equality and inclusiveness following the dramatic social upheaval throughout 2020, and help employees make an impact within the organization, their community, and the wider state. Moving beyond conversation, Nature's Sunshine began looking at ways to be more active in supporting and promoting opportunities for individuals of diverse backgrounds.

The Nature's Sunshine Scholarship will be awarded starting in the 2021-2022 academic year. Students who have applied for scholarships through the Eccles School will be considered for this award. As part of their pledge, Nature's Sunshine and the Eccles School have committed funds for this scholarship through the 2024-2025 academic year, and students who apply in subsequent years have the opportunity to benefit.

About Nature's Sunshine Products

Nature's Sunshine Products (NATR), a leading natural health and wellness company, markets and distributes nutritional and personal care products in more than 40 countries. Nature's Sunshine manufactures most of its products through its own state-of-the-art facilities to ensure its products continue to set the standard for the highest quality, safety and efficacy on the market today. Additional information about the Company can be obtained at its website, www.naturessunshine.com.

About the David Eccles School of Business

The Eccles School is synonymous with 'doing.' The Eccles experience provides a world-class business education with a unique, entrepreneurial focus on real-world scenarios where students put what they learn into practice long before graduation. Founded in 1917 and educating more than 6,000 students annually, the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business offers nine undergraduate majors, four MBAs, eight other graduate programs, a Ph.D. in seven areas and executive education curricula. The Eccles School is also home to 12 institutes, centers and initiatives that deliver academic research and support an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation. For more information, visit Eccles.Utah.edu or call 801-581-7676.

Contact:

Porter Novelli

Caroline Bitter

[email protected]

SOURCE Natures Sunshine Products

Related Links

http://www.naturessunshine.com


Nesenoff & Miltenberg is currently engaged in several groundbreaking Title IX cases across the country. Tweet this

Miltenberg will work closely with Ms. Stark in heading up the Palo Alto office, with a special focus on representing students and faculty in matters of sexual misconduct on campus. "Susan Stark is a talented advocate and counselor with a proven track record of advocating for the rights of students and faculty involved in misconduct matters, to ensure their rights are protected as many have been severely mistreated by colleges and universities," said Miltenberg, who has represented hundreds of students at higher education institutions. "Our firm continues to see a large volume of Title IX and other disciplinary complaints being mishandled at schools throughout the country. With the opening of our Palo Alto office, we're expanding our resources to serve more students, staff, faculty, and families who are facing the life-altering consequences of mishandled sexual misconduct and disciplinary proceedings."

"I'm thrilled to head up the Palo Alto office of Nesenoff & Miltenberg, working closely with Andrew Miltenberg, a pioneer in the field of Title IX due process law," said Susan Stark. "My experiences in advising individuals in Title IX matters at Stanford University have prepared me to deal with the complicated and sensitive process of every step of the Title IX process which no one should have to go through without an experienced attorney."

Described by Newsweek as the "go-to attorney for students accused of sexual assault," and profiled by The New York Times, Andrew T. Miltenberg advocates for the due process rights of accused college students and faculty. He has vigorously and successfully defended students and faculty at disciplinary proceedings facing suspension, expulsion or termination from a wide range of colleges and universities and is representing a student in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. Nesenoff & Miltenberg, LLP has filed over 70 lawsuits across the country against universities in connection with violations of student and faculty rights. His cases have been covered by media, both nationally and internationally, as well as scholarly articles. Miltenberg is currently a board member of FACE , Families Advocating for Campus Equality, a non-profit advocating for equal treatment and due process rights for those affected by sexual misconduct allegations on campus.

Susan Stark is an experienced Title IX lawyer and currently serves as one of Stanford University's-identified attorneys advising students, staff and faculty through Stanford's Title IX Process. Additionally, she has advised alleged victims and accused individuals --- both students and faculty -- in cases involving all forms of sexual misconduct and harassment, including sexual assault, harassment, discrimination, stalking, domestic and dating violence. Susan also has advised students and faculty through school disciplinary processes related to violations of conduct code, academic integrity and related disciplinary policies. Having advised numerous individuals throughout the Title IX process, Susan understands the sensitivity of providing sexual information to investigators, Title IX coordinators and hearing officers and prepares her clients on how to effectively present themselves in every phase of the process.

In addition to her Title IX experience, Susan has also concentrated her practice in employment law where she has advised employers, C-suite executives and other key employees in employment matters, including wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, compensation and severance pay disputes, breach of contract and actions brought under California's Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). She has also counseled employers and executives on liability assessment and risk exposure, providing strategies to avoid formal litigation. Prior to joining Nesenoff & Miltenberg, LLP, Susan was Senior Counsel at Shuman Snyder, LLP and Pierce & Shearer, LLP practicing employment law in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Following law school, Susan clerked for the Hon. Frederick J. Woelflen (dec), Chief Magistrate of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The Palo Alto office of Nesenoff & Miltenberg, LLP is located at Four Palo Alto Square, Suite 200, 3000 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, California 94306.For more information, visit www.nmllplaw.com.

SOURCE Nesenoff & Miltenberg, LLP

Related Links

https://nmllplaw.com/


SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Selling is not only vital to the success of social enterprises operating across emerging markets, but when aligned with their mission-driven values it can be a powerful force for good, seasoned sales experts Dr. Roy W. Whitten and Scott A. Roy explain in their new book, Sell Well, Do Good: DQ Selling for Social Enterprises.

Authors Scott A. Roy and Dr. Roy W. Whitten Out now: Sell Well, Do Good by seasoned sales experts Scott A. Roy and Dr Roy W. Whitten

Sell Well, Do Good applies the authors' human-centric selling framework DQ Sales to social enterprises in their work to do good for the poor in the society. Ditching the old way of selling  pitching, persuading and pressuring  the authors redefine selling in a way that aligns with the mission-driven values and nature of social enterprises.

Co-author Scott A. Roy explains, "To our knowledge, this is the first book written for social entrepreneurs about selling. It is a unique handbook about how to sell life-changing goods and services in an ethical yet highly effective manner in the emerging markets, ultimately helping millions of people to get out of poverty. "

Co-author Dr. Roy W. Whitten adds, "More than any other type of business, social enterprises must incorporate how to sell honestly and on firm principles, while navigating the challenges experienced along the 'last mile of distribution' that exist in a development context. "

Featuring 20 interviews with social entrepreneurs and funders, the authors put their readers into the training room to teach them to sell in this new way, which requires breaking through hardened habits, worn routines and fixed mindsets.

Scott A. Roy previously built and ran large direct-sales organizations and co-founded an insurance company in the United States that has grown to over $2B in assets. Dr. W. Roy Whitten is an expert in attitude and its role in human performance and sales management. He earned a PhD for his work in transformative learning and change.

Over the past decades they have served leading international aid agencies, foundations and hundreds of social enterprises, thus improving the lives of tens of millions of the world's poor - people who live at the economic "base of the pyramid."

Liz Ellis, CEO of International Development Enterprises (iDE), comments: "This book is a generous gift to social entrepreneurs working across the globe. Armed with the right attitude and the collective wisdom in this book, you can't help but succeed."

Fred Swaniker, founder of the African Leadership Group, says: "This is a must-have handbook for every social entrepreneur looking to make a profitable and sustainable impact!"

For more information and media kit visit: https://wrpartnership.com/sell-well-do-good

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Gary Schneeberger  President, ROAR

Email: [email protected] / telephone 818-309-8580

Katharina Winkler  PR Consultant, Kaleidoscope PR Ltd

Email: [email protected] / telephone +44 (0) 7940 510 008

About Whitten & Roy Partnership

Whitten & Roy Partnership is an international sales consultancy that helps leading businesses and organizations transform their sales results. Founded in 2009 by Dr. W. Roy Whitten and Scott A. Roy, Whitten & Roy Partnership today comprises a consultant network operating in 40 countries.

Published in September 2020, Decision Intelligence Selling, the first book by Dr. Roy Whitten and Scott Roy became an international bestseller on Amazon. The companion title Sell Well, Do Good applies their selling framework to social enterprises in their work to do good for society.

For more information visit: www.wrpartnership.com

Linkedin: @WhittenandRoyPartnership

Facebook: @WRPartnership

Twitter: @WRPartnership

SOURCE Whitten & Roy Partnership

Related Links

http://www.wrpartnership.com


NEW ORLEANS, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- New impact report released by the racial and economic equity focused nonprofit, Beloved Community, highlights the gross racial and economic inequities in the U.S. The report goes on to outline the work that needs to be done to close those gaps to create and sustain a more equitable world for future generations.

"COVID-19 and the current social climate has magnified the racial and economic inequities and brought them to the forefront of the minds of the American public," said Rhonda J. Broussard, Founder and CEO, Beloved Community. "These challenging times have also provided an unprecedented opportunity for organizations to implement DEI programs and strategies. The staff at Beloved Community have worked hard to research, analyze and craft the best approach for each organization we work with to establish a sustainable equitable environment."

The main areas of focus in the 2020 impact report are: White Supremacy and Anti-Blackness; Accessing DEI for Schools, Nonprofits and Companies; and Building More Equitable Communities. Additionally, the report also includes an outline for how Beloved Community can create sustainable solutions in the regions they already serve. These areas include New Orleans, La., Memphis, Tenn., Indianapolis, Ind., and Kansas City, Mo. The organization has plans to expand to other locations throughout the Midwest and Midsouth.

Broussard went on to say "The areas addressed in the impact report are not just lofty ideals. They are actionable items that myself, and the staff of Beloved Community, have implemented within our own organization and daily work. It is important that we show our current and potential clients that we are practicing what we preach."

This impact report is not only an outline for the vital work Beloved Community has set out for its own organization, but it also reinforces the important work that all businesses, schools, and organizations need to implement related to DEI work to make systemic changes across the country.

To read the full 2020 impact report visit: https://www.wearebeloved.org/impact-report

MEDIA CONTACT: Lauren Precker, [email protected], 757-876-7227

About Beloved Community

Beloved Community, headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, is a non-profit consulting firm focused on implementing sustainable solutions for racial and economic equity. Through individualized and personalized support, Beloved Community fosters open lines of communication and realistic plans to create and implement tangible, measurable systemic change at work, at home, and in schools. Our approach is universal, achieving results for organizations in the not-for-profit sector, hospitality, school administrations, affordable housing and beyond. https://www.wearebeloved.org/

SOURCE Beloved Community

Related Links

https://www.wearebeloved.org/


PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) today announced the publication of a new resource to help employers make the best decisions possible when it comes to cancer care for their employees. In 2019, more than 16.9 million people in the United States were living with or were previously treated for cancer, with that number projected to surpass 22 million by 2030. More than a third are diagnosed with cancer before age 65[1]. Employers are increasingly responsible for making health plan choices, providing resources, and otherwise supporting their staff and reducing workplace burdens during and after cancer treatment. That's why NCCN convened a group of employers and benefits managers from across the country to develop the new NCCN Employer Toolkit, available for free at NCCN.org/employertoolkit.

"The growing incidence and prevalence of cancer in the U.S. has led to increasing costs and challenges for employers," explained Karen L. van Caulil, PhD, President and CEO, Florida Alliance for Healthcare Value, a member of the NCCN Employer Advisory Board "The new NCCN Employer Toolkit provides a full spectrum of evidence-based guidelines to help employers identify and secure the highest quality cancer care for their plan members and families, in a concise and user-friendly format. The toolkit includes specific strategies for making coverage decisions, identifying quality measures, and offering ongoing care navigation."

"Cancer is a complicated and physically demanding diagnosis that places enormous stresses and burdens on the patient and their family, as well as on employers and payers of healthcare," added Advisory Board Consultant Warren Smedley, DSc (candidate), MSHA, MSHQS, Vice President, The Kinetix Group. "The NCCN Employer Advisory Board worked tirelessly to establish these guiding principles, which prioritize strategies and tactics to support the highest quality of care, along with the most responsible use of resources, for those who are impacted by a cancer diagnosis. We are so grateful to have had the enthusiastic support of so many of the leading employer and business advocacy organizations on this project."

The NCCN Employer Toolkit is based on the following six guiding principles:

Strive to deliver the highest quality, highest value care to plan members and their families. Emphasize patient-centered care, designed to meet, and exceed, the expectations of plan members. Promote the most appropriate, value-based use of healthcare resources. Encourage the selection of care providers with proven, high quality care capability. Endeavor to minimize the complexities and barriers to accessing high quality care. Empower plan members to become more engaged in improving their health.

For each principle, the NCCN Employer Toolkit includes several corresponding strategies and tactics, complete with links to resources, in order to eliminate uncertainty while choosing a health plan that will deliver high quality cancer care. These tips include specific information about what a health plan should include (for instance, coverage of evidence-based genetic testing), along with specific techniques for holding plan providers accountable (such as requiring carriers to define how they handle documented poor performance). Other topics include clinical trial enrollment, cost control, end-of-life care, and mental health support.

The toolkit also includes a glossary to define medical terms and clarify potentially confusing jargon, including an explanation of the difference between genetic and genomic testing, and why both are important. It concludes with a list of peer-reviewed references.

"NCCN is already known for creating and maintaining gold standard guidelines that enable health care professionals everywhere to stay current on the very latest evidence and expert consensus in cancer care," said Robert W. Carlson, MD, CEO, NCCN. "This toolkit will help us further advance our mission of ensuring access to high-quality, affordable cancer care. We're providing it to employers so they can make the best possible healthcare plan decisions for themselves and their colleaguesensuring everyone can get the right care at the right time."

The NCCN Employer Advisory Board includes the following experts:

Don Betts : Employer Health Alliance of Georgia

: Employer Health Alliance of Ken Braun : Employers Health

: Employers Health Wayne N Burton, MD: Retired, American Express

Dee Edington , PhD: Edington Associates

, PhD: Edington Associates Chris Goff , JD: Employers Health

, JD: Employers Health Emma Hoo : Pacific Business Group on Health

: Pacific Business Group on Health Cheryl Larson : Midwest Business Group on Health

: Midwest Business Group on Health Angie Patterson : Georgia CORE

: Georgia CORE Bruce Sherman , MD: National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions

, MD: National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions Candice Sherman : Northeast Business Group on Health

: Northeast Business Group on Health Karen van Caulil , PhD: Florida Alliance for Healthcare Value

, PhD: for Healthcare Value Lynn Zonakis : The Zonakis Group

The NCCN Employer Toolkit is available free online at NCCN.org/employertoolkit. It will be continuously updated to reflect any changing trends in health care policy.

About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) is a not-for-profit alliance of leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education. NCCN is dedicated to improving and facilitating quality, effective, efficient, and accessible cancer care so patients can live better lives. The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) provide transparent, evidence-based, expert consensus recommendations for cancer treatment, prevention, and supportive services; they are the recognized standard for clinical direction and policy in cancer management and the most thorough and frequently-updated clinical practice guidelines available in any area of medicine. The NCCN Guidelines for Patients provide expert cancer treatment information to inform and empower patients and caregivers, through support from the NCCN Foundation. NCCN also advances continuing education, global initiatives, policy, and research collaboration and publication in oncology. Visit NCCN.org for more information and follow NCCN on Facebook @NCCNorg, Instagram @NCCNorg, and Twitter @NCCN.

[1] Miller KD, Nogueira L, Mariotto AB, et al. Cancer treatment and survivorship statistics, 2019. CA Cancer J Clin 2019. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31184787/

Media Contact:

Rachel Darwin

267-622-6624

[email protected]

SOURCE National Comprehensive Cancer Network

Related Links

www.nccn.org


Inspired by finding that almost two-thirds of campers prefer RVing over tent camping, RVshare launches 'Turn in Your Tent,' a new program calling campers to donate their gently-used tent in exchange for an RV experience. Upon donating a tent to Gear Forward, an organization that collects gently used camping gear to outfit the next generation of adventurers, campers will receive a $250 credit towards an RV rental on RVshare.com.

"Gear Forward is a great partner for this initiative as we look to give back to the camping community during National Camping Month and help to introduce RV camping to some first-time RVers too," said RVshare's CEO Jon Gray. "For those who enjoy being outside in nature but prefer camping with more of the comforts of home like sleeping in a cozy bed, enjoying air conditioning and a stocked kitchen, RV rentals are an ideal option."

The online survey conducted by Wakefield found amenities including a bathroom, a bed with a mattress and controlled temperatures (air conditioning and heat) to be reasons why campers would prefer an RV over a tent for their next camping trip. RVshare's complimentary credit of $250 per tent can be used towards an RV rental on RVshare. Those redeeming credit can choose from more than 100,000 RV models across the US, enticing outdoor enthusiasts with the promise of these comforts in state-of-the-art vehicles.

RV renters will travel more than 40 million miles this summer which is more than double the company's record-breaking summer season last year. Even with the return on air travel, interest in RV travel continues to rise, fueled by the desire to get outdoors. In fact, almost half (46%) of survey participants said relaxing outdoors is what they like most about camping.

How To Turn in Your Tent?

During National Camping Month, people can submit a request here for a prepaid shipping label to mail in their tent at a nearby UPS store. They will then receive an RVshare rental credit to be used for a future booking via email.

For more information about RVshare and the Turn in Your Tent program, visit RVshare.com/turn-in-your-tent or email [email protected]

About RVshare

RVshare is the first and largest peer-to-peer RV rental marketplace. With more than 100,000 vehicles available, RVshare's diverse inventory ranges from affordable travel trailers to luxury motorhomes and can accommodate any outdoor adventure, whether it's a weekend of camping or a cross-country tour of national parks. Through RVshare, families and groups can experience a one-of-a-kind trip and create memories that will last a lifetime. In addition to offering a unique travel experience, RVshare provides RV owners in North America the opportunity to turn their RV into a second income. For more information, visit rvshare.com, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram @rvshare.

About Gear Forward

Gear Forward is about providing the next generation of stewards, adventurers, Scoutmasters, and Girl Scout Leaders the resources they need to get outdoors. No child should be denied access to all the outdoors has to offer because they don't have the necessary equipment. Through the collection of gently used outdoor gear and partnerships with amazing gear manufacturers and retailers, Gear Forward works with outdoor-focused non-profit organizations to get donated gear into the hands of youth that need it. Gear Forward has been in existence since late 2015 and was the creation of Scott Gauvin, a former outdoor blogger and Eagle Scout who wanted to donate some of the large amounts of gear he had accumulated during his tenure as an avid outdoor gear tester and reviewer.

1 A survey conducted by Wakefield to 1,000 US adults ages 18+ with experience tent camping or RVing

SOURCE RVshare

Related Links

http://www.rvshare.com


MIAMI, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Two investors from Bogota, Colombia are pursuing a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claim against Truist Investment Services for the losses they suffered in Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda). The claimants, who are from the same family, had looked to the brokerage firm, which is affiliated with SunTrust Bank, to keep their assets safe.

As longtime SunTrust Bank clients with an account in Florida, the investors were not interested in taking on any undue risk and were mostly invested in bank products, including money markets. Yet, Truist Investment Services recommended that the claimants invest more than $125K in Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda).

That company is not solvent anymore, and the Bermuda government recently ordered it to undergo liquidation proceedings. At this point, it is unlikely that investors will recover their money without working with an experienced investor fraud law firm.

Our Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) broker fraud attorneys at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm at investorlawyers.com) are representing these South American investors in their FINRA arbitration fraud claim to recover damages.

The amount of $125K, which was the bulk of the claimants' account, is considered exceedingly large for an offshore investment. This caused their brokerage account to be overconcentrated in Northstar (Bermuda) products. The high commissions and fees earned by Truist Investment Services and its broker were likely incentives for making this unsuitable investment recommendation.

When the investors finally tried to get out of their investment last November, they were unable to leave.

Truist Investment Services clearly failed to properly supervise its broker, who was likely self-supervised. Under Florida civil codes, these two claimants would be considered "vulnerable adults" because of their age. As part of their FINRA arbitration claim, they are seeking damages for the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of elderly and disabled persons.

SSEK Law Firm is pursuing FINRA arbitration claims against Truist Investment Services and the other broker-dealers that unsuitably sold Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) investments to their customers. We represent investors in the US and those living abroad who purchased their products through a broker-dealer based in this country.

To schedule your free case consultation contact:

Kirk Smith, [email protected]

US: (800) 259-9010

Mexico: (800) 283-3403

International via WhatsApp (text only): 713-227-2400

Northstar Bermuda FAQs

Northstar Bermuda Preguntas Frecuentes

SOURCE Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LLP

Related Links

http://www.investorlawyers.com


TEL AVIV, Israel, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nuvo Group Ltd.a private company commercializing INVU by Nuvo, an FDA-cleared, prescription-initiated, remote pregnancy monitoring platform, announced today that Joseph M. DeVivo has been appointed to the company's board of directors. In this role, DeVivowho currently serves as president of hospital and health systems at Teladoc Health, the global leader in whole-person virtual careseeks to support Nuvo's mission of reinventing pregnancy care through increased use of data, analytics and digital tools, with the singular goal of ultimately improving health outcomes.

"As Nuvo enters the commercial phase of our journey, Joe brings an ideal experience base from both medical device and healthcare technology companies in understanding the types of technology, data and tools healthcare providers and payers need, as well as the virtual-first solutions expectant mothers want," says Oren Oz, founder and CEO of Nuvo Group. "His proven ability to strengthen and grow a digital health company will be invaluable as Nuvo seeks to optimize its offering, accelerate adoption and, most importantly, advance maternal and fetal health, an area that has been left behind in the digital revolution while facing high mother and infant mortality rates, rising costs and a significant shortage of OB/GYNs."

"As a father of five who experienced three high risk pregnancies that resulted in cesarean deliveries, I completely understand and empathize with the need for a solution like INVUand as a veteran of the medical device and telehealth industries, I fully believe in Nuvo's mission," says DeVivo. "I look forward to combining my personal passion and professional experience to help usher Nuvo and INVU into the company's next chapter."

With this appointment, DeVivo brings extensive healthcare leadership experience to Nuvo Group. In his current role at Teladoc Health, DeVivo ensures that the organization's integrated platform and hardware business addresses the comprehensive needs of hospitals, health systems, retail clinics and physician groups throughout the world. Prior to this, DeVivo served as chief executive officer of InTouch Health, where he built and scaled the company, ultimately leading to its acquisition by Teladoc Health in 2020. He has also held various positions of increasing responsibility at leading medical device and healthcare technology companies, including Angiodynamics, Smith & Nephew Orthopedics and U.S. Surgical/Davis, a division of Tyco International's Healthcare Business.

In addition to his role with Nuvo, DeVivo serves on the boards of St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, Mauna Kea Technologies and AdvaMed, where he chairs the Digital Health Executive Leadership Group. He is also the incoming treasurer of the American Telemedicine Association. DeVivo holds a Bachelor of Arts in business administration from the E. Clairborne Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond.

About Nuvo Group

Nuvo Group is committed to serving providers and expectant mothers by advancing pregnancy care with new technology, tools and practices. The INVU platform combines proprietary hardware for data collection, innovative cloud-based software for computational power and AI tools to optimize the pregnancy care experience on a global scale. INVU has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. FDA for maternal and fetal heart rate monitoring, and has a 510(k) pending for remote monitoring of maternal uterine activity in the United States. Company leadership is composed of dedicated data engineers, experienced medical and business professionals, software designers and proud parents who embrace a collective mission to give every life a better beginning.

For more information and complete current indications, contraindications, warnings and precautions along with instructions for use, visit: www.nuvocares.com

SOURCE Nuvo Group

Related Links

http://www.nuvocares.com


NEW YORK, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of financial markets for 11,000 U.S. and global securities, today announced Paladin Energy Limited (ASX: PDN;OTCQX: PALAF), a company which develops and operates uranium mines and also owns a large global portfolio of uranium exploration and development assets, has qualified to trade on the OTCQX Best Market. Paladin Energy Ltd. upgraded to OTCQX from the Pink market.

Paladin Energy Limited begins trading today on OTCQX under the symbol "PALAF." U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the company on www.otcmarkets.com.

Upgrading to the OTCQX Market is an important step for companies seeking to provide transparent trading for their U.S. investors. For companies listed on a qualified international exchange, streamlined market standards enable them to utilize their home market reporting to make their information available in the U.S. To qualify for OTCQX, companies must meet high financial standards, follow best practice corporate governance and demonstrate compliance with applicable securities laws.

Viriathus Capital LLC acted as the company's OTCQX advisor and Sichenzia Ross Ference LLP acted as the company's OTCQX sponsor.

About Paladin Energy Limited

Paladin Energy Limited is an Australian listed uranium company focused on maximising the value of its 75% stake in the Langer Heinrich Uranium mine in Namibia. Langer Heinrich is a globally significant, long-life operation, having already produced over 43Mlb U3O8 to date. Operations at Langer Heinrich were suspended in 2018 due to low uranium prices. Beyond Langer Heinrich, the Company also owns a large global portfolio of uranium exploration and development assets. Nuclear power remains a cost-effective, low carbon option for electricity generation.

About OTC Markets Group Inc.

OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates the OTCQX Best Market, the OTCQB Venture Market and the Pink Open Market for 11,000 U.S. and global securities. Through OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN, we connect a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services. We enable investors to easily trade through the broker of their choice and empower companies to improve the quality of information available for investors.

To learn more about how we create better informed and more efficient markets, visit www.otcmarkets.com.

OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN are SEC regulated ATSs, operated by OTC Link LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.

Subscribe to the OTC Markets RSS Feed

Media Contact:

OTC Markets Group Inc., +1 (212) 896-4428, [email protected]

SOURCE OTC Markets Group Inc.

Related Links

http://www.otcmarkets.com


BRADENTON, Fla., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida-based Pearl Homes, the community-focused home builder that's revolutionizing Net Zero and LEED Platinum homes, has broken ground on Hunters Point, the luxury home community in Cortez, Florida. The development comprises 86 eco-friendly, single-family homes powered by solar plus sonnen ecoLinx energy storage systems. Since Hunters Point debuted online, seventy percent of the homes have already been sold, using an all-virtual sales approach due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Pearl Homes ECOsystem is an inclusive network of sustainable suppliers and contributors that enable Pearl Homes developments to raise the bar for environmentally-friendly and self-sustaining properties on the market today. Recognizing the need and urgency for climate action, Pearl Homes is working cooperatively with sonnen and various eco-friendly suppliers to offer homebuyers an end-to-end experience that both reduces the total cost of ownership and minimizes each home's carbon footprint.

sonnen is a global leader in safe, innovative, and intelligent battery technology for the residential market. The sonnen ecoLinx manages power distribution throughout the home and works with rooftop solar and leading home automation platforms to provide Pearl Homes customers with straightforward access to smart, configurable emergency backup power, intelligent energy management, and round-the-clock access to stored solar. The cobalt-free lithium-iron-phosphate battery technology in ecoLinx is safe and sustainable, easy-to-install, competitively-priced and offers Pearl Homes buyers and residents with an industry-leading 15,000 cycle / 15 year warranty.

Designed to be power company ready, Hunters Point includes the sonnen Virtual Power Plant (VPP) platform that will allow Florida Power and Light (FPL) to manage the reserve power generated by the community as needed. In addition to integrating with utility control software to provide grid services, such as demand response and load management excess, stored solar energy can also be used to power the lighting in the common areas of the community.

"Our adoption of the sonnen ecoLinx makes the Hunters Point homes more energy-efficient," said Pearl Homes founder Marshall Gobuty. "With it, our buyers will be able to automate their home energy management in the most modern way that compliments the unique style and design of the Pearl Home."

The sonnen ecoLinx can be optimized and managed by a mobile app for backup, peak period, and solar usage and to monitor energy on demand. "Between the sonnen mobile application and the Google Nest in-home automation for temperature controls, Hunters Point buyers will be able to enjoy a healthier, cleaner, and unparalleled quality of life well lived in the world's first LEED NetZero community," added Gobuty.

Pearl Homes strives for NetZero Plus by achieving the highest USGBC's LEED ranking in their housing developments in Florida and California. This is accomplished by including energy-efficient design, utilizing only sustainably focused suppliers, and building fully solar-powered residences.

"Hunters Point is the first non-utility based residential Virtual Power Plant (VPP) ever established in Florida through the aggregation of individual solar systems being paired with sonnen ecoLinx energy storage systems," said Jim Spano, Executive Chairman of My-Resi, the leaders in energy resilience and virtual power plant development. "The inclusion of grid-tied sonnen ecoLinx systems delivers Hunters Point residents with resilient backup power and greater energy management, while also providing a dispatch-able energy services platform to support grid stability when needed."

In addition to the sonnen ecoLinx, each Pearl Home project is designed and built to be self-sustaining and eco-friendly. The homes minimize waste and reduce environmental impact by incorporating WaterSense plumbing and fixtures, while the specified GE's EnergyStar appliances require a minimal amount of power. Homeowners use Google Nest thermostats that manage and monitor their temperature to control their homes' air conditioning and heating for maximum comfort.

"Marshall and his team at Pearl Homes are at the forefront of NetZero, LEED-based home building," said Blake Richetta, Chairman and CEO, sonnen, Inc. "From our first discussions about Hunters Point to today, sonnen has been amazed at the forward-thinking ideas behind the Pearl Homes and their dedication to providing the most high-quality, energy-efficient, and environmentally advanced homes on the market today. Our ecoLinx intelligent energy storage system is the ideal solution for a project like Hunters Point. It offers unique, industry-leading software capabilities to empower homeowners to take control of their own energy consumption and manage backup power while also providing critical energy services to the larger community and local utility grid. "

About Pearl Homes

Pearl Homes is a Florida-based homebuilder and real estate developer with sustainable and workforce housing projects underway in the Sarasota-Bradenton area and other locations throughout Southwest Florida and California.

Founded in 2015 by Marshall Gobuty, Pearl Homes focuses on building single-family and multi-family communities that meet at the intersection of affordability and sustainability. Pearl Homes communities are a step towards solving our nation's livability crisis by working closely with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Department of Energy, (DOE.)

In 2019 Pearl Homes founder, Marshall Gobuty was named the recipient of the USGBC's Visionary Award for his pioneering work to bring LEED Platinum focused design and construction to the residential housing market.

About sonnen

sonnen Group is one of the world's leading manufacturers of smart energy storage systems and a pioneer of clean, decentralized and networked energy system technologies. As one of the fastest growing tech companies in Europe, sonnen has received numerous internationally recognized awards. With its virtual battery, which consists of digitally networked home storage systems, sonnen offers new and highly innovative energy services for network operators and customers. Sonnen's products are available in many countries and has offices located in Germany, Italy, Australia, the UK and the USA. Since March 2019 sonnen is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell within its Renewables and Energy Solutions division.

Editor's Note: Two videos surrounding the groundbreaking are available for your use

https://youtu.be/c-TzIqHpFI8

https://youtu.be/1hWeLbOXdCE

For Pearl Homes/Hunters Point

Andy Abramson

[email protected]

+18587779777

For sonnen

Erin Hadden

[email protected]

646-699-1414

SOURCE Pearl Homes
Peet's summer menu introduces blended iced Frappes with a strawberry twist: Mocha Strawberry Frappe , Matcha Strawberry Frappe, and Strawberry Creme Frappe. A returning favorite, Peet's Strawberry Lemon and Berry Hibiscus Fruit Tea Shakers are back by popular demand and include real strawberry fruit slices . Peet's also will spotlight Yosemite Dos Sierras , a sustainably grown single-origin coffee, which is shade-grown, organic, and Smithsonian Bird-Friendly. All summer beverages will be available for a limited time through August 25, 2021, and available through the Members Only menu accessible via the Peet's app after this date.

Ripe Strawberry Taste in Every Sip

"Getting outside is back in," said Patrick Main, Senior Beverage Innovator for Peet's Coffee, who crafted this summer's lineup. "These flavors inspire us to step outside, whether that's a midday break, a hike with a friend, or a road trip stop. Our new Frappes are a cool, blended beverage made for hot days. Our refreshing fruit tea shakers include real strawberries and are a vibrant twist on iced tea."

Peet's Coffee handcrafts each beverage to order with the highest quality ingredients. Each Frappe includes layers of real strawberry puree topped with a cloud of whipped cream. Peet's Fruit Tea Shakers are available in Mighty Leaf Tea black tea, green tea, and hibiscus tea, combined with real fruit pieces, fruit puree, and lemonade. The Berry Hibiscus Fruit Tea Shaker is a caffeine-free option for an anytime treat. Order these drinks at a participating Peet's coffeebar location or via the Peet's app for easy pick-up and delivery:

Mocha Strawberry Frappe

Double strength Baridi Cold Brew and Peet's housemade chocolate sauce are whipped with creamy milk and ice, then layered with real strawberry puree for the perfect sweet treat.

Double strength Baridi Cold Brew and Peet's housemade chocolate sauce are whipped with creamy milk and ice, then layered with real strawberry puree for the perfect sweet treat. Matcha Strawberry Frappe

Pure Japanese Ceremonial Matcha green tea is blended with creamy milk and ice, then layered with real strawberry puree for a refreshing and sweet indulgence.

Pure Japanese Ceremonial Matcha green tea is blended with creamy milk and ice, then layered with real strawberry puree for a refreshing and sweet indulgence. Strawberry Creme Frappe

Strawberry puree is blended with creamy milk, ice, and layered with even more real strawberry puree for the purest strawberry cream taste of summer.

Strawberry puree is blended with creamy milk, ice, and layered with even more real strawberry puree for the purest strawberry cream taste of summer. Strawberry Lemon Fruit Tea Shaker

Summer Solstice black tea is hand shaken with lemonade, sweet strawberry puree, ice, and real strawberries.

Summer Solstice black tea is hand shaken with lemonade, sweet strawberry puree, ice, and real strawberries. Berry Hibiscus Fruit Tea Shaker

Wildberry Hibiscus tea is hand shaken with lemonade, sweet strawberry puree, ice, and real strawberries.

To enjoy Peet's new strawberry beverage and coffee offerings, visit a Peet's Coffee location, place an order without the wait at pickup.peets.com or through the Peet's Coffee app. Learn more at peets.com/summer.

Shade-grown, organic, and Smithsonian Bird-Friendly

Peet's select coffee roast for summer, Yosemite Dos Sierras organic Bird-Friendly Coffee, is sustainably grown and sourced from a single origin estate in Colombia. Named after the two Sierra Nevada mountain ranges in Colombia and California, home to Yosemite National Park, Yosemite Dos Sierras honors Peet's commitment to sustainability and the environment. For every pound of Yosemite Dos Sierras purchased, Peet's will donate a portion of proceeds to the Yosemite National Conservancy.

The beans are shade-grown to ensure slow ripening, which provides a deeply rich and complex flavor. Despite their distance, these two geographic locations share more than a name and commitment to great coffee: several species of birds migrate between these regions, including the near-threatened Olive-sided Flycatcher. Peet's Coffee's sustainable farming practices help protect this species and more, ensuring biodiversity in service to a sustainable planet.

To learn more about our coffee sustainability practices and standards, visit peets.com/social-responsibility.

About Peet's Coffee:

Founded in Berkeley, California in 1966 by Alfred Peet, the "Big Bang of coffee," Peet's Coffee introduced an artisan movement by sourcing the world's best beans, hand-roasting in small batches, and crafting beverages by hand. With rich, complex, superior quality roasts unlike anything Americans ever tasted before, Peet's influenced generations of coffee entrepreneurs and connoisseurs. Today, Peet's is uncompromisingly dedicated to its founding tenets and asserts a strict standard of freshness, ensuring optimum flavor with a team that personally vets the beans and ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee available at 15,000 grocery and convenience stores nationwide. Peet's operates from the first LEED Gold certified roastery in the United States and grows its business through retail, grocery, on-premise, and e-commerce channels. For more information, visit www.peets.com. Stay connected to Peet's: @peetscoffee on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook .

Images can be downloaded here

SOURCE Peet's Coffee Inc.

Related Links

http://www.peets.com


MINNEAPOLIS, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Thrivent Advisor Network, the platform for independent purpose-driven advisors looking to deliver fiduciary advice as members of a community with shared values, proudly announces the hiring of Ryan Armock to fill the newly-created role of Director of Operations.

As Thrivent Advisor Network has continued to grow, the platform has cultivated a mix of professionals from within Thrivent, and others who have honed their skills elsewhere in the industry, bringing different levels of credibility and technical expertise to the team. As Director of Operations, Ryan will spearhead the operations team, promote team communication across Thrivent Advisor Network leadership and support RIA teams during their transition and growth journey.

"Ryan brings operations experience and problem-solving ability to Thrivent Advisor Network that will be invaluable in fostering our further growth. He's also a leader with a strong personality, great interpersonal skills and an infectious can-do attitude," said Luke Winskowski, Senior Vice President, Advice & Wealth Management at Thrivent.

"He started his career as an advisor and understands what that's like on a very visceral level. Ryan also spent a major part of his career in the independent broker dealer world, which perfectly positions him to relate to the hybrid advisor trying to serve clients holistically using a combination of brokerage, insurance, and advisory solutions."

"The chance to be part of this organization and to apply my experience to the independent advisors on the Thrivent Advisor Network platform was truly an opportunity that spoke to me," said Ryan Armock, Director of Operations at Thrivent Advisor Network. "I've worked with a number of organizations that have built RIA solutions from the ground-up and look forward to harnessing that knowledge and experience for the benefit of the platform's advisors. I'm excited to be a part of building a strong community that has tremendous potential to further advance the advice profession and do a lot of good for a lot of people."

Although Ryan Armock began in financial services as a registered rep with AXA Advisors, the bulk of his career has been spent working with advisors on the independent broker dealer side. Most recently, he was Chief Operations Officer at Private Client Services (PCS), an RIA friendly broker dealer with over 400 advisors and more than 140 offices across the country. Prior to that, Armock was Vice President, Products and Services responsible for trading, brokerage operations, advisory operations, and product support/maintenance for SII Investments and Investment Centers of America. He was with those firms from 2001 through 2018 when parent company National Planning Holdings sold its broker dealer operations to LPL Financial.

"Thrivent conducted a national search to recruit the best person to fill this important role in Thrivent Advisor Network's continued development and it turned out that he was right in our own backyard and lives only 10 minutes away from our Appleton location," Winskowski concluded. "It was serendipitous that the ideal candidate was someone who had grown up around Thrivent and was already quite familiar with the company and its core values."

About Thrivent Advisor Network

Thrivent Advisor Network, an SEC-registered investment advisor ("RIA"), is a new hybrid platform offered by Thrivent, a Fortune 500 diversified financial services organization helping more than two million clients achieve financial clarity. Thrivent created Thrivent Advisor Network as an opportunity for independent financial advisors to be part of a company committed to providing advisors the many benefits of a hybrid platform without the challenges of running their own RIA, while also helping advisors and clients connect their finances and values. Advisors who join Thrivent Advisor Network are seeking the freedom that comes from owning their own practice while still wanting the human connection and support that comes from being part of a community of professionals under the Thrivent Advisor Network RIA. Thrivent Advisor Network is positioned to serve as a significant partner to advisors looking to expand their capabilities and client offerings, boost their brand visibility, and enhance their practice.

THRIVENT IS THE MARKETING NAME FOR THRIVENT FINANCIAL FOR LUTHERANS.

Investment advisory services offered through Thrivent Advisor Network, LLC., a registered investment adviser and a subsidiary of Thrivent. SEC registration does not constitute an endorsement of the firm by the Commission nor does it indicate that the adviser has attained a particular level of skill or ability.

CONTACT: Michaela Morales

JConnelly

973-224-7152

[email protected]

SOURCE Thrivent Advisor Network
STOCKHOLM, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hygiene and health company Essity today announced that Sahil Tesfu will join Essity's Executive Management Team in the newly created position Senior Vice President Group Function Strategy & Business Development.

Sahil Tesfu joins Essity from the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. She brings significant experience and knowledge in growth strategies and digitalization. In her role as Essity SVP Group Function Strategy and Business Development, Sahil Tesfu will be responsible for leading the work with the Group's strategy.

Sahil Tesfu joins Essity on September 1st and will report to Magnus Groth, President and CEO, Essity.

"I'm very pleased to welcome Sahil Tesfu to Essity. Her expertise and experience make her ideal to head up our strategy and business development work," says Magnus Groth, President and CEO, Essity.



CONTACT:

For further information, please contact:

Per Lorentz,

Vice President Corporate Communications,

+46 8 788 52 51,

[email protected]

Johan Karlsson,

Vice President Investor Relations,

+46 8 788 51 30,

[email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/essity/r/sahil-tesfu-joins-essity-s-executive-management-team,c3358905

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/15798/3358905/1426314.pdf Sahil Tesfu joins Essityas Executive Management Team https://news.cision.com/essity/i/sahil-tesfu,c2920291 Sahil Tesfu

SOURCE Essity
SAN FRANCISCO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The alliance of Salesforce and Proof Analytics has transformed the calculation of marketing ROI, delivering exceptionally fast, scalable and agile Marketing Optimization rooted in a systems-level integration between the two companies. The combination effectively up-ends traditional, consulting-based delivery of marketing mix modeling and similar analytics, replacing slow and expensive solutions with blazing speed and affordability.

Salesforce

For decades, the biggest obstacle to a company's effective use of regression analytics wasn't the math. No matter the excellence of the data science team, the process of getting the necessary insights was usually too slow, too hard to scale, and too hard to consume for it to be operationally relevant.

Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, kept hearing its customers express their desire for a breakthrough in marketing analytics, and it moved fast to meet the need. Leonardo Carbonara, global product management leader at Salesforce Marketing Cloud, said, "Covid19 accelerated digital transformation and made omnichannel marketing a matter of survival for most brands. In this all-digital world, businesses must embrace new operational and analytical approaches that help them overcome the increasing complexity of their marketing processes and drive business outcomes across teams and functional lines. Salesforce sees Proof as 'the missing piece' to deliver true closed-loop marketing. The combined solution from Salesforce and Proof solves these customer challenges in a single stroke by integrating Proof's agile marketing planning and automated marketing optimization with the automated data downloads from Salesforce Sales and Commerce clouds, Datorama's advanced customer journey mapping, and Salesforce Marketing Cloud's highly scalable real-time personalization and messaging capabilities."

Watch the #Salesforce video about Proof Analytics: https://youtu.be/3-L1h8u-vgY

Dr. Petyo Bonev, professor of applied and theoretical econometrics and artificial intelligence at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, said, "The advantages of real time analysis are crucial to enable the delivery of a quick and agile marketing strategy amidst rapid change and volatility. Using automation to substantially reduce the time-to-value for complex modeling is potentially of enormous value to the user, and the highly automated Proof platform has reduced typical business modeling from many hours and even days to just a few minutes per model. In addition, the automated recompute of models means that if new data is being provisioned daily, the recompute also happens daily, meaning that a marketer would have fully updated causal, predictive and prescriptive analytics regarding any given model in more than enough time to understand changing marketplace conditions and alter course in a time-effective way."

Julie Brown, Johnson Controls' global business transformation leader, said, "Proof makes me feel like I'm in the cockpit of a fighter jet, providing the instrumentation needed to guide powerful programs. It's very empowering, and it transforms the conversations that business leaders need to have with marketing teams. Johnson Controls has renewed our relationship with Proof multiple times  it is a fantastic platform. We will be adding Proof BusinessGPS on Salesforce to our next renewal."

Proof Analytics founder and CEO Mark Stouse said, "Salesforce integrates data straight into Proof, dramatically accelerating analytical model creation and automatically recalculating every model at the speed of customer data, delivering perpetually updated operational blueprint to CMOs and other C-suite leaders. Proof BusinessGPS on Salesforce enables business and marketing teams to wargame different outcomes in the middle of a meeting, exploring different campaign outcomes in light of changing market conditions. Proof Marketing Planner and Proof Marketing Finance tools give marketing teams an automated, full-scale planning, budgeting, campaign management, KPI management, and workflow solution, further enhanced by coming integrations with Slack. The integration of Salesforce and Proof gives marketers and other leaders the ability to perpetually understand and optimize all of their investments, accelerating the power and progress of their business."

Julie Brown on marketing transformation: https://youtu.be/dReTxgOecDE

Michelle Killebrew on proof of impact: https://youtu.be/i0tKmfbQi-E

Watch the #Salesforce video about Proof Analytics: https://youtu.be/3-L1h8u-vgY

About Salesforce

Salesforce, the global CRM leader, empowers companies of every size and industry to digitally transform and create a 360-degree view of their customers. For more information about Salesforce, visit www.salesforce.com.

About Proof

Delivered on Salesforce and AWS, Proof is the world's fastest and easiest-to-deploy Marketing and Sales Optimization platform, integrating seamless data management and automated, no-code modeling analytics with top-class planning and budgeting capabilities -- all delivered as an easy-to-use, easy-to-understand SaaS platform. www.proofanalytics.ai

SOURCE Proof Analytics

Related Links

http://www.proofanalytics.ai


"This partnership is the kind of solution our imprints and authors have been looking for as it will allow us to broaden our reach into the audiobook space exponentially over the next months and years, and we've found great synergy with the team at OrangeSky," said Brooke Warner, Publisher of She Writes Press and SparkPress.

Launched in 2020 by Findaway, a leader in the audiobook space since 2005, OrangeSky Audio is on a journey to invest in strong voices from all over the world. Their published works include everything from adult and children's fiction and nonfiction audiobooks to innovative short form content including poetry, self-help, and motivation.

The partnership with OrangeSky Audio will launch with 16 She Writes Press and SparkPress titles with a strong trajectory for growth in the coming few years. The first audiobooks will release this summer.

"Our mission with OrangeSky Audio is to find published works that explore fresh ideas and bring new voices to light that might otherwise go unheard. We were thrilled to find a publishing partner who shares this goal and has such a strong list of titles which have never been produced in audio before," said Suzanne Galvez, Chief Content Officer of Findaway.

Both SparkPoint Studio and OrangeSky Audio are proud of their shared values as creative innovatorswhich will be reflected in their future projects together. Crystal Patriarche (CEO & President of SparkPoint Studio), Brooke Warner (Publisher of She Writes Press and SparkPress), and Mitch Kroll (CEO of Findaway) are committed to finding innovative solutions for authors and plan on continuing to champion their work as they spearhead new initiatives and publishing mediums in the hybrid publishing space.

"We're excited to continue to lead the hybrid publishing space into territory that always supports and elevates our authors," said Warner. "This has been our primary goal for the past ten yearsand having more ways for consumers to find our books is always top of mind. We're excited and grateful for this opportunity and partnership."





About SparkPoint Studio:

SparkPoint Studio, headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., is fast becoming the leading disruptor in the publishing industry, leveling the playing field for indie authors and emerging as the front runner and quality standard in hybrid publishing, with over 800 titles under its three imprints: SparkPress (a hybrid imprint for male and female authors), She Writes Press (an award-winning hybrid publisher for women authors) and the newly acquired SheBooks (e-book only options by women).

SparkPoint's BookSparks division is the leading, go-to publicity and marketing agency for publishers and authors, executing more than 1,000 book publicity campaigns that merge traditional and digital media and delivering stellar results for New York Times bestselling, emerging and debut authors and publishers. SparkPoint Studio also operates SheWrites.com, the largest online community of women writers around the globe, and SheReads.com, a new destination where women readers can find their next favorite book. SparkPoint Studio is a female-led, unique, multi-media company for All Your Story Needs: gold standard publishing options through SparkPress, She Writes Press and SheBooks. For more, visit GoSparkPoint.com.

About She Writes Press & SparkPress:

She Writes Press is an independent publishing company with headquarters in Berkeley, Calif. founded in 2012 to serve members of SheWrites.com, the largest global community of women writers online. SparkPress is an independent publishing imprint founded in 2013 within the SparkPoint Studio umbrella to offer both publishing and publicity services to authors. In 2014, SheWrites.com and She Writes Press became part of SparkPoint Studio, LLC, gaining SparkPress as a sister imprint, creating a powerful combination that no other hybrid publisher brings to the table, including strong female entrepreneurial leadership with start-up experience and expertise in traditional and digital publishing, community and platform-building; a strong editorial vision; traditional distribution; two award-winning hybrid imprints (She Writes Press and SparkPress), and a leading, innovative marketing and publicity team. She Writes Press and SparkPress are both mission-driven and community-oriented, aiming to serve writers who wish to maintain greater ownership and control of their projects while still getting the highest quality editorial help possible and full distribution into the marketplace. As of 2021, She Writes Press and SparkPress have more than 800 signed authors, all curated and selected based on quality of work, and more than 135 bestsellers. In 2017, She Writes Press won BISG's Industry Innovator Award and it was named Indie Publisher of the Year in 2019 by the Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group (IBPPG). She Writes Press and SparkPress titles are frequently named to best indie books of the year lists, indie book award lists and in national and industry media. For more, visit http://www.SheWritesPress.com and http://www.GoSparkPress.com, and follow @SheWritesPress and @GoSparkPress on social media.

About Findaway

Findaway, The World's Audiobook Partner, started revolutionizing the business of audiobooks in 2005 with Playaway, a built-for circulation, pre-loaded audiobook player. With an unparalleled focus on innovation, Findaway has become the global leader in digital audiobook distribution with AudioEngine, and the most trusted self-publishing platform for independent authors with Findaway Voices. Additional offerings of end-to-end audio production by Audioworks and publishing under their OrangeSky Audio imprint have further solidified Findaway's position at the center of the audiobook industry. To learn more about Findaway and the Findawayers who make it all happen, visit www.findaway.com. To learn more about OrangeSky Audio, visit www.orangeskyaudio.com.

For More Information:

Crystal Patriarche, CEO & President

SparkPoint Studio

480.650.1688

[email protected]

SOURCE SparkPoint Studio

Related Links

www.gosparkpoint.com


Editor's Note: Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China has worked with all other countries to build a community with a shared future for mankind, which has boosted confidence and added impetus for development of Asia and the world. For the celebration of the 100th funding anniversary of the CPC, we are launching the "CPC in eyes of foreign military students" series, viewing China and CPC from the perspective of foreign soldiers.

By Sri Lankan Colonel Anuruddha Karunathilake

Sri Lanka and China have a deep traditional friendship. With the advance of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in recent years, we've boarded the Chinese express of development.

The extension of the expressway with an overall length of 96km in south Sri Lanka that was open to traffic last February is a case in point. Constructed by Chinese enterprises with favorable loans from China, it is a typical project representing the two countries joint efforts to build the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Its completion marked the full operation of the entire expressway in south Sri Lanka, and the interconnection of the Colombo Port, Hambantota port, Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, and Colombo International Airport has become a reality.

The project created a large number of jobs for local residents. Many of them had used to work overseas, but they came back when hearing that Chinese companies would build an express highway in their hometown. Because most of the local workers were lacking in techniques, the Chinese companies specially built a security education and skill training base to train the local employees, cultivating plenty of technological professionals and skilled workers. This not only facilitated the construction of the express highway, but also enabled the local workers to make money with their professional skills and live a better life in the future.

As a Chinese saying goes, Give people fish and you feed them for a day. Teach them how to fish and you feed them for a lifetime. For the local people, the expressway in their hometown gives them better access to the outside world, skills, and greater confidence in a better life. The expressway can be fully considered as a road leading the local residents to wealth and a better future. Since the expressway was open to traffic in February 2020, the interconnection between main cities like Colombo, Galle, Matra and Hambantota has been realized, largely improving the infrastructure in Sri Lanka and facilitating the development of tourism. More importantly, it is an artery of national economic development and conducive to lifting Sri Lankas position in the BRI.

Bilateral cooperation in other construction projects, covering coastal port, water and electricity supply, and railway transport, has further improved our infrastructure and generated sizable economic and livelihood benefits, giving a strong boost to Sri Lankas economic and social development.

Since the BRI was put forth in 2013, China has always adhered to the principle of "extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits" in its implementation. China shares with us its development experience, carries out cooperation in projects highly consistent with Sri Lankas development goals. I believe that with Chinas strong promotion and the enthusiastic responses and support from other countries, Chinese solutions, including the BRI, will make greater contributions to world development.

(This article is based on an interview by the PLA Daily with Colonel Anuruddha Karunathilake assigned to Sri Lankan Armed Forces, who had once studied at China's PLA Army Logistics University.)
NEW YORK, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovative real estate developer Simon Baron Development has named Common the coliving operator at ALTA. Common is the nation's leading residential brand that designs, leases, and manages multifamily properties appealing to today's renters. The operating agreement between Common and Simon Baron Development will aim to provide a better renting experience for residents choosing coliving to find community and convenience where they live. Located in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, ALTA is a Class A property with luxury amenities like a pool, community lounge and a fully equipped gym.

The site was bought in 2015 and it is now one of the largest coliving buildings in the country. Since its inception, ALTA has been focused on providing Long Island City residents with a highly attainable yet luxury forward housing experience. The building officially opened in 2018 and it continues to be a sought after area to live in for young professionals in New York.

As COVID-19 fundamentally changed the way the modern workforce lives in big cities, coliving continues to rise in popularity among young professionals . With NYC reopening this summer and apartment demand continuing to climb, Long Island City is poised to see an influx of professionals preparing for a post-COVID city. At ALTA, coliving rents are starting at $1,600 per month and include fully furnished apartments, household supplies, weekly cleanings, community events, discounts to local and national brands, utility-inclusive rent, and access to all of the building's thoughtful amenities. The luxury building features sought after amenities like an outdoor deck with a great lawn where residents can enjoy a film in the outdoor movie theater that overlooks New York City.

"We're excited to partner with Common, an operator who has built a strong track record in New York and is well-positioned to capture renters returning to the city," said Matt Baron, President of Simon Baron Development. "Coliving requires specialized operations and Common has built up the reputation to successfully manage on behalf of institutional owners."

"As the industry landscape changes, Common has clearly emerged as the leader in operating coliving units across the US, particularly in NYC, the city where we were founded. Being selected to operate at ALTA, a residential building well known for being national coliving pioneer, is an honor," said Brian Lee, Managing Director of Real Estate at Common. "As we begin to see what a fully open New York City will look like, I am thrilled to be working with Simon Baron Development and Square Mile to make renting in Long Island City easier."

Common opened in New York in 2015 with a coliving brownstone in Brooklyn. Five years later, the residential brand operates 900 units across New York, partners with institutional investors and developers, and has expanded beyond coliving into traditional property management in residential towers across the city. Common has more than 1,500 units in its NYC pipeline and expects to open over 20,000 units across the US in the next few years. This past year, Common announced a nearly 400 unit Philadelphia expansion, added former Deputy Mayor of New York City Alicia Glen to its Board of Directors and raised $50 million in its Series D venture capital funding round from Kinnevik.

About Simon Baron Development



Simon Baron Development focuses on opportunistic, value add acquisitions and looks for opportunities that require development, redevelopment or repositioning, leveraging over a century of cumulative real estate experience. The firm's principals have extensive experience with ground up development, renovations of existing buildings and repositioning of failed or mismanaged assets. Simon Baron Development has a long history in New York City, founded in 1990 by Jonathan Simon, the firm prides itself on its ability to seek out and find unique opportunities, including off market transactions that require special development expertise. Simon Baron Development has also worked with, and currently maintains relationships with, many institutional firms such as banks and real estate private equity firms that continue to act as sources of capital for the firm's transactions.

About Common



Common is the leading innovation-driven property manager that designs, leases, and manages multifamily properties across the world. Through smart design and tech-enabled property management, Common delivers exceptional experiences across ten cities and over 5,000 members in coliving, microunit, and traditional apartments. We are the preferred choice for both residents looking for a stress-free and all-inclusive living environment from a trusted brand, and for real estate owners seeking reliable, above-market returns. The Common platform also includes workforce housing management brand Noah and family-first urban designer and operator Kin. With over 20,000 units signed and under development and over $110 million in venture capital investment, Common is expanding into 22 cities across the world. To work with us, visit our partners page or follow us on instagram at @ common.living .

Contact:

Phoebe Dinner

[email protected]

SOURCE Common

Related Links

www.common.com


As a result of the acquisition, besito will scale its brand through SPARC's existing sales channels while simultaneously expanding SPARC's presence in Southern California. Besito products will be enhanced with SPARC Farms flower, grown exclusively at the company's 450 acre biodynamic farm in Sonoma Valley. SPARC's state-of-the-art R&D, manufacturing and distribution facility will allow besito to achieve precise quality control and enable breakthrough product innovation.

"We're thrilled to welcome Maggie as an accomplished founder to our executive team as we continue scaling our vertical business in California," said Erich Pearson, CEO of SPARC. "Besito is a natural fit within our family of brands, committed to both quality and advocacy, and the integration will immediately add accretive value to our emerging products business."

As the newly appointed VP of Brand and Marketing, Maggie will lead SPARC's marketing and sales strategies for the company's portfolio of brands, which includes Marigold and Farm Direct . After working for global companies like Apple, PepsiCo and Starbucks, Maggie will draw upon her experience to spearhead SPARC's product initiatives and strategy, evolving the value of vertical penetration through SPARC's multiple retail locations throughout the Bay area. She will also evaluate additional M&A opportunities to drive sales, profitability and customer loyalty for the company.

"Besito is proud to join SPARC, whose longstanding history of community reinvestment aligns with besito's advocacy towards expungement and reparative justice for marginalized communities," said Maggie Connors, Founder and CEO of besito. "The vertical nature of SPARC will advance besito's business across the board, from the high quality cannabis grown at SPARC Farms through to the retail footprint of SPARC stores."

About SPARC

SPARC is one of the most recognizable cannabis retailers in San Francisco and Sonoma County renowned for its welcoming environment, commitment to compassionate care, and investment in the communities it services. SPARC's dedication to the customer experience extends to excellence in compliance and retail operations. The company operates under the strictest compliance standards and protocols in the industry. In addition to its retail operations, SPARC operates SPARC Farm, a biodynamic cannabis farm in Glen Ellen, and manufactures several products at its licensed manufacturing facility in Santa Rosa. To learn more, visit www.sparc.co

About besito

Based in Los Angeles, besito is known for their stylish pre-rolls and hexagonal vaporizers, all designed for more intuitive dosing. Besito was founded by cannabis industry pioneer Maggie Connors in 2017 with a mission to bring highly designed products to market while also supporting cannabis equity. Under the direction of Connors, the brand advocates for criminal justice reform, and makes space for women, BIPOC and the LGBTQ+ community within the industry. To learn more, visit www.besito.la

Media Contact

Noah Bethke

MATTIO Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE SPARC

Related Links

https://www.sparc.co


NEW YORK, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Spruce , the proptech company powering online real estate transactions, today announced a $60 million Series C funding round led by Zigg Capital. Existing investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners and Scale Venture Partners, also participated. This latest investment, which will be used to build upon Spruce's leading title and residential closing technology offerings to help its clients grow, brings Spruce's total funding to $110 million.

Since its inception in 2016, Spruce has grown more than 450% annually, powering tens of thousands of transactions for leading digital mortgage lenders, SFR investment platforms, iBuyers, and each of the top five equity co-investment companies. Doing business in 48 U.S. states, Spruce's industry advancements to date include reducing transaction times by up to 25%, saving homeowners up to 20% on closing costs, and enabling transactions outside of restrictive Federal hours. Spruce is also the only title solution to offer its open API directly on its website.

"Spruce has the key qualities of a world class technology company; exceptional product and operations teams delivering quantifiable value for its customers. Spruce's platform is central in enabling better, faster, and more affordable real estate transactions," said Dave Eisenberg, a Managing Partner at Zigg Capital. "Zigg's significant investment in Spruce shows not only our confidence in the Spruce team but also in the real estate technology sector at large."

Spruce's recent national survey showed that current and prospective homeowners prioritize affordability, transparency, and speed when closing on a home. Through its work with tech-forward partners, Spruce provides the scalable infrastructure and fundamental technology required to meetand exceedthese consumer expectations.

On their experience working with real estate companies powered by Spruce's platform, one borrower said: "The closing process was seamless and easy to follow with no hassle. It just worked!" While another remarked: "The process was transparent, service was convenient, and communication was excellent."

"Our work with our clients fundamentally changes the way partners and consumers experience real estate transactions," said Patrick Burns, CEO and co-founder of Spruce. "While we're just getting started, we're more excited than ever to work with our innovative partners to build the one-click checkout for real estateespecially as the attention on consumer needs and expectations has surged."

Spruce provides nationwide title insurance, closing, escrow, and recording services through proprietary technology and centralized teams, adding transparency and speed to an otherwise opaque and time-consuming process. Combining machine learning technology with a team of experts, Spruce's scalable model serves forward-thinking lenders, real estate investors, and proptech companies.

ABOUT SPRUCE

Spruce is digitizing real estate transactions for forward-thinking real estate companies and mortgage lenders. By leveraging proprietary technology and best-in-class operations, Spruce provides a seamless, affordable solution. Spruce was founded by Andrew Weisgall and Patrick Burns in 2016, and is headquartered in New York with hubs across the U.S. Learn more or request a demo about how Spruce can bring your business digital: www.spruce.co .

ABOUT ZIGG CAPITAL

Zigg Capital invests globally in technology companies that accelerate the combination of real property with technology. Headquartered in New York, Zigg seeks to support and empower the world's best real estate technology entrepreneurs. For more information, please visit www.ziggcap.com.

CONTACT

Hadley Stecker

Director of Communications

[email protected]

978.473.1754

SOURCE Spruce

Related Links

https://spruce.co/


DALLAS, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SqwaQ, a pioneer in communications technology for Industrial IoT and mobile robotics, revealed today that it is inviting and exploring mergers and acquisitions opportunities. The company seeks acquisition by a major stakeholder serving mobile Industrial IoT or robotics technology for autonomous vehicles.

The company has field proven its proprietary, multi-redundant communications technology with multiple large companies including drones/UAS, ground logistics robots, and autonomous vehicles serving agriculture, OTR trucking and construction. The SqwaQbox is the only carrier approved ALO (Airborne LTE Operations) communications modem in the world and enables drones to fly unlimited range while providing the remote pilot with an in-the-cockpit experience. That level of redundancy and reliability is also important to ground based robotic vehicles as well.

"We found that hundreds of companies rushed into autonomous vehicles and mobile robotics without considering data security, connection redundancy or link reliability, which are all critical to these operations. SqwaQ positioned to be the "Intel Inside" for Industrial IoT and robotics customers. We're not limited to one network like Vodafone or Verizon. Our modems move data across all cellular networks and towers simultaneously. We're doing today what 5G still will not achieve in 5 years," said Ted Lindsley, CEO

SqwaQ is also the MVNO data provider for its customers and can provision custom cellular services on over 600 networks across 130 countries. This provides continent-wide, carrier-agnostic cellular coverage across all available networks simultaneously so the customer is not restricted to one carrier's towers. In the USA, SqwaQ's comms modules talk to all U.S. carriers simultaneously, bonding up to twelve individual connections into one large, redundant data pipe, even from different networks. In Europe, 28 simultaneous cellular networks are combined, maximizing data throughput and coverage.

Confidential inquiries can be directed to the CEO, [email protected]

About SqwaQ

SqwaQ is a pioneering SD-WAN and MVNO service provider focused on high-value mobile, Industrial IoT and robotic applications that demand reliable multi-redundant connectivity for mission safety. Verticals include aviation, telemedicine, ground robotics and autonomous vehicles across multiple industry segments, oil and gas, and commercial construction. Learn more at http://www.sqwaq.com .

Related Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIjFq2AwMEQ

SOURCE SqwaQ
GOTHENBURG, Sweden, June 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Stena AB (the " Company ") announced today the early tender results of the Company's previously announced cash tender offer (the " Tender Offer ") to purchase its 7.00% Senior Notes due 2024 (the " Notes ") in a principal amount of up to $250,000,000 (the " Tender Cap ")

In addition, the Company announced today that it has amended the terms and conditions of the Tender Offer to extend the deadline for receiving the early tender premium of $30.00 for each $1,000 principal amount of Notes tendered to 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on June 15, 2021 (the date as time, as the Tender Offer may be extended, the " Expiration Date." All other terms and conditions of the Tenders Offer remain unchanged and are described in detail in the Offer to Purchase, dated May 18, 2021 (the " Offer to Purchase "). Holders are encouraged to read the Offer to Purchase carefully.

The principal amount of Notes that were validly tendered and not validly withdrawn on or before 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on June 1, 2021 (the " Early Tender Date "), according to information provided by D.F. King & Co., Inc., the tender agent for the Tender Offer, and the principal amount of Notes to be accepted for purchase on the Early Settlement Date (as defined below) by the Company in accordance with the terms of the Tender Offer, are as set forth in the table below. Because the withdrawal deadline relating to the Tender Offer expired at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on June 1, 2021 (the " Withdrawal Deadline "), these Notes, as well as any subsequently tendered Notes, may not be withdrawn.

Title of Security CUSIP Numbers Principal Amount Outstanding Tender Cap Principal Amount Tendered Percentage of Outstanding Amount Tendered Principal Amount to be Accepted for Purchase 7.00% Senior Notes due 2024 858577AR0 and W8758PAK2 $527,000,000 $250,000,000 $131,105,000 24.88% $131,105,000

Holders of Notes who validly tender their Notes on or before the Expiration Date (and did not validly withdraw their Notes at or prior to the Withdrawal Deadline) are eligible to receive, for each $1,000 principal amount of the Notes, $1,050.00, which includes the early tender premium of $30 per $1,000 principal amount of Notes tendered by such holders that were accepted for purchase (pursuant to the amendments to the Tender Offer being announced in this press release, this early tender premium will be paid in respect of valid tenders made at or prior to the Expiration Date). Holders whose Notes are accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offer will also receive accrued and unpaid interest on the purchased Notes from the last interest payment date for the Notes up to, but not including, the settlement date for the Notes.

Any Notes that were validly tendered at or prior to the Early Tender Date (and not validly withdrawn at or prior to the Withdrawal Deadline) will have priority over any Notes that are validly tendered after the Early Tender Date. If any Notes are validly tendered after the Early Tender Deadline and the principal amount of such tendered Notes exceeds the Tender Cap, any principal amount of such Notes accepted for payment and purchased, on the terms and subject to the conditions of the Tender Offer, will be prorated based on the principal amount of validly tendered Notes, subject to the Tender Cap and any prior purchase of Notes on any Early Settlement Date as described below.

The Company reserves the right, but is under no obligation, on any day following the Early Tender Date and prior to the Expiration Date (any such day, an " Early Settlement Date "), to accept for purchase and payment, or to purchase and pay for, any Notes validly tendered prior to such Early Settlement Date (and not withdrawn at or prior to the Withdrawal Deadline), subject to satisfaction or, as applicable, waiver of the conditions to the Tender Offer. The Early Settlement Date for Notes tendered at or prior to the Early Tender Date and accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offer is expected to be June 4, 2021.

The Company also reserves the right, subject to applicable law, to (i) waive any and all conditions to the Tender Offer, (ii) extend the Expiration Date or terminate the Tender Offer, (iii) increase or decrease the Tender Cap, or (iv) otherwise amend the Tender Offer, in any respect, including to change the consideration offered.

The Company's obligation to accept for purchase and to pay for any Notes validly tendered in the Tender Offer is subject to the satisfaction or, as applicable, waiver of certain conditions, as more fully described in the Offer to Purchase.

Notes may be tendered only in principal amounts equal to $200,000 or any integral multiple of $1,000 in excess thereof.

J.P. Morgan AG is acting as dealer manager for the Tender Offer. Questions regarding the Tender Offer may be directed to J.P. Morgan AG at +44 20 7134 2468.

D.F. King & Co., Inc. is acting as tender and information agent for the Tender Offer. Requests for copies of the Offer to Purchase may be directed to D.F. King & Co., Inc. at +1 (212) 269-5550 (banks and brokers), +1 (866) 207-3626 or email at [email protected].

This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to purchase or the solicitation of an offer to sell any Notes. The Tender Offer is not being made in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction. No recommendation is made as to whether or not holders of any Notes should tender their Notes pursuant to the Tender Offer. The Tender Offer is being made solely pursuant to the Offer to Purchase, which more fully sets forth and governs the terms and conditions of the Tender Offer. The Offer to Purchase contains important information and should be read carefully before any decision is made with respect to the Tender Offer.

About Stena AB

Stena AB is one of the largest privately held companies in Sweden and a leading participant in the worldwide shipping industry. Stena AB owns and operates one of the world's largest international passenger and freight ferry services and owns and charters drilling rigs, Roll-on/Roll-off vessels and crude oil and petroleum product tankers. Stena AB also invests in and manages residential and commercial real estate, principally in Sweden and The Netherlands.

Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements in this press release and the documents incorporated by reference in this press release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning applicable securities laws. These statements include statements about the tender offer. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "believes," "estimates," "projects," "potential," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "intends," "continues" and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties including those discussed in the Offer to Purchase published in connection with the tender offer. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements made in this press release or elsewhere as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Investor and Media Contact: Peter Claesson

[email protected]

+46 704 855 144

SOURCE Stena AB
NEW YORK, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Lafayette Square , an impact-driven, minority-owned investment platform, is pleased to announce that Susan Golden has joined the firm as Head of Loan Operations. With over 30 years of experience in leveraged finance management, reporting, and accountancy, Ms. Golden will be responsible for loan operations, servicing, and agency functions within Lafayette.

Before joining Lafayette, Ms. Golden was a longtime executive at Cerberus, a leading private equity firm specializing in alternative investing. Since 2002, she had been Director of Finance and Operations, where she was instrumental in building the infrastructure, systems, and teams needed to support their sponsor finance unit, previously known as Dymas Capital Management.

"Sue brings extensive, in-the-trenches experience with complex loan operations and administration," said Damien Dwin, Founder & CEO of Lafayette Square. "Given the speed with which we aim to bring needed capital to underserved communities, her talents and capabilities will be invaluable as we ramp up our deployment and begin putting credit to work."

Earlier in her career, from 1991-2002, Ms. Golden held roles of increasing accountability in finance, loan operations, reporting & administration at Heller Financial, culminating in Vice President  Operations Management for GE Capital Corporation, following the 2001 merger of those two organizations. In that capacity, she oversaw a team of more than twenty professionals supporting its $4.5 billion loan administration business and was instrumental in integrating two distinct company cultures to successfully form the Center of Operational Excellence.

"I'm very eager to get to work with Damien and the experienced credit professionals across Lafayette Square," said Ms. Golden. "The firm's mission is a compelling one, and deploying capital across the country at scale requires a sophisticated administrative approach to ensure we're maintaining documentation seamlessly, accomplishing our accountability goals, and maximizing our resources."

Ms. Golden holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy from De Paul University, complemented by a Six Sigma Green Belt from Heller Financial. She is a former Board member and patient advisor for the University of Chicago's Womanlab platform.

About Lafayette Square

Lafayette Square is an impact investment platform working with local partners to create an inclusive American economy. Through capital and services, we confront critical societal challenges in three core areas: housing, jobs, and financial inclusion. For more information about Lafayette Square, please visit www.lafayettesquare.com.

Media Contact:

Shree Dhond/Zach Kouwe/Doug Allen

Dukas Linden Public Relations

646-722-6531

[email protected]

SOURCE Lafayette Square Holding Company

Related Links

http://www.lafayettesquare.com


Blood component quality is key in transfusion medicine and blood product manufacturing. Sysmex America's XN Blood Bank mode is a holistic solution that offers accurate cell counts on products that are key to blood centers and blood banks. With no sample preparation or pre-dilution required, the XN Blood Bank mode provides precise and rapid cell counts for greater confidence in blood product quality.

"Sysmex America's XN-10 Automated Hematology Analyzer with Blood Bank mode is the next component in the widely-used XN-Series," said Andy Hay, chief operating officer of Sysmex America. "From donor qualification to product quality monitoring, blood centers will gain increased efficiency, consistency and accuracy while providing life-saving blood products."

Available as a single module (XN-1000BB) or twin co-primary analyzers (XN-2000BB), the scalable hematology analyzer may be installed as a tabletop analyzer or placed on wagons, and either model may be made even more efficient with the addition of the RU-20 reagent unit.

To learn more about the XN-10 Automated Hematology Analyzer with Blood Bank mode visit www.sysmex.com/BB.

About Sysmex America

Sysmex America is lighting the way to better health with diagnostic solutions that transform the future of healthcare and contribute to healthier lives. Its innovative hematology, urinalysis, information systems and flow cytometry testing technology are reshaping the world of diagnostics. As America's regional affiliate of Kobe, Japan-based Sysmex Corporation  a trusted global leader respected for optimizing the efficiency, operations and financial performance of clinical laboratories  it offers diagnostic products that equip patients and the healthcare professionals who treat them with the information needed to make decisions with greater trust and confidence. Forbes magazine named Sysmex one of the most innovative companies in the healthcare equipment and services category, and the Center for Companies That Care named Sysmex America to its "Honor Roll." Learn more about Sysmex America at www.sysmex.com/us.

SOURCE Sysmex America, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.sysmex.com/us


CHERRY HILL, N.J., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank (AMCB), announced the establishment of a $100 million equity fund in support of minority-owned small businesses, demonstrating its continued commitment to combat racial inequities and provide opportunity in underserved communities. TD Bank's equity fund will enable Specialized Small Business Investment Companies (SSBICs) and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) to provide small business loans and technical assistance, ensuring these businesses have the resources they need to scale and adapt long-term.

$75 million of the capital will be funded through an SSBIC initiative, to be launched later this year. SSBICs provide financial assistance to disadvantaged businesses that are minority-owned, women-owned or are in areas of need. $25 million will be specifically earmarked for Black- and Latinx-owned small businesses, funded through CDFIs, which are notably skilled in helping businesses in communities of color secure financing.

"The pandemic has highlighted the depth of disparities that exist in communities of color, especially as it relates to small businesses, which serve as the backbone of our economy," said Greg Braca, President and CEO, TD Bank, AMCB. "The equity fund will ultimately infuse capital and help stabilize these small businesses. But it's also about contributing to job creation, stimulating economic development, revitalizing these vibrant communities and, just as important, breaking the cycle of disinvestment which systemically prevents communities of color from thriving. Small businesses are the heart of our communities  especially communities of color  and it's up to us to help them succeed."

The equity fund stems from a larger commitment made by TD Bank Group last year to advance racial equity for its Colleagues, Customers and Communities. As part of that commitment, TD Bank pledged to establish ways to better support minority-owned businesses. Many of these businesses, particularly Black- and Latinx-owned, were already experiencing financial fragility due to underlying systemic challenges faced by underrepresented groups, a situation that was exacerbated during the pandemic.

"We hope that our investment in these SSBICs and CDFIs serves as a means of making access to capital more equitable for minority small business owners. But our support doesn't end there," said Michael Innis-Thompson, Head of Community Lending and Development at TD Bank. "TD has always helped sustain small business owners. For instance, we've long supported CDFIs through philanthropic grants and access to capital for loans, providing them with the liquidity to offer low-interest, micro-loans to businesses that may not have qualified for traditional lending due to barriers commonly faced, especially by Black and Latinx small business owners. Additionally, TD will continue its practice of referring customers to a CDFI when we can't underwrite a loan, because at the end of the day, we want these vital businesses to succeed  it's what differentiates us as a purpose-driven bank."

About TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank

TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is one of the 10 largest banks in the U.S., providing more than 9.5 million customers with a full range of retail, small business and commercial banking products and services at more than 1,220 convenient locations throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Metro D.C., the Carolinas and Florida. In addition, TD Bank and its subsidiaries offer customized private banking and wealth management services through TD Wealth, and vehicle financing and dealer commercial services through TD Auto Finance. TD Bank is headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J. To learn more, visit www.td.com/us . Find TD Bank on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TDBank and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TDBank_US and www.twitter.com/TDNews_US .

TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is a member of TD Bank Group and a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Canada, a top 10 financial services company in North America. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the ticker symbol "TD". To learn more, visit www.td.com/us .

SOURCE TD Bank

Related Links

http://www.td.com/us


BONITA SPRINGS, Fla., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TerraCap Management LLC, a privately held investment firm with its headquarters in Naples, Florida, announced today the acquisition of Versol Apartments for $70.35 million. Ideally located in Bonita Springs, the 240-unit property was built in 2020 and is currently 100% leased.

TerraCap Management

Steve Hagenbuckle, Founder and Managing Partner of TerraCap said, "Versol being new and in the heart of Southwest Florida was of great appeal to us. Its vacation destination location will allow us to offer creative custom leasing programs for full time and part time residents as well as tourists. All of this with an eye on value creation. The transaction was professionally managed, as usual, by the JBM team."

Versol Residences features spacious one, two, and three-bedroom units with average unit sizes just under 1,100 square feet. The unit interiors feature quartz counter and vanity tops, shaker-style cabinetry, stainless steel appliances, tile backsplash, faux wood plank flooring in the living areas, nine-foot ceilings, large windows, and a washer and dryer in each unit. Common area amenities include a clubhouse with a coffee/tea bar and a kitchen, a swimming pool, an outdoor kitchen with gas grills, a fire pit, a fitness center, a bocce court, a dog park, package receiving, and dry cleaning drop off.

The city of Bonita Springs, where the property is located, has seen over a 35% increase in population since 2010. The property is located just off U.S. 41 and is minutes from nearby Barefoot Beach. "We saw this as an opportunity to acquire a unique property in our own backyard," said Steve Good, National Director of Acquisitions for TerraCap. "The apartments are quality construction with top-notch amenities and location. There is high-end retail shopping with Coconut Point to the north, Mercato to the south, the beach to the immediate west, and access to I-75 to the east. Its location, in our opinion, cannot be matched."

The seller, Milhaus, was represented by Jamie May of JBM. Milhaus was retained as property manager.

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

Related Links

http://terracapmgmt.com


HOUSTON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tex-Isle, Inc. (Tex-Isle) today announced the decision to sell OCTG products exclusively through distribution. The Houston based steel pipe manufacturer recently announced the construction of a new mill in Robstown, Texas. This is the 4th major project Tex-Isle has undertaken over the past ten years. The mill is a major milestone for the company as it is the first move into ERW pipe-making and will complement their current operations, which includes heat treatment, inspection, and threading, as well as external and internal coating facilities. With the culmination of this project, Tex-Isle will complete its transition from a distributor to a manufacturer.

In discussing the sales strategy, Andy Mejia, Tex-Isle's commercial director, said "We are going to be very distributor driven and will only be selling OCTG products through a strict, authorized network. Our goal is to bring value to being a distributor for Tex-Isle."

The company is currently vetting distributors with the goal of selecting 5 by October of this year in conjunction with mill trials.

Tex-Isle has been a distributor for over sixty years, which provides a unique perspective for what is needed to help distributors succeed. The philosophy is to create a trusting environment, with a clearly defined structure that promotes cooperation and transparency.

"Tex-Isle is an extremely disciplined company and intends to impose that on our sales process. It will be a small group that grows and thrives together in this hyper-competitive landscape." Said Mejia.

The company plans to continue to service its current customers as usual until January 1st, when it will officially make the change to selling OCTG solely through its distribution network.

William Sias

[email protected]

SOURCE Tex-Isle, Inc.
Brian Bravo, 46, of Pembroke Pines, admitted he took the money, $150,000 of it in cash, from two vendors and a consultant for other vendors in exchange of awarding them contracts for Broward Health goods and services, the U.S. Attorneys Office said in a news release.
DALLAS, June 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Texas Trees Foundation (TTF) is presenting the completed Dallas Urban Forest Master Plan (UFMP) to the City of Dallas at a press conference on June 3, 2021, at 8:30 a.m. The event will be held at the West Dallas Multipurpose Center, 2828 Fish Trap Road, Dallas, TX 75212.

Texas Trees Foundation

As the need for strategic management of the tree canopy and urban forest in Dallas came to the forefront, the collaborative work began between the Texas Trees Foundation and the City of Dallas to create the first plan of this type with funding provided by the Lyda Hill Philanthropies and Oncor.

In presenting the UFMP to Dallas City Council members Omar Narvaez and Chad West, Dr. Bobby Lyle, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Texas Trees Foundation, encouraged them and the entire City Council to pass the resolution to adopt the UFMP at the next City Council meeting on June 9, 2021.

"This collaborative effort represents a major step forward for our City. It emphasizes the strategic importance of our urban forest and provides guidance for our community as the City of Dallas sets the standards and takes the lead in urban forestry management in North Texas," said Dr. Lyle. "The Plan offers a framework within which further dialogue and engagement will lead to action steps to implement the recommendations necessary to maximize the value of our urban forest."

This long-term strategic document specifically addresses urban challenges such as rapid development.

"Texas Trees Foundation previously published the State of the Dallas Urban Forest (2015), two Urban Tree Canopy Assessments (2015 & 2019), and the Urban Heat Island Management Study (2017)," said Janette Monear, President and CEO of the Texas Trees Foundation. "We are dedicated to a future in Dallas that includes tree management. I join my voice with Dr. Lyle, Lyda Hill, and our entire Board of Trustees in asking the Dallas City Council to consider the adoption of this important plan that includes 14 core recommendations."

When properly managed, trees provide a variety of important benefits to communities including water-quality improvement, stormwater mitigation, erosion control, heat reduction, air-quality improvement, health and wellness benefits, wildlife habitat, and jobs. Trees add to the vibrancy and overall quality of life whether they exist in residential, recreation or business districts.

For more information about the press conference on June 3 at the West Dallas Multipurpose Center, please contact Joshua Wilbanks at 214-263-7235 or email [email protected].

Related Files

UFMP Briefing Note.pdf

Media Advisory_TTF UFMP.pdf

Related Images

dallas-urban-forest-master-plan.png

Dallas Urban Forest Master Plan 2021

SOURCE Texas Trees Foundation
Mr. Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya, President, Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (Public Organization) or TCEB, stated that, during the cabinet meeting on June 1, 2021, Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul, Deputy Prime Minister, proposed that National MICE Day was established based on the research the bureau jointly conducted with Convention Promotion Fund.

"The first-ever exhibition in Thailand was held on 26 April 1882. Guided by the royal resolution of King Rama V, the event aimed at promoting Thai products from all over the Kingdom. What is noteworthy is that it was held at Sanam Luang in front of the Grand Palace as part of Bangkok's Centennial Celebration. Although 140 years have passed, today's exhibitions share such same mission."

The establishment of such important day for MICE industry will help enhance the awareness on the long-lasting value and importance of the industry for national development. Even today, MICE is serving as one of the government's economic stimulus mechanisms.

Since the past up to the present day, MICE activities have been employed to drive key national policies, which can be divided into 3 periods. During the reign of King Rama I and Rama III or in the early Rattanakosin period, meetings became a platform for the renaissance of arts and sciences as it was a period of the kingdom restoration. Then, the reign of King Rama IV until King Rama VIII was a period of opening Siam to the global arena, when meetings and trade fairs were utilised to represent the nation's pride and a means toward the amendment of the unfair treaties Siam signed with other countries. The third period (King Rama IX until present) is a period of the solidification of MICE industry or a new era of MICE industry, when related associations of the private sector have a role in the national development.

Mr. Chiruit added that MICE has now extended its role to create and develop the economy, as well as become a part to boost economic growth and bridge economic gap. It is in line with TCEB policy that accentuates the distribution of the development and business opportunities to entrepreneurs and communities in 10 MICE Cities. Thailand continued for 3 consecutive years (2016-2018) to be the top destination of conference in the ASEAN region and is placed fourth as a destination holding the highest number of conferences, following Japan, China and South Korea.

According to MICE statistics gathered through 16 years of TCEB establishment, the number of domestic and international MICE travellers to Thailand totalled 191,747,994, generating 1,756,739 million baht of revenue. Prior the COVID-19 pandemic, Thai MICE industry generated both direct and indirect income of around 728,540 million baht for the economy and created 426,616 jobs.

"Even though the COVID-19 has substantially affected businesses in all segments, including MICE, the operations of TCEB, focusing consistently on the development of the industry's infrastructure, workforce and technology, can ensure that Thailand stands ready for competition once the pandemic subsides."

Related Photo : https://we.tl/t-pBgGHz86ld

Thailand: Redefine Your Business Events

Experience the Extraordinary with Our Extra Care

About TCEB

A LEADING AGENCY AT THE FOREFRONT OF THAILAND'S MICE INDUSTRY

Established in 2004, Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (Public Organization) or TCEB  the government agency under the supervision of the Prime Minister  has been assigned a role to promote, support and develop business events industry  corporate meetings, incentive trips, conventions, exhibitions, mega events and world festivals. Serving as a strategic partner, TCEB helps deliver creative ideas and solutions to bring success and fulfill the requirements of business events. The overarching goal is to drive Thailand to become a global MICE and mega events destination that can drive the country's strategic industries and national economy.

SOURCE Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB)

Related Links

http://www.tceb.or.th


OAXACA, Mexico, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Lost Explorer Mezcal , an award-winning, sustainably crafted and Oaxacan-cultivated mezcal, announces expanded distribution across the U.S. by partnering with Infuse Spirits Group. Infuse has built a strong distribution network spanning 34 states for their unique single-bottle infused vodkas and unapologetically non-traditional Broken Barrel Whiskey brands. As a part of the agreement, Infuse Spirits Group will lead U.S. sales for The Lost Explorer Mezcal, making inroads in 12 markets by the end of 2021.

Seth Benhaim, founder of Infuse Spirits Group says, "Working with The Lost Explorer Mezcal will open many doors for all brands involved. The undeniable popularity of Mezcal and the unique profile, quality and packaging of The Lost Explorer are perfect compliments to the vodka and whiskey brands we currently sell. There are so many great synergies between our two teams."

Launched at the end of 2020, The Lost Explorer Mezcal most recently received Double Gold (Salmiana), Gold (Espadin) and Silver (Tobala) recognition from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, the most established and influential spirits competition in the world. The brand was also named Taste Master, the prestigious accolade of the best of the best across the tequila and mezcal category, in a competition hosted by The Spirits Business.

"We're thrilled to partner with Infuse Sprits Group to bring The Lost Explorer Mezcal to even more consumers across the country," said The Lost Explorer Mezcal CEO Tanya Clarke. "As a new brand entering the growing Mezcal market and gaining recognition quickly, this partnership puts our sustainably-crafted and Oaxacan made Mezcal on the fast track for growth."

In addition to its direct-to-consumer platform, The Lost Explorer Mezcal is now listed with a variety of e-commerce partners including Caskers.com, ReserveBar and Mercado de Mezcal. The Lost Explorer Mezcal is also available in high-end retailers, restaurants and bar locations throughout California, including Gracias Madre, The Peninsula Hotel, Old Town Tequila and Beverly Hills Liquor & Wine.

The Mezcal is now available in Mexico, the UK and US, and was created in partnership with award-winning Maestro Mezcalero Don Fortino Ramos and his daughter Xitlali as a premier, earth-centric spirit. For more information on The Lost Explorer Mezcal, visit www.thelostexplorermezcal.com or follow their journey on Instagram @thelostexplorermezcal .

ABOUT THE LOST EXPLORER MEZCAL

Handcrafted from 100% agave cultivated in the sun-soaked Valles Centrales, Oaxaca, Mexico, The Lost Explorer Mezcal is co-founded by David de Rothschild and Thor Bjorgolfsson, and created in partnership with award-winning Maestro Mezcalero Don Fortino Ramos and his daughter Xitlali. It is a toast to empowering sustainable Mexican enterprise, while protecting the ancient artisanal craft, heritage, and biodiversity of Mexico. Harvested in harmony with the elements and in tune with the rhythm of nature, the three uniquely profiled varietals - Espadin, Tobala, and Salmiana - invite people to celebrate the earth and live curiously, exploring the diversity and wonder of the sacred agave.

ABOUT INFUSE SPIRITS GROUP

Infuse Spirits Group [ISG] is based in Los Angeles, California but produces its one-of-a-kind vodkas in North Las Vegas, Nevada and its small batch craft whiskeys in Owensboro, Kentucky. ISG is unlike any other spirits company in the industry, focusing its attention on the diversification and process behind spirits, rather than just the provenance of spirits. In addition to the six current vodka expressions, its Broken Barrel whiskey brands each feature a unique Oak Bill, which like the "mash bill" describes the barrel stave composition that finishes each whiskey batch. All Broken Barrel whiskeys are finished with various broken cask staves, steeped into the whiskey. ISG's portfolio is made with passion and purpose and is currently sold in 34 states throughout the U.S. ISG's brands have received over 70 awards in the past seven years including (3) Double Gold Medals & Best-of-Show at the San Francisco & New York World Spirits Competition.

Media Contact:

Kirsten Anderson

908-334-5784

[email protected]

SOURCE The Lost Explorer Mezcal
This acquisition expands the operational footprint of Generate Life Sciences across three countries, alongside its distribution network for frozen donor gametes in more than 40 countries. In particular, it further increases access to newborn stem cell preservation and genetic screening services across North America.

"Generate Life Sciences is the natural partner for Cell Care given our established industry and scientific leadership in our respective markets," says Brent Dennison, Chief Executive Officer of Cell Care. "As part of Generate, we will collaborate with Generate's scientific team to support the exciting therapeutic applications for newborn stem cells and deliver great value to the thousands of families who have banked their children's stem cells."

Stem cells derived from umbilical cord sources have numerous emerging clinical uses in regenerative medicine, given their potent anti-inflammatory, immune-modulating and tissue reparative properties. Investigational cellular therapies, derived from umbilical cord blood and tissue, are targeting clinical conditions such as autoimmune disease, acquired neurological diseases and lung disease. Generate and Cell Care have been actively working to research and develop cord blood and cord tissue based therapies through local and international partnerships with leading academic institutions and biotech firms. Most recently, Cell Care helped develop a cord blood trial for patients with COVID-19 respiratory complications and Generate established a biorepository to facilitate investigational studies in both acute and persistent COVID-19 using newborn stem cells through their established network of research partners.

"Newborn stem cells have unique properties which make them a preferred biological source material to adult stem cells for an increasing number of indications," said Jaime Shamonki, MD, Generate's Chief Medical Officer. "With the largest newborn stem cell banks in the United States, Canada and Australia uniting under the Generate Life Sciences family, we have an unprecedented opportunity to create a global infrastructure for collecting, researching and manufacturing newborn stem cells to meet current and future demands for this growing category of therapies."

In Canada and Australia, clients and healthcare professionals will continue working with their local teams at Cell Care, Insception, or Cells for Life. The banks will continue collecting, processing and storing newborn stem cells at their respective facilities, and no revisions will be made to existing processes. However, with their addition into Generate Life Sciences, clients will be able to soon access the full range of family health services offered by the company, which include frozen donor gametes, newborn stem cell preservation and genetic screening. There will be more to announce in this regard in the future.

*This transaction is still pending approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) of Australia, which governs Cell Care.

About Generate Life Sciences

Generate Life Sciences Inc. is a life sciences company helping to grow and protect families through reproductive, newborn stem cell, genetic screening, medical device, and healthcare technology services. We serve families from preconception to post-birth. Our brands  CBR  (Cord Blood Registry), California Cryobank , Donor Egg Bank USA , NW Cryobank , ReadyGen , Kitazato USA , and Donor Application   are pioneering leaders that have helped nearly one million families. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Generate operates facilities in Tucson, New York, Boston, Palo Alto, and Rockville, MD. Generate is a portfolio company of GI Partners, a private investment firm based in San Francisco.

About the Cell Care group

The Cell Care group comprises Cell Care in Australia, Insception Lifebank, Cells for Life and the Victoria Angel public bank in Canada. The combined group is one of the world's top 10 companies in the sector with more than 200,000 cord blood and tissue samples stored. Cell Care has invested in Australian clinical trials investigating the impact of autologous cord blood in type-1 diabetes and sibling cord blood in cerebral palsy, and has supported research into expansion technologies for a number of years. Prior to the acquisition, Cell Care was a portfolio company of CPE Capital, a private investment firm based in Sydney. Visit www.insception.com for more information.

Media Contact



Azeem Zeekrya

HDMZ

[email protected]

312-506-5244

SOURCE Generate Life Sciences
DUBLIN, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Dynamic Positioning Systems Market by Equipment type (Class 1, class 2, class 3), Application (Bulk Carrier, Gas Tanker, Ferries, Cruise, Amphibious, Destroyer, Frigate), End Use (OEM, Retrofit), Type, Sub-system, and Region - Forecast to 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The dynamic positioning system market is projected to grow from USD 6.3 billion in 2021 to USD 10.5 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 10.7% between 2021 and 2026.

The increase in seaborne trade across the globe, cargo ship industry and shipbuilding industries are driving the market growth of the dynamic positioning system market.



Based on end user, the OEM segment is anticipated to grow at a higher CAGR during the forecast period



Based on end user, the OEM segment is anticipated to grow at a higher CAGR than the aftermarket segment during the forecast period. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) offer line fit and new product demand, thereby saving the time consumed in the installation of components post-delivery. Shipowners are preferring OEM segment over aftermarket segment as the OEM segment offers valuable post Purchase maintenance and training which is considered to be very essential for the dynamic positioning system market.



Based on type, the next generation dynamic positioning system is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period



Based on type, the next generation segment is projected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period. This segment will majorly be driven by the rise and development in the autonomous vessels. Currently, there are countries in many regions who are working on project to bring autonomous vessels into the commercial market. The dynamic positioning systems is essential for autonomous vessels because of the minimalistic human intervention gives rise to higher chances of error that could lead to accidents. Hence, shipowners and OEM manufacturers are working on next generation dynamic positioning system for autonomous vessels. So, this will be the major factors to drive growth in this segment for the forecasted period.



North America is estimated to lead the dynamic positioning system market in 2021

The growth of the global trade industry in North America is one of the most significant factors contributing to the demand for dynamic positioning system in this region. Increasing investments in the naval operations and increasing offshore shipping industry are additional factors driving the growth of the dynamic positioning system market in North America.



Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights

4.1 Attractive Opportunities in the Dynamic Positioning System Market

4.2 Dynamic Positioning System Market, by End Use

4.3 Dynamic Positioning System Market, by Equipment Type

4.4 Dynamic Positioning System Market, by Country



5 Market Overview

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Market Dynamics

5.2.1 Drivers

5.2.1.1 Increasing Operations in the Offshore Shipping Industry

5.2.1.2 Technological Improvements in Monitoring and Dynamic Positioning Systems

5.2.1.3 Increase in Seaborne Trade Across the Globe

5.2.2 Restraints

5.2.2.1 Complex System and High Cost of Initial Installation

5.2.2.2 High Maintenance Costs

5.2.3 Opportunities

5.2.3.1 Laser-Based Dynamic Positioning Systems

5.2.3.2 Autonomous Shipping Industry

5.2.4 Challenges

5.2.4.1 COVID-19 Affecting the Shipping Industry

5.2.4.2 Complex Systems Difficult to be Operated by Unskilled Operators

5.3 COVID-19 Impact Scenarios

5.4 Impact of COVID-19 on the Dynamic Positioning System Market

5.5 Trends/Disruptions Impacting Customers' Business

5.6 Market Ecosystem

5.7 Pricing Analysis

5.8 Value Chain Analysis

5.9 Tariff Regulatory Landscape for Automation in the Maritime Industry

5.10 Trade Data

5.11 Porter's Five Forces Model

5.12 Technology Analysis

5.13 Use Cases

5.14 Operational Data



6 Industry Trends



7 Dynamic Positioning System Market, by Application



8 Dynamic Positioning System Market, by End Use



9 Dynamic Positioning System Market, by Type



10 Dynamic Positioning System Market, by Subsystem



11 Regional Analysis

12 Competitive Landscape



13 Company Profiles

13.1 Introduction

13.2 Key Players

13.2.1 Kongsberg Gruppen ASA

13.2.2 ABB Group

13.2.3 General Electric Company

13.2.4 Wartsila OYJ ABP

13.2.5 Rolls-Royce plc.

13.2.6 A.B. Volvo

13.2.7 Twin Disc

13.2.8 L3Harris (US)

13.2.9 Navis Engineering (Finland)

13.2.10 Royal IHC

13.2.11 Marine Technologies LLC

13.2.12 Praxis Automation Technology Technology

13.2.13 Norr Systems

13.2.14 Moxa Inc.

13.2.15 Reygar

13.2.16 Comex

13.2.17 Sonardyne

13.2.18 Alphatron Marine

13.2.19 Undheim Systems

13.2.20 Wartsila Guidance Marine

13.2.21 Thrustmaster of Texas

13.2.22 Xenta Systems (Italy)

13.2.23 RH Marine

13.2.24 Raytheon Anschutz

13.2.25 Japan Radio Company Ltd.



14 Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/7xlyrg

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


WASHINGTON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA astronaut and former U.S. Navy Capt. Chris Cassidy has retired from the agency's astronaut corps after 17 years of service. His last day at NASA was Friday, May 28.

In his career, Cassidy accumulated 378 days in space. Of that time, he spent 54 hours, 51 minutes outside of the International Space Station over the course of 10 spacewalks.

"It's been an amazing run," Cassidy said in a video posted to his Instagram account. "I've had so many wonderful opportunities, both on the ground, in the air, and in space and underwater. I'm so privileged and feel so lucky that I've got to work with the folks that I have, had the mentors that I've had, the friendships I've developed all around the world, and I just want to say thank you."

Cassidy arrived at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in May 2004 as an astronaut candidate after serving 11 years as a Navy SEAL. He went on to complete three spaceflights, STS127 aboard space shuttle Endeavour, and space station Expeditions 35 and 63. On his shuttle mission in 2009, he became the 500th person in history to fly to space, and helped deliver and install the final two components of the space station's Japanese Experiment Module, Kibo, and the Exposed Facility and Experiment Logistics Module. He flew again in 2013 and 2020 as a crew member of Expeditions 35 and 63 respectively, launching to the station aboard two Russian Soyuz spacecraft and contributing to hundreds of hours of scientific investigations and station upgrades. During his July 16, 2013, spacewalk, he helped ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano to safety after Parmitano experienced a cooling water leak into his helmet, covering his face with water, and forcing the spacewalkers to return to the station airlock.

Cassidy also supported NASA astronauts on the ground in a variety of roles. He served as capsule communicator, or capcom, in the Mission Control Center at Johnson. He became the extracurricular activity branch chief, leading the ground teams that plan spacewalks and ensure astronaut safety. In 2015, Cassidy became chief of the Astronaut Office, a role now held by NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman.

"It's been an honor working with Chris throughout his career at NASA," Wiseman said. "He's been a great mentor not just to me, but for all of the astronauts who are following in his footsteps. He is an astronaut and officer with admirable leadership and character qualities. We will certainly miss him and wish him well in his future endeavors."

Cassidy is a York, Maine, native with a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland; a master's degree in ocean engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and an honorary doctorate from Husson University, Bangor, Maine.

Find Chris Cassidy's full NASA biography here:

https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/christopher-j-cassidy/biography

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


Jim Zehmer, who currently serves as general manager, administration at TABC, Inc. (TABC) will be promoted to president. Zehmer joined TABC's finance team in 1992 and has held a variety of leadership positions, including controller and manufacturing support general manager. He also was responsible for the administration functions at Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Baja California, Toyota's vehicle assembly plant in Tijuana, Mexico, for a two-and-a-half-year period starting in 2016. He will report to Norm Bafunno, senior vice president, unit manufacturing and engineering, TMNA.

Mike Truax, current TABC president will retire after a 37-year career with Toyota and New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI), the former joint venture of Toyota and General Motors in Fremont, California. Throughout his career, Truax held various leadership positions in manufacturing and engineering before his current position with TABC. He worked as general manager in production engineering for in-house plastics products at Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc. Previously, he spent more than 27 years at NUMMI in various production and engineering assignments.

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands plus our 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota has created a tremendous value chain and directly employs more than 47,000 in North America. The company has contributed world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 40 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama that begins production in 2021.

Through its Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society's most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.

Contact:

Victor Vanov

[email protected]

469.292.1318

SOURCE Toyota Motor North America

Related Links

www.toyota.com


Tri Global Energy's Chairman and CEO, John Billingsley, notes that the two projects have the potential to materially add to the renewable energy infrastructure in the region. "Tri Global Energy continues to drive the energy transition with renewable projects like these in Blackford County. We look forward to working cooperatively with representatives of the county, our participating landowners and our partners to make this significant investment in the community."

Both projects were originated by Tri Global Energy (TGE) in 2019. Blackford Wind will be capable of delivering up to 200 MW and Blackford Solar will be capable of up to 150 MW. The projects combined are expected to produce enough energy to power more than 80,000 homes.

TGE and Leeward Renewable Energy will work with the county, state, and federal authorities to secure the requisite permits and bring the two projects into construction, with operations projected to commence as early as 2023.

"Projects of this scope demand world-class expertise and resources, and that's why we consider Leeward Renewable Energy an outstanding partner going forward," Billingsley said.

This is the second deal between Tri Global Energy and Leeward Renewable Energy. The two companies announced a transaction involving two of Tri Global Energy's original Indiana projects in White County (180 MW Hoosier Line Wind and 400 MW Honey Creek Solar) in April.

"The acquisition of these quality projects is a great complement to Leeward's growing portfolio of high-quality wind and solar assets. Leeward is dedicated to responsible energy development, while also providing economic benefits and clean, affordable power to the local community," said Andrew Flanagan, Chief Development Officer of Leeward. "Tri Global Energy is a great partner and we look forward to continuing our strong relationship in the future."

Great Bay Renewables, a joint venture company between certain funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc. and Altius Renewable Royalties Corp. (TSX: ARR), is providing royalty financing in support of Tri Global Energy completing and funding this project development through the start of construction.

About Tri Global Energy

We are developers of sustainable energy. Tri Global Energy's mission is to improve communities through local economic development generated by originating and commercializing renewable energy and storage projects. The company currently originates and develops utility-scale wind, solar and energy storage projects in Texas, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Tri Global Energy's headquarters is in Dallas with regional development offices in Lubbock, Texas; El Paso and Forreston, Illinois; and Reynolds and Hartford City, Indiana. For more information, visit www.triglobalenergy.com.

About Leeward Renewable Energy, LLC

Leeward Renewable Energy is a leading renewable energy company that owns and operates a portfolio of 22 renewable energy facilities across nine states totaling approximately 2,000 megawatts of generating capacity. Leeward is actively developing new wind, solar, and energy storage projects in energy markets across the U.S., with 17 gigawatts under development spanning over 100 projects. Leeward is a portfolio company of OMERS Infrastructure, an investment arm of OMERS, one of Canada's largest defined benefit pension plans with C$105 billion in net assets (as at December 31, 2020). For more information, visit www.leewardenergy.com.

SOURCE Tri Global Energy

Related Links

http://www.Triglobalenergy.com


"This certification is an important step in demonstrating to employees and stakeholders that Triumph Foods has taken the necessary steps to effectively limit the impact of COVID-19 in the workplace," said Matrix Clinical Solutions Chief Medical Officer Daniel Meltzer, M.D., MPH, FACEP. "Matrix and Triumph have been working together for many months and will continue to monitor, assess, and provide on-site support to ensure continued workplace safety and business continuity."

"We are honored to achieve this certification, which recognizes the hard work of our team members to stay safe during this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic," said Triumph Foods Chief Executive Officer Mark Campbell. "Together, we aggressively worked to protect everyone's health and wellness, and we were able to keep our operations running smoothly at the same time  so we are very proud of this accomplishment."

An in-depth review of policies, procedures and work environment was conducted by Matrix Clinical Solutions to reach its determination that Triumph Foods follows the key safety standards and guidelines, as advised by its team of clinical experts, governing state regulations and guidelines issued by reputable industry bodies. The Safety Verified Certification assesses people, processes and structure. It includes policies and procedures, as well as all aspects of a workplace or other environments where people gather including density, traffic flow, ventilation and physical proximity to other risks.

The certification program follows a multi-disciplinary approach to safety verification, including:

On-site assessments based on the latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and state regulations

Best-in-class protocols based on the well-established clinical and industry expertise of Cleveland Clinic and Matrix

Actionable recommendations to address identified health and safety gaps

Official safety verification seal following alignment to certification standards

Ongoing updates on evolving COVID-19 guidance and regulations

In January 2020, Triumph Foods began a proactive, early planning process that enabled the company to keep its team members safe and healthy from the earliest days of COVID-19. By the time the World Health Organization recognized the novel coronavirus as a pandemic, Triumph Foods had already taken several steps to mandate face coverings and ensure proper distancing and barriers on its production floor. It also added Plexiglass dividers throughout its facility, implemented mandatory temperature taking and hand sanitizing to enter the facility and made on-site testing available to all employees, among many other policies.

Triumph Foods has also offered short-term and long-term leave choices for employees that have needed to take additional extended leave. The company continues to supply free masks, sanitizer, and personal protective equipment (PPE) to employees and has installed new antivirus air handling technology to ensure a safe workplace. Further, Triumph Foods will continue working with public health authorities and employees to encourage safe practices both in and outside of the facility.

"We are proud that the Matrix team noted numerous times how our documentation and actions clearly showed we had a deliberate planning process that was executed throughout the pandemic," Campbell said. "We will continue our work in keeping our team members healthy and safe."

About Triumph Foods

Founded in 2006, Triumph Foods is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is one of the largest pork processors in the United States. An outstanding corporate citizen and leading local employer in the Northwest Missouri region, today Triumph Foods employs a workforce of more than 2,800 and remains true to its commitments to its team members, customers, shareholders and communities. For more information, visit triumphfoods.com.

About Matrix Clinical Solutions

Matrix Medical Network has provided expert care and health services to millions of at-risk individuals where they live and work for more than 20 years. The organization's network of approximately 5,000 clinicians meets individuals wherever they are to assess their health and safety, identify and close care gaps, and offer life-changing services that activate them to manage their own health.

Matrix Clinical Solutions helps America's workers stay healthy while maintaining businesses' productivity and continuity by designing custom workplace health solutions including testing, tracing, and return to work services. In collaboration with Cleveland Clinic, Matrix developed a safety verified certification program to help businesses and organizations assess, address, verify, and monitor workplace safety to help individuals return safely and confidently to work. For more information, visit https://matrixmedicalnetwork.com/clinical-solutions/.

*Matrix Medical Network is the registered trademark of Community Care Health Network, LLC.

Contact information:

Elissa Johnsen,

EJJ Communications, LLC on behalf of Matrix Medical Network

312-285-3203

[email protected]

SOURCE Matrix Medical Network

Related Links

http://www.matrixmedicalnetwork.com


DUBLIN, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "The US Onychomycosis Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2021-2025 Edition)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report provides analysis of the US onychomycosis market, with detailed analysis of market size in terms of value, volume and segments. The report also includes the analysis of the larger nail care market in order to showcase the position of onychomycosis with respect to the nail care industry.

There are five types of Onychomycosis: Distal Subungual Onychomycosis, White superficial onychomycosis, Proximal subungual onychomycosis, Endonyx onychomycosis and Candidal onychomycosis.

Two types of treatments are available of onychomycosis: Oral Treatment and Topical Treatment. Oral treatment includes: Terbinafine, Itraconazole, etc. and topical treatment includes Kerydin, Jublia, etc. Nonpharmacologic approaches are also there, which includes the following: Laser treatment, Photodynamic therapy, etc.

The US onychomycosis market is forecasted to grow at a healthy growth rate during the forecast period (2021-2025). The US onychomycosis market is supported by various growth drivers, such as rising per capita healthcare expenditure, increasing diabetic patients, ageing population, introduction of new drugs, etc. Yet, the market faces certain challenges, such as, reimbursements, low awareness, side effects, etc.

Under competitive landscape, different players in the onychomycosis industry have been compared on the basis of parameters such as revenue and market capitalization.

Bausch Health Companies (Formerly Valeant Pharmaceuticals), Pfizer, Inc., Novartis AG and Johnson & Johnson are some of the key players operating in the US onychomycosis market, whose company profiling has been done in the report. In this segment of the report, business overview, financial overview and business strategies of the companies are provided.

Company Coverage

Bausch Health Companies (Formerly Valeant Pharmaceuticals)

Pfizer, Inc.

Johnson and Johnson

Novartis AG

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary



2. Introduction



3. Global Market Analysis

3.1 Global Nail Care Market: An Analysis

3.1.1 Global Nail Care Market by Value

3.1.2 Global Nail Care Market by Segment (Onychomycosis (Antifungal Medications and Non Pharmacological Products) and Other Nail Care Products)

3.2 Global Onychomycosis Market: An Analysis (Kerydin, Jublia and other non pharmacolgic treatments)

3.3 Global Onychomycosis Market: Segment Analysis

3.3.1 Global Kerydin Drugs Market by Value

3.3.2 Global Jublia Drugs Market by Value

3.4 Global Onychomycosis Market: Pipeline Drugs Analysis

3.4.1 Phase II Drugs (Onychomycosis) Pipeline Forecast

3.4.2 Phase III Drugs (Onychomycosis) Pipeline Forecast

3.5 Onychomycosis Market: New Drugs Overview

3.6 Global Onychomycosis Market: Country Analysis (The US and ROW)



4. The US Market Analysis

4.1 The US Nail Care Market: An Analysis

4.1.1 The US Nail Care Market by Value

4.1.2 The US Nail Care Market by Segments Segment (Onychomycosis (Antifungal Medications and Non Pharmacological Products) and Other Nail Care Products)

4.2 The US Onychomycosis Market: An Analysis

4.3 The US Onychomycosis Market: Type of Treatment Analysis

4.3.1 The US Onychomycosis Market by Type of Treatment (Pharmacological and Non Pharmacological)

4.3.2 The US Pharmacological Onychomycosis Market by Value

4.3.3 The US Pharmacological Onychomycosis Market by Route of Administration

4.3.4 The US Topical Onychomycosis Market by Value

4.3.5 The US Oral Onychomycosis Market by Value

4.4 The US Onychomycosis Market: Drug Availability Analysis

4.4.1 The US Pharmacological Onychomycosis Market by Drug Availability

4.5 The US Onychomycosis Market: Prescription Drugs Analysis

4.5.1 The US Prescription Onychomycosis Drugs Market by Value

4.5.2 The US Prescription Onychomycosis Market Value by Product (Jubila and Kerydin)

4.6 The US Onychomycosis Market: OTC Drugs Analysis

4.6.1 The US OTC Onychomycosis Drugs Market by Value



5. Competitive Landscape

5.1 Competition in Onychomycosis Prescription Market: An Overview

5.2 Financial Comparison of Major Players of the US Onychomycosis Market



6. Company Profiles

6.1 Business Overview

6.2 Financial Overview

6.3 Business Strategy

Bausch Health Companies (Formerly Valeant Pharmaceuticals)

Johnson and Johnson

Novartis AG

Pfizer, Inc.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/b7hmj2

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: 646-607-1904

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

http://www.researchandmarkets.com


No one was injured at any point, police said. However, a fire broke out in the mans apartment while police were trying to take him into custody. The circumstances of the fire are unclear.
HAMILTON, Bermuda, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Valaris Limited (NYSE: VAL) announced today that it has been awarded a two-well contract extension with Equinor Energy AS offshore Norway for VALARIS JU-291 (Stavanger), a heavy-duty ultra-harsh environment jackup. The extension is for an estimated 120 days in direct continuation of the existing contract and, as a result, the VALARIS JU-291 is now expected to be under contract through February 2022.

About Valaris Limited

Valaris Limited (NYSE: VAL) is the industry leader in offshore drilling services across all water depths and geographies. Operating a high-quality rig fleet of ultra-deepwater drillships, versatile semisubmersibles and modern shallow-water jackups, Valaris has experience operating in nearly every major offshore basin. Valaris maintains an unwavering commitment to safety, operational excellence, and customer satisfaction, with a focus on technology and innovation. Valaris Limited is a Bermuda exempted company (Bermuda No. 56245). To learn more, visit our website at www.valaris.com.

Cautionary Statements

Statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are 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. Forward-looking statements include words or phrases such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "plan," "project," "could," "may," "might," "should," "will" and similar words. Such statements are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may cause actual results to vary materially from those indicated, including the Company's liquidity and ability to access financing sources, debt restrictions that may limit our liquidity and flexibility, the COVID-19 outbreak and global pandemic, the related public health measures implemented by governments worldwide, the volatility in oil prices caused in part by the COVID-19 pandemic and the decisions by certain oil producers to reduce export prices and increase oil production, and cancellation, suspension, renegotiation or termination of drilling contracts and programs. In particular, the unprecedented nature of the current economic downturn, pandemic, and industry decline may make it particularly difficult to identify risks or predict the degree to which identified risks will impact the Company's business and financial condition. In addition to the numerous factors described above, you should also carefully read and consider "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in Part I and "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Part II of our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, as updated in our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10- Q, which are available on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov or on the Investor Relations section of our website at www.valaris.com. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of the particular statement and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Investor & Media Contact:

Darin Gibbins

Vice President - Investor Relations and Treasurer

+1-713-979-4623

SOURCE Valaris Limited
ASHEVILLE, N.C, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Viking Mergers and Acquisitions announces the merger of Radon Control Services Inc. of Boone, NC, with Clean & Dry Environmental Solutions LLC.

John and Tracy Hastings founded Radon Control Services in 1989. An area leader in radon testing, mitigation, crawl space encapsulation, basement repair and waterproofing, John states, "I look forward to working with Matt on growing this business while continuing to provide the amazing level of service we have been known for over the past 30 years."

Matt Ashmore, owner of Clean & Dry Environmental Solutions, explains, "This is an exciting opportunity for everyone involved. I look forward to helping grow this business and to carry on the values and exceptional service that John and his team have provided over the years."

Jeff and Eric McKeehan of Viking  Asheville, NC, were the exclusive advisors on the transaction. Providence Law Group provided legal counsel with deal financing by HomeTrust Bank.

Viking provides exit strategies and M&A services to middle market business owners. With more than 600 successful transactions, Viking's close rate is 3X the national average. In business since 1996, 75% of Viking's brokers are former business owners and possess 300-plus years of collective experience.

SOURCE Viking Mergers & Acquisitions

Related Links

https://www.vikingmergers.com/


Doctors Services Group Limited (" DSG ") is a leader in the provision of uninsured services billing programs and a suite of additional tools and services to physicians that transform practice productivity and enhance patient care.

") is a leader in the provision of uninsured services billing programs and a suite of additional tools and services to physicians that transform practice productivity and enhance patient care. DSG is expected to be an immediately accretive acquisition, generating over $450K of normalized EBITDA (1) per year.

of normalized EBITDA per year. DSG complements and expands WELL's billing and back-office business unit initially formed in November 2020 with the acquisition of DoctorCare.

VANCOUVER, BC and TORONTO, June 2, 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, is pleased to announce its wholly-owned subsidiary, DoctorCare, has completed the acquisition of a 51% stake in Doctors Services Group Limited ("DSG") (the "Transaction"). The remaining 49% of the issued and outstanding shares of DSG will be retained by the founders of DSG, who will continue to operate the company on a post-closing basis.

Paulo Gomes, CEO of DoctorCare and head of WELL's Billing and Backoffice business unit commented, "We welcome the team at DSG to the WELL family. I am looking forward to working with DSG as we believe this will be a great complement to our DoctorCare suite of services and together we can significantly expand our customer base. In addition, we expect DSG to contribute to the broader WELL ecosystem with its inclusion in the apps.health marketplace in the coming months."

DSG provides uninsured services billing programs and offers physicians a suite of additional tools and services that transforms practice productivity and enhances patient care. Physicians implement DSG's services to outsource the administrative burden associated with independently managing an uninsured service billing program. With over a decade of experience, DSG is the professional and economical alternative to performing these functions internally. DSG works with a wide range of clients and can accommodate any medical practice that performs uninsured services in order to maximize their practice revenue. Post-closing, DSG is expected to generate over $450K of annual normalized EBITDA(1).

Transaction details

The Transaction was completed pursuant to a share purchase agreement dated April 29, 2021. WELL paid a purchase price of approximately $1,425,000 to complete the Transaction, consisting of: (i) $475,000 in cash, subject to customary post-closing adjustments and holdbacks; (ii) $475,000 was satisfied through the issuance of 66,063 WELL common shares issued at the 5 day volume weighted average trading price prior to the announcement of the Transaction; and (iii) up to $475,000 which is payable as a multi-year performance based earn-out that, if payable, can be satisfied in cash or WELL common shares at the election of WELL. The Transaction further provides WELL with a right to acquire the remaining issued and outstanding shares of DSG pursuant to a call option.

Footnote:

1. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA") is a Non-GAAP measure. EBITDA should not be construed as alternatives to net income/loss determined in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). EBITDA does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. The Company believes that EBITDA is a meaningful financial metric as it measures cash generated from operations which the Company can use to fund working capital requirements, service future interest and principal debt repayments and fund future growth initiatives. For EBITDA reconciliation to Net income, please refer to the Company's most recent Management Discussion and Analysis on Sedar.com.

WELL HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES CORP.

Per: "Hamed Shahbazi"

Hamed Shahbazi

Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and Director

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 primary and executive healthcare clinics in both Canada and the US, operates a multi-national portfolio of telehealth services which includes one of the largest telehealth service providers in Canada and operates a global digital Electronic Medical Records (EMR) business serving thousands of healthcare clinics and health systems of all sizes. WELL is also a provider of digital health, billing and cybersecurity related technology solutions. WELL's wholly-owned subsidiary CRH Medical is a provider of products and services that support Gastroenterology physicians and ambulatory surgical clinics in the US. 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.

About Doctors Services Group

Doctors Services Group was established in 2005 and has been the industry leader in the provision of uninsured service-billing programs. The company's mission is to provide a service in which physicians are fairly compensated for services provided and patients are informed of what uninsured services are and why they are paying for them. In addition to an Annual Fee Program, Doctors Services Group provides many supplementary services that when implemented, help physicians increase revenue, enhance efficiency, and improve doctor-patient communication. Doctors Services Group has developed an effective program that allows physicians to get their uninsured services under control, while generating a healthy return on their investment. Doctors Services Group offers a customizable platform that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of each individual practice, through the implementation of specific fees and annual plans.

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this news release related to the Company are forward-looking statements and are prospective in nature including the statements regarding the anticipated benefits of the acquisition and the anticipated significant expansion of DoctorCare's customer base. Forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts, but rather on current expectations and projections about future events and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "may", "should", "could", "would", "intend", "estimate", "plan", "anticipate", "expect", "believe" or the negative thereof or similar variations. There are numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and the Company's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements, including: business integration risks relating to the acquired business; business disruption risks relating to COVID-19; regulatory risks, including those related to healthcare, privacy and data security; and other risks outlined in the Company's publicly filed documents available on SEDAR. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. These and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements are based on estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

SOURCE WELL Health Technologies Corp.

Related Links

well.company


BATTLE CREEK, Mich., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) is pleased to announce the selection of Alejandra Garduno Martinez as the new director of Latin America and Caribbean programs, effective June 1, 2021.

In this role, Garduno Martinez will provide leadership and oversight of the foundation's longstanding investments in Mexico, Haiti and Latin America and the Caribbean more broadly, to further create conditions that support thriving children, working families and equitable communities. Garduno Martinez, based in WKKF's Mexico City office, will lead the foundation's regional grantmaking priorities in collaboration and partnership with the Mexico and Haiti teams, grantees, communities and other stakeholders throughout the region. She will report to Cindy Smith, interim vice president for place-based strategies.

"Alejandra began her journey with WKKF nearly a decade ago and has demonstrated keen awareness and empathy for the challenges facing families in our Mexico and Haiti regions," said La June Montgomery Tabron, WKKF president and CEO. "Her commitment and depth of experience will continue to strengthen our collective efforts on behalf of children, their families and communities."

Garduno Martinez joined the Kellogg Foundation as a program manager in 2012 and was promoted to program officer in 2013. In this role, she was responsible for supporting senior programming staff by collaborating with internal and external stakeholders, coordinating grant making activities and implementing a regional strategy in Mexico nationally and in WKKF's microregions in Chiapas and the Yucatan Peninsula.

Prior to joining the foundation, she was a project director for Fundacion para la Productividad en el Campo A.C. in Mexico City, where she oversaw rural economic development projects and coordinated efforts to connect rural communities in Mexico with diasporic groups. Garduno Martinez served as a project manager with Apoyo Integral al Campo, APINCA, S.C., a development organization based in Mexico City. She also worked as a university professor and researcher with Baden- Wurttemberg International, where she conducted research for European stakeholders seeking projects in Mexico.

Garduno Martinez has been a contributing author in nonprofit and international development publications including Alliance Magazine for global philanthropy. In 2019, she was selected for Career Pathways, the Council on Foundations' flagship leadership development program for increasing diverse executive talent in philanthropy.

Garduno Martinez holds a master's degree in business administration and a bachelor's degree in international relations from Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City.

The Kellogg Foundation has been working alongside communities in Latin America and the Caribbean since the World War II era. In 2008, the foundation made a generational commitment to Chiapas and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and central and southwest Haiti. In Mexico and Haiti, the foundation's work lifts up community voices and local alliances to improve access to education, income generation and child and maternal health care.

About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal innovator and entrepreneur Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.

The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special attention is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. To learn more, visit www.wkkf.org or follow WKKF on Twitter at @wk_kellogg_fdn.

SOURCE W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Related Links

http://www.wkkf.org


DUBLIN, June 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Offering, Application, End-Use Industry, and Geography" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global artificial intelligence in marketing market was valued at US$ 12,044.46 million in 2020 and is projected to reach US$ 107,535.57 million by 2028; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 31.4% from 2020 to 2028.



The rising adoption of customer-centric marketing strategies and increasing use of social media platforms for advertising are among the factors boosting the artificial intelligence in marketing market growth. However, scarcity of personnel well-versed with AI knowledge hinders the market growth. Further, surge in the adoption of cloud-based applications and services creates notable opportunities for the artificial intelligence in marketing market players.



The use of artificial intelligence in marketing helps the marketers to use customer's data to draw important insights of their buying behavior and preferences, among others. It is used in applications such as dynamic pricing, social media advertising, and sales & marketing automation. Artificial intelligence uses concepts such as machine learning to know these patterns, which helps companies to plan their next move accordingly. In the recent years, there has been an unprecedented increase in social media engagement . According to DIGITAL 2021, ~0.5 billion new users joined the world's social media networks in the beginning of 2021. Moreover, in January 2021, there were 4.20 billion social media users worldwide. This number has increased by 490 million in the last year, representing year-on-year growth of more than 13%. During 2020, more than 1.3 million new users joined the social media streams on average every day, i.e., ~15 new users every second.



Many companies have realized the platform's tremendous potential and are using it for ecommerce, customer support, marketing, and public relations, among others. Artificial intelligence have become an unintegral part social media networks today. Social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Snapchat allow marketers to run paid advertising to platform users based on demographic and behavioral targeting. For instance, according to DIGITAL 2020, in January 2020, the potential number of people that marketers can reach using advertisements was 1.95 billion on Facebook, 928.5 million on Instagram, 663.3 million on LinkedIn, 381.5 million on Snapchat, 339.6 million on Twitter, and 169.0 million on Pinterest. Moreover, in January 2019, a total of US$ 89.91 billion was spent on social media ads. In the same month, the total global digital ad spend was US$ 333.3 billion, which accounts for 50.1% of the total global ad expenditure. Of the total digital ad spend, Google, Facebook, Alibaba, and Amazon accounted for 31.1%, 20.2%, 8.8%, and 4.2%, respectively. Thus, the increasing use of social media for advertising is bolstering the AI in marketing market growth.



Based on offering, the artificial intelligence in marketing market is segmented into solutions and services. In 2020, the solutions segment held the larger market share, and it is further projected to account for a larger share during 2021-2028. However, the services segment is expected to register a higher CAGR in the market during the forecast period.



The COVID-19 virus outbreak has been affecting every business globally since December 2019. The continuous growth in the number of virus-infected patients has governments to put a bar on transportation of humans and goods. However, on the contrary, COVID-19 on the other side is anticipated to accelerate private 5G and LTE adoption. Among B2C and consumer, the data consumption is expected to grow as social distancing continues. Also, the enterprises pivot to digital models and function virtually, the rate of data consumption will endure to boom and as result creating demand for establishing connectivity-centric ecosystem.



The Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), European Association for Artificial Intelligence (EurAI), European Lab for Learning & Intelligent Systems (ELLIS), Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) are among the prime secondary sources referred to while preparing this report.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Key Takeaways



3. Research Methodology

3.1 Coverage

3.2 Secondary Research

3.3 Primary Research



4. Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Market Landscape

4.1 Market Overview

4.2 Ecosystem Analysis

4.3 Expert Opinion

4.4 PEST Analysis

4.4.1 Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Market - North America PEST Analysis

4.4.2 Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Market - Europe PEST Analysis

4.4.3 Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Market - APAC PEST Analysis

4.4.4 Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Market - MEA PEST Analysis

4.4.5 Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Market - SAM PEST Analysis



5. Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Market - Key Industry Dynamics

5.1 Market Drivers

5.1.1 Rising Adoption of Customer-Centric Marketing Strategies

5.1.2 Increasing Use of Social Media for Advertising

5.2 Market Restraints

5.2.1 Limited Number of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Experts

5.3 Market Opportunities

5.3.1 Growth in Adoption of Cloud-Based Applications and Services

5.4 Future Trends

5.4.1 Dynamic Personalized Ad Serving

5.5 Impact Analysis of Drivers and Restraints



6. Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Market - Global Market Analysis



7. Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Market - By Offering



8. Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Market - By Application



9. Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Market - By End-Use Industry



10. Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Market - Geographic Analysis

11. Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic

11.1 Overview

11.2 Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Global Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Market

11.2.1 North America: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

11.2.2 Europe: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

11.2.3 Asia-Pacific: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

11.2.4 Middle East and Africa: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

11.2.5 South America: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic



12. Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Market - Industry Landscape

12.1 Overview

12.2 Growth Strategies Done by the Companies in the Market, (%)

12.3 Organic Developments

12.3.1 Overview

12.4 Inorganic Developments

12.4.1 Overview



13. Company Profiles

13.1 Affectiva

13.1.1 Key Facts

13.1.2 Business Description

13.1.3 Products and Services

13.1.4 Financial Overview

13.1.5 SWOT Analysis

13.1.6 Key Developments

13.2 Appier Inc.

13.2.1 Key Facts

13.2.2 Business Description

13.2.3 Products and Services

13.2.4 Financial Overview

13.2.5 SWOT Analysis

13.2.6 Key Developments

13.3 Bidalgo

13.3.1 Key Facts

13.3.2 Business Description

13.3.3 Products and Services

13.3.4 Financial Overview

13.3.5 SWOT Analysis

13.3.6 Key Developments

13.4 Novantas (Amplero), Inc.

13.4.1 Key Facts

13.4.2 Business Description

13.4.3 Products and Services

13.4.4 Financial Overview

13.4.5 SWOT Analysis

13.4.6 Key Developments

13.5 CognitiveScale

13.5.1 Key Facts

13.5.2 Business Description

13.5.3 Products and Services

13.5.4 Financial Overview

13.5.5 SWOT Analysis

13.5.6 Key Developments

13.6 SAS Institute Inc.

13.6.1 Key Facts

13.6.2 Business Description

13.6.3 Products and Services

13.6.4 Financial Overview

13.6.5 SWOT Analysis

13.6.6 Key Developments

13.7 SAP SE

13.7.1 Key Facts

13.7.2 Business Description

13.7.3 Products and Services

13.7.4 Financial Overview

13.7.5 SWOT Analysis

13.7.6 Key Developments

13.8 Salesforce.com, inc.

13.8.1 Key Facts

13.8.2 Business Description

13.8.3 Products and Services

13.8.4 Financial Overview

13.8.5 SWOT Analysis

13.8.6 Key Developments

13.9 Oracle Corporation

13.9.1 Key Facts

13.9.2 Business Description

13.9.3 Products and Services

13.9.4 Financial Overview

13.9.5 SWOT Analysis

13.9.6 Key Developments

13.10 IBM Corporation

13.10.1 Key Facts

13.10.2 Business Description

13.10.3 Products and Services

13.10.4 Financial Overview

13.10.5 SWOT Analysis

13.10.6 Key Developments

13.11 Amazon Web Services

13.11.1 Key Facts

13.11.2 Business Description

13.11.3 Products and Services

13.11.4 Financial Overview

13.11.5 SWOT Analysis

13.11.6 Key Developments

13.12 Adobe

13.12.1 Key Facts

13.12.2 Business Description

13.12.3 Products and Services

13.12.4 Financial Overview

13.12.5 SWOT Analysis

13.12.6 Key Developments

13.13 Accenture

13.13.1 Key Facts

13.13.2 Business Description

13.13.3 Products and Services

13.13.4 Financial Overview

13.13.5 SWOT Analysis

13.13.6 Key Developments

13.14 Microsoft Corporation

13.14.1 Key Facts

13.14.2 Business Description

13.14.3 Products and Services

13.14.4 Financial Overview

13.14.5 SWOT Analysis

13.14.6 Key Developments

13.15 Xilinx, Inc.

13.15.1 Key Facts

13.15.2 Business Description

13.15.3 Products and Services

13.15.4 Financial Overview

13.15.5 SWOT Analysis

13.15.6 Key Developments



14. Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Market- Company Profiles



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/f7xhjl

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


DUBLIN, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Community Housing Services Global Market Report 2021: COVID-19 Impact and Recovery to 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report provides the strategists, marketers and senior management with the critical information they need to assess the global community housing services market as it emerges from the COVID-19 shut down.

The global community housing services market is expected to grow from $65.42 billion in 2020 to $69.4 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.1%. The growth is mainly due to the companies rearranging their operations and recovering from the COVID-19 impact, which had earlier led to restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, remote working, and the closure of commercial activities that resulted in operational challenges. The market is expected to reach $75.54 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 2.1%.



Reasons to Purchase

Gain a truly global perspective with the most comprehensive report available on this market covering 12+ geographies.

Understand how the market is being affected by the coronavirus and how it is likely to emerge and grow as the impact of the virus abates.

Create regional and country strategies on the basis of local data and analysis.

Identify growth segments for investment.

Outperform competitors using forecast data and the drivers and trends shaping the market.

Understand customers based on the latest market research findings.

Benchmark performance against key competitors.

Utilize the relationships between key data sets for superior strategizing.

Suitable for supporting your internal and external presentations with reliable high quality data and analysis

Where is the largest and fastest growing market for the community housing services ? How does the market relate to the overall economy, demography and other similar markets? What forces will shape the market going forward? The Community Housing Service market global report answers all these questions and many more.



The report covers market characteristics, size and growth, segmentation, regional and country breakdowns, competitive landscape, market shares, trends and strategies for this market. It traces the market's historic and forecast market growth by geography. It places the market within the context of the wider community housing services market, and compares it with other markets.

The market characteristics section of the report defines and explains the market.

The market size section gives the market size ($b) covering both the historic growth of the market, the impact of the COVID-19 virus and forecasting its recovery.

Market segmentations break down market into sub markets.

The regional and country breakdowns section gives an analysis of the market in each geography and the size of the market by geography and compares their historic and forecast growth. It covers the impact and recovery trajectory of COVID-19 for all regions, key developed countries and major emerging markets.

Competitive landscape gives a description of the competitive nature of the market, market shares, and a description of the leading companies. Key financial deals which have shaped the market in recent years are identified.

The trends and strategies section analyses the shape of the market as it emerges from the crisis and suggests how companies can grow as the market recovers.

The community housing services market section of the report gives context. It compares the community housing services market with other segments of the community housing services market by size and growth, historic and forecast.

Major players in the community housing services market are Fair Community Housing Services Limited, Nestle Community Housing Services Ltd, Community Housing Services-Crossroads Villa, Inc, Community Housing Partners, Community Housing Ltd, and SRM Housing Services Private Limited.



The community housing services market consists of the revenues from community housing services and related goods by establishments primarily engaged in providing short-term shelter for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault or child abuse, a temporary residential shelter for the homeless, runaway youths, patients and families caught in medical crisis, transitional housing for low-income individuals and families, and for elderly or disabled homeowners. Establishments that volunteer construction or repair of low-cost houses in partnership with the homeowners who assist in construction or repair of a home, subsidize housing using existing homes, apartments, hotels, or motels, or those involved in a low-cost mortgage or work for all the said end-users, are included in this market.



Re-entry services are increasingly being provided for the people exiting prison. A majority of this population face homelessness after their release and have nowhere to go. Therefore, many NGOs have come forward to help them provide shelter. For instance, the US-based Lionheart Foundation provides shelter to this population and its Houses of Healing (HOH) program helps improve prisoners' lifestyle by providing them with services like transformative programs for prisoners, HOH guide book, HOH video series and many more.



The community housing services market covered in this report is segmented by service into temporary and emergency shelter services; permanent housing support services; transitional and assisted housing services; volunteer construction or repair services; others and by end-users into victims of domestic violence, sexual assault or child abuse; homeless; runaway youths; parents and families caught in medical crises; low-income individuals and families; elderly or disabled.



In July 2020, Housing Choices Australia Ltd., an Australia-based NGO, merged with Access Housing Australia Ltd. This merger will help Housing Choices Australia Ltd. to create more housing choices and opportunities for current residents while respecting the local culture, history and tradition of both organizations. Access Housing Australia Ltd is a leading Western Australia community housing NGO. It was founded in 2007.



The federal funding for social services is a major driver for the community housing services market. Funding from the government helps many homeless people get shelter. Many programs are run by different countries to assist homeless people. For instance, in the US, every year the Federal Government allocates funds to States/Territories to support social services for vulnerable children, adults, and families through the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). In India, 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana' focuses on providing pucca houses with basic amenities to homeless families. The objective of this scheme is to build one crore of homes of 25 sqm by 2022. The government of India also launched the Shelter for Homeless program under the National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM). Under this program, various types of shelters such as men shelter, women shelter, family shelter, and special shelter (for old age, mentally ill, sick persons) are provided. The government of India will finance 75% of the expense for the development of these shelters and the other 25% will be the State commitment. The Indian government is also working on providing rental housing to urban poor belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes, migrants, transgender, and senior citizens. Therefore, different types of federal funding will help drive the market for community housing services.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Community Housing Services Market Characteristics



3. Community Housing Services Market Trends and Strategies



4. Impact of COVID-19 on Community Housing Services



5. Community Housing Services Market Size and Growth

5.1. Global Community Housing Services Historic Market, 2015-2020, $ Billion

5.1.1. Drivers of the Market

5.1.2. Restraints on the Market

5.2. Global Community Housing Services Forecast Market, 2020-2025F, 2030F, $ Billion

5.2.1. Drivers of the Market

5.2.2. Restraints on the Market



6. Community Housing Services Market Segmentation

7. Community Housing Services Market Regional and Country Analysis

7.1. Global Community Housing Services Market, Split by Region, Historic and Forecast, 2015-2020, 2020-2025F, 2030F, $ Billion

7.2. Global Community Housing Services Market, Split by Country, Historic and Forecast, 2015-2020, 2020-2025F, 2030F, $ Billion

8. Asia-Pacific Community Housing Services Market

9. China Community Housing Services Market

10. India Community Housing Services Market

11. Japan Community Housing Services Market

12. Australia Community Housing Services Market

13. Indonesia Community Housing Services Market

14. South Korea Community Housing Services Market

15. Western Europe Community Housing Services Market

16. UK Community Housing Services Market

17. Germany Community Housing Services Market

18. France Community Housing Services Market

19. Eastern Europe Community Housing Services Market

20. Russia Community Housing Services Market

21. North America Community Housing Services Market

22. USA Community Housing Services Market

23. South America Community Housing Services Market

24. Brazil Community Housing Services Market

25. Middle East Community Housing Services Market

26. Africa Community Housing Services Market

27. Community Housing Services Market Competitive Landscape and Company Profiles

27.1. Community Housing Services Market Competitive Landscape

27.2. Community Housing Services Market Company Profiles

27.2.1. Fair community housing services limited

27.2.1.1. Overview

27.2.1.2. Products and Services

27.2.1.3. Strategy

27.2.1.4. Financial Performance

27.2.2. Nestle community housing services ltd

27.2.2.1. Overview

27.2.2.2. Products and Services

27.2.2.3. Strategy

27.2.2.4. Financial Performance

27.2.3. Community Housing Services-Crossroads Villa, Inc

27.2.3.1. Overview

27.2.3.2. Products and Services

27.2.3.3. Strategy

27.2.3.4. Financial Performance

27.2.4. Community Housing Partners

27.2.4.1. Overview

27.2.4.2. Products and Services

27.2.4.3. Strategy

27.2.4.4. Financial Performance

27.2.5. Community Housing Ltd

27.2.5.1. Overview

27.2.5.2. Products and Services

27.2.5.3. Strategy

27.2.5.4. Financial Performance



29. Key Mergers and Acquisitions in the Community Housing Services Market



29. Community Housing Services Market Future Outlook and Potential Analysis



30. Appendix



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/hkv63u

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: 646-607-1904

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

http://www.researchandmarkets.com


The launch of Registry Collection Hotels comes at a time when a growing number of independent luxury hotel owners are seeking out proven and established partners to help them recover from the challenges of the global pandemic. Registry Collection Hotels allows these owners to maintain their independent spirit and brand individuality while tapping into the global scale of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts along with its award-winning Wyndham Rewards loyalty program, helping them to drive more direct bookings at a lower cost of distribution.

"As the hospitality industry continues to rebound, independent luxury hotel owners around the world have approached our development teams seeking sales, marketing and reservations support under a proven and established luxury brand," said Geoff Ballotti, president and CEO, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. "The creation of Registry Collection Hotels was a natural fit, given Registry's growing global recognition as the world's largest luxury exchange program with over 200 high-end luxury fractional resorts and the continued successful management of that program by our partner Travel + Leisure Co. (formerly Wyndham Destinations). Registry Collection Hotels now fill an important space at the upper end of the Wyndham Hotels & Resorts portfolio, allowing us to very selectively provide support to independent hoteliers around the globe who meet the highest standards of luxury service and accommodations."

Individuality, Elevated

Handpicked to deliver incredible experiences in spectacular destinations, the hallmark of Registry Collection Hotels is the allure of their unmistakable individuality, elevated by thoughtful design and world-class service. From brilliant architectural details paired with serene backdrops to dream-worthy locations, every stay with Registry Collection Hotels is meant to be as unique and indulgent as the hotels themselves.

"We are truly excited about the renewed potential of the global travel, leisure and lifestyle industry, as the world rejoices and reunites after more than a year of lockdowns and restrictions," said Michael Brown, CEO, Travel + Leisure Co. "Experts and travelers are looking forward to exploring again for curated and exclusive experiences around the world. The launch of Registry Collection Hotels is a natural evolution for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, building on the brand's iconic heritage and global network. As Travel + Leisure Co., the world's leading membership and leisure travel company, with nearly 20 travel brands  including The Registry Collection  we are looking forward to designing a new future for the global leisure industry."

A White Sand Debut in the Mexican Caribbean

Registry Collection Hotels debuts today with the brand's flagship resort, the exclusive 144-room, all-suite, Grand Residences Riviera Cancun. Nestled on a breathtaking white sand beach just moments from the peaceful fishing village of Puerto Morelos, the secluded resort features spacious and inviting Hacienda-style accommodations, BVLGARI bath products and exceptional amenities such as an oceanfront infinity pool, full-service spa, state of the art-gym, kids club and three gourmet restaurants. The resort is owned and managed by affiliates of the Royal Resorts group of companies.

Added Ballotti, "Grand Residences Riviera Cancun is a spectacular resort situated in a pristine spot on one of Mexico's most desirable beaches. Beloved by guests the world over for its incredible location, postcard views, and world-class service, we couldn't be more excited to be launching Registry Collection Hotels with one of the region's premier developers and a long-time customer of Travel + Leisure Co., Dr. Kemil A. Rizk."

"From day one, the team at Wyndham has been holistically focused on the needs of our resort, working closely with our team as we collaboratively develop our strategy to announce our flagship affiliation," said Dr. Rizk, president and CEO, Royal Resorts. "What we value about Wyndham, in addition to their tremendous scale and distribution, is their appreciation for what makes Grand Residences Riviera Cancun unique and their passion for ensuring our individuality is never compromised. The highly esteemed reputation of Wyndham makes us proud to be marking this milestone with them and we look forward to continuing to develop our brand alliance."

Guests of Grand Residences Riviera Cancun enjoy complimentary private premium airport transportation and can partake in a wide variety of on- and off-site activities, including cooking and mixology classes, yoga, snorkeling, bike tours, fishing charters, catamaran cruises and more. The hotel is available for booking starting today at www.registrycollectionhotels.com.

Unlocking The Power of Wyndham

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has a proven track record of catering to the needs of independent hoteliers, most recently evidenced by the successful launch and robust continued growth of its Trademark Collection by Wyndham brand. First launched in the summer of 2017, the brand, known for its distinct collection of independent upper midscale and upscale hotels, has since grown its footprint by nearly 75% to now more than 110 hotels across a portfolio spanning North America, Europe, Australia and the Caribbean.

Through Registry Collection Hotels, independent luxury hoteliers are now able to maintain their hotel's unique individuality while benefiting from the power of scale that comes with being part of the world's largest hotel company. Owners receive access to an experienced team of hospitality professionals, as well as an in-depth array of services including strategic sourcing, global sales, revenue management, marketing and distribution, operations support and best-in-class training.

Aspirational Stays through Wyndham Rewards

Registry Collection Hotels is a part of Wyndham Rewards, Wyndham's award-winning guest loyalty program, which for the last three years has been named the number one hotel rewards program by readers of USA Today. With aspirational stay opportunities in some of the world's most desirable destinations, members can earn and redeem points on qualified stays across 21 distinct brands while enjoying a host of perks available exclusively through the program's various member levels. Wyndham Rewards has 87 million enrolled members around the world and is consistently recognized for its overall simplicity, rich redemption portfolio and generous rewards.

To download photos associated with the above release, please click here.

About Grand Residences Riviera Cancun

An affiliate of Registry Collection HotelsSM, the 144-all-suite Grand Residences Riviera Cancun debuted on December 7, 2013. Situated in a private enclave between scenic Riviera Maya and bustling Cancun, this exclusive hideaway is ideally located between the world's second largest barrier reef and a tranquil nature preserve. This five-star resort sets a new standard in luxury beachfront living: sprawling suites designed as private residences; gourmet dining; a world-class spa and salon; personalized beach and pool service; and much more. The ideal spot for outdoor adventurers, Grand Residences provides guests with experiences of a lifetime such as snorkeling along the world's longest underground rivers, exploring the historical treasures of ancient Mayan ruins, or simply unwinding on miles of white-sand beaches. For shopping and nightlife, tropical beach hotspot Cancun is only eleven miles away. Grand Residences is owned and managed by affiliates of the Royal Resorts group of companies, a pioneer in the Mexican Caribbean tourism industry with family-friendly beachfront resorts in Cancun, Puerto Morelos and Riviera Maya. For more information or reservations, call 1.855.381.4340 or visit www.grandresidencesrivieracancun.com.

About Registry Collection Hotels

Get lost in your travels and let Registry Collection HotelsSM meet you there. With thoughtful design, brilliant service and unsurpassed attention to detail, our handpicked hotels and resorts deliver incredible experiences in spectacular destinations around the world. Book your next stay at www.registrycollectionhotels.com or visit www.wyndhamdevelopment.com to learn more about how we're elevating individuality for independent-minded luxury hotel owners and developers around the world. Registry Collection Hotels are affiliated with but separate from The Registry Collection, the world's largest luxury exchange program.

About Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: WH) is the world's largest hotel franchising company by the number of properties, with over 8,900 hotels across nearly 95 countries on six continents. Through its network of over 797,000 rooms appealing to the everyday traveler, Wyndham commands a leading presence in the economy and midscale segments of the lodging industry. The Company operates a portfolio of 21 hotel brands, including Super 8, Days Inn, Ramada, Microtel, La Quinta, Baymont, Wingate, AmericInn, Hawthorn Suites, Trademark Collection and Wyndham. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is also a leading provider of hotel management services. The Company's award-winning Wyndham Rewards loyalty program offers 87 million enrolled members the opportunity to redeem points at thousands of hotels, vacation club resorts and vacation rentals globally. For more information, visit www.wyndhamhotels.com.

SOURCE Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

Related Links

http://www.wyndhamhotels.com


BOSTON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Yellow Wood Partners LLC ("Yellow Wood"), a Boston-based private equity firm focused on investing in consumer brands and companies, today announced that it has completed the previously announced acquisition of the Scholl footcare brand, which operates globally outside of the Americas, from U.K.-based Reckitt.

The acquisition reunites the international Scholl with the Dr. Scholl's sold in the America's after 30+ years of separate ownership and creates the leading global footcare brand operating as an integrated business in 50+ countries with annual retail sales exceeding $700 million.

Dana Schmaltz, Partner of Yellow Wood, said, "As part of Yellow Wood's 'preparation to meet opportunity,' we began speaking with Reckitt upon completion of the Dr. Scholl's transaction in 2019 and subsequently entered into exclusive negotiations to combine the businesses. We are very excited to reunite the global Scholl brand after more than 30 years as separate operating businesses. There are substantial growth opportunities, including bringing already formulated Scholl footcare products to the America's from Europe and continuing to build the ecommerce business. The acquisition is another successful Yellow Wood carve-out from a large international CPG firm. We enjoyed working with the Reckitt team as we have the operating capability and investment expertise to work closely with corporate business development teams to make these carve outs as seamless as possible. We appreciate the strong expertise that the Reckitt team brought to this process."

Tad Yanagi, Partner at Yellow Wood, said, "At Yellow Wood we invest the time and capital in data analytics to understand consumers and consumption patterns in order to acquire companies that provide affordable luxury and immediate efficacy. Since the successful creation of a standalone Dr. Scholl's business in a carve out from Bayer in 2019, the business has performed remarkably well. We have worked to make the brand more relevant with younger consumers, with the successful acceleration of new product launches and significant investments in advertising which has increased the brand's connection with consumers across digital and social media platforms. We have also built out the company's ecommerce capabilities which has dramatically increased our ecommerce business at Target, Walmart, and Amazon. We are proud of our sustainability initiative which removed 400,000 tons of plastic from the system. The newly combined business serves as a strong platform for continued growth."

The Dr. Scholl's brand is a category leader at major bricks and mortar and ecommerce retailers in the U.S. Similarly, the Scholl brand is a category leader in various regions such as France, Italy, Germany, the U.K., Australia and many other markets outside of North America with deep penetration at both major retailers and independent pharmacies across Europe. In addition to its footcare products, the Scholl brand provides a diversified portfolio of skin care products, insoles, and treatment solutions for targeted foot conditions.

Guy Phillips from Spayne Lindsay & Co. LLP, and Sawaya Partners, LLC acted as financial advisers for the transaction. Fried Frank provided legal counsel to Yellow Wood on the transaction.

About Scholl

Scholl is a leading global footcare brand that produces a wide range of skin care products, insoles and treatment solutions for targeted foot conditions. The brand was founded in 1906 by William Scholl in Chicago and has a long history of innovation and category leadership. Reckitt acquired the brand as part of its acquisition of SSL International in 2010.

About Scholl's Wellness Company

The Dr. Scholl's brand has been synonymous with foot care for more than a century. Founded by William Mathias Scholl, M.D. with a drive to scientifically support the feet to improve mobility, Dr. Scholl's products are clinically engineered and proven to provide comfort, reduce fatigue, relieve and prevent lower body pain. Today, the Scholl's Wellness Company continues to advance the science of movement and foot care with a mission to help people be more active and move comfortably every day of their lives. Visit www.drscholls.com for more details.

Facebook: @DrScholls

Instagram: @drscholls_usa

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DrScholls

About Yellow Wood Partners

Yellow Wood Partners is a Boston-based private investment firm that invests exclusively in the consumer industry in the middle market. The firm seeks to acquire branded consumer products that sell into a variety of consumer channels, including mass, drug, food, specialty, value, club and e-commerce. Yellow Wood's investment and operating strategy is based on utilizing the firm's functional operating resources to help maximize brand performance by driving organic growth and increasing operating efficiencies while acquiring additional brands into a limited number of platform companies in its concentrated investment portfolio. For more information, please visit www.yellowwoodpartners.com.

Contact :

Chris Tofalli

Chris Tofalli Public Relations, LLC

914-834-4334

SOURCE Yellow Wood Partners

Related Links

http://www.yellowwoodpartners.com


ZTO is a leading and fast-growing express delivery company in China. ZTO provides express delivery service as well as other value-added logistics services through its extensive and reliable nationwide network coverage in China.

ZTO operates a highly scalable network partner model, which the Company believes is best suited to support the significant growth of e-commerce in China. The Company leverages its network partners to provide pickup and last-mile delivery services, while controlling the mission-critical line-haul transportation and sorting network within the express delivery service value chain.

For more information, please visit http://zto.investorroom.com.

For investor inquiries, please contact:

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc.

Investor Relations

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: +86 21 5980 4508

SOURCE ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc.
A look at the major movers on the London market on Wednesday

Intuitive Investments Group ( ) has seen its shares jump after unveiling its first results since listing on AIM in December last year.

The company, which is focused on the life sciences sector, raised 7.58mln and so far has invested 4.83mln since the float. It expects to be fully invested by the end of this month.

Its investments comprise seven quoted companies and seven private businesses. The latter are in the books at cost, the former have seen an unrealised gain of 931,000 or 55.6% on capital invested.

It said: "IIG has been inundated with enquiries for funding and corporate advice. The Investment Team have vetted over 105 companies. The current pipeline has opportunities for over 80 million of investments and this continues to grow. There are a number of near-term pipeline opportunities as well as the possibility for follow on investment of 5mln within the existing portfolio.

"We are continuing to execute our pipeline with a likelihood of two, possibly three, unlisted investments to be made in the second-half of the year. We recognise that our current capital base is small and we are exploring avenues to expand the funds available to us directly and indirectly with a greater emphasis on the latter."

Its shares are up 8.57% at 22.8p, compared to the flotation price of 20p.

2.58pm: Property group sees buyers for its shares

Property portal ( ) is in demand ahead of its results next week,

The company said in February it had seen an encouraging start to the year, and it will also be boosted by the recent acquisition of property technology business Glanty and a partnership with data specialist Sprift.

Analysts at house broker Shore Capital said in a note today: "We continue to see considerable scope for OnTheMarket to drive attractive medium-term organic growth and regard its current stock valuation...as modest."

It is a little less modest now. Its shares are up 8.33% at 97.5p.

1.18pm: Investment group gets shareholder approval for its plans

(LON::TERN), an investment company specialising in the Internet of Things, has seen its shares jump after investors gave the company authority to issue up to 50mln new shares.

Although 22% of those who voted at a general meeting opposed the move, the motion was carried.

The company wanted the flexibility to be able to support its portfolio companies as necessary, as well as having negotiating leverage if dealing with potential third party investors.

Chief executive Al Sisto said: "We are conscious that we have shareholders who do not wish to see any dilution of their holding and I would like to reassure all shareholders that the company will not look to issue any further equity without having an appropriate use for the funds that is focussed on maximising shareholder value."

The company is 16.28% or 3.5p higher at 25p.

11.29am: Exploration group agrees improved royalty terms

Slightly lower down the oil food chain than Tullow, ( ) is also in demand.

The company, which is focused on Trinidad and Tobago, has renewed operating agreements with Heritage Petroleum for a 10 year licence period, double the previous amount and with an improved royalty structure.

The Onshore Lease Operatorship Agreements ("LOAs") were originally set to expire on 31 December 2020 and were previously extended to 31 May 2021 whilst terms were finalised.

Trinity executive chairman Bruce Dingwall said: "We are delighted to have renewed these licences for double the previous tenure, and on improved terms, which will work for the benefit of all stakeholders. We continue to have a strong relationship with Heritage and the terms of the extension provide us with the ability to focus on driving value as we increase production from existing and new wells, especially on the back of now having the 3D seismic data.

"When combined with the government's recent moves to reform the supplemental petroleum tax regime, the commercial and fiscal backdrop is moving in the right direction for existing operators to invest further and to attract new entrants into the region."

Trinity is 5.8% higher at 18.25p.

10.32am: Oil firm's chair to step down in summer

( ) is moving higher as the crude price continues to rise, up 4.06% to 58.22p.

The company has also benefited from putting its finances on a firmer footing, such that non-executive chair Dorothy Thompson has announced she has decided to step down from the board.

She will stay on until a new chair is appointed, which is expected to be towards the end of the summer.

She said: "My time with Tullow has been interesting and challenging and Tullow is now well positioned for a positive and sustainable future. With the refinancing successfully concluded through our recent bond issue and with a new business plan in place which is progressing well under [chief executive] Rahul Dhir's capable leadership, I have decided that this is the right time to step back from Tullow and to move to other opportunities."

9.44am: US boost for technology firm

Software group PLC ( ) is in demand.

Its shares are up 5.6% or 49p at 924p after it announced that the 3M Company, a long standing customer, was using its Accolade software for new product development throughout 3M's global enterprise.

said: "3M's cross-functional innovation teams rely on Accolade to streamline processes, manage risk, optimize decision-making and accelerate time to market."

3M director Elizabeth Edblom said; "The unprecedented enterprise-wide transparency provided by the Accolade platform allows us to know what's going on in new product commercialization before, during and after launch."

9.07am: Leak detection firm in expansion moves

PLC ( ), the leak detection specialist, has bubbled up 4.19% to 870p after announcing two deals which should boost its second half sales and profits.

The company has reacquired its American Leak Detection franchise in Reno, Nevada, for US$0.25mln and also bought Kentucky based PlumbRight Services for US$0.7mln.

On top of that it has appointed former HomeServe US and Cemex executive John Spenard as "chief people officer" to "help manage the group's accelerated growth plan".

The firm said it expected strong growth from the Reno franchise with additional corporate working capital and the end of COVID-19 restrictions. It said: "During 2020 Reno has suffered from extreme economic disruptions produced during lock-down because of its significant casino presence."

The acquisition of PlumbRight extends the plumbing services capabilities of its multimillion dollar Louisville, Kentucky location.

Executive chairman Dr. Patrick DeSouza said: "Today's acquisitions will fuel growth. We are also adding an important set of skills to our management team as we execute our growth plan."

8.30am: Energy group starts biomass fuel production from Maine facility

Shares in renewables firm ( ) have sparked into life.

The company said it had started production of its CoalSwitch product - a biomass fuel that can be mixed with or completely replace coal - at its US plant in , Maine ahead of schedule.

Deliveries from the 5 tonne an hour plant to the Hunter Valley power plant owned by electricity group PacifiCorp will start this week. The fuel will be used in a testing programme which was not originally due to start until 14 June.

will commence during this week for use in their testing programme which has been scheduled for the week commencing 14 June 2021. The CoalSwitchTM production by the Facility is part of the joint venture (the "JV") between AEG and Player Design Inc, details of which were announced on 20 May 2021.

The facility, a joint venture with Player Design Inc, has been granted an initial permit to produce 1,000 tonnes of CoalSwitch by no later than 31 July 2021. Emissions data from the initial production will be supplied to the State of Maine for their analysis. The joint venture will then apply to the State of Maine to extend the terms of the permit to expand its production to up to 35,000 tonnes of CoalSwitch a year.

Active Energy chief executive Michael Rowan said: "This is part of AEG's plan to have two operational CoalSwitch plants on the east coast of the US during 2021.. We will now proceed to deliver CoalSwitch to PacifiCorp on time and accelerate the CoalSwitch fuel testing programme."

Active Energy's shares are up13.33% at 0.79p.

Elsewhere Enwell Energy PLC (LON:ENW) has added 3.6% to 21.6p after a postive resources update from its Svystunivsko-Chervonolutskyi (SC) exploration licence in Ukraine .

Sergii Glazunov, Enwell's chief executive officer, said: "Based on this independent assessment, a material volume of reserves and contingent resources has been estimated in our SC licence. With the confidence that this independent assessment provides, we have been progressing with our field development plan to recover the reserves and resources in the licence, and based on such work, we are optimistic about the future prospects for the development of the licence."

Proactive news headlines

( ) announced it has exchanged contracts to acquire the entire issued share capital of Nottingham Mortgage Services (NMS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Nottingham Building Society.

Brickability is acquiring Taylor Maxwell Group, supplier of timber and non-combustible cladding, for 63mln. The deal will be part-funded by a 55mln sale of shares.

Quantum Blockchain PLC ( ) said it has signed a service agreement with a UK-based international cryptography expert specialising in cryptocurrency mining blockchain optimisations as part of a research & development (R&D) strategy for Bitcoin mining.

Imperial X PLC will begin trading on the official list of the London Stock Exchange on Thursday under its new name of ( ), making it only the second prospect generator in the mining space listed in the UK. Shareholders yesterday approved all resolutions put to them at the company's general meeting on Tuesday, meaning the acquisitions announced in August last year have now completed along with the change of name.

Drug discovery group e-therapeutics PLC ( ) has appointed Alison Gallafent as its head of intellectual property.

( ) said its losses from continuing operations narrowed in 2020 helped by cost control measures and that the outlook for the company was very promising. The company, which is developing the Mina do Barroso lithium project, said it wants to grow its lithium business, primarily in the Iberian Peninsula.

( ) chief executive Neil Clark said the group had made significant progress preparing its lead asset, NTCD-M3, for a phase III clinical study, which he confirmed, was on track to go ahead next year.

( ), a natural resources and energy investment company, said it was satisfied with the progress its BritNRG Ltd investment had made with its 100-day operational plan.

( ) said it continued to perform well and has made significant progress despite the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

( ) said it submitted a concept selection report to the UK Oil and Gas Authority, marking a significant milestone in delivering maximum value from the Greater Buchan Area (GBA) development project in the North Sea.

s ( ) Egyptian venture has been granted approval for a development lease to cover the ASD-1X discovery, part of the Abu Sennan Licence, which allows production operations to get underway.

( )( ) announced that notice of its annual general meeting has been made posted on its website ahead of the event on 25 June. Amid restrictions on personal movement the AGM will be an electronic meeting only and voting must made made by proxy and any questions submitted in advance.

SDX Energy Plc ( ) has given notice of its annual general meeting on 25 June. Given government guidance the AGM will be held with the minimum attendance required to form a quorum and shareholders will need to vote by proxy. The company will hold a webinar on 21 June where shareholders will be able to submit any questions in writing ahead of the proxy deadline.

Belvoir also announced that it will present at Proactive's One2One Virtual Forum on Thursday 3 June 2021. The event will begin at 6.00pm and take place via online webinar, with registration available here.
As officers were trying to locate the shooter, a 911 call came in from a woman who said bullets were being fired into her apartment through an adjoining wall. She told the operator that she and her young son were hiding in a closet, according to the report.
Mainland Spain and France are unlikely to be quarantine-free until later in the summer

The UK government is expected to add only a small number of destinations to its green list of travel locations when it revises its list on Thursday, dashing the hopes of holidaymakers and the travel industry.

Spains Balearic and Canary Islands as well as Malta could be added to the list of countries where holiday makers do not need to quarantine on their return to England, the Financial Times reported.

However, key holiday countries, such as mainland Spain and France, are unlikely to be quarantine-free until later in the summer, the Guardian reported, citing Whitehall sources.

The changes are due to come into effect next week.

There are currently 12 destinations included in the governments green list, which includes the Falkland Islands, a location not generally recognized as a tourist hotspot.

At least four other destinations are reported to be at risk or moving from the "amber list" to the "red list" amid growing concern about the spread of the India Covid-19 variant.
Wizz Air said this quarter it would run at 30% capacity with the intention to be back at full service in 2023

An easing of travel restrictions is starting to show through in passenger numbers though airlines are still cautious about calling a recovery.

Ryanair PLC ( ) said it carried 1.8mln passengers in May, compared to just 70,000 a year ago, with planes 79% full.

On a twelve-month rolling basis, passengers carried dropped by 75% to 30.2mln from 121mln.

Wizz Air PLC ( ) reported the number of passengers travelling had risen to 833,000 in May from 207,000 a year ago, with its planes 66% full.

Jozsef Varadi, Wizz Airs chief executive, said the pick-up in passenger numbers had come later than expected and this would be another year of transition for the airline.

Wizz Air would make another loss in this financial year if flight restrictions were not lifted soon and permanently, he added.

The Hungarian carrier posted a loss of 567mln in the year to March just ended, though it increased the size of its fleet and also the number of its bases where it operates to 43 from 25 before the pandemic.

Varadi said this quarter it would run at 30% capacity with the intention of being back at full service in the financial year 2023.

Ryanair chief executive Michael OLeary yesterday also called for an easing of restrictions in Europe.

He wants Grant Shapps to include all EU countries in the next revision of the UKs green list so UK holidaymakers can travel "restriction-free to the beaches of Spain, Greece and Italy".

There is no justification for the UK government to delay the removal of all travel restrictions for those who have been fully vaccinated when research from Public Health England has demonstrated that two doses of the C-19 vaccines are highly effective against the Indian variant, he wrote in a letter to the transport secretary.

Shares in Wizz Air dropped 1.7% to 4,791p while Ryanair eased 0.4% to 17.05.
The broker's core and exploration valuation suggest significant upside to the current market price for United Oil & Gas.

Cenkos has again nudged up its valuation for ( ) as it marked an increase in production at the 22% owned Abu Sennan licence in Egypt, with analyst James Mccormack describing the update as the latest in a continual flow of success for the company.

The continued drilling success at both the ASD-1X and ASH-1 ST2 wells further underline the potential of the licence, both through the drilling of new wells and through workovers / recompletions, Mccormack said in a note.

Mccormack highlighted that drilling continues at Abu Sennan, with the AJ-8 development well, and increased his core valuation (Net Asset Value) to 5.9p and the analysts risked exploration NAV moves up to 29.6p. Compared to a market price of 4.48p, the valuation sees significant upside.

This morning United reported that a development lease had bee issued for the ASD-1X discovery which means that production can now begin, with the initial gross rate seen at 1,295 bopd, which equates to 285 bopd net to United.

A separate programme to workover the ASH-1ST2 well has also boosted production numbers, adding just over 1,000 bopd gross or 220 net to United.

United highlighted the rapid pace of progress at Abu Sennan where the ASD-1X well was drilled as recently as April and is now producing.

"The speed at which the joint venture is developing Abu Sennan is demonstrative of the excitement we share for the long-term potential of the licence, which continues to deliver for the company, said chief executive Brian Larkin. We would also expect this result to add to the proven reserves on the licence.

"In tandem with exploration success in Abu Sennan, the encouraging result from the ASH-1ST2 workover will provide a further boost to production, and will also help increase our understanding of the ASH Field.

Larkin also highlighted that drilling is presently underway on the Al Jahraa-8 development well with results pending in due course.
Field evidence indicates that the Picha mineralisation is similar to other coppersilver stratabound deposits in Peru and Chile.

Measuring a sample area at Cobremani from which a sample assaying 65.6 g/t silver and 4.97% copper was obtained.

( ) has delivered high-grade silver and copper results from samples gathered at the Picha Project in Peru as part of an initial project review.

Solimana Gold SAC, geological consultants on the project, completed their technical site visit to each of the five main exploration target areas - Cobremani, Maricate, Timillo, Fundicion and Cumbre Coya - and obtained rock samples from each area, which Valor said delivered "outstanding" results.

High grades

These results, including 563 g/t silver, 1.11% copper and <20% lead; 444 g/t silver, 2.84% copper and 0.9% lead; 89.7 g/t silver and 6.04% copper; and 65.6 g/t silver and 4.97% copper, will be followed up immediately.

Of the 20 samples taken, 12 returned assays greater than 1% copper and up to 6% copper.

Field evidence indicates that the Picha mineralisation is similar to other coppersilver stratabound deposits in Peru and Chile.

Results highlight mineralisation potential

Executive chairman George Bauk said: These results have highlighted the mineralisation potential, at surface, of the project.

The work undertaken has highlighted significant showings of copper with more than 50% of the results between 1% and 6% along with silver results of up to 563 g/t (more than 18 ounces of silver).

The mapping completed is indicating that the mineralisation is analogous to other coppersilver stratabound deposits in Peru and Chile.

Seven rock samples were collected from Maricate with silver assays of up to 111ppm and three samples returning more than 2% copper.

The Picha project consists of four granted mining concessions covering 2,000 hectares.

It is 127 kilometres SW of the City of Juliaca, in southern Peru, and near the village of Jesus Maria in the San Antonio de Esquilache district, province of Sanchez Cerro and the Moquegua department.

Regionally, the Picha property is located within the Tertiary volcanic belt of southern Peru that hosts numerous important ore deposits

Plans underway to follow-up

Bauk added: We will follow up these results with further groundbased work as soon as possible and also undertake a review of our Berenguela South Project.

Copper is a significant part of the clean energy future and is currently demanding more than US$10,000 per tonne with significant commentary of a supply shortage.

Peru has several world-class copper and silver deposits and is the third-largest producer of copper and silver in the world.

Looking ahead

In addition to the ongoing desktop review involving compilation of all available historical data, Solimana has recommended follow up work including:
New Delhi, June 2 : "It is important that we support our ecosystem. How do you expect young artists coming from lower-middle class backgrounds to support themselves when during these times when akademis have turned their backs and galleries are shut? Last year, we introduced 40 grants of Rs 25,000 each for youngsters wherein they could sit at home and work on projects. More than 400 applications were received for those 40 grants," says Pooja Sood, Director and founding member of New-Delhi based Khoj International Artists Association tells IANS.

All set to introduce more such grants now ("the requisite funds are being collected"), Sood says that not just young artists, they also understand their responsibility towards their immediate surroundings where they are based. "Khirkee village has a huge migrant and refugee population. While last year, we made it a point to distribute ration kits in the area, this time we may also include Covid kits -- medicines, mask and sanitisers." Running it from her home in Delhi for several years before acquiring a building in Khirkee Extension, the organisation came into being with major artists including Subodh Gupta, Bharti Kher, Manisha Parekh and Anita Dubey coming together. Attracting some of the best talent from across the world, Khoj has been in the forefront of experimentation in art and is known for its non-commercial essence.

Stressing that while a lot of people assume that making art is just about material making, Khoj is focussed on social practice, Sood adds that the kind of projects they have been doing for over a decade speak for themselves. "Climate and ecology are big themes right now, but we have been addressing that through 'Does the Blue Sky Lie? Testimonies on Air's Toxicities' for the past 10 years." Supporting artists not just in major Indian cities, Khoj has been instrumental in funding diverse work across communities across the country. For example, supporting the work of artist Shweta Bhattad, a farmer's daughter who has been working with local women in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. "We are about facilitating unique expressions that talk to and force people think. Bhattad tied herself up to a hoarding in Nagpur's red light area and did a performance about the sex workers' lives. She also did a fantastic project on food and farmers." In another project, Khoj, is working with an organisation that sensitises people about issues related to transgenders. The director says that just as cases of domestic violence towards women have increased during the pandemic, the same holds true for transgenders.

While one forthcoming project is related to the digital future -- "We are also making very cool tools on how to do online residencies. So, with this, you can create your studios, go to the project space and also interact with other residents etc." -- in another project, an artist is looking at data feminism. "It is very interesting considering the fact that the most data is so male orientated. We need to re-understand and unpack the schisms and biases. Apart from the digital divide, what are the other divides? The feminist divide is a strong one." Sad that the immediate future for Khoj will be a hybrid one, Sood says that she will miss the constant activity at the centre. "Everybody will have to up their game when it comes to technology -- just digital exhibitions will not work. Of course, we will have physical activities with all precaution whenever that is possible in the near future. Also, we have noticed that when a small number of people are in the room to view an exhibition, their interaction with art work is more intimate," she says.

Not in favour of approaching the government for grants owing to red tape, Sood smiles, "Anyways, in the past few years, hasn't the the budget for culture in India decreased steadily every year even as most countries have upped it?" Talk to her about how multiple central and state cultural akademis became irrelevant during the Covid times they failed to failed to support artists despite having budgets, Sood says, "I think these guys need a crash-course on how to look after their artists. If they carry on like this, the artists would give up. A large chunk of the middle class has fallen into poverty. Very few of us have survived."
Mahoba : , June 2 (IANS) With just over a fortnight left for his wedding, a Dalit youth in Mahoba district has sought police protection to ride a horse from his house to a nearby temple for a pre-marriage ritual.

There have been several instances where Dalits have been penalized by upper caste members if they rode a horse on their wedding.

Alakhram Ahirwar has given an application to Mahobkanth police in Mahoba, asking them to provide security for the ritual at the temple ahead of his June 18 wedding.

Station house officer (SHO) Mahobkanth, Sunil Tiwari, told reporters that the groom had given in writing that he wanted police protection as he desired to ride a horse at the pre-nuptial ceremony.

"We have given permission so that Alakhram can fulfil his wish. The situation is normal and there is no chance of any kind of disturbance. We will also provide security to the applicant and hope the pre-marriage rituals are solemnized peacefully," the SHO said.

The panchayat has also given its consent to the youth to ride a horse on his wedding day. "There is no objection from the panchayat side as everyone has the right to ride horse, irrespective of caste and religion," said Mahipat Shriwas, village head of Kashipur gram panchayat.

Earlier, Alakhram had sought support from various social organisations on social media platforms to help him fulfil his dream of riding a horse on his wedding day.
Hathras, June 2 : The former head of Kamlapur village in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras was shot dead allegedly by two bike-borne unidentified men while he was returning home from Sikandararao area.

According to the police, Ram Khilari Yadav ,48, was riding pillion on a motorcycle being driven by his friend, Munesh, when he was shot dead.

The assailants shot him in the back and when he fell, they again shot him in the head and fled. They did not hurt Munesh.

The incident took place on Tuesday.

As news spread, locals gathered at the spot to protest against the killing and blocked the Sikandrarao-Hathras road, causing a traffic jam for two hours. The blockade was lifted after police intervened.

Surendra Kumar, circle officer of Sikandarao, said an FIR has been registered and preliminary investigations indicate that Yadav had a long-standing dispute with some residents.

The deceased's body has been sent for post mortem. A team has been formed to investigate the matter and arrest the culprits.

Police force has been deployed in the village to avoid any untoward incident.
Seoul, June 2 : Global monitor panel shipments declined in the first quarter of the year, a report showed on Wednesday, mainly due to Samsung Displays exit from the monitor LCD display manufacturing business and a shortage of semiconductors.

The worldwide monitor panel shipments fell 8.6 percent on-quarter to 39.9 million units in the January-March period, according to the latest report from market researcher TrendForce.

"TrendForce indicates that SDC will exit the monitor LCD panel manufacturing business after it reaches its shipment target of 1.2 million panels in 1H21," it said. "This figure represents a staggering 93.8 percent decline compared to the 19.3 million units of LCD panels that SDC shipped throughout last year." Samsung Display, the world's top mobile display panel maker, has been focusing on its migration to next-generation quantum-dot (QD) displays, while withdrawing from the LCD business, reports Yonhap news agency.

But for large LCD panels for TVs, the company recently said it is mulling extending its manufacturing for one more year due to soaring demand from TV makers and rising panel prices.

TrendForce said the global monitor panel market also suffered a setback in the first quarter due to a shortage of components, such as integrated circuits and timing controllers.

"In addition, since TV and notebook (laptop) panels have higher profit margins compared to monitor panels, panel suppliers generally allocate less of their production capacities for manufacturing monitor panels relative to other products," it said.

However, the market researcher predicted that monitor panel shipments for 2021 will grow 4.2 percent on-year to 169 million units.

"TrendForce believes that panel suppliers will likely in turn allocate more production capacities to clients in the monitor segment in 4Q21," it said.

"More specifically, the current shortage of components in the upstream supply chain, which has been exerting significant downward pressure on monitor panel shipments, will be gradually alleviated in 2H21."
Chennai, June 2 : Diversified engineering company Greaves Cotton Ltd plans a capital expenditure of about Rs 110 crore this year of which majority will be on its electric two wheeler plant at Ranipet in Tamil Nadu, said a top official.

He also said the electric two wheeler plant is expected to roll out its product by the end of this year.

"We plan to invest about Rs 110 crore towards capital expenditure this year. About Rs.70 crore will be for the electric two wheeler plant at Ranipet to be commissioned by the end of this year," Nagesh A. Basavanalli, Managing Director and Group CEO told IANS.

The Rs 1,500 crore turnover group will be funding the capex out of its internal accruals, he added.

Greaves Cotton has signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government to invest about Rs.700 crore over the period of 10 years to set up a plant with an annual capacity of one million units.

Initially the production capacity will be about one lakh units per annum and it will be increased to one million units over a period of time and discussions are on for development of vendor base for various components, Basavanalli added.

Greaves Cotton got into the electric vehicles segment by acquiring the Coimbatore based Ampere Vehicles.

The Ampere Vehicles last year bought 74 per cent stake in the Noida based electric rickshaw maker Bestway Agencies rolling out Ele brand vehicles.

The balance 26 per cent in Bestway will be acquired in 2022.

Basavanalli said the group has no immediate plans of consolidating the electric vehicle's production at Ranipet.

"The E-Rickshaw market is in North and East and we are looking at other products that could be made at Ranipet," he said.

Last year the group sold 27,310 electric vehicles (two wheelers 22,661 units, three wheelers 4,649 units) up from 22,918 units (two wheelers 18,536 units, three wheelers 4,382 units) sold the previous fiscal.

With a market share of 20 per cent in the electric two wheelers segment, Basavanalli said the demand is outstripping the supply after Covid-19 breakout with people opting for personal mobility instead of shared mobility like travelling in a three wheeler.

"One of the Covid-19 impacts is that the shared mobility like three wheelers have taken a hit. Post Covid-19 unlocking the demand for electric vehicles will start increasing," Basavanalli said.

With the sales volumes picking up, the group expanded the two wheeler showrooms to over 300 last year.

The group's electric two wheeler sales clocked Rs 180 crore revenue last year with the demand for high speed scooters picking up.

According to Basavanalli, the group will also come out with electric vehicles for carrying goods.

Speaking about the 1.5 litre multi-fuel engine, he said it is ready and talks are on with automobile makers for their powering light commercial vehicles.

Barring the electric vehicles, the group last year suffered negative growth in the sales of engines for automobiles, non-automobiles, gensets and light equipment due to Covid-19.

However, during the last quarter of last fiscal sales of non-automobile business went up.

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Mantei said the court has the ability to say no to that. He argued that specific details are not required in the indictment, particularly when it comes from a grand jury, which is secretive by law. Still, he said prosecutors provided the details when asked.
Lucknow, June 2 : The Yogi Adityanath government's 'Elderline' project that is designed to extend emotional support, healthcare and legal aid to senior citizens in Uttar Pradesh, is now receiving overwhelming response from the target beneficiaries.

The helpline, 14567, now receives as many as 80 to 90 actionable calls on a daily basis from various districts of Uttar Pradesh ranging from Noida to Ballia.

The toll-free helpline facility was made operational in Uttar Pradesh on May 14 to extend complete support to the elderly citizens across all 75 districts.

Amid the prevailing pandemic, Uttar Pradesh became the first state in the country to extend emotional care and support, health and legal assistance to the elderly through the call centres which remain functional from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The state government in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, has effectively implemented the scheme throughout the state.

All queries pertaining to information on old age homes, physiotherapy units, health related, mental health related and legal issues are being addressed promptly, thereby ensuring quick redressal of grievances as directed by the state government. The Elderline facility has been operationalized with the assistance of Tata Trusts and the NSE foundation.

In Kasganj district, a hungry and homeless 70-year-old elderly woman was provided the comfort of an Old Age Home.

Some people had informed about the plight of the woman by dialling the helpline, after which the field response leader reached the spot and with the help of the local police and Tehsildar, the elderly woman was taken to an old age home.

'Elderline' also helped a 70-year-old ex-serviceman stranded and stuck at the Chandausi Bus stand for almost one and a half months, to reach his home.

The elderly man identified as Mahesh Kumar Rastogi, an ex-serviceman who had come to meet his daughter from Khatima, Uttarakhand, was refused by the daughter to enter her house, after which he had no option but to remain at the Chandausi bus stand.

He was helped by the Elderline Team in going back to his home and was also provided food.
Seoul, June 2 : South Korea has unveiled a fully assembled model of its homegrown space rocket for the first time since the country started its development in 2010 as it conducts final testing procedures before its launch later this year.

South Korea has earmarked $1.8 billion to develop its first homegrown space launch vehicle, named Nuri, and aims for a launch in October this year. In 2013, South Korea successfully launched its first-ever Naro space rocket, though its first stage rocket was built in Russia.

An assembled qualification model of the Nuri has been transported and erected on its launch pad at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, 473 kilometers south of Seoul, and will undergo testing over one month, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.

The testing will cover procedures such as the charging of the rocket's fuel tanks and the separation from the launch pad, which was also developed with South Korean technology.

The actual flight model of the three-stage space rocket that will be used for the launch is under construction.

The science ministry said the rocket's third stage has been assembled, while the other two stages are currently being built, reports Yonhap news agency.

The latest testing comes after the country conducted the final combustion test of the main first-stage engines in March.

The Nuri uses four 75-ton liquid engines in its first stage, a 75-ton liquid engine in the second stage and a 7-ton liquid engine in the third stage.

The 200-ton rocket, which will be able to transport a 1.5-ton satellite, will carry a mock payload for its launch in October ahead of its mission to fly with a 200-kilogram satellite in May next year.

The Nuri has suffered setbacks in development over the years, such as changes in the first stage's assembly process and delays in acquiring parts, prompting South Korea last year to push back its launch originally set for February this year.

South Korea, a relative latecomer to the global space development race, has recently ramped up efforts in its space program, with plans to launch its first lunar orbiter next year.
New York, June 2 : Tejinder Singh, the founder editor of the Washington-based India America Today newspaper has died, according to a tweet from the publication.

On Tuesday, Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby paid tributes to Singh calling him "a real gentleman, good reporter, damn good reporter." He said at his regular news briefing, "We'd here at the Pentagon would like to take a moment to -- to express our condolences and sympathies for the passing of Mr. Tejinder Singh." He "asked tough questions and produced good stuff, but he was a heck of a man and a gentleman as I said, and we're going to miss him," Kirby added.

According to his LinkedIn page, Singh was also the US correspondent for the Dainik Bhaskar newspaper group.

Singh founded the monthly newspaper, India American Today, which is published in English and Punjabi, in 2012 in Washington after a long career in journalism in India and in Europe.

The terse tweet posted by his publication on Saturday did not say when he died or give any details.

A graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Singh switched to journalism from civil engineering.

According to his LinkedIn page, he had worked for Times Now, TV Today and All India Radio.

It said that he had worked for the BBC in Greece, Italy and Britain, and while based in Brussels he had been the editor-in-chief of New Europe weekly.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed @arulouis)
New Delhi, June 2 : In a bid to take on Facebook and Snapchat, Twitter has announced to bring Stories-like vertical format, full-screen ads to its Fleets feature for the first time.

Fleets are disappearing tweets that sit in a row at the top of users' Twitter handles on smartphones.

"Fleet ads are full-screen billboards for advertisers. Appearing in between Fleets from people, these ads are all about connecting your message with the everyday. Fleet ads are a space for brands to be creative: go behind the scenes, have a creator take over your account, or share a hot take," said Twitter senior product manager Justin Hoang and Austin Evers, global product marketing manager.

Twitter launched Fleets globally in November last year to give people a new, ephemeral way to join the conversation and share momentary thoughts.

People can Fleet text, reactions to Tweets, photos or videos and customize their Fleets with various backgrounds, stickers, and text options.

"Starting today, Fleet ads will be visible to a limited group of people in the US on iOS and Android," the company said in a blog post on Tuesday.

"Fleet ads support images and video in 9:16. For video, the format supports up to 30-seconds of content. Brands can also add a "swipe-up" call-to-action," Twitter said.

For Fleets ads, advertisers will get standard Twitter Ads metrics including impressions, profile visits, clicks, website visits, and more.

In April, Twitter reported that its ad revenue grew 32 percent (on-year) to $899 million, and total ad engagement jumped 11 per cent.

According to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, the company started Fleets not to build a storage product within Twitter, "but to solve the problem of people not wanting to tweet because they appear to be staying around too long".

"We certainly have seen a different audience than we normally see, but we still have much to learn and a lot to figure out in terms of like, where it goes from here," he had said.
Chennai, June 2 : An interim peace deal has been signed between the Renault Nissan Automotive India Private Ltd and its worker's union Renault Nissan India Thozhilalar Sangam (RNITS) to try out the options to maintain social distance at the shop floor, said a top Union leader.

Renault Nissan Automotive is a Franco-Japanese car making joint venture near here rolling out Renault and Nissan badged vehicles.

The RNITS has approached the Madras High Court citing non-adherence to the Covid-19 safety protocol while operating the plant.

The court on May 31 had asked the company management and the worker's union to discuss and arrive at a solution in the presence of officials from the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health on June 1.

Accordingly, the management and the union have agreed on Monday to the empty pitch ratio of 3:1 in the trim and chassis and body shop.

"Simply put, after three cars in the conveyor belt, one slot will be empty so that a worker need not move to the next workstation to complete his work," K.Balaji Krishnan, President, RNITS told IANS.

Queried on slowing down the conveyor belt as a solution Moorthy, General Secretary, RNITS told IANS: "That would involve changing the speed in the entire production process and reallocation of work." Moorthy said as per the current agreement the production per hour will be reduced to 30 cars per hour from 40 cars per hour earlier.

"We will implement this on a trial basis between June 2 to 5 and take a call on the matter later," Moorthy said.

While the management had demanded good worker attendance across the shop floor during the trial period, the union agreed to instruct the workers to follow the Covid-19 safety protocol as laid down by the state and the central governments.

The RNITS also agreed to maintain social distance in canteen, handwash, bus boarding and other areas and ask the workers to wear masks at all times.

Both the parties have agreed to vaccinate all the eligible workers in the camp organised in the factory. The union also agreed to create awareness about the benefits of vaccination amongst its members.

As regards the quantum of solatium to the families of the worker's who died of Covid-19 talks are on.

The Union on Monday decided that the company management's offer of six months salary of the worker's last drawn pay to the family of the worker's who died of Covid-19 was unacceptable.

The RNITS has demanded the company to increase the financial assistance to Rs 50 lakh to the family of the worker's who die of Covid-19.

According to Moorthy, the management has agreed to the compassionate appointment of a family member of a worker who died due to Covid-19 and also to increase the Covid-19 insurance sum by Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)

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
Kabul, June 2 : At least six civilians were killed and seven others wounded in a bomb attack targeting a bus in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan Tuesday evening, the latest in a string of bomb blasts in the city, an Interior Ministry official confirmed.

"The initial information found six civilians were killed and seven others wounded. The number of casualties may change," said Hamid Roshan from the ministry.

The incident occurred near a bus stop in Masjed-e-Halebid area in Police District 3 roughly at 7:15 p.m. local time, the Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.

Initial investigation showed that it was a remote control blast, said the official.

Local residents told local media that the blast was followed by another explosion in the same district.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Over the past years, the capital city was hit by series of terror attacks staged by militants from the Taliban and the Islamic State (IS) group opposing the government.
Chennai, June 2 : Tamil Nadu, which had announced the suspension of vaccination drive from Wednesday, is to continue inoculating people after it received 4.95 lakh vaccines from the central government on Tuesday night.

This includes 4,20,570 doses of Covishield and 75,000 doses of Covaxin.

The state had earlier announced that it would stop vaccination drive from Wednesday as it was running short of vaccines and that it would receive its quota of vaccines only on June 6.

Tamil Nadu Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ma Subramaniam and the state health secretary J. Radhakrishnan had in separate statements told the public that the vaccination drive would be suspended from Wednesday.

Subramaniam while speaking to IANS on Wednesday said, "The total vaccine stock in the state has now touched 6.50 lakh doses which include 4.95,570 doses for those aged 45 and above and we will continue with the vaccination process on Wednesday also. We were expecting the supply only by June 6 and hence had earlier announced the suspension of vaccine drive after Tuesday but as we received the supply on Tuesday night, the vaccine administration will continue without any hindrance." The public health department said that the state has so far received 1.01 crore doses of vaccine and 90.50 lakh doses have already been administered.

At least 1.5 to 2 lakh doses of vaccine would be administered per day from Wednesday and the district wise details of vaccine availability will be displayed on the website of the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

The Minister also said that vaccines will be distributed to districts on the basis of population and hence Chennai would get the maximum doses followed by Coimbatore.

Ma Subramaniam said, "Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has instructed to provide special care to Western Tamil Nadu as there is a slight surge in the cases in this region and hence a higher allocation would be given to districts like Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Erode which falls in Western Tamil Nadu." A total of 98,183 people were vaccinated on Tuesday in the state which includes 47,567 in the 18-44 age group and the balance for those above 45 years of age.
Chennai, June 2 : The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry has said it has not recognized the advocates associations in the Union territory of Puducherry which comes under the Madras High Court jurisdiction.

The bar council made its decision clear on Tuesday in response to an RTI filed by C. Elangovan, a Puducherry-based advocate.

Elangovan had in his RTI questioned as to why the advocate associations in regions under the UT of Puducherry, including Puducherry, Karaikal, Yanam, and Mahe were not covered under the Advocates Welfare Fund Act (AWFA), 2001.

He had also mentioned that the advocates of all other bars in Tamil Nadu were enjoying the benefits of the AWFA.

The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry said that it has not received any communication from the government of Puducherry on the implementation of the AWFA to lawyers in the Union Territory.

However, the Union government had passed the AWFA in 2001 and the government of Puducherry had passed a notification on the same in 2008.

The advocates who are enrolled under the AWFA get a slew of benefits. The bar council prints and sells Advocate Welfare Fund Stamps for Rs 3O and each advocate appearing before the Tamil Nadu bars must affix a Rs 30 stamp on the Vakkalnama and the memo of appearance filed by him. The fund thus raised is used for the welfare schemes of advocates.

Elangovan told IANS: "Yes I have received the reply to my query from the Bar council. Now I will take this up with the Government of Puducherry and communicate with the Bar council again to clear these discrepancies and make available the benefits of the AWFA for lawyers practicing in the UT of Puducherry."
New Delhi, June 2 : Congress leader P. Chidambaram has slammed the union government for converting the GST to a bad law, saying it was notified with horrendous rates of tax.

In a statement on Wednesday, Chidambaram said, "GST started as a good idea, BJP converted it into a bad law. It was notified with horrendous rates of tax." He said the law was applied as though tax-collecting officers were hounds hunting foxes and every businessperson was suspected to be a tax evader, the GST Council was reduced to a talking shop.

He also added that the GST Implementation Committee (consisting of officers) became the tail that wagged the dog and the FM treats the GoM as an extension of the NDA and its supporting parties. All FMs who express a contrary view are treated as errant schoolboys." "And the idea of GST: RIP", he added.

Congress Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel have slammed the Centre for not including members from Congress ruled states in the GoM.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday termed the non-inclusion of members of Congress-ruled states in the panel "against the spirit of cooperative federalism".

"The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has constituted an eight-member panel of ministers, which does not include any member from Congress-ruled states, for exemption from tax on essential goods related to Corona," he said, demanding ministers from Congress-ruled states, who are part of the GST Council, be included in the GoM constituted to discuss the GST rates on COVID relief material.

"It is unfortunate not to include any members of Congress-ruled states and is against the spirit of cooperative federalism," Baghel said.
San Francisco, June 2 : Elon Musk is gearing up to launch his own drive-in food chain at Supercharger locations as his electric car company Tesla has applied for a new trademark for its brand under restaurant services.

According to a report in Electrek, the company has applied for three new trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office that will cover the categories of "Restaurant services, pop-up restaurant services, self-service restaurant services, take-out restaurant services".

"The application is awaiting examination and will be reviewed by an attorney around August 27," the report said on Tuesday.

Tesla's iconic 'T' logo is featured on the application, to be trademarked for use by its branded restaurants.

Way back in 2017, then Tesla CTO JB Straubel had said that the company might move into the restaurant business.

In 2018, Musk said in a tweet: "Gonna put an old school drive-in, roller skates & rock restaurant at one of the new Tesla Supercharger locations in LA".

A few months later, Tesla applied for building permits for "a restaurant and Supercharger station" at a location in Santa Monica in the US.

The project went into cold storage for about three years and now, a new building application has been submitted earlier this year.

The new development probably means that the company plans for a 'Tesla' branded restaurant chain.

With more than 25,000 Superchargers, Tesla owns and operates the largest global, fast charging network in the world, located on major routes near convenient amenities.
Our ancestors have long foretold of a day of reckoning, when our values and the values of those who came to this country would collide. Were at that day of reckoning, said Fawn R. Sharp, president of the National Congress of American Indians. Deb will not only do the work to respond to and serve this generation, but her leadership is going to have a ripple effect for generations to come.
Ulan Bator, June 2 : Covid-19 cases in Mongolia rose to 60,372 on Wednesday, after 1,143 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, the highest daily count since May 2, the country's health ministry said.

The daily test positivity rate of Covid-19 has been increasing significantly in recent days, health authorities said, urging the public to follow health guidelines and always wear masks in crowded areas.

The nationwide death toll reached 300 with three new fatalities, and 685 more people have recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries to 51,448, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The Asian country launched a nationwide Covid-19 vaccination campaign in late February, aiming to cover at least 60 per cent of its population of 3.3 million.

Over 1,859,500 Mongolians have so far received their first dose, and over 1,323,200 Mongolians have been fully vaccinated.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
June 02 : Today you open your social media account and all we can see is the contestants of Khatron Ke Khiladi season 11 having a gala time shooting for the show in Cape Town. They have been flooding their fans with their photos and videos from there. Now actress Shweta Tiwari has shared a photo of director Rohit Shetty from the sets and is all praise for him.

Sharing a sun-kissed photo with the director who also hosts the show, she wrote, "The Power of this Man is Commendable! He knows the art To find the individual strengths of each team member! The True Khiladi of kkk.

The show known for its high octane stunts is being shot in Cape Town this year. The lineup of contestants is super amazing and the fans are already waiting to watch the show on their tv screens.

This is the eleventh season of the show and Rohit Shetty has been continuously hosting it since season 8. Prior to that, he also hosted seasons 5 and 6. We agree with Shweta, he indeed is the true Khiladi on the show.

Meanwhile, Shweta was in the limelight recently when she shared a cctv video footage of her ex-husband Abhinav Kohli assaulting her and her son Reyaansh on her social media account.

While, fans are eagerly waiting for the release of Rohit Shetty's film 'Sooryavanshi' starring Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif and 'Cirkus' starring Ranveer Singh, Pooja Hegde, and Jacqueline Fernandes.
Washington, June 2 : US-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna has sought the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for full approval for its mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine for use in people 18 and older.

The Moderna Covid-19 Vaccine was approved for emergency use in the US in December. So far, more than 124 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in the country, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"We are pleased to announce this important step in the U.S. regulatory process for a Biologics License Application (BLA) of our Covid-19 vaccine," said Stephane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna, in a statement on Tuesday.

"We look forward to working with the FDA and will continue to submit data from our Phase 3 study and complete the rolling submission," Bancel added.

Early last week, Moderna said that its Covid-19 vaccine was effective in children aged 12 to 17 years old. There were no cases of symptomatic Covid-19 among vaccine recipients, Moderna said, suggesting 100 per cent vaccine efficacy in adolescents, though overall very few among the 3,700 children in the study got sick.

Based on the results, Moderna said that it plans in early June to request that regulators in the US and other countries authorise the use of its vaccine in children aged 12 to 17 years old. Last month the FDA cleared Pfizer's request for use of its Covid-19 vaccine in adolescents.

Last month, Moderna was also added to the list of World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency use, making it the fifth vaccine to receive emergency validation from the WHO.

The WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE), found the mNRA-based vaccine to have an efficacy of 94.1 per cent.

In addition, the company is also planning a third booster shot. According to data from its Phase 2 study, antibodies produced by a single 50 mg dose of its booster shot was effective against the original form of the virus, as well as against two variants of concern Beta (B1351) and Gamma (P1) first identified in South Africa and Brazil.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Toronto, June 2 : Canadians fear there could be more graves of indigenous children after the discovery of the remains of 215 kids from the grounds of a former native school.

The discovery of the remains at the former Indian residential school in Kamloops in British Columbia led to calls on Tuesday for officially designating it as 'genocide.' Indian-origin Opposition leader Jagmeet Singh of the New Democratic Party said these schools were started with the aim of a `genocide' of indigenous people.

"These residential schools were not schools; they were institutions designed to eradicate and eliminate Indigenous people. They were institutions that were designed to perpetuate a genocide," Jagmeet Singh said.

Angry indigenous leaders wanted the Pope to apologize as Catholic missionaries ran these schools with government support.

Canada's first Prime Minister Sir John Macdonald too came under attack as he started these schools in 1883 and ordered Indigenous kids forcibly removed from their "savage" parents and placed in these schools.

Macdonald's statue was removed from the city centre in Charlottetown in Prince Edward Island.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speaking in a House of Commons debate on the tragedy, expressed fears that there could be more unknown graves of indigenous kids at other Indian residential schools.

"We know that the discovery in Kamloops is part of a larger tragedy and that from coast to coast to coast, many children forced into the residential school system disappeared without a trace.

"Today, some of the children who were found in Kamloops - and who have yet to be found in other places across the country - would have been grandparents or great-grandparents. They would have been elders, knowledge keepers and community leaders. They are not. And that is the fault of Canada." Former senator Murray Sinclair too feared more unknown graves of indigenous kids who disappeared from the residential schools.

"We know there are lots of sites similar to Kamloops that are going to come to light in the future. We need to begin to prepare ourselves for that," he said.

In all, 139 indigenous residential schools ran across Canada where over 150,000 indigenous kids were placed till the last was closed in 1996.
New Delhi, June 2 : The BBC, Washington Post and New York Times repeatedly used absolute numbers of Covid positive cases in India or in some Indian city, to declare it the worst hit by the pandemic, says Shantanu Gupta, author and policy commentator.

They have conveniently missed taking the reference of cases per million of population. Because if one takes cases per million or casualties per million, India is one of the far better performing country on the global map, Gupta said.

With 176 "Fear Inducing, Hyperbolic, Critical or Doubting" headlines, BBC tops the charts of panic superspreaders among those in terms of volumes of biased headlines.

With 96 per cent of its headlines published in 14 months under "Panic Spreading or Mis-leading" category, The Guardian tops the chart in the total share of biased headlines.

For WashPost and NYT, 88 per cent of their headlines are Panic Spreading or Mis-leading. These publications are hardly interested in factual reporting and seems to be very keen on narrative building. That's why just 22 per cent of the headlines convey neutral reporting.

In an analysis on tracing global panic super-spreaders in India during Covid waves Gupta said BBC tops the chart.

"Specially the media houses from the west tried extra hard, in these tough times, to support their long-term cause of bashing India. Our detailed research on the headlines of 550+ articles published on the Covid vis-A -vis India in the last 14 months in the top USA and UK based publications, gives us shocking results. A large majority of these headlines are just fear-inducing and misleading," Gupta said.

Gupta tracked the coverage of 6 global publications - BBC, The Economist, The Guardian, Washington Post, New York Times & CNN via web search results, of their Covid pandemic reportage in India over a 14 months period.

This period is easily carved up in 2 pieces - Before the second surge i.e. Mar'20-Mar'21 and after the second surge i.e. from Apr'21.

These 6 global media houses -- BBC, The Economist, The Guardian, Washington Post, New York Times, CNN -- did a whopping 552 articles on Covid stories just related to India from March 1, 2020 to April 30, 2021. BBC, the state-owned news broadcaster of UK, led the pack with 274 stories, followed by New York times with 91 stories and Washington post with 69 stories. BBC with almost 50 per cent share in the published articles on India confirms the colonial hangover with which it continues to comment on India, Gupta said.

Only an abysmal 2 per cent of these global headlines were praising India's Covid effort and a whopping 76 per cent headlines were Fear Inducing, Hyperbolic, Critical, Doubting.

Around 60 per cent of the BBC headlines before April 2021 were Panic Spreaders or mis-leading but in April'21 BBC framed 82 per cent Panic Spreader and mis-leading headlines. The other 5 media house learnt from BBC to published almost same, or in some cases exceed, article volume in 1 month (Apr'21) compared to the 13-month period of March '20-March '21. WashPost and CNN did more than 50 per cent of their stories on India just in the month of April '21 in last 14 month.

Gupta said it's time for the Indian state and for Indians to investigate, decide & act on the true role of international media houses with their hidden & direct agendas.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, June 2 : Google on Wednesday clarified that its Search engine is not classified to be part of the new IT intermediary guidelines 2021, urging the Delhi High Court to set aside an order that puts Google Search as part of the new IT rules.

The single judge order on April 20 came in a case where a woman's images were uploaded on a pornographic website and despite court orders, the objectionable content could not be removed in entirety from the internet.

A Google spokesperson told IANS that Search engines are a reflection of the content and information that is available on the internet.

"While we maintain a consistent policy over removal of objectionable content from search results, the Delhi High Court order has cast certain obligations that would wrongly classify Google search as a social media intermediary," a Google spokesperson told IANS.

"We've filed an appeal against this part of the order and look forward to explaining the steps we take to remove objectionable content from Google search results," the company spokesperson added.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh has issued notice to the Union government, Delhi government, Facebook, the pornographic site and Internet Service Providers Association of India, seeking their responses to Google's plea by July 25.

The Google spokesperson said that the "direction also requires proactively identifying and globally disabling access to any content which may be similar to the offending content, that may appear on any other websites/online platforms, or in any other context".

The new rules notified in the gazette of India on February 25 under the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules, 2021, came into effect from May 26.

While Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, Telegram, LinkedIn etc have either fully or partially complied with the new IT rules, Twitter has reiterated to comply with the new IT intermediary guidelines in India as the Delhi High Court issued notice on a plea against the non-compliance by Twitter India and Twitter Inc.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Mumbai, June 2 : Socialite-entrepreneur Paris Hilton is celebrating Pride Month and on Wednesday sent out love for the LGBTQ+ community, thanking them for always being an inspiration.

In an Instagram image Paris posted, she is covered with colourful roses. To complete her look, the socialite sported a short bob and bold red lips.

"To all my babes... Happy #Pride Month!! You are all beautiful. I send my love to the LGBTQ+ community and thank you for always being an inspiration and reminder to live life with all of your colors. Keep shining and #SLIVING and being YOU. #LoveIsLove," she wrote as the caption.

Paris also celebrated Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe's birthday, which was on June 1. She shared a picture dressed in a light pink dress posing beside Monroe's picture.

"Happy Birthday to my queen, the forever icon #MarilynMonroe 'Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.' - Marilyn Monroe #Iconic #HappyBirthdayMarilyn," she wrote.
Thiruvananthapuram, June 2 : The issue of vaccine and its availability surfaced in the ongoing session of the Kerala Assembly, while it came up in the Kerala High Court as well, through a petition on Wednesday.

In the assembly, the State Health Minister Veena George moved a resolution demanding the Centre to provide the vaccine free of cost and be distributed in time bound manner.

The resolution that was passed unanimously by the 140-member assembly saw the full support of the Congress led Opposition.

The resolution pointed out that it was wrong on the part of the Centre to have asked the states to compete in the open market for its share of vaccines.

It also demanded that the Centre should give permission to public sector pharma companies to manufacture the vaccines.

However at the High Court, the state government pointed out that the Centre has failed to provide vaccine at fair price and in fact they are a party to promoting black marketing.

The Court was hearing a petition on the non-availability of the vaccine.

The court also joined issue and asked how is that the private hospital getting supplies while the state government is not getting it.

Following the questions being raised the counsel for the Centre asked for more time and the court posted the case for next Tuesday.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Mumbai, June 2 : India's diamond exports are expected to shimmer past the $20 billion watermark this fiscal, with demand rebounding after the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Revenue from exports reached $16.4 billion last fiscal, marking a decline of 12 per cent -- well below the plunge expected when the world went into unprecedented lockdowns. But as nations recovered well in the second half, the tumble in exports was halted, an analysis of 70 diamantaires rated by CRISIL - accounting for a third of industry's total revenue - shows.

Towards the second half of the last fiscal, pent-up demand and stimuli had buoyed consumption of diamonds and jewellery in the US and China, which account for 75 per cent of India's polished diamond exports.

With the pandemic said to be contained in China, and the US inoculating 40 per cent of its population, consumer confidence has improved in both countries. Demand will also be bolstered by improving economic growth and declining unemployment.

Additionally, restrictions on overseas travel and lower spending on hospitality mean celebrations are largely restricted to spending on gifting, including diamond jewellery. That augurs well for India's diamond exports.

Says Rahul Guha, Director, CRISIL Ratings Ltd, "Exports have been rising, and averaging $2 billion per month since October 2020. To be sure, there will be some moderation in the second quarter of this fiscal, which is a lean period typically. But the festival season that begins in the export destinations from the third quarter will boost revenue to pre-pandemic levels. That will tantamount to a 20 per cent growth in diamond exports by revenue this fiscal." The onset of the second wave saw smaller, labour-intensive polishing units facing 20-30 per cent labour migration. The larger ones restricted this to 10 per cent by following physical-distancing norms and providing safe transport to staff. The industry's current operating rate is over 80 per cent, with sufficient inventory to tide over any production loss in the first quarter of this fiscal.

The pandemic has also improved the management of rough diamond inventory. Earlier, prices of roughs moved sharply versus polished diamonds, leading to stocking-up of the former. The pandemic then led to a correction in the inventory of roughs last fiscal, and this trend continues. Diamantaires now tend to purchase roughs when there is visibility in polished-diamond sales.

The receivables-collection cycle has also been regularised from the second half of the last fiscal, leading to overall net current asset days declining to 150 from historical levels of 175. As a result, the debt of the CRISIL-rated diamantaires has declined 15 per cent.

Says Jumana Badshah, Associate Director, CRISIL Ratings Ltd, "The prices of both rough and polished diamonds are expected to be firm and move in tandem this fiscal, which would steady operating profitability at 5-6 per cent. Net profit margin will expand by 50 basis points to 2.5 per cent, supported by lower interest outgo. That, and stable capital structures, will support the credit profiles of CRISIL-rated diamantaires."
Lucknow, June 2 : The Uttar Pradesh government has urged the Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) to carry out studies on genome sequencing and use the results of the study to prepare better for handling the pandemic situation in the future.

UP Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh said that the health department would be carrying out genome sequencing of 10 per cent of all positive samples, which would be picked up from districts where the number of cases continues to remain high.

"We have carried out a similar exercise in the first wave as well, where 10 per cent of the samples were picked up for genome sequencing. Now, because of the massive spread of the virus, we need to make sure that the virus has not mutated or if it has, then the government needs to keep abreast of any changes and ensure that if there is any sequence of concern, then we have it on record," the Minister said.

Currently, the King George Medical University carries out genome sequencing in the state.

Genome sequencing is figuring out the order of DNA nucleotides, or bases, in a genome-the order of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts that make up an organism's DNA. The human genome is made up of over 3 billion of these genetic letters.

It is the most unbiased method to sequence the genome as it does not include a capture of specific targeted regions to prepare the library for sequencing.

The resulting sequence data will include coding and noncoding regions, such as introns, promoters, and regulatory sequences.

Thus, the amount of information that can be obtained is vastly larger than from exome sequencing, but challenges of classifying and interpreting variants are also amplified.

It can often be difficult to prove by bioinformatics interpretation and complementary functional assays whether detected variants in the noncoding fraction of the genome are pathogenic.

Meanwhile, the Minister said that the state would also be getting a sero survey conducted in the state to determine how many people would have already been infected by the Corona virus.

"The government will be able to determine the percentage of infection in the population, collated on the basis of gender and age. We are expecting the results of the survey to be in by the end of June," he said.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, June 2 : The Centre on Wednesday took steps to accelerate domestic vaccine production. Mumbai-based Haffkine Biopharma will produce 22.8 crore doses per annum of Covaxin under technology transfer arrangement with Bharat Biotech.

With the aim of vaccinating the entire eligible population at the earliest, domestic vaccine production is being steadily ramped up in the country with the help from the Centre.

As part of this initiative, three public enterprises are being supported by the Department of Biotechnology under Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 Mission 'Covid Suraksha'.

These enterprises are the Haffkine Biopharmaceutical Corporation Ltd, Mumbai, Indian Immunologicals Ltd, Hyderabad and Bharat Immunologicals & Biologicals Ltd, Bulandshahr, UP.

Haffkine Biopharma, a Maharashtra state PSU is getting ready to manufacture Covaxin under technology transfer arrangement with Bharat Biotech Ltd, Hyderabad. The production will take place at the Parel complex of the company.

Sandeep Rathod, Managing Director of Haffkine BioPharma said the company proposes to produce 22.8 crore doses of Covaxin in a year. "For undertaking production of Covaxin, Haffkine Biopharma has been provided with Rs 65 crore grant by the Centre and Rs 94 crore from the Government of Maharashtra," he added.

"We have been given a timeline of eight months and the work is being executed on a war footing. The vaccine production process involves two stages -- drug substance and final drug product. For production of drug substance we need to build a Bio Safety Level 3 (BSL 3) facility, while Haffkine already has the Fill Finish facility", said Rathod.

BSL 3 is a safety standard applicable to such facilities where work involves microbes which can cause serious disease via inhalation route.

"Enhancing vaccine production capacity using Public sectors assets will go a long way in building production capacity of vaccines in our country to support the massive vaccination drive," said, Dr Renu Swarup, Secretary Department of Biotechnology and Chairperson BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council).

Haffkine BioPharmaceutical Corporation Ltd is an offshoot of the 122-year-old Haffkine Institute, which is one of the oldest biomedical research institutes in the country, named after the Russian bacteriologist Dr Waldemar Haffkine, who invented the plague vaccine.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, June 2 : Google LLC moved a plea on Wednesday in the Delhi High Court seeking interim protection against its declaration as a "Social Media Intermediary" (SMI) under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021 (IT Rules 2021) and contended these rules are not applicable to its search engine.

Google challenged a single judge bench order of the court which directed it to remove content globally, which was flagged as "objectionable" by a female petitioner, for being "offensive". The petitioner claimed that the content was taken from her social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram, and circulated without her consent. Despite court orders the content was not removed in entirety from the World Wide Web. The plea urged the High Court to set aside the single judge order.

A bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notices to the Centre, the Delhi government, Facebook, Internet Service Providers Association of India, the pornographic site and the woman. The High Court sought their responses in the matter by July 25.

Citing the April 20 judgment, Google contended it has "mischaracterised" its search engine as a 'social media intermediary' or 'significant social media intermediary', which has been provided under the new rules for digital media.

Google said it was aggrieved by the blanket, "template directions" issued by single judge. It further argued that the judge mixed various sections of the IT Act and separate rules prescribed thereunder and passed template directions combining all such offences and provisions, which it emphasized was bad in law. However, the High Court said it would not pass any interim order at this stage.

A Google spokesperson told IANS that search engines are a reflection of the content and information that is available on the internet.

"While we maintain a consistent policy over removal of objectionable content from search results, the Delhi High Court order has cast certain obligations that would wrongly classify Google search as a social media intermediary," a Google spokesperson told IANS.

"We've filed an appeal against this part of the order and look forward to explaining the steps we take to remove objectionable content from Google search results," the company spokesperson added.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
New Delhi, June 2 : In keeping with its tradition of supporting its students since its inception 25 years ago, The NorthCap University (NCU) has stepped forward to aid its students adversely impacted by the pandemic. The University is launching a unique initiative offering financial assistance to existing NCU students who have lost an earning parent to COVID-19 in this year.

While the University cannot take away the pain and suffering caused by the pandemic, it aims to alleviate the financial burden on NCU students whose families have been impacted. To help grieving students enrolled in under-graduate and graduate programs, NCU has set up a relief fund - CEASE (COVID Emergency Aid for Students Education) with a corpus of Rs 50 lakhs.

The University has also constituted a Committee which will be responsible for reviewing all financial aid applications and finalising the list of beneficiaries. The benefits of financial grant-in-aid would be rolled out starting from AY21-22 till the recipient students graduate from their exiting program.

Bikram Mohanty, Registrar NCU said, "During these unprecedented times, we take it as our collective responsibility to help the students bereft of hope as they endure the loss of a parent or both to the COVID-19 pandemic. CEASE is a small gesture by NCU to ensure that the student's learning doesn't stop due to financial difficulties. Our heart goes out for our students and their families who have been affected by this pandemic".

NCU, renowned for its academic excellence, extensive degree courses, and relevant research programs, aims to create a more significant impact with its quick COVID response and relief fund. To expedite the process for disbursing the funds, the institution urges affected students to submit applications along with relevant supporting documents.
June 02 : Bollywood actors have been less active on social media amid the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. After a long gap, Varun Dhawan shared a personal post from the birthday celebrations of his niece.

Taking to his Instagram handle, Varun shared pictures from the birthday celebrations of his niece, Niyara. Rohit and Jaanvi Dhawan's daughter, Niyara turned three years old on May 31.

In the photos, Niyara can be seen with her jungle-themed cake, as she is surrounded by her family members. In the first photo, the birthday girl can be seen with Varun, who is helping her to cut the cake. In another black and white picture, Niyara can be seen sitting on Varun's lap as they pose for the camera. In the third picture, dad Rohit can be seen feeding a piece of cake to the birthday girl. Varuns mom Lali, dad David Dhawan and sister-in-law Jaanvi can also be seen in the photos, cheering for her. Sharing the pictures, Varun captioned it as, "Ghar (home)."

Varun's fans loved the pictures and showered love on the little girl. They dropped comments, as one wrote, "Soo adorable." Another fan commented, "Omg this melted my heart."

Meanwhile, on the work front, Varun was last seen in David Dhawans Coolie No.1. alongside Sara Ali Khan. The film failed to impress the audience. Apart from this, the actor will be seen in Bhediya, where he will share screen space with Kriti Sanon and Abhishek Banerjee. Over the last few months, Varun was in Arunachal Pradesh with wife Natasha, shooting for the film. The actor will also be seen in Jug Jug Jeeyo with Kiara Advani, Anil Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor. The team was shooting for the film when both Varun and Neetu Kapoor tested positive for Covid-19, and the shoot had to be halted. Varum will also collaborate Andhadhun director Sriram Raghavan for Param Vir Chakra recipient Arun Khetarpal's biopic.
New Delhi, June 2 : Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday once again took a potshot at the government over the slow rate of vaccination, asking who is responsible for India's confused vaccination programme? "We are one of the biggest vaccine manufacturers in the world. Yet only 3.4 per cent of our population is fully vaccinated. Who is responsible for India's confused and dithering vaccination programme?" she tweeted with the hashtag of #SpeakUpForFreeUniversalVaccination.

Priyanka also attached a video of herself saying on August 15 last year Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that there was a plan in place to vaccinate every people of ther country by next year.

"It is now mid 2021 but the government's vaccination rate is 1.9 million per day. We need seven to eight million people to be vaccinated every day to achieve that target. The Centre first took all the responsibility after that as the second wave hit it started to abdicate responsibility to the states," she said.

The Congress General Secretary further said that other federal countries like Germany, US have followed completely different process. The Centre has procured the vaccines and allowed the states to distribute it.

"Why did the Modi government not do so?" Priyanka has launched who is responsible campaign against the Narendra Modi government over the vaccination process.

Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said, "More than 3 lakh people have lost their lives. On the other hand, only 3 per cent of the population has had both doses of vaccines. Even today 97 per cent of the population is deprived of the vaccine because the BJP government is not worried about the countrymen."

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, June 2 : Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has posted video while battling Covid and has supported free and universal vaccination for all till December.

Tharoor in the video said, "I am still on my Covid bed. I just want to say having seen the statement by the government that everybody will be vaccinated by the end of December. While seeing the availability and lack thereof for vaccine, I wonder how the government will do that." He said he supports the Indian National Congress' campaign to change the vaccination policy of the government. "I support Universal vaccination within the time limit given by the government and do so with free of cost." He also said the vaccine should be in the market free for all, there should not be an extortionist price and given to the public for free, let all countrymen have free and universal vaccination to save our country from Covid.

"I don't want my fellow citizens to suffer," he added.

Shashi Tharoor tested Covid positive on April 22. Taking to Twitter, Tharoor had said, "After waiting two days for a test appointment and another day & a half for the results, I finally have confirmation: I'm #Covid positive. Hoping to deal with it in a 'positive' frame of mind, with rest, steam & plenty of fluids. My sister & 85-year-old mother are in the same boat."

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
Mumbai, June 2 : Actress Kangana Ranaut took to Instagram on Wednesday to express that the onset of June has ushered happy feelings, sparkling thoughts and new ideas compared to the tired and agitated feeling she had throughout the last two months.

"Who all can feel a sudden gush of happy feelings, sparkling thoughts and new ideas with the beginning of June? There is a massive shift in how agitated and tired I felt through all of April and May. I am hopeful that this fizzy sparkling feeling will sustain..." Kangana posted on her Instagram Story.

The actress, who recently said that she has recovered from Covid-19, took to social media a few days ago to share photographs where she can be seen spending time with her family. In the pictures recently posted by the actress on Instagram, Kangana is seen hugging her mother, relaxing with sister Rangoli and spending time with her nephew and other family members.

"Most challenging during Covid was the isolation, it was lovely meeting friends and relatives today in Manali, going to meet grandmaa tom in Mandi," Kangana had captioned the photographs.
Srinagar, June 2 : After complaining to Prime Minister Narendra Modi through a video that went viral about children being overburdened with homework, six-year-old Kashmiri girl Mahira Irfan on Wednesday said she wants to go to school.

Hailing from Maharajpora in Srinagar, the Class 1 student who became popular after her direct appeal to Modi, told reporters after attending her online classes at her home that she is missing her friends.

"I want to go to the school," Irfan said. "I miss my friends a lot." The student of Srinagar's Mintoo Circle school turned into instant internet sensation with a self shot video in which she was seen complaining to PM Modi about small children being overburdened with homework through online classes during the lockdown.

Taking note of her appeal, Jammu and Kashmir LG Manoj Sinha said that the government will come up with a policy to lighten the burden of homework on School kids.

"The school education department has decided to limit daily online classes for a maximum one and a half hours for Classes 1 to 8, spread across two sessions.

"For Classes 9 to 12 online synchronous learning will not be more than 3 hours," office of the LG of J&K tweeted.

"Pre-primary on a given day for interacting with parents shall be only 30 minutes.

"Concerned authorities to ensure the strict implementation. Homework upto Class 5 should be avoided.

"Authorities and schools to plan joyful learning experience engaging parents as well" "Our children need more time to play, interact with parents, the biggest learning experience a child can have."
Hyderabad, June 2 : Telangana on Wednesday celebrated 8th State Formation Day on a subdued note due to the ongoing restrictions in view of Covid-19 pandemic.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao led the state in the celebrations by hoisting the national flag at his official residence Pragathi Bhavan KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, paid floral tributes to martyrs at Gun Park near the State Assembly building.

It was on this day on June 2, 2014 that Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh as India's 29th state. This followed a long movement for statehood, which was revived by KCR by floating Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in 2001.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted people of Telangana on the occasion of State Formation Day.

Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and the chief minister also greeted the people.

KCR, in his message on the occasion, said that the faith and confidence reposed in him by the people is a rock of support to him. He said he would not rest till he transforms the State into Bangaru Telangana or golden Telangana.

The TRS chief noted that Telangana State was achieved after many battles, sacrifices, martyrdom. He that the State excelled in all the sectors within a short span of seven years.

"The Telangana state is fulfilling the demands of the Separate Telangana statehood movement one by one. Water for the irrigation and drinking, power, medical and Health, Roads and all other infrastructure facilities are being provided, reaching short term and long term aims," the CM said.

For a second consecutive year, the State Formation Day celebrations were held under the shadow of Covid-19 pandemic.

State ministers hoisted the national flag at simple ceremonies held in the districts with limited number of participants in view of Covid guidelines. They also paid tributes to the martyrs.

Minister for municipal administration, urban development, information technology and industries K.T. Rama Rao hoisted the national in Rajanna Sirsilla district.

The ministers recalled the sacrifices made by martyrs and the struggle by people to achieve long cherished goal. They also claimed that Telangana State within a short span of seven years emerged a role model for the entire country by making rapid strides in all sectors.

Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy led the celebrations held at State Assembly. Legislative Council Chairman G. Sukhender Reddy unfurled the national flag in Council premises.

At Telangana Bhavan, the state headquarters of TRS, party general secretary and Rajya Sabha member K. Keshava Rao hoisted the national flag. He said Telangana was achieved under the leader of KCR in a democratic manner.

The MP said Telangana State had become number one State in the country. "No other State in the country is implementing the kind of development and welfare schemes being implemented in Telangana," he said.

State Formation Day celebrations were held at the offices of other political parties. State Congress chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy hoisted the national flag at party headquarters Gandhi Bhavan. He alleged that KCR failed to fulfill the dreams of Telangana martyrs.

BJP state president Bandi Sanjay led the celebrations at the party office. He also targeted the TRS government for its failures on various fronts.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, June 2 : India's merchandise exports in May 2021 rose to $32.21 billion, higher by 67.39 per cent over $19.24 billion in May 2020, the preliminary official data showed on Wednesday.

Besides, exports last month recorded a 7.93 per cent growth over $29.85 billion in May 2019.

The country's merchandise exports in April 2021 had risen to $30.63 billion.

Similarly, India's merchandise imports in May 2021 were $38.53 billion, with an increase of 68.54 per cent over $22.86 billion in May 2020.

However, imports declined by 17.47 per cent over $46.68 billion in April 2019.

Consequently, trade deficit in May 2021 was $6.32 billion, which increased by 74.69 per cent over trade deficit of $3.62 billion in May 2020.
We are committed to doing everything within our authorities to help Florida deal with their water quality challenges. We avoid releases when the risk of toxins on the lake or in the estuaries is high, but nature always gets the final vote on when water releases must occur.
Lucknow, June 2 : The Uttar Pradesh government aims to plant 30 crore saplings in this year's plantation drive beginning July first week.

Last year, on July 6, chief minister Yogi Adityanath oversaw the planting of 26.75 crore saplings of 201 varieties in a single day under Mission Vriksharopan 2020 and the Van Mahotsav campaign.

Chief Secretary Rajendra Kumar Tiwari has asked all district magistrates to identify land and supply saplings for the purpose to the district forest officers (DFOs) by June 15.

The chief secretary has directed district magistrates to immediately convene the meetings of plantation committees and ensure that the target is met.

He also directed district magistrates and commissioners to hold weekly and fortnightly meetings respectively, to review preparations and progress.

Tiwari asked officials to ensure saplings were also planted at cow shelters across the state and requested them to issue a detailed plantation guideline for maintaining consistency in the drive.

Last year on July 6, chief minister Yogi Adityanath oversaw the planting of 26.75 crore saplings of 201 types in a single day under Mission Vriksharopan 2020 and the Van Mahotsav campaign and set a new record.

The saplings were planted outside 30 lakh houses built under the PM Awas Yojana and another 1.50 crore saplings along rivers.

The chief minister had then claimed that of the 22 crore saplings planted and geo-tagged in the state in 2019, as much as 95 per cent had survived.

The government claims to have planted 5 crore, 11 crore and 22 crore saplings in 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively.
New Delhi, June 2 : Students, parents and academicians have welcomed the government's decision to cancel class 12 board exams. However, questions persist as how to proceed further with regard to the results and evaluation of students. Many renowned educational institutions and academicians across the country have made an appeal to the government to make the evaluation process uniform and transparent.

Significantly, this time 14,30,247 students were to appear in CBSE's 12th board examination.

Renowned educationist C.S. Kandpal said that same method should be followed for calculating the marks by other education boards as will be done by the CBSE. Only then all the students will get equal opportunity after 12th or in the competitive examinations.

Vishnu Karthik, CEO, the Heritage Schools, said, "the decision to cancel the board exams has settled the issue. Everyone's stress has also reduced. However, considering the importance of class 12 examinations for admission to a university, it was not an easy decision to take. But the government had no option as the health of the students is paramount." He said, "now the challenge before the CBSE is to establish an alternative standard of evaluation for class 12th. Delays in the new grading system will create confusion and tension among the students. In this regard, it would be imperative to give clear instructions to Indian universities to amend the admission criteria so that the merit and fairness of students is not compromised." Shishir Jaipuria, Chairman, Seth Anandram Jaipuria Group of Educational Institutions, said that this decision has been taken in the interest of the children. "However, the subsequent process is also of equal importance -- the standard of evaluation of children. It has to be kept in mind that many children worked whole-heartedly till the last stage of preparation and hence they should be given due benefits.

Charu Wahi, principal of Nirmal Bhartiya School, said, "the decision to cancel the Class XII board examinations has clearly been taken in the interest of health and safety of the students and teachers. Most of the students and their parents heaved a sigh of relief. All of them were worried by the uncertainty of class XII board exams arising out of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. But now the next challenge before us is to set the standard of fair and reliable academic evaluation of these students. Based on the annual performance of the students, grades or marks should be given according to their merit. But the educational evaluation has to be done very carefully. I am sure that the school and the board will overcome this challenge and will do whatever is best in the interest of the students." FICCI Arise Co-President and Founder of Suchitra Academy, Praveen Raju said, "in view of today's situation, cancelling CBSE Board exams is the right decision. We could not have taken the exam without playing with the safety of the children. So we welcome this decision. Hope this issue will be resolved soon after consulting all its stakeholders." In the high level meeting held on Tuesday, the Prime Minister gave clear instructions that all stakeholders need to show sensitivity towards the students. The Prime Minister directed officials to ensure that results are prepared in a fair and time bound manner as per well-defined criteria.
Toronto, June 2 : Genetic evidence does not support vitamin D as a protective measure against Covid-19, say researchers.

The team from McGill University in Quebec, Canada, analyzed genetic variants of 4,134 individuals with Covid-19, and 1,284,876 without Covid-19, from 11 countries to determine whether genetic predisposition for higher vitamin D levels were associated with less-severe disease outcomes in people with Covid-19.

The results, published in PLOS Medicine, showed no evidence for an association between genetically predicted vitamin D levels and Covid-19 susceptibility, hospitalisation, or severe disease. This suggests that raising circulating vitamin D levels through supplementation may not improve Covid-19 outcomes in the general population.

Increased vitamin D levels, as reflected by 25-hydroxy vitamin D measurements, have been proposed to protect against Covid-19 based on in vitro, observational, and ecological studies.

But, "Vitamin D supplementation as a public health measure to improve outcomes is not supported by this study," said researchers including Guillaume Butler-Laporte and Tomoko Nakanishi from the varsity.

However, the team noted several limitations, including that the research did not include individuals with vitamin D deficiency, and it remains possible that truly deficient patients may benefit from supplementation for Covid-19 related protection and outcomes.

Additionally, the genetic variants were obtained only from individuals of European ancestry, so future studies will be needed to determine the relationship with Covid-19 outcomes in other populations.

A previous study also showed similar results. Scientists from the University of Sao Paulo conducted a clinical trial in Brazil with 240 patients who were given 200,000 IU of vitamin D3 on admission to hospital.

The supplementation did not reduce length of stay or affect the proportion requiring intensive care, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, June 2 : Airtel Africa on Wednesday announced the sale of the tower portfolio belonging to Airtel Tanzania to a joint venture company of SBA Communications Corporation and Paradigm Infrastructure for $175 million.

SBA Communications Corporation is a global independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure while paradigm infrastructure is a UK company focused on developing, owning and operating shared passive wireless infrastructure in selected growth markets.

The tower portfolio in Airtel Tanzania comprises around 1,400 towers which form part of the Group's wireless telecommunications infrastructure network. Under the terms of the transaction, the Group's subsidiary Airtel Tanzania plc will continue to develop, maintain and operate its equipment on the towers under a separate lease arrangement with the purchaser, said a company statement It added that the transaction is the latest strategic divestment of the Group's tower portfolio as it focusses on an asset-light business model and on its core subscriber-facing operations.

Out of the total consideration of $175 million for the transaction, around $157.5 million is payable on the first closing date, which is expected to take place in the second half of the Group's current financial year, with the balance payable in installments upon the completion of the transfer of any remaining towers to the purchaser.

"Around $60m from the proceeds will be used to invest in network and sales infrastructure in Tanzania and for distribution to the Government of Tanzania, as per the settlement described in the Airtel Africa IPO Prospectus document published in June 2019," it said.

The balance of the proceeds will be used to reduce debt at group level, said the company.
New Delhi, June 2 : The Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) has written to the government of Uttar Pradesh regarding issues faced by the telecom infrastructure providers in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad in with regard to the installation of telecom towers.

In its letter to Rajendra Kumar Tiwari, Chief Secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh, the industry body has sought a meeting over video conference to discuss the issues challenges.

T.R.Dua, Director-General, TAIPA, said: "In order to cope with the increased telecom services demand, the telecom network capacity needs to be enhanced quickly through the addition of new telecom infrastructure and upgradation of existing telecom infrastructure on the faster pace." "The telecom infrastructure providers (IP-1) are facing challenges in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad due to which the expansion/rollout of telecom towers is getting impeded." The key challenges faced by the infrastructure providers include non-implementation of Uttar Pradesh Telecom Infrastructure or right of way guidelines of June 2018, pending permissions, coercive action, sealing of telecom towers sites, delay in providing electricity connections, safety and security of telecom tower and absence of nodal officer for telecom infrastructure related matters.

Dua noted that there are more than 700 pending tower permissions with the authorities of Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad which has led the rollout of new telecom towers on complete hold.

Stressing that these issues need urgent intervention and support, he said that further delay will have severe implications on the telecom connectivity if not implemented immediately.
Chennai, June 2 : The Tamil Nadu Department of Prisons and Correctional Services has vaccinated 30 per cent of its convicts lodged in various prisons across the state. The department is to vaccinate all the convicts in the prisons across the state.

Jail authorities have conducted special camps in association with local bodies to inoculate prisoners and prison staff following the Covid-19 protocol.

A majority of the prison staff have taken the vaccination and have created an awareness among the convicts and detainees on the importance of vaccination.

According to a communique from the Jail department, 30 per cent of the prisoners have taken the shot so far, more than half have of them in the last week of May.

Director-General of Prisons, Sunil Kumar Singh while speaking to IANS said, "Since August 2020 all new inmates are being tested and quarantined before they are shifted to Central prison." The convict ward of the Stanley government hospital is converted into a Covid ward with adequate security arrangements. Sunil Kumar Singh said that 198 prison staff had tested positive and are under treatment at various hospitals.

He also said that 12 prison staff members died due to Covid-19 which include 10 who passed away in April and May.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Guwahati, June 2 : At least 24 people, including a woman were arrested by the police after a doctor at a government hospital in Assam's Hojai district, was brutally beaten up.

Seuj Kumar Senapati, posted in Udali Covid Care Centre in Hojai, around 140 km from Guwahati, was kicked and pounded with metal trash and bricks by relatives of a Covid patient who had died, allegedly due to oxygen shortage, police said on Wednesday.

Police and health officials said that the young injured doctor was being treated at another hospital in Nagaon and his condition is stated to be stable after the Tuesday evening incident Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in a series of tweets said: "24 culprits involved in this barbaric attack have been arrested and the charge sheet will be filed at the earliest.

"I am personally monitoring this investigation and I promise that justice will be served." Sarma, who is now in Delhi, also in his tweets mentioned the names of 22 of the 24 people and said: "Culprits have been identified." Police said that Giyazuddin, a resident of Pipal Pukhuri village, who had tested positive for Covid, died on Tuesday due to Covid-linked and kidney-related related complications.

Injured doctor Senapati told the media that around 40 people beat him up.

The mob also ransacked the hospital and tried to assault other doctors, nurses and health staffs.

"I entered into a room and tried to hide, but they found me and assaulted me. They snatched my gold chain, my ring and mobile phone," the doctor said.

The Indian Medical Association, Assam chapter, and Assam Medical Services Association (AMSA) strongly condemning the incident, have demanded strictest action against the culprits.

The members of the AMSA have also boycotted the Out Patient Department services on Wednesday in all government medical facilities to protest the incident.

However, emergency services and Covid-related duties would continue. Doctors are performing their duties after wearing black badges as a mark of protest.

Additional Director General of Police G.P. Singh said the case was registered and a Deputy Inspector General of Police and Hojai District Superintendent of Police are leading the probe.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Tehran, June 2 : Iran's large navy ship Kharg caught fire and later sank Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported.

Following the spread of the fire on the vessel, the crew safely disembarked, the report said, adding that efforts to save the ship failed, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The support ship Kharg sank on Wednesday morning near the southern Iranian port of Jask on the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz.

The vessel has been used in training missions for more than four decades, said the report. It did not give details on the cause of the blaze.
Panaji, June 2 : The Bombay High Court in Goa on Wednesday issued notice to former Tehelka edior-in-chief Tarun Tejpal, in connection with an appeal filed by the Goa government against his acquittal last month by a trial court in a rape case filed by a junior colleague in 2013.

In his order on Wednesday, Justice SC Gupta also called for all records and proceedings related to the case from the District and Sessions Court in North Goa, which was hearing the case.

"Issue notice accordingly to the respondent returnable on 24.06.2021. The registry to also call for record and proceedings of the sessions case from the District and Sessions Court at Panaji," Gupte said in his order.

Tejpal was charged against under sections 376 (rape), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement) 354A (sexual harassment) and 354B (criminal assault), of the Indian Penal Code, after a junior colleague accused him of rape at a five star resort in Goa in 2013.

On May 21, he was acquitted by the trial court in Goa citing "benefit of doubt", following which an appeal was filed by the state government.
New Delhi, June 2 : The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday has given its ex-post facto approval for signing and ratification of an agreement on 'Cooperation in the field of Mass Media' between all the member states of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

The Agreement was signed in June, 2019.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said, "The agreement shall promote equal and mutually beneficial cooperation among associations in the field of Mass Media." "Each side shall, on the basis of reciprocity, facilitate the activities thereby ensuring equity. The Agreement would provide an opportunity for the Member States to share best practices and new innovations in the field of mass media," the Ministry said.

It will promote creation of favourable conditions for wide and mutual distribution of information through the Mass Media in order to further deepen the knowledge about the lives of the peoples of their States.

It will also promote cooperation among the editorial offices of the mass media of their States, as well as among the relevant Ministries, Agencies and Organizations working in the field of the mass media, specific conditions and forms of which shall be determined by the participants themselves, including through conclusion of separate agreements.

Ratification of an agreement will provide equal and mutually beneficial cooperation among professional associations of journalists of the States in order to study the available professional experience, as well as to hold meetings, seminars and conferences in the field of mass media.

Now it will also assist in broadcasting of television and radio programs and programs, distributed legally within the territory of the State of the other Side, the legal broadcasting by Editorial Offices of materials and information, if their distribution meets the requirements of the legislation of the States of the sides.

"Ratification of an agreement will further encourage the exchange of experience and specialists in the field of Mass Media, provide mutual assistance in training media professionals and encourage cooperation among the educational and scientific-research institutions and organizations operating in this field," the Ministry said.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
The reason Florida pulled the trigger on enacting this law reflects a deeper issue. Americans, of course, are increasingly frustrated with Big Tech removing users for violating the terms of agreement. That makes sense  social media companies dont always communicate these terms well. Facebook, for example, drew ire from its own Oversight Board for not giving an adequate explanation for the indefinite removal of President Trump. It also defended Facebooks right to punish the president for violating its terms of service. But the decision by the Oversight Board is what we should be taking forward and encouraging other social media companies to follow. And Floridas law upsets this private-sector solution that, despite its issues and limitations, is a self-regulating force for Facebook and can be a model for other social media companies.
Mumbai, June 2 : When Sunny Leone takes aim, she shoots straight through the heart.

In a string of new Instagram pictures she posted on Wednesday, the glamour star is seen engaging in an archery session. She takes aim with a bow and arrow, dressed casually in a stunning yellow shorts and a crop top. She completed her look with sunglasses.

"Thru your heart," she wrote as the caption.

The pictures seem to be taken during a task in the youth-based reality show "Splitsvilla", which she co-judges with actor Rannvijay Singha.

Sunny is currently shooting for her upcoming psychological thriller film "Shero". The film is directed by Sreejith Vijayan and will be released in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam.

-- Syndicated from IANS
Bengaluru/Thiruvananthapuram, June 2 : The bail application of Bineesh Kodiyeri - younger son of former CPI-M Kerala state secretary and politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, failed to get a positive response on Wednesday in the Karnataka High Court.

This is the seventh time that the bail application has been turned down and the case has now been posted for June 9.

Bineesh was arrested by the Bengaluru division of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and since October 29 last year, he has been cooling his heels at a jail in Bengaluru.

The counsel for Bineesh has been trying to get an interim bail, for a while as he claims is 'unwell' and wish to be near his father.

The court however said the issue of interim bail can wait and it has been asking for a while the source of a substantial sum of money that has come into the account of Bineesh and the details of which has now been submitted.

Bineesh's close aide Anoop Mohammed was first picked up by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and has been jailed in Bengaluru and it was after his arrest, Bineesh was questioned and later arrested.

Kodiyeri Balakrishnan recently had gone on record stating that his son is jailed due to political vendetta as in cases registered under PMLA, bail is generally given, but in his son's case it has not happened.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, June 2 : A plea has been moved in the Supreme Court challenging a Delhi High Court judgment, which junked a petition to halt the Central Vista redevelopment project amid the Covid2.0 outbreak.

The petition filed by Pradeep Kumar Yadav has challenged the May 31 verdict of the high court which ruled that work on the project is of national importance, and it has to be completed within time-bound schedule by November 2021.

Junking the plea against the project, the high court had said that the petitioners seeking to halt construction activity in connection with Central Vista redevelopment project had "ill-intent and lack of bonafides", and also slapped Rs 1 lakh fine on them.

Yadav was not a party to the proceedings in the high court.

"The high court was not justified in holding that the PIL Writ Petition filed by the individual Writ Petitioners therein was motivated and not a genuine public cause by drawing presumption and assumption in the absence of proven material facts and evidence," said Yadav's plea.

The plea argued that the high court failed to appreciate that a bigger construction work with huge number of innocent laborers workers continuing their work during the peak Covid-19 pandemic period "is a serious public health issue concern".

Yadav's plea questioned the high court evaluation of the necessity of the ongoing construction activities of Central Vista Avenue Redevelopment project especially during the peak COVID-19 pandemic and total lockdown period as stipulated in the DDMA order dated April 19.

"High Court was not justified in holding that the Central Vista Avenue Redevelopment project is essential activities during the peak COVID-19 Pandemic crisis, epically when the whole country have stopped essential functioning during the lockdown period," contended the plea.

The Central Vista Project includes the Parliament, refurbishment of North Block, South Block, construction of new offices for central government, i.e., common Central Secretariat, central conference facilities etc. which includes Central Vista Avenue Redevelopment Project (i.e., both sides of Rajpath where Republic Day celebrations are held every year, on 26th January). "Thus, this project is a vital public project, said the High Court.

Yadav's plea argued that the high court was not justified in holding that the petition was filed with motivation to stall the construction activities of Central Vista Avenue redevelopment project, especially when the pleading and prayer of the petitioners were clearly to suspend the construction activities only during the peak lockdown period.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Hyderabad, June 2 : Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday conveyed birthday wishes to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.

The chief minister went to Raj Bhavan and presented a bouquet to the governor and conveyed wishes to her.

Rao wished her a healthy and long life. The governor conveyed her wishes to the CM on the occasion of Telangana State Formation Day.

The chief minister was accompanied by Greater Hyderabad Mayor Gadwal Vijayalaxmi M. Srilatha Reddy.

Meanwhile, the governor took to Twitter to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for greeting her. "Very fortunate to receive Birthday wishes from our most respected Hon'ble Prime Minister of India .. Your kind message amidst your busy schedule, gives me new energy to work more and more for the nation on the path of your visionary steps for mother India free from Corona soon," tweeted Tamilisai, who posted the greeting card received from the Prime Minister.

Chief minister's daughter and State Legislative Council member K. Kavitha also greeted the governor on her birthday. "May Lord be with you on your special day and all the other years ahead," tweeted Kavitha State ministers and leaders from various political parties also greeted the governor on her birthday.

Women and child welfare minister Satyavathi Rathore conveyed her wished to Soundararajan. She wished her a health and long life.

State ministers Koppula Eshwar and Gangula Kamalakar also conveyed their wishes to the governor.

Union minister of state for home G. Kishan Reddy also called on the governor and greeted her on birthday.
Lucknow, June 2 : The administrations of all 75 districts in Uttar Pradesh have been asked to involve the newly elected village pradhans to convince the rural population about the importance of vaccination and help them overcome the vaccine hesitancy.

The village pradhans are also being asked to dispel misinformation about the vaccine among people.

Vaccine hesitancy in villages is emerging as a major challenge for the state government and many departments have been mobilised to accelerate the vaccination campaign, particularly in villages.

The vaccination in rural areas remains extremely sluggish, said health department officials, adding that people are refusing to get vaccinated.

In Barabanki, a group of people even jumped into a river when they saw a vaccination team approaching.

A senior health official said, "We are asking the health officials and district magistrates in district to take the help of village pradhans and convince people to take the vaccine. We want the vaccination drive to cover maximum population before the third wave sets in." The administration is also asking people who have taken the first dose of the vaccine to persuade others to get vaccinated.

People in the village are wary of getting vaccinated because they believe that immunity becomes zero for 10 days after the vaccine and this period makes them vulnerable to catching Covid. They are also afraid of getting fever after the vaccine.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, June 2 : Standing in solidarity of workers facing violent attack from ruling TMC, the BJP has started explaining its workers across the country about attacks its cadre is facing in West Bengal.

The BJP teams from the rest of the country will likely visit West Bengal to tell cadres in the eastern state that the whole party is with them.

A senior BJP leader said that the entire exercise has been started to keep its cadres intact in West Bengal after reports that some of turncoats who joined the party before the State Assembly polls and cadres on ground were trying to leave the saffron fold to join back Trinamool.

Senior leaders had interacted with party workers in Uttarakhand and Assam.

On Wednesday a similar interaction was planned with the Delhi unit which was to be addressed by National Joint General Secretary (Organisation) Shiv Prakash, who oversees the BJP's poll management in West Bengal.

On Tuesday, BJP National General Secretary and in-charge of West Bengal, Kailash Vijayvargiya held a virtual meeting with the party workers from Uttarakhand.

Uttarakhand BJP chief Madan Kaushik told IANS that Vijayvargiya held the virtual interaction with workers of the hill state and explained the violence and atrocities done to party cadres by Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.

"Vijayvargiya explained how many BJP workers and leaders were attacked and killed in post poll violence in West Bengal by Trinamool goons. He answered queries of our workers related to the ground situation in West Bengal.

"He said that despite adverse conditions, BJP workers are holding their grounds in West Bengal," Kaushik said.

Kaushik further said that a team of Uttarakhand BJP leaders and workers will visit West Bengal to extend their solidarity to cadres there.

Rajya Sabha member and BJP National General Secretary, Bhupendra Yadav also held a similar interaction with workers in Assam, where the saffron party had claimed that it's workers took shelter following the brutal attacks by the Trinamool workers.

"Spoke at a video conference organised by Assam BJP on 'Harassment of BJP karyakartas in West Bengal'. Victims of Bengal violence are taking refuge in Assam. The human rights violations under the Mamata Banerjee regime must stop," Yadav tweeted on Tuesday evening.

A senior party functionary said that the whole exercise is being done to motivate demoralised cadres who felt that they were left alone to defend themselves against TMC workers in post-poll violence.

"Standing in solidarity with West Bengal workers is need of hours as they feel that senior central leaders left them after declaration of Assembly polls results. There are reports that some of our cadres are in touch with TMC to change side.

"It is an effort to convey to them that the whole party is with workers of West Bengal and they are not alone in their fight against the undemocratic Mamata Banerjee government," he said.

Delhi BJP General Secretary, Harsh Malhotra said, "Today evening, Shiv Prakashji will brief us about the difficult situation our workers in West Bengal are working in. All of Delhi BJP is with them as they are part of our family."

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, June 2 : The Supreme Court has asked Centre to furnish data on the percentage of population vaccinated so far (with one dose and both doses), both in rural and urban areas, along with documents reflecting its thinking in connection with the vaccination policy.

A bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud, L. Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhat said: "UoI (Union of India) shall also ensure that copies of all the relevant documents and file notings reflecting its thinking and culminating in the vaccination policy are also annexed on the vaccination policy. Hence, we direct the UoI to file its affidavit within 2 weeks." It stressed on Centre bringing on record an outline for how and when it seeks to vaccinate the remaining population in Phases 1, 2 and 3.

The top court also sought data on percentage of population, which has been vaccinated (with one dose and both doses), as against eligible persons in the first three phases of the vaccination drive. The bench emphasised the data should include the percentage of rural population as well as the percentage of urban population vaccinated so far.

"The complete data on the Central Government's purchase history of all the Covid-19 vaccines till date (Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik V). The data should clarify: (a) the dates of all procurement orders placed by the Central Government for all 3 vaccines; (b) the quantity of vaccines ordered as on each date; and (c) the projected date of supply," it said.

As the Centre, in its May 9 affidavit, had said that every state/UT government will provide vaccination free of cost to its population, the court noted: "It is important that individual state/UT governments confirm/deny this position before this court.

"Further, if they have decided to vaccinate their population for free, then, as a matter of principle, it is important that this policy is annexed to their affidavit, so that the population within their territories can be assured of their right to be vaccinated for free at a state vaccination centre." The top court directed each of the state/UT governments to also file an affidavit within 2 weeks, clarifying their position and put on record their individual policies.

The top court also asked the Centre to submit update on steps taken to ensure drug availability for mucormycosis.

The order was passed by the top court in the suo motu case initiated by it to deal with issues relating to Covid-19 management in the country. It has posted the matter for further hearing on June 30.

On May 31, the Supreme Court had shot a volley of tough questions at Centre in connection with its Covid vaccine policy, and flagged various flaws: shortage of vaccine doses, pricing issues, registration for vaccination, and lack of vaccine, especially for the rural areas in the country.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Kiev, June 2 : Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has allocated additional 1.4 billion hryvnia (around $51 million) to support private entrepreneurs and employees suffering from quarantine restrictions during the pandemic, local media reported on Tuesday.

The decision to provide more financial support to business was made by the parliament on March 30, the Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the bill approved by the parliament, entrepreneurs and employees who have suffered from the quarantine restrictions during the pandemic can receive additional one-time financial aid valued at 8,000 hryvnias ($292).

In December 2020, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law supporting citizens and entrepreneurs affected by the Covid-19 pandemic with one-time financial aid worth 8,000 hryvnia.
The President of the United Nation General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir, has said that Pakistan needs to 'work harder to raise the issue (of Kashmir) internationally, specifically to bring it to the United Nations platform more forcefully.

The statement was issued on his arrival in Islamabad on May 27.

Commenting on Bozkir's statement, Pakistani Daily 'Dawn' in its editorial on May 29 had endorsed his comments by calling "the Kashmir issue a major stumbling block to peace in south Asia".

Well, Pakistan, and not Kashmir, is the stumbling block to peace in South Asia unless it withdraws its military and all aliens from the occupied territories of Pakistan occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), a demand that was made in the UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 47 passed on April 21, 1948.

The UN resolution clearly states that Pakistan must "secure the withdrawal from the state of Jammu and Kashmir of the tribesmen and Pakistani nationals not normally resident therein who have entered the state for the purpose of fighting" (i.e. military forces).

Earlier, in January 1948, the UN Resolution 39 had been adopted and the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) was established. The above mentioned statement of the UNSC had come only after the UNCIP had held discussions with both India and Pakistan and issued its findings and subsequent recommendations to the UNSC.

It had asked for a "complete withdrawal of Pakistan's fighting forces, including the army, tribes and other Pakistani nationals".

Did Pakistan abide by the dictates of the UNSC? No. On the contrary, Pakistan has made her military presence a permanent feature of the geographical landscape of PoJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The UNSC had also asked Pakistan to withdraw "tribes and other Pakistani nationals" from the occupied territory of Jammu Kashmir. Did Pakistan comply? No. Instead, Pakistan brought in more aliens into PoJK and Gilgit-Baltistan, setting up training camps for jihadist to be sent into the Vale of Kashmir to cause violence and unrest.

And to hide her evil doings, Pakistan keeps pointing her finger towards the presence of the Indian army in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Well, the UNSC has permitted India to maintain an army presence in the region that might be "required for maintaining law and order".

It was on October 22, 1947 that Pakistan attacked the state of Jammu and Kashmir despite the fact that a Standstill Agreement had already been signed between Maharaja Hari Singh and the Governor General of Pakistan, Muhammed Ali Jinnah.

Bozkir said that "parties to the conflict, i.e. India and Pakistan, must not change the status of the disputed territory till the matter is resolved".

Well Sir, with due respect, allow me to bring to your attention the instrument of accession signed on October 26, 1947 between the Maharaja of Jammu Kashmir and the Republic of India. It was signed in accordance with the India Independence Act of 1947, according to which the 565 princely states of British India "would be free to accede to one or the other of the new dominions".

By suggesting to the Pakistan government to 'work harder to raise the issue (of Kashmir) internationally, and specifically to bring it to the United Nations platform more forcefully', and suggesting that 'Pakistan could initiate a debate on the Kashmir issue at the UNGA supported by other states', Bozkir has seemingly sided with Pakistan.

The UNGA President should be a neutral entity.

Pakistan and not India is the one which has been declared as an aggressor by the UNSC. It is Pakistan which has been settling outsiders from Punjab and the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa into PoJK and Gilgit-Baltistan in order to alter the demography of the occupied region, and it is Pakistan that has deprived the people of the so called Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan of their basic human rights by imposing an interim constitution called Act 74 and Schedule Four.

To come up with such a statement as given by the President of the UNGA is at best naive and devoid of any factual research. Especially at a time when the Pakistani army is increasing its military presence in PoJK and POGB by the hour.

(Dr Amjad Ayub Mirza is an author and a human rights activist from Mirpur in PoJK. He currently lives in exile in the UK. The views expressed are personal)
Patna June 2 : After the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic exposed the creaking health infrastructure in Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has blamed the BJP for the same.

Chitranjan Gagan, the spokesperson of the RJD, said that the rural medical infrastructure of Bihar was ranked 12, as per the Planning Commission index of 2005. It went down to 20th position in 2015-16 and now it has reached the bottom of the index in 2019-20, according to the report of Niti Aayog.

The BJP is an alliance partner of Nitish Kumar since 2005 after taking over from Rabri Devi. During the last 15 years, it was the BJP which held the health ministry portfolio in Bihar.

The reaction of the RJD spokesperson came a day after Sushil Modi congratulated Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi for their 48th marriage anniversary. At the same time, he also asked the question and tweeted that so many referral hospitals were opened during the RJD rule. Why were those hospitals closed during the Rabri Devi government? "BJP leader Sushil Modi is used to wrongfully communicate with the people of Bihar and blames RJD for health infrastructure collapse in Bihar. He said that during the tenure of Lalu Prasad, there were so many referral hospitals and health centers opened in the state but Rabri Devi failed to maintain them. I want to ask a question to Sushil Modi -- clarify why your government has not improved health infrastructure during the last 15 years?" Gagan said.

"After every flop policy of Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar, you put blame on Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav, why are you not pointing out the posts of 57 per cent doctors, 71 per cent nurses, 72 per cent medical technicians, 50 per cent ANM, 80 per cent ventilator operators are lying vacant in Bihar now," Gagan said.
Only an approach that attacks the problem from every angle can begin to build a country where Black and white children have genuinely equivalent chances to excel. So applaud Biden for Tuesday launching, as he marked the centennial of Tulsas Black Wall Street massacre, a first-ever interagency effort to probe inequities in home appraisals and issue new rules to combat housing discrimination. As Newsday discovered in its groundbreaking Long Island Divided series, bias built into real estate, even when subtle, keeps neighborhoods split along color lines.
Bengaluru, June 2 : Another accused in the brutal rape case involving the 22-year-old illegal Bangladeshi immigrant was shot as he attacked police in a bid to flee after being apprehended from a wastepaper seller's backyard on Wednesday, Bengaluru police said.

According to Bengaluru East division police that is probing the case, the accused, identified as Shabuj, 25, was on the run since this brutal case came to limelight on May 27. He is the tenth person, including two women, held in the case and third one to be shot while resisting arrest or trying to flee.

Police asserted that they had to open fire on Shabuj in self-defence.

According to a senior police officer, the accused had created a ruckus inside the police jeep, saying that he wanted to go and relieve himself.

"After many pleas, we stopped near Rampura Lake asking him to answer nature's call, but instead, he attacked our police constable and sub-inspector on their arms and palm with a knife in a bid to escape, but we opened fire on his knee as an act of self defence," the police official said.

The 22-year-old rape survivor was brought to Bengaluru from Kerala and was subsequently taken to the Bowring hospital for a medical check-up. She will be taken to the Bypanahalli Police station to record her statement on Friday, and produced in the court on Saturday, where her statement will be recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC.

The brutal incident came to light after Assam Police shared a video showing five men and a woman brutally attacking and torturing the woman and appealed to various state g and police forces to co-operate in nabbing the culprits.

Within hours of the clip being posted, Bengaluru's Ramamurthy Nagar police arrested five of the accused.

Police sources said this gang is part of a wide network of traffickers from Bangladesh in connivance with people from Murshidabad in West Bengal, Hyderabad in Telangana, Dhubri in Assam and Karnataka as well.

The girls the gang members used to traffic from Bangladesh, Assam and West Bengal were forced into prostitution racket and were subjected to extreme exploitation, the sources said.

The police added that the victim, who is a Bangladeshi illegal immigrant, was brought to India for trafficking and was tortured and brutalised due to a financial matter.
Chennai, June 2 : While the Union government has cancelled the CBSE and the ICSE exams for Class 12, the Tamil Nadu State school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi said that the government will decide on the state board exams for class 12 students in a couple of days.

The minister said that the government is consulting health experts, parents, teachers, students and academicians on how to go forward.

Minister said that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin will take the decision taking into account all the viewpoints presented before the government from various stakeholders.

Minister while speaking to reporters in Chennai said, "The Chief Minister has said that the viewpoints from all sides must be taken into account before taking a decision." The minister also said that the state government is also considering the actions taken by other state governments in this situation. He called upon parents, teachers, and other stakeholders to write e-mails to the department on their views.

Minister said, "Our Chief Minister has always held the view that the education is very important and health is also equally important and the government will take a decision taking into account all these factors." Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had chaired a meeting with all the state governments on the conduct of the board exams for 12th standard students. Almost all the states had expressed their willingness to conduct the exams once the situation is conducive.
Mumbai, June 2 : Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey took to Instagram to inform fans that he would engage in a conversation with Sadhguru. The interview goes live on Wednesday, on YouTube.

The Oscar-winning actor's discussion with the spiritual guru pertains to Karma, crafting one's destiny, the connection between yoga and religion, and exploring the unknown.

The official description of the video on YouTube reads: "Academy Award-winning actor @Matthew McConaughey asks Sadhguru about Karma, crafting one's destiny, the connection between yoga and religion, and exploring the unknown. Sadhguru offers insights on how we should not confuse our lifestyle -- a consequence of the times we live in -- with life, the real thing!" The actor's recently-released book "Greenlights", too, speaks about the discovery of life.

"Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers," McConaughey said on the official website of his novel.

"I found a reliable theme, an approach to living that gave me more satisfaction, at the time, and still: If you know how, and when, to deal with life's challenges-how to get relative with the inevitable -- you can enjoy a state of success I call catching greenlights," he added.

Describing it as a "love letter to life", he added: "Hopefully, it's medicine that tastes good, a couple of aspirin instead of the infirmary, a spaceship to Mars without needing your pilot's license, going to church without having to be born again, and laughing through the tears. It's a love letter. To life."
Chandigarh, June 2 : With former Punjab Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu putting up more at his ancestral house in Patiala of late, posters saying "Sidhu is missing" from his Assembly constituency in Amritsar (East) surfaced on Wednesday, promising Rs 50,000 reward for anyone who 'finds' the MLA.

An NGO, Shaheed Baba Deep Singh Sewa Society, has put up the posters titled 'Gumshuda Di Talaash' (Search for the Missing). Similar posters were seen in Amritsar earlier also.

State Congress leaders told IANS that for the past three-four months, Sidhu and his wife Navjot Kaur have been staying at the former's ancestral house in Patiala, the home constituency of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

Their daughter is reportedly staying alone in the Amritsar residence.

The residents of the Joda Phatak area in Sidhu's constituency, who lost their family members when a speeding train crushed them as they were watching Dusshera celebrations in 2018, are upset as the Congress leader, then a Cabinet minister, and his wife Navjot Kaur had promised to provide jobs to the eligible family members of those killed in the accident.

The railways had said that it was not responsible for the tragedy.
San Francisco, June 2 : The independent Oversight Board on Wednesday said it has accepted a referral from Facebook on a case related to Covid-19 in Brazil.

In this case, a post by a state-level medical authority in Brazil claimed that Covid-19 lockdowns are ineffective, against people's rights and condemned by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The case raises important questions about Facebook's misinformation and harm policy, and the company has asked the Board to review its decision to allow the post to remain on its platform, stating that "this content does not violate Facebook's policies, but can still be read by some people as advocacy for taking certain safety measures during the pandemic," the Board said in a statement.

In March 2021, the Facebook page of a state-level medical authority in Brazil posted a picture of a written notice with messaging on measures to reduce the spread of Covid-19.

The notice claims that lockdowns are ineffective, against the fundamental rights of the Constitution and condemned by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The content was viewed around 32,000 times and shared over 270 times. No users reported the content. Facebook took no action against the content and referred the case to the Board. The content remains on the platform.

In its referral to the Board, Facebook said that the case is "difficult because this content does not violate Facebook's policies, but can still be read by some people as advocacy for taking certain safety measures during the pandemic." The Board is now seeking public comments that address whether Facebook's decision to take no action against the content was consistent with its Community Standards and other policies, including the Misinformation and Harm policy.

In February this year, Facebook disagreed with one Covid-19 related recommendation made by the independent Oversight Board, saying that this will lead to softening its enforcement of misinformation related to the pandemic.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Hyderabad, June 2 : Maganti Ravindranath Chowdhary, the son of former MP from Andhra Pradesh, Maganti Babu, has been found dead at a star hotel in Hyderabad.

Ravindranath, who was staying at the star hotel in Banjara Hills for the last few days, was to vacate the hotel room on Tuesday evening. When he did not come out of his room, the hotel staff tried to contact him. As there was no response to the repeated knocks on the door, they alerted the police who rushed to the hotel and broke open the door.

Ravindranath, aged around 30 years, was found lying on the floor. He had reportedly vomited blood. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

The police have shifted the body to the government-run Osmania Hospital for autopsy after registering a case of death under suspicious circumstances. Further probe is underway.

Ravindranath was said to be suffering from liver cirrhosis and had come to Hyderabad on May 28 for treatment. He had checked into a star hotel on Banjara Hills Road.

Maganti Babu, who is a leader of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and a former MP from Eluru, had lost his elder son Maganti Ramchandran (37) in March this year. Ramchandran had died at a hospital in Eluru after brief illness. Both his sons had become active in politics of late.

TDP President and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has expressed shock over the death of Ravindranath. He spoke to Maganti Babu over phone and conveyed his condolences.

Naidu said losing two sons in a span of four months is a huge loss for Maganti Babu. He said the party stands with his family in this hour of grief.
Bhopal, June 2 : The Madhya Pradesh government on Wednesday announced the cancellation of the class 12 board exams following the footsteps of the Centre which cancelled the CBSE and ICSE exams on Tuesday in view of the ongoing Covid pandemic.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that this year the 12th board examinations will not be conducted. Children's life is precious for us, we will take care of their career later. It is not advisable to put mental burden on children at a time when the state and the whole country is reeling under such a big health crisis.

He said that a committee of ministers has been formed which will consult experts for proper evaluation of students in a fair and transparent manner. The committee will discuss with all stakeholders and then will decide how to go about it -- whether results will be declared on the basis of internal assessment or any other method will be applied.

The exams for class 10 board has already been cancelled in the state.
Mumbai, June 2 : After five small villages in the state independently attained Covid-free status in May, the Maharashtra government has now come up with a unique proposal to inspire more such rural settlements to "chase away the virus".

Rural Development Minister Hasan Mushrif on Wednesday announced a Covid-Free Village Competition with fat cash prizes to be implemented across the state soon.

"If the villages become free from the coronavirus, then the talukas, districts, regions, and the entire state will be rid of the scourge as soon as possible, with the participation of the common people," he said.

The competition comes close on the heels of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray last week lavishing praises on villages that had virtually "barred the gates" on the coronavirus by taking strict initiatives at the local level and setting a national example.

The villages include: Hivare Bazaar where the initiative was inspired by Padma Shri awardee Popatrao Pawar, and Bhoyare Khurd (both in Ahmednagar district), Bhosi in Nanded which earned the Centre's laurels, and Antroli and Ghatane villages, both in Solapur district.

Incidentally, 21-year-old educated youth head the two villages - Komal Karpe, a botanist, is the Sarpanch of Antroli and lawyer Ruturaj Deshmukh of Ghatane.

Both shot to overnight fame after their efforts to make their respective villages Corona-free earned a mention from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Thackeray just last week.

The competition shall be held in all the six revenue divisions of the state with top three prizes for each division - Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh, and Rs 15 lakh - to the villages coming out with flying colours in controlling the Covid-19 contagion, now compounded by the black fungus menace that is rearing its head in the state.

"We shall be giving away a total of 18 first, second, and third prizes in each division and the amount would be Rs 5.40 crore. This amount will be spent by the winner villages for carrying out various development and other works in their vicinity," Mushrif said.

Additionally, these winning villages which perform well in making their regions Covid-free shall also be entitled to additional funds of Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh, and Rs 15 lakh each, as incentives and the money would be used for priority development projects.

Mushrif said that villages shall be judged on the basis of 22 different criteria by a special committee of experts, the details of which will be announced shortly and appealed to all villages to participate in the competition to make their areas 'Covid-free'.

Here he recalled the contribution of former Deputy Chief Minister, the late R. R. Patil of Sangli who launched the "Sant Gadge Baba Clean Village Mission" in 2010, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi.

On October 2, 2014, PM Modi himself picked up a broom to launch the 'Swachha Bharat Mission' nationwide which was dedicated to Gandhiji.

Mushrif said that Patil's SGBCVM had created a feeling of determination and envy among the villages which vied with each other to adopt cleanliness as a way of life, and he hoped the same would be achieved with the upcoming 'Covid-free Village Competition' in the state as the state grapples with the deadlier second wave of coronavirus.

Till date, Maharashtra has recorded 57,61,015 Covid cases and 96,198 fatalities - both highest in the country - besides 230,681 active cases, and the scourge is now affecting the rural areas more than the urban centres, as per official data.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in)

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, June 2 : It was all set for Pakistani opposition leader and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs younger brother Shahbaz Sharif to visit London.

The Lahore High Court had allowed him to leave but at the airport he was stopped from boarding the flight on the orders of Prime Minister Imran Khan, then in Saudi Arabia. According to a few Pakistani journalists who are "close" to the Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's younger brother Shahbaz Sharif was traveling to London to discuss a "reconciliation" formula with his brother. Incidentally, the message was "drafted" with the complete approval of Pakistan's Army Chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

But crossing all red-lines an "angry" Imran Khan decided not allow the younger Sharif to execute his dramatic mission. "Selectors wanted Shahbaz to go to London but Captain Imran Khan said no," said one journalist. He added that "the two- and half-year itch" has started, referring to the relations between General Bajwa and Imran Khan that are rapidly going south.

Read More: Bajwa emerges peacemaker after surprise landing in Kabul According to sources, Army Chief Bajwa and some senior leaders of Nawaz Sharif's party PML-N had a few meetings. Following that, these leaders have stopped criticising the Pakistan army. In fact, three days ago former PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told the media that his party and leaders like Shahbaz Sharif have no differences with the army.

Once again, Pakistan's capital is rife with rumours that the government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has lost the support of the security establishment and the opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif is becoming "favourite" of the army because of Imran Khan's mishandling of Punjab, and the relationship with India.

"He (army chief) had his own opinion on these matters and wanted to know how we managed it. We expressed our reservations over the way the government (Imran Khan's govt) is managing it, the matters will be worsened," said Abbasi.

The military establishment is apparently annoyed with Khan's insistence in targeting the PMLN's leadership in Punjab and his refusal to change the team running the province.

Read More: Trail to Pakistan: US once again in hot pursuit of Dawood Ibrahim The key warning that an internal revolt was also brewing against Khan- led PTI came when one of the most senior leaders of the party from Punjab, Jahangir Khan Tareen, said that he was being "unfairly targeted" by government agencies on the behest of Imran Khan. Tareen has more than 30 loyal MPs in the party.

According to Pakistani observers, everything is not well between Imran Khan and his selector General Bajwa. Few months back, the Pakistani army chief called on both nations---Pakistan and India-- to bury the past after the militaries of both countries released a rare joint statement announcing the renewal of a ceasefire agreement along a disputed border in Kashmir. But this has been followed by a series of flip flops from Imran Khan's government.

Prime Minister Khan laid down a certain condition - that New Delhi must restore Article 370 of the Indian Constitution before Islamabad can consider the normalisation of relations. Obviously the Army top brass is not amused. The political situation in Pakistan is obviously reaching an inflection point.

(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative/
New Delhi, June 2: As India starts the "unlock" process with the daily Covid 19 cases coming down, the Centre's focus will shift on doers who can implement existing and new schemes announced under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan package. Special attention will now be paid to the country's micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, which employ a mammoth 11 crore people. While Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last year announced a Rs 3 lakh crore collateral-free automatic loans to MSMEs with the aim of easing the liquidity crunch, only Rs 2.54 lakh crore out of the total allocation has been utilised so far.

This has led to severe cash crunch for the sector, one of the pillars of India's economy.

Sample this. The owner of a micro unit located at the outskirts of the glittering millennium city Gurgaon, dealing with air coolers, is staring at an uncertain future. His business typically picks up with the onset of summer. But this year, just like the last, has fetched him no money. "Not only has my income flow choked, I am also saddled with unused stocks. Banks refuse to help me start any other business as they want some collaterals," he said, adding that he has no knowledge of provision of collateral free loans.

Banks, burdened with high non-performing assets - loans that do not fetch returns-- and also a high level of compliance, are reluctant to provide credit to MSMEs.

The benefits of the scheme, therefore, have reached only a few. Reason? Over 95 per cent of the MSMEs can be categorised as "micro." Most of these units have no access to institutional credit. The scheme essentially is for those who already have access to institutional credit.

"The Centre is aware of the fact that there have been serious gaps in the implementation of the schemes. The focus will be on timely execution of the existing schemes rather than carving out any new ones," Gopal Krishna Agarwal, BJP's national spokesperson on economic affairs, told India Narrative.

Animesh Saxena, president, Federation of Indian Micro and Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME) told India Narrative that the thrust until now has been on cheap credit. "What is needed more than cheap credit is easy access to credit. The benefit of the Rs 3 lakh crore is reaching to only those who already have access to institutional credit," he said.

"They (micro units) either borrow from private lenders or NBFCs (non-bank financial institutions) at a much higher rate of interest. These micro units have been left outside the ambit of the scheme," Saxena pointed out.

In a letter sent to the Reserve Bank of India on May 21, the FISME said, "When it comes to crunch, the first expense that is cut is payrolls. It is our humble prayer to RBI and the GoI (Government of India), not to let an MSME close down until all efforts to save it have failed. The alternative is scary. Along with tens and thousands of these small establishments, lacs of workers will come on road, increasing human misery manyfold. In economic terms too, it will shrink purchasing power further, creating a vicious circle of downward economic spiral." According to India Briefing, a platform providing insights on doing business in India, the MSME base is the largest in the world after China.

"The sector provides a wide range of services and is engaged in the manufacturing of over 6,000 products-ranging from traditional to hi-tech items," India Briefing website said. There are about 63.05 million micro industries, 0.33 million small, and about 5,000 medium enterprises in the country.

(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative/

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
By Li Bo, Ge Jiayi, Yin Weili and Dou Huyue

BEIJING, June 2 -- Recently, a mobile detachment under the People's Armed Police (PAP) Force Yunnan Contingent conducted a large-scale joint counter-terrorism exercise involving multiple specialties, including special operations, engineering, chemical defense and reconnaissance.
Their votes against a bipartisan commission on the insurrection leave voters to worry what ails Floridas senators. We worry about their failing memories for surely they remember the physical peril they were in from the mob that assaulted the Capitol. Anyone in their right mind would want to get to the bottom of who, what, why and how it happened, to prevent another one that could be perpetrated by a foreign enemy.
New Delhi, June 2 : Even as a court in Dominica is all set to hear the habeas corpus plea filed by the lawyers of fugitive Indian businessman Mehul Choksi later in the day, his wife Priti Choksi in an interview with Business Standard has alleged that the 'mysterious girl, Barbara Jabarika, had come to Antigua and Barbuda in August 2020 and she had walked in to their other house on the island.

She also claimed that after his capture, Choksi had thought he was going to be killed.

The fugitive diamantaire, who has been staying in Antigua and Barbuda since 2018 after taking citizenship in 2017 under the Citizenship by Investment programme, had gone missing on May 23, sparking a massive manhunt in the island nation.

He was captured in Dominica on May 27. A Dominican court has restrained the extradition of Choksi until further orders while hearing a habeas corpus plea filed by his lawyers.

In the interview, Priti Choksi said, "At 5:11 pm exactly on Sunday he left. He wanted to go for dinner, and he left; that's the last time I saw him. At about 8.30 or 9ish I began to get worried. He is normally home by 7 pm. But because he said he was going for dinner, I started trying his numbers. His Antiguan number came as voicemail and his WhatsApp numbers were ringing. I was getting very, very nervous. I was lonely, I don't know many people here (in Antigua)." She further said that Choksi has a friend who comes as a consultant and works with him.

"So I called him up at about 10 or a quarter to 10. I asked, 'are you with him'? My first thought in my mind was maybe he was walking on the beach and maybe he went to the water and maybe you know something happened, an accident. So this person also went out looking. We have a cook who helps out. I called him up and said, 'by any chance did sir (Mehul Choksi) call you up'? And he said 'no'," Priti said in the interview to Business Standard.

Narrating the ordeal, she said that then Choksi's friend also came across.

"I asked, 'can you just go around to the beaches'? By 10:30, a quarter to 11, he called to say he could find anything. The other person also said the same thing. Then both of them said, 'let us go to the police station, because this is not normal'. So we went to the police station.

"There was curfew (because of COVID) from 11 o'clock, 11 pm to 5 am is curfew, we had only one curfew pass. So we went in one car to the police station. These two people (the consultant and the cook) they wrote the complaint," she told Business Standard.

She also claimed that initially the police were like, 'you should wait for 24 hours'.

"But we said there was no way he wouldn't be home. They did take it seriously, thank God, and filed a complaint. They had cruisers going on the beaches and roads at that time; because of curfew they were making sure the beaches were not packed or people weren't partying.

"They immediately contacted the cruisers and said can you have a look. We went and we also thought we'll look around if we can see him or the car on which he went. This is about 12 o'clock midnight. Police said, 'we are searching, don't worry, go home, it's curfew, you can't be out'. They went on their patrol and we went home," she recalled in the interview.

When asked if she has the copy of the complaint which she filed with the police, she said: "We asked for it, but they said you now have to go through the commissioner and a lawyer to get it. I am very disturbed that he (Mehul Choksi) was taken around 5.30 pm on a boat and no one seems to have seen it. None of the video surveillance cameras at Jolly Harbour (a popular part of Antigua) are working." To a question about the car which Choksi drove, she said, "Where the car was found at 7.30 the following morning, the police had patrolled the same area at 3 am and it wasn't there. But it was mysteriously found at 7.30 am." When asked about Jabarika, who is alleged to have lured Choksi into her house, from where he claims he was kidnapped, Priti said, "No I haven't seen her, but I knew she had come (to Antigua) in August (2020) and she had walked in to our other house on the island and she befriended the chef there." "I knew my husband used to walk with her. On the Friday and Saturday before he was taken, they went to Jolly Beach South for a walk. That's where my husband would normally go, because there are lots of people there normally and all the houses have cameras," she said in the interview.

"She (Jabarika) insisted on Sunday that they go to the north side of the island. He said he didn't feel like walking, because he was feeling a little tired. He said, 'I'll just go for dinner'. Where she was suggesting it was very secluded," Priti claimed.

When asked about the appearance of Jabarika, Priti said, "It's not the person who is being shown by the TV media. She looks different. You've got a sexy femme fatale being shown. That's not what she looks like. She may have a good body, whatever, whatever, but the thing is it's not her." When further pressed if Jabarika has disappeared or whether she is no longer in Antigua, Priti said, "There are rumours surfacing that she may be in Dominica or she may have left." Sharing the details of Choksi's movements Priti said that he had not left the island in the last three years as his health is not good and he is 63 years old.

She also said that Choksi's passport is at home.

When asked about what happened to Choksi when he apparently arrived in Dominica on May 25, she said, "He wasn't allowed to meet a lawyer, get medical attention, nothing." Priti said that the first time a doctor saw him was when the foreign minister from Antigua arranged for it.

She also said that "Choksi thought he was going to be killed".

"The narrative being woven is that he absconded, and the first story, the Cuba story, pointed people in that direction. It was very ham-handed. My husband is no longer an Indian citizen as per Section 9 of the Indian constitution. In 2017, he ceased to be an Indian citizen. The safest place on earth for him is Antigua," she added.

Choksi is wanted in India by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case. He had shifted to Antigua in January 2018, days before the CBI registered a case.

Last Thursday, the first pictures of Choksi emerged online showing several signs of bruises on his arms and a swollen eye.

His lawyer in India, Vijay Agarwal, had told IANS, "Choksi was forced to get into a vessel from Antigua and was taken to Dominica. He also claimed that there were marks on Choksi's body, implying the use of force." "There is something fishy and I guess it was a strategy to take him to another place so that there are chances of sending him back to India. So I don't know what forces are operating. The time will tell," he had said.

However, Antigua Police Commissioner Atlee Rodney has rubbished the claims of Choksi's counsel and said that they have no information on him being forcefully removed.

An eight-member team of Indian officials has also landed in Dominica on a private jet for the extradition of Choksi.
New Delhi, June 2 : Aerospace major Airbus has expanded its Covid relief operations in India by delivering more than 36 tonnes of additional medical equipment to the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS).

Besides, it had deployed humanitarian flights to move supplies from abroad as well as within the country.

Notably, Airbus is delivering oxygen plants, ventilators, oxygen concentrators, BPAP breathing machines and mobile intensive care units (ICUs), further boosting its individual contribution to the global humanitarian effort to tackle the second wave of Covid-19 infection in India.

On Wednesday, an A350 test aircraft delivered a part of the consignment comprising oxygen con centrators and ventilators from Airbus' headquarters in Toulouse, France.

The remaining materials are sourced from India, the company said.

"Airbus stands behind India in solidarity and service. Our focus is to support not only our employees, customers, and partners but also as many people of India as we can," said Remi Maillard, President and MD of Airbus India & South Asia.

"This is our common fight against the virus and we at Airbus are committed to doing our best to help in these challenging times for India and the world." As per the company, the latest contribution from Airbus comprises two oxygen generator plants, 250 oxygen concentrators, 30 ventilators, 100 BPAP breathing machines and four ICUs-on-wheels.

At present, the company is working with the Indian government and the IRCS, the nodal agency for handling of international aid, to ensure the smooth deployment of the materials.

Additionally, the Airbus Foundation is in touch with international and Indian NGO partners to support any need for transportation of relief materials from Europe.

Airbus Foundation has also secured helicopter flight hours to move aid within India.

"The crisis is still unfolding. Its fallout will have to be managed over the coming many months," Maillard said.

"Our Indian NGO partners are already evaluating the knock-on impact of the crisis on livelihoods and children's education. Airbus will expand support to them to meet the additional challenges."

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh addresses media on the achievements of the Punjab Government during the last 4 years, in Chandigarh on Thursday March 18, 2021.(Photo:IANS/Pawan sharma) Image Source: IANS News

Chandigarh, June 2 : Preparing the state for a possible third wave of the pandemic, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday virtually inaugurated a 50-bed paediatric Covid care ward, set up at CMC Hospital in Ludhiana, as a partnership initiative between the hospital and the Police Public Foundation (PPF).

On the occasion, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was also signed, in the Chief Minister's presence, for setting up two oxygen plants in the district, for which 20 industries have donated Rs 1.2 crore.

The two plants will become functional at CMC Ludhiana and Krishna Charitable Hospital within six-eight weeks, according to CII past president Rahul Ahuja, who signed the MoU on behalf of the industry with the two hospitals.

Under the agreement, 20 per cent of oxygen treatment will be subsidized for poor patients.

Terming the collaborative initiatives of the state's industry and the civil society, as well as the police, as wonderful gestures, the Chief Minister said the pandemic was a major challenge and the state had to be prepared for the worst.

Though nobody knows yet if there will be a third wave in India, Punjab was making all efforts to gear up for another possible surge, which could affect the children more, he added.

Amarinder Singh urged the industry to motivate their employees to get vaccinated for their own protection and that of all Punjabis.

Lauding the industry's stellar role in supporting the state government's fight against the pandemic, the Chief Minister said the industry in Punjab had always been at the helm of extending a helping hand in every crisis.

Vardhman and Oswal industries had helped with oxygen supplies when cases were at the peak at around 9,500 plus a day, he recalled.

Though the cases had declined to 2,184 as of June 1, it was not possible to ascertain how long the crisis will continue, he said, asserting, however, that Punjab will win and come out of this.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, June 2 : Hospitality major OYO is witnessing rise in bookings in the US and the UK in the wake of more and more people getting vaccinated in the two countries.

In an e-mail to employees, OYO founder and Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal said that the company is seeing higher bookings in the US and UK as the percentage of the vaccinated population increases.

According to the mail seen by IANS, Agarwal said that in the US, as the percentage of the population with at least one dose of vaccination grew from January 2021 to April 2021, OYO recorded a 60 per cent increase in revenue per available room (RevPAR) from January 2021 to April 2021. This is further expected to grow by June 2021 with RevPAR in the month is expected to be 1.5x of June 2020.

Similarly in the UK, the company recorded a 70 per cent increase in RevPAR from January 2021 to April 2021.

In the US, all across the country, mask mandates are easing, restrictions are lifting, and many states have gone back to business as usual. The UK has also moved into Step-3 of its roadmap, including opening pubs and restaurants with indoor seating, as well as other hospitality venues.

In a bid to replicate similar strong recovery trends in India, the company has come up with multiple initiatives, including VaccinAid, an app to show vaccine status of staff of its partner hotels.

This vaccine visibility initiative is to drive awareness and social reinforcement among small and medium hotels and homes to get vaccinated against Covid-19. The company has also organised vaccination camps for its hotel partners and employees.
New Delhi, June 2 : Recommending a slew of relief measures, including regulatory easing, an ASSOCHAM paper has said that the government should consider wage support mechanism and interest subvention for the MSMEs, which are reeling under the severe impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that has shown its heightened fury in the second wave.

Even as the states are in the process of easing lockdowns, the trade and industry would need an all-round support to pick up their business thread again, after halt or near-halt of their operations since middle of April, stated the recommendations report that ASSOCHAM submitted to the government.

Batting for protection of employment, it said, "The surplus funds of ESIC (Employees State Insurance Corporation) should be used for providing wage support measures/stimulus package for the employees." ASSOCHAM Secretary General Deepak Sood said, "Wage and job protection measures have been further extended by several countries, including the US. After all, consumption, especially the non-discretionary, has to be ensured by protecting earnings of people even in the lockdowns. Government intervention is critical.

"This is the time to support and spend without giving too much focus on the fiscal parameters. I am sure, the RBI and the government are constantly working on innovative solutions to keep infusing cash into the system despite an understandable revenue pressure." Sood referred to the latest industry interactions with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal who said the government is reaching out to all the major stakeholders to face the extraordinary situation arising out of once-in-hundred-years pandemic.

The ASSOCHAM Secretary General also lauded the RBI announcement to include hospital infrastructure like oxygen plants in the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme, which should see at least doubling of its present ceiling of Rs 3 lakh crore.

The study also sought an interest subvention for the trade and industry so that they can revive themselves with minimum disruptions. It said the government and the RBI should "consider an interest subvention scheme with a validity till March 31, 2022, especially, for the micro and small business segment. Similarly, NPA norms should be relaxed for MSMEs, if not for all industries".

As cash flow cycles have been affected and businesses have not been able to realise receivables on time, it will be helpful if one-time relaxation in recognizing NPAs is provided, extending the past due norm from 90 days to 180 days, the ASSOCHAM paper said.

The paper also expected the RBI to continue with its accommodative stance for the policy rates in the ensuing meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee in the wake of an unexpected rage of the second wave of the pandemic.

The document further made out a case for changes in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to allow the existing corporate promoters to participate in the bids for revival of the debt-ridden companies referred to the insolvency procedures.

"While the industry requests for the extension of the NCLT moratorium until March 31, 2022, the government should also consider to take away the Section 29A where the sponsor cannot take its assets," it said.

The government should work on creating transport bubbles so that businesses can function, by safely managing the transportation of employees and other resources, it added.

For providing relief to the worst hit hospitality sector, the document has suggested for allowing GST input credit for the restaurants.

Alternatively, the government should give an option of dual tax structures -- 5 per cent with no GST input credit or 12 per cent with GST input credit.

For giving a much-needed boost to the realty sector, it has recommended reduction in stamp duty as also property tax by half at least for three years.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, June 2 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday made scathing remarks on Centre's vaccination policy against Covid-19, terming the replacement of free vaccination in the first two phases with paid vaccination for persons between 18-44 years as prima facie as "arbitrary and irrational".

In a 32-page ruling, a bench comprising Justices D.Y. Chandrachud, L. Nageswara Rao and S. Ravindra Bhat said: "Due to the importance of vaccinating individuals in the 18-44 age group, the policy of the Central government for conducting free vaccination themselves for groups under the first 2 phases, and replacing it with paid vaccination by the state/UT governments and private hospitals for the persons between 18-44 years is, prima facie, arbitrary and irrational." The court noted that persons between 18-44 years of age have not only been infected by Covid-19 but have also suffered from severe effects of the infection, including prolonged hospitalisation and, in unfortunate cases, death.

"Due to the changing nature of the pandemic, we are now faced with a situation where the 18-44 age group also needs to be vaccinated, although priority may be retained between different age groups on a scientific basis," it said.

Healthcare workers (HCWs), frontline workers (FLWs) and persons above the age of 45 years, were prioritised in Phases 1 and 2 for obtaining Covid-19 vaccines. The vaccination policy was substantially changed for persons between 18-44 years of age.

The liberalised vaccination policy requires some of these persons to pay for the vaccines, limited vaccines were made available for this category with the state/UT governments/private hospitals, and an additional requirement of mandatory digital registration through CoWIN.

The top court noted vaccination of the nation's entire eligible population is the singular most important task in effectively combating the pandemic in the long run.

Citing issues with vaccination policy, the amicus curiae, in the matter, said states and municipal bodies unsuccessfully negotiated with foreign manufacturers to procure vaccines and the Centre is better placed to use its monopoly as a buyer to bargain for higher quantities of vaccines at reasonable prices.

"We find that the submissions urged by the Amici are extremely pertinent and have indicated that in practice, the liberalised vaccination policy may not be able to yield the desired results of spurring competitive prices and higher quantities of vaccines," the bench noted.

The Centre said the Union Budget for financial year 2021-2022 had earmarked Rs 3,5000 crore for procuring vaccines. However, the top court said in light of the liberalised vaccination policy, the Centre is directed to clarify how these funds have been spent so far and why they cannot be utilised for vaccinating persons aged 18-44 years.

Justifying its intervention on vaccine policy, the top court said judicial review and soliciting constitutional justification for policies formulated by the executive is an essential function, which the courts are entrusted to perform. "Our Constitution does not envisage courts to be silent spectators when constitutional rights of citizens are infringed by executive policies," it said.

The top court added that the current vaccine policy enables state/UT governments and private hospitals to procure 50 percent of the monthly Central Drugs Laboratory approved doses in the country at a pre-fixed price.

"The justification for this policy has been adduced in a bid to spur competition which would attract more private manufacturers that could eventually drive down prices. Prima facie, the only room for negotiation with the two vaccine manufacturers (Bharat Biotech and Serum Insititute of India) was on price and quantity, both of which have been pre-fixed by the Central government. This casts serious doubts on UoI's justification for enabling higher prices as a competitive measure," it said.

The bench contended that if the Centre's unique monopolistic buyer position is the only reason for it receiving vaccines at a much lower rate from manufacturers, it is important for the court to examine the rationality of the existing liberalised vaccination policy against Article 14 of the Constitution, since it could place severe burdens, particularly on states/UTs suffering from financial distress.

The judgment was passed in the suo motu case initiated by top court to deal with issues relating to Covid-19 management in the country. On May 31, the Supreme Court had shot a volley of tough questions at Centre in connection with its Covid vaccine policy, and flagged various flaws: shortage of vaccine doses, pricing issues, registration for vaccination, and lack of vaccine, especially for the rural areas in the country.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, June 2 : Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choklsi, who went missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda and was captured in Dominica few days later, has said that he was abducted by Indian agents and was given shock with a Taser gun whenever he resisted, according to a media report.

He also alleged that he was beaten up by the officials.

In a statement to Business Standard newspaper, Choksi said that he was abducted from the Carribean Island of Antigua on the night of May 23 from where he was forcibly taken on a boat to the island of Dominica.

In a statement to Business Standard, Choksi, who is wanted in India in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab and National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case, said that a friend of his in Antigua named Barbara Jabarika had invited him to her house.

"So I went into the house... In three minutes there were about 8 to 10 people... and they said that we knew who you are and you have to go for investigation just now with us... they just grabbed me and I tried to fight against them, but it was very, very hard... they came at me from all sides, they tied my hands, my legs and everything," Choksi, who has been staying in Antigua and Barbuda since 2018 after taking citizenship in 2017 under the Citizenship by Investment programme, said in the statement.

"Then they brought one wheelchair... they tried to make a story that even the police of Antigua were involved in this...half of them were India, very, very strong like army people... And they put me on the wheel chair and whenever I was fighhting, they would shock me with a taser... They tied me from behind, my legs and my body, my hands, everything. And they put a gag, very big plastic gag in my face," he said.

"Then they got a mask and covered my head... And they put me in a boat, the whole entire wheelchair, then they put me on a big boat, a very big boat... then they took off the mask... There were two Indians. They said they were agents from India... The two gentlemen who were with me, they were Gurjit Singh and there was another name," Business Standard quoted Choksi as saying.

"At the last hour in the boat, I got a call from an Indian authority. He said his name is Narendra Singh. He is on my case. And he said that when you are asked, when your interrogation happens in Dominica, say that this whole matter happened with your consent... They beat me, bruised me, used the Taser. And after coming to Dominica, it was an unbelievable experience. What I went through for the next few days. It was so non-cooperation and so bad experience that I can't put in words (sic), " he added.

Choksi had gone missing from Antigua on May 23, sparking a massive manhunt. He was captured in Dominica on May 26.

A Dominican court has restrained the extradition of Choksi till further orders by hearing the haebus corpus plea filed by his lawyers. The court is all set to further hear the matter later in the day.

On Thursday, first pictures of Choksi emerged online, showing several signs of bruises on his arms and a swollen eye.

Choksi is wanted in India by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case. He had shifted to Antigua in January 2018, days before the CBI registered a case.

His lawyer in India, Vijay Agarwal, had told IANS, "Choksi was forced to get into a vessel from Antigua and was taken to Dominica. He also claimed that there were marks on Choksi's body, implying the use of force." "There is something fishy and I guess it was a strategy to take him to another place so that there are chances of sending him back to India. So I don't know what forces are operating. The time will tell," he had said.

However, Antigua Police Commissioner Atlee Rodney has rubbished the claims of Choksi's counsel and said that they have no information on him being forcefully removed.

An eight-member team of Indian officials has also landed in Dominica on a private jet for the extradition of Choksi.
Mumbai, June 2 : Arjun Kapoor on Wednesday thanked filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee for "all those torturous, tiring, exhausting, mentally consuming days" while filming their recent release "Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar". He says the film gave him "a chance to work with a mind that is unlike anyone else's".

The actor, who played a cop named Pinky Dahiya in the film, posted a long note about his experience of working in the film.

"Pinky gave me a chance to challenge myself. Pinky gave me a chance to question my understanding of the beliefs prevalent in our country. Pinky gave me a chance to work with a mind that is unlike anyone else's.... Thank you #DibakarBanerjee for all those torturous, tiring, exhausting, mentally consuming days, without which there would be no Pinky and no redemption for an actor like me seeking to find new pastures so that I could take my craft to unchartered territories. Thank you for not trusting me too much and building this man from scratch. You have built Pinky with me, from within me, from all the hidden parts of me. That is what has made it all so much pure and so, so, so gratifying. Thank you," wrote Arjun, with folded hand emoji.

The film dropped digitally recently, after a theatrical release before pandemic shut down theatres all over India.
Kochi, June 2 : Covid appears to have taken a heavy toll in the seafood exports from the country as these saw an all-round drop in quantity, value and in US dollar terms during 2020-21, as compared to 2019-20.

According to the figures released by the Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) on Wednesday, the drop in quantity was 10.88 per cent as 11,49,341 tones was exported in the last fiscal as compared to 12,89,651 tones during 2019-20.

Likewise in value terms, the drop was 6.31 per cent, at Rs 43,717 crore as against Rs 46,662 crore during 2019-20.

In US dollar terms, the drop was 10.81 per cent, from $6,678 million to $5,956 million.

The US and China are the major importers of Indian seafood, and frozen shrimp continues to be the major export item followed by frozen fish.

MPEDA Chairman K.S. Srinivas said the pandemic drastically affected seafood exports during the first half of the year, but it revived well in the last quarter of 2020-21.

"The aquaculture sector performed better during the period by contributing 67.99 per cent of exported items in dollar terms and 46.45 per cent in quantity, which is 4.41 per cent and 2.48 per cent higher, respectively when compared to 2019-20," he said.

Frozen shrimp contributed 51.36 per cent in quantity and 74.31 per cent of the total dollar earnings. The US remained its largest importer (2,72,041 MT), followed by China (1,01,846 MT), the EU (70,133 MT), Japan (40,502 MT), Southeast Asia (38,389 MT), and the Middle East (29,108 MT).

However, shrimp exports declined by 9.47 per cent in dollar value and 9.50 per cent in quantity. The overall shrimp export was 5,90,275 MT worth $4,426.19 million.

"Shipments of chilled items and live items, which were negatively affected due to the reduced air cargo connectivity in the pandemic situation, fell by 16.89 per cent and 39.91 per cent in volume, respectively," added Srinivas.

The US, with imports of 2,91,948 MT, continued to be the major importer of Indian seafood with a share of 41.15 per cent in dollar terms.

Frozen shrimp remained the principal item exported to the US while exports of Vannamei shrimp showed an uptick of 6.75 per cent in quantity. However, its import of Black Tiger shrimps decreased by 70.96 per cent and 65.24 per cent in quantity and dollar terms, respectively.

China, with an import of 2,18,343 MT of seafood worth $939.17 million, remained the second largest market with a share of 15.77 per cent in dollar earnings, and 19 per cent in quantity terms.

However, exports to this country declined by 33.73 per cent and 31.68 per cent in quantity and dollar terms, respectively. Frozen shrimp was the major item of exports to China, accounting for a share of 46.64 per cent in quantity and 61.87 per cent in dollar earnings.

The EU, the third largest destination with a share of 13.80 per cent in dollar value, imported frozen shrimp as the major item. However, export of frozen shrimp to EU countries decreased by 5.27 per cent and 6.48 per cent in quantity and dollar value, respectively.

Exports to Southeast Asia had a share of 11.17 per cent in dollar value. However, it declined by 2.56 per cent in quantity and 5.73 per cent in dollar earnings. Shipments to Japan, the fifth largest importer with a share of 6.92 per cent in dollar terms, grew by 10.52 per cent in quantity but declined by 2.42 per cent in dollar value.

The Middle East, the sixth largest destination with a share of 4.22 per cent in dollar value, declined by 15.30 per cent and 15.51 per cent in quantity and dollar terms, respectively. Frozen shrimp was the major item of exports, having a share of 72.23 per cent in dollar terms.

Srinivas noted that besides the pandemic impact, several other factors negatively impacted seafood exports during 2020-21.

"On the production side, there were reduced fish landings due to less number of fishing days, slow logistic movements and market uncertainties. Scarcity of workers in fishing and processing plants, paucity of containers at seaports, increased air freight charges and limited flight availability affected exports, especially of high-value chilled and live products," he said.
Chennai, June 2 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Wednesday requested the Centre supply the state's quota of vaccines for June in the month's first week itself.

In a letter to Union Health Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan he also said that the state has not received vaccines proportionate to its size and population, and caseload, and requested that this could be compensated by a special allocation of 50 lakh doses of vaccine under the centre channel and other state channels.

Thanking the Minister for the latest allocation of over 40 lakh vaccine doses, he, however, noted that "the above allotment is only commensurate with the broader increase at the national level and also Tamil Nadu government's request for a special allocation was still to be addressed".

Stalin also highlighted the efforts taken by the Tamil Nadu government during the last one month in totally eliminating vaccine hesitancy, and that people of the state are now keen on vaccination, owing to the active awareness campaign.

The Chief Minister also called upon the Union government to immediately commence the production of vaccines at the Chengalpettu Integrated Vaccine complex.
The Public Health Commission in Spain agreed on Tuesday, 1 June, to immediately authorise the use of Janssen single-dose vaccine for people between 40 and 49 years old (those born between 1972 and 1981), and their vaccination will start in the next few days once the decision is ratified by the Interterritorial Council meeting between the Ministry of Health and the regions this Wednesday.

The use of the Johnson & Johnson formula was previously vetoed for the under-50s but it threatened to slow down the national vaccination campaign.

The 40 to 49 year old 'baby boom' generation is the largest decade age group in Spain with some 7.8 million people, more than 16 per cent of the total population of the country.

Health experts insist that lowering the Janssen vaccines age bar could significantly speed up the vaccination process of a group expected to have great mobility this summer, because it is a single-dose.

Initially the Johnson & Johnson formula was reserved exclusively for the age group between 70 and 79 years after six cases of rare blood clots were detected in the United States among women between 18 and 48 years. After the immunisation of group aged 70 to 79 was almost completed, on 11 May it was authorised for the age range of 59 to 50 years. The vaccine is also currently being used to immunise the population group that is difficult to locate, including the homeless, immigrants, seasonal workers, as well as residents abroad, international aid workers and also seafarers.

The successful vaccination of the expanded target population will depend on the laboratory improving its irregular supply to date. The Ministry of Health expected to receive 5.5 million doses of the vaccine between April and June but, until now, Spain has received only 576,000.

Johnson & Johnson maintains its promise to deliver 3.9 million doses this June, a figure and a schedule that the department, however, doubts will be fulfilled. Nor does the Ministry of Health believe that the company will be able to comply with the full contract of 17.5 million doses before 30 September on time.
Mumbai, June 2 : The Maharashtra government has decided to provide 82 permanent residential accommodations for the children of the migrant sugarcane workers in the state under the Sant Bhagwan Baba Government Hostel Scheme.

The decision was taken at the state cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, said Social Justice Minister Dhananjay Munde.

In the first phase, 10 separate hostels each for boys and girls shall be started from the current academic year in Beed, Ahmednagar, Jalna, Nanded, Parbhani, Osmanabad, Latur, Aurangabad, Nashik, and Jalgaon.

These shall be launched in rented buildings with a capacity of 100 each, providing free lodging and boarding to the children, since the construction of new hostels will take time, said the minister.

The scheme had been approved by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in September 2019, but languished and Munde had revived it now, terming as "a true tribute to the memory of the late Union Minister Gopinath Munde", who was his uncle.

Munde said that there are 232 sugar factories in Maharashtra which employ over 800,000 workers, both men and women as sugarcane cutters.

However, a majority of them have an uncertain nomadic life, migrating to different places for a living in sugarcane fields, which drastically affects the education, increases the dropout rate and the future prospects of their young children who are forced to travel along with their parents.
New Delhi, June 2 : Addressing the 149th session of the World Health Organization (WHO) executive board meeting on Wednesday, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that all must rise to the occasion to save the powerless and the voiceless, to see hope in these darkest of hours.

Harsh Vardhan, who successfully completed his tenure as the chairperson of the executive board of WHO, said in his address, "I believe that we at WHO must all rise to the occasion, to save the powerless and the voiceless, to see hope in these darkest of hours. This is one chance, one moment to forge open collaborations and reaffirm the fundamental truth that the world is one.

"I draw from the Indian philosophy of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam - 'the world is one family'. We must, therefore, commit to work with the Member States, the organisation and the global community of partners for the efficient, effective and responsive discharge of our public health obligations.

Talking about the pandemic, Harsh Vardhan said, "The time to act is now. This is a time when we all understand that there are going to be many urgent health challenges in the next two decades. All these challenges demand a shared response, because these are shared threats requiring shared responsibility to act. And, of course, this is also the core philosophy of WHO." He emphasised that the biggest need of the hour is a greater degree of shared idealism of nations.

"In such a dire global crisis, both risk management and mitigation require further strengthening of global partnerships to rekindle interest and investment in global public health. One most important task is to drive higher commitments in respect of diseases that have plagued humankind for centuries. We need to conquer the adversaries with collaborations and by supplementing each other by pooling our resources," he said.

He pointed out that although the WHO is already providing thought leadership to the entire world in the sphere of public health, there is always scope, as well as the need, to catalyse further changes.

"We have to be more aggressive in engaging in partnerships where joint action is needed, shaping the research agenda and stimulating the dissemination of valuable knowledge," he said.

He mentioned that at a critical time like the present pandemic, there is no scope for the industry to stick to Intellectual Property Rights.

"Sometimes, we find that there is little willingness for collaborative research. Affordability too is a key driving factor to achieve our aim of Health for All. WHO, along with others such as the World Trade Organization, must find ways to ensure affordable access to such key drugs in critical times," he said.

The Director General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu, congratulated the outgoing chairperson of the WHO executive board for his pivotal leadership to global health.

Appreciating his contribution towards tobacco control, Ghebreyesu said that Harsh Vardhan has been a true champion of tobacco control, besides being instrumental in driving the global efforts for the same.

Patrick Amoth from Kenya has been elected as the new chairperson of the executive board of the WHO.
Mumbai, June 2 : Television actor Shaheer Sheikh appears in the music video of Stebin Ben and Payal Dev's new song "Baarish ban jaana", alomng with Hina Khan. Shaheer recalls shooting in extreme conditions for the song in Kashmir.

"I was not expecting the place to be so cold, it was quite windy and cold. After the rain sequence, the production house really took care of us but it was still freezing cold and they used the river water that was like directly coming from the Himalayan region like melted ice," Shaheer recalled.

The actor also said that he was excited about the release of the song, which is slated to release on June 3.
Hyderabad, June 2 : The Telangana government will roll out Covid-19 vaccination from June 5 for students going abroad for higher education.

A separate facility for vaccination of students going abroad for higher education is proposed to be launched in the Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM), Narayanguda, Hyderabad.

An online slot booking system for the convenience of these students is being developed and will be rolled out on June 4. Link for this facility will be made available at https://www.health.telangana.gov.in Vaccination will commence and slots will be available from June 5.

The state cabinet, at its meeting on May 31, had decided to start vaccinating students going abroad for the higher studies.

It was announced that these students will be vaccinated on a priority based on their admission letters.

Yocket, India's largest platform for study abroad aspirants, has welcomed the decision by the Telangana government to vaccinate students going abroad for higher studies.

Co-founder and Higher Education Expert, Sumeet Jain, said that this is a welcome step. "This move will bring in a lot of positivity among the students that the people in power do care about them. This is a welcome move and it will give a lot of students to travel with confidence," he said.
London, June 2 : New Zealand were144 for three wickets at tea interval on the first day of the first Test against England at Lord's here on Wednesday. At the break, Devon Conway was batting on 71 off 131 balls and Henry Nicholls was on 10.

Ollie Robinson dismissed opener Tom Latham (23, 57 balls) in the first session and experienced Ross Taylor (14).

At lunch, New Zealand were 85 for one wicket.

Earlier, New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat.

New Zealand have won only one out of the 17 Tests they have played at Lord's in their 90-year history in England. Their lone victory came in 1999 under Stephen Fleming's captaincy. They have lost eight and drawn eight matches.
Damoh : , June 2 (IANS/ 101Reporters) Even a decade ago, the villagers of Phular in Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh had no claim on the lands that they had lived in for generations. They lived under the constant fear of government officials destroying their crops or asking them to vacate these lands. The aridity and limited prospects of agriculture further compounded their poverty.

Chandravati Gaund, who lives in Phular said, "We had to borrow atta (wheat flour) from the neighbours to feed guests who would come by rarely." Else, the nondescript village with 92 houses and 975 people - home to the Gond tribe - survived on kodo-kutki (a raw variety of rice) and barley.

Things changed drastically after 2006 when the people's movement, Ekta Parishad, made inroads into the hamlet. They helped the residents understand their claim to the land. Parishad's founding member and a proponent of Gandhian ideals, PV Rajagopal, started the stir to pressure the Union government to implement the Forest Rights Act (FRA). It was passed in 2006 to "recognise the forest rights and occupation in the forest land of the Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers..." A march to remember

A year after FRA's birth, Rajagopal helmed the Janadesh Yatra to better inform the people about the rights granted by the FRA. About 25,000 people participated in the Yatra, marching from Gwalior to Delhi to make a statement. This included 325 people from Phular and its neighbouring village, Jabera, whose residents had also long lived in fear.

"Government officials asked us to vacate the lands on many occasions. We were helpless until members of the Ekta Parishad intervened. They told us that this land was ours," said Ghanshyam Prasad, convener of Manav Jeevan Vikas Samiti and a resident of Jabera.

Prasad, along with Ekta Parishad, passed on this information to other villagers. The awareness sessions boosted their confidence, which was further bolstered by the Union government's promise to implement the FRA with immediate effect.

The process of reclaiming land under FRA started in 2009 with 90 families submitting the required forms. Of these, 45 claims were rejected. The beginning of the reclamation process was marred with such incidents of rejection and general confusion over the paperwork. Most villagers did not know where to get the forms, which ones to fill and where to submit them, besides the other formalities they needed to go through to claim their land.

Prasad and his team stepped in to assist the people. They relentlessly trudged through the bureaucratic quagmire till 2017 and helped 128 families (out of the 162) claim their rights. As a result, 221.118 hectares of land have been claimed. And, the contrast to the situation from a decade ago is stark. "Before 2007, only 30-40 families owned agricultural fields," said Gopal Kurmi, Panchayat Sachiv, a ground-level state employee responsible for implementing all the government schemes under the Panchayat and Rural Development Department.

Turning barren land fertile The successful fight to reclaim their land raised the morale of villagers. There was an urge to do more with this land, utilise it more efficiently. The native landowners were only too aware of how Damoh's acute water shortage was limiting their traditional means of agriculture. Thus, it was imperative to find solutions to improve these circumstances.

The residents of Phular had networked with water experts during the Janadesh Yatra of 2009 who had recounted the many benefits of creating small water structures and practising rainwater harvesting. Upon returning to their hamlet, the villagers levelled the fields, created small ponds, and constructed boundaries to catch rainwater.

Vimla Bahin, who has been the unsung guardian of Phular - for she had constantly resisted the government efforts to usurp their lands before FRA came into force - took the lead among the women in charting and creating these water bodies.

"A member from each family would donate labour to develop small ponds in the low lying places," said Amar Singh Gound who played a crucial role in identifying sites for making ponds and gathering the village folk for shramdaan. This slowly changed the face of Phular. By 2011, there were dozens of such structures, and farmers realised that their agricultural produce had increased, along with their groundwater table.

Amar Singh Gound added that earlier, one farmer had an average production of 30-40 quintals of grains. It is now at least 70 quintals per farmer.

"At present, every farmer has a reserve of 8-10 quintal of grains at his home," said Sone Singh Gaund, a farmer. He has seen veritable growth on his land. His crop inventory now includes onion, brinjal (eggplant) and tomatoes. The kharif crops include wheat, channa (chickpeas), and masoor (lentils) and rabi crops include rice, makka (corn), jowar (sorghum), bajra (pearl millets), moong (pulses), arhar (yellow split pigeon peas) or urad (black gram).

The water catchment has created the scope for farming all year round. It has helped many of the villagers stay home, rather than go to places like Delhi, Punjab, Guna and Ashoknagar in search of labour opportunities.

"This is a dry area. Agriculture was completely dependent on natural rains," said Kurmi, the Panchayat Sachiv. The villagers, he added, used to migrate to bigger cities in September-October and return in June when the skies promised rains. But now, they stay and plant crops throughout the year.

Apart from the bustling agriculture at Phular, many people continue their traditional activities of collecting forest produce and maintaining livestock.

(The author is a Bhopal-based freelance journalist and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters)
Mumbai, June 2 : The Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Reliance Industries Limited, Mukesh Ambani, has said that the strong balance sheet and high liquidity available with the oil-to-telecom giant will support its growth plans for Jio, Reliance Retail and its oil-to-chemical (O2C) business.

His statement in RIL's annual report for FY20-21 noted that strong operating cash flow and the largest ever capital raise have further strengthened its balance sheet, enabling the company to deleverage and meet its net-debt zero commitment ahead of stated timeline.

"We now have a strong balance-sheet with high liquidity that will support growth plans for our three hyper-growth engines - Jio, Retail and O2C," Ambani said.

During the year, Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail raised over Rs 1.52 lakh crore and Rs 47,265 crore respectively from strategic and financial investors, including Facebook and Google. Energy giant bp invested Rs 7,629 crore for a 49 per cent stake in RIL's fuel retailing business.

He also noted that RIL successfully completed India's largest ever rights issue of Rs 53,124 crore (oversubscribed by 1.59 times), which is also the largest in the world by a non-financial institution in the last 10 years.

Ambani also told the shareholders that during the year, RIL made pre-payment of $7.8 billion of long-term foreign currency debt, with requisite approvals from the RBI. This is the highest ever pre-payment of debt undertaken by any corporate borrower in India.

"Our consumer businesses retained their leadership positions and recorded robust growth on all operating and financial parameters during the year in spite of challenging hurdles. They now constitute nearly 50 per cent of consolidated segment EBITDA compared to 36 per cent in FY 2019-20," he said.

Noting that the world is now closing ranks for a strong global action on climate change, Ambani said: "This gives Reliance the right opportunity to accelerate our own ambitious New Energy and New Materials business wedded to the vision of clean and green development." In his statement to the shareholders, the CMD outlined the efforts and contribution of the company towards the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic.

He also said that Reliance has put in place a liberal leave policy for employees affected by Covid-19. It is providing financial assistance of up to three months' pay as interest-free salary advance in case of an exigency. In case of unfortunate demise of an employee, Reliance is providing financial support to the family and committing to shoulder the educational expenses of the children.

"While the war against Covid is far from over, we, the Reliance Family, are confident that in the end we will prevail. We care for each one of our stakeholders including employees, shareholders, vendors, customers and local communities," Ambani said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Riga, June 2 : Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins on Wednesday announced a new, reduced government coalition comprised of four existing partners, leaving KPV LV party out.

Latvia's new government coalition is now made up of the New Conservative Party, the alliance For Development/For, the National Alliance and the prime minister's New Unity party, the Xinhua news agency reported.

"Our government coalition has become more compact," the PM said, stressing the new coalition's commitment to social cohesion and economic growth.

With KPV LV leaving the coalition, its ministerial portfolios are going to the New Conservative Party, the For Development/For and the National Alliance.

The For Development/For has nominated MP Marija Golubeva for Latvia's next interior minister, the New Conservative Party has named MP Gatis Eglitis for welfare minister and the National Alliance has proposed reappointing Janis Vitenbergs as economics minister.

The New Conservative Party has also agreed to recall Ilga Suplinska from the post of education and science minister and replace her with the ministry's official Anita Muizniece.
Srinagar, June 2 : A terrorist associate was arrested by police and other security agencies from Jammu & Kashmir's Budgam district and incriminating material recovered from his possession, officials said on Wednesday.

Police said acting on specific information, a special joint checkpoint was established by police and the CRPF's 43 Bn at Harren Saibug area of Budgam, and Fayaz Ahmed Bhat, resident of Hakarmula Budgam, linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT, apprehended.

"Preliminary investigation revealed that the arrested terrorist associate was providing shelter, logistics and other material support including transportation of arms and ammunition to the active terrorists of proscribed terror outfit LeT in various areas of Budgam," police said.

"The arrested terrorist associate has been in touch with Pakistan-based terror commanders through various social media platforms and was also in constant touch with LeT self-styled terror commanders in Kashmir." Police said incriminating material including LeT posters were recovered from him.
Shenzhen, June 2 : In a bid to end the dependency on American technology, Huawei on Wednesday finally launched its self-developed operating system called HarmonyOS 2 that will power nearly 100 devices, including smartphones.

Fed up with the US restrictions, Huawei in 2019 announced to build its own operating system (OS) called HarmonyOS to end the dependency on market leader Google's Android OS.

The company announced the latest version of HarmonyOS in September last year, saying that HarmonyOS 2.0 will bring a comprehensive upgrade to its existing distributed capabilities, including software bus, data management and security.

Huawei has launched a range of smartphones, smartwatches and tablets powered by its new HarmonyOS 2 operating system, including a new version of the HUAWEI Mate 40 Series and HUAWEI Mate X2, the HUAWEI WATCH 3 Series, and the HUAWEI MatePad Pro.

"Every single one of us is a part of this fully connected world, as is every device. We look forward to working with more partners and developers to build a thriving HarmonyOS ecosystem and provide even better experiences, products, and services to our customers the world over," said Richard Yu, Executive Director and CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Group.

The company also released the HUAWEI FreeBuds 4, its next-generation open-fit Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) wireless Bluetooth earbuds, and two high-end monitors, the HUAWEI MateView and the HUAWEI MateView GT.

The company announced that roughly 100 other Huawei devices -- including both smartphones and tablets -- will be upgraded to run on HarmonyOS 2, giving consumers access to a seamless intelligent experience across multiple devices in all different types of scenarios.

For developers, HarmonyOS allows cross-platform development and cross-device deployment of apps, making the development of apps across devices easier than ever before.

"Multi-device interaction with HarmonyOS makes working across multiple devices as simple as controlling one," the company said.

The new Control Panel supports simple and intuitive connections through a drag-and-integrate feature that allows users to freely connect the devices they want based on specific scenarios.

Huawei said it is committed to protecting user privacy and security.

The Chinese conglomerate began work on its own OS as major chips and technologies from the US were not available to the company since May 16, 2019 due to restrictions imposed by the earlier Donald Trump administration amid the trade war between US and China.

Huawei's consumer businesses faced a tough time due to inability to use Google's ecosystem in overseas markets.
DES MOINES  When Iowa lawmakers wrapped up their 2021 session just before midnight May 19, they adjourned sine die  that is, without setting a date to return.

They expect to be back in August, but at this time thats more of a guess than a definite timetable. Thats because they are waiting on the U.S. Census Bureau to provide the granular data needed to complete redistricting  the redrawing of congressional and legislative district boundaries based on the decennial census.

I mean, the plan is sometime in August, to have a special session, Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, said after the adjournment.

However, Iowa Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, described redistricting as a moving target because the coronavirus pandemic delayed the census process by several months.

Redistricting, in general, has been a very difficult issue to address this year,  with the census delaying that data (and) not knowing when that data is going to come in, he said.

Ed Cook, legal counsel for the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency that will draw the election maps, seconded that. The Census Bureau told the state it will get what he calls legacy data by Aug. 16.

Sooner would be better because delivery of the data is crucial to allowing Iowas nonpartisan redistricting process to proceed, according to U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who has called and written the Census Bureau to plead the states case.

The nonpartisan legislative agency will turn that data into maps as quickly as possible, Cook said, but its just impossible to know how long it will take and whether it will be in time for legislators to meet their constitutional deadline. The Iowa Constitution requires that a plan be adopt by lawmakers by Sept. 1 and enacted, or signed by the governor, by Sept. 15.

Before the Legislature can act, a bipartisan redistricting advisory commission must hold public hearings and make a recommendation on a redistricting plan. If the Legislature approves the plan, it goes to the governor for her signature. If not, the agency draws a new set of maps for the legislators to either accept or reject. If a third plan is needed, lawmakers can amend it. That causes some concern, especially among Democrats, that Republicans will gerrymander the map for their electoral advantage.

From the perspective of the legislative agency, the process should be the same as always. Its just that instead of having this issue in February and March, we're going to have it late in the fall, Cook said.

If the Legislature cant meet the deadline, redistricting becomes the responsibility of the Iowa Supreme Court.

So it's all going to depend on when we get the data and what process the Supreme Court chooses to use, said Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls, D-Coralville.

In early April, the court issued a statement saying it tentatively plans to meet its constitutional responsibility by implementing a process which permits, to the extent possible, the redistricting framework presently set forth in Iowa Code chapter 42 to proceed after Sept. 15.

As vague as some lawmakers found that statement, Whitver thought the courts guidance was fairly clear that they plan to kick that back to the Legislature to follow our normal redistricting process.

Thats consistent with speculation that rather than handle redistricting directly, the state Supreme Court might tell the legislative agency to proceed with drawing a plan and then give the Legislature a deadline for approving the map.

In Oregon and California, the state courts have taken that approach, extending deadlines for lawmakers or redistricting commissions. In Texas and other states, lawmakers have extended the deadline and will push back 2022 primary election dates if necessary.

At this point, the delay in redistricting is felt by officeholders, candidates and political parties. Until district boundaries are known, its harder to make campaign plans, recruit candidates and raise funds.

But the uncertainty is not limited to politicians, Speaker Grassley said.

It's for Iowans, knowing who their representatives are going to be, he said. Thats what I see to be the priority, obviously.

To that end, legislators are resigned to the fact they will have to wait to know what their districts will look like and how the new lines will affect their political futures.

My last point on redistricting would be that we need good data to get fair maps, Wahls said. That's the thing that's the most important.
Hyderabad, June 2 : About a dozen top leaders of the banned CPI-Maoist are suffering from Covid-19, revealed a top Maoist arrested in Telangana's Warangal Urban district.

The Maoist leaders who are infected with Covid includes two Central Committee members -- Katakam Sudharshan alias Aanand, and Tippari Thirupathi alias Devuj.

This has been revealed to police by Dandakaranya Special Zone Divisional Committee (DKSZCM) Secretary, Gaddam Madhukar alias Mohan alias Shobroy, who was arrested on Tuesday in Warangal when he was coming to Hanamkonda town for Covid treatment.

Some of the Maoist leaders hiding in the forests in Chhattisgarh near the Telangana border are believed to have succumbed to the virus. This has confirmed the suspicion of the police that Covid is ravaging the Maoist cadre.

Warangal's Commissioner of Police, Tarun Joshi told reporters that Gaddam Madhukar and a courier were arrested during a vehicle-check near Mulugu crossroads on Tuesday. Madhukar, who was suffering from Covid, had come to Warangal for the treatment with the help of the courier, a minor.

Madhukar, who hails from Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district, had joined the Sirpur dalam of the then People's War Group (PGW) in 1999. The outfit later shifted him to Dandakaranya Special Zone Committee and since then, he was involved in several offences including killing of police personnel and snatching away their weapons.

The police officer said the courier went to Venkatapuram forest area in a car and was bringing Madhukar to Hanamkonda for admission in a hospital. When police searched the vehicle at the checkpost, Madhukar was found hiding in the car's boot.

Police arrested both of them and seized Rs 88,000 cash. Madhukar was later admitted to a hospital for treatment.

Police suspect the Maoists were infected by the virus during a protest held by the people at village Sildhur of Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district against the police camp 10 days ago.

The Maoist party leadership is not allowing the Covid infected leaders to undergo treatment unless their health condition deteriorates.

Joshi said one of the guards of a Maoist leader was nabbed by the militia members when he tried to escape from the party camp to get Covid treatment. He alleged that the Maoist party leadership was suppressing human rights by not allowing the party members to get the treatment for Covid.

The police official promised that the government would provide treatment to the Maoists if they came out voluntarily.

Maoist leaders said found to be infected with Covid include Telangana State Committee Secretary Yapa Narayana alias Haribhushan alias Lakma, Telagana State Committee members Bade Chokka Rao alias Damodar, and Kankanala Raji Reddy alias Dharmanna alias Venkatesh, DKSZC members Katta Ramchandra Reddy alias Vikalp and Kunkati Venkataiah alias Vikas, DKSZC spokesperson Mula Devender Reddy alias Masa Dada, South Bastar DVC Secretary, Muchaki Ungal alias Raghu alias Sudhakar, and others.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, June 2 : The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday termed certain media reports regarding the number of vaccine doses acquired and administered in the country as "factually incorrect and without any basis".

"There have been several unfounded media reports that have peddled misinformation among the masses regarding this exercise of national importance," a ministry statement said, adding that the total number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country so far stand at 21,85,46,667.

"There have been media reports alleging the Union Government promising 120 million doses of vaccines during June 2021 while administering only around 58 million doses from the total of 79 million doses available in the month of May. This report is factually incorrect and without any basis," it said, adding that as per the data at 7 am, on June 1, between May 1-31, a total of 61.06 million doses have been administered by states/UTs.

A total of 16.22 million balance and unutilised doses were available with states/UTs. The total vaccines shots available from May 1-31 were 79.45 million, it said.

"Some media reports have criticized India's vaccination policy based on unverified quotes. These reports questioning the prioritisation of population segments are not supported by full information on the matter," the statement said.

The ministry said the primary objectives of the vaccination is to protect the healthcare workers from the Covid pandemic, prevent deaths and protect individuals at the highest risk and vulnerability of mortality due to the disease.

It said the vaccination drive has been sequentially expanded to cover the prioritised groups, starting with the healthcare workers, followed by the frontline workers, then people aged 60 years and above and those aged 45-59 years with 20 identified comorbidities.

Subsequently, from April 1, all citizens aged 45 years and above became eligible for vaccination.

Such an approach has yielded positive results by achieving more than 81 per cent first-dose coverage among the registered healthcare workers and around 84 per cent first-dose coverage among the frontline workers, thereby protecting these sections who are involved in providing healthcare services, surveillance and containment activities amid the second wave of the pandemic, the statement said.

Also, 37 per cent beneficiaries in the 45 years and above age group have been administered the first dose of the vaccine, and 32 per cent of the eligible beneficiaries in this segment have received the second dose, the statement said.

From May 1, all citizens aged 18 years and above became eligible for vaccination. A "Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy" was adopted on May 1 which is guiding the ongoing third phase of the vaccination drive, it said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Hyderabad, June 2 : The Environment Protection Training and Research Institute (EPTRI) on Wednesday signed an MoU with the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) for collaborating in the areas of climate change, urban environmental management, and urban water and sanitation management, and related fields.

In his remarks on the occasion, Telangana Special Chief Secretary and EPTRI Director General Adhar Sinha said that the MoU will help both the organisations in strengthening the projects on climate change, urban environmental management, urban water and sanitation, municipal waste water management etc at international, national and state level.

The EPTRI was set up in 1992 as an independent registered society by the state government with assistance from the Centre. The state also provided bilateral assistance for technical collaboration between the EPTRI and the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida).

The organisation is abreast of wide-ranging concerns regarding environmental conservation and protection from ozone depletion, climate change, integrated environmental strategies to clean development mechanisms. It endeavours to create awareness among communities, civil societies, government organisations, NGOs and other stakeholders. It strives to achieve poverty alleviation through employment generation, human development and sustainable environment management.

Established in 1956 at the initiative of the government and the corporate sector, the ASCI, Hyderabad, has pioneered post-experience management education in India. It equips corporate managers, administrators, entrepreneurs and academicians with the skills to synthesise managerial theory and practice; and respond to the ever-increasing complexity of managerial issues confronting government, industrial enterprises and NGOs.
Bengaluru, June 2 : The anxiety among Class 10 and 12 students, parents and teachers in Karnataka continues as state Education Minister, S. Suresh Kumar on Wednesday said that the government would soon take a suitable decision on whether to hold Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) (Class 10) and second-year Pre-University (Class 12) examinations.

In a statement, the Minister said that discussions are underway with teachers, education experts and parents in this regard and an appropriate decision will be taken soon keeping in mind the health of the children and their future.

Confusion over conducting examinations for these two crucial classes has been prevailing in the state, ever since the several state boards and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) announced their decision to cancel the Class 10 board exams.

The Karnataka minister had, however, continuing to maintain that the state wants to conduct examinations for both Class 10 and 12 students.

Kumar, during the meeting of Education Ministers of all states organised by the Union government last month, had contended it was necessary to hold exams for Class 12 students in some way as they prepare for professional courses.

Finally, in a bid to put an end to anxiety among students, parents and teachers, the Union government on Tuesday decided to cancel the CBSE Class 12 board exams amid the continuing Covid pandemic across the country with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserting that the decision has been taken in the interest of students.

Following this, several states too have cancelled their own board exams too.

On the other hand, Karnataka has postponed examinations for Class 10 and 12 exams many times.

Kumar on April 20 had asserted that the examinations for SSLC were scheduled to begin on June 21 and this time these examinations would neither be cancelled nor be postponed and it will be held in the state as scheduled from June 21 to July 5.

However, after coming under flak, Karnataka had not only postponed the second year PUC or Class 12 final examinations but decided to promote first-year PUC students.

Given the circumstances, even the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET) 2021, which is held for Engineering admission, was also postponed on May 12.

Karnataka schools are currently observing summer vacation, which will continue till June 14. The new academic year will begin on June 15.

However, high school teachers had been instructed to conduct revision classes for Class 10 students. Summer vacation for high school teachers is till May 31.

The Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) holds the Class 10 board examinations, and the Karnataka Pre-University Examination Board (KPUEB) is responsible for conducting board examinations for Class 12 in multiple streams - humanities, commerce and science.
Chennai, June 2 : The president of the BJPs Tamil Nadu unit, L. Murugan, lashed out against Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and his Cabinet colleagues on Wednesday, accusing them of totally forgetting late DMK leader and former CM M. Karunanidhi's position in maintaining a cordial relationship with the Centre.

The BJP leader said in a statement, "Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader late M. Karunanidhi had always maintained that a cordial relationship with the Central government would fetch benefits for the state. He had followed this policy whenever he was in power." Murugan criticised the style of functioning of Tamil Nadu Finance Minister P.T.R. Thiagarajan and said that the minister's statement in the GST Council meeting that 'there is no Union without the state' is condemnable.

The BJP leader also said that state Finance Minister is functioning in a 'childish' manner.

Murugan said that Chief Minister Stalin must maintain a good relationship with the Central government for the benefit of the people of the state, something which was shown by his late father, Karunanidhi.

The BJP leader further alleged that the doubts raised by Stalin when he was an opposition leader had led to vaccine hesitancy in the state, adding that the DMK leader must question himself as to whether he had performed the role of an opposition leader well.
Paris, June 2 : Russian world No.37 Daria Kasatkina upset Swiss world No.11 Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-2 in the second round of the French Open here on Wednesday.

Daria will meet Romania's Sorana Cirstea, who overcame world No. 97 Martina Trevisan of Italy 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

World No. 16 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus secured a spot in the third round of the French Open for the first time since 2015, with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Clara Tauson, a fast-emerging teenager from Denmark.

Former world No.1 Victoria, whose best showing here was a semi-final finish in 2013, added to her first-round victory over former French Open champion, Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Victoria, 31, will face world No. 24 Madison Keys in the third round. Madison defeated Leylah Fernandez of Canada, 6-1, 7-5.

Australian world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty survived a scare before overcoming 70th ranked Bernarda Pera of the USA 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the first round and extending her winning streak at French Open to eight.

Czech Republic's former world No. 2, Petra Kvitova, gave a walkover to Russia's Elena Vesnina before the second-round match due to an ankle injury while Ekaterina Alexandrova, the world No. 32 from Russia, got the better of seven-time Grand Slam title winner and former finalist, Venus Williams, 6-3, 6-1 in the opening round.

Venus, the 2002 finalist, was competing in her 24th French Open.

Ekaterina converted six of her seven break points to set up a second-round clash with world No. 33 from the Czech Republic, Barbora Krejcikova.

Barbora, who won her maiden career WTA singles title in Strasbourg last week, defeated compatriot Kristyna Pliskova, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.

Ashleigh, winner of the title here in 2019, had skipped the 2020 edition held in October due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ashleigh seemed to have completely recovered from the arm injury she suffered during her quarter-final against American teenager Coco Gauff at the Italian Open in Rome a fortnight ago, where she was forced to retire.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra withdrew prior to her second-round match due to injury. The 11th-seeded Czech, who had entered the semi-finals here last year, posted on social media that she had injured her ankle after a fall during her first-round victory on Sunday.
Gandhinagar, June 2 : The Gujarat government on Wednesday granted more relaxations for businesses in 36 major cities of the state, allowing them to operate from 9 am to 6 pm, instead of 3 pm as was decided earlier.

Announcing the decision, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that the night curfew in these cities will be in place as usual.

The Gujarat government had imposed a night curfew in 36 major cities of the state from 9 pm to 6 am, while allowing all businesses, except essential and medical services, to function from 9 am to 3 pm.

The curbs on businesses was imposed from April end in view of the rising number of Covid cases in these cities.

But as the state is witnessing a drop in daily Covid cases and related deaths, Rupani on Wednesday announced that the curbs imposed in 36 major cities would be further lifted and businesses will be allowed to function from 9 am to 6 pm.

Rupani said the decision will come into effect from Thursday morning (June 4).

"The core committee has decided to lift the curbs on commercial activities further by three hours and now they will be allowed to carry on till 6 pm. Moreover, we have also allowed home delivery of food from hotels till 10 pm," Rupani said.

The relaxations will be allowed in the following cities -- Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamangar, Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Gandhinagar, Anand, Nadiad, Mehasana, Morbi, Dahod, Patan, Godhra, Bhuj, Gandhidham, Bharuch, Surendranagar, Amreli, Himmatnagar, Palanpur, Navsari, Valsad, Porbandar, Botad, Viramgam, Chotta Udepur, Gir-Somnath, Veraval, Deesa, Ankleshwar, Vapi, Modasa and Radhanpur.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, June 2 : Tata Group and Singapore Airlines' joint venture - Vistara - has vaccinated nearly 100 per cent of its eligible employees.

The airline's airport staff, cabin crew, pilots and corporate staff received at least their first dose.

"This is the outcome of airport-led vaccination drives across the country and the Vistara-led drive has been carried out in Delhi and the one in Mumbai is currently underway.

"Recognising the crucial role of vaccination in containing the spread of Covid-19, we have taken a multi-pronged approach to facilitate vaccination for our employees," the airline said.

As per the airline, the vaccination drive went beyond employees, reaching out to family members of employees, off-roll staff like ground handlers, as well as colleagues from Singapore Airlines and other partner airlines.

In addition to vaccines, Vistara undertook various employee-centric initiatives to extend support like creating a special cross-functional taskforce to help employees with all Covid-related medical assistance for themselves and their families.

"These initiatives also include paid leaves for recovery from Covid-19 for all affected employees, support with home hospitalisation, availability of critical resources like medicines and oxygen support, Covid-19 testing, doctor consultations for timely medical care and if needed, cabs as a makeshift ambulance for employee or their families."

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Silchar : , June 2 (IANS) The Congress, various organisations and individuals on Wednesday urged the Assam government to stop the sale of two paper mills owned by the government-run Hindustan Paper Corporation Ltd (HPCL).

Production at the HPCL's Cachar Paper Mill (CPM) in Hailakandi district closed on October 20, 2015 while the Nagaon Paper Mill (NPM) at Jagiroad in Morigaon has remained shut since March 13, 2017. Over 2,500 employees of both have not received salaries for over four years.

Mahila Congress President Sushmita Dev, in a letter to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, requested him to stop the sale of the two important paper mills.

"Kerala government took over the unit of Hindustan Newsprint Ltd at Kottayam. Your government recently approved the biggest-ever investment of over Rs 2,000 crore to raise Assam government's stake in the Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) in Golaghat to 26 per cent from the 12.5 per cent.I hope the Assam government will show the same spirit and rescue the two paper mills and protect the interest of the employees from going into private hands at a meagre cost of Rs 1,100 odd crore," she said.

Dev noted that the CPM in Panchgram is the only public sector industry in Assam's Barak valley and Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself had repeatedly assured that these industries would be revived in the greater interest of Assam.

During the recently-held assembly election, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also renewed his assurance to save the two mills, she added.

"More pertinently the election manifesto of BJP also gave commitment for the re-opening of the NPM although, to our dismay, there was no mention of the CPM," Dev said.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) recently allowed the HPCL to hold an e-auction of the two paper mills on June 30.

President of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the unions of the two paper mills, Manabendra Chakraborty said that the value of the assets of the two mills would be at least Rs 5,000 crore even though the reserve price for the e-auction has been set at Rs 1,139 crore.

"Last year only, the NCLT asked the HPCL to resume the production of the two paper mills. But mysteriously the NCLT, all of a sudden, changed its decision," he said. According to the JAC, so far 87 poverty stricken workers of the two mills have died, four of them by suicide.
Paris, June 2 : Henri Laaksonen, the 29-year-old Swiss who accounted for his first top 20 player in his career when he defeated 11th seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain in Round 2 of the French Open, said his aggressive play had finally paid off on Wednesday.

"Today was just an amazing match for me. I was playing really aggressive and it paid off," the world No.150, who arrived at Roland Garros without a tour-level win this season, said after his 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 win.

Laaksonen credited his success to the first 16 years of his life spent playing on the clay courts in the Finnish city of Hyvinkaa.

"They opened the clay courts really early, sometimes [at the] end of March. Sometimes we were playing when it was snowing a little bit. I just like it generally when I have a little bit more time for my strokes and slower conditions, so [the clay] fits me," Laaksonen told atptour.com Laaksonen suffered health issues in 2018, when he started feeling "intense pain throughout my body" whenever he would salmon.

It affected his training. But once he stopped eating the fish, his condition improved. "My body is starting to work again in a more normal way," Laaksonen said.

On what took him so long to make an impression on the circuit, Laaksonen said: "I wasn't playing bad. It was just missing one, two, three per cent, and that makes the difference at this level. Either you win those matches or you lose.

"I didn't feel bad actually on court. I was just missing a couple parts on my game. Here it has been going my way so far, so it's close always. And I wasn't really happy and I'm still not happy. My ranking is 150. That's not my goal, but that's what it is. I just try to improve."
Bengaluru, June 2 : Reeling under the impact of the Covid pandemic's second wave and the extended lockdown, Karnataka industry has sought waiver of taxes and tariffs and vaccines to protect employees from infection, an official statement said on Wednesday.

"Leaders of Karnataka industry and trade petitioned Chief Secretary P. Ravi Kumar to waive taxes and tariffs to restart their activities after unlocking, as they suffered huge losses due to the extended lockdown," it said.

As Covid cases surged exponentially during the pandemic's second wave across the state, the state government had imposed the lockdown on April 27 and extended it on May 10 up to June 7 to reduce positive cases and deaths.

"The industry and trade representatives also urged Kumar to step up vaccination to inoculate their employees and families ahead of the third wave to minimise disruption to their operations," the statement said.

In a virtual meeting with industry representatives, the Chief Secretary said that with the caseload reducing and the situation coming under control, the government is preparing to unlock in a staggered manner to allow industry, trade and business resume operations soon.

As the extended lockdown led to huge revenue loss across the sectors, the industry leaders said they were facing existential crisis due to shortage of capital flow, which is likely to impact their viability over the next 6-12 months.

Suspension of all activities during the lockdown has threatened business continuity for many sectors, especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), they said.

The industry leaders urged the state government to consider MSME works as frontline warriors and vaccinate them on priority.

"Monthly excise license fee of Rs 75,000 should be waived for 6 months. Power tariff bills and fixed electricity charges should be waived for the lockdown period," said the representatives in their joint submission to Kumar.

Noting that various reliefs, both financial and non-financial, sought by the industry bodies were reasonable, Kumar said the state government would look into their concerns and try to address them.

The virtual meeting was attended by Commerce and Industries Secretary Rajkumar Khatri, Industrial Development Commissioner Gunjan Krishana, and other senior officials.

Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Sundar, Karnataka Automobile Association President M.P. Shyam, Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association President Arsappa and Peenya Industrial Area representative N. Prahlad participated on behalf of the industry and trade.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Bengaluru, June 3 : With the Covid spread getting controlled, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Wednesday indicated that some relaxations would be given to enable export units to function smoothly, but restrictions will continue across the state, especially in rural areas, where cases are rising.

Prior to an interaction with ministers and senior bureaucrats here, Yediyurappa told reporters that export units will be allowed to work from Thursday (June 3) itself, even before the second lockdown comes to an end on June 7.

"We are thinking from multiple angles and considering various facets before taking any decision... as per these considerations, relaxations will be given to certain sectors, such as to export-oriented businesses which will be operationalised from Thursday onwards," he said.

He added that Covid has not completely come under control, as it is still high in rural areas, and the state government will have to take a decision considering how to balance things and go ahead.

"We will discuss on how to go about it... by extending the lockdown and taking strict measures, and will take a call after taking experts' viewpoint on this," he said.

The state's Covid Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)), in its report to the government, has mentioned that the positivity rate has to come below 5 per cent and number of cases should be below 5,000, and only then, can the restrictions be relaxed.

The state government had initially announced 14 days corona curfew from April 27, but subsequently imposed a complete lockdown from May 10 to 24 after experts insisted that stern measures were necessary. After May 24, the state decided to extend the lockdown by two weeks, which will come to an end on June 7.

After nearly a month-long strict lockdown, the government feels that the measures were yielding required results.

Responding to a question regarding the second lockdown relief package, the Chief Minister said he will take a decision on it in a couple of days.

Yediyurappa had earlier said that a second financial package for the Covid-induced lockdown was under consideration, and is aimed at providing relief to certain sections left out of the first one.

As the state government was battling the second wave of the pandemic, he had recently announced a Rs 1,111.82 crore financial package as relief for those whose livelihood has been affected by the lockdown.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Patna, June 3 : A DSP rank officer of the Bihar Police has been booked for allegedly raping a minor in Gaya district, an official said.

The FIR against Kamal Kant Prasad was registered under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act in the women police station on the direction of district court. Prasad allegedly committed the crime at his official residence during Dushahara celebrations in 2017 and his wife made the video of the incident and filed a complaint. The victim was his domestic help.

Women police station SHO Ravi Ranjana said: "The DSP's wife complained before authorities including the district police. A CID investigation in this regard was underway since then." After prosecution lawyer Kaiser Sarfuddin presented vital proof, including the video evidence and statement of the victim under Section 164 of the CrPC, Justice Neeraj Kumar, of the special POCSO court, directed district police to register FIR against the police officer on May 27.

"We have registered the FIR against the accused officer and the matter is under investigation," Ranjana said.
Bengaluru, June 3 : Amid the pandemic's second wave, Karnataka on Wednesday deployed 1,763 doctors who were recruited recently to treat Covid patients in government hospitals across the southern state.

"The doctors have been recruited as part of our plan to improve the healthcare infrastructure in the state and prepare for the pandemic's potential third wave, likely to hit later this year," said state Health Minister K. Sudhakar.

Addressing the new doctors in a virtual meeting, Sudhakar said they should change the perception of the people about state-run hospitals by working with dedication and commitment.

"You should make healthcare services at state-run hospitals world class by providing quality treatment and strive hard to change people's perception of our health infrastructure," said Sudakhar, a medical doctor by profession.

Terming the mass recruitment of doctors amid the pandemic historic, the minister said it was for the first time that so many (1,763) doctors were hired by the state health department at a time directly than by the Karnataka State Public Service Commission.

"The recruitment process was completed in a record 6 months to depute more doctors for treating Covid cases, which surged exponentially during the second wave since mid-April and overwhelmed our heath infrastructure," said Sudhakar.

Noting that for various reasons, people look down upon government hospitals and go to private hospitals for treatment though costlier, the minister said the doctors should change people's attitude towards them by providing quality service and care through human touch.

"The pancha (five) sutras (precepts) for all doctors are patient-centricity, punctuality, quality treatment, hospital upkeep and commitment, which will make people prefer government hospital to a private or a corporate hospital, especially in cities and towns across the state," asserted Sudhakar.

Though state-run hospitals have quality medical infrastructure and facilities, the minister said middle-class and upper-class patients prefer private hospitals even if costly because of the quality treatment and care they get there from their doctors, nurses and support staff.

"While most government hospitals are in sprawling campuses and prime locations in cities and towns, their upkeep is rather poor. We need to change by ensuring hygiene and cleanliness. Our service standards should match that of private hospitals," reiterated Sudhakar.

Regretting that many government doctors also work in private hospitals, clinics and nursing homes, the minister said as a result, marginal and poor patients were deprived of their timely service and treatment.

"The state government spends lot of money and resources in churning doctors through its medical colleges. It is their primary duty to serve patients who are from lower strata of society. Doctors are bridges linking the government and people," he added.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, June 3 : The Dominica High Court ruled that Indian fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, wanted in India in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, must be brought before a local magistrate on Wednesday afternoon to face charges of illegal entry.

According to people familiar with the matter, Justice Bernie Stephenson ruled that Choksi is to face charges of illegal entry into Dominica.

Meanwhile, Antigua News Room, a media outlet based in the Carribean nation, reported that the matter was brought before the court on Monday and after deliberations for just over three hours, the judge ruled that the application of habeas corpus be adjourned until 9 a.m. on Thursday.

Choski is currently admitted at the China friendship hospital since last week.

Earlier in the day, Stephenson started hearing submissions from lawyers representing Choksi and the police in Dominica.

Meanwhile, Choksi's lawyer in India, Vijay Agarwal told IANS: "Only question before the court is that whether he entered Dominica illegally or not, whether he is liable to be detained, whether Dominican police have the right to keep him in custody." Agarwal also contended that how shall he be deported is not a question before the court.

Choksi had gone missing from Antigua and Barbuda on May 23 sparking a massive manhunt. He was captured in Dominica on May 26.

Earlier in the day, Choksi had told an Indian news outlet that he was abducted by Indian agents and was given shock with a Taser gun whenever he resisted. He also alleged that he was beaten up by the officials.

In a statement to Business Standard newspaper, Choksi said that he was abducted from the Carribean island of Antigua on the night of May 23 from where he was forcibly taken on a boat to the island of Dominica.

On May 27, first pictures of Choksi emerged online, showing several signs of bruises on his arms and a swollen eye.

"Choksi was forced to get into a vessel from Antigua and was taken to Dominica," Agarwal had told IANS. He also claimed that there were marks on Choksi's body, implying the use of force.

"There is something fishy and I guess it was a strategy to take him to another place so that there are chances of sending him back to India. So I don't know what forces are operating. The time will tell," he had said.

However, Antigua Police Commissioner Atlee Rodney has rubbished the claims of Choksi's counsel and said that they have no information on him being forcefully removed. An eight-member team of Indian officials has also landed in Dominica on a private jet for the extradition of Choksi.

A Dominican court has restrained the extradition of Choksi till further orders by hearing the haebus corpus plea filed by his lawyers.

Choksi is wanted in India by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case. He had shifted to Antigua in January 2018, days before the CBI registered a case.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Dhaka, June 3 : Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Begum Yasmin Ara on Wednesday placed the alleged kingpin of an international women trafficking racket, Ashraful Mondol alias 'Boss Rafi', and three others on five-day remand.

The three other members of the racket are Sahida Begum alias 'Madam' Sahida, 46, Md Ismail Sardar, 38, and Abdur Rahman alias Arman Sheikh, 26.

All the four persons were involved in an international trafficking ring and were arrested in a case filed on charges of trafficking women and forcing them into sex racket in India.

The traffickers used to film the women in compromising positions after drugging them. They later used the videos to blackmail the women and force them into sex crimes.

The investigating officer, Mohammad Mohiuddin Farooq, produced the four accused before the court seeking 10-day remand for them to investigate the matter.

The international human trafficking ring spreading from Bangladesh to India, Pakistan and the Middle East, especially Dubai, reportedly has more than 50 members, who trick women into travelling to India and the Middle east by promising them jobs at markets, department stores and salons, sources said.

The traffickers used both legal and illegal ways to take the victims to India after gathering them in the border districts of Jashore, Satkhira and Jhenaidah.

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) of Bangladesh Police had arrested Rafi and three others from Jhenaidah, Jashore and the Benapole border area between Monday night and Tuesday morning. Later, a case was filed at the Hatirjheel police station.

Commander Khandaker Al Moyeen, director of the media wing of RAB, told IANS on Wednesday that TikTok Hridoy, another kingpin of the racket who was arrested in India recently, had helped Rafi traffic around 50 women since the duo had met two years back.

Hailing from Nadpara in Jhenaidah, Rafi got involved in women trafficking 10 years ago. Rafi has confessed to the police that in these 10 years, he had smuggled more than 500 women to foreign traffickers.

The racket came to light following the arrest of Hridoy and five of his associates in Bengaluru after a video footage of brutal torture and sexual assault of a Bangladeshi girl in India went viral.

The woman was tortured for helping two others escape, Rafi has confessed.

Rafi had trafficked the woman to Bengaluru in October last year where she was taken to a safe house. The video was recorded there, he confessed.

Rafi had earlier worked as a driver and a garment trader in Bengaluru for eight years during which time he came into contact with the human traffickers. He later formed his own gang, Moyeen told IANS.
New Delhi, June 3 : The Central government sources claimed that conduct of former West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay on May 28 has made a severe dent to the IAS, the supposed 'steel frame' of India as devised by first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Referring to Sardar Patel's address to the first batch of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers at Metcalfe House in the National Capital, a government source said" "He (Sardar Patel) referred to them as the 'steel frame of India'." "He didn't invent this phraseology only to inspire the young officers but behind this was a multitude of connotations - India was a multicultural nation where rulers of these states would have their own interests and egos, at times inflated.

"In Indian federal structure the IAS would be appointed and would also be their cadre control authority even as their services would be placed to the states. On issues relating to governance and coordination these officers act as a bridge between the Centre and the states on issues.

"The service was constructed in such a way that they are expected to take a more rational and judicious view on a given subject in the best interest of the state and the nation.Sources asked what Bandyopadhyay, a 1987 batch IAS officer in his position of chief secretary of the state was expected to do - was his conduct and behaviour appropriate for the position he held? "As senior most civil servant of the state, how should he have behaved? Did he take a rational and judicious view and decision on the spot or was he completely left to the whims of the chief minister so that his post-retiral could be handsomely rewarding," he said.

Government sources explained that these questions are significant because a chief secretary can't be working like the personal staff of the chief minister.

Government sources pointed out that after the landfall of the cyclonic storm 'Yaas', the Prime Minister had held a meeting with central ministries and agencies on May 27 for assessment of damages caused and for facilitating the states in early restoration measures.

"Further, a visit of the Prime Minister was scheduled to West Bengal on 28 May for an on-ground assessment. The chief secretary was duly informed of it and the PM chairing a review meeting at Air Force Station Kalaikunda, district West Midnapore on the same day," sources said.

As per the government sources, Bandyopadhyay as Chief Secretary of West Bengal government was supposed to do the briefing to the Prime Minister and do the follow up.

"But when the PM arrived at the briefing room Bandyopadhyay was not present there. After he was contacted by an official from the Prime Minister's delegation he came inside the meeting room but is said to have left within two minutes, without attending the review meeting," sources said.
DPAS plays a significant role in the facilitation of rapid and focused acquisition, technology, and logistics support to todays warfighters, said Scott Rauer, President of Akimas Facilities Solutions Group.

Akima today announced that its subsidiary, Sunik, has been awarded a contract to support the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) J4 and Special Operations Forces Acquisition Technology and Logistics (SOF AT&L) with the implementation and maintenance of the Defense Property Accountability System (DPAS) Warehouse, Maintenance & Utilization (M&U), Registry, Property Accountability, Force Management, and Materiel Management modules across all Special Operation Forces (SOF) supply support activities. The estimated value of the contract is $23.9 million over five years if all options are exercised.

DPAS plays a significant role in the facilitation of rapid and focused acquisition, technology, and logistics support to todays warfighters, said Scott Rauer, President of Akimas Facilities Solutions Group. We are pleased to provide the USSOCOM J4 with an experienced team of experts to ensure the operational readiness of this mission critical system.

Under this contract, approximately 30 to 50 support personnel will deliver materiel management services across the SOF Enterprise, including locations in Tampa, Florida and Lexington, Kentucky. Additionally, the Sunik team will meet the three imperatives for providing the command with professional services support:



StabilityRetaining high quality and applicable institutional knowledge and minimizing workforce turbulence

AgilityManaging a professional workforce in a dynamic environment that evolves at the speed of SOF

ReachApplying the network and knowledge of the entire enterprise of the team

About Sunik

Sunik is an SBA-certified 8(a) company and wholly owned subsidiary of Akima, an Alaska Native Corporation (ANC), specializing in delivering day-to-day facilities and base level logistics operations and management to DoD and federal civilian customers. Whether its providing base operations support at Marine Corps Base Quantico or providing operations and maintenance support services at two U.S. Department of Agriculture Regional Research Facilities, Sunik delivers high quality services when and where customers need it most. To learn more about Sunik, visit http://www.sunikllc.com.

About Akima

Akima is a global enterprise with more than 8,000 employees, delivering agile solutions to the federal government in the core areas of facilities, maintenance, and repair; information technology; logistics; protective services; systems engineering; mission support; furniture, fixtures & equipment (FF&E); and construction. As a subsidiary of NANA, an Alaska Native Corporation owned by more than 14,000 Inupiat shareholders, Akimas core mission is to enable superior outcomes for our customers missions while simultaneously creating a long-lived asset for NANA consistent with our Inupiat values. In 2020, Washington Technology ranked Akima #39 amongst the top 100 government contractors. To learn more about Akima, visit http://www.akima.com.


Master Suite The most noteworthy characteristic of the award is that it is decided directly by clients that have visited our hotels and enjoyed positive experiences.

ATELIER de Hoteles, the Mexican hotel chain that is recognized for its Handcrafted Hospitality concept announced that ATELIER  ESTUDIO Playa Mujeres and OLEO Cancun Playa received the Travellers Choice award 2021, which is granted by the recognized online travel platform TripAdvisor, thus placing these properties among the best hotels in the world.

The winners of the Travellers Choice awards are selected based on the reviews and opinions of millions of TripAdvisor users throughout the world. These ratings focus on service, quality, and client satisfaction in each of the establishments that are evaluated.

We proudly celebrate that the three resorts operated by ATELIER de Hoteles were awarded with the Travellers Choice 20202021 insignia by TripAdvisor. The most noteworthy characteristic of the award is that it is decided directly by clients that have visited our hotels and enjoyed positive experiences. Undoubtedly, 2020 was a challenging year and it is especially gratifying to hear that our guests recognize the service, luxury, and quality we offer in our resorts. In this respect, we applaud the passion, love and commitment of all Arteleros that collaborate in the three properties and whom we congratulate for their outstanding performance, stated Oliver Reinhart, CEO of ATELIER de Hoteles.

In turn, Kanika Soni, Chief Commercial Officer at TripAdvisor, said: Congratulations to all the winners of the Travellers Choice Awards 2021. I know that last year was very challenging for all companies in the tourism sector. It has been impressive to witness how they adapted to such conditions, implementing new protocols and hygiene and safety measures, and taking advantage of technology to prioritize guests. The Travellers Choice Awards 2021 attest to the outstanding experience and excellent service provided to guests in the middle of a pandemic.

In this respect, hotel group ATELIER de Hoteles protects guests and co-workers through its innovative Shielded Vacations program, which was developed in cooperation with medical personnel and health experts.

ATELIER de Hoteles and its luxurious collection of resorts is committed to provide unique experiences to clients. The ATELIER  ESTUDIO Playa Mujeres resort, located in a modern area of Cancun, contains the most attractive options in the Mexican Caribbean for the luxury segment. They provide, in addition to beautiful scenery, the spectacular Handmade Hospitality service and the Surrounding Technology concept, two of the main cornerstones of ATELIER de Hoteles.

About:

ATELIER de Hoteles is an innovative and ground-breaking Mexican hotel chain founded in 2015, with contemporary Mexican art setting it apart and acting as the common denominator in its concepts, which include strategy, passion, and commitment. ATELIER de Hoteles offers in its four brands, ATELIER, ESTUDIO, OLEO and MET, relaxed luxury with the highest service standards in its properties, currently located in the Hotel Zone and Playa Mujeres, both in Cancun, Quintana Roo, and with openings planned in the near future in the most important beach and business destinations in Mexico
So when we saw schools start using Beanstack for readathons, we knew we could make a major difference for our partners by helping them close their funding gaps.

Beanstack presents the first annual Read to Raise Challenge, kicking off in fall 2021 for K-12 schools in the U.S. As school leaders and parent volunteers begin to plan ahead for fall fundraising, previous methods may be difficult or impossible with schools at varying levels of re-opening. Some Beanstack clients even report that their school communities have become smaller as a result of the pandemic, making it difficult to maintain their annual fundraising goals.

A Fundraiser for Any School Status

The Read to Raise Challenge will support schools by offering an easy-to-manage, virtual readathon. 90% of the money raised by each school will directly benefit that school community. An additional cash prize donation of up to $5,000 will be awarded to top-performing schools.

A recent SLJ survey reveals that school library and media center budgets were hit hard during the pandemic. School librarians are getting creative to cover the gap, and this national readathon offers an integrated and innovative way to bolster budgets and incentivize student reading.

Each participating school will receive set-up support, a toolkit of launch and promotional resources, and an invitation to a virtual event to get students excited to read. Students will aim to read 20 minutes per day; they will invite family and friends to donate and follow along to see their reading progress.

Solving Two Needs with one Deed

Selling candy, popcorn, and other items are longtime fundraising favorites, but they dont provide educational benefits to students. Books fairs are popular among school libraries, but they arent as profitable or as equitable, as many families may not have the disposable income to participate. A readathon is a great alternative, because any student can participate just by reading, and the benefits go beyond fundraising. Readathons also save educators time and effort, because they do not require in-person contact, inventory management, collecting cash, or recruiting volunteers.

"Beanstack is already the best app for motivating students to read more, says co-founder and CEO Felix Lloyd. So when we saw schools start using Beanstack for readathons, we knew we could make a major difference for our partners by helping them close their funding gaps."

All schools that subscribe to Beanstack are eligible and encouraged to participate. Schools will receive 90% of all donations pledged during the challenge, which is significantly more than alternative fundraising solutions. Additionally, a Beanstack subscription allows schools to participate in year-round reading challenges and to run their own challenges and readathons on demand.

For more information about the Fall 2021 Read to Raise Reading Challenge, including prize details and how to join, visit the challenge website: https://landing.beanstack.com/read-to-raise-2021-reading-challenge
At BluePearl, we believe in inclusive and diverse work environments where all voices are heard and differences are valued," said Angela Calderone, Vice President of People and Organization at BluePearl.

BluePearl Specialty and Emergency Pet Hospital, a leading provider of advanced veterinary care with over 100 practices nationwide, today announced it has become a Pride Veterinary Medical Community (PrideVMC) 2021 Gold Partner. The partnership aims to help PrideVMC achieve its mission of creating a better world for the LGBTQ+ veterinary community through building collaborative networks and supporting LGBTQ+ veterinary student mentorship and scholarship programs.

At BluePearl, we believe in inclusive and diverse work environments where all voices are heard and differences are valued, said Angela Calderone, Vice President of People and Organization at BluePearl. Our continued partnership with PrideVMC underscores this commitment, as well as encourages our Associates to engage in deeper, more meaningful conversations about belonging and acceptance. We are grateful for our allyship with PrideVMC and look forward to seeing the transformational changes our combined efforts make for our professional community members.

Equity, Inclusion & Diversity (EI&D) continues to be a core focus for BluePearl, which actively works to raise awareness and bring resources to its Associates. In honor of LGBTQ+ Pride Month, BluePearl will being spotlighting Associate stories through its #BPride crowdsourcing social campaign, as well as encouraging virtual participation in PrideVMCs educational and social events.

"We appreciate the ongoing partnership and collaboration with BluePearl Specialty and Emergency Pet Hospital as well as their vocal social media presence in support of LGBTQ+ allyship, shared PrideVMC President, Dr. Dane Whitaker. We always look forward to our planning calls with BluePearls EI&D Council member for our partnership. Their energy, creativity, and passion for inclusion is inspiring.

In 2021, BluePearl created its EI&D Council to serve as the voice of its more than 7,000 Associates. Recent BluePearl EI&D Council actions include Associate selection of pronoun preferences for the organizations database, nametags, and email signatures, and mandatory Fundamentals of EI&D Training for all current and new Associates. EI&D Training at BluePearl includes online educational materials, such as presentations and resource guides, to support inclusive language and practices.

About BluePearl Specialty and Emergency Pet Hospital

Founded in 1996, BluePearl is one of the largest specialty and emergency veterinary practices in the U.S. today. BluePearl has more than 100 hospitals in 29 states that together employ 7,000+ Associates, including 1,330+ veterinarians, 1,600+ veterinary technicians, and 4,100+ other professionals. Each year, our compassionate teams provide high-quality care for more than 1.1 million pets and their families. BluePearl clinicians also participate in clinical studies to discover new treatments and procedures that improve pet health. As part of the Mars Veterinary Health family of brands, BluePearl is committed to its purpose  A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS  because pets make a better world for us. Learn more at BluePearlvet.com.

About PrideVMC

The mission of the Pride Veterinary Medical Community (PrideVMC) is to create a better world for the LGBTQ+ veterinary community. We do so by striving to foster acceptance and inclusivity for people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender presentations within the veterinary medical profession and community. We fight discrimination, build collaborative networks, and support LGBTQ+ veterinary students through mentorship and scholarship programs. PrideVMC membership is open to the entire animal health and veterinary community regardless of role, race, color, religion, national origin or citizenship status, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, or military status. Allies are welcome! For more information please contact info@pridevmc.org.
Dr. Platero is the principal of a Navajo language immersion school. She's very worried about the disappearance of Navajo language and culture. Dr. Platero cried when she said, she used to have those what if moments when kids no longer know their origins. Where are we going to be?

(This material is distributed by MediaLinks TV, LLC on behalf of CCTV. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.)

CGTN America releases The Disappearing Language of Navajo."

Like many other indigenous tribes, the Navajo have their own language. During World War II, U.S. Marine Corps fighting the Japanese used Navajo code talkers to send secure messages. The Navajo helped win the Pacific war. Today, the Navajo language  or Dine Bizaad in Navajo  has been designated as vulnerable by UNESCO. On Navajo land, there are roughly around 170 thousand people who still speak Navajo.

Dr. Audra J. Platero is the Principle of Tsehootsooi Dine BiOlta(TDB) School, a Navajo language immersion school in Window Rock, Arizona that offers students both native language and English education.

She showed us the school library. Dr. Platero is very proud that the teachers here can translate almost any book in English to Navajo. However, she is also concerned the ability for kids to speak in Navajo is declining.

She told us the Dine language is disappearing for two reasons.

First, during boarding school era  a period that lasted from the 1860s to 1978  many Navajos were forbidden to speak their own language. The resulting trauma continued after Navajo who were students in this era became parents and the experience affected their ability to teach their kids the Dine language.

Second, in 2000, Arizona passed Prop 203, an English-only state law that requires all public school students who are English learners to be taught on English immersion classes. The continuing existence of this school became an issue. Tribal leaders traveled from Window Rock to Phoenix many times to keep the school going.

Dr. Platero cried when she said, she used to have those what if moments when kids no longer know their origins. Where are we going to be?

A survey conducted in 1990s showed only 18% of pre-school children speak Navajo and most of the parents speak English with their children.

Dr. Platero hopes that after vaccination against COVID-19, students will be able to return to schools and re-immerse themselves in Dine culture.

It works. You can see it. You can hear it. You can feel it, she says. Dr. Platero said when she heard children singing in the hallway in Navajo and getting excited to talk about the tradition of wearing jewelry, you can feel their pride.

Click here for more about all The Disappearing Language of Navajo and to view the report: https://newsus.cgtn.com/news/2021-05-29/The-disappearing-language-of-Navajo-10E3njPGbFC/index.html
Instron testing capabilities have proven to be a critical component of any comprehensive container testing and qualification program. We are excited to work with Instron in bringing their unique and valued technology into our service offering.

CS Analytical Laboratory, the worlds only cGMP, FDA-registered and inspected contract laboratory exclusively designed and dedicated to container testing for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries, is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition, installation and cGMP qualification process for a new Instron Model 68SC Universal Testing Machine. The Model 68SC, which has proven to be an essential tool in any container and package qualification testing program, features a Frame Capacity of 1kN, 500N Load Cell with a verifiable range of 0.5N to 500N, Test Speed Range of 0.00004  100 inches/minute and a data capture rate of up to 5000 points per second. Its range of capabilities within the container qualification process is broad and can include applications such as syringe testing, device testing, and package seal testing. The system is designed with flexibility in mind, allowing for testing a variety of package products.

Commented Chief Scientific Officer Brandon Zurawlow, Instron testing capabilities have proven to be a critical component of many comprehensive container testing and qualification programs. We are excited to work with Instron to bring their unique and valued technology into our service offerings.

Instron has been at the forefront of innovation within the biomedical industry through their development of instruments that help evaluate and analyze critical product performance and functionality attributes. The ability to more comprehensively test syringe break loose and glide forces as well as evaluate glass durability through failure testing are prime examples. These functional tests ultimately lead to a higher quality product entering the marketplace. In addition, Instron understands the strict regulatory requirements that FDA regulated companies must adhere to.

One of Instrons top priorities is helping customers address the regulatory hurdles associated with FDA 21 CRF Part 11 and IQ/OQ compliance, shared Instrons Senior Applications Engineer, Landon Goldfarb. These regulations often tie up lab resources and reduce throughput, so weve developed an integrated Traceability compliance software package which is combined with help from our experienced service organization to enable customers like CS Analytical Laboratory to operate more effectively within a highly regulated environment. Given these tools, labs can maintain compliance while also maintaining high throughput and running a wide range of tests.

Serving as part of its dedicated Comprehensive and Complimentary Servicing offering, the Instron testing capabilities, in conjunction with other unique functional and dimensional test program offerings, enable CS Analytical to meet a wide variety of regulatory and client specific qualification requirements across of broad spectrum of container and package types.

About CS Analytical Laboratory

The worlds only cGMP, FDA-registered contract laboratory exclusively designed and dedicated to container testing for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries, the CS Analytical Team includes world-leading experts and thought-leaders on FDA and EU regulatory expectations and USP and EP primary package testing requirements inclusive of container closure integrity (CCI) testing (CCIT). Test services include CCI method development, validation, and analysis, USP/EP/JP physical and physicochemical testing, and Comprehensive and Complementary services for all common or unique primary packaging components and systems inclusive of glass, plastic, elastomeric, and more. CS Analytical is the single source to ensure a regulated industry product-package system meets strict, complex, and ever-changing regulatory requirements.

About Instron

Instron is a leading global manufacturer of testing equipment for the material and structural testing markets used to evaluate materials ranging from native tissue to advanced high-strength alloys. Instron systems perform a variety of tests such as compression, cyclic, fatigue, impact, multi-axis, rheology, tensile, and torsion. Instron is a wholly owned subsidiary of Illinois Tool Works Inc. For more information, visit http://www.instron.com.
With his unwavering dedication to the accounting profession, we couldnt think of a better individual to serve as the beacon of progress for all CPAs and those looking to join the field.

DiSanto, Priest & Co. is proud to announce that our Partner, Bill Pirolli, CPA/CFF/PFS, CGMA, has been elected as Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and Vice-Chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, inaugurated during a ceremony on May 26. Having served as Vice Chair of the AICPA for the past year, he will act as Chair until May 2022, working to elevate the CPA profession through student mentorship, technology initiatives, and service.

The Firm congratulates Bill on this prestigious honor as he embarks on the next 12 months in his new role, said Emilio Colapietro, Managing Partner of DiSanto, Priest & Co. With his unwavering dedication to the accounting profession, we couldnt think of a better individual to serve as the beacon of progress for all CPAs and those looking to join the field.

Bill joined as Partner at DiSanto, Priest, & Co. in 2007 and has over 40 years of experience serving clients in public accounting. He began his education and accounting career at Rhode Island Junior College (now the Community College of Rhode Island), finishing his degree at Bryant University and solidifying his roots as a Rhode Island native. Bill has served his community at the local level for decades, as hes a former President of the Rhode Island Society of CPAs, past President of the Central Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce, and currently a member of the DiSanto Priest Charitable Foundation Advisory Board.

DiSanto, Priest & Co. couldnt be happier for Bill to represent the Firm and the State of Rhode Island during his time as Chair of the AICPA, said David DiSanto, Partner of DiSanto, Priest & Co. His extensive experience, coupled with his service-oriented approach to individuals, clients and the profession, gives him a unique perspective that will serve us all well. We cant wait to see what Bill and the AICPA will achieve together in this next year.

At the national level, Bill has held multiple senior positions on AICPA committees, including a three-year term on the Board of Directors. In 2018, he was awarded the Sustained Contribution Award by the AICPA for his many years of service to the organization and the accounting profession at large.

When asked about his plans as Chair, Bill said: During the extraordinary challenges of the past year, weve seen first-hand how the profession has helped small businesses survive and adapt; I look forward to empowering all firms to achieve success in their field and equip them with the tools they need to succeed. Strengthening our profession starts with students, and to attract the best and the brightest talent to become CPAs, we must continue to be relevant, exciting, and challenging. Through CPA Evolution, AICPAs joint initiative with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy to evolve CPA licensure, I look forward to promoting technology initiatives and helping to prepare students for fulfilling CPA careers. Above all, Im excited to forge relationships with fellow CPAs on the national and global level to create a renewed sense of community and connection in the field. As my dad always said, Were in the people business, not the numbers business.'"

For more details on Bill Pirollis background and plans for his upcoming term, see the Journal of Accountancys feature article.

About DiSanto, Priest & Co.

DiSanto, Priest & Co. serves as business advisors for todays leading privately held companies, with teams dedicated to serving the manufacturing, distribution, retail, real estate, construction, professional services, commercial fishing and technology industries. As a firm purposely built to serve privately held businesses, it provides the full array of tax planning, tax compliance and wealth advisory services to the owner-operators of those closely held entities. Learn more at DiSantoPriest.com.
2021 Apartment Association of North Carolina (AANC) Hall of Fame Inductee, Kellie Falk with Drucker + Falk I am very honored, as this recognition comes from my peers in the apartment industry. - Kellie Falk, Managing Director and Principal for Drucker + Falk

The Apartment Association of North Carolina (AANC) Hall of Fame inducted Managing Director and Principal, Kellie Falk, along with Sherry Yarborough, Multifamily Director for the Southeast, at Drucker + Falk (DF), a full-service real estate and investment firm, on Thursday, May 27th as part of the AANC Illuminate Your Monitor Series. The AANC Hall of Fame recognizes individuals in North Carolina for their contributions, accomplishments, and service to the multifamily housing industry each year.

To be inducted into the Hall of Fame, individuals must have at least 10 years of membership with at least one NC Affiliate. Additionally, local association involvement, character, volunteer service, and industry accomplishments will also all be considered as a part of the overall selection process.

Kellie Falk is a licensed real estate broker in several states and shares her talents on numerous real estate and housing boards. Along with her new induction into the AANC Hall of Fame, Falk has a longtime involvement with the AANC, including a past role as President of the organization. In 2020, she was inducted in the NC Women Business Owners Hall of Fame which honors NCs most successful female entrepreneurs and advocates who have made significant and enduring contributions to impact womens entrepreneurial development in North Carolina and has received numerous accolades, honors, and appointments across her local community and from multifamily organizations.

In sharing what her recent induction meant to her, Falk stated, I am very honored, as this recognition comes from my peers in the apartment industry. An industry that Ive spent most of my lifetime being involved in.

Sherry Yarborough has been in the multifamily industry for over 35 years and serves as the Immediate Past President of the AANC. She is the Past President for the Triangle Apartment Association and has earned several awards and recognitions for her efforts and leadership success on both a local and national level. She continues to serve on committees and participates in lobbying for issues that affect the multifamily industry, striving to have the greatest positive impact she can.

When asked for her thoughts on her induction, Yarborough shared, I'm very honored to be recognized for my contributions to the multifamily industry in North Carolina all while doing a job that I love.

The company is beyond pleased to see two representatives being inducted into the AANCs Hall of Fame, as it is quite a competitive and involved selection process. Having both Falk and Yarboroughs experience and active involvement in the industry highlighted in this way is an incredible testament to their dedication to the industry and is well deserved.

ABOUT DRUCKER + FALK:

Founded in 1938, Drucker + Falk is a full-service real estate and investment firm managing a diverse portfolio of nearly 40,000 apartment homes and approximately 3,000,000 square feet of office, retail and industrial space in 13 states. In addition to managing a broad range of properties, including class A+ to affordable apartment communities, mixed-use and all types of commercial properties, Drucker + Falk partners with clients on developing new properties, renovating and repositioning assets, converting historic properties to unique, upscale apartment homes and offers commercial leasing and sales services. For more information, visit Drucker + Falk.

ABOUT THE APARTMENT ASSOCIATION OF NORTH CAROLINA

The Apartment Association of North Carolina (AANC) has served the rental housing industry since 1986. AANC is dedicated to leading and supporting its members ever-changing needs through regulatory and legislative advocacy, industry education and communication. For more information, please visit http://www.aanconline.org.
Elaine Osborne, a native of Minnesota, has completed her new book If I Felt Alone: a gripping and potent memoir that describes her crusade to seek restorations for the damage resulting from several sewage spills in her area.

Elaine writes, The official-looking authority figure that stood in observation of the troubled line assured me there was no cause for alarm. Repairs were being made, the problem contained, he stressed, in a small area. But I remained concerned. The following day, I called the sanitary district and spoke to an individual in water quality. I felt more at ease when he stated the probability of waste getting into my well water should not be a concern. Any contaminants would be filtered through the soil. They would travel only a few inches. In whatever length of time it was, I dont quite remember. But I believe it was a year. Anyway, the message embedded in my mind was that the chance of the spill contaminating my water supply was remote.

Published by Page Publishing, Elaine Osbornes stirring story describes her campaign against local authorities to rectify the sewage spills in the Maki Swamp near Esko, Minnesota.

This true story of determination and strength begins with the background of Elaines life. During 1980-1985, she had learned about five raw sewage spills into the Maki Swamp, ninety percent of which consisted of paper-mill wastewater. These environmental hazards affected the drinking water and the health of residents in the Esko, MN area. Elaine stood up and fought to end the sewage spills. She depicted strength and tenacity in her environmental mission. Fortunately for all the residents nearby, she did not give up until the spills ceased.

Readers who wish to experience this mesmerizing work can purchase If I Felt Alone 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.
New Chief Operation Officer Festo North America

Festo announces that Kim Harper-Gage, who joined Festo in February 2020 as Vice President of Operations, has been appointed Chief Operating Officer (COO). In her new role as COO, Harper-Gage will focus on the strategic development of Operations throughout North America, ensuring benchmarking and sharing of best practices within Festos North America business region. She is responsible for overseeing the Regional Service Center (RSC) and Customer Solutions production in Mason, Ohio, as well as supply chain and distribution logistics in Mexico and Canada. She will also continue to directly support Livermore, California, operations.

Kim is a valued leader in operational excellence, said Carlos Miranda, Chief Executive Officer North America at Festo. In the last 12 months, she has achieved significant accomplishments in the areas of leadership and production by increasing the efficiencies of Festos Livermore facility. Im very much looking forward to working with Kim in her new role as COO.

Harper-Gage played an instrumental role in navigating Festos COVID-19 response, ensuring workplace safety for Festo employees, and preventing minimal to zero disruptions for customers globally. Despite pandemic challenges, Festos Mason facility has experienced exponential growth.

In Mason, Festo is among the 15 largest employers. Employment at the RSC have increased by 32 percent since 2018 and is anticipated to grow another 30 percent over the next year. The plant opened in 2015 as a 150,000 square-foot facility on a 43-acre campus and has since expanded into three buildings covering 565,000 square feet.

Its an honor to lead the Operations team for Festo North America, said Harper-Gage. I look forward to continuing our hard work to build greater efficiencies and greater cooperation as a region, serving our customers and partners at our utmost potential, so they too may reach and surpass their operational and productivity goals.

Prior to joining Festo, Harper-Gage worked for ICONEX, the global leader in paper receipt manufacturing and highly differentiated pressure sensitive label business, where she served as Senior Vice President of Operations and Supply Chain supporting North and South America.

She attended Northern Kentucky University where she studied Business Administration and minored in finance. Harper-Gage Kim also serves as Chairman of the Board for Saint Joseph Home in Cincinnati, Ohio, a nonprofit organization that provides systems of support for people with complex disabilities and their families.

###

About Festo

Festo is a leading manufacturer of pneumatic and electromechanical systems, components, and controls for process and industrial automation. For more than 40 years, Festo Corporation has continuously elevated the state of manufacturing with innovations and optimized motion control solutions that deliver higher performing, more profitable automated manufacturing and processing equipment.

Connect with Festo: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube
Forex Brokers Accepting Crypto The decentralized digital assets will turn profitable for Forex brokers and it is a good idea for these firms to equip themselves with a digital asset exchange to handle the imminent surge in trade volume.

Investors seek opportunities for growth and one such appears from the imminent marriage of two diverse asset classes the Forex and Crypto. Recognizing this opportunity, many Forex broking firms, today, are contemplating the inclusion of cryptocurrency as a mode of payment. However, accepting cryptocurrency for payment against Fiat is not as simply attainable as adding any other payment processing mode. To provide a platform that supports crypto, Forex broker firms must incorporate a fully functional cryptocurrency exchange.

Global cryptocurrency exchange, PayBito welcomes the concept of incorporating crypto exchange with Forex broking platforms. PayBito recognized the latent opportunity in converging the seemingly diverse asset classes and promotes the same.

In the rise and flourish of digital currency heralded the age of digitization. During such times it is important to look for opportunities to convert assets for their digital worth, remarked Raj Chowdhury, Founder, and CEO of PayBito.

A number of thriving Forex firms have kept out of the crypto realm. PayBito advocates for the crypto payment option as a potential instrument for growth in the sector. PayBito offers complete crypto exchange solutions aimed at these Forex broking firms who could add more to their revenue by enabling the digital currency exchange.

The decentralized digital assets will turn profitable for Forex brokers and it is a good idea for these firms to equip themselves with a digital asset exchange to handle the imminent surge in trade volume, adds Chowdhury.

PayBito has previously reported the influx of Forex brokers into the digital asset realm. The global digital currency exchange has on several instances provided exchange solutions to these firms.

The issue with the integration of the two asset classes lies in the disparity in their stability. The stability of sovereign currency lies in the reserves maintained by the issuing country in their treasury. The digital currency on the other hand is not regulated by any central bank nor is it backed by any concrete asset of value.

This, however, should not dismiss the potential for profit-making when one is traded for the other. That being said, investment in these volatile assets must be made with cautious and judicious moves.



Company Overview:

PayBito is a leading cryptocurrency asset trading platform operating in the USA and India. The platform is designed and operated by a team with rich experience in Banking security systems, Cryptocurrency trading, and Blockchain technology. Available in iOS and Android stores, PayBito offers some of the best rates and top-notch security on the planet.
Lisa Brusio Coster As we look ahead, were anticipating our clients needs continuing to evolve and have built a team of diverse perspectives to tackle complex communications issues.

Gavin, a boutique branding and communications agency serving regional and national clients, has expanded its leadership team to support its growing PR department and client demands for strategic communications services. Lisa Brusio Coster, M.A., has been hired as public relations director, under the direction of President/CEO Mandy Arnold.

Brusio Coster comes to Gavin with a demonstrated history of achieving sound communications goals working with local, regional and national organizations in a variety of industries. As founder and president of the former Maryland-based Coster Communications, Ltd. for more than 20 years, she is a public relations strategist and marketing and communications expert.

Brusio Coster is the immediate past president of the Public Relations Society of America, Maryland Chapter, which she led for two years. She holds an M.A. in Public Communication from The American University and a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Maryland. Her role at Gavin is to oversee major client accounts and direct a staff of media relations managers, project coordinators and interns, while working strategically with the leadership team to guide Gavin into the next decade of business growth.

As we approach a decade in business, were enthusiastic about having a pro like Lisa on our public relations team to support our continued growth of public relations and crisis communications services, especially as the agencys clients continue to be met with rapidly changing communications in the market, says Arnold. As we look ahead, were anticipating our clients needs continuing to evolve and have built a team of diverse perspectives to tackle complex communications issues.

Along with Brusio Coster, Gavin has hired John Buffone, senior media relations manager in the PR department. It has also promoted The Adlibber host, Jay Scott, to senior media relations manager, and Emily Vanaskie to senior public relations coordinator.

Gavin is comprised of nearly 30 employees across the country providing a comprehensive suite of services, including brand strategy, public relations, digital marketing, design and integrated marketing.

About Gavin

Gavin , established in 2011, is a nationally recognized, award-winning boutique branding and communications agency serving regional, national and international clients in health care, education, government, manufacturing, and business-to-business industries. Headquartered in downtown York, PA, with offices in Harrisburg and Lancaster, PA, Gavin provides expert public relations, crisis communications, brand strategy, web and digital advertising services. For more information, visit http://www.Evolving-Influence.com.
The new Redwood Sky Walk in Eureka is the longest arboreal trail in the Western United States. Photo Courtesy VisitHumboldt.com/ AmyKumler One of the greatest rewards of hosting people from all over the world is sharing the wonders of the redwoods. Gary Stone, Eureka Lodging Alliance

To celebrate Northern Californias new forest canopy trail, which features some of the worlds tallest trees, Eureka lodging properties are offering free redwood seedlings to guests who go on the attraction.

The Redwood Sky Walk, which officially opens June 4th in Eurekas community park and zoo, is the longest arboreal trail in the Western United States.

The $4 million canopy walk, reaching 100 feet above the forest floor, showcases old growth trees rivaling those of nearby Redwood National Park and the Avenue of the Giants.

One of the greatest rewards of hosting people from all over the world is sharing the wonders of the redwoods, said Gary Stone, director of the Eureka Lodging Alliance (ELA), the primary donor for the Redwood Sky Walk project.

Were pleased to have worked with the Sequoia Park Zoo so that people can experience these remarkable trees from new heights.

Most of the quarter-mile walkway is ADA compliant and, for more intrepid visitors, offers a bonus adventure leg with square open mesh decking, making a thrilling but safe back and forth sway.

The series of suspended bridges and tree platforms overlooks Sequoia Park, which consists of almost 70 acres of redwoods, springs, creeks, meadows, hidden grotto with waterfalls, and miles of paved and dirt trails.

Entrance to the Redwood Sky Walk is included with admission to the Sequoia Park Zoo, a fun-sized menagerie complete with red pandas, bush dogs, spider monkeys, river otters and other irresistible and rare animals. Californias oldest certified zoo, it is 270 miles north of San Francisco on Hwy 101.

After doing the elevated experience, guests who email photos of themselves on it will receive a promo code to get a free seedling shipped to them, compliments of the Jonsteen Company.

The more we learn about the benefits of trees and forests, the more amazing and essential they reveal themselves to be for all life on this planet, said Jonsteen owner Jonathan Claasen.

This attraction is a fantastic new way to learn about and experience the high-flying majesty of the redwoods.

Limit one seedling per family. Shipping and handling not included. Promo good until August 4th, 2021. For more details, go to https://VisitHumboldt.com/EurekaSkyWalk

About The Eureka Lodging Alliance

A non-profit association of hoteliers based in Eureka, California, the Eureka Lodging Alliance is dedicated to promoting responsible tourism among the many natural and cultural assets of Eureka and Humboldt County, the heart of Californias Redwood Coast. The ELA is part of the Humboldt Lodging Alliance, a 501c6 nonprofit corporation and the official owners association for the Humboldt County lodging industry. Its guest website is https://VisitHumboldt.com.

About the Jonsteen Company

A Humboldt County, California-based company that grows, packages and delivers tree seeds and seedlings throughout the world, Jonsteen was founded in 1992 to supply live Coast Redwoods and Giant Sequoias with interpretive packaging to National Parks. Clients today include direct consumers, retailers, wholesalers and Fortune 500 companies. Its online nursery and retail store is https://SequoiaTrees.com.

More Redwood Sky Walk press photos, courtesy ELA/Amy Kumler, available at http://tiny.cc/eurekaskywalk


News

featured

Falls Creek officials dedicate new monuments in Memorial Park

Alexnelson / Alex Nelson Sarah and Mathew Silvis lay flowers next to one of the Falls Creek Memorial Park monuments following the dedication as their daughter Clara watches. Alexnelson / Alex Nelson The DuBois Honor Guard completes a gun salute and plays "Taps" to finish the Falls Creek Memorial Day service. Alexnelson / Alex Nelson Thomas Weible addresses the audience as the guest speaker of the Falls Creek Memorial Day service. He served in the U.S. Navy from may 29187 to June 1992 in the U.S. Submarine service aboard the USS Ulysses S. Grant SSBN as a missile technician. Alexnelson / Alex Nelson The second of the two Falls Creek monuments still has space for more names to be added as the borough receives names of veterans from the Falls Creek zip code.

FALLS CREEK  A Memorial Day service was hosted at Falls Creek Memorial Park Monday, with the unveiling of new monuments included in the program.

Mayor Karen Forsythe gave the introduction to the ceremony before swiftly moving through the scheduled speakers and songs.

We gather here today to recognize our heroes and their families who sacrificed their lives for our country, and for answering their call to duty, Forsythe said.

She then read the proclamation that Falls Creek would join the rest of the communities across the state in honoring those who died in service.

The ceremonys featured speaker, Thomas Weible, served in the U.S. Navy from May 1987 to June 1992.

All other holidays we celebrate were made possible by the sacrifice of those we remember and honor, Weible said. We cannot let anyone lessen the powerful sacrifice these individuals made.

He said it seems fitting that as the country is emerging from a difficult and dark time, that the first gathering be to honor those who made it possible.

Some say this is an American holiday, yet our honored dead lay in France, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Philippines, Netherlands and England. And we cant forget all the MIA, Weible said. Forgetting our past is bad enough, but forgetting heroes and why we celebrate them is unforgivable.

Peggy Weible then read a list of those from Falls Creek who died while serving.

The DuBois Honor Guard closed the ceremony with a gun salute and the playing of Taps. Lu Inzana then took the stage to present the new Falls Creek monuments to the crowd for the dedication ceremony.

Today is another step in our park as we look at the monuments that we put in dedicated to the men and women who served in the armed forces and were fortunate enough to come home. Today we add two monuments with names on it of the men and women in our area that have served, and we salute them as our soldiers from our area, Inzana said.

There are still spaces available to add names to the monuments, and anyone who would like to have a name added is encouraged to contact the Falls Creek Borough Office at 814-371-2121.
Jang Hyuk Yeo and Eun Sang Hwang, Shareholders in the Greenberg Traurig Seoul, South Korea Office With the presence of Jang Hyuk and Eun Sang, who have worked on some of the largest deals in the country, coupled with the firms unique global footprint, we now provide full-service transactional capabilities to all the players in the Korean market said Richard A. Edlin

Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP has expanded its Seoul, South Korea office by welcoming two highly regarded attorneys, Jang Hyuk Yeo and Eun Sang Hwang, as shareholders in its Global Corporate Practice.

We are delighted that Jang Hyuk has joined our Seoul office. Greenberg Traurig has long been committed to South Korea and having a market-leading attorney like Jang Hyuk join us with his extensive experience, underscores the firms commitment to this region. In addition, we are pleased that Eun Sang has rejoined the firm, which further strengthens our global corporate capabilities  providing clients with one of the most sophisticated international transactional practice in Seoul, said Chang Joo Kim, Managing Shareholder of the Seoul office.

We have long had a very successful litigation and arbitration practice which has produced tremendous results for our clients. With the presence of Jang Hyuk and Eun Sang, who have worked on some of the largest deals in the country, coupled with the firms unique global footprint, we now provide full-service transactional capabilities to all the players in the Korean market, who seek counseling in the United States, Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere in Asia said Richard A. Edlin, Vice Chair of Greenberg Traurig. Edlin also chairs both the Litigation Practice in New York and the Business & Regulatory Financial Services Litigation Group.

Mr. Yeo focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), joint ventures, capital markets, foreign investments, private equity transactions, and other general corporate matters. Since moving to Korea in 2012, Mr. Yeo has advised Korean companies in some of the most high-profile, complex cross-border transactions.

Mr. Hwangs practice focuses on capital markets transactions. His experience includes representing issuers and underwriters in U.S. SEC-registered and unregistered securities offerings by foreign private and sovereign issuers on a standalone basis or pursuant to a shelf or medium-term note program.

Mr. Yeo and Mr. Hwang have experience with a full range of complex transactions and their clients will benefit from an international platform with the highest levels of integrated services. Seoul is a dynamic market with tremendous opportunity for all and we are fortunate that they have joined our firm, allowing us to expand what we can offer Korean clients seeking to grow into new markets, said Richard A. Rosenbaum, Greenberg Traurigs Executive Chairman.

Mr. Yeo received his LL.B from Korea University and his J.D. from Columbia University Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar and is admitted to practice in New York. Mr. Yeo has been listed in IFLR 1000 as a Notable Practitioner in Corporate and M&A, 2018-2020.

Mr. Hwang received his LL.M. in international legal studies from Georgetown University Law Center, where he made the Dean's List with distinction; his Master of Laws, magna cum laude, from Handong International Law School, where he was managing editor of the Regent Journal of International Law in collaboration with Handong International Law School; and his B.A. from Stanford University. He is admitted in New York.

Mr. Yeo and Mr. Hwang are Foreign Legal Consultants in the Republic of Korea. As a Foreign Legal Consultant Office, the practice in Seoul is limited to legal advice regarding U.S. law, treaties with the U.S., and universally recognized customary international law.

About Greenberg Traurigs Corporate Practice: Greenberg Traurigs Corporate Practice comprises more than 450 lawyers in the United States, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America who regularly advise public and privately held companies, entrepreneurs and investment funds on global mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, private equity and venture capital, underwritten and syndicated offerings, commercial finance and syndicated lending, cross-border transactions, and general corporate matters. The groups industry experience includes transactions in a wide range of fields, from the pharmaceutical, medical devices, and life sciences fields, to representations involving clients in the aviation, banking, consumer products, energy, food and beverage, health care, manufacturing, media, technology, and telecommunications sectors.

About Greenberg Traurigs Asia Practice: Greenberg Traurigs Asia Practice regularly represents companies throughout China, India, Japan, Korea and Taiwan in their business dealings in the United States and abroad. The firm also advises U.S. and European companies engaging in transactions throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Attorneys provide strategic advice and legal services in connection with mergers and acquisitions, financings and securitization activities, intellectual property, trade and governmental strategies, international dispute resolution, infrastructure and project finance, export controls, and business immigration issues. The practice brings together attorneys based in the firms Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo offices along with numerous multilingual attorneys from across Greenberg Traurigs global organization with experience handling client matters in Asia.

About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT), has approximately 2200 attorneys in 40 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. The firm is net carbon neutral with respect to its office energy usage and Mansfield Rule 3.0 Certified. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com


Mark Weprin, a Government Law & Policy Practice shareholder in global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLPs New York office, has been named to City & States 2021 Queens Power 100 list.

The list recognizes the boroughs politically influential people in government, business, law, education, nonprofits, and more, according to the publication.

Weprin represents clients in legislative and regulatory matters at various levels of government. He focuses on representing the New York real estate industry, as well as important corporate and not for profit organizations. Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig, Weprin served as Deputy Secretary of Legislative Affairs for Andrew Cuomo, New York State Governor, in addition to having served as a member of the New York City Council. He also served 15 years in the New York State Assembly.

About Greenberg Traurig's Government Law & Policy Practice:

Greenberg Traurigs Government Law & Policy Practice combines the capabilities of its federal team in Washington, D.C., with the firm's state and local practices across the country to advocate for the interests of our clients at various levels of government. Our national network of government relations professionals covers more than 9 offices in major political and commercial capitals throughout the United States, including: Albany, Austin, Denver, Las Vegas, New York City, Philadelphia, Sacramento, Tallahassee, and Washington, D.C.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT), has approximately 2200 attorneys in 40 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. The firm is net carbon neutral with respect to its office energy usage and Mansfield Rule 3.0 Certified. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com
Film poster for The Healthcare Cure As a health care technologist, it became very clear to me that technology was not the enabler of health care. It turns out that reestablishing the relationship between the doctor and the patient is the enabler.- "The Healthcare Cure" Host and Executive Producer Nicholas Webb

Western University of Health Sciences faculty and administrators are featured in a documentary examining how to fix a broken health care system.

The Healthcare Cure, a Nicholas Webb and Dr. Ray Power film produced and directed by Chad Murdock, is scheduled to premiere at the Sedona International Film Festival June 17, 2021. Nicholas Webb serves as WesternUs Chief Innovation Officer, and the film also features interviews with WesternU Senior Vice President and Provost David Baron, DO, MSEd, WesternU Center for Innovation Executive Director Miary Andriamiarisoa, EdD, and WesternU College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Associate Professor David Redding, DO 93.

In the film, Webb takes the audience on a journey to the optimistic future of health care. The film brings together patients and doctors from both the U.S. and Ireland to discuss the incredible importance of shifting from a treatment centric model to one of prevention and wellness. In order to make this big shift possible, patients and doctors need to demand that the health care industrial machine remove the wedge between their important relationship. Doctors need more time with patients, better mental health and nutrition resources. As a society, we need to make health care available to all populations. More importantly, we need to make health and wellness available to underserved populations, not just interventional care.

As a health care technologist, it became very clear to me that technology was not the enabler of health care, Webb said. It turns out that reestablishing the relationship between the doctor and the patient is the enabler.

Film trailer: https://vimeo.com/546033552

Film website: http://www.thehealthcarecure.com


Although mainframe application development is traditionally viewed as slow-moving, there is nothing inherent in the platform that requires a slower pace.

Infotel Corp. announced today it will host a June TechChannel webinar: Speed Kills! The DevOps Mainframe Conundrum: Application Dev Speed vs. Application Quality. Author, speaker and noted industry expert Craig S. Mullins will discuss the current state of the mainframe programmer space, application modernization, and how improved automation and testing can help. Mullins will be joined by mainframe market analyst Tony Perri, who will present an Infotel Corp. banking/finance use case and talk about one solution that helps mainframe developers and IT operations professionals manage DevOps chaos on IBM z/OS. The webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, June 16, 2021, at 1:00 pm EDT.

A recent Vanson Borne survey found that when mainframe code is involved, the application testing process is slowing down the value chain, and with it, profitability. With 56% of mainframe shops now practicing DevOps, programmers are being told to speed it up, you're 30% slower than your distributed colleagues. This webinar will explore DevOps on the mainframe and application testing barriers that create longer development cycles for mainframe applications. Attendees will get a glimpse of how one organization is dramatically speeding up test cycles by delivering cloned mainframe application testing environments on z/OS LPARs that replicate production environments on the mainframe.

Although mainframe application development is traditionally viewed as slow-moving, there is nothing inherent in the platform that requires a slower pace, said Craig Mullins. With the proper planning, culture, and the adoption of modern, automated tooling, the pace of mainframe development and testing can be accelerated.

What Attendees Will Learn:



Half of all organizations are dealing with mainframe application modernization while cutting costs. Mainframe shops are already overwhelmed with a workforce and knowledge shortage. How can assisted application development and better testing automation help?

If we use applications to help with mainframer shortage, what about data security and data integrity to ensure compliance policies while maintaining quality of the service?

Use case on mainframe application development containerization for testing that replicates (not simulates) production environments.

About Infotel Corporation

Infotel is the mainframe software publishing division of Infotel Group, a pan-European IT consultancy specializing in corporate digital transformation. Based in Tampa, FL, they are a leading provider of data performance, insight and optimization solutions for the Mainframe z/OS platform. Infotels products simplify mainframe complexity by providing intelligent insight, automation and optimization tools. With locations in Europe and North America, they are trusted by the Fortune Global 500 across a wide range of industries, including the worlds leading financial services, insurance, transport, energy, telecommunications, healthcare, retail and government institutions.

About TechChannel

TechChannel (formerly IBM Systems magazine) is an independent media organization providing education and information for enterprise and SMB IT professionals. TechChannel presents a mix of webinars, podcasts and technical articles written by experts. In addition, they also produce e-books as well as weekly newsletters providing thought leadership and technical content for the Enterprise and SMB audiences.

For more information, visit https://www.infotel.com/us/ or https://techchannel.com/.
Integrated Dentistry of Bentonville, AR We are always looking for ways to improve our patients' experience of modern dentistry. Were excited to launch this new project and we have done our best to customize it to better serve the needs of our patients and friends.

Derrick Johnson, DDS, FAGD, FICOI, FIAOMT and his team at Integrated Dentistry in Bentonville, AR are pleased to share their newly redesigned Hybrid-Responsive website at https://www.integrateddentistry.com.

Integrated Dentistry is regionally known as a destination for dental implants, advanced cosmetic dentistry, and smile makeovers. The same eye for detail that goes into Dr. Johnsons dental work has gone into his practices new website; its beautiful, highly-usable design makes it easy for patients to quickly find the information they need.

We are always looking for ways to improve our patients' experience of modern dentistry. Were excited to launch this new project and we have done our best to customize it to better serve the needs of our patients and friends, says Derrick Johnson, DDS.

The new website was conceptualized with accessibility at the forefront. The website is mobile-responsive, with an app-like interface on mobile devices for patients convenience. Navigational menus and organization are intuitive, and hybrid technology means that the Integrated Dentistry website is easy to use and read across all devices, from computers to smartphones and tablets. Patients can access detailed information about their procedures, dental conditions, and aftercare instructions from the site and appointment scheduling is as simple as a tap on the screen or click of the mouse.

An updated website isnt the only recent change at Integrated Dentistry. Dr. Johnson is excited to welcome Robert Dalby, DDS to his team. With this addition, Integrated Dentistry can better serve patients by offering expanded hours and services.

About Derrick Johnson, DDS, FAGD, FICOI, FIAOMT

Derrick Johnson, DDS, FAGD, FICOI, FIAOMT is among the leading dentists in Arkansas. Upon graduating from The Ohio State University College of Dentistry, Dr. Johnson pursued hundreds of hours of additional training and education to stay on the cutting edge of dental technology and techniques. He is regarded by his peers as an expert in implant dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, and complete smile makeovers.

About Robert Dalby, DDS

Robert Dalby, DDS earned his Doctorate of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. He takes pride in getting to know the unique needs of each of his patients to help improve their lives. Dr. Dalby enjoys giving back to his community by working with children and providing dental care to underserved populations.

About Integrated Dentistry

Integrated Dentistry provides advanced and general dentistry services for the whole family, with a special focus on cosmetic dentistry, dental implants and solving more complex dental problems. Services include I.V. sedation dentistry, TMJ therapy, smile makeovers, denture alternatives, and veneers. To learn about the practice or request an appointment, visit the new website at https://www.integrateddentistry.com, or call 479-333-1300 to schedule an appointment at their office: 1101 NE McClain Rd., Bentonville, AR 72712.
The Essence of the Aristocratic Woman: an inspiring discussion of the qualities necessary to walk in Gods purpose. The Essence of the Aristocratic Woman is the creation of published author Kathy Gibson, a dedicated assistant pastor of Into His Chambers Global International Ministries.

Gibson shares, This is for the woman who is evolving to greatness. The essence of who she is, is to know the sophistication of her spiritual DNA. She unapologetically refuses to live her life beneath who God says she is. I reiterate, who she is. God saw all he had created and said it was good. Shes the epitome of the purists nature of the aristocratic woman.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Kathy Gibsons new book encourages women to find their truth and discover greatness.

With this book, Gibson invites readers to reflect upon their current circumstances and seek opportunities for growth to achieve their true purpose.

View a synopsis of The Essence of the Aristocratic Woman on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase The Essence of the Aristocratic Woman at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about The Essence of the Aristocratic Woman, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
After the passing of Rev. Kim Yoon Jeom, his youngest daughter, In-Sil Kim, happened to come across his personal diary and she learned many things about his personal life. In-Sil always considered her father to be a peaceful, quiet, sweet and taciturn man and minister of the church. As a little girl, she did not realize that he had experienced various hardships, struggling in spirit and suffering during the Japanese occupation of Korea. In-Sil has edited and translated her fathers diary to continue his legacy. Diary of Faith: The Spiritual Journey of a Korean Pastor in Japanese Colonial Days by Rev. Kim Yoon Jeom shares his spiritual life and everyday living experiences.

One day, Yoon Jeom heard a quiet but clear voice coming from somewhere outside of this world. From that time on, he heard Gods voice directly. His life was guided by communication with God, and he received visions from God asking that he write. These revelations persuaded his daughter that his personal narrative should be shared. Though Yoon Jeom struggled throughout his life and often confessed himself to be unworthy as a minister of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and as a servant of God, he was a minister with sincerity and consciousness of self, called by God to accomplish the mission of eternal salvation.

Readers will be inspired by Yoon Jeoms life story and experiences. His daughter hopes to spread her fathers message and honor their familys Korean heritage.

Diary of Faith: The Spiritual Journey of a Korean Pastor in Japanese Colonial Days

By Rev. Kim Yoon Jeom

ISBN: 9781489732064 (softcover); 9781489732057 (hardcover); 9781489732149 (electronic)

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and LifeRich Publishing

About the author

Rev. Kim Yoon Jeom was born on February 17, 1874 in Whang Hai Province, North Korea. After teaching at several church-affiliated private schools, he attended Pyongyang Theological Seminary and was ordained as a minister in 1917. From then on, he worked as a messenger of Christ in the churches of Whang Hai Province. He was serving as the pastor of Suh Heomg Presbyterian Church when he was called to heaven on March 30, 1944.

In-Sil Kim is the diarys translator and editor. She is the daughter of Rev. Kim Yoon Jeom and began serving as an organist in her fathers church at age thirteen. She continued working as an organist throughout her life in Korea and the United States up to the age of 71. She majored in organ at Westminster Choir College and received her B. M. degree and M. A. degree in education from Columbia University. She did theological studies at Sung Hwa Seminary in Pyongyang, North Korea and at Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. She also studied Religious Education at Biblical Seminary in New York. Subsequently, she majored in education at Harvard University and received her Ed. M. and Ed. D degrees. She has taught at Keimyung University in Daegu and Hanil University and Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Jeonju, South Korea. She currently resides in Anaheim, Calif.

General Inquiries:

LAVIDGE  Phoenix

Meghan Bowman

480-306-6597

mbowman@lavidge.com


Law Office of Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP For more information about the class action lawsuit against Rehabcare Group East, LLC, call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

The Los Angeles employment law attorneys at Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP, filed a class action lawsuit against Rehabcare Group East, LLC, alleging the company violated California labor laws. The lawsuit against Rehabcare Group East, LLC is currently pending in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Case No. 21STCV15647. To read a copy of the Complaint, please click here.

The lawsuit filed against Rehabcare Group East, LLC alleges PLAINTIFF and other CALIFORNIA CLASS Members were from time to time unable to take thirty (30) minute off-duty meal breaks and were not fully relieved of duty for their meal periods. California labor laws require an employer to provide an employee required to perform work for more than five (5) hours during a shift with, a thirty (30) minute uninterrupted meal break prior to the end of the employee's fifth (5th) hour of work.

Cal. Lab. Code  2802 expressly states that "an employer shall indemnify his or her employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee in direct consequence of the discharge of his or her duties..." During employment, PLAINTIFFS and other CALIFORNIA CLASS Members were allegedly required to use their personal cellular phones in order to complete their job duties. As a result, they allegedly incurred unreimbursed business expenses.

For more information about the class action lawsuit against Rehabcare Group East, LLC, call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP is a labor law firm with law offices located in San Diego County, Riverside County, Los Angeles County, Sacramento County, Santa Clara County, Orange County and San Francisco County. The firm has a statewide practice of representing employees on a contingency basis for violations involving unpaid wages, overtime pay, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination and other types of illegal workplace conduct.

***THIS IS AN ATTORNEY ADVERTISEMENT***
We are excited for Tony to continue and build upon McClendons long history of providing high-quality, compassionate, and innovative care for those in our community living with mental illness.

McClendon Center, a nonprofit mental health services provider that has served the Districts residents for more than 40 years, and its Board of Directors are pleased to announce the appointment of Anthony O. Boswell as its new President and Chief Executive Officer, effective June 1, 2021.

Boswell is a proven and compassionate leader and advocate for the marginalized with a three-decade track record of successfully working with and to the benefit of underserved communities in the healthcare, human services, education, legal, government, and nonprofit sectors.

He is McClendon Centers first President and CEO and the first person of color to lead the organization since its founding in 1980. Boswell succeeds longtime Executive Director Dennis Hobb, who retired earlier this year following a 17-year tenure at the Center. He will build upon a strong foundation established during Hobb's tenure, which has seen the Center recognized on multiple occasions by the Department of Behavioral Health as the city's highest-rated provider.

We are excited for Tony to continue and build upon McClendons long history of providing high-quality, compassionate, and innovative care for those in our community living with mental illness, said Steve Lucas, Chair of McClendon Centers Board of Directors. Tony is a highly respected leader and coalition builder who the Board believes can lead McClendon into a bold new era while maintaining our reputation as a top-rated, client-centered agency. With Tony as our new CEO, we can meet the ever-evolving needs and challenges facing the District.

Throughout his career, whether in a legal, compliance, or business leadership role, Boswells unique ability to build and sustain critical partnerships with a diverse set of stakeholders has proven to be a difference-maker.

Boswell began his career as a healthcare attorney before serving in various leadership roles spanning corporate and government service, and the international and not-for-profit business sectors. He brings extensive experience advocating for vulnerable populations, including youth living in poverty and marginalized people with behavioral health needs.

Most recently, Boswell served as Executive Director for a national mental health provider overseeing providers in Springfield/Worcester, Massachusetts, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Washington, D.C.

I am tremendously humbled and honored to join the McClendon Center and carry on its rich history of providing life-changing care and support to the greater Washington community, said Boswell. We are in the midst of a mental and behavioral health crisis exacerbated by COVID-19. We need to continue to ensure the most vulnerable among us get the help they need. I believe strongly in the Centers people and purpose, and I am confident in its ability to meet the current challenges and help our communities emerge from this period stronger, safer, and more confident than ever before.

Drawing upon a successful national track record and deep local expertise, Boswell is well positioned to advance the Center's vision of growing into the region's preeminent provider of behavioral and mental health services.

Since 2019, Boswell has served as Chair of the District of Columbia Behavioral Health Associations Board of Directors. He has been a member of the DCBHA Board for each of the past three years, previously serving as Board Treasurer from 2018-2019.

On behalf of the DCBHA, we could not be any more pleased to learn about Tonys appointment as the new President and CEO of the McClendon Center, remarked Mark LeVota, Executive Director of the District of Columbia Behavioral Health Association. As the current President of the Board of Directors of the Association, Tony is well-known to our membership and his many strengths as a leader have been on full display amid the many challenges we have all faced over this past year. The Center has been a member of the Association since its earliest days, and we are grateful to see it take this important step in its next chapter of growth.

Among his many aims, Boswell will seek to spearhead a systematic expansion of McClendon's services and impact to additional populations, such as children and youth, as well as those with substance use challenges.

"In our ever-changing healthcare environment, it is essential that we always continue to innovate and strive to find new ways of effectively caring for those in our community," added Boswell. "As a highly-respected industry leader, I believe the Center has a tremendous opportunity to build upon its client-first culture, expand its footprint, and deliver solutions to the significant community health need across our region. I am grateful to join such a dedicated staff and look forward to getting started."

Boswell earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law and holds a Master of Education degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as his bachelors degree from Stony Brook University. Boswell and his wife Kay-Ann have two children.

About McClendon Center

Founded in 1980, McClendon Center is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, community-based health provider in the heart of Washington, DC. For over 40 years, it has provided critical programs and services to District residents with mental and behavioral health challenges, empowering them to live more independently and enjoy an increased quality of life. McClendon Center is certified as both a Core Services Agency and a provider of Rehabilitation/Day Services. It has been accredited by the Joint Commission since 1999, a prestigious credential not shared by any other behavioral health provider in the District. McClendon Center provided life-changing services and care to more than 5,200 DC residents who turned to it for help in 2020.

For more information, visit mcclendoncenter.org.
Mevorah & Giglio Law Offices open new St. Charles location

Mevorah & Giglio Law Offices is proud to announce that it is opening a new law office in St. Charles, Illinois. The new office is located at 555 S Randall Rd., Suite #101, just north of Delnor Hospital and near the Kane County Fairgrounds. It is conveniently located close to the Kane County Judicial Center.

Our attorneys will meet with clients at the new office and provide representation in legal matters in Kane County and the surrounding counties. Mr. Mevorah has over 42 years of experience advocating on behalf of clients, and he has received awards from Elite Lawyer and been recognized by Super Lawyers for over five years, a distinction which is enjoyed by less than 5 percent of attorneys. Brad Giglio has received numerous awards, including the Avvo Clients Choice Award and the DuPage Legal Assistance Foundation Pro Bono Service Award.

For decades, we have been representing clients in Chicagos western suburbs, including Kane County and DuPage County, said Steven H. Mevorah, the firms Founder. We are glad to have a convenient office where we can provide legal help to people in communities throughout the Kane County area, including St. Charles, Geneva, Aurora, Batavia, and Elgin.

About Mevorah & Giglio Law Offices:

Mevorah & Giglio Law Offices has been providing legal services to clients in the Chicago area for more than 42 years. The Firm has four offices in the suburbs of Chicago, including Lombard, Naperville, Bloomingdale, and St. Charles, and its attorneys have more than 200 combined years of legal experience. Mr. Mevorah, Mr. Giglio, and the firms other attorneys provide skilled representation in a wide variety of legal matters, including divorce and family law, criminal defense, immigration, personal injury, workers compensation, and bankruptcy. To learn more about the firms legal services or to schedule a consultation at offices in Lombard, Naperville, Bloomingdale, or St. Charles, call 630-473-9685 or visit http://www.mevorahlaw.com.

Clients can schedule a consultation at any of our offices by calling 630-932-9100. Mevorah & Giglio Law Offices provides free consultations, and it offers convenient hours to meet clients needs, including in the evenings and on Saturdays. Attorneys at the St. Charles office focus on divorce, family law, criminal law, personal injury, workers compensation, immigration, probate matters, and bankruptcy cases.


The Moral Courage Method is a powerful strategy for reconciliation in polarized times. It opens hearts in order to open minds, says Dr. Rajni Shankar-Brown, endowed chair of social justice education at Stetson University.

Education leaders can now choose a pro-unity, no-shaming pedagogy to address racism and other forms of discrimination. Moral Courage ED is launching Diversity Without Division: Introducing Educators to the Moral Courage Method. The online, self-paced course teaches high school educators an innovative framework that transcends the Us-against-Them culture wars.

The Moral Courage Method is a powerful strategy for reconciliation in polarized times. It opens hearts in order to open minds, says Dr. Rajni Shankar-Brown, endowed chair of social justice education at Stetson University.

Led by the bestselling author and Oprah award-winner Irshad Manji, the Moral Courage Method is a research-backed, road-tested approach to turning contentious issues into constructive conversations.

Never before have I seen free speech and social justice so seamlessly brought together, says Mike Yates, senior managing director at Teach for Americas Reinvention Lab. Diversity Without Division shows that to be innovative, we have to be inclusive not only of different people but also of divergent views. After all, innovation happens through a diversity of perspectives and the skills to discuss them with empathy.

The course stars high school students who experience Aha! moments as they navigate controversial issues through the Moral Courage Method. Unlike mainstream anti-racism efforts, the Moral Courage Method:



Builds trust by starting with what we share before exploring how we differ.

Illustrates the science of fear and the role that our brains play in making us feel de-fensive.

Defines diversity to include different viewpoints because understanding others is crucial to be being understood.

Reveals that power is situational, not static, so any of us can have it in a given con-text.

Upon completing Diversity Without Division, educators become eligible to train as Moral Courage Mentors. Oxford Universitys Initiative for Global Ethics and Human Rights, an academic partner of Moral Courage ED, will certify mentors starting in fall 2022.

Our intention, Manji explains, is to build a global community of Moral Courage Mentors who help young people resist the seductive either/or mindset. When we teach with a both/and lens, we liberate the possibilities for truly inclusive change. Thats education at its best.

Preview Diversity Without Division in action. To learn more about the course and other Moral Courage ED offerings, visit moralcourage-ed.org/offerings.

About Moral Courage ED

Moral Courage ED empowers students to hear, not fear, different perspectives. By providing the tools to communicate across lines of difference and disagreement, the Moral Courage Method achieves diversity without division. Moral Courage ED is led by Irshad Manji, winner of Oprahs inaugural Chutzpah Award for boldness and The New York Times bestselling author, most recently, of Dont Label Me: How to Do Diversity Without Inflaming the Culture Wars. Manji teaches with Oxford Universitys Initiative for Global Ethics and Human Rights. Moral Courage ED is presented by Let Grow, the national nonprofit that promotes independent thinking and emotional resilience in young people. Discover more at moralcourage-ed.org.

About Let Grow

Let Grow is the national nonprofit that promotes independent thinking and emotional resilience in young people. Founded by Free-Range Kids pioneer Lenore Skenazy, research psychologist Dr. Peter Gray, former chairman of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education Daniel Shuchman, and NYU Prof. Jonathan Haidt, co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind, Let Grow innovates programs for elementary as well as secondary school students. In the Pre-K-8 space, Let Grow provides two free, easy-to-implement of-ferings for schools: The Let Grow Project and Let Grow Play Club. These initiatives get students doing, exploring, and playing more on their own. As a result, they organically develop social-emotional skills including empathy, problem-solving, creativity and confidence. For middle and high schools, Let Grow also presents Moral Courage ED, which empowers students to hear, not fear different perspectives. Let Grow has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, PBS and more. To learn more about Let Grow, visit letgrow.org.
Henderson Mayor Bobby King, Chester County Mayor Barry Hutcherson, Tourism Commissioner Mark Ezell, Shannon Pollard, grandson of Eddy Arnold, Chamber Director Emily Johnson and TN Rep. Kirk Haston. He once told me that he chose his farm in Brentwood because the land reminded him of Chester County.

Henderson and Chester County paid honor to a native son Friday, May 14 when, in conjunction with the Tennessee Department of Tourism, a marker was unveiled recognizing Chester County as the birthplace of music legend Eddy Arnold.

The crowd gathered in Hendersons Sue Shelton White Park for the celebration. Following remarks by local and state dignitaries and live music, Tennessee Commissioner of Tourism Development Mark Ezell unveiled the marker as a part of the states Music Pathways trail.

Chester County mayor Barry Hutcherson and Henderson mayor Bobby King welcomed the Arnold family and others who were in attendance. State representative Kirk Haston noted Arnolds incredible legacy, ending his remarks by quoting lines from Anytime 

Anytime you say you want me back again,

That's the time I'll come back home to you.

According to Ezell and the Tennessee Music Pathways website, the trail connects visitors to the people, places and genres that make Tennessee the Soundtrack of America. A statewide driving tour, the Pathways represents hundreds of landmarks across the state and spans seven genres of music: blues, bluegrass, country, gospel, soul, rockabilly and rock n roll.

Local musicians entertained by singing songs recorded by Arnold. Chester County High School freshman Hunt Pipkin sang Make the World Go Away. Jarred Clayton accompanied him. Blake Hopper, who has recently returned to Chester County, sang Tennessee Stud, and Kimberlie Helton sang, Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye.

Shannon Pollard, Arnolds grandson, expressed the familys appreciation for the day and the honor bestowed upon his grandfather. He once told me, Pollard said, that he chose his farm in Brentwood because the land reminded him of Chester County.

In addition to the Music Pathways marker, the guitar sculpture constructed by Chester County High School students who are dually enrolled at Tennessee College of Technology in Crump, Tennessee, was unveiled. Standing eight feet tall, the guitar is made of repurposed steel pipe and titled, Pipe Dreams Come True. Representing the students involved in the project, Instructor Derick Gibbs and Nelson Daniels talked about their work on the guitar sculpture.

Emily Johnson, executive director of Henderson/Chester County Chamber of Commerce, said the sculpture is intended to honor not only Arnolds heritage, but also to encourage young musicians of today.
"Each and every one of the brokers who made the commitment to this program has seen a positive increase in their business, in both production and agent morale. Anyone who makes the choice to participate in the T3 Fellows program is bound to succeed in a huge way. Imran Poladi, VP, NextHome.

T3 Fellows, the executive leadership program for real estate entrepreneurs passionate about dramatically growing their business, announced the graduates of another NextHome T3 Fellows class today. The MBA-like program from T3 Sixty delivers a year-long curriculum focused exclusively on business-specific solutions for the residential real estate brokerage industry, and is delivered through an extensive one-on-one mentoring schedule, in-person mastermind workshops and monthly web conferences.

The NextHome franchisee business owners who have successfully completed the rigorous 12-month program and will be graduating in the spring 2021 class are:



Alex Krumm, NextHome Excellence, Sarasota, FL

Dave Faxel, NextHome Select Realty, New Lenox, IL

Garrick Olerud, NextHome Prime Real Estate, Wilmington, NC

Steven Burch, NextHome Unlimited, Junction City, KS

Stevie Krumm, NextHome Excellence, Sarasota, FL

Tom Smolinski, NextHome Champions, Holland, MI

The T3 Fellows curriculum covers all vital aspects of building and expanding a real estate brokerage and agent team business. It targets growing brokerage and agent revenue by recruiting the agents that best match each organization; improving profitability by increasing agent sales; creating powerful branding and marketing programs; and leveraging lead generation and conversion for more sales.

It has been an incredible pleasure for me to work with these outstanding NextHome franchise owners and entrepreneurs, said Dean Cottrill, senior vice president at T3 Sixty and program director of the T3 Fellows program. What a wonderful group of highly professional, growth-minded business leaders.

The T3 Fellows program has a track record that speaks for itself," said Imran Poladi, NextHome vice president. "Each and every one of the brokers who made the commitment to this program has seen a positive increase in their business, in both production and agent morale. Anyone who makes the choice to participate in the T3 Fellows program is bound to succeed in a huge way.

In the increasingly complex and quickly shifting residential real estate industry, these NextHome T3 Fellows graduates are now ready to lead and grow their businesses more strategically.

For more information on the program, visit t3fellows.com.

About T3 Fellows

The T3 Fellows program helps the leaders of brokerages and teams grow successful real estate organizations through a detailed, thorough curriculum, one-on-one consulting, in-person retreats and mentor support. The program provides a proven framework for success, supported by smart, accomplished cohorts and an experienced group of guides and mentors. To learn more about the program or apply, visit t3fellows.com.

About T3 Sixty

T3 Sixty is a trusted advisor and management consultancy for over 200 in the residential real estate brokerage industry. T3 Sixty also provides extensive data services and research to affect intelligent change and growth. For more, visit t360.com
La Casa de Don Pedro's virtual fundraiser will honor the unsung heroes of the pandemic  including essential workers for restaurants, nonprofits, hospitals and medical facilities. This past year has been like no other, but stories that demonstrate people going above and beyond have shined through the darkness, said Carrie Puglisi, director of program and fund development for La Casa de Don Pedro.

Newark-based nonprofit, La Casa de Don Pedro, a leader in social services and community development efforts, is hosting an interactive virtual fundraiser on June 17 at 5:30 p.m., titled La Casa en Su Casa. With a program theme of Silver Linings, the evening will honor the unsung heroes of the pandemic  including essential workers for local banks, restaurants, nonprofits, hospitals and medical facilities.

La Casa en Su Casa will also feature guest speakers, including Casa dPaco owner Angel Leston and artist Marcy DePina, a spoken word performance by Shell Spin, video segments and a special wine and cheese tasting from Newarks own Casa dPaco.

This past year has been like no other, but stories that demonstrate people going above and beyond have shined through the darkness, said Carrie Puglisi, director of program and fund development for La Casa de Don Pedro. During our Silver Linings program well spotlight workers who have been vital to our city these past 14 months, yet often go unrecognized.

Essential workers to be honored include team members from Valley Banks Newark branches and the restaurant workers of Newark Working Kitchens, a program that has re-energized the hard-hit Newark restaurant industry to provide free meals to food insecure residents.

La Casa de Don Pedro will also honor workers from Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health (RWJBH) Clara Maass Medical Center, RWJBH Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and the Childrens Hospital of New Jersey.

Counted among those to be honored are the essential workers of La Casa de Don Pedro, with a special focus on La Casas in-person childcare program and its community engagement efforts that have helped keep the city connected with essential services and support. Despite the overwhelming impact of the pandemic, the organizations community engagement team continues to connect residents to critical resources, including food, personal protective equipment, rental relief and small business support.

Admission is free and attendees can purchase bottles of Spanish wine paired with Spanish cheeses (free delivery for in-county residents if purchased by June 6). The wine will be curated by renowned sommelier, Hank Zona, who will discuss the evenings wine selection from Casa dPacos own label. The Spanish restaurant, located in Newarks Ironbound section, is owned by Angel Leston, who will also speak during the virtual event.

I am excited to be able to add La Casa de Don Pedro to the list of the many organizations I support that do such important work in our communities. That they themselves have chosen this event to honor community members  Newark's unsung heroes during the pandemic  speaks volumes of their role in the city's landscape, said Zona.

He added: Speaking of the city's landscape, I get to once again collaborate with my friend, a prominent face in the community himself, Angel Leston, owner of the acclaimed and popular Casa d'Paco. We will co-host the event from his restaurant in the heart of the Ironbound, which seems appropriate for this event since Newark is a city made up of communities and neighborhoods.

Being born and raised in Newark, I believe what's most special about our city is what I value most  family and community  and it's evident throughout the diversity of our neighborhoods, added Leston. I'm honored to host La Casa de Don Pedro's event at Casa d'Paco, which we built on the values of family and community and where we get to showcase the best of the city to not just Newark residents, but visitors as well. Not only will we get to share those stories, but also share some wine and cheese with my friend Hank Zona and all of you.

Event speakers will include Marcy DePina, Newark artist, DJ, executive director and producer, as well as poet and artist Shell Spin, who will perform an exclusive poem about life during the pandemic.

Im excited to be participating in this event that will highlight notable artists in the community, like Shell Spin, says DePina. Poetry provides a creative way for people to share their life experiences that resonates with everyone.

To pair with the wine, attendees can also purchase a hand-selected assortment of Spanish artisanal cheeses and charcuterie from Maplewood Wheelhouses Aaron Kirtz.

Confirmed sponsors as of June 1 are: Prudential Financial, Valley Bank, M&T Bank, Valley Bank, RWJBarnabas Health Clara Maass Medical Center and RWJBarnabas Health Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Thornton Agency, Capacity Benefits & Financial Services, Horizon NJHealth, McCarter & English, LLP, NeighborWorks America, Rutgers University  Newark, JW Pierson, Shoprite of Newark, Leviticus Fund, Security On Point, NJ Community Capital, Mayuri Chandra, Bill & Nancy Griffeth, Dawn Gammon, Gayle Griffin, NJ Citizen Action, Deborah Purdon, Richard Roper, and Grizel Ubarry.

La Casa also welcomes additional corporate sponsors for the June event. Tickets for the virtual fundraiser can be accessed here: http://www.lacasanwk.org.

About La Case de Don Pedro:

Based in Newark, N.J., La Casa de Don Pedro is a comprehensive social service and community development organization with a mission to foster self-sufficiency, empowerment and neighborhood revitalization. They provide a vast range of programs and services including early childhood education, career and immigration resources, youth, family and health services, and neighborhood investment initiatives. La Casa emphasizes, celebrates and nurtures core values of advocacy, responsibility (civic, personal and fiscal), education, diversity and creativity in a culturally sensitive and caring environment. Through education and economic development strategies, neighborhood revitalization initiatives and family-stabilizing programs, La Casa works to ensure that Greater Newarks residents engage in and benefit from the regions growth. Follow La Casa de Don Pedro on Facebook for updates. Visit La Casa de Don Pedros website at: http://www.lacasanwk.org.
Northwest Suburban Bar Association Awards Timothy C. Evans Scholarship at Annual Meeting

Each year, the Honorable Timothy C. Evans scholarship is awarded to a law student and, for the first time, paralegal students who reside in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, IL. Scholarship recipients are chosen based on factors including scholastic achievement, financial need, leadership skills, and involvement in extracurricular activities, community service, and other school activities.

The NWSBA awarded a $1,550 scholarship to a law school student, and the law firm of Newland & Newland, LLP matched this amount, making for a total scholarship of $3,100. The recipient of this scholarship for 2021 is Emily Motin, a student attending Chicago-Kent College of Law.

The NWSBA awarded scholarships to two students who are attending the paralegal program at Harper Community College. The NWSBA funded a $1,550 scholarship, which was awarded to Mia OMalley, and Newland & Newland, LLP funded a $1,550 scholarship, which was awarded to Chaltu Spray. The president of Harper Community College, Avis Proctor, was present at the meeting and spoke to honor the recipients.

President Newland took time during the meeting to thank those that supported initiatives to work with the community during the pandemic, ensuring that the Bar could make things a little bit better for families. The NWSBAs initiatives allowed for over 100 financially challenged families to have a Thanksgiving dinner and provided over 100 holiday gifts to children. At the same time, members of the NWSBA were provided over 1,000 hours of training credit to retrain and retool during the pandemic.

In addition to awarding the scholarships, the NWSBA announced the new slate of officers for 2021, and U.S. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi addressed the NWSBA virtually and thanked Judge Evans for his leadership. For more information about the annual meeting, please visit the Newland & Newland website at: https://www.newlandlaw.com/press-releases/northwest-suburban-bar-association-awards-timothy-c-evans-scholarship-at-annual-meeting

About the NWSBA

The Northwest Suburban Bar Association is dedicated to excellence in the practice of law. With more than 600 members throughout the northwest suburbs of Chicago, the NWSBA provides a number of helpful resources for attorneys, including free continuing legal education programs for members. To learn more about the NWSBA, visit https://www.nwsba.org/


Over the past 6 months, Ofinno has sold several hundred patents to large international companies, including some of the largest handset manufacturers.

As part of the transaction, Honda acquired over 100 high-value patents from Ofinno. The assets cover a broad range of technologies relating to cellular signaling and radio resource management.

Honda is one of the most innovative companies in the world, not just in the automobile space, but in countless other areas like robotics, artificial intelligence, and the aerospace fields said Ofinnos Chief Intellectual Property Officer, Kavon Nasabzadeh. Ofinno is honored that such an innovative company in its own right chose to partner with Ofinno to acquire patents covering our pioneering research in the wireless field.

Honda is the latest of several world leading technology companies to acquire patented wireless technologies from Ofinno. Over the past 6 months, Ofinno has sold several hundred patents to large international companies, including some of the largest handset manufacturers. These assets cover Standard Essential features required for implementation of 4G and 5G wireless technologies.

About Ofinno, LLC:

Ofinno, LLC, is a research and development lab based in Northern Virginia, that specializes in inventing and patenting future technologies. Ofinno's research involves video and communication technologies, including 5G and 6G Radio and Core networks, video compression technologies and transport. Ofinno's inventions have an impressive utilization rate and have been adopted by the standards at the center of advancement of these technologies. Our innovators not only create the technologies, they oversee the entire process from design to the time the technology is sold. For more information about Ofinno, please visit http://www.ofinno.com.
OFX, a global international payments provider, today announced a partnership with Storfund, which offers daily revenue payments to e-commerce marketplace retailers. The partnership integrates OFXs payments and foreign exchange services with Storfunds platform, so marketplace retailers can both receive revenue faster and make payments in multiple currencies, all in one place.

E-commerce retailers need for capital has increased exponentially as global e-commerce continues its fast-paced growth, but delayed payment terms can constrain e-commerce retailers opportunity for growth in conditions of high demand.

Founded in 2018, Storfund was established to meet this need and has quickly become the leading e-commerce funder in Europe. This year, Storfund is on track to provide $1 billion of cash advances to e-commerce retailers selling on Amazon and other European, American, and Asian marketplaces.

OFX will provide payments and foreign exchange services to Storfunds marketplace retailers, meaning marketplace retailers can now pay, get paid and hold e-money balances with OFX in up to seven currencies (EUR, GBP, AUD, HKD, SGD, CAD, USD), all managed from a single dashboard.

The partnership is now live and Storfund clients are already using OFXs services.

There is a huge opportunity for small businesses to sell their products worldwide online no matter where they are based, said Sarah Webb, OFX President UK & Europe. But traditionally they have had several challenges to overcome. Managing cash flow is one of them. Another is the task of managing multiple currencies. Now they can do both in one place. This new partnership means it has never been easier for e-commerce businesses to operate globally.

E-commerce provides new opportunities to reach customers across borders, said Storfund Co-Founder and CEO George Brintalos, but it can create new challenges too: many retailers sell outside their home country but need to receive funds in their local currency; they also need to pay suppliers in different jurisdictions. We worked closely with the OFX team to build a retailer-centric solution. By combining daily cash advances with cross-border payments, businesses can ease the friction of operating within a global digital marketplace.

OFXs Global Currency Account functionality is available to Storfund via API. OFX develops API payments solutions for businesses of all shapes and sizes to make global payments more efficient for their clients. For more information about OFX partnerships, contact solutionsemea@ofx.com.

Contacts:

Richard Levy, Head of Marketing, OFX, richard.levy@ofx.com

About OFX

OFX grew from the idea that there had to be a better, fairer way to move money around the world. That was 20 years ago, and were still driven by the same mission today.

We believe real help from real people counts, and thats why we offer our clients the best of both worlds  an easy to use digital platform, combined with 24/7 phone access to our currency experts.

Foreign exchange is in our DNA. We help clients navigate the complexity of FX, making it simple and easy to understand. Because when it comes to money, informed decisions are the best decisions.

Keeping our clients money secure is a top priority. We're monitored by over 50 regulators globally. To date, we have helped over 1 million customers worldwide and have transferred over US$100 billion.

Our clients are all over the globe, so we are too. We operate in offices in London, Dublin, Sydney, Auckland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Toronto and San Francisco. Its global expertise, delivered locally.

http://www.ofx.com
The entire Lehua team has worked tirelessly over the past 18 months to make today's launch of our Olala sodas a reality. We look forward to making Olala California's leading thc infused beverage.

Olalas New Beverage Line Turns Heads

Hollywood felt a bit more chilled out than usual this past weekend thanks to the laid-back, island-inspired cannabis beverage brand, Olala. The pioneering brand held a rooftop party to celebrate the launch of their line of cannabis-infused craft sodas in the State of California and the chill vibes could be felt for miles around. Attendees from all corners of the California cannabis industry enjoyed chef-curated food, perfectly dialed live DJ sets, and most importantly, a cocktail bar with a menu of Olalas high-quality THC-infused craft sodas. The event brought to life the companys motto and tagline: Lifes Better Chilled.

About Olala

Olala initially launched in 2015 in Washington State inspired by co-founder Randy Reeds Hawaiian heritage and culture and grew to become the leading THC-infused craft soda in that market. Olala worked to craft the perfect THC craft soda that embodies the aloha state of mind.

The soda is a smooth cannabis-infused beverage that has all of the benefits of the cannabis plant without the poor taste that people expect from cannabis beverages. Flavors like Orange Cream, Blue Raspberry, Guava, and Mango guarantee you will find a flavor that hits the spot.

Before Olala and Lehua Brands industry-changing advancements in terpene extraction, those who drank cannabis beverages found themselves sacrificing flavor for the benefits of marijuana. With the patented Lehua terpene extraction approach, however, this kind of compromise has become a thing of the past. The nasty wet-weed experience was replaced with the balanced yet smooth bubbly flavor of Olala. Maintaining the full-spectrum profile of the plant, Olala, and Lehuas process almost perfectly duplicates the THC and other compounds found in native cannabis all at once, delivering users a remarkable entourage effect. Simply put, nature designed these compounds to perform best when they are consumed together-- which means each sip of Olala gives you superior taste and an unparalleled chill.
Master Injector, Jacob Sanchez CRNA, APRN Recognized by Harvard Anesthesiology for his Teaching in Excellence, Master Injector Jacob Sanchez CRNA, APRN is now offering an immersive, hands-on experience that will give you the tools and knowledge needed to fully optimize your aesthetics training.

Master Injector, Jacob Sanchez is doing what he does best at GR Aesthetic Institute's one-of-a-kind Neurotoxins and Dermal Fillers Beginner Course on June 5th and 6th. This two-day event provides some of the most intensive, hands-on training in the industry, and will be located at the Miami Airport Marriott Hotel in Miami, FL. Sessions begin at 8:30am and end at 5:30pm each day.

Training will be guided by Jacob Sanchez CRNA, APRN who is unmatched at what it takes to be successful in his field and in business. He is a Board-Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, with a subspecialty in Aesthetics, and has been recognized by Harvards Anesthesiology Department for Teaching in Excellence. In 2016, he became an independent contractor for over 40 medical facilities in South Florida and soon after, developed his own facial aesthetics practice (Get Refreshed) as well as his own institute of learning (GR Aesthetic Institute). Sanchez has also been named America's Top Injector for three consecutive years.

The Neurotoxins and Dermal Fillers Beginner Course aims to teach delegates how to view facial aesthetics while taking into consideration ethic proportions, age and gender. This will equip them with the knowledge needed to create facial restoration and enhancements, while using high-end products and state-of-the-art technology. Licensed delegates will be able to practice their newly acquired skill on approximately 6 of 100 different live models, while those who are not yet licensed will be able to inject an assortment of cadavers. This technique allows delegates to peel back the cadavers skin to locate the fat pads and arteries, indicating where they are supposed to inject, what areas to avoid, and how deep they need to go with each injection.

For more information about GR Aesthetic Institute or their upcoming courses, visit

https://courses.graestheticinstitute.com/.

Media Contact:

Michelle Menendez

Michelle@kukicadvertising.com

305-799-9936
Hernan Olivas, President and CEO, O'Neil & Associates New ONEIL board members deepen bench with construction and aerospace expertise.

ONeil & Associates (ONEIL), an employee-owned company that develops technical publications, training resources and related product support materials, today announced the appointment of two new board members: William Whistler and Mike Zettler. Each new member has extensive experience in the construction and aerospace industries, respectively, and they bring a combined 80 years of experience to the ONEIL board of directors.

Whistler and Zettler will advise executive leadership on important strategic decisions. The collective experience of board members and their understanding of varying markets provides essential insight to the executive team and the organizations decision-making process.

Our board of directors is comprised of unique backgrounds and unmatched expertise, said Hernan Olivas, president and chief executive officer for ONEIL. Bill and Mikes comprehensive understanding of the construction and aerospace industries brings invaluable, experience-based insight to the leadership team, and we look forward to their contributions.

Before joining ONEIL, Whistler worked for Shook Construction for more than 40 years. Whistler held nearly every operations position within the company throughout his 42 years at Shook before eventually rising to the role of chief executive officer. As CEO, Whistler was responsible for managing the companys strategic plan and facilitating professional development for company leadership.

Zettler, a veteran of the aerospace industry, served for 34 years in the United States Air Force. Subsequent to his service, he was the president of LOGTEC, Inc., in Dayton, Ohio. He then served as Lockheed Martin vice president for F-35 sustainment where he led 1,200 employees who were responsible for all aspects of F-35 support.

ONEIL has worked diligently to build a diversified team of experts who further our mission to create world-class support solutions, said Olivas. The addition of Bill and Mike to the board expands our knowledge base, and we are confident their perspectives will be instrumental as we move the company forward.

About ONeil & Associates, Inc.

For nearly 75 years, ONEIL has been the most trusted resource for product support solutions to valuable equipment manufacturers. Our mission is to make equipment safer to use, faster to repair and easier to maintain. We make complex information easier to understand and apply to create a better user experience and improve business advantage for the Department of Defense, aerospace and commercial industries. Our essential work extends the life of valuable, mission-critical equipment and improves the human experience.

For more information about ONEIL solutions, visit http://www.oneil.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Contact Information:

Andrea Stamas

ONEIL

495 Byers Road

Miamisburg, OH 45342-3662

(937) 530-3872

andrea.stamas@oneil.com
Billhighway is honored to partner with Phi Kappa Phi to help optimize their chapter performance, said Billhighway Director of Growth, Mark Prevost.

Billhighway, an industry-leading financial platform dedicated to chapter-based organizations, is thrilled to announce the launch of a new partnership with The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (Phi Kappa Phi). Billhighways full-service solution streamlines data management and financial operations for chapters, eliminating burdensome administrative tasks so chapter leaders can focus more time on their mission.

Founded in 1897, Phi Kappa Phi is the nations oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. The societys mission is to recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and to engage their community of scholars in service to others. With chapters on more than 325 campuses in the United States and the Philippines, Phi Kappa Phis global network of scholars and professionals continue to build an enduring legacy for all generations.

We always strive to identify forward-thinking resources that will help our chapters and their volunteer leaders work more strategically, said Phi Kappa Phi Executive Director, Mary Todd, Ph.D. Our partnership with Billhighway brings automated tools that support our chapters in better managing their finances and delivering a seamless member experience.

Through their consolidated chapter banking platform, Billhighway automates accounting and banking workflows by providing organizations and their chapters with real-time data and financial visibility. Chapters are empowered to make accurate, data-driven decisions with reliable financial reporting and quick, secure access to funds. The solution brings full-scale automation to chapters with features including hassle-free funds transfer, simplified expense-management tools, and easy-to-use budgeting functionality.

Billhighway is honored to partner with Phi Kappa Phi to help optimize their chapter performance, said Billhighway Director of Growth, Mark Prevost. We are committed to supporting component-based organizations with innovative solutions that drive revenue, increase chapter ROI, and elevate the member experience.

Billhighway brings decades of experience in serving chapter-based organizations and solving the unique data and financial challenges of chapter leaders, volunteers and members.

For additional information, please contact: Charlotte Muylaert, Billhighway Marketing Leader, cmuylaert@billhighway.com.

BILLHIGHWAY

Got Chapters? Billhighway is a Chapter Management Solution that increases ROI across your entire organization by providing chapter performance and engagement data to headquarters, and technology tools that help chapters perform better.

THE HONOR SOCIETY OF PHI KAPPA PHI

Phi Kappa Phi is more than a line on a resume. The nations oldest and most selective multidisciplinary collegiate honor society initiates approximately 30,000 members a year on more than 325 campuses in the United States and the Philippines.

More than 1.5 million members have joined its ranks since Phi Kappa Phis founding in 1897 at the University of Maine. It is a global network of the best and brightest, a community of scholars and professionals building an enduring legacy for all generations.
Planet Ford Hosts Chips & Treats, a free pet microchipping event At Planet Ford, we want to do all we can to support our community, and that includes our pets. We often help owners cater to their pets transportation needs, so it only makes sense that we help ensure they are safe and always able to find their way back home. Shawn Burns, GM/OP Planet Ford

Planet Ford in Spring, Texas is proud to host Chips + Treats on June 5th, a free pet microchipping event that is open to the public from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. The dealership is working in conjunction with Wag Again Rescue (wagagain.dog). The 501(c)(3) foster-based dog rescue group will be administering the microchips.

The first 100 microchips administered will be provided compliments of Planet Ford located on I-45. The free microchips are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. There is a limit of two dogs per guest, and all pets must be on a leash. For any additional microchips thereafter, they are available for $15 per animal.

In addition, Planet Ford will provide complimentary water and pup treats. A food truck will also be on location with great food available for purchase.

Approximately 10 million pets are lost in the United States, and millions of those end up in the nations animal shelters. Tragically, only 15 percent of dogs and two percent of cats in shelters without ID tags or microchips are reunited with their owners.

The greater Houston area has hundreds of thousands of pets roaming the streets, many of which once had a home and became strays after they were lost. Statistics have shown that pet owners have a 75% chance of getting a pet back if they are chipped and registered.

At Planet Ford, we want to do all we can to support our community, and that includes our pets, said Shawn Burns, General Manager/Operating Partner of Planet Ford in Spring. We often help owners cater to their pets transportation needs, so it only makes sense that we help ensure they are safe and always able to find their way back home.

Chips & Treats

Saturday, June 5th, 9:00 a.m.  1 p.m. (while supplies last)

Planet Ford in Spring - In front of Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center

20302 Holzwarth Road, Spring, TX 77388

Interview opportunities: Media will have the opportunity to interview members of Planet Ford, Wag Again Rescue, pet owners, and their adorable pets.

About Planet Ford in Spring

Planet Ford in Spring is family-owned by Randall, Sherry, and Shelby Reed. The location offers new Fords, Certified Pre-Owned Fords, Pre-Owned Vehicles, and onsite Parts, Service, and Collision Departments. Planet Ford is an award-winning dealership recognized with multiple Ford Triple Crowns, Presidents Awards, and awards for community service. The Ford dealership is known for its quality service, selection, dedication to customer satisfaction, and is a strong proponent of community. It supports many local schools, charities, and non-profit organizations. Learn more at http://www.PlanetFord45.com.
DENTCO has an impressive reputation in the ESM industry. The combination of DENTCOs skillsets with Powerhouses resources and wider customer base nationwide will enable us both to better serve our clients with deeper and broader capabilities, said Robert Blake-Ward, Principal, Powerhouse.

Powerhouse, a national construction, facilities maintenance and rollout service provider, today announced it has acquired DENTCO, a national exterior services provider headquartered in DeWitt, Michigan. The 44-year-old company offers a complete suite of all-season property management solutions addressing Exterior Services issues for active as well as idle facilities. This deal is Powerhouses second major transaction resulting in it becoming one of the four largest national managed services companies in the exterior space. As a result of the partnership, all Powerhouse Exterior Services Management (ESM) programs will be powered by DENTCO, which will retain its current leadership and 175 employeesmaking Powerhouses total employee base more than 900 people nationwide servicing more than 125,000 project locations annually.

DENTCOs success to date hinges on scalable operational strategies and cultural elements backed by smart technologies that all align with Powerhouses current approach. The integration of DENTCOs proven best practices and tools, wealth of ESM experience, and asset-light field staffing methods with those already employed by Powerhouse are expected to enhance Powerhouses exterior services offering.

DENTCO has an impressive reputation in the ESM industry, said Robert Blake-Ward, Principal, Powerhouse. We have an immense amount of respect for the organic growth the company has achieved throughout its history, which is due to the steadfast commitment and creativity of its team members. Theyve introduced service offerings and account management methods that put the customers needs first, successes that have produced raving fans over the years. The combination of DENTCOs skillsets with Powerhouses resources and wider customer base nationwide will enable us both to better serve our clients with deeper and broader capabilities. We welcome their team and look forward to growing together.

DENTCOs suite of services includes landscape management, snow and ice removal, parking lot maintenance, parking lot sweeping, and dark store maintenance. Founded in 1977, the company launched as a local exterior services partner serving the Michigan area. Today, DENTCO stands as a major national player overseeing more than 8,000 active sites.

DENTCOs evolution largely mirrors that of Powerhouse. Over the years, DENTCO focused heavily on quality service, developing streamlined workflow processes and integrating dynamic technology tools to help customers more easily manage their ESM contracts. Further, like Powerhouse, DENTCO established a solid network of skilled contractors to execute on those contracts.

Powerhouse and DENTCO share some critical core competencies without question, said Scott Milnes, President, DENTCO. Now we are able to offer new capabilities to our customers, such as facilities maintenance, rollout and remodel services, without compromising our values. It will also enable us to tap additional resources in operational areas that will strengthen our already solid service delivery. For Powerhouse, we see an opportunity to leverage our knowledge and experience that led to DENTCO to becoming the nations number one ESM provider. The combined company will result in an even more valuable commercial infrastructure management partner. Were confident customers as well as staff members will reap the benefits moving forward. We look forward to being part of the remarkable team that implements today what will move people through the experiences of tomorrow.

About DENTCO

Headquartered in Dewitt, Michigan, DENTCO is a leading provider of outsourced exterior services management by utilizing a proprietary software suite. The Company provides landscape management, snow and ice removal, parking lot maintenance, and dark store maintenance. The Company's utilizes a network of contractor partners across all 50 states and services over 8,000 active sites. For more information, visit dentco.com.

About Powerhouse

Founded in 2004, Powerhouse (http://www.powerhousenow.com) is a national commercial infrastructure management company headquartered in Crowley, Texas. Touching more than 125,000 project locations annually across all 50 states, the company supports top brands in Banking and Finance, Commercial Real Estate, Healthcare, Hospitality, Food Service, Multifamily Dwellings, Retail, and Senior Living Facilities with an unwavering commitment to and investment in its people, process, and technology. Our hybrid team of employees and trusted partners deliver a broad suite of construction, facilities maintenance, exterior, and rollout serviceswith each project being managed by a full team of skilled talent with singularly-focused roles for the most efficient and timely completion.


Microsoft cloud governance must mirror the modern needs of the business user it seeks to govern.

Rencore, the provider of award-winning software essential to governing Microsoft 365, announced their free online event: M365 Governance Speedrun Mini Summit. The mini summit will benefit professionals searching for a modern cloud governance strategy that bridges the gap between IT and business users.

Maintaining a healthy balance between collaboration and control is a fundamental cloud governance objective. For many organizations, the challenge is to apply effective governance that matches the cloud-first approach. Strategies such as blanket permission restrictions and reducing user access commonly associated with the on-premises governance approach of yesteryear are now considered outdated, unproductive, and have no real place in a modern cloud governance strategy.

"Microsoft cloud governance must mirror the modern needs of the business user it seeks to govern as the services available to business users greatly enhances their ability to achieve business goals, said Matthias Einig, co-founder and CEO at Rencore. A scaled, dynamic Microsoft 365 governance approach enables those responsible for platform management to identify, assess, and act on information swiftly. Consequently, this grants business users the flexibility to operate in an environment fit for their needs. Our Microsoft 365 Governance Speedrun Mini Summit brings experts together to deliver sessions on how to compile and execute a complete Microsoft 365 governance strategy.

Spanning across a total of four days, each session begins promptly at 11:30 am EDT/ 5:30 pm CEST. A five-minute break and a question-and-answer opportunity with the session speakers follow directly after each session. The opening session begins on the 28th of June with Governance Planning for Viva Connections - Best Practices for Intranet Governance, delivered by Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Susan Hanley.

On day two, Microsoft MVP Matthias Einig and Bjoern Erkens will deliver their session: Can you complete Microsoft 365 Governance? Challenge accepted!. Microsoft MVP Tomislav Karafilov follows on day three with: Power Platform Governance - Make it your platform. Microsoft MVP Nicki Borell then closes the mini summit with his session: Quick start for Microsoft Teams compliance, on day four. Attendees have the opportunity to network directly after the last session on day four by joining the community hangout.

All sessions last a total of 60 minutes each. Participants will be able to enter and exit all summit sessions as they please.

If you would like to register for the event, please follow this link.

The M365 Governance Speedrun Mini Summit has limited spaces available.

For further comments or information please contact Rencore today.
We are thrilled to partner with SIMA at a time when Renewvia is significantly scaling its portfolio in Kenya and Nigeria to advance energy access, especially in the most remote places, said Trey Jarrard, CEO, Renewvia Energy.

Social Investment Managers and Advisors LLC (SIMA), a new generation of impact investment manager, and Renewvia Energy Corporation, a global solar developer, today announced a partnership to electrify rural communities in Kenya underserved by conventional utilities. The agreement includes a commitment of $1 million from the SIMA Off Grid Solar and Financial Access Senior Debt Fund I, B.V. to enable Renewvia to expand energy access on the islands of Ringiti and Ndeda, where it currently owns and operates two solar minigrids, and to contribute to the development of new solar minigrids in five communities in Turkana County, Kenya.

Renewvia will develop and operate solar minigrids in the communities of Lomekwi, Nakukulas, Locheremoit, Kagintan, Kori, and Lorengelup by the end of 2021. These minigrids will provide clean, reliable and affordable energy to more than 7,500 individuals and multiple small- and medium-businesses, laying the foundation for improved livelihoods and economic growth.

On the islands of Ringiti and Ndeda, located in Lake Victoria, financing from SIMA will help expand energy access to an additional 2,200 individuals and small businesses where Renewvia has been providing reliable, affordable and clean energy for the last two years. Renewvia plans to complete this work by June, ultimately reaching a total of 5,000 people and small businesses on the islands.

SIMA is committed to investing in the African off-grid solar sector and bringing solar solutions to communities in order to enable economic growth, reduce carbon emissions and improve environmental sustainability, said Asad Mahmood, CEO and Managing Partner, SIMA. Renewvia has a track record of successfully delivering reliable, clean power to several communities in Kenya, and we look forward to working with them on these projects and beyond.

We are thrilled to partner with SIMA at a time when Renewvia is significantly scaling its portfolio in Kenya and Nigeria to advance energy access, especially in the most remote places, said Trey Jarrard, CEO, Renewvia Energy. We are eager to expand this partnership in the near term to enable us to meet the significant need for delivering clean, reliable energy to power even more rural communities.

About Renewvia Energy Corporation

Renewvia Energy Corporation is a top 500 Global Solar Developer headquartered in the Atlanta, Ga. It designs, installs, owns and operates commercial and community solar power systems across three continents and provides a complete range of solar energy solutions including turnkey solar installation, integrated financing and solar consulting services. To learn more, visit: http://www.Renewvia.com.

About SIMA

Established in 2015, SIMA is a pioneer in the impact investing space with a mission to provide demand-driven commercial capital and customized advisory solutions to create profitable businesses and help generate attractive financial returns alongside environmental and social impact. With a rich and diverse experience investing in emerging markets in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, SIMA is committed to help grow promising early-stage companies in some of the poorest regions of the world. SIMA has a presence in Kenya, Uganda, Pakistan, India, Mexico and the United States.

Media Inquiries

Renewvia Energy

Amy Carabajal

Email: amy@renewvia.com

SIMA

Amitesh Sinha

Email: invest@simafunds.com
AWWA Innovation Award Winner 2021 This technology is a real game changer, said AWWA Past President Charlie Anderson, of CDM Smith, and a member of the committee deciding the winners.

Utilis announced yesterday that it is the recipient of the American Water Work Association's inaugural Innovation Award. With this new award, the American Water Works Association (AWWA) recognized Utilis for fulfilling the vision of the Associations Innovation Initiative. The ongoing initiative is to inspire and implement innovative thinking and best practices to address challenges within the water industry and achieve significant positive results.

Utilis developed technology that lowers the cost of finding potable water leaks with its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology. Utilis uses reflected signals from a satellite to detect the underground presence of potable water. A staggering 7200M gallons of water are saved every year through Utilis solutions, with an average of 3.3 leaks found per day at each subscribing utility.

This technology is a real game changer, said AWWA Past President Charlie Anderson, of CDM Smith, and a member of the committee deciding the winners. It can save upfront leak detection costs, find remote subsurface leaks, especially during natural disaster situations where the utility is trying to restore system pressure.

"We are honored to receive the Innovation Award from the American Water Works Association, remarked Elly Perets, Utilis CEO. The AWWA places a high value on innovation because it is the way utilities can address many challenges, including aging infrastructure. Utilis is happy to contribute to the digital transformation of water utilities. Our work protects the worlds most important resource.

The AWWA is the largest nonprofit, scientific and educational association dedicated to managing and treating water. They provide solutions to improve public health, protect the environment, strengthen the economy and enhance our quality of life. Working with AWWA is central to the Utilis mission to use SAR analytics to support the earths resilience, Perets said. Our team continues to innovate. This year we are growing our SAR-based products to support the greater infrastructure industry with soil moisture intelligence.

ABOUT UTILIS

Utilis provides data driven solutions for water utilities, government agencies, and the greater infrastructure industry. They use synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data from satellites and turn it into large scale decision support tools. The proprietary algorithms and highly educated staff of scientists and engineers are the key to the companys mission, to advance planet Earths resource resilience through SAR analytics. Successfully commercializing their first product, leak detection in 2016, Utilis projects have resulted in saving more than 7000 million gallons of potable water and 17,000 MWH of energy per year, in support of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Headquartered in Israel, with offices in the United States and United Kingdom, Utilis currently provides innovative data solutions in multiple verticals around the globe. For more information on Utilis and to learn more about their technology visit https://utiliscorp.com/.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/utilisltd/.
Simfoni hires successful procurement technology executives on the heels of achieving significant growth milestones Having products that deliver an instant ROI makes Simfoni special, and its clear that the market is realizing this, said Jason Stern, CEO, Simfoni Analytics.

Simfoni, the next generation digital solutions provider for procurement analytics and spend automation, today announced two key additions to its senior management team: Mike Wigg has joined as Chief Operations Officer and Kyle Muskoff as Head of Sales.

Its been an amazing year for Simfoni, with significant growth in our customer base and the addition of successful procurement technology executives, said Jason Stern, CEO, Simfoni Analytics. Having products that deliver an instant ROI makes Simfoni special, and its clear that the market is realizing this.

In the past 12 months, Simfoni has achieved a number of notable growth milestones:



Added 23 new enterprise customers

Total company Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) has increased by 256%

MRR in Spend Analytics is well above 325%

In addition to adding key leadership positions, Simfoni has made a number of key hires, increasing its headcount by 35%

Simfoni fuses next-generation technology, content and expertise to offer the worlds most accessible Spend Intelligence and Automation platforms. Simfonis unique Pay As You Save option removes the barriers typically associated with eProcurement solutions, reducing customer risk and investment while providing best-in-class results. Simfoni leverages AI technology to boost efficiency and automate the Analysis process, driving unparalleled value for its customers.

Simfoni has massive potential to drive the industry forward, said Mike Wigg, COO, Simfoni. I initially joined the company because I was impressed by their dynamism, clarity, and ability to offer a full-service solution to clients, and I continue to be amazed by the accomplishments of their positive, professional and committed team.

Mike Wigg has held senior level sales and operational roles at several start-ups and early-stage companies, most recently serving as Chief Operating Officer at Rosslyn Data Technologies, an AIM-listed Cloud Data Analytics SaaS provider. While at Rosslyn, Wigg was responsible and accountable for all operational activities, including Project Management (Internal & External), Duty Management Support & Implementation, Data ETL, RPA, Internal and External Support, Training (Internal & External) and ISO Compliance. Outside work, Wigg is an enthusiastic private pilot with a love of vintage aeroplanes (particularly bi-planes) and he shares a DH82a Tiger Moth with his partner, Amanda, who is also an adventure pilot.

Simfoni is on the forefront of promoting and supporting the vision of recognizing Procurement as a strategic element of any organization, said Kyle Muskoff, Head of Sales, Simfoni. The Simfoni platform goes beyond traditional procurement technology platforms by providing spend visibility along with the tools to control it. Im convinced that the companys data-driven approach will revolutionize the industry and am excited to be part of it.

Kyle Muskoff brings over two decades of experience with enterprise-level digital platforms, specifically focusing on eProcurement and eCommerce applications. Prior to Simfoni, Muskoff served as Chief Revenue Officer for BuyerQuest, where he developed a go-to-market strategy that grew the companys top-line revenue by over 40% and led to a successful acquisition. Before that, he held strategic positions at a number of leading technology companies, including Rosetta, Robert Half technology and Texas Instruments.

To learn more about Simfoni, please visit the companys new website at https://simfoni.com/.

About Simfoni

Simfoni provides Spend Analytics and Spend Automation products to leading global enterprises. The Simfoni platform utilizes machine learning and artificial intelligence to accelerate and automate key aspects of the procurement process, saving customers time and money and paving the way toward supply chain sustainability. With offices in the USA, Europe and the Middle East, Simfoni works with its customers and the wider vendor community to improve vendor diversity and achieve strategic CSR objectives. For additional information, please visit https://simfoni.com/.
Indiana Connections Career Academy logo "Indiana Connections Career Academy gave me flexibility in my schedule that I really appreciated, said Griffin Keopkey, salutatorian of the Class of 2021.

Indiana Connections Career Academy, a tuition-free, full-time public virtual school, recently held its graduation ceremony celebrating 154 students. Graduating seniors from across the state gathered virtually or participated in a drive-through ceremony with family, friends and teachers to commemorate the education milestone.

As the world continues to change, our students were able to finish their schoolwork without being interrupted academically, while also exploring the careers they want to pursue that will help them make a difference in the world, said Stephanie Chi, principal of Indiana Connections Career Academy. We are confident the Class of 2021 will make a major impact in the world as they have shown an incredible amount of character, resilience and self-motivation.

Nearly 50 percent of graduates plan to attend two- or four-year colleges or universities. Additional graduates have plans to attend vocational training programs (28 percent) or enter the workforce directly upon graduation (20 percent), while others have plans to join the military, take a gap year or are undecided.

Indiana Connections Career Academy provides students with the continuous support of highly-skilled teachers and curriculum that focuses on both academics and social-emotional learning, while helping them gain the skills and confidence they need to thrive in a changing world.

"Indiana Connections Career Academy gave me flexibility in my schedule that I really appreciated, said Griffin Keopkey, salutatorian of the Class of 2021. It allowed me to manage my own schedule, and work at my own pace, which makes me confident that I'm well equipped for attending college. I'm thankful Indiana Connections Career Academy was an option when I realized I needed a change of pace from traditional public school."

Indiana Connections Career Academy students pursue graduation requirements to earn a high school diploma while also completing a career-focused program that prepares them for joining the workforce in one of Indianas high-growth fields. Indiana Connections Career Academy supports students with workforce and career readiness activities, academic and career counseling, CTE programs and opportunities for real-world experience. By engaging in Career Education live online classroom sessions, completing career-facing activities and demonstrating employability skills, students earn badges and gain elective credit. During their senior year, students gain valuable real-world experience through internships, externships and other work partnerships.

Students choose a career cluster to focus on during the school year, including:



Business and technology

Work-based learning and health sciences

Culinary arts, nutrition and human development

Cosmetology

Manufacturing and engineering

Enrollment for Indiana Connections Career Academys 2021-22 school year is now open for students across the state in grades 6-12. Details about upcoming information sessions are available online. For more information about Indiana Connections Career Academy, visit http://www.IndianaConnectionsCareerAcademy.com or call 1-800-382-6010.

About Indiana Connections Career Academy

Indiana Connections Career Academy is a unique, tuition-free, online public school with a special emphasis on career readiness for students in grades 6-12. Authorized by Ball State University, we know how to create a high-quality educational experience that keeps students motivated and engaged in a safe, virtual learning environment. In addition to academics, teachers focus on emotional well-being and social development, working closely with families to help students learn how they learn best. Here, students gain the skills and confidence they need to direct their own educational journey, learning to thrive in the real world by first learning how to be resourceful and resilient. For more information, call 1-800-382-6010 or visit http://www.IndianaConnectionsCareerAcademy.com.
ThunderCat strives for a company culture where excellence is woven into the daily fabric and reflected in the actions of each and every member of the team.

ThunderCat Technology today announced that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has named ThunderCat to its 2021 Solution Provider 500 list, placing #51. CRN announces its top 500 solution providers list each year, ranking the leading IT channel partner organizations across North America by revenue. This years impressive list represents a remarkable combined revenue of over $403 billion, underscoring the immense impact and influence these partners have on the IT industry today.

CEO Tom Deierlein commented on the list, Challenging year for all of us. It is a big honor to be included on this prestigious list. We work very hard to ensure our customers are happy and successful. ThunderCat strives for a company culture where excellence is woven into the daily fabric and reflected in the actions of each and every member of the team. Overall, we are proud of how we have evolved over this past decade since our first appearance on the SP500 to meet the changing requirements of our customers and rapidly evolving marketplace. A special thanks to our OEM partners for their support and incredible products.

CRNs Solution Provider 500 list serves as the industry standard for top-performing technology integrators, strategic service providers, and IT consultants, which makes it a valuable resource for technology vendors looking to partner with todays best-of-breed IT solution providers, said Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company. On behalf of The Channel Company, Id like to congratulate these companies for their incredible contributions to the growth and success of the IT channel.

The complete 2021 Solution Provider 500 list is available online at http://www.CRN.com/SP500 and a sample from the list will be featured in the June issue of CRN Magazine.

About ThunderCat Technology

Currently ranked #51 on the Solution Provider 500, the award winning ThunderCat Technology is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) that delivers technology products and services to government organizations, educational institutions, and commercial companies. Led by a combat-wounded CEO, ThunderCat is a systems integrator that brings an innovative approach to solving customer problems in and around the datacenter by providing strategies for Data Storage, Networking, Cyber Security, and Cloud Transformations. A proven leader, ThunderCat Technology provides and optimizes technologies from best of breed manufacturers. Clients include DOD, DHS, VA, Treasury, FBI, State of Virginia, State of NY, Sony, VISA, and CareFirst http://www.thundercattech.com.

About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers, and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. http://www.thechannelcompany.com

Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

 2021 The Channel Company, LLC. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

The Channel Company Contact:

Jennifer Hogan

The Channel Company

jhogan@thechannelcompany.com
The TMC ARRISTOTLE team, pictured left to right: Junior Systems Engineer Michael Durst, Software Engineer William Holland, TMC Systems Engineer Seth Murphy, and Senior Systems Engineer Steve Yokum. "We're honored NASA remains confident in our leading-edge technology offerings," Linger said. "We hope to expand our team who are providing specialized systems and software engineering services in support of the Software Assurance Tools and John McBride Software Testing and Research groups within th

TMC Technologies of West Virginia, a leading-edge technology services firm, is proud to announce it has been awarded a five-year, Blanket Purchase Agreement, with a ceiling value of $24 million, by NASA to provide advanced systems and software engineering services in support of the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Facility, home of NASA's IV&V Program in Fairmont, West Virginia.

TMC President and Chief Executive Officer Wade Linger said the new NASA System and Software Engineering Tools 2 (SET2) BPA continues his firm's decade-long relationship with NASA's IV&V Program.

"We're honored NASA remains confident in our leading-edge technology offerings," Linger said. "We hope to expand our team who are providing specialized systems and software engineering services in support of the Software Assurance Tools and John McBride Software Testing and Research groups within the NASA IV&V Program."

Jon McBride Software Testing and Research (JSTAR) is a subgroup within the NASA IV&V Program, named after West Virginia-born and retired astronaut Jon McBride. JSTAR programs TMC will continue to support are the Simulation-to-Flight-1 SmallSat, also known as West Virginia's First Spacecraft, the NASA Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) mission directorate to put humans in space, James Webb Space Telescope, and others. Vice President Randy Hefner oversees all NASA-related activity for TMC. He said the new, expanded NASA SET2 BPA would include expanded support for the NASA Artemis manned missions to the Moon.

"Our team is at the cutting-edge developing NASA's first integrated simulation software bringing together three critical components of the NASA Artemis program," Hefner said, referring to the TMC-led team developing the Advanced Risk Reduction Integrated Software Test & Operations Tri-Program Lightweight Environment (ARRISTOTLE) system.

The systems ARRISTOTLE is bringing together include the NASA Space Launch System simulator, the simulator for NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, and the NASA Kennedy Space Center's Ground Launch Software simulator.

Hefner said the NASA SET2 BPA is a follow-on contract to the NASA Technical Expertise Support Services (TESS), and NASA SET1 BPAs TMC held for much of the last ten years.

Check out TMC's LinkedIn page here.

About TMC Technologies of West Virginia (TMC)

TMC drives innovation by challenging tradition. Even as a leading-edge technology small business, TMC consistently delivers high-quality, mission-critical solutions on time and within budget. Our services and experts support agile software development practices, systems engineering, cross-domain data dissemination, information assurance, cybersecurity, spaceflight modeling/simulation, and other relevant competencies. We are proud of our stellar reputation among our customers and industry partners in the National Security, Defense, Cybersecurity, Space, and other Federal Civilian sectors.

TMC headquarters are in Fairmont, West Virginia. The firm also maintains a branch office in King George, Virginia.

TMC is a Certified HUBZone Small Business and has earned an ISO 9001:2015 certification for quality management.

About the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Facility, home of NASA's IV&V Program and the Jon McBride Software Testing and Research (JSTAR) Laboratory

The Katherine Johnson IV&V Facility, home of NASA's IV&V Program, located in the heart of West Virginia's technology sector in Fairmont, West Virginia, was established in 1993 as a direct result of recommendations made by the National Research Council (NRC) and the Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident. Since its inception, the IV&V Program has contributed to NASA's highest-profile missions' safety and success by correctly assuring the software on those missions. The IV&V Program falls administratively under NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) located in Greenbelt, Maryland, and operates under functional guidance from the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA)


Progress_news

Moshannon Valley veterans memorial committee honors Washburn

Mikayla Heiss James Washburn was instrumental in the creation of the Moshannon Valley Veterans Wall Memorial, according to Committee President Johna McCormick.

PHILIPSBURG  The Moshannon Valley Veterans Wall Memorial Committee recognized the efforts of James Jim Washburn in the formation of the Moshannon Valley Veterans Wall Memorial.

Dedicated in 2008, the memorial honors those killed in action, according to previous Vice President Allen Webster. Since its formation, the memorial has been the site of funerals, weddings and more, Webster stated.

Its become a focal point in Moshannon Valley for veterans, Webster said.

The memorial has more than 400 names of people killed in conflicts, such as World War l and Vietnam, according to Webster. The organization put hundreds of thousands of dollars into the project.

I am just so humbled and so happy that I was able to contribute the slightest bit, said Washburn.

Washburn assisted with fundraising efforts and spearheaded the project. When recognized, Washburn turned the attention back to those killed in action.

Personally, Im nothing, Washburn stated. Im just a regular Army dude. I served my time, and I came home. Those are the heroes of America.

He recently stepped down from his role as committee president.

Johna McCormick took the reins, assuming the presidential role. Washburn left big shoes to fill, she noted. It will take some time to acclimate to the new position, but she wont be alone.

(Washburn) is going to mentor me, McCormick stated. With his help, it will work.

McCormick is always looking for volunteers. More bricks can also be added to the memorial. Applications for bricks for living or deceased veterans can be found on the committees Facebook page. People can also call or text (910) 584-0124 for more information.

Now its all about maintenance, upkeep, updating and finding ways to bring awareness to the Moshannon Valley community of the significance of this memorial, McCormick said.
Using an adaptation of Sync.MD's technology, we offer international travelers, tourists, and travel operators a simple, easy to use, solution meant to share accurate, equitable, secure, HIPPA-compliant, information on travelers health status beyond COVID-19 related vaccine and testing data.

TravelAccel Inc., a comprehensive travel marketing and management company, offers a complete, cost-effective, cloud-based integrated Travel Business Platform to tour and travel operators, cruise lines, DMCs, and international conference organizers, has entered into an exclusive collaboration and license agreement with Sync.MD Inc. to adapt Sync.MDs innovative, HIPPA-compliant, health record sharing mobile technology platform for use by travelers and their operators to meet the need of emerging, post-COVID-19 pandemic global requirements.

Travelers and tourists can use the technology to request medical records from their stateside healthcare provider and share this data and information, including proof of COVID-19 vaccination and test results, safely, in real-time, via an encrypted process with anyone involved in providing or assisting with their healthcare needs, as well with tour operators, cruise lines, DMCs international meeting, and conference organizers, explained Eugene Luskin, the Chief Executive Officer of Sync.MD.

The mobile app, developed by Sync.MD, displays COVID-19 test results and proof of inoculation, which travelers have shared with each tour operators custom cloud-based dashboard to allow tour operators to determine whether they meet all the necessary requirements for global travel. [1]

With more Americans being vaccinated against the coronavirus, the United States Congress passing legislation that temporarily bypasses the 135-year-old Passenger Vessel Services Act, which forbids foreign-flagged passenger ships from sailing between United States ports without making a stop at a foreign port, and several major cruise companies been cleared to resume cruises in the U.S. starting in late June and July 2021, there is a growing unmet need to verify and certify a travelers COVID-19 inoculation status and test results, said David Lawrence, TravelAccels Chief Executive Officer.

This unmet need is exacerbated by the expected growth of international travel following the European Unions recent recommendation expanding the list of EU-member states considered safe enough to allow business travelers and tourists, opening the doors to vaccinated travelers from other countries, including the United States, Lawrence explained. [2]

In turn, the growth of the number of travelers necessitates navigating COVID-19 testing requirements and proof of vaccination, forcing travelers to plan ahead before leaving home or returning to the United States, added Rafeek Kottai, TravelAccels Chief Technology Officer.

Beyond a Vaccine passport

With the increase in travel, national and international leaders in travel, technology, and politics are discussing the possibility and the legality of a vaccine passport, a document that verifies a traveler is fully vaccinated against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the virus that causes COVID-19, or has a recent negative coronavirus test result.

The purpose of such a COVID-19 vaccine passport is to help travelers prove test results or vaccination status and confirm that any personal information on these test results matches what is on their ticket and passport to avoid problems and delays at embarkation and disembarkation points, Lawrence clarified.

Using an adaptation of the Sync.MD technology, we offer international travelers, tourists, and travel operators a simple, easy to use, solution meant to share accurate, equitable, secure, and complete, HIPPA-compliant, information on travelers health status. The strength of Sync.MD technology is that it is developed by doctors and is designed to provide real-time access to health records, without the need for additional software and expenses. It eliminates the need for a separate COVID-19 passport that may face numerous concerns that are difficult to address, Sync.MDs Luskin said.

Our mobile solution, which goes beyond just COVID-19 related vaccine and testing requirements established by governments, provides immediate access to urgent and emergent data, satisfies federal Data Privacy protections, is accessible anywhere, anytime to anyone given personal permission, and enables seamless transfer of medical records, including COVID-19 related information, across networks, providers, and locations. I expect that this will make an immediate impact in helping people start traveling safely again and reignite a crucial sector of the world economy, Luskin concluded. [3]

About TravelAccel

TravelAccel combines more than 50 years of expertise in travel, technology, and marketing to eliminate the fragmented approach to the travel business. We offer the only completely customizable cloud-based travel operator business platform. TravelAccel understands that no two travel companies are the same. Our management team partners with you at all times, every step of the way. We collaborate with you on how best to structure and implement all the aspects of our platform, based on your companys unique needs. Our mission is to help grow your product and your sales while eliminating a fragmented approach to the travel business. For more information, please visit our website.

About Sync.MD

Sync.MD patented technology enables individuals to securely store their complete and current health care records, and update information on their smartphone for seamless sharing of medical records with healthcare providers. Sync.MD helps solve the problem of connecting otherwise incompatible medical records systems, as well as meet the specific needs of those who travel or require specialized care beyond their usual healthcare provider. The companys innovative technology enables higher quality of care, which means better outcomes and reduced costs for patients. For further information visit our website.

Reference/Notes

[1] The CDC regularly updated its guidelines. Travelers should review these guidelines before booking and leaving home. Online. Last accessed on June 1, 2020.

[2] Amendment to European Council Recommendation (EU) 2020/912. Online. Last accessed on June 1, 2021

[3] According to a report published by Bloomberg, the global travel industry customarily accounts for 10% of the global economy. And according to data from the World Travel and Tourism Council, every 1% increase in international arrivals adds approximately US $7.23 billion to the worlds cumulative gross domestic product. Online. Last accessed on June 1, 2020.


Andreea Gleeson, Co-head and Chief Revenue Officer, TuneCore, stated, The partnership with Qobuz enables us to satisfy the growing appetite for lossless audio across all genres, while also unlocking a global audience of Hi-Res audio fans for our artists."

Leading independent DIY digital music distributor TuneCore has partnered with Hi-Res streaming and download platform Qobuz to make music available from TuneCores vast roster of artists on the Qobuz service. TuneCore is owned by Paris-based digital music distribution leader and artist development company Believe. Qobuz, also Paris-based, is a worldwide leader in lossless and 24-bit Hi-Res quality streaming and downloads.

The partnership with Qobuz represents TuneCores continued dedication to expanding distribution for its roster of diverse independent artists. Qobuz offers an exceptional range of music genres, many of which are overlooked by other digital service providers, all in Hi-Res. The company currently has access to over 70 million tracks in lossless audio quality. The dual offering of both streams and downloads allows Qobuz users the opportunity to choose between streaming music via subscription and purchasing downloads to own and play via Hi-Res compatible hardware.

Andreea Gleeson, Co-head and Chief Revenue Officer, TuneCore, stated, The partnership with Qobuz enables us to satisfy the growing appetite for lossless audio across all genres, while also unlocking a global audience of Hi-Res audio fans for our artists. Audiophiles who appreciate Hi-Res sound will love Qobuz and its commitment to a high-quality music experience.

Dan Mackta, Managing Director of Qobuz USA, added, The TuneCore catalog spans from iconic artists to emerging upstarts and we are excited to welcome them all into our world. Music fans who demand the very best will be getting to hear much more great stuff now on Qobuz.

The very first Hi-Res streamer to hit the market worldwide, Qobuz not only offers studio quality sound, but is also known for its best-in-class editorial content and exclusives.

About TuneCore

TuneCore is the global platform for independent musicians to build audiences and careers  with technology and services across distribution, publishing administration and a range of promotional services. TuneCore Music Distribution services help artists, labels and managers sell their music through Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, TikTok, Tencent and more than 150 download and streaming stores worldwide, while retaining 100 percent of their sales revenue and rights for a low annual flat fee. TuneCore Music Publishing Administration assists songwriters by administering their compositions through licensing, registration, worldwide royalty collections, and placement opportunities in film, TV, commercials, video games and more. The TuneCore Artist Services portal offers a suite of tools and services that enable artists to promote their craft, connect with fans, and get their music heard. TuneCore, part of Believe, is headquartered in Brooklyn, NY, with offices in Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta, and Austin, and operates globally through local teams based in the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, India, Japan and Singapore across 4 continents. http://www.tunecore.com

About Believe

Believe is one of the worlds leading digital music companies. Believes mission is to develop independent artists and labels in the digital world. We accomplish our mission by providing them the solutions they need to grow their audience at each stage of their career and development. Believes passionate team of digital music experts around the world leverages the Groups global technology platform to advise artists and labels, distribute and promote their music. Our 1,270 employees in more than 50 countries aim to support independent artists and labels with a unique digital expertise, respect, fairness and transparency. Believe offers its various solutions through a portfolio of brands including TuneCore, Believe Distribution Services, Nuclear Blast, Naive, Groove Attack and AllPoints. http://www.believe.com

About Qobuz

Founded in 2007, a pioneer of high-quality sound, Qobuz is the French music streaming and download service that meets the needs of demanding music lovers and audiophiles. Available in 18 countries around the world, in Europe, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, Qobuz offers an exceptional range of exclusive editorial content written by a team of experts. With its catalog of more than 70 million tracks, Qobuz also has the richest choice of high-resolution (Hi-Res) references on the market. Qobuz is the only multi-genre platform to achieve Hi-Res certification - a label awarded by the Japan Audio Society (JAS). For more information: qobuz.com
"The VIPER ELITE II is a sensible upgrade to our popular and award-winning VIPER ELITE series, and with it, we take everything back to the basics and essentials to how an excellent DRAM module should be built. For the VIPER ELITE II, we have focused on speed, capacity, and stability,"

VIPER, a trademarked gaming brand of PATRIOT and a global leader in performance memory, solid-state drives, and flash storage solutions, today is proud to announce the market launch of their VIPER ELITE II DDR4 PERFORMANCE MEMORY. The VIPER ELITE II inherits its successful design from the award-winning ELITE PERFORMANCE MEMORY series and continues to deliver unparalleled stability and overclocking potential to hardware enthusiasts and hardcore gamers. It is customized for the PC builder looking for an RGB-free performance-centric memory solution with a wide range of speeds and capacities.

"The VIPER ELITE II is a sensible upgrade to our popular and award-winning VIPER ELITE series, and with it, we take everything back to the basics and essentials to how an excellent DRAM module should be built. For the VIPER ELITE II, we have focused on speed, capacity, and stability," said Roger Shinmoto, the Vice President of VIPER. "These memory kits offer many options for gamers or content creators who are looking to escalate their system performance to the next level and still maintain a stealthy look inside their PCs."

The VIPER ELITE II features a clean and stealthy new heat spreader design to showcase the VIPER brand elements. A military-grade aluminum heatshield wraps up the module to provide outstanding thermal performance and maintain system stability under the heaviest of loads. In addition, each module is built from a 10-layer PCB using only the highest quality hand-tested memory chips and components to ensure that each module meets VIPER's strict quality standards for excellent stability and reliability.

The VIPER ELITE II fully supports XMP 2.0 for profile-based automatic overclocking and is validated against the latest Intel and AMD motherboard platforms for compatibility. Backed by a limited lifetime warranty, the VIPER ELITE II is now available in selected global retailers in both single module and dual kits with frequencies of 2666MHz/3200MHz /3600MHz/4000MHz and module densities of 4GB/8GB/16GB/32GB, offering a maximum kit capacity of 64GB (2x32GB).

FEATURES:



Product line: VIPER ELITE II

Edition: Red heatshield with black VIPER signatures

Aluminum heat spreader with the unique and specific design element

Feature Overclock: XMP 2.0 support for automatic overclocking

Compatibility: Tested across the latest Intel/AMD platforms for reliably fast performance

Limited lifetime warranty

Availability

Amazon US:



Amazon CA:



Newegg: https://bit.ly/3uFwd1X

For more information about VIPER ELITE II DDR4 PERFORMANCE MEMORY, please visit: https://bit.ly/3hWeyQX

Datasheet and marketing assets download: https://bit.ly/3wDtiZ4

Computex 2021 and Viper

While Computex 2021 moves to #ComputexVirtual experience, Viper will showcase their new Viper Elite II memory, and more products on its digital booth at

https://show.computex.biz/ExhibitorDetail.aspx?scom_id=115

Register for free and visit COMPUTEX: https://virtual.computextaipei.com.tw/

About VIPER

VIPER is a trademarked gaming brand of PATRIOT, a global leader in performance memory, SSD and flash storage solutions. VIPER was established in 2007 by unveiling their well-known line of computer memory which has since become synonymous with elite performance and reliability among gamers worldwide. In 2015, VIPER expanded its product categories to include gaming keyboards, headsets, and mice. Offering entry, mid-level and high-end solutions all with rich feature sets, VIPER award-winning peripherals provide gamers everywhere the best price-for-performance and reliability that enable gamers to dominate in their sport.

About PATRIOT

PATRIOT is a leading manufacturer of high performance, enthusiast memory modules, SSDs, flash storage, gaming peripherals, and mobile accessories. Founded in 1985 and headquartered in Fremont, CA, USA, PATRIOT is committed to technology innovation, customer satisfaction and providing the best price for performance on the market. PATRIOT products have become world renown for their extreme performance, reliability, and innovation. PATRIOT sells its products through original equipment manufacturers, retailers, e-tailers and distributors throughout the world with operations in North America, South America, Asia, and Europe. All company and/or product names may be trade names, trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice.

Follow us

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vipergamingpatriot

Twitter: https://twitter.com/patriot_viper

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patriot_viper

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/patriotviper

Media Contact

Andrew OuYang

iDee Creatives Marketing Consulting Inc. on behalf of PATRIOT and VIPER GAMING

andrewouyang@ideecreatives.com


Vortex Biosciences, liquid biopsy for cancer diagnosis, announces experienced start-up leader Dr. Adrian Kinkaid as new CEO We are delighted to welcome Adrian. His experience in commercializing game changing medical technologies will help execute Vortexs ambitious plans in the rapidly growing liquid biopsy market. Following EMV Capital's trans-Atlantic strategy, Vortex operates out of the Bay Area and in Cambridge, UK

Vortex Biosciences has developed the VTX-1, a best-in-class instrument that isolates and purifies Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) from blood. These cells can then be used for cancer diagnosis and monitoring, research on drug development, cancer research and development of personalized medicine.

Dr Adrian Kinkaid joins Vortex Biosciences on contract, alongside his other roles as CEO of healthcare diagnostic biotech BioFab Ltd and antibody testing biotech Lumabs BV. A specialist in leading early-stage start-ups, Adrian has led several funding rounds for MIP Diagnostics, a synthetic antibody biotech, where he served as CEO for four years until 2019. He has also secured non-dilutive funding for MIP Diagnostics and BioFab via the prestigious SMART Awards.

Prior to this, he was Chief Commercial Officer for Promexus, a protein biotherapeutics company based on Affimer technology, and Strategic Market Development Leader for Abcam, the leading provider of research antibodies. He has a particular passion for improving patient outcomes and game-changing new technologies, especially in the in vitro diagnostics space.

As CEO, Dr Adrian Kinkaid will be overseeing the operations of Vortex Biosciences across its two sites in San Francisco, US and Cambridge, UK. He will be working closely with the board as well as Dr. Ilian Iliev, the Executive Chairman. Adrian will be using his expertise and experience to help Vortex Biosciences commercialize its medical technologies and grow rapidly in the liquid biopsy market.

On his appointment, Dr Adrian Kinkaid said:

I am delighted to be joining the Vortex Biosciences team. Vortex is in an unrivalled position with outstanding core technology and a best-in-class platform to provide Circulating Timor Cells (CTCs) with remarkable efficiency and purity. More importantly, Vortexs VTX-1 platform is providing game-changing opportunities for CTC isolation in the liquid biopsy market.

Vortex Biosciences Executive Chairman and NetScientific PLC CEO Dr. Ilian Iliev commented:

We are delighted to welcome Adrian to the team at this critical juncture. We trust Adrians experience in commercializing game-changing medical technologies will help execute Vortexs ambitious plans in the rapidly growing liquid biopsy market. Vortex is now based in two of the worlds greatest biotech clusters  the Bay Area and Cambridge, UK  and is therefore well positioned to exploit the rapid growth in the liquid biopsy market on both sides of the Atlantic.

Adrian has a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Southampton, centred on novel assay development, and undertook a post-doctoral position with the Institute of Cancer Research, London. His industrial experience started with agrochemical and pharmaceutical discovery where he developed a range of different biochemical and cell-based assays mainly for high throughput screening applications.

Adrian was also a Founding Member of European Laboratory Research and Innovation Group, a not-for-profit organization that holds conferences and events for thought leadership in the life science and drug discovery communities. He served two terms as Chairman, during which time he established the flagship Drug Discovery event, which is now the leading conference of its kind in Europe.

About Vortex Biosciences

http://www.vortexbiosciences.com

Vortex Biosciences provides an automated, label-free, benchtop solution for isolation and purification of Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) from a standard 8 ml tube of blood. The VTX-1 instrument rapidly processes the sample through micro vortices to enrich the CTCs and delivers these highly purified cells into a choice of collection formats. These samples containing viable, undamaged CTCs are easily integrated into downstream genomics, protein markers testing, single cell analysis and staining techniques. Vortex Biosciences was spun-out of UCLA, is backed by EMV Capital, a subsidiary of NetScientific PLC, and other private investors, and is dually based in San Francisco, USA and Cambridge, UK.

About EMV Capital

http://www.emvcapital.com

EMV Capital Ltd (EMVC) is a London-based award-winning investor focused on B2B companies in the healthcare, sustainability and industrials sectors. It is a subsidiary of AIM-listed NetScientific PLC. EMVCs investments in UK, US and Israel cover a range of technologies including robotics and AI, advanced engineering, power electronics and Medtech. EMVCs model is to develop customized investment strategies for its portfolio companies, combining its network of private investors, institutional VCs investors and Corporate VC funds.

EMV Capital Limited is an appointed representative of Sapphire Capital Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

For more information, please visit https://www.vortexbiosciences.com

About NetScientific PLC

AIM-listed NetScientific Plc is a life sciences and sustainability technology investment and commercialisation Group, leveraging trans-Atlantic relationships and global opportunities to deliver shareholder value. For more information, please visit the website at https://netscientific.net/

Contact Information

EMV Capital Ltd | http://www.emvcapital.com

Dr. Ilian Iliev, Managing Director

info@emvcapital.com

+44 (0)203 761 6138

Vortex Biosciences, Inc | http://www.vortexbiosciences.com

Dr. Adrian Kinkaid, CEO

info@vortexbiosciences.com

+1-650-252-2262
Through this new program, parents are receiving increased peer-to-peer mentorship and encouragement from individuals who have been in their shoes. WMPC is proud to implement these efforts that support timely reunifications and prevent re-entry to foster care.

West Michigan Partnership for Children is celebrating the launch of its Parent Engagement Program just in time for National Reunification Month. The program is part of WMPCs commitment to supporting timely reunification of families and preventing children from re-entry to foster care.

The trauma-informed Parent Engagement Program engages and equips Kent County parents with children ages 0-5 entering the foster care system by:



Building relationships

Providing emotional support, mentoring and modeling

Encouraging case plan responsibilities

Supporting parents in court and family team meetings

Through this new program, parents are receiving increased peer-to-peer mentorship and encouragement from individuals who have been in their shoes, said Nakia Kyler, Chief Engagement & Equity Officer at West Michigan Partnership for Children. WMPC is proud to implement these efforts that support timely reunifications and prevent re-entry to foster care.

The program employs Parent Engagement Specialists who provide support and mentoring to parents. Family engagement and peer support are known strategies to promote the safety, wellbeing, and permanency of children in foster care.

With this program, were hoping to see an increase in timeliness reunification, an increase in engagement between birth parents, foster care workers, foster parents, and service providers, said JeRae Sommersell, Parent Engagement Program Manager. It is important that we bring to light that parents navigating the child welfare system are more than the sum of their mistakes or behaviors and are just as human as you and me.

Launched on March 31, 2021, the Parent Engagement Program was made possible by Kent County taxpayers and the voter-approved Ready by Five Early Childhood Millage. The millage funds allow WMPC to provide services for two years and are distributed and overseen by First Steps Kent.

WMPC has been operating a community-based foster care model for three years through a contract with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and is currently the first and only performance-based child welfare model in Michigan. More information is available at WMPCs website.
WhistlePig FarmStock Beyond Bonded Rye and Bourbon

WhistlePig Whiskey, the #1 distiller in the ultra-premium and luxury rye whiskey category in North America, celebrates a milestone this Spring with the release of two 100% grain-to-glass whiskeys from the WhistlePig Farm. WhistlePigs long anticipated FarmStock Beyond Bonded Rye is joined by FarmStock Beyond Bonded Bourbon. Both Rye and Bourbon are harvested, distilled, aged and bottled by hand at the WhistlePig Farm and Distillery in Shoreham, Vermont. With Beyond Bonded, WhistlePig defines a new standard of quality that is not only Bottled-in-Bond, but Single Barrel, fully traceable at every step of the Farm-to-bottle journey, and bottled at 100.1 proof, just beyond the Bonded whiskey standard. With just 24 barrels of Rye and 16 barrels of Bourbon in the 2021 release, Beyond Bonded FarmStock Rye and Bourbon are among the most rare and collectible whiskies ever produced from the WhistlePig Farm.

WhistlePigs FarmStock Beyond Bonded Rye is a Straight Rye Whiskey crafted from 100% Remington Rye harvested from the North Orwell 1 field of WhistlePigs 500-acre Farm. FarmStock Beyond Bonded Bourbon is a Straight Bourbon Whiskey made with a high rye mash bill clocking in at 51% Dent Corn and 49% Remington and Rifle Rye varietals harvested from North Orwell 1 and North Orwell 2 fields. Both whiskeys were distilled on WhistlePigs original hybrid still, Mortimer, proofed with water from WhistlePigs Farm well, and aged for upwards of four years in Vermont Estate Oak barrels which were produced from local Vermont oak. The oldest barrel in the release was aged for four years, 8 months and 14 days.

WhistlePig FarmStock collectors will be able to trace the Farm-to-bottle journey via a unique QR code on the label. Each code reveals thirty unique facts about their individual whiskey, from growing conditions to fermentation days to barrel specs to bottling team.

Todays craft spirits drinkers, especially whiskey collectors, are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about process, says Jeff Kozak, CEO. After working toward a 100% Farm whiskey vision for more than a decade, our team is proud to invite WhistlePig fans to look under the hood at who, where, when and how our grain-to-glass whiskey is created, and to offer a one-of-a-kind experience from each barrel.

Beyond Bonded Rye follows WhistlePigs original FarmStock Rye Crop series, released between 2017 and 2019, blending WhistlePig Farm Rye and other aged Straight Rye Whiskeys. The third and final edition, featuring 52% Farm-to-bottle Rye, will continue to be available alongside the limited release FarmStock Beyond Bonded Rye. Beyond Bonded Bourbon takes the whiskey world by surprise as WhistlePigs first ever Bourbon release, after quietly seeding, harvesting and distilling the grain alongside their Rye varietals and other experimental crops.

Behind the scenes at WhistlePig, youll find Distiller Emily Harrison. Beyond Bonded Bourbon is especially close to her heart, having started out in Kentuckys large bourbon distilleries before discovering her true passion for craft whiskey, and following it to Vermont. Emily leads a team of 4 distillers at WhistlePig Farm and manages the Farm-to-bottle process from the beginning. This includes creating crop plans with WhistlePigs farmer, checking quality of the mash ingredients and distilled whiskey, and creating schedules for mashing, fermentation and distillation. Emily works closely alongside Meghan Ireland, WhistlePigs Chief Blender, who in college, after reading an article about a female chemical engineer turned Master Blender, knew that she also wanted to get into the craft spirits industry. At the WhistlePig Farm, Meghan picks up when the barrels are filled, seeing the process through to ensure WhistlePig maintains its award-winning quality and taste.

Beyond Bonded has been our most ambitious experiment to date. Whiskey making is a labor of love, with challenges at every step of the process says Emily Harrison, WhistlePig Distiller. In Vermont, the short growing season and extreme temperatures make for much tougher farming than in the south. After harvest, Rye is a notoriously difficult grain to distill, but weve always believed that the benefits of its complexity are well worth the effort. FarmStock Beyond Bonded shows its incredible potential once again, in both Rye and Bourbon. Seeing it leave the Farm is a dream come true.

Earlier this month, to debut the Beyond Bonded collection, the first ever barrel of Beyond Bonded FarmStock Rye, Barrel No. 0001, was auctioned off at Dana Mecum's 34th Original Spring Classic in Indianapolis. After whiskey fans across the country bid on Barrel No. 0001, the winning bid resulted in a total contribution of $100,100.00 to Farm Aid.

Hitting shelves across the United States this month, with no barrel or bottle being exactly alike, both Beyond Bonded Rye and Bourbon will be offered with an SRP of $99.99 per 750ml bottle. The next limited release of Beyond Bonded is expected in Spring 2022.

About WhistlePig Whiskey

Founded in 2007, WhistlePig has become the #1 distiller in the ultra-premium and luxury rye whiskey category in North America, featuring the bold and often untapped flavor of Rye. WhistlePig is leading a surge of innovation in the emerging field of North American whiskey. As the most decorated Rye whiskey  having received the coveted Best in Show Whiskey title from the 2017 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, WhistlePig is widely viewed as the worlds finest Rye. With the opening of its distillery on its 500-acre Vermont farm in the fall of 2015, WhistlePig has also become one of the leading farm-to-bottle Rye whiskeys in the world. For additional information, please visit whistlepigwhiskey.com.
"While this new solution is cost-effective for professional and student pilots, the training will be delivered by some of the most elitely trained and highly qualified instructors in the world and in purpose built aircraft with optimal capability and the widest safety margins."

Upset Training Solutions International (UTSI), a flight training organization with an operating location in Europe (EU), announced today its low-cost Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) solution in the Netherlands as previewed at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE). The continuing impact of COVID-19 on flight training services combined with increasing demand for EASA Advanced UPRT FCL.745.A certificates is driving strong downward pricing pressure on flight schools in the EU.

While this new solution is cost-effective for professional and student pilots, the training will be delivered by some of the most elitely trained and highly qualified instructors in the world and in purpose built aircraft with optimal capability and the widest safety margins. The program has also been vetted and approved by Aviation Performance Solutions (APS), a world leader in UPRT and creator of the EPIC-S2 standard for effective UPRT delivery.

UTSI has partnered with the Test and Training Centre (TTC), a Netherlands Approved Training Organization (ATO), at the Breda International Airport to provide a 1-day 2-flight EASA Advanced UPRT solution. Located just one hour south of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, UTSI boasts excellent operating conditions and proximate training airspace to help keep costs low and turnkey training efficiency high.

UTSI aligns with TTCs on-going commitment to providing critical regulatory training services to European pilots said Francois Jurres, TTCs general manager and co-owner, Our decision to go lean and provide a one day EASA Advanced UPRT program is in response to the realities of the flight training industry in the EU as we transition through COVID-19 back to normal operations. The company offers immediate online booking through its website. Learn more at http://utsinetwork.com

About Upset Training Solutions International (UTSI)

Upset Training Solutions International (UTSI) is dedicated to providing economical, regulatory-compliant, on-aircraft Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UTSI) solutions mandated by National Aviation Authorities. Founded by internationally-recognized experts with decades of experience delivering effective UPRT solutions worldwide, UTSI efficiency meets regulatory minimums in response to COVID-19s impact on the flight training industry. In Europe, UTSI operates out of Breda International Airport in partnership with the Test and Training Centre, an EASA Approved Training Organization (ATO). http://www.ustinetwork.com

##

For Media Inquiries - Contact Francois Jurres, +31 16 5313559 or info@utsinetwork.com
The American Library Association this week announced that former President Barack Obama will be the featured speaker at the 2021 ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition's closing session.

Obama will speak from noon to 1 p.m. CT on Tuesday, June 29, in conversation with Lonnie G. Bunch III, the 14th secretary of the Smithsonian and first African American appointed to the role. They will be introduced by Julius C. Jefferson, Jr., president of the American Library Association. The event will be virtual, as the 2021 ALA Annual Conference is taking place entirely online in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is not the ALAs first engagement with the Obamas, who are known to be strong library supporters. Michele Obama keynoted the 2018 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, with a personal, and decidedly apolitical, hour-long conversation with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. And in 2005, then a junior senator from Illinois, Barack Obama spoke at the ALA Annual conference in Chicago, where he delivered a memorable speech praising librarians and presciently talking about the challenges facing Americans in the digital age.

"We have to change our whole mindset as a nation. Were living in the 21st-century knowledge economy; but our schools, our homes, and our culture are still based around 20th-century and in some cases 19th-century expectations," Obama told librarians in his 2005 speech, which was reprinted this week in American Libraries magazine. "We should make sure our politicians arent closing libraries down because they had to spend a few extra bucks on tax cuts for folks who dont need them and werent even asking for them."

The first volume of Barack Obama's presidential memoirs, A Promised Land, was published in November of 2020 by Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
New Directions has published some of Americas most renowned writers while forging lasting connections with other major literary institutions. On June 3, the New York City press will join with one of its closest partners, San Francisco's City Lights Booksellers, in the first of three celebratory events to honor the 85th year of its founding.

The virtual event will feature a slate of poets including Will Alexander, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Susan Howe, Sylvia Legris, Nathaniel Mackey, Michael Palmer, Nathaniel Tarn, Rosmarie Waldrop, and Eliot Weinberger. Pulitzer Prize recipient Forrest Gander will head up the event, with staff from City Lights and New Directions jumping in to share stories of the ties between the two literary institutions.

New Directions editor and publicity co-director Mieke Chew said the event will honor seminal New Directions poets and the way their work has influenced and shaped poets in the years that have followed. It has been programmed as a kind of literary seance, with the current generation of poets and writerssome who have been publishing with ND for 25 years, others, like Sylvia Legris, who are about to publish their second bookreading a poet who is close to their heart.

One of those seminal poets was City Lights cofounder Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who passed away earlier this year at age 101. Ferlinghettis books were published almost entirely by New Directions. A Coney Island of the Mind was the first of them, and has sold more than a million copies since it was published in 1958.

But Ferlinghettis books are only one part of a deeper connection between Ferlinghetti and New Directions cofounder James Laughlin. The two had a shared vision of Americas landscape of letters and were deliberate about charting a course together, said Peter Maravelis, events director at City Lights.

Maravelis sees the June 3 event through the lens of that connection. When James Laughlin, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and [Grove Press publisher] Barney Rosset met back in the early '80s at City Lights Bookstore to herald a new era in the life of City Lights, those present understood the importance of that moment. In much the same way, as we now come together in this amazing display of poets and writers to celebrate the 85th anniversary of New Directions, it is easy to recognize the impact and influence New Directions has had on the world of letters, Maravelis said.

Two more events will follow later this year, each celebrating and envisioning different aspects of the publishers past, present, and future. Chew is hopeful that at least one of them will be able to be held in person, in no small part because the success of the publishing house has been rooted in personal connections from the day it was founded by Laughlin in a Harvard dorm room in 1936 at the urging of Ezra Pound.

For City Lights head buyer Paul Yamazaki, those connections are what make the June 3 event so meaningful. Personally this is one of the most significant celebrations that I can imagine, Yamazaki said. It is impossible to imagine City Lights without New Directions. As long as there is a New Directions there will be a City Lights.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Improving Alzheimers disease treatments, understanding how brain trauma can lead to heart dysfunction and advancing K-12 STEM education are some of the research projects representing six Purdue University faculty who have been named U.S. Fulbright Faculty Scholars.

These faculty members will teach and conduct research at respected research hubs in India, the Philippines and throughout Europe. Projects selected for the award show promise for advancements in both health sciences and social welfare. These faculty winners represent Purdues third-largest number of awardees in a single year.

According to Purdues Office of the Provost, the Fulbright Scholar Award, one of the most prestigious national and international awards available to faculty, is considered a metric for measuring university performance while supporting the universitys efforts toward internationalization and intercultural learning. Fulbright faculty also enhance classroom learning at Purdue by bringing back diverse teaching methods and ideas.

Awardees, projects and destinations

Kingsly Ambrose, associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering, College of Agriculture and College of Engineering. Ambrose will live in India researching the Nondestructive Quality Evaluation of Spices Using Particle-scale Data and teaching agricultural and food engineering. He will be hosted by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India.

Brenda M. Capobianco, professor of science education and engineering education (courtesy), Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education. Capobianco will be living in Galway, Ireland, examining how science teacher candidates and their university instructors conceptualize and integrate engineering design while conducting action research on their own practice. The goal of the international collaboration is to advance STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning among K-12 students. She will be hosted by the National University of Ireland.

Craig J. Goergen, the Leslie A. Geddes Associate Professor, Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering. Goergens research will focus on Retrospectively Gated Multispectral 4D Photoacoustic Cardiac and Brain Imaging. He plans to work with collaborators in France to study cardiac remodeling after traumatic injury, with particular interest in how brain trauma can lead to heart dysfunction. His host institution is Universite Montpellier.

Tamara Kinzer-Ursem, the Marta E. Gross Associate Professor, Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering. Her research project title is Tau-Mediated Protein Dynamics: Computational and Experimental Approaches. The goal of her research is to advance the design of effective treatment for those living with Alzheimers disease. Kinzer-Ursem will be hosted by Freiburg University in Germany.

Zoe Taylor, associate professor of human development and family studies, College of Health and Human Sciences. Taylor will live in Italy researching Children on the Move: An Assessment of Resilience, Mental Health and Well-being of Migrant Children in Europe. Taylor has been accepted as a senior fellow at the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) Office of Research in Florence, Italy. UNICEF works in over 190 locations to save the lives and defend the rights of children across the world, and Taylor will help UNICEF research the physical and mental well-being of migrant children in Europe.

Scott Bartholomew, formerly assistant professor of engineering technology, Purdue Polytechnic Institute; now at Brigham Young University. Bartholomews research project title is Elevating K-12 STEM Education through Teacher Training. He will be hosted by the University of the Philippines-Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.

Alternates:

Kathryn Siegfried-Spellar, associate professor of computer and information technology, Purdue Polytechnic Institute. Siegfried-Spellars research project is titled Analyzing Online Grooming Strategies of Child Sex Offenders in Spain.

Zoltan Machaty, professor of animal sciences, College of Agriculture. Machatys research project is titled Identifying Regulators Of Nerve Cord Morphogenesis.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Each year, the U.S. Fulbright Scholar Program offers over 400 teaching, research or combination teaching/research awards in over 135 countries.

The deadline for applying to the Fulbright 2022-23 competition is Sept. 15. For more information on the Fulbright Faculty Award Program, contact Christopher Lukasik, provost fellow for Fulbright faculty awards, at clukasik@purdue.edu.

Read more about the Fulbright US Scholar Award Program.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 5 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https://purdue.edu/.

Writer: Christy McCarter

Media contact: Matthew Oates, 765-586-7496 (cell), oatesw@purdue.edu, @mo_oates

Source: Christopher Lukasik, clukasik@purdue.edu.

Journalists visiting campus : Journalists should follow Protect Purdue protocols and the following guidelines:
Reading

Council OKs contract with police officers

Reading approves a new contract with its police officers but not without some opposition
@LisaScheid on Twitter

I explore how our lives are shaped by our relationship to the land, water and air. Have a question you want me to answer? Email me.
Firefighting

Raising an alarm

Berks fire companies look to financial incentives to attract volunteers

Volunteers still in short supply but there are new incentives
Last week, Yale Universitys governing board, the Yale Corporation, announced a decision to abolish the petition process allowing alumni to seek a spot on the ballot in the annual Alumni Fellow Election. In a letter to alumni, Senior Trustee Catharine Bond Hill disguises this disenfranchisement as a best practice.

What provoked this ham-handed edict? For the first time in nearly two decades, a petition candidate appeared on the ballot, thanks to the vigorous candidacy of former U.S. ambassador to Poland and Knoxville, Tennessee mayor Victor Ashe. His message of openness, transparency, and reform inspired more than 7,000 alumni to sign his petition.

Instead of acknowledging alumni concerns, the Yale Corporation has doubled down on secrecy. Coupled with the gag rule preventing trustee candidates from speaking on issues, this change guarantees that going forward, alumni will have no ability to learn about the views of the candidates on issues facing Yale and to cast an informed vote. They will have no opportunity to support independent voices joining the board. A university whose mantra often appears to be diversity and inclusion has offered a master class in conformity and exclusion.

The trustees reasoning is unworthy of a great university. They dismiss petition candidates as beholden to special interests and therefore not in the best interests of the university but provide no supporting evidence for this assertion. By all accounts, William Horowitz, Yales first Jewish trustee and the last petition candidate elected, served the university honorably. Petition candidates have broad support  its impossible, after all, to get on the ballot without thousands of signatures. And even when a candidate makes it on to the ballot, alumni still decide the election outcome.

The trustees lament the support of well-funded organizations for petition candidates but ignore how Yales own policies  which ask candidates to take an oath of silence and obligate those who dont do so to gather nearly 4,500 signatures  make financial resources a requirement. For years before the recent petition candidacies, alumni requested more information about the candidates, only to be denied and told that the free exchange of ideas would threaten intergenerational equity. The Yale Corporations latest move revises the universitys motto from light and truth to silence is golden.

The Yale Corporation couches its argument in fiduciary responsibility  but have the trustees been good stewards of the university? You decide. Yale regularly embarrasses itself in the headlines. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Yale leads the Ivy League in bureaucracy. In the most recent academic year, Yale reported 1.15 students for every staff member compared to 13 students for every tenured faculty member. Meanwhile, 69% of tenured faculty members . . . do not believe that their respective department ranks within the top five in their respective fields. Yale has the second-lowest alumni giving rate in the Ivy League.

Is any trustee questioning this direction? The Yale Corporation embargoes its meeting minutes for 50 years, so we wont find out until 2071. What we do know is this: according to Yales tax return, the investment firm of one of the current trustees, Lei Zhang, collected $6.6 million in management fees from Yale in 2018. The notion that a distinguished public servant with broad alumni support like Victor Ashe would be challenged to do the work of a fiduciary but an unelected trustee with millions of dollars in conflicts of interest faces no such challenges is laughable. It seems reasonable to guess that many petition candidates might be better fiduciaries than the current, self-perpetuating board.

The Yale Corporation justifies its embrace of undemocratic principles by lecturing us on general principles for the governance of universities. This is all rather awkward, considering that Yale doesnt appear to follow its own bylaws. A recent Freedom of Information Act request shows that two trustees, Connecticuts governor and lieutenant governor, receive no correspondence related to the meetings of the Yale Corporation, including agendas, minutes, or invitations. The Yale Corporation often doesnt even regard them as trustees. A 2019 email from Secretary Kimberly Goff-Crews thanked Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz for her interest in enhancing [her] connection to Yale but goes on to say that the most effective way to do this is likely through a series of briefings with Yale administrators and trustees from the relevant corporation committees.

This stance seems to conflict with Yales bylaws, which note that a written notice of each meeting shall be sent to each member . . . by mail, telefacsimile or other electronic means at least five days prior to the date set for such meetings, and the notice of any special meeting shall contain a statement of the chief subjects of business proposed. The decision to eliminate the petition process was made at the meeting on May 18. This date is not listed on the Yale Corporations website, indicating that it was likely a special meeting. As Gail Lavielle, petition candidate for 2022, notes: This raises the question of whether the vote was properly noticed and, by extension, whether it was properly taken.

The 8,941 votes cast for Ashe were not enough to win the election, and he accepted the result graciously. Given the result, the Yale Corporation seems to fear not merely dissent, but the remote possibility of it. The trustees might begin to understand their error by revisiting the universitys famed Woodward Report on freedom of expression: Free speech is a barrier to the tyranny of authoritarian or even majority opinion as to the rightness or wrongness of particular doctrines or thoughts.
President Joe Biden had a chance to be a unifier while addressing the nation on the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre. David Marcus writes Biden failed with his speech.
South Africa: ERRP significant step towards building the economy

Tourism Minister Mamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane says the adoption of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery plan (ERRP), which was a product of the NEDLAC process, was a significant step towards reaching a social compact amongst South Africas social partners.

As a country, we have responded to the economic disruption through the development and adoption of what President Ramaphosa called 'extraordinary measures' we must take to restore our economy to inclusive growth following the devastation caused by COVID-19 to our peoples lives and our countrys economy, Kubayi-Ngubane said.

Addressing the Black Business Council Summit earlier today, Kubayi-Ngubane said in order to create a transformed inclusive and growing economy, South Africans have to realise that their fates are intertwined.

The Summit aims to create a platform for enhanced engagement and is themed: Black Business and its vital role in Economic Reconstruction and Recovery during and post Covid-19.

Kubayi-Ngubane said transformative efforts are to ensure that black business plays a much more meaningful role in the economy.

The Minister said the economy will only experience sustainable and inclusive growth if in its quest to grow and pursue more profit, it draws on the entrepreneurial spirit that exists in South Africans.

Like many other service industries, the tourism industry is a labour-intensive industry that has been devastated by the COVID -19 pandemic. The vastness of the tourism value chain means that its devastation has a significant impact on the services of the economy as whole.

The slow recovery that the sector is experiencing is another reason for the declining job opportunities, Kubayi-Ngubane said.

Kubayi-Ngubane said in 2020, the volume of tourists decreased by 72.6% from 10.2 million in 2019 to 2.8 million in 2020.

The distribution of tourists by region of residence shows that 74.8% of the tourists who arrived in South Africa in 2020 were residents of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries and 1.5% were from other African countries.

The decline in the number of international arrivals led to the decrease in income from accommodation by 35.9% year-on-year in March 2021.

However, after embarking on a road to recovery in partnership with the private sector, we saw a surge in numbers of domestic travellers over Easter which translated into an income increase of 37.6% from accommodation month-on-month in March 2021.

This is one of the areas identified by the Tourism Sector Recovery Plan which was developed in partnership between government and private sector. The green shoots that we saw in the tourism sector were a clear indication that if we work together as social partners, we can get our economy back on the growth trajectory, Kubayi-Ngubane said.

Kubayi-Ngubane said the pandemic has so far left countries facing tremendous economic pain and inequality which can only be overcome through collective action.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-06-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Hao Lishan

The White House has recently said that it might release a report to detail the findings by the U.S. intelligence community about the origin of the COVID-19 outbreak. In response, Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said that origin-tracing is a serious scientific issue, and yet the US intends to let its intelligence agencies play a leading role in conducting the research. It shows that the US has zero interest in scientific research, but is only seeking political manipulation for the purpose of scapegoating.

Although the conclusion that a laboratory origin of the pandemic was considered to be extremely unlikely was clearly stated in the report of the WHO-convened Global Study of Origins of SARS-CoV-2: China Part, the US recently once again maliciously hyped the so-called lab leak theory. The trick of a thief crying stop thief is being frequently played, highlighting the ill intent of the US.

Not long ago, the ROK media reported that the US military smuggled biological warfare agents into the country and carried out biochemical experiments at the US military bases in the ROK, which surges an uproar in the international community. It is well known that the US has the largest and most numerous biological laboratories in the world. Signs indicate that many of its more than 200 biological laboratories across the globe are related to the militarization of biological activities, and they remain untransparent to the rest of the world, which have triggered strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition from the international community.

In fact, although the US is a state party to the Biodynamic Whitening Complex (BWC), it has stubbornly and exclusively opposed negotiations on the relevant verification protocol for a long time, in flagrant violation of the spirit of contract and international morality. Even though the world has reached a consensus on banning biological and chemical weapons, the US military still keeps the related materials, delays the destruction process, and even continues to develop biological and chemical weapons.

It's worth noticing that the virus leakage at the US biological laboratories in Georgia and Ukraine have caused casualties. And Pier 8 at the Busan Port, Republic of Korea, where a US biological laboratory locates, is surrounded with four residential areas and multiple schools within a radius of 500m. In such a densely populated area, a virus leakage would be devastating. Since early May this year, civic groups in Busan, have launched several marches against the secret transportation and deployment of biological warfare agents into their country by the US military. In March last year, the deployment of four US anthrax laboratories at ROK also triggered large protests.

The anger of the ROK people is also shared by peace-loving people around the world: What is the intention of the US in clandestinely developing biological and chemical weapons?

Some people often estimate others based on their own ideas. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the US has spared no effort to spread the so-called lab leak theory. This time, the US attempted to use intelligence agencies to carry out the so-called investigation, its motives and objectives are clear at a stroke. In fact, the dark history of the US intelligence community is well known. The use of a small bottle of washing powder as evidence of Iraqs mass destruction weapons, as well as the videos of the alleged chemical attacks in Syria, which were self-directed, self-staged by the covertly funded White Helmets group, are all masterpieces of the US intelligence community.

Not long ago, a British academic challenged the US for its continuous advocation of the so-called lab leak theory even more than a year after the epidemic. He sharply noted that the US's claim is, if anything, a prediction based on the fact that the US itself heavily invests in and uses biological warfare.

If the US wants to clarify its innocence, it might as well open its laboratories at Fort Detrick and elsewhere to experts in the field, as China has done by inviting the WHO experts to Wuhan for assessment, rather than relying on the infamous intelligence services to reveal the so-called truth.
Note: Special one-year subscription at a reduced price for first-time subscribers or for subscriptions that have been expired for at least one year  those living in Jackson County and the Cherokee Indian Reservation (28719) addresses qualify. Offer good through Friday, Aug. 2, 2019.

We accept Visa, Mastercard and Discover; we do not accept AMEX.
FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2016, file photo, Amir Hekmati waves after arriving on a private flight at Bishop International Airport in Flint, Mich. A judge has thrown out a lawsuit from the former Marine who was jailed in Iran for more than four years and then denied a multimillion-dollar payout from a special U.S. government victims fund after an FBI espionage investigation into his travels.
92, passed away March 12, 2021. Visitation will take place Sunday, June 13, 2021 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Reynolds Jonkhoff Funeral Home with a rosary at 5 p.m. A funeral Mass will take place on Monday, June 14, 2021 at 11 a.m. at St. Francis Catholic Church.
Images

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images.
Greenville, NC (27833)

Today

Intervals of clouds and sunshine. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High around 85F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 66F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
Two police officers were transported to the hospital after suffering medical emergencies while conducting a search of a vehicle that was impounded at the Hinsdale Police Department. Hinsdale police Chief Charles Rataj told the Reformer the two officers have been medically cleared to return to duty.
Deborah Casdin, of Brattleboro, takes a face mask that was hanging from a tree in Pliny Park, in Brattleboro, in May 2020. A sign on the tree encouraged people to take a free mask to help out during the COVD-19 pandemic.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Mostly sunny skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 82F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms later during the night. Low 59F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Beckley, WV (25801)

Today

Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 81F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy with scattered thunderstorms mainly before midnight. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Beckley, WV (25801)

Today

Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 82F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening, then mainly cloudy overnight. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Eversource Energy and its partner in developing wind farm projects, rsted, have signed an agreement with Virginia-based Dominion Energy to use a wind turbine installation vessel that is now under development.

Eversource and rsted have agreed to charter Dominion Energys Charybdis, which is expected to be put to sea in late 2023, for use in building a pair of wind farm projects. The vessel, which will cost $500 million when completed, will be used to support both the Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind projects that are being jointly developed by rsted and Eversource.

Joe Nolan, president and chief executive officer of Eversource, said Charybdis is the largest vessel of its kind and the right tool for the job.

This boat will be much more efficient and far safer. than having to use smaller foreign vessels that are already operational, Nolan said.

Charybdis will be deployed out of a staging area being put into place in New London Harbor for both projects, according to Nolan.

Nobody else is working out of a port that could accommodate a vessel of this magnitude, he said of the 472-foot ship.

The 924-megawatt Sunrise Wind project, which will be located 30 miles east of Montauk Point on Long Island, N.Y., was originally expected to be operational by 2024. The 704-megawatt Revolution Wind project, which will be constructed 15 miles south of the Rhode Island coast and 32 miles southeast of the Connecticut shoreline, was expected to be running in 2023.

Now, those dates have slipped by months, not years, according to Nolan. But because of a variety of factors, he was unable to provide firm dates when the project would be completed.

All wind developers had some struggles in Washington with the previous administration, Nolan said. But now there has been a real shift in moving wind projects forward. Folks that were working on (natural) gas leases in Washington have been redeployed to work on wind projects.

The more than 1.6 gigawatts the two wind farms will produce enough energy to power nearly 1 million homes and businesses in Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island.

The two projects are expected to create roughly 460 construction jobs as New Londons State Pier is developed into a staging area for the project. Another 100 permanent jobs will be created as result of the two projects.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said the state is proud to play a central role in the growth of the offshore wind industry and the fight against climate change.

All of this activity assists in advancing our states clean energy economy and helps position New London as a hub for the industry, delivering jobs and economic development to the city and Connecticut overall, Lamont said in a statement,

Once Charybdis has completed its work for the two Eversource and rsted projects, it will be put into service to support construction of Dominion Energys 2.6 gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project off the coast of Virginia Beach. That wind farm is expected to be completed in 2026.

Charybdis, which will be a 472-foot vessel when completed, is being built in Brownsville, Texas and will be based out of Hampton Roads, Va., once it is finished.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), said a vessel built by Americans to spur renewable energy for American consumers is a true win-win.

It represents a generational commitment to the American shipbuilding industry, the domestic infrastructure required to meet the monumental challenges posed by climate change, and American workers, Blumenthal said in a statement.

The redevelopment of the State Pier is estimated to add millions of dollars in value to New Londons economy. In addition to that, New London officials and the rsted-Eversource partnership have executed a 10-year host community agreement that brings a guaranteed $5.25 million in new revenue to the city.

New London Mayor Michael Passero said the project is a major green energy milestone (that) means local jobs and community investment in our maritime economy, as New London redevelops its port facility and emerges as a premier offshore wind hub for the Northeast.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
WATERBURY  Police and school officials are investigating a threatening phone call that prompted the evacuation of West Side Middle School Wednesday morning.

Police spokesman Sgt. Robert Davis said nearby schools were also told to shelter in place as officers swept the school, but no threat of an actual bomb was found.

As of late Wednesday morning, students were back in the middle school building and surrounding schools returned to normal activities.

West Side Middle School is on a half-day schedule Wednesday, Davis said.

A spokeswoman for the citys public schools said the main office received the threatening phone call around 10:45 a.m. Wednesday. The building evacuation was initiated and all school staff and students were accounted for, said Sujata Wycoff, the schools spokeswoman.

Police and fire units swept the building and determined there was no threat around 11:25 a.m., Wycoff said.

Davis said police and school officials are working together to find the source of the threatening phone call.
We would love for you to join us to share your memories of Daryl with family and friends. Daryls full obituary can be view at http://www.myersmortuary.com/ A celebration of life will be held from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM on 2021-06-27 at Fraternal Order of Eagles , 2140 N Lebanon St, Lebanon, IN 4
RINGTOWN  The borough council fired police officer Douglas A. Litwhiler at its Tuesday meeting.

A former Republican candidate for county sheriff, Litwhiler has been accused on social media of being a predator and was a target of a protest in front of the county courthouse on Saturday.

Litwhiler has not been charged with any crime.

The council normally meets on the second Monday of the month, but moved its meeting for this month. There were no members of the public in attendance.

A few minutes after the meeting began, council President Leonard G. Kamarousky Jr. called for an executive session for personnel matters. The meeting reopened after about 25 minutes and a vote was immediately taken on Litwhiler.

I will entertain a motion to dismiss part-time Patrolman Doug Litwhiler, Kamarousky said. The motion was made by Vice President Thomas Murray and seconded by Chris Brokenshire. The roll call vote was 5-0 for the termination.

After the vote, Kamarousky said: The motion has carried and unfortunately the officer has been terminated. Since it is a personnel matter, we cannot further discuss or comment on what particular things he did to deserve the termination.

Contacted after the meeting, Litwhiler said, On that I really shouldnt say anything, but in my eyes its an issue with the mayor. Litwhiler was referring to Mayor Philip Beaver, appointed in April to the vacancy left by the death of Mayor George Leiby in March.

Since the new mayor came in, it hasnt been going too well, Litwhiler said. There has been a lack of communication on the new mayors part. Ive tried to reach out to him and he refused to get along and talk with me. Other than that, my lawyer doesnt want me to comment any more than that. I knew this was coming.

Litwhiler added that legal action against the borough is being considered.

Beaver said there was no issues between him and Litwhiler.

I didnt even know Doug before I became mayor, so there is no issue of me not liking him or anything else, Beaver said. I work two jobs, so its hard for me to get together with anybody. 

The council later discussed hiring more part-time officers. The police budget is 32 hours per week, of which Litwhiler was using about 30. Beaver has reached out to two possible officers, and Murray said a former officer has been contacted. At the recommendation of solicitor Robert Matta, Kamarousky said the borough will advertise for new officers.

In his mayors report, Beaver thanked David Briggs, the Rotary Club and American Legion for helping put up the Hometown Heroes banners. He also thanked Lunas Pizzeria for the use of its bucket truck.

Borough Foreman Scott Schuetrum reported the new building is progressing well. Drywall has been placed and is being spackled. The concrete sidewalk is poured and stone placed in the parking area. Liquid Technologies has been working on the computer and phone lines.

Schuetrum said the state Department of Environment Protection has completed its inspection of the water department and everything passed with no issues. He said work is being completed on the Consumer Confidence Report. The report on the water department will be sent to all customers before the end of June.
100 years ago  1921

The councilmanic machine bolted at last nights special meeting! It stopped short, after having moved along very smoothly for about 34 minutes They mayor was running things smoothly on low gear. As superintendent of Public Affairs, Mr. Mayor was throwing out suggestions, or making a report. He urged the extension of the great white way on East Norwegian Street to the P&R and Pennsylvania Railway stations, and also on Market Street to Second.

75 years ago  1946

Schuylkill County housewives, although they may not have noticed the difference, began to get smaller loaves of bread from their bakers today. The government order making a reduction of an ounce and a half for every two loaves compulsory, went into effect for bakeries this morning.

50 years ago  1971

PINE GROVE  Representatives from Canoe Manufacturing Co. spoke to senior student at Pine Grove Area High School about the garment industry.

25 years ago  1996

FOUNTAIN SPRINGS  North Schuylkills school board has joined seven others in proposing a real estate tax increase as part of the 1996-97 budget. In voting to raise taxes 5 mills, to 70 from 65, to fund the $14.68 million budget, North Schuylkill board members cited the same reasons others had: a stagnant state subsidy combined with rising costs. We had a $90,000 increase in special education. Our state subsidy is the same as last year, said board President Nancy A. Brayford. Four members joined Brayford in the 5-3 vote: Jay L. Evans, John M. Morgan Jr., Todd Selgrade and George E. Wilkinson. Russell Batdorf, Jeffrey A. Hare and Arlene C. Sachleben voted no. George R. Bilder was absent. However, even those approving the budget hope the tax increase somehow can be avoided if the state increases its subsidy before the budges scheduled final adoption at a special meeting at 7 p.m. June 26.
TAMAQUA  A fire late Monday night sent a man who was visiting a home in the borough to a trauma center and claimed the lives of two dogs.

Three adults and two children who lived in the 266 W. Cottage Ave. home managed to escape without injury and were left homeless, Tamaqua Fire Chief James Connely said.

Firefighters were called to the address around 11:55 p.m. for a report of a house fire and, while responding, were told by borough police officer Dwayne Hacker that there was a large amount of fire to the front of the structure.

Connely said that was confirmed by assistant fire chiefs Dave Price and Jason Hartz, who were the first firefighters to arrive.

The house was almost completely engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived within minutes of being notified by the Schuylkill County 911 Center.

Connely said all five people inside the home were able to get out without help.

The injured man was treated at the scene by Tamaqua EMS and Lehighton ALS and taken to the Tamaqua Area High School to be placed aboard a MedEvac helicopter and flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, Allentown.

The name of the man and his condition was not available.

Connely did not release the names or ages of the five people who lived in the home, saying he will do that at a later date.

Around 7 a.m. Tuesday, state police fire marshal Trooper John F. Burns of the Frackville station arrived to assist Tamaqua fire officials in determining how and where the fire started.

Connely said the initial investigation determined the fire started in the kitchen area of the home but exactly how remains under investigation. He said the cause has been listed as accidental.

Firefighters contained the fire in about an hour but remained on the scene for several hours afterward to make sure the flames were completely extinguished.

He said the firefighters fought the blaze in a defensive mode initially due to the amount of fire but, after knocking down the majority of the flames, entered the building and completely put the fire out.

There was a lot of fire so we initially went defensive, he said.

Tamaqua firefighters were assisted by firefighters from Tuscarora who prepared the landing zone for the medical helicopter and by a Rapid Intervention Team from neighboring Carbon County.

Tamaqua police and borough fire police assisted with traffic and crowd control. Connely said no firefighter injuries were reported.
As dependable as the rising sun, cigarette butts in the streets. Thank you Joe Camel, Marlboro Man, Virginia Slims and all you smokers for making America the beautiful such a lovely place to live and breathe.

Frackville



The Morea Road has been tarred and chipped by PennDOT. Route 209 between Port Carbon and Tamaqua, tarred and chipped. Are our taxes not as good as other peoples taxes that they get macadam and we get tar and chip? Not to mention the damage done to the cars. You cant have anything nice. What garbage is PennDOT doing to the roads?

Morea



Schuylkill Haven, I am just curious. Do you work in Schuylkill County? I would be willing to bet that you dont, that you work in Berks County because Schuylkill County pays such garbage wages and has for the last 40-50 years, that people went to Berks and Luzerne. Thats where they could earn a decent living for their families. Schuylkill County will never compete with those counties because the commissioners wont allow it.

Girardville



I have a question. You are letting all these Mexicans across the border, paying everything. Seven hundred seventy five dollars for each of the kids. My friend is a Navy veteran. He wasnt in the Vietnam Era but is a Navy veteran. He is in his 80s. He applied for VA and was turned down because he makes too much money. What is wrong with this stupid picture? Its ridiculous.

New Philadelphia



After seeing what Biden has done in the last four months, I am glad he didnt do anything in his past 47 years in office. Now we have higher gas prices, higher food prices, higher lumber prices, higher unemployment and a Middle East war. It only took less than six months for Biden and the Democrats to destroy our country. Impeach Joe Biden.

Cass Township



There are a lot of people in the Borough of Shenandoah who like to point fingers. They are always blaming the mayor, the police department or the borough manager or the borough council or the code enforcement officer and the magistrates. But the number one problem in this town is apathy. The people of Shenandoah are the ones to blame for the condition of this town. Heres a perfect example: There are a little over 4,000 people in town and less than 300 voted. A town cannot survive like that. Ask yourself: do you belong to any organizations? Do you help out at all or do you like pointing fingers?

Shenandoah



It is the fifth day and our recyclables are still on the curb on the whole street. We are in for a long, bumpy ride with these garbage haulers.

Pottsville
After re-joining the cast of National Geographic's Life Below Zero in 2019, ardent viewers of documentary TV series were glad to see Andy Bassich return in action in Eagle, Alaska. Andy has been one of the most popular stars of the documentary and his sudden exit from the series for six months had left many wondering what happened to Andy on Life Below Zero. Upon his return, fans were taken by shock to see the 63-year-old using crutches on the show. So, what really happened to him? Read on to find out everything about his six-month hiatus from the National Geographic docuseries.

(Image credit: National Geographic YouTube)

Here's what happened to Andy on Life Below Zero

Andy Bassich had suffered a lethal hip injury while living in the Eagle city of Alaska. After making a comeback on Life Below Zero, Andy opened up about the accident in the docuseries and said, "I've been gone for six months due to a really bad hip injury." He continued, "Couldn't get the treatment I needed in Alaska so I headed down to Florida to get the treatment I needed and spent the last six months with my girlfriend Denise."

Andy Bassich also added, "I ended up with two infections  one in the muscle, one in the bone  and it almost killed me." The Life Below Zero star further explained, "It's time to get back to my home in Calico Bluff, play a little bit of catch up this summer with getting my dogs back down there, getting my house back in order. It's been unmanned and unguarded for six months so I have no idea what kind of conditions I'm going to be walking into." Andy concluded by saying, "It's going to be challenging to get everything done using crutches."

Along with his injury, viewers were also quite interested in learning more about Andy Bassich's girlfriend, Denise Becker. When he was first introduced in the docuseries, Andy was married to Kate Rorke. However, they parted ways back in 2015 and she went on to live in Canada. Following their split, he has been dating the Florida-based trauma nurse, who also readily agreed to hang with Andy in the wilderness of Alaska.

IMAGE: A STILL FROM LIFE BELOW ZERO YOUTUBE

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.
As the ceasefire between the armies of India and Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) is entering the 100th day, Army chief Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane will be seen in Srinagar on a two-day visit starting Wednesday. He will be reviewing the on-ground situation along the border and the counter-terrorist operations in the valley. The latest ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan had started in the last week of February after talks between the director generals of military operations of both armies and since then it has been observed closely by both sides.

Army sources informed ANI about the Army Chief's schedule.

"The Army chief would be in Srinagar today to review the situation on ground along with the top military commanders there from the 15 Corps which looks after both counter-terrorism and counter-infiltration operations in the valley," Army sources told ANI.

Sources further enlightened that, to ensure complete safety against any possible terrorist attack, the chief would also be visiting the forward positions in the valley to check upon the operational preparedness of troops. Army chief Gen Naravane has given strict directions to the on-ground formation to ensure that the agreement is fully complied with and a strict vigilance is observed against any potential aggression of terrorists.

On Tuesday, Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General YK Joshi said that the ceasefire understanding between India and Pakistan is being followed in "letter and spirit" by both sides, but asserted that the Indian Army is not letting its guard down "even for one bit" along the border in Jammu and Kashmir.

Ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval played a key role in the ongoing ceasefire agreement which has resulted in peace on both sides of the LoC for such a long period in the last many years. On February 23, two DGMOs had discussed and finalised in detail the ceasefire agreement while the implementation started a day after, informed Army sources. The announcement of the ceasefire was made by the two armies through a joint statement issued on February 25.

Infiltration attempts by Pakistan

Sources informed that the Pakistan Army has open fire at Indian positions to help push terrorists into India but this has not happened since the ceasefire came into effect in the last week of February. Prior to this, the two countries had signed a ceasefire agreement in 2003 but it was repeatedly violated.

India and Pakistan have seen high tensions on the border after the provocation in 2016 when its terrorists carried out the Uri attack followed by the Pulwama strike in 2019. Apart from those major terrorist attacks, several sensitive areas of Kashmir have been under violent attacks from the other side.

(Inputs from ANI)
A day after a junior doctor in Assam's Hojai was brutally thrashed by a bereaved family following the death of a patient suffering from COVID-19 and pneumonia, action has been taken against some people. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took to his Twitter handle and informed that 24 persons were arrested in connection with the doctor's assault. In addition, he also informed that a charge sheet will be filed at the earliest. Himanta Biswa Sarma while assuring justice for the doctor also informed that he is personally monitoring the investigation in the case. Further, the Assam Chief Minister also named 8 among the 24 culprits who have been arrested by the police.

Assam junior doctor attacked; 24 arrested

24 culprits involved in this barbaric attack have been arrested and the chargesheet will be filed at the earliest.



I am personally monitoring this investigation and I promise that justice will be served. https://t.co/CVgRaEW0di  Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) June 2, 2021

So far, following culprits have been identified -



1) Md.Kamaruddin

2) Md. Jainal uddin

3) Rehanuddin

4) Saidul Alam

5) Rahim uddin

6) Rajul Islam

7) Tayebur Rahman

8) Sahil Islam  Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) June 2, 2021

Assam Medical Service Association condemns attacks; writes to Hojai's Deputy Commissioner Office

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) had condemned the attack on the doctors. Apart from the IMA, the Assam Medical Service Association (AMSA) also wrote to Hojai's Deputy Commissioner Office and condemned the attack. The Assam Medical Service Association, therefore, urged the state government to book the culprits at the earliest.

"Request Assam govt to book these merciless culprits immediately," the letter read

The letter by AMSA also mentioned that incidents like these demoralise the serving attitude of doctors. Moreover, the association also threatened to boycott all OPDs and other services if the miscreants were not arrested by 7 am on June 2. AMSA has also requested 24/7 security for all hospitals so that incidents like the one in Hojai can be prevented. The association has therefore demanded CCTVs and 24/7 electricity for all hospital, mainly the ones that are declared as COVID-19 hospitals.
Guwahati, Jun 2 (PTI) A coordinated effort is being made by the different departments to formulate plans to mitigate flood and erosion in the Kaziranga National Park, Assam's Environment and Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya said on Wednesday.

A high-level meeting was held between the ministers and officials of the Environment and Forest, Water Resources and Agriculture, and Veterinary Departments as a follow-up of the flood preparedness meeting chaired by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at Kaziranga recently.

Suklabaidya said a number of initiatives have been taken by the Environment and Forest Department for disaster risk reduction and the three departments concerned will formulate plans of short and long terms to mitigate the problem of erosion and excessive flooding in the national park.

He directed the Forest officials to share information regarding the release of water from dams with the Water Resources Department and the meeting also resolved to build highlands and flood-proofing structures, especially at Borbeel on the fringe of the park, to provide shelter to the affected people.

The meeting also discussed setting up helipads on the periphery of the national park for rescue operations, building a spacious guest house close to the helipad, upgrading the veterinary sub-centre at Kohora to a hospital for better treatment of animals and providing green fodder to the livestock living on the fringes of the park.

Water Resources Minister Pijush Haarika said concrete steps would be taken to prevent erosion at Agratoli on the eastern range of the park, covering a stretch of around 2 km, and dredging will be carried out on the outer fringe of the park to prevent excessive flooding.

As flash floods take place due to the release of water from Doyang, Rongamati and Bhutan dams, the meeting decided to take up the matter with the authorities concerned so that water is not released simultaneously, he said.

As one of the dams concerned is in Bhutan, the matter would be placed before the chief minister for taking it up at an appropriate level, Hazarika said. PTI DG SOM SOM

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
On Wednesday, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan completed his tenure as the Chairman of the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board. While addressing the 149th session of the Executive Board the minister said that there is no scope for industries to stick to intellectual property rights (IPR) of COVID-19 vaccines and that organizations must find ways to ensure affordable access to key drugs.

"At a critical time like the present pandemic, there is no scope for the industry to stick to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Sometimes we find that there is little willingness for collaborative research. Affordability too is a key driving factor to achieve our aim of health for all. WHO along with others such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) must find ways to ensure affordable access to such key drugs in critical times."

There is no scope for industry to stick to Intellectual Property Rights during a #pandemic



Especially when equitable distribution of #COVID19vaccines remains our biggest challenge.



We must strive deliver highest attainable standards of health to everyone as a fundamental right. pic.twitter.com/KjqG9YDd3W  Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) June 2, 2021

'WHO must save the powerless & voiceless.': Dr Harsh Vardhan

He added that the biggest challenge before us amid pandemic is the equitable distribution of vaccines. I believe that we at WHO must all rise to the occasion to serve the powerless and the voiceless, to see hope in these darkest of hours. This is one chance to forge open collaborations and reaffirm that fundamental truth that the world is one.

.@WHO as the apex health body must save the powerless & voiceless.



This is the moment to forge open collaborations to reaffirm that the world is one & ensure #vaccines for health must go to the affluent & those without wealth.@MoHFW_INDIA @PMOIndia @DrTedros pic.twitter.com/iTUGt0Oiuw  Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) June 2, 2021

Union Health Minister further commended the WHO for its committed support to all member states throughout the pandemic. He said that the access to COVID-19 Tools Acceleration is the fastest most coordinated and successful collaboration in history to accelerate the development, production and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments and vaccines.

"Excellencies, the time to act is now. This is a time when we all understand that there are going to be many health challenges in the next two decades. All these challenges demand a shared response because these are shared threats requiring shared responsibility to act and of course, this is also the core responsibility of the WHO," he said during the session.

The Union Health Minister stated that the shared idealism of nations is the bigger need of the hour. Both risk management and mitigation require further strengthening of global partnerships to rekindle interest and investment in global public health in such a dire global crisis. He also stressed more aggressiveness in engaging in partnerships where joint action, sharing the research agenda and stimulating the dissemination of valuable knowledge.

"We must commit to working with the member states, the organization and the global community of partners for efficient, effective and responsive discharge of our public health organizations," he added.

Dr Harsh Vardhan completes his tenure as Chairman of WHO Executive Board

Harsh Vardhan has completed his tenure as the Chairman with the 149th session of the Executive Board. Dr Patrick Patrick Amoth, Acting Director-General for Health, Ministry of Health of Kenya has been appointed as the Chair of WHO Executive Board to replace Harsh Vardhan.

"It has been both an honour and a habitual experience for me to serve as chair of the executive board over the last year... My heart feels heavy as I exist amidst a lot of work that remains to be done and as the planet continues to reel under the pandemic crisis and economic turbulence," he said.

A deeply rewarding journey came to its conclusion today as I completed my tenure as Chair of @WHO Exec Board at the start of its 149th Session.



It has been an honour & a privilege to be part of efforts to further collaborations for #pandemic response & achieve Health for All pic.twitter.com/aNqKk8hQzX  Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) June 2, 2021

(With ANI Inputs)

(Image Credits: PTI/PIXABAY/UNSPLASH)
Indian Army Chief General MM Naravane on Wednesday arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit to review the prevailing security situation in Jammu and Kashmir. He was briefed by the Army officers on the existing security situation and the measures being taken to identify and target the overground workers' network of terrorist groups.

The Chief of Army Staff reinforced the need to be prepared to meet emerging security challenges effectively. He was also briefed by the Chinar Corps Commander on the overall situation pertaining to the Line of Control and the hinterland.

General MM Naravane, Chief of Army Staff is on a 2-day visit to Kashmir to review the prevailing security situation. He was briefed by the local Commanders on the existing security situation and the measures being taken to identify & target the over ground workers' network: Army pic.twitter.com/ze2TxrHGTw  ANI (@ANI) June 2, 2021

On arrival, General Naravane visited units and formations in the hinterland where he was briefed by the local Commanders on the existing security situation. #COAS expressed his appreciation to all ranks for their relentless efforts, the Indian Army tweeted.

Chief of Army Staff meets J&K L-G

General Naravane also met Jammu and Kashmir's Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and discussed recent internal security developments in the region.

General MM Naravane, Chief of the Army Staff, today met Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and discussed recent internal security developments and the prevailing security scenario in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir: Raj Bhavan pic.twitter.com/LP0SLGRU3K  ANI (@ANI) June 2, 2021

Notably, the Army Chiefs visit comes a day after Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General YK Joshi said that the ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan is being followed in "letter and spirit" by both the neighbouring countries. The Army official, however, assured that the force is keeping a strict vigil aloung the border in Jammu and Kashmir.

"The Ceasefire Understanding (CFU) reached on 25 February 2021 has sustained since then and both sides (India-Pak) are abiding by the arrangement in letter and spirit," General YK Joshi told PTI.

Last month, the Chief of Army Staff visited Jammu and Kashmir to review the current situation during his visit to the forward areas including Aknoor, Rajouri and Naushera. He reviewed the operational preparedness along the Line of Control falling under the command of White Knight Corps.
Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad District Administration Mandates Vaccination For All Employees

As the country is currently spearheading one of the world's largest vaccination drive, UP's Firozabad district administration has issued an order that states government employees will not receive their salaries unless they are vaccinated. This decision comes in a bid to encourage COVID vaccination. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also said that his government is eyeing a mammoth target of vaccinating over 90 lakh to 1 crore people in the month of June.

Read full story

Stalin Sends A Reminder To PM Modi On Chengalpattu Vaccine Plant, Highlights The Urgency

Nearly two days after signaling shortage of COVID-19 vaccines in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister M K Stalin, on Tuesday wrote a letter to PM Modi requesting him to reopen the Chengalpattu plant for Vaccine production. The Chief Minister had written a similar letter last week for the production of COVID-19 vaccine at a HLL Biotech facility near Chennai.

Read full story

Hyderabad: 13-yr-old Girl Creates World Record By Breaking 84 Ceramic Tiles In 84 Seconds

A 13-year-old girl from Hyderabad entered the books of world records by breaking 84 ceramic tiles in 84 seconds on May 31. Karate black belt holder Gana Santoshinee Reddy set the record in 84 seconds to mark the 84th month of formation day of Telangana on June 2. Santhoshinee has many records to her name, including the world record for the highest number of head rotations from side to side.

Read full story

Piyush Goyal Directs Industry Association To Prepare Protocol Checklist For 3rd COVID Wave

Industry associations have been directed to develop a complete checklist for a possible third COVID wave to cope with the situation by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. He also advised them to assist children who had been affected by the virus. On June 1, the minister met with business organisations to assess their readiness to tackle current and future problems posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read full story

American Journalist Deletes Racist Tweet On India; Economist Sanjeev Sanyal Calls Him Out

Indian Economist Sanjeev Sanyal on Wednesday called out the blatant racism spewed by Washington Post journalist Dave Weigel against India in a recent post on his Twitter. In the now-deleted tweet, Dave Weigel who covers politics for the publication claimed to have gotten two scam calls recently, saying that he was 'happy' to see 'Indians back in office' after the gradual decline of COVID-19 cases in the country.

Read full story

COVID-19: WHO Declares Only One Strain Of B.1.617 'of Concern' As Other Two Downgrade

The World Health Organization (WHO) on June 1 said that only one strain of the COVID-19 Delta variant that was first detected in India was considered to be of concern as the other two strains have been downgraded. The B.1.617 variant of the novel coronavirus that was first discovered in India has been determined to drive the second wave of COVID-19 in the country.

Read full story

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Wishes Happy Pride 2021, Shares Inspiring Stories Of Employees

Pride started since Black and Latinx transgender community stood up against injustice at Stonewall, New York in 1969. On Wednesday, as the world celebrated inclusivity during the pride month of June marked by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft pledged to end systemic racism and be a driver of non-discrimination policies that bring equality at the workplace for the people of different sexual orientation from the LGBTQI+ communities.

Read full story

Pakistan To Produce Chinese COVID Vaccine As 'PakVac'; Says It Was Not An Easy Task

Pakistan has launched a Coronavirus vaccine named 'PakVac' which will be manufactured in Pakistan. The vaccine is made with the assistance of the all-weather ally China to an extent that it is said to be a localised version of China's CanSinoBio vaccine. Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan expressed happiness over the launch and said Pakistan will soon be able to start the production of the vaccine.

Read full story

Mehul Choksi's Brother Chetan Is In Dominica, Confirms Lawyer; Rejects 'bribery' Charge

Speaking exclusively to Republic TV ahead of the hearing in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court on Wednesday, advocate Vijay Aggarwal admitted that his client Mehul Choksi's brother Chetan is in Dominica. As per Caribbean news outlet Associate Times, Chetan Chinubhai Choksi asked Dominica's Leader of Opposition Lennox Linton to issue statements in the favour of his brother in lieu of the 2,00,000 dollars token amount and funding for the upcoming general election.

Read full story

BJP Leader Alleges Twitter Is Restricting Her Account; 'Not A Single Follower In 5 Months'

BJP leader Nupur Sharma on Wednesday complained that Twitter has resorted to restricting her account. Sharma's statement comes amid the Centre's new IT rules that have come into effect. Twitter India too has been involved in a row as the face-off between the Centre and the social media giant continues. Meanwhile, the BJP leader has slammed Twitter and revealed that the website is curbing her account by restricting followers.

Read full story
Mehul Choksi's wife Priti Choski broke her silence after her husband's alleged abduction to Dominica from Antigua on May 23 and spilled the beans on the 'mystery woman' who is alleged to have lured him on May 23. Speaking exclusively to Republic TV from Antigua and narrating the incidents that occurred on May 23, Priti Choksi claimed that Mehul Choksi was abducted while he was en route to pick up someone for dinner and that he was bundled up by men, following which he was taken away by a boat. Priti Choksi revealed that her husband's Antiguan passport was in her possession.

Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur on Wednesday gave a point-by-point rebuttal to senior Congress leader P Chidambaram's statement that 2020-2021 is the darkest year of the Indian economy in four decades. Issuing a statement via Twitter, Thakur said he is not surprised that the former Finance Minister chose to "ignore facts and went ahead with whataboutery".

A day after former West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay was showcaused under the Disaster Management Act, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee has hit back at the Centre. Mamata Banerjee's nephew & TMC MP demanded action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Election Commission (ECI) for violating COVID-19 norms amid the pandemic. He said action should be taken against all the political parties including TMC.

Pakistan's Opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari scorched PM Imran Khan for allegedly lying to the world about the press freedom in his country and slammed the PTI govt for not providing adequate security to journalists in Islamabad. Bilawal Bhutto's attack against Imran Khan comes after he visited injured journalist Asad Ali Toor, who was allegedly assaulted by three masked men at his Islamabad residence earlier in May.

The Dehli High Court began the virtual hearing over the plea filed by actress-environmentalist Juhi Chawla against the implementation of 5G mobile technology in India. However, a bizarre incident took place during the hearing as a man who was attending the hearing virtually started singing songs from Juhi Chawla's films. The man reportedly sang thrice at different intervals, prompting Justice JR Midha to direct the authorities to find out who the person was and issue notice to him after his third attempt.

Amul vice-chairman Valamji Humbal urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ban the NGO and said that it was attempting to ruin the livelihood of people. In addition, Humbal also said that PETA's actions tarnish the image of the Indian Dairy Sector. In a release, Himbal asserted that the dairy sector is a crucial contributor to the GDP of India. However, the GDP can be affected he 'adversely' by misinformation, he added. Humbal further alleged a conspiracy against the milk industry of India.

The Narcotics Control Bureau has arrested a 25-year-old drug peddler Haris Khan over his alleged links with gangster and drug peddler Parvez Khan alias Chinku Pathan, an associate of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, an NCB official said on Wednesday. The NCB will also conduct an investigation into Khan's role in a drug case linked to Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death last year, the official added.

Dr JA Jalal, the President of the Indian Medical Association expressed his anguish over the latest incident in Assam' Hojai District. Dr Jalal demanded the declaration of a 'protective zone' within the hospital to safeguard healthcare workers. He stated that incidents of doctors facing verbal abuse and physical assault are reported very often in the country, thus to ensure the security of the doctors, hospitals are needed to be announced as protective zones, and stringent action against such incidents should be implemented.

Launching an attack on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia on Wednesday said that the BJP ruled councils have left the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) bankrupt. While addressing a press conference in New Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party leader said the BJP ruling council has unleashed "unprecedented challenges" over MCD.

As the number of COVID cases is declining in the country, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on Wednesday wrote to Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and suggested a graded approach for permissible economic activity "which balances lives and livelihoods". The chamber also stated that the ferocity of the second wave highlighted that waiting too long to impose restrictions can result in a surge of cases thus putting immense strain on medical infrastructure.

(Image Credits: Republic World)
In a potential boost to the vaccination drive, there is a big possibility of a speedy launch of Russia's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik Light in India. As per ANI sources, Dr Reddy's is in talks with the Centre to bring this vaccine to the country and an application seeking regulatory approval is likely to be filed soon. Developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and financed by the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Sputnik Light has demonstrated the efficacy of 79.4% as compared to 91.4% for the two-shot Sputnik V.

The phase 3 clinical trial involving 7,000 people was conducted in multiple countries including Russia, the UAE and Ghana. In a statement issued after the approval of the vaccine in May, the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology stated that it had proven effective against all strains of COVID-19 and no serious adverse events were reported. While India received 30 lakh Sputnik V doses from Russia a day earlier, domestic production of this vaccine will begin in August with a target of manufacturing 850 million doses.

COVID-19 vaccination in India

Apart from COVISHIELD and COVAXIN, the DCGI accepted the recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, paving way for the approval of Sputnik V on April 12. Moreover, the Union government declared that those vaccines that have been granted emergency approval for restricted use by USFDA, EMA, UK MHRA, PMDA Japan, or which are listed in WHO (Emergency Use Listing) will be granted emergency use approval in India. In a huge announcement on April 19, the Centre allowed the vaccination of all adults from May 1 onwards and mentioned that vaccine manufacturers can supply 50 per cent of its doses to state governments and in the open market.

A total of 17,06,49,129 persons have been inoculated in India whereas 4,36,74,868 of them have received the second dose of the vaccine too. The Union government has asserted that over 216 crore doses of vaccines will be manufactured in India between August and December. This includes COVISHIELD (75 crore doses), COVAXIN (55 crore doses), Bio E Sub Vaccine (30 crore doses), Zydus Cadila DNA vaccine (5 crore doses), SII-Novavax (20 crore doses), BB Nasal Vaccine (10 crore doses), Genova mRNA vaccine (6 crore doses) and Sputnik V (15.6 crore doses). This is expected to speed up the inoculation drive which has been affected by a paucity of vaccine doses.
With India witnessing a constant declining trend in daily COVID-19 cases, the Union Health Ministry addressed easing of restrictions and lockdowns across various districts in the state. In a press conference on Tuesday, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary of Health Ministry stated that for opening up a district under lockdown, its COVID-positivity rate needed to be below 5% for at least a week.

The 5% positivity rate marker comes based on the recommendations of the World Health Organisation which states that if the positivity rate in a region has remained below 5% for at least two weeks, an outbreak can be considered to be under control. According to the Health Ministry, the positivity rate is less than 5% cent in 344 districts and 30 states have reported a decline in active COVID-19 cases since the last week.

Additionally, the Ministry also placed special focus on the need to vaccinate a large section of the population before easing of restrictions saying that over 70% of the vulnerable population needed to be vaccinated. The vulnerable population includes those above 60 years and those above 45 years with co-morbidities.

Director-General of ICMR Balram Bhargava said, "Gradual lifting (of COVID-19 lockdown) will not witness a massive surge. However, we have to ensure that vaccination is prioritized. The vaccination rate must be up to 70%. COVID appropriate behaviour should be followed."

COVID-19 in India

As per the latest trends put forward by the Union Health Ministry, India is reporting a 50% decrease in the caseload and since May 28 the country is reporting less than 2 lakh cases. Battling the second wave of the pandemic, which has seen an unprecedented number of deaths, India has managed to gradually increase its recovery rate to 92%.

For the month of May, a 69% decline in cases has been reported after the pandemic peak recorded on May 7. Given the hopeful numbers, the Health Ministry also addressed the vaccination in the nation saying that it will be successful in procuring enough vaccines to inoculate 1 Cr people every day by July-August.

India recorded 1,27,510 cases of Coronavirus on Tuesday which took the total number of active cases to 18,95,520. In a span of 24 hours, the nation recorded 2,55,287 recoveries and 2,795 deaths.
As Bengaluru police tried to catch one of the accused of the gangrape case where a 22-year-old woman was brutally tortured by six individuals including a woman, the miscreant attacked the police while trying to flee. Acting in self-defense, the police opened fire at him and shot him in his leg. The miscreant had tried to attack a constable with a knife which he was carrying.

According to the on-ground details accessed by Republic TV, police were in search of the accused identified as Shabu. As soon as the security forces received information that he was hiding in the outskirts of Bengaluru near Rampur Lake, police went to nab him when an encounter broke out. At first, the police tried to stop him from fleeing by firing a shot in the air however on not receiving any response from Shabu, the police had to shot him in the leg. So far 10 people have been taken into custody by the Bengaluru police.

Victim brought to Bengaluru to record statement

The 22-year-old rape survivor was brought to Bypanahalli Police station to record her statement on Friday. She reached Bengaluru from Kerala and was subsequently taken to the Bowring hospital for a medical check-up. She will be produced in the court on Saturday and her statement will be recorded under section 164.

On Thursday, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant had informed that a case of rape was registered against six individuals, including two women at the Ramamurthynagar Police Station. This followed after a preliminary investigation and examination of the contents of the video that had gone viral on social media. Pant further revealed that all culprits are from the same group from Bangladesh. The police further added that the victim, who is also a Bangladeshi national was brought to India for trafficking.

Bengaluru gangrape case

In a brutal incident, the young woman was tortured and raped by five men and one woman in the city's Ramamurthy Nagar. One of the accused had allegedly shot the video of their act and uploaded it on social media handles which in return prompted the Assam Police to publish their pictures online. The Assam Police also assured that anyone providing information regarding the individuals will be rewarded. Hours later, the Bengaluru Police arrested all the accused.
The Kerala High Court on Tuesday empowered the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Amini, Lakshadweep to order the release of persons protesting against the administration's policies. A division bench of Justices A Muhamed Mustaque and Kauser Edappagath was hearing a plea that claimed that many protesters had not been released on bail even 5 days after they were remanded in custody. An FIR was registered against them for bailable offences under Sections 120B, 143 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 51(b) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

Appearing for the Lakshadweep Administrator, advocate Manu S stated that the protesters were taken into custody after some of them burned effigies of the District Collector and went on hunger strikes. Moreover, he revealed that the Executive Magistrate passed a remand order for 7 days as it was not possible to produce the detainees before the CJM due to a lack of boats for transportation. While he mentioned that the protesters had refused to get released on bail despite the willingness of the Executive Magistrate and the SHO, the petitioner's counsel refuted this contention.

Pronouncing the order on Tuesday, the bench held, "The most important concern for us is the liberty of the persons who are in custody. They shall not be deprived of the means of access to justice. It is appropriate in such circumstance to direct the CJM, Amini, to take up the case of the persons, who have been in custody pursuant to registration of the case by SHO of Kilthan Island by 3 pm today". Directing that the accused persons can be produced before the CJM via video conference, the court asked the latter to order their release on conditions that he may deem fit. Seeking a report from the Executive Magistrate, the HC adjourned the matter to Wednesday.

Opposition cries foul over contentious measures

Multiple opposition parties including Congress, NCP, Makkal Needhi Maiam and CPI(M) have joined hands in seeking the recall of the Lakshadweep Administrator for his purported "anti-people" policies. A BJP leader, Praful Khoda Patel took charge in December 2020 thus becoming the first person from a non-civil service background to be appointed to this post. Defending the contentious rules, the Lakshadweep Collector claimed that the administration wished to develop the Union Territory as the next Maldives.

Here are some of their concerns:
The Indian Muslim League (IUML), a Congress party's ally in Kerala, has moved the Supreme Court to challenge the controversial decision formulated by the PM Modi-led government to grant citizenship to persecuted minority refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh envisaged under Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019.

IUML moved the apex court pursuant to the recent notification by the Ministry of Home Affairs that sought applications for citizenship from non-muslim refugees. They intend to seek directions from the Supreme Court to halt the Central Government's decision to provide citizenship to persecuted minorities of neighbouring countries. IUML has approached the top court with a petition against the CAA.

On Friday, the Centre via a circular had called on persecuted minority refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and residing in 13 districts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Haryana and Punjab to apply for citizenship of India. It is hard to ignore the circular issued by Home Ministry which did not mention refugees in West Bengal and Assam where CAA was continually brought up during state assembly elections.

IUML moves SC against MHA's order

In an application filed before the apex court, IUML inculpates the Centre of reneging its assurance to the court where the Centre claimed that staying of the CAA was not necessary as the rules of the CAA had not been framed.

The MHA issued a notification for immediate implementation of the order under the Citizenship Act 1955 and Rules framed under the law in 2009 albeit the rules of CAA, 2019 are yet to be framed.

The petition before the SC states,"However, the Respondent Union, in a roundabout way, and in an attempt to circumvent the assurance given to this Honble Court, have sought to implement their mala fide designs envisaged under the Amendment Act through the recently issued order dated 28.5.2021."

IUML termed these orders illegal and said that if the Centre's notification was implemented and citizenship was granted to a person basis religion and thereafter if the SC strikes down CAA and rules granting citizenship on the same criterion of religion is declared void, it would be impossible to implement the order.

In the petition, IUML states, "CAA, 2019 ..... for being in violation of Articles 14, 15 and 21 and the basic structure of the Indian Constitution for discriminating among persons on the basis of their faith and religion." It adds, "The concept of granting citizenship to persons on the basis of religion was introduced vide the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 and the impugned order and rules as challenged in the present writ. The said act is against Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution and violative of the basic structure of the Constitution."

In exercise of powers conferred under Section 16 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 (57 of 1955), the central government hereby directs that powers exercisable by it for registration as a citizen of India under Section 5, or for grant of certificate of naturalisation under section 6 of the Citizenship Act 1955 in respect of any person belonging to the minority community in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, residing in the districts mentioned and the states mentioned below, the MHA notification read.
On Tuesday, President Ram Nath Kovind appointed retired SC judge Arun Kumar Mishra as the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission based on the recommendation of a selection panel. The high-powered committee comprised of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, and Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge. While reportedly the names of three ex-Chief Justices of India were among the shortlisted candidates, Mishra was eventually chosen.

However, it is pertinent to note that Kharge dissociated himself from the process of selection of the new chairperson and members of the NHRC. During the meeting of the selection panel at the PM's residence on Monday evening, the veteran Congress leader pitched that at least one person belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Minorities should be recommended either as a member or the chairperson of the body.

In a letter addressed to PM Modi, Kharge stated, "Since the Committee did not accept any of my proposals, I express my disagreement with the recommendations made by the Committee in regard to appointments to the posts of Chairperson and Members of NHRC".

Interestingly, Mishra who had retired on September 3, 2020, will become the first non-CJI to take charge as the NHRC chief. This has become possible owing to an amendment to the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 passed by the Parliament in 2019 whereby both a former CJI or an apex court judge was made eligible for this post. He will formally take over from acting chairperson Justice (retd.) Prafulla Chandra Pant on Wednesday.

Justice Arun Kumar Mishra (Retd) to take over as the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/oRw5TFfVwB  ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2021

Decades-long career

Born on September 3, 1955, to Madhya Pradesh High Court judge HG Mishra, he practiced in constitutional, civil, service, and criminal matters. Elected to the MP Bar Council in 1989 and 1995 with record votes, Justice Arun Mishra also served as the youngest chairman of the Bar Council from 1998 to 1999. During his tenure, decisions such as shutting down evening law colleges and over 200 sub-standard law colleges, commencing a 5-year Law degree course, and enhancing the amount of medical aid to lawyers were taken.

He also led the Indian Bar delegation to the Commonwealth Law Conference held in Malaysia in September 1999 and chaired one session there. 11 years after being appointed as a judge of the MP High Court, he was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court on November 26, 2010. He was elevated as a judge of the apex court on July 7, 2014, when he was functioning as the Calcutta HC Chief Justice.

During his tenure as a SC judge, he authored 132 judgments and was part of 540 benches that delivered judgments. This includes sensitive matters such as ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt's plea seeking a fair probe into 2 FIRs lodged against him by the Gujarat Police, the Sahara-Birla diaries case, the medical college bribery case, the suo moto case pertaining to sexual harassment charges against the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi and so forth. When a bench headed by him sentenced senior advocate Prashant Bhushan over two tweets, it slammed the press conference held by 4 sitting SC judges in January 2018.

Mishra faced a lot of criticism for his praise of the PM while delivering the vote of thanks at the inaugural session of an international judicial conference in February 2020.

He remarked, India is a responsible and most friendly member of the international community under the stewardship of internationally acclaimed visionary Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. We thank the versatile genius who thinks globally and acts locally Shri Narendra Modi for his inspiring speech which will act as a catalyst in initiating the deliberations and setting the agenda for the conference.

Meanwhile, the opposition took a dig at Mishra's NHRC appointment:
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russias sovereign wealth fund) has announced that the efficacy of the Russian Sputnik Light Coronavirus vaccine (single-dose vaccine). According to the real-world data collected by the Ministry of Health of the Buenos Aires province (Argentina), the Sputnik Light vaccine demonstrates 78.6-83.7% efficacy among the elderly.

Sputnik Light, the first shot of Sputnik V, demonstrates 78.6-83.7% efficacy based on real-world data from more than 40,000 patients aged 60 to 79 collected by the Ministry of Health of the Buenos Aires province.  pic.twitter.com/WAVzRuGdEN  Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) June 2, 2021

Study on Sputnik Light Vaccine's efficacy on elders

According to the data from over 186,000 people aged 60-79, more than 40,000 of whom received a shot of Sputnik Light (first dose of Sputnik V) as part of the mass-scale civil vaccination program, the infection rate between 21st and 40th day from the date of receiving the first dose was only 0.446%. At the same time, the infection rate among the non-vaccinated adult population was 2.74% for a comparable period.

The following formula was used to calculate the vaccine's efficacy:

Adjusted data weighted by age, gender and a number of other parameters among groups of vaccinated and non-vaccinated subjects demonstrated comparable efficacy of the Russian vaccine - 78.6%. Positive official data of vaccination with single-dose Sputnik Light confirms the great efficacy of the vaccine and its potential for being used during the vaccination campaign in Argentina.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said, The publication of independent data in Buenos Aires province confirms high efficacy of the Russian vaccine for senior citizens who are in a high-risk group. An efficacy level of near 83.7% is higher than that of many two-dose vaccines. As the report of the Ministry of Health of the province has demonstrated, vaccination with Sputnik Light (the first component of the Sputnik V vaccine) can significantly reduce the number of infections and hospitalizations. We plan to continue cooperating with colleagues in Argentina for further data on the use of the Russian vaccine.

Sputnik V and Sputnik Light have a number of key advantages:

Efficacy of Sputnik V is 97.6% based on the analysis of data on the coronavirus infection rate among those in Russia vaccinated with both components of Sputnik V from December 5, 2020, to March 31, 2021;

Efficacy of Sputnik Light is 79.4% based on the analysis of data on the coronavirus infection rate among those in Russia vaccinated with the single-dose vaccine from December 5, 2020, to April 15, 2021;

Sputnik Light is the first component (recombinant human adenovirus serotype number 26 (rAd26)) of Sputnik V;

The Sputnik V and Sputnik Light vaccines are based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors, which cause the common cold and have been around for thousands of years.

Sputnik V uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.

The safety, efficacy and lack of negative long-term effects of adenoviral vaccines have been proven by more than 250 clinical studies over two decades.

There are no strong allergies caused by Sputnik V.

The storage temperature of Sputnik V and Sputnik Light at +2+8 C means it can be stored in a conventional refrigerator without any need to invest in additional cold-chain infrastructure.

The price of Sputnik V and Sputnik Light is less than $10 per shot, making it affordable around the world.

Sputnik Light's speedy launch likely in India

In a potential boost to the vaccination drive, there is a big possibility of a speedy launch of Russia's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik Light in India. As per ANI sources, Dr Reddy's is in talks with the Centre to bring this vaccine to the country and an application seeking regulatory approval is likely to be filed soon. Developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and financed by the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Sputnik Light has demonstrated the efficacy of 79.4% as compared to 91.4% for the two-shot Sputnik V.

The phase 3 clinical trial involving 7,000 people was conducted in multiple countries including Russia, the UAE and Ghana. In a statement issued after the approval of the vaccine in May, the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology stated that it had proven effective against all strains of COVID-19 and no serious adverse events were reported. While India received 30 lakh Sputnik V doses from Russia a day earlier, domestic production of this vaccine will begin in August with a target of manufacturing 850 million doses.

(Image: PTI)
Sun Direct is a joint venture between the Sun Network of India and the Astro Group of Malaysia that provides direct broadcast satellite services in India. The lowest pricing compared to any other DTH service in India is one of the reasons for its quick development across the country. Continue reading the article to know about Sun Direct recharge plans for 1 month, standard plans and more.

Sun Direct Recharge Plans

Here are the top recharge plans for Sun Direct DTH with 1-month validity:

Sun Direct Telugu DPO 2A - This plan offers a total of 91 channels with a validity of 1 month. The price of this plan is 220 INR.

Sun Direct Tamil DPO 2 - This plan offers a total of 78 channels with a validity of 1 month. The price of this plan is 144.92 INR.

Sun Direct Telugu Super - This plan offers a total of 104 channels with a validity of 1 month. The price of this plan is 287.29 INR.

Sun Direct Malayalam DPO 2 - This plan offers a total of 88 channels with a validity of 1 month. The price of this plan is 184.75 INR.

Sun Direct Kannada DPO 1 - This plan offers a total of 56 channels with a validity of 1 month. The price of this plan is 136.44 INR.

Sun Direct Kannada DPO 2 - This plan offers a total of 96 channels with a validity of 1 month. The price of this plan is 185.59 INR.

Sun Direct Tamil Economy - This plan offers a total of 59 channels with a validity of 1 month. The price of this plan is 118.64 INR.

Sun Direct Kannada DPO 3 - This plan offers a total of 112 channels with a validity of 1 month. The price of this plan is 253.39 INR.

Sun Direct Tamil DPO 3 - This plan offers a total of 102 channels with a validity of 1 month. The price of this plan is 247.46 INR.

Sun Direct Malayalam DPO 3 - This plan offers a total of 108 channels with a validity of 1 month. The price of this plan is 269.49 INR.

Sun Direct Telugu Recharge Plan for 1 Month

The best recharge plan for Telugu is - Sun Direct Telugu Super. The total number of channels that a user gets is 104 and among these 104 SD channels, there are 41 popular channels. 29 Hindi channels, 18 news channels with languages ranging from English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, and more.

IMAGE: Unsplash
With dozens of Nigerian school students still missing after their kidnapping, the students' parents and head of the school in Tegina pleaded for help on Tuesday to rescue the children.

Relatives of the children gathered outside the Salihu Tanko Islamic School in Tegina waiting for news and asking the authorities to do more to bring their kids back.

About 150 students were abducted on Sunday, according to Mallam Abubakar Gimi, director of the school located in the government area of Rafi, Niger's state.

Gimi said the kidnappers made contact with him through one of the abducted students who is related to him.

The bandits, he said, demanded money to release the children and threatened to kill them.

Through tears, Gimi complained about the reaction from authorities.

"The government has not made any effort and no government officials have visited or called to check on the matter, even the commission of the police only sent a representative who came and discredited our claims saying we only wanted to obtain money from the government," he said.

Police confirmed that a large number of students were abducted, and one person was killed, but did not release exact numbers.

Wasiu Abiodun, the Niger state police spokesman, said the abduction was carried out by "armed bandits on board motorcycles in their numbers."

The gunmen fired "indiscriminately and abducted a yet to be ascertained number of children," he said, adding that the gunmen shot one person dead in the process.

Authorities said that "tactical teams" have been mobilised to rescue the students.

"Honestly, I will say that we don't have a government, because even before this incident happened you heard people shouting that they were coming, then when it happened, and you go to the police station, no action is taken," said Rabiu Garkuwa, the father of two abducted boys as he waited for news outside the school.

The incident is the latest in a series of mass abductions in Nigerian schools by armed gangs who collect money for ransom.

Armed groups have carried out raids on schools in northern Nigeria, kidnapping hundreds of students since December.

The worst case this year occurred at the Government Girls Secondary School Jangebe in February, when 279 girls were abducted and later released.

Many schools have been forced to close due to the frequent kidnappings.

On Saturday, 14 university students and staff who had been abducted from Greenfield University in Kaduna state on April 20 were released after spending more than a month in captivity.

(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)
China on Wednesday defended the alleged intrusion of 16 Chinese military aircraft into Malaysian airspace.

The incident happened on Monday when Malaysia's air force said its radar picked up the Chinese planes near Malaysian-administered islands in the disputed South China Sea.

In a briefing in Beijing on Wednesday, China's foreign ministry said it had been a routine training exercise and denied entering Malaysia's territorial airspace.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin insisted that the Chinese aircraft followed international law.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea on historic grounds. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have overlapping claims, and tensions have ramped up since China built several man-made islands and turned them into military outposts.

Commenting on the World Health Organization's decision to issue an emergency use listing for the COVID-19 vaccine made by Sinovac for adults 18 and over, Wang said it proved the "safety and efficacy" of Chinese vaccines.

It is the second such authorization WHO has granted to a Chinese company. WHO's authorization means the vaccine can be bought by donors and other UN agencies for use in poorer countries, including in the UN-backed initiative to distribute COVID-19 vaccines globally known as COVAX.

Separately, Wang again urged the US to open its Fort Detrick base for international investigation, amid repeated claims from

Chinese officials and state media that COVID-19 might have originated from an American military research laboratory.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Chinese President Xi Jinping said it was essential for the country to present an image of a "credible, lovable, and respectable China," according to state-run news agency Xinhua. While speaking at a study session for the Communist Party's top leadership on May 31, Xi said that the ruling party's propaganda organisations need to make it evident for the rest of the world that Beijing hopes for "nothing but the Chinese people's well-being." As per the report, the Chinese President emphasized that 'telling Chinese stories, spreading the voice of China, and presenting a true, three-dimensional and comprehensive China are important tasks for strengthening' the global communication with the Asian country.

"It is necessary to make friends, unite and win over the majority, and constantly expand the circle of friends [when it comes to] international public opinion," he was quoted by Xinhua as saying. He further added that China should be open and confident, but also modest and humble" in its communication with the world.

Meanwhile, according to a CNN report, even though Xi's approach reveals don Monday makes sense, China has failed to make strong diplomatic relationships with major world powers and shares ties only with Russia and Pakistan. The American media outlet also noted that the reputation of China has deteriorated in 'many parts of the world'. It further cited a Pew Research report from late 2020 that concluded that out of 14 countries surveyed across Europe, North America and East Asia, each one of them had a majority negative view of China.

Chinas image, COVID-19 pandemic, 'Warrior diplomacy'

China's image across the globe drastically depleted since the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the world. The pandemic coupled with allegations and conspiracy theories against government cover-up in the early days of the outbreak in Wuhan in December 2019 has further deteriorated the perception of the country. However, CNN noted that the opinions of China were 'worsening even before the pandemic' citing its embrace of "wold warrior" diplomacy, named after the Chinese action movies.

Reportedly, China's "wold warrior" diplomacy started taking its shape in 2019 when Chinese diplomats began aggressively calling out the alleged slights against the country either on news conferences or on social media. In July 2019, Zhao Lijian who was a counsellor at the Chinese embassy in Pakistan at the time started condemning the 'hypocrisy' of the US on human rights and started flagging America's own problems regarding racism, gun violence among others.

Even though his criticism was reportedly controversial, he was promoted to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson. Shortly after that, several other diplomats followed his suit. Now months after china continued with its stringent approach, analysts, according to BBC note that Xis remarks on Monday mark a rare admission of Beijings isolation.

IMAGE: AP
Foreign forces, notably Russian and Turkish soldiers, should be' withdrawn' from Libyan land, said French President Emmanuel Macron. He also stated that France is willing to provide political support to Libya. Last week, Macron mentioned that his government will offer millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses to African countries in order to help them accelerate their vaccination drives.

Macron calls for a withdrawal of foreign forces

After a meeting with Libyas interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh, Macron said, "As Libyans themselves demand, we must stop any foreign intervention, and this goes through the withdrawal of all forces of foreign mercenaries from the territory of Libya  Russian, Turkish, their Syrian mercenaries, and others."

He noted, "We are working on this with you and with all our partners. And this pullout [of foreign troops] should go along with the creation of a unified army. It is necessary to guarantee the success of the national elections scheduled for the end of the year."

Libya calls for withdrawal

As the North African country prepares for elections later this year, Libya's top diplomat called for the withdrawal of foreign forces and mercenaries earlier this month. Libya's temporary foreign minister, Najla al-Manqoush, made the appeal during a news conference in Tripoli with her Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu. She urged Turkey to carry out UN Security Council resolutions calling for the repatriation of over 20,000 foreign soldiers and mercenaries from Libya.

Libya's oil-rich country was thrown into instability when a NATO-backed rebellion in 2011 overthrew longstanding autocrat Moammar Gadhafi and divided the country between an UN-backed administration in Tripoli and competing authorities based in the country's east side. Local militias, as well as regional and international powers, backed both sides.

Forces loyal to Khalifa Hifter, the military commander in charge of Libya's eastern and southern regions, launched an operation in the country's east. Egypt and the United Arab Emirates joined forces in April 2019 to try to conquer Tripoli. After Turkey increased its military backing for the UN-backed government with hundreds of troops and thousands of Syrian mercenaries, the campaign came to an end.

According to Security Council diplomats, Libya is home to around 20,000 foreign combatants and mercenaries, including 13,000 Syrians, 11,000 Sudanese, Russians, and Chadians. According to a spokesperson, the Security Council's 15 member nations decided in an informal meeting last week that getting the foreign fighters and mercenaries to return home was the only way forward.

(With agency inputs)

Picture Credit: AP/Abdulhamid Dbeibeh/Twitter
Male teachers and students in Spain joined the Clothes Have No Gender movement (#laropanotienegenero) and wore skirts to the classrooms to fight the stereotypical gender norms. Teachers across the country joined the movement which was sparked after a boy was expelled for wearing a skirt to school last year. Manuel Ortega and Borja Velazquez are the latest teachers to ditch their trousers for the female attire after one of their pupils was bullied in class this month.

According to the Metro UK, the pair wanted to show support after the boy was mocked for wearing an anime t-shirt at the Virgen de Sacedon primary school in Valladolid. The boy was called homophobic slurs and ended up changing out of embarrassment. Ortega was horrified to know about the incident after which he decided to wear skirts to class, along with colleague Velazquez, to promote tolerance.

Velazquez tweeted, A school that educates in respect, diversity, co-education and tolerance. Dress as you want! We join the initiation .

To increase tolerance and respect

While speaking to El Pais, the men said that their decision to wear skirts was not just for a viral social media moment. But they wanted to increase tolerance and respect while extending the invitation for other teachers to do the same.

As per reports, the movement began on October 27 last year when a student named Mikel Gomez was expelled and referred to psychologists after wearing a skirt to a school in Bilbao, the Basque Country. The boy had shared a now-viral video on TikTok explaining that he had wanted to show support for feminism and diversity. Since then, November 4 has become wear a skirt to school day while hundreds of students and teachers have joined the movement to show solidarity.

Another teacher, Jose Pinas also decided to start wearing a skirt to class last year. While taking to Twitter, he said, 20 years ago I suffered persecution and insults for my sexual orientation in the institute where I am now a teacher many teachers, they looked the other way. I want to join the cause of the student, Mikel, who has been expelled and sent to the psychologist for going to class with a skirt.

Hace 20anos sufri persecucion e insultos xmi orientacion sexual en el instituto en el q ahora soy profesor, muchs profes, miraron para otro lado. Quiero unirme a la causa del alumno, Mikel, q ha sido expulsado y enviado al psicologo por ir a clase con falda. #LaRopaNoTieneGenero pic.twitter.com/5PEN9vityY  Jose Pinas (@joxepinas) November 9, 2020

The teachers have received praise from parents online. One said, My son (13 years old) went to class with a skirt yesterday. They had agreed between several students to do it Im proud. Another added, Congratulations on your attitude. High schools are sometimes very hard for students, you have to know how to be aware of it and position yourself without nuances to guarantee yourself safety from attacks.

(Image: Twitter)


Iran's navy's largest vessel IRIS 'Kharg' 431 on Wednesday caught fire under 'mysterious circumstances' at around 2:25 am. After efforts failed to douse the flames and save the ship, it sank near the Iranian port of Jask, approximately 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran near the Strait of Hormuz  the narrow maritime artery between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, Irans semiofficial news agencies Fars and Tasnim reported.

In the visuals that emerged of the heavy life cargo and helicopter launch point vessels fire, sailors were seen wearing life jackets and attempting to bring the massive blaze under control, shortly evacuating as fire engulfed the vessel spreading from the hull. Kharg, named after Iran's primary oil export terminal in the Persian Gulf, was on a training mission.

Measures were taken to extinguish the fire, the trained personnel disembarked and were taken to shore, Iran said in a statement, broadcasted by Tasnim news agency.

Video reportedly of #Iran|ian Navy IRIS Kharg this morning burning and sunken approx. 6 miles off of Jask Port. FIRMS data has a hotspot around 25.652726,57.640181. pic.twitter.com/X4IlKPXH0w  Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) June 2, 2021

The Iranian navy ship, was manufactured by Swan Hunter in the United Kingdom and was launched in 1977 and was one of the few vessels in the Iranian navy that was deployed for replenishment of other naval vessels in the seas. Kharg entered the Iranian navy in 1984 following Irans 1979 Islamic Revolution after difficult negotiations and its sinking marks one the most serious naval disasters for the Islamic Republic. Tensions have loomed in the strategic Strait of Hormuz since last year over series of attacks on Iranian vessels by the US Navy as a retaliatory response to Iranian harassment of US vessels.

[Credit: IRGC]

[Credit: Twitter/@BabakTaghvaee]

Despite Irans best efforts to send military personnel and fire fighters that led 20 hours of all-out efforts and the use of maritime relief facilities, the rescue operation of Kharg training support vessel was ineffective and the vessel sank, as per Irans state-run broadcasts. The ship sank at 8 am in morning, Iran time. Sources described that the military vessel was so gigantic that it could provide the electricity to an entire city such as to Bandar Abbas so that by running all its generators and steam systems, it could reach 6000 kWh of electricity. Irans naval forces have suffered one of the major setbacks.

The cause of the accident is still unknown and as soon as the forces are transferred from Jask to Bandar Abbas, we will inform in this regard. This ship is one of the most advanced vessels of the Iranian military and is sometimes called a helicopter carrier," a public relations officer of the 1st Najaf region said in a televised statement after the burning Iranian vessel sank.

Tensions between the United States Navy and the IRGC were heightened during the past few days after US national security officials found that the Iranian vessel frigate and the Makran, a former oil tanker that was converted to a floating forward staging base, were headed south along the east coast of Africa, to Venezuela into the Red Sea.

At least three US military officials on condition of anonymity told Politico earlier yesterday that the move was perceived as provocative by US Naval forces and had created fresh rifts in US-Iranian relations. While US officials had said that Irans intention had remained unclear, the Iranian media had boasted about its 755-foot long Makran navy ships defense capabilities, asserting that it was capable of electronic warfare and special operations missions. Irans state-run broadcasts warned that the Iranian vessel could easily carry six to seven helicopters, as well as drones, meanwhile, Kharg was a long-range operations vessel.

US-Iran-Israel navy's limpet mines exchanges

Over the years, Israeli naval forces have also carried out attacks on Iranian ships. Last month, Irans paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces off the coast of Yemen escalated shadow war in Mideast waters after an alleged Israeli assault on the Irans MV Saviz, which IRGC described as the most extensive damage yet. The Israeli-US-Iranian vessels have indulged in limpet mine blasts targeting both commercial and military vessels. Last year, the US Navy accused Iran of using explosives that were launched at the US vessels hull. Footages released by US Navy showed members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard clearing vessels of unexploded limpet mines. Iran, however, denied targeting the vessels.
As the US ambassador to the United Nations headed to Turkey late Tuesday to hold bilateral talks related to the humanitarian aid to Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of the meeting warned that the US risks losing a key ally. The Turkish leader was asked by a reporter about Ankara-Washington relations when he told the State-run broadcaster TRT that "those who corner the Republic of Turkey will lose a precious friend. His remarks were made in context to the first meeting with US President Joe Biden scheduled to be held on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Brussels on June 14.

Since assuming office, the Democratic US President Biden has had several potential flashpoints with Turkey after he ousted former republican leader Donald Trump who held a close alliance with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On Tuesday, speaking at a round table videoconference with the executives from the prominent US firms to discuss reforms and investments in Turkey, Erdogan said that he believes the first in-person meeting with US President next month will mark the beginning of a new era.

Turkeys bilateral ties with Washington had smothered during the office of the ex-President Trump, although with the Biden administration sworn in, Ankara and Washington have held contrasting viewpoints with respect to geopolitics, alliances, and governance. The major rift was caused by the Biden administration speaking out against Turkeys purchase of Russias S-400 missile system which the US asserted, had angered its NATO allies. Relations between the two countries further deteriorated after the democrat US President called out against Turkeys human rights record. Biden had long delayed the phone call with his Turkish counterpart before finally holding the first dialogue with Ankara in April, nearly three months after he assumed Presidency.

US-Turkey rift

Talks between Ankara and Washington were held after Biden made a historic declaration to give official recognition to the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire during World War I. "What is the reason for our tensions with the US? The so-called Armenian genocide," Erdogan had lashed out while speaking at a press conference. "Don't have you have any other problems to deal with rather than advocating for Armenia? he added. The Turkish leader slammed the US support to the Kurdish militias in Syria, which are deemed as terrorists" by Turkey. "If the United States is indeed our ally, should they side with the terrorists or with us? Unfortunately, they continue to support the terrorists," Erdogan said. Tensions between the two countries have remained heightened over scores of geopolitical matters.
Pakistan's Opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari scorched PM Imran Khan for allegedly lying to the world about the press freedom in his country and slammed the PTI govt for not providing adequate security to journalists in Islamabad. Bilawal Bhutto's attack against Imran Khan comes after he visited injured journalist Asad Ali Toor, who was allegedly assaulted by three masked men at his Islamabad residence earlier in May. Bilawal Bhutto, who is also the chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Human Rights, said that he would convene a meeting of the committee to deliberate on the issue of press freedom in Pakistan with particular reference to the increasing attack on journalists. Lamenting the lack of security provided to journalists in Pakistan's capital, Bilawal Bhutto vowed to crack the cases of the attacks on journalists Absar Alam and Matiullah Jan and claimed that his party (Pakistan's People Party) would never compromise on the freedom of the press.

"As the chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Human Rights, I am taking notice of the incidents of attacks on journalists and soon I will convene its meeting to discuss the state of media freedom in the country," Bilawal Bhutto said.

CCTV footage obtained from Pakistan-based journalist Asad Ali Toor's residence revealed that three masked suspects had exited the former's Islamabad residence after attacking him. The clip allegedly shows Toor calling for help while his hands and feet were tied and was taken to a hospital later, as per reports. Pakistan which ranks 9th on the CPJ's Global Impunity Index has seen an increase in the censorship and repression faced by journalists after Imran Khan took over as the PM in 2018 after an election perceived to have been rigged by the military. The ISI, however, denied its involvement in the attack on Toor and alleged a conspiracy being launched against them.

Pakistan Military flexes muscles, journalist Hamid Mir taken off air

On Monday, senior Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir was stopped from hosting his talk show 'Capital Talk' by the Geo News channel after he criticised the military establishment. He has been sent on forced leave and another anchorperson will host the five-day-a-week show for now. Mir came under the scanner after he delivered a fiery speech at a protest on May 28 in the wake of the attack on fellow journalist Asad Toor. Three assailants who identified themselves as ISI agents barged into Toor's Islamabad apartment on May 25 and assaulted him.

Threatening to expose the role of Pakistan's military establishment in the recent spate of attacks on journalists amid inaction from the police, Hamid Mir stated, "I have been feeling this since a long time- the institutions where we work have been coerced to such an extent that they tell us what to say and what not to say. For the sake of safeguarding the jobs of our colleagues, we are cautious. Now, it seems that this has become the strength of those who are the enemies of freedom of the press. I feel that my job is shackling me and I cannot say certain things. From today, I will start saying certain things. Whoever wants to sack me is free to do so. I will get freedom if I am sacked from my job. If I get freedom, then I will remove the masks from your faces."
Pakistan has launched a Coronavirus vaccine named 'PakVac' which will be manufactured in Pakistan. The vaccine is made with the assistance of the all-weather ally China to an extent that it is said to be a localised version of China's CanSinoBio vaccine. Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan expressed happiness over the launch and said Pakistan will soon be able to start the production of the vaccine.

Pakistan's Coronavirus vaccine 'PakVac'

The vaccine is categorically said to be a localised version of the CanSinoBio vaccine of China, which means the vaccine has been designed and developed in China. China has supplied the vaccine in bulk quantities to Pakistan in a concentrated form for filling and packaging in Pakistan. However, Dr Faisal Sultan said that developing the vaccine from raw materials was not an easy task while adding that he is proud of the people that developed the vaccine at Pakistan's National Institute of Health. He assured at the launch that the vaccine has undergone rigorous internal quality control checks and testing in order to begin mass production. Dr Faisal Sultan heaped praises to China for their assistance in making the vaccine.

"China was already a friend and came forward when coronavirus hit Pakistan", Dr Faisal Sultan said while lauding the Chinese assistance.

Congratulations to the NIH Pak team and its leadership for successful fill/finish (from concentrate) of the Cansino vaccine with the help of Cansino Bio Inc. China. The product has passed the rigorous internal QA testing. An imp step to help in our vaccine supply line pic.twitter.com/hrkySTJxPX  Faisal Sultan (@fslsltn) May 24, 2021

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) chief Asad Umar spoke about the COVID-19 situation of the country and highlighted that the number of patients in hospitals was higher this time as compared to the first wave and added that the number of patients on oxygen support was 60% more than it was during the first wave.

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong, in his address, revealed that Pakistan was the first country to accept the Chinese vaccine as a gift and asserted that the vaccines production is an example of the friendship between China and Pakistan.

Pakistan has reported 1,771 cases in 24 hours taking the tally of confirmed cases to 922,824 according to the Ministry of National Health Services, Pakistan. The country has administered more than 7.3 million doses to over 5.3 million population with nearly 2 million people fully vaccinated according to a PTI report.

Doubts over efficacy of Chinese vaccines

Questions have also been raised about the efficacy of the Chinese vaccines as Seychelles which remains the world's most vaccinated country with Sinopharm, another Chinese vaccine, has reported a surge in COVID-19 infections among the fully vaccinated citizens. China has donated 13.3 million Sinopharm doses to other countries, according to New York Times report citing a Chinese consultancy that tracks China's impact on global health.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain which also jabbed their population with the Chinese vaccine are now mulling a third dose owing to the inefficiency of the first two doses. UAE has announced it will begin offering booster shots to those who received the Chinese state-backed Sinopharm vaccine six months after vaccination. According to PTI, China's top disease control official, in a rare acknowledgement last month, said current vaccines offer low protection against the Coronavirus. Reports have stated that experts are suggesting a different vaccine than procuring the Chinese vaccine for the third dose.
The African Union has suspended Mali's membership with immediate effect on June 1. The African Union's Peace and Security Council in a statement said, "In line with the relevant AU normative instruments, to immediately suspend the Republic of Mali from participation in all activities of the African Union, its organs and institutions, until normal constitutional order has been restored in the country". The African Union has strongly urged the Malian military to "urgently and unconditionally" return to the barracks.

African Union suspends Mali's membership

The African Union Peace and Security Council has in the strongest terms condemned and rejected the coup in Mali, adding that it was "deeply concerned about the evolving situation in Mali and its negative impact on the gains made thus far in the transition process in the country". The African Union has suspended Mali from participating in all activities of the Union and has urged the Malian military to refrain from interference in the political processes in Mali. It has called for the creation of "conducive conditions" for a swift return to the civilian led-transition. It warned that if the military did not hand back power to civilian transitional leaders, "the Council will not hesitate to impose targeted sanctions and other punitive measures".

Communique of 1001st meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council on the situation in #Mali, 1st of June 2021 https://t.co/7xDS7oxEGg  African Union Political Affairs Peace and Security (@AUC_PAPS) June 2, 2021

The African Union has called on the Malian defence and security forces to immediately lift all restrictions on all political leaders including the detained interim President Bah Ndaw and interim Prime Minister Moctar Ouane who are under house arrest, and for authorities to respect the 18 months transition period original stipulated in the agreement. The move comes after the West African regional bloc Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) suspended Mali on May 30. The African Union has also appealed to the international community to extend financial support to Mali.

Last month, Colonel Assimi Goita had deposed the transitional president and prime minister and regained the position of interim vice president after leading a coup in August last year that removed President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. Malis transitional President and Prime Minister were both released by the Military members on May 26 after they turned in a formal resignation. They were stripped of their political powers in the African nations second coup in nine months.

IMAGE: AP
MBABANE  Governments refusal to pay E2 million in compensation to a landowner has cost the taxpayer E22 million.

This is with regard to a piece of land along the Kai-Kai Hhelehhele road, where the property owner identified only as Kashgar Properties had demanded E2million as compensation for their property to give way to the construction of the Mbadlane-Sikhuphe Road. However, government was only willing to compensate the property owner E900 000. After not seeing eye-to-eye with government, Kashgar Properties took government to court. The court process took a long while and construction of the road could not continue which then attracted standing costs from the contractor Inyatsi which eventually billed government E20 million. It was revealed that government also paid E2 million to Kashgar instead of the E900 000 which it had initially offered. This was revealed during the appearance of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Revealed

The Chief Roads Engineer Vincent Dlamini revealed that the property was a critical part of the road which was near the Hhelehhele inter-exchange. The PAC was left shocked by the news especially because it was considered a small stretch of the road and said government should not have allowed the costs to escalate so high and should have instead compensated Kashgar with the initially demanded E2 million which was eventually paid anyway.

Meanwhile, the auditor general had reported that the contractor (Inyatsi Construction) had allegedly failed to meet the project completion deadline stipulated in the contract and there were no written justifications provided that were approved by the appropriate authority which could necessitate the review of the programme and strategies to fast track the project. The project according to the AG had commenced on March 31, 2017 as shown by the Engineers Instructions to commence civil works. The anticipated project completion date was on March 29, 2020 as indicated by contract number 62 of 2016/2017.

However, according to the AGs physical verification of works conducted on June 11, 2020 indicated that the physical progress was at 56 per cent to completion and the duration of the contract had lapsed. I could not understand what caused the delay in completion of the works because there were no Variation Orders or Force Majeure circumstances submitted for audit that could have delayed the project completion date, reported the AG.


Based on the study from UK and Spain, Canada, on Tuesday recommended mixing and matching second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. The country is using AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Moderna and has suggested citizens to combine jabs interchangeably in certain situations. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) has extended its support to the decision and updated its guidance to provinces and territories on mixing and matching.

Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam also gave a green signal to the process while adding that this is nothing new.

"This is not a new concept, so having a multi-dose series in terms of vaccines given by manufacturers is something that public health has used over time for many other vaccines. When vaccines programs and supplies change this is not an unusual thing to do," said Dr. Theresa Tam to CBC News.

Dr. Theresa Tam further cited the example of mixing shots for influenza and Hepatitis proving this phenomenon is not new.

The NACI guidance comes from research conducted in UK, Spain that said mixing and matching shots are safe and effective. The study further recommended first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine can be followed by either Moderna or Pfizer. Following the recommendations, Canadians have also been advised to take either of the two shots as a second dose after taking first dose of Moderna or Pfizer.

Details of the research

The scientific analysis shows that safety is assured as both vaccines- Moderna or Pfizer uses similar mRNA technology. In case if same first dose is unavailable or unknown then either of the two shots can be taken during the second jab. The officials from the Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed the update in the guidelines during Tuesday's news conference, reported CBC News.

Currently no data on interchangeability

On contrary, NACI's updated recommendations have clarified that "no data currently exist on the interchangeability of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines," however Canada's Chief Public Health Officer added that there are 'ongoing studies' on the enhanced effects which will be published. She also highlighted that the decision was made considering similar makeup of the vaccines, which both target the spike protein of the coronavirus.

The updated guidelines come at a time when issues with the supply of AstraZeneca and a rare but serious type of blood clot were witnessed, enlightened NACI. The new suggestions are expected to have major changes in the vaccine drive of Canada as major changes have been made from the previous rules.

Canada COVID-19 vaccine drive

According to the latest available federal government data, till May 22, over 13 million Canadians have received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine in Canada, in contrast to over 3.5 million of the Moderna vaccine and more than 2.1 million of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

(With ANI inputs)
After Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) accused Beijing of threatening Malaysias sovereignty, alleging that 16 PLAAF military aircrafts intruded 60 nm into Malaysias EEZ on 31st May, China countered the claims saying that its aircraft over the contested waters were conducting a routine training. A Labuan-based RMAF 6 Skuadron Hawks scrambled to intercept a Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Xian Y-20 aircraft as it encroached Malaysia's maritime airspace near the coast of Sarawak state on Borneo island with a fleet.

The Chinese Air Force flew 60 nautical miles from Luconia Shoals, which Beijing also claims as part of its territory in the maritime region. The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), in a statement, said that the Chinese aircrafts refused to communicate with local air-traffic controllers posing a threat to national sovereignty and aviation safety.

[Photo: Facebook/ Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia]

Based on the report received from the Royal Malaysian Air Force, the Ministry will issue a diplomatic note of protest against the intrusion to the Government of the Peoples Republic of China, the Malaysian foreign ministry threatened in a statement. It added, that the country will summon Chinas ambassador to Malaysia to explain the incursion.

Malaysias stand is clear  having friendly diplomatic relations with any countries does not mean that we will compromise our national security. Malaysia remains steadfast in defending our dignity and our sovereignty, Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in a statement.

[Credit:Royal Malaysian Air Force]

In response to the RMAFs claims of Chinese planes violating Malaysian territorial airspace, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Kuala Lumpur spokesperson told a conference that the activities are routine flight training of the Chinese air force and do not target any country.According to relevant international law, Chinese military aircraft enjoy the freedom of overflight in the relevant airspace, he said, asserting that the airplanes had not entered into other countrys territorial airspace. RMAF said that the Chinese planes came 110 kilometers inside the airspace of the Malaysian part of Borneo.

Malaysias Royal Airforce detected suspicious movement of 16 Chinese Airforce aircraft in Malaysias Maritime Zone airspace in Kota Kinabalu Flight Information Region and were approaching the countrys airspace on May 31, 2021, the RMAF said in a statement. Under the international law, coastal states have complete sovereignty over this airspace.

Chinese planes Russian-made Ilyushin Il-76

The Malaysian air force identified the Chinese planes as Russian-made Ilyushin Il-76 and Chinese-made Xian Y-20  transport aircraft that flew into maritime zone airspace. But Chinese Embassy in Malaysia denied violation of international law saying that the Chinese planes were doing routine flight training, and strictly abided by the relevant international law.According to relevant international law, Chinese military aircraft enjoy the freedom of overflight in the relevant airspace, an embassy spokesperson said in a statement. Last year, the United States Air Force had suspected that China was planning to declare Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the airspace in the South China Sea. China and the smaller island nations including Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan have had overlapping territorial claims in the disputed region.
In a notable move, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa or BRICS on June 1 backed India and South Africas joint proposal to temporarily wave the COVID-19 vaccine patents amid the pandemic. In a joint statement on Tuesday, the BRICS, known for their significant regional influence, called for their equitable access and distribution while ensuring transparency on its prices. External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar chaired the 13th BRICS Foreign Ministers meeting and opened the summit by stating the BRICS aims for a fair, just, inclusive, equitable and representative multipolar international system."

BRICS joint statement said, The Ministers reaffirmed the need to use all relevant measures during the pandemic, including supporting ongoing consideration in WTO on a Covid-19 vaccine Intellectual Property Rights waiver and the use of flexibilities of the TRIPS agreement and the Doha Declaration on TRIPS Agreement and Public Health.

They also reiterated the need for sharing of vaccine doses, transfer of technology, development of local production capacities and supply chains for medical products, promotion of price transparency and called for exercise of due restraint in the implementation of measures that could hinder the flow of vaccines, health products and essential inputs, they added.

Namaste - from the BRICS. Concluded a productive Foreign Ministers Meeting. pic.twitter.com/f2Z7PgvNv6  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) June 1, 2021





BRICS Foreign Ministers issued a Joint Statement on Strengthening and Reforming the Multilateral System.



Joint Statement: https://t.co/OYtxMXHsCZ



Here are the highlights:  Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) June 1, 2021

The India-South Africa proposal of October 2020 says that the property rights such as patents, industrial designs, copyright and protection of undisclosed information delays the timely access to affordable vaccines and medicines that are essential to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The nations have also demanded the waiver to be practised for an unspecified time period allowing yearly review until its termination.

COVID-19 Vaccine Patent Waiver Won't Be Enough: WTO

Meanwhile, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on May 20 noted that waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines will not be enough to narrow the huge supply gap between rich and poor countries. South Africa and India have already submitted proposals on the WTOs Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) that would allow for a temporary waiver of certain aspects. While the WHO has noted that poorer countries have received just 17% of doses, US President Joe Biden last week said that he supported the waiver idea. However, the European Union and other developed country opponents said that it will not increase output.

IMAGE: Twitter/PTI
Kathmandu, Jun 2 (PTI) A new Constitutional Bench of Nepal's Supreme Court will be formed on June 6 to hear a bunch of petitions challenging the dissolution of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice announced on Wednesday after differences among justices delayed the crucial hearing.

Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Ranas announcement came as justices Deepak Kumar Karki and Anand Mohan Bhattarai on Wednesday opted out of the five-member Constitutional Bench, presided over by the Chief Justice and hearing the House dissolution case.

The two justices opted out after justices Tej Bahadur KC and Bam Kumar Shrestha refused to recuse themselves from the case, The Himalayan Times reported.

Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved the 275-member House of Representatives on May 22 for the second time in five months and announced snap elections on November 12 and November 19 on the advice of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, heading a minority government.

Earlier, the petitioners challenging the House dissolution case had demanded that justices KC and Shrestha recuse themselves from the case, citing conflict of interest.

Justice Shrestha was on the Supreme Court bench that nullified the unification of the CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist Centre and justice Tej Bahadur KC was on the apex bench that rejected the review petition challenging the decision nullifying the unification of the CPN-UML and the CPN-MC.

The petitioners argued that the nullification of the unification of the UML and the CPN-MC eventually led to the dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR).

Justices Tej Bahadur KC and Shrestha, however, responded that there was no meaningful link between Rishi Ram Kattel's case against Nepal Communist Party (NCP) (that led to the nullification of the unification of the UML and the CPN-MC) and the HoR dissolution case, the report said.

They argued that there was an established principle in the USA whereby judges recused themselves from cases in which they had economic interest or when there was a strong possibility that their decision would be biased, but that was unlikely in this case.

Earlier, when the HoR was dissolved for the first time on December 20, Justice Hari Krishna Karki recused himself from the HoR dissolution case after petitioners pointed out that he was appointed the attorney general by Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli-led government before being nominated as the Supreme Court justice.

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) office bearers, meanwhile, met Chief Justice Rana on Wednesday and urged him to appoint four senior-most justices to the Constitutional Bench headed by him to avoid any controversy, SCBA Chief Purna Man Shakya said.

The Supreme Court of Nepal on Tuesday agreed to form a Constitutional Bench on the basis of seniority of the judges.

The controversy over the recusal led to the postponement of the hearing on Monday. Thirteen justices who are on the roster for the Constitutional Bench dwelt on the recusal issue on Monday.

As many as 146 members of the dissolved HoR, including Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, who had staked a claim to form the new government under Article 76 (5) of the Constitution, have also filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking reinstatement of the House.

President Bhandari rejected the separate bids of both Prime Minister Oli and the Opposition alliance's claims to form a new government, saying the claims were insufficient. Earlier on December 20, the president dissolved Parliament and called snap polls on April 30 and May 10. However, two months later, Chief Justice Rana-led Constitutional Bench on February 23 overturned the decision and reinstated the House of Representatives.

Constitutional experts have criticised Oli and Bhandari for their complicity in trampling upon the Constitution.

Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20, last year after President Bhandari dissolved the House at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli, amidst a tussle for power within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

Oli's move to dissolve the House sparked protests from a large section of the NCP led by his rival Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'. PTI MRJ AKJ MRJ

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
A Rolls-Royce (RR) Phantom with an exotic cabin trim was confiscated Tuesday by Italian customs officers after it was found that the car was furnished with authentic leather from an endangered crocodile species. Imported for sale from Russia into Italy, the bespoke RR Phantom donned illegal modifications as it was on its way for a Rome-based dealership of exotic cars. The car was intercepted by Italian government agency Agenzia Dogane e Monopoli (ADM) after it was discovered that the luxury sedans cabin was upholstered with the exotic reptile skin and was en route to being sold elsewhere as it stationed at the Port of Livorno.

ADM officials from Livorno together with the CITES component of the #GdF seized an imported Rolls Royce car from Russia and destined for a company in Rome, the Italia customs said in an Instagram post. It added that the check revealed the cars internal upholstery including seats, armrests, and internal doors was "enriched" with crocodile leather inserts, belonging to the protected species Crocodylia, whose products are banned under the Washington International Convention.

"Any form of commercial use of the crocodile species is prohibited without the required authorizations, Italys ADM said. It continued, There are more and more seizures of goods and objects obtained with the use of protected or endangered species, a sign that the attention of ADM and GdF is always high for this type of crime.

20,000 ($24,417) penalty

The multilateral treaty of the Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) came into the effect in 1975. It was drafted to protect endangered plants and animals and it prohibits commercial use of skin and fur of those animals. The products manufactured out of crocodile or alligator leather require a CITES clearance certificate to be legally procured and sold across 160 countries, including Italy. As the RR Phantom importer had no such legal document to produce, the case was referred into the court of law and he may now be slapped with a lawsuit. Meanwhile, according to Italian media reports, the original owner of the luxury car may be able to take it back in without the illegal trim after paying a 20,000 penalty under the law.
Two ancient sandstone artefacts believed to have been stolen from Thailand during the Vietnam War were unveiled on May 31 at a Bangkok museum. According to Bangkok Post, a welcoming ceremony was held to mark the return of the two ancient hand-carved artefacts that were stolen decades ago and smuggled out of Thailand to the US. The ancient lintels were returned by the Fine Arts Department (FAD) on Friday and they were greeted with a fanfare of traditional dances and an elaborate worship ceremony.

As per the report, the two 680kg Khmer-style stone carvings had been on display at the Asian Arts Museum in San Francisco. The authorities were required to forfeit them when a settlement was reached in February between the US government and San Francisco officials. Thailand had informed the US back in 2017 that the artefacts, which date back to the 10th and 11th century, had been stolen.

During the ceremony in Bangkok, Thailands culture minister Itthiphol Kunplome said that today is the day they were finally returned to their home country and displayed here. Bangkok Post reported that the sandstone lintels are believed to have been removed from the structure of Prasat Khao Lon historical sanctuary in Sa Kaeo and Prasat Nong Hong in Buri Ram. Now, after examination, the two artefacts will be exhibited at the Bangkok National Museum near the Grand Palace for three months.

Return of antiquities hold 'great importance'

The Thai experts are expected to determine whether they can restore the artefacts to their original locations. Meanwhile, the Thai foreign ministry has said that the return of these antiquities holds great importance in terms of history, archaeology, and culture to the Thai government and the Thai people. The ministry added that it is believed that both f the sacred lintels were illegally exported" from Thailand around the 1960s during the Vietnam war.

It is worth noting that the case is viewed as setting a precedent for the return of other stolen artefacts. Tanongsak Hanwong, who located the artefacts and pushed for their return, said that this is a legal battle that has set an excellent example for the museums that still own Thai artefacts illegally because they know they will lose the case. Hanwong added that many museums have chosen to reach out to begin the return process instead of going into the legal process.

(Images: @Gee120/Twitter)
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday a mission has been sent by the Norwegian government to facilitate dialogue between his administration and different sectors of the opposition.

Maduro said he was willing to hold dialogue with the opposition provided his conditions are fulfilled, and added the final word should be decided by "popular vote."

Among Maduro's demands are that he be recognized as the legitimate president and for the opposition to call for the lifting of international sanctions.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has been wary of initiating a rapprochement with Maduro in the past, appeared to relent on May 11 and took the initiative to invoke dialogue.

That was the first time he has publicly indicated he was open to negotiating with the government, which he refers to as "the dictatorship."

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
UK will order more jabs from Oxfords AstraZeneca to combat the beta Variant B.1.351, first found in South Africa and boost vaccination drive. COVID-19 cases dipped by 4.3 percent compared with the previous seven days for the first time, and zero deaths were recorded across the country. However, as fears loomed that the new variants circulating might turn dominant, UK sought to ramp up vaccination by procuring extra doses of AstraZeneca shots.

Britain's Health ministry previously procured close to 100 million vaccine doses from AstraZenenca and has since administered 80 percent of the vaccines, with only 10 percent to 18 percent of its population relying on the domestic supply, according to multiple reports.

Earlier, in a move to stop "stigmatising" countries, the WHO changed the names of the SARS-CoV-2 variants. The variant found in India has been labelled Delta, the variant found in South Africa has been named Beta, and the variant found in Brazil has been named Gamma. Meanwhile, the Kent variant found in the UK was labelled as Alpha. The second variant that spread across the UK was the South Africa variant now referred to as B.1.351.

In April, Public Health England (PHE) in the UK had announced that there were "dozens" of Beta variant COVID-19 cases identified in Wandsworth and Lambeth, including the variant with a "double mutation first originated in India. The variant has been of particular concern as it was more virulent with two mutations in the spike protein. The UK classified it as the "variant under investigation. As recently, Britain witnessed a surge of the new cases mainly from variants that were detected in South Africa and India, the country scrambled to procure more jabs to speed up its inoculation process.

Indian scientist advises to halt reopening

In an advisory to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnsons administration, an Indian-origin scientist cautioned that the UK is in the early stages of the third wave of coronavirus and must halt reopening. Professor Ravi Gupta, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) advised the British Prime Minister to postpone his June 21 plans of lifting restrictions amid the imminent threat of the fresh outbreak. Gupta had earlier warned the UK that the vaccines might infuse a false sense of security as people let the guards down in wake of new variants spread.

The University of Cambridge academician told UK broadcasters that the UK government must postpone all COVID reopening measures for June 21 by a few weeks due to exponential growth in coronavirus cases of the variant of concerns that first originated in India. Boris Johnson's Tory government has been facing mounting pressure to reconsider the roadmap to reopening on the June 21 date, which seeks to relax the most restrictive measures in place across England.
The daughter-in-law of a politically influential British magnate has been charged in Belize with manslaughter by negligence in the shooting death of a police superintendent. Jasmine Hartin was being held following the discovery of the body of police Superintendent Henry Jemmott on a dock in San Pedro early Friday.

Hartin's Lawyer, Godfrey Smith, said on Monday that she was charged with manslaughter by negligence, and bailed was denied. Smith said Hartin's lawyers would have a statement Tuesday. Hartin is the partner of Andrew Ashcroft, son of Michael Ashcroft, a former deputy chairman of Britain's Conservative Party, and a major financial backer. He also holds Belizean citizenship and was once its representative before the United Nations.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
One day after Britain said it will make it easier for Afghans who worked with British troops to settle in the U.K. amid rising fears for their safety, the Pentagon said it is working with other U.S. agencies to "come up with the best possible solutions."

"Everybody has a sense of urgency," said Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby.

"We know we have a special obligation to these individuals. We know the risks that they took on our behalf and are still taking on our behalf," Kirby said.

"And we're going to work inside an interagency process to meet those obligations."

More than 1,400 Afghan interpreters and their relatives have already moved to Britain under a resettlement scheme. The government says about 3,000 more are expected to come under new rules which broaden eligibility and make it easier for people to bring their families with them.

The U.S is wrapping up its longest war by withdrawing the last of its 2,500 - 3,500 troops along with 7,000 allied NATO forces.

Kirby also looked ahead to a meeting later in the week between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he's prepared to risk tension with the U.S. if that is what it takes to neutralize Iran's nuclear capabilities.

Netanyahu said Israel's biggest threat remains the possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran. He said Israel is prepared to prevent that from happening even if the United States and other nations succeed in reinstating the 2015 Iran nuclear accord.

"I think it's safe to expect that among the things they will talk about are regional security issues and clearly we have every expectation that Iran and their malign behavior in the region will certainly come up," Kirby said.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
MANZINI  About 30 protesters braved the rain yesterday and delivered a petition to their Member of Parliament (MP) at Manzini North Constituency, where they said 2023 would be the year to air their views.

The protesters were led by Lucky Dlamini. Among them was political activist Mphandlana Shongwe. 2023 is when the kingdom will hold its elections. Undeterred by the drizzle, the protesters sang political songs, while dancing along the road leading to the constituency centre. They carried placards stating that unemployment was a disaster while their banner was inscribed We want jobs now. In their build-up to the delivery of the petition, the marchers took a swipe at the police as they sang a song insinuating that the police were shooting at them with guns bought with their tax.

Locked

The protesters found the gate locked at the constituency centre with law enforcers from the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) and His Majestys Correctional Services (HMCS) deployed there. The law enforcers had been given an instruction by their superiors who were heard shouting that no person should be allowed entry into the constituency centre. This did not deter the protesters as they sang and danced at the gate before calling upon the police officers to convey to their MP, Macford Sibandze, that they wanted to hand him their petition. An officer hastened to call upon the legislator who approached the gate with the constituency headman  Fana Tsabedze. Upon their arrival, the concerned citizen leader relayed to the legislator that when people came to the constituency centre to raise their concerns, it did not mean that he they should shy from them and hide beneath tables.

Dlamini said the delivery of the concerns meant that the electorate was there and taking note of events that were unfolding before them. He claimed the system (Tinkhundla System of Governance) had made people fear to critique others, instead to assume a position of being friends with everybody and, hence failed to raise concerns. When we are friends, we then lack the guts to tell each other when one is messing up, Dlamini said.

Interests

He informed Sibandze that as long as they were politicians, their interests should be for the people they represented, not on what they could benefit from it. He said the people who were delivering the petition were from the communities that made up Manzini North Constituency.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Costa Rica Tuesday and held bilateral discussions with President Carlos Alvarado Quesada. Speaking at a news conference after their meeting, Blinken stated the United States is preparing a 4 billion US dollar regional aid package to help meet the challenges of "irregular migration."

During their joint news conference in San Jose, Blinken also touched on democracy and human rights. "Democracy and human rights are being undermined in many parts of the region. We see this in the erosion of judicial independence, the crackdown on independent media and NGOs, the barring of political opponents, and the quashing of anti-corruption efforts," he said.

"We understand how fragile democracy is. We've experienced setbacks in our own country in recent years."

Blinken is in Costa Rica Tuesday and Wednesday prior to the U.S. Vice President, Kamala Harris' trip to the region, scheduled for the end of this week. On his first visit to Central America as US Secretary of State, Blinken was also expected to discuss regional human rights issues with his counterparts from Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
The White House says it is offering assistance to the world's largest meat processing company, JBS, after a cyberattack crippled the Australian-based company.

JBS USA said in a statement Monday that it was the target on Sunday of an organized cybersecurity attack affecting some of its servers supporting its North American and Australian IT systems.

White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during an in-air gaggle Tuesday aboard Air Force One that the White House and the Department of Agriculture have spoken to JBS leadership "several times in the last day" to offer support.

She said "JBS notified the administration that the ransom demand came from a criminal organization likely based in Russia."

Jean-Pierre said the administration is "engaging directly with the Russian government on this matter and delivering the message that responsible states do not harbor ransomware criminals."

Still, she said the latest attack will not affect the face-to-face meeting between Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin later this month, which Jean-Pierre called "a vital part of defending America's interests."

"Hearing directly from President Putin is the most effective way to understand Russia plans and intends," she said.

Asked about reports that the United States evesdropped from Denmark on leading politicians and senior officials in Europe, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, from 2012-2014, Jean-Pierre said only that the administration "will work with our European allies and partners to address any questions through the appropriate national security channels."

Danish broadcaster DR reported that a probe with the Danish military intelligence agency into the the National Security Agencys surveillance from Denmark during the years 2012 and 2014 show that NSA eavesdropped on political leaders and officials in Germany, France, Sweden and Norway.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email please call (208) 542-6777 for help.



We get it. You don't want to see the ads.

We'd just ask you to understand that those ads help us pay the bills  and our reporters. Please, consider white-listing the Standard Journal in your ad-blocker or, even better, purchase a subscription so that you can help support quality local journalism.
Authorities in the southwestern province of Sichuan are holding prominent rights activist Huang Xiaomin under criminal detention for "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," a charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).



Huang was detained on by police in his hometown, the provincial capital Chengdu, his friends said.



"I heard from a friend he called using the police phone that he had been detained, and that this time he was looking at a sentence of more than three years in prison," a friend of Huang's who gave only a surname Li told RFA on .



"What he did for them to detain him isn't clear yet," Li said. "We don't understand it."



Li said Huang had been writing about vulnerable groups of people fighting for their rights on Mala -- an online forum on Sichuan-related matters.



Huang is a former teacher at a bingtuan CCP party school near Kashgar, in the northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).



He took part in the student-led pro-democracy movement that ended in the massacre of unarmed civilians by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on , 1989.



In 2019, the Jinniu District People's Court in Chengdu handed down a two-and-a-half year jail term Huang for supporting a call for direct elections to choose the leader of the CCP.



Huang pleaded guilty to "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," a charged based on interviews given by Huang to foreign media organizations including RFA, in which he allegedly "attacked the government."



He was earlier sentenced in 2010 by Sichuan's Leshan County People's Court to two years and six months in jail for "gathering a crowd to disrupt social order" for taking part in a street protest outside a court in .



Another friend of Huang's, Feng Gang, said his most recent detention was likely linked to his advocacy work for disadvantaged groups in Chengdu.



"He helped local human rights defenders and posted details of their cases online, especially to overseas websites, including Twitter and Facebook," Feng told RFA. "He also exposed local corruption and ... criticised the political and legal system."



He received a visit from local police after he gave an interview to RFA in about CCP leader Xi Jinping's claim to have eliminated poverty in China.



"Huang has been a thorn in the sides of the local police in Chengdu," Feng said. "He has been detained around the 32nd anniversary of the crackdown, and ahead of the CCP centenary [on ], as part of the local stability maintenance plan."



Huang is also a member of the Independent Chinese PEN Association and one of the conveners of the Sichuan Pan-Blue Alliance, which is politically aligned with Taiwan's opposition Kuomintang (KMT).



Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Three Chinese naval ships took part in the operation to lift the submarine, which was found broken in three pieces 2,749 feet down in the Bali Sea.

A naval officer throws a wreath of flowers into the sea during a remembrance ceremony for the 53 crew members of the Indonesian navy submarine KRI Nanggala, who died when it sank during a training exercise off the coast of Bali, April 30, 2021.

Indonesia has ended a month-long effort to salvage a submarine that sank near Bali in April with 53 sailors on board, as officials said Wednesday that the difficulty and risk involved in bringing the broken vessel to the surface was too great.

Three Chinese naval ships were involved in the operation to salvage the KRI Nanggala-402, which was found broken into three pieces at a depth of 838 meters (2,749 feet) in the Bali Sea. One of the ships was able to recover a pair of life rafts that belonged to the doomed submarine, officials said.

The salvage operation has ended. Three Chinese Navy ships have also left Bali waters, Indonesian Navy spokesman First Adm. Julius Widjojono told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

The risk and difficulty levels are very high, he said, citing the steep seabed slopes and underwater waves as among the dangers.

The German-made KRI Nanggala-402 was taking part in a torpedo-firing exercise off the northern coast of Bali Island when it lost contact after it dove as it was about to receive clearance to fire on April 21, officials said.

All 53 crew members are presumed dead, and not a single body has been found.

The Indonesian Navy called the salvage operation successful, in a statement posted its website.

During the month-long salvage attempts, teams conducted 20 dives and managed to lift important objects and items, it said, without providing details.

A former commander of the Nanggala-402 said last month that a powerful underwater current, known as an oceanic nonlinear internal solitary wave, might have dragged the submarine down and caused it to sink.

The submarine, which weighed up to 1,395 tons and measured 59.5 meters (195 feet) long, was found broken apart on the seabed on April 25, culminating an earlier search effort that involved ships and aircraft from Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States.

A military officer displays a life jacket found in the waters during a search for the Indonesian Navy submarine KRI Nanggala, at Ngurah Rai Military Air Base in Bali, Indonesia, April 25, 2021. [AP]

The Indonesian Navy thanked the Chinese military for taking part in the salvage operation.

We would like to express our highest gratitude to the crews of the ships that were involved in the salvage mission and apologize for any inconveniences during the operation, the navy said in a statement.

During the salvage operation, the Chinese crew tried to gather as much documentation as possible in the form of photos and videos, said Chinas defense attache to Indonesia, Senior Col. Chen Yongjing.

This is concrete proof of humanitarian rescue activities carried out with the Indonesian Navy, Chen said in a statement released by the Indonesian Navy on Wednesday.

This activity is a milestone in the development of a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two navies.

More submarines needed

Meanwhile, Julius Widjojono, the Indonesian navys spokesman, confirmed to BenarNews a plan to acquire additional submarines, but said the final decision rested with the defense ministry.

In May, the House of Representatives defense committee revealed a strategic plan to procure eight to 10 submarines for the navy by 2029. With the loss of the KRI Nanggala-402, Indonesia has four submarines left in its naval fleet.

How many submarines does Singapore, a small country, have? We, as the largest archipelagic nation, had only two at one point, Julius told BenarNews, referring to a time when three of the militarys submarines were out of service.

Indonesia has also cooperated with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, a South Korean firm, to build submarines. The KRI Alugoro-405, one of three Indonesian submarines ordered from Daewoo, is the first to be partly assembled locally.

The KRI Nanggala-402 was built by German company Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in 1977 and came into service in 1981, the Indonesian military had said. From 2009 to 2012, the submarine was retrofitted by Daewoo, officials had said.

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
Tang Jitian's 25-year-old daughter is in an ICU with complications from tuberculosis.

Chinese rights lawyer Tang Jitian is shown at the Fuzhou Changle International Airport, where he was prevented from boarding a flight to Japan, June 2, 2021.

Authorities in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian have prevented a prominent rights attorney from boarding a plane to Japan to visit his daughter, who is seriously ill with tuberculosis.

Tang Jitian was prevented from boarding the flight by security guards at Fuzhou Changle International Airport on Wednesday, who tore up his boarding pass.

Tang's daughter, who lives in Japan, is currently critically ill with tuberculosis, but Tang has been prevented from visiting her, he told RFA.

Tang said he had checked his luggage for the flight at around 8:30 a.m., before heading through security.

"When I arrived at Border Inspection Window No. 8, a police [officer] checked my passport and swiped it," Tang said. "Then [another] policeman came over to check my documents again."

"After that, several more police officers were called and they took me to an interrogation room inside the immigration checkpoint," he said.

Tang was told he wouldn't be allowed to leave China, despite his family circumstances.

"They told me verbally that, in accordance with Article 12, Sec. 5 of China's Entry and Exit Administration Law, I wasn't allowed to leave the country, because I would 'endanger national security'," he said.



"They told me this was on the orders of the Beijing municipal public security bureau, but they refused to tell me the names and contact details of the individuals [who had ordered the travel ban]," he said. "They said they were only carrying out the tasks assigned to them."

"By that time, there were more and more uniformed police gathering in the area, so I just left," Tang said. "They threw my boarding pass into the trash."

Tang's daughter was admitted to hospital on April 30 after she developed hydrocephalus as a complication of tuberculosis, putting her brain stem under pressure. She is currently on a ventilator with a tracheostomy.

The hydrocephalus is compressing her nerves, and this also affect her mobility, he has previously said. She also has hydrocardia.

"I always felt that I didn't do enough for her when she was growing up," Tang said. "Now I can't be at her side to support her at this time of crisis, when she is seriously ill."

"I feel awful about that. She just had her 25th birthday."



Reported by Xiaoshan Huang and Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin and Cantonese Services. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
An ethnic Hmong woman and two children are seen on a coffee plantation in Houaphanh province, eastern Laos, June 27, 2018.

Child labor remains widespread in Laos, particularly in ethnic minority communities in rural areas where minors forego schooling to perform agricultural work or stay at home taking care of younger siblings while their parents work on farms, undermining efforts to educate impoverished children, provincial teachers and education officials said Wednesday.

The International Labour Organization (ILO), the U.N. agency that deals with work-related issues, will mark World Day Against Child Labor on June 12, focusing on the elimination of child labor and taking place amid the COVID-19 crisis, which the ILO says has threatened to reverse years of progress in tackling the problem.

The communist countrys amended Labor Law of 2007 prohibits the employment of children under 14 years of age and bans the involvement of children under 18 years old in sectors that are dangerous to their health, such as mining, the production of chemicals or toxic substances, work involving gambling or alcohol, and overtime work. The law also limits the work hours for children ages 14 to 18 to eight hours per day and prohibits night work for those under 18 years of age.

In Save the Childrens 2021 Global Childhood Report, Laos ranked 143 of 186 countries on an index reflecting countries' average levels of performance across a set of eight indicators related to child health, education, labor, marriage, childbirth, and violence.

The report found that 28.2 percent of children aged five to 17 performed labor in 2015-2020, while 23.2 percent of primary and secondary school-age children were out of school in 2015-2019.

Parents do not understand that education is important for their children, said a teacher from a primary school in Borikhamxay province who declined to provide her name.

Her students between the ages of 10 and 12 and who are from ethnic minority families quit school to help their parents work on farms or care for their younger brothers and sisters at home while their parents work during the day, she told RFAs Lao Service.

They just tell us that they want to take their children out of school for two to three days a week to take care for their younger brothers or sisters at home while the parents go to work at the fields.

If the educators refuse to allow the absences, parents will take their children out of school, she said, adding that some students in primary school levels four and five already had left school.

Driven by poverty

Some schools allow the students to bring their younger siblings with them to class and educators are willing to help take care of them, though parents remain opposed and insist that the students care for their brothers and sisters at home, the teacher said.

Students ages 10 to 12 from rural areas often quit school to perform these functions, only attending classes two or three days a week, said an official from the Education Department in Sekong province.

Students in primary school levels four and five on up quit school mostly to work on farms with their parents, take care of younger brothers or sisters at home, and collect wood in the forest to burn for fire, even though the schools do not allow this, he said.

Laos has 49 recognized ethnic minorities, with about 24 percent of the countrys population Mon-Khmer and 10 percent from the Hmong group, who also inhabit neighboring China, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Ethnic minority students from ages 11 and 12 tend to leave school because their families are poor and they must help their parents make ends meet, said another teacher from Samouy district in Saravane province.

Some students are forced by their parents to leave school and get married at a young age to add another pair of hands for farm work, he said.

Child labor mostly comes from students whose families are poor and dont have money to send their children to school, so they make them quit and then find a job or work at the farm with their parents, while some are forced to marry, he said.

School authorities try to help the students cope with juggling their studies and family obligations, but most parents insist that their children stop attending class and perform physical labor because of the poverty they face, he added.

Impact of the COVID-19 crisis

A child labor survey conducted in 2010 by the Lao government with support from the ILO found that 178,000 children  about 96,000 girls and 81,000 boys  were considered to be engaged in child labor in Laos, with two out of every three involved in hazardous work such as working on construction sites or in dangerous factories.

The majority of child labor occurred in rural areas, and about 90 percent of all child laborers worked in agriculture, forestry, or fishing, according to the surveys findings. Seven out of 10 worked more than 49 hours per week.

When schools in Laos shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic, students assisted parents working on farms because they did not have access to the internet at home to continue their studies, said an education official from Phin district in Savannakhet province.

Some adults told their children to not go to schools when facilities reopened so they could continue to help with farm work, he said.

They went with their parents to work at the farms during the COVID-19 outbreak, but some quit schools to help parents work at the farms or take care younger brothers or sisters at home while their parents worked on the farms, he said.

Child labor is a challenging problem in the landlocked Southeast Asian country with 7.3 million people because of poverty and the belief among rural parents that education is not as important as working in the fields to generate income, said an official from an association that helps impoverished children.

We tried to help them in terms of changing their mindset, but the problem still persists and nothing has changed, she said.

The association official, who declined to be named, suggested that the government come up with a plan or policy to stimulate parents interest in keeping their children in school, so that adults understand that an educated workforce will boost economic development in rural areas and reduce the problem of child labor in Laos.

Laos celebrated Childrens Day on June 1, a date on which most communist and post-communist countries have commemorated minors since 1950.

The country ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children, including articles on the right to education and the right to protection from economic exploitation.

Reported by RFAs Lao Service. Translated by Sidney Khotpanya. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
'There is no time to waste,' American Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman says.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi (left) meets her Association of Southeast Asian Nations counterparts ahead of an ASEAN summit on the Myanmar crisis, in Jakarta, April 23, 2021

ASEAN should speed up diplomatic efforts on Myanmar, top U.S. and Indonesian diplomats said Wednesday amid indications that some officials from the Southeast Asian bloc may travel to the strife-torn country this week.

Wendy Sherman, Americas second-highest ranking diplomat, said action by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was urgently needed to deal with the crisis in Myanmar, where the military has unleashed violence on pro-democracy protesters after it toppled an elected government four months ago.

We know that ASEAN is consulting with all in the region as wanting to be successful in the narrative and engagement. They should be in contact with the military leaders in Burma as well as all democratic parties in Burma. We hope that happens as soon as possible, Sherman, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, told reporters in Bangkok.

There is no time to waste, as we all see the humanitarian crisis for the people in Burma, she said at the end of a tour of three Southeast Asian countries  Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand.

During Shermans meetings in Bangkok on Wednesday, the issue of Myanmar came up during her meetings with Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai that touched on a range of bilateral topics, according to the U.S. embassy and Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

While in Bangkok, Sherman also met with representatives of international and non-governmental organizations to discuss humanitarian assistance for people displaced by the post-coup violence in Myanmar, the embassy said in a statement.

As she did in meetings with the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, the Deputy Secretary affirmed the United States call for an end to violence and an immediate return to democracy for the people of Burma at each of her meetings in Bangkok, according to the embassy.

In Jakarta on Wednesday, the top diplomat of ASEAN founding member-state Indonesia said the bloc needed to appoint an envoy to Myanmar quickly to begin implementing a five-point consensus, which leaders of the 10-nation association had reached at a special summit in late April.

The appointment of a special envoy must be immediately made and communication among all parties must start, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told reporters after she met with European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell in Jakarta.

In April, ASEAN leaders agreed to this consensus on Myanmar that, among other things, called for an envoy of the bloc to be sent to the troubled country. But more than a month later, ASEAN has made no visible progress in naming an envoy.

Myanmars military government also has ignored the consensus that it was a party to when Naypyidaws junta chief attended the summit in Jakarta.

The April 24 meeting did not include representatives from the parallel civilian government in Myanmar or any lawmakers from the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government, an omission that human rights slammed.

It is essential that ASEAN representatives meet with civil-society leaders in Myanmar, if a delegation from the bloc visits that country this week, as some news reports indicated, a group of Southeast Asian MPs said.

If ASEAN only meets with the military it risks, once again, playing into the juntas public relations exercise and granting them legitimacy, when all they deserve is admonition, Charles Santiago, a Malaysian lawmaker and chair of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, said in a statement Tuesday.

More than 800 civilians have been killed by military and police in Myanmar during the near-daily anti-junta protests since the Feb. 1 coup, according to rights groups.

Earlier this week, Sherman held talks with Retno and ASEAN officials in Jakarta and supported ASEANs five-point consensus. The EUs foreign affairs chief, Borrell, also told Indonesia on Wednesday that the European bloc backed ASEANs efforts.

I am very sorry that the situation there is not resolved, but if someone can help it is ASEAN, and within ASEAN there is Indonesia, Borrell said.

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
Some have had to sell their camera equipment to make ends meet, but they say they wont abandon their profession entirely.

Myanmars military junta has shut down several independent media outlets and arrested more than 80 journalists since seizing power from the elected government four months ago, stifling press freedom and the flow of information in the aftermath of the coup.

At least 45 of the arrested journalists are in prison, most of them charged with violating Section 505(a) of Myanmars Penal Code, which pertains to the circulation of statements, rumors, or reports with the intent to cause military officers to disregard or fail in their duties. Violators can receive a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

Following the coup, many media outlets have been shut down, and journalists have been arrested, said one reporter who declined to be named for safety reasons. We, the freelance journalists, have had to stop working. It has been two months now.

Other journalists say they are trying to avoid arrest, while others who now are unemployed say they are having difficulty making ends meet and keeping a roof over their heads.

I have been out of work since Feb. 1 and am still unemployed, said a former Yangon-based TV reporter who did not want to provide his name. Its hard to find another job  not only me. Many other reporters like me are currently trying to find any kind of job we can.

A video reporter said he used to submit reports to independent media outlets Mizzima, 7Day News, and Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), but he became unemployed with no income after the military regime shut them down.

In early March, the military regime officially banned the outlets along with Myanmar Now and Khit Thit Media from publishing, broadcasting, and transmitting messages via social media.

Security forces also raided the offices of Mizzima, Myanmar Now, Khit Thit Media, and Kamayut Media, confiscating computers and office equipment.

Besides the mandated shutdowns, the Standard Time Daily, Myanmars last independent daily newspaper, stopped publishing in mid-March, citing difficulties in getting news stories during the martial-law period and concerns over the safety of its reporters.

A freelance journalist who declined to be named complained of the dearth of jobs available.

We freelancers had no regular salaries and had to rely on our reports [for income], but now we have a bigger problem, he said. Now, even though we have college degrees we cannot find jobs. We started our lives in journalism, and now there are no journalism jobs.

Some journalists have resorted to selling cameras and other equipment to earn money for food and rent, while others have abandoned the profession and started selling food online. Some female former reporters and editors have taken up jobs as textile factory workers.

Some of us who have some money have gone into the food sector, preparing dishes and selling them online, said another freelance journalist. Some who have help from family members and relatives have opened small grocery stores.

Some female reporters have started to work in garment factories but they do not have any long-term security in this, he added. As for me, I had to sell my beloved cameras and PCs for money for food and rent.

Sleepless nights

A Yangon-based TV reporter expressed hope that the employment situation would improve for journalists once attacks by security forces on peaceful protesters, other civilians, and ethnic minorities, died down, though there are no signs that that will occur soon.

I dont have any plans at the moment, he said. I think I will just lie low for a while because it will get better when the situation calms down a little bit."

As of Tuesday, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Thailand-based monitoring group, reported that 841 people had died since the coup and 4,443 were still being detained.

Another TV reporter expressed concern over the erosion of press freedom under the State Administration Council, the formal name of the military government.

Its clear that we have to stand up for the freedom of the press, he said. That is the only help we need, not temporary monetary support. I often have sleepless nights thinking about what to do in the long run.

Most journalists said they would not abandon their profession completely no matter how repressive the junta is.

After this period, after changes, there will be opportunities for the media, and I will start all over again, said a freelance journalist who requested anonymity for safety reasons. Its not just me. My friends will also do that.

He went on to say that some of his colleagues have created web pages so they can continue reporting on their own.

As journalists, we will work for the development of the media sector no matter how oppressive and repressive they are, he added.

Another journalist who declined to be named pledged not to give up.

I will write for the rest of my life, he said. When the news platforms reopen, we will write news stories again. My friends, though they are looking for other jobs, are also going to write as soon as they get a chance.

Even before coup, Myanmar slipped one place to 140 on Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2021 World Press Freedom Index, which evaluates the press freedom situation in 180 countries and territories.

Many reforms, including the end of media censorship, adopted in the years following 2011 after a former military junta was disbanded, saw Myanmar rise 20 places in the World Press Freedom Index between 2013 and 2017.

The coup detat of 1 February 2021 brought that fragile progress to an abrupt end and set Myanmars journalists back 10 years, RSF said. They again face systematic arrest campaigns and censorship, and many will resign themselves to working clandestinely in order to be free to report what is happening and to evade the police.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
The fighting comes as the militarys power grab has left a nationwide ceasefire more strained than ever.

Fresh clashes between the military and a local militia in Myanmars Kayah state have left at least two dead and half a dozen wounded, prompting yet another wave of refugees, sources said, as aid workers clocked the number of displaced people in the region at 100,000 since fighting broke out a week ago.

Four months after the military seized power from Myanmars democratically elected government in a Feb. 1 coup, angry residents in Kayah state organized into the Karenni Peoples Defense Force (KPDF).

Fighting between the KPDF and the juntas security forces began on May 22 in Demoso, when the KPDF killed three police officers and occupied security posts in the region.

Since then, Kayah state has recorded nearly daily clashes and, on Monday, the KPDF other PDF groups from around the region joined forces as the Karenni National Defense Army (KNDF) to coordinate a campaign against the military.

A member of the KPDF, who spoke to RFAs Myanmar Service on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, said a fellow militia member and a civilian were killed in the latest round of fighting on Monday, and that at least six people were wounded.

We [now] have KNDF forces stationed in Demoso, the source said.

It started just after 1:00 a.m.  and it didnt stop until about 6:00 p.m. On our side, one KNDF member and a villager who came along with us were killed and two others were wounded. Six in total are wounded, he added.

We just have to defend ourselves with whatever small weapons we have.

A statement issued by the KPDF on Monday claimed that the military had used jet fighters to bomb the area prior to the shelling because they have lost up to 80 people in clashes with the resistance so far and were seeking to limit casualties.

Gen. Zaw Min Tun, Deputy Information Minister for the military junta, could not be reached for comment on the reports of fighting in Kayah state.

Speaking to RFA on Monday, a resident of the Kayah state capital Loikaw said the military had fired eight to 10 rockets and mortars into the Demoso area from a position in the nearby mountains. The source, who also declined to provide their name, confirmed that the shelling took place following a military bombing run.

Demoso is just a small town and they shelled us every few minutes, the resident said.

Most people have fled and only a handful remain. Its not easy to get food and what is worse is we have very little drinking water in the surrounding jungle. It's hard. We have health problems and its very difficult for the children.

Civilian toll from fighting

According to the KNDF, a total of 31 civilians have been killed in the two-and-a-half months between March 19 and May 31, although the group did not specify whether that number included militia members.

The KDNF and aid workers now estimate that clashes between the military and local militias have prompted some 100,000 people to flee the Demoso and Loikaw areas in May alone.

From Kwai Ngan village to Lego village, they are living in small tents [in makeshift camps in the jungle]. There are hundreds of people with dysentery and diarrhea in the jungle to the south. Two of our medics have been sent there, one aid worker told RFA.

Now there are about 100,000 people who have fled the Demoso and Loikaw areas. There are still many coming.

The aid worker said there is a shortage of drinking water in the camps and that only around three days supply of medicine and food remain.

Amid the difficulties aid workers face in providing necessities to those displaced by the fighting, the military has shut down the main routes into Kayah state as part of a bid to cut off supplies to the regions militia groups, sources said, only recently reopening the Taungoo-Kayah road from nearby Bago region under tight security.

Meanwhile, sources told RFA, the military has stepped up its offensive in the state, with reports that its No. 427 and 102 artillery units from Loikaw on Monday fired more than 40 shells south of Kyauk Swei Hill between the areas Dawt Ngan Khar and Kone Thar villages.

Ceasefire, peace talks tenuous under junta

As tensions ratchet up in Kayah state, the 10 rebel groups that signed a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with two of Myanmars civilian governments beginning in 2015 suggested Tuesday that the deal remains in place, despite an already flailing peace process that was all but destroyed by the unpopular juntas coup in February.

However, representatives from the 10 ethnic armies stressed that while they hope to honor the NCA, which was inked in the presence of international observers and Myanmars highest legislature, they will not pursue peace talks with the military, which they view as having stolen power from the countrys democratically elected government.

Khun Myint Tun, vice-chairman of the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO), called the coup a complete violation of the NCA that had directly led to the suspension of talks by the Peace Process Steering Team (PPST), comprised of the leaders of the 10 NCA signatories.

As PPST peace leaders  we strongly oppose the use of force by the military council to resolve political issues, he said, referring to the State Administrative Council (SAC), the juntas formal name.

The reason we are objecting is that the essence of the NCA is to resolve political issues peacefully without resorting to force.

While talks with the military are on hold, the members of the PPST are holding discussions over whether the NCA should remain in effect. The PNLO and Karen National Union (KNU) have voiced support for the agreement, saying it is the best way to ensure peace and a basis for further talks. However, some groups have given safe haven to protesters and have been courted by the National Unity Government (NUG), the parallel government formed by ousted civilian leaders.

The military appears to consider the NCA to be set in stone, unilaterally issuing an announcement on May 30 that the ceasefire had been extended for a month and calling on signatories to continue peace talks. Official talks at the national level were suspended in 2018, but have continued informally and with little progress.

The junta is our enemy

Pado Saw Taw Ni, the KNUs head of foreign affairs, told RFA the military had dumped the NCA into a ditch when it orchestrated Februarys power grab, although he acknowledged that his organization intends to pursue the peace process.

Its despicablewe cannot accept the coup at all, he said, comparing the militarys actions to those of imperial Japan when it occupied Myanmar during World War II.

Regarding the NCA, it is still legitimate in the peace process. It was signed in front of the international community and was ratified by parliament  But since the coup, we cannot face each other. The junta is our enemy.

Salai Lian Hmung Sakhon, who signed the NCA as a leader of the Chin National Front (CNF) and is currently the Federal Minister for National Unity for the NUG, said that since the military seized power, both the NCA and the  constitution have collapsed.

He likened continuing talks in accordance with NCA principles to reviving the dead and called for a brand new federal democratic constitution  to guarantee the future of the Union, freedom and equality for the people.

Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun, the militarys Deputy Minister of Information, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
MBABANE  The Acting Prime Minister Themba Masuku has deactivated his Facebook account following harassment directed to him by some users.

This comes after Masuku responded on the issue raised by the three Members of Parliament (MPs) advocating for change; Siphofaneni MP Mduduzi Gawuzela Simelane, Hosea MP Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Ngwempisi MP Mthandeni Dube. Siphofaneni MP Simelane clarified in the Times of Eswatini SUNDAY publication that they were not against the King or the Tinkhundla System of Governance. Simelane said they were advocating for change in the manner the PM was chosen. Masukus number was then posted on social media where users were invited to call him and seek clarity on what he really meant when he said emaSwati were happy with the King appointing a PM. They stated that the Constitution should be amended as they were not in agreement with it.

Explaining, Masuku said he would no longer use social media as there were a number of people who were wasting time there. He stated that he thought social media was meant to educate people but realised it was madness. Some of the people using social media are suffering from a brain disorder of some sort. He said insulting someone because you do not agree with their opinion or beliefs was a mental disorder of some sort. The acting PM said he had been receiving messages and calls from some locals and South African numbers. They can insult me all day long but I will remain who I am and will not change, Masuku said. He stated that his number was issued by the very same people who were elected through the Tinkhundla System of governance. Masuku said some people who were using social media to bully others were compromising those who used it to get genuine help. He said some people who wanted help used the social media tool.

Rift

Meanwhile, he said the rift between himself and social media users was a result of his position where he tried to educate the MPs on what was contained in the countrys Constitution on Section 67 under the appointment of the PM and ministers. He said it was hypocrisy to state that you liked Tinkhundla system and at the same time claiming that you were for another form of democracy. Masuku said he stood by his word that the PM was appointed by the King, which should be respected. He said this was also backed up by the Constitution on Section 67 (1) which reads; The King shall appoint the PM from among members of the House acting on recommendation of the kings Advisory Council. Masuku said it was only a fool who would insult him for something which was written in black and white in the Constitution.
Residents of Matoe county have been barred from posting reports on deaths or damage from the May 22 quake, a Tibetan source says.

An earthquake in a Tibetan-populated county of northwest Chinas Qinghai province has killed at least 20 people and injured more than 300, although authorities have yet to confirm any deaths and are blocking information flows from the region, Tibetan sources say.

The 7.3 magnitude quake struck Qinghais Matoe (in Chinese, Maduo) county on May 22, the China Earthquake Networks Center said, with official sources reporting livestock deaths and minor property damage, but saying only that 19 people had been injured in the jolt.

At least 20 persons were killed, and more than 300 others were injured, though, with 13 reported missing, a source in the region told RFAs Tibetan Service this week.

Local authorities have promised compensation of 50,000 yuan (U.S. $7,840) to the families of victims, still unacknowledged in Chinese media reports, killed in the quake, RFAs source said.

Tibetan residents of Matoe, a county in Qinghais Golog (Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, have been barred from posting reports online concerning deaths or damage from the May 22 quake, the source said.

Any information about deaths or injuries occurring in the jolt must be reported to Chinese authorities rather than being shared online, he said.

Reports of the numbers of persons killed and injured in Matoe could not be independently confirmed.

The Matoe earthquake followed a 6.4 magnitude quake earlier that same day in the Yangbi Yi Autonomous County of southwestern Chinas Yunnan province that left at least three dead and 32 injured, the official China Daily reported on May 24.

Reported by Sangyal Kunchok for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Tashi Wangchuk. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Dang Hoang Minh is the latest to be jailed for writings 'opposing the State' under Article 117 of Vietnam's Penal Code.

Dang Hoang Minh is shown at his trial in the Hau Giang People's Court, June 2, 2021.

A court in southern Vietnams southern Hau Giang province on Wednesday sentenced a Facebook user to seven years in prison for posting writings said by prosecutors to have misrepresented state policies, Vietnamese sources said.

Dang Hoang Minh, 28, had been charged with creating, storing, and disseminating information, items, and materials opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam under Article 117 of Vietnams 2015 Criminal Code, state media reports said.

Reports by local media did not say when Minha resident of the Phu Khoi hamlet in Hau Giangs Phung Hiep districthad been arrested or whether he had been represented by a lawyer at his trial.

Citing the provincial Peoples Procuracy indictment against him, state media said Minh had posted several untrue stories concerning current and former leaders of Vietnams one-party communist government on his Facebook page from June to December 2020.

Former Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, founder of the countrys communist party, was among the leaders Minh had defamed, prosecutors said, adding that Minhs postings had been aimed at opposing the national government and ruling party and had caused confusion and anxiety to his readers.

Reporting by RFA shows that at least 21 Vietnamese citizens have been charged with political offenses involving social media posts since the beginning of the year, with 21 now serving prison terms following convictions under Article 117.

Among those jailed this year, former RFA blogger Nguyen Tuong Thuy, now in his 70s, was sentenced on Jan. 5 by a court in Ho Chi Minh City to an 11-year prison term following his conviction on charges under Article 117.

On Friday, April 23, a court in coastal Phu Yen province sentenced an independent journalist, Tran Thi Tuyet Dieu, to an eight-year prison term for writing anti-state stories and sharing them on social media.

And on May 5, a court in northern Vietnams Hoa Binh province sentenced land-rights activist Can Thi Theu and her son Tring Ba Tu to eight years in prison each for posting online articles and livestream videos criticizing the government for its handling of a deadly land-rights clash last year.

Harsh forms of persecution

With Vietnams media all following Communist Party orders, the only sources of independently-reported information are bloggers and independent journalists, who are being subjected to ever-harsher forms of persecution, the press freedoms watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says in its 2021 Press Freedoms Index.

Measures taken against them now include assaults by plainclothes police, RSF said in its report, which placed Vietnam at 175 out of 180 countries surveyed worldwide, a ranking unchanged from last year.

To justify jailing them, the Party resorts to the criminal codes, especially three articles under which activities aimed at overthrowing the government, anti-state propaganda and abusing the rights to freedom and democracy to threaten the interests of the state are punishable by long prison terms, the rights 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 Anna Vu. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Belarus has temporarily banned most of its citizens from crossing the border, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, a move the opposition says is a further step to limit freedoms amid a brutal crackdown on dissent by authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

The State Border Committee said that the travel ban applied to all residents except for Belarusian civil servants on official trips, state transport staff, and residents with permanent residence in other countries.

The committee added that air travel for Belarusian citizens and foreigners remained open on condition that they have self-isolated for at least 10 days before departure.

The move to tighten travel rules comes after international outrage erupted over Lukashenka's ordering of a fighter jet to force a Ryanair airliner, which was en route from Greece to Lithuania, to land in Minsk.

Belarus said it had received a bomb threat.

Once the plane was on the ground, opposition blogger Raman Pratasevich and his girlfriend, who were aboard the plane, were arrested. No bomb was found on the plane.

Pratasevich, 26, is facing charges of being behind "civil disturbances," the term used by the government to describe the unprecedented protests against Lukashenka and his rule following a disputed August 2020 presidential election that the opposition says was rigged and many Western governments have refused to acknowledge.

Crisis In Belarus Read our coverage as Belarusians continue to demand the resignation of Alyaksandr Lukashenka amid a brutal crackdown on protesters. The West refuses to recognize him as the country's legitimate leader after an August 9 election considered fraudulent.

Valery Kavaleuski, the foreign-affairs adviser to Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the opposition leader who many say actually won the vote, criticized the travel ban, saying that Lukashenka's move to "severely" limit the right of Belarusians to travel was illegal.

"The Constitution stipulates no conditions at all. Outright violation of the law," Kavaleuski tweeted in response to the new regulations.

The decision to intercept the Ryanair flight and arrest Pratasevich has drawn additional sanctions from the United States and threats of sanctions and more serious actions from the European Union.

Europe's air-safety regulator last week advised operators to avoid flying over Belarus, but in a new safety directive issued on June 2 said that "there are still operators having their principal place of business in [EU members] that continue to operate" in the country's airspace.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has now beefed up its stance on the use of Belarusian airspace, calling on national authorities to tell their aircraft operators "that conducting operations in Belarus airspace...is no longer allowed, unless required for safe operations in unforeseen circumstances."

The Cologne-based EASA oversees regional safety but lacks the authority to issue an operational ban directly.

In London, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on June 2 reiterated the Western alliance's call for the immediate release of Pratasevich and his friend, as well as for an "independent, impartial, international investigation" into the "absolutely unacceptable" incident.

"And I welcome sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom and other NATO allies and the EU as a clear message about consequences when the regime in Minsk behaves the way it did," he added.

Speaking alongside Stoltenberg, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was important that the allies stand together in protest against "the appalling, outrageous incident."

Lukashenka, who has run Belarus since 1994, has directed a brutal postelection crackdown in which almost 30,000 people have been detained, many sentenced to lengthy prison terms, and hundreds beaten, several killed, and journalists targeted.

Rights groups say there is considerable evidence of detainees being tortured.
Belarusian activist Stsyapan Latypau, jailed for more than six months on charges he denies, was locked behind bars in a Minsk courtroom on June 1 when he was given the chance to question a character witness who had been called to testify on his behalf.

Latypau addressed the man, his own father, and dropped the bombshell that he had been threatened in detention by the Interior Ministry's Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption (GUBOPiK).

"Father! After meeting, the GUBOP came to see me. He promised that if I did not admit my guilt, I would get the 'pressure chamber,' and criminal cases would be filed against my relatives and neighbors. I have already been in the pressure chamber -- for 51 days. So, prepare yourself."

Latypau, standing on a bench so guards could not reach him, then raised his hands and stabbed himself in the neck with a pen.

As he slumped onto the bench, guards fumbled to find the key to the courtroom cell while onlookers watched aghast. Eventually, the guards gained entry, and the bloody and heavily bandaged activist was carried to a waiting ambulance.

WATCH: Who Is The Man Who Cut His Own Throat In A Belarusian Court?

That a prisoner in Belarus would rather kill himself than face the "pressure chamber" is not isolated to Latypau, who is accused of leading mass protests for trying to keep the authorities from removing a courtyard mural dedicated to the country's opposition movement.

According to rights watchdogs and former inmates, "pressure chambers" in Belarusian jails and prisons are literally torture chambers, and the threat of being sent there is enough to drive many to take drastic measures.

The chambers are often described as cells that contain hardened criminals who are working with the authorities.

Syarhey Ustsinau of Legal Initiative, a Belarusian NGO that helps people file cases with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), told Current Time on June 1 that detainees are sent to the chambers to have a confession beaten out of them by fellow inmates.

Human rights activist Mikhail Zhamchuzhny, who spent 6 1/2 years in prison on politically motivated charges, explained to RFE/RL's Belarus Service what it means to spend time in a "pressure chamber."

He said that every pretrial detention center in the country has one, in violation of international law, and that the authorities claim the chambers are needed for secret but official purposes.

Zhamchuzhny said the cells reserved to be used as a "pressure chamber" are usually about 4x6 meters and completely soundproofed with wall panels and double doors. In other cases, he said, normal cells are used and music is pumped in to cover detainees' screams.

Detainees are well aware of the chambers' existence, and the fear of being sent there is immense.

"I have often witnessed convicts or defendants open up [admit to crimes] just in front of the door of the pressure chamber," Zhamchuzhny said.

The rights activist said that others attempt to avoid being sent to the chambers by maiming themselves. This is because an open, bleeding, wound will require detainees to be hospitalized, sparing them torture for at least a little while.

Some detainees do try to pass the test of the "pressure chamber," but the outcome depends on the strength of their will and resilience to threats, Zhamchuzhny said.

Others have mentioned the strong influence such threats can have on those detained amid Belarus's brutal crackdown on mass anti-government demonstrations that erupted after strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka was named the winner of the country's disputed August 9 election.

Alesya Kakhanouskaya told RFE/RL in May that her son, Yauhen Kakhanouski, was beaten until he confessed to charges related to his participation in the protests.

"The testimony was beaten out of him," she said. "When they started threatening to put him in a 'pressure chamber'...he gave up and implicated himself."

In court, Kakhanouski pleaded not guilty, saying he had confessed under psychological and physical pressure.

Crisis In Belarus Read our coverage as Belarusians continue to demand the resignation of Alyaksandr Lukashenka amid a brutal crackdown on protesters. The West refuses to recognize him as the country's legitimate leader after an August 9 election considered fraudulent.

"I was beaten by the police in the stomach, on the head, and on the legs, threatened to be sent to a 'pressure chamber' if I did not give the testimony as it should be," Kakhanouski told the court. "I signed [the confession] without reading, because I was afraid that they would beat me again."

In the end Kakhanouski was found guilty of participating in mass riots and sentenced to serve more than 3 1/2 years in prison.

Legal Initiative's Ustsinau said that the torture of demonstrators has not stopped since the protests against Lukashenka's electoral victory began.

He said that while most instances of torture took place in the first week of the mass demonstrations, from August 9 to 13, " they are still tortured today, they are tortured in prisons."

"There are many cases when in the courts people stated that they were beaten in order to obtain confessions," Ustinov said, adding that the courts simply do not pay attention to retractions.

Written by RFE/RL senior correspondent Michael Scollon, based on interviews conducted by RFE/RL's Belarus Service and Current Time correspondent Volha Zharnasek.
HRODNA, Belarus -- Three associates of jailed Belarusian blogger Syarhey Tsikhanouski, the husband of opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, have been handed prison terms in the western city of Hrodna as the authorities continue to tighten their clampdown on dissent.

The court on June 2 sentenced Uladzimer Kniha to four years in a maximum-security prison, Yauhen Raznichenka to 3 1/2 years, and Dzmitry Furmanau to two years in a general security prison.

Judge Volha Bekushava found the three guilty of organizing mass disorder. Raznichenka and Kniha were also found guilty of assaulting police.

The defendants were arrested in late May 2020 after police intervened at public events in Hrodna to collect signatures to support Tsikhanouski's bid to become president.

Tsikhanouski was arrested at the same time and charged later with the organization and preparation of actions that severely violated public order and disrupting the work of the Central Election Committee.

Tsikhanouski is the owner of a popular YouTube channel called The Country For Life, which criticized the authorities.

Crisis In Belarus Read our coverage as Belarusians continue to demand the resignation of Alyaksandr Lukashenka amid a brutal crackdown on protesters. The West refuses to recognize him as the country's legitimate leader after an August 9 election considered fraudulent.

When Tsikhanouski's candidacy was rejected by election officials, his wife took over and ran in the presidential election.

She was the main challenger to Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has run the country since 1994.

The results of the August election that Lukashenka claims to have won sparked mass protests, with Tsikhanouskaya's supporters and opposition figures accusing the authoritarian ruler of rigging the vote and that their candidate was the victor.

Since then, Lukashenka has overseen a violent crackdown on protesters by law enforcement, detaining thousands -- including media members -- and injuring scores.

The European Union and the United States have refused to recognize Lukashenka as the legitimate ruler of Belarus, characterizing the election as fraudulent.
Budapest's liberal mayor, Gergely Karacsony, renamed streets after the Dalai Lama and other victims of alleged human rights abuses by China along streets surrounding the future site of a controversial new campus for a Chinese university. Another street was renamed "Uyghur Martyrs Road" after the mainly Muslim ethnic group that the West says has been victims of a Chinese genocide. A third was called "Free Hong Kong Road." Karacsony accuses the right-wing populist prime minister, Viktor Orban, of cozying up to China at the expense of the Hungarian taxpayers. He said the campus for China's Fudan University would cost Hungarian taxpayers nearly $2 billion and went against an earlier deal with the government to build dormitories and facilities for Hungarian students in the district.
Welcome back to the China In Eurasia briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter tracking Chinas resurgent influence from Eastern Europe to Central Asia.

As you may have heard, the newsletter is now published twice a month. Expect it in your in-box on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. Subscribe here.

Im RFE/RL correspondent Reid Standish and heres what Im following right now.

Beijing Scores An Own Goal In Europe

From a frozen investment pact with the European Union to Lithuanias withdrawal from Chinas chosen format for engaging with Central and Eastern Europe, Beijing found itself in damage-control mode the past few weeks across much of the continent.

Finding Perspective: Chinas ambitious trade and investment deal with the EU is on ice -- and a thaw doesnt look to be coming anytime soon.

The European Parliament passed a resolution on May 20 that would prevent a much-talked-about agreement from going into effect until China lifts sanctions it imposed on European lawmakers and institutions.

Those sanctions were a response to a long dispute over Beijing's treatment of its Uyghur minority and other Muslims in Xinjiang Province and sanctions imposed on China by Brussels in March.

As I reported earlier, the decision to freeze the deal signals a harder line developing towards China in Europe. Germany will hold elections in September that could bring in a tougher foreign policy toward Beijing, with the same holding true for the Czech Republic in October.

The opposition in Hungary is also seeking to unseat Prime Minister Viktor Orban in 2022, which, if successful, could see a reversal of Budapests current pro-China stance.

Meanwhile, Lithuania cemented its departure from the 17+1, a format launched by China to engage with Central and Eastern European countries, which Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told Politico was a divisive format. He urged other countries to join Vilnius in leaving.

Why It Matters: The regions honeymoon with China may be long over, but that doesnt mean that a divorce is in the cards.

On the one hand, the rising tensions with the EU are a far cry from the wedge that China managed to drive between Brussels and Washington while the bloc's relations were soured with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

And judging from Beijings official reactions to the moves, repairs in its increasingly shaky relationship wont come soon.

After news broke that the deal was being held up, China blamed the EU, with a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman saying Brussels should focus less on emotional outbursts and more on rational thinking.

This was followed by Foreign Minister Wang Yi attacking the EU for the human rights sanctions. Speaking via video link at the Munich Security Conference about accusations of genocide being conducted in Xinjiang, Wang said that our European friends know what genocide is.

But beyond the harsh words, Beijing was also quick to show that its grand strategy wasnt completely derailed in the region.

China organized a series of high-profile meetings with Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, and Slovenia, with both Croatia and Poland providing official endorsements of Chinese engagement in the region and Serbia inking a series of cooperation deals.

Read More

For a more detailed look at how China views Europe, listen to Bonnie S. Glasers interview with Professor Lanxin Xiang in her new podcast at the German Marshall Fund.

China came unmoored from its grand strategy and its "wolf-warrior diplomacy" is largely to blame, argues Tufts Universitys Sulmaan Wasif Khan in a piece for Foreign Policy magazine.

After years of viewing China primarily as a lucrative market, Germany is in the process of rethinking its relationship with Beijing, writes Noah Barkin in a new report for Chatham House.

Experts' Corner: China Adjusts To An Erratic Lukashenka

Readers asked: How does the recent plane incident in Belarus affect relations between Minsk and Beijing?

The recent plane incident in Belarus will do more to reshape, rather than disrupt, relations between Minsk and Beijing. As long as Minsk can meet Chinese credit and loan conditions, and Western sanctions dont somehow interrupt Belaruss eastward trade (the Lukashenka regime's links with Moscow make this practically impossible), then existing projects and trade with China will continue to develop, albeit at a less predictable pace. -- Peter Braga, an expert on Belarus-China relations at University College London

Beijing criticized European reactions to the [Belarusian plane] incident, referring to the hijacking as an opinion, not a fact, and called the sanctions baseless. This verbal support does not change much in Lukashenkas situation, though. China turned out to be a fair-weather friend, giving Russia a free hand in using Belaruss problems to push for deeper integration. -- Jakub Jakobowski, senior fellow at the Center For Eastern Studies in Warsaw

For some background about China and Belarus, read this article I wrote in March. And for more on Minsks grounding of the Ryanair flight and the abduction of opposition journalist Raman Pratasevich, follow RFE/RLs ongoing coverage here.

Do you have a question about Chinas growing footprint in Eurasia? Send it to me at StandishR@rferl.org or reply directly to this e-mail and Ill get it answered by leading experts and policymakers.

Three More Stories From Eurasia

1. Testing The Defense Waters

Serbia spent $19.3 million on six Chinese military drones, according to an investigation by my colleague Milla Gjurgjeviq from RFE/RLs Balkan Service.

The Details: The CH92-A drones were purchased by Belgrade in July 2020 and showcased at a press event by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

The price for the drones, however, was not disclosed. Vucic refused to answer a question when asked about the cost, saying it was a military secret.

"This is common and has nothing to do with China, but these [drones] are really not expensive," Vucic said at the time.

But an investigation of the database of Serbias statistics office listed the $19.3 million figure for aircraft procured from China in 2020, with the drones being the only sale from China during that year.

For more details, watch this handy explainer video from RFE/RL.

A Foot In The Door: Beyond the price tag of the drones, the sale is significant as it represents Chinas expansion into the European defense sector.

While Chinese military drones have shown up in conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, the shipment to Serbia was Beijings first export of military aviation equipment into Europe.

According to a January report from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), China has been eyeing expansion into the European defense market for some time, but has been hampered by an EU arms embargo put in place in 1989 over Beijings crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests.

Like with many other policy areas -- from education cooperation to surveillance technologies -- Serbia functions as a showcase on the EUs doorstep for industries and initiatives that Beijing is looking to expand.

2. A Diplomatic Booster For Central Asia

Chinas vaccine diplomacy has garnered headlines around the world, but how are Beijings efforts faring in neighboring Central Asia?

Ill be exploring this on June 10 during a panel discussion hosted by George Washington Universitys Central Asia Program.

Click the link here to register.

Background: While Chinas five different vaccines have found growing footholds around the developing world -- especially across the Balkans, South Asia, and Africa -- Central Asia remains an interesting case study.

While Chinese shots are increasingly filling a void left in the global distribution of vaccines, trust in them in Central Asia is low, with Russias Sputnik V appearing to be the preferred injection for the region.

But production and supply of the Russian vaccine is slowing, leaving the region relying on the World Health Organization's COVAX program and, increasingly, a mix of Chinese shots to meet demand.

Its a complicated area in which to apply the vaccine diplomacy strategy, in no small part because Tajikistan claims to have not registered a new COVID case since the start of the year and Turkmenistan says it has never had a single coronavirus infection -- despite evidence to the contrary.

There will be lots to dig into on the panel. Dont forget to register.

3. The Road To Podgorica

Beijing is willing to offer Montenegro a grace period for the $1 billion loan it owes the Export-Import Bank of China for a controversial highway project that has left the small country in a dire financial situation, RFE/RLs Balkan Service reported.

Mending Fences: The discussion came from a phone conversation between Montenegrin President Milo Dukanovic and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on May 26.

Dukanovic, who was prime minister when the highway project was signed in 2014, welcomed more Chinese investment into the country and discussed broad cooperation across several industries, from tourism to education.

Xi also mentioned the highway project and offered the possibility of a grace period being extended to Podgorica, which owes its first payments on the long-delayed highway in July.

Context: The mammoth price tag drew international attention earlier this spring when Montenegrin Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic requested the EU help the country repay its loan to China, which Brussels later rejected.

The project was controversial from its early days, with it receiving the green light from its Chinese backers and Dukanovics government despite previously failing two feasibility studies.

The highway is incomplete and has seen its estimated costs rise over time. China holds approximately one-quarter of Montenegro's total debt, which reached 103 percent of GDP last year.

Across The Supercontinent

Trolled: In an act of defiance, the municipality of Budapest has renamed the streets around the proposed site for Fudan University in Hungary to Dalai Lama Street, Uyghur Martyrs' Road, and Free Hong Kong Road, RFE/RL's Hungarian Service reported.

Home Production: The Serbian government has set aside around $19.5 million for the construction of a factory that will produce Chinas Sinopharm vaccine, RFE/RLs Balkan Service reported.

Eastern Promises: Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto also announced during a May 31 trip to China that Sinopharm would be produced in Hungary at a factory that is currently under construction, RFE/RLs Hungarian Service reported.

Denied: Kazakhstan has officially refused to grant citizenship to three ethnic Kazakhs who fled China's Xinjiang region and crossed illegally into the neighboring country fearing they would be sent to an internment camp, my colleague Aigerim Toleukhanova from RFE/RLs Kazakh Service reported.

Qaisha Aqan, Murager Alimuly, and Kaster Musakhanuly were all granted temporary refugee status in Kazakhstan, but that does not give them certain rights in the country, such as the ability to work. With a pathway to citizenship now denied, their futures remain uncertain.

Tete-a-Tete: Yang Jiechi, who leads Chinas Central Committee for Foreign Affairs, was in Moscow from May 24-26 for security talks amid closer ties between Beijing and the Kremlin as they navigate a growing confrontation with the United States.

Ties That Bind: Belgrade and Beijing signed a series of agreements between their interior ministries on May 27 that will set up more joint exercises and training for combating terrorism and organized crime, RFE/RLs Balkan Service reported.

A Bot Army: A seven-month investigation by the Associated Press found that an army of fake accounts have retweeted Chinese diplomats and state media tens of thousands of times, covertly amplifying propaganda that can reach hundreds of millions of people.

One Thing To Watch

Now that U.S. President Joe Biden has ordered the countrys intelligence agencies to intensify their efforts to look into the origins of COVID-19, the theory that the virus may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology is back in play.

Once written off as a conspiracy theory and politicized by the Trump administration, Biden is publicly entertaining the theory due to new information gathered by U.S. intelligence.

Most experts still believe that the virus emerged naturally from animals to humans, but Chinas secrecy around the origins of COVID-19 has lent credence to alternatives.

In a recent letter to the journal Science, a group of 18 prominent scientists said both theories were possible and should be taken seriously until sufficient data is obtained.

Chinese officials have flat out rejected the idea of a lab leak, but with the Biden administration breathing new life into the theory, expect the war of words between Beijing and Washington over COVID-19s origins to heat up again.

Thats all from me for now. Dont forget to send any questions, comments, or tips that you might have to StandishR@rferl.org.
A U.S. bipartisan congressional delegation visiting Kyiv has encouraged Ukraine to continue reforms to solidify its democracy and expressed solidarity with the country in the face of Russian aggression.

Ensuring Ukraine continues key reforms to strengthen its democracy is critical to our enduring partnership & to counter Russian aggression, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (Democrat-New Hampshire), who is heading the U.S. delegation, tweeted from the Ukrainian capital on June 2.

Appreciated meeting w/government reps & civil society members on their work to root out corruption & build a better tomorrow for Ukraine, she added.

The visiting delegation includes Shaheen and two other members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- Rob Portman (Republican-Ohio) and Chris Murphy (Democrat-Connecticut).

We talked about the importance of increasing our ties, providing even more effective military assistance, so Ukraine can defend itself," Portman told reporters after the talks.

The United States has provided nearly $5 billion in financial, humanitarian, and military aid to Kyiv since 2014, when Russia forcibly annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and backed separatists in two of its eastern provinces, sparking a war that has killed more than 13,200.

The senators "reaffirmed bipartisan U.S. support for Ukraines sovereignty & territorial integrity," according to the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that long-term bipartisan support for Ukraine in the U.S. Congress is vital to our strategic partnership at a time when our state continues to resist Russian aggression and implement reforms."

The three senators traveled to Ukraine from Lithuania, where they met with exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya. They called for harsher economic sanctions against the regime of Belaruss authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka and for the release of political prisoners.

The delegation is set to travel to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi after it leaves Kyiv.

Ahead of the bipartisan trip, Shaheen said it would send a clear message that the United States is committed to rebuilding our transatlantic relations and reasserting U.S. global leadership to promote democratic values.

We support Ukraine and Georgia in their desire to achieve their Euro-Atlantic ambitions, and the U.S. is eager to play a supporting role to make NATO and EU membership a reality.

Ukraine and Georgia are seeking closer ties with the West, including membership in NATO that Moscow adamantly opposes.

Russia maintains troops in two breakaway regions that comprise about 20 percent of Georgian territory, in what Tbilisi considers an occupation.

With reporting by AP
Three members of the ethnic Polish minority in Belarus who had been jailed for their political activism are now free and in Poland, authorities in Warsaw said on June 2.

The activists -- identified as Irena Biernacka, Maria Tiszkowska, and Anna Paniszewa -- were arrested in March as part of the Belarusian authorities crackdown on ethnic Poles who opposed the authoritarian regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

The Polish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that as a result of efforts by Polish diplomatic and consular services, the activists arrived in Poland on May 25.

They were safe and being given the necessary support and care, the ministry said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz told reporters that all Poles abroad who are subjected to repression will always find support and shelter in Poland.

Poland expects the freeing of all political prisoners in Belarus, he added.

The European Unions top diplomat, Josep Borrell, had appealed for the release of Biernacka, Tiszkowska, and Paniszewa, who were reportedly facing up to 12 years in prison in Belarus.

Two other activists from the Polish community in Belarus -- Andzelika Borys and Andrzej Poczobut -- remain imprisoned in the country.

Belarus has been in political turmoil since Lukashenka claimed victory in an August 2020 presidential election, which the opposition claimed was rigged in his favor.

The EU, United States, and other countries have imposed sanctions against the regime of Lukashenka, who has led a violent crackdown on dissent since mass protests broke out in the country over the disputed results of the election.

With reporting by AP
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony, a staunch rival of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, says he will rename streets surrounding the future campus of a Chinese university after victims of alleged human rights abuses by Beijing.

The planned Budapest campus of China's Fudan University has been a bone of contention between the liberal mayor and the government of the right-wing populist prime minister, with the former accusing the latter of cozying up to China at the expense of the Hungarian taxpayers.

Orban is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has maintained close ties with China and other authoritarian regimes, while prompting the fury of the European Union by curbing the independence of the judiciary and media.

According to the mayor's plan, one street will be renamed after the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, considered a dangerous separatist by China.

Another will be called "Uyghur Martyrs Road" after the mainly Muslim ethnic group that the West says has been victims of a Chinese genocide. A third street will be called "Free Hong Kong Road," while a fourth street will be renamed after a jailed Chinese Catholic bishop.

"This Fudan project would put in doubt many of the values that Hungary committed itself to 30 years ago" after the fall of communism, said Karacsony, who plans to run next year to unseat Orban.

He told reporters the Chinese campus would cost Hungarian taxpayers nearly $2 billion and went against an earlier deal with the government to build dormitories and facilities for Hungarian students in the district.

China's Fudan University is planning to open a campus offering masters programs in liberal arts, medicine, business, and engineering for 6,000 students.

Beijing has sharpened its focus on education and culture in recent years in a new phase of Chinese engagement in Europe.

The Central European University, Hungary's leading private university, was forced to leave the country and relocate most operations to Vienna in 2019 after Orban's government pushed legislation that drastically curbed its freedom and and launched a public hate campaign against its founder, U.S. billionaire philanthropist George Soros -- a Budapest native of Jewish origin.



An opinion poll published on June 1 by the liberal Republikon Institute think tank found 66 percent of Hungarians oppose the campus compared with support of 27 percent.



Orban has also faced criticism for his fast-track approval of a Chinese coronavirus vaccine that has still not been approved in the EU.

With reporting by Reuters
It seems that some US officials indulge in coming to a conclusion and then finding arguments for the conclusion in tracing COVID-19 origins.

Last year, certain American politicians claimed that "enormous evidence" shows the novel coronavirus escaped from a Chinese lab. However, their claim was rejected by international scientists and soon faded out. Now, some US officials and media outlets are trying to revive the "lab leak theory".

Driven by a desire to spread political virus, they presume China guilty of leaking the virus, a presumption that could easily fall apart in the face of facts. No matter how heavily disguised, the theory exposes an ulterior motive of the US to defame China by taking advantage of the epidemic.

The "lab leak theory" is in fact groundless. When some US officials spread the ridiculous theory last year, they cited as "evidence" a report wrote by the Multi Agency Collaboration Environment (MACE) unit at the Sierra Nevada Corporation, a major contractor of the US Department of Defense.

The report, which tried to reach the conclusion from the lack of location data of seven mobile phones, was mocked by data analysis experts and listed as a classic negative example of conducting information analysis.

The report is filled with totally irrelevant comparisons and assumptions made out of ulterior motives, said Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

"Rather than use intelligence to inform the government's response to the pandemic, the Trump administration tried to bend the facts for political ends...Throughout the course of the pandemic, the Trump administration's first and strongest instinct was to find a scapegoat rather than formulate a response," wrote Olivia Troye, who served in the Trump administration's coronavirus task force, on The Bulwark, an American news network.

The attempt of some US officials and media outlets to bring up the theory again will certainly meet another failure.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on a previously undisclosed US intelligence report, trying to trace the origins of the virus to a Chinese lab again.

The report, which is based on vague information and hearsay evidence, somehow becomes "conclusive proof" under the malicious instigation of some American officials, which is indeed ridiculous.

The US "presumption of guilt" in tracking down the origins of the virus couldn't possibly stand a chance against science.

"So we cannot check whether such a report actually exists, what is really there and what evidence is included, if any. The bottom line is that the current debate is based on hearsay," said Matthias Glaubrecht, scientific director and professor from the Department of Animal Diversity at the University of Hamburg.

There is no clear evidence that the COVID-19 virus came from a lab, and politicizing the tracing of origins to seek personal interests will do no good, according to Dominic Dwyer, a member of the WHO expert team for investigating the COVID-19 origins in China.

It is out of ulterior political motives that some US politicians and media outlets have disregarded science and facts, and been obsessed with fabricating and spreading lies that the virus originated from a Chinese lab.

When it made up the "lab leak theory" last year, the US was deeply trapped in the epidemic. Its plight hasn't become any better. The country has reported over 33 million confirmed cases and nearly 600,000 fatalities, which account for 20 percent and 17 percent of the world's total, respectively.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that one-third of Americans had been infected with the novel coronavirus, as observed by the US media.

The incompetent epidemic response of the US, the world's largest economy known with the most advanced medical resources, has exposed a series of deep-rooted problems in American society including racial injustice, widening gap between the rich and the poor, high incidence of violent crimes and governance failures, and dealt a heavy blow to America's image as a "beacon of democracy".

It is evident that by stigmatizing China, some American politicians aim to divert people's attention away from their poor anti-epidemic efforts and get rid of responsibilities for tracing virus origins, thus serving their own political purposes at home and abroad.

China has always taken an open, transparent, and responsible attitude toward virus origin tracing. According to a report released by the WHO based on a joint WHO-China study of the origins of COVID-19 on March 30, the novel coronavirus is "extremely unlikely" to have leaked from a lab. The conclusion based on science could never be changed by blatant lies.

Certain US officials should stop with the "presumption of guilt" trick and scapegoating China for their incompetence, and start to learn from lessons, reflect on their choices, and actually do something meaningful for safeguarding the lives and health of American people and global public health security.
MATSAPHA - Thabani Nkomonyes body did not have eyes, had a hole on his right shoulder, thigh and next to the stomach.

It was not explicitly mentioned if these were injuries caused by bullets. This is according to the deceaseds mother, Siphiwe Mkhabelas submissions before the Coroner, Senior Magistrate Nonhlanhla Dlamini, who is leading the inquest into the death of Thabani. Thabani is the 25-year-old man who is said to have died in a car accident on Saturday, May 8, 2021 at Nhlambeni, along the MhlaleniNhlangano Public Road. A Mazda Demio sedan, which he was driving on the day, was found stationary about 15 metres away from the main road and it was subsequently towed by police officers to the Matsapha Police Station on the same night of the accident.

Searched

Despite that police reportedly searched for his body on the night of the accident and the subsequent day, it was not found until on the sixth day  following Thursday, about 25 metres from where his vehicle was towed.

The delay in the discovery of the body raised questions among a variety of sectors in society and a diversity of insinuations were shared on social media, with many insinuating that the police allegedly had a hand in his death. This resulted in the #JusticeForThabani movement, whereupon the police were ordered to answer to a number of questions as their account of events did not make sense to the commentators. Thereafter, the Acting Prime Minister, Themba Masuku, appointed a coroner in a bid to try and solve the mystery surrounding the death of Thabani, who was also a Law students at the University of Eswatini (UNESWA).

Mkhabela, who was the first witness to lead evidence during the inquest which started yesterday at His Majestys Correctional Services (HMCS) College in Matsapha, was called to make submissions before the coroner because she was among those who discovered her sons body and she also identified him at the mortuary. She alleged that on Friday May 14, 2021, she was called by the police from Matsapha Police Station and invited her to come for a post-mortem which was to be conducted at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospitals mortuary. Upon her arrival at the hospital, the deceaseds mother claimed that the police asked her to come with them to identify Thabanis body.

They showed me about seven bodies and asked me to identify the corpse of Thabani. Unfortunately, my sons body was not there, she submitted. Thereafter, she purported that the police showed her one of the bodies, which had dreadlocks and they supposed that it was the one for Thabani. She claimed that she looked at the body again, but saw that it was not the one of her son. She claimed that the only similarity that she saw were the dreadlocks. Later on, she said personnel from Dups Funeral Home came and confirmed that indeed Thabanis body was not there and they went back. However, she alleged that about one and half hours later, the personnel from Dups Funeral Home came back with Thabanis body.
The Iranian Navy's largest vessel sank in the Gulf of Oman after catching fire early June 2 under unknown circumstances, but the entire crew was evacuated safely.

The fire broke out in the engine room of the Kharg, a support vessel, a navy statement said on June 2, without elaborating.

Firefighters battled "for 20 hours" to put out the blaze before the ship went down, it said.

The vessel was located near the Iranian port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers southeast of Tehran on the Gulf of Oman. The location is near the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the head of the Persian Gulf through which one-fifth of world oil output passes.

"Because of the spread of the fire, the mission to save the Kharg failed and it sank in waters off Jask," the statement said, adding that the vessel had left for a "training mission" in international waters days ago.

The Iranian Navy said that 20 sailors out of a crew of 400 had sustained superficial injuries before being rescued.

No cause was given for the fire.



The Kharg was built in Britain and launched in 1977. It entered the Iranian Navy in 1984.

Iran's navy has been beset by several serious incidents recently.



In April, Iran said one of its vessels, the Saviz freighter, had been targeted in the Red Sea, after media reports said the ship had been attacked with limpet mines. Iranian media reports said Israel had attacked the ship.

During an Iranian military training exercise last year, a missile mistakenly struck a naval vessel near Jask, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15.

In 2018, an Iranian Navy destroyer sank in the Caspian Sea.

With reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, and IRNA
A $3.5 billion residential and commercial real-estate project being developed on the site of a former aerodrome in Minsk is expected to change the face of the Belarusian capital.

Minsk World, as the project is known, is to feature a modern financial center with glass-facade skyscrapers surrounded by dozens of high-rise apartment buildings and villas containing 30,000 residential units.

Dana Holdings, which has been developing the site, bills it as a "city-within-a-city" and one of the largest real-estate projects in Europe.

Minsk World is just one of several Belarusian projects awarded to Dana Holdings, a Cyprus-based firm founded by the Karics -- a family that was one of the wealthiest and most influential in Serbia in the 1990s, under Slobodan Milosevic, but has since seen its star in Belgrade wane.

The Karics have catapulted to the top of the Belarusian property industry over the past decade, raking in huge profits in the process, according to company filings.

Critics charge that it is in large part thanks to their close ties to strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for 27 years and has cracked down hard on protests over an August 2020 presidential election opponents say he stole. The family denies this.

Lilia Lukashenka, the wife of the Belarusian ruler's eldest son, Viktar, was listed in 2017 as one of 13 deputy directors of Dana Astra, the holding's main subsidiary in Belarus, though she no longer works there. She currently runs an art gallery in a mall owned by Dana Holdings.

Meanwhile, Lukashenka picked Dragomir Karic, one of the family patriarchs, to be honorary consul of Belarus in Belgrade.

These ties now threaten to cripple the Karic real-estate empire, which at the start of 2020 had more than 7 million square meters of projects in development in Belarus and Kazakhstan, including Minsk World. The market value of those projects upon completion has been estimated at $13 billion, according to Dana Holdings' website.

Amid Lukashenka's relentless clampdown against peaceful demonstrators protesting the election, in which he claimed a landslide victory and a sixth term in a vote that opponents and Western governments said was blatantly rigged, the family's fortunes are under threat.

The European Union imposed sanctions on Dana Holdings and one of its Belarusian subsidiaries in December 2020, accusing it of "benefiting from and/or supporting the regime" of Lukashenka.

Feel 'The Hurt'

The United States could follow suit and slap sanctions on family members, making it tougher for them to get around the penalties by shutting one company and registering another.

At a hearing on March 24, U.S. Representative Chris Smith (Republican-New Jersey) called on the Treasury and State departments to consider imposing sanctions on several tycoons under the Global Magnitsky Act for supporting Lukashenka, including Dragomir Karic, 71, and his younger brother, Bogoljub Karic, 67.

The Global Magnitsky Act targets people accused of gross corruption and human rights abuses.

Smith doubled down on his calls for U.S. sanctions against those close to Lukashenka after the Belarusian authorities diverted a passenger jet on an Athens-Vilnius flight to the Minsk airport on May 23 and arrested an opposition journalist and his girlfriend after it landed.

"After this very brazen incident...we have to just manifestly increase the number of people on that list," he told RFE/RL in an interview later that day, referring to those hit with sanctions for backing Lukashenka. "Many people have to feel the economic hurt."

On May 24, U.S. President Joe Biden said he asked his administration to "develop appropriate options to hold accountable those responsible" for the "outrageous" plane incident in close coordination with the European Union, other allies and partners, and international organizations.

Prior to the plane diversion, the United States had been rolling out punishments against Lukashenka and his backers over the political crackdown, which has resulted in 30,000 arrests, including the incarceration of more than 400 people considered political prisoners, widespread allegations of torture and abuse, and several deaths.

The United States announced two rounds of sanctions in late 2020 against nearly 50 officials and a few government entities. And in April, the Treasury Department reimposed sanctions on nine Belarusian state-owned enterprises that it said "finance and support" Lukashenka's government.

In a statement to RFE/RL on May 7, Dragomir Karic denied that the family business received any special treatment in Belarus. He asserted that the country is a market economy with a competitive construction industry, despite a widely held view that it retains elements of a Soviet-style command economy.

He also suggested that industry competitors might be pushing allegations of ties to Lukashenka to hurt his business, and claimed to have not won any more Belarusian contracts despite the family's decades-long industry experience.

Dragomir and Bogoljub Karic have met with Lukashenka, who has called their projects "works of wonder" despite some public criticism that they build bland, high-rise ghettos.

The imposition of U.S. sanctions against the Karics might give them a bitter sense of deja vu.

Sanctions

The Karics were hit with sanctions in the 1990s and early 2000s by the United States and the European Union for their perceived ties to Serbian leader Milosevic, who was tried on war crimes charges in The Hague but died in his cell in 2006.

The Karics emerged as one of the wealthiest families in Serbia following the collapse of communism. They owned assets in various industries including banking, insurance, manufacturing, telecommunications, media, and real estate. Media reports at the time put the value of their assets in the billions of dollars.

However, the combination of Western sanctions and Milosevic's eventual overthrow in 2000 squeezed the family's fortunes. Bogoljub Karic eventually fled to Russia in 2006 to avoid corruption charges he called politically motivated.

The brothers have sought for years to clear their names in the West and receive visas or passports, hiring lawyers and lobbyists for hundreds of thousands of dollars to press their cases in Washington and Ottawa, the Canadian capital.

In 2009-10, in one of the family's last known public attempts to restore their reputation in the United States, Bogoljub and Dragomir Karic -- through Washington lobbyists -- presented themselves to U.S. policymakers as "pro-Western" figures who "embrace Western democracy, capitalism, and economic development" for Serbia and were outraged by what they called Belgrade's "anti-democratic abuses."

As their lobbyists were making that pitch on Capitol Hill, the brothers were embracing Lukashenka, the authoritarian leader some Western officials had deemed "Europe's last dictator."

Belarusian Fortunes

With their Serbian businesses under pressure in the 2000s, the brothers looked to expand in the former Soviet Union, where they had been active since the 1980s.

Dragomir Karic, who ran the family's operations in Russia, reportedly invited Lukashenka to attend a Serbian economic forum in March 2009 and spent two evenings in the Belarusian leader's company.

Since then, the Karics' real-estate business in Belarus has skyrocketed, becoming the new center of their business empire.

Lukashenka -- who supported Milosevic with arms sales despite a UN embargo and was the only foreign leader to visit the besieged Yugoslav leader during the 78-day NATO bombing campaign in 1999 -- has awarded the rights to major real-estate projects to the Karics by presidential decree.

Valer Tsapkala, a Belarusian businessman and opposition politician now in exile who previously served as ambassador to the United States, contends that this amounts to preferential treatment for the Karics and believes that they have earned a windfall as a result.

Two subsidiaries of Dana Holdings -- Dana Astra and Emirates Blue Sky -- earned at least $175 million over a four-year period from 2017 and 2020, according to their Belarusian financial statements.

Vibor Mulic, the president of Dana Holdings, told RFE/RL in a statement that the company was fighting back against the sanctions and had launched an appeal with the European Council of Justice.

"In the history of sanctions, it has never happened that a company was included in the sanctions list only on the basis of several articles by certain irrelevant opposition media," he said, referring to previous reports in Belarusian and Western media alleging ties between the company and Lukashenka.

Mulic said that Dana Holdings would continue its work on Minsk World and expected to complete it by 2024, but that it had put projects in which it has recently invested in the EU on hold until the company's appeal is heard.

In the meantime, the Karics have exited Belarus -- at least on paper.

In early December, shortly before the European sanctions were announced, ownership of Dana Holdings was transferred from the Karic family to Cyprus resident Marinos Stylianides, according to the Sarajevo-based Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Belsat, a Poland-based media outlet focusing on Belarus. Dana Holdings' subsidiaries in Belarus have also changed ownership, OCCRP and Belsat reported.

Tsapkala doesn't think that the Karics are going to stop operating in Belarus due to the European sanctions.

"It is pretty easy to leave Dana Holdings and start a new company, especially if Lukashenka knows who is behind it," the opposition leader said, adding it was critical to place sanctions on the family itself.

Fairy-Tale Rise From Communist Ashes?

The Karics give a fairy-tale description of their improbable rise to massive wealth in the late 20th century. Bogoljub and Dragomir Karic, along with brothers Zoran and Sretan and sister Olivera, grew up in Kosovo, one of the poorest regions in communist Yugoslavia. The five were a folk-music ensemble that performed at weddings and other events before launching a private enterprise in the late 1970s making tools and farm equipment.

Yugoslav dictator Josef Broz Tito politically intervened to help them with their initiative, Bogoljub Karic told The New York Times in 1988, and a decade later they were racking up as much as $20 million in annual revenue, a phenomenal amount for a private company in Eastern Europe at the time.

The development of political ties would go hand-in-hand with their business rise over the next four decades.

"There is no question that [the] Karics' resourcefulness is one of the key elements behind the family's business success," Biljana Jovic, a Washington-based Balkan analyst, told RFE/RL in an e-mail. "However, from the very beginning, the principal foundation of this success has been currying favors with politicians, from the local administrators and apparatchiks in Kosovo, where their business was launched, through Slobodan Milosevic and, more importantly, his wife, to [President Aleksandar Vucic's] Serbian Progressive Party and political leaders of the countries of the former Soviet Union, where they expanded their business operations.

"This behavioral pattern has generously yielded fruit for four decades and it is unlikely that there is any intention to abandon it," Jovic said.

Bogoljub Karic, the youngest of the four brothers, ran the business -- known as Brothers Karic -- which soon expanded into the Soviet Union after developing contacts with government officials during the perestroika era, in the years before the Soviet collapse of 1991.

The rise to power of Milosevic in Yugoslavia in the late 1980s and the coming collapse of communism opened the door to enormous wealth for the family. According to a 2001 biography on the couple by Slavoljub Djukic, Bogoljub Karic early on won the trust of Milosevic's influential wife, Mira Markovic, in part through their shared respect for Tito.

The Karics were among the first to receive a license to open a private bank in Yugoslavia and in 1994 won a controlling stake in the monopoly provider of mobile service in the country. Djukic wrote that the Karics had no trouble securing minor business contracts in Serbia on their own, but major contracts were obtained at the time "through government intervention" and Milosevic was the gatekeeper.

Home Near Capitol Hill

The Karics used their fortune to set up the Karic Foundation, with an annual awards ceremony and a private university in Belgrade. Critics say they have since used the charity to flatter domestic and foreign officials and distribute favors. "There is absolutely no doubt that it is a part of [the] Karics' broader business agenda," Jovic said of their philanthropic prizes.

Like many other East European families that amassed a fortune after the fall of communism, they swiftly sought residency and legitimacy in the West, scooping up expensive homes in the United Kingdom and Canada, applying for citizenship, mingling with high society, and registering companies, including one in Florida.

The Karics were first hit with sanctions in the early 1990s for their ties to Milosevic, and their assets in the West were frozen as the United States sought to pressure his government to end the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In response, they hired Washington lobbyists in 1995 and 1996 to organize meetings with officials from the Clinton administration and Congress to discuss peace, the lifting of sanctions, the unfreezing of their funds, and democracy promotion. Bogoljub Karic even floated the idea of coming to the United States with Markovic.

Though the sanctions were lifted after the Bosnian War ended in 1995, Bogoljub Karic was later hit with entry bans and economic sanctions by the EU and the United States for his ties to Milosevic during and after the 1998-99 Kosovo War.

Karic served as a minister without portfolio in Milosevic's government in 1998-99 but claims he resigned after Milosevic failed to move ahead with promised reforms.

Djukic said Bogoljub Karic's relationship with Milosevic was "complicated," and that the businessman financed other parties as an insurance policy should the leader lose power. Some in the West allege he actively helped Milosevic circumvent sanctions and sought to launder money through Cyprus, which he has denied.

While Washington removed economic sanctions against the Karics around 2003, it has refused to issue the brothers visas to enter the United States. Canada rejected their request for citizenship.

Therefore, the Karics again hired Washington lobbying firms in the 2000s -- each tied to relatives of U.S. lawmakers they previously met -- and their foundation bought a home in 2003 for $885,000 2 kilometers from Capitol Hill, which they called Serbia House.

Putin Peace Award

Meanwhile, the Karics were facing consequences at home for their ties to Milosevic once he was pushed out in 2000. The family was forced to pay an "excess profit" tax of about $30 million for the alleged benefits they received from Milosevic.

In what some considered a move to protect his family's assets, Bogoljub Karic created a party called Strength of Serbia and ran for president in 2004, coming in third with 18 percent of the vote. He threw his weight behind Boris Tadic from the Democratic Party, who won the second round.

However, that did not stop the new Serbian government from launching investigations into fraud by the Karics. Bogoljub lost his TV station and sold the stake in his mobile business -- possibly worth hundreds of millions of dollars -- before fleeing to Russia in 2006.

In his final public lobbying attempt in 2009-10 to get the United States to lift its entry ban, he asked Washington to pressure the Western-leaning Serbian government to drop the fraud charges against him, claiming innocence and bemoaning the "current political and human rights situation" in the country.

When that failed, he appeared to strengthen ties with authoritarian leaders in the former Soviet Union. His Karic Foundation recognized Russian President Vladimir Putin for a peace award in 2014, when the Kremlin seized Crimea and backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, triggering a war that has killed more than 13,000 people.

A year later, the foundation recognized Nursultan Nazarbaev, the authoritarian leader who ruled Kazakhstan for more than a quarter-century and still wields power despite stepping down in 2019. The Karic Foundation has recently published flattering books on Putin, Nazarbaev, and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Karics have had major development projects in Russia and currently have one in Kazakhstan.

Bogoljub Karic, who returned to Belgrade in 2016 when all the fraud cases against him were dropped, has praised Serbia's current president. "Serbia has its own Putin, and it is Aleksandar Vucic," he told a crowd during Vucic's successful campaign in 2017.

Vucic has been accused by critics of rolling back democracy, including clamping down on media.

Karic's Strength of Serbia party, which currently has four seats in parliament, including one held by Dragomir Karic, is in a coalition with Vucic's ruling Serbian Progressive Party.

Bogoljub Karic and Vucic served at the same time in the Milosevic government and have met a few times in recent years, most notably at ground-breaking ceremonies for Karic real-estate projects in Serbia and Kazakhstan.

However, there is no sign the family's business in Serbia is growing under Vucic.
Russian state oil giant Rosneft has confirmed Austria's former Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, whose wedding in 2018 was attended by President Vladimir Putin, to its board of directors.

Kneissl was confirmed to the Rosneft board as an independent director, the company said in a statement on June 2 following an annual general shareholder meeting.

In August 2018, Kneissl, then Austria's foreign minister in the government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, made headlines when she invited Putin to her wedding and danced with him.

The invitation came at a time when the European Union was at odds with Moscow over its annexation of Ukraines Crimea region and other issues.

Kneissl, a Middle East expert without political affiliation, was appointed to her job by the far-right Freedom Party, which has a cooperation agreement with Putin's United Russia party.

She left the government in 2019.

According to Kneissl's personal website, the 56-year-old has recently written several opinion pieces for the Kremlin-backed RT news organization.

Rosneft, Russia's biggest oil producer, is headed by Igor Sechin, a close ally of Putin.
A court in Bishkek has ordered former Kyrgyz Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov be held in pretrial detention for two months.

Babanov and at least four other prominent politicians were detained earlier this week as part of a corruption investigation connected to the Central Asian country's largest gold mine.

Speaking to RFE/RL as he arrived at Bishkeks Pervomaisky district court on June 2, Babanov denied any wrongdoing and called the charges against him absurd.

Hundreds of his supporters demonstrated outside the court to demand the ex-prime minister's release.

The other suspects detained in the case include lawmakers Torobay Zulpukarov and Asylbek Jeenbekov, whose brother Sooronbai Jeenbekov stepped down as president last year, as well as two ex-lawmakers.

The Kyrgyz government has temporarily taken over control of the Kumtor gold mine, which is run by Canada's Centerra Gold, in what President Sadyr Japarov said was a necessary move to address environmental and safety violations.

Centerra Gold has refuted the claims, calling them meritless
Authorities in North Macedonia say they have arrested six people on suspicion of running a migrant-smuggling ring that illegally transferred people from Greece to wealthier European countries.

The prosecutors office said on June 2 that the arrests were made during police raids in the capital, Skopje, and four other cities.

Police said that the criminal ring had illegally taken at least 100 migrants from Greece in trucks to locations near Serbias border since last July.

The migrants were charged by the traffickers up to $850 each.

Authorities said they came from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Syria and other Middle Eastern countries.

If tried and convicted, the six suspects face at least five years in prison.

Police were still searching for three more people with suspected links to the smuggling group.

Four other members of the ring were already serving prison terms, authorities said.

North Macedonia is a transit route for migrants trying to get from Greece to wealthier countries in Western and Northern Europe.

People smuggling has remained active in the region despite border closures and restrictions of movement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With reporting by AP and BalkanInsight
The Russian parliaments lower chamber, the State Duma, has approved in its third and final reading a controversial bill that would allow the government to regulate the basic pillars of minority languages in the country, including indigenous ethnic groups from Siberia and the Far East.

Lawmakers say the bill, approved on June 1, will help save some languages from extinction by speeding up the process for approving orthography norms, but many groups promoting indigenous languages, culture, and history in the Russian Federation see it as part of move to increase control over the teaching of such subjects in Russia's many ethnic republics and regions.

"I think the bill is strange and it will not stop the dying of some languages, unfortunately," Marina Gyrgolchaivyna, a well-known linguist and a teacher of the Chukchi language, told RFE/RL. "The process [of the disappearance of some languages] could be stopped if the indigenous languages were mandatory and not optional at schools. The study of indigenous languages at schools must be increased. Currently, such languages are taught for just one hour per week at the most."

Controversy over mandatory classes of indigenous languages in Russia's ethnic republics and regions has been an issue since President Vladimir Putin said in mid-2017 that people must not be forced to learn a language "that is not their mother tongue" and ordered prosecutors to determine whether that was happening.

Putin's statement and order were followed by calls from Russian-speaking parents at schools in the ethnic regions -- where indigenous, non-Russian ethnic groups are well represented -- to abandon mandatory studies of languages other than Russian.

That sparked protests in several such republics and regions, especially in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Udmurtia, and Chuvashia, where local languages are officially state languages, along with Russian.

In September 2019, Udmurt scholar Albert Razin, died after he lit himself on fire in Izhevsk, the capital of the Republic of Udmurtia, protesting the Russian government's move to cancel mandatory Udmurt language classes.

The new bill must still be approved by the parliament's upper chamber, the Federation Council, and endorsed into the law by Putin.
The Russian parliament's upper chamber, the Federation Council, has voted to withdraw the country from the Open Skies Treaty allowing surveillance flights over military facilities, following the departure from the accord by the United States late last year.

The move to exit from the treaty, which was approved by the parliament's lower chamber, the State Duma, last month, is now expected to be signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The accord, signed in 1992 and entered into force in 2002, allows its 34 signatories to conduct short-notice, unarmed observation and surveillance flights over one another's territories to collect data on military forces and activities. More than 1,500 flights have taken place under the agreement.

The United States formally withdrew on November 22, 2020, from the verification agreement, which Washington repeatedly said Moscow "flagrantly violated," six months after giving notice of its pending exit.

The U.S. move was another blow to the system of international arms control that former President Donald Trump had repeatedly scorned, complaining that Washington was being either deceived or unfairly restrained in its military capabilities.

The administration of President Joe Biden, who replaced Trump in the White House in January, said last month that it had decided not to reenter the Open Skies Treaty.

During his election campaign, Biden had criticized Trump's withdrawal from the treaty as "short-sighted."

Putin and Biden are expected to meet in Geneva on June 16.

The summit will be held with U.S.-Russia ties at their lowest levels since the Cold War, following Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, the Kremlin's ongoing support of separatists in Ukraine's east, where more than 13,200 people have been killed since April 2014, accusations of Moscow's interference in U.S. elections, and hacking attacks Washington says involved Russian actors.

With reporting by AP, TASS, and Interfax
Flights between Russia and Germany were briefly suspended after Moscow failed to extend German flag carrier Lufthansa's flight permissions in time, prompting a tit-for-tat response from Berlin.

"Russian authorities granted permission for Lufthansa to carry out flights to Russia in June. This means that Lufthansa flights to Moscow and St. Petersburg can operate as planned," a spokeswoman for the airline said late on June 2.

Russian airlines Aeroflot and S7 also announced flights would resume to Germany, Russias news agencies reported.

Earlier on June 2, Germanys Federal Transport Ministry said Russia's aviation authority FATA had not renewed Lufthansa's flying rights for June, meaning that flights from Germany due to depart early in the day had to be cancelled at short notice.

The German Federal Aviation Office would not issue any further permits for incoming flights by Russian airlines to Germany as long as the permits were pending on the Russian side, the ministry said.

As a result, Aeroflot and S7 flights could not take place on June 2.

There was no immediate comments from Russian authorities.

Berlin says Russia unilaterally suspended bilateral agreements on airline traffic between the two countries in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Flights have since been authorized reciprocally on a monthly basis, it says.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP
Russia's upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, has approved a bill that would ban supporters and members of organizations designated as "extremist" from being elected to any post -- a move making it virtually impossible for anyone connected to jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny to gain public office.

Under the draft bill approved on June 2 by the chamber, leaders and founders of organizations declared extremist or terrorist by Russia's courts will be banned from running for elected posts for a period of five years.

Other members or employees of such organizations will face a three-year ban.

The legislation still requires President Vladimir Putin's signature, which is widely expected.

The measure appears to be a thinly veiled attempt at neutralizing Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), which the authorities are seeking to have declared an "extremist" group ahead of parliamentary elections in September.

The FBK has already been declared a "foreign agent," a punitive designation under a separate law.

The law appears to be retroactively applicable, since it only involves restricting a person's rights, legal analysts say.

As the Russian authorities' moves threaten to make donations to the FBK illegal, a close Navalny associate told supporters to move to using cryptocurrencies to help fund their cause.

"The movement of money within the Russian banking system is clear and transparent to the Russian state, and therefore you and I need to get away from it," Leonid Volkov, who is based abroad, said in a video posted on YouTube.

"Since the state is squeezing us out of simple and understandable collection of donations through the normal banking system, it means we will patiently teach everyone to use cryptocurrencies, and we will learn ourselves.

Russian authorities have ramped up their pressure on dissent ahead of a the September elections, with opinion polls showing support for the ruling United Russia party around the lowest levels ever.

Navalny's regional headquarters have been instrumental in implementing a "smart voting" strategy designed to promote candidates who are most likely to defeat those from United Russia in various elections.

Navalny, Putin's most vocal critic, is currently serving a prison sentence on embezzlement charges that he says were trumped up because of his political activity.

The 44-year-old has been in custody since January, when he returned to Russia following weeks of medical treatment in Germany for a nerve-agent poisoning in August that he says was carried out by operatives of the Federal Security Service (FSB) at the behest of Putin. The Kremlin has denied any role in the poisoning.

Since his jailing, the Kremlin has stepped up its campaign against Navalny and his associates, many of whom have fled the country in fear of being arrested.

With reporting by Reuters
A pagan forest ritual was held in Russia's Mari El region after a local official called for "radical followers" of the Mari religion to be prevented from worshipping on government land.

A group of Mari gather for pagan prayers during a ritual in a forest near Yoshkar-Ola -- around 120 kilometers north of Kazan, the capital of the Tatarstan region -- on May 30.

The Mari are an ethnic minority of some 350,000 people in central Russia who have been described as "Europe's last pagans." The Mari who follow their pre-Christian religion engage in unique rituals and animal sacrifices in sacred forest groves. The ceremony, photographed by RFE/RL, is one of several held in the region each spring.

In April, a letter from a senior Mari El official called for the "prevention of the use of municipal institutions as a platform for holding events by radical followers of the Mari traditional religion."

The letter sent shock waves through the Mari community, which noted that the official's vague wording appeared to describe all followers of the religion as "radical." Some fear the state may be seeking to take control of the Mari's sacred forest rituals.

The Mari's sacred tree groves are located in a forest that belongs to the state. Official permission is required for Russians to gather in numbers in public.

The ceremony was led by activist and researcher Vitaly Tanakov, who responded to the controversial letter by stressing the "harmless nature" of the Maris' faith. He told RFE/RL the canons of Mari beliefs "do not permit us to condemn anyone."

The activist says: "As in ancient times, the priests called for peace and harmony, so it remains.... This also applies to prayers -- we ask for grace for seedlings, crops, and livestock. And that's all, we don't put forward any political demands at the prayers."
Aster DM Healthcare has announced a new policy to provide financial support for the next 10 years to the families of their employees who lose their lives in the fight against Covid-19.

Commenting on this Dr Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman and Managing Director of Aster DM Healthcare said: Our dedicated staff have been the Real Heroes in this battle against Covid-19, who put the needs of the patients ahead of their own lives. While most of the infected staff are back to work to continue the battle, although exhausted, a few of them have succumbed to the sinister monster. They have unfortunately left behind young families with wives, children and ageing parents. While praying for their departed souls, we thought that we should provide the families some support as many of those who died were the sole bread winners for their families.

The new policy will support the families of Aster employees who lost their lives due to Covid-19 or those who may succumb, God forbid, to the disease in the future. Their dependents will continue to receive the monthly basic salary of the deceased employee for the next 10 years. This will be applicable to all Aster DM Healthcare employees in India and GCC.

These Asterians are irreplaceable and they will always remain close to our hearts. We would always remain grateful for their contribution to Aster and the society and this is the least we can do to support their families who have been dealt with the hardest blow of their lives. We truly hope that this provides them with some support and solace in these difficult times, added Dr Moopen.

Aster DM Healthcare has served 28,000 Covid-19 positive patients till date and screened over 1,662,726 people across 7 countries in the Middle East and India. With 27 hospitals, 115 clinics, 225 pharmacies managed by 21,000 employees, Aster DM Healthcare is one of the leading integrated healthcare provider networks in the GCC and an emerging player in India.-- TradeArabia News Service
A court has ordered the detention of the former executive director of Open Russia, a pro-democracy movement, for two months after he was removed from a Warsaw-bound plane in St. Petersburg just before departure.

The court in the southern city of Krasnodar ruled on June 2 that Andrei Pivovarov should be held for two months after the authorities accused him of publishing a post on social media supporting a local election candidate last year on behalf of an "undesirable" organization.

"Don't you think it's a farce when a Facebook post poses a threat to state security?" Pivovarov asked the judge during the hearing.

The hearing came less than a day after another Kremlin critic, opposition politician and former State Duma Deputy Dmitry Gudkov, was placed in custody on suspicion he failed to pay a debt under a lease agreement for a nonresidential premise in 2015-17.

A court in Moscow is set to consider later on June 2 whether to extend the detention of Gudkov, who says he is being held to prevent him from running in parliamentary elections in September.

The Kremlin said on June 2 that "the accusations filed by law enforcement agencies have no relation to politics," but many critics say the moves are further signs of how President Vladimir Putin is stepping up his campaign to limit his opponents before the autumn vote.

Open Russia was financed by Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who moved to London after spending 10 years in prison in Russia on charges widely seen as political revenge for challenging Putin's rule.

The organization associated with Pivovarov was based in Russia and no longer legally connected with the London-based group with the same name that ended its operations in 2017.

Leaders of the Russian-based Open Russia dissolved the group last week, after it was designated an "undesirable organization," saying the move was made to protect its supporters from further "harassment" by the authorities.

Khodorkovsky told AP in an interview on June 1 that the slump in popularity of the ruling United Russia party had pushed officials to crack down on dissent.

"The government is afraid of potential protests that could emerge if they cheat too flagrantly," Khodorkovsky said. "They are trying to sanitize the political environment before the election."

The "undesirable organization" law, adopted in May 2015, was part of a series of regulations pushed by the Kremlin that squeezed many nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations that received funding from foreign sources -- mainly from Europe and the United States.
KHUJAND, Tajikistan -- A former member of the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), who quit his political activities years ago, has been sentenced to five years in prison for being "a member of a banned extremist organization."

A court in the northern Tajik city of Khujand pronounced the verdict and sentencing of Mirzo Hojimuhammad, also known as Mirzoqul Hojimatov, on June 1.

Relatives say Hojimuhammad, the former deputy chief of the IRPT's branch in Khujand, quit all political activities in 2015 and had worked as a physician in Russia's Tyumen region since 2019.

According to the relatives, charges against Hojimuhammad, who holds dual Russian-Tajik citizenship, stemmed from unspecified posts he placed on Facebook.

The 63-year-old former politician returned to Tajikistan in February and was immediately ordered not to leave the country. On May 22, he was arrested.

The IRPT, long an influential party with representatives in the Tajik government and parliament, was labeled an extremist and terrorist group and banned in 2015 -- moves the party and human rights groups say were unjustified and politically motivated.

Dozens of IRPT officials and supporters have been prosecuted and many of them imprisoned, drawing further criticism of President Emomali Rahmon's government from rights groups.

Activists say Rahmon, who has ruled Tajikistan since 1992, has used the security forces and other levers of power to sideline opponents and suppress dissent.
A massive fire broke out at a state-owned refinery to the south of Tehran, Iranian state media reported, sending thick plumes of black smoke over the city.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The fire began at the capitals Tondguyan refinery at around 7:30 p.m. local time, and was caused by a leak at a liquid gas pipeline, the head of Tehrans crisis management team, Mansour Darajati, told state TV late on June 2.

He said the cause of the incident would be investigated.

The stricken refinery has a capacity of 250,000 barrels per day, state news agency IRNA reported, and is owned by the Tehran Oil Refining Company.

A spokesman for the company dismissed "all speculation centering on sabotage at the refinery, state television wrote on its Telegram channel.

"The accident was caused by a technical problem and we are currently in the process of controlling the fire," the spokesman said.

The semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported that all operations had been suspended at the facility.

Local media reported that officials said firefighters and ambulances had been dispatched to the scene.

The fire at the refinery occurred hours after the Iranian navy's largest vessel caught fire under unknown circumstances and later sank in the Gulf of Oman.

The cause of that fire has not been publicly identified.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
The United States has sanctioned three Bulgarian individuals, including a power broker and a gambling tycoon, and dozens of companies they allegedly own or control for their extensive roles in corruption in the Southeast European country.

The Department of the Treasury said in a statement on June 2 that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has put former member of parliament Delyan Peevski, prominent businessman Vassil Bozhkov, and ex-national-security official Ilko Zhelyazkov on the Global Magnitsky list, along with a total of 64 entities said to be linked to them.

Bulgaria, a NATO and European Union member, has struggled to end endemic corruption that has held the country back economically. Bulgaria is the EUs poorest member state and routinely comes in toward the bottom of the bloc's annual corruption perception polls.

The United States stands with all Bulgarians who strive to root out corruption by promoting accountability for corrupt officials who undermine the economic functions and democratic institutions of Bulgaria, OFAC Director Andrea M. Gacki said in a statement issued by the State Department.

This designation under the Global Magnitsky sanctions program shows that we are committed to combating corruption wherever it may be.

Peevski, who controls large swaths of the Bulgarian media landscape, including newspapers and television stations, is considered to be one of the most powerful people in the country.

Bulgarian opposition officials say he had been behind the appointment of ministers and members of the judiciary.

Peevski has regularly engaged in corruption, using influence peddling and bribes to protect himself from public scrutiny and exert control over key institutions and sectors in Bulgarian society, the Treasury Department said in its statement.

The Treasury Department said Peevski sought to influence municipal elections in 2019 by providing politicians with positive media coverage in exchange for protection from criminal investigations.

Zhelyazkov was Peevskis frontman, carrying out various bribe schemes, the Treasury Department said.

In material distributed on Capitol Hill last year by Washington lobbyist Marshall Harris, Peevski was described as one of the key architects of Bulgarias democratic decline and devolution into a criminal state.

Harris, a former State Department official, called Peevski the oligarch in chief and the ultimate puppet master in Bulgaria in the material published on the Department of Justices foreign lobbying website.

Harris represents two businessmen who accuse the Bulgarian state of seeking to seize their assets under false pretenses.

Bozhkov, who made a fortune in the Bulgarian gambling industry, has bribed government officials on several occasions, including the former chairman of the now-abolished State Commission on Gambling, the Treasury Department said.

The businessman paid the former chairman $6,200 a day to revoke the gambling licenses of his competitors, according to an investigation by Bulgarian prosecutors.

It also accused Bozhkov of providing money to a former Bulgarian official and a Bulgarian politician earlier this year to help the tycoon create a channel for Russian political leaders to influence Bulgarian government officials.

The sanctions could impact snap parliamentary elections this summer.

Peevski had been a key member of the Movement for Rights and Freedom (DPS) party, which polled fourth in parliamentary elections in April.

A party backed by Bozhkov received less than 3 percent of the April vote, just missing out on a seat in parliament.

New elections were called for this summer after the parties that entered parliament failed to form a government.
Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry has refused to prolong the accreditation of an independent Polish journalist who earlier this year accused one of the ministry's officers of sexual harassment and of pressuring her to write positive articles about the Central Asian nation in exchange for remaining accredited.

Ministry spokesman Yusuf Qobuljonov wrote on Telegram on June 2 that the decision not to extend the accreditation for Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska, a correspondent for Al-Jazeera, was made due to "violations of legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan."

The statement did not specify which laws the journalist violated or how.

Pikulicka-Wilczewska responded on Twitter by saying the ministry's "claim that I humiliated the honor and dignity of citizens, promoted ethnic and religious enmity & interfered in the internal affairs of the country" was not true and an attempt at silencing her.

According to the journalist, the ministry also accused her of violating the law "on the protection of children from information that is harmful to their health."

"People who have worked with [me] and followed me over the past three years know that this is an attempt to silence me and a sign that there is little change in the country. They also know that this will not stop me from calling out injustice and human rights abuses in Uzbekistan," Pikulicka-Wilczewska tweeted, reiterating that the move comes after her complaints about sexual harassment by a ministry employee who also pressured her to write positive articles about the Central Asian country.

In early February, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry officially apologized to Pikulicka-Wilczewska, who also worked for The Guardian and Eurasianet, saying that the employee in question had been fired.

Pikulicka-Wilczewska says her accreditation was then prolonged by three months.

British Ambassador to Uzbekistan Tim Torlot called the decision "disappointing."

"Media freedom means supporting & defending journalists, even if what they write is critical or controversial. Journalists should be protected, not pressured,"Torlot tweeted.

The Paris-based media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders denounced the Uzbek Foreign Ministrys decision as an attempt to restrict press freedom, and called on the country's authorities to let [the journalist] work.

Mihra Rittmann, senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said on Twitter that the Uzbek Foreign Ministry's decision "follows a wave of criminal cases brought against critical bloggers and journalists."

Last week, three Uzbek reporters at the website Effect.uz went on trial in the southern region of Qashqadaryo on charges of impeding an official from carrying out their work, interfering into an ongoing investigation and court procedures, libel, and insulting a public official.

The trial's opening session on May 27 lasted only 30 minutes. The journalists were asked by the judge if they were familiar with the indictment against them, which they said they werent. The trial was then adjourned for several days.

Effect.uz was registered in 2019 and focuses mainly on high-profile trials that lack transparency and coverage. One of the trials was the case of blogger Otabek Sattoriy, who was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison last month.

In March, another blogger and rights activist, Miraziz Bazarov, was severely beaten by unknown individuals, reportedly over his views supporting the rights of the LGBT community.

Instead of seeking to investigate and prosecute Bazarovs attackers, the authorities have instead pursued several lines of investigation against the blogger himself.

These and other cases have called into question President Shavkat Mirziyoev's democratization reforms he announced after he took over following the death of his authoritarian predecessor, Islam Karimov, in 2016.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Uzbek Service and Eurasianet
BUTLER -- Joan Walsh, of Butler, has dozens of memories from her childhood at Malabar Farm.

The 74-year-old woman remembers spending hours at the Lucas-based farm and even traveled to Texas as a young girl when the farms owner, Louie Bromfield attempted a version of Malabar Farm in Wichita County, Texas.

The project was short-lived, but she was there to experience it while it lasted.

My father bought cattle from Louis Bromfield, so we spent a lot of time at Malabar Farm, Walsh said. Then, we moved to Texas to start a Malabar Farm down there.

That was around the 1950s, she said. And they only stayed a few years.

The land that they bought, the only thing that would grow was sunflowers, she said.

Malabar Farms website also recounts the story. It states that on March 31, 1949, the First National Bank of Wichita Falls, Texas issued a check to the Wichita Chamber of Commerce, based on a promissory note from Louie Bromfield and one other for $10,275.

The soil on the 411-acre piece of land is described as badly depleted of nutrients and ranged from a clay-based soil so hard a normal farm tractor of its time couldn't begin to break up the hard pan to a sandy loam.

Further, an irrigation system was needed because of the lack of rainfall.

This venture was cut short after conflict between the Chamber and Bromfield. Walshs father Roger Culler was involved, too. According to Malabar Farms website, Culler received one third of the undivided interest on the farm in 1952.

Walsh also recalled other memories at the Ohio-based Malabar Farm. One such memory involved Louies infamous boxer dogs and an automatic car.

The dogs got in and shoved it out of gear, so it went into the pond, and Louie didnt gives two hoots about the car, but he came out saying, my dogs, my dogs, Walsh said.

It just so happened that Bromfield was friendly with the Walsh family, too. Joan Walsh, who married Dan Walsh, still has a picture of Bromfield beside a car from Walsh Sound Equipment, which was once located in downtown Mansfield and operated by her father-in-law, Bob Walsh.

Joan Walsh was born in Lucas and later graduated from Lucas High School. She lived in Wisconsin for some time before returning to Richland County.
MANSFIELD  Seven years after its establishment, the Richland County Land Bank will help a neighboring county start the same agency.

The land bank board approved a contract of services with Morrow County on Wednesday. Richland County will provide the neighbor various assistance in starting a land bank and receive a compensation of $15,000 in total.

Amy Hamrick, Richland County Land Banks manager, said the two counties have been in conversations about the subject for many years.

There are three phases in the 18-month contract, according to the document presented to the board on Wednesday. Richland County will offer Morrow County drafts of Richland Countys land reutilization corporation code of regulations and other necessary documents in the first phase.

Richland County will also help develop the policies of the Morrow County Land Bank along with the procedures for acquisition and disposition of properties.

In the second phase, Richland County will facilitate the Morrow County Land Bank entering into Memoranda of Understanding with all municipalities and townships within its jurisdiction. It will also assist Morrow County in property inspection and writing bid specifications.

Richland County will keep providing ongoing phone and email support following the initiation of the new land banks operation, according to the contract.

Bart Hamilton, chair of the board and the County Treasurer, said Morrow County is much smaller than Richland County, so it would have to adapt what it has been doing accordingly -- which will help it learn something on the way, too.

While Richland County hired Western Reserve Land Conservancy to help organize the land bank, Hamilton said many issues came up and there were not many people to turn to. With Richland County's help, Morrow County has someone to call when encountering challenges in future meetings, Hamilton said.

The Richland County Land Bank was established in November 2013. It recently marked a milestone of transferring 1,000 parcels. Among the transfers, 648 were vacant lots, 283 involved demolitions.

In terms of new development on these properties, two single-family and four multi-family-houses with 14 units in total were built, according to the land bank.

The board voted for more transfers on Wednesday, including multiple parcels on Harker Street for Oasis of Love Church. Hamrick said the church will use the lots for additional parking for its community events.

Hamrick said about 90 percent of the parcels owned by the land bank are properties that did not sell at the sheriffs sale and were forfeited to Ohio. A few of them were donations. The land bank, on average, has more than 400 parcels on the list of available properties.
MANSFIELD -- In honor of Responsible Fatherhood Month in June, The Starts Within Organization will host a two-day interactive workshop to celebrate positive father-child relationships and discuss strategies to empower active fathers and father-figures.

The "Crafts with Dad" event will take place Friday, June 4, from 6 to 8 p.m. and also Saturday, June 5, from noon to 12:30 p.m. Both sessions will be at the North End Community Improvement Collaborative, 134 N. Main St.

Fathers are encouraged to bring their child(ren) to enjoy bonding time by doing a craft provided by the Mansfield Art Center.

Debra Weaver, program director at the MAC, will facilitate the Saturday afternoon craft session.

In addition to Crafts with Dad, SWO founder and CEO Carlos Christian will discuss the legalities of fatherhood, setting goals for your children, and successful co-parenting.

Admission is FREE. For more information contact Angel Singleton, case manager, at 419-610-6915 or email startswithin2011@gmail.com.
MANSFIELD -- A $15.5 million proposed dry dam was not on Mansfield City Council's agenda Tuesday night. But that didn't stop a torrent of words between two council members on the topic.

By the time the words stopped flowing, a member of council's rules committee wondered if a parliamentarian should be in the legislative body's future.

A letter from Mansfield resident Deborah Mount sparked the lively conversation, largely between 3rd Ward Council member Jon Van Harlingen and 5th Ward representative Jason Lawrence.

In her letter, Mount asked when council planned a public utilities committee meeting on the potential project -- first discussed by council in 2018.

At one point during the exchange, which became a back-and-forth dialogue at times, Lawrence accused Van Harlingen of holding "consitutients and stockholders at bay" by not scheduling a committee meeting.

Van Harlingen responded that he was not opposed to scheduling the meeting, but preferred to wait until more is known about the city's sewer and water funds.

"I want to see a stablization of these funds (before moving forward)," said Van Harlingen, who also chair's council's finance committee. "If we had a committee meeting tomorrow, I would say the same thing."

In May, Van Harlingen said the city has taken on an additional $50.6 million in water and sewer fund bond debt in recent years, including $10 million for state-mandated improvements at the wastewater treatment plant and $35 million for state-mandated improvements at the water treatment plant.

The project, aimed at protecting homes and businesses in the city's north end flood plain, was ultimately was put on hold in March 2019 until anticipated revenue from the $17 million water meter program, also being funded by a bond issue, was realized.

The replacement program was expected to be completed in 2020, but the ongoing installation program has been slowed, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The city's public works director, Dave Remy, told council on Tuesday night that 16,172 new meters have been installed, but that 2,253 remain to be replaced. The city has not yet realized the expected additional revenue from the project, Van Harlingen has said.

The dry dam topic had not been a serious topic for council recently. But it bubbled back to the surface in April when Joe and Reba Matern, owners of Matern Metal Works, Inc., asked when the city plans to move forward with the project, titled the Touby Run Flood Mitigation Hazard Project.

The project is aimed at protecting homes and businesses in the city's north end flood plain, which officials have also said is key to also spurring economic development.

The 903-foot-long dry dam was proposed to be built just west of North Lake Park and would have a capacity of 135 million gallons. Officials said it would prohibit flooding except during the "100-year" rain events.

The city administration proposed the project in 2018 after several years of study. Properties and easements were acquired for the project and engineering for the work was done.

Mayor Tim Theaker was not present Tuesday night, another reason Van Harlingen cited for not scheduling the committee meeting.

Council President David Falquette was the acting mayor during the meeting. At-Large Council member Phil Scott, a former council president, presided over the session.

Lawrence said the state's COVID-19 health restrictions are being lifted as of Wednesday, which would allow for a full discussion of the topic with all stakeholders and interested residents in the meeting.

"Life is getting back to normal. We have a lot of people who want to see the project move forward," Lawrence said. "We must have a serious discussion about this. We can't just keep putting the brakes on this."

Lawrence said it appears the city may be able to use some portion of its $22.5 million American Rescue Plan federal funds to help pay for the project and that state grants may also be available.

"This is a golden opportunity to redevelop the north end," Lawrence said. "This is a legacy that we are leaving and leaving and you keep putting the brakes on it."

Van Harlingen said, "I want to see the grant. I want to see what part of the $22 million the city administration is recommending for the project. Where's the money coming from the grants with the state? Everybody keeps talking about it. I haven't see it.

"That's why I have trouble scheduling a committee meeting (on the topic)," Van Harlingen said.

Near the end of the meeting, Stephanie Zader, an At-large member and a rules committee member, suggested council may need a parliamentarian to help maintain a better understanding of proper meeting etiquette.

"I think this meeting tonight showed we have a lack of understanding of the rules," Zader said.

Falquette pointed out he normally serves as parliamentarian as council president, but added he had no objection to discussing the effort with the rules committee.

Also on Tuesday, City Council:

-- discussed during a parks committee meeting a spate of recent vandalism in several parks. Police Chief Keith Porch said he would share with council members options about security cameras that could be installed.

-- honored Mansfield Fire Dept. Lt. Shawn Yerian for completing the four-year U.S. Fire Administration's National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer Program. To complete the program, Yerian took one two-week course per year at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Md. After each course, Yerian had to complete a research project related to the MFD within six months. Through his grant-writing efforts, Yerian has helped the the department obtain more than $1 million in outside financial assistance.

-- honored Michelle Swoope who recently after more than 31 years in the city's HR department. A Mansfield Senior High School graduate, Swoope earned an associate's degree in business administration from North Central State College and a bachelor's degree in business administration from Mount Vernon Nazarene University.

-- voted to create a Public Arts Commission and also established a permit and approval process for murals on public property or visible from a public thoroughfare. The commission could help accomplish one of the central goals found in the Mansfield Rising downtown investment plan.

-- voted to approve demolition requests for 230 W. Sixth St., 461 Busch Place, 1229 Boyle Road and 1233 Boyle Road.

-- discussed during caucus the appropriation of $6,393.59 to buy crime lab equipment and $7,500 to purchase DNA supplies for the crime lab.

-- approved the transfer of $41,549.43 within the street maintenance and repair fund to make the initial annual payment on a street sweeper truck.

-- approved amended annual action plan for the city's 2021 federal Community Development Block Grant funds.

-- discussed during caucus the 2022 tax budgets for the Township of Mansfield and the City of Mansfield, which must be submitted to the county auditor's office.

-- approved a 36-month contract with an electric supplier for city-owned buildings that is projected to save the city about $80,000 annually. The city, now paying 4.74 cents per kilowatt hour will pay 3.81 cents per hour under the new contract. "It's by far one of the lowest rates I have seen," Van Harlingen said.
MANSFIELD -- There was at least one piece of good news from the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of U.S. children dying from heatstroke after being left in a car dropped by more than half.

As more people worked from home, the instances of a harried mom or dad rushing to work, and forgetting their child was in the backseat, diminished across the country.

And with advances in technology, there is no reason numbers should have to climb again.

In 2020, 24 children in the United States died from what's been titled pediatric vehicular heatstroke, down from 53 in 2019, 53 in 2018 and 44 in 2017.

According to the website www.noheatstroke.org, 883 U.S. children have died after being left unattended in cars since 1998, a population roughly equivalent to the villages of Plymouth or Butler. In more than half of these cases, the parent was unaware or had forgotten their child was even in the vehicle, experts said.

As the country launches into the traditional summer months, and temperatures rise, local officials caution residents about the dangers of leaving children, and even pets, inside parked vehicles.

"People are of the mindset it will never happen to them," said Reed Richmond, educator for Richland Public Health. "We ask if you're going to transport a child anytime, even if it's something you do on a regular basis, put something in the backseat that you need.

"It could be a badge you need to swipe to get into your office, a briefcase, a purse ... some people have even taken off their left shoe and put it next to a car seat in the back."

It doesn't take searing temperatures or an extended period of time to put a child's life in danger. In August 2017 in Mason, Ohio, an 8-month-old died inside a car on an 80-degree day. In 2018, two Ohio children perished -- a 1-month-old on a 93-degree day in Zanesville in September and a 6-month-old on a 93-degree day in July.

Medical experts point out a child's body can't efficiently regulate its temperature. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, their bodies can heat up three to five times faster than adults.

In fact, research shows for children that PVH is the leading cause of non-crash vehicle deaths, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Even with the windows rolled down two inches, it only takes 10 minutes for the inside of a vehicle to reach deadly temperatures on a hot summer day, said David L. Strickland, NHTSA administrator.

Children should never be left alone in or around a motor vehicle, not even for a quick errand. Any number of things can go critically wrong in the blink of an eye."

Brigitte Coles, community engagement specialist for Richland County Children Services, echoed the local and national concerns.

"It's a never safe to leave a child alone in a vehicle, even if it doesn't feel warm or you've cracked a window," she said. "Any caregiver or parent, can forget a child is in the back seat.

"If there is a change in your routine, or you become busy or distracted that can increase the risk of forgetting a child is in a vehicle."

She said the agency encourages parents to establish a routine to keep their children safe and prevent tragic deaths in hot cars.

SAFER TECHNOLOGY

Technology could soon eliminate the need for a parent to leave a shoe beside the child's car seat. Auto manufacturers are already producing new vehicles with this advanced safety protection.

For example, Hyundai has made its rear occupant alert technology available in 13 of its vehicles, including cars and SUVs.

According to the automaker's website, the system monitors the rear seats using an ultrasonic sensor that helps to detect the movements of children.

"The system first reminds drivers to check the rear seats when exiting the vehicle with a message on the center instrument cluster display," the website said. "If the system detects movement in the rear seats after the driver leaves the vehicle it will honk the horn, flash the lights and send a Blue Link alert to the drivers smartphone via Hyundais Blue Link connected car system."

It will be years before all new vehicles are equipped with the technology. However, there are child car seats on the market that offer largely the same assistance.

The Eternis S SensorSafe Convertible Car Seat features an alarm to let parents and caregivers know when their child is left in the car. It also alerts them if the child unbuckles the chest clip in a moving car.

A device on the seat connects to a phone and sends an alert when the ambient temperature in the car changes, or if your child has been seated too long.

If that option seems a bit too expensive, parents and caregivers may want to consider something like Elephon eClip Baby Reminder Car Seat Alarm, which connects to existing car seats.

According to its website, the alarm attaches to the car seat or seat belt, connects to smartphones, and sends proximity alerts.

"Turn it on and it syncs via Bluetooth to either a smartphone or an accompanying key fob," the website states. "If a parent or caregiver gets out of their vehicle and walks more than 15 feet away without their child, an alarm goes off.

"It also has a built-in thermometer and will alert the driver if temps in the back seat get either too hot or too cold."

You should get into the habit of putting a personal item, like your phone or laptop bag, in the back seat even if your child isnt with you. Doing this will force you to check the back seat after every trip.

Protect your pets, too

Richland County Dog Warden Missy Houghton warned it's not safe to leave pets inside vehicles on warm days. It may also be against the law.

"It's just as detrimental for animals as it is for people," Houghton said. "Animals are less effective at cooling than people.

"If (leaving the animal in a vehicle) causes distress to an animal, that could be considered cruelty to animals. If the animal is overheated in some way because of being left like that, that is animal cruelty."

For example, dogs can sweat via their paws, but their primary method of evaporated cooling when overheated is panting. When a dog gets hot, it opens its mouth and breathes heavily. As water evaporates from the dog's tongue, nasal passages and lungs, its helps lower its body temperature.

"Even when the vehicle's windows are left open a crack, you car still bakes inside when temperatures rise," Houghton said.

So what's her advice when people have to get out of their car this summer while leaving their pet inside?

"I would advise people to just leave (the pet) at home if they are doing anything that involves extra steps outside the vehicle," Houghton said. "That is going to be the safest for everyone involved."
The iGA Q1 report also revealed an increase in the number of visits to the National Portal bahrain.bh, topping 3,570,000, an 83% rise. There were also more than 850,000 online financial transactions conducted, an 87% surge.

Twenty-three eServices were launched during quarter one, with 18 currently in development and 45 expected to be launched soon in partnership with other government entities before year end.

iGA Deputy CE of Electronic Transformation Dr Zakareya Ahmed AlKhajah said these results, announced in a Q1 2021 report, showed a major spike in the performance of digital channels and services, in line with the Governments digital transformation efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic.

AlKhajah said that the exceptional growth recorded during Q1 was the result of early investment in the kingdoms digital infrastructure and the deployment of advanced technologies, as well as partnerships between the public and private sectors.

Digital transformation initiatives and the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector receive continuous support from the kingdoms leadership and government, reaffirming its commitment to accelerating the development of eServices.

This has helped maintain Bahrains business continuity during the pandemic.

AlKhajah said that the pandemic revealed national commitment and cooperation among Government entities towards achieving Bahrains digital transformation goals.

In line with this, several eServices were launched to develop the public sectors ICT infrastructure.

Statistics have shown an exceptional increase in the performance of government channels, mainly due to the automation of most essential sectors, including health, justice, housing, real estate, and others. This led to a record decrease in transaction times.

Of the 23 eServices launched during Q1 this year, 12 were by the Ministry of Interior and its directorates, including Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs (NPRA) services, such as new visa and special passport issuance requests, visa transfers, and visa request cancellations; General Directorate of Traffic (GDT) services such as issuance of lost or damaged vehicle ownership and plate numbers ownership certificates; guard services; and ID card services including residential address updates.

Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs & Endowments eServices include unified payments for judicial services.

Ministry of Housing (MoH) services include new housing requests, housing application inquiries, contact and bank detail updates, and Mazaya and other financing requests.

Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications (MTT) offerings include small ships services, including renewal of pleasure boat registrations, renewal of navigation licenses for pleasure boats, and status enquiry requests.

Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) services include license issuances and renewals for developers.

Alkhajah said that the 18 eServices currently in development are related to a new law assigning the processing of minor accident cases to insurance companies as well as reconciled accident reporting; authorizations for vehicles passing through King Fahd Causeway; more ID card services; General Directorate of Civil Defense services; and more MoH services.

The report revealed that the National Portal recorded over 570,000 financial transactions, an increase of 70% than last year.

At the same time, there was a jump in revenues to BD92 million, double the amount received during the same period last year. These results reflect the publics awareness of government eServices and their value in helping them finalize their transactions easily and quickly via the National Portal without the need to visit service centers.

The most popular eServices were ID card, judicial, electricity and water, and visa services.

The report also contained the results for the Governments smartphone apps, which were used over 56 million times and generated 188,000 online transactions for an increase of 75% compared to Q1 of 2020.

The revenue generated exceed BD9,200,000, which is an increase of 95%. This is due to the numerous features introduced to the apps, not to mention their ease of use and the convenience of accessing them at any time and place via smartphones and tablets.

The highest number of users recorded was by the BeAware Bahrain app, followed by the Sehati app with a increase of 330%, Islamiyat app with 281% due to the inclusion of services such as zakat and charity and Fael Khair, and the Government Directory app with 218%.

Revenues also increased for other eServices via the National Portal, namely the ones for Credit Report with 493%, the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs & Endowments with 283%, and passport renewal by 182%.-TradeArabia News Service
Contributed photo

An operator uses a lift assist to safely place a 155mm projectile containing VX nerve agent in a tray to begin the destruction process at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant. As of May 28, two of five chemical weapons destruction campaigns are complete at the Blue Grass Army Depot.
Written By

Joe Schulz served as the reporter of the Green Laker in 2019 and 2020, before being hired as a reporter for the Commonwealth in October 2020. He is from Oshkosh and graduated from UW-Oshkosh in December with a bachelor's degree in journalism.

|
Between 20 and 25 million barrels of oil can be recovered from the Mafraq Block 70 oil field in Oman, says the company tasked with its extraction.

Swedish oil and gas company Maha Energy plans on investing $20 million into the field, with its initial efforts involving precise mapping of the area, before embarking on an aggressive drilling strategy, according to a Times of Oman report.

Although this might be Mahas first foray into Oman, its top management are no strangers to Omans oil and gas setup. CEO Jonas Lindvall has been involved in oil and gas in Oman since 1986, and the companys Vice President of Exploration and Production, Jamie McKeown, has overseen the drilling of and production from many offshore and onshore wells since the mid-80s.

Mahas philosophy is to acquire existing hydrocarbon assets and increase value by applying modern hydrocarbon recovery technologies, said Lindvall. As such, Maha is more of an engineering-based production and exploration company, rather than the traditional exploration and production company.

The initial plan is to further define and appraise the field so that it can be brought on production in due course, he added. Secondly the company plans on drilling further exploration wells in the area. To that extent, the company is embarking on defining the existing seismic data to generate prospects to drill.

According to initial estimates from previous work done in the area, Maha estimates there is about 20 to 25 million barrels recoverable from the Mafraq field alone, explained Lindvall.

Initially there will be limited job opportunities generated through the exploration work that the company will undertake in Oman, Lindvall revealed. However, during the early stages, the company will contribute to the Oman economy by purchasing local goods and services. In the event the field generates commercial amounts of oil, we hope to expand its operations in the country to such an extent it can become a significant employer, he added.

Block 70 is an onshore block that includes the shallow undeveloped Mafraq heavy oil field. The block is in the middle of the prolific oil producing Ghaba Salt Basin in the central part of Oman. The Mafraq oil field was discovered by Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) in 1988 and was further delineated by four wells and 3D seismic activity in stages until 2010.

Two wells were placed on pump production tests, of which one was placed on an extended test in order to prove long term productivity. The block covers an area of 639 sq.km and is covered by both 2D and 3D seismic data that has been acquired by previous operators, and has been made available to Maha. Eight wells have been drilled within the block boundary, five of which are on the Mafraq oil field.

-- TradeArabia News Service
Peterborough - Eva H. Sacharuk died, peacefully, at her home in Peterborough, N.H. on June 1, 2021. Before moving to Peterborough in 2019, she was a long-time resident of Wenham, Massachusetts where she raised her family with her husband Serge since 1960. Eva is survived by her loving husban
Russia has decided to resume flights from Moscow to London from June 2 thanks to an improved Covid-19 situation, while it keeps in place bans on flights to Turkey and Tanzania until June 21 inclusive, said a report citing a statement from the coronavirus task force.

It said there will be three flights per week from Moscow to London, Reuters reported.

Russia also has also decided to resume a limited number of regular flights to other countries, including Austria, Hungary, Lebanon and Croatia, it said.
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, the newest national airline of the UAE, has announced the launch of its latest route to Chisinau, Moldova, starting on September 4, taking the airlines total number of destinations to 25.



The flight to Chisinau will be operated two times per week on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Tickets are already on sale on wizzair.com and the airlines mobile app (also available in Arabic), with fares starting as low as AED179 ($48.7).



Chisinau is the capital city and the major industrial centre of Moldova, situated along the Bacu (Byk) River in the south-central part of the country. A city with a rich culture, exquisite architecture, beautiful landscapes, tasty and unique cuisine, Chisinau promises to delight and surprise all visitors.



Kees Van Schaick, Managing Director of Wizz Air Abu Dhabi said: We are happy to announce a new route from Abu Dhabi to Chisinau following the update of the green travel list which included Moldova. As restrictions ease, the demand for travel is increasing and we are committed to providing additional travel opportunities to our customers by expanding our current network with new and exciting routes.



With the recent update of the green list of countries, passengers travelling from Moldova do not need to quarantine on arrival in the UAE capital. Passengers will need to take a PCR test on arrival into the UAE, on the sixth day after arriving, and on day 12 for those staying for 12 days or more. Children 12 years of age and younger are exempted, unless they show symptoms of Coronavirus.



Wizz Air Abu Dhabi has the youngest fleet comprising four brand new state-of-the-art Airbus A321neo aircraft, offering the lowest fuel burn, emissions, and noise footprint.  TradeArabia News Service
Close

This week, SpaceX will launch an Ethereum (ETH) node to the International Space Station (ISS), marking the first time an ETH node has been launched into space.

SpaceX has been hired by SpaceChain to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. The launch of the ETH node aboard the ISS will be the company's fourth blockchain payload to enter orbit, according to SpaceChain. It will serve as a "demonstration of the integration of Ethereum technology with its hardware on the ISS."

The ETH node will be deployed on the International Space Station, and the security of the installations, according to SpaceChain, will be critical in keeping the ETH node network secure. The ISS installation solution for the ETH node will be provided by Nexus Inc, a SpaceChain client. The launch of the ETH node is set for June 3, 2021.

This is simply the latest example of the crypto industry's lengthy infatuation with space flight. According to CoinDesk, UMA and Opium partnered up earlier this week to provide decentralized insurance coverage for SpaceX launches.



SpaceX to Bring First Ever ETH Node to International Space Station

Elon Musk said per TweakTown that SpaceX would use its Falcon 9 rocket to deliver the first Ethereum node to the International Space Station. When SpaceX's plane takes off, it will be SpaceChain's fourth blockchain payload to reach orbit.

However, this will be the first demonstration of Ethereum's incorporation with the International Space Station's hardware. Nexus Incorporated will join SpaceX and SpaceChain in addition to SpaceX and SpaceChain.

ALSO READ: Elon Musk SpaceX Constructing Ocean Spaceport Deimos; Is It Allocated for Starship Launch Next Year?





This SpaceChain client is in charge of supplying the first ETH node with an ISS installation solution. Meanwhile, Elon Musk's SpaceX and SpaceChain detailed how they want to secure the forthcoming ETH node.

SpaceX, SpaceChain To Keep ETH Node Safe By Adding Security Installations

After the first ETH node is successfully placed in the International Space Station, SpaceChain plans to release various security installations to keep the new ETH node's network safe in space.

Explica earlier reported that SpaceChain planned to launch multiple Bitcoin nodes in addition to the first Ethereum node. The business has stated that its mission will commence on June 14.

People will be able to use BTC and ETH blockchains for their portfolio of services, according to SpaceChain. Data security products, asset custody, and other services are among them.

RELATED ARTICLE: SpaceX to Reuse Dragon Spacecraft Fleet After Rocket Booster from NASA Crew-1 'Leaned'

Check out more news and information on SpaceX on Science Times.
Indonesia plans to re-open borders in July 2021, with destinations including Bali, Batam and Bintan serving as 'locomotive' regions to kickstart tourism, said the countrys President Joko Widodo.



In preparation, the government has carried out a widespread vaccination program for targeted groups, including the tourism workforce. In addition, the government has also initiated the Cleanliness, Health, Safety, and Environmental Sustainability (CHSE) certification program throughout the tourism sector in Indonesia.



Indonesia announced at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) Dubai 2021, the leading global event for the Middle East's travel industry that it is looking to partially re-open its borders to international visitors.



On behalf of the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia (MoTCE), Deputy Minister for Tourism Marketing, Nia Niscaya, signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) between the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy Republic of Indonesia and Emirates Airlines during ATM 2021. The cooperation aims to boost marketing activities overseas, especially in Dubai.



Middle East travellers have long been a key market for Indonesian tourism destinations. In 2019, the Middle East recorded a significant increase in arrivals to Indonesia, registering 263,923 visitors (27.88% higher than 2018).



"By participating in ATM Dubai 2021, outbound tourism's leading global event, we are demonstrating that Indonesia is confident of maintaining its position as a world-class destination," said Nia Niscaya.  TradeArabia News Service
Dubai carrier flydubai has announced the resumption of its operations to the Italian city of Naples staring from July 1. The lowcost airline will operate three weekly flights to Naples International Airport (NAP) offering passengers more options this summer.

From today (June 2), a quarantine-free travel corridor has been established between Italy and the UAE enabling passengers to travel between the two countries with less restrictions.

Under this new arrangement, a negative Covid-19 test result will be required 48 hours before departure from the UAE., said the statement from flydubai.

On arrival in Italy, all passengers over the age of two years will be required to take a rapid antigen test. The safe travel corridor with Italy is the latest in a series of agreements signed by the UAE including those with Bahrain, Greece and Serbia, it stated.

Chief Commercial Officer Hamad Obaidalla said: "We are pleased to see more countries opening up for safe tourism and is a step in the right direction to speed up recovery and boost travel this summer."

"This is a good sign that confidence in travel is returning and the efforts taken by stakeholders in the tourism industry to safeguard every step of the journey will benefit our passengers. We look forward to restarting our flights to Naples, a much-anticipated destination on the flydubai network," he noted.

Jeyhun Efendi, Senior VP, Commercial Operations and E-commerce at flydubai, said: "We are excited to offer our passengers convenient travel options to some of the most popular holiday spots in Europe including Mykonos and Santorini."

"Naples is another popular destination for the summer and a great starting point to discover the beauty of the Amalfi coast. flydubai has made these European destinations more accessible for passengers from the UAE and the GCC and we look forward to restarting our operations to Catania in the coming few weeks," he added.

The Dubai budget carrier said it will increase the frequency of flights to Naples to a four-weekly service starting from August 1.

Flights to Bodrum and Trabzon in Turkey will start from June 4 and 24 respectively. The carrier will commence flights to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt from June 15 and to the Greek islands Santorini and Mykonos from June 18.

flydubai will also restart its operations to Batumi in Georgia and Tivat in Montenegro from June 25 and both destinations offer UAE residents visa on arrival, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
CAIRO (AP)  Workers dig and ferry wheelbarrows laden with sand to open a new shaft at a bustling archaeological site outside of Cairo, while a handful of Egyptian archaeologists supervise from garden chairs. The dig is at the foot of the Step Pyramid of Djoser, arguably the worlds oldest pyramid, and is one of many recent excavations that are yielding troves of ancient artifacts from the countrys largest archaeological site.

As some European countries reopen to international tourists, Egypt has already been trying for months to attract them to its archaeological sites and museums. Officials are betting that the new ancient discoveries will set it apart on the mid- and post-pandemic tourism market. They need visitors to come back in force to inject cash into the tourism industry, a pillar of the economy.

But like countries elsewhere, Egypt continues to battle the coronavirus, and is struggling to get its people vaccinated. The country has, up until now, received only 5 million vaccines for its population of 100 million people, according to its Health Ministry. In early May, the government announced that 1 million people had been vaccinated, though that number is believed to be higher now.

In the meantime, authorities have kept the publicity machine running, focused on the new discoveries.

In November, archaeologists announced the discovery of at least 100 ancient coffins dating back to the Pharaonic Late Period and Greco-Ptolemaic era, along with 40 gilded statues found 2,500 years after they were first buried. That came a month after the discovery of 57 other coffins at the same site, the necropolis of Saqqara that includes the step pyramid.

Saqqara is a treasure, said Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Anany while announcing the November discovery, estimating that only 1% of what the site contains has been unearthed so far.

Our problem now is that we dont know how we can possibly wow the world after this, he said.

If they dont, it certainly wont be for lack of trying.

In April, Zahi Hawass, Egypts best-known archaeologist, announced the discovery of a 3,000-year-old lost city in southern Luxor, complete with mud brick houses, artifacts and tools from pharaonic times. It dates back to Amenhotep III of the 18th dynasty, whose reign (13901353 B.C.) is considered a golden era for ancient Egypt.

That discovery was followed by a made-for-TV parade celebrating the transport of 22 of the countrys prized royal mummies from central Cairo to their new resting place in a massive facility farther south in the capital, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.

The Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh is now home to an archaeological museum, as is Cairos International Airport, both opened in recent months. And officials have also said they still plan to open the massive new Grand Egyptian Museum next to the Giza Pyramids by January, after years of delays. Entrance fees for archeological sites have been lowered, as has the cost of tourist visas.

The government has for years played up its ancient history as a selling point, as part of a yearslong effort to revive the countrys battered tourism industry. It was badly hit during and after the popular uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak and the ensuring unrest. The coronavirus dealt it a similar blow, just as it was getting back on its feet.

In 2019, foreign tourisms revenue stood at $13 billion. Egypt received some 13.1 million foreign tourists  reaching pre-2011 levels for the first time. But in 2020, it greeted only 3.5 million foreign tourists, according to the minister el-Anany.

At the newly opened National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Mahmoud el-Rays, a tour guide, was leading a small group of European tourists at the hall housing the royal mummies.

2019 was a fantastic year, he said. But corona reversed everything. It is a massive blow.

Tourism traffic strengthened in the first months of 2021, el-Anany, the minister, told The Associated Press in a recent interview, though he did not give specific figures. He was optimistic that more would continue to come year-round.

Egypt is a perfect destination for post-COVID in that our tourism is really an open-air tourism, he said.

But it remains to be seen if the country truly has the virus under control. It has recorded a total of 14,950 deaths from the virus and is still seeing more than a thousand new cases daily. Like other countries, the real numbers are believed to be much higher. In Egypt, though, authorities have arrested doctors and silenced critics who questioned the governments response, so there are fears that information on the true cost of the virus may have been suppressed from the beginning.

Egypt also had a trying experience early on in the pandemic, when it saw a coronavirus outbreak on one of its Nile River cruise boats. It first closed its borders completely until the summer of 2020, but later welcomed tourists back, first to Red-Sea resort towns and now to the heart of the country  Cairo and the Nile River Valley that hosts most of its famous archaeological sites. Visitors still require a negative COVID-19 test result to enter the country.

In a further cause for optimism, Russia said in April that it plans to resume direct flights to Egypts Red Sea resort towns. Moscow stopped the flights after the local Islamic State affiliate bombed a Russian airliner over the Sinai Peninsula in October 2015, killing all on board.

Amanda, a 36-year-old engineer from Austria, returned to Egypt in May. It was her second visit in four years. She visited the Egyptian Museum, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization and Islamic Cairo, in the capitals historic center.

She had planned to come last year, but the pandemic interfered.

Once they opened, I came, she said. It was my dream to see the Pyramids again.

El-Rays, the tour guide, says that while hes seeing tourists starting to come in larger numbers, he knows a full recovery will not happen overnight.

It will take some time to return to before corona, he said.
HONG KONG (AP)  A Hong Kong museum commemorating China's deadly 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests closed Wednesday three days after opening as the ruling Communist Party tries to stamp out the last traces of public discussion of the event.

Hong Kong was the last place on Chinese soil where the party's attack on protests centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square was commemorated with candlelight vigils and other events. But authorities have banned public ceremonies for the second year amid a campaign by Beijing to crush pro-democracy activism in the territory.

Organizers of the June 4 Museum said it closed after authorities investigated whether it had licenses to conduct public exhibitions. The Hong Kong Alliance of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China said it wanted to protect staff and visitors while the group sought legal advice.

Public memorials have long been banned on the mainland. Relatives of people who were killed in the crackdown often are detained or harassed by authorities ahead of the anniversary.

The group, which has organized candlelight vigils in Hong Kong in past years that attracted thousands of people, said the museum received more than 550 visitors since it opened Sunday.

Beijing is tightening control over Hong Kong, prompting complaints it is eroding the autonomy promised when the former British colony returned to China in 1997 and hurting its status as a financial center. Pro-democracy activists have been sentenced to prison under a national security law imposed following anti-government protests that began in 2019.

In past years, thousands of people gathered in Hong Kongs Victoria Park to light candles and sing in memory of people killed when the military attacked protesters in and around Tiananmen Square, killing hundreds and possibly thousands of people.

Hong Kong authorities have banned the vigil for the second consecutive year, citing social distancing restrictions and public health risks from the coronavirus pandemic.

Critics say authorities use the pandemic as an excuse to silence pro-democracy voices in Hong Kong.

Last year, thousands gathered in Victoria Park despite the ban and police warnings. Weeks later, more than 20 activists who took part in the vigil were arrested. This year, organizers have urged residents to mark June 4 by lighting a candle wherever they are.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  Three bombs rattled the Afghan capital Kabul late Tuesday killing at least 10 people and plunging the city into darkness, an Afghan government spokesman said.

Two bombs exploded in quick succession in separate locations of a west Kabul neighborhood, killing at least 10 people and wounding a dozen others, said deputy Interior Ministry spokesman Said Hamid Rushan.

A third bomb heavily damaged an electrical grid station in north Kabul, said Sangar Niazai, a spokesman for the government power supply department.

The initial two bombings, both targeting minivans, happened in a mostly ethnic Hazara area of the capital, said Rushan.

The first exploded near the home of a prominent Hazara leader, Mohammad Mohaqiq, and in front of a Shiite mosque. Most Hazaras are Shiites. The second bomb also targeted a minivan but Rushan said details were still being collected.

Police cordoned off the two areas and investigators were sifting through the rubble.

No one claimed responsibility for the bombings but the Islamic State group affiliate operating in Afghanistan has previously declared war on minority Shiites, who make up roughly 20% of the majority Sunni Muslim nation of 36 million people.

The IS affiliate previously took responsibility for several attacks in May on Afghanistan's power supply stations in Kabul and in several other provinces.

On May 8, a car bomb and two roadside bombs exploded outside the Syed-al-Shahada girls school, also in a predominantly Hazara neighborhood, killing nearly 90 people, many of them students. No one has yet claimed that attack but the U.S. blamed IS.

The attacks come as the United States wraps up its longest war by withdrawing the last of its 2,500-3,500 troops along with 7,000 allied NATO forces. The last soldiers are to be gone by Sept. 11 at the latest generating fears of increased chaos in a country already deeply insecure.

Violence has escalated in Afghanistan even as the United States struck a peace deal with the Taliban in February 2020 under the previous Trump administration.

The agreement called for the last of the U.S. and NATO troops to be out of the country by May 1. Instead, the withdrawal began on May 1 after U.S. President Joe Biden announced in mid-April America was ending its forever war. At the time, he declared terrorist groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State had been sufficiently degraded and it was no longer necessary to keep thousands of troops deployed to Afghanistan.

Stalemated peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban are set to resume in the Middle Eastern country of Qatar, said a member of the Afghan government negotiation team, Nader Nadery.

The two sides have been meeting off and on since Sept. 12 but progress has been slight.

I do not see any sign yet of meaningful talks from the Taliban on key issues to end this senseless war, said Nadery.
Jeannie Wells had hoped that regular visits would resume at her elderly mothers New York nursing home once all the residents were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Around Easter, her wish finally came true, and she was able to hold the 93-year-olds hand more than a year after bringing her mother to the facility for rehabilitation for a fractured hip and knee.

But that reunion was short-lived. Visits were quickly stopped for about six weeks after an employee tested positive for COVID, and Wells said visits are still far from normal even when there havent been outbreaks.

COVID-19 vaccines have allowed nursing homes in the U.S. to make dramatic progress since the dark days of the pandemic, but senior care facilities are still experiencing scattered outbreaks that are largely blamed on unvaccinated staff members. The outbreaks and ensuing shutdowns have jolted family members who were just starting to enjoy in-person visits with loved ones for the first time in a year.

While the outbreaks inside nursing homes now are much smaller, less frequent and less severe than during the height of the pandemic, there continue to be hundreds of deaths each week attributed to the coronavirus. According to federal data, 472 nursing home deaths were related to COVID-19 in the first two weeks of May, down from 10,675 in the first two weeks of January.

There is this notion among some that vaccines were administered in long-term care, so were done, and that would be a perilous mistake, said Dr. David Gifford, chief medical officer for the American Health Care Association, a national nursing home trade association, in a recent statement. Nursing homes and assisted living communities have a constant flow of new residents, whether coming from the hospital or the community, and many of them havent been vaccinated yet."

In addition, the CDC has warned that low rates of vaccination among health care workers in skilled nursing facilities raises risks of outbreaks.

A March outbreak involving a variant at a Kentucky nursing home, where most residents had been vaccinated for COVID-19, was traced to an infected, unvaccinated worker, according to a CDC report. Among the 46 cases identified, 26 residents and 20 workers became infected, including 18 residents and four workers who were fully vaccinated 14 days before the outbreak.

Three of the nursing homes residents who contracted COVID-19 died, including two who were not vaccinated. So-called breakthrough infections among vaccinated individuals were also identified in nursing homes in Chicago, according to another recent CDC report.

In Connecticut, Gov, Ned Lamont has likened the challenge of keeping the virus out of nursing homes to patching up leaky boats. The state Department of Public Health launched Operation Matchmaker to match nursing homes with certain pharmacies to ensure new residents and staff get shots. Hospitals are also working to vaccinate patients before theyre released to a nursing facility.

Given staffing shortages around the country, theres been a hesitance among long-term care providers to mandate vaccinations for their workers, said Dr. Vivian Leung, director of the state's Department of Health's Healthcare Associated Infections Program.

Were working with the long-term care industry to really increase the pressure on getting those staff vaccinated, Leung said.

Tim Brown, director of marketing and communications at Athena Health Care Systems, which operates 48 facilities in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, recently estimated about 50% to 60% of staff have been vaccinated so far, with as many as 80% in some buildings.

Throughout our network, we are seeing onesies and twosies, mostly with employees, though, that have not been vaccinated. Thats really where were seeing them, Brown said of he infections. If a staff member tests positive, he said, buildings are put under quarantine and visits are put on hold while another round of staff testing is conducted. Unvaccinated staff are being tested regularly.

If there are no other cases, or if the employee did not work on a specific wing, then we allow visitation for that wing or for for the wings that are not affected by the positive employee, he said.

Mairead Painter, Connecticuts long-term care ombudsman, said recent guidance from the state has clarified how facilities should handle these scattered outbreaks in order to minimize the impact they can have on the rest of residents and their families. She said thats led to fewer complaints fielded by her office.

But Debra Ellis, whose 88-year-old wife Jackie lives in a Meriden, Conn. nursing home, said the rules still differ by facility. Until recently, she had been frustrated by the strict visitation limits, including sudden multi-day shutdowns when staff members have tested positive. Both she and her wife are vaccinated.

By mid-May, things finally eased up and shes been allowed to go inside her wifes room. Yet Ellis hears from relatives of residents at other nursing homes that that's not the case at other facilities in Connecticut.

Ellis is part of a group that's pushing for both state and federal legislation allowing nursing home residents to have essential caregivers. She said that could have helped her wife, who suffers from heart problems and relied on Ellis before the pandemic for emotional support and exercises to keep her legs strong.

"She could get up and walk a very small distance around the room to move to the bed to a chair or whatever, she said. Shes not longer able to do that.

That's a similar experience for Wells, who said the nursing home where her mother lives still has no communal dining, group activities or hairdressing services. Wells, who lives in Rochester, said it was only last week that she was offered the opportunity to meet with her mother outside and without masks. But after spending so much time isolated during the pandemic, Wells said her mother no longer knows who she is, other than someone who cares about her.

She said it pains her to see her mother, who used to get her hair done weekly, looking unkept, with bangs hanging in her eyes and hair down to her shoulders.

This nursing home never allowed us into their rooms. We have to stay in an ugly dining room thats been stripped and all the furniture stacked in the corner and in four little pods of tables pushed together and staff staring at you the whole time, she said, adding: None of that has changed because theyre allowing nursing homes to do their own thing.

___

Associated Press Writer Marina Villeneuve in Albany, N.Y. contributed to this report.
International Children's Day was widely celebrated in Ashgabat and the regions of Turkmenistan.

The festive events took place at the Wellness and Educational Complex and the Palace of Prosperous (Orphanage) in Ashgabat as well as other school and preschool institutions of Turkmenistan. Children of these institutions were presented with holiday gifts from the Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov Charitable Foundation for Support of Children in Need of Guardianship. The humanitarian action was also attended by heads and representatives of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry, the Ministry of Education, public associations, the mass media and the UNICEF Office in Turkmenistan.

 TURKMENISTAN.RU, 2021
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  A massive fire broke out Wednesday night at the oil refinery serving Iran's capital, sending thick plumes of black smoke over Tehran. It wasn't immediately clear if there were injuries.

The fire struck the state-owned Tondgooyan Petrochemical Co. to the south of Tehran, said Mansour Darajati, the director-general of the capital's crisis management team.
SALEM, Ore. (AP)  Legislators have brought guns into the Oregon State Capitol for personal protection. Protesters have carried semi-automatic rifles onto the grounds and into the building.

Later this year, doing so will be outlawed under a bill signed Tuesday by Gov. Kate Brown that was earlier passed by the Legislature, with Democrats in favor and minority Republicans opposed. The new law also mandates the safe storage of guns.

Today, I am signing SB 554 with the hope that we can take another step forward to help spare more Oregon families from the grief of losing a loved one to gun violence, Brown said on Twitter.

The bill was named for Cindy Yuille and Steve Forsyth, who were slain in a shooting at a Portland-area shopping mall in 2012 by a man who stole a friend's AR-15 rifle. A third person was seriously wounded.

Among those who testified in favor of the measure was Paul Kemp, Forsyths brother-in-law.

I will never forget the screams I heard when we had to tell my teenage nephew that his father had been killed at the mall, Kemp said.

Backers of the new law, which takes effect three months after the Legislature adjourns this summer, said it will prevent accidental shootings by children, suicides and mass shootings.

It requires that firearms be secured with a trigger or cable lock, in a locked container or gun room.

Opponents said a delay in accessing a firearm for self-defense could cost lives.

Jim Mischel, of Sheridan, Oregon, provided written testimony to lawmakers describing how his wife woke up when he was away one night in 1981. She heard a noise, went to investigate and saw a stranger in their home.

She tried to get a pistol that was in a locked gun box in the nightstand out but was unable to before the man got into the bedroom and threatened her with his gun, Mischel said.

She has never recovered, he said.

The bill also bans guns from the Oregon Capitol, changing a law that allowed concealed handgun licensees to bring firearms into the building.

In a related development, an interfaith movement plans to present signatures Wednesday to the staff of Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, a step in an attempt to get two initiative petitions onto the ballot.

IP 18 would ban the sale of assault-style weapons in Oregon. IP 17 would ban the sale of large-capacity magazines and require a permit to purchase any gun and a completed background check before a firearm is purchased.

The movement has gathered the signatures of 2,000 voters for each initiative petition and will hand deliver them to Fagan's staff, said Pastor Mark Knutson of the Augustana Lutheran Church in Portland.

We hope to get the go ahead by early fall, which will give us almost 10 months to get 140,000 signatures to ... place them both on the November 2022 general election ballot, Knutson said.

The debate over guns is being resurrected as the number of mass shootings climbs again in America, with increased efforts to ban assault rifles and large-capacity magazines.

In Colorado, a gun storage bill was signed into law on April by Gov. Jared Polis, who said: Its a sensible measure to help avoid immeasurable heartbreak.

Colorados law creates the offense of unlawful storage of a firearm if a person stores a gun knowing that a juvenile could access it without permission or if a resident of the premises is ineligible to possess a firearm.

Similar bills this session have failed in Illinois, Kentucky, Montana, New Mexico and Virginia, said Allison Anderman, senior counsel at the Giffords gun safety advocacy group.

States that have passed laws requiring some level of firearms safe storage in past years include California, Connecticut and New York, Anderman said. Massachusetts is the only state that requires that all unattended firearms be stored with locking devices in place, according to Giffords.

___

Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky
The new White House science adviser wants to have a vaccine ready to fight the next pandemic in just about 100 days after recognizing a potential viral outbreak.

In his first interview after being sworn in Wednesday, Eric Lander painted a rosy near future where a renewed American emphasis on science not only better prepares the world for the next pandemic with plug-and-play vaccines, but also changes how medicine fights disease and treats patients, curbs climate change and further explores space. He even threw in a Star Trek reference.

This is a moment in so many ways, not just health, that we can rethink fundamental assumptions about whats possible and thats true of climate and energy and many areas, Lander told The Associated Press.

Lander took his oath of office on a 500-year-old fragment of the Mishnah, an ancient Jewish text documenting oral traditions and laws. He is the first director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to be promoted to Cabinet level.

Lander said President Joe Bidens elevation of the science post is a symbolic show that science should have a seat at the table but also allows him to have higher-level talks with different agency chiefs about making policy.

Lander is a mathematician and geneticist by training who was part of the human genome mapping project and directed the Broad Institute at MIT and Harvard. He said he is particularly focused not so much on this pandemic, but the lessons learned from this one to prepare for the next one.

It was amazing at one level that we were able to produce highly effective vaccines in less than a year, but from another point of view youd say, Boy, a years a long time, even though in the past it would take three years or four years, Lander said. To really make a difference we want to get this done in 100 days. And so a lot of us have been talking about a 100-day target from the recognition from a virus with pandemic potential.

It would mean that we would have had a vaccine in early April if that had happened this time, early April of 2020, Lander said. It makes you gulp for a second, but its totally feasible to do that.

Scientists were working on so-called all-purpose ready-to-go platform technologies for vaccines long before the pandemic. Theyre considered plug-and-play. Instead of using the germ itself to make a vaccine, they use messenger RNA and add the genetic code for the germ. Thats what happened with the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 shots.

Beyond being optimistic about confronting future pandemics, Lander wonders about the implications for preventing cancer.

"Maybe the same sort of experience about moving so much faster than we thought is applicable to cancer, said Lander, who during the Obama administration was co-chair of the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. A company already has been working on that.

For that matter, the pandemic and telehealth brought the doctor to patients in some ways. Lander said he is reimagining a world where we rearrange a lot of things to get more patient-centered health care, including community health workers checking up every few weeks on people about their blood pressure, blood sugar and other chronic problems.

Two of Landers predecessor praised him. Neal Lane, President Bill Clintons science adviser, said Lander is perfect for the pandemic because of the need for a strategy and international agreements. Obama's science chief, John Holden, called him a Renaissance man.

Lander's nomination had been delayed for months as senators sought more information about meetings he had with the late Jeffrey Epstein, a financier who was charged with sex trafficking before his apparent suicide. Lander said he only met with Epstein twice, in 2012, and never requested or received funds from Epstein or his foundation. At his confirmation hearing, Lander also apologized for a 2016 article he wrote that downplayed the work of two Nobel Prize-winning female scientists.

Lander, who has visited Greenland on a balmy 72-degree day, told the AP he sees climate change as an incredibly serious threat to this planet in many, many ways.

Still, Lander said he was more optimistic now than he and others were a decade ago because I see a path to doing something about it.

Lander pointed to a drop of about in 90% in solar and energy wind costs, making them now as cheap as fossil fuels that cause climate change. But he said whats also needed is an explosion of ideas to improve battery life and provide carbon-free energy that is not weather-dependent. Those innovations need federal incentives that are part of Bidens jobs package, he said.

Reducing methane is key to fighting climate change, Lander added, but first improvements are needed in technology to determine where methane is leaking from.

As for space, Lander said he was too new to comment on whether heading to the moon or Mars should be the goal. The Obama administration redirected NASA away from the Bush-era plan to send astronauts back to the moon and was more aimed for Mars or an asteroid. The Trump administration not only focused back on the moon but set a 2024 goal for a new moon landing.

Are we going to go to the moon and are we going to go to Mars and are we going to moons of Jupiter? Sure. The exact order I think is great to think about or great to talk about, Lander said.

He quoted Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, when Captain James T. Kirks love interest asked if he was from outer space. He responded: Im from Iowa, I only work in outer space.

Adds Lander: That was a fun line in Star Trek IV, but folks in Iowa are really going to say that."

__

AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report.

__

Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
CAIRO (AP)  A top Sudanese military official said the government will review an agreement with Russia to establish a navy base in the African country.

The remarks about the deal, which dates back to the government of now-deposed Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and has not been ratified by the Sudanese parliament, indicate that Khartoum is seeking some changes to the agreement.

Sudans Chief of General Staff, Gen. Mohammed Othman al-Hussein told Blue Nile television station late on Tuesday that negotiations are underway with Russian officials to achieve Sudans interests.

News about the deal surfaced last December on the official portal of the Russian government. The deal allows Russia to set up a naval base with up to 300 Russian troops, and also to simultaneously keep up to four navy ships, including nuclear-powered ones, in Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

In exchange, Russia is to provide Sudan with weapons and military equipment. The agreement is to last for 25 years, with automatic extensions for 10-year periods if neither side objects to it.

We are negotiating a possible review to this deal, to ensure that our interests and our profits are taken into account, al-Hussein said.

Russian President Vladimir Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Wednesday that Russian and Sudanese officials have been discussing the issue in diplomatic channels.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov noted in remarks carried by Russian news agencies that Russia would like to clarify the Sudanese demands.

We need to understand specifics, he said. We arent forcing ourselves on anyone. If there is a desire to fix something, please tell us what you want.

But Viktor Bondarev, the former Russian air force chief who heads a defense committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, argued that there are no objective reasons for a revision of the agreement on the base.

For the Sudanese side, a permanent Russian naval presence with powerful weapons will guarantee peaceful life in the long-term perspective, Bondarev said in a statement, adding that the deal will help protect Sudan from both a possible foreign intervention and domestic rifts and upheavals that Sudan has grown tired of over the past decades.

For Russia, Bondarev argued, the base in Sudan is important to ensure the Russian navys presence in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean and spare its ships the need of long voyages to reach the area.

Amid tensions with the U.S. and its allies, Moscow has for years sought to reestablish a regular naval presence in various parts of the world that the Soviet Union had during the Cold War times. The Russian navy already has a major presence in the Mediterranean Sea, with a naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus, currently the only such facility that Russia has outside the former Soviet Union.

Sudan is on a fragile path to democracy after a popular uprising led the military to overthrow al-Bashir in April 2019. The East African nation is now ruled by a joint military and civilian government that seeks better ties with the United States and the West after nearly three decades of international isolation.

___

Isachenkov reported from Moscow.
MIAMI (AP)  The Biden administration on Tuesday gave Chevron Corp. and several other American companies six more months to continue operating in Venezuela.

The special license exempting the companies from U.S. sanctions comes as the Biden administration reviews the U.S. policy that seek to starve President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government of badly needed oil revenue.

It allows Chevron and other companies, including Halliburton and Schlumberger, until Dec. 1 to carry out essential work on oil wells that preserves its assets and employment levels in the South American nation. It leaves unchanged a ban in place since last year prohibiting the companies from producing or exporting oil. The earlier license, also for six months, was set to expire June 3.

California-based Chevron is the last major U.S. oil company to do business in crisis-wracked Venezuela, having first invested in the country in the 1920s.

Venezuela sits atop the worlds largest oil reserves, yet its political upheaval and economic crunch have led more than 5 million people in recent years to flee their country, where many lack basic services like running water, electricity, gasoline and functioning hospitals.

Like the Trump administration, the Biden White House has harshly denounced Maduro as a dictator and continues to press for free and fair elections after the opposition sat out the 2018 vote when several candidates were barred from running.

At the same time, Biden has shown some support for attempts at dialogue between Maduro and members of the opposition. Opposition leader Juan Guaido  whom the U.S. recognizes as Venezuela's rightful president  has said sanctions relief should be part of any such talks.

Chevrons net daily production in 2019 as a result of joint ventures with state-owned PDVSA averaged 35,300 barrels of crude oil, equal to roughly 6% of Venezuelas total production.
June 2, 2021

YES and SPEC Sign Strategic Alliance Agreement

YES (Yield Engineering Systems, Inc.) announced a strategic alliance with SPEC (Semiconductor Process Equipment Corporation) of Valencia, California. Under the terms of the ...

May 20, 2021

Danish Nanotechnology Startup RadiSurf Receives100+ Million DKK Investment

Aarhus-based RadiSurf announced that it has been acquired by KCK Ltd, a family office private equity investment fund with a worldwide presence. The strategic growth-investments ...

April 22, 2021

YES Joins Forces with EV Group

Yield Engineering Systems, Inc. announced it is working with EV Group and will install a YES EcoCoat monolayer coating system at EVG's NILPhotonics Competence Center ...

April 8, 2021

Winstek Places Second Order for YES VertaCure XP

YES (Yield Engineering Systems, Inc.) announced that it will deliver another VertaCure XP, the latest version of its flagship VertaCure vacuum curing system, to Winstek Semiconductor ...

March 31, 2021

YES Secures VertaCure XP Volume Purchase Order from Powertech Technology Inc.

YES (Yield Engineering Systems, Inc.) announced that it has received a volume purchase order for the VertaCure XP from Taiwan-based OSAT Powertech Technology, Inc. ...

March 17, 2021

YES Receives VertaBond Purchase Order from a Tier 1 Memory Manufacturer

YES (Yield Engineering Systems, Inc.) announced that a leading memory manufacturer has ordered the YES VertaBond system for wafer-to-wafer and die-to-wafer bonding. The new system ...

March 1, 2021

VIEWPOINT 2021: Ramakanth Alapati, CEO, YES (Yield Engineering Systems, Inc.)

Worldwide, we are seeing good momentum for our clean, coat and cure equipment, as well as for our services offerings. The climate of business uncertainty triggered by the pandemic still exists, but at YES we have found ways to work effectively while still remaining vigilant with regard to COVID. With the long-anticipated ... Worldwide, we are seeing good momentum for our clean, coat and cure equipment, as well as for our services offerings. The climate of business uncertainty triggered by the pandemic still exists, but at YES we have found ways to work effectively while still remaining vigilant with regard to COVID. With the long-anticipated ...

January 26, 2021

YES Adds Deca's Rapid Cure Technology to its Product Line

YES (Yield Engineering Systems, Inc.) announced that it has signed an agreement to license Deca Technologies' Rapid Cure technology. The Deca IP, a combination of UV and direct ...

December 10, 2020

Alex Chow Joins Yield Engineering Systems, Inc. as Asia Sales President & GM

YES (Yield Engineering Systems, Inc.) announced that Alex Chow has joined the company as Asia Sales President and General Manager. To his new role, Mr. Chow brings 20 years ...
The upper house of Russia's parliament, the Federation Council, on Wednesday approved the withdrawal bill on the Treaty on Open Skies, RIA news agency reported.

The bill will be sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin for signing.

The multilateral Treaty on Open Skies, which became effective in 2002, allows its states-parties to conduct short-notice, unarmed reconnaissance flights over the others' entire territories to collect data on military forces and activities.

After the U.S. withdrawal in November 2020, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced in January that the country started domestic legal procedures for the official pullout from the treaty.

The bill passed the Russian State Duma, or the lower house of parliament, on May 19.

(Cover: A Russian Air Force Tu-214 flies over Offutt Air Force Base, Friday, April 26, 2019, in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. /AP)
India exports 11,49,341 MT of seafood during 2020-21

Kochi, Jun 2 (UNI) The COVID pandemic and sluggish overseas markets cast their shadow over Indias resurgent seafood sector as the country exported 11,49,341 MT of marine products worth Rs 43,717.26 crore (USD 5.96 billion) during FY 2020-21, registering a contraction of 10.88 per cent in volume as compared to a year earlier.

USA, China and the European Union (EU) were the leading importers, while frozen shrimp retained its position as the major export item followed by frozen fish.

In 2019-20, India exported 12,89,651 MT of seafood worth Rs 46,662.85 crore (US$ 6.68 billion), marking a decline of 6.31 per cent in rupee terms and 10.81 per cent in dollar value in 2020-21.

The pandemic drastically affected seafood exports during the first half of the year, but it revived well in the last quarter of 2020-21. Also, the aquaculture sector performed better during this fiscal by contributing 67.99 per cent of exported items in dollar terms and 46.45 per cent in quantity, which is 4.41 per cent and 2.48 per cent higher, respectively when compared to 2019-20, said Mr. K S Srinivas, Chairman of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).

Frozen shrimp contributed 51.36 per cent in quantity and 74.31 per cent of the total dollar earnings. USA remained its largest importer (2,72,041 MT), followed by China (1,01,846 MT), EU (70,133 MT), Japan (40,502 MT), South East Asia (38,389 MT), and the Middle East (29,108 MT).

However, shrimp exports declined by 9.47 per cent in dollar value and 9.50 per cent in quantity. The overall shrimp export was 5,90,275 MT worth 4,426.19 million dollars. The export of Vannamei (whiteleg) shrimp decreased from 5,12,204 MT to 4,92,271 MT in 2020-21. Of the total Vannamei shrimp exports in dollar value, 56.37 per cent was exported to USA, followed by China (15.13 per cent), EU (7.83 per cent), South East Asia (5.76 per cent), Japan (4.96 per cent) and the Middle East (3.59 per cent).

Japan, the major market for Black Tiger (Penaeus monodon) shrimp, had a share of 39.68 per cent in dollar terms, followed by USA (26.03 per cent), South East Asia (9.32 per cent), EU (8.95%), the Middle East (6.04 per cent) and China (3.76 per cent).

Frozen fish, with a share of 16.37 per cent in quantity and 6.75 per cent in dollar earnings, retained the second position in exports basket though its shipments plummeted by 15.76 per cent in quantity and 21.67 per cent in dollar terms.

Other Items, the third largest category that largely comprised Surimi (fish paste) and Surimi analogue (imitation) products, showed a marginal growth of 0.12 per cent and 0.26 per cent by quantity and rupee value, respectively, but declined in dollar terms by 5.02 per cent.

Frozen squid and frozen cuttlefish exports declined in volume by 30.19 per cent and 16.38 per cent, respectively. However, dried items showed an increase of 1.47 per cent and 17 per cent in quantity and rupee value, respectively.

Shipments of chilled items and live items, which were negatively affected due to the reduced air cargo connectivity in the pandemic situation, fell by 16.89 per cent and 39.91 per cent in volume, respectively.

Capture fisheries contribution reduced from 56.03 per cent to 53.55 per cent in quantity and from 36.42 per cent to 32.01 per cent in dollar value. However, tilapia and ornamental fish performed well with 55.83 per cent and 66.55 per cent increase in quantity and an uptick of 38.07 per cent and 14.63 per cent in dollar earnings, respectively. Tuna showed 14.6 per cent increase in quantity, but its dollar earnings downed by 7.39 per cent. Crab and scampi exports reduced both in quantity and value.

USA, with imports of 2,91,948 MT, continued to be the major importer of Indian seafood with a share of 41.15 per cent in dollar terms. Exports to that country grew by 0.48 % in rupee value but declined by 4.34 per cent and 4.35 per cent in quantity and dollar terms, respectively. Frozen shrimp remained the principal item exported to USA while exports of Vannamei shrimp showed an uptick of 6.75 per cent in quantity. However, its import of Black Tiger shrimps decreased by 70.96 per cent and 65.24 per cent in quantity and dollar terms, respectively.

China, with an import of 2,18,343 MT of seafood worth 939.17 million dollars, remained the second largest market with a share of 15.77 per cent in dollar earnings and 19 per cent in quantity terms. However, exports to this country declined by 33.73 per cent and 31.68 per cent in quantity and dollar terms, respectively. Frozen shrimp was the major item of exports to China, accounting for a share of 46.64 per cent in quantity and 61.87 per cent in dollar earnings.

EU, the third largest destination with a share of 13.80 per cent in dollar value, imported frozen shrimp as the major item. However, export of frozen shrimp to EU countries decreased by 5.27 per cent and 6.48 per cent in quantity and dollar value, respectively.

Exports to South East Asia had a share of 11.17 per cent in dollar value. However, it declined by 2.56 per cent in quantity and 5.73 per cent in dollar earnings. Shipments to Japan, the fifth largest importer with a share of 6.92 per cent in dollar terms, grew by 10.52 per cent in quantity but declined by 2.42 per cent in dollar value.

The Middle East, the sixth largest destination with a share of 4.22 per cent in dollar value, declined by 15.30 per cent and 15.51 per cent in quantity and dollar terms, respectively. Frozen shrimp was the major item of exports, having a share of 72.23 per cent in dollar terms.

Mr. Srinivas said besides the pandemic impact, several other factors negatively impacted seafood exports during 2020-21. On the production side, there were reduced fish landings due to less number of fishing days, slow logistic movements and market uncertainties. Scarcity of workers in fishing and processing plants, paucity of containers at seaports, increased air freight charges and limited flight availability affected exports, especially of high-value chilled and live products.

The situation in overseas market was another dampener. In China, container shortage, increased freight charges, and COVID testing on seafood consignments caused market uncertainties. In USA, scarcity of containers made it difficult for exporters to execute orders in time. Closure of HoReCa (hotel, restaurant and cafe) segment also affected the demand. In Japan and EU, COVID-induced lockdowns made the retail, restaurant, supermarkets and hotel consumption sluggish.

UNI DS SHK1856
Keene, NH (03431)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 81F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to occasional showers later during the night. Low 57F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Thank you for reading!

You have reached your 30-day limit of free access to SentinelSource.com, The Keene Sentinels website. If you would like to read two more articles for free at this time, please register for an account by clicking the sign up button below.

We hope you find The Sentinels coverage of the Monadnock Region valuable. We rely on our subscribers to bring you strong local journalism and hope you will consider supporting our work by taking advantage of this special subscription offer here.
The Battery, an upscale private club in San Francisco, is expanding to Oakland in a major bet on the recovery of the hospitality sector.

Michael Birch, who co-founded the club with his wife, Xochi, said his company has agreed to purchase the Bellevue Club building on the north side of Lake Merritt for $10 million. The sale is expected to close in around two weeks.

We have talked for many years about adding other Bay Area locations, Birch said. Were very excited about it.

Birch, who has been living in the British Virgin Islands the past two years, agreed to buy the building after only seeing a virtual tour. He said it was a huge win that the building at 525 Bellevue Ave. is already configured as a club and includes a historic ballroom, kitchen and bar. But it will need extensive renovations like new electricity and plumbing systems.

Its definitely very tired, he said.

The new club isnt expected to open until next year or later, depending on the time it takes to get permits and complete construction. The cost of renovations hasnt been finalized.

San Francisco Business Times first reported the expansion.

Officials at the Bellevue Club couldnt immediately be reached for comment. President Carole Levenson told the Business Times that the club couldnt survive the pandemic and will close permanently.

The pandemic has also been challenging for the Battery, which shut down twice for months during shelter-in-place orders. Membership fell from around 5,000 to 4,000 members, and the 200-person staff is now down to around 150, Birch said.

New members are joining and the club is rehiring workers, but a widespread labor shortage is making it challenging. The Oakland location could bring another 100 to 150 jobs, Birch said.

Membership for the club is $2,700 a year and will cover both the San Francisco and future Oakland location. The Battery also offers discounted membership of $1,200 to those who qualify.

Interactive Vaccine Tracker: Latest developments Detailed information about the coronavirus vaccines as it becomes available.

We dont want to say no to someone because of financial situations, Birch said.

Birch and his wife founded multiple startups, including the social network Bebo, which they sold to AOL for $850 million in 2008. But Birch said the Batterys membership was diverse and it intentionally doesnt host tech events.

My wife and I started the Battery to escape from tech, he said. Thats very much going to be the philosophy in Oakland as well.

The Batterys foundation has donated over $20 million to nonprofits in the Bay Area, and Birch said the Oakland expansion will increase fundraising. Birch also hopes to connect with Oakland groups to collaborate on events.

We certainly want to be part of the Oakland community, Birch said. Were not elitist.

Roland Li is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: roland.li@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandlisf
California, the most populous state in the nation and home to some of its strictest gun laws, was also the site of the most active shooter incidents over the past two decades, according to a new FBI report.

The Golden State saw 42 active shooter incidents between 2000 and 2019, a figure more than 50% higher than the 27 shootings recorded in Florida, the state with the second-highest number of such attacks.

The data, released Tuesday, was included as part of the largest FBI report of its kind, drawing on demographics, location and other data from 333 active shooter incidents throughout the nation. Among these incidents, 135 qualified as what the FBI defined as a mass killing, meaning there were three or more slayings in a single event.

A total of 2,851 people nationwide were killed during the shootings, not including the shooters themselves.

The report comes in the wake of yet another deadly attack by an active shooter in California, when a disgruntled San Jose light rail employee fatally gunned down nine coworkers on Wednesday before turning the gun on himself.

The FBIs findings were actually intended to be published on Wednesday, but delayed out of respect for the victims, said Craig Fair, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's San Francisco Division.

Fair said the intent of the report is to help both the public and private sectors better shield themselves against such outbursts of violence.

Its an attempt to help people make decisions, based on the data points we provide, Fair said in a Tuesday interview with The Chronicle. It also sensitizes law enforcement for the local up to the federal level on how to better train.

The state-by-state data largely tracked with population figures. The three states with the largest populations  California, Texas and Florida  had the highest number of active shootings, while some of the nations least populous states recorded none during this time frame: Alaska, Delaware, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Wyoming.

The rates of active shooter incidents are relatively similar in the largest states. When comparing against 2020 census data, there were .11 incidents per 100,000 residents in California, .08 in Texas and .13 in Florida.

Garen Wintemute, director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at UC Davis Health, stressed that active shootings and mass shootings arent necessarily one and the same, and that Californias gun laws have been shown to prevent some of the latter. About 80% of mass shooters declare their intentions in advance, Wintemute said in an email.

This provides an opportunity to prevent tragedy from occurring, if those who hear or see something, say something. In California, gun violence restraining orders are an important option. We are aware of 21 cases in which (restraining orders) were used in efforts to prevent mass shootings. None of those threatened mass shootings occurred.

Fair echoed this sentiment, noting that during the 20-year history of active shooting events very few of perpetrators just snapped.

They dont just wake up one day and decide, out of the blue, Im going to be an active shooter, Fair said. Most often, there was a ramp-up period.

During this period of time, would-be shooters are often dropping hints about their intentions, Fair said. Thats when its crucial that anyone who notices this behavior bring it to the intention of law enforcement.

This is not just a law-enforcement issue, Fair said. We need to take a whole community approach.

Researchers also studied the types of locations where these events have most often occurred, and found that businesses open to pedestrian traffic  places like retail offices, bars and restaurants  were the scene of far more active shootings than any other type of location.

There were 96 incidents at these public-facing businesses, compared to 44 at schools, 41 at businesses closed to pedestrian traffic and 50 in open spaces. There were an additional 15 shootings at places of worship, 18 at higher education institutions and 21 on government properties.

Among the reports other key findings:

 Nearly all of the nations active shooters were men: Of the 345 shooters involved in the recorded incidents, just 13 of the suspects were identified as female.

 Most of the perpetrators died: While 150 suspects were apprehended by police, another 190 didnt survive the event themselves. Of those who died, 119 committed suicide, 67 were killed by police and four were killed by citizens. Five other suspected shooters are still at large.

 Active shooter incidents are on the rise: Though the total number of active shooters has fallen at times year over year, the FBIs report shows a steady incline between 2000 and 2019 when taken in five-year intervals. There were an average of seven per year between 2000 and 2004; 13 between 2005 and 2009; 20 between 2010 and 2014 and 26 between 2015 and 2019.

Data included in the most recent, 20-year report compiles and expands on other, earlier FBI active shooter publications, with time frames dating back to 2000. The study released Tuesday is the largest of its kind that the agency has released and gleans insights from 28 additional active shooting incidents that were not included in earlier reports.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy
In what authorities said was the largest federal seizure of fentanyl in Northern California, more than 40 pounds of the potent and deadly drug was seized and seven people were arrested at two homes in Oakland and San Leandro, the U.S. Attorneys Office announced.

The suspects, prosecutors said, distributed the drug throughout the Bay Area, including to San Francisco and Concord. According to court documents, the drug ring filled more than 100 fentanyl orders in April and May.

The drug was stored in the form of white bricks, tied together with black cord and stuffed into wooden fence posts, authorities said.

Arrested in the raid on May 25 on the two homes were Javier Castro Gio Banegas-Medina, 39; Elmer Rosales-Montes, 28; Jose Ivan Cruz-Caceres, 31; Keny Alduvi Romero-Lopez, 23; Jihad Jad Tawasha, 34; William Joseph Laughren, 25; and Heather Borges, 33, according to acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hinds.

Also seized in the raids were several firearms and $36,000 in cash. The street value of the confiscated drug was not immediately known.

More for you Crime San Francisco's seizures of deadly fentanyl are...

All suspects were in custody at undisclosed detention facilities in California and Oregon, according to Abraham Simmons, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorneys Office.

At the two homes, agents also said they discovered dyes to color the drug blue, pink, purple, green and yellow. Fentanyl is often known by the color emitted when the drug is burned.

Aiding federal agents in connection with the investigation were the police departments of Concord, Walnut Creek, Richmond and Pleasant Hill, along with the Contra Costa Sheriffs Office and the California Highway Patrol.

The announcement of the arrests came a week after publication of a Chronicle analysis showing a broad increase in the seizure of fentanyl, primarily in the Tenderloin of San Francisco, where authorities seized 18 pounds of the drug in the first four months of 2021, compared with 12 pounds for all of 2020 and less than 3 pounds for 2019.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said the seizures in Northern and Central California in the first five months of 2021 exceeded the seizures in all of 2020.

Because it is a synthetic substance than can be produced in a laboratory, fentanyl is cheaper to produce than heroin, which must be made from poppies. As little as 7 hundred-thousandths of an ounce of fentanyl is a fatal dose.

U.S. customs agents said they seized nearly 4,000 pounds of fentanyl at California border crossings and field offices from October through April  four times more than during the same period a year earlier.

In February, federal agents seized 1,000 pounds of methampetamine, 20 pounds of heroin, 20 pounds of cocaine and 1 pound of fentanyl in another large, coordinated drug bust centered in the South Bay and on the Peninsula.

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF
The company owned by Arkansas agricultural mogul Gaylon Lawrence Jr. is expanding its Napa Valley reach yet again.

Lawrence Wine Estates, which is run by master sommelier Carlton McCoy, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired a 27-acre vineyard and winery in Napa from Luna Vineyards. The new property will become part of the Burgess Cellars brand, which Lawrence acquired shortly before the Glass Fire destroyed its historic winery in 2020.

The new deal does not affect Luna Vineyards, known for its focus on Italian grape varieties; it will remain intact and its tasting room along the Silverado Trail will remain open, confirmed Jee Park, a spokesperson for Lawrence and McCoy. Lawrence Wine Estates has merely purchased a portion of Lunas property and plans to open a tasting room there for Burgess in July. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Its the sixth name-brand property in Napa that Lawrence has acquired since 2018. In that year, when he made his first purchase  the iconic Heitz Cellar  he was a largely unknown entity to wine-industry insiders. That has quickly changed.

This summer is shaping up to be a busy one for the Lawrence Wine Estates teams. In addition to the new Burgess tasting room, they will open a downtown Napa tasting room in August for Brendel, a new brand. Also in August, they will reopen the Heitz Cellar tasting room on Highway 29, a longtime landmark that has been closed for the past couple of years while undergoing an extensive renovation. And Stony Hill Vineyard, the beloved Chardonnay producer that Lawrence bought last December, had been closed for tastings since the acquisition but recently reopened to visitors, Park said.

The rapid-fire succession of these openings may be partly due to the gradual relaxation of pandemic-era safety measures that made it difficult to open a public-facing winery. But the pattern also suggests that Lawrence and McCoy understand the increasing value of having a tasting room in todays premium wine market. Data has shown that consumers of high-end wine value the experience of visiting a winery in person more than in previous eras.

Burgess newly acquired parcel was originally home to St. Andrews Winery, founded in 1980 as a second label for Clos du Val, another winery on the Silverado Trail in Napa. Luna later bought the land from Clos du Val.

Craig Lee/The Chronicle 2005

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

The location along Silverado Trail, one of Napa Valleys main arteries, is a much more appealing site for a visitor center than the main Burgess estate, located high on Howell Mountain on a remote, winding road. One of the historic buildings at the Burgess property, a winery built in 1880, was destroyed in the Glass Fire last fall. The timing was eerie: The Burgess family, who founded their eponymous winery in 1972, had sold to Lawrence less than a month earlier.

The company also announced the appointment of a new estate director for Burgess, George Lobjanidze, a sommelier from the republic of Georgia who has worked at Bay Area restaurants including Spruce and the Village Pub. Meghan Zobeck, formerly of Napas Melka Estates, was named the Burgess winemaker last year. They say they plan to implement promiscuous farming at the Burgess vineyards, referring to an ancient Roman term for an agricultural philosophy that prizes crop diversity.

These hirings align with Lawrence and McCoys pattern of recruiting young, up-and-coming people to helm their individual wineries. Earlier this year, Stony Hill brought on winemaker Jaimee Motley, a former Chronicle Winemaker to Watch. Motleys husband, Nico Cueva, the former winemaker at Sonoma Countys Kosta Browne, was tapped to lead the estate at the Coombsville property formerly known as the Haynes Vineyard, which Lawrence acquired in 2019.

Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicles wine critic. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Esther_mobley
Heitz Cellar is famous for its Cabernet Sauvignons, which are ageworthy, serious, structured wines. But whenever I used to visit the Heitz tasting room, on Highway 29 in St. Helena, I was always eager to snag a taste of a different wine they made: Grignolino, a red grape from northern Italy. Heitz always fashioned Grignolino into both a crisp, fruity rose and a light, refreshing red.

Although Ive enjoyed Grignolinos from Italy, Ive never seen one from California outside of Heitz. Thats what made the existence of the Heitz Grignolino so poignant. Im sure it was always a little bit of a chore for the Heitzes to sell such an unknown type of bottling, and they could certainly never charge as much money for it as they could for Cabernet. (The 2016 Heitz Grignolino was about $25, while Heitzs top Cabernet, from Marthas Vineyard, goes for $250.) So it always struck me as sweet that a winery like Heitz, despite all its gravitas, never abandoned Grignolino.

Then, in 2018, the Heitz family sold their business in to the Arkansas agricultural tycoon Gaylon Lawrence Jr., in what would be the first of several Napa winery acquisitions for him. (Lawrence has since bought Burgess and Stony Hill, among others, and just yesterday announced the purchase of a 27-acre vineyard and winery that was formerly part of Luna Vineyards. It will become a tasting room for Burgess.)

When I heard that Heitz Cellar, under its new leadership, would no longer be producing Grignolino, my heart sank a little.

But (but!) that turned out to not be exactly true. Heitz is still producing Grignolino, only under a different label, called Brendel. And in the inaugural vintage, 2019, of this new project, Heitz winemaker Brittany Sherwood has fashioned the Grignolino into a very lightly sparkling rose thats completely delicious.

Theres a cute backstory to the Brendel name, and it all hinges on Grignolino. The muse is Leon Brendel, a native Alsatian who came to Napa Valley in the late 1940s by way of Switzerland and Mexico. He bought some land along Highway 29 and planted four acres of Grignolino; he called the vineyard the Only One. No one knows why he put all his eggs in the Grignolino basket, since the grape variety did not turn out to be popular. But that blissful naivete is what Carlton McCoy, managing partner of umbrella company Lawrence Wine Estates, says he most appreciates about the story.

It was a much simpler time in Napa, says McCoy. Land was cheap, bottle prices were cheap, people were just drinking wine for the sheer pleasure of drinking wine. Cabernet Sauvignon wasnt yet the cash crop that it is today; people could plant whatever grapes they wanted without fretting so much over their commercial viability.

In 1959, Leon Brendel sold his property to Joe Heitz. Part of their contract, according to McCoy, stipulated that Heitz keep the Grignolino vines in the ground. And so Grignolino became a part of the Heitz Cellar portfolio, even if it always remained a funny curiosity. Joe Heitz ended up putting his tasting room on the Grignolino parcel  its been under construction for the last 18 months, and McCoy says it is slated to reopen in August.

Sarah Rice/Special to The Chronicle 2014

Although Heitz Cellar mainly made still wines out of Grignolino, both red and rose, it was made into a sparkling wine at least once, in 1962. McCoy knows because he found an old bottle. On the label is a stamp that says Millerway, which, McCoy learned, referred to a proprietary method of carbonating wine. If you can imagine putting wine through the SodaStream in your kitchen, youre not too far off. This represents an alternative technique to the traditional method (used for Champagne, in which wines get their bubbles from a secondary fermentation that occurs within each individual bottle) or the charmat method (used for Prosecco, in which wines get their bubbles from a secondary fermentation that occurs in large tanks).

Brendels 2019 Young Leon Frizzante Rose is a vibrant pink color  think watermelon-candy color  and bone-dry, without a hint of sweetness. Its fruit flavors veer both juicy and tart: grapefruit and pomegranate, with the pleasantly bitter bite of blood orange peel. The bubbles are fine and precise, not quite as high-pressure as a Champagne-method wine but still tense and refreshing. It finishes clean and austere.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

The plan is to keep playing around with the Brendel Grignolino and to try other sparkling-wine techniques in future years  for the 2020 vintage, for example, Sherwood used the charmat method, fashioning it into a Prosecco-like wine. We want this to be a playground for our winemakers, McCoy says.

If this inaugural release is any indication, its a very fun playground. The rest of the Brendel lineup includes a number of other wines sourced from vineyards owned by Lawrence, like an Italian-style white blend and a Portuguese-inspired red cuvee. They plan to open a Brendel tasting room in downtown Napa in August.

For now, the sparkling Grignolino is available from the Brendel website.

Brendel Young Leon Frizzante Rose Napa Valley 2019 ($35, 12%)

Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicles wine critic. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Esther_mobley
When voters approved a tax hike on San Franciscos most expensive property sales in November, they likely thought the funds would go directly to rent relief and affordable housing  as advertised in the campaign.

But in fact, the money was technically a general tax, meaning that it goes into the general fund and can be used for any city services.

Now, a fight is heating up between Mayor London Breed and some supervisors, advocates and voters who rallied for the cause, after Breed released her budget Tuesday without targeting the tax revenue to rent relief and affordable housing.

Five supervisors, led by Dean Preston, banded together to get Proposition I, which doubled taxes on sales of properties valued at more than $10 million, on the ballot in November. The measures supporters, ranging from tenant advocates to teacher unions, campaigned that the money would be used for rent relief and affordable social housing. They faced off with opponents, including major developers, in a cash-loaded campaign  and won with 57.6% of the vote.

Prop. I is expected to bring in around $200 million over the next two years and contributed significantly to revenue that helped fill holes in the citys budget this year.

The ballot measures wording doesnt state what the money would be used for, but the argument in support of it in the voter handbook said it will help renters who have lost jobs and income, and will also help small landlords who depend on rental income to live. Before it passed, the Board of Supervisors approved a resolution stating that the purpose was to promote housing stability during and after the COVID-19 crisis. The board has since created Rent Relief and Housing Stability funds for those purposes and allocated $20 million in the budget surplus  the amount of revenue expected at the time from Prop. I  evenly between the funds, which the mayor approved.

I dont think it was a mystery to anyone that these were funds for COVID rent relief and social housing, Preston said Tuesday. Its really astonishing that given that budget reality, the mayor would not specifically and unequivocally propose a budget that would fully fund the promises of Prop. I ... The need has only grown since the voters voted for it, so to be denying rent relief to people right now is unconscionable.

The mayors budget proposes to add an unprecedented $1 billion over the next two years to what the city is already spending on addressing homelessness and $50.6 million for affordable housing. The budget does not include any direct rent relief. Separately, the city is administering $90 million in federal rent relief.

Jeff Cretan, the mayors spokesperson, said Tuesday that Prop. I revenue went into the general fund. He said that if supervisors have different priorities, thats a conversation for the budget process that would require funding from somewhere else in the budget.

Breed has pushed back at using Prop. I funds for rent relief and affordable social housing.

At a board meeting in April, Breed said housing is a top priority and funding housing and eviction protection is imperative in response to questions about how she planned to use Prop. I money.

However, the measure that increased the transfer tax on the November 2020 ballot was a general tax and the ballot question made no mention of any potential uses, Breed said. I am required by the charter to assume any unrestricted revenue goes toward the general fund expenditure.

I dont agree we should set it aside for brand new programming that hasnt been fully defined when we have an economic and housing crisis to solve now, she added.

She said if Preston wanted to allocate it for specific purposes, he should have made it a dedicated tax, which requires two-thirds of the vote to pass. He couldnt have done it as a property sales tax though: The City Attorneys spokesman confirmed that the California Constitution prohibits cities and counties from imposing a transfer tax as a special tax.

Since Breed spoke, funding from the federal American Rescue Plan erased a majority of the citys deficit  but tough choices about priorities remain.

Supervisors and advocates argue San Franciscans are still struggling to pay rent and existing relief programs dont meet the dire need. A city report last year estimated that, at its worst, more than 33,000 households owed up to $32.7 million a month in unpaid rent.

Nick Otto/Special to The Chronicle 2020

Right now were still dealing with many thousands of tenants deeply into debt because of COVID economic losses as a critical need. It also happens to be one that voters increased a tax to fund, said Supervisor Matt Haney, chair of the boards budget committees. Prop. I didnt include with it the specific outline of how it was spent, but the board was clear and the campaign around it was clear.

A petition pressing Breed to use the funds for what it calls voter-intended purposes amassed more than 1,000 signatures from nearly two dozen organizations as of Wednesday. The progressive Daybreak Political Action Committee  founded by Jackie Fielder, who ran against incumbent Democratic state senator Scott Wiener in November  has texted thousands of voters urging Breed to take action.

Political consultant Jim Ross said fighting over how to spend general taxes is a perpetual issue. Traditionally, a transfer tax is extremely volatile and therefore often put toward one-time uses such as housing development instead of the general fund, he said.

The Prop. I debate is also set against a backdrop of political tension. Preston narrowly lost to Breed for the District 5 supervisor seat in 2016, then won in 2019 against Vallie Brown, who was appointed by Breed to replace her when she became mayor. The more moderate mayor has criticized progressive supervisors for past policy choices  and Democratic Socialist Preston is on the far left of the political spectrum.

Ross said that Breed has been trying to moderate the impulses of the Board of Supervisors to tax and hypothesized that her positioning on Prop. I may be a way of pushing back to slow that down in the future. Cretan declined to comment on the theory.

The mayors budget now goes to the Board of Supervisors, which will decide its priorities. Re-allocating Prop. I revenue could either draw down the general fund, which might mean cuts in other areas, or the citys reserves.

Ross said he believed that although Breed and Preston differ on this debate, they have common ground and would come to an agreement.

The Board of Supervisors bats last, so if theres support for spending the money as intended or at least pitched to voters ... then thats where the money will go, Ross said. At the end of the day, it all comes down to who has six votes.

Mallory Moench is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mallorymoench
For renters in San Francisco and across the U.S., pandemic pricing is increasingly a thing of the past, a new report says  though the Bay Area isnt rebounding quite as quickly as many other parts of the country.

The latest rent report from Apartment List shows the national median rent price increased by 2.3% from April to May  the largest single month increase ever recorded by the listing service, which began its estimates in 2017.

National year-over-year rent growth also set a record at 5.4%, compared to 2.9% in 2018 and 2.1% in 2019.

Apartment List took historical rent growth patterns prior to the pandemic, projected what the national rent price would have been if the pandemic had never happened, and found that prices have now returned to their usual seasonal trajectory, said Rob Warnock, senior research associate for Apartment List.

Apartment List

The price reductions that characterized much of 2020 have been fully wiped out by recent rent increases this spring, he said. Fast-forward to this month, and for the first time since the start of the pandemic, the national median rent price has finally caught up to that projected price.

The main reason cited for the dramatic rebound in rental prices was the countrys emergence from the pandemic, with businesses and offices reopening, and more people wanting to live in bigger cities again.

Apartment List

We saw local vacancy rates, which spiked last spring, contract quickly today, signaling an increasingly competitive rental market that is allowing landlords to bring their prices back up, Warnock said.

The national trend isnt necessarily what much of the Bay Area is seeing, though. Cities where rents fell the fastest in 2020 are still not back to their pre-pandemic levels, Warnock said. Still, prices are rising quickly.

Among U.S. cities where rent fell the fastest during the pandemic, San Francisco is making an especially strong recovery, the report found.

Apartment List

The city never lost its spot as the nationals most expensive rental market, but prices plummeted 26.6% in San Francisco from March 2020 to January 2021.

However, since the beginning of the year, rents have spiked 13.4%, and from April to May increased 3.8%, with a one-bedroom median price of $2,260.

Apartment List

While San Francisco rents are still 16.8% below pre-pandemic levels, the best deals already appear to be gone, and any remaining price benefits for renters will come to a close by the end of this calendar year, Warnock said.

Its still a renters market in the Bay Area, he said. Prices havent fully recovered from the pandemic, but if youre on the fence about moving, its best to lock in a new lease sooner rather than later, because based on everything we know about seasonal rent swings, the price increases were seeing today will continue throughout the remainder of the summer.

Warnock said prices dont usually plateau until August or September, but there is a lot of pent-up demand re-entering the Bay Area rental market right now, so increases could continue through the fall and winter.

Apartment List

Fellow listings site Zumper found that rental prices in the Bay Areas three largest metro areas, San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, rose together for the first time in May compared to the previous month. Apartment List also found that rents increased in those same cities for the four past consecutive months  and in fact five for San Jose.

Digging deeper locally, Apartment Lists San Francisco rent report showed Oaklands prices went up 1.6% from April to May. The report found Oakland had the lowest median rents among Bay Area cities: $1,670 for a one-bedroom, and $1,970 for a two-bedroom apartment.

On the other end of the spectrum in the region, Dublin had the highest rents at $2,770 for a one-bedroom apartment, and $3,420 for a two-bedroom. Rents in Dublin over the past year didnt dramatically decline like many other Bay Area cities, and actually grew 1.8% year-over-year, the fastest in the metro area.

Apartment List

Pleasanton also saw year-over-year rent growth of 1.4% and a 2% month-over-month increase to $2,160 for a one-bedroom and $2,950 for a two-bedroom. Emeryville saw the second biggest month-over-month increase, 2.8%, with a one-bedroom median rent of $2,520 and $3,510 for a two-bedroom.

Each rental listings website has different methodologies. Apartment Lists analysis, which starts with property data on its website, employs statistics from the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development, and includes rents for older units and those in lower-income neighborhoods.

Kellie Hwang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kellie.hwang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KellieHwang
Ludhiana, Jun 2 (UNI) Punjab Agricultural University (PAU)'s communications department has developed a ludo for farmers which will help them in farming.

Department of Communications, PAU, Dr Anil Sharma, said here on Wednesday that it has been prepared keeping in view the paddy and cotton seasons. This ludo is in demand not only in India but also abroad. Neighboring Bangladesh and Nepal have appealed to the PAU to convert it to Hindi so that farmers can better understand the profit and loss of cotton and paddy.


A judge dismissed a bribery charge Tuesday against Apples global head of security, saying there was no evidence he had acted with a corrupt intent when he offered to give iPad computers to the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office, which was about to issue valuable gun permits for Apples security staff.

A county grand jury indicted Thomas Moyer in November for proposing to donate 200 computers, worth nearly $70,000, to Sheriff Laurie Smiths office after negotiating concealed-weapons permits for the executive-protection team at Apples Cupertino headquarters.

Such permits are rarely issued in Californias most populous counties, and prosecutors contended they were granted in exchange for contributions to Smith, who won her most difficult re-election campaign in November 2018. Smith has not been accused of wrongdoing, but two top aides, Undersheriff Rick Sung and Capt. James Jensen, have both been indicted on charges of soliciting bribes.

In Tuesdays ruling, however, Superior Court Judge Eric Geffon said that when Moyer first offered the computers to Sung and Jensen in February 2019, he had already been assured that the gun permits would be approved. Smith herself had given him that approval at a meeting in June 2018, and Sung and another officer had reaffirmed it in November, Geffon said.

There was no evidence that suddenly, on Feb. 8, 2019, Moyer was told or believed that the CCW (carrying a concealed weapon) permits would not be delivered unless the sheriffs office received something in exchange, the judge said. That means, he said, that prosecutors lacked evidence Moyer had acted with the required corrupt intent to be guilty of bribery.

The ruling does not affect the charges against Sung and Jensen, who are also accused of trading concealed-weapons permits for monetary contributions to Smiths 2018 campaign.

The district attorneys office opened its investigation in 2018 after public records revealed that a manager at AS Solution, a Silicon Valley private security firm, had received a gun permit just months after he donated $45,000 toward Smiths re-election effort. AS Solutions said it cooperated with prosecutors in the investigation.

Apple dropped plans to deliver computers to the sheriffs office in August 2019 when news media began reporting the issue.

In response to the ruling, Ed Swanson, one of Moyers attorneys, said, As we have said from the outset, Tom is an honorable man who committed no crime.

Moyer, in a statement issued by his lawyers, thanked the judge for giving this case such careful consideration, and for allowing me to move forward with my life, and also thanked Apple, his family and friends for standing by him.

District Attorney Jeff Rosens office said it believes the grand jury, which heard direct evidence ... from witnesses in this public corruption case, correctly indicted Mr. Moyer for bribery. We stand by the grand jurys decision and are evaluating our options.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, has endorsed Mia Bonta for the East Bay Assembly district seat vacated by Bontas husband, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, The Chronicle first reported.

Lee said that Mia Bonta will bring a progressive, social, economic and racial justice lens to our state legislature.

She will stand up for communities that have been marginalized and underrepresented for far too long, Lee said. Mia is committed to addressing our communitys most pressing issues, such as homelessness, environmental justice, criminal justice reform, helping families and businesses recover from the pandemic, and reopening schools safely. Mia has a strong record of serving East Bay children and families.

Snagging the endorsement of Lee is huge in the overwhelmingly Democratic district, said David McCuan, a professor of political science at Sonoma State University.

A high-profile endorsement like this is political gold, McCuan said.

Unlike other Sacramento-based politicians who may want to back Mia Bonta to curry favor with Rob Bonta, McCuan said Lee is coming from a different place. Shes a national progressive icon and her endorsement will send a signal.

McCuan said Lees blessing will carry extra weight in the East Bay Congressional district she represents, which overlaps with the contested state Assembly district. U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, has also endorsed Mia Bonta, who is the president of the Alameda School Board.

Eight candidates are running to replace Rob Bonta, whom Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed to be attorney general after Xavier Becerra was confirmed as the federal Health and Human Services secretary. Rob Bonta, D-Alameda, had represented the 18th District in the Assembly since 2012. The primary election will be held on June 29 and a general election on August 31. The winner will serve the rest of Rob Bontas term, through 2022.

Other candidates are stockpiling top endorsements, too.

Alameda Vice Mayor Malia Vella, a staff attorney for the Teamsters Local 856, has pulled in several labor endorsements, including nods from the Building and Construction Trades Council of Alameda County, the California Federation of Teachers and others.

We are proud to stand with a labor champion like Malia Vella, who has spent her career fighting for working families in Assembly District 18, teachers union president Jeff Freitas said.

Vella also has been endorsed by state controller Betty Yee and Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf, who gave a dual endorsement to Vella and Bonta. Likewise, the 700,000-member Service Employees International Union also issued dual endorsements of Vella and Bonta.

Social justice attorney Janani Ramachandran is backed by the Sen. Bernie Sanders-inspired Our Revolution East Bay and the Oakland East Bay Democratic Club. She gained the endorsement of Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Fremont, on June 2.

Janani Ramachandran is exactly the kind of fearless progressive we need to win the fight for a true living wage, Medicare for All and a comprehensive Green New Deal, Khanna said.

James Aguilar, a member of the San Leandro school board, touts former California Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin and several local school board members as supporters. Victor Aguilar, San Leandro City Council member, is backed by his fellow council members Bryan Azevedo and Fred Simon.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli
Gov. Gavin Newsoms vow to scrap his color-coded coronavirus closures and fully reopen California was a political and public health gamble that to some extent seems to be paying off. COVID infections are down statewide, vaccinations are up and the campaign to recall the governor is in disarray.

But while the Bay Area and Southern California are enjoying their lowest infection and hospitalization rates in over a year, pockets of relatively sparse vaccination and mounting transmission raise doubts about the wisdom of signaling that the pandemic era has passed.

California has reasons to be hopeful. Under 1% of tests for the virus are yielding positive results, COVID hospitalizations are lower than at any time since the pandemics early days, and a majority of Californians are fully vaccinated. The numbers are even better in the Bay Area, where nearly 80% of eligible San Franciscans have received at least one vaccine dose, prompting Mayor London Breed on Tuesday to declare the city out of the woods.

Its clear, however, that parts of the state have yet to emerge from the thicket. As The Chronicle reported, a few counties in the states far north have seen infections rise lately. In Shasta County, 3.7% of coronavirus tests are positive, about four times the statewide average. The regions vaccination rates are about half San Franciscos, with a majority of residents yet to receive a single dose. Immunization also varies widely within the Bay Area, where whiter, wealthier neighborhoods enjoy higher rates.

Shasta is one of four California counties still in the states red tier, the second most restrictive, and one of two certain to remain there as of June 15, Newsoms target date for eliminating the tiers altogether. Solano and Sacramento counties didnt make it out of the red tier until Tuesday. And despite the states movable goalposts, only 19 of its 58 counties, encompassing just under half the population, have made it to the yellow, least restrictive tier.

Newsom has taken extraordinary and appropriate steps to boost vaccination rates, including dedicating more than $100 million to a lottery. He also wisely prolonged the states mask mandate but is expected to drop it with the tiers in two weeks.

As the health officer of Del Norte County, another red-tier jurisdiction, told The Chronicle, that might have some unplanned effects. Loosening restrictions and reopening the economy according to the rules in place makes sense, but varying vaccination rates and viral variants prescribe precaution in throwing out the rule book.

This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters.
Regarding Guns arent just tools (Letters, May 31): Particularly offensive to me was Craig DeLuzs statement that there isnt a gun violence problem in this country  theres a violence problem  and his comments about infringement of Second Amendment gun rights. Of course theres a gun violence problem in this country. Thousands of people are killed with guns in this country and it is nearly impossible to create laws that infringe on gun rights. We will never even begin to solve these problems with this sort of thinking.

Joseph Johnson, San Francisco

Retrain our brains

Consciously or not, when we communicate, we read people from their facial expression and body language to their speech. When sitting in a conference room, we move our heads to scan through people sequentially. If you consider our brain as a big feature analyzer, this feature space is four-dimensional, and in a discrete time series. After the COVID-19 breakout, meetings moved online and all people are concentrated in little squares on the screen.

We retrained our brain and gained the ability to read people from speech, low resolution 2D images and all people simultaneously. When cameras are not on, it is even more challenging as it is limited to speech only. Long pauses and silence make people uncertain. Think about it furthermore, as offices reopen, people will be wearing masks in the conference room. We lose about half of the face expression. Our brain needs to be trained again!

Sophia Shi, San Bruno

More for you Opinion Letters to the Editor: Truth in short supply with GOP...

Seeds of division

In Truth in short supply with Republican leaders (Letters, May 31), the writer stresses the need to investigate the truth as to what took place on Jan. 6. Actually, this matter has already been investigated, Congress already intends further investigation, and numerous criminal cases will almost certainly involve extensive discovery and other investigation.

Precisely what is it that Democrats want another commission to accomplish? When the writer describes the claims of Republicans as farcical, and former President Donald Trump as a twice impeached lying loser, he makes it apparent that he is more interested in muckraking than actually uncovering truth.

In a larger sense, until our people and their politicians begin to relearn how to compromise rather than sow the seeds of division, China et al. will continue to smile.

Daniel Mauthe, Livermore

Move the message

Regarding Snag in plan for art to honor Black lives (May 31): I read with interest the story about the debate to add the message Lift Every Voice to the top of the music concourse in Golden Gate Park. I looked at artist Dana Kings moving website which reframes Francis Scott Keys words and actions.

I agree, however, with Commissioner Jonathan Pearlman and Kate Black that the message Lift Every Voice should be installed near Monumental Reckoning. The bandstand, or Spreckles Temple of Music, is its own work of art and has special preservation status. Additionally, the modern illuminated lettering proposed belongs on a shopping mall and cheapens Kings work and the bandstand.

Sarah Smith, San Francisco

A parking nightmare

Why would I want to go to games at the proposed waterfront ballpark? Getting there will be a nightmare and I certainly do not want to impact the port activity and all the jobs it brings to Oakland. I would much rather continue attending games at the Coliseum  it is easy to get there either by car or BART.

There is still a lot of room for whatever moneymaking schemes the owner has in mind after they rehab the stadium or build a new one at the site. The playing field is beautiful and a little rehab could improve the rest of the venue. I would rather attend concerts there than at the Chase Center  now there is a nightmare for getting there and/or parking!
Last year, as protesters flooded streets across the country over the police killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and several other unarmed Black men and women, many tech companies decided to publicly show support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

This included promises to change workplace culture and increase diversity among staff, grand displays of donating millions of dollars to the NAACP and visibly highlighting Black Lives Matter slogans on their respective websites.

Many of these gestures gained media traction and earned public goodwill for the companies involved. But, a year later, their promises to affect change largely havent materialized in the form of tangible results. As a distracted public shifted its attention to other major events (the presidential election, Jan. 6 insurrection, COVID reopening and mass shootings come to mind), tech companies, too, lost track of  or set aside  meeting the robust goals they originally set forth.

According to a recent report from recruiting platform Blendoor, several companies have laid off more minority employees than theyve hired, despite rhetoric pledging to do the opposite. Out of 110 companies cited in the report, those that made a #BlackLivesMatter pledge have 20% fewer Black employees on average than companies that did not make the pledge. There are still no Black women named executive officers in the 240 tech companies analyzed by Blendoor.

In other cases, companies have sold surveillance technology to law enforcement. Amazon, which very publicly added Black Lives Matter to the banner of its website during the protests, was found to have sold its facial recognition software, Rekognition, to law enforcement in 2018.

It was only after backlash from civil rights groups and a letter from IBM to legislators condemning using facial recognition software for mass surveillance that Amazon announced its ban on providing that technology to police. While Amazon has stated it hoped the ban would give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, theres nothing stopping it from lobbying for more ethical technology practices on its own and pledging to stop supplying law enforcement permanently. The company has also come under fire recently for discrimination and retaliation lawsuits by women who worked in both corporate and warehouse positions.

This isnt what accountability looks like.

There still hasnt been a full external auditing of all the companies that made racial justice pledges, or reports showing exactly how and where all the money committed to equity justice issues was spent. This needs to happen.

Its disappointing to see these promises remain broken, much like the justice system when it comes to prosecuting violent police misconduct. Showing solidarity demands more than just making vague statements about a commitment to diversity.

There needs to be follow through.

Companies serious about making a larger impact can renew their commitment to Black lives by supporting legislation, like the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.

Sponsored by Los Angeles Rep. Karen Bass, the bill is aimed at combating police misconduct and racial bias. Besides restricting the transfer of military equipment to local police departments and qualified immunity for police officers, the bill would also prohibit officers from using choke holds (which killed Eric Garner) and the issuance of no-knock warrants in federal drug investigations (which led to the death of Taylor).

Companies that throw their support behind these measures will undoubtedly draw the ire of some customers as well as politicians. Several law enforcement organizations have opposed the bill, as has former President Donald Trump, who pushed back on the efforts to prevent restricting qualified immunity, stalling negotiations between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate.

Historically, law enforcement organizations have played a powerful role in hindering police reform bills. If Congress is serious about changing police practices and accountability, then it cannot continue to be swayed by the lobbying of law enforcement. And neither can the companies that publicly displayed their commitment to Black lives in the heat of last years protests.

For tech companies, supporting legislation with a social justice framework would go a lot further than just pledging money. It would show their employees and consumers that they are serious about improving Black lives in a tangible way. This support needs to be coupled with a true commitment to promotion, retention and mentoring of Black employees.

Its past time for companies to show that Black lives matter more to them than just a trending hashtag.

Spencer Whitney is the San Francisco Chronicles assistant editorial page editor. Email: swhitney@sfchronicle.com
One year ago, our brother Sean Monterrosa protested the killing of George Floyd. Like countless others he took to the streets to call for an end to police violence.

Hours later, he became the next victim.

While his knees were on the ground and his hands were in the air, Officer Jarrett Tonn of the Vallejo Police Department shot and killed him.

It has been 365 days since weve hugged our brother. Holidays and birthdays have become somber affairs, as we look at the empty chair that Sean should be occupying. Since our brother was killed, we have watched a new president take office, a new California attorney general be appointed and George Floyds murderer, Derek Chauvin, held accountable for his deadly actions.

Yet we are still fighting for justice for Sean.

It took 11 months of activism to get the California Department of Justice to investigate the killing of our brother. Together with Justice League CA, a state-based task force of The Gathering for Justice and Grassroots Law Project, we have marched, traveled and spoken out against police brutality, demanding answers and accountability.

Newly appointed California Attorney General Rob Bonta finally reopened Seans case, emphasizing that without accountability, there is no justice. With Bontas support, we finally have hope that Officer Tonn and the Vallejo Police Department will be brought to justice for their treatment of our brother.

But that can only happen if Bonta stays true to his word and honors our call for action and the pursuit of justice.

June 2, 2020 is forever etched into our familys memory. Our unarmed brother was compliant with police demands. He still lost his life at the hands of an officer.

He was neither the suspect of a crime, nor was he wanted by police. Yet he was shot five times by Tonn, who was in the back seat of a moving, unmarked police vehicle.

Following Seans death, key evidence was destroyed in the case before investigators could order a ballistics report. This was allegedly done under the orders of Vallejo Police Department Lt. Michael Nichelini. After that, Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams recused herself from prosecuting the case, citing the close working relationship with the Vallejo Police Department. When the case reached former Attorney General Xavier Becerras desk, he declined to investigate Seans death. Nichelini was fired on April 2, 2021, as a result of separate internal affairs investigations into other corrupt acts, yet he remains the head of the Vallejo Police Officers Association.

Seans story is tragically not the only one of its kind locally. The Vallejo Police Department has the highest number of people shot by officers per capita in Northern California. In 2012, one-third of the homicides in Vallejo were actually police killings. Furthermore, Tonn, Seans killer, has been involved in four shootings since 2015.

Over the past year we have met with many other families of victims of police brutality and heard their stories of pain and loss. They, too, deserve justice for their loved ones. The Vallejo Police Department and police officers everywhere must be held accountable when they allow a culture of violence and corruption to fester.

Justice has not been served for Sean, but Bonta has the power to change that. We are counting on him to take action, to make sure that Seans death is not swept under the rug by a corrupt and violent police department.

This weekend, we will mark the anniversary of Seans death with joy and power, hosting two events in San Francisco. We are working to bring our community together and build solidarity to fight for systemic change. A block party will be held on Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. in Bernal Heights and there will be a Justice for Sean rally Sunday at 1 p.m. at Civic Center Plaza.

For 365 days, our family has mourned the loss of our brother. Though we cannot bring him back, we believe holding Vallejo police accountable is the first step to peace and healing on our journey toward justice.

Ashley and Michelle Monterrosa are the sisters of Sean Monterrosa, who was shot to death in June 2020 by police in Vallejo.
With California's rivers running low after two consecutive dry winters, state officials and local water agencies have pumped out a steady stream of drought declarations and calls for water conservation in recent weeks.

It's clear the Golden State is in a drought and it could escalate to a crisis, but, you may be wondering, just how bad is it?

For an answer to that question, the California Department of Water's Resource's drought manager Jeanine Jones pointed to a series of bar graphs (see above) that she asked her web team at the department to create earlier this year and post online.

The one-pager conveys the perilous state of California's water supply and reveals that the situation is especially dire in the Northern California watersheds that provide drinking water to nearly 30 million Californians and irrigate hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland that supply more than a quarter of the nation's food supply.

"This is data that we already had and we didnt have it in a graphical format," said Jones. "I could see what was happening just by looking at the numbers, but I had our web team put it in this format. As we started out and got into the wet season, it wasnt very wet, it was very dry. People were commenting on how dry it was. This was a second dry season. I thought a good way for people to help understand that data was to compare it to the two driest years of our driest drought."

(Left) Allen J. Schaben/ LAT via Getty Images, (Right) CA Dept. of Water Resources

To fully understand the graphs, it helps to know two terms used by water managers who monitor supply and balance the demands of everyone from farmers to urban water districts.

The first is "water year." Everyone from researchers to government agencies report hydrologic data across a water year, a period of 12 months running from October to September. It differs from the calendar year because part of the precipitation that falls in late fall and early winter accumulates as snow and does not drain until the following spring or summer. So when experts refer to the 2020-2021 water year, they're looking at the time frame between Oct. 1, 2020, and Sept. 31, 2021.

Another term is "natural flow"  a calculated value that takes the flow of water measured at a stagnant point, such as a stream gauge on a river or a dam on a reservoir, and adjusts that number to reflect the amount of water that would exist without quantifiable human interventions.

"For example, there are many locations in the Sierra Nevada where there is a hydropower diversion that moves water from one watershed via a canal, pipeline, or tunnel into an adjacent watershed where a power plant is located," Jones explained. "This allows the power plant operators to increase generation by running more water through the plant. To calculate the natural flow in the 'donor' watershed, we measure the flow at some point such as a major reservoir, and add back in the measured quantity of water that was diverted to the adjacent watershed."

Jones offered another example that occurs when storing water in a reservoir affects runoff downstream from the reservoir by altering the timing: "If we want to calculate natural flow at some point downstream from the reservoir, we measure the flow at that point and then adjust it by adding or subtracting the quantity of water affected by reservoir operations," she explained. "We can measure the flow coming into the reservoir, so we know what would have happened had the reservoir not been there."

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

With this background knowledge, you can begin to wrap your head around the bar graphs that compare "accumulative natural flow" at key locations in California's watersheds since the start of the 2020-2021 water year with natural flow in the same timeframe in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 water years.

The most alarming takeaway from the graphs is that this year's water supply in Northern California's four largest watersheds is tracking below the most severe years in the last drought. The 2021 numbers are below the 2014 and 2015 ones on the Feather River that pours into Lake Oroville, the Yuba River that feeds into the Feather River, the American River that runs into Folsom Lake and the system of rivers that flow into Shasta Lake, the state's largest reservoir.

"The drought of water years 2012-16 is still fresh in peoples minds," Jones said. "Water years 2014 and 2015 were the driest years of that drought and we are comparing the present water year 2021 to those years to provide perspective regarding relatively recent dry periods."

While the outlook in 2021 is better on the water systems in Central and Southern California, these are less important in the overall picture. Northern California rivers are the linchpin in the state's supply as the state receives 75% of its rain and snow in the watersheds north of Sacramento, according to the department.

These watersheds feed into two massive government projects  the federal Central Valley Project and the State Water Project  designed to capture flows and transport water as far south as San Diego.

These systems are dependent on rainfall and snowmelt, and in the past two winters, precipitation has been far below normal. Much of the rain and snowmelt has been absorbed by the dry, parched ground instead of running off into the rivers that feed reservoirs.

As of Tuesday, the state Department of Water Resources reported the 154 major reservoirs across the state were 66% of average and the snow water equivalent of the snowpack was just 0% of normal for June 1.

Earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom expanded a drought emergency declaration to 41 of Californias 58 counties and said more counties will likely be added with conditions expected to worsen.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which supplies water in California through the Central Valley Project, said Wednesday it expects to cut its delivery to the urban areas it serves by more than half, allocating 25% of the contracted amount rather than the 55% that was announced earlier. (Read more on SFGATE.)

Water districts in the San Francisco Bay Area that have contracts with the Central Valley Project and are affected by the cut are Contra Costa Water District, East Bay Municipal Utility District and Santa Clara Valley Water District.

Santa Clara County's district told the San Jose Mercury News that the reduced allocation will lead to mandatory water restrictions across Santa Clara County. The district asked its South Bay customers in May for a 25% voluntary reduction in their water use; in June, the board will vote on which mandatory rules to impose, the Mercury News reported.

The federal government also announced that their water allocations to farm-irrigation districts in the Central Valley will be reduced to zero. In February, the bureau allocated farmers 5% of their contract supply.

The last time this happened was in 2015 amid historic drought. But based on the way things look today, this next drought could be even more severe.
LATEST June 3, 3:30 p.m. A representative for the families involved in the Sacramento hotel pool incident has spoken out on behalf of the women recorded in the viral Instagram clip, saying that the story being told about the situation is "false and defamatory."

"This incident had nothing to do with homophobia, racism or even kissing. It involved what appeared to be sexual intercourse and inappropriate activity in close proximity of children," Terry Fahn, a spokesperson for the family's attorney, said in a statement to SFGATE.

(Multiple witnesses told Sacramento's KOVR and SFGATE, among other news outlets, that the two women were expressing similar levels of affection as other couples at the pool. Domonique Veasley, one of the women reportedly told to stop kissing, clarified the situation further to KXTV, saying that she was approached "maybe six seconds into it.")

"Young children should not be forced to witness explicit sexual activity in a hotel swimming pool in the middle of a summer afternoon irrespective of gender or sexual identity," Fahn said. "When members of the party politely and respectfully asked that some of the sexual activity be toned down because children were close by in the pool, they were met with aggressive verbal attacks."

He added that the coverage and social media posts "have resulted in numerous threats to the families including their children, which is appalling and unacceptable."

Fahn also said that the families chose to leave the pool after feeling that "their safety was at risk" and were not escorted or kicked out by the hotel, as originally reported.

June 2, 9 a.m. A video posted on Instagram shows the aftermath of an incident at a Sacramento hotel, in which a group was kicked out of the hotel pool after allegedly scolding two women for kissing in front of children.

According to KOVR in Sacramento, two women at the Kimpton Sawyer hotel said they were harassed by the group for kissing each other because their children were around.

My initial reaction for the children was Oh yeah, Domonique Veasley, one of the women involved in the incident, told the station, and then I was like, You are asking me to stop being me.

Veasley, who is Black, further alleged that another woman in the group approached them with the demand, before they reported them to security for their display of affection. She also noticed that none of the straight couples by the pool were asked to stop kissing.

Security later escorted the group out of the pool. Other pool attendees began shouting Shame! at the group as they were walking out, which elicited further fury from the women.

But one woman in the group, who self-identified as being from New Jersey but living in Oakland, drew particular attention after a video of her went viral on Instagram.

The footage was posted on Monday by Art Kaligos, a 43-year-old Portland man who works in the photography industry. He said he was at the Sawyer with friends after embarking on a biking trip from San Francisco.

"We were relaxing in the pool as it was super hot and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves until a group of white mothers asked a young queer woman of color to stop kissing her female friend in front of their children," Kaligos told SFGATE in an email. "The young queer woman was visibly upset at being targeted and called out the women for being racists and homophobic, as there were many other people in the pool  straight and white  who were just as affectionate."

Kaligos added that the group of mothers "demanded" an apology from Veasley. Then, they took action after the group called security.

"I decided that we've seen too many videos of trauma and wanted to film these homophobes being shamed out of the pool area," he said. "I was inspired by the Cersei walk of shame from 'Game of Thrones,' hence I started chanting and recording."

The clip began with the group yelling expletives and flipping off other poolgoers yelling at Kaligos and his friends shouting "Shame!" at the group.

Then, the woman  identified only as Deb, the name written on her Starbucks cup  approached.

Do you guys have any children? the woman asked. After someone in the pool shouted that they didnt want children, she replied, Good, cause youd be a fing terrible dad.

She went on cursing out Kaligos' group.

I have never met anyone like you guys. Are you kidding me? I have never been more embarrassed in my life for the human race. I am a Jewish woman from New Jersey, youre a disgusting piece of st.

And after someone outside of the frame yelled, Youre suburban, she grew livid.

I live in Oakland, you fing asshole! Youre a loser! she replied. (Kaligos said that he was "amused" at this "attempt at credibility for not being racist." It is unclear if she lives in Oakland.)

The man she was with later told them, Congratulations, good job, as they left the hotel pool.

Kaligos said he wanted to expose the group of parents "as it is Pride month." "As a white gay man, it is important for me to stand up for my queer brothers and sisters, especially those of color," he said. "We will not tolerate bigotry any longer."

Veasley told KOVR that the support from other people at the pool, including Kaligos group, gave her faith for the future.

Its exhausting but I also felt very supportive from the other people at the pool, Veasley told the station. It gave me faith for the future and it showed me that its going to take a long time, its a long road, but its a spark of faith.

Nikki Carlson, the general manager at the hotel, disavowed the incident, calling it an unfortunate disagreement between guests in a statement.

The Sawyer does not condone discrimination or verbal assault of any kind, Carlson said. An unfortunate disagreement between guests occurred at our pool over the holiday weekend and the matter has since been resolved.

Editor's note: The woman in the video, whose identity has not been officially confirmed by SFGATE but identified herself as an Oakland resident, is believed to not be from Oakland based on now-deleted social media accounts. The headline and story has been updated accordingly.
A federal election watchdog fined the publisher of the National Enquirer $187,500 for squelching the story of a former Playboy model who claimed she'd had an affair with former President Donald Trump.

The Federal Election Commission fined A360 Media, formerly known as American Media, for paying Karen McDougal $150,000 in August 2016, saying the payment was made to keep her story from becoming public before the presidential election.

The FEC said the publisher's payment to Karen McDougal to purchase a limited life story right combined with its decision not to publish the story, in consultation with an agent of Donald J. Trump and for the purpose of influencing the election, constituted a prohibited corporate in-kind contribution.

Campaign finance laws prohibit corporations from cooperating with a campaign to affect an election.

The publisher didn't immediately return a message left via its website. An emailed statement from a representative for David Pecker, who stepped down as CEO of the publisher in 2020, said that Pecker was not a party to the settlement and had not paid a fine.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan agreed in 2018 not to prosecute American Media in exchange for its cooperation in a campaign finance investigation. That probe led to a three-year prison term for Trumps former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who had urged the publisher to obtain the rights to McDougal's story and promised to reimburse them for the payment.

Cohen served about a year of his sentence before he was released to home confinement as the coronavirus spread through prisons. Since then, he has spoken out frequently against Trump, and tweeted on Wednesday that he was willing to cooperate with federal prosecutors on any other prosecution of Trump or his associates.

The National Enquirer for years buried stories about Trump and some other celebrities with a catch-and-kill strategy of buying the rights to these stories and then not publishing them.

Common Cause, a public interest group which filed the complaint with the FEC in 2018, said in a statement that the fine was a win for democracy but said the agency's failure to hold former-President Trump and his campaign accountable for this violation lays bare the dysfunction at the FEC." In its 2018 complaint, it also asked the agency to investigate Trump and his campaign. In a letter to Common Cause Tuesday, the agency said there was an insufficient number of votes to find reason to believe that the remaining respondents violated the Federal Election Campaign Act "

Common Cause also noted that the FEC's Republican commissioners had blocked enforcement against Trump for a payment to Stormy Daniels in a decision released last month. The FEC has three Republicans, two Democrats and an Independent commissioner.

Common Cause said that the FEC has again shown itself incapable of fully enforcing the campaign finance laws passed by Congress.

The National Enquirer and A360 Media are owned by hedge fund Chatham Asset Management. A Chatham representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment. A 2019 deal that would have sold the Enquirer to the former head of the airport newsstand company Hudson News was not completed.
Avengers Campus, the first new land at Disney California Adventure since Cars Land in 2012, opens on June 4  and with it comes spiral churros, new character encounters with Marvel Cinematic Universe favorites, an Avengers Quinjet, and Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure, one of, if not the, most technologically advanced rides Disneyland has ever debuted.

While the general public wont be able to peek inside the land until Friday, true MCU fans are already scouring information on the internet for the Easter eggs  the hidden clues and references  that Imagineers famously include in every new attraction and update to the park.

What they might not realize is that the biggest Avengers Campus Easter egg of all is already on display  and it dates back to way before Marvel movies even existed.

When Disneyland reopened on April 30, hawkeyed fans noticed something weird around the perimeter of the Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout ride. Spots of blue, purple and yellow now dot the ground around the Collectors Fortress, the building that houses the ride and which famously contained the galaxys largest collection of curiosities (including some Infinity Stones) in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.

Disney explained the new element on a blog post previewing Avengers Campus. "A late addition to the Campus, Taneleer Tivan, a.k.a. the Collector, placed his Fortress [the Guardians of the Galaxy ride] against its edges," the blog writes. "This placement warped the ground immediately surrounding the alien stronghold causing a cosmic disruption to ooze from the ground below. Hues of blues, purples and yellows glow in the daylight."

That cosmic disruption might just look like a weird new decoration, but its actually a deep-cut reference to Marvel comic books  one which fans of just the Marvel movies, and not the comics themselves, wouldnt recognize. Its Kirby Krackle, a storytelling device that dates back to the 1960s.

Julie Tremaine

In the 60s, [acclaimed Marvel comic book artist] Jack Kirby began to draw clusters of round black dots to depict enormous, but not necessarily directed, energy, often of a cosmic nature, Harry Mendryk writes in a blog post on the Kirby Museums website. To readers, it might have just looked like ink spots splashed across a page, but it meant something significant  that two comic book universes were colliding on the page.

Mendryk further points out that versions of this splattered, crackling energy in the cosmos can be found as early as Kirbys comic art of the 1940s all the way through the late 1970s, and became a popular storytelling device. This simple graphic technique was so effective that it has been picked up by other comic book artists and can still be found in comics of today, he explains. The device has been given the name Kirby Krackle, in homage to the man who developed it.

Given what an important part of Marvels storytelling Kirby Krackle is, its no surprise theme park designers and MCU fans would be inspired by this and use the technique to help solve the bigger problem for Imagineers: bridging the gap between the Guardians of the Galaxy ride, which debuted in 2017, and the new Avengers Campus, both physically and in terms of storytelling.

Courtesy of Disneyland

In the Disney Parks storyline, according to that same blog post, the Collector specifically chose to place his Fortress in that spot because of the Avengers decision to set up a campus in this location. From what Avengers Campus cast members have said at last weeks previews, the Avengers themselves are fine with Tivans invasion of sorts, as this allows them to keep a close watch on him while hes at the edge of their new headquarters. (Terrans Treats will also serve brightly colored spiral churros inspired by Infinity Stones, which is arguably another reason this cosmic disruption is a good thing.)

In the comics, a cosmic event as significant as this would arguably warrant a scene of Kirby Krackle. Its definitely an inventive remedy for the strangely placed attraction and four year gap between Disneys reskin of the Tower of Terror ride into Guardians of the Galaxy and the Marvel immersion into the parks.

The gorgeous goo that is Kirby Krackle ends where the perimeter of the Collectors fortress ends and Avengers Campus begins, but the Easter eggs abound in the new land. There are references to the days of Howard Stark and many nods and inclusions of characters not yet introduced into the MCU, like Squirrel Girl, Moongirl, Taskmaster and even Harley Keener. There are even references to pieces of deeply embedded California Adventure history throughout, not only to A Bugs Land, which was torn down to build Avengers Campus, but to what was in that area even earlier, too.

But those, youll just have to find for yourself.
Bengaluru, Jun 2 (UNI) Opposition Leader in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and former state Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who had fever and advised rest for two two days by Doctors, had been rushed to a private hospital in the city last evening.

Siddaramaiah is admitted in our hospital for evaluation of fever. He was tested for Covid, which came negative. He is stable and being investigated and treated by a team of medical experts," according to Manipal Hospital here on Wednesday.

Sources said that as he is suffering from fever, all his programmes were cancelled for the next few days.

UNI BSP MSP 1155
CHICAGO (AP)  Two Chicago officers have been stripped of their police powers during an investigation into allegations that they beat a teenager during his arrest early this year, according a published report.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability confirmed the basic allegations against the officers and confirmed a Chicago Tribune report that two other officers are also under investigation for allegations that they failed to activate their body cameras. One of them is also accused of failing to intervene or report the incident.
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP)  The bodies of two migrants have been recovered from the Mediterranean Sea and another 20 remain missing a day after two Europe-bound boats foundered off the coast of Tunisia, officials said Wednesday.

Tunisian naval units rescued a total 109 people, the Defense Ministry said. Most of the migrants were from sub-Saharan Africa.
BOSTON (AP)  One current and one former Boston police officer have pleaded guilty to charges connected to an investigation into overtime fraud at the departments evidence warehouse, federal prosecutors said.

Officer Michael Murphy, 61, of Boston, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Boston.
MIAMI  Three years ago, not long after Hurricane Irma left parts of Miami underwater, the federal government embarked on a study to find a way to protect the vulnerable South Florida coast from deadly and destructive storm surge.

Already, no one likes the answer.

Build a wall, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed in its first draft of the study, now under review. Six miles of it, in fact, mostly inland, running parallel to the coast through neighborhoods  except for a 1-mile stretch right on Biscayne Bay, past the gleaming sky-rises of Brickell, the citys financial district.

The dramatic, $6 billion proposal remains tentative and at least five years off. But the startling suggestion of a massive sea wall up to 20 feet high cutting across beautiful Biscayne Bay was enough to jolt some Miamians to attention. The hard choices that will be necessary to deal with the citys many environmental challenges are here, and few people want to face them.

You need to have a conversation about, culturally, what are our priorities? said Benjamin Kirtman, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Miami. Where do we want to invest? Where does it make sense?

Those are what I refer to as generational questions, he added. And there is a tremendous amount of reluctance to enter into that discussion.

In Miami, the U.S. metropolitan area that is perhaps most exposed to sea-level rise, the problem is not climate change denialism. Not when hurricane season, which begins this week, returns each year with more intense and frequent storms. Not when finding flood insurance has become increasingly difficult and unaffordable. Not when the nights stay so hot that leaving the house with a sweater to fend off the evening chill has become a thing of the past.

ZACK WITTMAN/NYT

The trouble is that the magnitude of the interconnected obstacles the region faces can feel overwhelming, and none of the possible solutions is cheap, easy or pretty.

For its study, the Corps focused on storm surge  the rising seas that often inundate the coastline during storms  made worse lately by stronger hurricanes and higher sea levels. But that is only one concern.

South Florida, flat and low-lying, sits on porous limestone, which allows the ocean to swell up through the ground. Even when there is no storm, rising seas contribute to more significant tidal flooding, where streets fill with water even on sunny days. The expanding saltwater threatens to spoil the underground aquifer that supplies the regions drinking water and crack old sewer pipes and aging septic tanks. It leaves less space for the earth to absorb liquid, so floodwaters linger longer, their runoff polluting the bay and killing fish.

And that is just sea-level rise. Temperatures have gotten so sweltering over recent summers that Miami-Dade County has named a new interim chief heat officer.

What you realize is, each of these problems, which are totally intersecting, are handled by different parts of the government, said Amy Clement, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Miami and the chair of the city of Miamis climate resilience committee. Its divided up in ways that make things really, really difficult to move forward. And the bottom line is, its way more money than any local government has to spend.

The state could help, to a point. Republican lawmakers, who have controlled the Florida Legislature for more than 20 years, acknowledged in late 2019 that they had ignored climate change for so long that the state had lost a decade. They have begun to take steps to fund solutions, directing more than $200 million in tax dollars, collected on real estate transactions, to sea-level rise and sewer projects. Legislators also designated $500 million in federal stimulus money for the fund.

The price tag for all that needs to be done, however, is in the billions. The estimate for Miami-Dade County alone to phase out some 120,000 septic tanks is about $4 billion, and that does not include the thousands of dollars that each homeowner would also have to pay.

ZACK WITTMAN/NYT

Enter the Corps, whose engineering projects, if funded by Congress, are covered 65% by the federal government and 35% by a local government sponsor.

No one wants to turn away a penny from Washington, but the proposal for a massive sea wall along one of Miamis most scenic stretches has produced a rare moment of agreement between environmentalists and real estate developers, who fear harm to the bays delicate ecology and lower property values.

We were like, ruh-roh, said Ken Russell, the Miami city commissioner whose district includes Brickell. The $40 billion in assets youre trying to protect will be diminished if you build a wall around downtown, because youre going to affect market values and quality of life.

Other parts of the Corps draft plan, which includes surge barriers at the mouth of the Miami River and several other waterways, are more appealing: fortifying sewer plants and fire and police stations to withstand a crush of seawater. Elevating or flood-proofing thousands of businesses and homes. Planting some mangroves, which can provide a first line of defense against flooding and erosion. Miami-Dade County wants all of those portions to take priority; a final draft of the plan is due this fall.

Sticking points remain. Among the homes proposed to be elevated on the taxpayer dime are multimillion-dollar waterfront mansions  a result of the Corps mandate to efficiently protect as much life and property as possible, which critics say inevitably leads to more protection for the wealthy, whose properties are worth more.

And then there are the walls. The inland walls  some fairly small, but others up to 13 feet high  would divide neighborhoods, leaving homes on the seaward side with less protection. The sea wall along Biscayne Bay, which could rise to 20 feet and look as formidable as the sound barriers along Interstate 95, would reverse decades of policies intended to avoid dredging and filling the bay.

To some critics, the plan harks back to more than a century of dredging and pumping the Florida Everglades, which made way for intensive farming and sprawling development but disregarded the serious damage to the environment that the state is still wrestling with.

ZACK WITTMAN/NYT

It is my sense that most Floridians would live with the risk of water to preserve their lifestyle, said Cynthia Barnett, a Gainesville, Florida-based environmental journalist who has published books about rain and the fate of the oceans. This idea of working with water rather than always fighting against it is really the lesson of Florida history. If Florida history has taught us one thing, its that hardscaping this water that defines us will bring hardships to future generations.

When local governments have asked the public how they would like to tackle climate change, residents by far prefer what is known as green infrastructure: layered coastal protection from a mix of dunes, sea grasses, coral reefs and mangroves, said Zelalem Adefris, vice president for policy and advocacy at Catalyst Miami, which works with low-income communities in the county.

The Army Corps plan just looks so different, she said. It seemed to be really incongruous with the conversations that are being had locally.

Officials with the Corps, though, say  gently  that they see no way around what they call structural elements. The storm surge threat to Miami-Dade County is just too grave.

Its going to be a part of the solution, said Niklas Hallberg, the studys project manager.

He said the Corps is committed to working with the community in the next phase of design for the project so maybe it doesnt look like so much of a wall.

That sounds like inching toward the vision that emerged from engineering consultants hired by Swire Properties, a big local developer, after the Corps draft plan alarmed Miamis Downtown Development Authority. The consultants suggested building a berm of earth and rock that could be further elevated over time. (A landscape architectural firm brought in by the Downtown Development Authority developed renderings of the Corps plan showing dirty brown water in the bay and, yes, Berlin graffitied on the wall.)

On a recent afternoon along the stretch of Brickell Bay Drive where a wall might go, Rachel Silverstein, executive director of Miami Waterkeeper, an environmental research and activist group, stood next to high-rises built right up to the water, which she called the fundamental problem with Miami because they leave the storm surge with nowhere to go.

(Silverstein is in the camp of people who favor more natural structural elements to combat storm surge, such as bolstering coral reefs that would also provide an ecological benefit to the bay.)

She pointed over the shimmering blue-green bay.

Instead of seeing this beautiful water, you would see a gross wall, she said.

In front of her, a manatee came up for air.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
As alleged Capitol rioter Richard "Bigo" Barnett prepares for his next court hearing, the Arkansas man who was captured on Jan. 6 with his feet on a desk in the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is asking for some help with his legal fees. In exchange for a contribution of $100 or more, Barnett will give back "a token of his appreciation," according to a fundraising website: a signed photo of him inside the speaker's office during the failed insurrection.

"Richard will send you an autographed picture of him sitting in Pelosi's office personally addressed to whomever you like," the fundraiser says.

The website for Barnett, 60, who faces multiple federal charges as part of the pro-Trump mob that breached the Capitol, also says that Barnett would email a copy of the court filing that resulted in his release from jail while awaiting trial for a contribution of $25 or more. The fundraiser, first reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, boasts that the photo of Barnett inside Pelosi's office, one of the more shocking images in a day filled with them, turned him into "the face of the new anti-Federalist movement."

"We will not go gently into that good night," the website says.

The news of Barnett attempting to raise money for his defense fund comes as about 500 rioters have been charged since the attack. An indictment unsealed Sunday revealed that four more Oath Keepers associates have been indicted and three were arrested in Florida in recent days in the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol. Despite the avalanche of charges against supporters of former President Donald Trump who attempted to disrupt the election results, some Republicans continue to suggest debunked claims about how "it wasn't just right-wing extremists" who breached the building.

In addition to posing in Pelosi's office, Barnett, of Gravette, Ark., allegedly carried a stun gun into the Capitol and later showed off a piece of stolen mail to reporters. He also left a note that prosecutors said included an apparently misspelled expletive directed at Pelosi, though his defense disagrees about what the final word was.

Barnett, who was arrested two days after the riot and released from jail in April, faces charges that include disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, theft of government property, entering and remaining in a restricted building with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restrictive building with a deadly or dangerous weapon. Prosecutors have proposed a higher sentencing range in preliminary plea talks of six to seven years under federal guidelines, which would be lowered if he pleads guilty, they told a judge at one hearing.

Joseph McBride, Barnett's attorney, defended Barnett's decision to fundraise for his defense fund in an interview with The Washington Post. He described the case of his client Wednesday as "the story of David v. Goliath, but we intend on defeating the giant."

"The Department of Justice's prosecution of all persons accused of Jan. 6-related crimes has now become the biggest in its storied history. This, in turn, equivocates to an unlimited budget. No man or woman should fail in a court of law just because they are poor or come from middle class," McBride said. "We will not let the federal government bully Richard Barnett or push him around simply because it's the biggest kid in the schoolyard."

The fundraising effort is the latest in a series of online campaigns from alleged rioters looking to get donations from supporters following Jan. 6. Platforms such as GiveSendGo reportedly took on fundraising campaigns related to legal fees of at least 10 alleged rioters, according to USA Today. Barnett's website claims that GoFundMe refused to host his fundraising efforts, which is consistent with the company's January announcement that it would no longer let users raise money to travel to political events that are likely to turn violent.

The website, which quotes Mark Twain and Thomas Paine, says Barnett "admits that he ended up in Speaker Pelosi's office, put his feet up on one of the desks, smiled for the reporter's camera, and left her a nonthreatening note that the prosecutors purposely misquoted in court papers." Much of the language on the site reflects McBride's argument that Barnett should not be found guilty.

"Richard believes that his actions were not criminal," the fundraiser says.

A federal judge previously warned Barnett against drawing the wrong impression about how the judge might handle sentencing if he were to plead guilty or be convicted.

"The notion that the events of Jan. 6 were a legitimate or excusable social protest against ruling elites or worse yet a reaction to some people in society feeling that they have been unfairly scapegoated for racism is, in a word, absurd," said U.S. District Judge Christopher R. "Casey" Cooper.

Robert Steinbuch, a law professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said to the Democrat-Gazette that there was probably nothing illegal about Barnett trying to profit off the moment, especially since the alleged rioter has not been convicted.

But it is unclear whether Barnett can sell the photo of him inside Pelosi's office, which was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Saul Loeb. News photographers and the companies they work for control the copyright to their work. Eric Baradat, AFP's North America photo editor, told The Post that "our legal team has started to look into the issue."

McBride argued to The Post that Barnett "has every right to sell his photo." The attorney later added that Barnett was looking to send autographed photos of himself in front of his home instead of ones from inside Pelosi's office.

Aside from fundraising for his legal fees, the site noted that contributions would also go toward financial assistance for his family, claiming he was fired from his job as "a top salesman at a company where he worked for over 15 years" after his arrest.

Barnett's next hearing is scheduled for June 15, court records show.

- - -

The Washington Post's Spencer S. Hsu and Tom Jackman contributed to this report.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP)  An Arkansas state trooper fatally shot a man during a struggle for the troopers gun Wednesday, Arkansas State Police said.

In a statement, the agency said the man was riding a motorcycle about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday when he failed to comply with the troopers order to stop on U.S. 70 near Lake Hamilton, just west of Hot Springs.

After a short chase down a dead-end street, the man hopped off the bike and ran away as the trooper pursued him. After the trooper fired a stun gun at the man and approached him, the struggle ensued and the man was shot dead, according to the State Police statement.

The identities of the suspect and the trooper havent been released.
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP)  AstraZeneca's partner in Thailand on Wednesday began its first deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines after concerns they were behind on their production schedules for the country and parts of Southeast Asia.

Siam Bioscience said the first locally produced AstraZeneca doses were delivered to Thailand's Ministry of Health ahead of the June 7 start of the country's official mass vaccination program. It did not say how many were delivered.

AstraZeneca signed with Siam Bioscience last year to be its vaccine production and distribution center in Southeast Asia. It said that the vaccines would be ready for export to other Southeast Asian countries in July.

As part of the plan, AstraZeneca has to deliver 6 million doses to Thailand in June, and 10 million doses monthly from July to November, with a final 5 million doses in December.

China's Sinovac has also been supplying Thailand with vaccines, with nearly 6 million in the pipeline. A total of five vaccines have been approved by the Thai government, but so far only two are available for use.

So far, less than 4% of the countrys roughly 69 million people have received at least one vaccine dose. The government wants to fully inoculate about 70% of the population by the end of the year.

Thailand reported 3,440 new cases on Wednesday, bringing a total number of confirmed cases to 165,462 since the pandemic started. More than 130,000 of those cases have been discovered since the beginning of April. The death toll stood at 1,107, with 1,013 of those since the start of April.

Thailand had managed to keep outbreaks largely under control, at great economic cost especially for tourism, because foreign visitors were largely banned from entering the country. That changed in early April, when a cluster of cases centered on Bangkok bars and clubs spread as many people traveled during the weeklong Thai New Year holiday.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  Democrats in the California Legislature said Tuesday they think the state will have about $20 billion more to spend over the next four years, highlighting a disagreement with Gov. Gavin Newsom about the trajectory of the state's finances as it emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.

California has an extra $76 billion to spend this year. State law says about half of it must go to public education, be put in reserves or be used to pay down debt. Newsom and state lawmakers can spend the rest of it however they want.

Newsom wants to spend most of that money on things that do not need ongoing funding  including giving $8.1 billion of it back to taxpayers in the form of rebates.

Tuesday, Democratic leaders in the state Legislature agreed to do most of the things Newsom wants. But they also committed to spending billions of dollars on programs that require ongoing spending.

Lawmakers pledged to spend about $1.3 billion giving government-funded health insurance to low-income immigrants living in the country illegally who are 50-years-old and older. They said they would spend $1.1 billion to increase the rates for state child care and preschool providers. And they agreed to give local governments $1 billion per year to combat homelessness.

H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the California Department of Finance, said the Newsom administration has great concern about the Legislatures plan because it commits to spend more money in the future. He pointed to the early 2000s, when the state had a bunch of new money to spend and used a lot of it for ongoing programs.

When the dot com boom went bust a year later, (the spending) couldnt be sustained and led to the creation of those multiyear deficits that took multiple years and multiple administrations to finally close, Palmer said.

Legislative leaders dismissed the Newsom administration's concerns. Last year, lawmakers agreed to cut spending, raise taxes and pull from the state's reserves after Newsom said the state was headed toward a $54.3 billion deficit because of the coronavirus and its effect on the economy.

Instead, state revenues jumped 27%  the largest single year increase in more than four decades, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office. It's the main reason California has so much more money to spend this year.

State lawmakers say they based their spending plan not on how much money Newsom says the state will have, but on how much money the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office says the state will have. The difference is about $20 billion by fiscal year 2024-2025.

State Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Democrat from Berkeley and chair of the Senate committee that writes the budget, said the Legislative Analysts Office's projections have been more accurate than those done by the administration.

If that means that we may have serious impacted revenues in the future that we have to cut it back, then so be it, she said. But to harm people now when we have the amount of money that we have would be wrong.

Newsom is already making changes to his budget proposal, which the Department of Finance says highlights the uncertainty surrounding the state's finances. The governor had planned to use some of the billions of dollars in federal coronavirus aid to increase the number of slots in state child care programs. But the federal government said last week he couldn't use the money for that purpose.

That means the state's projected deficit at the end of 2024-2025 will be $1 billion instead of $500 million. Keely Martin Bosler, Newsom's budget director, said it is a cautionary tale for state policymakers.

We had to make some assumptions on how we can use that (federal) money. Some of them inevitably will not be right, and we will have to make future modifications, she said. One thing that were really focused on as we get to into negotiations with the Legislature is really making sure we maintain the mix of ongoing versus one-time (spending) given all of the uncertainty thats embedded in this proposal this year.

Democratic leaders say they aren't worried. Assemblyman Phil Ting, a Democrat from San Francisco and chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, noted the Legislature's proposal spends less money than the governor this year while also putting more money into reserves over time.

We believe that is a more accurate portrayal, he said.
Kabul, Jun 2 (UNI) At least two civilians were killed and 10 others injured in a blast targeting a security force convoy in the eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on Wednesday morning.

The blast took place in the Bargeno area of PD4 in Jalalabad city, the capital of the province, while a security forces the convoy was passing through the area, Tolonews reported.

No casualty has been reported among the security forces. Also, no group has claimed responsibility for the blast yet.
TORONTO (AP)  Canada's Indigenous services minister said Wednesday that Pope Francis needs to issue a formal apology for the role the Catholic Church played in Canadas residential school system, days after the remains of 215 children were located at what was once the country's largest such school.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government also pledged again to support efforts to find more unmarked graves at the former residential schools for Indigenous students - institutions that held Indigenous children taken from families across the nation.

Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tkemlups te Secwepemc First Nation in British Columbia has said the remains of 215 children were confirmed last month at the school in Kamloops, British Columbia, with the help of ground-penetrating radar. So far none has been excavated.

The Kamloops Indian Residential School was Canadas largest such facility and was operated by the Roman Catholic Church between 1890 and 1969 before the federal government took it over as a day school until 1978, when it was closed. Nearly three-quarters of the 130 schools were run by Catholic missionary congregations.

A papal apology was one of the 94 recommendations made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up as part of a government apology and settlement over the schools, and Trudeau personally asked the pope to consider such a gesture during a visit to the Vatican in 2017.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops announced in 2018 that the pope could not personally apologize for residential schools, even though he has not shied away from recognizing injustices faced by Indigenous people around the world.

I think it is shameful that it hasnt been done to date," Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said.

There is a responsibility that lies squarely on the shoulders on the Catholic bishops of Canada, he added.

Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett added that an apology by the Pope would help those who suffered heal.

They want to hear the Pope apologize," she said.

Trudeau said in 2018 he was disappointed by the Catholic churchs decision.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment for the latest call for a formal public apology by the Pope.

Former Pope Benedict met with a group of former students and victims in 2009 and told them of his personal anguish over their suffering, Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said at the time.

From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 First Nations children were required to attend state-funded Christian schools as part of a program to assimilate them into Canadian society. They were forced to convert to Christianity and not allowed to speak their native languages. Many were beaten and verbally abused, and up to 6,000 are said to have died.

The Canadian government apologized in Parliament in 2008 and admitted that physical and sexual abuse in the schools was rampant. Many students recalled being beaten for speaking their languages. They also lost touch with their parents and customs.

The archbishop of Vancouver apologized Wednesday.

I am writing to express my deep apology and profound condolences to the families and communities that have been devastated by this horrific news, Archbishop Michael Miller tweeted. The Church was unquestionably wrong in implementing a government colonialist policy which resulted in devastation for children, families and communities.

First Nations leaders are calling for an examination of other former residential schools.

Trudeau's ministers said the government will help preserve gravesites and search for potential unmarked burial grounds at other former residential schools. But Trudeau and his ministers have stressed need for Indigenous communities to decide for themselves how they want to proceed.

We will be there to support every community that wants to do this work, Bennett said.

The government previously announced $27 million Canadian (US$22 million) for the effort. Bennett called that a first step.

"I know people are eager for answers but we do have to respect the privacy and mourning period of those communities that are collecting their thoughts and putting together protocols on how to honor these children, Miller said.

Indigenous leaders plan to bring in forensics experts to identify and repatriate the remains of the children found buried on the Kamloops site. Perry Bellegarde, chief of the Assembly of First Nations, spoke with Trudeau this week and urged him to work with First Nations to find all the unmarked graves of our stolen children.

Murray Sinclair, the former chair of the reconciliation commission, said more sites will be found.

We know there are lots of sites similar to Kamloops that are going to come to light in the future. We need to begin to prepare ourselves for that, Sinclair said.

The reconciliation commission has records of at least 51 children dying at the school between 1915 and 1963. It identified about 3,200 confirmed deaths at schools throughout Canada, but noted the schools did not record the cause of death in almost half of them.
GENOA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP)  A Roman Catholic group dedicated to a popular Italian saint sued a southeastern Michigan township Wednesday after the local government rejected plans for a chapel and prayer trail in a wooded area.

The project was approved by the planning commission in Livingston County's Genoa Township, but the township board rejected it, 5-2, on May 3.

Catholic Healthcare International said the township violated the First Amendment as well as a federal law that protects religious groups from discriminatory land policies.

The chapel would have 95 seats, and the parking lot would have 39 spaces. There would be a small outdoor altar and a prayer trail.

The townships denial was based upon amorphous, subjective considerations that were contrary to the facts and which permit an anti-religious/anti-Catholic animus to drive the townships decision, the lawsuit states.

An email seeking comment was sent to the township. Minutes from the meeting show board members said they were concerned about traffic, visitors and noise, among other objections.

Padre Pio was made a saint in 2002. He was known for holiness, and his popularity began to spread in 1918 when he bled from his hands, feet and sides. The monk is considered the first priest in centuries to display signs of the stigmata, the wounds suffered by Jesus at crucifixion.
CALAIS, Maine (AP)  Sen. Susan Collins said the Canadian province of New Brunswick's move toward reopening its border with Maine this summer is good news for both countries.

Maine has more than 600 miles of border with New Brunswick and Quebec. The government of New Brunswick recently unveiled a plan to allow travel between the province and Maine starting July 1 as long as 75% of New Brunswick residents age 12 and older have received their first dose of a vaccine.

Collins, a Maine Republican, said the closed border has taken a severe toll on the many Mainers who have been unable to visit Canadian relatives and small businesses that have lost Canadian customers. She said New Brunswick's reopening plan is a welcome light at the end of the tunnel for many Maine families and small businesses.

New Brunswick will have to make some vaccine progress to reach its stated goal. About a fifth of New Brunswick residents age 65 and older have received their second dose of the vaccine. However, hospitalizations in the province have been low.

In other pandemic news in Maine:

FOURTH OF JULY

Bangor is bringing back its Fourth of July celebration with a road race, parade and fireworks.

Organizers say Gov. Janet Mills decision to lift restrictions and physical distancing requirements last month gave them the green light to move forward with the celebration.

Its going to be nice to get back out in the sunshine, see the parade units rolling down across two cities, and have a lot of money go up in smoke basically, Michael Fern, president of the Greater Bangor 4th of July Corporation, told WABI-TV.

Most of the events are expected to take place, with the exception of a pancake breakfast and charity concert.

Such Independence Day celebrations are going to be hit or miss.

Portland already announced that Portland Symphony Orchestra will not performing on the Eastern Promenade, but it hasnt yet decided whether there will be fireworks.

___

THE NUMBERS

The daily number of COVID-19 infections continues to stay under 100, but the state recorded its first deaths in nearly a week.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 61 infections and two deaths on Wednesday.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Maine has dipped from 237 new cases per day on May 17 to 97 new cases per day on May 31.

The AP is using data collected by Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering to measure outbreak caseloads and deaths across the United States.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday that 827 people have died and more than 67,000 people have been infected in the state since the start of the pandemic.

___

MOBILE UNIT

The state's mobile vaccination unit will cease operations later this month.

Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah said Wednesday that the mobile unit will wrap up in Old Orchard Beach on June 18. It was in Calais on Wednesday.

If it works for your schedule to drop in, you should feel free to do that, Shah said.
PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP)  After a catastrophic coronavirus cruise season, Disney Cruise Line will finally set sail later this month, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the cruise line's request to conduct a two night simulation cruise on June 29 on the Disney Dream departing from Port Canaveral.

The federal government is getting ready to let cruises sail again, but only if nearly all passengers and crew are vaccinated against the virus. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, however, signed a bill banning business from requiring proof of vaccination, so cruise lines must prove the effectiveness of their COVID-19 safety protocols on test cruises.

We have reached an important next step toward our gradual and responsible resumption of service, and are grateful for the productive dialogue with state, local and federal officials," Disney Cruise Line spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said in an email.

Miami-based Norwegian has threatened to abandon its three Florida ports and move to the Caribbean over DeSantis' order. But the governor was unyielding, saying there were plenty of other cruise lines eager to take its place.

Norwegian is the third-largest cruise line in the world and has ports in Miami, Port Canaveral and Tampa. It also makes stops in Key West.

DeSantis is suing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the no-sail order. The CDC is set to let cruises sail again if 98% of the crew and 95% of passengers are vaccinated and ships take other measures to limit the risk of transmitting the virus.
NEW YORK (AP)  For a fifth time, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has lost a bid to be freed on bail while she awaits trial on charges she recruited teenage girls for the millionaire Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan issued a brief order Wednesday rejecting Maxwells latest request. The three-judge panel that issued it did not elaborate.

The appeals court had rejected a bail request once before and her trial judge had thrice said no.

In the latest bail quest, Maxwell's lawyers asked the appeals court to at least order the lower-court judge to conduct a hearing where evidence related to bail could be shown. The 2nd Circuit rejected that, too.

Maxwell, 59, has been incarcerated since last July. She has pleaded not guilty to charges including sex trafficking and conspiracy that allege she recruited at least four females for Epstein to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004.

Her trial was recently moved from July to November.

Epstein killed himself in a federal Manhattan lockup in August 2019 while he awaited a sex trafficking trial.

Maxwell's lawyers have argued she has been mistreated at a federal jail in Brooklyn, though prosecutors dispute the allegations.

Her lawyers have gradually increased the terms of a proposed bail package, saying Maxwell and friends and family would put up $28.5 million. They also say Maxwell, a U.S. citizen, would agree to 24-hour armed guards, an electronic bracelet and renounce her citizenship in England and France.

David Oscar Markus, Maxwell's appeals attorney, said in an email that his client is subjected to more grueling conditions than any other inmate at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

He described the facility as a complete disaster and said Maxwell can't adequately prepare for trial in a facility where she is awakened every 15 minutes at night when guards shine a light into her cell to check on her.

We all know the truth  this is due to the Epstein effect. Because Epstein died on the jails watch, it has decided to torture Ghislaine. Thats wrong, Markus said.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP)  A former postal worker in eastern Kansas has been ordered to pay $1,100 in fines and restitution for destroying mail and presumably stealing cash contained in that mail.

Dennis Tapscott, 24, of Emporia, was fined Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Wichita, the Wichita Eagle reported. He was ordered to pay a $500 fine, $575 in restitution and a $25 special assessment fee.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)  Decades-long political and legal battles over drilling in Americas largest wildlife refuge took another turn when the Biden administration suspended oil and gas leases in Alaskas Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The move Tuesday was a blow to oil and gas proponents, who came as close as they ever have to starting a drilling program after the refuge was expanded 40 years ago to include the oil-rich coastal plain. The refuge was nearly opened to drilling in 1995 until President Clinton vetoed a bill sent to him by Congress. Here is a look at the administration's decision and how it got there.

DIDNT BIDEN DO THIS ALREADY?

Sort of. President Joe Biden issued a temporary moratorium on drilling in the refuge on his first day in office. The executive order suggested a new environmental review was necessary to examine possible legal flaws in the program approved by Trump administration.

The review, conducted by the Department of Interior, found defects in the underlying record of decision supporting the leases, prompting Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to suspend them.

DID THE MOVE STOP DRILLING IN THE REFUGE?

No. Drilling had yet to start in the pristine environment that's home to polar bears, a huge caribou herd, millions of migratory birds and other wildlife.

HOW MANY LEASES WERE SOLD?

Major oil companies sat out the lease sale, which only produced leases on nine of the 22 tracts offered.

The Trump administration had approved the drilling program in a 2017 tax cut law enacted by congressional Republicans. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski played a key role in making sure the drilling provision was included.

The Bureau of Land Management, an Interior agency, conducted the lease sale on Jan. 6, after Trump lost his reelection bid but had not yet left office. Results of the sale were released on Trumps last full day in office, with some critics complaining of the rushed nature of the sale.

A state corporation, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, was the major bidder, taking seven leases. Two small companies each won one tract.

The Department of Interior has yet to provide AIDEA with documentation of any deficiencies that would warrant a suspension of leases, the authoritys executive director, Alan Weitzner, said in a statement. Were extremely disappointed in the Biden administrations effort to prevent Alaska from lawfully and responsibly developing its natural resources.

WHATS THE CASE FOR DRILLING?

Lots of oil.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the coastal plan of the wildlife refuge has about 10.4 billion barrels of oil. By comparison, Prudhoe Bay on Alaskas North Slope, is North Americas largest oil field at 25 billion barrels.

The refuge was created in 1960 in Alaskas northeast corner. Congress in 1980 expanded it to 30,625 square miles (79,318 sq. kilometers), or about the size of South Carolina.

Congress also ordered that 2,300 square miles (5,957 sq. kilometers) of the refuges coastal plain be studied for its natural resources.

WHATS THE CASE AGAINST DRILLING?

Environmentalists and some Alaska Native leaders worry drilling will harm the land and Indigenous culture.

The coastal plain between the Arctic Ocean and the mountains of the Brooks Range is a winter home for pregnant polar bears. In addition, the Porcupine caribou herd, which has nearly 200,000 animals that migrate between Alaska and Canada, uses the plain as a nursery in the spring.

After fighting so hard to protect these lands and the Porcupine caribou herd, trusting the guidance of our ancestors and elders, and the allyship of people around the world, we can now look for further action by the administration and to Congress to repeal the leasing program," Bernadette Demientieff, executive director of the Gwichin Steering Committee, said in a statement.

The Gwichin tribal members in the communities of Arctic Village and Venetie said the leases are an affront to their culture and way of life. The tribes filed a federal lawsuit against lease sale.

Tonya Garnett, special projects coordinator for the Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government, thanked Bidens administration, saying this goes to show that, no matter the odds, the voices of our tribes matter.

Major banks such as Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs have said they will not provide future investment funding for Arctic oil projects.

IS THERE POLITICAL SUPPORT IN ALASKA FOR DRILLING?

Despite some opposition, political leaders in the state have long backed opening the coastal plain. The states all-Republican congressional delegation denounced the suspension of leases that would prevent getting more oil in the trans-Alaska pipeline.

This action serves no purpose other than to obstruct Alaskas economy and put our energy security at great risk, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said. Alaskans are committed to developing our resources responsibly and have demonstrated our ability to do so safely to the world.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, another Republican, called the suspensions an assault on Alaskas economy and vowed to undo this egregious federal overreach.

We are not going to allow the Biden administration to turn Alaska into a giant national park, Dunleavy said,

___

Daly reported from Washington.
MIAMI (AP)  Federal authorities say a ring of Venezuelans living in South Florida and Mexico stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in U.S. government stimulus checks from people who were struggling financially during the the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jesus Felipe Linares Andrade, 34, was charged with conspiring to steal government money and identity theft, the Miami Herald reported.

Federal prosecutors said as many as four other co-conspirators originally from Venezuela may be added to an indictment.

The indictment said Linares and the unnamed co-conspirators are accused of stealing the stimulus checks and cashing them by using fraudulent identification documents, the Herald reported.

Linares was arrested in May, pleaded not guilty, and is being held without bond. Defense attorney David Scott Markus declined comment to the newspaper on Tuesday.

The Herald reported that Linares interacted with two informants in an FBI undercover operation.

In January, the FBI informant met in a mall parking lot near Miami with one of the four co-conspirators to discuss cashing about 30 Treasury checks totaling $36,000, the indictment said. The checks were each addressed to different U.S. taxpayers with addresses in Mexico.

In April, Linares met with the two FBI informants at another Miami area mall to discuss picking up a UPS package at a post office in Deerfield Beach, the newspaper reported. The package contained 416 checks worth about $249,000.

The affidavit said Linares made arrangements to pick up the package in mid-April and then put it in the trunk of the car being driven by the two informants. Later that month, Linares spoke to the informants again about coordinating the receipt of about $34,476 in laundered funds from stimulus checks, plus the delivery of an additional 226 Treasury checks worth about $135,000.

Later in April, Linares again met with the informants in Miami.

During the meeting, Linares placed an envelope in the vehicle containing over $150,000 in stolen U.S. Treasury checks and over 30 identification documents, according to the affidavit. The documents included some copies of drivers licenses that matched the names on the checks.
A man who oversaw a suburban Philadelphia nursing home pleaded no contest Wednesday to endangering three residents who before dying suffered health complications because of inadequate staffing levels, prosecutors said.

The defendant, Chaim Charlie Steg, 40, of Lakewood, New Jersey, had been regional operations director for the St. Francis Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare in Darby. He pleaded no contest to misdemeanor reckless endangerment.

The case involves patients who died in 2017 of a massive colon infection and dehydration; severe dehydration and septic shock; and severe late-stage pressure wounds and a bacterial infection.

One staffing coordinator told investigators she reported employee shortages 40 times, said Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

But Steg did absolutely nothing, Shapiro said, noting that St. Francis was highly profitable under his leadership.

It wasn't a financial collapse that led to the staffing crisis, Shapiro said.

The nursing home has agreed to maintain a sufficient number of employees and to be audited every three months for a year by the state Health Department, the attorney general's office said.

A message was left for Arthur Donato, Steg's defense attorney.

The attorney general's office said it was called in to investigate in August 2017, when local police and the state Health Department notified it about issues at the facility. Staff at Mercy Catholic Medical Center had told the Delaware County aging office that several residents from St. Francis arrived there in poor health.

Investigators concluded there had been systemic failure, mostly tied to inadequate staffing, the attorney general's office said.

A former nursing director told investigators she sometimes disobeyed Steg's orders and hired agency nurses just so she could sleep at night, the attorney general's office said.

Steg's plea deal calls for a sentence of 6 to 23 months of house arrest and three years of probation, along with a $15,000 fine and restitution. He will be barred for five years from overseeing nursing, clinical or medical services of a skilled nursing facility. Sentencing was set for October.

The company that operates the 273-bed facility, 1412 Lansdowne Operating LLC, and Catholic Facilities Operating LLC, which paid Steg's salary, have agreed to pay $600,000 into an account to care for St. Francis' residents and $100,000 to a nonprofit organization, the Center for Advocacy for the Rights and Interests of the Elderly. More than a half-million dollars have also been paid to state and federal regulators.

A message seeking comment was left for Thomas M. Gallagher, a lawyer for Lansdowne Operating and Catholic Facilities Operating.

Shapiro said at the news conference that his office also has several criminal investigations pending of how nursing homes responded to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, and said he expects to make announcements relatively shortly.
Documentary Film Featuring UW Biologist Launches Today

UW Associate Research Scientist Patrick Rodgers 92-mile run along a mule deer migration route is the subject of a new documentary, 92 Miles: A Migration Story, available online starting today. (Cold Collaborative Photo)

An adventure documentary film about a University of Wyoming biologist following the migration path of mule deer he studied is set for worldwide release today (Wednesday).

92 Miles: A Migration Story follows Wyoming Migration Initiative Associate Research Scientist Patrick Rodgers as he ultra-runs the migration path of one of his study animals and faces the grief of losing his father, Neil, to cancer. Produced by Cold Collaborative and sponsored by YETI and Sitka, the film was shot and co-produced by UW alumnus Benjamin Kraushaar. It is available online here.

The documentary started as an idea to give audiences an on-the-ground perspective of mule deer migration through the lens of long-distance running. The film details Rodgers journey through grief and the challenges of running 92 miles along a deer migration route in southern Wyoming and northern Colorado in 2018.

Along the way, audiences will learn about the science of migrations and the challenges migratory deer face. The half-hour film details the importance of wild, connected landscapes for humans and wildlife alike.

Migration is a journey of risk and suffering: dodging semis on perilous highways, tearing ligaments in barbed-wire fences, or searching for food while trying to avoid becoming food for a hungry mountain lion, Rodgers says. Indeed, life is fleeting. Yet, through it all, mule deer seem to possess a transcendental ability to keep their heads up and keep moving, as if their lives depend on it -- which they do.

Patrick Rodgers runs along a section of the mule deer migration route in southern Wyoming. (Cold Collaborative Photo)

My dad finished his lifes race Dec. 15, 2017. His life inside of me was a huge reason I kept my head up and finished those long 92 miles. Loss is an inescapable part of lifes grand migration and, without a doubt, I will have to grapple with that reality for the rest of my life. Yet, as I navigate this beautiful life, at least I know Im not alone.

Rodgers, who is from Casper, graduated from UW with a zoology degree (2014) and completed his masters degree in zoology at UW in May 2020. He received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship for his research into the differences in migratory behavior of male and female mule deer, which involved capturing and outfitting 95 buck mule deer with satellite collars near Baggs to track their movements in comparison with does.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  The al-Kawlaks, a family of four generations living next door to each other in downtown Gaza City, were utterly unprepared for the inferno.

Like others, they were terrified by the heavy bombing in Israel's fourth war with Gaza's Hamas rulers that began May 10. The explosions felt more powerful than in previous fighting. At night, parents and children slept in one room so they would live or die together.

Yet the relatively well-to-do Rimal neighborhood where the family lived in a cluster of apartment buildings seemed somewhat safer than areas along Gazas border with Israel, which had been devastated in this and past fighting.

Then one night disaster struck. Azzam al-Kawlaks four children had gone to bed, and he and his wife were preparing to join them.

At around 1 a.m. on May 16, a thunderous boom shook his top-floor apartment, followed quickly by a second and third. The floor cracked below our feet and the furniture was thrown to the wall, the 42-year-old engineer said.

The four-story building collapsed, with Azzams apartment dropping to the ground. The family escaped through the kitchen balcony, now almost ground level. Bizarrely, the laundry hanging on a clothesline seemed untouched.

___

It took a day for the full horror to emerge, as bodies and survivors were pulled from the rubble. The family and neighbors used ropes to clear chunks of concrete, working alongside ill-equipped rescue teams.

By nightfall, the family's death toll stood at 22. Eight bodies were dug out of Azzams building and 14 from the one next door. The dead included 89-year-old family patriarch Amin, his son Fawaz, 62, his grandson Sameh, 28, and his great-grandson, 6-month-old Qusai.

Just a day earlier, Qusais parents had celebrated a small milestone, his first tooth. Azzams two younger brothers were killed. Three nieces  5-year-old Rula, 10-year-old Yara and 12-year-old Hala  were found in a tight embrace, their bodies the last to be pulled out, said Azzams surviving older brother, Awni.

The bombing along several hundred meters (yards) of al-Wahda Street took just minutes. In all, it brought down three houses  two in the al-Kawlak compound and one nearby  and killed a total of 43 people, making it the single deadliest air raid of the 11-day war.

Israel said the target was a Hamas tunnel underneath the street, part of what it called a roughly 350-kilometer-long (220-mile) underground network. The tunnels served offensive and defensive purposes, military officials said, accusing Hamas of using civilians as human shields.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said during a war-time briefing that the military target in Rimal collapsed, causing nearby houses and their supporting structures to collapse as well. That caused a large amount of civilian casualties, which were not the aim, he said.

He said the army was reviewing the incident and adjusting the analysis and the ordnance used in the future to prevent similar events from occurring again. Its not a totally mathematic exercise in choosing the ordnance, he said.

He said Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes in areas just as densely populated, with far fewer casualties.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz told foreign journalists this week that Israel does everything it can to avoid civilian casualties, but Gazas crowded urban landscape makes it virtually impossible to avoid them altogether.

Hamas is aiming to hit civilians by purpose and we are trying our best for that not to happen, he said.

The fighting began May 10 after Hamas fired rockets toward Jerusalem in support of Palestinian protests against Israels heavy-handed policing of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a site sacred to Jews and Muslims, and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers. In all, Hamas fired more than 4,000 rockets toward Israel during the war, while Israel said it struck hundreds of targets linked to militants in Gaza.

___

At Gaza City's main police compound, Capt. Mohammed Meqdad picked through pieces of bomb fragments in a cardboard box labeled al-Wahda Street."

Two had serial numbers identifying them as fitted with Joint Direct Attack Munition kits manufactured by Boeing Co. at its factory in St. Charles, Missouri, to make them so-called smart bombs, able to be guided to a target by GPS or lasers. Boeing did not answer questions about the bombing, only saying in a statement: In accordance with U.S. law, the U.S. government authorizes and provides strict oversight for all defense exports.

Meqdad said that based on the fragments, the bombs that brought down the al-Kawlak homes were likely GBU-31s, packed with 430 kilograms (945 pounds) of high explosives. The GBU-31 typically is used for large buildings, but also can destroy underground targets, said N.R. Jenzen-Jones, the director of Armament Research Services, a specialist arms investigations firm.

The bombs carry a powerful blast, meaning surveillance, intelligence-gathering, pre-planning and the correct choice and explosive punch of the weapon should be carefully considered before an attack, he said.

The intrinsic wide-area effects of large explosive munitions mean they must be used judiciously in the urban environment, he said.

The Israeli military did not respond when asked what bombs were used in the al-Wahda Street strikes.

___

Earlier this year, the International Criminal Court began investigating Israel and Hamas for possible war crimes going back to the previous 2014 war. This includes random Hamas rocket fire toward Israeli communities  widely seen as a violation of the rules of war  and some of Israels deadliest practices, such as the toppling of high-rises that killed entire families in pursuit of militants.

Two Gaza rights groups  al-Mezan and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights  have been documenting Israels strikes and incursions for years. This time, they again interviewed survivors, including the al-Kawlaks, visited hospitals, took photos and collected death certificates, in preparation for possible new submissions to the ICC.

Samir Zakout of al-Mezan and Mohammed al-Alami of PCHR said they believe the al-Wahda Street bombings  along with other deadly airstrikes  violated the laws of war, arguing the value of any possible military target was dwarfed by significant harm to civilians.

Zakout accused Israel of intentionally using excessive firepower to sow fear, saying it was one of the direct goals of the war.

The Israeli military does not recognize the ICC, but says its airstrikes are cleared by lawyers to make sure they comply with international standards. During the fighting the military released video of what it said were air force teams calling off strikes because they spotted children in the vicinity. In many cases, it ordered occupants to evacuate buildings before bombing them.

International law professor Paola Gaeta said that certainly we are witnessing something which is wrong, referring to civilian deaths, but there is a high threshold for proving a war crime. This includes proving disproportionate use of force and intentional targeting of civilians, said Gaeta, who teaches at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.

If Israel says it made a reasonable mistake in calculating the amount of explosives in the al-Wahda Street strike, this could serve as a defense, she said.

In all, 254 people were killed in Gaza in this war, including 67 children and 39 women. according to the Gaza health ministry. Hamas has acknowledged the deaths of 80 militants. Twelve civilians, including two children, were killed in Israel, along with one soldier.

___

Awni al-Kawlak keeps 22 death certificates in a briefcase, along with the deeds for the two destroyed homes. A third family house was damaged and awaits demolition. The family business, a generator repair shop, was also destroyed. Two apartment buildings, including Awnis home, remain intact.

Sitting in a courtyard behind the rubble, the 49-year-old shrugged when told of Israels apparent acknowledgement of error. What will I do with this information? he said. I lost my livelihood and I lost my brothers and their children.

The fear that justice will never come makes it harder for the family to deal with loss, he said. He worries that Gaza and its problems, including a suffocating blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt since 2007 to contain Hamas, will soon sink back into oblivion.

We know that the world is now empathetic, but after a while it will forget our problem, he said. Even when they remember us again, they will remember us as numbers.

___

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
AP

ATLANTA (AP)  Georgia's governor on Wednesday suspended a sheriff accused of violating the civil rights of several people in his custody by ordering them unnecessarily strapped into restraint chairs and left there for hours.

A federal grand jury in April indicted Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill. The indictment accuses the sheriff of improperly using restraint chairs at the county jail for punishment.
BERLIN (AP)  A doctor went on trial in Germany on Wednesday accused of raping several female patients at a hospital in the western city of Guetersloh.

Prosecutors allege that the defendant administered anesthetics to women who complained of pain following operations, and then sexually abused them.
LAS VEGAS (AP)  North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee left the Democratic Party and joined the GOP less than two months ago. But the gubernatorial candidate is working to assure Republicans that he's one of them.

Lee, who left his party of more than two decades in April, citing a shift toward socialism among Nevada Democrats, told several hundred members of the state's largest Republican club on Tuesday that he is pro-gun, pro-life, ... pro-jobs, pro-God and pro-Republican.

Though I had a D with my name, I was a Nevadan first," said the former state lawmaker and current mayor of of Nevadas third-largest city.

Lee, who voted for former Republican President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020, was asked in a question posed by members of the Nevada Republican Club in Las Vegas how the GOP can be assured that Lee as governor would follow the Trump agenda."

Lee responded by saying he is pretty much an independent kind of guy, who is financially secure enough that he doesn't have to worry about his future or his next job after serving as governor.

When asked to explain later, Lee told the Associated Press in an interview that his answer means that he is going to follow his conscience.

I'm not thinking about running for president or congress or anything else. I don't look at every decision and go, How many votes am I going to get? How many votes am I going to lose?' I'm not going to do that. I'm going to make the best decision I can for the state of Nevada," he said.

Lee said he originally voted for Trump in 2016 because he was unhappy with Democrats.

I didnt like the politics of what was happening in the Democratic Party at the time. I didnt think that those things were good for my city in North Las Vegas and for southern Nevada, he said. It was just the policy.

He did not offer specifics when asked which policies or politics drove him to make that vote five years ago.

It was whatever. There was nothing that inspired, he said.

When asked why he didnt leave the Democratic Party in 2016, he said, Im really not a huge party guy. I just vote for the person, just like I expect people to vote for me if they like me.

Lee became the first Republican candidate to announce last month he was running for governor in 2022, but his announcement was overshadowed that same day by the news that hed contracted COVID-19. He said he had not received the vaccine.

Lees appearance Tuesday came just over 14 days after his diagnosis. The 65-year-old cancer survivor said that he was fine two days after his diagnosis and his health is now great.

Lee said he had waited to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which has been available to those 65 and older since late February, because he didnt think it had been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA issued emergency use authorizations for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines in December, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in February. The FDA can give emergency authorization for medical products to address a public health crisis, in this case the pandemic, as long as the benefits outweigh the risks.

The vaccines that received emergency use authorization are also expected to receive full licensure by the FDA after submitting six months of safety follow-ups. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have started the process of seeking full approval FDA approval for their vaccines.

Lee said he considered himself a pretty strong guy and in lieu of getting the vaccine, he planned to instead take precautions like wearing a face mask, but he caught COVID-19 anyway. He said he plans to get the vaccine in the coming months.

Lee is facing Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo in the June 2022 Republican primary, which could soon see the addition of former U.S. Sen. Dean Heller. Heller has not returned messages from the AP inquiring about the race but Republican Rep. Mark Amodei said Heller recently told him that he's interested in running for governor. Politico reported last week that Heller has been meeting with GOP governors, party leaders and donors about a run.

Incumbent Democrat Steve Sisolak was elected in 2018, becoming the first Democratic governor of Nevada in two decades. He is running for reelection.

Nevada is considered a swing state thats been trending blue in recent years.
ATHENS, Greece (AP)  Greek labor unions are calling a 24-hour general strike for next week to protest proposed legislation which they say will jeopardize worker rights.

Public and private sector unions said they would join the strike set for June 10. The work stoppage is expected to disrupt services and transportation throughout the day.
HARRISON CITY, Pa. (AP)  A homicide trial has been ordered for a western Pennsylvania man accused of ambushing another man last month and gunning him down, then killing the victims girlfriend as she tried to flee.

A Westmoreland County judge ruled Tuesday that prosecutors had enough evidence for 53-year-old Victor Steban to stand trial on two counts of criminal homicide as well as burglary, robbery and firearms offenses.
BERLIN (AP)  German airline Lufthansa said late Wednesday that it has received the green light from Russia to resume flights there, after being briefly denied permission, which resulted in a reciprocal blocking of flights by Germany.

In a statement, Lufthansa said Russian authorities had issued approval for its flights from Frankfurt to Moscow and St. Petersburg for the month of June.

Lufthansa had been forced to cancel two flights Tuesday and Wednesday after failing to get approval from Russias aviation authority FATA.

Due to the underlying reciprocal practice, the German Federal Aviation Authority also did not issue any further permits for flights of the Russian carriers as long as the permits were pending on the Russian side, Germanys Transport Ministry said in a statement.

The move affected connections operated from Russia by Aeroflot and budget carrier S7.

It wasnt immediately clear whether the green light for Lufthansa would prompt German authorities in turn to issue approval for Russian airlines to resume flights to Germany.

But the ministry had stated that as soon as the FATA approvals for Lufthansa flights are granted by the Russian side, the flights of Russian companies will also be approved.

The tit-for-tat spat comes amid mounting tension between Russia and the European Union over Moscows support for Belarus.

The 27-nation bloc and the United States last week introduced fresh sanctions against Belarus after authorities there diverted an international flight to arrest a dissident journalist. The sanctions come on top of those already imposed on Belarusian officials, including its authoritarian leader, President Alexander Lukashenko, for rigging elections and clamping down on protests last year.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  An Indiana man accused of throwing an explosive toward police and smashing windows during protests in Portland, Oregon, appeared Tuesday in federal court and was detained pending further proceedings.

Malik Fard Muhammad, 24, of Indianapolis was taken into custody on a U.S. Marshals hold Friday after being released from state custody when the Portland Freedom Fund posted 10% of his state-ordered $2.1 million bail in a Multnomah County case stemming from the same allegations.

The Portland Freedom Fund takes donations to post bail for minority defendants.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Muhammad appeared in U.S. District Court in Portland on charges that include possession of unregistered destructive devices, engaging in civil disorder and obstructing law enforcement, and using explosives to commit a federal felony.

The count of carrying and using an explosive to obstruct law enforcement could bring a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years if he is convicted.

In Multnomah County Circuit Court, a 28-count indictment was returned against Muhammad on March 22. It includes two counts of attempted aggravated murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, four counts of riot, two counts of unlawful manufacture of an explosive device, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a loaded firearm in public.

Multnomah County Senior Deputy District Attorney Nathan Vasquez alleges that Muhammad traveled to Portland to engage in property destruction and violence during mass protests last fall and then returned to Indiana.

Efforts to reach an attorney for Muhammad werent immediately successful.

The $212,500 provided in bail for Muhammad was the largest donation that the Portland Freedom Fund made in a single case to get someone out of custody pending trial, according to its president Amanda Trujillo. The fund has posted bail for just under 100 people since the beginning of 2020, Trujillo said.

We were fortunate to have just received a large grant, Trujillo said. Malik is facing serious charges and it is difficult to prepare a defense from a jail cell.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  Indiana's largest hospital system, Indiana University Health, will require all its doctors, nurses and other employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 1.

IU Health announced the policy Tuesday in a statement that said vaccines are a safe, effective way to protect patients and help reduce the spread of the coronavirus. The health system added that it's required the flu vaccine since 2012, along with several other vaccines as a condition of employment.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP)  Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said Wednesday that she is looking at other options for prison construction after a plan to lease prisons fell apart because of financing troubles.

The governor said she plans to meet with legislators to discuss alternative options to fund the construction and maintenance of new prison facilities after the leases didn't pan out. Ivey made the statement a day after the June 1 deadline passed for companies to have financing in place for the prison leases.

It is unfortunate that the comprehensive efforts underway to resolve this issue have proven so challenging and time-consuming; however, my commitment to improving prison conditions is unwavering, Ivey said in a statement.

In February, Ivey agreed to lease two prisons from separate entities of CoreCivic, one of the nations largest private prison companies. The prisons would be owned by the private companies but staffed and run by the state. However, the lease plan hit setbacks with the withdrawal of finance companies that faced pressure from activists to not be involved with private prison firms.

The U.S. Department of Justice has sued Alabama over poor conditions, including excessive violence, in state prisons for men. In a recent filing, the Justice Department said Alabama prisons are no safer than they were in 2019 when federal officials first warned the state of unconstitutional conditions.

The lease plan, which would cost an estimated $3 billion over 30 years, has drawn concerns from lawmakers, and some public officials and advocates sued to stop the plan. Their lawsuit was dismissed earlier this month.

Rep. Steve Clouse, the chairman of the House General Fund budget committee, said one of the main concerns among lawmakers is that under the plan's provisions, the state would stop owning the buildings after 30 years.

Clouse said the administration has asked for a meeting to talk about options and a possible special session. Clouse said options being discussed include a bond issue to finance the construction and using a portion of the states COVID-19 relief dollars.

The governor said she remains committed to finding a way to build new prisons.

Anyone who is serious about these issues understands that replacing our failing prison infrastructure with safer, more secure facilities that accommodate the rehabilitation of incarcerated people is essential," Ivey said. "It is not a question of if this will happen, but how.
REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP)  Jill Biden is getting a day at the beach for her 70th birthday.

President Joe Biden and his wife went to their Delaware beach house to help the first lady celebrate her milestone birthday on Thursday. The first lady was already at the house in Rehoboth Beach when the president arrived Wednesday evening.

She planned to spend a quiet birthday at home with the president, said Michael LaRosa, the first lady's spokesperson.

The trip was a rare midweek getaway from the White House by a president. It also was Biden's first visit to the couple's vacation home since he took office in January.

The Bidens were expected back at the White House on Friday.

Jill Biden, a longtime community college English professor, recently finished virtually teaching a course at Northern Virginia Community College. She won't be teaching over the summer.

Biden often talks about how proud he is of his wife of nearly 44 years.

Teaching is not what Jill does. Teaching is who she is, Biden said last week, echoing his wife's own description of herself. And she's done it her whole adult life, and she's still doing it.

She had pledged to keep teaching if she became first lady.

But I don't think she bargained for having to teach online initially," Biden joked, adding that she spent a lot of time, four hours a day for about a month, learning how to teach virtually, as most schooling was done that way during the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden bought the beach house for $2.7 million in 2017, after leaving the vice presidency and aided by a $8 million multibook deal that he and his wife signed.

The house is on a cul-de-sac in North Shores, just north of the beach resort. It has a swimming pool that overlooks Cape Henlopen State Park, where Biden's helicopter landed Wednesday. The house is blocks from the Atlantic Ocean and a short drive from downtown Rehoboth Beach.

The Bidens moved in less than two years after their son Beau, a former Delaware attorney general and Delaware Army National Guard member, died of brain cancer in May 2015. One sign on the house says Beaus gift"; another sign reads Forever Jill.

Jill Biden told Vogue magazine that her husband had promised her that when I write my book, I'll buy you a beach house.

I wanted it to be the kind of place where you can come in in your wet bathing suit and bare feet and I can just take the broom and brush out the sand," she told Vogue for the March 2020 article. "And thats what this is. Everythings easy.

Joe Biden spent time in Rehoboth Beach during the 2020 presidential campaign, including after the Democratic National Convention and after becoming president-elect.

Biden so far has spent most weekends as president at his home in Wilmington, Delaware.

___

Superville reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed to this report.
PHOENIX (AP)  A judge is scheduled to hear arguments Thursday over whether the sheriff of metro Phoenix, like his predecessor Joe Arpaio, should face a contempt of court of hearing in a longstanding racial profiling case against the sheriffs office.

The lawyers who won the racial profiling case eight years ago are now arguing Sheriff Paul Penzone should face a civil contempt hearing for not complying with a court-ordered overhaul of his agencys much-criticized internal affairs operation, which has a backlog of 1,800 cases, each taking an average of 500 days to complete.

They say Penzone is out of compliance with a requirement that internal investigations be completed within 60 or 85 days, depending upon which operation within the agency handles the cases.

Its unclear what sort of penalties Penzone could face if the court agrees to hold a hearing and finds him in civil contempt. Generally, the punishments for civil contempt are fines, though on rare occasions jail time is given to those who refuse a judges order to provide information or take action.

During his last year as sheriff in 2016, Arpaio was found in civil contempt for ignoring a 2011 court order to stop his traffic patrols targeting immigrants. After the six-term Republican sheriff was ousted by the Democratic Penzone, Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt for disobeying the order. He was spared a possible jail sentence for the misdemeanor conviction thanks to a 2017 pardon by then-President Donald Trump.

U.S. District Judge Murray Snow concluded in 2013 that sheriffs officers had racially profiled Latinos in Arpaios traffic patrols that targeted immigrants who were in the United States illegally. As a remedy to the verdict, Snow ordered two overhauls of the agency, one of its traffic enforcement division and another its internal affairs operation, which had been criticized for biased decision-making under Arpaio that shielded sheriffs officials from accountability.

The court stripped the agency of some of its autonomy over internal affairs. Transfers of employees in and out the internal affairs unit are now required to be approved by an official who monitors the sheriffs office on behalf of the court. More training was required for supervisors. And the sheriffs office is required to investigate all complaints of officer misconduct, even those made anonymously.

Late last week, Penzone asked the judge to make changes to the internal affairs overhaul that the sheriff contends would reduce the backlog by about 40%.

The modifications proposed here may not solve the caseload problem completely, but they will help significantly and will also focus MCSOs internal investigative resources where they are needed most, the sheriffs lawyers wrote in in a filing Friday.

Penzone has proposed giving his internal affairs commander the power to decline to investigate complaints of misconduct that occurred more than a year ago or complaints brought against employees who no longer work at the agency.

He wants the commander to be able to close investigations when those making complaints are uncooperative with authorities, set a 180-day deadline for completing investigations, and let supervisors resolve allegations of minor misconduct through interventions by supervisors, rather than conducting investigations in such cases.

Cecillia Wang, one of the attorneys who won the profiling verdict, said the agencys internal affairs system has gotten steadily worse under Penzone. What we have is a system at MCSO where if a Maricopa County resident has a complaint against a deputy, they have no reason to be confident that their complaint will be heard in a timely and efficient manner, Wang said.

Penzone defeated Arpaio in late 2016 on a promise to turn the page on the problems created his predecessor, who was voted out of office after he was found in civil contempt for disobeying a judges order an order to stop his immigration patrols.

Although some of the agencys numbers are near or at 100%, the sheriffs office hasnt yet been deemed fully compliant with either of the court-ordered overhauls of its operations.

The compliance and legal costs for taxpayers in metro Phoenix from the profiling case are expected to reach $202 million by the summer of 2022. Much of spending goes toward hiring employees to help meet the courts requirements.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP)  Kentucky's attorney general on Wednesday sued CVS Health, accusing its pharmacy chain of flooding the state with prescription opioids that contributed to the state's addiction woes.

Attorney General Daniel Cameron filed the lawsuit in Franklin County Circuit Court in Kentucky's capital city. Cameron says the health care company played a role in fueling the crisis by inundating the state with millions of doses of powerful prescription painkillers. The state is seeking civil penalties and punitive damages in the suit.

As both distributor and pharmacy, CVS was in a unique position to monitor and stop the peddling of these highly-addictive drugs from their stores, yet they ignored their own safeguard systems, Cameron said in a news release.

It's the state's latest legal action against companies it blames for supplying a massive pipeline of prescription pills into Kentucky. In 2015, drug overdoses accounted for about 60% of Kentuckys statewide accidental deaths, Cameron said. The Republican attorney general is pressing lawsuits against several opioid manufacturers and distributors. Many of those suits were filed by Cameron's predecessor, Democrat Andy Beshear, who is now Kentucky's governor.

CVS Health, which operates one of the nation's largest drugstore chains, said it's prepared to defend itself against the state's allegations.

Opioids are made and marketed by drug manufacturers, not pharmacies, the company said. Pharmacists dispense opioid prescriptions written by licensed physicians for a legitimate medical need. Pharmacists do not  and cannot  write prescriptions. Nor do they  or can they  examine patients, conduct tests, diagnose medical conditions or determine medical treatment. That is the role of physicians, who have the responsibility to write appropriate prescriptions.

The new Kentucky lawsuit says CVS Health used unlawful business practices and failed to guard against the diversion of the powerful opioids.

To highlight the massive supply, Cameron said one CVS store in Perry County purchased more than 6.8 million dosage units of oxycodone and hydrocodone from 2006 to 2014  enough opioids for each resident of the Appalachian county to have more than 26 pills every year during the same period. In western Kentucky, a CVS store in Crittenden County bought more than 2.8 million dosage units of the drugs, enough to supply everyone in the county with at least 34 pills every year, he said.

Since CVS had a dual role in the opioid supply chain as a distributor and pharmacy, the lawsuit says the companys compliance with the law was vital to safeguard consumers and control the rate of addiction, abuse and diversion of opioids.

Despite supplying staggering quantities of opioids in Kentucky, CVS reported zero suspicious orders for its Kentucky stores from 2007 to 2014, Cameron said. Even during the height of the opioid epidemic, CVS helped promote opioid products, he said.

CVS said Wednesday that it has been involved in the fight against prescription opioid abuse. The company developed educational programs for patients and providers, created thousands of safe medication disposal sites and expanded access to life-saving overdose reversal drugs, it said.

Drug overdose deaths spiked nationally and in Kentucky during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Kentucky, overdose deaths rose by 50% from September 2019 to September 2020, compared with the previous 12 months, according to preliminary figures released in April by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Courier Journal reported. Addiction experts say the pandemic left people stressed and isolated, disrupted treatment and recovery programs, and contributed to an increasingly dangerous illicit drug supply.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP)  Lawmakers in South Dakota want a firsthand look at how marijuana is grown and sold where its already legal before cannabis prohibitions are loosened here this summer.

The South Dakota Legislatures interim study committee on marijuana met this week for the first time in Pierre, taking testimony from both advocates for medical and recreational marijuana as well as law enforcement and other public officials who arent enthusiastic about cannabis legalization.

And while lawmakers are equally divided on the topic of marijuana legalization and the necessary level of legislative response to a pair of cannabis-related ballot measures adopted by voters last fall, the 24-member summer study group reached the consensus that site visits are needed for lawmakers to get a comprehensive understanding of the countrys budding pot industry.

The topic is a very broad and diverse topic so our goal is to get everyone to a point where we can build on this information, said Sen. Bryan Breitling, the Miller Republican tapped to chair the summer study.

Medical marijuana is set to become legal July 1, while the future legal status of recreational marijuana remains unclear pending a South Dakota Supreme Court ruling.

But despite that uncertainty, the committee agreed the Legislature needs to be ready in the event the court upholds the constitutional amendment voters passed to legalize all adult pot use. So next month they will head out of state and onto tribal land where the drug is already legal, visiting professional cultivation and retail operations in Iowa, Colorado and the Flandreau Santee Sioux Reservation in Moody County.

Split into two subcommittees, one group will specifically study medical marijuana and visit a medical grow operation and dispensary, with a tour tentatively set for sometime between June 28 and July 1. The other intends to visit Colorado with a focus on recreational marijuana, those though dates arent set and first require authorization from the Legislatures executive board due to the anticipated costs of the expedition.

Breitling said the committee is still working with officials with the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe to determine a date for all of its members wishing to attend to tour cannabis grow operations there.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  A key group of House Republicans announced Wednesday its objection to a Senate-led effort to permanently keep a 0.45% state sales tax that is otherwise scheduled to roll off the books in four years, opposition that could doom the proposal's chance of passage.

Still, senators plowed ahead with their effort to strip the tax's expiration date and steer the money to road and bridge work, starting in 2025. The Senate Finance Committee voted 7-4 to send the proposal to the full Senate for debate.

But the Louisiana Conservative Caucus  41 GOP lawmakers in the House  released a statement calling the Senate proposal an irresponsible sales tax increase at a time when we've had billions of dollars come into our state from the federal government that could pay for infrastructure.

Those lawmakers represent more than one-third of the 105-member House, enough to stall the bill that requires a two-thirds vote to pass. The caucus joins a bipartisan list of opponents to making the tax permanent.

The Conservative Caucus is led by Republican Rep. Jack McFarland, of Winnfield, who initially proposed a gas tax hike this session to pay for road and bridge projects. But McFarland scrapped the bill before the legislative session even began, citing the influx of federal coronavirus aid.

Unless senators can sway enough of the caucus members to change their minds, the sales tax proposal will be unable pass. And senators are clearly split on the idea, with Republicans and Democrats on both sides of the issue.

Republican Sen. Rick Ward, of Port Allen, said an influx of up to $400 million a year in sales tax money for infrastructure would give the state a chance to address a $15 billion backlog of road and bridge needs in Louisiana.

We have fixed our budget. We are on a good path. But now we need a new commitment. We need to fix our roads and fix our bridges, he said.

Sen. Cameron Henry, a Jefferson Parish Republican, raised concerns about making financial decisions that will box in lawmakers in future terms.

Thats just a lot of money to tie up with so much federal money coming in, he said.

When Louisiana lawmakers passed the 0.45% sales tax in 2018 to stabilize state finances, they pledged the tax hike would be temporary, a bridge to balance the budget while lawmakers gained time to work on a larger tax overhaul. The temporary tax is scheduled to end in mid-2025, dropping the state sales tax rate from 4.45% to 4% at that time.

Ward  with the support of Republican Senate President Page Cortez  attached the sales tax renewal language to a separate House bill that sought to levy a tax on raw, smokable cannabis in Louisiana's medical marijuana program. Senators voted 27-10 to add the sales tax renewal and then sent the bill to the Senate Finance Committee for review. It now heads back to the Senate floor for a second vote. If approved there, it would move to the House for consideration, where the Conservative Caucus position comes into play.

Louisiana currently has the second-highest combined average state and local sales tax rate in the nation at 9.52%, falling behind only Tennessee, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation.

Opponents say the permanent sales tax proposal would renege on a promise made to Louisiana residents that the tax would be temporary. They note that sales taxes take a heavier share of poor residents' income than other consumers and that the tax would be kept even as businesses get a tax break.

Wards amendments to the medical marijuana tax bill would phase out a temporary sales tax levied on business utilities  while making the temporary 0.45% sales tax on all consumers permanent.

A specific set of transportation projects would be prioritized when the sales tax dollars shift to infrastructure on July 1, 2025.

___

The bill is filed as House Bill 514.

___

Follow Melinda Deslatte on Twitter at http://twitter.com/melindadeslatte.
MacKenzie Scott stormed the philanthropy world last year with $5.7 billion in unrestricted donations to hundreds of charities. The seven- and eight-figure gifts were the largest many had ever received. At the time, few people understood the multiplier effect those gifts would have or how truly wide a net she was casting. The many tentacles of her giving are poised to touch charities far beyond those that received money directly from Scott.

Joe Neri, CEO of the Illinois Facilities Fund, had an inkling that would be the case when his group received $15 million from Scott. Neris organization lends money to other charities. Many of the loans it provides help nonprofits make improvements like replacing a leaky roof or constructing a new medical clinic.

Neri knew his organization would lend much of that $15 million to the nonprofits it finances and that the impact of the money would end up being closer to a $75 million donation over time, allowing his organization to help far more people.

Scotts gift is considered reliable equity by loan-making financial institutions, corporations, and foundations. That means Neri can borrow additional money  in this case around $60 million, he says  that his fund can then lend to charities. The money also generates income when the charities pay the fund back.

I call it the gift that gives forever, says Neri.

Another way Scotts giving is extending beyond original beneficiaries: Many nonprofits that received donations are distributing portions of the money to their affiliates or other small charities.

For example, Scott gave a combined $162 million to 22 Easterseals affiliates, plus the national office in Chicago. Gifts ranged from about $1 million up to the $15 million that the national office received, says Angela Williams, CEO of Easterseals, which assists people with disabilities.

The national office plans to use part of the $15 million it received to help some of the 45 affiliates that didnt receive Scott donations. For example, affiliates can apply to the national office for money to help close a funding gap or update an existing program.

Scott, 51, is a reluctant public figure. She did not respond to interview requestsfor this article. According to media reports, Scott grew up in a wealthy San Francisco household. Her father ran an investment firm until filing for bankruptcy in 1987. With the familys finances diminished, she worked multiple jobs to put herself through Princeton.

Scott played a prominent but backstage role helping her former husband, Jeff Bezos, build Amazon into the global behemoth it is today.

Since the couple divorced in 2019, she has attracted an extraordinary amount of attention for a postdivorce net worth estimated at nearly $60 billion. A writer whose novel The Testing of Luther Albright won an American Book Award in 2006, Scott has shied away from speaking publicly about her philanthropy.

Yet true to her craft, Scott provided clear written statements about her motivations in two Medium posts that were published in July and December. In them, she explained how she selected the groups to which she gave and why. She wrote that her life includes two assets that she can use to help others: the wealth delivered to her by an imbalanced social system and a conviction that people who have experience with inequities are the ones best equipped to design solutions.

Indeed, one of Scotts most important goals for her giving is to help historically marginalized people by supporting charities that focus on racial, gender, and social justice.

Scotts gift of $2 million to Borealis Philanthropy, a grant maker that supports social-justice groups led by people who have traditionally been excluded from leadership positions is one example. It also exemplifies Scotts effort to fan money beyond the immediate beneficiary. She directed the Borealis gift to the groups Fund for Trans Generations, which supports nearly 60 small charities that are led by and serve transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary people.

Many of the groups are implementing antiviolence programs and helping trans and gender-nonconforming people develop leadership skills. Scotts money will aid those efforts at a time when violence and punitive laws aimed at trans people have increased, says Ryan Li Dahlstrom, who leads the fund.

Scotts decision to let nonprofit leaders decide for themselves how to use the money shows that she trusts their expertise. Almost every charity leader who spoke to the Chronicle said the freedom to direct the money to where it was needed most was the characteristic of her giving that mattered most.

Scott is showing a striking level of humility not usually seen among ultrawealthy donors who have made their fortunes in technology.

Thats just, unfortunately, hubris that sometimes comes with the money, says Chuck Collins, a former wealthy heir who gave his fortune to charity in 1986 and today leads the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies. Coming out of the tech world and the whole notion of disruption, I would say she is the big disrupter of traditional billionaire philanthropy.

Many nonprofit leaders hope other wealthy donors will take note of Scotts approach and start giving more and bigger unrestricted donations  with an explicit recognition that it is charity leaders who know best where to direct charitable dollars to do the most good.

There has to be a recognition at some point that you have professionals on the ground that are close to the issues, says Williams of Easterseals. We come to this work with a level of understanding and sophistication to do the work. What we dont come to the table with is an abundance of funds to get it done.

To what extent Scotts gifts help  or hurt  recipients fundraising efforts remains to be seen. Several say some longtime donors now think their money is no longer needed. That couldnt be further from the truth, the nonprofit leaders say.

We operate on thin margins, and the work needed is so important, says Williams. When you think about most nonprofits, theyre not really operating with a lot of cash in the bank, so to have a rainy-day fund or an endowment is a luxury.

Leaders at Walla Walla Community College, located in a rural part of Washington State, have found a thoughtful way to talk to donors who might assume their support is no longer needed after learning that Scott had given the college $15 million.

Jessica Cook, who leads fundraising, and the community colleges president, Chad Emerson Hickox, stress to donors that one of the reasons Scott decided to donate to the college is its track record of helping people who wouldnt otherwise go to college  and that it was their giving that made that track record possible.

This $15 million is a remarkable gift. But its not the only generosity that we received over the years, Cook says. I think it means a lot to people to hear that.

___

This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Maria Di Mento is a senior reporter at the Chronicle. Email: maria.dimento@philanthropy.com. The AP and the Chronicle receive support from the Lilly Endowment for coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. The AP and the Chronicle are solely responsible for all content. For all of APs philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
PITTSBURGH (AP)  A western Pennsylvania mall says it will install surveillance cameras and take other measures to beef up security following criticism from officials after gunshots that prompted a lockdown and an evacuation of shoppers over the Memorial Day weekend.

The Allegheny County district attorney's office and Ross Township police had criticized Ross Park Mall officials following Saturday's gunfire, saying mall operators had refused requests to install cameras, although some individual stores have them.
CLEVELAND (AP)  A man hit in the face with a bean bag that left him blind in one eye during a racial injustice protest in downtown Cleveland a year ago has sued the sheriff's deputy who shot him.

Attorneys for John Sanders, 25, of Sandusky, filed the complaint in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on Saturday, the day before the one-year anniversary of a Black Lives Matter protest organized in the wake of George Floyd's slaying in Minneapolis.

The injuries inflicted upon Sanders were part and parcel of a long history of inhumane treatment of citizens by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office, the lawsuit said.

Sanders along with friends and acquaintances had traveled to Cleveland to peacefully protest on May 30, 2020, the lawsuit said. Before joining the group to return home, Sanders crossed a street next to the Cuyahoga County Justice Center to snap photographs and was struck by a bean bag fired from behind a broken window as he began to walk away, the complaint said.

People rushed to Sanders' aid and carried him out of harm's way, Sanders told The Associated Press last year. He was taken to a hospital where he underwent unsuccessful surgery to repair the damage. His left eye was removed during a second surgery the next day. Additional surgery was needed to repair broken bones in his face and deal with a problematic skin graft.

Bruce Lourie is identified in the lawsuit and by a Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office report as the deputy who shot Sanders. The complaint names other county and sheriff's office officials as defendants.

Lourie had received no training in use of non-lethal weapons before being handed the bean bag shotgun on May 30, 2020, a violation of departmental policy that requires such training, the lawsuit said.

The sheriff's office placed Lourie on leave last June and asked the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation to conduct a criminal probe of the deputy's actions. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley asked Geauga County Prosecutor James Flaiz in January to oversee the investigation, which Flaiz said last week was ongoing, cleveland.com reported.

Cuyahoga County spokesperson Mary Louise Madigan declined to comment about the lawsuit.

Two separate lawsuits were filed late last week in federal court in Cleveland by 15 people who said they were victims of excessive force and had their rights violated by Cleveland police officers and Cuyahoga County sheriff's deputies on May 30.

Nearly 20 people filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the city of Toledo and three dozen officers, accusing them of excessive during the Floyd protests.

The lawsuit said officers fired wooden projectiles at protesters who were holding signs and had their arms raised, causing broken bones and other injuries. A city spokesperson declined to comment.

___

Associated Press writer John Seewer in Toledo contributed to this report.
LAS VEGAS (AP)  A Las Vegas father says he is upset and in disbelief after his 8-year-old son was mistakenly identified as a young homicide victim, prompting police to announce they were searching for the man and his other son.

Jose Montes-Herrera told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he seeks to clear his name and wants apologies from the police for releasing his name and prompting a search for himself and his 11-year-old son.
PINEVILLE, Mo. (AP)  A McDonald County man has been sentenced for assaulting a police officer during an arrest last year.

Darin J. Eubanks, 29, was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for first-degree assault and concurrent terms for three other violations. He must serve 85% of his sentence before he will be eligible for parole.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP)  Maryland's Republican governor has announced that the state will discontinue enhanced federal pandemic unemployment benefits and reinstate work search requirements next month, sparking objections from Democrats.

Gov. Larry Hogan announced Tuesday that the state will stop paying jobless residents an extra $300 a week and discontinue three other programs, including aid for self-employed workers. People claiming unemployment will have to show that they are looking for a new job.

While these federal programs provided important temporary relief, vaccines and jobs are now in good supply, Hogan said in a news release. And we have a critical problem where businesses across our state are trying to hire more people, but many are facing severe worker shortages.

Hogan submitted 30 days notice Tuesday to the U.S. Department of Labor. Without the federally funded enhancements, Marylands maximum unemployment benefit is $430 weekly.

Ending the programs with 30 days' notice seems abrupt and will hurt families, according to Del. Eric Luedtke, the Democratic majority leader in the House of Delegates who represents Montgomery County. Luedtke is still hearing from constituents who need help and said he doesnt believe that the unemployed just need to be nudged back to work.

I dont think we have a labor shortage. We have a low-wage labor shortage, Luedtke told The Baltimore Sun. There are plenty of workers if you pay a decent wage.

Maryland paid out more than $12.3 billion in unemployment benefits to 730,759 recipients, resolving more than 97% of claims, officials said. The federal programs were extended until September, but a number of Republican governors have announced that they will opt out early. Maryland is the 24th state to do so. Marylands labor department will process all federal claims received before July 3, officials said.

Marylands unemployment rate was 6.2% in April, the latest month for which data has been made available.

Senate President Bill Ferguson objected to the changes, saying the rash and rushed decision will hurt Marylanders who have been hit the hardest during the pandemic."

But Mike OHalloran, the National Federation of Independent Businesses' state director, told WBAL-AM that he welcomes the news.

Small business owners have been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 crisis," O'Halloran said. While they are seeing their sales grow amidst a steady economic recovery, a record 44% of owners reported job openings that could not be filled in NFIBs latest jobs report.

The unemployment programs were an important move early in the pandemic, but now its time to end them, according to Sen. Bryan Simonaire, the state Senates Republican minority leader who represents Anne Arundel County.

These benefits were meant to be a lifeline during the pandemic, not a way of life, Simonaire said. People got laid off or couldnt go to work because the government told people not to go and it was important for the government to help them.
BOSTON (AP)  Getting a coronavirus shot in Massachusetts could save residents a few dollars off their grocery bills, Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday.

Starting Thursday, shoppers who get their vaccine at clinics set up outside one of a select few Market Basket supermarkets in the state will get a $25 store gift card, the Republican governor said at a news conference in Chelsea.

We know these are convenient community locations. Theyre very heavily traveled, as anybody whos ever been to one knows, Baker said. We encourage all residents to come down and get their vaccine while theyre doing their shopping.

The mobile vaccine clinics will be set up at Market Basket stores in Chelsea, Fall River, Lawrence, Lynn and Revere, some of the communities that suffered most during the pandemic. No appointments are necessary.

Shots will be available Thursday, Friday and Saturday and again on June 10 to 12.

Massachusetts has fully vaccinated almost 3.7 million people, but Baker said there is still a lot more work to do to overcome hesitancy and to get vaccines to hard to reach populations.

Get vaccinated to protect yourself. Get vaccinated to protect your friends. Get vaccinated to protect your family. Get vaccinated to protect your neighbors and your communities, the governor said.

___

IMMUNIZATIONS

Nearly 7.9 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Massachusetts as of Wednesday.

That includes nearly 4.2 million first doses and more than 3.4 million second doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

There have been more than 252,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered.

Nearly 3.7 million people have been fully immunized  more than half the state's population.

___

VIRUS BY THE NUMBERS

The number of new daily cases of COVID-19 increased by 100 Wednesday while the number of newly confirmed coronavirus deaths in Massachusetts rose by three.

The new numbers pushed the states confirmed COVID-19 death toll to 17,523 since the start of the pandemic, while its confirmed caseload rose to about 661,400.

The true number of cases is likely higher because studies suggest some people can be infected and not feel sick.

There were about 220 people reported hospitalized Wednesday because of confirmed cases of COVID-19, with about 80 in intensive care units.

The average age of those hospitalized was 58. There were an estimated 5,400 people with current active cases of COVID-19 in the state.

___

COLLEGE VACCINE CLINIC

The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts will host a COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Church Street Center in North Adams next Tuesday, the school announced.

The site will offer a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, which has been approved for emergency use in those ages 12 and older. The clinic is free and open to the public, The Berkshire Eagle reported.

Minors need to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

Second dose appointments will be scheduled at the June 8 clinic.
Gerald Herbert/AP

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  Louisiana's medical marijuana program will be able to offer raw, smokable cannabis to its patients within months under a bill passed Wednesday by lawmakers trying to give the state's residents cheaper marijuana options to alleviate their medical conditions.

The legislation by Houma Rep. Tanner Magee, the Houses second-ranking Republican, was sent to the governor's desk with a 76-17 vote of the House. There was no debate Wednesday. The Senate earlier had approved the measure with a 23-14 vote.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  Just hours earlier, Kennedy Hobbs had walked across the stage at her high school graduation.

She wore a pair of sparkling silver high heels, with her hair straightened under her royal blue cap, video of the ceremony livestreamed on Facebook shows. As a photographer captured a shot of her gripping her diploma, she smiled: The next stage of her life was about to begin.

But it was cut short Tuesday night, when the 18-year-old was shot three times at a Texaco gas station in Jackson. She died at the scene just before 11 p.m., Jackson Police Department spokesman Sam Brown said.

The shooter fled before police arrived, Brown said. Investigators were interviewing witnesses Wednesday. They have not released information on whether Hobbs knew her killer or said what circumstances led to her death.

The death of Hobbs, who was the daughter of a faculty member in the district, has cast a shadow over the end of the school year ceremonies planned for the week. The city was celebrating graduations at its seven high schools after a year marked by challenges brought by the coronavirus pandemic. Multiple commencements were planned so the district could limit crowds and follow COVID-19 safety precautions.

Speaking to reporters between graduation ceremonies Wednesday, Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Errick Greene said Hobbs was on everyone's mind.

To get the news this morning of the passing of one of our dear graduates, it's tough," he said. It's really tough. And it brings into view just how important this work is that we do.

Whenever Greene speaks to graduates, he urges them to be mindful of their time on this Earth and not to put off pursuing their dreams, he said.

Speaking at Wednesday's graduation ceremony, after the news of Hobbs' death, "it really did hit a little differently, he said.

It was a little more timely and meaningful as I challenged them to look to the left and look to the right to realize that they may not see their classmates again," he said.

Usually, when he tells students that, it's because he knows they'll all follow different paths after graduation.

The reality is, we just dont know when our last day will be," he continued. "And so its just important for us to be more smart about how we set our lives up and the way that we sow positivity and peace in the world and the community around us."

Mississippis capital saw a record number of homicides in 2020, with close to 130 killings in the city of about 161,000. Most were gun-related, according to law enforcement.

In 2021, the city is on track to surpass that milestone. As of the end of April, 50 people had been killed in Jackson.

Greene said hes often asked what the school district can do to reduce violent crime in the city. He said education is one of the most powerful tools the community has.

___

Leah Willingham 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.
LAS VEGAS (AP)  Nevada wildlife officials have euthanized a mountain lion that was roaming a west Las Vegas apartment complex.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the animal was spotted Tuesday morning.

Police called the Nevada Department of Wildlife for assistance and blocked off the area to traffic. Wildlife officials tried several times to sedate the animal but were not able to do so. They then decided to euthanize it.

No injuries were reported to any people

Wildlife Department spokeswoman Ashley Sanchez says rogue mountain lions have been spotted several times in neighborhoods on the west side of the Las Vegas valley this year because of the drought. She said drought conditions send animals such as mountain lions and coyotes into neighborhoods as they search for food.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP)  New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy has spent more in the primary than all the GOP potential opponents combined, new figures from state regulators showed Wednesday.

Murphy, who is running unopposed in Tuesday's primary, has spent $7.2 million so far, according to a report from the Election Law Enforcement Commission, which offered a snapshot about a week out from the contest.

Five Republican candidates  including one who has since dropped out of the race  have spent $7.1 million in their effort to take Murphy on in the fall election.

New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states electing a governor this year.

So far, Murphy has raised about $7.8 million and has $584,000 cash on hand. Former Republican Assembly member Jack Ciattarelli has raised $6.9 million and spent about $5.9 million, according to the commission. He has more than $900,000 cash on hand.

Ciattarelli faces Atlantic County engineer and previously unsuccessful candidate Hirsh Singh, Hudson County pastor Phil Rizzo and former Somerset County official Brian Levine.

Ciattarelli is a former Assembly member who ran and lost the Republican gubernatorial nomination four years ago. Hes a certified public accountant and founder of a medical publishing company.

Republican support across the state has coalesced around Ciattarelli, though he still faces challengers who deride him as too weak a supporter of former President Donald Trump.

Unlike 2017, when Murphy had primary challengers and loaned his campaign more than $16 million, hes accepting public matching funds. So is Ciattarelli. They are the only two candidates in the race who qualified.

Murphys and Ciattarellis fundraising totals include matching funds, according to the commission.

New Jerseys public matching fund program goes back to 1974. It permits candidates to get $2 in public cash for every $1 raised. Candidates must have raised $490,000 to qualify for the funds, and theres a cap of $4.6 million. Spending for candidates getting public money is limited to $7.3 million in the primary.

Matching funds are financed through donations from state income tax forms and through the general fund.

Unlike voting last year, which was done almost entirely by mail-in ballots because of the COVID-19 pandemic, voters can cast ballots in person this year.

A new early in-person voting law Murphy signed earlier this year wont be in effect. Its expected to provide for early in-person voting in the November election.

New Jersey has 1 million more Democratic voters than Republicans, and registered Democrats now outnumber unaffiliated voters, who had been the largest bloc for years.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)  For months, Naftali Bennett vexed Israel's political establishment by refusing to say whether he and his Yamina party would get behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Now the 49-year-old tech millionaire and former Netanyahu protege is poised to become his successor.

His rise to Israel's top job is a historic turn for the 73-year-old nation after four inconclusive elections and a brutal 11-day war with Hamas' militant rulers in the Gaza Strip. As a fragile truce held into its second week, Bennett finally announced his party would join with allies of centrist Yair Lapid to form a government.

They completed the deal late Wednesday, just a half hour before a midnight deadline, paving the way to formally oust Netanyahu in the coming days.

The change coalition reflects a pragmatic streak in the 49-year-old father of four who built his career on becoming the pro-settlement, anti-Palestinian statehood leader of the new Israeli right. It also reflects Israel's mercurial politics.

Less than two months ago, Bennett signed a pledge on national television. I wont let Lapid become prime minister, with or without a rotation, because Im a man of the right and for me values are important, he said. Yet that's exactly what will happen under Lapid and Bennett's deal to serve as premier in two-year shifts.

Bennett was more circumspect when he announced the deal this week.

No one will be asked to give up their ideology, but everyone will have to postpone the realization of some of their dreams, he said. "We will focus on what can be done, instead of arguing over what is impossible.

Bennett is a modern Orthodox Jew and lives in the upscale Tel Aviv suburb of Raanana, rather than the settlements he champions.

The mistake," Bennett told The Associated Press in 2012, "is to categorize me as extreme.

Bennett began life with his American-born parents in Haifa, then bounced with his family between North America and Israel, military service, law school and the private sector. Throughout, hes curated a persona thats at once modern, religious and nationalist.

After serving in the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit, Bennett went to law school at Hebrew University and made a fortune in the largely secular world of technology. In 1999, he co-founded Cyota, an anti-fraud software company that he sold in 2005 to U.S.-based RSA Security for $145 million.

Bennett has said the bitter experience of Israel's 2006 war against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah drove him to politics. The monthlong war ended inconclusively, and Israel's military and political leadership at the time was widely criticized as bungling the campaign.

Bennett made his debut as Netanyahus chief of staff for two years. They parted ways after a mysterious falling out that Israeli media linked to Netanyahus wife, Sara, who wields great influence over her husband's inner circle.

The two clashed again when Bennett fiercely opposed Netanyahus decision in late 2009 to slow settlement construction in a U.S.-led effort to encourage Palestinians to renew peace talks. Bennett briefly served as head of the West Bank settler's council, Yesha.

He marched into national politics in his own right in 2013, remaking a party of pro-settlement advocates and later serving as cabinet minister of diaspora affairs, education and defense in various governments.

Then came a series of inconclusive Israeli elections and corruption charges against Netanyahu. Before the latest election on March 23, he refused to say whether he would sit as part of a Netanyahu-led coalition.

Like the other elections, the March contest failed to produce a governing majority. Netanyahu failed to form a coalition of 61 votes in the Knesset. Then it was Lapid's turn.

On Sunday night, Bennett announced he would form a government with my friend, Lapid. The alternative, he said, was to force the country into more elections.

Or we can halt this insanity," he said.
DEAL, N.J. (AP)  A Jersey Shore town with a long history of trying to discourage outsiders from using its beaches postponed its latest attempt Wednesday after state officials threatened future beach replenishment and storm repair funding.

Deal's Board of Commissioners postponed an ordinance that would have restricted parking on some streets closest to the beach to residents during summer weekends.

Paul Fernicola, the borough's attorney, said the commission postponed action on the measure after determining it ran afoul of an executive order Gov. Phil Murphy issued in May 2020 that reopened beaches amid the coronavirus outbreak.

That order included a provision that municipalities not impose any measures that discriminate against people based on where they live.

Late last week, the acting commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection wrote to Deal officials warning them the proposed parking ordinance directly violates an agreement Deal signed with the state and federal governments in 2018 to pay for beach replenishment work.

Shawn LaTourette wrote that the ordinance posed inequitable restrictions to public beach access.

He noted that the 2018 agreement between Deal and the state and federal governments requires that the municipality shall provide and maintain all existing public access and public parking.

LaTourette warned that if Deal adopted the ordinance, regular beach replenishment and emergency storm repair funding for beaches would be jeopardized.

He also noted that Deal is seeking state and federal money to repair storm water drainage issues at one street end, even as it risked violating the terms of its agreement with those entities.

Fernicola said Deal officials had not received the letter, dated May 27, as of Wednesday morning.

John Weber, an official with the Surfrider Foundation and a council member in nearby Bradley Beach, called on Deal to permanently withdraw the ordinance, as did Patty Cronheim of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters.

Deal has tried several times to restrict parking near the beach, at one point considering requiring a $100 parking permit before abandoning that idea.

It also is being sued by the American Littoral Society for vacating a street end near the beach and selling the property, which has long been used as an access point for surfers and others, to an adjacent homeowner.

___

Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC.
Thanks to all who made this school year one of much learning and growth
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Gov. Kevin Stitts plan to privatize much of the states Medicaid program is unconstitutional.

In a 6-3 ruling Tuesday, the court determined the Oklahoma Health Care Authority did not have the legislative approval to move forward with the plan, dubbed SoonerSelect.

We find no express grant of legislative authority to create the SoonerSelect program nor do we find the extant statutes implicitly authorize its creation," the ruling states.

The court also determined a constitutional amendment approved by voters last year to expand Medicaid to more low-income people also did not authorize a new managed-care program like SoonerSelect.

The court also found that the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, the state's Medicaid agency, should have made the rules governing competitive bidding widely known prior to implementing a request for proposal and the awarding of contracts.

The Republican governor has pushed the plan to outsource management of the states Medicaid system to for-profit insurance companies, maintaining that the approach will maximize health care quality while cutting costs.

The Supreme Court's ruling will unnecessarily delay Oklahoma's efforts to improve health outcomes through managed care, which the Legislature confirmed is the right path forward for our state through Senate Bill 131," Stitt said, referring to a bill approved by the GOP-controlled Legislature that placed some restrictions on the managed care plan. Stitt let that bill become law without his signature.

Stitt said he planned to work with the Health Care Authority to determine how to proceed.

A group of medical organizations filed suit in February seeking to stop the plan, including the Oklahoma State Medical Association, Oklahoma Dental Association, Oklahoma Osteopathic Association, Oklahoma Society of Anesthesiologists and the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Oklahoma physicians were virtually united in opposition to this plan, Allison LeBoeuf, executive director of the Oklahoma Osteopathic Association said in a statement. Oklahomans are best served when medical decisions are made between doctor and patient, and without interference from insurance bureaucrats.
DENVER (AP)  Officers on Wednesday shot and killed a man who was suspected of stealing a car from a driver at gunpoint in suburban Denver, police said.

The carjacking was reported at a Target store in Arvada. The man, who appeared to be in his 20s, left the commercial area and drove into a neighborhood, where he struck a fire hydrant, severely damaging the vehicle, said Detective David Snelling, a spokesperson for Arvada police. The man allegedly pointed a gun at a person who responded to the crash, he said.
NEW VINEYARD, Maine (AP)  Maine State Police on Wednesday released the identities of a man who said he crashed his car into a pond and his wife who died.

Collette Daggett, 43, was found dead on the shore of the pond on Tuesday and her husband, Wilfred Daggett, 42, was transported to a hospital, state police said. He was later released.
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP)  Authorities in North Macedonia have arrested six people on suspicion of running a migrant-smuggling ring that transferred people from Greece to Serbia on their way to countries in Western Europe, the prosecutor's office said Wednesday.

The prosecutor's office said in a statement that police made the arrests during raids of about dozen locations in North Macedonia's capital, Skopje, and four other cities in the central and southern parts of the country.
NEW VINEYARD, Maine (AP)  State police are investigating the death of a woman whose husband called the Franklin County Sheriff's Office to report his vehicle was submerged in a pond late Tuesday morning, officials said Tuesday.

The woman was found lying on the shore of the pond and was pronounced dead at the scene, while the man was transported to a hospital, said Shannon Moss, state police spokesperson.
Connecticut state police have linked the gunshots fired at the state Capitol over the holiday weekend with a series of similar incidents in Southington.

No charges have been filed in the gunfire that left several bullet holes in the Capitol, but Brian Foley, the assistant to the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, said a 74-year-old man is already in custody in connection with the shots fired in Southington. Police do not believe there is any current danger to the public, he said.

We know the person responsible; we believe the person responsible is in custody at this point, he said.

The suspect, whose name has not been released, is accused of firing gunshots at various locations in Southington on Sunday, including homes, a church and a health care facility. Police were also looking into a possible connection to reports of gunshots also fired in Bristol and Cromwell, which is about a 20-minute drive from Hartford. There were no reported injuries.

Foley said the shootings involve a small-caliber weapon fired from a motor vehicle.

Foley said police have pinpointed when the shots were fired at the Capitol, but have not released that information. They were not notified of the shooting by the city's ShotSpotter detection system, but officers went back into the system and were able to gather evidence from it, he said.

That can happen, he said, when shots are fired from a car and are not loud enough to trigger an immediate notification.

Foley said police are still processing a vehicle believed to be involved in the shooting and said the motive for the shootings is also under investigation.

We believe it's directly related to mental health issues, obviously a concern, he said.

State Capitol police announced they also were investigating a separate security breach that occurred on Tuesday night, when a vehicle drove onto the lawn of the building, while the legislature was in session.

Police said witnesses observed the operator revving his engine in an apparent attempt to get peoples attention.

The vehicle drove over the grass, onto the side walk and then drove off onto Interstate 84 westbound. Police said they have identified a suspect in that case and charges are pending.

The building remains closed to the public because of continuing COVID-19 protocols. Only lawmakers, staff and media are allowed inside.

The General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn its regular session on June 9.
INDEPENDENCE, Ky. (AP)  Police responding to a burglary in northern Kentucky fatally shot an armed suspect, officials said.

Independence and Kenton County Police Department officers responded to a burglary in progress at a residence Tuesday morning and encountered a man who brandished a firearm at the officers, Kentucky State Police said in a statement. An officer fired at the suspect and fatally wounded him, the statement said. Police did not release the man's name.

No officers were injured. Kentucky State Police released no more information as it investigates the shooting.

To protect the integrity of an ongoing investigation, it is KSP standard operating procedure not to release specific details until vital witnesses have been interviewed and pertinent facts gathered, the statement said.
WASHINGTON - Democratic leaders and activists are urgently stepping up pressure on Sen. Joe Manchin III to support legislation to fight Republican-led voting restrictions across the country, with party officials increasingly concluding that the battle over voting rights could come down to what the centrist Democrat from West Virginia does.

In a rare show of public frustration with his own party on Tuesday, President Joe Biden appeared to lash out at Manchin when he accused a pair of unnamed senators of aligning too closely with Republicans and stalling efforts to pass sweeping voting standards.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., recently announced that his chamber would vote this month on a House-passed elections bill co-sponsored by every Democratic senator except Manchin - a move that would force Manchin to pick a side in a fight that has taken on new urgency in recent weeks.

Even some of Manchin's Democratic colleagues are beginning to prod him more aggressively to join their cause, while activists and civil rights leaders are loudly decrying his hesitation.

The Rev. Al Sharpton said Wednesday that he and other civil rights leaders plan to meet with Manchin next week to talk about the importance of supporting Democrats' voting legislation. "The idea there is to is not to attack Manchin but to appeal to him," said Sharpton. He said NAACP president Derrick Johnson and National Urban League president Marc Morial are also expected at the Tuesday meeting.

The obstacle Manchin poses to his party's voting rights effort is twofold: He is also one of several Democrats who oppose changing Senate rules to advance legislation with a simple majority rather than a 60-vote supermajority. While Manchin is not alone in his party in opposing the elimination of the filibuster, he has emerged as one of its most prominent defenders, which has made him a lightning rod for frustrated Democrats in the early months of Biden's presidency.

Some fear that he will enable Republicans to block Democratic plans to address climate change, gun violence and immigration, even though his party controls the White House and Congress. When it comes to voting laws, Manchin has struck the most sensitive nerve.

Democrats increasingly see an existential threat from Republican-led state governments determined to place new limits on voting, which critics say would disproportionately affect voters of color, a core part of the Democratic coalition. One Democratic congressional aide, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid, said "panic" is the right word to describe the mood in the party.

The GOP moves, which include scaling back the use of ballot drop boxes, limiting access to mail ballots and creating new identification requirements, threaten to make it harder for Democrats to keep their congressional majorities in the midterms and hold the White House in 2024.

Florida, Georgia and Arizona, all battleground states with potentially competitive Senate races, have enacted new Republican voting laws this year, while a Republican attempt to do so in Texas was thwarted by Democratic state legislators over the weekend. As former president Donald Trump continues to claim the 2020 election was tainted by fraud despite no evidence to back his assertion, Republicans say they are safeguarding future votes. Many Democrats argue the Republican strategy is a threat to democracy.

"This sacred right is under assault with incredible intensity like I've never seen," Biden said Tuesday in Tulsa, where he marked the 100th anniversary of a massacre of Black residents. "It's completely un-American."

Sharpton, who attended the speech, said he briefly spoke with Biden there, reiterating to the president that voting rights is a crucial priority. "He said, 'I understand that, Al.' And he says, 'I'm doing what I can, and I understand what ya'll want to do,'" recalled Sharpton of Biden's response. He said Biden committed to discussing the topic more in an upcoming meeting with civil rights leaders that organizers are seeking to schedule.

Biden has come under growing pressure from Democrats demanding that he use the powers of his office to combat the Republican strategy.

"That is a problem with the Democratic Party. What you see with Republicans - they stick together no matter what," said the Rev. William Barber II, a civil rights leader who attended Biden's speech in Tulsa. "They need to let Manchin understand we elected Joe Biden - not Joe Manchin - to be president."

White House officials have argued that Biden has already made strides, pointing to an executive order he signed in March to expand voting access. But that hasn't stopped Republicans from moving swiftly to change the laws in key states. The only real answer, in the eyes of many Democrats, is federal legislation.

"This legislation is the ballgame," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., speaking of the "For the People Act," the marquee Democratic voting bill that Schumer vowed to bring to the Senate floor this month. "If we want any fair strike zone or distance between the bases, we've got to pass this."

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who has helped spearhead the "For the People Act" in the Senate, accused Republicans of waging a "continuing insurrection" after their 2020 electoral losses. She said colleagues such as Sens. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., have spoken up in "heartfelt caucus meetings" about concerns with new laws or proposals in their states. Klobuchar said she has had discussions with Manchin, including about changes she pursued in the legislation to ease concerns of the West Virginia secretary of state. "He's well aware of them," said Klobuchar. With the bill headed to the Senate floor, she added, "To me, it's a jump ball."

In a nod to the anxieties in his party and the shrinking window for passing major legislation before lawmakers turn their attention to the midterm elections next year, Biden said Tuesday that "June should be a month of action on Capitol Hill," as he offered a blunt defense for the inaction that plagued his earliest months in office.

"I hear all the folks on TV saying why doesn't Biden get this done? Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House and a tie in the Senate, with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends," he said. "But we're not giving up."

Although Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona stand out in the Democratic caucus for both their willingness to work with the other side and their support for the filibuster, both vote mostly with the party. But the point of Biden's remark was clear, sending a sharp message about his willingness to call out even some of his allies.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki sought to defuse tensions on Wednesday, saying that Biden was not criticizing the two Democrats and arguing that "sometimes, these conversations can be oversimplified." She added, "I don't think he was intending to convey anything other than a little bit of commentary on TV punditry."

Representatives for Manchin and Sinema declined to comment. Unlike Manchin, Sinema is a co-sponsor of the For the People Act, though she does not support overturning the filibuster to pass it.

While both of their positions stand as huge barriers to passing the bill, which is a catchall for numerous liberal priorities on voting rights, government ethics and campaign finance, Manchin's unwillingness to embrace the bill on its merits is especially alarming to Democrats.

Some of the provisions would set minimum standards for early voting and vote-by-mail that could override some of the state Republican voting laws. Others would force transparency for so-called dark money donations to politically active nonprofit groups.

Manchin has expressed support for these proposals, while remaining silent on other provisions, such as mandating nonpartisan redistricting commissions and establishing a public financing system for congressional campaigns.

Manchin has said his overriding concern is a lack of bipartisan support for the measure. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and his colleagues have united in opposition to any federal attempt to dictate state election laws.

With the Senate split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, Manchin and Sinema have emerged as two of the most influential figures in government. If Biden and Schumer lose the support of even one of them on any given vote, they must find at least one Republican to join them - an almost impossible task given the strong partisan divisions that have come to define governance.

Manchin in particular has embraced his powerful status, often sending warning shots to Democrats seeking to challenge him to fall in line. As a Democratic officeholder from a conservative state where former president Donald Trump twice won handily, Manchin is eager to showcase any distance from party leadership.

Biden announced Tuesday that he has tapped Vice President Kamala Harris, who has clashed with Manchin, to tackle voting rights.

After Harris went on a West Virginia news station to pitch Biden's pandemic relief bill this year, Manchin said he was flabbergasted. "I couldn't believe it," he said on WSAZ-TV. "No one called me."

Now, Harris and Manchin will be two of the most closely watched Democrats on voting rights. Harris issued a statement saying she planned to work with "voting rights organizations, community organizations, and the private sector." She added, "we will also work with members of Congress."

With their majority dependent on complete unity and Harris's tiebreaking vote - and Manchin and Sinema clear about their wariness about changing Senate rules - Schumer and other Democrats formulated a strategy aimed at proving to the holdouts that Republican intransigence will always dash their hopes of bipartisanship.

But it wasn't until Friday that Republicans actually blocked a Democratic bill - when efforts to close debate and vote on creating a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection failed 54-35. Schumer announced his intention to move forward with the voting bill just moments after the vote.

Manchin told reporters after the commission vote that he was "very, very frustrated" and that the Republican opposition was "truly disheartening." But he showed no sign that he was willing to budge on the filibuster, saying he was "not ready to destroy our government" and that Democrats "have to have faith there's 10 good people" in the GOP ranks willing to join them on legislation.

As the only Democratic senator who has opposed moving forward with the substance of the For the People Act, arguing that the bill as written is "too darn broad" and that it would be a mistake to proceed with voting legislation without bipartisan support, Manchin has drawn concerns from his own colleagues behind closed doors.

This dynamic was on display last week in a closed Senate Democratic caucus meeting, according to multiple attendees. The party's top elections lawyer, Marc Elias, briefed members on the scope and scale of the state-level GOP efforts underway, and several senators pleaded for action as Manchin listened. None mentioned the West Virginian by name, the attendees said, but one said the discussion was definitely directed at Manchin.

Democrats are hoping that Schumer's decision to bring the measure to the floor for a vote could force Manchin off his position - or at least demonstrate that Republicans are unwilling to even debate the issue. Failing to reach even 50 votes would be an embarrassing setback for Democrats, who have described the present threat to voting rights and democracy in increasingly stark terms. But that possibility continues to loom over Schumer's gambit.

"I'm adamantly opposed to dividing our country any further," Manchin told reporters last month. "A major policy change such as that (which) goes down on partisan lines would be very detrimental and, I think, very harmful to our country."

Still, some Democrats are hopeful Manchin will come around, given his track record. Despite his well-tended reputation as a centrist maverick, Manchin to date has generally been a team player for Democrats. After airing some misgivings about the scope of Biden's $2 trillion pandemic relief package and forcing some rollbacks to unemployment benefits, for example, he voted for the bill. No Republican in the House and Senate supported it.

Though Manchin derailed Biden's first nominee for budget director, Neera Tanden, he has supported several other controversial administration nominees, such as Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Pentagon official Colin Kahl and two senior Justice Department officials, Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke.

By allowing pressure for action to build over time, Schumer has in effect sought to run a playbook used by his predecessor as Democratic leader, former senator Harry Reid of Nevada. When Reid led the 2013 effort to invoke the so-called nuclear option and change Senate rules to allow for the confirmation of most presidential nominees on a simple majority vote, that effort took shape over the course of months, with Reid bringing up some judicial nominees repeatedly to demonstrate a GOP blockade and unify his caucus.

In the end, however, his caucus was not completely unified. Three Democrats voted to keep the 60-vote threshold for nominees; one of them was Manchin.

- - -

The Washington Post's John Wagner contributed to this report.
Marilyn Nieves/Getty Images/Vetta

PULLMAN, Wash. (AP)  The Whitman County prosecutor has filed criminal charges against 15 current or former members of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity at Washington State University following the death of a student from alcohol poisoning.

The charges filed Wednesday are related to the death of 19-year-old WSU freshman Samuel Martinez of Bellevue, Washington.
Pride Month is Marked by the RGP

As an equal opportunities employer, the Royal Gibraltar Police has recently announced the establishment of its own LGBT+ Forum as it values diversity and recognises the benefits of having an inclusive workforce.

To mark Pride Month, the rainbow flag will be flown at the RGP Headquarters from 1st  30th June 2021 and, on 1st June, RGP DC Allan Bartram and Sgt Prisan Fa of the GDP will carry out a joint Community Awareness patrol along Main St wearing their rainbow epaulettes.

DC Allan Bartram, the RGPs LGBT+ Liaison Officer said, It is important to recognise the essential worth of every person and to promote the development of harmonious relationships amongst all members of our community. Not only this month, but every day of the year. Being able to be who you are both in and out of work should be the same for everyone.

For his part, the Commissioner of Police Richard Ullger said,

I fully supported the LGBT+ Forum and I am keen to promote Diversity, Equality and Inclusion in the Royal Gibraltar Police, and would reiterate that the organisation is driven by the ethos of Many Faces...One Team. I feel that it is important that the service should constantly promote and embrace difference, pledging to support the different groups in the RGP which provide encouraging opportunities.

The RGP recently published its first 2021-6 Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy and is committed through good leadership and strategic drive to deliver a safer Gibraltar through excellence in policing, with a diverse workforce.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  An Arkansas veterans hospital's poor oversight caused it to miss the errors made by a pathologist who was fired for being impaired on duty and pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, according to an inspector general's report released Wednesday.

The report by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general criticized the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks, where Robert Morris Levy worked, for not having a culture of accountability" that would have encouraged others to report his mistakes without fear of reprisals.

Under an agreement with federal prosecutors, Levy pleaded guilty last year to one count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a patient he misdiagnosed. The IG's report said lapses in the Fayetteville facility's quality management processes contributed to thousands of Levy's errors.

Any one of these breakdowns could cause harmful results," the report said. Occurring together and over an extended period of time, the consequences were devastating, tragic, and deadly."

Levy pleaded guilty to misdiagnosing a patient with small cell carcinoma who died after being treated for a type of cancer he didnt have. Levy falsified the patients medical record to state that a second pathologist agreed with his diagnosis, according to the agreement.

Levy also pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud for receiving 2-methyl-2-butanol, a chemical that he used to intoxicate himself but that standard drug and alcohol screenings dont test for.

Levy was originally indicted on three counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of patients prosecutors said he misdiagnosed. He was also indicted on multiple charges of fraud and making false statements for his alleged attempts to conceal his substance abuse and incorrect diagnoses.

Levy was fired from the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville in April 2018.

The hospital said it is addressing many of the inspector general's recommendations, including exploring the possibility of a mandatory alcohol testing policy and creating a quality analyst position dedicated to pathology and laboratory medicine service.

The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks (VHSO) and the Department of Veterans Affairs is truly saddened at the pain victims and families endured at the hands of this pathologist," the hospital said in a statement. The Department assures Veterans that we are fully committed to improving our processes and systems moving forward to prevent a situation like this from happening again."

VA officials said in 2019 that outside pathologists reviewed nearly 34,000 cases handled by Levy and found more than 3,000 errors or missed diagnoses dating back to 2005. The inspector general's report said 589 of those were major diagnostic discrepancies."

The hospital's chief of staff received a complaint in 2014 that Levy smelled of alcohol but didn't take any action after he didn't smell any on the pathologist's breath, according to the report.

In September 2015, the report said, staff said Levy had an odor of alcohol, red eyes, and hand tremors when reviewing biopsy slides. Fact-finders reviewing the incident the following month said the pathologist smelled of mouthwash, had red glassy eyes, and exhibited hand tremors," the report said.

U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, whose district includes Fayetteville, said the report showed multiple failures that allowed Levys misconduct.

The report details an abject failure of leadership that led to the misdiagnosis and subsequent harm to hundreds of veterans who rely on the VA health system for care, Womack said in a statement. It is unacceptable to limit accountability to the criminal conduct of Dr. Levy.

The inspector general's recommendations also called for the hospital to review its psychological safety climate" to ensure patients, staff and the public feel they can report unsafe care without fear of reprisals.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  Louisiana won't be making changes to its system for electing members of Congress, after state senators rejected the last pending proposal about the congressional elections calendar Wednesday.

Republican Rep. Barry Ivey was trying to ensure the state is no longer electing its congressional members later than the rest of the country by shifting the election dates to earlier in a year. The House had unanimously agreed to the idea, but senators questioned Ivey's approach and the risk of litigation.

The Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee killed Ivey's proposal without objection, ending the discussion for the legislative session, which ends next week. Senate Republican leader Sharon Hewitt, of Slidell, earlier in the session scrapped her closed primary bill to shift the elections calendar because of sharp disagreements among GOP officials about the idea.

In Louisianas current open primary system, all candidates regardless of party run against each other for elected office. If no one candidate tops 50% in that primary, the top two vote-getters advance to a head-to-head runoff.

States aren't allowed to elect members of Congress before November of an election year. Louisiana's open primary system allows someone to win outright in a primary, so the state holds its congressional primaries in November. If runoffs are needed, they're held in December.

That sometimes has Louisiana electing new members of Congress later than most other states. Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise and some other officials have suggested that puts new Louisiana congressional delegation members at a disadvantage, because they miss orientation sessions, committee decisions and office assignments.

Ivey proposed to shift the election dates to earlier in a year but not declare a candidate elected until the November general election  even if the candidate wins outright in the open primary.

Sen. Franklin Foil, a Baton Rouge Republican, said he's talked to members of Louisiana's congressional delegation who don't have concerns about electing members of Congress in December. And he worried shifting the elections calendar could drive Louisiana into court.

I don't know if it's worth the risk to put us in litigation, Foil said.

Ivey, of Baton Rouge, said he believes his bill would keep Louisiana in compliance with federal laws, regulations and court decisions.

I've done my due diligence, he said.

Still, lawyers with Attorney General Jeff Landry's office also raised concerns about provoking a lawsuit. Not mentioned in the hearing was Landry's support of moving to a closed primary, rather than simply shifting the elections calendar.

___

The bill is filed as Bill 557.

___

Follow Melinda Deslatte on Twitter at http://twitter.com/melindadeslatte.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper's pick to lead the state's environmental agency appears doomed in the state Senate, where Republicans on a key committee formally opposed the Democrat's choice on Wednesday.

The Senate Agriculture, Energy and Environment Committee voted not to recommend the confirmation of Dionne Delli-Gatti as secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality.

Committee Republicans criticized what they called Delli-Gatti's lack of knowledge during a confirmation hearing in April about the governor's views on natural gas expansion and a key natural gas pipeline project examined by her agency. Cooper pushed back later Wednesday and suggested opponents were trying to block environmental progress.

A rejection threatens to fray relations between Cooper and GOP Senate leader Phil Berger during a year in which both expressed optimism of finding consensus, particularly on the state budget.

The Republicans said Delli-Gatti's answers took on added significance in light of the early May cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline, which transports most of the gasoline in the state. The Transco pipeline, meanwhile, is the lone interstate natural gas transmission line for North Carolina. Speakers from the energy industry at another committee meeting after the cyberattack highlighted the vulnerability of natural gas supplies in the state.

These are urgent, fundamental problems facing North Carolina and North Carolinians right this moment, said Sen. Paul Newton, a Cabarrus County Republican and committee member. Our objection to Ms. Delli-Gatti isnt over the merits of the strategy. Its the fact that shes unable to articulate any strategy whatsoever.

Democrats on the committee berated Republican colleagues and walked out before the panel's confirmation vote in protest. They said Delli-Gatti, who attended Wednesday's meeting, was ready to respond to their concerns more fully. A committee chairman, Sen. Chuck Edwards of Henderson County, declined to invite her to speak, saying no members had follow-up questions following the April hearing that lasted two hours.

This is a total sham of the nomination process, said Sen. Mike Woodard, a Durham County Democrat. Secretary Delli-Gatti deserves a chance to respond to some of the allegations that have been made to her today.

A confirmation vote by the full Senate is set for Thursday. While Woodard said Democrats would work until then to secure her confirmation, the likely outcome is that Delli-Gatti will be out of a job. Republicans hold 28 of the 50 seats in the chamber. Berger said the Senate Republican Caucus discussed her nomination Tuesday.

There are no mulligans in confirmation hearings, Senate Rules Committee Chairman Sen. Bill Rabon said, referring to do-over shots in golf.

Should Delli-Gattis nomination be rejected, it would mark the first time that a Cabinet nominee has been blocked since the legislature passed a law in late 2016 subjecting Cabinet members to confirmation.

Cooper on Wednesday kept backing Delli-Gatti, a veteran leader from the Environmental Defense Fund whom he named in February to succeed Michael Regan  now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator. She has been performing the secretarys duties since. The governor urged senators to delay the floor vote.

It doesnt have anything to do with her knowledge or qualifications, Cooper said at a news conference. She is eminently qualified to do this job. It has everything to do on whether were going to have a clean energy future and whether were going to protect our air and water.

Republicans cited Delli-Gatti's cursory knowledge of the proposed Mountain Valliey Pipeline-Southgate, which would bring natural gas from southern Virginia into North Carolina for Dominion Energy, as a reason to oppose her confirmation. A division within DEQ reissued the denial of a water quality permit for the project a couple of days after her confirmation hearing. The project would help increase the state's natural gas supply.

Delli-Gatti, who became the first woman as department secretary with Coopers pick, told reporters Wednesday that the water permit denial originated from the department when Regan ran the agency and that the pipeline operators can reapply. She also said the federal government, not DEQ, actually decides upon pipeline permit construction.

Its unfortunate that we didnt get to clarify that in the hearing, Delli-Gatti said, adding that while her rejection isn't settled, it was my great honor to serve this state in the capacity that I have. She previously worked at EPA and for other government agencies.

Dominion Energy, Duke Energy and environmental groups put out statements Wednesday supporting her confirmation.

Cooper's first 15 Cabinet nominations were confirmed since taking office in early 2017. Cooper would have to choose a replacement, who would also be subject to the confirmation process. Berger said Delli-Gatti can't be renominated.

Cooper previously challenged the 2016 law in court, saying the legislature can't interfere with how the governor carries out his duties. But the state Supreme Court sided with legislative leaders in late 2018. An "advice-and-consent" provision is contained within the state constitution.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP)  A Sioux City man admitted that he was one of three people who shot into a house where people were attending a New Year's Eve party, killing one person and injuring three others.

Anthony Bauer, 18, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder and three counts of reckless use of a firearm. He was originally charged with first-degree murder. Under the plea deal, he'll be sentenced to 50 years in prison, with a possibility of parole in 35 years, The Sioux City Journal reported.
CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP)  A Southern Illinois man has pleaded guilty to claiming in a letter that he'd planted a bomb at an area school and threatening letters to local government officials, according to a published report.

Citing court documents, the (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan reported that Jonathan Wade Bohn pleaded guilty in federal court last week to charges of mailing threatening communications and interstate threat to use destructive devices. He was sentenced to one year and one day in prison and will begin serving that sentence when he completes his sentence on a bank robbery charge on July 26, according to court records.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP)  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield on Wednesday added 40 names to its list of church employees who have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct involving a child.

The new names are in addition to 21 names already on the diocese's website.

The names were added based on an expanded definition of what constitutes a credible allegation as determined by the Diocesan Review Board, Bishop William Byrne said at a news conference.

The list now includes clergy and staff accused after their death, religious order members, clergy from other dioceses, and lay employees.

These are not new allegations. Most date back decades, Byrne said.

Some date to the 1940s.

The expanded list is in step with the dioceses pledge to be more accountable and transparent.

I am well aware that the past efforts in the Diocese of Springfield have not achieved that outcome. In fact, some efforts have caused more harm, said Byrne, who has ony led the diocese since December. Make no mistake, we still have far to go.

Wednesday's announcement came a week after the Hampden district attorney said there was enough evidence to charge defrocked priest Richard Lavigne with the 1972 killing of 13-year-old altar boy Danny Croteau. Lavigne died before he was charged.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)  Taxpayers are set to foot the bill for a $2.5 million contract for lawyers representing Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office in an ongoing federal investigation over his administration's handling of COVID-19 data in nursing homes, the governor said Wednesday.

Legal bills are mounting as Cuomo and his administration fight back allegations that he abused his power by sexually harassing and assaulting female employees and other women, publishing his COVID-19 leadership book in violation of state ethics laws, providing priority COVID-19 tests to his family in spring 2020 and minimizing the states tally of COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents.

The Department of Justice and state Attorney General's office have launched probes of such allegations, while the state Assembly judiciary committee's separate investigation is also considering whether there are grounds to impeach Cuomo.

When asked Wednesday if he is using campaign or personal funds to pay for any lawyers, Cuomo said: Not at this time.

The way it works is the executive chamber has retained a counsel," Cuomo said at the Javits Convention Center in New York City. "And that is a state expense. It has been in every investigation. So that's where we are now.

Its unknown how much taxpayers will end up paying in all for legal costs stemming from wide-ranging allegations against Cuomo.

The governors office hasn't respond to a request from The Associated Press last week for a list of all outside lawyers currently representing Cuomo and his office.

Any contracts for lawyers paid for by the state would need to get reviewed by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

DiNapoli's office has received and approved one contract for lawyers so far: a $2.5 million contract with the Manhattan firm of Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello. Partner Elkan Abramowitz is set to receive an hourly rate of $937.50, compared with $680 per hour for four other partners named in the contract.

Former federal prosecutor Rita Glavin is representing Cuomo himself on sexual harassment allegations. Cuomos office didnt provide details on compensation for Glavin and additional lawyers representing the Executive Chamber in state-level probes.

Lawyers from Morvillo Abramowitz are representing the Executive Chamber in the Department of Justice's probe, which is investigating New York's handling of nursing home data and the publication of Cuomo's COVID-19 book. The contract says that probe also includes other pandemic related matters.

Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi has said the administration was absolutely going above and beyond to get people testing in the early days of the pandemic. And top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa has defended former aide Larry Schwartz over criticism that Schwartz, who oversaw the states vaccination roll-out, called up county executives to support Cuomo.

Cuomo has denied that he inappropriately touched or intended to make anyone uncomfortable, while apologizing for comments misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation. He's claimed that staffers volunteered to help with his COVID-19 book, and said that state health officials withheld nursing home COVID-19 data for months in order to verify it.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)  For the first time since the start of the pandemic last year, Floridas busiest airport was welcoming a transatlantic flight.

A Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt, Germany was expected Wednesday evening at the Orlando International Airport. Airport officials said the flight was an indicator that travel was returning to normal after a year of disruption caused by the pandemic.
Shanna Moakler is launching an OnlyFans account and she is looking forward to "have some fun" on the platform.

The 46-year-old model-and-actress has been deliberating joining the subscription-only social media app - which contains countless X-rated accounts on which women share racy content with their subscribers - for some time and has finally decided to take the plunge.

Speaking to the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column, she said: "Im not going to get too crazy just yet, but Im definitely going to have some fun.

"I want to show all different facets of my life, so Im going to be showing things from me doing yoga, taking people on set, cooking, all things that I like to do thats fun and do it in a sexy fun way.

Shanna - who previously posed for Playboy, being named Playmate of the month in December 2001 - has signed with Unruly Agency to launch her account.

The former 'Pacific Blue' star insists although she is very "comfortable with nudity" she will not be sharing more extreme X-rated content.

She said: "Im really staying true to who I am as a person and what Im comfortable with.

Im very comfortable with nudity. I always have been being a former Playmate, being in Maxim ... Im not trying to get crazy in my career now at my age, but Im definitely willing to have some fun and make it a great experience for everybody.

Shanna is in a relationship with Matthew Rondeau, and her boyfriend is fully behind her new venture.

She explained: "Hes amazing. He and I talked about it a lot and I told him I wouldnt do it if he didnt support it, and hes been super supportive.

"Hes actually tried to help me with pictures I should use."

Mother-of-three Shanna has two children, 17-year-old son Landon and 15-year-old daughter Alabama, from her marriage to ex-husband, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, and 22-year-old daughter Atiana De La Hoya, whose father is former world champion boxer Oscar De La Hoya, but she isn't worried about her kids knowing she is on OnlyFans because they are aware of her Playboy past.

She said: "I dont think my kids are going to be on that website at any point in time, but my children do know Im a former Playboy Playmate. We used to spend all our Easters at the Playboy Mansion.

Theres thousands of Playmates and there are thousands of Playmates who are mothers and their kids survive just fine.
TORONTO (AP)  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that residential schools for Canada's Indigenous children were part of a larger colonial policy designed to erase language and culture and to assimilate those groups so they no longer existed as distinct peoples.

Trudeau said the discovery of 215 children found buried at a former Indigenous residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia, is part of a larger tragedy. The institutions held children taken from families across the nation.

Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tkemlups te Secwepemc First Nation in British Columbia said the remains of 215 children were confirmed last month with the help of ground-penetrating radar.

Children should never have been sent to those so-called schools  places where they were separated from their families and their communities, places where they faced terrible loneliness, places where they suffered unthinkable abuse, Trudeau said in an emergency debate in Parliament.

That is the fault of Canada."

From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 First Nations children were required to attend state-funded Christian schools as part of a program to assimilate them into Canadian society. They were forced to convert to Christianity and not allowed to speak their native languages. Many were beaten and verbally abused, and up to 6,000 are said to have died.

The Canadian government apologized in Parliament in 2008 and admitted that physical and sexual abuse in the schools was rampant. Many students recalled being beaten for speaking their native languages. They also lost touch with their parents and customs.

Indigenous leaders have cited that legacy of abuse and isolation as the root cause of epidemic rates of alcoholism and drug addiction on reservations.

Plans are underway to bring in forensics experts to identify and repatriate the remains of the children found buried on the Kamloops site. Perry Bellegarde, chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said he spoke with Trudeau on Tuesday and urged him to work with First Nations to find all the unmarked graves of out stolen children" in Canada.

A National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up as part of a government apology and settlement over the schools, issued a report in 2015 and Bellegarde urged Trudeau to accelerate implementing its recommendations. Trudeau has said he would implement them and said government has put in place the legislation to strengthen Indigenous languages and culture.

Murray Sinclair, the former chair of the reconciliation commission, said more sites will be found.

We know there are lots of sites similar to Kamloops that are going to come to light in the future. We need to begin to prepare ourselves for that, Sinclair said.

Sinclair said the stories about children who died in the schools during the commission's work was shocking and said survivors talked about children being buried in large numbers into mass burial sites.

The reconciliation commission has records of at least 51 children dying at the school between 1915 and 1963. It identified about 3,200 confirmed deaths at schools throughout Canada but noted the schools did not record the cause of death in almost half of them. Some died of tuberculosis.

The commission said the practice was not to send the bodies of the students who died at the schools to their communities. It also said the government wanted to keep costs down so adequate regulations were never established.

The Kamloops Indian Residential School was Canadas largest such facility operated by the Roman Catholic Church between 1890 and 1969 before the federal government took it over as a day school until 1978, when it was closed.

It was the most horrible pain in the world to be a native, to be an Indian back then, said Clayton Peters, who spent seven years at the school.

Peters and his brothers were forcibly taken to the school in 1967. He remembers thinking that kids who suddenly disappeared from there were lucky because they had managed to escape, saying his unsuccessful attempt to get away led to harsh consequences.

I always thought they ran away like I did, that they made it, that they were free, he said crying.

Now, he thinks some of the children he knew may be buried at the site.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Ukraine's president said Wednesday that Russia has maintained a massive military presence near his country's borders.

Speaking during a meeting with a group of visiting U.S. senators, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy charged that Moscow had withdrawn only a fraction of the forces it concentrated near Ukraine in April, a buildup that worried the West as well as Ukraine.

The Russian buildup came amid regular cease-fire violations in the conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, and fueled fears that full-scale hostilities would resume.

The Russian military announced a pullback of its troops following the completion of drills in late April. But it ordered the troops to leave their weapons behind in southwest Russia near Ukraine for another big military exercise set for September.

Zelenskyy claimed Wednesday that Russia so far has withdrawn just a fraction of the more than 100,000 troops that Ukrainian officials said had been deployed near the border earlier in the spring.

They only have pulled back about 10,000 soldiers, Zelenskyy told the three U.S. senators in Kyiv. The Russian forces' pullback is just a declaration.

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, a senior Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Republican Rob Portman of Ohio and Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy emphasized strong bipartisan support for Ukraine.

This bipartisan trip sends a clear message that the United States is committed to rebuilding our transatlantic relations and reasserting U.S. global leadership to promote democratic values, they said in a statement.

We talked about the importance of increasing our ties, providing even more effective military assistance, so Ukraine can defend itself," Portman told reporters after the talks.

Russia annexed the Black Seas Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014 following the ouster of Ukraines Moscow-friendly president and then threw its weight behind separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. Seven years of fighting has killed more than 14,000 people and devastated Ukraines eastern industrial heartland, called Donbas.

A 2015 peace deal brokered by France and Germany helped end large-scale battles, but skirmishes have continued along the line of contact and a political settlement has stalled. Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of shoring up the rebels with troops and weapons  allegations that Moscow has denied.

The Kremlin sternly warned Ukrainian authorities against trying to reclaim control of the rebel east by force, saying it could be pushed to intervene to protect civilians there.

Moscow also has bristled at NATO's joint drills with Ukraine, saying they reflect the alliance's aggressive intentions and give a boost to hawkish circles in Ukraine.

Maj.-Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, said Wednesday that the Russian military would closely monitor NATO's Sea Breeze exercise, which is set to be conducted jointly with Ukraine in June and July.

Konashenkov charged that the maneuvers would serve as a cover for providing Ukraine with weapons and munitions. He warned in a statement that the Russian military would follow the drills and respond in line with the evolving situation to ensure military security of the Russian Federation.
BEIRUT (AP)  A U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri said Wednesday that it is facing a severe funding crisis and will not be able to operate beyond July without immediate assistance.

The announcement by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon came as the country is in the grips of an unprecedented economic crisis  a culmination of decades of widespread corruption and mismanagement.

Although the tribunal's verdict issued last August, 15 years after Hariri's killing, was disappointing for many Lebanese, ending its work would raise concerns in the tiny country where political killings have gone without punishment for decades.

Separately, some Lebanese are demanding an international investigation into the Aug. 4 blast at Beiruts port that killed 211 people, injured more than 6,000 and damaged nearby neighborhoods.

The Netherlands-based said it has formally notified U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of its financial situation, which will result in the Tribunals inability to complete its work if no contributions are forthcoming prior to the end of July.

Guterres is deeply concerned over the tribunals financial difficulties and has appealed to U.N. member states, the international community and the General Assembly for funds, his spokesman said Wednesday.

The U.N. chief stresses that continued financial support by the international community is vitally critical to ensuring justice for the victims in Lebanon, said the spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.

According to the U.N., the tribunal received $15.5 million in March from Guterres' efforts, which helped pay about 75% percent of the Lebanese governments 49% share for expenses. But the tribunal says it lacks money from donors who are to pay the other 51% of the budget.

The tribunal also said that given the challenging circumstances generated by the global COVID-19 pandemic and Lebanon's economic crisis, it had already reduced its budget by approximatively 37% for 2021, compared with the previous years.

Lebanons economic crisis began in late 2019 and has intensified in recent months. The World Bank said Tuesday the crisis is likely to rank as one of the worst the world has seen in more than 150 years, adding that the economy contracted 20.3% in 2020 and is expected to shrink 9.5% this year.

In March 2020, Lebanon defaulted on paying back its debt for the first time in its history as the local currency lost more than 85% of its value. Tens of thousands have lost their jobs while many others left the country seeking opportunities abroad. Nearly half the countrys 5 million people live in poverty.

Despite taking significant cuts of staff and across the board reductions, without additional funding, the Tribunal will be forced to close its doors in the coming months, said the tribunal's Registrar David Tolbert. He added that this will leave important cases unfinished to the detriment of victims, the fight against impunity and the rule of law.

The 2005 Valentines Day truck bombing on Beiruts seafront that killed Hariri and 21 others sparked huge protests against Syria, which was widely seen as culpable. Damascus denied involvement but was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after 29 years there.

The U.N. investigation into Hariris assassination was broadened to include 14 other Lebanese killings.

In December, the Netherlands-based tribunal sentenced Salim Ayyash, a member of the Hezbollah militant group, in absentia to life imprisonment for his involvement in Hariris assassination. Ayyash has never been arrested. Three other Hezbollah members tried with him were acquitted.

___

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The U.S ambassador to the United Nations headed to Turkey late Tuesday seeking to ensure that humanitarian aid can be delivered to Syria across borders, a program Russia has severely limited in recent years while insisting the Syrian government should control all assistance to millions in need.

Linda Thomas-Greenfields visit comes ahead of the July 10 expiration of the U.N. Security Council mandate for humanitarian aid deliveries, now reduced from four initial international crossing points to a single border crossing from Turkey to Syrias rebel-held northwest at the insistence of Russia, Syrias closest ally.

The trip also comes ahead of U.S. President Joe Bidens first meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels on June 14.

Ties between Ankara and Washington, which once considered each other as strategic partners, steadily deteriorated in recent years over differences on Syria, Turkeys cooperation with Russia and Turkish naval interventions in the eastern Mediterranean, which U.S. officials have described as destabilizing.

Erdogan toned down his anti-Western and anti-U.S. rhetoric in an apparent effort to reset the rocky relationship with his NATO allies, but the Turkish leader was met with silence from Biden until they spoke April 23 and agreed to this months meeting. By comparison, he spoke to President Donald Trump just days after the 2016 election.

The U.S. Mission to the United Nations said in an announcement Tuesday that Thomas-Greenfield would meet with senior Turkish officials during the Wednesday-Friday visit to discuss opportunities to strengthen the U.S.-Turkey relationship, work with our NATO ally to address global challenges (and) improve cooperation on Syria.

A senior official at the mission called this a moment of intense engagement with senior Turkish officials, pointing to Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Shermans visit last week ahead of the Biden-Erdogan meeting. But the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, would not say whether Thomas-Greenfield would meet with the Turkish president.

Turkey is a critical NATO ally, and we have a strategic relationship that spans an enormous breadth of issues and concerns, including global and regional security issues, obviously, economic issues related to democracy and human rights, the official said, saying the U.S. expects all these issues to be discussed in Thomas-Greenfield's meetings.

The mission said the talks on Syria would include managing the refugee crisis -- Turkey hosts almost 4 million Syrian refugees -- and recognizing Turkeys crucial role in the facilitation of cross-border assistance.

Thomas-Greenfield plans to travel to the Turkey-Syrian border to meet with a group of refugees, and she will also meet with humanitarian organizations and United Nations agencies working to assist millions in Syria, the mission said.

The U.N. special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, told the Security Council last week it is a tragic irony that ordinary Syrians are facing immense and growing humanitarian suffering at this time of relative calm in the more than 10-year conflict. He also lamented the stalled political process, including the failure to start drafting a new Syrian constitution.

Last July, Russia scored a victory for Syria by forcing the Security Council to limit humanitarian aid deliveries to just one crossing point, from Turkey to northwest Idlib at Bab al-Hawa.

The U.S. and many other countries had argued for restoring the Al-Yaroubiya crossing point from Iraq in the northeast that was closed in January 2020. It had been a primary delivery point for health and medical supplies, especially needed during the COVID-19 pandemic. But Russia argued that aid should be delivered from within Syria across conflict lines, and threatened to veto more than one crossing point.

The U.S. Mission said Thomas-Greenfield will emphasize the urgent need for additional crossings and stepped-up international assistance, as there is no viable alternative to alleviate the vast needs of vulnerable populations in northern Syria  needs that have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Estonias U.N. ambassador, Sven Jurgenson, who took over the council presidency Tuesday, indicated at a news conference that Russia is already being difficult.

The talks are starting already, he said. At one of the last meetings, weve heard that one of the members is planning to make things difficult again, like theyve usually done."

Jurgenson said past negotiations show that at the very end they give in, but they want to cut off something.

U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told the Security Council last week that delivering aid across conflict lines cannot replace cross-border deliveries and called the cross-border operation at Bab al-Hawa a lifeline.

If it isnt reauthorized, he warned, food deliveries for 1.4 million people every month, millions of medical treatments, nutrition for tens of thousands of children and mothers and education supplies for tens of thousands of students will stop.
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP)  A U.S. State Department official called on Wednesday for the immediate release of two American journalists who were arrested by Myanmar's military junta.

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said the arrests of Danny Fenster and Nathan Maung were of deep concern, and urged that they be freed and allowed to return home to their families.

A free and independent media is indispensable to build prosperous, resilient and free societies. The detention of Daniel and Nathan, as well as arrests and use of violence by the Burmese military against other journalists, constitutes an unacceptable attack on the freedom of expression in Burma, Sherman told journalists during a stop in Bangkok, referring to Myanmar by its former name.

Sherman is making her first overseas trip since taking office, with visits to Belgium, Turkey, Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand.

Fenster, 37, the managing editor of the news and business magazine Frontier Myanmar, was detained at Yangon International Airport on June 24 as he was preparing to board a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, en route to the Detroit area to see his family.

Maung and Myanmar national Hanthar Nyein, co-founders of the Myanmar news website Kamayut Media, were arrested on March 9, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, citing accounts in Myanmar media. The group said it had reports that Maung, the websites editor-in-chief, and Hanthar, a news producer, were physically mistreated in their first two weeks of detention at an interrogation center in Insein township.

Two other foreign journalists have been arrested by the military junta that took power in February after ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Freelancers Robert Bociaga of Poland and Yuki Kitazumi of Japan have since been deported.

According to Myanmars Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, about 90 journalists have been arrested since the armys takeover, with more than half still in detention, and 33 are in hiding.

The association, which keeps a detailed tally of arrests and deaths since the military takeover, says more than 4,400 people are in detention, including 110 who have already been sentenced.

___

This story corrects that the journalists were reportedly mistreated at an interrogation center, not prison.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP)  The owner of a small sunflower oil factory in Bulgaria has accused U.S. soldiers of illegally storming his facility during a NATO military exercise last month.

Marin Dimitrov told reporters Wednesday that he had filed a lawsuit against those responsible for the May 11 incident.

Swift Response 2021 was a U.S. Army-led multinational exercise held across Estonia, Bulgaria and Romania and involving more than 7,000 paratroopers from 10 NATO countries. During the drill, members of the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade simulated seizing and securing the decommissioned Cheshnegirovo Air Base in southern Bulgaria by clearing bunkers and other structures, a U.S. Army statement said.

On May 11, American soldiers entered and cleared a building next to the airfield that they thought was part of the training area but turned out to be occupied by Bulgarian civilians operating a private business, according to the statement.

No weapons were fired at any time during the interaction, the Army statement said.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said it was absolutely unacceptable to have the life and calm of Bulgarian citizens put at risk by military units, be they part of the Bulgarian or foreign armed forces.

Exercises in Bulgarian territory involving our Allies should boost the sense of security and trust in collective defense, instead of causing tension among Bulgarians, Radev said.

The U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria offered apologies to the business and its employees.

We always learn from these exercises and are fully investigating the cause of this mistake," the embassy said in a statement. "We will implement rigorous procedures to clearly define our training areas and prevent this type of incident in the future.
WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP)  Two Utah girls 9 and 4 were uninjured Wednesday after they took a car and crashed into a tractor trailer as they tried to drive to California for a beach vacation, police said.

The driver of the tuck also was unhurt.
ATHENS, Greece (AP)  German carmaker Volkswagen launched a five-year project Wednesday on the small Greek Aegean island of Astypalea to test the adoption of electric vehicles in areas switching to sustainable energy generation.

The 20-million-euro ($24.4 million) initiative will receive financial support from the Greek government. It will offer residents purchasing incentives to swap conventional vehicles for electric cars and scooters, and test ride-share applications and public transport models driven by customer demand instead of using fixed schedules and routes.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  Two national nonprofit groups that encourage voting by mail sued Kansas election officials Wednesday over new election laws passed this year by the Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature.

The lawsuit from VoteAmerica and the Voter Participation Center comes a day after three Kansas voting rights groups  The League of Women Voters of Kansas, Kansas Appleseed and Loud Light  sued in Shawnee County Court.

Both lawsuits contend the laws are unconstitutional because they suppress free speech and disenfranchise voters.

The federal lawsuit seeks to block enforcement of a law that prohibits out-of-state groups from mailing advance ballot applications to any voter in the state and makes it a crime to include the voters name, address and other information on the application, even if the voter provided the information and requested an advance mail ballot application.

Paul Smith, an attorney with the Campaign Legal Center, one of the legal groups representing VoteAmerica and the Voter Participation Center, said the Kansas law is one of several passed by state legislatures this year aimed at restricting the right to vote.

Debra Cleaver, founder and CEO of VoteAmerica, said state lawmakers who pass such laws prefer lower turnout elections that allow them to dictate who can vote.

"And now they want to want to block nonpartisan charitable organizations like VoteAmerica from simply helping voters  regardless of their political affiliation  request mail in ballots. Its intentionally voter suppressive, its undemocratic, and thats why were suing, Cleaver said.

One provision of the law targeted by the Kansas lawsuit limits how many ballots groups or individuals may collect and deliver to election officials, a practice used by some Democrats and Democratic-leaning groups for decades to help disabled, elderly and poor voters. The second law reduces the power the governor, secretary of state and courts have to change election laws.

The lawsuit filed in Shawnee County District Court asks the court to find the laws unconstitutional and to prevent them from being enforced.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the bills in April but the Republican-led Legislature overrode the veto last month.

Republican supporters of the measures say they are needed to ensure the integrity of elections by preventing fraud.

Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, described the Kansas-based groups that filed the lawsuit as left-wing groups who are opposed to securing our elections.

The fact that they are challenging modest limits on ballot harvesting and rules against impersonation of an election official demonstrates how radical these groups are," Masterson said in a statement.

The voting rights groups contend Republican supporters of the new laws have presented no evidence that Kansas elections are not secure.

Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a defendant in the lawsuit, who says Kansas had free and fair elections in 2020, declined to comment on the lawsuit before his office had been formally served, The Wichita Eagle reported.

Clinton Bales, a spokesperson for state Attorney General Derek Schmidt, another defendant, said his office learned about the political lawsuit from reporters and had not yet been served.

Kansans can rest assured we will vigorously defend the commonsense election integrity measures enacted into law this year, Bales said.

Davis Hammet, founder of Loud Light, a state voting rights organization, said he told lawmakers before they voted that the laws would pose constitutional concerns.

When you make up a solution for a problem that doesnt exist you make new problems, Hammet said. The legislature responded to a lie and used it as the basis for disenfranchising Kansans in the name of improving election integrity.

One law makes it a misdemeanor for someone to collect and return more than 10 ballots or give the appearance of being an election official.

Hammet said he and other Loud Light volunteers have been mistaken for election officials in past elections.

Were all nervous that if we go out and do these activities can we go to jail? he said.

The lawsuit also contends a $20 advance voting application fee would harm low-income voters, and a method used to match signatures on ballots would cause voters to be disenfranchised as the result of inexpert and arbitrary decisions by elections officials.
RENO, Nev. (AP)  Washoe County Assessor Mike Clark has been banned from county workplaces until a court hearing scheduled June 10 to determine whether a temporary protection order should be extended after he was accused of harassing a female employee.

A Reno Justice Court granted the order sought by the county on May 25 requiring Clark to stay 100 yards away from all county offices.
By Yang Zhongjie

The picture shows a Tu-22M3 long-range bomber.

Recent strategic game between the US and Russia in the Middle East has continued to escalate, with the two sides engaging in a fierce fight over military and diplomatic issues, according to foreign media reports. As they continue to pay more attention to the Middle East, the confrontation across the board in the region may further escalate in the future.

US shows muscles in high profile manner

The US said that to support its Afghanistan drawdown, it has dispatched six B-52 bombers to the region and moved the HIMARS weapon system from Kuwait in early May. The Pentagon also plans to deploy the USS Reagan aircraft carrier stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, to the Middle East again, according to US media reports on May 26.

Since the death of Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in January 2019, tensions in the Persian Gulf have kept a US aircraft carrier in the area. According to the deployment data from the Association of the United States Navy, the numbers of US aircraft carriers deployed in the Middle East and the Pacific in 2020 are largely the same, which demonstrates the strategic focus of the US military in recent years.

Russia makes a reciprocal response

Russia has recently taken multiple measures to respond forcefully in response to the above-mentioned US showcase of strength.

The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed on May 25 that it had deployed the Tu-22M3 long-range bombers to Syria, which can break through the southern wing of NATO and threaten the European hinterland. The deployment will not only have a significant impact on the balance of power in the Mediterranean region, but also play an important strategic deterrent role. At the same time, the Russian military released a video of the Tu-22M3 long-range bomber flying with a Kh-22 long-range anti-ship cruise missile. At present, the second runway of Hmeymim Air Base has been upgraded and transformed, able to carry out the take-off, landing and maintenance of various types of aircraft. This news aroused great concern in the US and Europe.

In terms of diplomacy, Russian officials expressed their intention to provide a platform to hold talks in Moscow to mediate the Palestine-Israel conflict. Regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow calls on the US and Iran to take simultaneous measures to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear agreement.

The confrontation might escalate

Overall, during the Trump years, relations between the US and the Middle East countries had been rocky. At the same time, Russia has continued to take the initiative on the Middle East issue, and the trend of "Russian advancement and US retreat" in the Middle East region has become more and more obvious. The military game between the US and Russia in the Middle East might further escalate in the future.

On the one hand, multilateral military games are also probably continue to heat up. The US is likely to continue to strengthen its military deployment in the Middle East, increase public opinion pressure on Russian on the Middle East issue, and use the anti-terrorism war as a gimmick to win over Middle Eastern allies and the Syrian opposition, so as to contain Russia's regional influence. Russia may actively use military and non-military means, traditional and non-traditional elements to enhance its influence and voice in the region continuously.

On the other hand, intervention in regional affairs may become more profound. In general, the Biden administration is trying to get the US Middle East policy back on track and regain its dominance in the Middle East. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Iranian nuclear issue will become the key topics in the US-Russia diplomatic rivalries in the Middle East, with Israel being a key factor dictating power politics. As a recent article in the US Foreign Affairs magazine pointed out, the US may fall into an inevitable conflict if the Biden administration does not adopt serious and frequent diplomatic measures to contain the power of Israel and Iran. The "shadow war" between Israel and Iran may turn into an open conflict at any time.
If you have an event you'd like to list on the site, submit it now!

Submit
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)  West Virginia's vaccine lottery for those who received a coronavirus shot will include prizes ranging from hunting rifles to $1 million.

Republican Gov. Jim Justice announced more details about the program on Tuesday. The first winners will be announced on June 20, which also marks West Virginia's birthday and Father's Day. It is also the date on which the statewide mask mandate will be lifted.
MADRID (AP)  The leader of a movement seeking independence from Morocco who is at the center of a diplomatic row flew out of Spain to Algeria, arriving in the middle of the night before being taken to an Algerian military hospital Wednesday.

Brahim Ghali was released from a hospital in northern Spain following more than six weeks of treatment after contracting COVID-19, according to a statement sent to The Associated Press by the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which is based in refugee camps in western Algeria.

Morocco has denounced Spain, a strategic partner, for allowing Ghali to secretly enter the country. Morocco considers Ghali, 71, to be a terrorist. Amid the dispute, thousands of migrants crossed the border from Morocco into Spain as Moroccan authorities appeared to relax border controls last month.

After Ghali's arrival in Algeria on Wednesday, he was taken to the Ain Naadja military hospital  and received a visit from Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and army chief of staff Said Chengriha, according to Algerian state news agency APS. Algerian state television showed images of the visit, with Ghali hooked up to an oxygen machine.

Ghali is the leader of the Polisario Front, an Algeria-backed pro-independence movement representing the local Sahrawi people of Africas mineral-rich Western Sahara, and of the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Morocco annexed the Western Sahara in the 1970s after Spains colonial administration ended. It considers the vast territory part and parcel of the Moroccan kingdom. The Polisario Front has long tried to end Moroccan rule over the region.

Ghali departed hours after testifying Tuesday via videoconference in a Spanish investigation into allegations against him of torture, genocide and other crimes. A Spanish magistrate ruled after Ghalis testimony that he should remain free while the investigation continues.

Ghali flew out of Pamplona airport.

Ghali thanked Algeria for its support, according to APS. The Algerian president praised Ghali for testifying in the Spanish investigation. You gave the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic the image of a state of law. It is in the nature of revolutionaries and militants to respect the law.

There was no official public reaction Wednesday from Morocco to Ghali's departure.

The representative in Algeria for the self-declared state said Ghali arrived in Algiers at 3 a.m. to continue his recovery. Abdelkader Taleb Omar said on Algerian radio that the expansionist Moroccan regime has bit the dust with a sharp diplomatic failure.

Ghali's presence in Spain infuriated Morocco and triggered a diplomatic crisis between the two countries, which have been cooperating in fighting terrorism, drug smuggling and migration into Europe.

In a stinging rebuke, Moroccan authorities also questioned publicly whether Spain could be trusted.

Spain, like most other Western countries, has urged a negotiated solution through the United Nations to the question of Western Sahara's future. But the issue became clouded last December when the U.S. Trump administration formally recognized Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara in return for Rabats normalization of ties with Israel.

Spanish government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said Wednesday she hoped Ghali's departure would help draw a line under the tensions with Morocco.

We have to let high diplomacy do its work, she told reporters.

But she also pushed back against Rabat's pressure.

Spain enjoys national sovereignty, so Spanish foreign policy is decided by its government, its parliament, and our decision-making on international issues cannot be subjected to any conditionality, she said.

Ghali checked into the Spanish hospital under a false identity after arriving by plane last month with an Algerian diplomatic passport and with the consent of the Spanish government, which said it acted on humanitarian grounds.

Rabat withdrew its ambassador to Madrid and said it wouldnt fill the position if Ghali left Spain under the same cloak of secrecy.
Jeremy Segrott // Flickr

PULLMAN, Wash. (AP)  Leaders of Washington State University have voted to establish a full research center with nearly 100 scientists working on a diverse range of cannabis-related projects.

The newly christened Center for Cannabis Policy, Research and Outreach was officially approved by the WSU Faculty Senate and Board of Regents in May.
A petition urging Google to allow its staff to use their chosen names on their identification badges  among other calls to improve workplace culture for contracted employees  is swiftly gaining traction after Phares Lee, a transgender man employed by G4S in a contracted security position for Google, said he asked to have his deadname removed from his own badge and was repeatedly denied.

Spearheaded by the Alphabet Workers Union on Tuesday, the petition titled Drop the Deadnames now has 700 signatures, many of which are from individuals employed by Google. (A deadname refers to the name a transgender individual was given at birth and is no longer the name they use upon transitioning. Sharing someone's deadname can be painful for that individual, as well as potentially out them as transgender to those who do not know.)

Ive been facing workplace issues that feel like discrimination to my gender identity, said Lee in a statement in the petition, adding that he also had to change his deadname to his chosen name in Moma, Googles intranet search engine, as well as Teams, only to find the change had been reversed by the company. But its not just about me as an individual.

Lee, who has worked at Googles data center in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, since 2018, told the Verge he was required by G4S  the security firm subcontracted by Google  to keep his deadname on his badge because it was his legal name, though he noticed there were other employees, both cis and transgender, whose badges did not reflect their legal names.

In his statement, Lee went on to disclose that his request to join one of Googles employee resource groups designed to support underrepresented communities within the company  particularly one made up of LGBTQIA+ employees and their allies  was likewise turned down because he is a subcontractor within the company rather than a full-time employee.

In response, the Alphabet Workers Union petition is asking Google and G4S to issue Lee a new badge with his real name in addition to creating a chosen name policy for all staff, including temporary, vendor and contract workers. The petition also implores both entities to allow temporary, vendor and contract workers to participate within employee resource groups when they are on or off the clock should they wish to do so.

A spokesperson for Google told SFGATE the company has upheld longstanding policies to allow for employees and members of its extended workforce to update their preferred name and pronouns for their badges. The spokesperson said members of its extended workforce are also welcome to take part in activities within employee resource groups, but must obtain prior approval from their employer first.

However, Lee told the Verge that when he asked G4S if he could join one of said groups, he was informed they were a privilege he was not entitled to under his current role. He noted the contracting company is allowed to establish its own policies that directly contradict [Googles] commitment to inclusion," and hopes the petition will ultimately result in a modification of those rules.

SFGATE also reached out to G4S for comment and did not hear back by time of publication.

Google and G4S need to make changes so that no one else has to go through what Ive had to, Lee said in the statement.
Disney Cruise Line is setting sail for an experimental cruise.

The two-night cruise, which is embarking for its mini-journey on June 29 from Port Canaveral, will be held on the Disney Dream and will only host volunteer Disney Cruise Line workers on board.

The cruise was approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and was described by Disney cruise executive Thomas Mazloum to be a critically important milestone for Disney cruises.

We have reached an important next step toward our gradual and responsible resumption of service, and are grateful for the productive dialogue with state, local and federal officials, the CDC and others in our industry that has made this possible, said Cynthia Martinez, a spokeswoman for Disney Cruise Line. We look forward to our amazing crew once again creating magic for our guests and to helping the many workers who support our industry get back to work.

The test cruise is a compromise to federal and Florida mandates, which provide competing guidance over permitting cruises to travel again.

The CDC requires crewmates and passengers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, but Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis prohibited businesses  including cruises  from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

Therefore, this mini-trip will serve to test the viability of the safety measures Disney Cruise Line has in place.

DeSantis is suing the federal agency over their cruise order, which required 98% of crewmates and 95% of passengers to be vaccinated.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ross D. Franklin/AP

PHOENIX (AP)  Retired Maj. Gen. Michael McGuire, the former head of the Arizona National Guard, has filed papers to run for the U.S. Senate, joining what's likely to be a crowded field of candidates seeking the Republican nomination.

McGuire, who retired earlier this year from the military and from his post as head of Arizona's emergency management agency, was a visible presence beside Gov. Doug Ducey during televised briefings during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Guard helped bolster supply chains and keep shelves stocked at grocery stores and foodbanks, distributed medical supplies to remote areas of the state and helped with vaccine distribution.
HARTFORD  State, local and Capitol Police on Tuesday were investigating at least three bullets that were fired into the state Capitol building over the weekend.

Three bullet holes, two in windows on the south side of the Capitol building and one in an exterior chandelier, were discovered at about 9:15 a.m., state Capitol Police reported. No one was injured.

Neither the state House of Representatives nor the state Senate was in session over the Memorial Day weekend, although many late nights of legislative business should start Tuesday and continue through the adjournment at 12:01 a.m. June 10.

The State Police Major Crime Squad was assisting local and state Capitol Police in the probe. Police used ladders to inspect exterior and interior sites, including the large bronze statue The Genius of Connecticut, which dominates the rotunda under the 257-foot tall Capitol dome.

By 11 a.m. Monday, law enforcement personnel were still searching the first floor of the Capitol for at least one spent bullet.

Another bullet was located within the glass chamber of the exterior chandelier. It is unclear whether there was video available of the incident, and state Capitol Police Tuesday night said the incident remained under investigation. By early Tuesday night, the possible time of the shooting, which was originally thought to be Monday night into Tuesday morning, was lengthened to between Friday night and Tuesday morning, Capitol Police said.

Shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday, Gov. Ned Lamont exited the building on his way to the north side for an anti-hate news conference, and was briefed about the bullets by Capitol Police Chief Luiz Casanova and an official from the State Police Major Crime Squad.

Missing details include the caliber of the bullets and whether the shooting incident was connected to other events.

Lamont, during a news conference on a new commission that will address hate and hate crimes, told reporters that he believed the shots fired was a random act. But he noted that the potential for violence is another part of the states challenges on fighting hate.

Were going to get to the bottom of it, Lamont said. They shot at a wall. They didnt shoot at something that we know of, at this point. Were here talking about hate crimes. Were talking about an uptick in violence, across the board, all across the country including Connecticut. You see it reflected in rhetoric. You see it reflected in random shootings, and you see it reflected in actual hate crimes, where they target people.

There were multiple shots fired incidents that happened over the weekend in Southington, and another incident  in which bullet holes were observed at a Cromwell church  that could be connected with those incidents, according to officials.

Brian Foley, assistant to the commissioner in the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, said state police are absolutely investigating whether the State Capitol incident is connected with the other weekend shootings.

While we cant confirm that, we havent been able to rule anything in or out at this point, Foley said. That is certainly something our major crimes detectives are looking into.

Foley said investigators will be looking for video and other evidence to see if there is a connection.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
Page Content

In the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, New York and New Jersey have adopted legislation to benefit airport workers. The Healthy Terminals Act in both states will boost wages and access to healthcare for airport workers working at the region's three major airportsNewark Liberty International, LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International. These three airports are owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a bistate agency which oversees regional transportation infrastructure.

On March 25, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed the Healthy Terminals Act, which among other things, provides that covered airport workers will be paid no less than the prevailing wage rate and a "standard benefits supplement rate" of at least $4.54 per hour towards the cost of "minimum essential coverage" under an employer-sponsored benefits plan.

The employer must also enroll each covered airport employee in an employer-sponsored health insurance plan. Beginning July 1, the commissioner may begin investigating violations of the law; effective immediately, however, the commissioner "may request documents or the preservation of documents relative to payroll and employee health plans to determine the applicable standards for full- and part-time work."

On April 29, New Jersey Gov. Philip D. Murphy signed the New Jersey version of the Healthy Terminals Act. New Jersey's law also seeks to ensure that airport workers will be paid no less than the prevailing wage. As Murphy stated when signing the legislation, "New York recently enacted a similar lawso taking this step on our side of the Hudson, is a matter of simple fairness." The New Jersey version of the law goes into effect on Sept. 1; thereafter, every covered airport or related located employer must pay a covered airport or related location worker the applicable prevailing wage for that worker. With respect to benefits, on Aug. 1, 2021, and each August 1 thereafter, the commissioner shall designate the supplemental benefits rate and paid leave requirements.

Covered Workers

The Healthy Terminals Act in both states is quite expansive in that it covers many individuals involved in airport operations. The laws for each state apply to covered airport workers who spend at least one-half of their workweek at a covered location. For example, in New York, a "covered airport worker" is defined as a person employed to perform work at JFK or LaGuardia, who provides cleaning services (including building, warehouse, terminal, aircraft, and cabin cleaning), security services, baggage handling, catering, and airport retail and lounge services.

In New York, employees are only covered if they worked an average of at least 30 hours per week as of Dec. 30, 2020. Notably absent from this is Jamaica Train Station, which houses both the Long Island Railroad and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's Airtrain service.

In New Jersey, a "covered airport worker or related location worker" means any person who performs work "at a covered airport or related location" or "performs work related to the preparation or delivery of food for consumption on airplanes departing from" Newark Liberty International Airport and the Newark Liberty International Train Station.

In contrast to New York's, New Jersey's law applies to workers at the nearby Newark Liberty International Train Station, which is home to New Jersey Transit and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's Airtrain service.

Certification Requirement and Penalties

New York has also adopted a certification requirement that requires covered employers to submit a sworn statement certifying the total number of workers employed at a covered airport location who perform cleaning and related services, security-related services, in-terminal and passenger handling services, airline catering, or airport lounge services, at a covered airport location on Dec. 30, 2020. Furthermore, the sworn certification must calculate 80 percent of the total number of the covered employees as of Dec. 30, 2020, which becomes a "benchmark" for that employer.

The sworn certification must contain a statement that affirms that the covered employer will ensure that the number of covered airport workers it employs at a covered airport location between July 1, 2021 and Dec. 31, 2022 will not fall below the benchmark. In contrast, New Jersey's law does not have a benchmark or certification requirement.

Both New York and New Jersey excluded "persons employed in an executive, administrative or professional capacity" as defined by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

Additionally, both acts provide for penalties against a non-compliant employer. In New York, if the commissioner finds that any employer has violated the law, "a civil penalty of not more than ten thousand dollars for the first such violation within six years, not more than twenty thousand dollars for a second violation within six years and not more than fifty thousand dollars for a third or subsequent violation within six years" may be assessed.

In New Jersey, "the commissioner is authorized to assess and collect administrative penalties, up to a maximum of $250 for a first violation and up to a maximum of $500 for each subsequent violation, specified in a schedule of penalties to be promulgated as a rule or regulation by the commissioner."

Differences Between the Two Laws

While the overall purpose of the law for each state is similar, there are some noteworthy differences. In New York, the industrial commissioner is vested with the authority to bring any legal action, including an administrative action, on behalf of employees who are not paid proper wages. In New Jersey, however, employees have the right to recover in a civil action the full amount of the prevailing wage for building services and covered airport or related location workers less any amount actually paid to the worker by the employer together with any fees.

The document preservation requirements in each state are also different. In New York, pay records must be maintained for at least six years from the date of payment, while New Jersey only requires records be kept for two years from the date of payment.

With respect to investigations, in New Jersey the commissioner appears to possess sole authority and discretion to launch an investigation "and ascertain the wages of any employees of a contractor or subcontractor furnishing building services for any property or premises owned or leased by the state, or of any covered airport or related location workers." However, in New York, the commissioner may investigate "[u]pon a showing by an employee organization." Thus, New York has seemingly granted unions broad power to seek support from the state whenever it believes there is any wrongdoing by an employer.

Looking Ahead

Given the purview of the Healthy Terminals Act in both New York and New Jersey, employers with airport operations must understand how these laws will affect them. Employers should continue to monitor any supporting regulations that are released to provide further guidance on each state's law.

Eli Freedberg is an attorney with Littler Mendelson in New York City. David Ostern is an attorney with Littler Mendelson in Newark, N.J.  2021 Littler Mendelson. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.
Its almost time for the return of the annual Sunrise Festival in Sidney. The festival is sl
Burglary, Shots Fired Complaint Leads to Arrest

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MCCRACKEN COUNTY - A man was arrested in Paducah Tuesday after a shot was reportedly fired at a home on Olivet Church Road.The resident of the home told police they had purchased an item from 24-year-old Lyndon Phillips earlier in the day. Phillips reportedly showed up later and attempted to get the item back. There was an argument, and Phillips attempted to strike the victim with a handgun, then allegedly shot at the victim and fled.Deputies said they located a bullet hole and an expended bullet inside the home.A deputy saw Phillips driving on Alben Barkley Drive. Police pursued Phillips to a parking lot on Jefferson Street where he was arrested after a foot chase. Officers said a loaded handgun was found in his waistband.Phillips was charged with first-degree wanton endangerment, first-degree burglary, first-degree criminal mischief, first-degree fleeing or evading (motor vehicle), first-degree fleeing or evading (on foot), second-degree wanton endangerment, resisting arrest, reckless driving, and disregarding traffic control devices.He was lodged in the McCracken County Jail.
Singh, in a news report, said, the Republic of Dominica may allow Choksi to be deported to India rather than let the case be decided through a time-consuming extradition process.

New Delhi: Mehul Choksi, among prime accused in the Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, could soon land in an Indian jail. That, if former CBI director AP Singh is to be believed.

Singh said "It is possible for Dominica to deport Mehul Choksi to India as he has no legal rights in Dominica. But he alleged before the court that he was kidnapped and brought to a third country (Dominica) against his will. Now the court will decide his deportation."

According to him the deportation is an easier process than extradition.

"If a criminal or a wanted fugitive is living in a country where they have legal status as a citizen, only an extradition process is left... For deportation, if someone enters a third country illegally and is caught, the country concerned must deport to India. The CBI has many deportation experiences under Interpol's Red Corner notices," the ex-CBI director told ANI.

He also said it was not necessary to enter into a treaty with a country for deportation or extradition of criminals/fugitives, stating that there has been many deportations from a third-party country based on Interpol's Red Corner notices.

Mehul Choksi had allegedly attempted escaping Antigua, where he had been living since 2018. Interpol had issued the Red Notice against Choksi in December 2018.

According to Choksi's lawyers, the jeweller had not fled Antigua but was forcibly abducted and allegedly beaten up and taken to Dominica. According to former CBI director Singh, "If the Dominica court finds that Choksi was kidnapped and forcibly taken to Dominica, he would be deported to Antigua as his country of origin."

Antigua News Room, a news agency, cited sources close to Mehul Choksi as saying that he was tortured.

Choksi, is a key accused in the Rs 13,000 crore Punjab and National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case and is wanted in India on bank fraud charges, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and money laundering. He acquired Antigua and Barbuda citizenship through the Citizenship by Investment Program in 2017 and had been living in Antigua since 2018. The jeweller is opposing court action to revoke his Antiguan citizenship and have him extradited to India

Choksi's lawyers have approached Dominica's Supreme Court in the case pertaining to deporting him to India. The court has put a stay on his movement out of Dominica and is set to hear the matter today, June 2.

India has to present a tough case for against Mehul Choksi in the Dominica Court. India to present relevant papers and evidence in court as per the practices of the agencies.

Former CBI director Singh, when asked if a team from India has sent Dominica for a court hearing, he cited reports in local media. "I have seen in the media that India has sent a team of officials who will present the case papers and evidence in the court. They will have to present the documents in the court through a lawyer and the local embassy will assist them, as per protocol," Singh said.

Meanwhile, Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne had earlier also told the news-agency that Dominica has agreed Choksi's repatriation and Antigua will not accept him back.

With inputs from ANI
Epson, global technology leader has bagged the Prime Minister's Prize for inventing a high-brightness, high-image-quality projector using laser light source.

On June 1, Seiko Epson Corporation (Epson) announced that, "The Invention of a High-Brightness, High-Image-Quality Projector using Monochromatic Laser Light Source (Japanese Patent No. 5928569)" has received the Prime Minister's Prize at the National Commendation for Invention 2021 (sponsored by the Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation). This is the second time that Epson has received this prize since 1974, when Epson received this prize for Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 957711 for "The Invention of a Device for Correcting the Date and Day of the Week of a Calendar Watch."

A ceremony will be held on June 22 at The Okura Tokyo, Minato Ward, Tokyo.

The National Commendation for Invention are awarded by the Japanese Imperial Family and are intended to contribute to the improvement of science and technology and the development of industry by honouring those who have completed or implemented inventions in Japan and those who have contributed to the promotion of inventions. The winner of the best invention or design receives the Imperial Invention Prize, followed by the Prime Minister's Prize.

The Prime Minister's prize has been awarded to Takashi Toyooka and Makoto Zakoji, Visual Products Division, Epson. The Invention Implementation Achievement Award has been rewarded to Yasunori Ogawa, President and Representative Director, Chief Executive Officer, Epson.

"It's a great honor for us to have created a projector with high brightness and high image quality using this invention and other technologies, and to have been able to contribute to the development of new image expressions such as projection mapping and digital art. We believe this prize is recognition for the image technology developed by Epson through the effort of our many colleagues. We will continue to pursue value from large-screen images and the beauty of light, and we will continue to develop technology that enriches communities." says Toyooka.

Zakoji expressed "It's a great honor to receive the Prime Minister's Prize. Creating a laser projector that includes the present invention meant we had to build a new product from the bottom up, from basic development through to the commercialization stages. It was tough overcoming some of the issues, but I think this prize acknowledges that laser projectors have now become more widespread worldwide. I'm delighted that the hard work of all our colleagues have been recognized in this way. We will continue to work to develop technology that will help bring projectors closer to people and make them more user-friendly."

In comparison with lamp light source models, laser projectors have higher brightness, longer operating life, and smaller size, thus reducing environmental impact. Illumination is instantaneous, and they can project from various angles so there are no restrictions on the installation angle meaning they are handy for projecting on the ceiling or floor. However, the use of this technology makes it easy to digitally adjust the brightness of the projected image, making it very convenient for various environments.

Projectors using this technology are used for fantastic spatial design with vivid projection images at MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM: EPSON teamLab Borderless (Koto Ward, Tokyo). They also contribute to arts and culture, as a tool for creating new image expressions.
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!
I-24 Business Loop Still Closed Today After Fire

By West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - The I-24 Downtown Business Loop along South Third Street in Paducah will remain closed until this afternoon following a large fire Monday at Precision Machine Shop.The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet said the road has been barricaded between Husbands Street and Elizabeth Street at the request of Paducah police and fire officials. They said a brick wall that is part of the damaged building could pose a threat to traffic.A crew is bringing demolition equipment to the site and will start work this morning to remove the hazard.
Rex Airlines plans to add four more jet aircraft to its fleet by September in a faster than anticipated ramp-up of its capital city challenge to Qantas and Virgin.

The country airline on Wednesday also called on its larger rivals to match its policy of giving full refunds to any passenger whose travel plans are disrupted by COVID-19 outbreaks, saying concerns about cancellations are holding back the tourism industrys recovery.

Rex launched Melbourne-Sydney jet services in March. Credit:Sam DAgostino

One of the problems we have at the moment is that people still dont necessarily have confidence to travel because they may not necessarily get their money back if they can't travel, Rex deputy chairman John Sharp said.

Rex stepped up its war of words with Qantas on Wednesday by publishing full-page newspaper advertisements highlighting complaints from customers on social media about obtaining refunds from the countrys biggest airline.
Federal Liberal Senator Paul Scarr has launched a scathing attack on the corporate regulator, accusing it of failing to adequately police short selling ambush attacks by certain groups of activist investors on ASX-listed companies.

One day after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission released new advice for how short-selling campaigns should be conducted on the ASX, Mr Scarr used a parliamentary committee hearing to criticise the regulators approach as underwhelming.

Youve released an info sheet and Ive got to tell you from my perspective that its pretty underwhelming, Mr Scarr said. What is ASIC doing to enforce Australian law against short sellers who are totally oblivious to any concern, who totally disregard the suggestions you provide in the information sheet in relation to engagement with companies and not using inflammatory language?

ASIC chiar Joe Longo at his first government committee hearing. This time at Senate Estimates. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

ASICs new non-binding advice released this week asks short sellers and other research groups to release their reports outside of trading hours and to fact-check their theses with target companies before releasing the information. The regulator is also asking short-sellers to avoid using emotive language.
Dozens of maths professors and teachers have warned a draft plan to fix the unambitious national maths curriculum will make it worse, devaluing basics such as times tables and introducing vague, untested fads.

In an open letter to the national curriculum authority, the mathematicians point out ambiguity, shallowness - there is no mention of key algebraic terms - and errors in the draft, such as asking students to investigate Fibonacci patterns in shells, which simply do not exist.

Sam Rogers, age 9, from St Charles Catholic Primary School in Waverley, is tutored in maths by Fay Ligonis from Super Kids Tutoring. Credit:Wolter Peeters

The letter has inflamed disagreement between mathematicians, who say the proposed changes to the curriculum are confused and confusing, and some teachers groups, who argue they will help students apply maths skills to their real lives.

Australian results in maths have declined further than any country but Finland since the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) began global tests in 2003. They are three years behind the top performer Singapore.
Flights between Victoria and New Zealand have been cancelled for another six days.

New Zealand COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins on Thursday said the government is being cautious and the decision will be reviewed on June 9.

Im aware that this comes as a further disruption for people who have been stuck in Australia, whose travel has already been disrupted, he said. It isnt a decision we take lightly but obviously the fact that the government there have extended their lockdown restrictions means that we need to extend our travel pause.

Mr Hipkins has outlined the plan for Kiwis in Victoria to be able to return home. Credit:Getty Images

Mr Hipkins said preparations have begun to allow green zone flights, or quarantine-free travel, for some travellers from Melbourne to New Zealand from Wednesday.

Passengers will be limited to New Zealand citizens and residents, people in Australia who normally reside in New Zealand and some critical workers. They will be required to have a negative pre-departure COVID-19 test result in the 72 hours before they fly.

That recognises that they have effectively been in isolation for 14 days, by next Wednesday, which is the time they would spend in managed isolation if they had come to New Zealand under the arrangements that we had before the trans-Tasman bubble was operating, Mr Hipkins said.

I acknowledge its a further inconvenience [that] they have to stay a little bit longer.

But we are making preparations to allow them to start coming home.

He said the New Zealand government was working with the Victorian government to ensure people would not be restricted from travelling for their pre-departure test or to the airport, even if the states own restrictions remain in place.

Anyone presently in another Australian state who was in Victoria up to May 25, or is in Victoria but hasnt been in the Greater Melbourne area during lockdown, can fly to New Zealand from another state. They are required to return a negative pre-departure test result 72 hours before boarding.

People who have been at venues of concern identified in Victoria and NSW are prevented from travelling to New Zealand within 14 days of their potential exposure to COVID-19.
Man Pleads Guilty to 25 Animal Cruelty Charges

By West Kentucky Star Staff





PADUCAH - A McCracken County man will serve jail time for 25 counts of animal cruelty.According to McCracken County Circuit Court records, 62-year-old David Howery appeared in court on Tuesday. He plead guilty to 25 counts of second-degree cruelty to animals. The judge sentenced him to 1 year in jail, with credit for 34 days already served.Howery was arrested on April 28 after McCracken County deputies received a tip alleging that he was hoarding and neglecting numerous animals. While serving him with an Adair County warrant from a previous animal cruelty conviction, detectives found approximately 100 animals on his property that were living in poor conditions.On the Net:
Its less than a week until the ALPs fundraisers leap into action for the Federal Labor Business Exchange - expected to be one of the partys biggest money spinners of the year.

Officially, the event brings in Anthony Albanese and Labors federal frontbench for two days of addresses, presentations, and quiet catch-ups with heavyweight corporates and executives whose votes - and financial support - the party is hoping to secure. Unofficially, the event functions as a political speed dating event for Labor MPs keen to spruik their platform and for big business keen to probe the partys policies.

Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese holds a 400 troy ounce gold bar during the minerals week luncheon at the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra on Wednesday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

But an invitation sent out in the past week has raised some eyebrows. Big Four consultancy PwC is hosting the event at its offices in Sydneys Barangaroo in a massive break with tradition. After all, the party usually holds the intensely political bash in a neutral space such as function centre Doltone House on Sydneys waterfront.

Could the venue change be a sign the consultancy now headed by Tom Seymour is pinning its political colours to the mast now that we seem to be in striking distance of a federal election? Certainly thats what some attendees murmured aloud on Tuesday.
The judge overseeing the defamation action brought by Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith over war crimes allegations said he was inclined not to allow live streaming of the trial to prevent the inadvertent disclosure of national security information.

Justice Anthony Besanko told parties to the trial, which is due to commence in the Federal Court on Monday, that he was concerned sensitive material could find its way into the public domain if it was live streamed, even though the Commonwealth had indicated it was not opposed and the parties are in favour of live streaming.

But that risk seems to me to be one that needs to be taken into account, Justice Besanko said.

Mr Roberts-Smith, a decorated war veteran, is suing The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Canberra Times and three journalists over a series of articles about his 2009 to 2012 tour of Afghanistan that he says portrayed him as a murderer, war criminal and perpetrator of domestic violence. The publications are relying on a truth defence.
The NSW governments upcoming budget deficit would be $2.7 billion worse than forecast  or almost 50 per cent bigger than expected  without a controversial rail entity propping it up, with a further $1.3 billion benefit the following year.

A confidential Treasury document from February also warns that any attempt to abolish the Transport Asset Holding Entity (TAHE) would create a massive $14.6 billion hole in the budget over the next 10 years.

Dissolution puts pressure on funding and is high risk to deliver, the document states.

About $40 billion of rail assets including trains are owned by the governments Transport Asset Holding Entity. Credit:Kate Geraghty

The Treasury document reveals the entity would deliver a benefit of up to $10 billion to the budget in the four years to 2023-24, which includes a $2.7 billion boost in the 2021-22 financial year, and a $1.3 billion benefit the year after. In November, the government forecast a deficit for 2021-22 of $5.8 billion.
A Sydney father who claimed his daughter was a victim of reverse racism at an eastern suburbs private school has had his complaint thrown out by an administrative tribunal.

The man lodged his case with the Anti-Discrimination Board in September after at least two students, including his daughter, were suspended for seven days for smoking marijuana.

St Catherines School at Waverley. Credit:Dallas Kilponen

He claimed his white daughter was interviewed in a bullying manner and treated less favourably than another student who was Aboriginal, had marijuana in her possession and a track record.

The man alleged his daughter was singled out based on her race to avoid any potential criticism of the school for targeting a student of Aboriginal descent.
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on June 4, 1961

Sweeping last-minute security checks have made Vienna a city of tension on the eve of todays Big Two meeting.

Khrushchev and JFK at their first meeting in Vienna in 1961. Credit:Sydney Morning Herald

Detection squads already have combed the city four times for hidden bombs. Teams of police dogs are supplementing the strong security guards around the U.S. and Russian Embassies.

Police helicopters are droning constantly overhead. More than 8,000 Austrian police have been specially mobilised to ensure the safety of the U.S. and Soviet leaders. President Kennedy arrived in Vienna by air from Paris today, two hours before his talks with Mr Khrushchev were due to begin.
Sir Paul in defence of youths folly

In his first official speech at a State dinner in Sydney, the Governor-General, Sir Paul Hasluck, described the generation gap as a rather silly phrase, although elders were remote from youth. Recalling we ourselves were once young, and the follies of our youth, todays follies of youth are mild compared with them, he said. What the youth of today do and say sound like deeds and words of wisdom compared with what we did and said.

Cinemas, hotel for Troc site

A $20m redevelopment scheme for George Street, including the Trocadero site, was approved, to include five cinemas, a 600-room hotel, two convention halls, shops, restaurant and a swimming pool. The project will stand 475 feet above George Street, with five basements and 45 floors, covering about an acre running from 505-523 George Street, back to 496-502 Kent Street. Sixteen major buildings in the inner city area were also approved.

Czech leadership yields to Moscow
People with cognitive impairments including intellectual disabilities will continue to have access to qualified legal advocates during the court process after the NSW government provided an eleventh-hour funding extension.

The government on Thursday announced a $20 million four-year funding extension for the Justice Advocacy Service (JAS), a program that helps people with cognitive disabilities navigate the criminal justice system.

Nancy Serhan, who has cognitive disabilities, says assistance from JAS helped give her a second chance. Credit:Janie Barrett

The support package, funded in this months state budget, also includes a new $8 million four-year court-based diversion program providing treatment and support for cognitively impaired defendants accused of low-level offences. It will be run at the Downing Centre and Parramatta, Blacktown, Penrith, Gosford and Lismore Local Courts.

The JAS, run by the Intellectual Disability Rights Service (IDRS), supports victims, witnesses, suspects and defendants by providing an advocate to help them exercise their rights and understand whats happening.
A body-building male model is among three alleged senior Finks bikies accused of extorting an innocent shopkeeper in Sydneys north-west.

Eamon Mulgrew, 25, was arrested in Chatswood on Wednesday along with Brent Mccaffery, 26, in North Richmond and Mitchell McPhail, 29, in North St Marys for the alleged intimidation of the 45-year-old.

Eamon Mulgrew, pictured as a contestant in the 2018 Manhunt Australia male model search, is now allegedly a senior Finks bikie in Sydney. Credit:Manhunt/Facebook

Police allege earlier this year a bikie from Riverstone was loaned $11,500 by the local pawnbroker in exchange for jewellery, a motorcycle and boat.

On April 28, it is alleged three Finks bikies went to the lawful pawnbroking business in Riverstone and demanded the shopkeeper give them the items, but he refused.
Plans for a sporting complex half-funded by a controversial NSW government grants program pose several structural, security and access risks to a critical part of Sydneys water supply.

Hornsby Shire Council, in the citys north, has been accused by Sydney Water officials of being pushy, misrepresenting facts and trying to exert political pressure over a proposed road extension through the secure and secluded Thornleigh Reservoir to funnel traffic to and from the new Westleigh Park sporting grounds.

An aerial view of Thornleigh Reservoir, which Sydney Water says could be put at risk by plans for a nearby sporting precinct. Credit:Rhett Wyman

Half of the money for the $80 million project came from the $252 million tied-grants round of the NSW governments Stronger Communities Fund, which an upper house inquiry found was used as a pork-barrelling scheme after 95 per cent went to Coalition seats in the lead-up to the 2019 state election.

The council released its master plan in April for the long-awaited recreation precinct on the former Sydney Water Board land, which included plans to extend Sefton Road  currently a cul-de-sac  through Sydney Water land, saying it had an in principle agreement from the authority.
Loading But his claim that the virus, if left unmitigated, would reproduce at an average of five cases for every new infection, is not supported by analysis prepared by Professor McCaw and others for the committee. Professor McCaw said the reproduction rate of the current outbreak peaked at just above 2  before Victorias outbreak response began  and was now hovering just below 1. Professor McCaw said the most alarming aspect of this outbreak was not the behaviour of the virus but the fact it had circulated undetected for weeks. He supported the decision to extend the lockdown to ensure every infected person was quarantined and not able to seed new chains of transmission. The people who say this virus is spreading in new ways, and we should all be terrified are unhelpful, he said. To the people who say we are overreacting I say, No, we are on a knife edge. Because it is so hard to predict this could easily get out of control and the current response is absolutely required.

Professor McCaw said regular surveys taken by the committee showed Victorians had dramatically reduced their movements since the start of lockdown and were following the rules on face masks, social distancing and other containment strategies. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video The bigger picture is we are doing incredibly well at halting the transmission of a virus which spreads very easily, Professor McCaw said. The data reflects an excellent response. Professor Sutton said on Tuesday that it appeared that a person had become infected with the virus after eating at a different table but in the same outdoor space as another infected person at a Brighton pub and that it was suspected that a person contracted COVID-19 after moving into the same indoor, public space an infected person had left two hours earlier. Based on this advice, a statement released by Mr Merlino warned that cases will explode if the virus was allowed to run. Just walking past someone youve never met can mean the virus is jumping to a whole new network, he said.

Deakin University epidemiologist Catherine Bennett said many of the fleeting transmissions described by the government  cases inside a South Melbourne Telstra shop, a Port Melbourne cafe and a Mickleham display home  most probably involved people sharing a confined space for a considerable amount of time. If you are standing in a queue inside a coffee shop, for five minutes only, maybe with a couple of infectious people, of course you are at risk of being infected, she said. When you walk into Telstra, even if you are trying to ask a quick question, you are there for ages. There is no story here. Professor Bennett said the bigger story was that the virus, which has been genomically traced to a man who checked out of a quarantine hotel in Adelaide on May 4, had been in the community for four weeks and not produced an exponential growth in cases. Six new cases were announced on Wednesday and a further later case was revealed when a second resident of the Arcare aged care home in Maidstone tested positive despite having had a dose of the Pfizer vaccine. The outbreak now stands at 61.

Loading Professor Bennett said the fact Victoria had conducted as many as 50,000 tests a day but found so few cases, with only one person in hospital, suggested there were unlikely to be large numbers of undetected infections in the community. We are being locked down because of their fear that they dont know what they dont know and there could be more out there that they do know. That is never grounds for a lockdown, not even for continuing one. One of the COVID-positive people the government believes caught the virus via fleeting transmission  the woman who tested positive after visiting a display home  was revealed on Wednesday to have since returned a negative test result. The Health Department said her case would be looked at by an expert review panel.

The Kappa variant is the new World Health Organisation name given to the B.1.617.1 variant first detected in India. Evidence suggests it is no more contagious  and probably less so  than the variant that fuelled the British epidemic and forced Victoria into a five-day lockdown in February. When Premier Daniel Andrews announced the February lockdown, he described the variant as a hyper-infectious virus that moved at light speed. This is not the 2020 virus, he said. This is something very, very different. Victorian health authorities became alarmed at the start of the latest outbreak when early data suggested the Kappa variant had a dramatically shortened serial interval  the average time between a case showing symptoms and a case they infect showing symptoms  compared with other variants. This supported the notion that the virus was faster moving. Kirby Institute virologist Greg Dore and James Wood, a virus researcher at the University of NSW, believe this was a false reading created by Victorias success in tracking the virus and isolating positive cases. As cases, including asymptomatic ones, were detected by the intensive testing campaign and put into quarantine, the average time between cases became skewed.

There is a bias created by doing a good job, Associate Professor Wood said. Professor McCaw agreed: We have seen comments about the serial interval of this virus being shorter. There is no evidence that is the case at all. Transmission of COVID-19 between people who have only brief contact with one another is less likely than transmission between family members and workmates but not unprecedented. NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant cited the spread of the virus between two people at a BWS bottle shop during Sydneys outbreak late last year as an example. We have captured the moment of exactly the point of transmission and it was actually very fleeting, Dr Chant said. She said that although the variant appeared to be a more transmissible strain in general, it was also unpredictable.

Loading The fickle nature of Melbourne outbreak is demonstrated by the first known case, the returned traveller who quarantined in Adelaide. He brought the virus into Melbourne but did not pass it on to the people he lives with or works with. Contact tracers are yet to establish any link between the man, who returned to Melbourne on May 4, and the next positive case confirmed on May 24. ANU infectious diseases expert Peter Collignon, a member of the federal governments Infection Control Expert Group, told 3AWs Neil Mitchell that the current outbreak was not behaving significantly differently from any we have experienced before. He said that with more than 4000 primary contacts, you would expect between 1 and 2 per cent of people to get infected, resulting in between 40 and 80 cases.
Officer-Involved Shooting Injures Robbery Suspect

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MT. VERNON - Illinois State Police are investigating an officer-involved shooting in Mt. Vernon.Troopers were called Wednesday after an early-morning incident at a gas station on South 10th Street. Preliminary investigation indicates Mt. Vernon Police responded to a reported armed robbery, and an officer spotted a man who matched the description of the suspect. As the officer approached, the man fled on foot and the two exchanged gunfire.The suspect, identified as 55-year-old Fredrick Goss of Mt. Vernon, was struck by a bullet, and was taken to a local hospital for treatment of what were called non-life-threatening injuries.The officer was not injured, and the suspect's weapon was reportedly recovered at the scene along with other evidence from the robbery.
A federal government scheme set up to ensure aged care employees did not work in more than one facility after Victorias deadly second coronavirus wave has paid grants to just 33 aged care operators.

The funding was established after last years aged care COVID-19 outbreak, in which 655 people died. Much of the spread in nursing homes was caused by low-paid casual employees working second or third jobs to supplement their wages.

The Arcare aged care home in Maidstone, where a second resident has tested positive. Credit:Eddie Jim

But federal data obtained by The Age shows only 33 grants have been paid to aged care companies that operate about 90 of the states 600 Commonwealth-regulated homes. The total amount paid was $12.5 million, a figure described by one prominent sector expert as very, very small.

The news comes as a second resident of the Arcare aged care facility in Maidstone tested positive to coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing to five the number of cases linked to aged care in Victorias latest outbreak.
ABC management will be recalled before a parliamentary committee to face questions about the settlement of the defamation case brought by Industry Minister Christian Porter, and could be forced to outline the cost paid to settle the case.

ABC managing director David Anderson will also be questioned about which party initiated the settlement and why the broadcaster agreed to do so.

ABC managing director David Anderson will be recalled to face more questions following the settlement of the defamation launched by Industry Minister Christian Porter against the broadcaster. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Industry Minister Christian Porter on Monday dropped his defamation action against the ABC over its reporting of a historical rape allegation against him, but the settlement deal was followed by an exchange of barbs between the parties as they disputed the details. Mr Porter has always strenuously denied the allegations.

No date has been set for the hearing, but it is expected to occur next week.
Defence has confirmed for the first time it is looking at alternatives for submarines if the troubled $90 billion deal with French company Naval Group does not go ahead.

Department secretary Greg Moriarty told a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday he had been thinking about the issue over the past 12 months although he stressed the government wanted to go ahead with the existing contract.

Defence secretary Greg Moriarty has confirmed Australia is considering alternatives submarines as prudent contingency planning. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The government selected DCNS, now Naval Group, in 2016 to build Australias new attack-class submarines to replace its ageing Collins class fleet.

Since then, there have been tensions in the relationship over cost and timeline blowouts and disagreements over the commitments to meet local contract requirements.
Some of the federal governments fiercest China critics have slammed Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese for using a speech to the mining sector to accuse Prime Minister Scott Morrison of deliberately agitating Beijing for his own domestic political gain.

Mr Albaneses Minerals Week address on Wednesday highlighted comments made last month by Defence Minister Peter Dutton and Home Affairs department secretary Mike Pezzullo, claiming they inflamed nationalistic sentiment by canvassing the prospect of war with China.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese during the Minerals Week luncheon at the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Mr Dutton used question time to lash Mr Albanese for his comments, declaring they were not in the national interest.

At a time when our partners are coming together, at a time when our partners understand the intelligence and the threats within our region, the Leader of the Opposition is out there seeking to undermine the position of this country, Mr Dutton said.
Asylum seekers held in limbo in Australia after seeking medical treatment away from offshore detention could be sent to New Zealand within months, after Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews confirmed she is negotiating a resettlement deal.

Almost 200 people were transferred from Manus Island and Nauru while the contentious medevac legislation was in place between February and December 2019, with another 1200 in some form of detention or on final departure bridging visas in Australia. About 80 people are still on Nauru and 91 in Papua New Guinea.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews has spoken about New Zealands offer to take asylum-seekers. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Ms Andrews confirmed for the first time on Wednesday she was working with her New Zealand counterparts to resettle asylum seekers who had been medically evacuated to Australia.

Were doing all that we can to work through resettlement options for them, Ms Andrews told Brisbane radio 4BC. We clearly want to do that as soon as we possibly can.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will warn against the use of carbon tariffs to force action on climate change at a global summit that will also confront security concerns over the rise of China.

Mr Morrison will head to the G7 meeting at the end of next week with a promise to take Australia towards net zero carbon emissions but a strong objection to trade measures that try to punish countries for not having ambitious targets.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will address climate tariffs when he goes to the G7 in Cornwall. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The host of the summit, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has called for ambitious pledges when G7 leaders and others meet in Cornwall on June 11, hoping to build momentum for the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow in November.

Mr Morrison will hold his first face-to-face meeting with United States President Joe Biden at the summit, which has been dubbed the G7 plus because it includes seven major economies as well as other leaders.
The new chair of the peak body for Australian universities says the federal government does not fully appreciate the financial stress facing the sector, which was being unfairly criticised for its reliance on Chinese international students.

Professor John Dewar, chairman of Universities Australia and vice-chancellor of La Trobe University, said the financial surpluses posted by some universities for 2020 should not be interpreted as a sign the sector had weathered the COVID-19 storm.

The pandemic has exposed universities reliance on international students, who contributed $10 billion to their collective operating revenues in 2019, before the pandemic hit. Credit:Andrew Quilty

I dont think the government appreciates just how tough things are in the sector. While its true that some universities have produced surpluses, many have not, said Professor Dewar, who took the reins of the peak body in May.

Next year [Universities Australia] is forecasting a further $2 billion loss of revenue, which a lot of universities will only be able to manage by making quite severe savings in their organisations, because they wont be able to repeat the one-off measures that they took last year. So I dont think things are as rosy as the [Education] Minister might think.
Were just hoping and working hard to get through it. We dont have anything to hold our hand and we dont know what will happen tomorrow. Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg spoke with his state counterpart Tim Pallas on Wednesday, with the latter confirming the Commonwealth had indicated it would be prepared to consider extra financial support for locked-down Victorians. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Senior federal government sources have told The Age one of the options being considered is a one-off payment akin to the emergency and disaster recovery fund. There would not be a payment specific to Victoria after Mr Pallas asked Canberra on Sunday to match the $250 million state package. While Mr Pallas has argued for a wage subsidy like the JobKeeper payment, which stopped at the end of March after running for a year at a cost of about $90 billion, federal sources have insisted this is off the agenda.

Eligibility for JobKeeper was determined by the fall in turnover at a company over a period of months, raising questions about whether it could be set up for a period of a few weeks. The federal position is the assistance will have to be available to people in other states in the event of any future lockdown. There is concern a substantial targeted package to Victoria will create incentives for longer restrictions. Mr Pallas, who blasted the Commonwealth on Sunday, softened his language by Wednesday evening following his discussions with the Federal Treasurer. [The meeting] went better than the last few weve had and theres a general recognition the problems the state is confronting are substantial and the state government is making a substantial contribution, Mr Pallas told ABC Radio Melbourne.

I just reminded the Federal Treasurer Victoria has done most of the heavy lifting  its not Victorias fault were dealing with the leakage out of hotel quarantine in South Australia. Loading Prime Minister Scott Morrison was due to discuss options on Wednesday night with acting Premier James Merlino, who reiterated his pleas for federal support and said if the Commonwealth refused to provide further assistance he would raise it at a national cabinet meeting on Friday. A lot of Victorians, a lot of Victorian businesses are doing it tough right now, and it is our clear expectation that the federal government will provide them the support that they deserve, Mr Merlino said. They need support and the support we are providing is bigger and broader than the support we provided in the February lockdown, but we need the federal government to deliver on what they are responsible for, and that is around wage subsidy.

Mr Morrison told Parliament decisions on lockdowns were solely and totally the responsibility of the states, which had jealously guarded their powers during the coronavirus pandemic. While he made no criticism of the Victorian government for imposing the lockdown, he emphasised the responsibility of each state to look after its communities if it had to resort to widespread restrictions. Mr Frydenberg said Victorians had been subject to 140 days of lockdown, compared to the average of only six days for other states, and the incredible contrast also meant some students in Victoria had not been to school for 21 weeks since the pandemic began, compared with 29 days absent for students in NSW. This has been a terrible time in Victoria over the course of this pandemic, Mr Frydenberg said.

So I will listen to Tim Pallas, the Prime Minister will speak to James Merlino, and our officials will talk, and we will consider what they say. Loading The tensions over the lockdown contrast with progress between the federal and state governments over quarantine facilities, with Mr Morrison strongly backing Mr Merlinos plan for a dedicated centre outside Melbourne and negotiations said to be very close to a resolution. The federal government is pushing the Victorian government to build the facility faster than planned, so it is running as soon as possible next year, and favours Avalon as the site rather than Mickleham. Restaurant and Catering Industry Association chief executive Wes Lambert said the decision to extend Melbournes lockdown would be a blow to the accommodation and food industry, which stood to lose about $1 billion in revenue over two weeks.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has suggested the tourist hotspots of Busselton and Exmouth could make good locations for purpose-built quarantine facilities.

Mr McGowans comments came a day after the state recorded a hotel quarantine transmission case at the Pan Pacific in Perth as debate at a state and federal level continues to go around in circles on quarantine responsibility.

Australians arrive at RAAF Base Learmonth in WA on a Qantas flight from China on February 4 last year. Credit:Australian Defence Force

The Premier reiterated his preference for the federal government to use its facilities at Christmas Island or RAAF bases in Derby and Exmouth for quarantining.

Mr McGowan also suggested purpose-built facilities could also be constructed in Busselton or elsewhere in Exmouth, since both had airports with international flight capabilities.
London: A terminal at Londons Heathrow Airport that was closed because of the coronavirus pandemic reopened to serve passengers arriving from high-risk countries  an action that critics said was long overdue.

Britain has barred travellers from a red list of 43 coronavirus hotspots including India, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa, fearing they could bring in worrisome virus variants. British citizens and residents who return from those countries face a mandatory 10-day supervised quarantine in a government-approved hotel.

An airline passenger walks through an underpass between terminal buildings at Heathrow Airport on in London, England. Credit:Getty

Critics, however, have complained that red list passengers have been using the same airport arrivals hall as thousands of travellers from other destinations, though in separate lines, since hotel quarantines were introduced in February. Some arriving passengers have described hours-long waits at Heathrows passport control in crowded conditions.

Starting on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST), red list arrivals will pass through the airports Terminal 3, which was closed in April 2020 as international air travel plummeted, leaving Heathrow  previously Europes busiest airport  largely empty.
Calloway County Escapee Caught in Tennessee

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MAYFIELD - Kentucky State Police say a man who walked away from a work release program is back in custody.On Monday, State Troopers asked for the public's help locating 39-year-old Brian Ferryman, who left his work release program at a candle factory in Mayfield that morning. He was serving a sentence in the Calloway County Jail for auto theft and receiving stolen property.Police said Tuesday evening that Ferryman had been found and taken into custody in Newbern, Tennessee. He will be extradited to Kentucky to face charges.
Wirtz, VA (24184)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 86F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds light and variable.
PHILIPSBURG:--- As of June 1st, there were eight (8) persons who tested positive for COVID-19; however twelve (12) persons have recovered; bringing the total active cases to seventy-one (71). The total number of confirmed cases is now two thousand four hundred thirty-three (2433).

The Collective Prevention Services (CPS) are monitoring sixty-six (66) people in home isolation. Five (5) patients remain hospitalized at the St. Maarten Medical Center. The total number of deaths due to COVID-19 remains at twenty-eight (28).

The number of people recovered since the first case surfaced on St. Maarten has increased to two thousand three hundred thirty-four (2334). Ninety-seven (97) 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 2, 995 travelers arriving at the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA), while CPS tested 29, 634 people throughout the community. As the numbers continue to fluctuate, CPS will continue to actively execute its contact tracing measures.

Minister Ottley hereby informs the public that on Saturday, June 5th, CPS will host another vaccination pop-up clinic at De Weever Estate, Dutch Quarter from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. All persons who are interested in getting vaccinated are asked to walk with a form of photo ID for registration.
~ Dutch Government and local governments want good corporate governance at PJIAE~

PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion remains optimistic that St. Maarten will receive the promised NAF39M in liquidity support from the Dutch Government, however, the Minister of Finance could not say when e expects the much-needed funds on St. Maartens accounts.

In response to questions at the Council of Minister's press briefing on Wednesday, the Minister said that both the government of St. Maarten and the Dutch Government wants good corporate governance at the Princess Juliana International Airport. Irion said ever since taking office the Jacobs cabinet has been working towards good governance.

Asked if the Dutch Government pinpointed exactly what they want to see happen at PJIAE, the Minister said that the only thing that was mentioned is good corporate governance.

The Minister further explained that St. Maarten has money to pay its civil servants for another month, however, persons receiving the unemployment support and the SSRP are the ones that will be fully affected until the issues between the Dutch Government and the Government of St. Maarten are ironed out.
RIO DE JANEIRO:--- /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- The economic impact of COVID-19 is having a devastating effect on the global tourism industry, especially in the Caribbean which could see an escalation of poverty for workers. Unions affiliated with the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) from across the Caribbean held a virtual summit today to raise awareness of the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on jobs and communities in the region.

The ITF and its 18 affiliated unions are calling on governments and employers to cooperate with trade unions to develop and implement a regional recovery plan that:

 Prioritises employment security

 Guarantees free, universal access to vaccines

 Re-establishes safe travel corridors

Globally the tourism industry accounts for over 300 million jobs. Travel restrictions have had a devastating effect on economies reliant on tourists. Many countries in the Caribbean rely heavily on tourism as an essential pillar of their economies and a major contributor to GDP, in turn generating much-needed employment in the region.

Tourism generates over $59 billion per year for the region. An estimated $26.4 billion has been lost due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic. Estimates also suggest that over 1.2 million jobs have been lost.

Not only have the job losses hit hard but also the spending power of workers has been significantly reduced leading to the risk of widespread poverty and stagnation of economic growth. Long-term development and recovery plans in the region are critical.

ITF General Secretary, Stephen Cotton said that: "The Caribbean is too important to ignore, and we have a duty to protect the infrastructure and livelihoods of those workers who make visiting so appealing to millions of tourists each year. We need a tripartite plan from governments, employers, and unions for recovery. Listening to the concerns of our leaders today, it's clear that we need action now. Investment in developing regional transport infrastructure is a good place to start".

ITF Tourism Chair, David Messiah added: "My concern is that women and young workers are bearing a disproportionate number of job losses. These are the very groups of workers so critical to eradicating poverty in the Caribbean and needed in the industry's recovery. Our regional partners must work with us to re-establish safe travel corridors and assist in access to vaccines. We need a coordinated approach across the Caribbean and should not rely on individual nation-states as this only adds to the confusion. We must develop a unified approach that pools our resources together."

ITF Regional Secretary, Edgar Diaz said "It is vitally important that workers do not feel forced to have the vaccination, education and engagement is key if we are to encourage participation. That's why establishing a tripartite approach is fundamental to success and not fear and intimidation of individual workers."

Trade union Leaders from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Grenada, Jamaica, Suriname, St Lucia, Trinidad took part in the summit.
Somerset, KY (42501)

Today

Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. High 87F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds light and variable.
Fugitives Jailed in Calloway County This Week

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MURRAY - In separate incidents, two men wanted for crimes in other states were arrested this week in Calloway County.On Monday evening, a deputy pulled over a vehicle on KY 80 for a traffic violation. A passenger in the vehicle was identified as 39-year-old Jason D. Beasley of Mount Airy, Maryland, who was wanted on a felony warrant in that state. He was arrested.Early Wednesday morning, the sheriff's department was contacted by authorities in Henry County, Tennessee, asking for help finding 41-year-old David Todd of Murray, because there was a warrant for his arrest. A deputy spotted Todd and took him into custody.Both men were taken to Calloway County Jail and charged with being a fugitive from another state.
Secure access control is helping to shape the post-pandemic world

With the continued rolling back of COVID restrictions in the UK, there is a palpable sense of relief. A mixture of mass vaccinations, widespread testing, and track and tracing of the infection is helping to enable a healthy bounce back for businesses  with secure access control taking an important role in facilitating this. However, rather than just being a reaction to the wake of the pandemic, there is every sign that the economy, and consequently the security sector as well, are both rebuilding and reshaping for the long-term new normal. Prioritising Safety Already deemed an essential service even during the first wave of the pandemic, the security industry has of course taken a vital role in protecting people and property throughout the crisis. Now that venues in the UK are starting to reopen again, our services are key to occupancy management and ensuring that disease transmission is limited as far as possible. Access control is also key in reassuring people that their safety is a priority. Making the upgrade Its all been about choosing the most suitable components and technology that already existed with a few tweaks Businesses and organisations have a duty of care to their employees and the safety of visitors  so controlling access, employing lateral flow testing, and deploying suitable Track & Trace mechanisms are all key components. I think those outside our industry are surprised to learn that most of the technology being deployed and used hasnt just magically developed since COVID appeared  its all been about choosing the most suitable components and technology that already existed albeit with a few development tweaks or adjustments for the situation at hand. This includes using or installing facial recognition readers rather than using fingerprint or contact tokens, it is swapping to automatic request to exit sensors instead of buttons; it is using powered secure doors rather than having people all grab the same handle. Using mobile credentials is also a key technology choice  why not use the highly secure, easy to manage, cost-effective, and of course contact-free benefits of this approach? Touchless solutions We have seen a clear shift in organisations looking to protect their staff and visitors. For instance, we have a big utility customer in Southeast Asia that has just replaced close to 200 sites using fingerprint readers with an additional facial recognition capability. We have also seen a big rise in demand for touchless request to exit sensors and Bluetooth Low Energy Readers for use with smartphone authentication. Working together Integration of security systems is of course nothing new, but in the post-pandemic or endemic age, it has perhaps never been more important. Installations need to be simple, straightforward, and rapid to help maintain safe distancing but also to ensure systems can be deployed as soon as they are needed. The world is changing and developing rapidly and there is simply no place for systems that dont work with others or cause the end-user considerable cost and inconvenience to upgrade. This flexible delivery of security solutions perfectly matches the evolving and increasing demands of the market. Its clear that end-users want systems that work well and can easily integrate with their existing systems  not only security but all the other business components which work in unison with each other over a shared network. Great opportunities ahead The recent work-from-home trend is also clearly changing the way organisations and businesses interact with the built environment. Lots of companies are downsizing, offices are being split up, there is lots of revitalisation and reuse of existing office space  all of which creates considerable opportunities for security providers. UK inflation more than doubled in April 2021 with unemployment figures dropping and the Pound rising in value There are also, in the UK at least, clear signs that the construction industry is rapidly growing again -with a forecast of 8% rebound and growth this year. UK inflation more than doubled in April 2021 with unemployment figures dropping and the Pound rising in value  all positive signs for UK-based security providers. Undoubtedly the highly successful UK vaccination rollout has helped considerably, but there are signs that the Eurozone looks set to improve considerably over the next few months as well. Using integrated access control Undoubtedly the pandemic has made security markets around the world more aware of the benefits of integrated access control in managing the needs of the new normal COVID endemic environment. For example, as a business, we have always had keen interest from the UK healthcare sector, but over the last 12 months, we have seen a big growth in previously modest international markets including Morocco, Kuwait, Bahrain, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand  all of which are very keen to adopt improved access control solutions. Learning the lessons Nobody would deny the last year or so has been unprecedentedly tough on everyone, as a society we have had to make huge changes and sacrifices. Governments, organisations, and businesses all need to be better prepared in the future, to understand the things that went wrong and those that were successful. However, there is a world beyond the immediate pandemic and its effects. Flexible working practices and the changes these will have to the way we live and work will undoubtedly present great opportunities for the security sector in helping the world evolve. The pandemic has been a wake-up call for many organisations with regards to their duty of care to employees  particularly when it comes to mental health and providing a sensible work/life balance. Where we work and the safety of these facilities has received far more scrutiny than before. Flexible security systems Integrated security solutions have a vital role to play in not only protecting the safety of people during the post-lockdown return to work but also in the evolution of the built environment and move towards smart cities - which inevitably will now need to consider greater flexibility in securing home working spaces rather than just traditional places of work. Importantly, powerful access control and integrated security systems need to be flexible to the uncertainties ahead. The COVID pandemic has shown that nothing can be considered certain, except the need for greater flexibility and resilience in the way we operate our professional and personal interactions.
Enterprise, AL (36331)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.
The Hillcrest Elementary School Beta Club recently was honored for outstanding community service. In front, from left, are HES Beta Club Vice President Thomas Kinney, President Caroline Granger, Alexis Holub, Mikki Steddum, Chaplain Jenna Kate Weeks and Member at Large Jackson Wolfe. In the second row, from left, are Makayla Policano, Ansley Kennedy, Isabella May, Emma Ma, Harrison Booher, Lexie Maloy, HES Beta Club Secretary Mario Valerio, Julian Gunter and Harper Reagan. In the third row, from left, are Adam Cann, Anna Kate Perdue, Allie Rascoe, Jackson Johnson, Andi Davis, Kate Williams, Maggie Lyons, Mary Barnes, Elle Cadden, Emily Oredson and Brynley Lavery. In the fourth row, from left, are Jack Reagan, Isaiah Jackson, Matthew Burress, Cole Meeks, Hunter Marsh, Jayce Bloomer, Winston Sessions, Drew Bouchard, Brewer Box, Reagan Smalley, Kaitlyn Ramsey and Cooper Faulk. In the back row, from left, are Payte Lane, Jase Searcy, Juliette Comps, Theo Rodgers, Emma Barrette, Victoria Richmond, Madden Fong, William Schleusner, Alex Gilmore, Connor McLendon and Seamus Bundrick.
Support local journalism

Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution.

Contribute
Lisa Grouette is a Photographer and Reporter for the Globe Gazette. You can reach her at 641-421-0525 or lisa.grouette@globegazette.com. Follow Lisa on Twitter @LisaGrouette
Graves Deputies Make Weekend Meth Arrests

By West Kentucky Star Staff



Forty-nine-year-old Christy Hunter of Mayfield was arrested Monday after deputies searched her home. Deputies said Hunter was in possession of meth when they entered her home. She was charged with possession of a controlled substance 3rd or more offense and possession of drug paraphernalia.



Another person at the home, 28-year-old Daniel Hostetler of Mayfield, was cited to court on charges of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.







GRAVES COUNTY - Two Graves County residents were arrested over the weekend on methamphetamine charges.The Graves County Sheriff's Office said 56-year-old Billy Luter of Dublin was arrested Sunday night after deputies searched his home and found methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. He was charged with possession of a controlled substance 3rd or more offense and possession of drug paraphernalia.
News

spotlight

Navy vet who won landmark Agent Orange case dies in Owatonna

Al Procopio married Joan Zsebe on May 21, 1965  two years before he was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy after four years of service, including on the U.S.S. Intrepid during the Vietnam War. Decades later, Procopio started experiencing adverse health effects from exposure to Agent Orange, eventually winning a lawsuit that opened up benefits to 90,000 Navy Vietnam War veterans. (Photo courtesy of Procopio family) Al and Joan Procopio celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. The couple had been married for 56 years at the time of Al Procopios death on Friday at the Owatonna Hospital. (Photo courtesy of Procopio family)

The Navy veteran who ended up changing the lives of 90,000 fellow sailors following a 2019 court decision over Agent Orange died at the Owatonna Hospital on Friday.

Albert Al Procopio Jr. died at the age of 75 early Friday morning of kidney failure after a decades-long battle with exposure to Agent Orange herbicide during his service in Vietnam. According to Procopios family, he was in the process of transitioning from his home in Ham Lake to an assisted living facility in Owatonna, where his son Joe Procopio and his family lives.

Al suffered for years from diabetes, lung disease, and prostate cancer among other things, said Jessica Procopio, Al Procopios daughter-in-law who remembers her father-in-law as the loud, sarcastic man from Boston who was a teddy bear inside. His mind was amazing, but his body and health have been on a steady decline due to Agent Orange.

Agent Orange was a powerful herbicide used by U.S. military forces during the Vietnam War to eliminate the forest cover and crops of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops. The U.S. program, codenamed Operation Ranch Hand, sprayed more than 20 million gallons of various herbicides over Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos from 1961 to 1971. Agent Orange, which contained the deadly chemical dioxin, was the most commonly used herbicide. It was later proven to cause serious health issues  including cancer, birth defects, rashes and severe psychological and neurological problems  among the Vietnamese people as well as among returning U.S. servicemen and their families.

Al Procopio was only 18 years old when he joined the U.S. Navy in 1963, and the war clouds were already gathering over southeast Asia. Having just completed an electrical apprenticeship, Procopio took the opportunity to expand his electrical knowledge while serving his country aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Intrepid.

The Intrepid conducted air strikes and support missions throughout both north and south Vietnam. Agent Orange was discharged through Vietnamese rivers and washed off the land by the monsoon rain, entering the South China Sea where the Intrepid was stationed. The chemical was ingested into the ships evaporation distillation system that converted salt water into potable drinking water. Although not known at the time, the distillation process did not remove the harmful dioxin. Instead, it enriched it.

Procopio began to suffer from heart disease, diabetes and other herbicide-related diseases decades following his return from war. He applied for benefits under the Agent Orange Act of 1991, which aimed to help veterans suffering from certain diseases tied to chemical exposure, but his application was denied. According to the Military-Veterans Advocacy, the Department of Veterans Affairs had decided that the toxic chemicals did not infiltrate into the South China Sea. Originally, only land-based troops qualified for this compensation.

Not willing to settle with this answer, Procopio sought the assistance of MVA founder and retired Navy Commander John B. Wells to pursue his case.

He came to me and said, I dont know if were going to win or not, but I want to try to do this  for my own benefit, to help my family and to help the other folks like me, Wells said about his first conversation with Procopio, adding that at the time it was already well known that a large group of veterans had been denied benefits from the 1991 Act. Helping those people was part of his motivations in a time where it would have been easy to get discouraged, but he never did. He always said to me, As long as youre willing to do it, Im willing to do it.

On Jan. 29, 2019, Procopio  alongside Wells and the legal team  accomplished just that. After working together for 13 years, with the help of Attorney Melanie Bostwick from Washington D.C., the precedent changed to include an additional 90,000 Blue Water Navy veterans to qualify for benefits. Wells said the legal team argued that through applying international law of the sea that the territorial sea of the Republic of Vietnam was, for purposes of the Agent Orange Act, part of the sovereign territory of Vietnam.

I could only do so much  without Al staying on course we would have been thrown out of court, Wells said. He was the man who spent years fighting Congress. A lot of people gave up, but he didnt.

Wells said that the effort put in by Procopio eventually led to the passing of the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act, extending the presumption of herbicide exposure  including Agent Orange  to veterans who served offshore waters of Vietnam between 1962 and 1975.

A whole bunch of people died before this case came by, but now were taking care of their families, Wells said. Al knew that, and I think that is why it had such a big impact on the survivors.

Procopios family said he was always incredibly humble and accepting of the cards he was dealt when it came to the adverse effects of the Agent Orange exposure, eventually cutting off years of his life.

He was accepting of his limitations, but he was still a very happy man, his son Joe Procopio said. He had a very strong heart and a very strong mind, he survived a lot.

He was one of the fairest men Ive ever known, Jessica Procopio said. He always stood up for what was right.

Fighting for what he believed was right came long before the Agent Orange lawsuit, Joe Procopio said. Prior to the landmark case, his father was a union leader who aggressively advocated for laborers rights.

He always fought for what he thought was fair, Joe Procopio said. He was a fighter for peoples right  that was his whole life.

The Blue Water Navy veterans community has been feeling the weight of Al Procopios passing throughout the Memorial Day weekend, expressing sincere gratitude to him and his family for the thousands of lives Procopio has forever changed. On several social media platforms, shipmates wished their fallen brother fair winds and following seas for whatever is next to come.

Al Procopio was very unassuming and he never wanted to be held out as a big hero, Wells said. But thats what he was.

Pull Quote Al Procopio was very unassuming and he never wanted to be held out as a big hero, but that's what he was. - John B. Wells, attorney for Al Procopio
Graves Secures KY's First Strangulation Conviction

By West Kentucky Star Staff

Saxton was arrested in July of last year after Mayfield police responded to a domestic assault call. An investigation showed that Saxton had allegedly physically and sexually assaulted a woman.









MAYFIELD - The Graves County Commonwealths Attorneys Office has secured Kentucky's first ever 1st degree strangulation conviction resulting from a jury trial.Last week a Graves County jury found Hasan Saxton guilty of multiple offenses, including strangulation, and recommended the maximum sentence allowable by law of 20 years in prison.Non-fatal strangulation used to often be charged as 4th degree assault, a misdemeanor. Kentucky's 2019 General Assembly made non-fatal strangulation a felony, with a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. It went into effect June 27, 2019.As a result of last week's trial, Saxton was acquitted of 1st degree rape, but was convicted on charges of 1st degree strangulation, tampering with physical evidence, 4th degree assault, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana, criminal mischief and persistent felony offender.
Where is the outraged sense of self-preservation when under attack by our own?
ITV commissions contemporary detective drama, Ridley, starring Adrian Dunbar, written by RTS award winning writer Paul Matthew Thompson and produced by West Road PicturesITV today announced commission of detective drama, Ridley, starring Adrian Dunbar in the leading role.Ridley is written and created by Paul Matthew Thompson, one of the lead writers of ITVs iconic detective drama, Vera, and co-created by Jonathan Fisher (Blood, Hollington Drive, Penance), Managing Director of West Road Pictures. Both will act as Executive Producers.Adrian Dunbar is best known for his role as Ted Hastings in Line of Duty.Commented Adrian Dunbar:I dont think Ive ever headed into a production with more excitement and enthusiasm. As an actor I know how rare it is to be given such a wonderful opportunity, and the combination of Polly Hill and Chloe Tucker at ITV and Jonathan Fisher at West Road Pictures means we are in both safe and creative hands.Jonathan and I worked closely together on the very successful series Blood, and I'm confident we can bring some of that magic to Ridley. Heres to getting the team together and developing a show that audiences can find both entertaining and engaging.Each of the 4 x 120 films will be produced by West Road Pictures with Paul Matthew Thompson writing episodes one, two and four and Julia Gilbert (Agatha Raisin, Midsomer Murders) writing episode three.Commented Jonathan Fisher:I couldnt be happier to be getting started on Ridley, as we continue to build the West Road production slate with our second commission for ITV. Were so excited to be teaming up once again with the inimitable Adrian Dunbar, bringing to life Paul Matthew Thompsons characterful and engaging scripts. ITV has a fine tradition of nurturing much-loved detective series, and its a real privilege to be bringing Ridley to the channel.The series will introduce us to charismatic Detective Inspector Alex Ridley, who is retiring from the police after years of dedicated service. After twenty-five years as a homicide copper, Ridley has been nudged out of the job he loves. But the prospect of retirement is not a particularly welcome one as he's been cut off in his prime.Ridleys replacement is Acting DI Carol Farman, his former protegee whom Ridley mentored for many years. When he's enlisted by Carol as a police consultant on a complex and compelling murder case, the investigation takes a dark and unexpected turn. Turning to her old mentor for support, Carol is keen to access Ridleys unique insight into crime-solving which has served them so well in the past.With more intriguing cases to solve, Ridley will be enticed out of retirement into his former role, reviving his formidable and successful partnership with Carol.Inspired by real life retired detectives re-joining police forces in a consultancy role given increasingly over-stretched resources, Ridley will explore thought provoking crime stories in an original and distinctive way.Commented Paul Matthew Thompson:I am thrilled to be working with Jonathan Fisher and West Road Pictures to bring Ridley to life for ITV. Equally delighted that hell be portrayed by the iconic Adrian Dunbar. With his maverick idiosyncrasies, a heart on sleeve empathy and a unique approach to solving crime we hope Ridley will soon join the canon of favourite TV detectives.Ridley has been commissioned for ITV by Head of Drama, Polly Hill, with Drama Commissioner, Chloe Tucker overseeing production of the drama from the channels perspective.Commented Chloe Tucker:We are absolutely delighted that Adrian Dunbar will be starring as the retired DI Ridley, a man who cannot leave police work behind. We are excited to be working with West Road Pictures again, and to be bringing Paul Matthew Thompsons brilliant scripts to screen.Ridley will begin filming later this autumn and details of further casting and key production personnel will be advised closer to filming commencing.RTS Award winning writer, Paul Matthew Thompson, is also known for writing and creating Shakespeare and Hathaway  Private Investigators, and for his work on the Father Brown series.West Road Pictures is the production company launched by Jonathan Fisher in 2019. An All3Media company, West Road are currently in production on Hollington Drive for ITV. Since launching, West Road have also produced a second series of award-winning Blood, starring Adrian Dunbar, and Penance. Jonathan is a former executive producer of Midsomer Murders, responsible for leading the world famous brand into its landmark 20th series.The series is produced in association with All3Media International who are the dramas global partner.All3Media International will distribute the series internationally.
The Handmaids Tale Home was written by Yahlin Chang and was directed by Richard Shepard. As the title suggests, the episode focuses on Junes (Elisabeth Moss) return home  or at least to a home with Luke (O-T Fagbenle) and Nicole and Moira (Samira Wiley). Acting kudos for this episode have to go to Moss, Fagbenle and Yvonne Strahovski (Serena), who once again manages to suck everyone in, including the audience, before revealing her true feelings and emotions

The episode once again begins exactly where we left off, with June stepping off the gangway of the ship that brought her onto the soil of Canada. There is a terrific shot of her breath which you can see in the cold air. Here is this woman, who has been an unseen presence finally becoming manifest. Can she live up to the legend she has become? Could anyone? I love that the show has shown us that June is far from perfect  and has also shown us an outside view of what others think based upon their more limited knowledge. Its a terrific commentary on the same real world phenomenon with both political figures and celebrities of all kinds.

Mark (Sam Jaeger) and Rachel (Krista Morin) are there to welcome her into Canada on behalf of the American government. Mark tells her that its an honor to meet her, and Rachel tells her that shes safe now  and then they get into the formalities. Mark asks if she returned to Gilead would she be subject to torture or a risk to her life or a risk of cruel or unusual punishment? Um duh? June tells them yes. Rachel asks further if she would be persecuted based on being a woman. June answers yes again. Mark goes on to say that he understands that shes there to seek asylum and safety as a citizen of the United States. June is clearly still shell-shocked. Part of it is likely the concussion she suffered, but weve seen her retreat inside herself at times of extreme stress before. She looks to Moira, who tells her shes got this.

June then recites what shes no doubt been told she needs to say: My name is June Osborne. I am a citizen of the United States, and I seek asylum in the country of Canada. Up until this moment, the only sounds have been the background sounds of the pier and the people on it. At this point, the music picks up, and its a dreamy ballad: At Last! made famous by Etta James. It feels perfect as June is escorted to opulence of the Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto. She moves in a dreamlike state through the lobby, taking in the women who are all clearly free to do and dress as they will. The lyrics make is sound like its a love song, but the song is really about loneliness  June is surrounded by people, but she cant connect with them yet. She enters the hotel room and doesnt notice the gigantic cheese tray or the people talking  she just states out the window. Mark and Rachel leave June with Luke and Moira. Moira remarks that the hotel room is much nicer than the refuge center  and its a reminder of her own disorientation on arriving, and her much less grand arrival.

Moira tells June shes going but will be back tomorrow with Nicole. June hugs Moira. Luke thanks Moira, and she tells him to steal the nice moisturizers from the hotel to bring home! Of course its awkward between Luke and June. Luke asks what she wants to do  eat? Drink? Use the bathroom? June is confronted with choices and decisions, and chooses to use the bathroom  primarily to give her a moment alone to regroup? The bathroom has always been a retreat for her. She closes and locks the door.

June looks at herself in the mirror and raises her chin. She chooses a shower over a bath  a luxury not afforded to her in Gilead  and a far cry from the last time we saw her being hosed off. Her back is still marked by bruises everywhere. When she emerges from the shower, she has on a bathrobe  a RED bathrobe. Her hair is back in the tight bun. She looks out from the bathroom and sees Luke arranging, and rearranging the room service hes ordered. Hes clearly nervous and wants everything to be perfect. She cant force herself through the door, and quietly shuts the door to the bedroom. She doesnt lock the door. She sits on the bed. I loved the way this was shot. We see June in red, sitting on the white bed, but shes only filling half the shot as it is being shot from within another room.

Meanwhile, the table is set  there are red and white flowers and champagne. Luke waits patiently, clearly wondering what to do  and if shes alright. Its another long shot, framed by the window. He goes to check on June  silently. He finds her asleep on the bed.

When June wakes up, she finds Luke curled up on a sofa, much too small for him. She asks if she dozed off. He tells her that its the next day and she slept for seventeen hours! He asks if she remembers when she used to wake up from a long sleep like shed really achieved something. She says she doesnt think she ever got to seventeen hours, and Luke agrees, saying its a milestone. June replies that everything from here on out is a milestone. Luke cant supress his joy and tells her that he cant believe shes there.

June doesnt share his bubbly enthusiasm, but asks him if he wants to come and sit by her. She suddenly realizes that she missed room service and asks if he ate. He tells her that he couldnt eat for some reason (um duh?) and sent it back. She apologizes. He tells her that she has nothing to apologize for  ever since the boat when she was apologizing  that was crazy. He tells her that he should be the one apologizing.

Its clear that they are both burdened by guilt. Luke tells her that he tried to get her out, and he tried to find Hannah  every day. He tells her that hes sorry and that he failed them. He also tells her that he doesnt blame her if she doesnt forgive him  he clearly sees her distance or pulling away as blame rather than a defence mechanism on Junes part. Luke tells her that he cant forgive himself.

June finally smiles. She tries to comfort Luke by telling him a version of what happened with Hannah. She tells him that Hannah knows that they love her because she told her. She tells him about seeing Hannah in the house in the country. Luke asks how she is, and June tells him that shes really big and beautiful. And that memory is clearly from the most recent time she saw  but she doesnt tell Luke anything about this traumatic visit. She tells him that she told Hannah that they had both tried as hard as they could to find her. When June tells him that Hannah asked why she didnt try harder, Luke immediately recognizes his daughter. Moss and Fagbenle give 110% in this scene. June ends by telling Luke that she told Hannah that she and her daddy would always love her. The two embrace, but its also clear that June is still holding back the painful memories and in keeping that from Luke is also keeping a part of herself apart.

Mark debriefs June about getting the children out. Hes clearly amazed and in awe of the fact that she had so little help to accomplish it. He wants to know what motivated her to risk her life, everything, to do it. She tells him that it was the only thing that she could do to fulfill her promise that they would hurt, the way they hurt them. She calls them the kidnappers, but then June makes it personal. She thought about what Serena deserved. I wish wed seen her telling Mark about the scenes she only sees in her mind in flashback, so that hed finally realize what Serena is really like  the farthest thing from a victim that she could be. June tells him that they take everything from you.

Luke comes in with water for June and suggests a break. June asks if its ok, and Mark says of course. Luke sees that June has had enough for one day, though. June asks when Nicole is coming, and Mark says that Moira is bringing her by later. Luke tells her that they can be done now, if she wants. Hes clearly pleased that shes finally seeming eager to see Nicole. Luke asks if she wants to go home and see her, and June is only looking to him now and smiles. Mark interrupts that its best to debrief now, while the memories are fresh  as if any of her memories arent seared into her brain! Luke tells him that they can debrief later  at the embassy. Right now, hes taking his wife home to see their daughter. Mark tells him that he understands. June looks at Luke. Shes still not showing a lot of emotion, but one wonders what shes thinking about men still making decisions for her

We get a brief shot of the house, and then a closeup of June in the car as Luke tells her this is home  and of course, Home is the title of the episode. She looks a little apprehensive. Luke leads her in, and Moira and Emily (Alexis Bledel) are waiting with Nicole. June is overwhelmed to see Emily, who hands her Nicole. Its a nice bookend to the last time that June held Nicole and gave her to Emily to take to safety.

That night, June sits alone with Nicole, rocking her. She tells her that shes amazing  because Luke and Moira are raising her. How does she see herself stepping into this relationship? She says that they are both lucky, almost as if she doesnt see herself as having a role. She then goes on to tell Nicole that she and her first daddy love her. Relationships and families are very complicated in Gilead But is anyone else thinking that if Fred (Joseph Fiennes) could get Serena pregnant, did he also get June pregnant?

Serena is praying in the Chapel. She says that she is thankful for her pregnancy and asks forgiveness for her sins and asks that her sins not weigh on the baby. Its a very sterile looking church, which is in keeping with Serena, whose humility is hard to believe in. Mark enters the Chapel quietly, as Serena asks for the strength to parent the baby on her own. Shes not happy to see Mark and asks how much he heard. She asks if it satisfies him to hear someone from Gilead express misgivings. Shes clearly abandoned any pretense of abandoning Gilead. He asks her if it satisfies her to express them.

She tells him that hes punchy and asks if hes seen her. Clearly meaning June. Her lawyer has told her June will complicate her case. Mark says he leaves the lawyer-stuff to the lawyers. She asks what he is  just a pot-stirrer? Mark relays that Fred wants to see her. He calls him the father, and Serena calls him a sperm-donor. Mark tells her that Fred doesnt want to fight a war on two fronts (Serena and June), and he suggests that if she can get Fred to cooperate, it could help both himself and her.

Serena goes to see Fred. His room is much the same as hers  but his courtyard has a bigger and more upright tree. I love the way this scene is shot as it picks up the echoes of so many others. We get a shot of Freds head and shoulders in the lower right corner, reflected in the window behind him which takes up the vast majority of the shot. There are so many shots where the person is only shown partially  people are only seeing a part of the person, often intentionally as the person hides at least part of themselves. The shot then shifts to Serena  shes now framed by the doorway  she is trapped.

Fred recites scripture as he approaches her, she tells him coldly to back off as colloquial and far from scripture as you can get! She drops the pretense of religious piety in front of him  this was their scam from the beginning, wasnt it? She tells him nothing has changed, but hes just as thrilled as she is to be becoming a parent and tells her everything has changed. Its a sign from God that He wants them to be together. He tells her that he wants to be a good father  and husband if shell let him. He reaches to touch her belly and she stops him with the hand missing the finger as she tells him that its too late. Um duh! Curiously, he tells her that her baby belongs to him just as much as Offreds belonged to her. Is he implying that hes not the father of this baby? Doesnt he know that hes not the father of Nicole? Before Serena can leave, Fred turns to more pressing matters. He tells her that with June in Canada, she could put them both away for the maximum sentence. They need to team up to fight together. He tells her hell do whatever he has to to ensure a good life for their son, and asks her why she wouldnt do the same.

June wakes the next day to the sound of birds and the baby gurgling. It clearly takes her a minute to figure out where she is. June still has her hair caught in her Handmaids bun but shes wearing a sweater the color of a wifes dress. She finds a very domestic scene with Luke, Moira, and Nicole in the kitchen. Luke has made pancakes, and June goes immediately to kiss Nicole. I thought it a bit odd that Moira scoops Nicole up to take her to the supermarket with her to get groceries. June says shed like to come. Moira asks if shes sure as the culture shock might be a bit overwhelming and looks to Luke. Luke just shrugs, and looks to June. He clearly wants to be guided by her. She then tells them that shed like to invite Emily and Rita (Amanda Brugel) over that night so she can meet Oliver (Charlie Zeltzer). Luke asks if shes sure, but again, is clearly ready to do what she wants.

I loved how the entrance to the supermarket mirrored similar scenes of June going shopping with the other Handmaids only this time instead of a sterile environment with barely full shelves, the shelves are bursting with produce and color. June is drinking it in, with Luke in the lead with the stroller and Moira behind. June almost has her mouth hanging open and eyes bugging out. Luke stops and asks if shes ok, clearly concerned. But she says shes good and takes the lead. When they get to the chip aisle, June asks what happened to them in the last seven years  reminding us of just how long she was in Gilead. Luke tells her, its a travesty  they made them healthy!

Moira joins them  theyve been splitting up to fill their list. She tells them Nicole needs to be changed and needs to go home for a nap as shes about 10 minutes from a breakdown and thats not pretty  something clearly Luke would know, but not June. When Moira discovers she has no diapers to change Nicole, Luke says I got you and throws her one from the bag hes picked up to buy. Its like the normal exchange of a couple over their baby  and June is completely on the periphery of it. And isnt this what a Handmaid does? Has the baby and then gives it to another couple to raise? Luke tells June life with a one year old  and June replies I remember.

June tells Luke she needs time to decide on the chips and will meet him at check out. As she stands in the aisle, a mother and daughter fun by and two women  a couple  walk past. All blissfully unaware of their freedom. June turns back to the chips, and we get a clear shot of her ear tag  and thats not the only thing shes brought from Gilead with her. As she takes the chips off the shelf, she remembers peering through the shelves in Gilead and sharing information with Alma. And then she sees two Muslim women walking and talking together  dressed in the color of handmaids. She sees a display of water with a wing logo that also reminds her of the statue in Gilead and then her mind is flooded with images of violence. She begins to have a panic attack  and she seems to have herself under control

The scene shifts to June coming downstairs that night as Moira answers the door. Its reminiscent of her coming down the stairs at the Waterfords. Moira and Luke greet Emily and Oliver, but June has to wait a few minutes in the stairwell to gather herself. She puts a smile on her face and forces herself out. She says hi, and asks Oliver for a hug. As shes hugging him, Rita comes in and asks if she can get some of that. June immediately rises and is emotional as she hugs Rita tightly. Rita praises God that June made it and is safe. I like that the show doesnt have a monolithic approach to religion  clearly Gilead uses it as a weapon, yet there is a place for this faith of Rita.

The four women sit together. Emily is back living with Sylvia and Oliver, but they arent sleeping together. She says that Sylvia is being very patient, and Moira points out that they all left Gilead fucked up about sex  and in Emilys case, mutilated to prevent her ever enjoying it again. Emily points out that Moira found Oona (Zawe Ashton), but she says she ruined that. June tries to take responsibility for breaking them up, and Moira tells her dont bring that Aunt Lydia-shit in here. I love that Moira clearly knows that it was Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) who brainwashed them all into being guilty for the things they didnt do or couldnt control. They laugh, and Emily says she cant get them there, and Moira says none of them can. June then asks if they ever wonder if they deserve this. If you deserve to be here? Emily clearly has regrets about what she did, but Moira tells them that they did what they had to to survive. Shes made peace with what shes done, but Im not convinced that even she has completely absolved herself.

Moira tells them they won. They tried to destroy them, but they won. The others nod. June asks what they know about Serena. Moira clearly doesnt want to tell June. Rita tells her that she saw her because Serena wanted her help. June presses, wanting to know what Serena wanted. Rita tells her, you know her  total narcissist. Rita isnt stupid. She finally tells June that Serena is pregnant. June is clearly furious, but she stays completely in control. She immediately asks if its the Commanders  and its interesting that that is how she refers to him  still brainwashed to be deferential. Rita says it is  but is it??? Its clear that they are all waiting for what June will do  shes the loose cannon at this point after all. They all breathe a sigh of relief when she says, Well fuck her, I dont care. Moira immediately says, thats right! Moira says that Serena looked awful and Rita confirms it. Moira goes to get more beer.

As she passes the door, she sees Oona dropping something at the door for June. Moira asks if she wants to come in, and Oona says no, shes just on her way home from work  so she still has a job, despite her doom and gloom on the boat. Oona says that they arent allowed back into Gilead or anywhere outside of Canada for now. Moira apologizes and asks if it helps that they brought in a major intelligence asset? Oona says its likely the only reason that they still have a fighting chance. Moira says its nice that Oona brought June a gift as they almost killed her NGO, and Oona concedes she almost left her to die in Gilead, clearly feeling badly that she did want to. Oona says theyre even.

Oona turns to go, and Moira tells her that she thinks the world of her and doesnt want them to be over. Oona points out that Moira chose her friend over her  and their work. She tells Moira that she knows where she stands with her and its fine, but Moira says she doesnt know. Oona doesnt want to fight, but Moira points out that if they dont fight, they cant move on. Oona tells her that they cant move on. Moira says shes been moving on her whole life until she met Odette and she thought that they were forever but she wasnt, and Moira feels like Oona could be forever. Oona tells her to call her  theyll have the fight  but somewhere warmer Im still not convinced that Oona completely understands what these women went through in Gilead.

Luke is cleaning up and asks June if she had fun. Shes having another glass of wine and says sure, but shes clearly still dealing with the rage she feels about Serena. She puts her hand on his and the two turn and face each other. I loved how Luke stared into Junes face, clearly wanting her, but waiting until she very clearly made the first move to kiss him as she stretches up toward him. He goes to put his hand on her head and brushes the ear tag causing her to gasp in pain. He immediately pulls back and apologizes. She tells him its ok, and they resume kissing. She pulls back and apologizes. He tells her its fine and says its his fault. He tries to talk to her and she walks away. He doesnt follow, clearly at a loss as to what to do.

That night the two are in bed. June is looking at the ceiling, remembering the horrible things Serena has done to her. She meets Mark in a parking lot and he takes her to Serena  which would never actually happen but ok. Serena is in her pajamas, in her room, and its so reminiscent of the times Serena came to Junes room. Serena tells her that she humbly thanks the Lord for Junes visit  that Serena asked him for. June tells her, you would. You never gave me credit for anything. Mark, whos been standing by the open door, closes it and says hell be next door.

Serena tells June she aske the Lord to bring June to her so that she could make amends  LOL! June isnt going to be sucked in this time. June clarifies that she brought herself there so that she could tell Serena how much she hates her. She doesnt deserve anything but a life of suffering and shame. June tells Serena that shes destroyed her life, her friends, her country, and her child. Once again this scene is carefully choreographed. As June says this she steps closer to Serena, they are shown in profile, framed by the window to the courtyard, with the very sorry looking tree, looking like it is almost weeping or ill.

June tells Serena that there is no one less worthy of redemption than Serena. Serena tells her that shes sorry, and falls to her knees, saying shes begging for Junes forgiveness and for His understanding. June tells Serena that God only made her pregnant so that when He kills the baby, Serena will feel a fraction of the pain that she caused them when she ripped their children from their arms. And here we get a reversal of June on the floor and Serena yelling at her, as Serena is on the floor and June grips her chin as she screams in her face, Do you understand me? June turns and walks away, knocking gently on the door to be let out.

Now that shes taken her power back, June returns home, takes off her clothes, and makes love to Luke. Even here, however, she takes complete control. Luke sleepily asks what time it is, and is clearly confused, but lets it play out. She gets on top of him. He tries to speak to her, but she puts her hand over his mouth, silencing him. She reaches climax, but he doesnt seem to lose himself at all in the act.

The next day, the two play with Nicole outside, smiling, and happy. But are they? Will June really be able to make this transition?

June meets again with Mark in his office. She tells him that Serena is pathological. Shes a sociopath, toxic, and abusive. Shes a monster. June also tells him that Serena is a consummate actor  all those years on the book tour circuit. Mark asks what June thinks drives her, and June replies hatred and rage with no hesitation. I love that Mark has a murder board in his office with Fred, Serena, and Nick on it. Does that mean Nick is one of the most wanted too? Under Serenas section, Marks first note is that she betrayed Fred, but its followed by puts children first and then can we use the pregnancy. June tells Mark that under the rage and hatred there is nothing but pure misery, and shell do anything not to feel that way.

Serena goes to Fred and tells him that she needs him. Clearly, now that she knows June cant be manipulated any more (or Rita!), Fred is her last hope. Fred kneels to her, praying and pressing his face to her stomach. She looks out the window and smiles  clearly only because here she still has power and control.

As the picture turns back to the happy family playing, in the show, the voice over of June talking to Mark continues. She tells Mark that Serena will do anything not to feel that way even for a second, to get what she wants, including lie to you, hurt you, rape you. She warns him not to get sucked in by her and if he feels he is? Run for your life. And the episode ends with a close up of Junes determined face. Shes figured out her purpose now. Shes got control, and shes going to use it.

This was definitely a transitional episode as both the audience and June try to figure out what her next chapter is going to be. My fingers are crossed that all of our women, and especially June, can find some kind of happiness. Is Luke too good to be true? Im hoping not. So far, hes been patient and smart about how hes there for support, but only to guide, not lead or force June. I wonder how he is going to relate to this new June, the one who wants to be on top. Will he embrace her? Hes changed too after all. I am really enjoying seeing Serena unmasked  but kudos again to Fagbenle, Moss and Strahovski for wonderful performances  so much of the emotions and thoughts in this show are only conveyed through their body language and facial expressions. And kudos to the cinematographer and director. I just cant say enough about the imagery in this show! What did you think of the episode? Did you catch all the echoes to past episodes? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!




A year after New York City home buyers descended on Connecticuts housing market amid the COVID-19 pandemic, sales continue to accelerate heading into the summer of 2021  particularly in communities lining Long Island Sound or just inland from Milford to Stonington.

William Pitt Sothebys International Realty reported an aggregate 14 percent increase in May sales of single-family houses compared to May 2020, across about half of Connecticut municipalities where it focuses its upscale real estate brokerage services.

Sale prices continue to surge  both the result of sellers agents prodding bidders for best and final offers after weekend open houses, as well as owners of expensive estates taking the opportunity to cash out in a hot market.

The big question is whether that is going to continue, said Paul Breunich, CEO of William Pitt Sothebys which has its main office in Stamford. I personally think it will, because of the demand coming out of New York.

On Wednesday, Updater reported New York City remained among the three metropolitan areas with the most people using its app to move to other metro areas, after topping that list in the final three months of last year.

With buyers pouncing in record numbers the past 12 months on properties in Fairfield County and Litchfield County, demand now appears to be extending east. William Pitt Sothebys reported a 31 percent boom in sales last month for shoreline communities, with sellers unloading their properties in five weeks on average.

Starting in Milford, William Pitt Sothebys lumps about 30 towns into its shoreline market territory running east along the coast and the Wilbur Cross Parkway, including a few Connecticut River towns like East Haddam. Homeowners there appear to be taking advantage, with new listings up 60 percent from May 2020.

Fairfield County sales continued to surge with an 18 percent gain in May. Some towns saw far bigger gains  like Greenwich where 84 homes sold according to William Pitt Sothebys preliminary data. That is just four off the total for April which set a single-month record according to Mark Pruner, a broker in the Greenwich office of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties.

Sales were flat in the aggregate for eight Hartford-area towns tracked by William Pitt Sothebys. Litchfield County sales dropped more than 5 percent from May 2020.

Breunich said the decline was likely the result of Litchfield Countys big May last year, as buyers hunted getaway options for weekends with the intent of keeping condos or apartments in New York City. Those looking to make a permanent move to the suburbs may have taken more time to investigate their options, with a focus on remaining within a commuting orbit making multiple trips weekly to New York City a possibility.

Litchfield [County] got on the bandwagon last year real early  their May last year was big, Breunich said. Thats when the buyers started coming up from New York, and they apparently hit Litchfield first. ... Its a lot of [people] who want to have a reclusive second home in the country.

Summer is the prime moving season for families as they transition their children to new school systems. With COVID-19 vaccinations now being extended to kids as young as 12, the lingering question is whether city dwellers will feel confidence to stay put as some of their routines edge closer to normalcy.

Breunich said that Connecticut continues to see escalated numbers of homes under contract pending final closing documents, which should bolster summer sales numbers.

Our bellwether months are going to be July, August and September, Breunich said. If were anywhere close to last year, [2021] is going to blow last year out of the water. ... Starting last June, every month was as big as the one before.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman
Connecticuts legalized, recreational marijuana sellers, both wholesale and retail, would be required to sign union agreements as a condition of licensing under a deal thats close to a final agreement, people at the negotiating table say.

Homegrown pot, up to six plants, would be decriminalized and could become fully legal within three years.

A state Senate vote could come as soon as Friday in a marijuana miracle if all the pieces fall together perfectly. Adoption by next Wednesdays final deadline for the 2021 session seems like a very strong bet and Gov. Ned Lamont is nearly certain to sign the bill into law, as his people are at the table.

The question is now morphing from whether a bill will pass, to whether the bill that lawmakers adopt will lead to a workable recreational market. And that is far from assured, with a passel of measures aimed at making sure workers and disadvantaged communities see their fair share of the green bud bounty.

Its a balancing act. Liberal Democrats in the legislature insist on the labor and equity provisions, including training and joint ventures designed to bring in diverse investors and employees. Thats all great, I applaud it. Why have a market if it doesnt create equity?

The trouble is, these rules add cost to the final product. And between surrounding states, the underground market and bleeding from Connecticuts tax-free medicinal market, cannabis is a fiercely competitive business.

3 1 of 3 Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Peter Hvizdak / 2015 Peter Hvizdak Show More Show Less 3 of 3





What good is a new market if its participants cant make it work? In this case, taxpayers have a stake, as recreational weed  along with edibles, vape, tinctures and the like  is expected to generate $80 million or so per year for the states coffers.

The bill will not spell out how many retail locations Connecticut will have  there are 18 medical dispensaries now  as that would be determined later, in part by market forces. But many of the new entrants would be chosen by lottery. The bill also doesnt set an Opening Day for adult-use, recreational sales, although it would come faster than in New York and many other states, some say, because of mentoring rules baked into the bill.

The densest smoke, the stickiest debate, surrounds the key question of who has the right to grow commercial cannabis, and under which conditions.

As it stood late Wednesday, the four existing medicinal marijuana producers would have to either pay a $2 million fee to join the recreational market or pay a smaller amount  perhaps $1.5 million, or zero  and spin off one or two joint ventures with so-called equity partners for new retail dispensaries.

An equity partner is someone who grew up, or has lived for multiple years, in a targeted ZIP code, and whose income is less than $250,000 a year. The goal was to make sure people of color gain access to new licenses, but, people in the talks said, theres no legal way to spell that out.

An earlier move to give preference to people convicted or otherwise affected by the failed war on drugs, especially marijuana, didnt make the bill.

But under the nascent deal, all new producers, also known as cultivators, would come from the ranks of equity applicants. They would have to pay a $3 million fee, which could shrink the number of willing producers. Oregon and Colorado, by contrast, both have more than 1,000 licensed wholesale cannabis producers. They dont call it the Wild, Wild West for nothing.

New equity entrants into the business would learn at the hand of existing producers, who would have to either kick $500,000 into an equity fund or, better still, turn over 5 percent of the floor space of the new, recreational growing facilities  and perhaps 5 percent of profits, too  to trainees.

Eventually, those trainees would strike out on their own as growers. Sen. Doug McCrory, D-Hartford, was the key champion of that provision.

Having a mentoring program instead of starting with licenses from scratch would speed the day when retail outlets can open across the state, people in the talks say, because it jump starts both the equity progress and existing production capacity.

The states share of the money would divide out as follows: The straight sales tax of 6.35 percent would go into the general fund. The excise taxes, about twice the sales tax, in total, would, after a few years of ramping up, go 80 percent to a new equity fund, separate from the state budget, aimed at rebuilding disadvantaged communities; and 20 percent to mental health and addiction services.

Among all the equity and fairness measures, the labor rules could prove the most controversial and the most costly.

Under the latest agreement  which can and will change right up until the vote  all licensed firms including retailers, cultivators, labs and couriers, must expand or build facilities under project labor agreements, basically paying union-scale wages. And they must sign an agreement with a bonafide labor organization, which is defined as a union currently working toward organizing workers in the industry.

Thats being called a labor peace agreement, which Ive always taken to mean the employer agrees to remain neutral. These rules, championed by the powerful, pro-labor duo of Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven and Sen. Julie Kushner, D-Danbury, might go further. They essentially require a firm to enter into a deal with a union that was, in the view of some people, not necessarily even chosen by the workers.

Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media file photo

Workers would still need to vote in a union. They would agree to binding arbitration to settle disputes and would not have the right to strike, according to the deal.

Would the labor pact apply at so-called hybrid locations that are now growing medicinal product but would also grow recreational? Would it violate federal labor laws that forbid employers from choosing which unions represent their workers?

Its all coming together. The good news for supporters, unlike in past years, is that the deal, and the votes, appear to be in hand. It will be interesting to see whether any Republicans vote for it, now that the bill includes a home-grown component, unlike in past years.

The other good news: Connecticuts recreational cannabis products, like its current medicinal products, would be among the purest in the business. Thats because testing labs would collect samples directly from the production facilities instead of letting producers deliver hand-picked samples to be tested.

A minor detail? No, it matters. This bill, estimated at 300 pages by House Majority leader Jason Rojas, attempts to craft a market from the top down.

Call it the artisan Connecticut cannabis bill. It will come to the Senate and House floors and it will pass, in all likelihood. Well know in a couple of years whether it works.

dhaar@hearstmediact.com
Remember when you went to an amusement park and discovered your favorite roller coaster? You would wait in line for what seemed like hours, hop on board for a few minutes of climbs and plunges along with twists and turns all mixed in with some screams. Then you would get in line again and do it all over.

That pretty much describes the natural-world roller coaster known as the Mile of Ledges along the Blue-blazed Tunxis Trail in Burlington. In total, the 38.5-mile Connecticut Forest & Park Association trail runs through Southington, Wolcott, Bristol, Burlington, New Hartford, Canton, Barkhamsted and Hartland, but this mile, with about 750 vertical feet, is easily the toughest Tunxis stretch and one of the most difficult 5,280-foot-plus-long nature paths in the state.

The trailhead for the path  marked with blue and yellow blazes  is the Burlington Land Trusts Martha Brower Wildlife Sanctuary. The 43-acre space around the scenic Country Pond was the trusts first preserve. Hikers can follow a loop trail marked with red blazes around the pond that is filled with ducks, geese and beaver lodges. I would describe it as a rugged trail, but what lies ahead is a whole other level.

The main blue and yellow trail from the parking area begins placidly enough with a trip along the western banks of the pond with side paths to the edge where frogs jump in and fish can be seen in the shallows. After leaving the pond, hikers pass through the deep forests owned by the Bristol Water Co. The trails are relatively easy on the approach to Marsh Brook which tumbles out of the forest over boulders and ledges, giving visitors a taste of what is ahead.

The first jumble of ledges and huge boulders will give hikers a feel for the trail as the Mile of Ledges begins. The relatively easy part of the trail travels high above the ledges with seasonal views to Old Marsh Pond. Next up? Bears Den where the trail starts to get progressively difficult.

There are three ways to pass through the den  above, through a chasm or around. If you take the above route, hikers will have to navigate a narrow ledge at the top. The chasm route will take hikers down a steep ledge and into the bowels before ascending back up to the trail. And like all good amusement park rides, there is a last chance exit as hikers can avoid the ledge entirely by taking a trail that wraps around the den.

I wont spoil the rest of the mile, but the trail goes straight up in places, there are tight squeezes and strenuous climbs and descents. Thankfully the stratified ledges act as ladders and steps so the trail is always surmountable.

The blue and yellow trail meets up with the main branch of the Tunxis and visitors take a right to find the Tory Den. A group of large boulders surrounded by huge rock ledges, the den has a large entrance at the front and a small exit hole at the back. Its a bit of a challenge to get through, but fun to imagine what it must have been like as a hideout for Stephen Graves, a Harwinton farmer who sided with the Tories  colonists loyal to the British crown.

In order to avoid military service with the Patriots, Graves bought his way out, according to Dan Casey of the Environmental Learning Centers of Connecticut. When the Patriots tried to draft him a second time, he refused to pay again. He hid in nearby Tory Den to avoid capture, beatings and possible hanging.

According to Casey, the den could hold seven men, two standing and five crouching. Moses Dunbar, another Tory, also sought refuge in the den and eventually joined the British Army and was captured and hanged as a traitor, Casey says. He was the only Connecticut citizen to be so judged and punished.

The den was also home at times for the Old Leatherman, a man covered entirely with stitched-together leather patches, who walked a circuitous, 360-mile route from central Connecticut to western New York in a span of 34 days beginning in 1858. He stopped only to eat and sleep, and when he finished one circuit, he would turn around and begin again. He completed the circuit 11 times each year for almost three decades. Civilization has many places where George Washington once slept, and the natural world has its many caves and overhangs where the Leatherman once sheltered.

The path eventually hooks up with Greer Road and a return to the sanctuary. Retired school teacher Alan Perrie, who has designed a variety of hikes for people of all abilities, points out in the trust trail description that if you enjoyed the experience on this hike, try it again, but in the opposite direction because it has descents, which are harder than ascents. It will improve your hiking skills and provide a great workout in a short amount of time.

Mile of Ledges in Burlington The bottom line: The "Mile of Ledges" trail is one of the most difficult journeys in the state, taking hikers up and down huge ledges to the historic Tory Den along the Tunxis Trail in Burlington. Difficulty level: Moderately difficult to difficult. There are some scrambles, some balancing on top of sharp ledges and some fingernail climbs. But there are always alternate trails to get around some of the more imposing ledges. Total mileage: The Mile of Ledges loop is 3.1 miles. The side trip to the top of Norton Overlook, with its 50-mile, 180-degree view north to Mount Tom in Massachusetts and south to Long Island Sound is a mile out and back with access across West Chippens Hill Road from Greer Street. Directions: Route 6 through Bristol and turn right on Hill Street. Hill Street turns into West Chippens Hill Road. Take a left on Greer Street shortly after passing into Burlington. Follow past the pond and look for the parking area on the left. Go to burlingtonlandtrust.org/vmcmaps for a map of the loop. Pet-friendly? Leashed dogs are allowed and must be cleaned up after with the waste removed if placed in a plastic bag. Things to do Nearby Harvest Bakery:The bakery has been in Bristol for eight decades, serving cakes, pastries, breads and cookies since Anne and Louis Barth opened the doors in 1941. Refusing to add preservatives, Harvest Bakery is also one of the few bakeries in the state that hearth-bakes its bread and rolls using the same recipes used by the original owners. Hearth-baking means each loaf of bread or hard roll is placed on a wooden peel and shuffled on the oven hearth to bake. 84 Farmington Ave., Bristol, 860-589-8800, harvestbakeryinc.com Chute Gates Steakhouse & Saloon: There aren't too many saloons in Connecticut, but if you're looking for some Western atmosphere, this is your place. Entrees include "Saddle Up" surf and turf, country chicken, "Wrangler's" ribeye and "Tulsa" top sirloin along with St. Louis barbecue ribs. In the mood for something a bit lighter? There's Southwest fried pickles, Galveston garlic bread, Texas pretzel and "locked & loaded" nachos or fries. The Western- and rodeo-themed restaurant has NASCAR Sundays and Friday night karaoke. 372 Main St. (Route 6), Terryville, 860-585-0704, chutegates.com New England Carousel Museum: Speaking of amusement parks, the New England Carousel Museum has a mission "dedicated to the acquisition, restoration, and preservation of operating carousels and carousel memorabilia." At the museum, visitors can "travel back in time when the carousel was the pinnacle of amusement park joy." Exhibits showcase more than 100 years of carousel art and history. A sample carving bay, hands-on activities for children and a Venetian indoor carousel help tell the story of the carousel to the young and young-at-heart. The museum is open Wednesday-Sunday, offering two tours each day. 95 Riverside Ave., Bristol, 860-585-5411, thecarouselmuseum.org See More Collapse

And there is no line to wait in to ride the Mile of Ledges again and again.

This article originally appeared in Connecticut Magazine. You can subscribe here, or find the current issue on sale here. Sign up for the newsletter to get the latest and greatest content from Connecticut Magazine delivered right to your inbox. On Facebook and Instagram @connecticutmagazine and Twitter @connecticutmag.
STAMFORD  A rainbow flag was raised in front of the Stamford Government Center on Tuesday, the first day of LGBTQ Pride month, but most of the citys pride events will actually take place in August.

John Varamo, the president of the nonprofit Stamford Pride, said thats because the group of LGBTQ residents and allies wanted to give people enough time to feel more comfortable as COVID-19 vaccinations continue.

Stamford Pride came together in 2019, aiming to hold pride events in the city starting in 2020. But COVID-19 forced the group to scrap those plans.

Varamo, who also works for the city, said members of the group felt like they needed to step up because celebrations were lacking in Stamford.

The city had, for the past few years, raised the pride flag, but that was pretty much it, Varamo said. And we were talking about how we can make this community more visible.

Every other large city in Connecticut has pride (events).  Even the smaller ones like Milford Pride and Westport Pride, so why not Stamford? he added. So that was really what brought us all together and really what is propelling us is the community needs this.

The events in Stamford this year will include a screening of an indie movie called Ma Belle, My Beauty at the Avon Theatre Film Center, a storytime event with drag performers at the Ferguson Library and a drag brunch at Hudson Social in downtown. Stamford Pride is also working with Lighthouse, a program for LGBTQ teenagers, and local Gay-Straight Alliances to hold an event geared toward younger people at Honey Joes Family Coffeehouse.

Last year, Old Town Hall was lit up with the colors of the rainbow during Pride Month, using lighting filters donated by Rosco Laboratories, which is headquartered in Stamford. The lights will return Tuesday and be on display most nights this month.

The vice president of Stamford Pride, Kristen Stiles, said she got involved in the group after going to Pride in the Park in Norwalk  an event that she said had the most welcoming, enjoyable atmosphere.

In Stamford, Stiles said her group hopes to establish a presence and then get more involved in community issues. Its goal isnt to simply become the organizer of an annual parade, she said.

Varamo agreed, saying the organization wants to become a resource for the community in Stamford.

And Stamford Pride may hold a block party in the future, he said, but the logistics for a parade are very complex.

The group was able to pay for this years events with the help of a Stamford Arts and Culture Grant.

We just hope that all members of the community come out to our events and enjoy them, Varamo said. Bring your family. Bring your friends. Bring allies. Bring people from other communities. And just be part of this and have fun.

Before the rainbow flag was raised Tuesday, Mayor David Martin read aloud a proclamation recognizing June as Pride Month.

Celebrating Pride Month influences awareness and provides support and advocacy for Stamfords LGBTQ+ community, and is an opportunity to take action and engage in dialogue to strengthen alliances, build acceptance, and advance equal rights, the proclamation reads, in part.

Martin was joined by U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn.

At a hard time and a divisive time and a politically complicated time, weve got to celebrate the unbelievable progress that the LGBT community has made in the last generation, Himes said.

Are we done? No, were not done, he added. Do we have a long way to go? Yeah, we still have a long way to go. But what a remarkable  generational change.
Mediacom Customers Lose Local NBC Station

By West Kentucky Star Staff

WESTERN KENTUCKY - Paducah's local television station has been removed from a local cable provider's programming.Mediacom, which serves customers in several counties of the Purchase area, notified subscribers last week that unless their contract with Paxton Media Group was renewed by 11:59 pm on Monday, WPSD would no longer be provided. As of Tuesday, that was the case.Both companies appear to be blaming the other for the inconvenience to customers. Mediacom indicated they have offered a larger sum of money to WPSD than the previous contract, but it's been refused, and they cannot legally carry the channel unless granted permission. WPSD claims their viewers are being held hostage, and accuse Mediacom of threatening to, "pull the plug," if Paxton Media didn't accept their contract terms.General Manager Bill Evans told WKDZ they began working on a routine renewal with Mediacom in mid-April, and they traded more than ten documents while negotiating. He said in their last offer, WPSD also offered Mediacom an extension until June 15, so that service might not be interrupted.On the station's website, Evans urged viewers to contact Mediacom to express their opinion on the loss of a local channel.On the Net:
HARTFORD  Pandemic-era tailgate parties in the legislative garage and slurred speeches on the House floor prompted Speaker of the House Matt Ritter on Wednesday to warn lawmakers on both sides of the aisle that excessive drinking is discouraged in the waning days of the legislative session.

While the need for social distancing has allowed senators and House members to avoid the state Capitol and remain in the nearby Legislative Office Building to vote on bills, the social distancing has allowed for a little creative partying among rank-and-file members who are not needed for hours at a time during debates.

Lawmakers sometimes set up folding chairs on the third floor of the parking garage, then scurry back into the Legislative Office Building to vote.

Ritter, speaking to reporters before the Wednesday House session, warned that caucus members could lose committee assignments if they overindulge.

Im not going to downplay this, Ritter said, acknowledging the behind-the-scenes partying. I have on multiple occasions had to talk to the caucus or individuals in my office. There are lines you cannot cross and if somebody ever left this building and injured somebody or themselves, I cant even begin to think about what those consequences would be, and I dont want them to happen on our watches in leadership. To say that this is being taken seriously is an understatement.

Both Ritter, D-Hartford and House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, have admonished members.

I think the incidents are a little more isolated, maybe not as widespread as some might think but there is no question that we expect people to be adults, to understand the consequences of their decisions. I have been very clear with people that if it happens again there will be significant consequences associated with it, Ritter said.

By mid-afternoon Wednesday, state Rep. Robin Comey, D-Branford, in a statement, apologized for an incident last Thursday in which she participated in a debate on an early childhood bill, losing her place and forgetting her chain of thought.

I suddenly and unexpectedly began to feel unwell, Comey said. This was due to several factors, including anxiety, exhaustion, and, regrettably, the wine I had with dinner. In an abundance of caution, I did not drive home and remained in Hartford until the following morning. This type of behavior is not typical for me. I take full responsibility for my error in judgment.

She apologized to her constituents.

Ritter said excessive partying seems to be a bipartisan phenomenon.

I have spoken to the people that I believe I need to speak to, Ritter said. They need to answer to their constituents with their responses to these questions.

Ritter described the variety of enforcement actions could range from the removal of individual committee assignments. I would just say there are a lot of different ways in which members could be disciplined for their actions, he said. I dont think well get there.

Ritter noted that with the building closed to the public in the pandemic and the ability of lawmakers to vote from their offices, the temptations to party could be exacerbated. Rojas concurred.

I know all my colleagues regardless of party affiliation take this job really seriously and they understand the responsibility we have to each other, to the institution and to the public, Rojas said. I think its important to clarify that these are the exceptions and not any kind of norm. Just because they are exceptions doesnt make it any more acceptable, but I dont want the public to think that this is whats happening on any kind of regular basis in the Capitol.

Gov. Ned Lamont, commenting on the issue later on Wednesday, warned lawmakers about the dangers of excess.

Yeah, be careful, Lamont told reporters after a news conference on federal funding. Be careful. Youre in the publics house. Youre in the peoples house. Respect that.

But he acknowledged traditions of adult beverages in offices and late-night tippling while the House and Senate focus on individual pieces of legislation. Lamont accepted the reality and put it in context with a quip.

If it helps us get to a budget a little faster and get an honestly balanced budget signed on time so we can get this state moving forward, Ill wink at it, Lamont said.
The state House gave final passage Tuesday to a sweeping measure that declares racism a public health crisis in Connecticut and would trigger a deeper exploration of the effects racism has on public health.

The 114-33 vote caps a year of pleas from advocates and activists to adopt the declaration at the state level. Twenty-one Connecticut municipalities have already declared racism a health crisis and are taking steps to fight it.

As early as last summer, advocates had called on Gov. Ned Lamont to issue a declaration, though the governor said any changes he made through executive order would be limited in duration. Proponents have also implored the legislature to address the matter.

This is an important step to redress the health inequities that are impacting people of color in Connecticut. This is the start of systemic change and not symbolic change, said Tekisha Dwan Everette, executive director of the nonprofit Health Equity Solutions, which has been pressing for the declaration at the state level and tracking communities that adopt it. We applaud the General Assembly for their clear action  and we urge the governor to sign the bill.

The bill approved Tuesday requires better data collection on race and ethnicity in health care, mandates that hospitals conduct implicit bias training for employees who provide direct care to pregnant or postpartum women, requires that the public health commissioner study the development of a recruitment and retention program for state health care workers who are people of color and directs the health department to explore whether to create a certification process for doulas.

Racism is difficult to tackle because it essentially is known to require the redistribution of power, wealth and resources, Rep. Anthony Nolan, a Democrat from New London, said Tuesday.

The measure also establishes a gun intervention and prevention advisory committee to consult with community groups, victim service providers, researchers and others and to identify strategies for reducing gun violence. The panel would be required to submit a report on its findings and recommendations by Jan. 1, 2022.

The proposal received overwhelming support among Democrats but divided Republicans, with 22 voting for it and 32 voting against it. Only one Democrat, Rep. Kerry Wood of Rocky Hill, voted in opposition.

Racism is difficult to tackle, because it essentially is known to require the redistribution of power, wealth and resources, said Rep. Anthony Nolan, a Democrat from New London. So when talking about something as such, there will be a feeling of strong opposition. And there will be a feeling of fear, because we are equalizing the world for those who are not given equality. That doesnt mean youre losing out on anything. It just means youre allowing those who have been held back, stopped and forgotten to get  what many others have.

Under the bill, a commission on racial equity in public health would be formed to examine the impact of racism on vulnerable populations within diverse groups  including on the basis of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability, including, but not limited to, Black American descendants of slavery. The panel would be required to submit a report to the states Office of Policy and Management and to the Public Health and Appropriations committees by Jan. 1, 2022 and every six months thereafter outlining recommendations and documenting progress.

The data collection initiative requires state agencies, boards and commissions that gather demographic information on race, ethnicity, language or ancestry in the context of health care to:

Collect the data in a way that allows for aggregation and disaggregation;

Provide the option of selecting one or more ethnic or racial designations and include an other designation with the ability to write in identities not represented;

Collect primary language data using codes set by the International Organization for Standardization;

Make sure, in cases where data concerning a persons race or ethnicity is reported to any other state agency, board or commission, that such data is neither tabulated nor reported without the information on race or ethnicity.

Racism is deeply embedded throughout our systems, policies and culture, said Rep. Brandon McGee, D-Hartford. While the national and international protests in response to the murders of - just to name two of many - George Floyd and Breonna Taylor initially spurred declarations throughout this country and even here in the state of Connecticut, racism has been a public health crisis since the founding of this country; not just last week, and not just throughout the summer of 2020.

Several Republicans took issue with the bill. Some disagreed with the underlying premise that racism is a public health crisis. Others opposed small sections of the measure, including one that states the commission on racial equity should issue recommendations in a litany of areas, such as the impact of zoning restrictions on the creation of housing disparities and these disparities impact on public health.

Its true that theres only one little portion of [the bill] that mentioned zoning. But that one little portion opens the door to a study with regard to virtually every aspect of zoning in this state, said Rep. Doug Dubitsky, R-Chaplin. That should have gone through the Planning and Development Committee. Theres been plenty of discussion all session about zoning, about disparities in zoning and about what to do about it. Thats where this discussion should have been.

An amendment seeking to strip language about zoning from the bill failed.

Rep. Kimberly Fiorello, a Greenwich Republican, argued against the proposals central premise that racism exists in Connecticut.

Im very concerned about this bill that comes out straightforwardly saying that all of us - everyone here, our whole state - has to accept as fact that racism, which is to judge people by their skin color, by their ethnicity, that that is blatantly happening everywhere in public health in this state, she said. Youre asking us to accept something that is not true.  Im sorry to tell you, but you can write it in the skies and it still wont be true. Because the people of Connecticut do not go around judging each other based on their skin. I dont know one person that does that. This is very cynical, and this is not what I stand for in our state.

Rep. Geraldo Reyes, D-Waterbury, shared his own experience with racism.

I have to tell you that as a person of color and a person who has actually, firsthand, received racism as a normal [thing], especially when I was growing up in a community that didnt look like I am - we would be remiss to say that things in this state are not racist, he said. We would be missing the boat completely. Our family came here in the 1950s. And I listened to my grandmothers story about the racist things she went through and what she tried to do to make sure that my mother and all of us didnt have to feel the same wrath that she did.

I grew up poor. I can tell you how redlining works, because  I was moved out not once, not twice, but three times because of redlining.

The bill also mandates that the Department of Public Health undertake a review of the states response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A report on the findings would be due to the legislatures Public Health Committee by Feb. 1, 2022 and should include recommendations for policy changes, for improvements in the administration of mass vaccinations, for the utilization of personal protective gear during a public health emergency, for the care of patients, and for conducting outbreak investigations.

The measure cleared the Senate last month. It now heads to Lamont for a signature.
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP)  Terry McAuliffe's opponents in the Democratic nomination contest for Virginia governor sought to make the case during a debate Tuesday that he wont energize voters in November, while the frontrunning former governor focused on his record and GOP nominee Glenn Youngkin.

Democratic voters need a nominee who will excite and expand" the base, said state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, one of McAuliffes four primary opponents. Its not enough to give someone something to vote against.

The televised, hour-long debate at Christopher Newport University in Newport News was the fourth and final one before next week's primary. Republicans, who will be looking this fall to break a more than decade-long losing streak in statewide elections, picked their nominees for this year's three statewide races during an unassembled convention in May.

McAuliffe, who is widely seen as the Democratic frontrunner, is seeking another term after holding the office from 2014-2018.

In addition to McClellan, also seeking the nomination are: former Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and Del. Lee Carter. Each went after McAuliffe directly at various points in the debate.

For his part, McAuliffe avoided attacking his opponents and generally avoided sharp rebuttals to their attacks, instead focusing on his accomplishments while in office, including his record on job creation and his work to revive the Port of Virginia. He promised if elected again to create the nation's best economy and education system.

He went after Youngkin, a businessman and political newcomer, calling him an extreme right-wing Republican and loyalist to former President Donald Trump who would end abortion access and loosen gun laws.

Carter, a Marine veteran, self-described socialist and member of the Virginia House running well to the left of the rest of the field, criticized McAuliffe for invoking the Republicans so often.

We cant just be a party that is opposed to the other guys," he said. "We have to fight for something."

McAuliffe responded by pointing to his numerous, lengthy policy proposals.

If I tell you I'm going to do something, I promise you I'm going to do it," he said.

Carroll Foy, a former state delegate who resigned to focus on her bid for governor, sought to convey a message of empathy with working Virginians, saying she's been in their shoes and would fight for them.

Most of us have legislative successes, but I have the lived experience  working multiple minimum wage jobs just to get by, being unable to afford the high cost of healthcare, living in communities that have been redlined, she said.

She described Youngkin and McAuliffe as wealthy, out-of-touch millionaire politicians.

During a question about institutional racism, McAuliffe said it was a topic impossible to address in the 30 allotted seconds, though he gave several examples from his policy platform specifically titled Lifting up Black Virginians, including improving access to capital and reducing education disparities.

Fairfax, who spoke next, disagreed that the question required a lengthy answer. He then went on to address the fact that McAuliffe faces three Black opponents in the race - Carroll Foy and McClellan in addition to him - saying: When African Americans are shut out of opportunities repeatedly it sends a signal to people about what our system truly values and who truly has the opportunity to succeed in our society."

McClellan used her answers to make the case that she has both the policy experience and fresh perspective to excite voters in November, and she told the audience she wants to restore Virginians' belief in the ability of government to solve problems.

People call a state government agency or a state government official to solve a problem. And if we are not prepared to solve the problem because we have let our systems atrophy then we are the problem," she said during an answer to a question about the failure of the Virginia Employment Commission to promptly respond to more complex unemployment claims.

Youngkin shared his take on the debate with a thread on Twitter, highlighting points of agreement with each opponent's attacks against McAuliffe.

He said the former governor was clearly struggling to earn the confidence of his party or demonstrate that he has a firm grasp of the facts.

Virginia and New Jersey are the only states holding gubernatorial elections this year, and only Virginia has an open seat. Gov. Ralph Northam, like all Virginia governors, is prohibited from seeking a second consecutive term.

The Commonwealths off-year elections typically draw outsized national attention as a test of the strengths and trendlines for both parties leading in the midterms.

The primary is June 8, and early voting is already under way.
Last week I asked for your thoughts on Connecticut. Wow. Your comments poured in  loving, cranky, funny. So, as promised, Ive crammed in as many as I can here. Please keep sending (25 words and under to opinion@hearstmediact.com), and well Part 2 next week.

I love the Land of Steady Habits. But I have heard the following:

How many Connecticut people does it take to change a light bulb?

Whaddya mean CHANGE?

Jeremy Paul, Newton, Mass.

Connecticut:

Where all four seasons resonate

And friendly folks congregate.

The place where I happily call home

The beautiful setting for this little poem.

Bonnie K. Goldberg, Hamden

Connecticut: Worshiping Muffy and Biff since the Mayflower.

Joy Haenlein, Niantic

Its close to New York City.

Susan Israel, New Haven

If you like wildfires, earthquakes, locust plagues, flooding, constant tornadoes, unending 100-degree summers, go somewhere else.

John Hedden, North Haven

Death by taxes.

Linda Tofolowsky, formerly of Stafford Springs

As my late father often said when I was bored as a child: Son, you live in a part of the country where other folks go for vacation.

W. David LeVasseur, Clinton

I love that everybody is generally educated and not ignorant like in the Stupid Belt.

Bob Englehart, Middletown

I love how compact the state is, allowing those who desire the opportunity to experience it.

Luis Edgardo Cotto, Cambridge, Mass.

My Constitution State haiku:

Though Ive never been

I can spell Connecticut.

That is good enough

Bill Perkins, Dothan, Ala.

Not proud enough of itself, but sometimes too proud.

Looking past its obvious problems, but not seeing enough good, either.

My beautiful, green, complicated home.

John Dankosky, Winsted

I love living in Hartford, which has extraordinary diversity. I hate living in the most segregated state in the country because so many people love their homogeneous, boring communities.

Suzanne Hopgood, Hartford

Live Well or Die. I came up with this line when I was creative director for a Hartford ad agency. It got me on Channel 3.

Terrence McCarthy, Carolina Shores, N.C.

Hour and a half to a Sox game. Two hours to a Yanks game. And in Hartford, a 10-minute commute to work.

Barnaby Horton, Hartford

If Aristotle were a 21st-century American, he would settle in Connecticut, think and write in peace, and live the golden mean.

Mary Ann Lawlor, Stamford

In modern parlance, our state motto is Where the Immigrant Prospers. I think it is the best state motto in the country. And it is mostly true.

Kip Bergstrom, Old Saybrook

I love how He Who Is Transplanted Still Sustains (another translation of the state motto Qui Transtulit Sustinet). I was transplanted. I sustained.

Susan Dunne, Hartford

The state whose motto is, Hey, were still here.

G.A. Richter, Meriden

Like watching your mother slowly die from dementia.

Jim Albert, Murrells Inlet, S.C.

Connecticut is like my brother: I love him  for good reason  but I dont always like him  for good reason. But in the end, we are stuck with each other.

Marilyn Rossetti, Hartford

Once I actually got to know people here, I had overbearingly present friends. Its nearly impossible to do anything stupid here without someone immediately intervening.

Lora Rae Anderson, Enfield

Connecticut welcomed me with open arms 40 years ago, a refugee from six years in NYC. I have thrived with hard work and great people.

Frank Bradley, New Britain

Connecticut is like an inside joke. You dont get it if you havent lived here.

Rhonda Spaziani, Gales Ferry

Just when I cant endure heat and humidity one second longer, here comes winter. Just when I cant stand freezing one second longer, here comes summer.

Lorna Nichols Hosley, Enfield

So much so close. The perfect jumping-off point for 1,001 dives into magical adventures here and in neighboring states.

Bill Hosley, Enfield

One April, I was able to ski in the morning with the kids and we jumped in the Sound by late afternoon. Where else can you do that?

Beth Bye, West Hartford

Here, people care, sometimes too much. Thats how you feel about home and explains all the quietly beautiful places weve carved out here over time.

Scott Healy, West Haven

In spite of the naysayers, Connecticut has a good quality of life compared to many other states and is, I am proud to say, by and large a compassionate place to live.

Bernie Sullivan, former Hartford police chief, now retired in Glastonbury

Its not that were provincial, but when someone tells you theyre from west of the river, we ask: Which one? It matters.

Brian Flaherty, Watertown

Carolyn Lumsden is opinion editor for Hearst Connecticut Media.
Milton, PA (17847)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with numerous thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 78F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies. Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 62F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
Some 900,000 military reservists took just 17 hours to book their Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccination on Monday.

Bookings were taken online on a first-come-first-served basis.

The U.S. is supplying 1 million Janssen vaccines for reservists over 30 here, and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said 800,000 people had booked by 3:30 p.m. on Monday and another 100,000 an hour later. The remainder will be set aside for other recipients for now.

The vaccines arrive in Korea on this Saturday aboard a U.S. military airplane and inoculations take place from June 10 to 20.


Pest Control Employee Charged with Jewelry Theft

By West Kentucky Star Staff

BENTON - A man who worked for a local pest control business has been arrested on a theft charge.A Marshall County Sheriff's Detective began investigating May 14 after someone reported three rings had been taken from a box in her bedroom. The victim said there had been no forced entry to the home.On Tuesday, detectives said they believe Jason D. Stanley, who was an employee of a local pest control business, had recently been in the home for a routine bug treatment.After an interview with Stanley, he was arrested and charged with theft by unlawful taking of items valued between $500 and $10,000.
Ashtabula, OH (44004)

Today

A shower or two around the area in the morning, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. High 76F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

A few clouds overnight. Low 59F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
A 43-year-old man, wanted nationally and internationally, was found and detained in the Italian town of Latina.

He evaded the pre-trial arrest warrant issued against him, for committing the crimes of attempting to determine a murder, respectively non-compliance with the arms and ammunition regime.

"Investigations revealed that on September 10, 2019, the man allegedly tried to persuade other people to shoot a journalist from an online publication as revenge for the compromising articles written by the media representative at his address", informs a release of the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police (IGPR) sent on Wednesday to agerpres.He also allegedly handed over to a person, in order to use in aggression, a firearm, in working order, and promised that, in the event of fulfilling his request, he would financially reward the aggressors and he would have given away the gun.The man was detained, and the extradition procedure was initiated in favor of the Romanian authorities."The investigative activities were carried out by the policemen of the Criminal Investigations Directorate and of the Criminal Investigation Service within the Timis County Police Inspectorate," the same source shows.The exchange of data with the Italian authorities was carried out through the SIRENE Romania Office, respectively the Office of the Italian Internal Affairs Attache.
The committee of leaders of the parliamentary groups in the Senate decided that the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR)'s proposal to invite Florin Citu, on June 7, at the Prime Minister's Hour, to the debate in the Upper House of the Parliament on "Government's Privatization Policy in the short and medium term "be transmitted to the Government for harmonization with the Prime Minister's agenda.

"Pursuant to the provisions of Article 182 of the Senate Rules of Procedure, we request you to inform the Prime Minister of the Romanian Government, Mr. Florin Vasile Citu, so that he participates on Monday, June 7, during the Prime Minister's Hour, in the debate on Government's Privatization Policy in the short and medium term," shows the request of the AUR parliamentary group, reports agerpres.
Prime Minister Florin Citu said that in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) the Government has created more transparency in the way they will make the assumed reforms, "which Romanians need for years".

"Another important thing that we have in PNRR is also related to today's recommendation of the Commission, the reform component, again very debated in the public space. Something that we all in the political class know is that Romania needs reforms, and in PNRR, we have created more transparency in the way we will make these reforms. We have set those clear boundaries: until what date we will we have reform X, until what date we will we have reform Y and so on," Florin Citu said on Wednesday at Victoria Palace.

The head of the Executive referred, first of all, to the reform of the pension system.

"We want to have a pension system based on contribution and sustainable, something that no one can deny in Romania and with which all political actors and all Romanians agree. And we will do this," the prime minister said.

He also mentioned the reform of the judiciary.

"We are repairing what others have ruined in recent years, (...) and this is in the PNRR," he added.

The prime minister also pointed out the reform of state-owned companies.

"Another problem we have been struggling with for years - the waste of public money, the siphoning of public money through state-owned companies and this will stop," Citu said.

At the same time, the prime minister also spoke about the salary reform in the public sector.

"A salary system in the public sector, where we will directly and transparently link performance to the income of those who work there," Citu added.

The head of the Executive also said that, through PNRR, the Government ensures that the money coming through this program will reach all "corners of Romania".
The Minister of National Defence, Nicolae Ciuca, participated on Wednesday in the third edition of the Atlantic - Back Sea Security Forum, with the theme "Democratic Security and Resilience in the Era of Great Power Competition", an event organized by the Aspen Romania Institute, in partnership with the "German Marshall Fund of the US" office in Bucharest.

"The Romanian official discussed the establishment and hosting on the Romanian territory of the Euro-Atlantic Center for Resilience, whose contribution, in his opinion, will be an essential one and will generate a new dimension of the strategic conception of our country", reads a Ministry of National Defence's release.

According to the quoted source, the defence minister reiterated the fact that Romania attaches a major importance to the implementation of the allied decisions, adopted within the NATO forums, with an impact on the security of the region of which it is part.

In his speech, the Romanian dignitary also stressed the fact that the developments in the field of defence at the level of the European Union must take place in full complementarity with the steps taken at the level of the North Atlantic Alliance.

"There is a need for practical cooperation and coordination between the EU and NATO. We cannot talk about European security without the involvement of all partners and strategic allies. Areas such as resilience, propaganda, cyber defense can be significantly exploited under the umbrella of NATO-EU cooperation," said the minister.

The release also states that, in the context of preparing the agenda for the June 14 NATO Summit, during which the heads of state and government of NATO member states will discuss and adopt decisions on the future of the Alliance, Nicolae Ciuca expressed support for the prospects and the decisional coordinates subsumed to the NATO 2030 process, as a premise for the further adaptation of the collective position of discouragement and defense to the present and future security requirements. At the same time, the minister stressed the importance of consolidating NATO's presence on the entire eastern flank, as well as ensuring adequate common resources to meet the objectives subsumed by the level of ambition of the Alliance, reports agerpres.
Minister of National Defense Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca expressed on Tuesday at the Meeting of NATO Defence Ministers, in video-conferencing format, in preparation for the June 14 NATO Summit, the consistent support for the NATO 2030 initiative, for the related perspectives and decision-making coordinates, as a fundamental effort to adapt the Alliance to current and future security coordinates and requirements, globally and regionally, in order to strengthen the political dimension of the Alliance, strengthen its role as a key player in managing the challenges of competition among the great powers, as well as maintaining its military capability, agerpres reports.

According to the Ministry of National Defense (MApN), the Romanian official stressed the importance of implementing concepts and approaches dedicated to the planning construct and ensuring the collective response in the Euro-Atlantic space as a facilitator of NATO strategic objectives, including on the eastern flank and in the Black Sea region. The mid-June summit of the Alliance will play a central role in stimulating efforts in this regard. Against this background, the minister of National Defense mentioned the support for the subsumed perspective to facilitate an appropriate force structure for achieving the collective objectives of deterrence and defense. At the same time, he highlighted the need to ensure the necessary resources to meet these objectives, says the release.

Additionally, Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca emphasized the importance of ensuring strategic resilience as a fundamental attribute of the credibility of the Alliance's position and collective capacity."Romania's commitment to this component is important, including through the establishment of the Euro-Atlantic Center for Resilience in Bucharest, and we invite our allies to participate in its development," the Romanian official said, according to the cited source.The Minister of National Defense also stressed the need to implement a focused, coherent and coordinated approach as regards the support granted to NATO partners, especially in relation to the capability and training development component, in a manner fully related to specific security challenges and risks.Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca highlighted, under the comprehensive approach on the Alliance's security, the importance and support for the NATO initiative aimed at stimulating innovation at Allied level, aimed at the new technologies component. At the same time, he reiterated Romania's commitment to the three dimensions of ensuring the fair sharing of responsibilities (financial resources, capabilities, contributions), highlighting the overcoming, in 2021, in a difficult context caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, of the established percentage parameters at Allied level on the defence financial allocations component.
Multiple Charges For Fulton Driver

By West Kentucky Star Staff

FULTON - A Fulton man was arrested Saturday night after a traffic stop.The Fulton Police Department said an officer spotted a vehicle leaving a gas station on Thedford Street, and was already aware that the registration plate did not match the vehicle. After confirming that information, he pulled over the car and spoke to the driver, 60-year-old Greg C. Watts.As the driver explained why he was using a plate from another vehicle he owned, the officer said he saw an open beer can and open bottle of whiskey in the back seat. Watts said he had been drinking earlier in the day, and a breathalyzer test did not show he was under the influence.Police learned Watts had outstanding warrants for his arrest from Graves County. He was arrested on the warrants, and on charges of possession of an open alcoholic beverage in a vehicle, using an illegal or altered registration plate, failure to maintain insurance, and driving on a revoked or suspended driver's license.Watts was taken to Fulton County Detention Center.
The European Commission on Wednesday recommended a Council recommendation for the correction of Romania's excessive deficit by 2024.

Since 2020, Romania, unlike other member states, has been subject to the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP), to be reassessed this spring. On April 3, 2020, the Council adopted Decision (EU) 2020/5095 on the existence of an excessive deficit situation in Romania due to non-compliance with the deficit criterion in 2019. The excess over the 3% of GDP Treaty reference value was the result of a continuous build-up of fiscal imbalances due to an expansionary fiscal policy since 2016, in a period of strong economic growth.

According to the Romanian government's convergence plan for 2021, the medium-term fiscal-budgetary policy is geared towards the gradual reduction of the government budget and structural deficit without endangering the prospects for economic recovery. The budget approved for 2021 with a budget deficit level of 8% of GDP (in ESA terms) ensures an adjustment of 1.2 percentage points compared to 2020. In the medium term, a significant reduction in the budget deficit of approximately 6.3 percentage points is estimated by 2024, given a significant decrease in government expenditure as a percentage of GDP and a slight increase in revenues.

Also, the fiscal consolidation path is reflected in structural terms starting with 2021, when the structural deficit is estimated at 7.6% of GDP, falling to 3.6% of GDP in 2024, which generates an adjustment of about 4 percentage points over the medium term.

In its recommendation issued Wednesday by the European Commission, Romania should target a government deficit of 8% of GDP in 2021, 6.2% of GDP in 2022, 4.4% of GDP in 2023 and 2.9 % of GDP in 2024, which corresponds to an annual structural adjustment of 0.7% of GDP in 2021, 1.8% of GDP in 2022, 1.7% of GDP in 2023 and 1.5% of GDP in 2024 .

The European Commission also argues that Romania should fully implement the measures already adopted for 2021. In addition, it should implement additional measures that are necessary to be able to correct its excessive deficit by 2024. Budget consolidation measures should be implemented to ensure a sustainable correction in a way that does not harm economic growth, and any gains should be used to reduce the government deficit.

The European Commission recommends the introduction of an October 15, 2021 deadline by which Romania can take action and communicate its strategy for achieving its targets. Subsequently, Romania should communicate its progress with implementing this recommendation at least once every six months, until the excessive deficit has been corrected, according to the European Commission.
The fact that the desire to vaccinate has dropped in the recent period represents a real reason for concern, said, on Tuesday evening, Health Minister Ioana Mihaila at private broadcaster B1TV, agerpres reports.

"The fact that the desire to get vaccinated has dropped in the recent period represents a real reason for concern. Somehow it was to be anticipated because there is a percentage, a part of the population that desired vaccines and ended up getting vaccinated, there is a part of the population that needs encouragement to reach vaccination and I believe we're in that moment, in that part of the population that needs some encouragement, or the vaccine be very very close and very easily available," said the Health Minister.

She emphasized that access to the vaccine doesn't represent a problem anymore and mentioned that she started talks with Valeriu Gheorghita, chairman of the National COVID-19 Vaccination Coordination Committee (CNCAV), "to see exactly how we can move from the human resources, especially from the urban to the rural so that we increase the vaccination rate there too.""I believe that the millions (...) of people who were already vaccinated and who did not have significant adverse side effects, especially if we are speaking of these vaccines with messenger RNA, Pfizer and Moderna, I believe that data is sufficient. I don't think we have to wait for the results of studies before being convinced it's a good thing to get vaccinated," said the Health Minister.Referring to the fact that some people could be afraid of long-term effects of vaccination, the minister said that "the potential negative long-term effects of the vaccine" need to be put in the balance.
President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday said that joining the Schengen Area "remains a major political goal for Romania," although the health crisis has seriously affected the Area.

"With regard to Schengen, in the context of the health crisis and the measures taken by some Member States, the functionality of the Schengen area has obviously been seriously affected. However, accession to the Schengen Area remains a major political objective for Romania and is part of the commitment that our country has assumed through the Treaty of Accession to the EU," said the head of state at the debate "Let's talk about the future of Europe," in which he participated online.

Moreover, he underlined that "Romania meets the necessary criteria for over ten years, being an example in terms of ensuring security for the European Union."

"We hope that our consistent efforts will be recognized soon and a solution to complete the process will be found in a timely manner. At the same time, joining the Eurozone is one of Romania's key medium-term goals," he said.

According to Iohannis, "Romania's membership in both the Schengen Area and the Eurozone is an important step in consolidating our participation in the essence of the European project."

"The effects of the pandemic crisis have shown certain shortcomings in areas where further efforts are needed to have better mechanisms in both Schengen and the Eurozone. From this perspective, Romania intends to play an active role in all efforts to in order to solve these problems," the President also said.

The debate, which was also attended by the President of the EPP Group, Manfred Weber, and the MEP Siegfried Mureriedan, was organized by the Group of the European People's Party (EPP) in the European Parliament.
Romania's largest ever museum exhibition abroad, 'Archaeological treasures of Romania. Dacian and Roman roots', will open in September at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, the Culture Ministry informs, agerpres reports.

Culture Minister Bogdan Gheorghiu met on Tuesday in Madrid with his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Rodriguez Uribes, as the two countries organize this year public and cultural diplomacy events on the 140th anniversary of Romanian-Spanish diplomatic relations.

"The efforts made by the Romanian Embassy in Madrid to coordinate the dialogue between the Spanish and Romanian authorities and facilitate the necessary steps for the organization of the largest ever Romanian museum exhibition abroad - 'Archaeological treasures of Romania. Dacian and Roman roots' were emphasized in this context," the Ministry said.The exhibition will be curated by the National History Museum of Romania."I visited today the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid to make sure that the organization of the largest ever out-of-country Romanian museum exhibition is going as planned. Over 40 museums across the country have contributed the 764 of exhibits that will go on display at the 'Archaeological treasures of Romania. Dacian and Roman roots' exhibition which will be inaugurated in September, under the High Patronage of the President of Romania, His Excellency Klaus Iohannis, and of His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain," Minister Bogdan Gheorghiu stated in a Facebook post on Tuesday.According to the Culture Ministry, the talks of the two top officials highlighted the excellent stage of the bilateral relationship between the two countries, at the level of Strategic Partnership, as well as the common desire for sustained cooperation at bilateral and EU level, with a highlight on the completion of the text of the Culture Memorandum of Understanding, which will be signed at the first joint meeting of the two governments.Also, the sides decided to intensify experience exchanges, particularly as regards legislation on heritage restoration and protection, in correlation with the promotion of infrastructure investments, given Spain's extensive experience in the field.In a European context, the two ministers discussed the Romanian and Spanish National Recovery and Resilience Plans, with Bogdan Gheorghiu mentioning Romania's emphasis on the recovery of the pandemic-stricken cultural sector, and on promoting cultural routes.At the end of the meeting, which was also attended by Romania's ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain, Gabriela Dancau, the Spanish Minister of Culture accepted the invitation of his counterpart to visit Romania.
The Senate adopted, on Wednesday, a bill by which November 15 is declared the Day of the Anti-Communist Revolt in Brasov in 1987.

The bill, initiated by parliamentarians from PNL, supported by those from USR PLUS and a PSD deputy, is argued by the fact that "without the revolt of November 15, 1987, the events of December 22, 1989, probably, would not have been possible. The anti-communist protesters of November 15, 1987 showed that it was possible to oppose the communist dictatorship. For this reason, the Day of the Anti-Communist Revolt in Brasov in 1987 is relevant and should be honored every year, on November 15."
Finding solutions for obtaining a stable operating environment on the generic medicines market was the topic of Wednesday's meeting of the chairman of the Senate's Health Committee, Adrian Streinu-Cercel, with the members of the Association of Generic Medicines Producers (APMGR).

The participants in the meeting pointed out that Romania does not benefit from all the advantages of using generic medicines, they have a lower share in volume and value than other EU countries and that our country they would be on the last place in an analysis that included Hungary, Germany, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Poland, both as a share in volume and as a value of generic medicines, shows a press release sent on Wednesday.

In this context, the representatives of generic drug producers asked the members of the Health Committee to analyze the situation created by the fact that the clawback tax would raise major operating problems for generic drug producers.

From the point of view of producers, the entry of generic drugs on the market can be considered an essential factor for reducing costs and increasing patients' access to this type of medication, highlighting the fact that the launches of generic drugs in 2015-2019 have generated cost savings of 347 million euros.

The representatives of APMGR showed that generic medicines enter the market with an average price 40% lower than the price of the original medicine and generate in a 4 years from the launch a decrease of the price of the original medicine of 51%.

The speakers pointed out that generic medicines/biosimilar medicines lead to increased access of patients in Romania to medicines that sometimes need to be administered for a long time.

In the next 3-4 weeks, APMGR members will present a consolidated material on this topic to the Health Committee for analysis and debate
However, experts agree tuition-free programs will still require borrowers to take on debt to cover living expenses  on or off campus.

I dont think its a terrible idea, but I dont think its a game changer, Akers says, adding she thinks expanding existing Pell Grant programs could have a stronger effect on affordability.

Expand Pell Grants

Pell Grants originally covered around 80% of college costs, but today they cover less than 28%, according to The Institute for College Access and Success.

Lawmakers and experts say Pell Grants, targeted to low-income students, should be doubled from their current maximum of $6,495 to better meet the cost of college for students with financial need.

The program is super well-targeted, says Streeter of TICAS. Even if you were to double the maximum grant, that targeting is still in place, and I think thats why it is so popular and has a lot of bipartisan support.

Advocates also argue eligibility should extend up the income ladder to include students in middle-income brackets who still need financial aid.

___
Livingston County so far this year had been seeing zero to two new cases a day until May 12, when it had seven. The county began seeing double digits on May 18. About 25% of diagnostic tests are coming back positive, said the countys health director, Sherry Weldon.

Weldon pointed to many of the same reasons for the uptick as Neblock, but she also issued a press release Tuesday warning that the U.K. variant of the virus  which makes up most of the cases in the U.S.  as well as a variant circulating in hard-hit India have both been found in Livingston County.

Both variants are more contagious, but research so far shows vaccines are effective against them.

Everyone in this county from individuals to businesses and places of worship should be ultra-vigilant about prevention measures at this time, Weldon stated. We need to go back to what we were doing at the beginning of the pandemic to slow the spread of this virus.

After a weekend of Memorial Day holiday get-togethers, the directors say they are unsure what the future will bring.

Every week we are just hoping it will go down and we havent experienced that yet, Weldon said. You just keep waiting and hoping.
Kenya Kimbrough first taught me about the Springfield lynchings and the Tulsa massacre a couple of decades ago. She was a civil rights activist in Columbia, Missouri, and was giving me a tour of the Jewell Cemetery, which she often did for schoolchildren.

The cemetery is a state historic site in Missouri and it tells a forgotten story, with large prominent headstones for the white people, including a former governor, and then an area of unmarked stones in the back, for the Black people who were enslaved by them.

History repeats itself in America, Kimbrough told me, in part because we dont teach the true stories of what happened here in the first place.

So it has been with Tulsa for 100 years.

The commemorations, though, will be meaningless 100 years from now if we dont put them in the context of our times. These days, all over the country, state legislatures controlled by white Republicans are debating various bills that would ban the teaching of history in public schools as told from the Black perspective, such as in Nikole Hannah-Jones Pulitzer Prize-winning The 1619 Project in The New York Times.
JEFFERSON CITY  A Missouri prosecutor on Wednesday said shes disappointed the state Supreme Court wont hear the case of a Kansas City man imprisoned for more than 40 years for a triple murder that prosecutors say he didnt commit.

Missouri Supreme Court judges on Tuesday denied 61-year-old Kevin Stricklands case without providing an explanation.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker in response said her office is pursuing all avenues of exoneration for Mr. Strickland. Stricklands lawyers, including Midwest Innocence Project attorneys, said in a statement that they plan to refile his petition in circuit court.

This denial is just one more procedural barrier the system throws up in front of innocent people, they said. There is no doubt that Mr. Strickland is innocent and every court should have the power to set him free.

Strickland, who will turn 62 on Monday, was 18 when he was arrested. Prosecutors say the case was thin from its inception, resting almost entirely on the dubious identification of a traumatized shooting victim. Prosecutors said they wouldnt charge Strickland with any crimes if the same case was before them today.
ST. LOUIS  A caretaker for several chimpanzees at a facility near Festus is defiant in the face of a court order this week that says she must turn over all of the chimps to an animal rights group.

Tonia Haddix said she has no plans to comply with the order, which says she repeatedly failed to follow a consent decree signed with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in which she agreed to give up four chimps. She was allowed to keep three, but only in a facility built to specific standards with a full-time chimpanzee caregiver, a part-time maintenance worker and experienced volunteers.

Haddix told the Post-Dispatch on Tuesday that one chimp, 38-year-old Tonka, died over the weekend, likely of a heart attack or stroke. She called it a great loss to everybody here, and said, He definitely was my favorite.

Tonka was one of the three chimps that were to stay with Haddix at a new facility in Missouri, while the four others remained near Festus, with Haddix providing for their care.
Where to get help

If you or someone you know might be at risk of suicide, here are ways to help:

Call 1-800-273-8255 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. It provides free and confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week for people in suicidal crisis or distress. You can also call 1-800-273-8255 to talk to someone about how you can help a person in crisis. Call 1-866-488-7386 for the TrevorLifeline, a suicide prevention counseling service for the LGBTQ community.

Text HOME to 741741 to have a confidential text conversation with a trained crisis counselor from Crisis Text Line. Counselors are available 24/7.

For crisis support in Spanish, call 1-888-628-9454.
MIAMI (AP)  Grammy-nominated rapper DaBaby was detained for questioning in a shooting that wounded two people in Miami and later released, officials said Tuesday. Police said two suspects are now charged in the case.

Jonathan Kirk, DaBaby's legal name, was one of many people being questioned by officials on Tuesday, Miami Beach police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez said in a news release. Rodriguez had said earlier that several possible suspects were detained. He later noted that Kirk had been let go.

According to arrest reports, Wisdom Awute, 21, and Christopher Urena, 29, both face charges of attempted first-degree murder with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault. Urena also faces charges of grand theft and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

The shooting wrapped up a violent Memorial Day weekend in the Miami area.

Police received multiple 911 calls reporting the shooting just after 11:30 p.m. Monday. Officers found one person struck in the shoulder and another in the leg. Both were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital. Police have not released the identities of those wounded. One was treated at a hospital and released, while the second remains in the hospital in critical condition.
As we age, we feel there is a disconnect sometimes that can happen when there is a lack of mobility," Brickler said. "We can't travel as much as we want, we can't connect with nature as much as we want, can't have connections with animals. All sorts of connections get lost and our four walls start shrinking in. What we have tried to do is create a platform where we can bring the world back.

Monica McAfee, John Knox's chief marketing and innovation officer, said the community's administrators believe VR helps residents  it's been used on a limited basis there for three years  but Stanford's study will provide the empirical data. For example, she said, they want to know if VR can help residents with dementia who suffer from sundowning  severe mood downswings that begin at dusk.

Is this a way to redirect them to enjoy something? she said.

Northern Ohio University associate philosophy professor Erica Neely, who studies the ethics of technology, said it's important that Stanford is getting fully informed consent, screening participants and making sure they aren't using VR alone, especially at first. She is not involved in the study.

We definitely dont want anyone to get stuck in the experience if they become distressed and cant figure out how to turn it off, she said. The fact that there is a companion/caretaker who can go with (the participant) is utter genius. ... The idea of Well, we dont necessarily have people with diminished capacities wandering around by themselves through physical space  maybe we can do the same for virtual space was a really good one.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
His downfall came as a result of a national financial crisis in which banks that had made reckless bets on mortgage-backed securities collapsed and investors scrambled to pull money out of the stock market.

Spooked investors started making withdrawals from Madoff's investment fund, too, but he ran out of money to give them. While his books said his fund was worth $60 billion, most of that money didn't exist. He'd never actually invested the cash clients gave him.

When clients cashed out fictitious profits, Madoff simply stole from other clients to cover withdrawals.

Picard was given the task of separating the net losers  Madoff clients who didnt cash out of their accounts  from those who did.

Over time, net losers with approved claims have quietly seen an average of 70% of their investments returned. Net winners were subjected to so-called clawbacks." Not only did they lose money they thought they had in their accounts, they had to pay back profits they had withdrawn over the years.

Those people felt as though, and rightfully so, that they had been damaged twice -- first by Madoff and then by this trustee saying give me your profit, Sheehan said.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  Democrats in the California Legislature said Tuesday they think the state will have about $20 billion more to spend over the next four years, highlighting a disagreement with Gov. Gavin Newsom about the trajectory of the state's finances as it emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.

California has an extra $76 billion to spend this year. State law says about half of it must go to public education, be put in reserves or be used to pay down debt. Newsom and state lawmakers can spend the rest of it however they want.

Newsom wants to spend most of that money on things that do not need ongoing funding  including giving $8.1 billion of it back to taxpayers in the form of rebates.

Tuesday, Democratic leaders in the state Legislature agreed to do most of the things Newsom wants. But they also committed to spending billions of dollars on programs that require ongoing spending.

Lawmakers pledged to spend about $1.3 billion giving government-funded health insurance to low-income immigrants living in the country illegally who are 50-years-old and older. They said they would spend $1.1 billion to increase the rates for state child care and preschool providers. And they agreed to give local governments $1 billion per year to combat homelessness.
Even if youre fully vaccinated, you might not want your next trip  and perhaps your first trip in over a year  to be in a packed, urban metropolis. Enter the second city trip.

Second city is a somewhat ambiguous term, but its generally used to refer to the second-most populous city in a region, state or country. Some interpret it to extend out to the third, fourth or even 10th most populous cities in an area. In short: Skip the sprawling, highly populated metropolis for a smaller, less people-dense location.

Reasons to visit a second city this year

Many travelers are skipping the big cities and opting for their smaller counterparts. A total of 69% of respondents in the March 2021 American Express Global Travel Trends report said they are interested in visiting lesser-known destinations for their upcoming vacations  and heres why you should consider them, too:

Youll avoid crowds

The most obvious reason to skip the big cities in 2021 is simply to avoid being around troves of people as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that attending events and gatherings increases your risk of getting and spreading COVID-19.

Youll help reduce overcrowding
In this March 14, 2012 file photo, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich speaks to the media outside his home in Chicago, as his wife Patti wipes away her tears a day before he was to report to a prison in Littleton,. Colo., to begin a 14-year prison sentence on corruption charges. Late Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013, prosecutors filed a 169-page response to Blagojevich's corruption conviction appeal urging the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reject the imprisoned former governors request for a new trial. PHOTO:AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File

Blagojevichs Supervised Release Ends Early

By The Associated Press

CHICAGO - A federal judge has put an early end to the two-year period of supervised release of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis on Tuesday issued an order saying, early termination of supervision is granted as to Rod Blagojevich.Ellis noted the order was agreed to by prosecutors.President Donald Trump commuted the 64-year-old Blagojevichs 14-year prison sentence in February 2020.FBI agents arrested Blagojevich in 2008 after wiretaps recorded him gushing about using his power to appoint someone to Barack Obama's old Senate seat to land a well-paid job or campaign cash and trying to shake down a childrens hospital.
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.
China has apparently decided to undertake a major operation to force the Philippines out of Pagasa Island, the second largest of the Spratly Islands and claimed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines, which is the only claimant with a settlement and military garrison on the island. The Chinese are using non-lethal (most of the time) force to drive everyone else out the South China Sea islands they claim. The last time China used force (against Vietnam) was in the 1970s, before China became dependent on the sea lanes that pass through the South China Sea to the Middle East, Africa and Australia. Since the 1980s China has become dependent on imports of raw materials from those three areas as well as exporting manufactured goods to them and the world. For China the South China Sea campaign is mainly about internal Chinese politics. China presents the South China Sea operation to Chinese as a necessary effort to regain control over lost (to Western imperialists) territory and secure Chinas economic future. Thats a lie but so far China has sold it internally to Chinese eager to regain lost glory. China realizes it cannot afford an actual war over the South China Sea, because that would most definitely disrupt Chinese foreign trade and risk permanent damage to China or even the communist government that was established in 1949 and survives only because of economic reforms that allow a market economy and increasing living standards higher than anything previously experienced by Chinese.

While the South China Sea combat is non-lethal, the economic damage to other nations with legal claims to portions of the South China Sea is very real. As this shoving match escalates, other major trading nations, especially the United States, Japan and South Korea, as well as more distant industrialized nations, are lending military support. While everyone is under orders to not open fire (unless facing a lethal threat) the risk of the shoving match turning into a shooting match increases.

For centuries Pagasa was one of several small islands in the South China Sea where fishing boats could seek shelter from rough weather, No one claimed to own it until the 20th century when France, then occupying nearby Vietnam as a colony, annexed Pagasa as part of Vietnam. During World War II Japanese troops took over Pagasa. After the French left Vietnam in the 1950s, South Vietnam claimed the island in 1963 but did not station troops on Pagasa. In 1956 a small Filipino civilian declared Pagasa a free territory but Filipino troops did not occupy the island until 1971, when Taiwan withdrew the few troops, it had on the island because of the Typhoon danger and after that the Philippines decided to send troops to build structures, docks and an airfield and those facilities continue to be improved. In 2016 the PCA (Permanent Court of Arbitration), the UN approved international court for hearing such disputes, upheld the Filipino claim and rejected the Chinese one.

In 2019 the Philippines considered declaring Pagasa and the nearby Eastern Kalayaan islands a MPA (marine protected areas). That was not done because it would involve trying to restrict lots of activity in the area in order to protect rare species. China is currently the worst offender but Filipino fishing activity was also technically violating MPA rules and would be banned as well.

According to maritime law (and recently affirmed by the PCA) these areas, which are within 200 kilometers of the Philippines (Palawan Island), are well within the Philippiness EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone, waters 380 kilometers from the coast). Although the EEZ is recognized by international law, and a treaty that China signed and uses to defend waters off its own coast, China says that does not apply here because all the islets in the South China Sea belong to China and there is no room for negotiation on that point.

China created the current crisis over who controls Pagasa Island and nearby sandbars. Since 2019 China has sent a record number of ships to block access to disputed islands, especially, Pagasa. Most of these are Chinese fishing boats pretending to be fishing but in reality, are members of the Chinese naval militia which is now composed of about a thousand ships that are paid regularly to be available when called upon to carry out paramilitary duties, usually in the South China Sea. China insists it has not ordered its naval militia fishing boats to physically block Filipino commercial or military ships from getting to Pagasa. Despite that pledge it has become more difficult for Filipino fishing boats to operate in areas they had long worked. China has been threatening to cut off access to Pagasa since 2014 but has never followed through, possibly because the Philippines has often stationed a warship off Pagasa. China claims ownership, despite Pagasa being closer to the Philippines than China and long occupied by Filipinos. Also called Thitu Island, Pagasa is the second-largest (37.2 hectares/93 acres) of the Spratly Islands and is inhabited by 200 Filipinos civilians and a few military personnel.

The Philippines has played nice with China for over a decade while also upgrading its naval and air forces. The Filipino rearmament program has been aided by American, Japanese and Australian donations of warships and aircraft as well as offers of low-cost military equipment. Because of that the Philippines now has enough warships and patrol aircraft to maintain constant patrols of disputed areas. China responds with larger (often over a hundred at a time) unarmed ships as well as a growing number of armed ships and aircraft.

May 28, 2021: The Philippines sent its 100th diplomatic protest to China over illegal Chinese actions in the South China Sea. China has ignored them all, although some result in a diplomatic protest from China. The Filipino protests have been happening nearly every day since early April when the Philippines announced it would seek a peaceful solution to the dispute over Whitsun Reef. President Duterte deliberately used the international name for the reef, which is also known 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.

May 26, 2021: In the north (near Bataan) an explosion at a government small arms ammunition production facility left two workers dead and two wounded. An external attack was not the cause, but rather an accident while handling explosive materials. Such accidents are rare in the Philippines but always a possibility as well as attacks by leftist rebels or Islamic terrorists.

May 25, 2021: In central Philippines (Bohol province) security forces found and clashed with eleven armed members of the NPA (the illegal armed wing of the local Communist Party) and killed five of them. One soldier was wounded. The NPA, along with the smaller ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) groups in the south, have been in decline for over a decade but have been active for about half a century. The end of the Cold War in 1991 and the collapse of most communist governments in Europe left the NPA without much external, or internal support and now the NPA is regarded as bandits who used to be leftist rebels.

The government announced that after three years of negotiations the contract for Turkish helicopter gunships has been signed. Initially the Philippines wanted ten T129 helicopter gunships from Turkey. The order was reduced to six gunships for about $45 million each. The first two will arrive later this year and the rest by 2022,

May 24, 2021: A British carrier strike group, including the new 65,000-ton carrier Queen Elizabeth and its escorts (including a nuclear sub) will arrive in July for joint exercises with local nations defending themselves from Chinese maritime claims. The Queen Elizabeth carries an Anglo-American air group consisting of British Fleet Air Arm and U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs.

May 11, 2021: In the south (Maguindanao province) one of the junior leaders of the Maute Group was killed. Maute is one the three Islamic terrorist groups, all now affiliated with ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) that continue to operate in the south. The largest of these is Abu Sayyaf, which is down to less than two hundred active armed members and key supporters. The remainder is split between two smaller but similar groups; BIFF (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters) and Maute Group. The government has killed or arrested eleven Maute Group members so far this year, which is one reason why the group has not been able to carry out any attacks lately.
Equidia, the first television channel in Europe dedicated to Horse Racing, has developed a Blackmagic Design live production workflow to produce and broadcast its live events.

Page 1

Central to the project was a need to modernize the video production and live broadcast capabilities at racecourses throughout France, including an upgrade from analog SD to HD.

Equidia enlisted Anjou-Image to design and build a mobile control room solution, which featured the ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K switcher, HyperDeck Studio Mini and URSA Broadcast.

"Migrating from analog to HD is a long and complex process. We've been working on this project with AMCO (Anjou Maine Centre Ouest), the regional federation of horse racing, for several years now, and we're delighted to have successfully taken these first steps," begins Pierre-Yves Maillet, CEO of Anjou-Image.

Adding: "The HD capture from Blackmagic Design has quickly proved to be the most suitable solution in terms of quality and pricing."

Philippe Foucher, Director of the AMCO Federation, says: "As a technical group, we support 33 racecourses with their video production needs, and this upgrade has expanded what we can offer. This represents nearly 250 days of filming. Anjou-Image has designed a mobile control room solution based on Blackmagic Design, allowing us to offer a premium quality service to all of our racecourses."

Modular by design, the mobile control room solution ensures more flexibility and has allowed Equidia to embrace a direct to consumer model, making races accessible online as a live stream and through their mobile app.

As part of the solution, Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4Ks have been deployed at the start line to allow race officials and the production team to review key moments in slow motion. All live video signals are routed back to and recorded using HyperDeck Studio Mini broadcast decks.

"It is common for race officials to review race action in slow motion, whether that's to control the pace in trotting races or to analyze any sudden line changes at the finish of a gallop race, for example.

"However, due to health and safety measures imposed during the pandemic, staff have not been allowed on track. The ability to review action from the mobile control room has been a considerable asset," says Pierre-Yves Maillet.

The rollout of our first mobile control rooms has paved the way for a project of national ambition; The broadcasting of all horse racing in France, accessible to all and free of charge, and in high definition," concludes Philippe Foucher.

Press Photography

Product photos of ATEM 2M/E Production Studio 4K, Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K, URSA Broadcast, Blackmagic Studio Viewfinder, HyperDeck Studio Mini and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the worlds highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Designs DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the companys Emmy award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.
Executive Chairman David Rowland to retire and step down from the board

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The board of directors of Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has named CEO Julie Sweet to the additional position of chair of the board, effective Sept. 1, 2021. She succeeds David Rowland, who will step down as executive chairman and from the board on that date. Sweet, 53, succeeded Rowland as CEO on Sept. 1, 2019, when she also joined the Accenture board of directors.

Julies appointment to the additional role of chair of the board reflects her exceptional track record as a senior leader for more than a decade, said Gilles Pelisson, independent lead director of the Accenture board. In less than two years as CEO, she established our new growth model and led the company through the COVID-19 global pandemic while strengthening commitments to sustainability and equality for all and creating significant value for our clients and shareholders.

On behalf of the Board, I want to recognize the outstanding contributions that David has made during his 39 years with Accenture, including 11 years as a member of Accentures Global Management Committee. As CFO, he was instrumental in our rotation to the newdigital, cloud and securityand built an even stronger, world class, technology-enabled finance organization. And we shall be forever grateful for his leadership when he stepped in as interim CEO when our former CEO, Pierre Nanterme, passed away ensuring that Accenture continued its strong growth trajectory, laying the groundwork for its next phase of growth and executing a seamless transition with Julie.

Rowland, 60, joined Accenture in 1983. He has served as executive chairman since September 2019 and previously was interim chief executive officer and a board member from January 2019 to September 2019. Before his appointment as interim CEO, he was Accentures chief financial officer for nearly six years and prior to that senior vice president of finance for six years. As CFO, he played a significant role in developing and executing Accentures strategy to rotate its business to the high-growth areas of digital, cloud and security.

I want to thank David for his numerous contributions to Accenture over four decades, and for his extraordinary stewardship  he has inspired generations of leaders with his focus on always looking to the future, building a better Accenture for all, and solving for our clients, people and communities, said Sweet. We have benefitted from his experience and perspective through his service as executive chairman over the last two years, and I am honored to succeed him.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services  all powered by the worlds largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 537,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005932/en/

Stacey Jones

Accenture

+1 917 452 6561

stacey.jones@accenture.com

Source: Accenture
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Audax Private Debt announced that, as Joint Lead Arranger, it provided a unitranche credit facility to support the acquisitions of C.L. Smith, a leading distributor of rigid packaging solutions, and Silver Spur, a supplier of specialty glass and plastic packaging by Kelso & Company (Kelso). C.L. Smith and Silver Spur will be combined with Kelsos existing investment in Inmark, a distributor of rigid container and life sciences packaging products.

Founded in 1975, C.L. Smith is a one-stop shop for rigid packaging distribution, manufacturing, custom design, and hazardous material certification, serving a diverse range of customers and end markets. In addition to the companys rigid packaging design, warehousing, and distribution capabilities, C.L. Smith operates Lyons Blow Molding, an extrusion blow molding facility that offers its customers greater flexibility with shorter run lengths, rapid response times, and full customization options.

Headquartered in Cerritos, CA, Silver Spur is a stocking distributor of glass and plastic packaging products serving a variety of end markets, with a specialization in glass bottles used in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical applications. Silver Spur offers customers just-in-time access to an extensive assortment of products sourced via the companys global network of vendor relationships.

Inmark has served as a strategic partner for global customers across a variety of end markets for nearly 50 years, said Peter Stern, Managing Director at Audax Private Debt. The combination with C.L. Smith and Silver Spur will meaningfully enhance the Companys scale and capabilities.

Audax Private Debt has been a collaborative and reliable financing partner, and were grateful for their instrumental support throughout this process, said Michael Nichols, Partner at Kelso & Company. We look forward to working together as we pursue future growth opportunities for the combined company.

About C.L. Smith

C.L. Smith is a premier rigid packaging provider with over 45 years of industry experience. Headquartered in St. Louis, MO, C.L. Smith provides full stocking distribution, custom packaging design and manufacturing, and turnkey hazardous material shipping solutions. Exceptional customer care and service are core to C.L. Smiths operational philosophy and corporate culture. For more information, please visit www.clsmith.com.

About Silver Spur

Founded in 1978 and headquartered in Cerritos, CA, Silver Spur supplies a specialty portfolio of high-quality glass and plastic bottles, jars, caps, and closures to a variety of end markets. Silver Spur has developed a large, diverse, and growing customer base with numerous direct and distribution relationships throughout the U.S. For more information, please visit www.silverspurcorp.com.

About Inmark

For over 45 years, Inmark has been a trusted source for rigid container, temperature-controlled, specimen transport, used medical device, and dangerous goods packaging. Headquartered in Atlanta, GA with locations in Europe, Asia, and North America, Inmark has become a respected leader in developing packaging solutions for businesses globally. For more information, please visit www.inmarkpackaging.com.

About Audax Private Debt

Based in New York, Audax Private Debt is a leading debt capital partner for North American middle market companies. Since its inception in 2000, Audax Private Debt has invested over $23 billion across more than 860 companies in support of over 240 private equity sponsors, and has raised over $17 billion in capital. The platform offers its clients a range of financing solutions, including first lien, stretch senior, unitranche, second lien and subordinated debt, as well as equity co-investments. With more than 40 investment professionals and 80 total employees, Audax Private Debt provides financing certainty, add-on investment capability, and the experience and collaborative approach to partner with private equity firms and their portfolio companies. For more information, please visit www.audaxprivatedebt.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Audax Private Debt is an integral part of Audax Group, a leading alternative investment manager with offices in Boston, New York, and San Francisco.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005599/en/

Peter Stern

Managing Director

(212) 703-2774

pstern@audaxgroup.com

Media

Sard Verbinnen & Co.

Julie Rudnick / Julie Casale

Audax-SVC@sardverb.com

Source: Audax Private Debt
MIDLOTHIAN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ennis, Inc. (the Company), (NYSE: EBF), today announced its acquisition of the assets and business from AmeriPrint Corporation in Harvard, Illinois. The closing occurred on Monday, May 31, 2021, Memorial Day. AmeriPrint Corporation is a trade printer specializing in custom-printed documents, barcoding, integrated products, and business forms. Although Jim and Vicky Schulty are retiring after the sale, many of the same people will continue to work at the two facilities in Harvard, Illinois.

Keith Walters, Chairman, President & CEO of the Company stated, We are delighted to have the opportunity to bring AmeriPrint, their employees and their customers into the Ennis family. AmeriPrint is strategically located company in the Chicago area with 30 years of print industry experience and we will continue to operate the company in its same location. They pride themselves on exceptional customer service as does Ennis. This brand brings added capabilities and expertise to our expanding product offering including barcoding and variable imaging and will add depth to the products and services we already have at Integrated Print Group in South Elgin, Illinois."

Upon closing, AmeriPrint operations will continue to operate as AmeriPrint. All facilities will continue their normal operations in their current location.

About Ennis

Ennis, Inc. (www.ennis.com) is primarily engaged in the production and sale of business forms and other business products. The Company is one of the largest private-label printed business product suppliers in the United States. Headquartered in Midlothian, Texas, the Company has production and distribution facilities strategically located throughout the United States of America to serve the Companys national network of distributors. The Company manufactures and sells business forms, other printed business products, printed and electronic media, presentation products, flex-o-graphic printing, advertising specialties and Post-it Notes, internal bank forms, plastic cards, secure and negotiable documents, envelopes and other custom products.

Safe Harbor under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

Certain statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The words anticipate, preliminary, expect, believe, intend and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor for such forward-looking statements. In order to comply with the terms of the safe harbor, the Company notes that a variety of factors could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to numerous uncertainties, which include, but are not limited to, the Companys ability to effectively manage its business functions while growing its business in a rapidly changing environment, the Companys ability to adapt and expand its services in such an environment, the variability in the prices of paper and other raw materials. Other important information regarding factors that may affect the Companys future performance is included in the public reports that the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to, its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending February 28, 2021. The Company does not undertake, and hereby disclaims, any duty or obligation to update or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, although its situation and circumstances may change in the future. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The inclusion of any statement in this release does not constitute an admission by the Company or any other person that the events or circumstances described in such statement are material.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602006063/en/

Mr. Keith S. Walters, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Ms. Vera Burnett, Interim CFO and Principal Financial and Accounting Officer

Mr. Michael D. Magill, Executive Vice President and Secretary

Phone: (972) 775-9801

Fax: (972) 775-9820

www.ennis.com

Source: Ennis, Inc.
SHANGHAI--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- EpimAb Biotherapeutics, a clinical stage biotech company specializing in bispecific antibodies, today announced the appointment of Jerry Su, Ph.D. as the Chief Technology Officer of EpimAb. Dr. Su joined EpimAb in December 2019 as Senior VP, CMC and led the completion of EpimAbs early CMC development facility in Suzhou BioBay. In this newly created role, Dr. Su will continue to oversee the companys CMC development and manufacturing operations.

Since he joined EpimAb, Jerry contributed significantly to the organizational growth of EpimAb by successfully completing our fully functional CMC development and manufacturing facility in Suzhou BioBay ahead of plan, said Dr. Chengbin Wu, founder and CEO of EpimAb Biotherapeutics. We are delighted to promote Jerry to this new role and look forward to his continued contribution and leadership in driving manufacturing strategy as we rapidly advance our pipeline of novel bispecific antibodies.

I am honored to serve in this new role alongside the wonderful team of scientists and industry leaders to scale EpimAbs efforts in driving bispecifics innovation in China and worldwide, said Dr. Su. With three assets in clinical development and multiple preclinical programs to come, efficient R&D and manufacturing operations as well as regulatory strategies are more important than ever before. I am excited to lead our efforts in some of these key areas and execute on the potential of our bispecific platform technologies to drive value for partners and patients.

Dr. Su brings to EpimAb over 20 years of technical and leadership experience in pharmaceutical R&D, manufacturing, and CMC operations with global and China pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Genzyme, Merck, and Hengrui, as well as CDMO Wuxi Biologics. Before joining EpimAb, he was CEO of Zhejiang Huahai Biopharmaceuticals Co. in Hangzhou. Dr. Su has broad experience in cell culture, process development, technology transfer, validation, manufacturing and compliance operations, with strong hands-on regulatory experience in new drug license submission as well as post-approval product support dealing with regulatory inspection, response preparation and change management. Dr. Su received a Ph.D. in chemical engineering with a minor in statistics from West Virginia University, an M.S. in biochemical engineering from Beijing University of Chemical Technology, and a B.S. in chemical engineering from Tianjin University.

About EpimAb Biotherapeutics, Inc.

EpimAb Biotherapeutics is a privately-owned biopharmaceutical R&D company with research and manufacturing facilities in Shanghai and Suzhou, China. Based on a proprietary unique and efficient bispecific antibody technology called FIT-Ig (Fabs-In-Tandem Immunoglobulin), EpimAb is creating a pipeline of its own novel bispecific antibody therapeutics focused around immuno-oncology and other areas of high value to patients. EpimAb is also committed to diversifying its pipeline through selective licensing of its platform and pipeline assets to partners worldwide. For further information, please visit www.epimab.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210526006157/en/

EpimAb Biotherapeutics

In the U.S.:

Dr. Stephan Lensky, COO/CBO

Direct: +1 978-870-6276

Stephan.lensky@epimab.com

In China:

Dr. David Gu, CFO

Direct: +86-21-61951011

David.gu@epimab.com

Dr. Jason Tang, BD Director

Direct: +86-21-61951014

yesheng.tang@epimab.com

Media Inquiries

MacDougall

Amanda Houlihan or Emily Wong

+1 781-235-3060

epimab@macbiocom.com

Source: EpimAb Biotherapeutics, Inc.
Cameron Sues CVS Health Over KY's Opioid Problems

By The Associated Press

FRANKFORT - Kentuckys attorney general is suing CVS Health. Attorney General Daniel Cameron accuses CVS of flooding the state with prescription opioids that contributed to the states addiction woes.Cameron filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Franklin County Circuit Court.He says the health care company played a role in fueling the crisis by inundating the state with millions of doses of powerful prescription painkillers.Cameron says CVS ignored its own safeguard systems while peddling the highly addictive drugs in its stores.CVS Health did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.The company operates one of the nations largest drugstore chains.
MENLO PARK, Calif. & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Silver Lake, a global leader in technology investing, today announced that it has agreed to make a minority investment in Exact, a leading provider of business and accounting software in the Benelux region. This investment will be in partnership with the management team, led by CEO Paul Ramakers, and the companys existing investor, KKR, which will remain the majority shareholder.

Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Delft, the Netherlands, Exact's innovative software solutions today help more than 9,900 accountants manage the finances of small and mid-size enterprises and provide over 550,000 small businesses with high value-add solutions in the cloud. Exact's mid-market enterprise resource planning ("ERP") solutions are also used by over 16,000 mid-sized firms, with a choice of cloud or on-premise deployment. The company's integrated software suite includes Financial Management, Logistics, CRM, HR, and Payroll. Since the acquisition by KKR in 2019, Exact has experienced rapid growth and has expanded its market leadership.

Jean-Pierre Saad, Partner and Head of EMEA Technology at KKR, Daniel Knottenbelt, Partner and Head of Benelux at KKR and Tomas Kubica, Director Technology Private Equity at KKR, said: We are delighted to welcome Silver Lake as an investor alongside us in Exact, one of the leading European SaaS businesses. We have seen tremendous growth in recent years under the leadership of Paul Ramakers and the entire team. The company continues to be a leading platform to provide accounting and business software in the Benelux region and beyond, notably with its flagship SaaS product Exact Online, and we believe that Silver Lakes relevant experience will further contribute to the growth and ambitious expansion strategy of Exact.

Christian Lucas, Co-Head of Silver Lake EMEA, said: Exact fits very naturally into Silver Lakes strategy of investing in high growth, innovative and world leading technology companies. Paul and the Exact team have achieved a strong growth trajectory, and we have been impressed by the high quality of their best-in-class SaaS solutions. We are excited to partner with the management team and KKR, one of the worlds leading technology and software investors, to contribute to the next stage of Exacts development towards achieving its full long-term potential.

Paul Ramakers, CEO of Exact, said: We are proud of what Exact has already achieved with the strong support of the KKR team. Together, with our outstanding team and business partners, we have built a successful business, with a strong track record of supporting both accountancy firms and small and mid-size businesses in Benelux. As we enter the next exciting stage of our growth story, we look forward to leveraging Silver Lakes software domain expertise and extensive industry network.

The transaction is anticipated to close in the third quarter subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals. Further terms of the investment are not being disclosed at this time.

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management and capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKRs insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of The Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKRs investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKRs website at kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

About Silver Lake

Silver Lake is a leading global technology investment firm, with more than $83 billion in combined assets under management and committed capital and a team of professionals based in North America, Europe, and Asia. Silver Lake's portfolio companies collectively generate more than $196 billion of revenue annually and employ more than 448,000 people globally. For more information about Silver Lake and its portfolio, please visit Silver Lakes website at silverlake.com.

About Exact

Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Delft, the Netherlands, Exact's innovative solutions today help over 9,900 accountants manage the finances of over 550,000 small businesses in the cloud. Exact's mid-market enterprise resource planning ("ERP") solutions are also used by over 16,000 mid-sized firms, with a choice of cloud or on-premise deployment. The company's integrated software suite includes Financial Management, Logistics, CRM, HR, and Payroll. Exact employs 1,850 people. For more information on Exact, please visit exact.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210531005304/en/

KKR

Alastair Elwen / Nidaa Lone

KKR@fgh.com

+44 (0)207 251 3801

Silver Lake

Jennifer Stroud

SilverLakeMedia@Edelman.com

+1-646-565-1792

Source: KKR
TA also Completes Fundraising for Second Generation Re-Investment Fund

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm, today announced the completion of its fundraising for TA XIV with total commitments at the hard cap of $12.5 billion. TA XIV was launched in January 2021 and quickly became significantly oversubscribed, with demand exceeding its original $10.5 billion target. In addition, TA announced the closing of TA Select Opportunities Fund II (TA Select Opps II), also launched in January 2021, with total commitments at its hard cap of $1.5 billion.

TA XIV will continue TAs long-term investment strategy of investing in companies with high-quality business models capable of delivering sustainable growth within the technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services sectors. Investments are expected to range in size from $100 to $600 million. Like its predecessor fund, TA Select Opps II will make investments in independent, third-party priced recapitalizations of high-performing TA portfolio companies that the firm believes offer significant prospects for continued organic and inorganic growth.

For more than 50 years, TA has helped scale leading growth companies across industries, borders and financial cycles through our relentless focus on building lasting value, said Brian Conway, Chairman of TA. Many of TAs investors have been our partners for decades, and we are extraordinarily grateful for their long-term support. We are pleased to have earned our investors continued commitment to TAs unique approach to growth private equity. The entire TA team is energized by the opportunity, and deeply respectful of the responsibility to invest and work for our limited partners.

The raising of TA XIV and TA Select Opps II builds on TAs significant momentum and follows an active period for the firm. TA XIV is the successor fund to TA XIII, an $8.5 billion private equity fund that commenced investing in July 2019. TA Select Opps II is the successor fund to TA Select Opportunities Fund, a $1 billion private equity fund that commenced investing in February 2020. It is expected that both TA XIV and TA Select Opps II will begin their investment periods during the second half of 2021.

This successful fundraise is an exciting milestone that reflects investor confidence in our core investment strategy, said Ajit Nedungadi, Chief Executive Officer of TA. We are committed to investing in the highest quality growth businesses in our target industries and leveraging the depth and experience of the organization to drive proprietary opportunities in these sectors. The strength of our value creation capabilities and our extensive global network positions TA to help leading companies continue their growth journeys and transform into strategic platforms.

A diverse group of largely existing global investors in prior TA funds, including leading public pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, foundations and endowments, committed capital to TA XIV and TA Select Opps II.

We want to thank our limited partners for their thoughtful engagement throughout the fundraising process and for their steadfast support and enthusiastic conviction in TAs strategy and culture, said Andrew Harris, Director of Investor Relations at TA. We are privileged to have earned the trust of so many high-quality institutional investors around the world, and we are excited about our ongoing partnership in this next generation of TA funds.

Goodwin Procter LLP served as fund counsel for TA XIV and TA Select Opportunities Fund II.

About TA Associates

TA is a leading global growth private equity firm. Focused on targeted sectors within five industries  technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services  the firm invests in profitable, growing companies with opportunities for sustained growth, and has invested in more than 535 companies around the world. Investing as either a majority or minority investor, TA employs a long-term approach, utilizing its strategic resources to help management teams build lasting value in high quality growth companies. TA has raised $47.5 billion in capital since its founding in 1968 and is committing to new investments at the pace of over $3 billion per year. The firms more than 100 investment professionals are based in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong. More information about TA can be found at www.ta.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005319/en/

Marcia OCarroll

TA Associates

+1-617-574-6796

mocarroll@ta.com

Philip Nunes

BackBay Communications

+1-617-391-0792

phil.nunes@backbaycommunications.com

Stephen Fishleigh

BackBay Communications

+44 203 475 7552

stephen.fishleigh@backbaycommunications.com

Source: TA Associates
Collaboration will create unique end-to-end offering for financial institutions in Asia-Pacific

NEW YORK & BANGALORE, India--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, and Finastra, the largest pure-play software vendor that serves the entire financial services industry, today announced a partnership to help corporate banks across Asia-Pacific accelerate their digital transformation. The companies will create a unique offering that combines Wipros comprehensive services catalogue with Finastras front-to-back trade finance and cash-management solutions.

A recent Finastra study showed that corporate banking clients have shifted their focus towards real-time execution capabilities, access to online platforms, and value-add services. In response, banks are moving away from the traditional relationship management model to become digital platform players that can meet client needs in a faster, flexible and more agile way. The partnership will help banks make this transition quickly through access to Wipros service portfolio, from consulting and digital to infrastructure and operations, and Finastras leading solutions - Fusion Trade Innovation and Fusion Cash Management.

Luc Hovhannessian, Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Finastra said, Wipros mature portfolio of services and deep experience in implementing Finastras solutions are a perfect complement to our offering, making it a natural partner for us in APAC. It has never been more important for financial institutions to innovate digitally, but transaction banking is an area where many banks are playing catch-up. This strategic partnership is the continuation of years of collaboration with Encore Theme Technologies, now part of Wipro, creating an offering that will help banks accelerate their digital transformation, driving competition and increasing innovation in the industry.

Harpreet Arora, Vice President, BFSI Domain & Consulting Head, Wipro Limited said, This partnership is in line with our continued efforts to strengthen our presence in Asia-Pacific and drive digital transformation. Having recently acquired Encore Theme Technologies, a specialist in implementing Finastras trade finance solutions, this agreement is a logical next step in deepening our mutually beneficial partnership.

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.

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 worlds 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

Forward-Looking Statements

The forward-looking statements contained herein represent Wipros beliefs regarding future events, many of which are by their nature, inherently uncertain and outside Wipros control. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Wipros 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. The conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could decrease technology spending, adversely affect demand for our products, affect the rate of customer spending and could adversely affect our customers ability or willingness to purchase our offerings, delay prospective customers purchasing decisions, adversely impact our ability to provide on-site consulting services and our inability to deliver our customers or delay the provisioning of our offerings, all of which could adversely affect our future sales, operating results and overall financial performance. Our operations may also be negatively affected by a range of external factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic that are not within our control. 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 companys 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.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005605/en/

Nisha Chandrasekaran

Wipro Limited

nisha.chandrasekaran@wipro.com

Benjamin Jun Tai

Senior PR Lead, APAC

+65 9058 1160

benjamin.juntai@finastra.com

Caroline Duff

Global Head of PR

+44 (0)7917 613586

caroline.duff@finastra.com

finastra.com

Source: Wipro Limited
FILE PHOTO: Oil storage containers are seen, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 7, 2021. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

By Stephanie Kelly

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices surged on Wednesday, hitting their highest in more than a year from a decision by OPEC and allies to stick to the plan to gradually restore supply, along with the slow pace of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States.

Brent rose $1.1, or 1.6%, to settle at $71.35 a barrel. It reached $71.48 a barrel, its highest since January 2020.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $1.11, or 1.6%, to settle at $68.83 a barrel. It hit $69.00 during the session, its highest since October 2018.

"The oil market welcomed the OPEC+ decision to stick with its existing production plan, and in conjunction with positive global demand indications, prices are gaining further today," said Louise Dickson, Rystad Energy oil markets analyst.

Expecting a recovery in demand, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, together known as OPEC+, agreed on Tuesday to maintain their plan to gradually ease supply curbs through July.

The OPEC+ meeting took 20 minutes, shortest in the group's history, indicating unity among members and their confidence in the market's recovery, analysts said.

OPEC+ data shows the group is now more upbeat about the pace of rebalancing in the oil market than it was a month ago.

Graphic: Oil Market Balances - https://graphics.reuters.com/GLOBAL-OIL/rlgvddlxyvo/chart.png

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said solid demand recovery in the United States and China and the pace of COVID-19 vaccine rollouts can only lead to further rebalancing of the global oil market.

"We expect oil prices to move well beyond $70 per barrel towards mid-year," said Norbert Rucker, analyst at Swiss bank Julius Baer.

Analysts also said the slow progress of the Iran nuclear talks provides breathing room for demand to catch up before Iranian oil returns to the market if a deal is reached.

Talks aimed at reviving Iran's nuclear pact with global powers were expected to adjourn for a week, diplomats said, with remaining parties to the deal due to meet on Wednesday evening to sign off on the move.

In the United States, crude stocks fell by 5.36 million barrels in the week ended May 28, according to two market sources, citing American Petroleum Institute figures released after the markets settled. Gasoline inventories rose by 2.5 million barrels and distillate stocks climbed by 1.56 million barrels.

U.S. government inventory data is due on Thursday at 11 a.m. (1500 GMT), delayed a day due to the Memorial Day holiday. [EIA/S]

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly in New York; Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London, Shu Zhang in Singapore and Sonali Paul in Melbourne; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)
Motorola Solutions today announced that Malta Police Force has deployed Motorola Solutions VB400 body-worn cameras to all frontline officers across the Republic of Malta. The roll out is part of Malta Police Forces transformation strategy which aims to modernize the police force while increasing trust and transparency with the community.

The five-year service contract for the comprehensive video solution includes evidence management software to process captured video footage securely and the new Holster Aware feature which allows the camera to automatically start recording if a weapon is unholstered.

Every day, these body-worn cameras will capture evidence, deliver transparency and increase the efficiency of our workflows, said Malta Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa. "In high-stress situations - which our officers often face - this technology will capture critical footage of whats happening on the scene without impacting our officers focus or attention.

Integrated with the VB400 cameras, the new Bluetooth-activated Holster Aware sensor detects if an officer removes their weapon from its holster and automatically activates the officers body-worn camera to start recording. When this occurs, the body-worn cameras of officers in close proximity will also activate, providing a holistic view of the situation from multiple perspectives. As part of the agencys workflow, the video footage will be directly uploaded, securely stored and organized using Motorola Solutions VideoManager evidence management software.

Malta Police joins police agencies around the world in adopting our integrated body-worn video and cloud-based evidence management solution to increase transparency and allow police officers to focus on keeping communities safe, said Michael Kaae, regional vice president of Europe.

Motorola Solutions VB400 body-worn cameras are widely adopted by frontline emergency teams including the National Police in France, Belgium Police, Romanian Police, Romanian Border Police and multiple police forces across the U.K..
Lithuanian electricity transmission operator LITGRID AB (business ID 302564383, registered office address Virsuliskiu skg. 99B 13, Vilnius, Lithuania) announces that on 1 June 2021 the opinion of the Audit Committee of the parent company UAB EPSO-G (hereinafter  EPSO-G) about the intention to conclude the agreement between LITGRID AB and related party UAB EPSO-G (hereinafter  the Transaction) on the transfer of tax losses to LITGRID AB has been received.

On 1 June 2021, the Audit Committee of EPSO-G considered the Transaction and issued an opinion:

compliance of the Transaction with market conditions is not assessed due to the reason that the Transaction is executed exclusively in accordance with requirements established in the Article 561 of the Law on Corporate Income Tax of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter  the Law on Corporate Income Tax), i.e. pursuant to the Article 561, the Transaction could not be entered into with an entity other than a group entity; the Transaction is fair and reasonable with respect to all shareholders of LITGRID AB as the transfer of tax losses is carried out in accordance with the Article 561 of the Law on Corporate Income Tax and LITGRID AB does not incur any losses due to the Transaction.

The individual authorized by LITGRID AB to provide additional information on the material event:

Jurga Eivaite

Communications Manager

tel. +370 613 19977 e-mail: jurga.eivaite@litgrid.eu
TORONTO, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX: ERE.UN) (ERES) announced today that, at its Annual and Special Meeting of Unitholders held today, each of the items of business referred to in its management information circular dated April 14, 2021 were passed by a vote held by ballot.

The voting results for each item of business are as follows:

Election of Trustees:

Nominee Votes For % Votes For Votes Withheld % Votes Withheld Jan Arie Breure 192,939,792 99.86% 273,462 0.14% Harold Burke 188,771,293 97.70% 4,441,961 2.30% Phillip Burns 186,873,845 96.72% 6,339,409 3.28% Gina Cody 192,906,992 99.84% 306,262 0.16% Ira Gluskin 192,918,854 99.85% 294,400 0.15% Michael Stein 182,682,416 94.55% 10,530,838 5.45%

Appointment of Auditors

Votes For % Votes For Votes Withheld % Votes Withheld PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, Chartered Accountants 193,396,289 99.96% 80,632 0.04%

Approval of Unit Option Plan

Votes For % Votes For Votes Against % Votes Against Approval of Amended and Restated Unit Option Plan 181,698,108 94.04% 11,515,146 5.96%

About ERES

ERES is an unincorporated, open-ended real estate investment trust. ERESs Units are listed on the TSX under the symbol ERE.UN. ERES is Canadas only European-focused, multi-residential REIT, with a current initial focus on investing in high-quality, multi-residential real estate properties in the Netherlands. ERES owns a portfolio of 139 multi-residential properties, comprised of 6,047 suites and ancillary retail space located in the Netherlands, and owns one office property in Germany and one office property in Belgium.

ERESs registered and principal business office is located at 11 Church Street, Suite 401, Toronto, Ontario M5E 1W1.

For more information, please visit our website at www.eresreit.com.

For further information:

ERES Mr. Phillip Burns Chief Executive Officer 416.354.0167 p.burns@eresreit.com ERES Mr. Stephen Co Chief Financial Officer 416.306.3009 s.co@eresreit.com

Source: European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust
FLORHAM PARK, N.J., June 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Effective today, Michael Heinz takes over as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey. Heinz will lead all activities of the North American affiliate of Germany-based BASF SE, one of the leading chemical companies worldwide.



I am eager to take over responsibility for one of BASFs major markets and to further develop our strong presence in the North American region, said Heinz. Given my experience with BASF in the United States, I am honored by this appointment as it allows me to lead an outstanding team and, at the same time, return to a country that feels like a second home to me.

Heinz has been with BASF for almost four decades and during that time, has spent more than 10 years in various leadership positions in the United States. Earlier in his career, he oversaw BASFs activities in Ecuador and Mexico, led the global Crop Protection division and was responsible for the integration of two major company acquisitions, Ciba AG and Cognis GmbH. Heinz has been a Member of BASF SEs Board of Executive Directors since 2011 and will continue serving in this role in addition to leading the companys North American activities. As part of his Board duties, Heinz is also responsible for BASFs global Chemicals and Materials business segments as well as the South America region.

Heinz succeeds Wayne T. Smith, who led BASF Corporation for six years. Smith has shaped the companys business success in the North America region with a strong focus on customers, Diversity & Inclusion and asset reliability.

About BASF

BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has approximately 17,000 employees in North America and had sales of $18.7 billion in 2020. For more information about BASFs North American operations, visit www.basf.com/us .
Leamington, ON, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tomato lovers take note - the chefs have spoken! Pure Flavors Cloud 9 Bite-Sized Fruity Tomatoes have been awarded the coveted ChefsBest Excellence Award, adding to the already illustrious reputation of this unique snacking tomato endorsed by professional chefs.

A panel of certified Master Tasters comprised of independent, professional chefs judged Pure Flavors Cloud 9 Tomatoes using Sensory Attribute Quality Analysis. Modalities evaluated were appearance, aroma, flavor, basic taste, and texture. This extensive sensory evaluation led ChefsBest to conclude that Cloud 9 Tomatoes deliver Overall Quality with a burst of juice, fruity and ripe tomato flavors, and a sweet taste.

Randi Coulthard, Acting CEO of ChefsBest, said that when evaluated along with other products in the category, Pure Flavor Cloud 9 Tomatoes surpassed the standards required for the ChefsBest Excellence Award.

This marks the second time Cloud 9 Tomatoes have been recognized by professional chefs with a prestigious award. Earlier this year, they also won the International Taste Institutes (ITI) Superior Taste Award.

To have experienced chefs recognize Cloud 9 Tomatoes is truly an honor, said Jamie Moracci, President of Pure Flavor. When we first tasted this uniquely sweet snacking tomato, we knew right away it was something special that consumers and chefs alike would love, said Moracci.

According to Matt Mastronardi, Executive Vice-President at Pure Flavor, demand continues to surge for the new snacking tomato. The response weve received since launch has been overwhelming and it shows that there is a real consumer demand for a fresh, premium, and super sweet product in the category, said Mastronardi. As a result, were increasing acreage to make sure there is a consistent supply year-round to meet demand.

That surge is happening in groceries stores, but also on smartphones, tablets, and computer screens across North America with millions of people seeing & sharing mouth-watering recipe content featuring a Tiny Taste of Heaven. Across the US and Canada, professional and at-home chefs are sharing their delicious Cloud 9 recipes and encouraging others to cook with a sweeter, fruity tomato.

Chef Rick Paniagua, whose new Tomato Salad with Sesame Tuna recipe features the tomatoes, said Cloud 9 Tomatoes are outstanding alone and when combined with the other ingredients, you truly see them shine and can appreciate the complexity of their flavors.

For Chris Veillon, Chief Marketing Officer at Pure Flavor, the response from professionals like Chef Rick is a testament to the Cloud 9 brand strength. With this second award, attention from millions of social media users, and now gourmet recipes from executive-level chefs, the brand keeps gaining momentum. On all fronts, this product is getting a lot of attention, said Veillon.

Supported by a multitude of influencers creating content coupled with a strategic digital promotion plan, both the ChefsBest & Superior Taste Award from the International Taste Institute add further power to the Cloud 9 brand. Consumers are writing to us on social media and in emails to find out where they can buy this product they saw shared on the feed, added Veillon. Were getting requests from influencers and chefs who want to work with Cloud 9, its kind of taking on a life of its own.

To learn more about Cloud 9 Bite-Sized Fruity Tomatoes, please visit https://pure-flavor.buzz/Cloud9-Awarded.

-30-

Attachments

Chris Veillon Pure Flavor 519-326-8444 chris@pure-flavor.com

Source: Pure Flavor
Santhera will hold a conference call / webcast today at 16:00 CEST, 15:00 BST, 10:00 EDT. Details are at the end of this statement.

Vamorolone demonstrates strong efficacy across prim ary and sec ondary endpo i nts in both doses of 6 mg /kg/day and 2 mg /kg/day

P rimary endpoint Time to Stand (TTSTAND) velocity is met for vamorolone 6 mg/kg/day versus placebo (p =0.0 0 2 )

S econdar y endpoints for Six- M inute Walk (6MWT) and Time to Run/Walk 10 meters (TTRW) tests achieve statistical significance versus placebo

S tudy confi r med good safety and tolerability profile of vam orolone for both doses

Santhera plans to file a New Drug Application (NDA) with the US FDA in Q1-2022, requesting priority review

Pratteln, Switzerland, and Rockville, MD, USA, June 1, 2021  Santhera Pharmaceuticals (SIX: SANN) and ReveraGen BioPharma, Inc (US: private) announce positive key results from the VISION-DMD study, demonstrating robust efficacy across multiple efficacy endpoints and favorable safety and tolerability of vamorolone in the treatment of patients with DMD.

VISION-DMD is a pivotal Phase 2b study designed to demonstrate efficacy and safety of vamorolone compared to placebo and prednisone (active control) in the treatment of DMD. In the first 24-week double-blind period, of which the topline data readout is presented here, 121 ambulant boys aged 4 to

Vamorolone demonstrates efficacy across primary and secondary endpoints and over a broad dose rangeThe study met its primary endpoint of superiority in change of time to stand from supine positioning to standing (TTSTAND) velocity with vamorolone 6 mg/kg/day versus placebo (p=0.002) with a treatment difference of 0.06 [95% CI: 0.020.10] rises/second from baseline. This corresponds to a clinically relevant improvement in TTSTAND in the vamorolone 6 mg/kg/day group from 6.0 to 4.6 seconds and a corresponding deterioration in the placebo group from 5.4 to 5.5 seconds. The study also demonstrated superiority of vamorolone versus placebo across multiple secondary endpoints which include (in the order of pre-defined hierarchy): TTSTAND velocity for 2 mg/kg/day (p=0.02), 6MWT for 6 mg/kg/day (p=0.003) and 2 mg/kg/day (p=0.009), TTRW for 6 mg/kg/day (p=0.002). The clinical results establish the efficacy of vamorolone over a wide, threefold dose range from 2 to 6 mg/kg/day. No statistically significant differences were observed between vamorolone 6 mg/kg/day and prednisone across the above endpoints.

Vamorolone showed a favorable safety and tolerability profile over prednisone The study completion rate at 24 weeks was 94% (or 114 of 121 participants). Vamorolone at both doses of 2 and 6 mg/kg/day showed a favorable safety and tolerability profile. In the vamorolone groups, no grade 3 or higher treatment emergent adverse events (TEAEs) or adverse events leading to study discontinuation were observed. The total number of TEAEs was lower in the vamorolone 2 mg/kg/day (events n=96) and 6 mg/kg/day (n=91) groups compared to prednisone (n=120). In a prespecified analysis of clinically relevant adverse events (moderate, severe, serious or leading to discontinuation due to safety), defined for the EMA and conducted by Santhera, vamorolone 6 mg/kg/day was significantly superior to prednisone (n=6 vs n=19, p=0.02).

As previously published, in open-label studies of 2.5 years duration (113 patient years), vamorolone did not show stunting of growth as reported with conventional corticosteroids. Particularly noteworthy, this was validated in the current 24-week double-blind study where vamorolone 6 mg/kg/day versus prednisone 0.75 mg/kg/day showed a significant difference in growth velocity (p=0.02). Stunting of growth is a major concern of families and patients treated with corticosteroids, and we are delighted to see this superiority of vamorolone proven in this double-blind study, said Paula Clemens, MD, study Co-Chair, and Vice Chair of VA Affairs and Professor of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Todays news is a tremendous milestone for patients and Santhera as we further advance vamorolone as a foundational treatment option in DMD. The treatment effect translates into the potential to delay disease progression by about two years and indicates disease modifying potential of vamorolone, said Dario Eklund, Chief Executive Officer of Santhera. We now look forward to working with regulatory authorities to bring vamorolone to DMD patients, first in the US and subsequently in Europe.

We are thrilled about the positive results of the VISION-DMD study as it represents a culmination over a decade of scientific research, said Eric Hoffman, PhD, President and CEO at ReveraGen BioPharma and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Binghamton University  State University of New York. We are grateful to have been able to gather such important data and would like to thank all VISION-DMD participants, their families and caregivers, as well as investigators and study personnel, for their commitment to this ongoing program.

The strength of evidence for both efficacy and safety of vamorolone over such a wide dose range from 2 to 6 mg/kg/day allows clinicians to individually tailor treatment of Duchenne patients by starting at the higher 6 mg/kg/day dose of vamorolone with equivalent efficacy to daily prednisone and titrate the dose according to how well the treatment is tolerated whilst maintaining optimal efficacy. I am enthusiastic that this approach may allow patients to avoid side effects that currently lead to discontinuing steroid treatment, meaning they are able stay on for longer, said Craig McDonald, MD, Professor and Chair, Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Director of Neuromuscular Disease Clinics, UC Davis Health, USA.

Santhera plans to submit a New Drug Application (NDA) in the US in Q1-2022, requesting a priority review based on the fast track designation granted by the FDA. The VISION-DMD study continues to 48 weeks and will, subject to a positive outcome, deliver data for the submission of a marketing authorization application in Europe in Q2-2022. Upon approval, Santhera intends to commercialize vamorolone for the treatment of DMD through its own organization in the United States and main markets in Europe, and is seeking collaborations outside those regions for DMD and for additional indications worldwide. Santhera estimates the peak sales potential for vamorolone in the indication DMD alone to be in excess of USD 500 million in the US and the largest five European countries combined.

Vamorolone has been granted Orphan Drug status in the US and in Europe, and has received Fast Track and Rare Pediatric Disease designations by the US FDA and Promising Innovative Medicine (PIM) status from the UK MHRA. On September 2, 2020, Santhera signed agreements with ReveraGen and Idorsia that granted Santhera an exclusive license to vamorolone for all indications worldwide.

Santhera WebcastSanthera will hold a conference call with webcast today at 16:00 CEST / 15:00 BST / 10:00 EDT to discuss the vamorolone study results. Participants are invited to join either the webcast or conference call 5-10 minutes before the start. Questions will only be taken from participants on the conference call.

Webcast: click here http://public.viavid.com/index.php?id=145140Conference call: dial one of the following numbers (Conference ID 13720219):Toll Free: +1-877-407-9716Toll/International: +1-201-493-6779Replay: a webcast replay of the conference will be available shortly after the call at the above link.Slides: the slide presentation will be available after the webcast at https://www.santhera.com/investors-and-media/news-and-media-center/company-presentations.

About VISION-DMDVISION-DMD is a 48-week Phase 2b study designed as a pivotal trial to demonstrate efficacy and safety of vamorolone (2 and 6 mg/kg/day) versus prednisone (0.75 mg/kg/day) and placebo in 121 ambulant boys aged 4 to

About Vamorolone Vamorolone is a first-in-class dissociative steroid which retains the anti-inflammatory activity of corticosteroids while decreasing the deleterious side effects. As such, vamorolone could emerge as a promising alternative to existing corticosteroids, the current standard of care in children and adolescent patients with DMD. There is substantial unmet medical need in this patient group as high-dose corticosteroids have significant systemic side effects that diminish patient quality of life.

Vamorolone was discovered by US-based ReveraGen BioPharma, Inc. and is being developed in collaboration with Santhera, which owns worldwide rights to the drug candidate in all indications. The vamorolone development program has received funding from several international non-profit foundations and patient organizations, the US National Institutes of Health, the US Department of Defense and the European Commissions Horizon 2020 program.

About Duchenne Muscular DystrophyDuchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a rare inherited X-chromosome-linked disease, which almost exclusively affects males. DMD is characterized by inflammation which is present at birth or shortly thereafter. Inflammation leads to fibrosis of muscle and is clinically manifested by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. Major milestones in the disease are the loss of ambulation, the loss of self-feeding, the start of assisted ventilation, and the development of cardiomyopathy. DMD reduces life expectancy to before the fourth decade due to respiratory and/or cardiac failure.

About SantheraSanthera Pharmaceuticals (SIX: SANN) is a Swiss specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative medicines for rare neuromuscular and pulmonary diseases with high unmet medical need. Santhera has an exclusive license for all indications worldwide to vamorolone, a first-in-class dissociative steroid with novel mode of action, which was investigated in a pivotal study in patients with DMD as an alternative to standard corticosteroids. The clinical stage pipeline also includes lonodelestat (POL6014) to treat cystic fibrosis (CF) and other neutrophilic pulmonary diseases as well as an exploratory gene therapy approach targeting congenital muscular dystrophies. Santhera out-licensed ex-North American rights to its first approved product, Raxone (idebenone), for the treatment of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) to Chiesi Group. For further information, please visit www.santhera.com.

Raxone is a trademark of Santhera Pharmaceuticals.

About ReveraGen BioPharmaReveraGen was founded in 2008 to develop first-in-class dissociative steroidal drugs for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and other chronic inflammatory disorders. The development of ReveraGens lead compound, vamorolone, has been supported through partnerships with foundations worldwide, including Muscular Dystrophy Association USA, Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, Foundation to Eradicate Duchenne, Save Our Sons, JoiningJack, Action Duchenne, CureDuchenne, Ryans Quest, Alexs Wish, DuchenneUK, Pietros Fight, Michaels Cause, Duchenne Research Fund, and Jesses Journey. ReveraGen has also received generous support from the US Department of Defense CDMRP, National Institutes of Health (NCATS, NINDS, NIAMS), and European Commission (Horizons 2020). www.reveragen.com

For further information please contact:

SantheraSanthera Pharmaceuticals Holding AG, Hohenrainstrasse 24, CH-4133 Prattelnpublic-relations@santhera.com orEva Kalias, Head External CommunicationsPhone: +41 79 875 27 80eva.kalias@santhera.com

ReveraGen BioPharmaEric Hoffman, PhD, President and CEO Phone: + 1 240-672-0295eric.hoffman@reveragen.com

Disclaimer / Forward-looking statements This communication does not constitute an offer or invitation to subscribe for or purchase any securities of Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding AG. This publication may contain certain forward-looking statements concerning the Company and its business. Such statements involve certain risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Readers should therefore not place undue reliance on these statements, particularly not in connection with any contract or investment decision. The Company disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

# # #

Attachment

Source: Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding AG
Court: Man Viewed Porn Just Before Mengedoht Crash

By The Associated Press





LOUISVILLE - A Louisville sewer worker had reportedly been viewing pornography on his phone before he crashed into a police cruiser in 2018, killing Detective Deidre Mengedoht.The new details were in a court filing from prosecutors this week. They say former Metropolitan Sewer District worker Roger Burdette was driving his work truck when he used his phone to visit a pornographic website. He crashed into the police cruiser minutes later.Prosecutors say Burdette had looked at similar videos that day while he was working, and was under the influence of prescription pills at the time of the crash. He has been charged with murder and a trial is scheduled for July.The family of Mengedoht announced in February they had settled a civil lawsuit with MSD and Burdette's family, totaling almost $14 million. The sole beneficiary of the settlement will reportedly be Mengedoht's son, who was nine years old at the time of her death.
Oslo, 2 June 2021

Reference is made to the announcement by Thin Film Electronics ASA (the "Company") on 12 May 2021 regarding the Annual General Meeting to be held on 3 June 2021. The Nomination Committee's proposal, with respect to agenda items 12, 13.1, 13.2, 14, and 15 listed in the Notice of Annual General Meeting, is attached hereto.

Thinfilm is Energizing Innovation with ultrathin, flexible, and safe energy storage solutions for wearable devices, connected sensors, and beyond. Thinfilm's innovative solid-state lithium battery (SSLB) technology is uniquely positioned to enable the production of powerful, lightweight, and cost-effective rechargeable batteries for diverse applications. The company's state-of-the-art flexible electronics manufacturing facility, located in the heart of Silicon Valley, combines patented process technology and materials innovation with the scale of roll-to-roll production methods to bring the advantages of SSLB technology to established and expanding markets. Thin Film Electronics ASA is a publicly listed company in Norway with corporate headquarters in Oslo and global headquarters in San Jose, California.

Contact:

Stale Bjrnstad - Investor Relations

E-mail: stale.bjornstad@thinfilmsystems.com

Phone: +47 99 16 76 72

Kevin Barber - Chief Executive Officer

E-mail: kevin.barber@thinfilmsystems.com

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Attachment
LOS ANGELES (PRWEB) June 02, 2021

Heyler Realty today announced its partnership with Side, the only real estate technology company that exclusively partners with high-performing agents, teams, and independent brokerages to transform them into market-leading boutique brands and businesses. The alliance will ensure that Heyler Realty, a long-standing real estate firm dedicated to cultivating lasting relationships, is powered by the industry's most advanced platform.

Established in 1927, Heyler Realty was the first real estate brokerage in the Los Angeles Westside neighborhoods of Westwood, Cheviot Hills, and Rancho Park. Top-performing broker associates Sean McMillan and Jae Wu purchased the firm in 2011, bringing more than six decades of combined real estate experience under one roof. Since then, the firm has earned a reputation as one of the most knowledgeable, agile real estate teams in Los Angeles.

McMillan has closed more than 1,000 successful transactions since 1985 and has garnered a well-deserved reputation as one of the most informed licensed real estate professionals in Westside LA. Wu has helped thousands of clients realize their real estate goals since 1995 and has been recognized as an industry leader, including receiving Los Angeles Magazine's Five Star Professional award six times. Both broker associates use their comprehensive real estate backgrounds -- including in-depth analysis, mortgage lending, financial services, and negotiation strategies -- to achieve remarkable results.

Partnering with Side will ensure Heyler Realty remains at the cutting edge of the evolving real estate market while allowing its agents to continue delivering premium services to their clients. Heyler Realty agents are fully supported by a one-of-a-kind premium brokerage platform, which provides transaction management, property marketing, lead generation, business growth opportunities, vendor management, and infrastructure solutions. Additionally, Heyler Realty will join an exclusive group of Side partners, tapping into an expansive network from coast to coast.

"Partnering with Side will allow us to maximize and accelerate the successful business we have already created," said McMillan. Wu added, "Using Side's world-class marketing, technology, and support, we can nurture our existing team, recruit additional talent, and provide the best possible service for our Westside community."

Side is led by experienced industry professionals and world-class engineers who develop technology designed to improve agent productivity and enhance the client experience. Based on its belief that homeownership is a fundamental human right, Side is on a mission to improve the public good by providing top-performing real estate agents, teams, and indie brokerages with the best system, support, service, experience, and results.

About Heyler Realty

Established in 1927, Heyler Realty was the first real estate brokerage in the Los Angeles Westside neighborhoods of Rancho Park, Westwood, and Cheviot Hills, and it has a long history of innovation. Its expert agents serve the community with honesty, integrity, and loyalty, and they're known for creating the highest-caliber outcomes in even the most complicated situations. With six-plus decades of real estate and mortgage lending expertise, Heyler Realty provides in-depth advice to buyers and sellers. For more information, visit http://www.heylerrealty.com.

About Side

Side transforms high-performing agents, teams, and independent brokerages into successful businesses and boutique brands that are 100% agent-owned. Side exclusively partners with the best agents, empowering them with proprietary technology and a premier support team so they can be more productive, grow their business, and focus on serving their clients. Side is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, visit http://www.sideinc.com.

Read the full story at https://www.prweb.com/releases/heyler_realty_partners_with_side_to_build_on_legacy_and_accelerate_growth/prweb17973970.htm
MADRID, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Algorand and Bnext join forces to revolutionize the remittances market in Europe and Latam. During 2020, Latam received more than 100bn USD and Spain sent more than 18bn USD, with Latin America receiving most of the remittances sent by Spain.

Bnext will take advantage of Algorand's high performing and cost effective blockchain infrastructure to make transactions extremely convenient and accessible, even compared to other fintech services.

The offering is based on more efficient and secure remittances, as all the operations are made possible on Algorand's public blockchain and carried out by Bnext and its commercial partners This includes Bitso, who will provide all the regulatory and exchange requirements so that the user experience for those sending and receiving funds is simple and instant.

The money will be transferred between Bnext users, even if they are in different countries, and will be faster and more secure than it is today to send money between Bnext users in Spain or in Latin America.

Bnext is the most powerful Marketplace of financial services in Spain and one of the most prominent in Latin America, with more that 700,000 users and a rapidly accelerating user base.

Algorand is a blockchain company that builds 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. With more than 500 global companies using their technology, 4.5 million assets issued on chain, and over 11 million accounts, the market cap of the Algo, the native currency of the platform, is over 3bn USD.

Working together, Algorand and Bnext anticipate processing more than 100m USD of remittances in the next 12 months, in an initial phase, prior to formally launching the product throughout Latam and Europe.

"This alliance is the first step to expand inclusive financial product offerings that are convenient and recurrent to immigrants that have been exploited by traditional remittance companies. Bnext and Algorand will provide an opportunity for this segment that goes beyond sending and receiving money," said Cristian Huertas, Head of Latam of Bnext.

"Bnext is completely disrupting the banking sector in the Spanish-speaking world by providing a more modern and simple way for users to globally transact and manage their finances. Their vision to provide accessible, inclusive alternatives is aligned with Algorand's own vision for the future of finance," said W. Sean Ford, COO of Algorand. "Both Bnext and Algorand have experienced rapid adoption and we are truly excited to be empowering them to more effectively server their growing user base."

About Bnext Bnext is one of the first Spanish fintech companies, with prsence in Latam and a pioneer as an alternative to traditional banking, which makes it easier for people to control their money in order to live it more freely, simply and intelligently. For more information, visit https://bnext.es.

About Algorand Algorand is building the technology to power the Future of Finance (FutureFi), the convergence of traditional and decentralized models into a unified system that is inclusive, frictionless, and secure. Founded by Turing Award-winning cryptographerSilvio Micali, Algorand developed a blockchain infrastructure that offers the interoperability and capacity to handle the volume of transactions needed for defi, financial institutions and governments to smoothly transition into FutureFi. The technology of choice for more than 500 global organizations, Algorand is enabling the simple creation of next generation financial products, protocols and exchange of value. For more information, visit www.algorand.com.

Contact: algorand@dittopr.co

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bnext-announces-next-generation-remittance-service-across-spain-and-latin-america-with-blockchain-based-solution-on-algorand-301304227.html

SOURCE Algorand
BREA, Calif., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Envista Holdings Corporation (NYSE: NVST) today announced the release of its inaugural Sustainability Report highlighting the Company's actions and progress across environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics. Following guidance from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) reporting frameworks, Envista reports on notable topics while also demonstrating alignment across business impact goals and 6 relevant United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG).

"Since Envista's inception in September 2019, we have prioritized ESG as a means to responsibly serve the dental industry. We are committed to providing quality dental products and improving patient care globally. Our Envista Business System (EBS) embeds sustainability into our operations by prioritizing health and safety, product quality and innovation, and continuous improvement," said Amir Aghdaei CEO of Envista. "Our customers and employees are at the heart of what we do and are critical to delivering on our mission and bringing innovation to life.''

Highlights from FY20 Sustainability Report:

Putting employee and customer safety first during COVID-19 by providing employees with PPE and proper training to continue to operate safely during the pandemic.

Prioritizing gender pay equity and achieving 99% pay equity in the U.S.

Piloting a new global supplier assessment tool to improve supplier transparency and ensure compliance with all Envista policies.

Contributing to oral health by offering over 4,000 professional training and education events globally, reaching over 400,000 participants.

Ranking among the top 6% of all Mexican facilities, Envista's Mexicali plant received Clean Industry Recertification from the Mexican government by exceeding compliance with current safety and environmental standards.

Launching new Employee Resource Groups including  Envista Women + Friends ERG and Envista Multi-Cultural + Friends ERG.

Expanding talent and hiring partnerships with African American student unions, Hispanic Serving Institutions and student organizations, and diverse engineering groups as well as Consortium, an organization that connects diverse MBA candidates with Envista opportunities.

Introducing new PROPHYflex 4 Air Polishing Device high performance handpieces with improved ergonomics that allow clinicians to provide higher quality care with greater comfort and ease.

Mr. Aghdaei added, "We have invested in expanding our diversity and inclusion efforts across the company to foster innovation and opportunity and plan to continue to make Envista a more diverse and inclusive place to work over the coming years. 2020 was a defining year for us in that it disrupted our customers' businesses and our own operations, requiring us to immediately shift our focus to ensure the health and well-being of our employees. We have emerged from 2020 as a stronger and more resilient organization and this spirit animates our inaugural Sustainability Report and our ESG efforts. I am confident that the company's leaders will continue to excel on ESG measures as we advance our sustainability journey."

The FY20 Sustainability Report provides a starting point from which Envista will continue to improve its performance across material ESG topics and continue to disclose relevant information. Envista's FY20 Sustainability Report can be accessed on the Company's website at www.envistaco.com. The Company welcomes feedback on its FY2020 Sustainability Report which can be shared via email at sustainability@envistaco.com.

ABOUT ENVISTA HOLDINGS CORPORATION

Envista is a global family of more than 30 trusted dental brands, united by a shared purpose: to partner with professionals to improve lives. Envista helps its customers deliver the best possible patient care through industry-leading dental consumables, solutions, technology, and services. Our comprehensive portfolio, including dental implants and treatment options, orthodontics, and digital imaging technologies, covers an estimated 90% of dentists' clinical needs for diagnosing, treating, and preventing dental conditions as well as improving the aesthetics of the human smile. Envista companies, including KaVo Kerr, Nobel Biocare, and Ormco, partner with dental professionals to help them deliver the best possible patient care. With a foundation comprised of the proven Envista Business System (EBS) methodology, an experienced leadership team, and a strong culture grounded in customer centricity, commitment to innovation, respect, continuous improvement, and leadership, Envista is well-equipped to meet the end-to-end needs of dental professionals worldwide. Envista is one of the largest global dental products companies, with significant market positions in some of the most attractive segments of the dental products industry. For more information, please visit www.envistaco.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements in this release are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results, developments and business decisions to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. These factors include, among other things, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the conditions in the U.S. and global economy, the markets served by us and the financial markets, the impact of our debt obligations on our operations and liquidity, developments and uncertainties in trade policies and regulations, contractions or growth rates and cyclicality of markets we serve, fluctuations in inventory of our distributors and customers, loss of a key distributor, our relationships with and the performance of our channel partners, competition, our ability to develop and successfully market new products and services, the potential for improper conduct by our employees, agents or business partners, our compliance with applicable laws and regulations (including regulations relating to medical devices and the health care industry), the results of our clinical trials and perceptions thereof, penalties associated with any off-label marketing of our products, modifications to our products that require new marketing clearances or authorizations, our ability to effectively address cost reductions and other changes in the health care industry, our ability to successfully identify and consummate appropriate acquisitions and strategic investments, our ability to integrate the businesses we acquire and achieve the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions, contingent liabilities relating to acquisitions, investments and divestitures, significant restrictions and/or potential liability based on tax implications of transactions with Danaher, security breaches or other disruptions of our information technology systems or violations of data privacy laws, our ability to adequately protect our intellectual property, the impact of our restructuring activities on our ability to grow, risks relating to currency exchange rates, changes in tax laws applicable to multinational companies, litigation and other contingent liabilities including intellectual property and environmental, health and safety matters, risks relating to product, service or software defects, risks relating to product manufacturing, commodity costs and surcharges, our ability to adjust purchases and manufacturing capacity to reflect market conditions, reliance on sole or limited sources of supply, the impact of regulation on demand for our products and services, labor matters, international economic, political, legal, compliance and business factors, and disruptions relating to war, terrorism, widespread protests and civil unrest, man-made and natural disasters, public health issues and other events. Additional information regarding the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements is available in our SEC filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal year 2020 and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and except to the extent required by applicable law, we do not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events and developments or otherwise.

CONTACT

Stephen KellerInvestor RelationsEnvista Holdings Corporation200 S. Kraemer Blvd., Building EBrea, California 92821Telephone: (714) 817-7000

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/envista-announces-release-of-inaugural-sustainability-report-301304411.html

SOURCE Envista Holdings Corporation
GURUGRAM, India, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Appcino is a low-code consulting and technology firm with almost a decade of experience in delivering business applications on low-code platforms enabling effective and accelerated digital transformation. Appcino is an Appian Trusted & Elite solutions partner and Salesforce Silver Consulting partner. Appcino has delivered more than 600+ Enterprise apps across 100+ customers worldwide and has created multiple solution accelerators on these platforms to fast-track the overall transformation journey.

Appcino delivers business applications and automation initiatives using its substantial intellectual capital built with deep domain, technical wisdom, strong human capital, and industry leading low-code platforms.

Xebia Group is a fast-growing digital leader known for helping companies worldwide digitally transform themselves by offering high-quality cloud, data, AI, Agile, DevOps, and software consultancy. Xebia Group has successfully launched several brands and continues to expand in line with its 'buy and build' strategy: partnering with thought leaders to gain additional footing in the digital space together.

Anand Sahay, CEO - Xebia, said: "Low-code platforms are game changers in the enterprise software application industry and have a strong future in bringing business agility. Appcino is a strong brand with significant capabilities in low-code platforms. Xebia is excited to add these capabilities to help our customers worldwide and help them speed up their digital transformation initiatives at scale."

Vipul Baijal, Country Head - Xebia USA Said: "Today the businesses are looking for technology stacks that enable them to adapt to market needs in a matter of days and weeks rather than months and years. With Appcino's capabilities and depth in the low code space like Appian, Salesforce, etc. it would help Xebia to bring this agility and faster speed to market our customer base and further expand our IT footprint."

Tarun Khatri, Devendra Natani and Akhilesh Natani, the Founders of Appcino said: "We are thrilled to be partnering with the Xebia team. With Appcino' s deep industry knowledge and expertise in Salesforce & Appian i.e., low-code platforms, together we will be able to deliver even greater success to our customers from strategy to execution, helping them accelerate innovation and digital transformation within their enterprise.

Xebia & Appcino coming together means an undisputed leadership in accelerated digital transformation. Xebia's global presence, scale, experience, and strong alignment in vision towards low-code - provides a platform to take this to the next level and impact our customers and people positively. Appcino' s clients will benefit immensely from Xebia's broader capabilities, especially across AI/ML, RPA, Data, DevOps.

The natural synergy between the two companies will create the best opportunities for success, and it feels great to be part of it!"

The acquisition complements Xebia's values and mission to expand the frontiers of technology. Joining forces with Appcino, a leader in low code consultancy & development, strengthens Xebia's position as a global digital leader and enhances its capability to augment its customers' technology landscape, further accelerating their business growth.

For more details:usa@xebia.comwww.xebiaus.com

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-it-consultancy-firm-xebia-group-acquires-appcino-to-accelerate-digital-transformation-with-powerful-low-code-competencies-301304068.html

SOURCE Xebia
Shares Outstanding: 277,483,967 Trading Symbols: TSX: GGDOTCQX: GLGDF

HALIFAX, NS, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - GoGold Resources Inc. (TSX: GGD) (OTCQX: GLGDF) ("GoGold", "the Company") is pleased to release the results of 6 new drill holes from the El Favor deposit in the Los Ricos North project. Drill hole LRGF-21-041 intersected 56.1m of 105 g/t silver equivalent ("AgEq"), including 1.3m of 1,243 g/t AgEq. The merging of 4 veins in the western portion of El Favor continue to provide significant widths of good grade which could be potentially amenable to bulk mining. Currently at El Favor drilling is underway on an eastern extension of the structure where good mineralization has been encountered and assay results are expected in the coming weeks. See Table 1 for breakdown of silver and gold values.

"Over the last several months, our exploration drilling on El Orito and El Favor led us to believe that these structures may connect to form a mineralized zone in excess of 3 kilometres. This is a very exciting development which could add greatly to the potential mineral resources in Los Ricos North," said Brad Langille, President and CEO. "The combination of geophysics and drill testing on this El Orito  El Favor trend are powerful tools in the development of Los Ricos North."

Table 1: Drill Hole Intersections

Hole ID Area / Vein From To Length1 Au Ag AuEq2 AgEq2 (m) (m) (m) (g/t) (g/t) (g/t) (g/t) LRGF-21-038 Favor 22.9 39.0 16.2 0.36 134.0 2.15 161.0 including 29.3 36.6 7.4 0.67 262.7 4.17 312.7 Salomon 111.8 119.5 7.7 0.28 93.6 1.52 114.3 including 115.8 118.9 3.1 0.55 189.7 3.08 230.8 LRGF-21-040 Salomon 74.3 90.5 16.2 0.28 97.1 1.57 117.8 including 88.9 90.5 1.6 1.35 484.3 7.81 585.8 LRGF-21-041 Favor 23.0 24.6 1.7 0.38 84.4 1.50 112.7 and3 94.2 152.5 56.1 0.31 82.5 1.41 105.4 incl. Salomon 123.1 124.4 1.3 3.57 975.0 16.57 1,242.9 incl. Guitarillas 148.2 148.9 0.7 0.49 197.5 3.12 234.3 Los Chivos 160.0 176.9 17.0 0.14 37.6 0.64 48.1 including 163.6 165.9 2.3 0.19 89.6 1.39 104.1 LRGF-21-042 Favor 10.9 24.5 13.6 0.20 97.5 1.50 112.6 including 14.4 18.3 4.0 0.44 227.4 3.47 260.4 And 49.9 126.3 76.4 0.13 47.1 0.76 56.9 including 68.1 75.7 7.6 0.58 103.3 1.96 146.8 including 99.3 104.8 5.5 0.34 197.0 2.96 222.3 LRGF-21-043 Favor 42.1 42.7 0.7 0.36 99.0 1.68 125.9 Salomon 103.5 105.8 2.3 0.19 35.0 0.66 49.1 and 134.0 135.1 1.1 5.61 0.4 5.62 421.2 LRGF-21-046 Favor 2.5 12.0 9.5 0.15 51.0 0.83 62.6 and 21.4 23.8 2.4 0.14 74.7 1.13 85.0 Los Chivos 87.7 108.0 20.3 0.21 56.3 0.96 72.0 including 88.2 95.0 6.8 0.48 118.5 2.06 154.3 including 93.5 95.0 1.5 1.21 314.0 5.39 404.5

1. Not true width 2. AqEq converted using a silver to gold ratio of 75:1 at recoveries of 100% 3. Excludes 2.3m of historically mined void. 4. Assays are still pending for holes LRGF-21-044 and LRGF-21-045.

Three of the four major veins (Salomon, Guitarrillas and Los Chivos) appear to converge into a 100m wide zone at the western end of the El Favor deposit in the vicinity of the Hundido Pit at an elevation of 1300m. The wallrock in between the veins is strongly silicified, altered and mineralized. This mineralization can be observed in outcrop at the Hundido Pit, underground in the Salomon Cross Cut and in the road cuts along the north side of the El Favor hill and in the drill holes. More holes are required in this area to determine the strike length and potential depth of these wide combined zones.

The Eastern end of the El Orito deposit (as presently defined) is located about 800 metres along strike to the west of the Hundido Pit (see Figure 2). Wide zones of precious and base metal mineralization were cut by drill holes at El Orito at elevations between 600 to 800m. Geological mapping, prospecting and sampling programs in the area between El Orito and the Hundido Pit have been accelerated and given priority.

Table 2: Drill Hole Locations

Hole ID Easting Northing Elevation Azimuth Dip Length LRGF-21-038 585375 2336611 1274 180 -45 287 LRGF-21-040 585479 2336569 1283 180 -45 267 LRGF-21-041 585183 2336523 1318 180 -45 246 LRGF-21-042 585652 2336767 1171 180 -45 305 LRGF-21-043 585482 2336630 1250 180 -45 274 LRGF-21-046 585425 2336405 1320 180 -45 156

VRIFY Slide Deck and 3D Presentation

VRIFY is a platform being used by companies to communicate with investors using 360 virtual tours of remote mining assets, 3D models and interactive presentations. VRIFY can be accessed by website and with the VRIFY iOS and Android apps.

Access the GoGold Company Profile on VRIFY at: https://vrify.com

The VRIFY Slide Deck and 3D Presentation for GoGold can be viewed at: https://vrify.com/explore/decks/9404 and on the Company's website at: www.gogoldresources.com.

Los Ricos District Exploration ProjectsThe Company's two exploration projects at its Los Ricos property are in Jalisco state, Mexico. The Los Ricos South Project began in March 2019 and an initial resource was announced on July 29, 2020 which indicated a Measured & Indicated Mineral Resource of 63.7 million ounces AgEq grading 199 g/t AgEq contained in 10.0 million tonnes, and an Inferred Resource of 19.9 million ounces AgEq grading 190 g/t AgEq contained in 3.3 million tonnes. An initial PEA on the project was announced on January 20, 2021 indicating an NPV5% of US$295M.

The Los Ricos North Project was launched in March 2020 and includes drilling at the El Favor, La Trini, Casados and El Orito targets. During 2020, GoGold's exploration team identified over 100 targets on the Los Ricos North properties, demonstrating the significant exploration potential. The Company plans to drill 10 of these targets as part of its 2021 drilling program which is planned to exceed 100,000 metres of drilling and will be one of the largest in Mexico.

Procedure, Quality Assurance / Quality Control and Data Verification The diamond drill core (HQ size) is geologically logged, photographed and marked for sampling. When the sample lengths are determined, the full core is sawn with a diamond blade core saw with one half of the core being bagged and tagged for assay. The remaining half portion is returned to the core trays for storage and/or for metallurgical test work.

The sealed and tagged sample bags are transported to the ActLabs facility in Zacatecas, Mexico. ActLabs crushes the samples and prepares 200-300 gram pulp samples with ninety percent passing Tyler 150 mesh (106m). The pulps are assayed for gold using a 50-gram charge by fire assay (Code 1A2-50) and over limits greater than 10 grams per tonne are re-assayed using a gravimetric finish (Code 1A3-50). Silver and multi-element analysis is completed using total digestion (Code 1F2 Total Digestion ICP). Over limits greater than 100 grams per tonne silver are re-assayed using a gravimetric finish (Code 8-Ag FA-GRAV Ag).

Quality assurance and quality control ("QA/QC") procedures monitor the chain-of-custody of the samples and includes the systematic insertion and monitoring of appropriate reference materials (certified standards, blanks and duplicates) into the sample strings. The results of the assaying of the QA/QC material included in each batch are tracked to ensure the integrity of the assay data. All results stated in this announcement have passed GoGold's QA/QC protocols.

Mr. David Duncan, P. Geo. is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the technical information of this release.

About GoGold ResourcesGoGold Resources (TSX: GGD) is a Canadian-based silver and gold producer focused on operating, developing, exploring and acquiring high quality projects in Mexico. The Company operates the Parral Tailings mine in the state of Chihuahua and has the Los Ricos South and Los Ricos North exploration projects in the state of Jalisco. Headquartered in Halifax, NS, GoGold is building a portfolio of low cost, high margin projects. For more information visit gogoldresources.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT:The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy of any of GoGold's securities in the United States.

This news release may contain "forward-looking information" as defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Los Ricos South and North projects, and future plans and objectives of GoGold, including the intention to undertake further exploration at Los Ricos North, and the prospect of further discoveries there, constitute forward looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking information is based on a number of factors and assumptions which have been used to develop such information but which may prove to be incorrect, including, but not limited to, assumptions in connection with the continuance of GoGold and its subsidiaries as a going concern, general economic and market conditions, mineral prices, the accuracy of mineral resource estimates, and the performance of the Parral project. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information.

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from GoGold's expectations include exploration and development risks associated with GoGold's projects, the failure to establish estimated mineral resources or mineral reserves, volatility of commodity prices, variations of recovery rates, and global economic conditions. For additional information with respect to risk factors applicable to GoGold, reference should be made to GoGold's continuous disclosure materials filed from time to time with securities regulators, including, but not limited to, GoGold's Annual Information Form. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date of this release.

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gogold-drills-1-243-gt-ageq-over-1-3m-within-56-1m-of-105-gt-ageq-at-el-favor-in-los-ricos-north-301303512.html

SOURCE GoGold Resources Inc.
ERIE, Pa., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- U-Haul is hosting a grand-opening event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday to unveil its newest retail and indoor self-storage facility at U-Haul Moving & Storage at Peach Street Marketplace at 2255 Downs Drive.

U-Haul is partnering with HAPPI 92.7 Radio for the Spring into Summer HAPPI Home Update, with the winner being revealed during the grand opening. All finalists will be in attendance.

The winner will receive one year of free storage at U-Haul at Peach Street Marketplace and a deluxe U-Haul grill set as part of a prize package totaling more than $12,000. For more details, visit the contest page at happi927.com.

Event attendees can also enjoy local food trucks, store giveaways and a tour of the new facility. HAPPI 92.7 will have a DJ on site. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will be at 11 a.m., followed by an exciting twist on the winner reveal.

"This will be a fun family event for the community, and a memorable day for one lucky winner who will get a year of free self-storage at this beautiful U-Haul center," said Ean Livingood, U-Haul Company of Northwestern Pennsylvania president. "We invite folks to stop by June 5, see all that we have to offer and enjoy the festivities."

The 55,805-square-foot store includes 748 indoor self-storage units with climate-control options and high-tech security features at affordable price points. Customers can take advantage of U-Haul Remote 24/7 access; drive-in load/unload areas; ADA accessible units; free use of utility carts; U-Box portable moving and storage containers; U-Haul Truck Share 24/7; a spacious retail showroom with boxes and moving supplies; and much more.

"This facility at Peach Street and Interstate 90 is one of three new U-Haul stores in Erie," added Livingood. "We're investing in this community through our Company-owned facilities, and we invite local small businesses to supplement their income and grow their operations through the U-Haul neighborhood dealer program. We currently have four dealers in Erie helping us meet the community's moving needs and are looking for more. We're setting the standard for other companies who are willing to follow our lead."

Contact U-Haul Moving & Storage at Peach Street Marketplace at (814) 866-5053 or stop by to visit general manager Bruce Mackall and his team. Hours of operation are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and Sunday; and 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. Reserve equipment at uhaul.com or contact Reservations at 1-800-GO-UHAUL.

Mackall plans to hire at least 10 additional Team Members to staff the facility. U-Haul will look to hire locally to support job growth within the Erie community. U-Haul, honored as a "Best for Vets 2020" leading veteran-friendly employer by The Military Times, actively recruits veterans and gives them preference in the hiring process. Find U-Haul careers at uhauljobs.com.

U-Haul is also assisting independent storage companies in Erie and other markets through the U-Haul Self-Storage Affiliate program, offering a fully integrated business platform and uhaul.com listing. Visit webselfstorage.com for additional details and a free demo.

As an essential service provider, U-Haul continues to serve communities during the COVID-19 recovery while offering contactless business programs and enhanced cleaning protocols, including added steps for sanitizing equipment between customer transactions. U-Haul products are used daily by First Responders; delivery companies bringing needed supplies to people's homes; small businesses trying to remain afloat; college students; and many other dependent groups, in addition to the do-it-yourself household mover.

About U-Haul

Since 1945, U-Haul has been the No. 1 choice of do-it-yourself movers, with a network of 22,000 locations across all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. U-Haul Truck Share 24/7 offers secure access to U-Haul trucks every hour of every day through the customer dispatch option on their smartphones and our proprietary Live Verify technology. Our customers' patronage has enabled the U-Haul fleet to grow to approximately 176,000 trucks, 127,000 trailers and 41,000 towing devices. U-Haul offers nearly 774,000 rentable storage units and 66.7 million square feet of self-storage space at owned and managed facilities throughout North America. U-Haul is the largest installer of permanent trailer hitches in the automotive aftermarket industry, and is the largest retailer of propane in the U.S.

Contact:

Jeff LockridgeSebastien ReyesE-mail: publicrelations@uhaul.com Phone: 602-760-4941Website: uhaul.com

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/grand-opening-saturday-u-haul-introduces-newest-store-in-erie-301304407.html

SOURCE U-Haul
INCHEON, South Korea, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Samsung Biologics (KRX: 207940.KS), the world's leading contract development and manufacturing organization, signed a strategic partnership with KAHR Medical Ltd., a cancer immunotherapy company developing novel multifunctional immune-recruitment proteins. Under the terms of the agreement, Samsung Biologics will provide its end-to-end cell line development and clinical drug substance and drug product manufacturing services as well as IND filling support for KAHR's drug candidate DSP502, a TIGITxPD1 fusion protein.

As an innovative leader in the fusion protein space, KAHR's current technology is based on multi-functional immuno-recruitment proteins (MIRP) that bind cancer cells and T-cells to produce a synergistic effect to selectively target tumors. KAHR recently signed an exclusive license with Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA to develop and commercialize multiple new drug candidates, including DSP502.

"We are proud to announce our partnership with KAHR Medical for the production of their novel drug candidate," said John Rim, CEO of Samsung Biologics. "We will leverage our fully integrated, scalable, and high-quality development services and experienced teams to enable a faster transition from gene to IND in order to ensure KAHR's success in bringing cutting edge immuno-recruitment cancer drugs to patients in need."

"We are very pleased to partner with Samsung BioLogics, which is recognized as a leader in biopharmaceutical process development and manufacturing" said Yaron Pereg, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of KAHR. "DSP502 focuses on promising checkpoint pathways, unleashing the potential of the immune system to enhance anti-tumor immunoactivity through dual checkpoint inhibition."

Samsung Biologics offers seamless one-stop CDO research and development services both at its headquarters in Incheon, South Korea and its newly built R&D Center in San Francisco. Samsung Biologics' CDO business brings quality-driven development services at a greater speed, delivering cell line development to DS manufacturing in six months, and to DP manufacturing in seven months at the fastest pace in the industry.

The company is currently building its fourth and largest biomanufacturing facility in Incheon, Korea. Upon completion of the said plant in 2023, Samsung Biologics will hold 620,000 liters of biomanufacturing capacity, or approximately a quarter of the entire global bio-CMO capacity.

ABOUT KAHR MEDICALKAHR is developing the next generation of immuno-oncology drug candidates for the treatment of multiple types of cancer. The Company's lead product, DSP107, is a first in class CD47x41BB targeting compound that simultaneously targets cancer cells, weakens their innate defenses and activates an effective, local response of both innate and adaptive immunity. KAHR's technology platform is based on multi-functional immuno-recruitment proteins (MIRP) that utilize overexpression of checkpoint antigens on cancer cells to selectively target and bind to the tumor. MIRPs bridge cancer cells to immune cells to produce a targeted synergistic effect by combining immune checkpoint inhibition with localized immune cell activation, unmasking cancer cell camouflage to enable innate immune response, while recruiting the adaptive immune system to bind and selectively kill the cancer cells. Investors in the Company include Flerie Invest AB, Oriella Limited a Consensus Business Group Limited subsidiary, Hadassit Bio Holdings, Pavilion Capital, Mirae Asset, Korean Investment Partners and DSC Investments. For more information, please visit https://kahrbio.com/

About Samsung Biologics Co., Ltd.Samsung Biologics (KRX: 207940.KS) is a fully integrated CDMO offering state-of-the-art contract development, manufacturing, and laboratory testing services. With proven regulatory approvals, the largest capacity, and the fastest throughput, Samsung Biologics is an award-winning partner of choice and is uniquely able to support the development and manufacturing of biologics products at every stage of the process while meeting the evolving needs of biopharmaceutical companies worldwide. For more information, visit www.samsungbiologics.com

Samsung Biologics Press ContactClaire Kimcair.kim@samsung.com

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/samsung-biologics-and-kahr-medical-announce-development-and-manufacturing-agreement-for-cancer-immunotherapy-drug-candidate-301303672.html

SOURCE Samsung Biologics
Members of the 71st Special Operations Squadron perform a CV-22 Osprey training exercise near Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 27, 2021. (Ireland Summers/U.S. Air Force)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (Tribune News Service)  About 20 times a year, Air Force Master Sgt. Eric Denman will take off from Kirtland Air Force Base in a CV-22 Osprey and fly south to the Magdalena Ranger District of Cibola National Forest.

As quickly as 20 minutes after takeoff, Denman and other airmen, often those training under his guidance, find what theyre looking for: Difficult flying conditions.

Landing zones in the area are at altitudes between 5,500 and 6,500 feet above sea level, which creates struggles for pilots because of the thin air. In the summer, temperatures often soar above 100 degrees, further complicating flight dynamics. Plus theres fine dust everywhere and it quickly envelops the craft and chokes the engines, requiring the pilots to rely on instruments instead of their eyes as they try to land.

In the winter, Air Force crews fly to the forest at night in freezing temperatures, and its so dark and isolated their night vision equipment isnt enough to navigate the terrain.

Denman compared flying in the Magdalena to flying in  Middle East locations.

Every deployment Ive been on, its not a shock to get there and have to operate in those areas because of the training weve gotten here, he said. Without having that (training area), there would be a learning curve when we get to those high-altitude, high-temperature environments.

Public lands around Albuquerque will remain a proxy for the Middle East for years to come.

The Air Force and the Cibola National Forest recently completed a permit that allows the service to train on national forest lands outside Albuquerque for the next two decades.

The two federal agencies signed the permit after a roughly 10-year process, which included scoping  an official process to examine how the training would affect the local community and environment  and public comment periods. Objection letters were filed by nearby landowners and conservation advocacy organizations, and environmental assessments were completed.

The permit will expire at midnight on Dec. 31, 2041.

The permit applies to two groups at Kirtland Air Force Base: The 351st Special Warfare Training Squadron, which uses the lands for mountain rescue training, land navigation and other tactics, and the 58th Special Operations Wing, which trains more than 1,000 airmen per month in several aircraft, including the CV-22, a unique-looking tilt-rotor aircraft that combines a helicopters ability to hover and land with the speed and fuel efficiency of a turboprop plane.

The aircrafts mission is long-range infiltration and exfiltration of special operations forces, and much of that training takes place in the Magdalena Ranger District west of Socorro. The latest permit allows the 58th SOW to create three more landing zones in the area, which will add to the difficulty of landing there because now the airmen will have to navigate different obstacles, said Col. Michael Curry, the commander of the 58th SOW.

The 58th SOW also uses the national forest for C-130 drop zones. And the U.S. Marine Corps 4th Reconnaissance Battalion has traditionally trained in the national forest.

On Thursday, the training wing for the first time used the landing zones created by the new permit. The permit gives the Air Force access to over 70,000 acres of national forest land for training exercises. Different types of training can happen in four of the Cibolas ranger districts: Mount Taylor, Magdalena, Mountainair and Sandia.

Military training in Cibola National Forest dates to 1977, when the Forest Service gave the Air Force its first special use permit.

The public scoping period for the newest permit started in January 2010, according to Forest Service documents.

A draft environmental assessment was released in 2013, which was followed by a public comment period and public meetings.

There was opposition to the military training, which is one of the reasons the permitting process took a decade.

Patricia Johnson, a spokeswoman for Cibola National Forest, said in an email that the Forest Service added extra time for public comments during the process.

The Forest Service received about 185 comments, which led to two objection resolution meetings. Those meetings happened in August, and letters have been sent to the objectors, she said.

New Mexico Wild, Backcountry Horsemen of New Mexico, the Sierra Club, New Mexico Sportsmen and The Wilderness Society were among the groups that asked the Forest Service to consider alternatives to using forest lands for military training. Their requests included limiting military training to military lands, according to Journal archives and permitting documents.

Logan Glasenapp, a staff attorney for New Mexico Wild, said the organization raised concerns that the military training has affected vegetation near landing zones, affected wildlife and increased traffic in the area.

At the end of the day, in the back of our minds is a concern that our public lands may start to resemble war zones, he said.

Several people who live near the training sites also opposed the permit, including Arian Pregenzer, a retired physicist who worked at Sandia National Laboratories.

We lost, she said. We lost the battle.

In 1996, Pregenzer bought 160 acres near Magdalena and built a rammed earth home.

It was basically a place to get away and have solitude, she said.

But her home is within sight of the current helicopter landing zone in the Magdalena Ranger District. She said shell also be able to see two of the three new landing zones.

Day and night, when the CV-22s come in for landing, she said, the walls of her house shake and the windows rattle.

Up and down, up and down, up and down. Then they make a circle and come back, she said, describing the training exercises.

Pregenzer was one of several Magdalena-area residents who argued that the training on forest land is unnecessary.

I worked with the military. I have a lot of respect for them. But they need to be questioned. And they need to be held to account, she said. Why cant you (train) at Kirtland? or White Sands? We have 5,000 square miles of military land in New Mexico, why cant they do it there?

Johnson said that the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Defense have entered agreements that allow for such military training on national forest lands.

National Forests are managed for multiple uses, Johnson said. To sustain mission readiness, the military needs to train under a variety of conditions and landscapes. Desert, mountainous and forested terrain are all found within the Cibola National Forest and National Grasslands.

Curry said the training offered in nearby national forest lands is invaluable.

It makes for the most challenging flying were going to do, he said. I want them to experience those difficulties here so when they are challenged on the operational side, the flying part becomes less challenging.

Denman said the Air Force personnel who use the training areas understand its a privilege. He said all instructors and students in the 58th SOW are required to read the requirements set in the permit. And he says the Air Force does all it can to mitigate noise and other effects in the area during training exercises.

The operating plan for the permit places numerous restrictions on the training exercises. For example, all sessions are capped at 40 students and 15 instructors.

No pyrotechnics or blank ammunition can be used during times of high or extreme fire danger. The military has to clean up after its exercises each day.

There are also more specific restrictions. For example, the Air Force cant fly within 1 mile horizontally or 1,000 feet vertically of any known golden eagle nesting sites from February through August. The Air Force also isnt supposed to intentionally fly low over livestock, wildlife or dwellings, according to the operating plan.

We have to be respectful. Using the LZs (landing zones), its a privilege for us to be out and use this place, Denman said. Its not something were entitled to. And that being the case, we have to take care of it.

___

(c)2021 the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.)

Visit the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.) at www.abqjournal.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Both captains in the Air Force, Alex and Josh Dobhailen said the reactions of their leadership at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., show that gender discrimination still exists within the military for victims of sexual assault. (Alex Dobhailen)

When Air Force officers Alex Gibson and Josh Dobhailen first met at the services Intelligence Officer Course in 2017, each was recovering from a sexual assault. They married later that year, believing that their similar trauma allowed them to quickly bond.

After a stint in Florida, the Dobhailens moved across the country to Travis Air Force Base, Calif., in February 2020, in part to get distance from Alexs accused perpetrator.

After just four months at Travis, police called to inform the couple that her perpetrator might be living at an address near them. Meanwhile, Alex suffered a miscarriage, and the stress of it all left them both reeling.

Both are captains who work in military intelligence for different units on base, and they each decided to self-identify with leadership about their past assaults, which had been formally reported, and seek behavioral health treatment. While Josh, 26, received support from his leadership, Alex, 29, said her job and her security clearance were taken from her and she now faces a medical board evaluation that could end her military career.

It means a lot to me to wear this uniform, Alex said. Ive seen, I hate to say it, a lot of gender discrimination or a lot of retaliation or reprisal over this last five-year journey since my assault.

Alexs perpetrator was in the process of separating from the military at the time of the assault in 2016, she said. Her commander at Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., where the assault occurred, deferred to the civilian authorities to prosecute.

The easiest way to sum it up is the base commander there ended up saying to certain staff members, She cant tell me she didnt know what she was expecting when she let him into her house. And that was a just in the second month of my investigation and that pretty much dictated how the rest of my case went, Alex said.

The local authorities declined to prosecute the case. Only about 5% of all sexual assault cases in the U.S. lead to an arrest, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.

The Air Force Office of Investigation handed Joshs case over to German state authorities to investigate, he said.

To try to save her military career, Alex hired an attorney to help file formal complaints and other documents to escalate her concerns to the levels above her immediate command that could intervene. Together, Alex and Josh decided to speak out about the disparity in their treatment for seeking help at the same time for the same issues. Since she began speaking up, she said other women in her unit have come to her and told her they, too, have faced discrimination.

I love my Air Force. I love my military, but in order for us to advance and move forward and to put an end to the gender discrimination or even racial discrimination or  the retaliation or reprisal that victims face in the military, somebodys got to be willing to do something. It seems like the harder I  try to do something to bring attention to it, the worse its getting to me here.

Both captains in the Air Force, Alex and Josh Dobhailen said the reactions of their leadership at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., show that gender discrimination still exists within the military for victims of sexual assault. Alex and Josh are both victims and recently disclosed this information to their units to attend therapy. Joshs career was unaffected while Alex had her security clearance suspended and may lose her military career. (Alex Dobhailen)

Clearance suspended

Losing a security clearance for seeking mental health services is rare, according to the Defense Department. The military has released information for service members to counter concerns after a Rand study in 2018 found it to be a leading reason for people to not seek treatment.

This is not the case, according to a 2020 fact sheet from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. A detailed analysis of denial and revocation statistics involving psychological conditions clearly demonstrates that a cleared individual is not likely to lose or fail to gain clearance eligibility after seeking mental health care or experiencing mental health symptoms.

Between 2012 and 2018, only 12 out of 2.3 million clearance adjudications were denied because of psychological issues, according to the fact sheet. None of those 12 was related to an individual seeking care.

There are absolutely no words. My whole intent and purpose was to go and get help to handle the situation responsibly, so I can be everything that I needed to be to my airmen and to my people, and to do the best at my job, Alex said. Because Im a sexual assault victim and because of my gender, and because of my willingness to say something, I ended up being that one in 2.3 million-person statistic. It shows the disparity between my husband and I.

The Travis Air Force Base Public Affairs Office said it could not speak directly to Alexs situation because of privacy concerns but said commanders have discretion to remove members local access to classified information.

Any suspension or revocation of security clearances rests with the Defense Departments Consolidated Adjudication Facility.

Our leadership takes these allegations seriously and ensures all service members are treated with dignity and respect, base officials said. Seeking mental health services does not affect ones ability to gain or hold clearance eligibility. Adjudicators regard seeking mental health treatment as a positive step in the security clearance process. It is important for the cleared workforce and prospective employees to understand there are no automatically disqualifying conditions or treatments.

By contrast, avoiding care when needed can raise security concerns, officials said.

Alex said she received her highest authorized clearance after her assault, after she initially received therapy and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. She then set up a new intelligence shop at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida and received high marks on her evaluations.

In her role at Travis, she continued to receive positive reviews for her work until the moment she told her leadership about her past assault and need to return to therapy.

The next business day after I went to mental health and identified as a sexual assault victim, informally, I was removed from my job, Alex said. I stopped being included in all the meetings and everything like that.

Her chain of command suspended her clearance at the local level and moved her to a position that doesnt require one. After eight months, her commander served Alex paperwork to revoke her clearance. The news came about a week after she met with personnel from the Inspector General, the Office of Special Investigations and Security Forces to report the misconduct of her command, said Allison Weber, Alexs attorney.

While the Inspector General is looking into the case on some level, the two criminal investigative agencies have declined to move forward, Weber said.

Ive undergone proper evaluations by accredited individuals, and Ive been cleared, and I still have not been returned my security clearance, Alex said. I love my husband and I would never want anything bad to happen to him, but it can be hard sometimes to come home every day and ride in the same car on the way home and see that we are experiencing the same thing. Were both recovering from our sexual assaults and his career has been completely untouched and his career will recover, if it really had any ramifications at all. But Im most likely staring down the end (of) my career in the next couple of months.

Weber, a former Army JAG officer working with Tully Rinckey PLLC, said she responded to the paperwork. If the command went forward and sent the request to revoke her security clearance to the Defense Department, it will take months until they hear any updates.

Adjudicators could disagree with the commands decision or ask for additional information, Weber said. An appeal process exists that could also grant Alex an opportunity to fight a decision to revoke her clearance.

Instead of stonewalling the officer, Weber said the United States military, and specifically the Air Force, needs to improve the way they work with military sexual assault victims who continue to serve.

Capt. Dobhailen did exactly what shes been trained to do  seek help when needed, keep her leadership informed of her status, and work to overcome any hurdles to return to duty. The military should not use her self-referral for treatment against her to justify removing her from her position, suspending her clearance and/or threatening to separate her, Weber said.

But it wasnt only the way Alexs unit reacted to her need for treatment that has felt unfair or strange to the couple. As the two officers attended therapy, Joshs therapist, who was the flight commander of the clinic, told him his wife was too far gone, even though he was not her care provider, Josh said.

I was told by my therapist that of the two of us, only one of us can be saved to have a career in the military. I was told that at this point my therapist believed that was me. So he said he was going to do everything he could to focus in on me, Josh said. And Im just sitting here like, Wheres this coming from? Theres no reason for it. 

Lives the core values

Meanwhile, his wifes unit tried to force her into a command-directed mental health evaluation without reason. Soon after, she learned they intend to send her before a medical evaluation board for lower back pain, something she has never been treated for, she said.

Her physical evaluation board liaison officer has made that point clear to try to stop the process, but it has not worked. Medical boards tend to move faster than security clearance evaluations, which means Alex could be medically retired before the clearance issue is resolved, Weber said.

Travis Air Force Base officials declined to comment on the medical board evaluation because of privacy concerns. A statement regarding the process in general said its designed to determine whether a service members long-term medical condition enables him/her to continue to meet medical retention standards, in accordance with military service regulations.

Joining the Air Force was a childhood dream for Alex. Her husband described her as the poster child for the Air Force, because of her enthusiasm to serve.

She quite literally lives the core values day in and day out, and also with her performance. Shes exactly what you imagine when you see all the recruiting videos, Josh said.

If you look at the word uniform, its so everybodys the same. So when people look at us, they should not be looking at whos wearing the uniform, whether youre male or female, whether youre African American, whether youre Asian, whether youre white. What matters is what you stand for and what you do. And there are certain individuals in our service that do not see it that way.

thayer.rose@stripes.com

Twitter: @Rose_Lori
Health minister confirms contact tracing in Wales will be extended to March 2022

Contact tracing in Wales is to be extended by 12 months, it has been announced.

Health and Social Services Minister Eluned Morgan announced that a further 32m will be invested to extend the service to March 2022.

Test Trace Protect (TTP) was introduced last year to reach those who been identified as a contact of someone who had tested positive for coronavirus to help stop the spread of the virus.

The latest figures show that almost a year after TTP was launched in Wales, contact tracers have reached 99.7% of the positive cases that were eligible for follow up.





They successfully contacted almost 95% of the close contacts that were eligible for follow up, and provided them with advice, or helped to resolve their cases.

Local authorities have also approved more than 12,500 self-isolation support payments to help people to stay at home and reduce the risk of coronavirus spreading in their local communities.

Contact tracers and advisers working for the TTP service are now undertaking enhanced contact tracing to tackle variants of concern. They also:

Manage and provide assurance to almost 18,000 travellers from amber list countries who must quarantine and take tests;

Take vaccination programme calls from the public, arrange bookings and follow up on those who do not attend;

Act as the contact centre for the Welsh Vaccination Certificate Service;

Contact large businesses and local employers to encourage them to take up the Welsh Government offer of asymptomatic lateral flow tests, (LFTs);

Contact local business, including licenced premises, hospitality and care homes, to establish correct contact details and establish if any support is needed in relation to COVID-19 measures, regulatory requirements and other public health issues;

Support community testing sites.

Health and Social Services Minister Eluned Morgan said: Test, Trace, Protect has been extremely effective at supporting people who have tested positive and their contacts to isolate and providing advice, guidance and support. It is critical to stopping the virus spreading in our communities.

Its a year since we set up Test, Trace, Protect from scratch  at what the Auditor General for Wales described as an extraordinary scale and at pace. A great deal of hard work across NHS Wales, local authorities, the voluntary sector and partner organisations has created a highly-effective programme to help us keep Wales safe. Everyone involved can be extremely proud of their efforts.

I want to thank everyone involved, including Public Health Wales and Digital Health Care Wales. In particular I want to thank the contact tracers and those providing Protect services who have provided much-needed support to people at an extremely difficult time in their lives.

They have done much more than their title suggests  they have identified vulnerable people and got them extra support, whether that be someone to chat to, a food parcel, or linking in with vital mental health services.

As we seek to stop the spread of new variants of concern, experienced contact tracers are key to doing this effectively and we are continuing to invest in this work.

Research has suggested that when coronavirus transmission was high before the firebreak last year, TTP reduced the R number from approximately 1.7 to 1.3. Using the more recent R number and improvements to monitoring, its impact may be to reduce R from 1.3 to 0.8.
DAYTON, Ohio (Tribune News Service)  Representatives of the U.S Air Force and the Royal Air Force are set to present "Swords of Honor" to members of their respective forces Wednesday at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

British Ambassador Dame Karen Pierce was scheduled to begin an inaugural visit to the Midwest in Ohio with the ceremony. The ambassador was detained in Washington, and instead, Consul General Alan Gogbashian, who represents the ambassador and the British government, will step in.

The event recognizes the two most-deserving officers exchanged between the U.S. Air Force and the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force, according to a release from the British Consulate-General in Chicago.

Gogbashian will confer the Royal Air Force sword to Group Capt. Andrew Lloyd, who served on exchange as deputy director of logistics at the U.S. Air Force Sustainment Center, according to the consulate.

In turn, the Air Force sword will be conferred by Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr., commander of Air Force Materiel Command, based at Wright-Patterson, to Capt. Katie Broyles for her exchange service at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire, England.

The Sword of Honor award was established in 2009 by the Royal Air Force Museum American Foundation, to be presented annually to the RAF exchange officer who most contributed in the previous year to relations between the two nations and their air forces.

In 2012, another sword was added to recognize the most outstanding U.S. Air Force officer on exchange with the RAF.

The consulate said Ohio exports to the UK totaled $3.8 billion in 2019, supporting 20,640 Ohio jobs, while UK subsidiaries employed 49,100 Ohioans.

(c)2021 the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio)

Visit the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) at www.daytondailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Brig. Gen. Joseph Hilbert, the incoming commander of the 7th Army Training Command, receives the 7th ATC guidon from Gen. Christopher Cavoli, U.S. Army Europe and Africa commander, during a ceremony on the parade field at Tower Barracks, Germany, June 2, 2021. Gertrud Zach/U.S. Army (Gertrud Zach)

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany  Brig. Gen. Joseph Hilbert, who headed the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels until last year, has returned to Bavaria to assume command Wednesday of the Armys largest overseas training area.

Hilbert, who arrived from the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Ga., took over the 7th Army Training Command from Brig. Gen. Christopher Norrie.

We are excited to rejoin the team here, Hilbert said. I look forward to working with many of you again.

The 7th ATC is responsible for providing and overseeing the training requirements for U.S. Army Europe and Africa soldiers, as well as troops from NATO and partner countries.

Norrie oversaw the Armys response to the coronavirus pandemic in Bavaria, which once saw some of the highest case totals and strictest regulations in Germany.

During the pandemic, I had to devote myself to the difficult task of making a selection from a list of consistently poor options, Norrie said in an open letter posted on the command Facebook page. My experience in this was, just like many others, that our common path through the pandemic has been difficult, paved with obstacles and deprivation.

But I will leave with a feeling of deep gratitude, grateful that our paths crossed with all of you here in Bavaria, combined with the honor of being a soldier here in this very special place.

Norries next assignment is to lead the Armys People First Task Force at the Pentagon, which was created following an independent review at Fort Hood, Texas, that found pervasive command climate problems and fear of retaliation for reporting sexual assaults, among other deficiencies..

johnson.immanuel@stripes.com

Twitter: Manny_Stripes
BLUE GRASS ARMY DEPOT, Ky. (Tribune News Service)  The Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) team destroyed the last of the 155mm projectiles containing VX nerve agent May 28, according to a press release.

"There are two important milestones to recognize here," said Dr. Candace Coyle, BGCAPP site project manager in the release. "This marks not only the completion of the second of five destruction campaigns in Kentucky, but also the destruction of all projectiles containing nerve agent in the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile."

With the completion of the VX 155mm projectile campaign, BGCAPP teams will now focus on completing destruction of mustard-filled projectiles and preparing for destruction of nerve agent-filled rockets.

Destruction operations of the VX 155mm projectiles began at the Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD) Jan. 10, 2021. Under the observation of trained operators, automated equipment disassembled nearly 13,000 munitions and drained the chemical agent. The agent was neutralized by mixing it with water and caustic to produce hydrolysate. After the agent was confirmed destroyed, the hydrolysate was pumped to holding tanks to be processed later at an off-site disposal facility. Remaining metal parts from the munitions were decontaminated and recycled.

"The VX projectile campaign marks the second time our team has safely completed a munitions destruction campaign during a pandemic," said Ron Hink, Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass (BPBG) project manager. "Our experience in safely destroying projectiles puts us on the right path forward to begin safely destroying rockets containing nerve agent later this summer."

Throughout the campaign, BGCAPP personnel coordinated with the Blue Grass Chemical Activity (BGCA) personnel on transport of the projectiles from storage igloos on the depot to the plant. Part of the organization's mission is the safe and secure storage of the chemical weapons stockpile.

"The partnership between BGCA's experienced chemical operations personnel and BGCAPP keeps things running smoothly," said Lt. Col. Ed Williams, BGCA commander. "BGCA is proud to be a part of this milestone, and we look forward to supporting the next phase of destruction."

Col. Steve Dorris, BGAD commander, called the achievement a valuable milestone.

"For the first time since the early days of our involvement in the Vietnam War, we can all proudly say that chemical weapon nerve agent projectiles now no longer exist, not only in central Kentucky, but in the entire United States," he said.

The chemical weapons stockpile at BGAD originally consisted of 523 tons of chemical agent configured in 155mm projectiles containing mustard and VX nerve agent, 8-inch projectiles containing GB nerve agent, and M55 rockets containing GB and VX nerve agent.

In June 2019, the BGCAPP team began destroying the mustard stockpile using the Static Detonation Chamber, an explosive destruction technology. The mustard campaign is more than 85% complete. From January through May 2020, nearly 4,000 8-inch projectiles containing GB nerve agent were destroyed at BGCAPP.

As of May 21, more than 27% of the original 523 tons of chemical agent have been destroyed in Kentucky.

The Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives is responsible for destroying the remaining U.S. chemical weapons stockpile in Colorado and Kentucky. The organization oversees the contract for design, construction, systemization, operation and closure of BGCAPP with BPBG and subcontractors Amentum, Battelle Memorial Institute and GP Strategies.

"The truly important accomplishment here is that the work was done safely," said Michael S. Abaie, program executive officer for the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program. "Your friends and neighbors are the ones getting this job done on behalf of the United States and are critical to this mission. The entire Blue Grass workforce is to be commended for reaching this goal."

"I am very thankful for the dedicated staff at the Blue Grass Army Depot," said Reagan Taylor, judge-executive, Madison County, Kentucky. "Hitting another milestone in this process is an example of the hard work it took to complete this phase of the mission. I am grateful for the high priority the depot takes in keeping Madison County safe. I'm confident this hard work and determination will continue to the next milestone of destroying these chemical weapons."

The stockpile sites in Colorado and Kentucky account for the last 10% of what was originally a national stockpile of more than 30,000 tons of chemical weapons. The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity destroyed the initial 90%, which was stored at seven other sites across the U.S. and on Johnston Atoll in the Pacific. Chemical weapons destruction in Colorado began in 2015. Both sites are on target to complete destruction of chemical weapons by Dec. 31, 2023.

(c)2021 the Richmond Register (Richmond, Ky.)

Visit the Richmond Register (Richmond, Ky.) at richmondregister.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
First Lt. Alex Stovall is chaplain candidate in the Army Reserve who has announced he is running as a Republican for a House seat representing Arizonas 9th Congressional District. The Army is investigating him for wearing his uniform while promoting his campaign for Congress on a right-wing television network and making statements that denigrated President Joe Biden. (Alex Stovall for Congress Facebook)

The Army is investigating a Reserve officer for wearing his uniform while promoting his campaign for Congress on a right-wing television network and making statements that denigrated President Joe Biden, service officials said.

First Lt. Alex Stovall, 26, is a chaplain candidate in the Army Reserve who has announced he is running as a Republican for a House seat representing Arizonas 9th Congressional District. A spokesman for the Army Reserve said Tuesday that the service was aware Stovall had appeared in his combat uniform during an interview about his campaign on the One American News Network last month and he had publicly questioned Bidens legitimacy as commander in chief.

We are aware of the situation and are investigating, said Army Lt. Col. Simon Flake, an Army Reserve spokesman. The U.S. Army Reserve follows the Department of Defense's long-standing policy regarding service member involvement in partisan political campaigns to avoid the perception of DoD sponsorship, approval, or endorsement of any partisan political candidate, campaign, or cause. Standard procedural steps are being taken to ensure the investigation is conducted in a timely and thorough manner and appropriate rights will be afforded to all involved.

Flake declined to detail specifics Tuesday about the probe into Stovall's actions.

Service members serving in a Reserve capacity are allowed to run for partisan political office, though they must not appear in uniform as part of their campaign or use their military service to imply Defense Department sponsorship, approval or endorsement of their activities, according to department directive 1344.10.

Stovalls appearance in uniform, which he told OANN during the interview occurred after he got a last-minute call to military duty, violated that directive, according to Mikey Weinstein, the founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which advocates for the separation of church and state within the military.

Weinstein also accused Stovall of illegally denigrating the president. In an April 14 appearance on the streaming radio network Gun Freedom Radio, Stovall said he did not consider Biden a legitimate president.

We saw the inauguration of the  well, I dont think hes president  [what]ever, you would call this sleepy guy in office, Stovall said on the radio program.

In a May 29 tweet, Stovall also attacked comments made by Biden about a young girl. The first lieutenant wrote: Resident Biden believes a 6 year old looks 19[.] In or out of uniform I will never accept these comments as normal or acceptable[.] How many people feel good about his statements ? .. [Ill] wait. I said what I said.

The tweet was in reference to Biden's apparent attempt one day earlier to compliment a young woman on stage with him during a speech that he gave at Joint Base Eustis-Langley, Va. Biden told the crowd the young woman with her family at the event "looks like she's 19 years old, sitting there like a little lady with her legs crossed." According to the New York Post, the girl 'appeared to be elementary-school age."

Stovall did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. In an interview with Military.com, he defended his actions, telling the website that he had not broken any rules or regulations. Military.com reported Tuesday that Stovall ended the interview abruptly after he was asked about specific allegations.

In an open letter to Biden, Weinstein called for Stovall to be prosecuted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, labeling his actions one of the most repulsive acts of criminal contemptuousness towards a U.S. president by a uniformed member of the Department of Defense (DoD) we at MRFF have ever heretofore witnessed.

Under UCMJ Article 88, a commissioned officer in the U.S. military is barred from using contemptuous words against top officials, including the president. Those found guilty under Article 88 face up to one year in military prison, forfeiture of all pay and dismissal as a commissioned officer.

Mr. President, MRFF is respectfully asking you to ensure, as our American militarys commander in chief, that [1st Lt.] Alex Stovall is justly, expeditiously, aggressively, and visibly punished for his incredibly reprehensible actions, as detailed in this open letter to you, Weinstein wrote in the letter to Biden dated Tuesday. Sir, we simply cannot have Army [first lieutenants] bragging and boasting about calling our president a pedophile and illicitly leveraging their military status to win elections to Congress in blatant violation of DoD regulations, directives, instructions, and the UCMJ!

Stovall also faces accusations of embellishing his service.

He has in several instances claimed to be an Army chaplain, however his service records show he is a chaplain candidate, essentially a chaplain-in-training. Stovall appears to have in recent days altered his campaigns Twitter profile to reflect he is a chaplain candidate and not a full chaplain. However, his campaign websites About me page still reads that he was a prior non-commissioned officer who served overseas as a chaplain, as of Wednesday.

Stovalls service records show he first enlisted in the Army in 2013. They also show he has received an Overseas Service Ribbon, indicating he has deployed outside the United States.

Stovall, in campaign material and broadcast appearances, has said he is running for Congress in Arizona to oppose Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who he labeled in a campaign advertisement as a socialist who "hate[s] ... God and America.

I dont fight for this country to watch it be taken over by AOC, Stovall said in the ad, using Ocasio-Cortezs initials.

Stovalls Army records show he has not served in combat.

If Stovall wins the seat  in a district that voted 61% last year to reelect Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton  he would become the youngest Black Republican ever elected to Congress.

dickstein.corey@stripes.com

Twitter: @CDicksteinDC
Pfc. Khairee Ammar Patton, 21, was arrested May 25 at Fort Hood, Texas, for an outstanding warrant from Arizona on charges of murder and child abuse. (Bell County Jail)

A Fort Hood soldier was arrested at the Army base in Texas on charges of murder and child abuse in Tempe, Ariz., where local law enforcement said his actions led to the death of his girlfriends 13-month-old child in January 2019.

Fort Hood law enforcement arrested Pfc. Khairee Ammar Patton, 21, on May 25 without incident, according to base officials.

Bell County Jail in Texas listed him as an inmate Wednesday as he waits to be extradited to Maricopa County in Arizona and arraigned on a second-degree murder charge, two counts of child abuse and a charge for failure to provide care.

Patton is assigned to the 15th Brigade Support Battalion within the 1st Cavalry Division, according to Fort Hood. His arrest is related to an investigation from more than two years ago, according to the Tempe Police Department.

On Jan. 9, 2019, officers were called to Cardon Childrens Medical Center, now named Banner Childrens, where a 13-month-old child was in critical condition after being transported from a Phoenix urgent care facility.

Patton initially told staff at the urgent care facility that he was the childs stepfather, though police determined he was the boyfriend of the childs mother. Patton later said he was alone with the child while his girlfriend was at work and the toddler had hit his or her head on a stereo, according to police.

Police did not name the child, the mother or release the childs gender.

The attending doctor told police that the injuries did not match Pattons account because they were not consistent with an accidental injury. The injuries indicated abuse, police said.

The toddler was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Tempe detectives said Fort Hood criminal investigators have been coordinating with them since Pattons arrest.

Tempe police referred the case to the Maricopa County Attorney on Nov. 12, 2020, according to the county attorneys office. Neither office said when the felony warrant was issued for Patton.

Thayer.rose@stripes.com

Twitter: @Rose_Lori
The former U.S. Coast Guard Cutter John Midgett left Puget Sound, Wash., on June 1 en route to its new home as part of the Vietnamese Coast Guard. (U.S. COAST GUARD)

(Tribune News Service)  The former U.S. Coast Guard Cutter John Midgett left the Puget Sound, Wash., on June 1 en route to its new home as part of the Vietnamese Coast Guard.

The 378-foot ship was officially transferred to the Vietnamese Coast Guard on Aug. 14, 2020, but, due to a ban on international travel to Vietnam because of COVID-19, the voyage was postponed. The ship is now called the Vietnamese Coast Guard Cutter CSB 8021.

The former Midgett was decommissioned in March 2020 after more than 48 years of service. After a year of dry-dock repairs and maintenance at the Lake Union shipyard, a 46-person crew from Vietnam arrived at U.S. Coast Guard Base Seattle in February 2021 to participate in training alongside U.S. Coast Guardsmen.

"This transfer strengthens the partnership between the U.S. Coast Guard and Vietnam Coast Guard, increases service interoperability, and ultimately bolsters maritime governance in a free and open Indo-Pacific," said Coast Guard spokesperson Lt. Scott Carr.

The ship had been named for John Alan Midgett Jr., who served more than 40 years in the U.S. life-saving service, the former service that became the U.S Coast Guard when it merged with the Revenue Cutter Service in 1915. The Midgett was one of the first Cutters to deploy to the Persian Gulf in 2006 for Operation Enduring Freedom where it supported the U.S. Navy.

The ship has been home-ported in Seattle since 1991. Its responsibilities included homeland security missions, search-and-rescue and maritime law enforcement.

(c)2021 The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)

Visit The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) at www.TheNewsTribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Ports around the U.S. are rolling out vaccines for seafarers, extending a lifeline to thousands of mostly foreign workers who've spent the pandemic isolated aboard ships ensuring goods kept trading across a battered global economy.

From Boston to Houston and Los Angeles, and even in smaller trade gateways like Gulfport, Miss., local health officials and nonprofits are boarding container ships, tankers and other cargo carriers to administer COVID-19 shots or, when possible, shuttling crews to nearby pharmacies and clinics.

The preferred vaccine for maritime workers: the one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot, because they're often docked for just a day or two.

In Los Angeles and nearby Long Beach, Calif., home of the nation's largest port complex, a vaccination program that began in mid-May has reached about 500 visiting sailors on 11 container ships as of late last week, city spokeswoman Chelsey Magallon said.

Similar efforts are getting underway at nearly 50 U.S. seaports, according to a list maintained by the North American Maritime Ministry Association.

Throughout the pandemic, seafarers have suffered a doubly harsh form of cabin fever. Travel restrictions prevented crew changes, forcing many to stay aboard beyond their original contracts and the 11-month limit set by maritime law. They've also been banned from disembarking in port for fear of spreading COVID or putting their vessel into quarantine for a week or more at the expense of millions of dollars.

"That's a very big deal for sailors because they are essentially stranded aboard ships," said Dick McKenna, president of the International Seafarers Center of Long Beach-Los Angeles, a hospitality club that offers logistics on land like Wifi, shopping or health-care services. "Some of these guys have been out there for like a year -- the suicide worry is high. The shots are a really big boost."

Many of the world's 1.6 million seafarers hail from poor countries like India and the Philippines that have struggled to inoculate citizens as quickly as the U.S., where vaccines remain abundant.

"It's a huge welcome relief for these ships because all these foreign countries are having a hard time giving vaccines," said Tom Jacobsen, who runs a pilot service at the Port of Long Beach.

About 400 miles north on the California coast, Oakland's port is averaging vaccines for about 80 seafarers a day and offering them either on the ship or in a clinic, said John Claassen, chairman of Oakland's International Maritime Center. Some recipients view their vaccine certificates "like a 'get out of jail free' card," he said.

In the Philadelphia area, some 22 crews totaling 258 seamen had been vaccinated as of Saturday, courtesy of rides to local pharmacies, said Helene Pierson, executive director of the Seamen's Church Institute of Philadelphia and South Jersey. "I'm averaging about 20 crew a day and about 10 ships a week," she said.

Some sailors are stepping foot on land for the first time in nine months or longer.

"We are on a continuous rotation between six ports in the USA and six ports in Brazil and one in Argentina and Uruguay -- a vaccination would help us a lot," Ingmar Koal, the master on board the container carrier the Northern Majestic, wrote in an email to Pierson on May 18 as the ship approached Philadelphia.

Complicating the local efforts to deliver the vaccines are safety rules that require at least half the crew to remain aboard the ships -- so the shuttles often have to make two or three trips between the port and drugstore. Other potential snags: many workers' visas have expired, which prevents them from leaving the ship, or face U.S. Customs and Border Protection rules against the arrival citizens of certain countries.

Despite coordination efforts that are "still extremely challenging," 130 seafarers were vaccinated in 10 days in Delaware, according to Christine Lassiter, executive director of the Seamen's Center of Wilmington.

For crews who might come from Eastern Europe or Southeast Asia, there's an economic incentive to get a vaccination card.

"That card and paperwork are going to make them very marketable," said Stefan Mueller-Dombois, an inspector with the International Transport Workers' Federation in Long Beach. "Their company will want them back or they can find another ship to work on really easily."

In other parts of the world, more COVID outbreaks have stricken crew on ships and once again closed off some ports, particularly vessels carrying Indian crews or having recently traveled to India.

That's why a global vaccination program supported by a number of governments is key to resolving the crisis at sea, said Rene Kofod-Olsen, chief executive officer of ship and crew manager V.Group Ltd. The company recently completed its first vaccinations in the U.S. -- 13 Indian seafarers aboard the Cabrera in Port Everglades, Florida, received jabs during a stop there.

"This crisis is not over yet and we all need to keep the gas up on this," Kofod-Olsen said.

Captain Rajesh Unni, founder of Singapore-based ship manager Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., said the company expects crews on about 70 of its vessels bound for U.S. ports to be vaccinated this quarter -- just about 10% of its total pool of seafarers. "In the short term, we need to get seafarers vaccinations in countries where there are established programs and sufficient supplies of vaccines, like in the United States," he said.

What's unique about the vaccine programs in the U.S. is the broad inclusion of foreign workers, said Jason Zuidema, general secretary of the International Christian Maritime Association, a U.K. organization that represents seafarer centers globally.

China and Russia have offered doses to their domestic maritime industries, and U.K. officials have offered them to British fishermen. The Netherlands is launching a program starting in mid-June, available to seafarers on vessels flying the Dutch flag. Australia has vaccinated a small number of foreign deckhands that transport gas between the nation's ports on a ship that's under charter to energy giant Origin Energy Ltd.

Zuidema estimated that 4,000 seafarers have been vaccinated around U.S. ports in recent weeks.

"This transforms their lives and we've seen that it has almost immediate effect," Zuidema said. He added that a container ship calling on ports along the U.S. East Coast recently rewarded its fully vaccinated crew with something they haven't had since the pandemic began: shore leave.
Buy Photo Two utility maintenance trucks navigate a narrow street cluttered with debris near San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Nov. 10, 2017, as National Guard members try to restore electrical power months after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)

WASHINGTON  Dozens of House lawmakers from Florida, Texas and California want to increase the size of National Guard forces in their states as years of growing extreme weather events has put a strain on troops who are helping to respond.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin dated June 1, 59 House members from some of the most populated U.S. states expressed concern over a lack of resources to fulfill the range of missions facing the National Guard.

Strain on the National Guard has been building for years as hurricane response in Florida, winter storm, and flood rescue in Texas, and combatting wildfires in California has been persistent, the lawmakers wrote in the letter.

National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Daniel Hokanson receives a briefing in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 2, 2021. (Ashley Goodwin/U.S. Army)

Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, testified to Congress last month that Guard members from 22 states supported 22 severe weather events in 2020 and a record of 12 storms.

The extraordinary circumstances of the past year have highlighted the strain our Guard units have been under for too long, potentially hurting recruitment, retention, and readiness, the lawmakers wrote.

The states represented by the lawmakers have the lowest Guard member-to-civilian ratios in the country, they wrote. Limited resources have put greater demands on Guard families because of the Guard bureaus lack of ability to rotate personnel.

The effort was mostly led by members of the House Armed Services Committee, including Reps. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., Ken Calvert, R-Calif., Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., and Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, and Marc Veasey, D-Texas.

Recommendations from an internal report by the National Guard Bureau sent to Congress in April included the Guard may need to evaluate reallocating mission sets to other geographic areas to keep pace with changing demographics across the country.

The lawmakers asked Austin to review the recommendations of the report titled Impact of U.S. Population Trends on National Guard Force Structure, as well as resource allocations to increase the size of Guard bureaus in the three states.

We have an obligation to ensure that these civilian warriors, and our state bureaus, have the resources they need to fulfill the full range of missions we task them with, the lawmakers wrote.
Combat Arms earplugs as manufactured by Aearo Technologies. The plugs, which were standard issue in Iraq and Afghanistan, were found to be defective and allowed ''damaging sounds to enter the ear canal.'' () Spc. Coca Temoananui, assigned to the 311th Signal Command, puts in ear protection prior to a helicopter flight in 2012. (Debrah Sanders/U.S. Army)

AUSTIN, Texas  A lawsuit involving more than 229,000 veterans with hearing problems that they claim are linked to faulty earplugs issued by the military begins its first trial Monday in a Florida federal courtroom.

The multidistrict litigation claims the companies that made the earplugs -- 3M and its predecessor Aearo -- knew from testing that the equipment it designed in coordination with the military did not fit properly into an ear canal and could loosen in a way that was imperceptible to the wearer. The suit also claims some of the testing results shown to the military before the purchase were done with a modification to the earplug that the military was not told was required to achieve optimal protection.

Jury selection begins Monday in Pensacola, Fla., for the cases of three veterans who were selected as bellwether trials in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida under Judge M. Casey Rogers.

Bellwether trials can be used in multidistrict litigation to present a representative of the cases before a jury to gain useful information for potentially reaching a settlement for all cases. It can help both parties determine the costs of subsequent litigation.

Two of the veterans in the bellwether trials have hearing loss and tinnitus, according to court documents. The third veteran suffers hearing loss and conditions related to it.

Hearing loss and tinnitus, described as a ringing or buzzing in the ears, are the two most common conditions of veterans who are suing, and are also two of the most prevalent service-connected disabilities identified by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In 2017, the VA compensated about 1.79 million veterans for tinnitus and about 1.16 million for hearing loss, according to the Hearing Health Foundation, a nonprofit funder of hearing research in America.

The lawsuit focuses on 3Ms combat arms earplug, version 2. Work began on the product in the late 1990s, when the military tasked the St. Paul, Minn.-based company to design an earplug that could block loud gunfire while allowing the wearer to hear low-level sounds, such as speech. The resulting product, a dual-sided earplug, was sold to the military until 2015.

No recall was ever issued on the product and version 4 of the earplug remains in use by the military, according to 3M.

We deny this product was defectively or negligently designed and caused injuries, and we will vigorously defend ourselves against such allegations, the company said in a statement on its website.

In July 2018, the Justice Department announced 3M agreed to pay $9.1 million to resolve allegations that it knowingly sold the earplugs to the military without disclosing defects that hampered effectiveness. That lawsuit was filed through the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act, according to the Justice Department.

In settling the claim, 3M did not admit to wrongdoing, according to the company.

Following that decision, a series of lawsuits were filed by veterans who wore the earplugs and now suffer from hearing loss. Those claims were combined into the multi-district mass tort case now churning through the legal system. In a mass tort case, each plaintiff is treated as an individual instead of as a group, such as in a class action lawsuit.

Thayer.rose@stripes.com Twitter: @Rose_Lori
It appears that President Joe Biden's announced withdrawal from Afghanistan is proceeding ahead of schedule, with all U.S. troops set to depart by mid-July, and NATO and allied forces keeping to that schedule as well. But if the president wants to tie a neat bow on U.S. involvement in Afghanistan  saying, as he has, that the logic for the war ended once al-Qaida was gutted and Osama bin Laden killed  it reveals a stunning lack of introspection about the United States' role in the conflict that will continue in Afghanistan.

It is true that the president had no good choice on Afghanistan, and that he inherited a bad deal from his predecessor. But in announcing an unconditional withdrawal, he made the situation worse by throwing out the minimal conditions U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad had negotiated under the Trump administration.

The refrain from the Biden administration is that the United States is not abandoning Afghanistan, that it will aim to do right by Afghan women and girls, and that it will try to nudge the Taliban and Kabul toward a peace deal using a diplomatic tool kit. But the narrative ignores much of the reality on the ground. On May 8, at least 90 people, many of them schoolgirls, were killed in a horrific terrorist attack outside a high school in Kabul. The Taliban denied responsibility but has increased attacks across Afghanistan. The fighting between the Afghan security forces and the Taliban has intensified in various cities; in other district centers, Afghan forces have surrendered to the Taliban.

Meanwhile, the Taliban has repeatedly refused to come to the administration's proposed Istanbul conference on Afghanistan  and now, after intense efforts, say it'll only attend if the conference is short, low-level and doesn't involve decision-making on critical issues. They've made a farce of the whole process, an outcome many of us predicted given the unconditional withdrawal. Afghanistan almost certainly seems headed for greater violence, with embassies rapidly reducing their presence or shutting down altogether due to security concerns, as the Australian embassy recently announced. One can imagine how tone-deaf a "mission accomplished" narrative sounds to Afghans living this reality.

The U.S. choice came with costs attached to each decision. With staying, the cost was potential U.S. troop casualties and a fear that things would not change on the ground. With leaving comes the cost of a deeper conflict in Afghanistan and a backsliding of progress made there over the past two decades. In many ways, the costs of staying seem shorter-term and borne by the United States, while the costs of leaving will be predominantly borne by Afghans over a longer time horizon. Yet, even if those costs seem remote now, history tells us that they will be blamed on the United States.

Biden, as the Economist put it, seems to have "little time for a losing cause." His decision also reflects his administration's foreign policy for the American middle-class paradigm, which focuses on domestic considerations over international ones (and is this so different from Trump's "America First"?). The irony, though, is that the American middle class largely doesn't care about Afghanistan  their ambivalence gave way to support for this decision once it was announced, but it wouldn't be hard to visualize the public approving of a scenario that kept a couple thousand troops there for a while longer.

What's perhaps most disturbing is the narrative the president has presented along with the rationale for withdrawal: that we went to Afghanistan to defeat al-Qaida after 9/11, that mission creep led us to stay on too long and, therefore, it is time to get out. This takes an incomplete view of U.S. agency in the war in Afghanistan. The narrative implies that the civil conflict in Afghanistan today did not originate with us  that this more than 40-year war began with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, preceded us and will follow our departure.

The fact of the matter is that, by beginning the campaign in Afghanistan in 2001 and overthrowing the Taliban, who were then engaged in their draconian rule, and installing a new government, we began a new phase of the Afghan conflict  one that pitted the Kabul government and the United States against the Taliban insurgency. The Afghan people did not have a say in the matter. That we are leaving Afghan women, children and youth better off in many ways after 20 years is due to us, and we should be proud of that. But that we are leaving them mired in a bloody conflict is also due to us, because we could not hold off the Taliban insurgency, and we must reckon publicly with that.

If this is an administration that takes U.S. leadership seriously  and I think it is  it should do away with the simple narrative it has presented thus far, and reckon with our role and responsibility in this latest iteration of the Afghan conflict. Far from making us appear weak, such honesty would garner the United States respect and credibility on the world stage.

Madiha Afzal is a David M. Rubenstein Fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author of "Pakistan Under Siege: Extremism, Society, and the State."
World Heritage Site development set for UK Government Levelling Up Fund bid

Ambitious plans to increase the visitor experience at the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Site could get a major boost if a UK Government Levelling Up Fund bid gets accepted.

Wrexham Councils Executive Board are set to rubber stamp a submission of two applications to the UK Governments Levelling Up Fund, which are based around the Wrexham Gateway project and developments in and around Pontcysyllte World Heritage Site.

In March 2021, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a 4.8b capital scheme for high value local infrastructure investment, who explained of the fund: It is also designed to help local areas select genuine local priorities for investment by putting local stakeholder support, including the local MP where they want to be involved, at the heart of its mission.

Two bids for up to 20 million can be submitted for each whole parliamentary constituency. For Wrexham County Borough this includes one for Wrexham and one for Clywd South in partnership with Denbighshire County Council.





Wrexham Council say discussions were held with both Members of Parliament, in accordance with the funding guidance and the priority identified by Sarah Atherton MP for Wrexham, is to secure funding to bring forward key elements of the approved Masterplan for the Wrexham Gateway (more here)

The priority identified by Simon Baynes MP for South Clwyd, is to secure funding for infrastructure developments within the Pontcysyllte Aquaduct and Canal World Heritage Site (WHS), with Denbighshire County Council.

Wrexham Council Deputy Leader David A Bithell said, One of Simon Baynes priorities is looking how to develop and improve the infrastructure around the Trevor Basin and to improve the overall experience there and our our World Heritage Site.

We are working with Denbighshire Council as well who are also submitting part of their bid. These are really, really tight timescales, to put these bids in, Officers have been working around the clock to get these bids in. They are still working on the financial detail, as we speak, ready to put in the bids by the 18th of June.

Included in the previously published masterplan are a glamping / camping site, a treetop walk Telfords Treetops and the creation of a new footpath along the former railway viaduct, improvements to the Trevor Basin area and creation of a Dee River walk which would include a new bridge.

Wrexham Councils Chief Officer of Housing & Economy Steve Bayley explained elements of the bid, The master plan itself was consulted on widely in the locality, so its developing elements of that master plan. Theres projects around rewilding, visitor welcome hub, woodland activity and education areas, River Dee walks, public realm and investment. The key thing for it at this stage is the visitor movement and management as well. There have been some conflicts between the local community and visitors to the site, we get over half a million people coming to the site every year. So improving the way we manage the visitors. and relieve the pressure on local residents is really important as a starter here, which is what were doing.

Speaking of the challenges of the site he added, Its one of the only world heritage sites thats open access. If you think about Wales, youve got the castles, you have to pay to go in and youve got a captive audience, you go through a gate, a turnstile, you pay, if you go to Blaenavon, the big pit, you pay, you go in. Here, you can just wander onto the 11 mile site. So how do you capture the revenue income from that, to benefit the local community? Thats one of the things were trying to sort out, so if you can focus the visitors to a particular locality, where they park and also then have visitor interpretation centers, and you have places where you can actually take cash often, that then gets recycled into the local community and benefits us for having a World Heritage Site which is what it is partly about.

Cllr Bithell added, I would like to put on record my thanks to to Steve and his officers, Ian Bancroft (Chief Executive of Wrexham Council), and Leader of the Council Mark Pritchard, whove been really working tremendously hard over the last few months with Sarah Atherton MP and Simon Baynes MP to submit these bids.
The Russian nuclear-powered cruiser Pyotr Veliky (Peter the Great) and the Russian nuclear submarine Dmitry Donskoy moored near Kronstadt, a seaport town 19 miles west of St. Petersburg, Russia, on July 29, 2017. A top Sudanese military official said on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, that the government will review an agreement with Russia that allows it to establish a navy base in the African country. (Elena Ignatyeva/AP)

CAIRO  A top Sudanese military official said the government will review an agreement with Russia to establish a navy base in the African country.

The remarks about the deal, which dates back to the government of now-deposed Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and has not been ratified by the Sudanese parliament, indicate that Khartoum is seeking some changes to the agreement.

Sudan's Chief of General Staff, Gen. Mohammed Othman al-Hussein told Blue Nile television station late on Tuesday that negotiations are underway with Russian officials "to achieve Sudan's interests."

News about the deal surfaced last December on the official portal of the Russian government. The deal allows Russia to set up a naval base with up to 300 Russian troops, and also to simultaneously keep up to four navy ships, including nuclear-powered ones, in Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

In exchange, Russia is to provide Sudan with weapons and military equipment. The agreement is to last for 25 years, with automatic extensions for 10-year periods if neither side objects to it.

"We are negotiating a possible review to this deal, to ensure that our interests and our profits are taken into account," al-Hussein said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Wednesday that Russian and Sudanese officials have been discussing the issue in diplomatic channels.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov noted in remarks carried by Russian news agencies that Russia would like to clarify the Sudanese demands.

"We need to understand specifics," he said. "We aren't forcing ourselves on anyone. If there is a desire to fix something, please tell us what you want."

But Viktor Bondarev, the former Russian air force chief who heads a defense committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, argued that "there are no objective reasons" for a revision of the agreement on the base.

"For the Sudanese side, a permanent Russian naval presence with powerful weapons will guarantee peaceful life in the long-term perspective," Bondarev said in a statement, adding that the deal will help protect Sudan from both a possible "foreign intervention" and "domestic rifts and upheavals that Sudan has grown tired of over the past decades."

For Russia, Bondarev argued, the base in Sudan is important to ensure the Russian navy's presence in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean and spare its ships the need of long voyages to reach the area.

Amid tensions with the U.S. and its allies, Moscow has for years sought to reestablish a regular naval presence in various parts of the world that the Soviet Union had during the Cold War times. The Russian navy already has a major presence in the Mediterranean Sea, with a naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus, currently the only such facility that Russia has outside the former Soviet Union.

Sudan is on a fragile path to democracy after a popular uprising led the military to overthrow al-Bashir in April 2019. The East African nation is now ruled by a joint military and civilian government that seeks better ties with the United States and the West after nearly three decades of international isolation.

___

Isachenkov reported from Moscow.
Rescue teams stand on the capsized hull of the USS Oklahoma on Dec. 7, 1941, in an attempt to save crew members trapped inside. (U.S. National Archives)

FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii  The Defense Department expects by years end to have identified 90% of the exhumed remains of 388 sailors and Marines who died aboard the USS Oklahoma during the 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and were buried as unknowns in Hawaii.

The identification of 338 individuals, to date, from the USS Oklahoma represents the first successful completion of a project of such scope and complexity, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said in a news release Tuesday.

The agency spearheads the nations effort to identify and account for missing service members lost during World War II and all subsequent conflicts.

Active work on the USS Oklahoma project is expected to end later this year, the DPAA said in a statement provided to Stars and Stripes.

"Nearly 86% of unknowns from the USS Oklahoma have been individually identified and it is expected that 90% will be identified by the end of the project, surpassing the original projected estimate of 80% " the release said.

The USS Oklahoma was moored on Battleship Row on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese torpedo bombers descended on Pearl Harbor. Several made direct hits on the ship, capsizing it and killing 429 crew members.

After being moved to several gravesites, the remains of 394 sailors and Marines who died that day  all too badly burned, disfigured or decayed to identify  were laid to rest in 46 plots for the unknown in 1950 at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.

The remains might never have been identified if not for Ray Emory, a Pearl Harbor attack survivor who retired in Hawaii. In the late 1990s, he began researching information about the Oklahoma unknown graves and uncovered evidence of the identity of several of the remains.

In 2003, the Defense Department agreed to disinter one casket of commingled remains based on Emorys findings, and five sailors were identified at a DOD lab at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

Emory, who died in 2018, pressed for more exhumations of Oklahoma unknowns, and in 2015 Defense Department officials approved disinterment of all unknown graves at the Punchbowl associated with the Oklahoma.

Those remains  representing 388 sailors and Marines  were disinterred in 2015 and transferred to DPAAs lab in Nebraska for DNA testing.

Since then, DPAA anthropologists and odontologists, located primarily at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, have worked to sort and analyze over 13,000 bones and associate them to missing Sailors and Marines, the agency said Tuesday.

Genealogists from the Navy and Marine Corps Casualty Offices conducted research to find family members so that DNA testing could be conducted by scientists at the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System, all of which were critical components in the identification process.

The Defense Department does not have DNA reference samples from next of kin for 11 of the service members still unaccounted for from the Oklahoma, the agency told Stars and Stripes.

We have requested all the [family reference samples] for the unaccounted-for associated with the USS Oklahoma, the statement said.

As for remains of Oklahoma service members for whom DOD has no sample, the Navy cannot find a next of kin or the next of kin has declined to participate, according to the DPAA statement.

Work on some remains took longer than others because additional DNA testing had to be conducted by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System, the statement said.

For example, there were multiple sets of brothers missing from the incident, so DNA had to be joined with additional lines of evidence to resolve them individually, the statement said.

olson.wyatt@stripes.com

Twitter: @WyattWOlson
Ridge Hannemann Alkonis, then a junior-grade lieutenant, works aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald in the Timor Sea, July 9, 2015. (Patrick Dionne/U.S. Navy)

TOKYO  Japanese police have recommended a U.S. sailor assigned to Yokosuka Naval Base be charged with negligent driving resulting in death and injury following an accident Saturday that took the life of an elderly woman and injured two other people.

Lt. Ridge Hannemann Alkonis, 33, was arrested at 2:40 p.m. Saturday after police said he crashed his car into vehicles and pedestrians in Fujinomiya, a city in Shizuoka prefecture thats about two hours from the naval base.

Police allege Alkonis drove into a restaurant parking lot in the citys Yamamiya district around 1 p.m. and struck five vacant vehicles and three pedestrians. Alkonis since April has served as a weapons officer aboard the destroyer USS Benfold, according to his LinkedIn profile.

One of the pedestrians, an 85-year-old woman, died that afternoon at a nearby hospital. Also hospitalized were a man, 54, with serious injuries, and a woman, 53, with minor injuries.

Alkonis was not injured, according to police.

Police upgraded the charges they recommended against Alkonis following the womans death and sent the case to prosecutors on Monday, a Fujinomiya police spokesman said Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Shizuoka District Public Prosecutors Office in Numazu confirmed that the case was referred to them and that Alkonis remained in custody. Prosecutors, not police, decide formal charges under Japan's criminal justice system.

Some government officials in Japan customarily speak to the media on condition of anonymity.

Naval Forces Japan spokeswoman Cmdr. Katie Cerezo on Sunday said the Navy was cooperating with Japanese police. She declined to provide additional information about the case on Wednesday.

In October, Alkonis won first prize in an essay contest about mine warfare that was sponsored by the Mine Warfare Association and published in Proceedings, the U.S. Naval Institutes monthly magazine.

robson.seth@stripes.com

Twitter: @SethRobson1

kusumoto.hana@stripes.com

Twitter: @HanaKusumoto
U.S. soldiers assigned to Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, 41st Field Artillery Brigade, fire a rocket during an exercise at Novo Selo, Bulgaria, June 1, 2021. (Zack Stahlberg/U.S. Army )

NOVO SELO TRAINING AREA, Bulgaria  The only U.S. rocket artillery brigade in Europe moved rapidly across borders and launched its mobile weapons in Bulgaria, a display of speed aimed at reassuring NATO allies confronted by an increasingly assertive Russia.

About eight hours after departing Germany early Tuesday with its artillery systems, the contingent from the 41st Field Artillery Brigade fired six rockets at targets more than five miles away on a sprawling military range in the Bulgarian countryside.

The soldiers and their two 12-ton wheeled rocket launchers and a support Humvee were gone soon after the smoke cleared. They were back at Ramstein Air Base in Germany before sunset, courtesy of the Tennessee Air National Guard.

The battalion practiced a rapid insertion with the intent to get in, execute and then get right back out to minimize our signature and risk to the force, said Lt. Col. Anthony Brunner, commander of the 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment.

The operation led by U.S. Army Europe and Africa was part of the Fires Shock series of rocket exercises that began last month in Estonia. The commands artillery units are showcasing their long-range precision rocket systems across two continents.

The drills, tied to the large Defender-Europe 21 series, will wrap up later this month in Morocco with the African Lion exercise.

The Grafenwoehr-based artillery brigade returned to Germany in 2018 as U.S. European Command sought to bolster its firepower on the continent to counter more Russian activity and boost NATOs collective defense.

The 1st Battalion employs both the M270 Multiple Launcher Rocket Systems, or MLRS, and the lighter M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS. The unit has deployed the HIMARS three times for a rapid insertion mission since activating last August, including twice to Romania.

Of the two rocket systems, the HIMARS packs less firepower. But it is mounted on an Army truck chassis and light enough to be transported by C-130 cargo plane, making it more mobile.

Buy Photo U.S. soldiers assigned to Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, 41st Field Artillery Brigade, prepare to fire rockets at Novo Selo, Bulgaria, June 1, 2021. (Jennifer Svan/Stars and Stripes) A rocket flies over a range at Novo Selo, Bulgaria, June 1, 2021. U.S. soldiers assigned to 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, 41st Field Artillery Brigade flew in from Germany that morning with their artillery for the live-fire exercise. (Zack Stahlberg/U.S. Army) Vehicles belonging to Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, 41st Field Artillery Brigade, are driven off a C-17 cargo plane at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, after conducting a live-fire exercise at Novo Selo, Bulgaria, June 1, 2021. (Zack Stahlberg/U.S. Army) Staff Sgt. Lendon Head, 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, 41st Field Artillery Brigade, monitors vehicle movement while preparing for a live-fire exercise at Novo Selo, Bulgaria, June 1, 2021. (Zack Stahlberg/U.S. Army) U.S. soldiers assigned to Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, 41st Field Artillery Brigade, fire a rocket during an exercise at Novo Selo, Bulgaria, June 1, 2021. (Zack Stahlberg/U.S. Army)

The system can defeat artillery, air defense concentrations and other targets, and move away before enemy forces can locate the launch site, according to Lockheed Martin. The company received a $492 million contract in 2019 to produce the launchers and hardware for the Army, Marine Corps, Romania and Poland.

It gives our senior commanders and our multinational partners more deterrence options for our regional threats in Europe, Brunner said.

The system can fire a salvo of rockets within minutes of receiving a target location from a forward observer, he added.

On Tuesday, Bulgarian military observers and other spectators at Novo Selo had to wait more than a few minutes to see the artillery display.

Earlier that morning, more than a dozen soldiers along with two HIMARS and a support vehicle hitched a ride aboard a Tennessee Air National Guard C-17 from Ramstein to the military airfield at Bezmer in Bulgaria. They drove to the Novo Selo range, arriving around noon.

It took a couple hours and much maneuvering around the launch site before the first boom sounded.

The biggest challenge was the ridge the rockets had to clear, Brunner said.

That was giving us some errors on our fire mission processing, he said. Thats why we had to move a few times to get to where we eventually got to.

One soldier explained to an observer that the systems software has much tighter safety margins in an exercise, referring to it as a peacetime constraint.

But the display  the loud bangs, the soaring, inert projectiles and the white smoke  was impressive, observers said.

Im so pleased because I witnessed for the first time an event that happened on our territory, said Col. Petrov Yuliyan, chief of the joint training department for Bulgarias joint force command. Its perfect.

svan.jennifer@stripes.com

Twitter: @stripesktown

Jennifer Svan

previous coverage US B-52H bombers fly over all 30 NATO nations with alliance escorts on Memorial Day
A Russian Air Force Tu-214 flies over Offutt Air Force Base, on April 26, 2019, in Omaha, Neb. (Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald via AP)

MOSCOW  The Russian parliament's upper house voted Wednesday to withdraw from an international treaty allowing surveillance flights over military facilities following the U.S. exit from the treaty.

The vote comes after U.S. officials told Moscow last month that President Joe Biden's administration had decided not to reenter the Open Skies Treaty, which had allowed surveillance flights over military facilities before President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact.

As a presidential candidate, Biden had criticized Trump's withdrawal as "short-sighted." Moscow has signaled its readiness to reverse the withdrawal procedure and stay in the 1992 treaty if the United States returns to the agreement.

After the Russian upper house voted to leave the treaty, it would now come to Russian President Vladimir Putin for signing. If Putin endorses the exit, it would take effect in six months.

Putin and Biden are to have a summit in Geneva on June 16. The meeting comes as Russia-U.S. ties have sunk to the lowest levels since the Cold War times after Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, the accusations of Moscow's interference in U.S. elections, hacking attacks and other irritants.

The Open Skies Treaty was intended to build trust between Russia and the West by allowing the accord's more than three dozen signatories to conduct reconnaissance flights over each other's territories to collect information about military forces and activities. More than 1,500 flights have been conducted under the treaty since it took effect in 2002, aimed at fostering transparency and allowing for the monitoring of arms control and other agreements.

Trump pulled out of the pact last year, arguing that Russian violations made it untenable for Washington to remain a party. Washington completed its withdrawal from the treaty in November.

Moscow has deplored the U.S. withdrawal, warning that it will erode global security by making it more difficult for governments to interpret the intentions of other nations, particularly amid heightened Russia-West tensions.

The European Union has urged the U.S. to reconsider its exit and called on Russia to stay in the pact and lift flight restrictions, notably over its westernmost Kaliningrad region, which lies between NATO allies Lithuania and Poland.

Russia has insisted the restrictions on observation flights it imposed in the past were permissible under the treaty and noted that the U.S. imposed more sweeping restrictions on observation flights over Alaska.

As a condition for staying in the pact after the U.S. pullout, Moscow has unsuccessfully pushed for guarantees from NATO allies that they wouldn't hand over the data collected during their observation flights over Russia to the U.S.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, center, talks to U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Chris Murphy D-Conn., during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, June 2, 2021. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraine's president said Wednesday that Russia has maintained a massive military presence near his country's borders.

Speaking during a meeting with a group of visiting U.S. senators, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy charged that Moscow had withdrawn only a fraction of the forces it concentrated near Ukraine in April, a buildup that worried the West as well as Ukraine.

The Russian buildup came amid regular cease-fire violations in the conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, and fueled fears that full-scale hostilities would resume.

The Russian military announced a pullback of its troops following the completion of drills in late April. But it ordered the troops to leave their weapons behind in southwest Russia near Ukraine for another big military exercise set for September.

Zelenskyy claimed Wednesday that Russia so far has withdrawn just a fraction of the more than 100,000 troops that Ukrainian officials said had been deployed near the border earlier in the spring.

"They only have pulled back about 10,000 soldiers," Zelenskyy told the three U.S. senators in Kyiv. "The Russian forces' pullback is just a declaration."

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, a senior Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Republican Rob Portman of Ohio and Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy emphasized strong bipartisan support for Ukraine.

"This bipartisan trip sends a clear message that the United States is committed to rebuilding our transatlantic relations and reasserting U.S. global leadership to promote democratic values," they said in a statement.

"We talked about the importance of increasing our ties, providing even more effective military assistance, so Ukraine can defend itself," Portman told reporters after the talks.

Russia annexed the Black Sea's Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014 following the ouster of Ukraine's Moscow-friendly president and then threw its weight behind separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. Seven years of fighting has killed more than 14,000 people and devastated Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland, called Donbas.

A 2015 peace deal brokered by France and Germany helped end large-scale battles, but skirmishes have continued along the line of contact and a political settlement has stalled. Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of shoring up the rebels with troops and weapons  allegations that Moscow has denied.

The Kremlin sternly warned Ukrainian authorities against trying to reclaim control of the rebel east by force, saying it could be pushed to intervene to protect civilians there.

Moscow also has bristled at NATO's joint drills with Ukraine, saying they reflect the alliance's aggressive intentions and give a boost to hawkish circles in Ukraine.

Maj.-Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, said Wednesday that the Russian military would closely monitor NATO's Sea Breeze exercise, which is set to be conducted jointly with Ukraine in June and July.

Konashenkov charged that the maneuvers would serve as a cover for providing Ukraine with weapons and munitions. He warned in a statement that the Russian military would follow the drills and "respond in line with the evolving situation to ensure military security of the Russian Federation."
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, left, visiting Brahim Ghali on his hospital bed in Algiers, Wednesday, June 2, 2021. Brahim Ghali, the leader of a movement seeking independence from Morocco who is at the center of a diplomatic row between Rabat and Madrid flew out of Spain to Algeria on Wednesday. (Algerian Presidency via AP)

MADRID  The leader of a movement seeking independence from Morocco who is at the center of a diplomatic row flew out of Spain to Algeria, arriving in the middle of the night before being taken to an Algerian military hospital Wednesday.

Brahim Ghali was released from a hospital in northern Spain following more than six weeks of treatment after contracting COVID-19, according to a statement sent to The Associated Press by the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which is based in refugee camps in western Algeria.

Morocco has denounced Spain, a strategic partner, for allowing Ghali to secretly enter the country. Morocco considers Ghali, 71, to be a terrorist. Amid the dispute, thousands of migrants crossed the border from Morocco into Spain as Moroccan authorities appeared to relax border controls last month.

After Ghali's arrival in Algeria on Wednesday, he was taken to the Ain Naadja military hospital  and received a visit from Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and army chief of staff Said Chengriha, according to Algerian state news agency APS. Algerian state television showed images of the visit, with Ghali hooked up to an oxygen machine.

Ghali is the leader of the Polisario Front, an Algeria-backed pro-independence movement representing the local Sahrawi people of Africa's mineral-rich Western Sahara, and of the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Morocco annexed the Western Sahara in the 1970s after Spain's colonial administration ended. It considers the vast territory part and parcel of the Moroccan kingdom. The Polisario Front has long tried to end Moroccan rule over the region.

Ghali departed hours after testifying Tuesday via videoconference in a Spanish investigation into allegations against him of torture, genocide and other crimes. A Spanish magistrate ruled after Ghali's testimony that he should remain free while the investigation continues.

Ghali flew out of Pamplona airport.

Ghali thanked Algeria for its support, according to APS. The Algerian president praised Ghali for testifying in the Spanish investigation. "You gave the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic the image of a state of law. It is in the nature of revolutionaries and militants to respect the law."

There was no official public reaction Wednesday from Morocco to Ghali's departure.

The representative in Algeria for the self-declared state said Ghali arrived in Algiers at 3 a.m. to continue his recovery. Abdelkader Taleb Omar said on Algerian radio that the "expansionist Moroccan regime has bit the dust with a sharp diplomatic failure."

Ghali's presence in Spain infuriated Morocco and triggered a diplomatic crisis between the two countries, which have been cooperating in fighting terrorism, drug smuggling and migration into Europe.

In a stinging rebuke, Moroccan authorities also questioned publicly whether Spain could be trusted.

Spain, like most other Western countries, has urged a negotiated solution through the United Nations to the question of Western Sahara's future. But the issue became clouded last December when the U.S. Trump administration formally recognized Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara in return for Rabat's normalization of ties with Israel.

Spanish government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said Wednesday she hoped Ghali's departure would help "draw a line" under the tensions with Morocco.

"We have to let high diplomacy do its work," she told reporters.

But she also pushed back against Rabat's pressure.

"Spain enjoys national sovereignty, so Spanish foreign policy is decided by its government, its parliament, and our decision-making on international issues cannot be subjected to any conditionality," she said.

Ghali checked into the Spanish hospital under a false identity after arriving by plane last month with an Algerian diplomatic passport and with the consent of the Spanish government, which said it acted on humanitarian grounds.

Rabat withdrew its ambassador to Madrid and said it wouldn't fill the position if Ghali left Spain under the same cloak of secrecy.
Buy Photo Mohammed Naiem Asadi, his wife Rahima, and their daughter Zainab, 5, share a meal in their hiding spot of six months before leaving Afghanistan for the U.S. on May 31, 2021. Asadi, an Afghan pilot, received permission to come to America last fall due to Taliban death threats, but that permission had been rescinded. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)

Buy Photo Zainab Asadi, 5, snacks on chocolate May 31, 2021, in the home where she and her family hid for six months. Her father, Mohammed Naiem Asadi, said he moved his family into hiding after his superiors in the Afghan air force became angry that he received permission to leave the country for America. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes) Buy Photo Mohammed Naiem Asadi, once a pilot in the Afghan air force, still has a flipbook for information on the MD-530 helicopter. Asadi, prior to last fall, was reputed to have killed more Taliban than anyone else in the Afghan air force. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes) Buy Photo Mohammed Naiem Asadi, his wife Rahima, and their daughter, Zainab, meet with lawyer Kimberley Motley prior to leaving Kabul, Afghanistan, on June 1, 2021. Motley said the family received visas in early May to come to America after months of uncertainty. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes) Buy Photo Mohammed Naiem Asadi, his wife Rahima, and their daughter, Zainab, meet with lawyer Kimberley Motley prior to leaving Kabul, Afghanistan, on June 1, 2021. Motley said the family received visas in early May to come to America after months of uncertainty. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes) Buy Photo Rahima Asadi, left, her daughter Zainab, and the familys lawyer, Kimberley Motley, stand by their luggage prior to leaving Afghanistan on June 1, 2021. For six months, the Asadis hid on the outskirts of Kabul due to fears of assassination by the Taliban and retribution from the Afghan government for wanting to leave the country. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes) Buy Photo Mohammed Naiem Asadi, his wife Rahima, and their daughter Zainab prepare to leave for the U.S. after arriving at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, June 1, 2021. The family has received death threats from the Taliban and obtained parole, a temporary status for noncitizens to come to America. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)

KABUL, Afghanistan  An Afghan air force pilot who had been promised refuge in America last fall, only to be rejected at the last minute, finally arrived on U.S. soil Wednesday with his family.

Mohammed Naiem Asadi, his wife Rahima, and their daughter Zainab, 5, have been conditionally approved for parole, a temporary status for noncitizens to come to America, U.S. immigration services said in a letter to the family.

This is a real recognition that this mans life is in significant danger in Afghanistan, said the familys lawyer, Kimberly Motley, who came to Kabul to escort the family to America.

The family passed through immigration and plans to file for asylum in the U.S., Motley said in an interview Monday.

Asadi, a helicopter pilot reputed to have killed more insurgents than anyone else in the Afghan air force, received a rare endorsement by the Pentagon last fall to move to the U.S. with his family because he was in imminent danger of being killed by the Taliban.

But the Defense Department later withdrew its approval, saying that senior officials had not been consulted.

The decision angered former advisers who vouched for Asadis bid to come to America. As a major in the Afghan air force, Asadi protected the life of a downed U.S. pilot last year and, by one former chief warrant officers estimate, had been in the cockpit for 70% of all missions in southern Afghanistan in recent years.

Its shameful what happened on that last day, that someone changed their mind in the DOD, said Andy Miller, a retired Army chief warrant officer who helped train Asadi. At the last minute, the rug was yanked out from under them.

Asadi and his family received death threats from the Taliban that were determined credible by U.S. investigators last fall.

The Taliban have launched attacks all over the country as U.S. and NATO troops withdraw from Afghanistan, with assassinations killing politicians, journalists and military personnel. The continuing violence has raised calls for the U.S. to protect or evacuate Afghans under threat for working with them.

However, a Pentagon spokesman told The Wall Street Journal last year that so many military personnel are under threat that letting them all seek refuge in America would absolutely gut the Afghan security forces.

Some advisers who supported Asadis bid to come to America acknowledged that helping one of the countrys few elite pilots leave the country weakens its ability to stave off the Taliban.

But in addition to threats from the Taliban, Asadi feared retribution from the Afghan military for trying to leave the country with his family.

Pilots who report threats against them often receive little sympathy and may be threatened with punishment or imprisonment, said Niloofar Rahmani, Afghanistans first female fixed-wing pilot and also a client of Motley. She was granted asylum in America in 2018 after receiving numerous death threats.

After the U.S. military withdrew its endorsement, Asadi and his family went into hiding, first at Bagram Airfield and then in a house on the outskirts of Kabul while he reapplied for refuge in America.

With the familys departure from Afghanistan, supporters of the family hope to greet the Asadi family in person soon. Among these is Capt. Laurie Witherspoon, an Army chaplain who met the family as they hid at Bagram last fall. She said she began visiting the family regularly, giving stuffed animals and coloring books to their daughter.

The chaplain said she spoke with the family almost daily over the last six months.

Lots of emotional highs and lows, Witherspoon said in a text message. Asadis faith, humility and courage has strengthened the roots of our international friendship.

Once the family comes to America, Witherspoon said she plans to help give English lessons to Rahima, in exchange for Afghan cooking classes.

The familys supporters in America have set up a charity drive, at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-the-asadi-family, to help with their living expenses.

As the family prepared to leave Afghanistan on Tuesday, Zainab played with a rose and said goodbye to people in English as her parents loaded their luggage into a car bound for the airport.

While in the air Wednesday on the way to the familys new home, the former pilot Asadi reflected on his life growing up in a small rural village, and then flying in the skies in the war ravaging his country. He recalled the friends he lost, and thanked those who helped him come to America. He wrote that he hoped for peace one day in Afghanistan. He remained hopeful for a life without fear in America.

Before landing on U.S. soil, he wrote: I am glad that today it was proved once again that humanity knows no boundaries and human beings can embrace each other with love in all their differences.

Zubair Babakarkhail contributed to this report.

lawrence.jp@stripes.com

Twitter: @jplawrence3
HONOLULU (Tribune News Service)  The Defense POW /MIA Accounting Agency said it has talked with the Navy about disinterring 94 sailors from the famed battleship USS Arizona who are buried as "unknowns" at Punchbowl cemetery in Honolulu.

But not for identification and potential return to families, as is the usual case, and has been done with hundreds of other unknowns at Punchbowl  officially named the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

The accounting agency disinterred 388 from the USS Oklahoma in 2015. It has exhumed casualties from the USS West Virginia and USS California and the 1943 Battle of Tarawa and hundreds from the Korean War for identification.

It's now planning to disinter from Punchbowl about 400 buried as unknowns who died as prisoners of war on Japanese transport ships including the Enoura Maru, with conditions so bad they were dubbed "hellships."

But with the group of USS Arizona unknowns  and for reasons that are not entirely clear  the accounting agency is considering taking the unprecedented step of placing their remains back in the sunken Pearl Harbor battleship that accounted for the greatest loss of life on Dec. 7, 1941.

A total of 1,177 men were killed on the warship, which still is a grave for many and a national memorial to the losses suffered at what became America's entry into World War II.

"We have had preliminary discussions with the Navy, and one of the proposals that we have notionally talked about is to disinter all of them  not for the purpose of identification  but to entomb them in the hull of the Arizona along with their shipmates, " Kelly McKeague, director of the accounting agency, said at an online Feb. 20 "family member update " for those with loved ones unaccounted for from past wars.

McKeague was responding to a question as to when the USS Arizona unknowns would "finally " get disinterred.

"It's something that, again, we could never take on the process of disinterring the 94 from the national cemetery, only because it would cause us to have to get (DNA) family reference samples " from the more than 900 men who remain in the battleship grave to compare against the 94, he said.

"So it's not a proposition that makes pragmatic sense, but more importantly, it's not one that the United States Navy is open to  only because the Arizona, the memorial itself, is their final resting place," said McKeague, a Hawaii native and 1977 Damien Memorial School graduate. "So our notional plan, again, was to disinter the 94 (and) entomb them all together ... to achieve the fullest possible accounting of the entire USS Arizona crew."

The proposal does not sit well with two of the better-known families of what is one of the most tragic and revered Navy ships of World War II.

"I thought, 'God, this is just wrong. This is just absolutely beyond wrong, '" said Randy Stratton, son of Arizona crew member Don Stratton, who, despite burns over 65 % of his body on Dec. 7, was one of six men to climb hand over hand on a rope thrown from the adjacent repair ship USS Vestal in one of the most dramatic rescues of the Pearl Harbor attack.

Don Stratton died on Feb. 15, 2020, at the age of 97, leaving just two living members of a crew that once numbered 1,514.

"If they are doing DNA samples (from other unknowns buried at Punchbowl), why couldn't they do DNA samples of those unknown (USS Arizona) tombs and be able to notify the family" for possible burial back home in a family graveyard, Randy Stratton asked.

If a family wants to re-inter an identified Arizona crew member from the group of 94 back on the ship, that's fine, too, said Stratton, who lives in Colorado.

"The family members should have that option of whether or not that's where he would belong, or he would rather belong beside his wife, his son, daughter  whoever may have passed before him  and not just clump them into one big 94-people (group). That just doesn't make any sense to me at all."

DPAA, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., but has a big identification lab and offices at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, literally goes to the ends of the Earth bushwhacking through jungles and climbing mountains to recover the fallen from past wars, identify their remains and return them home.

"If you are killed in action and we can't just get you out right then and there, we're going to come looking for you and get you home, " Navy Adm. Jon Kreitz, DPAA's former deputy director, said in a 2019 accounting agency release.

Identification of World War II unknowns at Punchbowl  many of whom are commingled in big caskets due to the circumstances of their death  has been made possible in recent decades by advances in science, particularly DNA.

Lou Conter, a California resident and one of just two remaining survivors of the Arizona  and who will turn 100 in September  also said that identifications should be made for his shipmates removed from Punchbowl, and that the families of those men should be given the choice to re-inter them on the battleship or in a family plot.

"Let the family decide, but definitely, if they are going to bring them up, identify them, " said his daughter, Louann Daley. "Give them that respect of identification. I think they should show them the respect like they did with the Oklahoma of identifying them."

There was no discussion by McKeague, DPAA's director, as to how the remains of 94 USS Arizona crew members would be re-interred aboard the battleship. Lauren Bruner, an Arizona crew member who died in 2019 at the age of 98, was the 44th survivor to have his ashes interred by divers in gun turret 4 of his former ship.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser asked the accounting agency if the Arizona disinterment plan is going forward. In an email, it chose to refer to Memorandum DTM-16-003 "policy guidance for the disinterment of unidentified human remains, " and did not answer the question.

The accounting agency didn't provide any answer at all as to why getting DNA family reference samples to make identifications for the Arizona unknowns apparently is out of the question.

It could take over $5 million, thousands of DNA tests and several years to undertake the USS Arizona identifications. According to a Pentagon budget document, the accounting agency had a $155 million operations and maintenance budget in fiscal 2019, but a projected drop in fiscal 2021 with a $129 million estimate.

The Navy's reported preference for re-interring the unidentified USS Arizona dead back on the battleship has precedence in a plan involving the USS Oklahoma, which was heavily damaged in the Pearl Harbor attack.

In 2013, the predecessor organization to DPAA wanted to exhume all the Oklahoma casualties buried as unknowns at Punchbowl but got pushback from the Navy, which preferred to maintain the "sanctity" of the graves.

Further, the Navy suggested taking the partial and commingled remains of more than 100 Oklahoma crew members that had already been disinterred in 2003 from a single casket at Punchbowl and reburying them unidentified at a memorial and gravesite on Ford Island.

Congressional pressure on the accounting agency to make at least 200 identifications a year to address a significant backlog from World War II in part led to the current pace of disinterments at Punchbowl, including the exhumation of all Oklahoma crew.

Navy reluctance to identify unknowns from Punchbowl stems from tradition, namely, "you go down with the ship, you stay with the ship," said Lisa Phillips, past president of WWII Families for the Return of the Missing.

"That is their stance on it," Phillips said. "Then you've got the family stance of, 'I want to know where my relative is.' They want to have identification so they can have closure."

(c)2021 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Visit The Honolulu Star-Advertiser at www.staradvertiser.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
President Joe Biden speaks as he commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, at the Greenwood Cultural Center, Tuesday, June 1, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. (Evan Vucci/AP)

WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden used the 100th anniversary of Tulsa's race massacre to make a plea for sweeping legislation in Congress to protect the right to vote as Republican-led governments in Texas and other states pass new restrictions making it tougher to cast ballots.

Biden, marking the centennial in Oklahoma on Tuesday, called out lawmakers in Congress  including two senators in his own party  for holding up action on voting bills. Invoking the words of the late Rep. John Lewis, Biden said the right to vote is "precious" and must be protected. He vowed that June will be a "month of action" on Capitol Hill as Congress considers the legislation, among the top priorities of his administration.

"We're not giving up," Biden said about the bill, S.1. "I'm going to fight like heck with every tool at my disposal for its passage."

Republican legislators in state capitols across the nation are pushing what experts say is an unprecedented wave of bills aimed at restricting access to the ballot box. While Republicans say the bills are aimed at preventing voter fraud, Democrats contend that the measures are aimed at undermining minority voting rights in particular.

Most recently, the Texas legislature moved closer to passing a bill that would reduce early voting hours, tighten voter identification requirements for absentee ballots and eliminate ballot drop boxes and drive-thru voting centers. The bill was blocked only when Texas Democrats walked off the House floor on Sunday night, but Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has said he'll order a special session to ultimately ensure its passage.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday downplayed the ability of the new state laws to quash voter turnout.

"I don't think any of these efforts at the state level are designed to suppress the vote based upon race," McConnell said at a press conference in Kentucky.

McConnell vowed to block S.1, characterizing the bill that's heading to a vote as undue federal overreach into state election systems. He said no GOP senators support it.

Biden addressed the federal voting rights legislation during an event marking the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, in which a white mob looted and burned Tulsa's Greenwood district, which was known as "Black Wall Street."

As many as 300 Black Tulsans were killed, and thousands of survivors were forced for a time into internment camps overseen by the National Guard. Biden said the nation must acknowledge the long-forgotten chapter of history to fully heal from it, and he pledged action on key issues confronting Black Americans, including police misconduct and restrictions on voting rights.

"We can't just choose what we want to know, and not what we should know," Biden said. "I come here to help fill the silence, because in silence wounds deepen."

Despite Biden's pledge to keep fighting to pass legislation protecting voting rights, however, he acknowledged Tuesday that his biggest obstacle may lie within his own party.

Biden called out two fellow Democrats in explaining why he hasn't enacted some of the most ambitious elements of his agenda, noting that slim majorities in the House and evenly divided Senate have hamstrung legislative negotiations around key issues like voting rights.

Responding to critics who question why he hasn't been able to get a wide-reaching voting rights bill passed, Biden lamented, "Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House, and a tie in the Senate  with two members of the Senate who voted more with my Republican friends."

It appeared to be a veiled reference to Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both of whom have frustrated Democrats with their defense of the filibuster. The rule requires most legislation to win 60 votes to pass, making many of Democrats' biggest priorities like voting rights and gun control dead on arrival in the 50-50 Senate. While Sinema is a sponsor of the voting rights bill that passed the House, known as the For the People Act, Manchin has refused to sign on, calling the measure "too broad."

But it's not just Manchin and Sinema who oppose doing away with the filibuster  as many as 10 Democratic senators are reluctant to change the rules even for must-pass legislation like the voting rights bill. Biden himself has not said he wants to end the filibuster.

It's unclear whether Biden's comments will change the views of any senators, who are facing tough choices ahead as pressure mounts on them.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told colleagues that he would be bringing the voting rights bill to a vote the week of June 21, in effect testing where senators stand. Schumer warned in a letter to colleagues last week to brace for the month ahead.

"The June work period will be extremely challenging," Schumer told them, adding that it would "test our resolve."

Biden has tasked Vice President Kamala Harris with leading the administration's efforts to defend voting rights, declaring that with her leadership, Americans will again "overcome" efforts to reduce access to voting, as they have in the past and did during the 2020 election, which saw record turnout despite new voting restrictions.

It adds another high-profile fight to Harris' fast-expanding portfolio, which includes addressing the root causes of migration from Central America, leading the National Space Council and working on expanding access to broadband internet.

In a statement, Harris said she plans to work with voting rights groups, community organizations and the private sector to strengthen voting rights, as well as push for passage of voting rights legislation on Capitol Hill.

"The work ahead of us is to make voting accessible to all American voters, and to make sure every vote is counted through a free, fair, and transparent process. This is the work of democracy," she said.

___

Associated Press writers Jonathan Lemire in New York and Darlene Superville in Tulsa, Okla., contributed to this report.
Wrexham residents encouraged to be part of the pick and take part in Spring Clean Cymru

Residents across Wrexham and across Wales are being encouraged to be part of the pick and join Spring Clean Cymru 2021.

The initiative, which runs between May 28 and June 13, calls on individuals, households, schools and formal community groups to clean-up the streets, parks or beaches on their doorstep.

More than 200 clean-ups across Wales have already been registered for Spring Clean Cymru, which is part of Caru Cymru (a Welsh phrase meaning Love Wales)  the biggest ever initiative to eradicate litter and waste.

Caru Cymru has received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities  Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government.





Spring Clean Cymru is also part of this years Great British Spring Clean. For the first time, volunteers are being asked to pledge how many minutes they will spend cleaning up their local area. This will be converted into miles and added to a UK total.

The aim is to collectively walk a million miles.

Lead Member for Environment and Transport, Cllr David Bithell, said: We all want to be part of a pleasant and clean environment and we all can play our part by signing up to this Wales wide campaign. Please help us to keep Wrexham tidy.

Keep Wales Tidy Chief Executive Lesley Jones added: In the past twelve months our outdoor spaces have mattered to us more than ever before.

They have been a sanctuary during challenging times, and from 28 May  13 June 2021, we will be calling on our community of litter heroes to join us and show some love for those special places that helped us though lockdown.

To pledge your time and get involved in Spring Clean Cymru, visit the Keep Wales Tidy website.
In March 2021, the Army began delivering the first prototype hypersonic equipment to soldiers with the arrival of two training canisters. Hypersonic weapons, capable of flying at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound, are a new capability that provide a unique combination of speed, maneuverability and altitude to defeat time-critical, heavily-defended and high value targets. (Elliot Valdez/U.S. Army)

WASHINGTON  Emphasis on high-end weapons development in the Defense Departments proposed 2022 budget is crucial to maintaining the U.S. military advantage amid rising tensions with China, the Pentagons director of hypersonics said Wednesday.

The Defense Department budget released Friday allotted $112 billion to research, development, testing and evaluation of defense systems the largest-ever amount earmarked for that purpose in department history  to compete with what Pentagon officials described as the pacing threat of China.

Beijing has already fielded hypersonic weapons such as the Dong Feng-17 hypersonic glide vehicle, capable of speeds of up to Mach 10, according to the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies' Missile Defense Project, which studies ballistic and cruise missiles around the world.

The budget dropped for 22 is a very important statement from the department about the importance of hypersonics, said Mike White, principal director for hypersonics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Weve got strong commitment from the new administration for our strategy and moving forward to really rapidly mature and deliver hypersonic-based capabilities.

Hypersonic missiles fly at least five times the speed of sound. The U.S. does not have any deployed now, but is developing such strike systems that can travel about 500 miles in 10 minutes, White said during a webinar presented by CSIS. The U.S. stockpile of subsonic long-range missiles takes about an hour to reach the same distance.

You can just look at the compression of the timescale on the battlefield  thats going to be a critical value proposition for the hypersonic systems, White said. If you are in a battlefield timescale environment where [adversaries] are launching strike packages that take on the order of minutes and our strike packages take on the order of hours, thats a timescale asymmetry that we need to make sure were not allowing to stand.

The budget for fiscal year 2022, which begins Oct. 1, requests a 5% boost in its research, development, testing and evaluation, part of which will be spent on developing and procuring hypersonic capabilities. Hypersonics will become more critical to maintain the U.S. defense advantage as adversary capabilities continue to improve, White said.

Were going into a highly contested environment that is defined by our adversaries very thoughtful development of high-end systems that challenge our domain dominance in space, in the air and at sea, he said. We have to make sure that weve got enough flexibility to be able to deliver effects from multiple domains so that we dont make their problem too easy for them.

White said the United States must diversify its weapons as adversaries develop capabilities that could challenge key American assets, such as aircraft carriers. For example, Chinas Dong Feng-26 missile is dubbed by analysts as the carrier killer for its reported ability to strike a moving target from as far away as 960 miles.

If I have an effect thats only going to come from a carrier and they keep my carriers out because theyve got DF-21s and DF-26s or whatever, then I kind of lose, White said. So, I want to be able to present multiple opportunities to deliver the effects I need to deter [adversaries].

doornbos.caitlin@stripes.com

Twitter: @CaitlinDoornbos
The Antelope Ridge housing area near Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota. (Facebook)

BOX ELDER, S.D.  A series of lawsuits against Meade County for nearly a decade's worth of tax assessments of a housing development near Ellsworth Air Force Base may be heading toward a resolution.

The Meade County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to begin negotiations to resolve the lawsuits filed by Hunt Companies, Inc., an El Paso, Texas, company with a leaseholder interest in the 235-acre Antelope Ridge housing development, pending dismissal of the court cases.

The lawsuits, which span back to 2012, claim Meade County overvalued the leaseholder interest of 828 housing units built by Hunt in the 1990s on land owned by the United States government. In later lawsuits, Hunt Companies began claiming that their leaseholder interest is exempt from taxation since they were built on government land.

According to court records, the most recent lawsuit was filed on Nov. 3, 2020. In that complaint, Hunt Companies claim they should receive a "full refund of all property taxes assessed and paid" since the entire interest is tax exempt.

The last payment for the 2019 tax year from Hunt Companies was paid under protest to Meade County on Oct. 6, 2020. Court exhibits show the check was for $270,221.90. It was one of two payments for 2019 taxes made, totaling $540,443.80 in taxes paid for the year.

However, in May 2019, the South Dakota Supreme Court issued an opinion affirming a circuit court decision that Meade County's denial of abatement and refund for taxes overpaid in 2012, 2013 and 2014 was justified. The high court agreed that Meade County overvalued Hunt's leaseholder interest, but made no ruling on whether or not Hunt's interest was also tax exempt.

The Hunt Companies' development of Antelope Ridge, formerly known as Centennial Estates, presents unique challenges to state tax laws. A complex history on the housing project includes intervention from the U.S. Air Force to provide for a public-private partnership to build housing within Ellsworth Air Force Base.

In the late 1980s, the U.S. government set aside 235 acres of land within the boundary of Ellsworth to build base housing. In April 1990, Hunt Companies entered into a 40-year land lease to build 828 housing units for base personnel and their families. The agreement also required Hunt to build all the infrastructure, including roads, curbs and gutters, sidewalks, parks and storm drainage systems.

During the first 20 years of the development, the U.S. Air Force was responsible for the management and maintenance of the property since it was located within Ellsworth's secure fencing and gates. Meade County provided an assessed value of the property while it was within the boundaries of Ellsworth and the U.S. government would have been responsible for any payments of property taxes, if those payments were made.

A preliminary review of records by the Journal has not revealed any tax payments by the U.S. government for Antelope Ridge. The Journal is still in the process of reviewing records and court documents.

However, the South Dakota Constitution states, "The property of the United States and of the state, county and municipal corporations, both real and personal, shall be exempt from taxation." While it is unclear if Meade County billed the U.S. government for property taxes on Antelope Ridge for the first 20 years, court documents show the county did not assess taxes for Hunt Companies' leaseholder interests during that time.

By 2006, the Air Force ceased making most repairs or performing maintenance on the housing, court filings show, and because of the terms of the lease Hunt Companies was not permitted to repair or maintain Antelope Ridge.

In August 2011, Hunt Companies took over management of Antelope Ridge for the final 20-year term of the 40-year land lease. Per the terms of the agreement, Hunt was required to close the military checkpoint access to Antelope Ridge and relocate 1.25 miles of Ellsworth's security perimeter fence.

This caused the housing development to be divided into two portions and closed off direct access to Ellsworth. Court documents show the action "destroyed all access to, and rental of, 38 of the housing units." It also allowed Hunt to begin renting the remaining units to civilians, since the majority of the property was outside of Ellsworth's secure perimeter fence.

The land, however, still belongs to the U.S. government.

Court records show the Antelope Ridge development was in a dilapidated condition after the Air Force ceased maintenance and upkeep. Hunt spent more than $18 million to rehabilitate the property.

For the 2011, 2012 and 2013 tax years, Meade County assessed the value of Antelope Ridge at $35,731,200. The county also sent its first tax bill to Hunt Companies.

When Hunt Companies began managing the housing development in 2011, Meade County assessed property taxes in 2011, 2012 and 2013 based on a valuation known as the "fee simple value," instead of a leaseholder interest valuation.

According to the Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal, fee simple value is, "Absolute ownership unencumbered by any other interest or estate, subject only to the limitations imposed by the government powers of taxation, eminent domain, police power, and escheat."

Since the land is owned by the government, Hunt Companies does not hold absolute ownership of the property.

Hunt Companies paid the full taxes in 2012, 2013 and 2014, without invoking their rights under the pay-and-protest provisions of South Dakota law. That stipulation would have allowed Hunt to pay the amount billed and then protest the assessed value within 30 days. If it was determined that the tax was wrongfully collected in whole or part, Hunt could receive a refund.

According to court records, Hunt challenged the county's property tax valuations by appealing to the Meade County Board of Commissioners. The commissioners rejected Hunt's claims.

Hunt Companies appealed the valuation to the circuit court, filing separate cases for each of the three years. Those appeals were consolidated into one case. The consolidated appeal did not address the constitutional question of whether or not Hunt Companies leaseholder interest should be tax exempt since Antelope Ridge is build on government property.

The Fourth Judicial Circuit Court found that Meade County made an error in over-assessing Hunt's leaseholder interest by using the fee simple value of the property. The court found that the assessed value should be reduced to not include the value of the land and the depreciation of the property after the Air Force ceased maintenance and upkeep.

In the circuit court's June 2016 ruling, it reduced the assessed leaseholder interest value by more than half  $14.1 million in 2012, $15.5 million in 2013 and $15.1 million in 2014. The court also ruled that Hunt was not entitled to a refund for those tax years because they did not pay under protest.

Hunt Companies appealed the circuit court's ruling to the South Dakota Supreme Court. In the appeal, lawyers also asked the court to examine the constitutional question of whether or not Hunt should be exempt from taxes since the development is on government-owned land.

On May 1, 2019, the state Supreme Court upheld the circuit court's decision to reset the assessed valuations. Justice Janine Kern, who wrote the majority opinion, said Hunt Companies' constitutionality argument wasn't presented properly before the Supreme Court or the circuit court.

In the majority opinion, Kern wrote, "We express no opinion here on the question of whether the leasehold interest was, in fact, taxable."

Justice Steven Jensen filed the dissent. He said the circuit court had previously determined the assessments were invalid. Jensen wrote that Hunt qualified for the tax exemption since the structures are built on government-owned property. He also said the company was entitled to request a tax refund.

Hunt Companies continued to file lawsuits against Meade County in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 regarding the tax bills  this time invoking their rights under the pay-under-protest provision of state law, and claiming the property is tax exempt. Those suits are all pending.

Former Meade County Treasurer Susan Boadwine, who was named in the lawsuits and notices of appeal in her official capacity as treasurer, submitted her resignation on March 23, with an effective date of May 1. Meade County Auditor Lisa Schieffer also submitted her resignation on May 11, effective May 31. Schieffer was named in a May 15, 2020, notice of appeal filed by Hunt Companies.

It is unknown if the resignations are related to the lawsuits.

Following a lengthy executive session on Tuesday, the Meade County Commission voted unanimously to begin negotiations to resolve the lawsuits pending dismissal of the court cases.
The guilty plea of a Tampa man could be a test case watched by other defendants deciding whether to accept pleas in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

WASHINGTON  A Tampa man who carried a Trump flag into the well of the Senate on Jan. 6 pleaded guilty Wednesday to one felony count of storming the Capitol to obstruct Congress's certification of the 2020 presidential election.

Paul Allard Hodgkins, 38, did not enter a cooperation deal with prosecutors, and he is not accused of any other wrongdoing or involvement with extremist groups.

In admitting to the stiffest felony count charged by prosecutors against individuals not otherwise accused of conspiracy or violence in the Capitol riot, Hodgkins faces a prison sentence of 15 to 21 months under federal guidelines. His sentencing is poised to become a test case watched by other defendants deciding whether to accept pleas, several defense lawyers said.

"I have decided that I will accept this plea offer, and I will plead guilty to charge one," Hodgkins told U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss.

Hodgkins's attorney, Patrick Leduc, said he would seek a lower sentence at a sentencing hearing as soon as July 19, and he asked the judge to waive a $7,500 to $75,000 fine because his client also agreed to pay $2,000 in restitution for his share of riot damage to the Capitol.

Prosecutor Mona Sedky estimated damage to the Capitol at $1.5 million  the first time prosecutors have given a public cost estimate.

"There's no justification for January 6th. That's why he is standing up and entering a plea of guilty. He acknowledges what he did was wrong, and there's no excuses for it," Leduc said afterward.

"Paul is an Eagle Scout with no prior record, a working Joe who is a crane operator at a steel processing plant," who spent 15 minutes inside the Capitol, Leduc said.

Leduc added that he agreed with the government's standard for prosecuting disruptions of Congress, "and we hope they maintain it in the future."

Prosecutors agreed to drop four misdemeanor counts of trespassing and disorderly conduct in the restricted Capitol building and grounds. They also agreed to give Hodgkins credit for accepting responsibility, pleading in a timely manner and paying compensation.

Hodgkins is one of about 450 defendants federally charged in the riot, which authorities said contributed to five deaths, assaults on nearly 140 police officers and the evacuation of a joint session of Congress.

Nearly half the defendants face only misdemeanor charges likely to carry no prison time for first offenders. However, about 200 are charged with obstructing an official proceeding of Congress and are accused of intending to impede or interfere with Congress's confirmation of the electoral vote count. The charge carries a maximum 20-year prison term.

The threat of heavy jail time led to the first guilty plea stemming from Jan. 6 by Jon Ryan Schaffer, described in court documents as a founding member of the Oath Keepers. Schaffer agreed on April 16 to cooperate fully with prosecutors and is among at least 19 members of the right-wing group whose members or associates have been charged with planning for violence in the Capitol attack. Schaffer, 53, a guitarist and songwriter for the heavy metal band Iced Earth, could face roughly four years in prison, although if his cooperation is valuable to prosecutors in other cases, he might be able to shave a significant amount of time off that sentence.

Hodgkins was arrested Feb. 16 after FBI agents said they identified him in photos and video footage taken of rioters inside the U.S. Capitol building.

The FBI cited closed-circuit Senate video and other video published by the New Yorker magazine showing Hodgkins in the Senate chamber holding a red, white and blue "Trump 2020" flag and wearing a dark Trump T-shirt as he stood next to the Senate dais.

Hodgkins admitted that he "corruptly endeavored to influence, obstruct, or impede" Congress in a signed statement of offense that was read by prosecutors in court. Reading from the statement, Sedky said Hodgkins was holding the flag with other people while they "shout, cheer and say prayers" from the elevated platform and desk in the Senate well. They included a shirtless man using a bullhorn and wearing face paint at the vice president's chair. Hodgkins wore eye goggles at one point and pulled latex gloves on and off in a bid to aid another rioter, Sedky said.

In charging papers, the FBI said Hodgkins told investigators he took a bus to Washington by himself and saw rioters break windows and engage in a knife fight. But he said he did not participate in violence or vandalism or know those who did. He has been released on conditions including a curfew and GPS monitoring.

Separately Wednesday, a judge dismissed all charges against a suburban New York City man, Christopher Kelly, marking the first time prosecutors abandoned a case against a Jan. 6 defendant. Prosecutors said dropping Kelly's case "serves the interest of justice" based on facts now known to the government.

The government motion to drop four pending counts, including a felony obstruction of Congress charge, did not elaborate on why the matter was dismissed. However, Kelly's attorney Edward MacMahon said in a statement: "I am pleased that the government has dropped all charges against Kelly. He never entered the Capitol on January 6th and that is precisely what he told the government before he was arrested."

Kelly's case was dropped once prosecutors determined that a photo inside the Capitol that he posted to Facebook was not taken by him and did not show him inside the building, according to two people familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The decision was consistent with a policy in which thousands of people who were on Capitol grounds but did not enter the building have not been charged absent aggravating factors such as assaulting or interfering with police, they said.

Defense lawyers said the episode raised the question of whether the FBI and Justice Department rushed to charge defendants before looking at evidence establishing they did not enter the Capitol, based on evidence such as information from their or other rioters' phones and officers' body-worn cameras. U.S. officials have said they raced to arrest and charge people after the Capitol riot, citing national security concerns over the potential for further political violence, defense attorneys representing rioters have said.
Spc. Coca Temoananui, assigned to the 311th Signal Command, puts in ear protection prior to a helicopter flight, in 2012. A jury on Friday, May 28, 2021, determined 3M was not liable, negligent or fraudulent when selling earplugs to the military, according to court documents. (Debrah Sanders/U.S. Army)

A federal jury in Florida sided with earplug manufacturer 3M that the companys product did not cause hearing loss for a veteran who used them while serving in the military.

The trial was the second of three scheduled this year that could impact the outcome of a lawsuit involving nearly 236,000 veterans who were issued the earplugs while in the service.

3M, a Minnesota-based company, lost the first trial April in which a jury awarded $7.1 million to three Army veterans who said they suffered from hearing loss and tinnitus because of the earplugs. The second trial involved one veteran, Dustin McCombs, with a similar lawsuit.

The jury on Friday determined 3M was not liable, negligent or fraudulent when selling earplugs to the military, according to court documents.

We are pleased with todays verdict and will continue to vigorously defend ourselves in upcoming trials. The Combat Arms Earplug Version 2 product is and has always been safe and effective to use, 3M representatives said in a statement.

Nearly 236,000 veterans are part of the multidistrict lawsuit against 3M, which claims the companys dual-sided earplug used by the military for more than a decade, including during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, could imperceptibly slip in the wearers ear. Work began on the earplugs in the 1990s and 3M sold them to the military until 2015.

The three trials scheduled for this year are bellwether trials, which are used to present a representative of the cases before a jury to gain useful information for potentially reaching a settlement for all cases. It can help both parties determine the costs of subsequent lawsuits.

McCombs lead attorneys  Bryan Aylstock of Aylstock Witkin Kreis & Overholtz, PLLC, Shelley Hutson of Clark, Love & Hutson GP, and Christopher Seeger of Seeger Weiss LLP  said in a statement that they are disappointed in the jurys conclusion, but look forward to the next bellwether case, which is scheduled to begin June 7 in Pensacola, Fla.

We continue to believe that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that 3M knew their [Combat Arms Version 2] earplugs were defective, yet allowed our service members who relied on them for hearing protection to suffer from preventable hearing loss and tinnitus, the attorneys said. We will continue to hold 3M accountable for the damage they have caused to those who served our nation.

No recall was ever issued on the product and a fourth version of the earplug remains in use by the military, according to 3M.

In July 2018, the Justice Department announced 3M agreed to pay $9.1 million to resolve allegations that it knowingly sold the earplugs to the military without disclosing defects that hampered effectiveness. That lawsuit was filed through the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act, according to the Justice Department.

In settling the claim, 3M did not admit to wrongdoing, according to the company.

Thayer.rose@stripes.com

Twitter: @Rose_Lori
Navy Electricians Mate 3rd Class Leslie P. Delles (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)

ST. CHARLES, Ill. (Tribune News Service)  The remains of a Navy sailor from St. Charles killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that triggered American entry into World War II have been identified, Defense Department officials announced this week.

The remains of Navy Electricians Mate 3rd Class Leslie P. Delles, who was assigned to the USS Oklahoma before the United States entered World War II, were identified on Feb. 12, according to a news release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

A Tribune story from when Delles enlisted in March 1940 said he and his twin brother, Lester Delles, joined the Navy on the same day, as a way to each learn a different trade. Delles joined to learn aviation mechanics, while Lester Delles joined to study electricity, according to the article.

Leslie Delles was 21 years old when he was killed Dec. 7, 1941, when the USS Oklahoma, moored at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, suffered torpedo hits from a Japanese aircraft. The attack killed 429 crewmen, including Delles. While They Were Young  A History of St. Charles and Her Service Personnel 1940-1945, by Kevin Gaffney, says that while he was assigned to the Oklahoma, Lester Delles was not aboard the ship at the time of the attack and continued his Navy service.

Navy personnel recovered remains of the deceased crewmen from December 1941 to June 1944 and placed them in the Halawa and Nuuanu cemeteries. The American Graves Registration Service disinterred the remains in September 1947 and moved them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks for identification.

The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time, according to the news release.

The unidentified remains were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.

Delles, along with all those who could not be identified, was classified as nonrecoverable by the military board.

After the remains were disinterred in 2015, scientists from the DPAA used anthropological analysis and scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome DNA analysis to identify Delles remains, according to the release.

Delles name was recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with others who are missing from WWII.

A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for, the DPAA said.

Through the Navy Service Casualty Office, Delles family declined to comment.

Delles will be buried on Oct. 23 in Sutter Creek, California. His personnel profile can be viewed here.

2021 Chicago Tribune.

Visit chicagotribune.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The North Dakota Veterans Cemetery. (Facebook)

BISMARCK, N.D.  Raymond Voegele considers it an honor for his wife, Rose, to be buried at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery.

He served in the U.S. Army from 1946-47 in South Korea. The couple later met in a church choir in Glen Ullin. They married in 1952. Raymond Voegele went to refrigeration school in Minneapolis, worked for a Glen Ullin hardware store for 10-12 years, then at military bases in Montana and later Utah, where the couple spent a number of years and he retired.

The Voegeles had been married 68 years when Rose died April 3 from complications of dementia. She was 88.

The Bismarck couple had funeral plans and a place in the Glen Ullin cemetery. But a veterans official suggested Raymond Voegele consider a state burial benefit at the 70-acre cemetery south of Mandan, where Raymond's sister and brother-in-law also are buried.

"It was something that was given us, and it's a well taken care of place, very nice, and we felt comfortable," Voegele said.

Veterans are buried at the cemetery at no cost. The 2019 Legislature approved $175,000 for the burials of veterans' spouses and eligible dependents, effective March 2020.

Since then, the benefit has covered 250 burials. The 2021 Legislature budgeted $250,000 for the benefit for the next two years.

The burial plot, opening and closing of the grave, and the headstone are free of charge for veterans, their spouses and eligible dependents, cemetery Director Pam Helbling-Schafer said. Caskets, urns and vaults are families' responsibility, to be purchased through a funeral home.

Bismarck Funeral Home and Crematory owner Mike Nathe said an average casket burial in Bismarck-Mandan costs about $800-$1,000 to dig and close a grave, as well as $1,000 for the burial plot. Grave space costs the same for a cremation burial, but two urns can be interred in one grave, which costs $400-$600 to dig and close.

Sen. Richard Marcellais, D-Belcourt, who is a U.S. Army veteran, brought the bill for the family benefit after previous, unsuccessful attempts. He said military service is hard on families, and the previous $550 burial fee for spouses and dependents "wasn't right."

"It's really hard on them because they don't know what to expect every day during the time that you're serving overseas in a war zone," Marcellais said.

He was stationed in Qui Nhon, Vietnam, as a communication specialist from 1968-69, away from his newlywed wife. He also spent 1 years at Fort Hood, Texas, before he was discharged in 1971.

Helbling-Schafer said the benefit "certainly is helpful to the families," some of whom could have a hardship affording a burial.

"This is certainly another benefit earned by the veteran," she said.

The cemetery had a record 671 burials in 2020, far above the average of 525 a year. COVID-19 likely accounts for the increase, she said.

Marcellais expects more military families to take advantage of the benefit in years to come, though he said some families might opt for the Fargo National Cemetery, dedicated in 2019, which also has a spousal/dependent benefit.

He is looking into bringing a future bill for the state prison system's Rough Rider Industries to manufacture and provide urns free of charge for veterans' cremains.

"I always look to help out all veterans," Marcellais said.
Mathew Z. Rosiere, 37, of Fond du Lac, unexpectedly passed away on Friday, June 4, 2021. He was born on May 18, 1984, in Pawnee, OK, the son of Michael Z. Rosiere and Sandra K. Kennedy. While he was in high school, he was active in football and wrestling. Mathew loved hard rock music, played
The 2015 reconstruction of Country Club Road, a joint project of the City of Stillwater and Payne County, would not have been possible without almost $10 million Payne County received for its portion of the project from the County Improvement for Roads and Bridges fund, District 1 County Commissioner Zach Cavett said. A reapportionment of motor vehicle taxes and registrations effective July 1 will take money from that fund, costing Payne County road dollars.
The Florida Department of Health reported 12,157 new COVID-19 cases statewide during the week of June 4-10, bringing the cumulative total since March 2020 to 2,300,786. Forty more people died, upping the death toll to 37,265.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-01 22:21:41|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

A Hongqi new energy concept vehicle is displayed at the 19th International Automobile Industry Exhibition (Auto Shanghai 2021) in Shanghai, east China, April 28, 2021. (Xinhua/Chen Fei)

CHANGCHUN, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Hongqi, an automobile brand under China's leading automaker FAW Group Co., Ltd., posted rising sales in the first five months of the year.

A total of 118,000 Hongqi-branded vehicles were sold from January to May, up 116 percent year on year, according to FAW Group.

The group plans to double its 2020 sales of Hongqi vehicles to 400,000 units this year. The brand has rolled out multiple high-end models as well as new-energy vehicles.

Hongqi, meaning "red flag," is China's iconic sedan brand. Established in 1958, the brand has been used in parades for national celebrations.

Founded in 1953 in the northeastern city of Changchun, capital of Jilin Province, FAW Group is regarded as the cradle of China's auto industry. 




Changes to the SunCommercial's back end processing means the e-edition is getting a facelift. The biggest change is the e-edition, by default, is now presented in Text view.
The New Zealand Armys Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals is celebrating its 100th birthday this week, although organising the party has not been a simple affair.

Marking a 100th birthday during a global pandemic has meant the Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals had to review its planned centenary celebrations while helping to keep the New Zealand border safe from Covid-19.

Planning for the anniversary started in June 2019 for the corps that can count several names that are marked in military history within its ranks, most notably Lieutenant Colonel Cyril Bassett, who as a corporal won the Victoria Cross at Gallipoli.

It was intended the anniversary year of when the Corps was formed would be marked in March 2020, but the global Covid-19 pandemic and the New Zealand Armys 175th anniversary commemorations meant the anniversary date was pushed out to June 1, 2021.

However, this has not dampened the keenness to mark the occasion and a heart-warming messaging from the Colonel-in-Chief, Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal has been received to mark the occasion.

The Princess Royal says the Corps has had a distinguished service record over 100 years and the past year has been a reminder of the importance of keeping New Zealand secure.

Regimental Colonel, Colonel Kate Lee, says it's important that even though the ability to mark the milestone had been delayed it was still vital to ensure it was suitably noted.

This year is our 100th year of the formation of the Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals and it is only right to commemorate, celebrate and connect with past and present members of the corps and acknowledge the importance of signallers within operations over the past 100 years.

Colonel Lee says the Corps will mark the significant occasion towards the end of the centenary year with a formal parade.

Military signals became a component of the New Zealand Army in the early 1900s.

In 1911, Post and Telegraph Corps was formed and then in 1913 it was absorbed into the NZ Army Engineer Signal Service along with the NZ Signal Corps formerly known as the Cycle and Signalling Corps.

On June 1, 1921, the Post and Telegraph Corps became the New Zealand Corps of Signals.

There were nine signal units that operated during the Second World War and in July 1947 King George VI gave the Royal prefix to the unit and it became the Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals.

From climbing telegraph poles to utilising state of the art equipment as a network enabled Army the corps has come a long way from its inception, and is an essential part of a military operation.

The Corps prides itself on being able to improvise and adapt in order to overcome the challenges of getting the message through, from Lieutenant Colonel Bassett VC at Gallipoli to the present day providing support by delivering reliable military communications during natural disasters and when deploying to the South West Pacific and throughout the world.
Its hard to believe we're entering the halfway mark of 2021 already and the start of winter on the meteorological calendar.

While meteorologically winter has begun, the astronomical calendar marks the start of winter on June 21.

La Nina ended back in autumn and the weather pattern around New Zealand and Australia remains a 'neutral' one - which increases the chances of a chaotic pattern with pockets of extremes (as we just saw with the flooding in Canterbury but fairly dry further north), says WeatherWatch.co.nz

As we go through June, it's clear the chaotic pattern continues with far more low pressure in the mix - although the few highs that are still around will still impact NZ bringing settled periods, especially northern and eastern areas.

This is good news for Canterbury - but not good news for Hawke's Bay still dealing with drought like conditions.

HOW THE AIR PRESSURE ZONES ARE SHAPING UP THIS JUNE...

The big low that brought the flooding to Canterbury drifts east over the Chatham Islands allowing for a high near Sydney to drift towards northern NZ, says the weather organisation.

High pressure east of NZ may help encourage some rain into the upper North Island, otherwise low pressure is the next main feature, mostly down in the Southern Ocean but likely brushing the South Island of NZ and Tasmania.

Low pressure dominates the map but high pressure dominates most of Australia and a large zone just east of NZ.

This keeps NZ in a low pressure zone which encourages downpours and rain. However the nor'west flow may keep regions like Hawke's Bay still missing out on the rain they need most.

UPCOMING RAIN...

Week 1 of June  Departure from Normal rainfall.

Red = Drier than average, White = Normal rainfall, Blue = Wetter than usual.

Week 1 of June  Rainfall Accumulations.

White boxes highlight areas with low rainfall (ie, less than 10mm).

First 2 Weeks of June Rainfall Accumulation Map

You can see how heavy rain leans to the west and north of NZ  but eastern areas still look fairly dry overall.

How winter is shaping rainfall-wise. This may be good news for many North Island regions still in a rainfall deficit  but not great news for Hawkes Bay which may well continue to lean drier than average for the next three months ahead.

TEMPERATURES

How winter is shaping up temperature-wise. Generally speaking, about normal but leaning perhaps half a degree above average overall. We do expect some decent frosts in the mix  but also balanced by warmer nights and days too.
The Minister for Pacific Peoples says he is happy to see a decrease in anxiety around the Covid-19 vaccine among the Pacific community.

Aupito William Sio has been in Tauranga speaking to residents from the Pacific community about the vaccine and any concerns they may have.

In a visit to the Pacific Island Community Tauranga Trust on Cameron Road, Sio has listened to concerns from those in the community and shared his own personal vaccination story as a way to ease such worries.

I have been sharing with them my own experience, says Sio.

I dont like needles but I have had my two shots done. I feel quite comfortable and confident with it.

I have addressed any concerns that they have had.

Basically, I have said look, this is safe, not only have the WHO approved its usage but we also have MedSafe which has approved the usage of Pfizer.

So when its their turn I am asking people to please get vaccinated.

CEO Pacific Island Community Tauranga Trust CEO Esther Martin says the visit was relaxing and informal, with staff and members of the community comfortable talking to Sio and Minister Jan Tinetti, who was also in attendance.

Esther explains that PICTTs role is to keep those within the community educated and up to date on the rollout and the vaccines efficacy.

PICTT continue to deliver education workshops to the Pacific community, she says.

There are concerns amongst the Pacific community, and everyone is entitled to their opinion, however, PICTTs role is to promote the vaccine, talk about prevention, and encourage families to keep asking questions if they are unsure.

PICTT is not there to advise families to get vaccinated, we are simply there to educate the prevention side of the vaccine.

Ministry of Health research from April has shown 77 per cent of New Zealanders aged 16 years and over say they are likely to get a vaccine or have already received a vaccine.

This compares to 69 per cent in March.

In the Pasifika demographic the figure is higher, at 79 per cent, which has jumped up from 59 per cent in March.

Those figures are seemingly reflected in Tauranga, according to Sio.

They did also raise the issue around the vaccine itself.

That is not just the Covid-19 vaccine but this organisation is also promoting the MMR vaccine, especially for the 15-30 year-olds and also the flu vaccine.

All of those vaccines are important and they can be taken. Not one after the other, of course, he jokes, suggesting a sore arm could be the consequence.

But I dont sense any hesitation or anxiety about it at all.

The vaccination programme across the Bay of Plenty continues to remain above target.

As of May 23, 22,841 people have received vaccinations in the BOPDHB region.

This represents 8586 ahead of targeted schedule, 160 per cent of the plan scheduled, and Esther says there have been no concerns raised with her about the vaccine rollout in the Pacific community.

I havent heard any negative comments about the rollout.

Esther states that PICTT have been ensuring information about vaccinations is being translated into relevant languages to ensure information is clearly delivered.

Theres lots of information provided about the vaccine and the rollout to the Pacific community, she says.

Information has been translated into various different languages, and our organization has also been providing education workshops around the vaccine and the rollout.

Minister Sio believes that getting the right information out into the Pacific Island community, in the best possible language, has been key to alleviating any anxiety related to New Zealands vaccination programme.

Initially we struggled with that at the start of the first lockdown last year but we soon picked up that we needed to get information to them in the language they can easily understand.

We translated a lot of those messages into nine different languages. We were sharing that online, on radio which we have continued to do all year through.

Sio states that the Ministry of Pacific Peoples will now work with Trusts like PICTT to ensure details related to the vaccination programme are translated into information specifically relevant for the region itself.
A group of Samoan seasonal workers are now the proud holders of full New Zealand driver licences - thanks to the efforts of a determined Hastings police officer.

The men arrived in Hawkes Bay from Samoa in October 2019 to work at the Silver Fern Farms Pacific Hawkes Bay beef processing site.

Under New Zealand law they could drive on their Samoan licences for 12 months, which was usually fine as they would return home every year. But then Covid hit and they did not return home.

The Government temporarily changed the rules in December 2020 extending the period for driving on an overseas licence to a maximum of 24 months after arrival.

This meant the workers could drive until October this year, but it didnt solve the problem long term, especially if they stay on in New Zealand.

Enter Hastings Senior Constable Chris Leppien and Silver Fern Farms' training coordinator and pastoral care contact for Recognised Seasonal Employer workers, Jilly Brown.

Chris, who worked at Silver Fern Farms before joining police, knew many of the men through the rugby team she managed and together, her and Jilly hatched a plan to help the workers gain a full New Zealand licence.

While Jilly arranged for the workers to be available when Chris needed them for lessons, Chris started by preparing them for the theory test, which was made more challenging given the language barriers.

Next came the driving lessons to prepare them for their full practical licence test. Chris does all this work in her own time.

Six months on and six workers now have their full New Zealand licences, allowing them to drive vanloads of workers to and from work each day.

Jilly says Silver Fern Farms provides four houses and four vans for the 35 Samoan workers they employ, and the goal is to have two fully licenced drivers per house.

Chris has done an absolutely amazing job helping these workers get their full licences. It is a true example of two great-minded women getting their heads together and finding a solution."

Jilly says its not the first time Chris has helped workers at the plant.

A few years ago, she initiated theory classes for staff at the plant to assist them prior to sitting their learner licence. She does wonderous things for us.

Chris says her motivation comes from her passion for driver licencing.

Having a driver licence changes peoples lives," says Chris.

"It means they can more easily become a contributing member of society. Because we dont have a lot of public transport in Hastings people need cars to get to work, so without a licence thats tough."

This is just one example of the work Chris does in the driver licencing space. In 2009, she created resource to help secondary school students prepare for sitting their learners theory test.

Its a big ask to get teenagers to sit down and memorise the road code. This resource reflects all the questions they will be asked in the learner theory test and teaches them in a more user-friendly way.

The resource is now available in schools across Hawkes Bay and has been shared to other police districts.

-Police Ten One Magazine.
Do you already have a paid subscription to any of the SWNewsMedia newspapers? If so, you can Activate your Premium online account by clicking here. Activation will allow you to view unlimited online articles each month. To activate your Premium online account, the email address and phone number provided with your paid newspaper subscription needs to match the information you use in setting up your online user account. If you are having trouble or want to confirm what email address and phone number is listed on your subscription account, please call 952-345-6682 or email circulation@swpub.com and we'll be happy to assist.
But the main reason for the stellar performance was a steep increase in prices of semiconductors, petrochemicals, steel and automotive parts on the back of the global economic recovery.

Korea exported US$50.7 billion worth of products last month, a record for the month of May. Exports in April and March were also at record levels and not just due to a low base effect last year amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Korea's exports surged 45.6 percent on-year in May, the biggest monthly increase in 32 years.

Shipments increased in all nine major areas of the world for two consecutive months, a feat which occurred for the first time in 10 years. Exports to China rose 22.7 percent to $13.2 billion.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said factory operations are returning to normal in China, resulting in sound exports of steel, petrochemicals and mobile communication products.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said factory operations are returning to normal in China, resulting in sound exports of steel, petrochemicals and mobile communication products.

Exports to the U.S. surged 62.8 percent to $7.47 billion led by cars and microchips and to the EU 63.8 percent to $4.9 billion after some travel restrictions in the region were eased, resulting in improved private spending and an overall recovery.

Exports to ASEAN surged 64.3 percent.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-01 22:48:24|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

Photo taken on May 29, 2021 shows INK, a cafe in the Hongqiao Business District of Shanghai, east China. (Xinhua/Wang Xiang)

SHANGHAI, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Huang Liyan gets up at 6:30 a.m., arrives at Suzhou High-speed Railway Station at 8 a.m., and pulls in at Shanghai Hongqiao High-speed Railway Station between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.

Since 2015, white-collar worker Huang has been working across provinces. "The cost of living in Suzhou is relatively low and the city is livable. Shanghai has a close work circle and there are many opportunities there," she said, adding that she hopes that there will be more trains between the two cities, and that there will be preferential policies for inter-provincial workers.

"It's about a 10 minute walk (from the train station) to my workplace, and I'll buy a cup of coffee at INK on my way," she said.

INK, a small cafe located in the Hongqiao Business District of Shanghai, does not have many drink options but it still attracts customers from Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta region. The cafe has witnessed the integration of the Yangtze River Delta region over the past five years.

"Five years ago, we chose to open a cafe here because we were optimistic about the prospects of the Hongqiao Business District," said Wu Minjie, the cafe's owner.

Wu recalled that back then, nearby shopping malls and office buildings had not yet been built. "In the first two years, very few people would pass by my cafe, and those who passed by were construction workers."

During the worst period, only one cup of coffee was sold a day. Wu once entertained the idea of giving up.

"But it's the first store my wife and I opened and we had put a lot of effort into it, so we didn't want to close it. Also, we firmly believed the district would see good development," he said.

It was announced in 2017 that China would hold the China International Import Expo from 2018, and the venue, the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), is about 1 km from the cafe.

"After the news was released, many companies settled in the district. Our business gradually got better," he said.

In December 2019, an outline of the regional integration development plan for the Yangtze River Delta was released. It said that Hongqiao would be developed into an international open hub, promoting the deep integration of high-end business, exhibition and transportation functions, and further enhancing the hub function of serving the Yangtze River Delta and connecting it with the world.

In February 2021, the overall plan for the construction of the Hongqiao international open hub was released, aiming to build Hongqiao into a high-standard international central business district.

Zhang Liang, a frequent visitor at the cafe, has settled in Hongqiao. "It's close to the airport and high-speed railway station, making it convenient for me to travel. I'm thinking about moving my office here to reach the Yangtze River Delta region more easily," said Zhang. 
Lawton, OK (73501)

Today

Mostly clear skies early then increasing clouds with some scattered thunderstorms late. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Mostly clear skies early then increasing clouds with some scattered thunderstorms late. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
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.
Lawton, OK (73501)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 73F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 73F. Winds light and variable.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-01 23:03:20|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

Photo provided by local police shows Lin Chengjia and his wife reunited with his family in the city of Beipiao, northeast China's Liaoning Province, on April 7, 2021. (Xinhua)

SHENYANG, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese police have located or rescued 1,680 missing or abducted children this year, including adults who went missing or were kidnapped as children, the Ministry of Public Security said on Tuesday.

Since the nationwide campaign of "Tuanyuan," meaning reunion in Chinese, was launched in January, police have resolved 85 cold cases involving child abduction or trafficking, the ministry told a press conference.

One victim had been separated from the family for 54 years, it said.

A total of 223 suspects were arrested in connection with abduction cases during the period.

Lin Chun, a 52-year-old mother, waited for 27 years before she and her husband finally reunited with their son, who was abducted when he was four.

Police in the city of Beipiao, northeast China's Liaoning Province, located their son working in Beijing in April, and arranged the family reunion following a DNA test.

"It's been 27 years. My son's finally home," said Lin, bursting into tears.

Their son, Lin Chengjia, then followed them to their hometown in Zhejiang Province with his newlywed wife.

"I haven't got any plan yet. Perhaps, I'll hold another wedding ceremony at my original home," said the junior Lin, now 31.

Policeman Fu Dahe, who is with the public security bureau of Beipiao, witnessed the reunion.

"I felt more delighted seeing the family back together than celebrating the New Year," said Fu.

In 1994, Fu received a phone call saying a 7-year-old boy named Zhang Jinhu was missing, the fourth child missing in less than two years in the city. After a probe, a gang led by a local man Hui Huaili was suspected of their abduction.

Because of the limited technological means in those days, police failed to locate Hui, and finding the abducted children became the common goal of Beipiao police.

"Hui's look was engraved in my mind. For years, I kept an eye on passersby so that I could find and arrest him," Fu recalled.

With technological means including big data, police located and captured Hui, who had renamed himself Luo Heng, in Tianjin Municipality this February.

Hui confessed that he abducted nine boys, including four from Beipiao, and sold them in east China's Fujian Province from 1993 to 1995.

All the four children abducted in Beipiao have been found, including Zhang Jinhu, the one Fu had been looking for since 1994.

"Now that all the kids have been found, I have nothing to regret in my career. Otherwise, I would continue searching for them even after retirement," said the 55-year-old Fu.

Photo provided by the Ministry of Public Security shows an anti-kidnapping publicity campaign held by the ministry in Beijing on June 2, 2019. (Xinhua)

The Ministry of Public Security established a national DNA database to fight child trafficking in 2009 and launched the online platform Tuanyuan in May 2016. Over the past five years, the platform has helped find more than 4,700 missing children. 
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.
You'll receive FIVE of our top national magazines, including Discover Taos Winter Edition, Discover Taos Summer Edition, Taos Gallery Guide, Fall Festivals, and Best of Taos, delivered to your home address anywhere in the US for the special low rate of $55.

In addition, you'll receive access for a full year to all content on TaosNews.com, including the e-edition digital replica, and a weekly digest of what's happening in arts and entertainment in Taos!
Seminole, FL (33772)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms in the morning, then cloudy skies late. High 84F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Variable clouds with scattered thunderstorms. Low 78F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Thank you for Reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a

new account and

Purchase a Subscription

to continue reading.
_nilaygandhi Newbie



Join Date: May 2021 Location: New Delhi Posts: 10 Thanked: 81 Times

Long term ownership review of my Pulsar NS200 "Atrium" The name "Atrium"?



Actually, before even thinking about buying a bike, I had already decided on this name that I will be giving to my car or bike when Ill buy one.



I think it was the result of me regularly visiting Teambhp that I thought about naming my car/bike. As naming ones ride is a very common thing here.



And why I chose Atrium, actually this has a connection with my own name. Nilay ;  is the Hindi word for Ventricle, which is the name of one of the chambers of the heart. The name for the other one is Atrium.







So that is how I decided the name Atrium for my next ride.



Living with Atrium



Initial impressions



I was really happy riding my first motorcycle bought from my own earned money. That feeling of happiness and freedom was back. Had started making plans for long rides already.



But things dont always go as planned. Soon actually too soon into the ownership, my new bike started giving me troubles. This was a heart-breaking experience for me. Ill write more about this part in a separate section.



Apart from this trouble, everything else looked good and felt good I was really enjoying the bike. My parents and friends were happy too.





My observations



At the time of writing this review Atrium is 3 years and 4 months old and her odometer stands at 22k km.



My bike sees a very low daily usage as my office commute to work is only 12km which is mainly in dense city traffic.



Rest is covered mainly on Sunday rides or long rides. As I prefer to either walk or cycle to run errands.







Engine/Drivetrain performance





This bike is powered by a liquid cooled 199.5cc single cylinder DTSI (Digital triple spark ignition) engine which produces 23.5PS. It has a six speed gearbox which delivers power to the rear wheel via chain drive. I believe these are very healthy numbers.



Mine is a carburetted version as EFI was not available in BS-4. I feel the performance to be adequate for the city as well as highway usage.

The bike is very responsive to throttle and gearshifts are smooth too.



I have done many long rides and it is very easy to cruise at highway speeds. 85-90kmph can be maintained at around 6k RPM.



The exhaust note sounds similar to KTMs but it isnt that loud. I like how the exhaust sounds very muted and almost inaudible in traffic noise. As I am not a fan of loud exhaust sounds.



Heat management is an issue in heavy traffic, when the radiator fan kicks in it diverts hot air to my legs. Not a good experience to have on a hot day in Delhis summer.



Winter causes different issues, early morning starts are difficult. Although the bike starts in first self but idling is very erratic and it dies very soon.



Choke has to be kept pulled, but that lever also doesnt holds its position for much longer and comes down automatically. Bajaj service people are not able to solve this even now.



Suspension & handling



Suspension duties are handled by conventional telescopic shock absorbers up-front with a travel range of 130mm and at the rear Nitrox mono shock having 90mm of travel range with 9 step preload adjustment.



I find the suspension to be fairly comfortable, it is neither too soft and neither too hard. And does the work silently.



I have kept the preload set at the 4th stage, which is ok for me most of the times but I have observed if there is a healthy pillion riding with me the reflector under the rear number plate touches the tyre hugger while going through bigger bumps and potholes.



But I ride solo most of the times so that is not much of an issue for me. And also the preload needs a special tool for adjusting so it is not user adjustable anyways.



This bike offers very sporty handling. It features a set of split type handlebars which are nicely weighted, leaning on corners is easy and riding on mountain roads is fun.







What is difficult though is riding in traffic or narrow roads as the end to end movement of the handle is very less, it is particularly cumbersome to filter through traffic or take tighter turns.



Another issue is that, these split handle bars leave very less space to mount accessories, so mounting phone holders etc on handlebars is an issue.



Comfort and ergonomics



The seating position is a little forward lean and also the rider footpegs are rear set, I am 58 and you can observe my seating posture from the below picture.







The seating position is neither too aggressive nor relaxed.The clutch and brake levers although of non adjustable type are easy to reach.



I find this position comfortable for my riding style. I have done many long rides clocking up to 750km in a day and I have had no issues so far.



What is not comfortable though is the cushion of the seats, the stock seats are really hard, I have tried to sort this problem by adding a layer of foam from a local seat repair shop and also got leatherette seat covers fitted at the same time.



But the rear seat is another story it is not only very hard but also very small, it remains uncomfortable even with the additional layer of foam that I have also got fixed to the front seat.



Most of the times I am riding solo, so it doesnt really bothers me but whenever there is a pillion with me theyve always complained about the discomfort. And most of them prefer not to sit again.



Brakes



It has a twin-disc set-up, a 300mm disc on the front end with double piston floating type calliper from Bybre and a 230mm disc on the rear with a single-piston floating calliper from Bybre. ABS is a single channel unit.







I feel this bike has sufficient braking power and the bike can be safely brought to halt from decent enough speeds without much fuss.

ABS is nicely tuned and kicks in at the right time. It has saved me many times already.



I would say it was worthwhile investing that extra sum and going for the ABS variant as the non-ABS version was also available at that time. But it would have been even better if it was a dual-channel ABS, which is not being offered even now.



Bajaj auto needs to take a stand and start providing better equipped products at the very least in terms of safety equipment and not wait for the government to make a law about it. Even the competition is offering dual channel ABS in their products now.



Tyre and rims







My bike is equipped with MRF zapper tyres in sizes 100/80R17 in front and 130/70R17 on the rear. These are tubeless tyres and are installed on black alloy wheels with a twin five-spoke design. Alloys come with grey stickering on the rim which looks good and matches with the colour theme of the bike.



MRF tyres are durable and offer good grip on dry surfaces, wet road grip is not that good though as they skid and slide easily. Tread life is good and I believe they can easily last 6-7k km more.



Also, there has been only puncture till now, which was on the rear tyre thanks to a nail. Luckily I was able to notice the air leak before the tyre going fully flat.



Instrument cluster



The bike is equipped with a semi analogue semi-digital instrument cluster. It has a round analogue tachometer in the centre which also houses the ABS warning light and a blue backlight digital display on the right.







This digital display consists of a speedometer, odometer, two trip meters. It also has clock and service reminder. The digital display can be controlled by two switches marked M and S. There is also a RPM limit light that starts blinking in amber colour on reaching the red line.



A part of this digital display overlaps with the circular tachometer where a digital fuel gauge is placed. It shows the fuel level in bars, there are seven bars on full tank.



I dont find the fuel gauge to be much trustworthy, and I am yet to find a correlation between the number of bars and the amount of fuel left in the tank.

I find it better to rely on the trip meter reading which I always set to zero after every refill.



The left side of the tachometer houses various tell tale lights such as temperature, battery and engine oil pressure warnings. Also neutral, indicator On, Headlight beam status along with Bajaj logo.





Instrument cluster does a full swipe on turning the ignition ON.



Watching that red tachometer needle is a sight to see as it eagerly reaches the redline which is set at 10.5k RPM. The speedometer is easy to read and looks beautiful at night time with the blue lighting shining bright.



Switchgear



The switch cluster on the left handlebar features a toggle switch for high/low beam, a pass switch, along with controls for indicators and horn. Indicators are not self cancelling type, while the earlier pulsar 150 used to have them.







Whereas the right group houses an engine kill switch and starter switch. The place which used to have a headlight on/off switch in BS-3 models is now covered by a cheap-looking plastic piece.



The switches are ergonomically placed and offer haptic feedback. They are easy to use and can be operated without taking eyes off the road. Also, these switches are backlit in blue and look beautiful at night.



Lights and Horn



The Headlight is a halogen unit which features a 55/60W H4 bulb, the throw is really good and it lights up the road efficiently.

I am really impressed with the headlight performance so far. Lighting performance has been satisfactory be it rains or even foggy weather.











Tail lights are signature split LED units which are a bit different from the other range of Pulsars. They look good on the sharp tail section and grabs attention.







Indicators are bulb type which I believe dont look that good. It should have come with the LED units that are seen on RS200 and D400. But anyways these can be swapped, which I am planning on doing soon.









Horn is a single unit Minda which is not very loud and sounds just about okayish. I prefer the tone of Pulsar 150s horn more. But I am not planning a swap as I dont use the horn much anyways.



Storage



Under seat storage can be accessed by removing the rear split seat which opens with the ignition key, storage space is almost non existent and there is only enough place to store the toolkit and either the documents or a cleaning cloth.







I only use that space to keep a micro fibre towel for quick dusting as I carry only digital documents in mparivahan app.



I normally carry my backpack for groceries or a pair of Bungees if I have to carry something bulky.





Accessories and customisation







There is not much in terms of accessories that I have added. I have installed a hazard light system and KTM Duke original hand guards. I use the hand guards only during long rides and remove them after the ride.



I have also added a couple of stickers and Ladakh prayer flags along with amber reflectors from BS-6 model on front shockers. I had switched the pilot lights to red/ blue police combo but I have reverted to stock set-up. Also i have switched number plate light with a white LED.



Someone scratched the tank badly when the bike was parked outside and I didnt wanted to deal with the hassles of claiming insurance so wrapped the tank to hide the scratches and decided to live with it for now.



Riding gears







Steelbird Adonis helmet, I bought it from the shop just opposite to the Bajaj showroom. Planning on upgrading soon.



Scimitar Razor riding jacket with rain liner and winter liner, purchased this during the 2018 auto expo, got it at a decent price at 25% off.



Basic Pro biker gloves and knee guards bought from Karol Bagh, planning on upgrading soon.



I normally wear my ankle length steel toe safety shoes during long rides.

I also wear a reflective safety vest during late night and early morning rides or where visibility is low.



Currently these are my riding gears I am planning to add and upgrade as soon as financially possible.



Pulsar memorabilia



After Atrium entered my life, I started to buy these goodies related to Pulsar NS series one at a time without even thinking much. Over the years I have come to have a nice although small collection about which I realised only after I started writing this review.





Key rings





Phone case





T-shirts (Blue one with actual registration number printed)





Backpack with skull sticker (cut from 3M reflective tape , increases visibility too) matching with the bike's and a custom batch on the shoulder strap with registration number printed.





Some goodies I got during Pulsar's Stampede ride. Actually, before even thinking about buying a bike, I had already decided on this name that I will be giving to my car or bike when Ill buy one.I think it was the result of me regularly visiting Teambhp that I thought about naming my car/bike. As naming ones ride is a very common thing here.And why I chose Atrium, actually this has a connection with my own name. Nilay ;  is the Hindi word for Ventricle, which is the name of one of the chambers of the heart. The name for the other one is Atrium.So that is how I decided the name Atrium for my next ride.I was really happy riding my first motorcycle bought from my own earned money. That feeling of happiness and freedom was back. Had started making plans for long rides already.But things dont always go as planned. Soon actually too soon into the ownership, my new bike started giving me troubles. This was a heart-breaking experience for me. Ill write more about this part in a separate section.Apart from this trouble, everything else looked good and felt good I was really enjoying the bike. My parents and friends were happy too.At the time of writing this review Atrium is 3 years and 4 months old and her odometer stands at 22k km.My bike sees a very low daily usage as my office commute to work is only 12km which is mainly in dense city traffic.Rest is covered mainly on Sunday rides or long rides. As I prefer to either walk or cycle to run errands.This bike is powered by a liquid cooled 199.5cc single cylinder DTSI (Digital triple spark ignition) engine which produces 23.5PS. It has a six speed gearbox which delivers power to the rear wheel via chain drive. I believe these are very healthy numbers.Mine is a carburetted version as EFI was not available in BS-4. I feel the performance to be adequate for the city as well as highway usage.The bike is very responsive to throttle and gearshifts are smooth too.I have done many long rides and it is very easy to cruise at highway speeds. 85-90kmph can be maintained at around 6k RPM.The exhaust note sounds similar to KTMs but it isnt that loud. I like how the exhaust sounds very muted and almost inaudible in traffic noise. As I am not a fan of loud exhaust sounds.Heat management is an issue in heavy traffic, when the radiator fan kicks in it diverts hot air to my legs. Not a good experience to have on a hot day in Delhis summer.Winter causes different issues, early morning starts are difficult. Although the bike starts in first self but idling is very erratic and it dies very soon.Choke has to be kept pulled, but that lever also doesnt holds its position for much longer and comes down automatically. Bajaj service people are not able to solve this even now.Suspension duties are handled by conventional telescopic shock absorbers up-front with a travel range of 130mm and at the rear Nitrox mono shock having 90mm of travel range with 9 step preload adjustment.I find the suspension to be fairly comfortable, it is neither too soft and neither too hard. And does the work silently.I have kept the preload set at the 4th stage, which is ok for me most of the times but I have observed if there is a healthy pillion riding with me the reflector under the rear number plate touches the tyre hugger while going through bigger bumps and potholes.But I ride solo most of the times so that is not much of an issue for me. And also the preload needs a special tool for adjusting so it is not user adjustable anyways.This bike offers very sporty handling. It features a set of split type handlebars which are nicely weighted, leaning on corners is easy and riding on mountain roads is fun.What is difficult though is riding in traffic or narrow roads as the end to end movement of the handle is very less, it is particularly cumbersome to filter through traffic or take tighter turns.Another issue is that, these split handle bars leave very less space to mount accessories, so mounting phone holders etc on handlebars is an issue.The seating position is a little forward lean and also the rider footpegs are rear set, I am 58 and you can observe my seating posture from the below picture.The seating position is neither too aggressive nor relaxed.The clutch and brake levers although of non adjustable type are easy to reach.I find this position comfortable for my riding style. I have done many long rides clocking up to 750km in a day and I have had no issues so far.What is not comfortable though is the cushion of the seats, the stock seats are really hard, I have tried to sort this problem by adding a layer of foam from a local seat repair shop and also got leatherette seat covers fitted at the same time.But the rear seat is another story it is not only very hard but also very small, it remains uncomfortable even with the additional layer of foam that I have also got fixed to the front seat.Most of the times I am riding solo, so it doesnt really bothers me but whenever there is a pillion with me theyve always complained about the discomfort. And most of them prefer not to sit again.It has a twin-disc set-up, a 300mm disc on the front end with double piston floating type calliper from Bybre and a 230mm disc on the rear with a single-piston floating calliper from Bybre. ABS is a single channel unit.I feel this bike has sufficient braking power and the bike can be safely brought to halt from decent enough speeds without much fuss.ABS is nicely tuned and kicks in at the right time. It has saved me many times already.I would say it was worthwhile investing that extra sum and going for the ABS variant as the non-ABS version was also available at that time. But it would have been even better if it was a dual-channel ABS, which is not being offered even now.Bajaj auto needs to take a stand and start providing better equipped products at the very least in terms of safety equipment and not wait for the government to make a law about it. Even the competition is offering dual channel ABS in their products now.My bike is equipped with MRF zapper tyres in sizes 100/80R17 in front and 130/70R17 on the rear. These are tubeless tyres and are installed on black alloy wheels with a twin five-spoke design. Alloys come with grey stickering on the rim which looks good and matches with the colour theme of the bike.MRF tyres are durable and offer good grip on dry surfaces, wet road grip is not that good though as they skid and slide easily. Tread life is good and I believe they can easily last 6-7k km more.Also, there has been only puncture till now, which was on the rear tyre thanks to a nail. Luckily I was able to notice the air leak before the tyre going fully flat.The bike is equipped with a semi analogue semi-digital instrument cluster. It has a round analogue tachometer in the centre which also houses the ABS warning light and a blue backlight digital display on the right.This digital display consists of a speedometer, odometer, two trip meters. It also has clock and service reminder. The digital display can be controlled by two switches marked M and S. There is also a RPM limit light that starts blinking in amber colour on reaching the red line.A part of this digital display overlaps with the circular tachometer where a digital fuel gauge is placed. It shows the fuel level in bars, there are seven bars on full tank.I dont find the fuel gauge to be much trustworthy, and I am yet to find a correlation between the number of bars and the amount of fuel left in the tank.I find it better to rely on the trip meter reading which I always set to zero after every refill.The left side of the tachometer houses various tell tale lights such as temperature, battery and engine oil pressure warnings. Also neutral, indicator On, Headlight beam status along with Bajaj logo.Instrument cluster does a full swipe on turning the ignition ON.Watching that red tachometer needle is a sight to see as it eagerly reaches the redline which is set at 10.5k RPM. The speedometer is easy to read and looks beautiful at night time with the blue lighting shining bright.The switch cluster on the left handlebar features a toggle switch for high/low beam, a pass switch, along with controls for indicators and horn. Indicators are not self cancelling type, while the earlier pulsar 150 used to have them.Whereas the right group houses an engine kill switch and starter switch. The place which used to have a headlight on/off switch in BS-3 models is now covered by a cheap-looking plastic piece.The switches are ergonomically placed and offer haptic feedback. They are easy to use and can be operated without taking eyes off the road. Also, these switches are backlit in blue and look beautiful at night.The Headlight is a halogen unit which features a 55/60W H4 bulb, the throw is really good and it lights up the road efficiently.I am really impressed with the headlight performance so far. Lighting performance has been satisfactory be it rains or even foggy weather.Tail lights are signature split LED units which are a bit different from the other range of Pulsars. They look good on the sharp tail section and grabs attention.Indicators are bulb type which I believe dont look that good. It should have come with the LED units that are seen on RS200 and D400. But anyways these can be swapped, which I am planning on doing soon.Horn is a single unit Minda which is not very loud and sounds just about okayish. I prefer the tone of Pulsar 150s horn more. But I am not planning a swap as I dont use the horn much anyways.Under seat storage can be accessed by removing the rear split seat which opens with the ignition key, storage space is almost non existent and there is only enough place to store the toolkit and either the documents or a cleaning cloth.I only use that space to keep a micro fibre towel for quick dusting as I carry only digital documents in mparivahan app.I normally carry my backpack for groceries or a pair of Bungees if I have to carry something bulky.There is not much in terms of accessories that I have added. I have installed a hazard light system and KTM Duke original hand guards. I use the hand guards only during long rides and remove them after the ride.I have also added a couple of stickers and Ladakh prayer flags along with amber reflectors from BS-6 model on front shockers. I had switched the pilot lights to red/ blue police combo but I have reverted to stock set-up. Also i have switched number plate light with a white LED.Someone scratched the tank badly when the bike was parked outside and I didnt wanted to deal with the hassles of claiming insurance so wrapped the tank to hide the scratches and decided to live with it for now.Steelbird Adonis helmet, I bought it from the shop just opposite to the Bajaj showroom. Planning on upgrading soon.Scimitar Razor riding jacket with rain liner and winter liner, purchased this during the 2018 auto expo, got it at a decent price at 25% off.Basic Pro biker gloves and knee guards bought from Karol Bagh, planning on upgrading soon.I normally wear my ankle length steel toe safety shoes during long rides.I also wear a reflective safety vest during late night and early morning rides or where visibility is low.Currently these are my riding gears I am planning to add and upgrade as soon as financially possible.After Atrium entered my life, I started to buy these goodies related to Pulsar NS series one at a time without even thinking much. Over the years I have come to have a nice although small collection about which I realised only after I started writing this review.Key ringsPhone caseT-shirts (Blue one with actual registration number printed)Backpack with skull sticker (cut from 3M reflective tape , increases visibility too) matching with the bike's and a custom batch on the shoulder strap with registration number printed.Some goodies I got during Pulsar's Stampede ride. Last edited by _nilaygandhi : 1st June 2021 at 18:30 .
Jeroen Distinguished - BHPian

Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Delhi Posts: 6,292 Thanked: 28,804 Times

View My Garage





Re: Team-BHP meet in the Netherlands



I suggest we meet up somewhere near our home in Spijk, say around 11-1200 hours. It is just North of of Gorinchem, on the prettiest and the longest river in the Netherlands, de Linge.



Basically, look for the A27/A15 intersection. There are several good hotels around. Depending on how things develop we might even start from our home.



We do need to check for what Corona restrictions (and possibly weather) we are facing. I imagine most places would be open, but there might be restrictions on how many people they can accommodate and so on.



I can have a nice route along the Betuwe ready. I will include a place for a stop and a lunch. I am thinking of the little village of Buren. Very pretty, old walled village, we can walk around a bit, have a bit of lunch. Then we continue our drive.



We can build a few other things in the route too; We will be nearby the Miniature Car model museum of my good friend Berndt. More than 7000 miniature cars on display. In a tiny, tiny museum. I would need to arrange with Berndt as he normally opens only on a Sunday. But he often receives car clubs and he has helped me out before on one of our Spider drives.



https://www.minidome.nl/home%20engels.html



We could end the day at some venue/restaurant before everybody goes home again.



An other interesting and nice place could be Heusden, just south of the Betuwe.



Just for thoughts, this is the route I build for my Spider friends last year. It needs changing anyway as some of the roads and dikes will be closed for maintenance.







Whatever route we decide I will provide a GPX file so you can download it into your navigations system / phone.



Let me know your thoughts on the above, what do you guys think about a visit to the Minidome. Any other types of places you would like to see.



We have of course, not too far, but its further south, ER classics:



https://www.erclassics.com



(Obviously, if you ask me for car stuff to do it is going to be around classic cars!



Jeroen the 26th it is!!I suggest we meet up somewhere near our home in Spijk, say around 11-1200 hours. It is just North of of Gorinchem, on the prettiest and the longest river in the Netherlands, de Linge.Basically, look for the A27/A15 intersection. There are several good hotels around. Depending on how things develop we might even start from our home.We do need to check for what Corona restrictions (and possibly weather) we are facing. I imagine most places would be open, but there might be restrictions on how many people they can accommodate and so on.I can have a nice route along the Betuwe ready. I will include a place for a stop and a lunch. I am thinking of the little village of Buren. Very pretty, old walled village, we can walk around a bit, have a bit of lunch. Then we continue our drive.We can build a few other things in the route too; We will be nearby the Miniature Car model museum of my good friend Berndt. More than 7000 miniature cars on display. In a tiny, tiny museum. I would need to arrange with Berndt as he normally opens only on a Sunday. But he often receives car clubs and he has helped me out before on one of our Spider drives.We could end the day at some venue/restaurant before everybody goes home again.An other interesting and nice place could be Heusden, just south of the Betuwe.Just for thoughts, this is the route I build for my Spider friends last year. It needs changing anyway as some of the roads and dikes will be closed for maintenance.Whatever route we decide I will provide a GPX file so you can download it into your navigations system / phone.Let me know your thoughts on the above, what do you guys think about a visit to the Minidome. Any other types of places you would like to see.We have of course, not too far, but its further south, ER classics:(Obviously, if you ask me for car stuff to do it is going to be around classic cars!Jeroen


A Brand's Guide to Digital Shelf Analytics | eBook

What can you do to improve your digital commerce game? The first rule of the digital shelf is to make sure your products can be found. Some might say its mission impossible. Unless, of course, you use digital shelf analytics (DSA). Get the eBook Today!

Kaspersky on April 26 released survey results revealing that almost one quarter (22 percent) of PCs still run the end-of-life OS Microsoft Windows 7, which stopped receiving mainstream support in January 2020.

When operating systems reach end of life, vulnerabilities will remain on the system without patch updates to resolve issues, providing cyberattackers with potential ways to gain access. Therefore, it is critical to update a system's OS to protect networks from this avoidable issue, according to Kaspersky.

Using an end-of-life operating system that no longer receives security updates is akin to driving a car with a brake light on. The likelihood of disaster is great and yet it is difficult to convey this to users of such systems without it appearing to be a ploy to get them to spend more money, suggested Oliver Tavakoli, CTO at Vectra AI.

"This would be a good place for a government or NGOs to step in to provide incentives and programs to upgrade as it makes the entire ecosystem more secure," he told TechNewsWorld.

Those still using Windows 7 are consumers, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and very small businesses (VSBs). The survey points out that almost a quarter of VSBs still use the outdated OS because they lack dedicated IT staff.

A temporary alternative for business users is to purchase extended paid support for Windows 7 from Microsoft. However, that means an extra expense.

Kaspersky's findings also showed that less than one percent of people and businesses still use older operating systems, such as Windows XP and Vista. Support for those more ancient OSes ended in 2014 and 2017 respectively.

That leaves 72 percent of users running Windows 10, the latest version of Windows OS.

Necessary Nuisance

Updating your operating system might seem like a nuisance for many, but OS updates are not just there just to fix errors, or to enable the newest interface, according to Oleg Gorobets, senior product marketing manager at Kaspersky. Updating introduces fixes for those bugs that can open a gaping door for cybercriminals to enter.

"Even if you think you are vigilant and protected while online, updating your OS is an essential element of security that should not be overlooked, regardless of any third-party security solution's presence," he advised.

If the OS is obsolete, it can no longer receive these critical updates. He likened the rationale to an owner of an old and crumbling house installing a new door. It makes more sense to find a new home, sooner rather than later.

"The same attitude is needed when it comes to ensuring the security of the operating system you trust with your valuable data every day," Gorobets added.

Mitigating Attack Vectors

Knowing the risks of continuing to use an end-of-life operating system is a good start. But acting on that knowledge is a smarter way to finish, the report notes.

Kaspersky recommends several steps to protect yourself or your business.

If upgrading to the latest OS version is not possible, organizations should consider this exposed attack vector in their threat model. Be sure to create some smart separations of vulnerable nodes from the rest of the network.

For example, an embedded systems security solution can provide support that allows you to operate an OS as old as Windows XP SP2 that runs on systems with very low specifications.

Use cloud security and endpoint security solutions with exploit prevention technologies. Also available are small office security applications which help to reduce the risk of exploitation of unpatched vulnerabilities found in obsolete operating systems such as Microsoft Windows 7 and earlier.

As an organization with no other option, make sure your devices are hardened, the firewall rules are restrictive for those, and that they are all on a separate part of your network, using VLANs or internal firewall zones.

Full Disclosure Lacking

Other sources covering the market share of each version of the Microsoft Windows desktop operating system have similar percentages for Windows 7 as the Kaspersky study, noted Dirk Schrader, global vice president for security research at New Net Technologies.

"Unfortunately, there is no mention of the base data about how many devices have been checked," he told TechNewsWorld.

Microsoft told OEM manufacturers of PCs and laptops to end the sale of Windows 7 as a preinstalled OS by Oct. 31, 2016, merely four and half years ago. Many companies and local or state administrations have usage policies of computer hardware in place where the expected life span of a device is longer than the time elapsed since that date, he observed.

Public procurement policies have quite often no contingencies for outdated OSes. They apply the notion "it still works," which is dominant in discussions when decisions have to be made about where to spend money from constrained budgets.

"It will be interesting to see how this percentage is affected by the Biden administration's initiatives over the course of the next twelve months. As digitalization efforts will require additional systems, it is quite likely that existing systems remain unchanged," said Schrader.

In any case, those organizations still using Windows 7 are easier targets for cyberattacks due to the lack of updates (if they have not signed up for the extended paid support) and likely face some public backlash and loss of reputation in case a data breach happens, he added.

"There is also the impact such a scenario might have on the cyber risk insurance status," Schrader observed.

Jack M. Germain has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His main areas of focus are enterprise IT, Linux and open-source technologies. He is an esteemed reviewer of Linux distros and other open-source software. In addition, Jack extensively covers business technology and privacy issues, as well as developments in e-commerce and consumer electronics. Email Jack.




A Brand's Guide to Digital Shelf Analytics | eBook

What can you do to improve your digital commerce game? The first rule of the digital shelf is to make sure your products can be found. Some might say its mission impossible. Unless, of course, you use digital shelf analytics (DSA). Get the eBook Today!

More than 25 million work-from-home jobs could be created in non-technology industries in the coming years, according to the operator of a global marketplace for freelance workers.

"For the first time, companies in industries like manufacturing, agriculture and mining recognized that many of their professional services jobs did not need to be done on-site," maintained Upwork in its "Not Just Tech: Remote Freelancing Across Industries" report.

"This opens up opportunities for not only people to do remote work, but for people to do remote freelance work for these companies," it noted.

"In total, there is potential for 25.7 million U.S. jobs to be done by remote freelancers in 'non-tech industries,'" it continued. "This scale could have large impacts on not only the freelance industry, but on the economy as a whole."

Upwork reached that conclusion by using Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers to analyze the number of professional services jobs in non-tech industries.

It explained that not all manufacturers today simply make a product. Researchers must figure out what customers want, engineers and industrial designers must design the product and packaging, marketing specialists create ads to sell the product, web developers build the website, and customer service representatives handle customer questions and feedback.

Remote Work Here to Stay

Professional services are involved in essentially every part of the economy, which means that there is widespread potential for remote freelancing, even in companies where most people need to be in person every day, the report continued.

"Even in the construction industry," it noted, "10.5 percent of workers are in professional services, which is around 1.2 million jobs."

"Overall, we estimate that 37 percent of jobs in 'non-tech industries' are in professional services, which suggests they have the potential of being done remotely or by a remote freelancer," it added.

While the pandemic gave the use of remote workers a boost, questions have been raised about whether that trend will fade in the post-Covid world. Upwork thinks not.

It noted that among its top 100 non-technical clients, spending on freelancers in the year before the pandemic, 2019, increased 44.2 percent. That growth, it added, was widespread across industries, not concentrated in a few.

During the pandemic year, spending continued to rise, with 80 percent of the top 100 companies increasing their outlays over a variety of service categories.

"This data suggests a diverse growth in the use of remote freelancing among non-tech companies," the report reasoned. "They are utilizing remote freelancing more, and also across more functions."

"The breadth of professional services jobs across industries shows the potential for remote freelancing outside of tech, and the growing adoption of remote freelancing over the pandemic shows that this potential is increasingly being realized," it added.

Home-Based Manufacturing

The new generation of work-at-home jobs need not be confined to professional services work. It could include hardcore manufacturing, too.

For example, Aquiline Drones on Tuesday launched its Agile Manufacturing Pod, a portable, high-tech workstation that allows its drones to be manufactured in the home.

Each pod can transform any area into a manufacturing center in less than a day. The units can house one to three workers and come equipped with a 3D printer, tools, electronic components, hardware, and partitions. All operators receive detailed instructions and guidance through Aquiline's cloud and an artificial intelligence system that streamlines inventory, quality control and shipping.

All the necessary hardware and software for the pod costs $15,000. It's installed by a certified technician to ensure it's set up properly for drone production.

Aquiline will buy drones produced from the pod for $100 to $800, depending on the product model.

"This was conceptualized about three years ago," explained Aquiline's founder and CEO Barry Alexander.

"It just happens to be appropriately timed for when working from home is becoming a new societal reality," he told TechNewsWorld.

"People can work from without having to worry about transportation and childcare," he said. "They can just walk into a cell and assemble as many clones as they can. The more you make, the more you earn."

He maintained that work-at-home may hold the key to a manufacturing resurgence.

"We can't bring back manufacturing the way it was done before," he observed. "We have to give everybody the opportunity to work from home, which is something Covid ushered in."

Better Tech Needed

If employers are going to be asking more employees to work remotely, they may want to think about improving the support and tech of those employees.

"When organizations were forced to go remote in early 2020, workers started to rely on their own devices or programs they discovered themselves to make up for their employers' technology shortcomings," noted Gartner analyst Whit Andrews at the company's Digital Workplace Summit in April.

That's not to say that home workers didn't have some tech shortcoming of their own to deal with. In a survey of more 1,000 employed Americans conducted by Office Depot/OfficeMax, more than half the workers (59.6 percent) encountered tech problems working at home because they were using old, worn-out technology.

Meanwhile, one in five said they were working with an "extremely and very worn" desktop or laptop computer.

"When we asked whether employees thought their companies would help them out with new tech, the most common answer was 'not at all likely.' Most felt their outdated or soiled tech was going to have to be replaced on their own dime," the survey's researchers wrote.

Productivity is an issue that's often brought up in connection to remote work. Gartner's survey found that more than 70 percent of the workers it polled reported an increase or no change in productivity.

In the Office Depot/OfficeMax survey, researchers found tech problems robbing productivity from both remote and on-premises workers.

Nearly half of on-site workers (45 percent) and 48 percent of remote workers reported wasting more than an hour on tech issues every week. Meanwhile, more than a third of hybrid workers (36 percent) spent more than two hours wrestling with tech problems on a weekly basis.

"One of the findings that we found most surprising was that hybrid workers reported wasting more time per week on tech-related issues than full-time on-site or remote workers," said Stephen Mohan, business solutions division executive vice president at Office Depot.

"This suggests that some employers may be using a one-size fits all tech solution, when the needs for a hybrid worker differ and require intuitive technology that works seamlessly to enable them to work from anywhere," he told TechNewsWorld.

John P. Mello Jr. has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Phoenix, Megapixel.Net and Government Security News. Email John.


Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 02:46:22|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

Passengers arrive at the International Airport of Algiers, Algeria, on June 1, 2021. Algeria on Tuesday partially reopened air travel for the first time. Algeria started closing its borders from March 2020 in order to halt the spread of COVID-19. (Xinhua)

ALGIERS, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Algeria on Tuesday partially reopened the air travel for the first time since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

The first flight from France, with 299 passengers onboard, landed in the Algiers International Airport on Tuesday afternoon.

The reopening plan includes five daily flights to and from four countries, including France, Turkey, Spain and Tunisia, according to the Algerian government.

The inbound passengers need to be quarantined at a designated hotel for five days after landing, as part of the health protocol against COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Algeria reported 305 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 129,318. Eight new fatalities were recorded, bringing the death toll from the virus to 3,480. Enditem
Samsung's Sam is a 3D Virtual Assistant who was not even supposed to be an official product of the Korean smartphone maker, but speculations now point to her soon release following a crazy trend online. Sam is short for Samantha (not Samsung), which has the typical look of a Korean idol in the virtual world and has now captured the hearts of people worldwide.

Who is Samsung's 'Sam' 3D Virtual Assistant?

Samsung's Sam arrived in the most unexpected time possible, particularly because she was not introduced in a product launch or a release for her in the Samsung smartphone interface. Rather, she was leaked through several people that have found her on the now-deleted post by a digital design company called Lightfarm, and can only be viewed via its web archive.

The story is that a marketing company owned by Samsung has worked with Lightfarm to procure the 3D virtual assistant, and was intended to be pitched to the company for a new look of its phone AIs. This means that currently, Samantha is only a 3D concept art, and is not an official product of Samsung yet, but may soon be due to her instant rise in popularity.

Read Also: Android 11 Update is Coming, and Here's When Lands on Smartphones-Check If Yours is Eligible for Upgrade

"Kyeopta" is what people described her (Korean for cute) and the fans want to make her their "Jagiya" (Korean for honey or sweetie as used by couples). Sam's massive hit among the public market has caught wind in the upper management of Samsung, but it has not yet been officially announced whether she would make it to be people's virtual assistant.

Samsung's Sam Has Taken Over the Internet

Earlier this morning, Sam has taken over the internet and has invited a lot of people to admire and "simp" for her cuteness and beauty, despite being a 3D virtual assistant only, and not a real personality. Additionally, only a limited look at her physical attributes can be seen, especially as she is still a concept awaiting approval from Samsung.

Sam's popularity in Reddit, TikTok, and Twitter contributed to her trend on social media, being the focus of most fans despite being a 3D personality, who is not even an official product of Samsung. Due to the trend, fans and the public have been asking for her official release on smartphones, and soon aid in providing her services via artificial intelligence.

The 3D virtual assistant is also perceived to be resembling that of Apple's Animoji, which is known to be a three-dimensional image that can be customized to resemble the user's likeness.

funfact: this isnt official apparently. some beautiful firm named lightfarm did it of their own volition with zero commission. dont expect to see her in actual ads unless samsung reaches out and announces partnership. https://t.co/p2xDypsify   (@eventideprayer) June 1, 2021

funfact: this isnt official apparently. some beautiful firm named lightfarm did it of their own volition with zero commission. dont expect to see her in actual ads unless samsung reaches out and announces partnership. https://t.co/p2xDypsify   (@eventideprayer) June 1, 2021

Sam vs. Bixby: Is the 3D Virtual Assistant Replacing the Faceless AI?

Bixby is the current virtual assistant of Samsung's OneUI, but the British-sounding assistant remains faceless and someone to only hear like Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa. Samsung is among the first ones to be given a face for its virtual assistant and has been well-received by the public, with Samantha's popularity in the recent events.

Currently, no comments or announcements have been made by Samsung as to whether Sam would make it into the smartphone landscape and replace Bixby, despite being what the public desire.

Related Article: Samsung and AMD Partnership Announced as AMD's RDNA 2 Architecture to be Added to Exynos Chips on Samsung Phones

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Isaiah Richard

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : Screenshot From Commons.Wikipedia.org) TSMC and Apple Partner to Build $12B Chip Plant in Arizona

TSMC and Apple partnered up and announced the general construction of their new $12 billion chip plant in Phoenix Arizona along with the facility which is now expected to produce wafers built on the company's very own 5-nanometer process. With the new plant, the company aims to help combat the shortage and allow them to produce more electronics.

TSMC $12 Billion Chip Foundry

Wei, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. CEO noted that the development during the company's current annual symposium, which was reportedly held online for the second year, is currently in a row due to the ongoing pandemic, as reported by Reuters.

The company's plans to build out a massive $12 billion chip foundry were previously confirmed a year before. Back in March, TSMC also arranged a bond sale for the company to be able to partially fund the upcoming operation.

TSMC to Add 5 More Fabs in Arizona

Wei noted on Tuesday that the project is finally moving forward on its schedule and the official fab should start churning out 5nm wafers some time in 2024. A certain portion of that output volume could actually be dedicated to silicon based on the new TSMC technology that is actually certified by automakers for use in a number of areas like AI or artificial intelligence.

According to the story by Apple Insider, reports previously in May actually suggested that TSMC was internally discussing adding five more fabs over in Arizona. As of the moment, it is still unclear which types of customers will those facilities be serving.

TSMC 5nm Chips

Looking forward, the company is now on track to start the volume production of its 3nm chips at its supposed Fab 18 plant located in Tainan, Taiwan, in the second half of 2022, according to the report by Reuters. The word of the company's tiny 3nm plans first started surfacing back in June of 2020.

Later reports even started claiming that Apple had gobbled up the output capacity for its A- and M-series chips that were bound for its popular products like the iPad, iPhone, and Mac. Compared to the current 5nm chips, the bold move to the 3nm will be able to increase performance between 10% and 15% while still being able to boost energy savings by a whopping 20% to 25% according to the statement of TSMC last year.

Read Also: Epic Games Announcement | No In-Person LAN Events Until Q2 2022

Global Chip Shortage

With the global chip shortage, boosting manufacturing capacities has been one of the biggest concerns of a number of tech companies. The lack of chips has even affected the overall performance of a number of large companies all trying to keep up with the demand.

The odd thing about electronics as well as a few other industries is that they rely heavily on chips and with a lack of supply, they will be forced to launch less products due to the lack of material. Apple, however, is now planning to be ahead of the curve with its upcoming manufacturing plant.

Related Article: Apple M1 iMac Torn Apart by iFixit to See What's Inside | Hardware, RAM, and More

This article is owned by Tech Times

Writte by Urian B.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : Screenshot From Pexels Official Website) Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 Production Starts | Foldable Clamshell Expected?

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 release date could be coming in very soon. Samsung has finally confirmed more or less that there will not be a new Samsung Galaxy Note 21 this year. This means that fans of the company's smartphones will only be given foldables to look forward to in just a few months.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3

Whether they would sink their money and teeth into those is, of course, a different question whose answer will actually be determined by its availability and price. Samsung is quite keenly aware of the overly cautious attitude when it comes to foldable phones and the company is now seemingly taking an equally cautious approach towards the early production of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3.

According to the sources of WinFuture, Samsung has already started to let the ball roll by starting mass production of the components to be used for its upcoming foldable phones. By starting the process as early as the first day of June, Samsung is now sending signals that it will be launching the device maybe two or three months later.

Samsung Starts Foldable Production

This would then pretty much confirm the leaks that Samsung's next Unpacked event might be held either in late June or maybe even August, with the product availability of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 following just a week or maybe two weeks after.

The report also notes that the company is now only producing a third of the volume that it is usually capable of for the more "normal" flagship smartphones. This isn't really surprising, though, given the total build costs as well as the higher selling price of this particular foldable which would then translate to greater risks.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 Success

Samsung will now apparently only produce the said foldable phones quite gradually in order to be able to make certain adjustments along the way. This, of course, depends on how well or maybe even how poorly they would sell.

According to the story by SlashGear, price will be playing a huge role in the success of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3's success but it won't really be without reason even if it would then prove unconvincing. There are a few areas wherein Samsung seemed to have advanced the device, like the support for the S Pen.

Read Also: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, Z Flip 3 Price, Specs, Release Date: Ultra-Thin-Glass Replaced With Plastic?

Samsung Foldable Clamshell

As of the moment, there are still some disagreements as to whether the stylus will be stored inside the phone or not. In contrast, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3, if it will now indeed be called that, is expected to actually be much cheaper in comparison to its predecessor.

Samsung will reportedly have a larger cover display located on the outside as well as upgraded specs. Production for the upcoming Samsung foldable clamshell has not yet started as of the moment but is also expected to launch at the exact same time as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3.

Related Article: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 Processor a Top-Secret; Rumored to Come With an AMD Chipset

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Urian B.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Apple Music Lossless Compression and Spatial Audio are coming to users anytime in June. However, as the month started and before the official release, some users are already getting a glimpse of the newest feature in their app.

The actual launch of the two new features of Apple Music is still unclear as the company has not given an exact date for it yet.

Nevertheless, Apple Insider suggested that it could be happening soon as the WWDC is nearing as the Cupertino giant's event is happening on June 7.

Also, in preparation, a Youtube live stream has already been up.

Apple Music Lossless Compression and Spatial Audio Sighting

Despite the blurred launch date, some users are now seeing the Lossless Compression and Dolby Atmos label in some album titles. Meanwhile, other listeners are asked to download their library for the higher quality version.

The bulk of users getting a peek of the new features are mainly from Europe and Asia.

However, the users did not indicate what iOS versions are downloaded to their devices -- if it is the public release that most of us are using, or a beta meant for developers, iMore noted.

It could have been an important detail; as the Lossless and Spatial Audio, along with Apple Card Family, and Airtags is only supported by iOS 14.6.

But, perhaps, it is more likely to be the beta.

An Apple Music user who lives in the Netherlands was asked to re-download an album that he currently has offline to experience Dolby Atmos. Unfortunately, when he did so, it failed to be downloaded.

Separately, a user based in Japan was browsing some video EPs, saw labels for "Hi-Res Lossless," "Dolby Atmos," and "Apple Digital Master." But it unclear if it actually worked or they were mere labels.

Read Also: Apple AirPods 3's Possible May 2021 Appearance: Design, Spatial Audio Support, and More

New Features of Apple Music

Apple Music officially announced on May 17 that lossless and spatial audio support is coming to the platform. It paralleled the earlier leaks that the music app is getting both Hi-Fi and Dolby support.

Lossless audio is CD-quality streaming, which means that songs could go up to 192 kHz and 250MB each. The spatial audio, on the other hand, would let users experience an immersive cinema-like listening.

At first, lossless compression will not be supported by any AirPods and HomePods, regardless of what model. Later on, the company backtracked and confirmed that the latter is welcoming the new features in the next update.

Related Article: Apple Zero Day: Experts Advise Upgrade to macOS Big Sur 11.4 NOW to Avoid XCSSET Malware Access

This article is owned by Tech Times.

Written by Teejay Boris

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Alibaba-owned UC Browser was caught by a security expert tracking the web activity of iOS and Android users, whether they are in incognito mode or not. It is contrary to the app's promise that the private browsing option does not record any browsing data.

In the United States, UC Browser may have been unheard of.

However, it is the fourth biggest browser in the worldin terms of users. It is due to the large chunk of its users from Asia. As per Forbes, the Alibaba browser has already amassed about 500 million downloads on Android phones.

Google Chrome, on the other hand, remains on the top spot. Apple Safari ranks second, while Samsung's browser takes the third spot.

The Wall Street Journal reported that in Indonesia and India, the China-based browser leads the market share. It has snatched the top spot from Google Chrome. However, the latter has since banned the app together with other Chinese apps, such as TikTok. It was considered a threat to the national security of the country.

UC Browser: Busted

Gabi Cirlig, a security researcher, noticed that the Chinese browser is logging every website its users visit. Even the IP addresses are sent to the UCWeb servers, and alarmingly, these data are collected despite opting into the incognito mode, or the private browsing option.

Cirlig first observed the activities of the Alibaba-powered browser.

Forbes -- along with two independent researchers -- has since verified that UC Browser is indeed following the personal browsing activities of its users. The said server of UC Browser is located in the U.S.

However, it is registered in China as it includes a ".cn" in its domain.

Read Also: Alibaba Not China's Top Shopping Site Anymore--Pinduoduo now Biggest E-Commerce; New Logistics Platform to Arrive

The Actual Danger

Moreover, each user unknowingly has a profile in the servers as they are paired with an ID number. As such, the surfing history of each internet user is stored and monitored by the company.

Cirlig said in his blog post that the danger lies when Alibaba uses the activities of its users to unveil their actual personas. He likened it to collecting all the URLs in a briefcase, and swiftly fleeing with them without telling the owners.

According to Apple Insider, it is contrary to what Google Chrome is doing. The popular browser does not collect the browsing history, information entered, and even the cookies, and site data.

It is not the first time that an Alibaba product collects too much data. On March 23, even the Chinese government banned WeChat and Alipay after crossing the line of information extraction.

Related Article: Chinese Car Company Xpeng Continues to Challenge Tesla, Adds Lidar Sensors for Autonomous Cars in 2021

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Teejay Boris

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 03:17:57|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

UNITED NATIONS, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Seismic activity is down following the May 22 volcano eruption in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), but displaced people in the Sake area face a possible cholera outbreak, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

Local authorities have registered more than 232,000 displaced persons in Sake, Rutshuru, Lubero, Minova and Bukavu in North Kivu and South Kivu, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

There are 35 suspected cholera cases in Kirotshe Health Zone, Sake, OCHA said. Since Saturday, there are 18 suspected new cases.

"Given the movement of people between Sake and Goma, humanitarian organizations are mobilizing to prevent a cholera outbreak by setting up water and chlorination points," the humanitarian office said.

Fearing another eruption, thousands of people fled the principal city of Goma, where lava engulfed some neighborhoods, as tremors continued. However, with less frequent seismic activity many started to return to Goma.

On Friday, the Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock allocated 1.2 million U.S. dollars from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) following the eruption and resulting displacement.

The CERF funds will support the World Health Organization and the UN Children's Fund to ensure access to drinking water and reduce the risk of outbreaks of infectious diseases, including a further spread of cholera.

The general aid response in the eastern DRC includes food assistance, water and sanitation, health and protection, including family reunification and nutrition, OCHA said.

More than 30 people died as a result of the Nyiragongo Volcano eruption, OCHA said. While there is a decrease in seismic activity, scientists warn there is a risk of another blast. Enditem
Elon Musk tweeted that the current chip shortage that his Tesla is facing is just like the panic-buying of toilet paper. He claimed that many tech giant firms and other manufacturers are now hoarding microcontroller chips since they fear running out.

He made the statement after one of his fans said that the issues faced by Tesla are insane. These include the delayed shipment date of its new Tesla Model S Plaid, as well as the increasing prices of Tesla Model 3 and other models.

"Our biggest challenge is a supply chain, especially microcontroller chips. Never seen anything like it," said that tech CEO.

"Fear of running out is causing every company to overorder - like the toilet paper shortage, but at an epic scale. That said, it's obv, not a long-term issue," added Elon Musk.

His latest tweet generated more than 6,000 likes, 370 comments, and 110 quiet tweets.

Elon Musk's Chip Shortage

According to Bloomberg's latest report, Elon Musk first announced Tesla's chip shortage back in April. He added that this is a huge problem for the giant EV developer.

He even claimed that it is one of the most complex issues to be resolved by the giant tech company. On the other hand, AlixPartners, a consulting firm, claimed various automakers, including Tesla, could lose around $110 billion in sales this 2021 because of the semiconductor issue.

Our biggest challenge is supply chain, especially microcontroller chips. Never seen anything like it.



Fear of running out is causing every company to overorder  like the toilet paper shortage, but at epic scale.



That said, its obv not a long-term issue.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2021

Also Read: Is Elon Musk the Doge CEO? Explains Why He Helps Dogecoin and How Limited Their Resources Are

This sale decrease is almost twice as high as the one that was previously projected in 2020. Because of the chip shortage and other production issues, Tesla has no choice but to delay its EVs' shipment dates and to increase their prices.

Although this is the case, Elon Musk is still making some efforts to resolve the current SoC shortage.

Elon Musk's Plans to Resolve Chip Shortage

Previously, Business Insider reported that SpaceX owner is planning to make advanced payments for chip shortages. Aside from this, the giant tech firm also said that Tesla might purchase its own semiconductor plant.

Right now, various chip manufacturers are still suffering from a lack of materials to make these SoCs. It all started when the global pandemic hit many countries across the globe. So as of the moment, the best thing you can do as a consumer is waiting for Tesla's announcements and upcoming resolutions before making any conclusion.

For more news updates about Musk and his upcoming innovations, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Elon Musk Finally Speaks Why His Popular Tesla EV Prices are Increasing

This article is owned by TechTimes

Written by: Griffin Davis

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Tesla and Elon Musk are once again going full speed ahead in producing their popular line of electric vehicles, and they're looking to Australia for their raw material requirements.

Reuters reports that Tesla will buy over $1 billion worth of raw materials to make the batteries that power their electric cars, and it's going to be a yearly thing, too. Tesla chairperson Robyn Denholm has confirmed this.

According to Denholm, Australia is sure to benefit a lot from the deal, considering the country is rich in nickel and lithium deposits, two of the most important raw materials needed to make batteries. The potential benefits will also be a result of the ongoing boom in green energy sources, with the world trying to wean itself off of using fossil fuels.

This information comes after Tesla recently raised the Model 3 by $2,000, with Elon Musk blaming the increasing costs of raw materials for the price increase, as reported by CNN Business. And in typical Elon fashion, he used Twitter to claim that the price hike was beyond Tesla's control.

Read also: Tesla Unveils New 'Bulletproof' Armor Glass Patent for Cybertruck's Durability: 'Multi-layer Glass Stack' Only 10% Chance Failure

Tesla and Australia: A Much-Needed Partnership?

Australia's mining industry has a reputation for good practices and excellent production, which Tesla cites as the main reason for its decision. But it's also worth noting that Tesla's announcement also falls in line with recent pronouncements by the White House, since the Biden administration has announced that the United States will look abroad for supplies of raw materials needed in making electric vehicles to an earlier Reuters report.

Perhaps Tesla might need a steady supply of excellent raw materials for its batteries this time, too, because of recent software updates that adversely affect the battery life of some of its vehicles.

Last month, it was reported that some Tesla owners in Norway saw the range of their electric vehicles basically cut to less than half of the original specification, all because of a particular software update. As a result, a Norwegian court allegedly ordered the vehicle manufacturer to pay $16,000 settlements to its customers.

This is where the Australian mining industry can work its magic, whose lithium and nickel exports are expected to hit $775 million and $3.1 billion this year, respectively.

An Electric Vehicle Revolution

The world is trying its absolute hardest to stop the negative effects of global warming in its tracks, which is why the manufacture and use of electric vehicles is becoming more and more common. In fact, it's not only Elon Musk that's making (or planning to make) waves in this multi-billion-dollar industry.

It's worth noting that Huawei (most well-known for its mobile phones) and Badu just announced a $19 billion investment in electric cars and self-driving tech. With large-scale companies like this seeing EVs' business and environmental potential, it's only a matter of time before gas-powered cars finally kick the bucket.

Related: Tesla Model S Plaid Debuts a Retractable Spoiler That Hides on Its Trunk-Here's Its First-Look

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by RJ Pierce

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 05:35:12|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

LIMA, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Peru's government is working to ensure Sunday's much-anticipated and tightly-contested presidential runoff is marked by peace and tranquility, President Francisco Sagasti said on Tuesday.

"We are doing everything possible so that the elections are held in peace, with tranquility, so that the results are respected," said Sagasti.

Sagasti pledged a transparent electoral process as voters are ready to go to the polls to choose between Keiko Fujimori of the conservative Popular Force party, and Pedro Castillo of the left-leaning Free Peru party.

"The government has maintained, maintains and will maintain strict neutrality in this process," said Sagasti as he delivered more than 100,000 vaccines against the novel coronavirus disease to Peru's Puno region, about 860 kilometers southeast of the capital Lima.

Fujimori and Castillo debated each other on the past Sunday in the Andean city of Arequipa, presenting their government plans and proposals for tackling the social, health and economic problems facing the country.

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed more than 180,000 lives in Peru.

According to the Organization of Electoral Processes, on June 6 more than 25 million Peruvians are eligible to choose the country's next president for the 2021-2026 term. Enditem
Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email please call (208) 542-6777 for help.
Changes to The Messenger's back end processing means the e-edition is getting a facelift. The biggest change is the e-edition by default is now presented in Text view.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 09:06:31|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

ISLAMABAD, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has reaffirmed his country's support for a peaceful, democratic, sovereign and prosperous Afghanistan.

There is no military solution to the Afghan conflict and a negotiated political settlement is the only way forward, Qureshi said in a meeting with Speaker of Wolesi Jirga or the lower house of the Afghan parliament Mir Rahman Rahmani here on Tuesday, according to the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan.

The foreign minister expressed hope that the Afghan parties would seize the historic opportunity and work out an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement for durable peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

He stressed the importance of maintaining a constructive and conducive environment for advancing shared goals, saying there is a need to be vigilant about the role of spoilers, both within and outside Afghanistan, according to the statement.

While stressing the need to deepen bilateral ties between the two countries, Qureshi said that strong fraternal ties with Afghanistan are based on bonds and affinities between the peoples of the two countries.

During the meeting, Qureshi also emphasized Pakistan's commitment to safe and dignified return of Afghan refugees to their homeland, in a time-bound and well-resourced roadmap, supported by the international community. Enditem
St. Martinville Senior High School Principal Kevin Dugas has been named one of nine finalists for 2022 Louisiana Principal of the Year.

The pool of finalists was whittled down from 14 elementary, middle and high school principals from around the state. There were four semifinalists from Acadiana  Dugas; Patricia Gaspard, of Forked Island/E. Broussard Elementary; Kellie Rabalais, of Palmetto Elementary; and Ginger Richard, of Green T. Lindon Elementary  but only Dugas advanced to the final round.

A top principal of the year and teacher of the year will be announced by the Louisiana Department of Education, Dream Teachers and the Louisiana Association of Principals at the virtual 15th Annual Cecil. J. Picard Educator Excellence Awards Gala on July 16.

Dugas has been recognized as the St. Martin Parish Principal of the Year for three consecutive years, but this is the first year the school leader has advanced through to the state competition. He said hes shocked and humbled by the honor.

+11 St. Martinville High trains students, tackles campus tech needs with innovative help desk Faced with an expanding inventory of campus technology and a shortage of skilled hands to handle repairs, St. Martinville Senior High School b

Dugas has led the school for four years and said each year has presented challenges, from the loss of students in a car crash at the end of the 2017-2018 school year to navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the recognition belongs to all of his co-workers and students for their commitment and perseverance.

It feels like validation more than anything. Ive always been very proud and appreciative of the individuals I share that building with and I know how hard they work, especially with the year weve experienced with COVID and the sacrifices I know theyve made to continue to come to work, Dugas said.

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 principals ties to St. Martinville High run deep; hes spent his entire professional career  23 years  on the campus and graduated from the school as a teenager. Dugas said he intimately understands the schools importance as a community hub and safe haven where students find support and can explore their interests and talents.

He said its been his primary goal as principal to expand students opportunities for growth and success. During his tenure, Dugas and his leadership team have overseen development of STEM pathways at the school, increased dual enrollment opportunities and established a student help desk program thats expanded to other district schools.

Acadiana principals spotlighted among semifinalists for Louisiana Principal of the Year Acadiana school leaders were well represented among the states semifinalist pool for 2022 Louisiana Principal of the Year.

Dugas said the secret to their success has been respect, teamwork, collaborative decision making, leaning on the expertise of teachers and administrators, and networking with other administrators around the state to develop ideas.

The St. Martinville High leader has two daughters, ages 4 and 8, and being the kind of principal he wants to be requires considerable time away from them and his wife, he said. Its a difficult balance, Dugas said.

It takes a lot of time and a lot of sacrifice. ... I know the job is important and I know what I do is meaningful, but I also know it takes a lot of time away from my family. Sometimes I start to question the sensibility of that but then this happens and it makes you go, Well, at least I know its something thats making a difference and its being appreciated, he said.
The Assumption Parish Sheriff's Office is defending deputies who tased a Thibodaux man several times before arresting him after reports that he brandished a gun at a Plattenville gas station.

The May 22 incident outside the Jubilee gas station along La. 70 Spur in northern Assumption prompted complaints from Shane Coleman's mother that deputies used excessive force by tasing him multiple times, continuing to shock him when he was down and knocking him out at least twice.

The concerns aired by Coleman's mother, Shonta Jones, 41, were part of a complex mix of feelings from her about deputies' and her son's actions that night.

Belle Rose man arrested for attempted second-degree murder A Belle Rose man was arrested Tuesday in connection to an attempted murder in a farming region near Paincourtville and Belle Rose, according t

She said that police in general are too quick to use physical force on Black youth and young men, especially larger men like her son, and she questioned some of the Assumption deputies' behavior once her son seemed to be subdued. But also she said that she was thankful her son wasn't hurt worse in an incident in which her son did flee deputies for a time.

"My son could have been killed that night," she said.

A 'volatile situation'

Videos of the incident posted on social media show both Black and White deputies involved at the gas station, a hangout for local youth. Coleman is Black.

Lonny Cavalier, spokesman for Sheriff Leland Falcon, said the top brass reviewed body camera footage and determined that deputies acted appropriately in controlling a difficult situation with a large suspect who refused to heed commands and ran from them more than once.

In some snippets of the incident posted online, Coleman, 20, can been seen handcuffed, lying face-down on the ground, and surrounded by deputies fending off upset and shouting onlookers.

"We found that in this particular case, the officers acted within the continuum (of force) guidelines and that there is no procedural or personnel violations committed by any officer," he said.

"This could have been a very volatile situation that was handled as professionally as we think it could have been," he added.

Coleman is 6-foot-3 and 370 pounds.

At the time of his arrest, Coleman was also a fugitive from Terrebonne Parish sheriff's deputies who wanted him on an attempted second-degree murder count. But Cavalier said arriving deputies didn't know Coleman was on the lam at the time.

On Saturday, sheriff's deputies also arrested a Labadieville man, Jamon Deondre Herbert, 27, alleging he taunted and threatened deputies and disrupted their attempts to arrest Coleman.

Herbert was booked on four counts of public intimidation and of simple assault and a single count of interfering with a law enforcement investigation. He is also wanted as a fugitive from Thibodaux police, deputies said Tuesday. He has since been released on $90,000 bail.

Cavalier said deputies expect to make at least one other arrest of someone accused of intimidating officers and interfering with the arrest of Coleman.

'Why is he still getting tased?'

While she doesn't condone her son's refusal to heed commands, Jones explained that her son also has long-standing mental disabilities that affect his decision making.

Jones, a Gray resident who runs a boutique, said her son has since told her he fled because he was getting tased and simply wanted to stop being shocked.

She said he told her that, in another moment, he couldn't respond to their commands while on the ground because he was rendered immobile by the electric charge.

"When you had him down on his back with his hands up in the air, why is he still getting tased?" Jones asked. "You're handling him like, you know, 'Turn over, turn over, I'll shoot you again, hit you again.' They didn't have to do all of that. He was doing what you asked him to do at that point."

Jones has also alleged videos taken of the arrest and posted on social media show a deputy kicking her son while he was handcuffed on the ground, but Cavalier said video posted on social media and body camera video refute the allegation.

"We reviewed the video, and he didn't kick the individual in the head," Cavalier said.

Jones has pointed to social media video  which appears to have been edited  that, she said, shows a deputy kick her son in the head as the deputy, who is White, appears to turn around toward Coleman while he is on the ground.

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

Different angles

The Sheriff's Office denied a public records request from The Advocate last week for the bodycam footage cited in the deputies' defense. But deputies pointed to another video posted online and shot from a different angle.

They say it shows the same deputy making the same spin around toward Coleman to prevent a woman from getting too close to his body. In that video, the deputy's feet do not appear to hit Coleman's head, deputies say.

Jones said the kick to the head happened in a different moment than the video cited by the Sheriff's Office.

Out on bail over earlier rape charge, Bayou L'Ourse man arrested again in sex assault BAYOU LOURSE  An Assumption Parish man let out on bail less than two months over a 2019 rape allegation has been accused of another sex crim

Cavalier, the sheriff's spokesman, also contended Tuesday that the video of the alleged kick that Coleman's mother is pointing to was deceptively edited and intended to portray deputies in a poor light.

In the absence of publicly available bodycam footage, videos from onlookers show sequences of the arrest but leave unclear the timing of events or what may have been left out.

They show deputies arriving with guns drawn and Coleman holding his hands up near the gas pumps.

In other snippets, Coleman can be seen briskly jogging from deputies in sweeping circles around the gas pumps as onlookers can be heard questioning the wisdom of his actions.

Another shows him lying on the ground by a parking bumper and being tased by a Black deputy standing over him, while in another video, deputies can be seen struggling to handcuff Coleman.

The tip-off

Deputies have said the initial tip that led to their arrival at the gas station early on May 22 involved a report of someone in a red hoodie with a gun. They said the tip did not explain what the man was doing with the gun.

Coleman wasn't found in possession of any weapons. But he has been booked on illegal carrying of a gun, illegal possession of a stolen firearm, inciting a riot and other counts.

Officials say they have learned that Coleman handed a gun off to a 16-year-old who was at the gas station when deputies arrived.

The 16-year-old, who was found with two guns, has also been booked with two counts of illegal possession of a firearm by a minor and illegal possession of a stolen firearm.

In Terrebonne Parish, deputies say Coleman was with a teen boy riding in car from which gun shots were fired Feb. 22 in the Schriever area. A 21-year-old man was hit three times.

Deputies in Terrebonne would not say who they believe the shooter was in that incident. Jones disputes it was her son.

'Expectation of privacy'

In the office's denial of The Advocate records request for body camera footage, sheriff's deputies noted the video captured the 16-year-old also arrested in the Jubilee gas station incident.

In the email, deputies cited an exemption in the state records law that bars the release of law enforcement bodycam footage that violates "an individual's reasonable expectation of privacy."

The incident occurred in a public setting around several other people  who can be seen watching and shouting in social media posts  outside a business located near others on a busy highway.

But, also in the email and in verbal discussions, deputies explained that the denial wasn't, in fact, about the expectation of privacy for the 16-year-old but that they were legally barred from providing identifying footage of a youth facing juvenile charges.

Cavalier said even after the teen's case is finished, the video records should not become public.

Jones said she and her husband went to the Sheriff's Office last week to file a complaint over the deputies' actions. She ended up in Falcon's office, where he refused to accept her complaint or provide video footage of the incident.

The sheriff's spokesman provided a different account. Cavalier said Jones told Falcon she wanted to file charges against the deputies and the sheriff informed her his office wasn't the appropriate place to do that. Rather, deputies said, the appropriate venue is the Louisiana Attorney General's Office.

Since Coleman's arrest, he has been taken to Terrebonne Parish and booked on the attempted second-degree murder count.
In this June 20, 2016, file photo, state Rep. Jay Morris, left, R-Monroe; along with Rep. Cameron Henry, R-Metairie; and Sen. Norby Chabert, R-Houma, listen ahead of a House Ways and Means Committee vote in Baton Rouge, La. The Louisiana Senate gave quick final passage Tuesday, June 1, 2021, to a bill that would allow gun owners to carry concealed firearms without a permit, a measure expected to provoke a veto from Gov. John Bel Edwards. The Senate voted 27-9 Tuesday for House changes to the bill by Republican Sen. Jay Morris of Monroe.
While major hurdles loom, Senate leaders are behind a late-session push that backers say would go a long way toward solving Louisiana's longstanding transportation problems, including construction of a new bridge across the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge.

"It would be huge," said Shawn Wilson, secretary for the state Department of Transportation and Development.

The measure, House Bill 514, won approval from the powerful Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday 7-4 and next faces a vote in the full Senate in the final days of the session, which ends June 10.

"Our roads are a disaster," said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Rick Ward III, who is handling the House-passed bill in the Senate.

+2 Relief for Mississippi River bridge traffic? A look inside the push for a short-term fix The Louisiana House last week voted 96-0 to ask state highway leaders if they could craft a short-term fix for daily traffic problems on the M

The legislation started as a bill that would remove the sales tax exemption on therapeutic marijuana. It now includes a sweeping amendment that would extend the state's 0.45% "temporary" sales tax set to expire in 2025.

The nearly $400 million per year would be earmarked for major transportation projects, including the Baton Rouge bridge, Interstate 49 between New Orleans and Lafayette and the widening of I-12 to the Mississippi state line.

The push faces multiple pitfalls, including arguments that the tax was sold to the public in 2018 as a short-term fix to state budget problems, and that it imposes a hardship on low-income citizens.

The fact the bill requires the support of two thirds of the Senate and House  26 and 70 respectively  is another major barrier to final approval.

The newly-formed House Conservative Caucus, which includes 41 members, said Wednesday it opposes Ward's effort because it would not require needed reforms in DOTD. Others contend the move would simply extend an existing tax, not enact a new one, and that most taxpayers hardly notice the fraction of a penny they pay at the grocery store and for other purchases.

A Baton Rouge to New Orleans passenger rail? Heres how a big sell could help make it possible Canadian National said it will sell a 70-mile rail line connecting Baton Rouge and New Orleans to help secure regulators' approval for its $33

"Right now, it is not a vote for a new tax," Scott Kirkpatrick, executive director of the Capitol Region Industry for Sustainable Infrastructure, an advocacy group that favors more state spending on roads and bridges.

"We have known for a long time we need a sizable, sustainable source of funding for transportation," Kirkpatrick said. "That is what this is."

"With that vote you make every major transportation project in the state happen," he said.

Asked earlier this week if the bill would lead to a new bridge in Baton Rouge Wilson said, "Absolutely. It puts you on a path to deliver."

Louisiana has a $14 billion backlog of road and bridge needs, and sporadic efforts to tackle the issue have failed.

Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, earlier sponsored a bill that would boost the state gas tax by 10 cents per gallon initially  $300 million per year  and 22 cents eventually.

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

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.

McFarland, founder of the House Conservative Caucus, dropped his effort before the session when it sparked criticism from Gov. John Bel Edwards and Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette.

The governor is said to be open to the push to extend the sales tax but has concerns about some of the details.

Ward's addition is backed by Cortez, former chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee.

During the hearing, Cortez said the sales tax revenue would be placed in a voter-approved fund and could only be used for transportation construction.

The initial vote to move the money to roads and bridges won Senate approval last month 27-10 and will face a final vote in the next few days.

If approved the legislation would head to the House.

House Speaker Pro Tem Tanner Magee, R-Houma, sponsor of the marijuana bill, said Tuesday he is willing to give backers time to round up votes for the transportation push before the Legislature adjourns.

+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

Magee, Ward and Cortez were all key players in 2019 when the Legislature voted to re-direct money from the British Petroleum settlement to a handful of transportation projects, a nearly $700 million transfer that was the state's biggest investment in transportation in 30 years. That money is part of the settlement from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill.

Sen. Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, a member of the committee, was one of four "no" votes on the bill.

Henry said retaining the state tax would give Louisiana the second highest state and local sales taxes in the nation.

Leaders of the Louisiana Budget Project and Together Louisiana also criticized the measure.

Jan Moller, executive director of the Louisiana Budget Project, said while he recognizes traffic problems in Baton Rouge, earmarking nearly $400 million in sales tax dollars could lead to more budget problems, with education and health care likely to suffer.

"Our concern is what this would do to the general fund," he told the committee.

Voting "yes" on House Bill 514 were Sens. Bodi White, R-Central; Mark Abraham, R-Lake Charles; Gerald Boudreaux, D-Lafayette; Jimmy Harris, D-New Orleans; Ronnie Johns, R-Lake Charles; Greg Tarver, D-Shreveport; and Glen Womack, R-Harrisonville.

Voting "no" were Sens. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek; Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge; Mike Fesi, R-Houma; and Cameron Henry, R-Metairie.
National Australia Bank chief executive Ross McEwan has pledged to consider the findings of the International Energy Agencys landmark climate report in the banks yet-to-be-released policy on oil and gas, after lobbying from environmental activists.

A coalition of climate groups claiming to represent 1 million Australians sent a letter to each of the big four banks on Monday, calling for an immediate end to financing new oil and gas projects and any exposure to the sector to be phased out by 2030.

The letter, obtained by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, pointed to the IEAs recent report that declared there could be no new oil and gas fields developed if the world was to achieve the Paris accords target of limiting global temperature rises to as close to 1.5 degrees Celsius as possible.

NAB chief executive Ross McEwan has committed to incorporating the IEAs report into the banks oil and gas policy. Credit:Eamon Gallagher

It was sent to Mr McEwan, ANZ chief Shayne Elliott, Commonwealth Bank sustainability head Euan Robertson and Westpac sustainability head Philip Tapsall and signed by 13 environmental groups including the Australian Conservation Foundation, GetUp and Greenpeace Australia.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 09:31:53|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

SANTIAGO, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The approval of the CoronaVac vaccine for emergency use bolsters confidence in the vaccine worldwide, Chile's Deputy Health Minister Paula Daza said on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, the World Health Organization (WHO) validated the CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac for emergency use.

"The fact that the WHO approves a vaccine such as Sinovac's allows us to offer more confidence worldwide of a vaccine that we know is very effective, due to the studies we have been doing," Daza said, describing the WHO announcement as "very positive" news and referring to the vaccine's trials carried out in Chile and the results submitted to the WHO.

Extensive trials have shown "in real time and among the real population, the vaccine's effectiveness on infections, on hospitalized patients and, obviously, on deaths," said Daza in a press conference.

"The study carried out in Chile contributed in a positive way to this outcome," she said.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Enrique Paris said the CoronaVac vaccine was the vaccine "most widely" applied in Chile.

"We are very happy that the World Health Organization has given it emergency-use approval," he said in a video posted on the ministry's social media account.

Chile has vaccinated 10,676,196 people to date, including 8,005,987 who have received both doses.

According to the Ministry of Health, the country has registered 1,389,357 COVID-19 cases and 29,344 deaths from the disease. Enditem
An investigation into damage to an Aboriginal heritage site at a BHP Pilbara iron ore mine is only just getting off the ground more than four months after it was launched.

WAtoday revealed in February that a rock shelter, which was significant to the Banjima people, was impacted at BHPs Mining Area C project.

BHP has been investigating the rockfall at the heritage site since January. Credit:Reuters

A piece of rock fell at the front of the shelter and was discovered by BHP as part of its monitoring on January 29. The timing and cause of the damage were unclear and so BHP and the traditional owners launched a joint investigation into the incident. The shelter otherwise remains intact.

The groups issued a joint statement on the investigation after the February media reports but have not provided any updates since.
Each week, Dr Kirstin Ferguson tackles questions on the workplace, career and leadership in her advice column Got a minute? This week, finding passion in your career, breaking the ceiling as an Asian-Australian, and dealing with misleading job advertisments.

Illustration: by Dionne Gain. Credit:

I have never been particularly interested or passionate about my job or career. After recently changing industries, I still feel very lost. Should I just learn to accept that I am probably never going to find passion in what I do for work or should I keep changing until I find that magic job that ticks all the boxes?

I can really hear how keen you are to discover your purpose and to find something more than simply turning up to work. Sometimes finding that perfect job for you can happen accidentally; for some they have just always known. I do believe that you will be able to find work you can feel passionate about or at the very least, interested in. But before you do, you need to work out what it is that you really love. Without any limits, what kind of job do you lay in bed at night imagining would be the best possible job for you?

Have a think about things in your life that you get excited about  maybe a hobby or something you have only ever dreamt of pursuing. It might also be a particular way of working you love  working with people, creating things or being outside. What does your perfect role look like?
And so COVID-19 plays on a weekly loop where everything changes but nothing does, as we stumble around in circles.

The dreadfully slow vaccine rollout is not a race, until it suddenly is in Victoria, where residents are again locked down, exactly one year after that states last big lockdown, in circumstances that evoke the same old dread for residents of the southern state.

More than three months into the vaccine rollout the Department of Health has admitted it does not know how many aged care workers have been vaccinated.

Faced with a clear and present danger, Victorians queue in the cold in their tens of thousands and send vaccine phone hotlines into meltdown, as the rest of the country shrugs its shoulders and many over 50s hold out for Pfizer (if they are holding out for anything at all).

Last year there were creeping assumptions and Dan Andrews wicked enemy, a wildly infectious virus that doesnt discriminate. Now there is the Indian variant, an absolute beast, according to chief health officer Brett Sutton, and the new dread of fleeting contact.
Direct carbon pollution is released when gas is released from the reservoir, or liquefied at the gas plant. Indirect pollution is released when the customers burn the gas or coal for energy, mostly in Japan and China in the case of WA gas, or India and South East Asia in the case of Adani. This is known as Scope 3 emissions. The locations of the Scarborough gas field and Pluto plant. Credit:AFR Climate policy is rapidly evolving, with indirect emissions emerging as material to Australian approvals in the past couple of years. The climate impact of increased volume and duration of emissions from Pluto directly were not considered as part of the EPAs 2019 approval for the plants expansion, let alone the indirect impacts. But indirect emissions from Scarborough are significant and this is where the Adani comparison comes in. Coal mines dont have much in the way of direct emissions from digging up the coal. The major pollution source is from the end market.

This report estimates Scarboroughs indirect lifetime carbon emissions at 1.69 billion tonnes. The total lifetime emissions of Adani are estimated at 1.42 billion tonnes. The report is endorsed by former WA premier Carmen Lawrence, global research and policy firm Climate Analytics, the Climate Council, Sea Shepherd, the Beeliar Group of Professors, and Doctors for the Environment Australia. Woodside says it has set company-wide emissions reduction targets of 15 per cent by 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030 and aspires to net zero by 2050 or sooner. But Woodsides methodology hides an actual growth of emissions, the report says.

This is because while Woodside operates the projects, it shares ownership with other companies and its targets only apply to its own percentage. Absolute emissions will increase 66 per cent by 2050, the report says. Scarborough is a huge test for the new climate action portfolio, 350.orgs Anthony Collins said of the decisions faced by new Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson (left). Credit:Facebook Also, the targets apply only to direct emissions. To meet them, Woodside is relying on offsets, for example, tree planting.

And the report says with carbon farming offsets at risk from fire, extreme weather events and climate change, in limited supply and subject to increasing demand, there are no guarantees they will be available at the volumes Woodside will need to meet these targets. Loading Shareholders and investors should be aware that Woodsides public statements on climate change, including its emissions reduction targets, are not credible, the report says. Woodside has not taken meaningful steps to transition to renewable hydrogen or other cleaner energy growth opportunities, and that investment of $16 billion would likely foreclose this opportunity for the company and instead lock it into a high pollution, high risk business model. A Woodside spokeswoman said Scarborough gas contained extremely low reservoir carbon compared to other reservoirs.

Over the past 2 years there has been many opportunities for stakeholder participation and comment on the proposal, including a formal four-week public comment period in January 2019, she said. The WA Environment Minister is yet to consider and make recommendations regarding the project. The government is facing pressure from all sides over Scarborough including from green groups, one of which rallied last Friday outside Dumas House. Credit:350.org Woodside has promoted its green credentials over the past week amid controversy over the Ministers imminent decision. Last Wednesday, environmental group 350.org began online promotions for a rally planned outside the governments Dumas House on Friday.

The next day, Woodside announced a possible solar project to power Pluto to some degree. However, detail was limited  Woodside is so far holding talks and doing studies without commencing any detailed work or approval processes  and a graphic released looked, as industry newsletter Boiling Cold termed it, rushed. CCWA says the tentative 50 megawatts earmarked would reduce Scarboroughs total pollution by only 1 per cent. The report calls for the minister to exercise her powers under the Environmental Protection Act to initiate a review of the 2019 Pluto approval. A state government spokesman said the EPAs recommendations were based on the best available evidence and scientific advice.

In fact, in 2019 the International Association for Impact Assessment awarded the EPA for its sustained contribution to good practice in impact assessments in Australia, he said. There are a range of processes under the Act to ensure good environmental outcomes. The Minister for Environment makes decisions on these matters after considering the advice and recommendations of the EPA. Scant details of Woodsides proposal for large-scale solar were released the day after the climate protests were advertised. Credit:Woodside A Conservation Council statement said it was an international outrage that any government would support such a project. Issuing further approvals for this project without a full assessment of its impacts is reckless in the extreme, director Piers Verstegen said.

We are deeply concerned that the minister and government is being pressured to rush these decisions. Loading The lack of assessment exposes the State, and the people and environment of WA to unacceptable and unidentified risks, and denies shareholders and investors the information they need to properly assess the risks of this development. He said Woodside was effectively asking shareholders and investors to bet $16 billion on the failure of the Paris Agreement, which asks countries worldwide to take action to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. Woodside and BHP are considering final investment decisions on Scarborough.
Detectives charged 10 people overnight over the alleged kidnapping of a man held for ransom after a violent home invasion in Sydneys north-west.

Police were called to a home at Jersey Road in Bringelley about 3am on Tuesday after receiving reports Dillan Mancuso, 37, had been abducted by an armed group of men who also allegedly assaulted his 61-year-old father when they forced their way into the house.

His father suffered minor injuries and was treated by paramedics but did not require further treatment.

Mr Mancuso, previously linked to the Lone Wolf bikie gang and once a Perth resident, was allegedly forced into a vehicle and taken to an industrial estate on Marigold Street in Revesby.
Firefighters are at the scene of a burning house in New Farm, in Brisbanes inner north.

Five crews were called to a fire on Merthyr Road that was reported about 2.30pm on Wednesday, with the rear of a house engulfed in flames.

Reports suggested an appliance had exploded at the property, near Hazel Street and Lower Bowen Terrace.
With the extension of most restrictions for an extra week in Melbourne, any thought that this was going to be another short, sharp lockdown has been extinguished. The number of outbreak exposure sites has continued to increase as the alarm bells sound from the government.

If the experience of last year taught us anything, it is that a low number of daily cases can hide a larger problem. During early June in 2020, infection rates on most days were in the single digits. By the end of the month, those numbers were rocketing and it was clear the outbreak was out of control.

Here we go again: Acting Premier James Merlino announces the extension of the lockdown. Credit:Eddie Jim

But it was not until August 2 that a state of disaster was declared and all of metropolitan Melbourne was put into stage four restrictions, including a curfew and a five-kilometre limit on travel. We know too well how long it took to get that outbreak back under control.

This time is different. The rapid publication of exposure sites is a clear sign that the governments contact tracing system is more robust and rigorous than it was 12 months ago. Hotel quarantine has been tightened, at least in Victoria. Testing has also been vastly improved. The more than 50,000 tests completed on Tuesday add to a week of record figures.
Melbournes lockdowns are like novels in a series.

The first novel was engaging, the key players full of optimism and kindness. They looked after each other, their catchcry being were all in this together, a bit like the Three Musketeers. They had many new and unusual experiences. They learnt how to bake bread and speak Spanish and share cocktails over Zoom. There was originality and plot twists in the first book that made it hard to put down.

Melbourne is enduring another lockdown. Credit:Getty Images

The second novel made us wonder if the author might be one of those writers who ruthlessly dispose of their main characters, the hardships faced by them being so extreme. This time the main characters didnt say were all in this together nearly so much for fear of being throttled by each other. The second novel was my least favourite.

The third novel was not one everyone read. But I picked it up in the Northern Beaches of Sydney as holiday reading. It was actually a good read, not as bleak as the first two novels and set in a new beachside location. The only downer was some people were so resentful that I had been on the spot when that novel came out in Sydney that they thought I should have to stay there indefinitely!
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 10:55:29|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

ABUJA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday further called for joint international efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent challenges.

"The unprecedented crisis brought by the COVID-19 pandemic has now caused far more serious setbacks to our quests for sustainable development, hence the need for international cooperation and collaboration to fight the disease, as no country is immune from its devastating effects on lives and livelihoods," said Buhari.

The Nigerian leader made the remarks at a ceremony to receive credentials from foreign diplomats at the State House.

"As you all settle down to your solemn duties to promote your respective national values and interests through your countries' foreign policy on Nigeria, you should rest assured that the Federal Republic of Nigeria will engage you as we all strive to relate through effective cooperation and collaboration to enhance our collective interests," he said.

The bilateral relations between Nigeria and each of the countries were most cordial, said Buhari. "We still need to enhance these fraternal ties between our nations." Enditem
Frank Bevacqua spent his first four years of high school telling himself that year 12 was going to be the year he would leave nothing in the tank, only to find his tank drained by months of lockdown in year 11.

I always thought going through years 7, 8, 9, 10, [year 12 is] the year that is everything  the year Ill really, really need to try, the Ivanhoe Grammar student said on Wednesday.

I found my really trying year was year 11, and now that Im in year 12, Im like, how do I step up from what year 11 was? How do I give more?

Year 12 student Frank Bevacqua, is happy to be returning to the classroom on Friday. Credit:Joe Armao

So he was rapt to hear on Wednesday that he would be back at the place where he works best by Friday, as the state government said VCE and VCAL students in greater Melbourne, and all students in regional Victoria, would return to the classroom.
Two fleeting transmission cases that had experts worried, and had been used as justification to indicate the infectivity of the mutant virus have been reclassified as negative.

The expert review panel has determined that the two cases linked to a display home and Brighton pub were false positives.

Testing commander Jeroen Weimar speaking to the media on Wednesday. Credit:Eddie Jim

Moving fast and early to contain and isolate a positive case, and test and trace their contacts is a fundamental part of Victorias COVID-19 response, the Department of Health said in a statement.

Out of an abundance of caution, the Department will always enact immediate public health measures in response to the notification of any positive cases.

The two cases were a woman who was thought to have acquired the virus at a Metricon display homes exposure site, and a male who was thought to have contracted the virus at the Brighton Beach Hotel.

COVID-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar this week called some of the cases in the current outbreak as occurring through stranger to stranger transmission, and that they were concerned.

What were seeing now clearly is people who are, theyre brushing past each other in a small shop, theyre going around a display home, theyre looking at phones in a Telstra shop, he said of transmissions linked to the display home, a Telstra store in South Melbourne and a grocer in Epping and Craigieburn shopping centres.

This is, relatively speaking, relatively fleeting contact. They dont know each others names. And thats very different to where weve been before.

The false positive linked to Brighton Beach Hotel had authorities on edge because the man was dining outside (where another infectious person was), in a well-ventilated site.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton had said you wouldnt expect transmission to occur in a setting like that.

We still had it as an exposure site, we still informed people to test and isolate until returning a negative, but in fact all of those people will need to be in quarantine because transmission has occurred there, he said.

We know that ventilation is a great risk mitigator, but it is not going to do the whole thing when youve got a really contagious variant.

The display homes and Brighton Beach Hotel remain as exposure sites because they are linked to other confirmed cases.
Western Australias richest university has flagged staff redundancies will be rolled out without any overarching announcement as part of $40 million in structural cost cuts, while also promoting an ambitious campus expansion plan that shakes up its faculties of architecture, landscape and fine arts, and education.

In an email leaked to WAtoday, the University of Western Australia said heads of schools and professional service directors would decide job losses as part of their areas structural reforms, which would be phased in across the year to ensure continuity of teaching, research and professional services.

University of Western Australia will undergo an ambition campus redevelopment to make better use of its under utilised space. Credit:Fairfax Media

As the program is being managed by each area at the local level, there will be no overarching announcement of university-wide redundancies, although as I have previously shared, some will be inevitable as we reshape our operations, the email said.

Respective leaders will manage these on an area-by-area basis.
Singapore: Xi Jinping has told Chinas top political leaders they need to master international communication and create a loveable image of China as diplomatic pressure mounts on Beijing.

In a sign of a communication strategy shift at the top of the Communist Party, the Chinese President told the Politburo on Monday afternoon his country was getting closer to the centre of the world stage and that it was necessary to widely publicise Chinas wisdom and its plans.

We shall grasp the tone, be both open and confident as well as humble and modest, and strive to create a credible, loveable, and respectable image of China, he said.

Friendly: President Xi Jinping wants to project a more positive China. Credit:Xinhua/AP

The speech, first reported by Chinese state media service Xinhua on Tuesday evening, will filter down to the Foreign Ministry. Xi called for all cadres to improve their international communication and for it to be included in the partys school curriculum, adding that specific methods needed to be tailored for different countries.
Kuala Lumpur: The Foreign Ministry of Malaysia said it would summon Chinas envoy to explain an intrusion by 16 air force planes into its airspace, after the south-east Asian countrys military detected suspicious activity over the South China Sea.

Malaysias air force said it scrambled jets on Monday to conduct visual confirmation after the planes flew within 60 nautical miles (110 kilometres) off Sarawak state of Malaysian Borneo.

A Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Air Force Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft in Malaysian airspace. Credit:AP

It described the incident as a serious threat to national sovereignty and flight safety.

The Chinese planes did not contact regional air traffic control despite being instructed several times, the air force said.
Delhi: A poacher accused of killing at least 70 endangered Bengal tigers has been caught in Bangladesh after evading arrest for 20 years.

Habib Talukder, 50, nicknamed Tiger Habib, was arrested in the early hours of Saturday from a village next to the Sundarbans mangrove forest in the southern Bagerhat district. He is said to have turned poacher after starting out as a collector of wild honey.

Two Bengal tigers in south Asia.

Saidur Rahman, the Sharankhola police chief, said: He lived next to the forest area and would take advantage of dense foliage to escape from our net. This time, we had specific information about his location and he ran out of luck. He was known for his hunting skills and was listed as a most wanted fugitive for police and forest officials.

Talukder was brought before a court that sent him into judicial custody after police formally charged him for the hunting of three tigers and five deer, the official said.
During his career in the Sicilian Mafia, Giovanni Brusca was known as the scannacristiani, or the people-slayer.

After he was arrested in 1996, the mobster confessed to playing a role in more than 100 killings, including the murder of a 14-year-old boy who was dissolved in acid because his father had been an informant. Now Brusca is free - and his parole has sparked outrage in some quarters across Italy.

This is not the justice that Italians deserve, said Matteo Salvini, head of the right-wing League party. Enrico Letta, the leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, described Bruscas release as a punch in the stomach.

Giovanni Brusca, under arrest, pictured outside police headquarters in Palermo in 1996. Credit:AP

Brusca, 64, was released from jail Monday after serving a 25-year sentence. While in prison, he became an informant whose testimony helped the government to crack down on the Cosa Nostra organised crime network and led to numerous arrests. Collaborating with prosecutors allowed Brusca to avoid a life sentence, according to Il Riformista.
London: Britain recorded no new deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test on Tuesday.

The last time Britain recorded no deaths was in March 2020, before the country had entered its first lockdown. The figure on Tuesday relates to how many deaths have been reported and it comes after a national holiday on Monday - a factor which has in the past skewed the data.

Good news: Britains Health Minister Matt Hancock. Credit:AP

The whole country will be so glad there were no COVID-related deaths recorded yesterday, Health Minister Matt Hancock said in a statement, adding that the vaccines were clearly working.

But despite this undoubtedly good news we know we havent beaten this virus yet, and with cases continuing to rise please remember hands, face, space and let in fresh air when indoors, and of course, make sure when you can you get both jabs.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 11:01:07|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

LOS ANGELES, June 1 (Xinhua) -- One firefighter was killed and another injured after one of their co-workers opened fire at a Los Angeles County Fire Department station in a community north of Los Angeles Tuesday morning, authorities said.

The deceased firefighter is a 44-year-old engineer expert who had been with the Los Angeles County Fire Department for more than 20 years, said Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby at a news conference.

Officials said the wounded is a 54-year-old fire captain, who was airlifted by helicopter to a nearby hospital and remained in "critical but stable condition."

The shooter was confirmed as an off-duty firefighter who came to the fire station and confronted one of his colleagues. After the shooting, the shooter fled the scene to his home miles away and barricaded himself in his house.

"The home was set on fire, and he was also found deceased," Osby told reporters.

Multiple local news outlets reported that the shooter set his house ablaze and fatally shot himself in the backyard.

A county source told The Los Angeles Times that there was an ongoing dispute between the deceased and the shooter, who worked different shifts but lived in the same area.

The argument escalated Tuesday morning and the gunman shot dead the 44-year-old firefighter. The captain was wounded when he tried to intercede, according to the newspaper, citing the source.

Officials said the incident is still under investigation.

"I stand here with a heavy heart. Today is truly a sad day and a tragic day for the Los Angeles County Fire Department," Osby lamented.

"As fire chief I never thought when our firefighters face danger they would face that danger at one of our community fire stations," he noted.

"It is with heavy hearts that the LACoFD confirms that a tragic shooting occurred at approximately 10:55 a.m. today at FS (Fire Station) 81 in Agua Dulce," Los Angeles County Fire Department said on Twitter Tuesday morning, noting that the department was in the process of gathering additional information and cooperating with other law enforcement agencies throughout this ongoing incident.

"The fact that two LA County firefighters were shot by one of their colleagues is an unspeakable tragedy," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn on Twitter.

"The work our firefighters do is dangerous. They go to work every day knowing they may be asked to put their lives on the line to protect others. Between emergency calls, the fire station must have felt like their safe haven. Unfortunately that sense of safety has now been shattered," she noted.

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Hilda Solis also expressed her "sincerest condolences to the family of the firefighter who was tragically killed in today's shooting."

"At my direction, flags will be flown half-staff at all County buildings," she tweeted.
This summer's live performances on Little Island, a brand-new park in the Hudson River, will kick off with two nights of shows by Broadway Inspirational Voices.

Taking place on Saturday, June 19, and Sunday, June 20, at 8pm, the concert is called Broadway Our Way Live: On an Island in the River. Broadway Inspirational Voices founder and director Michael McElroy (who is also a Little Island artist-in-residence) will celebrate Juneteenth and his farewell concert by showcasing Broadway showtunes with premiere gospel arrangements by incoming artistic director Allen Rene Louis.

The two concerts will feature guest appearances by Little Island artist-in-residence Ayodele Casel, Tony Award nominee Norm Lewis, Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles, Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad, Broadway Dancer Garen Scribner, and Tony Award nominee Daniel J. Watts, under the direction of co-director and BIV board co-chair Schele Williams.

Programming on the island continues on Saturday, July 3, at 5pm and 8pm, when American Ballet Theatre makes its triumphant return to the New York City stage. Additionally, the Little Orchestra Society will introduce children to the exciting world of percussion with their kid-approved program Things That Go Bang on Saturday, July 10, and Sunday, July 11, at 2pm and 4pm.

On Saturday, July 17, and Sunday, July 18, the World Music Institute brings the islands to Little Island for a weekend-long celebration of music and dance from island nations and territories including Cape Verde, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka, and St. Vincent. Performances will take place across the island, and both days will culminate with 8pm performances in the Amph, Little Island's 687-seat amphitheater. Saturday evening will feature the Cuban rhythms of Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, plus special guests. Sunday night closes out the weekend with Jamaican dancehall legend Sister Nancy.

In accordance with New York State and CDC guidelines, Little Island can host ticketed events at full capacity and without social distancing with fully vaccinated audiences. Masks are optional. For entrance to ticketed performances, all audience members will be required to show proof of full vaccination. Vaccination can be proved through the Excelsior Pass along with an ID or by showing their vaccination card and along with an ID.

Click here for more information and tickets to live events on Little Island.
Up for debate:

Live legislation tracker

Check out the latest developments on bills pending before state lawmakers in four key topics.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 13:07:32|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

People enjoy the sunshine by the sea in Stockholm, Sweden on June 1, 2021. From June 1, Sweden has started the first steps to ease the country's COVID-19 restrictions, meaning that restaurants can open longer, and public events can accommodate more people. (Photo by Wei Xuechao/Xinhua)
Gov. Ron DeSantis, of Florida, watches the foursome matches during the Walker Cup golf tournament at the Seminole Golf Club on Saturday, May 8, 2021, in Juno Beach, Fla.
The Foreign Ministry summoned Hirohisa Soma, the deputy chief of mission, to deliver the protest on Tuesday.

Seoul has lodged a protest to Japan against a map on the Tokyo Olympics' official website that marks Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo as Japanese territory.

"We strongly protest Japan's unjust territorial claims to Dokdo and urge that an immediate correction be made," a ministry spokesman said. "We are closely watching the situation and will respond resolutely ahead of the Tokyo Olympics."

In a press briefing earlier that day, the ministry took the unusual step of announcing the summons, signaling that no immediate improvement in icy relations is in the offing.

The website includes a map of the torch relay route which marks Dokdo with a dot above the Japanese prefecture of Shimane, making it look as if the islets are part of Japanese territory.

The Korean government has demanded a correction several times, but to no avail.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 11:27:11|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

RIMINI, Italy, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Canada clinched its first victory of the tournament after surprising Rio Olympic champion China 3-2 (25-22, 21-25, 25-17, 15-25, 15-12) here on Tuesday in the 2021 Women's Volleyball Nations League (VNL).

China's captain Zhang Changning scored 22 points while Canada's top scorer Van Ryk got a game-high 25 points.

Canada led 11-5 to start the first set before Zhang spearheaded China to fight back with a 6-1 run, cutting the score to 12-11. Van Ryk spiked successfully to help Canada take the first set 25-22.

The match was dragged into the tie-breaker where Canada broke away on 8-8 to nail down the victory.

"It's surreal. I can't believe it. Our team was fighting all the way through like coming down, yesterday we lost a five-setter, but today we knew how to come back and fight as a team," said Andrea Mitrovic from Canada.

"I think that our serving and passing were a key to this victory," she added.

Japan overcame host Italy 3-2 (27-25, 25-19, 16-25, 21-25, 15-13) to pocket its fourth win. Koga and Ishikawa scored 43 points together for Japan, while Guerra scored a game-high 26 for Italy.

Tuesday's games also saw Turkey beat Germany 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-22), Dominican Republic defeated South Korea 3-0 (25-23, 28-26, 25-18), Belgium overcame Poland 3-2 (25-15, 17-25, 25-19, 22-25, 15-12), USA won the Netherlands 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-18), Serbia smashed Thailand 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-23) and Brazil swept Russia 3-0 (25-20, 25-11, 25-18). Enditem
New York state Sen. Rob Ortt speaks against legislation granting undocumented Immigrant driver's licenses during a Senate session at the state Capitol on June 17, 2019, in Albany, N.Y.
Staff Reporter

Nyamekye Daniel has been a journalist for five years. She was the managing editor for the South Florida Media Network and a staff writer for The Miami Times. Daniel's work has also appeared in the Sun-Sentinel, Miami Herald and The New York Times.
Judy Goldie, owner of Trendy Pieces clothing store, dresses a mannequin in the front window as her store reopens Wednesday, April 29, 2020, in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Staff Reporter

Tim Gruver is a politics and public policy reporter. He is a University of Washington alum and the recipient of the 2017 Pioneer News Award for Reporting. His work has appeared in Politico, the Kitsap Daily News, and the Northwest Asian Weekly.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 12:08:02|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

TOKYO, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The 11 members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) decided Wednesday to start negotiations concerning Britain's entry into the regional free trade agreement, a Japanese official said here Wednesday.

Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japan's minister in charge of TPP negotiations, said the members made the decision in a virtual meeting of the TPP Commission, the group's top decision-making body chaired by Japan this year.

Britain filed a request in February to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the first accession application by a member outside the participating countries.

Nishimura said that he will work "to achieve the best possible outcome for Japan" in Britain's TPP entry talks.

The TPP member countries and Britain are expected to set up task force groups within several months to discuss issues such as tariffs and trade and investment rules.

The trade agreement came into force in 2018, covering about 13 percent of global gross domestic product.

Among the 11 member nations of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, seven have so far ratified it. Enditem
Wisconsin state Rep. Mark Born, co-chairman of the Legislature's budget committee, speaks May 6, 2021, during a news conference at the state Capitol in Madison.
Instant unlimited access to all of our E-Editions and content on thechronicleonline.com.

The Chronicle E-Edition Newsletter emailed to you each week, the night before the paper hits the street!

This subscription is for NEW or RENEWING online subscribers.

(The charge will appear as "Country Media Inc." on your credit card statement)
Batavia, NY (14020)

Today

Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. High around 80F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. Low 58F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 12:12:18|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

Undated photo shows a portrait of former Bangladeshi minister Hasanul Haq Inu, now chairman of Bangladesh's Parliamentary Standing Committee for Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. U.S. President Joe Biden's order to engage U.S. intelligence agencies in the investigation of COVID-19 origins is intended to "cover up the country's failures" in controlling the pandemic and is "not acceptable," former Bangladeshi minister Hasanul Haq Inu said. (Xinhua)

by Naim-Ul-Karim

DHAKA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden's order to engage U.S. intelligence agencies in the investigation of COVID-19 origins is intended to "cover up the country's failures" in controlling the pandemic and is "not acceptable," former Bangladeshi minister Hasanul Haq Inu said.

Inu, now chairman of Bangladesh's Parliamentary Standing Committee for Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Sunday that the COVID-19 pandemic should not be politicized and should be tackled collectively.

He was speaking of the order Biden gave to the U.S. intelligence agencies, demanding a report within 90 days on whether the virus originated from an animal source or from a laboratory accident.

President Biden's approach is "unilateral" and not needed at the moment, he said, adding that there is a need for a multilateral approach for cooperation and investigation in order to combat COVID-19.

The Bangladeshi political veteran said the COVID-19 pandemic is being very effectively tackled in China by the Chinese government and there is a big failure in the United States.

"So, to divert or to cover up the failures of combating COVID-19 in America and Europe, the Americans are trying to divert the issue to other areas" with "totally a political move by the Biden administration," Inu said.

He expects the United States to "accept the failures" and "go for a multilateral approach."

"The U.S. intelligence is very biased," he said, adding that it "feeds us and the world with false information."

The World Health Organization in March released a report on the global tracing of COVID-19 origins, following a joint research with China on issues including the pathways of the virus and future investigation in different countries.

Making assessment of the likelihood of possible pathways, the report said COVID-19 introduction through a laboratory incident is "extremely unlikely," introduction through an intermediate host is "likely to very likely," and introduction through cold/food chain products is "possible." Enditem
Towanda, PA (18848)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms in the morning becoming more widespread in the afternoon. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 79F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms before midnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Towanda, PA (18848)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms in the morning, then mainly cloudy during the afternoon with thunderstorms likely. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 78F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms before midnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 62F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Oneonta, NY (13820)

Today

Partly cloudy in the morning followed by scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 79F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Variable clouds with scattered thunderstorms. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 62F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Click the image to the left and log in to get your exclusive reader perks.
Michael Reagan is the son of the late President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant and the author of Lessons My Father Taught Me: The Strength, Integrity, and Faith of Ronald Reagan.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 12:36:49|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

A health worker prepares a dose of Sinovac vaccine at a vaccination site in Manila, the Philippines on March 31, 2021. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)

by Xinhua writers Chen Wenxian, Fu Yiming and Zuo Wei

GENEVA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) validated on Tuesday the CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac for emergency use, which made it the second Chinese vaccine included in the WHO Emergency Use Listing after the previous one developed by another Chinese manufacturer Sinopharm.

Experts believe the approval of the two Chinese vaccines, at a time when the world is still struggling to contain the virus with many countries and regions in dire need of vaccines, will help China make greater contribution to the global fight against the pandemic.

BROADER PORTFOLIO OF VACCINES

According to the WHO, 352,685 new cases were reported on June 1 across the world, bringing the global tally to 170,426,245, while COVID-19 deaths worldwide reached 3,548,628. As of May 31, a total of 1,579,416,705 vaccine doses had been administered.

The WHO's announcement on Tuesday about the validation of the Sinovac vaccine is good news for the whole world, especially for countries that are in serious shortage of vaccines. Earlier last month, the Sinopharm vaccine, an inactivated vaccine, was validated by the WHO for emergency use.

"The Sinovac-CoronaVac product is an inactivated vaccine. Its easy storage requirements make it very manageable and particularly suitable for low-resource settings," said a statement issued by the WHO.

"The world desperately needs multiple COVID-19 vaccines to address the huge access inequity across the globe," WHO Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines and Health Products Mariangela Simao said in the statement. "We urge manufacturers to participate in the COVAX Facility, share their knowhow and data and contribute to bringing the pandemic under control."

Delegates who attended the just-concluded 74th World Health Assembly (WHA) also called for increasing vaccine supply and ensuring fair access to vaccines for countries around the world, especially low-income countries.

Following the WHO's announcement of the validation of the Sinovac vaccine, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted that the vaccine is widely used in Turkey, and "we will continue to bring every vaccine with proven safety and effectiveness to our citizens."

Turkey began its vaccination drive with China's Sinovac vaccine on Jan. 14, with priority given to healthcare professionals and the elderly. Until the beginning of April, the country had solely used Sinovac's jabs.

The WHO's authorization of the Sinovac vaccine for emergency use is "very positive," Lu Mengji, professor at the Institute of Virology of the University Hospital of Essen in Germany, told Xinhua. "It will play an important role in the global fight against the pandemic."

WIDER UTILIZATION

The Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines, which have already been used in many countries and regions across the world, are playing an important role in the global anti-pandemic fight.

China has provided COVID-19 vaccines as public goods by offering medical assistance to 80 countries, exporting vaccines to 43 countries and supplying 300 million doses of vaccines worldwide, said Chinese delegate Yang Feng at the WHA.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic expressed her gratitude for the delivery of millions of doses "in the shortest possible time" when her country welcomed the eighth flight carrying Chinese vaccines last week, a huge boost to the Balkan country's vaccination campaign.

"We are very grateful to China and the Chinese people for enormous support and help, for the vast quantity of vaccines that we received," said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic when he received the second dose of the Sinopharm vaccine on April 27.

Hungary, the first European Union (EU) member state to buy and authorize the use of Chinese vaccines, has a leading vaccination rate among EU countries thanks to Chinese and Russian COVID-19 vaccines, Zoltan Kovacs, international spokesman for the Hungarian government and secretary of state for international communication and relations, told Xinhua.

This is extremely valuable at a time when every dose of vaccine is eagerly awaited not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) but all over the world, said BiH's Minister of Civil Affairs Ankica Gudeljevic when receiving a batch of China-donated Sinopharm vaccine in late April.

China has also shown great concern about the epidemic situation in Africa, and has already donated vaccines to many countries on the continent.

At a recent United Nations Security Council meeting, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China has been a staunch supporter of Africa in the COVID-19 fight.

China has been, and is, providing vaccines to more than 30 African countries on the basis of their urgent need, said Wang.

GREATER CONTRIBUTION

In his speech at the 74th WHA opening, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries worldwide to share vaccine doses now and fast to COVAX, the WHO-led initiative for equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines around the world.

China has already decided to offer 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to COVAX, a concrete step to deliver on its promise to make vaccines a global public good. It has also called for a rejection of vaccine nationalism to make vaccines more accessible to and affordable for developing countries.

For example, China has recently agreed with Egypt on establishing a Chinese vaccine production line in the country. The first batch of the raw materials to manufacture the Sinovac vaccine arrived at the Cairo International Airport on May 21.

It is believed that the WHO's validation of China's two vaccines will further help the global fight against the pandemic, and boost confidence in defeating the virus through international cooperation.

For countries with limited resources of medical technology, inactivated vaccines like the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines have a great advantage when it comes to putting into use, said Lu, the professor in Germany.

"The higher the trust in the vaccines available on the market, the quicker the world can advance to its goal of a high global protection against the COVID-19 pandemic," said Neville Calleja, head of the Department of Public Health at the University of Malta.

"The quicker this is achieved, the less the time available for the virus to mutate ... As for the variants that occur, it is increasingly clear that collaboration between manufacturers is key for the creation of boosters later on," Calleja told Xinhua. Enditem

(Xinhua reporters Chen Junxia in Geneva, Zhang Xiuzhi in Sarajevo, Shi Zhongyu in Belgrade, Yuan Liang in Budapest, Zhang Jiawei in London, and Lin Jing in Copenhagen also contributed to the story.)
Held across 3 days and 4 unique stages.

Payment options are available, pay off tickets over 12 weeks.

Earn back your ticket by simply inviting your friends at checkout.

Now in its 11th year, Rhythm & Alps is happening once again in the stunning Cardrona Valley, in the mighty Southern Alps of New Zealand. Make sure you get your ticket to the three-day music festival & amazing camping experience and enjoy the Kiwi summer with this stellar lineup.

The 2021 festival features; soulful sounds from the globetrotting Rhythm Section head-honcho BRADLEY ZERO, joyous dancefloor jams courtesy of CC: DISCO! Aotearoa's own de-colonisers of the dancefloors with the QTBIPOC club night FILTH, feat BBYFACEKILLA, DIESEL, HALFQUEEN & ZEKI. One of Aotearoa's hottest acts right now, L.A.B and their eclectic mix of reggae, electronic, blues & funk and LEE MVTTHEWS with their infectious tunes with colourful melodies and bass-driven drops.

These world-class acts will be joined in Cardrona Valley for the New Years celebration by bass boss MONTELL209's genre-bending force, daring frequencies, and dizzying, club-ready dynamics., silky n smooth hypnotic pop sensation MUROKI and SCRIBE & P-MONEY with The Harmony and Rhythm Band.

Plus, PAIGE JULIA delivering the worlds up-front bass music, and DJ/Producer TEXTURE with her unique take on dance music. Rhythm & Alps couldn't be more stoked to welcome to Aotearoa one of hip hops brightest young stars SAMPA THE GREAT and UK drum'n'bass and jungle icons DJ/Producer & MC SHYFX and STAMINA MC.

With more acts to be announced.
A Moms Research (Part 5): A Deep Dive into Evolution

Commentary

What has caused the diversity of life?

In most schools nowadays, the standard answer is evolution.

According to a 2009 Scientific American article, Charles Darwin, the founder of evolution, was well aware that his theory would undermine peoples faith in God. Originally a controversial hypothesis, evolutionary theory now enjoys an orthodox status in society.

According to PBSs Evolution website, The Darwinian theory of evolution has withstood the test of time and thousands of scientific experiments; nothing has disproved it since Darwin first proposed it more than 150 years ago.

Really? I remember my science teacher said that, if a statement is too absolute, it is likely unscientific.

As of April 2020, more than 1,100 scientists and researchers in chemistry, biology, medicine, physics, geology, anthropology, paleontology, statistics and other fields have signed a scientific dissent from Darwinism. It reads, We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.

However, if you google evolution, you would not find this dissent or any other challenges to the evolution theory in at least the first 12 pages. If you are a student, evolution would be taught to you as a proven theory that is very close to, if not the truth. If you are a researcher, you would know that publishing a study challenging evolution could threaten your career. On Wikipedia, any theories about the origin of life different from evolution are labeled as pseudoscience.

Evolution is revered as an unquestionable faith, although it is labeled as a science and thus has defeated creationism or intelligent design theory again and again in the Supreme Court.

Since my children have been indoctrinated with this faith in school, I felt obligated to explore its veracity and the strategy used for it to reach its current status.

An Introduction to Evolution and Its Evidence

According to a UC Berkeley website, The central idea of biological evolution is that all life on Earth shares a common ancestor, just as you and your cousins share a common grandmother.

The common ancestor, or grandmother, mentioned here is currently considered by some scientists to be a single-celled organism that lived near the hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor. From there, the diversity of life is said to have been achieved through random DNA mutations and natural selection. Many mutations are harmful, but some lucky ones might make species better suited for their environment and are thus preserved through reproduction. As this process repeats for billions of years, different species would be generated. Humankind is thus formed.

The key terms for the theory of evolution are common ancestor, random DNA mutation, and natural selection.

Examples of evolution shown in my younger daughters evolution class handout include

One kind of Mexican tetra fish that lost its eyesight and silver color due to living in dark caves

Bacteria developing resistance to antibiotics

Moths changing color due to changes in their habitat

The claimed evidence for evolution includes fossil records and the similarities among all life.

However, do examples of environment-adapting changes within a species prove that evolution takes place from one species to another? Do all fossil discoveries support evolution? Do similarities definitely indicate a common ancestor?

Similarities as Proof of a Common Ancestor

One of the main points of the common ancestor argument is the similarities of certain anatomical features, embryos, and molecular mechanisms among all life.

Darwin pointed out that the forelimbs of humans and many animals have similar bone structures, although the forelimbs are used for different purposes. Biochemistry has also found that almost all living things share a similar genetic code and mechanisms for transforming energy and building proteins.

However, do similarities definitely indicate a common ancestor?

There is a logical loophole here. It is true that, if all species were evolved from a common ancestor, they would share some similar structures and mechanisms. However, it is not necessarily true if we say it the other way around: if all species share similar structures and mechanisms, they must be evolved from a common ancestor.

For example, we can say, if James is Johns older brother, James must be older than John. However, the reverse statement is not necessarily true: If James is older than John, James must be Johns older brother.

Same idea. If all species share similar structures and mechanisms, they could be evolved from a common ancestor. But there are other possibilities. For example, if all species were designed by a designer, they can share similar structures and mechanisms, too. Imagine a fashion designer who designed a collection of garments and accessories. All the items in the collection will embody the same style and have common technical details.

One thing I wish to point out is the so-called similarity of early embryos of different species. This belief stemmed from an embryo illustration by German biologist Ernst Haeckel in 1874. Haeckels drawing has been widely reproduced in textbooks and articles as a proof of Darwinism. However, it is now considered by some to be one of the most famous fakes in biology.

Michael Richardson is an embryologist at St. Georges Hospital Medical School in London. After examining the early embryo specimens of more than forty different animals and those of humans, Richardson published a research paper with six other authors in the journal Anatomy and Embryology in 1997, showing that Haeckel had arbitrarily added or omitted features of the embryos of different species and falsified the relative scale of some in order to exaggerate their similarity. He wrote:

Our survey seriously undermines the credibility of Haeckels drawings, which depict not a conserved stage for vertebrates, but a stylized amniote embryo. An interesting perspective was provided by Goldschmidt (1956) [in The Golden Age of Zoology: Portraits from Memory, by Richard Benedict Goldschmidt]:

  Haeckels easy hand at drawing made him improve on nature and put more into the illustrations than he saw  one had the impression that he first made a sketch from nature and then drew an ideal picture as he saw it in his mind. 

According to a 1997 article published in Science magazine introducing Richardsons findings, Haeckels peers in Germany a century before got Haeckel to admit that he relied on memory and used artistic license in preparing his drawings. However, Haeckels confession got lost after his drawings were subsequently used in a 1901 book called Darwin and After Darwin and reproduced widely in English-language biology texts.

What Can and Cannot Be Achieved by DNA Mutation?

Some examples provided in my daughters school handout have been found to be caused by DNA mutations, like the eyeless Mexican tetra fish, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and the moths color change. However, with mutation, a fish is still a fish, a bacterium is still a bacterium, and a moth is still a moth, just like a person with tattoos or sunglasses is still a person.

How far can DNA mutations go? Can they accomplish the jump from one species to another? Dr. Michael Behe, a biochemistry professor at Lehigh University, has written excellent books on this topic.

In his 2008 book The Edge of Evolution, Behe used an analogy to describe the limitation of DNA mutations: jumping over a ditch 4 feet wide does not predict that you will be able to jump over a ditch 40 feet wide or a canyon 100 feet wide.

Behe further explained the science about mutation in plain English. Mutations, or uncorrected mistakes that occur when DNA is copied, are rare. On average, a mistake is made only once for every hundred million or so nucleotides of DNA copied in a generation. If more mutations need to be made in order to achieve a variation, the chance of getting this variation will decrease exponentially. Imagine, when playing the lottery, the difference in the odds of matching one number versus matching two numbers.

On the other hand, the larger the population of an organism, the shorter time it takes for mutations to occur. Think about the chances of someone winning the jackpot with only ten people playing the Powerball lottery versus one million people playing. In that sense, it is much easier to achieve mutations by bacteria (ten thousand trillion trillion trillion, or 10^40 bacterial cells in the history of life on earth) than primates (one trillion, or 10^12 primates in the line leading to modern humans in the past ten million years according to evolution theory).

Behe used scientists persistent fight with malaria as an example. P. falciparum is a deadly single-cell parasite that causes malaria. Over the decades, various medicines have been developed to kill them. However, the parasites can develop resistance to drugs via amino acid changes resulting from certain DNA mutations. The resistance to the drug atovaquone can be developed within a few weeks, but the resistance to chloroquine was developed much more slowly. It took P. falciparum a few decades to fully defeat chloroquine.

The big difference is caused by the different number of amino acid changes needed to develop resistance. For atovaquone, a single-point mutation (one amino acid change) is needed. For chloroquine, a double-point mutation (two amino acid changes) is required.

Although the chance for P. falciparum to make the double-point mutation for chloroquine resistance is only 1 in 10^20, the huge population of P. falciparum organisms10^20 born each yearmakes it possible. However, it is much more difficult for primates to achieve the same mutation complexity because their population size is much smaller. The number of primates in the past ten million years is 0.000001% of P. falciparums population in a single year.

Behe concludes, On average, for humans to achieve a mutation like this by chance, we would need to wait a hundred million times ten million years. Since that is many times the age of the universe, its reasonable to conclude the following: No mutation that is of the same complexity as chloroquine resistance in malaria arose by Darwinian evolution in the line leading to humans in the past ten million years . [emphasis in original]

Keep in mind that the odds we were discussing are for the chance of only two specific amino acid changes. How many amino acid changes are actually needed to evolve from ape-men to humans?

A research paper published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution in 2004 estimated that the divergence of humans and chimpanzees occurred 46 million years ago. Since then, there have been 147 amino acid changes that contribute to human-specific characteristics.

If two amino acid changes for ape-men are not achievable within the history of the universe through random mutations, it is impossible for 147 changes to occur that way.

From HIV to the Edge of Evolution

In The Edge of Evolution, Behe examined an extreme case, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), to explore the edge of evolution. It is the simplest form of life and can mutate ten thousand times faster than cells. HIV mutates at the evolutionary speed limitDarwinian evolution just cant go any faster.

For the malarial organism P. falciparum to achieve a double-point mutation for chloroquine resistance, the odds are only once per year worldwide, but for HIV, it occurs once a day in every AIDS patient. Since it was found in human body a few decades ago, HIV has undergone more of at least some kinds of mutations than all cells have experienced since the beginning of the world.

In other words, like pressing a fast-forward button, what has happened to HIV in the past few decades gives us a glimpse of what can happen to larger organisms over the past hundreds of millions of years through random mutations.

However, studies have showed that there have been no significant basic biochemical changes in the [HIV] virus at all since it was discovered in humans decades ago. Mutating or not, the virus always binds to the same protein in the patients immune system. Billions of billions of mutations play the same trick: changing the shape of its proteins so that drugs cannot stick to and destroy the virus.

The study of malarial organisms and E. coli bacteria yielded the same observations.

Behe has confidence that the results we have in hand for malaria and HIV are broadly representative of what is possible for all organisms because to a remarkable degree all of life uses very similar cellular machinery.

Modern biochemistry has revealed lifes secrets on a molecular level that could not have been imagined by Darwin and his contemporaries. Instead of a simple little lump of albuminous combination of carbon as deemed by Ernst Haeckel, the cell is a complex and coherent factory with intricate structures and amazing coordination among its functional units.

In Darwins Black Box, a 2006 book by Dr. Behe, he described some fascinating mechanisms of cilia that line the respiratory tract, the blood-clotting process that helps a cut finger heal, and flagella of bacteria. Microscopically, these mechanisms are no simpler than any modern machinery or industrial plant.

Evolution is said to be the basis of modern biology, but according to Behe, If you search the scientific literature on evolution, and if you focus your search on the question of how molecular machinesthe basis of lifedeveloped, you find an eerie and complete silence. The complexity of lifes foundation has paralyzed sciences attempt to account for it; molecular machines raise an as-yet-impenetrable barrier to Darwinisms universal reach.

Indeed, if you cannot expect nature to assemble a bunch of parts by itself into a watch, then these irreducibly complex systems cannot be achieved without the involvement of intelligence.

As for what evolution can and cannot do, Behe wrote:

The eminent geneticist Francois Jacob famously wrote that Darwinian evolution is a tinkerer, not an engineer. Hes exactly right. Tinkering means looking for quick fixes, features that work for the momentincoherent, patchwork change, doctoring machines with chewing gum and duct tape, stopping an invader by burning a bridge or breaking a lock, improving a text by typing disjointed changes to words, letters, paragraphs, and chapters. If Darwinism is a tinkerer, then it cannot be expected to produce coherent features where a number of separate parts act together for a clear purpose, involving more than several components.

The major architectural features of lifemolecular machinery, cells, genetic circuitry, and probably moreare purposely designed. But the architectural constraints leave spandrels [triangular corner areas between structures] that can be filled with Darwinian adaptations.

Fossils: Show or No Show?

Do all fossils support evolution? No.

However, not all fossils are treated equally. Those thought to support evolution got promoted without much scrutiny; those contradicting the theory were suppressed and denigrated. Sometimes, fossils were forged or pieced together from different species.

The 1993 book Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race by Michael A. Cremo and Richard L. Thompson gives a meticulous examination of the fossil records for and against human evolution.

Due to space limitations, the focus here will be on the fossils of the missing link, or ape-men, between ancient apes and modern humans. They are widely considered to be a crucial proof of the correctness of the theory of human evolution.

Since the 19th century, several fossils have been considered to be the missing link. The most famous ones are Lucy in East Africa, Java Man in Indonesia, and Beijing (Peking) Man in China.

The assertive tone of teachers and the vivid skeletal reconstructions in museums have convinced students that the missing link has been found. Few, however, realized how fragmented the fossils are and how divided scientists are.

Lucy is thought to have a chimpanzee-sized brain, but walked upright. She is important because she could be the evolutionary evidence showing how human ancestors walked before their brains reached the size of those of modern human brains. However, some scientists do not agree that Lucy walked on two legs. Instead, they believe Lucy was apelike, dangling from trees with her powerful arms. A 1983 New York Times article detailed the fervent argument between scientists. Lucy could just be an ape, making her status as the missing link questionable.

The controversies surrounding Java Man and Beijing Man are also documented in Forbidden Archeology. When the Java Man was excavated in the 1890s, only a skull cap, a tooth, and a thigh bone were found. In fact, the thigh bone was found a year later, 45 feet away. The discoverer, Eugene Dubois, believed that these three bones were from a chimpanzee. But after communicating with Ernest Haeckel, he was convinced that it was a missing link.

In 1895, when Dubois exhibited his findings in Europe, he got mixed feedback from scientific circles. Some supported the missing link claim, some thought it was a human, some thought it was an ape, and some doubted whether the thigh bone had any relationship with the skull cap and the tooth. This controversy continued for decades.

In the 1930s, Dutch researcher von Koenigswald, who continued excavating in Java, got a grant from the Carnegie Institution. According to the book Forbidden Archeology, evolution was one of the Carnegie Institutions most important areas of interest because they were central to influencing philosophy and beliefs of mankind. Von Koenigswald constructed a skull from thirty fragments he had collected and bought from natives and sent it to Dubois.

By then, Dubois had concluded that Java Man was the remains of a gibbon, a species of apes unrelated to humans. He disapproved of von Koenigswalds skull and accused him of falsification. However, Duboiss opinion was no longer taken seriously. With the growing clout of evolution, both Java Man and von Koenigswalds skull were revered as the forerunners of mankind.

Beijing Mans excavation in Zhoukoudian, China, in the 1920s was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. By 1927, with only three teeth found, the discovery of a new human ancestor was announced. Although the declaration was criticized by some scientists because of the lack of evidence, funding for the excavation and promotion continued.

Skulls and other fragments were later found in Zhoukoudian, together with traces of fire use and a collection of stone and bone tools showing a mastery of rather complex methods of manufacture. Many scientists doubted that Beijing Man, with such small brain, could produce the fine tools and make fire. It could be simply an apelike being who was hunted for food by Homo sapiens [humans].

Probably all missing links were met with great challenges. Some were found to be mistakes or hoaxes. For example, Nebraska Man was considered to be the first higher primate of North America based on a single tooth found in Nebraska in 1917. Later, the tooth was proven to belong to an extinct pig.

Piltdown Man, a claimed missing link found in the UK in 1912, was determined forty years later to be a forgery made up of altered bones from an orangutan and a modern human. BBC called it Britains Greatest Hoax. However, before the forgery was exposed, along with the over-hyped Java Man and Beijing Man, Piltdown Man had shaped public opinion into accepting evolution as a plausible theory.

From a Controversial Hypothesis to an Orthodoxy

The 1989 book Eugene Dubois and the Ape-Man from Java by L.T. Theunissen describes the initial controversies surrounding evolution.

British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace was the co-author of the evolution theory. He, however, disagreed with Darwin about human evolution. He did not believe the human mind can be developed by natural selection. In his late years, he believed that the origination of humankind was guided by a superior, purposeful force or power.

While many biologists and anthropologists in the late 19th century were cautious about evolution and viewed it as a hypothesis that needed to be tested, some materialists promoted it fervently in order to yank religion out of society and prove that humans are just another kind of animal. This included Thomas H. Huxley (an English biologist nicknamed Darwins Bulldog), Ernst Haeckel, and Carl Vogt (a German zoologist who despised religion). After decades of heated debates, the materialists gained an upper hand after 1880. This may have been caused by the pro-socialist trends at the time.

Apparently, evolution theory was a gift to the budding communists and socialists at the turn of the 20th century. They pushed it on all fronts with the support of famous foundations. The highly publicized Scopes Monkey Trial in the United States in 1925 was a case financed by the leftist American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to challenge a Tennessee law forbidding the teaching of human evolution in public schools. The fraudulent Piltdown Man was used as evidence for human evolution. Although the evolutionists lost the trial, its true purpose as a publicity stunt was achieved. The conflict between evolution and religion was placed at the center of society.

Public opinion gradually shifted towards evolution due to relentless promotion. In 1968, the United States Supreme Court revoked an Arkansas law that prohibited the teaching of human evolution in public schools. Furthermore, in 1987, the Supreme Court ruled against a Louisiana law that required teaching creationism if human evolution was taught in public schools.

In the end, the hypothesis became orthodoxy. As genetics and biochemistry develop in recent decades, many of Darwins original statements do not hold up, but its core is tightly embraced by manyGod or a creator had no role in the origin of mankind.

Due to evolution, fewer and fewer people truly believe in God. Many consider animal instincts as the deepest human nature, and indulge their desires without moral restraint. They have lost their humbleness and think they can be the rulemakers of the universe. To them, anything that feels good is right. Why cant two plus two equal five? Why cant a man be a woman? Why cant some people rob or set a fire if they want to?

A Word for My Children

As I share with my children what I have learned about evolution, I hope they understand that science does not necessarily equal truth. Science is limited. It is supposed to be a sincere pursuit of truth. But now, some aspects of it have degenerated into a servant of political correctness or a weapon of attack on religious beliefs.

How much do we humans really know about the vastness of the universe and the wonders of life? Knowledge at the molecular level has already wowed the scientists and overturned the perceptions of Darwin and his peers. What would we find if we could somehow observe everything at the atomic level? How can we be so sure that God or other higher beings do not exist simply because we cant see them or detect them with current science?

Humility would keep us on the right track.

Jean Chen is originally from China, and writes under a pen name in order to protect her family still inside China.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
A City of Charlottetown staff member walks by the Sir John A MacDonald statue at a Charlottetown Public Works building in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, on June 1, 2021. (The Canadian Press/John Morris)

Alberta Premier Decries Cancel Culture as City Council Removes Statue of Canadas First Prime Minister

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney decried the removal of the statue of Canadas first prime minister on Tuesday.

Kenneys remarks came days after the remains of 215 children were found buried at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School for indigenous children in the province of British Columbia.

The discovery prompted the Charlottetown city council to vote to permanently remove a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada, from a downtown intersection in Prince Edward Island, the city council announced Monday. Macdonalds government introduced the residential school system in 1883, where 3,200 deaths indigenous children died, according to a report (pdf).

However, at a Tuesday press conference, Kenney said its necessary to consider the complexity of those leaders and the historical context at the time when such policies were introduced.

If we want to get into cancelling every figure in our history, who took positions on issues at the time that we now judge harshly, and rightly in historical retrospect, if thats the new standard, then I think almost the entire founding leadership of our country gets cancelled, he said.

Kenney gave examples of other prominent Canadian leaders whose policies could also invite criticisms under modern-day values, including former Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglass eugenics policy to sterilize the mentally diseased; former Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, who increased the head tax to curb the influx of Chinese immigrants; and former Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, whose None Is Too Many policy effectively barred Jews fleeing the Holocaust from entering Canada.

I really think its inappropriate to focus on one or two figures if we want to get into a debate about cancelling Canadian history, Kenney said. We need to understand that it means all of our history, and I think  that kind destructive spirit is not really the spirit of reconciliation.

The spirit of reconciliation is to learn from the wrongs of the past, to seek to remedy them, while knowing our history and moving forward together, he said.

Kenney said Canada has been taking steps to amend the victims of the Indian residential school system, including providing over $3.5 billion in compensation to the systems survivors. He also noted that Alberta is proposing a new draft to grades K-6 social studies curriculum to increase the content regarding the history of Canadas indigenous community.

There is no shortage of sadness, tragedy, and injustice in our past. The greatness of Canada is that we have overcome those things, Kenney said. Yes, we have had imperfect leaders, and yes, we have had imperfect institutions. And yet, we have still built through that, a country that is the envy of the world.

I think thats the solution, which is  to present all Canadians, including new Canadians, with a balanced depiction of our history, including the terrible, gross, injustice, and tragedy of the Indian residential schools, he said.
Alibabas European Hub Is Causing Espionage Concerns in Belgium

Belgiums Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne raised concerns over Chinese espionage in connection to Chinese e-commerce giant Alibabas logistics center under construction in Belgiums Liege Airport.

Liege Airport is the seventh-largest airport in Europe. It is situated at the heart of the Amsterdam-Paris-Frankfurt golden triangle, a very dense area of production in Europe.

Alibaba Group and the Belgium government signed an agreement in December 2018 to open Alibabas first Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) in Europe. The logistics arm of Alibaba Group and Liege Airport also signed a contract to lease a 220,000-square-meter area to build a logistics hub at the airport, which became a subject of concern.

Espionage Concerns

On May 6, Minister Van Quickenborne told Members of the Parliament that Chinese intelligence agents could have access to sensitive and secure areas of the airport.

Van Quickenborne referred to a 2017 Chinese law that forces all private companies to cooperate with state intelligence. Alibaba also has to obey the Chinese security apparatus in the event that the latter wishes to have access to potentially sensitive commercial and personal data held by Alibaba in the context of its activities in Liege, Van Quickenborne added.

A live demonstration uses artificial intelligence and facial recognition in dense crowd spatial-temporal technology at the Chinese chipmaker Horizon Robotics exhibit at the Las Vegas Convention Center during CES 2019 in Las Vegas, Nev., on Jan. 10, 2019. (David McNew/AFP/Getty Images)

Furthermore, Van Quickenborne stated that this interest is not limited to intelligence and security purposes but can be viewed within a broader political and economic framework.

Alibaba Groups Electronic World Trade Platform

To achieve global dominance in e-commerce, Alibaba plans to establish a platform that will promote public-private cooperation to improve the business environment and incubate future rules for cross border eTrade in some key areas, including simplification of regulations and standards, and harmonization of taxation, according to its eWTP website.

Back in mid-2018, it announced the plan to open five logistics hubs in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East to enhance its global logistics capabilities. The hub in Liege was the first one.

According to a report by the Chinese state-run media Xinhua, as part of Chinas One Belt One Road Initiative, the eWTP project in Liege has brought tremendous economic advancements to the region. Direct cargo flight and train routes had been scheduled between Liege Airport and at least eight major Chinese cities. The report also stated that the Liege hub will create 900 direct jobs and 3,000 indirect jobs in the region.

Local Opposition

However, Watching Alibaba, a local group opposing the Liege hub, states on their website that the number of jobs created is highly uncertain, and they would be low-grade jobs (precarious, highly controlled night jobs and the like) and would destroy other jobs, in other economic sectors.

The group opposes the very form of e-commerce Alibaba is building because it is bad for the regional economy, as it sets local retailers in direct competition with products imported over long distances, sold cheaper, at times counterfeit, often of lesser quality and produced in dubious conditions. For each job created in the field of e-commerce, two or three are destroyed in traditional commerce.

Moreover, Watching Alibaba is not pleased with the decision to build the hub in Liege Airport because it was made without any information to and with citizens or any independent and comprehensive impact assessment.

In their pursuit of global expansion, Chinas retail and tech giants are facing challenges from their own employees. Some of the challenges are caused by labor law disputes and some by the 996 work culture. The 996 culture, promoted by Alibaba and JD.com, makes working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week, the norm.

A 22-year-old employee of e-commerce platform Pinduoduo died in December 2020. His death was widely attributed to the 996 work culture. A former delivery driver for a partner of an Alibaba subsidiary set himself on fire in January following a pay dispute.

In recent months, Alibabas founder Jack Ma fell out of favor with the Chinese government, and Alibaba was fined by Beijing $2.8 billion for anti-monopoly violations.

Moreover, the European Union Commission suspended the EU-China trade deal (Comprehensive Agreement on Investment) in May, which was signed in December after seven years of negotiation. This came after the two sides exchanged sanctions due to growing tensions over human rights issues in Xinjiang.

A group of protesters calling themselves Watching Alibaba, are in the streets of Liege, Belgium, on Jan. 17, 2020. They are protesting against the arrival of online web shop Alibaba to the Liege region. (Thomas Michiels/Belga Mag/AFP via Getty Images)

In response to the Belgium governments espionage concerns, the Chinese government played hardball and softball simultaneously.

One day after the Belgian minister voiced his concern of potential Chinese espionage, the Chinese Embassy in Belgium issued a statement on its website saying the concerns were baseless, and that We express our strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to this practice of slandering Chinese companies on conjured up charges.

The Chinese Ambassador to Belgium met with the head of the Globalization Office of Alibaba Group. Alibaba presented a progress report to the Chinese ambassador on eWTP and the Liege hub project.

The ambassador asked Alibaba Group to take the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Belgium as an opportunity to steadily advance cooperation projects, deepen China-EU business cooperation in the e-commerce industry, and promote China-Belgium cooperation to a higher level.

Alibabas Liege Airport hub is scheduled to be in full operation by late 2021. The Epoch Times has reached out to Alibaba Group for comments.
Departure passengers to New Zealand wait to check in at Sydney International Airport, Sydney, Australia, on April 19, 2021. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Australia Granted 150,000 International Travel Exemptions Over the Past Year

Australia has granted more than 150,000 travel exemptions for people to leave the nation during the outbound travel ban caused by the CCP virus.

The Australian government shut down the international border in March 2020 as the virus became rampant worldwide, allowing only those who had exceptional circumstances to apply for exemptions.

Acceptable reasons for exemptions include compassionate and compelling reasons, work or study, and travelling to offer help with the pandemic abroad.

The Home Affairs Department told a Senate estimates hearing that 150,687 outward travel requests were approved from March 25, 2020, to May 17, 2021, in response to a question raised by Labor frontbencher Katy Gallagher.

From August 2020 to May 2021, China was the top destination with 13,691 exemptions granted, followed by the United Kingdom (11,827), India (11,716), the United States (9,487), New Zealand (5,341), and Pakistan (4,944).

But given that one person can apply multiple times, the figures above do not necessarily represent the number of people granted exemptions.

The news of the amount of outbound travel occurring for Australians comes after the federal court rejected a lawsuit brought by a Libertarian think tank to challenge the federal governments power to impose the travel ban on the general population.

Australia is alone among western democracies to impose an international travel ban on its citizens and permanent residents.

It may be accepted that the travel restrictions are harsh. It may also be accepted that they intrude upon individual rights, the three judges said in the ruling. But Parliament was aware of that.

Andrew Cooper, the president of LibertyWorks, told The Associated Press that the group was very disappointed with the judgement and that they believed it constituted an infringement on Australians human rights.

We are very disappointed in the judgement today. We continue to believe that the outbound border closure is defective in law and, perhaps more importantly, unjust on human rights grounds,

While Europe and most of the world open up their borders, only North Korea and Australia stubbornly continue with strict controls over their citizens ability to leave their country, he said.

Australia has signed a quarantine-free travel bubble with New Zealand in April and is looking to build more travel bubbles with other countries. It is likely that the travel bubble will be expanded to pacific islands, the U.S., and the U.K. soon.

AAP contributed to this report.
In this stock photo, nurses are busy treating patients in an extensive care unit. Ambulances in Japan have to call hospitals multiple times before getting a patient accepted. (Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images)

Beijing Bans Former Rights Lawyer From Flying to Japan and Accompanying His Critically Ill Daughter

A former Chinese rights lawyer has been banned by Chinese authorities from boarding a flight bound to Japan to take care of his ill daughter who is in a coma. Although he has a visa and ticket to his destination, his journey was cut off by customs officers of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime, which put him on a blacklist of targets for exit control since 2010 over an unwarranted charge.

Tang Jitian, a prominent ex-lawyer, revealed that he was stopped at customs in his departure city of Fuzhou in southeastern Chinas Fujian Province on June 2, around 8 a.m. local time, and his boarding pass was torn in half, based on his supporters Twitter reports.

According to Tang, six police officers prevented him, including a female and two other males respectively with the identification numbers of 230568, 230512, and 230576.

They gave him an oral announcement that he was not allowed to leave China in accordance with Item 5, Article 12 of the countrys Exit and Entry Administration Law, which cited national security concerns, a vague accusation often leveled by the CCP at rights lawyers, dissidents, petitioners, and religious believers.

At Tangs insistence, they reluctantly revealed that they were carrying out orders from the Beijing Public Security Bureau.

Currently, his daughter is receiving treatment in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in a Tokyo hospital, Tang told VOA in an interview on May 30.

She was initially diagnosed with tuberculosis and hospitalized on April 30. Later, her condition worsened, which expanded to other parts of her body, causing a swollen right brain, hydrocephalus, among others.

My daughters situation is extremely serious, Tang said. She has lost consciousness for more than 20 days. Family accompaniment is crucial to her return to health, especially her consciousness, as medical professionals told me.

On May 19, Tang filed a letter of application with the Beijing Public Security Bureau for permission to allow him to fly to Japan to accompany his daughter. He wrote that Chinese citizens freedom to enter or leave the country is legally protected and that he has not been placed under criminal accusation. Given the seriousness of his daughters condition, he requested the bureau to grant him a permit on humanitarian grounds so that he could perform his duties as a father.

However, his application remains neglected.

On May 23, an appeal was launched online to support Tangs request. As of May 30, the appeal had gathered nearly 100 signatures from lawyers, professors, and experts, including Jerome A. Cohen, a professor of law at New York University; and Yu-Jie Chen, assistant research professor at Institutum Iurisprudentiae, Academia Sinica.

Tangs mistreatment is believed to be the CCPs retaliation for his pro-democracy and human rights activities.

In 2005, he represented child victims of tainted China-made milk powder, Falun Gong adherents, and people whose properties had been subjected to forced demolition.

In 2008, he promoted an election in the CCP-controlled Beijing Lawyers Association.

In April 2010, his lawyers license was revoked by the CCPs Beijing Justice Bureau for allegedly disrupting court trial rules. In the following month, he was (and remains) restricted from leaving mainland China.

In February 2011, Tang was subjected to arbitrary arrest and torture for his pro-democracy activity in Beijing.

In October 2013, he was placed under 5-day detention for assisting Falun Gong practitioners under brainwashing sessions.
Beijing Is in a Very Awkward Situation Due to Four Major Misjudgments Against the EU

Commentary

The relationship between China and Europe is deteriorating, and the European Union (EU) on May 20 passed a resolution to freeze ratification of the EUChina Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), in response to Chinas sanctions on EU politicians. What is foreseeable is that the Xi administration will make appropriate adjustments to its policy toward Europe in the future. At the current stage, Beijing is not willing or ready to let the EU become another rival in addition to the United States.

The recent series of actions by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) show that Xi Jinping, the CCPs top leader, has repeatedly misjudged Europe, which is one of the reasons why the relationship between China and Europe has come to this point.

Misjudgment 1:

Beijing thinks the EU will be quiet about Chinas human rights violations in exchange for economic benefits.

On the evening of Dec. 30, 2020, China and Europe concluded in principle the negotiations for the CAI, which caused the CCPs official media to break into loud cheers.

For many years, the CCP has been dealing with Europe and the United States through its offers of economic benefits in exchange for less or no criticism of the CCPs human rights problems. This tactic has worked repeatedly over the past decade or so.

On Dec. 7 last year, the EU adopted a decision and a regulation establishing a global human rights sanctions regime. The EU announced in a statement: For the first time, the EU is equipping itself with a framework that would allow it to target individuals, entities, and bodiesincluding state and non-state actorsresponsible for, involved in, or associated with serious human rights violations and abuses worldwide, no matter where they occurred.

Prior to this, the EUs human rights dialogue with China had been held 37 times, behind closed doors at Beijings request. Europe has now generally come to realize that this dialogue has had little impact on getting the CCP to improve its human rights record.

The EU-China trade deal is facing major hurdles due to human rights abuses in Xinjiang. (Jason Lee/Reuters)

Therefore, when the EU adopted a new human rights sanctions regime and concluded talks with Beijing on an economic agreement similar to the first phase of the U.S.-China economic and trade agreement, Xi made the first mistake in assuming that this was just a higher offer from the EU in terms of acknowledging economic benefits from China again, the EU would not turn completely to the United States, and it would remain silent on the CCPs human rights issues as it had before.

That actually was the case until the end of last yearthe CAI is indeed based on Beijings unilateral market opening to the EU.

Misjudgment 2:

Beijing does not realize that the EUs orientation toward the CCP has changed.

In 2003, China and Europe established a comprehensive strategic partnership (pdf) and the two sides engaged in significant economic cooperation and trade. In 2013, after Xi took power, the two sides even published the EU-China 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation. But since then, the CCPs conflict of interest with the EU has increased in many political and economic areas. In 2019, during the U.S.-China trade war, the EUs orientation toward the CCP changed dramatically.

In March 2019, the EU published EU-China  A strategic outlook (pdf), which characterized the CCP as a partner, an economic competitor, and a systemic rival. This positioning is similar to the Biden administrations positioning of the CCP todaynamely that the EU will cooperate with the CCP on international issues such as climate change, compete economically with the CCP, and fight back when the CCP threatens its own security.

The Xi administration has clearly misjudged this new positioning of China-EU relations. After the EU imposed sanctions on the CCP in March this year over the Xinjiang human rights violations, Beijing was outraged with shame. This was reflected in the remarks of Wang Yi, the CCPs foreign minister.

It has never come to our mind that the EU will put sanctions on us, Wang said, speaking at the Munich Security Conference on May 25. According to European media, he questioned how a strategic partner could take such action.

Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi at a press conference briefing on the Belt and Road Summit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing on April 19, 2019. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images)

Wang acknowledged that Beijing had been shocked when Brussels placed sanctions on Chinese officials, Reuters reported.

Wang also said that the sanctions reminded the CCP of the days when they were bullied by European imperialists.

Misjudgment 3:

Beijing underestimates the consequences of sanctions on Europe, as many sanctioned European lawmakers fight back.

Another sign of Beijings fury is the lack of reciprocity in the sanctions imposed by China and Europe. The CCP sanctioned 10 people and 4 entities of the EU, while the EU only sanctioned 4 people and 1 entity in China.

The sanctions imposed by the CCP on the EU have caused serious consequences. The Xi administration has misjudged or underestimated the consequences.

The most immediate consequence was the EU Parliaments freezing of the ratification of the CAI on May 20. Moreover, the CCPs sanctions have triggered various aftereffects.

For example, Samuel Cogolati, a member of the Belgian Parliament and one of the Europeans sanctioned by the CCP, reportedly claimed that Alibaba (Chinese e-commerce giant) was a nest of spies for the CCP.

This kind of reaction to Beijings sanctions took the Chinese regime by surprise. In addition, the challenges to human rights abuses, which were originally confined to Xinjiang, have gradually begun to spread to other areas because of the sanctions imposed by the CCP on European officials.

Actions taken by Lithuania have resulted in the biggest impact on the CCPs diplomacy. On May 20, the Lithuanian Parliament claimed the CCP was practicing genocide in Xinjiang. A resolution sponsored by Dovile Sakaliene, a member of Parliament who was blacklisted by the CCP, was supported by three-fifths of Lithuanian parliament members, according to Reuters. The non-binding resolution called for a U.N. investigation of internment camps and to ask the European Commission to review relations with Beijing.

On May 22, Lithuanias Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis expressed, in a statement, Lithuanias decision to withdraw from Beijings 17+1 initiative, a move that embarrassed the CCP.

The 17+1 platform, which became 16+1, was launched by the CCP in 2012, initially to intensify Beijings cooperation with 11 EU member states and five Balkan countries. In 2019, Greece joined the initiative, which was then renamed 17+1.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping gives a speech at a press conference after the Belt and Road Forum at the China National Convention Center at the Yanqi Lake venue in Beijing, China, on April 27, 2019. (Wang Zhao/Getty Images)

In the future, for the sake of saving face (avoiding humiliation), the CCP may absorb other European countries into the initiative and maintain the 17+1 number. However, the CCP may face additional problems if there are any conflicts of interest between the newly-joined parties and the original Central and Eastern European countries.

Another European country standing up against the CCP is the UK.

On April 22, the British Parliament declared Beijings treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang a genocide.

According to a statement from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), the UKs move is the latest in a series of coordinated actions by IPAC members. The IPAC (Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China) is an international cross-party group of legislators working towards reform on how democratic countries approach China.

Miriam Lexmann, the Slovakian member serving on the European Parliaments Committee on Foreign Affairs, was also placed on the CCPs blacklist of sanctions in March, and she is also a member of IPAC.

Other European members of IPAC who have supported the UKs declaration of the CCPs genocide in Xinjiang include Italian IPAC member Andrea Delmastro Delle Vedove, Belgian IPAC member Samuel Cogolati, and IPAC members Margarete Bause and Gyde Jensen from Germany.

Misjudgment 4:

Beijing imposes heavy-handed sanctions against the European Councils Political and Security Committee.

Another misjudgment is the CCP Foreign Ministrys announcement on March 22 that the Political and Security Committee (PSC) of the European Council is a sanctioned entity.

The European Council sets the EUs policy agenda, according to its official website, and the members of the European Council are the heads of state or government of the 27 EU member states, the European Council President, and the President of the European Commission. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy also takes part in European Council meetings when foreign affairs issues are discussed.

The PSC is responsible for the EUs Common Foreign and Security Policy (CSFP) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), and it is composed of member states ambassadors based in Brussels and is chaired by the representatives from the European External Action Service. Its roles include: monitoring the international situation, recommending strategic approaches and policy options to the Council; providing guidance to the Military Committee, the Politico-Military Group, and the Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management, and ensuring political control and strategic direction of crisis management operations.

By imposing sanctions on this body, the CCP is in fact sanctioning the decision-makers of the EUs common foreign and security policies. The PSC will continue to draft EU policies related to the CCP in the future, whether the CCP likes it or not. In the current political climate, the PSC is unlikely to be the first to back down from the CCP.

More seriously, if the CCP were to announce that it would ban the diplomats in this organization from entering China, it would end up in an awkward situation in its relations with Europe because of the importance of these individuals in their countrys diplomatic system, a situation that could be described as devastating to China-Europe relations.

It is foreseeable that Beijing will make appropriate adjustments to its future European policy, otherwise, relations between China and Europe will go downhill rapidly. The CCP is neither willing nor ready to let the EU become another rival alongside the United States. To this end, the CCP has signaled it is softening up.

The April 29 issue of the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported a cool-down on the sanctions.

But there has been little indication since of how the Chinese restrictions apply, reported the SCMP. Diplomatic sources say Chinese officials have tried to downplay the significance of its sanctions and tried to prove the policies were less forceful than they appear.

Some European diplomatic insiders know this well.

We have stopped inquiring as it would force the Chinese side to define it, a source told SCMP.

Linyi Li is senior editor and commentator at the Chinese Epoch Times focused on China and international affairs. Prior to this he was a journalist in Ottawa, Canada, focused on Parliament Hill news.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Beijings Bad Behavior Is Backfiring

Commentary

Malaysia, a country that usually maintains good relations with China, got a little taste a few days ago of Beijings creeping assertiveness. On June 1, a fleet of Chinese military aircraft, flying in a tactical formation, flew to within 60 nautical miles of eastern Malaysia, within Malaysias exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea. The Malaysian air force subsequently scrambled several of its fighter jets to intercept these aircraft.

This incident is only the latest in a long series of escalating and belligerent acts by the Chinese regime to press their claims in the South China Sea and elsewhere. It surely wont be the last.

Its hard to believe now, but it wasnt too long ago that China was seen as an agent for peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific. In the early years of the 21st century, Beijing was actively engaged in a regional smile campaign intended to demonstrate that it was a non-confrontational player dedicated solely to a peaceful rise. China sought to reassure its neighbors that it was a responsible and constructive partner, committed more or less to maintaining the regional status quo.

Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei all claim overlapping portions of the sea which spans 3.6 million square kilometer (1.4 million square miles), but the most far-reaching claims have been made by China. (CNN)

The International Institute for Strategic Studies noted in 2004 that China was willing to shelve active political disputes that could not be reconciled immediately, so long as none of the other parties involved [disturbed] the status quo, particularly the status of Taiwan; instead, China was ready to refocus its energies on expanding trade and cooperation with all its neighbors.

Nowhere perhaps was this play-nice strategy more evident than in Chinas relations with the member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). China was the first non-Southeast Asian state to sign to a Treaty of Amity and Cooperation with ASEAN. This agreement was followed up with the ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership for Peace and Security and a Plan for Action agreement. China became an active participant in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the ARF Security Policy Conference (ASPC), and the ASEAN+3 meetings.

During the 2000s, China made a concerted effort not to let the South China Sea dispute become an international flashpoint. In 2002, Beijing and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to a joint Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, which affirmed the intention of the signatories to peacefully resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes, and to exercise self-restraint in the South China Sea that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability, including refraining from further construction on then-uninhabited islands.

Flash forward 15 years or so. Under Xi Jinping, China has unleashed an aggressive course of actionthe China dreamdriven by nationalism and a sense of victimhood, enabled by growing economic and technological development, and stressing the revitalization of the Chinese nation. A key byproduct of this strategy is a much more assertive, even belligerent, foreign policy, one that doubles-down on bad behavior.

All of this is painfully familiar to most of us. Beijing has become ever more intransigent and bellicose in pressing its territorial claims, particularly in the South China Sea. According to Beijing nowadays, there is no dispute, because China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea, plain and simple. It throws out specious arguments about early historical sightings of the Spratly Islands by Chinese fishermen, or discovering shards of Chinese pottery or coins on some of these islets. It then accuses other countries, such as the Philippines, of bullying China, and that the United States and other Western navies, by conducting freedom of navigation patrols (FONOPS) in the South China Sea, are operating in places they have no right to be. More recently, indisputable sovereignty has been used to justify Chinas construction and subsequent militarization of artificial islands in the Spratlys.

Moreover, Beijing employs increasingly belligerent language when that nations are not being accommodating enough. A recent article in Chinas state-owned English-language newspaper, the Global Times, harshly attacked Australia as being too weak to be a worthy opponent of China, adding that if the country dared to interfere in a military conflict, for example, in the Taiwan Straits, its forces will be among the first to be hit. In particular, Australia was within range of Chinas intermediate-range ballistic missiles, and it must not think it can hide from China if it provokes.

What was Australias great crime? That it had the temerity to join the United States, France, and Japan in a series of naval exercises in the East China Sea.

Royal Australian Navy warship HMAS Paramatta sails in front of the iconic Sydney Opera House on Oct. 4, 2013. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

Ironically, Australia had spent years trying to get on the good side of Beijing. In particular, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd touted the creation of an Asia-Pacific Community that would have greatly raised Chinas regional profile.

Beginning in 2018, however, relations between the two countries soured over growing concerns that China was attempting to inhibit free speech in Australian universities and government, and especially in the Australian Chinese community. In addition, citing security concerns, Canberra banned Chinese companies such as Huawei from investing in such strategic sectors like Australias 5G networks. In retaliation, China has slapped more than $20 billion worth of trade bans and tariffs on Australian exports.

What Beijing fails to realize is that this aggressive behavior is only creating a more unified backlash. In particular, naval exercises in the region this year are expected to involve not only the United States and Australia, but also Canada, France, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia, India, and the Netherlands. In addition, the British Royal Navy is sending its Carrier Strike Group 21, led by the HMS Elizabeth aircraft carrier, on a seven-month voyage that will include FONOPS in the South China Sea.

Nothing has so focused anti-China sentiments as Beijings own ham-fisted actions. Its pugnaciousness has only unified U.S. public opinion against China; negative attitudes toward China have soared, and the share of Americans who perceive China as their greatest enemy has doubled in the past year. Europe, which for decades has tried to engage China for its economic benefits while also ignoring or downplaying its rising and increasingly far-flung aggressive conduct, has lately come to realize that China is a growing threat to the global stability and security. In the case of the Chinese regimes bad behavior, the law of unintended consequences appears to be holding.

Richard A. Bitzinger is an independent international security analyst. He was previously a senior fellow with the Military Transformations Program at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore, and he has held jobs in the U.S. government and at various think tanks. His research focuses on security and defense issues relating to the Asia-Pacific region, including the rise of China as a military power, and military modernization and arms proliferation in the region.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Belarus Hijacking Set in Context of More Assertive Russia, Says NATO Chief

Sanctions against Belarus for the hijacking of a passenger plane carrying a journalist who had been critical of the Lukashenko regime must be fully implemented, the head of NATO has said.

Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg met Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Downing Street on Wednesday and the pair discussed the future of the alliance ahead of a leaders meeting in Brussels on June 14.

Speaking to journalists afterwards, Johnson suggested standing together against threats from the east is likely to feature heavily on the agenda for the summit, as the NATO chief said the Belarus incident had ties with the assertive behaviour of Russia.

Stoltenberg said the arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich was absolutely unacceptable and added that NATO has called for him and his girlfriend to be released as well as for an impartial international investigation to be carried out.

NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg had talks with Prime Minister Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street, UK, on June 2, 2021. (Justin Tallis/PA)

He said: I welcome sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom and other NATO allies and the EU.

And he said those steps send a message that there are consequences when the regime in Minsk behave the way they did.

But he added: I think the most important thing now is to make sure that those sanctions that are agreed are fully implemented, and I also know that the other allies are looking into whether they can step up further.

It has to be clear that, when a regime like the regime in Minsk behaves the way they did, violating basic international norms and rules, we will impose costs on them.

And Im also sure that the NATO leaders when they meet, this will be an issue they will discuss.

He said that, while this will focus on the behaviour of Belarus, it is also part of their response to a more assertive Russia.

He said: We also see Russia and Belarus are working closely together.

It comes after Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab urged NATO to work together to tackle the threat of hostile states like Russia.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Raab spoke with their allied counterparts on Tuesday.

And Raab, who also met Stoltenberg on Wednesday, used Tuesdays meeting to reiterate his concerns about Russia, including the situation in Ukraine, GRU military intelligence officers being behind the deaths of two civilians and an explosion in the Czech town of Vrbetice, and the limiting of staff at the U.S. and Czech Embassiesdefying the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

He said: The UK is supporting and reinforcing NATO as we rise to the challenge of tackling hostile states like Russia, whilst also adapting to face new threatsfrom dangerous cyber attacks to poisonous misinformation, put about by those who want to undermine our way of life.

Johnson said NATO has been really outstanding in supporting the UK against Russian aggression, pointing to the Salisbury poisonings in 2018.

You will remember a lot of NATO allies came together and expelled diplomats in sympathy with the UK for what happened [with] the assassination attempt on the Skripals, he said.

But what we want to do is make sure that we work together to defend, protect ourselves against cyber threats, against all the kinds of intimidation that some NATO members still feel there on NATOs eastern borders, and we work together to protect against that.

A Downing Street spokesman said: The Prime Minister stressed the UKs commitment to NATO as demonstrated through our record investment in defence spending and our commitment of cutting-edge technology, including the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier, to the alliance.

The leaders discussed a number of issues affecting NATO, including the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. They agreed on the need to ensure Afghanistan has a long-term peaceful and democratic future.

They also condemned the recent actions taken by Belarus to arrest Roman Protasevich and Sofia Sapega. They agreed the Belarusian regime must release political prisoners and provide a full explanation for what happened.

The Prime Minister emphasised his support for the secretary-generals vision for NATOs future. The leaders agreed that NATO is essential to transatlantic security and has an important role to play in tackling wider geopolitical challenges like climate change.

By Geraldine Scott
Biden Admin Suspends Oil and Gas Leases in Alaskas Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The Biden administration suspended oil and gas drilling leases in Alaskas Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on June 1, ahead of the outcome of an environmental impact review, reversing a policy that former President Donald Trump had initiated shortly before leaving office.

President Joe Biden, on his first day in office in January, placed a temporary ban on the wildlife refuges new leases. But on June 1, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland issued a memo (pdf) saying that activities in the region must halt pending an analysis.

This order is effective immediately and will remain in effect until it is amended, superseded, or revoked, whichever occurs first, Haalands memo reads.

According to the memo, the Interior Department carried out a review that identified multiple legal deficiencies in the underlying record supporting the leases, which Haaland said was the previous administrations insufficient analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act  including failure to adequately analyze a reasonable range of alternatives in the environmental impact statement.

In January, Trump issued 10-year leases on more than 430,000 acres of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge land. He and other former administration officials argued that it was part of their plan to make the United States energy independent. However, the battle over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has stretched back to the Clinton administration, when former President Bill Clinton in 1995 vetoed a Republican plan to allow drilling in the remote region.

Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) criticized the administrations order.

This action serves no purpose other than to obstruct Alaskas economy and put our energy security at great risk, Murkowski said in a statement. Alaskans are committed to developing our resources responsibly and have demonstrated our ability to do so safely.

According to the senators, the wildlife refuge spans about 19.3 million acres in northeastern Alaska. Congress in 1980, they noted, designated more than 8 million acres within the region as federal wilderness as part of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, and drilling initiatives are supported by a majority of Alaskans.

Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy described the move as an assault on Alaskas economy that is tantamount to federal overreach.

Shutting down our lands was not what William Seward intended when Alaska was founded, and we are not going to allow the Biden administration to turn Alaska into a giant national park, he said, referring to Seward, the U.S. secretary of state between 1861 and 1869, who negotiated the Alaska purchase in 1868.

Critics of the Biden administration are sure to point to this order and others as the reason gas prices are surging across the country. The average price for a gallon of gasoline surpassed $3 per gallon in May, and, according to analysts, the price will likely rise even higher.

It also comes after hackers were able to force the suspension of the 5,500-mile-long Colonial Pipeline system in May, triggering fuel shortages across the southeastern U.S. At the time, Republicans said the administrations actions to suspend the Keystone XL Pipeline and halt new drilling leases on federal lands will contribute to future fuel shortages and spiking gas prices.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 13:05:17|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

Relatives mourn for victims of a mass shooting in San Jose, California, the United States, May 27, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)

Murder rate in the United States surged by 25 percent in 2020 -- the first time the United States has seen over 20,000 annual murders since 1995 -- up from 16,000 the previous year.



by Matthew Rusling

WASHINGTON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Violent crime in U.S. cities surged to record levels as the nation was struggling in the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts said deteriorating security could affect midterm elections next year.

Statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation show the murder rate surged by 25 percent in 2020 -- the first time the United States has seen over 20,000 annual murders since 1995 -- up from 16,000 the previous year.

This occurred in the nation's major cities, and is showing no signs of abating.

The New York Police Department reported early in May that shootings were up 166 percent in April, compared to the same period last year.

Relatives mourn for victims of a mass shooting in San Jose, California, the United States, May 27, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)

In Chicago, murders surged 50 percent from 2019 to 2020, most of the victims being people of color, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

Homicides surged in the U.S. state of California by 27 percent from 2019 to 2020 -- the largest one-year rise in 30 years, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Carjackings -- when an assailant forces a driver out of a car with a gun and steals the automobile -- have suddenly become a major problem in Washington DC, the nation's capital. The most recent DC police data shows that over 200 carjackings were reported in DC and the counties around it between January and April this year. That's a massive surge from the 60 carjackings reported in 2020 in the same period.

Linda Scott, a housewife outside the DC area, told Xinhua: "I tell friends who are visiting not to drive through DC," she said.

Rhonda Kim, in business management outside DC, told Xinhua that she "refuses" to drive into DC at night.

Asian hate crimes have surged 146 percent in 26 of the largest jurisdictions in the United States in 2020, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. Experts said they are accelerating.

People holding a bilingual banner take part in a Stop Asian Hate rally in Oakland, San Francisco Bay Area, the United States, May 15, 2021. (Photo by Dong Xudong/Xinhua)

Mayors of many of the most violent cities are Democrats, and experts said that could hurt the party in the lead up to next year's midterm elections.

"The surge in violent crimes is not helping the Democratic mayors," said Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West.

"It highlights a breakdown in the law that has occurred during COVID and the financial challenges people have had. Republicans are starting to use this issue against (U.S President Joe) Biden and will continue to do so as long as the numbers remain high," West said.

Republican Strategist and TV news personality Ford O'Connell said: "This is a real problem for the Democrats headed into the midterms," which are slated for next year.

Indeed, midterm elections are historically won by the party not in the White House, and surging crime in America's cities adds to Democrats' woes, experts said.

Republican lawmakers in major U.S. cities, such as Atlanta, in the U.S. state of Georgia, are already capitalizing on the surge in murders. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr last month vowed to "fill the void created by Atlanta officials' failure to lead."

While U.S. President Joe Biden, during the 1990s, was known as tough on crime, some Democrats fear that voters may no longer make this association. Rather, they fret that voters may believe Republicans' narrative that the entire party, not just its left wing, wants to de-fund the police.

"Can Republican candidates exploit the issue? Yes, they will. Can they make it the top, election-winning issue? In some mayoral races they may be able to. Will it work as a national issue? They and (former U.S. President Donald) Trump got some mileage out of it in 2020, but not enough. They would need for the problem to keep rising," said Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the center for international and security studies at the University of Maryland.

WHAT'S BEHIND THE VIOLENCE?

Republicans and law enforcement said the surge in violence is due to de-fund the police movements nationwide, which have demoralized law enforcement. The movement began to pick up steam last year after George Floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed by police.

John, a police officer in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, told Xinhua that criminals have become emboldened, as police are now less motivated to react to every instance of violence unless it's something major.

Policemen stand guard near a shooting scene in Times Square in New York, the United States, May 8, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

The officer did not provide his last name, as he is not cleared to speak with media.

In an opinion article in USA on Tuesday, Jason Johnson, former deputy police commissioner for the U.S. city of Baltimore and the president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, argued that public officials' "growing hostility toward policing left law enforcement demoralized, debilitated and, in some cases, de-funded."

"Even the most dedicated officers, who now face a greater risk of being sued, fired or prosecuted for doing their job, feel pressure to pull back," Johnson said.

"To mitigate that risk, police take a more passive approach," Johnson argued.

Patrick Sharkey, a sociologist at Princeton University and expert on crime, told the Atlantic Monthly in a recent interview that in areas where institutions break down, people feel like they're on their own, and that creates conditions where violence becomes more likely.

"Last year, everyday patterns of life broke down... Schools shut down. Young people were on their own. There was a widespread sense of a crisis...That type of destabilization is what creates the conditions for violence to emerge," Sharkey argued. 
U.S. President Joe Biden gestures during his remarks, as Vice President Kamala Harris looks on, before a signing ceremony for the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act in the East Room of the White House on May 20, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images).

Biden Appoints Harris to Lead White House Efforts on Voting Rights

President Joe Biden announced on June 1 that he has placed Vice President Kamala Harris in charge of White House efforts to protect voting rights.

Voting is a sacred right under assault with incredible intensity like Ive never seen, the president said, referring to efforts by Republican state lawmakers nationwide to tighten election security. He made the remarks during a visit to Tulsa, Oklahoma, on the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre.

Im asking Vice President Harris to help these efforts, to lead them among her many other responsibilities. With her leadership and your support, were going to overcome again, Biden said. Its going to take a hell of a lot of work.

The president described the more than 380 election overhaul bills in 48 states as a truly unprecedented assault on our democracy.

Every American has a right to have their voice heard at the ballot box, and no American should be kept from voting early, voting by mail, or voting at all, Harris said in a statement.

Our Administration will not stand by when confronted with any effort that keeps Americans from voting, she said, adding that she will work with voting rights organizations, community organizations, the private sector, and lawmakers to bolster voting rights.

Florida and Georgia have both added measures to protect the sanctity of the ballot box and to add security to other methods of voting. Those laws have faced significant opposition from Democrats.

In Texas on May 31, House Democrats staged a walkout of the chamber in an effort to prevent the passage of a sweeping election overhaul bill that would grant more power to poll watchers by giving them more access inside polling areas, while creating new penalties against election officials who restrict poll watchers movements, among other measures.

Critics of that bill, including Democrats and progressive groups, argue that it would add barriers for minorities and is tantamount to voter suppression. Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa echoed claims made by Democrats in other states by saying the bill is an attempt to silence voters in Texas, especially voters of color.

Republicans believe otherwise, including Texas state Rep. Jeff Leach, who wrote on Twitter that the measure is strong [and] sensible election integrity legislation that ensures and protects full access to the ballot box while deterring and cracking down on illegal activity that undermines our elections.

Democrats have said that laws regulating mail-in ballots are a ploy by Republicans in response to former President Donald Trumps election loss, while Republicans have said that mail-in-voting creates conditions conducive to fraudulent activities and requires more oversight to ensure election integrity.

Janita Kan and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
Biden, Democrats Showing Weakness to Hamas: Sen. Cruz

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told the Associated Press on Monday that President Joe Biden has been too soft on Hamas, which has resulted in further violence during an 11-day war that turned parts of the Gaza Strip into rubble.

The longer Joe Biden shows weakness to Hamas or Hezbollah or Iran, the more youre going to see terrorist attacks escalating, Cruz said, referring to Bidens policies, including a call to Israel to wind down the war.

Cruz is one of four prominent Republicans in Israel. He made the comments to the AP after a day of touring Israels Iron Dome rocket defense system and viewing damage in the Israeli city of Ashkelon.

Before leaving for his trip to Israel, Cruz criticized Democrats for not being more supportive of Israel and not condemning Hamass, a U.S. designated terrorist organization, actions.

Israel is a sovereign nation defending itselfHamas in the last two weeks has reigned over 4,000 rockets down on Israel, Cruz told Fox News Host Judge Jeanine Pirro. Hamas wants Palestinian civilians killed because they know Democrats in Washington, and the media globally, will act as useful idiots and attack Israel and thats what were saying in Congress right now.

Cruz had strong words for Democrats for allowing progressives in their party to accuse Israel of terrorism.

Whats different is that now prominent members of Congress are vocal. Representative [Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)] accused Israel of carrying out acts of terrorismthat is a vicious lie. And to be honest, the squad is acting more like the press secretaries for Hamas terrorists than they are like United States congressmen, added Cruz, referring to a group of far left Congress members including Omar, Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.).

Cruz accused the Squad of being anti-semitic after the progressive lawmakers condemned Israel for defending itself from attacks and for their efforts to introduce legislation to ban weapon sales to Israel.

During a May 20 press briefing where Biden announced the Israel-Hamas cease-fire, he said he fully supports Israels right to defend itself against Hamas attacks.

I assured [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] of my full support to replenish Israels Iron Dome system to ensure defenses and security in the future, said Biden.

The United States is committed to working with the United Nations and we remain committed to working with the United Nations and other international stakeholders to provide rapid humanitarian assistance, and the Marshall international support the people of Gaza, and the Gaza reconstruction efforts, he added.

During the 11-day fighting, at least 253 people were killed in Gaza and more than 1,900 were wounded, Palestinian health authorities said.

The Israeli military put the death toll in Israel at 13, with hundreds treated for injuries after rocket salvoes caused panic and sent people as far away as Tel Aviv rushing into shelters.

Besides Cruz, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is also visiting Israel to show his support, saying the Middle Eastern nation is one of the most reliable allies America has.

But my main message has been more for Israel, the more people try to destroy Israel, the more Hamas tries to destroy Israel, the more Iran tries to destroy Israel, the more aid that the United States will provide Israel to defend itself, said Graham.

They provide us with actionable intelligence to protect our country against radical Islamic threats, theyre a democracy, and shared values, shared enemies, added Graham.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
Border Patrol Arrests Over 160 Illegal Immigrants in 2 Tractor-Trailers

Border Patrol agents in the Laredo sector in Texas arrested more than 160 illegal aliens in two tractor-trailer smuggling attempts, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

A canine alerted agents to the first group inside a tanker trailer after midnight on May 28. The agents scanned the tanker to find more than 50 people inside. All were in the United States illegally and were arrested on the spot.

The agents also arrested the driver, a U.S. citizen.

A canine had also alerted agents to the second trailer the next morning. The driver of the truck ignored an agents directions during an immigration check and sped away on I-35. Agents quickly stopped the vehicle to find 100 people inside, all illegal aliens. The aliens were from countries including Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic. The driver, a U.S. citizen, was also arrested.

Human smugglers continue to have no regard for the safety and health of the people they exploit for profit. Laredo Sector agents focus on the agencys enduring mission priorities of countering terrorism, combatting transnational crime, securing the border, facilitating lawful trade, protecting revenue, and facilitating lawful travel, CBP said in a news release.

Illegal aliens sit beside a tanker-trailer after being discovered and apprehended by Border Patrol agents, in a file photo. (CBP)

An increasing number of illegal aliens are evading Border Patrol. More than 42,000 illegal aliens evaded capture along the whole southern border in April. In addition to those who escape, many more slip through undetected.

After being apprehended at the border, illegal immigrants are processed by CBP to determine who they are and whether theyre subject to being immediately turned back under the current Title 42 public health provision.

Single adults from Spanish-speaking nations are almost all subject to immediate expulsion under Title 42, according to Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller. But Border Patrol is also encountering more illegal aliens from non-Spanish speaking nations, in particular Brazil and Haiti.

Of the 178,000 illegal immigrants encountered in April, around 62 percent were expelled quickly under Title 42, according to CBP data.

Of the remaining 68,000 people, the family units were released into the interior, unaccompanied minors were sent into Health and Human Services custody, and single adults from non-Spanish-speaking nations were handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Charlotte Cuthbertson contributed to this report.
Law enforcement personnel close off a road during an investigation of a shooting at Fire Station 81 in Santa Clarita, Calif., on June 1, 2021. (David Swanson/AP Photo)

California Firefighters Had Job Dispute Before Fatal Attack

SANTA CLARITA, Calif.A Los Angeles County firefighter appeared to have a longstanding job-related dispute with the colleague he shot and killed at their small, rural fire station in what became Californias second deadly workplace shooting in less than a week, authorities said Wednesday.

The gunman also wounded a fire captain at the station about 45 miles north of Los Angeles on Tuesday before setting his house on fire in a nearby community and apparently killing himself, officials said.

Preliminary interviews with other employees at Fire Station 81 indicate the shooter and the firefighter who was killed had some workplace beef, said Los Angeles County sheriffs Lt. Brandon Dean, who is overseeing the homicide investigation.

It sounds like they didnt like each other, Dean told The Associated Press, without elaborating about their problems.

He said investigators will comb through the Fire Departments personnel files to see if any official complaints had been made or disciplinary actions had been taken before the bloodshed. It was not immediately clear how long the two had worked together at the station in Agua Dulce, a rural community of about 3,000 people in the desert of northern Los Angeles County.

A fire engulfs a house and TV helicopter reporters said a body that may be the gunman was visible outside the home, in Acton, Calif., on June 1, 2021. (David Swanson/AP Photo)

The coroners office on Wednesday identified the firefighter who died as Tory Carlon. The 44-year-old fire specialist who drove the firetruck was shot several times in the upper torso, authorities said. He had three daughters and had been with the department for more than 20 years.

Hundreds of people honored him at a vigil Tuesday night at a park near the station, remembering him as a devoted father and committed firefighter who mentored younger colleagues.

The 54-year-old fire captain who was wounded was still in critical but stable condition. He is expected to survive his injuries, Dean said. Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the captain had previously been a deputy before transferring to the Fire Department.

Detectives believe the captain, who wasnt identified, heard the shooting and went to find the source of the gunfire, but it wasnt clear if he tried to intervene or the attacker turned the gun on him, Dean said. It was not immediately clear if the shooter also had a dispute with the wounded man.

Property records show that firefighter Jonathan Tatone owned the home that burned in the community of Acton, about 10 miles from the fire station. He bought it last July. Tatone is listed as a county firefighter since at least 2012, according to public payroll and pension records kept by Transparent California.

The coroners office has not officially identified him as the shooter, and an autopsy is pending. Fire Department officials on Wednesday did not release more details about his employment.

The gunman was off-duty when he went to the fire station and opened fire, authorities said. He then drove to his house and set it on fire. He was later found dead in an empty pool of a gunshot wound that appeared to be self-inflicted because nobody else was there and deputies didnt open fire, sheriffs officials said.

Investigators seized a handgun at the home they believe is linked to the shooting at the fire station.

Fire Chief Daryl Osby said the small stationone of 172 throughout Los Angeles Countyhas only four firefighters per shift and was considered a second home by employees who typically work 24 hours at a time.

As a fire chief, I never thought that when our firefighters face danger, that they would face danger in one of our community fire stations, Osby said.

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby talks during a news conference about a shooting at a local fire station in Santa Clarita, Calif., on June 1, 2021. (Stefanie Dazio/AP Photo)

Tuesdays shooting occurred less than a week after a man opened fire with three handguns at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus and rail yard in San Jose, killing nine of his co-workers and then himself as law enforcement closed in. He had rigged his home to burn down before heading to his longtime workplace last Wednesday.

Acquaintances said 57-year-old Samuel Cassidy had a short fuse at times and a longtime grudge against his workplace, but the exact motive for the shooting was under investigation. Body camera footage from a Santa Clara County sheriffs deputy who went into a building as shots were being fired was released Tuesday.

A new FBI report found that California had the most mass shooting incidents in the last 20 years.
Canadian and American flags fly near Ambassador Bridge at the Canada-U.S. border crossing in Windsor, Ont., on March 21, 2020, when the border was closed to non-essential travel. (The Canadian Press/Rob Gurdebeke)

Canadians Missing Loved Ones Want Border to Reopen

Having suffered over 14 months of separation, many Canadians are eagerly waiting for the U.S. border to reopen to renew relationships with friends and family, or to simply get back to travelling south of the border.

The Canada-U.S. border has been closed to non-essential travel since March 21, 2020. The current extension period is set to end on June 21, although that could change. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters on May 31 that Canada wont be rushed into reopening the border, saying well make our decisions based on the interests of Canadians and not based on what other countries want.

The United States seems more ready to open the gates. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas told Politico that border restrictions will begin to be lifted on June 22. In the same article, Liberal MP Wayne Easter acknowledged it was crucial to lay out a schedule so people could make summer plans.

Point Roberts, Washington, community newspaper All Points Bulletin reports that, although there has been no official word as yet, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer confirmed that the border will open without restrictions on June 22.

If that happens, it would be welcome news for Tom Metzner, a resident of Red Lake, Ont. He married his wife, Shara, from Mound City, Kansas, almost 40 years ago and the couple bought a second home in Kansas 29 years ago. They have spent winters there ever sinceexcept for this most recent one, during which Metzner said they were stranded in the Great White North.

With custody of a minor grandchild, we are unable to fulfill obligations for visits to her other grandparents and half-siblings. Its stupid and unfair, Metzner told The Epoch Times.

Last year, the pandemic kept both friends and walleye fishers from seeing the Metzners at Bull Moose Camp, a fly-in location the couple operates on Upper Goose Lake in northwestern Ontario. In April, the camps Facebook page called the timing for the border opening a multibillion-dollar question indeed.

As with last year, we have no choice but to hang on to the hope of a partial season and not just pull the plug on the whole summer. Saying that, my gut is already twisting with the feeling that by mid-August, well have to cancel it all, the post said.

Leslie Markel of Nanaimo, B.C., looks forward to an open border with both anticipation and urgency. My BFF and I used to take many trips down. She has now been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, Markel said of her 39-year-old friend.

We have been desperately wanting to take a trip together because time is of the essence. This year has been very hard on me, my best friend, and people around us who also spent a lot of time travelling. Freedom is essential.

University of Montana alumnus Wanda Wagner, who lives in Lacombe, Alberta, says she will both rejoice and mourn when she returns to her home state.

When the border opens, I can see my family who lives just on the other side. We can have a memorial service that is 15 months overdue. It is time. We lost our stepdad of 40 years, she said.

I live in Alberta, grew up in Montana. Both are so beautiful, Wagner added.

Wendy Enns lives near Baldur, Manitoba, a 30-minute drive from the North Dakota border. American loved ones who were once so close now seem far, far away, she says.

We have family in the U.S. and we have missed them and being a part of their lives. Its not right, Enns said.

Kids, grandkids, and lots of wonderful friends. We had a granddaughter graduate. We missed her whole senior year and grad. Makes a grandma cry. [Its] hard because we live right next to the border and we are used to missing nothing.

In Gull Lake, Saskatchewan, Samantha Allison yearns to see her extended family.

I havent seen my birth mom since Christmas of 2019. She hasnt been able to come and play with her granddaughter because of it. She has to watch her grow from far away. We normally see each other four or so times a year, Allison says.

And for my adopted family, I havent seen my brother or sister and their families for just as long either. My brother turned 50 and we didnt get to celebrate together. Its been so hard.

Allison said she would definitely be happy to see the border reopen.

I would certainly try to plan trips to the U.S. to see my family, or to host them here, depending on the situation.  It would depend on what restrictions are still in place, since the quarantine periods are still so long on both sides of the border.

Sue Spratt lives in Windsor, Ontario, and in normal circumstances could drive four hours to see her child and grandson in Ohio. We cant visit. Worse situation, Spratt said.

We winter in Florida. Went [by plane] on Dec. 30 and came home April 29, quarantining two weeks and all the other necessary stuff. Not worth all that to visit my grandson for a few days, she said.

We also sold our boat that we had for 20 years. We are in Windsor, across the border from Detroit, with access to so many American places that we enjoy. The past couple of boating seasons have not gone well. We cant even be in U.S. waters.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer mentioned the boating issue on May 20 when he called on the Department of Homeland Security to co-operate with Canada to reopen the border.

[W]ork with your Canadian counterparts to clarify the policy for boaters who traverse the border mid-transit, he said in a statement.

Boaters, including tour boat companies that cross the border without docking, do not increase the spread of COVID-19 and should not be unduly penalized by the border policy.
Former police officer Derek Chauvin listens as his defense attorney Eric Nelson gives closing arguments at the Hennepin County Courthouse, Minn., on April 19, 2021. (Court TV via AP, Pool)

Chauvin Seeks Probation for Floyd Killing, State Requests 30 Years for Ex-Cop

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin should only get probation, his lawyer said Wednesday, while prosecutors asserted he should be sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Chauvin was convicted in April of second-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter, and third-degree murder in the 2020 murder of George Floyd. Chauvin is due to be sentenced on June 25 at a courthouse in Minneapolis.

The former cop is particularly amenable to probation in part because of his age, 44, his lawyer argued in a memorandum.

The life expectancy of police officers is generally shorter, and police officers have a significantly higher average probability of death from specific diseases than did males in the general population. Mr. Chauvin is now forty-four years old and is nearing the healthier years of his life. He has been preliminarily diagnosed with heart damage and may likely die at a younger age like many ex-law enforcement officers, attorney Eric Nelson said in the 17-page filing.

Independent of the long-term damage a prison sentence would inflict upon Mr. Chauvins life prospects, given his age, convictions for officer-involved offenses significantly increase the likelihood of him becoming a target in prison. Such safety concerns are evident by his presentence solitary confinement in a high-security prison. This is also a fact that the Court is permitted to consider in the context of a mitigated dispositional departure, he added.

Chauvin is being held in solitary confinement in Minnesotas only maximum-security lockup, the Oak Park Heights prison in Stillwater, because of safety concerns, a state official told The Epoch Times previously.

Additionally, Chauvin should receive a light sentence because he had no legal issues before his arrest in the case, his attorney said. Further, the former officer has been completely cooperative with the Court in the case despite facing unparalleled public scorn and scrutiny, Nelson argued.

In this image from police body camera video George Floyd responds to police after they approached his car outside Cup Foods in Minneapolis, Minn., on May 25, 2020, as shown in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minn., on April 19, 2021. (Court TV via AP/Pool)

Nelson asked Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill to impose a strict probationary sentence along with time in jail equal to the period that Chauvin has already served.

If Nelson does decide to sentence Chauvin to more time in prison, then the convicted asked that the court departs from the sentencing guidelines.

Minnesota prosecutors, though, in a competing memorandum requested that the judge hand down a 30-year sentence.

This Court has already concluded that the facts proven beyond a reasonable doubt at trial support the existence of four separate aggravated sentencing factors: Defendant (i) abused a position of trust and authority; (ii) acted with particular cruelty; (iii) acted in concert with three other individuals who all actively participated in the crime; and (iv) committed the offenses in the presence of children, prosecutors with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellisons office said.

At sentencing, the Court should take the next step and hold that each of these aggravating factors supplies a substantial and compelling reason for imposing an aggravated sentence.

Under Minnesota law, Chauvin will be sentenced only for his most serious crime, second-degree murder. The presumptive sentencing range for the convicted is 128 to 180 months.

If Chauvin is sentenced to jail time, he will only spend two-thirds of the sentence behind bars. Per state law, he will be under supervised release for the rest of the time.

Cahill last month opened the door to a lengthier sentence in the case, agreeing with prosecutors that Chauvin treated Floyd with particular cruelty, that children were present during the time Chauvin was kneeling on Floyds neck and back, and that Chauvin committed the crime as a group with the active participation of at least three other persons.

No sentence can undo Mr. Floyds death, and no sentence can undo the trauma Defendants actions have inflicted. But the sentence the Court imposes must show that no one is above the law, and no one is below it, prosecutors wrote on Wednesday. Defendants sentence must hold him fully accountable for his reprehensible conduct.
Chicago police officers respond to shots fired near reports of rioting on West Madison Street near South Karlov Avenue on the West Side, of Chicago, on Aug. 10, 2020. (Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Chicago Police Union President Says New Foot Chase Policy Discourages Proactive Policing

CHICAGOPresident of Chicagos largest police union (Fraternal Order of Police) John Catanzara said Chicago Police Departments new foot chase policy is a de facto no foot chase policy.

In a video addressing his union members last Friday, Catanzara said foot chase is inherently dangerous and injuries could easily occur, such as when the offender steps into a pothole. If police officers could be subjected to disciplinary actions for offenders injuries, they might as well just not do it, he said.

No proactive policing going forward, unless you absolutely, on view, [see] a shooting or a violent felonythat is the only exception to that policy going forward, Catanzara said in the video.

Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown unveiled the new foot chase policy last Wednesday, in the wake of the fatal shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo by a Chicago police officer during a foot chase. The body camera footage showed the officer fired a shot into Toledos chest after Toledo dropped his gun and turned toward the officer.

The 12-page new policy was developed with input from both community and police officers, according to commander of policy and procedure at Chicago Police Department Mike Kapustianyk, who explained the policy to the general public at a Tuesday virtual webinar.

The community members asked for clear guidelines on what police officers cannot do on a foot chase, which resulted in several prohibitions for police officers in the new policy, such as they cannot pursue offenders for criminal offenses less than a Class A misdemeanor (such as drinking on the public way, simple assault or criminal trespass to land.)

For the police officers, they mostly asked for bright lines in the new policy. In our focus groups with officers, Kapustianyk said, [They said], please, tell us what we can do and what we cannot do.

Fraternal Order of Police wasnt consulted during the policy development, Catanzara told the Chicago Tribune. He said the union contract with the city dictated that they should be consulted, especially if a policy comes with potential for disciplinary actions against officers.

The overarching principle guiding the policy development is the sanctity of life, Kapustianyk said. It considers not only the safety of the offender, but also that of members of the public and that of the police officers.

About 15 percent of foot chase cases result in officer injuries, according to the executive director of Constitutional Policing and Reform at Chicago Police Department Robert Boik. He said at the virtual webinar that he hopes the new policy will result in less injuries of police officers.

The new foot chase policy comes in two major parts. One guides police officers on the pre-chase considerations, where they weigh the safety risk of a foot pursuit against the need to immediately apprehend the offender. Officers are asked to deescalate or consider other alternatives, such as to arrest later or wait for help, before they engage in a foot chase.

The other part guides police officers during a foot chase, asking them to activate their body cameras, notify the dispatcher, and always reassess the situations to look for an alternative to a continued foot chase.

The new foot chase policy, though still an interim policy at this stage, will become effective on June 11. Superintendent David Brown said at a press conference last week that he wanted it to take effect right away so officers could use these new practices during the typical summer violence spike in Chicago.

The community members can make anonymous recommendations to the policy through July 15, after which the Chicago Police Department will settle on a final foot chase policy.

Catanzara told the Chicago Tribune that his union is planning to challenge the new foot chase policy.
Pigs in a pen on the outskirts of Beijing.(Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinas Pig Farmers Brave Slumping Pork Prices, Possible Shutdown

Pig farmers in China are finding themselves in a financial pickle as the countrys pork prices slump, while unfavorable regime policies are making it difficult for farmers to sustain their businesses.

Earlier this year, Zhao Kai (a pseudonym)a hog farmer in Qiqihar, a city in the northern Heilongjiang Provincebought some piglets, each costing over 1,500 yuan (about $235). That investment has since become a burden, he told the Chinese-language Epoch Times in a recent interview.

When the [hog] price started to decline [earlier this year], everyone thought the decline was a fluke, and the price would turn around in a few days. Nobody expected that it would drop so quickly, he said.

Selling the pigs now would mean a loss of at least 600 yuan (about $94) per piglet, Zhao said, which is a difficult position because he must continue to spend money on feed. Whats more, if he cuts back on the pigs feed, they would certainly lose weight, which would affect their price in the future.

While hog prices fluctuated last year, they stayed at a high level, according to Chinese market data. However, in January, the prices of hogs and pork began to decline, leaving farmers like Zhao hoping for a resurgence in prices.

As of May 21, pork prices in 36 Chinese cities averaged 21.26 yuan (about $3.33) per 2.2 pounds (a kilogram), a drop of 27 percent from earlier in the year, according to Chinas National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Meanwhile, pig prices stood at 20.43 yuan ($3.20) per 2.2 pounds as of May 19, dropping 44 percent from the beginning of the year, according to NDRC.

The swine industry in China, the worlds biggest consumer and producer of pork, was devastated when the African swine fever hit in August 2018. The deadly virus eventually spread to all 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China by April 2019.

Chinese authorities responded by culling millions of hogs, sending hog prices skyrocketing in mid-2019. In September of that year, the NDRC and Chinas Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs began handing out one-off subsidies to pig farmers to build new farms or expand their existing operations, in an effort to boost the countrys pork supply, according to Chinas state-run media.

Other state-approved measures announced that month included ordering Chinese banks not to cut loans to pig farmers and slaughterhouses, according to Chinas state-run media.

Xinhua, in an article published on May 25, attributed declining pork prices to several reasons, including the continued recovery of the countrys hog production. Another reason was lower consumer demands due to warmer weather.

Beijing recently began to take forceful measures to curb the expansion of its swine industry.

Policies are being tightened now, unlike previous years when the [Chinese] government encouraged and supported [hog] farmers. Since there is no pork shortage anymore, regional governments have begun to demolish pig pens in the name of environmental protection, Zhao said.

On May 25, Chinas state-run broadcaster CCTV reported that Chinese authorities began cracking down on problematic agricultural tent farms, which are sometimes used by hog farmers to raise their pigs.

According to Chinese news portal NetEase, several provincial authorities, including those in Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Shandong, have shut some hog farms in their regions in May, while ordering other farms to close down this month.

Frank Fang contributed to the article.
Conservatives Call on Feds to Release Unredacted Documents Concerning Transfer of Viruses to Wuhan Lab

Tories are calling on the federal government to release unredacted documents concerning the removal of two Chinese scientists from Canadas highest-security laboratory and the transfer of deadly viruses to Chinas Wuhan laboratory.

Conservative Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Michael Chong submitted an opposition day motion Tuesday, urging the House of Commons to put its full weight to pressure the liberal government to release the unredacted documents on national security grounds.

We know that seven government scientists at the governments National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg collaborated with Chinese scientists on some of the worlds most dangerous viruses and pathogens. The scientists co-authored at least six studies from 2016 to 2020. We know that some of the research was paid for by Chinas government, and that some of the scientists were part of Chinas military, Chong said in Parliament.

Chong also mentioned scientist Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng, and several Chinese students who were escorted out of the National Microbiology Laboratory in 2019 amid a police investigation. Qiu had sent samples of deadly Ebola and Henipah viruses to China, and had travelled several times in official capacity to the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, which is part of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The government hasnt released the reason for expelling the scientists from the lab, citing confidentiality and privacy obligations.

We assume the government is ensuring the safety and security of Canadians until information comes to our attention that says otherwise, Chong said. When this happens, we have a responsibility to investigate, to obtain information, to find out exactly what happened in order to hold the government accountable, and to ensure that these mistakes are not repeated in the future.

However, the government hasnt been forthcoming in the investigation, according to Chong, adding that the Public Health Agency of Canada failed to submit the unredacted documents on March 31 and May 10 when the Commons Committee on Canada-China committee (CACN) requested them.

In both cases, we were careful to ensure that any documents received would be reviewed by the committee in camera with the law clerk to prevent anything injurious to national security, and any details of an ongoing criminal investigation from being made public.

But the government has failed to comply with both the committees orders, and that brings us to today, he added.

Conservative Leader Erin OToole said the federal government is keeping Canadians in the dark.

We dont know how scientists with ties to the Chinese military received multiple security clearances. We dont know how the scientists got approval to send virus samples to China as the world commits to investigating the source of the coronavirus. Why is this liberal government covering things up? he asked.

Bloc MP Stephane Bergeron suggested the federal government is trying to hide something.

But we can begin to understand is that theres a certain cavalier attitude from the government when were trying to deepen our understanding of what happened, he said. Information is not being provided by invoking fallacious reasons that really dont hold up.

The motion, if adopted, will see the CACN summoning Health Minister Patty Hajdu to appear before the committee.
This photo shows volunteers setting up a tent as residents prepare to receive nucleic acid tests for COVID-19 in Guangzhou in China's southern Guangdong province, China. May 30, 2021. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

COVID-19 Spreads in Chinas Guangdong Province, Cities in Semi-Lockdown

The COVID-19 outbreak has quickly worsened in Chinas southern Guangdong Province, where two cities have been put in semi-lockdown because of virus variants.

On June 1, the provincial capital Guangzhou city announced that 38 areas of the city of 15.3 million people were under total lockdown, while suspending individual vaccinations city wide. Two neighborhoods have been upgraded to high-risk areas, while two more areas were identified as medium-risk areas.

Meanwhile, cases of infection have been reported in the nearby megacity of Shenzhen, Foshan city that has 7 million people, and Maoming city with a population of 8 million.

Since June 1, outbound travel has been restricted from Guangzhou and Foshan. With more neighborhoods under lockdown, residents are having difficulty getting food and supplies.

The Epoch Times obtained a video showing communities in Foshan under lockdown.

On May 31, 12 new local cases were reported in Guangzhou, which brought the total number of infections in this round of outbreak in the city to 42, while 6 local cases were reported in Foshan and 1 case reported in Maoming.

According to the Guangzhou city governments announcement, the entire area of Zhongnan Street in Liwan District, and the 37 epidemic spots were put in total lockdown. Residents are not allowed to leave their homes, and schools and shops are all closed. The notice stated that in any area of the city, once a new case is found, the same lockdown measure will be implemented immediately.

On June 2, Guangzhou epidemic prevention officials announced that Baihedong Street and Zhongnan Street in Liwan District were upgraded to high-risk areas, while a community in Panyu District, and one in Haizhu District were added as medium-risk areas.

On May 31, Guangzhou Deputy Mayor Li Ming said at a press conference that individual vaccinations were suspended city wide. Only group vaccination appointments for essential personnel would be accepted. Li explained that the suspension was to reduce the risk of group infection, meanwhile allowing authorities to concentrate medical resources on large-scale COVID-19 nucleic acid testing.

Wont the large-scale nucleic acid testing cause group infection too? Chinese netizens asked. There must be other reasons to stop the vaccination, and they just dont want to let people know.

Spreading to Other Cities, Outbound Travel Restricted

The outbreak spread to the nearby Foshan city, when the first 4 cases were reported on May 28, which were related to a dim sum restaurant cluster in Guangzhou. A neighborhood in Chancheng District was upgraded to a medium-risk area on May 31.

On June 1, Foshan reported 3 more locally transmitted cases.

On June 1, Shenzhen reported 2 more cases in Yantian District, bringing the total number of infected in this round in the city to 15 cases.

On the same day, Shenzhen Airport announced that all passengers who are residents of Guangzhou and Foshan must have a green health QR code on their phones and a negative nucleic acid test certificate within 72 hours to depart from Shenzhen Airport.

Outbound travel restrictions have been implemented in Guangzhou since 10 pm on May 31, requesting the green health code and negative test result in 72 hours to take airplanes, trains, buses, and to drive private cars to leave the city.

Foshan implemented the same travel restrictions on June 1.

As of 10:00 am on June 1, more than 660 flights have been canceled at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, almost half of all flights.

Cities in Semi-lockdown, Food Supply Issues

Since June 1, several more areas in Chancheng District and Nanhai District in Foshan city have been put under total lockdown. Residents are forbidden from leaving their homes. Deliveries including food and groceries are not allowed in the locked-down areas.

Wang Qiang (alias), a resident in Guicheng Street of Nanhai District in Foshan, told The Epoch Times that their community was sealed off on May 28, and they could only enter but cannot exit. Our apartment doors and the unit doors are also sealed off. Anyway, all the doors in the community are sealed.

Limited rationed food in Guangzhou Steel New City community. June 1, 2021. Provided by the interviewee.

Earlier, the officials announced that the more deadly Indian variant of the virus was spreading in Guangzhou and Foshan. Some communities have been locked down for several days already. A resident in Guangzhou told the Epoch Times that the Guangzhou Steel New City has been sealed off for three days, but the food supply has been very slow. Now it is unknown how long the lockdown will last. The rationed food provided by the government cost 50 yuan ($8) with only a few simple vegetables, instant noodles, and a little meat.

Many netizens complained on the Chinese social media site Weibo about the difficulties under lockdown. One posted, I cant get out at all, even though I have a pass. I cant go out to buy food, I can only continue to eat my instant noodles!

Luo Ya and Ling Yun contributed to this report.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 13:40:22|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

Photo taken on Jan. 6, 2021 shows the packing line for inactivated COVID-19 vaccine of Sinovac Biotech, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company, in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)

The approval of the two Chinese vaccines, at a time when the world is still struggling to contain the virus with many countries and regions in dire need of vaccines, will help China make greater contribution to the global fight against the pandemic, said experts.



by Xinhua writers Chen Wenxian, Fu Yiming and Zuo Wei

GENEVA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) validated on Tuesday the CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac for emergency use, which made it the second Chinese vaccine included in the WHO Emergency Use Listing after the previous one developed by another Chinese manufacturer Sinopharm.

Experts believe the approval of the two Chinese vaccines, at a time when the world is still struggling to contain the virus with many countries and regions in dire need of vaccines, will help China make greater contribution to the global fight against the pandemic.





BROADER PORTFOLIO OF VACCINES

According to the WHO, 352,685 new cases were reported on June 1 across the world, bringing the global tally to 170,426,245, while COVID-19 deaths worldwide reached 3,548,628. As of May 31, a total of 1,579,416,705 vaccine doses had been administered.

The WHO's announcement on Tuesday about the validation of the Sinovac vaccine is good news for the whole world, especially for countries that are in serious shortage of vaccines. Earlier last month, the Sinopharm vaccine, an inactivated vaccine, was validated by the WHO for emergency use.

"The Sinovac-CoronaVac product is an inactivated vaccine. Its easy storage requirements make it very manageable and particularly suitable for low-resource settings," said a statement issued by the WHO.

A nurse prepares the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac in Bangkok, Thailand, May 31, 2021. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

"The world desperately needs multiple COVID-19 vaccines to address the huge access inequity across the globe," WHO Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines and Health Products Mariangela Simao said in the statement. "We urge manufacturers to participate in the COVAX Facility, share their knowhow and data and contribute to bringing the pandemic under control."

Delegates who attended the just-concluded 74th World Health Assembly (WHA) also called for increasing vaccine supply and ensuring fair access to vaccines for countries around the world, especially low-income countries.

Following the WHO's announcement of the validation of the Sinovac vaccine, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted that the vaccine is widely used in Turkey, and "we will continue to bring every vaccine with proven safety and effectiveness to our citizens."

Turkey began its vaccination drive with China's Sinovac vaccine on Jan. 14, with priority given to healthcare professionals and the elderly. Until the beginning of April, the country had solely used Sinovac's jabs.

The WHO's authorization of the Sinovac vaccine for emergency use is "very positive," Lu Mengji, professor at the Institute of Virology of the University Hospital of Essen in Germany, told Xinhua. "It will play an important role in the global fight against the pandemic."





WIDER UTILIZATION

The Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines, which have already been used in many countries and regions across the world, are playing an important role in the global anti-pandemic fight.

China has provided COVID-19 vaccines as public goods by offering medical assistance to 80 countries, exporting vaccines to 43 countries and supplying 300 million doses of vaccines worldwide, said Chinese delegate Yang Feng at the WHA.

Airport staff members unload the first batch of Chinese Sinovac vaccine raw materials from a plane at the Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Egypt, May 21, 2021. (Xinhua/Sui Xiankai)

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic expressed her gratitude for the delivery of millions of doses "in the shortest possible time" when her country welcomed the eighth flight carrying Chinese vaccines last week, a huge boost to the Balkan country's vaccination campaign.



"We are very grateful to China and the Chinese people for enormous support and help, for the vast quantity of vaccines that we received," said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic when he received the second dose of the Sinopharm vaccine on April 27.

Hungary, the first European Union (EU) member state to buy and authorize the use of Chinese vaccines, has a leading vaccination rate among EU countries thanks to Chinese and Russian COVID-19 vaccines, Zoltan Kovacs, international spokesman for the Hungarian government and secretary of state for international communication and relations, told Xinhua.

This is extremely valuable at a time when every dose of vaccine is eagerly awaited not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) but all over the world, said BiH's Minister of Civil Affairs Ankica Gudeljevic when receiving a batch of China-donated Sinopharm vaccine in late April.

China has also shown great concern about the epidemic situation in Africa, and has already donated vaccines to many countries on the continent.

At a recent United Nations Security Council meeting, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China has been a staunch supporter of Africa in the COVID-19 fight.

China has been, and is, providing vaccines to more than 30 African countries on the basis of their urgent need, said Wang.





GREATER CONTRIBUTION

In his speech at the 74th WHA opening, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries worldwide to share vaccine doses now and fast to COVAX, the WHO-led initiative for equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines around the world.

China has already decided to offer 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to COVAX, a concrete step to deliver on its promise to make vaccines a global public good. It has also called for a rejection of vaccine nationalism to make vaccines more accessible to and affordable for developing countries.

For example, China has recently agreed with Egypt on establishing a Chinese vaccine production line in the country. The first batch of the raw materials to manufacture the Sinovac vaccine arrived at the Cairo International Airport on May 21.

It is believed that the WHO's validation of China's two vaccines will further help the global fight against the pandemic, and boost confidence in defeating the virus through international cooperation.

For countries with limited resources of medical technology, inactivated vaccines like the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines have a great advantage when it comes to putting into use, said Lu, the professor in Germany.

"The higher the trust in the vaccines available on the market, the quicker the world can advance to its goal of a high global protection against the COVID-19 pandemic," said Neville Calleja, head of the Department of Public Health at the University of Malta.

"The quicker this is achieved, the less the time available for the virus to mutate ... As for the variants that occur, it is increasingly clear that collaboration between manufacturers is key for the creation of boosters later on," Calleja told Xinhua. Enditem

(Xinhua reporters Chen Junxia in Geneva, Zhang Xiuzhi in Sarajevo, Shi Zhongyu in Belgrade, Yuan Liang in Budapest, Zhang Jiawei in London, and Lin Jing in Copenhagen also contributed to the story.)
Melanie Stansbury addresses supporters after winning the election in New Mexico's 1st Congressional District race to fill former U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland's seat, at the Hotel Albuquerque in Albuquerque, N.M., on June 1, 2021. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Democrat Wins Special Election for New Mexico Congressional Seat

Democrats have retained a congressional seat representing part of New Mexico, filling a vacancy that arose when the officeholder left to join President Joe Bidens administration.

Democratic nominee Melanie Ann Stansbury won the race for New Mexicos 1st Congressional District, according to the final tally of a June 1 special election to fill the vacant seat. Stansbury received 79,208 votes, more than 32,000 ahead of Republican candidate Mark David Moores.

Its a good day to be a New Mexican because tonight New Mexico delivered for our people, delivered for our communities, and delivered for the United States of America, Stansbury told a crowd during an election night celebration.

Stansbury, a state representative who formerly served in the Obama administration, ran on a platform that included tackling climate change, protecting land and water, and pushing for universal health care.

Democrats sent a clear message during this election that were not taking anything for granted when it comes to electing leaders who truly represent our values. While the GOP relied on fear mongering and lies, Democrats were building an expansive field program and working to get out the vote. We know the importance of electing strong Democrats like Melanie Stansbury, and we will continue to build on that momentum as we look toward 2022, Jessica Velasquez, chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, said in a statement.

Republicans painted Stansbury as an anti-police candidate who would cut funding for law enforcement, noting her support for the BREATHE Act.

This would actually defund police and prisons and all punishment paradigms, Moores, a state senator, said during a recent appearance on Fox News, calling the act the most radical legislation promoted in Washington.

New Mexico 1st Congressional District GOP candidate Mark Moores awaits results of the special election at GOP headquarters, in Albuquerque, N.M., on June 1, 2021. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)

The Republican told voters he would support law enforcement, help safely reopen New Mexico, and protect jobs in the state.

The race was held several months after former Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) vacated the seat to become Bidens interior secretary.

Democrats have held the 1st Congressional seat since 2009, and the district has gone for Democratic presidential candidates for an even longer span.

Republicans missed an opportunity to cut into the narrow margin of control Democrats have in the House of Representatives. Once Stansbury is sworn in, the majority will grow to 220-211, with four vacancies still needing to be filled.

Candidates are running to replace former Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), who also joined the Biden administration; late Reps. Ron Wright (R-Texas) and Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.); and former Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), who resigned to become president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
Quebec Economy and Innovation Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon responds to the opposition during question period at the National Assembly in Quebec City, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. (The Canadian Press/Jacques Boissinot)

Ethics Commissioner Calls for Suspension of Quebec Economy Minister Over Conflict

Quebecs ethics commissioner is recommending that Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon be suspended from the provincial legislature over an ongoing conflict of interest.

Ariane Mignolet says in a report tabled today that Fitzgibbon has repeatedly refused to follow the conflict of interest provisions of the ethics code for elected members by continuing to hold shares in two companies that do business with the government, ImmerVision, and White Star Capital Canada.

Mignolet is recommending that Fitzgibbon be suspended from the legislature until he either divests himself of those shares or resigns from his role as a cabinet minister and places those shares in a blind trust.

The suspension would have to be approved by the national assembly, in which the governing Coalition Avenir Quebec holds a majority of seats.

Fitzgibbon was absent from the legislatures sitting this morning.

Fitzgibbon has faced four investigations by the ethics commissioner, and in November he became the first Quebec cabinet minister to be censured by the members of the legislature for ethics violations.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is seen before receiving his first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Md., on Dec. 22, 2020. (Patrick Semansky/Pool via Reuters)

Fauci in 2020: Masks From Drug Stores Not Really Effective Against CCP Virus

A top U.S. medical adviser during the Trump and Biden administrations told a woman in early 2020 that masks one buys from drug stores had little effectiveness against the virus that causes COVID-19.

The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through the material, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the woman in an email dated Feb. 5, 2020.

COVID-19 is a disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

Fauci also told the woman, Sylvia Burwell, that masks are really for infected people to prevent them from spreading infection to people who are not infected rather than protecting uninfected people from acquiring infections.

I do not recommend that you wear a mask, particularly since you are going to a ve[r]y low risk location. Your instincts are correct, money is best spent on medical countermeasures such as diagnostics and vaccines, he added.

The email was one of the thousands obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by BuzzFeed News. The outlet published the emails online. Faucis agency did not respond to a request for comment.

Other messages also dealt with masks.

Also in February 2020, Fauci told a Greek reporter that the vast majority of people outside of China do not need to wear a mask, adding, A mask is more appropriate for someone who is infected than for people trying to protect against infection.

In several emails, Fauci indicated that healthcare workers should wear N95 masks, which are much better than regular masks.

Anthony Fauci, director of NIAID and chief medical advisor to the President, testifies at a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 15, 2021. (Amr Alfiky/Pool/Getty Images)

Transmission is similar to influenza: respiratory droplets and likely a bit more as aerosol than with influenza. People can transmit even when they are asymptomatic, he told Robert Geller, vice president at the FHN Family Healthcare Center in Illinois, on March 1.

However, as late as April 16, he told a hospital that they should not require workers to don masks.

I would keep the policy voluntary but I would encourage employees to wear them, he said.

About two weeks earlier, he told somebody else that perhaps universal wearing of masks [is] the most practical way to go.

On April 3, Fauci and other federal officials reversed earlier guidance and recommended the general public wear masks whenever leaving their homes.

They said the change was because of new research that indicated a significant portion of COVID-19 patients did not have symptoms but could still spread the CCP virus.

Fauci later said he told Americans not to wear masks in general in early 2020 because there was a lack of supply at the time.

We were concerned the public health community, and many people were saying this, were concerned that it was at a time when personal protective equipment, including the N95 masks and the surgical masks, were in very short supply, he told The Street.

And we wanted to make sure that the people namely, the health care workers, who were brave enough to put themselves in a harm way, to take care of people who you know were infected with the coronavirus and the danger of them getting infected.

Fauci earlier this year defended comments he made in March 2020, including telling Americans they should not be walking around wearing a mask. He said officials were told that there was a mask shortage and if we went around recommending masks, the health care providers putting themselves in harms way every single day would not have enough.

The emails have triggered fresh criticism of Fauci, a prominent member of former President Donald Trumps White House Coronavirus Task Force and one of President Joe Bidens top medical advisers.

Some officials have called for Fauci to be investigated over his agencys funding of a Chinese laboratory that is situated near where COVID-19 was first identified. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Fauci should be fired over what was shown in the messages.

A watchdog group, meanwhile, is seeking more emails from Fauci in the wake of the release.
Grounded Air Canada planes sit on the tarmac at Pearson International Airport during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette)

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland Says Feds Will Voice Concerns to Air Canada Over Executive Bonuses

OTTAWAFinance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the government will voice its concerns about Air Canada doling out millions in bonuses to its executives as the company was negotiating a federal bailout.

Freeland says she is disappointed there are some businesses that seem not to be behaving as responsible corporate citizens while receiving taxpayerfunded federal aid to survive the pandemic.

In April, the airline and government agreed to a $5.9 billion loan package that includes money to help refund passenger tickets, but also capped executive compensation at $1 million until 12 months after the loan is fully repaid.

The government also paid $500 million for a six percent stake in the countrys biggest airline, which Freeland says was done to ensure taxpayers could benefit once Air Canadas revenue rose once regular travel resumed.

Air Canada disclosed in its annual proxy circular to shareholders that it gave $10 million in bonuses to people the investor called instrumental to the airlines survival over the past year.

Freeland made the comments during a call with reporters where she outlined the details of a new federal program to help eligible companies rehire laid-off staff by underwriting part of the payroll.
Florida Gov. DeSantis: Faucis Role in Gain of Function Research Should Be Fully Investigated

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director (NIAID) Anthony Fauci should be investigated amid reports that the agency conducted gain of function research into viruses and pointed to Fauci having given confusing or contradictory information in public comments over the past year.

DeSantis was asked on Tuesday by Breitbart News about Faucis role, he suggested that an investigation is warranted.

I do think his role with this gain of function research is something that absolutely needs to be fully investigated and vetted, and what U.S. money that he or any of his colleagues may have sent over to this Wuhan lab. And then obviously, we should validate the labthat it [the virus] leaked from the lab, the Republican governor said in reference to the claim that the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2019.

The Epoch Times has contacted the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for comment regarding DeSantiss recent statement.

The P4 laboratory on the campus of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, in Chinas central Hubei Province, on May 27, 2020. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

You know, [it] probably was the most plausible last year too, although people like Fauci were saying its natural. They did not have the information to say that it was natural. That was conjecture on their part, DeSantis said of the Wuhan lab theory.

Fauci and other health experts who downplayed the claim have not been able to do the linking to say that it was natural, the governor said, adding that he really should be held accountable if he sent money over to that lab.

Faucis agency has said the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provided some funding to the Wuhan lab, which is the only P4-level research facility in China. Fauci, in a recent congressional hearing, denied the funding was for gain of function research which refers to efforts to alter an organism such as a bacteria or virus that increases pathogenesis, transmissibility, or host range.

National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, in a May 19 statement, decried misinformation that was being spread about its support of specific gain of function research.

For years, Collins stated, his agency has supported grants to learn more about viruses lurking in bats and other mammals that have the potential to spill over to humans and cause widespread disease but neither NIH nor NIAID have ever approved any grant that would have supported gain-of-function research on coronaviruses that would have increased their transmissibility or lethality for humans.

Although Fauci has been largely praised by corporate media outlets throughout the pandemic, hes faced increased criticism in recent days for what some have said are unclear comments and predictions during media interviews.

The new comments from DeSantis also come as numerous emails from Fauci were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, including one sent last year where he said store-bought masks wont be effective in containing COVID-19.

Masks are really for infected people to prevent them from spreading infection to people who are not infected rather than protecting uninfected people from acquiring infection, he said in response to a question in February 2020. He noted that the typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through material.
A journalist reads the latest copy of Forbes magazine at a press conference to announce the magazine's list of China's 400 wealthiest people in Beijing on Nov. 2, 2006. (Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images)

Forbes, Owned by Shadowy Hong Kong Group, Should Sell to US Citizens

Commentary

Forbes, which is currently majority-owned by a shadowy Hong Kong company, is currently being considered for purchase by a group of U.S. companies, including some that rightly want to see Forbes under U.S. ownership. The Hong Kong company, called Integrated Whale Media, has owned the majority of Forbes since 2014, raising questions about foreign influence over U.S. media and the effect that might have on American democracy.

The chief executive officer of Borderless Services Inc., a blockchain holding group, gave an interview to Cointelegraph, published on June 1, in which he revealed a political interest in purchasing Forbes. We are excited to participate either as owners, partners, or [a] combined force with the other bidders, wrote Patrick McConlogue. Collectively we all want Forbes back under US ownership and are excited about the next 100 years of Forbes.

McConlogue is a hero. But U.S. companies should not have to compete against foreign companies to keep American media, American. We could make laws or establish policy to help American investors own American media by disallowing foreign companies, and foreign citizens, to buy American media.

A special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) and a consortium that Michael Moe, the technology investor, leads, are also reportedly interested in purchasing Forbes. Moe is the founder and CEO of GSV Ventures. The SPAC would make Forbes a publicly-traded company (foreigners could be shareholders), while the other buyers would keep it private.

Borderless Services bid $700 million for Forbes, with debt financing from Ares Management Corp, according to an April report from Reuters. Borderless plans to create new value by installing a new management team and a Forbes digital wallet that would provide cryptocurrency products to users for their management of digital currencies.

Integrated Whale Media currently owns 95 percent of Forbes, with only 5 percent still owned by the Forbes family. B.C. Forbes founded the company in 1917. Its ownership by a Hong Kong company, with Hong Kong increasingly under Chinese Communist Party influence, is sadly ironic given Forbes traditional support for capitalism, entrepreneurship, and the magazines famous billionaires list. Forbes claims to reach greater than 140 million people in 40 global editions, which is a lot of influence over American voters.

According to my sources, the company in approximately 2017 ended the contracts of at least three writers who were critical of China, including Gordon Chang and (full disclosure) myself. Changs case is particularly disturbing as the company removed his prior articles from its website, an unusual move by a media company.

That same year, the Chinese conglomerate HNA Group made an unsuccessful bid for majority ownership of Forbes. That HNA sought to purchase an influential American media company should set off alarm bells in Washington, D.C. At the very least, President Biden should direct the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to review and reject such attempts at foreign control of our media.

The influence that the U.S. media has over voters, and thus over American democracy, is too great to leave entirely to the market, which is increasingly China-centric. Chinas economy exceeded the American economy (by purchasing power parity) in 2016. If not defended against through new legislation, that increasing economic power translates into political power in Washington.

In order to maintain the integrity of American information flows, and thus the integrity of American democracy, there should be laws against foreign ownership of U.S. media. While some private family owners of U.S. media have long maintained the integrity of their brands, the case of Forbes selling to a foreign company close to communist China is a case in point for the necessity of a law mandating American ownership of all of Americas most influential media companies. Owners of American media should by law be solely U.S. citizens, not those with dual citizenship.

When American democracy is at stake, we must take stronger measures to ensure the integrity of trusted information flows to our voters. Keep American media American.

Anders Corr has a bachelors/masters in political science from Yale University (2001) and a doctorate in government from Harvard University (2008). He is a principal at Corr Analytics Inc., publisher of the Journal of Political Risk, and has conducted extensive research in North America, Europe, and Asia. He authored The Concentration of Power (forthcoming in 2021) and No Trespassing, and edited Great Powers, Grand Strategies.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Formerly Homeless Man Gets Job, Reunites With Dog He Had to Surrender: A Better Life

A formerly homeless man has had an emotional reunion with the dog he had to surrender after falling on hard times.

Ryan Hamilton gave up his beloved dog named Dakota to the Tampa Bay Humane Society in Florida when he realized he could no longer care for her. In a social media statement, the shelter said it was an excruciating decision for Hamilton.

Wanting the best for her, he brought her to us in hopes that shed find a better life, they wrote.

Yet Dakota sat patiently at the shelter, waiting for an adoptive family, for weeks. Nobody came. Describing her as wonderful and friendly, shelter staffers were puzzled as to why she was being overlooked.

When a special call came in on April 27, they chalked it up to fate.

Hamilton had found a place to live and a new job and was calling with the slimmest sliver of hope that the shelter still had his beloved pet. Staffers were delighted to answer in the affirmative and reunite the two.

Upon meeting, said the shelter, Dakota absolutely squealed with delight and ran straight into Hamiltons arms. Hamilton was moved to tears, and before long there wasnt a dry eye in sight.

Responding in the social medias comments section, Hamilton said that Dakota was his best friend for six years.

[The] hardest thing Ive ever had to do was give her up, and somehow nobody picked my angel, he wrote.

Understanding that rebuilding his life will be a process, the shelter gifted Hamilton a brand-new leash and collar for Dakota, plus six months worth of preventative medication.

Hundreds left comments in support of the reunification, praising the shelter for helping out a man in need and the dog he loved the most.

God has a way of working things out, wrote one person.

Thats the reason she didnt get adopted!! There were bigger and better plans in the making for her!! How sweet!! So glad they were reunited!! wrote another.

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
Giving Parents the Choice

Commentary

With widespread school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the debate over school choice has once again taken center stage.

For the past seven years, approximately two-thirds of Americans have consistently supported school choice. Additionally, support is largely bipartisan, with 82 percent of Republicans, 69 percent of Independents, and 55 percent of Democrats in favor of school choice.

The positive impact of access to quality education is clear. As President Donald Trump said during his State of the Union Address on Feb. 4, 2020, The next step forward in building an inclusive society is making sure that every young American gets a great education and the opportunity to achieve the American Dream.

First, however, students need to be encouraged to stay in school. Numerous studies have shown that school choice programs increase graduation rates among participating students. For example, students in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, a program that gives private school scholarships to students from low-income families, increased their graduation rates by 21 percent. A similar program in Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, increased the likelihood of graduation and college enrollment by 4 to 7 percent.

Initiatives such as education savings accounts, school vouchers, and tax-credit scholarship programs give low- and middle-income parents the opportunity to choose the best schools for their children. According to a January 2021 survey by Beck Research for the American Federation for Children, 74 percent of respondents support school vouchers that allow low- and middle-income families to send their children to schools of their choosing. Additionally, 55 percent of the respondents with children in public schools would prefer different schools for their children.

Parents often know what type of education is best for their children, however many dont have the financial means to send their children to private schools. School choice programs support socio-economic and racial integration within school communities by giving children from different backgrounds the opportunity to learn, grow, and succeed at schools that meet their needs and align with their values.

Florida, for example, has seen great success with school choice programs. Recently, Governor Ron DeSantis signed transformational legislation that will significantly expand school choice opportunities for Florida students. This legislation creates historical levels of flexibility in both schooling and educational services for millions of low income families and families of students with unique abilities, DeSantis said. As we have seen for more than 20 years now, these scholarship programs have elevated so many children and families.

Florida also has the nations largest tax-credit scholarship program that helps more than 100,000 students from low-income families attend the schools of their choosing. Sixty-seven percent of these students are black or Hispanic.

For the majority of parents in Floridas tax-credit scholarship program, character development is an important factor in choosing schools for their children. In a survey, parents were asked to name the top three factors that affected their school choice. Sixty-six percent of parents responded that religious education and instruction influenced their decision, while morals, character, and values influenced the decision of 52 percent.

There are more than 30,000 private schools in the United States. Sixty-seven percent of these schools have a religious affiliation or religious orientation. Opponents of school choice often argue programs that enable students to attend religious-affiliated schools are unconstitutional and violate the establishment and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment.

In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled favorably on Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue. This was an historic decision that protected the rights of families participating in school choice programs to choose religious education for their children. As former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos remarked, This decision represents a turning point in the sad and static history of American education, and it will spark a new beginning of education that focuses first on students and their needs.

School choice programs give students more opportunities to receive the education they desire. But more importantly, these programs give families the freedom to choose the type of education that is best for their children and ultimately the knowledge, skills, and values they need to succeed.

From Gingrich360.com.

Callista Louise Gingrich is a businesswoman, author, documentary film producer, and diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See from 2017 to 2021.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
High School Valedictorians Speech Censored for Being Very Christianized

A valedictorians speech in a Michigan high school is being canceled over concern that it is very Christianized, according to a letter (pdf) from First Liberty Institute.

First Liberty, a nonprofit law firm dedicated to defending religious liberty, is representing graduating senior student at John Glenn High School, Savannah Lefler. She submitted her speech on May 19 to the speech coordinator for the schools Honors Night. It is critical of certain philosophies and maintained that [t]he purpose of life is to live a life devoted to Christ.

Michael Wegher, the schools principal, wrote in an email to Lefler that the school needs to be inclusive and respectful of other beliefs.

We have a diverse student body and staff. It is one of the things I love about the John Glenn community, he wrote.

That diversity goes well beyond race and ethnicity, it certainly would include religious beliefs as well. We have students and staff who would identify as Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindi, Sikh, Jehovahs Witness, atheist, etc. We must be inclusive and respectful of their beliefs as well, the principal added.

With this said, we do need to see a revision that sticks to a non-secular [sic] approach. I am not opposed to thanking God for the great honor bestowed upon you, but we cannot take the approach that is currently laid out in your speech. I look forward to what you will come up with to honor this outstanding community to which we all belong and to honor your accomplishments.

In the letter directed to Wegher by First Liberty, titled Unconstitutional Censorship of Religious Speech, the attorneys bring up that there was a portion of the speech that was rejected to avoid offending others who might disagree with the students way of thinking.

The problem, you explained, was the next portion of the speech in which Ms. Lefler explains her personal belief that the purpose of life is to live a life devoted to Christ. You explained that this portion was very Christianized and needed to be changed in order to not offend people with other viewpoints, the attorneys write.

The Epoch Times reached out to Wegher for comment.

Leflers speech read in part: So, what is the goal for our future generation? It ultimately reflects the purpose of life. What is our purpose? The philosopher Plato says that our purpose is to obtain the highest end of knowledge. Charles Darwin claims that it is to be the most fit for survival. Various religions claim that it is to be a good person. 

In reflecting on this question, I read a book entitled, Dont waste your life. In it, Rev. Piper recalled a story of an old man weeping, Oh, how Ive wasted it! The mans remorse is a reflection of his past. He recognizes the folly that his life had become. This is why, students, I want to urge you not to waste your life. Seek the truth. But how is this possible? Id argue that the philosophies listed above are wrong.
Kinney County Constable Steve Gallegos and Kinney County SheriffOs deputies arrest a smuggler and seven illegal aliens from Guatemala near Brackettville, Texas, on May 25, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Human Smuggling Leading to Pursuits, Bailouts, Crashes, School Lockdowns

UVALDE, TexasA smuggler traveling at 140 mph races through town and crashes through a building in Uvalde, Texas. Another one drives onto a softball field in Crystal City, with children playing nearby.

In Del Rio, eight illegal aliens die after crashing head-on into another vehicle during a pursuit. Further east, in Lavaca County, a pickup truck carrying 18 to 20 illegal aliens crashes into a tree and bursts into flames.

In Kinney County, a smuggler fires an AK-47 out the vehicle window while fleeing from law enforcement, then passes the weapon to an illegal alien in the backseat to reload.

Many of the vehicles that smugglers are using to transport illegal aliens are stolen, and the unsuspecting owners wont get them backtheyve been used in the commission of a crime.

If illegal aliens make it past Border Patrol at the U.S.Mexico border, their goal is to get north to a large city as quickly as possible.

The average number of illegal aliens that Border Patrol detects evading capture along the southern border is about 1,000 per day. The number of those who go undetected is impossible to estimate.

While Uvalde sits about 65 miles north of the border, many roads converge in the town and high-speed chases with vehicles loaded with illegal immigrants have become a daily occurrence. And lured by the promise of quick cash, many U.S. citizens are providing transportation.

Chasesthats something that weve never seen, Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco told The Epoch Times.

Its nonstop. Day after day, from sunup to sundown. Our deputies, our state troopers, our police officers, theyre just frustrated, theyre tired.

Todays illegal aliens are more violent than in previous years and will fight with law enforcement, Nolasco said. His deputies are also finding weapons in most of the smuggling vehicles they stop.

And some of these traffickers have been found with 100-round drums [of ammunition] on their weapons, he said.

Theres always been a problem with [illegal] immigration, but nothing like this. Were like a welcome mat. Theyre going to come in here and scrape the mud off on us and then they start going up to the bigger cities. And then, they can blend in and you wont have access to them.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott deployed more state troopers to the border region in March, and Nolasco said it has helped, although it also has created a bottleneck in his jail.

Its getting to the point that its filling up my jail, so thats becoming a problem, Nolasco said on May 26.

Abbott issued a state of disaster declaration on June 1, which includes a directive to the Texas Department of Public Safety to ramp up its efforts in enforcing federal and state laws regarding offenses such as criminal trespassing, smuggling, and human trafficking. He also asked the states Commission on Jail Standards to revise its standards to provide for more capacity in jails that have been operating under strict COVID-19 protocols.

Counties have been declaring local disasters since April 21.

48 School Lockdowns

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said local schools have been forced into frequent lockdowns in the past several months due to bailouts of illegal immigrants.

We had a minimum of 48 different campus closures in Uvalde and five in Batesville during the spring semester. We had to hire off-duty officers for security at Anthon, McLaughlin said the school superintendent told him. They drive in and they bail out right by the schools.

A bailoutnow a common term in counties near the borderusually occurs when law enforcement is attempting to pull over a suspected smuggler with a load of illegal aliens. At some point, the smuggler slows or stops the vehicle and all the passengers scatter in different directions to avoid being caught.

Its sad that all those small communities, and our law enforcement, are having to deal with this because its eating up our budgets and were neglecting our regular work for our citizens, McLaughlin told The Epoch Times.

My other question is, while were all over here chasing this car doing this, whats coming through that were not catching?

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 warning letter to 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 states. Its 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.

In Uvalde, Nolasco said children are scared.

We have children that ride the school bus that live out in the country that are scaredtheyre scared to go home. If moms working and dads working and theres nobody there for them, theyre going to open the door to their residence and find an illegal immigrant, he said.

And mind you, you also have a lot of sex offenders that are coming into the United Statesthats not good.

Border Patrol in the Del Rio Sector has apprehended 95 sex offenders so far this fiscal year, compared to six during the same period in fiscal 2020. Apprehension of criminals has topped 813, compared to 161 in the same period in fiscal 2020.

Nolasco said his deputies have been involved in catching the same smuggler three times in a six-week period. The smuggler, an illegal alien, was caught after a high-speed chase that carried on for more than 50 miles, he said.

He bails out and the passengers bail out. We finally catch up to him and check with Border Patrol, and Border Patrol runs his name and says, Oh, yeah, he was just dealt with last week and he was released,' he said.

And here he is a week later. And that same thing happened about a month after that incident.

Nolasco, who has 14 deputies to cover 1,600 square miles, said 95 percent of his deputies time is currently being spent on assisting Border Patrol with smugglers.

Its valuable time and resources that are being spent on a federal issue. These monies and time should be invested in our local citizens here in this town, he said.

After being on the job for five months, the sheriff said hes not expecting federal help.

All I hear is that we dont have a problem here at the border. No, Im not going to get any help from the feds.

The White House has said its focusing on the root causes of illegal immigration, particularly in the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 14:40:00|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, holds a meeting with an examination authority during her inspection on preparations for the national college entrance examination, or the Gaokao, to be held on June 7 and 8, in Beijing, capital of China, June 1, 2021. Sun visited a middle school and an examination authority in Beijing during her inspection. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan on Tuesday inspected preparations for the national college entrance examination, or the Gaokao, to be held on June 7 and 8.

Sun, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, visited a middle school and an examination authority in Beijing during her inspection.

A total of 10.78 million students across China have registered for this year's Gaokao, hitting a new record. Sun urged efforts to implement the anti-COVID-19 measures to prevent a resurgence in cases.

COVID-19 patients and their close contacts will be allowed to sit their exams in medical facilities or isolation venues if conditions permit, said Sun.

She also called for strengthened preparations for potential emergencies including extreme weather, adding that convenience should be provided for exam participants with disabilities or difficulties.

Noting that the Gaokao is crucial to ensuring equality in education and social fairness, Sun demanded intensified efforts to prevent cheating in exams, and the strict implementation of enrollment policies and plans. Enditem


A Chinese flag is illuminated by sunshine in the Hall of Honour on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, on Sept. 22, 2016. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

In Plain Sight: New Report Details CCPs Unrestricted Influence Operations in Canada

Beijings influence operations not only exert political influence during Canadian election campaigns, but also extend to politicians, public servants, political actors, former parliamentarians, and diplomats, according to a report (pdf) published in May.

While influence operations orchestrated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) happen federally in Canada, the Chinese regimes political influence strategy is more often aimed at politicians at the provincial and municipal levels, the report In Plain Sight: Beijings Unrestricted Network of Foreign Influence in Canada by Alliance Canada Hong Kong notes.

Local politicians are less likely to be concerned with foreign affairs matters, which is seen as a primarily federal issue, the report reads.

It also notes that this gives the CCP the opportunity to capitalize on this lack of awareness to execute their plans, unbeknownst to political actors.

For instance, the CCP incentivized political actors at the provincial, territorial, and municipal levels with lucrative business deals and investment projects that benefit their local communities. However, accepting those offers has rendered them vulnerable to political influence as they become reliant on the communist regime.

The report cites the example of resource extraction projects in Newfoundland and Labrador approved by the federal government and celebrated by the provincial government in December 2019.

The deal in Newfoundland and Labrador is with China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) Petroleum North America ULC, whose parent company, CNOOC, is a state-owned enterprise with strong ties to the Chinese military. CNOOC was blacklisted in the United States under the Trump administration due to national security issues and was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in March.

The headquarters building of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in Beijing, China, on July 29, 2016. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Another example, according to the report, is Ontarios former Immigration and Trade Minister Michael Chan. The Canadian Security Intelligence Services alleged in 2010 that Chan had developed too close a relationship with Chinas consulate in Toronto when, at one point, they were having daily conversations, making the trade minister susceptible to foreign influence by Beijing.

As for elections, the report expounds on how the CCP provides incentives to Chinese and diasporic communities to elect politicians who favor engagement with Beijing. Often without the knowledge of the political candidates, their WeChat campaign groups are quickly taken over by individuals and groups with vested interests with or close ties to the Chinese regime.

In October 2018, the RCMP from the City of Richmond in British Columbia began investigating a vote-buying scheme after they became aware that the Canada Wenzhou Friendship Society had allegedly sent out messages on its WeChat group, offering a $20 transportation subsidy to members in exchange for voting for certain political candidates of Chinese descent.

The society, established in 2001, is a member of the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Association, which is pro-Beijing. The alliance recently called on its more than 100 members to voice support for the 2022 Winter Beijing Olympic in an attempt to sway public opinion, despite a genocide taking place in Xinjiang against Uyghurs and other Muslims minorities.

However, the report states that these groups form a small minority and dont represent the vast majority of the Chinese diaspora in Canada.

Another tactic used is elite capture, in which the CCP targets Canadian influential figures and decision-makers by first offering them something attractive that appeals to their personal, social, political, and professional interests, and then uses it against them later to force them into compliance with the regimes request.

Examples cited in the report include all-expenses-paid trips to China, invitations to events that connect them to Chinese business opportunities, cultural event sponsorships, and cash-for-access events, among others.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stirred some controversy in 2016 for attending cash-for-access fundraisers attended by wealthy people from the Chinese-Canadian community. One of the events was attended by a wealthy Chinese individual who acts as a political adviser to the Chinese regime. Trudeau ended cash-for-access fundraisers in 2017.

The CCP also exerts its influence in Canadian academia in the name of win-win collaboration. The regimes Thousand Talents Plan is the recruitment of an overseas network of researchers, scientists, and scholars for the purpose of transferring their knowledge to serve Beijings strategic goals, the report says. Likewise, the regime appeals to academics by offering them grants to support their research, but may request them to transfer their research findings upon renewal of the agreement.

To tell Chinas story, Beijing is actively dismantling journalism by creating a Chinese social media empire, grooming web warriors to steer online discourse, compromising social media influencers, and destroying the watchdog role journalists are meant to play, according to the report.

Other areas of concern in the report include the CCPs use of surveillance and intimidation against diaspora and dissident communities, national security threats such as the debt-trap diplomacy associated with its Belt and Road Initiative, and the United Front operations that aim to sway Canadians buying into the regimes narratives.

There have been notable incidents of Chinas inappropriate and overreaching political influence documented in Canada and among allied countries, the report reads. But the CCPs influence operations have largely gone unnoticed, if not ignored, by politicians, oversight bodies, the media, and the public.

With reporting from Omid Ghoreishi
Yu Zhou and one of his bands CDs. Yu was arrested in the leadup to the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Eleven days later he was dead. (Minghui.org)

Incarcerated Beijing Artist Facing Third Round of Imprisonment for Her Belief

Xu Na, a poet, freelance painter, and Falun Gong practitioner in Beijing, was arrested from her home again on July 19, 2020, for taking and posting photos online about the severe pandemic situation in Beijing.

The official allegation against her was undermining law enforcement with a cult organization, which is a standard pretext used by the Chinese courts to criminalize Falun Gong practitioners, according to a Minghui report. She was not tried and has been detained for over a year.

A photo of Xu Na and her husband Yu Zhou. (Minghui.org)

Her talent in the arts is revealed through her paintings. Two of her paintings won awards from the China Oil Painting Society and are still in its archives. More of her paintings are posted on the China Political Prisoner Concern website, which claims that it strives for the freedom of all political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, dissidents and human rights activists who are in custody in China.

Xu survived various types of torture in Beijing Womens Prison and managed to come out of the prison alive after being imprisoned twice, in 2001 and 2008, for her faith.

Now Xu is behind bars again, for over a year, without any legal proceedings, and is facing her third imprisonment for her faith.

I cant stay silent to protect my own interest. Anyone in society should have a moral judgment of unfair things unrelated to them. This is the basic responsibility of being a person. If I identify with such a government (the Chinese communist regime), then Im not a decent person, Xu told her lawyer, Liang Xiaojun, who visited her at Beijing Dongcheng District Detention Center on April 22, 2021.

There were 10 other Falun Gong adherents who were arrested on the same day with her, most of whom were university graduates in their 20s.

Recently, both the United States and Europe voiced their opposition to and boycotting of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games in 2022 because of the Chinese communist regimes poor human rights situation.

Beijing has a long history of suppressing human rights activists, dissents, and religious groups in China and abroad.

On Jan. 26, 2008, Xu Nas husband, Yu Zhou, a talented musician and member of the three-person band Xiao Juan and Residents in the Valley that was popular among audiences for their folk songs, was stopped by police who were conducting an Olympics check while he was driving home with his wife Xu Na after a performance.

The police arrested and detained them in the Tongzhou District Detention Center when they found out that the couple are practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline, which promotes the values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance for self-improvement. Yu was separated from his wife, who never saw him again.

Yu Zhou and Xu Na. (Minghui.org)

On Feb. 6, 2008, the eve of Chinese New Year, only after 11 days in police custody, Yu died. He was 42.

The police claimed that his death was the result of complications caused by diabetes although they rejected his familys demand for an autopsy. The family said he was healthy and had never suffered from diabetes.

His wife, Xu Na, was locked in the detention center and not allowed to attend his funeral. She was sentenced to three years imprisonment in November 2008.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, has been a target of the Chinese Communist Party since July 20, 1999. Many believe the persecution and ensuing negative propaganda campaign was in response to the popularity of Falun Gong.

Beijing Womens Prison

Xu once wrote in her notes about her personal experience of being tortured in Beijing Womens Prison when she was first imprisoned from 2001 to 2006, subjected to forced labor, sleep deprivation, being tied up with legs crossed for long hours, and frozen in the winter snow.

In Beijing Womens Prison, it was worse to be alive than dead, she wrote in her notes which were recently published in The Epoch Times Chinese edition, Repeatedly, you go through long sessions of torture in which they have inmates with medical knowledge to check your physical conditions at all times. I was found to have an irregular heartbeat after I was not allowed to sleep for many days. So the police ordered [the inmates torturing her], Let her sleep for an hour and rest [before continuing with the torture].

She wrote that various covert and elaborate tortures were invented by Beijing Womens Prison. One particular invention that the police are proud of was called the splits  the legs of the person being tortured were pulled apart to 180 degrees and three inmates were ordered to sit on the legs and the back of the tortured person and kept pressing him or her repeatedly. The police were happy with this torture because the pain is unbearable, but it doesnt break the bones.

Even amidst such severe tortures, she refused to give up her belief. A policeman said to her, as quoted from her notes, [we] should apply for a craniotomy and have your brain removed.

Xu Na. (Minghui.org)

Party-Controlled Media

The most profound education I had received in media and communications was not in a university classroom but in a prison, she wrote in her notes.

She said that was in 2003, when Xu Tao, one of her former schoolmates at the Communication University of China, came to the prison for an interview. Xu Taos full name is used here to distinguish them.

Xu Tao was a hostess at Beijing TV at that time and she set up a program called Legal Governance in Progress in 1999, according to Baidu, a popular Chinese search engine similar to Google. The news program and posts on its website were under strict censorship by the CCP. She later became a deputy chief editor of Beijing TV and a delegate of the CCPs rubber-stamp legislature.

When Xu Tao was doing the interview at the prison, Xu was isolated in an office of the prison police, not far from the interview venue. She could clearly hear the police and inmates who had tortured her preaching about how civilized they were in enforcing the law, but could not make a sound, because my mouth was gagged with a towel, and four inmates, serving the function of handcuffs, were holding me tightly, Xu wrote in her notes.

Shortly after the interview, a Falun Gong practitioner, Dong Cui, also known as Dong Cuifang, was tortured to death in Beijing Womens Prison. Her death was claimed to be a result of illness by the prison authorities. Xu Na was punished and isolated in a small cell for reporting the fact that Dong was abused and tortured to death.

If in the Future Either of Us Dies for Our Belief, the Other Person Should Not Feel Sorrowful

In April 2001 Peng Min, a practitioner of Falun Gong who had stayed at Yus home, was persecuted to death after being tortured by police. Twenty-two days later, Pengs mother Li Yingxiu died in the same hospital.

When Mins (Peng Mins) elder brother Peng Liang and father Peng Weisheng went to pay their last respects to her remains, they found that Li Yingxius hair had been shaved, her head had been drilled into, her nose and mouth were filled with blood, and her clothes were bloodstained as well, according to Minghui.

Upon reading the news, Yu said to his wife: If in the future either of us dies for our belief, the other person should not feel sorrowful.

He didnt want to die, but he was prepared to prove his innocence at the cost of his life, The Epoch Times Chinese edition reported on Feb. 6, 2018.

Yu Zhou (L) and his band. (The Epoch Times)

Xu wrote in her notes that the detention center authorities claimed Yu died of illness, but an anonymous former inmate told her that he didnt dare to tell her everything about Yus death, because he was afraid of being silenced by the police.

The anonymous witness said a policeman who practiced martial arts tortured Yu to death, the Epoch Times report wrote.

He (Yu) is a true man! the witness said, He has suffered what a human being is not able to stand. According to the witness, the policeman involved in the death of Yu is called Dong Yasheng and is a martial arts champion in the public security system.

Dong Yasheng, born in Beijing in 1961, is a member of the Chinese Wushu (martial arts) Association and was awarded the title National Extraordinary Excellent Peoples Police, among many other titles, according to an article published in May 2020 on 163.com, a popular Chinese news outlet.

Yus sister asked to see the CCTV footage of the detention center during the period of time. The police agreed and said, [we can] let you watch part of it. Later they told her, the recorded video has been deleted, The Epoch Times Chinese edition reported on Feb. 6, 2018.

Yu was the pride of his familyin 1985, he was enrolled by Peking University to study French as the top scorer in arts in the national entrance examinations that year in his hometown in Changchun, the capital city of Jilin Province in northeastern China. His talent in languages enabled him to sing songs in French, English, and Japanese. Hes still loved and mourned by his friends.

A concert ticket of Xiao Juan and Residents in the Valley. Yu Zhou (L) and his band. (The Epoch Times)

Liang Xiaojun, a Chinese human rights lawyer, began to represent Xu in August last year. He told The Epoch Times Chinese edition on April 25 that the cases of the Xu and 10 other Falun Gong practitioners arrested on July 19, 2020, have been transferred to the court, but the time of the trial is yet to be scheduled and that it is not possible to judge what would happen in the next stage.

Lyrics from a song Yu used to sing during his performancesA Motto of Love, composed by a Taiwan musician Luo Dayou, might give us some idea of why they all stood up for their faith amidst the cruel persecution of the CCP:

I give you my sincerity and keep sorrow to myself

I give you my youth and keep the aging years to myself

I give you my life and keep loneliness to myself

I give you spring and keep winter to myself.

As Xu wrote in her blog: Those who think they are free in China do not know that they have been removed of their spirits and are living in a big invisible prison. She said that every screw that is tightened in this evil persecution machine is guilty of reinforcing the evil operation of this machine, including those who want to get fame, fortune, and all kinds of benefits from it. She quoted Confucius as saying: When a country is ill governed, riches and honor are things to be ashamed of.

The Chinese communist regimes persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetans, Uyghurs, Christians, and other groups of religious believers has been happening for decades.

The U.S. State Department announced sanctions against a Chinese Communist Party official for persecuting Falun Gong on May 12. The sanctions will bar Yu Hui, former director of the agency specifically tasked with persecuting Falun Gong in the city of Chengdu, in Sichuan Province, from entering the United States. The penalty also extends to his immediate family.

Eva Fu contributed to this report.
Irvine Parents Outraged Over Political Bias in High School Yearbook

Controversy has erupted in Irvine, California, over political content published in a high school yearbook that some parents claim is biased in favor of President Joe Biden and Democratic causes.

Irvine parent David Whitley told The Epoch Times that content published in the yearbook shows overt political bias and urged more parents to stand up against it. In a June 1 letter he wrote to the Northwood High School staff, Whitley called the political section of the yearbook a complete outrage.

Its pure political propaganda, its educational indoctrination, and its an abdication of your responsibility as leaders and educators in our public schools, Whitley said in the letter obtained by The Epoch Times.

Whitley told The Epoch Times its obvious the content was written by a liberal, Democrat, Biden supporter, as it depicted former President Donald Trump as a villain and Biden as a hero.

Theres no specifics on the Biden side. Its all rainbows and unicorns, Whitley said.

The issue has become a hot topic of discussion on social media, eliciting hundreds of comments, with some parents saying the schools staff should have stepped in to prevent it. But officials at the school, which has more than 2,000 students, have denied any responsibility for the publication.

School principal Leslie Roach declined to name the staff responsible for overseeing the publication of the yearbook. Roach, who didnt respond directly to inquiries, directed Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) staff to issue an emailed statement to The Epoch Times.

The Northwood High School yearbook is a student publication. The spread related to the 2020 local and national elections features student voices and is part of a larger spread on the elections over the last year, the email said. We strive to be inclusive of all voices and we will continue to work with the students to ensure that commentary is relevant, balanced and that diverse perspectives are reflected.

John Park, first vice chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County and an Irvine resident, told The Epoch Times that the content in the yearbook consists of political talking points from the left.

The last place we would expect to find such statements is in a public high schools yearbook, Park said in a June 1 email.

This kind of politicizing of children should be rejected by allRepublicans, Democrats, and Independents. I understand a few students wrote it, but I am disappointed with the faculty who approved this yearbook for print. Instead of encouraging unity and mutual respect, they opted for division and biased political rhetoric.

Whitley said school staff should have advised the students to include some balance in the publication and have labeled the material as opinion or commentary.

They dont do that. They let the students do it, because they know that the student thats doing it is going to have a liberal tilt, and then they let the rest of the students read that stuff as if its factual, he said. And its all essentially lies and character assassination, and then they talk about diversity of opinion and balance. Its nonsense.

Whitley has three children who have attended IUSD schools and has been a resident of the city for 28 years. In the letter, he referred to the yearbooks political content as garbage that is polarizing and disrespectful to the community  filled with outrageous falsehoods and smears that are unbecoming of an educational institution.

The adults in charge should have used their experience, discernment, and wisdom to teach our children the things they need to know to be productive and patriotic citizens filled with knowledge rooted in academic excellence, he wrote.

We are losing generations of young Americans each year because we collectively refuse to do what is right and rather than teach, instruct and expand the mind of the student, we are narrowing their mind by allowing them to make up their own history, their own facts, and their own view of reality and to seek counsel from the unwise who are interested not in truth but agendas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Benny Gantz attend a special cabinet meeting on the occasion of Jerusalem Day in Jerusalem, Israel, on May 9, 2021. (Amit Shabi/Pool via Reuters)

Israels Lapid Enlists Gantz, Moves Closer to Unseating Netanyahu

JERUSALEMIsraels opposition leader moved closer to unseating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday and forming a new government after agreeing on terms with several parties including one led by Defence Minister Benny Gantz, a spokesman said.

During a 12-year run in the top office, Netanyahu has been an often polarizing figure at home and abroad. An end to his tenure may bring reprieve from domestic political turmoil, but major shifts in Israels foreign policy appear less likely from the staunch U.S. ally.

Yair Lapid, tasked with forming the next governing coalition after the conservative Netanyahu failed to do so in the wake of an inconclusive March 23 election, has until midnight local time on Wednesday to present a final slate.

Lapid, a 57-year-old former TV host and author, has yet to clinch a deal with his main partner, nationalist Naftali Bennett, who would serve as premier first under a proposed rotation between the two men.

Yair Lapid delivers a statement to the press before the party faction meeting at the Knesset, Israels parliament, in Jerusalem, Israel, on May 31, 2021. (Debbie Hill/Pool via Reuters)

Lapids Yesh Atid party and Gantzs Blue and White said in a joint statement they had agreed on the outlines of the government and core issues relating to the strengthening of democracy and Israeli society.

Gantz would remain defense minister in the new cabinet, the parties said.

First Arab Party in Government?

Netanyahu, 71, has sought to discredit Bennett and two other lawmakers negotiating with Lapid, saying they were endangering Israels security.

Keeping the door open to them, Israels longest-serving leader, who was first elected prime minister a quarter-century ago, says he is still capable of forming the next government.

Deals have also been reached with the left-wing Meretz and Labor parties as well as with former defense minister Avigdor Liebermans nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, a Lapid spokesman said.

The United Arab List was also negotiating to join the coalition. If it does, it would be the first time in Israels history that an independent Arab party becomes a member of the government.

If Lapid misses Wednesdays deadlinemarking the end of a 28-day presidential mandate to put together a coalitionparliament will have three weeks to agree on a new candidate.

Should that fail, Israel will hold another election, its fifth in some two years.
Storm clouds pass by the Peace Tower and Parliament Hill Tuesday Aug. 18, 2020 in Ottawa. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Its Necessary to Distinguish Radical Opinions From Violent Actions: Professor

Violent actions and radical opinions are distinct problems that should be handled differently, an expert told parliamentarians as they seeks to address ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE) in Canada.

In testimony at the House of Commons Public Safety and National Security Committee on Monday, Christian Leuprecht, a political science professor at the Royal Military College, explained the need to distinguish ideologically motivated violent extremism, which refers to speech, from ideologically motivated extremist violence, which is a physical act of violence.

Only under very specific circumstances is an utterance in and of itself a crime. Rather, the criminal justice system in a democracy is generally structured to deal with acts of crime ex post facto. Intent and motivation are not normally punishable, although they may factor into the degree of punishment, Leuprecht wrote in a research paper.

Democracies are premised on the assumption that freedom of speech and thought should prevail, which is why speech is protected from arbitrary government interference, he stated.

In one of his research papers, Leuprecht identified 12 different mechanisms that lead to different degrees of radicalized actions, transitioning from doing nothing to doing something, from legal political action to illegal political action, and from illegal political action to killing civilians.

IMVE has caused an increasing number of deaths and injuries in Canada since 2014, exceeding the casualties caused by religious or politically motivated violence, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service reported.

While the general public tends to simplify the reasons behind acts of violence, they should not be attributed simply to the perpetrators religion, age, political opinion, or country of origin, according to Leuprecht.

Theres so many people who are religious, and virtually none of them become violent; and many of the people who become violent  are not religious, or dont adhere to any  ideology of any particular form, Leuprecht said.

Understanding that the predictors are multifaceted and combine in different ways in different cases is critically important.

For Canada to better address the IMVE problem, Leuprecht suggested improving the overall capabilities of Canadas criminal and national security intelligence, rather than putting disproportionate resources into tracking IMVE activities.

If done better and more systematically, rebalancing Canadas national security and policing posture with a greater emphasis on cyber, organized crime, money laundering, and protecting Canadians from foreign malign actors, have a far greater benefit for public safety and [for] depriving IMV resources and enablers, than the current approach, he said.
Students raise their hands to answer a teachers question during a socially distanced classroom session at Medora Elementary School in Louisville, Ky. on March 17, 2021. (Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

Virginia Teacher Who Opposes Using Preferred Pronouns Asks Court to Lift Unconstitutional Suspension

A Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) teacher asked a Virginia court on June 2 to lift his suspension for opposing a proposal requiring instructors to use transgender students preferred pronouns.

Tanner Cross spoke briefly against the proposal during a May 25 Loudoun County Board of Education public meeting, then was told by letter two days later that he had been suspended pending further investigation of allegations that [he] engaged in conduct that had a disruptive impact on the operations of Leesburg Elementary School.

Cross was barred from entering any LCPS building without prior permission and was required to be available without prior notice for meetings with school officials concerning the investigation of his conduct.

Attorneys with the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), an Arizona-based public-interest law firm that specializes in First Amendment and religious liberty litigation, first asked LCPS officials to lift their suspension, then filed the suit (pdf) in the Loudoun Circuit Court against the Loudoun County School Board when it became clear the suspension and investigation of Cross would continue.

The core of constitutional liberty in a free societythe ability to comment on public policy under consideration without fear of retaliationis at stake in this case, Crosss ADF attorneys told the court.

This is doubly so because the policy in question concerned whether the school district would take one side in an ongoing debate about some of the deepest and most difficult questions about who and what we are as human beings, and then compel teachers to affirm that same side with their own mouths, even when their religious beliefs command them to do otherwise.

Mr. Cross used his constitutional right to speak up in the hope of persuading the board not to go down the unconstitutional trail the policy would blaze.

Mr. Cross hoped that the board would instead follow the fixed star in our constitutional constellation  that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. (West Va. Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 642 (1943).

In response, Mr. Cross was met with a separate, immediate violation of his rights, a retaliatory suspension and prior restraint on his speech.

To preserve the most fundamental constitutional freedom in this Commonwealth, he therefore asks this Court to grant his motion for a preliminary injunction.

The suit stated that Crosss objection to the proposal is a result of the understanding of children hes gained from 15 years as a teacher and his Christian faith.

Mr. Cross understands that, because of the difficulty of assessing matters of gender identity and the long-term irreversible consequences of certain treatments for transgender-identifying people, including hormone replacement therapy and sex-reassignment surgery, children should not be encouraged to undertake social or medical transition because of their inability to assess long-term consequences, the suit stated.

Mr. Cross believes that any policy that encourages children to undertake social or medical transition, especially without parental involvement, is harmful to children.

Mr. Cross is also a Christian, and he strives to act consistent with his faith at all times. Mr. Cross has sincerely held beliefs about human nature, marriage, sexuality, morality, politics, and social issues rooted in his Christian faith.

Respecting sex and gender identity, Mr. Cross believes that God creates each person as male or female; that the two distinct and complementary sexes reflect the image of God; and that adopting a gender identity inconsistent with sex rejects Gods image and design for a person and does harm to that person.

Wayne Byard, public information officer for LCPS, told The Epoch Times the school system is unable to comment on the Cross suit because state and federal law concerning confidentiality limits what Loudoun County Public Schools can say on this matter. I can confirm that Mr. Cross has been put on administrative leave with pay.

Asked for specific citations of state and federal law that bar LCPS from responding to questions about the Cross litigation, Byard said only FERPA and the Virginia Code, without pointing to specific provisions.

FERPA refers to the Family Educational Right to Privacy Act that, according to the Department of Education, protects the privacy of student education records. The privacy of student records, however, arent at issue in the Cross litigation.
Conservative MP Michael Chong rises during question period in the House of Commons on May 31, 2021. (Adrian Wyld /The Canadian Press)

Motion Demanding Government Reveal Reason for Firing Two Scientists From Winnipeg Infectious-Disease Lab Passes

Opposition MPs joined forces and outvoted the Liberals Wednesday on a motion demanding the Trudeau government come clean on why two Chinese scientists were fired from Canadas highest security infectious-disease laboratory.

In a 179-149 vote, the Bloc Quebecois, NDP, and the Green Party supported a Conservative motion calling on the Liberals to produce unredacted documents concerning the firing of the two federal scientists from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg and the transfer of deadly viruses to Chinas Wuhan Institute of Virology in March 2019.

The motion, which came about due to the governments continual refusal to provide the information to MPs, stipulates the documents must be provided within 48 hours of the adoption of the motion.

Submitted by Conservative Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Michael Chong on Tuesday, the motion calls on the House of Commons to release unredacted documents related to the transfer of Ebola and Henipah viruses to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in March 2019, and the subsequent revocation of security clearances for, and termination of the employment of, Dr. Xiangguo Qiu and Dr. Keding Cheng.

The passing of the motion also means that Health Minister Patty Hajdu will be summoned to testify before the Commons Committee on Canada-China (CACN) within two weeks. Hajdu refused to answer Chongs questions concerning the issue when she was asked in the House on May 25.

Minister of Health Patty Hajdu speaks during a news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa, Canada, on Dec. 4, 2020. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

The motion would also have the House law clerk take part in an in-camera meeting with CACN to discuss what information could reasonably be expected to compromise national security or reveal details of an ongoing criminal investigation so that the committee can decide what information can be made public.

In the House on Tuesday, Chong said the committee had ordered Public Health Agency of Canada to submit the unredacted documents on March 31 and May 10, but the agency failed to do so, saying it would breach the Privacy Act.

Qiu, Cheng, and several Chinese students were stripped of their security access and escorted out of the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg amid a police investigation in 2019. Qiu, who was responsible for sending samples of deadly Ebola and Henipah viruses to China, had travelled several times in official capacity to the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, which is part of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. She had also trained scientists and technicians there to level 4 standard that allows them to handle the worlds deadliest viruses and pathogens.

The National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Canada, on May 19, 2009. (John Woods/The Canadian Press)

When grilled by Conservative Leader Erin OToole in the House Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several Liberal MPs argued that the issues of national security should be reviewed by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) instead.

NSICOP was created by Bill C-22, which was introduced by the Liberal government in 2016 and received royal assent in 2017, with the aim of aligning with Canadas Five Eyes allies by creating an all-party committee to monitor and oversee the operations of every government department and agency with national security responsibilities.

Chong, however, said the NSICOP shouldnt intervene as the government should not be investigating itself.

While NSICOP is made up of parliamentarians, unlike the United Kingdoms intelligence and security committee, it is not a committee of Parliament. It is not a committee of this place, Chong said.

He added that NSICOP members are appointed and serve at the pleasure of the prime minister, including the chair, which means the government has the authority to terminate the committees reviews or be allowed to withhold information from them. In addition, the prime minister has the power to review and demand revisions to the committees reports before they are made public.

In short, NSICOP is accountable to the government. Under our constitution, the government is accountable to this House. It is to this House that the government should deliver the documents, he argued.

On the issue of whether parliamentary committees have constitutional authority to subpoena documents, Christian Roy, lawyer from the Justice Department, told CACN on May 10 that his department does not recognize the power of committees to compel documents in violation of the Privacy Act or other laws.

However, Conservative MP Garnett Genuis, NDP MP Jack Harris, and Bloc MP Stephane Bergeron noted a 2010 ruling by former House speaker Peter Milliken that MPs had the right to seek uncensored documents related to the treatment of Afghan detainees from the Harper government.

I think we have made it very clear that, under the committees jurisdiction and under the powers that are granted to it by the constitution, our rulings of Speaker Milliken and the privileges of Parliament, this is within our purview as members of Parliament to carry out this function, Harris said.
In this image from closed circuit television footage, a man identified as Paul Hodgkins, front, holds a flag while in the Senate chamber inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (CCTV via FBI)

Man Who Entered Senate Chamber With Trump Flag Enters Guilty Plea

A Florida man who entered the Senate chamber during the U.S. Capitol breach on Jan. 6 has agreed to plead guilty to a felony.

Paul Hodgkins, 38, of Tampa, admitted to obstructing an official proceeding by entering the chamber around 3 p.m. that day and snapping a selfie photograph before congregating with others.

Hodgkins, who was waving a red Trump 2020 flag, left after about 15 minutes.

Prosecutors dropped four felony charges because he pleaded guilty to obstruction, a felony that could land him up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss accepted the plea in a hearing on June 2.

Hodgkins chose to plead guilty to take responsibility, one of his lawyers said.

Pauls an honorable man, a stand-up guy, a former Eagle Scout, and its a recognition that he made a mistake, Patrick Leduc, the attorney, told The Epoch Times. He feels terrible. He wants to accept responsibility. He understands what he did was wrong.

Paul Hodgkins in a selfie photograph in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (FBI)

Closed-circuit television footage showed Hodgkins walking among desks while inside the chamber and taking photographs with his cell phone. At one point, he appeared to put on latex gloves and eye goggles, according to images from the footage included in a criminal complaint. Hodgkins told FBI agents in an interview that he was the person in the photographs.

Leduc sought to differentiate Hodgkins and many others who were charged for their actions on Jan. 6 from a smaller group that has been accused of violent crimes such as assaulting law enforcement officers.

Prosecutors likely recognized that in offering the plea deal, Leduc said.

They see a guy that, hes not these guys that were beating up the cops or breaking thingsobviously theyre idiots, theyre going to get whackedbut they recognize that heres a guy with no prior record and all the things I told you, and so he might be a good case, he said.

The defendant has begun going to church since being charged and attorneys say hes turned his life around. He currently isnt in custody.

A prosecutor involved in the case didnt immediately return a request for comment.

Hodgkins is scheduled to be sentenced on July 19 by a federal judge. Sentencing guidelines for first-time offenders such as Hodgkins indicate 15 to 21 months in prison. While Leduc believes his client will likely spend some time behind bars, hes hopeful the judge will show mercy.

Federal prosecutors have charged some 450 people for crimes related to the Capitol breach, but only one defendant before Hodgkins agreed to a plea deal. That was Jon Schaffer, a member of the Oath Keepers, a group composed of current and former military and law enforcement personnel.

Schaffers plea deal included a cooperation component; Hodgkinss does not.

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect the correct type of charges dropped against Hodgkins. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
Law enforcement authorities close off a road during an investigation for a shooting at fire station 81 in Santa Clarita, Calif., on June 1, 2021. (David Swanson/AP Photo)

Motive Unclear as Firefighter Kills Colleague at Station

SANTA CLARITA, Calif.A firefighter killed a co-worker and wounded another at their small fire station before setting his own home ablaze and apparently killing himself in Californias second deadly workplace shooting in days.

The gunman, a firefighter specialist and engineer, was off-duty when he apparently drove the 10 miles from his home in Acton, north of Los Angeles, and opened fire Tuesday morning at Los Angeles County Fire Station 81, authorities said.

The killer was not scheduled to work today. He came back and confronted the on-duty personnel, a visibly shaken Fire Chief Daryl Osby told reporters. I cannot speak to the mindset of the shooter.

The chief also said he didnt know about any disciplinary actions involving the shooter, who wasnt immediately identified.

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby talks during a news conference about a shooting at fire station 81 in Santa Clarita, Calif., on June 1, 2021. (Stefanie Dazio/AP Photo)

A 44-year-old fire specialist, who drove a fire truck, was shot several times in the upper torso and died. The father of three daughters had been with the department for more than 20 years, Osby said.

A 54-year-old fire captain who also was shot in the upper body underwent surgery and was in critical but stable condition at a hospital.

The gunman then returned to his house, which authorities found engulfed in flames. He was later found dead in an empty pool of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot, since nobody else was at the home and deputies didnt open fire, sheriffs officials said.

Helicopters fought the blaze because it was considered unsafe to send firefighters into the home, which burned for hours. A SWAT team and a bomb squad were sent in before firefighters were finally allowed to use hoses on the gutted ruins.

A firefighting helicopter makes a water drop on a house engulfed in fire, in Acton, Calif., on June 1, 2021, where a suspect fled to after a shooting at a fire station. (David Swanson/AP Photo)

Authorities didnt immediately release the dead firefighters name, but friends and family members identified him as Tory Carlon. Hundreds of people gathered Tuesday night for a vigil at a park near Fire Station 81 to honor Carlon. He was remembered as a devoted father and committed firefighter who was a mentor to younger colleagues.

The fire station is in Agua Dulce, a rural community of about 3,000 people in the desert of northern Los Angeles County known for its rock formations and panoramic views.

Osby said the station has only four firefighters per shift and was considered a home by workers who typically work there 24 hours at a time.

As a fire chief, I never thought that when our firefighters face danger, that they would face danger in one of our community fire stations, Osby said.

County Supervisor Janice Hahn said firefighters risk their lives daily.

Between emergency calls, the fire station must have felt like their safe haven, she said. Unfortunately that sense of safety has now been shattered.

The shooting occurred less than a week after a longtime worker opened fire with three handguns at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus and rail yard in San Jose, killing nine people and then himself as law enforcement officers closed in. He had rigged his home to burn down before heading to his workplace.

Acquaintances said 57-year-old Samuel Cassidy had a short fuse at times and a longtime grudge against his work but the exact motive for the shooting remained under investigation. Body camera footage from a Santa Clara County sheriffs deputy who went into a building as shots were being fired was released Tuesday.

FBI agents approach a home being investigated in connection to a shooting at a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) facility in San Jose, Calif., on May 26, 2021. (Noah Berger/AP Photo)

By Stefanie Dazio
Munich Security Conference Reveals Key Global Challenges Posed by Beijing

Commentary

For the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Munich Security Conference (MSC) turned out quite differently this year. With the 57th annual conference postponed until February 2022 due to the pandemic, the MSC held a special edition video conferencewithout Chinaon Feb. 19, and held a separate virtual live event with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on May 25. The meeting revealed major challenges posed by Beijing on the West.

The Munich Security Conference was founded in 1963 as a transatlantic family reunion between Europe and the United States. The MSC first invited participants from Russia and Central and Eastern European countries after the end of the Cold War, and later opened its door to other countries, such as India, Japan, and China. It has become the worlds leading forum for international security policymakers to exchange views.

Wang Yi has been a familiar guest at the MSC since 2002. During the 2020 conference, he delivered a speech entitled, Crossing the East-West Divide and Upholding Multilateralism. In this years separate session with the MSC, Yang repeated the same rhetoric. But the international situation has changed significantly due to the pandemic and the CCPs rampant wolf warrior diplomacy over the past year or so.

CCP Prefers Marxism Over Democracy

Marxism first appeared in the West as a counter-current to Western civilization. The unprecedented disaster that had been caused by the communist usurpation of state power made the people of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe finally reject it. However, as the largest remaining communist regime, the CCP still sticks to the communist ideology as a banner to maintain its rule.

The irreconcilable differences between the CCPs ideology and universal valuesbased on democracydictate that there must be a duel between the CCP and the free world until an ultimate winner is determined. Having realized that its far from being strong enough, the CCP has been biding its time to develop itself while using all means to hide its true colors, until recently, when it has started to show its true nature through its wolf warrior diplomacy.

As a matter of fact, the CCP is far more deceiving and dangerous to the free world than the former Soviet Union, as it has infiltrated the international communityparticularly the West. Wangs claim that the CCP is a trusted partner and not a systemic threat to the international rules-based order is simply a shameless lie.

According to Wang, a survey by the Harvard Ash Center revealed that 95 percent of Chinese people support the Chinese communist regimehe touted it as Chinas democracy that would replace the democracy of the West. In reality, the peoples basic human rights are severely suppressed, with no freedom of belief nor freedom of speech. Even if the survey results showed that the people support the CCP 100 percent, the situation is like the emperors new clothes, where the truth is concealed and falsehood is prevalent.

As far as Chinese history is concerned, the hard work and exploration of the modern era led to the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC)the first democratic republic in Asiaby Sun Yat-sen and his followers in 1912.

A Chinese paramilitary policeman stands guard at an entrance to the Number Two Detention Center in Beijing, China, on Oct. 25, 2012. A report by Amnesty International on Nov. 12, 2015 details the Chinese regimes practice of using torture to extract confessions from detainees. (Alexander F. Yuan/AP Photo)

It was the CCP that gripped power through violent subversion of the ROC in the mainland, turning to the darkest page in Chinese history. Since the CCP came to power, more than 80 million innocent people (pdf) have lost their lives, and half of the Chinese people have been persecuted by the CCP. And an unprecedented evil on this planetthe live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners for transplantation for profitcontinues to this day.

The Chinese people have started to see the tyranny and evil nature of the CCP, with more than 370 million of them having publicly declared their withdrawal from the Party and its affiliated organizations. The CCP will soon disintegrate. The international community should be aware of this and make appropriate preparations.

Partner or Adversary?

According to Wang, the CCP has always viewed SinoEuropean relations from a strategic perspective and considers cooperation as the general direction and main tone. That may sound good, but its important to take a closer look.

Indeed, Europe has been a key target of the CCPs long-standing efforts through its united front organizations (pdf). As early as the 1970s, Mao Zedong advanced the Three Worlds Theory that treated Europe as the Second World and different from the First World of the United States and the former Soviet Union, supporting European integration and Europe as an independent pillar among the world powers. That was fundamentally aimed to divide the Western world by pulling Europe away politically, economically, and technologically, as part of the communist regimes grand scheme and geostrategic jostling across continents.

In March 2014, Xi Jinping proposed in Brussels to build the so-called Four-Pronged Partnership between China and the European Union on peace, growth, reform, and civilization. This approach has the same purpose as Maos Three Worlds Theory.

Wang said the CCP sees the EU as a partner, not an adversarybut this is a lie. Although the EU has somewhat distanced itself from the CCP in recent years by positioning itself as a partner, competitor, and systemic rival, the EU wants to play the role of a balancer between the United States and China. In light of the CCPs wolf warrior diplomacy, its atrocious human rights violations in Xinjiang, and pressure from the international community, the EU imposed sanctions on the CCP for the first time in 32 years in March, but only symbolically. However, as this year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CCP, Beijing wants to play tough in its tit-for-tat retaliation through sanctions against the EU.

On the surface, the CCP may be overreacting at the expense of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). But in reality, its an outpouring of the CCPs hostility and contempt for the EU.

Wang said both sides should avoid false information that would obscure the truth, not let the political virus (COVID-19) destroy the unity, and lay a solid social foundation for the stability of ChinaEU relations.

The Chinese delegation led by Yang Jiechi (C), director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office, and Wang Yi (2nd L), Chinas foreign minister, speak with their U.S. counterparts at the opening session of U.S.-China talks at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska, on March 18, 2021. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

The CCP bullies other countries and oppresses its own people. These are just two sides of the same coin of totalitarianism. Domestically, it has deprived Chinese people of their basic human rights and freedoms, with a whole society full of fake news under its censorship. Internationally, the CCP has been a political virus and the source of disinformation aimed to cover up the truth about the origin of COVID-19, which has wreaked havoc around the world. Given the true nature of the CCP, how can SinoEuropean relations be stable and far-reaching?

Conclusion

Its important to note that while the CCP often talks the talk, it does so with a different spin in order to advance its own agenda. For example, the CCP keeps saying that its always a defender rather than a challenger, a builder rather than a destroyer, and a contributor rather than merely a beneficiary of international order.

Please note that the term international order here is by no means the existing international rules-based order. In a high-level meeting between the CCP and the United States on March 18, top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi forcefully stated that the CCP would follow an international order of its own, not a rules-based one advocated by a small group of countries. The small group that he referred to are the Western countries, including the United States and Europe, and the EU cant naively think that its discluded within this group.

In short, we should listen more closely to the CCPs words and observe its actions more carefully. An accurate understanding of the CCPs rhetoric and way of thinking is a prerequisite and a basic skill for the West to successfully cope with it. The West has already suffered many losses while dealing with the CCP and this cant continue.

Wang He has masters degrees in law and history. He has studied the international communist movement. He was a university lecturer and an executive of a large private firm in China. Wang now lives in North America and has published commentaries on Chinas current affairs and politics since 2017.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 14:42:14|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

BEIJING -- Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chief of the Chinese side of the China-U.S. comprehensive economic dialogue, held a video conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday morning.

The two sides believed that the China-U.S. economic relations are very important. (China-US-Conversation)

- - - -

LOS ANGELES -- One firefighter was killed and another injured after one of their co-workers opened fire at a Los Angeles County Fire Department station in a community north of Los Angeles Tuesday morning, authorities said.

The deceased firefighter is a 44-year-old engineer expert who had been with the Los Angeles County Fire Department for more than 20 years, said Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby at a news conference. (U.S.-Shooting-Firefighter)

- - - -

NEW DELHI -- At least seven people were killed and seven others injured after a cooking gas cylinder exploded in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Wednesday.

The blast, which brought down two houses, took place at village Tikri of Wazirganj area in Gonda district, about 158 km east of Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh. (India-Gas Cylinder Blast-Death)

- - - -

MANILA -- The Philippines lauded on Wednesday the World Health Organization's approval of the CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech for emergency use, saying it will boost the vaccine confidence of Filipinos.

"Now, it's not only the Philippine's Food and Drug Administration saying that the Sinovac vaccine is safe and effective, but also a United Nations agency is vouching for its safety and efficacy," Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement. (Philippines-COVID-19-Vaccine) Enditem
NASA Releases Extraordinary New Photo of Milky Ways Bustling Cosmic Downtown

NASA has released a stunning new picture of our galaxys violent, super-energized downtown.

Its a composite of 370 observations over the past two decades by the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory, depicting billions of stars and countless black holes in the center, or heart, of the Milky Way. A radio telescope in South Africa also contributed to the image, for contrast.

Astronomer Daniel Wang of the University of Massachusetts Amherst said on Friday that he spent a year working on this while stuck at home during the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.

This false-color X-ray and radio frequency image made available by NASA on Friday, May 28, 2021, shows threads of superheated gas and magnetic fields at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. (NASA/CXC/UMass/Q.D. Wang, NRF/SARAO/MeerKAT via AP)

What we see in the picture is a violent or energetic ecosystem in our galaxys downtown, Wang said in an email. There are a lot of supernova remnants, black holes, and neutron stars there. Each X-ray dot or feature represents an energetic source, most of which are in the center.

This busy, high-energy galactic center is 26,000 light-years away.

The image appears in the June issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Launched in 1999, Chandra is in an extreme oval orbit around Earth.

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
Then-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel addresses the audiance during the Laver Cup Gala at the Navy Pier Ballroom in Chicago, Ill., on Sept. 20, 2018. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images for The Laver Cup)

Never Let a Plague Go to Waste

Commentary

During Americas first-ever national lockdown, thousands of unelected bureaucrats, as well as federal and state governments, assumed enormous powers not usually accorded to them.

They picked and chose which businesses could stay open without much rationale. They sent the infected into nursing homes occupied by the weak and vulnerable.

Their rules for prosecuting those who violated social distancing, sheltering in place, mask-wearing, or violent protesting often hinged on political grounds. Their spending measures on infrastructure and health care were excuses to lard up redistributive entitlements.

Conservatives moaned that left-wing agendas were at work beneath the pretenses of saving us from the pandemic. And the giddy left bragged that it was true.

After the 2008 financial meltdown, Barack Obama spoke of fundamentally transforming the country. Now hes back, weighing in on the panic-driven, multitrillion-dollar spending that has pushed Americas debt to nearly $30 trillion.

Theres a teachable moment about maybe this whole deficit hawk thing of the federal government, Obama said in a recent interview with Ezra Klein of The New York Times. Just being nervous about our debt 30 years from now, while millions of people are sufferingmaybe thats not a smart way to think about our economics.

He apparently means that borrowing tons of money in a pandemic and not worrying too much about paying it back is a new, better approach to economics.

Last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom boasted about leveraging Californias statewide quarantine.

There is opportunity for reimagining a progressive era as it pertains to capitalism, Newsom said. So yes, absolutely, we see this as an opportunity to reshape the way we do business and how we govern.

Hillary Clinton said something similar early in the pandemic: This would be a terrible crisis to waste as the old saying goes. Weve learned a lot about what our absolute frailties are in our country when it comes to health justice and economic justice.

The old saying she cited was actually a recycled quote from Rahm Emanuel, who was Obamas chief of staff. His exact quote was: You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.

Later, Emanuel clarified that crises allow radical changes that had never been considered or were considered impossible. Without catastrophe, no one in his right mind would vote for far-left agendas.

Manipulating COVID-19 is not just a left-wing effort. The Davos crowd responsible for the World Economic Forum has talked of using the global crisis to push the Great Reset. These self-appointed guardians wish to create global rules governing the worlds economy, energy, transportation, education, climate, wealth distribution, and media. In other words, a few elites will seek to override local laws.

What do all these efforts have in common?

One, they are all top-down agendas. Polls show that average Americans are worried about massive borrowing. They fear the government gaining new powers under the pretext of a pandemic.

Two, our elites are anti-democratic. They talk of forcing change down the throats of citizens through edicts, executive orders, court decisions, or bureaucratic directives. Obama, Newsom, Clinton, and the Great Resetters dont want to put up their agendas for discussion before the people and their elected representatives.

Three, behind fancy slogans about not wasting crises, teachable moments, and resets is the panic-porn reality that these initiatives are not popular in normal times because they defy common sense. If Americans tried Obamas economics with their family budgets, they would go broke or go to jail after piling up unpaid debts. Only elites, with their private security guards and the money and influence to remain safe, talk of defunding the police. Few of the woke elites who fly their carbon-spewing jets into Davos ever fly economy class.

Four, our rich revolutionaries have no record of policy success. Massive borrowing, increasing government powers, restrictions on personal freedoms, higher taxes, and more regulations dont appeal to most Americans. Brexit and pushbacks against the European Union suggest that the same is true abroad.

Many members of the left-wing elite became wealthy by monetizing their political careers through lucrative insider networking. A cynic might conclude they didnt go full reset until they first got filthy richallowing them not to live like, think like, or listen to the rest of us.

Victor Davis Hanson is a conservative commentator, classicist, and military historian. He is a professor of classics emeritus at California State University, a senior fellow in classics and military history at Stanford University, a fellow of Hillsdale College, and a distinguished fellow of the Center for American Greatness. Hanson has written 16 books, including The Western Way of War, Fields Without Dreams, and The Case for Trump.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
A visitors pulls the slide of a pistol with a silencer at a gun displays at a National Rifle Association outdoor sports trade show in Harrisburg, Penn., on Feb. 10, 2017. (Dominick Reuter/AFP via Getty Images)

New York Democrats Seek to Sue Gun Makers With New Legislation

Democratic lawmakers in New York state are aiming to propose legislation that would make it possible to file lawsuits against gun manufacturers.

Sen. Zellnor Myrie, a Democrat who represents an area in New York City, said he is sponsoring legislation to allow New York residents to sue gun manufacturers who dont take steps to prevent their products from being sold and purchased illegally, WSKG-TV reported.

I again ask this industry: what are you going to do about your products that are killing our people? You have experienced record profits this past year  and while you make record profits, we experienced record death, he said.

The proposal comes amid a surge in shootings and homicides in New York City, according to data from the New York City Police Department, although conservatives and police unions have said that the rise in anti-police rhetoric and calls to defund the police starting last year amid Black Lives Matter protests have contributed to a spike in crime.

We have seen New York state move swiftly in other crises, and now we are looking for this state Legislature to do the same in this critical month, Assemblymember Diana Richardson, a Democrat from Brooklyn, also said about a possible bill being passed on allowing residents to sue gun makers.

But Republicans in the New York Legislature said the bill wont stop shootings and homicides in New York City.

The idea that youre going to hold gun manufacturers responsible  I dont see how that changes anything, said Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt, according to the WSKG report.

In 2013, the state adopted a significant number of gun control laws, including the SAFE Act, enhanced background checks, a ban on magazines that hold more than 10 roundsalthough the initial law banned magazines holding more than seven roundsas well as a ban on assault weapons.

New York state also requires residents to apply for a pistol license to possess a loaded handgun outside of a home or a business. Concealed carry is only legal with the license, according to pro-Second Amendment group the U.S. Concealed Carry Association, which noted that local law enforcement has discretion in determining whether or not to issue a concealed weapons license to an applicant, and an application must show that proper cause exists for the issuance of the license.

The Epoch Times has reached out to several gun manufacturing companies and gun-rights group Gun Owners of America for comment.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (R) and National Party leader Judith Collins look on after the State Memorial Service for Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul in Wellington, NZ on April 21, 2021 (Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

NZs Major Political Parties Tight-Lipped on Resignations of 2 Chinese MPs

Leaders from New Zealands (NZ) Labour party and National party have refused to confirm or deny whether the resignations of two Chinese members of Parliament last year was due to security concerns over their links to Beijing.

Yang Jian from the National party resigned from Parliament on July 10, 2020, while Raymond Huo from the governing Labour party resigned 11 days later on July 21.

Their exit from the political arena came amid ongoing concerns about their connections with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) affiliated bodies.

We do not confirm or deny any security briefings that we do or dont receive, NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Stuff.

National party leader Judith Collins echoed those comments, saying the party would not comment on any security or intelligence briefings.

Both parties were responding to anonymous allegations revealed by news website Politik which has alleged that the resignations of both men were orchestrated after security briefings to party leadership.

Yang served as a National MP since 2011. But it was revealed in a 2017 investigative report that he had worked and taught at Chinese military institutions for over 15 years.

New Zealand MP Jian Yang (New Zealand Parliament)

Yang studied and worked in Chinas Luoyang Foreign Language Institute, which is part of the Third Department of the Peoples Liberation Armythe CCPs military arm. The Third Department is involved in monitoring the telecommunications of foreign nations.

Yang later spent five years at the Air Force Engineering College. He told The Associated Press that he was teaching English-language and American studies to students.

If you define those cadets, or students, as spies, yes, then I was teaching spies, he said, noting that he understood the concern his past aroused.

I can understand that people can be concerned because they do not understand the Chinese system, he said.

Yang was also a subject of China expert Anne-Marie Bradys 2017 paper, Magic Weapons: Chinas Political Influence Activities Under Xi Jinping, a ground-breaking document that revealed the extent of Beijings interference activities in NZ.

The paper alleged that Labours Huo was someone who worked very closely with Peoples Republic of China representatives in NZ and had connections to the United Front Work DepartmentBeijings foremost overseas influence body that has been the subject of intense scrutiny for interference in Australias domestic political activities.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping shakes hands with MP Raymond Huo as Andrew Little, David Shearer, and Phil Goff look on at SkyCity Grand Hotel in Auckland, New Zealand on November 21, 2014 (Greg Bowker  Pool/Getty Images)

Huo headed the Parliamentary Justice Committee in 2019, which was tasked with investigating foreign interference issues in NZ. Brady was subsequently blocked by four Labour MPs from testifying to the Committee. Huo later backed down.

The revelations came before the arrival of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrisons for high-level talks with NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

At the conclusion of the talks, both leaders released an extensive joint statement addressing several issues related to Beijings increased aggression in the Indo-Pacific region, including its takeover of Hong Kong, militarisation of the South China Sea, and human rights abuses in Xinjiang against the Uyghur minority.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford announces that schools will not resume-in-class learning until September during a press conference at Queen's Park in Toronto on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette)

Ontario, Quebec Lay out Pandemic Plans for Students to Return to Schools in Fall

Students in the two provinces hardest hit by COVID19 should be able to experience a normal return to school in the fall, officials said Wednesday as other provinces and territories looked to loosen pandemicrelated travel restrictions.

Ontario and Quebec laid out their plans for schools Wednesday as they stressed the importance of vaccinations to keep students and educators safe.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that students whove been learning remotely since midApril will continue doing so for the rest of the academic year, with plans to return to classrooms in the fall. Reopening schools now could lead to a spike in COVID19 cases, he said.

While no one wants kids back in school more than I do, as your premier, these arent risks Im willing to take, he said in an afternoon news conference.

Many public health experts had urged the province to reopen schools on a regional basis now to support students wellbeing.

In Quebec, Education Minister JeanFrancois Roberge said children and teens should be able to attend school without masks or classroom bubbles in the fall, as well as go on field trips and eat lunch in a common area.

But he said thats only if infections remain low and at least 75 percent of kids aged 12 and up are vaccinated. About 45 percent of youth 12 to 17 have received a shot or made an appointment to get vaccinated so far, he said.

Officials will adjust the plan if COVID19 cases increase, he said.

Meanwhile, Newfoundland and Labrador said it could welcome travellers from the rest of Canada as early as July 1, presuming infections remain low and the province stays on track with its vaccination goals.

Travellers who are fully vaccinated would not have to selfisolate or present a negative COVID19 test, while those who are partially vaccinated would have to show a negative result from a test taken within three days of their departure date, officials said.

Isolation requirements are also easing in the Northwest Territories, at least for visitors from Yukon.

Yukon travellers will need to submit a request to be exempt from isolation, and must not have any COVID19 symptoms or have been in contact with someone who has the virus. But the exemption applies regardless of vaccination status.
An Orange County nonprofit that donates backpacks to needy children says it aims to nearly double its contributions for the upcoming school year.

Community Action Partnership (CAP OC) announced that it hopes to provide supplies to more students than ever by giving away 5,000 backpacks to low-income students for the 20212022 school year.

No student should go to school worrying that they dont have the supplies they need, CAP OC said in a statement. We want to ensure that they step back into school prepared to learn.

In past years, the goal of the nonprofits Backpacks for Success program has been to provide 2,000 to 3,000 fully supplied backpacks to children in need. But as students from low-income families prepare to transition back to in-person learning this fall, CAP OC aims to increase its contributions to meet growing demand.

The impacts of the pandemic are lasting, and many students in Orange County may not have the supplies they need for school, the nonprofit said, adding that the past year was unpredictable, but students and youth have continued to show their resiliency by first adapting to virtual learning and then preparing to go back to school in person.

Backpacks for Success has supported K12 students in Orange County for 15 years, providing backpacks equipped with basic school supplies, including paper, pens, notebooks, and folders.

CAP OC noted that over 37,000 families with children are living below the poverty line in California. In addition, about $1 billion worth of unpaid energy bills has left some parents struggling to provide necessary materials for school.

One $20 donation can provide a student with a backpack that is fully stocked. To donate and support the nonprofits goal, visit: Capoc.org/backpacks/
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on March 5, 2021. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Sen. Graham Says Israel Will Request $1 Billion From US to Replenish Iron Dome

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that Israel will request $1 billion from the United States to replenish its Iron Dome missile defense system following the 11-day conflict between the Jewish state and the Hamas terrorist group.

Graham, who met with top Israeli officials this week, made the announcement during a press conference in Jerusalem on June 1. During his visit, he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

There will be a $1 billion request coming to the Pentagon this week from the defense minister to replenish the Iron Dome and a few other things, to upgrade the system, Graham, who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said at the press conference.

This was the largest sustained assault in maybe history and the Iron Dome performed incredibly well, saving thousands of Israeli lives and tens of thousands of Palestinian lives. So I would imagine that the administration would say yes to this request and it would sail through Congress.

Graham also told reporters that he believes there will be bipartisan support for the request given that there is a wide and deep support for Israel among the Democratic Party.

President Joe Biden committed to replenishing the Iron Dome system in a press conference last month. He also said he will work with the Palestinian Authority, which lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas in the Gaza War of 2008-2009, to provide humanitarian relief for the people of Gaza and reconstruction efforts there.

I believe the Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely and enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and democracy, Biden said.

My administration will continue our quiet, relentless diplomacy toward that end, I believe we have a genuine opportunity to make progress and Im committed to working for it.

The White House didnt immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment on Grahams remarks.

The mutual cease-fire between Israel and Hamas began on May 21 and has since remained in effect. The conflict started when Hamas launched rockets into Israel over a court case to evict several Palestinian families in East Jerusalem that triggered riots.

Hamas fired more than 4,000 rockets into Israeli civilian areas beginning on May 10, while Israel responded with hundreds of airstrikes and several ground strikes to take down the offending and supporting Hamas infrastructure.

Netanyahu previously said in a statement to media that Israels operations were aimed at eliminating terrorist groups that threatened the safety of Israelis and to restore quiet and security to you, the citizens of Israel.

At least 230 Palestinians were killed and 1,710 people were wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, although it doesnt separate the numbers into civilians and fighters.
Sen. Ron Johnson: The 180-Degree Turn on the COVID Lab Leak Theory

The COVID-19 lab leak theoryonce widely labeled as a conspiracy theoryis now back at the forefront of national discussion.

After growing calls to investigate the viruss origins, on May 26, President Joe Biden issued a statement saying the U.S. intelligence community is divided on whether the virus emerged from a natural source or a lab accident.

Anthony Fauci, head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stated on May 11 that he is now not convinced that the virus developed naturally. Facebook has stated it will no longer remove posts that claim COVID-19 was man-made. And PolitiFact has quietly retracted a September 2020 fact check.

In this episode, we sit down with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) to discuss whats going on. What information was withheld from the American public?

Jan Jekielek: Senator Johnson, its so good to have you back on American Thought Leaders.

Sen. Ron Johnson: Its good to be back.

Mr. Jekielek: There has been a flurry of legislative activity in the Senate related to this coronavirus Wuhan lab leak theory, which is something that youve talked a lot about in the past. Why this flurry, why now?

Sen. Johnson: Well, it really beganthe log jam on this particular issue was broken when Nicholas Wade, the former science writer for The New York Times wrote a very long but very detailed article laying out certainly what he knew about the two competing theories, either just a natural evolution of this virus or one that was created in the lab, through things like gain of function and possibly a leak from the Wuhan lab.

And so, although he didnt come to a conclusion, he basically came to a conclusion. The point I want to make is its going to take that type of media attention to it, inquisitive and hopefully unbiased reporters, which we have fewer and fewer of nowadays, to really dig into the story.

Listen, I support all these efforts legislatively. Im not going to hold my breath that the intelligence community is going to give us anything that we dont already know. I certainly have not had a very good experience of getting relevant and important information out of the agencies, and that was even under the Trump administration.

So, theres a reason we need a free press. Theres a reason we need an inquisitive press. Sources, whistle blowers, will go to reporters, because they know they remain anonymous, so the press is almost always ahead of everybody else when it comes to breaking these stories.

And the fact that the press has been in the tank for those individuals that have been using COVID to control our society, that theyve been in the tank for people like Dr. Fauci, who I started losing confidence in very, very early on in the pandemic, particularly on one conference call we had as he was contemplating or pushing all these shutdowns. I asked him, Dr. Fauci, are you at all considering the human toll of the economic devastation that is going to be a result of what you are promoting here? These economic shutdowns. And his answer to me was really quite glib. Senator, thats not my department.

When youre a doctor, you need to be treating the whole patient, and he wasnt treating the whole patient. He wasnt considering the enormous economic devastation, human toll of that. Lets face it, I dont think he has been straightforward with the American public in many aspects of this COVID from the start.

The minute that Tom Cotton, on intelligence committeehe would never say this one way or the other, so its only my assumptionhe mustve seen something in his work on the intelligence committee, the minute he talked about the Wuhan lab, I have to admit, of the two theories, I always felt that one was probably the best theory, but you couldnt even bring it up.

Im fighting battles with the media. Im under enough attack, there are enough fronts that Im battling on. I just didnt want to reopen that one.

But the fact of the matter is, the lab leakage, the gain of function research, funded by NIH and NIAID, the organization that Fauci heads, the grants that he approves of, this information has been hidden in plain sight for months, but the mainstream media was not interested in it, until Nicholas Wade wrote his story.

Now, all of a sudden, thats broken the log jam. And Im grateful that now people are starting to look into this, because its an important story that needs to be fully investigated and fully reported.

Mr. Jekielek: To your point, in April 2020 that we published our documentary, Tracking Down the Origins of Wuhan Coronavirus. I think it got 100 million views, but at that point, Facebook slapped it with a label saying that it was some kind of misinformation. There was a false fact check and there was even a situation where the fact checker was someone who was actually affiliated with the Wuhan lab or had worked there before. It was just kind of unbelievable.

Sen. Johnson: Well, whats also unbelievable is all the suppression of information regarding treatment. Doctors early on, when they realized ventilators werent working, youd have courageous doctors trying to use the information technology we have at our disposal. Doctors that had the compassion to treat COVID patients were actually practicing medicine in the midst of a pandemic when people were dying, willing to try different things, like repurpose cheap, generic drugs.

The media and social media began censoring and suppressing that information. And as a result, I think, tens of thousands of people lost their lives that didnt have to. In my own case, I held hearings on early treatment, two of them, with eminently qualified doctors, again, who had the compassion of actually treating COVID patients. They were dismissed and vilified, for example, by the Democrat witness Dr. [Ashish] Jha, who in testimony said he had never treated any COVID patient.

The New York Times after the first hearing wrote an article labeling myself and three eminently qualified doctors as snake oil salesman of the Senate. And then in my second hearing, we had Dr. Pierre Kory talking about Ivermectin. His 10 minute opening statement went viral, 8 million views, until YouTube took it down and censored it.

The media and social media have an awful lot to account for, but heres the problem. They will never admit they were wrong. The people running these health care agencies that did virtually nothing to robustly explore different treatment options using repurposed cheap, generic drugs, they will never admit theyre wrong.

And from my standpoint, thats going to be the biggest log jam to really initiating the best policies to move forward, because even with the vaccine, were still going to need treatment for COVID, because people will still get COVID or possibly variants of COVID.

Mr. Jekielek: Its incredible actually, when you frame it this way. There have even been examples where a New York Times reporter for COVID was basically calling discussion of the lab theory or, I think, the origin of the theory of the Wuhan lab leak as something that was racist, which I thought was really interesting and kind of concerning. Thats recently.

Sen. Johnson: Of course, now what theyre doing is theyre vilifying myself and Senator Paul. We both had COVID. In my case, I just recently had an antibody test and I have the same level of antibodies as the doctor who prescribed me the test, who had just gotten two doses of Moderna.

For some reason, now that the FDA has come out with a guidance, a report, saying that if you have antibodies, thats no proof of immunity. Why is the FDA, CDC, and NIHs default position on those of us that have been previously infected, that chances are you probably dont have immunity? Why would they say that?

Its just not true. For almost every other virus that we know, once youve had the disease, youre immune from it. And certainly, if you have an active case of the disease, you sure dont want to get the vaccine. And yet, we have this big push to vaccinate everybody, regardless of medical need or potential harm that might come of possibly vaccinating somebody whos been previously infected or are currently having a case of COVID.

Mr. Jekielek: You have these two letters that youre writing both to the State Department and to NIAID, but Im actually curious about this, have you found out what evidence this assertion is that you just described? What evidence thats based on?

Sen. Johnson: No, in fact, theres a study just published out of Israel that shows that those of us that were previously infected have as good, if not better, immunity than the vaccine.

And that would make a lot of sense. The vaccine is really designed based on these spike proteins to identify those. When youve had the disease, your immune system identifies the entire coronavirus, which is why people with SARS-1, 17 years later, appear to be immune to SARS-2, even though SARS-2 is only 80% genetically identical to SARS-1.

So, the common sense, just basic medicine, would indicate that if youve already been infected with the virus, your immune system is going to be pretty capable of warding off a re-infection.

Mr. Jekielek: So tell me about these requests that youve made to NIAID and to the State Department?

Sen. Johnson: Were just trying to get a straight answer. As I listen to Dr. Fauci, talking about, for example, gain of function and how we didnt fund any of that. He couches his response in very lawyerly terms. And so, I want a straight answer out of him. I dont want him dodging between a lawyerly response.

With our letter to the State Department, I just want to figure out why did they end their investigation into the origin of the coronavirus? Now, the Biden administration, under public pressure, has started an investigation through the intelligence community. But again, is the intelligence community going to come clean? What are they going to provide the public? So, to me, this is just screaming for transparency, which we havent had in government for quite some time.

Mr. Jekielek: But you said earlier that youre not expecting a lot of results, I guess?

Sen. Johnson: Well, again, my experience with my previous investigations as Chairman of Homeland Security committee, even under President Trump, who wanted this information out, we were just slow walked all the time. Im quite confident we didnt even get close to all the information we were looking for. So, if past is a predictive, I wouldnt think under Biden administration, theyre going to exactly come clean either.

What Im hoping my oversight letters will do is raise the questions that maybe inquisitive reporters will start raising as well. And then public pressure will either come to bear on the administration to come clean or whistle blowers will come forward that have the knowledge and inform the press.

Mr. Jekielek: So in questioning, I think, it was a Senator Kennedy was questioning Dr. Fauci. One of the things he said really kind of struck me and Im going to quote it here. He said, I dont have enough insight into the Communist Party of China to know their interactions with the scientists, sir. I believe thats a direct quote. And I thought that was pretty fascinating, because I was wondering how reflective that might be of the level of knowledge of other officials in the U.S. government, in your estimation.

Sen. Johnson: Well, I view that as just a big dodge. A lawyer-baked dodge of the question. No matter what the answer, no matter what the truth, if Dr. Fauci isnt aware of these things, he should be. And if he is aware of them and hes lying, thats also a problem.

The fact of the matter is, hes been providing grants for this type of research for years. They go to conferences; they talk about it; its published. Again, its hidden in plain sight. He had to be aware of the fact that with some of these dollars, certainly there was cooperation with the Wuhan lab.

Dr. Shi [Zhengli], was cooperating with Ralph Baric, out of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hills. I mean, this is all well-known, its been documented. Thats what Im saying, its hidden in plain sight. For Dr. Fauci to claim, I dont know anything about this, again, hes either lying, or if he didnt know about it, this guy is completely incompetent and should not be in the position hes in.

Mr. Jekielek: Certainly for some years, U.S. officials have dealt with Chinese officials or Chinese scientists in, lets say, a P4 lab, like the Wuhan lab, which of course had been affiliated with the Chinese military. With credulity, they would say, Oh, no, were not working with the military, and then we say, Okay, fine. I accept that. Lets keep doing our work. But from our experiences and decades of reporting, thats not a very reasonable position to have.

Sen. Johnson: No, its a completely unreasonable position to have. You have to realize when youre dealing with any entity in China, its again, its the Communist Party of China. They control society, they control all businesses.

They certainly would control a level four laboratory involved in this type of research. So, theres no way that you wouldnt have to, first of all, be 100 percent certain that the Chinese Communist Party and the Peoples Liberation Army are going to be knowing full well and fully cooperating with, if not completely directing, the activity of that lab.

Mr. Jekielek: Going forward, you mentioned that youre publishing these letters, and youre hoping that some inquisitive journalists take hold of some of the questions that you have and start doing their own research on them. What is your best case scenario, where would you like to see this go now?

Sen. Johnson: I just want to get to the truth. Its about time we have it. We do need to understand whats happened here, because if this really did spring from the Wuhan lab, and if it was developed with technology that we helped develop, that we bought and paid for, that we continue to engage in, even though there was a moratorium against this type of research, the American people need to know that, as well as we need to take action to make sure this doesnt happen again.

Theres always been a debate on this type of research. Its incredibly dangerous. Now, maybe theres some justification for it, but if you do something this dangerous, you have to keep such incredibly tight controls over it. Part of the problem is that the level of safety and security in a lab, most scientists dont like operating under those conditions. Totally gowned up, Im sure everything takes double or triple the time to do, so theres always going to be a tendency to go to a lower level of security.

If youre going to engage in this type of dangerous research, you have to completely control it. Allowing it to be known and cooperating with the Communist Party of China, Peoples Liberation Army, and the Wuhan lab there is completely unreasonable. Its just jaw dropping that we would allow that to happen

Mr. Jekielek: What do you think about the fact that the Chinese regime has plans to build multiple more P4 labs now?

Sen. Johnson: Well, that speaks volumes, doesnt it? Again, I do not know what happened. I have all kinds of suspicions. And Ive had suspicion for quite some time. I havent voiced the suspicion, because you see what happens to anybody who stepped out of line and talked about this.

Literally, Iand I am sure a number of other peoplehad to sit back and just kind of bide our time until somebody in the mainstream press took the story and ran with it. Now that its happened, I think its going to open up the floodgates, and hopefully well get to the bottom of this soon.

Mr. Jekielek: Well, this is the other question. How does this speak to the credibility of the legacy media? Or will that actually change peoples perceptions? Because this does appear to be a really stark example of a very, very strong narrative in one direction and everybody backpedaling like crazy as we speakexcept for the few of us that were right, at least about the fact that these are reasonable things to consider and debate.

Sen. Johnson: Isnt that really a mutually exclusive term, a credible media? They have very little credibility, and that is so very sad. We need a free press; we need an inquisitive and investigating press; we need an unbiased press. We dont have an unbiased press. We have a press that is in the tank for liberal, progressive, socialist Marxists.

I mean, they made it completely obvious, right after the 2016 election, they chose sides. They always were on a side, but they overtly chose a side, did everything they could to bring down President Trump and do everything they could to make sure that President Biden was elected. Well, they won, they succeeded and now theyre continuing it. And its just so incredibly dangerous for a free democratic republic, not to have that free and inquisitive investigatory press.

Mr. Jekielek: Senator, as we finish up, there does seem to be this self-reflection thats happening at least to some extent right now. Can this be replicated in other areas?

Sen. Johnson: I hope so. And again, I certainly appreciate your news organization. The other conservative sites that are just telling the truth, I dont even want to call them conservative sites. I mean, those news organizations that just report the news in an unbiased fashion, thats what we need.

But youre being censored. Youre being throttled back, as are these other news media outlets as well. We have to address the power of our media oligarchs.

Its funny. The first time I went to Ukraine, everybodys talking about one of the reforms that Ukraine needs is a free press. Its controlled by oligarchs. I said, Well, so is American media; we just call them billionaires. We dont call them oligarchs. We call them media billionaires. Thats what weve got going on here, and those media billionaires are liberal, progressive, Marxist socialists, and its showing.

Mr. Jekielek: Senator Johnson, any final thoughts before we finish up?

Sen. Johnson: No, I think I probably got in enough trouble on this interview. Again, I appreciate what youre doing. America has to wake up. We have to understand whats happened to this country.

I believe America is something precious. In the span of human history, the freedom that our forebearswe talked about Memorial Day. More than a million men and women that died defending our freedom. We cant let it slip away, and I fear we are. Im asking every American to wake up and jealously guard their freedom, so that they can use that freedom in a free market system to dream, aspire, build, and create. Thats what made this country great, not big government.

Mr. Jekielek: Senator Ron Johnson, its such a pleasure to have you on.

Sen. Johnson: Take care, stay well.

Editors Note: Dr. Anthony Fauci did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Sen. Johnsons allegations in the interview.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Subscribe to the American Thought Leaders newsletter so you never miss an episode.

You can also follow us on Parler, Facebook, or YouTube. If youd like to donate to support our work, you can do so here.
White House chief medical adviser on COVID-19 Dr. Anthony Fauci stands at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., on Feb. 11, 2021. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Taxpayers Have a Right to Know: Watchdog Files Lawsuit for More Dr. Fauci Emails

A taxpayer watchdog that targets U.S. health agencies sued the U.S. National Institutes of Health, seeking emails from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), dating back to 2013.

The White Coat Waste Project filed a lawsuit on Tuesday (pdf) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) seeking the release of records related to origins of the novel coronavirus and ties between the United States government and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the lab that has increasingly been suggested to be the source for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.

The lawsuit is seeking to determine whether NIH had any knowledge about EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit research group, was spending the agencys money at the Wuhan animal lab, and what NIH and [EcoHealth Alliance] knew about a potential lab leak in late 2019 and early 2020, the group said, reported the Washington Examiner.

Peter Daszak, the head of EcoHealth Alliance (EHA) who had previously denied the Wuhan Institute of Virology origin theory, thanked Fauci in an email for his statements to media outlets downplaying the theory that the virus came from the lab.

I just wanted to say a personal thank you on behalf of our staff and collaborators, for publicly standing up and stating that the scientific evidence supports a natural origin for COVID-19 from a bat-to-human spillover, not a lab release from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Daszak wrote to Fauci last year, according to the emails that were released to several media outlets through a FOIA request this week. From my perspective, your comments are brave, and coming from your trusted voice, will help dispel the myths being spun around the virus origins,

Fauci, who at the time in April 2020 said that evidence revealed that the virus spread via animal-human-transmission, responded by saying: Many thanks for your kind note.

The CCP has denied claims that the virus originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and has often said the virus was transmitted first to humans at a wet market by a yet-to-be-disclosed animal.

Security personnel gather near the entrance to the Wuhan Institute of Virology during a visit by the World Health Organization team in Wuhan, China, on Feb. 3, 2021. (Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

Taxpayers have a right to know what the NIH knew about how its money was being spent at the Wuhan animal lab, and what NIH knew about a potential lab leak in late 2019 and early 2020, Justin Goodman, vice president of advocacy and public policy at the White Coat Waste Project, said in a statement on Tuesday. Transparency and accountability at home and abroad are critical in the quest to identify the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to prevent another outbreak.

White Coat Wastes lawsuit is seeking NIH and NIAID funding applications, NIHs and NIAIDs communication with EHA, disbursement records, and other communications.

The NIH and NIAID were not involved in providing funding for gain-of-function research into viruses, Fauci told a congressional hearing last month and confirmed NIH earmarked $600,000 for the Wuhan Institute of Virology over a five-year period to study coronaviruses and provided the funding to EHA.

But Fauci emphatically denied that money was used in gain of function research, which he described as taking a virus that could infect humans and making it either more transmissible and/or pathogenic for humans.

That categorically was not done, he said during the hearing.

Increasingly, more and more U.S. officials and mainstream media reporters in recent days have suggested that the CCP virus may have emerged from the Wuhan lab. President Joe Biden late last month suggested that many members of the U.S. Intelligence Community believe the lab leak hypothesis.

The Epoch Times has reached out to NIAID for comment.
A man is seen inside of a Tesla car during the 19th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in Shanghai on April 19, 2021. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

Tesla Establishes Data Center in China, With All Data to Be Kept in China

Tesla has established a data center in China, the company said last week, and data generated by all cars sold in the country will be stored domestically.

A May 25 post on the Weibo social media site said that the data center has already been built and the company plans on expanding its data network in China.

Tesla also said they want to start a platform where Tesla owners can make inquiries regarding their cars, and focus their efforts on ensuring the smooth operation of their databases as well as safeguarding customer data.

The column Daily Car Watch on Chinese news portal Sohu wrote on May 26 that these data centers are a response to the Chinese regimes agencies blocking Tesla from operating in China. They are also addressing incidents of data loss that led to car owners complaining the cars brakes were malfunctioning.

According to Reuters, citing anonymous sources, employees in various Chinese Communist Party (CCP) departments were not allowed to park their Tesla cars in the vicinity of the regimes offices due to the security risks presented by the cameras installed in Tesla vehicles. Despite many other cars also having similar technology installed in them, the ban only applies to Tesla, according to Reuters.

The data centers also stirred up conversation among netizens in China.

NeochaEDGE, which is recognized as one of the top 10 most influential Weibo accounts reporting on the digital world, said that Tesla is becoming another Guizhou-Cloud Big Data.

Guizhou-Cloud Big Data refers to when Apple handed all of the data from its Chinese iCloud users over to Guizhou-Cloud Big Data for management and operation. The Guizhou State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission is the largest shareholder in Guizhou-Cloud Big Data. This move not only made the data of Chinese iCloud users vulnerable, but also involuntarily violated the freedom and safety of Chinese citizens.

One Chinese netizen said that it was clear who was pushing for Teslas move behind the scenes, attempting to obtain control over Teslas data.

Another netizen said that Teslas actions were inevitable and how leaving their data in China under CCP control was the companys ticket into the Chinese market.

On May 12, the CCPs digital office issued Provisions on the Management of Automobile Data Security (Draft for Solicitation of Comments) that set the boundaries for automobile data security.

Article two of the provision says how in the process of design, production, sales, operation, maintenance, and management of automobiles within the territory of the Peoples Republic of China, operators shall collect, analyze, store, transmit, query, utilize, delete, and provide (hereinafter collectively referred to as process) personal information or important data overseas in compliance with relevant laws and regulations and the requirements of this regulation.

Tesla reposted the regulation on its official Weibo account and stated, We support this decision.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 15:11:56|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- About 80.72 percent of China's population spoke Putonghua, or Mandarin Chinese, in 2020, up 27.66 percentage points from 2000, an official with the Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Wednesday.

To promote the use of Putonghua, authorities have advanced the establishment of related language promotion bases and improved the training and testing system for the national common language, Zhou Wei, director of the ministry's language application management bureau, told a press conference.

Nearly 5.28 million people on the Chinese mainland have so far taken the Putonghua proficiency test, figures from the MOE show. Enditem
Texas City Planned Parenthood Stops Abortions as Sanctuary City Ordinance Takes Effect

Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas (PPGT) said Tuesday that it is no longer providing abortion services in its Lubbock clinic, coinciding with a sanctuary city ordinance that took effect on June 1.

The sanctuary city for the unborn ordinance, which outlaws abortion in Lubbock, was approved on May 1. Sixty-two percent of voters in Lubbock, a city of about 250,000 people in northwest Texas, backed the measure, while just under 38 percent voted against it, according to data from the Lubbock County Elections Office.

PPGT CEO Ken Lambrecht said in a statement Tuesday that abortion services will be provided when legally possible.

Lubbock residents are currently required to travel to access a safe, legal abortion, PPGT said, reported news outlet Everything Lubbock. This ban on abortions provides no exemptions, even in cases of rape and incest. The ban on abortion violates patients constitutional right to an abortion, and were in court to block this ban for Lubbock patients.

The Lubbock abortion ban creates significant barriers and the need to travel a minimum 600-mile round trip or out of state for patients seeking to obtain an abortion, he added.

PPGT on May 17 filed a lawsuit against the city of Lubbock over the ordinance, arguing that it will violate womens constitutional rights to seek an abortion. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

According to the lawsuit, Planned Parenthood has so far provided only medication abortions at a clinic it opened last year in Lubbock. The nearest Planned Parenthood clinic that provides a wider range of abortions is 300 miles away in Fort Worth, the lawsuit said.

The Lubbock ordinance bans abortion in all cases except when a womans life is in danger. It also allows any private citizen of Texas and the family member of any woman who has an abortion to sue the provider or anyone who assisted.

It comes as Republican-led states are weighing or have proposed bills aimed at limiting abortions such as heartbeat bills, which ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually at around six weeks of pregnancy.

Many of these bills have led to a series of legal challenges in courts. These states are hoping that the lawsuits could be a vehicle to challenge Roe v. Wade, which classifies the right to choose to have an abortion as fundamental, in the Supreme Court. Several courts across the country have already invalidated the heartbeat bill.

Janita Kan and Reuters contributed to this report.
Texas Foundation Poised to Lead Legal Challenges to Critical Race Theory in Schools

Texas Public Policy Foundation CEO Kevin Roberts told Epoch TVs Crossroads program that he expects his organization will take the lead in future legal challenges to the Biden administrations proposed new rule that seeks to fund grants for the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and so-called anti-racist ideas in the nations schools.

In a proposed rule released on April 19, the Education Department outlined new priority criteria for a $5.3 million American History and Civics Education grant, as well as exemplary materials for K-12 educators to use. Specifically, the department cited the 1619 Project, and CRT advocate Ibram X. Kendis antiracist idea as leading examples of the kind of content it wants to use taxpayer dollars to promote in history and civics classrooms across the country.

The proposal provided for a public comment period until May 19, with Roberts saying that the proposed rule  has some details in it that are truly radical things that I would imagine 95 percent of Americans would reject.

The Biden administrations proposal praises growing acknowledgement of the importance of including, in the teaching and learning of our countrys history, both the consequences of slavery, and the significant contributions of Black Americans to our society, but makes clear that such an acknowledgement would be reflected [] in the New York Times landmark 1619 Project and in Kendis antiracist ideas. The proposal cites Kendi, noting that antiracist ideas argue that racist policies are the cause of racial inequities, which is essentially the highly contentious argument that differences in outcomes among different racial groups can be reduced to a single variableracist policies.

Roberts said that, on the face of it, antiracist ideas and curricula sound like a good idea, but argued that they hide a nefarious agenda.

The Biden administration uses that kind of vocabulary to shroud the real content of this proposed rule, he said. The real content of this rule is not antiracism, but pro-racism, Roberts added, arguing that Kendis ideas essentially call for fighting racism with more racism.

Kendi argues that the only way to fight discrimination, the history of discrimination in the United States, is to implement discrimination in the present, he said, adding, thats decidedly the opposite of what we need to be doing.

Rather than classifying American students and Americans generally, for that matter, according to the color of our skin, we need to be aiming for what the Declaration of Independence inspired us to do, its aspirational vision of all men and women being equal, he said.

This rule would actually do the opposite. And it fuels an agenda, unfortunately, thats much more radical than that vocabulary of antiracism would suggest, he said, characterizing it as advocating hatred for one another and introducing conflict and race-based division in classrooms.

He said the type of curriculum that the proposed rule advances seeks to define all people, including young people, according to the color of their skinthe very thing that the great patriot Martin Luther King was arguing against his entire career.

Roberts said that, once the comments on the rule are published, he expects the Texas Public Policy Foundation to take the lead in related litigation efforts against the federal government, seeking to block adoption of the rule.

We anticipate being the lead plaintiff against this ridiculous proposed rule, Roberts said.

His remarks come as conservatives and Republicans across the nation are trying to prevent the teaching of CRT and related ideas in the nations classrooms.

CRTwhich espouses the idea that race is not natural, but socially constructed to oppress and exploit minoritiesis an offshoot of the quasi-Marxist critical theory social philosophy that was promoted by the Frankfurt school of thought.

Then-President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning CRT training in federal agencies in September 2020, with the White House describing it as anti-American propaganda.

After taking office, Biden reversed Trumps September 2020 executive order and has pushed CRT training on a number of fronts.

Proponents of CRT have argued that its needed to demonstrate what they say is pervasive systemic racism and to facilitate rooting it out.

The Biden administrations efforts have triggered widespread pushback from federal and state Republican lawmakers, conservatives, and related organizations, as well as parents.

Allen Zhong and Joshua Philipp contributed to this report.
Texas Gov. Abbott Declares Disaster at Southern Border in Response to Humanitarian Crisis

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has issued a disaster declaration at the states southern border to augment additional resources to efforts addressing the humanitarian crisis at the border.

President Bidens open-border policies have paved the way for dangerous gangs and cartels, human traffickers, and deadly drugs like fentanyl to pour into our communities, Abbott said in a statement.

Meanwhile, landowners along the border are seeing their property damaged and vandalized on a daily basis while the Biden Administration does nothing to protect them. Texas continues to step up to confront the border crisis in the federal governments absence, but more must be done.

The declaration (pdf) targets resources in areas that could protect landowners who are dealing with property damage due to trespassers on their land. Abbott has also directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to ramp up its efforts in enforcing federal and state laws relating to offenses such as criminal trespassing, smuggling, and human trafficking.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has also been directed to stop issuing state licenses to child care facilities under a contract with the federal government that shelters or detains unlawful immigrants.

Abbott is also directing the Texas Commission on Jail Standards and the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement to provide guidance and request any necessary waivers that would give counties the flexibility to establish adequate alternative detention facilities or add or expand the capacity of current facilities.

By declaring a state of disaster in these counties, Texas will have more resources and strategies at our disposal to protect landowners and enforce all federal and state laws to combat criminal activities stemming from the border crisis. Working together with local law enforcement, the state will continue to take robust and meaningful action to keep our communities safe, Abbott said.

Border Patrol apprehends illegal immigrants at Penitas, Texas, on May 10, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

The declaration comes amid a significant surge in illegal immigration in recent months. For the month of April, Border Patrol agents encountered over 178,000 illegal immigrants, according to the latest statistics. This is up from just over 173,000 individuals encountered in March. The number of border encounters has been rising steadily since October last year but spiked in February after President Joe Biden took office.

Among those who crossed illegally into the United States last month were over 17,100 unaccompanied minors, which is slightly down from the number of unaccompanied minors who illegally arrived in the United States in March at over 18,900 encounters. However, the number is still around double the number of minors who arrived in February at over 9,300 encounters.

In March, Abbott had launched Operation Lone Star as an effort to address the border crisis. The operation added resources to deter illegal border crossings and directed state law enforcement to interview unaccompanied minors, children who illegally enter the country without an adult, to identify victims of human trafficking.

Since its launch, the Operation has made over over 1,300 criminal arrests, apprehended over 35,000 illegal immigrants, and seized over 10,000 pounds of drugs and over 100 firearms, the governor said.

Republican lawmakers have long argued that the burgeoning crisis is a result of Bidens move to overturn several Trump-era immigration policies that helped curbed the flow of illegal border crossings. This includes his predecessors cornerstone Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP), which effectively ended the problematic catch and release policy, significantly stemming the surge of illegal immigrants that were seen at the southern border in 2019. The MPP, which was on pause, was officially terminated on Tuesday.

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.

The Biden administration, on the other hand, has sought to shift the blame on former President Donald Trumps administration, with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas previously saying that the Trump administration had dismantled the orderly, humane, and efficient way of allowing children to make their claims under United States law in their own country.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, on May 18, 2020. (Lynda M. Gonzalez-Pool/Getty Images)

Texas Gov. Abbott Signs Bills to Prevent Defunding the Police and Increase Penalties for Interfering With Police

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed four back the blue bills into law on Tuesday, increasing criminal penalties for activities that interfere with law enforcement and imposing penalties on cities that defund the police.

Efforts to defund the police are downright dangerous, and these laws will prevent cities from making this reckless decision, Abbott said in a statement. I applaud the Texas Legislature for joining me in passing these priority items and for making sure Texas remains a law-and-order state.

Among the bills Abbott signed, House Bill 1900 states that for any city with a population over 250,000 that defunds the police, the state can withhold sales tax collected by the city and give it to the department of public safety. Cities that defund the police will lose their annexation powers for 10 years, and any area annexed in the past 30 years can vote to dis-annex from the defunding city.

Senate Bill 23 requires a county with a population of over one million not to reduce or relocate the budget of law enforcement agencies unless the county receives approval from voters.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 6 counties in Texas have over one million in population: Bexar County, Collin County, Dallas County, Harris County, Tarrant County, and Travis County.

A week ago, Abbott pledged he would sign the bill after no Austin police units were available to respond to a shooting victim who was critically wounded for 12 minutes.

This is what defunding the police looks like, Abbott wrote on Twitter at the time. Austin is incapable of timely responding to a victim shot in the head.

The Austin City Council voted last summer to reallocate up to $150 million from its police department. The defund the police slogan became a common cry during the Black Lives Matter protests, following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis last May.

Proponents of defund the police argue that governments should spend less on law enforcement and more on social services in an attempt to address perceived racism.

Protesters holding signing reading DEFUND THE POLICE and END STATE VIOLENCE are seen in a file photo. (Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images)

The two other bills increase criminal penalties for activities interfering with or harming law enforcement officers.

House Bill 9 increases the criminal penalty to a state jail felony offense for anyone who knowingly blocks an emergency vehicle or obstructs access to a hospital or health care facility.

The bill was introduced in response to a California incident last September, during which protesters were arrested for blocking a police car with two injured officers from entering a hospital.

House Bill 2366 increases criminal penalties to a felony for injuring police officers with laser pointers and creates an offense for using fireworks to obstruct the police.

Senate Bill 23 will take effect on Jan. 1, 2022. All other three bills will be effective on September 1, 2021.

Last month, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp also signed a bill into law forbidding large budget cuts for local police.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
Text Messages Can Be Used Against Their Senders in Criminal Cases, Massachusetts Court Rules

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled on June 1 that senders of text messages arent granted a right to privacy that could stop law enforcement from obtaining and using their messages against them as evidence in a criminal case.

The 50 precedent-setting decision (pdf) came in a case involving a Massachusetts man, Jorge Delgado-Rivera, who was indictedalongside six otherson cocaine-trafficking charges.

An investigation that led to his indictment was sparked by evidence in the form of text messages that were obtained in 2016 by a Texas police officer during a traffic stop. The officer had searched a cellphone that belonged to Leonel Garcia-Castaneda. Delgado-Rivera had sent text messages to that phone, which appeared to link him to an alleged drug-trafficking ring.

Garcia-Castaneda sought to suppress evidence seized during the traffic stop, arguing that the search was without a warrant and probable cause, and was thereby in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article 14 of the Massachusetts Constitution.

Justices on the court ruled unanimously that a lower court had erred in siding with Delgado-Rivera, who asserted that he had standing to join in Garcia-Castanedas motion to challenge the stop and search.

Justice Frank Gaziano wrote for the court that Delgado-Rivera shouldnt have been allowed to challenge the search of his sent messages because he enjoyed no reasonable expectation of privacy, under either State or Federal law, in the text messages sent by him that were stored on a cellular telephone belonging to, and possessed by, another person.

The decision noted that several previous federal court decisions have held uniformly that, if a letter is sent to another, the senders expectation of privacy ordinarily terminates upon delivery.'

Delgado-Rivera had no reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment in the text messages at issue because, once they were delivered, Garcia-Castaneda, as the recipient, gained full control of whether to share or disseminate the senders message,' Gaziano wrote.

The justices acknowledged that certain oral conversations may have reasonable expectation of privacy. However, they dismissed the idea asserted by Delgado-Rivera that text messages are similar to oral conversations because they tend to be more informal and are exchanged more frequently, in a shorter format, than are other forms of written communication. The judges called his reasoning unconvincing.

The relative formality, frequency, or sensitivity of communication does not alone characterize the distinction between communications in which an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy and those in which the individual does not, Gaziano wrote. The fact that individuals communicate personally revealing thoughts, feelings, and facts via text message rather than through another medium does not alter the analysis of whether they retained a reasonable expectation of privacy in those communications.

The ruling applies to regular text messages and not encrypted or ephemeral messaging, the court noted.

The question whether an individual could use certain types of technologies, such as encryption or ephemeral messaging, to maintain control of sent electronic messages sufficiently to retain a reasonable expectation of privacy in those messages is not before us, reads a footnote in the decision.

The case marked the first time the Massachusetts court had addressed privacy rights for senders of text messages, Gaziano noted.
President Joe Biden prays during a moment of silence during commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 1, 2021. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

The Cant Do Narrative Continues

Commentary

President Biden has pledged to help narrow the racial wealth gap and reinvest in communities that have been left behind by failed policies. He used the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre in Greenwood, a thriving African American community ravaged by a racist mob in 1921, as the occasion to promise more federal contracts for minority-owned companies and address discrimination in home appraisals for black families.

The Tulsa mob murdered more than 300 black men, women, and children over a two-day period, May 31 to June 1, forcing thousands to flee for their lives while watching their homes and businesses burn to the ground. No one was ever held responsible for the devastation.

But Bidens Tulsa appearance and speech continues a narrative favored by Democrats that reinforces the wrong belief that African Americans can do nothing without government. Of course, if government were their savior, would it not have solved all the problems Democrats continually talk about, but do little to fix?

Democrats want to keep reminding us how bad race relations have been historically and how bad they are now, but even Democrats must admit weve made significant progress. I offer just a few statements from accomplished African Americans who faced crippling discrimination and racism in their day but still became successful. These motivational words point us in the direction we need to go and could move many from a dependence on government to lives of self-sufficiency.

If Ken Burns were presenting these statements as one of his great documentaries, it might start with a picture followed by these quotes:

If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life. Marcus Garvey (a black nationalist and leader of the Pan-Africanism movement, which sought to unify and connect people of African descent worldwide).

A case could be made for school choice for low-income students denied a good education in failing inner-city schools: The purpose of education is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions. (James Baldwin, writer)

Speaking of the need for school choice, heres one from Frederick Douglass: It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.

On giving up because one believes there is no way out of ones circumstances: We may (en)counter many defeats but we must not be defeated. (Maya Angelou)

I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it! Dont sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them. (Madam C.J. Walker, an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and social activist)

Need more? Heres one from Rosa Parks: Each person must live their life as a model for others.

This one seems absent from all American culture today, regardless of ones race: We all have dreams. In order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort. (Jesse Owens, Olympic runner)

Why do we rarely hear such thoughts expressed by especially Democrats and even Republicans when speaking to and about African Americans? Why arent the successful used as role models instead of the constant focus on the unsuccessful?

The narrative should be: This is how we became successful, and this is how you can be successful too. Changing the narrative offers potentially better outcomes than the one presently being promoted by liberal politicians.

John Calvin Thomas has been a syndicated columnist, author, and radio commentator for more than 35 years. His latest book is Americas Expiration Date: The Fall of Empires and Superpowers and the Future of 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.
Joshua Philipp, senior reporter at The Epoch Times, and Morgan Zegers of Young Americans Against Socialism speak at the CPAC convention in National Harbor, Md., on Feb. 28, 2020. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times).

The Epoch Times and EpochTVs Crossroads Program Win Media Awards

The Epoch Times and EpochTVs Crossroads program have won awards in the News & Journalism category at CONTENT2021, a Texas-based film festival and media summit.

The award for Truth in Journalism went to The Epoch Times, a New York-based media network that covers 21 languages and 33 countries, and is driven by a stated dedication to bringing uncensored and truthful information to the world.

Our paper was born out of a need to respond to a human rights catastrophe in China, said Stephen Gregory, publisher of The Epoch Times.

It was enabled by the communist Partys vicious and dishonest propaganda, Gregory added, referring to malign efforts by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to cast the Falun Gong spiritual movement in a negative light to provide cover for the regimes brutal and relentless persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

One of the most dramatic examples of the CCPs anti-Falun Gong propaganda was the so-called Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation incident in 2001, a sordid and staged affair that involved regime officials arranging for complicit individuals to be set on fire in Tiananmen Square, while falsely claiming that they were Falun Gong practitioners and broadcasting the horrific footage to the world.

In 2001, the CCP staged a clumsy self-immolation drama in Tiananmen Square in an attempt to turn public opinion against the peaceful practice of Falun Gong. (Video Screenshot | False Fire)

The Epoch Times investigated the incident and found dozens upon dozens of facts that exposed the so-called self-immolation as a false flag hoax. Yet, around the time of the incident, many media outlets essentially copied the CCPs talking points, inadvertently serving to reinforce the regimes brutal persecution campaign.

The Epoch Times truthful reporting exposed the communist Partys lies for the Chinese people but it also helped protect our Western audience, Gregory said. It disabused for them the lies in this propaganda.

At the same time, The Epoch Times reporting has also helped uncover how communist ideas are taking root in the United States, Gregory added.

Founded in 2000 in Atlanta, Georgia, by Chinese-Americans who had fled communist China, The Epoch Times has grown to become a household name in the highly competitive U.S. media landscape. The outlets success has come at a price, however, with some of its China-based reporters arrested, tortured, and jailedsome for as long as ten years.

The CONTENT2021 award for Best Video Magazine went to Joshua Philipps and his Crossroads program.

Philipp, an investigative reporter and host of EpochTVs Crossroads program, told The Epoch Times in an interview that winning the award is an honor.

The channel is still fairly new, but has been able to have a significant impact in its investigations into the origins of the CCP virus, and in its ongoing interviews and news analysis, Philipp said.

Philipp last year led the production of a documentary called Tracking Down the Origin of Wuhan Coronavirus, an investigative piece that raised important questions about the source of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, the pathogen that causes the disease COVID-19. His documentary faced pushback from legacy media outlets and was censored on social media platforms because it gives serious consideration to the theory that the virus did not make a natural jump from animals to humans but may have arisen due to a lab leak.

Yet the lab leak theory has gained traction in recent weeks, with current mainstream reporting now widely acknowledging it as a real possibility and the Biden administration calling for a probe into it as an equally plausible hypothesis to the notion that the virus may have naturally jumped from bats to humans.

Philipp said that his programs success came in spite of Big Techs efforts at suppressing his content.

All of this is despite the many attempts that have been made to censor the show by big tech platforms, including YouTube having totally demonetized it, he said.

Despite these attacks, nothing will stop us from speaking the truth, and theres more great content soon to come, he added.

Conservatives and their Republican allies in Congress have long held that platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have been engaging in concerted efforts to suppress conservative voices, allegations the companies have denied.

The CONTENT2021 summit is scheduled to take place on Sept. 6-9 at Capernaum Studios in the Dallas, Texas area.
The Origins of the Durham Probe

Despite concerted efforts by corporate media and Democrat operatives, most conservatives have known for years that TrumpRussia collusion was the result of dirty campaign tricks by the Hillary Clinton team.

But the medias incessant elevation of the TrumpRussia collusion narrative and suppression of facts that ran counter to their narrative took a harsh toll on our nation. What started out as a political smear ended up shaping four years of American politics and defining the Trump presidency.

Now that former President Donald Trump is gone, corporate media is starting to slowly admit that there was no Russia collusion after all.

Meanwhile, one investigation has outlived Trump and his presidencyprosecutor John Durhams investigation into the origins of the TrumpRussia collusion probe.

Its been two years since John Durham began his investigation into the origins of the FBIs Russia collusion investigation, and legitimate questions abound. We will examine Durhams investigation in greater detail during the next series of shows, but we start by examining why Durham was appointed in the first place.

Why did Barr feel that it was important for Durham to investigate the FBIs opening of the TrumpRussia investigation?

Why did both Barr and Durham publicly disagree with Inspector General Michael Horowitzs conclusion that the FBIs investigation was properly opened?

And how will the new Biden administration appointments at the Department of Justice affect Durhams work?

Welcome to Truth over News with Jeff Carlson and Hans Mahncke.
The Racist Rhetoric of Anti-RacismInterview With Kevin Roberts on the Deception of CRT

The Biden administration recently issued an executive order on critical race theory (CRT) that could build the Marxist concept into Americas education system. However, this allowed for a period of public debate, and the Texas Public Policy Foundation has raised some of the challenges to it. To learn more about this, we sat down for an interview with the foundations CEO, Kevin Roberts.

Were being heavily censored by Big Tech. Our solution? Create our own independent platform free of censorship.

Join us today on EpochTV. Weve got a country to save: http://epochtv.com/Crossroads
Commentary

On social media platforms such as Facebook and TikTok, antisemitism and harassment against Jews has skyrocketed following the most recent outbreak of conflict between Israel and Hamas. Variations of the phrase Hitler was right were posted more than 17,000 times in just a one-week span on Twitter.

In the United States alone, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has collected 222 reports of antisemitic harassment, vandalism, and violence from May 10 to May 23. This represents a sharp increase of 75 percent in antisemitic incidents in the United States reported to the ADL compared to the two weeks before the fighting began. The group says these incidents have taken place in and around approximately 200 anti-Israel rallies held across the United States. These ongoing incidents include antisemitic vandalism on synagogues in American cities, the physical assault of Jews on the streets by anti-Israel gangs, and calls for the genocide of Jewish people.

Across Canada, the Jewish community continues to endure a massive outburst of antisemitism in cities such as Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. In a statement, Bnai Brith Canada said the number of antisemitic assaults so far in May 2021 easily surpasses the total for all of 2020 (which already saw a record (pdf) 2,610 cases, up 18.3 percent from 2019). This follows a concurrent surge in antisemitism in the European Union and United Kingdom.

The driving force of this wave of antisemitism is far-left extremism. Its a testament to the effective Soviet mass-brainwashing of Western minds to side with terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, even as they purposefully bombard Israeli cities with over 3,000 rockets and missiles with the intent to murder as many innocent Israeli civilians as possible.

As Izabella Tabarovsky writes in Tablet magazine, the roots of this far-left antisemitic campaign began with the former ruler of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalins postwar show trials and continued through the end of the USSR.

On May 17, 1948, three days after the State of Israel declared independence, the Soviet Union became the first country to grant de jure recognition to the Jewish State. But when it became clear that then-Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion sought to align with Western democratic countries rather than the communist bloc, Soviet and other communist states would use the cover-term anti-Zionism to disguise its antisemitic policies.

The Soviet press would accuse Jews of groveling before the West and aiding American imperialism among other claims. Forty years after World War II, the Soviets would still deny that the Holocaust ever happened against Jews in the USSR. The Stalinist campaign against Jews in the USSR would culminate with the doctors plot in 1953, when a group of predominantly Jewish doctors from Moscow were accused of a conspiracy to poison the Soviet leadership. By reviving a medieval antisemitic libel, hearkening to accusations that Jews caused the Black Plague by poisoning the wells of Europe, Stalin intended to trigger the mass deportations of Jews to the Gulag. However, this plan would not come to fruition because of the sudden death of Stalin.

The Soviet Union would still continue its anti-Israel campaign in the ensuing decades. In 1955, the USSR would begin to sell weapons to Arab countries. Even the cause of Palestinian liberation and statehood were largely invented by the Soviets, considering the blueprint for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Charter was drafted in Moscow in 1964 and approved by 422 Palestinian representatives hand-selected by the KGB, according to Ion Mihai Pacepa. Such liberation fronts were seen by the USSR as centers of Marxist indoctrination and opposition to democratic and capitalist movements, states an article in the Stanford Review.



According to Pacepa, the highest-ranking defector from the former Eastern Bloc, then-PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat was an undercover operative for the KGB and devoted Marxist. The current Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also allegedly worked for the KGB in the early 1980s, according to researchers from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

The Soviet anti-Zionist campaign produced hundreds of books and thousands of articles smearing Israel and the Jewish people by extension. Newspapers with a circulation in the millions carried these writings to every corner of the USSR, writes Tabarovsky, and other publications in an estimated 80 foreign languages spread this propaganda to Third World countries and the West. Radio broadcasts in the early 1970s transmitted hundreds of hours of Soviet propaganda on a weekly basis across the whole globe.

Soviet ideologues relied on classic religious antisemitism for inspiration, along with the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Mein Kampf. But they would have to be adapted into a Marxist framework. Jewish power would be reframed into Zionist power, says Tabarovsky. Soviet caricaturists would identify the Zionist as an object of hatred, relying heavily on antisemitic portrayals in their illustrations of Israelis.

Marxist concepts such as critical race theory and intersectionality have gained a significant foothold in Western academia and are now being applied to Israel, labeling it as an aggressive expansionist power thats oppressing the Palestinians. After condemning the rise in antisemitic attacks, the chancellor of Rutgers UniversityNew Brunswick apologized for the hurt this message has caused. While in Princeton, dozens of faculty members signed a letter condemning Jewish supremacy without any mention of Hamass genocidal program against Jews.

According to this paradigm set forward by the far-left, antisemitism is the only form of prejudice thats not only tolerated, but also that the victims themselves are responsible for it. This legacy of Soviet anti-Israel propaganda and misinformation must be recognized and not be allowed a veneer of academic respectability.

Bradley Martin is the executive director for the Near East Center for Strategic Studies. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter @ByBradleyMartin
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 15:33:57|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

JINAN, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province, saw the 1,000th freight train depart for Europe and Central Asia on Wednesday amid further expansions of the cargo train service, local authorities said.

The train, carrying goods worth approximately 3.35 million U.S. dollars, is expected to cross China's border through the northwestern land port of Horgos and reach Kazakstan in 12 days, according to the local railway operator.

In the first four months of this year, a total of 186 freight trains departed from Jinan to Europe and Central Asia, up 32.9 percent from the same period last year.

The figure was 542 in 2020, up more than 240 percent from the previous year.

Currently, the trains departing from Jinan link 46 cities located in 19 countries, transporting cars, home appliances, mechanical equipment, laser engraving machines and other export goods. Enditem
The P4 laboratory of Wuhan Institute of Virology is seen behind a fence during the visit by the World Health Organization (WHO) team tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, on Feb. 3, 2021. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

The Wuhan Lab Leak and the Greens Favored Pandemic Story Line

Commentary

President Bidens decision to order the intelligence community to report on the origins of the virus that caused the Covid-19 pandemic means that the lab-escape scenario can no longer be dismissed as a conspiracy theory. The longer that investigations failed to find evidence of the politically favored zoonotic-transmission route, the stronger became the lab-escape scenario as the more plausible explanation. For it is reasonable to assume that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has done everything in its power to help World Health Organization (WHO) investigators uncover evidence to support zoonotic origins of the virus and to have suppressed all available evidence pointing to the possibility of lab escape.

In this regard, Beijing has been assisted by spinners of a spurious green narrative that blames modern societys encroachment on the natural world for the pandemic. First and foremost, there is the WHO and its director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in what increasingly looks like an attempt at a false-flag operation on behalf of the CCP. The pandemic is a reminder of the intimate and delicate relationship between people and planet, Tedros declared a year ago. Any efforts to make our world safer are doomed to fail unless they address the critical interface between people and pathogens. By that, however, the WHO chief wasnt referring to safety in laboratories and the interaction between scientists and pathogens when carrying out high-risk gain-of-function experiments on coronaviruses. Remember, the WHO was tasked with carrying out a thorough, impartial, objective investigation into the origins of the pandemic, but it already knew that the source of the virus was natural transmission nine months before WHO investigators stepped foot in Wuhan.

Then there are people who act as Beijings useful idiots, to borrow from Lenin. At the One Planet summit in January, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was telling fellow world leaders not to forget that the coronavirus pandemic was the product of an imbalance in mans relationship with the natural world. He rather spoiled the effect by observing that the plague that struck the ancient Greeks in Book One of the Iliad was a zoonotic disease. If the Trojan War three millennia ago was the cause of imbalances with nature, what chance is there for modern civilization? Seven months earlier, Prince Charles was blaming Covid on biodiversity loss. Weve had these other disasters with SARS and Ebola and goodness knows what else, all of these things are related to the loss of biodiversity, the heir to the British throne claimed in a TV interview.

Pope Francis was more enigmatic when asked whether he saw an opening for an ecological conversion from the economic devastation of the pandemic. There is an expression in Spanish, the Pope replied. God always forgives, we forgive sometimes, but nature never forgives. The pandemic as just punishment, perhaps? And theres always John Kerry. Yes, climate change is a threat multiplier for pandemic diseases, and zoonotic diseases, the former Secretary of State and now President Bidens climate envoy wrote on Earth Day last year. Lots of green political capital rides on natural transmission as the source of the Covid pandemic.

The corollary is green opposition to humanitys efforts to protect itself from, in the Popes words, unforgiving nature. Malaria is one of the oldest of human afflictions, the medical historian Frank Snowden writes in Epidemics and Society, and probably responsible for the greatest burden of illness in all human history. Though not a magic bullet, the insecticide DDT was remarkably successful in eradicating malaria in Europe and North America. A decade after DDT was demonized by Rachel Carson in her 1962 book Silent Spring, Richard Nixons newly created Environment Protection Agency banned the use of DDT on the eve of the first U.N. environment conference in Stockholm. The EPA ban most certainly contributed to death in malarial countries by denying them access to this life-saving pesticide, authors Roger Bate and Richard Tren write in their 2001 study on DDT and malaria (pdf). In the run-up to the 2001 Stockholm convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, which severely restricts the use of DDT, environmental NGOs lobbied for a total ban on DDT. Greenpeace even called this pesticide with the potential to save millions of lives in sub-Saharan Africa a dangerous life-threatening chemical.

Society holds ambiguous views about science and scientists. On the one hand, scientists are seekers of scientific truths and purveyors of miracle cures, the Covid vaccines being outstanding examples. On the other, scientists interfere in nature (fear of GMOs and almost anything labelled a chemical is what drives Greenpeaces business model) and carry out mad experiments in their labs that risk destroying the world. What would be the fallout if the Covid lab-leak scenario proved to be correct? asks British journalist Ian Birrell, one of the few who has consistently pursued the lab-leak story. It would shake science to its foundations for carrying out risky research despite clear warnings of the dangers and then collaborating in an epic whitewash, Birrell believes.

Contrary to their public image, climate scientists are not models of scientific objectivity and truth-telling, free from the taint of bias and uncontaminated by politics or ideology; theoretical physicist Steve Koonin makes this clear in his new book. At the climatologists behest, a huge societal experiment is now underway. Nothing like net-zero has been attempted before, and it is highly improbable that it will prove successful. Nonetheless, were all bound to discover what its like to be microscopic organisms in a climate scientists petri dish, because, according to the White House, its what the science demands.

Rupert Darwall is a senior fellow of the RealClear Foundation and author of Green Tyranny: Exposing the Totalitarian Roots of the Climate Industrial Complex and the report The Climate Noose: Business, Net Zero, and the IPCCs Anti-Capitalism.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Hunting Beach Mayor Pro Tem Tito Ortiz speaks to parents and students as they gather in protest of wearing masks in schools outside The Orange County Board of Education in Costa Mesa, Calif., on May 17, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Tito Ortiz Resigns From Huntington Beach City Council

Huntington Beach Mayor Pro Tem Tito Ortiz will step down from his elected role, he said June 1 during the city councils first in-person meeting of the year.

I ran for this position with hopes to better my community, work with my constituents and give them a voice, making our beautiful city safe and clean, and to ensure a bright future for my children, Ortiz said when announcing his resignation. I was under a notion that I was in a bipartisan position and  to put it frankly, thats not the case.

This job isnt working for me.

Explaining the reasoning behind his resignation, Ortiz said that from the day he was sworn into the city council last Dec. 7, he was met with hostility and judgment, including from a number of negative news articles.

Being a public figure, nothing is new, he said. However, to be so focused on character assassination each and every week, with multiple news stories [that] leak personal information, all of which were in hopes to slander and defame my name.

Ortiz said during the council meeting that a large part of his decision was based on the safety of his family, though he didnt mention what specifically put them in danger.

As of recent, the attacks against me have involved my family, Ortiz said. Ive tried as hard as I possibly could, but when my childrens safety becomes a matter, Im a father and I will protect my children. Once again, I did as best as I possibly could do and hope I didnt let anybody down.

Ortizs family made headlines in mid-May when his two sons were sent home from an Ocean View School District middle school for not wearing masks, citing a religious exemption that school administrators said didnt exist.

During his term as mayor pro tem, Ortiz criticized mandated mask-wearing, arguing that residents should be able to exercise personal responsibility when deciding whether to wear a mask.

The former UFC champion ran on a Make Huntington Beach Great Again message during his 2020 campaign and won with 42,000 votes, a record number of ballots for a Huntington Beach City Council candidate.
Trump Endorses Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for Reelection

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued a statement to endorse Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for reelection, praising the governor for his policies on the U.S. southern border, the Second Amendment, and election integrity.

Greg Abbott is a fighter and a Great Governor for the incredible people of Texas, the former president said in a statement circulated by his Save America political action committee. No Governor has done more to secure the Border and keep our communities safe than Governor Abbott. Greg is a staunch defender of the Second Amendment and has made Texas a Second Amendment Sanctuary State.

Texas has become a job-creating machine, and our partnership helped restore Americas economic power and success. Greg is also very tough on crime, fully supports the brave men and women of Law Enforcement, and is all in on Election Integrity. Governor Greg Abbott will continue to be a great leader for the Lone Star State, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement for re-election. He will never let you down!

In response, Abbott has expressed appreciation over Trumps endorsement, saying the former president is a great friend of Texas.

I am proud of the work we have done together to secure our border, bring more jobs to Texas, and protect the freedoms that make America and Texas great-and we are just getting started. I thank President Trump for his leadership, and I will continue to fight for the values that make Texas the greatest state in America, Abbott said in a statement on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump makes remarks as he meets with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in the Oval Office in Washington on May 7, 2020. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)

This comes in the same week Abbott announced his intention to defund the legislative branch after Texas Democrats staged a walkout on the House floor in an effort to prevent the passage of a sweeping election reform bill. Abbott argued that lawmakers who abandon their responsibilities to their constituents should be penalized for their actions.

The move, which seeks to push the state House to pass the voting bill, has been criticized as it is unlikely to affect state legislators who earn only $7,200 per year when not in session and $38,140 when in session, and may have outside employment when not in session. But the veto could affect legislative staff.

The measure, which has already passed the state Senate on party lines, would grant more power to poll watchers by giving them more access inside polling areas, while creating new penalties against election officials who restrict poll watchers movements. The proposal would also allow a judge to void the outcome of an election if the number of fraudulent votes could change the result.

Officials who send mail-in ballots to people who didnt request them could also face criminal penalties, should the bill be enacted into law.

Democrats said on May 30 that the walkout was their last tool to kill the bill after attempts to push back on it. The lawmakers are concerned that the bill would add voting barriers for minority groups and amount to voter suppression.

Abbott has also spearheaded efforts in his state to address the surge of illegal immigration and target crimes associated with the humanitarian crisis. In March, the state launched Operation Lone Star to deploy resources to prevent Mexican criminal organizations from smuggling drugs and people into Texas.

A group of illegal immigrants wait to be processed by Border Patrol after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in La Joya, Texas, on April 10, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

On Tuesday night, Abbott issued a disaster declaration along the Texas southern border in response to the humanitarian crisis. The declaration would provide more resources in assistance to curbing the flow of illegal immigration in the area.

The declaration authorizes the use of all necessary and available state and local resources to protect landowners, directs the Texas Department of Public Safety to crack down on criminal trespassing, smuggling, and human trafficking, and directs the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to discontinue state licensure of any child care facility under a contract with the federal government that shelters or detains unlawful immigrants.

President Bidens open-border policies have paved the way for dangerous gangs and cartels, human traffickers, and deadly drugs like fentanyl to pour into our communities, Abbott said in a statement.

Meanwhile, landowners along the border are seeing their property damaged and vandalized on a daily basis while the Biden Administration does nothing to protect them. Texas continues to step up to confront the border crisis in the federal governments absence, but more must be done.

By declaring a state of disaster in these counties, Texas will have more resources and strategies at our disposal to protect landowners and enforce all federal and state laws to combat criminal activities stemming from the border crisis. Working together with local law enforcement, the state will continue to take robust and meaningful action to keep our communities safe, he added.

Abbott has also previously said he would sign a bill allowing people to carry handguns without a license. The bill was approved by both chambers of the state legislature and has headed to Abbotts desk.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
US-China Trade Signaling Fundamental Change

Commentary

During the pandemic, it was hard to get a fix on Sino-American trade, but now that the oppressions of lockdowns and quarantines are liftingin the United States as well as in Chinasome statistical clarity has returned. Two trends stand out. One, American producers clearly have begun to shift sourcing away from China; and two, China has markedly increased its purchases in the United States.

Some of this relative movement reflects Beijings policy during the pandemic, but it also has a more fundamental component based in relative costs. Some reflects Beijings efforts to comply with the trade deal hammered out between it and Washington in 2019 and sealed just before the onset of the pandemic.

Supply chain shifts show clearly in the data on U.S. imports. The robust response of the American economy to the lifting of pandemic-related strictures has sucked imports into the country from everywhere, as is usually the case when this country grows rapidly. According to the Commerce Department, U.S. imports of goods from all sources rose 33.7 percent in just the nine months between last June and this past March, the most recent month for which complete data are available.

But goods imports from China are up only 6.9 percent during this time. Clearly, American business is sourcing elsewhere. Part of this, of course, is a question of securitynot so much national security as supply-line security. During the pandemic, China held back on several vital products. Though Beijings action in the emergency is understandable, equally understandable is how it prompted American buyers to diversify their sources, and they clearly have begun to do that.

President Donald Trump signs trade sanctions against China in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 22, 2018. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

The turn away from Chinese imports has a longer-term component as well. For some time, labor costs in China have been rising faster than elsewhere. According to Chinas Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the average wage in China increased between 2012 and 2019 at a striking 10 percent annual rate. This is only natural in an economy developing as fast as Chinas, but it is a startling figure, and it has erased any cost advantage China might have enjoyed over less developed economies such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and several in Latin America.

During the pandemic, this rapid wage growth stalled, but now in recovery, there is every reason to expect it to resume. It had already convinced American buyers to look elsewhere for the kinds of bargains Chinese production once offered, especially in lower-tech products, such as toys, textiles, and shoes, once the almost exclusive purview of Chinese sources. This effect is evident in the data from before the pandemic or even before the 2019 trade war with the Trump White House. Between 2015 and 2018, all U.S. goods imports increased at an expansive 15.7 percent annual rate, but those from China grew only 3.1 percent a year.

The export side of Americas ledger captures the impact of the 2019 trade deal. According to the text of that agreement, China effectively made four promises. One was to stop Beijings practice of manipulating the foreign exchange value of the yuan to support exports. Two was to cease the widespread tendency of Chinese firms infringing on U.S. patents and copyrights. Three was to ease Beijings long-standing insistence that American firms doing business in China have a Chinese partner to which it must transfer all its technological and business secrets. And fourth was Chinas promise to buy some $200 billion more of U.S. goods over the following two years.

It is, of course, difficult to measure compliance on some of these scores, but there are positive signs. The yuan has fluctuated as is the case with all foreign exchange, but shows no sign of outright manipulation. Beijing has relaxed its insistence that American business in China have a Chinese partner and instituted civil and criminal procedures for patent and copyright infringements.

On the additional purchases, the statistics speak loudly. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. goods exports to China have risen at almost a 14.5 percent annual rate since 2019, far faster than the 0.6 percent yearly growth in all U.S. exports during this time and also faster than the 1.25 percent annual growth of U.S. exports to China during the three years prior to the deal. The recent acceleration in exports to China is still more impressive since changes in U.S. sourcing have otherwise reduced the export of American components to China for assembly.

With American purchases in China slowing and Chinese purchases of American goods accelerating, the balance of trade between the two countries has become much less lopsided. The Commerce Department puts the worst bilateral trade deficit in 2018, when China sold this country $419 billion more goods than the United States sold in China. As of the first three months of 2021, that difference was running at a $284 billion annual rate, sill a huge deficit but a correction (if that is the right word) of about a third.

Whether this trend continues depends on policies coming out of Beijing and Washington as well as the inevitable ebb and flow of economic cyclesin the United States and China and just about every country in the world that competes with either this country or China. But for the time being, a major source of tension is abating.

Milton Ezrati is a contributing editor at The National Interest, an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Human Capital at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and chief economist for Vested, the New York-based communications firm. His latest book is Thirty Tomorrows: The Next Three Decades of Globalization, Demographics, and How We Will Live.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
In this file photo, workers are working on a pipe in the production hall at the Nord Stream 2 facility in Sassnitz, Germany. (Carsten Koall/Getty Images)

US Waives Sanctions on Nord Stream 2 Over Strategy Concerns Against China

Commentary

On May 19, the U.S. State Department announced that the United States would waive sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 project. The statement noted that although the United States will continue to oppose this project, believing that it will weaken European energy security and that of Ukraine and Eastern Europe, the exemption of sanctions is in line with the commitment to rebuild relationships with European allies.

This decision involves complex international relations, including the consolidation of the U.S.-Germany alliance and the improvement of U.S.-Russia relations, yet it is the U.S. governments strategy concerns against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that lie behind it.

Why Is the Nord Stream 2 Project Sensitive

Germany imports at least 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia. The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is 759 miles long and has a capacity of 1.9 trillion cubic feet of gas per year. It stretches across the Baltic Sea, connecting Russia and northeastern Germany.

The Russian state-owned company, Public Joint Stock Company Gazprom (Gazprom), exclusively runs Nord Stream 2 and finances half of the $11.5 billion investment while the rest is covered by five Western companies.

The United States opposes Nord Stream 2 over concerns that the pipeline is bypassing Ukraine. Not only will it reduce Europes dependence on Ukraine for natural gasdiminishing the importance of Ukrainebut it will also exacerbate the risk of Russia invading Ukraine. The same holds true for Poland.

Europe has always regarded Russia as the biggest threat. If it solely relies on Russia for energy supplies, while in a weakened state, it could eventually face perilous circumstances. At the end of 2019, former President Donald Trump imposed sanctions against Nord Stream 2. Germany opposed the sanctions, believing they interfered with economic sovereignty.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel greet each other prior to the talks in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on Jan. 11, 2020. (Pavel Golovkin/Pool/AP Photo)

In July 2020, Congress further expanded sanctions (pdf) against Nord Stream 2 in an amendment to H.R. 6395. The United States and Germany diverged over issues such as Nord Stream 2 and military expenditures. Trump also withdrew partial troops from Germany.

The Biden Administration Shifted Its Stance on US Interests

Biden once clarified his opposition to the Nord Stream 2 project and seemed to toughen his stance against Russia. He also affirmed that the United States would repair relations with allies and dispatch more troops to Germany. Yet Nord Stream 2 has always been a hurdle between the United States and Germany.

According to the Biden administrations diplomatic strategy, the United States needs stronger support from Germany to tackle the challenges imposed by China and Russia. However, the Biden administration also initiated an appeasement policy toward the CCP, which provoked the CCPs repeated confrontations and challenges. Because of this dilemma, the United States eventually chose to waive the sanctions against Nord Stream 2 and gave priority to restoring ties with its allies as a way to unite against the CCP.

A large number of ruling and opposition parties criticized the decision, calling it a gift to Putin. Without a doubt, Russia accepts it with pleasure.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas lauded it as a constructive step and said Germany would, gladly continue to discuss with [their] partners in Washington.

Nevertheless, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky believes the United States lifting sanctions is a major victory for Russia.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the decision was made in the national interest of the United States. While repairing relations with Germany, the United States has also made a strategic choice after assessing threats from China and Russia.

The US Needs to Form a Strong Alliance Against the CCP

The United States waived sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 project, and the European Union (EU) almost simultaneously froze the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). The EU has made clear not only its attitude toward the CCP, but also its response to the Biden administration given that Biden was upset about its ditching the United States in the hurried CAI negotiations.

Germany is the strongest advocate of the CAI in the EU, and therefore the CCP regards Germany as its stronghold in Europe. Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang have recently had telephone conversations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, hoping that Germany will continue to help promote the CAI.

Meanwhile, the German Bundestag (federal parliament) recently issued a report criticizing the CCP for human rights abuses against religious and ethnic minorities in China and clamored for German enterprises to withdraw from China. This indicates that the strategy of the German economy to maintain a long-term dependence on the CCP may change, and the CCPs biggest bet on a divide between Europe and the United States, and within the EU may prove futile.

The Biden administration eschewing sanctions on Nord Stream 2 has not only consolidated ties with Germany and Europe, but also made concessions with Russia, bolstering U.S.-Russia relations. It was done in an effort to counter the biggest and most substantial threat: the CCP.

The US and Russia Improve Relationships Over Concerns for the CCP

Russia was sanctioned by the United States and European nations over its annexation of Crimea, rendering a serious blow to its economy. Overriding the Nord Stream 2 sanctions is like sending help in Russias hour of need.

G-7 foreign ministers wear face masks and are socially distanced for a group photo, with (front, LR) European High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, (middle, LR) German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas, Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Motegi Toshimitsu, and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau, (back, LR) Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Luigi Di Maio and French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian at Lancaster House in London ahead of bilateral talks at the G-7 Foreign and Development Ministers meeting in London on May 4, 2021. (Stefan Rousseau/Pool via AP)

Moreover, Russia is well aware that the United States waived the sanctions in the hopes of keeping its distance from the CCP. The U.S.-China confrontation has now become a major international affair, where Russia attempts to use the Sino-Russia relationship as a bargaining chip in exchange for improving its relationship with the United States.

In April, Putin deployed troops to the Ukraine border. Seemingly, he acted in concert with the CCP, but then withdrew the troops afterward, leaving the CCP alone in the Pacific to confront the United States.

In March, after the CCP messed up the U.S.-China diplomatic talks in Alaska, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with the CCP Foreign Minister Wang Yi, seeking bargaining chips for the U.S.-Russia dialogue. The Russian Minister, who just met with the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Iceland, stressed cooperation with the United States despite divergent opinions.

The CCP, at the outset of its establishment, launched a proxy war instigated by Stalin for the former Soviet Union in North Korea. After Sino-Russia relations went sour, the CCP turned its back on the communist alliance and embraced the United States. Now that a U.S.-China confrontation is likely inevitable, Russia will assuredly not get involved with China but will seize the opportunity to reap the benefits from both sides. The Nord Stream 2 project brings substantial benefits to Russia, therefore Russia has extended an olive branch to the United States to immediately bolster U.S.-Russia relations.

The two states were former Cold War opponents, so U.S.-Russia relations do not currently look promising. However, if Russia considers itself an onlooker, not backing the CCP amid the U.S.-China conflict, the United States may ease tensions with it at an opportune time and offer economic benefits such as Nord Stream 2.

However, the United States and Europe make no concessions to Russia for its actions, be it invading Ukraine, threatening Eastern Europe, or assassinating or imprisoning dissidents. In May, the G-7 (Group of Seven) +4 Foreign and Development Ministers Meeting shed light on member nations shared stances on adhering to international rules. Therefore, Russia will not align with the CCP against the Western alliance. Russias best policy would be to get the most benefit from this confrontation in exchange for easing souring relations with the West.

Russia Also Fears the CCP

The four-party mechanism of the United States, Japan, India, and Australia in Indo-Pacific affairswhile excluding Chinaalong with the United Statess grip on the wavering South Korea, has put the CCP in an isolated situation. The United States is forging an alliance against the CCP.

In fact, Russia does not want the CCP to gain the upper hand. Russia, as a former communist state, should know the evil of the communist regime. If the CCP achieves dominance, Russia as a neighboring country will be at risk. The CCP is in a bid to take over the Central Asian region and continuously weaken Russias clout.

Despite that Russia has reaped many benefits from the CCP, its former Soviet Union technical knowledge was stolen by the Chinese regime. When it comes to business, the CCP often plays tricks and Russia obviously knows that trading with European nations is more reliable. Many nations are removing supply chains from China and Chinas economy is deteriorating, causing the Belt and Road Initiative to become unsustainable. Therefore, it is evidently unwise for Russia to bet on the CCP.

If the CCP were to gain hegemony, it would deem the border demarcation pact with Russia as a historical document and Russia, unlike the United States and Europe on the other side of the ocean, would take the brunt of security issues.

Russia should know that the CCP is a paper tiger (one who feigns power) that may be defeated in the confrontation. How could Russia opt for a potential loser?

Russia may neither join the Western anti-communist bloc, nor truly align with the CCP. On the other hand, it will continuously use the CCP as a bargaining chip and the Nord Stream 2 project is one of the bargaining chips that Russia has obtained.

Yang Wei has been closely following China affairs for many years. He has been contributing political commentary on China for the Chinese language Epoch Times since 2019.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Cows are seen at a dairy farm in Danville, Quebec, in a file photo. (The Canadian Press/Ryan Remiorz)

US Win in Trade Dispute Could Benefit Canadian Dairy Consumers

News Analysis

The trade agreement that replaced NAFTA has put new pressures on the Canadian dairy industry that has long operated under a government-regulated supply management system. But while some are concerned about the impact on Canadas dairy sector, others say a U.S. win could be good news for Canadian consumers.

Food distribution and policy expert Sylvain Charlebois says that if the United States wins the trade dispute, Canadians will have more choices than what they had before under the status quo.

The biggest losers are Canadian consumers because they dont have access to more good products, the director of Dalhousie Universitys Agri-Food Analytics said in an interview about the status quo .

Processors are trying to showcase Canadian products against foreign products, when Canadians should actually have more choice.

On May 25, U.S. President Joe Bidens administration launched a formal trade dispute against the Canadian dairy industry, under provisions within the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), to examine whether American consumers are being denied fair access to the Canadian market.

In the USMCA, signed at the end of 2018, Canada agreed to expand its tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) to allow more dairy imports without prohibitive tariffs. This limited access, if implemented as negotiated, was projected to increase U.S. dairy exports by more than US$314 million a year, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.

However, Washington alleges that Canada facilitated unfair protectionism in the way that it issued TRQs, and under USMCA provisions has requested a panel to rule on the matter.

After ratifying the USMCA in March 2020, Canada maintained its authority on who could issue import permits and allocated 100 percent of its dairy TRQs among those categorized as distributors, processors, and further processors. Domestic dairy processors received permits and tended to import lower-value milk products and turn them into higher-value, retail-ready products. The United States would prefer they imported those higher-value products outright.

Charlebois says that while the devil is in the details of the dispute, the Biden administration has some basis for its claim.

[Canadian] processors are in conflict really because they do manufacture cheese [and] sell cheese to Canadians, and so theyre very careful in terms of what type of product they want to import. Essentially, the Americans have every right to be a little bit upset.

The supply of dairy, poultry, and eggs is artificially managed in Canada, driving up prices in ways that have a disproportionate effect on the poor. A Montreal Economic Institute analysis published in 2016 found that the number of Canadians pushed into poverty by supply management is estimated to range from about 133,000 to over 180,000 depending on the income measure used.

Canada has over 12,000 dairy operations with an estimated 940,000 dairy cows, the bulk of them in vote-rich Ontario and Quebec. Dairy farmers annual marketing budget exceeds $130 million, according to Charlebois, who says the industry knows how to flex its muscles.

Maurice Doyon, professor of agri-food economics at Laval University in Quebec City, says that Americans could use the dispute over dairy to justify their own protectionist measures.

It puts some pressure on Canada. The pressure might not be used for dairy. That pressure might be for something else, [such as] tariffs on softwood lumber or steel or whatever else, he said in an interview.

Doyon believes Canada will win the dispute but doesnt blame Biden for responding to his own domestic dairy lobby that wants action.

Why not go through the process? What am I going to lose?  What bad can happen for the Americans? Nothing, and maybe theyll gain something. Politically its certainly not bad for them, he said.

The dispute panels final report is expected in November. Representatives of the Canadian dairy industry told The Epoch Times they expect a favourable verdict.

The Canadian government has stated that it is confident that its policies are in full compliance with its obligations under CUSMA, said Mathieu Frigon, president and CEO of the Dairy Processors Association of Canada (DPAC).

DPAC shares this view and is ready to provide the necessary support to the Canadian government in vigorously defending our countrys position during the dispute settlement process.

Similarly, Pierre Lampron, president of Dairy Farmers of Canada, said, Canadas allocation of its TRQs is consistent with the terms of CUSMA/USMCA. Thus we believe the Canadian government has a solid case to present before the panel and ultimately our right to administer TRQs will be recognized.

The U.S. complaint was first made in December under the Trump administration, and wasnt resolved in subsequent discussions. The Biden administration is the first to initiate the trade dispute settlement process found in Chapter 31 of the USMCA.
Washington Post: Labeling Lab Leak as Debunked Conspiracy Theory Was Wrong

The Washington Post quietly has walked back its claims regarding the theory that the virus that causes COVID-19 escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

The paper in February 2020 published an article claiming the idea was a conspiracy theory that had been debunked. The article attacked Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who called for an investigation into the origins of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

We dont know where it originated, and we have to get to the bottom of that, Cotton said during an appearance on Fox News. We also know that just a few miles away from that food market is Chinas only biosafety level four super laboratory that researches human infectious diseases.

But The Post asserted the theory that the lab was involved was debunked, quoting a political science professor and a professor of chemical biology to support the claim.

Theres absolutely nothing in the genome sequence of this virus that indicates the virus was engineered, Richard Ebright, a professor of chemical biology at Rutgers University, was cited as saying. The possibility this was a deliberately released bioweapon can be firmly excluded.

The headline for the article was modified in recent days to Tom Cotton keeps repeating a coronavirus fringe theory that scientists have disputed, from Tom Cotton keeps repeating a coronavirus conspiracy theory that was already debunked.

In addition, The Post added a correction.

Earlier versions of this story and its headline inaccurately characterized comments by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) regarding the origins of the coronavirus. The term debunked and The Posts use of conspiracy theory have been removed because, then as now, there was no determination about the origins of the virus, the paper stated.

A spokesperson for The Post told The Epoch Times via email that they had nothing to add beyond the correction. Neither the paper nor reporter Paulina Milla Firozi has appeared to alert readers to the update. The original tweet promoting the article is still up, without a notice that it has been dramatically altered.

Ebright told journalist Michael Tracey that when he spoke to The Post, he discussed the lab leak theory, but those comments werent included in the article.

Transmission electron micrograph of particles of the CCP virus, or SARS-CoV-2, isolated from a patient. (NIAID)

I again discussed both the genome sequence and the lab-accident hypothesisthis time, both on the recordwith WaPo. I was surprised that the February 17, 2020, article in WaPo quoted only my comments on the genome sequence and not my comments on the lab-accident hypothesis, he said.

Cotton didnt respond to multiple inquiries. The senator on Fox News last week addressed the wave of corrections and updates to stories about the lab leak theory, saying: The media last year was singing a very different tune. Thats because I was pointing out that common sense says this virus probably came from those labs; I mean, it originated just a few blocks down the road from them in a city larger than New York not exactly known for its large bat population.

But because the media doesnt like my politics, and because [former] President [Donald] Trump said the same thing, the media lied and they spun and they covered up for the Chinese Communist Party, in effect, he added.

There needs to be an accounting for all of the reporting from last spring that denied this reality now that almost every mainstream outlet is acknowledging that it is not only possible, it is probably the case that this came from a laboratory in Wuhan.

Some reporters have said that they disregarded the lab leak theory because Republicans were largely the ones promoting the idea.

Other outlets have also corrected or quietly updated stories, including Vox and Politifact, while Facebook stopped banning posts suggesting the virus was man-made.

U.S. intelligence officials arent sure where, how, or when the CCP virus originated.
Watch Moment Drone Crashes Into Erupting Icelandic Volcano

Drone footage captures the moment it crashes right into the erupting Fagradalsjfall volcano in Iceland.

The stunning video, shot on Monday (May 24), brings the viewer up-close to the shield volcano and right into the molten lava.

Drone operator and YouTuber Joey Helms told Reuters that being able to manually operate the first-person-view flying drone made it an immersive and unique experience, though the volcanos conditions also made it tricky.
Brahim Ghali, head of the Sahrawi Democratic Arab Republic and the Polisario Front, poses in the refugees camp of Tindouf, southern Algeria, on Feb. 26, 2021. (Fateh Guidoum/AP Photo)

Western Sahara Independence Chief Leaves Spain for Algeria

MADRIDThe leader of a movement seeking independence from Morocco who is at the center of a diplomatic row between Rabat and Madrid has flown out of Spain to Algeria, his group said.

Brahim Ghali was released from a hospital in northern Spain following more than six weeks of treatment after contracting COVID-19, according to a statement sent to The Associated Press by the self-declared Sahrawi Democratic Arab Republic, which is based in refugee camps in western Algeria.

Ghali is the leader of the Polisario Front, an Algeria-backed pro-independence movement representing the local Sahrawi people of Africas Western Sahara, and of the Sahrawi Democratic Arab Republic. Morocco annexed Western Sahara in the 1970s after Spains colonial administration ended. The Polisario Front has long tried to end Moroccan rule over the region.

Ghali departed hours after testifying Tuesday via videoconference in a Spanish investigation into allegations against him of torture, genocide, and other crimes. A Spanish magistrate ruled after Ghalis testimony that he should remain free while the investigation continues.

An aircraft carrying on board Polisario Front leader Brahim Gali takes off at the Pamplona airport, northern Spain, on June 2, 2021. (Alvaro Barrientos/AP Photo)

Ghali, 71, flew out of Pamplona airport overnight and will continue his recovery in Algeria, the statement said.

His presence in Spain infuriated Morocco, which regards Ghali as a terrorist, and triggered a diplomatic crisis between the two countries, which have been cooperating in fighting terrorism, drug smuggling, and migration into Europe. Amid the dispute, thousands of migrants crossed the border from Morocco into Spain as Morocco apparently relaxed border controls.

In a stinging rebuke, Moroccan authorities also questioned publicly whether Spain could be trusted.

Spain, like most other Western countries, has urged a negotiated solution through the United Nations to the question of Western Saharas future. But the issue became clouded last December when the U.S. Trump administration formally recognized Moroccos sovereignty over Western Sahara in return for Rabats normalization of ties with Israel.

Spanish government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said Wednesday she hoped Ghalis departure would help draw a line under the tensions with Morocco.

We have to let high diplomacy do its work, she told reporters.

But she also pushed back against Rabats pressure.

Spain enjoys national sovereignty, so Spanish foreign policy is decided by its government, its parliament, and our decision-making on international issues cannot be subjected to any conditionality, she said.

Ghali checked into the Spanish hospital under a false identity after arriving in the country by plane last month with an Algerian diplomatic passport and with the consent of the Spanish government, which said it acted on humanitarian grounds.

Rabat withdrew its ambassador to Madrid and said it wouldnt fill the position if Ghali left Spain under the same cloak of secrecy.

There was no immediate reaction Wednesday from Morocco.
Wisconsin Lawmakers Advance Bill to Stop Election Workers From Fixing Mistakes on Ballots

Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin are aiming to stop election workers from fixing mistakes on absentee ballots after the state Assemblys Committee on Campaigns and Elections advanced a plan this week.

According to the proposal, Assembly Bill 198, only voters or their witnesses would be able to fix mistakes on ballotsand no one else. Republicans have said that such ballot curing can lead to fraud.

Election clerks must contact the voter or the witness if they made a mistake on their portion of the ballot. Then the voter or witness would be asked to correct his or her mistake, the text (pdf) of the legislation states.

Under this bill, if a municipal clerk receives an absentee ballot with an improperly completed certificate or with no certificate, the clerk is required to return the ballot to the voter and post a notification of the defect on the voters voter information page on the Internet site that is used by voters for original registration, currently titled MyVote Wisconsin. The bill also prohibits the municipal clerk from correcting a defect in the certificate, the legislation reads.

Republicans said the bill is designed to safeguard elections in the state.

Because [absentee voting] is a privilege, theres got to be some responsibility that the voter has, to exercise that privilege, state Rep. Donna Rozar told The Center Square. And I think that responsibility is to do it right and legally.

Democrat state lawmakers have criticized the proposal, alleging that Republicans are trying to prevent people from voting.

I dont care if absentee voting is a privilege. That doesnt mean you should have to pass a test, or make sure that you dot every I and cross every T, Democrat state Rep. Lisa Subek said. If someone makes an innocent, honest mistake, it is appalling that were not going to then let their ballot count.

But state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, chair of the Assemblys Committee on Campaigns and Elections, said the proposal is designed to shore up rules around absentee balloting and doesnt infringe on anyones ability to vote.

Election Day is a right, and early voting is still a privilege, Brandtjen said, according to the news outlet.

According to a post-election report issued by the Wisconsin Elections Commission, The statewide absentee ballot rejection rate was exceptionally low in November0.2 percent statewide compared to 1.8 percent in April 2020. Of the 216,490 absentee voters who claimed status of indefinitely confined, 79.6% have provided an acceptable photo ID to receive a ballot since 2016.

Should the bill get passed by the Wisconsin Legislature, its likely that Democrat Gov. Tony Evers will use his veto power to block it. Evers said earlier this year that he would veto more than a dozen election-related bills that had been introduced by Republican state lawmakers, while The Center Square quoted him as saying he would also veto bills that make it tougher to vote.

Last week, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told local media outlets that he would hire three former law enforcement officials to probe the Nov. 3 election in the state, including how nonprofit groups inserted themselves into the process.

We need to have a fact basis to continue to show the public in Wisconsin that, number one, we continue to take these irregularities seriously, and that at the end of the day, the laws that we proposed are based on facts in addition to anecdotes, Vos told the Wisconsin State Journal late last month.
The government has decided that taxpayers will cover the costs of President Moon Jae-in's harebrained nuclear phaseout initiative. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy revised an enforcement ordinance to the electric utility law and compensate businesses who were forced to halt their nuclear power operations due to the phaseout. It intends to tap into a state fund created to support the utility industry by a small tax on people's electricity bills and is now worth around W4 trillion (US$1=W1,108). State-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power has suffered W1.4 trillion in losses due to the early shutdown of Korea's second-oldest nuclear reactor in Wolseong, North Gyeongsang Province and halted construction of the two reactors in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province, two nuclear power plants in Samcheok, Gangwon Province and another two plants in Yeongdeok, North Gyeongsang Province and now the taxpayer has to compensate them.

The nuclear phaseout debacle is the president's fault alone and has lost any moral high ground since it was revealed that a feasibility study for the Wolseong shutdown was deliberately doctored to enable it. Even lawmakers in the ruling Minjoo Party admitted that fear trumped rational argument, while Moon blithely agreed to cooperate with U.S. President Joe Biden to selling nuclear power plants to third countries. He must think Koreans are fools.

The follies do not end there. Moon wants taxpayers to pay for the Korea Institute of Energy Technology, affiliated with KEPCO, which he pledged to build in Naju, South Jeolla Province. Due to a declining birthrate, a quarter of universities in the country are facing imminent closure, but Moon wants to open yet another one. He even had lawmakers make a special law that will guarantee W1.6 trillion over the next 10 years to finance it. He wants to open at least one building on the campus before he is out of office in May next year and has already held a groundbreaking ceremony. The government has already made plans to recruit students for next year although only 20 percent of faculty have been hired.

Moon lied to voters by telling them he would not hike electricity fees or burden the public with the nuclear phaseout and opening of the new university. He needs to halt those projects now and apologize.


Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 16:56:54|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

KIEV, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the security guarantees provided by the European Union and the United States could become an alternative to Ukraine's joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the president's press service reported Tuesday on its official website.

In an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Zelensky said that the European Union and the United States should provide security guarantees for the cessation of hostilities in Donbass, reoccupation of the territories lost in recent years, and the solution of the issue of the country's energy security in the event of the launch of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

"We have an understanding of such a plan, and I will say frankly that I was going to talk about such a plan with (U.S.) President (Joe) Biden," said Zelensky.

Zelensky added that the plan would go beyond what is currently discussed at the Normandy Format talks.

NATO membership is one of Ukraine's foreign policy priorities. In February 2019, the Ukrainian parliament adopted amendments to the Constitution, securing the country's aspiration to join the alliance. In June 2020, Ukraine received the status of a partner in the NATO Enhanced Opportunities Program. Enditem
After its movie theaters were shut and its stock nearly left for dead because of the pandemic, AMC Entertainment is embracing the horde of fanatical investors who shocked its shares back to life as part of this years meme stock buying spree.

The company said Wednesday its launching a program called AMC Investor Connect to stay in direct contact with those 3.2 million investors. Many bought AMC stock early this year, even as professional investors ran away, and helped lift it from less than $2 on Jan. 5 to as high as $72 on Wednesday.

AMC called them an extraordinary base of enthusiastic and passionate individual shareholders, but they're more likely to call themselves supporters who are taking the stock price to the moon and shaking up Wall Street along the way.

After all, these people are the owners of AMC, and I work for them, AMC CEO Adam Aron said in a statement.

These smaller-fry buyers are known in the industry as retail investors, to separate them from the pension funds, mutual funds and other institutional investors that typically dominate a company's ownership. At AMC, retail investors made up more than 80%, as of mid-March.

Retail investors have become a much more powerful force across the market in recent years. Easy-to-use trading apps and zero trading commissions have drawn in a new generation of traders. So did the pandemic, which meant millions of people were suddenly sitting on their couches with little else to do.

Social media has amplified their power further, with threads on Reddit, Twitter and elsewhere quickly building momentum for some stocks. It was most apparent early this year when AMC, GameStop and a handful of other beaten-down stocks suddenly surged to shock and awe Wall Street.

Leawood, Kansas-based AMC soared 525.5% in January alone, after plunging nearly 71% the prior year. GameStop had an even more breathtaking move, vaulting 1,625%. In some cases, the quick gains short-circuited heavy bets made by hedge funds that the stocks would fall, which ultimately escalated the upward move.

Besides sharp swings, the increased weight of retail investors has also heightened critics' warnings that prices for investments across markets have inflated into dangerous bubbles, such as in the volatile world of cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin climbed above $60,000 early this year, only to fall back toward $38,000, according to Coindesk. Dogecoin, which is trying to shed its image as a joke cryptocurrency, has soared more than 8,000% in 2021.

At AMC, much of professional Wall Street says the stock has also climbed too high. Some analysts peg its value closer to $5 than its closing price of $62.55 on Wednesday.

Instead of focusing on such analysts, though, AMC Investors Connect, will send communications from its CEO directly to retail investors. It will also offer special screenings, discounts and other promotions to shareholders. The first offer is for a free large popcorn while visiting a theater this summer.

The markets initial reaction to the new initiative was akin to a summer blockbuster. AMCs shares nearly doubled on Wednesday to set a record closing high for the first time in six years, and trading in its stock was temporarily halted four times through the afternoon because of the sharp volatility.

Other meme stocks were also big movers on Wednesday, with GameStop rising 13.3%, in sharp contrast to the rest of the listless stock market. The S&P 500 inched up by 0.1%.

AMCs announcement came a day after it said that it was raising $230.5 million through a sale of 8.5 million shares of stock, cashing in on the frenzy that has sent its stock price up 2,850% this year.
DENVER (AP)  Colorado will give $50,000 scholarships to 25 students who have received COVID-19 vaccinations in another incentive to get as many state residents vaccinated as possible.

Democratic Gov. Jared Polis told a news conference Wednesday that Colorado resident students ages 12 to 17 who have received at least one vaccine dose are eligible.
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  Michigan on Tuesday finalized a requirement that all 440,000 licensed or registered health workers in the state undergo annual hidden bias training to help address disparities in how patients are treated.

The rule, which was initially ordered by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last July, will take effect on June 1, 2022.

Health workers renewing their license or registration will have to complete at least one hour of training each year. New applicants will be required to receive at least two hours initially. Only those in veterinary medicine will be exempt.

We all have some form of implicit bias. We've got to acknowledge that and use proven methods to lessen the impact of that bias that we all bring to the table, the Democratic governor said at the Forest Community Health Center in Lansing. The coronavirus pandemic, she said, has exposed and exacerbated underlying inequities such as the disparate impact of health outcomes by race.

Whitmer last year ordered state employees to complete implicit bias training. Implicit bias is defined as the attitudes or stereotypes that affect people's understanding, actions and decisions in an unconscious manner, according to the Kirwin Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University.

The governor's actions stem from a recommendation made by the Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities, which she created more than a year ago.

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, who chairs the group, said medical bias can be interjected each time a decision needs to be made in ways that could be a detriment to people needing care.

Black people make up 14% of Michigan's population but account for at least 21% of 20,000-plus confirmed or probable deaths tied to COVID-19.

___

Follow David Eggert at https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Wednesday issued a new public health order that places each of New Mexicos 33 counties in the least-restrictive category when it comes to pandemic-related mandates.

While state officials pointed to the decreased risk of COVID-19 transmission statewide, Lujan Grisham's administration acknowledged that five rural counties would have slipped back into the more restrictive yellow category within the states color-coded risk system had it not been for the new health order.

The governor has set a goal of ending the color-coded system at the end of June, as long as 60% of residents are fully vaccinated by then.

Were almost there, she said in a statement, suggesting that more vaccinations would pave the way for small businesses and the economy to roar back to life.

Vaccination rates in De Baca, Guadalupe, Harding, Roosevelt and Torrance counties have lagged as not all residents want to get shots.

With the pace of vaccination registration slowing overall, the state on Tuesday rolled out a new effort that uses cash to get more people in line. New Mexico is offering the largest single cash prize  $5 million  among a growing number of states staging lotteries to promote inoculations.

According to the latest state data, about 56% of eligible residents are fully vaccinated.

Republican state lawmakers are criticizing the governor for using federal pandemic relief aid for the vaccination lottery. They argue that Lujan Grisham's vetoes earlier this year of legislative proposals for how to use the money were unconstitutional and that Democratic lawmakers have been unwilling to take action to preserve the Legislature's authority.

It is clear she wants to use this money to rehabilitate her image amid numerous scandals and New Mexicos anemic recovery, said Sen. Craig Brandt of Rio Rancho.

Urging Democratic lawmakers to push back, he said that giving any governor the unilateral authority to dole out billions of taxpayer dollars is unconscionable and unconstitutional."

Legislators in March assigned $1.1 billion to backfill the states unemployment insurance trust, underwrite roadway projects, provide several years of tuition-free college to in-state students and shore up finances at state museums. Lujan Grisham vetoed those provisions.
NORWALK  Of the more than $6 billion Connecticut is set to receive from the federal government through the American Rescue Plan Act, none is allocated for homeless services, according to a Fairfield County homeless coalition.

Opening Doors of Fairfield County, a coalition of various homelessness, health care and advocacy groups in the area, penned a letter to the states General Assembly requesting $26.5 million of the states relief funds go toward homeless services.

Among the 34 regional organizations that signed the letter are Norwalks homeless shelter Open Doors, Nuvance Health, Norwalk ACTS, the Norwalk Housing Authority and Norwalks Triangle Community Center. Other groups in Bridgeport, Fairfield, Danbury, Westport and Hartford also signed.

We cannot allow our recent successes in housing so many of our most vulnerable residents to mislead us into thinking the issue of homelessness has been solved, Executive Director of Bridgeport-based Supportive Housing Works David B. Rich said. Continued investment in the programs which have been proving effective, especially as the impact of economic challenges extend for the next several years, is vital to protecting those facing homelessness.

Under the rescue plan approved by Congress in early March, $4.77 billion is dedicated to the state, $1.56 billion will go toward local municipalities, according to an Office of Fiscal Analysis report. Independent agencies will also receive $1.67 million and $3.93 million will be paid out directly to Connecticut residents.

This gross oversight, coupled with the exhaustion of previous CARES Act funding by September 2022, pandemic-related economic insecurity, and the expiration of the eviction moratoria, means countless Connecticut residents will face homelessness in the coming years, the letter read.

Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act was approved by Congress in March 2020. In April 2020, Connecticut was allocated $1.382 billion from the federal government through the CARES act, according to the Office of Policy and Management.

Through CARES, Fairfield County received $430,000 to serve homeless communities during the pandemic. The funds are set to run out by September, Open Doors Executive Director Michele Conderino said.

All of this started with the release of the allocation plan for ARPA, Conderino said. We were quite honestly very surprised to see we were not included and not in the legislative response. We have to advocate for ourselves and the critical work we do, recognizing Connecticut cannot recover if we do not invest in the housing crisis response.

The $26.5 million requested by Opening Doors amounts to 1 percent of the funds the state will receive through the American Rescue Plan, Conderino said.

All of the things in the plan are wonderful, but if people have nowhere to live ... Conderino added.

Based on the use of CARES Act funds, the coalition determined the $26.5 million would allow shelters and organizations to divert people from shelters to alternative housing and create a pathway to housing stability for 1,875 households across Fairfield County, according to the letter.

It would also fund outreach and intervention for 1,700 families or children in the region and rehouse 265 families.

The funds would be dedicated to diverting families from shelters, increasing outreach, rapidly rehoming and support the states 211 hotline, among other things, Conderino said.

I think weve done a really good job and sometimes when you do a good job, people think you need less, not more, Conderino said of the lack of funding. When you look at the plans being proposed, theyre good plans. There are critical things being addressed in the rescue plan for C(onnecticut), but we have a place in there too, and sometimes when we dont invest in the most critical services, everything else falls apart. Thats what were trying to rectify now.

For Norwalk ACTS, signing the letter was a no-brainer, Manager of Policy, Strategy and Continuous Improvement Jesse Buccolo said.

If we have a lot of money focused on recovery and not a penny is focused on this recovery, this is clearly problem, Buccolo said of the homeless service funding. Theres a community problem that exists in Norwalk about getting resources to the right folks, making sure everyone is aware whats out there.

abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com
MOSCOW (AP)  The Russian parliament's upper house voted Wednesday to withdraw from an international treaty allowing surveillance flights over military facilities following the U.S. exit from the treaty.

The vote comes after U.S. officials told Moscow last month that President Joe Biden's administration had decided not to reenter the Open Skies Treaty, which had allowed surveillance flights over military facilities before President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact.

As a presidential candidate, Biden had criticized Trumps withdrawal as short-sighted. Moscow has signaled its readiness to reverse the withdrawal procedure and stay in the 1992 treaty if the United States returns to the agreement.

After the Russian upper house voted to leave the treaty, it would now come to Russian President Vladimir Putin for signing. If Putin endorses the exit, it would take effect in six months.

Putin and Biden are to have a summit in Geneva on June 16. The meeting comes as Russia-U.S. ties have sunk to the lowest levels since the Cold War times after Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, the accusations of Moscow's interference in U.S. elections, hacking attacks and other irritants.

The Open Skies Treaty was intended to build trust between Russia and the West by allowing the accords more than three dozen signatories to conduct reconnaissance flights over each others territories to collect information about military forces and activities. More than 1,500 flights have been conducted under the treaty since it took effect in 2002, aimed at fostering transparency and allowing for the monitoring of arms control and other agreements.

Trump pulled out of the pact last year, arguing that Russian violations made it untenable for Washington to remain a party. Washington completed its withdrawal from the treaty in November.

Moscow has deplored the U.S. withdrawal, warning that it will erode global security by making it more difficult for governments to interpret the intentions of other nations, particularly amid heightened Russia-West tensions.

The European Union has urged the U.S. to reconsider its exit and called on Russia to stay in the pact and lift flight restrictions, notably over its westernmost Kaliningrad region, which lies between NATO allies Lithuania and Poland.

Russia has insisted the restrictions on observation flights it imposed in the past were permissible under the treaty and noted that the U.S. imposed more sweeping restrictions on observation flights over Alaska.

As a condition for staying in the pact after the U.S. pullout, Moscow has unsuccessfully pushed for guarantees from NATO allies that they wouldnt hand over the data collected during their observation flights over Russia to the U.S.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 17:18:35|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

"Hungary is an important market for Chinese products and China is an important market for Hungarian products," said Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto in Guiyang, capital city of southwest China's Guizhou Province.

Szijjarto noted that China-Hungary bilateral ties have achieved remarkable results in recent years. The cooperation is based on mutual benefit, said the minister.

Szijjarto also spoke highly of the positive impact of China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service
The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that its top safety official will retire at the end of June. Ali Bahrami had come under sharp criticism from lawmakers and relatives of passengers who died in the crashes of two Boeing 737 Max jets, who accused him of being too cozy with Boeing.

Bahrami has led the FAA's aviation safety office since 2017 and previously was a manager for FAA in the Seattle area, overseeing approval of Boeing planes. He left FAA for a time to become an executive with a trade group, the Aerospace Industries Association.

The FAA said its deputy associate administrator for safety, Chris Rocheleau, will lead the safety office on an interim basis while the FAA searches for a long-term replacement.

Hundreds of relatives and friends of passengers who died in the Max crashes wrote last month to President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, demanding that they oust Bahrami and three other FAA officials, including Administrator Stephen Dickson.

Bahramis departure is needed for the FAA to regain credibility, escape capture by industry, and put safety first, Michael Stumo, whose daughter Samya died in the second Max crash, said Wednesday.

Stumo and relatives of other passengers blamed Bahrami and other FAA leaders for not grounding the plane after the first crash five months earlier.

An investigation led by House Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio said Bahrami didn't know details about an FAA analysis after the first crash that predicted more accidents if a key flight-control system wasn't fixed. The problem wasn't addressed until after the second crash.

Bahrami repeatedly defended the FAAs practice of delegating much safety analysis to Boeing. However, Bahrami was not working at FAA when the agency certified the Max, and a former colleague said he has been treated unfairly.

This was a professional who had a long, distinguished career in aviation, and this position was a capstone to that career," said former FAA chief counsel Arjun Garg. "A problem got thrust on him that was not of his own making, but he ended up being the face of complaints about the FAA from the families and from Chairman DeFazio.

In an internal memo to FAA employees Wednesday, Bahrami, who is in his mid-60s and started his career as an aircraft engineer, said retiring was not an easy decision, but that he wants to spend more time with family and focus on my next chapter. Among the accomplishments he cited were returning the Max to service after a 20-month grounding.
One of the first things youll notice upon entry to the Col. Benjamin Stephenson House is the intricate detail to make just about everything look as it did back in the infancy of the 20th century.

There are painted portraits, elegant mantles and well-preserved furniture that give visitors a wide window to the past. It's a glimpse not only into life at the time, but into the life lived by Stephenson and his wife, Lucy, and their children.

He was one of the wealthier individuals that came to Edwardsville in the early-1800s, Director Roxann Raisner said. He actually started in Kaskaskia, then moved up here, opened a mercantile, and later became receiver of public monies at the land office.

In fact it was founding father, and president at the time, James Madison that considered Stephenson a friend, and appointed him to the receiver position.

He just did very well. He and his wife together. She was actually the one who had brought the wealth to the marriage and managed to build a nice house that has lasted over 200 years, Raisner said. He was very active, politically, socially  so was his wife, she was very active socially. They were one of the founding families of Edwardsville.

It was the War of 1812 in the Illinois Militia that gave Stephenson his title as colonel  something he cherished and used throughout the rest of his life. For most of the war he was ranked as a major, until his close friend, and the namesake of Edwardsville, Ninian Edwards, gave him the higher rank.

To learn how Stephenson was as a person, simply look to his record in Congress as a representative of the then Illinois Territory.

The colonel didnt get a vote because Illinois was not a state, but that didnt stop him.

He managed to get quite a few things passed relatively easily because he had, from what we understand, a fairly easy demeanor  and people liked him, Raisner said. He was very well liked and respected in the community.

Sadly, Stephenson only lived in the home thats become a regional tourist attraction for nine months before passing away. Lucy remained at the home until her later years before moving away. At one point, Elvira Edwards, the wife of Ninian, purchased the home to help Lucy with her financial struggles.

Up until 1999, the Stephenson House was a residence. The Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville used it for 18 years. But the state of Illinois had money to give to use for restorations and improvements to city-owned and historic properties, and thats when the effort came about to bring the house back to its original life.

What they had to do was pretty much gut the house and start from brick. The second floor was literally held up by a steel beam. Thats the only thing that was holding it up at the time, Raisner said. Most of our woodwork has survived; all the mantles have survived. Anything thats made of wood thats attached to the house is the color it wouldve been.

History buffs and home enthusiasts are part of the clientele that come through the doors for a tour. But a lot of the visors come in groups.

Its usually people who like history, or like houses, architecture, things like that. Probably 99 percent of the people that come through are groups. School groups, adult tour groups, we get a lot of bank groups, Raisner said.

The spring and fall seasons are the busiest times for school group tours at the house, although the COVID-19 pandemic effected that in the last year. When they return, theres plenty of activities and knowledge to gain long before they arrive.

We have educational trunks that we have geared our school tours around whatever that grade level is learning. So if you come here in the third grade, youre going to get a specific tour designed around your curriculum, Raisner said. And you can get these educational trunks delivered to your classroom about two weeks before you come that you can use to get the kids ready to come here.

And dont expect the same tour if you come in later years.

Each grade level has a different tour, Raisner said. So if you come here in kindergarten, its not going to be the same tour that youre going to get when you come in the second grade."

For example, third graders partake in laundry demonstrations and activities from the 1800s

They learn about the science behind it, even though they dont really realize theyre learning about science. Its dealing with how they made soap, the types of reactions they have for bleaching clothes, things like that, Raisner said.

Sixth graders get to try their hand at serving in the Illinois Militia just like Stephenson did.

They get to drill like a soldier in the militia at the time, and learn all about the different things that the men wouldve carried with them and what wouldve been going on," Raisner said.

Its abundantly clear theres more to the Stephenson House than just the family that built it.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP)  South Dakota lawmakers tasked with redrawing legislative districts indicated Tuesday they will focus on the state's two largest cities, as well as Native American reservations.

Both the House and Senate committees that are redrawing legislative boundaries decided to create sub-committees tasked with gathering input from Sioux Falls, Rapid City and tribal areas. Lawmakers are readying to receive data from the 2020 Census, develop boundary lines for legislative districts and approve them by Dec. 1. But the districts in urban areas and Indian reservations could have the most hiccups, according to Matt Frame, a lawyer with the Legislative Research Council that is guiding the redistricting process.

Lawmakers must ensure that racial minority groups receive adequate representation in state government in order to stay in compliance with federal law. That could create a challenge in areas where mostly Native American people live, especially because those areas have a greater share of younger people who cannot yet register to vote and factors like poverty or physical distance can make it more difficult for people to register to vote. The legislative boundaries must be determined on total population, not voter registration.

Kellen Returns From Scout, a staff member with the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Association, called for lawmakers to hold government-to-government consultations with tribes as they draw the new boundaries. He said it was important to avoid splitting reservation boundaries.

But lawmakers expressed confusion on how to initiate tribal consultations and where to hold them. Democrat Sen. Troy Heinert, who is a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, underscored the importance of having the consultations but acknowledged the process differs by the tribe.

Still, OJ Semans, co-founder of a Native American voting rights advocacy group called Four Directions that has sued the state in the past, sounded upbeat at the outset of redistricting, noting that the acknowledgement from lawmakers of special consideration for the tribes showed we've come a long, long ways.

The state is expecting to receive data from the U.S. Census Bureau in August. That could give lawmakers a tight timeline to propose new maps, host public input meetings and finalize the new boundaries. The Legislature is scheduled to convene Nov. 8 for a special session to approve the new districts.

Republican Sen. Jim Bolin said after the state received census data, The process will gear up very intentionally and very rapidly.
Editors Note: In recognition of National Historic Preservation Month, local historian Cindy Reinhardt tells the stories behind some of Edwardsvilles historic buildings in a series of eight articles in the Month of May.

A stranger sent a message last fall to the person that researches houses, wanting to know if a story he had been told about his house could be either confirmed or disproved. The gist of the story, which came from Joan Evers, was that his house and the one next to his had been built using salvage from a St. Louis Street house. The houses were supposed to have been built for the grandchildren of a family named Shaffer in the late 1920s. As oral histories go, although not 100 percent correct, it was pretty close.

The story of these houses began in 1891 when Edwardsville businessman John S. Trares decided to build a new house at 812 St. Louis St. Trares was born in Germany in 1834 and came with his family to the United States when he was five years old. The family settled in Ohio, where, following his school days, he trained as a druggist. In the late 1860s he moved to Edwardsville where he opened a drug store on Purcell Street. As his business flourished, he began investing in real estate.

In 1891 he hired architect and builder George Frederick to design a two-story, ten-room Victorian mansion on St. Louis Street, the citys most fashionable neighborhood. The Edwardsville Intelligencer reported the price of the completed house as $6,000, far more than the average new house built at that time.

Three years later, in 1894, the Trares family moved to St. Louis. At the time, the newspaper said, He erected more buildings in town than any other man. He will be missed here because he was one of our most prominent citizens. His buildings included many commercial buildings on Main Street and a previous family home at 304 N. Main St. that is now the Weber and Rodney Funeral Home building.

In 1904 a wealthy retired farmer and his wife, George D., and Margaret Maggie (Barnsback) Shaffer purchased the St. Louis Street house. George and Margaret were both descended from early Madison County families. When they moved to St. Louis Street, Margaret had numerous relatives already living there, including her uncle, William Barnsback, next door at 810 St. Louis Street. George and Margaret lived in the house with two of their unmarried sons, George B. and Jacob Shaffer.

George Sr. died in June 1917. That same year, Margaret purchased a building lot on grounds that had previously been part of the Edwardsville Fair Grounds. Over the years the line of lots on the west edge of the former fair grounds were said to be on Poag Road, then Ammann Place and finally, by the 1940s, the street was changed to Rose Avenue. Also in 1917, Margaret hired architect Michael B. Kane to design a new house for her on what would later become 15 Rose Ave. In July 1918, one of her sons, George B. Shaffer, purchased the lot next door and contracted for a twin bungalow. The houses have nearly identical floor plans.

Kane was probably also in charge of tearing down their former home at 812 St. Louis St. to save what could be reused. According to notes about Margaret Shaffers order in Kanes estimation book, the new house would be erected from lumber etc. taken from a large residence on St. Louis Street. The salvage included lumber, stained-glass windows, trim and other materials from the older house that would be used in the new houses on Rose Avenue. The cost of the plans was $75. What is not known, and perhaps will never be known, is why a 27-year-old mansion was torn down. One theory is that there was something wrong with the house since the price paid for the house over a 25-year period dropped by several thousand dollars each time it was sold. After the house was torn down, the lot alone sold in 1924 for over $5,000. Another theory might be the shortage of building materials due to World War I.

The above information confirmed the old story told to the current owner of 17 Rose Avenue. The houses had been built using salvage from a St. Louis Street house, and they were built by the Shaffer family, but not for grandchildren. The houses were also significantly older than previously thought.

According to architect, Jennifer Plocher Wilkins, the houses are both classic front-gabled bungalows that have the porch tucked under the main form of the roof. The porches are framed by large tapered columns on each end and a tapered detail below a wide beam spanning the porch. Before knowing that Kane designed the houses, she said, Both have elegant proportions that point to them being architect designed.

Although both houses are classic bungalows, houses designed by Michael B. Kane are always beyond ordinary. In the case of these houses, there are numerous stained-glass windows from the St. Louis St. house, as well as Victorian woodwork inside, including coffered ceilings, plate rails in the dining room, and other elaborate woodwork that make both houses stunning examples of Kanes imagination that successfully combined Victorian details in a Craftsman-style home. Looking at a photograph of the old house found at the Madison County Archival Library, there are several stained glass windows, that can be easily identified when looking at the bungalows.

George Barnsback Shaffer built the house at 17 Rose Ave. for his bride. He married Mary Lou Carson, of St. Louis, on Dec. 18, 1918. Before they could move into their new home, she became one of many victims of the Great Influenza of 1918 who had lingering side-effects. She remained at her parents home in St. Louis while she recovered. In late summer, George and Mary Lou, on the advice of her physicians, decided to winter in Arizona. George, who was Madison County Surveyor at the time, resigned from his job, but soon found a new one in Arizona. Mary Lou recovered to live a long life, but the family never returned to Illinois.

George Shaffer sold his new, never lived-in home at auction in July 1919 for $3,500 to George Moorman Sr, who purchased it as an investment. The following month, Moorman sold it to Henry Smith and his son George for $4,250, a handsome profit for a six-week investment.

George O. Smith and his wife only lived in the house for a few years until 1925 when they, like the Shaffers, moved to Arizona. Despite being an attractive home, 17 Rose Ave. had many more short-time owners over the years, with the current owner being the longest lasting.

Meanwhile at 15 Rose Ave., Margaret lived in her home for less than two years before following her son to Arizona. After 10 years, she returned to Edwardsville where she had many relatives and friends. She eventually purchased a bungalow on Franklin Avenue in Leclaire, where she lived until her death at age 96 in 1949.

Margarets house had far fewer owners than Georges house next door. Margaret sold her house in November 1919 to Leonard and Henrietta Hoehn who sold it to Evan and Lillian Alexander in 1949. The Alexanders owned the home for over 50 years and did little to modernize the house which still has the original kitchen cabinets among other details. Only four families have owned the house since it was completed in late 1917 or early 1918.

As for the lot at 812 St. Louis St., seven years after the former Trares house was torn down, a new house was built for the Joseph Keshner family, but with a new house number, 814 St. Louis St. The new house, a Georgian Revival-style home, was also designed by Michael B. Kane, but thats a story for another day.

Sources for this article include materials at the Madison County Archival Library, articles from past issues of the Edwardsville Intelligencer, records from the Recorder of Deeds Office, interviews with current owners, and a family tree developed for numerous former owners of the property. If you have questions about this article, please contact Cindy Reinhardt at cynreinhardt@yahoo.com.
Nature

Learn about and buy native plants at Nature Center
A Midland man has been formally accused of raping a child somewhere in Isabella County sometime between mid-2018 and the end of third quarter 2019.
Sevierville, TN (37876)

Today

Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 90F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds light and variable.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 17:26:47|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

KIEV, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has allocated additional 1.4 billion hryvnia (around 51 million U.S. dollars) to support private entrepreneurs and employees suffering from quarantine restrictions during the pandemic, local media reported on Tuesday.

The decision to provide more financial support to business was made by the parliament on March 30.

According to the bill approved by the parliament, entrepreneurs and employees who have suffered from the quarantine restrictions during the pandemic can receive additional one-time financial aid valued at 8,000 hryvnias (292 dollars).

In December 2020, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law supporting citizens and entrepreneurs affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with one-time financial aid worth 8,000 hryvnia. Enditem
Instant unlimited access to all of our content on thenewsguard.com.

The News Guard E-Edition Newsletter emailed to you each week, the night before the paper hits the street!

This subscription is for NEW or RENEWING online subscribers.

(The charge will appear as "Country Media Inc." on your credit card statement)


We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Submit Here
Those who are the best at what they do typically have one thing in common  they train for the distinction.

Firefighters looking to earn the highest certification in advance rescue technique training came to Romulus recently to get it.

The training, the final arm of a three-tier series of classes, is only available two times during the year in Michigan, and Romulus recently hosted the training course.

- Advertisement -

Over all it covers trench collapse, high- and low-angle rescues, structure collapse, flood water rescue, swift water rescues and wide area search.

The firefighters completed numerous exercises in extractions.

Each class is allowed no more than 30 participants and there can be up to two representatives from each participating fire department.

There were 19 different fire departments represented for the training.

Romulus had two members, Lt. David Ehlert and Firefighter John Blanchard, represent Romulus and complete the courses.

Only firefighters who already have successfully completed the first two levels  awareness and operations  can take the advanced course.

Those at the awareness level can recognize a rescue problem and seek proper assistance.

Those who have passed the operations level have some advanced rescue training and can perform some techniques to improve a situation until help arrives.

The highest training level is technician  those rescues are resource heavy and the firefighters technologically sound to handle extreme situations.

Firefighters with that level of training are part of the Urban Search and Rescue team.

Romulus Fire Chief Kevin Krause said it is of the utmost importance to have such a trained team in the Western Wayne area being situated near the Wayne County Detroit Metropolitan Airport, I-275, I-94 and I-75.

There are big trucks that come through those thoroughfares that have overturned and caused crisis situations.

There have been occasions when a semitruck dangled off a freeway and several cases where a truck has overturned on top of another vehicle.

Krause said this is the team to call for such a major situation.

Although he said the training is super important to the area, he also said it is quite expensive.

The 20 hours of training over a two-day course comes with a price tag of $14,000.

Sign up for our daily morning newsletter Click here and then look to the right side for the sign up to the morning newsletter for The News Herald, and you can get the top headlines de

It was paid for through the State Fireworks Fund.

Since towing is always a factor in these incidents where heavy equipment is involved, J & M Towing in Romulus was invited to be a part of the exercises.

Krause commended Daryl Jamieson from the company for coming and taking part to be best prepared for any potential incident.

He said they have to work side-by-side on these emergency runs.

This was a phenomenal opportunity for our firefighters and the region, Krause said. This class gives us skills and techniques that get people to safety.

Two women allege sexual assault while getting COVID-19 vaccine at Lincoln Park Kroger Two young women reported that they were groped while getting a COVID-19 vaccine at the Lincoln Park Kroger store.

Players Guild of Dearborn to stream Townsend comedy 'Is This Seat Taken?' Laughter will stream on-demand beginning June 11, when the Players Guild of Dearborn offers a filmed version of the stage comedy, Is This Sea

+3 House fire breaks out in Taylor; cause under investigation A fire that broke out Saturday evening at a neighborhood in the southwest section of Taylor caused extensive damage to a house, but fortunatel
Some might have brushed it off as hogwash when a report about a wandering black pot-belly pig was found and it was posted on the Romulus Police Departments social media account.

It certainly was not.

Police made the post the morning of May 30 and asked if anyone in the area of Cogswell and Ecorse roads was missing a pig.

- Advertisement -

According to police, the pig was found "running free" in the neighborhood.

They still have the pig and no one has called or come to the department to claim it.

There were, however, a few entertaining responses to the missing bulletin.

Sign up for our daily morning newsletter Click here and then look to the right side for the sign up to the morning newsletter for The News Herald, and you can get the top headlines de

Savannah Hale said if the department cant find the family, she is willing to take it.

She said having a pig is the dream.

Eric Meagher also weighed in on the pigs disappearance, saying it definitely ruined someones Memorial Day barbecue.

Police said anyone missing the piglet should contact the department at 734-941-8400.

+2 Romulus police chief said they found a gem in new hire, right in their own backyard There are a few positions open within the Romulus Police Department and Chief Robert Pfannes said they filled one after finding a gem right in

+4 Brownstown mans livestream of Capitol riot, talk of 'war' leads FBI to his house, charges A man who allegedly bragged about where he was and what he was doing on Jan. 6 inside the U.S. Capitol building is facing federal charges that

+5 Romulus firefighters host, take part in Michigans most elite rescue training course Those who are the best at what they do typically have one thing in common  they train for the distinction.
Listen to article

Protagonist of Biafra Independence Movement and Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (BIM-MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike has been invited to address the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) on the criminalization of the Biafra self- determination struggle by the Nigerian state and to point a way forward.

A press statement signed by the Head of Foreign Mission of the state of Biafra, Mr. Ikenna Obibi Egeonu which was made available to newsmen on Tuesday by Uwazuruike's media assistant, Elder Chris Mocha, said Uwazuruike would take a center stage at the UNPO's special session on Thursday, June 3, 2021 between 1 to 2 pm (Biafran time).

The statement further noted that UNPO, which is holding the special session, shall listen to Uwazuruike with rapt attention on why Biafra and Oduduwa Nations should be granted an Observer Status to Biafra at the United Nations, after which Catalonia would follow suit between 2 to 4 as they join in the discussion.

Expectedly too, the statement continued,, the United Nations, UN Special rapporteur on Africa and the Middle East shall, through its Tom Lantos Institute, Budapest, Hungary hold a Special Session on Africa and the middle East as it relates to minority issues and Nations in search of their Independence between June 15 and 16 (Biafra time).

According to the statement, the two events are expected to hold at the Hague, Netherlands and Budapest, respectively, but for international flight restrictions which arose from the second wave of COVID-19 variant prevention, the Unrepresented Nations and People's Organization, UNPO and United Nations, UN opted for zoom cloud presentation.. It therefre quoted Uwazuruike as having enjoined all the pro- Biafra groups , institutions and establishments to be part of these great events as according to him, our burgeoning history shall be beamed live on social media and international media organizations. (Courtesy, excluding headline: Vanguard)
Sheryl Crow will perform at the Charity Gala for the Motor City Car Crawl (MC3) on Aug. 7 in Detroit's Campus Martius Park (Provided by Detroit Auto Dealers Association)
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 17:29:21|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

China's support for Cambodia's fight against COVID-19 is tremendous and crucial as the Southeast Asian nation ramps up its pace of vaccination amid a surge in new cases, said a Cambodian official and local residents in recent interviews with Xinhua.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Accor Live Limitless partners with One Phuket

PHUKET: In Thailands southern island of Phuket, the devastating effects of COVID-19 continue to be felt by the community due to low levels of domestic tourism and the closure of international borders. In response to the situation, a group of residents have joined together to launch One Phuket, a community driven initiative which seeks to support those in dire need of assistance and propose solutions for various issues.

Community

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 2 June 2021, 04:16PM

From left: Alain Ruffier - General Manager Avista Grande Phuket Karon, Khun Chupong -Director of Talent and Culture Pullman Phuket Panwa, Fernando Borralho - Star Marine representative, Sue Ultmann - founder of Phuket Has Been Good To Us, Andrea T Edwards - OnePhuket representative, Sebastien Tronchet  General Manager Grand Mercure Phuket Patong, Pannaphat Lapa - Resort Manager V Villas Phuket MGallery

Accors lifestyle loyalty programme, ALL  Accor Live Limitless has collaborated with One Phuket to assist in the donation of food parcels, or life bags, through a B80,000 grant to the cause.

The life bags will be donated to residents of Phuket who are facing financial difficulty due to lack of employment or reduced hours of work. One Phuket is able to feed around 8,000 people on a weekly basis through the distribution of 2,000 parcels that include essentials such as rice, oil, fish and noodles.

Accor is the largest hotel operator in Thailand, with a network of 90 hotels of which 21 are located in Phuket.

The global health crisis has obviously caused severe challenges to many people, however the impact on those reliant on the tourism industry has been particularly painful for me to witness, commented Garth Simmons, Accors Chief Executive Officer for Accor in Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea.

We are humbled to see communities in destinations such as Phuket come together to support each other, and it is only right that we are there alongside them to offer a helping hand.

Andrea Edwards, CSP, The Digital Conversationalist and co-founder of One Phuket commented, With no definitive date for an end to this global pandemic, which is having a major impact on economies around the globe, our beautiful Island of Phuket  which relies so heavily on the tourist dollar - continues to see many struggling to survive. The recent third wave has been devastating to local businesses, and the need in our community is greater than ever. This is why we created One Phuket at the beginning of 2021. Its about bringing us all together, as a community, with the mantra: we will get through this crisis, together.

Those wishing to support One Phuket can make donations via Siam Commercial Bank, Choengthale, Phuket | Swift: SICOTHBK | Branch: 0706 | Bank: 014 | Savings account 706265040-3 or visit The Facebook Group One Phuket for more information.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/onephuket/






Navy defends decision to buy three Chinese-made tanks

THAILAND: The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) yesterday (June 1) defended its purchase of three Chinese-made tanks, saying the procurement was approved before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

ChineseCoronavirusCOVID-19militaryVaccine

By Bangkok Post

Wednesday 2 June 2021, 09:21AM

One of the three Chinese-made VN16 light tanks purchased by the navy at a cost of B398 million. The three tanks will be commissioned at the Marine Division in Chon Buri. Photo: Wassana Nanuam.

Responding to criticism of the delivery of three VN16 tanks, RTN spokesman, Adm Chettha Chaipiam, said the B398-million procurement project was approved in fiscal year 2020 so the country was committed to buying them.

During Mondays budget bill debate, the opposition questioned why the tanks arrived in Thailand before the anticipated COVID-19 vaccines, which are a greater priority. The observation sparked criticism on social media against the government.

VN16 is the exported version of the Chinese-made ZTD-05, an amphibious light tank designed and manufactured by China Ordnance Industries Group Corp Ltd, aka China North Industries Group Corp Ltd (NORINCO).

According to a source, the order for the three tanks was placed in June last year and the tanks arrived in Thailand last week. The tanks will be assigned to the Marine Division in Chon Buris Sattahip district, said the same source.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said he has had talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, also the leader of Bhumjaithai Party, over the partys stance against the governments new budget allocation plan.

Gen Prayut said he explained to Mr Anutin that money from sources other than the 2022 budget is set aside for funding the Public Health Ministrys handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in lieu of the ministrys slashed budgets.

The PM was responding to a remark by Bhumjaithai MP for Uthai Thani Chada Thaised, who in the budget bill debate criticised the government for cutting the ministrys budget and urged Mr Anutin to withdraw from the collation.

Gen Prayut refused to comment and simply walked away when asked yesterday if the coalition remained united.

According to government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri, Mr Anutin yesterday explained at the cabinet meeting that a misunderstanding had occurred before it was revealed that B293 billion and another B311mn has already been set aside for containing the COVID-19 outbreak.

During yesterdays budget debate, Bhumjaithai list MP, Korrawee Prissananantakul accused the government of trying to slash the Public Health Ministrys proposed budget by B4bn.
Qatar Airways confirms Phuket flights to resume July 1

PHUKET: Qatar Airways has confirmed that the airline will operate four flights a week from Doha to Phuket starting July 1.

tourismtransportCOVID-19economics

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 2 June 2021, 09:43AM

Photo: Qatar Airways

The route will be operated by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, offering 22 seats in Business Class and 232 in Economy Class, the airline noted in a release issued yesterday (June 1).

In addition to its 12 flights a week to Bangkok, the airline will operate a total of 16 weekly flights to Thailand providing connectivity for its passengers travelling from Europe, the Middle East and United States the release said.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said, With the resumption of flights to Phuket, Qatar Airways marks a significant milestone in the recovery of international tourism. We are proud to have led the industry, setting the benchmark for safety, innovation and customer service throughout the pandemic.

We know many of our customers are eager to get back flying and return to some of their favourite holiday destinations, such as Phuket. Famed for its many exotic beaches, family friendly atmosphere, turquoise waters and delicious local cuisine, Phuket is an ideal destination for a summer getaway. We look forward to working with our partners in Thailand to support the recovery of their tourism sector.

The Qatar Airways flights will operate as follows starting July 1:

Doha (DOH) to Phuket (HKT) QR 840 departs 02:55 arrives 13:30 (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday)

Phuket (HKT) to Doha (DOH) QR 841 departs 02:30 arrives 05:30 (Monday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday)
Southern Pines, NC (28387)

Today

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 86F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable.
Roanoke, AL (36274)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds light and variable.
The Space and Missile Defense Command Technical Centers Targets Team launched a Pathfinder Zombie target May 19 from the Hebrides Range in Scotland during the ongoing At-Sea Demo/Formidable Shield 2021 exercise. The purpose of At-Sea Demo/Formidable Shield 2021, which includes approximately 10 nations participating with ships, aircraft, ground assets and deployed staff, is to improve allied interoperability in a joint live-fire Integrated Air and Missile Defense environment. SMDC played a role in the exercise by internationally shipping a fully integrated round for the first time.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 17:44:54|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

by Deng Kaiyin, Li Hao, Jiang Chao

ISLAMABAD, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's pandemic efforts have received a "booster shot" as the first batch of locally-produced COVID-19 vaccines is rolling off the line here at a national lab.

As many as 120,000 doses have recently been produced at Pakistan's National Institute of Health (NIH) under rigorous quality control with tech support from Chinese pharmaceutical firm CanSino.

Local health authorities welcomed the vaccines as a major landmark in Pakistan's efforts to attaining vaccine self-sufficiency, a much-needed, yet challenging task that Pakistan had fervently hoped to fulfil within months.

"The cooperation between the two countries also underscores the philosophy that the COVID-19 vaccine is a global good," said Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan at the production ceremony.

MAGIC IN AN EMPTY ROOM

CanSino Biologics Vice President Xin Chunlin admitted it initially came to him that the first batch of local production "wouldn't be a tough assignment," given the NIH's rich experience in vaccine manufacturing.

The reality proved the opposite -- making recombinant COVID-19 vaccines is a brand-new practice for the South Asian country, key aspects of which, including facilities and quality control standards, had to start from scratch, said Xin, who also leads a taskforce with members from both countries.

The task was further challenged by the global supply shortage including key equipment for a lab, chemicals necessary for the production, and subsequent reliance on some manual work.

"It's like we were asked to start our experiments in an empty room," Xin recalled.

Despite all these challenges, the team created a facility that can conduct analyses such as western-blotting essential to the production process.

Working alongside Chinese counterparts has enabled Pakistani members to gain hands-on experience in key quality control techniques such as virus particle testing, said Rafique Ahmed Channa, a Pakistani with more than 30 years of experience in the field.

The team also overcame ingredient shortages by finding best suited substitutes via rounds of trial-and-error.

"It's like wading the river by groping for stones. We shared our own experiences so as to find the best solution," said Xin.

MAKING KNOWLEDGE MORE INCLUSIVE

In the eyes of Pakistani experts, each and every attempt will add up to upgrading the country's health infrastructure and final fulfilment of self-sufficiency.

The localization came as another first-time experience for the South Asian country in COVID-19 vaccine technology, after a successful phase III clinical trial of the vaccine under the cooperation between the NIH and CanSino.

So far, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan has approved three types of Chinese vaccines developed by pharmaceutical companies Sinovac, CanSino and Sinopharm, for emergency use.

Technology transfer enabled by bilateral cooperation has helped Pakistan to stride forward in achieving vaccine production capacity, said Ghazala Parveen, chief of the Biological Production Division at the NIH.

"The technology transfer is extremely crucial for the people of Pakistan. It helps us save money rather than buying vaccines from other countries," said Saba Haq, research official at the NIH.

New data from the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker shows that the least wealthy 37 places worldwide covering more than a tenth of the world population have only received one percent of all doses.

Yet countries like China have been striving to expand the global supply of the life-saving shots, closing the widening gap between rich and poor nations.

From his experience, Xin said the most urgent task is to ensure the supply chain of vaccine production. "Take syringes as an example. It may not be the focal point when you talk about vaccine patents. But it can be the thing that slows down the delivery of the vaccines," he said.

More work needs to be done in making vaccine production technology transferable to developing countries, he added.

Seeing the upgraded infrastructure and better-trained manpower, Parveen said it gave her greater confidence that her country can now better handle infectious diseases.

"If another pandemic in the future will arrive, we know how to control it," she said. Enditem
The Gold Star wreath is carried to its place of honor during the Huntsville Memorial Day Ceremony at the Huntsville/Madison County Veterans Memorial by Medal of Honor recipient and retired Capt. Mike Rose and Redstone Senior Commander Lt. Gen. Donnie Walker. Walking with them are, Gold Star mothers, from left, Lydia Scott and Annette Hall. A member of the Young Marines escorts the group.
Marshalls ring-sheared drop team tests their payload in weightlessness on Zero Gravity Corporations G-Force One aircraft. Each team member is at least partially vaccinated and was tested for COVID-19 each morning before entering flight facilities.
WASHINGTON (AP)  A judge has thrown out a lawsuit from a former Marine who was jailed in Iran for more than four years and then denied a multimillion-dollar payout from a special U.S. government victims' fund after an FBI espionage investigation into his travels.

Judge Richard Hertling of the Court of Federal Claims said in a ruling dated Friday that the court lacked jurisdiction to overturn decisions of the special master who oversees the fund. A lawyer for Amir Hekmati said Tuesday that he was disappointed by the ruling.

We will, of course, pursue a prompt and vigorous appeal, and we are confident that ultimately the facts will prevail, said the attorney, Scott D. Gilbert.

Hekmati, who in 2016 was released as part of a prisoner swap, was initially awarded a default judgment after Iran failed to contest his allegations that he was wrongfully imprisoned and brutally tortured there on suspicion that he had been spying for the CIA.

Such awards are made from a fund for victims of state-sponsored terrorism that is administered by the Justice Department through a special master and that caps payments at $20 million, the amount Hekmati and his lawyers say he was entitled to receive.

He was told in late 2017 that his claim was eligible for payment from the fund. But no money came, and the Justice Department told Hekmati's lawyers in 2019 that it planned to reconsider its earlier position that Hekmati was eligible for an award. Kenneth Feinberg, renowned for overseeing payments to victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, was reappointed special master of the fund for the purpose of reconsidering Hekmati's claim.

In January 2020, he told Hekmati's lawyers that he had concluded that Hekmati was ineligible for a payout. He cited documents revealing a decade-old FBI espionage investigation into whether Hekmati had traveled to Iran with the intent of selling classified information.

Feinberg said the records raised questions about whether Hekmati had misled the U.S. government when he said his primary purpose in traveling to Iran was to visit his ailing grandmother.

Hekmati has vigorously disputed the espionage suspicions and has never been charged.

Lawyers for Hekmati, who was raised in Michigan and served as an infantryman and interpreter in Iraq before being honorably discharged from the Marines in 2005, say any suggestion he could have been a spy for Iran is impossible to square with the way he was imprisoned and tortured there. They note that he was initially awarded payment from the fund well after the FBI investigation was underway, and that he's never faced any charges.

The judge's 18-page order did not delve into the specifics of the dispute and instead simply turned on a legal question of jurisdiction.

The special master administers the Fund, and only the special master has the authority to determine when a claim is an eligible claim, Hertling wrote.

Hekmati's lawyers plan to keep fighting before a federal appeals court to reverse what Gilbert described as the Justice Departments disgraceful attempt to deny him the compensation to which he is clearly entitled.

Make no mistake, Amir Hekmati is an American hero, and the actions of our Department of Justice in this matter are anathema to everything we hold dear and that Amir and all other members of our armed forces risk their lives for every day. Gilbert said in a statement. "We will never stop until justice for Amir Hekmati has been achieved.

___

Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  The number of abortions performed in Kansas increased by 9.1% last year as far more women traveled from Oklahoma and Texas to terminate pregnancies than in 2019 and the state reported that out-of-state patients outnumbered Kansas patients for the first time in almost 50 years.

The state Department of Health and Environment says 7,542 abortions were performed in 2020, an increase of 626 from 6,916 in 2019.

Advocates on both side of the issue said Tuesday that much of that increase likely occurred because Republican governors in Oklahoma and Texas sought to ban most abortions last spring, prompting women from those states to travel to Kansas for the procedure. In Kansas, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly refused to take a similar step, calling reproductive health an essential need.

People were really fanning out to states that still provided abortion care as an essential part of health care, said Julie Burkhart, founder and CEO of the abortion rights group Trust Women, which operates clinics in Wichita and Oklahoma City. People were quite scared. They were desperate.

Women and girls from Oklahoma and Texas had 566 abortions in Kansas in 2020, up from 110 in 2019. The additional 456 abortions were the bulk of the total increase in abortions in Kansas.

The Kansas health department said 3,901 abortions, or nearly 52%, were for patients from outside the state. The last time the department had reported that more abortions were performed on patients from outside Kansas than on patients from Kansas was 1973, the same year that the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide.

Gov. Kelly owns this increase, said Jeanne Gawdun, senior lobbyist for Kansans for Life, the states most politically influential anti-abortion group. We can now consider her the abortion-industry governor.

The report on abortions, release late last week, came as both sides prepared for an August 2022 statewide vote on a proposed anti-abortion amendment. The measure would overturn a 2019 decision by the Kansas Supreme Court declaring access to abortion a fundamental right under the Kansas Constitution.

The 9.1% jump in abortions was the largest annual increase since at least 1995, when the state began requiring all health care providers to report any abortions they performed. Since then, abortions in Kansas peaked at 12,445 in 1999, then declined in 16 of the following 20 years.

A significant percentage of Kansas abortions historically have been performed for Missouri patients, particularly in the Kansas City area. In 2020, the number was 3,201 or 42% of the total.

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
Federal prosecutors have dropped the criminal case against a New York man who was accused of participating in the riot at the U.S. Capitol, in what appears to be the first such move by the Justice Department in its sprawling Jan. 6 prosecution.

The dismissal of the case against Christopher M. Kelly was disclosed on Wednesday, the same day prosecutors secured a second guilty plea by one of the more than 450 Capitol riot defendants.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui agreed to dismiss the case against Kelly after prosecutors said in a court filing on Tuesday that they discussed the merits of the case with Kelly's lawyer and decided that ending the prosecution serves the interests of justice based on the facts currently known to the government.

The filing doesn't elaborate on the decision, and the Department of Justice refused to provide more information. An attorney for Kelly didnt immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Faruqui agreed to dismiss the charges without prejudice, which means the Justice Department could attempt to revive the case.

Kelly was arrested in New York on Jan. 20 and faced charges of obstructing an official proceeding, aiding and abetting, violent entry and disorderly conduct, and unlawful entry to restricted buildings or grounds.

In an affidavit, an FBI agent said it appeared that Kelly used a Facebook account to inform associates that he had breached the Capitol and was inside the building. Two days before the attack, he told another Facebook user that he planned to be in Washington with ex NYPD and some proud boys," the agent said.

More than two dozen leaders, members and associates of the far-right Proud Boys group have been charged in the riots, which interrupted the certification of Democrat Joe Bidens victory over then-President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Kelly has a brother who is a retired New York City police officer, the FBI agent noted.

Meanwhile, a Florida man who carried a Trump 2020 flag while in the U.S. Senate during the Jan. 6 riot pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a felony charge of obstructing an official proceeding.

Paul Allard Hodgkins, 38, of Tampa, wore protective goggles under his chin and a Trump shirt while standing nearby as other rioters prayed and shouted from the Senate dais. Trump had told his supporters before the siege to fight like hell to overturn his defeat.

Prosecutor Mona Sedky said Hodgkins knew he wasnt supposed to be in the Capitol and acted with intent to corruptly influence a government proceeding.

The judge asked whether the description of facts read aloud by the prosecutor was correct. Yes, Your Honor, Hodgkins said.

Hodgkins, who has no prior convictions, faces 15 to 21 months in prison under the sentencing guidelines. His sentencing was set for July 19.

The first person to plead guilty in the riot was a member of the Oath Keepers far-right militia group. Jon Ryan Schaffer, a heavy metal guitarist, has also agreed to cooperate with the governments investigation in the hopes of getting a lighter sentence.

Schaffer pleaded guilty in April to two counts: obstruction of an official proceeding and entering and remaining in a restricted building with a dangerous or deadly weapon. He admitted being one of the first people to forcibly enter the Capitol after the mob broke open a set of doors guarded by Capitol Police.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 17:57:00|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

TRIPOLI, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday announced that Germany would support Libya's COVID-19 vaccination campaign with a fund of 5 million euros (6.1 million U.S. dollars).

The 18-month program will enable UNICEF to scale up its support of the Libyan government by ensuring an adequate cold chain system is in place across the country, facilitate vaccination rollout and boost demand for COVID-19 vaccines, according to a statement issued by the United Nations.

UNICEF expected the support to benefit 4.8 million people, with 1.4 million COVID-19 vaccination priority groups that include migrants and refugees.

The project is also expected to help train 6,000 health staff in vaccination and cold chain management and control, and strengthen 426 health facilities to perform safe, quality, and inclusive vaccinations, the statement added.

"This project would not have been possible to roll out with such speed and efficiency had it not been for the generous support of the Government of Germany. We extend our gratitude for their generosity and look forward to partnering in future projects," said UNICEF Special Representative Abdulkadir Musse.

According to the National Center for Disease Control, nearly 250,000 people have received vaccines since the launch of the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign in April. Enditem
Please note The Sun Chronicle is providing this story and all of our local coronavirus coverage for free so that all readers have access to this important information about the pandemic. Please visit our dedicated coronavirus coverage page for more stories. If you'd like to support our mission, please subscribe.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 18:01:48|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

TAIPEI, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan on Wednesday reported 549 local COVID-19 cases, including 372 new infections and 177 backlogged local cases, the island's disease monitoring agency said, noting that 12 fresh deaths were registered.

The number of new local infections on the island exceeded 200 for the 18th consecutive day on Wednesday.

Of the new local cases, 207 were male and 165 female. The onset of symptoms occurred between May 2 and June 1.

Among the 177 backlogged cases, 96 were male and 81 female, aged from below five to over 80 years, who experienced symptoms between May 13 and May 30, the agency said.

The 12 fatalities included seven men and five women, who died between May 13 and May 29.

Facing a severe shortage of vaccines, Taiwan is struggling to contain the worst outbreak of the epidemic amid strained medical resources. Given the severity of local transmissions, the island has extended its level-3 alert for COVID-19 to June 14.

The total number of confirmed cases on the island since the epidemic began has risen to 9,389, including 8,195 local cases. A total of 149 deaths have been recorded, the agency said. Enditem
Ned Bristol: The industry we all love, has to change
Heber Springs, AR (72543)

Today

A few clouds with an isolated thunderstorm possible after midnight. Low 74F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

A few clouds with an isolated thunderstorm possible after midnight. Low 74F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
GREENVILLE  Greenville University has named Mark Biddinger as its chief financial officer.

Biddinger brings 30 years of experience in financial planning, risk management, strategic planning and nonprofit organization and management to the position, including over a decade of experience in finance leadership roles in higher education. He most recently was senior director of finance and treasury at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida. He has also was director of accounting at Cedarville University in Ohio before serving as director of financial planning and analysis. He earned a master of business administration from Cedarville University.

Mark will provide superb financial analysis strength for the University, said Suzanne Davis, GU president. He has many years of experience as an executive level financial officer in both corporate and higher education settings. His bold personality and focus on data-driven decisions make him uniquely qualified for this time and place.

Biddinger says he finds the complexity and uniqueness of working in a financial role in higher education exciting. He adds that he enjoys finding ways to simplify complex information so everyone can understand it, one of the keys to implementing a strategic plan.

What attracted me to the role was Suzanne, Biddinger says. An opportunity to work with a president who is entrepreneurial, full of great ideas and innovation, and what she hopes to accomplish in her strategic plan, absolutely made me excited for this role.

Biddinger and his wife, Saundra, have seven children between the ages of 14 and 29, one grandson and another grandchild on the way. He enjoys woodworking, cooking and hiking with his wife.

His first day on Greenville Universitys campus is June 21.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  Three Democratic members of Congress are asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to investigate the foster care experience of Ma'Khia Bryant that preceded the 16-year-old's fatal police shooting in Ohio.

U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, along with U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, penned a letter last week on behalf of Bryant's parents, asking the federal agency to look into the teen's experience through the foster care system.

When a child dies in foster care, the system has failed," the lawmakers wrote. It failed MaKhia Bryant, who lived in her foster family home for about two months before a police officer shot and killed her in front of that home on April 20, 2021."

Bryant was shot four times in April by Columbus police officer Nicholas Reardon as she swung a knife at a young woman, just seconds after pushing another woman to the ground. Bryant was Black and Reardon is white. Police were responding to a 911 call made from Bryant's foster home about a group of girls threatening to stab members of the household.

Bryant's family previously told The Associated Press that the teen and her younger sister were the ones who called for help.

While Bryants killing further heightened tensions in Ohio's capital city over the fatal police shootings of Black people, her death also cast a light on the states foster care system. An attorney representing the slain teens family called for an investigation of the system and whether girls in the foster home were properly supervised.

In the letter, the Democratic lawmakers urged for the HHS Administration for Children and Families to provide assistance to the Franklin County Children Services, where Bryant was in foster care, during their review of the case.

The letter, which was released today, also asks the federal agency's Office of Civil Rights to launch its own independent investigation to examine if the state and the county foster care systems were in compliance with federal non-discrimination services.

Among the parts of her foster care experience under scrutiny include Bryant being placed in five different foster homes within two years. The foster home she was staying at at the time of her death was the scene of more than a dozen 911 calls since 2017. The majority of the calls were made by Angela Moore  the homes foster mother  seeking help with foster girls who had left without permission or didnt return after being out, according to documents and 911 calls obtained by AP.

The whole world has placed MaKhia on trial based on this one incident where they see her swinging a knife, the family's attorney Michelle Martin said in late April. But why arent we looking further and figuring out who were those girls? How did they get there? How did this develop so quickly?

What trauma was not being addressed within the home?" she added. "I mean so many questions that have to be answered.

Days after Bryant's shooting, Franklin County Children Services said it had an obligation to make changes.

We are committed to ensuring that our programming and services most appropriately address the needs and concerns of those we serve, the agency said.

Requests for comment were sent to HHS, Franklin County Children Services and the state.

But the lawmakers who penned the letter, as well as child welfare advocates, say the foster care system in Ohio  and nationally  is broken, especially when it comes to the treatment of Black children.

A review released in March, ordered by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, found the state's system was infused with racial inequity. The review also showed examples of where the system failed to value Black voices and experiences and poorly equipped foster parents to raise multiracial families, which sometimes results in the children in their care experiencing racism.

These inequities played out in MaKhias life and are all too familiar for children and young people in the foster care system, particularly Black and brown children who are overrepresented in the child welfare system, the lawmaker stated in the letter.

___

Farnoush Amiri 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.
GODFREY  Mondays early morning conclusion to the General Assemblys spring session as an eye-opener for first-term state Rep. Amy Elik, R-Fosterburg.

The last two weeks have been a sprint to finish, she told the RiverBend Growth Association in a Wednesday morning teleconference.

Elik, a CPA, said she was excited to be in a House working group on human services appropriations, part of a $42.3 billion budget bill. In closed sessions, she said, lawmakers met to discuss multiple line items of the budget.

That was a huge disappointment to me as to how that actually worked, she said. It was clear these decisions and things we were discussing were not going to be part of the actual budget.

As a CPA, I would suggest that no business would do a budget like weve done, even in the working group meetings, Elik said. It was basically a list of maybe 30 or 40 budget line items. And it was, Heres what it was last year. Heres what the governors directive may be. Do you want to accept what he recommends? Do you want to reduce what he recommends? Do you want to increase what he recommends?

The question is why, why did he recommend it, she said. Where are the details? You dont have that level of detail.

Elik said the 700-page budget bill was dropped at about 12:15 a.m. Monday with numerous amendments during the day  including one just 15 minutes before the scheduled vote in the House.

At about 11:35 p.m. (Monday) the budget was called to be heard and voted on, she said.

We were allowed one speaker from the Republican side to ask questions and debate the bill, she said. We were allowed 20 minutes of debate. And then we were asked to vote on the budget.

The budget passed along party lines. Elik said she voted no because the budget gives lawmakers about a $1,200 raise, doubles their office budgets and includes what Gov. J.B. Pritzker has called loophole closures meant to incentivize private business owners in Illinois.

She said the bill also includes about a billion dollars in capital projects requested by Democrat members that Republicans were not invited to take part in. She expects Pritzker will sign the budget bill, and that there will be some disappointment among social services programs where budgets will remain flat.

Elik also noted that trailer license fees  the third most commented item in calls to our office  will be coming down. Previously $18 a year, lawmakers in 2019 raised the fees to $118. Last month lawmakres approved lowering them to $36 a year and eliminating the $10,000 cap for sales tax purposes for vehicle trade-in values.

That had been one of the biggest complaints to everyones offices  Republicans and Democrats, Senate and House, Elik said. This was constituent-driven. This was the best thing that Illinois taxpayers and citizens have done by keeping up with the advocacy.

She urged similar advocacy for residents concerned about the lack of transparency in the General Assembly.

It is completely unacceptable to drop really important legislation on the last day of session  700-, 800-page bills that clearly no one can adequately consider in that short amount of time, Elik said.

Public advocacy is very much needed to make sure the party in power knows that we dont like what youre doing, she said. I get the negotiation point, that people who are negotiating things are under pressure in those late hours to maybe push things or give up on things.

But people working for the public should not be handling legislation like that, she said. Keep up with your lawmakers and let them know it is completely unacceptable for this to happen year after year.

She pointed to the proposed legislative redistricting maps as an example of transparency challenges.

The redistricting maps were absolutely behind closed doors on the fourth floor of the Stratton Building in Springfield, which were heavily guarded and locked, Elik said. Democrats were invited into the room to see their maps. No Republicans were involved.

Elik said 55 advocacy groups have stated they are very disappointed in how the maps have gone forward.

Now we wait on Gov. Pritzker to see if he will veto these like he promised, Elik said. I do expect, whatever happens, that the maps will be heavily litigated.

Elik said work remains for lawmakers and she expects them to return to Springfield very soon. Among the most important work yet to be tackled is state energy legislation. Along with redistricting lawmakers still must deal with energy legislation and Firearms Owner Identification Card changes.

There were some things that were undone  important things that were undone, she said.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 19:34:47|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

XIAMEN, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Xiamen, a coastal city in east China's Fujian Province, Wednesday saw the 1,000th China-Europe freight train trip since the city launched the service in 2015.

With 50 carriages loaded with daily necessities, auto parts and other goods, the X8098 train left the Haicang station of Xiamen for Germany Wednesday morning, bringing the number of train trips of such service to 1,000.

Launched in August 2015, Xiamen's rail cargo service to Europe and Central Asia has so far transported nearly 80,000 TEUs of goods worth more than 3 billion U.S. dollars, which included electronics, machinery, daily necessities and food.

Last year, the city handled 24,112 TEUs of goods via the China-Europe freight train service. The weight and worth reached 142,400 tonnes and 962 million U.S. dollars, up 59 percent and 40 percent year on year, respectively.

To date, Xiamen's rail cargo service has linked the city with more than 30 cities in 12 countries of Europe and Central Asia. Enditem
One word comes to mind when Christa Stewart thinks about bringing back the NEPA Bluegrass Festival: ecstatic.

After taking a year off because of the coronavirus pandemic, the festival returns to Tunkhannocks LazyBrook park for a long weekend of music, camping, workshops and more.

Its promising to be a good year, said Stewart, who organizes the event with her husband, Danny. I think we have had our normal folks are coming back, and we have a lot of new people that are expressing interest.

The festival grounds open the night of Thursday, June 3, for campers, and the music begins the following day and runs through Sunday, June 6.

Bluegrass people cant wait to be around a campfire and pick and jam and just be outdoors, Stewart said.

The festival will have a progressive stage and a traditional stage, with acts performing throughout the days on both. Stewart said they are particularly looking forward to bringing Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver to the main stage. Lawson has won Grammy awards, and the group was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Fame. The band will perform two sets and close out Saturday, and this will be one of the last times the public will have to hear Lawson live.

We didnt know that when we hired him, actually, during the pandemic, but he is going to be retiring after the 2021, Stewart said.

On Friday, the audience will get to hear the Malpass Brothers, a duo from North Carolina that Stewart said does a beautiful rendition of classic old country (and) bluegrass in flashy rhinestone jackets. They also will perform two sets, including Fridays final one.

Theyre a fun brother act, and theyre really on top of their game nationally with what theyre doing, Stewart said.

Other headliners include Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike, the Little Roy and Lizzy Show, the Dave Adkins Band, Sideline and Seth Mulder & Midnight Run Bluegrass.

The progressive stage gives acts who maybe want to go outside that box of traditional bluegrass a chance to perform, Stewart noted. Audiences can head there to hear from acts such as the Hillbilly Gypsies, a high-energy husband-and-wife act from West Virginia, and Altoona-based band Mama Corn.

Also on Saturday, visitors can bring their own instruments to several workshops: banjo, 11 a.m.; beginning guitar, noon; upright bass, 1 p.m.; guitar maintenance, 2; mandolin, 3; and fiddle, 4. Sundays action opens with a bluegrass singing jam hosted by a pair of bluegrass missionaries who travel to festivals across the country.

Stewart also advised guests to come hungry, as they will have lots of food on hand, from barbecue and seafood to pizza, ice cream and vegan options.

Organizers this year are honoring tickets purchased for the 2020 festival, which did not take place because of the coronavirus pandemic. Weekend passes are available in advance for $90 and include free camping. Electric sites have sold out, but rough camping spots remain available, and the Stewarts will have designated generator areas to power camping vehicles.

Weekend passes will be available at the gate, too, as will single-day tickets from Friday through Sunday. Those cost $35 on Friday and Saturday and $20 on Sunday. Children 12 to 16 pay half price, and children under 12 enter for free with a paying adult.

Camping passes purchased at the gate cost $5 per adult per night.

As for COVID-19 precautions, anyone attending the festival must comply with current mandates from Pennsylvania and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Our policy in our program states that if you have been fully vaccinated, you do not have to wear a mask and you do not have to socially distance, Stewart said. If you have not been fully vaccinated, then obviously you do have to wear a mask and you do have to socially distance.
The local unemployment rate for April was down 10.5 percentage points from the same time last year, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry.

The rate for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton Metropolitan Statistical Area, consisting of Lackawanna, Luzerne and Wyoming counties reached 18.2% in April 2020, the highest total recorded for the region dating back to January 1970, said Steven Zellers, a state industry and business analyst.

Recently, the local unemployment rate dropped by sixth-tenths of a percentage point to 7.7% from March to April. The number of unemployed individuals dropped by nearly 2,000 to 20,600.

The unemployment rate decreased by five-tenths of a percentage point from February to March.

The trend was noticeable even in February and March, said Satyajit Ghosh, Ph.D., a University of Scranton economist. Things have been getting better, there is no question about it and that was expected as the economy opens up more.

While Ghosh was excited to see the unemployment number continue to fall, he was concerned the labor force shrunk by 2,200 to 268,300 from March to April.

The labor force previously increased by 900 from February to March.

The key lies in the labor force number, Ghosh said. Its good the unemployment numbers are going down, but the labor market is still rather weak.

The statewide unemployment rate increased by one-tenth of a percentage point over the month to 7.4% from March to April.

The national rate also rose one-tenth of a percentage point to 6.1%.

Zellers has been encouraged by the job growth within the metro area.

All the super sectors are more or less improving which speaks well for the economy opening back up, he said.

From February 2020 through April 2020, the region lost 49,500 jobs. As of April 2021, 31,200, or 63%, of the jobs have been recovered in the metro area, Zellers said.

Its predominantly due to the COVID virus getting more under control and restrictions being lifted on businesses, Zellers said. The recovery of all the jobs lost will depend on state and national recovery, as well.
A Susquehanna County man charged with raping an unconscious teen girl entered a guilty plea Wednesday to a misdemeanor.

Joseph Ranlett, 21, of Thompson, pleaded guilty to unlawful restraint, a first-degree misdemeanor, for holding the 15-year-old girl in her room in 2019, and exposing her to serious bodily injury, according to the plea.

Ranletts attorney, Michael Brier, said during a virtual hearing before Judge Michael J. Barrasse in Lackawanna County Court that the plea they agreed to has nothing to do with sexual contact. Reached after the hearing, Brier declined to comment.

This was a challenging case for several reasons and after discussion with the victim and her mother, with their consent, we felt it was the appropriate disposition, District Attorney Mark Powell said.

Forest City police initially charged Ranlett with rape of an unconscious victim and other offenses on Aug. 26 on allegations he sexually assaulted the victim while she slept at a home in Vandling. The Times-Tribune does not name victims of sexual assault.

The victim disclosed during an interview in October at the Childrens Advocacy Center of Northeastern Pennsylvania that she awoke to Ranlett having sex with her.

In an interview with police, Ranlett admitted having sex but believed she had wanted to until she woke up and told him to stop.

A sentencing date is not yet set.
Former and current college students who owe money to state-owned universities, including unpaid tuition and delinquent activity fees, will have more consumer-friendly payment options under a new policy instituted by state Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

Shapiro said his office will no longer send cases to private collection agencies and instead will handle collections in-house. He also recalled about $18 million in debt from private agencies  a move that promises to save debtors money by eliminating fees and interest the agencies charge.

The attorney generals office also expanded payment options to include personal checks instead of just high-fee money orders or cashiers checks.

Access to higher education is already a barrier for far too many in our commonwealth, Shapiro said in a statement. Our goal is to make it easier for Pennsylvanians to improve their lives through college  not send them to collections, hurt their credit, and prohibit them from making themselves whole by forcing them to pay by cashiers checks and money orders.

Shapiros office is responsible for collecting all debts owed to any state entity, including the 14 state-owned universities governed by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. They are: Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester.

Other state-funded universities  Penn State, Temple, Lincoln and Pittsburgh  are not included because the Commonwealth System of Higher Education governs them and is a separate entity.

As of May 5, the most recent figures available, 4,760 students owed $17,951,297.

The reprieve applies to various fees charged by universities and does not affect money students owe on student loans, said Molly Stieber, a spokeswoman for the office.

Students incur fees for various reasons, such as end-of-semester room cleaning, activities and lab fees. They also are responsible for tuition if they drop out after the deadline to drop classes passes.

Stieber stressed the change is not a get-out-of-debt-free card. Students are still required to repay the money.

Of course its important to get the money back from students, Stieber said. We want to give them the best position to pay the money back and make sure they do it in a consumer-friendly way that will not burden them.
Three Pennsylvania canines are among the 21 semifinalists for the 2021 American Humane Hero Dog Awards.

Each of the three are semifinalists in different categories.

The 21 semifinalists were chosen by public voting. The public now will have the opportunity to choose the seven finalists that will compete to be the countrys top dog at the 11th annual awards, sponsored by the Lois Pope LIFE Foundation.

The awards will be broadcast as a special on the Hallmark Channel this fall.

The field began with more than 400 dogs. The seven categories are therapy, service, military, law enforcement, shelter, search and rescue and guide/hearing.

To vote, go to www.herodogawards.org before July 15. Participants can vote once a day in each category.

The winning dog in each category will be celebrated on the award show and at a gala in their honor on Nov. 12 in Palm Beach.

The American Humane Hero Dog Awards are our way of honoring the best of our best friends, said Dr. Robin Ganzert, American Humane president and CEO. This unique effort brings attention to the life-changing, life-saving power of the human-animal bond  something that has been a core part of our organizations mission since 1877.

The Hero Dog Awards celebrate Americas often unsung heroes, said philanthropist and Platinum Presenting Sponsor Lois Pope. From those who defend our country to those who help us heal, guide us, protect us, and help find the lost, every single contender exemplifies the courage and heroism we seek to spotlight in this campaign. Our goal is not only to honor these magnificent dogs but to inspire America to reflect on the outsized contributions that animals make in our lives each and every day.

The Pa. dogs are:

Boone of Hookstown, Beaver County, nominated in the therapy category.

American Humane provided this bio for Boone - Boone survived heartbreaking cruelty as a puppy, which resulted in the loss of his back legs. His life changed when he was adopted by a family with a soft spot for special needs pets.

His family had him fitted with a wheelchair to improve his mobility, and he has been a dog on a mission ever since  a mission to spread his joy to others with his infectious smile and story of resilience. Despite his challenges, his sweet nature and enthusiasm for life make him a perfect fit for his new profession as a therapy dog.

They say that when you love what you do, you never work a day in your life, and that is the truth for Boone. Children light up when he enters the room. Boone is an ambassador for the nonprofit Joeys P.A.W. (Prosthetics and Wheels). So far, the charity has provided mobility devices to over 700 dogs in need in Pittsburgh, across the country, and even internationally. Boone and Joeys P.A.W. hope to improve both the outcome for dogs with mobility issues in shelters and rescues across the country, as well as perceptions about their adoptability.

Boone deserves the title of American Hero Dog because he inspires those around him every day to overcome the obstacles that life throws at them. When he is not spreading joy as a therapy dog, he is working to make life better for dogs with mobility issues in shelters. Just look at his smile. He is going to change the world!

Vote for Boone here.

Tommy II of Marietta, Lancaster County, is nominated in the service category.

When Ryan Boyles was first paired with Warrior Canine Connection service dog Tommy II and saw that they shared the same birthdate  April 30  he says he felt like their new partnership was fate. The duo graduated as part of WCCs class of 2019 and since that time, the two have been inseparable.

Tommy has given me my freedom back to go and do stuff outside of my home and with my family, said Ryan. I really struggle with crowds and feeling trapped, and Tommy really helps me out with that. I used to not be a pleasant person to be around. He helps to calm me and bring balance to my life. My wife has told me she noticed an immediate difference in my temperament once I got Tommy.

Ryan served in the Air Force for nine years, working in multiple roles, including support of combat search and rescue and contingency response missions before being honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant (E5) in 2015. Ryan completed multiple deployments, including in Djibouti and Uganda, Africa. Those missions forever changed him. As a result of his service, Ryan sustained various knee, hip and back injuries, and he also suffers from PTSD, anxiety and depression.

I used to have really bad nightmares to the point where I would wake up yelling, screaming and punching, said Ryan. As soon as I got Tommy  literally the day I got him  my nightmares subsided. I rarely ever get them now. He doesnt have to be in our bed. His presence in our room next to our bed just helps me sleep.

Vote for Tommy II here.

Wellie of Huntingdon, Huntingdon County, is nominated in the guide/hearing category.

Wellie is my Hearing Assistance Dog and has opened so many doors for me by giving me the confidence to grow into my true self. She has enabled me to explore new things, feel confident, safe, and aware in my home and of my surroundings while in public.

Because of her, Im not afraid to try new things. We are Dogs for Better Lives Ambassadors, Pet CPR/first aid instructors and teach ASL classes together. Ive become a more outgoing, relaxed and joyful person. She is dedicated to her job as my hearing dog (my ears) 100% of the time. During these times of masking in public, she seems to work doubly hard to ensure that I am comfortable, safe, and aware.

She has led me out of Walmart during an emergency fire alarm. While at physical therapy, she ensures that I am aware when the machine I am using is done and beeping. She makes sure that I am aware that my therapist has entered the room and is speaking to me.

Not only does she alert me to the sounds she was trained for (oven timer, microwave, doorbell/door knock, telephone, smoke detector, alarm clock, or someone calling my name), she has chosen to alert me to sounds that are beyond her scope of training. I know when my cell phone buzzes, toaster pops, and Instant Pot or Air Fryer alerts. In public, she alerts me to timers beeping, people speaking, telephones ringing and so much more. Shes not only my hearing dog and ears, shes my best friend, my pandemic partner, and my saving grace in a world so full of silence.

Vote for Wellie here.

2021 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit pennlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A former service member and sexual assault survivor at risk of suicide is denied access to mental health services by a bureaucratic gatekeeper.

Thats one of thousands of examples of veterans seeking the Veterans Affairs health care theyre entitled to  and wrongly being refused it. This is due to a pervasive misunderstanding and misapplication of the rules regarding other-than-honorable discharges.

This refusal is based on what is known as having bad paper. The bad paper can be based on minor misconduct.

Being turned away is an institutional shortcoming that easily can be remedied through administrative corrective steps at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

An estimated 400,000 former service members are at risk of wrongly being denied VA health care, according to a 2020 study. It showed that gay and lesbian veterans and victims of military sexual assault are disproportionately at risk. So are veterans who served in the Navy or Marines, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and those with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Veterans who receive other-than-honorable discharges  a roughly 7% of them since 1980  still qualify for VA health care and are legally entitled to reviews and written notification of the determination.

The majority of bad paper veterans includes many of the estimated 100,000 LGBTQ service members discharged for purported misconduct between World War II and the 2011 official repeal of the dont ask, dont tell policy.

VA gatekeepers in more than a dozen states  including California, Florida, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas  incorrectly told bad paper veterans they were ineligible for benefits.

In one case, a Vietnam veteran endured untreated post-traumatic stress disorder for more than 50 years after he was wrongly told he didnt qualify for VA health care. The situation was rectified only after a pro bono lawyer intervened.

A new report by Legal Services Corp.s Veterans Task Force notes that, often because of service-related mental health conditions, these veterans often are in greater need of supportive services. Yet their bad paper status prevents them from receiving the vital assistance they need.

In response to the OutVets report, VA officials described an updated enrollment system that would better identify and track those with other-than-honorable discharges.

The VA must also work to overhaul the training, guidance and oversight of its staff. Its outreach should include social media campaigns and easy-to-understand letters that outline who is eligible to receive care.

In April, a federal court in Connecticut approved a class-action lawsuit settlement requiring the Army to reconsider thousands of less-than-honorable discharges issued over the last 20 years.

Military service members dedicate their lives to defending our country. They shouldnt have to fight for access to justice and basic benefits earned from their selfless service.
Editor: Although Hamas covenant specifies: Israel  will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, Dominic Saadi downplays Hamas indiscriminately firing 4,000 missiles into Israels civilian population centers as merely counterproductive, and chooses to describe Israels right to defend itself as just propaganda (End Israeli hostility, May 24).

In contrast, President Biden succinctly confronted the true problem facing the Middle East: Until the region says, unequivocally, they acknowledge the right of Israel to exist as an independent Jewish state, there will be no peace.

This is nothing new. For decades, Palestinians have either supported Arab wars against Israel  in 1948, 1967 and 1973  or engaged in violence including intifadas, bombings, riots and personal acts of terrorism.

They willingly voted for Hamas knowing its terroristic record and would choose Hamas again if not barred by Mahmoud Abbas from voting out the corrupt Palestinian Authority. Although Palestinians reactions to any grievance, real or merely perceived, inevitably devolves into violence, they, like Saadi, admit no responsibility for the losses that their actions have caused to themselves and to Israel. To those situations, Saadi has no comment other than to seemingly accept violence as an inevitable consequence.

As Israelis, including relatives and friends of many in Northeast Pennsylvania, emerge from their bomb shelters and safe rooms  a tragic necessity  the latest conflict in Gaza has spilled over to Europe and America where Jews and Jewish institutions are attacked in many cities in the name of Palestinian rights. Its a confirmation that anti-Zionism is too often an excuse for anti-Semitism.

Sadly, Palestinians dream of a state of their own has become a repeating nightmare for all who live in the Middle East, since they have proved to be incapable of peacefully ruling themselves or leaving Israel and its citizens alone and in peace.

DAVID I. FALLK

JEWISH FEDERATION OF NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA

SCRANTON

Editor: Im not quite sure how to take Joseph Brady (Special treatment, May 26) regarding seniors.

When Brady says we want our street paved, garbage picked up and grandkids educated, well, he lives on our street too. He generates garbage and his children get educated. As for Medicare and other special perks for seniors, we werent always seniors. We worked for years and paid into the system that provided care to our elders, hoping that when it came our turn the same privileges would be offered to us.

One hand was supposed to wash the other. We worked and raised our families when we were young and still managed to pay into the Social Security and Medicare systems without it being a burden on us. We wouldnt have had the audacity to complain.

I hope that Brady is never in a position where the only way to survive will be to sell the home where he raised his family. As for subsidized housing he mentions, I believe funding for that comes from his taxes. The more people paying into the system, the more freebies he will have when it comes time to collect on them.

But I did like his idea about excluding seniors from taxes and moving the kids into the homestead. We wouldnt need free meals and rides to medical appointments and our homes would be filled with life as they were years ago.

To anyone who supports the issues mentioned in Bradys letter, I close with something my mom used to say: You are going to get old one day  youll see.

LYNN HANICHAK

MAYFIELD

Editor: The Race for Peace Committee was formed to enrich the lives of residents in all communities through programs, resources and activities for the family, to reach an understanding between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

The vision for the Race for Peace Committee is to educate, circumvent and eradicate racism, violence and discrimination globally. The committees mission is to revitalize the community through enrichment and outreach programs and to maintain a collective voice, share ideas and create an atmosphere of peace that encourages good citizenship.

The committees purpose is to create enthusiasm in communities, to see through their eyes, understand their needs and deliver more than they expect. They do this by reaching goals and solutions that support community peace.

For more information, visit raceforpeace.org, racefor

peaceblog.wordpress.com, and on Facebook at @RFPCSocialMedia.

ALIM HOWELL

UPPER DARBY, DELAWARE COUNTY

Editor: Supporters say radar is needed for safety, but PennDOT tells us that 2019 and 2020 were the two safest years we have had since 1928, without radar.

If people want safer roads, why dont they mandate that every posted speed limit be set at the 85th percentile speed, the safest speed with the most compliance? That principle has been a part of highway safety engineering for 70 years, from before the construction of the interstate highway system.

Federal Highway Administration findings are that 90% of Pennsylvanias posted speed limits are 8 mph to 12 mph below the speeds that people drive safely every day. That makes them speeders. Is that what people want? To turn 85% of taxpaying drivers into criminals, liable for $170-plus tickets, points and insurance surcharges? It seems a pretty steep price to lay on drivers who do nothing unsafe and endanger no one.

People complain that everyone speeds. It is not true. It is estimated that about 97% of drivers operate their vehicles in a reasonable and prudent manner. The police can easily deal with the 3% of dangerous violators without radar. Speed trap Senate Bill 419 would make police into tax collectors.

Local officials post limits too low to placate misinformed citizens. Why not educate average people on actual highway safety principles, practices and engineering? Why not stop the pandering to the sky-is-falling busybodies who want everyone to drive 20 mph? The road is not a playground and people need to be reminded of that fact. Reject SB 419.

TOM McCAREY

BERWYN,

CHESTER COUNTY
There arent many state government issues that draw bipartisan agreement these days in the polarized Legislature. But prescription drug pricing is one of them because it is as bewildering to conservative Republicans as it is to liberal Democrats, and the pharmacy counter is the great equalizer.

So it is this week that political polar opposites from opposite corners of the state  Democratic state Sen. Sharif Street of Philadelphia and Republican state Sen. Dan Laughlin of Erie  have reintroduced their bill to create transparency in prescription drug pricing.

In a recent state survey by Altarum, a national health care consultant, 51% of respondents said they were concerned about medication costs and 33% in Northwest Pennsylvania said they took their prescribed medicine every other day or cut pills in half to reduce their costs.

The bill does not include any direct price-reduction measures. Rather, it would require pharmaceutical companies to explain how they arrive at prices for prescription drugs.

Companies often say that prices reflect their costs for research and development, which is substantial. It can cost $1 billion or more to take a drug from concept, through development and trials, to regulatory approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

But those costs, which sometimes are mitigated by federal research investments or private-sector grants, are not the only factor in a drugs final price.

The bill would require companies to file annual reports detailing their research and development costs, clinical trial and regulatory costs, manufacturing and administrative expenses, costs covered by private or federal grants, rebate distribution, and costs for patents, licensing and related expenses. Sharif and Laughlin should include marketing costs, which for some drugs exceed the costs of research and development.

The lack of transparency regarding prescription pricing makes it nearly impossible for state and federal governments to address high consumer prices. This bipartisan bill is a good step to help unravel byzantine drug pricing, and to begin to include consumers interests in the process.
London, KY (40741)

Today

Partly cloudy in the morning followed by scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. High 86F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds light and variable.
MARISSA BERGEL, Wheeler softball, senior: Bergel hit a two-out, two-run single in the seventh inning to lift Wheeler past Holy Cross, 9-7, in the Class S state tournament. The hit was part of a five-run rally in the inning.

JOEY GUARNIERI, Westerly track & field, senior: Guarnieri placed first in two sprints at the Southern Division championships. He won the 100 (11.19) and the 200 (22.73).

JOSH MOONEY, Stonington track & field, sophomore: Mooney placed first in the 110 hurdles at the Class M state meet in 14.65. He also finished second in the 300 hurdles (39.87) and second in the javelin (160-0).

MARGARET WEEDEN, Chariho track & field, junior: Weeden finished first in the high jump at the Southern Division championships. Weeden cleared 5-1 and also placed sixth in the triple jump at 31-5.

Vote

View Results
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 19:39:44|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, holds talks with Solomon Islands' parliament speaker John Patteson Oti via video link at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, June 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislator Li Zhanshu held talks on Wednesday with Solomon Islands' parliament speaker John Patteson Oti via video link, agreeing to enhance exchanges and cooperation between their two legislative bodies.

Li, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said that China believes in the equality of all countries regardless of size. "China respects the Solomon Islands' choice of a development path suited to its national conditions, and supports the Solomon Islands in developing the economy and improving people's livelihoods," he said.

China appreciates the Solomon Islands' adherence to the one-China principle and its firm support for China's core interests and major concerns, such as Taiwan, Xinjiang and Hong Kong, Li added.

Noting that China is willing to maintain exchanges at all levels with the Solomon Islands and to strengthen mutual political support, Li said the two sides should continue to unite in fighting the epidemic, expand pragmatic cooperation, deepen cooperation on infrastructure, agriculture, forestry and fishing on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The two countries should expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges, while strengthening exchanges on education, culture, and the sub-national and youth areas, so as to consolidate the foundation of long-term bilateral friendship, Li said, adding that they should strengthen multilateral coordination and cooperation, uphold multilateralism and jointly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries.

The two sides can promote exchanges among special committees through flexible means, said Li.

The two sides should timely approve and revise legal documents conducive to the development of bilateral relations, while providing legal guarantees for the joint construction of the BRI and practical cooperation in various fields, he said.

The two sides should learn from each other's experience on legislation, supervision and governance to help achieve their respective economic and social development goals, Li added.

For his part, Oti congratulated the Communist Party of China on its 100th anniversary.

Noting that the Solomon Islands attaches great importance to developing friendly relations with China and firmly adheres to the one-China principle, Oti thanked China for its important support in fighting the epidemic.

He said the National Parliament of Solomon Islands is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the NPC, and make contributions to pushing forward pragmatic cooperation and promoting friendship between the two peoples. Enditem
After three centuries, Britain's biggest general insurer RSA, Royal Sun Alliance, has finally vanished following the 7.2billion joint takeover by Canadian and Danish competitors.

Canada's Intact takes charge of RSA's UK and Canadian operations and Denmark's Tryg is the new owner of the Scandinavian businesses.

Chief executive Stephen Hester leaves an even richer person, with an estimated payday worth 16m. In his eulogy, departing chairman Martin Scicluna sheds crocodile tears noting that 'RSA has provided peace of mind to individuals and protected businesses from risk for more than 300 years'.

Under scrutiny: After three centuries, Royal Sun Alliance has finally vanished following the 7.2billion joint takeover by Canadian and Danish competitors

It has been hugely disappointing that long-term investors have failed to come to the defence of a company with similar origins in the coffee houses of 17th century London to the Stock Exchange, Lloyd's of London and the Bank of England.

Hopefully, RSA has found a safe home among recognised insurance outfits even if the UK is sacrificing leadership in a vital industry and eroding the nation's tax base.

Of more concern is the recent tendency for insurance assets to fall into private equity hands. In a short period of time, Bain Capital has acquired motor insurer Esure and is close to victory in a battle for life and pensions mutual Liverpool Victoria.

Doubtless, Bain will prove a sound and safe owner. Across the Atlantic, however, there is increasing regulatory concern over the way in which private equity firms have swept up 286billion of insurance companies. New private equity owners have been switching out of traditional holdings of low-yield government bonds into riskier assets.

Private equity can bring skills to the party in the shape of more efficient financial structures and more skilled portfolio management. But US regulators fear that insurers could face a cash shortage should financial conditions change rapidly.

The new owners might have to face a rash of general insurance claims or withdrawals by investors. Events of this kind are not unknown in an era of unpredictable climate change or if investors run for cover as during the financial crisis. Refinitiv reports that Carlyle Group has placed approximately 3.6billion of insurance money it manages through its large 30.8billion Fortitude portfolio into buyout funds, credit and alternative investments.

Another insurance investor, Apollo, has indirectly exposed offshoot Athene to structured loans including 1.4billion invested in bankrupt car rental group Hertz.

Private equity interest in insurance could be beneficial for policyholders if returns are improved. The fear is that traditional approaches, which keep other people's money safe, are being diluted.

Hanging on

There is an unwritten rule about governance. If a company is doing brilliantly well, intrusive long-term shareholders do not wield the big stick unless something dreadful happens, such as Rio Tinto's wanton destruction of ancient caves in Australia.

Peter Cowgill, the supreme leader of sneaker and sportswear champions JD Sports, is a beneficiary of this effect. He has been able to maintain his dual role of chairman and chief executive supported by a share price which stands at 949p, double where it was a year ago. He is also made safer by the 55 per cent shareholding of the Rubin family vehicle Pentland.

Cowgill doesn't take criticism lying down and, following reports that he might be thinking of relinquishing a role to bring governance of the company in line with the City code, he has issued a stock market statement saying there was no recruitment process for either a new chairman or chief executive. The company does concede that it is constantly reviewing its leadership.

With so much of the High Street struggling, JD receives the benefit of the doubt. But Cowgill's ruthless treatment of landlords during the pandemic won him few friends and has weakened his prospects of holding on to the reins.

Space odyssey

UK investors have few opportunities to invest in space with the sale of Inmarsat, Cobham and others to private equity.

The launch in London of Yoda, a fund which invests in satellite operators and hardware, provides that opportunity.
Hundreds of small shareholders have banded together in a bid to stop a lithium miner from being bought 'on the cheap' by Chinese predators.

In a rare grassroots revolt, some 450 individual shareholders have slammed a 190m offer for Bacanora as 'derisory'.

They say the bid by Ganfeng massively undervalues the London-listed business, which is on the cusp of starting a huge lithium mining operation, and will leave faithful backers nursing painful losses.

Valuable: Bacanora's flagship Sonora mine in Mexico is already part-owned by Shanghai-based mining conglomerate Ganfeng

They are calling on top City investors such as M&G for support, while some also want the Government to scrutinise the deal over concerns about China's grip on global lithium supplies.

Lithium is a key material used to make batteries, with electronics and car manufacturers scrambling to secure provisions as demand surges.

Shanghai-based Ganfeng is China's biggest producer of the metal and the world's third-largest, with its customers including BMW, Tesla, Panasonic, Samsung and LG. Its boss, Li Liangbin, has been dubbed 'Mr Lithium'.

The company already owns a 50 per cent share in Bacanora's flagship Sonora mine, in Mexico, and is the firm's largest shareholder with 28.9 per cent.

But now Ganfeng wants the entire business outright and has offered 67.5p per share to take control  a figure small shareholders dismiss as 'low ball' and 'a steal'.

Ganfeng's takeover needs 75 per cent shareholder support. The rebels, who have joined forces on social media to oppose it, claim to represent about 5 per cent of shares.

The second-biggest investor on the register is M&G, with 13.7 per cent. Janus Henderson, another top UK asset manager, is seventh-biggest, with 1.8 per cent.

Dawood Patel, one of the small shareholders opposing the deal who has a 60,000 holding in Bacanora, claimed that the offer price hugely undervalues the potential of the Sonora mine, due to start production in 2023.

The 34-year-old insurance adviser, from Leicester, said: 'Everyone I have spoken to is looking at this bid and asking, 'How on earth is this possible and why is something this low even being considered?'

'This is a beyond-valuable deal for Ganfeng. It is going to be able to corner the market.

'It takes years to get these mines online and in this case most of the hard work is now done and the production is funded. What they are offering is peanuts compared to what it is really worth.'

Stephen Woodall, from Pembrokeshire, said the offer is 'laughable'. The 27-year-old electrician, who owns about 14,000 worth of stock, added: 'Everyone loves a bargain but this is a low-ball offer.'

And student Tom Mackintosh, 18, who is based in Scotland, said he and his family have invested roughly 70,000 in Bacanora.

'We liked the idea of the lithium play because of the trend towards electric vehicles and battery technology,' he said.

'But this bid just does not make any sense to us and is not even at the bottom end of what brokers had estimated the company is worth. We don't feel like the board is standing up properly for shareholders.'

Euan Stewart, a financial adviser from Perth in central Scotland who has about 61,000 worth of shares, said he supported a continued joint venture with Ganfeng but not an outright sale to the Chinese due to security concerns.

The 50-year-old, who would make a loss on his investment at the current offer price, added: 'Besides the financial aspect, my concern is that this is one of the largest lithium resources in the world and it is basically going to fall into Chinese hands for a steal. That cannot bode well for the western world or the UK economy. The Government should be scrutinising it on national security grounds.'

Ganfeng has not yet made a formal offer but the deadline is tomorrow. Last month, Bacanora said independent directors on the board considered the bid to be 'an attractive proposal they would expect to recommend'.

Executive chairman Mark Hohnen stands to get about 2m for his 3m shares. M&G would receive 35.5m, while Janus Henderson would get 4.7m.

Richard Sneller, a retired former star fund manager at Baillie Gifford who is the ninth-biggest shareholder, would receive 2.6m.

M&G has yet to declare a position, with a spokesman declining to comment yesterday. And Janus Henderson did not respond to a request for comment.

But Cliff Weight, director of shareholders champion Share Soc, said: 'When foreign joint ventures are listed on the London Stock Exchange, it is very difficult for the rights of minority shareholders to be protected.

'Companies such as Bacanora need to be much more transparent, so it is easier for investors to understand the options and warrants that JV (joint venture) partners have. It looks like the Chinese are buying lithium assets on the cheap.' Yesterday Bacanora shares rose 1.1 per cent, or 0.6p, to 55p.
The London stock market is red-hot, with Victorian Plumbing becoming the latest firm deciding to list in a deal that could hand the founder's family a 920m windfall.

The Liverpool firm, which sells bathroom equipment online, will come to market on June 22.

The announcement came as online furniture group Made also unveiled further plans for its initial public offering (IPO) later this month after a bumper lockdown.

'Workaholic': Victorian Plumbing's float will mean a big payday for chief executive Mark Radcliffe

There have been a string of high-profile IPOs in London since the turn of the year with Deliveroo going public in March and Darktrace following suit in April.

Victorian Plumbing's float will mean a big payday for chief executive Mark Radcliffe, who founded the company in 2000. Radcliffe, 42, holds a 74 per cent stake while his brother Neil has 14 per cent and his mother 4 per cent. With the business expected to be valued at between 800m and 1billion, the family holding could be worth as much as 920m.

A self-confessed workaholic, Liverpool-born Radcliffe is already a millionaire after he set up First2save, a mobile phone accessories business from his parents' shed.

Upon admission to the stock market, former William Hill chief executive Philip Bowcock will be appointed chairman. Damian Sanders, who is a board member at Cineworld and The Hut Group, will also become a non-executive director.

The firm recorded revenue of 208.7m and earnings of 26.2m in the year to September 30. Most recent accounts show in the six months to March 31 it achieved revenue of 140.7m, and earnings of 20.1m.

Radcliffe said: 'We work hard every day to make sure we are providing consumers with the largest choice of quality bathroom products. Our approach is industry leading, as evidenced by our substantial and growing market share.' GCA Altium is acting as adviser while Barclays Bank and Numis Securities are also involved.

Made's float is also set to make fortunes for entrepreneurs Li Ning, Brent Hoberman, Julien Callede and Chloe Macintosh. Hoberman  a serial investor who counts David Cameron and George Osborne among his friends  is understood to be the largest individual shareholder.

The listing will allow Made to raise money and the business is expected to be valued at 1billion. Philippe Chainieux, chief executive, said: 'I am pleased to announce our confirmed intention to list here in London, where Made was born.

'Over the last 11 years, Made has been revolutionising the home and living sector by providing our customers across Europe with a curated range of high-quality, responsibly made, affordable products, underpinned by exclusive designs.'
Royal Mail will make a triumphant return to the FTSE 100 when Britain's blue-chip index is reshuffled this month.

The latest shake-up, due to become effective from June 21, will be based on yesterday's closing prices.

It means the postal service is set for automatic promotion following a huge rally in its shares during the pandemic.

Happy returns: The postal service is set for automatic promotion following a huge rally in its shares during the pandemic

Royal Mail's stock closed 2.6 per cent, or 15.2p, higher at 593.8p last night.

At the same time, engineering giant Renishaw is set for demotion to the FTSE 250 index of mid-sized companies. The firm's shares dipped 0.3 per cent, or 15p, lower to 5520p yesterday.

Other entrants to the FTSE 250 could include newly-listed tech firms Moonpig, Trustpilot, Auction Technology Group and Darktrace.

But companies that missed out on the chance for promotion to the FTSE 100 include the commercial broadcaster ITV, which had been considered an outside contender by analysts. To secure automatic promotion from the FTSE 250 to the FTSE 100, a company must be the ranked the 90th most valuable overall, or higher.

Meanwhile, FTSE 100 firms that fall below 110th in the rankings put themselves on course for demotion.

Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'The FTSE reshuffle won't see the top flight move much with only Royal Mail likely to be delivered a coveted FTSE 100 seat. But there is some significant movement on the lower deck with changes to the FTSE 250.

'The new arrivals are likely to include newcomers like Moonpig, Darktrace and Trustpilot, which have all flown on to the London market in recent months.'

Royal Mail's return to the prestigious FTSE 100 index crowns a roller-coaster year for the firm.

The shares crashed to a record low of 124.3p in April 2020, as global stock markets were roiled by the coronavirus pandemic.

But the price then recovered as lockdown restrictions turbocharged demand for internet shopping  and parcels. That helped provide Royal Mail to record sales of 12.6billion for the 12 months to March 31 and bumper profits of 730m, quadruple the previous year's.

Overall, the stock has now rallied more than 300 per cent higher since its low last year.
E-commerce group Etsy has announced it has agreed to purchase Depop, a social shopping platform popular with young people, for over $1.6billion (1.1billion).

Etsy said the acquisition would help it capture the ever-expanding second-hand clothing sector, which is expected to be worth $64billion in the United States by 2024, and increase its penetration among 'Generation Z' consumers.

It noted that Depop is the tenth most visited shopping website among people under 26 years old, who also comprise around 90 per cent of its active users and tend to be more environmentally conscious about their fashion choices.

Young ones: Depop is the tenth most visited shopping website among Generation Z

From 2017 to 2020, the London-based firm grew at a compound yearly growth rate of almost 80 per cent and achieved gross merchandise sales (GMS) of approximately $650million and revenue of $70million.

Likewise, Etsy has seen its sales surge in recent years as second-hand clothes become more popular among customers and the pandemic encouraged more of them to buy goods online.

In the first quarter of this year, the group, known for selling handmade gifts and craft supplies, saw its GMS and revenues more than double to $3.14bilion and $551million, respectively, while its net income climbed by over 1,000 per cent to $143.8million.

Influencer: Fashion model Lottie Moss is one of the most high-profile users of Depop

Chief executive Josh Silverman told CNBC's Squawk Box programme: 'We think Depop is the most exciting company in the most exciting sector in retail right now. Resale is growing like crazy.'

Silverman said a further motivation for the deal was to take advantage of the rising share of workers belonging to Generation Z, colloquially known as Zoomers, who are set to increase to 1.3 billion by 2030 and already comprise a quarter of the global workforce.

He continued: 'Depop is the choice of Gen Z. Depop's been growing like crazy; it grew over 100 per cent last year. And importantly, it's growing with hardly any marketing spend. This really is an organic, authentic phenomenon.'

Surveys show that greater awareness of the impact of the apparel industry on the environment is also driving younger audiences towards second-hand apparel, while 'thrift haul' videos on YouTube and TikTok, which show cheap purchases by people, have accumulated millions of views.

The boom has prompted companies including Gap Inc, Vera Bradley and celebrities including Serena Williams to partner with other sector players Poshmark and ThredUp.

Depop was founded in Milan by Simon Beckerman in 2011, but moved its headquarters to London a year later, and has more than 26 million users from over 147 countries using its peer-to-peer app.

Etsy is purchasing Depop in the hopes of expanding its Generation Z customer base

It is known for its vintage and streetwear collections and is sometimes used by social media influencers to sell their own clothes. Lottie Moss, a model and half-sister of Kate Moss, has been one of the platform's most high-profile users.

Depop's boss Maria Raga said: 'We're on an incredible journey building Depop into a place where the next generation comes to explore unique fashion and be part of a community that's changing the way we shop.

'Our community is made up of people who are creating a new fashion system by establishing new trends and making new from old. They come to Depop for the clothes, but stay for the culture.

'We'll now take an exciting leap forward as part of the Etsy family, benefiting from Josh's and his team's expertise, and the resources of a much larger company whose values are so aligned with ours here at Depop.'
Instant unlimited access to all of our content on tillamookheadlightherald.com.

The Headlight Herald E-Edition Newsletter emailed to you each week, the night before the paper hits the street!

This subscription is for NEW or RENEWING online subscribers.

(The charge will appear as "Country Media Inc." on your credit card statement)
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 19:54:29|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

The X8098 train leaves Haicang station in Xiamen of east China's Fujian Province for Hamburg, Germany, bringing the number of train trips of China-Europe freight train service to 1,000 on June 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)



XIAMEN, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Xiamen, a coastal city in east China's Fujian Province, Wednesday saw the 1,000th China-Europe freight train trip since the city launched the service in 2015.

With 50 carriages loaded with daily necessities, auto parts and other goods, the X8098 train left the Haicang station of Xiamen for Germany Wednesday morning, bringing the number of train trips of such service to 1,000.

Launched in August 2015, Xiamen's rail cargo service to Europe and Central Asia has so far transported nearly 80,000 TEUs of goods worth more than 3 billion U.S. dollars, which included electronics, machinery, daily necessities and food.

Last year, the city handled 24,112 TEUs of goods via the China-Europe freight train service. The weight and worth reached 142,400 tonnes and 962 million U.S. dollars, up 59 percent and 40 percent year on year, respectively.

To date, Xiamen's rail cargo service has linked the city with more than 30 cities in 12 countries of Europe and Central Asia. 
China-NZ trade, connectivity to coast on RCEP, upgraded FTA

From:ChinaDaily | 2021-06-02 09:57

Environment protection, multilateral environmental protocols to get priority

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and upgraded free trade agreement between New Zealand and China will generate fresh momentum for their trade ties in the coming years, boosting trade in goods and services and expanding regional connectivity activities, said government officials and business leaders.

They said many opportunities occurred after the two sides inked an upgrade to their 12-year-old bilateral FTA in late January on the basis of the RCEP agreement that they signed along with 13 other countries in November.

Under the new deal, China and New Zealand have committed to reinforcing cooperation in areas including e-commerce, competition rules, government procurement, the environment and goods trade.

The content concerning environment and trade is of a higher level than that in the RCEP, with the two sides achieving higher-level cooperation in stepping up environment protection, enhancing enforcement and implementing multilateral environmental protocols, said Yu Benlin, director-general of the Department of International Economic and Trade Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce.

Jiang Feng, director-general of the General Administration of Customs' Department of Duty Collection, said the move is an indication that both countries hope to achieve a comprehensive, modern and high-quality agreement. Trade and economic ties between the two sides will expand in terms of scale and become more dynamic in the next stage.

China and New Zealand signed an FTA in April 2008 and implemented the same in October that year. They launched upgrade talks in November 2016 and concluded the talks in November 2019, said the Ministry of Commerce.

Following the implementation of the free trade deal in October 2008, duties totaling 28.39 billion yuan ($4.36 billion) were exempted from China's imports of New Zealand goods.

"The upgrade of the China-New Zealand FTA will improve logistics efficiency and cut other operational costs, which in turn creates more value for businesses," said Leo Liu, general manager for China of Grin Natural Inc, an Auckland-based oral care brand. The company, which entered the Chinese market via e-commerce platforms in 2018, said it sold half a million toothpaste tubes from late 2019 to the end of March this year.

Boosted by Chinese consumers' strong purchasing power, the company's sales revenue jumped 300 percent on a yearly basis in China in the first three months of 2021. Liu said the firm will increase the number of local teams by three times and work with top-tier Chinese universities and institutions to develop new products by the end of this year.

"The Chinese economy will continue to grow steadily and rapidly, and consumers are demanding more high-quality, professional products to improve their quality of life," he said, adding that the country's e-commerce sector will continue to lead consumption, based on its convenience, service efficiency and mature infrastructure across China.

The upgraded FTA will make exporting to China easier for New Zealand companies by saving more on operational costs. The new rules will mean, for instance, faster border clearance of fresh foods as well as other goods that may have transited through other countries or regions en route to China, said Cui Fan, an international trade and economics professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

Thanks to closer business ties, the easing of the pandemic and vaccinations, Sino-New Zealand trade soared by 31.1 percent on a yearly basis to $7.96 billion in the first four months of this year, said the General Administration of Customs.

Timber, dairy and leather products, meat, pulp and raw materials for textiles are China's main imports from New Zealand, while clothing, machinery, telecom equipment and parts, computers, furniture, toys and sporting goods make up most exports to New Zealand.

Apart from their complementary trade structure, all the RCEP members' willingness to ratify the deal before the end of this year and push for it to take effect on Jan 1, 2022, will benefit more New Zealand businesses in China's lucrative market in the next growth stage, said Ren Xingzhou, a research fellow and former director-general of the Institute for Market Economy of the Development Research Center of the State Council.

Ren said China's economic vitality and resilience have also generated growth opportunities in New Zealand and other parts of the world. And driven by policy support, domestic companies have also accelerated the pace of going global to diversify global market channels through making outbound direct investment.

"The two countries' industrial complementarity will continue to increase their trade in both goods and services from a long-term perspective, as China, a manufacturer, needs to import many agricultural goods and commodities from New Zealand," said Zhao Ying, a researcher at the Beijing-based Institute of Industrial Economics, which is affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

KiwiRail, New Zealand's state-operated railway company, ordered 10 new diesel locomotives from CRRC Dalian Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China Railway Rolling Stock Corp in February, on top of the 63 that have already been purchased since 2009, according to Beijing-based CRRC, the country's largest rolling stock manufacturer by production volume. These locomotives will build on the mature design and concepts of the previous generation, said Wang Jun, CRRC's vice-president.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 20:44:00|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

PHNOM PENH, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have joined forces to support preparedness for and response to COVID-19 and future health security threats in Cambodia, said a joint statement on Wednesday.

The EU is investing a total of 3.5 million U.S. dollars over three years, through WHO, to support the Cambodian government's preparedness and response to COVID-19, and to strengthen health system, the statement said.

The funding is part of a specific EU-WHO regional health program to support ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member states, it added.

"Partnership between the EU and WHO to support COVID-19 preparedness and response is an indication of solidarity and cooperation for helping the country during the difficult time," Cambodia's Health Minister Mam Bunheng said. "The Ministry of Health will continue to work closely with WHO to strengthen Cambodia's health security system."

Li Ailan, WHO representative to Cambodia, said that for more than a decade, Cambodia has been strengthening its health security system, including pandemic preparedness.

"This investment from the EU and partnership will contribute to our collective efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and make the country better prepared for public health emergencies," she said.

EU Ambassador to Cambodia Carmen Moreno said the EU was pleased to help Cambodia through the WHO to strengthen the kingdom's capacity to respond to the pandemic and to build up a resilient health system.

"This support comes now when it is most needed. Solidarity and collective action are essential to overcome the COVID-19 crisis in Cambodia, in ASEAN and in the rest of the world. Together we are stronger," she said.

Cambodia has been enduring the third wave of COVID-19 community transmissions since Feb. 20. The Southeast Asian nation logged 750 new cases on Wednesday, pushing the national case tally to 31,460 with 230 deaths, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. Enditem
FILE - In this March 20, 2021, file photo, Navy veteran Ronnie Jackson, of Blakeslee, Pa., receives a COVID-19 vaccine from nurse Fran McLean at the Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center in Plains Township, Pa. After more than a year of isolation, American veterans are embracing plans for a more traditional Memorial Day. Advocates say its also a time to take stock of the veteran lives lost to the coronavirus and to recommit to vaccinating those who remain reluctant.
In this photo provided by Heights Libraries, Sara Phillips, a branch manager with Heights Libraries in Ohio, holds the Bob Dylan double album Self Portrait. The album borrowed in 1973 by eighth-grader Howard Simon he returned recently 48 years overdue.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 20:49:11|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- China and the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries will strengthen cooperation in forestry to further boost forest bioeconomic growth, authorities announced Wednesday.

The announcement was jointly released by forestry authorities from China and 15 CEE countries including Slovenia at the 3rd China-CEEC High-Level Conference on Forestry Cooperation held on Wednesday.

The countries will work together to help tackle climate change and realize the Global Forests Goals and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, according to the announcement.

The countries will step up cooperation in carrying out joint research and promoting trade and investment in forestry-based products, the announcement said, citing huge potential for cooperation in various fields of forest bioeconomy.

Efforts will also be made to strengthen forestry education, skills training and technical exchanges, as well as advance cooperation among enterprises, according to the announcement.

"Developing bioeconomy and promoting green and low-carbon circular development are the inevitable choices to achieve sustainable development and the common expectation of the international community," Guan Zhiou, head of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, said at the meeting.

China has greatly improved its ecological environment and has made contributions to global ecological security, Guan noted, citing the country's ever-growing forest resources and current forest area of 220 million hectares.

According to Guan, China will accelerate the development of bioeconomy and biotech industries in the future, and strive for modernization in which man and nature coexist harmoniously. Enditem
Keeping the peace is a full-time job for Gov. Blount and Secretary Smith when disagreements arise, as shown in this reenactment at Rocky Mount. The historic site in Piney Flats has decided to merge its Tennessee birthday celebration with its Timeline and Heritage Festival, set for June 12-13.
More than 90 percent of people in Ethiopias war-torn Tigray region need emergency food aid, the United Nations said Tuesday, as it appealed for over $200 million to scale up its response.

The UN World Food Programme voiced alarm that the conflict had caused an increase in hunger levels which were already high in Tigray.

A total of 5.2 million people, equivalent to 91 percent of Tigrays population, need emergency food assistance due to the conflict, WFP spokesman Tomson Phiri told reporters in Geneva.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, sent troops into the northern region in November to detain and disarm leaders of the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front, the regions former ruling party.

He said the move came in response to TPLF attacks on federal army camps.

Though he vowed the conflict would be brief, more than six months later fighting continues, reports of atrocities are proliferating, and many leaders are warning of a potential humanitarian catastrophe.

The WFP said it had provided emergency aid to more than a million people since it started distributions in northwestern and southern areas of Tigray in March.

WFP is alarmed at the impact of conflict on already high levels of hunger, Phiri said.

We are deeply concerned at the number of people we see in need of nutrition support and emergency food assistance.

The WFP is calling for $203 million to continue to scale up its response in Tigray to save lives and livelihoods through to the end of the year.

 Serious famine risk 

Last week, a senior UN official warned the UN Security Council that urgent measures were needed to avoid famine in Tigray, in a briefing seen by AFP.

There is a serious risk of famine if assistance is not scaled up in the next two months, wrote Mark Lowcock, the UNs top emergency relief coordinator.

He estimated that over 90 percent of the harvest was lost due to looting, burning, or other destruction, and that 80 percent of the livestock in the region were looted or slaughtered.

The WFP said the instability was undermining the efforts of humanitarian workers to reach vulnerable communities in Tigray, especially in rural areas.

A ceasefire and unimpeded access are vital for WFP and all its partners in Tigray to reach all areas and all people desperately in need of life-saving support, Phiri said.

Meanwhile the WFP spokesman said the agency was witnessing growing levels of malnourishment among women and children.

WFP found that almost half of pregnant or breastfeeding mothers in 53 villages were either moderately or acutely malnourished, while almost a quarter of all children screened were found to be malnourished.

 Addis blames TPLF 

Eritrean troops, who teamed up with the Ethiopian military, have been implicated in multiple massacres and other atrocities during the Tigray conflict, allegations that Asmara denies.

An Ethiopian aid worker died after being struck by a stray bullet in the region, his Italian employer said Monday, the ninth such death in the conflict there.

The Ethiopian government in Addis Ababa has said it is committed to investigating human rights abuses and that it has granted full and unhindered access for aid workers.

In a series of Twitter posts last week, the foreign ministry blamed the TPLF in part for aid disruptions.

Remnants of the group have killed humanitarian workers, truck drivers and looted food and non-food items that were about to be delivered to the people who need support, the ministry said.

SOURCE: REUTERS
The leader of the Western Sahara independence movement, Brahim Ghali, landed in Algiers early on Wednesday after his hospitalization in Spain for more than a month triggered a diplomatic row between Spain and Morocco.

He arrived safe and sound, said Jalil Mohamed, the Polisario Fronts spokesman in Spain.

Ghali left Spain a few hours after appearing remotely in a hearing with Spanish high court on a war crimes case. Following the hearing, Spanish judges did not impose any restrictions on the Polisario leader and allowed him to leave the country.

Brahim Ghali was released from a hospital in northern Spain following more than six weeks of treatment after contracting COVID-19, according to a statement sent to The Associated Press by the self-declared Sahrawi Democratic Arab Republic, which is based in refugee camps in western Algeria.

Ghali heads the Sahrawi Democratic Arab Republic and the Polisario Front. Morocco annexed Western Sahara in the 1970s, and the Polisario Front has long tried to end Moroccan rule over the region.

Ghali departed hours after testifying via videoconference in a Spanish investigation into allegations against him of torture, genocide and other crimes. A Spanish magistrate ruled after Ghalis testimony that he should remain free while the investigation continues.

Ghali, 71, flew out of Pamplona airport overnight and will continue his recovery in Algeria, the statement said.

His presence in Spain infuriated Morocco and triggered a diplomatic crisis between the two countries, which have been cooperating in fighting terrorism, drug smuggling and migration into Europe. Amid the dispute, thousands of migrants crossed the border from Morocco into Spain as Morocco apparently relaxed border controls. Moroccan authorities also questioned publicly whether Spain could be trusted.

Ghali checked into the Spanish hospital under a false identity after arriving in the country by plane last month with an Algerian diplomatic passport and with the consent of the Spanish government, which said it acted on humanitarian grounds.

Rabat has withdrawn its ambassador to Madrid and has said it wouldnt fill the position if Ghali left Spain under the same cloak of secrecy.

There was no immediate reaction Wednesday from Morocco.

SOURCE: AP AND REUTERS
With its opening night on Thursday, June 3, the Theater Barn in New Lebanon enters a new era under the leadership of Allen Phelps. To mark the occasion, the first show of the summer season is a new work, We the People, a depiction of the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia written by Harrison Zeiberg. It will be presented as a staged reading with five performances through Sunday, June 6.

A new play is a dramatic departure for the Theater Barn, but the companys loyal audiences need not worry. The balance of the season relies on the same formula thats been working for 37 years. There will be a mix of comedies and musicals, plus an Agatha Christie mystery.

The title of producing artistic director may be new to Phelps, 54. Yet as the son of Theater Barns founders Joan and Abe Phelps, he knows the ins and outs of producing summer stock as well as anyone. He was 17 years old and already a theater nut in his own right when his folks decided to open a theater and took out a mortgage on the family home in order to do so.

Phelps went on to have a career on the stage and for 27 years hes been teaching theater and special ed in the Boston area. Some years back he was given the title of artistic director at Theater Barn, an acknowledgment of his increasing role in programming and casting decisions Now, as his folks enter their 80s, hes taking the full reins of the company.

The Phelps never got a paycheck from the theater. Any surpluses supported the craft, but the place kept my parents young. Theres a formula they set and I see no need to change it, says Phelps. He describes Theater Barn productions as clean and simple and suggests that staged readings might become a new tradition as well as a means of presenting material that is relevant to todays world.

Following on the blockbuster success of Hamilton and given the charged politics of our era, the personalities and disputes that went into crafting the Constitution would seem a natural for dramatization. But it took Zeiberg, a 21-year old college student, to come up with the idea.

The budding playwright is in his third year as a politics and history major at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass. His hometown is Malden, just north of Boston, which is also where Phelps taught high school. Though Zeiberg was not one of his students, Phelps is friends with Zeibergs parents who tipped him off about their sons script. A public reading of the play  online with Broadway actors, produced by the Actors Fund in December  was enough to convince Phelps of the plays merits.

I love history and it can be accessible when it can be told from one person to another, says Zeiberg. My family are storytellers. My parents talked of how they grew up and who they hung out with. Great storytelling makes you feel like you were there.

As a writer, Zeiberg experimented with various genres before settling on theater. Ive realized Im bad at writing descriptions of stuff. I can fill a page with dialogue but then have only a line about what they look like, he says.

Zeiberg believes the process of negotiating the Constitution is relevant to todays society. The Constitutional Convention was one of the most important events in U.S. history. Yet in civics, theres never talk about the actual event, its mostly theory. So I decided to put words on paper, he says.

There are eight characters in We the People, the best known being Washington, Franklin, Madison and Hamilton. Zeiberg worked from a half dozen biographies of the figures to glean what stage of life they were at and any personal concerns that may have been weighing on their minds.

Id like to think Im adding something new in giving them conversations. Washington was an older man and all the men in his family died young. Franklin died only a short time later. So what does it mean to be an old person watching this big new thing come to life? says Zeiberg. Hamilton is not the Hamilton of the musical, hes younger and more unsure. Madison is a character who believes but is not great with social skills And theyre all stuck in Philadelphia for months during a hot summer.

Besides the seven officials who debate and argue, theres an eighth historical figure who may or may not have been in the meeting room. His name is William (Billy) Lee and he was a slave who functioned as a personal assistant to Washington. Zeibergs decision to include him in some of the discussions adds another perspective to the onstage discussions of human rights and dignity.

The biggest compromise was on slavery and it was the biggest mistake, observes the playwright. Their decisions on the Electoral College and slavery are legacies that have plagued us ever since.

Joseph Dalton is a freelance writer based in Troy.

If you go

We the People by Harrison Zeiberg

A staged reading of the new play

When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday June 3-5; 4 p.m. Saturday June 5; and 2 p.m. Sunday June 6.

Where: Theater Barn, 654 Columbia Turnpike (Route 20), New Lebanon

Tickets: $30-$33. Call (518) 794-8989

Note: All performances are for ticketed patrons (no streaming). Check the theaters website for current guidelines.

More information: thetheaterbarn.org
Putnam Market named among worlds 50 best

Putnam Market, a gourmet shop and cheese emporium open in Saratoga Springs for almost 26 years, has been named to a list of the 50 Greatest Food Stores in the World by the London-based Financial Times.

Its in heady company, alongside 2nd Avenue Deli, Barney Greengrass and Russ & Daughters, all in Manhattan; Canters in Los Angeles; and shops from across the globe including in Beirut, Berlin, Chicago, Istanbul, London, Rome and Singapore. The item about Putnam Market was written by a New York City-based freelance writer named Leah Bhabha, who also contributed blurbs for the list about stores in Aspen, Colo.; Cambridge, Mass.; Madrid; Mumbai; and San Francisco.

Bhabha writes of Putnam Market, Order a sandwich, like the weekly grilled cheese special or the Catharine (roast free-range turkey, Cheddar, bacon, avocado spread, sprouts and Russian dressing). Then meander to the grocerys cheese section for a portion of the esoteric Hudson Valley Truffle Falls, a cows-milk variety flecked with black truffle and rubbed with white-truffle oil and garam masala. Dont leave without some rose-lychee macarons.

Also on the Financial Times list is La Fromagerie in London; its cheese room served as a template for the one in Putnam Market, according to Putnam Market owner Catherine Hamilton. The market opened in mid-June 1995 on Putnam Street in downtown Saratoga, moving to its current location, 435 Broadway, in 2000. The cheese room was added in 2012. Its sibling wine shop is next door.

Finger Lakes wine dinner at Yonos

Yonos in Albany will host a dinner featuring wine from seven wineries in New Yorks Finger Lakes region, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 9. The price is $95 per person, plus tax and tip, for five courses with wine pairings. Dishes include lobster roll, octopus, soft-shell crab and wild boar chop.

Guests at the dinner will be Julia Hoyle, winemaker of Hosmer Estate Winery; Thomas Pastuszak, executive wine director of all of the NoMad properties in New York City and creator over the past eight years of the wine labels Terrassen, Empire Estate and VINNY; and Kelby Russell, winemaker of Red Newt Cellars.

Reservations are required; call 518-436-7747. Yonos is at 25 Chapel St., at the downtown Hampton Inn & Suites.
ALBANY  Crime and policing dominated the mayoral candidates forum Tuesday night as the city grapples with gun violence and the fallout from Black Lives Matter demonstrations and escalated confrontations  including much discussion about when tear gas should be used.

The forum brought together Mayor Kathy Sheehan and her challenger Rev. Valerie Faust in the June 22 Democratic primary, plus Republican candidate Alicia Purdy, who will face the primary winner in the November general election.

The city has seen nine homicides this year, putting many residents on edge as gun violence continues to impact families and neighborhoods.

Purdy said she would build trust between the community and the police. Increased communication is necessary and the city must take steps to support the police with better salaries and training, she said.

Faust criticized existing programs such as gun buy-backs, which she said are not working. New strategies must be developed to address the violence, she said.

Sheehan said deploying new community outreach workers around the city is a new initiative that will boost the citys existing programs. The development of the West Hill Community Center is another step, the mayor said, adding that more efforts have to be made to get illegal guns off the streets.

I fully support a complete ban on the use of tear gas and rubber bullets against peaceful protesters, Sheehan said.

Faust said she is against the use of tear gas and rubber bullets, which have proven to be dangerous. Purdy said Albany must be able to use tear gas to protect its residents in the event of a civil insurrection.

Purdy and Faust each emphasized its time for a change in Albany City Hall as Sheehan runs for a third four-year term.

The city will be enjoying an extra $80.5 million (Sheehan said the city just learned this is the updated amount) in federal coronavirus pandemic recovery funds. The three candidates have different approaches to spending it.

Sheehan wants to help improve equity for city residents. She said the pandemic revealed the disparity among city residents and this must be corrected. Faust and Purdy want to invest in the neighborhoods and elective wards.

The three candidates all said they support term limits. Sheehan said she had advocated for a two-term limit in the past, but at this time  considering the pandemic and the resulting issues  experience matters, and that is why she is seeking a third term.

The Albany Chapter of the NAACP, the Council of Albany Neighborhood Associations and the League of Women Voters sponsored the forum.

Note: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized Alicia Purdy's statement about tear gas use.
ALBANY  Assemblyman Daniel J. O'Donnell, a former criminal defense attorney, is pushing legislation that would enable the release of grand jury minutes detailing the charging information that prosecutors present to the panels when they meet behind closed doors and decide whether there is enough evidence to indict someone for a crime.

O'Donnell, a Manhattan Democrat, said the origin of the legislation took shape after a Staten Island grand jury voted against bringing any charges against a New York police officer used an apparent chokehold to subdue Eric Garner, who died in 2014.

Grand jury proceedings in New York are conducted in secret and, while witnesses can publicly disclose details of their testimony, it is a felony for a grand juror or a prosecutor to disclose what took place. Likewise, the minutes of grand jury proceedings remain secret unless they are unsealed through a court order.

That secrecy results in the public often never knowing what evidence grand juries were presented or what criminal charges a prosecutor may have asked them to consider. O'Donnell said the lack of information has been especially void in cases involving fatal police encounters.

District attorneys, just like me, are elected officials ... and I believe the voters have a right to know what he or she does, and what he or she tells his assistant (district attorneys) to do in these sort of cases," O'Donnell said. "So the bill would permit, upon application to a court, for the testimony that the police officer testifies to, as well as what the district attorney instructed the grand jury, to be released."

The Capital Region has seen a high number of controversial fatal encounters involving police and unarmed civilians, including the 2016 shooting death of Edson Thevenin, a DWI suspect, by a Troy police sergeant. Former Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove was cleared of criminal charges last year that he faced for his handling of the grand jury review of Thevenin's killing.

There also have been non-fatal police encounters that have stoke community outcry, including an Albany detective's August 2018 shooting of then-19-year-old Ellazar Williams, who was left paralyzed by a bullet that struck him in the back as he ran from police. The detective, James Olsen, said that Williams was armed with a knife and charged at him in a courtyard outside the former Tony Clement Center for Education at 395 Elk St.  although video showed Williams appear to be running away as he was shot.

An Albany County grand jury determined no charges should be filed against Olsen.

O'Donnell said he expects the Assembly will pass his bill in the coming days and that the state Senate will do the same before the legislative session ends this month.

"The most important part is what they are instructed the law is," O'Donnell said of grand juries. "If you don't tell a grand jury there's something called criminally negligent homicide, there is no way for them to come to the conclusion that they should be indicted for that. ... If you only tell the grand jury what murder is, and they don't have any evidence that the person intended to kill them, they're not going to indict them for murder. But you should be telling them what manslaughter is, because it's a lesser-included offense."

He said there are choices that district attorneys make that the public "deserves to know."
SCHENECTADY  Residents dove into the rites of summer over the holiday weekend in Schenectady, firing up backyard grills, easing boats into the Mohawk River - and detonating fireworks.

Skies over Union College erupted in color late Monday as part of its officially sanctioned display.

But community leaders watched with trepidation as the scent of gunpowder permeated the campus and filtered into the nearby northside neighborhood.

As Unions fireworks stopped, the locals got going, said Camille Sasinowski, president of the Goose Hill Neighborhood Association. They gave them the nod to go ahead.

Mont Pleasant Neighborhood Association President Pat Smith, too, recalled illegal displays across town. It started last night, Smith said on Tuesday.

Officials have said the surge in illegal fireworks is a regional issue, afflicting New York City, Albany and Syracuse, among other cities.

Commercial-grade fireworks such as Roman candles have long been banned statewide. But beginning in 2014, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation allowing counties to decide whether they would allow limited sales of smaller "sparkler"-type devices.

Schenectady County initially opted in, but reversed course in 2017, citing widespread complaints. Albany County, too, followed a similar trajectory, banning the sale of sparklers last year after massive increases in nuisance complaints during the pandemic summer.

Want more great stories out of Schenectady? Schenectady newsletter: Coming soon! We'll be sharing the stories out of Schenectady that matter to you. Sign up today. Click here to sign up for more newsletters.

This will be the first summer that the ban will be in effect in Albany County. Sales are permitted in Saratoga County, which was among the first to authorize sales in 2015, as well as Rensselaer County, which approved their sale the same year. (However, chronic complaints last summer prompted city of Troy Mayor Patrick Madden to ask residents to reconsider using the legal devices.)

Setting off fireworks is a violation-level offense in the city of Schenectady and offenders risk a $250 fine. But solutions remain elusive.

Following chronic complaints, police boosted patrols during peak hours last summer and designated special teams to respond to calls.

But officials acknowledged capturing culprits can be tricky, and a critical component is getting people to report violations with specific locations.

Its going to come down to neighbors calling on their neighbors," said Schenectady police Sgt. Nick Mannix on Tuesday.

Making arrests depends on what officers observe and if they can collect enough evidence to make the charges stick. Neighborhood associations acknowledged police had a heavy lift and are doing the best they can. There are also external factors, including devices brought in from neighboring states.

Tom Carey, president of Schenectady United Neighborhoods, raised the issue with city police last month. Hopefully they can figure out something to be a little more effective than last year, Carey said.

Now the leaders are urging officials to get creative.

Smith wants the city to adopt legislation that would fine property owners for those who discharge the devices on their premises. I think that would make it easier for the police department, Smith said. If theyre coming from the house, fine the property.

City police responded to 912 fireworks-related calls last year. Cases peaked in June with 484 calls before plummeting to 253 the following month and steadily declining throughout the summer.

The city received 38 calls this year as of Tuesday morning.

Albany City Police Department received 207 calls between January and September 2019, a number that skyrocketed to 895 during the time period last year.

Right now were having preliminary conversations leading up to July 4 as to how were going to address fireworks in our community, said Albany police spokesperson Steve Smith. Were working with members of our community and other stakeholders, as well as other initiatives, to address it.

Residents in both cities have cited the deleterious impact of the noise on pets, the elderly and those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Neighborhood leaders have batted around several potential solutions to curb the practice, but conceded future action is likely needed for a long-term solution, whether legislative or additional city-sponsored initiatives.

Schenectady City Council members are noncommittal on potential legislation but acknowledged complaints will start to roll in.

We havent had that discussion, but I do anticipate well all start to get complaints, said Councilwoman Carmel Patrick. I imagine its a conversation we do need to have, but its not something weve talked about yet.

Councilwoman Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas said she struggles with how to tackle the problem, noting she herself was roused from sleep over the weekend and had trouble pinpointing the exact location of the culprits.

Deterrence is key, she said.

They really need to get people in the neighborhoods to take a look at this and understand they cant be doing it, Zalewski-Wildzunas said.

Ultimately, people must be willing to call police on their neighbors, she said.

Majority Leader John Polimeni pointed at the increased fines City Council approved in 2018 for offenders and echoed that education must be a critical component to quash the practice.

I wish I had a better answer but I dont think theres a great answer, Polimeni said.

City Councilwoman Marion Porterfield was unavailable on Tuesday and City Council President John Mootooveren didnt return a phone call seeking comment.

Sasinowski, the Goose Hill Neighborhood Association president, lamented the excuse given by offenders last year that they were simply blowing off steam amid pandemic-induced shutdowns.

Im tired of people using the pandemic as an excuse, Sasinowski said. People have ways to recreate and places to walk. Dont use the pandemic as an excuse to act like a moron.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 22:01:06|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

GUIYANG, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Hungary thanks China for the timely delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, which has helped protect the lives of Hungarian people, said visiting Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto.

Hungary was the first European Union (EU) member to recognize and use Chinese vaccines. Hungarian President Janos Ader and Prime Minister Viktor Orban have both received the Chinese jabs.

Hungary's vaccine cooperation with China is mainly buying and selling so far, but the country would like to be part of the bilateral technological cooperation by producing Chinese vaccines in Hungarian factories, Szijjarto said while in Guiyang of southwest China.

Vaccines are not a geopolitical issue, but a life-saving tool, Szijjarto said, stressing that if anyone questions Hungary-China vaccine cooperation, they are disrespectful of lives.

Last year, the two countries also established an air bridge to transport medical devices and protective equipment, such as ventilators, masks, gloves, and protective suits, he added.

Bilateral trade between the two countries increased by 64.7 percent year on year in the first quarter. China's investment in Hungary has continued to grow, with Hungary being China's No. 1 investment destination in Central and Eastern Europe.

"We offer the best circumstances in Europe from the perspective of political stability and low tax rates," Szijjarto said, noting that Hungary does not discriminate against investors based on nationalities.

"We have benefitted greatly from friendly bilateral relations with China," Szijjarto said, adding that the Belt and Road Initiative and the cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) are useful tools for Hungarian development.

"Hungary will continue to promote both platforms in Europe," he noted.

Talking about EU-China relations, Szijjarto said, "It is in the clear interest of the EU to build a pragmatic relationship with China, and it is also in our interest to improve the relations, and we will do our best to improve it," he said.

Szijjarto paid a visit to China from May 29 to 31. Enditem
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP)  An off-duty Los Angeles County firefighter fatally shot a fellow firefighter and wounded another at their small community fire station Tuesday before going to his nearby home, setting it on fire and apparently killing himself, authorities said.

A 44-year-old fire specialist died and a 54-year-old firefighter was shot when the gunman opened fire shortly before 11 a.m. at Fire Station 81, which is about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, Fire Chief Daryl Osby told reporters. The wounded man was in critical but stable condition at a hospital.

The shooter was a firefighter specialist and engineer, authorities said. The fire chief said he could not speak to the motive for the attack and doesnt know about any disciplinary actions.

He was not scheduled to work today. He came back and confronted the on-duty personnel, a visibly shaken Osby said. I cannot speak to the mindset of the shooter. I can say that its very tragic and sad that that would be a decision point of one of the members of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The gunman, who was not identified, then went to his house less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) away, which authorities found engulfed in flames. He was later found dead in an empty pool.

The shooter appeared to have a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said.

All the firefighters worked at the small station in Agua Dulce, a rural community of about 3,000 people in the desert of northern Los Angeles County known for its rock formations and panoramic views.

The shooting comes less than a week after a gunman killed nine of his co-workers at a rail yard in San Jose after rigging his home to burn down. He killed himself Wednesday after expressing hatred for his workplace for years.

The man who died in Tuesday's shooting at the fire station was a more than 20-year veteran who had been promoted to firefighter specialist, the person who drives the firetruck, officials said. He was shot multiple times in the upper torso, according to authorities.

The fire chief says family and co-workers described the victim, who was not identified, as truly dedicated, one of our better firefighters and a true loss to our department.

As fire chief, I never thought when our firefighters face danger, they would face that danger at one of our community fire stations, Osby said.

Neighbors watched black smoke pouring from the burned house in the nearby community of Acton, a dry, hilly area dotted with ranches with horses and other livestock. The fire burned for hours, gutting the home, with helicopters making multiple water drops to douse it.

Michael May, 70, lives down the road and said he was sitting in his living room when he heard the buzz of helicopters flying low.

Around here, that usually means a fire, he said.

He saw a swarm of police cars racing up the street, and deputies emerged wearing bulletproof vests.

May has been a resident of the community for 23 years but didnt know who lived at the gutted home. He said many people in law enforcement live in the area, as well as some in the film industry.

Its a place people want to go for peace and quiet, he said.

Brian Dalrymple, 79, lives across the street from May and said he thought the burned home had been sold recently.

He and his wife went outside to see the thick smoke, initially concerned the flames might spread to their home. Dalrymple said he never heard gunshots but saw deputies rushing up to the property, long guns in hand.

He said a friend called to tell them the news.

We didnt know what she was talking about, Dalrymple said. Its usually pretty peaceful out here.

___

Associated Press writers Christopher Weber and Robert Jablon in Los Angeles contributed to this story.
NEW YORK (AP)  An equal blend of black and white thread, the gray uniform worn by the New York State Police stands for the impartiality of justice.

But this attire belies disparities within the agency, which for generations has failed to fill its ranks with troopers who reflect New York's diverse population.

The agency remains overwhelmingly white  an imbalance some troopers say is rooted in a legacy of racism.

Of more than 4,700 troopers, only 4% are Black and 6% are Hispanic  paltry proportions compared to the 16% and 19% of the state population those groups constitute.

A half-dozen minority troopers told The Associated Press discrimination has flourished within the ranks, despite the agency having been ordered to diversify by a judge in the 1970s.

One Black former State Police investigator, Michael Marin, recalled a white colleague admonishing him in 2008 to take the cotton youve been picking out your ears.

It was like I was still on the farm, said Marin, who retired in 2019. It didnt seem extraordinary to me because thats how that job was.

Trooper Lethonia Miller filed a complaint against a white supervisor for using racial slurs more than a dozen times in his presence. He said the culture in the State Police was systemically racist.

No matter where I was or what I was doing, I was always reminded that I was Black, said Miller, who retired in 2016 and is suing the agency for retaliation. Its depressing to work as hard as you can and still be considered less than your white male counterparts. Every time I heard the word it was as if I was being told, Youre second class.

Current leaders acknowledge the agency's lack of diversity has become more urgent amid a national reckoning over racial injustice.

You cant just keep doing the same thing and expect different results, acting Superintendent Kevin Bruen said in an interview. We patrol the state, so our ethnic breakdown should roughly mirror that. To say its a priority for me would be an understatement.

New Yorks is not the only state police force far whiter than its state population. All 38 state police departments that provided demographic data to the AP had a disproportionately high number of white troopers, when compared to each state's population.

The Maryland State Police, for instance, is over 80% non-Hispanic white; that demographic group makes up only half the state's population. And although 30% of the Maryland population is non-Hispanic Black, only 12% of the state police force is Black.

The U.S. Justice Department sued New York in 1977 for discriminating against minorities in promoting and hiring troopers, who patrol New Yorks highways, and, in some parts of the state, respond to 911 calls and investigate crimes.

At the time, just 13 of the agencys 2,712 troopers were Black. A federal judge mandated that 40% of recruits entering the State Police training academy be Black or Hispanic, seeking to bring minority representation in line with the state's workforce.

The same judge dissolved the remedial hiring goals in 1989 after the agency managed to increase its Black and Hispanic representation to 9% and 6%, respectively. The consent decree was quietly lifted in its entirety in 2015 after the state argued it had made great strides.

The percentage of Black troopers had fallen to 6% by mid-2014 and has continued to decline.

Pedro Perez, a former New York State Police deputy superintendent who retired in 2010, said the consent decree was dissolved without any inquiry into whether the attitudes of the officers and leadership was sufficiently changed.

Those percentages of minorities, who are also underrepresented in senior leadership positions, are as good as almost nothing, said Michael Jenkins, a policing expert who teaches criminal justice at the University of Scranton. The agency is in a tough position to argue otherwise.

Bruen, who assumed command of the State Police last year, agrees the agency's minority recruitment program needs work.

In one step, the agency is abandoning a requirement that potential recruits take tests in person at state police buildings that can be difficult to reach and allowing candidates to do the exams electronically.

You could take this test in Okinawa, Japan, and still get onto our list, Bruen said.

What we need to do is reach people who dont necessarily picture themselves as troopers," Bruen added. "I firmly believe that being a great trooper is working for social justice and working for positive change.

State Police brass acknowledge change won't come easily, particularly at a time when law enforcement agencies seek to rebuild trust in minority communities. The same challenges exist within the agency.

Kim Bryson, a senior State Police investigator on Long Island, provided AP a copy of an image a white colleague hung in her office. Superimposing her face on that of a Black woman at work in a kitchen, it was captioned House of Chitlins  a reference to food scraps given to slaves.

It basically solidified for me who I was dealing with, Bryson said, adding the incident happened eight or nine years ago. I look forward to the day when I can honestly say the State Police takes racism seriously. Part and parcel of the problem is that its not punished. You might suspend someone, but theres no educational arm to that.

Another former deputy superintendent, Anthony Ellis, recalled a disciplinary case involving a white trooper who pulled over a Black motorist driving with a young white woman asleep in his passenger seat with a pillow and blanket. The trooper ordered the woman out of the vehicle to ensure she was alright.

Ellis, who led the State Police internal affairs bureau at the time, said a fellow ranking officer found no issue with the trooper's directive, explaining it could have been a carjacking.

I wasn't as upset at the trooper  we can train him, said Ellis, who is Black. "But I told my (colleague), If you think someone doing a carjacking brings a pillow and a blanket, youre in the wrong line of work.

Tensions built last year after the heads of both the troopers and investigators unions backed Donald Trump for reelection. Troopers for Trump T-shirts began circulating at New York State Police barracks.

It created this real problem for members of color," who weren't consulted before the endorsements, Bryson said.

It was then Bryson decided to revive an organization known as the Guardians Association to represent the voice of minority troopers.

Were really at a crossroads, Bryson said. I still think that gray in the uniform can be impartial. We just have to strive to make it a perfect blend."

___

Fassett reported from San Francisco.
ALBANY  Taxpayers will spend up to $2.5 million defending Gov. Andrew M. Cuomos office in a federal investigation examining its alleged suppression of figures showing the true number of nursing home deaths from COVID-19.

Thats according to OpenBookNY.com, a website maintained by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapolis office, which discloses information about state contracts. The website states that the Executive Chambers $2.5 million contract for legal services with the law firm Morvillo Abramowitz was approved and filed on April 27.

A copy of the contract, provided by DiNapoli's office, says the firm will charge up to $937.50 an hour for work performed by law firm partner Elkan Abramowitz. The contract says the rates are "significantly discounted" from standard hourly rates: By 25 percent for Abramowitz and 15 percent for other attorneys.

The contract gives an indication as to the scope of the Department of Justice investigation. It states that the DOJ and "other law enforcement or investigative entities" have made inquiries and requests for information related to the Executive Chamber's COVID-19 pandemic response, including related to nursing homes; publication of the COVID-related book authored by Cuomo, "American Crisis," and "other pandemic related matters."

According to the contract, expected duties for the law firm include consulting with Cuomo's office on strategy, document production, witness interviews and communicating with law enforcement.

The federal nursing home investigation is criminal in nature, which means that the subjects of the investigation would be individuals, not the Executive Chamber office.

It's unclear, however, whether possible subjects of the inquiry, including Cuomo, have hired personal lawyers to respond. If they instead rely on Morvillo Abramowitz's representation of the Executive Chamber as a whole, that could raise questions about use of taxpayer funds for individuals' representation in a criminal investigation. Cuomos spokesman did not immediately have a comment on whether personal attorneys had been retained for the nursing home inquiry.

Under state law, if a state employee hires a personal attorney to respond to a criminal inquiry, the employee may be eligible for taxpayer reimbursement if acquitted or if an investigation is dropped. But state employees are supposed to front the legal costs themselves for personal criminal defense lawyers.

Although the contract was filed with DiNapoli's office last week, Cuomos office sent the Times Union an open records request response on Monday denying a request for a copy of the contract, stating that public disclosure would impair present or imminent contract awards or collective bargaining negotiations. Its not clear how a contract already approved and filed with DiNapolis office would still be subject to an imminent contract award."

Cuomos office also denied formal requests on Monday for the Executive Chambers contract agreement with Arnold & Porter, which has been providing legal services concerning sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo; the administration also denied a request for any contract between the Executive Chamber and the law firm Walden Macht & Haran, which is providing similar legal services. In both instances, Cuomos office again said disclosing the agreements could jeopardize imminent contract awards.

Cameron MacDonald, executive director of the Albany-based Government Justice Center, said the administrations explanation for denying the requests was curious, given that the law firms had been responding to the investigations for Cuomos office for months. The comptroller's records, for instance, state that Morvillo Abramowitz has been working for the Executive Chamber since Feb. 15.

MacDonold noted state court rules, which require attorneys to provide to the client a written letter of engagement before commencing the representation or under certain exceptional circumstances within a reasonable time thereafter." Those letters often serve as a contract, MacDonald said, laying out the scope of the services and the fees to be charged. It would be unusual for a high-powered law firm to represent a client without such a letter in hand, MacDonald said.

For any law firm like the law firms engaged by the Executive Chamber, that's standard practice, MacDonald said.

Alternatively, an attorney can enter into a written retainer agreement with the client, before or within a reasonable time after commencing the legal services.

In a statement in April, Cuomo senior advisor Richard Azzopardi said none of the four law firms had been paid money at that time.

"We are in the process of finalizing these contracts and related documents for review and approval by the comptroller's office," Azzopardi said. "We are abiding by all applicable rules and standards and in matters like this it is not uncommon for legal representation to begin while the contracts are simultaneously being drafted for submission. Doing it the other way could potentially leave the Chamber and its employees without representation."

In February, the Times Union first reported the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn were examining whether Cuomo's administration deliberately manipulated data on nursing home deaths during the coronavirus pandemic.

Cuomo aides were involved in reviewing a July report issued by the state Department of Health, which had the stated goal of pinpointing whether a directive issued on March 25, 2020, had contributed to the high number of nursing home deaths in New York. Prior to the report's release, certain Cuomo aides allegedly cut out information showing a higher death toll in nursing homes caused by COVID-19.

Some of the same government aides were simultaneously involved in the production of Cuomo's book, which painted a positive portrait of the administration's response to the pandemic. Upon publication last October, "American Crisis" hit the best-seller list and is expected to earn Cuomo more than $5 million.
TROY  Shouts of "rolling" echoed off the buildings in Monument Square as nighttime filming got underway early Wednesday on HBOs The Gilded Age."

As the camera work started, costumed extras and horse-drawn coaches made their way down River Street. The night work should continue for several days, including Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.

Spectators were down at the square early Wednesday morning to glimpse the filming on River Street between Broadway and Franklin Alley. Two lifts each packed with equipment beamed light down on the street from three or more stories above.

Creation of scenes in downtown Troy is giving the city a chance to show off its stock of 19th-century architecture, which over the years has been a draw for filmmakers working on period pieces.

Filming took place in front of Tony Pastors Theatre. Thats part of the 19th-century transformation of storefronts that wrap around Monument Square. In the 21st century the theater facade is Artcentric at 266 River St., a business owned by Deb Lockrow. Before Artcentric opened the location had been the site of the former Times Unions Troy bureau.

Police said it was OK for pedestrians to wander down to Monument Square, though they urged people to follow directions from the crew. Production assistants were backing bystanders up to keep them out of the frame of the shot. Even the extras not in a scene were told to slide down closer to the Broadway side of the square.

Night filming for the 10-part dramatic series created by "Downton Abbey" mastermind Julian Fellowes is expected to go on through at least Friday night. The series is scheduled to debut in 2022, according to HBO.

Scenes are being shot from roughly 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. Businesses remain open on the streets around Monument Square even though the roads are closed to traffic through Friday nights filming.

The streets that are now closed are River Street, between First and Third streets, Broadway between Third and River streets, and First Street between State and River streets.

There is no parking on Third Street between Fulton Street and Broadway near the Troy Atrium where the production company is costuming extras and conducting other business.

On Wednesday crews were working on the lifts for the lights. One lift was on Broadway as workers appeared to be preparing for the Wednesday night filming.

"The Gilded Age" is set in late 19th-century New York several decades before the action of "Downton Abbey," which opened with news of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. The show portrayed the lives of British aristocrats through the late 1920s. There is expected to be a crossover between the two series. Christina Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Carrie Coon, and Denee Benton are in the cast for the new show, according to HBO's synopsis.
THE STAKES: The success of our cities  and the safety of our children  depends on stemming the flow of illegal guns.

THE ISSUE: Albany, like cities around the U.S., is seeing a terrifying spike in gun violence.

----

Early on Sunday, 29-year-old Devin McGlothan became the ninth person killed in Albany so far this year. The East Greenbush resident was shot at the corner of Quail Street and Elberon Place in the citys Pine Hills neighborhood.

The toll, which includes six killings in May alone, is both shocking and unacceptable. This dramatic spike in mayhem, killing children and bystanders alike, must be treated as a crisis. It demands an immediate, forceful and yet thoughtful response, and not just from City Hall and the police department.

This isnt happening in Albany alone. Cities across New York and around the country are experiencing similar  and in some cases more severe  increases in gun-related crime this year, following a 2020 that was also notable for spiking numbers of shootings and homicides.

This is a national problem, then, that demands a federal response. It requires that this gun-saturated country at last get serious about stemming the flow of illegal weaponry, including the trafficking of guns from states with lax laws to those, like New York, with tougher ones.

This is about guns coming into our community, Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan told reporters after McGlothans death. City police, meanwhile, say theyve confiscated 35 illegally possessed firearms this year.

In a country where children are shot as they play, Congress must pass legislation requiring background checks for all gun purchases. Thats the very least lawmakers should do. Instead, Americans get continued inaction.

In a country where innocents are gunned down in schools and on sidewalks, we should expect the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to deal seriously with gun sellers who violate existing laws. But as a recent USA Today investigation found, the nations supposed gun watchdog is largely toothless and conciliatory, bending over backward to go easy on wayward dealers.

Thats outrageous. And infuriating. It needs to change, immediately, starting with putting leadership in the agency committed to public protection, not coddling lawbreakers.

Yes, it is true gun control is not a panacea. There are other factors behind this wave of violence. Stemming it requires a multipronged effort.

We need, for example, better policing and police officers who walk their beats and know their neighborhoods. We need more investment in programs that defuse violence and address the inequities, both economic and social, that so often underlie it.

But the killing of Destiny Greene, a 15-year-old from Latham killed when the car she sat in was sprayed with bullets in the Mansion neighborhood, doesnt happen without the gun. Neither does the death of Sharf David Addalim, the corner store worker gunned down in West Hill as he returned from afternoon prayer.

In fact, eight of the nine killings in Albany this year involved guns, an essential fact that cant be ignored. To address spiking violence, then, we must address the guns. Well say it again: To address the violence, this country must take action on guns.
Farmington, WV (26555)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms in the morning becoming more widespread in the afternoon. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 83F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening, then partly cloudy overnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
Sixth-grader Ishi Gupta of South Fayette Middle School, Allegheny County, earned the grand prize for her artwork, which will be featured on the cover of Pennsylvania American Waters first-ever Protect Our Watersheds wall calendar. The calendars will be printed and distributed across the Commonwealth later this year.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 22:04:42|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

JAKARTA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia has ended its efforts to lift the KRI Nanggala-402 submarine that sank in Bali waters, a navy officer said on Wednesday.

The Indonesian Navy thanked and extended highest appreciation to the navies of various countries that have assisted in the search and rescue operations, including the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy which sent three ships.

"We express our highest gratitude to the ships that have tried to lift the submarine from the seabed," said First Admiral I Gung Putu Alit Jaya, head of the Marine Security Forces of the Second Fleet Command, in a press release.

Jaya said that in the KRI Nanggala-402 salvage operation at a depth of 839 meters, the team had made 20 dives and succeeded in lifting important materials.

The collaboration between the Indonesian Navy and the Chinese PLA Navy in the salvage of KRI Nanggala-402 is clear proof of the strong friendship between the two countries' seamen brotherhood, said the Indonesian Navy.

The Indonesian Navy expressed gratitude to the efforts to salvage the ill-fated submarine at a meeting here on Wednesday, which was attended by representatives of the Indonesian Navy and the Chinese PLA Navy.

Defense attache of the Chinese Embassy to Indonesia Chen Yongjing said that in the operation the two sides had worked well together to collect photos, video documentation and lifted part of KRI Nanggala-402, and then handed them over to Indonesia.

The operation has great significance in the development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries and in cooperation and mutual trust between the two militaries, Chen said.

KRI Nanggala-402 with 53 crew members on board sank in Bali waters during a torpedo firing exercise on April 21. Enditem
Pictured is the Old McKinney Hotel in Pleasantville. Previously named the Union Hotel, the original building burned down in the The Great Pleasantville Fire of 1879.
Police: Driver who hit headstones had signs of intoxication

Police say a woman accused of driving her car into multiple headstones at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver on Memorial Day showed signs of being intoxicated
RingCentral and Deutsche Telekom Announce Partnership for UCaaS and Contact Center

RingCentral, a provider of unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS) and contact center-as-a-service (CCaaS) platforms, recently announced an alliance with Bonn, Germany-based Deutsche Telekom AG, the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. The partnership is expected to deliver mobility-centric, flexible, easy to use, and secure cloud communication solutions to more customers than ever before.

Were looking forward to working closely with Deutsche Telekom to combine their amazing 4G and 5G networks with the worlds best cloud-based communications solution that includes team messaging, video meetings, and cloud phone system, to empower organizations and their people to communicate efficiently with their customers, partners, and other employees, said Anand Eswaran, RingCentrals President and COO, in a statement.

Hagen Rickmann, Managing Director Business Customers Telekom Deutschland GmbH, noted that for many years, Deutsche Telekom has been accompanying customers on their way to the cloud, and that the partnership will allow both companies to support customers in the introduction of modern business cloud communication solutions.

For many years, we have been accompanying customers on their way to the cloud. The cooperation with RingCentral adds an important signpost to this, he said.

RingCentral offers three key products in its portfolio including RingCentral MVP, a UCaaS platform including team messaging, video meetings, and cloud phone system; RingCentral Video, ?the company's video meetings solution with team messaging that enables Smart Video Meetings; and RingCentral cloud contact center solutions. The solutions are based on RingCentrals Message Video Phone?(MVP) global platform. The platform is designed to be more flexible and cost-effective than the legacy on-premises PBX and video conferencing systems that it replaces, and empower modern mobile and distributed workforces to communicate, collaborate, and connect via any mode, any device, and any location.

Deutsche Telekom is expected to introduce the new solution to customers in the second half of 2021.

Please enable JavaScript to view the

Edited by Luke Bellos
[June 02, 2021] 5N Plus Invests $8.5M in Montreal Campus to Support Demand for II-VI Specialty Semiconductor Materials

Investment deploys new process technologies and supply chain optimization to lower unit cost of production, reduce carbon footprint and improve access to essential materials All amounts expressed in U.S. dollars. MONTREAL, June 2, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - 5N Plus Inc. ("5N Plus" or the "Company") (TSX: VNP), a leading global producer of specialty semiconductors and performance materials, today announced that it is investing $8.5 million in its Montreal campus ("5N Plus Montreal") to expand the development and manufacturing of critical and strategic materials, including those containing tellurium, for advanced II-VI semiconductor compounds and engineered powders. The investment is supported by and has received funding from the Ministere de l'Economie et de l'Innovation (Ministry of Economy and Innovation) and the Ministere de l'Energie et des Ressources Naturelles (Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources) within the province of Quebec, accounting for approximately a third of the investment. Alignment between investment and strategy

For over 20 years, 5N Plus has developed ultra-high purity compounds based on the family of II-VI specialty semiconductor materials at 5N Plus Montreal. With this investment, 5N Plus will expand the capacity of its Montreal campus to address the growing demand of II-VI semiconductor compounds and powders, including those essential for the renewable energy market. The investment in process technology and supply chain optimization will reduce unit cost of production and the overall carbon footprint of the activity. The investment package is expected to be completed by the autumn of 2022. The Company has indicated that it will be investing near the rate of depreciation over fiscal years 2021 and 2022. This investment package is included in this assumption. "Today's announcement is an exciting glimpse into the compelling future of our business. Following the project's completion, 5N Plus will have the capacity to competitively produce over half of the world's high purity tellurium-bearing II-VI semiconductor compounds, which are essential elements for several critical industries including renewable energy," said Arjang Roshan, President and Chief Executive Officer of 5N Plus. "We would like to thank the Ministere de l'Economie et de l'Innovation and the Ministere de l'Energie et des Ressources Naturelles for their support on this important project." As a leading global supplier of critical materials for specialty semiconductor devices, the Company continues to accelerate its semiconductor activities across its sites in Montreal and St. George, Utah, and recently expanded its II-VI value-chain to include engineered substrates that are essential for opto-electronic applications. This effort has subsequently yielded products that faciltate unrivalled performance in customer devices used for imaging and sensing applications.



Strategic alignment with AZUR acquisition

While the Company has organically expanded its II-VI semiconductor value-chain, its III-V semiconductor value-chain has required a combination of organic growth initiatives and strategic investments. The recent announcement of the Company's intent to acquire AZUR SPACE Solar Power GmbH ("AZUR") is a significant development supporting its strategic transformation. Given AZUR's established business within III-V semiconductor materials, the acquisition, along with 5N Plus's complimentary activities in this space, will expand the combined companies' value-chain and serve as a substantial catalyst for growth. The synergies of AZUR and 5N Plus will further result in a higher total addressable market beyond the expanded space market, allowing the Company to enter markets such as energy efficiency, electrification, advanced communication and wireless charging. "The continued investment in our II-VI and III-V family of specialty semiconductor materials reflects 5N Plus's aim to be the leading global supplier of these critical materials to the growing markets of the future," said Mr. Roshan. "We are taking a transformational step in building a unique value-chain that will be a long-term, competitive advantage for our company."

Investment in sustainability and reliability backed by sound financial rationale

The new process technologies facilitated by the $8.5 million investment will enable 5N Plus to consolidate and onshore a sizeable portion of its supply chain related to its family of II-VI materials at 5N Plus Montreal, which is powered by hydroelectricity. The totality of this shift will decrease the Company's carbon footprint per unit of production for II-VI specialty semiconductor materials. Further, these new process technologies will reduce chemical reagent consumption along with processed water and solid by-product generation, contributing to the overall cost reduction per unit of production. With this investment, 5N Plus will also enhance its oversight of the tellurium supply chain and ensure competitive and reliable access to critical products for its customers. About 5N Plus Inc.

5N Plus is a leading global producer of specialty semiconductors and performance materials. The Company's ultra-pure materials often form the core element of its customer products. These customers rely on 5N Plus's products to enable performance and sustainability in their own products. 5N Plus deploys a range of proprietary and proven technologies to develop and manufacture its products. The Company's products enable various applications in a number of key industries including renewable energy, security, space, pharmaceutical, medical imaging, and industrial and additive manufacturing. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, 5N Plus operates R&D, manufacturing and commercial centers in strategically located facilities around the world including Europe, North America and Asia. The Company's mission is to be critical to its customers, valued by its employees and trusted by its shareholders. The Company's core values focus on integrity, commitment and customer development along with emphasis on sustainable development, continuous improvement, health and safety. www.5nplus.com. ForwardLooking Statements and Disclaimer

Certain statements in this press release may be forwardlooking within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forwardlooking information and statements are based on the best estimates available to the Company at the time and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forwardlooking statements. A description of the risks affecting the Company's business and activities appears under the heading "Risk and Uncertainties" of the 5N Plus 2020 MD&A dated February 23, 2021, available on www.sedar.com. Forwardlooking statements can generally be identified by the use of terms such as "may", "should", "would", "believe", "expect", the negative of these terms, variations of them or any similar terms. No assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forwardlooking information in this press release will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits that 5N Plus will derive therefrom. In particular, no assurance can be given as to the future financial performance of 5N Plus. The forwardlooking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof and the Company has no obligation to publicly update such forwardlooking information to reflect new information, subsequent or otherwise, unless required by applicable securities laws. The reader is warned against placing undue reliance on these forwardlooking statements. SOURCE 5N Plus Inc.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Altimetrik Opens Office in Mexico to Tap into Talent and Support Global Growth

Altimetrik, a leading digital business enablement company, today announced the opening of a new office in Mexico to meet customer demand and support global expansion. "Establishing a technology hub in Guadalajara, Mexico was a strategic decision that will service our growing client needs," says Raj Sundaresan, Altimetrik's CEO. "Our emphasis on digital business, innovation, product and data engineering are a good fit with the technology talent pool in Mexico, and it is another step in expanding our global footprint to hire the best talent available." Mexico's Information Technology industry in the Guadalajara area, also known as the Mexican Silicon Valley, has been an active tech hub since the early 1970's. The exponential growth of the nearshore model has helped to develop a high quality and talent pool of software developers and engineers who have been enmeshed in a Silicon Valley-like culture, making Mexico an ideal location to expand the company's operations and find talent. The country has 600,000+ IT professionals with 11% average growth rate adding 115,000 technology and engineering graduates a year, from ver 110 universities.



Altimetrik's Mexico office will look to expand the company's focus in product and data engineering and digital transformation skills. In addition, there will be a focus on customer-facing roles like engineering leaders, user experience specialists, and product managers/owners. A large number of U.S.-based companies across banking, financial services, and technology already have a business presence in Mexico. This will give Altimetrik the human capital needed to extend its business in product and data technologies for the growing demand of digital businesses, and increase the company's global footprint as it supports a global delivery model and engineering culture. "We will maintain Altimetrik's incredibly high bar for attracting and selecting engineers, and our goal is to have a team of 150 employees in place by year end with additional hiring through 2022," says Omar Arana, Altimetrik's Mexico Head of Engineering and Technology Center.

"We continue to see strong revenue growth as a company, most recently achieving over 40% revenue growth year over year for the month of April," Sundaresan continued. "This increase comes on top of 34% growth in the first quarter and 29% in 2020, both year over year figures, despite widespread disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic. We're anticipating the same kind of growth, if not better, across the board in the next several quarters," says Sundaresan. The Mexico office adds to the company's existing global footprint across the U.S., India, Uruguay, Japan, Canada, Poland, further positioning Altimetrik to meet the growing needs of its clients' digital business priorities. About Altimetrik Altimetrik is a digital business enablement company. We deliver bite-size outcomes as organizations scale digitalization to accelerate revenue growth without disrupting ongoing business operations. With an end-to-end perspective, our practitioners and agile engineering teams create solutions that drive transformation and achieve business goals. In addition, our digital point solutions and products provide clients with the tools to fuel business growth and profitability. With offices across the globe and over 2,500 energized practitioners, Altimetrik partners with Fortune 500 and mid-size companies alike to enhance their agility, empowerment, and success. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005178/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Amwins Global Risks Announces New Senior Broker Hires

Amwins Global Risks, the specialist international (re)insurance broking and risk management firm, announced today the recruitment of key senior brokers Phil Johnson and Mark Ritson based in London and Ewoud Dekker based in Amsterdam. Amwins Global Risks serves clients and markets in North America, the U.K. and across the globe via its network of offices worldwide. "As we continue to expand our product expertise and service our clients in the larger risk, commercial markets, we anticipate incredible growth opportunities here and abroad," said Matthew Crane, chief executive officer of Amwins Global Risks. "We are proud to welcome Phil, Mark and Ewoud to the team. All are high-achieving, top performers, and we look forward to the impact they will have on the firm as a whole." Johnson joins Amwins Global Risks from Miller Insurance Services, where he served as head of international casualty. In his new role, Johnson will lead Amwins Global Risks' casualty development, predominantly in the U.S., Canada and Australia. Ritson joins from AFL Insurance Brokers Ltd. where he served as the head of international property and energy, focusing on downstream energy products. His areas of specialism include Latin American developing markets, and he has extensive London market and international placement experience for energy clients and risks. In his new role, Ritson will support he growth of Amwins Global Risks' continuing investment in the global energy space.



Dekker joins from Nationale Nederlanden where he served as senior account manager reinsurance. In his new role, Dekker will join Amwins' European Reinsurance division in Amsterdam "Amwins Re", supporting the Dutch team and primarily focusing on Netherlands, Belgium and Dutch-speaking territories in the Caribbean. He will also focus on Facultative Reinsurance while assisting Amwins Re treaty clients and colleagues. "We are attracting some of the best talent in the industry, creating partnerships that deliver and last as we continue to look after our clients and develop our business," says Crane.

About Amwins Global Risks Amwins Global Risks is a specialist international (re)insurance broking and risk management firm. Based principally in the London insurance and reinsurance market, Amwins Global Risks serves clients and markets in the U.K. and internationally via its network of offices worldwide. Through its global platform of owned offices, network partnerships and local expertise, Amwins Global Risks has clients, markets and spheres of interest on every continent. To learn more, visit amwins.com/globalrisks. About Amwins Group, Inc. Amwins Group, Inc. is the largest independent wholesale distributor of specialty insurance products in the United States, dedicated to serving retail insurance agents by providing property and casualty products, specialty group benefit products, and administrative services. Based in Charlotte, N.C., the company operates through more than 155 offices globally and handles premium placements in excess of $24 billion annually. To learn more, visit amwins.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005478/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] ATS Acquires Industrial Automation System Integrator CIM

CAMBRIDGE, ON, June 2, 2021 /CNW/ - ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. (TSX: ATA) ("ATS" or the "Company"), an industry-leading automation solutions provider, today announced the acquisition of Control and Information Management Ltd. ("CIM"), an industrial automation system integrator based in Ireland. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. With the acquisition of CIM, ATS adds to its automation and service capabilities for biopharma, pharmaceutical, and other manufacturing and services industries and enhances its digitization strategy. CIM will operate as part of ATS' Process Automation Solutions ("PA") business which is a leading independent provider of complete automation solutions for the process and manufacturing industries. "The addition of CIM strengthens our capabilities and expands our customer base and reach in the pharma market, both in Europe and globally," said Process Automation Solutions President Dr. Christian Debus. "By leveraging the combined portfolios of CIM and PA, we are better able to address the needs of our global customer base and deliver an even more compelling value proposition." Founded in 2003 and based in span >Dublin, Ireland, CIM is a system integrator with a focus on industrial automation. The company offers a full spectrum of automation related services including system development, upgrades, technical support, project management and validation consultancy. With an employee base of ~65 employees, CIM primarily serves customers in the biopharma and pharmaceutical sectors. CIM will continue to be led by its co-founders Darrin McCrudden and Eamonn Nally.



"We have developed a strong relationship with PA since our initial engagement with its leadership team, and share the same ethos for providing high-quality, technical engineering solutions and services in the pharma and biopharma automation space. We are excited to grow globally with the backing of an international partner," said Eamonn Nally, co-founder of CIM. "By joining the PA team, our customers benefit from the experience and expertise of a globally active company that has the flexibility to adjust to individual industries and requirements. We are also better positioned to support our customers in their digitalization journey," added Darrin McCrudden, co-founder of CIM. About CIM

Control and Information Management (CIM) Ltd. was founded in 2003 by Darrin McCrudden and Eamonn Nally through a management buyout from Siemens Ireland. The company, which is based in Ireland, implements automation solutions in the highly regulated life sciences industry as well as the manufacturing sector and delivers new and upgrade systems for standalone and plant-wide configurations. CIM has enjoyed steady growth in size, operation and client base since conception. CIM adopted a strategy to keep expertise, experience and knowledge of its client systems in-house to ensure it retains the expertise to continue providing high-quality and differentiated solutions. CIM employs ~65 employees and has strong relationships with all major vendors. Visit the company's website at www.cim.ie for more details.

About ATS

ATS is an industry-leading automation solutions provider to many of the world's most successful companies. ATS uses its extensive knowledge base and global capabilities in custom automation, repeat automation, automation products and value-added services, including pre-automation and after-sales services, to address the sophisticated manufacturing automation systems and service needs of multinational customers in markets such as life sciences, food & beverage, transportation, consumer products, and energy. Founded in 1978, ATS employs over 5,000 people at 28 manufacturing facilities and over 50 offices in North America, Europe, Southeast Asia and China. The Company's shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ATA. Visit the Company's website at www.atsautomation.com. SOURCE ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021]

Automated Fare Collection System Market Worth $12.75 Bn, Globally, by 2027 at 11.6% CAGR: Allied Market Research

Increase in the adoption of contactless open payment, surge in demand for smartphones, and enhanced transport infrastructure and security system drive the growth of the global automated fare collection system market.

PORTLAND, Ore., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Automated Fare Collection System Market by Application (Bus, Toll, Train, and Car Rental), Component (Hardware, and Software), and Technology Platform (Smart Card, Near Field Communications, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20202027." According to the report, the global automated fare collection system industry was estimated at $6.63 billion in 2019, and is expected to hit $12.75 billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 11.6% from 2020 to 2027.

Download Report Sample at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/1401

Drivers, restraints, and opportunities-

Rise in the trend of contactless open payment, increasing demand for smartphones, enhanced transport infrastructure and security system, flexible fare plans, low manpower cost, and less operational time fuel the growth of the global automated fare collection system market. On the other hand, high installation and maintenance cost impede the growth to some extent. Nevertheless, surge in use of high-speed public transport, arrival of digitized payment, and global interoperability are anticipated to create multiple opportunities for the key players in the industry.

COVID-19 Scenario-

The outbreak of the pandemic brought forth several restrictions on transportation worldwide, which impacted the global market for automated fare collection system negatively.

However, as the lockdown has reopened now, it is expected that the market would recoup soon. Also, high health concerns, arrival of digital technologies, and growing inclination toward contactless and automated payment system are projected to gain momentum in the coming years

Get detailed COVID-19 impact analysis on the Automated Fare Collection System Market Request Now!

The train segment to dominate by 2027-

Based on application, the train segment accounted for nearly two-fifths of the global automated fare collection system market share in 2019 and is expected to retain its dominance by the end of 2027. The same segment is also projected to register the fastest CAGR of 13.1% throughout the forecast period, due to growing urban rail projects across the globe.

The smartcard segment to lead the trail-

Based n technology platform, the smartcard segment contributed to around two-fifths of the global automated fare collection system market revenue in 2019 and is anticipated to maintain the lions share by 2027, owing to ease of usage. Simultaneously, the NFC segment would portray the fastest CAGR of 13.9% during the forecast period, due to growing usage of NFC enabled smartphone and increasing penetration of digital payment solutions.







Interested to Procure The Data? Inquire here at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/1401

North America held the dominant share in 2019-

Based on geography, North America garnered the major share in 2019, holding more than one-third of the global automated fare collection system market. At the same time, Asia-Pacific would manifest the fastest CAGR of 14.4% till 2027. This is due to high availability of cost effective manufacturing solutions and growing rate of urban transit projects in the region.

Leading market players-

Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc.

dormakaba Holding

LECIP Group

Samsung SDS

LG CNS

NXP Semiconductors

Atos SE

OMRON Corporation

Scheidt&Bacchhan Gmbh

Thales Group

Schedule a Free Consultation Call with Our Analysts/Industry Experts to Find Solution for Your Business at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/connect-to-analyst/1401

Similar Reports We Have on Automotive & Transportation Industry:

Asia-Pacific Tolling and City Congestion Market by Product Type (Electronic Tolling, ATMS, and UTM): Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018  2025.

Thailand and Philippines Tolling & City Congestion Market by Product Type (Electronic Tolling, ATMS, and UTM): Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018  2025.

Electronic Toll Collection Market by Subsystem (Automated Vehicle Identification, Automated Vehicle Classification, Violation Enforcement System, and Transaction Processing), Technology (Radio-frequency Identification, Dedicated Short-range Communication, Infrared, GNSS & GPS, and Video Analytics), and Application (Urban and Highways) - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018-2025.

U.S. & Europe Automatic Toll Payment Machine Market by Component (Hardware, Software, and Service) and Application (Tollink, Transportation, Parking, Kiosk, and Others): Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20202027.

Smart Fleet Management Market by Mode of Transportation (Roadways, Marine Airways, and Railways), Application (Tracking, ADAS, Optimization, and Others), and Connectivity Type (Short Range and Long Range): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20182025.

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. AMR 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 domain.

AMR launched its user-based online library of reports and company profiles, Avenue. An e-access library is accessible from any device, anywhere, and at any time for entrepreneurs, stakeholders, and researchers and students at universities. With reports on more than 60,000 niche markets with data comprising of 600,000 pages along with company profiles on more than 12,000 firms, Avenue offers access to the entire repository of information through subscriptions. A hassle-free solution to clients' requirements is complemented with analyst support and customization requests.

Contact:

David Correa

5933 NE Win Sivers Drive

#205, Portland, OR 97220

United States

USA/Canada (Toll Free):

+1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022, +1-503-446-1141

UK: +44-845-528-1300

Hong Kong: +852-301-84916

India (Pune): +91-20-66346060

Fax: +1(855)550-5975

help@alliedmarketresearch.com

Web: www.alliedmarketresearch.com

Allied Market Research Blog: https://blog.alliedmarketresearch.com

Follow Us on | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn |

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/636519/Allied_Market_Research_Logo.jpg
[June 02, 2021] BambooHR Announces New Strategic Marketplace Partners to Support Hybrid and Remote Work Needs

LINDON, Utah, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BambooHR , the industry's leading cloud-hosted software provider dedicated to powering the strategic evolution of human resources, today announced the addition of four new marketplace partners that will enable customers to advance capabilities as companies continue to adjust flexible working models to accommodate remote and hybrid work. The Marketplace currently has more than 80 partners and is designed to add value, streamline work, and set customers free to get more done with BambooHR. Native integrations are available from many companies for users to expand their HR capabilities with hiring and onboarding, people and culture, compensation and benefits and building their business. "This is an exciting time for BambooHR customers with the addition of new marketplace partners," said Todd Grierson, senior director of business development and strategic initiatives at BambooHR. "We prioritize the full employee experience when identifying new partners for our marketplace. As our customers adjust their working models, we want to ensure that we're with them every step of the way supporting their journey with the latest technology innovations." Video Interview Technology BambooHR customers now have two new options for integrating one-way video interviews directly within an account. Hireflix enables one-way video interviewing in BambooHR so users can save hundreds of hours, standardize pre-screening and make better hiring decisions, all with the most user-friendly and simple user interface both for the company and candidates. Hireflix plans are also the most affordable in the market and offer a free trial to fully test their system. Spark Hire empowers users to send candidates one-way video interview invitations directly from BambooHR by updating a candidate's status. When an interview is completed, users can access it from BambooHR with a single click. Performance and Engagement Technology Leapsome enables managers and employees to work at their best with a range of performance management tools, including goal setting, real-time feedback and 360 reviews. CEOs and HR teams use Leapsome to create a continuous cycle of performance management and personalized learning that powers employee engagement and the success of their business. Leapsome offers integrations for BambooHR customers including performance and engagement management that automatically syncs on a daily basis. Communications Technology Pyn powers fast-growing companies that want to proactively drive their employee experience. With Pyn, users can automatically send employees helpful messages at key momnts  from their first day on the job, to a promotion, to their last day  and everything in between. Employees receive messages via Slack or email. The integration with BambooHR supports auto-trigger communications, personalizing content, location-based timing of messages and auto-updating of distributions based on the latest information in BambooHR.



"We're delighted to have launched a native integration and be part of the BambooHR marketplace," said Antonio Gonzalez, CEO of Hireflix. "As the world goes remote, one-way video interviews are quickly becoming the standard for pre-screening talent and BambooHR is the perfect partner to help HR professionals get easier access to these critical tools." All of the new marketplace partners available to customers immediately. To learn more visit: https://marketplace.bamboohr.com/

About BambooHR

With over 700 employees, 20,000 customers and over a million users worldwide, BambooHR is a leading and innovative platform for Human Resources in the SMB market. BambooHR's software makes it easy for HR professionals to collect, maintain, and analyze data, improve the way they hire talent, onboard new employees, manage compensation, and develop their company culture. It's designed to set organizations free to focus on what matters mostpeople. BambooHR's clients include innovators like Asana, Foursquare, Stance, and Reddit. BambooHR also hosts more than 30,000 HR professionals at its annual HR Virtual Summit . Recent recognition and awards include the 2020 Forbes Cloud 100, Fortune's Top 50 Workplaces in Technology, a Best Small & Medium Workplace for the third consecutive year, Best Workplaces for Women , and Best Workplace for Millennials by Great Places to Work. To find out more, visit bamboohr.com or follow us on Twitter at @bamboohr . Learn more on LinkedIn , Twitter , Facebook and Instagram . View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bamboohr-announces-new-strategic-marketplace-partners-to-support-hybrid-and-remote-work-needs-301303726.html SOURCE BambooHR LLC

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 22:19:37|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

ISLAMABAD, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani experts from various fields said on Wednesday that the role of the federal government and civil society is critical to address climate change issues direly impacting the economy, society, and politics of the country.

Pakistan has already been facing a plethora of challenges on multiple fronts, and the issue of climate change will add fuel to the fire if collective efforts are not made by the state, society and international community, the experts said while expressing their views during an online discussion on climate change, organized by Islamabad-based think-tank Center for Global and Strategic Studies.

Pakistan is already on the top 10 list of most vulnerable countries to climate change, said Rashid Aftab, a public policy and governance expert from the Riphah International University, Islamabad.

"It can cause national security threats such as poverty, food insecurity, internal population displacement, and resource scarcity among others," he said.

The country has faced numerous weather-related disasters over the past years including floods, droughts, heat wave and cyclones, Aftab said, adding that these calamities claimed lives of hundreds of people and damaged properties worth billions of rupees.

Yusuf Zafar, an agricultural expert at the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, said that climate change issues could increase vulnerabilities for the country's agricultural sector and forest and water resources, on which the largest part of the economy and livelihood depends.

Agricultural productivity has witnessed a decline in recent years due to the climate change, drought and crop diseases, threatening the country's food security, Zafar said, adding that climate-smart agricultural techniques and research-based policies and measures are required to counter the new challenges.

Romina Khurshid Alam, a politician and member of the National Assembly or the lower house of Pakistan's parliament, said that the government of Pakistan is taking serious steps to deal with the impacts of climate change and formulating robust environmental policies to minimize environmental degradation.

Pakistan is among the countries trying to reduce the impact of climate change and global warming, and suggestions from the country's think tanks, civil society and activists would help the government to further address the issues of climate change, she said. Enditem
[June 02, 2021] Baptist Health of Northeast Florida Collaborates with Gozio Health to Improve Patient Access through Mobile Wayfinding and Engagement

Gozio Health, an industry-leading, customizable end-to-end mobile platform, announced that it is working with Baptist Health in Jacksonville, Florida, to provide mobile wayfinding to its patients. Baptist Health will be the first in Northeast Florida to launch this patient engagement platform, which is designed to optimize the patient's journey at every point of care. Baptist Health will deploy Gozio's indoor navigation capabilities in each of its hospitals and parking garages, in addition to more than 175 outpatient locations, later this year. The mobile wayfinding platform provides GPS-like turn-by-turn directions, guiding patients from their homes to the appropriate parking location and then to their intended destination with ease. The navigation app will make it easy to find onsite amenities, from restaurants to restrooms to ATMs - as well as help patients access digital services such as physician directories, appointment scheduling, patient records and more. "Baptist Health is committed to providing accessible, quality health care services to patients. Mobile wayfinding will help improve their experience as they travel to the point-of-care," said Michael A. Mayo, DHA, FACHE, president and CEO of Baptist Health. "Our work with Gozio is timely as it pertains to growing patient expectations to make health care eaier to find and understand."



"Health systems across the country recognize the growing importance of digital interactions with patients, and we applaud Baptist Health for taking the lead in Northeast Florida to improve patient access and experience," said Joshua Titus, CEO and founder of Gozio Health. "By deploying our digital front door platform and wayfinding capabilities, Baptist Health is setting a new bar for patient engagement and empowerment." About Gozio Health

Gozio Health offers an end-to-end, customizable mobile platform exclusively for healthcare systems, including digital front door. Gozio's extensible mobile platform enables seamless consumer interactions and provides an anytime, anywhere connection to patients improving their overall experience and access to care. Popular patient engagement features include patented wayfinding with turn-by-turn navigation, virtual visits, physician directories, appointment scheduling, access to electronic health records, Urgent Care and Emergency Department wait times, bill pay and extensive analytics capabilities. For more information, watch the video or visit www.goziohealth.com or find Gozio Health on Twitter and LinkedIn. About Baptist Health Founded in 1955, Baptist Health serves families throughout the region with high-quality, comprehensive care for every stage of life. Currently ranked as the "most preferred" health care provider in the Jacksonville area, Baptist Health is deeply honored to serve the community through a growing circle of care that includes nationally accredited hospitals, including the region's only children's hospital. Baptist has more than 200 primary care and specialty physician practices, children's specialty clinics, home health care, behavioral health, occupational health, rehabilitation services and urgent care. For more information, visit www.baptistjax.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005179/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Belmont Village Senior Living and JVS SoCal's Private-Public Partnership Model Changes Lives One Job at a Time

As a paragon of corporate social responsibility and a champion of altruistic endeavors, Belmont Village Senior Living and nonprofit partner JVS SoCal (Jobs Vision Success) have enjoyed a fruitful, storied partnership that has benefitted Southern California by providing individuals from disadvantaged communities with the comprehensive free job training and experience necessary to thrive in the healthcare industry. JVS SoCal's HealthWorks program provides life changing, industry-specific job training and education to underserved groups, including individuals on public assistance, dislocated workers, people with disabilities, veterans, immigrants and refugees, mature workers, and individuals with economic, social, and psychological barriers to employment. In addition to providing support to aspiring healthcare workers through career training and other philanthropic aid, Belmont Village has employed many graduates of the HealthWorks program in many of their Los Angeles communities, such as their Westwood, Hollywood Hills, and Rancho Palos Verdes locations. These communities continue to hire and benefit from JVS SoCal's pool of talented graduates. Celebrating its 90th anniversary, JVS SoCal is a nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming lives in Southern California with proven workforce development programs and career services. HealthWorks is a tuition-free program that trains individuals for entry-level careers in the healthcare industry as Certified Nurse Assistants (CNAs). It also provides participants with intensive case management, job retention guidance and follow-up services to better prepare them for employment. HealthWorks gives hands-on training not only for a career in the medical field, but also offers practical tips for entering and acclimating to the workforce, resume and email wriing, what to wear for an interview, and how to conduct oneself in the workplace.



"We are proud to work alongside JVS SoCal to ensure the curriculum cultivates the unique skill set and provides the tools needed to care for our aging population," says Patricia Will, CEO and founder of Belmont Village Senior Living. "It is immensely rewarding to see how the lives of graduates are changed forever through gainful, rewarding employment, as they maintain a true passion for caretaking and make the perfect addition to the Belmont Village family." Aligned with the HealthWorks mission and vision, Belmont Village has become a significant benefactor of HealthWorks through financial contributions and hiring from the HealthWorks talent pool. Two exceptional CNA graduates, Felicie Abner and Riza Wdowczak have become integral to the Belmont Village Westwood community over the last six years.

After graduating high school, Los Angeles-native Abner felt lost and without direction. A friend who works in the nonprofit industry told her about the JVS HealthWorks program, and shortly after she applied in 2014. "The program was one of the best things that ever happened to me, just at the right time," says Abner. "I had no support from anyone, but with JVS everything just fell into place, and I found my passion for helping people. I love the strong bonds I've built with the residents I care for and my coworkers at Belmont Village." Wdowczak left her home in the Philippines and moved to LA, where she soon met a JVS SoCal participant while attending day school. With the goal of becoming a nurse, she jumped at the chance to apply. "JVS gave me the chance I needed, and now I am working in a career that I've always loved. I am a whole different person," said Wdowczak. "After I completed the JVS program, recruiters from Belmont Village attended my graduation and were interested in interviewing me, shortly after, I was hired. Working at Belmont Village, assisting and interacting with residents - I've become very attached to them. They have become my family, and I am grateful that I can take care of them." "Equipping high-barrier individuals with the opportunity and tools needed to tap into their skills is paramount, with an incalculable potential to redirect the course of their lives," says Will. "The success of this incredible partnership between Belmont Village Senior Living and JVS SoCal is built by the hands, the hard work, and within the hearts of talented and passionate staff like Felicie and Riza. By contributing to JVS SoCal in doing wonderful work, giving people a change of fate, we are proud to be a part of something bigger than ourselves and make a significant difference first in individuals' lives and then in the community at large." "JVS SoCal cannot do the work we do alone. It truly takes a village - or in this case, Belmont Village - which has made such an invaluable contribution to those in Southern California," states Alan Levey, CEO of JVS SoCal. "Belmont Village has been a generous sponsor and partner of our HealthWorks career training programs through not only significant contributions, but the hiring of our wonderful graduates putting them on a new, exciting career path and helping change people's lives." Belmont Village continues to employ Felicie and Riza at their Westwood community, and continues to support all JVS SoCal graduates employed at their communities. Belmont Village and JVS SoCal look forward to the ongoing partnership, as well as the opportunity to change the lives of Southern California residents for the better. To join Belmont Village in aiding JVS SoCal's inspiring work visit: https://www.jvs-socal.org/ways-to-support-us/. About Belmont Village Senior Living Founded in Houston in 1997, Belmont Village is an integrated developer, owner, and operator of 31 highest quality independent, assisted living and award-winning memory care communities for older adults across eight states in the U.S. and Mexico. With more than 4,000 employees, Belmont Village communities are renowned for distinctive design; high standards of life safety; quality of care; and leading edge, award-winning programs. Belmont Village is certified as a Great Place to Work and has been ranked since 2018 as one of FORTUNE Magazine's 50 Best Workplaces for Aging Services. Learn more about Belmont Village at www.belmontvillage.com and on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. About JVS SoCal JVS SoCal is a 501c3 nonprofit organization founded in 1931 to address joblessness and rampant workplace discrimination during the Great Depression. This year the organization celebrates 90 years of empowering individuals to achieve dignity and economic independence through sustainable employment. For more information go to www.jvs-socal.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005819/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Brady Elected Vice Chairman of Board of First Northern Community Bancorp

First Northern Community Bancorp (OTCQB:FNRN), holding company for First Northern Bank, announced that at the May 18, 2021 Organization Meeting of the Board of Directors of First Northern Community Bancorp and First Northern Bank, Patrick R. Brady was elected to a one-year term as Vice Chairman of the 10-member Board. He joins Chairman, Richard M. Martinez whose three-year term was extended an additional year. Together they represent 18 years of combined directorship experience with First Northern. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602006104/en/ Patrick R. Brady, Vice Chairman (Photo: Business Wire) Mr. Brady has served on the Board since January 2013. Currently, he is Chairman of the Bank's Compensation Committee and a member of the Bank's Loan Committee, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, and Profit Sharing Committee. Mr. Brady, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration from the University of Arizona and a Master's degree in Hospital Administration from the University of Minnesota, retired as Chief Executive Officer of Sutter Roseville Medical Center in 2018. He had been involved with Sutter since 1981. Prior to assuming his role at Sutter Roseville, Mr. Brady served as the Chief Executive Officer of Sutter Solano Medical Center for approximately six and a half years. Mr. Brady's service on boards both in the private and public sectors, and experience as a Chief Executive Officer, has provided him with extensive knowledge and experience in financial management, corporate governance, and risk management. In addition to serving on the Boards of First Northern Community Bancorp and First Northern Bank, Mr. Brady's professional activities include leadership roles in healthcare associations and advocacy groups. First Northern's other nine directors, and the year in which they joined the Board, are: John M. Carbahal - 1996, Gregory DuPratt - 1996, Barbara A. Hayes - 2016, Richard M. Martinez - 2011, Foy S. McNaughton - 2000, Sean P. Quinn - 2016, Daniel F. Ramos - 2020, Mark C. Schulze - 2017, and Louise A. Walker - 2011. About First Nortern Bank



First Northern Bank is an independent community bank that specializes in relationship banking. The Bank, headquartered in Solano County since 1910, serves Solano, Yolo, Sacramento, Placer, and Contra Costa Counties, as well as the west slope of El Dorado County. Experts are available in small-business, commercial, real estate and agribusiness lending, as well as mortgage loans. The Bank is an SBA Preferred Lender. Non-FDIC insured Investment and Brokerage Services are available at every branch location, including Dixon, Davis, West Sacramento, Fairfield, Vacaville, Winters, Woodland, Sacramento, Roseville, Auburn and Rancho Cordova. The Bank also has a commercial lending office in Walnut Creek. Real estate mortgage and small-business loan officers are available by appointment in any of the Bank's 11 branches. First Northern is rated as a Veribanc "Blue Ribbon" Bank and a "5-Star Superior" Bank by Bauer Financial for the earnings period ended March 31, 2021 (www.veribanc.com) and (www.bauerfinancial.com). The Bank can be found on the Web at thatsmybank.com, on Facebook and on LinkedIn. Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may include certain "forward-looking statements" about First Northern Community Bancorp (the "Company"). These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations due to changes in global political, economic, business, competitive, market and regulatory factors. Given the many challenges and uncertainties resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, such as the extent and duration of the impact on public health, the U.S. and California economies, financial markets and consumer and corporate customers and clients, including economic activity, employment levels and market liquidity, and on our business, results of operation and financial condition, as well as the various actions taken in response to the challenges and uncertainties by governments, regulatory agencies and others, our forward-looking statements are subject to the risk that conditions will be substantially different than we are currently expecting. More detailed information about these risk factors is contained in the Company's most recent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K, each as it may be amended from time to time, which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. The financial information contained in this release should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company's most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date on which they are made. For further information regarding the Company, please read the Company's reports filed with the SEC (News - Alert) and available at www.sec.gov. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602006104/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Butterfly Network Advances Medical Imaging in Canada with Butterfly iQ+

Butterfly Network, Inc. (NYSE: BFLY) ("Butterfly") announced today that its second-generation iQ+ has been approved for a Class III Medical Device License in Canada. The iQ+ features the world's only Ultrasound-on-Chip technology, with several hardware and software advances designed to improve usability and care delivery. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005657/en/ Butterfly iQ+ (Photo: Business Wire) "We are excited that the Butterfly iQ+ will now be available for purchase by Canadian medical professionals," said Todd Fruchterman, MD, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Butterfly Network. "Thousands of new practitioners and millions of patients will now have access to a transformative advanced assessment tool that can deliver valuable insights that enable more informed clinical decisions at the point of care." Innovative technology Butterfly iQ+ will help unlock the power of medical imaging earlier in the treatment journey with an entire suite of advanced imaging features, such as real-time Biplane Imaging (the first such feature for a handheld ultrasound device), automatic bladder volume calculation with 3D rendering, Needle Viz onscreen needle highlighting, and Pulsed Wave Doppler. It includes Educational View Guidance, which helps clinicians improve their scanning technique by providing a visual indication of the quality of the image being collected. Relative to the first-generation device, the iQ+ is built to perform even more reliably throughout demanding shifts with 20% extended battery life and 15% faster frame rates, and has a smaller form factor that allows for tighter control. Enterprise imaging software that transforms care Butterfly iQ+ can be coupled with its integrated enterprise software solution that allows clinicians to scan, document, upload, and review images seamlessly. More integrated workflows and educational resources, including tutorial videos and remote scanning assistance via TeleGuidance, will allow Canadian healthcare providers to quickly implement Butterfly iQ+ into their practices. Significant opportunity for impact The Butterfly iQ+ is well suited for the needs of the Canadian healthcare system, consisting of over 86,000 physicians1 across 830 hospitals2. Demand for Butterfly's first-generation iQ device, launched in Canada in March 2020, has been very strong. Butterfly iQ+'s advanced features, improved usability, and functionality are expected to further accelerate demand and deliver more value. With Canada's approval, Butterfly iQ+ is now available in 20 countries across the world. To purchase Butterfly iQ+, visit https://store.butterflynetwork.com/product/butterfly-iq. About Butterfly Network Founded by Dr. Jonathan Rothberg in 2011 and recently listed on the New York Stock Exchange through a business combination with Longview Acquisition Corp., Butterfly Network created the world's only handheld, single-probe whole-body ultrasound system using semiconductor technology, the Butterfly iQ. Its mission is to democratize medical imaging and contribute to the aspiration of global health equity by making high-quality ultrasound affordable, easy-to-use, globally accessible, and intelligently connected-including for the 4.7 billion people around the world lacking access to ultrasound. Through its proprietary Ultrasound-on-Chip technology, Butterfly is paving the way for earlier detection and remote management of health conditions around the world. The Butterfly iQ+ can be purchased online today by healthcare practitioners in the United States, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Butterfly iQ+ is a medical device intended for trained and qualified healthcare professionals only. For more information, visit www.butterflynetwork.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company's actual results may differ from its expectations, estimates, and projections and, consequently, 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, the Company's expectations with respect to commercial sales, financial results, future performance, development of products and services, maintenance of regulatory approvals, anticipated financial impacts and other effects of the Company's business combination on its business, and the size and potential growth of current or future markets for its products and services. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Most of these factors are outside the Company's control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: the impact of COVID-19 on the Company's business; the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the business combination; the Company's ability to grow and manage growth profitably; the success, cost and timing of the Company's product and service development activities; the potential attributes and benefits of the Company's products and services; the Company's ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval for its products, and any related restrictions and limitations of any approved product; the Company's ability to identify, in-license or acquire additional technology; the Company's ability to maintain its existing license, manufacture, supply and distribution agreements; the Company's ability to compete with other companies currently marketing or engaged in the development of products and services that the Company is currently marketing or developing; changes in applicable laws or regulations; the size and growth potential of the markets for the Company's products and services, and its ability to serve those markets, either alone or in partnership with others; the pricing of the Company's products and services and reimbursement for medical procedures conducted using its products and services; the Company's estimates regarding expenses, revenue, capital requirements and needs for additional financing; the Company's financial performance; the Company's ability to raise financing in the future; and other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. The Company cautions you not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company does not undertake or accept any obligation or undertake to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in the Company's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.







1 Canadian Medical Association 2 Definitive Healthcare

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005657/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Canada Invests Over $960-Million in Renewable Energy and Grid Modernization Projects

OTTAWA, ON, June 2, 2021 /CNW/ - Harnessing Canada's immense clean energy resources requires transformational investments to modernize our electricity grid. The Government of Canada is investing in renewable energy and upgrading the electricity grid to make clean, affordable electricity options more accessible in communities across Canada. The Honourable Seamus O'Regan Jr., Minister of Natural Resources, today launched a $964-million program to support smart renewable energy and grid modernization projects that will lower emissions by investing in clean energy technologies, like wind, solar, storage, hydro, geothermal and tidal. The Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program (SREPs) supports building Canada's low-emissions energy future and a renewable, electrified economy through projects that focus on non-emitting, cleaner energy technologies, such as storage, and modernizing electricity system operations. Investing in these technologies reduces greenhouse gas emissions by creating a cleaner, more connected electrical system that helps Canada reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Minister O'Regan launched the program during the Canadian Electricity Association's (CEA) virtual regulatory forum on Electricity Regulatio & the Four Disruptors  Decarbonization, Decentralization, Digitalization and Democratization. The launch also coincides with Canadian Environment Week, which celebrates Canada's environmental accomplishments and encourages Canadians to contribute to conserving and protecting the environment.



Through SREPs and other programming, the government is working with provinces and territories, utilities, Indigenous partners and others, including diverse businesses and communities, to deliver these clean and reliable energy initiatives. With Canadian innovation, technology and skilled energy workers, we can provide more communities, households and businesses with an increased supply of clean electricity and a cleaner electrical grid. To help interested stakeholders find information on SREPs, a new webpage has been launched, which includes a comprehensive guide for eligible projects.

This supports Canada's strengthened climate plan, A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy . Canada is advancing projects that support the clean grid of the future. Collectively with investments from the Fall Economic Statement 2020 and Budget 2021, Canada will achieve our climate change commitments and ensure a healthier environment and more prosperous economy for future generations. Quotes "Our new Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program will increase our grid's renewable capacity and improve its reliability and resiliency. This means a cleaner, more reliable electricity supply for Canadians. This is how we get to net zero by 2050." The Honourable Seamus O'Regan Jr.

Minister of Natural Resources Related Information

The Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program (SREPs)

Budget 2021

Follow us on Twitter: @NRCan ( http://twitter.com/nrcan ) SOURCE Natural Resources Canada

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Canadarm3 one step closer to the Lunar Gateway

Canada looks to Canadian company MDA to build robotics interfaces for the Gateway

LONGUEUIL, QC, June 2, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Canada is paving the way for its participation in humanity's return to the Moon. Today, the Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced Canada's intent to enter into a contract with Brampton-based company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) to design, manufacture, test, and deliver robotics interfaces that will allow Canadarm3 to operate on the Lunar Gateway.

The Gateway External Robotics Interfaces are fixtures that will be installed on Lunar Gateway modules and on visiting vehicles for future deep-space missions. They will allow Canadarm3 to anchor itself and move around the Gateway, and to retrieve payloads delivered on logistics vehicles and reposition tem on the station. The interfaces will also supply power and data connections to the robotic elements and any attached payloads.





Canada was the first country to join the United States on plans for the Lunar Gateway, the next major international collaboration in human space exploration. Japan and the European Space Agency have since finalized agreements with NASA to contribute various Gateway components, laying the foundation for continued peaceful collaboration among spacefaring nations.



Quote

"Our government continues to support the development of advanced robotics tailored to a new chapter of lunar exploration. Canada's significant contribution to the Lunar Gateway promises to spark innovative opportunities and important economic benefits for the country's space sector."

The Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

Quick facts

Canadarm3 is Canada's contribution to the Lunar Gateway. It includes a large and small robotic arm capable of performing tasks in space without human intervention.



contribution to the Lunar Gateway. It includes a large and small robotic arm capable of performing tasks in space without human intervention. The first two elements of the Gateway  the Power and Propulsion Element and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost  will launch in 2024. The Gateway External Robotics Interfaces need to be added to these elements before they launch. Associated links

About Canadarm3

Canada's role in Moon exploration

role in Moon exploration The Lunar Gateway Follow us on social media SOURCE Canadian Space Agency

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Canadian Women-Owned Business Evaluate Supplier Diversity (Research Study)

TORONTO, June 2, 2021 /CNW/ - WBE Canada and experts from the Universities of Manitoba and Calgary conducted a national survey on the status of supplier diversity in Canada. This survey, conducted in fall 2020, was designed to provide the data necessary to continue inclusion of underrepresented Canadian businesses, specifically women-owned businesses in large supply chains and to move supplier diversity forward in Canada. The survey was primarily focused on WBE Canada certified suppliers but was also extended to a larger group consisting of non-certified suppliers. Participants were asked a series of questions including what were the primary motivators for certifying their business, anticipated benefits of certification, their level of expectation once certified, perceived and real barriers faced when working with large corporations and government organizations, and levels of success experienced when responding to opportunities from large buyers. The results of this survey are immensely helpful in understanding the value and effectiveness of supplier diversity programs and barriers in supply chains for diverse suppliers, revealing opportunities that currently exist in supply chains. These findings will form the framework for supplier diversity programs in the upcoming years. As outlined in its recommendations, WBE Canada will utilize the findings in its advocacy work, development of tools and resources to help Canadian women-owned businesses scale up and succeed strategically as well as inputs for the necessay systemic improvements in corporate and government supply chains.



"The pandemic has been especially hard on small firms in the service sector, including many businesses owned by women. With the support of Canadian corporations and government agencies, supplier diversity programs can help such businesses survive the current disaster  and envision a future of prosperity" said Paul D. Larson, Ph.D.,CN Professor of SCM, University of Manitoba. "Awareness of the social and economic benefits accruing from SD programs remains key to reducing barriers to supply chain opportunities for small diverse organizations" said Jack D. Kulchitsky, Ph.D.,University of Calgary.

"Businesses and individuals around the globe are facing tremendous challenges and disruption. Yet in times like these leaders rise up, innovations are born and communities are transformed," said Silvia Pencak, President of WBE Canada. "WBE Canada works closely with buyers and suppliers and we look forward to hearing your feedback, insights and recommendations. My hope is that this national research will inspire improved policies, more inclusive supply chains and ultimately economic growth in Canada." ACCESS THE REPORT HERE About University of Manitoba

The University of Manitoba is western Canada's first university, established in 1877. Its campus is situated on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Metis Nation. It is Manitoba's only research-intensive university, and one of Canada's top research institutions. The University serves more than 29,000 undergraduate and graduate students. From 2006-2009, its supply chain management department developed and wrote a new C.P.P. curriculum for the Purchasing Management Association of Canada (PMAC). Since then, the C.P.P. has been re-labeled SCMP, and PMAC is now Supply Chain Canada. About University of Calgary

Established in 1944 as the Calgary campus of the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary became a separate autonomous university in 1966. Situated near the Bow River on the traditional territories of the people of Treaty 7 region of southern Alberta, the campus hosts 14 faculties, 55 departments, and 85 research institutes and centers. Twelve research centres are hosted within the Haskayne School of Business including the Canadian Centre for Advanced Leadership in Business, the Hunter Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and the Canadian Centre for Advanced Supply Chain Management and Logistics. About WBE Canada WBE Canada is a Canadian non-profit organization that is opening doors for women-owned businesses to supply chains across North America. It certifies Canadian firms that are at least 51% owned, managed and controlled by women and introduces them to opportunities with corporations. To learn more about how we support women-owned businesses, click here . If you are a mid-size or large company looking to support women-owned businesses through procurement opportunities, we want to hear from you. Click here to learn more about how you can get involved. SOURCE WBE Canada

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] David Cohen and Ryan Davis Join Alliant Insurance Services

Alliant Insurance Services has announced that David Cohen and Ryan Davis have joined the company as Senior Vice Presidents, Mergers & Acquisitions. Cohen will specialize in providing transactional risk solutions to private equity firms, corporate clients, and alternative asset investors, with a focus on representations & warranties insurance placements. Davis will help clients around the globe insure their most challenging tax issues in both the M&A context and corporate tax risk management. "We are thrilled to welcome David and Ryan to Alliant," said Dan Schoenberg, Executive Vice President, Alliant Mergers & Acquisitions. "David is a very talented and respected corporate attorney, and we could not be more pleased that he has joined us to provide his unique insights and specialized expertise. Likewise, Ryan's impressive experience in asset management and international issues will enhance our market-leading position in insurance and tax controversy insurance offerings greatly." Prior to joining Alliant, Cohen served as Senior Vice President for Vale Inurance Partners where he focused on underwriting transactional risk and representations & warranties insurance. Before joining the insurance industry, Cohen was a corporate attorney at a leading mergers & acquisitions law firm in New York, as well as in-house counsel at the largest e-commerce company in the world.



With over 20 years in the mergers & acquisitions field, Davis served as a Principal, Asset Management - International Tax for KPMG where his primary focus was working with private equity and alternative investment fund structures and their impact on the U.S. investors in such funds, and the overall deal structuring/execution. Cohen obtained a bachelor's degree from Emory University and a law degree from The University of Pennsylvania. Davis obtained a bachelor's and law degree from Santa Clara University and a graduate law degree (LL.M. Tax) from New York University School of Law.

Based in New York, Cohen can be reached at (212) 603-0100 or David.Cohen@alliant.com, and Davis can be reached at (917) 362-0877 or Ryan.Davis@alliant.com. About Alliant Insurance Services Alliant Insurance Services is one of the nation's leading distributors of diversified insurance products and services. We operate through a network of specialized national platforms and local offices to offer our clients a comprehensive portfolio of solutions built on innovative thinking and personal service. The business of managing risk is getting more complex, and Alliant is meeting this complexity head-on, not with more layers of management, but with more creativity and agility. Alliant is changing the way our clients approach risk management and benefits, so they can capitalize on new opportunities to grow and protect their organizations. Visit us at alliant.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005125/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Dialpad Drives Blue Cliff College Shift to Remote Learning

Dialpad Inc., the industry leader in AI-powered communication and collaboration, has played a critical role in Blue Cliff College's successful transition to hybrid-remote learning over the past year. Blue Cliff College, a technical school with campuses located in Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana, has more than 100 employees that rely on Dialpad to help students continue their education without disruption. Blue Cliff College leverages Dialpad cloud communications solutions to keep its multiple campuses connected when on-premises phone systems were no longer a viable option. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Blue Cliff College sought a flexible cloud solution to facilitate the quick shift to remote and hybrid learning environments. The college found the right mix of reliability and ease of use with Dialpad's calling and conferencing technology to support this new working and learning environment. "With Dialpad, the business functions never stopped and the classes simply transitioned to online classes," said Jeremy Cumbie, information technology director, Blue Cliff College. "I don't think we actually had a down day - classes continued like nothing happened." Beyond the benefits for students, switching from a legacy, on-premises phone system to Dialpad saved Blue Cliff College thousands each month on conferencing while providing easy-to-use and high-quality video conferencing. "For me, the biggest thing was the telephone system," Cumbie continued. "We had an old, traditional system that looked similar in every location but was hosted by different companies. We didn't have anyone with any knowledge on how to manipulate the system, down to even resetting a voicemail password." Dialpad unified the school's disparate communictions into a single, accessible platform powered by Voice Intelligence (Vi).



Dialpad provides a secure conferencing platform for institutions to facilitate lectures, meetings and messages across multiple devices, backed by its proprietary, real-time Vi engine which provides live transcription of all calls, the ability to search past conversations, and powerful analytics. Now, Blue Cliff College automatically tracks how many calls are made to and from Admissions, and the success rate, rather than relying on manual note-taking. "The agents love that the Dialpad system tracks phone calls and text messages. Many of our agents began text messaging students through the Dialpad app, either on their cell phones or on the desktop, if they couldn't get them on the phone. As a result, connect rates have improved significantly and our agents absolutely love it," said Cumbie. With Dialpad, schools like Blue Cliff College have secure technology that protects their data in the cloud and enhances administrative experiences that take care of busy work so students, educators and university IT administrators can focus on what's important. Today, Blue Cliff College has built a robust and secure foundation for its campus-wide digital strategy with the help of Dialpad.

Additional Resources Read more about Azusa Pacific University's experience with Dialpad

Learn how Dialpad helped Blue Cliff College cut telephony costs & easily transitioned to remote work

See how technology is changing the future of higher education About Dialpad Dialpad is the leading cloud communications platform for AI-powered calling, conferencing and contact centers. Dialpad's proprietary, real-time Artificial Intelligence engine, Voice Intelligence (Vi), helps businesses make smarter decisions by giving real-time insights on every call. Built on the Google (News - Alert) Cloud Platform for unmatched security and reliability, Dialpad is easy to deploy, integrate and scale. Today, more than 70,000 of the world's most innovative businesses use Dialpad and its seamless integrations with Google Workspace, Hubspot, Microsoft (News - Alert) Office 365, Salesforce, Zendesk and others to allow every user to be more productive. Customers include Twitter, WeWork, Uber, Stripe, Netflix, Motorola (News - Alert) Solutions, Splunk and Domo. Dialpad is backed by the world's leading investors including Amasia, Andreessen Horowitz, Felicis Ventures, GV, ICONIQ Capital, OMERS Growth Equity, Salesforce Ventures, Scale Ventures, Section 32, SoftBank Corp. and Work-Bench. Visit www.dialpad.com for more information and to request a demo. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005291/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] DIGYMATEX to Host Webinar on the Impact of Digital Devices on Children's Development

AARHUS, Denmark, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The EU-funded DIGYMATEX Project will host a special webinar on Thursday, June 17, 2021 at 17:3018:45 CEST on the impact of digital devices on maturity in children and adolescents. The online event, "Growing Up on Screens  Rethinking How Children Mature In a Digital Age," will examine how parents, educators, and policymakers can assess and nurture digital maturity in the young people they care about and love. The webinar will host three world-renowned specialists in child and adolescent development, including: Prof. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang , University of Southern California

University of Prof. Halla B. Holmarsdottir, Oslo Metropolitan University

Oslo Metropolitan University Prof. Sonia Livingstone , London School of Economics and Political Science "Children today spend a lot of time on mobile devices from a very early age and we know that the technologies we use influence brain development and behavior," said DIGYMATEX project coordiator and webinar moderator Assoc. Prof. Marco Hubert of Aarhus University, Denmark. "During the COVID-19 pandemic, screen time rose sharply, making these questions even more urgent."



"Our expert guests will discuss what the psychosocial maturation process looks like in a world where young people live enormous portions of their lives on digital devices," Hubert added. The event provides an excellent opportunity for researchers, educators, policy makers, and parents to learn more about this hot topic. To register, click here.

The four-and-a- half-year DIGYMATEX Project aims to provide clear evidence of how the digital maturity of children aged 916 impacts their behaviour, together with how the use of these technologies impacts the well-being of children over time. The project applies an inter-disciplinary, multi-method approach by integrating and connecting expertise, methods and knowledge from different research areas such as business management, psychology, sociology, neuroscience, media and information systems. About DIGYMATEX DIGYMATEX is an EU-funded project working to develop evidence-based tools for understanding and assessing digital maturity in children and adolescents. The project is being funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme and is comprised of 12 partner organisations from leading universities, research institutions and technology companies in 10 countries. For more information and to register to the webinar, https://digymatex.eu. Contact Brandi S. Morris

Aarhus University

bsm@mgmt.au.dk

+45 4161 0308

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/digymatex-to-host-webinar-on-the-impact-of-digital-devices-on-childrens-development-301303684.html SOURCE DIGYMATEX

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 23:33:41|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

ZAGREB, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 variant first identified in India has been detected in Croatia, an epidemiologist from the Croatian Institute of Public Health confirmed on Wednesday.

"These are individual cases and there is no reason to panic," Iva Pem Novosel told national television HRT. All cases were detected in Split-Dalmatia County.

In Croatia, the dominant COVID-19 variant is the one first identified in the United Kingdom (UK). Novosel stressed that both variants are quite contagious and highly transmissible.

Croatian Health Minister Vili Beros said at the government session on Wednesday that the vaccination campaign in the country is progressing as planned.

"We have vaccinated 38.5 percent of the adult population. More than half a million people have been vaccinated with two doses," the minister said.

Croatia has a population of four million people.

The country continues to issue COVID Passports to Croatian citizens who have been vaccinated or who have recovered from the disease. By Tuesday evening, 30,000 citizens had received the certificates that enable safe international travel.

The minister noted that the number of new infections in the country is falling. A 40 percent drop in new cases has been registered week-on-week.

The Croatian Institute of Public Health reported 432 new COVID-19 cases in the country in the past 24 hours. As of Tuesday, 1,803,557 vaccine doses had been administered. A total of 1,293,847 people had received at least one dose and 509,710 both doses. Enditem
[June 02, 2021] EDP Partners with Vodafone Portugal and TechSee to Launch Visual Assistance for Customers and Field Technicians

The utility company is the first to recognize the CX value of Computer Vision AI and AR technology in the energy sector NEW YORK, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- EDP, one of Europe's largest utility and energy companies, has deployed Vodafone Visual Assistance, Vodafone Portugal's solution powered by TechSee in multiple EDP subsidiaries for their consumers and field technicians. The utility is leveraging the technology to enhance operational efficiencies, such as to better resolve customers' issues, and to carry out remote site surveys prior to the installation of solar panels. Vodafone Visual Support, powered by TechSee, enables consumers and technicians to receive augmented-reality based visual guidance through their smartphones, using a patented browser based technology. Thus, this solution allows agents' empowerment, decrease technical dispatches and is widely implemented in customer service centers of the leading global brands, and has delivered proven ROI with enhanced Customer Experience, improved margins and increased sales, as well as reduced service costs. This launch is an outgrowth of the successful global partnership between Vodafone Portugal and TechSee that started in 2016, which has reflected the use of TechSee results in significant KPI improvements, including increased First Call Resolutions, and improved Customer Satisfaction "We are excited to launch this new and innovative service, providing visual assistance to our end users for more efficient operations and enhanced customer experience."

- Jorge Simoes, EDP's Head of Digital Factory The EDP deployment is a result of a long-standing partnership between TechSee and Vodafone, which began in 2016. Following the technology's success in the telecom's customer service centers across 12 cuntries, Vodafone is now bringing TechSee's innovative technology to new industries, opening the door to a new range of services provided by telecommunications companies, from home support (B2C) to utility services (B2B). EDP is exploring the possibility of expanding Vodafone Visual Support to additional subsidiaries and other geolocations in the future.



"Vodafone Portugal is committed to providing EDP with an innovative contact center technology to further enhance an optimal customer experience. With Vodafone Visual Support our agents will be able to provide a more complete and efficient service that will lead to greater customer satisfaction." according to Mafalda Alves Dias, Vodafone Portugal's Head of Large & Public Sector. "We are excited to demonstrate the capabilities of our technology in the utilities sector, further extending our partnership with Vodafone and opening the door to new markets. TechSee continues to provide innovative visual assistance solutions, and Vodafone Visual Support is perfect for a range of industries."

- Ziv Orr, VP Business Development, TechSee

About Vodafone Vodafone is a leading telecommunications company in Europe and Africa. Our purpose is to connect for a better future and our expertise and scale gives us a unique opportunity to drive positive change for society. Our networks keep family, friends, businesses and governments connected and we play a vital role in keeping economies running and the functioning of critical sectors like education and healthcare. Vodafone is the largest mobile and fixed network operator in Europe and a leading global IoT connectivity provider. We operate mobile and fixed networks in 21 countries and partner with mobile networks in 48 more. As of 31 December 2020, we had over 300m mobile customers, more than 27m fixed broadband customers, over 22m TV customers and we connected more than 118m IoT devices. For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com, follow us on Twitter at @VodafoneGroup or connect with us on LinkedIn. About EDP EDP is a global, vertically integrated utility company, present in 20 countries, in 4 continents. With a strong focus on innovation and sustainability, EDP is the fourth largest wind energy producer in the world and almost 66% of the energy provided to its 11 million customers is produced from renewable resources. About TechSee TechSee is global leader in Visual Assistance technologies for the smart home. TechSee revolutionizes the customer service domain by providing the first intelligent visual support solution powered by artificial intelligence and augmented reality. TechSee empowers technical support teams across the globe to execute visual and interactive remote diagnoses and resolutions of problems. The company is building a massive database of interactions and resolutions to enable customers to experience rapid, fully automated, robotic visual resolution of technical issues via their smartphones. TechSee is headquartered in Tel Aviv with offices in New York and Madrid.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Equilar Partners With Agenda to Compile Directory of Diverse, Board-Ready Candidates

In response to continued efforts to add professionals from diverse backgrounds to public company boards of directors, Equilar, the leading provider of corporate leadership data solutions, has partnered with Agenda, the Financial Times' (News - Alert) publication for corporate board members, on the release of the Agenda Diversity 100, a list of pre-vetted and board-ready candidates from underrepresented demographic groups. The Agenda Diversity 100 utilizes the Equilar BoardEdge platform, which is bolstered by partnerships that encompass the Equilar Diversity Network, a "registry of registries" of board-ready executives from leading ethnic, LGBTQ and gender diversity organizations. "One of the biggest barriers to increased diversity on boards is the perception of a lack of qualified candidates from underrepresented groups," said David Chun, Founder and CEO of Equilar. "The Agenda Diversity 100 presents a go-to list of board-ready candidates, debunking the myth of the 'pipeline problem.' This directory shines a bright spotlight on exemplary individuals among the sea of qualified diverse candidates who will bring our boards into the next generation." "Diversifying boards, which have remained largely male and white in the United States, requires deliberate recruitment choices," said Melissa Anderson, Managing Editor for Agenda. "We know from our internal data that corporate directors are looking intently for board-ready candidates from groups that have been underrepresented in boardrooms. What sets this directory apart is the curation by our esteemed selection committee - a group consisting of directors on ble-chip boards, investors, former regulators and important voices from the corporate governance space - and the vetting done by our team of independent journalists."



Racial and ethnic minorities have been added to boards of directors in the U.S. at an increasing pace in recent years, yet they continue to be underrepresented by large factors in comparison to their share of the population and the workforce. Individuals representing racial and ethnic minorities now sit in nearly 20% of board seats at the largest U.S. companies by revenue, according to Equilar data. The individuals featured in the directory were nominated and confirmed by well-respected board directors and other governance experts to have the leadership and strategic skills necessary to add value to a board.

The report's definition of "diverse" is based on California's recently passed law AB 979, which requires boards of directors at publicly held companies to include at least one member of an "underrepresented community" by the end of 2021 and two or three members of those communities by the end of 2022, depending on the size of the board. The law defines underrepresented communities as the following groups: Black, African American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, Native Hawaiian, or Alaska Native, or [those] who self-identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. About the Agenda Diversity 100 The Agenda Diversity 100 is a directory of board-ready director candidates from groups historically underrepresented in the boardroom. The directory was curated by a selection committee consisting of board directors, investors and other corporate governance experts and each honoree was vetted by our team of independent journalists. Agenda is the Financial Times' publication for corporate board members. About the Equilar Diversity Network Launched in September 2016 to advance diverse representation in boardrooms across the globe, EDN now consists of more than 45 partner organizations and nearly 170,000 diverse board candidates, supplementing nearly one million candidate profiles already in the Equilar BoardEdge database. EDN is a consortium of leading diversity-focused organizations consolidating robust registries of board-ready executives into one searchable database. Since the Network was founded, more than 2,000 members across EDN partner organizations have been appointed to corporate boards. Equilar is the leading provider of corporate leadership data solutions. Companies of all sizes rely on Equilar for their most important business decisions, including 70% of the Fortune 500 and institutional investors representing over $20 trillion in assets. Equilar offers data-driven solutions for business development, recruiting, executive compensation and shareholder engagement that bring together business leaders to drive exceptional results. Founded in 2000, Equilar is cited regularly by Associated Press, Bloomberg (News - Alert), CNBC, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and other leading media outlets. Learn more at equilar.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005860/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] FileInvite Establishes US Headquarters in Colorado to Support Rapid Growth

DENVER, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- FileInvite, a document and data collection platform provider, founded in New Zealand, announced today it has selected Colorado as the location for its U.S. headquarters and will begin hiring to support its rapid growth in the North American market. As competitive pressures mount in the digital era, FileInvite helps businesses improve customer experience and increase productivity by simplifying the process of collecting documents and sharing information with customers. The platform provides an intuitive customer portal and automated workflows that enable users to digitally complete, sign and upload documents, send communications, and keep track of data requests. For organizations and teams including financial services, legal, academic enrollment and human resources, FileInvite increases operational speed and capacity, and reduces friction in the customer experience. Rapid Growth and Expansion FileInvite has experienced more than 100 percent revenue growth for each of the past four years, including 300 percent revenue growth in fiscal year 2020. With nearly half of FileInvite's client base in the U.S., located in more than 30 states, establishing a headquarters in the country will allow the company to better serve its U.S.-based clients and tap into the increasing demand for document collection solutions. "Our rapid growth demonstrates the need in the market for simple, yet impactful solutions like FileInvite," said James Sampson, CEO of FileInvite. "Our clients are saving countless hours and providing a superior customer experience by adopting FileInvite to collect and manage documents, rather than relying on email. We are looking forward to helping moe organizations in the U.S. embrace this competitive advantage."



Globally, over 90 percent of businesses with more than 10 employees use customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, but most are still using email to collect documents from their customers, making the market opportunity for FileInvite significant. After raising a total of $4.5 million NZD, the company is beginning its U.S. expansion ahead of an upcoming Series A funding round. Award-Winning Employer Hiring In Denver

FileInvite plans to locate its headquarters in the Denver area and is in the process of selecting office space. The company will begin hiring immediately, focusing initially on sales and marketing roles, with plans to bring more than 140 jobs to the state. Visit the FileInvite careers page for current openings at www.fileinvite.com/careers . "In order to support our growth, we knew we needed boots on the ground in the U.S. After careful consideration, we chose Colorado, primarily based on connectivity for flights and access to talent," said Ky Hacker, Vice President of Operations for FileInvite. "We are excited to continue to partner with U.S. businesses and to be a part of the growing tech community in Denver." FileInvite was recently recognized on the Matchstiq Top 50 list of the best tech companies and startups to work for in New Zealand. The company is excited to bring its "Kiwi" company culture and modern workplace philosophy to Colorado. With a hybrid workplace strategy, employees work remotely on personal productivity days and gather as a team in the office weekly for collaboration, brainstorming, decision making and team building. About FileInvite Founded in 2015, FileInvite helps businesses improve customer experience and increase productivity by simplifying the process of collecting documents and sharing information with customers. The SaaS platform provides an intuitive customer portal and automated workflows that enable users to digitally complete, sign and upload documents, send communications, and keep track of data requests. Built on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud using industry best practices, FileInvite is SOC2 compliant and meets the privacy and security requirements for handling sensitive customer data. For more information, please visit www.fileinvite.com . View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fileinvite-establishes-us-headquarters-in-colorado-to-support-rapid-growth-301303531.html SOURCE FileInvite

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] First-of-Its-Kind Study Uses Smartphone to Track Cystic Fibrosis in Real Life

Today, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation announced the initiation of the HERO-2: Home Reported Outcomes Study, a first-of-its-kind, at-home observational study that aims to characterize the range of outcomes people experience while using Trikafta (elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor). The study will rely on observations that individuals living with cystic fibrosis make about their health in their daily lives to understand the impact of Trikafta when taken in the real world. "Data from clinical studies suggest that Trikafta and other highly effective modulators have a transformative effect on pulmonary and nutritional outcomes of cystic fibrosis, yet we still have much to learn about how these therapies impact day-to-day life with CF," said Dr. Bruce Marshall, chief medical officer and senior vice president of clinical affairs for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. "Understanding real-world experiences with Trikafta will inform the continued evolution of CF care and aid in the prioritization of future research and support programs to meet the needs of people on modulators. We are grateful to our collaborators at Indiana University (News - Alert) School of Medicine and Folia Health for enabling this important research." For the first time in CF research, the HERO-2 study will empower individuals with CF to actively track their health and any changes they make to their daily therapies while on Trikafta through self-reported updates on the smartphone Folia Health app. Participants will use the app to enter weekly updates on their treatment use and symptoms and complete monthly check-ins over the course of 12 months. Utilizing remote data entry through an app provides a novel way to measure outcomes in CF and learn about how personalizing daily care works in the real world. The study design was developed by an interdisciplinary group of patients and caregivers, clinicians, scientists, and information technologists over a period of over eight months, where they focused on ways to ensure the design would work for the widest group of patients and families.



People ages 12 or older living with cystic fibrosis, who are taking Trikafta are eligible to participate. The HERO-2 study is being conducted by Indiana University School of Medicine with funding from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The app powering the study was developed by digital health company Folia Health, and the data will be linked to the CF Foundation's Patient Registry, a robust database that informs research and care of CF.

To learn more about virtual participation and see details about the study protocol visit to the CF Foundation's Clinical Trials Finder and www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04798014). About the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is the world's leader in the search for a cure for cystic fibrosis. The Foundation funds more CF research than any other organization, and nearly every CF drug available today was made possible because of Foundation support. Based in Bethesda, Md., the Foundation also supports and accredits a national care center network that has been recognized by the National Institutes of Health as a model of care for a chronic disease. To advance its mission in finding a cure for all people living with cystic fibrosis, the CF Foundation launched its $500 million Path to a Cure initiative. This ambitious research agenda aims to accelerate the next generation of transformative CF therapies and deliver a treatment for every person with CF. The CF Foundation is a donor-supported nonprofit organization. For more information, visit cff.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005193/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Generational Equity Advises Brown & Jones Reporting in its Sale to Veritext

Generational Equity, a leading mergers and acquisitions advisor for privately held businesses, is pleased to announce the sale of its client, Brown & Jones Reporting, Inc. to Veritext Legal Solutions. The acquisition closed May 3, 2021. Located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Brown & Jones Reporting (BJR) provides professional and experienced court reporters for depositions of all types, arbitrations, public hearings, corporate meetings, and seminars. The Company's certified court reporters use the latest technology to satisfy client needs accurately, promptly, and cost effectively. Veritext Legal Solutions (Veritext), headquartered in Livingston, New Jersey, is the North American leader in deposition and litigation support solutions with a proven track record of industry excellence. Under the Veritext umbrella, Brown & Jones is positioned to bring clients unsurpassed expertise in remote proceedings and new technologies (including paperless exhibit sharing, instant scheduling features, and a powerful online repository), as well as unmatched-in-the-industry HIPAA and PII compliant data security. Veritext's scale also means that as the world fully reopens post-pandemic, Brown & Jones clients will have access to more than 130 brick and mortar locations throughout North America equipped with state-of-the-art deposition suites. Generational quity Executive Managing Director of M&A - Central Region, Michael Goss, and his team lead by Managing Director Mergers & Acquisitions, Stephen Dinehart, with support from Managing Director Mergers & Acquisition, Ryan Johnson, successfully closed the deal. Senior Managing Director Rick Buchoz established the initial relationship with BJR.



"BJR's partnership with Veritext is a winning deal for all parties," said Dinehart. "It benefits BJR's clients and creates increased opportunity for BJR employees and independent contractors. This will give the owners of BJR peace of mind that they are transitioning the business into a venerable market presence." About Generational Equity

Generational Equity, Generational Capital Markets (member FINRA/SIPC), Generational Wealth Advisors, Generational Consulting Group, and DealForce are part of the Generational Group, which is headquartered in Dallas and is one of the leading M&A advisory firms in North America. With over 250 professionals located throughout North America, the companies help business owners release the wealth of their business by providing growth consulting, merger, acquisition, and wealth management services. Their six-step approach features strategic and tactical growth consulting, exit planning education, business valuation, value enhancement strategies, M&A transactional services, and wealth management. The M&A Advisor named the company the 2017 and 2018 Investment Banking Firm of the Year and Valuation Firm of the Year in 2020. For more information, visit https://www.genequityco.com/ or the Generational Equity press room. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005116/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Huma invests in Pluto Health to advance data interoperability in the US

LONDON and NEW YORK, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Huma, the fastest growing healthcare company in Europe[1], has invested in Duke University spin-out, Pluto Health, a company empowering individuals to find, integrate and auto-synch their medical records and data across different health systems, pharmacies and labs. Patricia Bradley, Head of Commercial, U.S., explained: "This is a powerful partnership for patients. The combination of Huma's patient-generated data and Pluto's health industry data enables us to move from a 'Polaroid' picture of the patient, to a live 360-degree video with sound. This combination of traditional and patient-generated data is a complete game changer for research and care." Huma's health technology platform is transforming research and care. The modular, disease, device and cloud-agnostic platform enables rapid configurations for hospital-at-home, peri-op, companion-app and decentralized clinical trials solutions. The company also has national contracts for its 'hospital at home' service that allows clinicians to remotely care for patients with Covid-19, long-term conditions or who are awaiting surgery. Dr Joy Bhosai, Founder and CEO of Pluto Health, and former Chief Digital Officer of the Duke Clinical Research Institute, said: "The US leads the world in the number of digital trials, but that data is siloed. Patients can't access it, hospitals can't access it, and researchers can't access it. We are breaking those barriers, enabling people to access their data in minutes and increasing interoperability. We're in it for the long haul - even if a study ends, or patients switch health providers, patients contrl their own data. We know this is about trust, we don't share any medical information without permission and we do all this while being HIPAA, HITECH, HITRUST and FDA CFR compliant."



CEO and Founder of Huma, Dan Vahdat, said: "As we expand into the US, this is an important partnership to empower individuals with their own information, while simultaneously advancing research and care. It's partnerships like this one that bring our world closer to the promise of proactive, predictive care." About Huma

Huma is a global health technology company that exists to help people live longer, fuller lives. Our modular platform powers decentralized care and research, including RPM, peri-op, companion apps, DCTs, and more. We use digital biomarkers, predictive algorithms and real-world data from continuous patient monitoring using mobile devices to create hospitals at home and decentralized clinical trials. Our 'hospitals at home' help care for Covid-19 patients across the UK's NHS, Germany, and the UAE  evidence shows they can double clinical capacity, reduce readmission rates by a third, and reduce costs while providing safe, high-quality care. We offer Covid-19 digital services, not-for-profit, to national governments in support of the fight against the pandemic and have shipped over a million devices that compliment our 'hospitals at home' to help power them. We are using this same technology platform to support Covid-19 vaccine initiatives and research projects in the US and EU. www.huma.com About Pluto Pluto Health is a patient-centered platform that allows health systems and research organizations to empower people to access and better manage their health and financial data. Pluto Health provides access to about 90% of healthcare institutions across the US, amounting to about 280 million patient records[2]. Adhering to stringent privacy and security standards, the consumer-friendly platform is the first data aggregation platform to combine health records, claims data, payment features and personalized consumer insights into one platform. The company was co-founded by healthcare technology industry veterans CEO Dr. Satasuk "Joy" Bhosai, MD MPH and CTO Guruprasad "Guru" Kora. A UCSF Medical, Yale Public Health alumna, Duke physician, and Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Bhosai previously co-founded a health technology group that made tools used in operating rooms and ICUs around the world. She also served as Chief of Digital Health and Strategy for Duke Clinical Research Institute and Associate Director of Duke Innovations in Healthcare. Kora previously was part of the founding team of widely used R statistical programming, the high-performance computing team for the Human Genome Project, and co-founded three health analytics companies which eventually exited to Verana Health/Google Ventures and two health networks. https://huma.com/Huma-FT1000-Press-Release.pdf As of March 2021 Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1427908/Huma_Logo.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1497077/Pluto_Logo.jpg

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Iberdrola acquires the first 1,000 Supernova fast chargers from Wallbox

MADRID, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Iberdrola is acquiring the first Supernova fast chargers from the electric vehicle smart charging manufacturer Wallbox, that it will install globally, in the markets in which it operates. This agreement was announced by the Chairman of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galan, and the Co-Founder and CEO of Wallbox, Enric Asuncion, at the commissioning of the first prototype of this charge point at the energy company's headquarters in Madrid. With this agreement, Iberdrola continues to accelerate its investment plan in electric mobility in the world and also supports a new line of business driven by Wallbox, fast recharging on public roads, therefore contributing to the growth of its investee. Iberdrola has been a shareholder of Wallbox since June 2019 in its new stage of expansion in the smart electric charging market. At the launch of the first Supernova, Ignacio Galan, Chairman of Iberdrola, underlined "the need to work with determination to achieve an emission-free economy, creating development opportunities for our industry and generating new quality jobs. The agreement deepens the ties between a technology company, such as Wallbox, with a global energy leader such as Iberdrola, and reaffirms our commitment to put all our resources and knowledge at the service of a more sustainable society". Enric Asuncion, co-founder and CEO of Wallbox, commented: "This agreement inaugurates an important stage for the growth of Wallbox in the public fast recharging segment and we could not be prouder that it is hand-in-hand with Iberdrola. After years collaborating in the residential recharging sector and thousands of Wallbox chargers installed, they are now also betting on our cutting-edge technology in public recharging." Supernova has a power output of 60 kW that gives electric vehicles a range of 100 km in a recharge time of just 15 minutes. Its modular design makes it very energy efficient and suited to mass production, helping to speed up the deployment of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles on public roads. Supernova is easy to install and maintain, making it very competitive for the sector. The Supernova will be produced for the European market during the second half of the year in Wallbox's new sustainable factory, which will employ 350 people in Barcelona's Zona Franca. In April, Iberdrola and Wallbox reached a long-term on-site Power Purchase Agreement to produce, consume and reuse energy from the production of this plantand its offices in Barcelona's Zona Franca.



Iberdrola's investment will equip the Wallbox factory with photovoltaic solar panels that will produce 1,500 MWh/year for self-consumption, equivalent to the consumption of 500 homes. Under the alliance, Wallbox will meet its objective of operating with energy independence in its facilities and reduce its carbon footprint, putting itself at the forefront of productive energy management by supplying itself mainly with solar energy.

10,000 chargers for residential use The agreement reached between the two companies in the field of fast recharging on public roads complements the purchases of up to 10,000 chargers made by Iberdrola from Wallbox in recent years for residential use; a segment in which the provider of electric vehicle charging technology solutions is one of the world leaders. The Pulsar and Pulsar Plus units from Wallbox are part of the deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure being developed by Iberdrola, which involves installing 150,000 charge points by 2025, both on public roads and in companies and for individuals. In line with its strategy of accelerating investment to drive the energy transition, Iberdrola has awarded contracts worth 50 million euros to 20 small and medium-sized companies in 11 autonomous regions in recent months to install charge points and fast, super-fast and ultra-fast charging solutions in Spain. These contracts will create jobs for 200 people. Iberdrola is helping to raise the profile of the infrastructure installation industry and charge solutions for electric vehicles, acting as a driving force in the value chain in future sectors and contributing to the recovery of the economy and job market. The company also continues to promote sustainability criteria among its suppliers, as it has required environmental, social and governance (ESG) compliance levels from all of them. Electric mobility and green recovery Iberdrola continues to push its stance on transport electrification as part of its strategy for a decarbonised economy, as a key factor in reducing emissions and city pollution, as well as for a green recovery in the post-Covid world. The company is deploying a sustainable mobility plan, with an investment of 150 million euros, with which it will intensify the deployment of charge points for electric vehicles in the coming years. The initiative entails installing approximately 150,000 charging points in homes, companies and on the public road network in cities, as well as on the main motorways over the coming years. The commitment to deploying high-efficiency charging points will include the company installing ultra-rapid (350 kW) charging points, super-rapid points (150 kW), and rapid (50 kW) points. Iberdrola is aware of the need to boost electric mobility in Spain through coordinated, effective action involving the major players. In this regard, the company has already completed more than 50 infrastructure deployment agreements with administrations, institutions, companies, service stations, dealers and electric vehicle manufacturers. It was the first Spanish company to sign up to The Climate Group's EV100 initiative, with the aim of accelerating the transition to electric vehicles, committing to electrify its entire fleet of vehicles and facilitate charging for staff in its businesses in Spain and the UK by 2030. About Iberdrola

Iberdrola is a leading global energy supplier -the third-largest by market capitalisation in the world and the leader in renewables, championing the energy transition towards a low-emissions economy. The group supplies energy to around 100 million people in dozens of countries and has renewable, grid and commercial activities in Europe (Spain, the UK, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy and Greece), the US, Brazil, Mexico and Australia, while counting Japan, Ireland, Sweden and Poland among its growth market platforms. With a workforce of more than 37,000 and assets of over 122 billion, it recorded turnover in excess of 33 billion and net profit slightly exceeding 3.61 billion in 2020. The company contributes to the maintenance of 400,000 jobs in its supply chain, with annual purchases of 14 billion euros. A leader in the fight against climate change, Iberdrola has committed more than 120 billion over the last two decades to building a sustainable energy model based on sound environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles. About Wallbox

Wallbox is a global company dedicated to changing the way energy is used in the electric vehicle industry. Wallbox creates intelligent charging systems that combine innovative technology with outstanding design and manage communication between the vehicle, the grid, the building and the charger. Wallbox offers a complete portfolio of charging and energy management solutions for residential and semi-public use in more than 60 countries, and will soon start marketing public charging solutions as well. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Barcelona, Wallbox's mission is to facilitate the adoption of electric vehicles today to make more sustainable use of energy in the future. The company employs more than 500 people in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Contact:

Colleen Robar

313-207-5960

crobar@robarpr.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/iberdrola-acquires-the-first-1-000-supernova-fast-chargers-from-wallbox-301303706.html SOURCE Wallbox

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] iQ Academy Minnesota Celebrates Class of 2021 With Commencement Ceremony

iQ Academy Minnesota (iQMN), an accredited, full and part-time online public school program of Independent School District No. 544 (Fergus Falls) serving K-12 students statewide, will celebrate the Class of 2021 with both in-person and virtual commencement ceremonies on Friday, June 4, 2021. "I'm beyond impressed by how strong-willed and tough-minded our students have been throughout this unprecedented year," said iQMN Head of School Theresa Gallagher. "All of their hard work has led to this moment and I'm thrilled to be able to celebrate all that this group has achieved. Congrats to the Class of 2021!" This year, iQMN will graduate 43 students. Graduating seniors have been accepted to trade schools, colleges and universities across the country. Prior to the pandemic, students enrolled in virtual school for a number of reasons-some were looking to escape bullying, some may have fallen academically off track, and others were looking for an alternative to the traditional classroom setting. iQMN students access a robust online curriculum in the core subjects and a host of electives and attend live virtual classes taught by state-certified teachers. Details of the graduation ceremony are as follows:







WHAT: iQ Academy Minnesota 2021 Graduation Ceremony

WHEN: Friday, June 4th, 2021 | 7 PM CST

WHERE: In-person: Kennedy Secondary School 601 Randolph Ave, Fergus Falls, MN 56537 | Virtual (link available upon request)

About Minnesota Virtual Academy iQ Academy Minnesota (iQMN) is an accredited, full- and part-time online public school program of Independent School District No. 544 (Fergus Falls), serving students statewide in grades K through 12 throughout the state. As part of the Minnesota public school system, iQ Academy Minnesota is tuition-free and gives parents and families the choice to access the engaging curriculum and tools provided by K12, a Stride Company (NYSE: LRN). Stride offers learners of all ages a more effective way to learn and build their skills for the future. For more information about iQMN, visit mn.iqacademy.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005003/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] IsZo Capital Updates Fellow Shareholders on its Campaign for Boardroom Change at Nam Tai

IsZo Capital Management LP (together with its affiliates, "IsZo"), which beneficially owns approximately 13.1% of the outstanding shares of Nam Tai Property Inc. (NYSE: NTP) ("Nam Tai" or the "Company"), today provided two notable updates pertaining to its efforts to reconstitute the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board"). First, IsZo secured alternative financing for potentially covering Nam Tai's debt. Second, the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal (the "Court of Appeal") scheduled Nam Tai's appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court's (the "Court") ruling against the Company, Kaisa Group Holdings Limited's (HKG: 1638) ("Kaisa") wholly-owned subsidiary Greater Sail Limited and West Ridge Investment Company Limited for June 14-16, 2021. Brian Sheehy, Founder and Managing Member of IsZo, commented: "We are very gratified that nearly 60% of Nam Tai's outstanding shares voted to remove the Kaisa-affiliated directors who breached their fiduciary duties and install our slate prior to the Court of Appeal's stay going into effect. It is clear to us that the market has embraced our director candidates and their plans for unlocking the intrinsic value of the Company's assets. As evidence, Nam Tai's shares are up more than 700% since our campaign began in 2020. We believe the market has removed the 'Kaisa discount' that weighed down Nam Tai's shares for far too long. The fact that we have now secured financing commitments and letters of intent from three China-based banks should also put to rest any concerns stoked by Nam Tai about purported financing risks associated with a reconstitution of the Board. Our slate has lined up ample financing in the event Nam Tai's lending banks decide to pull their loans. IsZo and its slate look forward to a new day at Nam Tai." Alternative Financing Secured by IsZo IsZo and its director candidates know that Nam Tai's relationships with itslending banks are valuable. This is why we intend to have the Company honor all of the terms and obligations under its existing loan agreements. Unfortunately, Nam Tai has gone out of its way to suggest that the Company's lending banks will recall their loans if the Board is reconstituted. Nam Tai has even suggested that the Company would face bankruptcy risks if our slate was elected at the requisitioned meeting of shareholders (the "Special Meeting").



This is why we have obtained financing commitments, via formal letters of intent, from three separate Chinese banks. The three China-based banks that we obtained letters of intent from collectively have more than $2 trillion (over 13 trillion RMB) in assets. Our slate is fully prepared to help Nam Tai maintain a strong financial position and ample liquidity. By doing so, a reconstituted Board and rebuilt management team can have the runway necessary to unlock the estimated $40 per share of value trapped inside Nam Tai's portfolio.

Appeal Hearing Scheduled to Commence on June 14, 2021 As previously disclosed, Nam Tai has appealed the Court's ruling against the Company, Kaisa's wholly-owned subsidiary Greater Sail Limited and West Ridge Investment Company Limited. The Court's ruling voided Nam Tai's $170 million private placement and required the Company to hold the Special Meeting requisitioned by approximately 40% of the Company's shareholders. The appeal will be heard by the Court of Appeal from June 14th - 16th. The full transcript from the hearing will be posted to www.FixNTP.com once it is available. The Court of Appeal previously granted a stay that adjourned the Court-ordered Special Meeting. The stay will remain in place until Nam Tai's appeal regarding the validity of the private placement is heard and decided. The Court's restrictions on Nam Tai, including prohibiting the Company from carrying out significant transactions without first providing notice to IsZo, also remain in place until the appeal is decided. Notably, the Court of Appeal was informed prior to granting the stay that of the shareholders who had already voted on the Special Meeting proposals, nearly 97% of shareholders excluding Kaisa had voted to reconstitute the Board with IsZo's highly-qualified director candidates. IsZo looks forward to Nam Tai's shareholders finally having their voices heard. *** Shareholders interested in learning more should contact our solicitor, Saratoga Proxy Consulting, at info@saratogaproxy.com or (212) 257-1311. We also encourage shareholders to learn more about our slate and sign up for important updates by visiting www.FixNTP.com. *** View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005606/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] It's Time to Celebrate the Students! Ohio Virtual Academy Class of 2021 Never Stopped Moving Forward

After a school year like no other, Ohio Virtual Academy (OHVA), an online public school serving K-12 students throughout the state since 2002, will celebrate its graduates with four virtual commencement ceremonies and six regional in-person Senior Spotlights throughout the state for students and families that would like to attend. All four virtual ceremonies will be Saturday, June 5th and the Senior Spotlights will be Friday, June 11th. In the age of COVID, note that these Spotlights are not ceremonies, but rather safe, distant, and individual time slots for students to recognized by staff in-person. There is no requirement or obligation to attend. "While other schools may have struggled with online learning throughout the year, OHVA never missed a day of instruction, which kept our students motivated, excited, and moving forward," said OHVA Head of School Dr. Kristin Stewart. "Their achievements deserve to be shouted from the top of Campbell Hill, and we're happy to provide a range of solutions to help all our OHVA families." This year, OHVA will graduate nearly 1,000 students. Approximately 200 students will graduate with a cumulative GPA above 3.5 and nearly $1.8 million worth of college scholarships have reportedly been awarded to the Class of 2021. Collectively, the graduating class reports it has been accepted to colleges and universities across Ohio and beyond, including the Ohio State University, the University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University, Purdue University (News - Alert) , Marshall University, and Arizona State University. Brandon Clark is OHVA's 2021 valedictorian and has been accepted into several universities for the fall, including the Ohio State Universit and Miami University. Addison Emig is the class salutatorian and will attend Wright State University in the fall. The keynote speaker will be Kristin Fox, a mother of two and assistant high school principal from Poland, Ohio, who overcame daunting medical challenges to come back stronger than ever.



Prior to the pandemic, students enrolled in virtual school for a number of reasons-some were looking to escape bullying, some may have fallen academically off track, and others were looking for an alternative to the traditional classroom setting. OHVA students access a robust online curriculum in the core subjects and a host of electives and attend live virtual classes taught by state-certified teachers.

OHVA, and the school's mascot, Cardy, are inviting all families and friends worldwide to join the celebration. Details of the graduation ceremonies are as follows: WHAT: Ohio Virtual Academy 2021 Graduation Ceremony WHEN: 8th Grade Recognition Ceremony - Friday, June 4th, 2021 WHEN: 12th Grade Graduation Ceremony - Saturday, June 5, 2021, 10:00 AM (Last Names A-E), 12:30 PM (Last Names F-K), 3:00 PM (Last Names L-R) and 5:30 PM (Last Names S-Z). CONTACT: For any questions about the celebrations, please contact the school at 419-482-0948. For media inquiries, please contact Ken Schwartz at kschwartz@k12.com. About Ohio Virtual Academy Ohio Virtual Academy (OHVA) is an accredited, full-time online public charter school authorized by the Ohio Council of Community Schools (OCCS) that serves students in grades K through 12. As part of the Ohio public school system, OHVA is tuition-free and provides families the choice to access the curriculum and tools provided by K12, a Stride Company (NYSE: LRN). Stride offers learners of all ages a more effective way to learn and build skills for their future. For more information about OHVA, visit ohva.k12.com and follow on Facebook. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005001/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 23:34:43|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

HARARE, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's struggling airline Air Zimbabwe resumed domestic flights on Wednesday after a one-and-half year break due to operational challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new Embraer (ERJ145) aircraft which was acquired by the government to expand and balance Air Zimbabwe's fleet made its maiden domestic journey from Harare to Victoria Falls via Bulawayo.

Air Zimbabwe spokesperson Firstme Vitori said the Embraer aircraft will ply the Harare-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls route four times a week.

The Embraer services short to medium range distances which is efficient unlike in the past when the airline used long-boarded aircraft to service short-range domestic routes.

"We are deploying the Embraer (ERJ145) whose capacity is best suited for this route as we begin to rebuild a feeder into the regional network," she said.

"The resumption of domestic flights is expected to bring convenience to the business community and a boost to the tourism sector," she said.

She said amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Air Zimbabwe would continue to ensure strict adherence to all prevention protocols as guided by the International Air Transport Association, World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health and Childcare, to ensure the safety of both passengers and crew members.

Air Zimbabwe had initially planned to resume additional flights from March 28, but the plan did not work out.

Air Zimbabwe, which is saddled with huge legacy debts, is rebuilding and has acquired the EJR145 and two long-haul aircraft B777-200s from Malaysia. Enditem
[June 02, 2021] Local 49 Hosts Hands-On Heavy Equipment Training Event for High School Students Across the State

Fall enrollment is now open for the Operating Engineers Career Pathway program, managed by the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49, who recently hosted high school students from across the state for a hands-on heavy equipment training opportunity at the Local 49 Training & Apprenticeship Center in Hinckley, MN. The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49 and Minnesota Virtual Academy (MNVA) have partnered with school districts across the state to offer the Operating Engineers Career Pathway Program to high school students. This program gives students the opportunity to enroll in online elective courses that are designed to introduce them to the heavy equipment industry. Students also have the opportunity to receive hands-on experience operating equipment at the Local 49 Training Center. "I think it's just really important that people see that this as a job where you can grow and learn. You're not stuck. You have to think on your feet every day and working with your hands and it keeps your brain active all day long," said Catherine Ludowese, an Operating Engineers Career Pathway Instructor. At an event on May 22nd, the first group of students enrolled in the program that were able to participate in hands-on training by driving loaders, moving dirt, practicing on simulators, and learning proper safety techniques. In the first cohort, there were students from more than 39 counties and 66 school districts across Minnesota. Of thse students, an impressive 15 percent were female, representing the unions efforts to increase diverse representation in the heavy equipment industry.



"My dad is a crane operator and so I want to be a crane operator when I'm older. I learned a lot through this experience, and it gave me a sense of what it would really be like to be a heavy equipment operator," said Sage Stuber, a student who went through the training in late May. Local 49 receives no funding for the pathway program which as an investment in our youth and future workforce. However, state lawmakers understand the significance of this opportunity and are seeking ways to offset the budgetary impacts to school districts when students enroll in the program and become a shared student. As part of this legislative session, a bipartisan group of legislators is pursuing state funding to support programs like this. Funding proposals authored by Representatives Dave Lislegard (DFL-Aurora) and Rob Ecklund (DFL-International Falls) and Senators Justin Eichorn (R-Grand Rapids) and Eric Pratt (R-Shakopee) are still under consideration during final budget negotiations at the Minnesota Capitol.

Enrollment is now open for students across the state to participate in the Operating Engineers Pathway Program for the 2021-2022 school year. Students are not required to be full-time students at MNVA to participate and may elect to do so through their home district. To learn more, visit the Local 49 website or send any questions to Sheena Shoemaker, MNVA Career Readiness Education Assistant Coordinator, by emailing sshoemaker@k12.com. All students and families are encouraged to apply before August 30th, 2021, to ensure there is room in the program. About Local Operating Engineers The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49 is the largest construction union in Minnesota and represents 14,000 members in many different industries related to infrastructure and construction throughout Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. For more information visit www.local49.org About Minnesota Virtual Academy Minnesota Virtual Academy (MNVA) is a tuition-free online public-school program of Houston Public Schools that serves students in grades K through 12. A Minnesota Department of Education-approved provider of online education, MNVA gives parents and families the choice to access the curriculum and tools provided by K12, a Stride company (NYSE: LRN). Stride offers learners of all ages a more effective way to learn and build their skills for the future. For more information about MNVA, visit mnva.k12.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005780/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Lockheed Martin to Help NASA Uncover Mysteries of Venus with VERITAS and DAVINCI+ Spacecraft

DENVER, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- To learn more about how terrestrial planets evolve over time, NASA selected the VERITAS and DAVINCI+ missions for its Discovery Program, both bound for Venus. Lockheed Martin will design, build and operate both spacecraft. The missions will launch in 2026 and 2030 respectively, and will combine to study Venus' dense atmosphere, topography and geologic processes in great depth. Both missions will aim to discover how Venus  which may have been the first potentially habitable planet in our solar system  became inhospitable to life. They represent NASA's return to Earth's sister planet after more than three decades. "We're very grateful for this opportunity to work with NASA and the missions' principal investigators to fully understand how rocky planets evolved and what it means for our planet, Earth," said Lisa Callahan, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin's Commercial Civil Space business. "Our team who designed these two spacecraft to study Venus in unprecedented detail  and yield answers to its greatest mysteries  is beyond excited!" The operations and science for DAVINCI+  which stands for Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gases, Chemistry and Imaging Plus  will be managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. VERITAS  which stands for Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography & Spectroscopy  will have its science and operations managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Why Does Venus Matter?

Though scientists believe it was once similar to our home planet, Venus evolved to be much different  and far less habitable  than Earth. As Earth's own climate and geology evolve, interest in returning to Venus has surged because the planet currently suffers from a runaway greenhouse gas effect. Over millennia, water that may have once existed on Venus' surface evaporated and carbon dioxide built up in the atmosphere  leading to a present-day surface temperature that's hot enough to melt lead. Previous missions to Venus have even provided tantalizing clues that the planet may have once harbored a liquid ocean. DAVINCI+ and VERITAS will build on those findings, helping scientists better understand the existence of past life on Venus and how its atmosphere and geology may have influenced its ultimate outcome. Science from these missions could provide clues about Earth's own future and will also help inform future missions to the planet. Studying Venus' Geology with VERITAS

As an orbiter that draws on heritage from the Lockheed Martin-built MAVEN spacecraft at Mars, VERITAS will give scientists the most detailed maps ever produced of Venus' obscured landscape.



When VERITAS arrives at Venus, the orbiter will use a special technique called aerobraking to carefully insert itself into an optimal science position in the planet's orbit. As the spacecraft circles Venus in four cycles near the planet's poles, two extremely sensitive imagers will capture things like volcanic activity, tectonics and outgassing of any life-related compounds like water or carbon.

Measuring Venus' Atmosphere with DAVINCI+

Part orbiter and part probe, the DAVINCI+ spacecraft will provide a look into Venus' atmosphere in unprecedented detail. When it arrives at Venus, the DAVINCI+ spacecraft will jettison a probe to the planet's surface. As it descends, three instruments will take the first-ever live measurements from inside Venus's atmosphere  assessing gases, material composition, temperature and pressure. A camera on board will also snap the most detailed images ever taken of Venus' hidden surface, which is obscured by thick, noxious clouds. Legacy of Planetary Exploration

VERITAS and DAVINCI+ are the eighth and ninth NASA Discovery Program missions Lockheed Martin has been part of. Previously, the company has: Developed the Lunar Prospector spacecraft

Designed and built the aeroshell entry system for Mars Pathfinder

Designed, built and operated the spacecraft for the Stardust missions

Designed, built and operated the Genesis spacecraft

Designed, built and operated the two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft

Designed, built and operated the InSight Mars lander

Designed, built and will operate the Lucy mission to Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, set to launch in October 2021 NASA's Discovery Program-class missions are capped at a specific, relatively low cost. They are managed for NASA's Planetary Science Division by the Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The missions are also designed and led by a principal investigator, who assembles a team of scientists and engineers to address key science questions about the solar system. Over 50 years, Lockheed Martin has helped NASA explore every planet of our solar system, and continues to develop new technologies for future space missions. The company also supported NASA on Magellan, the agency's prior mission to Venus 30 years ago. Lockheed Martin built that spacecraft, which produced the first ever maps of Venus' surface from orbit. Now, the team builds on that legacy of discovery with DAVINCI+ and VERITAS. About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) 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. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lockheed-martin-to-help-nasa-uncover-mysteries-of-venus-with-veritas-and-davinci-spacecraft-301304534.html SOURCE Lockheed Martin

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Martello Launches Global Partner Program Enabling Microsoft 365 Digital Experience Monitoring Services for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

New partner LDI joins to offer unique Microsoft 365 and Teams digital experience monitoring to its more than 7,000 clients. OTTAWA, ON, June 2, 2021 /CNW/ - Martello Technologies Group Inc., ("Martello" or the "Company") (TSXV: MTLO), a leading developer of enterprise digital experience monitoring ("DEM") solutions announces the launch of its channel partner program and welcomes partner LDI to the program. Martello's partner program allows managed service providers (MSPs) and value-added resellers (VARs) to bring the benefits of Martello's Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams digital experience monitoring platform to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). LDI, a New York-based leader in the supply, sale and service of digital office technology with more than 7,000 small and medium sized enterprise customers, has joined the program. Martello's partner program, which includes training, automated service-level agreement (SLA) management and co-marketing is designed to help partners provide value added services with complete visibility of Microsoft 365 and cloud/hybrid service delivery. Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams are now widely used by businesses, but limited visibility into cloud service performance and the complexity of hybrid service delivery create challenges managing solution performance and user experience. This partner program creates a significant opportunity for partners in the global Microsoft ecosystem to provide more value to their customers, centered on delivering user experience monitoring and optimization to enhance their SLA offers. Microsoft partners are crucial providers of Microsoft 365 to SMEs that account for more than 60% of the global workforce. There are more than one million enterprises using Microsoft 365 globally, and Gartner forecasts that by 2024, 50% of them will use a third-party software tool to monitor the Microsoft 365 experience, up from less than 10% in 2020. Partners at any stage of cloud maturity, supported by a dedicated Martello partner manager, can easily improve their Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams customer offering and develop new revenue streams with Martello digital experience monitoring and optimization. The partner program is expected to increase the number of Microsoft users on Martello's DEM platform through FY22. LDI provides digital office technology to 7,000 clients in over 30 states. Their clients operate in the legal, accounting, higher education, not for profit and healthcare sectors and typically have 150-300 employees. Throughout their 20 years in business, LDI has evolved to meet the needs of their clients, and today they have developed a strong ecosystem of vendors that allow them to bring unique value to cloud communications and managed IT services: "Partnering with Martello Technologies brings us unique new tools to differentiate from competitors and drive additional services revenue as part of our collaboration and communication offering to clients", said Robert Handel, Senior Director of LDI Cloud Services. "Martello's DEM solutions strengthen the world-class service we bring to our clients, by enabling our team and our clients to proactively view, monitor and resolve issues related to Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams performance and user experience." "We've built a partner program that will give any Microsoft partner a simple and cost-effective path to revenue from value-added digital experience monitoring and optimization services", said Mike Danforth, VP global sales and partnerships at Martello. "The small and medium enterprises who rely on these trusted advisors can now achieve the benefits enjoyed by large enterprises using Martello DEM to reduce downtime, improve employee productivity and maximize their return on the Microsoft 365 investment". Martello DEM for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams Martello's DEM solutions monitor the performance and user experiece for Microsoft 365, with a focus on the popular Microsoft Teams video conferencing application, which is used by more than 500,000 businesses globally. Synthetic transaction monitoring of Microsoft 365 and Teams provides pre-event alerting of performance issues, together with correlation of performance and status data from integrated IT service monitoring tools and cloud platforms including AWS and Google Cloud. Together, these capabilities provide unique insight into the entire IT infrastructure supporting Microsoft 365 performance from end-to-end. Martello will strengthen this offering in 2021 for the partners in its program with real user monitoring, which monitors actual user activity, regardless of where the user is located, and active network path monitoring, which provides a clearer picture of the network path taken by every Microsoft action.



Partners interested in joining the partner program can reach Martello's partner team at partners@martellotech.com. Related Resources

Martello Partner Program: Define the next level of Microsoft 365 and Cloud hybrid services.

Become a Martello Partner

Contact the Martello Partner Success Team

Webinar: Elevating Microsoft 365 Managed Services with Martello

'Work from Anywhere' DEM Solutions About LDI

LDI is a technology company celebrating more than 20 years as a leading provider in the supply, sale and service of digital office solutions. LDI integrates the core capabilities of multifunction devices, managed print, production print, Managed IT Services, Pro AV and Unified Communications to solve business challenges. LDI enjoys direct relationships with the world's most respected manufacturers and employs a consultative approach to enable our clients to evolve with emerging technologies. Learn more at myLDI.com. About Martello Technologies Group

Martello Technologies Group Inc. (TSXV: MTLO) is a technology company that provides digital experience monitoring (DEM) solutions. The company's products provide monitoring and analytics on the performance and user experience of critical cloud business applications, while giving IT teams and service providers control and visibility of their entire IT infrastructure. Martello's software products include unified communications performance analytics, Microsoft 365 end user experience monitoring and IT service monitoring and analytics. Martello is a public company headquartered in Ottawa, Canada with employees in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region. Learn more at http://www.martellotech.com This press release does not constitute an offer of the securities of the Company for sale in the United States. The securities of the Company have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, (the "1933 Act") as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the 1933 Act. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information can be identified by words such as:"anticipate," "intend," "plan," "goal," "seek," "believe," "project," "estimate," "expect," "strategy," "future," "likely," "may," "should," "will" and similar references to future periods. Examples of forward-looking information contained in this news release include, among others, statements with respect to the aim to increase the number of Microsoft users on Martello's DEM platform through FY22; and plans to strengthen Martello's offering in FY22 with real user monitoring, and active network path monitoring. Forward-looking information is neither historical fact nor assurance of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking information relates to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking information. Therefore, you should not rely on any forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking information include, among others, the following: continued volatility in the capital or credit markets;

our ability to maintain our current credit rating and the impact on our funding costs and competitive position if we do not do so;

changes in customer demand;

disruptions to our technology network including computer systems and software, as well as natural events such as severe weather, fires, floods and earthquakes or man-made or other disruptions of our operating systems, structures or equipment;

delayed purchase timelines and disruptions to customer budgets, as well as Martello's ability to maintain business continuity as a result of COVID-19;

and other risks disclosed in the Company's filings with Canadian Securities Regulators, including the Company's annual information form for the year ended March 31, 2020 dated December 24, 2020 , which is available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Any forward-looking information in this news release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking information, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. Financial Outlooks and Future-Oriented Financial Information To the extent any forward looking information in this press release constitute "financial outlooks" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation, such information is being provided as certain estimated financial metrics and the reader is cautioned that this information may not be appropriate for any other purpose and the reader should not place undue reliance on such financial outlooks. Financial outlooks, as with forward looking information generally, are, without limitation, based on the assumptions and subject to various risks and uncertainties as set out herein. The Company believes there is a reasonable basis for the expectations reflected in the financial outlooks, however these expectations may not prove to be correct and the Company's actual financial position and results of operations may differ materially from management's current expectations and the information provided in this press release. SOURCE Martello Technologies Group

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Metro One Telecommunications, Inc. appoints Ami Bukris Co-CEO of wholly owned subsidiary Stratford, Ltd.

SHERIDAN, Wy., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Metro One Telecommunications, Inc. (OTCMKTS: WOWI) (the "Company" or "Metro One") is pleased to announce the appointment of Ami Bukris as the Co-Chief Executive Officer of its recently established wholly owned subsidiary Stratford, Ltd. ("Stratford"). Mr. Bukris was formerly VP R&D and later COO of Royal App Ltd the developer of Shelfy, which was acquired by Metro One through Stratford out of bankruptcy in Israel. Mr. Bukris brings 24 years of software development experience with large scale projects. For the past 15 years he has been in management positions with a track record of bringing projects from concept to completion and installation with end users. Mr. Bukris has significant business expertise in software code and the major multi-tier and multithreaded environments needed for the mobile web technologies that Shelfy has developed. Metro One Chairman, Nani Maoz, said, "We are very pleased to have Ami stay onboard with the continued development of Shelfy. He has shown the ability to and the experience in managing multiple groups in multiple locations, and he has earned the respect of the team that has agreed to stay onboard at Shelfy and looks forward to growing it. His appointment provides continuity as well as allowing us to move quickly to grow and enhance the product to meet customer needs." Mr. Bukris commenting on his appointment stated, "I am gratified and honored to be chosen to lead the growth of Shelfy. The potential of the Shelfy applications in the retail marketplace is great. I am starting with a nucleus of great people and installed end users and look forward to developing and defining the path forward for the product and the Company." The Company has also begun a search for a CEO for Metro One, the U.S. public parent of Stratford, which will begin the process of returning to a fully reporting company. The CEO of Metro One will also serve as Co-CEO of Stratford. Metro One through its wholly owned subsidiary Stratford Ltd., based in Israel, owns the intellectual property of Shelfy, a white label, headless mobile commerce software platform, that helps retailers and fast-moving consumer goods companies become growth companies. The platform incorporates sophisticated artificial intelligence and machine learning in its algorithms to markedly improve online shopping metrics through mobile phones for large consumer retailers.



Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. The Company generally uses the words such as "might", "will", "may", "should", "estimates", "expects", "continues", "contemplates", "anticipates", "projects", "plans", "potential", "predicts", "intends", "believes", "forecasts", "future", "guidance", "targeted", "goal" and variations of such words or similar expressions in this press release and any attachment to identify forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical facts included in this press release, including statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, expectations, beliefs, business strategies, future events, business conditions, results of operations, financial position, business outlook, earnings guidance, business trends and other information are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and are based upon current expectations, estimates and projections, and various assumptions, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and beyond management's control. All expectations, beliefs, estimates and projections are expressed in good faith and the Company believes there is a reasonable basis for them. However, there can be no assurance that management's expectations, beliefs, estimates and projections will result or be achieved and actual results may vary materially from what is expressed in or indicated by the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and other important factors, many of which are beyond management's control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, including among others, COVID-19 and its impact on the business of the Company. Although the Company believes that these statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it cannot guarantee future results and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's opinions only as of the date of this press release. There can be no assurance that (i) the Company has correctly measured or identified all of the factors affecting its business or the extent of these factors' likely impact, (ii) the available information with respect to these factors on which such analysis is based is complete or accurate, (iii) such analysis is correct or (iv) the Company's strategy, which is based in part on this analysis, will be successful. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect new information or events or circumstances that occur after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events or otherwise.

Contact Information

Metro One Telecommunications, Inc.

Jacqueline Danforth,

646-831-6244 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/metro-one-telecommunications-inc-appoints-ami-bukris-co-ceo-of-wholly-owned-subsidiary-stratford-ltd-301303576.html SOURCE Metro One Telecommunications Inc.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Michigan Virtual Charter Academy Class of 2021 To Be Celebrated with Online Graduation Ceremony

In a year where every school in America was affected by the pandemic, Michigan Virtual Charter Academy (MVCA), an online public school serving K-12 grade students throughout the state since 2010, will celebrate its graduates virtually with a commencement ceremony on Friday, June 4 beginning at 7 pm. Information on the ceremony can be found at MVCA's Facebook page. "Other schools struggled this year, but MVCA never missed a day of instruction, which was key to getting our students to move forward," said MVCA Head of School Randy Rodriguez. "This was certainly a challenging year, but our students and families got what they needed to move on to the next step in their lives." This year, MVCA will graduate 303 students. Sakari Wilcox is MVCA's 2021 valedictorian. and plans to attend Michigan State in the fall. The Salutatorian is Hope Kuenker and will be attending Saginaw Valley State University. "I'll forever be grateful that they helped me move onto te next level of my education," said Sakari. "This year was a whole new kind of struggle and we all couldn't have gone through it without the continued support of our teachers at MVCA."



Collectively, the graduating class reports it has been accepted to colleges and universities across Michigan and beyond, including University of Michigan Dearborn, Henry Ford (News - Alert) College, Eastern Michigan University, Michigan State, Saginaw Valley State University and Oakland University. Prior to the pandemic, students enrolled in virtual school for a number of reasons-some were looking to escape bullying, some may have fallen academically off track, and others were looking for an alternative to the traditional classroom setting.

MVCA students access a robust online curriculum in the core subjects and a host of electives and attend live virtual classes taught by state-certified teachers. Details of the graduation ceremonies are as follows: WHAT: Michigan Virtual Charter Academy 2021 Graduation Ceremony WHEN: Friday, June 4th, 2021, 7 PM, Link can be here: 2021 MVCA Invite (adobe.com) CONTACT: For any questions about the celebrations, please contact Dr. Sheila Boehning, High School Principal at sboehning@k12.com. For media inquiries, please contact Ken Schwartz at kschwartz@k12.com. About Michigan Virtual Charter Academy Michigan Virtual Charter Academy (MVCA) is a full-time online public charter school that serves Michigan students in kindergarten through 12th grade. As part of the Michigan public school system, MVCA is tuition-free and provides families the choice to access the curriculum and tools provided by K12, a Stride Company (NYSE: LRN). Stride offers learners of all ages a more effective way to learn and build skills for their future. For more information visit mvca.k12.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005126/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] New Interactive App Visualizes 14 Months of Unemployment Data by State, County

Esri, the global leader in location intelligence, announced today that UnemploymentPulse, a new app built with ArcGIS Platform, lets you explore 14 months of unemployment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics as spark lines in each state and county against the national average. Inspired by the COVIDPulse app, this mapping app lets you compare the difference over time between local and national rates and provides insights about the current labor force in each state and county. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005671/en/ The UnemploymentPulse app from Esri lets you study unemployment data over the past 14 months (Photo: Business Wire) You can click on an area for detailed stats about the labor force, trend lines over the last 14-months, highs and lows during that time, and the state or county's relative rank. You can also access countrywide ranings that report the states and counties with the highest and lowest unemployment rates for the most recent month of data.



The app is updated each month as new data becomes available. The app will be updated with data for April, 2021, on June 2nd. You can embed this app into your site with the following code:

<iframe width="100%" height="800px" src="https://livingatlas.arcgis.com/unemploymentpulse/#fips=&@=-95.973,37.735,4" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> You can also customize this app to focus on any state or county with URL parameters. For example, you can focus the app on King County, Washington with this URL: https://livingatlas.arcgis.com/unemploymentpulse/#fips=53033&@=-121.304,47.366,9 More information about the app is available in this blog: https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-living-atlas/mapping/unemployment-pulse/ To learn more about Esri's ArcGIS Platform, visit go.esri.com/Platform-Learn-More. About Esri Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, location intelligence, and mapping, helps customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Founded in 1969 in Redlands, California, USA, Esri software is deployed in more than 350,000 organizations globally and in over 200,000 institutions in the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, including Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, nonprofits, and universities. Esri has regional offices, international distributors, and partners providing local support in over 100 countries on six continents. With its pioneering commitment to geospatial information technology, Esri engineers the most innovative solutions for digital transformation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics. Visit us at esri.com. Copyright  2021 Esri. All rights reserved. Esri, the Esri globe logo, ArcGIS, The Science of Where, esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products or services mentioned herein may be trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of their respective mark owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005671/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] NOVA ScriptsCentral, RemediChain Bringing No-cost Chemotherapy to Virginia Patients in Need

This year, nearly 2 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer. But one-quarter won't fill their expensive prescriptions, and another 20% will ration their drugs due to cost - which can total $15,000 per month or more. But thanks to a partnership between NOVA ScriptsCentral and Tennessee-based RemediChain, some Virginia cancer patients could get their lifesaving medications for free. "Oral chemotherapy medications are some of the most necessary, most expensive and most wasted prescriptions on the market," said Phil Baker, pharmacist and co-founder of RemediChain. "But blockchain technology and key partnerships can get the medication to people who need it most." It works like this. Oral chemotherapy medications go unused for various reasons. Some patients pass away. Others change treatments. Still others go into remission. In 2018, Baker worked with the Tennessee legislature to change the law so individuals could donate unused prescriptionsto his nonprofit pharmacy. In 2020, Baker and his partners launched #FlipYourScrip, a text-based system for individuals to find out if their medication can be donated. After a pharmacist inspection, viable donated medications are entered into an immutable blockchain database. In just one year, donors sent more than $5 million worth of medication to RemediChain. But it needs reliable partners to distribute drugs to patients in need. That's where NOVA ScriptsCentral comes in.



"Our patients in Virginia are at the highest risk for the problem RemediChain addresses - which the National Institutes of Health calls 'financial toxicity,'" said Donney John, pharmacist and executive director of NOVA ScriptsCentral. "It describes financial problems patients with cancer may have related to job loss or treatment costs. According to the NIH, some cancer patients spend more than 20% of their income on medical care, and it isn't sustainable for many. When we found out our patients could get their oral chemotherapy treatments at no cost, we jumped at the chance to partner with RemediChain. This is exactly the type of support that could change the outcome and literally save lives." Both donors and patients in need can visit FlipYourScrip.com to register donations or sign up to receive no-cost medication. To find out if RemediChain and NOVA ScriptsCentral have a specific medication, patients, providers or caregivers can also check the RemediChain medication list.

About NOVA ScriptsCentral NOVA ScriptsCentral provides quality, integrated pharmaceutical care and medication access for low-income, uninsured patients in Northern Virginia. Founded on the principle that everyone should be able to access quality, affordable health care regardless of their socio-economic background, the NSC model is based on best practices research and focuses on economies of scale, with all partner clinics using one pharmacy for the benefit of all. Since 2006, it has dispensed more than 320,000 prescriptions valued at more than $82 million. For more information, visit https://novascriptscentral.org/. About RemediChain We believe surplus medication should be managed as a resource. The RemediChain platform incentivizes community members to text a picture of their unused prescriptions. When chemotherapy is identified, the platform generates a prescription donation form and a link that covers shipping costs to our facility. A licensed pharmacist inspects medications for safety before adding them to inventory. Our virtual inventory is available to a network of cancer centers across the nation connecting vulnerable patients with cancer treatment they could not receive by any other means. RemediChain's #FlipYourScrip program was named a World Changing Ideas finalist by Fast Company in 2021. For more information, visit www.remedichain.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005923/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] OSL adds Eventus Systems transaction monitoring capabilities to trade surveillance program

Leading APAC digital asset platform expands use of Validus AUSTIN, Texas and HONG KONG, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Eventus Systems, Inc., an award-winning global provider of multi-asset class trade surveillance and market risk solutions, today announced that OSL Digital Securities (OSL), Asia's first and only SFC-licensed, Big-4 audited, and insured digital asset platform for institutions and professional investors, and member of BC Technology Group, has added Eventus' transaction monitoring capabilities, growing its deployment beyond OSL's ongoing use of the Eventus Validus platform for trade surveillance. Trading on the new regulated OSL Exchange went live in March 2021. OSL started working with Eventus in the fall of 2019, and was the first digital asset platform in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region to use Validus for trade surveillance on its markets. Eventus now supports the trade surveillance of two-thirds of the digital asset exchanges listed on CB Insights' global Blockchain 50 list. Eventus last year made hundreds of enhancements to Validus, including adding new capabilities for anti-money laundering (AML) an transaction monitoring. The firm also introduced new automation capabilities enabling clients such as digital asset market centers to far more efficiently self-manage their surveillance models and cast a wide net for alerts, sifting through the noise and better highlighting which alerts require human review.



Vince Turcotte, Eventus Sales Director, Asia Pacific, said: "We've been honored to represent OSL, which recognizes the importance of a robust trade surveillance program in attracting institutional and professional investors as well as reinforcing the integrity of its markets." OSL was the first firm to be licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to conduct Type 1 (dealing in securities) and Type 7 (automated trading service  ATS) regulated activities related to digital assets. The license was granted after the company opted into the SFC's virtual asset regime and successfully underwent the commission's rigorous vetting requirements.

In addition to traditional protection measures, OSL customers trading under the license will benefit from insurance protection on digital assets held in client segregated wallets. Customers will undergo rigorous know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) controls. OSL works to mitigate the risk of market misconduct through market surveillance, and conducts transaction monitoring and additional digital asset-specific controls. About the OSL Platform and BC Technology Group Backed by Asia's leading listed digital asset company, BC Technology Group (stock code: 863 HK), OSL is the region's most comprehensive licensed digital asset platform. It is the world's first and only insured and SFC-licensed digital asset platform, providing prime brokerage, custody, exchange and software-as-a-service to institutions and professional investors. The company offers OTC, iRFQ and electronic trading services, giving traders access to the world's deepest liquidity pools, as well as secure, insured wallets to ensure the safekeeping of digital assets with timely transaction settlement. BC Group and the OSL platform are enabling institutional adoption of the digital asset class, setting the global standard for performance, security and compliance. For more information: bc.group and osl.com. About Eventus Systems Eventus Systems is a leading global provider of multi-asset class trade surveillance and market risk solutions. Its powerful, award-winning Validus platform is easy to deploy, customize and operate across equities, options, futures, foreign exchange (FX), fixed income and digital asset markets. Validus is proven in the most complex, high-volume and real-time environments of tier-1 banks, broker-dealers, futures commission merchants (FCMs), proprietary trading groups, market centers, buy-side institutions, energy and commodity trading firms, and regulators. The company's rapidly growing client base relies on Validus and Eventus' responsive support and product development teams to overcome its most pressing regulatory challenges. For more, visit www.eventussystems.com . Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/635481/Eventus_Systems_Logo.jpg SOURCE Eventus Systems

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Outreach Closes $200 Million Round; $4.4 Billion Valuation for Sales Engagement Category Leader

SEATTLE, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Outreach , the largest and fastest-growing sales engagement platform provider, announced today it has closed a $200 million funding round co-led by new investors, Premji Invest and STEADFAST Capital Ventures. This funding round raises Outreach's valuation to more than $4.4 billion and its total funding to $489 million. The additional funding will further strengthen Outreach's position as a leading sales technology platform while accelerating market expansion and growth. "This past year represents a true moment of maturity for Outreach - we are now a mission-critical part of the revenue tech stack for customers," said Manny Medina, CEO and co-founder of Outreach. "The bets we made years ago, including significant investments in artificial intelligence combined with prospecting, closing and customer success capabilities integrated into one holistic platform, are what revenue organizations need most right now to be successful. We continue to lead and expand the vision for sales engagement. Now, we are poised to deliver more meaningful business outcomes for our customers than ever before - from the rep to the CRO, and from small businesses to the enterprise." The funding news comes after a year of explosive growth for Outreach, where momentum was accelerated by global shifts to remote and digital selling. Outreach grew Q1 ARR by more than 100% year-over-year and is now used by many of the world's leading revenue organizations, including 18 of the top 25 fastest-growing public software companies. Outreach's sales engagement and intelligence platform leverages the world's largest B2B buyer-and-seller engagement dataset, capturing billions of sales interactions, to enable sales leaders and their teams to more effectively engage customers, forecast with confidence, and close deals faster. The company recently launched three revolutionary new products to market at its annual customer conference, Unleash, before a global audience of thousands. These products are integrated into the Outreach platform, including a real-time conversation inteligence tool (Outreach Kaia), a new AI reporting suite featuring a breakthrough technology that analyzes buyer emotive signals and sentiment (Outreach Insights), and a new opportunity management offering that allows buyers and sellers to collaborate together, creating more transparency around the status of the deal which improves forecasting for sales leaders and teams (Outreach Success Plans).



"At Premji Invest, we are incredibly selective and only partner with companies that offer enduring value and can thrive in the public markets. Outreach ticked every box for us," said Sandesh Patnam, Managing Partner of Premji Invest and newest Outreach board member. "We are confident that the company's innovative AI-driven sales engagement and intelligence platform that enables enterprise revenue teams to excel and thrive will continue to increase its momentum in the long-term, and Outreach's rapid growth and adoption by global sales organizations in such a short amount of time reflects this." "Over the past five years as I've served on the board, Outreach emerged as a definitive standard for sales and customer engagement - proven by thousands of companies that use Outreach every day as a critical component of their workflow and their tech stack," said Karan Mehandru, Managing Director of STEADFAST and Outreach board member. "Companies across every industry are reaccelerating growth and hiring post-pandemic and embracing intelligent automation to power their revenue teams. We are proud to back Manny and his team as they continue their mission of serving revenue teams across the world, powering the growth engine of the economy and building an iconic company that is poised to be a leader for years to come."

Other new investors include Tiger Global Management, Sequoia Capital Global Equities, Vista Public Strategies and one of the largest U.S. asset managers based on the West Coast. Existing Outreach investors, including Salesforce Ventures, Lone Pine Capital, Sands Capital, Mayfield Fund, DFJ Growth, and Trinity Ventures, are also participating in the round. Outreach will use the funding to continue to scale its sales and marketing organizations to meet the growing demand for the Outreach platform and invest in building, acquiring and delivering new revolutionary technologies. The company is also moving forward with its expansion plans and investing in new markets. Over the past year, Outreach has increased to more than 800 employees worldwide, and added two new global offices in London and Prague to its U.S. locations in Seattle and San Francisco. For product demos, images, and videos, or speak with an Outreach spokesperson, email pr@outreach.io. About Outreach

Outreach is the largest and fastest-growing sales engagement and intelligence platform provider that helps companies dramatically increase productivity and drive smarter, more insightful engagement with their customers. Outreach is the only solution provider to integrate sales engagement, conversation intelligence and revenue intelligence into one platform. The only sales engagement and intelligence platform to make the Forbes Cloud 100, Outreach was also the fastest-growing vendor in the category on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500. More than 4,800 companies such as Adobe, Tableau, Okta, Splunk, DocuSign, and SAP depend on Outreach's enterprise-scale, unparalleled customer adoption, and robust AI-powered innovation. Outreach is a privately held company based in Seattle, Washington. To learn more, please visit www.outreach.io. PR Contact:

Amanda Woolley

pr@outreach.io View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/outreach-closes-200-million-round-4-4-billion-valuation-for-sales-engagement-category-leader-301304239.html SOURCE Outreach

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Pitney Bowes Expands Lockers Portfolio with Launch of ParcelPoint Smart Lockers

Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI), a global technology company that provides commerce solutions in the areas of ecommerce, shipping, mailing and financial services, today announced the expansion of its lockers portfolio with the launch of ParcelPoint Smart Lockers, a new suite of robust, secure contactless locker solutions unique to Pitney Bowes. Ideal for organizations planning the safe reopening of offices, college campuses and government agencies, these smart lockers give organizations the confidence that every package and asset moving across a location will be delivered safely and securely. Powered by proprietary SaaS (News - Alert) software, organizations can remotely manage a single locker or a fleet of lockers across locations, backed up with unrivalled local Pitney Bowes service, support and detailed analytics. The ParcelPoint Smart Locker portfolio augments existing Pitney Bowes locker technologies and builds on a century of expertise in shipping and mailing, offering businesses a choice of smart locker solutions which best fit their requirements and budget. Express Series smart lockers provide a sophisticated, pre-configured, easy-to-use solution built to meet evolving package and mail volume demands, which can be delivered in four weeks or less1. With SendSuite Tracking Online - Pitney Bowes SaaS parcel tracking and processing software - already integrated into the solution, Express Series lockers simplify the end-to-end package and mail management processes. Plus Series smart lockers are modular and scalable, perfect for organizations with more complex workflows. Delivered in ten weeks or less, Plus Series lockers are individually customized to meet the unique needs of organizations with more extensive parcel workflow, asset management, or with specific space or volume requirements. They can operate standalone, without a tracking software or seamlessly integrate with SendSuite Tracking, SendSuite Tracking Online or with an organization's existing tracking software. Kerry Caylor, Vice President, SendTech Parcel and Locker Innovation, Pitney Bowes said, "The global automated parcel locker market is expected to exceed $1.4 billion by 2027, driven by organizations looking for ways to manage the exponential growth in ecommerce and parcel volume. Pitney Bowes ParcelPoint Smart Lockers with powerful SaaS software make it easy for organiztions to automate, streamline and digitize their parcel and mail management and deliver a user-friendly contactless pickup experience. By providing the both pre-configured and customized options, we're giving organizations the choice and flexibility to select the smart locker solution that exactly matches their requirements and the needs of the clients they serve."



Global parcel volume is forecast to reach 200 billion by 2025, challenging organizations to find ways to simplify package management and optimize resources. As they reopen safely organizations will bring in new safety and security standards, with requirements to limit direct contact and minimize the time parcels are left unclaimed. Pitney Bowes ParcelPoint Smart Lockers solve these challenges, providing a streamlined digital experience, sophisticated functionality and accurate tracking, while meeting growing user expectations. The locker solutions are ideal for organizations with centralized mail centers which manage high volumes of parcels and physical documents, tasked with their safe, secure, effective delivery. Integrating seamlessly into centralized mailroom processes, operators access the smart locker interface from their device to identify an appropriately sized available locker in a suitable location. They place the item in the locker, then an automatic alert with an access barcode is sent to the recipient who scans the barcode and retrieves the package at their convenience. Real-time reporting and analytics ensure absolute visibility of the package's journey throughout the process. During the product design process for ParcelPoint Smart Lockers, Pitney Bowes interviewed 200 enterprise and higher education leaders to better understand their barriers to efficient package management. 66 percent of enterprises were concerned about leaving items unattended and 52 percent felt restricted by storage and space constraints. Higher education respondents were also concerned about package security. Now, 88 percent of enterprises and 76 percent of higher education respondents say that lockers have completely alleviated their security concerns, and 72 percent of enterprises say lockers have addressed concerns relating to space and storage.

Smart lockers transform parcel management processes for government agency and university The State of Louisiana Office of Technology Services (OTS) is tasked with the timely and accurate delivery of mail and parcels to 120 branch state agencies and quasi-agency locations across the Capital area. Prior to the pandemic, a team consisting of six drivers and five operators hand-delivered mail to approximately 1800 delivery points across the state buildings complex. In 2020, the need to avoid direct contact and enable employees to access their mail without entering the building became a priority. Processing more than 2.5 million mail pieces every month, the OTS accelerated its transition from in-person mail delivery to smart locker technology from Pitney Bowes. OTS said, "Now, we have security, accountability and tracking. Tenants love the service and the convenience of the locker system, and we love the ease-of-use, generous screen size, quick configuration and installation." Washburn University is a public university in Kansas with just under 7000 students. The pandemic accelerated the need for contactless experiences across the campus to ensure the health and safety of students and staff. The university also wanted to deliver a better university bookstore experience. Pitney Bowes delivered a solution that would allow students the ability to buy online and pick up from a smart locker. Now, students are able to place their bookstore orders online and pick up their items when it's convenient with the scan of a simple barcode. The university also uses the lockers for different campus needs such as returning students' items from Lost and Found to their owners. To find out more, listen to 'Modernizing Processes with Contactless Delivery' here. For insights on the future of work and return to the office, catch up on our recent webinar here. 1 Delivery outside of the contiguous U.S. may take longer than four weeks About Pitney Bowes Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) is a global technology company providing commerce solutions that power billions of transactions. Clients around the world, including 90 percent of the Fortune 500, rely on the accuracy and precision delivered by Pitney Bowes solutions, analytics, and APIs in the areas of ecommerce fulfillment, shipping and returns; cross-border ecommerce; office mailing and shipping; presort services; and financing. For 100 years Pitney Bowes has been innovating and delivering technologies that remove the complexity of getting commerce transactions precisely right. For additional information visit Pitney Bowes at www.pitneybowes.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005150/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 23:40:22|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that China and Azerbaijan should take the 30th anniversary of their diplomatic relationship next year as an opportunity to push for greater development of bilateral ties.

In a telephone conversation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Xi suggested that the two countries carry forward their traditional friendship, deepen win-win cooperation, increase mutual support, and create more benefits for their people. Enditem
[June 02, 2021] PlanITROI to Provide Free and Low-Cost Devices to Digitally Underserved Students in El Paso, TX and Memphis, TN with Microsoft

DENVILLE, N.J., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PlanITROI, through its social enterprise division Digital Dreams Project (DDP), announced today an agreement with Microsoft, as part of its Airband Initiative to provide free and low-cost devices to communities of color in El Paso, Texas and Memphis, Tennessee. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, PlanITROI, a global leader in IT asset disposition (ITAD), launched DDP. The mission is to continue bridging the digital divide. PlanITROI is working toward accomplishing this by partnering with individuals, organizations and businesses, to provide refurbished devices and mentorship to K-12 students in need. To advance its mission, PlanITROI recently joined with Take On Race, a Coalition of like-minded companies who are committed to Advancing Racial Equality in America. "PlanITROI has a long-standing relationship with Microsoft, as a founding member of its Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher program," said Paul Baum, founder and CEO of PlanITROI. "We're excited to be teaming up again. The Microsoft Airband Initiative collaboration will bring PlanITROI one step closer to realizing its mission to create a digitally inclusive world, where K-12 students trapped in the digital divie will have access to the devices needed for online learning and can dream without limitations."



According to a recent report by Boston Consulting Group in partnership with Common Sense and Southern Education Foundation, just before 2021, up to 12 million K-12 students remained digitally underserved. This includes students who lacked connectivity, an e-learning device or both. Although progress to bridge the digital divide has been significant, this is not a short-term issue. "The digital divide disproportionately impacts communities of color, especially when it comes to device ownership, as well as two other key aspects of digital equity: broadband adoption and digital fluency," said Vickie Robinson, general manager, Microsoft Airband. "Our collaboration with PlanITROI aims to bridge that divide to help ensure communities have access to affordable in-home devices and in turn, greater access to education, health care services, and economic opportunities."

Since 2001, PlanITROI has recertified and distributed computers to more than 7 million individuals. A provider of ITAD services to corporations, educational institutions, government and OEM retailers, PlanITROI is committed to preserving the highest levels of environmental responsibility and data security. With a history of processing more than 10 million devices and billions of bits of data, PlanITROI has never had an incident of a client's confidential information being exposed. For more information, visit digitaldreamsproject.com. About PlanITROI

Founded in 2001, PlanITROI is a global leader in IT asset disposition (ITAD). A provider of ITAD services to corporations, educational institutions, government and OEM retailers, PlanITROI is committed to preserving the highest levels of environmental responsibility and data security. Since its inception, PlanITROI has recertified and distributed computers to more than 7 million individuals. PlanITROI launched a social enterprise division, Digital Dreams Project (DDP), to continue bridging the digital divide. DDP stemmed from Tech Tuesday, which PlanITROI founder and CEO, Paul Baum, and his daughter created in 2017 to help families caught in the digital divide. PlanITROI is a member of Take on Race and recognized as a Great Place to Work. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/planitroi-to-provide-free-and-low-cost-devices-to-digitally-underserved-students-in-el-paso-tx-and-memphis-tn-with-microsoft-301304102.html SOURCE PlanITROI

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Pluralsight to Acquire A Cloud Guru to Accelerate Solving the Single Biggest Challenge in IT Today: The Growing Cloud Skills Gap

SILICON SLOPES, Utah, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pluralsight, Inc., the technology workforce development company, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire A Cloud Guru (ACG), a leading cloud skills development platform. The acquisition is expected to close later this year, subject to customary closing conditions and follows Vista Equity Partners' recent acquisition of Pluralsight. "Technology is the number one differentiator for all businesses and the technology skills of your team is what determines success or failure. Nowhere is that more apparent than with cloud technologies," said Aaron Skonnard, Co-founder and CEO of Pluralsight. "To meet the needs of our customers and best support their cloud transformations, we are determined to deliver the most comprehensive solution for driving cloud maturity at scale. With the acquisition of A Cloud Guru, we can now provide an all-in-one solution to accelerate the cloud skill development journey for large enterprise customers and individual learners." Cloud computing continues to experience massive growth for large enterprises around the world, increasing the need for cloud skill development to keep pace. Infact, research shows that the vast majority of IT decision makers believe that the shortage of cloud skills is their number one challenge. By combining the power of A Cloud Guru's leading certification courses, hands-on labs and sandboxes, exams and quizzes with the existing library of Pluralsight Skills cloud courses and hands-on learning experiences, the joint organization will now be better positioned to meet the market demand for cloud skill development.



"ACG and Pluralsight were founded to solve the same problemclosing the technology skills gap by democratizing access to technical education. Within our shared missions, we've taken different but complementary approaches. Both approaches have proven to resonate strongly with customers who want depth and breadth in tech education," Sam Kroonenburg, Co-founder and CEO, A Cloud Guru. "I am excited by the next phase of our mission in which, together, we will build the next-generation platform for hands-on learning across all of technology." William Blair & Company, LLC acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Pluralsight and Vista in the transaction, with Kirkland & Ellis LLP serving as legal counsel. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor to A Cloud Guru and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal counsel.

About Pluralsight Pluralsight is the leading technology workforce development company that helps companies and teams build better products by developing critical skills, improving processes and gaining insights through data, and providing strategic skills consulting. Trusted by forward-thinking companies of every size in every industry, Pluralsight helps individuals and businesses transform with technology. Pluralsight Skills helps enterprises build technology skills at scale with expert-authored courses on today's most important technologies, including cloud, artificial intelligence and machine learning, data science, and security, among others. Skills also includes tools to align skill development with business objectives, virtual instructor-led training, hands-on labs, skill assessments and one-of-a-kind analytics. Flow complements Skills by providing engineering teams with actionable data and visibility into workflow patterns to accelerate the delivery of products and services. For more information about Pluralsight visit pluralsight.com . About A Cloud Guru A Cloud Guru is driven by a simple mission  to teach the world to cloud. We believe people learn best by doing. That's 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 world's most comprehensive, hands-on, and effective SaaS platform for cloud learning, ACG has enabled 2.5 million learners and over 4,500 organizations to achieve a brighter future. For more information about ACG visit acloudguru.com. Media Contact Pluralsight PR

Ben Veghte

Director, Communications

ben-veghte@pluralsight.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pluralsight-to-acquire-a-cloud-guru-to-accelerate-solving-the-single-biggest-challenge-in-it-today-the-growing-cloud-skills-gap-301303991.html SOURCE Pluralsight

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] PQA Presents CarePlus Health Plans with its Excellence in Quality Award

CarePlus Health Plans, Inc., Florida's largest* 5 out of 5-star Medicare Advantage plan, has been recognized by the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) with its Excellence in Quality award for exemplary management of medications for its members. CarePlus is a subsidiary of Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM). PQA provides two awards, an Excellence in Quality Award and a Quality Improvement Award, which are based on published Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Part D Star Ratings. CarePlus is one of only five Medicare Advantage Drug Plans (MAPDs) in the nation to receive the organization's top recognition in 2021. "We are incredibly proud to once again be recognized by PQA with this Excellence in Quality Award," said CarePlus President Bruno Piquin. "It not only speaks to the hard work and dedication that our team puts into serving our 185,000 members in Florida, but it also is due to the quality of ealth care that our value-based physician partners provide to our members."



The Excellence in Quality Award recognizes Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MAPD) plans and Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs). MAPDs are recognized for achieving at least a 4.5-star Part D summary rating and a 5-star rating on all five PQA medication measures used in the 2021 CMS Star Ratings program. Five PQA-endorsed quality measures are used in the 2021 Medicare Part D Star Ratings program, and several others are used as Display measures. Details on these measures are available at pqaalliance.org/medicare-part-d. CMS evaluates Medicare plans based on a 5-star rating system. Star Ratings are calculated each year and may change from one year to the next. More information about Star Ratings can be found at Medicare.gov.

About CarePlus Health Plans CarePlus Health Plans, Inc. is dedicated to improving the lives of Medicare beneficiaries in Florida. We provide affordable, reliable healthcare and prescription drug coverage that helps our members maintain and improve their health so they can enjoy happy, active, and independent lives. CarePlus offers Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plans with comprehensive benefits designed to meet a variety of needs. We partner with and support our physicians, pharmacists, dentists, and other healthcare providers who we trust to take good care of our community. Through our partnership with the ACCESS Florida Department of Children and Families, CarePlus Health Plans, Inc.'s Social Services department assists members to apply for public assistance through a variety of state and federal programs. This assistance and guidance is completely voluntary and offered at no additional cost. CarePlus has supported Florida residents with their Medicare options for over 20 years. Based in Florida, with corporate offices in Miami and Tampa, we serve more than 185,000* members across South and North Florida, the Tampa, Orlando and Daytona areas, and the Space Coast. For more information, visit CarePlusHealthPlans.com. Every year, Medicare evaluates plans based on a 5-star rating system. *According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Advantage (MA) Membership Reports, May 2021. H1019_PRPQAExcellenceinQAAward2021_C View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005686/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Record Number of Buyers Participate in ECRM Diversity Week Programs

SOLON, Ohio, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 640 buyers met with 485 brands during ECRM's recent Diversity Week, which included programs for diverse- and minority-owned suppliers across food and beverage; general merchandise; and health & beauty care categories. Over 3,800 curated meetings were held on the ECRM Connect platform across the three programs. The programs were launched to introduce retailers to brands that are diversity qualified or minority owned. Certifications included but were not limited to: disability-owned; disadvantaged business enterprise-owned; ethnic minority-owned; gay-, lesbian-, bisexual- or transgender-owned; veteran-owned; and woman-owned businesses. "ECRM's Diversity programs are part of our ongoing commitment to help diverse-owned suppliers gain exposure to retailers and foodservice operators," said Greg Farrar, CEO of ECRM. "Supplier diversity has become increasingly important for our industry and our company, and we're thrilled to provide a platform to facilitate the discovery of these diverse-owned brands." Additionally, ECRM and RangeMe together have facilitated the product discovery efforts behind several retailers' diversity initiatives over the past year, including the launch of inaugural supplier diversity initiatives from both Meijer and Schnuck Markets, and for the second year in a row, a diversity summit with Dollar General. This year the company is offering several opportunities for diverse brands to meet with buyers via its virtual programs.



Earlier this year, ECRM & RangeMe were among the recipients of Shelby Publishing's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion awards, which recognizes retailers, wholesalers, distributors, suppliers/vendors and solutions providers that are working to advance and uphold diversity, equity and inclusion in the U.S. grocery industry. "One of the key tools we're using to help us achieve our commitment to supporting more women and diverse-owned business is our partnership with ECRM/RangeMe," said Jonathan Mayes, Albertsons Companies SVP, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer. "Our participation in ECRM/RangeMe's Supplier Diversity week helped us connect with over 130 businesses whose ownership reflects the rich diversity of the communities we serve and who provide products to meet the changing needs of our customers."

The programs also included two educational sessions on diversity. One was a WE panel discussion featuring an all-star roster of panelists who discussed how we can create a more diverse and inclusive industry. The panel was moderated by Michele Muhammad, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, DSE Healthcare Solutions, and panelists included Jocelyn Konrad, EVP, Chief Pharmacy Officer, Rite Aid; Lisa Paley, General Manager, North America, Glaxo Smith Kline; Roz Chapman, President, The Chapman Edge; and Heather Hughes, Group VP & GM Seasonal, GM and Photo, Walgreens. The other session was a fireside chat with ECRM SVP of Retail Wayne Bennett and Joi Pratt, Senior Consultant Shopper Insights Activation for WSL Strategic Retail on how brands and retailers can serve the diverse needs of shoppers. "As a veteran-owned company, it's important for us to get in front of buyers looking to work with minority-owned brands," said Luke Schneider, Founder and CEO of Fire Department Coffee, a supplier participant in Diversity Week who is both a Navy veteran and active-duty firefighter. "The ECRM Diverse & Minority-Owned Food & Beverage Program helped us to directly interact with these relevant buyers." ECRM provides several supplier-diversity opportunities throughout the year, including category-specific programs and Efficient Supplier Introductions as well as customized programs for large retail chains. For more information, visit www.ecrm.marketgate.com About ECRM:

ECRM brings efficiencies and effectiveness to the buying and selling process by propelling connections between buyers and suppliers through key programs that utilize virtual and face-to-face platforms. With 25 years of experience, ECRM's programs promote relationships, forward thinking insights along with process efficiencies. ECRM works with companies around with world in a variety of different categories including food & beverage, general merchandise, health & beauty care, pharmacy & medical markets and foodservice. ECRM also owns RangeMe, a product discovery platform Contact:

Rachel Mayfield

440-498-0500 x1253

311212@email4pr.com

www.ECRM.MarketGate.com Dan Dyer

Tier 1 Public Relations For: ECRM

513-478-7818

311212@email4pr.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/record-number-of-buyers-participate-in-ecrm-diversity-week-programs-301303843.html SOURCE ECRM

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] SimpleNexus Founder Matt Hansen to lead newly formed skunkworks unit, appoints Cathleen Schreiner Gates CEO

LEHI, Utah, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SimpleNexus ( https://simplenexus.com/ ), developer of the leading homeownership platform for loan officers, borrowers, real estate agents and settlement agents, today announced that Founder Matt Hansen will pass the CEO baton to President Cathleen Schreiner Gates. Hansen remains heavily involved with the firm, where he will double down on customer focus leading a task force of software developers and sales staff that specializes in tackling high-priority projects. "SimpleNexus started as a passion project  an app to help my brother-in-law expand his mortgage business  and it has since grown beyond anything I originally imagined," said Hansen. "Over the past seven years, I've had the great pleasure of building a better homebuying experience for consumers and lenders with the help of hundreds of dedicated, passionate professionals." "Now, by placing the leadership of SimpleNexus into Cathleen's highly capable hands, I have the opportunity to return to the work that brings me the most joy: focusing on the voice of the customer and rolling up my sleeves to lead projects that translate our users' needs into reality." As CEO, Schreiner Gates will guide SimpleNexus to set the bar for what a homeownership platform should be as she leads operations and strategic decision-making. Schreiner Gates began her engagement with the organization as a board member in April 2020 and was named president in September 2020 . She is a decorated mortgage technology leader. Previously, she served as EVP of sales and marketing at digital mortgage technology provider Ellie Mae (now ICE Mortgage Technology). During her tenure, Ellie Mae spent six consecutive years on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and negotiated a $3.7-billion purchase by private equity firm Thoma Bravo.



"Early on, I recognized that SimpleNexus is more than another technology tool for lenders. Our team's empathy for our customers and enthusiasm for continuously improving the homebuying process is driving SimpleNexus to develop innovative tools that are fundamentally changing the mortgage experience for the better," said Schreiner Gates. "I am excited to continue helping SimpleNexus chart its course as a mortgage technology game-changer." About SimpleNexus, LLC:

SimpleNexus is a homeownership platform transforming the mortgage experience and connecting borrowers, loan officers, real estate agents and settlement service providers throughout the homebuying process. The platforms' native mobile toolset enables lenders to originate, process and close home loans from anywhere with increased efficiency and convenience. Loan officers can manage their loan pipelines, order credit, run pricing, send pre-approvals, sign disclosures and execute eClosings - all on the go. SimpleNexus provides borrowers with a single sign-on experience from home search to the application, document upload, eClose and beyond for a more streamlined homeownership journey. Twitter: @SimpleNexus #digitalmortgage #mortgageindustry #mortgagelending #peoplemovers This release was issued through Send2Press, a unit of Neotrope. For more information, visit Send2Press Newswire at https://www.Send2Press.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/simplenexus-founder-matt-hansen-to-lead-newly-formed-skunkworks-unit-appoints-cathleen-schreiner-gates-ceo-301303561.html SOURCE SimpleNexus

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Sysmex America Adds FDA-Cleared XN-10 Blood Bank Mode to Hematology Solutions Portfolio

LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sysmex America, Inc., a leading diagnostic solutions company offering hematology, urinalysis, information systems and flow cytometry testing technology for optimal clinical laboratory performance, has added the FDA-cleared XN-10 Automated Hematology Analyzer with Blood Bank mode to its portfolio of hematology solutions. This latest analyzer supports red blood cell (RBC) and platelet component testing and provides an automated complete blood count with differential (CBC/DIFF) for whole blood samples. Sysmex is the first and only original equipment manufacturer of Automated Hematology devices to receive FDA-cleared intended use claims for the Blood Center/Blood Bank market. The XN Blood Bank mode is intended for use in blood processing centers for QC release testing of post-processed components. Sysmex America's XN Blood Bank mode offers accurate cell counts on products that are key to blood centers & blood banks.



Blood component quality is key in transfusion medicine and blood product manufacturing. Sysmex America's XN Blood Bank mode is a holistic solution that offers accurate cell counts on products that are key to blood centers and blood banks. With no sample preparation or pre-dilution required, the XN Blood Bank mode provides precise and rapid cell counts for greater confidence in blood product quality. "Sysmex America's XN-10 Automated Hematology Analyzer with Blood Bank mode is the next component in the widely-used XN-Series," said Andy Hay, chief operating officer of Sysmex America. "From donor qualification to product quality monitoring, blood centers will gain increased efficiency, consistency and accuracy while providing life-saving blood products."

Available as a single module (XN-1000BB) or twin co-primary analyzers (XN-2000BB), the scalable hematology analyzer may be installed as a tabletop analyzer or placed on wagons, and either model may be made even more efficient with the addition of the RU-20 reagent unit. To learn more about the XN-10 Automated Hematology Analyzer with Blood Bank mode visit www.sysmex.com/BB. About Sysmex America

Sysmex America is lighting the way to better health with diagnostic solutions that transform the future of healthcare and contribute to healthier lives. Its innovative hematology, urinalysis, information systems and flow cytometry testing technology are reshaping the world of diagnostics. As America's regional affiliate of Kobe, Japan-based Sysmex Corporation  a trusted global leader respected for optimizing the efficiency, operations and financial performance of clinical laboratories  it offers diagnostic products that equip patients and the healthcare professionals who treat them with the information needed to make decisions with greater trust and confidence. Forbes magazine named Sysmex one of the most innovative companies in the healthcare equipment and services category, and the Center for Companies That Care named Sysmex America to its "Honor Roll." Learn more about Sysmex America at www.sysmex.com/us. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sysmex-america-adds-fda-cleared-xn-10-blood-bank-mode-to-hematology-solutions-portfolio-301304243.html SOURCE Sysmex America, Inc.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] TetraScience Announces New Integration to Accelerate Life Sciences R&D

BOSTON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TetraScience, Inc. announces a strategic partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific to integrate the Thermo Scientific Momentum Workflow Scheduling Software with the Tetra Data Platform. The centralized platform allows scientists to automatically collect, centralize, and harmonize life sciences R&D data in the cloud to accelerate drug discovery and research. This integration combines bidirectional instrument control and increased automation readiness provided by Momentum software with the cloud-native architecture of Tetra Data Platform, thereby achieving the flexibility and scalability required in life sciences R&D. Data is accessible, actionable, and ready for analysis with downstream data science, AI/ML, and visualization tools. In addition to Momentum, the Tetra Data Platform already integrates with many other software platforms from Thermo Fisher Scientific.



"As an open platform, TetraScience has built the world's largest network of integrations, partners, and best-of-breed solutions to drive the future of life sciences R&D. We are committed to connecting every data source and target in the biopharma R&D landscape," said Siping "Spin" Wang, President and CTO of TetraScience. "For data to be accessible and actionable, it needs to be harmonized before the application of AI/ML and advanced data science to uncover insights. We are delighted to welcome Thermo Scientific as a valued member of the Tetra Partner Network."

"Thermo Fisher Scientific provides industry-leading automation, integration and instrumentation solutions, and we see a seamless data flow as the next frontier for our business," states Hansjoerg Haas, Senior Director and General Manager, Laboratory Automation, Thermo Fisher Scientific "This will enable customers to acquire and harmonize their experimental data in the cloud, saving them time and accelerating their lab research and discovery insights." "Data unification is driven by a vendor-neutral partner with no allegiance beyond the data itself. Biopharma has been slow to fully adopt cloud capabilities; however, the COVID-19 pandemic has proven the critical nature of cloud-enabled business agility," explains Patrick Grady, CEO of TetraScience. "In my nearly 20 years of leading cloud and SaaS technology companies, this pattern repeats itself over and over again. With a critical mass of connections, the network effect will take hold and drive tremendous value for all stakeholders." About TetraScience

TetraScience is the R&D Data Cloud company with a mission to transform life sciences R&D, accelerate discovery, and improve and extend human life. The Tetra R&D Data Cloud provides life sciences companies with the flexibility, scalability, and data-centric capabilities to enable easy access to centralized, harmonized, and actionable scientific data and is actively deployed across enterprise pharma and biotech organizations. As an open platform, TetraScience has built the largest integration network of lab instruments, informatics applications, CRO/CDMOs, analytics, and data science partners, creating seamless interoperability and an innovation feedback loop that will drive the future of life sciences R&D. For more information, please visit tetrascience.com . Media Contact:

David Van Everen

VP of Marketing, TetraScience

857-244-1514

pr@tetrascience.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tetrascience-announces-new-integration-to-accelerate-life-sciences-rd-301303451.html SOURCE TetraScience

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Uber Expands Menufy's Delivery Reach for Restaurants

LEAWOOD, Kan., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Menufy, a commission-free, online ordering system for independently owned restaurants and small chains in the U.S., has teamed up with Uber, a solution to help businesses meet the increased customer demand for delivery. Through this new partnership, Menufy's restaurant clients now have access to Uber's expansive driver network, shortening delivery times and making food delivery possible for its more than 11,000 restaurants across the U.S.

Menufy executives have observed the changes that restaurant operators are undergoing and note that one standout they've continued to hear from clients during the pandemic is the need to improve delivery service.

"With more people eating at home, today's diners expect restaurants both large and small to offer a seamless, consistent delivery experience," says Sharmil Desai, CEO of Menufy. "Adding Uber to Menufy's delivery roster solves these challenges for both restaurant operators and their customers. With this option, more restaurants can offer a consistent delivery experience without adding staffing resources. People's familiarity with the Uber brand helps boost consumer confidence and reliability for faster delivery from more local restaurants. It's a win-win."

With its "restaurant-first" approach, Menufy offers its restaurant clients food delivery service at a low 12.5% fee, while many of its competitors use a variable commission-based pricing model that can be unpredictable and eat into a restaurant's profit margins. Desai adds that Menufy's comprehensive support gives restaurants the peace of mind that their customers will be taken care of from order to delivery.

"Menufy has been an important partner in supporting restaurants during a difficult time for the industry, and on behalf of the team at Uber, we are thrilled to be working together," says Pooja Daftay, Head of Uber Direct for the U.S. and Canada. "We look forward to continued growth as we partner to provide technology solutions across the U.S. that help make on-demand delivery seamless and reliable."





In the last year, Menufy has experienced rapid growth, nearly doubling the size of its restaurant network and doubling their headcount to better serve restaurateurs and their customers. As Menufy has quickly grown its customer base, now in more than 3,000 U.S. cities, it has also grown its partner network. In addition to Uber, Menufy most recently announced its partnership with Square to bolster its point-of-sale (POS) and online ordering offerings for restaurateurs.

About Menufy

Menufy, headquartered in the Kansas City area, began in 2009 as the brainchild of passionate restaurant operators and their tech-minded friends who couldn't wait for their problems to be solved by someone else. Together, they built one of the most well-established, free online ordering systems for restaurants with transparent pricing. Today, Menufy supports more than 11,000 independently owned restaurants and small chains in more than 3,000 U.S. cities.

Menufy's primary goal is to grow off-premise business by driving traffic to the restaurant's brand, while strengthening their profit margins. They equip restaurateurs with an online ordering website designed around the restaurant's brand and offer full data ownership, a loyalty program, complimentary analytics, and digital and print marketing services. Customers can order directly from the restaurant's website or from the Menufy portal or app, which accept more payment options than any other restaurant e-commerce system, including cryptocurrency payments such as Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Dogecoin (DOGE), Gemini Dollar (GUSD), USD Coin (USDC), Paxos Standard (PAX), and Binance USD (BUSD) at participating restaurants. Follow Menufy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Related Links

https://restaurant.menufy.com/

About Uber

Uber's mission is to create opportunity through movement. We started in 2010 to solve a simple problem: how do you get access to a ride at the touch of a button? More than 15 billion trips later, we're building products to get people closer to where they want to be. By changing how people, food, and things move through cities, Uber is a platform that opens up the world to new possibilities.

Photo(s):

https://www.prlog.org/12871931

Press release distributed by PRLog View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/uber-expands-menufys-delivery-reach-for-restaurants-301303649.html SOURCE Menufy

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 01, 2021] BrainChip Dives Further into AI Ecosystem with Edge Impulse CEO Zach Shelby

BrainChip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN), (OTCQX: BRCHF), a leading provider of ultra-low power high performance artificial intelligence technology, today announced that Zach Shelby, CEO of Edge Impulse, joins BrainChip Vice President of Worldwide Sales Rob Telson on the latest "This is our Mission" podcast episode designed to provide insight on the Company's strategy and progress. The podcast will be available through the Company's website, https://brainchipinc.com/brainchip-podcasts/, as well as across all major podcast platforms June 8, at 4:00 p.m. U.S. PDT. As a technologist in the embedded space with a passion for TinyML and Internet engineering, Shelby is focused on enabling developers to create the next-generation of intelligent devices with embedded Machine Learning solutions. In the seventh episode of the series, Shelby and Telson discuss the broader AI ecosystem and how developers leverage data driven engineering to enable the rapid development of ML models. "The most interesting thing about doing a podcast series is discovering the breadth of topics that AI impacts and discussing those impacts with people who have a passion for leveraging that technology to advance the industry and society itself," said Telson. "Zach has tremendous insight into building and deploying ML solutions for a variety of ML moels such as vibration, audio and vision. It's companies like Edge Impulse and others that will enable Machine Learning to evolve and broaden the horizons for the proliferation of Akida into numerous applications to solve unthinkable problems."



Akida brings artificial intelligence to the edge in a way that existing technologies are not capable. The solution is high-performance, small, ultra-low power and enables a wide array of edge capabilities. The Akida (NSoC) and intellectual property can be used in applications including Smart Home, Smart Health, Smart City and Smart Transportation. These applications include but are not limited to home automation and remote controls, industrial IoT, robotics, security cameras, sensors, unmanned aircraft, autonomous vehicles, medical instruments, object detection, sound detection, odor and taste detection, gesture control and cybersecurity. The BrainChip Podcast is a monthly event intended to provide company and industry insight for the engineering community in target markets, as well as analysts, technical and financial press and investors.

About BrainChip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN) BrainChip is a global technology company that is producing a groundbreaking neuromorphic processor that brings artificial intelligence to the edge in a way that is beyond the capabilities of other products. The chip is high performance, small, ultra-low power and enables a wide array of edge capabilities that include on-chip training, learning and inference. The event-based neural network processor is inspired by the spiking nature of the human brain and is implemented in an industry standard digital process. By mimicking brain processing BrainChip has pioneered a processing architecture, called Akida, which is both scalable and flexible to address the requirements in edge devices. At the edge, sensor inputs are analyzed at the point of acquisition rather than through transmission via the cloud to a data center. Akida is designed to provide a complete ultra-low power and fast AI Edge Network for vision, audio, olfactory and smart transducer applications. The reduction in system latency provides faster response and a more power efficient system that can reduce the large carbon footprint of data centers. Additional information is available at https://www.brainchipinc.com Follow BrainChip on Twitter (News - Alert) : https://www.twitter.com/BrainChip_inc

Follow BrainChip on LinkedIn (News - Alert) : https://www.linkedin.com/company/7792006 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210601006060/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 01, 2021] SolomonSimmonsLaw and Schulte Roth & Zabel File Responses to Motions to Dismiss in Tulsa Race Massacre Litigation

Tulsa-based civil and human rights attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons of SolomonSimmonsLaw, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP (SRZ) and a team of civil and human rights lawyers filed briefs in opposition to eight motions to dismiss from the defendants in the Tulsa Race massacre litigation, which include the State of Oklahoma, the City of Tulsa and others. These response briefs are the latest legal action to help provide healing and justice to the survivors and descendants of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Defendants are denying a public nuisance claim is a valid cause of action in this instance, even though the plaintiff's allegations and request for a remedy would address the racial disparities, economic inequalities, insecurity and trauma that the defendants' unlawful actions and omissions caused and continue to cause. The lawsuit seeks to return the Greenwood District, once known as Black Wall Street, back to the prosperous area it was prior to the devastating events of May 1921. Today, this area remains poorer and in worse health than the rest of the city. In May 2021, Human Rights Watch published a folow up to their groundbreaking May 2020 report on the Case for Reparations in Tulsa, reporting on the failure of the City of Tulsa and the Centennial Commission to support the survivors' demands for justice.



The more substantive arguments in the motions to dismiss focus on the Defendants' claims that the plaintiffs lack standing and that they have failed to demonstrate why the public nuisance statute applies in this case. However, in the responses filed today, the litigation team clearly shows that it not only applies, but that the plaintiffs have exceeded the notice pleading standard in Oklahoma in the Amended Petition filed in February. "The defendants' latest actions are further indications that they are failing to rebuild what they destroyed, reaping benefits from their destructive acts, and denying justice for Greenwood," said Mr. Solomon-Simmons.

What's more, the State of Oklahoma, one of the defendants trying to throw out the public nuisance claim, used this exact same legal theory of public nuisance to sue pharmaceutical companies during the opioid epidemic and won. "The viability of our claim can be seen in the defendant's own past litigation strategies," said Michael Swartz, co-chair of SRZ's Litigation Group and chair of the firm's Pro Bono Committee. "100 years after this terrible tragedy took place, we look forward to continuing our fight for justice for the survivors and descendants." On May 31, 1921, one of the worst acts of domestic terrorism in U.S. history completely decimated Tulsa's thriving, all-Black community of Greenwood. A large white mob, including members of the Tulsa Police Department, the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, the Tulsa County Sheriff's Department and the Oklahoma National Guard, as well as other city and county leaders, overwhelmed the approximately 40-square-block community, killing hundreds of Black residents, injuring thousands more, burning down over one thousand homes and businesses and stealing residents' personal property. Mr. Solomon-Simmons represents the only known survivors of the massacre, 106-year-old Lessie Benningfield "Mother" Randle, 107-year-old Viola "Mother" Fletcher, and 100-year-old Hughes (News - Alert) Van Ellis, who are still awaiting justice for Greenwood nearly a century after the brutal attack. SolomonSimmons Law, in conjunction with Schulte Roth & Zabel; J. Spencer Bryan and Steven Terrill of BryanTerrill, P.C.; Professor Eric Miller (News - Alert) of Loyola Marymount College of Law; and Maynard M. Henry, Sr., Lashandra Peoples-Johnson and Cordal Cephas of Johnson Cephas Law PLLC, is working to not only secure justice for survivors and descendants of the massacre, but also raise attention to the 100 years of continued harm the Tulsa Race Massacre has caused Black Tulsans. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210601006099/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 23:45:41|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

LUANDA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Angola plans to launch the first biometric passport model in the last quarter of 2021, the Migration and Foreigners Service told the press on Wednesday.

According to the service, the intention is to avoid fraud or forgery.

The service said, "at this moment we are hitting the last technological details and we intend to launch the biometric passport in the last quarter of 2021."

According to the migration authorities, the government also plans to start a new general census of the foreign population living in the country. Enditem
Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP Announces Investigation of L Brands, Inc.

Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP ("GPM") announces its investigation of L Brands, Inc. (NYSE:LB) concerning the Company and its directors' and officers' possible violations of state laws.

If you purchased L Brands stock, would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Tom Kennedy of GPM, 230 Park Avenue, Sute 358, New York, NY 10169, at tkennedy@glancylaw.com, or at 212-682-5340. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased and held.







This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210601006100/en/
[June 01, 2021] Dable Partners with 3,000 Premium Media in Asia, Exceeding 5 Billion Monthly Page Views

SEOUL, South Korea, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dable, a leading global content discovery platform, announced that the number of partnered premium media in Asian countries and regions including Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia surpassed 3,000 in number and exceeded 5 billion monthly page views. Dable, based in South Korea, is a media tech company that owns world class big data processing and personalized technologies. Dable provides 'Dable News' and 'Dable Native Ad' that recommends personalized contents and ads by analyzing the consumed content and behavior of media site visitors. 'Dable News' is a content recommendation solution that recommends content the visitor may be interested in through embedded widgets such as 'Content you may like' found on the right/bottom of the media website. It helps to improve the media's competitive advantage by increasing content consumption and dwell time. 'Dable Native Ad' exposes advertisements in a design that matches the surrounding contents in the content recommendation area. It produces high performance by capturing the attention of users without disrupting their access to content. Dable has partnered with top media in Asia such as Taiwan: ETToday - top tier traffic news group, LTN - one of most lng-standing media, NowNews - one of most trusted media groups, South Korea: Chosun Ilbo - No.1 publisher, KBS - a leading public media, Indonesia : Liputan6 - part of the largest and most trusted media group, Suara - an independent online news portal, JPNN - the widest network media, Vietnam: Thanhnien - one of the most trusted media publishers, Tienphong - one of the oldest media publishers, Malaysia: Utusan Malaysia - the oldest Malay language news publisher, and Chinapress - the most influential Chinese news publisher.



Dable collects and analyzes 22 billion media logs from about 500 million Asian users per month. Dable recommends content to 5 billion websites each month, and over 100 million page views are generated through Dable's platform. Dable boasts excellent technology enough to win competitions with the world's best companies. Dable owns a data platform that can manage big data reliably and efficiently, a personalization platform that determines the user's interests and recommends content accordingly, and a widget A/B testing platform that finds the UI that is best optimized for media in both PC and mobile settings.

Dable was awarded the K-Global DB-Stars Grand Prize in 2015, the Korea Online Advertising Grand Prize in 2016, the TIPS Award Grand Convention in 2017, the B2G Ministry of Science and ICT Grand Prize in 2019, and the Ministerial Citation of Ministry of Science and ICT for 'Data' in 2020 and has been recognized for its excellent technology. "Dable is a tech-based startup founded by key personnel who developed South Korea's first ever big data-based product recommendation platform. Dable was able to surpass 3,000 media partnerships in Asia in a short time thanks to Dable's excellent technology and expertise of operating a personalized content recommendation platform for over 10 years," said Chaehyun Lee, CEO of Dable. "We expanded our partners by showing how our recommendation solution contributes to increased click-through rates or page views per person whenever we partnered with a new media as well as providing better performance than our competitors through A/B testing." Dable recorded an average annual sales growth of more than 50% since its establishment in 2015 driven by its rapid growth in the Asian market. Currently, Dable is the most used personalized recommendation platform in Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam. In Taiwan, the sales tripled over the past year whilst Malaysia recorded an average monthly sales growth of 30% and is growing rapidly. Dable also recently ranked 46th place out of the top 500 Asia-Pacific High-Growth Companies announced by the Financial Times of the UK, and proved its growth potential by ranking 1st in the media category. Dable, which succeeded in its US $12 million Series C investment earlier this year, expects to accelerate its global market expansion. Dable began offering services to Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore and will further expand into mainland China, Turkey and Australia this year. Also, based on its success in Asia, it hopes to provide services to the US and Europe. Lee added, "Dable will expand its service area more aggressively with the goal of becoming the No.1 content discovery platform. We will provide the best service that is tailored to each region's characteristics through active recruitment of local personnel and close cooperation with local companies. In addition, we will lead the market through continuous technological innovation." Media Enquiries: Eunjin Kang, PR manager

press@dable.io SOURCE Dable

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 01, 2021] Cainiao Signs MOU Agreement with KOSME to Officially Serve as the Logistics Partner for SME Export Business in South Korea

This is a major milestone for Cainiao as it extends logistics services to all non-Alibaba merchants

Cainiao will support KOSME's logistics subsidy program that has facilitated over 3.7 million online exports for SMEs in 2020

Eligible SMEs will receive up to 15 million won in logistics subsidies per company SEOUL, South Korea, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, ("Cainiao Network"), the logistics arm of Alibaba Group Holding Limited, today announced it has entered a partnership MOU agreement with Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) to officially serve as the logistics partner for SME export business in South Korea. The MOU aims to promote bilateral trade, and foster multi-faceted collaboration to spearhead the expansion and development of e-Commerce industry between South Korea and China. This is a major milestone for Cainiao as it extends its logistics services to merchants outside the Alibaba ecosystem in South Korea to make it easier for them to tap on the overseas markets. In line with the MOU, Cainiao will be KOSME's official logistics partner for their logistics subsidy program which will provide up to 15 million won in subsidies per company to cover approximately 70 per cent of their export expenses uch as e-Commerce logistics. The objective is to help SMEs tide over this uncertain economic situation by accessing the Chinese market.



Last year, the program has facilitated the logistics for over 3.7 million online exports, and reduced SMEs' export logistics cost by an average of 48 percent or up to 82 per cent when benchmarked against Express Mail Service (EMS)' market rate (across 10 major countries). As part of the agreement, SMEs will be able to leverage Cainiao's one-stop logistics management system which provides real-time insights and support across warehouse inventory, order fulfilment, delivery status, billing, and any forms of anomalies for immediate rectification.

"SMEs are the growth engines of the economy. We are honoured to be selected as KOSME's official logistics partner to support millions of South Korean SMEs in their expansion into new markets to establish business resilience. As a trusted partner to KOSME and Korean SMEs, our goal is to make cross-border logistics as seamless as possible, by taking care of the digitalized full-chain including order fulfilment, local and overseas B2B and B2C warehousing, international shipping, customs clearance as well as first and last mile logistics. This will offer SMEs a greater peace of mind to better focus on their sales and growth strategies," said James Zhao, General Manager for Global Supply Chain, Cainiao Network. This news comes after Cainiao's official launch in South Korea last year to provide end-to-end logistics services for businesses' import and export needs. This includes over 15,000 square meters of warehouse space in South Korea, sea and air freight - six cargo ships and six cargo planes weekly, and various logistics partnerships that provide first and last mile delivery and facilitate customs clearance in South Korea and China. This full-chain service has brought about up to 50 percent improvement in shipping efficiency, reducing total shipping time from 10 to 13 days to just 5 to 7 days. About Cainiao Smart Logistics Network Founded in 2013, Cainiao Smart Logistics Network ("Cainiao") is a technology company and the logistics affiliate of Alibaba Group. It adopts a collaborative approach to logistics with an innovative and open data platform that improves efficiency and customer experience for all players along the supply chain. It carries forward Alibaba's mission of making it easy to do business anywhere by aiming to deliver anywhere in China within 24 hours, and across the globe within 72 hours. About KOSME The Korea SMEs & Startups Agency (KOSME) is a non-profit, government-funded organization established to implement government policies and programs for the sound growth and development of Korean SMEs.

To achieve its purpose, KOSME operates financial and non-financial programs for SMEs. Through financial programs, KOSME provides financing for SMEs to expand operations, develop new products and convert their business structures. With advisory programs including consulting, training, marketing and global cooperation programs, KOSME supports SMEs to enhance their global competitiveness. SOURCE Cainiao Smart Logistics Network

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 01, 2021] Strategy Analytics: Xiaomi Smartphone Shipments Grew 1000 Percent in Chile in Q1 2021, Poised for Second Spot in 2021

According to new research from Strategy Analytics (News - Alert) , Chile smartphone shipments jumped 71% YoY to an all-time high of 2.9 million units in the first quarter of 2021. Xiaomi was the star performer, surging over 1000% annually to capture third place and a record 16% marketshare. Xiaomi is on track to grab second place by the end of the year. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210601006122/en/ Chile Smartphone Shipments and Marketshare by Top-Three Vendors ( Source (News - Alert) : Strategy Analytics)



Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, said, "Smartphone shipments in Chile jumped 71% YoY from 1.7 million units during Q1 2020 to a record 2.9 million in Q1 2021. Despite Covid and political uncertainty, demand for smartphones soared due to a buoyant economy, strong exports, and a perceived high vaccination rate. Chile is the third largest smartphone market in Latin America, after Brazil and Mexico." Woody Oh, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, "We estimate Samsung (News - Alert) grew its Chile smartphone shipments a healthy 63% YoY from 0.8 million in Q1 2020 to a record 1.2 million during Q1 2021. Samsung's smartphone marketshare in Chile remains relatively stable for now, around the 42% level. Samsung has extensive retail presence in Chile and its midrange A series models are wildly popular. Lenovo (News - Alert) -Motorola held second place and grew its smartphone marketshare in Chile from 12% during Q1 2020 to a record 17% in Q1 2021. The Motorola brand remains popular with Chilean consumers who like 4G smartphones at affordable price-points."

Rajeev Nair, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, added, "We estimate Xiaomi smartphone shipments in Chile grew over 1000% from near-zero in Q1 2020 to a record 0.5 million units during Q1 2021. Xiaomi has soared from 2% to 16% smartphone marketshare in Chile during the past year. Xiaomi is Chile's fastest-growing smartphone brand. Xiaomi's budget Redmi models are winning strong consumer acceptance, they have helped Xiaomi capture third place in Chile and to maximize its gains from the pullout of Huawei (News - Alert) . If current growth trends continue, Xiaomi will overtake Lenovo-Motorola to become Chile's second largest smartphone brand before the end of 2021." Woody Oh, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, "There remains much to play for in Chile. OPPO, Vivo, Realme and other Chinese brands have ambitious smartphone expansion plans for the year ahead. Samsung's dominance and Xiaomi's soaring growth in Chile are by no means guaranteed." About Strategy Analytics Strategy Analytics is a global, independent research and consulting firm. The company is headquartered in Boston, US, with offices in the UK, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, and China. Visit www.strategyanalytics.com for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210601006122/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 01, 2021] WireShow 2021 visitor registration is open, find 500+ suppliers and explore new business opportunity in China

SHANGHAI, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Building on the fruitful results and success of wire China, Messe Duesseldorf (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (MDS) and Shanghai Electric Cable Research Institute Co., Ltd. (SECRI) have deepened their cooperation to jointly organize another event in the wire and cable industry  WireShow. Last edition of WireShow reached a new record with a total exhibition area of 25,000 sqm, with more than 400 domestic and overseas companies and near 15,000 trade visitors. Join WireShow to grasp the development trend of China's 14th Five-Year Plan At the beginning of China's "14th Five-Year (2021-2025) Plan", this year's WireShow will help wire and cable companies to seize market dividends and gain insights more accurately into the development trends of the next five years. So far, near 400 international and domestic leading brands have confirmed their participation, such as WAFIOS, Maillefer, Rosendahl, Troester, Huntsman, Zumbach, Proton, SIKORA, FELSS, TUV Rheinland, Totoku, Xinming, ZhongDing, Handing, Strd Laser, Singcheer, ABZ, Chuangzhan, Chaoxu Electromechanical, Smarter, Hongqi, etc.



Visitors' online registration is open, and group visitors can enjoy special privileges From now on, trade visitors can CLICK HERE to do the online real-name registration or via the WireShow WeChat account. If you have five or more visitors in one group, the organizers will also provide a quick registration way. Please DOWNLOAD THE REGISTRATION FORM and submit it to the organizer for review before the deadline

International Buyer Program is launched at the same time Considering the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restriction, the organiser launches an online Match-making Program for those international buyers who might not be able to visit physical WireShow this year. Registered visitors can be included into the buyer pool of WireShow, from which the organizer will pick and match with corresponding suppliers. The matched both parties will have a web meeting then for further communication. For those international buyers who are already in mainland China, the organizer will provide offline visiting support as well. WireShow 2021 will be held from 31st August to 2nd September at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. For more information about WireShow, please visit the official website: www.wireshow.com, or follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wire-tube-china/. Press Contact Ms. Stephanie Su / Ms. Karen Bu

Messe Duesseldorf (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

Tel: +86-21-6169 8343 / -8307

stephanie.su@mds.cn / karen.bu@mds.cn

www.mds.cn SOURCE Messe Dusseldorf (Shanghai) Co Ltd

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 01, 2021] Samsung Introduces its First ZNS SSD with Maximized User Capacity and Enhanced Lifespan

Samsung (News - Alert) Electronics, the world leader in advanced memory technology, today unveiled its new enterprise solid-state drive (SSD) featuring Zoned Namespace (ZNS) technology - the PM1731a. Leveraging ZNS, the SSD will maximize available user capacity and offer an extended lifespan in storage server, data center and cloud environments. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210601005909/en/ Samsung ZNS SSD (PM1731a) (Photo: Business Wire) "Samsung's ZNS SSD reflects our commitment to introducing differentiated storage solutions that can substantially enhance the reliability and lifetime of server SSDs," said Sangyeun Cho, senior vice president of the Memory Software Development Team at Samsung Electronics. "We plan to leverage quad-level cell (QLC) NAND technology in our next-generation ZNS drives to enable higher thresholds for storage performance and capacity in the enterprise systems of tomorrow." ZNS allows data to be grouped based on their usage and access frequency, and stored sequentially in independent zones within an SSD. Without the needto move and rearrange data, ZNS SSDs can significantly reduce the number of write operations, lowering the drive's write amplification factor (WAF) - the amount of actual writes performed by the drive compared to writes initially instructed by the host system. The closer the WAF is to one, the more efficient the SSD and the longer it will last.



Based on ZNS, the new Samsung SSD can achieve a WAF close to one, a major improvement over typical server SSD values between three and four. This will make the drive last up to four times longer than conventional NVMe SSDs, making it a greener, more sustainable solution for server infrastructures. ZNS also allows users to take advantage of the SSD's full capacity by eliminating the need for overprovisioning, which would have required reserving some storage space for background tasks. These improvements will enable enterprise customers to handle big data and artificial intelligence applications with much greater efficiency. Built upon Samsung's sixth-generation V-NAND, the 2.5-inch PM1731a will come in two terabyte (TB) and four TB models. The SSD will feature dual ports, ensuring the drive is fully accessible for continuous operations and minimizing downtime. This is essential for enterprises and public cloud companies who run mission-critical, data-intensive applications, and cannot afford any pause in the continuity of their businesses.

Samsung has been actively engaging in several open-source projects to help expand the ZNS ecosystem. The company will make its ZNS technology available to xNVMe, which provides software libraries and tools to improve the performance of NVMe devices. The company is also participating in the Storage Performance Development Kit (SPDK) community created by Intel (News - Alert) , enabling SPDK users to implement ZNS more easily. Samsung plans to mass-produce ZNS SSDs in the second half of the year and continue working with global enterprise storage companies to optimize its ZNS drives across various customer environments. About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network systems, and memory, system LSI, foundry and LED solutions. For the latest news, please visit the Samsung Newsroom at news.samsung.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210601005909/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 01, 2021] Talon Founder Mark Galvin Nets Lead Article on Transparency in Coverage in Economic Standard

PORTSMOUTH, N.H., June 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Mark Galvin, Founder and CEO of TALON (http://TALONhealthtech.com), a transformational technology company offering solutions to fully comply with the federal government's Health Care Transparency Rule and No Surprises Act, authored the lead article on the topic in The Economic Standard (https://theeconomicstandard.com/get-ready-true-market-forces-will-soon-be-unleashed-in-healthcare/). Galvin's article, "Get Ready: True Market Forces Will Soon Be Unleashed in Healthcare," makes it clear that the healthcare system will change dramaticallyand for the betterin just a matter of months, when competition between providers based on quality and pricing begins, in earnest. "The federal government's new Transparency in Coverage Rule based on provisions of the Affordable Care Ac means that 212 million consumers will be given ready access to the prices of virtually every test and procedure so they can decide for themselves whether to spend, say, $800 or an MRI of the lower back or $6,000," Galvin wrote.



Galvin goes on to say that health care providers, insurers and employers have to prepare now since initial compliance with the Transparency in Coverage Rule and No Surprises Act begins on January 1, 2022. As of January 1, 2023, employers can be fined $100 per insured member per day for not arming those individuals with access to comprehensive, transparent, easily accessible competitive pricing options. Galvin was himself instrumental in moving the federal government to focus on achieving healthcare transparency, in part by demonstrating what TALON's software solutions achieve. The federal rule, in fact, enumerates several features of TALON's MyMedicalShopper software (http://TALONhealthtech.com) as being required for entities to achieve compliance.

"It has been extremely gratifying to see the hard work and dedication of my team at TALON reflected in the particulars of the Transparency in Coverage Rule," Galvin said. "That puts us in a wonderful position to be able to help our clients achieve compliance." TALON already provides its software to 5,500 employer groups located in 49 states. The software is an ideal compliance solution for Third Party Administrators, Administrative Services Only providers and insurance carriers. About TALON (http://TALONhealthtech.com) Driven by two principlesRadical Transparency and Healthcare ConsumerismTALON was founded to repair America's profoundly dysfunctional health insurance market. Through its proprietary set of innovative tools and services, Talon introduces free market dynamics into the fractured healthcare marketplace, drastically reducing wasteful spending. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/talon-founder-mark-galvin-nets-lead-article-on-transparency-in-coverage-in-economic-standard-301303517.html SOURCE Talon

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 01, 2021] View the VIBE's June digital cover, Features Toronto's Rising Relator and HGTV's, Rizwan Malik, and His Thoughts on Normalizing the Conversation on Sexuality

TORONTO, June 1, 2021 /CNW/ - View the VIBE's June digital cover stars real estate agent and television personality, Rizwan Malik. He's more than just one of Toronto's top realtors, Malik is an equestrian, an uncle, a friend, a first generation immigrant, and a confident gay man. Since beginning his career 15 years ago, Malik has sold millions upon millions of dollars in Toronto real estate. His sales prowess comes from a passion for people, a desire to help others, and a desire for flexibility in his life. Although he admits real estate can be an extremely high stress profession, he never lets overbearing clients get to him. Putting himself in their shoes, Malik can empathize with how monumental - and stress inducing - purchasing a home can be. When it comes to his sexual orientation, Malik struggled as a young boy with his identity and although he came out to himself at the age of 12, he didn't officially tell his family until he was into his mid-20s. When he eventually did come out, Malik had already accepted himself, and grown into the person he is today. One thing he wants others in the community to remember is that coming out doesn't change you, it simply liberates you. To Malik's friends and family, it doesn't matter what his sexual preferences are, at the end of the day he is still just Rizwan. Malik has been able to maintain a close relationship with his family, despite his coming out. He worked to create an environment with his friends and family where education was never judgemental, and you could ask any question you'd needed to. Normalizing the conversation and allowing them to freely ask questions around sexuality, Malik says will help create a more mindful younger generation, as he is experiencing with his godsons today. "Although possibly unexpected, considering at View the VIBE, we love celebrating diversity, being loud and proud, and highlighting individuals who embody that--and will continue doing so--when we first heard Rizwan Malik's tory, it resonated with me. So much, that I felt that it was equally as important to celebrate and highlight someone who may not fit into the more stereotypical openly gay image," says Steven Branco, creative director and founder of Stamina Group Inc. "He exudes confidence, in his job, in his style, and in his own skin...and you can see that from a mile away--and I am honoured that we were able to share his story. I have no doubt that Malik will go on to do great things and I look forward to seeing just that."



For the full digital cover feature, please visit:

https://viewthevibe.com/rizwan-malik-on-success-coming-out-and-horsepower/ Cover Shoot Credits:

Shot by, Nick Merzetti; Styled and Directed by, Steven Branco; Production Coordinator, Merrill Flynn; Lighting, Mor Anucov; Wardrobe Assistant, Shannon Sidhu; Grooming: Darren Jansen (L'Oreal Pro Artist); Makeup: Reshma Sookdeo; Production Assistants: Cait Nazal, McKenna Laheur, Alaina Lindsay.

About View the VIBE:

View the VIBE, partially owned and operated by STAMINA Group Inc., launched in 2010 by Nicki Laborie as Toronto's first video restaurant and spa guide, later evolving into a recognized digital Toronto-lifestyle authority, producing fun, edgy and informational editorial content. Establishing itself as a voice for restaurant reviews, trending stories, and excellent VIBE videos. For more, visit ViewtheVIBE.com or @ViewtheVIBE on Instagram--masthead also available at ViewtheVIBE.com/masthead. About STAMINA Group Inc.:

STAMINA Group Inc. (STAMINA) is a privately owned media and communications company. Specializing in digital, STAMINA creates award winning digital-first content solutions that deliver unique brand experiences. Having supported, owned, operated or partnered with some of Canada's rising digital media brands including: View the VIBE, WanderEater Magazine, DIVINE.ca, OHLALA.ca, @ImagesofCanada, @StreetsofToronto and Haute Living Magazines. Led by award and contest winning creative and on-air lifestyle expert, Steven Branco (@mr.stevenbranco). Recently expanding the company with a new agency division, STAMINA Labs, offering client-direct full service digital marketing, branding and experiential solutions, backed by the same teams that support the digital media brands our clients and audiences know and love. For more, visit HaveStamina.com or @Stamina.Group on Instagram. SOURCE Stamina Group Inc.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 01, 2021] Awake Asia Merges with ADA to Unleash End-to-End eCommerce Across 10 Countries

Awake Asia integrates eCommerce enablement operations with ADA

Merger brings integrated brand, media, and eCommerce services to 10 markets in South and Southeast Asia with over 150 dedicated eCommerce specialists

Merged eCommerce practice taps into USD 100B opportunity across Southeast Asia KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ADA launches the region's first integrated eCommerce practice through a merger with Awake Asia, a regional eCommerce enabler operating in 6 countries in Southeast Asia. The exercise fully integrates Awake Asia's operations under the ADA brand starting 1st June 2021, where both parties come together to champion and fulfil the needs of brands moving towards online channels across 10 markets in South and Southeast Asia - Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Cambodia, South Korea, and Vietnam. The integrated eCommerce practice brings together Awake Asia's deep eCommerce expertise with ADA's media, creative, andanalytics solutions to drive online sales for brands through:



Digital marketing deeply linked to eCommerce revenue generation: Digital media execution integrated with eCommerce operations; customer-centric strategies and activations; performance linking external media spend to online sales. Consumer data and analytics leveraged to uplift eCommerce sales: Utilise client's customer data and third party data sets to derive shopper insights, personalise content and to cross and upsell via eCommerce channels.

Reaching vast audiences in super apps and marketplaces: Optimise customer touchpoints across super apps and owned apps and websites; deploy Marketing Technology solutions like customer data platforms (CDP); attribution tools to track and optimise conversion funnel. Srinivas?Gattamneni, Chief Executive Officer of ADA, said: "At ADA, our belief is that eCommerce should not be a siloed execution but needs to be deeply integrated into the brand's analytics, media, creative, and marketing technology investments - only then can we achieve superior performance. The merger brings together integrated approach for brands to reach and convert digital consumers." Leading the division is Simon Paterson who joins ADA as Chief of eCommerce Enablement and the former CEO of Awake Asia. Commenting on his new appointment, he said "Over the past 5 years, Awake Asia has built a formidable eCommerce enablement business in Southeast Asia. We are excited to embark on this new phase of growth with integrated analytics, media, and creative to boost eCommerce operations for all brands in the region." The merger opens a new market for ADA in Vietnam with over 150 eCommerce specialists currently serving more than 120 brands, driving eCommerce growth for clients such as P&G, Unilever, BMW, and Wyeth; and eCommerce partners including Shopee, Tokopedia, and Lazada amongst others. As more brands are forced to adapt to capture the "great migration" of consumers from offline to online, business owners are still in the dark on how to navigate the challenges to maximise return on investment. This opportunity is expected to surge to USD 100 billion in Southeast Asia, with compound annual growth rate (CAGR) expected to rise by 24.6% (2017 - 2025). Learn more about ADA's eCommerce solutions here: https://ada-asia.com/end-to-end-e-commerce-solutions/. About ADA ADA is a data and artificial intelligence company that designs and executes integrated digital, analytics, and marketing solutions. Operating across 10 markets in South and Southeast Asia, ADA partners with leading brands to drive their digital and data maturity, and achieve their business goals. We are anchored on the following main services: Providing business insights, data enrichment, and advanced analytics

Understanding the consumer mindset and designing data-driven creative marketing strategies

Executing end-to-end digital marketing solutions for growth hacking, funnel optimisation, and goal optimisation ADA complements its unique digital expertise with deep proprietary data of 375 Million consumers. SOURCE ADA

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] NTTF launches apprenticeship-based Diploma in Logistics Technology Program

BANGALORE, India, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF), a well-known brand in the Vocational Education field serving the society for the last 61+ years, is now launching a unique apprenticeship-based Diploma Program in Logistics Technology. Logistics play an important role in any economy as the growth prospects of this sector are closely linked to the economic growth and to some extent even foreign trade of the country. Technology has a big role to play when it comes to ensuring an effective supply chain in the dire need of today's logistics challenges. NTTF is rolling out this program in association with Logistics Sector Skills Council (LSC), established by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) through National Skill Development Corporation of India (NSDC). This long-term full time diploma program is a very unique blend of classroom sessions as well as with apprenticeship training modules with an aim to enhance employability skills of young learners to make them industry-ready. Class 10 completed students would undergo three-year program (6 semesters) whereas the Class 12/ HSC Science stream/ ITI students undergoes two-year (4 semesters) program. Students could also opt out in between with a CERTIFICATE award after one year for class 12 and after 2 years for class 10. There is a flexibility to come back with a break to complete the Diploma. Students in the three-year Diploma program would pursue common engineering subjects in the first year of study. They pursue Logistics Technology specialisation in the second & third year, and acquire their Knowledge, Skill, and Attitude required for supply chain industries honed during the two spells of Apprenticeship Training scheduled in Semesters IV and VI. The duration of each spell of apprenticeship is 6 months. Interested students with Class 10/ Class 12/ ITI qualification can apply online at https://www.nttftrg.com/diploma-programs/diploma-in-logistics-technology for the Diploma in Logistics Technology program, contact email: skilldevelopment@nttf.co.in Mobile: 9632122733



NEED OF THE HOUR: Technologies like Bar-coding and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), data acquisition technologies like Optical scanning, Electronic notepads, Voice recognition and Robotics for information management and control can be used by LSPs (Logistic service providers) to reap maximum benefits and reduce unwarranted operational and manual costs. These available technologies also save a lot of time and money in tracing products or shipments. NTTF's program is aimed at addressing these requirements through this effort. Prospective job opportunities for the logistics diploma holders will be in the Supply Management and Logistics, Distribution and Material Movement, Production Logistics and Management, Reverse Logistics and Product Return, etc.

NTTF Brand name is very popular in the industries especially in the Manufacturing, Automation, Electronics, Mechatronics, Information Technology and Computer Engineering sectors. As an Industry-Academic blended program being launched, NTTF is committed to produce quality and skilled professionals to augment the ever-growing demands of the Supply Chain and logistics field. NTTF's continuous efforts to contribute to the society in imparting the employable skills enables an aspiring youth to effectively 'Secure their future with their own hands'. Interested students with Class 10/ Class 12/ ITI qualification can apply online at www.nttftrg.comfor the Diploma in Logistics Technology" program contact skilldevelopment@nttf.co.in Mobile: 9632122733 About Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF) NTTF - an educational foundation established in the year 1959 - is the living symbol of Indo-Swiss co-operation; aimed at promoting purposeful Technical Education for the youth of India. NTTF assists industries, through its special collaborative initiative for producing quality skilled manpower, by establishing training centres in partnership with industry associations. NTTF is an IMS Certified Training Institute ("ISO 9001, ISO 14001 & BS OHSAS 18001"). NTTF today operates in more than 60 locations pan India and employs 800+ faculty members and has delivered core training programs for over 55,000 students who are readily employable and well qualified trainees. All the courses and related curriculum are Industry-focused and updated based on the advice by a council of eminent personalities representing Academics and industry. NTTF has a state-of-the-art infrastructure for training with learning-friendly environment campuses. The institution has an enviable track record of industry placement of its technicians and engineers with attractive salaries, both in India and abroad. NTTF prepares the final year students - to face the interviews, industry etiquettes, induces self-confidence and makes them the true citizen of India through holistic training methodologies. For more than 61 years, NTTF has transformed the lives of many youth into industry leaders, entrepreneurs. NTTF provides its students a deeply transformative experience - intellectually, socially and personally, that will prepare them for a life of citizenship and leadership. NTTF training is designed to make the youth "Future Ready". It offers benefits like Career & job readiness, Deep technical knowledge/ Professional skills, Design thinking & Problem solving skills, Hands-on skill-oriented training and supports overall personality development. All the Programmes at NTTF are job-oriented. Every year the students are placed for job directly by reputed industries through the campus selections hosted by NTTF. All these programs are delivered with high emphasis on practical training. Students would get in-depth understanding of the supply chain and allied topics. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1523873/Logistics_Management.jpg Media Contact :

Ramanathan S

CIO, NTTF

ramanathans@nttf.co.in

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 23:55:38|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that China stands ready to work with Kazakhstan hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder to make their good relations even better.

In a telephone conversation with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Xi called for concerted efforts to continuously develop bilateral cooperation in various fields and always advance the China-Kazakhstan relationship in the right direction.

Xi pointed out that China and Kazakhstan are permanent comprehensive strategic partners, and their friendship enjoys a solid foundation and a strong impetus.

This year bears unique significance to both countries, as the Communist Party of China (CPC) is about to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding, and Kazakhstan the 30th anniversary of its independence, Xi noted.

China, he added, is willing to join hands with Kazakhstan to further consolidate the close relationship between the two nations and the two peoples, and usher in a brighter future of the development of both countries.

Xi stressed that bilateral cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative has brought tangible benefits to the people of both countries, and has also set a good example for the international community.

The two sides should continue to promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, strengthen cooperation in such fields as industrial capacity, trade, agriculture and infrastructure, and continuously improve connectivity, he suggested.

Meanwhile, Xi said joint efforts should also be made to foster new growth areas for cooperation in green energy, artificial intelligence, e-commerce, digital finance and other areas, and build a green Silk Road, a health Silk Road and a digital Silk Road.

China is willing to deepen cooperation with Kazakhstan in such fields as telemedicine and traditional medicine, and continue to provide assistance and support for Kazakhstan's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

The two sides, he added, should also enhance cooperation in law enforcement, security, defense and other areas, so as to jointly maintain peace and tranquility in the region. Enditem
[June 02, 2021] Tiziana Life Sciences plc ("Tiziana" or the "Company") Posting of Notice of Annual General Meeting

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION. NEW YORK and LONDON, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Company announces that a letter to Shareholders has been posted advising that the Notice of Annual General Meeting has been made available on the Companys website: https://ir.tizianalifescinces.com/shareholder-services/annual-general-meeting



The AGM is to be held on 25 June 2021 at 10.00 am BST. As we expect restrictions on personal movement to still be in place due to Covid-19, we are utilising provisions in our articles of association to facilitate the holding of the meeting on an electronic platform. Accordingly, this years AGM will be an electronic meeting only. All voting at the resolutions at the AGM will be conducted on a poll which means that you should submit your proxy (by post, email or online voting) as soon as possible. We ask that all question which shareholders wish to raise be submitted to info@tizianalifesciences.com in advance.

The platform that we will be using will allow shareholders the option to submit a separate poll card at the electronic meeting but, to ease administration, we request that proxies be lodged in advance wherever possible. Full details of the operation and arrangements for the AGM are set out in the Notice of AGM. United Kingdom: Tiziana Life Sciences plc Gabriele Cerrone, Chairman and founder +44 (0)20 7495 2379 United States: Investors: Dave Gentry, CEO RedChip Companies Inc. 1-800-RED-CHIP (733-2447) or 407-491-4498 dave@redchip.com





[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Cato Networks Expands in DACH, Launching 16th EMEA PoP in Munich

New PoP and expanded sales investment reflect strong SASE growth in Germany, Austria, and across EMEA TEL AVIV, Israel, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cato Networks, provider of the world's first?Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)?platform, announced today its further expansion in Germany and the DACH region. Cato opened a new PoP in Munich and made two new appointments to the sales management team in Germany. "The new Munich point of presence (PoP) joins our Frankfurt and Zurich PoPs and strengthens our offering in the south of Germany and in Austria, allowing for even better networking and security performance," says Johan van den Boogaart, Cato's Regional Sales Director for Germany. "With our expanded sales management team, we'll be better positioned to help enterprises throughout the region experience the benefits of SASE." Cato Grows Its Network Footprint in the DACH Region Cato has seen strong adoption of its global SASE platform by DACH companies such as Sixt, the global car rental company headquartered in Germany, and Komax, a pioneer and market leader in automated wire processing headquartered in Switzerland. "We were impressed by Cato's thinking. They were one or two steps ahead of others," says Tobias Rolz, Executive Vice President, Market and Digital Services for Swiss-based Komax, a pioneer and market leader in automated wire processing and Cato customer. "Cato was moving the network and security into the cloud, which completely fits our visin for more or less a serverless office in a few years from now."



The new PoP in Munich is the latest investment in the DACH region. The global Cato network already has PoPs in Frankfurt and Zurich. Together with Munich, Cato will deliver its converged networking and security service across the region's major financial centers. "Our Munich PoP will be instrumental in serving the major automotive and services companies in the south of Germany," says van den Boogaart. Cato now has more than 60 PoPs worldwide interconnected across Cato's self-healing, optimized global private backbone. Every PoP runs Cato's converged, cloud-native software stack that provides a complete networking and security services suite to any site, user, application, or cloud resource. And for maximum control, Cato owns and operates the PoP infrastructure instead of running them in a Google, Microsoft, or Amazon cloud.

New Sales Professionals Join the Management Team Along with the new PoP, Cato also added two members to its EMEA sales management team. Willibald Inderst joins Cato as Channel Manager for the DACH region, and Andreas Gabelin takes the position of Regional Sales Director for Northern Germany. Inderst is based in Munich, and Gabelin is in Dusseldorf. Both bring extensive backgrounds in sales of networking technology solutions to their new roles with Cato. "We're pleased to welcome Willibald Inderst and Andreas Gabelin to our team," says Luca Simonelli, Cato's vice president of sales for the EMEA region. "As we expand our network footprint and sales efforts in EMEA, their experience will be invaluable in identifying the customers and channel partners looking to address the networking and security challenges of digital transformation." Partners and Customers Will Benefit from Extensive Experience Inderst joins Cato Networks from Pulse Secure, where he most recently held a sales management position in the Munich area. He has also held sales, marketing, and channel management positions with other technology companies, including Varonis, Multitrade GmbH, F5 Networks, and VMware. He has a business and computer science degree from Munich University of Applied Sciences. With Cato, Inderst will be responsible for managing the growth and success of channel sales in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Central Europe. "I'm excited to join Cato Networks, the recognized leader in SASE solutions," says Inderst. "I look forward to working with our DACH channel partners as we help companies accelerate their digital transformations while simplifying their networks and strengthening their security postures with Cato's SASE platform." Gabelin comes to Cato Networks from Riverbed Technologies, where he was a Regional Sales Director. Gabelin's 20+ year career also includes key sales management positions with Forcepoint, McAfee, Aruba Networks, and several other technology companies. He will be instrumental in leading regional enterprise sales in Northern Germany. "Companies across every industry are seeing the benefits of adopting a SASE strategy. Cato's strong growth validates that point," says Gabelin. "I am excited to be part of such a vibrant team that is not just leading but creating the future of converged networking and security solutions." To learn more about how the Cato SASE platform can help your business, visit us at https://www.catonetworks.com. About Cato Networks Cato is the world's first SASE platform, converging SD-WAN and network security into a global, cloud-native service. Cato optimizes and secures application access for all users and locations. Using Cato, customers easily migrate from MPLS to SD-WAN, optimize connectivity to on-premises and cloud applications, enable secure branch Internet access everywhere, and seamlessly integrate cloud datacenters and mobile users into the network with a zero-trust architecture. With Cato, the network, and your business, are ready for whatever's next.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] GraphDB 9.8 Brings Text Mining and Kafka Connectivity

GraphDB 9.8 introduces text mining integration, notifications over Kafka, Helm charts as well as significant query performance improvements SOFIA, Bulgaria, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ontotext has released GraphDB 9.8, which offers text mining integration, notifications over Kafka, Helm charts, and performance improvements. Enrich the Graph with the Text Mining Plugin The GraphDB text mining plugin integrates text mining algorithms and allows for generating new relationships between entities without coding or developing bespoke solutions and integration code. The plugin comes with out-of-the-box support for popular text analytic services such as Ontotext's Tag API, GATE Cloud, and spaCy server, as well as an expressive mapping language, to register new services without coding. The extracted text annotations can be manipulated with SPARQL and either returned to the caller for further processing or stored directly into the repository where they will enrich the existing knowledge graph. This functionality covers a number of use-cases that rely on both RDF and text analytics. Synchronize Downstream Systems with the Kafka Connector The Kafka connector provides a means to synchronize changes to the RDF model to any downstream system via the Apache Kafka framework. This enables easy processing of RDF updates in any external system and covers a variety of use-cases where a reliable synchronization mechanism is needed.



Each Kafka connector instance will stay automatically up-to-date with the GraphDB repository data. The implementation is built on the same rock-solid framework as the existing Elasticsearch, Solr and Lucene connectors end employs multiple features that allow for precise mapping from RDF to JSON, such as defining fields based on property chains, nested document support as well as advanced filtering by type, literal language or a complex expression. Standard Deployment on Kubernetes Using Helm Charts

GraphDB 9.8 comes with standard Helm charts and instructions that can help you get started with GraphDB Enterprise Edition on Kubernetes. Every component is configured with sensible defaults and it is very easy to customize it to meet your needs. The Helm charts are open source and provided as a reference for setting up complex GraphDB deployments. Performance and Database Throughput Improvements The new version of the GraphDB engine implements a major performance improvement in query evaluation due to optimized memory usage and algorithm optimizations. The LDBC SPB-256 benchmark showed around 50% increase in read performance, while the BSBM benchmark showed a 15% increase in read/explore operations. All changes are backward compatible and would positively affect large repositories under moderate to heavy query load. Upgrade to RDF4J 3.6.3 GraphDB comes with the latest RDF4J 3.6.3, which includes many SHACL improvements and a SPARQL parser optimization. About Ontotext Ontotext is a global leader in enterprise knowledge graph technology and semantic database engines. Ontotext employs big knowledge graphs to enable unified data access and cognitive analytics via text mining and integration of data across multiple sources. Ontotext GraphDB?? engine and Ontotext Platform power business-critical systems in the biggest banks, media, market intelligence agencies, car and aerospace manufacturers. Ontotext technology and solutions are spread wide across the value chain of the most knowledge-intensive enterprises in financial services, publishing, healthcare, pharma, manufacturing and public sectors. Leveraging AI and cognitive technologies, Ontotext helps enterprises get a competitive advantage, by connecting the dots of their proprietary knowledge and putting it in the context of global intelligence. Headquartered in the year 2000 in Bulgaria, Ontotext has most of its revenues from big corporations across US, UK, Mainland Europe and Asia and partners with 5 of the biggest IT Services companies on Earth. As a member of W3C, STI, Linked Data Benchmark Council, Enterprise Knowledge Graph Foundation and DBPedia foundation, Ontotext supports the development of the next-generation technology trends and standards. With hundreds of scientific publications and thousands of citations and followers, Ontotext's thought leadership extends to text analytics, semantic search and reasoning.



Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1523293/Ontotext_Kafka.jpg Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/448827/Ontotext_Logo.jpg

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021]

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. Announces Results of Annual General Meeting

SHANGHAI, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: ZTO and HKEX: 2057), a leading and fast-growing express delivery company in China ("ZTO" or the "Company"), today announced that each of the following proposed resolutions submitted for shareholder approval have been adopted at its annual general meeting of shareholders held in Shanghai today:

About ZT







ZTO is a leading and fast-growing express delivery company in China. ZTO provides express delivery service as well as other value-added logistics services through its extensive and reliable nationwide network coverage in China.

ZTO operates a highly scalable network partner model, which the Company believes is best suited to support the significant growth of e-commerce in China. The Company leverages its network partners to provide pickup and last-mile delivery services, while controlling the mission-critical line-haul transportation and sorting network within the express delivery service value chain.

For more information, please visit http://zto.investorroom.com.

For investor inquiries, please contact:

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc.

Investor Relations

E-mail: ir@zto.com

Phone: +86 21 5980 4508

SOURCE ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc.
[June 02, 2021] ZS reaches Haryana: On a mission to strengthen community-led developments and literacy rate

MUMBAI, India, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ZS, a professional services firm, partnered with NeeV learning centre and S M Sehgal Foundation to support various areas of need in Haryana as part of its ZS Cares mission. Every year, ZS conducts a global ZS Cares program where employees engage in various initiatives to drive positive change in communities around the world. Given the social distancing norms required since 2020, ZS has continued to find innovative ways to conduct this program and collaborate with various NGOs dedicated to the pressing issues within the community. NeeV, a learning centre dedicated to underserved students in Gurugram, focuses its energies and resources on improving the early stages of an individual's growth and education. To help the centre adapt during the pandemic, a team of ZSers joined with NeeV to move its in-person format to a new, virtual one. ZSers volunteered their time and expertise in setting up virtual connections to give students access to all the opportunities that NeeV provides them to help them achieve their goals. The teams from ZS and NeeV each focused on different categories. One team was dedicated to students gearing up to enter post-secondary education, providing career and college counselling, resume-building sessions, mock interviews and tutoring for college admissions examinations. Another team dedicated their time to help students build on their lessons in school with supplemental learning. ZSers also worked with students from all grades to improve their English fluency through reading comprehension lessons, group discussions, debates and writing. Shalini from NeeV added, "A wise man once said, we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. In these challenging times, it is natural to prioritise one's survival. But it is commendable that ZS still strongly believes in sharing their resources with those in need. ZS's ontinued contributions are a source of encouragement for us. It's the coming together of capable and compassionate organizations like ZS that can truly make a difference within our communities."



Through the ZS Cares program, ZS also worked with the S M Sehgal Foundation (Sehgal Foundation), a public charitable trust that aims to strengthen community-led development initiatives to achieve positive social, economic and environmental change across rural India. Following a digital literacy curriculum, ZSers taught students of Kota Junior High School to use digital devices and navigate the internet, develop email-writing skills, understand the fundamentals of Microsoft Office and conduct online research, along with life skills such as health and sanitation, decision-making, self-confidence and building a positive peer culture. Additionally, solar panels were installed at the school to provide reliable, cost-free electricity for six fans, six lamps and two power outlets. In their continued efforts to contribute to the community, ZSers also focused on hand hygiene and distributed sanitation kits to students to promote good health. During this volunteer partnership, enrolment at the Kota Junior High School increased from 160 to more than 200 students, and regular attendance improved from about 45% to 90%.

Apoorva Aggarwal, office managing principal, ZS, New Delhi, said, "ZSers are committed to volunteerism and charitable work as exemplified by such multiyear initiatives to elevate quality of life. Continuously engaging in meaningful, long-term associations with charitable organizations, ZSers ensure a brighter tomorrow in-and beyond-their communities." Sanjay Joshi, regional managing principal and Head of Asia, ZS, said, "Although the COVID-19 pandemic changed day-to-day life for billions of people around the world, the needs of underserved students intensified. ZS Cares, in that sense, forms the fabric of our social and cultural outlook with which we deliver impact beyond our business ecosystem. With our ZS Cares year-round, far-reaching initiatives, we strive to balance out the different needs across different regions. While we focused in Pune with healthcare infrastructure, we ensured that other areas such as literacy rate and basic infrastructure are being addressed in Gurugram." Through ZS Cares, employees of the firm also worked in different regions including North America, London, Pune, New York and other locations to address varied issues. The program involved 28 offices dedicating more than 5,000 hours to better their communities in one day. During these initiatives, 15+ pro bono projects were undertaken and 35+ organizations benefitted from these activities. About ZS ZS is a professional services firm that works side-by-side with companies to help develop and deliver products that drive customer value and company results. We leverage our deep industry expertise, leading-edge analytics, technology and strategy to create solutions that work in the real world. With more than 35 years of experience and 7,000-plus ZSers in 28 offices worldwide, we are passionately committed to helping companies and their customers thrive. To learn more, visit http://www.zs.com/ or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. Media Contact:

Shweta Patil,

shweta@madchatter.in,

+91-97697 06338,

Public Relations Manager,

Madchatter Brand Solutions Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/512249/ZS_Logo.jpg

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Jacobs, Peachtree Corners, and Qualcomm Collaborate to Deploy Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything Technology in Georgia Smart City

PEACHTREE CORNERS, Ga., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Jacobs, Peachtree Corners and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced joint efforts to deploy end-to-end smart solutions in one of the nation's first smart city environments powered by real-world connected vehicle technology and infrastructure. As a part of the working relationship, Qualcomm Technologies serves as ecosystem enabler by providing technology solutions, while Jacobs manages the installation commission project delivery. The program aims to demonstrate the continued momentum of smart cities and spaces, with Peachtree Corners serving as a model for other municipalities as they look to deploy smart solutions and programs. Peachtree Corners is home to one of the nation's most advanced smart city ecosystems, with smart connected technologies actively being developed and deployed in real-world conditions. Its Curiosity Lab is home to technology developers and companies enabling the future, while smart connected solutions are being deployed across the community, bringing the region to the forefront in the development of next-generation, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. Jacobs, Peachtree Corners and Qualcomm Technologies are working together to deploy the company's technology solutions, focusing initially on roadside infrastructure, traffic management and road safety, with the implementation of Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) technology. As a part of the program, the city will work with Commsignia to feature roadside units (RSUs) equipped with Qualcomm Technologies' C-V2X solution. Utility vehicles equipped with Qualcomm Technologies' C-V2X solutions will also be utilized to demonstrate vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) direct communications. The implementation of C-V2X within the smart city environment not only demonstrates the benefits of C-V2X communications in a real-world setting at scale but showcases C-V2X's safety critical communication capabilities needed to meet the evolving needs of transportation. "We are pleased to be working with Jacobs and Peachtree Corners to build out a progressive smart city deployment. This implementation further exemplifies the value and leadership in the Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program ecosystem and streamlined end-to-end deployment model capabilities," said Sanjeet Pandit, senior director, business development and global head of Smart Cities, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "This C-V2X program with the Curiosity Lab and Jacobs not only highlights the ability to implement digital road infrastructure to optimize traffic and enable safer streets across global cities, but our continued commitment to offer advanced solutions for traffic safety. This project is paving the way as an example of what communities can replicate and I expect these advanced end-to-end solutions to be an integral part of future smart city and smart connected spaces rollouts." "In addition to procuring, installing and testing the Internet of Things infrastructure, we're bringing planning expertise to help Peachtree Corners realize its smart city vision," said Jacobs People & Places Solutions Senior Vice President and Regional Director Tom Meinhart. "From procurement to closeout, Jacobs and our partners work to improve safety and connectivity, while enhancing digital infrastructure and smart capabilities in the city." C-V2X direct communication is designed to serve as a key feature for safety and mobility applications. Additionally, C-V2X aids in enabling cleaner and sustainble mobility alternatives as the technology is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions between 5-20%, according to the 5GAA.



C-V2X is globally compatible with 5G networks and complements other Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) sensors, such as cameras, radar and Light Detection and Radar (LIDAR). The C-V2X direct communications is designed to offer vehicles low latency communications for vehicles to broadcast to other vehicles, roadside infrastructure and, in the future and with further optimizations, to pedestrians and other vulnerable road users without the involvement of a cellular network, or cellular network subscription, by operating in globally harmonized 5.9 GHz ITS spectrum. "We're delighted to welcome Qualcomm Technologies to Peachtree Corners  reinforcing our shared leadership in bringing the smart city vision to life in the United States," said Brandon Branham, assistant city manager and chief technology officer of Peachtree Corners. "We've always stressed the importance of smart connected infrastructure to support all parts of an ecosystem  from autonomous vehicles and shuttles deployed for residents, pedestrians crossing the road, smart traffic management, public safety to other areas of everyday life. Qualcomm Technologies' industry-leading C-V2X technologies will greatly elevate our infrastructure, making it second-to-none for both technology developers and our residents as we connect more of society and business."

Through the Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program, Qualcomm Technologies has acted as a catalyst in enabling end-to-end smart deployments and the digital transformation of smart cities and smart connected spaces globally. Peachtree Corners intends to roll out additional smart solutions in the future by collaborating with Qualcomm Technologies smart cities ecosystem and Qualcomm IoT Services Suite verticals. For more information on the Peachtree C-V2X project, please log onto Qualcomm C-V2X site. To schedule a briefing with city leadership, contact Peachtree@GoDRIVEN360.com. About Jacobs

At Jacobs, we're challenging today to reinvent tomorrow by solving the world's most critical problems for thriving cities, resilient environments, mission-critical outcomes, operational advancement, scientific discovery and cutting-edge manufacturing, turning abstract ideas into realities that transform the world for good. With $14 billion in revenue and a talent force of approximately 55,000, Jacobs provides a full spectrum of professional services including consulting, technical, scientific and project delivery for the government and private sector. Visit jacobs.com and connect with Jacobs on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. About the City of Peachtree Corners, Georgia

As the heart of what is being called #SiliconOrchard in the metro-Atlanta region, Peachtree Corners, Georgia is a vibrant municipality that's home to more than 45,000 residents and an innovation hub that houses some of the world's most disruptive technology companies. As the United States' premier smart city powered by real-world connected infrastructure and 5G, Peachtree Corners serves as the model for how government and private industry can better collaborate to create a better future for society and business. From the world's first deployment of teleoperated e-scooters to fully autonomous shuttles being utilized by actual residents, and from a solar roadway to the largest electric vehicle charging hub in the region, Peachtree Corners is where the most future-forward Internet of Things (IoT) and sustainable technologies come to life for the benefit of its people, and the world. For more information, visit http://www.peachtreecornersga.gov. About-Curiosity-Lab-at-Peachtree-Corners

Curiosity Lab is a 5G-enabled autonomous vehicle and smart city living laboratory located in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, a northern suburb of Atlanta. The centerpiece of the lab is a 1.5-mile test and demo track which provides a real-world environment to explore emerging technologies. Additional infrastructure includes a network operations center, smart poles, DSRC units, dedicated fiber and a 25,000 square foot tech incubator. Additional information can be found at www.curiositylabptc.com About Qualcomm

Qualcomm is the world's leading wireless technology innovator and the driving force behind the development, launch, and expansion of 5G. When we connected the phone to the internet, the mobile revolution was born. Today, our foundational technologies enable the mobile ecosystem and are found in every 3G, 4G and 5G smartphone. We bring the benefits of mobile to new industries, including automotive, the internet of things, and computing, and are leading the way to a world where everything and everyone can communicate and interact seamlessly.

Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including our QCT semiconductor business. Qualcomm is a trademark or registered trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated.

Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program is a program of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

Qualcomm IoT Services Suite is a product of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jacobs-peachtree-corners-and-qualcomm-collaborate-to-deploy-cellular-vehicle-to-everything-technology-in-georgia-smart-city-301303632.html SOURCE Peachtree Corners

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] GBT Successfully Submitted System for Award Management (SAM) Registration

SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GBT Technologies Inc. (OTC PINK: GTCH) ("GBT, or the Company) is seeking to conduct business with the US government agencies and successfully submitted a registration application with System for Award Management (SAM), registration #832011626.

A SAM registration is required for any entity to bid on and get paid for federal contracts or to receive federal funds, including for nonprofit, profit businesses, government contractors/subcontractors, and local cities. The SAM ( www.sam.gov ) system is a central registration point for government contractors and suppliers. This is part of GBTs GSA (General Services Administration) application to get approved to sell to the United States Government through the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). While federal contract opportunities have differing requirements, there is a fundamental set of information that is applying to all applicants. The GSA is the purchasing department of the U.S. Government and lists contracts or schedules potential vendors that can bid on to get government business. To become eligible to bid on a GSA schedule, it is required to complete several important steps, among them are registering in the government's SAM (System for Award Management), and providing previous customer contact information as a means for the GSA to perform a past performance evaluation. More information can be found on GSA web site at: Home (gsa.gov) We have successfully submitted a SAM (System for Award Management) registration and moving forward towards getting approved to conduct business with the federal government. We aim to position our technology and solutions, as a candidate for business with the US Government agencies and departments. GBT has vast knowledge, experience, and proven records in Artificial Intelligence, IoT, tracking, halth and radio technologies and is ready to seek government business. We strongly believe that our IP, technologies, and solutions can be an ideal fit for government-oriented contracts in the domains of military, security, emergency rescue, long range secured communication, and remote medicine. Our AI technologies offer high security and vast data processing capabilities which offers effective solutions in wide variety of domains. Our goal is to be a proud US corporation that offers essential technology within the government umbrella, contributing to our national security, healthy lifestyle and economy, provided Mansour Khatib, the CEO of GBT Technologies Inc.



About Us GBT Technologies, Inc. (OTC PINK: GTCH) (GBT) ( http://gbtti.com ) is a development stage company which considers itself a native of Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Enabled Mobile Technology Platforms used to increase IC performance. GBT has assembled a team with extensive technology expertise and is building an intellectual property portfolio consisting of many patents. GBTs mission, to license the technology and IP to synergetic partners in the areas of hardware and software. Once commercialized, it is GBTs goal to have a suite of products including smart microchips, AI, encryption, Blockchain, IC design, mobile security applications, database management protocols, with tracking and supporting cloud software (without the need for GPS). GBT envisions this system as a creation of a global mesh network using advanced nodes and super performing new generation IC technology. The core of the system will be its advanced microchip technology; technology that can be installed in any mobile or fixed device worldwide. GBTs vision is to produce this system as a low cost, secure, private-mesh-network between any and all enabled devices. Thus, providing shared processing, advanced mobile database management and sharing while using these enhanced mobile features as an alternative to traditional carrier services.

Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission located at their website ( http://www.sec.gov ). In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, governmental and public policy changes, the Companys ability to raise capital on acceptable terms, if at all, the Companys successful development of its products and the integration into its existing products and the commercial acceptance of the Companys products. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release. Contact: Mansour Khatib, CEO

press@gopherprotocol.com



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] ADM Endeavors, Inc. (OTCQB: ADMQ) Announces Over 53% Increase in Revenue

ADM Endeavors, Inc. (OTCQB: ADMQ), announced today a 53% increase in total revenue for its wholly owned subsidiary, Just Right Products, Inc. The increase was based on comparing sales for April and May of 2021 to sales from the same period in 2020. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005336/en/ ADMQ Revenue (Photo: Business Wire) The school uniform segment also increased and showed signs of a strong rebound with a 198% increase for April and May of 2021 compared with the same period in 2020. These numbers have not been reviewed by our third-party audit team. Marc Johnson said, "These are great numbers for our team. I am very proud of our growth and will strive to keep this trend going in the future." About ADMQ: Since 2010, our wholly owned subsidiary, Just Right Products, Inc., has been consistently increasing sales, with sales topping $5.1 million in 2020. The Company sells "Anything With A Logo" on its website, www.JustRightProducts.com, developing products ranging from unique business cards to coffee cups, T-shirts to boots, with tens of thousands of other unique products from which to select. Just Right Products, Inc. operates a diverse vertical integrated business in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, consisting of a retail sales division, screen print production, embroidery production, digital production, import wholesale sourcing, and uniforms. www.admendeavors.com

www.fwpromo.com

www.justrightproducts.com

www.uscbdlogo.com

www.facebook.com/groups/admqshareholders

https://fortworth.academicoutfitters.com/



Forward Looking Statement: This press release may contain forward-looking information 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. Any statements that are not historical facts contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements" that involve a number of risks and uncertainties and are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "strategy," "expects," "continues," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "would," "will," "estimates," "intends," "projects," "goals," "targets" and other words of similar meaning are intended to identify forward-looking statements but are not the exclusive means of identifying these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, involve known and unknown risks, a reliance on third parties for information, transactions that may be cancelled, and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in our industry, to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results include risks and uncertainties related to the fluctuation of global economic conditions or economic conditions with respect to the retail industry, the COVID-19 pandemic, the performance of management, actions of government regulators, vendors, and suppliers, our cash flows and ability to obtain financing, competition, general economic conditions and other factors that are detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We intend that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005336/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] OneWeb and Erillisverkot demonstrated Low Earth Orbit satellite connectivity to Finnish Government Agencies at Westcott Venture Park

LONDON and HELSINKI, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- OneWeb, the global communications network powered from Space, invited representatives from across the Finnish Government agencies to observe a demonstration of OneWeb's Global Connectivity service for the first time. Run in partnership with Finland's state-run security network provider, Erillisverkot Group, the event demonstrated how OneWeb's constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites is suited to supporting the operational requirements of multiple government agencies in the High North and Arctic Circle. Antti Kauppinen, Chief Technology Officer, Erillisverkot Group said: "Erillisverkot wants to present new space technology solutions with partners such as OneWeb to Finnish public safety organisations. Erillisverkot and Finland are one of the global front runners when it comes to co-operation with public safety organisations. To achieve that they must have the state of the art solutions to work with. OneWeb LEO-service certainly meets those requirements." Finnish government agencies require assured and seamless levels in connectivity to maximise levels in situation awareness across northern Europe in order to support the full breadth of mission sets including search and rescue; disaster relief; intelligence-gathering; and crisis response. Dylan Browne, President OneWeb Government said: "OneWeb is delighted to present the capability of LEO satellite communications to enhance the connectivity of government agencies and enable sustainable, scalable connectivity where its most needed and it is our ambition to meet these requirements and provide a high-quality customer experience."



OneWeb's new Service Demonstration Centre at Westcott Venture Park's Innovation Centre in Buckinghamshire, Great Britain, hosted the event which illustrated how OneWeb's network will provide secure, resilient, high speed and low latency Broadband Internet connectivity. OneWeb is an ecosystem comprising a constellation of 648 LEO satellites, ground gateways and user terminals which provide uninterrupted coverage to multi-domain platforms on land, in the air and at sea. Service starts in November 2021 above 50 degrees North in the Nordics, Arctic and will be rolled out globally during 2022.

Finnish representatives witnessed how OneWeb will support data throughput up to 195mbps and roundtrip latency levels as low as 70ms. The demonstration also illustrated the seamless hand-over of signals from satellite to satellite and gateway to gateway. Supported by the UK Government, Eutelsat and Indian telecommunications provider, Bharti Global, OneWeb offers Government customers and enterprise partners solutions for all their defense and emergency response needs. About OneWeb OneWeb will enable connectivity for governments, businesses, and communities. It is implementing a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites with a network of global gateway stations and a range of user terminals to provide an affordable, fast, high-bandwidth and low-latency communications service, connected to the IoT future and a pathway to 5G for everyone, everywhere. Find out more at http://www.oneweb.world/government About Erillisverkot Erillisverkot Group enables secure critical operations and communications in all circumstances. Erillisverkot provides the organizations responsible for the security and functionality of the society with mission critical services, software services for situational awareness and services securing critical infrastructure and communication. Erillisverkot is a wholly state-owned special-purpose company. For further information: www.erillisverkot.fi, social media @erillisverkot. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1475016/OneWeb_Logo.jpg

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Russmedia Equity Partners acquires online marketplace Shpock

VIENNA, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Russmedia Equity Partners acquires the online marketplace Shpock from the Norwegian online classifieds specialist Adevinta. In addition to its current market presence in Austria and Germany Russmedia Equity Partners as a new owner wants to make Shpock the leading mobile-first classifieds provider in the UK. The deal is already approved by the UK Competition Authority (CMA). The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. Focus on UK and Austria Shpock was founded in Austria in 2012 and expanded into several European markets under the ownership of Adevinta. Russmedia Equity Partners now wants to further expand Shpock's market position in the United Kingdom, and at the same time to strengthen its presence in Austria: "In the UK, the Shpock team has already achieved a credible position  we want to stay on top of it. Here in Austria, together with the team, we will quickly check the possibility of expanding the offer for domestic customers.", says Nicola Szekely, Managing Partner of Russmedia Equity Partners. The investment subsidiary of Vorarlberg-based publishing house Russmedia is planning to make the mobile-first marketplace Shpock one of the leading digital platforms in the UK. A strong focus on performance marketing and brand building advertising is also planned in Austria and Germany. "Shpock is an online classifieds specialist with a highly skilled team. We are pleased to have found such an experienced industry player as Russmedia to carry on Shpock's deveopment," says Rolv Erik Ryssdal, CEO Adevinta.



With the new acquisition Russmedia Equity Partners  whose successful investments include such companies as Bergfex, Erento and Alpinresorts  will strengthen its portfolio in the area of digital marketplaces, aggregators and SaaS businesses. About Russmedia Equity Partners

Russmedia Equity Partners is an investor in and operator of online marketplaces, aggregators, and SaaS solutions. Russmedia Equity Partners has over 20 years of experience in successfully investing in and operating digital companies. The company currently runs a profitable portfolio of 19 digital businesses across 6 countries in Europe. Headquartered in Schaan (Liechtenstein), Russmedia Equity Partners is investing 100 million Euro to significantly increase its commitment to international digital growth. Russmedia Equity Partners is seeking long-term partnership with management teams in order to empower sustainable businesses. It focuses on strategic acquisitions and supports entrepreneurs throughout the life cycle of their company. About Shpock Shpock is a generalist (app-first) mobile online classifieds site that was acquired by Schibsted in 2015. The mobile online classifieds site is turning its focus from location-based discovery to a transactional classifieds site, with categories ranging from electronics, fashion and furniture to specialised verticals such as motor and real estate. In 2019, Shpock had approximately 26 million listings in the UK and since its launch in July 2015, Shpock has had 52 million total downloads worldwide and had approximately 92 percent of traffic from mobile in 2019. About Adevinta Adevinta is a global online classifieds specialist, operating digital marketplaces in 9 countries. The company provides technology-based services to connect buyers with sellers and to facilitate transactions, from job offers to real estate, cars, consumer goods and more. Adevinta's portfolio spans more than 30 digital products and websites, attracting 1.3 billion average monthly visits. Leading brands include top-ranked leboncoin in France, InfoJobs and Milanuncios in Spain, and 50 percent of fast-growing OLX Brazil. Adevinta spun off from Schibsted ASA and publicly listed in Oslo, Norway in 2019. Adevinta is majority owned by Schibsted ASA and employs 4,700 people committed to supporting users and customers daily. Find out more at Adevinta.com. Cross reference: Picture is available at AP Images ( http://www.apimages.com ) Contact Press Agency LOEBELL NORDBERG

PR / SOCIAL MEDIA / EVENTS

MARIA GRAZIA NORDBERGCEO

NEUTORGASSE 12/10, 1010 VIENNA

TEL +43 1 890 44 06  12

Mobile +43 699 14060600

gn@loebellnordberg.com

www.loebellnordberg.com

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Xu Zhendong, a loyal friend of the Party

By:Zheng Qian | From:english.eastday.com | 2021-06-02 10:09

The Tinkle Bank at the intersection of Ninbo Road and Sichuan Road in Shanghai was the hub of a financial front of the Communist Party of China at the eve of the liberation. The owner of the bank, Xu Zhendong, was a patriotic democrat and a loyal friend of the party, although he didn't join it in his life.

(Bill from the Tinkle Bank)

Opened after the War of Resistance against Japanese aggression, the bank was one of the secret vaults of the party in Shanghai, undertaking important tasks of collecting money and goods and accommodating revolutionaries. It was also a witness to the friendship between Xu Zhendong and a group of notables from the party.

Early progressive work in Guilin

Guilin in the early days of the War of Resistance was quite active in anti-Japanese activities and Xu Zhendong was then a student of Guangxi University. Due to his wide worldview that he had developed from a young age, Xu opened two bookstores where he read and sold progressive books. He reprinted pamphlets like Mao Zedong's On Protracted War and presented to soldiers in the front via the office of the Eighth Route Army.

It was during this period that he met CPC members Xu Xuehan (one of the secret leaders in CPC's cultural and financial fields) and Deng Kesheng, who were respectively running a bookstore and a publishing house under the instruction of the CPC to raise people's anti-Japanese awarness in Guilin. The three forged a deep friendship here.

Xu was active in the KMT-controlled Shanghai areas under various identities after 1941. He had close ties and a special relationship with the party, but was not yet an official member. According to Deng Kesheng's wife Zang Wen, Xu operated cultural magazines with two or three classmates in Shanghai, and also made closer ties with Deng.

When the party group, formed by Deng Kesheng, his sister Deng Ping and their friend Li Zhongrong, was transferring via Shanghai to the base area in northern Jiangsu, Xu helped them settle in Shanghai. Later, when Deng Kesheng and Deng Ping respectively finished the influential booklets General knowledge of Economics and General Knowledge of Philosophy, it was Xu who sponsored their publication.

Before the three left Shanghai, Xu mentioned joining the party and leaving with them together for the base, but the temporary party organization decided that staying in Shanghai was more convenient for Xu to do party work, and thus he remained.

Tinkle Bank for military supplies

After the War of Resistance against Japan, Chiang Kai-shek began to prepare for the civil war and recklessly issued paper money in the KMT-Control area and prohibited the circulation of silver coins that circulated in the liberated areas. Anyone who carried coins used in the liberated areas was persecuted.

The funds the CPC allocated for members in the KMT-Control area for purchasing supplies for liberated areas was of a large amount, so besides the form of foreign exchange, people could only carry paper money and gold which was too heavy and unsafe.

Therefore, the CPC decided to establish a bank to specialize in commercial business. With half the capital from Xu Zhendong's Rentai Bank, in March 1947, the Tinkle Bank opened. On the surface, it operated financial services such as bill exchange, but it was actually a secret bank and office of the CPC in Shanghai.

Records show that the bank had many important businesses, such as injecting 20% of equity funds to support the CPC to establish Po Sang Bank in Hong Kong, investing 260 taels (a tael is 50g) of gold to help left-wing writer Xia Yan to establish the Hong Kong Daguangming Film Company, and setting aside 100 taels of gold for the purchase of rubber military shoes and enamel bowls for the urgent need of the Northeast battlefield.

(The Tinkle Bank before Shanghai's liberation)

When the KMT began to aggressively attack the liberated areas, traffic was cut off and the exchange business ceased. The experienced Xu bought gold with all the bank money to prevent currency devaluation in the KMT-controlled area. Meanwhile, Xu and other comrades founded a number of enterprises to secretly raise military supplies for the People's Liberation Army.

Amidst the KMT's brutal massacre of revolutionary people, the Tinkle Bank had handed over 900 taels of gold to the party by the end of 1948 due to Xu's flexible management, and the principal of CPC's investment was fully recovered with a surplus.

Wife aids revolutionary cause

Due to its confidentiality, the bank also became a secret transfer station for CPC members, including revolutionary activist Liu Jiping and his wife, writer Ai Hansong and Lou Shiyi.

Deng Kesheng's wife Zang Wen also recalled that Xu not only accommodated CPC members with board and lodging, but also paid for other events at his own expense. For example, Li Zhongrong's wedding in Shanghai was paid by Xu. When writer Xia Yan's family members stayed in Shanghai, Xu also paid their regular living expenses. When revolutionary activist Liu Jiping arrived in Shanghai with his wife left behind in Guilin due to a lack of travelling expenses, Xu immediately remitted some money to her.

Xu once said,as long as I know that my comrades have difficulties, I will donate generously without hesitation." As Xu Xuehan once commented, he always accepted the tasks without hesitation, even if it endangered his life.

Without his wife Chen Zhiwei, Xu could hardly have accomplished the important task of lodging revolutionaries under the enemy's very noses.

The clothing of many comrades from the base area in northern Jiangsu was not like those from modern Shanghai, so, to avoid suspicion, Xu and his wife altered their clothes for them. Zang Wen recalled that when she came to live in Shanghai from northern Jiangsu, Chen Zhiwei offered to take her to buy clothes, but she declined due to financial stress. Unexpectedly, Chen sat before the sewing machine overnight to alter her own clothes for her to wear.

(Signboard of the Tinkle Bank at the corner of Sichuan Road)

Once Chen, under Xu's request, accompanied a revolutionary to purchase supplies, and when entering a woolen yarn shop, she noticed someone was tailing them. She immediately winked at the companion to indicate to speed up and enter an alley and got rid of the enemy. Living in a dangerous environment for a long time, Chen became vigilant. As soon as we went in, two men followed. I doubted that men would visit a woolen yarn shop,she said.

On May 27, 1949, Shanghai was liberated, so the Tinkle Bank had completed its mission. Although Xu Zhendong did not join the CPC, he had always strictly abided by the CPC's work discipline and secrets. It was not until after 1976 that he explained this experience to the party organization of his company in his resume. His contribution to the cause of liberation is indelible.

Story by Xiong Fangyu, Kong Wenlong

Translation by Zheng Qian








Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-03 00:02:38|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

HONG KONG -- Carrie Lam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said on Wednesday that the rule of law is recognized as a core value and the cornerstone of Hong Kong's success, and under the protection of the HKSAR Basic Law, it has been highly respected since Hong Kong's return to its motherland.

Lam made the remarks at the launching ceremony of the Legal Aid Department 50th Anniversary Roving Exhibition, saying it was very important to ensure that Hong Kong residents enjoy equality before the law as guaranteed by the HKSAR Basic Law, and that people will not be prevented from seeking justice or protecting their rights through the law because of their financial situation. (Hong Kong-Chief Executive-Legal Aid Department)

- - - -

KATHMANDU -- Nepali authorities decided on Wednesday to extend a lockdown for 10 more days which has been put in place in the Kathmandu Valley since late April, as the number of COVID-19 cases remains high in the country.

A joint meeting of chief district officers of the Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur districts in the valley "decided to extend the ongoing lockdown till June 14," Dhundi Prasad Niraula, chief district officer of Lalitpur, told Xinhua. (Nepal-Lockdown-Extension)

- - - -

HONG KONG -- Liu Guangyuan, newly appointed commissioner of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said on Wednesday that the commissioner's office will fight back external interference more robustly, so as to defend the red line of "one country, two systems" and safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests.

Liu made this remark when meeting local and central media outlets in Hong Kong. He said that in terms of the priorities of the office in the next stage, it will also serve the development of the HKSAR more robustly by mobilizing diplomatic resources to support Hong Kong in increasing exchanges and cooperation with the rest of the world, and integrating itself deeper into national development and the dual circulation paradigm. (New Commissioner-External Interference-Fighting)

- - - -

KUALA LUMPUR -- The East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), Malaysia's mega rail project constructed by China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), has made another tunnel breakthrough, the company said on Wednesday.

The final blast of the 871-meter single-bore Dungun tunnel in Malaysia's Terengganu state was completed on Sunday, breaking through the last barrier six months ahead of schedule, CCCC and project owner Malaysia Rail Link (MRL) said in a joint statement. (Malaysia-China-ECRL)

- - - -

TOKYO -- The Japanese government is planning to deploy four F-35A advanced stealth fighter jets to Komatsu Air Base in Ishikawa Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast as part of broader plans to make the jet its mainstay fighter, local media cited government sources as saying Wednesday.

Around 20 of the Lockheed Martin-built multirole fighters will eventually be stationed at the Komatsu base, with Japan having already decided to buy 105 of the single-seater, conventional takeoff and landing variant of the jets. (Japan-Stealth Fighter Jets-Deployment) Enditem
[June 02, 2021] Immune Therapeutics Announces Financing and Debt Restructuring Plan

Orlando, Florida, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Immune Therapeutics Inc. (OTC-PINK: IMUND) (the "Company") announced today that the Company has received and signed a non-binding term sheet to enter into an agreement that would provide working capital and wipe out a significant portion of its long-standing Debt. The Company received the term sheet from existing Immune Shareholders to provide the funds necessary to complete the restructuring of Immune. According to the agreement, the investors will lend a minimum of $700,000 and a maximum of $1,500,000 to the Company in exchange for non-convertible promissory notes bearing interest at 5%. In connection with the transactions above, to the extent a noteholder holds any warrants to purchase shares of common stock of Borrower (Warrants), Lender shall have the right to apply all or any portion of the Debt under this Note toward exercising such Warrants, upon the terms and subject to the conditions provided in the Warrants. Upon converting the warrants, the lenders have a one-year lock-up agreement with leak-out provisions. In addition, the Company is negotiating with former employees, current management, directors, and other accounts payable and hopes to settle shortly. Closing the transactions contemplated by the Letter of Intent is subject to several conditions being satisfied, including completing due diligence., Earlier this year, the Company successfully restructured its toxic convertible promissory Note in default since May of 2018 issued by Iliad Research & Trading, L.P., for $425,000.00 on October 20, 2017. The Note carried 22% percent inteest default interest and was convertible into common shares of Immune stock at a 60% discount to market.



The Note was purchased by Global Reverb Corp and a shareholder in November of 2020. The parties agreed to restructure the balance of $697,000 (reflecting the total principal, interest, and penalties) associated with the instrument. Under the terms of the restructuring, the lenders canceled the existing Iliad Note. Two new notes were issued; one to Global Reverb and one to the shareholder. The notes are for one year with a one-year extension bearing 5% interest. There is no conversion feature on the restructured balance. The agreement provides for filing a 14A Proxy within 30 days of closing the agreement and funding. The 14A will provide for a new slate of 5 Directors and Officers. To appoint Turner & Stone LLP as auditors of the Company to hold office until the conclusion of the next general meeting at which accounts are laid before the Company. To conduct any other business properly brought before the Annual Meeting. The lenders will appoint two advisors to the Board until the shareholders during the transaction.

The restructuring of the notes and funding is a significant achievement for the Company, and we are thankful that our existing lenders agreed that a restructuring would benefit the Company and its growth initiatives. The restructuring improved our balance sheet and was one of the critical next steps in our strategic plan as we are continually working and uplifting. We believe that the amendment of these notes and additional funding is a key accomplishment and that our current market cap does not accurately reflect the value of the Company and the emerging opportunity in biotech," stated Kevin Phelps, Company CEO. On behalf of the Board of directors of Immune- many of whom are investing alongside you - thank you for your investment and continued shareholder support. We look forward to sharing our progress with you in the coming weeks. This news release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including, without limitation, statements about the reverse stock split, authorized shares reduction and the related timing of implementation and effects thereof. Forward-looking statements are statements other than statements of historical fact. These forward-looking statements are generally identified by the words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "may," "should," "could," "will," "would," and "will be," and variations of such words and similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Although we believe the expectations and forecasts reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance they will prove to have been correct. They can be affected by inaccurate or changed assumptions or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties.

Immune Therapeutics: (888) 613-8802 www.immunetherapeutics.com

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] GZ6G Technologies Expansion Continues with Opening of New Regional West Coast Office in Irvine, California

New 6,500 Square Foot Office Expansion Enables GZ6G Technologies to House All Four Divisions; Green Zebra Smart Labs, Green Zebra Smart Networks, Green Zebra Smart Data and Green Zebra Smart Media LAS VEGAS, NV, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire  GZ6G Technologies (OTCMarkets: GZIC), the complete enterprise smart solutions provider for large venues and cities, has opened a new west coast regional office in Irvine, California, to accommodate rapid growth of its divisions and to leverage the areas diverse technology-based talent pool. The new 6,500 square foot office space, which includes a warehouse, is located at One Technology Park at 1 Technology Drive, Building B, Suite B123, Irvine, California, and will house all four GZ6G Technologies Divisions; Green Zebra Smart Labs, Green Zebra Smart Networks, Green Zebra Smart Data, and Green Zebra Smart Media, as well as Human Resources and accounting. The decision to open our regional office in Irvines booming technology sector was a logical next step in our business growth and strategy, said Coleman Smith, GZ6G Technologies President and CEO. Irvine is known as the City of Innovation and is the home of numerous tech Fortune 1,000 companies. This location allows us the opportunity to expand our staffing capabilities with technologically focused individuals as well as increase our ability to support our current and future clients on the west coast. GZ6G Technologies will house all the divisions in these offices with plans to expand to other cities in the near future. The offices will also be a showroom for all the technology available for customers to experience, such as IoT software user engagement applications, Wi-Fi 6 technology, IPTV screens and high tech security cameras, etc. This regional west coast office will also be a training center for future Green Zebra employees and house the sales and marketing teams for Green Zebra Smart Media and Green Zebra Smart Networks. For more information visit: GZ6G.com.



About GZ6G Technologies: GZ6G Technologies is the complete enterprise smart solutions provider for large venues and cities. Focused on acquiring smart city solutions, developing innovative products, and overseeing smart cities and smart venues, GZ6G Technologies also assists in modernizing clients with innovative wireless IoT technology for the emerging 5G and Wi-Fi 6 marketplaces. Target markets include stadiums, airports, universities, and smart city projects. Ever evolving and innovative, GZ6G Technologies smart solutions consist of four divisions, Green Zebra Smart Networks: offers a fully integrated wireless and IT infrastructure solutions for enterprise opportunities. The Green Zebra technical teams will also provide both managed services support, and technical support for networking hardware and software for enterprise level clients. Green Zebra Smart Data: The Green Zebra Smart Data centers division will focus on safe and secure data management and cloud computing solutions for GZ6G Technologies divisions as well as co-location and hosting options for venues, cities, and customers. Green Zebra Smart Labs: IoT software applications integrated for commercial, industrial and user engagement technology, as well as artificial intelligence and analytics for historical data, operation forecasting and monetization purposes, to name a few. Green Zebra Smart Media, a majority-owned subsidiary of Gz6G Technology Corp: a full-service marketing and advertising division for clients that includes public relations, copywriting, branding, and all creative needs. Since 2017, GZ6G Technologies is the trusted, smart solutions provider for clients such as Governors Island, NY, and the city of New York, to name a few. For more information, visit www.GZ6G.com. Twitter @gz6tech

MEDIA Contact: Arlene Bordinhao

Arlene.b@brandltd.com INVESTOR Contact: Coleman Smith

Cole@greenzebra.net Safe Harbor Statement: In addition to historical information, this press release may contain statements that constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include the intent, belief, or expectations of the company and members of its management team with respect to the company's future business operations and the assumptions upon which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to, failure to complete anticipated sales under negotiations, lack of revenue growth, client discontinuances, failure to realize improvements in performance, efficiency and profitability, and adverse development with respect to litigation or increased litigation costs, the operation or performance of the Company's business units or the market price of its common stock. Additional factors that would cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated within this press release can also be found on the company's website. The company denies any responsibility to update any forward-looking statements.



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Renovacor Announces the Appointment of Marc Semigran, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer

PHILADELPHIA and BOSTON, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Renovacor, Inc. (Renovacor), an early-stage biotechnology company developing adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapies for devastating cardiovascular and central nervous system (CNS) diseases resulting from BAG3 gene variants, today announced the appointment of Marc Semigran, M.D., as chief medical officer of Renovacor. Dr. Semigran brings considerable clinical development and translational medicine experience to Renovacor, having previously served as chief medical officer and senior vice president of medical science at MyoKardia through its acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) in 2020 for $13.1 billion. He will be responsible for the management and global development of Renovacors pipeline.

Marc is an ideal fit for our management team, as his extensive clinical and regulatory expertise in the cardiovascular space is highly relevant to Renovacors vision of delivering transformative therapies for devastating cardiovascular diseases, said Magdalene Cook, M.D., chief executive officer of Renovacor. We have made considerable progress in advancing our lead candidate, REN-001, through research, preclinical, and now IND-enabling studies. As we advance toward an anticipated IND application for REN-001 in mid-2022, Marcs cardiovascular drug development expertise will be an invaluable asset. We are thrilled to welcome him to the team and are eager to begin working together as we prepare to move the company into the next phase as a clinical-stage company. Dr. Semigran commented, In looking to the future of cardiovascular medicine, it is increasingly clear that gene therapies represent an emerging technology with the potential to address familial cardiomyopathies with no approved therapeutic options targeting the underlying abnormality. I believe Renovacors pipeline is particularly well positioned to realize this potential, as it is utilizing a validated capsid and its lead indication of BAG3-associated familial dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is an increasingly well understood monogenic disease. I look forward to applying my experience as a heart failure clinician and in cardiomyopathy drug development to help efficiently advance this pipeline in DCM and other cardiovascular and CNS indications where BAG3 gene dysfunction is relevant. During his time at MyoKardia, Dr. Semigran built and expanded his research and development team in order to execute successful translational and development programs including the advancement of mavacamten for patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Dr. Semigran oversaw the execution of Phase 1 and 2 studies, the design of registrational studies, interactions with global regulatory authorities, and also participated in the filing of the mavacamten New Drug Application (NDA) following the acquisition of MyoKardia. Prior to entering the biotechnology industry, Dr. Semigran led the Massachusetts General Hospital Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Program as Section Head and Medical Director. In addition, he led the Harvard Regional Clinical Center of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Heart Failure Network and was a Principal Investigator of a multicenter heart failure trial sponsored by the NHLBI. Dr. Semigran was a member of the internal medicine and cardiology staff of Massachusetts General Hospital for more than 25 years and was an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Semigran has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers in cardiomyopathy, heart failure, and cardiac transplantation, and served as editor for a leading textbook on heart failure. He is a recipient of numerous National Institutes of Health and industry research awards and has served as principal or co-investigator inseveral major clinical trials across various therapeutic areas. In addition, he has served in scientific and medical advisory capacities to companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, and Bayer.



Dr. Semigran earned A.B., A.M., and M.D. degrees from Harvard University. He completed his internal medicine residency, cardiology, and heart failure fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital. About Renovacor

Renovacor is a preclinical stage gene therapy company developing a pipeline of innovative and proprietary AAV-based gene therapies for BAG3 gene mutation-associated diseases in areas of high unmet medical need. Renovacors therapeutic focus is initially on cardiovascular disease, with a lead program in BAG3 mutation-associated dilated cardiomyopathy. For more information, please visit www.renovacor.com. No part of Renovacors website is incorporated by reference into or otherwise seemed to be a part of this press release.

Renovacor previously announced that it had entered into a definitive business combination agreement with Chardan Healthcare Acquisition 2 Corp. (NYSE: CHAQ) ("CHAQ"), a special purposes acquisition company. Completion of the proposed business combination is subject to approval by the shareholders of CHAQ and certain other conditions. The proposed business combination is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021. About Chardan Healthcare Acquisition Corp. CHAQ is a special purpose acquisition company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, acquisition, or similar business combination. CHAQ raised approximately $86.0 million in April 2020 for the purpose of combining with a public or privately-held operating business. CHAQ was founded and sponsored by affiliates of Chardan Capital Markets LLC. CHAQ is Chardan's sixth publicly traded acquisition vehicle. Additional Information and Where to Find It This communication is being made in respect of a proposed transaction between Renovacor and CHAQ. This document does not constitute an offer to sell or exchange, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or exchange, any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, sale or exchange would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. CHAQ intends to file a proxy statement, which will be sent to all CHAQ and Renovacor stockholders. CHAQ also will file other documents regarding the proposed transaction with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC). BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING DECISION, INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF CHAQ AND RENOVACOR ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT, AS MAY BE AMENDED OR SUPPLEMENTED FROM TIME TO TIME, AND ALL OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED OR THAT WILL BE FILED WITH THE SEC IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION AND THE PARTIES THERETO. Investors and security holders will be able to obtain free copies of the proxy statement and all other relevant documents filed or that will be filed with the SEC by CHAQ through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. In addition, the documents filed by CHAQ may be obtained free of charge from CHAQ's website at https://www.chardanhealthcarespac.com/ or by written request to CHAQ at Chardan Healthcare Acquisition 2 Corp., 17 State Street, 21st Floor, New York, NY 10004. Participants in Solicitation CHAQ and Renovacor and their respective directors and officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from CHAQ's stockholders in connection with the proposed transaction. Information about CHAQ's directors and executive officers and their ownership of CHAQ's securities is set forth in CHAQ's filings with the SEC, including CHAQ's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, which was filed with the SEC on March 4, 2021. To the extent that holdings of CHAQ's securities have changed since the amounts printed in CHAQ's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, which was filed with the SEC on March 4, 2021, such changes have been or will be reflected on Statements of Change in Ownership on Form 4 filed with the SEC. Additional information regarding the interests of those persons and other persons who may be deemed participants in the proposed transaction may be obtained by reading the proxy statement regarding the proposed transaction when it becomes available. You may obtain free copies of these documents as described in the above paragraph. Forward-Looking Statements Legend This communication contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, including statements regarding the anticipated timing of the transaction and Renovacor's products under development. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words "believe," "project," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this communication. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of CHAQ's Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and proxy statement discussed above and other documents filed by CHAQ from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Renovacor and CHAQ assume no obligation and do not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Neither Renovacor nor CHAQ gives any assurance that either Renovacor or CHAQ will achieve its expectations. Investor Contact:

John Mullaly

LifeSci Advisors

617-429-3548

jmullaly@lifesciadvisors.com Media Contact:

Patrick Bursey

LifeSci Communications

646-970-4688

pbursey@lifescicomms.com



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Global WholeHealth Partners Corp (GWHP-OTC) has Signed an Agreement With Dr. Vu Le to be the Medical Director for the CLIA WAIVED Mobile Laboratory

Global Will be Using All CLIA WAIVED Lab to Test for COVID 19 Antigen, Antibody, and the Other 15 Tests that are CLIA WAIVED that Global Carries; Company is Bringing Testing to Patients at Schools & Work SAN CLEMENTE, CA, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire  Global WholeHealth Partners Corp. (OTC: GWHP), a company that offers one of the largest lines of COVID 19 tests including SARS-CoV-2 viruses and that states that its Antibody IgG/IgM tests that they offer are capable of detecting all the current identified SARS-CoV-2 viruses, today announced that they will be bringing their tests directly to the homes and offices of patients in need. To help implement this outreach program, the Company has signed an agreement with Dr. Vu Le to be the Medical Director for the Companys CLIA WAIVED Mobile Laboratory. The Company offers one of the largest lines of COVID 19 tests, including the strains identified in the United Kingdom (B.1.1.7), South Africa (B.1.351), and Brazil (P.1) strain contains multiple mutations, most reflected in the S gene, which encodes the spike protein. Global WholeHealth Partners Corp. (OTC: GWHP) provides cutting edge technology using In-vitro Diagnostic (IVD) Real-Time PCR Machines for detection of SARS-CoV-2 IgM/IgG antibodies in human serum, plasma, or whole blood. It has led the fight against vector borne terminal diseases such as Ebola, ZIKA, Dengue, Malaria, Influenza and Tuberculosis, Corona Viruses, and among other vector borne diseases, with an FDA Certificate of Exportability (2260-11-2019). The company was founded on March 7, 2013 and is headquartered in San Clemente, CA. Mr. Charles Strongo, the CEO and Chairman of Global WholeHealth Partners Inc., said: Global understands the need to be ahead of the virus to conquer the virus. We recognize that there is a crucial need for faster testing and faster results when it comes to fighting the COVID. Global WholeHealth Partners knows that the quicker the test results can be reviewed by a Front-Line Healthcare Worker, the quicker we can stop the spread of this disease. Dr. Vu Le has been a practicing physician for more than 10 years and knows the value of being able to bring testing to the people. Mr. Strongo continued: We are happy to have added Dr. Le to our team. He will create, coordinate and implement our push to have children at school and adults at work to get vaccinated as quickly as possible. About Global WholeHealth Partners Corp GWHP develops, mnufactures, and markets in vitro diagnostic (IVD) tests for OTC, or consumer-use as well as professional rapid diagnostic point-of-care (POC) test kits for hospitals, physicians' offices, and medical clinics in the US and abroad. The Company has the capacity to deliver hundreds of thousands of tests and can ramp up to 1 million tests per day and the Company presently has 56 products FDA approved and many are Approved for OTC use, and 9 POC products approved by the FDA, many of which are approved for OTC use, and 15 POC products approved by the CLIA WAIVED FDA.



Media connection: Charles Strongo Phone for Sales: 714-392-3423

Sales@GWHPCORP.COM For more information please go to:www.gwhpcorp.com This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Such statements may be preceded by the words "intends," "may," "will," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "predicts," "estimates," "aims," "believes," "hopes," "potential" or similar words. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, are based on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control, and cannot be predicted or quantified and consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks and uncertainties associated with (i) market acceptance of our existing and new products, (ii) negative clinical trial results or lengthy product delays in key markets, (iii) an inability to secure regulatory approvals for the sale of our products, (iv) intense competition in the medical device industry from much larger, multinational companies, (v) product liability claims, (vi) product malfunctions, (vii) our limited manufacturing capabilities and reliance on subcontractors for assistance, (viii) insufficient or inadequate reimbursement by governmental and other third party payers for our products, (ix) our efforts to successfully obtain and maintain intellectual property protection covering our products, which may not be successful, (x) legislative or regulatory reform of the healthcare system in both the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions, (xi) our reliance on single suppliers for certain product components, (xii) the fact that we will need to raise additional capital to meet our business requirements in the future and that such capital raising may be costly, dilutive or difficult to obtain and (xiii) the fact that we conduct business in multiple foreign jurisdictions, exposing us to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, logistical and communications challenges, burdens and costs of compliance with foreign laws and political and economic instability in each jurisdiction. 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 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Investors and security holders are urged to read these documents free of charge on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. View original content to download multimedia: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alzheimers-disease-is-the-leading-cause-of-dementia-alzheimers-diagnostics-attained-by-global-wholehealth-partners-corp-otc-gwhp-as-a-leading-researcher-301285232.html



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Brookfield Infrastructure Announces Intention to Launch a Superior, Revised Cash and Share Offer Directly to Inter Pipeline Ltd. Shareholders, Valued at $19.75 per share, Closing in Approximately 20 days

Offer Highlights

Aggregate cash and share-based consideration totaling C$19.75 per Inter Pipeline Ltd. (TSX: IPL) ( IPL  or the  Company ) share 1 , representing a 4.4% premium to the Pembina Pipeline Corporation ( Pembina ) share-based offer valued at C$18.91 per share as of market close on June 1, 2021.

 or the  ) share , representing a 4.4% premium to the Pembina Pipeline Corporation ( ) share-based offer valued at C$18.91 per share as of market close on June 1, 2021. Cash component of the Offer represents 74% of the total consideration, compared to zero in the Pembina offer.

Brookfield Infrastructure has received all regulatory and anti-trust approvals and can close as early as 10 business days from the filing date of the variation to our Offer.

Preserves significant local Canadian jobs compared to IPLs alternative cost synergy-driven transaction. BROOKFIELD, NEWS, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE: BIP; TSX: BIP.UN), together with its institutional partners (collectively, Brookfield Infrastructure, we or our), is pleased to announce its intention to file a variation to its offer to acquire IPL, by no later than June 4th 2021, at a price per IPL common share currently valued at C$19.75 (the Offer)1. Brookfield Infrastructure is taking its Offer directly to IPL shareholders. As the largest shareholder, it is disappointed by the seeming lack of fiduciary responsibility shown by the decision of the IPL Board of Directors to support an inferior proposal by Pembina as announced by IPL on June 1, 2021. Brookfield Infrastructures Offer was made privately to the Company prior to the IPL Board of Directors decision to accept the Pembina offer. We believe that IPL shareholders will reach a different conclusion than IPLs Board of Directors about which transaction is most compelling to shareholders. Background to the Offer IPL Management and the Special Committee provided Brookfield Infrastructure access to its data room on May 14th. Brookfield Infrastructure carried out confirmatory due diligence for approximately two weeks and received good cooperation from IPL Management. Between May 14th and May 31st, Brookfield Infrastructure held discussions with representatives of IPL and its Board Chair and submitted several proposals. During these discussions, Brookfield Infrastructure provided an education session with the Chair and its advisors around the structure of BIPC. Brookfield Infrastructure was advised that the session addressed their questions and that the Board was not discounting the BIPC Share consideration in its evaluation of our Offer. In the afternoon of May 31st, Brookfield Infrastructure was informed that the IPL Board was inclined to accept a competing proposal and that Brookfield Infrastructure should urgently submit its best offer. In describing the merits of our proposal, Brookfield Infrastructure reiterated its majority cash plus attractive share consideration and emphasized that we had received all required regulatory approvals and therefore could close within weeks with minimal transaction risk. Brookfield Infrastructure reminded IPLs representatives that it was a financial investor and, unlike a strategic investor, would not be seeking to generate significant cost synergies by eliminating duplicative jobs. The IPL representatives were also asked whether they were taking into account the interests of other important stakeholders, particularly IPL employees, in its evaluation. Suffice it to say, the Board was aware of all these relevant facts. On the evening of May 31st, Brookfield Infrastructure submitted its final offer valued at ~C$19.50 per share comprised of 74% cash and 26% BIPC shares. That evening we were informed that the totality of the competing offer was superior, and exclusivity had already been signed. Upon reviewing the details of the Pembina offer and the arrangement agreement between IPL and Pembina (the Arrangement Agreement), we fail to understand why an inferior offer from the perspective of aggregate consideration, transaction certainty and timeline to completion was recommended by the IPL Board. A summary of the competing proposals is below. Brookfield Infrastructures Offer vs. IPLs Alternative Transaction Brookfield Infrastructures Offer Pembinas Offer

June 1, 2021 SHAREHOLDER CONSIDERATIONS Aggregate consideration (as of close on June 1, 2021) C$19.751 ? C$18.91 X Cash consideration 74% cash ? 0% cash X Speed to close ~20 days ?

~180 days (Q4 2021) Implied opportunity cost for shareholders due to delayed closing assuming cost of capital2: 10% - $0.65 per share



X Certainty of close No remaining approvals required ?

Subject to the following approvals:

? All competitin and antitrust regulatory approvals







? 662/3% of IPL shareholders

? Other conditions as disclosed in the Arrangement Agreement



X OTHER STAKEHOLDERS IPL Employees Financial Investor

No employee duplication ?

Strategic Investor

Substantial duplication of employees, $150-200 million of advertised synergies leading to significant local job losses





X Anti-Trust Considerations No overlapping operations ?

Significant operational overlap which could impact customer anti-trust concerns



X 1 Based on assumed 74% cash, 26% share proration.

2 Indicative estimate of time value of money from June 1, 2021 until expected closing, net of dividends received.

Break Fee As part of the Arrangement Agreement between IPL and Pembina, the IPL Board of Directors agreed to a C$350 million break fee in favor of Pembina when we believe this break fee is inappropriate as our superior proposal was already on the table. After reviewing the Arrangement Agreement, it appears that IPL agreed to an unusually one-sided commercial arrangement in relation to the break fee to the detriment of all IPL shareholders. Moreover, the break fee is at the high end of those that are typically awarded, which is inappropriate in this context. We believe this is a very improper use of shareholders cash and a decision that requires significant scrutiny. Detail of the Offer Under the terms and subject to the conditions of our intended Offer, each IPL shareholder will have the ability to elect to receive, per IPL share, consideration of C$19.50 payable in cash and/or 0.225 of a Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation (NYSE: BIPC; TSX: BIPC) Class A exchangeable share (BIPC Shares), according to individual shareholder election, subject to proration with maximum cash consideration of approximately C$5.6 billion (representing 74% of the total consideration) and maximum BIPC Shares issued of 23.0 million aggregate shares (representing 26% of the total consideration), respectively. The share exchange ratio has been calculated based on the closing price of the BIPC Shares on May 28, 2021, the last trading day prior to Brookfield Infrastructures proposal presented privately to IPLs Special Committee. The Offer also includes an option for eligible Canadian shareholders to access a tax deferred rollover in respect of any BIPC Shares received pursuant to the Offer. The Offer provides for an enhanced and attractive value proposition for shareholders, including: Aggregate consideration valued at C$19.75 share 1 , representing a 47% and 51% premium to IPLs closing and 30-day VWAP unaffected share price as of February 10, 2021, respectively.

, representing a 47% and 51% premium to IPLs closing and 30-day VWAP unaffected share price as of February 10, 2021, respectively. The Offer is highly certain with the removal of certain previously included conditions, such as the two-thirds percentage shareholder acceptance level and the receipt of customary regulatory approvals.

In the event of proration, for those eligible shareholders who elect to receive 100% of their consideration in BIPC Shares on a tax-deferred rollover basis, the aforementioned 23.0 million maximum BIPC Shares issuable under the Offer would be increased up to an incremental 8 million BIPC Shares (with such incremental shares priced at the fair market value as of the expiry date of the Offer, in lieu of cash). This incremental consideration has been incorporated to ensure every eligible shareholder who may elect to receive 100% of their consideration in BIPC Shares on a tax-deferred basis has an ability to maximize the amount of tax-deferred consideration they seek to receive.

Brookfield Infrastructure encourages IPL shareholders to read the full details of the Offer to be set forth in the Notice of Variation, which, together with the Offer to Purchase and Circular dated February 22, 2021 (the Offer and Circular) will contain the full terms and conditions of the Offer and other important information, as well as detailed instructions on how IPL shareholders can tender their IPL shares to the Offer. Copies of the Notice of Variation, once filed, and the Offer and Circular will be available without charge on request from the Information Agent and are available at www.ipl-offer.com or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Advisors Brookfield Infrastructure has engaged BMO Capital Markets and Barclays Capital Canada Inc. to act as joint financial advisors and McCarthy Tetrault LLP to act as its legal advisor in connection with the Offer. Laurel Hill Advisory Group has also been engaged to act as Brookfield Infrastructures strategic communications advisor and information agent. Shareholder Questions IPL shareholders who have questions or require assistance in depositing IPL shares to the Offer should contact the Information Agent and Depositary, Laurel Hill Advisory Group, by telephone at 1-877-452-7184 (North American Toll-Free Number) or 416-304-0211 (outside North America) or by email at assistance@laurelhill.com. Brookfield Infrastructure is a leading global infrastructure company that owns and operates high-quality, long-life assets in the utilities, transport, midstream and data sectors across North and South America, Asia Pacific and Europe. We are focused on assets that have contracted and regulated revenues that generate predictable and stable cash flows. Investors can access its portfolio either through Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE: BIP; TSX: BIP.UN), a Bermuda-based limited partnership, or Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation (NYSE, TSX: BIPC), a Canadian corporation. Further information is available at www.brookfield.com/infrastructure. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners is the flagship listed infrastructure company of Brookfield Asset Management, a global alternative asset manager with over US$600 billion of assets under management. For more information, go to www.brookfield.com. For more information, please contact: Media: Investors: Claire Holland Kate White Senior Vice President, Communications Manager, Investor Relations Tel: (416) 369-8236 Tel: (416) 956-5183 Email: claire.holland@brookfield.com Email: kate.white@brookfield.com

No Offer or Solicitation This news release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to buy or sell, or a solicitation of an offer to sell or buy, any securities. The offer to acquire IPL securities and to issue securities of Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation is made solely by, and subject to the terms and conditions set out in the formal offer to purchase and bid circular and accompanying letter of transmittal and notice of guaranteed delivery.



Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-looking Statements This news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian provincial securities laws and forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and in any applicable Canadian securities regulations. The words believe, expect, will derivatives thereof and other expressions which are predictions of or indicate future events, trends or prospects and which do not relate to historical matters, identify the above mentioned and other forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements regarding the revised terms and conditions of the Offer, including the implied value of the consideration under the Offer and the acceptance period of the Offer; potential further engagement between Brookfield Infrastructure and the Company, including possibly varying the terms or conditions of the Offer; information relating to HPC, including potential cost overruns and the impact on the project and the Company, EBITDA guidance and possible reconciliation thereof to long-term guidance, contracting terms and possible operational risk, production guidance and contracting counterparties and IPLs approach to segment reporting; and public market expectations around valuation, statements relating to the transaction between IPL and Pembina; our intentions regarding IPL, including its employees; statements relating to Pembinas possible intentions in respect of IPL, including its employees. Although Brookfield Infrastructure believes that these forward-looking statements and information are based upon reasonable assumptions and expectations, the reader should not place undue reliance on them, or any other forward-looking statements or information in this news release. The actual outcome of future events could differ from the forward-looking statements and information herein, which are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those contemplated or implied by the statements in this news release include the ability to obtain regulatory approvals (including approval of the TSX and the NYSE) and meet other closing conditions to any possible transaction, the ability to realize financial, operational and other benefits from the proposed transaction, general economic conditions in the jurisdictions in which we operate and elsewhere which may impact the markets for our products and services, the impact of market conditions on our businesses, the fact that success of Brookfield Infrastructure is dependent on market demand for an infrastructure company, which is unknown, the availability of equity and debt financing for Brookfield Infrastructure, the ability to effectively complete transactions in the competitive infrastructure space and to integrate acquisitions into existing operations, changes in technology which have the potential to disrupt the business and industries in which we invest, the market conditions of key commodities, the price, supply or demand for which can have a significant impact upon the financial and operating performance of our business and other risks and factors described in other documents filed by Brookfield Infrastructure with the securities regulators in Canada and the United States. Except as required by law, Brookfield Infrastructure undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.



NOTICE TO SHAREHOLDERS IN THE UNITED STATES In connection with the Offer, on February 22, 2021, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (BIP) and Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation (BIPC) filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) a Registration Statement on Form F-4, as amended by Amendment No. 1 thereto filed on April 5, 2021 (the Registration Statement), which contains a prospectus relating to the Offer. SHAREHOLDERS AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES ARE URGED TO READ SUCH REGISTRATION STATEMENT AND ANY AND ALL OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED OR TO BE FILED WITH THE SEC IN CONNECTION WITH THE OFFER, AS WELL AS ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO ANY SUCH DOCUMENTS, AS EACH BECOMES AVAILABLE BECAUSE EACH CONTAINS OR WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE OFFEROR, IPL AND THE OFFER. Materials filed with the SEC will be available electronically without charge at the SECs website at www.sec.gov and the materials will be posted on BIPs website at www.brookfield.com/infrastructure. BIPC is a foreign private issuer and BIP is permitted to prepare the Offer and Circular and related documents in accordance with Canadian disclosure requirements, which are different from those of the United States. The financial statements included in the Offer and Circular have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IFRS), and thus may not be comparable to financial statements of U.S. companies. Shareholders in the United States should be aware that the disposition of their Common Shares and the acquisition of BIPC Shares by them as described in the Offer and Circular may have tax consequences both in the United States and in Canada. Shareholders should be aware that owning BIPC Shares may subject them to tax consequences both in the United States and in Canada. Such consequences for Shareholders who are resident in, or citizens of, the United States may not be described fully in the Offer and Circular and such Shareholders are encouraged to consult their tax advisors. The enforcement by Shareholders of civil liabilities under U.S. federal securities laws may be affected adversely by the fact that each of the Offeror, BIP, BIPC and IPL is formed under the laws of a non-U.S. jurisdiction, that some or all of their respective officers and directors may reside outside of the United States, that some or all of the experts named herein may reside outside of the United States and that all or a substantial portion of the assets of the Offeror, BIP, BIPC, IPL and such persons may be located outside the United States. Shareholders in the United States may not be able to sue the Offeror, BIP, BIPC or IPL or their respective officers or directors in a non-U.S. court for violation of United States federal securities laws. It may be difficult to compel such parties to subject themselves to the jurisdiction of a court in the United States or to enforce a judgment obtained from a court of the United States. THE SHARE CONSIDERATION HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED BY THE SEC OR ANY U.S. STATE SECURITIES COMMISSION NOR HAS THE SEC OR ANY U.S. STATE SECURITIES COMMISSION PASSED UPON THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF ANY OFFERING DOCUMENTS INCLUDING THE OFFER AND CIRCULAR. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE. In accordance with applicable law, rules and regulations of the United States, Canada or its provinces or territories, including Rule 14e-5 under the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the U.S. Exchange Act), the Offeror or its affiliates and any advisor, broker or other person acting as the agent for, or on behalf of, or in concert with the Offeror or its affiliates, directly or indirectly, may bid for, make purchases of or make arrangements to purchase Common Shares or certain related securities outside the Offer, including purchases in the open market at prevailing prices or in private transactions at negotiated prices. Such bids, purchases or arrangements to purchase may be made during the period of the Offer and through the expiration of the Offer. Any such purchases will be made in compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations. To the extent information about such purchases or arrangements to purchase is made public in Canada, such information will be disclosed by means of a press release or other means reasonably calculated to inform Shareholders in the United States of such information.

The Offer is being made for the securities of a Canadian company that does not have securities registered under Section 12 of the U.S. Exchange Act. Accordingly, the Offer is not subject to Section 14(d) of the U.S. Exchange Act, or Regulation 14D promulgated by the SEC thereunder, except for any requirements thereunder applicable to exchange offers commenced before the effectiveness of the related registration statement. The Offer is being conducted in accordance with Section 14(e) of the U.S. Exchange Act and Regulation 14E promulgated thereunder.



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Coya Therapeutics to Host Key Opinion Leader Webinar on ALS001 for the Treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

-Featuring Stanley H. Appel, M.D., internationally renowned researcher and neurologist-

-Webinar to be held Friday, June 11, 2021 at 11:30 a.m. ET- HOUSTON, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Coya Therapeutics, Inc., (Coya), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing first-in-class approaches utilizing autologous regulatory T cells (Tregs) and Treg-derived exosome therapeutics for neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases, today announced that it will host a key opinion leader (KOL) webinar on ALS001, the Companys lead asset for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), on Friday, June 11, 2021 at 11:30 a.m. ET. The webinar will feature a presentation by KOL, Stanley H. Appel, M.D. (Houston Methodist Neurological Institute), who will discuss the current treatment landscape of ALS, the implications of dysfunctional Tregs in neurodegenerative disease progression and the therapeutic potential of ALS001, an autologous, expanded Treg cell therapy. Dr. Appel will be available to answer questions following the formal presentation. Coya's management team will also provide an update on their lead pipeline candidate, ALS001, currently in an ongoing Phase 2a trial with data expected summer 2021. Dr. Appels transformational work is the basis for Coyas proprietary and patented TAI (Tregs Against Inflammation) platform, that offers therapeutic approaches to address the unmet and significant medical needs of patients with ALS, Parkinsons, Alzheimers, FTD and other autoimmune diseases. Coyas CTreg platform (Cryopreservation for Tregs) is the first in the industry to expand, freeze, and re-thaw Tregs, while maintaining viability and suppressive function, thus solving manufacturing and supply-chain limitations and providing an off the shelf Treg cell therapy that enables serial and monthly infusions. Stanley H. Appel, M.D., is the Peggy and Gary Edwards Distinguished Endowed Chair for the Treatment and Research of ALS, Co-Director of the Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Chair of the Stanley H. Appel Departent of Neurology, Houston Methodist Hospital and Professor of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medical College. He is also Director of the MDA/ALSA ALS Research and Clinical Center at the Houston Methodist Neurological Institute. Dr Appels seminal research documented the intimate relationship of neurodegeneration and ALS progression with dysfunctional and decreased levels of Tregs. He is also renowned for his discovery of cryopreservation of Tregs, demonstrating the ability to expand, freeze and re-thaw Tregs, while maintaining viability and suppressive function. Dr. Appel is a member of numerous professional societies and committees and has authored 15 books and over 440 articles on topics such as ALS, neuromuscular disease, Alzheimers Disease, and Parkinsons Disease.



To register for the webinar, please click here. The presentation and archived webcast will also be accessible under Events in the news section of Coya website. About Coya Therapeutics, Inc.

Headquartered in Houston, TX, Coya Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing first-in-class and best-in-class approaches utilizing adoptive regulatory T cells (Tregs) to target disease. The companys CTreg (Cryopreservation for Tregs) system is patent pending and the first in the industry to overcome prior limitations of Treg cell therapies, allowing for serial infusions from a single manufacturing round. Through our proprietary TAI (Tregs Against Inflammation) and patent pending iscEXO ( i mmuno s uppressive c ell Exosome) platforms, Coya is focused on the advancement of disease modifying approaches to address the significant unmet medical needs of patients with ALS, Frontotemporal Dementia, Parkinsons, Alzheimers, and autoimmune diseases. For more information, please visit www.coyatherapeutics.com.

Investor Contact Media Contact Daniel Ferry Joleen Schultz 617-430-7576 760-271-8150 Daniel@lifesciadvisors.com joleen@joleenschultzassociates.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/51b8c441-5daa-4d7b-9794-bcd837b102f6



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] CMiC Achieves Gold Standard as One of Canada's Best Managed Companies

Construction Software Innovator Wins Recognition for 4th Consecutive Year TORONTO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - CMiC, the innovation leader in ERP and field operations software for the construction industry, has been designated a Gold Standard winner by Deloitte Canada for its multi-year Best Managed Companies honors. This year is the fourth consecutive year, and fifth time overall, that CMiC has been selected for the prestigious award. Kari Lockhart, National Co-Leader of the Canada's Best Managed Companies program and Partner, Deloitte Private, notes, "In what may be the most challenging year for Canadian businesses since the program's inception, the 2021 Best Managed winners are a shining example of the importance of leadership, innovation, and resilience in the face of uncertainty." CMiC and the other winners were specifically praised for emphasis on organizational purpose and the health and well-being of employees. Lockhart further says, "These companies should not only be extremely proud of this designation, but for their organizational grit, continued adaptability and unwavering commitment to their people during a year when it was needed most." "Organizational purpose and continuous improvement have long been core tenets of our business. Achieving those goals requires an intense commitment to our people and to our customers," says Mauricio Barberi, Chief Marketing Officer of CMiC and lead of the company's participation in Deloitte'sannual recognition program. "We are proud to receive the Best Managed Companies designation once again and believe this honor reflects our purpose and passion to deliver the best unified accounting and project management platform for construction firms of every scope and scale."



Best Managed Companies is a flagship program presented by Deloitte Private, a division of Deloitte exclusively focused on serving private clients of all sizes. Generation after generation, Deloitte Private has been by the side of the entrepreneurs transforming Canada's economy  and under its wing, the Best Managed program includes 486 companies, offering a strong network to support the 37 new winners of 2021. The network continues its expansion beyond Canadian borders, now with presence in 37 countries globally. This annual award recognizes the top privately-owned Canadian companies with annual revenues over $25 million. Specifically, the program considers a variety of factors, including organizational effectiveness, financial results and sustained growth. As a Gold Standard winner, CMiC has retained its status by demonstrating to the judges a continued commitment to entrepreneurial leadership, product innovation and a diverse workforce.

The awards are granted on four levels: Best Managed winner: one of up to 50 new winners selected each year

Requalified member: repeat winners retaining their Best Managed designation for two additional years, subject to annual operational and financial review

Gold Standard winner: recognized after three consecutive years of maintaining their Best Managed status

Platinum Club member: winners that maintain a Best Managed status for a minimum of six consecutive years About CMiC

As an industry pioneer, CMiC delivers complete and unified ERP and FIELD solutions for construction and capital projects firms. CMiC's powerful software transforms how firms optimize productivity, minimize risk and drive growth by planning and managing all financials, projects, resources, and content assetsfrom a Single Database Platform. With customers throughout North America and overseas, CMiC serves one-quarter of ENR's Top 400 Contractors and hundreds of small and mid-sized construction firms, from general and specialty contractors to heavy/highway and project owners. For more information, please visit www.cmicglobal.com. About Canada's Best Managed Companies

Canada's Best Managed Companies continues to be the mark of excellence for privately held Canadian-owned and managed companies with revenues over $25 million. Every year since the launch of the program in 1993, hundreds of entrepreneurial companies have competed each year for this designation in a rigorous and independent process that evaluates their management skills and practices. Program sponsors are Deloitte, CIBC, Canadian Business, Smith School of Business, TMX Group and MacKay CEO Forums. For further information, visit http://www.bestmanagedcompanies.ca. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cmic-achieves-gold-standard-as-one-of-canadas-best-managed-companies-301303470.html SOURCE Computer Methods International Corp. (CMiC)

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] A Whale-y Good Father's Day: Carvel Brings Back Iconic Commercial, Hotline, And Limited-Edition Beer To Help Celebrate Dad

ATLANTA, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- This year, Dad deserves a whale of a Father's Day - and that's why Carvel Ice Cream is bringing back two beloved pieces of its history to help celebrate everything that makes Dad special: the classic Fudgie the Whale Father's Day commercial complete with a Carvel hotline, and Fudgie the Beer. "Carvel and Fudgie the Whale are an iconic duo when it comes to celebrating dads," said Nicolle DuBose, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Carvel. "By reviving some Carvel and Fudgie favorites this Father's Day, we're honoring all the moments cherished with dads throughout the years and the new memories yet to be made." A Whale of a Cake for a Whale of a Dad  and a Hotline Fudgie the Whale is synonymous with celebrations - especially Father's Day, the holiday for which Carvel originally created the mascot in 1977. Showcased across pop culture for decades, Fudgie's loveable character brings Carvel fans young and old back to their childhood roots. Beginning today, fans can check us out on YouTube to watch a modern take on the classic Father's Day commercial featuring Fudgie and a re-creation of a gravelly voice many may know or recognize, and even have memories of growing up watching Carvel commercials on TV. The commercial also highlights the reinstated Carvel hotline - 1-833-FUDGIE1 - where fans can hear "Tom Carvel" serving up dad jokes. Warning: these dad jokes may get a little cone-y (get it, cone-y?)! While Fudgie the Whale cakes cannot be ordered directly through the hotline, they are available at participating Carvel shoppes and on food delivery platforms. Visit Carvel.com/fathersday to find a Carvel shoppe and delivery availability  you can even find some throwback Fudgie merchandise for Dad this Father's Day. Fudgie the Beer is Back! In addition to the re-created commercial and hotline, Carvel is teaming up with Captain Lawrence Brewing to re-release the popular Fudgie the Beer, which quickly sold out after its original 2018 and 2019releases.





Brewed with 6-percent ABV and Carvel's signature chocolate Crunchies, rich fudge and ice cream, Fudgie the Beer is the perfect dark, roasty and fudgie Father's Day treat - and will give Dad a little something extra to make this Father's Day a whale of a celebration. Fudgie the Beer will be available leading up to and after Father's Day, while supplies last, at finer retailers wherever Captain Lawrence is sold across the East Coast. Visit FudgietheBeer.com or call 1-833-FUDGIE1 for more information. Must be 21+ to purchase. To stay updated on all things Carvel this Father's Day and beyond, follow the brand on Twitter and Instagram at @CarvelIceCream, like it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CarvelIceCream or visit Carvel.com/fathersday. About Carvel Ice Cream

The United States' first retail ice cream franchise, Carvel Ice Cream has become one of the best-loved and most recognized names in its industry. The company is a leading provider of premium soft ice cream and hand dipped ice cream products, as well as uniquely shaped ice cream cakes, including its signature Fudgie the Whale and Cookie Puss cakes. Atlanta-based Carvel currently has more than 400 franchised and food service locations. Visit www.carvel.com for more information, follow us on Twitter @CarvelIceCream and Instagram or become a fan on Facebook . About Captain Lawrence Brewing Captain Lawrence Brewing Co. is located just a short drive north of New York City, in Westchester County, NY, where it is the area's largest craft brewery, producing over 28,000 barrels of beer annually. Founded in 2006 by Scott Vaccaro, Captain Lawrence brews a wide range of beer styles, producing as many as one hundred brands in a year. Shortly after opening, the brewery began to gain widespread notoriety for their sour and barrel-aged beers, winning their first of eight GABF medals in 2007. Today, in addition to their award-winning sour beers, Captain Lawrence is widely known for brewing extremely Fresh IPAs, highly drinkable lagers, and a variety of specialty craft beers. Learn more at CaptainLawrenceBrewing.com and keep up with the Captain on Instagram @CaptLawrence CONTACT: Shawn Jackson, sjackson@focusbrands.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/a-whale-y-good-fathers-day-carvel-brings-back-iconic-commercial-hotline-and-limited-edition-beer-to-help-celebrate-dad-301303264.html SOURCE Carvel

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] CI Global Asset Management Continues Integration of its Global Investment Platform with Team-Based Approach to Dividend and Canadian Equity Strategies

CI Global Asset Management ("CI GAM") today announced portfolio management appointments to selected dividend and Canadian equity funds in the latest steps in the evolution of its integrated global investment platform. "These appointments demonstrate the benefits of CI GAM's move to integrate its investment management teams," said Kurt MacAlpine, Chief Executive Officer of CI Financial, CI GAM's parent company. "We are leveraging a wider range of talent and expertise to support these mandates and ensuring that our clients benefit from the full range of CI GAM's extensive resources and experience in investment management." The company announced in November 2020 that it would be integrating its in-house boutique investment teams into one team operating under the CI Global Asset Management brand. Portfolio managers and analysts are being aligned by investment strategy rather than by investment boutique. The integration is allowing for greater collaboration and sharing of ideas and best practices across the organization and a significant increase in the depth and breadth of CI GAM's research coverage. "We believe the transition to an integrated platform, with its increasingly free flow of information and exchange of research and insights among our investment professionals, has contributed to the improving relative performance of CI funds in recent quarters," Mr. MacAlpine said. The appointments, which are effective today, are listed in the table below. CI GAM is adding portfolio managers with specific experience in those mandates and sectors to selected dividend and Canadian equity funds. They include: Peter Hofstra, CFA, who has over 18 years of investment management experience and joined CI GAM in 2017. He is also Lead Portfolio Manager of CI North American Dividend Fund and CI Canadian Investment Fund and co-manager of Cambridge Canadian Equity Fund and Cambridge Canadian Equity Corporate Class. Bryan Brown, CA (News - Alert) , CPA, CFA, who has more than 15 years of financial industry experience and focuses on North American dividend and income-paying equity securities. He is Lead Portfolio Manager of Sentry All Cap Income Fund and Co-Manager of Sentry Canadian Income Fund. Bryan is also a member of the User Advisory Council, which assists the Accounting Standards Board in developing high-quality accounting standards. Danesh Rohinton, who joined CI GAM in 2013 and previously worked at BMO Capital Markets as a research associate covering U.S. banks. He is co-manager of Cambridge Global Dividend Fund and Cambridge Global Dividend Corporate Class. Bunty Mahairhu, CFA, who has 13 years' industry experience and joined CI GAM in 2016. His focus is financials and real estate investment trusts. Greg Quickmire, CFA, who has seven years of investment experience and specializes in the health care, media and telecommunications sectors. Jeremy Rosa, CFA, who has 10 years of investment experience and focuses on the technology sector. The portfolio management appointments are as follows:







Fund New managers Previous manager(s) Canadian Equity Cambridge Canadian Equity Fund, Cambridge Canadian Equity Corporate Class Stephen Groff, Peter Hofstra, Bryan Brown Stephen Groff, Peter Hofstra Canadian Dividend Cambridge Canadian Dividend Fund, Cambridge Canadian Dividend Corporate Class Stephen Groff, Peter Hofstra, Bunty Mahairhu Stephen Groff CI Canadian Dividend Private Pool Stephen Groff, Peter Hofstra, Bunty Mahairhu Stephen Groff U.S. Dividend Cambridge U.S. Dividend Fund, Cambridge U.S. Dividend Registered Fund, Cambridge U.S. Dividend US$ Fund Stephen Groff, Peter Hofstra, Greg Quickmire, Jeremy Rosa Stephen Groff Global Dividend Cambridge Global Dividend Class Stephen Groff, Danesh Rohinton Stephen Groff Sentry Global Equity Income Private Pool Class Stephen Groff, Danesh Rohinton Stephen Groff

About CI Global Asset Management CI Global Asset Management is one of Canada's largest investment management companies. It offers a wide range of investment products and services and is on the Web at www.ci.com. CI GAM is a subsidiary of CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX, NYSE: CIXX), an independent company offering global asset management and wealth management advisory services with approximately $287.5 billion in total assets as at April 30, 2021. Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. This communication is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase mutual funds managed by CI Global Asset Management and is not, and should not be construed as, investment, tax, legal or accounting advice, and should not be relied upon in that regard. Individuals should seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding any particular investment. Investors should consult their professional advisors prior to implementing any changes to their investment strategies. These investments may not be suitable to the circumstances of an investor. Some conditions apply. CI Global Asset Management is a registered business name of CI Investments Inc. CI Investments Inc. 2021. All rights reserved. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005321/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Bright Horizons Joins White House to Offer Free Child Care for Vaccines

Bright Horizons (NYSE: BFAM) has teamed up with the White House to offer free child care to help Americans get their COVID-19 vaccine. The initiative will help achieve the administration's critical goal of getting 70% of American adults vaccinated by July 4. With summer break approaching, working parents have expressed concern over how and when they will be able to make it to a vaccination appointment. Bright Horizons partners with employers who collectively represent 10 million Americans to provide back-up care and together they will support parent access to vaccinations and give their employees the support they need to protect their health and health of their families. Starting immediately, employees at Mars, Levi Strauss, Santander and USAA, as well as other participating organizations, can secure back-up child care at a Bright Horizons early education and child care centers while they receive their first dose, second dose, or if they need time to recover from any side effects of the vaccination. Employees can access the free child care through July 4. "We are proud to stand with the White House to help get our nation vaccinated against COVID-19 and support parents in their effort to keep their family and children safe. While young children are still unable to be vaccinated themselves, the best thing we can do to keep them healthy is to get those who live with, care for and teach children, inoculated against COVID-19," said Stephen Kramer, Bright Horizons Chief Executive Officer. "We are proud of our client partners who are stepping up to support their employees in protecting their health and getting vaccinated." In addition to providing free child care for parents to get vaccinated, Bright Horizons has been providing a $100 incentive for its own teachers and employees to get vaccinated as part of a comprehensive education and awareness campaign to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations and maintaining healthy workplaces. The company has also been a leader in research to understand the lasting impacts of COVID-19 on working parents and their children's development. The latest research can be found here: https://www.brighthorizons.com/newsroom/2021-modern-family-index.







A sample of participating employers includes: Altria Mars, Incorporated Ally MUFG Cadence RSM COTA (Central Ohio Transit Authority) Santander Cummins Power Generation Inc. T. Rowe Price Edwards TIAA Dimensional Fund Advisors USAA Levi Strauss ViaSat (News - Alert)

Parents with access to Bright Horizons Back-up Care benefits can book their free child care here: https://www.brighthorizons.com/careforournation. About Bright Horizons Bright Horizons is a leading global provider of high-quality child care and early education, back-up care, and workplace education services. For more than 30 years, we have partnered with employers to support workforces by providing services that help working families and employees thrive personally and professionally. We operate approximately 1,000 child care centers in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and India, and serve more than 1,300 of the world's leading organizations. Bright Horizons' child care centers, back-up child and elder care, and workforce education programs, including tuition program management, education advising, and student loan repayment, help employees succeed at each life and career stage. For more information, go to www.brighthorizons.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005366/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-03 00:19:05|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

NAIROBI, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan health workers have busied themselves with taking the second shot of COVID-19 vaccines after the country started administering the doses.

The health workers on Wednesday consisted of 403 people out of the 471 who received the second doses in the nation, according to Mutahi Kagwe, cabinet secretary of the Ministry of Health.

Kenya commenced inoculation against the coronavirus in early March, soon after the country received 1.02 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses that were manufactured in India under the COVAX facility.

The East African country on May 28 kicked off the second round of vaccination exercise targeting healthcare workers, teachers, security personnel and citizens aged 58 years and above.

The country on May 30 received 72,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from South Sudan, which had been returned to the COVAX facility due to low uptake over expiration fears.

As of Wednesday, Kenya has recorded 171,226 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 117,039 recoveries and 3,206 deaths, and has vaccinated 971,243 persons against the COVID-19. Enditem
[June 02, 2021] The Commons Project Foundation Names Minerva Tantoco Chief Operating Officer

The Commons Project Foundation today announced that Minerva Tantoco, formerly New York City's first-ever Chief Technology Officer, has been named Chief Operating Officer. In her new role, Tantoco will oversee the growth and expansion of the products and services of the two-year-old nonprofit. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005575/en/ Minerva Tantoco joins The Commons Project as Chief Operating Officer (Photo: Business Wire) "We're pleased to announce the addition of Minerva Tantoco and welcome her to our leadership team as Chief Operating Officer," said Paul Meyer, CEO and Co-Founder of The Commons Project Foundation. "Minerva is a leading thinker and educator, and a passionate advocate for using technology to transform government, finance, and society." In her role as Chief Technology Officer, Tantoco directed the New York City Mayor's Office of Technology from 2014 to 2016. Under her leadership, New York City was named "2016 Best Smart City" by the Smart City Expo World Congress with initiatives including LinkNYC, CSforAll, and Internet of Things Guidelines. She is a leading advocate for an inclusive, equitable tech ecosystem. After leaving City Hall, Tantoco co-founded Grasshopper Bank, a nationally chartered digital commercial bank focused on founders, their companies and the investors supporting them. She has also served in executive technology roles at Palm, Merrill Lynch and UBS, and holds four U.S. patents on intelligent workflow. "Our mission is to provide the kind of top-tier networked digital infrastructure that often comes from de facto monopolies, but as a public-benefit nonprofit focused on serving individuals rather than advertisers or vendors," said Esther Dyson, executive founder of Wellville, long-time tech investor and board member of The Commons Project Foundation. "Minerva's leadership will be a great asset as the nonprofit moves forward with this vision to develop indispensable tech for the common good." In addition to her role at TCP, Tantoco serves on the boards of the New York Hall of Science and Vyv, is a Board Advisor to Socure, and is an Adjunct Profesor at the Columbia University Graduate School of International and Public Affairs. She has appeared on CNN, Bloomberg (News - Alert) , and Channel Thirteen. She has spoken at HackMIT, Harvard Law School, Women in Data Science, Executive Forum Technology SIG, Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR) Tech Sprint (News - Alert) , and is a frequent speaker on technology topics in artificial intelligence at scale, Internet of Things, and transforming financial services.



The Commons Project Foundation and its first project CommonHealth were founded in 2019 to unlock the potential of technology and data for the common good. More recently, The Commons Project has developed CommonPass, an application/data-sharing structure that enables individuals to securely prove their COVID-19 health status for travel and other purposes, without revealing other, extraneous personal data. CommonPass partners with industry leaders in travel, government and tech to ensure that each individual meets the local entry requirements of their destination, and the app has been key as international travel resumes. About The Commons Project Foundation

A nonprofit public trust established with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, The Commons Project Foundation builds and operates digital platforms and services for the common good. Its mission-driven structure is designed to attract world-class talent to build and sustain digital public services in a way that serves people's interests above all. Beginning with health information, we are focused on empowering people to access and control their personal data and put it to use for their own benefit.

Learn more about The Commons Project Foundation

Learn more about our initiatives CommonPass | CommonHealth | Vaccine Credential Initiative

Follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) via @commons_prjct | @mycommonpass | @mycommonhealth

Follow us on LinkedIn (News - Alert) via The Commons Project Foundation

Media assets, including images, video and past press releases, please see here.

For non-media information, please contact info@thecommonsproject.org View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005575/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] SOURCE Global & Conservation International Project Named to Fast Company's 2021 World Changing Ideas List

For generations, remote villages in the Philippines have faced water scarcity and waterborne illness. Now, a SOURCE Global/Conservation International project that's bringing clean, safe drinking water to the region has been named one of Fast Company's "World Changing Ideas." The Fast Company list includes businesses, policies, projects and concepts using innovation to solve health and climate crises, social injustice, and economic inequality. A panel of Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners and finalists from a pool of more than 4,000 entries. This year's list recognized how SOURCE Global's groundbreaking technology has transformed life in Binta't Karis, a remote, indigenous community in Palawan, Philippines. The area has limited water infrastructure, most of which is powered by gravity to reach communities at the base of the mountains. This system does not serve the Binta't Karis, who live at a higher elevation, and the community relied on digging wells or walking miles to fetch water from a dirty river. Diarrhea from contaminated water was the second-leading cause of death in the area. Now, families and students at Binta't Karis Elementary School will have access to safe, potable water for drinking, cooking and sanitation. In collaboration and with support from Conservation International, SOURCE installed its patented hydropanel technology in the community, giving the community a reliable supply of clean, safe drinking water that comes not from the ground, but from the sky. SOURCE Hydropanels use only solar energy to draw the endless volume of pure water vapor out of the air and convert it to high-quality, mineralized drinking water, entirely off the grid and with no pumps, pipes or electricity. "In Palawan's highlands, access to basic water services for the indigenous communities is poor and water-borne diseases remain prevalent," said Enrique Nunez, Country Executive Director, CI Philippines. "Providing clean, healthy freshwater that is easy to access will improve health and will allow those who previously dedicated time to collecting water, predominantly mothers and teenagers, to focus on other activities that benefit themselves and their families." The Palawan project was funded by Elemental Excelerator, which provides support to scale equitable, market-driven solutions to climate change. It is one of three collaborations between Conservation International and SOURCE. Together, the two organizations have also placed SOURCE Hydropanels in Bahia Hondita, Colombia and Atauro Island in Timor-Leste. "The future of water management is all about transformative partnerships like the Palawan project," said Kimberly Baker, Director of Innovation at Elemental Excelerator. "It's critical that we go far beyond augmenting the status quo and shift our focus towards business models that incorporate community-minded partnership and trust-building as key pillars. Elemental Excelerator is proud to have helped deliver a source of renewable drinking water to the people of Binta't Karis with our partners in innovation." "Clean, safe water is human beings' most essential need and a fundamental human right. Creating a resilient supply of it is very likely the most world-changing thing we can do," said Cody Friesen, SOURCE Global's founder and CEO. "When people gain freedom from the constant search for safe drinking water and the never-ending threat of illness, they can pursue education and employment, care for their families and the communty, and build their local economies. Water lifts people up, and we're proud to work with Conservation International and Elemental Excelerator to bring clean, safe and sustainably produced drinking water places where it's needed most."



About SOURCE Global, PBC SOURCE Global, PBC's mission is to make drinking water an unlimited resource. The company's SOURCE Hydropanels create drinking water using sunlight and air as the only inputs, and can put the power of safe, sustainable drinking water in the hands of every person in nearly every climate and corner of the world. A Public Benefit Corporation, SOURCE is on Fast Company's 2020 list of most innovative social good companies. The company is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, and operates in 48 countries and on six continents. SOURCE is a registered trademark of SOURCE Global, PBC. For more information, visit www.source.co and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.

About Conservation International Conservation International works to protect the critical benefits that nature provides to people. Through science, partnerships and fieldwork, Conservation International is driving innovation and investments in nature-based solutions to the climate crisis, supporting protections for critical habitats, and fostering economic development that is grounded in the conservation of nature. We work in 30 countries around the world, empowering societies at all levels to create a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable planet. Follow Conservation International's work on Conservation News, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. About Elemental Excelerator Elemental Excelerator is on a mission to redesign the systems at the root of climate change. In 2009, the non-profit launched a new model for funding climate tech deployment. Breaking down barriers to innovation alongside entrepreneurs provides Elemental unique insight into the policy, market, and technology innovation needed to build systems to uplift people and communities around the world. Elemental has invested in over 100 growth-stage companies and celebrated more than a dozen exits, funded more than 70 technology projects, and built a platform for scaling equitable, market-driven solutions to climate change. For more information, please visit elementalexcelerator.com. About the World Changing Ideas Awards World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company's major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners, finalists and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to start working on solving the problems that affect us all. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005315/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Fujitsu Demonstrates Open Optical Control in TIP CANDI Proof of Concept

Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc. has completed a successful demonstration of open optical network control in collaboration with the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) Converged Architectures for Network Disaggregation & Integration (CANDI) project group. The proof of concept, conducted in collaboration with the project team including Tier 1 network operators, demonstrates end-to-end service operations and network visibility across multi-vendor optical networks. Fujitsu (News - Alert) contributed the Virtuora Network Controller (NC) to enable multi-vendor SDN control across a partially disaggregated Open Line System (OLS), helping to define real-world operator use cases to accelerate adoption of open converged and packet optical networks. The controller supports both a standard T-API interface for the ROADM (News - Alert) network as well as an OpenConfig interface for the transponders. The proof of concept is the first integration of a commercial SDN controller based on the OpenDaylight platform, along with GNPy, the only vendor-neutral, open-source optical planning tool for optical reach verification. Virtuora NC supports both OLS domain control and optical SDN control, leveraging OpenDaylight to deliver a blend of openness and out-of-the-box capabilities for optical network design, installatin, service creation, assurance and maintenance.



The proof of concept demonstrates how flexible, modular optical hardware products and software control solutions based on open-source platforms provide a unique offering that achieves immediate needs for new network infrastructure, while positioning the network itself for migration to open networking in phases. This inherent flexibility allows communications service providers to deploy an optical architecture today and achieve an open network architecture tomorrow. "The open optical control project is a major milestone toward enabling operators to achieve greater vendor diversity and efficiencies in their optical networks," said Francois Lafontaine, vice president and head of the software business at Fujitsu Network Communications (News - Alert) , Inc. "This proof of concept clearly validates the capabilities of Virtuora NC as a true multi-vendor SDN controller."

To view the TIP CANDI proof of concept, visit the virtual Demo Zone during the Optical Networking and Communications Conference and Exhibition, June 7 - 11, 2021. About Fujitsu Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 126,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.6 trillion yen (US$34 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. For more information, please see https://www.fujitsu.com/. About Fujitsu Network Communications Inc. Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc. is a leading provider of digital transformation solutions for network operators, service providers and content providers worldwide. We combine best-in-class hardware, software and services with multivendor expertise to enable cost savings, faster services delivery and improved network performance. Working closely with our customers and ecosystem partners, we design, build, operate and maintain better networks for the connected world. For more information, please see http://us.fujitsu.com/telecom or connect with us on LinkedIn (News - Alert) at www.linkedin.com/company/Fujitsu-network-communications. Fujitsu (and design), 1FINITY, Virtuora and "shaping tomorrow with you" are trademarks of Fujitsu Limited in the United States and other countries. All rights reserved. All other company or product names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Information provided in this press release is accurate at time of publication and is subject to change without advance notice. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005181/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Advantus Corp. Completes Asset Purchase of Victory Light

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Advantus Corp., a privately-held manufacturer of consumer, commercial, and durable goods, announces it has acquired specific assets of Victory Light USA LLC, a designer and developer of office and decor products, including home and office lighting, document frames and clocks. Based in Franklin Park, Illinois, the purchase of Victory Light further increases Advantus's market presence in the Office Product channel. "The addition of Victory Light further diversifies and expands our extensive office products portfolio," said Kevin Carpenter, President of Advantus Corp. "I have every confidence Advantus will be an excellent steward of the legacy our team has worked to build over the past twenty-two years. The synergies between the two companies makes Advantus the ideal partner to guide Victory's next chapter of growth and success," said Peter Koehler,President of Victory Light.



Victory Light will continue operating out of Franklin Park temporarily. Over the next few months, operations will move to Advantus corporate headquarters in Jacksonville, FL. "We look forward to integrating Victory Light and will work diligently to provide a seamless transition and maintain the level of service our customers have grown to expect," said Harry Chernek, Executive Vice-President of the Office Products division of Advantus. About Advantus Corp.

With product lines whose histories stretch back to 1878, Advantus Corp. is a diverse consumer products company comprised of five operating divisions, each containing a family of brands. From its 600,000 square feet of owned domestic manufacturing and warehousing capacity and over 100 manufacturing and distribution partners worldwide, Advantus manufactures and distributes its products to a diverse group of retail partners. CONTACT INFORMATION: Advantus Corp.

Rana Coggins

Vice President of Sales & Marketing

904.415.1039

311083@email4pr.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/advantus-corp-completes-asset-purchase-of-victory-light-301303894.html SOURCE Advantus Corp.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021]

New Program Addresses the Growing Demand for Security Awareness Professionals to Protect Organizational Information Assets from Human Error with a Focus on a Security-Aware Culture

DENVER, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- H Layer Credentialing, a wholly owned business unit of Professional Testing, Inc., announced the launch of its new third party, vendor-neutral, certification for security awareness professionals.

H Layer Credentialing's Security Awareness and Culture Professional (SACP) Certification program is designed to recognize competencies required for professionals serving in occupational roles linking security awareness training, user behavior assessment, education, with behavioral change, to achieve a sustained security-aware culture.

Why was SACP developed?

Increasingly, the most valued assets of organizations are their information resources. Collaborative work environments, network communication and remote work, have exponentially increased cyber threat vulnerabilities. While technical tools designed to protect information assets remain important, numerous research studies and surveys reveal that human errors are the most significant contributor to security breaches.

The SACP certification was developed in response to the recognition that establihing an organizational security-aware culture is among the most effective means of preventing costly data breaches.







The SACP certification mark will recognize individuals who have successfully passed the H Layer Credentialing's SACP certification examination and maintain certification requirements, as set by H Layer.

About the exam

To earn the SACP designation, candidates must pass a 2.5 hour, 120-question examination covering 7 subject domains relating to the relating to the development, implementation, and monitoring of a security awareness program.

Secure proctored examination administration is available at more than 5,000 Pearson VUE Test Centers in more than 100 countries worldwide.

The SACP program was developed based on a statistically validated job analysis study with the active participation of an advisory group of leading experts in security awareness to determine the body knowledge required for the examination. Active industry subject matter experts further assisted in development of the assessment content in compliance with technical standards guided and supervised by psychometric experts.

About H LAYER

H Layer Credentialing was established with the mission of advancing the occupational roles, functions and professional identity of security awareness professionals who utilize human centric approaches to manage organizational security risks.

More information about the program can be found at https://www.TheHLayer.com.

Media contact:

Reed Castle, PhD

311221@email4pr.com

407-412-1053

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-program-addresses-the-growing-demand-for-security-awareness-professionals-to-protect-organizational-information-assets-from-human-error-with-a-focus-on-a-security-aware-culture-301303896.html

SOURCE H Layer Credentialing
[June 02, 2021] Cardknox Announces Support for Verifone's Next-Gen P400 Payment Terminal PIN Pad for Retail Merchants

HOWELL, N.J., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardknox, a leading developer-friendly, omnichannel payment gateway, today announced its support for the P400 PIN pad by Verifone, a leading provider of best-in-class hardware for merchants around the globe. This advanced, high-performance payment terminal, combined with the Cardknox gateway, will allow merchants to accept a variety of payment methods while providing a faster, frictionless, and more secure checkout experience. The P400, part of Verifone's Engage portfolio of devices, touts the latest next-gen features and functionality, and accepts a wide variety of payment methods. From increasingly popular mobile wallets and contactless payments to magstripe and EMV, the P400 allows merchants to accept payments however their customers prefer to pay. Additionally, with the P400's rich multimedia and commerce capabilities, merchants will be able to offer individualized loyalty rewards and discounts, personalized content, the ability to pay with points, and more. "The P400 payment terminal and its advanced capabilities align with our mission to offer the most convenient, frictionless, and secure payment experience without the need for a lengthy integration process," said Mark Paley, Vice President of Sales at Cardknox. "This integration will provide immense value to our community of developers and merchants who want to improve the in-store checkout experience by offering a wider range of payment acceptance. This ability will pove increasingly valuable as customer expectations continue to move toward contactless payment methods."



The P400 offers the latest features and functionality, including: A modernized design and colorful, angled touchscreen display

Tactile keypad and redesigned EMV slot for smoother card insertion and easy operation

The latest Linux-based OS, an open architecture, and a modern application framework

Advanced app capabilities

EMV and NFC acceptance

And more This high-performing PIN pad device is suggested to replace the VX805, which recently entered end-of-life status.

By combining this advanced, customer-facing device with the Cardknox gateway, merchants and developers will have access to all of these next-gen features and functionality, in addition to enhanced security, fast processing times, competitive rates, and advanced reporting capabilities. To learn more about the Cardknox and P400 PIN pad integration, visit: https://www.cardknox.com/supported-emv-equipment/ About Cardknox Cardknox is an omnichannel payment gateway that can be seamlessly integrated with POS systems, ERP software, e-commerce, and mobile platforms. Offering flexible payment solutions and innovative technology to qualify transactions for the lowest interchange rates, Cardknox serves thousands of partners and customers across every major industry throughout the U.S., the U.K., and Canada. For more information, visit www.cardknox.com . Media Contact: Cardknox

Alex Varone

Marketing Supervisor

(844) 227-3566

310997@email4pr.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cardknox-announces-support-for-verifones-next-gen-p400-payment-terminal-pin-pad-for-retail-merchants-301303912.html SOURCE Cardknox

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Swan Lake Beta Release of Ballerina Programming Language Lowers Barriers to Delivering Cloud-Native Applications

Santa Clara, CA, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Increasingly enterprises are turning to cloud-native applications that integrate APIs, events, data, microservices, serverless apps, and other digital assets throughout their organizations and across the ecosystems in which they participate. Ballerina is the open-source language for cloud-native programming and integration designed to support these organizations with a unique bidirectional mapping of sequence diagrams and code. The new Swan Lake Beta release, available today, radically simplifies how developers build and deploy cloud-native applications through an intuitive syntax for developing services and APIs, seamless JSON support, and built-in concurrency control. Modern applications are not islandsnor are the teams of developers responsible for building them, said Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana, founder and leader of the Ballerina project and founder and CEO of WSO2. The Ballerina language enables developers to create cloud-native applications that are inherently integrations of services, data, transactions and processes. The new Swan Lake Beta version extends this functionalityfurther enabling enterprises to tear down the barriers between app development and integration and between highly skilled and ad hoc developers to speed the delivery of innovative, new digital products and services. Ballerina is a 100% open-source project created and sponsored by WSO2. All parts of the project are developed openly at https://github.com/ballerina-platform . Simplifying Cloud-Native App Development

Ballerina is an open-source programming language for the cloud, which is based on the concept that modern application programming revolves around creating and consuming APIs, and it has been designed for cloud-native applications and microservices. Ballerina has all the general-purpose functionality of a modern programming language, and it uniquely provides language abstractions that make it easier to use, combine and create network services. Notably, Ballerina is the only language where the diagram is the code, and the code is the diagram. Abstractions and syntax for concurrency and network interaction are included in the language to closely correspond with sequence diagrams, which enables a bidirectional mapping for any Ballerina source code between its textual representation and its graphical representation as a sequence diagram. Highly skilled developers have the flexibility to move between coding with text or diagrams while others have a low-code option for contributing to the organizations app developmentwhile maintaining full fidelity to the code. Ballerina also features a unique structural type system that is more flexible and allows for looser coupling than traditional statically typed language. This is particularly useful when combining data from multiple, independently-designed systems. The type system can be used as a schema to define data transmitted and received over the network, including native data types for JSON and XML that in many cases eliminate serialization and transformation processing. In other words, the data on the wire is the same as the data in memory for common use cases. Additionally, as a data-oriented language, Ballerina emphasizes plain data that can be used independently of any code that processes the data. It includes straightforward mapping of plain data to and from JSON, integrated query with a SQL-like syntax, table and decimal data types, and XML support similar to XQuery. New Ballerina Swan Lake Features

With the Swan Lake version, Ballerina introduces several features to help developers build and deploy enterprise-class, cloud-native applications. Notably, it has been redesigned with an intuitive syntax for developing APIs and services, including procedure call (RPC) and RESTful style services and seamless suppor for JSON. Ballerina also now features both client and service objects that can be configured to use multiple different protocols, using either an RPC-based interface type or a RESTful interface type such as HTTP or GraphQL. Other key features include:



Concurrency Control. Ballerina is inherently concurrent, providing the advantages of asynchronous functions with a simpler programming model. Now, it automatically determines when it is safe to run the concurrent components in an application parallel with the concurrency control features added in Swan Lake. Powerful Constructs for Working with Data. Ballerina comes with a language-integrated query feature for querying data using a SQL-like syntax and enables type-safe and declarative transformation of JSON, XML, and tabular data. The feature is now fleshed out to support ordering and joins. Furthermore, the table type has been redesigned to be more ergonomic and work consistently with other structural types. Tables in Ballerina are collections of records, in which records are uniquely identified by one of their fields similar to a primary key in SQL.

Automated Deployments for Kubernetes. With the Swan Lake versions, Ballerina includes the ability to automatically create deployments for Kubernetes and Docker to further simplify the development and deployment of Ballerina code to the cloud. As a result, developers can focus on business logic rather than having to become experts in diverse cloud-native deployment and configuration technologies. Full Development Platform

The Ballerina platform provides comprehensive support for modern software engineering processes and toolchains, including: A framework for package/module management, including dependency and version control; the new version with Swan Lake also produces repeatable builds for the same source code

Ballerina Central , a public web service for sharing modules amongst developers

, a public web service for sharing modules amongst developers IDE tool plugin for Visual Studio Code supporting both textual and graphical development and debugging of Ballerina programs

A framework for documentation and testing of Ballerina programs

Built-in tooling for OpenAPI (Swagger) and gRPC

New update tool with Swan Lake, which provides built-in functionality for keeping Ballerina installations up to date with the latest releases

New shell, an interactive command-line tool that allows developers to rapidly learn and prototype Ballerina code

A comprehensive standard library with support for many network protocols, data sources, and data formats to ease the adoption of the language Availability and Support

The Ballerina Swan Lake Beta is available today. As a fully open-source implementation released under the Apache License 2.0, it does not carry any licensing fees and can be freely downloaded at https://ballerina.io/downloads . Users can find support through its growing open-source community on Ballerinas Slack Channel , Google Group , or GitHub . Additionally, resources, such as the Quick Tour and Ballerina by Examples, can be found at https://ballerina.io/learn/by-example . Sponsored and Developed by WSO2

WSO2 invested in the creation of Ballerina to address significant shortcomings that it saw in how middleware was evolving to play in the cloud native world. WSO2s founder, Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana, created the project in August 2016 and led its technical design in collaboration with James Clark , bringing in their decades of software development and enterprise integration experience. Sanjivas professional career has been focused on creating technology to facilitate large-scale distributed systems, including co-creating WSDL, BPEL4WS, and several domain-specific programming languages. James was a co-creator of XML and led the design of XPath, XSLT, and RELAX NG. WSO2s engineering effort for Ballerina has included more than 300 person years of investment in its nearly five years of development. About WSO2

Founded in 2005, WSO2 radically simplifies the way enterprises create, deliver, and scale digital experiences. Our cloud native, API-first approach helps developers and architects to innovate at speed and accelerate time to market. Customers choose us for our broad, integrated platform and our expertise in API management, enterprise integration, and identity and access managementthe cornerstones of every successful digital transformation initiative. With offices in Australia, Brazil, Germany, Sri Lanka, the UK, and the US, WSO2 employs over 750 engineers, consultants, and professionals worldwide. Today, hundreds of leading brands and thousands of global projects execute 18.2 trillion transactions annually using WSO2 technologies. Visit https://wso2.com to learn more. About Ballerina

Ballerina provides cloud native middleware as a simple-to-use programming language whose syntax and platform address the hard problems of integration presented by todays distributed apps and services. Ballerina is a statically typed, concurrent programming language with both textual and graphical syntaxes. It brings fundamental concepts, ideas and tools of distributed system integration into the language. These include distributed transactions, reliable messaging, stream processing, workflows, and container management platforms. Ballerina is an open source project under the Apache 2.0 license and is developed by the Ballerina community, sponsored by WSO2. To learn more, visit https://ballerina.io . Trademarks and registered trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.

Molly Ryner Lewis Global Communications for Ballerina molly.ryner@teamlewis.com 619-308-5238

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] 33Across Introduces Lexicon, New Identity Solution Makes 90% of Publisher Inventory Addressable

NEW YORK, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 33Across , a leading programmatic publisher platform integrated across 800,000 publishers, announced the launch of Lexicon , an identity solution created specifically to help publishers succeed without cookies. Just as advertisers need to plan for a world without cookies, publishers require a supply-first solution to balance privacy and monetization for the open web.

Through Lexicon, 33Across has re-architected the way their exchange works to help publishers become less reliant on browsers and simplify the increasingly complex identity landscape. Lexicon provides publishers a comprehensive approach to unlock addressability and monetization that is architected for privacy. Since Lexicons launch, 33Across demand for cookieless inventory has resulted in a 23% increase in publisher revenue. Current Publisher Landscape

Today, publishers earn almost all of their programmatic revenue from the approximately 60% of their inventory thats cookied. Many of the industrys identity solutions are built for the demand side and focus on user authentication which accounts for less than 5% of publisher inventory today. In 2022, publishers face a looming $10B revenue decline according to McKinsey and the IAB due to the Addrssability Gap'' between cookied and authenticated inventory. Publishers need an integrated solution that increases addressability across all inventory, allowing them to take control of their own destiny without incurring incremental surcharges.



It was clear that an SSP needed to step up and provide a simple, integrated solution that allowed for scaled interoperability and reduced reliance on any single ID provider and the inherent difficulties in getting them to scale, said Eric Wheeler, CEO of 33Across, Out of the box, Lexicon enables publishers to grow their business, not just survive post-cookie, bringing more built-in scale and monetization than any other solution with no incremental technology lift - all with no ad tax. Introducing Lexicon

With 33Across Lexicon, publishers are now equipped with the technology to make their inventory addressable, build scaled audiences, increase monetization instantly, all while honoring consumer privacy choices. Fully integrated into the 33Across Exchange, Lexicon provides real-time identity resolution with unmatched scale reaching 500 million US browsers and growing. Lexicon is available to all 33Across publishers and demand partners without any additional fees.

The cookieless future, is one of our biggest challenges and 33Across Lexicon solution to monetizing unaddressable traffic could be an industry gamechanger, said Amanda Gomez, VP of Revenue Ops at New York Post, Beyond the potential revenue it brings, we are thrilled that it eliminates the need for any backend heavy lifting. Lexicon helps publishers in the following ways: Built-in Publisher Graph: 33Across is the first supply-side platform to embed an identity graph directly into their exchange, making 90% of publisher inventory addressable. The Lexicon Pub Token seamlessly connects multiple partner identifiers together across authenticated and unauthenticated traffic. Scale: At launch, 33Across Lexicon reaches over 500 million US browsers providing publishers scaled monetization independent of cookies. Addressable Audiences: The Lexicon Pub Token powers over 500 curated audiences enabling publishers to deliver tailored messaging while supporting consumers privacy choices.

MediaMath continues setting industry standards with our Identity marketplace and SOURCE initiative, providing our buyers with full accountability, addressability, transparency, and choice, said Anudit Vikram, Chief Product Officer at MediaMath. 33Across Lexicons built-in addressability and audience capabilities drive innovation as the industry moves toward a cookie-less future, which ties to our commitments and vision for an effective digital media supply chain. 33Across Business Excels During Turbulent Times

33Across marked its strongest year in its 14-year history with EBITDA growth of 500% from 2019 to 2020. With the launch of Lexicon, the company expects its profitability to accelerate even more in 2021 and 2022. For more information about 33Across' Lexicon and to get your website on the priority integration list, please visit https://www.33across.com/lexicon . About 33Across

33Across is the first supply-side platform with integrated solutions to unlock addressability and monetization architected for privacy. We enable publishers to turn cookieless inventory into addressable and relevant revenue streams without any additional lift or cost. By unifying addressability, audiences, and monetization, publishers can easily accelerate the transition to a cookieless world. 33Across unlocks the puzzle of addressability and monetization for the open web. Media Contact

John McCartney

Jmac PR for 33Across

john@jmacpr.com

646.280.8573



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] 6Telecom joins the Digitcom Team

TORONTO, June 2, 2021 /CNW/ - Digitcom Telecommunications Inc. announced today that it has completed the acquisition of 6Telecom, a privately held telecom solution provider based in Saint-Julie, Quebec. The acquisition expands Digitcom's national footprint to include the greater Montreal area and eastern Canada. The agreement was finalized on May 31, 2021. 6Telecom continues to operate as 6Telecom, a Digitcom company with future re-branding to be announced. Representatives from both teams will continue working to ensure a seamless integration of the businesses. "Digitcom is a leading independent Canadian digital service provider. The addition of the 6Telecom team deepens our bench, extends our reach, and brings bilingualism to our culture" said Boris Koechlin, President of Digitcom. "Our national coverage combined with an industry-leading portfolio of cloud communications and collaboration solutions is unique i the Canadian market."



"We're excited to join Digitcom," said Sophie Rouillier, President of 6Telecom. "This agreement allows us to expand our offer and provide our customers with innovative solutions that accelerate their competitive advantage." About Digitcom

For 30 years, Digitcom has provided its customers with cutting-edge and cost-effective communication solutions. Headquartered in Markham with presence in Vancouver, Calgary, and Montreal, Digitcom is Canada's leading independent digital service provider. The company provides industry-leading telecom services, business internet, unified communications, meeting collaboration spaces, and IOT. Digitcom customers span broad industry verticals and market segments across Canada. Digitcom is dedicated to their customers' success, priding themselves on innovation, and an end-to-end commitment to a great customer experience. Visit them at www.digitcom.ca About 6Telecom Founded in 1994 by a group of entrepreneurs, 6Telecom established itself as one of Quebec's most respected telecom solution providers. The company specializes in providing customers with advanced telephony communication systems. The 6Telecom mission is simple, "do more, do it better and do it faster". Visit them at www.6telecom.com SOURCE Digitcom Canada Inc.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Rabble Health Appoints Chandra Kanive to COO, Koji Sonoda to VP Business Development

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Rabble Health Inc. announced today the addition of two new executives to its leadership team, further accelerating the company's progress towards fulfilling its mission of reducing the burden of complex disease for current and future patients. Chandra Kanive, MS, MBA, Rabble's new Chief Operating Officer, brings more than 20 years of senior leadership experience at the intersection of technology, healthcare and business management. His management experience includes technical, operations and product management leadership for Fortune 500 clients across the globe, as well as deep experience in healthcare, insurance, high-tech and the life sciences. He most recently was Vice President of Limelight Health and Model N, where he led global teams rolling out complex enterprise cloud solutions. "I believe that leadership is not an individual journey, but a collective one. I want to create conditions that enable my team members to rise to their best, while striving for excellence in everything we do and deliver," Mr. Kanive said. "This COO role at Rabble Health will allow me to blend my global business experience, technology background and healthcare expertise, and my passion to deliver impactful solutions in patients' lives." Mr. Kanive holds an executive MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management and an MS in Computer Science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, as well as professional certifications in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning and Healthcare. He completed his BS in Computer Science at University of Mysore in India. Rabble Health also announced today that Koji Sonoda, hD, has been appointed the company's new Vice President of Business Development and Partnerships. A biochemist by training, Dr. Sonoda brings more than 20 years of experience leading international business initiatives and establishing value-based partnerships in digital health. He most recently served as Senior Director of IT Enterprise Applications at Seattle Genomics and Director of Digital Health and Value-Based Healthcare at Amgen.



"I was drawn to Rabble's perspective that we're not just addressing clinical issues for a cancer patient, but that we're seeking to reduce the burden for the person and their loved ones on their cancer journey," Dr. Sonoda said. "I'm looking forward to working with people and organizations that are also focused on improving patient experience and patient outcomes." Dr. Sonoda earned his doctorate in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University, and completed his BA in Biophysics from the University of California at Berkeley.

"I'm thrilled to be joined by Koji and Chandra on our quest to transform healthcare for patients with complex disease," Aubrey Kelly, Rabble Health's CEO said. "Their immense experience in digital health, precision medicine and business leadership will be vital to our success." Mr. Kanive and Dr. Sonoda's appointments follow Rabble's recent naming of Bluegrass Biggs as Chief Technology & Compliance Officer. In addition to expanding its executive team, Rabble Health is preparing to launch its full product line as well as several new partnerships that will focus on the trifecta of care delivery: enhancing patient experience, improving outcomes and decreasing costs. "These are exciting times for us here at Rabble Health," Ms. Kelly said. "We have a lofty mission, and it is now time to build the right team to execute on that mission. We look forward to bringing patients and caregivers solutions to navigate the unimaginable with greater choice, clarity and connection." About Rabble Health

Founded in 2020 with a strong desire to transform healthcare, Rabble Health, a digital health company, is on a mission to address the information crisis in complex disease. The company's first product line, myRabble, serves as a personalized patient engagement solution designed to address health disparities in the cancer setting. myRabble empowers patients to have more choice, clarity, and connection as they manage through a cancer diagnosis. myRabble's initial focus is breast cancer. Read more at rabblehealth.com. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rabble-health-appoints-chandra-kanive-to-coo-koji-sonoda-to-vp-business-development-301303579.html SOURCE Rabble Health

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-03 00:30:26|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

NAIROBI, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Kenya plans to boost labor exports in order to enhance remittances from the diaspora, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

Simon Chelugui, cabinet secretary of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, told journalists in Nairobi that the number of Kenyans in the diaspora is estimated at four million and their remittances is below that of other African nations such as Egypt, Nigeria and Ghana.

Chelugui who spoke during the graduation of home-care management trainees said that the country's focus is now on export of skilled labor which will attract better remuneration for Kenyan workers.

Data showed that the East African nation earned 309 billion Kenyan shillings (about 2.9 billion U.S. dollars) in remittances in 2020.

Chelugui noted that labor migration has become an important policy issue because of the immense socio-economic benefits that it offers to both countries of origin and destination.

He said that while the government has invested heavily in mainstreaming labor migration, there are still challenges such as lack of adequate pre-departure training and orientation. Enditem
[June 02, 2021] Revolutionnaire Announces Launch of New Social Network for Changemakers

TORONTO, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Revolutionnaire , the brand committed to celebrating diversity through inclusive apparel and beyond, announced today the launch of a new social network to empower, inspire, and incubate a generation of changemakers. Launching on the anniversary of Blackout Tuesday, Revolutionnaire fills a gap as a fit-for-purpose digital connection point for engaged young citizens interested in learning and affecting real change. As a social network for changemakers and those seeking information about social causes, Revolutionnaire will equip members with the necessary tools, community, and information needed to accelerate and amplify their impact. During a pivotal moment in society when it can be especially challenging to find the proper resources and credible information to support important social justice initiatives, Revolutionnaire provides a seamless way to connect, learn, and take action. Co-founded by sister duo Nia and Justice Faith, Revolutionnaire began with a mission to democratize dance apparel with inclusive colorways that empower all to celebrate the skin they're in. As a lifelong dancer, 19-year-old Howard University student Nia Faith saw the need for diverse apparel offerings that went beyond the limited nude colorways to suit dancers of all backgrounds. After spending countless hours dyeing dancewear to match her skin tone and experiencing a segregated studio, she knew it was time for change and launched Revolutionnaire's inclusive clothing line that served and empowered all individuals. Inspired by their impact within the dance industry and passion for social change, Nia, alongside her sister and co-founder, Justice, madeit their mission to build Revolutionnaire into a platform to address a range of social justice issues. Today, the young entrepreneurs have evolved the brand into a larger movement with key resources that empower individuals to use their dreams to fuel revolutions.



"Young people have been at the forefront of social movements throughout history," said Justice Faith, Co-Founder of Revolutionnaire. "Last summer saw an unprecedented level of engagement as people took to the streets to make every voice heard like never before. That energy continues today, with much more work to be done." Revolutionnaire will offer a diverse library of accessible content and built-in action items such as petitions, fundraisers, donation drives, email campaigns and more. The platform will further empower individuals to get involved in causes they are passionate about and drive societal change.

"Whether you're a long-time activist looking for new ways to take action or a budding changemaker interested in supporting a cause, but don't know where to start, Revolutionnaire is here to bring people together and ignite change," said Nia Faith, Co-Founder of Revolutionnaire. "It's time for us all to do more, follow our dreams for a better tomorrow, and together, our dreams can fuel a revolution." Led by over 30 young activists from across North America, Revolutionnaire's team includes Action and Content Leaders who bring their expertise in organizing, community building and fighting for social justice. Launching to market with innovative resources to make getting involved easier than ever, the new hub focuses initially on five key causes; Criminal Justice Reform, Environmentalism, Gun Reform , Housing and Food Security, Racial Equity, with more to come. For more information about Revolutionnaire, Co-Founders Nia and Justice Faith, the social network for changemakers, ways to get involved and/or how to signup, visit revolutionnaire.co and follow @revolutionnaire.co on Instagram , Facebook , Twitter and TikTok . About Revolutionnaire:

Founded by sisters Nia and Justice Faith, Revolutionnaire is the ultimate social network for young changemakers. Originally created to revolutionize dance apparel and empower all to celebrate the skin they're in, Revolutionnaire has transformed into a larger movement to give individuals the network, tools, and information needed to use their dreams to fuel revolutions. Revolutionnaire stands at the intersection of community platforms and social change movements to revolutionize how people connect and take action on the causes they care about. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/revolutionnaire-announces-launch-of-new-social-network-for-changemakers-301304043.html SOURCE Revolutionnaire

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Carvana Catapults Onto the Fortune 500 List in Only Eight Years, One of the Fastest Rises to Date

Carvana (NYSE: CVNA), the leading e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars, today debuted on the Fortune 500 at no. 483; one of the fastest growing tech companies added to the prestigious list. Based on organic growth alone, only Amazon and Google (News - Alert) made it to the Fortune 500 faster. Carvana is one of the youngest companies to make the 2021 Fortune 500 List, and its trajectory proves that its people, through their passion, determination and commitment to customers, powered this significant milestone. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005298/en/ Carvana debuts as one of the youngest companies on the 2021 Fortune 500 list. (Graphic: Business Wire) "Since day one, Carvana's core values have guided our decisions. Through a constant focus on our customers, technology and innovation, we operate with shared core values, setting a new automotive retail standard for how customers should be treated: with care, honesty and respect," said Ernie Garcia, Carvana founder and CE. "Our engine of growth is powered by amazing and ambitious people with boundless energy and discipline, who feel like they're part of something, who have chosen to care a little more than most, who learn and get a little better every day, and who have fun along the way."



Carvana set out to create a better experience for car buyers, pioneering online car buying and virtual vehicle tours just over eight years ago. Powered by a community of more than 10,000 team members, Carvana is changing the way people buy - and sell - cars, demonstrated by becoming the fastest organic growth company of any automotive retailer in U.S. history. In just eight years, Carvana revenue has grown 1000x; $4.6 million in revenue in 2013, to $5.587 billion in revenue in 2020. Carvana believes that everyone deserves straightforward access to car ownership, and in 2020, became the second largest seller of used cars in the country. With transparency that gives customers choice and control over their car purchasing decisions, Carvana offers as-soon-as-next-day delivery of its nationwide inventory to 74.5 percent of the U.S. population.

About Carvana (NYSE: CVNA) Founded in 2012 and based in Phoenix, Carvana's (NYSE: CVNA) mission is to change the way people buy cars. By removing the traditional dealership infrastructure and replacing it with technology and exceptional customer service, Carvana offers consumers an intuitive and convenient online car buying and financing platform. Carvana.com enables consumers to quickly and easily shop more than 30,000 vehicles, finance, trade-in or sell their current vehicle to Carvana, sign contracts, and schedule as-soon-as-next-day delivery or pickup at one of Carvana's patented, automated Car Vending Machines. For further information on Carvana, please visit www.carvana.com, or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005298/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Kymeta Achieves ISO 9001 Certification For Global Quality

Kymeta (www.kymetacorp.com), the communications company making mobile global, is proud to announce it has received ISO 9001:2015 certification. ISO 9001:2015 is the world's most widely recognized quality management standard. This standard was selected to validate Kymeta's quality management system specifically to meet the quality expectations and requirements of Kymeta's customers, partners, and suppliers. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005283/en/ The International Organization for Standardization developed the ISO 9001:2015 standard to standardize quality management systems across multiple industries. Setting the bar for quality management system performance, ISO certification validates Kymeta has the right processes in place to support the wider business strategy. Focus on risk-based thinking and accountability in all organizational processes helps to improve communications, efficiency, and implementation of continuous improvement. "The Kymeta culture is built on commitment to both our customers and our employees," said Walter Berger, President, and COO at Kymeta. "We want to build quality into every process, and every employee is resonsible for quality. We are deeply committed to the timely delivery of reliable, high-quality products and services, delighting our customers, and providing superior customer support. Through the ISO 9001:2015 certification, Kymeta has validated its quality management system to provide the processes necessary to support our commitment."



The road to certification requires both time and dedication on behalf of all Kymeta employees. After a year of significant growth, even during the disruptions caused by COVID-19, Kymeta moved toward enhancing corporate policies, procedures, and tools to ensure scalable and repeatable delivery of high-quality products and services. Kymeta's quality management system helps ensure that Kymeta customers, partners, and suppliers receive consistent, high-quality products and services, which in turn brings many business benefits. Kymeta supports connectivity services by design and assembly of flat panel satellite terminals. The quality management system helps drive the maturity of major processes such as customer service, new product introduction, connectivity services, supply chain activities, and manufacturing as examples. Kymeta's QMS brings a clear, actionable, and thorough approach to the vital components of a successful mission-first organization and positions Kymeta well for the next round of corporate growth.

About Kymeta Kymeta is unlocking the potential of broadband satellite connectivity, combined with cellular networks, to satisfy the overwhelming demand for comms on the move and making mobile global. Lepton Global Solutions, a Kymeta company, hosts the company's satellite connectivity solutions and offers unique, complete, and turnkey bundled solutions to the market based on best-in-class technologies and tailored customer-centric services that meet and exceed customer mission requirements. These solutions in tandem with the company's flat-panel satellite antenna, the first of its kind, and Kymeta Connect services provide revolutionary mobile connectivity on satellite and hybrid satellite-cellular networks to customers around the world. Backed by U.S. and international patents and licenses, the Kymeta terminal addresses the need for lightweight, slim, and high-throughput communication systems that do not require mechanical components to steer toward a satellite. Kymeta makes connecting easy - for any vehicle, vessel, or fixed platform. Kymeta is a privately held company based in Redmond, Washington. For more information, visit kymetacorp.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005283/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Florida Cyber Charter Academy Highlights Graduates with Virtual Commencement Ceremony

Florida Cyber Charter Academy (FLCCA), an online public charter school, will celebrate the Class of 2021 during a virtual commencement ceremony on Friday, June 4, 2021 at 3 p.m. ET. The virtual graduation will celebrate the achievements of more than 165 students-the largest class since the school's inception. Distinguished guest speakers will include Mr. Larry Williams, FLCCA Northeast Board Chairperson; Dr. Darren Reed, Stride's Senior Vice President of Regional School Services; and Mr. Andy Tuck, Chair of the Florida State Board of Education. Collectively, the Class of 2021 reports plans to join the U.S. Navy, Army, Coast Guard and Air Force. In addition, many graduates have been accepted to trade schools, colleges and universities across the country including New York University's College of Arts and Science, Full Sail University, Florida Southern College, Jacksonville University, and Keiser University. "With the innovative online education they've received, FLCCA students are prepared to pursue any opportunity they want," said Dr. Sandra Anthony, Head of School at FLCCA. "This is a uniquely challenging time for this year's graduates; however, I have no doubt they have the tools they need to succeed." Students enroll in FLCCA for a number of reasons, and FLCCA works to ensre that students reach their full potential by delivering a rigorous and relevant curriculum combined with classes that are student-centered, data-driven and engaging.



Students access a robust online curriculum in the core subjects of math, science, English language arts, history, art and music as well as a host of electives. Live virtual classes taught by Florida-licensed teachers provide not only an engaging environment but give students the opportunity to learn with their peers in an online platform. True to its mission, FLCCA celebrates diversity and builds its school community through inspiration while ensuring that students are productive citizens today and who are successful in their future endeavors of tomorrow. Details of the graduation ceremony are as follows:

WHAT: Florida Cyber Charter Academy 2021 Graduation Ceremony

WHEN: Friday, June 4th at 3 p.m. ET

WHERE: Link with more information about the ceremony will be posted to FLCCA's Facebook Page. About Florida Cyber Charter Academy Florida Cyber Charter Academy (FLCCA) is a full-time, online public school available to students in grades K-12. As part of the Florida public school system, enrollment in FLCCA is tuition-free for Florida students, giving parents and families the choice to access the engaging curriculum and tools provided by Stride, Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's leading provider of proprietary K-12 curriculum and online education programs. For more information about FLCCA, visit flcca.k12.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005010/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Kahoot! lands on the Amazon Appstore to make learning more awesome!

Customers can now discover and experience Kahoot! on their Amazon Fire tablets. OSLO, Norway, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kahoot! , the global learning platform company, today announced that the Kahoot! app is now available on the Amazon Appstore. With this announcement, Kahoot! is making its app accessible and discoverable for Amazon Fire tablet customers in Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland, United States, and the United Kingdom. Amazon Fire tablet customers can now create their own kahoots in the app in minutes and share them with other kahooters. They can add images, drawings, YouTube videos or photos from their tablets to make their kahoots more personalized and exciting. Customers can also host and join live games at home from their Amazon Fire tablets and challenge their friends and family virtually or in person with the Kahoot! app. "We are happy to announce the introduction of the Kahoot! app on the Amazon Appstore. Our goal is to enable more students, teachers and lifelong learners to access the fun and unique learning experiences that Kahoot! can offer," said Eilert Hanoa, CEO, Kahoot! "Amazon Fire tablet customers can now discover more than 50 millin ready-to-play public kahoots from all subjects, including engaging and high-quality content from Disney, Marvel, Angry Birds, National Geographic and many more."



Kahoot! study leagues: now available on Fire tablets Amazon Fire tablet customers can now play and study together with their friends by creating their own study leagues in the Kahoot! app. Study leagues are virtual groups where learners can challenge their friends to kahoots, earn medals and enjoy friendly competition as they compete to top the combined leaderboard. These leagues can now be played on all Amazon Fire tablets with Fire OS 5.0 or higher to give users an engaging and fun way to study together and connect virtually, regardless of their location.

The Kahoot! app is also a great tool for all customers who have Fire Kids and Kids Pro tablets to prepare for back to school. With ready-to-use learning content in all subjects, students can refresh their knowledge and start the new school year ready to learn. Get Kahoot! in the Amazon Appstore today Kahoot! has already become a pop culture phenomenon, with 279 million kahoots played by more than 1.6 billion participating players in over 200 countries in the last 12 months. Today, more than 8 million teachers use Kahoot! with their students, and more than half of all teachers and students in the U.S. have hosted or played kahoots in the last year. By listing the Kahoot! app in the Amazon Appstore, Kahoot! is enabling Amazon Fire tablet customers from all ages to learn something new every day. The Kahoot! app is now available to download from the Amazon Appstore in Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland, United States, and the United Kingdom. Other Kahoot! apps like Kahoot! DragonBox and Kahoot! Poio Read are planned to be included in the Amazon Appstore in the future. About Kahoot! Kahoot! is on a mission to make learning awesome! We want to empower everyone, including children, students, and employees to unlock their full learning potential. Our learning platform makes it easy for any individual or corporation to create, share, and play learning games that drive compelling engagement. In addition, our family of apps takes math learning to a new level and empowers children to learn to read through play. Learners of all ages can make language learning natural with immersive visuals and play through our Drops apps. Organizations can connect and engage their work teams with Actimo, our employee engagement platform. Launched in 2013, Kahoot!'s vision is to build the leading learning platform in the world. In the last 12 months, more than 250 million games have been played on the Kahoot! platform with 1.5 billion participating players in 200 countries. The company is headquartered in Norway with offices in the US, the UK, France, Finland, Estonia, Denmark and Spain. Let's play! Media Contact:

Alejandro Viquez Rodriguez

alejandror@kahoot.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1099251/Kahoot_Purple_Logo.jpg

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Southwestern Adventist University Moves to the Cloud with Ellucian

KEENE, Texas and RESTON, Va., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ellucian, the leading higher education technology solutions provider, today announced that Southwestern Adventist University has selected Ellucian Colleague SaaS to modernize its technology operations. As a new Ellucian customer, Southwestern Adventist University joins more than 1,100 institutions worldwide that have chosen Ellucian as their cloud partner. Southwestern Adventist University chose Ellucian Colleague SaaS, a comprehensive ERP system, to integrate solutions across admissions, registration, student services, advising, assessment, financial aid, human resources and finance. Connecting these solutions will streamline and improve the overall student experience and will eliminate manual processes to improve efficiencies for administrators, faculty and staff. >



Ana Patterson , Interim President, Southwestern Adventist University . "Moving to the cloud with Colleague SaaS will empower Southwestern Adventist University leaders with integrated data across systems to make informed institutional decisions. Ellucian's open, interoperable ecosystem will drive operational efficiencies and free up resources, allowing faculty and staff to focus on helping students reach their full potential," said Laura Ipsen, President and CEO, Ellucian. "We look forward to a strong partnership with Southwestern Adventist University as they usher in a new era of modernization to improve the student experience."

For more information on Ellucian cloud solutions visit: https://www.ellucian.com/solutions/transition-cloud About Ellucian

Ellucian is charting the digital future of higher education with a portfolio of cloud-ready technology solutions and services. From student recruitment to workforce analytics; from fundraising opportunities to alumni engagement; Ellucian's comprehensive suite of data-rich tools gives colleges and universities the information they need to lead with confidence. Working with a community of more than 2,700 customers in over 50 countries, Ellucian keeps innovating as higher education keeps evolving. Drawing on its comprehensive higher education business acumen and suite of services, Ellucian guides its customers through manageable, sustainable digital transformationso that every type of institution and student can thrive in today's fast-changing landscape. To find out what's next in higher education solutions and services, visit Ellucian at www.ellucian.com. About Southwestern Adventist University

For nearly 130 years, Southwestern Adventist University (SWAU) has offered quality Christian education. A small comprehensive university, the beautiful campus is located in Keene, Texas, about 20 minutes south of Fort Worth. SWAU offers personable professors, numerous programs including business, music, education, nursing, master's programs and many ways for students to get involved both on campus and abroad. With a diverse student body that includes international students from dozens of countries and an average student/teacher ratio of 12:1, Southwestern Adventist University offers a unique and personal college experience. Learn more about the university at www.swau.edu. Media Contacts

Lindsay Stanley

Lindsay.Stanley@Ellucian.com Timothy Kosaka

tim@swau.edu View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/southwestern-adventist-university-moves-to-the-cloud-with-ellucian-301303392.html SOURCE Ellucian

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Mongolia Ministry of Health Boosts Rural Healthcare with UpToDate National Access

Wolters Kluwer, Health announced today that the Ministry of Health of Mongolia is now providing healthcare professionals throughout the country of three million people with full access to UpToDate, the clinical decision support resource trusted by more than two million clinicians worldwide. Thousands of rural doctors and healthcare professionals in the world's most sparsely populated nation are now using the UpToDate app, often without a cellular signal, to quickly find answers to clinical questions across 25 clinical specialties. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005381/en/ The Ministry of Health of Mongolia is now providing healthcare professionals throughout the country of three million people with full access to UpToDate, the clinical decision support resource trusted by more than two million clinicians worldwide. (Photo: Busness Wire) Tools for the best care everywhere "Mongolia is different from other countries in that it has a vast territory, unevenly distributed population and medical facilities are located hundreds of kilometers away in the countryside. As a result, rural doctors and healthcare professionals do not have the opportunity to receive new information every day and to study in the classroom," explained Ms. Oyunbolor Ganzorig, officer for the Ministry of Health, Mongolia. "However, using the UpToDate platform to access the latest medical information daily on a mobile device means there is no delay for patient care. UpToDate increases quality of care, evidence-based medicine usage and less delay of care." Thousands of clinical answers, even without a signal With the UpToDate clinical decision support app, Mongolian clinicians from the Gobi Desert to the mountainous north and west, have, in the palms of their hands, a vast medical library of more than 12,000 continuously updated clinical topics in 25 specialties with 9,500 graded recommendations authored by global experts. Clinicians in far-flung regions can download the entire contents of UpToDate onto their mobile device for uninterrupted access to clinical answers-even when no cellular or wifi signal is available for kilometers. Suvd Nergui, MD, an attending physician at the 96-year old First Central Hospital of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar, explained how UpToDate is making an impact on care particularly in vast rural areas: "Doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals want to improve their knowledge. But we lack timely access to evidence-based medicine. UpToDate gives us that opportunity even for doctors in the countryside without internet access. Instant accessto UpToDate improves our patient care with more diagnostic capabilities, reduced healthcare costs, the same standard of care as many developed countries and most importantly, helping to save lives."



Rapid, widespread adoption by Mongolian healthcare With national access first available in December 2020, clinicians throughout the 1.56 million sq. km country quickly added UpToDate to their most-used resources. In the first three months alone, more than 100,000 clinical questions were answered with UpToDate users exceeding 7,000 in number. As a country with more than a quarter of the population under the age of 14, improving healthcare for children has been a key application of UpToDate. Pediatrics quickly emerged as one of the most used specialties alongside infectious diseases.

A "trusty friend" for tomorrow's clinicians At the Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences, UpToDate is playing a role in the formation of Mongolia's future clinicians with access for 142 faculty members across 23 clinical departments. "I have been using UpToDate on the mobile app and website for my everyday medical practice and teaching sessions since December 2020. It definitely helps me to find the best care for my patients and it helps keep my confidence to the highest level in medical care. Thus, the UpToDate app is just like my trusty friend," said Bat-Erdene Nyamsuren, MD, a cardiology faculty member at the Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences. "As a medical school teacher, I have to always update my knowledge and give proper feedback to my students. So, I am very grateful to Mongolian government and its organization on behalf of all Mongolian medical professionals and Mongolian people." Achieving a vision for better care In 2017, the Mongolian government, working with the WHO, launched a bold ten-year initiative called the State Policy on Health 2017-2026 which aimed to mainstream universal healthcare and bring medical diagnosis and treatment in the country to international standards. Now, UpToDate is helping Mongolia achieve the program's objectives by providing clinicians with access to globally trusted medical resources. And by monitoring usage of UpToDate, the Ministry of Health also gains continuous insights on improvements in the quality of care that citizens receive. "The Mongolian Ministry of Health is truly a beacon for countries around the world seeking an achievable plan to improve health on a population level," said Denise Basow, MD, President and CEO, Clinical Effectiveness, Wolters Kluwer, Health. "Wolters Kluwer is honored to play a role in Mongolia's long-term strategy to drive improved health outcomes by ensuring their clinicians have the most current medical knowledge even in the most remote rural parts of the country." Analysts at the market research firm Outsell, Inc. emphasized the significance of UpToDate for driving gains in care at a national level, particularly in unevenly distributed health systems like Mongolia, in their report, It's More Than an App: UpToDate Anywhere Works toward Standardizing Quality of Care. Outsell found "the respected clinical support tool is actually addressing a population health 'meta-metric': variability in the quality of healthcare. Access by municipal, regional, or national health ministries or agencies can directly impact and equalize care at a higher level, whether in a hospital, community clinic, or at home through a visiting nurse." To learn more about UpToDate, please visit: https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/uptodate (utm_campaign=ce-utd-mongolia) About Wolters Kluwer Wolters Kluwer (WKL) is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the clinicians, nurses, accountants, lawyers, and tax, finance, audit, risk, compliance, and regulatory sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with advanced technology and services. Wolters Kluwer reported 2020 annual revenues of 4.6 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 19,200 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands. Wolters Kluwer provides trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that engage clinicians, patients, researchers and students in effective decision-making and outcomes across healthcare. We support clinical effectiveness, learning and research, clinical surveillance and compliance, as well as data solutions. For more information about our solutions, visit https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/health and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter (News - Alert) @WKHealth. For more information, visit www.wolterskluwer.com, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005381/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Students win $10,000 Ricoh scholarship for innovation that tackles energy crisis, combats climate change

EXTON, Pa., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ricoh USA, Inc. , today announced that 11th grade students Charikleia Moraitaki and Maria-Eleni Batatoudi of Athens College in Psychiko, Greece, are the winners of the 16th annual Ricoh Sustainable Development Award (RSDA) presented at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (Regeneron ISEF). The innovators have been awarded a $10,000 scholarship for their winning invention, "Solar Park with Photovoltaic 3D-printed Trees: Technology Allies with Nature." The RSDA honors students who develop innovations that strengthen environmental sustainability and support Ricoh's global commitment to pursue excellence, improve quality of life and drive sustainability in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). "Ricoh is proud to honor, celebrate and support students who take action to support environmental sustainability through innovation and break with the status quo to create long-term value for our communities, society and the planet," said Donna Venable, Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Deputy General Manager, Shared Services, Ricoh North America. "Ricoh's commitment to environmental sustainability has been a long-standing component of the Ricoh Way and our Spirit of Three Loves that inform how we do business. Charikleia and Maria-Eleni's work exemplifies the type of groundbreaking innovation and allegiance to creating a more sustainable future that Ricoh puts at the center of everything we do, and we are delighted to participate in the students' future success." Moraitaki and Batatoudi won the RSDA at Regeneron ISEF, the world's largest international pre-college science competition. Owned and produced by the Society for Science, Regeneron ISEF provides a platform for the best and brightest young scientists to showcase their science, technology, engineering or math research. This year, a total of 1,833 finalists from 64 countries, regions and territories competed for more than $5 million in awards and scholarships. Finalists' projects were evaluated by how well they harmonize practical business and environmental sustainability, as well as how they align with Ricoh's Sustainable Environmental Management Pillars. Judgement criteria included project novelty, readiness, development, cost efficiency, global applicability and creativity. Submitting students were also evaluated on their willingness to learn new things and ability to overcome obstacles.



Moraitaki and Batatoudi's innovation is a 3D-printed forest made from eco-friendly materials that is designed to tackle the global energy crisis and combat climate change by harvesting solar energy. The innovators' prototype takes the form of a tree  nature's own perfect, energy-harnessing design  with panels, or "leaves," made of photovoltaic cells to harvest solar energy. The model tree includes three critical innovations: 1) a gyroscopic mechanism that adjusts the leaves' position and inclination toward the sun for maximum solar absorption; 2) an automated process to control individual tree height when model trees are arranged in a forest array to capture maximum energy; and 3) a revolution system to prevent excess heat from reducing output efficiency. The long-term project goal, as envisioned by its creators, is to build photovoltaic parks and forests with 3D-printed trees that harvest solar energy and offer a pleasing aesthetic that complements the natural landscape. "Congratulations to Charikleia Moraitaki and Maria-Eleni Batatoudi on winning the RSDA from Ricoh at the 2021 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair," said Maya Ajmera, President & CEO of the Society for Science and Publisher of Science News. "The students who competed in Regeneron ISEF this year conducted their research under unique circumstances, given the current pandemic. Their dedication to conducting scientific and engineering research gives me hope for the future."

The RSDA is a prime example of the many ways in which Ricoh is helping to build a more sustainable society. In addition to its ongoing support of the scholarship program, Ricoh has committed to seven material issues and SDGs and set 14 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) targets linked with the material issues. Ricoh has also won ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year award for six consecutive years and signed the RE100 pledge to work toward sourcing 100% of its energy from renewable sources in the coming decades. With this most recent RSDA win, Ricoh has totaled more than $440,000 in scholarships awarded for sustainability projects at Regeneron ISEF. The RSDA has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships to more than 35 students since its inception in 2005. The program underscores Ricoh's continued investment in sustainability. For more information about Ricoh, click here or follow the company's social media channels on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. | About Ricoh | Ricoh is empowering digital workplaces using innovative technologies and services, thus enabling individuals to work smarter. With cultivated knowledge and organizational capabilities nurtured over its 85-years history, Ricoh is a leading provider of document management solutions, IT services, communications services, commercial and industrial printing, digital cameras, and industrial systems. Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group has major operations throughout the world and its products and services now reach customers in approximately 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ended March 2021, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 1,682 billion yen (approx. 15.1 billion USD). For further information, please visit www.ricoh.com  2021 Ricoh USA, Inc. All rights reserved. All referenced product names are the trademarks of their respective companies. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/students-win-10-000-ricoh-scholarship-for-innovation-that-tackles-energy-crisis-combats-climate-change-301304085.html SOURCE Ricoh USA, Inc.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] The Rise Fund Announces $100 Million Strategic Investment in Climavision

The Rise Fund, TPG's global impact investing platform, today announced a $100 million strategic investment in Climavision, a pioneering weather services and intelligence platform powered by a private network of high-resolution radars, GPS-RO data, and proprietary software to vastly improve the timing and accuracy of weather forecasting and to fill low-level gaps in existing weather surveillance. Climavision was formed out of Enterprise Electronics Corporation (EEC), the world's largest privately held commercial supplier of weather radar systems. EEC, which is majority controlled by the Cookes family, has a 50-year history and more than 1,200 installations across 95 countries. By combining lower altitude, proprietary data with cutting-edge machine learning and AI technology, Climavision's one-of-a-kind offering provides 10x higher resolution and more accurate forecasting to address critical coverage gaps left by existing radar networks across the U.S. Climavision also struck an exclusive agreement with leading GPS-RO provider GeoOptics to enhance forecasts by leveraging its private network of radio-occultation satellites. With improved weather nowcasting and forecasting, Climavision's technology and data solutions enable customers across industries including agriculture, drones, government, insurance, logistics, media, renewables, and transportation, to make cost-effective and potentially life-saving decisions in real time. "As weather patterns become increasingly unpredictable and volatile due to climate change, the need for higher-quality regional and hyper local weather data has never been more pronounced," said Climavision Co-Founder and CEO Chris Goode. "Climavision's increased coverage and improved weather information enables earlier and more accurate weather forecasts that can save lives, limit business disruption, and improve the lives of people and communities across the country." Goode added, "The Rise Fund understands the need and urgency to invest in technologies that will empower businesses and governments to navigate increasingly dynamic weather patterns, particularly as the world economy endures the inevitable challenges associated with climate change. We are thrilled to partner with The Rise Fund to expand our network, while continuing to serve a growing and diversified set of customers that rely on our proprietary software." "Legacy radar systems have often left decision makers with an incomplete picture of the weather-related challenges they face," said Edwrd Beckley, Partner at TPG and senior member of The Rise Fund's climate investing team. "The rollout of low altitude radar sites will provide proprietary data to Climavision's innovative AI-driven software platform, facilitating next-generation weather forecasting. As the need for efficient and accurate climate solutions becomes increasingly urgent, we look forward to working with Chris and his expert team of industry veterans to expand the reach of these crucial insights."



As part of the transaction, TPG's Edward Beckley, Steven Mandel, and Mariana Popa, who make climate investments on behalf of the Rise platform, will join Climavision's board of directors alongside Chris Goode and Co-Founder Colin Cookes. The partnership with Climavision highlights The Rise Fund's focus on investing in solutions that are delivering the necessary technology, products, and services that help businesses and communities mitigate or slow the effects of climate change. Enabling solutions, like Climavision, are a core pillar of The Rise Fund's climate investing strategy. Other Rise investments that provide enabling solutions for the climate transition include Element Markets, the leading independent marketer of renewable natural gas and environmental commodities in North America; CLEAResult, the largest provider of energy efficiency and demand response solutions in North America; and C3 (News - Alert) AI, the leading multi-sector, big data aggregation and analytics platform that leverages AI to improve the efficiency of energy utilities and other enterprises.

Goldman Sachs acted as exclusive financial advisor and King & Spalding acted as legal counsel to Climavision in relation to this transaction. Latham & Watkins acted as legal counsel to The Rise Fund. About Climavision Climavision brings together the power of a proprietary, high-resolution weather radar and satellite network combined with advanced weather prediction modelling and decades of industry expertise to reduce existing coverage gaps and drastically improve forecast ability. Climavision's revolutionary new approach to climate technology weather solutions is poised to help reduce the economic risks of climate change on companies, governments, and societies alike. Climavision is backed by The Rise Fund, the world's largest global impact platform committed to achieving measurable, positive social and environmental outcomes alongside competitive financial returns. The company is headquartered in Louisville, KY, with research and development operations in Raleigh, NC. To learn more, visit www.Climavision.com About The Rise Fund The Rise Fund is the world's largest global impact platform committed to achieving measurable, positive social and environmental outcomes alongside competitive financial returns. With more than $5 billion in assets under management across its platform, The Rise Fund works with growth-stage, high potential, mission-driven companies that have the power to change the world. Headquartered in San Francisco, The Rise Fund was founded in 2016 by TPG in partnership with Bono and Jeff Skoll and offers deep expertise in business solutions to help achieve the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. As part of TPG, The Rise Fund offers investment resources, business-building skills, rigorous measurement and a global network to help portfolio companies accelerate growth and impact. With the ability to invest across a wide variety of sectors and countries at scale, The Rise Fund focuses on opportunities in climate, education, food and agriculture, financial technology, healthcare and technology. For more information, visit www.therisefund.com or @therisefund on Instagram. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005611/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Seedo Corp. Headed to Spain to Meet with Strategic Partners and Investors

TEL AVIV, Israel, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Seedo Corp . (OTCQB: SEDO), an agritech company that is developing the protocols to grow saffron using vertical farming technology, today announced that a delegation of Seedo executives and agricultural experts plan to meet with key officials from the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries, as well as saffron market leaders, investors and growers in Spain the week of June 7, 2021. Seedos delegation also plans to meet with Professor Rosa V. Molina, a world-renowned expert in the research of saffron, and her team to execute the research agreement recently signed between Seedo Corp and The Polytechnic University of Valencia. A meeting with its first brand ambassador, two Michelin star chef Kiko Moya is also on the agenda. Chef Moya will test the quality and authenticity of the first batch of saffron grown via Seedo Corps vertical farming technology. There has never been a more exciting time in the saffron industry, says David Freidenberg, CEO, Seedo Corp. Our disruptive technology will deliver solutions that will allow the saffron market to expand globally while also helping local economies. We look forward to a productive week of meetings with prospective strategic partners, investors and our extended R&D team based in Madrid and Valencia. Growth in the saffron market has been hindered by the low yields, high costs and specific climate conditions required by traditional farming. Seedo Corp. is developing the data science necessary to grow saffron using vertical farmng technology to bring a reliable and large-scale supply chain to the market.



Saffron growers, prospective investors, research advisors and media outlets interested in joining Seedo Corps line-up in Spain should e-mail info@saffron.ag. About Seedo:

Seedo Corp. (OTC: SEDO) is an agritech company that focuses on the research, development, and commercialization of agriculture products that are high in demand but are hindered by the low yields and specifications required by traditional farming. Seedo's technology is aimed at transforming the way agriculture is done by offering a responsible and sustainable way to grow crops in a world confronted by environmental challenges and dwindling earth reserves, diminishing water sources and unstable weather conditions. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This letter contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are based on management's current beliefs and expectations and are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from that expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks relating to our ability to successfully execute a smooth transition of CFO functions as well as our ability to retain and recruit qualified executives; uncertainties related to, and failure to achieve, the potential benefits and success of our senior management team and organizational structure; our ability to successfully compete in the marketplace; our substantial indebtedness, which may limit our ability to incur additional indebtedness, engage in additional transactions or make new investments; compliance, regulatory and litigation matters; other financial and economic risks; and other factors discussed in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, including in the sections captioned "Risk Factors" and "Forward Looking Statements." Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or other information contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Investor Relations Contact:

David Freidenberg,

Chief Executive Officer,

info@saffron.ag

+1 (800) 608-6432 Attachment Seedo Corp.



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-03 00:36:43|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

ISLAMABAD, June 2 (Xinhua) -- A soldier was killed in the explosion of an improvised explosive device near a military check post in South Waziristan district of Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, an army statement said Wednesday night.

The security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to apprehend any terrorists found in the area, following the killing of the 26-year-old soldier, the military's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations said in the statement.

"Pakistan Army is determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and the sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve," the statement added.

Pakistan has conducted a series of military operations against terrorist groups in South Waziristan that borders Afghanistan.

Although the area has mostly been pacified, remnants of terrorist groups still manage to launch attacks on security forces sporadically. Enditem
[June 02, 2021] RWE's Scioto Ridge Wind Farm in operation



AUSTIN, Texas, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- RWE Renewables has started commercial operation on its 250 megawatt (MW) onshore Scioto Ridge Wind Farm. The project, located in Hardin and Logan Counties, is powered by 75 Siemens Gamesa turbines and represents RWE's first onshore wind project in Ohio. Silvia Ortin, COO Onshore Wind and Solar PV Americas, RWE Renewables: "Scioto Ridge marks our successful entry in the Ohio market. The state's location in the heartland of the U.S. offers ideal conditions for renewable energy and we are happy to bring this project online as part of our focus on the U.S. market." "We're proud to be a member of the local community, contributing more than $75 million in new payments over the next 25 years to the local governments, school districts and landowners," said Silvia Ortin, COO Onshore Wind and Solar PV Americas. "We created approximately 250 construction jobs and will hire up to 10 full-time, long-term operations and maintenance people who will live and work in the area." Scioto Ridge is RWE's 28th onshore wind farm in the U.S. and has the capacity to provide clean energy for more than 60,000 households. "The ongoing transition to lower carbon technologies and a more diverse energy portfolio represents a significant economic development opportunity for our state," said Stephanie Kromer, Director of Energy and Environmental Policy at the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. "We are excited for RWE's successful completion of their first Ohio-based project of over $300 million and look forward to their continued cooperation." Ohio has enormous potential for future projects, as wind power provides less than two percent of the total electricity generation in the state. In addition Ohio has a long history of industrial manufacturing, including approximately 52 wind-related factories--the most of any single state in the U.S. The U.S. accounts for more than one third of the RWE Group's renewables capacity playing a key role in RWE's strategy to grow its renewables business and get to net zero by 2040. RWE constructs, owns and operates some of the highest performing wind, solar and energy storage projects in the U.S. As an established leader in renewables, RWE has recently entered into a joint venture, New England Aqua Ventus, focused on floating offshore wind in the state of Maine. For more information, go to americas.rwe.com.







For further inquiries: Matt Tulis

Communication Manager

RWE Renewables

M +1 512 698 4043

E matthew.tulis@rwe.com

RWE Renewables

RWE Renewables is one of the world's leading renewable energy companies. With around 3,500 employees, the company has onshore and offshore wind farms, photovoltaic plants and battery storage facilities with a combined capacity of approximately 9 gigawatts. RWE Renewables is driving the expansion of renewable energy in more than 20 countries on five continents. From 2020 to 2022, RWE Renewables targets to invest 5 billion net in renewable energy and to grow its renewables portfolio to 13 gigawatts of net capacity. Beyond this, the company plans to further grow in wind and solar power. The focus is on the Americas, the core markets in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rwes-scioto-ridge-wind-farm-in-operation-301303888.html SOURCE RWE Renewables

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Ex-Spotify and Microsoft Manager Joins Software Talent Platform Exceptionly, Hopes to Empower Women in Industry

After previously holding managerial positions at both Microsoft (News - Alert) and Spotify, Ergul Civi has joined Exceptionly as Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder. Exceptionly is a next-generation software-talent platform whose unique data set and sourcing/testing capabilities let it identify, test and deliver the best software talent from across the globe. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005436/en/ Ergul Civi joins the newly launched software talent platform 'Exceptionly' as co-founder and COO with view to promoting female empowerment in global software development sector (Photo: Business Wire) "In the ever-evolving world of software technology, traditional HR departments are challenged to find the best, most up-to-date skill sets," Civi says. "Today's businesses can't achieve the global reach they desire without fair and objective recruitmnt processes that rely on big data and artificial intelligence."



The software engineering needs of modern businesses are highly complex, time-sensitive, and often mission-critical, Civi points out. "In other words, software talent is too important to outsource. With Exceptionly, companies can hire hands-on-tested talent directly." Empowering Women in Software Tech

One way Civi hopes to make a difference at Exceptionly is by promoting women's empowerment in the software technology industry, a traditionally male-dominated field. "Women should be empowered in business in general, and software technology is no exception," she says. According to recent data from Statista, female software developers currently account for less than 10 percent of tech jobs worldwide. And World Economic Forum data from 2020 reveals that female software engineers hold less than 12 percent of all cloud-computing jobs and less than 15 percent of the world's software engineering jobs. "Hiring more female software developers is only a first step towards remedying this inequality," Civi says. "Since its inception, Exceptionly has been a pro-women company, the overriding objective of ensuring women equal opportunities at every stage of their careers. ." 'Software Talent Has No Zip Code' With a view to helping businesses meet their needs for cutting-edge software talent, Exceptionly owns and maintains a unique and impressive big-data set of over 2 million hands-on-tested software engineers from 170 countries. "Decision-makers have well-defined needs for software developers, but they are beset by inefficient recruitment processes and unproductive interviews," Exceptionly CEO and Co-Founder Sinan Ata, who invested over 50 million dollars and hired over 4 thousand software engineers throughout his career, explained. "Our platform expedites the talent-acquisition process by providing a reliable and comprehensive engineer-to-engineer hiring experience." Stating that finding a fantastic software engineer costs around 30 thousand dollars for businesses in the US, Ata said, "Exceptionly eliminates operational overhead and offers a 50% saving with its unique big-data set, automated process, and proven track record." With the motto "Talent has no zip code," the platform offers a range of partnership packages custom-designed to meet the particular needs of both large companies (1,000 employees and above) and SMEs primarily operating in the US, Canada, UK and European countries. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005436/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] dunnhumby Recognized as a "Large Established Player" in the Retail Media Solutions Market in 2021 Now Tech Report

dunnhumby, the global leader in Customer Data Science, announced today it has been named as a "large established player" in Forrester's (News - Alert) Now Tech: Retail Media Solutions, Q2 2021 report. dunnhumby's retail media solution was included in both the buy-side solutions support brands, and sell-side solutions supports retailers' functionality segments. Out of the 12 large established players cited in the report, only five - including dunnhumby - provide solutions for two out of the three segments reviewed. Forrester's Now Tech report provides an overview of 28 retail media solution providers across large, midsize and small market segments. Solution providers were analyzed based on market presence and functionality. "Large established players" are defined in part by having more than $99 million in annual category management revenue. In this report, Forrester defines retail media solutions as "Technology or services offerings that help retailers build a media network to monetize their ecommerce sites and first-party data and/or help brands buy media from retail media networks and leverage first-party data." The authors recommend that B2C marketers "use this report to understand the value they can expect from a retail media solutions provider and to select one based on size and functionality." "Grocery retail is changing fast. From customer behavior, to expectations and now the rapid adoption of eCommerce, retailers need to be nimble and aware that among all the changes there's also opportunity," said Julie Jeancolas, Global Head of Media & Customer Engagement Solutions for dunnhumby. "In te last few years, our grocery retail customers have been able to put their data to use and have generated an average of 1-2 times sales uplift, a 110% increase in the number of items sold, and a 40% increase in order value by implementing our Retail Media solutions across in-store, onsite, offsite and 1 to 1 loyalty channels."



According to The Future of Retail Revenues Must Be Data Led, 85% of grocery retailers globally lack the capabilities, technology, people and processes to use insights to monetize their data and drive customer experience in the $5.9 trillion worldwide grocery retail market. The report also found that 96% of grocers who offer media opportunities for CPG suppliers on their apps saw an increase in revenue over the previous 12 months, with 40% seeing an increase of more than 10%. dunnhumby's customer data science powers the company's Retail Media solutions and uses retailer transaction and loyalty data to improve the quality of customer experiences while also maximizing the effectiveness of Retail Media. dunnhumby's Retail Media solutions create high intent audiences through predictive data science. With Retail Media, dunnhumby helps brands understand the full impact of their marketing activity on sales both online and offline.

The "Now Tech: Retail Media Solutions, Q2 2021 report " is now available online for Forrester customers or for purchase here. About dunnhumby dunnhumby is the global leader in Customer Data Science, empowering businesses everywhere to compete and thrive in the modern data-driven economy. We always put the Customer First. Our mission: to enable businesses to grow and reimagine themselves by becoming advocates and champions for their Customers. With deep heritage and expertise in retail - one of the world's most competitive markets, with a deluge of multi-dimensional data - dunnhumby today enables businesses all over the world, across industries, to be Customer First. The dunnhumby Customer Data Science Platform is our unique mix of technology, software and consulting, enabling businesses to increase revenue and profits by delivering exceptional experiences for their Customers - in-store, offline and online. dunnhumby employs over 2,500 experts in offices throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas working for transformative, iconic brands such as Tesco, Coca-Cola, Meijer, Procter & Gamble, L'Oreal. For more information, visit www.dunnhumby.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005712/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Nearly two million Canadians launched a business in the last 12 months, says new research from Intuit QuickBooks Canada

Success of Canadian entrepreneurs will play a key role in economic recovery TORONTO, June 2, 2021 /CNW/ - Intuit QuickBooks Canada released the findings of a new study revealing that among Canadian entrepreneurs, one in five (21 per cent) started their business within the past year. This represents close to two million Canadians (1.9M)  more than the population of Calgary, one of Canada's largest metropolitan areas. Unveiled at QuickBooks Connect , the results of The Future of Entrepreneurship in Canada Report, which polled Canadians  among them, current and aspiring entrepreneurs  found that entrepreneurs who started their business in the past year did so due to more spare time from the COVID-19 pandemic (39 per cent), financial pressures from the pandemic (23 per cent), and as a result of being laid off (19 per cent). "It's exciting to see that the entrepreneurial spirit in Canada is alive and well. Although COVID-19 has undoubtedly disrupted the lives of Canadians, with disruption often comes opportunity," said David Marquis, Vice President and Country Manager of Intuit Canada. "This could not be more true for entrepreneurs. And as we all begin to move forward, I think the millions of newly enterprising Canadians will be the key to our recovery." Despite a challenging year, the majority of Canadian entrepreneurs (73 per cent) and aspiring entrepreneurs (76 per cent) say they are optimistic for the future. Confidence fromentrepreneurs is a positive sign for the country's immediate post-pandemic recovery. While 68 per cent of entrepreneurs list money as the primary motivational driver, the potential for creative freedom and flexibility is also inspiring. Forty-six per cent say they're motivated by creative freedom and 47 per cent by the freedom of owning their own business.



While money is a significant motivator for entrepreneurs, it's also a point of concern, with close to half of Canadian entrepreneurs reporting worries about finances (46 per cent). Beyond financial challenges, being an entrepreneur is stressful. It takes time and energy that can deprioritize work-life balance and be mentally and emotionally draining, with one in four (27 per cent) working longer hours as a result of the pandemic. Additional Study Findings

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the desire for career change among Canadian entrepreneurs (55 per cent) and aspiring entrepreneurs (77 per cent), which comes paired with both inspiration and challenges to overcome. Key insights from the research show:

Digital is the future: Aspiring entrepreneurs are digitally focused, with four in five (79 per cent) anticipating selling their products or services online.

Aspiring entrepreneurs are digitally focused, with four in five (79 per cent) anticipating selling their products or services online. Financial management gap: Managing finances is one of the largest challenges for entrepreneurs, yet only one-third of Canadian entrepreneurs (33 per cent) are using an accounting service or professional for support.

Managing finances is one of the largest challenges for entrepreneurs, yet only one-third of Canadian entrepreneurs (33 per cent) are using an accounting service or professional for support. Canadian entrepreneurs need support to succeed: Three-quarters (76 per cent) say that running their own business is stressful and half (49 per cent) agree there are not enough mental health resources for entrepreneurs.

Three-quarters (76 per cent) say that running their own business is stressful and half (49 per cent) agree there are not enough mental health resources for entrepreneurs. Canadians are resilient: Seventy-two per cent of Canadians who launched a new business in the last year say they started theirs as a "side hustle" in the wake of COVID-19. For more information on the study, visit: http://intuit.me/entrepreneurshipreport. About the Study

The study, conducted leveraging the Angus Reid panel on behalf of Intuit QuickBooks Canada, was completed by 2,006 Canadians, nationally representative of the Canadian population. Among the total sample, 589 Canadians identified as entrepreneurs, defined as having undertaken one or more entrepreneurship initiatives (i.e., starting a business, whether formally incorporated or not, as a primary means of income or supplementary means of income, and as started alone or with others), and 247 identified as aspiring entrepreneurs, defined as not yet having undertaken an entrepreneurship initiative, but considering it in the next 2 years. The estimated margin of error for the total sample is +/- 3 per cent at a 95 per cent confidence level. The study took place online from April 14 - 19, 2021. About Intuit

Intuit is a global technology platform that helps our customers and communities overcome their most important financial challenges. Serving approximately 100 million customers worldwide with TurboTax , QuickBooks , Mint and Credit Karma , we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to prosper. We never stop working to find new, innovative ways to make that possible. Please visit us for the latest information about Intuit, our products and services, and find us on social . SOURCE Intuit Quickbooks Canada

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Istation Announces Grand Prize Winner for First Annual National Essay Contest

Istation, a leader in educational technology, today announced the grand prize winner for the Young Voices Make A Difference essay contest: Lucy Bench. Bench, a sixth-grader from New Canaan Public Schools in Connecticut, shared her story of finding comfort in reading during unsettling times. The contest, which will be held annually, invites middle schoolers to share their experiences and how they were inspired during the school year. The idea for the essay contest came about when 12-year-old This is Us star Lonnie Chavis shared his experience with racism as part of People magazine's "Voices from the Fight Against Racism" series. Chavis' moving essay caught the attention of the Istation team and quickly inspired the educational tech provider to develop the Young Voices Make a Difference contest, creating a platform where adolescents could express their own perspectives and feelings on what they were seeing in the world around them.



Istation received essays from middle school students sharing what they learned about themselves, important issues they saw arise throughout the year and their ideas on how to solve these challenges. As the grand prize winner, Bench's essay will be incorporated into Istation's HumanEx learning program. In addition, she and her teacher will both receive a brand new Samsung (News - Alert) tablet. Bench wrote about discovering a new love for reading while dealing with coronavirus-related anxiety. During quarantine, Bench challenged herself to take on more difficult books, like To Kill a Mockingbird, and found inspiration in gaining new perspectives.

"We checked out about 30 books. When my brother went to get them and came back home, it was like Christmas," Bench said. "I learned that reading can educate us on issues that are important and, in some cases, need to change to make the world a better and more fair place." Between the global protests, the pandemic and transitioning to remote learning, this year has presented challenges for children across the country. Other students wrote about complex issues like the value of art, food and water inequality, and how their families have dealt with COVID-19. The Young Voices Make a Difference essay contest is designed to focus on gaining insights from students' perspectives across the country to better understand the learners Istation serves. About Istation Founded in 1998 and based in Dallas, Texas, Istation (Imagination Station) has become one of the nation's leading providers of richly animated, game-like educational technology. Winner of several national educational technology awards, the Istation program puts more instructional time in the classroom through small-group and collaborative instruction. Istation's innovative reading, math and Spanish programs immerse students in an engaging and interactive environment and inspire them to learn. Additionally, administrators and educators can use Istation to easily track the progress of their students, schools and classrooms. Istation now serves over 4 million students throughout the United States and in several other countries. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005732/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Fintech & Travel Management Expert Kurt Knackstedt Joins HRS in Executive Role Overseeing Payment Solutions

HRS, the leading global corporate lodging platform, named internationally-renowned travel and payment executive Kurt Knackstedt to the new role of Chief Growth Officer, leading the company's expanding payment solutions business. An established payment innovator who led Troovo's growth from start-up to global prominence, Knackstedt is known worldwide in B2B payment and managed travel circles for his pioneering approach to the deployment of virtual credit cards and automated payment technologies.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005728/en/

Kurt Knackstedt, an accomplished payment automation pioneer and globally-renowned business travel management expert, joined HRS in June 2021. Mr. Knackstedt is now Chief Growth Officer for HRS' Payment Solutions business unit, overseeing commercial, marketing and strategy functions globally. "It's a transformational time for our industry, and I can't think of a better place than HRS to play my part in the next evolution of travel and payment," said Knackstedt. (Photo: Business Wire)

HRS' payment solutions are used on multiple continents today by a growing number of Fortune 500 managed travel programs. Recently enhanced by the April acquisition of Itelya, the world's leading travel invoice management services provider, the end-to-end solution is plug-and-play ready. It connects seamlessly with all leading ecosystem providers, including credit card merchants, expense tool providers and VAT reclaim services. Companies using HRS payment solutions see program adoption rise by an average of 23 percent, boosting transparency and financial performance.







Knackstedt, a Chicago native now residing in Sydney, heads the commercial, marketing and strategy functions for HRS' payment solutions unit. HRS has more than 100 staff members solely dedicated to the development of B2B automation that streamlines payment to suppliers, reimbursement to travelers, and VAT reclaim for corporations. He will report directly to HRS CEO Tobias Ragge.

"It's a transformational time for our industry, and I can't think of a better place than HRS to play my part in the next evolution of travel and payment," said Knackstedt. "The company and its growing client base are blazing new trails with their approach to a fully-automated pay2reimburse process. HRS is well-positioned to help corporate travel procurement leaders drive optimal performance as the industry emerges from the pandemic."

Mr. Knackstedt joins HRS after six years as CEO of Troovo, an Australia-based start-up he co-founded in 2015. The company's groundbreaking payment automation quickly drew international acclaim across the B2B travel ecosystem, highlighted by Business Travel News awarding its "Innovator of the Year" honor to Troovo in 2018. Before that, he led the global travel and expense category for Rio Tinto, a prominent mining industry company. Mr. Knackstedt served on the Executive Board of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) for eight years, including a term as President from 2014-17. He also held executive roles with American Express (News - Alert) and Travelport.

"Kurt's a proven entrepreneur, and his mindset perfectly fits our HRS DNA and the creative clients we collaborate with every day," said Tobias Ragge. "His proficiency in the payment realm is known throughout our ecosystem, and his years of industry service at ACTE gives him an unparalleled global network. We're excited to tap into his expertise, gain from his leadership skills, and help clients benefit from our payment automation enhancements in the years to come."

About HRS

HRS is revolutionizing managed lodging programs for corporations, hotels and business travelers worldwide with its proprietary technology and expertise. The company is committed to facilitating safety, savings, security, satisfaction and sustainable hotel options for its global client roster. Leveraging its unique Lodging as a Service platform, HRS oversees the totality of corporate hotel programs for its clients, from initial procurement and rate assurance to booking, virtual payment and expense management. With more than 65,000 hotels joining HRS' Clean & Safe Protocol in 2020, and the recently launched Green Stay Initiative, the company provides newly-prioritized information on key decision factors impacting post-pandemic travel. The company's data-driven solutions deliver savings and performance for corporations across all hotel categories, including transient, meetings and long-stay lodging scenarios - all while digitizing processes on the hotel side for a better traveler experience. Founded in 1972, HRS today works with 35 percent of the global Fortune 500, as well as the world's leading hotel chains, regional hospitality groups and independent hotels. More information at www.hrs.com/enterprise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005728/en/
[June 02, 2021] Seward & Kissel to Host Seventh Annual Private Funds Forum June 15-17 Amid Groundbreaking Year for Investment Managers

As Seward & Kissel prepares to convene virtually for its seventh annual Private Funds Forum, our economy continues to show cautious signs of recovery as we rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst a new U.S. presidential and congressional administration, a possible overhaul of the U.S. tax code, and the ever-present volatility of investment markets-particularly the moment-to-moment fluctuation of digital assets-the private funds and investment management communities could be on target for a revolutionary year. The three-day forum will be hosted virtually from Tuesday, June 15 to Thursday, June 17. Panels will feature speakers from Seward & Kissel and leaders of the financial services community, including an armchair discussion with Michael C. Neus, Private Funds Attorney Fellow at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Additional speakers include individuals from Galaxy Digital, Kennedy Lewis Investment Management, KPMG, Lexington Partners, and Two Sigma Investments. Panel topics include: A conversation with Michael C. Neus, Private Funds Attorney Fellow in the SEC's (News - Alert) Division of Investment Management;

Implications of the new SEC investment adviser marketing rule;

Tax implications of the pandemic and potential effects of the Biden administration's tax proposal;

MNPI risks, policies, procedures, and practices; and

Considerations for investment managers investing in digital assets.



here. About Seward & Kissel LLP

Seward & Kissel LLP, founded in 1890, is a leading U.S. law firm with an international reputation for excellence. The firm is particularly well known for its hedge fund and investment management work, having established the first hedge fund ever, A.W. Jones, in 1949, and having earned numerous best in class awards over the years. In addition, Preqin recently identified Seward & Kissel as the top U.S. law firm based on number of hedge funds serviced. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005745/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Primis Releases Survey Data Revealing Disparities Between Publishers and Ads.txt Knowledge

TEL AVIV, Israel, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Primis, the leading Video Discovery platform for global publishers, today released the results of a publisher survey that revealed concerning disparities between publisher perception and reality in regards to ads.txt and transparency.

The state of transparency in the ad tech industry has steadily improved over the years due to increased usage of ads.txt and sellers.json, both of which were created to increase transparency while halting ad fraud and malpractice. However, according to the survey conducted by Primis, while 85% of publishers agreed that transparency is crucial for the continued success and growth of the ad tech industry, 48% said they do not validate their ads.txt lines, a critical step in thwarting latency, ad fraud, domain spoofing, and other risks. The survey also found that although 79% of publishers claimed to be familiar with ads.txt, along with 65% agreeing that ads.txt and sellers.json are effective tools in preventing ad fraud and malpractice, only 29% actively updated their ads.txt files when removing sellers/vendors. The average number of sellers per publisher domain is 50, with Sellers.guide , Primis new industry-wide initiative designed tobring a heightened level of transparency to ad tech, finding that 50% of publishers have more than 34 sellers selling their inventory. Yet, only 19% of publishers believe they have more than that amount, further proving that many publishers are alarmingly unaware of who is in their ads.txt files.



Ads.txt files have become so cumbersome that most publishers have no idea exactly how many sellers they have selling their inventory, said Rotem Shaul, Co-CEO of Primis. The gap between reality and perception continues to grow and with every fraudulent or unauthorized seller, publishers are losing out. Unauthorized sellers are a massive problem and it is something the industry must address. For many publishers, the challenge is that maintaining an ads.txt file is a manual and tedious process that they don't fully understand. Despite the great adoption of ads.txt files, if they are not maintained, it defeats the purpose which is to increase transparency. Ads.txt will not be able to fulfill its mission and eventually, the state of the ad tech ecosystem will suffer.

About Primis, Video Discovery

Primis is a global Video Discovery platform that increases revenue for publishers by helping their users discover high-quality video content. Our video discovery technology is used by 100s of digital publishers, empowering 200M uniques with an engagement-based video experience that recommends video content they love, automatically skipping content they dont interact with. Primis is owned by Universal McCann and The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG) holding itself to the highest standards in digital advertising. Website: www.sellers.guide , www.primis.tech

Twitter: @Sellers.guide, Primis ltd

LinkedIn: Sellers.guide, Primis UM Media Contact: Kyle Kuhnel

Broadsheet Communications for Primis

kyle@broadsheetcomms.com



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Harris Williams Advises Network Wireless Solutions on its Sale to Grain Management, LLC

Harris Williams, a global investment bank specializing in M&A advisory services, announces it advised Network Wireless Solutions (NWS), a full-service distributor of mission-critical materials and logistics solutions to the wireless telecommunications industry, on its sale to Grain Management, LLC (Grain). The transaction was led by Bob Baltimore, Graham Gillam, Maury Nolen and Michael Tuohey of the Harris Williams Specialty Distribution Group. "NWS is recognized throughout the telecommunications sector for its exceptional customer service, unmatched quality, and ability to quickly distribute custom cabling and materials to telecommunication customers-capabilities critical to the ongoing 5G buildout across the industry, that have underpinned the company's growth, and are hallmarks of world-class distribution businesses," said Graham Gillam, a director at Harris Williams. "It has been a privilege to work with Founder and CEO Jeff White, President John Hamilton, CFO Bill Elkin and the entire team at NWS on this transaction. We are excited to have helped them achieve an exceptional outcome for the company and believe they have found an excellent partner in Grain." "We continue to see investor interest in speialty distribution platforms, especially for top-quality companies like NWS," said Bob Baltimore, a managing director at Harris Williams. "It was a pleasure working with the NWS team on this transaction and we look forward to seeing the company continue to capitalize on its success during this next chapter of growth."



Jeff White, CEO of NWS, added, "We are incredibly proud of our team for all of the effort to get to this point. Harris Williams has been a trusted partner for NWS throughout this transaction and has delivered an excellent outcome for our team. We are delighted that we had the opportunity to work with Harris Williams and are thrilled to partner with Grain as we continue to execute and deliver on our strategic plan." Since 2012, NWS has provided a wide array of mission-critical services to the wireless telecommunications industry. The company has established itself as a critical partner to carriers, project managers, and general contractors through its expertise, quality of service, and ability to develop and deliver custom cabling solutions and equipment exactly when needed. By combining extensive industry knowledge, a disciplined focus on customer service and high-quality materials, NWS is a proven partner to keeping cell sites running smoothly.

Grain is a leading private investment firm that focuses on broadband infrastructure and technology companies that connect the world to the information economy. Founded in 2007, Grain invests exclusively in the telecommunications sector, employing a rigorous, data-based process buoyed by deep industry expertise to identify investment opportunities in key areas of telecommunications infrastructure, including fiber networks, wireless spectrum and cell towers. Harris Williams, an investment bank specializing in M&A advisory services, advocates for sellers and buyers of companies worldwide through critical milestones and provides thoughtful advice during the lives of their businesses. By collaborating as one firm across industry groups and geographies, the firm helps its clients achieve outcomes that support their objectives and strategically create value. Harris Williams is committed to execution excellence and to building enduring, valued relationships that are based on mutual trust. Harris Williams is a subsidiary of the PNC (News - Alert) Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC). Harris Williams' Specialty Distribution Group has experience across a variety of sectors, including automotive and heavy duty aftermarket; building products; consumer; electrical and communications; foodservice; healthcare; industrial; and technology. For more information on the firm's Specialty Distribution Group, visit the Specialty Distribution Group's section of the Harris Williams website. Harris Williams LLC is a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. Harris Williams & Co. Ltd is a private limited company incorporated under English law with its registered office at 8th Floor, 20 Farringdon Street, London EC4A 4AB, UK, registered with the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales (registration number 07078852). Harris Williams & Co. Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Harris Williams & Co. Corporate Finance Advisors GmbH is registered in the commercial register of the local court of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, under HRB 107540. The registered address is Bockenheimer Landstrasse 33-35, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany (email address: hwgermany@harriswilliams.com). Geschaftsfuhrer/Directors: Jeffery H. Perkins, Paul Poggi. (VAT No. DE321666994). Harris Williams is a trade name under which Harris Williams LLC, Harris Williams & Co. Ltd and Harris Williams & Co. Corporate Finance Advisors GmbH conduct business. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005785/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Centraleyes Welcomes Co-Founder of Optiv, Dan Burns, to Its Board of Directors

NEW YORK, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SaaS-based cyber risk management platform provider Centraleyes is pleased to announce the latest addition to its leadership team. Dan Burns has joined the companys Board of Directors, bringing over 25 years of experience in exceptional business, technology, cyber security and risk management to Centraleyes.

As a co-founder of Accuvant, Burns created a visionary company, working with nearly half of the Fortune 500 and driving $740 million in revenue. As CEO, Burns and Blackstone merged Accuvant and Fishnet Security to create Optiv Security, one of the largest security solutions integrators in the world, supporting over 7,500 clients and commanding over billions of dollars in revenues. Mr. Burns said: I am excited to join the board of directors for Centraleyes. This is a highly accomplished and talented group of cyber security leaders addressing a massive need in our space - GRC. They are approaching things much differently than the traditional ISVs in this space, the market needs a refreshing change and Centraleyes is it. I will help Yair and his team accelerate growth by reaching as many cients as possible.



Centraleyes CEO Yair Solow commented: Dans addition to the Centraleyes board is a huge milestone and vote of confidence in the company. With his extensive cyber security experience, Dan brings vision and guidance right in time for the high pace growth rate we are on. We are thrilled to have another amazing leader join our journey to creating the greatest GRC platform on earth. Board member Oleg Movchan added: The addition of Dan Burns to the Centraleyes board supports the company's ongoing expansion. I am certain that Dan will play a significant part in Centraleye's exciting journey towards their positioning as an industry leading cyber risk and compliance solution provider.

About Centraleyes Centraleyes is an advanced cloud-based (GRC) integrated cyber risk management platform. Centraleyes gives organizations the unparalleled ability to automate and orchestrate their entire cyber risk and compliance processes in a single pane of glass. The platform addresses three primary use cases of internal risk and compliance , supply chain and vendor risk and executive reporting . Centraleyes provides an exceptional ability to quantify and mitigate cyber risks in a dynamic and effective way, utilizing smart surveys and questionnaires, live threat intelligence feeds and automated remediation planning. Organizations that deploy Centraleyes, save time and resources while increasing their cyber resilience. It is truly cyber risk management reimagined. Contact:

Michelle Offir Geveye

Centraleyes

500 7th Avenue

New York NY, 10018

255-007-4075

https://www.centraleyes.com



marketing@centraleyes.com

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-03 01:01:38|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Wednesday announced that it will impose tariffs on certain goods from Austria, Britain, India, Italy, Spain and Turkey over disputes on Digital Service Taxes (DSTs), while noting that it will suspend tariffs for six months for multilateral negotiations.

United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai said in a statement that the final determination in the one-year Section 301 investigations of DSTs adopted by the six countries is to impose additional tariffs on certain goods from these countries.

Tai, however, noted that the United States will suspend the tariffs for up to 180 days to provide "additional time" to complete the ongoing multilateral negotiations on international taxation.

"The United States remains committed to reaching a consensus on international tax issues through the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) and G20 (Group of Twenty) processes," Tai said.

"Today's actions provide time for those negotiations to continue to make progress while maintaining the option of imposing tariffs under Section 301 if warranted in the future," said the USTR.

In July 2019, the United States launched a Section 301 investigation into France's planned tax on digital services, accusing the French government of "unfairly targeting the tax at certain U.S.-based technology companies." French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, however, argued that the tax is necessary to make big internet companies pay their fair share of taxes.

In June 2020, the United States initiated Section 301 investigations into DSTs considered by 10 U.S. trading partners, including the European Union, Brazil and India.

In January this year, the USTR decided to suspend proposed additional 25-percent tariffs on about 1.3 billion U.S. dollars worth of French products amid DSTs dispute, "in light of the ongoing investigation of similar DSTs adopted or under consideration in ten other jurisdictions."

Also in January, USTR determined that the DSTs adopted by Austria, Britain, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey discriminated against U.S. digital companies, were inconsistent with principles of international taxation, and burdened U.S. companies.

In March, USTR announced proposed trade actions in these six investigations, and undertook a public notice and comment process. USTR also terminated the remaining four investigations (of Brazil, the Czech Republic, the European Union, and Indonesia) "because those jurisdictions had not implemented the DSTs under consideration." Enditem
[June 02, 2021] Albertsons Companies Continues Its Efforts for Racial Equity With Enhanced Supplier Diversity Program

Albertsons Companies (NYSE: ACI) today announced the launch of several new vendor partnerships aimed at helping the company boost supplier diversity as the company reaffirms its commitment to racial equity. "Albertsons Companies is dedicated to helping our communities lay the foundation for racial equity," said Jonathan Mayes, Albertsons Companies SVP, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer. "We're taking these steps as part of our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in our company and the businesses we choose to partner with so that we reflect the wonderfully diverse communities we serve." Given one of the biggest hurdles for small businesses is access to working capital, Albertsons Cos. is launching an expanded early payment program by partnering with C2FO, a secure online platform for working capital, as part of this program. This partnership with C2FO will help determine the best time and terms for payments between Albertsons Cos. and suppliers. The goal is to help diverse-owned businesses alleviate immediate capital challenges by making access to working capital more equitable by providing funding to qualified, diverse-owned suppliers at significantly lower rates. " Accelerated (News - Alert) payment of receivables is essential for all businesses in need of greater liquidity, but especially for those that may be underrepresented and underfunded in our current financial system," said Alexander "Sandy" Kemper, founder and CEO of C2FO. "We want to position these diverse suppliers for long-term success and can start by offering the working capital needed to grow and stay strong in this difficult economic climate. We are honored to join Albertsons Companies in their ongoing efforts to support the partners and communities i serves."



Albertsons Cos. also plans to work with ECRM, RangeMe, and Quantum to expand supplier diversity. ECRM and RangeMe will help identify small, innovative, diverse suppliers. Quantum (News - Alert) , an eProcurement and diversity spend management solution, will enhance Albertsons Cos.' ability to identify diverse-owned and operated suppliers. Earlier this month, Albertsons Cos. hosted a summit with over 130 diverse suppliers interested in doing business with the company.

"We believe our partnerships with these vendors will give us the tools we need to expand our supplier diversity in all areas of our business," Mayes said. "We hope it will also make it easier for diverse suppliers to work with us." Albertsons Cos.' Supplier Diversity Program applies to the following groups that are over 50% owned and controlled/operated by a U.S. citizen and one of the following categories or ethnicities: African American

Asian American

Hispanic

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender

Native American

Service-Disabled Veteran

Female About Albertsons Companies Albertsons Companies is a leading food and drug retailer that operates stores across 34 states and the District of Columbia with more than 20 well-known banners including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, Carrs, Kings Food Markets and Balducci's Food Lovers Market. The Company is committed to helping people across the country live better lives by making a meaningful difference, neighborhood by neighborhood. In 2020, along with the Albertsons Companies Foundation, the Company gave $260 million in food and financial support, including $95 million through our Nourishing Neighbors Program to ensure those living in our communities have enough to eat. Albertsons Companies also pledged $5 million to organizations supporting social justice. These efforts have helped millions of people in the areas of hunger relief, education, cancer research and treatment, social justice and programs for people with disabilities and veterans' outreach. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005717/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Poor threat intelligence drags down performance at major enterprises, Cybersixgill survey finds

TEL AVIV, Israel, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 90 percent of CISOs rely on outdated, report-based threat intelligence that is often too old to inform decisions, according to Cybersixgill , the leader in threat intelligence enablement. The company's 2021 Cyber Threat Intelligence Survey also found that 77 percent of CISOs said that metrics related to the efficiency of incident response and response bottlenecks were key performance indicators. The survey of 150 CISOs at firms with at least 10,000 employees or $1 billion in revenue was conducted by Global Surveyz in February and March 2021 on behalf of Cybersixgill to foster a better understanding of the state of threat intelligence, and the focus that today's companies are placing on these vital technologies. The report showed that executives are acutely aware of their blindspots, because the tools that offer better visibility also impact the metrics on which they are judged by boards and CEOs. "Threat intelligence is quickly becoming the epicenter of key cybersecurity programs including vulnerability management, yet one in three CISOs identifies threat intelligence and one out of five identifies vulnerability management as their biggest blindspots," said Meira Primes, CMO, Cybersixgill. "Boards should encourage CISOs and their teams to explore new approaches, such asagile threat intelligence, to tackle these challenges more effectively."



Key findings in the survey show: 59 percent of CISOs believe that quantifying risk and balancing risks against costs is a chief concern among boards of directors

Internal factors, such as the ability to comply with regulations and professional knowledge gaps, rank among the most common concerns for CISOs, at 60 percent and 41 percent, while 39 percent of respondents said hackers were a chief concern

85 percent of respondents oversaw cybersecurity budgets of $1 million , while 56 percent oversaw budgets of $2 million

, while 56 percent oversaw budgets of 97 percent said they expected their cybersecurity teams would grow in 2021. Most said they would grow by less than 10 percent, but seven percent said they would grow by more than 20 percent. Despite massive changes in business operations and security priorities over the past year, CISOs noted that their biggest knowledge gaps were around threat intelligence processing (37 percent) and vulnerability management (21 percent). Only 11 percent of CISOs admitted COVID-19 related knowledge gaps were their largest concern.

"This research clearly depicts the concerns and priorities of CISOs at some of the largest companies in the world." continued Meira. "What we found is that there is a consistent need for enterprises to adopt automated, iterative, and continuous intelligence-driven processes in order to evolve and meet today's security challenges." To read the full report, click here. About Cybersixgill Cybersixgill's fully automated threat intelligence solutions help organizations fight cyber crime, detect phishing, data leaks, fraud and vulnerabilities as well as amplify incident response  in real-time. The Cybersixgill Investigative Portal empowers security teams with contextual and actionable insights as well as the ability to conduct real-time investigations. Rich data feeds such as Darkfeed and DVE Score harness Cybersixgill's unmatched intelligence collection capabilities and deliver real-time intel into organizations' existing security systems. Most recently, Cybersixgill introduced agility to threat intel with their CI/CP methodology (Continuous Investigation/Continuous Protection). Current customers include enterprises, financial services, MSSPs, governments and law enforcement entities. To learn more, visit https://www.cybersixgill.com/ and follow us on Twitter: @cybersixgill and LinkedIn . Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1447996/Cybersixgill_Logo.jpg Media Contacts

Matt McLoughlin

Gregory FCA on behalf of Cybersixgill

Matt@gregoryfca.com Laurie Ben-Haim

Cybersixgill

+1-646-300-9549

+972-52-7831911

laurie@cybersixgill.com

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Symetra Launches Two New Registered Index-linked Annuities

Symetra Life Insurance Company has introduced two new single-premium registered indexed-linked annuities (RILAs) for clients seeking retirement products that offer growth potential with some downside protection options-Symetra Trek Plus Index-linked Annuity and Symetra Trek Frontier Index-linked Annuity. The newest additions to Symetra's broad product suite join the fast-growing index-linked annuities space, which had Q1 sales of $9.2 billion, an increase of 89 percent over the prior year. The market is expected to grow through 2025, according to the Secure Retirement Institute. 1 This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005755/en/ "Trek Plus and Trek Frontier build on the customer-focused foundation of Symetra Trek, offering strong liquidity features, buffer and floor downside protection options, and five index choices. Trek Plus provides upside potential based on index growth up to a cap or using a participation rate or trigger rate, and three downside protection options, including a new, first-to-market 'barrier' feature, while Trek Frontier offers one- and six-year interest term lengths and two downside protection options, including a 20 percent buffer," said Shaun Opperman, vice president of Retirement Products. (Photo: Business Wire) Symetra entered the RILA marketplace in March 2019 with Symetra Trek, which was recognized by Barron's on their annual 'Top Annuities' list in 2019 and again in 2020.2 "Trek Plus and Trek Frontier build on the customer-focused foundation of Symetra Trek, offering strong liquidity features, buffer and floor downside protection options, and five index choices. Trek Plus provides upside potential based on index growth up to a cap or using a participation rate or trigger rate, and three downside protection options, including a new, first-to-market 'barrier' feature, while Trek Frontier offers one- and six-year interest term lengths and two downside protection options, including a 20 percent buffer," said Shaun Opperman, vice president of Retirement Products. A longtime fixed indexed annuity leader in the bank and broker-dealer spaces, Symetra has focused on growing its distribution relationships to broaden product availability, notably expanding its independent broker-dealer channel presence through a series of strategic partnerships. Last week, Trek Plus and Trek Frontier began a phased rollout to banks, wirehouses and independent broker-dealers. "Our new RILAs continue Symetra's commitment to offer registered representatives across our distribution partner platforms transparent, flexible options that are designed to add value and fit the needs of their clients in today's retirement marketplace," said Andrew Farrell, senior vice president, Retirement Distribution. Trek Plus features include: Growth potential - Opportunities for clients' money to grow based on the performance of up to five market indexes; three crediting methods (cap, participation rate, or trigger rate) and three interest term lengths (one, two or six years). Clients have the option to increase growth potential by selecting indexed accounts with an annual charge.

- Opportunities for clients' money to grow based on the performance of up to five market indexes; three crediting methods (cap, participation rate, or trigger rate) and three interest term lengths (one, two or six years). Clients have the option to increase growth potential by selecting indexed accounts with an annual charge. Downside protection - Three downside protection options - "buffer" and "floor" and a new "barrier" option - provde limited protection from market losses each interest term. The buffer protects against losses of up to 10 percent or 20 percent, while the floor limits losses to 10 percent. The barrier is designed for clients who want limited protection from modest down markets but are willing to forgo protection against larger losses in exchange for more upside potential. The barrier only provides protection if losses are less than the 15 percent barrier. If losses exceed 15 percent, the client assumes the full amount of the loss.

- Three downside protection options - "buffer" and "floor" and a new "barrier" option - provde limited protection from market losses each interest term. The buffer protects against losses of up to 10 percent or 20 percent, while the floor limits losses to 10 percent. The barrier is designed for clients who want limited protection from modest down markets but are willing to forgo protection against larger losses in exchange for more upside potential. The barrier only provides protection if losses are less than the 15 percent barrier. If losses exceed 15 percent, the client assumes the full amount of the loss. Access to money - Clients can make free annual withdrawals of up to 15 percent of their contract value or the total interest earned, minus any indexed account charges, for the first six years.



Trek Frontier features include: Growth potential - Opportunities for clients' money to grow based on the performance of up to five market indexes, up to a cap, and two interest term lengths.

- Opportunities for clients' money to grow based on the performance of up to five market indexes, up to a cap, and two interest term lengths. Downside protection - Two downside protection options - "buffer" and "floor" - provide limited protection from market losses each interest term. The buffer protects against losses of up to 10 percent or 20 percent, while the floor limits losses to 10 percent.

- Two downside protection options - "buffer" and "floor" - provide limited protection from market losses each interest term. The buffer protects against losses of up to 10 percent or 20 percent, while the floor limits losses to 10 percent. Access to money - Clients can make free annual withdrawals of up to 15 percent of their contract value or the total interest earned, whichever is greater, for the first six years.

- Clients can make free annual withdrawals of up to 15 percent of their contract value or the total interest earned, whichever is greater, for the first six years. No surprises - There are no annual fees, though surrender charges apply. About Symetra

Symetra Life Insurance Company is a subsidiary of Symetra Financial Corporation, 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. 1 LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute, First Quarter 2021 U.S. Individual Annuity Sales Survey (May 11, 2021) https://www.limra.com/en/newsroom/news-releases/2021/secure-retirement-institute-strong-economic-factors-drive-first-quarter-annuity-sales/

2 Barron's, Annuities Can Help Your Portfolio Stay Afloat. Here Are the 100 Best Ones Right Now, July 19, 2020. The Top 100 Annuities-and How to Choose the Best for You, July 19, 2019. Important Information Securities are offered through Symetra Securities, Inc. (SSI). Member FINRA. Symetra Trek Plus and Symetra Trek Frontier are individual single-premium deferred annuity contracts with index-linked interest options issued by Symetra Life Insurance Company (SLIC). Symetra Trek Plus contract form number is RSC-0559 3/21 in most states. In Idaho, contract form number is RSC-0559/ID 3/21. Symetra Trek Frontier contract form number is RSC-0536 4/18 in most states. In Idaho, contract form number is RSC-0536/ID 4/18. Endorsement form number is RSE-0134 12/20 in most states. Products, features, terms and conditions may vary by state and may not available in all U.S. states or any U.S. territory. SSI and SLIC are affiliates and are both located at 777 108th Avenue NE, Suite 1200, Bellevue, WA 98004-5135. Each company is responsible for its own financial obligations. Annuity contracts have terms and limitations for keeping them in force. Contact your registered representative for complete details. Guarantees and benefits are subject to the claims-paying ability of Symetra Life Insurance Company. Symetra Trek Plus and Symetra Trek Frontier have indexed accounts and a fixed account. Interest credited to the indexed accounts is affected by the value of outside indexes and may be positive, negative, or zero. The performance of an index does not reflect the payment or reinvestment of dividends. It is not possible to invest in an index. Withdrawals may be subject to federal income tax, and a 10% IRS early withdrawal federal tax penalty may also apply for amounts taken prior to age 59 1/2. Clients should consult their attorney or tax professional for more information. SYMETRA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY ("Symetra") has filed a registration statement (including a prospectus) with the SEC (News - Alert) for Symetra Trek Frontier and for Symetra Trek Plus. For more complete information about Symetra, Symetra Trek Frontier and Symetra Trek Plus, you should read the prospectus and other documents Symetra has filed with the SEC before purchasing. These documents are available for free by visiting EDGAR at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, Symetra or your registered representative will provide the prospectus by request. Contact Symetra toll-free at 1-800-796-3872 ext. 22136. Symetra Trek Frontier and Symetra Trek Plus are long-term investments designed for retirement purposes. There is a risk of substantial loss of principal. Please refer to the prospectus for more details. Neither Symetra Life Insurance Company nor its employees provide investment, tax, or legal advice or endorse any particular method of investing. Please consult your attorney or tax professional before making savings and investing decision. This is not a complete description of Symetra Trek Plus or Symetra Trek Frontier. For a complete description, please ask your registered representative for a copy of the prospectus. Symetra, Symetra Trek Frontier and Symetra Trek Plus are registered service marks of Symetra Life Insurance Company. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005755/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] RIT and SPIE Partner on 2021 Photonics for Quantum Event

On 12-16 July, SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, and Rochester Institute of Technology (News - Alert) (RIT), will present the 2021 Photonics for Quantum Digital Forum. Previously an RIT initiative, this year marks a new iteration of this event in the form of a partnership between RIT and SPIE. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005138/en/ RIT and SPIE partner on 2021 Photonics for Quantum (News - Alert) event (Graphic: Business Wire) The five-day event will include more than 20 speakers from across international industry and research as well as an interactive poster session. Discussions and presentations will focus on quantum topics spanning applications, experiments, quantum photonic integrated circuits, materials, integration between dissimilar material systems, devices, and concepts to support a national quantum foundry. Invited speakers include Qunnect's Noel Goddard; the US Air Force Research Laboratory's (News - Alert) Michael Fanto; Imperial College London's Ian A. Walmsley; Eleni Diamanti of Sorbonne University's Laboratoire d'Informatique de Paris 6; Laboratoire Materiaux et Phenomenes Quantiques' Sara Ducci; the University of Birmingham's Kai Bongs; and Anton Zeilinger of the University of Vienna and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of sciences. The Photonics for Quantum program sessions include: 12 June: Networks and Communication

13 June: Computing and Simulation

14 June: Sensing and Imaging

15 June: Components

16 June: Special events and panels, including Women in Quantu (in conjunction with the SPIE Women in Optics program), global government initiatives and funding, and workforce and education



Don Figer, director of RIT's Future Photon Initiative. "For the past two years, this event has provided an important forum to discuss the latest breakthroughs in quantum science and technology, as well as how to unlock this growing field's potential. We look forward to expanding the conference by accessing SPIE's worldwide network." "We're very excited to be partnering with RIT on this growing event," said SPIE Director of Industry Development Stephen Anderson. "It's a wonderful opportunity to help showcase the fast-emerging field of quantum technology and the exciting possibilities that exist in it for photonics. With its particular focus on scientific and academic content, covering both fundamental research and in-lab developments, Photonics for Quantum is a terrific complement to the industry-focused SPIE Quantum West and a great addition to the SPIE calendar."

Registration for Photonics for Quantum is now open. Visit our website for more information and to register for the event. About RIT Rochester Institute of Technology is home to leading creators, entrepreneurs, innovators, and researchers. Founded in 1829, RIT enrolls 18,600 students in more than 200 career-oriented and professional programs, making it among the largest private universities in the US. The university is internationally recognized and ranked for academic leadership in business, computing, engineering, imaging science, liberal arts, sustainability, and fine and applied arts. RIT also offers unparalleled support services for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. The cooperative education program is one of the oldest and largest in the nation. Global partnerships include campuses in China, Croatia, Dubai, and Kosovo. About SPIE SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, an educational not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based science, engineering, and technology. The Society serves more than 258,000 constituents from 184 countries, offering conferences and their published proceedings, continuing education, books, journals, and the SPIE Digital Library. In 2020, SPIE provided over $5 million in community support including scholarships and awards, outreach and advocacy programs, travel grants, public policy, and educational resources. www.spie.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005138/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Time Travel Drama Black Easter to Debut on Amazon Prime on June 24

LOS ANGELES, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- This June, an extremist group will travel back in time with one goal: to assassinate Jesus Christ before he is crucified. The story will play out in the sci-fi adventure drama Black Easter debuting on Amazon Prime on Thursday, June 24. Written and directed by Jim Carroll, it is already being panned as the 'most controversial movie of the year'. Starring Jason Castro as Jesus Christ, Black Easter is nothing short of action-packed, centering on a group of young geniuses responsible for creating a time travel machine only to find that extremists, led by the financer of the machine, are attempting to use it for religious assassination. But their interference in the evil plot causes mankind to enter an apocalypse leaving the fate of the world in the hands of a genius with no faith and a man who has lost his.The film also stars Gerardo Davila and Johnny Rey Diaz.



"My goal with Black Easter was to create a movie that was not only highly entertaining and filled with excitement at every twist and turn but one that also leaves the audience with a taste of the Gospel in a way that they don't feel like they're being lectured to," said Carroll. "Everybody always says 'Why doesn't someone make a good Christian movie, something that isn't preachy?' Well, now we have one. With a pre-release at select Studio Movie Grill theaters, Black Easter has received widespread prestigious international attention including being crowned 'Best Action Screenplay' at the Los Angeles Film Awards, 'Best Featured Script' at the Calcutta International Cult Film Festival and 'Best Original Screenplay Winner' at the London Independent Film Awards in addition to being honored at the Barcelona Film Festival. Early critics have also given the film a coveted positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Black Easter will be available for viewing exclusively to Amazon Prime subscribers. To learn more visit, https://blackeastermovie.com/. About Black Easter

Black Easter is a critically acclaimed, science fiction cult blockbuster debuting to audiences everywhere on Amazon Prime on June 24. Centering around an extremist group's mission to assassinate Jesus Christ by way of time travel, Black Easter is packed with drama and adventure. The film is rated PG-13. For more on Black Easter, visit https://blackeastermovie.com/. Media Contact:

Jim Carrol

jc@staffwizard.com

9727540080 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/time-travel-drama-black-easter-to-debut-on-amazon-prime-on-june-24-301304272.html SOURCE Black Easter

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Inspira Health Appoints Warren E. Moore, FACHE as the New Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer

Inspira Health today announced the appointment of Warren E. Moore, FACHE, to Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately. Moore has been selected to elevate operations across the health care network, including hospitals and ambulatory sites, as well as support the advancement of Inspira's strategic growth. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005896/en/ Warren E. Moore, FACHE, Inspira Health's Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer (Photo: Business Wire) Moore has more than 25 years of experience in the health care industry, most recently serving as CEO of Children's Specialized Hospital and the Senior Vice President, Pediatric Services for RWJBarnabas Health. He was with RWJBarnabas Health for over 21 years, and previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Children's Specialized Hospital. In addition, Moore also served as the Chief Administrative Officer of Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and held several leadership roles at HealthSouth. As EVP and Chief Operating Officer, Moore will support Inspira's growth strategy under the leadership of Amy Mansue, President & CEO of Inspira Health. He will oversee the operations for the network's hospitals, health centers and various outpatient services by providing direction to those departments to optimize clnical quality and patient experience while meeting budget and operational goals.



"Moore is a highly respected executive leader in the health care industry whose experience will be invaluable to the growth of Inspira," said Amy Mansue, President & CEO of Inspira Health. "He has a strong background in utilizing his insights to improve hospital operations. In joining our leadership team and our network overall, he will bring immeasurable knowledge and experience to fuel our growth as a health care leader in the South Jersey region." This appointment comes at a critical time, as Inspira continues to expand their access and services throughout South Jersey communities. Moore's foresight for long-term growth will solidify the foundation of the network's continued success. Over the course of his career, Moore has played an integral part in implementing high reliability organization (HRO) principles with a focus on patient safety and zero harm, and opened 12 new outpatient centers at the Children's Specialized Hospital.

"I am grateful for this opportunity, and I am looking forward to taking on this leadership role at Inspira and utilizing my previous experiences to maximize the impact Inspira can have on their patients," said Moore. "Alongside the leadership team, we will continually elevate the high quality, safe and compassionate care that we provide to those in our community." Moore holds a Bachelor of Science in business management from the University of Maryland, as well as a Master's degree in health and human service administration from Rider University. He is recognized as a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and serves on the Children's Hospital Association's Quality and Safety Committee, the New Jersey Council of Children's Hospitals Leadership Committee, the New Jersey Innovation Institute External Advisory Board and the New Jersey Hospital Association's Finance Committee. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Health Research & Educational Trust of New Jersey and the Ronald McDonald House of Central & Northern New Jersey. Moore has been recognized by the Healthcare Institute of New Jersey for his leadership contributions to Life Sciences in the area of Patient Advocacy. In addition, he was also awarded the Randy Siegel M.D. Pediatric Cancer Medical Humanitarian of the Year by the Hugs for Brady Foundation, the Harold L. Conover Leadership Award from his alma mater, Rider University, and the Infantry Inspiration Award from the Izzy's Infantry Fighting Pediatric Cancer and Spinal Cord Trauma organization. About Inspira Health Inspira Health is a charitable nonprofit health care organization and a regional leader in physician training, with approximately 160 medical residents and fellows in 10 nationally accredited specialty programs. The system, which traces its roots to 1899, comprises three hospitals, two comprehensive cancer centers, several multi-specialty health centers and a total of more than 150 access points. These include urgent care; outpatient imaging and rehabilitation; sleep medicine labs; cardiac testing facilities; digestive health and wound care centers; home care and hospice; and more than 35 primary and specialty physician practices in Gloucester, Cumberland, Salem, Camden and Atlantic counties. Together with its medical staff of more than 1,300 physicians and other care providers, as well as more than 6,200 employees, Inspira Health provides evidence-based care to help each patient achieve the best possible outcome. Accredited by DNV Healthcare, the system's clinical and support staffs are focused on providing quality care in a safe environment. For more information about Inspira Health, visit www.InspiraHealthNetwork.org or call 1-800-INSPIRA. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005896/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] NASA Scientists Available for Interviews Throughout Hurricane Season

WASHINGTON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Lee este anuncio de prensa en espanol aqui. June 1 marked the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, which officially ends Nov. 30. After 2020 brought a record number of named storms in the North Atlantic basin, NASA is once again prepared to help understand and monitor these storms from the unique vantage point of space and is providing experts to discuss hurricanes and other extreme weather events. Climate change is increasing the heat in the ocean basins and already making it more likely that storms will intensify faster and become stronger, a phenomenon NASA scientists continue to study. Using data from its 20-plus earth-observing satellites, NASA plays a foundational role in the science of hurricanes. But when it comes to operational forecasting, the agency's main role is through its crucial partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NASA designs, builds, and launches NOAA's suite of satellites that provide the data that specifically feed numerical weather prediction models. "NASA's cutting-edge science helps us answer questions that nobody else can, especially when it comes to understanding hurricanes and their impacts before, during, and after they make landfall," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. "As climate change intensifies and makes natural hazards like hurricanes more damaging, NASA is more committed than ever to innovative Earth science research. Our next-generation Earth System Observatory will build on NASA's existing capabilities to provide an unprecedented understanding of the Earth from bedrock to atmosphere, so we are better prepared to protect our communities from hurricanes and other extreme weather events." NASA's goal for disaster preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery is bridging the gap between data and the people who need it. Before, during, and after a hurricane or storm makes landfall, NASA satellites are in prime position to identify impacts. NASA works with local officials and first responders, federal agencies such as FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and infrastructure experts to determine what information they need and to supply it in usable formats in real time. Examples include information on infrastructure failures and disruptions, contaminated water supplies and other hotspots for urgent response needs. NASA welcomes media inquiries about its role in studying and understanding hurricanes. The following NASA scientists, who represent a cross-section of expertise in hurricane science and application, are available for media interviews as scheduling allows: Mara Cordero-Fuentes , an atmospheric cientist/meteorologist, fluent in both English and Spanish, with published research in hurricane science, plus 10 years' experience in data assimilation systems, tropical meteorology, climate interpretation, and weather forecasting

, an atmospheric cientist/meteorologist, fluent in both English and Spanish, with published research in hurricane science, plus 10 years' experience in data assimilation systems, tropical meteorology, climate interpretation, and weather forecasting Scott Braun , a research meteorologist who specializes in using computer modeling to recreate the components of hurricanes, including winds, rainfall, and in-cloud heating

, a research meteorologist who specializes in using computer modeling to recreate the components of hurricanes, including winds, rainfall, and in-cloud heating Dalia Kirschbaum , whose work focuses on rainfall-triggered landslide modeling, monitoring and mapping

, whose work focuses on rainfall-triggered landslide modeling, monitoring and mapping Will McCarty , a research meteorologist at NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office

, a research meteorologist at NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer , ocean physicist and program manager of the physical oceanography program at NASA Headquarters, who can speak to sea level rise, ocean warming, and the interplay between the oceans and tropical storms

, ocean physicist and program manager of the physical oceanography program at NASA Headquarters, who can speak to sea level rise, ocean warming, and the interplay between the oceans and tropical storms Mayra Oyola-Merced , an expert in atmospheric physics, field research, numerical weather prediction, and operational forecasting

, an expert in atmospheric physics, field research, numerical weather prediction, and operational forecasting Patrick Duran , who specializes in the synthesis of satellite observations with idealized modeling to explore the dynamics of tropical cyclone intensification

, who specializes in the synthesis of satellite observations with idealized modeling to explore the dynamics of tropical cyclone intensification Tim Hall , a senior researcher at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York , who specializes in tropical cyclones' relationship to climate and the hazard they pose to coastal communities



Peter Jacobs at: peter.jacobs@nasa.gov. For general NASA hurricane science reference material, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/nasa-and-hurricanes-five-fast-facts and https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/news/index.html The following are some of NASA's most popular public-domain, open-source imagery products: The record-breaking 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, visualized with overlaid tracks: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4884 Satellite data showing 3D view of Hurricane Zeta's intense rainfall: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4870 Latest precipitation analysis and animation of the past seven days (auto-updates): https://gpm.nasa.gov/data/imerg NASA "night lights" data shows Puerto Rico's power outages after Hurricane Maria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZkwASBe2zo The 2017 hurricane season, visualized by the movement of dust, smoke and sea salt: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12772 All NASA-created content is in the public domain and free for media usage. For other Earth science videos, visit: https://www.youtube.com/NASAGoddard For all NASA scientific data visualizations and animations, visit: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/ View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasa-scientists-available-for-interviews-throughout-hurricane-season-301304340.html SOURCE NASA

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Expel Introduces Managed Detection and Response for Microsoft

Expel, the managed detection and response (MDR) provider that's making great security as accessible as the internet, today announced the launch of Expel for Microsoft. Expel for Microsoft (News - Alert) automates security operations across the Microsoft tech stack, including Active Directory, AD Identity Protection, Azure, MCAS, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Office 365 and Sentinel. Expel connects via APIs and ingests security signals from Microsoft's products into Expel WorkbenchTM, along with other third-party signals you have in place. Expel then applies its own detection engine along with threat intelligence gathered from across its broad customer base to quickly find activity that doesn't look right - like suspicious logins, data exfiltration, suspicious RDP activity or unusual inbox rules. Specific context and business rules that are unique to your environment enhance these built-in detections as Expel's detection engine learns what "normal" looks like for your organization. Expel is demonstrating and answering questions about its Expel for Microsoft solution on June 22 at 2 p.m. ET. Register here for the live demo. "Many of our customers invest in Microsoft security tools, and at the end of the day they want to know which incidents they should care about and what to do about them," said Matt Peters, chief product officer at Expel. "Most security providers get you part way there - they take your Microsoft signals, comb through them and hand you back a list of alerts to investigate. At Expel, we ingest your signal, ourtech filters it down to what might be interesting and our analysts review - based on what's important to your org and what we're seeing among our broader customer base - to determine if it requires your attention. We flag only what needs action from you, saving you the time and headaches associated with sifting through piles of alerts."



With Expel for Microsoft, you'll get: 24x7 monitoring and response for Microsoft security signals: Expel monitors, detects and responds to alerts across all your Microsoft tech, as well as any third-party security tech you have in place (or plan to invest in).

Expel monitors, detects and responds to alerts across all your Microsoft tech, as well as any third-party security tech you have in place (or plan to invest in). Increased ROI from your Microsoft investments: Expel for Microsoft helps you optimize your current Microsoft security investments, along with those you make down the road.

Expel for Microsoft helps you optimize your current Microsoft security investments, along with those you make down the road. Real-time collaboration with Expel on Teams: Expel makes use of the tools you use every day and the team will message you when something looks suspicious so you can fix it fast. Not a Teams player? Expel's on Slack, too. Expel customer Ivanhoe Cambridge, a real estate investment firm, relies on Expel to monitor the organization's many security signals, including Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Office 365. "Expel built a platform that ingests alerts across our vast network, evaluates and weeds out millions of false positives, and then automates the investigative steps so Expel analysts can recommend the right next actions to our team. That's what Expel does for us; their approach just makes sense," said Patrick Gilbert (News - Alert) , head of security at Ivanhoe Cambridge.

To learn more about Expel for Microsoft and whether this "easy" button for securing your Microsoft stack is right for you: Read more about Expel for Microsoft

Join us for a demo of Expel for Microsoft About Expel Expel's is a managed detection and response (MDR) provider whose mission is to make great security as accessible as the internet. The company's SOC-as-a-service capability offers 24x7 security monitoring and response for cloud, hybrid and on-premises environments. Expel uses the security signals customers already own so organizations can get more value from their existing security investments. And Expel connects to customer tech remotely through APIs, not agents, so its SOC can start monitoring a customer's environment in a matter of hours, letting their internal teams get back to focusing on the most strategic security priorities that are unique to their business. Learn more at http://expel.io. Editor's note: The following buzzwords were banned from this press release in no particular order: autonomous, market-leading, next-generation, military-grade intelligence, artificial intelligence, leveraging, powerful, platform, scalable, robust, changing threat landscape, end-to-end, actionable, real-time, machine learning, state-of-the-art, best-of-breed, elite, continuous and purpose-built. We did throw in an "optimize," though. Whoops. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005929/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] American Water Announces Recipients of 2021 James LaFrankie Scholarship Awards

American Water (NYSE: AWK), the nation's largest publicly traded water and wastewater utility company, today announced recipients of the 30th Annual James V. LaFrankie Scholarship Awards. The awards were distributed nationwide to seven college-bound children of full-time American Water employees who demonstrate an interest in science and water-related industry occupational fields. Out of 44 submitted applications, an independent, third-party organization selected seven of the high school seniors based on their outstanding high school records, academic honors, participation in extracurricular activities and teacher recommendations. The $1,000 scholarship is awarded for one year and may be renewed for up to three years based on the student's academic progress. "American Water is proud to award these scholarships to such extraordinary students who not only achieved the highest academic standards but also have an interest in science and water-related industry occupational fields," said Melanie Kennedy, Chief Human Resources Officer. "We congratulate all of our winners and look forward to witnessing their success and the great things they will accomplish." The scholarship award recipients include: David DeRienzo , son of John DeRienzo, senior construction inspector for New York American Water.

, son of John DeRienzo, senior construction inspector for New York American Water. Shreya Dudeja , daughter of Anuradha Grover, senior marketing manager for American Water Resources.

, daughter of Anuradha Grover, senior marketing manager for American Water Resources. Elizabeth Hemmer , daughter of Brian Hemmer, assistant oerator for Missouri American Water.

, daughter of Brian Hemmer, assistant oerator for Missouri American Water. Kamryn McDaniel , daughter of April Aldridge, paralegal for American Water.

, daughter of April Aldridge, paralegal for American Water. Meredith Purcell, daughter of Michael Purcell, supervisor of business performance for Pennsylvania American Water.

daughter of Michael Purcell, supervisor of business performance for Pennsylvania American Water. Ava McDonough , daughter of Mark McDonough, senior vice president and president of New Jersey American Water.

, daughter of Mark McDonough, senior vice president and president of New Jersey American Water. Jacob Stevens, son of Paul Stevens, maintenance production supervisor for Pennsylvania American Water.



Due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, this year's scholarship recipients and our previous recipients have the option of deferring their scholarships if their college plans are impacted by the health emergency. Students who select this option can defer their scholarships for a year as long as they begin or return to college by the fall of 2022.

About American Water With a history dating back to 1886, American Water is the largest and most geographically diverse U.S. publicly traded water and wastewater utility company. The company employs more than 7,000 dedicated professionals who provide regulated and market-based drinking water, wastewater and other related services to 15 million people in 46 states. American Water provides safe, clean, affordable and reliable water services to our customers to help make sure we keep their lives flowing. For more information, visit amwater.com and follow American Water on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005787/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Jolt Introduces The All-New Jolt Print Station Enhancing Food Label Printing For Food Service Operators

LEHI, Utah, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Jolt Software, the leading operations management and digital food safety platform for deskless workers, announced its release of the new turn-key Jolt Print Station (JPS) solution. The Jolt Print Station, combined with the Jolt cloud based Jolt Label Printing Application, is a fast, reliable solution for label printing, offering a wide variety of label types, such as expiration dates, nutrition facts, grab-and-go, and more. The JPS uses thermal printing, which doesn't require ink and can hold up in hostile environments like a kitchen. The JPS includes a digital display that provides easy access to multiple label templates. Employees can print perfectly accurate labels within seconds, ensuring compliance with brand standards as well as food safety requirements. Jolt CEO, Josh Bird, said "Jolt has been providing a world class food labeling system since our beginnings. When we observed the changes in today's connected kitchen and the network challenges it created, we knew we needed to create a reliable, fast, and easy to use label printing solution that does not rely on local network infrastructure to complete the critical food safety labeling task." "We set out and achieved a goal of creating a solution that is lightning fast, simple and easy to use and offers the hardwired reliability that our customers desire in this critical aspect of their business," said Eric Neilsen, Vice President of Development at Jolt. "We also recognized that many of our customers may need more than a single printer solution, so they now have two choices with both the JPS-1000 and the JPS-2000, which supports the ability to print two label sizes simultaneously, and both have options for a countertop or wall mount placement." Jeff Pinc, Senior Vice Presdent of Sales and Marketing, said, "On top of the release of our latest JPS innovation, customers also have a choice to leverage the all new Jolt Financial Solutions to purchase any of Jolt's offerings. Purchasing the JPS as a managed services package provides customers with everything they need to use Jolt in their stores, including software, hardware, and JoltProtect, through manageable monthly payments made over time. We recognize that many of our customers who are coming out of one of the toughest years for small businesses don't have the upfront capital to help them achieve their immediate and long term business goals."



For a limited time, Jolt will offer a trade-in program to upgrade to the Jolt Print Station. This program is available for both new and existing Jolt customers who are using an older label printer and are looking for a better, more reliable, and cost effective labeling solution. Finally, JoltProtect is available for the JPS, and provides a 36-month or 48-month no-fault warranty to protect your equipment. To learn more about the new Jolt Print Station, call 877-396-4112 ext. 2 or schedule a demonstration at https://www.jolt.com/request-demo . Jolt will also host two webinars on Tuesday, June 8th, and a third on Wednesday, June 9th, where you can learn more about the Jolt Print Station. Click on any of the links below to register for one of the sessions:

Tuesday, June 8th at 9:00am MST / 11:00am EST Tuesday, June 8th at 12:00pm MST | 2:00pm EST Wednesday, June 9th at 2:00pm MST | 4:00pm EST About Jolt Software Jolt is operations execution software available on smartphones and tablets that helps restaurants and other deskless businesses achieve team accountability, digital food safety compliance, and boost employee performance. Headquartered in Lehi, Utah, Jolt Software was founded in 2012 by current CEO, Josh Bird. To learn more, visit www.jolt.com or contact us at marketing@jolt.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jolt-introduces-the-all-new-jolt-print-station-enhancing-food-label-printing-for-food-service-operators-301304405.html SOURCE Jolt Software

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-03 01:41:08|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that China and Azerbaijan should take the 30th anniversary of their diplomatic relationship next year as an opportunity to push for greater development of bilateral ties.

In a telephone conversation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Xi suggested that the two countries carry forward their traditional friendship, deepen win-win cooperation, increase mutual support, and create more benefits for their people.

Xi pointed out that since last year, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, China and Azerbaijan have supported each other and joined hands against the challenge, which has demonstrated their true friendship.

The Communist Party of China is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary, and China has embarked on a new journey of fully building a modern socialist country, he said, adding that China-Azerbaijan relations now stand at a new historical starting point.

China supports the development path chosen by the Azerbaijani people on the basis of their national conditions, and regards Azerbaijan as an important partner for Belt and Road cooperation, Xi stressed.

The two sides, he suggested, should share opportunities, pursue common development, and ensure sound planning and effective implementation of their Belt and Road cooperation.

China is willing to import more high-quality specialty products from Azerbaijan, encourage Chinese enterprises to invest and start business in Azerbaijan, and carry out cooperation in such fields as infrastructure construction, he added.

The two sides, he said, should deepen cooperation in international transportation and logistics, promote the building of Asia-Europe transport corridors, and improve the level of regional connectivity.

China stands ready to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Azerbaijan in medical areas, and continue to provide vaccines and other assistance for Azerbaijan's fight against COVID-19, Xi said.

He added that China has achieved a complete victory against poverty, and is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Azerbaijan and jointly promote the cause of global poverty reduction. Enditem
[June 02, 2021] Indiana Public Colleges and Universities Will Now Provide Academic Credit for Cambridge International's Advanced Courses

INDIANAPOLIS, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Indiana legislature voted to allow high school students, from or outside Indiana, to receive college credit through Cambridge Assessment International Education's (Cambridge International) AS and A Level examinations. With this new policy change as per House Enrolled Act 1549, all public colleges and universities in the state of Indiana will now award college credit to students earning a score of E or higher on AS and A Level examinations. This gives Cambridge International AS and A Level courses the same grade weighting as other advanced courses offered to high school students. "Working with Cambridge International ensures that our schools are preparing future leaders for success in their college, careers, and communities," said Representative Robert Behning, Indiana's House Education Chairman. "The recent decision to give credit for Cambridge International AS and A Level examinations will encourage more students from both domestic and international schools to apply to Indiana colleges and universities and enable students to continue to strengthen communities here in our state." Cambridge International Advanced is part of an internationally benchmarked program that allows students to take college-level courses while in high school. Cambridge International uniquely provides an istructional system across four stages (Primary through Advanced) that aligns rigorous curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment for all students in grades K-12. Indiana is now one of the increasing number of states where all public institutions grant credit for Cambridge International AS and A Levels, including Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, and Virginia. Indiana's public institutions have joined more than 850 U.S. colleges and universities, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Duke University, New York University, University of Washington, and University of Virginia who now accept Cambridge exams for credit and/or placement.



From 2012-17, 265 U.S. Cambridge students enrolled at a public or private college or university in the state of Indiana. Fifty-eight percent of those students enrolled at an Indiana public two- or four-year college or university, with 42 percent enrolling at a private college or university. In addition, 12 private colleges and universities across the state of Indiana recognize Cambridge International AS and A Levels. With this new policy, these student numbers are sure to increase. "This recent decision provides well-prepared Indiana high school students with an incentive to stay in-state for college because they can now save time and money for their hard work in high school. This decision also allows out-of-state students to realize the same benefits when attending college in Indiana," said Mark Cavone, Cambridge International Regional Director, North America. "The Cambridge program provides academically rigorous curricula emphasizing critical thinking and produces well-rounded students that are prepared to excel at Indiana public institutions."

Each year, nearly 1 million students study in Cambridge programs worldwide, making more than 2 million exam entries. First introduced in the U.S. in 1995, the Cambridge International program has grown rapidly in popularity. Over the past decade, Cambridge Advanced exams in the U.S. have grown by over 200%. More Cambridge Advanced coursework and exams are now taken in the US than in any other country, and Cambridge International partners with schools across 35 states and the District of Columbia. About Cambridge International

Cambridge International prepares school students for life, helping them develop an informed curiosity and a lasting passion for learning. We are part of Cambridge Assessment, a department of the University of Cambridge. Our international qualifications are recognized by the world's best universities and employers, giving students a wide range of options in their education and career. As a not-for-profit organization, we devote our resources to delivering high-quality educational programs that can unlock learners' potential. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/indiana-public-colleges-and-universities-will-now-provide-academic-credit-for-cambridge-internationals-advanced-courses-301304409.html SOURCE Cambridge International

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Employee Benefits Veteran Paul Leblanc Joins Alliant

Longtime benefits consultant Paul Leblanc has joined Alliant as Executive Vice President, adding strength to its national Employee Benefits Group. The Northern California-based Leblanc will design and deploy strategic employee benefits solutions for a diverse client base. "Paul's vision, expertise, and depth of experience make him a powerful asset to clients across a broad range of industries and disciplines," said Bret Goodman, Executive Vice President and Senior Managing Director, Alliant Employee Benefits. "He is highly adept at delivering high-value solutions that enhance operational strength an drive measurable results in a highly competitive benefits landscape."



Leblanc is an industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience on the carrier, brokerage, and consulting sides of the employee benefits business. He is highly regarded for his ability to negotiate comprehensive contracts and financial terms and creates innovative solutions that maximize opportunity and success for his clients. Leblanc is a proven leader with extensive experience working with mid-to-large-sized employers across a broad range of industries and geographies. Prior to joining Alliant, Leblanc was Managing Director with a global insurance brokerage and advisory firm. He earned his bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of Denver.

Leblanc is based in the Walnut Creek, CA (News - Alert) office of Alliant and can be reached at (480) 286-8422 or at Paul.Leblanc@Alliant.com. About Alliant Insurance Services Alliant Insurance Services is one of the nation's leading distributors of diversified insurance products and services. We operate through a network of specialized national platforms and local offices to offer our clients a comprehensive portfolio of solutions built on innovative thinking and personal service. The business of managing risk is getting more complex, and Alliant is meeting this complexity head-on, not with more layers of management, but with more creativity and agility. Alliant is changing the way our clients approach risk management and benefits, so they can capitalize on new opportunities to grow and protect their organizations. Visit us at alliant.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005974/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] CURO Gives Back to the Frontline

CURO Group Holdings Corp. (NYSE: CURO) ("CURO" or the "Company"), a tech-enabled, multi-channel and multi-product consumer finance company serving a wide range of non-prime and prime consumers in the U.S. and Canada and a market leader in the industry based on revenue, today announced its more than $650,000 contribution to provide healthy, balanced meals to healthcare workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the U.S., CURO is proud to be the largest sponsor of Frontline Foods. In addition to supporting the city chapters with the greatest need, CURO launched the Frontline Foods Wichita chapter that has delivered more than 10,000 meals to local healthcare workers and first responders. In Canada, volunteers from Cash Moneyestablished their own Meals 2 Frontline program to deliver meals to healthcare workers across the greater Toronto area. To date, CURO has provided over 22,000 meals to workers in more than 70 different healthcare facilities in Ontario.



As part of the Meals 2 Frontline initiative, Cash Money covers the costs of all donated meals and coordinates deliveries each week between nine local restaurant partners and the healthcare facilities. Participating healthcare facilities now include rehabilitation centers, long term care facilities, and first responders, among others. Meals are always fully cooked and chilled so that recipients can enjoy whenever and however they like. "I am proud of our team members who work this program week in and week out with a sense of purpose and pride," said Bill Baker, President and Chief Operating Officer. "And thank you to all of our frontline workers for the heroics you show each and every day."

CURO's efforts to feed frontline workers will continue throughout 2021. To learn more about the Meals 2 Frontline initiative, visit their dedicated Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/meals2frontline. About CURO CURO Group Holdings Corp. (NYSE: CURO) serves the evolving needs of the financial consumer. In 1997, the Company was founded in Riverside, California by three Wichita, Kansas childhood friends to meet the growing consumer need for short-term loans. Their success led to opening stores across the United States, later expanding to offer online loans and financial services in the United States and Canada and now broadening into a full-spectrum consumer lender through the point-of-sale / buy-now-pay-later channel. CURO combines its market expertise with a fully integrated technology platforms, an omni-channel approach and advanced credit decisioning to provide an array of credit products across all mediums. CURO operates under a number of brands including Speedy Cash, Rapid Cash, Cash Money, LendDirect, Flexiti, Avio Credit, Opt+ and Revolve Finance. With over 20 years of operating experience, CURO provides financial freedom to non-prime consumers. (CURO-NWS) View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602005983/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Baseline Is A Pioneer In New EPA WaterSense Program

PETALUMA, Calif., June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- HydroPoint, the market and technology leader in smart water management, announced today that its Baseline brand has earned the EPA WaterSense label in the new category, Soil Moisture-Based Irrigation Controller, becoming the first irrigation controller manufacturer to achieve the distinction of this certification. "We are excited to be the first manufacturer to earn this certification," said Peter Carlson , CTO at HydroPoint To attain the EPA WaterSense label, the input from soil-moisture sensors must be able to consistently prevent or allow irrigation at a preset threshold. Manufacturers that produce soil-moisture based irrigation controllers meeting EPA's efficiency andperformance criteria can earn the WaterSense label. Baseline moisture sensors passed 100% of all moisture sensor tests, including all mandatory and supplemental capability requirements.



"We are excited to be the first manufacturer to earn this certification," said Peter Carlson, Chief Technology Officer at HydroPoint. "After being the first organization to pass the Irrigation Association's Smart Water Application Technologies (SWAT) protocol with a 100% perfect score back in 2006, HydroPoint continues to stay ahead of the curve with technology and innovation in the irrigation industry." Baseline has a long and successful history of working with the EPA to push the standards higher for green irrigation practices. Their soil moisture sensors use Time Domain Transmissometry (TDT) technology to measure volumetric changes to within 0.01% in the soil profile, and were the first sensor technology ever certified by the EPA. Baseline is currently the only irrigation controller manufacturer to be EPA certified for both soil moisture sensing automation and weather-based (ET) automation.

Customers rely on Baseline for both hardware and data capabilities, utilizing the best technology to capture real-time data for even the most complex irrigation site. HydroPoint is the proven leader in smart water management solutions. Its WeatherTRAK, Baseline, and WaterCompass product lines help companies maximize water savings, reduce operating costs, minimize business risks, and achieve sustainability goals. An EPA WaterSense Partner of the Year, HydroPoint combines IoT technology, data analytics, and automation to optimize irrigation, flow management, and leak detection. Its solutions deliver visibility and control to commercial, government, education, and community sites. Located in the San Francisco North Bay since 2002, HydroPoint helps to reduce the world's water waste by making the best and most efficient use of our most important resource. Contact:

Meg Mason

Senior Director of Marketing, HydroPoint

mmason@hydropoint.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/baseline-is-a-pioneer-in-new-epa-watersense-program-301304535.html SOURCE Hydropoint Data Systems Inc.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Graf Acquisition Corp. IV Announces Closing of Underwriters' Over-Allotment Option in Connection with its Initial Public Offering

Graf Acquisition Corp. IV (NYSE: GFOR) (the "Company") today announced the closing of the issuance of an additional 2,161,500 units pursuant to the partial exercise of the underwriters' over-allotment option in connection with the Company's initial public offering, representing 96.1% of the total over-allotment option. The additional units were sold at the initial offering price of $10.00 per unit, generating additional gross proceeds of $21,615,000 to the Company and bringing the total gross proceeds of the initial public offering to $171,615,000. Led by James Graf, Gus Garcia, Lewis Silberman, Anantha Ramamurti, Anthony Kuznik and Sabrina McKee, the Company expects to focus on all industries that meet its business combination criteria and that leverages the management team's relationships, experience and insight, including without limitation, targets in industries such as mobility, technology, transportation, new energy, software, infrastructure, consumer, defense and cybersecurity, business and real estate services, financial and data services, healthcare, diversified industrial manufacturing, technology, distribution and services, as well as companies that help to address evolving environmental, social and governance ("ESG") related issues. J.P. Morgan and Oppenheimer & Co. acted as book-running managers for the offering



The offering was made only by means of a prospectus. copies of the prospectus relating to this offering may be obtained from J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Attn: Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717 (telephone: 1-866-803-9204), or by email at prospectus-eq_fi@jpmchase.com and Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Attn: Syndicate Prospectus Department, 85 Broad Street, 26th Floor, New York, NY 10004, or by calling (212) 667-8055, or by emailing EquityProspectus@opco.com. A registration statement relating to these securities was declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the " SEC (News - Alert) ") on May 20, 2021. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

Forward Looking-Statements This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements," including with respect to the initial public offering and search for an initial business combination. No assurance can be given that the proceeds of the offering will be used as indicated. Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous conditions, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, including those set forth in the Risk Factors section of the Company's registration statement and prospectus for the initial public offering filed with the SEC. Copies are available on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release, except as required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602006046/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Air Lease Corporation Announces Delivery of New Boeing 737-9 Aircraft to Aeromexico

Today Air Lease Corporation (NYSE: AL) announced the delivery of one new Boeing (News - Alert) 737-9 aircraft on long-term lease to Aeromexico. This is the first of four new Boeing 737-9s Aeromexico has committed to lease long-term from ALC. "ALC is pleased to deliver this new 737-9 aircraft to our long-term customer, Aeromexico, today," said Steven Udvar-Hazy, Executive Chairman of Air Lease Corporation. "This new technology 737-9 from ALC will play a key role in Aeromexico's route network and overall fleet operations." Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including expected delivery dates. Such statements are based on current expectations and projections about our future results, prospects and opportunities and are not guarantees of future performance. Such statements will not be updated unless required by law. Actual results and performance may differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. About Air Lease Corporation (NYSE: AL)



ALC is a leading aircraft leasing company based in Los Angeles, California that has airline customers throughout the world. ALC and its team of dedicated and experienced professionals are principally engaged in purchasing commercial aircraft and leasing them to its airline customers worldwide through customized aircraft leasing and financing solutions. ALC routinely posts information that may be important to investors in the "Investors" section of ALC's website at www.airleasecorp.com. Investors and potential investors are encouraged to consult the ALC website regularly for important information about ALC. The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, ALC's website is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this press release. About Grupo Aeromexico

Grupo Aeromexico, S.A.B. de C.V. is a holding company whose subsidiaries are engaged in commercial aviation in Mexico and the promotion of passenger loyalty programs. Aeromexico, Mexico's global airline has its main hub at Terminal 2 at the Mexico City International Airport. Its destinations network features the United States, Canada, Central America, South America, Asia and Europe. The Group's operating fleet is comprised of Boeing 787 and 737 jet airliners and Embraer 190 models. Aeromexico is a founding member of the SkyTeam airline alliance, which celebrated its 20th anniversary, and serves in 170 countries by the 19 SkyTeam airline partners. Aeromexico created the Health and Sanitization Management System (HSMS) to protect its clients and employees at all stages of its operation. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602006064/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Global Metrology Software Market Report 2021-2029: Demand for Portable CMM (Coordinate Measuring Machine) Software & Growing Acceptance for Point Cloud Capabilities

DUBLIN, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Metrology Software Market Size, Market Share, Application Analysis, Regional Outlook, Growth Trends, Key Players, Competitive Strategies and Forecasts, 2021 to 2029" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This report analyzes the global metrology software market in terms of end-use application and geography. On the basis of end-use application, the market for metrology software is further classified into industrial manufacturing, automotive, electrical and electronics, aerospace, and energy and power, and healthcare among others. Demand for portable CMM (Coordinate Measuring Machine) software, growing acceptance for point cloud capabilities, and drive towards precision engineering are collectively driving adoption of metrology software solutions across the globe. In addition, their ability to integrate multiple functions within a single unit, thereby making device compact has further fueled market momentum in different verticals. The growing trend towards complete automation of manufacturing facilities is instrumental in driving adoption of metrology equipment and software solutions in the industrial segment. Industry verticals including automotive, electrical and electronics, pharmaceuticals, and aerospace are all expected to register strong growth over the forecast period 2021 - 2029. The need for accurate measurements in the manufacture of components in automobiles and aircrafts bodes well for the market growth in automobile and aerospace segments. Similarly, compliance with the enacted government regulations and standards supporting safety and reliability necessitates consumr electronics manufacturers to focus on precision and accuracy while manufacturing. This, in turn has had positive impact on the overall demand for metrology software solutions.



In the base year of 2020, North America dominated the world metrology software market followed by Europe and Asia Pacific respectively. The U.S. is the largest and the most attractive metrology software market worldwide. The trend is expected to prolong and the region (North America) is estimated to witness healthy growth during the forecast period 2021 - 2029. High technology acceptance across key end-use verticals such as automotive and aerospace is instrumental in fueling market demand in the region. Over the forecast period 2021 - 2029, the region is expected to remain the largest metrology software market worldwide.

On the other hand, Asia Pacific is poised to exhibit robust growth, outpacing North America and Europe during the forecast period 2021 - 2029. The anticipated growth is primarily expected to come from the growing industrial sector in the region. China and India are slated to become the most lucrative metrology software market worldwide by 2029.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Preface



2. Executive Summary

2.1. Global Metrology Software Market Snapshot



3. Global Metrology Software Market Analysis

3.1. Global Metrology Software Market Overview

3.2. Market Inclination Insights

3.3. Market Dynamics

3.4. See-Saw Analysis

3.5. Attractive Investment Proposition

3.6. Porters Five Force Analysis

3.7. Market Positioning of Key Industry Participants



4. Global Metrology Software Market Revenue, By End-use Application, 2019 - 2029 (US$ Mn)

4.1. Tornado Analysis

4.2. Industrial Manufacturing

4.3. Automotive

4.4. Electrical and Electronics

4.5. Aerospace

4.6. Energy and Power

4.7. Others (Healthcare, etc.)



5. Global Metrology Software Market Revenue, By Geography, 2019 - 2029 (US$ Mn)



6. North America Metrology Software Market Analysis, 2019 - 2029 (US$ Mn)



7. Europe Metrology Software Market Analysis, 2019 - 2029 (US$ Mn)



8. Asia Pacific Metrology Software Market Analysis, 2019 - 2029 (US$ Mn)



9. Rest of World Metrology Software Market Analysis, 2019 - 2029 (US$ Mn)



10. Company Profiles Renishaw Plc

Carl Zeiss AG

AICON 3D Systems GmbH

3D Systems Corporation

Faro Technologies Inc.

Konica Minolta Sensing Inc.

Innovative Metrology Solutions

Kotem Technologies Inc.

Micro-Vu Corporation

Metrologic Group SA

GE Measurements & Control Solutions

Verisurf Software Inc.

Rudolph Technologies Inc. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/5nv66f Media Contact: Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior 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



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-metrology-software-market-report-2021-2029-demand-for-portable-cmm-coordinate-measuring-machine-software--growing-acceptance-for-point-cloud-capabilities-301304250.html SOURCE Research and Markets

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 02, 2021] Stemming from SEC Guidance Concerning Balance Sheet Treatment of Warrants, Arctos NorthStar Acquisition Corp. Announces Receipt of NYSE Continued Listing Standard Notice

Arctos NorthStar Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: ANAC) (the "Company") today announced that it received a formal notice of non-compliance from the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") relating to the Company's failure to timely file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 (the "Form 10-Q") as required under the timely filing criteria established in Section 802.01E of the NYSE Listed Company Manual. On April 12, 2021, the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (" SEC (News - Alert) ") issued "Staff Statement on Accounting and Reporting Considerations for Warrants Issued by Special Purpose Acquisition Companies ("SPACs")" (the "Statement"), which clarified guidance for all SPAC-related companies regarding the accounting and reporting for their warrants. The immediacy of the effective date of the new guidance set forth in the Statement has resulted in a significant number of SPACs re-evaluating the accounting treatment for their warrants with their professional advisors, including auditors and other advisors responsible for assisting SPACs in the preparation of financial statements. This, in turn, has resulted in the Company's delay in preparing and finalizing its financial statements as of and for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 and filing its Form 10-Q with the SEC by the prescribed deadline.



Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are subject to the safe harbor created thereby. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "could," "would," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "intend," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "outlook," "guidance" or the negative of those terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of the Company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The above statements regarding the impact of the Statement on the Company's financial statements, as well as the effect of the revision on any periodic SEC filings, including the timing of filing the Form 10-Q, constitute forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's current expectations. Because these forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, there are important factors that could cause future events to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, many of which are outside of the Company's control. These factors include, but are not limited to, a variety of risk factors affecting the Company's business and prospects, see the section titled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Prospectus filed with the SEC on February 24, 2021 and subsequent reports filed with the SEC, as amended from time to time. Any forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, 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. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210602006088/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Actually, this town's Pride Fest isn't going to happen until August and local festivities are still hampered by COVID precautions.



Nevertheless, here's a quick peek at the slate this month . . .

Get out and celebrate Pride month at these KC events Photo by Mercedes Mehling June is Pride month! Here is an ever-changing list of events happening this month in Kansas City to help you celebrate. If you have Pride events you want to share with us, let us know at tips@thepitchkc.com.

Kansas City embraces start of Pride Month For Kale Van Leeuwen, the artist who painted the Pride mural at the Country Club Plaza, and for others who identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community, it's not just a flag - it's a welcome sign for acceptance and safety. June is Pride Month for the LGBTQ+ community.

Biden hits back at states targeting trans youth in Pride Month proclamation President Biden recognized June as Pride Month in a proclamation on Tuesday, while pushing for LGBTQ equality and calling out some states for targeting trans youth in "discriminatory bills." Why it matters: The White House has repeatedly deferred to the Justice Department on whether it will take action against a record number of bills targeting trans youth introduced by Republican lawmakers.

Developing . . .
A debate rages in one of this town's more popular social media groups.



This bit of public info is what started it . . .



"Around 8:00am this morning my girlfriend was walking our dog (around 85th and Madison) when a black man, late twenties/early thirties pulled up in a dark colored compact car and exposed himself while asking for directions. She was pretty shook and unable to get his license plate as she just wanted to get home safely.



"Please be careful this morning. If anyone has any info, or footage from a ring doorbell it would be greatly appreciated. I can't believe this happened right where we live."

Almost immediately there was push back . . .



"Thats terrible. Buuuuut, How is his race relevant, considering your post does not include a description of this guy other than race.....?"

The group was mostly supportive but this observation struck me as funny . . .



"The victim can't give a description of the color the perpetrators pants if he isn't wearing any."



More importantly . . .

Police have warned about a flasher stalking this part of town and from what we can glean from hundreds of comments . . . His antics are far more widespread than initially reported.



Accordingly . . .

We hope this info helps our friends in this part of town stay safe from a prolific Kansas City creeper who has reportedly ramped up his nasty, unwanted public exhibitionism.



Developing . . .


Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-03 02:07:45|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

by Betty L. Martin

HOUSTON, June 2 (Xinhua) -- In early May, U.S. President Joe Biden announced his goal to administer at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to 70 percent of American adults by the Fourth of July. His plan could be more completely realized if hold-outs -- those who currently refuse to get the shots -- would agree to roll up their sleeves, with or without state incentives increasingly being offered to the newly vaccinated.

The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has been tracking the public's attitudes and experiences with COVID-19 vaccinations using a combination of surveys and qualitative research. Its May COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor showed continued steady progress in vaccine uptake, with 62 percent of U.S. adults saying they have got at least one dose of a vaccine and the share saying they will "wait and see" down slightly from 15 to 12 percent.

However, researchers also found that the shares saying they will get a vaccine "only if required" for work or other activities, or will "definitely not" get vaccinated remain essentially unchanged since January.

Special efforts have been undertaken to sway some hesitant or otherwise hard-to-vaccinate populations such as Black, Hispanic, homebound or homeless people. Few -- if any -- initiatives have been directed at the federal or state levels to reach out to the Republicans who have declined the vaccine.

KFF found that after increasing somewhat in the past months, vaccine enthusiasm seems to have stalled among Republicans, with 27 percent saying they will definitely not get vaccinated, the highest percentage found in the surveyed subgroups.

In the southern Republican state of Texas where everyone ages 12 and older are eligible to receive one of the COVID-19 vaccines, over 12 million, or about 53 percent of its population, have received at least one shot so far.

Currently, Texas is receiving doses of the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines for distribution statewide to hospitals and free-standing emergency rooms, pharmacies, health department and clinics.

"The Department of State Health Services is partnering with vaccine providers across the state to ensure the vaccine will be accessible to all Texans at no cost," Douglas Loveday, press officer for the Texas Department of State Health Services, told Xinhua.

"We don't collect data on the number of people who decline to be vaccinated. Our communication efforts (and) federal and local partners continue to focus on the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines to significantly reduce the risk of infection and severe illness."

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services keeps the estimated number of Texans hesitant about receiving the vaccine at 10-15 percent.

The department shows Arkansas, another southern Republican state, lagging with 15-25 percent of its population hesitant about getting vaccinated against the pandemic. Arkansas is therefore offering incentives for those being vaccinated after May 26. The incentives include a 20 U.S. dollar scratch-off lottery ticket.

According to the department, the hesitancy rate in Wyoming, a Midwest Republican state, is even higher at 25-30 percent.

Experts estimate that between 70 and 90 percent of the entire population needs to be resistant to the virus in order to reach herd immunity. This is complicated, however, by people who may be immune due to past coronavirus infections. At the current pace of vaccinations, herd immunity could be reached between July and September.

New guidelines released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in May stated that people who are fully vaccinated can gather indoors with others without wearing masks.

The new guidelines are being greeted by Americans as proof that the end of the pandemic is near, but virus experts are taking a more cautious view, particularly with so many vaccine holdouts who do not seem eager to replace their points of view for state-sanctioned incentives or even life-giving immunizations. Enditem
Right now we're impressed with hottie Miley's marketing skills as we check pop culture, community news and top headlines for the midday.

Check-it . . .

Kansas City Books Reopened

Kansas City Public Library fully reopens to public after COVID-19 shutdown The Kansas City Public Library fully reopened to the public Tuesday.Patrons can once again browse the collections and touch the books."People miss being able to just bring their kids here for an hour on a rainy day or a day that's too hot.

Bullet Train Restarted

Amtrak's Kansas City to St Louis 'River Runner' to resume twice daily service KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Riders taking Amtrak's River Runner service from Kansas City to St. Louis will soon have more options. In March 2020 , the slowdown in travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic forced Amtrak and the Missouri Department of Transportation to scale back the service to once per day.

The Dotte Hits 100K Vaxxed

Wyandotte County health care workers set to administer their 100,000th vaccine dose IT IS A BIG ROUND NUMBER THAT'S FOR SURE FOR WYANDOTTE COUNTY SHOT NUMBER 100,000 IN A ARM AT A VACCINE CLINIC THIS MORNING. SO THIS IS QUITE A MILESTONE BUT HOISW T COUHENTY DOING FROM THE BROADER POINT OF VIEW? FOINRMATION SAYS ALMOST A THIRD OF PEOPLE IN WYANDOTTE COUNTY HAVE RECEIVED POLICE WINDOWS OF THE VACCINE.

Miley Savors Promo

Miley Cyrus reveals that this is the one pleasure that she can't live without Miley Cyrus has never shied away from self-expression and in a recent conversation with Magnum Ice Cream, ahead of her free, virtual, worldwide concert experience, called Miley in Layers, the pop culture icon peeled back the many layers of her life.

NO PAYBACK!!!

Biden privately tells lawmakers not to expect much on reparations legislation As a candidate, Biden said he supported a commission on reparations. But the administration has yet to endorse the actual bill. After his speech Tuesday, the president met with the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who brought up the need for H.R.

Stimmy Runs Out Soon

3.7 million Americans set to lose unemployment benefits early as 25 states exit federal programs Around 3.7 million Americans will be affected by states' early withdrawal from federal unemployment programs, according to a CNBC analysis of Labor Department data. In the past month, 25 states have announced plans to end pandemic-era benefits ahead of their formal expiration Sept. 6. Some states are ending the aid as early as June 12.

GOP Cancels Debate Already?!?

RNC threatens Republicans will boycott 2024 presidential debates unless changes are made WASHINGTON - The next presidential election is almost three and a half years away, and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is already warning that her party's nominee may not participate in debates. McDaniel told the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has staged debates since 1988, in a three-page letter that it "no longer provides the fair and impartial forum" that "the American people deserve."

Doctors Notes Exposed

'Our society is really totally nuts,' Fauci wrote in emails now made public; New Mexico offers $5M vaccination prize: Latest COVID updates Emails sent by Dr. Anthony Fauci in the early days of the pandemic reflect the thoughts of a patient but weary man who is flabbergasted by his overnight celebrity. Hundreds of emails were obtained by The Washington Post and other media organizations through Freedom of Information Act requests.

Future Blogger Created

Man-monkey hybrid sparks fears of 'Frankenstein' creatures Researchers conducting human-animal hybrid experiments struck fear into federal lawmakers worried that nightmare scenarios of Frankenstein creatures have become a reality. Earlier this year, researchers announced a blending of man and monkey. The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, said in April that it participated with a China-led research team in an experiment by injecting human stem cells into monkey embryos.

Kansas Rep. Book Celebrated

Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids pens children's book highlighting Native American heritage KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas Congresswoman Sharice Davids can add another title to her name: children's book author. "Sharice's Big Voice: A Native Kid Becomes A Congresswoman" was released June 1. The book tells the story of Davids' experience growing up as the child of a single mother, working during school, and finally running for congress.

Growing JoCo Frustration

Online petition calls on Overland Park to move farmers market back to downtown pavilion A group of business owners in downtown Overland Park, Kansas, have started an online petition asking the city to move the farmers market back to its permanent home under a pavilion at 8101 Marty St. in the heart of the city's downtown sooner than planned.

Bright Days Ahead

Sun sticking around through weekend for KC ARE AND IF YOU'RE A RESIDT.EN EVERYTHING IS COMING TOGHEETR AS MORE POOLS ARE OPENING. THE RAIN IS SUBSIDING FOR NOW.

Beach Bunny - Cloud 9 (feat. Tegan and Sara) is the song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now.

Even better . . .

THANKS TO MORE THAN 100 TKC COMMUNIQUE SUBSCRIBERS ON DAY ONE!!! CHECK THE LATEST UPDATE!!!

Developing . . .
Two days after everybody else, this town's so-called paper-of-record "reports" on Twitter drama.

Their take, of course, blames white people for the imaginary crisis . . .

Kansas City Kimmy Schmidt star no KKK queen, but her story is about systemic racism

Newspaper money line . . .

"Ellie Kemper is the daughter of David Woods Kemper and great-great-granddaughter of William Thornton Kemper Sr.  as in Kemper Arena, Kemper Bancshares, United Missouri Bank. Her journey to an honor from one of Missouris oldest and most furtive social clubs isnt even a remote possibility for the vast majority of us, least of all those who are Black. African Americans make up 13.4% of the population, but own only 4% of the wealth. White Americans are 60% of us, and hold 84% of our wealth. Since they were freed from slavery, Black Americans have been systematically shorted in education, real estate, banking and more. The privileged have a vested interest in keeping us in the dark about that history."

Of course none of that really makes sense when it comes to hating on Kimmy Schmidt but it isn't any more paradoxical than expecting people to actually pay for day old dead-tree garbage.

Here's better info without a paywall or dead-tree media entitlement . . .

Why Ellie Kemper is facing controversy over past involvement with the Veiled Prophet Ball Old photos of actress Ellie Kemper, who rose to fame in roles in "The Office" and "Bridesmaids" before starring in the Netflix series "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," resurfaced over Memorial Day weekend and ignited controversy for her involvement with a St. Louis organization that historically celebrated the wealthy white elite while excluding Black members.

Oh great, Ellie Kemper is yet another rich white lady with a racist past You may have noticed Ellie Kemper was trending on Twitter. She's not dead. So she must've done something really amazing, right? Wrong! Turns out Kimmy Schmidt isn't as inoffensive as she seems. A picture began circulating on Twitter showing Kemper as the Queen Of Love And Beauty at the Fair Saint Louis in 1999.

Unpacking The Twitter Storm Over Ellie Kemper's Old Debutante Crown Actor Ellie Kemper came under scrutiny this week after Twitter users homed in on a 20-year-old story about her participation at a debutante ball for the St. Louis elite.

Actor Ellie Kemper Is Under Fire After Photos Of Her Being Crowned Queen Of A "Racist And Elitist" Ball Resurfaced Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt actor Ellie Kemper came under fire over the Memorial Day weekend after photos resurfaced online of her participating as a beauty queen in an organization that had historically excluded Black and Jewish people. Kemper was crowned the "Veiled Prophet Queen of Love and Beauty" at a 1999 ball in St.

Actually, Youtube newsie Phil DeFranco did the best job of explaining the Internets controversy yesterday.

TKC reader update . . . Let's not forget that the Kemper Clan was called out for locking up immigrant youngsters during the Prez Trump years. The practice actually preceded the MAGA ruler courtesy of the Obama administration and persists to this day under the watch of team Biden/Harris . . .

The Museum Trustee Behind a $130 Million Lawsuit to Keep ICE Detainees in Prison Since March of this year, activists have been calling on the Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to end its policy of housing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees. In April, the controversy around the facility escalated into a lawsuit that involves one of Kansas City's wealthiest art world scions.

You decide . . .
Spanish travel agents visiting and exploring Cappadocia, one of the leading tourist destinations of Turkey, said they will contribute to the tourism potential of the region by acting as voluntary promotion ambassadors of Turkey in their countries.

Tourism sector representatives rolled up sleeves to promote tourism in Turkey and invited representatives of the leading travel agencies of Spain to discover the historical, cultural and natural beauties of Cappadocia, Pamukkale and Kusadasi.

Visiting historical churches, chapels, monasteries and museums as well as the widely-popular chimneys and valleys covered with natural rock formations in Cappadocia, the Spanish delegation comprising 40 people admired the region.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Maria Jose Usero Vladivia, a travel agency owner in Spain, said Turkey's COVID-19 measures are top-notch, adding that those making vacation plans are enthusiastic about traveling to Turkey.

The measures taken in Turkey against COVID-19 are very good. ...We convey this safe environment to our people and our collaborators in the field of tourism," Vladivia added.

Another travel agent, Miguel Angel Crespo, said their visit to Turkey was not only to bring Spanish tourists but all European travel enthusiasts.

We will recommend Turkey to our colleagues and our people, he said, adding: The truth is that Turkey is a very safe travel destination for travel enthusiasts. Turkey is a very beautiful country. I believe that Turkey's most important jewel is Cappadocia."

Image Credit:  AA
Bunk Tribe Holidays Pvt Ltd has organized the exclusive trip to the seven wonders of the world for 20 days 19 nights. So Join and experience the exclusive tour with Bunk Tribe and making it a journey to never forget.



(TRAVPR.COM) INDIA - June 1st, 2021 - Forgotten cities, ancient relics, and gigantic monuments are just a few ways to describe the Seven New Wonders of the World. Set in the jungles, mountains, and large cities, each are wondrous in their own way and attract millions of visitors each year.



As these attractions might be on the top of everyone's travel bucket list, so Bunk Tribe Holidays Pvt Ltd, a Tour Operator has organized the exclusive trip to the seven wonders of the world on 07 April 2022.

Agra: The Taj Mahal

The Crown Jewel of India was built in the mid-1600s for the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, on the south bank of the Yamuna river. It has a sad story to tell: it was built in memory of Shah Jahans beloved second wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

The Great Wall of China

This imposing structure covers an incredible 6700km and was built over 2000 years ago to protect the Chinese states and empires from marauders from the North. The wall itself is a stunning architectural feat and fits seamlessly into Chinas rugged, lush-green landscape.

Rome: The Colosseum

The Colosseum is the worlds largest amphitheater, built over 1,900 years ago to host gladiatorial contests, executions, animal hunts, and other gruesome spectacles. Even in its crumbling state, the Colosseum is a fearsome site to behold.



Jordan: Petra

Amongst the mountains of the Arabah valley in southern Jordan lies the ancient Rose City of Petra. Much of the architecture is carved into the awesome mountainous rose-colored rock.

Mexico: Chichen Itza

This was once one of the largest Mayan cities and contains a myriad of architectural styles, representing its diverse population during the period. The towering pyramid has 365 steps over four sides, depicting the solar year.

Brazil: Christ The Redeemer

This is the youngest of the Seven Wonders, the monumental statue of Christ the Redeemer. Constructed between 1922 and 1931, the statue is 30 meters high and was almost entirely funded by donations by Brazilian Catholics.

Peru: Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is one of the worlds most famous archaeological sites: a 15th Inca century citadel built on the mountain summit above the Sacred Valley.

So get ready to explore and experience the 20 days 19 days exclusive tour with Bunk Tribe and Making it a Journey to Never Forget. The trip will start from 07-April-2022 to 26-April-2022.



This Tour includes: Pick & Drop from Home, All Air Fare (Economy Class), Visa & Permit, 3 or 4 Star Hotels, All Meals, Complete Sight Seeing, Monument Entry Fee. Seven wonders of the world have everything to offer which will make this journey memorable for a lifetime.

Only 20 Travellers in this Group. Cost of this Trip:  7,25,000/- per Person Or Book Now by Paying Only 75,000/- per Person and Pay The Remaining Amount on or before 1st Feb 2022.



For more information, Please visit- www.bunktribe.com or contact +91  8860 677 679.

###
@IsaacAvilucea on Twitter

Isaac Avilucea is The Trentonians main municipal scribe. A two-time prior restraint winner and testicular cancer survivor, he relishes his reputation as the "Mean Girls" reporter that followed his 18-day stay at the now-defunct North Adams Transcript.
L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist. Find him on Twitter @LAParker6 or email him at LAParker@Trentonian.com.
Johnstown, PA (15901)

Today

Thunderstorms. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 81F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening, then partly cloudy overnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-03 02:31:39|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that China stands ready to work with the Dominican Republic to steer their relationship towards greater development and continuously lift it to higher levels.

Xi made the remarks in a telephone conversation with Luis Abinader, president of the Dominican Republic.

Noting that since the two countries established diplomatic ties, the Dominican Republic has firmly adhered to the one-China policy and made relations with China a priority in foreign policy, Xi said China highly appreciates that.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two countries have stood together and supported each other, Xi said, adding that China will continue to provide as much support as it can for the Dominican Republic's fight against the coronavirus.

China, he said, is confident that under Abinader's leadership, the Dominican Republic will defeat the pandemic at an early date.

Noting that the Communist Party of China (CPC) will soon celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding, Xi stressed that putting people first is the CPC's fundamental political principle, which highly dovetails with the "people first" governing philosophy advocated by the Dominican Republic.

China is ready to work with the Dominican Republic to strengthen exchanges on governing philosophies, deepen political mutual trust and promote common development, Xi said.

This year marks the first year of China's 14th Five-Year Plan, Xi said, adding that as China is expanding its opening-up at a higher level, it will create more opportunities for bilateral cooperation.

He added that China welcomes imports of specialty agro-products from the Dominican Republic, and supports Chinese enterprises in investing and launching business in the Dominican Republic.

China, he said, stands ready to step up coordination and cooperation with the Dominican Republic on international and regional issues, and jointly safeguard international fairness and justice as well as the rights and interests of developing countries.

Xi also expressed the hope that the Dominican Republic will play a positive role in promoting relations between China and the Caribbean and Central American countries as well as overall cooperation between China and Latin America.

For his part, Abinader extended sincere congratulations on the CPC's upcoming centenary.

He said his country is genuinely grateful for the medical supplies and vaccines provided by China, which have played a key role in the country's fight against COVID-19.

The Dominican Republic, he added, sticks firmly to the one-China policy, and stands ready to enhance exchanges with China and expand bilateral cooperation in economy, trade and other fields. Enditem
Stay up to date on COVID-19

Get Breaking News

Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox.

Sponsored By: Dorsett Automotive
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-03 03:36:18|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

KHARTOUM, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda on Wednesday urged the Sudanese government to hand over those accused of committing war crimes in Darfur to the ICC.

Bensouda made the demand at a press conference in Sudan's capital Khartoum after concluding a visit to Darfur. A team of the ICC investigators would arrive in Sudan in the coming period to collect further field evidences, she said.

Bensouda further urged the victims to communicate and cooperate with the ICC investigators when they come to Sudan, stressing protection for the witnesses who testify before the court.

During 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012, the ICC issued arrest warrants against former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, former defense minister Abdul-Rahim Mohamed Hussein, former interior minister Ahmed Mohamed Haroun and around 21 other government officials for allegedly committing genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region.

The transitional authorities in Sudan, which were established after the ouster of al-Bashir in April 2019, have earlier expressed readiness to cooperate with the ICC regarding the file of the suspects of committing crimes in Darfur, which has been suffering from a civil war since 2003.

Khartoum is considering three options to try the suspects of committing crimes in Darfur, including establishing a special court, a hybrid court of the government and the ICC or handing them to the ICC. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-03 04:11:25|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

UNITED NATIONS, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi rebels appear to reject pleas to guarantee the safety of a UN team to inspect the rusting, abandoned tanker Safer, threatening to leak 1.1 million barrels of oil, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday.

Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said a statement from the rebels is disappointing because "it would seem to confirm that Ansar Allah is not ready to provide the assurances the UN needs to deploy a UN mission to the Safer tanker."

The Houthis are also known as Ansar Allah.

The world organization seeks to inspect the 362-meter tanker, formerly known as Esso Japan, serving as a floating storage tank, off Hodeidah, on Yemen's West Coast. The team would assess the ship's condition and carry out emergency repairs to prevent leaking of its cargo.

Dujarric said the Houthis' focus in negotiations appears to be thorough maintenance of the 45-year old vessel.

"We have explained many times that this cannot be undertaken without an impartial assessment in hand," he told reporters during a regular briefing. "The tanker is a dangerous site, and we need to understand exactly what we're dealing with before undertaking any major works."

"We've had very intensive discussions on this with Ansar Allah over the last 10 days trying to bridge the gaps in objectives and understandings," the spokesman said.

Member states of the United Nations also stepped in to speak directly with the rebels in control of the tanker in hopes of reaching an agreement, he said, adding that while it was helpful, "We're not there yet, which is very unfortunate."

An oil spill would have a devastating effect on the Red Sea region, said Dujarric.

The United Nations is committed to continuing discussions, he said.

The issues related to the tanker will be discussed by the Security Council on Thursday. Enditem
Are you resident in the UK or Lebanon? Spain has an FCDO advisory against all but essential travel so if you're resident in the UK with UK travel insurance it would likely be invalid if you travel to Spain (except the Canary Islands). If you're resident in the Lebanon you wouldn't be allowed to enter.

As I understand it if you are resident in the UK then you can enter Spain, but unless you're arriving from the UK you would need a negative PCR, LAMP or TMA to enter.

If you flew into the UK and straight back you may need to declare that on the FCS Health Form. I don't know what the FCS form asks, but it could be that because you've been outside the UK for more than 14 days and in one of the "risk" countries that you would still need a negative test.
Thundercat - I really can't do 9 nights in Phu Quoc, there is just really not much going on there. I had planned to do some sightseeing on our own in Ho Chi Minh since we're in walking distance to several major tourist spots, I had a photography tour scheduled just for myself the first morning while the guys slept in, a Mekong Delta tour by speedboat and the cu chi tunnels I was afraid we might have to do by boat as well because two of the boys get very carsick and I don't want to have to give them pills to make them both tired and hot (not a good combo!) And the youngest had ADHD so best to not keep him stuck on a crowded bus for 4 hours in addition to the tour.

Really, in Ho Chi Minh is where we had the most planned to do until we did a private boat tour in Phu Quoc. The boys just started getting into snorkeling in Thailand and I've read that the cheap tours don't take you out to the better snorkeling spots. I wanted them to have a better experience and for my youngest not to disrupt anyone elses fun. This is why I pay less for a place to sleep so that I can put the money towards things that matter more to us so when we get a really unexpected huge fee to enter there country, it gets us good. It's just not the same situation if it were just myself and my husband.

According to the to the airlines I've spoken to, I have no choice but to pay the visa unless my original united airlines ticket is booked all the way through Phu Quoc. I've been emailing everyone...
Instant unlimited access to all of our content on triplicate.com.

The Triplicate's E-Edition Newsletter emailed to you each week, the night before the paper hits the street!

This subscription is for NEW or RENEWING online subscribers.

(The charge will appear as "Country Media Inc." on your credit card statement)


South Africa: KZN emerging companies to benefit from infrastructure projects

KwaZulu-Natal Public Works MEC Jomo Sibiya, has assured local emerging companies in the construction sector that they will benefit from projects implemented by the department.

Sibiya made the commitment during an oversight visit to GJ Crookes Hospital at Scottburgh on Tuesday. This as members of the Portfolio Committee on Public Works visited the hospital to monitor the refurbishment of the facility.

An amount of R60 million has been budgeted for the refurbishment.

The refurbishment of the hospital has created more than 54 jobs in various categories, including plumbers, brick-layers, carpenters, general labourers and drivers.

Sibiya emphasised that local emerging contractors, especially those who were previously marginalised, must benefit from all government infrastructure projects.

As the Department of Public Works, we wish to assure the committee, leaders of society and community members in various corners of the province that I am personally taking up the matter of localisation.

We want to ensure that during the construction and refurbishment of public health institutions, emerging Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) in the construction sector at local level benefit from projects implemented by the Department of Public Works on behalf of government departments, Sibiya said.

The MEC was pleased with the speed and efficiency in delivering social infrastructure projects that will ensure the provision of quality healthcare.

He said the work at the hospital is a clear demonstration of the ability to deliver all infrastructure projects on time, and within budget.

Sibiya also acknowledged the weaknesses around the contractor development programme, due to regulations under COVID-19 alert levels.

The sourcing of building material and equipment from local suppliers, especially for mechanical and electrical works was also challenging. This is the matter which we have offered to focus on, working with Mdoni Local Municipality as we move forward, Sibiya said.

Eyesizwe Contractor Development Programme (ECDP)

The MEC said the inclusion of local contractors in the database under the Eyesizwe Contractor Development Programme (ECDP) would ensure the development, nurturing of local talent and ultimately job creation at local level.

The programme is led and facilitated by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Public Works as a means to implement successful Contractor Development Programmes (CDPs) within the province.

ECDP aims to increase and promote capacity, equity ownership, skills improvement, maintenance of capital works, sustainability and performance of registered and emerging contractors, with preference given to youth, women and persons with disabilities, and military veterans registered on the National Military Veterans database.

Sibiya said the department has also taken a firm position to be an integral part of enhancement of industrial development, through the stimulation of construction and manufacturing sectors.

This is fundamental towards the creation of employment, economic growth in the province, as guided by the Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan announced by Premier Sihle Zikalala.

We remain determined to ensure to build local economies in order to defeat poverty and underdevelopment. We will achieve this by improving the social infrastructure such as construction of schools, public health facilities and other social infrastructure, Sibiya said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-06-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Bookstore with lending service comes to Shanghai

By:Zhao Chunyuan | From:english.eastday.com | 2021-06-02 13:47

If there were a bookstore where books can either be borrowed or bought, coffee is available, and various salons and lectures are held, would you be tempted to visit it? After a years preparation, recently, the bookstore "Will Commune" has officially opened on the 4th floor of Shanghai Super Brand Mall, fulfilling that temptation.





The flagship shop of "Will Commune" in Shanghai is not the first shop they've opened, but it has probably been the most challenging one since the bookstore brand started. After 300 days of planning and preparation, and 26 days of trial and adjustment, the Shanghai flagship shop was opened. To meet the needs of Shanghai readers for art, fashion and design issues, the team has carefully introduced over 500 art and design titles.

The bookstore has also partnered with BPG Artmedia, one of the leading professional art publishers in China, to present "A Feast for the Eyes" in the exhibition space of the bookstore. The books on display include art, architecture and photography. Among them, the legendary Japanese ukiyo-e (an engraving technique that produced some of the most memorable masterpieces in Japan) master Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's book "One Hundred Aspects of the Moon", edited by John Stevenson, is particularly noteworthy. The book's contents are drawn from the collections of the British Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with many paintings illustrating legends and tales from China. The book has been described by collectors as "the second-best edition of the original paintings in existence."

Series products of Chinese perfume brand Liuhuashu

The bookstore also introduces over 100 art and design-themed creative merchandise, including Liuhuashu, a new perfume brand that explores the aesthetics of the Song Dynasty in China, and Raccoon Records, which is dedicated to promoting and popularizing record culture.





When you're tired, you can choose a book, order a cup of coffee in the Ogawa Coffee store located in the bookstore and have a rest.

The Shanghai flagship shop will also be dedicated to providing readers with valuable reading services, linking spaces with books and communities through a variety of reading activities, and integrating & analyzing member services & needs with its self-developed system. Zhang Xiao, the founder of the bookstore, revealed that the bookshop would also plan and organize various events close to the public's lives in the future,"for example, we are considering inviting Michelin chefs, food experts, bloggers, publishers and others to hold food parties," said Zhang Xiao.

Founded in 2017,"Will Commune" has 12 directly operated shops nationwide. Looking forward to the future development of the bookstore in Shanghai, Zhang Xiao believes that sales quantity is no longer the pursuit of the bookstore chain." We want to make the city aware of an interesting bookstore. At the same time, we want to bring more surprises to the industry and the market," said Zhang Xiao.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-03 06:17:21|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

JERUSALEM, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Israel's opposition leader Yair Lapid announced on Wednesday that a deal was reached to form a coalition government that would end the 12-year rule of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The statement by centrist Lapid and his main partner, nationalist hardliner Naftali Bennett, came about 30 minutes before a midnight deadline to put together a new governing coalition following the March 23 elections.

An official statement issued by President Reuven Rivlin's office said that Lapid informed the president that "he has been able to form a government."

Under the coalition deal, Lapid, leader of the centrist party of Yesh Atid, and Naftali Bennett, leader of the nationalist party of Yamina, will rotate the premiership, with Bennett serving first as prime minister, according to the statement.

The new coalition also includes Ra'am, an Islamist party headed by Mansour Abbas, marking the first time an Arab party is part of a coalition in Israel.

The coalition would be comprised of a diverse coalition of additional small parties, including the centrist Blue and White party, headed by current Defense Minister Benny Gantz that partnered with Netanyahu to form the outgoing government, the right-wing parties of Israel Our Home and New Hope, the centrist-left party of the Labor and the leftist Meretz party.

The president congratulated Lapid and other heads of the parties on the government. He said that he expects the Knesset (parliament) "will convene as soon as possible to ratify the government, as required."

Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper reported that the Knesset is expected to be convened for a confidence vote for the new government by next Wednesday.

Lapid wrote on Twitter that the new government "will work in the service of all Israeli citizens, those who voted for it and those who did not. It will respect its opponents and do everything in its power to unite and connect all parts of Israeli society."

The move comes amid a series of inconclusive elections and a lingering political deadlock.

The deal paves the way to the end of the rule of Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, who has been facing a criminal trial over corruption charges in three separate cases. Enditem
An artists rendering of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft performing a touch-and-go to capture a sample from the surface of the asteroid Bennu.
Tucson, AZ (85741)

Today

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 77F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 77F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
Writer and performer Kyle Hernandez of Trinidad is receiving death threats, following a performance he did on local television station WESN, where he seemed to insult not only Tobagonians but the national bird of the island.
Zurich, June 2, 2021  With COVID-19 vaccinations accelerating and the economy opening, 90% of wealthy investors agree that the pandemic has made them want to align their investments with their values, according to the new Investor Watch survey by UBS, the worlds leading global wealth manager.

The report, which polled 3,800 investors across 15 markets globally, found investors increasingly want to use their capital to drive change and are looking to find greater purpose in their lives:

79% felt that the pandemic made them reassess what is most important

Nearly half plan to increase their charitable giving

Almost sixty percent are more interested in investing sustainably than they were before the pandemic.

The pandemic has prompted many investors to re-evaluate what matters most to them and now have a renewed desire to contribute more to benefit society, said Tom Naratil, Co-President of UBS Global Wealth Management and President of UBS Americas. It is incredibly encouraging to see that purpose-driven investment will be a priority for investors in the years to come. This is a unique moment where wealth managers have the opportunity to help their clients create immense change and better outcomes for future generations.

The survey found that younger generations turned their attention more to purpose-related investing as a result of the pandemic. Seventy-nine percent of investors aged 50 and under noted that the pandemic made them want to make more of a difference in the world, compared to fifty-one percent of investors over 50. Nearly three-quarters of this younger demographic also want to develop or update a comprehensive financial plan.

Iqbal Khan, Co-President of UBS Global Wealth Management, said: Globally, investors are motivated to play their part in making the world a better, more sustainable place. The heightened interest in charitable giving and desire to obtain sustainable investing advice from younger generations is a sign, too, that this mindset may be here to stay.

From a gender perspective, more women have seen the pandemic as a time for reflection. Eighty-four percent said that they have reassessed their goals amid the pandemic, compared to seventy-six percent of men. As investors begin to put the pandemic behind them, fifty-one percent of women plan to increase charitable giving compared with forty-two percent of men.
Over the past day, June 1, the armed formations of the Russian Federation violated the ceasefire in the Joint Forces Operation area in eastern Ukraine five times.

"In particular, the Russian occupation forces fired 82mm mortars, heavy machine guns, and easel antitank grenade launchers at Ukrainian positions near Novhorodske (35km north of Donetsk); grenade launchers of various systems, heavy machine guns, and small arms  outside Katerynivka (64km west of Luhansk); small arms  in the suburbs of Pisky (11km north-west of Donetsk)," the press center of the JFO Headquarters reports.

No casualties among Ukrainian troops were reported.

Ukrainian soldiers returned fire in response to the enemy's shelling.

The Ukrainian side of the Joint Control and Coordination Center (JCCC) informed the OSCE SMM about the violations committed by the armed formations of the Russian Federation.

As of 07:00 on June 2, no ceasefire violations were recorded.

Ukrainian military continue to control the situation in the JFO area.

ish
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-03 07:27:31|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

A volunteer in charge of delivering necessities for residents under home quarantine helps another volunteer write her name on the protective suit at a residential area at Liwan District of Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, June 2, 2021. Guangzhou has tightened anti-epidemic measures in parts of the city to curb the recent COVID-19 resurgence, local authorities said Tuesday. The city has implemented closed-off management on the Zhongnan subdistrict as well as 37 other locations and their surroundings. People in these areas must follow strict quarantine measures and stay indoors. Residents join the volunteer team, delivering food, necessities and epidemic prevention materials for people under home quarantine. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)
Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Roman Mashovets and Ambassador of Japan to Ukraine Takashi Kurai discussed ways of further development of bilateral relations between Ukraine and Japan in the defense and military-technical spheres.

During the meeting, particular attention was paid to the reform of Ukraine's defense industry and the development of Ukrainian legislation in this area, Ukrinform reports with reference to the presidents press service.

Mashovets noted the need to expand bilateral cooperation in the context of strengthening the defense capabilities of our country and receiving assistance from Japan.

He informed the interlocutor about the course of consideration of draft laws on reforming enterprises of the defense-industrial complex and making foreign investments in business entities in Ukraine.

For his part, Takashi Kurai reaffirmed the continued support for Ukraine in resisting the aggression of the Russian Federation and the interest in investing in Ukraine's defense industry.

The parties agreed to maintain an active dialogue on these issues and promote the further development of the Ukrainian-Japanese partnership.

ish
Ukrainian Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko met with EU Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson to reaffirm Ukraine's strategic energy partnership with the EU.

They also discussed the Implementation Plan of the Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Energy Partnership between Ukraine and the EU and Annex XXVII to the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, the Government portal reports.

The parties paid attention to the issue of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The EU commissioner confirmed that the EUs position on this issue is unchanged: Nord Stream 2 does not perform the function of diversifying gas supplies, and the EU does not support the implementation of this project.

Halushchenko stressed Ukraine's readiness to fulfill the tasks set by the annual work plan for 2021. Integration of Ukraine's energy system into ENTSO-E is an important common strategic goal. Synchronization will increase the transparency and efficiency of electricity trade with EU countries," he said.

The EU commissioner also noted that the EU expects Ukraine to implement the planned energy reforms in accordance with international obligations.

ish
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is ready to assist Ukrainian exporters in entering the markets of Algeria, Deputy Foreign Minister Dmytro Senik has said.

On June 1, the Council of Exporters and Investors at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Embassy of Ukraine in the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria held an online briefing for Ukrainian exporters.

Senik noted that Algeria has been consistently among the top five major trading partners of Ukraine in Africa in recent years. In the first quarter of 2021, it regained its position as Ukraine's second largest trading partner on the African continent.

"The trade turnover between Ukraine and Algeria over this period has already reached USD 130 million, more than 95% of which is Ukrainian exports. Although this market is not simple and has certain trade restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is ready to provide assistance to Ukrainian companies in doing business with this promising country," he said.

The Ukrainian diplomat stressed that the prospects of cooperation with Algeria also depend on the active position of Ukrainian producers.

During the event, the diplomats shared useful links with Ukrainian entrepreneurs wishing to export products to Algeria.

As a reminder, the Council of Exporters and Investors under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is a platform on which the Ministry accumulates information on investment and trade opportunities from around the world. The Council facilitates business contacts between Ukrainian exporters and importers abroad.

As Ukrinform reported, on April 6, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Senik and representatives of the Egyptian government and business discussed the increase in trade and investment in Ukraine's economy.

ish
Canada has pledged strong support for Ukraine during a meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs on June 1.

"Minister Garneau highlighted Canadas continued concerns w Russian & Belarusian actions, reiterated Canadas support to Ukraine, & committed to working with Allies on civilian engagement in Afghanistan," Global Affairs Canada posted on Twitter.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada Marc Garneau also "reaffirmed NATOs role in bolstering the rules-based intl order."

"NATO 2030 will be a major step in ensuring the Alliances continued ability to adapt to evolving security challenges. NATO remains a cornerstone of Canadian security and defence policy," the report reads.

As reported, a NATO summit will take place in Brussels on June 14. The main topic of the summit will be the strengthening of transatlantic ties and consideration of the concept of development of the Alliance.

The summit agenda does not include meetings with partners and the issue of providing a Membership Action Plan.

ish
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin have signed the program for cooperation between the two countries' foreign ministries for 2021-2022, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's press service has reported.

According to the report, the program was signed during a virtual meeting between the two foreign ministers.

"The ministers signed the program for cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan for 2021-2022, which is designed to bring cooperation between the foreign ministries to a qualitatively new level," the report reads.

It notes that both parties positively noted the intensification of relations between Ukraine and Tajikistan and discussed preparations for holding a meeting of the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation in Dushanbe this year.

Muhriddin emphasized the importance of cooperation with the Ukrainian side in the field of hydropower and noted the high quality of Ukrainian equipment.

Kuleba, in turn, assured his counterpart of Ukraine's readiness to implement mutually beneficial projects in this area and to continue to develop economic cooperation and trade between the two countries.

The diplomats also exchanged invitations to pay working visits. Kuleba confirmed the invitation to the top leadership of the Republic of Tajikistan to take part in events marking the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's independence.

Photo credit: mfa.gov.ua
Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov and Chief of Poland's National Security Bureau Pawel Soloch have discussed the inclusion of the Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian Brigade (LitPolUkrBrig) in official NATO documents, the NSDC's press service has reported.

According to the report, Danilov met with Soloch as part of a working visit to Lithuania on May 31-June 1.

Both parties paid special attention to the importance of supporting Ukraine ahead of the NATO summit in June this year.

Soloch said that Poland would continue to support Ukraine in its Euro-Atlantic aspirations on all international platforms.

They also discussed the possibility of including LitPolUkrBrig in official NATO documents with the possible further involvement of troops from other NATO member states in joint exercises with this brigade.

On June 1, Danilov and Deputy Head of the Ukrainian President's Office Ihor Zhovkva took part in a meeting of foreign policy advisers and national security advisers to the presidents of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. Issues of the political situation and security on Ukraine's borders, including in the context of the NATO summit, were raised at the meeting.

The participants in the meeting also met with President of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda.

op
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov and Chief Adviser to the President of the Republic of Lithuania on National Security Darius Kuliesius discussed the escalation on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border on the eve of Russia-Belarus military exercises.

According to the NSDC press service, Danilov paid a working visit to the Republic of Lithuania between May 31 and June 1. During the visit, the delegation of the NSDC Staff took part in events dedicated to discussing topical issues of cooperation and promising areas for developing Ukraines relations with Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland.

During Danilovs meeting with Kuliesius, the parties exchanged views on the current security situation in the region, in particular, in the context of aggravating danger on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border on the eve of Russias and Belaruss joint command-and-staff exercise Zapad 2021, as well as the recent hijacking of a Ryanair aircraft in Minsk.

According to Danilov, since the previous meeting of the national security heads within the Lublin Triangle in March this year, the situation in the region has significantly worsened. The events in Belarus have become a challenge not only to Europe but to the whole world, the NSDC secretary said adding that the hijacking of the Ryanair aircraft in Belarus has all the markings of Russias intelligence operation.

They are carrying out constant provocations, and if this is not noticed, they will move on, he said adding that Ukraine and its Baltic partners should help build a democratic Belarus.

According to Danilov, changes in the current situation will depend on joint actions with our strategic partners and on how strong we will be. We are an outpost and protection of the whole of Europe, he said stressing the importance of unity in resisting Russias hybrid aggression.

In this context, the NSDC secretary underscored the importance of implementing Ukraines Euro-Atlantic aspirations, which is one of the main strategic tasks set by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.

Moreover, Danilov noted that soon a new type of troops will be established in Ukraine - the cyber troops. Challenges and threats in cyberspace today are much more dangerous than nuclear weapons, and the exchange of experience in this area is extremely important, he said adding that it is important to intensify cooperation within the cyber center in Kaunas.

In his turn, Mr. Kuliesius spoke in favor of strengthening the agreed position of our countries in supporting Ukraine. In particular, he stressed that the recent visit of President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda to Ukraine was very fruitful.

He noted that Lithuanias assessment of the security situation in the region coincides with the position of the Ukrainian side. In his opinion, Russia continues to demonstrate force, and Belarus is becoming a kind of proving ground for Russia.

Mr. Kuliesius supported the proposal to strengthen cybersecurity cooperation between the two countries and also assured of the unwavering support of Ukraine on its way to NATO and EU integration.

ish
As of the beginning of 2021, Ukraine implemented 292 NATO standards and documents. In general, the pace is good, but experts point out the need to get into high gear

Ukraine will be the first NATO partner to receive an updated package of Partnership Goals, the press service of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine informs. The process of planning and reviewing forces is one of the most effective tools for bringing Ukraine closer to NATO standards, strengthening the institutional capabilities of the Defense Ministry, developing the capacities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and achieving interoperability, says Deputy Defense Minister Anatoliy Petrenko. It is noted that the updated package of Partnership Goals for Ukraine contains tasks and activities up to 2025. It also outlines the forces and means that Ukraine is preparing to participate in the Partnership for Peace program, Alliances operations, and missions. The objectives of the partnership are backed by other defense and security sector reform tasks, in particular, the defense reform projects and measures.

This news was perceived differently in Ukraine. Some believe that NATO in this way has decided to sweeten the pill, saying that Ukraine is not given a MAP, is not invited to the summit on June 14, however, the process is not standing still. Others, on the other hand, see this as an important step in developing and strengthening our defense capabilities. In fact, as military experts say, there is nothing extraordinary and bad either.

UkraineNATO Partnership Goals package: What does it mean?

Former Deputy Chief of Staff for Euro-Atlantic Integration, 1st Rank Captain (in reserve) Andriy Ryzhenko says that NATO has simply reminded again that if Ukraine wants to join the collective security system, it must continue carrying out reforms. In particular, it concerns the implementation of the North Atlantic Alliance standards. What is the updated package of Partnership Goals? This is a planning document that contains tasks for the next four to five years. This is a routine procedure that is constantly updated. The previous cycle of Ukraine's participation in the Planning and Review Process (PARP) was completed in 2020. A new one is starting, Ryzhenko comments.

The PARP is a key mechanism of the Alliance to achieve interoperability of the newcomers armed forces with the armed forces of the Allies, as well as to reform the security and defense sector in line with Euro-Atlantic standards. The conclusion made by NATO military experts on a sufficient level of interoperability of the armed forces is taken as a basis for the North Atlantic Councils decision to grant a MAP to an aspirant country, he said.

It should be noted that the updated package of Partnership Goals applies not only to Ukraine but also to other countries with which NATO cooperates. However, Ukraine will probably be the first such country. Currently, this whole algorithm is being elaborated. There is no final decision. As far as I know, the discussion is scheduled for autumn, adds ex-defense minister Andriy Zahorodniuk.

According to Olena Tregub, Secretary General of the Independent Defense Anti-Corruption Committee (NAKO), the package of Partnership Goals can be seen as movement towards the MAP but beyond the formal status of a candidate country within the MAP. The partnership goals are to achieve NATO standards by the end of 2025 at all levels of defense sector (strategic, operational and tactical). It should be emphasized that the achievement of goals is set not only before the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine but before all security agencies as well, Tregub says.

At the same time, she continues, NATO keeps emphasizing that Ukraines previous partnership programs have not been fully implemented. They mean the forces and means that Ukraine needs to prepare to participate in the Partnership for Peace program, the Alliances operations, and missions. During the meeting of the working group on the draft package, our international partners stressed the importance of continuing defense reforms, in particular, developing an efficient democratic civilian control system, subordinating military components of the defense sector to the civilian ministry, reforming the system of management of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, achieving interoperability with NATO countries, the NAKO Secretary General underlined.

In turn, Marianna Fakhurdinova, research fellow at New Europe Center, notes that Ukraine implemented 292 NATO standards and documents as of early 2021, accounting for 19 percent, which generally corresponds to the level of countries that have recently joined the Alliance. We decided to compare the number of standards reached in Ukraine and in NATO member states. Thus, in percentage terms, Ukraine implemented 19% of NATO standardization agreements. And we noticed that this figure is very close to the standards that have been implemented by those Allies that joined NATO over the past 10 years. For example, it stands for 29% in Albania, 22%  in Montenegro. North Macedonia, which became a NATO member last year, has not even reached the level of 1%, Fakhurdinova says.

The analyst also cites examples of countries with a high level of implementation of standards, namely: Germany reached 91%, Great Britain, France, and Norway  about 80%. These are the member states that actually stood at the origins of the Alliance or joined it in the early years ... But, again, we see that no country has achieved 100% implementation of the standards, she notes.

According to the expert, Ukraine is showing very good progress, despite being a partner of the Alliance, not its member state. The latest package of partnership goals, set for 2018-2020, provided for processing 219 standards. As of the beginning of this year, Ukraine actually processed about 90% of these documents, Fakhurdinova explains the procedure, emphasizing that the implementation of NATO standards by Ukraine proves that our country fulfills its obligations in a timely manner.

In turn, Alyona Getmanchuk, Director of the New Europe Center, points out the need to further accelerate the implementation of NATO standards. New Europe Center decided to calculate how long it would take for Ukraine to reach at least 90% of implemented NATO standards (as Germany did) at the pace we had the past year and a half or two years. And it turned out that it will take 13-14 years. That is, if we want to achieve military interoperability with NATO member states as soon as possible, we need to accelerate this process even more, despite the fact that we already have a good pace, Getmanchuk said.

Olena Tregub shares the opinion: The speed and quality of the implementation depend entirely on the capabilities and desires of Ukraine.

About MAP and why Ukraine was not invited to NATO summit

The next NATO summit will take place in Brussels in two weeks. Only member states will participate. Because it is a relatively short summit  one day  then as for next time, maybe we will then decide to have more time and then it is likely that having high-level partnership meetings will increase, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

According to him, NATO continues working with aspirant countries such as Georgia and Ukraine. Our message is that the focus should be on reforms to modernize the defense and security institutions because we believe that that's the best way to move towards further Euro-Atlantic integration, Stoltenberg noted.

At the same time, Secretary General did not say when a high-level meeting with partners could be held. It will be recalled that the leaders of other states were not always invited to NATO summits. For example, only (!) NATO members were present at the 2019 London summit to mark the 70th anniversary of the Alliance.

The fact that we are not participating in the summit is presented as a great tragedy. However, I think there is nothing special here. This step is definitely not targeted against Ukraine. It will be a one-day summit. NATOs transformation and the launch of a new strategy are planned to be discussed. Ultimately, we need to understand that some events will take place without us until we become the Alliance members. And this is normal. At the same time, vain expectations were raised for some reason, saying Ukraine will be given a MAP at this summit. But no one promised that. In the end, neither discussions nor appropriate preparations were held. And all the services that cooperate with NATO knew about it. Well, you cant get a MAP as a surprise. We still need to pass a number of laws and do other homework. Indeed, much has been done, but there is still a lot of hard work ahead. I think that the situation around the MAP is now dramatized much more than it should be, emphasizes former defense minister Zahorodniuk

In addition, the ex-minister recalled how Ukraine received NATOs Enhanced Opportunities Partner status in June 2020. By the way, Sweden, Finland, Australia, Georgia, and Jordan have the same status now. This does not mean that we will never receive the MAP. We will receive it, but not now. At the same time, we should make full use of previous opportunities, in particular within the framework of the EOP program. What does this program provide for? Political consultations with NATO (particularly, at the level of defense ministers), greater compatibility of armies and more joint exercises (e.g., access to exercises involving only NATO members), exchange of information and intelligence data, service of Ukrainian troops in the staff of NATOs multinational governing bodies, deeper cooperation with NATO in times of crisis and preparation of operations of the Alliance, and so on. In fact, even without having a MAP, without being a NATO member, Ukraine can receive the same resources as full-fledged Alliance members have, says Zahorodniuk.

Of course, NATO is willing to promote Ukraines interest in membership but is not ready to offer it. The MAP is a geopolitical issue, adds Olena Tregub.

According to her, representatives of Bulgaria, Great Britain, Denmark, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the United States, and France have already taken note of the progress of defense reform in Ukraine, as well as Ukraine's efforts to approach NATO standards and principles. But any decision to invite a candidate country to start negotiations with NATO to join the Euro-Atlantic family will be made by NATO member countries on a case-by-case basis in accordance with Paragraph 8 of the Madrid Declaration (1997) and the Washington Summit Declaration. And here it is important to understand that such steps are taken exclusively by a consolidated decision of all members of the Alliance. As of today, it is doubtful for Ukraine to receive 100% support for accession from all NATO members. Such countries as Hungary, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, and the Netherlands are most likely to oppose it. Some are afraid of Russia or still wants to appease it (France, the Netherlands), some are waiting for the election campaign (France, Germany), some do not believe in the sincerity of Ukraines Euro-Atlantic choice (the Netherlands), some are disappointed primarily by the pace of reforms. In public, all NATO member states are talking only about the latter factor, Tregub notes.

In particular, she continues, the enchanted trio of judicial reform, Security Service reform, and real success in the fight against corruption are exactly what NATO partners expect from Ukraine. That is, any special partnership with NATO, except for the MAP, is in fact the same message about the vision of Ukraine in the Alliance. Within the framework of such a partnership, our country can follow the same path as within the MAP, but it formally gives NATO a room for maneuver from a geopolitical point of view, Tregub sums up.

Myroslav Liskovych, Kyiv
U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Rob Portman, and Chris Murphy met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the reform of the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, and corporate governance.

The senators said this at a press briefing in Kyiv on June 2, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"The continuation of political reforms is important for our partnership. We spoke with President Zelensky about specific reforms, in particular about the reform of the SBU, ensuring the independence of NABU, and the ongoing reform of corporate governance," Chris Murphy said.

Rob Portman, for his part, said that they had discussed the importance of strengthening ties between Ukraine and the United States, providing assistance to Ukraine so that the country was combat-ready to defend itself. "Even to counter Russian disinformation," he stressed.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen said that the meeting with the Ukrainian president was very productive.

We started our meeting by listening to people from the front of your war with Russia. We have a very clear picture of the challenges faced by your military and all those on the front line. It helped us and now we can return to the United States and talk about the ongoing need to continue to help," she emphasized.

As Ukrinform reported, a delegation of the U.S. senators arrived in Ukraine on June 1. The senators will also meet with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Defense Minister Andrii Taran, members of the Verkhovna Rada, and representatives of civil society organizations involved in the fight against corruption in Ukraine.

ish
Ukraine will act immediately against any attempts to legitimize Russia's occupation of Crimea, and if at least one plane of a Belarusian airline flies to the occupied Crimea, sanctions will be inevitable with all the negative consequences, Ukraine's First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzheppar has told Ukrinform.

She said that "we have recorded for ourselves the statements of Mr. Lukashenko regarding the appeal to Russia and Putin regarding the possible launch of flights to the occupied Crimea."

According to Dzheppar, these are provocative statements and are probably Lukashenko's emotional reaction to Ukraine's response to the forced landing of a Ryanair plane at the Minsk airport, as well as to the Belarusian authorities' further attack on the opposition and freedom of speech, including the arrest of Belarusian opposition leader Roman Protasevich, the blocking of independent media, etc.

"We will act immediately against any attempts to legitimize Russia's occupation of Crimea, against any attempts to establish contacts with the so-called 'LPR' or 'DPR.' And if at least one plane of a Belarusian airline finds itself on the territory of the occupied Crimea, sanctions will be inevitable with all the negative consequences," Dzheppar said.

On May 23, the Belarusian authorities scrambled a fighter jet to force a Ryanair plane, en route from Athens to Vilnius, to land in Minsk. Roman Protasevich, the founder of the Nexta channel, and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, were traveling on the plane. Belarusian security forces detained them after the plane landed.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine banned direct flights to Belarus from May 26. In addition, Ukraine closed its airspace to Belarusian planes on May 29.

At the same time, after Ukraine closed its skies to Belarusian planes, Lukashenko asked Putin to let them fly through Russia to Crimea.

op
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 02:56:03|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

BANJUL, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations system in The Gambia released a joint statement on Tuesday warning Gambians not to disregard the COVID-19 preventive rules following the detection of new variant cases in the country last week.

"The confirmation of the new COVID-19 variant in the country is a strong reminder that the pandemic is far from over and that it is too soon to let our guard down," the UN system in The Gambia said.

According to its press release, despite improvements in some parts of the world, new variants are being discovered forcing many countries to return to lockdowns due to a surge in cases.

The UN has therefore noted that it's prudent to take more seriously the COVID-19 preventive measures, including mandatory use of face masks in public, social distancing, avoiding large crowds, and hand hygiene. It also called on Gambian government to step up testing and contact tracing, especially of asymptomatic individuals, across the country.

"As the country forges ahead in these difficult times, the UN will continue to work closely with the Government of The Gambia and partners to provide strong support to national COVID-19 prevention, response and recovery efforts as it has been doing since the outbreak of the pandemic," it continued.

The new cases of the COVID-19 variant that was originally discovered in India were discovered last week following two new travellers were tested positive upon arrival. Enditem
Ukraine is interested in effective cyber partnership with Israel, the Foreign Ministrys press service has reported.

"Ukraine and Israel held the first consultations in the history of bilateral relations on cybersecurity issues," the report reads.

The Ukrainian side was represented by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Senik and representatives of relevant ministries and departments, and the Israeli side  by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Israel's competent cybersecurity agency.

Today's realities require an effective system for countering attacks in virtual space. In this context, well-coordinated international cooperation plays an extremely important role. Ukraine is interested in effective cyber partnership with Israel, Senik stressed.

During the consultations, the parties presented cyber strategies and national cyber security systems of Ukraine and Israel, exchanged experience in countering cyber incidents.

The Ukrainian and Israeli delegations agreed on further steps to develop cooperation in the field of cyber defense and cyber security.

As Ukrinform reported, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine approved the Cybersecurity Strategy of Ukraine for 2021-2025 at a meeting on May 14.

ish
Ukraine and Iran are beginning on June 2 the third round of talks on the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane shot down near Tehran in 2020, Ukrainian Deputy Prosecutor General Gyunduz Mamedov has said.

"Two-day negotiations between Ukraine and Iran on PS753 begin today. I will insist on the official confirmation of the completion of the investigation into those guilty of the shooting down of the Ukrainian plane and the state of the court hearing. If it's, of course, started," Mamedov wrote on his Twitter account.

On January 8, 2020, Ukraine International Airlines plane (Flight PS752) heading from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after taking off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport. There were 176 people on board  nine crew members (all Ukrainians) and 167 passengers (citizens of Ukraine, Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and the UK). All of them died.

On January 11, Iran admitted that its military had accidentally shot down the Ukrainian passenger jet. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accepted full responsibility for the downing of the Ukrainian airliner.

On March 17, 2021, Iran's Civil Aviation Organization released the final report on the crash of the Ukrainian passenger plane in January 2020. The report blamed an error by an air defence operator for the accidental downing of the Ukrainian plane.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called Iran's report an attempt to hide the true causes of the plane crash.

op
facebook like button Tweet tweet button for twitter

Published June 1, 2021

The University of Louisiana Monroes policies on COVID-19 prevention measures have been modified following changes to the state and University of Louisiana System requirements.

ULM President Dr. Ron Berry said modifying the mask mandate is a step in returning to face-to-face classes and campus activities in the fall; however, the health and safety of the Warhawk Family remain the top priority.

Fully vaccinated faculty, staff, and students are not required to wear a mask in their normal work environment.

Otherwise, masks continue to be required inside campus buildings but are no longer required outside. Social distancing is suggested if possible, but is no longer required.

For well over a year, ULM has worked unceasingly to protect those who study, work, and visit our campus. Our vigilance will continue even as the rate of COVID-19 declines, said Berry. We will continue wearing masks indoors, and strongly encourage everyone to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

ULMs popular PREP/POP sessions for incoming freshmen and their parents begin on Wednesday, June 2. Attendees and staff are required to wear masks during indoor events.

Given the large number of new students joining us from across the state, country, and internationally for our PREP program this summer, requiring masks while inside is most appropriate at this time, Berry said.

ULM will follow these guidelines:

 Masks are required inside campus buildings, including Bayou Pointe and Brown Auditorium

 Staff who are fully vaccinated are not required to wear a mask in their work environment

 Encourage receiving a COVID-19 vaccine

 Social distancing when possible

 Monitor your health and if you have symptoms of COVID-19, get a test and do not come to campus

Gov. John Bel Edwards has lifted the requirement that face masks be worn in public buildings; however, he gave public institutions  such as the nine members of the UL System  the authority to extend the measure (Louisiana Proclamation on COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Mitigation Measure).

Information about where vaccines are being offered is available on the Louisiana Department

of Health website https://ldh.la.gov/covidvaccine-locations/.
06/02/2021

Contacts for media: Nancy Cicco, UMass Lowell, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu and Alison Harding, Cummings Foundation, 781-932-7093 or aeh@cummings.com





LOWELL, Mass.  UMass Lowells nationally recognized program for first-generation college students is expanding its services with the support of a $100,000 grant from the Cummings Foundation.





The award will allow the UMass Lowell River Hawk Scholars Academy ( RHSA ) to grow the academic and support services it provides to enhance educational, campus and community experiences for full-time UMass Lowell students who are the first in their families to attend college.





Forty-one percent of UMass Lowell undergraduates are first-generation college students. Over the last academic year, the River Hawk Scholars Academy assisted more than 400 participants and anticipates serving more than 400 students this fall. Since it began in 2017, more than 1,000 UMass Lowell first-generation college students have benefited from the program.





Weve always believed that UMass Lowell has a responsibility to support our first-generation students in a manner that matches their own fierce determination to go to college and earn their degrees. The Cummings Foundation grant is a major leap forward in allowing us to do just that, through new summer programs, career-readiness initiatives and sophomore-year mentoring, leadership and learning opportunities, said Matthew Hurwitz, River Hawk Scholar Academy director and associate teaching professor of English.





The UMass Lowell River Hawk Scholars Academy is one of 140 nonprofits to receive awards this year through the Cummings $25 Million Grant Program, which supports organizations that are based in and primarily serve Middlesex, Essex and Suffolk counties in Massachusetts. Through this initiative, the Cummings Foundation aims to give back in the area where it owns commercial buildings, all of which are managed, at no cost to the foundation, by its affiliate, Cummings Properties, according to the organization.





We aim to help meet the needs of people in all segments of our local community. It is the incredible organizations we fund, however, that do the actual daily work to empower our neighbors, educate our children, fight for equity, and so much more, said Cummings Foundation Executive Director Joel Swets.





The grant award is the latest honor for the RHSA, which last month graduated its first cohort of students in its four-year history. Last year, the Center for First-generation Student Success named UMass Lowell a First-gen Forward Advisory Institution, recognizing the RHSA as a national model program for other colleges and universities to emulate. As a First-gen Forward Advisory Institution, UMass Lowell serves as a mentor, sharing best practices and offering guidance to more than 20 other colleges and universities throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont that seek to create educational and cultural opportunities for first-generation college students.





A complete list of the 2021 Cummings Foundation grant winners, along with more than 800 previous recipients, is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org





About Cummings Foundation

Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings and has grown to be one of the three largest private foundations in New England. The Foundation directly operates its own charitable subsidiaries, including New Horizons retirement communities in Marlborough and Woburn, and Veterinary School at Tufts, LLC in North Grafton. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org





About UMass Lowell
Sokina (left), 35, is a Bangladeshi woman who received treatment for COVID-19 at a UNHCR-supported health facility for refugees and locals in Cox's Bazar.  UNHCR/Kamrul Hasan

Wrapping up today their four-day visit to Bangladesh, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioners for Protection and for Operations - Gillian Triggs and Raouf Mazou - called for international support and solidarity with Rohingya refugees and Bangladesh. The protection, well-being, and concerns of refugees, as well as renewed efforts towards solutions should be at the forefront of the response.

A joint visit to Bangladesh of the UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs and UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, Raouf Mazou, took place from 30 May to 2 June. It included visits to the refugee camps in Coxs Bazar where the vast majority of Rohingya refugees reside, and the island of Bhasan Char, as well as meetings with senior Government officials.

Throughout the visit, the UNHCR Assistant High Commissioners reiterated their sincere appreciation to the Government and the people of Bangladesh for their humanitarian spirit and generous hospitality towards Rohingya refugees as they sought protection from violence and persecution in Myanmar over decades. This includes, notably, the recent influx of more than 740,000 Rohingya refugees since August 2017. They also reiterated the urgent need to continue working towards comprehensive solutions, including the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar.

The Assistant High Commissioners emphasized that the responsibility for the current Rohingya refugee situation in Bangladesh rests with Myanmar, and that is where the solution lies. However, the recent developments in Myanmar make the prospects of voluntary repatriation in the short term more challenging.

While Bangladesh has shown humanity and solidarity, in line with the guiding principles of the Global Compact on Refugees, the international community must step up and give practical effect to the obligation to share responsibility, and to protect refugees and support the host Bangladeshi Government, said Triggs.

The Assistant High Commissioners visited the Rohingya refugee camps in Coxs Bazar and met with the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC), responsible for the overall coordination of the Rohingya refugee response in Coxs Bazar as well as the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Coxs Bazar.

Despite the COVID-19 challenges, they noted remarkable strides have been made in preparing for and responding to the pandemic, both within and outside of the camps, for refugees and host communities alike. The Assistant High Commissioners visited a COVID-19 treatment facility in the local community of Ukhiya, which was built in just 8 weeks. This facility alone has responded to the needs of around 1,000 patients in the past year, almost 70% of whom came from the Bangladeshi host community.

The inclusive Health Sector response in Coxs Bazar has saved lives. The Government has set a positive example by including the Rohingya refugees in the national COVID-19 response plan and the related national vaccination plan. UNHCR opened two of a total of 12 operational COVID-19 treatment facilities and established the first Intensive Care Unit in the District hospital. Responding to the needs of both communities on an equal basis is essential to ensuring that everyone is kept safe, said Mazou.

Additional challenges have been presented by COVID-19 and related restrictions in the camps. The Assistant High Commissioners observed a reduced humanitarian presence in the camps and associated protection risks. UNHCR advocates for essential protection services for the most vulnerable, including women and children who are particularly exposed to gender-based violence, including sexual exploitation, early marriage and child labour.

In its work, UNHCR listens to the voices of refugees. During the visit to the Rohingya refugee camps in Coxs Bazar, the Assistant High Commissioners had the opportunity to discuss with refugees and to better understand their situation and needs. Many stressed the need for the resumption of education and skills training.

The Government facilitated a visit of the Assistant High Commissioners to Bhasan Char. While on the island, they clearly recognized the significant financial investments by the Bangladeshi government in facilities and infrastructure, including housing. However, it was clear that the 18,000 Rohingya refugees currently on the island have protection and assistance needs. That is, access to meaningful livelihoods opportunities, skills development, education, health and access to cash to facilitate their daily lives.

UNHCR recognizes the potential that Bhasan Char could provide as an alternative temporary location for some Rohingya refugees while in Bangladesh. UNHCR proposes further discussions with the Government to ensure protection of refugees, as well as on our future operational engagement on the island. At the same time, UNHCR remains concerned about reports of refugees being arrested and detained for attempting to leave Bhasan Char. UNHCR strongly discourages the use of relocation to Bhasan Char as a punitive measure.

Bhasan Char has some potential, though the human and protection elements of refugees living there must be fully considered. Refugees who decide to relocate to Bhasan Char must do so on a voluntary basis. They should have freedom of movement on the island and must be granted the possibility to return to Coxs Bazar and to maintain family connections with those in the camps, said Triggs.

While on Bhasan Char, UNHCR had the opportunity to talk to a large group of refugees, predominantly young men. They raised their concerns about the lack of access to livelihoods and self-reliance opportunities, skills development, as well as access to education. UNHCR was deeply concerned to learn of reports of refugees who were injured on the day of the visit to Bhasan Char.

While ultimately, the desired solution by the majority of the Rohingya refugees is to return home voluntarily, safely, sustainably and in dignity, when conditions in Myanmar allow, the crisis is now in its fourth year and refugees cannot remain fully dependent on aid.

Livelihoods and skills training opportunities will provide refugees with a sense of purpose and autonomy while they are in Bangladesh, while preparing them for reintegration when conditions allow them to return home, stressed Mazou.

Today, 2 June, the UNHCR Assistant High Commissioners were grateful for the opportunity to meet and discuss these various issues with senior Government officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including the Foreign Minister and Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, and the Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief.

While continuing to work together with the support of the international community towards voluntary repatriation, the Assistant High Commissioners discussed the possibility of introducing alternative solutions for Rohingya refugees, including resettlement to third countries for the most vulnerable with specific protection needs, as well as complementary pathways overseas, which could include employment and educational opportunities.

UNHCR once more calls on the international community, including through the recently launched 2021 Joint Response Plan, to continue to support the Government of Bangladesh who have taken on a huge responsibility in hosting almost 1 million Rohingya refugees in the largest refugee camp in the world. This must not become a forgotten crisis.
Register for a FREE account to keep reading!

Register now for a FREE account to keep reading. No cost and no credit card required!

Access up to 5 articles per month when you register, or get unlimited access to all of our content online starting at $1.99 now!

Already registered? Click the log in link below
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 16:47:41|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

ADDIS ABABA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) Commission has suspended Mali from the pan-African bloc until normal constitutional order is restored in the country following the latest military coup.

The decision to suspend Mali from AU membership was made by the Peace and Security Council of the AU Commission during its latest meeting that dwelt upon the situation in the western African country.

"The Council condemns in the strongest terms possible and totally rejects coup d'etat and unconstitutional changes of government in the continent, consistent with the provisions of Article 4 of the AU Constitutive Act," an AU statement issued late Tuesday read.

The suspension will exclude Mali from participation in all activities of the Union, its organs and institutions, said the statement.

It called on the military leadership and all political stakeholders to fully and unconditionally respect the transition charter while urging for the immediate appointment of a civilian prime minister to lead the conclusion of the transition process and to coordinate a genuinely inclusive national reconciliation and dialogue process for the stability of Mali.

The council warned it will not hesitate to impose targeted sanctions and other punitive measures against any spoilers of the current transition.

The latest move by the AU is the second to suspend the West African country in less than a year.

In August last year, the AU Commission suspended Mali from the continental bloc following the forced detention of senior officials, including the country's president and prime minister. Enditem
Jennifer Nuzzo, center, senior scholar and associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, stands with Caitlin Rivers, left, a senior scholar and assistant professor at the same Hopkins center. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun/TNS)
KINGSTON  Emily McLellan is excited about starting freshman year at the University of New Hampshire in the fall, but shes been worried that her aging 1996 Toyota Corolla might not be able to handle the regular commute.
For full access, please log in, register your subscription or subscribe.

Try for 99 a month for two months, cancel or pause anytime.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 22:04:11|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

NAIROBI, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Two organizations working for the interest of people with disabilities in Kenya on Thursday called on the government to roll out social safety nets aimed at shielding them from COVID-19 related disruptions like income losses.

Anderson Gitonga, executive director of United Disabled Persons of Kenya, said the pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the physically challenged population hence the need to provide them with social protection.

"The government should make sure that measures and interventions made to control the spread of the virus are adapted for persons with disabilities," Gitonga said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

Persons with disabilities are grappling with income losses amid COVID-19 restrictions that include lockdowns, Gitonga said, noting that disruption of essential health services impacted negatively on this vulnerable group of people.

According to Gitonga, physically disabled citizens have lost income-generating activities due to the pandemic, a scenario that has escalated their poverty levels and inability to meet basic needs like food, shelter and healthcare. Stimulus packages aimed at cushioning the poor from adverse impacts of the pandemic should factor the mental health and food security of persons with disabilities.

About 2.2 percent of Kenyan population, or 0.9 million people, live with some forms of disability based on the 2019 census, while the government has leveraged affirmative action to address their plight.

Kenya is among African countries that have enacted progressive legal and policy frameworks to promote the welfare of disabled persons through equal access to education, jobs, housing and healthcare.

Benson Kiptum, acting CEO of Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya, said that COVID-19 rolled back their gains in key areas like gainful employment and access to essential services like health, clean water and shelter.

"The current disruption in income represents an increased burden for persons with disabilities," said Kiptum, insisting that remote work during COVID-19 era has been a mirage for disabled persons amid lack of assistive devices.

He added that households with disabled persons have grappled with dwindling savings as the pandemic increased expenditure on basic items like food, clothing and transport. Enditem
We may never know if a Manchester police officers act of kindness to a teen would-be shoplifter will make a difference in the teens life. But it certainly brightened the day of a lot of Manchester residents and others who read our story or saw the TV newscast about Officer George Morales.
IT IS a requirement in the state of New Hampshire to have our automobiles inspected annually by a state-certified inspection station for safety. You imagine what might happen if the brakes are faulty and fail? Someone could be killed.
Union Springs, AL (36089)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable.
Union Springs, AL (36089)

Today

Scattered clouds with the possibility of an isolated thunderstorm developing late. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Scattered clouds with the possibility of an isolated thunderstorm developing late. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
UNO

News

Access the Experts: Sachin Pawaskar

Access the Experts: Sachin Pawaskar In this installment, Pawaskar answers: What is being done to identify human remains of missing soldiers?

In This Installment of Access the Experts UNO College of Information Science & Technology Fellow Sachin Pawaskar, Ph.D., answers the question: What is being done to identify human remains of missing soldiers? About Pawaskar An expert in areas that include big data analytics, cloud computing, data structures, algorithms, Pawaskar leads a project called CoRA, or Comingled Remains Analytics Ecosystem, a product of a partnership between the Department of Defenses POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) that seeks to identify the remains of soldiers.

Access the Experts

Access the Experts is an innovative partnership between the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) and News Channel Nebraska (NCN), where viewers submit their questions to be answered by UNO faculty members.

New segments of Access the Experts air every Tuesday and Thursday at 6:46 A.M. and 6:46 P.M. If youre not sure how to tune in, visit News Channel Nebraskas website to view their coverage areas.

View all segments on our Access the Experts page.

About the University of Nebraska at Omaha

Located in one of Americas best cities to live, work and learn, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is Nebraskas premier metropolitan university. With more than 15,000 students enrolled in 200-plus programs of study, UNO is recognized nationally for its online education, graduate education, military friendliness and community engagement efforts. Founded in 1908, UNO has served learners of all backgrounds for more than 100 years and is dedicated to another century of excellence both in the classroom and in the community.

Follow UNO on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 08:09:37|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

KABUL, June 2 (Xinhua) -- At least six civilians were killed and seven others wounded in a bomb attack targeting a bus in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan Tuesday evening, the latest in a string of bomb blasts in the city, an Interior Ministry official confirmed.

"The initial information found six civilians were killed and seven others wounded. The number of casualties may change," Hamid Roshan from the ministry told Xinhua.

The incident occurred near a bus stop in Masjed-e-Halebid area in Police District 3 roughly at 7:15 p.m. local time, he said.

Initial investigation showed that it was a remote control blast, said the official.

Local residents told local media that the blast was followed by another explosion in the same district.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Over the past years, the capital city was hit by series of terror attacks staged by militants from the Taliban and the Islamic State (IS) group opposing the government. Enditem
Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province, saw the 1,000th freight train depart for Europe and Central Asia on Wednesday amid further expansions of the cargo train service, local authorities said

JINAN (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province, saw the 1,000th freight train depart for Europe and Central Asia on Wednesday amid further expansions of the cargo train service, local authorities said.

The train, carrying goods worth approximately 3.35 million U.S.

Dollars, is expected to cross China's border through the northwestern land port of Horgos and reach Kazakstan in 12 days, according to the local railway operator.

In the first four months of this year, a total of 186 freight trains departed from Jinan to Europe and Central Asia, up 32.9 percent from the same period last year.

The figure was 542 in 2020, up more than 240 percent from the previous year.

Currently, the trains departing from Jinan link 46 cities located in 19 countries, transporting cars, home appliances, mechanical equipment, laser engraving machines and other export goods.
(@imziishan)

Abu Dhabi, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 02nd Jun, 2021) The Department of Health  Abu Dhabi (DoH) encourages the community to boost their vitamin D levels as a preventive tool against Covid-19 infection and to ensure community immunity.

This latest update from DoH is based on findings from a local study that has demonstrated a strong association between vitamin D levels and Covid-19 severity and mortality among a sample of affected people in the UAE.

The newly published study, conducted by Dr. Habiba Al Safar, an Emirati research scholar, and Dr. Fatme Al Anouti, Associate Professor of Clinical Biochemistry at Zayed University, has been approved by Abu Dhabi Health Research Ethics Committee  Abu Dhabi.

Several international studies have documented the correlation between vitamin D deficiency and severity of viral infections, such as influenza. In addition to this, there is mounting evidence from global studies that indicates that lower vitamin D levels are commonly associated with risk of acquiring, and dying from, Covid-19 among hospitalised patients.

The local study led by Dr. Al Safar and Dr. Al Anouti examined samples of 522 UAE residents, aged 18 years and older, that tested positive for Covid-19. The study found that 59% of patients who had vitamin D deficiency and severe vitamin D deficiency, suffered from severe symptoms of Covid-19 infection. Patients who had severe infection were older and more obese than others in the study. This finding is in accordance with earlier studies that have identified age, obesity and vitamin D deficiency as well-established factors for Covid-19 infection.

The study therefore concludes that vitamin D has a protective effect against Covid-19 infection.

Dr. Asma Ibrahim Al Mannaei, Executive Director Research & Innovation, from Department of Health  Abu Dhabi, commented, "This local study by Emirati research scholar Dr. Habiba Al Safar and Dr. Fatme Al Anouti, Zayed University Professor, presents promising results to better understand the protective effect of vitamin D against Covid-19, both as a preventive tool against infection but also may play a role in boosting the immunity of patients during infection. The Department of Health  Abu Dhabi is calling on the community to take note of the importance of vitamin D supplementation. Such preventive measure, in addition to vaccinations, will be important in maintaining the health and safety of our society."

Al Mannaei added, "In addition to our ongoing efforts in combatting Covid-19, scientific research remains a top priority for Abu Dhabi to enable easy and quick access to information, improve public education and ensure better capacity to deal with all of the challenges at hand."

Dr Habiba Al Safar is an Associate Professor at the Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, an Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Director of the Khalifa University Center for Biotechnology.

Dr. Fatme Al Anouti, Associate Professor of Clinical Biochemistry, Department of Public Health and Nutrition at Zayed University
Tulsa, United States, June (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :President Joe Biden led emotional commemorations on Tuesday to honor victims of the 1921 race massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, saying the United States must learn from one of the worst episodes of racist violence in the country's history.

The Democratic leader marked the centenary of the massacre by meeting survivors in the city, after the White House announced new initiatives including billions of Dollars in grants to address racial disparities in wealth, home ownership and small business ownership.

"This was not a riot, this was a massacre," Biden said to loud applause. "(It was) among the worst in our history -- but not the only one and, for too long, forgotten by our history.

"As soon as it happened, there was a clear effort to erase it from our collective memories... for a long time the schools in Tulsa didn't even teach it, let alone schools elsewhere." On May 31, 1921, a group of Black men went to the Tulsa courthouse to defend a young African American man accused of assaulting a white woman. They found themselves facing a mob of hundreds of furious white people.

Tensions spiked and shots were fired, and the African Americans retreated to their neighborhood, Greenwood.

The next day, at dawn, white men looted and burned the neighborhood, at the time so prosperous it was called Black Wall Street.

In 2001, a commission created to study the tragedy concluded that Tulsa authorities themselves had armed some of the white rioters.

The mayor of Tulsa formally apologized this week for the city government's failure to protect the community.

Historians say that as many as 300 African American residents lost their lives, and nearly 10,000 people were left homeless.

"I come here to help fill the silence because in silence, wounds deepen," Biden said.

"As painful as it is, only in remembrance do the wounds heal. We just have to choose to remember (and) memorialize what happened here in Tulsa, so it can't be erased... We simply can't bury pain and trauma forever.

"At some point there'll be a reckoning, an inflection point, like we are facing right now as a nation.

" The United States has been embroiled in debate over racism in recent years, fuelled by the killing in 2020 of African American George Floyd, who suffocated under the knee of white Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin.

The killing sparked nationwide protests, and Chauvin's recent conviction for murder was hailed as an milestone against police impunity, but many allege racial injustice and police brutality remain widespread.

The president -- who is popular with Black Americans voters -- also used his speech to slam efforts to undermine voting rights among Black people.

There was "an unprecedented assault on our democracy," he said, vowing to fight for voters' rights. "This sacred right is under assault with incredible intensity like I've never seen." In April, some of the last survivors of the Tulsa massacre testified before US Congress and asked that the country recognize their suffering.

The 2001 commission recommended that Greenwood residents receive compensation, but reparations have not been paid, and Biden did not address the subject directly.

Beyond financial compensation, city residents were counting on Biden's visit to bring more attention to a tragedy that long remained taboo.

Tulsa has also begun to excavate mass graves, where many Black victims of the massacre are buried, in an effort to shed more light on the city's dark past.

"Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous they can't be buried no matter how hard people try," Biden, who was the first US president to commemorate the massacre, said.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, once a slave-owning state and a stronghold of the Ku Klux Klan, racial disparities remain stark.

There are marked inequalities between the northern part of Tulsa, which is predominantly Black, and the south, which is mostly white.

Local activist Kristi Williams, who is descended from some of the massacre victims, told AFP she wanted Biden to "do us right.""It's been 100 years, and we have been impacted negatively, from housing, economic development, our land has been taken," she said. "This country, right now has an opportunity to right this wrong."
San Jos, June 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :The US Secretary of State on Tuesday called on Central American countries to defend democracy and fight corruption to address the root causes of undocumented migration to the United States.

Antony Blinken, who is making his first visit to Latin America, was due to meet with foreign ministers from the member countries of the Central American Integration System (Sica): Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.

He is also due to meet with Mexican officials.

Upon arrival in the Costa Rican capital San Jose, Blinken headed to a meeting with President Carlos Alvarado and Foreign Minister Rodolfo Solano.

"What we want to hear from our partners is a shared commitment with us to address those root causes" that cause people to emigrate, Blinken said at a joint press conference with President Alvarado.

Those causes "that compel people to leave everything they know, to leave their homes, their families, their communities, their culture, their language, because they feel they have no other choice," Blinken said.

The trip aims to put into practice President Joe Biden's desire to tackle issues driving migrant arrivals to the southern border of the United States, said Julie Chung, the acting assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere.

Chung, speaking to reporters ahead of the trip, recalled that Washington had planned an aid package of $4 billion for the countries of the Northern Triangle (Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador).

"The administration has been clear from the beginning about the importance of addressing corruption," because "when you address the migration -- irregular migration -- the corruption and governance and rule of law, those are all interconnected," Chung added.

When Biden arrived at the White House in January, he was quickly confronted with a large influx of Central American migrants at the US border with Mexico.

Republicans accuse Biden, who promised a more "humane" migration policy to turn the page on the draconian restrictions of Donald Trump's presidency, of creating a surge -- and of subsequently denying the existence of a "crisis." Reforms promised by the Democrat have been slow to take shape.

Biden has entrusted Vice President Kamala Harris with the high-risk dossier.

She has promised comprehensive action against the root causes of the influx of migrants, without going into detail, before she makes her first trip to Mexico and Guatemala next week.

Blinken has praised Costa Rica, which has just joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) -- but not all those in San Jose for the Sica meeting will be on good terms with the United States.

"We meet at a moment when democracy and human rights are being undermined in many parts of the region," Blinken said at the press conference.

"We see this in the erosion of the judicial independence. The crackdown on independent media and NGOs. The barring of political opponents of the quashing of anti-corruption efforts."Washington recently denounced the attacks by the government of El Salvador on the independence of the judiciary, and Chung reiterated her concern about the situation in Nicaragua, particularly about press freedom and human rights.
London, June 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :Group of Seven (G7) finance chiefs gather this week to hammer out an agreement on corporate tax harmonisation aimed at raising revenues as economies recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Finance ministers descend on London Friday and Saturday, before a leaders' summit the following week that is to include US President Joe Biden.

Washington wants a minimum 15 percent rate of corporate tax to prevent multinationals like tech giants from gaming the system to boost profits.

The G7 will also discuss the post-Covid recovery, climate change, and digital Currency regulation.

Biden's tax proposal has so far won broad support and a "political agreement" could be unveiled this week, according to a European source.

"We are very close to concluding an international agreement" which will lead to "a revolution in international corporate taxation", said German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz.

France and Germany have backed the US initiative but Britain is on the fence, calling for a wider package of reforms to international taxation to target company incomes more broadly.

"If the G7 countries all support (a deal on corporate tax), momentum will be hard to stop," said economics professor Jonathan Portes at King's College London.

He dismissed talk of opposition from low-tax nations such as Ireland, whose corporate tax rate at 12.5 percent is one of the lowest in the world, attracting a clutch of tech giants including Facebook and Google.

"It's unlikely to be a viable or sensible strategy for these countries to defy a broad-based international consensus that includes all the major economies/vast majority of the EU," Portes told AFP.

Arun Advani, an assistant professor of economics at Warwick University, said a G7 deal would also curb the damaging international rush to slash taxes.

"This agreement ... removes pointless competition based on 'tax arbitrage': attracting companies purely by reducing tax rates," Advani said.

Diego Iscaro, a senior European economist at economic data group IHS Markit, warned however that there was a "decent chance" that proposals made at the meeting "will be watered down in the future".

G7 host Britain wants multinationals to pay taxes that reflect their operations.

The UK government however plans to raise its own corporation tax rate to 25 percent from 19 percent to rebuild the nation's virus-battered finances.

Gabriel Zucman, an associate professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, called Tuesday for a corporate rate of at least 25 percent.

Zucman calculates that a 25 percent rate would collect an extra 170 billion Euros ($208 billion) this year -- or half of Europe's total current corporate tax revenue.

"My message is: go ahead, be brave," the French academic told AFP, adding that 15 percent was "ridiculously low" by historical standards.

"Countries that want to be ambitious must agree among themselves on a high rate," he said.

Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has praised Biden's 15 percent proposal however, arguing that it would unlock more resources for governments to invest in areas like education, health or infrastructure.

This week's London meeting, taking place in person owing to easing Covid-19 restrictions, comes before the G7 Cornwall summit in southwest England that is to start on June 11.

British finance minister Rishi Sunak has urged the G7 to foster a "green and global economic recovery" from the pandemic, ahead of the COP26 UN climate summit in November in Glasgow.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Goma, DR Congo, June 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :Orders on Thursday to evacuate Goma, a city lying in the shadow of DR Congo's Mount Nyiragongo volcano, have shed light on a rare but potentially catastrophic risk -- a "limnic eruption," when volcanic activity combined with a deep lake can spew out lethal, suffocating gas.

The phenomenon first came to the world's attention in August 1984, when 37 people mysteriously died at Lake Monoun in western Cameroon.

Scientists found that dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) gas in the depths of the lake had erupted, creating invisible clouds at the surface that were borne by winds into homes and fields, snuffing out life.

Two years later, more than 1,700 people and thousands of cattle died in Lake Nyos, also in Cameroon, strengthening the belief that earthquakes and volcanic activity can trigger these unusual events.

More than 600,000 people live in Goma, although the region's population is around two million, in addition to more than 90,000 people who live across the border in the Rwandan city of Gisenyi.

Both cities lie on the northeastern shore of Lake Kivu, which is dominated by Nyiragongo, a strato-volcano nearly 3,500 metres (11,500 feet) high that straddles the East African Rift tectonic divide.

The much-feared volcano roared back into life on Saturday, spewing two rivers of lava over the next day that have claimed 32 lives and left around 20,000 homeless.

This was followed by hundreds of aftershocks, some of them the equivalent of small earthquakes, that have collapsed or destroyed several buildings, ripped cracks in the ground and terrified the population.

The evacuation order comes on the heels of a warning by the Goma Volcano Observatory (OVG), which monitors the pulse of Nyiragongo and the Nyamuragira volcano, 13 kilometres (nine miles) away.

In a technical note seen by AFP, the OVG said it saw worrying signs of activity by Nyiragongo that pointed to three potential outcomes.

In the first two scenarios, Nyiragongo would erupt again, sending renewed lava flows southwards towards Goma and Gisenyi, destroying buildings in their path before reaching Lake Kivu.

In both cases, the quantity of lava likely to enter the lake would not be enough to raise its deep-water temperature by at least one degrees Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) -- a key condition for a limnic eruption.

But in the worst-case scenario, lava flows from Nyiragongo would combine with volcanic activity under the floor of the lake.

This activity could take the form of a "fissural or phreato-magmatic eruption under the lake and/or a large earthquake of 6.5 or 7 magnitude," the OVG said.

In this scenario, "a limnic eruption would take place and dissolved gas in the lake's deep water would rise to the surface, especially CO2, asphyxiating all living beings around Lake Kivu on the Congolese and Rwandan side." "There would be thousands of deaths," the OVG said, spelling out the need for resources to carry out an "urgent exploration" of Lake Kivu.

The OVG also cautioned against the use of rainwater for drinking or washing food, given the ashfall from the volcano.

Six volcanoes dot the Goma region, dominated by Nyiragongo, which is 3,470 metres (11,400 feet) high, and Nyamuragira, 3,058 metres.

Nyiragongo last erupted on January 17, 2002, killing more than 100 people and covering almost all of the eastern part of Goma with lava, including half of the airport's landing strip.

Its deadliest eruption was in 1977, when more than 600 people died.

Nyamuragira is also highly active, with its last major eruption a decade ago.
Nairobi, June 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :The African Union announced it was suspending Mali with immediate effect, after a second military coup in nine months in the impoverished Sahel country.

The AU "decides...

to immediately suspend the Republic of Mali from participation in all activities of the African Union, its Organs and institutions, until normal constitutional order has been restored in the country", the body's Peace and Security Council said in a statement late Tuesday.
Hanoi, June 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :International flights to Vietnam's two biggest cities are to resume, officials said Wednesday, reversing a short-lived ban imposed over fears of a new coronavirus wave.

The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam on Monday announced a temporary suspension for international passenger arrivals at Hanoi's Noi Bai airport from June 1-7.

A similar decision was in force for the airport in commercial capital Ho Chi Minh City until June 14, as the country struggles to contain a virus outbreak in more than half of its territories.

But on Wednesday the aviation authority told airports and airlines that it had reversed the suspension, without mentioning a timeframe or giving an explanation.

Vietnam has managed to keep infection rates low but cases have more than doubled in the past month and now stand at more than 7,500, with 48 deaths.

The communist state was lauded for its quick response to the pandemic last year, but vaccine rollout has been slow.

State media have reported that authorities are appealing to private companies to procure jabs for their own workers.

There are outbreaks in industrial zones in northern Bac Giang and Bac Ninh provinces, while movements and service restrictions have been in place to deal with virus transmission in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Wednesday said that Pakistan was on its way to economic stabilization under the leadership of PM Imran Khan

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Wednesday said that Pakistan was on its way to economic stabilization under the leadership of PM Imran Khan.

He said there was no room for political polarization in the country and the anarchists were following the agenda of the enemy.

He was talking to a PML-Q delegation comprising Chaudhry Moonis Elahi, Salik Hussain, Provincial Ministers Ammar Yasir and Muhammad Rizwan at 90-SQA, and discussed matters of mutual interest.

Usman Buzdar said the frustrated opposition could not deceive the people.

The PML-Q was an ally of the PTI-led government and relations with the allies were stronger than before, he asserted.

The PTI enjoyed best working relationship with the allied party and the allies were part of the decision-making process, the CM added.

"The government has devised a separate development package for every district and I will soon visit Gujrat, Chakwal, Sialkot and Mandi Bahauddin to announce the development packages of these districts," concluded the CM.

Chaudhry Moonis Elahi vowed to continue working jointly for providing better facilities to the people. "We will jointly serve the masses as it is our core agenda. We are one and will continue to remain united," he added and appreciated the announcement of the district development package by the CM.
(@FahadShabbir)

The highly-infectious COVID-19 variant first detected in India threatens to rapidly spread in the sub-region, including among refugees, the UN refugee agency has said as it warned of vaccine shortages in the Asia-Pacific region, including for asylum-seekers

ISLAMABAD (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :The highly-infectious COVID-19 variant first detected in India threatens to rapidly spread in the sub-region, including among refugees, the UN refugee agency has said as it warned of vaccine shortages in the Asia-Pacific region, including for asylum-seekers.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Andrej Mahecic, at a press briefing in Geneva, said that the fragile health systems in many countries in the Asia and Pacific region have struggled to cope with the recent surge of coronavirus cases, Kashmir Media Service reported.

"We are particularly worried about the situation in the Asia and Pacific region, which in the past two months has experienced the largest increase in the number of cases globally," he said.

Over this period, there have been some 38 million recorded COVID-19 cases and more than half a million deaths, the UNHCR spokesperson said.

The lack of hospital beds, oxygen supplies, limited Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacities and scarce health facilities and services have worsened outcomes for those infected with COVID-19, particularly in India and Nepal. The highly infectious variant of the virus which first emerged in India threatens to rapidly spread in the sub-region, including among refugee populations, Mahecic said.

The B.1.617 COVID-19 variant, first detected in India, is divided in three lineages: B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3. The B16172 strain  rechristened 'Delta' by the World Health Organisation (WHO) which has said that only B.1.617.2 is now a variant of concern, observing that lower rates of transmission have been observed for the other two lineages, making them no longer variants of concern.

The B.1.617.2 is now labelled variant Delta and has been reported in 62 countries as of June 1.

With COVID-19 raging in many parts of the world, the UNHCR warned of shortages of vaccines in the Asia-Pacific region, including for refugees and asylum-seekers.

UNHCR spokesperson Mahecic said: We urge an immediate and stronger support for the COVAX initiative, a worldwide effort aimed at achieving equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

"This is critical to save lives and curb the impact of the virus, particularly in developing nations.

These countries host the vast majority of more than 80 million forcibly displaced people in the world. Yet so far, they have benefited from only a fraction of the world's COVID-19 vaccines.

The UNHCR stressed that no one can be left behind in the global effort against the coronavirus.

"The pandemic will be defeated only when vaccinations become available everywhere on an equitable basis, the agency said.

It said that the current delays in vaccine shipments, brought about by limited supplies to COVAX, mean that some of the world's most vulnerable people remain susceptible to the virus.

The UNHCR is adding its voice to the calls for countries with surplus doses to donate to COVAX, and for manufacturers to boost supplies to the COVAX facility, Mahecic said.

The UN refugee agency said that refugees remain especially vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19 as overcrowded settings, coupled with limited water and sanitation facilities, can contribute to increased infection rates and an exponential spread of the virus.

It said that in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, where almost 900,000 Rohingya refugees are living in the single largest and most densely populated cluster of refugee camps in the world, the number of cases has increased considerably in the last two months.

As of May 31, there have been over 1,188 cases among the refugees, with more than half of these cases recorded in May alone.

There is also a worrying increase in the number of COVID-19 cases among refugees and asylum-seekers in Nepal, Iran, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Some refugees, including in Nepal, have already received their first vaccine dose with COVAX-provided supplies while among the Rohingya refugees in the camps in Bangladesh, not a single vaccine has been administered yet, given the scarcity of supplies in the country, the UN refugee agency added.

On Wednesday, India reported 1,32,788 new coronavirus infections, taking the country's tally to 2,83,07,832, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The COVID-19 death toll climbed to 3,35,102 with 3,207 fresh deaths, it said, adding that the active cases were recorded below 20 lakh for the second consecutive day.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 13:27:55|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

MANILA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines lauded on Wednesday the World Health Organization's (WHO's) approval of the CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech for emergency use, saying it will boost the vaccine confidence of Filipinos.

"Now, it's not only the Philippine's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) saying that the Sinovac vaccine is safe and effective, but also a United Nations agency is vouching for its safety and efficacy," Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.

Philippine FDA approved the Sinovac's CoronaVac vaccine for emergency use in February, paving the way for the delivery of the first batch of CoronaVac to the country, the first vaccine to reach the Philippines.

The Philippines kicked off the vaccination drive on March 1, a day after China donated the first batch of CoronaVac vaccines.

The Philippines has administered more than 5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of May 30, primarily to frontline healthcare workers, the elderly, and those with underlying medical conditions.

The country aims to vaccinate up to 70 million people this year, depending on the vaccine supply.

The Philippines has reported a total of 1,235,467 COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday, including 21,012 deaths. Enditem
, ,

(@fidahassanain)

Malala Yousufzai can be seen in a striking red Stella McCartney dress, with the words The extraordinary life of Malala and survivor, activist, legend at the bottom,.

LONDON: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News- June 2nd, 2021) Education activist Malala Yousufzai will star on British Vogue's July 2021 cover, the magazine said.

Taking to Twitter, the magazine shared a photo of the cover of the July issue in which Malala can be seen in a striking red Stella McCartney dress, with the words "The extraordinary life of Malala. Survivor, activist, legend" at the bottom.

She was photographed by British fashion photographer Nick Knight.

The issue features an in depth interview with Sirin Kale.

Taking to Instagram, British Vogue Editor-in-Chief Edward Enninful shared a long note.

When it comes to people I admire, Malala Yousafzai is right at the top, said Edward.

He said: At 23, the worlds most famous university graduate has already lived so many lives.

Activist, author, tireless campaigner for girls education, daughter, sister, student and survivor,.

He further said that Malala was a young teenager with a passion for learning, raising voice for the girls denied the right to learn.

The Editor also wrote that a near-fatal attempt on her life in 2012 or what she could call the incident that brought her to Britain for specialist surgery but she didnt stop there.

According to Enninful, Malala spoke about everything from her post-uni wobbles to her move into tv production and her eloquent thoughts on wearing the headscarf  and even her trepidation about love and relationships in her interview.

A new side to Malala is revealed," he added while urging people the interview in full.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :The Supreme Court on Wednesday summoned former Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly and leader of Pakistan People Party Syed Khursheed Shah's two wives and son Farrukh Shah in bail case on Thursday.

A three-member SC bench comprising Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan heard the post-arrest bail plea filed by Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah.

During the course of proceedings, Advocate Makhdoom Ali Khan, counsel for Khursheed Shah said that nothing was found in an earlier inquiry against Khursheed Shah. The National Accountability Bureau should have sought permission from the court for re-inquiry, he added.

Justice Tariq Masood said that unfortunately, the change of government had led to a shift in the attitude of the NAB. In many cases, the NAB has even refused to file appeals, he added. He said that NAB always filed appeals against revenue officers (Patwaris) but did not filed appeals against influential people. He said that bail in NAB cases could only be on hardship cases.

The counsel said that the NAB did not disclose the method of asset pricing.

Justice Sardar Tariq asked how would the trial take place if the court write details in bail petition.

The counsel said that his client was accused of misuse of power.

Justice Tariq said that the trial court itself could frame charges if the facts came to light.

The counsel said that there was a gap between the NAB's disclosure of income and expenditure.

Justice Tariq said that the mentioned plots were allotted as school land from 1980 to 2011. The school land was converted into residential plots in 2011 and Khursheed Shah bought the plots in 2012, he added.

The counsel said that the sale and purchase of plots and other matters were done according to the law. The NAB multiplied the value of Khurshid Shah's assets, he added.

Justice Tariq asked the counsel had his client applied for bail in the high court on the basis of hardship? The counsel replied that no appeal was filed in the high court on the basis of hardship.

Justice Tariq said that hardship-based bail must first be sought from the high court. The point of hardship could not be raised directly in the Supreme Court, he added.

The counsel said that post-arrest bail petition was filed in the high court soon after the arrest of his client. He said that his client was in jail since last two years.

The court summoned both the wives of Khurshid Shah. The court also directed Khurshid Shah's son Farrukh Shah to ensure attendance on Thursday. Sindh Transport Minister Owais Qadir Shah and all the accused were also ordered to appear in the court.

The court also directed all the accused who had been issued bail cancellation notices should also be present tomorrow.

Later, hearing of the case was adjourned till Thursday and the counsel for Khursheed Shah would continue his arguments.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon Wednesday arrived here on a two-day visit.

Federal Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar received the Tajik President as he alighted from his special aircraft, here at the Nur Khan air base.

Cannons boomed for the 21-gun salute in honour of the visiting dignitary, besides a salute presented by the static guard.

The visit is taking place at the invitation of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

President Emomali Rahmon is being accompanied by a high-level delegation.

During the visit, Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Rahmon will lead their respective sides in the delegation-level talks.

The two sides will exchange views on deepening bilateral cooperation in diverse areas -- including political, economic, trade, investment, energy, security and defence, culture, education and regional connectivity.

A number of agreements/MoUs will also be signed during the visit.

The visiting dignitary will separately meet with President Dr Arif Alvi.

Pakistan and Tajikistan enjoy close brotherly relations underpinned by commonalty of faith, shared history and cultural affinities.

These ties are characterized by mutual respect, shared perceptions and a common desire to promote peace, stability and development in the region.

Tajikistan is important within the context of Pakistan's vision for closer ties and enhanced cooperation with Central Asia.

The vision emphasizes forging deeper trade, investment, energy, security, and people-to-people links.

The two countries share common views on major regional and international issues and cooperate closely at various multilateral fora.

Tajikistan is the current chair of SCO. Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi visited Dushanbe in March 2021 to attend the Ministerial meeting of the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process (HoA-IP), followed by his bilateral visit to Tajikistan.

On May 25, 2021, the two sides held the 5th round of Pakistan-Tajikistan Bilateral Political Consultations (BPC) at the level of Foreign Secretary/First Deputy Foreign Minister and reviewed the whole gamut of bilateral relations.

Both Pakistan and Tajikistan are part of the CASA-1000 Transmission line Project along with Kyrgyz Republic and Afghanistan. The power project envisages the transportation of surplus electric power from Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan to Pakistan (1000 MW) and Afghanistan (300 MW).

President Rahmon has visited Pakistan seven times since 1994. His last bilateral visit was in November 2015. In the multilateral context, President Rahmon visited Pakistan for the 13th ECO Summit held in Islamabad in March 2017.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :Genetic evidence does not support vitamin D as a protective measure against Covid-19, said researchers.

The team from McGill University in Quebec, Canada, analyzed genetic variants of 4,134 individuals with Covid-19, and 1,284,876 without Covid-19, from 11 countries to determine whether genetic predisposition for higher vitamin D levels were associated with less-severe disease outcomes in people with Covid-19.

The results, published in PLOS Medicine, showed no evidence for an association between genetically predicted vitamin D levels and Covid-19 susceptibility, hospitalisation, or severe disease. This suggests that raising circulating vitamin D levels through supplementation may not improve Covid-19 outcomes in the general population, Medical Daily reported .

Increased vitamin D levels, as reflected by 25-hydroxy vitamin D measurements, have been proposed to protect against Covid-19 based on in vitro, observational, and ecological studies.

But, "Vitamin D supplementation as a public health measure to improve outcomes is not supported by this study," said researchers including Guillaume Butler-Laporte and Tomoko Nakanishi from the varsity.

However, the team noted several limitations, including that the research did not include individuals with vitamin D deficiency, and it remains possible that truly deficient patients may benefit from supplementation for Covid-19 related protection and outcomes.

Additionally, the genetic variants were obtained only from individuals of European ancestry, so future studies will be needed to determine the relationship with Covid-19 outcomes in other populations.

A previous study also showed similar results. Scientists from the University of Sao Paulo conducted a clinical trial in Brazil with 240 patients who were given 200,000 IU of vitamin D3 on admission to hospital.

The supplementation did not reduce length of stay or affect the proportion requiring intensive care, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

At least 23 migrants were missing and two bodies recovered from the sea off Tunisia, the Red Crescent reported Wednesday, after the military said more than 100 migrants were intercepted

Zarzis (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :At least 23 migrants were missing and two bodies recovered from the sea off Tunisia, the Red Crescent reported Wednesday, after the military said more than 100 migrants were intercepted.

The Tunisian navy said a boat headed for Europe from Zuwara in Libya was intercepted on Tuesday near Miskar oil platform, some 67 kilometers (52 miles) off the coast.

The migrants -- 37 Eritreans, 32 Sudanese and an Egyptian, aged between 15 and 40 -- were handed over to the Red Crescent and International Organization for Migration in the southern port Of Zarzis.

Apart from 23 people missing, two bodies were recovered from the water, according to the Red Crescent.

The Tunisian army, for its part, said 39 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were intercepted at sea off the eastern port city of Sfax on Monday night.

Tunisia and Libya are key departure points for migrants attempting the dangerous crossing from the North African coast to Europe, particularly Italy.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd June, 2021) The African Union (AU) has suspended the membership of Mali in the organization and warned about possible sanctions in the wake of an armed coup.

In late May, Mali saw its second coup since August. It was led by the country's vice-president, Col. Assimi Goita, who was named transitional president. Goita removed President Bah N'Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane from office after accusing them of breaking transition rules. In the official communique issued on Tuesday, the AU Peace and Security Council condemned and rejected these developments.

"Decides, accordingly, in line with the relevant AU normative instruments, to immediately suspend the Republic of Mali from participation in all activities of the African Union, its Organs and institutions, until normal constitutional order has been restored in the country," the council said in a statement after its meeting in Addis Ababa.

The AU went on to urge the country's military to refrain from interfering with Mali's domestic politics and call for creation of conditions for returning to civilian-led transition, "failing which, the Council will not hesitate to impose targeted sanctions and other punitive measures against any spoilers of the current transition."

In August 2020, a group of Malian soldiers started a mutiny at the Kati military base near Bamako. Insurgents kidnapped several ministers and high-ranking military officials, including former President Ibrahim Boubakar Keita, who later dissolved the government and parliament.

On September 12, the military approved the basic law and strategy for transition after consultations with political and civil figures. The parties agreed that the transition period would last eighteen months. Bah N'Daw, a former defense minister, was appointed as president for that period.
(@FahadShabbir)

CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd June, 2021) Former President of Moldova, co-chairman of the electoral bloc "Communists and Socialists" Igor Dodon said that in late June he will leave for Russia to meet with the Moldovan diaspora living in Russia before the early parliamentary elections.

"I will work actively, I have several meetings planned with the diaspora, most likely at the end of June I will be in St.

Petersburg and Moscow, where I will hold large meetings," Dodon said on the air of the Ren Moldova tv channel.

According to him, about 400,000 citizens of Moldova live in Russia, about the same number are in the West. He said Moldovan citizens living in Russia should more actively participate in elections.

Early parliamentary elections are scheduled for July 11. The Socialist Party and the Communist Party of Moldova on May 12 created an electoral bloc "Communists and Socialists" in order to compete together for lawmaker mandates.
The Kenyan government on Wednesday formally challenged a court ruling that President Uhuru Kenyatta's proposed constitutional reforms are illegal

Nairobi, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :The Kenyan government on Wednesday formally challenged a court ruling that President Uhuru Kenyatta's proposed constitutional reforms are illegal.

The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) was shot down by the High Court on May 14, dealing a blow to Kenyatta and his allies who wanted the sweeping constitutional changes put to a referendum before next year's elections.

In a formal appeal filed in court on Wednesday, solicitor general Kennedy Ogeto said the five-panel bench had "erred" in determining that the president did not have the legal authority to spearhead such amendments.

The High Court's conclusion that Kenyatta could also be sued in a personal capacity for pursuing such an initiative was also incorrect, the government's top lawyer argued in appeal documents seen by AFP.

The appeals court will begin hearing the case on June 29.

The BBI reforms seek notably to expand the executive in what is billed as an attempt to curb cycles of election-related violence in Kenya, a problem blamed on the existing winner-takes-all electoral system.

The proposal was born from an alliance struck by Kenyatta and his political foe Raila Odinga in the aftermath of a disputed 2017 election between the men that exploded into violence.

The BBI has been approved by parliament and has dominated Kenyan politics ever since, splashed on the front pages of newspapers as Kenyatta and Odinga have toured the country rallying support for the initiative, even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Critics see the move as a bid to create a prime minister post for Kenyatta, who is not allowed to seek a third term in 2022.

His deputy William Ruto -- who many tipped to succeed Kenyatta in 2022 -- opposes the reforms and has been sidelined as the president has forged a political relationship with Odinga.

If adopted, the BBI would also create 70 new parliamentary Constituencies and an official office of the opposition leader in parliament.

Some have argued that adopting the reforms would burden a country already struggling with debt as they would push up the parliament's sky-high wage bill while creating more opportunities for patronage and corruption.

Kenyatta on Tuesday said the High Court's opposition to the BBI amounted to an "attempt to stop the will of the people".
Moscow is ready to help the Central African Republic (CAR) in ensuring security, the Russian Foreign Ministry said following a meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and CAR Prime Minister Firmin Ngrebada on the sidelines of the XXIV St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd June, 2021) Moscow is ready to help the Central African Republic (CAR) in ensuring security, the Russian Foreign Ministry said following a meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and car Prime Minister Firmin Ngrebada on the sidelines of the XXIV St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"When discussing the development of the situation in the CAR, the Russian side stated its unwavering willingness to continue to provide the necessary support to the efforts of the legitimate leadership of the republic to ensure security, unity and civil peace in the country," the ministry said.

"During the exchange of views on priority issues for the further development of friendly Russian-CAR relations, Moscow and Bangui reaffirmed their intention to deepen political dialogue and build up mutually beneficial cooperation in trade, economic, investment and humanitarian fields," it said.

This year's edition of SPIEF is taking place in-person from Wednesday through Saturday at St. Petersburg's ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Center. The Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, the umbrella media organization that includes such brands as Sputnik, RIA Novosti, InoSMI, and Baltnews, among others, is an official media partner of the country's major economic forum.
CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd June, 2021) Former President of Moldova, co-chairman of the electoral bloc "Communists and Socialists" Igor Dodon said that after early parliamentary elections, the government should be formed by early August.

Moldovan Prime Minister Ion Chicu resigned in December last year. The parliament of the republic failed with two attempts to approve a new cabinet and was dissolved at the end of April.

"We must urgently form a government in the next parliament. Usually the Constitutional Court is given up to 30 days to approve the election results, but now we need to have a government that will work by the end of July - start of August," Dodon said on Ren Moldova tv channel.

Early parliamentary elections are scheduled for July 11. The Socialist Party and the Communist Party of Moldova on May 12 created an electoral bloc "Communists and Socialists" in order to compete together for lawmaker mandates.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 13:52:18|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

ULAN BATOR, June 2 (Xinhua) -- COVID-19 cases in Mongolia rose to 60,372 on Wednesday, after 1,143 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, the highest daily count since May 2, the country's health ministry said.

The daily test positivity rate of COVID-19 has been increasing significantly in recent days, health authorities said, urging the public to follow health guidelines and always wear masks in crowded areas.

The nationwide death toll reached 300 with three new fatalities, and 685 more people have recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries to 51,448, said the ministry.

The Asian country launched a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign in late February, aiming to cover at least 60 percent of its population of 3.3 million.

Over 1,859,500 Mongolians have so far received their first dose, and over 1,323,200 Mongolians have been fully vaccinated. Enditem
The International Labor Organization said Wednesday the COVID-19 crisis is far from over, and it estimates that in the first quarter of this year, 4.8% of working hours were lost, amounting to 140 million full-time jobs

GENEVA, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :The International Labor Organization said Wednesday the COVID-19 crisis is far from over, and it estimates that in the first quarter of this year, 4.8% of working hours were lost, amounting to 140 million full-time jobs.

The ILO released its World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2021, 15 months after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.

"We estimate that in the first quarter of this year 2021, 4.8% of total working hours were lost as a result of the COVID crisis, and that is the equivalent of 140 million full-time jobs," said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder in a virtual news conference from Geneva.

He said the labor market crisis created by the pandemic is far from over, and employment growth will not be enough to make up for the losses.

"It's not just been a public health crisis. It's also been an employment and human crisis as well," said Ryder.

Global unemployment is expected to stand at 205 million people in 2022, significantly surpassing 187 million in 2019.

He said this corresponds to a global unemployment rate of 5.7%.
Kurdish forces have shot dead four Arab protesters during riots in the northern Syrian region of Manbij, a war monitor said Wednesday

Beirut, June 2 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :Kurdish forces have shot dead four Arab protesters during riots in the northern Syrian region of Manbij, a war monitor said Wednesday.

The violence broke out at a demonstration against military conscription against a backdrop of growing anger over a deepening economic crisis which the area's Kurdish leadership is struggling to contain.

The unrest comes weeks after similar riots gripped other parts of the autonomous zone Kurdish forces have carved out in northeastern Syria since civil war broke out in 2011.

In the Arab-majority region of Manbij, which was captured by Kurdish forces five years ago, "four protesters have been killed in the past 48 hours from live rounds fired by internal security forces," known as the Asayish, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syria's state SANA news agency also reported four deaths.

The demonstrators initally took to the street to demand an end to forced military conscription by the region's main fighting force, the Syrian Democratic Forces.

But the protests swelled after one of their number was shot dead on Monday.

Protesters blocked roads and attacked an Asayish checkpoint outside Manbij on Tuesday, the Observatory said.

The Asayish responded by shooting dead three more protesters, further fuelling public anger, the monitor added.

The Manbij Military Council, a governing body linked to the Kurdish administration, acknowledged there had been casualties but did not specify how many.

In a statement on Tuesday, it blamed the violence on "criminal cells receiving their orders from external and domestic forces", a likely reference to the Syrian government and Turkey.

It accused instigators of using the issue of military conscription -- which has been in place for seven years -- as a pretext to spark strife.

Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman said that after reaching 18, all young men were required to perform around one year of military service.

Representatives of the Asayish security forces and the Kurdish administration are currently in talks with Arab tribal leaders in an attempt to restore calm, the monitor said.

No major incidents were reported on Wednesday.
(@FahadShabbir)

The US' biggest brewer, Anheuser-Busch, has promised to get the next round of beer for vaccinated adults in a drive to boost vaccination figures to the 70 percent mark before the July 4 Independence Day celebrations, as set out by the White House earlier this year

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd June, 2021) The US' biggest brewer, Anheuser-Busch, has promised to get the next round of beer for vaccinated adults in a drive to boost vaccination figures to the 70 percent mark before the July 4 Independence Day celebrations, as set out by the White House earlier this year.

"Anheuser-Busch, the country's leading brewer, today announced a national campaign with the White House to help meet President Biden's goal of encouraging as many Americans as possible to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by July 4th," the brewer said in a statement. "When the nation reaches the White House's goal of 70% of adults partially vaccinated, Anheuser-Busch will buy America's next round of beer, seltzer, non-alcoholic beverage or other A[nheuser]-B[usch] product.

"

American adults of 21 and older will have to upload a picture of themselves having a beer in their favorite place to the company's website to receive a free beer on Anheuser-Busch, the statement explained.

Anheuser-Busch's campaign is expected to become the biggest giveaway of beer in history on top of other brewer's commitments, including over $1 billion investment over the next two years in its facilities " to drive economic prosperity in communities across the US," the statement added.

On May 4, US President Joe Biden announced his plan to administer at least one coronavirus injection to 70 percent of adults in the United States and fully inoculate 160 million residents by July 4.
Valdosta, GA (31601)

Today

Partly cloudy in the morning followed by scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. High 91F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms in the evening. Partly cloudy skies overnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
The Secretary-General of the Bishops Conference of Columbia (CEC) highlights the importance of openness to dialogue and encounter, following weeks of protests in the South American nation over a proposed government tax reform.

By Vatican News staff writer

Several weeks after Colombians first took to the streets to protest against a botched tax overhaul and other issues, including the governments handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, tensions are still high in the country amid efforts to reach an agreement between the government and the growing chorus of voices of the disgruntled citizens.

Last Friday, the city of Cali witnessed scenes of horror as 14 people were killed and about 98 others injured by firearms during violence that erupted while demonstrations were taking place to commemorate a month of the protests which began on 28 April. Reports say that more than 50 people have died since the wave of protests began to sweep across the South American nation.

In light of the unsettling situation, Bishop Elkin Fernando Alvarez Botero, secretary-general of the Bishops Conference of Columbia (CEC),and Bishop of Santa Rosa de Osos, spoke to Vatican News in an interview, reflecting on the situation of unrest caused by the demonstrations.

Reason for the protests

Providing some context to the protests, Bishop Alvarez explained that they were sparked by an attempted government move to raise taxes, which was later withdrawn. Nonetheless, citizens have seized the opportunity to demand attention for other social issues that have been previously neglected by the President Ivan Duque Marquez-led administration.

He notes that there have been continuous demonstrations since protesters first began. Colombians have aired their grievances in major cities like Valle del Cauca, Cali in Cauca, Popayan, Medellin and also in the capital Bogota.

Importance of dialogue

Amid the complex situation, Bishop Alvarez highlights that efforts at dialogue are being made and the Church is playing an important role to ensure a continuous openness to reach agreements between the people and the government.

The Bishop further notes that the Church, together with the United Nations, insists on the need for dialogue. For their part, the Bishops of Columbia have reiterated Pope Francis call in Fratelli tutti, reminding all that in the face of these social problems, there is always the possibility to choose dialogue as opposed to selfish indifference or violent reactions.

To do this, he stressed the importance of attending to the legitimate concerns that have arisen during the protests with an openness to encounter and understand each other.

We have also insisted that in this dialogue lies the hope of being able to find points of contact that will lead us to reconciliation and a commitment to peace, he said.

On Sunday, thousands of people participated in a silent march in Bogota to demand an end to violence during ongoing protests. Participants expressed support for police and condemned acts of vandalism and roadblocks that have prevented the arrival of supplies to cities.

Giving a soul to the economy

Responding to a question about the economic challenges in the country, Bishop Alvarez explained that in a message from the Bishops at the start of the protests, they reiterated Pope Francis appeal to give a soul to the economy of today.

He went on to stress that inspired by the principles of the Social Doctrine of the Church, which can guide the economy toward the common good, the necessity comes to the fore to provide equal access to goods and basic services in order to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor in the country.

It is true that all the problems behind these protests are not of an economic nature, but they touch strongly on the economy, he said.

Therefore, it is very important to listen to this call of the Pope because it is precisely what is the basis for a path of national reconstruction, so that the country can be a home and a homeland for all.

On the path towards peace

Speaking further on Colombias efforts on its path to peace, Bishop Alvarez noted that the implementation of the agreements of a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) guerrillas is moving forward.

In 2016, thousands of FARC rebels laid down their arms under a historic peace agreement that ended 52 years of fighting in the country.

He added that the current situation urges all to broaden their perspectives and to move forward more quickly in the implementation of these agreements, including seeking peace with other sectors.

Protests amid the pandemic

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic which has affected over three million Colombians and has caused the deaths of over 89,000, Bishop Alvarez expresses concern that the demonstrations have led to a rise in infections.

He highlights the strain Covid-19 has put on the health sector, especially in large cities where there are not enough beds for Covid-infected patients. On top of this, he points to the suffering and fatigue of medical personnel and healthcare workers who have to take care of the sick.

We hope that all this can be resolved, respecting the right to peaceful demonstration, which must always be recognized and guaranteed, but bearing in mind that we are living a critical scenario with respect to the pandemic, and that calls us to take care of life, our own and that of others."
The Bishops of Haiti have sent a message asking authorities to rethink their proposed changes to the nation's constitution, amid social and political tensions.

By Vatican News staff writer

The Bishops' Conference of Haiti has written a message to speak up against the authorities' decision to reform the Constitution. The bishops stress that such a measure cannot be taken in the midst of a national socio-political crisis, due to which it is difficult to obtain the consent of the entire population.

A referendum on the Fundamental Charter is scheduled for 27 June, but modifications have encountered consternation from both opposition forces and those close to the Head of State, President Jovanel Moise.

The reform would enhance the powers of the president, who has been the subject of numerous popular protests since October 2019, and has been accused of corruption. Riots have forced the postponement of legislative elections set for January 2020, leading the government to act through continuous decrees.

The Covid-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the ongoing social crisis, causing nearly 15,000 infections and more than 300 deaths. At the same time the island's inhabitants are victim to terrible violence, due to armed gangs, so-called "death squads" that sow terror everywhere, in a context of almost total impunity.



The Bishops' message

In their message, the bishops write that "in these difficult times in our history as a people, we hear the cries of our brothers and sisters, cries provoked by such terrible evils as the multiplication of heavily armed gangs that make the law and impose their diktats; violence in all its forms; kidnappings; insecurity that prevents free movement on the national territory; criminality; impunity; political instability; the deterioration of state structures; the high cost of living; the Covid-19 pandemic."

For this reason, the Bishops Conference of Haiti calls on politicians of all parties to "avoid placing heavy burdens on the shoulders of the people that will have the consequence of slowing down or even blocking its path to full development."

Burden of a new Constitution

Among these burdens the bishops cite precisely "the desire to provide the country, at all costs, with a new Constitution, through a referendum."

What is needed, first and foremost, they say, is "to seek the right and consensual way to achieve this goal", and "this is not the case at the moment". Deciding to replace the Fundamental Charter, the bishops stress, is not possible "in the midst of a political crisis in which it is difficult to reach an agreement," and "persevering on this point will plunge the country into an even more serious crisis."

They allege that the current social and political situation, made up of "division, mistrust and violence of all kinds," is not at all conducive "to a project of this magnitude, which would rather imply collaboration between all national forces."

The bishops state that "to renounce the project of a referendum would therefore be the wise decision to take."

"We implore you to prevent the country from knowing even darker and even worse days than those we are currently experiencing,." they appeal.

The thoughts of the Haitian bishops then extend to the population that "can no longer wait to see the nation emerge from misery, insecurity, instability and chronic lawlessness." Hence, they call on all Haitian politicians to "work urgently, immediately, for peace and profound change," relaunching "without delay the democratic process that allows citizens to choose their legitimate leaders through free and transparent elections."

To all Haitians

Finally, the country's bishops urge all Haitians "not to let themselves steal the hope of a future of peace and participation in the construction of democracy."

"Haiti will live!" concludes the bishops' message, which finally entrusts the country to the intercession of its Patroness, Our Lady of Perpetual Help.


Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 16:00:43|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

Photo taken on June 2, 2021 shows damaged vehicles at the site of a car bomb in Jalalabad city, capital of eastern province of Nangarhar, Afghanistan. Two Afghan civilians were killed and 10 others including one security personnel were wounded in a car bomb blast targeting a military convoy in Jalalabad city, capital of eastern province of Nangarhar on Wednesday, a local government spokesman confirmed. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

JALALABAD, Afghanistan, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Two Afghan civilians were killed and 10 others including one security personnel were wounded in a car bomb blast targeting a military convoy in Jalalabad city, capital of eastern province of Nangarhar on Wednesday, a local government spokesman confirmed.

"The blast occurred at around 10:10 a.m. local time along a busy road in Police District 4 when a convoy belongs to national intelligence agency's Special Operations Forces was passing by the area," spokesman Attahullah Khogiani told reporters via a text message.

The wounded were transported to a regional hospital in Jalalabad, he said, adding the killed were passing by people including a rickshaw driver.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

While the United States and NATO troops have been leaving the country, violence in the country is on the rise.

On Tuesday night, eight civilians were killed and 14 others wounded after sticky bombs attached to two public transport buses were detonated in the western part of national capital Kabul. Enditem
Standing Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh listens to the leader of Ben Tre province proposing to build a bridge to replace Binh Tan Ferry, Thoi Binh commune, Binh Dai district. This is a point on the coastal corridor route connecting with Tien Giang province. Photo: VGP/Manh Hung

Nguyen Truc Nhan, Vice Chairman of Ben Tre Peoples Committee, told VIR that the province is proposing an investment into a coastal road connecting the Mekong Delta region with Ho Chi Minh City. The province is now preparing necessary documents to seek the governments approval for the road.

The section crossing the region is 700km long, of which 52.5km are in Ben Tre. The road is slated to be developed within the next five years. However, as this would be a brand new and large coastal route in the Mekong Delta, the development needs to mobilise various resources. The province intends to call for public investment and mobilise resources from the society to jointly develop the project.

Nhan said that this new coastal road will significantly reduce the commuting distance between Ben Tre and Ho Chi Minh City to 50km instead of 90km via the National Highway No.1A. Once completed, the road will open opportunities for coastal economic development by reorganising new industries such as urban construction, tourism, aquaculture, manufacturing, and processing. There is also a synchronous plan to create space for a land fund, employment, and climate change response.

Likewise, Long An province is focusing on completing the procedures to carry out the construction of a number of important traffic projects in the area. In the next five years, the province will focus on investing in the construction and expansion of many important transport projects connecting the province and other localities in the region. Long An will mobilise about VND30 trillion ($1.3 billion), including more than VND18 trillion ($782 million) from the central government as well as local budgets, with the rest of nearly VND12 billion ($521 million) coming from other sources on infrastructure development.

According to Nguyen Hoai Trung, deputy director of Long An Department of Transport, once these projects are in operation they will smoothly connect industrial zones and clusters of the province to Long An International Port, Ho Chi Minh City, and neighbouring provinces.

Additionally, these projects will contribute to creating favourable conditions for people and businesses to travel and transport goods, promoting the socioeconomic development of the locality, he added.

Meanwhile, Can Tho city gives priority to eight key projects in the 2021-2025 period including the ring road to the west of the city connecting the National Highway No.91 and the National Highway No.61C; four provincial roads; and two bridges. The total investment capital is estimated at VND7.5 trillion ($325.2 million).

Can Tho has proposed the government to prioritise investment of key projects connecting the region such as My Thuan-Can Tho Expressway and Can Tho-Kien Giang Highway. Also, the city will implement transport routes and public passenger transport terminals to increase the carrying rate to 10 per cent by 2025 and 20-30 per cent by 2030, boosting the interprovincial connection between Can Tho and its neighbouring provinces.

The Mekong Delta region contributes 50 per cent of the rice crop, 65 per cent of aquaculture, 70 per cent of fruit, 95 per cent of exported rice, and 60 per cent of exported fish of the whole country. With its suitable location, it offers convenient trade opportunities with other ASEAN countries and the Greater Mekong Subregion. However, the connection with Ho Chi Minh City and overseas remains one of the tightest bottlenecks of the regions development.

The Annual Mekong Delta Economic Report 2020 by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Fulbright University showed that the investment demand in the region for all types of basic transport infrastructure such as roads, waterways, aviation, and even railway is huge. However, development in the last 10 years has been modest.

Many businesses have voiced their concerns about traffic congestion from the Mekong Delta to Ho Chi Minh City. Lack of well-aligned planning and poor logistics also led to cost increase in all stages of the production value chain, reducing the competitiveness of businesses and the regional economy.

Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The said that the ministry will focus on some breakthrough projects in the coming time, such as the expressway connecting Can Tho and Ca Mau in the form of a public-private partnership.

The ministry will also make investments in expressways from Chau Doc district to Long Xuyen city of An Giang province with the total investment of the first phase project estimated at VND23.62 trillion ($1 billion).

To support the sustainable development in the Mekong Delta, the ministry has proposed the planning of Tran De Deepwater Seaport in Soc Trang province, capable of receiving vessels of up to 100,000 tonnes. The port is expected to achieve a throughput capacity of 50-55 million tonnes by 2030. When being put into operation, products in the region will not need to be shipped to Ho Chi Minh City for export. The total capital for the plans implementation is estimated at VND50.51 trillion (2.2 billion), with investment expected to come from private investors, not the state budget.

At present, the Mekong Delta is at a great risk amid climate change. Therefore, the government directs the road transport sector to prioritise infrastructure investments in the region. The efforts will also create a premise for the region to change its economic structure, gearing towards sustainable development, Minister The said.

Currently, his ministry has prepared nearly new investment projects across all kinds of transportation with the total capital of $5.14 billion for the delta.

Generally, Vietnam is seeking international loans worth around $2 billion from the World Bank, France, and Germany to support the development of the Mekong Deltas infrastructure, including coastal roads like the one Ben Tre is proposing.

Carolyn Turk, World Bank country director for Vietnam said, In partnership with government authorities at all levels, innovative pilots and large infrastructure investments have been implemented to bolster climate resilience, natural resources management, and sustainability while fostering growth for people, rural areas, cities, provinces and the region. Importantly, new perspectives, new evidence, new knowledge, and relevant international experiences and expertise have been brought to the Mekong Delta for addressing its very complex challenges.
Nha Home Vietnam is the newest real estate database for the Vietnamese market

During this years first half, the Vietnamese real estate market saw the appearance of Nha Home Vietnam, a the newly-established online real estate database. In contrast with other sites, Nha Home Vietnam focuses on offering property data at a low cost.

For each project, we have a couple of graphics showcasing the correlation between the premises and the prices but also distribution of buildings apartment and distribution of apartments types, Julien Godard, CEO and founder of Nha Home Vietnam explained. As soon as we collect enough data, we will compare projects within a district, a city, and even projects located in different cities.

To date, the startup has collected data on 1,439 real estate projects with more than 350,000 apartment units across 50 districts and 33 cities.

In addition to Nha Home Vietnam, the local property market has seen many similar platforms appear in recent years, according to the Vietnam Association of Realtors (VAR). The association added that there are more than 200 active real estate databases in the country at the moment.

According to the Ministry of Construction, local residential demand has been consistently high and will continue growing in the next 10 years.

According to data published by India-based Mordor Intelligence, Vietnam has high absorption rate of 70-80 per cent of new supply and surging demand for residential real estate. There are 30,000-40,000 new apartment units available each year. Bigger cities and coastal cities like Ho Chi Minh City, Danang, and the capital Hanoi have seen the fastest development which is expected to continue for years to come.

The Philippines-based Global Property Guide also pointed out that in Southeast Asia, Vietnam ranks fifth in gross rental yield at 4.3 per cent, higher than Malaysia (3.72 per cent) and Singapore (2.32 per cent).

The growing potential of the business models has also attracted investors. For example, Cho Tot last year successfully mobilised $80 million investment from South Korea-based Naver Group. Malaysia-based PropertyGuru that operates batdongsan.com.vn in 2020 got $220 million capital from the two global leading investment funds TPG and KKR.

According to the Vietnam National Real Estate Association, local online real estate databases and trading platforms are valued at $21 billion and will continue growing.
AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

Minster of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said that the MoH encourages and is creating the most favourable conditions for businesses and localities to join the efforts to import COVID-19 vaccines into Vietnam while giving top priority to quality and safety.

In the upcoming time, the MoH will continue to announce encouraging policies to attract businesses and localities to join the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines. Accordingly, the MoH will create the most favourable conditions for import, import licensing, and vaccine verification. The MoH will maximally accelerate administrative procedures while ensuring the quality and safety of vaccines.

In case businesses do not have qualified conditions for vaccination, the MoH will support this.

According to Long, for COVID-19 vaccines licensed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the MoH's council will meet and appraise and then license vaccines within five dating of receiving all legal documents and authorisation from producers.

When COVID-19 vaccines are imported into Vietnam with all necessary legal documents and authorisation from manufacturers, the council will meet within two days to appraise and check all relevant documents and then authorise the use of the vaccines in line with the regulations of the WHO.

The list of qualified importers of COVID-19 vaccines:

1. Vabiotech, Hanoi

2. Sapharco, Ho Chi Minh City

3. Central Pharmaceutical Company No.1 - CPC1, Hanoi

4. YTECO, Ho Chi Minh City

5. HAPHARCO, Hanoi

6. National Phytopharma JSC, Ho Chi Minh City

7. May Cosmedic JSC, Ho Chi Minh City

8. Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC, Ho Chi Minh City

9. Medinsco Medical Equipment JSC, Hanoi

10. Hong Thuy Consultant & Pharmaceutical Trading Co., Ltd., Hanoi

11. Duc Minh Medical JSC, Hanoi

12. Vimedimex Binh Duong One Member Co., Ltd., Binh Duong

13. VIMEDIMEX VN JSC, Hanoi

14. Center for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biologicals, Hanoi

15. DAVAC, Lam Dong

16. Nha Trang Vaccines And Biological Products JSC, Khanh Hoa

17. Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals, Khanh Hoa

18. Vietnam Pharma JSC, Ho Chi Minh City
Southeast Asias powerful negotiating bloc has ignored pressure to chase Myanmar over violence and suspected human rights problems, ensuring that a negative spotlight does not turn on other members or threaten the groups prized neutrality, analysts believe.

They say any public condemnation of Myanmars junta government, which took power in a February 1 coup, or the threat of action against it would expose at least five other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members to scrutiny over human rights issues as perceived by critics in the West.

If ASEAN violates and crosses the line by passing judgments on each others internal affairs, this would be slippery because most ASEAN governments have skeletons in the closet, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

Bloc members Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines have been accused of mishandling human rights and civil liberties over the years.

As of Tuesday, 841 civilians have been killed and 5,576 arrested in Myanmar since the February 1 coup, the advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says. The junta took over after popular elections in November signaled consolidation of the countrys decade-old, pro-democracy reforms. The military ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, before 2011.

Myanmar border nations Bangladesh and China have urged ASEAN to act, while the United Nations has proposed an embargo on arms sold to Myanmar despite protests from ASEAN member countries.

ASEANs Jakarta-based secretariat did not answer a request this week for comment on the Myanmar issue. However, leaders from the bloc are expected to visit the country this week to discuss developments, according to reports. ASEAN membership, which includes Myanmar, has a non-interference policy amongst member states.

Non-intervention outlook

ASEAN, with 10 members spanning a population of about 660 million, traditionally avoids interfering in the domestic affairs of any single country and prides itself as a bloc focused on helping all members get ahead via trade, cross-border travel and anti-COVID-19 measures. Many of the 10 member nations have deep disagreements with one another that do not surface at formal ASEAN events.

The Southeast Asian group lacks the power of other regional blocs, such as the Economic Community of West African States, said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. ECOWAS responds to coups by suspending member countries and imposing sanctions.

Country by country

Democratic nations in the bloc, particularly Indonesia, have put pressure on Myanmar individually, especially as more problems there could spark an outflow of refugees. Some among the Muslim Rohingya population that has sparred with Myanmars government for decades have already fled to Malaysia and Indonesia.

I think Indonesia as the largest, most powerful, most populous country in Southeast Asia, it is in a sense trying to play a more commensurate role to its size and power, Oh said.

Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan in March called Myanmars unrest an unfolding tragedy" and said other Southeast Asian countries need to develop a response.

Refugee crisis feared

If Myanmar sinks into a civil war-like situation and violence escalates, ASEAN will feel more pressured to act so the region avoids a refugee crisis, said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii.

ASEANs strength  and only option  would be talks, experts say. The bloc regularly pulls in China, Japan and the United States for talks on other issues. If violence stays high or increases, ASEAN will be less patient, but ASEAN, because its working on the principle of consensus, doesnt have a better alternative than just dialogue, Vuving said.

ASEAN could draw on its strength in convening countries in pairs or in bigger groups including non-members, said Priscilla Clapp, former permanent charge daffaires at the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar.

Myanmar unfazed

Myanmar for its part could seek support from Asias most powerful nation China if it came under too much criticism, Thitinan said. China is not an ASEAN member and some existing members, such as Vietnam and the Philippines, have their own disputes with Beijing. China and Myanmar historically have close ties despite friction over Chinese investments in the Southeast Asian country.

Myanmars coup leaders are probably paying little attention to ASEANs dilemma, Clapp said. They are wrapped up in an alternative universe, she said, and the military leader Min Aung Hlaing has surrounded himself with yes men.

Hes confident in no intervention by ASEAN, Clapp said.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said the Cambodian government should drop politically motivated charges against members of the dissolved opposition party, journalists and activists, during a conference call with regional journalists.

The senior U.S. diplomat visited Cambodia on Tuesday and met with Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh. She also met opposition leader Kem Sokha, and civil society groups and journalists, according to social media posts from the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh.

Sherman held a regional press briefing on Wednesday, a day after her Cambodia trip, and said the government should reopen the civil and political spaces in the country, ahead of the 2022 and 2023 elections.

A State Department statement from Tuesday revealed that Sherman raised the PRCs military presence at Ream Naval Base in Preah Sihanouk province, and the demolition of U.S.-funded buildings at the base without notice.

The U.S. has recently raised serious concern over the potential presence of Chinese military personnel at Ream, after the Wall Street Journal reported in 2019 that China had struck an agreement with Cambodia to use the base and have a Chinese presence there.

Chak Sopheap, who heads local rights group Cambodian Center for Human Rights and met with Sherman on Tuesday, said the Cambodian government should ensure democratic rule and a multiparty legislative system.

It depends on the will of the government to show its commitment as stated in the nation's constitution and its acknowledgment of other international statutes in which Cambodia has to ensure civil society space, Chak Sopheap said.

We need to ensure the pathway towards real implementation for Cambodia and not just words-out-mouth or a piece of writing on a paper.

Phay Siphan, a Cambodian government spokesman, said Shermans call to drop charges against members of the former opposition party could not influence a courts rulings.

The call is just a call. It's just an opinion. It doesn't affect the rulings or the procedures of the court. What the two governments are paying attention to is cooperation, he said.

Siphan added that the meeting between Hun Sen and Wendy Sherman was positive and focused on the partnership between the two countries.

On Wednesday, Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement but did not address Shermans call for a restoration of democratic principles and human rights in the country.

It instead reiterated Hun Sens stance on Ream Naval Base and repeated how the government was committed to protecting the nation's sovereignty, independence, and autonomy.

Meas Nee, a social and political analyst, said it was unlikely the government would drop charges against former CNRP members, and the meeting only revealed the chasm in the two countries analysis of Cambodias current situation.

For there to be a positive change in the Cambodian government's stance, there [should be] other talks, such talks about the future of the United States GSP trade preference for Cambodian exports, he said.
President Joe Biden was in Oklahoma Tuesday, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to commemorate the anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the destruction in 1921 of a prosperous Black community by a white mob that left up to 300 people dead and thousands homeless.
Sterling Heights, MI (48312)

Today

Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 84F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early followed by increasing clouds with showers developing later at night. Low 62F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 16:23:05|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

COLOMBO, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lanka Navy on Wednesday said the burnt X-Press Pearl container ship which caught fire in the outskirts of the Colombo Port had begun to sink and operations were underway to tow it into deeper seas.

Navy Spokesman Captain Indika De Silva said a private salvage team had started to tow the ship into deeper seas as instructed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the fire onboard had now been completely doused.

State Minister of Fisheries Kanchana Wijesekera said the Fisheries Department had suspended fishing from Panadura in the south all the way to Negombo on the west coast with immediate effect as the salvage company had indicated that the vessel was sinking at the current position.

The minister said emergency preventive measures were taken to protect the Negombo Lagoon and surrounding areas to contain the damage from debris in case of an oil leak.

"Vessels fishing in and around the high seas have also been informed of possible debris and to be vigilant," the minister said.

President Rajapaksa on Tuesday issued instructions to tow the wrecked X-Press Pearl container ship into deep seas off the coast of Colombo after representatives from a number of fields, including shipping and the environment, pointed out that the vessel was now at risk of sinking.

The X-Press Pearl ship is registered under the flag of Singapore and was carrying 1,486 containers with 25 tons of nitric acid and several other chemicals and cosmetics from the port of Hazira, India on May 15.

The vessel sent out a distress call while being close to the Colombo Port on May 20 before catching fire. The Sri Lankan Navy dispatched vessels to bring the fire under control.

Sri Lanka has already begun criminal investigations into the incidents surrounding the ship while the Marine Environment Protection Authority said beaches along the south coast all the way to the west coast had been damaged by the debris which had been washed ashore. Enditem
Over half of surveyed overweight adults in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK and the United States say they have experienced fat-shaming from doctors, family, friends, classmates and coworkers that led to self-blame and an avoidance of health care, new research finds.

Weight stigma is so prevalent and so detrimental to a person's self-worth and willingness to seek health care, that it has become a matter of "social injustice and a significant public health issue," said Rebecca Puhl, the lead author of two new studies on the topic.

"Stigma is an enemy to health," said Puhl, who is deputy director at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut. "And just like mental health, weight stigma is a legitimate public health issue, and we need to legitimize it in a way that really hasn't been done yet."

The prevalence of weight stigma is especially significant because the causes of obesity are complex and often outside of personal control, said Puhl, who has studied weight stigma for nearly two decades.

"We certainly have created a society that facilitates obesity, with an emphasis on fast and highly processed foods and a lack of physical activity," Puhl said. "And we're ignoring all the other pieces of the puzzle such as genetics, environment, biology, agriculture, prices of food, food deserts and accessibility.

"Instead, these oversimplified and inaccurate societal beliefs persist that if you just try hard enough you can have whatever body you want -- those are the beliefs that really fuel societal weight stigma," she added. "Fundamentally, this issue is about respect and dignity and equal treatment of people across different body sizes and weights."

Loved ones create lasting damage

Nearly 14,000 members of WW (formerly Weight Watchers) in six countries were surveyed between May and July 2020 about their experiences with weight stigma and its effect upon their self-worth and willingness to seek out health care assistance.

Family members were most likely to fat-shame, according to one study published Tuesday in the International Journal of Obesity. Between 76% and 88% of the people surveyed had experienced weight-shaming from a parent, sibling or other family member, mostly during childhood and adolescence.

You might suspect that the stigma was the inadvertent outcome of a parent or family member trying to help a child overcome their weight issues and improve their health, but that's not what the study found.

"When we asked open-ended questions about people's experiences of weight stigma from family members, it was often really harsh criticism, teasing, making fun of them," Puhl said.

"Those ranged from calling them fat or 'thunder thighs' to making statements that they will never find anyone to date them because of their weight -- really disparaging comments that have a long-term impact," she added.

The fat-shaming by family members didn't end in childhood, the study found.

"About 22% to 30% of people reported that their first experiences of weight stigma happened by age 10, but weight stigma by family persists over time, well into adulthood," Puhl said.

"That really speaks to the need to address the family environment, which often gets neglected in the context of weight stigma," she added. "We need to be helping families engage in more supportive, less stigmatizing communication with their family members."

School and work were key sources

Classmates came in second on the fat-shaming ladder, with 72% to 81% of the survey participants saying they had been teased or bullied in school.

Between 54% and 62% of those who responded to the survey said coworkers had fat-shamed them in the workplace.

Finally, even friends were quite likely to be critical about weight -- between 49% and 66% had experienced negative comments from friends.

"People are experiencing weight stigma in multiple close interpersonal relationships and across diverse settings, whether it's health care, employment or at home," Puhl said.

While the study was able to compare similar groups -- people who felt they needed to join a weight loss program -- across the nations, limitations of the study included a lack of diversity (the majority were White women) and because they were in a weight managment program, the results were not generalizable to the entire population of adults with higher body mass indexes (BMI). The study was supported by a grant from WW International Inc.

Doctors play a key role in fat-shaming

In what they call the first "multinational investigation of associations between weight stigma and healthcare experiences," Puhl and her colleagues used the same WW dataset in a second study to see if survey participants felt their doctors judged them for their weight. The study was published Tuesday in the journal PLOS ONE.

Prior studies had identified weight stigma, or bias, among medical professionals, but the research was US-focused, Puhl said.

The study found between 63% and 74% of people surveyed in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK and the US felt belittled because of their weight while visiting a doctor for health care.

In all six countries, people who internalized that stigma, or blamed themselves for their weight, were more likely to avoid health care, the study found.

"They would get less frequent checkups with the doctor, they were more likely to view that their doctors were negatively judging them about their weight, and that their doctor had less respect for them and didn't listen to their needs," Puhl said.

Those beliefs persisted even if the person was not significantly overweight, the study found.

"I should note that body weight was not associated with any of those health care experiences, so it was just the internalization of that stigma," Puhl said.

Prior research shows that when people experience weight stigma and internalize it, that itself can predict weight gain.

"A common perception is that a little shame or stigma might motivate people to lose weight, but that is not what we see in research," Puhl said. "In fact, when people experience weight stigma this actually contributes to unhealthy eating behaviors, lower physical activity and weight gain."

That pattern was also seen in both studies across all countries: The more people blamed themselves for their weight, the greater the weight gain in the past year -- and the more they turned to food as a way to cope with stress.

"These findings really provide us with a compelling reason to be targeting not only weight stigma from doctors or health care professionals, but also finding ways to help people reduce the self-blame of stigma," Puhl said.

Change starts at home

Attitude change should begin at home, Puhl said, with loving conversation about healthy behaviors without "making the child feel completely ashamed or embarrassed or judged because of what their body looks like."

"Our studies show that when parents shift the conversation to healthly behaviors, that tends to be much more effective," she said. "The focus isn't on the number on the weight scale, but on the whole family eating fruits and vegetables, replacing soda with water, getting daily physical activity.

Adolescents often prefer to hear more neutral words, like "BMI" or "weight," rather than "obese" or "fat" or "heavy," but that can change based on individual preference and gender, Puhl said.

"One of the things we've also found, particularly for girls, is that even when parents bring up weight in a kind of more neutral way, it can still make them feel emotionally distressed, so it may be best not to mention weight at all," Puhl said.

"I do think that we can substantially reduce weight stigma in the home environment by focusing conversations on health and health behaviors rather than the number on the scale or physical appearance."

It's a policy issue, too

In additional to changing personal attitudes about obesity, its causes and who is at fault, Puhl said that local, state and federal governments should play a role in fighting weight stigma.

"In the United States, it is legal to discriminate against people because of their weight," she said. "Only if you live in the state of Michigan, which passed a law in the 1970s, are you protected from discrimination (based on weight)."

A few cities have passed local ordinances, and additional states, such as Massachusetts, are trying to implement laws, but there's no federal mandate against weight discrimination, such as not getting a job based on weight, Puhl said.

Yet research shows that there is "substantial public support in the US to pass laws that would make discriminating based on body weight illegal," she added.

"This is a clear policy target that could make a real difference in people's lives and send the message that this is a legitimate form of stigma and mistreatment that we're not going to tolerate," she said.

Change also needs to occur in medical institutions, Puhl stressed. "We need to be educating medical professionals early on in medical school, instead of waiting until they are in clinical practice," she said.

One positive note: A consensus statement Puhl co-authored last year that called for the ending of weight stigma was signed by 100 international medical organizations.

Policy change can be implemented in schools as well, by making sure that kids are protected from weight-based bullying, Puhl said.

"Many schools have diversity curriculum, and we need to make sure that weight is part of that diversity teaching," she said. "Absolutely, we need to be talking about race and ethnicity and sexual orientation and religion, but we also need to make sure that weight diversity is covered as well."
The city of Huntsville is taking action after receiving numerous reports of alligator sightings. The city now plans to post signs warning that alligators could be in the area.

One of the areas with recent sightings is off the greenway near Haysland Road. It's one of the places the city will post signs to warn people of potential alligators.

Gator in rice field Gator in rice field

The director of Huntsville Animal Services, Dr. Karen Sheppard, says her office along with they mayor's have received many calls about the gators.

"I think the message we want to share is, yes, we have alligators here in Madison county," says Sheppard.

After numerous reports, the city of Huntsville released a blog about what to do if you see an alligator in the area.

Although the blog includes facts about alligators and places such as Haysland and Zierdt Road where people have seen them, the main point was to inform that public that North Alabama does have alligators.

"I think there's a lot of people who didn't have any idea they were here which is why the story is good because you do want people thinking about them," says Sheppard.

Gators are not new to Alabama, but Sheppard thinks the reason people are seeing more could be due to construction in the area.

"It's been there a long time but now that it's getting developed somebody saw it," says Sheppard.

But don't be too worried, just like most wild animals they shouldn't come to you if you don't go to them.

"They typically aren't going to come onto the land to hurt a human," explains Sheppard.

She says it's important to be aware that there are alligators in the area so you can be alert and not get too close.

The city doesn't have a timeline of when the signs will be posted yet.
The Athens Police Department has charged a man with sexual abuse, saying he touched a woman inappropriately.

Eric Austin Beshears was arrested Saturday, said Chief Floyd Johnson.

Johnson said the incident took place May 7. The victim is 25 years old.

Beshears was booked at the police department and taken to the Limestone County Jail, Johnson said in a news release.
Several organizations, city leaders and the mother of Kemontae Hobbs are seeking transparency from the Huntsville Police Department.

An officer was caught on video stomping on Hobbs' leg during an arrest Sunday night. Days after the video went viral, Huntsville Police released a full statement, insisting the incident is under review.

"He was like beating my child, like literally kicking his leg," Hayes said.

About 6 p.m. Sunday, a bystander inside MAPCO noticed police attempting to arrest Hobbs. That is when Bruce Turner pulled out his phone and started streaming live.

According to Huntsville Police, a store employee called 911 on Hobbs. When the initial officer responded, Hobbs was non-compliant. That is when backup came in.

It was the moment an officer yelled, 'stop resisting', while stomping on Hobbs' leg several times that terrified his mother.

"I immediately got up and went to the police station, you know what I'm saying, and told them what was going on," Hayes said.

Hobbs was eventually taken into custody and charged with resisting arrest and obstructing government operations. With help from the non-profit Huntsville bail fund, he would be released a day later.

"I felt frustrated, I felt ashamed," Tahirih Osborne, president of Huntsville Bail Fund said.

Osborne said she came across the video shortly after it was posted.

The group immediately worked to identify Hobbs and raise money for his bail.

She is concerned the police department will not remain transparent.

"We don't know if there is discipline, we don't know if people lose their jobs," Osborne said. "We're not at all a part of that process."

Her concern is shared among city leaders, including District 2 Councilwoman Frances Akridge.

"What time is it? 3:30? 3 o'clock? all we've heard from the police department is we're looking into it," Akridge said.

Akridge believes the video displays an obvious use of excessive force from that one officer.

"I hate to even repeat it, but stomping on somebody's leg, especially starting with their knee cap is uncalled for," Akridge said.

Councilman Devyn Keith also called the use of force excessive. He said in a post on social media he is working to meet with the department.

Now the family is taking the first steps towards legal action by hiring Attorney Martin Weinberg. Weinberg said they are seeking more videos from MAPCO and HPD so they can fully understand what happened Sunday night.

"From what we've seen, it's not appropriate, it's excessive use of force and we want change in Huntsville on a number of levels," Weinberg said.

Weinberg and Hobbs' mother discussed Kemontae's mental health struggles. They said he has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and is seeking help. As far as his physical health, he has seen a doctor and his leg is OK.
On Wednesday morning, Gov. Kay Ivey announced her re-election campaign for governor.

Alabamians have shown the rest of the nation that our faith, resilience and common sense are what makes us and drives us forward to a promising future. I am proud to be your governor and would be honored to serve you for a second term, Ivey, 76, said in a news release. Alabama is working again, and the best is yet to come.

The release states, in the last four years under Ivey's leadership, Alabama has created over 44,000 new jobs, built the best business climate of all 50 states and reached the lowest unemployment rate in the states history.
In Huntsville, activists are working to reach the youth and inspire them.

Sunday, an event was dedicated to doing just that.

WAAY-31 was there and spoke with organizers on the impact they hope to have on this community.

"Every year, no more dirty inc and partners, we get together and do something to kick off the summer and we do a lot of youth services," said Pastor Fred Whitlow of "No More Dirty" Inc.

His goal Sunday was to provide a fun environment for kids and teens, but also inspire them to stay out of trouble.

There were bouncy houses, music and giveaways.

Some teens even volunteered to help.

"It feels good to take that step forward and when you see a change that needs to happen, it feels good to be apart of that change," said one.

Some of the vendors included crisis services of North Alabama and they said they hope more people come to more events like this.

"The young folks in our community know there are so many different ways to connect, engage and develop your leadership and feel connected to the community you live in," they said.

One of the things that were given away was a biodegradable drug bag, where you can put your choice of drug on here and it'll dissolve it.

This way, prescription drugs aren't getting into the wrong hands.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 17:58:23|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

DHAKA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's remittances hit an all-time high of nearly 23 billion U.S. dollars in July-May period of the current fiscal year 2020-21 ending this month.

Bangladesh's Finance Ministry spokesman Gazi Towhidul Islam told Xinhua on Tuesday that expatriate Bangladeshis remitted home 22.84 billion U.S. dollars in July-May, 39.49 percent higher than the same period a year ago.

He said Bangladeshis remitted home 2.17 billion U. S. dollars in May, the highest monthly amount since July last year when the country received 2.60 billion U.S. dollars.

A Bangladesh Bank official who did not like to be named said the July-May income is the highest-ever remittance the country received in a single year since it's independence in 1971.

Bangladeshis in the 2019-20 fiscal year remitted home 18.21 billion U.S. dollars, which used to be the highest remittances in a single year.

"Usually inflow of remittances always increase in the Muslim Eid festival before months," K.A.S. Murshid, immediate past director general of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, told Xinhua.

"But this time we saw more inflow of remittances, as non-resident Bangladeshis continued to send more money owing to the Coronavirus crisis back in home," he said.

"Expatriate Bangladeshis are probably thinking that they are not safe enough in the countries or regions where they are now staying due to the pandemic. So they are preferring to send home every penny of their hard earned money to family members in Bangladesh instead of keeping with them on foreign lands," he added.

Apart from this, he said the 2-percent incentive on remittances announced by the government also contributed immensely to boost inflow of remittances through formal channels to help the country maintain macroeconomic stability despite the pandemic.

The country's Directorate General of Health Services reported 1,765 new cases of COVID-19 and 41 new deaths on Tuesday, bringing the number of total cases to 802,305 and the death toll to 12,660. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 18:22:20|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

DHAKA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves reached over 45 billion U.S. dollars by the end of May, Bangladesh's Finance Ministry spokesman has said.

Gazi Towhidul Islam, Bangladesh's Finance Ministry spokesman, told Xinhua Tuesday night that the country's foreign exchange reserves stood at 45,054 million U.S. dollars on May 31 compared with 44,950 million U.S. dollars on April 30.

For a growing economy like Bangladesh, forex reserves equivalent to six months' import bills are considered adequate.

With the existing reserves, trade analysts here say Bangladesh is in a position to pay nearly 10 months' import bills.

Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves crossed the 45-billion-U.S. dollar for the first time in May this year amid a boom in inflow of remittances which reached nearly 22.84 billion U.S. dollars dollars last month.

In the backdrop of healthy fund of greenbacks, the central bank of Bangladesh has recently decided in principle to lend 200-250 million U.S. dollars from it's reserves to Sri Lanka for three months, senior Bangladesh Bank official Sirajul Islam said recently. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 19:32:02|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

ISLAMABAD, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The fourth batch of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday, according to the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan.

The batch of Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines will facilitate Pakistan's fight against the pandemic, the embassy told Xinhua.

On Tuesday, while attending the launching ceremony of the locally produced Chinese CanSino COVID-19 vaccine, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong said since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Chinese and Pakistani governments, armies and peoples helped each other by all means, which further strengthened the ironclad friendship between the two countries.

"We are proud that Pakistan is the first country to receive the vaccine gifted by the Chinese government and military," he said, adding that China will deepen its cooperation with Pakistan in fighting against COVID-19 and provide all possible support and assistance to Pakistan until the latter fully overcomes the pandemic.

Earlier in the year, the Chinese government has aided three batches of vaccines to Pakistan, and the Chinese military also donated two batches of vaccines to the Pakistani army.

In early February, Pakistan kicked off its nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign after receiving a batch of China-donated vaccines. The Pakistani government has been pushing forward the vaccination drive to consolidate the momentum in controlling the third wave of COVID-19 in the country.

The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) of Pakistan said on Wednesday that the country has administered a total of 7,648,481 COVID-19 vaccine doses, and the vaccination for people aged 18-29 is expected to start from Thursday.

According to the data released by the NCOC on Wednesday, Pakistan recorded 1,843 new COVID-19 cases and 80 deaths on Tuesday, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 924,667 with 20,930 deaths. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 19:49:51|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia recorded its highest single-day death toll from COVID-19 on Wednesday after the pandemic claimed 126 more lives, bringing the total deaths to 2,993, according to the Health Ministry.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that the victims ranged from 26 to 98 years old, with the majority of them suffering from existing health complications.

Another 7,703 new COVID-19 infections were reported, of which two are imported and 7,701 are local transmissions, bringing the national total to 587,165.

Some 5,777 patients have been released after recovery, bringing the total number of cured and discharged to 501,898 or 85.5 percent of all cases.

Of the remaining 82,274 active cases, 878 are being held in intensive care and 441 of those are in need of assisted breathing. Enditem
Washington, IN (47501)

Today

Isolated thunderstorms in the morning, then skies turning partly cloudy late. High 88F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

A mostly clear sky. Low 61F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
Trusted local news has never been more important, but providing the information you need, information that can change sometimes minute-by-minute, requires a partnership with you, our readers. Please consider making a contribution today to support this vital resource that you and countless others depend on.
Local

featured

Watauga observes Memorial Day in honor of those who have fallen

Photo by Moss Brennan Bob Gibbard salutes the flag during the planning of the Star Spangled Banner at a Memorial Day event hosted by the High Country MOAA on May 31. Photo by Moss Brennan Connie Gioschio places a flag in remembrance of a family member who served in the military at the Edward Jones memorial garden on May 28. Photo by Moss Brennan High Country MOAA Chaplain Jim Fisher prays at a Memorial Day event at the Boone veteran memorial on King Street. Photo by Moss Brennan Frank Gioschio places a flag in remembrance of family member who served in the military on May 28. Photo by Moss Brennan Albert Yount, the commander of the American Legion Post 256, speaks at a Blowing Rock event at Memorial Park on May 29. Photo by Moss Brennan Tony Zeiss, the president of Central Piedmont Community College, was the guest speaker at a Memorial Day event in Blowing Rock on May 29.

WATAUGA  In ceremonies throughout Watauga County, community members gathered in reflection on Memorial Day to remember service men and women who have died.

Speakers at each event gave a brief history about the observance of Memorial Day. Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day from the tradition of decorating graves with flowers, wreathes and flags after the Civil War. Memorial Day is a day for remembrance of those who died in service to the United States. In 1971, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act and established that Memorial Day was to be commemorated on the last Monday of May.

Throughout May, Edward Jones in Boone offered a community memorial garden on Blowing Rock Road where community members could place flags in the ground in memory of loves one who served.

As a disabled veteran myself, I didnt walk out the same way I came in, said Jason Sirmon, the organizer of the event. But I got a chance to walk out. Some of the folks did not get a chance to walk out. Everybody, in my opinion, thats been deployed, theres a certain part of them that dont come home the same way.

Sirmon said the certain part that isnt the same can get put in a box and put to the side.

This is just my way of allowing the community to have a couple of moments to bring back a memory of someone, Sirmon said. To me, Memorial Day is for that guy that didnt make it home. Thats what it is because the guy that didnt make it home is the reason you and I are able to do what we are doing today.

In its sixth year of hosting the event, community members from all over went to Edward Jones to place flags in remembrance of someone.

I placed that flag for my father, said Dennis Decess. He passed away seven years ago from leukemia. He was an (Army) veteran and I want him to know that I thank him for his service.

Other events also commemorated Memorial Day in Watauga County. In Boone, the High Country Chapter MOAA (Military Officers Association of America) held a small event on May 31 at the Watauga County Veterans Memorial on King Street.

The event is usually held at the Boone Mall with hundreds of people gathered, but because of COVID-19 concerns the group held a smaller event this year.

Jim Fisher, the organizations chaplain, gave brief remarks before opening up a prayer. Before the prayer, Fisher mentioned Psalm 27:3-4, which says, Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.

That we may remember those who paid the ultimate price by giving their lives for their country, Fisher prayed. We acknowledge the debt that we owe the men and women of the United States military who have guarded, and those that continue to guard, this country with their lives.

The High Country MOAA also featured the first live performance from the Watauga Community Band in over a year who performed the Star Spangled Banner, Amazing Grace and each military branchs song.

In Blowing Rock, a small event was held at Memorial Park on Main Street on May 29  hosted by the American Legion Post 256. The event featured a playing of the national anthem, an invocation, recognition of local military members, a telling of the history of Memorial Park and a featured speaker.

Albert Yount, the commander of the American Legion Post 256, oversaw the event and introduced speakers. The featured speaker of the event was Tony Zeiss, the president of Central Piedmont Community College. Zeiss started his speech by talking about the history of Memorial Day.

Memorial Day is often defined as this: a federal holiday honoring the military personnel who have died in the performance of their military duties while serving in the armed forces, Zeiss said.

Ziess continued with the history of the holiday in hopes, he said, to remind people of how important it is.

Members of the legion read off names of the fallen that were from Blowing Rock also at the event.
It surprises me that, though the nations been watching anxiously for more than a year as our politicians struggle with the repeated failures of hotel quarantine and the consequent lockdowns, big and small, and now the delay in rolling out the vaccine, so few of us have managed to join the dots.

Some have been tempted to explain it in terms of Labor getting it wrong and the Libs getting it right  or vice versa  but that doesnt work. Nor does thinking the states always get it right and the feds get it wrong  or vice versa.

After the findings of the royal commission, it is no surprise there have been so many COVID-related deaths in aged care. Credit:Eddie Jim

The media love conflict, so weve been given an overdose of Labor versus Liberal and premiers versus Morrison & Co. But though we can use this to gratify our tribal allegiances, it doesnt explain why both parties and both levels of government have had their failures.

No, to me what stands out as the underlying cause of our difficulties  apart from human fallibility  is the way both sides of politics at both levels of government have spent the past few decades following the fashion for Smaller Government.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 19:53:17|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

SUVA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Fiji reported Wednesday night 35 confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing the total tally to 508 in the Pacific island nation.

According to the Health Ministry, of the new cases, 17 were from the Colonial War Memorial (CWM) Hospital in Fiji's capital city of Suva and seven were from the Queen Elizabeth Barracks (QEB) in Suva.

In Fiji, 70,807 COVID-19 laboratory tests have been conducted since April this year, with 113,668 conducted in total since testing started in early 2020. This does not yet include the 11,000 samples recently tested in Australia.

Fiji now has had 181 recoveries, 323 active cases and four deaths since the island nation reported its first confirmed case in March last year.

Currently, the Suva-Lami-Nausori containment zone still maintains a curfew from 6:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. every day while the rest of the Viti Levu, Fiji's main island where Suva is located, started on Sunday a curfew from 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. every day. Enditem
I got em a winner, he said at the time. I would have liked it to be one of my friends. I would have much preferred that. But I gave these other dudes a crack at it. Ten years on, he is still deadpanning about the firestorm he started. I dont understand why it was a controversy, he says. Why the fuss? I thought I came up with the fairest way of picking a winner. Bell in his provocative video installation, Scratch An Aussie. More recently, he had his quixotic say on the Venice Biennale when his own application to show there was rejected. After a successful crowdfunding campaign, he created a replica of the Australian pavilion, draped it in chains then mounted it on a barge to sail up and down past the real pavilion. He made his point and ruffled plenty of feathers: mission accomplished.

Bell was born in Charleville, central west Queensland, a descendent of the Kamilaroi, Kooma, Jiman and Gurang Gurang people. I lived in a tent on the Charleville Aboriginal Reserve for the first two years of my life, he says. We had to wait for the white people in town to throw away enough corrugated iron to make a tin shack. When he was about six, the family moved to Darwin, where his mother worked in a home for half-caste Indigenous children. Richard Bell, From Little Things, Big Things Grow, 2020. Credit:image courtesy the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane The home was run by the Aboriginal Inland Mission. Very religious. It was quite traumatic for me having to go to church and twice on Sundays. It was so boring for us kids.

But we had the advantage of observing them at close hand and we saw how un-Christian they were. There were some good people there but there were some monsters as well. The family stayed in Darwin less than a year before moving because the climate was affecting his mothers health. Eventually, they ended up in Mitchell, a couple of hours east of Charleville. As Bell grew up, art was not a particularly important part of his life, although his mother was a proficient portrait and landscape painter. The work with which Bell won the 2003 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award. I used to draw a bit but I never had any interest in art as a kid, he says. My younger brother did. He convinced me to start making tourist art. That was short-lived. Its very hard to make a living out of making boomerangs in this country because they can import a boomerang from Indonesia or China for a quarter of what it would cost us just to make one, let alone decorate it.

But the seed had been sown and a couple of decades later he just fell into art. A white guy came up to me one day and said why dont you get into fine art, he says. Bell was particularly intrigued by the notion that as an artist he could do and say things that would otherwise get him arrested. It turned out to be just enough encouragement to awaken the artist within and set him on the path to being a full-time artist. Or should that be activist? Richard Bell, A White Hero for Black Australia, 2011. Credit:Courtesy of the artist and Parliament House Art Collection Ive settled on describing myself as an activist who masquerades as an artist, he says.

So who was that white guy that provided the inspiration? He wont say. Its really important that the white guys stay unnamed. There are so many points in history that there are unnamed black people. Im going to tick up one for the blackfellas. His mind made up, Bell set about educating himself about all aspects of art  from the technicalities of making work to art history and philosophy. Id find people who I thought knew about art and I would take them to dinner or cook a meal for them and Id pump them for information about art, he says. I didnt want to go to art college. I took the short cut. I paid them with alcohol and occasionally some drugs. I still like to talk to people about art. Im still learning. Its impossible to know everything. In 2003 Bell won the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award with his work Scientia E Metaphysica (Bells Theorem), which features the text: Aboriginal Art - Its a White Thing. At the same time, he published a 5000-word treatise, laying out his argument that Aboriginal art exists only as a construct of the white art establishment.

There is no Aboriginal Art Industry, he wrote. There is, however, an industry that caters for Aboriginal Art. The key players in that industry are not Aboriginal. They are mostly White people whose areas of expertise are in the fields of Anthropology and Western Art. Richard Bell, Bells Theorem, 2002. Credit:Image courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery Famously, Bell accepted the award wearing a t-shirt bearing the legend, White girls cant hump, touching off another predictable round of criticism and controversy. Now 67, Bell admits he is tired of pushing back but insists the fire burns as brightly as ever, stoked by the almost daily indignities and micro-aggressions to which he is subjected as an Indigenous man. Recently he was in a taxi in Brisbane after a night out drinking with friends.

We got drunk  really drunk, he says. When I got to my place I paid and then looked at the receipt and it said $49. It should have been $12 or something. He only did that because Im a blackfella. Loading I can become a bit blase about it I suppose. Just go f--k, not again, shake my head and dust myself off. But it is exhausting. Its stressful just being Aboriginal in this country. Preparation has been made to unwelcome us. Were continually dispossessed. The machine acts and re-enacts. These things just keep recurring. Hes tired as well of what he calls the Australian dance in which white people ask us what we want while measuring what they are prepared to give. So what will it take to stop that dance? For Bell, it requires nothing less than a complete re-imagining of the relationship between First Nations people and their colonisers, or, as he puts it with deliberate understatement, a casual reset.

Richard Bell, Immigration Policy, 2017. Credit:Courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane I know nothing ever happens without it being imagined first, he says. In my imaginings, I think we need a reset. We need to reset this whole thing. What we have is a goddamn disaster. Were being gutted by people who should never be in that position. I think we need to start with a new constitution for a new republic. More than just a treaty. A treaty would just disappear in capitalist smoke. The Australian position is rooted in 1901. Thats how long ago that constitution was written. It was written for those times. These are new times. We need a reset. F--k them insisting that its Gods word or something. Bell delivers his uncompromising prescription in such a matter-of-fact fashion that it leaves no room for disagreement. What is there to disagree with, anyway? Im curious to know what he thinks about the modern concept of white allyship? What can those of us who enjoy white privilege do to help move things along?
Of 5200 primary close contacts, 78 per cent had returned negative results by Wednesday, although the source of infection was unknown for a family of four that was among Wednesdays six new cases. Loading Three of the 60 cases in the cluster circulated through the community while infectious for at least a week before getting tested, causing the list of exposure sites to exceed 360. Explaining the seven-day extension to Melbournes lockdown, the citys fourth since the pandemic began 15 months ago, Professor Sutton pointed to several instances where the virus had spread from stranger to stranger in the past fortnight. They included one case in which a pubgoer contracted the virus in an outdoor area at the Brighton Beach Hotel, which was listed as an exposure site on Sunday.

Professor Sutton highlighted the really contagious strain of COVID-19 spreading through Victoria  the Indian variant recently renamed by the World Health Organisation recently as the Kappa variant. The Kappa variant, as its now called, is not the most infectious, but it is more infectious than anything in the beginning and middle of 2020, he said. At least one in 10 current cases caught the virus in those casual contact settings ... Its absolutely clear that we need to run this completely to ground to be happy that we can open up appropriately. We cant let it get away. We cant go to settings where it would move unchecked with huge numbers of people exposed.

So weve got restrictions for another week to limit the number of unique close contacts that people will have, and to limit it as we did last year. Different restrictions for regional Victoria will not spark the reintroduction of a ring of steel around Greater Melbournes perimeter. Roving police checks will be used in place of checkpoints, in line with requests by the police union this week. Acting Premier James Merlino asked regional businesses to check IDs to ensure customers had not travelled from Melbourne, but he insisted that Victorians overwhelmingly do the right thing. The government will make it mandatory to check in via QR codes at all retail and hospitality settings, including supermarkets, as a condition of entry  a week after all of Victoria moved to one QR system, and eight months after NSW did so. The man who visited the NSW south coast while potentially infectious on May 23 and 24 was part of the family of four who tested positive. Authorities are investigating which family member picked up the virus first and expect genomic sequencing results late on Wednesday or on Thursday.

A source of infection is yet to be found for an aged care worker at Arcare in Maidstone, in Melbournes north-west, and case five, the man who authorities believe is the link with the Wollert man who contracted COVID-19 while in South Australian hotel quarantine in early May. Federal Aged Care Services Minister Richard Colbeck said on Wednesday that a second resident at the Arcare facility had tested positive for COVID-19. The manager of the centre, Jenny Littlewood, said the 89-year-old resident is currently asymptomatic, had received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine and was in the room next to the first resident to test positive. The cases come after the home was locked down after a worker tested positive to COVID-19 on Saturday.

Mr Merlino renewed his demands for the federal government to pitch in on economic support for businesses affected by the lockdown. He called for a JobKeeper-style wage subsidy to be revived in addition to the states $209 million package announced on Wednesday and $250 million on Sunday. The Treasurer [Tim Pallas] has been calling [federal Treasurer] Josh Frydenberg this morning to put that request in and I will be speaking to the Prime Minister later today, Mr Merlino said. I do hope that the Commonwealth will swiftly confirm that they will step up and provide that support. If they do not, Ill be raising this directly at national cabinet on Friday. Loading

Mr Frydenberg opened the door to giving financial support to Victoria, saying the federal governments initial position was based on the lockdown lasting one week. He said he would be speaking to Mr Pallas on Wednesday, despite Mr Pallas previously criticising Canberra for not helping Victorian workers as it did with the JobKeeper wage subsidy. I will hear him out, Mr Frydenberg said. Our position with respect to the first week of the lockdown was based on the view that with a short lockdown, a state has the capacity to respond as they announced, and that the budget anticipated that there would be further lockdowns. He said Prime Minister Scott Morrison would speak to Mr Merlino before the federal government made a decision on what, if any, money to offer. Mr Frydenberg appeared to question the decision to extend the seven-day lockdown.
Western Australias first repatriation flight from India landed in Perth on Wednesday carrying 150 passengers after the travel ban imposed by the Australian government was lifted.

The flight from Delhi landed in Perth just after 8am, a day after a new case of transmission of COVID-19 within Perths hotel quarantine system emerged. Genome sequencing confirmed a returned traveller from Colombia and another positive case were linked.

The first repatriation flight from India has touched down in Perth. Credit:Nine News Perth

WA Chief Health Officer Andy Roberston said the returning Australians from India, who are set to quarantine in Perths Westin hotel, were required to be tested three times before getting on a plane.

We would anticipate some cases, but certainly were not anticipating large numbers of cases, he said.
Chicago: JBS, the worlds largest abattoir company, has told the US government that a ransomware attack that has disrupted meat production in North America and Australia originated from a criminal organisation likely based in Russia, the White House said.

The cyber attack on the Brazilian company caused its Australian operations to shut down on Monday and has stopped livestock slaughter at its plants in several US states.

The attack follows one last month by a group with ties to Russia on Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel pipeline in the US, that crippled fuel delivery for several days in the countrys south-east.

Victim of another ransomware attack: JBS Foods headquarters in Greeley, Colorado. Credit:Bloomberg

Over the past few years, ransomware has evolved from one of many cyber security threats to a pressing national security issue. A number of gangs, many of them Russian-speakers, develop the software that encrypts files and then demand payment in cryptocurrency for keys that allow the owners to unlock their files.
Wilmington, DE (19810)

Today

Mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 79F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy with showers. Low 63F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 20:35:36|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), Malaysia's mega rail project constructed by China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), has made another tunnel breakthrough, the company said on Wednesday.

The final blast of the 871-meter single-bore Dungun tunnel in Malaysia's Terengganu state was completed on Sunday, breaking through the last barrier six months ahead of schedule, CCCC and project owner Malaysia Rail Link (MRL) said in a joint statement.

The achievement is the culmination of approximately 641,520 man-hours and the adoption of the drill-and-blast method of tunnelling that bored through the moderately weathered schist rock and came less than two months from the inaugural ECRL tunnel breakthrough at the 1.1-km Paka tunnel on April 9.

MRL chairman Mohd Zuki Ali said the teamwork of some 100 ECRL personnel paved the way for the tunnelling works and breakthrough to be ahead of schedule, with the overall infrastructure works for the tunnel expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2022.

He added that the ECRL project has 58 tunnels of various lengths to be constructed, with the strong collaboration and knowledge sharing between MRL and CCCC smoothening tunnel excavation and project delivery ahead of schedule.

For his part, CCCC's Managing Director for ECRL Bai Yinzhan expressed confidence that the project team was adjusting well to work under standard operating procedures (SOP) put in place to counter the COVID-19 situation and is making advance progress while maintaining workplace safety.

"Our team has made tremendous efforts to coordinate with our local contractors and Bumiputra project partners to ensure resources such as manpower, materials, and machines are available where we need them.

"We are grateful for the support and understanding given by our subcontractors. Special thanks also go to our team in Section 4 for achieving two remarkable milestones within the short span of two months," he said.

The ECRL runs from Malaysia's largest transport hub Port Klang and travels across the peninsula to Kelantan state in northeastern Malaysia. The rail link is expected to greatly enhance connectivity and bring more balanced growth to the country by linking its less-developed region on the East Coast to the economic heartland on the West Coast upon its completion in 2026. Enditem
Articles Sorry, there are no recent results for popular articles.

Images Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images.
Local

hot top story

Library director calls new digs cool

Ornamental lighting fixtures hang just right so passers-by get a glimpse of the librarys indoor lighting. Vibrant colors will greet guests in the new library. Ed Zagorski / Ed Zagorski This wall will be replaced with glass wall and will overlook the town square, providing a view and natural light to the 1984 section of the library. Ed Zagorski / Ed Zagorski While the library staff prepares to move into its new portion, books line wooden carts. Ed Zagorski / Ed Zagorski One of the meeting rooms inside the new library faces Main Street. It is the curved portion of the library. Ed Zagorski / Ed Zagorski TOP: Modern lights shine inside the new entrance of the library. BOTTOM LEFT: Ornamental lighting fixtures hang just right so passers-by get a glimpse of the librarys indoor lighting. BOTTOM RIGHT: Vibrant colors will greet guests in the new library. Ed Zagorski / Ed Zagorski Modern architecture of the new librarys meeting room meshes well with that of the Carnegie portion of the building.

Watertown Public Library Director Peg Checkai didnt have trouble finding a word to describe the librarys expansion and renovation project, where they plan to move June 10.

Through a wide smile, Checkai simply said, Cool.

Whats so cool might surprise some people.

We were not expanding the library to add more books, she said admitting there are still some who enjoy the traditional role of a library lending books and movies to the public. The current trend for libraries is to reach out to all aspects of the community. We didnt have dedicated spaces for our different age groups who visited us. We want everyone who comes through our doors to feel welcome. While the renovation allows us to conduct a lot more programming for different age groups, it also keeps the traditional library patron in mind.

She also said the trend in libraries now is not to pack the bookshelves. Checkai said to make it easier on patrons the top and bottom shelves on the racks will not be packed with books.

We are part of the Bridges Library System so we are not cutting down on what people have available to them, she said. Were expanding the collection by being a member of the Bridges Library System, which with us, is 24 libraries in Waukesha and Jefferson counties.

Checkai said individuals can place an app on their cell phone to check the digital catalogs of the 24 libraries.

A person can take a photo of their library card and use it on their cell phones to check out materials, Checkai said. It makes life a little easier.

She said the renovation allows the library to expand its offerings to have microscopes, yard games, American Girl Dolls and its STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math curriculum) collection available for children and families.

We will have something for everyone, Checkai said. We will be straddling two worlds with our digital media and traditional books for patrons. It will be to each their own.

She said the expansion and renovation project was needed.

It was time (for something new), she said of the current library, which was added to the Carnegie portion in 1984. The configuration was a quagmire of wires and connections, which didnt allow for more outlets for computers. That will not be a problem for us anymore. I am happy to leave that part of the story behind. We will be more functional now.

The new Watertown Library Center will include meeting spaces to support large events and programming, several small meeting rooms and a TalkReadPlay Center for children. The Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation contributed funds for the Watertown Public Library to build that part of the childrens library.

Based on child development brain science, the center will build the capacity of families to thrive as their childs first teacher by offering dynamic, playful learning spaces that promote the development of social, emotional and literacy skills. The GWCHF, Watertown Public Library and Watertown Family Center are serving as anchor partners in developing the space and programming.

The TalkReadPlay Center will feature dynamic, playful learning spaces that promote the development of social, emotional and literacy skills while supporting parents with tools to help children learn and grow. When complete, it will house the Watertown Family Center and its programming, and will include a clearinghouse to connect families with community resources that will help them achieve their goals.

Checkai said that expanding the childrens library into a TalkReadPlay center will offer new, interactive experiences for families.

Im excited to see the faces of the children when they come in here for the first time, she said. We had a great deal of community support for this project. So many people bought pavers. The community has a vested interest in their library. We are so pleased to able to serve them. We want this to be a big draw for the next 25 years and beyond.

Other key elements to the library include a book drop off lane for books to go directly into the building, a new south-side entryway and a new parking lot. Also, a glass wall will overlook the town square, providing a view and natural light to the 1984 section of the library.

The Main Street side of the current building will be touched up and the additional building will try to match that same style to keep consistency. There is also be a glass connection, which will link both buildings. The glass allows for a lot of natural light for the space and doesnt distract from the librarys Carnegie history, which was built in 1907, according to Checkai.

Glass is a nice element to keep the two buildings apart because we really want to make sure the focus remains on the historical Carnegie portion of the library, that were not infringing on the Carnegie history, Checkai said.

On the Water Street side of the building, the library expanded its current indented wall to give library guests views out into the future Town Square area of Main Street.

At this point, our programming will collaborate with that of the Town Center, Checkai said. The two will work together to make great wow factors for the community and surrounding areas.

Another element of the interior is a new teen area, which will be separated off from both the childrens and adult areas of the library. The hope would be this would help attract more teenagers into the space.

Its a new demographic libraries are trying to engage and get them back into the library, Checkai said. Its a great demographic to make sure people become lifelong library users and we want to make that connection with them through their teen years.

Although the librarys main draw is its books it provides the community, Checkai said people dont have to visit the library to check out a book, but, instead, hang out, read the paper and get out of the house and socialize.

Checkai said her entire time working in the library was trying to reach this peak.

I started part time, then moved to become the childrens librarian and then the assistant library director, and finally the library director, she said. Ive worked at the library for more than 20 years and been the director for 10 years, and my whole tenure as library director has been working to get to this point. Its been a journey. Its cool. Definitely cool.

Checkai said library staff will need to be out of the current building June 10 so a fire panel can be added to it. She said once it is renovated staff will move back at the years end.

Checkai added there will be a ribbon cutting followed by a soft opening 8:30 a.m. June 14.

I caution all of the people who are attending our soft opening we wont have all of our peacock feathers showing, she said, but were here ready to welcome the community.


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.
Bill Burt and George Bremer discuss the NFL schedule and Tom Brady's return to New England; Elton Hayes and Kevin Brockway reflect on Coach K's retirement; and Clay Horning breaks down the worst defensive play in baseball in recent memory.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 23:59:15|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan (R, front) and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon (L, front) review the guard of honor in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, June 2, 2021. Pakistan and Tajikistan agreed here on Wednesday to further deepen their bilateral relations in diverse fields with a special focus on promoting trade and economic cooperation, said a joint declaration issued by the Prime Minister Office of Pakistan. (Pakistani Press Information Department/Handout via Xinhua)

ISLAMABAD, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan and Tajikistan agreed here Wednesday to further deepen their bilateral relations in diverse fields with a special focus on promoting trade and economic cooperation, said a joint declaration issued by the Prime Minister Office of Pakistan.

According to the declaration, both sides reached the understanding during a meeting between Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon where they reaffirmed the fraternal ties between the two countries.

A Tajik delegation led by Rahmon arrived at Pakistani capital Islamabad on Wednesday on a two-day visit and held a series of meetings and signed several agreements and memorandums of understanding with the Pakistani side, including cooperation in culture, trade, investment, transport, energy, tourism, education, connectivity, climate change and people-to-people contacts.

Both leaders expressed satisfaction at the steadily growing relations between Pakistan and Tajikistan, and expressed their resolve to elevate bilateral ties to a new level of strategic cooperation for the mutual benefit of the two countries and peoples.

During the talks, the two sides accorded particular focus to bolstering bilateral economic and trade ties by exploring new opportunities and avenues and vowed to regularly convene meetings of Pakistan-Tajikistan Joint Commission on Trade, Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation.

The leaders also agreed to enhance the role of the Joint Business Council to organize trade exhibitions and business forums on a regular basis and create an investor-friendly environment in the two countries to encourage and facilitate joint investments.

Khan apprised the visiting president of the operationalization of the Gwadar port and offered Tajikistan to avail the facility of Pakistani seaports and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and stressed the need to tap the vast potential of trade, energy, connectivity, agriculture and industry for mutual benefit.

The two leaders also agreed to increase bilateral cooperation in the field of defense and security to overcome the common security challenges and also emphasized the need to enhance cooperation in counter-terrorism, combating cross-border organized crimes and human and drug trafficking.

Both leaders expressed serious concern over COVID-19 and emphasized the importance of international solidarity and cooperation as well as joint efforts for affordable and equitable supply and distribution of vaccines to all countries to combat the pandemic effectively. Enditem
Help us understand what you value in community conversations so we can make our digital offerings more useful. This survey will only take a few minutes to complete.



By taking the survey, you'll be entered into a drawing for one of three $100 gift cards to your choice of the following businesses: Hooked on Toys and Sporting Goods, Safeway/Albertsons, FredMeyer and Target.

Click here to take survey
Sandusky, OH (44870)

Today

Showers in the morning, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. High 79F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable.
LaTosha Brown opened with a song.

Speaking about voting rights one recent spring day in Selma, Alabama, the Black activist delivered the civil rights anthem Keep Your Eyes on the Prize in a voice showcasing her background as a jazz singer. She told her audience, through music, that the fight for equal access to the ballot box was as urgent as ever.

The song drew cheers from a few dozen listeners, young and old, who had gathered before the brown-bricked African Methodist Episcopal church in a city known for its poverty as much as for its troubled racial past.

For Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, the song served to introduce a question.

Close your eyes, she said. What would America look like without racism?"

How will we ever create what were not even envisioning? There was nothing that was brought into the real world that was not first envisioned.

A year after the police killing of George Floyd galvanized public attention to racial injustices, amid a barrage of restrictive voting laws being passed by state legislatures, Browns group is redoubling its march toward its North Star: increasing the political power of Black communities.

Like many groups that serve predominantly Black communities, the organization was flooded with donations after Floyds death. A year later, the impact is visible: The group says it gave $10 million to 600 community-based groups in 15 states, mostly in the South, who, among other things, registered voters, distributed flyers about the importance of voting, held phone banks, sent millions of text messages, canvassed communities reminding people to vote and rented buses to drive people to the polls.

Those efforts are widely credited with helping fuel Black voter turnout in Georgia, which, in part, led to Democrats scoring victories in the presidential and U.S. Senate races that gave them control of both houses of Congress and helped President Joe Biden enact his legislative agenda. Now, in the face of new restrictions on voting in areas heavily populated by people of color, new challenges are emerging.

Brown estimates that Black Voters Matter, which received more than $30 million in donations last year, has about 90,000 unique donors. Most of its donations were small gifts from ordinary Americans.

The groups operations are run through two channels. One is the Black Voters Matters Fund, a social welfare organization that can engage in political activity, like lobbying. The other is the Black Voters Matters Capacity Building Institute, a nonprofit that funds voter education, registrations and other programs to expand access to voting. (Contributions to the Capacity Building Institute are tax-deductible; donations to the Fund are not).

After the racial justice protests, most of the donations flowed into the Capacity Building Institute, which from June 2020 to the end of last year received $18 million  a jump of more than 400% from the amount it collected in 2019, according to Alexis Buchanan Thomas, Black Voters Matter's development director, though the increase was driven in part by the 2020 elections.

Brown says $3 million earmarked for advocacy work was distributed to several dozen community-based groups. An additional $7 million was given to help local organizations, like the Alabama Association for the Arts, run their own operations and conduct voter engagement work, including voter registrations.

Using a $17,000 grant from Black Voters Matter, the Alabama-based group funded a project called Lift Our Vote. It rented buses to help Alabamans get to polling locations, said Jessica Fortune Barker, the projects co-founder. On Election Day, they drove 10 routes across north Alabama.

An additional $6 million was used to support Black Voters Matters own get-out-the-vote activities and its 21 state staffers who coordinate with local groups. The funding also went toward providing local organizations vans for transportation, graphics support and radio advertising expenses, among other needs. The main goal for Black Voters Matter, Brown says, has been to strengthen these organizations for the long run.

The roots of Black Voters Matter date to 2016, borne of the painful frustration Brown says she and the organizations other co-founder, Cliff Albright, felt about the nationalist, racist rhetoric of former President Donald Trump and a national discourse that didnt include Black folks." In philanthropy circles, Black Voters Matter is whats called an intermediary  an organization that donors can turn to when they want to fund nonprofits but lack the expertise or connections to do so directly.

In the South, Black Voters Matter has become the powerful heart of an ecosystem of community-based organizations that are often too small for institutional funders to notice  church groups involved in voter engagement, for example, or informal group of women with backgrounds in voter drives.

This really provides an important infrastructure to touch places, and communities, that national philanthropy has not necessarily been able to engage in deeply, said Jerry Maldonado, the director of the Cities and States program at the Ford Foundation, which, in 2020, donated $1.8 million to the nonprofit. The South is a region that is growing tremendously and shifting tremendously. But its also, unfortunately, a hotbed for regressive innovation, such as efforts restricting voting rights.

Many restrictive voting laws have been passed in Southern states since a 2013 Supreme Court ruling threw out a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The provision had required officials in jurisdictions with a history of discriminatory practices to receive federal approval before making changes to the voting process.

This year, Republican lawmakers in Georgia, Florida and other states have passed new voting restrictions, based largely on unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud by Trump and his allies. Supporters say the overhauls strengthen election security. But critics, backed by many election experts, argue that the new laws mainly serve to suppress minority votes.

In Georgia, Black Voters Matter's advocacy wing worked with its partners, and other civil rights organizations, like the Georgia NAACP, to design a campaign that urged corporations based in the state to publicly oppose the law and divest from politicians who sponsored it.

Under pressure from activists and Black executives, Coca-Cola and Delta issued statements opposing the law. But their statements came days after the bill was passed. The Black Voters Matter Fund, along with other organizations, has since filed a lawsuit challenging the Georgia and Florida laws.

Brown's trip to Selma was part of a national event in support of a federal bill, named after John Lewis, to re-establish the mandatory federal oversight that was thrown out by the high court. The event, the John Lewis Advancement Act Day of Action, was also intended to advocate for a federal overhaul of elections proposed by congressional Democrats.

The group's voter engagement work is slated to receive more money. Last year, the Capacity Building Institute was chosen as one of 10 Black-led organizations that will receive a total of $36 million over three years from the Democracy Frontlines Fund. Its a strategy developed by 12 foundations to fund Black-led groups that are fighting for free and fair elections, among other priorities.

The donations, in part, help the group hold events to benefit local communities. To counteract food insecurity, for example, Black Voters Matter and its partners have held free grocery distributions. In Georgia, Brown says it distributed free groceries to 200,000 families last year.

In Selma, when Brown finished her speech about voting rights, Black Voters Matter staffers and their partners hopped on the groups tour bus for a distribution event in Montgomery. After an hour-long drive, the vehicle stopped at a parking lot across from a distribution site that its partners had set up.

Soon, Montgomery residents began lining up cars, waiting to pick up collard greens, toys and Black Voters Matter merchandise, from T-shirts and masks to hand fans. For the nonprofit, it was also a way to obtain contact information from attendees, who had to scan a QR code after getting their items.

Alabama will always be special to Brown. Its where her grandmother, whom she calls her soulmate, was barred from voting for most of her life under Jim Crow laws. And, its where she lost a close Democratic primary race in 1998 for a seat on the Alabama State Board of Education.

After a weeklong vote count, Brown failed to oust the Democrat incumbent by barely more than 200 votes. But minutes after the election was certified, Brown says she received a call from the state Democratic leader, telling her that a sheriff from a county she had overwhelmingly carried had found about 800 uncounted votes in a safe. Yet at that point, her only recourse was to file a lawsuit, which she could not afford.

After that experience, I understood the impact and the power of voting, and voter suppression in ways that I had never experienced before, she said. I became more committed than ever that I would not allow anybody to take away my agency, the agency of the people that I love, or my community.

More than two decades later, well into Browns career in philanthropy, her work is now most pronounced in Georgia, where the organization is based. Its work in the state, alongside organizations like Stacey Abrams Fair Fight and the New Georgia Project, has been credited with helping flip Georgia blue during the 2020 presidential election and in the subsequent U.S. Senate runoffs.

Sekou Franklin, who teaches political science at Middle Tennessee State University, says this was due, in part, to the groups network of activists and organizations in dozens of cities, from Savannah and Albany, to Atlanta.

They laid some of this groundwork in the 2018 election, so they have history in these communities, said Franklin, who worked with the fund that year on a campaign that called for a civilian oversight board for Nashvilles police department. I deem them just as important to Georgia transitioning from a red, to purple, swing state as Abrams.

For Brown and Albright, the focus of the work is not only on presidential and state-wide elections but also local races that often have a more direct impact on communities.

In Brunswick, a Georgia city where three white men are charged with the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, Black Voters Matter supports A Better Glynn. That nonprofit, launched last year by local minister Elijah Henderson and his friends after Arberys slaying drew international headlines, seeks to advance equity in Glynn County beyond the Arbery case. It counts the ousting of Jackie Johnson, a Republican prosecutor criticized for her offices response to the fatal shooting of Arbery, as one of their successes.

Henderson says that while the nonprofit didn't endorse independent candidate Keith Higgins for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit Court, it worked hard to get people to sign a petition to put him on the ballot. Then, they went out nearly every day, and registered voters.

Thats the kind of intensity Black Voters Matter wants to keep one year after Floyd's murder.

As we got further and further away from the protest, a lot of organizations, including us, saw those donations going down on a daily basis, said Cliff Albright. We would like for people to continue to have structural racism and racial justice on the top of their minds, just as much as they did in the summer of protest."

Black Voters Matter will continue to pursue three things Brown often mentions: organizing people, organizing money and organizing ideas. Ultimately, Albright says, it would like to work toward self-sufficiency and reduce its reliance on donors.

We understand that any given month or any given year, the funding world, or individual donors, might be looking for the next shiny thing, he said. We know that we have to find ways to be independently self-sustaining.

Brown and Albrights trip to Alabama ended with a block party at a Montgomery park. Police blocked off traffic, allowing two truck vendors selling pasta and other food to set up. Flanked by Black Voters Matter signs, community members lined up and, at one point, cheered on a man whose dance moves to Ushers Yeah captured attention.

Attendees were offered free Black Voters Matter merchandise. And they could register to vote. Near the end of the event, Brown once again came before an audience to speak about voting rights.

This time, she opened with another civil rights anthem: Aint Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round.

____

The Associated Press receives support from the Lilly Endowment for coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of APs philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
Tesla should be allowed to sell in state

Connecticut state legislators should eliminate the regulation that prohibits Tesla from selling.

Isnt it ironic that Westport must go out of state to buy Teslas? We lose tax revenues, and we are hampered from helping to go green.

Isnt it ironic that Connecticut enthusiastically supports electric cars, but prohibits Tesla, the best seller, from selling, yet service centers are allowed?

Are legislators beholden to established car franchises? What other reason do they have for prohibiting Tesla from selling here, (and forcing potential Tesla buyers to purchase them out-of-state).

We need to lean on all State and local governments to encourage more electric vehicles and thus, the greening of Connecticut.

Carl Glickman, Westport
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 12:21:40|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

ROME, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic would require a great deal of effort from major global players to step up their cooperation and improve the quality of dialogue, former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema has told Xinhua in a recent interview.

To revive economy and tackle social and economic inequalities as well as climate change are among the huge tasks lying ahead, said D'Alema, who has played a major role in Italian politics as a political heavyweight of center-left forces.

During the interview, he also voiced concerns about the current state of dialogue between the East and the West. The pandemic and the post-pandemic problems ... "all require strong international cooperation, (and) I would even say a 'qualitative leap' in international collaboration," he noted.

Differences exist between the West and the East in terms of political models and social systems, the 72-year-old former politician said, while stressing that "the greatest effort" from both sides should be put into resuming the dialogue.

"To use an old saying," he explained, "today's big problem is how to rebuild the conditions for a peaceful coexistence between different systems, in order to face common challenges most effectively."

On climate change, possibly the most global of such challenges, D'Alema underscored the positive shift in the stance of the United States, which officially re-joined the Paris Agreement in February, following the announcement by U.S. President Joe Biden. This would allow some hope, he said.

"On climate change, there seems to be both the opportunity and the will to resume dialogue, and I do hope this approach could be extended to other fields, such as preventing and solving ongoing conflicts, overcoming trade tensions, and boosting economic recovery," he said.

Politics, he stressed, was only one ingredient in mutual understanding. Market openness, especially in the services sector that allows better communication among people, and tourism and cultural exchanges could all contribute to building "a stronger cooperation climate," he added.

"As for the Western countries, I do think we must try to better counter nationalistic pressures and hostile stances, which have occurred recently and are still occurring," he said.

D'Alema recalled that China stretched out a helping hand to Italy as the country was among the first in Europe badly hit by the pandemic last year.

In Italy, he said, "we do remember the Chinese help in terms of support, technology and means provided in order to face the (first wave) of the coronavirus."

The former prime minister said that another issue on which the West and China should have dialogue is human rights protection.

"I do not believe in exporting political models, and I think differences (between systems) must be respected," D'Alema stressed. "I also do not feel we in the West can teach anyone a lesson, since we also deal with such problems."

"I would say we should make a common effort to ensure an adequate standard of human rights protection while respecting the diversity of our political systems," he added. Enditem
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.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 18:32:25|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

ST. PETERSBURG, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The 24th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) kicked off in Russia's second largest city here on Wednesday, during which participants will seek cooperation amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year's forum with the theme "Together Again - Economy of New Reality" consists of four main programs: Joining Forces to Advance Development, Delivering on National Development Targets, Human Factor in Responding to Global Challenges, and New Technology Frontiers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will address the plenary session of the SPIEF in person on Friday, while Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz will deliver speeches via video link.

More than 130 events are planned during the four-day forum to discuss issues regarding medium and small-sized enterprises in Russia, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BRICS, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the Business Twenty (B20) among others.

The largest delegations are expected from Qatar, the guest country of this year's forum, as well as from the United States and China.

Since 1997, the SPIEF has become a leading global platform for members of the business community to meet and discuss the key economic issues facing Russia, emerging markets, and the world as a whole. The forum was canceled last year due to the pandemic. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 21:31:19|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

BRUSSELS, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Wednesday unveiled a new plan to make the Schengen area, the largest free travel area in the world, a stronger and more resilient zone.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement that the new plan for the Schengen area will ensure that the European Union (EU) truly upholds the freedom to move, live and work in the different member states.

"Today, we are presenting a way forward that makes sure that Schengen can bear the test of time, one that will ensure the free flow of people, goods and services whatever the circumstances to rebuild our economies and for us to emerge stronger together," she said.

Giving details of the strategy at a press conference, European Commission Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life Margaritis Schinas explained that plan aims to ensure effective management of the EU's external borders, reinforce the Schengen area internally as well as improve preparedness and governance.

He said the Commission is proposing to revise the Schengen evaluation and monitoring mechanism. Changes include accelerating the evaluation process as well as a fast-track procedure in case of significant deficiencies that could put Schengen as a whole at risk.

He said there will also be more political focus on Schengen evaluations as their results will be included in the annual report on the State of Schengen and discussed with the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. The revised mechanism includes enhanced monitoring for the respect of fundamental rights.

The Schengen area is home to more than 420 million people across 26 countries -- 22 EU member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

The removal of internal border controls between the Schengen states is an integral part of the European way of life: almost 1.7 million people reside in one Schengen state and work in another, according to the Commission.

European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said that state-of-the-art IT systems will improve external border management while enhanced police cooperation and common migration management will help reinforce the Schengen area without border checks. Enditem
An uncle arrested for his role in an Amber Alert out of Middletown failed to report his nephew missing for 12 hours and knowingly left him in the care of a drug addict, according to arrest documents.
The programme has been announced for the 2021 Edinburgh International Festival, which will run across the Scottish capital from 7 to 29 August.

The return of the EIF, which was cancelled last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, marks a "significant turning point for Scotland's cultural sector", said festival organisers, who hope this year's festival will "pave the way for other organisations to rebuild their own live performance programmes".

Despite restrictions due to continuing Covid-19 safety measures, it is an ambitious programme with over 170 classical and contemporary music, theatre, opera, dance and spoken word performances. These include 15 premieres and new commissions.

Theatre highlights include the world premiere of Medicine, Enda Walsh's latest play featuring Domhnall Gleeson, which examines society's relation with mental health. Meanwhile Alan Cumming returns to the festival for the first UK performances of his new show Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age, an evening of story and song which celebrates ageing.

The Royal Lyceum Theatre will play host to live audiences for the first time in over a year, with a programme including the National Theatre of Scotland's Lament for Sheku Bayoh and rehearsed readings of Hindu Times by Jaimini Jethwa and You Bury Me by Ahlam, the joint winner of The Women's Prize for Playwriting.

Elsewhere, A Grand Night for Singing is a musical revue that will showcase songs from classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals. Staged by musical theatre performer Kim Criswell and conducted by Wayne Marshall, the cast features Criswell alongside Danielle de Niese.

Impression of a performance venue to be used at Edinburgh Park



Safety measures at the EIF will include social distancing, shorter performances with no intervals, audience members seated in bubbles and, in a first for the festival, online access to 21 free full-length performances.

Venues used for the 2021 Festival include bespoke outdoor venues at Edinburgh Academy Junior School, Parabola's Edinburgh Park development and the University of Edinburgh's Old College Quad, alongside the Festival Theatre, Traverse Theatre, The Royal Lyceum Theatre and Dance Base.

The EIF will also include a digital programme of 21 full-length productions available to watch online for free. These include Ariadne auf Naxos, the Chineke! Orchestra, Lament for Sheku Bayoh, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Talisk and the Zehetmair Quartet.

Festival director Fergus Linehan said: "The programme we are announcing today represents a carefully organised return to live performance. It is a collaborative effort between those who live in our city, our artists, the team at the festival, our donors and stakeholders and all who will be coming along to our performances.

"While so much has been written and said about the challenges of the past 15 months, it is now time to look to the future and to the brilliant musicians, actors, dancers and poets who are getting ready to perform in Edinburgh this August."
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-03 00:17:13|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

RIGA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU)'s Digital COVID Certificate will become available in Lithuania as of Monday, a health official said at a news conference Wednesday.

Deputy Health Minister Zivile Simonaityte told reporters that Lithuania's Center of Registers planned to start issuing the certificate via the national e-health system from June 7.

The certificate was proposed by the European Commission to enable people to resume safe free travel within the 27-member bloc this summer. The system allows the verification of certificates in a secure and privacy-friendly way.

Available in digital format or on paper, it will provide proof that its holder has been vaccinated against COVID-19, tested negative or recovered from an infection.

The European Parliament has yet to formally approve the Digital COVID Certificate at a plenary session in Strasbourg next week. Enditem
United Way Day of Caring volunteer event to be held on Friday
Williamson, WV (25661)

Today

Partly cloudy skies in the morning will give way to cloudy skies during the afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 88F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms before midnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Williamson, WV (25661)

Today

Partly cloudy skies in the morning will give way to cloudy skies during the afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 88F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening, then partly cloudy overnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Williamson, WV (25661)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun in the morning followed by cloudy skies during the afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 88F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening, then partly cloudy overnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Willmar, MN (56201)

Today

Mostly sunny. Hot. High around 95F. SSW winds shifting to WNW at 15 to 25 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low 57F. N winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-03 02:34:02|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

NICOSIA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The estranged Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities in Cyprus agreed to reopen checkpoints controlling in the buffer zone, lifting COVID-19 restrictions on the movement of people and goods between the two parts of the divided island, the United Nations peacekeeping mission said on Wednesday.

"The reopening of all crossing points will facilitate free movement, promote people-to-people contacts, build trust and have an overall positive socio-economic impact across the island for the benefit of all Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots," said the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in a statement.

As of Friday, all crossing points that have been closed since December 2020 as a measure against the spreading of COVID-19 will reopen with the requirement of a 7-day negative antigen test or PCR test.

UNFICYP spokesman Aleem Siddique said the leaders of the two communities agreed to synchronize measures related to COVID-19 so as to avoid spreading the coronavirus.

He added that the epidemiological situation will be reviewed on a bi-weekly basis, with an appropriate protection level categorized and applied at the crossing points.

The Cyprus island has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey intervened militarily following a coup by Athens-backed Greek Cypriots. The buffer zone in between is patrolled by a UN peacekeeping force.

Since 2003 several checkpoints were established in the buffer zone to enable people to cross over daily for work, to meet relatives and friends or just to visit their former houses in cities and villages. Enditem
Today

Scattered thunderstorms, especially in the afternoon. High 89F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Low 67F. Winds light and variable.

Tomorrow

Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 89F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Hearst Connecticut Media

Back in September, I wrote my first column for the Wilton Bulletin. Overwhelmed by the inevitably of adulthood, and, accordingly, the demise of my childhood, I wrote this piece about these fears. Well, good news: I have been surviving adulthood for the past six-and-a-half months! Yet, as graduation draws uncomfortably close, I have begun to realize that perhaps adulthood itself was not the thing I feared; it was the idea that the end of my Wilton Public Schools career was already in sight. This thought admittedly still terrifies me. Graduation will sting tremendously, and I know that I will continue to feel the ache of its venom for at least a week after it passes. Without a doubt, I am going to miss Wilton High School. More specifically, it will be the absence of the small, often overlooked things that surely will cause the most pain. Hence, I wanted to bring special attention to them and thus immortalize the little things.

I will miss spending lunchtime with friends, greeting teachers I pass in the hallway, the excitement that builds up in my chest when I see a sign on my classrooms door revealing that we have a free period today. I will miss the lingering feeling of pride that persists throughout the entire day when I do well on a test, the rush of leaving school with a friend to go to the deli, the hushed yet bustling noises of the library. I will miss the comfortable silence of walking next to one particular friend, and the unruly laughter that never fails to burst out when walking next to another. I will miss the small talk made to teachers before class begins and the barrage of thank yous heard when it ends. Most importantly, I will miss the support of all the phenomenal teachers in my life, incredible individuals who helped shape me into the person I am today, all leaving a part of themselves with me.
Winchester, VA (22601)

Today

Partly cloudy skies during the morning hours. Thunderstorms likely in the afternoon. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 81F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.


Viewed of

Take Five - This is your final free article during this 30 day period.Stay in touch with all of the news from Winchester, Frederick and Clarke. Sign up today for complete digital access to The Winchester Star.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-02 06:17:32|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

Photo taken in Arlington, Virginia, the United States, on June 1, 2021 shows a screen displaying U.S. President Joe Biden delivering a speech commemorating the 100th anniversary of Tulsa massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a series of measures aimed at narrowing the wealth gap among racial groups in a speech commemorating the 100th anniversary of Tulsa massacre, one of the most atrocious racial violence in U.S. history. In less than 24 hours between May 31 and June 1, 1921, a mob of white attackers killed over 300 Black Americans in the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and burned down 35 square blocks of that business district built by Black Americans -- so prosperous at the time that it was then referred to as Black Wall Street. Roughly 10,000 Greenwood residents were displaced and the community has never come close to recovering. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

WASHINGTON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a series of measures aimed at narrowing the wealth gap among racial groups in a speech commemorating the 100th anniversary of Tulsa massacre, one of the most atrocious racial violence in U.S. history.

In less than 24 hours between May 31 and June 1, 1921, a mob of white attackers killed over 300 Black Americans in the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and burned down 35 square blocks of that business district built by Black Americans -- so prosperous at the time that it was then referred to as Black Wall Street. Roughly 10,000 Greenwood residents were displaced and the community has never come close to recovering.

Yet, Tulsa officials, in efforts to cover up the massacre, framed the atrocity as "riot," and the mass killings received scant mentions in media reports, school curriculum and civil and governmental conversations in the decades that followed. It wasn't until recent years that the horrendous events were eventually included in American history textbooks.

"My fellow Americans, this was not a riot. This was a massacre. Among the worst in our history," Biden said in his speech as the audience rose to their feet. "Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous they can't be buried no matter how hard people try," the president said earlier during the speech.

Biden detailed a raft of policies intended to bolster homeownership and help minority-owned small businesses and entrepreneurs.

The measures include using federal purchasing power to invest more money into minority-owned businesses and allocate 10 billion U.S. dollars in infrastructure funds to rebuild disadvantaged neighborhoods across the country.

The first president to come to Tulsa and commemorate the massacre, Biden also plans to enhance the Fair Housing Act in ways that the Department of Housing and Urban Development will "more vigorously enforce" the law, according to a senior administration official, who added that the goal is to increase Black homeownership.

Missing in the Biden initiative, however, was a plan to cancel student debt, which disproportionately affects Black students. The rollout also failed to address the issue of reparations for relatives of massacre victims, who said the federal payments could restore what was erased during the attacks.

Biden in his speech also announced that Vice President Kamala Harris will lead the administration's efforts on protecting Americans' voting rights. The White House has accused the restrictive voting laws recently enacted in several Republican-leaning states of making it harder for Americans to cast their ballots.

Biden on Monday proclaimed May 31, 2021, to be a "Day of Remembrance: 100 Years After The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre." He said in the proclamation that the "Federal Government must reckon with and acknowledge the role that it has played in stripping wealth and opportunity from Black communities." Enditem
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP)  After nearly five decades of blowin' in the wind, a double Bob Dylan album finally has a direction home: A man living in San Francisco has mailed the vinyl back to an Ohio library 48 years after it was supposed to be returned.

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP)  After nearly five decades of blowin' in the wind, a double Bob Dylan album finally has a direction home: A man living in San Francisco has mailed the vinyl back to an Ohio library 48 years after it was supposed to be returned.

Howard Simon recently sent the album along with a letter to Heights Libraries apologizing for his tardiness, according to a news release from the library system outside Cleveland.

In this photo provided by Heights Libraries, Sara Phillips, a branch manager with Heights Libraries in Ohio, holds the Bob Dylan double album "Self Portrait" borrowed in 1973 by eighth-grader Howard Simon he returned recently 48 years overdue. (Heights Libraries via AP)

Simon checked out Dylans "Self Portrait" album in 1973 as an eighth-grader at a University Heights middle school. Simon says he found it between two other Dylan albums in his personal vinyl collection.

"As a recent retiree, I am taking the opportunity to turn my attention to some of the many vignettes of life that by dint of career and family have been neglected these many years," Simon wrote. "I am returning with the letter an overdue item by my count, approximately 17,480 days overdue as of this writing."

His letter says the album cover is a little battered after traveling with him from University Heights to San Francisco with various stops in between, but the library says the records themselves remain in "great shape."

Simon also sent the library a $175 replacement fee for "Self Portrait" along with an album he recorded, "Western Reserve," for possible inclusion in the library's collection.

The library bore no hard feelings, or sense that Simon wasted their precious time, essentially telling him in the press release don't think twice; it's all right.

"The funny thing about this is that we dont charge overdue fines anymoreas long as we get the item back, we see no need to penalize people," branch manager Sara Phillips was quoted as saying. "Were grateful that Mr. Simon returned the record. Id said we can now call it even."

This story has been updated to remove the age of Howard Simon. His age cannot be determined.
TULSA, Okla. (AP)  An emotional President Joe Biden marked the 100th anniversary of the massacre that destroyed a thriving Black community in Tulsa, declaring Tuesday that he had come to fill the silence about one of the nations darkest  and long suppressed  moments of racial violence.

President Joe Biden speaks at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, Monday, May 31, 2021, in Arlington, Va.( Biden on Tuesday will take part in a remembrance of one of the nations darkest _ and largely forgotten _ moments of racial violence, marking the 100th anniversary of a massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma that wiped out a thriving Black community. AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

TULSA, Okla. (AP)  An emotional President Joe Biden marked the 100th anniversary of the massacre that destroyed a thriving Black community in Tulsa, declaring Tuesday that he had come to fill the silence about one of the nations darkest  and long suppressed  moments of racial violence.

Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous, they cannot be buried, no matter how hard people try," Biden said. Only with truth can come healing.

Biden's commemoration of the deaths of hundreds of Black people killed by a white mob a century ago came amid the current national reckoning on racial justice.

President Joe Biden arrives to board Air Force One for a trip to Tulsa, Okla., to mark the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, Tuesday, June 1, 2021, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Just because history is silent, it does not mean that it did not take place," Biden said. He said "hell was unleashed, literal hell was unleashed. And now, he said, the nation must come to grips with the subsequent sin of denial.

"We cant just choose what we want to know, and not what we should know," said Biden. I come here to help fill the silence, because in silence wounds deepen.

After Biden left, some audience members spontaneously sang a famous civil rights march song, Aint Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around."

The events Tuesday stood in stark contrast to then-President Donald Trump's trip to Tulsa last June, which was greeted by protests. Or the former president's decision, one year ago, to clear Lafayette Square near the White House of demonstrators who gathered to protest the death of George Floyd, a Black man, under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer.

President Joe Biden walks with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge as he arrives in Tulsa, Okla., Tuesday, June 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

In 1921  on May 31 and June 1  a white mob, including some people hastily deputized by authorities, looted and burned Tulsa's Greenwood district, which was referred to as Black Wall Street.

As many as 300 Black Tulsans were killed, and thousands of survivors were forced for a time into internment camps overseen by the National Guard. Burned bricks and a fragment of a church basement are about all that survive today of the more than 30-block historically Black district.

On Tuesday, the president, joined by top Black advisers, met privately with three surviving members of the Greenwood community who lived through the violence, the White House said. Viola Mother Fletcher, Hughes Uncle Red Van Ellis and Lessie Mother Randle Benningfield Randle are all between the ages of 101 and 107.

Biden said their experience had been a story seen in the mirror dimly."

President Joe Biden looks at a photograph during a tour of the Greenwood Cultural Center to mark the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, Tuesday, June 1, 2021, in Tulsa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

But no longer," the president told the survivors. Now your story will be known in full view."

Outside, Latasha Sanders, 33, of Tulsa, brought her five children and a nephew in hopes of spotting Biden.

Its been 100 years, and this is the first weve heard from any U.S. president," she said. "I brought my kids here today just so they could be a part of history and not just hear about it, and so they can teach generations to come.

John Ondiek, another Tulsan in the crowd following Biden's speech on cellphones, said he was encouraged that "There arent just Black people here. That tells me theres an awakening going on in this country.

President Joe Biden speaks as he commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, at the Greenwood Cultural Center, Tuesday, June 1, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Several hundred people milled around Greenwood Avenue in front of the historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church awaiting Bidens arrival at the nearby Greenwood Cultural Center. Some vendors were selling memorabilia, including Black Lives Matter hats, shirts and flags under a bridge of the interstate that cuts through the district.

The names and pictures of Black men killed by police, including Eric Harris and Terrence Crutcher in Tulsa, hung on a chain-link fence next to the church.

Biden briefly toured an exhibit at the center, at times stepping closer to peer at framed historic photographs, before he was escorted into a private meeting with the three survivors.

America's continuing struggle over race will continue to test Biden, whose presidency would have been impossible without overwhelming support from Black voters, both in the Democratic primaries and the general election.

President Joe Biden arrives to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, at the Greenwood Cultural Center, Tuesday, June 1, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

He announced Tuesday that he was appointing Vice President Kamala Harris to lead efforts on voting rights as the GOP carries out efforts to pass laws restricting access to the ballot. Republicans portray such legislation as aimed at preventing fraudulent voting, but many critics believe it is designed to limit the voting of minorities.

Biden has pledged to help combat racism in policing and other areas following nationwide protests after Floyds death a year ago that reignited a national conversation about race.

Biden called on Congress to act swiftly to address policing reform. But he has also long projected himself as an ally of police, who are struggling with criticism about long-used tactics and training methods and difficulties in recruitment.

The Tulsa massacre has only recently entered the national discourse  and the presidential visit put an even brighter spotlight on the event.

Biden, who was joined by Housing Secretary Marcia Fudge and senior advisers Susan Rice and Cedric Richmond, also announced new measures he said could help narrow the wealth gap between races and reinvest in underserved communities by expanding access to homeownership and small-business ownership.

The White House said the administration will take steps to address disparities that result in Black-owned homes being appraised at tens of thousands of dollars less than comparable homes owned by white residents as well as issue new federal rules to fight housing discrimination. The administration is also setting a goal of increasing the share of federal contracts awarded to small disadvantaged businesses by 50% by 2026, funneling an estimated additional $100 billion to such businesses over the five-year period, according to the White House.

Historians say the massacre in Tulsa began after a local newspaper drummed up a furor over a Black man accused of stepping on a white girls foot. When Black Tulsans showed up with guns to prevent the mans lynching, white residents responded with overwhelming force.

Reparations for Black Americans whose ancestors were enslaved and for other racial discrimination have been debated in the U.S. since slavery ended in 1865. Now they are being discussed by colleges and universities with ties to slavery and by local governments looking to make cash payments to Black residents.

Biden, who was vice president to the nations first Black president and who chose a Black woman as his own vice president, backs a study of reparations, both in Tulsa and more broadly, but has not committed to supporting payments.

Trump visited Tulsa last year under vastly different circumstances.

After suspending his campaign rallies because of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump, a Republican, chose Tulsa as the place to mark his return. But his decision to schedule the rally on June 19, the holiday known as Juneteenth that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, was met with such fierce criticism that he postponed the event by a day. The rally was still marked by protests outside and empty seats inside an arena downtown.

Lemire reported from New York. Associated Press writer Sean Murphy contributed to this report.

For more AP coverage of the Tulsa Race Massacre anniversary, go to https://apnews.com/hub/tulsa-race-massacre.
OTTAWA - Canada is doubling its direct cash commitment to help buy COVID-19 vaccines for the global sharing program known as COVAX but isn't sending any actual doses this month despite a desperate plea from officials for help.

OTTAWA - Canada is doubling its direct cash commitment to help buy COVID-19 vaccines for the global sharing program known as COVAX but isn't sending any actual doses this month despite a desperate plea from officials for help.

International Development Minister Karina Gould told a virtual COVAX summit hosted by Japan Wednesday that Canada will donate another $220 million to help COVAX buy more vaccines to deliver to the 92 low and middle-income countries that rely on the facility to vaccinate their citizens.

International Development Minister Karina Gould responds to a question during Question Period in the House of Commons, Tuesday December 10, 2019 in Ottawa. Gould says Canada is doubling its dollar commitment to the global vaccine sharing alliance known as COVAX, but isn't yet committing to a specific donation of excess vaccine doses.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

That is on top of $220 million committed last September to buy doses for lower income nations through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, $75 million to help get those doses delivered, and $30 million reallocated to COVAX from a separate vaccine program for pneumococcal disease.

"These vaccines are our best exit strategy from this pandemic," Gould said in a speech at the summit.

"But the world also needs access to them. Borders shouldn't be barriers to the best and latest science."

But borders have been a barrier, with wealthy countries snapping up more than 80 per cent of the almost two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines now administered around the world.

Canada, which started off slowly, has vaccinated more than 22 million people, with two-thirds of eligible people over the age of 12 now receiving at least one dose.

That puts Canada in the top 10 countries for people at least partly vaccinated. When second doses are also factored in, Canada has given out 64 doses for every 100 people in the country, putting in the top 20 countries in the world for doses per capita.

More than two dozen countries, mostly in Africa, have given out fewer than one dose per 100 people. COVAX has distributed 77 million doses so far, and aims to get two billion delivered by the end of the year.

But it said last week its first goal in June will fall 190 million doses short without immediate help from wealthy countries who are way ahead of the world on vaccinations. The results of that shortfall "could be catastrophic," COVAX leaders said in a statement May 27.

India's Serum Institute was to be one of the major suppliers of COVAX but because of the massive third wave in India this spring, the country has banned further export of doses for any reason until at least the end of the year.

"Countries with the largest supplies should redirect doses to COVAX now, to have maximum impact," COVAX said.

COVAX was looking for another $2 billion in donations and the promise of actual doses. It got the money, but only a few additional promises of donations of vaccines.

To date there about 200 million doses on the table, half from the European Union, but it's not clear when they'll be distributed.

The United States intends to donate 80 million doses by the end of this month, but hasn't said yet if they'll go through COVAX or to other countries directly.

Canada has 28 million doses delivered so far and expects at least 100 million by the fall, far more than it needs to give two doses to all 38 million Canadians.

Gould was appointed in January as a co-chair of the COVAX engagement group trying to help create a mechanism to allow for doses to be donated and some of Canada's funding has helped establish that. But she said Canada isn't yet in a position to put actual doses on the table.

"We do not have excess vaccines currently coming to Canada," she said.

"At this point in time we're still very much focused on our domestic schedule but I can assure you that when we do have excess doses, we will be making that announcement."

That is not good enough for the government's critics.

"Canada's position has been a gross disappointment," said NDP health critic Don Davies. "It's wrong from a moral and ethical point of view and its counter to our own public health needs."

The more COVID-19 spreads, the higher the risk of new variants of concern which may evade the vaccinations we are giving out now. Experts have said vaccinating the world equitably, to help slow the spread globally, is the only way the pandemic will end.

Green party Leader Annamie Paul said COVAX has been very clear about what it needs and said Canada is creating a "false security" by only focusing on getting doses to Canadians at first.

COVAX is one of three arms of the ACT Accelerator, a global program to make sure the entire world has access to COVID-19 testing, treatments and vaccines.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last month Canada would increase its overall support to the ACT Accelerator by $375 million to a total of more than $1.3 billion. Today's $220 million donation to COVAX comes from that May pledge, which the international anti-poverty group Global Citizen said put Canada among a small group of countries donating an amount on par with the size of their economy.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2021.
OTTAWA - A majority of Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole's caucus voted Wednesday in support of a bill that sought to restrict certain abortions even as he voted it down, saying he respects a woman's right to choose.

Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development Maryam Monsef speaks during a press conference in Ottawa on Monday, Nov. 9, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA - A majority of Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole's caucus voted Wednesday in support of a bill that sought to restrict certain abortions even as he voted it down, saying he respects a woman's right to choose.

Saskatchewan MP Cathay Wagantall brought forward Bill C-233, which sought to ban doctors from performing an abortion based on the sex of a fetus, which was defeated in a 248-82 split.

All but one of the votes cast in its favour came from the Conservatives, who have 119 members, with the other coming from former party MP and leadership contender Derek Sloan.

O'Toole voted against the bill, as did other members of his front bench, such as his health critic Michelle Rempel Garner.Some, including deputy party leader Candice Bergen pledged their support, as did O'Toole's leadership predecessor Andrew Scheer.

Wagantall had argued her private member's bill was more nuanced than other debates surrounding abortion because it only looked at the issue of terminating a pregnancy through sex selection, which she and supporters  including some fellow Conservative MPs  worry disproportionately affects baby girls and framed it as an concern around women's rights.

"Despite Erin O'Toole's emphatic pro-choice stance and commitment to vote against this bill, exactly two-thirds of his caucus voted in favour of it," the group named We Need a Law, which supported the bill, said in a statement.

Leader of the Opposition Erin O'Toole rises during Question Period in the House of Commons Wednesday June 2, 2021 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

While MPs, including Liberals, said they didn't support sex-selective abortion, they blasted the law in previous debates as a Trojan horse attempting to restrict the reproductive rights of women, also questioning the sources of information presented in support of the bill's cause.

Hours before Wednesday's vote, Status of Women Minister Maryam Monsef released a letter she penned to O'Toole asking the leader to call on his caucus to vote against what she calls a "dangerous bill."

"This is in fact the seventh time since 2007 that a Conservative Member of Parliament has worked hard to limit women's choices," she said at a news conference.

O'Toole had previously indicated he wouldn't support the proposed legislation as he is "pro-choice." His office said he would, however, allow a free vote on matters of conscience for his caucus.

In a statement before the vote, he said: "I support a woman's right to choose and my record speaks for itself. As prime minister, my government will secure the rights of Canadians and never erode them."

Melanie Joly, the economic development and official languages minister, appeared alongside Monsef at the news conference and said O'Toole's stance isn't good enough.

"It is not enough for you to personally say that you will not vote in favour of C-233 and free vote is also not good enough," said Joly.

"For our rights to be safe, we need to to curb all policies that attempt to control women's bodies."

Joly suggested O'Toole allowed the bill, first introduced under the leadership of Scheer, to be kept alive in Parliament because he earned his party's victory last summer thanks to votes from anti-abortion groups.

During the race, O'Toole made a pitch to the supporters of Sloan and Toronto lawyer Leslyn Lewis, who had the backing from many social conservatives, to mark him as their number 2 or number 3 choice in the ranked ballot system.

In turn, he promised that as leader, their views would be respected.

Keeping that pledge without exposing the party to attacks from Liberals and other critics that it would allow for the debate on abortion rights to be reopened remains a balancing act for O'Toole  highlighted by the most recent vote.

Since becoming leader, he has focused his attention on speaking to those he wants to see vote Conservative in the next federal election who perhaps haven't done so in the past, like more women, and emphasizing his views as pro-LGBTQ rights and "pro-choice."

During the 2019 election campaign, Scheer's socially conservative views on abortion and same-sex marriage dogged him in the lead up to the vote, as he wouldn't immediately clarify his views.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2021.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus opponents announced Wednesday that they have reached a deal to form a new governing coalition, paving the way for the ouster of the longtime Israeli leader.

Yemina party leader Naftali Bennett arrives to speaks to the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem, Sunday, May 30, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Pool via AP)

JERUSALEM (AP)  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus opponents announced Wednesday that they have reached a deal to form a new governing coalition, paving the way for the ouster of the longtime Israeli leader.

The dramatic announcement by opposition leader Yair Lapid and his main coalition partner, Naftali Bennett, came shortly before a midnight deadline and prevented what could have been Israel's fifth consecutive election in just over two years.

This government will work for all the citizens of Israel, those that voted for it and those that didnt. It will do everything to unite Israeli society, Lapid said.

The agreement still needs to be approved by the Knesset, or parliament, in a vote that is expected to take place early next week. If it goes through, Lapid and a diverse array of partners that span the Israeli political spectrum will end Netanyahus record-setting but divisive 12-year rule.

Netanyahu, desperate to remain in office while he fights corruption charges, is expected to do everything possible in the coming days to prevent the new coalition from taking power. If he fails, he will be pushed into the opposition.

The deal comes at a tumultuous time for Israel, which fought an 11-day war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip last month while also experiencing mob violence between Jews and Arabs in cities across the country. The country also is emerging from a coronavirus crisis that caused deep economic damage and exposed tensions between the secular majority and the ultra-Orthodox minority.

Under the agreement, Lapid and Bennett will split the job of prime minister in a rotation. Bennett, a former ally of Netanyahu, is to serve the first two years, while Lapid is to serve the final two years  though it is far from certain their fragile coalition will last that long.

The historic deal also includes a small Islamist party, the United Arab List, which would make it the first Arab party ever to be part of a governing coalition.

In the coming days, Netanyahu is expected to continue to put pressure on hard-liners in the emerging coalition to defect and join his religious and nationalist allies. Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin, a member of Netanyahu's Likud party, may also use his influence to delay the required parliamentary vote. There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu or Likud.

Ayelet Shaked, left, and Naftali Bennett, parliament members from Yamina party, chat during a special session of the Knesset, whereby Israeli lawmakers elect a new president, at the plenum in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. (Ronen Zvulun/Pool Photo via AP)

Lapid called on Levin to convene the Knesset for the vote as soon as possible.

Netanyahu has been the most dominant player in Israeli politics over the past three decades  serving as prime minister since 2009 in addition to an earlier term in the late 1990s.

Despite a long list of achievements, including last years groundbreaking diplomatic agreements with four Arab countries, he has become a polarizing figure since he was indicted on charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in 2019.

Each of the past four elections was seen as a referendum on Netanyahus fitness to rule. And each ended in deadlock, with both Netanyahus supporters as well as his secular, Arab and dovish opponents falling short of a majority. A unity government formed with his main rival last year collapsed after just six months.

The new deal required a reshuffling of the Israeli political constellation. Three of the parties are led by hard-line former Netanyahu allies who had personal feuds with him, while the United Arab List made history as a kingmaker, using its leverage to seek benefits for the country's Arab minority.

This is the first time an Arab party is a partner in the formation of a government, said the party's leader, Mansour Abbas. This agreement has a lot of things for the benefit of Arab society, and Israeli society in general.

Among the concessions secured by Abbas were agreements for legal recognition of Bedouin villages in southern Israel, an economic plan for investing 30 billion shekels ($9.2 billion) in Arab towns and cities, and a five-year plan for combating violent crime in Arab communities, according to Army Radio.

Lapid, 57, entered parliament in 2013 after a successful career as a newspaper columnist, TV anchor and author. His new Yesh Atid party ran a successful rookie campaign, landing Lapid the powerful post of finance minister.

But he and Netanyahu did not get along, and the coalition quickly crumbled. Yesh Atid has been in the opposition since 2015 elections. The party is popular with secular, middle-class voters and has been critical of Netanyahus close ties with ultra-Orthodox parties and said the prime minister should step down while on trial for corruption charges.

The ultra-Orthodox parties have long used their outsize political power to secure generous budgets for their religious institutions and exemptions from compulsory military service. The refusal of many ultra-Orthodox Jews to obey coronavirus safety restrictions last year added to widespread resentment against them.

Bennett, 49, is a former top aide to Netanyahu whose small Yamina party caters to religious and nationalist hard-liners. Bennett was a successful high-tech entrepreneur and leader of the West Bank settler movement before entering politics.

In order to secure the required parliamentary majority, Lapid had to bring together eight parties that have little in common.

Their partners include a pair of dovish, left-wing parties that support Palestinian independence and three hard-line parties that oppose major concessions to the Palestinians and support West Bank settlements. Lapid's Yesh Atid and Blue and White, a centrist party headed by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and the United Arab List are the remaining members.

The coalition members hope their shared animosity toward Netanyahu will provide enough incentive to find some common ground.

Today, we succeeded. We made history, said Merav Michaeli, leader of the dovish Labor Party.

The negotiations went down to the wire, with Labor and Yamina feuding over the makeup of a parliamentary committee.

Earlier this week, when Bennett said he would join the coalition talks, he said that everyone would have to compromise and give up parts of their dreams.

In order to form a government, a party leader must secure the support of a 61-seat majority in the 120-seat parliament. Because no single party controls a majority on its own, coalitions are usually built with smaller partners. Thirteen parties of various sizes are in the current parliament.

As leader of the largest party, Netanyahu was given the first opportunity by the countrys figurehead president to form a coalition. But he was unable to secure a majority with his traditional religious and nationalist allies.

After Netanyahus failure to form a government, Lapid was then given four weeks to cobble together a coalition. That window was set to expire at midnight.

Lapid already faced a difficult challenge bringing together such a disparate group of partners. But then war broke out with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip on May 10. The fighting, along with the eruption of Arab-Jewish mob violence in Israeli cities during the war, put the coalition talks on hold.

But after a cease-fire was reached on May 21, the negotiations resumed, and Lapid raced to sew up a deal. He reached a breakthrough on Sunday when Bennett agreed to join the opposition coalition.

Associated Press Writer Ilan Ben Zion contributed to this report.
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced he will attend in person the G7 Leaders' Summit from June 11 to 13 and the NATO Summit on June 14 followed by the Canada-European Union Summit in Brussels.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responds to a question during Question Period in the House of Commons Wednesday June 2, 2021 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced he will attend in person the G7 Leaders' Summit from June 11 to 13 and the NATO Summit on June 14 followed by the Canada-European Union Summit in Brussels.

Trudeau says global leaders need to come together to tackle the challenges that face the world now and in the future.

The Prime Minister's Office says he and the Canadian delegation travelling to the U.K. and Belgium will follow strict public health protocols and procedures during their visit, while in transit and when they arrive home.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday that Trudeau would attend the G7 Leaders' Summit in person, but the Canadian prime minister didn't immediately confirm at the time.

Trudeau says in a statement Wednesday that Canada will continue to work with its international partners to keep people healthy, create jobs and opportunity, grow the middle class, fight climate change and strengthen democratic values.

This year's G7 Summit will focus on co-ordinated approaches to promoting international rules and human rights, democracy, and gender equality.

During the Canada-EU Summit, Trudeau will meet with the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to discuss areas of further collaboration.

His statement says the leaders will discuss ways to tackle climate change, fight COVID-19 and further economic ties.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau travelled to a G7 meeting last month and quarantined in a hotel upon his return, but a government-commissioned report recommended last week that Canada drop this requirement for air travellers.

Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said last week she's not involved in planning operations for the prime minister, but the delegation can submit plans to the Public Health Agency of Canada for review.

She said all Canadians need to follow quarantine rules when they return to the country noting that she expect people to observe the requirements.

Tam said public health officials are considering the report calling for an end to hotel quarantines, but global vaccination rates and the situation in Canada will be factors in any decisions.

The G7 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.

In addition to G7 members, the United Kingdom has also invited leaders from Australia, India, South Africa and South Korea.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2021.

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
Several times that day, Selena Templeman walked from the garage in which she was staying to a pay phone in a St. Matthews Avenue parking lot. She dialed the Canada Revenue Agency, hoping to apply for financial aid. By the early evening shed already stood waiting on the phone for 3 1/2 hours, she said, but still she hadnt gotten through to anyone. She was visibly annoyed as she waited, shifting her feet and swearing at the telephone box.

Several times that day, Selena Templeman walked from the garage in which she was staying to a pay phone in a St. Matthews Avenue parking lot. She dialed the Canada Revenue Agency, hoping to apply for financial aid. By the early evening shed already stood waiting on the phone for 3 1/2 hours, she said, but still she hadnt gotten through to anyone. She was visibly annoyed as she waited, shifting her feet and swearing at the telephone box.

CODY SELLAR / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Selena Templeton waits on hold with the Canada Revenue Agency on a pay phone outside Pals Supermarket on St. Matthews Avenue.

For Templeman, who is homeless, pay phones are often the only option when she needs to make phone calls. And those calls, she said, are almost always to government agencies for important things such as a health card, identification or social assistance. For personal matters she prefers to bypass the telephone by simply knocking on doors.

In an era dominated by smartphones, pay phones seem almost antiquated, glimpsed on city sidewalks, gathering dirt and discolouring with time, like the upside-down signs above shuttered stores. But Templeman said other homeless people she knows use pay phones in much the same way she does. The difficulty for them now, said Templeton, is finding one.

"The 7-Elevens no longer have them. All the gas stations are all out," she said. More often than not, she said, even when she finds one its broken.

Through downtown, north Main Street and parts of West Broadway and the North End, the Free Press found six working pay phones of more than 20. Five of those were downtown, and the pay phone Templeton used outside Pals Supermarket was the other. The rest were dead, their displays black and dial tones silent. Many other telephone boxes sat empty, the phone removed completely. These pay phones seemed to function more often as garbage bins.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Detritus from a smashed phone at the corner of Mountain and MacGregor; Bell MTS says a large number of pay phones in the city are damaged.

In one instance, at the corner of MacGregor Street and Mountain Avenue, two pay phones back to back on a pole had been smashed open, presumably for the coins inside. Bits of circuit board and fractured plastic were scattered over the cement below.

A spokesperson for Bell MTS said that of approximately 2,500 pay phones in Manitoba, about half are in Winnipeg. In recent years, "pay phone use has declined significantly," but the company has no plans to discontinue service, said the spokesperson. However, pay phone vandalism is a "significant issue"; at any given time, multiple pay phones are on the repair schedule, the spokesperson said. Phones with repeated problems, or phones business owners request be removed, may be eliminated altogether.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Some pay phones have been smashed, likely in an attempt to get at the coins inside.

Other than Templeton and perhaps others in similar socioeconomic situations, there seems to be a scant public need for these pay phones. Hours passed at two working phones downtown without a single person picking up the receiver. The Pals Supermarket pay phone used to be "known by police as being frequented by those involved in drug transactions," according to 2007 court documents, but Winnipeg police spokesman Rob Carver said those times have passed.

"Not only is this particular location no longer a specific hotspot, but pay phones, in general, have fallen out of favour in the drug trade and criminals," he said in an email.

Over six hours and two days at the St. Matthews location, only Templeton and one man used the phone. The man, who wouldnt give his name, said he refuses to pay the high prices for cellphone plans. Instead, he uses pay phones  its 50 cents a call  when hes out and a landline when hes at home.

Landline subscribers have declined 7.7 per cent from 2020 to 2021 and are a "significantly smaller" portion of Bell MTSs business than wireless subscribers, said the spokesperson. However, the rate of landline deactivations slowed by 17.1 per cent during the pandemic.

The man at the pay phone said he hadnt even thought about limiting his phone use to his landline out of worry a pay phone mouthpiece could transmit COVID-19  at least not until the question was brought up to him that day.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Working pay phones are few and far between on Winnipeg streets.

To the same question, Templeton responded: "No." She wasnt concerned in the least. Besides, what else could she do?

Luke Thiessen, communications manager at Siloam Mission, said some of the clientele at Siloam still use pay phones.

"I know anecdotally that for many people experiencing homelessness and poverty, at times pay phones are the only option for them to get in touch with family or friends, or to be able to call 911," he said.

However, the majority of Siloams clientele do have cellphones, he said. The issue is that most dont have phone plans. They often rely on places offering free WiFi to which they can connect. He said finding those places has become more difficult during a pandemic that has often shut down public services  in particular, libraries.

"We know that between our facility and some of these public places, thats where a lot of our community goes to access WiFi, and thats hugely important," he said.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Demand for pay phones has dwindled dramatically in the age of cellphones.

But for those who must travel, often on foot, from one service to another to obtain the necessities of life and to find ways to communicate, a lack of access to, for example, WiFi or pay phones can be an extra burden in an already gruelling mode of life, he said.

Considering most in the community have cellphones but no calling or data, he said more free WiFi around the city could drastically improve access to communication.

Pay phones are hanging around, but they seem to be gasping their last breaths. People like Templeton, who still rely on them to navigate the bureaucracies of urban life, may soon be forced to adjust, as the clink of the coins and the dial tone fade away.

cody.sellar@freepress.mb.ca
Three Bahamian lawyers who represent Peter Nygard are suing the fashion mogul for more than $14 million in unpaid legal fees, lawsuits allege.

Three Bahamian lawyers who represent Peter Nygard are suing the fashion mogul for more than $14 million in unpaid legal fees, lawsuits allege.

Carlton A. Martin, Keod Smith and Algernon Allen say they were hired by Nygard in August 2018 to work together to defend him and prosecute on his behalf, according to court documents filed separately by the three lawyers in March and April of 2021.

The court filings say Nygard agreed to pay Martin and Allen $1,000 an hour, while Smith was to be paid $750 an hour. The lawyers claims to have worked thousands of hours but were only paid five per cent of what they are owed. Based on the numbers provided in the lawsuits, they are owed a little more than $14 million combined.

To read more of this story first reported by CBC News, click here.

This content is made available to Free Press readers as part of an agreement with CBC that sees our two trusted news brands collaborate to better cover Manitoba. Questions about CBC content can be directed to talkback@cbc.ca.
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP)  Terry Colli and three other residents of the John Knox Village senior community got a trip via computer to the International Space Station in the kickoff to a Stanford University study on whether virtual reality can improve the emotional well-being of older people.

Gloria Gantes, right, monitors Terry Colli, a resident of John Knox Village, as he participates in a virtual reality study, Tuesday, June 1, 2021, in Pompano Beach, Fla. The senior community is in partnership with Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab on a study to see how older adults respond to virtual reality and whether it can improve their sense of wellbeing. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP)  Terry Colli and three other residents of the John Knox Village senior community got a trip via computer to the International Space Station in the kickoff to a Stanford University study on whether virtual reality can improve the emotional well-being of older people.

Donning 1-pound (470-gram) headsets with video and sound, the four could imagine floating weightless with astronauts and get a 360-degree tour of the station. In other programs, residents can take virtual visits to Paris, Venice, Egypt or elsewhere around the globe; attend a car rally, skydive or go on a hike.

I feel great. It is amazing. It is like you are really there, said Colli, 73, and a former spokesman for the Canadian embassy in Washington.

Residents of John Knox Village wear goggles as they participate in a virtual reality study, Tuesday, June 1, 2021, in Pompano Beach, Fla. The senior community is in partnership with Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab on a study to see how older adults respond to virtual reality and whether it can improve their sense of wellbeing. From left to right are Bruce Voelkel, John Dalsimer, Andrea Hipskind, and Janet Anding. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab will be working with John Knox's 1,200 residents, who will have ready access to the equipment under the supervision of staff members. The goal is to see whether virtual reality can improve their mood, strengthen their relationships with staff and make them more receptive to technology. Other senior communities in the United States and elsewhere will soon be added by the California university.

Virtual reality works by making what the person sees and hears track with what they are doing. In a VR trip to Paris, for example, a participant might turn to the left and see the Eiffel Tower with a musician playing in the foreground, and then turn right and find two people conversing. If the participant moves toward one, that sound increases while the other diminishes.

There is a fair amount of previously published research by academic labs around the world that shows VR, when administered properly, can help reduce anxiety, improve mood, and reduce pain, said Jeremy Bailenson, the Stanford labs founding director. This particular study is focused on how using VR might reduce the residents feelings of isolation from the outside world  all the more important after the isolation we all faced during the pandemic.

During Tuesdays demonstration at the suburban Fort Lauderdale community, Colli, Anne Selby, 77; Mark Levey, 64; and Hugh Root, 92, moved their heads from left to right and up and down as they got individual tours of the space station.

Chris Brickler, the CEO and co-founder of MyndVR, speaks at John Knox Village, Tuesday, June 1, 2021, in Pompano Beach, Fla. The senior community is in partnership with Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab on a study to see how older adults respond to virtual reality and whether it can improve their sense of wellbeing. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

It really felt like you were traveling  and not alone either. In some of the video, there are people," said Levey, a former federal government worker.

Selby, an artist, said that she felt a bit nauseated as she moved through the space station because it was so realistic, but that she was able to cope by taking deep breaths.

Regardless of my age, I was right in the middle of it, she said.

Root, a retired insurance salesman, was blunt: It blows my mind.

Chris Brickler, CEO of MyndVR, the Dallas company that provided the equipment, said volunteers will be screened to assure they are mentally suitable for using virtual reality and each attendant has an abort button if the person becomes overwhelmed by the experience. John Knox's residents include people and couples who live alone, in assisted living and with full-time nursing.

As we age, we feel there is a disconnect sometimes that can happen when there is a lack of mobility," Brickler said. "We can't travel as much as we want, we can't connect with nature as much as we want, can't have connections with animals. All sorts of connections get lost and our four walls start shrinking in. What we have tried to do is create a platform where we can bring the world back.

Monica McAfee, John Knox's chief marketing and innovation officer, said the community's administrators believe VR helps residents  it's been used on a limited basis there for three years  but Stanford's study will provide the empirical data. For example, she said, they want to know if VR can help residents with dementia who suffer from sundowning  severe mood downswings that begin at dusk.

Is this a way to redirect them to enjoy something? she said.

Northern Ohio University associate philosophy professor Erica Neely, who studies the ethics of technology, said it's important that Stanford is getting fully informed consent, screening participants and making sure they aren't using VR alone, especially at first. She is not involved in the study.

We definitely dont want anyone to get stuck in the experience if they become distressed and cant figure out how to turn it off, she said. The fact that there is a companion/caretaker who can go with (the participant) is utter genius. ... The idea of Well, we dont necessarily have people with diminished capacities wandering around by themselves through physical space  maybe we can do the same for virtual space was a really good one.
WASHINGTON - Tiny cracks of daylight are beginning to appear in the barriers that have kept people from casually crossing the Canada-U.S. border for the last 13 months  but they mostly seem to be on the American side.

The United States border crossing is seen Friday, March 20, 2020 in Lacolle, Que. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

WASHINGTON - Tiny cracks of daylight are beginning to appear in the barriers that have kept people from casually crossing the Canada-U.S. border for the last 13 months  but they mostly seem to be on the American side.

Businesses and lawmakers in both the United States and Canada, perhaps sensing a shift in the narrative that has dominated the issue of cross-border travel for more than a year, are ramping up the pressure to ease their mutual restrictions.

Even Canadians themselves, whom polls have long suggested were wary about opening the border, are getting antsy, Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau acknowledged Wednesday.

"We are very aware that people are becoming impatient" about being able to travel stateside, Garneau said in French during a virtual conversation with the CEO of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce.

"You are impatient, like me, to restart and return to normal."

But he refused to describe in any detail what conditions would need to be in place for the border to reopen.

When asked about the border, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has often said that 75 per cent of Canadians would need to be vaccinated before widespread restrictions could be eased, although it's never been clear whether that meant more than a single dose.

On Wednesday, however, the Prime Minister's Office tweaked that message, insisting that Trudeau never meant to suggest that it would take a 75 per cent vaccination threshold to reopen the border.

As of Tuesday, 58.5 per cent of Canadians have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while only 5.8 per cent are fully vaccinated. In the U.S., the rates are 51.3 and 41.4 per cent, respectively.

Garneau said he and his cabinet colleagues are in discussion with the provinces, but that authorities remain wary of opening the floodgates to a fourth wave of COVID-19. "Predictability" is the watchword, but it's hard to predict what the situation will look like a month from now, he said.

Such is no longer the case in the United States.

"The tables have turned," said Scotty Greenwood, CEO of the Canadian American Business Council. Where Canada has often struggled to get the U.S. to acknowledge and address its concerns, the reverse is now true when it comes to the border, she said.

"You have the U.S. agitating for a return to normalcy with Canada, absolutely."

Rep. Brian Higgins, a Democrat who represents western New York on Capitol Hill, has been pressing for months for a plan to let travel resume. He was joined in that effort Wednesday by two Canadian counterparts: Liberal MPs Wayne Easter and Nathaniel Erskine-Smith.

"Reopening our countries' shared border must be a top priority for our respective governments at this point in the pandemic," the trio said in a statement.

"It is time for our governments to listen to the experts and together release an evidence-based plan to reunite families, safely resume normal border operations and quickly restore our two countries' deeply interconnected economies."

Federal officials in Ottawa say assessments of the situation are constantly ongoing, and "officials-level" meetings on the border have been continuing, but that no decisions have been made.

Higgins has been pointing to recent guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that effectively allows fully vaccinated Americans to resume their normal lives, mask-free, in virtually any public setting, indoors or out.

In Canada, stakeholders are similarly seizing on a recent report from a government advisory panel of medical experts that recommends doing away with the requirement that fully vaccinated travellers spend time in quarantine upon their arrival.

The Canadian Travel & Tourism Roundtable, a coalition of business leaders from airlines, chambers of commerce and other travel-industry agencies, said the time has come to put a plan in place to allow cross-border travel to safely resume.

"Just as it was important to quickly put in place measures to protect the health and safety of Canadians at the start of the pandemic, it is of equal importance to remove restrictions that are no longer necessary," the coalition said this week.

A bilateral group called the Future Borders Coalition also added its voice, calling for a co-ordinated approach on "digital solutions" for verifying vaccinations that are "secure, interoperable and protect the privacy of users."

Both the CDC and the advisory panel report, Higgins said, make it clear: "individuals with proof of immunity can travel safely and should not be subject to quarantine requirements."

The Canadian report, which also calls for an end to the policy of quarantining air travellers in hotels, recommends that changes to border measures be implemented in phases, and that they take into account the fact that Canada is still working to fend off a third wave of COVID-19.

The State Department last week named Ambassador Arnold Chacon to the post of charge d'affaires in Ottawa, an interim posting likely aimed at easing staff pressures in the absence of a full-time U.S. ambassador to Canada.

Chacon will have a lot on his plate, but the challenge of getting the border reopened will likely be high on the list of priorities, Greenwood said. But until Canada is good and ready, it's possible it will only be open to Americans for at least a chunk of the summer.

"Up until recently, I would have said it's inconceivable for the U.S. and Canada to act independently of each other on a decision of the border opening or closing. I now don't say it's inconceivable," she said.

"I could imagine a world in which the U.S. reopens  you know, to allow Canadians that want to to come to their summer places in Maine and Vermont and everywhere else  and it's not reciprocal for a couple of months."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2021.

 With files from Christopher Reynolds in Ottawa
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-03 04:49:58|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that his administration was "looking closely" at whether to retaliate against Russia for a recent ransomware attack.

"We're looking closely at that issue," Biden told reporters in the White House when asked if the United States would retaliate against Russia for the latest ransomware attack.

Biden replied "no" when asked if he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin was testing him with the hack ahead of their meeting later this month.

Major meat producer JBS USA said on Sunday it suffered a cyberattack and notified the administration that the ransom demand came from a criminal organization likely based in Russia.

The United States was in direct touch with Russia and conveyed concerns about the issue, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during a daily briefing on Wednesday.

"We do expect this to be one of the issues that the president will discuss with President Putin at the summit," she added, noting "harboring criminal entities that are intending to do harm, that are doing harm to the critical infrastructure in the United States is not acceptable."

The latest ransomware attack came weeks after a similar cyberattack targeting Colonial Pipeline, which forced the company to shut down approximately 5,500 miles of fuel pipeline for days.

The Biden administration concluded that the Russian government was not involved in the attack against Colonial Pipeline, while indicating criminals behind the hack were living in Russia.

Biden said last month that he would raise the cybercrime issue in talks with Putin. The two leaders will hold their first summit in Geneva, Switzerland on June 16.

Relations between Washington and Moscow have been adversarial in recent years. The two sides have obvious differences on issues related to Ukraine, cybersecurity, human rights, and U.S. election interference. Enditem
BEIJING (AP)  China is showcasing economic development in its northwestern Xinjiang region to fight allegations of human rights abuses there.

A family stands at the entrance to an underground retail street in Aksu in western China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on March 18, 2021. China is going global with its campaign to deflect criticism over its policies in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. The region's government on Wednesday, June 2, organized a transcontinental zoom call showcasing economic development and poverty elimination. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

BEIJING (AP)  China is showcasing economic development in its northwestern Xinjiang region to fight allegations of human rights abuses there.

The regions government organized an international Zoom call featuring numerous testimonials from Muslim ethnic minorities native to Xinjiang. More than 1 million people have been held in a vast system of prison-like detention centers as part of a drive for cultural and political assimilation that the U.S. and some other Western governments have described as genocide.

China says the system is intended to deradicalize those influenced by jihadist ideology and teach job skills, and has fought accusations of human rights abuses by pointing to social stability and economic development in the vast region. In past years, hundreds were killed in attacks blamed on Islamist radicals, sparking a massive security clampdown.

The government has held near-weekly news conferences in Beijing and organized visits to Xinjiang by diplomats and journalists to counter accusations of political persecution, birth control imposed on Muslim women and forced labor, among other abuses.

Uyghurs and other minorities are generally seen as benefiting less from the region's economic development than members of China's dominant Han ethnic group who have flooded into the region over recent decades.

Wednesday's Zoom call, which linked the regional capital of Urumqi with China's mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, showed how Beijing is stepping up its efforts to put its case before a global audience. Along with the testimonials and presentations by Chinese officials, foreign diplomats from allies such as Belarus and Pakistan also offered endorsements of Chinese policy.

China's representative in Geneva, Chen Xu, repeated Beijing's assertation that accusations over its Xinjiang policies were lies concocted to smear China's image, obscure Xinjiang's development and attempt to restrain China's developments."

Such attempts are doomed to failure," Chen and other officials said during the call.

The new push comes days before a peoples tribunal is to open in Britain on allegations of genocide against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim people in Xinjiang.

The tribunal is expected to draw dozens of witnesses, although it has no government backing. China has denounced it as a violation of international law and order."

The hearings are to be chaired by prominent lawyer Geoffrey Nice, who led the prosecution of ex-Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and worked with the International Criminal Court.

While the tribunals judgment is not binding on any government, organizers hope the process of publicly laying out evidence will compel international action on the alleged abuses.
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. (AP)  Crews on the water and nearby beaches are cleaning up oil leaking from the remains of an overturned cargo ship being dismantled along the coast of Georgia.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. (AP)  Crews on the water and nearby beaches are cleaning up oil leaking from the remains of an overturned cargo ship being dismantled along the coast of Georgia.

Responders began mopping up oil from the shipwreck Monday and were still finding some sheen on the water Wednesday as well as small oil globules on the sandy shores of St. Simons Island and Jekyll Island, said Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Himes, a spokesman for the multiagency command overseeing the demolition.

Were looking for these kinds of impacts every day, Himes said. "Most of the time we dont find them. But when we do, thats why weve got the equipment and personnel on hand to respond.

The Golden Ray, a South Korean automobile carrier, capsized on Sept, 8, 2019, shortly after leaving the Port of Brunswick. Demolition work to remove the shipwreck in eight giant chunks began in November. Roughly half the ship remains partially submerged off St. Simons Island.

Most of the fuel onboard the ship was siphoned from its tanks long before demolition began. Himes said engineers suspect the oil leaks first spotted Monday came from residue that had been clinging to the inside of severed pipes in the submerged part of the wreck.

Some of the oil escaped an environmental protection barrier surrounding the shipwreck. Workers in 15 boats cleaned up oil and sheen from the water using absorbent boom, Himes said.

On the shoreline, responders used shovels to scoop up oil globules and surrounding sand.

Fletcher Sams of the Altamaha Riverkeeper conservation group said the leak showed the limited ability of the floating barrier around the wreck to contain oil amid the tidal currents in the sound.

Weve got a lot of sheen outside the barrier, Sams told The Brunswick News. He said the barrier's boom "does have some effect to slow some of this down, but as evidenced today it is definitely not foolproof.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  Salvage experts failed to tow a fire-stricken container ship carrying chemicals out to sea and it started to sink Wednesday off Sri Lanka's main port, raising fears of a marine environmental disaster, officials said.

Sri Lankans salvage wreck washed off to the shore from the burning Singaporean ship MV X-Press Pearl which is anchored off Colombo port at Kapungoda, out skirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, May 26, 2021. A fire on a container ship carrying chemicals raged off Sri Lanka for a sixth day Wednesday and India sent vessels to help douse the blaze, officials said. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  Salvage experts failed to tow a fire-stricken container ship carrying chemicals out to sea and it started to sink Wednesday off Sri Lanka's main port, raising fears of a marine environmental disaster, officials said.

X-Press Feeders, operators of the container ship MV X-Press Pearl, said the experts were able to board the vessel and attach a tow line, but efforts to move the ship to deeper waters have failed.

The ship's aft portion is now touching bottom at a depth of 21 meters (70 feet), while the forward area remains afloat with smoke coming out of two cargo holds, the company said in a statement.

Navy spokesperson Indika de Silva said the ship could cause severe pollution if it sinks at its current location off the port of Colombo.

The fire erupted on May 20 when the ship was anchored about 9.5 nautical miles (18 kilometers) northwest of Colombo and waiting to enter the port.

The navy believes the blaze was caused by the chemicals being transported on the Singapore-flagged vessel. It was carrying 1,486 containers, including 25 tons of nitric acid and other chemicals that were loaded at the port of Hazira, India, on May 15.

The blaze has destroyed most of the ships cargo. Some containers tumbled into the sea, polluting surrounding waters and a long stretch of the island nations famed beaches.

There are fears that hundreds of tons of oil from the vessel's fuel tanks could also leak into the sea if it sinks, devastating nearby marine life.

Environmentalist Ajantha Perera said the incident could cause a terrible environmental disaster.

She said the ship is believed to have been carrying 81 containers of hazardous goods and about 400 containers containing oil.

All these would mix with the sea water and would destroy the marine environment and would have an adverse impact on the fishing industry, she said.

As a precautionary measure, the authorities reimposed a fishing ban along about 80 kilometers (50 miles) of the coast.

Charitha Pattiaratchi, a professor of oceanography at the University of Western Australia, said the ship was carrying 78 tons of plastic pallets called nurdles, a raw material used to make plastic bags.

Writing on his Facebook page, he said the incident had released potentially close to 3 billion nurdles into the ocean that are washing up on beaches.

He said the nurdles will persist in the marine environment forever as they are not biodegradable.

Sri Lankan police are probing the fire, and a court in Colombo on Tuesday banned the captain, the engineer and the assistant engineer from leaving the country. The government has said it will take legal action against the owners of the ship to claim compensation.

The vessels 25-member crew was evacuated last week after an explosion. They include Philippine, Chinese, Indian and Russian nationals.
BUCHAREST (AP)  The Republic of Moldova is set to receive an unprecedented 600 million-euro ($733 million) economic recovery package from the European Union over a three-year period, the EU's executive arm announced Wednesday.

BUCHAREST (AP)  The Republic of Moldova is set to receive an unprecedented 600 million-euro ($733 million) economic recovery package from the European Union over a three-year period, the EU's executive arm announced Wednesday.

The European Commission said Moldova, which is not an EU member, will receive the funds between 2021 and 2024 to help the former Soviet republic sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine recover economically from the coronavirus pandemic and to promote investment. The plan is conditional on judicial and anti-corruption reforms, the commission said

The Republic of Moldova is at a crossroads, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement. The EUs economic recovery plan is an unprecedented effort to help the country in its efforts to restore and boost the ambitious reform agenda in the interests of the people.

Moldova ranked 115th out of the 180 countries in Transparency Internationals 2020 Corruptions Perception Index, with first place being the least corrupt.

The EU money, which would come in the form of loans, grants and investments, is intended to promote economic growth and to focus on areas such as digital technology, infrastructure, and education. The EU extends financial aid known as macro financial assistance to partner countries under certain conditions.

Moldovan voters are set to cast ballots next month in an early parliamentary election that was called in April after the country's pro-Western president, Maia Sandu, dissolved parliament. The move followed months of political deadlock.

Sandu beat Moscow-friendly incumbent Igor Dodon in a November presidential election. She campaigned on a pro-democracy, anti-corruption ticket and has expressed support for Moldova having closer ties with the EU, its biggest trade partner.

A survey carried out last month by the Moldovan polling firm Date Inteligente found that more than two-thirds of respondents favored the idea of the country joining the EU.

In 2020 the EU supported Moldova, with more than 127 million euros ($155 million) in grants to help the country of 3.5 million cope with the impact of the pandemic.
OTTAWA - Air Canada is heading for a bout of political turbulence as Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland signalled her displeasure over millions in bonuses to the airline's executives as the company negotiated a federal bailout.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland participates in a virtual discussion from Ottawa on Monday, May 3, 2021, with seniors from Residence Memphremagog in Magog, Quebec. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA - Air Canada is heading for a bout of political turbulence as Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland signalled her displeasure over millions in bonuses to the airline's executives as the company negotiated a federal bailout.

The airline on Monday disclosed in its annual proxy circular to shareholders that it gave $10 million in bonuses to people the investor document called instrumental to the airline's survival over the past year as air travel plunged during the pandemic.

In a lengthy comment Wednesday, Freeland, calmly and slowly, said she was disappointed in how some businesses seem not to be behaving as responsible corporate citizens while receiving taxpayer-funded federal aid to survive the pandemic.

On the bonuses themselves, she called them inappropriate.

In April, the airline and government agreed to a $5.9 billion loan package that includes money to help refund passenger tickets, but also capped executive compensation at $1 million until 12 months after the loan is fully repaid.

The government also paid $500 million for a six per cent stake in the countrys biggest airline, which Freeland says was done to ensure taxpayers could benefit once Air Canada's revenue rose once regular travel resumed.

It also makes the government one of the key shareholders in the airline.

"That gives us a voice in decisions taken by the company, and we will not shy away from using that voice to express our very reasonable view of what constitutes responsible corporate behaviour," Freeland said.

"Canadian companies receiving money from the government have a duty to behave responsibly when it comes to regular Canadians who are now their shareholders as well as their customers."

In the House of Commons later, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the airline's executives needed to provide an explanation as he was pressed by the Bloc Quebecois to make Air Canada claw back the compensation.

Freeland made the comments during a call with reporters where she outlined the details of a new federal program to help eligible companies rehire laid-off staff, or boosting hours for existing workers, by underwriting up to half of the payroll increase.

The government sees the program as an avenue to flow aid to recovering businesses as it winds down the wage subsidy, which has provided over $80 billion in aid to date. The official launch can't happen until Parliament approves the Liberals' budget bill, but the government is promising payments to be retroactive to June 6.

The value of the wage subsidy and suite of "recovery" benefits are set to decline starting next month. Freeland said the government will be looking at a suite of indicators before changing plans, including vaccination rates and case counts, how much of the economy has reopened, employment levels and hours worked.

The Air Canada investor document noted the airline benefited from $554 million through the wage-subsidy program in 2020, which the company said helped retain workers even as it laid off 20,000 staff because of the downturn.

The document said the airline plans to continue applying for the aid.

Freeland herself was scheduled to get on a plane later Wednesday to fly to the U.K. for a gathering of G7 finance ministers, which she noted was an in-person-only event.

As part of her travel plans, Freeland said she consulted the country's chief public health officer, got tested for COVID-19 earlier this week, and plans to take precautions while at the meetings and then finally staying in a government-quarantine hotel before isolating in her home.

She said travel should be undertaken with extreme care and only where absolutely necessary.

"I undertake this trip with great reluctance because I think it is important for all of us to stay as close to home as possible," Freeland said. "But my judgment was that it was important for Canada to have a seat at this table were some important decisions that will have a real effect on the lives of Canadians."

Among the decisions expected are consensus on a global corporate tax rate that the United States has pushed. Freeland said Canada backs the concept, but wants to hammer out what the rate should be and the rules about how taxes are levied, which vary by jurisdiction.

Similarly, Freeland said she's also looking for agreement on taxing digital services. Absent consensus, Freeland said the government would move ahead unilaterally with its own digital services tax starting Jan. 1, 2022.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2021.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  A massive fire broke out Wednesday night at the oil refinery serving Iran's capital, sending thick plumes of black smoke over Tehran. It wasn't immediately clear if there were injuries.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  A massive fire broke out Wednesday night at the oil refinery serving Iran's capital, sending thick plumes of black smoke over Tehran. It wasn't immediately clear if there were injuries.

The fire struck the state-owned Tondgooyan Petrochemical Co. to the south of Tehran, said Mansour Darajati, the director-general of the capital's crisis management team.

Firefighters believe it struck a pipeline for liquefied petroleum gas at the facility, Darajati told Iranian state television. He did not elaborate.

Associated Press journalists in central Tehran, some 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) away, could see the black smoke rise in the distance. Another AP journalist saw flames shooting into the sky from the site.

Mojtaba Khaledi, the spokesman for Iran's emergency department, told the semiofficial ISNA news agency that 10 ambulances and other equipment had been deployed at the scene of the fire. Hospitals in the area are on standby as well, he said.

It wasn't immediately clear what started the blaze. Temperatures in Tehran reached nearly 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday. Hot summer weather in Iran has caused fires in the past.

The blaze came the same day a fire struck the largest warship in the Iranian navy, which later sank in the Gulf of Oman.
BERLIN (AP)  German airline Lufthansa said late Wednesday that it has received the green light from Russia to resume flights there, after being briefly denied permission, which resulted in a reciprocal blocking of flights by Germany.

FILE - In this Thursday, March 16, 2017 file photo, the logo of German Lufthansa airline is attached at a gate during the company's annual press conference in Munich, Germany. German officials say Germany has denied Russian airlines permission to use its airspace after Moscow failed to approve a Lufthansa flight to Russia. In a statement, Germanys Transport Ministry said the decision was based on the practice of reciprocal approval of flights, and affected connections operated by Aeroflot and budget carrier S7. The tit-for-tat decision on Wednesday, June 2, 2021 comes amid mounting tension between Russia and the European Union over Moscows support for Belarus. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, file)

BERLIN (AP)  German airline Lufthansa said late Wednesday that it has received the green light from Russia to resume flights there, after being briefly denied permission, which resulted in a reciprocal blocking of flights by Germany.

In a statement, Lufthansa said Russian authorities had issued approval for its flights from Frankfurt to Moscow and St. Petersburg for the month of June.

Lufthansa had been forced to cancel two flights Tuesday and Wednesday after failing to get approval from Russias aviation authority FATA.

Due to the underlying reciprocal practice, the German Federal Aviation Authority also did not issue any further permits for flights of the Russian carriers as long as the permits were pending on the Russian side, Germanys Transport Ministry said in a statement.

The move affected connections operated from Russia by Aeroflot and budget carrier S7.

It wasnt immediately clear whether the green light for Lufthansa would prompt German authorities in turn to issue approval for Russian airlines to resume flights to Germany.

But the ministry had stated that as soon as the FATA approvals for Lufthansa flights are granted by the Russian side, the flights of Russian companies will also be approved.

The tit-for-tat spat comes amid mounting tension between Russia and the European Union over Moscows support for Belarus.

The 27-nation bloc and the United States last week introduced fresh sanctions against Belarus after authorities there diverted an international flight to arrest a dissident journalist. The sanctions come on top of those already imposed on Belarusian officials, including its authoritarian leader, President Alexander Lukashenko, for rigging elections and clamping down on protests last year.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  The largest warship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, the latest calamity to strike one of the countrys vessels in recent years amid tensions with the West.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  The largest warship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, the latest calamity to strike one of the countrys vessels in recent years amid tensions with the West.

The blaze began around 2:25 a.m. and firefighters tried to contain it, the Fars news agency reported, but their efforts failed to save the 207-meter (679-foot) Kharg, which was used to resupply other ships in the fleet at sea and conduct training exercises. State media reported 400 sailors and trainee cadets on board fled the vessel, with 33 suffering injuries.

In this satellite image provided by Planet Labs Inc., the Iranian navy's Kharg support ship is seen off the coast of Jask, Iran, Tuesday, June 1, 2021. The Kharg, the largest ship in the Iranian navy, caught fire and later sank Wednesday, June 2, 2021 in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, semiofficial news agencies reported. (Planet Labs Inc. via AP)

The ship sank near the Iranian port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran on the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz  the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. Satellite photos from Planet Labs Inc. analyzed by The Associated Press showed the Kharg off Jask with no sign of a fire as late as 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Photos circulated on Iranian social media showed sailors wearing life jackets evacuating the vessel as a fire burned behind them. Fars published video of thick, black smoke rising from the ship early Wednesday morning. Satellites from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that track fires from space detected a blaze near Jask that started just before the time of the fire reported by Fars.

Iranian officials offered no cause for the fire aboard the Kharg, though they said an investigation had begun.

In this satellite image provided by Planet Labs Inc. the Iranian navy's Kharg support ship is seen off the coast of Jask, Iran, Tuesday, June 1, 2021. The Kharg, the largest ship in the Iranian navy, caught fire and later sank Wednesday, June 2, 2021 in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, semiofficial news agencies reported. (Planet Labs Inc. via AP)

Meanwhile, a massive fire broke out Wednesday night at the oil refinery serving Irans capital, sending thick plumes of black smoke over Tehran. It wasnt immediately clear if there were injuries or what caused the blaze at the Tondgooyan Petrochemical Co., though temperatures in the capital reached nearly 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and hot summer weather in Iran has caused fires in the past.

The fire Wednesday aboard the Kharg warship follows a series of mysterious explosions that began in 2019 targeting commercial ships in the Gulf of Oman. The U.S. Navy accused Iran of targeting the ships with limpet mines, timed explosives typically attached by divers to a vessels hull.

Iran denied that, though U.S. Navy footage showed Revolutionary Guard members removing one unexploded limpet mine from a ship. The attacks came amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehrans nuclear deal with world powers. Negotiations on saving the accord continue in Vienna.

This image made from a video released on Wednesday, June 2, 2021 by Asriran.com, shows smoke rising from Iran's navy support ship Kharg in the Gulf of Oman. Kharg, the largest ship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, semiofficial news agencies reported. (Asriran.com via AP)

In April, an Iranian ship called the MV Saviz believed to be a Guard base and anchored for years in the Red Sea off Yemen was targeted in an attack suspected to have been carried out by Israel. It escalated a yearslong shadow war in the Mideast between the two countries, ranging from strikes in Syria, assaults on ships and attacks on Iran's nuclear program.

The Israeli prime ministers office did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday regarding the Kharg. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the U.S. was aware of the loss of the ship, but declined to comment further.

State TV and semiofficial news agencies on Wednesday referred to the Kharg, named after the island that serves as the main oil terminal for Iran, as a training ship. The vessel often hosted cadets from the Imam Khomeini Naval University on the Caspian Sea.

This undated photo provided by the Iranian army shows navy's support ship Kharg. The Kharg, the largest warship in the Iranian navy, caught fire and later sank Wednesday, June 2, 2021 in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, semiofficial news agencies reported. (Iranian army via AP)

Like much of Iran's major military hardware, the Kharg dated back to before Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. The warship, built in Britain and launched in 1977, entered the Iranian navy in 1984 after lengthy negotiations. That aging military equipment has seen fatal accidents as recently as Tuesday, when a malfunction in the ejector seats of an Iranian F-5 dating back to before the revolution killed two pilots while the aircraft was parked in a hangar.

In recent months, the navy converted a slightly larger commercial tanker called the Makran to use it as a mobile launch platform for helicopters. The Kharg also could launch helicopters on a smaller scale.

But the newer vessel likely can't fill the role of the Kharg, which could handle both refueling and replenishing supplies of ships at sea, said Mike Connell of the Center for Naval Analysis, an Arlington, Virginia-based federally funded nonprofit that works for the U.S. government.

The Kharg also was seaworthy enough to sail through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea and into South Asia in the past and could lift heavy cargo.

For the regular Iranian navy, this vessel was very valuable because it gave them reach, Connell said. "That allowed them to conduct operations far afield. They do have other logistics vessels, but the Kharg was kind of the most capable and the largest.

The sinking of the Kharg marks the latest naval disaster for Iran. In 2020, during an Iranian military training exercise, a missile mistakenly struck a naval vessel near Jask, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15. Also in 2018, an Iranian navy destroyer sank in the Caspian Sea.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Joseph Krauss in Jerusalem and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  At the luxurious Armani hotel inside the world's tallest skyscraper in Dubai, Israelis in kippas and Emiratis in long white robes and kanduras gathered Wednesday to discuss investment opportunities. They aimed to make the most of deepening ties nine months after the two countries agreed to formalize relations.

Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade at UAE Economy Ministry, talks during the Global Investment Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, June 2, 2021. At the luxurious Armani hotel inside the world's tallest skyscraper in Dubai, Israelis in kippas and Emiratis in long white robes and kanduras gathered Wednesday to discuss investment opportunities aimed at making the most of deepening ties nine months after the two countries agreed to formalize relations.(AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  At the luxurious Armani hotel inside the world's tallest skyscraper in Dubai, Israelis in kippas and Emiratis in long white robes and kanduras gathered Wednesday to discuss investment opportunities. They aimed to make the most of deepening ties nine months after the two countries agreed to formalize relations.

There was extremely little mention of the Palestinians or the fact that barely two weeks ago, Israel was a country still at war.

Rather, the conversations were laser-focused on business. Several Israeli and Emirati speakers opened their remarks with both the Hebrew greeting of Shalom and the Arabic greeting of Salam. They spoke about boosting tourism, creating jobs, technology sharing, diversifying economies and tackling issues of water scarcity.

Since the UAE and Israel formalized ties in September, tens of thousands of Israeli tourists have come to the UAE  mostly to Dubai or in targeted visits to the capital of Abu Dhabi.

Trade between the two countries has already exceeded $354 million. The two countries have signed around 25 agreements in more than 15 sectors, said Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zayoudi, the highest-level Emirati official at the event.

There has been no indication the 11-day war in Gaza, which ended with an inconclusive cease-fire May 21, has slowed down budding Emirati-Israeli ties.

The war killed 254 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including 67 children and 22 people from the same family, aged 6-months-old to 89-years-old. Hamas, which rules Gaza, says 80 of its fighters were killed. Thirteen died in Israel, including two children and one soldier, because of the conflict.

The investment forum was worlds away from the war's devastation. In the lavish and tightly secured Armani ballroom at the Burj Khalifa tower, there was no visible worry or concern on the faces of eager and excited Israeli delegates and speakers, many of whom expressed their astonishment at how rapidly ties have flourished with the United Arab Emirates.

It's happening and it didn't happen before. If you would have spoken to me a year ago, I wouldn't have guessed that (we) will speak here today in Dubai about all of these things that are happening, said Israeli Ambassador Eitan Naeh, who is based in Abu Dhabi.

Na'eh spoke to The Associated Press on the sidelines of the summit, which was billed as the first face-to-face investment conference in the UAE between Israelis and Emiratis since the U.S.-brokered diplomatic pact was signed in September.

The director general of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, Tariq Bin Hendi, told the audience his country has helped Israeli companies set up in the UAE. The office is responsible for attracting foreign investment into Abu Dhabi and diversifying the private sector.

We want the people of Israel, the people of the world to come and join us, help us on that journey, work with us, learn from us, allow us to learn from you, and ultimately build a strong relationship," he said.

There were no high-level speakers from Israel at the event, though that may be a result of Israel's political uncertainty. The list of speakers had also changed quite significantly to exclude several of the original speakers listed on the agenda before the recent conflict.

Last month, the United Arab Emirates issued a rare public rebuke of Israel for heavy-handed police measures in Jerusalem and violent scenes captured by Palestinians of Israeli security forces storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a site sacred to both Muslims and Jews.

The violence, which erupted in the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, angered citizens across Gulf Arab states, some of whom expressed support for Palestinians and opposition to Israel on social media or in limited street protests.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP)  Kentucky's attorney general on Wednesday sued CVS Health, accusing its pharmacy chain of flooding the state with prescription opioids that contributed to the state's addiction woes.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP)  Kentucky's attorney general on Wednesday sued CVS Health, accusing its pharmacy chain of flooding the state with prescription opioids that contributed to the state's addiction woes.

Attorney General Daniel Cameron filed the lawsuit in Franklin County Circuit Court in Kentucky's capital city. Cameron says the health care company played a role in fueling the crisis by inundating the state with millions of doses of powerful prescription painkillers. The state is seeking civil penalties and punitive damages in the suit.

As both distributor and pharmacy, CVS was in a unique position to monitor and stop the peddling of these highly-addictive drugs from their stores, yet they ignored their own safeguard systems, Cameron said in a news release.

It's the state's latest legal action against companies it blames for supplying a massive pipeline of prescription pills into Kentucky. In 2015, drug overdoses accounted for about 60% of Kentuckys statewide accidental deaths, Cameron said. The Republican attorney general is pressing lawsuits against several opioid manufacturers and distributors. Many of those suits were filed by Cameron's predecessor, Democrat Andy Beshear, who is now Kentucky's governor.

CVS Health, which operates one of the nation's largest drugstore chains, said it's prepared to defend itself against the state's allegations.

Opioids are made and marketed by drug manufacturers, not pharmacies, the company said. Pharmacists dispense opioid prescriptions written by licensed physicians for a legitimate medical need. Pharmacists do not  and cannot  write prescriptions. Nor do they  or can they  examine patients, conduct tests, diagnose medical conditions or determine medical treatment. That is the role of physicians, who have the responsibility to write appropriate prescriptions.

The new Kentucky lawsuit says CVS Health used unlawful business practices and failed to guard against the diversion of the powerful opioids.

To highlight the massive supply, Cameron said one CVS store in Perry County purchased more than 6.8 million dosage units of oxycodone and hydrocodone from 2006 to 2014  enough opioids for each resident of the Appalachian county to have more than 26 pills every year during the same period. In western Kentucky, a CVS store in Crittenden County bought more than 2.8 million dosage units of the drugs, enough to supply everyone in the county with at least 34 pills every year, he said.

Since CVS had a dual role in the opioid supply chain as a distributor and pharmacy, the lawsuit says the companys compliance with the law was vital to safeguard consumers and control the rate of addiction, abuse and diversion of opioids.

Despite supplying staggering quantities of opioids in Kentucky, CVS reported zero suspicious orders for its Kentucky stores from 2007 to 2014, Cameron said. Even during the height of the opioid epidemic, CVS helped promote opioid products, he said.

CVS said Wednesday that it has been involved in the fight against prescription opioid abuse. The company developed educational programs for patients and providers, created thousands of safe medication disposal sites and expanded access to life-saving overdose reversal drugs, it said.

Drug overdose deaths spiked nationally and in Kentucky during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Kentucky, overdose deaths rose by 50% from September 2019 to September 2020, compared with the previous 12 months, according to preliminary figures released in April by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Courier Journal reported. Addiction experts say the pandemic left people stressed and isolated, disrupted treatment and recovery programs, and contributed to an increasingly dangerous illicit drug supply.
Chinese and Hungarian Foreign Ministers Agree on "Four Goals" in Guiyang Talks

2021/06/01

On May 31, 2021, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks and jointly met the press with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto.

Wang Yi said, faced with the raging pandemic and the changes in the international landscape, China-Hungary relations demonstrate a more strategic and leading feature. With the pressing task of defeating the pandemic and accelerating economic prosperity, and the important responsibility of promoting international dialogue and cooperation, we should further strengthen communication and coordination, and play a due role in maintaining the right direction of China-Europe relations and boosting world peace and development.

The two foreign ministers agreed on the four goals of delivering high-level development of China-Hungary comprehensive strategic partnership:

First, both sides should deepen high-level strategic mutual trust, resolutely support each other in upholding national sovereignty, security and development interests, understand and respect each other's reasonable and major concerns, and enhance mutual trust amid the changes in international relations.

Second, both sides should pursue high-level common development, synergize China's new development paradigm with the "Opening to the East" policy of Hungary, focus on high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, implement major cooperation projects, tap emerging cooperation fields, and reinforce foundation and improve quality and efficiency of China-CEEC cooperation.

Third, both sides should consolidate the public support at the high level, overcome the impact of the COVID-19 and increase exchanges of people in various fields and sectors such as education, culture, tourism, sports, youth, and media, further support institutional arrangements for the facilitation of personnel exchanges, and strengthen cooperation of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

Fourth, both sides should maintain high-level international coordination, practice true multilateralism, defend the UN-centered international system, uphold international law and the basic norms governing international relations, and promote fairness and justice in the world. In terms of the China-Europe relations, China-Hungary cooperation has never and will not aim to divide Europe, but to enhance mutual understanding and tolerance between China and Europe, stop saying or doing anything to undermine China-Europe cooperation, and foil any attempt to divide the world.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  The worlds largest meat processing company is getting back online after production around the world was disrupted by a cyberattack just weeks after a similar incident shut down a U.S. oil pipeline.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  The worlds largest meat processing company is getting back online after production around the world was disrupted by a cyberattack just weeks after a similar incident shut down a U.S. oil pipeline.

Brazils JBS SA said late Tuesday that it had made significant progress in dealing with the cyberattack and expected the vast majority of its plants to be operating on Wednesday.

Our systems are coming back online and we are not sparing any resources to fight this threat, Andre Nogueira, CEO of JBS USA, said in a statement.

Earlier, the White House said JBS had notified the U.S. of a ransom demand from a criminal organization likely based in Russia. White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House and the Department of Agriculture have been in touch with the company several times this week.

JBS is the second-largest producer of beef, pork and chicken in the U.S. If it were to shut down for even one day, the U.S. would lose almost a quarter of its beef-processing capacity, or the equivalent of 20,000 beef cows, according to Trey Malone, an assistant professor of agriculture at Michigan State University.

The closures reflect the reality that modern meat processing plants are heavily automated, for both food- and worker-safety reasons. Computers collect data at multiple stages of the production process, and orders, billing, shipping and other functions are all electronic.

JBS, which has not stated publicly that the attack was ransomware, said the cyberattack affected servers supporting its operations in North America and Australia. Backup servers werent affected and it said it was not aware of any customer, supplier or employee data being compromised.

JBS plants in Australia resumed limited operations as of Wednesday in New South Wales and Victoria states, Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said. The company hoped to resume work in Queensland state on Thursday, he said.

JBS is the largest meat and food processing company in Australia, with 47 facilities including abattoirs, feedlots and meat processing sites.

Littleproud said his department and Australian law enforcement officials were due to meet with their counterparts in the U.S. on Wednesday.

Even before the attack, U.S. meat prices were rising due to coronavirus shutdowns, bad weather and high plant absenteeism. Malone said the disruption could further raise meat prices ahead of summer barbecues. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates beef prices will climb 1%-2% this year, poultry as much as 1.5% and pork 2%-3%.

JBS, which is a majority shareholder of Pilgrims Pride, didnt say which of its 84 U.S. facilities were closed Monday and Tuesday because of the attack. It said JBS USA and Pilgrims were able to ship meat from nearly all of its facilities Tuesday. The company also said it was making progress toward resuming plant operations in the U.S. and Australia. Several of the companys pork, poultry and prepared foods plants were operational Tuesday and its Canada beef facility resumed production, it said.

Earlier Tuesday, a union official confirmed that two shifts at the companys largest U.S. beef plant, in Greeley, Colorado, were canceled. Some plant shifts in Canada were also canceled Monday and Tuesday, according to JBS Facebook posts.

Jean-Pierre said the White House is engaging directly with the Russian government on this matter and delivering the message that responsible states do not harbor ransomware criminals. The FBI is investigating the incident, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is offering technical support to JBS.

In addition, USDA has spoken to several major meat processors in the U.S. to alert them to the situation, and the White House is assessing any potential impact on the nations meat supply.

JBS has more than 150,000 employees worldwide.

Its not the first time a ransomware attack has targeted a food company. Last November, Milan-based Campari Group said it was the victim of a ransomware attack that caused a temporary technology outage and compromised some business and personal data.

In March, Molson Coors announced a cyber attack that affected its production and shipping. Molson Coors said it was able to get some of its breweries running after 24 hours; others took several days.

Ransomware expert Brett Callow, a threat analyst at the security firm Emsisoft, said companies like JBS make ideal targets.

They play a critical role in the food supply chain and threat actors likely believe this increases their chances of getting a speedy payout, Callow said.

Mark Jordan, who follows the meat industry as the executive director of Leap Market Analytics, said the disruption would be minimal if JBS recovers in the next few days. Meat processers are accustomed to delays because of various factors including industrial accidents and power outages. They make up for lost production with extra shifts, he said.

Several plants owned by a major meatpacker going offline for a couple of days is a major headache, but it is manageable assuming it doesnt extend much beyond that, he said.

U.S. meat demand generally eases for a few weeks between Memorial Day and the July 4 Independence Day holiday.

But such attacks can wreak havoc. Last month, a gang of hackers shut down operation of the Colonial Pipeline, the largest U.S. fuel pipeline, for nearly a week. The closure sparked long lines and panic buying at gas stations across the Southeast. Colonial Pipeline confirmed it paid $4.4 million to the hackers.

Jason Crabtree, the co-founder of QOMPLX, a Virginia-based artificial intelligence and machine learning company, said Marriott, FedEx and others have also been targeted by ransomware attacks. He said companies need to do a better job of rapidly detecting bad actors in their systems.

A lot of organizations arent able to find and fix different vulnerabilities faster than the adversaries that theyre fighting, Crabtree said.

Crabtree said the government also plays a critical role, and said President Joe Bidens recent executive order on cybersecurity  which requires all federal agencies to use basic security measures, like multi-factor authentication  is a good start.

Durbin reported from Detroit. AP Writer Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia, and Alexandra Jaffe in Washington contributed.
Jordan Janz knew his gamble on an experimental gene therapy for his rare disease might be paying off when he returned to work and a friend sniffed him.

This September 2019 photo provided by UC San Diego shows Stephanie Cherqui and patient Jordan Janz in her research lab in La Jolla, Calif. Jordan Janz knew his gamble on an experimental gene therapy for his rare disease might be paying off when he returned to work and a friend sniffed him. He said, you have a normal smell, you smell good, Janz recalled. And Im like, thats probably the nicest thing youve ever said. The 22-year-old Canadian man's previous treatment required 40 to 60 pills a day and left him smelling like rotten eggs or stinky cheese (UC San Diego via AP)

Jordan Janz knew his gamble on an experimental gene therapy for his rare disease might be paying off when he returned to work and a friend sniffed him.

He said, you have a normal smell, you smell good, Janz recalled. And Im like, thats probably the nicest thing youve ever said.

The 22-year-old Canadian man's previous treatment required 40 to 60 pills a day and left him smelling like rotten eggs or stinky cheese. He was born with a flawed gene that left him unable to make a protein needed by virtually every organ in the body. Kids with this disease can throw up a dozen times a day, need eye drops every hour to prevent blindness and often kidney transplants before theyre adults.

Now, Janz and a growing number of others with rare diseases have hope of not just better treatments, but perhaps a cure. Gene therapy increasingly is being used to attack the root cause of their problems by supplying the DNA they lack.

Janz was the first person in one such study at the University of California, San Diego. He and two other participants no longer need the eye drops and pills that only delayed progression of their disease and left them smelling bad. The company that developed their therapy is testing it for several other diseases by simply adjusting what gene is supplied.

Other companies are doing the same, and U.S. health officials are working on guidance to encourage the trend.

I am very excited for the field because I feel like were beginning to get to a critical mass, where a single method or product can be deemed safe and then adapted for many uses, said Dr. Peter Marks, head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration center that oversees gene therapies. Youre essentially using the same rocket ship to put stuff into space dozens of times.

NOT SO RARE DISEASES

In the United States, a disease is considered rare if it affects fewer than 200,000 people, said Ron Bartek, a board member of the National Organization for Rare Disorders and whose son, Keith, died of one -- Friedreich ataxia, a progressive neurological condition.

There are more than 7,000 rare diseases and collectively, theyre not so rare -- about 30 million Americans have one.

Seven gene therapies are approved in the United States and a few more are sold in Europe or elsewhere. In 2017, when the first ones were OKd in the U.S., 854 companies were developing them. That grew to 1,085 by the end of last year, according to the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, an advocacy group for the field. More than 400 gene therapy trials are underway now.

Its really been an exciting couple of years, Bartek said. Were finally looking at the possibility of profoundly beneficial therapies for many diseases.

There's interest from not only small biotech firms but also universities and big companies such as Pfizer and Novartis, he said.

DOCTORING DNA

Gene therapies often aim to supply a gene people lack. The trick is getting the new one where it needs to be without triggering other problems.

Some therapies, such as ones for inherited forms of blindness, inject the treatment into the eye. A common method for others is to remove some of a patients blood cells, alter them in the lab to carry the desired gene, and return them through an IV.

What has scientists excited is better vectors -- disabled viruses that ferry the gene into cells -- that seem safer and more effective.

One, surprisingly, may be HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Doctors recently reported that a gene therapy using modified HIV from London-based Orchard Therapeutics gave a working immune system to 48 babies and toddlers who were born without one. Avrobio, a Massachusetts company, also is using HIV in gene therapies it is testing for cystinosis, Janzs disease, and several others.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. in California is taking a similar approach with a different virus called AAV for hemophilia, a blood clotting disorder, and several other diseases.

The only thing thats changing is the payload, the gene, said Avrobios chief scientific officer, Dr. Chris Mason.

THE SNIFF TEST

Janz lives in Consort, a Canadian village of 700 in Alberta. His mother called the first day of enrollment for Avrobios study under Stephanie Cherqui, a pediatrics expert at UCSD.

People with cystinosis are unable to clear cystine, a chemical that builds up in their cells and forms crystals that damage kidneys, eyes and other organs, and leads to muscle weakness, trouble swallowing and even breathing. The vomiting is so bad that many kids need a feeding tube placed in their stomach, and wind up being home-schooled because theyre teased by classmates and their medical needs are so complex, Cherqui said.

When you meet these families, these children are suffering every day from the disease,," she said. "I cant even imagine. Its terrible.

Gene therapy offers hope of a one-time fix. The therapy doesnt have to get into all cells to work, just enough of them to make sufficient amounts of the protein that removes cystine so it doesnt build up.

Janz was treated in 2019 and said he feels essentially cured, though it will take longer to know if he really is, and he may need a kidney transplant someday because of damage done by his disease. Tests show that crystals in his eyes, skin and muscle have greatly decreased. Instead of 54 pills a day, he just takes vitamins and specific nutrients his body needs.

I have more of a life now, Janz said. Im going to school. Im hoping to open up my own business one day -- a deli featuring charcuterie, prepared meats such as hams and sausages. It's an interest he developed during years of frequent trips to Chicago as a young boy to try other treatments. He stayed so often at the Omni Hotel that the chef let him cook in the hotels fancy restaurant when he was 13. The staff even bought Janz a knife kit and his own chefs hat, apron and shoes.

CHALLENGES REMAIN

Gene therapy doesnt work for everyone, its unknown how long any benefits will last, and safety remains a concern. In the past, a couple gene therapies that used different vectors triggered cancer in a few patients who received them.

Every time we think we have overcome the safety issues, we continue to butt up against them, the FDAs Marks said. I have confidence that we will work through them ... but we cant get too sure of ourselves.

Marks and many other scientists think gene editing eventually may offer a long-lasting way to do gene therapy. Instead of just supplying a missing gene to cells, editing permanently alters a patients native DNA to insert a gene or knock out one thats causing trouble.

Brian Madeux, a Phoenix-area man who is now 48, became the first person in the world to have gene editing tried inside his body in 2017 for a metabolic disorder called Hunter syndrome. Through an IV, he received billions of copies of a corrective gene and a genetic tool to put it in a precise spot.

But the therapy wasnt potent enough to allow him or eight other patients to stop weekly IV treatments to supply the enzyme their bodies are unable to make.

Even though it didn't give the hoped-for result, I think the doctors have learned a lot from me," Madeux said recently. "I felt that I could help other people by furthering science.

I took a shot, a chance that something could cure my disease, he said. Im very happy that I did it.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  An Arkansas veterans hospital's poor oversight caused it to miss the errors made by a pathologist who was fired for being impaired on duty and pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, according to an inspector general's report released Wednesday.

FILE - In this Aug. 17, 2019, file photo provided by the Washington County, Arkansas Sheriff's Department, Robert Levy is pictured in a booking photo. An Arkansas veterans hospital contributed to the errors made by Levy, a pathologist who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter while working impaired due to its poor oversight, according to an inspector general's report released Wednesday, June 2, 2021. (Washington County Sheriff's Department via AP, File)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  An Arkansas veterans hospital's poor oversight caused it to miss the errors made by a pathologist who was fired for being impaired on duty and pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, according to an inspector general's report released Wednesday.

The report by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general criticized the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks, where Robert Morris Levy worked, for not having a culture of accountability" that would have encouraged others to report his mistakes without fear of reprisals.

Under an agreement with federal prosecutors, Levy pleaded guilty last year to one count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a patient he misdiagnosed. The IG's report said lapses in the Fayetteville facility's quality management processes contributed to thousands of Levy's errors.

Any one of these breakdowns could cause harmful results," the report said. Occurring together and over an extended period of time, the consequences were devastating, tragic, and deadly."

Levy pleaded guilty to misdiagnosing a patient with small cell carcinoma who died after being treated for a type of cancer he didnt have. Levy falsified the patients medical record to state that a second pathologist agreed with his diagnosis, according to the agreement.

Levy also pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud for receiving 2-methyl-2-butanol, a chemical that he used to intoxicate himself but that standard drug and alcohol screenings dont test for.

Levy was originally indicted on three counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of patients prosecutors said he misdiagnosed. He was also indicted on multiple charges of fraud and making false statements for his alleged attempts to conceal his substance abuse and incorrect diagnoses.

Levy was fired from the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville in April 2018.

The hospital said it is addressing many of the inspector general's recommendations, including exploring the possibility of a mandatory alcohol testing policy and creating a quality analyst position dedicated to pathology and laboratory medicine service.

The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks (VHSO) and the Department of Veterans Affairs is truly saddened at the pain victims and families endured at the hands of this pathologist," the hospital said in a statement. The Department assures Veterans that we are fully committed to improving our processes and systems moving forward to prevent a situation like this from happening again."

VA officials said in 2019 that outside pathologists reviewed nearly 34,000 cases handled by Levy and found more than 3,000 errors or missed diagnoses dating back to 2005. The inspector general's report said 589 of those were major diagnostic discrepancies."

The hospital's chief of staff received a complaint in 2014 that Levy smelled of alcohol but didn't take any action after he didn't smell any on the pathologist's breath, according to the report.

In September 2015, the report said, staff said Levy had an odor of alcohol, red eyes, and hand tremors when reviewing biopsy slides. Fact-finders reviewing the incident the following month said the pathologist smelled of mouthwash, had red glassy eyes, and exhibited hand tremors," the report said.

U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, whose district includes Fayetteville, said the report showed multiple failures that allowed Levys misconduct.

The report details an abject failure of leadership that led to the misdiagnosis and subsequent harm to hundreds of veterans who rely on the VA health system for care, Womack said in a statement. It is unacceptable to limit accountability to the criminal conduct of Dr. Levy.

The inspector general's recommendations also called for the hospital to review its psychological safety climate" to ensure patients, staff and the public feel they can report unsafe care without fear of reprisals.
Manitoba Building Trades has been ousted from the Manitoba Construction Sector Council, over what its executive director believes was a disagreement over a nuanced government initiative regarding micro-credentials.

Manitoba Building Trades has been ousted from the Manitoba Construction Sector Council, over what its executive director believes was a disagreement over a nuanced government initiative regarding micro-credentials.

Although there are differing views as to the rationale of the MCSC boards vote to expel MBT, the result is about 10,000 workers no longer have a voice at the board room table of a publicly funded sector council.

Sudhir Sandhu, the chief executive officer of MBT, said it was a shock that the board took the action it did.

"It is evident to us that this was a very carefully manufactured crisis to remove a particular organization," he said. "We think the micro-credential issue was used as an excuse."

MBT represents 13 member unions and engages in project partnerships on training and productive labour practices.

Sandhu believes the germ of the expulsion was planted after he made a public comment on a television news item, expressing some reticence about the appropriateness of micro-credential programs and the damage it might cause to apprenticeship programs.

That was in February.

That news was followed by a letter from MCSCs executive director, Carol Paul (along with chairwoman, Colleen Munro) in early March to three provincial cabinet ministers disavowing Sandhus take on micro-credentials.

Among other things, the letter stated, "The comments made, and specifically those relating to micro-credentials, in no way reflect the position of MCSC or its board of directors. We sincerely apologize for any confusion this misinformation may have caused."

In an email exchange asking why MBT was voted out of the sector council, Paul made no reference to the micro-credential issue.

She said, "The decision to make a governance and relational change between the council and MBT was based on many factors, not any one particular instance."

She also said, "As they (MBT) have continued to grow in their capacity as a for-profit organization, it became increasingly apparent that the best path forward was to allow our very different mandates to unfold separately, especially given that we are a not-for-profit."

Sandhu took exception to that characterization, saying the MBT is not-for-profit and holds a very minor stake in a training organization called the Manitoba Building Trades Institute which, along with industry partners like PCL and Bird Construction, undertakes all sorts of training.

The promotion of micro-credentials is a popular buzzword often used these days in the context of short term post-pandemic skills training.

In a recent report from the province called "Manitobas Skills, Talent and Knowledge Strategy" it states that one of the things that can happen in the short term is to "explore opportunities for micro-credentials and layering of credentials that could work in a Manitoba context and across jurisdictions, assisting with economic recovery and helping individuals displaced in the pandemic to quickly top-up their skills and connect to the labour market."

Among other things Sandhu cautions against a reliance on micro-credentials in the trades fields because of the potential lack of long term options for workers skilled in only one specific task.

"In Toronto there may be enough home building for door hangers or framers, but we cant afford that in Manitoba," Sandhu said. "We need to create carpenters who have a full scope of practice."

He said there is no evidence of workers taking trades-related micro-credential courses going on to enrol in apprenticeship programs in Manitoba.

Its not clear where this dispute is headed. Sandhu said he hopes cooler heads will prevail.

A spokeswoman for Ralph Eichler, Manitobas Minister of Economic Development and Training, whose department funds the sector councils, said, "Governments role is not to interfere with, or be in support of or against decisions the council makes, and this decision was made independently of government."

While Paul said, "workers will continue to have a strong voice at MCSC through our many members organizations, partners and stakeholders" it will have the distinction of being the only construction sector council in the country without labour representation.

Marc Lafond, business manager for the Operating Engineers of Manitoba Local 987 and board chairman of MBT said it is the only construction association that represents labour exclusively.

"Manitoba no longer has a true construction sector council if Manitoba Building Trades is not represented," he said.

The MCSC was founded more than 10 years ago and its founding and only members have been the MBT, Winnipeg Construction Association, Manitoba Home Builders Association and Manitoba Heavy Construction Association.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
BEIRUT (AP)  A U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri said Wednesday that it is facing a severe funding crisis and will not be able to operate beyond July without immediate assistance.

FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2005 file photo, rescue workers and soldiers stand around a massive crater after a bomb attack that tore through the motorcade of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut, Lebanon. A U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri said Wednesday, June 2, 2021 it is facing a severe funding crisis and will not be able to operate beyond July without immediate assistance. (AP Photo, File)

BEIRUT (AP)  A U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri said Wednesday that it is facing a severe funding crisis and will not be able to operate beyond July without immediate assistance.

The announcement by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon came as the country is in the grips of an unprecedented economic crisis  a culmination of decades of widespread corruption and mismanagement.

Although the tribunal's verdict issued last August, 15 years after Hariri's killing, was disappointing for many Lebanese, ending its work would raise concerns in the tiny country where political killings have gone without punishment for decades.

Separately, some Lebanese are demanding an international investigation into the Aug. 4 blast at Beiruts port that killed 211 people, injured more than 6,000 and damaged nearby neighborhoods.

The Netherlands-based said it has formally notified U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of its financial situation, which will result in the Tribunals inability to complete its work if no contributions are forthcoming prior to the end of July.

Guterres is deeply concerned over the tribunals financial difficulties and has appealed to U.N. member states, the international community and the General Assembly for funds, his spokesman said Wednesday.

The U.N. chief stresses that continued financial support by the international community is vitally critical to ensuring justice for the victims in Lebanon, said the spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.

According to the U.N., the tribunal received $15.5 million in March from Guterres' efforts, which helped pay about 75% percent of the Lebanese governments 49% share for expenses. But the tribunal says it lacks money from donors who are to pay the other 51% of the budget.

The tribunal also said that given the challenging circumstances generated by the global COVID-19 pandemic and Lebanon's economic crisis, it had already reduced its budget by approximatively 37% for 2021, compared with the previous years.

Lebanons economic crisis began in late 2019 and has intensified in recent months. The World Bank said Tuesday the crisis is likely to rank as one of the worst the world has seen in more than 150 years, adding that the economy contracted 20.3% in 2020 and is expected to shrink 9.5% this year.

In March 2020, Lebanon defaulted on paying back its debt for the first time in its history as the local currency lost more than 85% of its value. Tens of thousands have lost their jobs while many others left the country seeking opportunities abroad. Nearly half the countrys 5 million people live in poverty.

Despite taking significant cuts of staff and across the board reductions, without additional funding, the Tribunal will be forced to close its doors in the coming months, said the tribunal's Registrar David Tolbert. He added that this will leave important cases unfinished to the detriment of victims, the fight against impunity and the rule of law.

The 2005 Valentines Day truck bombing on Beiruts seafront that killed Hariri and 21 others sparked huge protests against Syria, which was widely seen as culpable. Damascus denied involvement but was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after 29 years there.

The U.N. investigation into Hariris assassination was broadened to include 14 other Lebanese killings.

In December, the Netherlands-based tribunal sentenced Salim Ayyash, a member of the Hezbollah militant group, in absentia to life imprisonment for his involvement in Hariris assassination. Ayyash has never been arrested. Three other Hezbollah members tried with him were acquitted.

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP)  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is trying to entice Central American nations to tackle the corruption and poverty that have helped drive a surge of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border and presented an early challenge for the Biden administration.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Costa Rica's President Carlos Alvarado Quesada talk before a news conference Tuesday, June 1, 2021, in San Jose, Costa Rica. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP)  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is trying to entice Central American nations to tackle the corruption and poverty that have helped drive a surge of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border and presented an early challenge for the Biden administration.

In his first visit to Central America since taking office, Americas top diplomat has met with foreign ministers and leaders from the region and Mexico. On the two-day trip ending Wednesday, Blinken avoided publicly criticizing any particular government, focusing instead on Biden administration plans to distribute COVID-19 vaccines and other assistance, such as a proposed $4 billion aid package.

We think thats the best way to ensure greater stability and improve the lives of people across the region, which ultimately is in the United States interest as well, Blinken said in a joint news conference with President Carlos Alvarado of Costa Rica.

The approach is a departure from the Trump administration, which reacted to an increase in migrants by expelling asylum-seekers to Mexico or Central America and stepping up efforts to build a wall along the American Southwest border, among other measures.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits the Civic Center for Peace, Wednesday, June 2, 2021, in Desamparados, Costa Rica. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)

After a decline at the start of the pandemic, the number of apprehensions at that border began rising under Trump and swelled in the early months of the Biden administration. The Border Patrol had more than 170,000 encounters, including 50,000 people traveling with families, its highest total since March 2001.

It was a major theme of the private talks Blinken had late Tuesday with the foreign ministers.

The U.S. hopes Mexican and Central American officials can do more to impede the trafficking of migrants, especially children. The Biden administration has been expelling single adults who cross the border and most families but it allows unaccompanied minors to enter the United States and pursue asylum or other legal claims for residency. U.S. authorities encountered more than 17,000 children traveling alone along the border in April, compared with a record 18,960 a month earlier.

There are limits, however, to what Mexico and Central America can do amid the economic devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders made it clear they hope for some of the 81 million vaccines that President Joe Biden has said he will distribute around the world. Details of the distribution plan are expected this month.

Alvarado, whose nation has attracted admiration for its stability, relative affluence and environmental protection, made it clear that Costa Rica would accept only vaccines that have no political strings attached.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens during a visit to see Rutas Naturbanas and of the launch of National Land Use, Land Cover, and Ecosystems Monitoring System (SIMOCUTE), Wednesday, June 2, 2021, in San Jose, Costa Rica. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)

Were talking about saving lives, but that doesnt mean in receiving a donation we will compromise our dignity as a nation, he said at the news conference.

The relative success of Costa Rica was another theme of the two-day visit. Blinken noted the close ties between the countries, pointing out that 40% of the countrys export go to the U.S. and that 70% of the foreign direct investment comes from the U.S. Costa Rica is also a major tourist destination and, before the pandemic, hosted more American students than any other country in the hemisphere.

On Wednesday, Blinken met in private with his Mexican counterpart, Marcelo Ebrard, and visited a nongovernmental organization that provides children and families with recreational and educational activities and helps steer teens away from criminal activity. Its the kind of organization that would get a piece of the $4 billion in the proposed aid package that the Biden administration does not want to give directly to government entities in the region.

Blinken suggested such organizations can play a role in persuading people not to migrate. People should not make the dangerous journey to our border, but we know it is not enough to say, Dont come, he said. We have to work together to make it safer for people across Central America to stay in their homes and communities without fear.

Highlighting the relationship with Costa Rica and the countrys progress enabled Blinken to contrast it with others in the region such as Honduras, whose president has been linked by American prosecutors to drug trafficking, and Nicaragua, where the authoritarian government of President Daniel Ortega is under U.S. sanctions.

Blinken avoided any direct remarks about El Salvadors president, Nayib Bukele, a popularly elected leader who has an increasingly tense relationship with the U.S. because of his moves to consolidate power and weaken El Salvadors other democratic institutions.

Still, it was clearly on Blinkens agenda when he said, We meet at a moment when democracy and human rights are being undermined in many parts of the region. He noted the erosion of judicial independence and crackdown on independent media, in an apparent reference to Bukele, and the quashing of anticorruption efforts, which likely refers to Honduras and elsewhere.

We understand how fragile democracy is. Weve experienced setbacks in our own country in recent years, he said. But that experience has underscored for us just how important it is to shore up the institutions and the norms that safeguard our democracy.

The issue of corruption is certain to loom over Vice President Kamala Harris trip to Guatemala and Mexico next week, where she plans to meet with the presidents of both nations to discuss joint efforts to address the root causes of migration. Harris chief spokesperson emphasized that the vice presidents efforts to secure economic investments and humanitarian aid when outlining her plans for the trip.

The goal is to deepen our strategic partnership and bilateral relationship with both countries and advance a comprehensive strategy to tackle the causes of migration, spokesperson Symone Sanders said. We will also engage community leaders, workers, young innovators and entrepreneurs and others about ways to provide economic security, address the core factors of migration, and to give people the hope for a better life at home.

-

Associated Press writer Alexander Jaffe in Washington contributed to this report.
ATHENS, Greece (AP)  German carmaker Volkswagen launched a five-year project Wednesday on the small Greek Aegean island of Astypalea to test the adoption of electric vehicles in areas switching to sustainable energy generation.

A Volkswagen ID.4 electric car of the Civil Aviation is parked on the Aegean Sea island of Astypalea, Greece during the official launch of a project to introduce and test electric vehicles and sustainable energy systems on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. The government has partnered with the German carmaker on the island project aimed a switching to electric vehicle use over the next five years. (Alexandros Vlachos/Pool via AP)

ATHENS, Greece (AP)  German carmaker Volkswagen launched a five-year project Wednesday on the small Greek Aegean island of Astypalea to test the adoption of electric vehicles in areas switching to sustainable energy generation.

The 20-million-euro ($24.4 million) initiative will receive financial support from the Greek government. It will offer residents purchasing incentives to swap conventional vehicles for electric cars and scooters, and test ride-share applications and public transport models driven by customer demand instead of using fixed schedules and routes.

This is very valuable knowledge because what we are going to see on this island in the next five, six, or seven years will probably last in the rest of Europe for 20 years or three decades, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess said during a presentation on the island.

Volkswagen has stepped up its plans to produce electric vehicles in recent years, in the wake of a major emissions scandal first discovered in the United States. The company eventually admitted installing deceptive software in millions of its diesel vehicles to make emissions appear less harmful when placed on a test machine.

Greece is keen to develop power generation from renewable energy sources on its islands to replace expensive locally produced electricity, mostly using diesel.

The government plans to use wind and solar power for the Astypalea project. Officials said researchers from the Universities of the Aegean in Greece and Strathclyde in Scotland were also participating in the program.
OTTAWA - The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has exposed a fault line in the Green party, threatening political unity as lawmakers break from their leader and rank-and-file members clash with a party spokesman.

Green Party leader Annamie Paul is seen during a news conference in Ottawa on December 7, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA - The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has exposed a fault line in the Green party, threatening political unity as lawmakers break from their leader and rank-and-file members clash with a party spokesman.

The dust-up kicked off after Green MP Jenica Atwin directly challenged Leader Annamie Paul's position on the crisis. In a Twitter post last month, she said a statement from Paul calling for de-escalation and a return to dialogue was "totally inadequate."

"I stand with Palestine and condemn the unthinkable airstrikes in Gaza. End Apartheid!" Atwin wrote on May 11.

The tweet followed one a day earlier by Green MP Paul Manly, who said that the removal of Palestinian families from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah "is ethnic cleansing."

Noah Zatzman, a senior adviser to Paul, expressed solidarity with Israel in a May 14 social media post that accused many politicians, including unspecified Green MPs, of discrimination and antisemitism.

"We will work to defeat you and bring in progressive climate champions who are antifa and pro LGBT and pro indigenous sovereignty and Zionists!!!!!" he said in the post, which he told The Canadian Press was meant as a response to the Green MPs as well as the broader issue.

The internal rift has only widened in the week and a half since a tenuous ceasefire was reached in the 11-day war that killed more than 250 people, mostly Palestinians.

The fallout includes online accusations from prominent Green party members, such as 2020 leadership runner-up Dimitri Lascaris, who says Zatzman has defamed him, Atwin and Manly by accusing them of antisemitism.

Playing out in full public view rather than party backrooms, the feud has highlighted a sinkhole on the Green road to more socially progressive ground under Paul, who has sought to steer the party away from earlier efforts to highlight its fiscal conservatism.

Paul has attempted to remain above the fray, saying party debate is healthy but that increasing reports of antisemitism in Canada must be confronted.

"There are differences of opinion that come up naturally within parties. And certainly Israel and Palestine is one that has demonstrated the differences of opinion," she told reporters Monday in response to questions about whether there is antisemitism in her party.

"As only the second Jewish person to lead a federal party with seats, I will say that antisemitism has no place in politics," Paul said, adding that she is "very troubled" by its recent resurgence. (The first was David Lewis, who led the federal NDP in the 1970s.)

Reports of antisemitic incidents have shot up across Canada over the past month, according to three Jewish advocacy groups whose hate hotlines have been flooded with calls in a spike the organizations link to the latest Mideast crisis.

Atwin declined requests for comment, but Manly rejected the notion that policy criticism amounts to cultural hostility.

"Using accusations of antisemitism to shut down legitimate criticism of human rights abuses is both offensive and dangerous. It dilutes the weight of the word," Manly said in an interview.

He also cited an article on his website titled, "Criticizing Human Rights Abuses Is Not Anti-Semitism," written by his chief of staff and longtime friend Ilan Goldenblatt, a former Israeli soldier.

Greens, who pride themselves on the independence of MPs in caucus that is not whipped, are not the only party to feel the centre of political gravity shift on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Internal tensions over the issue nagged New Democrats in the run-up to April's policy convention, but Leader Jagmeet Singh's call on the federal government to halt arms sales to Israel last month drew little blowback from the base.

"These are long festering issues and Annamie is attempting really to clean it up  and smooth things over," Zatzman said in an interview.

He pointed out that Manly was one of multiple would-be nominees rejected by the NDP under former leader Thomas Mulcair ahead of the 2015 election for previous comments on Israel.

The escalating tensions over the past month have bubbled over into a barrage of antisemitic harassment against Paul as well as himself, Zatzman said.

"When they're saying things like 'apartheid' and 'ethnic cleansing,' I think they knew how I would react."

Lascaris, a Montreal-based lawyer, said Paul has been "very, very evasive" about her views on the Israeli-Palestinian quandary.

"It's come-to-Jesus time, and she needs to say very clearly where she stands on this issue: Does she stand with the victims of an apartheid state? Or does she stand with an apartheid state?" he asked in an interview, citing reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Lascaris, who described himself as atheist, later said the Christian reference was unintentional and a "poor choice of words."

Paul's more traditional stance stems in part from a "political calculus," Lascaris said.

Zatzman also said that "we're making a bet" by going "mainstream" to appeal to voters comfortable with Canada's long-standing support of Israel.

Lascaris, along with a few dozen commenters on the Green Party of Canada Supporters Facebook page, has called for Zatzman's removal. Lascaris had been mulling an election run in a Montreal riding until last month's fracas, he said.

But Zatzman stands by his concern that the line between criticism of Israeli actions and antisemitism has been crossed.

He pointed to posts, including one that mentionsthe private Jewish high school he attended in Toronto and his past connections to Hillel  a Jewish campus organization  and Birthright Israel, which offers young Jews, mostly from the United States and Canada, a free 10-day trip to the country as a way to forge a personal connection.

Hamish Telford, an associate professor of political science at the University of the Fraser Valley, said that in trying to straddle a "fairly neutral Canadian position" in favour of a two-state solution, Paul may have set the stage for even sharper divisions in her party.

"All parties are trying to navigate these sorts of electoral dynamics when they are considering this issue," he said, noting the NDP has taken the strongest pro-Palestinian position.

Paul's faith adds another layer of sensitivity to the conversation, he said.

"It's going to be difficult for her to strike that balance, as well as for people who disagree with her to strike the right balance in the right tone in these conversations."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 1, 2021.
TORONTO - Convicted teen killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo is set for his second parole hearing this month, the Parole Board of Canada announced on Wednesday, dredging yet again heart-cracking memories for his victims' relatives.

TORONTO - Convicted teen killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo is set for his second parole hearing this month, the Parole Board of Canada announced on Wednesday, dredging yet again heart-cracking memories for his victims' relatives.

The families, implacably opposed to Bernardo's release, have been preparing impact statements for the hearing, tentatively scheduled for June 22, less than three years since his last one.

Paul Bernardo sits in the back of a police cruiser as he leaves a hearing in St.Catharines, Ont., in this file photo. Convicted teen killer and serial rapist Bernardo will have another parole hearing this month.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

"It doesn't get any easier, it brings everything back to the families," said lawyer Tim Danson, who represents the families of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy. "It's a gut-wrenching experience for them to try to explain the impact of something as horrific as to what happened to their children."

Bernardo has been serving a life sentence for kidnapping, torturing and killing French and Mahaffy in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont. Now 56, he became eligible for parole more than three years ago but was denied release at a hearing in October 2018.

At the time, he said he cried over what he had done and had worked to improve himself.

"What I did was so dreadful. I hurt a lot of people," Bernardo said. "I cry all the time."

The parole panel, however, said he showed little insight into his crimes, taking just 30 minutes to dismiss his release application.

That Bernardo can apply for release again so soon is something the families have been fighting to see changed. They argue a five-year interval between hearings would be more than appropriate, a point French's mother, Donna French, made in a victim-impact statement she and husband Doug French just submitted to the parole board.

"No sooner does the ink dry in preparing the previous victim-impact statement for Bernardo's first parole hearing, she's now called upon to do a second one," Danson said she told the board.

Bernardo's crimes over several years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, some of which he videotaped, sparked widespread terror and revulsion.

Among his brutal acts, he and his then-wife Karla Homolka kidnapped, tortured and killed Mahaffy, 14, of Burlington, Ont., in June 1991 at their home in Port Dalhousie, Ont., before dismembering her body, encasing her remains in cement and dumping them in a nearby lake.

They similarly kidnapped and killed 15-year-old Kristen French in April 1992 after torturing her and ignoring her agonized entreaties over three days.

Dubbed the "Scarborough Rapist," Bernardo was convicted in 1995 of first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault among other offences. He is now nearing three decades in prison, most in solitary, although not nearly enough, the families say.

"This every two years is not reasonable and it just tears the families apart," Danson said. "It's as if we were back to the early 1990s and the trial of '95: It's that vivid for all of us that have been involved."

The families have also challenged in court their lack of access to reports or other evidence Bernardo is relying on to make his case for release  even those referred to during his hearing. Unlike in other parts of the justice system, the inmate's privacy interests warrant secrecy, according to the parole board. A Federal Court decision on the case has been under reserve since February.

At his last hearing, Bernardo, incarcerated at Millhaven penitentiary in eastern Ontario, argued low self-esteem drove him to commit the crimes he said he now rued and that he no longer posed any threat to the public.

Both the French and Mahaffy families argue the designated dangerous offender should never be released. At his first hearing, both made impassioned pleas he be kept behind bars.

"How does one describe such immeasurable pain so as to give even the slightest understanding of the overwhelming sadness, the emptiness, and pain we feel even after 26 years of dealing with our loss?" French's mother said then.

Mahaffy's mother, Debbie Mahaffy, said the "unspeakable and brutally sadistic acts" Bernardo committed defied description.

Bernardo, who ultimately admitted raping 14 other women, was also convicted of manslaughter in the December 1990 death of Homolka's younger sister, Tammy. The 15-year-old girl died after the pair drugged and sexually assaulted her.

Homolka pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served her 12-year prison sentence before being released in 2005. She went on to remarry and become a mother.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2021.
Manitoba has given up its claim to 23,000 AstraZeneca doses.

A spokesman for the provincial government confirmed Tuesday the doses had been relinquished because "mRNA vaccine is now widely available and is clinically preferable as announced on Monday."

Manitoba was to receive the delivery two weeks ago, but asked the federal government to hold off while the vaccine task force deliberated about what to do with the shots.

The province estimates there are fewer than 3,700 AstraZeneca doses currently with pharmacists and medical clinics in Manitoba. At least 75,000 Manitobans have received the AstraZeneca shot.

On Monday, Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead for the COVID-19 vaccine task force, announced that Manitoba decided to recommend people who received AstraZeneca for their first dose take either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna mRNA vaccine for their second shot. However, the task force co-lead said the province would maintain a small inventory of vaccines for people who choose to receive AstraZeneca.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization made a similar recommendation on Tuesday, stating that people who received a first dose of AstraZeneca may receive either the AstraZeneca shot or one of the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) for their second dose, unless contraindicated. The national committee noted that mRNA and AstraZeneca vaccines are both available in Canada and there will be sufficient supply of both types of vaccine to provide second doses.

"Getting the same vaccine for the first and second dose, or a mixed schedule, are both considered valid options, and both will count as a completed series," the national committee said in a statement. "Individuals should consider talking to a health-care professional for help with understanding information to support informed individual decision-making on vaccination."

However, AstraZeneca recipients in Manitoba who want to stick with the same brand for their second dose, will have to hunt for it.

As of Tuesday, the provinces online vaccine finder did not list which vaccines are available at pharmacies and clinics in Manitoba, some of which have been given Moderna doses.

The Free Press spoke with multiple Winnipeggers who were vaccinated with AstraZeneca, who say they have been left in limbo. Meanwhile, the pharmacy and clinic locations theyve reached out to do not have AstraZeneca supply.

The AstraZeneca recipients, who asked that their names not be published, also said they continue to have questions about the provinces strategy to recommend the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna mRNA vaccine for their booster shot, but feel they have few resources to make an informed decision.

In Saskatchewan, the provincial health authority said it will establish clinics to offer second AstraZeneca shots exclusively as of June 7, following government eligibility criteria.

People in that province can choose to wait 12 weeks to receive their second shot, though the vaccine type available at that time will depend on supply.

In Manitoba, a government spokesperson said it remains up to Manitobans to find out where they can get an AstraZeneca shot.

"Individuals wishing their second dose to be AstraZeneca have the option of reaching out directly to the original provider of the first dose," a spokesman said in a statement.

When asked what would happen if the provinces AstraZeneca vaccine supply is exhausted and demand for second doses of the product persists, the spokesman said Pfizer and Moderna shots are preferred.

The Public Health Agency of Canada estimates the rate of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia, a blood-clotting condition associated with viral vector vaccines such as AstraZeneca, to be one in 83,000 doses administered in Canada, but it could be as high as one in 55,000.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca
Wang Yi Talks about Direction of China-Europe Relations - Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is the Only Proper Description

2021/06/01

On May 31, 2021, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks and jointly met the press with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto in Guiyang. A reporter asked: The China-Europe relations maintained a growing momentum in the pandemic of 2020, but China and Europe recently announced sanctions against each other. However, both sides intend to expand cooperation instead of seeing the deterioration of the situation. What's China's expectations for the future of the bilateral ties?

Wang Yi said, in 2020, China and Europe overcame the impact of the COVID-19 and maintained frequent high-level exchanges. Both sides indeed achieved a lot in cooperation, and delivered fruitful outcomes. The coming into effect of the China-EU Geographical Indications agreement effectively upheld both sides' protection of intellectual property; the two sides set up new high-level dialogue mechanism in green and digital areas, and actively responded to European Green Deal and digital transformation; the two sides also, as scheduled, completed the negotiations of the China-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment that is an economic trade agreement with the highest level of opening up, and the lowest market access, offering important opportunities for the long-term development of Europe. These achievements are hard-won and should be cherished, and the valuable cooperation experience should be upheld.

Wang Yi expressed, this March, Europe made the wrong choice of imposing unilateral sanctions against China based on made-up stories or even false information, which challenged China's national sovereignty and dignity. China cannot accept that, and it has the right to take legitimate and necessary reactions. The current difficulties between China and Europe is something China does not wish to see, and it does not serve the fundamental and long-term interests of both sides.

Wang Yi said, China-Europe cooperation has stood the test of times over the past several decades, and it enjoys great resilience and enormous potential owing to solid social foundation, broad common interests, and similar strategic aspirations. It accords with the trend of progress and development of the times, and no one and no force can and should go against or change the trend. Meanwhile, we are hearing more and more rational voices in Europe. They hope both sides should strengthen communication and dialogues, overcome obstacles, and deepen cooperation. Many friends from Europe, including Hungary, unequivocally call on China and Europe to strengthen solidarity, and maintain fairness and justice, which instills us confidence in the future of China-Europe relations.

Wang Yi emphasized, the prerequisite for the sound and steady development of China-Europe relations is correct mutual understanding. As two important poles of this multipolar world, China and Europe have neither clash of fundamental interests nor geopolitical conflicts, and what we have is huge cooperation needs. We can't separate and isolate with each other. Therefore, I always believe that the only proper description for China-Europe relations is the comprehensive strategic partnership. China-Europe relations go with the trend of the times, and the only direction that lives up to people's expectations is dialogue and cooperation. The most important principle in China-Europe exchanges is mutual respect, and seeking common ground while shelving differences. The biggest responsibility for the two sides is to secure world peace and stability and achieve common development and prosperity. We should join hands to make concrete contributions to the world.
OTTAWA  More than 100 Indigenous children are likely buried in unmarked graves in Brandon, according to preliminary data from some of the First Nations leaders who want help to locate lost relatives, and heal from the pain.

OTTAWA  More than 100 Indigenous children are likely buried in unmarked graves in Brandon, according to preliminary data from some of the First Nations leaders who want help to locate lost relatives, and heal from the pain.

Meanwhile, the Manitoba government is resisting calls to follow Alberta and Saskatchewan in committing to help pay for burial-site searches.

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Chief Jennifer Bone of Sioux Valley Dakota Nation.

"The children buried at these sites must have their identities restored and their stories told," Sioux Valley Chief Jennifer Bone said in a Tuesday video message to her Dakota community.

Her reserve has spent years trying to track burial sites in Brandon through archeological surveys and archival documentation.

Bone announced Tuesday the band suspects 104 bodies are in three burial sites. The band is planning a news conference today to detail its findings and research plans.

"We must honour the memory of the children who never made it home by holding the government of Canada, churches, and all responsible parties accountable for their inhumane actions," Bone said.

Last week, a B.C. band made global headlines when it announced a ground-penetrating radar search had found evidence of 215 children buried in unmarked graves near a former residential school in Kamloops.

The Tkemlups te Secwepemc band told the Free Press the survey was part of a $40,000 federal grant administered by the Canadian Heritage department.

Such searches generally involve using a machine that resembles a lawnmower to scan the ground using radiowaves, which can reveal anything from metallic objects to soil disturbances that suggest the presence of a skeleton.

In Manitoba, the northern Cross Lake band wants federal funding to undertake a similar search at the former residential school site on its territory, as well as schools in other communities where the bands children were sent before dissolution of the system.

"Its opened up a lot of wounds. Were looking for answers, and we want to move forward," said Chief David Monias.

"We need to go further in a timely way  find the remains, and get them back home."

The Cross Lake school burned down twice, killing 12 children in 1930, while another 18 children have been identified by family members as having died at that school.

Monias noted children were also sent from Cross Lake to places such as Brandon, where they probably knew no one and missed the landscape of the Canadian Shield.

"As they were taking their last breath, many of them were wondering, Wheres my mom, wheres my dad? Who is this stranger?"

On Tuesday, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister said hed work with Indigenous leaders, families and Ottawa to help locate graves and fulfill the demands of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

Yet, Pallister did not follow his conservative brethren in pledging to help fund ground-radar searches.

"Well partner with the federal government. The TRC recommendations are absolutely clear as to who has to take the lead here," Pallister told reporters.

"Thats not passing the buck; thats something that weve raised with the federal government."

In the Manitoba legislature, the NDP Opposition noted the governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan pledged this week they would financially support such searches.

"Words are simply not enough," said MLA Nahanni Fontaine.

The premier responded Fontaine was playing politics, as she had done work for the previous NDP government, which, he argued, did little about reconciliation.

"That is unseemly; its inappropriate; its just simply shameful and wrong," Pallister said, prompting heckling.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said Tuesday it wants funding "to conduct forensic investigations on all areas to ensure that all children are found, respected and honoured."

The AMC also said Ottawa needs to pressure the Catholic Church to turn over documents, and it will pursue an international complaint against Canada through the United Nations regarding unmarked burial grounds.

The talk of unmarked graves has brought up traumatic memories for residential school survivors, including Manitoba Sen. Mary Jane McCallum.

She told the Red Chamber there has been "a genocide of children who were never given the opportunity to live their lives, simply because they were Indian."

McCallum said she felt constantly lonely when she was taken from her home at Barren Lands First Nation at age five. She was bewildered her family would abandon her to a strange school in The Pas.

With a shaking voice, McCallum said she eventually learned it was Canada who abandoned her, not her parents  but the children in Kamloops never grew up to have that realization.

"These were 215 beautiful, innocent trusting little spirits who believed in their hearts that it would all work out. They missed their families, and never understood how they came to be where they were."

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
OTTAWA  As troops help pull Manitobas health-care system from the brink of collapse, the soldier overseeing scores of personnel in Winnipeg says theyre eager to help.

OTTAWA  As troops help pull Manitobas health-care system from the brink of collapse, the soldier overseeing scores of personnel in Winnipeg says theyre eager to help.

"Every single person on the team is very enthusiastic to get into it, to relieve that pressure on Shared Health," said Maj. Ian Van Dyke, who oversees the 69 military personnel.

Four days since arriving in Manitoba, troops and military nurses have helped monitor patients, to alleviate pressure on intensive care wards.

The deployment numbers fluctuate, but as of Friday there were 36 medical personnel, another 22 involved in flying patients, three lab technicians, and eight support personnel involved in supervising and general duties.

Van Dyke said, as of Tuesday, none of the medical teams are critical care nurses. Instead, there are general duty nurses and medical technicians, who are replacing the nurses Manitoba have taken to use in ICU wards.

Those medical staff have so far been deployed to one Shared Health site known as an "alternative isolation accommodation" site. The agency is withholding the precise location, citing patient confidentiality.

The militarys three laboratory technicians are helping run COVID-19 tests at Health Sciences Centre, Grace Hospital and St. Boniface Hospital.

Meanwhile, the aeromedical team started flying patients to ICU wards outside the province Friday, less than a day after members arrived in Manitoba.

Crews can do one flight a day, involving up to two patients.

The specialists go to the hospital to prepare the patients for transport, drive them to CFB Winnipeg, near the citys airport, and put them in a special bio-containment room that sits inside of a large airplane, a CC-130H Hercules, and flies them out of province.

That would mean only a fraction of the 43 ICU patients that had been sent to Ontario and Saskatchewan, as of Tuesday morning.

The Manitoba deployment focuses on supporting the front line, much more than other COVID-19 deployments.

The military is still helping set up vaccination clinics in Manitobas most remote communities.

Van Dyke said even more military personnel are likely to come help.

"I get people constantly, everyday asking me, Whens our turn; when are we going to get to go in there and help people? So theyre very eager to use their qualifications and their training to help Manitobans."

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
OTTAWA  A Manitoba government backbencher says Ottawa should expand newspaper subsidies to include weekly papers that serve rural communities.

OTTAWA  A Manitoba government backbencher says Ottawa should expand newspaper subsidies to include weekly papers that serve rural communities.

"People more than ever need a reliable source of information, and community newspapers are exactly that. Local newspapers are an integral part of any community," Josh Guenter, who represents Borderland, told the legislature.

SUPPLIED Josh Guenter, MLA for the constituency of Borderland (Emerson).

On Tuesday, Guenter introduced a private members resolution calling on the federal government to expand eligibility of its journalism subsidy programs to include rural, northern and remote community newspapers.

He was referring to a three-prong support package the Trudeau government has provided daily newspapers and some online sites, which include a wage credit, a tax credit for subscribers and allowing news outlets to fundraise as non-profits.

Outlets that publish original news, employ two or more people and arent arms of political or business interests qualify for those subsidies, such as the Winnipeg Free Press and Brandon Sun.

But Guenter said criteria exclude many free weekly newspapers.

"Local newspapers are being left out there, to fend for themselves at a time when we need local, trusted voice more than ever," Guenter said in an interview.

He said the federal subsidies might unintentionally allow big-city dailies to survive while local ones continue to fold.

"Its just an unfair playing field; its got to be even," said Guenter, who acknowledged that conservatives usually prefer open markets over government subsidies. "Were working within the reality we exist in."

He said local papers have helped fight COVID-19 vaccine myths in rural Manitoba, and that they keep politicians accountable, while getting the word out about local businesses. Guenter said hes distressed by the closure of eight Manitoba newspapers a year ago, while social-media giants soak up ad revenue.

Federal subsidies have attracted critics, who argue government subsidies create a perception of a conflict of interest, or prevent upstarts from outcompeting legacy brands.

The legislature rose Tuesday for the summer, with its next sitting likely to occur in October. Guenter said hes hoping for cross-party support.

The NDP noted Tuesday that the PC government had planned in 2018 to stop paying newspapers to publish public notices, though the government reversed course.

The office of federal Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault had no immediate response to the proposal.

Ottawa has operated postal and funding subsidies for smaller community newspapers for decades.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
Chief Henry Prince had a question for treaty commissioners during the final days of Treaty 1 negotiations in Manitoba.

Chief Henry Prince had a question for treaty commissioners during the final days of Treaty 1 negotiations in Manitoba.

The chief of the St. Peters band wanted to know about the future of Indigenous children if First Nations signed a pact with the Crown.

"How are we to be treated?" asked Prince, the day before he and other chiefs signed the first treaty between First Nations and the new Dominion of Canada in 1871 at Lower Fort Garry.

"The land cannot speak for itself, we have to speak for it and want to know fully how you are going to treat our children."

It was, perhaps, a more important question than Prince could have imagined.

The federal government would pass the Indian Act five years later  the main instrument used to rip Indigenous children from their homes and place them in residential schools, sometimes never to be seen again by their families.

"The land cannot speak for itself, we have to speak for it and want to know fully how you are going to treat our children."  Henry Prince, St. Peters band chief, in 1871

Adams Archibald, Manitobas first lieutenant governor and the Queens representative at Treaty 1 talks, assured Prince government would treat First Nations on equal footing with "whites."

In addition to setting aside reserve lands, providing them with annuities and farm implements, Ottawa would give First Nations a school and a schoolmaster for each reserve.

Nobody said anything about a residential school system, especially ones designed to beat Indigenous culture, language and identity out of First Nations children; nor about subjecting them to physical and sexual abuse and forcing them to live in unsafe, unsanitary conditions away from their homes.

There was no mention during treaty talks at the "Stone Fort" (just north of Winnipeg) that if an Indigenous child died while attending a residential school, they would be buried unceremoniously nearby.

Sadly, that is how Canadian history unfolded.

It was not just a "dark chapter" of Canadas past, as its often described. In all its ugliness, inhumanity and naked racism, it is the story of our country, which has endured into modern-day Canada.

The discovery last week of an unmarked grave near a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., where 215 Indigenous children were buried, has struck a chord with Canadians.

It is not the first known burial site used by residential schools. At least 4,117 Indigenous children (likely far more) are known to have died while attending the institutions, which were run more like jails than schools.

Many  if not most  were buried in such graves, often without the knowledge of their families, the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada found.

Among the great tragedies of this story, children's names were not even recorded in almost twothirds of the deaths.

As awareness grows around the atrocities facing Indigenous people, news of the unmarked grave is piercing the consciousness of Canadians in a way not seen before.

It's serving as a wake-up call, perhaps a more poignant one than in years past, about the wretched impacts of colonial rule. There is a true feeling of national mourning.

TRC research found residential school children died at between two to five times the rate of children in the general population, from 1921 and 1950 (there was little comparative data prior to that).

They died mostly of tuberculosis and other diseases. There were also suicides, accidental deaths and other causes not documented. Among the great tragedies of this story, children's names were not even recorded in almost two-thirds of the deaths.

The main reason residential schools buried deceased students in nearby graves was to save money, records show. It was cheaper than to transport the bodies to home communities.

"It is not the practice of the department to send bodies of Indians by rail excepting under very exceptional circumstances," the Department of Indian Affairs wrote in a 1938 letter to a grieving Indigenous mother, who requested the body of her son.

This was not the future promised to Indigenous leaders 150 years ago at the Stone Fort.

This is not the future Henry Prince envisioned when he asked how Indigenous children would be treated under the new Dominion of Canada.

But it's the Canada we have all inherited.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca
The minister of a Steinbach-area church that has openly defied public health orders remained a free man Tuesday, five days after a warrant had been issued for his arrest.

The minister of a Steinbach-area church that has openly defied public health orders remained a free man Tuesday, five days after a warrant had been issued for his arrest.

Church of God (Restoration) minister Tobias Tissen was among six people named in a cluster of arrest warrants issued May 27 by the provinces public safety investigation unit for repeated breaches of public health orders.

By Saturday, police had taken four of the six accused into custody, including retiree and lockdown opponent Gerry Bohemier, 71, Hugs over Masks organizer Sharon Vickner, 53, and anti-lockdown rally organizers Todd McDougall, 36, and Patrick Allard, 39. All four were quickly released on bail.

High-profile lockdown opponent Chris Saccoccia of Ontario cancelled an appearance at a protest rally at The Forks May 28 after learning about the warrant for his arrest.

Church of God (Restoration) minister Tobias Tissen was among six people named in arrest warrants issued Thursday by the provinces public safety investigation unit for repeated breaches of public health orders. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press files)

Church of God (Restoration) held a service Sunday in defiance of a public health order banning all indoor and outdoor gatherings with people not from the same households.

"Its been a good, amazing turnout today and we had a wonderful service," Tissen said in a video interview posted on the Winnipeg Alternative Media Facebook page. "I didnt expect that it would go this smoothly, but it did and God kept us safe. Since (police) didnt take me here, we are going to keep on making it hard for them. We want them to take me right here."

The RCMP did not respond to a Free Press interview request Tuesday.

Kenneth MacKendrick, an associate professor with the University of Manitobas religious studies program, suggested police might have a very good reason for not arresting Tissen at church: the optics would be "terrible."

"If police went in to arrest a minister it generally looks really, really bad, because you have somebody who is going to be down on their knees with a bible and praying," MacKendrick said. "We view that activity with a great deal of respect and probably some degree of appreciation. So when someone is in that position, and then police come in and arrest them, it looks terrible. Nobody feels good about that kind of thing, arresting a priest. So you can totally understand why (police) would be pretty hesitant."

Church of God (Restoration) held a service Sunday in defiance of a public health order banning all indoor and outdoor gatherings with people not from the same households. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press files)

Religious leaders have a long history of "taking to the streets" in support of a cause, such as the womens movement or civil rights, but religious convictions "shouldnt entitle someone to extraordinary protection," MacKendrick said.

"I think in this situation, some people are maybe puzzled by what appears to be such a non-commonsensical position and maybe frustrated by that as well," he said. "So on the one hand you have respect, reverence and appreciation, and celebration of religion and diversity, and at the same time some public concern about is this the right position for them to be taking? I think we are hesitant to say something because we respect peoples choices to make private decisions and to have convictions."

A minister in Tissens position would be well aware his arrest in church would garner national or international attention, MacKendrick said.

"Religion or religious faith can be used as a shield, you can use that respect and reverence that people have and manipulate that for political gain," he said.

Tissen posted a video to his Facebook page recorded by a neighbour Monday showing RCMP officers  who he called "Gestapo"  arriving at his home around 11:15 a.m.

"Is there any reason I would be home at that time?" Tissen wrote, adding authorities had been "spying" on his house for three hours before knocking on his door.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
I SEE a huge and growing gap between the rhetoric and the reality, said Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, two weeks ago, but he despaired a bit too soon. Last Wednesday a Dutch court ruled that Royal Dutch Shell, one of the worlds biggest oil companies, must cut its global carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent by 2030.

Opinion

"I SEE a huge and growing gap between the rhetoric and the reality," said Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, two weeks ago, but he despaired a bit too soon. Last Wednesday a Dutch court ruled that Royal Dutch Shell, one of the worlds biggest oil companies, must cut its global carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent by 2030.

Judge Larisa Alwins ruling in the Hague district court was "not so much a shot across the bow as a direct hit to the hull of Big Oil," said Mark Lewis, chief sustainability strategist at BNP Parisbas Asset Management. "No amount of patching up the hole will do. Shareholders and society want the vessel completely overhauled."

The Dutch court said Shells declared plan for reducing its carbon emissions was vague, inadequate and non-binding, and ordered it to cut its total emissions by almost half in the next nine and a half years. That includes the emissions from all the oil and gas Shell sells, not just its own operational emissions.

The judge based her decision on the fact Shell is violating Dutch law and the European Convention on Human Rights that guarantee the "right to life." The company is recklessly making emissions that endanger human life by causing global heating.

She linked her verdict directly to the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, which clearly states that keeping the increase in average global temperature below 1.5 degrees C requires 45 per cent emissions cuts by 2030.

Shells vague promise to make 20 per cent cuts by then simply didnt meet the requirement, she said, and its non-binding promises of bigger cuts between 2030 and 2050 would come too late to matter. (The World Meteorological Organization said last week that there is a 40 per cent chance of the world temporarily crossing the +1.5C threshold at least once in the next five years.)

It was Friends of the Earth (and 17,000 co-plaintiffs) that brought the case in the Hague, but other activists are planning similar cases in half a dozen other countries. Even faster moving, perhaps, are the shareholder revolts that are forcing oil companies to take their emissions seriously.

Again it was Shell that took the first hit. The Dutch activist group "Follow This" has been co-ordinating shareholders rebellions at Shells annual general meetings since 2016, when it only got 2.8 per cent support for a resolution calling on the company to cut CO2 emissions. This month it got 30 per cent of the votes, including those of some big institutional investors.

"Follow This" also got 20 per cent of shareholders votes at British Petroleums AGM on Wednesday for a similar resolution, and although both companies rejected the resolutions, they are required to report back to the investors on why they did so.

On the same day the U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil was forced to accept the election of two pro-climate activists on its 12-person board (the vote was organized by the small environmentalist hedge fund "Engine No. 1"). And "Follow This" got a 61 per cent majority for a resolution at Chevrons Thursday AGM, forcing the company to reduce its carbon emissions.

It was always going to be nip and tuck. The time needed to persuade the climate doubters and mobilize the apathetic was always going to leave very little time for actually getting emissions down before we hit tipping points and lose control of the outcome entirely.

At the moment, we can still control the outcome because its our own emissions that are causing the problems. Once the natural feedbacks kick in  and thats what the recommended +1.5C limit and the absolute +2C limit are meant to prevent  we would have no recourses left except adapting to the disaster and/or geoengineering.

If the law and the great corporations are not committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions, we are probably not going to meet our deadlines. We have only 10 years left to cut our emissions by half, and even those who want to change the global economic model must recognize that it cannot be changed that fast.

"Saving the planet"  more correctly, saving ourselves  cannot be done without the collaboration of the banks (no more loans for high-carbon energy projects), the insurance companies (no more cover for those projects) and investors (no more licence for short-termist managers who dont care if the assets end up stranded so long as they can cash in their stock options first).

In the end, every revolution worth making requires the "long march through the institutions."

Gwynne Dyers latest book is Growing Pains: The Future of Democracy (and Work).
As the province announced the death of a Manitoba man in his 30s who was being treated for COVID-19 in an Ontario hospital, Alberta said it would care for as many as 10 patients to ease the crisis in Manitoba intensive care units.

As the province announced the death of a Manitoba man in his 30s who was being treated for COVID-19 in an Ontario hospital, Alberta said it would care for as many as 10 patients to ease the crisis in Manitoba intensive care units.

The man died of COVID-19 Tuesday, after being transferred to an Ontario intensive care unit May 20, Shared Health said Wednesday.

Forty Manitobans are being treated for COVID-19 out of province and up to 10 more could be airlifted to Alberta as part of the new patient-transfer agreement announced Wednesday.

Hospitals in Edmonton and Calgary will take up to 10 Manitoba patients as needed. Alberta's intensive care units have sufficient capacity to handle the extra patients, Alberta Health Services stated.

"We stand with the people of Manitoba right now," Alberta Premier Jason Kenney wrote in a tweet.

Hospitals in Ontario and Saskatchewan have accepted critically ill ICU patients from Manitoba as hospitals in this province are overrun with COVID-19 patients. Over the past two weeks, 48 Manitobans have been transferred out of province.

On May 24, 31-year-old Krystal Mousseau of Ebb and Flow First Nation died, one day after an attempt to transfer her to Ontario. Her condition became unstable during the transfer and she was taken back to the Brandon hospital.

Seven other patients who were transferred have been brought back to Manitoba to continue their recovery.

Additional Manitoba patients were scheduled to be airlifted to Ontario Wednesday afternoon.

Considering Manitoba's much smaller population, the per capita rate of hospitalized COVID-19 patients is double Alberta's. Per capita, Manitoba has more COVID-19 patients in hospital now than Alberta did at the peak of its third wave three weeks ago. As of Wednesday, there were 294 COVID-19 patients in Manitoba hospitals, compared with 438 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Alberta.

Manitoba's ICU admissions haven't reached their anticipated peak yet, and they are already higher than the highest rates Alberta experienced in the third wave, when adjusted for population size. At Alberta's peak, there were 187 COVID-19 patients in the ICU. As of Wednesday morning, there were 127 patients in Manitoba's ICUs  69 of whom have COVID  and an additional 40 patients are being treated in Ontario and Saskatchewan.

Six more pandemic deaths, not including the patient who died in Ontario, and 267 new cases of COVID-19 were announced, raising Manitoba's death toll to 1,062.

The provincewide test positivity rate was 11.5 per cent; 12.9 per cent in Winnipeg.

Of the new cases announced, 198 are in the Winnipeg health region, 28 in Southern Health, 21 in Northern Health, 14 in Interlake-Eastern, and six in Prairie Mountain.

Four of the six deaths announced Wednesday are linked to highly contagious variants of concern  mostly the dominant B.1.1.7 strain, but one variant death was unspecified.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay
Over the weekend, Dr. Ganesan Abbu thinks he got, give or take, seven hours of sleep.

Over the weekend, Dr. Ganesan Abbu thinks he got, give or take, seven hours of sleep.

Abbu leads the Boundary Trails Health Centres special care unit, which treats its COVID-19 patients.

The hospital, which sits between Winkler and Morden at the connection of Highways 3 and 14, has struggled under the weight of COVID-19s impact on the Southern Health region in the third wave of the pandemic.

SUPPLIED Dr. Ganesan Abbu.

Its had to close operating rooms to deploy more staff to treat COVID-19 patients, and has brought in backup oxygen to support its most severely ill.

Just eight doctors at Boundary Trails treat the large majority of its COVID-19 patients.

Abbu said this past weekend was the busiest of the entire pandemic. He believes around 40 per cent of all patients transferred to Winnipeg and Brandon intensive care units from rural areas over the weekend came from the 94-bed hospital.

"The helicopter never stopped coming on Saturday night, into Sunday morning," he said in an interview. "At four in the morning, we needed another transfer  and they said, Everyones tired, the earliest we can come is at seven (a.m.). So we had to do that one by ground transfer."

They dont want to hear that this is COVID, because in their minds, theyre convinced COVID is a hoax. It is something that the government is using to impose control over their lives."  Dr. Ganesan Abbu

There were currently some 20 COVID-19 patients at Boundary Trails  none of which, Abbu said, had been vaccinated.

Of those, he said, "very few" had been waiting to be vaccinated.

"There are the absolute deniers, where even if theyre dying from COVID, theyre saying, No, this is not COVID, its something else, and the alternatives they propose would be influenza, another virus, cancer even," he said.

"They dont want to hear that this is COVID, because in their minds, theyre convinced COVID is a hoax. It is something that the government is using to impose control over their lives. So its a clash of different worldviews in this area."

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS A helicopter sits at the helipad at the Boundary Trails Health Centre between Morden and Winkler.

Some patients, Abbu said, acknowledge the reality of COVID-19 only when they themselves have become gravely ill. Boundary Trails staff tell of patients, just before they are intubated, asking loved ones to get vaccinated, he said.

"Its sad that it takes that degree of illness to convince someone, perhaps, that vaccination is a good thing."

Why do some people continue to deny the existence of COVID-19 even when facing serious illness?

In part, Brandon University sociology Prof. Christopher Schneider said, its hard to change a persons mind when they feel theyre being told what to do.

Its sad that it takes that degree of illness to convince someone, perhaps, that vaccination is a good thing.  Dr. Ganesan Abbu

"Its a measure of the distrust that people have in social institutions, like government, like medicine. We then have to ask the question: who are the people and why would they mistrust these institutions?" he said.

Outside of a baseline impulse to push back against what might feel like an overreach of power, a "profound distrust" is baked into some local communities in a way often backed up with facts. Schneider referenced Canadas long history of medical mistreatment of Indigenous people as an example.

That distrust can be powerful enough to change peoples entire worldview to the point where, even in sickness, they cant be swayed, he said.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS A patient that arrived by helicopter is taken into the Boundary Trails Health Centre.

COVID-19 is a multi-faceted crisis to tackle by design, Schneider suggested: some God-fearing folks may choose to ignore its severity or refuse a vaccine in the name of accepting the divines omnipotence in deciding a persons health, while those more prone to conspiracy may point to the ever-changing nature of scientific discovery (for example, the changing discourse around wearing face masks outdoors as a safety measure) as proof the virus is overblown or not real.

"There has to be a set of conditions that would lend itself to conspiracy theories taking root and taking hold," Schneider said.

I feel that we still need to show compassion, we need to build trust. Ive lived in this community for over 20 years. These are good people.  Dr. Ganesan Abbu

"So to people who already have a strong belief in science or a strong trust in government, this would act as a shield or deterrent to these conspiracy theories... But for those who dont have that, who might believe in things that are already fantastical or dont correspond with reality, coupled with a distrust in the government, this I think would provide fertile ground."

Abbu said his responsibility is not to criticize patients and families  and his goal is never to burden them with guilt, especially in the state hes often meeting them  but instead provide context and information, should they be well enough to receive it.

"I feel that we still need to show compassion, we need to build trust," he said. "Ive lived in this community for over 20 years. These are good people."

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: malakabas_
9:32 p.m.: Two individuals are reported to be facing fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance charges after police were notified that the individuals were overdosing in the 400 block of East Seventh Street. They were subsequently turned over to EMS for care.

Saturday:

1:04 a.m.: Montrae Evenson Hiatt, 21, of Rochester, Joaquin Vasquez, 23, of St Charles, and Mario Bernard Davis, 18, of Winona were all cited for disorderly conduct after police received a report that they had been fighting in the 100 block of Market Street and the area of Second and Walnut streets.

1:46 a.m.: Jennifer Nicole Baechle, 39, of Winona was arrested and referred for DWI near Fifth and McBride streets. Baechle had a breath-alcohol content of .13 and was originally pulled over for driving without headlights, the complaint states.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

2:34 a.m.: Witnesses in the area of Eleventh and Carimona streets reported seeing a naked man near the railroad. The subject was gone upon police arrival and no additional reports came in.

2:46 a.m.: Montrae Evenson Hiatt, 21, of Rochester was arrested on an active warrant in the area of Third and Lafayette streets.
The director general of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, Tariq Bin Hendi, told the audience his country has helped Israeli companies set up in the UAE. The office is responsible for attracting foreign investment into Abu Dhabi and diversifying the private sector.

We want the people of Israel, the people of the world to come and join us, help us on that journey, work with us, learn from us, allow us to learn from you, and ultimately build a strong relationship," he said.

There were no high-level speakers from Israel at the event, though that may be a result of Israel's political uncertainty. The list of speakers had also changed quite significantly to exclude several of the original speakers listed on the agenda before the recent conflict.

Last month, the United Arab Emirates issued a rare public rebuke of Israel for heavy-handed police measures in Jerusalem and violent scenes captured by Palestinians of Israeli security forces storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a site sacred to both Muslims and Jews.

The violence, which erupted in the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, angered citizens across Gulf Arab states, some of whom expressed support for Palestinians and opposition to Israel on social media or in limited street protests.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
On May 19, Grant ordered an assault on Vicksburgs defenses. As the 55th departed camp, Orion promised his father he would stay behind. But as soon as his dad was out of sight, Orion rushed after his regiment. He was 14 now and wanted to be where the action was.

At the height of the attack and with the 55ths ammunition running low, Orion volunteered to make the dangerous run to the rear under withering enemy fire to send word for more. One witness said, He ran through what seemed a hailstorm of canister and musket-balls, each throwing up its little puff of dust when it struck the dry hillside. Suddenly he dropped and hearts sank, but he had only tripped. Often he stumbled, sometimes he fell prostrate but was quickly up again and he finally disappeared from us, limping over the summit

Then he realized there had been a terrible mistake. The colonel had requested .54 caliber ammunition. Orion knew the regiments guns were .58 caliber. Fresh .54 cartridges would be useless.
Over 50 local medical staff members signed a letter urging people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

The letter, released Tuesday by Marshfield Medical CenterBeaver Dam, said there was a significant reduction in demand for the vaccine after an initial burst of enthusiasm earlier this year, and demand no longer outpaces supply in Wisconsin.

Today, were presenting a unified voice once again to encourage everyone to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, the letter said. The vaccines have proven to be safe, effective and are our only proven path to achieving the kind of herd immunity that will allow us to move toward our new normal in a way that keeps our community protected.

As of June 1, 38.3% of Dodge County residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, the lowest among surrounding counties and one of the lowest in the state. Through June 1, 47.9% of Wisconsin residents have received at least one dose.

The virus that causes COVID-19 has not disappeared: Wisconsin reported a seven-day average of 179 new cases per day and three deaths per day as of May 31.
A group of 25 students were the last to graduate Don Smith Learning Academy, but not without the story of love the staff had for the students.

It is a night of transitions as our graduates go from students of Beaver Dam Unified School District to alumni and into the adult world with all the privileged and responsibilities, Don Smith Learning Academy Principal Dan Lueck said. We are also transitioning our at risk program into a more widespread program that will merge into the Beaver Dam High School next year.

The Beaver Dam Unified School District will always do its best to help the students who need help, Lueck said. The staff of Don Smith Learning Academy will continue in other roles to offer the same level of service they have in the past.

Lueck said that Beaver Dam Unified School District Superintendent Mark DiStefano asked two weeks ago how many students would be graduating and he said between 14 and 24 students.

We had so many kids who were close, but they were still far enough away, Lueck said.

The staff at the school worked throughout the weekend and even on Monday helping those students gain their final credits in order to graduate on Monday with their class.
Were going to stick with it for now, she said.

Michelle Wickman, a worker at Community Pharmacy, said staff decided that workers in the store will still wear masks, but face coverings will no longer be required for customers.

She said its been rough to enforce the mandate, even when it was a county rule. Wickman said staff may put up a sign saying that masks are suggested.

We thought we would see how it goes, Wickman said.

If customers are unhappy with the mandate being lifted, Wickman said the store may open special hours for those who would be more comfortable if everyone were still masked.

Bailey Link, manager at Grace Coffee Co., said masks are required for staff and unvaccinated customers, but those who are vaccinated can ditch the coverings. She said the store may ask people to show their vaccination cards but hasnt had to do that so far.

Curtis Diller, owner of Kilwins chocolate shop on State Street, ripped down his sign that mandated masks early Wednesday afternoon. He said even though his staff are vaccinated, all will still wear masks out of kindness to others. But he said hell no longer ask customers to wear them.

So what now?
ONEIDA, N.Y.  A 55-year-old registered sex offender from Oneida faces up to 60 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal child pornography charges on Tuesday.

Greg Gauthier was charged with one count of distributing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography.

According to the U.S. Attorneys Office, Gauthier admitted to having child porn images on his cell phone, and using social media to distribute them over the internet. Forensics uncovered 71 pornographic images and 98 video files on Gauthiers phone.

He faces 15 to 60 years in prison, and a term of supervised released from five years to life.

Gauthier is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on Oct. 5.

In 2014, Gauthier was arrested by Oriskany police and convicted of possessing a sexual performance of a child and promoting a sexual performance of a child. He was sentenced to 16 months to four years in prison, and was added to the New York State Sex Offender Registry.
NEW HARTFORD, N.Y.  A macaw on its way to get its wings clipped flew into a tree outside of New Hartford Animal Hospital Wednesday morning.

The owner, Amanda Bonanza, was taking the macaw, Charlie, out of her car when she says he flew away. At first, she wasnt able to find him, and then heard him up in a tree outside of the vet clinic.

Animal control crews and a team from Above and Beyond Tree and Stump Removal were called to the scene to help get Charlie out of the tree.

However, when a tree service worker went up to get Charlie, he quickly flew to another nearby tree.

Around 3 p.m., Charlie was still evading capture. If anyone sees him in the New Hartford area, they are asked to call Animal Control at 315-733-6666.

Bonanza says Charlies wings have previously been clipped. Shes had him for a little over a year.
Mohawk Valley Crime Stoppers helps solve crimes in the region through its anonymous tip hotline and website. They even offer rewards for information leading to arrests.

The organization does not receive public funding, and is holding a basket raffle this weekend to raise money to continue operating.

The raffle will be held at the Rome VFW on Washington Street on Saturday, June 5, from noon to 4 p.m.

All proceeds will go toward supporting Mohawk Valley Crime Stoppers.
It's time now to welcome the newest members of our Morning Mug Club -- brought to you by Holland Farms Bakery & Deli.

On Saturday, June 5, Copper City Community Connection in Rome is hosting a Huge Yard Sale Fundraiser!

It's happening at their facility located at 305 East Locust Street from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Stop down and see what treasures they have to offer!

They will have food/beverage items available all day: Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, French Fries, Popcorn, Water and Soft Drinks

They also have sweet treats: Fried Dough and Cotton Candy

To learn more, call 315-337-8230, or visit their website.
NEW YORK (AP) - New York City and 21 of New Yorks counties have announced a lawsuit against consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

They're accusing the company of contributing to the opioid crisis by helping create strategies to increase prescription drug sales.

Earlier this year, McKinsey agreed to more than $600 million in settlements with all 50 states over its role in advising OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma.

In a statement, McKinsey referenced that settlement, saying it contained no admission of liability or wrongdoing. The company says it believed that having settlements with states resolved any claims brought by municipalities.

The company says it will defend against cases that are designed to double-dip on the state settlements.

(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)
ROME, N.Y.  In recognition of LGBTQ Pride Month, a rainbow flag was raised outside Rome City Hall Tuesday morning for the first time.

About 25 members of the community gathered at the site of the flag raising.

I am very proud of the City of Rome for recognizing an entire group of people that call Rome home but never been recognized before. This is a big deal for these people, said Michael Brown, former county legislator and current co-owner of Copperccinos in Rome.

President Joe Biden also officially declared June LGBTQ month, as a sign of equality and celebration of acceptance, tolerance and advocacy for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.
ROME, N.Y.  Congresswoman Claudia Tenney, R-21, is introducing new legislation to help communities build and maintain military memorials.

Tenney was in Rome Tuesday to announce the new bill, called the Remembering Our Local Heroes Act. According to the congresswoman, the bill will establish a grant program to assist communities with the construction, restoration, or maintenance of memorials honoring veterans, active-duty military personnel, law enforcement, and firefighters.

The grants are authorized for up to $100,000, and will be awarded to applicants who can secure matching funds from other sources.

"I am honored to introduce the Remembering Our Local Heroes Act today, which will preserve the legacies of those who have sacrificed so much for our country and communities," said Tenney. "After the heartfelt Memorial Day ceremonies across our country yesterday, this bill is another step we can take as a nation to recognize the service of extraordinary individuals in our community and ensure their memories endure for generations to come."

Additional Details of the Remembering Our Heroes Act:
Articles

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular articles.
This illustration image shows tablets of opioid painkiller Oxycodon delivered on medical prescription taken on September 18, 2019 in Washington,DC. - Millions of Americans sank into addiction after using potent opioid painkillers that the companies churned out and doctors freely prescribed over the past two decades. Well over 400,000 people died of opioid overdoses in that period, while the companies involved raked in billions of dollars in profits. And while the flood of prescription opioids into the black market has now been curtailed, addicts are turning to heroin and highly potent fentanyl to compensate, where the risk of overdose and death is even higher. (Photo by Eric BARADAT / AFP) (Photo credit should read ERIC BARADAT/AFP/Getty Images)
Michael Flynn speaks during a protest of the outcome of the 2020 election outside the Supreme Court on December 12, 2020 in Washington, D.C. The US Army said June 2 it will not investigate former Gen. Michael Flynn for statements he recently made in which he appeared to endorse a Myanmar-style coup occurring in the US.
GALLATIN, TN (WSMV) - A man granted furlough to attend his sisters funeral who fled from family members has been captured in Alabama.

The Sumner County Sheriffs Office said Casey Jamison was taken into custody in Cullman, AL, on Tuesday night.

A Cullman County deputy spotted a car that had been reported stolen in Murfreesboro damaged and parked by the roadside. The car was still warm to the touch with the door open and keys in the ignition. A K9 was called to the scene and tracked to a nearby utility trailer where Jamison was found underneath.

Sumner County Sheriff's Office searching for convict who fled from sister's memorial service The Sumner County Sheriff's Office is searching for a convict who was released to attend his sister's memorial service on Friday afternoon.

Jamison was granted a furlough by a Sumner County judge to attend his sisters memorial service on Friday in Greenbrier, TN. He was allowed to attend the service with family members. Following the visit with the family, the sheriffs office said Jamison fled from the family members entrusted to watch him.

Deputies in Alabama located methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia inside the vehicle and charged him with those offenses in addition to charges related to the stolen vehicle.

Jamison, who was sentenced to nine years in prison for charges including theft of more than $10,000 and evading arrest, will be returned to Tennessee after his Alabama charges are settled. When he is returned to Sumner County, he will complete his current sentence and face new charges for the escape.
This lecture was delivered by Professor Vadim Rogovin at the University of Melbourne in Australia on May 28, 1996.

I would like to thank the organisers of this meeting for giving me the opportunity to speak to such a large gathering at this major university in Australia. Today I will be talking about some of the most tragic events in modern history  events about which many books and articles have been written, but about which there is much that is enigmatic and misunderstood. These historical phenomena are sometimes referred to as the Great Purges, or the Great Terror, or sometimes simply as 1937. They have few analogies in history.

Of course the twentieth century has seen no small amount of mass terror and even genocide directed against civilian populations. In Hitler's concentration camps more people died than in Stalin's camps and prisons. During World War I, in the space of a few days, more than a million Armenians were killed.

These instances of ethnic genocide usually were not accompanied by demagogy which was as sophisticated as in the Soviet Union. In most cases the victims were not forced to confess to horrendous crimes which they had never committed.

Our country, Russia, saw three civil wars in the space of 20 years and then was forced to bear the burden of a world war.

The first civil war unfolded from 1918 to 1920. It was a war in which the revolutionary masses rose up against those who, with the help of foreign interventionists, were trying to retain their privileges.

This civil war had much in common with other civil wars following revolutions in other countries. For instance, there is very much in common between the Russian civil war and that which unfolded in the 1860s in the United States. Trotsky found so much in common between the Russian and American civil wars that he intended to write an entire book devoted specifically to this question.

The second civil war to which I am referring lasted approximately six years from 1928 to 1933. It took the form of violent, forced collectivisation unleashed by the Stalinist clique against the peasantry as a whole and turned into a virtual nationwide civil war.

There are many parallels for this civil war. For instance, there was the Vendee uprising of the peasants against the French Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century.

But for the third civil war, the phenomena we refer to as the Great Purges, it is impossible to find an appropriate historical analogy.

Never before in history were hundreds of thousands of people torn away from their apartments, thrown into prison, subjected to torture, made to confess to crimes, and then either exterminated or sent to concentration camps. It is no surprise that today, even 60 years after the Great Terror, it is difficult for many people to address these questions calmly.

Not long ago at my lectures in England I came up against many different opponents. One old English Stalinist told me that any talk about the Great Terror was just an example of bourgeois propaganda. He heaped praise upon Stalin whom he felt had saved England during World War II.

To justify his praise of Stalin he said that 27 million people had died in the Soviet Union during that war. I answered by noting that 27 million people was approximately half the population of Great Britain at that time. I then asked him what would he say about Churchill if, on the eve of a war, he had wiped out the flower of the nation, including many of the officer corps, and as result of his outrageous blunders the country lost almost half its population.

Another opponent at my London lecture, a Ukrainian nationalist, asked why I paid so much attention to the terror which was directed largely against the Bolsheviks, but ignored the terror against the Ukrainian people, which he said killed 15 million people.

Here we have a typical example of how anti-communists attempt to greatly exaggerate the victims of the Great Terror. Solzhenitsyn for example gives the figure of 60 million people who supposedly perished in the camps and in the prisons.

If you walked around Moscow today during the pre-election campaign you would find similar figures at various stands set up by pro-Yeltsin forces. They display posters which say "don't forget the communists destroyed 60 million people in our country". These figures, which exaggerate the number of victims by about 12 times, are supposed to arouse the population.

And of course by comparison the number of people who have died in the war unleashed by Yeltsin in Chechnya is insignificant. And by comparison, the shelling of the Russian Supreme Soviet at the White House in October 1993 is insignificant. Only about 1,000 people died in the course of that action.

The Yeltsin forces say that if the communists come back to power they will launch a terror which will sweep away tens of millions of people. These figures are cited even though in the 40 years after Stalin died in 1953 there were virtually no political executions in the Soviet Union. The day after Stalin died, the new wave of terror he had been preparing was stopped by his successors and a process of mass rehabilitations was begun.

Most people ignore whom the terror was directed against. Reliable figures show that during the entire period of Soviet history, approximately four million people were accused and convicted of crimes against the state. Of those, approximately 700,000 to 800,000 were shot.

These figures are staggering by any measure, but we have to supplement them with other figures. For instance, approximately one half of the total victims were thrown into prison during a two-year period  1937 and 1938. During those two years over six times more people were shot than during the entire remaining period of Soviet history.

The second feature of the Great Terror is that its major targets were communists. Of the two million people who were repressed during that two-year period, over half of them were members of the party at the time of their arrest.

Moreover, at the beginning of the Terror there were approximately one and a half million people who had earlier been in the party, but had been expelled for belonging to various oppositions. Very many of these people were arrested and exterminated during the Great Terror.

There is another myth about the Great Terror which is both supported and spread by many different political tendencies. You can find this myth in Krushchev's secret report on Stalin's crimes delivered to the 20th Party Congress in 1956, or in the works of open anti-communists such as Robert Conquest and Solzhenitsyn.

This myth says that virtually the entire population of the Soviet Union was reduced to a stunned silence by the terror, and either said nothing about the repression, or blindly believed in and supported the terror. This myth also claims that the victims of the repression were completely innocent of any crimes, including opposition to Stalin. They were, instead, victims of Stalin's excessive paranoia. Since there was no serious opposition to the regime of Stalin, according to this myth, the victims were not guilty of such opposition.

In order to refute these myths one simply must turn to various dossiers and case histories which have recently come to light and been published.

For example there is the case of the world-renowned physicist and future Nobel laureate, Academician David Landau. It would seem that this young physicist and scholar, who was busy with his own work, not a member of the party and seemingly uninvolved in politics, would have been guilty of nothing and therefore arrested without any foundation.

Recently the dossier of his case was published. During the investigation Landau was presented with an anti-Stalinist leaflet which he had helped to reproduce and was getting ready to distribute. The communist Kopets, who was a colleague of Landau, admitted to having written the leaflet. He arranged for it to be reproduced and attracted Landau and other students and physicists into this conspiracy. They intended to distribute the leaflet at a May Day demonstration in 1938.

Recently many examples of such leaflets have been published. They were written by people we know little about, but people who wrote from a consistent communist position, and who called for a struggle against Stalin and his clique because they had betrayed socialism. The content of these leaflets can only be interpreted as a call to overthrow the existing political system, or to be more precise, Stalin and his clique.

Of course these are isolated incidents, but prior to the unleashing of the Great Terror there was a much more widespread, more serious, and well-organised opposition to Stalinism as a regime which had veered ever more widely away from the ideals of socialism.

This battle against Stalin began back in 1923 with the formation of the Left Opposition. The inner party struggle unfolded in ever sharper form throughout the 20s.

Thousands and thousands of communists took part in this opposition, openly in the early days and then, after opposition groups were banned, in illegal underground forms against the abolition of party democracy by the Stalinist party clique.

They spoke out against forced collectivisation and the erroneous methods of industrialisation which were leading to great deprivation for the vast majority of the Soviet people. They spoke out against the growing system of privileges and social inequality. The bureaucracy had usurped political power from the working class and was consolidating its position and privileges.

A significant change took place in the level of opposition in 1932 when it became clear that the adventurist policies of the Stalinist leadership had led the country to an extremely sharp economic and political crisis.

At that time in 1932, not only the old opposition groups became more active, but they were joined by layers of newly-formed opposition groups. Among those perhaps the most interesting is the so-called Riutin group.

Riutin was an old Bolshevik who underwent a very complex evolution. During the 1920s he was a fervent Stalinist but by 1930 he came to the conclusion that he had been wrong on many points and that a new struggle had to be taken up against the Stalinist bureaucracy. He sought ways of uniting with the Left Opposition, with Trotskyists.

The Riutin group published a document of more than 100 pages called the Riutin platform. It exposed both the economic and political crisis throughout the country on all basic questions. Stalin and his clique feared this document so much that they refused to distribute it to members of the Central Committee who were discussing Riutin's expulsion. The Central Committee proceeded to condemn Riutin and vote against the platform without having read it.

At the same time, thousands of Trotskyists who had not capitulated remained in exile or in prison throughout the country. Among them were many prominent party members. Two choices stood before each of these oppositionists. Either they could sign a letter of capitulation and return into the fold of the bureaucracy to secure positions  or they could refuse to sign such declarations and remain languishing in prison camps or in exile in the furthest reaches of the Soviet Union.

It is interesting to note that dozens and dozens of oppositionists in exile were brought back into Moscow when the first Moscow Trial was being prepared in 1936. Not a single one of them who had refused to sign a letter of capitulation agreed to give false testimony. For that reason, they were not included in the first Moscow Trial, but were murdered during the secret pre-trial interrogations.

It is significant that in 1932 many representatives of different opposition tendencies began to discuss the need to form a united anti-Stalinist bloc to overthrow Stalin's leadership and carry out new policies.

The Riutin platform stated that by now all the previous differences which had existed in the Party paled before the new dividing line which pitted communists against each other. Either you were for the Stalinist clique and the crimes it was committing against the people, or you were for returning the party to Lenin's principles of socialism by driving out the Stalinist clique.

Ivan Smirnov, one of the former leading members of the Left Opposition who had formally capitulated and then returned to opposition activity, went on an official business trip to Berlin in 1931. He established contact with Trotsky's son Leon Sedov and began to discuss the need to coordinate efforts between Trotsky and his son in Mexico and Europe and the newly-formed opposition bloc consisting of old and new tendencies in the Soviet Union.

Although many members of these opposition tendencies were arrested at the end of 1932 and in early 1933, not a single one of them gave information about the formation of this single united anti-Stalinist bloc. Only in 1935 and 1936, when a new wave of arrests followed the murder of Kirov in December of 1934 and many people were subjected to the worst tortures, did the secret police, the GPU, find out about the existence of the united bloc from 1932. This was one of the main factors which drove Stalin to unleash the Great Terror.

When we look back now upon the Moscow Trials we can see that 90 percent of what was said by those put on trial was a fantastic conglomeration of lies. They confessed to being agents of the Gestapo, spying for foreign governments, conducting sabotage, etc. But about 10 percent of what was alleged was true. They did try to establish contact among themselves and fight for the overthrow of Stalin's clique.

The Great Terror was caused not only by Stalin's increasing fear of the growing communist opposition in the Soviet Union. It was also tied up with serious foreign policy issues. Stalin became more and more alarmed at the growing influence of Trotsky's ideas as he gathered more supporters in the movement to found the Fourth International.

Stalin signing a death warant

Although all the official communist parties abroad remained completely subservient to the Comintern, which was in turn manipulated by Stalin, nevertheless more opposition Trotskyist groups grew up in virtually every country in support of the Fourth International.

In the archives of the Comintern one can find many documents, largely prepared for internal use, which testify to the fact that the opposition had major influence in almost every country, that often it exerted strong influence in the trade unions and the socialist parties, and that its numbers were reaching several thousand in some countries.

In Spain, where the outcome of the civil war would help determine whether there would be a second world war, there existed a powerful Marxist party, the POUM; although it broke from the Fourth International, it did carry out consistent anti-Stalinist policies. Stalin's fear that the Fourth International might increase its influence and become a threat to the Stalinised Comintern in many countries forced him to conclude that he must unleash the Great Terror. It swept away thousands of victims, not only in the Soviet Union but abroad.

We should never forget that at that time, about half the regimes in capitalist Europe were either fascist or semi-fascist totalitarian regimes. Many communists, socialists and democratic-minded people fled from these countries and sought political asylum in the Soviet Union. In the Soviet Union there were tens of thousands of foreign communists and communist sympathisers, almost all of whom perished during the Great Purges.

There are many accounts of how terrible the lives of these political emigrants were in the Soviet Union, even if they came from bourgeois democratic countries. For instance, Audrey Blake, the wife of a leading Australian communist, wrote that in the 1930s all foreign information was blocked and any discussion of Trotsky's ideas was anathema.

I had a chance to meet with many surviving former communists in the United States who said that all Trotskyist literature was banned. The fear of their leaders was so great that they refused to allow them to read such material. However the consequences of the Great Terror cannot simply be measured by the murder and arrest of thousands and thousands of victims in the Soviet Union, of people extremely dedicated to the October revolution and to socialism. It goes beyond that.

When the news of the Great Terror reached the west, thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people, recoiled in horror before the ideas of socialism. Under other circumstances, they would have been prepared to take part in the communist movement, the greatest international political movement in world history. But they were repulsed by what they saw and the ideas of socialism became discredited in their eyes.

Those leaders who survived the Great Terror in the various communist parties had largely degenerated, and were bound to Stalin because they had taken part in the persecution of their own comrades.

Among those who played a very foul and ignoble role in the 1930s are those who to this very day are respected as fighters against Stalinism.

Among these is Imre Nagy, the Hungarian communist leader who played an important role in the leadership of the Hungarian uprising in 1956. Documents have emerged which show that Nagy was in the Soviet Union as a political emigrant starting in 1929. By 1930, he had become a paid agent of the NKVD, and due to his denunciations, dozens of Hungarian, German and other communists were arrested.

Although there is no direct evidence that shows that Tito, the Yugoslav communist, was a paid agent of the NKVD, many documents show how enthusiastically he carried out the purges of the Trotskyists in the Yugoslav communist party. In Moscow alone over 800 Yugoslav communists were arrested.

In 1939 Tito returned to Yugoslavia as head of the party and demanded that the purge be continued and deepened. He entrusted this task to other communists, including Milovan Djilas.

Djilas, who became a famous dissident in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, does not mention his role in the purges in his memoirs but he does relate the following interesting incident. In 1942 at the height of World War II, an old Yugoslav communist was arrested. He had survived the 1937 purges only because he had refused to go to Moscow. He subsequently published a book called "The Balance of the Soviet Thermidor", in which he described the persecution of Yugoslav and other communists in Moscow. Djilas relates that although this man was arrested on Tito's orders and severely tortured and beaten, he refused to admit to being a foreign spy.

If we talk about the consequences of the Great Terror in the Soviet Union and abroad what we can say is that the Bolshevik type of consciousness virtually disappeared.

This type can be characterised by adherence to the ideals of socialist equality, social justice and internationalism and the refusal to allow one's high position in the party to result in privileges for oneself. It can also be characterised by a willingness to sacrifice for the cause.

If it had not been for the Great Purges it would have been very difficult for Stalin to pursue the extreme changes in political line which he carried out. The vast majority of those who fell victim in the Great Terror were raised and trained in the genuine spirit of anti-fascism. If they had remained alive, if they had not been exterminated, it would have been much more difficult for Stalin to sign the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact in 1939. And if not for that pact, World War II might not have begun in the same way.

If those who perished in the Great Terror, true internationalists, had not been killed, Stalin would have found it very difficult, if not impossible, to unleash the anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union which practically became official government policy after World War II.

A whole wave of people sometimes referred to as the new recruits or the newly chosen of 1937, began to rise to high posts in the party, economy, government and the military. They occupied leading posts of which they had never before dreamed.

The people who occupied these positions had no ties to Bolshevism and no ideological adherence to Marxism. As a result they proved to be extremely susceptible to the crudest forms of corruption which corroded the body politic in the USSR. These people remained in power in the Soviet Union for almost 50 years. And they cultivated a new generation of absolute cynics who were completely indifferent to the moral and ideological life of the nation.

The existence of such people in positions of power, directing the intellectual life of the country, helps to explain why they so easily managed to shatter the existing system over the last 10 years. First they cracked the ideological shell of society, then they destroyed it politically.

Up until now, history has shown that when there is a sharp transformation of the social structure, this change is reflected in the personnel which occupy leading positions of power. In Russia and the many republics of the former Soviet Union, however, that has not been the case. Those who head the regimes in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltics and many other former republics are those who were former members of the party nomemklatura, the old party bureaucracy and elite. To call these people Bolsheviks or Leninists is a complete mockery of the truth.

What characterises them is a complete lack of ideological principles, coupled with a nationalist orientation which is extremely hostile to the ideals of Bolshevism.

So, although it happened decades ago, the consequences of the Great Terror are still being felt in our country and in the 15 new states which have formed in the ruins of the Soviet Union; and all of these nations are facing catastrophic conditions.
Eighty years have passed since the first Moscow Show Trial, one of the most sordid frame-ups in world history. Also known as the Trial of the Sixteen, the Case of the Trotskyite-Zinovievite Terrorist Center took place in Moscow from August 19 to August 24, 1936. All sixteen defendants were sentenced to be shot and their personal property confiscated.

Beyond those at the trial, Lev Davidovich Trotsky and his son, Lev Lvovich Sedov, were declared in absentia to be subject to immediate arrest and trial by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, i.e., if captured, they too would be tried and executed in mockery of the most elementary judicial standards.

Of the sixteen defendants, eleven were prominent Old Bolsheviks who had joined the party prior to 1917, organized and led the October Revolution, founded the Communist International in 1919, fought heroically in the Civil War (1918-1921), and established the Soviet Union as the worlds first workers state. Five other defendants were agents of the Soviet secret police, forming a grotesque amalgam with the genuine revolutionaries sitting beside them on the defendants bench.

Let us take a brief look at the biographies of some of the victims. Grigory Zinoviev, age 53, had been a Bolshevik since 1903 and one of Lenins closest collaborators. He participated in the antiwar Zimmerwald and Kienthal conferences. He was a member of the Central Committee, 1907-1927; chairman of the Petrograd Soviet after October 1917; chairman of the Executive Committee of the Comintern, 1919-1926. He participated in the Joint Opposition in 1926-1927; capitulated to Stalin in 1927. After the assassination of Sergei Kirov on December 1, 1934, Zinoviev was arrested, tried and convicted on January 16, 1935 of moral responsibility for the murder. He was sentenced to ten years in prison, where he remained until the 1936 show trial.

Lev Kamenev, age 53, joined the Social Democratic Party in 1901; he was a Bolshevik from 1903. He worked closely with Lenin. A member of the Central Committee from April 1917 to 1927. Chairman of the Moscow Soviet, 1918-1926. Member of the Joint Opposition in 1926-1927, capitulating in December 1927. Tried in January 1935 for Kirovs murder and sentenced to five years in prison. Tried again in July 1935 and sentenced to ten years.

Ivan Nikitich Smirnov, age 55, in the party since 1899; repeatedly arrested, imprisoned and exiled under the tsar. Led the Red Army in crushing Kolchaks forces in Siberia during the Civil War. A member of the Central Committee; in the Left Opposition from 1923 to 1929. Arrested and imprisoned in 1933.

Sergei Mrachkovsky, age 53, a Urals worker; a Bolshevik from 1905; hero of the Civil War, in the Left Opposition from 1923 to 1929. Exiled in 1933.

Vagarshak Ter-Vaganian, age 43, a Bolshevik from 1912. Founding editor of the journal Under the Banner of Marxism in 1922; first major work on Plekhanov (1924); in the Left Opposition from 1923 to 1929.

Grigory Yevdokimov (52), Ivan Bakaev (49), Efim Dreitser (42), Rikhard Pikel (40), Isaak Reingold (39) and Eduard Goltsman (54) also had distinguished, if less prominent, party careers.

The charges at the trial were fantastic: aside from killing Kirov, the defendants supposedly attempted (but failed) to assassinate Stalin, Kaganovich, Voroshilov, Zhdanov, Ordzhonikidze and several other Soviet leaders. They allegedly worked with the Nazi Gestapo in developing these murderous plans. Other charges of espionage and sabotage were also levied.

What was the evidence? Nothing except the confessions of the accused. To those who approached the trial with the slightest degree of critical judgment, the confessions alone would have raised severe doubts about the legitimacy of the proceedings. But many journalists and political figures (New York Times reporter Walter Duranty; US Ambassador Joseph Davies; British jurist D. N. Pritt, who called the proceedings an example for the whole world) vouched for the validity of the frame-up. There were, however, dissenting voices: Thomas Mann, Stefan Zweig, others who subsequently served on the Dewey Commission, which heard exhaustive testimony in Mexico in 1937 and, finding Trotsky innocent of all charges, declared the show trial a frame-up.

In later years, the means of obtaining the confessions emerged through the testimony of various participants in preparing the trial. Zinoviev and Kamenev resisted confessing for weeks. Finally, they requested an audience with the Politburo. Stalin and Voroshilov met them as a commission of the Politburo and promised that if Zinoviev and Kamenev cooperated, their lives would be spared, their families would not be touched, and no former oppositionists would be executed. Zinoviev and Kamenev agreed, but were nevertheless executed on August 25, 1936.

With other defendants, torture was used. Mrachkovsky, for instance, was interrogated for 90 straight hours several times over several weeks. Lev Sedov noted that several figures who had cases opened against them did not appear at the trial; it is likely that several died under torture or were shot due to their intransigence.

Although the trial produced the convictions that Stalin desired, there were embarrassing moments that exposed the fraudulent nature of the testimony. Goltsman, for instance, testified that he had traveled to Copenhagen in 1932 to meet with Trotsky and Sedov at the Hotel Bristol. As it turned out, the hotel had been torn down in 1917 and rebuilt only in 1936. No such meeting ever took place.

Goltsman also testified that Trotskys call in an open letter to remove Stalin could only mean to kill him, rather than remove him through political means. As a Marxist, Trotsky had been a life-long opponent of individual terrorism; individual acts, no matter how heroic they seemed, could not serve as a substitute for the revolutionary action of the working class led by a revolutionary party. Claiming that Trotsky had embraced individual terrorism in the 1930s was a sign, as Trotsky explained, of totalitarian idiotism.

When the first Moscow Trial began, Trotsky was under virtual house arrest in Norway. Under pressure from the Soviet Union, the Norwegian Labor Party was attempting to muzzle Trotsky and prevent him from answering the slanders of the trial. A new voice soon emerged, however; Lev Sedov, Trotskys son, published in the Bulletin of the Opposition what was to become The Red Book on the Moscow Trial. Sedov meticulously examined the details of the trial and exposed them as a fraudulent attack on genuine revolutionaries.

By April 1937, Trotsky had organized a counter-trial in the form of the Dewey Commission in Mexico, where Trotsky was now located after expulsion from Norway. The voluminous refutation of the first two Moscow show trials (a second occurred in January 1937) is presented in the book Not Guilty. The two concluding points state: (22) We therefore find the Moscow trials to be frame-ups. (23) We therefore find Trotsky and Sedov not guilty.

In carrying out these trials, Joseph Stalin was launching an assault on the legacy and the actual leaders of the first successful socialist revolution. As the Bonapartist leader of an increasingly counterrevolutionary social layer, the Soviet bureaucracy, it was not enough for Stalin to expel these Old Bolsheviks from the party and persecute them with exile or imprisonment.

Opposition to the Stalin regime had been steadily growing throughout the 1930s in the wake of the reckless and unplanned collectivization of agriculture, break-neck industrialization, Hitlers coming to power in Germany in 1933, and increased social differentiation manifested in the unjustifiable privileges of the ruling Soviet and party bureaucracy. These were some of the disastrous consequences of Stalins repudiation of socialist internationalism and adoption of the nationalist and anti-Marxist program of socialism in one country.

By 1936, revolutionary conditions were emerging in France and Spain (the Spanish Civil War broke out on June 18) that could reawaken the long suppressed aspirations of the working class in the Soviet Union. The first Moscow Trial and the ensuing Great Terror were a preemptive strike against not just the Old Bolsheviks in general, but particularly against anyone associated with the Left Opposition that had been led by Leon Trotsky.

Stalin had organizationally defeated the Left Opposition by the Fifteenth Party Congress in December 1927. Some oppositionists capitulated soon after the congress, but thousands were expelled from the party and exiled to remote regions of the Soviet Union. Trotsky was exiled to distant Alma Ata in 1928, and then expelled from the Soviet Union in 1929. Stalin believed that, without an apparatus and with few material resources, Trotskys influence would rapidly fade. He could not have made a more profound error.

With the catastrophic defeat of the German working class marked by Hitlers coming to power in 1933the result of the opportunist and nationalist policies dictated by the Soviet bureaucracy and carried out by the leadership of the German Communist PartyTrotsky declared that the Third International under Stalins leadership was dead as a revolutionary organization. He issued the call to build a new, Fourth International, which was founded in September 1938.

In the five years leading up to 1938, Trotsky acknowledged that the work he was doing in preparing a new international was the most important of his entire life. In article after article, he exposed the bankruptcy of the Stalinist regime in order to educate advanced layers of the working class.

In 1936, just days before the first Moscow Trial, he finished his monumental book, Revolution Betrayed, which remains the most important Marxist analysis of the contradictions of Soviet society. In it, he explained that the working class would have to overthrow the Soviet bureaucracy in a political revolution and restore the program of world socialist revolution if the Soviet Union was to advance towards socialism. If the bureaucracy remained in power, the eventual result would be the restoration of capitalism, throwing the working class back decades. Above all, these battles would be fought out on the world arena in mass struggles of the international working class. Anticipating the revolutionary upheavals that would follow the impending world war, Trotsky was confident that Stalinism would be overcome.

The Moscow Trials, and the blood purges that followed, had a devastating impact, virtually annihilating the socialist elements in the working class and intelligentsia. The trials paved the way for the betrayals and defeats that followedthe suppression of the French general strike, the defeat of the Spanish Revolution, the Stalin-Hitler pact, the suppression of the postwar revolutionary upsurgeall of which culminated in Stalinisms final betrayal, the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the restoration of capitalism.

Today, all the unresolved political and social issues that led to the October revolution of 1917 are reemerging on a world scale. Understanding that Stalinism is not the continuation of October, but a counterrevolutionary reaction against it, is crucial to preparing for the revolutionary battles that lie ahead.

To learn more about the Moscow Trials, this author recommends the following works: Leon Sedov, The Red Book on the Moscow Trial (1936/1980); Max Shachtman, Behind the Moscow Trial (1936/1971); Vadim Rogovin, 1937: Stalins Year of Terror (1996/1998); Vadim Rogovin, Stalins Terror of 1937-1938: Political Genocide in the USSR (1997/2009) and David North, The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished Twentieth Century (2014).
The state of Arizona is reopening its gas chamber and preparing to use Zyklon B to execute death row inmates, according to documents published by The Guardian on Friday.

The Guardian report accompanying the documents that were obtained through a public records request shows that the Arizona department of corrections has spent more than $2,000 to procure the ingredients to make cyanide gas.

Zyklon B canisters at Auschwitz (Photo: Jason M Ramos/Creative Commons)

According to receipts among the documents, the department paid $1,530 to buy a block of potassium cyanide in December 2020 along with two other ingredients, sodium hydroxide pellets and sulfuric acid.

The documents also show that the state has taken extensive measures to refurbish its gas chamber that is housed at the Arizona State Prison Complex at Florence (ASPCFlorence) and built in 1949. The Arizona gas chamber has been idle for the past 22 years.

The purchase of the elements of Zyklon B and the revitalization of the ASPCFlorence gas chamber are part of a drive by the Republican-controlled state government to resume the execution of death row inmates. No one has been put to death in Arizona since the horrific bungled lethal injection of Joseph Wood in 2014.

Wood was injected 15 times and his execution lasted for approximately two hours on July 22-23, 2014. As he gasped and gulped for air for an estimated 660 times, lawyers filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court stating, This execution has violated Mr. Woods Eighth Amendment right to be executed in the absence of cruel and unusual punishment.

One of the Arizona documents is a draft entitled Gas Chamber Protocol and dated December 15, 2020. It describes in detail how an inmate is to be put to death in the gas chamber with sodium cyanide pellets submerged into sulfuric acid as well as how the chamber is to be cleared of the gas with ammonia so that the executed prisoner can be removed.

The draft protocol includes the following: The inmate shall be brought into the execution room and placed in the Chamber and strapped in the chair by the Restraint Team. The internal Chamber microphone will be turned on and a microphone will be affixed to the inmates shirt and also turned on; both microphones shall remain on until the completion of the execution ... to enable the persons in the witness room and the Special Operations Team Leader to hear any utterances or noises made by the inmate throughout the procedure. The Special Operations Team Leader will confirm that the microphones are functioning properly, and that the inmate can be heard in the operations room and in the witness room.

The documents show that Arizona tested the operability of its mothballed gas chamber including checking the window and valve seals and using a smoke grenade as a deadly chemical gas simulator to check the negative pressure in the ASPCFlorence facility.

A Rehabilitation and Reentry memo dated December 17, 2020 describes a candle test that was administered by prison personnel on December 3. The memo states: This was done by passing the flame of the candle slowly, and in close proximity to areas that have a sealing surface (i.e., door, windows, or any approved intrusions into the vessel) and observing if there are any deflections to the flame. There was no observed deflection of the flame which is indicative of an airtight environment.

The last inmate to be gassed to death by Arizona was Walter LaGrand, a German national, for a 1982 armed bank robbery in which a man was killed. LaGrand was executed in 1999 and, according to a published eyewitness account, he exhibited agonizing choking and gagging for 18 minutes and his head and arms twitched, and his hands were red and clenched before he died.

A report in The Tucson Citizen said, The witness room fell silent as a mist of gas rose, much like steam in a shower, and Walter LaGrand became enveloped in a cloud of cyanide vapor. He began coughing violentlythree or four loud hacksand made a gagging sound before falling forward.

Arizona currently has 115 prisoners on death row and two of them have been selected as candidates for the revived death penalty program. The inmates will be given a choice between the two gruesome ways to die: lethal injection or gas chamber. One of these inmates, Frank Atwood, is 65 years old and his attorney has stated that the investigation into his possible innocence has been delayed for more than a year due to the pandemic.

Atwoods lawyer told The Guardian that Neither option is tenable. He also explained, Frank Atwood is prepared to die. He is a man of Greek Orthodox faith and is preparing for this moment. But he does not want to be tortured and subjected to a botched execution.

Zyklon B was used by the Nazis at the concentration camps Auschwitz and Majdanek, both in Poland, beginning in September 1941. It was originally used as a disinfectant and insecticide in the camps but proved far more efficient and deadly as an extermination tool than firing squads and other methods of mass execution.

The first captives of the Nazis put to death with Zyklon B were a group of 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 Polish prisoners who were unable to work. The prisoners were forced into the basement of Block 11 at Auschwitz I, known as the death block, where Zyklon B was released, and they all died within minutes. The decision to use Zyklon B was made by Rudolf Hoss, commandant of Auschwitz, and Adolf Eichmann, one of the German officers in charge of exterminating Jews and others.

Once the method was determined as achieving their objectives, the Nazis began selecting from among the Jews and other undesirables arriving on trains at Auschwitz, those who were deemed unfit for labor and sent directly to the gas chambers. The Nazis concealed their plans from these victims by telling them that they were to undress for a bath. With the gas chamber disguised with showerheads, the prisoners were trapped behind a large door that sealed them inside.

The Zyklon B pellets were poured down an airshaft where they made contact with air and water and emitted deadly hydrogen cyanide gas. Within minutes everyone inside the chamber was dead from lack of oxygen. After the poison gas was evacuated from the chamber, other prisoners were forced to haul the corpses to a nearby room, where they removed hair, gold teeth, and fillings. The bodies were burned in ovens in the crematoria or buried in mass graves.

The use of the elements of Zyklon B by the state of Arizona for the purposes of gassing inmates to death is a gruesome indicator that American capitalism is more than capable of using the same methods of violence and barbarity, or worse, than those pioneered by the fascist regimes of Europe in World War II.
The World Socialist Web Site has received numerous statements of support from Australian educators and members of the Committee for Public Education (CFPE) demanding David OSullivans reinstatement at Cricklewood bus garage in London. At meetings of the CFPE, a rank-and-file group of teachers, education staff and academics, resolutions have been unanimously adopted in support of the campaign which can be read here.

Visit here to find out more and join the campaign for David OSullivans reinstatement. You can donate to OSullivans legal defence here.

Sue Phillips, primary school teacher in Melbourne and national convenor of the CFPE

Sue Phillips

I proudly stand with David O'Sullivan, the London Bus Drivers Rank-and-File Safety committee and the Socialist Equality Party (UK), alongside thousands of workers worldwide determinedly fighting for O'Sullivan's reinstatement.

O'Sullivan's courageous exposure of the unsafe conditions at his workplace as a result of the murderous policies of the Johnson government and Metroline should be applauded, while the collusion and betrayal of the Unite union and the Trades Union Congress loudly condemned.

In September last year, in the midst of thousands of COVID-19 infections raging across Britain, and the forced opening of schools, bus drivers at Cricklewood garage took the decision to take matters into their own hands and form a rank-and-file safety committee. Their decision was driven by the urgent need to protect not only their own lives and families, but also the thousands of workers, pensioners and young people who board the buses every day.

The launching of the safety committee provided a political lead to workers everywhere. The powerful resolution passed in establishing the committee made many critical points that are worth repeating:

We are not cattle and will not be sacrificed to protect the profits of the corporations and banks who have made a financial killing during the pandemic. Against the Johnson government, and its backers in the Labour Party and Trades Union Congress, we make our appeal to the working class.

Our lives and safety are non-negotiable! Our loyalty is not to the billionaire shareholders who own the major transport companies but to our fellow workers, their families, and the travelling public whose lives are being endangered through corporate negligence. Nothing will change unless we decide to change it, and for this to happen we must act as one!

Fearing the establishment of the committee and any independent movement from below, Metroline, with the full support of the Unite union, which exists to strangle any action of workers outside their bureaucratic control, have moved to victimise, silence and sack O'Sullivan.

The Committee for Public Education (CFPE) in Australia has pledged to support and to publicise OSullivans case among educators, university workers, parents and students. Sullivans defence against victimisations and the fight for his reinstatement has universal significance.

As the bus drivers' rank and file safety committee stated above: Nothing will change unless we decide to change it, and for this to happen we must act as one!

Kaye Tucker, teacher in Sydney and CFPE member

I salute David O'Sullivan for the courageous stand he has taken in highlighting the dangers of COVID infections at the Cricklewood bus garage in London. With over 60 bus drivers' lives already lost, this is clearly a life-and-death issue. O'Sullivan is standing up for workers internationally by upholding his colleagues' right to a safe and secure workplace.

Teachers in Australia know too well how little regard there is for the well-being of workers, having been forced back into unsafe working conditions and subjected to a very public shaming campaign by federal and state governments.

Just as the bus drivers union, UNITE, has abdicated any responsibility for the health and safety of bus drivers in London, the teachers' unions in Australia and internationally have collaborated in the imposition of back to work orders in schools, in full knowledge of the fact that there is not sufficient protection against the dangers of infection. Hundreds, if not thousands, of teachers have died worldwide as a result of this policy.

Workers need to stand in support of David O'Sullivan as the struggle against his sacking is a test case for workers everywhere!

Mandy, primary school teacher in Melbourne and CFPE member

What an indictment on society when workers, such as David O'Sullivan, are considered courageous for simply calling out for their own and others safety. What does it say when the simple act of exposing dangerous conditions and caring for workmates, results in being sacked? What a disgrace!

I fully endorse the Committee for Public Educations support and fight for the reinstatement of Mr. Sullivan and for his rights to be upheld. I encourage educators and other workers locally and internationally to stand together against this appalling situation. Workers cannot rely on their employers or unions to protect their rights and safety at work. We can, however, stand together and fight for a society that puts lives before profit.

Erika Zimmer, retired teacher and CFPE member

Erika

I stand in solidarity with David OSullivan who risked his job to fight for the safety of his co-workers, the travelling public and his own family. Employers have shown complete disregard for the safety of their workers. They have been given the green light by governments and the unions, allowing them to reap record profits on the backs of workers' lives and health.

Boris Johnson is deeply sorry that over 120,000 have died from the COVID-19 virus, and the TUC, having colluded with employers and government, feigns outrage. Who do they think theyre fooling? OSullivans case must be widely supported by workers and calls for his immediate reinstatement be intensified throughout the international working class.

Rick, retired teacher

Rick

All workers should support Dave O'Sullivan because all workers have the right to refuse psychopathic demands to work in dangerous conditionsdemands driven by capitalism's drive for profits at the cost of workers' lives and health. Reinstate Dave O'Sullivan!

Martin, retired teacher

Martin

The treachery of the Unite union bureaucrats knows no bounds! Not only do they collaborate with the bosses to constantly erode drivers wages and conditions, now they conspire with the bosses to sack workers who are determined to fight for their most basic rights! In this case, literally, the right to life! I offer my full support to brother Dave O'Sullivan in his just fight for reinstatement! I urge all workers everywhere to do likewise.

To get involved with the work of the CFPE, contact them at cfpe.aus@gmail.com or visit their Facebook or Twitter pages.
UK teachers are threatened with an extended work day in the next academic year. The governments post-Covid recovery plan is placing the burden of catch-up learning on already overstretched schools and teachers.

Ministers are considering two plans: A compulsory 30-minute extension of the school daywhich would focus on academic catch-upor an extension of the school day from 8am-6pm, with the extra time used for voluntary extracurricular activities.

Sir Kevan Collins, the education recovery commissioner, is leading the initiative, having said previously that teachers will be asked to increase learning time for pupils as part of the catch-up effort. Arguing that a voluntary approach will not work, Collins favours a compulsory extension in order to guarantee that disadvantaged pupils attend.

Alex Dickerson the reception class teacher, left leads the class at the Holy Family Catholic Primary School in Greenwich, London, Monday, May 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Collins is no stranger to squeezing value out of public services. In his 2009-2012 role as chief executive of the Labour Party-run London Borough of Tower Hamlets, he implemented 50 million in cuts over three years.

Whatever plan is enforced on schools will intensify the exploitation of education workers, already exhausted by the governments schools policies since the beginning of the pandemic.

The government is utilising the coronavirus crisis to usher in long-planned education restructuring. This takes place amid an unprecedented increase in teacher workload related to the pandemic. In January, Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelled A level and GCSE exams, but their replacement has put a huge burden on teachers.

Secondary school staff have been tasked with carrying out assessments to replace the cancelled exams for secondary pupils. Teachers have been placed under intense pressure and media scrutiny to carry out the marking, moderation and awarding of teacher assessed grades (TAGs).

The assessments that have been introduced expose the government lie that pupils have been herded back into school for their own well-being. Pupils in Year 11 and 13 have been put under intense pressure to perform, with some reports of pupils having over 30 different assessments over a two-week period. After all that these children have been through over the past year, they are now brought back from lockdown to be assessed!

Teachers are assessing, standardising, marking and moderating assessments with no extra time given to undertake a role usually done by the exam boards. The Scottish National Party government in Holyrood have given teachers in Scotland an insulting one-off payment of 400 for the extra workload. Nothing has been forthcoming from Boris Johnsons Westminster government.

Last month, children's author Michael Rosen prompted a storm of against the prime minister after tweeting, Dear Boris Johnson, You said that GCSE exams for this year were cancelled. They're not cancelled. They're called 'assessments'. And instead of examiners marking them, teachers are. For no money. But the schools have paid the exam boards. Where's the money?

@SebsJoPatrick replied to Rosen As a teacher; the time I am using to mark my year 11 assessments has an impact on the amount of time I have to plan engaging lessons for pupils lower down the school. Everyone is suffering through this. Any love for education is being eroded and it will just keep happening.

According to a YouGov survey released last week, a third of all teachers are planning to leave the profession in the next five years, and 16 percent in the next year. The pandemic has compounded a longstanding teacher retention problem. According to the latest report from the Education Policy Institute, as of 2019 just two-thirds of early career teachers remained in the profession five years after they joineddown from 72 percent in 2010.

The cost of examination board fees also reveals the profits being made through the privatisation of the education system. If a school enters a large group of Year 11s sitting 10 GCSEs each, it is likely to cost the school between 75,000 and 100,000.

As a result, 2,000 headteachers have demanded a return of exam board fees. Headteachers say that the refundswhich would total around 220 millionwould help fill the gaping holes in school budgets. The education sector has suffered a decade of funding cuts and been hit with countless extra costs related to the pandemic. The government has provided entirely inadequate additional funding and a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found that 30 percent of Covid-related spending on education in England is due to come from existing budgets.

The National Education Union (NEU) have played down the extra work that secondary teachers have had to undertake this term, blocking teachers demands for a fightback against intolerable conditions.

The union has limited itself to creating an FAQ page regarding issues of workload and well-being, conducting a survey of members and writing a meekly worded letter to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson calling for a token one-off payment for teachers. It states: Marking assessment or evidence of student performance for grades has added an average 12 hours per week to the usual workload of teachers.

We therefore urge you to offer teachers a one-off payment of 500 for their extra work relating to qualification grading.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson (credit: Wikimedia Commons-Kuhlmann/ MSC)

Williamson has repeatedly declared war on teachers, working with the right-wing media to paint them as lazy. He organised the mass reopening of schools with deadly consequences, including threatening legal action against individual schools to keep them open during the winter surge. To appeal to this figure is an insult to education workers. The NEUs proposal also accepts the unmanageable demands being placed on teachers, in exchange for a pathetic 500.

Teachers on social media responded angrily to joint NEU secretary Mary Bousted tweeting Where is the recompense for teachers in England?

@physics_jamie asked, What is the unions stance on this exam fiasco? Teachers are performing the role of exam boards and getting nothing other than heightened stress and anxiety. If there was ever a time to stand up for teachers.........

@SiintheYate added, I'll be honest, it's why I'm not a member. With respect to them, there's just too much posturing. Lip service. Nothing of substance.

Educators must draw the lessons. Bousted proudly declared at the 2021 conference that teachers dont mind working hard. The profession already works the most unpaid overtime of any profession, with working weeks regularly exceeding 50 hours, and 55 hours for leaders.

The unions have formally condemned the increase in workload and the governments refusal to increase teachers paymeaning a real-terms cutbut are organising no action in response. They cannot claim they lack the resources. The education unions have around a million members between them and have vast sums of money sitting in their bank accounts.

Educators must take the struggle into their own hands. They must not allow their working conditions to be eroded any further and refuse any compulsory measures imposed on them by the government and the unions.

The fight against the pandemic, for a safe workplace, decent pay and conditions, and for a fully resourced education system based on scientific theories of child learning and development requires new organisations of struggle independent of the unionsa network of rank-and-file committees which work to unite workers across sectors and borders in a common struggle for socialism. We call on teachers, parents and students to take up this fight and join the Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee today.
On Monday evening, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron protested official revelations of electronic spying by the US National Security Agency (NSA), aided by Danish intelligence, targeting top German, French, Norwegian and Swedish officials. The targets included Merkel, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and former social-democratic chancellor candidate Peer Steinbruck.

Eight years ago, in 2013, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed mass NSA electronic spying and data collection targeting the entire world. Since then, revelations of mass spying by NATO intelligence agencies have gone hand in hand with stepped-up monitoring and censorship of the Internet and social media. The fact that top European officials were targeted for years after Snowdens revelations, amid US assurances that they would not be spied upon, underscores that no one is protected from the massive, ongoing electronic dragnet.

French President Emanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Snowden, now exiled in Russia, wrote on Twitter, There should be an explicit requirement for full public disclosure not only from Denmark, but their senior partner as well. Referring to Bidens upcoming trip to Europe on June 11-13, Snowden pointed to Bidens record as vice president under Obamas NSA spying operations: Biden is well-prepared to answer for this when he soon visits Europe since, of course, he was deeply involved in this scandal the first time around.

NSA use of Danish assets to spy on European politicians was revealed on Sunday evening by an extensive report by Danish public television (DR), citing anonymous Danish official sources. This report, the product of high-level collaboration between leading European media, was shared with the Suddeutsche Zeitung and NDR and WDR television in Germany, Le Monde in France, Swedish public broadcaster SVT and Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.

The operation, code-named Operation Dunhammer, involved a collaboration between the NSA and Danish Military Intelligence ( Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste, FE), which handed over Internet data traffic passing through Denmark to be searched by the NSA. The FE launched its own internal investigation of the program in 2015, however. The DR writes, The investigation was carried out by four hackers and intelligence analysts who studied US-Danish collaboration using great secrecy, so the NSA would not become aware of the FE investigation.

They found that the NSA was searching through this data using phone numbers and other personal data of many top European officials. One Danish source told DR that the NSA got everything they used their phones for. It is impossible to deny that this was a targeted spying operation. Another said, This is an affair that is emerging as the greatest intelligence scandal in Danish history.

Due to its strategic location between Britain, continental Europe, Scandinavia and Russia, Denmark is critical for spying on EU-Russia communications. Collaboration on this, another Danish official told DR, has strategic significance for US-Danish relations. As a result, even after Operation Dunhammer was formally ended in 2015, FE officials have kept collaborating with NSA spying.

In 2018, however, the 2015 FE report on Operation Dunhammer was leaked to Denmarks Intelligence Oversight Authority (TET), which investigated the report.

Last August, several top FE officials were sacked without explanation. Thomas Ahrenkiel, who ran the FE during Operation Dunhammer, was recalled as Danish Ambassador to Germany, and his successor Lars Findsen was sacked for hiding information on FE operations from the government. Significantly, this mass sacking of top Danish intelligence officials came just after Defense Minister Tine Bramsen received the Operation Dunhammer report. DR also cited a TET press statement that concluded that the FE launched operational activities in violation of Danish law.

These events again expose the universal character of NATO intelligence agencies online spying, aimed above all at the working class. While the NSA undoubtedly has dedicated the most resources and infrastructure to electronic spying, Snowdens courageous revelations also helped bring to light mass electronic surveillance in Germany, France and other EU countries.

Moreover, NSA documents leaked by Snowden show that in 2013 the NSA already had five ongoing partnerships like the one now revealed with Denmark.

Shortly after Snowdens revelations, the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) contrasted the mass sympathy for him with the universal hostility of capitalist governments, writing :

While Snowdens actions have met with support and gratitude from workers and young people in the US and across the planet, that is not the case with the governments that rule them. All of them bow to the bullying from Washington. Like the US government, they defend wealthy ruling classes under conditions of ever-widening social inequality, and like Washington, they fear that their conspiracies against their own people will be exposed to the light of day.

The WSWS added that EU countries, who refused Snowden asylum, were doubtless concerned that material in his possession will implicate their own governments in similar crimes.

This analysis, fully borne out by subsequent events, again illuminates the EU powers muted initial response to this weeks revelations in Denmark. Berlin issued a statement on Monday morning that it is in contact with all national and international partners to obtain clarification. The Elysee presidential palace in Paris refused Le Mondes request for comment, instead, sending Junior Minister for European Affairs Clement Beaune to speak to France-Info.

Snowdens whistleblowing revealed US wiretapping of Washingtons EU allies, including Merkel, forcing Obama to issue empty promises to halt spying on EU officials in January 2014. Beaune nevertheless claimed it was unclear whether Washington spies on EU officials. It is very serious, we must see if our EU, Danish partners committed mistakes or errors in their cooperation with US agencies, he said. He called to verify the correctness of the report, adding, And on the American side, we should see if there was  listening, spying on political officials.

On Monday evening, at a summit on Franco-German military cooperation on the war in Mali and plans for new joint fighter plane and tank systems, Macron and Merkel spoke on the issue. This is not acceptable between allies, and even less between allies and European partners, Macron said, adding, We requested that our Danish and American partners provide all the information on these revelations and on these past facts. We are awaiting these answers.

Merkel said she could only agree with Macrons statements, adding that she was reassured by the Danish governments criticisms of NSA spying. She said, Apart from establishing the facts, this is a good starting point to arrive at relations that are truly based on mutual trust.

In fact, these revelations again highlight the insoluble conflicts inside the NATO alliance, revealed by Trumps earlier threats to slap billions of dollars in tariffs on EU exports to the United States and to retaliate against firms involved in EU military projects. One of these threats, which occurred as the Operation Dunhammer investigation was underway, was Trumps offer to buy Greenland from Denmark. He then denounced Denmarks refusal to sell its Arctic territory, while then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced Chinas commercial presence in Greenland.

While Biden has been at pains to downplay these commercial and military tensions, casting his election as paving the way for improved US-EU relations, none of the underlying conflicts over control of world markets and strategic advantage have been resolved. Moreover, it seems likely the FEs Operation Dunhammer file will reveal that Obamas January 2014 assurances that the NSA would stop spying on top EU officials were lies.

Above all, nearly a decade after Snowdens revelations, it is ever more apparent that the central target of electronic spying is the working class. Massive data collection programs have enabled not only surveillance but censoring of social media posts and the identification and legal targeting of workers engaged in social protests, such as the yellow vest movement in France. The defense of fundamental democratic rights requires the international political mobilization of the working class against the reactionary scheming of imperialist military and intelligence agencies.
In the interest of reopening schools as soon as possible, hundreds of K-12 school districts, private schools, and universities across the US have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in federal relief funding provided by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to purchase Needle Point Bipolar Ionizers (NBPIs), supposedly to clean indoor air and kill coronavirus particles.

Despite their lofty claims to neutralize virus particles, recent independent studies show that NBPIs do not improve indoor air quality. A recently filed class action lawsuit consolidates the science by air quality experts and puts forward strong refutations against the claims made by manufacturers, and echoed by hundreds of districts and campuses across the country, that NBPIs are safe and remove pathogens including SARS-CoV-2 from the air.

Air ioniser and purifier with its dust collection plates removed (Credit: Wikimedia)

Michael Mills, one of the attorneys on the case, told the World Socialist Web Site, The evidence is overwhelming. We are convinced we are right. I dont know how districts can continue to use these products. If teachers or students get sick, these districts have zero protection.

The lawsuit was filed last month against Global Plasma Solutions (GPS), a top selling manufacturer of NBPIs. The suit charges the company with fraud and claims the company used false, deceptive and misleading claims to sell its products and capitalize from the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of the mad dash to reopen schools, ionizers have been installed in classrooms, school buses, offices, gymnasiums and cafeterias, providing a false sense of protection from COVID-19. Furthermore, harmful byproducts produced by the technology place the health and safety of millions of students and staff at heightened risk.

GPS and other manufacturers of NBPIs claim that their ionizers remove over 99 percent of SARS-CoV-2 particles from the air. However, a recent peer reviewed study led by three universities revealed that NBPIs had an entirely negligible effect on removing the airborne particles of coronavirus and only reduced 20-30 percent of the virus from surfaces.

Dr. Delphine Farmer, a leading researcher in the study, recently explained to the WSWS that ionizers do not actually accomplish their bold claims in real world settings. GPS based its claims of a 99 percent removal of coronavirus from the air on a company-funded study conducted in a shoe box-sized container (not a room or classroom). Instead of neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 particles in the air, the devices instead produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

According to the lawsuit, independent studies cited in the case documents show that the products are not only ineffective at cleaning the air in real world conditions, but byproducts from the devices include the following harmful toxins:

Acetone: long-term exposure can produce damage to kidneys, liver, skin, central nervous system and reproductive system.

Ethanol: chronic intermittent ethanol vapor exposure produces widespread significant tissue injury including hepatic, pulmonary, and cardiovascular changes.

Toluene: long-term inhalation of toluene can cause permanent damage to the brain, muscles, heart, and kidneys.

Butyraldehyde: inhalation of Butyraldehyde can irritate the lungs, causing coughing and shortness of breath, while higher exposures can cause a pulmonary edema.

In addition to the above toxins, Dr. Marwa Zaatari, a mechanical engineer, expert on indoor air quality and member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) epidemic task force, also warns that ionizers have been shown to produce ozone and formaldehyde.

GPS and other companies selling these snake oil ionizer devices have profited tremendously off of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the lawsuit documents, GPS, which was founded in 2008, had a previous focus on providing energy savings solutions. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the companys focus shifted, and in CEO Glenn Brinckmans words, its all about pathogens and coronavirus and COVID-19.

ActivePure Technology, which employs former Trump adviser Dr. Deborah Birx as its chief medical and science adviser, is another company profiting from ionizers. A recent LinkedIn job ad for the company recruiting salespeople stated, Make Tons of Money with this COVID-killing Technology!!...We have reps [who] made over 6-figures in 1 month selling to 1 school district. Foaming at the mouth over the profits to be made, the ad exclaims, By the way, the company is expanding by triple digits each month and this is just the tip of the iceberg!

These technologies are being utilized by districts to provide a false sense of security and reassurance to concerned students, staff and parents who have faced a relentless barrage of propaganda to send them back to unsafe classrooms. Significantly, when a recent statement from Columbia County School District in Georgia announced masks are no longer a requirement in classrooms, officials sought to reassure their community that the continued use of ionizers in classrooms and on buses would provide adequate protection from COVID-19.

The installation of ionizers also solves another issue for districts, as they are far less costly and have no industry standards compared to proven mitigation strategies for improving indoor air quality, such as updating Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems, using Merv-13 filters, and operating HVAC systems at high efficiency in order to ensure at least five complete air exchanges per hour.

The lawsuit itself shows that opposition among parents, educators, and students has emerged in response to haphazard reopening campaigns which have allowed schools and workplaces to transform into sites of spread and infection of the virus.

Concerned parents of Montclair Public Schools in New Jersey expressed opposition to the use of GPS ionizers in classrooms during an April school board meeting. Parents cited independent scientific papers, articles and letters from experts in air quality, and in response the district disconnected the devices until further notice.

Superintendent Mark Triplett of Newark Unified School District in California recently announced the district will turn off all 556 ionizers it installed from GPS until further notice. According to local news media, Triplett sent an email to the entire district on Tuesday, saying the district had been made aware of a proposed class action lawsuit filed against Global Plasma Solutions in Delaware.

The San Diego Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee has called for ionizers to be shut off in the Sweetwater Union High School District, and urges educators, parents and students across the US and globally to form similar committees to fight for safety and the defense of public education. All educators and workers concerned with placing the highest levels of safety in classrooms and workplaces should contact the WSWS today to build a committee in your schools and district.
Bitter in-fighting is wracking the Australian Labor Party and its associated trade union apparatuses in the wake of the partys disastrous result in a state by-election on May 22 that revealed the further collapse of their support in working-class areas.

Two particularly right-wing party apparatchiks, Chris Minns and Michael Daley, are currently vying to replace another member of Labors Right faction, Jodie McKay, as Labors New South Wales (NSW) state leader after party powerbrokers ultimately forced her to resign several days after the result.

Chris Minns (Credit: nswlabor.org.au)

Labor received just 21 percent of primary votes, down 7.3 percent in three years, in the NSW electorate of Upper Hunter. That allowed the unstable Liberal-National Coalition government in the countrys most populous state to hold the seat and cling to office despite lacking a parliamentary majority.

Although the Upper Hunter is a mixed rural electorate, with some affluent layers, Labors vote plunged most in working-class mining-related towns, such as Singleton, where it fell from almost 40 percent to less than 25 percent.

The dramatic loss of working-class support was not simply a local phenomenon or confined to mineworkers. The debacle mirrored that of the May 1 Tasmanian state election, where a Liberal Party government suffered an electoral swing against it for the second election in a row, but survived because Labors vote plunged to just 28.4 percent, a near-record low.

These results are deepening the trend seen in the 2019 federal election, when Labors vote fell to just 33.3 percent, the lowest level in 85 years, permitting Prime Minister Scott Morrisons widely detested Coalition government to remain in power. In 2019 too, the decline in Labors vote was sharpest in working-class areas hit by deteriorating employment and social conditions.

This electoral collapse has continued despite Labors recent state election wins in Western Australia and Queensland, which were based on cynically posturing as opponents of the Morrison governments most bellicose demands for economic reopening amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Labors latest failure in Upper Hunter was even more telling because its candidate, Jeff Drayton, who was billed as a local coal miner, was in fact a full-time official of the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining Energy Union (CFMMEU). For decades, the CFMMEU, like every other trade union, has worked closely with the employers, presiding over the destruction of workers jobs and conditions, including the imposition of continuous 12-hour shifts in coal mines.

Amid the ongoing political shockwaves, immense pressure is being applied by Labors federal and state party machines and union faction bosses to prevail on Daley to quit the leadership contest, so as to prevent the partys dwindling membership from taking part in a ballot that would take several weeks to finalise.

Whatever the outcome, the new leader will shift Labor even further to the right, toward a more explicit bipartisan partnership with the state and federal Coalition governments in response to the pandemic and the accompanying corporate offensive against workers jobs, wages and conditions.

Minns, the Right factions former Labor state assistant secretary, is campaigning in the media for the job by pledging to work positively, rather than criticise the Liberal-National state government of Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Interviewed by the Murdoch medias Sky News, he declared: Whether youre on the governments side or the oppositions side, we are all on team New South Wales as we try and get through this horrible disease.

For months, Berejiklian, together with Morrison, has aggressively pushed the financial elites demands for the lifting of all pandemic safety restrictions, regardless of the global surge of more virulent and dangerous COVID-19 mutations, in order to boost corporate profit-making.

Minns has the evident support of the Murdoch outlets. Australian senior writer and columnist Troy Bramston yesterday declared Minns to be the only credible leader for NSW Labor, which Bramston described as a snake pit of competing ambitions, simmering hatreds and festering recriminations.

Minns, 41, is a typical life-long Labor hack, having been a party official or parliamentary staff member for years, but according to Bramston he is the best hope of uniting and putting a new face on Labor, rather than being a negative and carping opposition.

Daley, also from the Right faction, is an ex-party leader who was earlier a senior minister in the states last corruption scandal-plagued Labor governments of Premiers Nathan Rees and Kristina Keneally before Labor was swept from office by an election landslide in 2011.

Daley led Labor to defeat at the 2019 state election after a video emerged of him inciting hostility toward Asian immigrants. Daley said: Our young children will flee and who are they being replaced with? They are being replaced by young people from typically Asia with PhDs. So theres a transformation happening in Sydney now where our kids are moving out and foreigners are moving in and taking their jobs.

Daleys remarks were fully in line with the putrid nationalism and xenophobia peddled by the trade unions that control the numbers in the Labor Party. His offence was to be caught on tape making such explicit anti-Asian statements in order to scapegoat immigrant workers for the accelerating corporate attacks on jobs and conditions.

Having seen the media backing for Minns, senior federal and state Labor MPs have started taking to the airwaves to publicly endorse him. They are hoping to avoid a weeks-long ballot that would only further expose the rot of the partys membership, which mostly consists of members of parliament and their staffers, party and union officials, and party career aspirants.

Among those speaking out are federal shadow assistant treasurer Stephen Jones and former state deputy leader Penny Sharpe, a leading member of Labors nominal Left faction. I hope there isnt a contest, Jones told Sky News on Monday. This is something the Labor Party doesnt need.

Some of the acrimonious brawling inside the Labor Party came into public view following the Upper Hunter result, when Minns and Labors state treasury spokesman Walt Secord resigned from Labors shadow state cabinet after accusing the Labor leadership of circulating a dirt file against Minns.

A file titled Why Chris Minns and Jamie Clements can never run the NSW Labor Party was spread from the office of deputy state Labor leader Yasmin Catley, who later resigned alongside McKay. Clements, a factional ally of Minns, was the former Labor state general secretary who resigned in 2016 amid allegations of sexual harassment and raising donations from a billionaire Chinese property developer.

After the 2019 federal defeat, Labor installed Anthony Albanese as its national leader in order to execute an explicit pro-business shift. He abandoned Labors phony election rhetoric about ensuring a fair go for all and vowed to appeal to successful people, that is, the wealthiest layers of society. Minns has pledged to take the same course.

Throughout the pandemic, Labor nationally has shored up Morrisons shaky Coalition government, providing constructive backing for its multi-billion dollar subsidies for big business and its allocation of $575 billion for military spending to prepare to participate in a US war against China. Labors state and territory government leaders joined the federal governments bipartisan National Cabinet, which has presided over the gross vaccination and quarantine failures, as part of the subordination of public health and safety to corporate profit interests.

But Labors electoral and political crisis is more fundamental. It reflects decades of being transformed into the most ruthless enforcer of the dictates of the corporate elite in partnership with the union apparatuses, especially since the Hawke and Keating federal Labor governments of 1983 to 1996 and their succession of Accords with the unions.
This week marks the centenary of the Tulsa, Oklahoma race massacre, one of the deadliest and most destructive antiblack pogroms in the history of the United States.

Officials confirmed 39 deaths26 black and 13 white peoplebut it is estimated that the true toll could be as high as 300, with many African American victims uncounted and buried in mass graves. An Oklahoma state commission estimated in 2001 that the present day cost of the damage was $30 million.

Excavation begins anew at Oaklawn Cemetery in a search for victims of the Tulsa race massacre believed to be buried in a mass grave, June 1, 2021, in Tulsa, Oklahoma (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

On the night of May 31 and into June 1, 1921, a marauding mob of several thousand armed white men with the complicity of the police rampaged through the segregated African American section of Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as Greenwood, looting and burning businesses and homes. Eyewitnesses relayed that airplanes flew overhead, dropping firebombs onto rooftops.

Black residents, many of them veterans of World War I, fought back with rifles and pistols, but it was not enough to hold back the mob. When the attack subsided and the smoke cleared, 35 square blocks of Greenwood had been burnt to the ground, including the business district and the citys largest African American church. Some 1,470 homes were burned or looted. With the aid of deputized marauders, 6,000 black residents were rounded up by the police and National Guard and imprisoned for several days. Many men were held in the livestock pens at the citys fairgrounds.

The trigger for the violent rampage was an encounter between Dick Rowland, a black 19-year-old shoeshiner, and Sarah Page, a white 17-year-old elevator operator, in an elevator in downtown Tulsa on May 30, 1921.

According to the most widely accepted account, Rowland had tripped on Pages foot and grabbed her arm, and she screamed out before running away. There is speculation that the two had a romantic relationship, and Page refused to pursue charges against Rowland. The next day Rowland was arrested and charged with attempting to rape a white woman, an accusation that had ended in the violent lynching of many other black men. The Tulsa Tribune ran an article with the headline, Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in Elevator.

Fearing that Rowland would be lynched, a group of armed black men twice went to the courthouse to offer to protect him but were denied by the police. On the second occasion, a white man attempted to disarm a black veteran. A shot was fired, triggering the violence that ensued.

The Tulsa massacre is a genuinely horrific moment in American history, which has been concealed from public consciousness for far too long and has never been dealt with and confronted as it should. Its commemoration and memorialization should be welcomed. However, like all such events, how it is presented and analyzed is critical to drawing the necessary political lessons.

Destruction from the 1921 Tulsa race massacre

How could such an outrage take place nearly 60 years after the end of the Civil War, in which tens of thousands of white men died to end slavery? The narrative that is now being promoted is one that focuses entirely on race. It would be absurd to remove race and racism from the narrative, as the victims were overwhelmingly African American. However, it is impossible to understand what happened, and why, except within its broader historical and political context.

The period surrounding 1921 was one of intense class conflict, to which the ruling class responded with savage violence.

The United States experienced its largest strike wave to date in the years between 1916 and 1922. In spite of the American Federation of Labors efforts to keep workers on the job during the war, more than 1 million went on strike each year.

The growth of the class struggle throughout the world was intensified by the Russian Revolution of 1917, which showed that it was possible for the working class to take political power into their own hands. In February 1919, more than 65,000 workers in Seattle, Washington participated in a five-day general strike, part of a massive strike wave that involved 4.5 million workers that year. The Communist Party was founded in the United States at the end of 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party.

The American ruling class responded to this radicalization by launching an open war against the working class. No ruling class feared more the influence of Bolshevism than the American bourgeoisie. Every form of prejudice was promoted, against Italians, Irish, Catholics and Jews. African American workers were often brought from the South to the North by company bosses to be used as strike breakers, with the express aim of inflaming racial tensions.

The US entry into World War I and its aftermath gave rise to a wave of political reaction across the United States known as the First Red Scare, much of it centered on stamping out labor radicals. Internationally, fascism was on the rise in Italy under the leadership of Benito Mussolini, and Hitler was consolidating his control over the fledgling Nazi Party in Germany.

This was the period of the Palmer Raids, anti-immigrant hysteria, the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti, and the transformation of the FBI, with J. Edgar Hoover at the helm, into a national police force devoted to the struggle against left-wing radicalism. Immigrants and socialist union organizers, who opposed the war or failed to swear their loyalty, were imprisoned and lynched. Socialist Party of America leader Eugene Debs was arrested in 1918 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for giving a speech opposing US intervention in the world war.

The lynching of African Americans intensified, especially as a growing number of veterans returning home from the war in Europe challenged Jim Crow restrictions. Democratic President Woodrow Wilson expressed his concern in private remarks in March 1919 that the American Negro returning from abroad would be our greatest medium in conveying Bolshevism to America. The modern Ku Klux Klan, which terrorized European immigrants and African Americans, boasted half a million members throughout the country by 1921.

The massacre in Greenwood was preceded by the Tulsa Outrage in 1917, when the Knights of Liberty, an outfit similar to the KKK, drove 12 members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), who were organizing oil workers, out of town, tarring, feathering and whipping them.

The Socialist Party of Oklahoma, which had over 9,000 dues-paying members in the state in 1916, was subjected to repeated attacks for opposing the war and defending equal rights for African Americans. Its 1912 platform upheld the basic socialist principle that safety and advancement of the working class depends upon its solidarity and class consciousness. Those who would engender or foster race hatred or animosity between the white and black sections of the working class are the enemies of both. The party was disbanded in 1917 under the pressure of intense persecution by vigilantes and state prosecution and after the suppression of the Green Corn Rebellion, an interracial uprising against wartime conscription in central Oklahoma.

Reaction reared its head far and wide in these years. Frank Little, a member of the IWWs General Executive Board, was lynched in Butte, Montana in 1917 while fighting to organize miners. Little was grabbed by masked men, beaten and dragged from the back of a car before being hanged from a bridge on the edge of town. IWW member Wesley Everest was castrated and lynched in Centralia, Washington after a deadly confrontation with members of the American Legion in November 1919.

The Red Summer of 1919 saw attacks on black neighborhoods by white mobs in at least 60 cities. In the worst instance of urban violence, 38 were killed in fighting in Chicago, 23 black and 15 white persons, after a black youth was stoned to death by a white mob at a beach on the segregated lakefront. That year also saw the Elaine Massacre, in which up to 237 African Americans and five whites were killed. The attack was part of an effort to crush the unionization of poor black sharecroppers and tenant farmers across Arkansas.

Just three months after Tulsa, between August and September 1921, 10,000 striking miners squared off with police and company strike breakers in West Virginia in the Battle of Blair Mountain. As many as 100 miners were killed and 1,000 arrested. The miners strike was finally broken by a combined assault of the US Army, West Virginia National Guard, the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency, and local and state police. A million rounds were fired, and airplanes were used to drop bombs on entrenched miners.

A man stands in front of his home which was destroyed during the attack on Greenwood

A review of the historical background and context of the Tulsa massacre makes clear that it was part of a broader offensive of the ruling class against left-wing and socialist opposition in the working class. Racism was promoted as part of this offensive, employed consciously to divide workers and utilized as a spearhead of political reaction.

The massacre in Tulsa is presented by the Democratic Party and the mainstream media as the product of the all-consuming racial hatred that all whites hold toward blacks. As with the 1619 Project, which posits that American history is driven by white racism and that blacks have fought back alone, this narrative is anti-historical and profoundly dangerous, stoking racial animosities that have been created to weaken and divide the working class.

President Joe Biden issued a proclamation Monday declaring a national day of remembrance and calling on Americans to reflect on the deep roots of racial terror in our Nation and recommit to the work of rooting out systemic racism across our country. On Tuesday he traveled to Tulsa, where he met with survivors of the massacre, and announced vague policy proposals that he claimed would close the wealth gap between blacks and whites and combat racial discrimination in the housing market.

Historical falsifications have contemporary political motives and consequences. The current effort to blame systemic racism for all of societys ills and to portray the United States as torn between white America and black America absolves the capitalists of any responsibility, places blame on the general population, especially white workers, and pits workers against each other along racial lines.

The most fundamental problem of the socialist movement in the United States has been the fight to unify all workers in one of the most racially and ethnically diverse countries in the world. It is only on this basis that all forms of backwardness and reaction can be vanquished and the rights and interests of all workers defended.

There will be no solution to the social and economic problems which black workers confront today outside of a united struggle of workers in the US and internationally against the capitalist system and the fight for socialismthe establishment of the democratic control over society by the working class and the end of the profit system.
There is growing anger among workers internationally over the New Zealand Labour Party-led governments decision to end the manned underground investigation of Pike River mine. The government is reneging on its 2017 election promise to properly investigate the mine and retrieve evidence for the prosecution of those responsible for the 2010 disaster that killed 29 men.

Despite overwhelming evidence that the mine was a death trap, and that warnings about explosive levels of methane gas were continually ignored, no one has been held accountable for the mines criminal safety breaches. Police insisted they could not lay charges against Pike River Coals managers and executives without physical evidence.

Dean Dunbar, whose son Joseph was just 17 when he died at Pike River, at the families blockade in 2016. (Source: Uncensored Pike Facebook group)

After recovering the 2.2km drift or entry tunnel, however, Minister for Pike River Recovery Andrew Little announced in March that the investigation will not proceed beyond a roof-fall and into the mine workings.

Yesterday, Stuff reported that Little has rejected a Conceptual Development Plan, written by international mining experts, to continue the underground investigation in order to examine vital evidence, including the main ventilation unit. The plan was written on behalf of the Pike River Families Committee, which represents 23 of the 29 families, who are demanding that the Labour Party-led government reverse its decision.

The World Socialist Web Site has received nearly 100 responses from readers throughout the world to its May 21 perspective Justice for the 29 miners killed at New Zealands Pike River! calling for an international campaign by workers to support the Families Committees demand to open the mine and continue the investigation. We have published powerful statements from readers in New Zealand and internationally, including former miners and their relatives, who have watched in disgust as government agencies and the judicial system have protected the companys leadership for more than a decade.

Expressing sentiments shared by many, Tracey stated: Everyone deserves the right to know what happened in the mine and [to] hold people accountable. This was no accident and could happen again.

Others denounced Little's claims that the government has competing priorities and his priority is the living. Rachel wrote: This is really about protecting big business. Protecting the working class of New Zealand does not appear to be a priority. Neither is compassion or closure for all the victims of the Pike River disaster, either living or deceased.

There has also been major support for a Facebook post by Olivia Monk, whose brother Michael died at Pike River, demanding accountability and a full investigation. The post has received 170 shares, 115 comments and 865 reactions. Hundreds more people have commented in support of the families in Facebook groups including Uncensored Pike and Supporting the Recovery of our Pike 29.

An online petition launched this week titled Help stop critical evidence in Pike River Mine from being locked away forever! has so far received over 550 signatures.

The sentiments of working people stand in stark contrast to the entire political establishment. Labour, its coalition partner the Greens, the right-wing NZ First Party (which is no longer in parliament) and the opposition National and ACT Parties all support, either tacitly or openly, the decision to shut down the re-entry. Standing with them are all the New Zealand unions, which remain silent about the campaign to uncover the truth about how and why 29 workers died.

The growing support for the Pike River families has been met with a conspiracy of silence by virtually the entire corporate and state-owned media, which is helping the government to bury the issue.

Neither the WSWSs campaign nor the petition mentioned above have been reported anywhere in the media. Stuff is the only publication, apart from the WSWS, that reported on the Facebook statement by Olivia Monk, and the support for the Pike families from Fiona Kidman, one of New Zealands most acclaimed writers.

Following reports by Newshub and Stuff, there has been almost no reporting about the Conceptual Development Plan, which demolishes the governments claims that it is too difficult or dangerous to enter the mine workings. The authors include Tony Forster, a highly-respected expert who worked as NZs chief inspector of mines from 2013 to 2016, and who previously advised the governments Pike River Recovery Agency. Forster resigned from the agency in March, telling Stuff no one is listening.

The New Zealand Herald, the countrys largest circulation newspaper, published just two misleading sentences, buried at the end of an article on May 18: Last week, some of the Pike River families released a possible plan on how to go past a rockfall to the fan. A process they say would take 12 weeks and cost under $8 million.

The Herald chose not to inform its readers that the plan was the work of international mining experts, and that it is backed not by some families, but by the overwhelming majority.

The state-owned broadcasters TVNZ and Radio NZ have not reported on the expert plan, apart from a link to Stuff s May 11 article in a news round-up on TVNZs web site. The Radio NZ web sites most recent story on Pike River is from April 8, nearly two months ago, when it reported Littles insistence that there would be no more funding for the re-entry.

Newstalk ZB, the radio station with the largest audience, is completely silent. On March 26, its right-wing host Mike Hosking, who has long opposed the Pike River families fight for justice and defended chief executive Peter Whittall, praised Andrew Little as my political hero of the week for refusing to provide more funding for the investigation.

The trade union bureaucracy is likewise backing the government. An appeal for support sent by the Pike River Families Committee to the Council of Trade Unions weeks ago has not been answered. The E tu union, which purports to represent miners, told the WSWS on May 5 that it supports the governments position regarding not re-entering the main mine.

The pseudo-left groups that function as cheerleaders for the unionsSocialist Aotearoa, the International Socialist Organisation and Organise Aotearoaremain completely silent on Pike River.

None of this is accidental. The unions long ago ceased to be workers organisations: they are integrated into the operations of the state and big business. Their staff are part of a privileged upper middle class social layer, which defends capitalism against working class opposition.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), which is now called E tu, was complicit in the Pike River disaster, which killed 11 of its members. Union officials knew about dangerous conditions in the mine, including the lack of a proper emergency exit, but made no public criticism of the company and refused to organise industrial action to shut down production.

Following the first explosion, EPMU leader Andrew Little defended Pike River Coal, telling Radio NZ and the Herald that there was nothing unusual about the mine and the union had no concerns about the companys operations.

For his services to big business, Little was elevated to the role of Labour Party leader in 2014. He was replaced by Jacinda Ardern shortly before the 2017 election, and now he serves as the Minister responsible for Pike River Re-entry.

The political and media establishment, including the unions, are conspiring to bury the Pike River caseliterally and figurativelybecause of their class position as defenders of capitalism.

The government and its supporters undoubtedly fear that the determined stand taken by the Pike River families could inspire broader sections of the working class, who are beginning to enter into struggle against historic attacks on their living standards. Wellington bus drivers are facing attempts to strip them of a week's leave and penalty pay rates; tens of thousands of nurses are preparing to strike nationwide against an effective pay freeze. A major issue in both disputes is unsafe working conditions caused by lack of staff, long shifts and under-funding.

The refusal to prosecute anyone over Pike River sends a clear message to big businesses that they can continue to operate however they like, with no real consequences if workers are killed or maimed. The working class, in New Zealand and internationally, must support the Pike families. Stop the cover-up! Demand the full investigation of the mine and justice for the Pike 29!
Last month, newly elected Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union (RMT) General Secretary Mick Lynch issued a press statement boasting, Our message to the employers and the politicians is that RMT stands ready to campaign and fight against pay freezes, cuts to safety and conditions We call on the rest of the labour movement to stand strong and mobilise against any new age of austerity which makes working people pay for the Covid crisis.

Mick Lynch (source: RMT)

Outgoing General Secretary Mick Cash insisted, It is crucial that the whole union now unites behind Mick Lynch as General Secretary and gives him the support that he will need as RMT focuses on delivering for our members in what we know will be tough days ahead.

Behind these militant-sounding words, the RMT has joined the Conservative governments Rail Industry Recovery Group (RIRG) that is committed to making the very pay freezes, cuts to safety and conditions and austerity the RMT claims publicly to oppose.

A document marked Strictly Confidential, dated January 13, makes this clear. It sets out the RIRGs terms of reference aimed at slashing wages, jobs, pensions and safety across the rail network and train operating companies.

A document marked Strictly Confidential, dated January 13, sets outs the RIRG's terms of reference, including that train operating companies must achieve sustainability in the short term through cost savings.

Prime Minister Boris Johnsons Conservative government is using the financial crisis triggered by the pandemicincluding the collapse in passenger revenue and the bankruptcy of the train company franchise holders to force a major restructure of the rail network.

Citing the governments 6.5 billion coronavirus subsidies to the rail industry in 2020, the RIRG document declares, the financial commitment from the government is not unlimited and is not sustainable with increasing pressure coming from the Treasury to ensure that the industry remains viable.

Train operating companies must achieve sustainability in the short term through cost savings, the document states. Such cost savings include:

an industry-wide transfer and re-deployment scheme

reviewing existing insourcing and outsourcing arrangements

flexible working

a sustainable pension scheme

safety and overall performance that increases value for money

policies and working practices resulting in reduced costs

This amounts to a declaration of war against rail workers. Staffing costs make up circa 30 percent element of the total operating costs of the railway, the RIRGs document states, making clear where cuts must fall.

During the pandemic, most of the private rail operating companies temporarily relinquished their contracts. Emergency Measures Agreements (EMAs) were put in place, transferring nearly all revenue and cost risk to the public purse. The governments Rail Recovery Plan aims to slash costs before retendering to the likes of Abellio, First, Virgin, etc., who will swoop like vultures to gorge on increased exploitation and profits.

Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris approached rail employers and unions to join the RIRG in mid-December, but the RMT has remained virtually silent on its participation. The sole mention to members was a January 19 letter stating that the RMT executive had agreed in principle that the union would be prepared to participate in such arrangements, despite acknowledging that its aim was to reduce the operational costs of the railway.

By January 13, rail union members of the RIRG had been confirmed: Mick Whelan, the General Secretary of the train drivers union ASLEF; Mick Cash, General Secretary RMT; Manuel Cortes, General Secretary of the white-collar union TSSA; Harish Patel, National Officer for Rail UNITE. They are working together with Andrew Haines, the Chief Executive Network Rail; Steve Montgomery, Managing Director First Rail; Pauline Holroyd, Group Human Resources Director Network Rail; Andy Meadows, Human Resources Director Abellio (Chair); and Leila Rahimzadeh, Industry HR Partner RDG (Governance and Secretariat).

The RMT, ASLEF, TSSA and Unite will report directly to the Tory government. The RIRG will liaise with both the DfT [Department for Transport] and the relevant ministers to ensure that any changes that are introduced are aligned with the key principles set out in the Williams Review.

The Williams Review, chaired by former British Airways chief executive Keith Williams, was initially commissioned by Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps. Its outcome is the joint Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail. This sets out the governments proposals to rescue rail privatisation following the collapse of the private franchise model introduced in 1996. With its announcement last week of the launch of Great British Railways, the Johnson government is seeking to exploit the image of its nationalised predecessor, British Rail. But private companies will operate beneath the new networks umbrella. Chapter six of the review states, The government is determined to maintain and increase private involvement and private finance to supplement the money paid by the state  The RMT created illusions in the review, published a submission to it and opposed any fight to mobilise workers against the governments plans.

Williams review called for a 20 percent reduction in operating costs. Rail unions are now tasked with identifying and implementing the required cutsand more. The document states, It is proposed that the RIRG shall provide a vehicle for employers and unions to consider proposed plans and measures which have been identified as well as consider other ideas necessary to address the funding shortfall. In doing so consideration shall be given by RIRG to how any such measures shall be taken forward.

The RIRG shows the reliance of the Johnson government on its corporatist partnership with the trade unions: It is recognised that RIRG shall provide an additional mechanism for engaging with the trade unions but shall not seek to go outside the existing collective bargaining arrangements unless there is agreement on all sides to do so. While cuts have been achieved at British Gas and elsewhere via the imposition of fire-and-rehire contracts, the Johnson government prefers to utilise its existing collective bargaining arrangements with the rail unions.

Throughout this years RMT elections, not a single candidate denounced the RIRG or called for a withdrawal from the corporatist body. The RIRG was not mentioned by any of the candidates for general secretary. So-called socialist candidate Steve Hedley, who was actively promoted by the pseudo-left Socialist Party and Socialist Workers Party, remained silent on the topic.

Already, in a sign of things to come, a two-year pay freeze was announced at the end of January 2021 for 62,000 rail workers across 22 operating companies. Months later, Cash threatened coordinated national strike action, words which that have since evaporated.

In early April, the BBC published details of an agreement between RMT and South Western Railway (SWR) to remove door operations from train guards, imposing these duties on train drivers. This deal marked the betrayal of a four-year struggle by 900 guards and 40 drivers against Driver Only Operated trains (DOO).

RIRG emerged out of the Rail Industry Coronavirus Forum (RICF). The RMTs participation in this secretive body led to the suppression of strikes throughout the first 12 months of the pandemic. Through its participation in the Tory governments RICF, the RMT has cemented its role as an arm of the state. Its verbal posturing as a militant union is window dressing, aimed at deceiving an angry and restless workforce. The RMT has now been rewarded alongside ASLEF, TSSA and Unite, with a central role in the RIRG.

According to reports on social media, over 3,000 London bus workers have applied to join the RMT, seeking a way forward against Unites open collusion with the bus companies. But the experience of rail workers with the RMT must serve as a sharp warning. Despite the RMTs promotion as a left-wing union, they have the same corporatist and pro-company agenda as Unite. It is essential for bus, rail and London Underground workers to break from the pro-company, corporatist trade unions and form rank-and-file organisations of struggle.
The United States is continuing its provocations over Taiwan in order to ratchet up pressure on Beijing. Both the Democratic Party, with the Joe Biden administration at the forefront, and the Republican Party are manoeuvring to undermine the One China policy without openly crossing Beijings red-line on the issue, an agenda that risks war.

Last Friday, House of Representative members Brad Sherman, a Democrat, and Steve Chabot, a Republican, introduced a bill to Congress called the Taiwan Diplomatic Review Act that would rename the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) as the Taiwan Representative Office.

Biden speaks at The Queen Theater, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, in Wilmington, Del. [Credit: AP Photo/Matt Slocum]

TECRO is the name of the office in Washington of the Taiwan Council for US Affairs (TCUSA), which serves as Taipeis de facto embassy as the US has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The TCUSA is the relatively new name for the body known as the Coordination Council for North American Affairs (CCNAA) until 2019.

The bill, if passed, would call upon the US Secretary of State to enter into negotiations with Taipei to rename the office. Rep. Sherman openly stated the broader political rationale, This bill simply says that it is time for the State Department, and Congress, to take action to elevate our relationship with Taiwan. We should also be taking action to encourage more robust engagement between US and Taiwanese officials.

The proposed bill would also alter the diplomatic status of Taiwanese representatives in Washington by creating a special visa category. These officials currently do not receive diplomatic visas, but investor visas instead. The change is meant to facilitate closer relations between US and Taiwanese officials in line with the agenda set during the Trump administration.

It also includes the Taiwan Envoy Act, which would mean new directors appointed to the American Institute in Taiwanthe de facto US embassy on the islandwould be required to receive Senate confirmation, similar to an ambassador.

The goal of these changes is to elevate Washingtons relationship with Taipei as the US prepares for conflict with Beijing. Taiwan is a self-governing island that the US and other countries recognize under the One China policy as Chinese territory. In 1949, Chiang Kai-sheks Kuomintang was defeated in the Chinese Revolution and forced to flee to Taiwan, previously a colony of Japan, which had been returned to China following World War II.

From then until the 1970s, the US recognized Taipei as the legitimate government of all of China. Taipei even sat on the United Nations Security Council as a permanent member until 1971 when it was expelled from the UN and Beijing was acknowledged as Chinas representative. In 1979, Washington cut formal ties with Taiwan and recognized Beijing as Chinas government while upholding the One China policy.

To recognize Taiwan as an independent country, or to create the conditions for Taipei to declare independence, is a serious threat to Beijing. The ruling Chinese Communist Party will not allow Taiwan to be used as a launch pad for war against mainland China or set a precedent for Western powers to carve up existing Chinese territory in regions like Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Tibet while returning the country to a semi-colonial state. As such, Taiwan represents a red-line for Beijing, which has stated that it will go to war if Taiwan ever declares independence.

Beijings fears of attack are not unfounded as demonstrated through documents recently published by Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers. The new publications revealed that Washington had been prepared to launch nuclear strikes on major Chinese cities in 1958, only five years after the end of the Korean War. To this day, Washington continues to engage in regime change operations around the world, leaving countries like Ukraine, Libya, and Iraq completely devastated.

The danger of war has not given Washington pause as it inches closer to overturning the One China policy. Last Thursday, nominee for assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, Christopher Maier, stated during a Senate hearing that the US should help train special operation forces in Taiwan, in effect, preparing for a guerilla war against China.

Maier stated, I do think that is something that we should be considering strongly as we think about competition across the span of different capabilities we can apply, [special operations forces] being a key contributor to that.

He was backed by rightwing Senator Josh Hawley, who supported Donald Trumps claims of a stolen election. Hawley suggested the US should train forces similar to those it had trained in the Balkans, a region carved up by US and European imperialism and plunged into war following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Since 1979, Washington has backed Taiwan militarily, including training troops, though this has not been officially acknowledged. Last November, Taiwans Naval Command confirmed that US Marines were in Taiwan for training exercises, the first public acknowledgement of such drills in over 40 years. The Ministry of National Defense and the US Pentagon walked back on this acknowledgement given the implications for a clash with Beijing. Therefore, official training exercises would set a dangerous precedent.

Alexander Huang Chieh-cheng, a professor of international relations and strategic studies at Taipeis Tamkang University told the South China Morning Post, [Improving and enlarging] the scale of US-Taiwan cooperation in training of special operations and irregular warfarewill definitely enrage Beijing and add difficulties to US-China and cross-strait relations.

Washington has also encouraged Japan to take a more belligerent stance towards Beijing since Biden took office in January. Following a summit last Thursday between leaders of the European Union and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, the two sides released a joint statement calling for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, the first time Japan and the EU have included Taiwan in such a statement.

The language is nearly identical to that Biden and Suga used following their summit in April. Japans involvement has particular significance as Taiwan was a Japanese colony from 1895 to 1945, after Japan seized it from China during the First Sino-Japanese War.

None of these machinations have anything to do with defending democracy in Taiwan or anywhere else in the Asia-Pacific region. They are, above all, aimed at eliminating China as an economic and strategic competitor to US imperialism, even at the risk of instigating a devastating global war.
Volvo workers: Contact the Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee by email at volvowrfc@gmail.com or by text at (540) 307-0509.

United Auto Workers Local 2069 officials are holding a series of townhall meetings this week to counter opposition from rank-and-file workers to the UAWs six-year contract proposal with Volvo Trucks North America. Nearly 3,000 workers at the New River Valley plant in Dublin, Virginia, Volvos largest truck manufacturing facility in the world, will be voting on the pact this Sunday, June 6.

There is widespread opposition to the deal, which is little more than a rehash of the first UAW-backed contract that workers rejected by 91 percent on May 16. The recently formed Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee (VWRFC), which led the opposition to the first sellout deal, is actively campaigning for defeat of the new proposal.

Striking Volvo workers on April 18 (Photo: UAW local 2069/Facebook)

In a statement opposing the deal, the VWRFC denounces the UAW for accepting a deal that imposes a new 10-hour work schedule, retains the multi-tier wage system, and includes meager pay raises that will be eaten up by higher out-of-pocket health care expenses and rising consumer prices. The VWRFC is demanding a 25 percent across-the-board wage increase, a cost-of-living adjustment, the transfer of all workers to top-tier pay and benefits, and the maintenance of current health insurance rates and coverage. It is also calling for the defense of the eight-hour day and fully paid pensions and health benefits for retirees.

Overseeing the UAWs campaign to ram through the deal is UAW Secretary Treasurer and Heavy Truck Department Director Ray Curry, a career union executive in line to take over the UAW presidency after Rory Gamble retires. Curry shut down the two-week strike of Volvo workers on April 30 without workers seeing the previous deal or being able to vote on it. He has again rejected workers demands to see the full contract before the vote and has dispatched international, regional and local union officials in a last-ditch effort to push the contract through with a combination of lies, intimidation and fraud.

Right now, they are telling us if we reject it, we will be on a long strike, possibly six months, a Volvo worker and a member of the VWRFC told the World Socialist Web Site. The UAW always threatens us whenever we vote no on one of their rotten contracts. Its not the company that does it, they leave it to the UAW thugs to threaten that the company will up and move to Mexico unless we accept the contract.

Freightliner pulled the same thing in South Carolina. They pushed more production to Mexico, but they already had a plant there. The New River Valley plant is Volvos only plant in North America, and they just invested $400 million to expand it. It would be a big deal to build a new plant in Mexico and would cause huge delays to deliver trucks. Im not saying they wouldnt walk away from $400 million to get cheaper labor, but it would be more difficult.

[For] the last three contracts, the company and the union said Volvo was hurting, and if you sacrifice now, youll get it back when times are better. Now the company is making plenty of money. We helped the company out three times and we want what we deserve. These money-grubbing bastards at the top have to spread the wealth.

The statement from the VWRFC calling for a no vote was being widely circulated, the worker said, and was creating even greater opposition to the corrupt UAW. Referring to the series of union executives who have pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to the years-long federal investigation, he asked rhetorically, How many top UAW officials have been thrown in jail for embezzling and laundering money?

Some were scared by the UAWs threats, he added, but workers were going to vote the contract down Sunday and if a long strike was needed, so be it.

The six-year expansion and upgrade of the New River Valley plant, which was subsidized with $16.5 million in grants and other incentives from Democratic Governor Ralph Northam, will allow the Swedish-based multinational to produce the Volvo VNR Electric truck, as well as a newly designed truck that uses a universal cab, that is, a cab used for both Volvo and Mack trucks. Volvo, which bought Mack in 2000, has already been using the same frames on both brands for years.

While the new cabs would presumably be shipped to the Mack-Volvo plant in Allentown, Pennsylvania, for final assembly, another member of the VWRFC warned that Volvo could eventually shift production of all its vehicles to the expanded New River Valley plant, which is supposed to add 777 jobs by 2025. The new stamping plant here is going to be for Volvo and Volvo-Mack trucks. Were cheaper labor down here, and if they got this contract passed, it would be used to get rid of the Mack plants in Maryland, Pennsylvania and other states. Thats why theyre trying to shove this contract down our throats. They want even cheaper labor.

Responding to the appeal by the VWRFC for a joint struggle with the Mack-Volvo workers, a worker at the powertrain plant in Hagerstown, Maryland, told the World Socialist Web Site, Im behind those workers [at NRV] 100 percent, adding that he had not voted for a UAW-backed contract since he began working at the facility several contracts previously. Usually what happens is that they give us highlights that look pretty good, we find out later, during the course of the contracts what has been taken away from us.

Im for unity and for a strike of all Volvo and Mack workers, he said, adding that he reached out to the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter after workers at his plant printed copies of its articles and left them for others to read. You guys are being seen, he said, adding that there are lots of people on board for the building of a rank-and-file committee at his facility.

In another move shrouded in business secrecy in 2019, Volvo leased a new 280,900-square-foot manufacturing facility for an unspecified business start-up 45 miles from Dublin in the Roanoke suburb of Salem, Virginia. The facility, which also received state funding, employs 250 non-union workers from Volvos Mack Truck division and builds medium-duty trucks to compete with Freightliner for business from Amazon and other companies.

One of the major issues the UAW is likely negotiating with Volvo about is whether it will be allowed to extend its franchise into the Salem plant. In return for collecting dues money, the UAW would no doubt have promised to keep labor costs at or near the level of non-union workers.

In the auto industry, the UAW has signaled its willingness to impose a sharp reduction in wages in exchange for unionizing workers at the new start-ups and joint ventures General Motors and Ford are planning with electric vehicle component manufacturers. In 2009, the UAW agreed to $15 to $17 an hour wages at a GM plant assembling batteries in Brownstown Township, Michigan. In a statement this week, GM said it would support efforts by the UAW to unionize workers at two electric vehicle battery factories it is building in Ohio and Tennessee with South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution. In a statement, GM praised the UAW for its historic and constructive relationship with the auto industry and said the UAW would be well positioned to represent the workforce.

There is no union in the Salem plant, a member of the VWRFC told the WSWS. They dont need the UAW. We have to get those workers to join us and build a rank-and-file committee, so all Volvo and Mack workers can be united.

Volvo workers can contact the rank-and-file committee by email at volvowrfc@gmail.com or by text at (540) 307-0509.
WABASH VALLEY, Ind. (WTHI) - Indiana's largest health care provider will add COVID-19 vaccine requirements.

IU Health will require employees to be fully vaccinated by September 1. The system will offer medical and religious exemptions. IU Health says vaccine requirements are nothing new.

Since 2012, staff members have had to get flu and other vaccines as a condition of employment.

How about hospitals locally?

After the IU Health announcement, we reached out to our local health systems and hospitals. We asked them about vaccine mandates. We will put their responses below.

Ascension - St. Vincent

"Ascension strongly encourages employees to receive the vaccination, but doesn't mandate it."

Indiana Hospital Association

The Indiana Hospital Association says it works with nearly every hospital in the state. Both the Greene County General Hospital and Terre Haute Regional Hospital did not give us a specific answer but referred us to the IHA.

The IHA says it supports each hospital or health system requiring the vaccine but recognizes each hospital needs to take its own approach.

The IHA released the following statement:

Health care workers are consistently at risk of exposure to deadly diseases like COVID-19, and hospitals have a long history of vaccination policies to protect staff, patients, and the public that have been carefully crafted and include religious protections and exemptions for certain medical conditions. The COVID-19 vaccine has proven to be safe and effective at reducing hospitalizations and death, which is why some hospitals and other employers across the country are now requiring employees to be vaccinated. IHA supports its members who choose to require the COVID-19 vaccine for employees, recognizing that each hospital or health system needs to take its own approach to determine the needs of its community and the unique opportunities and challenges at stake.

Good Samaritan

"We will not be making the vaccine mandatory for our employees until they receive full FDA approval."

Union Health

"We do not have a policy requiring this of our employees at present. Union Health is committed to creating systems of care that prevent harm to patients and health care workers. We have made the vaccine readily available to our employees; as well as the community."

As we receive more responses, we will add them here.
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP)  Three children and a woman were found slain Wednesday morning in a Fort Wayne home, and police asked for the publics help finding a man they called the suspect in the killings.

Police said Cohen Bennet Hancz-Barron, 21, was last seen driving a stolen pickup truck and is considered armed and dangerous.

The victims bodies were discovered by police about 10:45 a.m., after authorities received an initial report of an unknown problem at the residence, said Fort Wayne Police spokesman Sgt. Jeremy Webb.

He called the scene that officers found in the home gruesome but did not indicate how the victims were killed.

When you have murdered children, its going to be gruesome, Webb said.

Webb said Hancz-Barron knew the woman and the three children, whom he said were very young, but police do not know what his relationship was to the four victims.

Fort Wayne is located about 130 miles (209 kilometers) northeast of Indianapolis.

The killings were the fourth mass killing in Indiana this year, after the April fatal shootings of eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis and the March fatal shootings of three adults and a child inside a home in Indianapolis.

In January, five people, including a pregnant woman, were fatally shot in Indianapolis, also inside a home.

The latest slayings likely occurred between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. Wednesday, Webb said.

Webb said Hancz-Barron was last seen driving a Ford F-150 that police believe had been stolen.

If the public does come across this vehicle or this suspect please call 911. Hes extremely dangerous, Webb said.
FULTON, Miss. (WTVA) - Itawamba Community College is remembering the tremendous legacy of W.E. Boggs who died on May 30 at the age of 84.

He joined the staff at ICC in 1971 and served in several positions throughout his career, including professor, administrator, dean, vice president and interim president. He retired in 2001.

W.E. Boggs, Source: Itawamba Community College (ICC)

The Boggs Humanities Building is located on the Fulton campus. The Boggs Humanities Building is located on the Fulton campus. W.E. Boggs, Source: Itawamba Community College (ICC)

In 2005 the college named the Boggs Humanities Building on the Fulton campus in recognition of the longtime educator and his wife, Gwen, who spent many years as an instructor in the Social Science Department.

During his career, he also spent time at public schools in New Site, Shaw, Belmont, Okolona and Amory.

We mourn the loss of Mr. Boggs, a dedicated leader who made many positive impacts personally and professionally throughout his life, ICC President Dr. Jay Allen said. ICC is a better place for the compassion, intelligence and vision he contributed throughout his career. We remain grateful for his devoted career to being an adviser and friend to all he met along his journey. His legacy will live on at ICC, and his investment in the College he loved so dearly will continue to produce the best in his honor.

Holland Funeral Directors is overseeing his funeral. Open this link to read his obituary.
MADISON, Miss. (AP)  Hundreds of law enforcement officers gathered for the funeral of a 44-year-old Mississippi Highway Patrol trooper killed during a highway traffic stop.

Trooper John Martin Harris was struck and killed by a vehicle Friday in Madison County.

His death remains under investigation.

Nobody has been arrested.

Officers traveled from Mississippi and other states for the funeral at a Baptist church in Madison.

Harris started his law enforcement career in 1997.

He was awarded his first purple heart in 2002 [as] a Friars Point police officer and his second one in 2004 with the Madison County Sheriffs Department.

Harris became a trooper in 2018.
Charleston, WV (25301)

Today

Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 88F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms before midnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Charleston, WV (25311)

Today

Partly cloudy with afternoon showers or thunderstorms. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 87F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms in the evening. Partly cloudy skies overnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Clarksburg, WV (26301)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms in the morning becoming more widespread in the afternoon. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 84F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms before midnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.
Police blotter is a list of recent arrests compiled from public records in Laramie County. All people listed here are innocent until proven guilty. Anyone listed who has a charge dismissed or is acquitted of the charge may bring or mail a court document proving such to the WTE editor, 702 W. Lincolnway, Cheyenne, WY 82001.
Park County commissioners are opposing a proposal to rename Squaw Teats  a pair of peaks in the countys very southeastern corner  as Crow Woman Buttes.
Wyoming may be too much like America used to be
Bravo

Since the purchase of their $2 million farmhouse-style West Hollywood abode in 2019, Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix have been taking their time turning the house into their dream home. Now, the Vanderpump Rules couple has completed the project, and couldnt be more excited to show the world their beautifully designed space. In a May interview with BravoTV.com, Tom and Ariana explained it was carefully decorated by infusing elements of both of their personalities along the way. But that wasnt alw
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  Belgium will bring home its ambassador to South Korea amid public anger over his wife's alleged assault of two employees at a shop in Seoul.

The Belgium Embassy said the countrys minister of foreign affairs, Sophie Wilmes, decided it was in the best interest of bilateral relations to end Ambassador Peter Lescouhiers tenure this summer. He has been the envoy in Seoul for three years.

While Lescouhier served his country with dedication, "the current situation doesnt allow him to further carry out his role in a serene way, the embassy said Monday.

The Belgian government also waived the diplomatic immunity of Lescouhiers wife, Xiang Xueqiu, so that she could be investigated by South Korean police, the embassy said in a Facebook post.

However, South Koreas Foreign Ministry said her immunity was only partially waived and she still had protection from criminal trials or punishment.

Lescouhier earlier this month issued an apology on behalf of his wife, saying in an Instagram video that she might have had her reasons to be angry at the way she was treated in that shop but committing physical violence is totally unacceptable.

The embassy said Xiang has met privately with the two shop employees and apologized.

According to South Korean media, Xiang reacted angrily when a shop employee asked about the jacket she was wearing, suspecting that it could have been stolen. Security camera video showed her shoving and slapping an employee in the face and hitting another on the head.

The incident drew widespread anger, prompting thousands of people to sign petitions on South Koreas presidential website calling for the wife to be expelled from the country.

South Korea is a signatory to the Vienna Convention, which grants diplomats and their families protection against criminal prosecution, although the immunity can be voluntarily waived.

The embassy didnt provide a specific date on when Lescouhiers term will end or name a replacement.
Amazon has quietly changed its terms of service to allow customers to file lawsuits after it received a deluge of arbitration demands, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company's disputes resolution policies for customers previously directed them to place their complaints in a secret tribunal. These so-called arbitration proceedings are typically used by companies to prevent potentially damaging decisions in court. Amazon is facing three proposed class actions, which could result in large payouts to multiple plaintiffs, including one filed in May accusing it of recording Echo users without permission.

The company reportedly changed its policy after resourceful lawyers inundated it with more than 75,000 individual arbitration demands on behalf of Echo users. The claims were filed in early 2020 in the wake of news reports that Amazon's Alexa devices were storing recordings of users. Lawyers told WSJ that the move straddled the online retailer with a bill for tens of millions of dollars in filing fees.

In May, Amazon attorneys reportedly told the plaintiffs' lawyers of the change in its terms of service. The company's original disputes clause stated: "The arbitration will be conducted by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its rules, including the AAAs Supplementary Procedures for Consumer-Related Disputes.

"Amazon and you each agree that any dispute resolution proceedings will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class, consolidated or representative action." The amendment has replaced what was once a 350-word description of its arbitration requirement with two sentences saying disputes can be brought in state or federal courts in King County, Washington.

Amazon told WSJ some of the claims have been withdrawn or ended in the companys favor. It added that its Echo devices only record when in use and that customers can delete the recordings or choose not to have them stored.

The update follows growing pressure on Big Tech companies to end their use of forced arbitration. Earlier this year, an Amazon seller complained to lawmakers of its unfair policy of using secret tribunals to settle disputes. Jacob Weiss told the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust that he spent thousands on arbitration fees and recovered little of what he lost. Last year, House Democrats on the antitrust committee recommended eliminating forced-arbitration clauses and limits on class-action lawsuits in a report on digital markets.

For its part, Google ended its mandatory arbitration policy for employees following internal protests over its response to sexual harassment claims. Around 20,000 of the tech company's global workers participated in walkouts amid the #MeToo movement in 2018.
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast

You thought Michael Flynn calling for a coup was the most exciting thing to happen at the QAnon conference in Dallas over Memorial Day weekend? Think again, Fever Dreams fans, for just before the wacko retired general longingly wished for a Myanmar-style crackdown here in the U.S. of A., our very own beloved host Will Sommer got kicked out of QCon to a standing ovation.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

You can hear about the whole messy showdown on the podit started with a case of mistaken identity and spiraled into a shirtless man screaming on television that Will Sommer is his nemesisbut before Will was shown out by the Dallas police department, he had a firsthand look at the heart of insanity, where diehard QAnon fandom paid $500 a pop to play trivia games about Q clues, attend an auction featuring a picture of Flynn as a minuteman (going price: $7K), and watch videos of WWG1WGA stormtroopers dethroning Joe Biden.

How Instagram Models Kneecapped Matt Gaetz

And for those who might dismiss QAnon as a relic in the Biden era, Will and cohost Asawin Suebsaeng point out that the conference featured a whole roster of people who are important political players, including ones who are literally still in positions of power, from congressman Louie Gohmert to Texas GOP Chairman Allen West. This is not just a couple of QAnon people babbling to themselves, Will warns. This is a movementthis deranged thinking about the cabal, and the pedophile cannibals somehow has gone on beyond Q and transmuted itself into being a regular line of thought.

Also on this episode of Fever Dreams, our hosts talk to The Washington Posts Dave Weigel about the massive GOP push to crack down on voting rights at the state and local levels, and they discuss how Trumps associates are trying, and failing, to get the former president to care about encouraging his base to get vaccinated.

Finally, we get an up-close look at how alt-right comedian (and former Christina Ricci paramour) Owen Benjamin is causing chaos with his new crowdsourced, bear-themed compound in IdahoBeartaria. Benjamin, Beartaria, and his supporters (UnBearables) are heading for a showdown with localsand even some rogue Bears who are pissed at how Benjamin took their money and now doesnt want them on his land. Stay tuned, because this furry dystopia has the next Ruby Ridge written all over it.

Story continues

Listen, and subscribe, to Fever Dreams on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.

Neighbors Fear Bear-Themed Compound Will Be Next Ruby Ridge

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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.
A weakened Scotland side showed their mettle with an encouraging 2-2 draw against Holland in Portugal.

Boss Steve Clarke have opted to leave six players  David Marshall, Stephen ODonnell, Nathan Patterson, Grant Hanley, John McGinn and Che Adams  behind in Spain, where they had been in a training camp, following John Flecks positive Covid-19 test.

It was an ultra cautious move by the Scotland camp for a Euro 2020 preparation fixture against Frank De Boers side but they were far from reticent when defender Jack Hendry drove in his first international goal after 11 minutes of a match played behind closed doors in the Estadio Algarve.

Memphis Depay levelled five minutes later with a drive from inside the box but substitute Kevin Nisbet opened his Scotland account soon after coming on in the second half with a confident close-range finish, only for Depay to equalise again with a minute remaining with a wonderful free-kick.

Jack Hendry fired Scotland ahead (Miguel Morenatti/AP)

It was a good workout for the Scots with any result against Holland a positive especially given the circumstances.

Having to reshuffle his pack, Clarke was still left with a more than decent side.

He gave Celtic midfielder David Turnbull his debut, veteran keeper Craig Gordon was between the sticks and he brought in Leeds centre-back Liam Cooper.

James Forrest started at right wing-back and Lyndon Dykes led the line in Adams absence.

Yet it was the Scots defenders who caused the early problems for the Dutch.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

In the 10th minute left centre-back Kieran Tierney moved up the park with purpose and drove just inches wide from distance.

That was just a precursor to the Scots opener. Hendry stepped up as Scotland pressed to prevent Holland playing out from a goal-kick and after gaining possession he drilled in a shot from 25 yards with the assurance of a striker.

Clarkes side were boosted and a minute later Dykes drove a shot straight at Dutch keeper Tim Krul.

Just when it looked like the Scots had the upper hand they dropped their guard and conceded when Holland skipper Georginio Wijnaldum headed back to an unmarked Depay, who steered a terrific shot from 16 yards past the diving Gordon.

Story continues

Just after the hour-mark, Declan Gallagher, Ryan Fraser and Nisbet replaced Cooper, Forrest and Dykes.

Memphis Depay scored twice for Holland (Miguel Morenatti/AP)

Moments later, skipper Andy Robertsons delicious cross from the left was dispatched by Nisbet, with the Hibernian striker making light work of the finish.

Turnbull then came close with a drive from the edge of the box before both sides made more changes, Tierney and Robertson making way for Greg Taylor and Scott McKenna.

The Scots worked hard to keep the Dutch out, with some nervy moments not least when Gordon made a great save from Patrick Van Aanholts deflected shot.

Chelsea midfielder Billy Gilmour came on for Turnbull to make his debut with nine minutes remaining but late on Depays brilliant finish from the edge of the box made it honours even.
Daniel James claimed France players told Portuguese referee Luis Godinho not to send off Neco Williams during Wales 3-0 defeat in Nice.

Williams was sent off after 26 minutes when the score was 0-0 at the Allianz Riviera.

The Liverpool full-back was only a few yards away from Karim Benzema when he blocked the Real Madrid strikers close-range shot with both arms away from his body.

Daniel James said the France players did not want Wales Neco Williams sent off (Joe Giddens/PA)

After a lengthy VAR check, Godinho decided it was deliberate handball and brandished a red card to the bemused Willams and his teammates.

Despite Benzema missing the resulting penalty on his France return after a near six-year absence, Les Bleus went on to win comfortably through goals from Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele.

Im not one to talk about referees, but its a friendly game, Wales Manchester United winger James told Sky Sports.

He took 10 minutes to look at it and then decided its clear and obvious. I dont know how its clear and obvious.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

Hes two yards out and Im not even sure its a penalty. Weve been told that if hes in a natural position and he cant do anything about it its not a penalty.

Even their players were saying dont send him off. You may as well give them two goals with a penalty and a red card.

If it had happened against Switzerland (in Wales Euro 2020 opener) we would be a lot more gutted.

Williams is now set to serve a one-match suspension and miss Wales final Euro 2020 warm-up friendly against Albania in Cardiff on Saturday.

Captain Gareth Bale (third left) leads the Wales protests following Williams first-half dismissal in Nice (Daniel Cole/AP)

Interim boss Robert Page wanted to give Williams more pre-tournament minutes in that game and says Wales will consider appealing against the red card.

Page said: Neco is devastated in there. He wanted justification from the referee but he couldnt get it.

Well do everything we can to overturn it. If there is a chance to do it, we will.

Thats the disappointing thing. The plan was (for Williams) to play so many minutes here and building up to Saturday, but we cant do that now.

Story continues

Interim manager Robert Page says Wales will look at appealing against Williams red card (Nick Potts/PA)

It was a harsh penalty anyway, to get him sent off as well a bitter blow. It changed the course of the game, for France as well I imagine.

When you have 11 against France its a difficult task.

Wales started the game well and James went close in the fifth minute, forcing a fine save from France captain Hugo Lloris.

It was all about getting players minutes on the pitch and ticking that box, said Page, who handed a starting role to Joe Allen after two months out injured and sent on Aaron Ramsey and Ben Davies in the second half for much-needed game time.

Karim Benzema (left) was back in France colours after a near six-year absence (Daniel Cole/AP)

We achieved that and even after the sending off I still thought we created chances.

World champions France start their Euro 2020 campaign against Germany in Munich on June 15.

Benzema, who last played for France in October 2015, told TF1: It was a very good return. I felt good all match and got stronger as it went on.

We still have time to fine-tune our attacking understanding. We tried things.

I was proud to pull on the shirt again and I wanted to go out there and show what I can do.
Jun. 1Republicans in the Ohio Senate will introduce a substitute school funding plan today, addressing what they say are problems with the House-passed version, and setting up a one-month sprint to get a funding system approved by the end of the state budget process.

Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said he'll wait until today to reveal most specific details of the plan. But he said direct funding of charter schools and private-school vouchers (rather than having those funds pass through school districts first) is one change in the House plan that the Senate agrees with.

"I think the principal problem with the House's plan so far is that about four or five years out, we have this tremendous jump in cost," Huffman said. "There's a couple billion dollars with no talk about how to fund that, so it's either tax increases or cutting other state programs, from Medicaid to all the other things we fund."

In a three-year process, House Speaker Bob Cupp and former state Rep. John Patterson created the Fair School Funding Plan that the House already approved. It calculates the cost of teachers, busing, special education and other factors to determine a "base cost" to educate students. It uses that figure to calculate state funding for each school district.

Patterson has said that over a six-year phase-in, the plan would increase state funding for schools by $1.99 billion, calling that number not out of line with historical increases. Senate leadership has suggested that could be a significant underestimate. Huffman argued this week that the financial estimates don't take into account school employee pay raises from local contract negotiations.

The House version of the plan estimates small, gradual state funding increases for most Dayton-area districts, with some outliers (Kettering, Bethel, Vandalia-Butler and a few others) seeing 10-15% increases this fall.

"When the plan is rolled out side by side, you'll see why will the House plan in the long term is not sustainable," Huffman said. "This is a system based on asking the people who are getting paid what they think the cost would be, rather than considering revenue and other sources of information."

Story continues

Jennifer Hogue, director of legislative services for the Ohio School Boards Association, said few details about the Senate plan have leaked out. She said she wouldn't be surprised if the Senate pushes for an increase in funding and eligibility for charter schools and voucher programs.

"Some think they'll go back to a building blocks formula that we had a few iterations ago," Hogue said. "Some think we'll stick with the formula that's on the books now (from fiscal year 2019), with some tweaks. It's anybody's guess."

One of the selling point of the Fair School Funding Plan is wide agreement that it would fix long-standing constitutionality problems with Ohio's school funding model. But Hiwot Abraha, treasurer for Dayton Public Schools, said she's heard the same talk as Hogue about funding basically staying the same as the patched 2019 model for now.

State report card

Hogue said there's significant interest in passing a state report card reform bill, but she's not sure legislators will be able to reach agreement in June.

"I think in the House, Reps. Jones and Robinson are looking to try to hold an interested party session next week to get everybody together and see if we can't hash something out and get some sort of compromise done," Hogue said.

OSBA supports the House's version, which says there should be no overall grade or rating for each school.

"I think the main sticking point tends to be the overall summative rating," Hogue said. "We believe there should not be a summative rating, so that we drive people's attention toward the individual components [achievement, progress, graduation, etc.]. Let those components tell the story."

Other school bills

Hogue said a bill aimed at revising the makeup of the state school board might pass the House, but likely will stall in the Senate, which she said is unlikely to take away the governor's appointment powers.

Meanwhile, the latest of multiple bills to change state takeover of struggling schools via Academic Distress Commissions could get folded into the state budget bill.

Huffman said as far as schools go, he's focused on the funding bill, and wouldn't comment on legislation to change the report card system or other education law.
Evan Sisley From left: George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush on their 70th wedding anniversary, in 2015

Much has been written about the presidency of the late George H. W. Bush. But in her new memoir, The Man I Knew, Jean Becker  Bush's chief of staff for a quarter-century  zooms in on the 25 years that came after his time in office.

"One of the reasons why I wrote the book is I really felt the American people, when he left the White House, still didn't really understand who this man was," Becker, 65, tells PEOPLE. "He was a bigger-than-life person, smart, funny and had a heart as big as Texas. Until the day he died, he never stopped thinking of ways to try to make a difference."

In the days immediately after Bush's presidency ended in January 1993  with the sting of his loss to Bill Clinton still fresh  "Mrs. Bush worried about him," Becker says.

Not yet 70, he faced a question familiar only to other former presidents: What now?

Though he moved back to Houston with plans to retire and largely stay out of the public eye, "retirement was not in his vocabulary," Becker says.

He took his time figuring out his next steps while adjusting to life outside the West Wing.

"It is enlightening to find out what goes on in the life of a former president," Becker says. "To go from one day being the leader of the free world to not only losing all power but also a large staff, public housing, a private jet  all of a sudden you don't have any of that."

After a couple of months, the "blueprint" for the rest of Bush's life began to become clearer, Becker says: He began to give paid speeches  which he called "white-collar crime"  but also knew how crucial it was to use his role as a former president for good, championing personal causes like cancer research and volunteerism.

"I really became aware as I started writing the book that he really left for the rest of us a blueprint of how to have a life well-lived," Becker says now. "We all can learn so much from him."

Story continues

Revisiting Bush's years post-White House (decades that Becker spent at his side) shows, she says, "how we all should be living our lives with joy, with purpose, with a servant's heart."

Read on for highlights from her memoir, which was published Tuesday.

Barbara Bush From left: George H. W. Bush and Jean Becker on the phone at the family's Maine estate in September 2000

A Friendship Forms in the Bushes' Kitchen

Becker had been a newspaper reporter for 10 years when she was assigned to cover the 1988 presidential election for USA Today. An assignment she "wasn't very excited about but ended up loving" was editing a weekly "Campaign Diary" column written by both candidates' wives  Barbara Bush and Kitty Dukakis, wife of Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis.

While Becker worked with Dukakis' press secretary, "I worked directly with Barbara Bush," she says. The rapport between the future first lady and Becker was so strong that, after then-Vice President Bush won the election, Becker became a deputy press secretary for Mrs. Bush in the East Wing.

After the re-election loss in 1992, she moved to Houston with the Bushes to help Mrs. Bush with her memoir. There was no place in the new office for Becker to sit, so she ended up working from a card table in the Bushes' kitchen.

"That's how I got to know him [President Bush]," Becker says. "He'd come in to get coffee or a glass of milk, and there I'd be." The two became friends, and after Mrs. Bush's memoir was complete, Becker signed on in 1994 to be President Bush's chief of staff on a six-month interim basis. She never left.

Chandler Arden/George & Barbara Bush Foundation Front, right: George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush try out for the Aggie Wranglers dance team at Texas A&M University. They didnt make the cut.

Office of George Bush From left: Barbara and George H. W. Bush competing in a Segway race in a mock Summer Olympics they staged in 2004. She won.

What Bush Didn't Want from His Post-Presidency

As Bush was figuring out his next steps early in his post-presidency, he drafted a memo to himself of what he wanted to do ("I want to make enough money so Bar can finish her life without changing her lifestyle" and "I want to do something worthwhile")  and also what he did not.

On the list? To not cheapen the presidency, try to influence how history would treat him, or  No. 1 on his list  get in the way of President Clinton, a rival with whom he would grow closer over the years.

Bush Was 'the Father Bill Clinton Never Had'

Becker says that when Ronald Reagan left the White House in 1989, he left behind a lighthearted note with well wishes and a bit of joking advice for his successor.

Four years later, a still-devastated Bush left an unprecedented and well-known note of his own in the top drawer of his desk in the Oval Office, cementing a tradition from president to president that continues today.

In his missive, he told Clinton  a man he barely knew and a man who had just defeated him  "I am rooting hard for you." A decade later, they forged a friendship in tragedy when they partnered to raise money after a tsunami hit Southeast Asia on Christmas Day 2004.

At then-President George W. Bush's request, both men set off in February 2005 on a five-day trip across the hardest-hit countries. They left as relative strangers "and came home best friends," Becker says.

Clinton insisted that the elder Bush  22 years his senior  take the only bed and bedroom aboard their plane and "throughout the trip, President Clinton graciously waited for [Bush] and helped him up and down stairs, in and out of boats, planes, helicopters, and cars," Becker writes. "Especially since the staff needed to stay out of the photos, it fell to President Clinton to give him his arm, which he did without being asked."

For his part, Bush "treated the man who denied him a second term with great respect and kindness. And sometimes like a son," she continues. "At times he scolded him, especially when President Clinton was running late or when President Bush worried he was maybe talking too much." Clinton, whose own father died three months before his birth, "became very protective" over Bush, Becker tells PEOPLE.

"It was interesting to watch the two of them," she says. "Mrs. Bush would tell you President Bush was the father President Clinton never had." Clinton was delighted when the Bush family  with 41 the father and 43 the son  began calling him "42."

Joe Reilly Center, from left: Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush visit with children in Indonesia during their trip in February 2005 after a tsunami ravaged large parts of Asia.

Brooks Kraft/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images George W. Bush (left) greets soldiers in New York.

The Moment He Realized He Wasn't the Only President Bush

On Inauguration Day in 2001, the elder Bush choked up as he walked into the Oval Office and saw his son for the first time sitting at the desk, signing papers as president of the United States.

The younger Bush's chief of staff, Andy Card, walked in and said "Mr. President"  and it was the father who "turned around prepared to answer when he realized Andy was talking to the President and not him," Becker writes.

The 'Two Georges': Bush ... and Clooney

Famous for saying to Becker, "Jean, I have an idea," one of his many post-presidential visions was to bring George Clooney  who had played an emergency room doctor on one of the Bushes' favorite shows, ER  to come with him and Mrs. Bush in late 2006 to present a check to rebuild an emergency room in Cameron, Louisiana, in the wake of Hurricane Rita.

"We need to make this day more exciting," Becker says Bush told her. That meant calling in one of the biggest stars of one of the biggest shows of the '90s, which the Bushes had continued to watch each night on TV  "in reruns on TNT," Becker writes.

But "what he didn't get was that Clooney had left the show seven years earlier and was now a huge movie star," Becker writes. "I then argued that we didn't know George Clooney; I had no idea how to call George Clooney; and it was likely he was not a fan. His politics were somewhere to the left of President Bush's."

Long story short, Clooney accepted the invitation and "the 'two Georges' were a huge hit," Becker writes. "Once again, George Bush had a pretty good idea."

A Lasting Bond

After more than 70 years together as husband and wife, President and Mrs. Bush were not separated long after she died in April 2018  and they were "as in love" on the day he said goodbye to her as when they first met.

President Bush almost died of sepsis the day after Mrs. Bush's funeral in April 2018, Becker says, but "he rallied."

"We almost lost him that day," she says. He would go on to live just five more months without her.

Even deep into their marriage, when Mrs. Bush heard President Bush approaching, "her instinct was immediately to look into a mirror and pinch her cheeks so they had a little more color," Becker writes. Both husband and wife complained to her about how much the other snored, but when Becker suggested they sleep in separate rooms, "President Bush was appalled," she writes, telling her, "Jean, I have to be able to reach out during the night and touch her and make sure she is there."

Lorraine Eden George H. W. Bush arrives by parachute for the 10th anniversary celebration of the opening of the George H. W. Bush Library.

Mrs. Bush died with President Bush holding her hand, "which in itself had been a difficult feat," Becker writes. But he insisted.

"The Bushes' power was out for three days the day Mrs. Bush died, which meant President Bush could not use the elevator to get to her second-floor bedroom," Becker writes. "The Secret Service carried him up the stairs. The power came back on about the same time she passed."

His Final Days

Four days before former President Bush died in November 2018, then-President Barack Obama visited him  and thanked him for his service going all the way back to World War II.

"We all took a lot of flak," Obama said to him, according to Becker. "But you took it for real."

Bush loved having someone read to him, and, in his final days, family members and staff did so at his bedside, as well as authors of some of his favorite books. Just a few hours before he died, Becker was at Bush's bedside, holding his hand.

She got a tickle in her throat and coughed, ever so slightly. "He squeezed my hand and asked 'Are you okay?' " Becker writes. "Those would be the last words George Herbert Walker Bush would say to me."

It was "just so him," she continues. "He was dying. But as always, he was thinking of the other guy."

The Man I Knew is on sale now.
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.
I suppose its natural to blame someone else for our own mistakes and shortcomings, or when 
Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business.
The Villanova Institute for Research and Scholarship promotes a vital research culture at Villanova through programs, resources and applied research projects that empower faculty, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students in the pursuit of their scholarly aspirations.

The Institute is committed to inclusive support for Villanova's scholars and their varied forms, methods and traditions of inquiry. It advances substantive, multidisciplinary engagement across the Universitys colleges, departments and centers.
New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh Board Class 12 Examination has been cancelled, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan informed on Wednesday.

Chouhan in a video statement posted on Twitter after holding a meeting with officials said: "The class 12 board exams (organised by the MP Board of Secondary Education) for the year 2020-21 will not be held this year. The life of students is precious for us. We can take care of their career later."

Earlier, the Madhya Pradesh Board of School Education, MPBSE had postponed its examination for Class 12 which was scheduled to begin in June.

On June 1, CBSE and CICSE canceled its class 12 board examination for the year 2021 following the decision on the same day.

Meanwhile, Haryana Board of Secondary Education, HBSE soon decided to scrap its class 12 examination for the year 2021. Followed by Gujarat Board, which had also released the revised date sheet for 12th Board Exams also today cancelled the HSC exams.

While, the "corona curfew" has been extended in all 52 districts of the state till June 15 with some relaxation to start the economic and business activities in the state.

The state will remain under 'corona curfew' from 10 pm every Saturday till 6 am on Monday, as per an official order. There will be a night curfew in the state from 10 pm till 6 am, however where the case of covid-19 is higher, stricter provisions can be imposed by the district authorities.

Live TV
New Delhi: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has said that as many as 594 doctors died during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Giving a breakup of a maximum number of doctors death in Indian states and UTs, it said that 107 doctors died in Delhi alone.

State-wise data put out by IMA shows that nearly every second doctor who died in the second Covid-19 wave died either in Delhi, Bihar or Uttar Pradesh. These three states together account for nearly 45 per cent of the doctors who died in the second wave.

Overall, the IMA said nearly 1,300 doctors have died on the line of duty fighting Covid-19 ever since the pandemic began last year.

Indian Medical Association (IMA) says 594 doctors died during the second wave of COVID-19 pic.twitter.com/rbFbwhgL55  ANI (@ANI) June 2, 2021

IMA seeks strong law against healthcare violence

The IMA also wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking an effective and strong law "against healthcare violence". In a letter to the Home Minister, IMA referred to an incident in Assam on Monday in which a mob thrashed a doctor after a COVID-19 patient died and said there was a "barbaric attack" on Dr Seuj Kumar.

"It was an extremely inhuman attack," the IMA said. The doctor was working in the Covid care center in the Hojal district of the state. Indian Medical Association urged the minister to consider its appeal on an emergency basis and enact the strong and effective Act to safeguard the healthcare professionals of the country.

IMA said that healthcare violence is violent incidents directed against doctors, healthcare staff and healthcare establishments with or without reason. It said that the incidences of healthcare violence have increased over the years and have become widespread and pose threat to the medical practice.

It said that the medical fraternity has been working tirelessly during the pandemic and is also facing a serious threat from healthcare violence.

"There are many incidents of healthcare violence taking place across the country. Doctors and healthcare staff is finding it difficult to work under the stress of violence. Healthcare violence has become an alarming phenomenon across the country. The real size of the problem is largely unknown and recent information shows that the current knowledge is the tip of the iceberg," the letter said.

"India needs a comprehensive, uniform and effective law against the healthcare violence. We request you to kindly approve an effective and strong act against the healthcare violence," it added. IMA also sought "immediate strict action" on culprits in the Assam incidence.

IMA had earlier in the day urged the Assam government to take strict action against those responsible for the assault on the doctor. It demanded that all hospitals should be declared a protective zone.

The Assam Medical Service Association had also written to IMA over the issue.

Live TV
New Delhi: General MM Naravane, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) is on a two day visit to Jammu and Kashmir to review the prevailing security situation in the union territory.

On arrival at Srinagar, the Army Chief, accompanied by Lt Gen YK Joshi, the Northern Army Commander and Lt Gen DP Pandey, Chinar Corps Commander visited units and formations in the hinterland where he was briefed by the local Commanders on the existing security situation and the measures being taken to identify and target the over ground workers (OGWs) network involved in radicalisation and recruitment of youth into terrorist ranks. Efforts to prevent local recruitment and facilitate surrender of local terrorists were also discussed.

While interacting with troops, the COAS expressed his appreciation to the jawans and commanders who are relentlessly battling the dual challenges of Pakistan abetted terror and the global pandemic. He further reinforced the need to be prepared to meet emerging security challenges effectively. Later, the COAS was briefed by the Chinar Corps Commander on the overall situation pertaining to the Line of Control and the hinterland.

The Army Chief complimented the excellent synergy exhibited by all sections of the Civil administration, Jammu and Kashmir Police, Central Armed Police Forces and other Security agencies in projecting a Whole of Government approach that has resulted in improvement in the security situation conducive for fostering a new era of development in the UT.

In the evening, the COAS called on the Honble Lieutenant Governor Shri Manoj Sinha at Raj Bhawan and discussed the emerging challenges and road map for long term peace in J&K. The L-G appreciated the role played by the Indian Army in restoring and preserving peace in the UT and providing aid to the civil authorities against the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (June 1, 2021) chaired a review meeting regarding the Class XII Board exams of CBSE and decided to cancel it in view of the uncertain conditions due to COVID-19.

It was also decided that CBSE will take steps to compile the results of class XII students 'as per a well-defined objective criteria' in a time-bound manner.

Prime Minister Modi stressed that the health and safety of students are of utmost importance and there would be no compromise on this aspect. He also said that in today's time, such exams cannot be the reason to put our youth at risk.

Government of India has decided to cancel the Class XII CBSE Board Exams. After extensive consultations, we have taken a decision that is student-friendly, one that safeguards the health as well as future of our youth. https://t.co/vzl6ahY1O2  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 1, 2021

Since the announcement on Tuesday evening, the netizens are celebrating the decision and have flooded social media platforms with hilarious memes.

Check out some of the reactions:

Jee and neet students watching cbse students enjoying #cbseboardexams pic.twitter.com/Rmry4Vh7JC  Anubhav Ghosh (@Golughosh19) June 1, 2021

#cbseboardexams

Students who were spending 24/7 on twitter inorder to trend "cancel exam": pic.twitter.com/MMP3PbDb7t  Varsha saandilyae (@saandilyae) June 1, 2021

Those who scored less marks in preboards -

#cbseboardexams pic.twitter.com/buayZb78QR  Mannat (@thandrakhleyar) June 1, 2021

#cbseboardexams

Class 12 exams cancelled!!

Students be like : pic.twitter.com/AL1He1ij3L  Pragya Tiwari (@iam_pragyaT) June 1, 2021

The news has come as a relief for over 14 lakh students who had registered to appear for the CBSE Class 12 board exams. The students were waiting for an announcement since mid-April when the exam was postponed due to the COVID-19 situation in the country.

Meanwhile, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has also announced to cancel Class 12 board examinations.

"The alternative assessment criteria will be announced soon," CISCE said.
NEW DELHI: In order to strengthen the fight against Coronavirus, the Centre is expected to grant indemnity to leading anti-COVID vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer and Moderna, sources said on Wednesday.

Quoting government sources, the news agency ANI said that like other countries, the Indian government is also likely to grant indemnity to these companies if they apply for Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA).

It is expected to grant indemnity against legal proceedings along the lines of what has been granted in other countries for Pfizer and Moderna vaccine companies: Govt Sources  ANI (@ANI) June 2, 2021

Granting indemnity is like giving a concessional request of legal protection from any claims linked to the use of their Covid-19 vaccines in India. India has so far not given an indemnity to any COVID vaccine manufacturer against the costs of compensation for any severe side effects so far.

Meanwhile, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has done away with specific trials of COVID-19 vaccines that have been approved by other international regulatory bodies - a big move likely to clear the way for foreign vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna for the country`s urgent requirement.

In a letter, DCGI Chief VG Somani letter said that this will be applicable for vaccines that have already been approved for restricted use by the US FDA, EMA, UK MHRA, PMDA Japan or listed for Emergency Use by the World Health Organisation.

"In light of the huge vaccination requirements and the need for increased availability of imported vaccines,... it has been decided that for approval of COVID-19 Vaccines in India for restricted use in emergency situation which are already approved for restricted use by US FDA, EMA, UK MHRA, PMDA Japan or which are listed in WHO Emergency Use listing," he said.

Somani added that for the vaccines that are well established from the standpoint that millions have already been vaccinated with the said vaccines, the requirement for conduction post-approval bridging clinical trials and the requirement of testing of every batch of the vaccine by the Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL), Kasauli can be exempted, if the vaccine batch/lot has been certified and released by the National Control Laboratory of the Country of Origin.

Earlier, vaccines that had completed clinical studies outside the country were required to carry out "bridging trials" or limited clinical trials on the Indian population to know how the drug works on people of Indian origin.

Live TV
KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the Centre for not sending adequate doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the states and said that the Centres claim of vaccinating all citizens by December this year is just a hoax.

The Trinamool Congress chief further advised the Centre to procure anti-COVID vaccines for States and give them free of cost to all.

That (vaccinating all citizens before December 2021) is just a hoax. They just say baseless things. The Centre is not sending vaccines to the States. The Centre should procure vaccines for States & give it free of cost to all, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said.

That (vaccinating all citizens before Dec 2021) is just a hoax. They just say baseless things. The Centre is not sending vaccines to State govts. Centre should procure vaccines for States & give it free of cost to all: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee pic.twitter.com/PetJKGkJz7  ANI (@ANI) June 2, 2021

It may be noted that several states, including West Bengal, Odisha, Delhi and Maharashtra, have complained to the Centre over shortage of vaccines and delay in their supply. These states have also urged the Centre to maintain uniformity in the rates of COVID-19 vaccines being used in India.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday wrote to all the chief ministers in the country, urging them to build a consensus over procurement of the COVID vaccines by the Centre for distribution among the states.

In the letter, Patnaik wrote that no state is safe unless all the states adopt vaccination as the topmost priority and execute it on war-footing. "The only way to protect our people against future waves and provide them with a hope of survival is vaccination," Patnaik wrote in the letter that he shared on Twitter, tagging all the chief ministers.

"But this cannot be a battle among the states to compete against each other to procure vaccines," he added.

Patnaik noted that after the Centre announced phase 3 of the vaccine policy, allowing vaccination for everyone above the age of 18 and opened procurement for the states and private sector, the demand increased.

"Many states have floated global tenders for vaccine procurement. However, it is quite clear that the global vaccine manufacturers are looking forward to the Union Government for the clearances and assurances," he said.

1.64 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states: Centre

Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday that more than 1.64 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered.

The Centre has so far provided, both through the free of cost and through direct state procurement categories, more than 23 crore vaccine doses to states and UTs.

Of this, the total consumption, including wastages, is 21,71,44,022 doses, the ministry said. A total of 1,64,42,938 COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered, it said.

As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Centre has been supporting the states and UTs by providing them COVID-19 vaccines free of cost.

Live TV
New Delhi: The Government of Dominica has told a court there to reject the habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of businessman Mehul Choksi who had claimed that he was abducted and forcefully brought to the Caribbean island nation, local media reported.

The High Court of Dominica ordered that the businessman be produced in a magistrate court to answer charges of his illegal entry into the country and adjourned the hearing on the habeas corpus petition till Thursday, according to local media.

Rejecting the submission of Choksi who is wanted in India in an alleged Rs 13,500 crore loan fraud case in Punjab National Bank, the prosecution said the habeas corpus petition does not stand as he had illegally entered the country and was subsequently detained.

"The matter being heard is of habeas corpus petition...And not of his repatriation to India. His citizenship is not in question before the court," Choksi's lawyer Vijay Aggarwal said.

High Court of Dominica Judge Bernie Stephenson heard the matter through video-conferencing with the diamond trader attending the hearing from the hospital where he was admitted recently.

The judge asked authorities to share court documents with Choksi who is admitted at the Dominica-China Friendship Hospital.

His lawyers said that he does not feel safe in police custody and that he should be sent back to Antigua and Barbuda, local media reported.

He also said he would pay for his security.

His lawyers also raised the issue of injury marks found on his body and him being hospitalised.

In case of an adverse order, Choksi has the option of appealing in a higher court.

The diamantaire, who mysteriously went missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda where he had been staying since 2018 as a citizen, was detained in neighbouring Dominica for illegal entry after a possible romantic escapade with his rumoured girlfriend.

His lawyers alleged that he was kidnapped from Jolly Harbour in Antigua by policemen looking like Antiguan and Indian, and brought to Dominica on a boat.

Last week, the Government of Dominica had issued a press statement that it was verifying status of Choksi's citizenship with Antigua and Barbuda.

"Once the information is provided by the Antigua authorities, possible arrangements will be made for Mr. Mehul Choksi to be repatriated to Antigua," the statement had said.

A team of multi-agency officials led by a CBI DIG has gone to Dominica to bring Choksi to India if court there clears his deportation to India, officials said.

Choksi's arrest has created turbulence in the calm political waters of the neighbouring Caribbean island countries -- Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica --where allegations have been levelled against opposition parties of supporting the businessman having an Interpol Red Notice against him.

Dominican Leader of Opposition Lennox Linton had to issue a denial on the reports of meeting Chetan Choksi, the brother of Mehul Choksi, or receiving any money from him.

"I do not know Chetan Choksi. I have never seen him. I have never spoken to him. I have never met with him," Dominica News Online quoted a video message released by Linton.

Local media outlet Associate Times had alleged that Choksi arrived on a private jet on May 29 and met Linton at his home in Marigot locality next day for nearly two hours where he gave token money of USD 2 lakh and promised funding for elections in return for raising the issue in Parliament.

The outlet alleged that Linton was quiet on the Mehul Choksi affair till meeting his brother Chetan. After the meeting, he started attacks on the government over the arrest of the fugitive diamantaire.

Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are wanted for allegedly siphoning Rs 13,500 crore of public money from the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) using letters of undertaking.

While Modi is in a London prison after being repeatedly denied bail and is contesting his extradition to India, Choksi took citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in 2017 using the Citizenship by Investment programme before fleeing India in the first week of January 2018. The scam came to light subsequently.
New Delhi: A miffed Palestine has raised its concern with India's abstention at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution that called for a probe into violence in Gaza. The resolution saw India among the 14 countries abstaining on the issue.

The matter was raised by Palestinian foreign minister Dr Riad Malki with India's External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar in a letter. In the letter accessed by Zee Media, expressing "concern" over the "position taken by India" at the Human rights council's special session, FM Riad said, "The Republic of India missed an opportunity to join the international community at this turning point, both crucial and long overdue on the path to accountability, justice and peace."

He added, "Your abstention stifles the important work of human rights council at advancing human rights for all peoples, including those of the Palestinian people."

The resolution - "Ensuring respect for international human rights law and humanitarian law in occupied Palestinian territory including East Jerusalem and in Israel"- was adopted with 24 countries voting in favor, 9 against at the 47 members strong Geneva-headquartered UN body.

FM Malki highlighted, "The resolution is not an aberration to the human rights council. It is a by-product of extensive multilateral consultations. It is the consolidation of years and thorough investigations into and reporting on Israel's grave violations by states, UN experts, Human rights treaty bodies and international organizations, without accountability measures."

Notably, India had welcomed the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas at the UNHRC. The ceasefire was announced last month after 11 days of rocket firing and violence from both sides. The situation escalated after violence in Jerusalem and the possible eviction of Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhood. Over 200 Palestinians died in Gaza and 10 Israelis died in the violence.

The FM pointed out in the letter to EAM, "Root causes of the injustice that befell the Palestinian people, the decade long dispossession, displacement, colonization, oppression of the Palestinian people and the denial and violation of their every human rights by Israel, the occupying power, must be prioritized, adding, otherwise the situation will not only remain volatile but will continue deteriorating with far-reaching and grave repercussions.

The letter by Palestine's FM to EAM was sent on the 30th of May, 3 days after India abstained from the vote at the UNHRC. Other countries that abstained included Bahamas, Brazil, Denmark, Fiji, France, Italy, Japan, Nepal, Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, Togo and Ukraine.

Live TV
Chennai: Indian students bound for foreign countries to pursue higher education are left in a dilemma. This comes after the 45-day time interval between two vaccine shots in India has been increased to 12-16 weeks for Covishield.

Those who were due to fly abroad by the end of June or July had taken their jabs in May. They did so right after the Indian government opened vaccination for the 18-44 age group from May 1. But, owing to the new timelines for the second dose of Covishield, the students are afraid that they may be forced to further delay their journey, as their wait for full vaccination and certification is now 2-3 months.

Canada-bound students are the most affected by this decision and elaborated their woes to Zee News. They were originally due to fly out in late-April or early-May, ahead of the summer intake of Canadian universities. But, their plans hit a roadblock owing to Canadas ban on direct flights from India since April 22. With Indias COVID-19 second wave having continued throughout April and May, this flight ban was further extended until June 22. In the case of American and European universities, the intake of students starts from August or September.

Given the new 12-16 week interval in place, students who took their jab in May, would have to wait at least until August to get their second jab, the vaccination certificate and then board their flights. This brings with it, its own set of challenges for some of the already anguished students who are taking online classes at home, despite having paid hefty fees.

Even if we manage to convince the Public health center to give us the second jab in 45 days, the official certificate of having taken it would be available only after the 12-16 week period. This would delay our travel plans even further, said Karan Thakkar, who is headed for Ontario.

According to the recommendations for persons entering Canada, unvaccinated and partially vaccinated persons will have to undergo a quarantine period.

Once we reach Canada without getting vaccinated or with only a single shot, we would have to shell out nearly 2000 Canadian dollars (about Rs 1.2 lakhs) for quarantine facilities. Theres also doubts over whether the unvaccinated and single-shot persons will be allowed to enter, said Sajith Ahamed who is to pursue his post graduation.

Raama Sreenivasan, a student who tweeted out the students emergency request for priority vaccination to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Council of ministers said there was no response yet. When I checked for a solution with the Cowin helpline, they directed me to the District immunization officer. But the district officer says that they can act only under instructions from the state government he said.

Students that spoke to Zee News are of the opinion that the Tamil Nadu government too must implement a strategy to provide priority jabs to students traveling abroad. They feel that since Kerala, Mumbai, Karnataka, Gujarat and Telangana have taken decisions in this regard and there is a precedent, the Tamil Nadu government must explore this option immediately.

Another issue is that Covaxin, the indigenous vaccine of Bharat Biotech, has not been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), while it has been approved for international travel only in a handful of countries. The foreign travel options of those who have taken Covaxin is also doubtful.

Live TV
Mumbai: The Goa government in its appeal Before the Bombay High Court against journalist Tarun Tejpal's acquittal in a rape case said it was a fit case for retrial, citing the trial court's lack of understanding of a victim's post-trauma behaviour and censuring of her character.

The appeal, filed before the HC's Goa bench, was amended this week to bring on record the judgement and to include further grounds against the acquittal of Tejpal.

The government said the trial court "considered the evidence given by defence witnesses as gospel truth, but at the same time discredited without any finding the evidence given by the victim and the prosecution witnesses".

It also claimed that the trial court completely ignored the most telling piece of evidence in the case (the apology e-mail) "which established the guilt of the accused beyond a shadow of doubt".

On May 21, sessions judge Kshama Joshi acquitted Tejpal, former editor-in-chief of the Tehelka magazine, in the case where he was accused of sexually assaulting his then woman colleague in a lift of a five-star hotel in Goa in November 2013 when they were attending an event.

The trial court in its judgement questioned the woman's conduct, noting she did not exhibit any kind of "normative behaviour" such as trauma and shock which a victim of sexual assault might plausibly show.

The Goa government later filed an appeal against the acquittal.

In its amended appeal, which will be heard on June 2, the state government said the trial court had "lost sight" of the fact that it was Tejpal who was an accused and was on trial, and not the victim.

"The entire judgement focuses on indicting the complainant rather than trying to ascertain the culpable role of the accused," the appeal said.

The finding of the trial court on how a woman, who has been a victim of sexual assault, normally behaves is "unsustainable in law and is coloured by prejudice and patriarchy", it said.

In its appeal, the prosecution sought the HC to expunge several portions of the judgement that cast aspersions not only on the prosecution's case, but also on the victim.

"This fact, accompanied by other attendant circumstances, clearly makes out a case for retrial in accordance with law," the prosecution said.

Referring to portions in the judgement which noted that the CCTV footage and photographs from the event show the victim cheerful and smiling, the government in its appeal said the observations "betray a complete lack of understanding of the post-trauma behaviour of victims".

They (observations of trial court) also demonstrate complete ignorance of the law and also several directions and guidelines passed by the Supreme Court (on how to handle such cases), it said.

The trial court allowed "scandalous, irrelevant and humiliating questions" to be put before the victim, it said.

"The trial court in its 527-page judgement has been influenced by extraneous and inadmissible materials and testimonies, graphic details of the victim's sexual history, that is prohibited by law, and has used the same for purposes of censuring her character and discrediting her evidence," the appeal said.

The manner in which the evidence of the prosecutrix (victim) was recorded in the case by the trial court requires close "judicial scrutiny", it said.

"Much of the impugned judgement has been consumed by sexual gossip and alleged sexual fantasies related to the prosecutrix which are legally prohibited," the appeal said.

The victim in her statement to police and to the court had said that while she was traumatised and shocked after the incident, due to professional commitments she had continued working at the event, the appeal further said.

On the trial court refusing to accept the apology e-mail sent by Tejpal to the victim, the government said the court has not given any cogent finding as to how a person of the education, age and maturity of the accused, who was in a position of power over the victim, could in any manner be pressured into apologising.

"The trial court has completely ignored the most telling piece of evidence in the case (the apology e-mail) which established the guilt of the accused beyond a shadow of doubt," the appeal said.

It further claimed the trial court was wrong in questioning the victim's conduct post the incident and that she confided in three of her male colleagues about the incident instead of her female roommate.
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government has announced a relief package of Rs 105 crore for fishermen affected by cyclone Tauktae which caused severe damage in the state's coastal belt last month, officials said on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani took the decision about the relief package after reviewing the situation during a meeting on Tuesday evening, an official release said.

Cyclone Tauktae hit the Gujarat coast on May 17 night with a very high wind speed of about 220 kmph.

It caused major damage to anchored boats, fishing nets, trawlers and marine infrastructure at Jafrabad, Rajula, Saiyad Rajpara, Shiyal Bet and Nava Bandar ports of the state, the release said, adding that houses of fishermen were also damaged in the cyclone.

As part of the package, the state government would pay a collective amount of Rs 25 crore to the affected fishermen to compensate the damage caused to over 1,000 small and large sized boats.

For a fully damaged small sized boat, the government would pay 50 per cent of the boat value or Rs 75,000, whichever is less, the release said.

In case of a partially damaged small sized boat, the compensation would be 50 per cent of the boat value or Rs 35,000, whichever is less, it said.

For a fully damaged trawler, the compensation would be Rs 5 lakh or 50 per cent of the trawler's value, it added.

The state government will give Rs 2,000 through direct benefit transfer to all those fishermen whose boats were fully or partially damaged in the cyclone.

On a loan of Rs 10 lakh to repair a fully damaged boat, the state government would bear 10 per cent of the interest for a period of two years, said the release.

Under the package, the state government has also planned to restore the marine infrastructure which was damaged in the cyclone.

In Jafrabad, the existing jetty would be extended up to 500 metres, and the high mast electricity towers at the jetty will also be repaired, the release said.

Similar restoration work will be carried out in the coastal towns of Nava Bandar and Saiyad Rajpara, and Shiyal Bet island.

In all, the state government would spend Rs 80 crore for restoring and strengthening the marine infrastructure, the release said.

Live TV
New Delhi: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has requested Union Home Minister Amit Shah for an effective and strong law "against healthcare violence". A doctor was attacked by a group of people in Assam's Hojai district on Monday, following a COVID patient's death. The IMA sought strong law against healthcare violence, demanding action over assault on Dr Seuj Kumar in Assam.

In a letter to the Home Minister on Tuesday, IMA said, "It was an extremely inhuman attack," urging him to consider its appeal on an emergency basis and enact the strong and effective Act to safeguard the healthcare professionals of the country.

IMA said that healthcare violence is violent incidents directed against doctors, healthcare staff, and healthcare establishments with or without reason, adding that the incidences of healthcare violence have increased over the years and have become widespread and pose threat to the medical practice.

It said that the medical fraternity has been working tirelessly during the pandemic and is also facing a serious threat from healthcare violence.

"There are many incidents of healthcare violence taking place across the country. Doctors and healthcare staff is finding it difficult to work under the stress of violence. Healthcare violence has become an alarming phenomenon across the country. The real size of the problem is largely unknown and recent information shows that the current knowledge is the tip of iceberg," the letter said.

It further added, "India needs a comprehensive, uniform and effective law against the healthcare violence. We request you to kindly approve an effective and strong act against the healthcare violence." IMA also sought "immediate strict action" on culprits in the Assam incidence.

Indian Medical Association (IMA) writes to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, requesting him to approve an effective & strong act against healthcare violence A doctor was attacked by a group of people in Assam's Hojai district yesterday, following a COVID patient's death pic.twitter.com/R8R4qJlI7X  ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2021

Earlier on Tuesday, the IMA had urged the Assam government to take strict action against those responsible for assault on the doctor, demanding that all hospitals should be declared as protective zone. The Assam Medical Service Association had also written to IMA over the issue.

Ramdev irreparably damaged govt's efforts to contain pandemic: IMA

The IMA on Tuesday said that Yoga guru Ramdev has "irreparably" damaged the government's efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and people creating confusion during such a time are "anti-national".

In an open letter to citizens, the doctors' body alleged that Ramdev thought it fit to launch his tirade against national Covid treatment protocols and the vaccination programme to look for an opportunity to "market" his products.

It said, "People creating confusion during an epidemic regarding national treatment protocols and the national vaccination programme are traitors and anti-nationals. They are anti-people and anti-humanity. They deserve no mercy."

The IMA has extended support to the black ribbon protest called by the Federation of Resident Doctors Associations (FORDA), and other medical and resident doctors' associations of the country against Ramdev.

The IMA said modern medicine is at the frontline of the fight against the pandemic and 1,300 doctors have sacrificed their lives for the nation.

"Creating confusion in the minds of the people against the national Covid protocols and national vaccination programme is an anti-national act of heinous proportions. The IMA has demanded to deem it as sedition and prosecute him (Ramdev) under the Disaster Management Act," the association said.

"His calling modern medicine a stupid science is a totally different criminal act. Inaction from the government would seriously hurt the doctors who are fighting the pandemic," it said in the letter.

On May 22, Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust denied allegations by the IMA that the yoga guru has misled people by making "unlearned" statements against allopathy and defamed scientific modern medicine.

Ramdev has "utmost regards" for doctors and support staff who have been working day and night during such a challenging time of the pandemic, the Haridwar-based Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust had said in a statement.

"Swami jee has no ill-will against modern science and good practitioners of modern medicine. What is being attributed against him is false and nugatory," the statement signed by Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust General Secretary Acharya Balakrishna had said.

(With Inputs from Agencies)

Live TV
New Delhi: Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday (June 2) hit back a former Finance Minister P Chidambaram over his criticism of the central government over economic slowdown.

He asserted that the Indian economy is resilient and will rebound in the times ahead and that the Congress leaders approach was clueless.

Indian economy is resilient and will rebound in the times ahead based on consistent reforms that have ensured strong fundamentals through these difficult times. I am not surprised that the Former Finance Minister chose to ignore hard data and instead went ahead with whataboutery - the congress leadership has embodied this clueless approach over the years, Anurag Thakur, MoS of Finance & Corporate Affairs said in a statement.

Consistent reforms and strong fundamentals have ensured India had a swift rebound from a contraction of 24.4 % in the 1st quarter of FY 2020-21 to a growth of 1.6 per cent in the 4th quarter of FY 2020-21, he added.

On the issue of the gloomy forecast portrayed by Chidambaram, Thakur said, While you doubt the resilience of Indian entrepreneurs, small businesses, traders and MSMEs to revive themselves; various international agencies project India to grow by 12.5% in FY 2021-22 making us the only major economy to have a projected double-digit growth.

Thakur further questioned the former finance minister saying, Is the Indian economy an island in isolation; have other major economies not faced a GDP contraction? Are you not aware that France, Germany, Italy, UK contracted by 8.2%, 4.9%, 8.9% and 9.9% respectively? Canada, Russia, South Africa, USA too have seen contraction in their GDP in the past year. Despite the disruptions in the globalised world, India has remained resilient.

A day after GDP shrunk by 7.3% in FY20-21, Chidambaram had suggested the government to borrow money or print notes and to spend aggressively without worrying about the fiscal deficit.

This is not the time to worry about the fiscal deficit. So what if the deficit widens to 6.5%? We cant lose another year like we lost the last year. But the way the government is reacting, we are going to lose another year. My advice to the government is to act boldly and spend. Borrow or print money and spend, he had said.

Live TV
Srinagar: In a joint operation, Budgam police and CRPF arrested a terrorist associate and recovered incriminating material from his possession.

Acting on specific information, a special joint checkpoint was established by police and CRPF at Harren Saibug area of Budgam. During checking, officers apprehended a terrorist associate identified as Fayaz Ahmed Bhat. He was allegedly linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the arrested terrorist associate was providing shelter, logistics and other material support including transportation of arms and ammunition to the active terrorists of LeT in various areas of Budgam.

The arrested terrorist associate has been in touch with the PoK-based terror commanders through various social media platforms and was also in constant touch with LeT self-styled terror commanders in Kashmir.

Incriminating material including posters of proscribed terror outfit LeT were recovered from his possession.

A case has been registered in Police Station Budgam and investigation into the matter has been initiated.

Live TV
Mumbai: In a bid to contain the COVID-19 spread in the rural areas, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday (June 2) launched a corona free village contest with prize money up to Rs 50 lakh.

Announcing the "My Village Corona Free" initiative recently, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray hailed the efforts of the villagers in containing the infection.

State Rural Development Minister Hasan Mushrif said that a corona free village contest is a part of the initiative.

The prize money will be given to the best three village panchayats that excel in COVID-19 management.

The first prize will be of Rs 50 lakh, second of Rs 25 lakh and third of Rs 15 lakh, the minister was quoted as saying by PTI.

There are six revenue divisions in the state, hence there will be a total of 18 prizes. The total prize money is Rs 5.4 crore, he added.

The villages which win the contest will also get an additional amount equivalent to the prize money as encouragement, and it will be utilised for development works in those villages, the minister said.

The participating villages will be judged on 22 criteria and a committee will be set up to judge the villages.

CM Thackeray in a virtual address on Sunday lauded Ruturaj Deshmukh (21), the youngest sarpanch in Maharashtra, and his task force to keep their Ghatne village in Solapur district free of coronavirus.

On Tuesday, Maharashtra recorded 14,123 new COVID-19 cases, taking the infection tally to 57,61,015, while 477 fresh deaths and another 377 deaths previously unreported pushed the fatality count to 96,198, as per official data.

Live TV
New Delhi: Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi can be deported from Dominica as he has no legal rights there, said former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director AP Singh.

"It is possible for Dominica to deport Mehul Choksi to India as he has no legal rights in Dominica. But he alleged before the court that he was kidnapped and brought to a third country (Dominica) against his will. Now the court will decide his deportation, ANI quoted Singh as saying.

The former CBI director further told the news agency that if the court found that Choksi was abducted and forcibly taken to Dominica, then he would be deported to Antigua.

If Dominican court found that Choksi was kidnapped and forcibly taken to Dominica, he'd be deported to Antigua as his country of origin, he said.

Choksis lawyers have alleged that the businessman was abducted, beaten up and taken to Dominica from Antigua, where has been living since 2018.

Meanwhile, India has sent a team of multi-agency officials led by a CBI DIG to Dominica, ahead of a Caribbean court hearing on Choksis case on Wednesday (June 2). The team comprising of two members of the CBI and officials of the other agencies are in Dominica. They will argue that Choksi continues to be an Indian citizen with an Interpol Red Notice against him.

Earlier, pictures of Choksi emerged from police custody in Dominica which showed him with red swollen eyes and body marks.

Choksi is a key accused in the Rs 13,000 crore Punjab and National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case and is wanted in India on bank fraud charges, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and money laundering.

(With inputs from agencies)

Live TV
New Delhi: Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi's elder brother Chetan Chinu Bhai Choksi met the Dominican Leader of Opposition, Lennox Linton, and promised to donate for polls in exchange for pressing the matter in the parliament, a report claimed on Tuesday (June 1, 2021).

An IANS report also claimed that Mehul Choksi's elder brother had landed in Dominica on May 29 and met Lennox Linton in Marigot on May 30 for two hours at the latter's house. They discussed several aspects related to Choksi's arrest and also reportedly agreed on the commitment that in exchange for token money and promise of election donation, the opposition leader will 'press the matter in the Parliament'.

The report stated that Chetan Chinu Bhai Choksi got into an agreement with the Dominican opposition leader and promised him election funding for pushing the abduction theory. Chetan also disclosed during the conversation that Choksi had reached Dominica on his own, but they required the assistance of the opposition to tackle the matter in court and against the Dominica government to make them believe that he was abducted by Antiguan and Indian police.

This is pertinent to note that Mehul Choksi, who is wanted in India in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case, went missing on May 23 from Antigua and was then captured in Dominica four days later.

His pictures showing red swollen eyes and body marks had also surfaced on social media platforms.

A Dominica court has restrained the deportation of Choksi until further orders while hearing the habeas corpus filed by his lawyers. The court is scheduled to hear the matter on Wednesday (June 2).

The Dominican government had issued a statement that it is ascertaining the status of Choksi's citizenship with Antigua and once confirmed, he would be deported there.

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne had recently said that Dominica and law enforcement agencies unless the court rules otherwise, can deport him to India because he is an Indian citizen.

Meanwhile, a team of multi-agency officials led by a CBI DIG has gone to Dominica to bring back Choksi to India if the courts in the Caribbean island country allow his deportation to India.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: Amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the Indian-born fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi and demands for his extradition, his wife Priti Choksi on Wednesday (June 2) said the woman who is rumoured to be his girlfriend is known to her husband and to his other acquaintances.

"The woman was known to my husband and to his other acquaintances. She walked with my husband periodically when she was visiting Antigua. From what I have understood from people who have met her, the woman shown on media channels is not the same woman that they knew as Barbara," Priti Choksi told ANI.

These remarks from Mehul Choksi's wife came after Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne stated last week that Choksi may have taken his girlfriend on a romantic trip to Dominica, where he was busted.

On the reports that fugitive diamantaire was tortured in Dominica, Priti said, "What has brought most anguish to the family is the physical torture and total disregard for the human rights of my husband. If someone really wanted him back alive, why did they need to torture and abuse him physically and mentally? My husband has many health issues."

On the question of Mehul Choki's deportation, his wife said, "He is 63-year-old and he is an Antiguan citizen. He enjoys all the rights and protection that the Antigua and Barbuda constitution gives him. I have full faith in the rule of law and the justice system of the Caribbean nations. We await his safe and rightful return to Antigua at the earliest."

Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are accused in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case. Choksi fled the country was granted citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in January 2018.

Meanwhile, a team from India has arrived in Dominica, ahead of a Caribbean court hearing that will decide on whether fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi will be deported to India.

Live TV
New Delhi: The COVID-19 vaccination status can be updated on Aarogya Setu mobile app through a self-assessment process and the facility will make it easier to check the vaccination status for travel purposes, the government claimed.

The Ministry of IT and Electronics said in a statement said, "Aarogya Setu has rolled out a feature to update vaccination status on the Aarogya Setu app." The Ministry said that the new facility will make it easier for people to check their vaccination status for travel purposes. The status can be updated through the mobile number registered on CoWIN.

Here's how you can update your vaccination status on Aarogya Setu app:

* Aarogya Setu app users will have to take a self-assessment on the app.

* A tab will appear on the basis of the declaration of vaccination status given by the user at the time of self-assessment.

* An OTP-based check from the CoWIN app backend helps to verify the status.

* If you have taken a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine, then a single blue border status will pop up. The status denotes 'partially vaccinated' and the app icon will be grey.

* As per the self-assessment, if a user has been administered both doses, then a double border will appear and his status will show 'vaccinated' (unverified). The Aarogya Setu icon will be of grey colour here as well.

* After the verification, for the users who have taken the first dose, the 'unverified' text will be removed. The grey shade icon will now show Aarogya Setu colours.

* On clicking the '>' button, the user can get the vaccination details. but only people who have taken their first vaccine dose.

* If a person has taken the second dose of vaccine, then after 14 days, a complete blue screen will appear on the app and the status will be changed to 'You are vaccinated'.

* Click on 'Confirm' option to update your profile in the app and your vaccination details will be saved. 'Partially vaccinated/ vaccinated' status will also change accordingly.

Notably, citizens can check the vaccination details by clicking on the 'view details' button and can also download their certificate.
Geneva: The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that only one strain of the COVID-19 Delta variant, detected in India first, is now of concern, adding that two other strains have been downgraded.

Since it is split into three lineages, the B.1.617 variant of the virus, which was blamed for a massive coronavirus outbreak in India, has been dubbed a triple mutant variant.

It has renamed the B.1.617.2 variant of the coronavirus, first identified in India, as the `Delta variant`. In a statement, the WHO said that it convened an expert group that recommended using easy-to-pronounce and non-stigmatising labels for Variants of Interest (VOIs) and Variants of Concern (VOC).

The group recommended using letters of the Greek Alphabet - Alpha, Beta, Gamma, which will be easier and more practical to discussed by non-scientific audiences.

Apart from the B.1.617.2 variant, the B.1.1.7 strain first identified in the United Kingdom has been identified as `Alpha variant`. The VOCs that were identified in South Africa and Brazil have been named `Beta` and `Gamma` respectively.

As for VOIs identified in the United States, Brazil, Philippines and other countries, the WHO has used nomenclature like `Epsilon`, `Zeta`, `Iota`, `Theta` and more.

The B.1.617.1 strain, also first identified in India, has been named as `Kappa variant`. The B.1.617.2 variant of COVID-19 is believed to have led to a devastating second wave of the pandemic in India, crippling healthcare infrastructure in the country and resulting in thousands of deaths every day.

On May 15, England`s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said that the B.1.617.2 variant of COVID-19, first identified in India, is likely to take over and dominate in the UK.

The WHO earlier this month informed that the B.1.617 variant of COVID-19, first found in India in October last year, had been detected in sequences uploaded "from more than 40 countries in all six WHO regions".

The coronavirus variant, first identified in India last year, has been classified as a "variant of global concern", with some preliminary studies showing that it spreads more easily, a senior WHO official informed. It is the fourth variant to be designated as being of "global concern". The WHO also revealed that the variant has three sub-lineages.

"Our team has been discussing with our virus evolution group. Everything we know about it in terms of transferability, studies that are being done, in India as well as in other countries where this virus is circulating. It is important to note that B.1.617 has three sub-lineages- .1, .2, .3," Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, Technical lead COVID-19 at WHO.

(With Agency Inputs)

Live TV
New Delhi: The Rajasthan government on Wednesday (June 2) will take a decision on conducting or cancelling the state board examinations.

A decision regarding Class 10 and 12 exams of Board of Secondary Education, Rajasthan (RBSE) will be taken today at a cabinet meeting.

Rajasthan Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasra took to Twitter to announce the meeting after CBSE and CISCE decided to cancel Class 12 Board examinations on Tuesday.

He wrote in Hindi, After discussion with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, the final decision regarding the board examinations will be taken in the cabinet meeting tomorrow.

The government has neither scrapped the state board exams of Class 10 or 12 yet.

In 2020, RBSE conducted Class 10 and 12 board exams, despite CBSE scrapping exams of the remaining subjects.

CBSE, CISCE cancel exams

The central government announced the cancellation of CBSE Class 12 exams on Tuesday. CISCE board took a similar decision and cancelled Class 12 Board exams in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the assessment criteria will be announced at a later date. The decision came after a high-level meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the matter. PM Modi said that students should not be forced to appear for exams in such a stressful situation.

Live TV
New Delhi: Unidentified terrorists on Wednesday (June 2) shot dead a BJP councillor in the Tral area of Pulwama district in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

The terrorists opened fire on Rakesh Pandit at his home in the evening, they said. Pandit was rushed to a hospital where he died, the officials said.

They said a woman, his friend's daughter, also sustained injuries in the firing by terrorists. Pertinently, the said councillor was residing in a secure accommodation at Srinagar and was provided with two PSOs. The said Councillor was not accompanied by the PSOs during his visit to Tral.

A top police official said, "Late in the evening today, 3 unidentified terrorists fired upon Municipal Councillor, town Tral Sh. Rakesh Pandita s/o Somnath Bala r/o Tral Bala who was visiting his friend at Tral Payeen."

Police and security forces have cordoned the area and massive search operation has been launched to nab the assailants.

Live TV
LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma has said that the UP Board Class 12 exams 2021 may be held in the second week of July if the COVID-19 situation normalises by then.

Sharma, who also holds the education portfolio, said that a decision on holding the UP Board Class 12 exams will be taken after reviewing the COVID-19 situation in the state with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the states health officials.

The BJP leader also welcomed the Centres decision to cancel the CBSE Class 12 board exams this year due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic. Dinesh Sharma, in a statement, said on Tuesday that the cancellation of the CBSE Class 12 exams is in the interest of students, parents and teachers.

Sharma made these remarks shortly after the Centre announced its decision to cancel the CBSE Class 12 board exams this year due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, which was welcomed by all major states and UTs.

After the CBSE, the other central board, CISCE, also decided to cancel the Class 12 board examinations this year because of the COVID-19 situation.

Several states welcome the decision

Chief Ministers of several states welcomed the move and said it was needed for the safety of students and teachers. Prime Minister Modi too said the decision to cancel the CBSE Class 12 board exams has been taken in the interest of students and the anxiety among students, parents and teachers must be put to an end.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the announcement has come as a big relief. "I am glad 12th exams have been cancelled. All of us were very worried about the health of our children. A big relief," he said.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray expressed gratitude towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the decision, a statement issued by the state's communications department said.

Punjab's Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla said it was a step in the right direction but demanded that the Union government call a meeting of all the state education ministers for holding further discussion related to the future of students.

Singla lamented that the Centre did not unveil modalities for the result declaration or any roadmap for these students for taking admission in higher classes.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said it was an important step to ensure the health and safety of students. "On behalf of all the students and parents, heartfelt thanks to you the respected Prime Minister, he tweeted

The Haryana government has also decided to cancel the Class 12 exams conducted by the state board, Education Minister Kanwar Pal said. "We have also decided to cancel the Class 12 board exams in the state which were to be conducted by the Haryana Board of School Education," Pal said.

Leaders of the Congress and other parties too had been pressing the Centre to cancel Class 12 board exams, after those for Class 10 were scrapped due to the COVID situation, which worsened in April-May when the country was hit by a second deadly wave of the infection.

"We are glad Modi government finally heeded to the demands of the Indian people, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and the Congress party, to prioritise the safety and health of our students," the Congress said.

Live TV
New Delhi: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Uttar Pradesh government is planning to complete the final year and semester exams in the state-run universities by the second week of August.

As per media reports, a proposal has been styled on the recommendations made by a three-member committee of vice-chancellors which says that students will need to appear for only one question paper per subject. The single-question paper of a subject will be designed in a way that it covers all the papers of the said subject.

This year, the question paper is most likely to be in a Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) format and the students will be required to answer on the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheet.

The proposal also reportedly states that the marks for the practical examinations will be given on the basis of the performance in written examinations, whereas, the oral examination will be taken online as per the requirement.

The results are expected to be announced by August end.

Meanwhile, reports also claim that the state universities which have not conducted Undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) first-year exam yet, will promote the students without holding an exam. However, the marks of such students will be given considering their scores in the second-year exams.

On the other hand, the state-run universities that have conducted the UG and PG first year exams in 2020, will promote the second-year students to final year on the basis of marks in the first year exams. Also, the second-year students of those universities which have not conducted first-year examinations in 2020, will have to take the exam to get promoted.

Live TV
New Delhi: Uttarakhand has cancelled the UBSE Class 12 board examinations amid spike in COVID-19 coronavirus cases in the state. Uttarakhand Education Minister Arvind Pandey said that the government has decided to cancel the Class 12 board exams. He said that the students will be promoted as per CBSE and ICSE regulations.

"Uttarakhand Intermediate Board Examination has been cancelled on the lines of CBSE and ICSE Board. Students will also be given promotion accordingly," Education Minister Pandey said on Wednesday.

The Uttarakhand School Education Board had earlier deferred the Class 12 board exams scheduled from May 4 to May 22. The CBSE Board exams were scheduled take place in two shifts. The decision to cancel Class 12 Uttarakhand board exams comes after CBSE had cancelled Class 12 board exams.

The Centre's decision to cancel the CBSE Class 12 board exams was hailed by states which said it was needed for the safety of students and teachers. Several states including Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat followed suit and cancelled the 12th board exams.

After the decision of scrapping CBSE board 12th exams, the Delhi University (DU) in a statement said that it will adjust its admission process without compromising on merit.
Bengaluru: Vietnam's envoy to India Pham Sanh Chau on Wednesday (June 2) said that his country is waiting for World Health Organisation (WHO) to give approval to the Indian COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin even as they are sourcing more vaccines globally.

Speaking from Bengaluru to Zee Media, Pham Sanh Chau said, "Covaxin is not approved yet by WHO for emergency use, that is why we are waiting for this approval and then we will intensify the discussion.

Bharat Biotech, which manufactures Covaxin, has submitted its application to the WHO for Emergency Use Listing (EUL) on April 19. A pre-submission meeting will happen later this month.

Envoy Chau, who recently got Covaxin at Delhi's Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, said, Vietnam badly needs vaccines like other Asian countries. We have placed the order recently to Pfizer. We are in the process of negotiating with Moderna. We have signed an agreement with AstraZeneca. We also have the opportunity to purchase Covaxin (once it is approved).

As India continues to deal with the second wave of the pandemic, like many other countries, Vietnam has also come forward to help it. The country sent 109 ventilators and 50 oxygen concentrators in the first batch of the assistance package. In the second batch, it sent 100 ventilators, 275 oxygen concentrators, 1300 oxygen cylinders, and 50,000 masks.

When asked about the COVID situation in Vietnam, Chau said, We are just hit by the fourth wave as it has been identified since 27th April. It has brought the cases from 1600 to more than 6000. It means over the past one month, the number of infections has doubled. This mutant (virus) is spreading very fast.

Live TV
New Delhi: The US on Wednesday announced tariffs on six countries, including India, that have imposed or are considering equalisation levy/digital services tax on e-commerce companies but immediately suspended the taxes for up to six months to provide additional time to complete the ongoing multilateral negotiations on international taxation at the OECD and G20.

United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai, in a statement, announced the conclusion of the one-year Section 301 investigations of Digital Service Taxes (DSTs) adopted by Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the UK.

"The final determination in those investigations is to impose additional tariffs on certain goods from these countries, while suspending the tariffs for up to 180 days to provide additional time to complete the ongoing multilateral negotiations on international taxation at the OECD and in the G20 process," the statement said.

In March last year, the USTR has proposed retaliatory trade actions against India and certain other countries that have imposed or are considering equalisation levy/digital services tax on e-commerce companies.

USTR has proposed to impose additional tariffs of up to 25 per cent ad valorem on an aggregate level of trade that would collect duties on Indian goods in the range of the amount of DST that India is expected to collect from US companies.

On the announcement, government sources in New Delhi said the postponement of tariffs is similar to the DST investigation on France, where USTR indefinitely postponed tariffs after the first six month delay to pursue negotiations at the OECD.

Further, Tai stated that the US is focused on finding a multilateral solution to a range of key issues related to international taxation, including its concerns with digital services taxes.

"The US remains committed to reaching a consensus on international tax issues through the OECD and G20 processes. Today's actions provide time for those negotiations to continue to make progress while maintaining the option of imposing tariffs under Section 301 if warranted in the future," she said.

On June 2, 2020, USTR initiated investigations into DSTs adopted or under consideration in 10 jurisdictions, including India.

In January this year, following comprehensive investigations, USTR alleged that the taxes adopted by these countries discriminate against US digital companies and were inconsistent with principles of international taxation.

India has earlier stated that the equalisation levy is not discriminatory and only seeks to ensure a level-playing field with respect to e-commerce activities undertaken by entities with permanent establishment in India.

It was also clarified by India that the levy was applied only prospectively, and has no extra-territorial application, since it is based on sales occurring in the territory of India through digital means.

Live TV

#mute
Mumbai: Actress Juhi Chawla, who has filed a lawsuit in Delhi High Court on the health risks associated with 5G telecom technology, has urged netizens to do a bit of research on the ill effects of radiation.

Juhi Chawla took to Instagram early on Wednesday to talk about how radiation will increase exponentially with 5G and urged people who are interested, to join her in the first virtual hearing being conducted at the Delhi High Court, on June 2.

Speaking in an Instagram video in Hindi and English early on Wednesday, Juhi said: "People are asking me why I woke up suddenly and filed a suit. I want to tell them that I didn't wake up today. I have been speaking about radiation, safe cell phone use, cell phone tower radiation since the last 10 years and tried to spread awareness on the same as much as possible."

"Our phones work on radio waves, which are increasing in our environment. From 1G to 2G to 3G to 4G. Now 4G to 5G is a very big leap. Radiation will increase exponentially. See, you know it, everything in moderation is fine but when it is more than required then you get to know the ill effects of it," she added.

Citing an example, the actress further said: "I will give you a simple example. A pharmaceutical drug when introduced in the market, research is done for at least 10 to 15 years to check its side effects and then it finally gets the approval to be released in the market. But this radiation is being spread over the last 20 to 25 years, has anyone studied about this?"

Urging netizens to read and research about radiation, she added: "All of us use technology, so I request you to research about this and see what you get to know about it. I hope that you are convinced and join me. The case has just begun and our first hearing is on 2nd June. I will share the link if you want to join me."

The actress also shared a note for memers who have created memes on her and her case. Addressing them in her video, Juhi said: "I want to thank those who have made memes on me. Because of these memes, a lot of people got to know about this. So, keep it coming, let's enjoy the ride."

Alongside her video, Juhi wrote on Instagram: "Hum, tum aur 5G. If you do think this concerns you in any way, please feel free to join our first virtual hearing being conducted at the Delhi High Court, on the 2nd of June, 3:00 PM IST onwards! Link in bio. #5g."
New Delhi: In what would come as a big respite for lakhs of EPFO Subscribers, the regulatory fund has allowed its members to withdraw more money from account as COVID-19 advance.

EPFO said that considering urgent need of members for financial support in these trying times, it has been decided to accord top priority to COVID-19 claims. Hence EPFO said that it is committed to settle these claims within three days of their receipt.

For this, EPFO has deployed a system driven auto-claim settlement process in respect of all such members whose KYC requirements is complete in all respects. Auto-mode of settlement enables EPFO to reduce the claim settlement cycle to just 3 days as against the statutory requirement to settle the claims within 20 days, the release said.

To support its subscribers during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, EPFO has now allowed its members to avail second non-refundable COVID-19 advance, said an official release.

The COVID-19 advance has been a great help to the EPF members during the pandemic, especially for those having monthly wages of less than Rs. 15,000. As on date, EPFO has settled more than 76.31 lakh COVID-19 advance claims thereby disbursing a total of Rs. 18,698.15 crore.

The provision for special withdrawal to meet the financial need of members during pandemic was introduced in March 2020, under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY). An amendment to this effect was made by Ministry of Labour & Employment in Employees Provident Funds Scheme, 1952 by inserting therein sub-para (3) under paragraph 68L, through notification in the Official Gazette.

Under this provision, non-refundable withdrawal to the extent of the basic wages and dearness allowances for three months or up to 75% of the amount standing to member's credit in the EPF account, whichever is less, is provided. Members can apply for lesser amount also.

During the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, mucormycosis or black fungus has been declared an epidemic recently. In such trying times, EPFO endeavours to lend a helping hand to its members by meeting their financial needs. Members who have already availed the first COVID-19 advance can now opt for a second advance also. The provision and process for withdrawal of second COVID-19 advance is same as in the case of first advance.

Live TV

#mute
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (June 2) heard Googles petition challenging an earlier decision of a single bench that had directed the tech giant to immediately remove a womans private image from the search engine.

The woman had alleged that the photographs are being shown on the pornographic website on Google without his permission. She had posted her personal photographs on Facebook and Instagram.

Google had filed a petition to turn the decision in its favour. The double bench of the High Court heard the matter for the first time on June 2, and the next date of hearing is July 27.

Senior advocate Harish Salve appeared on behalf of Google. He argued in court that Google is a search engine, not a social media. Therefore, the newly launched IT rules dont apply to it.

Salve also said in the court that some content may be offensive in India but it is permissible in other countries. Therefore it cannot be removed globally.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice to the Centre, Delhi government, Internet Service Providers Association of India, Facebook, the pornographic site and the woman, on whose plea the single judge's ruling had come, and sought their responses to Google's plea by July 25.
New Delhi: Television actor Mohit Malik has been enjoying his daddy duties. The actor welcomed his firstborn with actress-wife Addite Malik in April 2021.

Mohit, who has been spending a lot of time with his family due to the lockdown, keeps posting photos with his wife and son.

The actor took to his Instagram on Tuesday (June 1) to share a gorgeous sun-kissed photo with his wife, reminiscing their journey together and how their son Ekbir was somehow present in their lives even before his birth.

From the day I met you to the day I proposed, to us getting married, the beautiful memories we have created to now having Ekbir in our lives, everyday I realize all the more how lucky we are that we found each other. And I think the whole reason is Ekbir. It's as if Ekbir was always with us, invisibly in our lives binding our love and the one who brought us together to begin with. In essence we are because he is and he is because we are and that beauty of oneness has always been there, its just about when you see it ! Love you @additemalik @ekbirmalik, wrote the 37 year old actor.

The actor got famous for his performance in shows like Kulfi Kumar Bajewala, Doli Armaanon Ki, Banoo Main Teri Dulhann among others.
DUBAI: Iran`s largest navy ship sank after catching fire near the mouth of the Gulf, but the entire crew was able to safely disembark, Iranian semi-official news agencies reported on Wednesday.

"All efforts to save the vessel were unsuccessful and it sank," the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Firefighting operations continued on board the support ship which was near the Iranian port of Jask situated on the Gulf of Oman, the statement said, adding that the vessel was on a training mission.

The statement did not give the cause of the fire.

In April, Iran said one of its vessels, the Saviz, had been targeted in the Red Sea, after media reports the ship had been attacked with limpet mines.

It was the latest in a reported series of attacks on Israeli- and Iranian-owned cargo ships since late February in which the two arch-enemies accused each other of responsibility.

Last year, an Iranian warship accidentally struck another with a missile during an exercise, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15 others.

The incident took place during training in the Gulf of Oman, a sensitive waterway that connects to the Strait of Hormuz through which about a fifth of the world`s oil passes. Iran regularly conducts exercises in the area.
New Delhi: Celebrating Pride Month, Google on Wednesday (June 2) dedicated its Doodle to American gay rights activist Frank Kameny.

Google honoured Kameny for courageously paving the way for decades of progress.

Franklin Edward Kameny, astronomer, veteran, was one of the most prominent figures of the U.S. LGBTQ rights movement. He was born in Queens, New York, on May 21, 1925. At the age of 15, he enrolled in Queens College to study physics.

He served in the army during World War II and upon his return to the U.S. obtained a doctorate in astronomy at Harvard University. In 1957, Kameny joined the Army Map Service as an astronomer, but he was fired just months later based on an order which barred members of the LGBTQ community from federal employment.

In return, Kameny sued the federal government and in 1961 filed the first gay rights appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Known for fighting for the equal rights of the LGBTQ community, Kameny organized one of the countrys first gay rights advocacy groups.

In the early 70s, he also successfully challenged the American Psychiatric Associations classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder.

Over 50 years after his dismissal, Kameny received a formal apology from the U.S. government in 2009.

In June 2010, Washington D.C. named a stretch of 17th Street NW near Dupont Circle Frank Kameny Way. Kameny died in 2011 at the age of 86.

Pride Month is celebrated each year in the month of June to honour the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan.
New evidence may change timeline for when people first arrived in North America

AMES, Iowa - An unexpected discovery by an Iowa State University researcher suggests that the first humans may have arrived in North America more than 30,000 years ago - nearly 20,000 years earlier than originally thought.

Andrew Somerville, an assistant professor of anthropology in world languages and cultures, says he and his colleagues made the discovery while studying the origins of agriculture in the Tehuacan Valley in Mexico. As part of that work, they wanted to establish a date for the earliest human occupation of the Coxcatlan Cave in the valley, so they obtained radiocarbon dates for several rabbit and deer bones that were collected from the cave in the 1960s as part of the Tehuacan Archaeological-Botanical Project. The dates for the bones suddenly took Somerville and his colleagues in a different direction with their work.

The date ranges for the bone samples from the base of the cave ranged from 33,448 to 28,279 years old. The results are published in the academic journal Latin American Antiquity. Somerville says even though previous studies had not dated items from the bottom of the cave, he was not expecting such old ages. The findings add to the debate over a long-standing theory that the first humans crossed the Bering Land Bridge into the Americas 13,000 years ago.

"We weren't trying to weigh in on this debate or even find really old samples. We were just trying to situate our agricultural study with a firmer timeline," Somerville said. "We were surprised to find these really old dates at the bottom of the cave, and it means that we need to take a closer look at the artifacts recovered from those levels."

Somerville says the findings provide researchers with a better understanding of the chronology of the region. Previous studies relied on charcoal and plant samples, but he says the bones were a better material for dating. However, questions still remain. Most importantly, is there a human link to the bottom layer of the cave where the bones were found?

To answer that question, Somerville and Matthew Hill, ISU associate professor of anthropology, plan to take a closer look at the bone samples for evidence of cut marks that indicate the bones were butchered by a stone tool or human, or thermal alternations that suggest the bones were boiled or roasted over fire. He says the possible stone tools from the early levels of the cave may also yield clues.

"Determining whether the stone artifacts were products of human manufacture or if they were just naturally chipped stones would be one way to get to the bottom of this," Somerville said. "If we can find strong evidence that humans did in fact make and use these tools, that's another way we can move forward."

Year-long journey to even find the bones

Not only was this discovery unexpected, but the process of tracking down the animal bones to take samples was more than Somerville anticipated. The collection of artifacts from the 1960s Tehuacan Archaeological-Botanical Project was distributed to different museums and labs in Mexico and the United States, and it was unclear where the animal bones were sent.

After a year of emails and cold calls, Somerville and his collaborator, Isabel Casar from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, had a potential lead for a lab in Mexico City. The lab director, Joaquin Arroyo-Cabrales, agreed to give Somerville and Casar a tour to help search for the missing collection. The tour proved to be beneficial. Among the countless boxes of artifacts, they found what they were looking for.

"Having spent months trying to locate the bones, we were excited to find them tucked away on the bottom shelf in a dark corner of the lab," Somerville said. "At the time, we felt that was a great discovery, we had no idea it would lead to this."

Once he located the bones, Somerville got permission from the Mexican government to take small samples - about 3/4 inch in length and 1/4 inch in width - from 17 bones (eight rabbits and nine deer) for radiocarbon dating. If closer examination of the bones provides evidence of a human link, Somerville says it will change what we know about the timing and how the first people came to America.

"Pushing the arrival of humans in North America back to over 30,000 years ago would mean that humans were already in North America prior to the period of the Last Glacial Maximum, when the Ice Age was at its absolute worst," Somerville said. "Large parts of North America would have been inhospitable to human populations. The glaciers would have completely blocked any passage over land coming from Alaska and Canada, which means people probably would have had to come to the Americas by boats down the Pacific coast."

###

Isabel Casar, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and Joaquin Arroyo-Cabrales, a researcher with the National Institute of Anthropology and History in Mexico, contributed to this research. The work was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Wenner-Gren Foundation.

This story has been published on: 2021-06-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
New Braunfels Fire Department divers aboard Canyon Lake Fire/EMSs Marine 53 search for the body of Joel Jojo, 22, who disappeared while swimming in Canyon Lake Saturday morning.
WATER AND SEWER RATES CLIMBING - Shown the above charts plotting the towns water consumption trends and a related increase in water and sewer bills over the past three years, Readings Select Board last night endorsed a plan to reduce the extent of the cost increase upon everyday citizens by dipping into reserves.
Woburn, MA (01801)

Today

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low 58F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low 58F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
US President Joe Biden plans to invite Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to the White House for a summit meeting as soon as April, Axios reported Wednesday. If finalized, it would be Mr. Biden first face-to-face meeting with a foreign leader since t...
Bill Gates, co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft, and his wife, Melinda French Gates, announced on Monday that they plan to divorce after 27 years of marriage. "After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decis...
New Geology articles published online ahead of print in May

Boulder, Colo., USA: Article topics include Zealandia, Earth's newly recognized continent; the topography of Scandinavia; an interfacial energy penalty; major disruptions in North Atlantic circulation; the Great Bahama Bank; Pityusa Patera, Mars; the end-Permian extinction; and Tongariro and Ruapehu volcanoes, New Zealand. These Geology articles are online at https:/ / geology. geoscienceworld. org/ content/ early/ recent .

Mass balance controls on sediment scour and bedrock erosion in waterfall plunge pools

Joel S. Scheingross; Michael P. Lamb

Abstract: Waterfall plunge pools experience cycles of sediment aggradation and scour that modulate bedrock erosion, habitat availability, and hazard potential. We calculate sediment flux divergence to evaluate the conditions under which pools deposit and scour sediment by comparing the sediment transport capacities of waterfall plunge pools (Qsc_pool) and their adjacent river reaches (Qsc_river). Results show that pools fill with sediment at low river discharge because the waterfall jet is not strong enough to transport the supplied sediment load out of the pool. As discharge increases, the waterfall jet strengthens, allowing pools to transport sediment at greater rates than in adjacent river reaches. This causes sediment scour from pools and bar building at the downstream pool boundary. While pools may be partially emptied of sediment at modest discharge, floods with recurrence intervals >10 yr are typically required for pools to scour to bedrock. These results allow new constraints on paleodischarge estimates made from sediment deposited in plunge pool bars and suggest that bedrock erosion at waterfalls with plunge pools occurs during larger floods than in river reaches lacking waterfalls.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48881. 1/ 598762/ Mass-balance-controls-on-sediment-scour-and

Pace, magnitude, and nature of terrestrial climate change through the end-Permian extinction in southeastern Gondwana

T.D. Frank; C.R. Fielding; A.M.E. Winguth; K. Savatic; A. Tevyaw ...

Abstract: Rapid climate change was a major contributor to the end-Permian extinction (EPE). Although well constrained for the marine realm, relatively few records document the pace, nature, and magnitude of climate change across the EPE in terrestrial environments. We generated proxy records for chemical weathering and land surface temperature from continental margin deposits of the high-latitude southeastern margin of Gondwana. Regional climate simulations provide additional context. Results show that Glossopteris forest-mire ecosystems collapsed during a pulse of intense chemical weathering and peak warmth, which capped ~1 m.y. of gradual warming and intensification of seasonality. Erosion resulting from loss of vegetation was short lived in the low-relief landscape. Earliest Triassic climate was ~10-14 C warmer than the late Lopingian and landscapes were no longer persistently wet. Aridification, commonly linked to the EPE, developed gradually, facilitating the persistence of refugia for moisture-loving terrestrial groups.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48795. 1/ 598763/ Pace-magnitude-and-nature-of-terrestrial-climate

Controls on andesitic glaciovolcanism at ice-capped volcanoes from field and experimental studies

R.P. Cole; J.D.L. White; T. Durig; R. Buttner; B. Zimanowski ...

Abstract: Glaciovolcanic deposits at Tongariro and Ruapehu volcanoes, New Zealand, represent diverse styles of interaction between wet-based glaciers and andesitic lava. There are ice-confined lavas, and also hydroclastic breccia and subaqueous pyroclastic deposits that formed during effusive and explosive eruptions into meltwater beneath the glacier; they are rare among globally reported products of andesitic glaciovolcanism. The apparent lack of hydrovolcanically fragmented andesite at ice-capped volcanoes has been attributed to a lack of meltwater at the interaction sites because either the thermal characteristics of andesite limit meltwater production or meltwater drains out through leaky glaciers and down steep volcano slopes. We used published field evidence and novel, dynamic andesite-ice experiments to show that, in some cases, meltwater accumulates under glaciers on andesitic volcanoes and that meltwater production rates increase as andesite pushes against an ice wall. We concur with models for eruptions beneath ice sheets showing that the glacial conditions and pre-eruption edifice morphology are more important controls on the style of glaciovolcanism and its products than magma composition and the thermal properties of magmas. Glaciovolcanic products can be useful proxies for paleoenvironment, and the range of andesitic products and the hydrological environments in which andesite erupts are greater than hitherto appreciated.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48735. 1/ 598764/ Controls-on-andesitic-glaciovolcanism-at-ice

How cementation and fluid flow influence slip behavior at the subduction interface

J.N. Hooker; D.M. Fisher

Abstract: Much of the complexity of subduction-zone earthquake size and temporal patterns owes to linkages among fluid flow, stress, and fault healing. To investigate these linkages, we introduce a novel numerical model that tracks cementation and fluid flow within the framework of an earthquake simulator. In the model, there are interseismic increases in cohesion across the plate boundary and decreases in porosity and permeability caused by cementation along the interface. Seismogenic slip is sensitive to the effective stress and therefore fluid pressure; in turn, slip events increase porosity by fracturing. The model therefore accounts for positive and negative feedbacks that modify slip behavior through the seismic cycle. The model produces temporal clustering of earthquakes in the seismic record of the Aleutian margin, which has well-documented along-strike variations in locking characteristics. Model results illustrate how physical, geochemical, and hydraulic linkages can affect natural slip behavior. Specifically, coseismic drops in fluid pressure steal energy from large ruptures, suppress slip, moderate the magnitudes of large earthquakes, and lead to aftershocks.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48741. 1/ 598765/ How-cementation-and-fluid-flow-influence-slip

Conservative transport of dissolved sulfate across the Rio Madre de Dios floodplain in Peru

Emily I. Burt; Markus Bill; Mark E. Conrad; Adan Julian Ccahuana Quispe; John N. Christensen ...

Abstract: Mineral weathering plays a primary role in the geologic carbon cycle. Silicate weathering by carbonic acid consumes CO2 and stabilizes Earth's climate system. However, when sulfuric acid drives weathering, CO2 can be released to the atmosphere. Recent work has established that sulfuric acid weathering resulting from sulfide mineral oxidation is globally significant and particularly important in rapidly eroding environments. In contrast, if SO42- produced by sulfide oxidation is reduced during continental transit, then CO2 release may be negated. Yet, little is known about how much SO42- reduction takes place in terrestrial environments. We report oxygen and sulfur stable isotope ratios of SO42- in river waters and mass budget calculations, which together suggest that SO42- released from pyrite oxidation in the Peruvian Andes mountains is conservatively exported across ~300 km of the Amazon floodplain. In this system, floodplain SO42- reduction does not counteract the large SO42- flux from Andean pyrite weathering or measurably affect the stable isotope composition of riverine SO42-. These findings support the hypothesis that uplift and erosion of sedimentary rocks drive release of CO2 from the rock reservoir to the atmosphere.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48997. 1/ 598766/ Conservative-transport-of-dissolved-sulfate-across

First U-Pb dating of fossilized soft tissue using a new approach to paleontological chronometry

Heriberto Rochin-Banaga; Donald W. Davis; Tobias Schwennicke

Abstract: Previous U-Pb dating of fossils has had only limited success because of low uranium content and abundance of common Pb as well as element mobility during late diagenesis. We report the first accurate U-Pb dating of fossilized soft tissue from a Pliocene phosphatized bivalve mold using laser ablation-inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS). The fossilized soft tissue yields a diagenetic U-Pb age of 3.16  0.08 Ma, which is consistent with its late Pliocene stratigraphy and similar to the oldest U-Pb age measured on accompanying shark teeth. Phosphate extraclasts give a distinctly older age of 5.1  1.7 Ma, indicating that they are likely detrital and may have furnished P, promoting phosphatization of the mold. The U-Pb ages reported here along with stratigraphic constraints suggest that diagenesis occurred shortly after the death of the bivalve and that the U-Pb system in the bivalve mold remained closed until the present. Shark teeth collected from the same horizon show variable resetting due to late diagenesis. Data were acquired as line scans in order to exploit the maximum Pb/U variation and were regressed as counts, rather than ratios, in three-dimensional space using a Bayesian statistical method.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48386. 1/ 598767/ First-U-Pb-dating-of-fossilized-soft-tissue-using

Direct measurement of fungal contribution to silicate weathering rates in soil

Bastien Wild; Gwenael Imfeld; Damien Daval

Abstract: Chemical weathering produces solutes that control groundwater chemistry and supply ecosystems with essential nutrients. Although microbial activity influences silicate weathering rates and associated nutrient fluxes, its relative contribution to silicate weathering in natural settings remains largely unknown. We provide the first quantitative estimates of in situ silicate weathering rates that account for microbially induced dissolution and identify microbial actors associated with weathering. Nanoscale topography measurements showed that fungi colonizing olivine [(Mg,Fe)2SiO4] samples in a Mg-deficient forest soil accounted for up to 16% of the weathering flux after 9 mo of incubation. A local increase in olivine weathering rate was measured and attributed to fungal hyphae of Verticillium sp. Altogether, this approach provides quantitative parameters of bioweathering (i.e., rates and actors) and opens new avenues to improve elemental budgets in natural settings.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48706. 1/ 598768/ Direct-measurement-of-fungal-contribution-to

Detrital chromites reveal Slave craton's missing komatiite

Rasmus Haugaard; Pedro Waterton; Luke Ootes; D. Graham Pearson; Yan Luo ...

Abstract: Komatiitic magmatism is a characteristic feature of Archean cratons, diagnostic of the addition of juvenile crust, and a clue to the thermal evolution of early Earth lithosphere. The Slave craton in northwest Canada contains >20 greenstone belts but no identified komatiite. The reason for this dearth of komatiite, when compared to other Archean cratons, remains enigmatic. The Central Slave Cover Group (ca. 2.85 Ga) includes fuchsitic quartzite with relict detrital chromite grains in heavy-mineral laminations. Major and platinum group element systematics indicate that the chromites were derived from Al-undepleted komatiitic dunites. The chromites have low 187Os/188Os ratios relative to chondrite with a narrow range of rhenium depletion ages at 3.19  0.12 Ga. While these ages overlap a documented crust formation event, they identify an unrecognized addition of juvenile crust that is not preserved in the bedrock exposures or the zircon isotopic data. The documentation of komatiitic magmatism via detrital chromites indicates a region of thin lithospheric mantle at ca. 3.2 Ga, either within or at the edge of the protocratonic nucleus. This study demonstrates the applicability of detrital chromites in provenance studies, augmenting the record supplied by detrital zircons.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48840. 1/ 598769/ Detrital-chromites-reveal-Slave-craton-s-missing

Pityusa Patera, Mars: Structural analyses suggest a mega-caldera above a magma chamber at the crust-mantle interface

Hannes Bernhardt; David A. Williams

Abstract: Pityusa Patera is the southernmost of four paterae in the 1.2  106 km2 wrinkle-ridged plains-dominated Malea Planum region of Mars. Based on their texture, morphology, and uniqueness to Pityusa Patera, we interpret layered, folded massifs as pyroclastic deposits emplaced during patera formation as a collapse caldera. Such deposits would not be expected in a previously suggested scenario of patera formation by subsidence from lithospheric loading. Our structural measurements and modeling indicate that the folding and high relief of the massifs resulted from ~1.3%-6.9% of shortening, which we show to be a reasonable value for a central plug sagging down into an assumed piston-type caldera. According to a previously published axisymmetric finite-element model, the extent of shortening structures on a caldera floor relative to its total diameter is controlled by the roof depth of the collapsed magma chamber beneath it, which would imply Pityusa Patera formed above a chamber at 57.5-69 km depth. We interpret this value to indicate a magma chamber at the crust-mantle interface, which is in agreement with crust-penetrating ring fractures and mantle flows expected from the formation of the Hellas basin. As such, the folded massifs in Pityusa Patera, which are partially superposed by ca. 3.8 Ga wrinkle-ridged plains, should consist of primordial mantle material, a theory that might be assessed by future hyperspectral observations. In conclusion, we do not favor a formation by load-induced lithospheric subsidence but suggest Pityusa Patera to be one of the oldest extant volcanic landforms on Mars and one of the largest calderas in the solar system, which makes the folded, likely mantle-derived deposits on its floor a prime target for future exploration.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48903. 1/ 598740/ Pityusa-Patera-Mars-Structural-analyses-suggest-a

Evidence for iron-rich sulfate melt during magnetite(-apatite) mineralization at El Laco, Chile

Wyatt M. Bain; Matthew Steele-MacInnis; Fernando Tornos; John M. Hanchar; Emily C. Creaser ...

Abstract: The origins of Kiruna-type magnetite(-apatite) [Mt(-Ap)] deposits are contentious, with existing models ranging from purely hydrothermal to orthomagmatic end members. Here, we evaluate the compositions of fluids that formed the classic yet enigmatic Mt(-Ap) deposit at El Laco, northern Chile. We report evidence that ore-stage minerals crystallized from an Fe-rich (6-17 wt% Fe) sulfate melt. We suggest that a major component of the liquid was derived from assimilation of evaporite-bearing sedimentary rocks during emplacement of andesitic magma at depth. Hence, we argue that assimilation of evaporite-bearing sedimentary strata played a key role in the formation of El Laco and likely Mt(-Ap) deposits elsewhere.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48861. 1/ 598741/ Evidence-for-iron-rich-sulfate-melt-during

Surface-wave tomography of the Emeishan large igneous province (China): Magma storage system, hidden hotspot track, and its impact on the Capitanian mass extinction

Yiduo Liu; Lun Li; Jolante van Wijk; Aibing Li; Yuanyuan V. Fu

Abstract: Large igneous provinces (LIPs) are commonly associated with mass extinctions. However, the precise relations between LIPs and their impacts on biodiversity is enigmatic, given that they can be asynchronous. It has been proposed that the environmental impacts are primarily related to sill emplacement. Therefore, the structure of LIPs' magma storage system is critical because it dictates the occurrence and timing of mass extinction. We use surface-wave tomography to image the lithosphere under the Permian Emeishan large igneous province (ELIP) in southwestern China. We find a northeast-trending zone of high shear-wave velocity (Vs) and negative radial anisotropy (Vsv > Vsh; v and h are vertically and horizontally polarized S waves, respectively) in the crust and lithosphere. We rule out the possibilities of rifting or orogenesis to explain these seismic characteristics and interpret the seismic anomaly as a mafic-ultramafic, dike-dominated magma storage system of the ELIP. We further propose that the anomaly represents a hidden hotspot track that was emplaced before the ELIP eruption. A zone of higher velocity but less-negative radial anisotropy, on the hotspot track but to the northeast of the eruption center in the Panxi region, reflects an elevated proportion of sills emplaced at the incipient stage of the ELIP. Liberation of poisonous gases by the early sill intrusions explains why the mid-Capitanian global biota crisis preceded the peak ELIP eruption by 2-3 m.y.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G49055. 1/ 598742/ Surface-wave-tomography-of-the-Emeishan-large

Diverse marine fish assemblages inhabited the paleotropics during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum

Sanaa El-Sayed; Matt Friedman; Tarek Anan; Mahmoud A. Faris; Hesham Sallam

Abstract: The Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) was a short interval (120-220 k.y.) of elevated global temperatures, but it is important for understanding biotic responses to climatic warming. Consequences of the PETM for marine fishes remain unclear, despite evidence that they might have been particularly vulnerable to increasing temperatures. Part of this uncertainty reflects a lack of data on marine fishes across a range of latitudes at the time. We report a new paleotropical (~12N paleolatitude) fish fauna from the Dababiya Quarry Member of Egypt dating to the PETM. This assemblage--Ras Gharib A--is a snapshot of a time when tropical sea-surface temperatures approached limits lethal for many modern fishes. Despite extreme conditions, the Ras Gharib A fauna is compositionally similar to well-known, midlatitude Lagerstatten from the PETM or later in the Eocene. The Ras Gharib A fauna shows that diverse fish communities thrived in the paleotropics during the PETM, that these assemblages shared elements with coeval assemblages at higher latitudes, and that some taxa had broad latitudinal ranges substantially exceeding those found during cooler intervals.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48549. 1/ 598743/ Diverse-marine-fish-assemblages-inhabited-the

Facies control on carbonate 13C on the Great Bahama Bank

Emily C. Geyman; Adam C. Maloof

Abstract: The carbon isotopic (13C) composition of shallow-water carbonates often is interpreted to reflect the 13C of the global ocean and is used as a proxy for changes in the global carbon cycle. However, local platform processes, in addition to meteoric and marine diagenesis, may decouple carbonate 13C from that of the global ocean. We present new 13C measurements of benthic foraminifera, solitary corals, calcifying green algae, ooids, coated grains, and lime mud from the modern Great Bahama Bank. We find that vital effects, cross-shelf seawater chemistry gradients, and meteoric diagenesis produce carbonate with 13C variability rivaling that of the past two billion years of Earth history. Leveraging Walther's Law, we illustrate how these local 13C signals can find their way into the stratigraphic record of bulk carbonate.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48862. 1/ 598744/ Facies-control-on-carbonate-13C-on-the-Great

Quantifying bankfull flow width using preserved bar clinoforms from fluvial strata

Evan Greenberg; Vamsi Ganti; Elizabeth Hajek

Abstract: Reconstruction of active channel geometry from fluvial strata is critical to constrain the water and sediment fluxes in ancient terrestrial landscapes. Robust methods--grounded in extensive field observations, numerical simulations, and physical experiments--exist for estimating the bankfull flow depth and channel-bed slope from preserved deposits; however, we lack similar tools to quantify bankfull channel widths. We combined high-resolution lidar data from 134 meander bends across 11 rivers that span over two orders of magnitude in size to develop a robust, empirical relation between the bankfull channel width and channel-bar clinoform width (relict stratigraphic surfaces of bank-attached channel bars). We parameterized the bar cross-sectional shape using a two-parameter sigmoid, defining bar width as the cross-stream distance between 95% of the asymptotes of the fit sigmoid. We combined this objective definition of the bar width with Bayesian linear regression analysis to show that the measured bankfull flow width is 2.34  0.13 times the channel-bar width. We validated our model using field measurements of channel-bar and bankfull flow widths of meandering rivers that span all climate zones (R2 = 0.79) and concurrent measurements of channel-bar clinoform width and mud-plug width in fluvial strata (R2 = 0.80). We also show that the transverse bed slopes of bars are inversely correlated with bend curvature, consistent with theory. Results provide a simple, usable metric to derive paleochannel width from preserved bar clinoforms.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48729. 1/ 598745/ Quantifying-bankfull-flow-width-using-preserved

Revisiting stepwise ocean oxygenation with authigenic barium enrichments in marine mudrocks

Guang-Yi Wei; Hong-Fei Ling; Graham A. Shields; Simon V. Hohl; Tao Yang ...

Abstract: There are current debates around the extent of global ocean oxygenation, particularly from the late Neoproterozoic to the early Paleozoic, based on analyses of various geochemical indices. We present a temporal trend in excess barium (Baexcess) contents in marine organic-rich mudrocks (ORMs) to provide an independent constraint on global ocean redox evolution. The absence of remarkable Baexcess enrichments in Precambrian (>ca. 541 Ma) ORMs suggests limited authigenic Ba formation in oxygen- and sulfate-deficient oceans. By contrast, in the Paleozoic, particularly the early Cambrian, ORMs are marked by significant Baexcess enrichments, corresponding to substantial increases in the marine sulfate reservoir and oxygenation level. Analogous to modern sediments, the Mesozoic and Cenozoic ORMs exhibit no prominent Baexcess enrichments. We suggest that variations in Baexcess concentrations of ORMs through time are linked to secular changes in the marine dissolved Ba reservoir associated with elevated marine sulfate levels and global ocean oxygenation. Further, unlike Mo, U, and Re abundances, significant Baexcess enrichments in ORMs indicate that the overall ocean oxygenation level in the early Paleozoic was substantially lower than at present.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48825. 1/ 598746/ Revisiting-stepwise-ocean-oxygenation-with

Widespread glacial erosion on the Scandinavian passive margin

Vivi K. Pedersen; Asne Rosseland Knutsen; Gustav Pallisgaard-Olesen; Jane Lund Andersen; Robert Moucha ...

Abstract: The topography in Scandinavia features enigmatic high-elevation low-relief plateau regions dissected by deep valleys and fjords. These plateau regions have long been interpreted as relict landforms of a preglacial origin, whereas recent studies suggest they have been modified significantly by glacial and periglacial denudation. We used late Pliocene-Quaternary source-to-sink analyses to untangle this scientific conundrum. We compared glacier-derived offshore sediment volumes with estimates of erosion in onshore valleys and fjords and on the inner shelf. Our results suggest that onshore valley and fjord erosion falls 61%-66% short of the offshore sink volume. Erosion on the inner shelf cannot accommodate this mismatch, implying that the entire Scandinavian landscape and adjacent shelf have experienced significant glacial erosion.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48836. 1/ 598226/ Widespread-glacial-erosion-on-the-Scandinavian

Clay minerals modulate early carbonate diagenesis

N. Tanner Mills; Julia S. Reece; Michael M. Tice

Abstract: Early diagenetic precipitation of authigenic carbonate has been a globally significant carbon sink throughout Earth history. In particular, SO42- and Fe3+ reduction and CH4 production create conditions in pore fluids that promote carbonate mineral precipitation; however, these conditions may be modified by the presence of acid-base buffers such as clay minerals. We integrated the acid-base properties of clay minerals into a biogeochemical model that predicts the evolution of pore-water pH and carbonate mineral saturation during O2, Fe3+, and SO42- reduction and CH4 production. Key model inputs were obtained using two natural clay mineral-rich sediments from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program as well as from literature. We found that clay minerals can enhance carbonate mineral saturation during O2 and SO42- reduction and moderate saturation during Fe3+ reduction and CH4 production if the pore-fluid pH and clay mineral pKa values are within ~2 log units of one another. We therefore suggest that clay minerals could significantly modify the environmental conditions and settings in which early diagenetic carbonate precipitation occurs. In Phanerozoic marine sediments--where O2 and SO42- have been the main oxidants of marine sedimentary organic carbon--clay minerals have likely inhibited carbonate dissolution and promoted precipitation of authigenic carbonate.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48713. 1/ 598227/ Clay-minerals-modulate-early-carbonate-diagenesis

The interfacial energy penalty to crystal growth close to equilibrium

Fred Gaidies; Freya R. George

Abstract: Understanding the origin of rock microstructure is critical for refining models of the geodynamics of the Earth. We use the geometry of compositional growth zoning of a population of garnet porphyroblasts in a mica schist to gain quantitative insight into (1) the relative growth rates of individual crystals, (2) the departure from equilibrium during their growth, and (3) the mobility of the porphyroblast-matrix interface. The driving force for garnet growth in the studied sample was exceedingly small and is comparable in magnitude to the interfacial energy associated with the garnet-matrix interface. This resulted in size-dependent garnet growth at macroscopic length scales, with a decrease in radial growth rates for smaller crystals caused by the penalty effect of the interfacial energy. The difference in growth rate between the largest and the smallest crystal is ~45%, and the interface mobility for garnet growth from ~535 C, 480 MPa to 565 C, 560 MPa in the phyllosilicate-dominated rock matrix ranged between ~10-19 and 10-20 m4 J-1 s-1. This is the first estimation of interface mobility in natural rock samples. In addition to the complex structural and chemical reorganization associated with the formation of dodecahedral coordination polyhedra in garnet, the presence of abundant graphite may have exerted drag on the garnet-matrix interface, further decreasing its mobility.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48715. 1/ 598228/ The-interfacial-energy-penalty-to-crystal-growth

A hidden Rodinian lithospheric keel beneath Zealandia, Earth's newly recognized continent

R.E. Turnbull; J.J. Schwartz; M.L. Fiorentini; R. Jongens; N.J. Evans ...

Abstract: We present a data set of >1500 in situ O-Hf-U-Pb zircon isotope analyses that document the existence of a concealed Rodinian lithospheric keel beneath continental Zealandia. The new data reveal the presence of a distinct isotopic domain of Paleozoic-Mesozoic plutonic rocks that contain zircon characterized by anomalously low 18O values (median = +4.1) and radiogenic Hf(t) (median = +6.1). The scale (>10,000 km2) and time span (>>250 m.y.) over which plutonic rocks with this anomalously low-18O signature were emplaced appear unique in a global context, especially for magmas generated and emplaced along a continental margin. Calculated crustal-residence ages (depleted mantle model, TDM) for this low-18O isotope domain range from 1300 to 500 Ma and are interpreted to represent melting of a Precambrian lithospheric keel that was formed and subsequently hydrothermally altered during Rodinian assembly and rifting. Recognition of a concealed Precambrian lithosphere beneath Zealandia and the uniqueness of the pervasive low-18O isotope domain link Zealandia to South China, providing a novel test of specific hypotheses of continental block arrangements within Rodinia.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48711. 1/ 598229/ A-hidden-Rodinian-lithospheric-keel-beneath

Immediate temperature response in northern Iberia to last deglacial changes in the North Atlantic

J.L. Bernal-Wormull; A. Moreno; C. Perez-Mejias; M. Bartolome; A. Aranburu ...

Abstract: Major disruptions in the North Atlantic circulation during the last deglaciation triggered a series of climate feedbacks that influenced the course of Termination I, suggesting an almost synchronous response in the ocean-atmosphere system. We present a replicated 18O stalagmite record from Ostolo cave in the northern Iberian Peninsula with a robust chronological framework that continuously covers the last deglaciation (18.5-10.5 kyr B.P.). The Ostolo 18O record, unlike other speleothem records in the region that were related to humidity changes, closely tracks the well-known high-latitude temperature evolution, offering important insights into the structure of the last deglaciation in the Northern Hemisphere. In addition, this new record is accompanied by a clear signal of the expected cooling events associated with the deglacial disruptions in North Atlantic deep convection during Heinrich event 1.

View article: https:/ / pubs. geoscienceworld. org/ gsa/ geology/ article-abstract/ doi/ 10. 1130/ G48660. 1/ 598230/ Immediate-temperature-response-in-northern-Iberia

###

GEOLOGY articles are online at https:/ / geology. geoscienceworld. org/ content/ early/ recent . Representatives of the media may obtain complimentary articles by contacting Kea Giles at the e-mail address above. Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to GEOLOGY in articles published. Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.

https:/ / www. geosociety. org

This story has been published on: 2021-06-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The American technology company Intel says it is working to address a shortage of semiconductor chips affecting the automotive industry. That same day, U.S. President Joe Biden convened CEOs for a virtual summit on the semiconductor supply chain. "We hop...
By Tanya Metaksa | Legislative Correspondent

Whats NewBiden-Harris Administration:

BATFEs proposed new rule on Frames & Receivers now awaiting public comment;

Alabama: Gov. Kay Ivey signed SB308; Illinois HB1091, ban private transfer and increase FOID fees, passes the House;

Michigan: bills to reduce Right-to-Carry fees pass the House;

Nebraska: LB236, signed by Gov. Ricketts;

Nevada: Three bills have passed the legislature AB42, AB286, and SB6; SB452, an emergency bill, passed the Senate;

New Hampshire: Senate passes HB334;

Ohio: hearing for SB185;

Pennsylvania: Pro-gun rally in Harrisburg June 7th at 10:00 am;

Texas: HB1927, SB19 and SB30 are awaiting consideration by Gov. Abbott.

Judicial: Meyer v. Raoul: challenging Illinois concealed carry ban on adults 18-21 years of age.

Biden-Harris Administration

Biden-Harris Administration: Comments On May 21st the BATFE published a new proposed rule in the Federal Register entitled Definition of 'Frame or Receiver and Identification of Firearms. Comments will be accepted until August 19, 2021. Every gun owner is encouraged to submit comments: Through the Federal eRulemaking Portal on the internet: www.regulations.gov. By fax: 202-648-9741. By U.S Postal mail:

Andrew Lange, Office of Regulatory Affairs

Enforcement Programs and Service

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

99 New York Ave., NE Mail Stop 6N-518

Washington, DC 20226

ATTN: AFT 2021R-05

Contact info for questions is: 202-648-7070

If you click on this link regulation.gov it will take you to the appropriate page. There you can read what others have written and submit your own comments.

Currently a firearm is comprised of many components. The component that legally classifies this conglomeration of component parts as a firearm is the component known as the receiver. Licensed manufacturers and importers must mark the receiver with a serial number, manufacturer or importer name, model and caliber. The point of this proposal is to enable BATFE to have the authority to call almost any component of a gun a firearm, thus making the manufacturing of guns a process dependent on pre-approval from BATFE. It is being sold by the anti-gun cabal as eliminating ghost guns. We will follow this ongoing saga and let everyone know how to respond during the comment period, which runs for 90 days from publication in the Federal Registry. .....
The city took the first step in establishing an ordinance that will guide how federal monies from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) are spent in the City of Firsts.

Last week, the Kokomo Common Council passed an ordinance to create ARP Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, which will be used to detail and record how dollars from the ARP are spent. Kokomo received the first half of the nearly $20 million in ARP funding last month. The city will receive the second half within the year.

The ordinance was created in response to the Indiana State Board of Accounts directive requiring an establishment of a separate fund for the ARP assistance, which will be used to record each expenditure. The ordinance stated that the city controller, Wes Reed, will oversee the administration of the fund, and expenditures will be in accordance with the citys claims approval process.

Councilman Tom Miklik, who sponsored the ordinance, further detailed it before it was approved by the council.

This does not appropriate any money, Miklik said. This just gives a fund to be able to track it per the state of Indiana. So we have to add a fund to our accounting books so that we can keep the money separate and track it as it comes in and goes out. We are establishing that fund only. We are not dispersing any money, making any judgments, making any determinations on any level. That will be done individually as time goes on.

Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute

The United States Treasury released an interim final rule on how ARP funds can be expended, though that is subject to change.

The rule stated funds can be used to respond to negative economic impacts as a result of COVID-19, used to supplement pay for essential workers, and to make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure.

The rule also stated what cannot be covered by ARP funds, such as pension funds or offsetting a reduction in net tax revenue.

The ARP, a $1.9 trillion federal aid package, was signed into law in March. The bill provides monetary relief to states, counties, municipalities, and schools around the country. Howard County, Greentown, Russiaville, and each school district in the area are receiving disbursements of ARP spending as well, cumulating in over $57 million in relief funds.
Kokomo, IN (46901)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds light and variable.
Below are the arrests for May 28 to June 1. All listed are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Frank Abney Jr., 43, was arrested on May 30 at 9:44 p.m. at 1101 Columbus Blvd. He was charged with resisting law enforcement (class A misdemeanor), disorderly conduct (class B misdemeanor), and public intoxication (class B misdemeanor).

Andre Boston, 40, was arrested on May 28 at 12:07 a.m. at 1821 N. Wabash St. He was charged with domestic battery (level 6 felony).

Zachary Bowlin, 33, was arrested on May 29 at 8:15 p.m. at 1920 E. Markland Ave. He was charged with a warrant for body attachment.

Anthony Clark, 45, was arrested on May 29 at 12:46 a.m. at North Washington Street and West Taylor Street. He was charged with a warrant for non-compliance.

Jesse Duncan, 46, was arrested on May 31 at 3:30 a.m. at 803 Buckskin Court. He was charged with possession of a syringe (level 6 felony).

Blake Fivecoate, 34, was arrested on May 31 at 3:26 a.m. at 930 S. Washington St. He was charged with possession of a schedule drug (class A misdemeanor) and possession of paraphernalia.

Gerald Hamisi, 20, was arrested on May 29 at 2:07 a.m. at East 00. He was charged with deception (level 6 felony) and a warrant from Kentucky.

Keon Jones, 35, was arrested on May 31 at 8:46 p.m. at 611 E. Mulberry St. He was charged with a warrant for body attachment.

Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute

Steven Newgent, 32, was arrested on June 1 at 12:45 a.m. at 931 N. Sycamore Road. He was charged with a warrant from Marion County.

Rikita Nicholson, 33, was arrested on May 30 at 4:08 a.m. at East North Street and North Purdum Street. She was charged with operating while intoxicated (class C misdemeanor).

Patrick Pogue, 45, was arrested on May 30 at 12:39 a.m. at 1239 S. Delphos St. He was charged with a warrant for petition to revoke.

Brayden Ray, 18, was arrested on May 30 at 1:36 a.m. at South Cooper Street and East Markland Avenue. He was charged with criminal mischief (class B misdemeanor) and burglary (level 5 felony).

Michael Shepard, 34, was arrested on May 29 at 8:15 p.m. at South Washington Street and East Markland Avenue. He was charged with criminal conversion (class A misdemeanor), possession of a police radio (class B misdemeanor), resisting law enforcement (level 6 felony), reckless driving (class C misdemeanor), a warrant for domestic battery, and two warrants for failure to return to lawful detention.

Anthony Smith, 59, was arrested on May 30 at 9:45 a.m. at West North Street and North Ann Street. He was charged with HTV (level 6 felony).

Shannon Unger, 46, was arrested on May 29 at 2:24 a.m. at West Mulberry Street and North Washington Street. She was charged with possession of a syringe (level 6 felony), possession of marijuana (class A misdemeanor), and operating while intoxicated (level 6 felony).

David Langley, 57, was arrested on May 1 at 11:34 p.m. at South 17th Street and East Markland Avenue. He was charged with a warrant for driving while suspended.

Scott West, 52, was arrested on May 1 at 6:05 p.m. at 2301 E. Markland Ave. He was charged with criminal trespass (class A misdemeanor), theft (level 6 felony), and a warrant for theft.
Durante su intervencion, el presidente @FSagasti alento el deber etico en la lucha global contra ese flagelo, que afecta la gobernabilidad democratica y limita el desarrollo y el disfrute de los derechos humanos, especialmente de los mas pobres y vulnerables.#UNGASS2021 pic.twitter.com/zVbXJVNtDs
A woman formerly employed by Delco and General Motors, who was at the center of a series of investigations by the Perspective several years ago, has passed away, and her family is citing exposure to harmful chemicals as a major factor.

Gwendolyn Runyan died on May 16 from complications stemming from multiple myeloma. Runyan was a 27-year employee at Delco Electronics before leaving for Texas in 2005 to follow a career with GM. She was diagnosed with blood cancer while in Texas. In 2011, Runyan told the Perspective she suspected chemical exposure was the main factor behind her diagnosis.

Runyan said she worked directly with the chemical trichloroethylene, or trike, for months while working at Delco before spending her last three years in Kokomo at the GMCH FAB integrated chip manufacturing plant.

That plant, too, Runyan said, had tremendous amounts of chemicals in it, such as arsenic, sulfuric acid, and more.

Ken Showalter, Runyans partner, and her son, William Duvall, said Runyan believed her illnesses were caused by chemical exposure, though the link never was confirmed.

Yeah, I mean, I think that its pretty obvious, Showalter said. Anytime I talked to the doctor about it myself, they just kind of look over the top of their glasses and shake their head and go, Yeah.

By the time Showalter met Runyan, shed had a stem cell transplant and was in remission for several years. Runyan lived with the disease for more than 15 years, far surpassing the estimated five-year life expectancy for the disease.

According to Duvall, Runyan had to take a cocktail of various treatments, including chemotherapy and pharmaceutical drugs, to maintain the sickness.

Toward the end, Duvall said, Runyan went downhill fast, going from having 33 percent malignant cells to 77 percent in 72 hours.

At that point, the radiation burned her esophagus, so she couldn't swallow, couldn't eat, Duvall said. It was a miserable, miserable way to watch somebody end their life. I mean, obviously, it was my mother, so that makes it even harder. But I've seen multiple cancer patients die. It was amazing how fast it took her and how nasty it was there. Then once the cancer decided that it wasn't going to cooperate with the chemo and the drugs anymore, man, it just didn't even play around. It just exploded in her body.

Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute

Duvall said a celebration of life for his mother is being planned for July and that he and other family members intend to investigate the matter further, as well as pursue a wrongful death suit.

It doesnt have anything to do with the money, Duvall said. Money isnt going to bring my mom back  It has to do with just bringing it to light, holding some of these companies responsible that knew what their chemicals would do, and they just didnt tell anybody. They absolutely knew how toxic they were and that they should be wearing different kinds of PPE. To me, theres a certain stewardship that a company has over their employees to at least cause no harm as theyre out there making you all your millions of dollars.

Indiana law states employers cannot be sued unless malicious intent is proven. Regardless of the outcome, Duvall said he wanted more attention brought to the matter.

I plan on being involved in this going forward, Duvall said. Thats what my mom did, and thats definitely what she would have wanted.

One person who has been examining chemical contaminations is Dr. Sa Liu, an assistant professor of occupational and environmental health sciences at Purdue University. Liu has been working in Martinsville, testing for potentially harmful chemicals like tetrachloroethylene.

During Lius pilot study in Martinsville, she tested residential air, municipal water, and exhaled breath from 10 homes and 39 residents. Tetrachloroethylene was found in 100 percent of tap water samples at very low levels, in 60 percent of indoor air samples, and in 100 percent of exhaled breath samples during sample collections from Martinsville residents in 2019.

In Martinsville, those chemicals were thought to stem from dry cleaners and other industrial facilities, Liu said.

So the situation, the commonality, between the situation in Martinsville and the situation in Kokomo, because Kokomo, from my understanding, (has multiple contamination sites) from previous or current still-in-operation industrial facilities, Liu said. There are several contaminants that are in common, such as tetrachloroethylene or trichloroethylene. Thats what brought me from Martinsville to Kokomo.

Chemicals like the ones Liu is researching, and the ones Runyan worked with while employed at Delco, potentially can contaminate air, water, and soil, and people can be exposed by breathing them in, ingesting them, or through skin contact, according to Liu.

Liu and her team still are conducting studies in Martinsville. The goal, she said, was to create a model of research that could be used to study chemicals stemming from industrial sites like ones in Martinsville and Kokomo, as well as the potential health effects on the community.
Such doses, he explained, will be used to vaccinate the elderly population in this region of southern Peru.

During his visit, the Head of State was joined by Health Minister Oscar Ugarte and Housing Minister Solangel Fernandez.

Additionally, he urged the population to get inoculated and not to be afraid of vaccination, noting that this is the best shield against the COVID-19 pandemic

Mr. Sagasti emphasized that the Government has secured contracts for more than 60 million doses to vaccinate all citizens aged 18 and older against COVID-19 in 2021.

On the other hand, he explained that producing a vaccine is a complex task, which requires resources that are not available now, and if the country invested in its production, the vaccine would be ready in the middle of next year.





According to the President, the task of producing a Peruvian vaccine would fall to the next Government.
PARIS, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. During the meeting with the Armenian community of France at the Embassy of Armenia, caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan presented details from his June 1 meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Armenpress correspondent reports from Paris.

According to Pashinyan, France is inclined to carry out an initiating policy for ensuring stability in the region.

During todays discussion I have recorded that President Macron is interested in and is inclined to carry out an active initiating policy so that the international organizations, including the OSCE Minsk Group, are more engaged in ensuring stability and security in our region. And several days ago I have made a concrete proposal during the session of the Security Council about overcoming the current situation, and today I have recorded that that this approach is acceptable for France, Pashinyan said.

The caretaker PM informed that he has also discussed with President Macron what actions need to be taken to resume the settlement process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict within the frames of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.

As for Russia, Pashinyan said Russia is Armenias number one partner in the security field and is its strategic ally.

We are in constant touch with our Russian partners. I had a phone talk with the Russian President yesterday [May 31] and can state that we, in fact, share the same approach over the solution of the situation that the Azerbaijani armed forces must pull back from Armenias border, and what is the border of Armenia. It is known to all, it is the administrative border of Soviet Armenia. And the administrative border of the Soviet Union in this case is the state border of Armenia. Moreover, in that section the state border in the Soviet times is demarcated and delimitated, Pashinyan said.

He said Armenias position is clear  Azerbaijan must pull back its troops. Armenia expects that Russia will clearly formulate this position.

Moreover, we do this by clearly recording that the maps we have, which were ratified by the seals of the Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan, are identical to the maps existing in the Russian archives, and when this fact is recorded, Azerbaijan must pull back its troops from that sections. If they do not pull back after the recording of this fact it means that Article 4th of the CSTO must enter into force which calls that action as an aggression against its member state. And as a first step we expect that both Russia and the CSTO will clearly and publicly express a position over the matter. Our perception is that this situation must be solved through diplomatic means, we see this opportunity at this moment and will continue the efforts on this direction. There are CSTO working documents which have formulated the timetables and the procedures. And we hope that these procedures will launch in proper timeframes and will reach their logical solution, Nikol Pashinyan said.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan






YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. In her letter addressed to the Parliament of the Netherlands, acting Dutch Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag has stated that during the discussions at the EU Foreign Ministers Council about the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the Netherlands has stressed the importance of the immediate release of the Armenian prisoners of war from the Azerbaijani captivity, as well as sending UNESCO cultural heritage assessment mission to the region.

The Netherlands highlighted the importance of immediate withdrawal of troops from the border between the two countries and return to the negotiation table.

On May 28, also with the initiative of the Netherlands, the European Union came up with a new joint statement expressing its deep concerns over the ongoing developments in the border and emphasizing the importance of easing the tension. A call is made to immediately pull back troops from the border and the necessity of clarifying the demarcation issue exclusively through negotiations is outlined. The statement also contains call on Azerbaijan to immediately release the Armenian prisoners of war, the acting FM of the Netherlands said.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. The tax revenues collected in Armenia in the first five months of 2021 have been much more compared to the same period of both 2020 and 2019, Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Edward Hovhannisyan told reporters in the Parliament.

The tax revenues collected in the first five months comprised 618.4 billion drams, which is more by 34.8 billion drams compared to the same figure of 2020 and by 47.2 billion drams compared to 2019. The money returned to economic entities and individuals comprised 68.6 billion drams, he said.

The SRC Chairman assured that they will seek to collect as much tax revenue as possible within the year. According to him, the annual expectations of tax revenues envisaged by the budget will be fulfilled.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan received Ambassador of China to Armenia Yong Fan, the ministry told Armenpress.

In his remarks caretaker minister Kerobyan highlighted the activation and expansion of commercial cooperation between Armenia and China, taking into account the non-utilized potential of the existing cooperation.

He informed the Chinese Ambassador about several new initiatives and invited Chinese companies to participate in the implementation of these projects, in particular relating to the designing, construction and operation of an innovative city on Yerevan-Gyumri highway, as well as the construction and launch of industrial parks in Ararat, Meghri and Gyumri.

In the context of the expected reforms in agriculture sector, Vahan Kerobyan has touched upon the necessity of creating a single irrigation system in Armenia and discussed the opportunities of jointly implementing this project.

During the meeting the sides also discussed the possibilities of re-launching a chemical production and developing metallurgy in Armenia.

Both emphasized the necessity of opening direct flights between Armenia and China, which will facilitate the cargo transportation between the two countries and will boost tourism. Kerobyan expressed the readiness of the Armenian government over the matter, and if necessary such flights will be subsidized.

The Ambassador informed that in 2020 the Chinese side planned to send a group of specialists to Armenia to observe the possibilities of opening direct flights, however this plan didnt take place because of COVID-19. He, however, added that the Chinese side is ready to resume the talks over this issue. The Ambassador as well highlighted deepening the economic ties and the mutually beneficial partnership, stating that the Chinese side is interested in participation to the aforementioned projects and asked to provide them with more-detailed information.

At the end of the meeting the sides expressed readiness to contribute to the development of the Armenian-Chinese trade-economic cooperation within their capacities.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. The ban on import of Turkish-made products to Armenia also applies to the possible import of these goods from Georgia for personal use, Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Edward Hovhannisyan told reporters in the Parliament.

He reminded that Armenia has imposed a ban on the import of Turkish-made goods. Georgia has opened its land border from June 1, and the movement of persons is allowed at certain time period. But this restriction also applies to the goods to be imported by people for personal use, he said.

He urged citizens not to try to import Turkish-made goods to Armenia via the Georgian border. He noted that the customs control has its rules, and he assured that inspections will be carried out in accordance with these rules to prevent such cases.

On October 20, 2020, the Armenian government has made a decision to apply a temporary ban on the import of Turkish-made products. The ban entered into force on December 31, 2020. Armenia plans to extend this ban.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian will depart for Kazakhstan on a working visit on June 3, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

During the visit the Armenian President is scheduled to meet with Kazakhstans President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, First President Nursultan Nazarbayev, as well as with the leadership of the Parliament.

The Armenian-Kazakh bilateral cooperation in different areas and inter-state ties, as well as the cooperation within the frames of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization will be discussed during the meetings.

The post-war problems and challenges in Armenia and the region will also be touched upon.



Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
A Kokomo woman indicted in federal court has pleaded guilty after being arrested last year for animal cruelty.

Krystal Scott entered a guilty plea into the United States District Court Southern District of Indiana, admitting to charges stemming from a 2020 arrest when authorities charged her with animal cruelty. The petition to enter a guilty plea detailed the events that led to Scotts arrest and eventual indictment.

The filing stated Scott responded to two online advertisements for two cats and that she falsely asserted she had intentions to properly care for both cats and keep them as pets, referring to both as baby, cuties, and fur baby to the owners.

Scott acquired both cats, one of which was pregnant, in or around June, the filing said, and proceeded to kill both by animal crushing, which she depicted in videos and pictures she posted online. Animal crushing is defined as performing crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, impaling, or other injuries to animals.

The filing said Scott reacted to comments on social media sites by providing dates and times of the animal killings, as well as posting pictures and videos of the animals before they had been killed.

According to the filing, Scott asphyxiated the pregnant cat by placing a ligature around its neck. Scott later removed the unborn kittens from the cats body and posted a series of images depicting the animal crushing on social media.

Court documents stated she killed the second cat, a kitten, in the same manner.

Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute

[Scott] asphyxiated the kitten she acquired from Person 2 by placing a ligature around its neck and hanging the ligature from a fixed object until it died. Defendant then used social media application B to post a video depicted the animal crushing act, stating, Little sh*t was still alive so rehanged it.

In her guilty plea, Scott admitted to killing five dogs, five cats, and 11 unborn kittens.

As a result, Scott faces

a $250,000 fine, seven years in prison, and no more than three years of supervised release post-imprisonment.

A specific sentencing was not agreed upon by the prosecution and Scotts defense, meaning Southern District of Indiana Judge Sarah Evans Barker will determine the final length of imprisonment and fine.

Scott was arrested last July by Federal Bureau of Investigations officers in her home outside of Kokomo.
YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. Following the 106th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and Prime Minister Scott Morrison's statement falling short of accurately characterizing the events of 1915, the Arab Council of Australia has joined a growing number of community organizations in calling for the Federal Government to recognize the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).

The Arab Council of Australia is a secular, not-for-profit independent community organization representing the interests of Australians from 22 Middle Eastern countries. It works to bring about social justice and improve the lives of the most vulnerable people in their community.



The CEO of the Arab Council of Australia, Ms Randa Kattan wrote in support for the ANC-AUs calls for recognition of the Armenian Genocide.



In her letter addressed to Prime Minister Morrison, she wrote: We call on Australia to join the many countries that have taken steps in recognizing the Armenian Genocide.



The act of formally recognizing events of mass atrocity as experienced by the victims affords them dignity. This acknowledgement of history supports the healing of a community and is inclusive of those many generations living with inherited trauma, the statement added.

The ANC-AU expressed their sincere gratitude to the Arab Council of Australia and the countless other community organizations who have expressed their support as they continue to advocate for Federal recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides.



The Armenian-Australian community thanks the Arab Council of Austria for their support as we believe that their voice amplifies our calls for justice and recognition. We thank you for standing in solidarity with our community, said ANC-AU Executive Director, Haig Kayserian.
YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. The Public Services Regulatory Commission of Armenia has not received an application on revising the gas tariff, PSRC Chairman Garegin Baghramyan told reporters in the Parliament.

He informed that the gas import contract has been extended until July, and there will be a new contract after that.

Regardless of what they will negotiate and what price will be set on the border, there is a clear procedure of tariff change for the final consumers, or the Commission must launch a revision of the tariff at its own initiative, or there must be an application for the revision of the tariff. And in order to study that application, the law gives at least 80 working days for discussion. After the discussion the tariffs set enter into force 30 days later. At this moment we do not have an application for the revision of the tariff, he said.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Armenia has denied the statement of the Azerbaijani defense ministry according to which in the evening of June 1, 40 Armenian servicemen crossed Azerbaijans border after which the Azerbaijani armed forces forced them to return to their initial positions.

Its obvious that the Azerbaijani military-political leadership is circulating such disinformation for creating an impression within the international community that the Armenian Armed Forces are attempting to escalate the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, as well as for counterbalancing the provocation on infiltrating into Armenias territory by the Azerbaijani armed forces on May 12 and 13.

Armenias defense ministry announces that the Armenian Armed Forces have not crossed Azerbaijans border neither on June 1 nor in the days preceding it, and all claims over this are disinformation spread by that countrys defense ministry, the scale of which has greatly increased in the recent period. In particular, recently the Azerbaijani defense ministry was claiming that the Armenian side has opened fire both on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and towards the Azerbaijani positions deployed in the direction of Shushi, which was denied respectively by the Armenian Defense Ministry and the command of the Russian troops who carry out peacekeeping mission in the Republic of Artsakh, the statement says.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan met with President of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) Perch Sedrakian and AGBU Armenia Chairman Vazgen Yakoubian, the Ombudsmans Office told Armenpress.

Arman Tatoyan presented the war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces during the recent war in Artsakh, as well as raised the urgency of the return of Armenian prisoners of war from Azerbaijan.

The meeting sides recorded that the Azerbaijani authorities are artificially delaying and politicizing the process, by grossly violating the rights of the captives and their families, causing sufferings to them and creating tension within the public.

Tatoyan also presented the results of the fact-finding activities carried out by his Office in Syunik and Gegharkunik provinces, stressing the fact of illegal presence of Azerbaijani troops in Armenias territory, which confirms the absolute necessity of creating a security zone in Syunik.

The Ombudsman highly appreciated the role of the AGBU Armenia Office, not only highlighting the jointly implemented educational, awareness-raising programs, but also the steps aimed at supporting the peoples socio-economic rights.

Perch Sedrakian in turn highly valued the work of the Ombudsman, stating that the AGBU is following the bordering security issues and the current situation in the country.

The sides expressed readiness to continue and expand the cooperation directions.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan met with President of the European Council Charles Michel during his working visit in Brussels, Pashinyans Office told Armenpress.

During the talk the officials discussed the process of the Armenia-European Union partnership, the programs envisaged by the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) which entered into force from March 1, in particular those relating to strengthening institutional reforms and democracy in Armenia.

Nikol Pashinyan said Armenia attaches great importance to the active cooperation within the frames of the CEPAs Roadmap, which, he said, will contribute to the fulfillment of reforms in democratic values, human rights, anti-corruption fight, rule of law, public administration and justice.

Charles Michel welcomed the reforms that launched in Armenia in the past three years and the governments steps aimed at strengthening democracy. In this respect he highlighted the effective implementation of the CEPA and emphasized the EU readiness to further deepen and expand partnership in the fulfillment of the Armenian governments priorities.

Pashinyan presented details from the situation in the South Caucasus after the recent Artsakh war, as well as the current situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. He stressed the necessity of withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenias sovereign territory and provided information about the ongoing diplomatic and negotiating actions on this direction, and his proposal made during the session of the Security Council on May 27 aimed at solving the situation.

Pashinyan attached importance to the necessity of properly responding to Azerbaijans provocative actions by the international community, taking actions to ensure the return of the Armenian prisoners of war, and also welcomed the adoption of the resolution by the European Parliament which urges Azerbaijan to immediately and unconditionally release all Armenian POWs.

The European Council President welcomed the position of the Armenian side to solve the border issue through peaceful, political means and expressed the EUs readiness to support this process.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, 2 JUNE, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 2 June, USD exchange rate stood at 520.67 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 2.61 drams to 634.12 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate stood at 7.08 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 1.82 drams to 736.44 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 10.05 drams to 31794.98 drams. Silver price up by 9.71 drams to 472.23 drams. Platinum price up by 251.09 drams to 19836.81 drams.
YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan met with Belgian PM Alexander De Croo in Brussels.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia, the interlocutors expressed satisfaction over the continious development of political and economic relations between the two countries and highlighted high level contacts.

Nikol Pashinyan and Alexander De Croo highlighted the interest of their governments in expanding trade and economic relations, investments, implementation of various joint programs, as well as pushing forward the democratic reform agenda in Armenia.

The sides discussed the reform agenda in Armenia, particularly highlighting the reforms in the sphere of Police. Alexander De Cro highlighted the implementation of democratic reforms and emphasized EU's commitment to continue supporting Armenia in its reform agenda.

Highlighting the development of economic relations with Armenia, Alexander De Cro noted that the Belgian trade mission plans a visit to Armenia which will examine the opportunities for the development of trade and investment relations between the two countries.

During the meeting the sides referred to the provocative measures carried out by Azerbaijan on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and emphasized that Azerbaijan should withdraw its troops from the sovereign territory of Armenia and solve the situation through peaceful negotiations. The Belgian Prime Minister said that the developments are concerning and are in the center of their attention.

The sides also highlighted the return of the Armenian hostages kept in Azerbaijan and the restoration of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement negotiations in the sidelines of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs format.
YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. AT the invitation of the President of the National Assembly of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan, the Delegation of the CIS Inter-parliamentary Assembly will carry out observer mission during the early parliamentary elections on June 20, ARMENPRESS was informed from the official website of the CIS Inter-parliamentary Assembly.

Chairperson of the Standing Commission on Industry, Fuel-Energy Complex, Transport and Communication of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Komarovsky Igor has been appointed coordinator of the monitoring group.
Rheinmetall announced on June 2 the delivery of the first 25 Boxer 8x8 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles (CRV) to the Australian Army under the $5.2 billion LAND 400 Phase 2 Mounted Combat Reconnaissance Capability project. Minister for Defence Peter Dutton MP visited Rheinmetall Defence Australias Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence (MILVEHCOE) in Redbank, Queensland, to review the Boxer vehicles.

Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link



Boxer 8x8 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle of the Australian army (Picture source: Rheinmetall)

Rheinmetall will deliver a total of 211 Boxer 8x8 Vehicles in different versions: 131 will be the CRV variant. They will replace the Armys Australian Light Armoured Vehicles (ASLAV) under LAND 400 Phase 2. Delivery of the first 25 vehicles enables Army to continue towards Initial Operating Capability on schedule as Rheinmetall moves into the next phase of the LAND 400 Phase 2 program.

Rheinmetall Defence Australia Managing Director Gary Stewart said Boxers levels of survivability and mobility were proving a game-changer for Australias armoured cavalry: And Rheinmetall is simultaneously delivering early combat vehicle capability to the Australian Defence Force while creating a sovereign industrial capability in combat vehicle design and manufacture.

Gary Stewart said delivery of these initial vehicles was only possible by taking advantage of the current production lines in Germany and using this approach as part of technology transfer activities to ensure Australian workers and suppliers become familiar with manufacturing techniques for highly complex military vehicles.

Rheinmetall Defence Australia has over 30 Australians currently living and working in Germany, working at Rheinmetall sites and learning from German colleagues. This is fostering close co-operation and a genuine partnership to realise the capability for the Australian Army. Australian engineers, project managers, welders, technicians, trainers and more are living and working with their colleagues in Germany to build a deep understanding of Rheinmetall products and, crucially, acquire the skills and certifications to transfer this expertise and intellectual property to Australia, Mr Stewart said.

This kick-starts the knowledge base for a sovereign Australian capability and is complemented with our engagement with the Australian TAFE sector and universities to ensure we build enduring pathways from our educational institutions into the military vehicle manufacturing industry, enabling graduates to understand what we do today so they are ready to tackle the challenges of tomorrow.

The MILVEHCOE is the focal point of the Boxer Australian Industry Capability (AIC) program. It is where Rheinmetall will undertake Australian design, manufacture, testing, training and support of the Boxer vehicles and training systems. The MILVEHCOE provides a sovereign facility where Defence, industry and research organisations can innovate and collaborate on the Australian Boxer and other defence programs.

Development, production and integration work is well underway within the MILVEHCOE as plant and equipment is installed and commissioned across the main production facility. This work is a key component of knowledge transfer activities for full rate Boxer production in Australia. This is scheduled to commence in Australia after the commissioning of the MILVEHCOE Boxer production line is complete.

This approach to Australian Industry Capability has allowed Rheinmetall to accelerate the involvement of Australian companies in the first 25 vehicles. This has resulted in Rheinmetall awarding contracts to more than 20 companies to supply products and services, and ensuring that Australian SMEs are building and supplying components onto every Australian Boxer vehicle.

The Boxer  versatile and battle-tested

The Boxer is a heavily protected 8x8 wheeled armoured vehicle. Its modular architecture enables a variety of variants unmatched by any other vehicle system. This multifaceted diversity underlies Boxers rapid growth. Already today, new variants and upgrades are being planned. To date, some 1,200 vehicles in more than 20 different configurations are under contract by four NATO nations: Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania and the UK. Moreover, Australia  a close partner of NATO  has ordered a total of 211 Boxer vehicles in several different versions, the first of which have now been delivered.
India under Narendra Modi has spent a lot of energy in drafting laws that go after minorities

Indias external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was till Saturday on a visit to the United States. The first half of his trip was apparently not very productive as the person he had come to meet, US secretary of state Antony J. Blinken, had to go to the Middle East on an urgent visit. Mr Jaishankar met him only several days after reaching the US. In the meantime, the minister met the Indian teams at the United Nations and had sundry other meetings. He also had an interview with former President Donald Trumps national security adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster. The general, who is familiar with India and has visited it, spoke about radicalism in the region and how extremism had hurt Pakistan. He then asked Mr Jaishankar: I wanted to ask you about how you see political developments in your own country. You are not a partisan person. You have served with great distinction across many administrations. There is concern in the midst of the pandemic about some of these Hindutva policies that could be undermining the secular nature of Indian democracy Are Indias friends right to be concerned about some of these recent trends?

Mr Jaishankar first corrected Gen. McMaster to say that he was actually partisan: Let me clarify something. I served multiple administrations when I was a civil servant. I am today an elected member of Parliament. Do I have a political viewpoint and political interest? Of course, I do. Hopefully I will be able to articulate the interest that I represent. He then says he will give two replies: a straight political answer and a slightly more nuanced societal answer. His straight political answer is that in the past India had votebank politics, but no longer does because democracy had deepened under the BJP. This had happened through "broader representation in politics and in leadership positions and in civil society of people who are much more confident about their culture, about their language about their beliefs. These are people who are less from the English-speaking world, less connected to other global centres. Mr Jaishankar says theres nothing to be concerned about as there is no problem, and this set of people he is referring to are judged politically harshly and it is often used to create a certain narrative.

His nuanced societal answer is that the BJP government doesnt discriminate, Mr Jaishankar says, as they gave extra rations to people in the pandemic and put money in peoples Jan Dhan accounts without separating them by religion.

We should perhaps be thankful to Mr Jaishankar that India so far hasnt decided to give entitlements to the poor based on religion. But while we are thankful. we should also note Mr Jaishankar didnt actually answer what was asked. Gen. McMasters question was framed around the word Hindutva and its policies. What are they? They are the introduction of religion into citizenship. The United Nations and the European Union and members of the US Congress expressed disappointment and alarm over Indias Citizenship Amendment Act.

The US International Commission on Religious Freedom report for 2021 identified laws in India that criminalise conversion, especially of women to Islam. These laws are the BJPs Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act 2018, Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act 2019, Madhya Pradesh Dharma Swatantreya Adhyadesh 2020, Uttar Pradesh Vidhi Viruddh Dharma Samparivartan Pratishedh Adhyadesh 2020 and Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act 2021. The USCIRF report (which recommends sanctions against India) says while these laws target inter-faith marriage in particular, several other states prohibit conversion based on vague criteria, including force, inducement, allurement, coercion, fraud, or misrepresentation. These anti-conversion laws are often the basis for false accusations, harassment, and violence against non-Hindus that occur with impunity. In 2020, for example, mobs --fuelled by false accusations of forced conversions -- attacked Christians, destroyed churches, and disrupted religious worship services.

India under Narendra Modi has spent a lot of energy in drafting laws that go after minorities. The Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill 2017 punishes cow slaughter, that is ostensibly an economic crime, with life in jail. No other economic crime carries a life sentence. More than half of all arrests under the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh in 2020 were for cow slaughter. This is a law that allows preventive detention, meaning the government locks up people without any crime. Muslim men are the only community for whom divorce is not a civil wrong but a criminal one. This is the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act 2019. It criminalises a non-act. Triple talaq in one sitting is not lawful in India. If I say talaq to my wife three times, our marriage doesnt end, and it is not a crime. If a Muslim man says it to his wife, their marriage doesnt end, but it is a crime.

India uses a 12-gauge shotgun firing birdshot into protesters in only one state. In no other state in India except Kashmir is the so-called pellet gun used on crowds. It has blinded and wounded thousands, including infants nowhere near the protest.

I could go on, but you get the picture. These are the things that Indias friends are concerned about. They are new laws that are the gift to us of Hindutva, which is why Gen. McMaster used that term.

Mr Jaishankar replied to Gen. McMaster without once using the word Hindutva, and without referring to any of the laws India was getting pulled up for around the world. The reason he ran away from the debate, of course, was that there is no defence. Obfuscation and avoiding the issue was the only way to respond to the accusation, which is a correct one, that India was harming itself and its own people through Hindutva.
Last week, the Kokomo School Corporation Board of School Trustees appointed a long-time school official to the superintendents position.

Assistant Superintendent Mike Sargent was promoted to superintendent at a special session last week. Sargent will replace outgoing superintendent Jeff Hauswald, who accepted a superintendent position with Monroe County Community School Corporation in Bloomington earlier this year after filling the role with KSC for 11 years.

Joined by his wife and family, Sargent thanked the school board for its decision following the vote last Monday.

Its humbling, Sargent said. I didnt anticipate to be emotional, but I am a little bit. This is a huge honor and, of course, a huge responsibility.

Sargent has spent his entire professional career with Kokomo schools. A Kokomo graduate himself, Sargent served in various positions within the school corporation, beginning as a special education teacher at Maple Crest Middle School before moving onto the same role at Kokomo High School in 2004.

Sargent later served as principal and assistant principal at Bon Air and Central Middle schools, interim principal at Kokomo High School, and director of student programs and evaluation for the school corporation in 2014.

While serving as a principal, Sargent was instrumental in Central Middle School and Kokomo High School being authorized as International Baccalaureate (IB) and Middle Years Programs (MYB) schools. While principal of Kokomo High School, the school was authorized in the IB Diploma and IB Career-Related (CP) programs under his leadership.

Sargent also was instrumental in the creation of student exchange programs with schools in Costa Rica, England, Spain, and the Navajo Nation.

In 2015, Sargent was named assistant superintendent of KSC.

Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute

As director of student programs and evaluation and assistant superintendent, Sargent was involved in the creation of a number of programs, including the implementation of an evaluation system for staff, the Graduation Pathways program, the expansion of a college preparation course for students, and he provided support for the creation of the Transformation Zone at Bon Air Elementary, Bon Air Middle School, and Pettit Park Elementary.

The search for a new superintend began earlier this year after Hauswald notified the school corporation that he would be accepting the role of superintendent with Monroe County Community School Corporation on July 1.

Hauswalds contract was set to expire in 2023.

Hauswald commented positively on Sargents promotion and said he would work toward a smooth transition.

The hiring of the superintendent is one of the core responsibilities of the Board of School Trustees, Hauswald said. Now, as the outgoing superintendent, it is incumbent on me to work assiduously to create a smooth transition, one that provides the necessary support, communication, and preparedness which creates the conditions that help Dr. Sargent lead this district in the way he best sees fit. Personally, having Dr. Sargent as a colleague these past 11 years, I am confident the district is in great hands. I wish Dr. Sargent and the entire Kokomo School community much continued success in the coming years.

Board of Trustees President Crystal Sanburn said the board, with the help of Dr. Terry McDaniel from the Indiana State University search team, who helped the board with screenings and interviewing potential candidates, conducted extensive research before selecting Sargent as superintendent.

Dr. Sargent is a Kokomo High School graduate and has spent his entire professional career working for the Kokomo School Corporation, Sanburn said. We were searching for someone who could carry on the innovative programs that have been introduced and implemented during Dr. Hauswalds 11-year tenure. And who better than the assistant superintendent who has been profoundly involved both with the planning and implementation of many of those programs? This board is confident that Dr. Sargent is ready to lead Kokomo Schools.

Sargents contract, effective July 1, comes with a salary of $141,500.
Azerbaijan's defence ministry says about 40 Armenian military personnel had crossed into Azeri territory and were forced to retreat, allegations denied by the Armenian side.

Both countries accused each other last month of sending troops across the border in separate incidents, highlighting the fragility of a Russian-brokered ceasefire that halted six weeks of fighting between ethnic Armenian forces and the Azeri army last year.

"As a result of urgent actions taken by the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Armenian armed forces were withdrawn from the territory of our country," the Azeri defence ministry said in a statement.

"No weapons were used by our armed forces during the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces...," it added, describing Armenia's move as a "provocation".

Armenia rejected the accusations, describing its neighbour's claims as "disinformation".

"Such disinformation is disseminated by Azerbaijan's military and political leadership to impress the international community," Russia's TASS news agency cited Armenia's defence ministry as saying.

In last year's conflict Azeri troops drove ethnic Armenian forces out of swathes of territory they had controlled since the 1990s in and around the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
A serial fraudster who posed as a qualified nanny is appealing a prison sentence she was handed for stealing the children in her care.

Samantha Azzopardi, 32, is already eligible for release on parole under the sentence she was handed by Victorian Magistrate Johanna Metcalf on Friday.

She was described during her sentencing as a disturbed woman who created bizarre and false identities, pretending to be an au pair, a talent scout and a pregnant and abused teenager.

The pathological liar was jailed for two years but declared eligible for parole after 12 months provided she receive appropriate mental health treatment on her release.

Azzopardi had already served 574 days behind bars while awaiting trial, before pleading guilty.

She admitted multiple charges including child stealing, dishonestly obtaining wages from her work as a nanny, and making false reports to police.

Ms Metcalf called Azzopardi's deceptions a prolonged and gross breach of trust.

Based on lies and false recommendations she was hired by Victorian couple Jazze and Tom Jervis, who believed her to be a qualified nanny named Harper Hernandez.

Posing as a talent scout named Marley she claimed to be mentoring a 12-year-old girl in acting, even taking her to Sydney for a supposed audition.

"The deceptions in this case were a gross breach of trust toward the child, a 12-year-old girl who believed you were helping to realise her acting ambitions," Ms Metcalf said.

She continued her au pair ruse later on another couple, taking their two children with her to Bendigo where she claimed to Headspace mental health services that she was a pregnant 14-year-old who had been abused.

Azzopardi's history of lies is lengthy and includes scams that cost the Irish and Canadian governments hundreds of thousands of dollars to expose her true identity after duping them into believing she was a human trafficking victim.

In Australia, she convinced a Perth family she was a Russian gymnast named Emily whose entire family had been killed in a murder-suicide in France.

Story continues

She's been caught in Sydney too, passing herself off as a schoolgirl more than half her age.

Azzopardi has criminal convictions for dishonesty offences in Queensland, Western Australia and NSW, as well as for Commonwealth offences.

Psychiatrist Jacqueline Rakov assessed Azzopardi this year and found she had a severe personality disorder and pseudologia fantastica - a "rare but dramatic" psychiatric disorder involving an "extreme type of lying".

She said Azzopardi was a high risk of re-offending if left to her own devices, but less so if she engages willingly in long-term and ongoing therapy.

A first hearing is listed in the County Court on September 6.
Samples from a study suggesting the coronavirus was circulating outside China by October 2019 have been re-tested at the World Health Organisation's request, two scientists who led the Italian research say.

There is growing international pressure to learn more about the origins of the pandemic that has killed more than 3 million people worldwide and US President Joe Biden last week ordered his aides to find answers.

The WHO said on Friday experts were preparing a proposal on the next studies to be carried out into the origins of the virus but that there was no set timeline.

The UN body reacted to Biden's announcement that intelligence agencies were pursuing rival theories, including the possibility of a laboratory accident in China, by saying the search was being "poisoned by politics".

Covid-19 was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, while Italy's first patient was detected on February 21 last year in a small town near Milan.

A new study suggests that Covid was present outside of China much earlier than previously believed. Source: AP

Virus detected in Italy in 2019, study finds

However, a study published last year suggested antibodies to either the virus or a variant were detected in Italy in 2019.

That prompted Chinese state media to suggest the virus might not have originated in China although the Italian researchers stressed the findings raised questions about when the virus first emerged rather than where.

"The WHO asked us if we could share the biological material and if we could re-run the tests in an independent laboratory. We accepted," Giovanni Apolone, scientific director of one of the lead institutions, the Milan Cancer Institute (INT), said.

The WHO's request has not previously been reported.

"WHO is in contact with the researchers that had published the original paper. A collaboration with partner laboratories has been set up for further testing," a WHO spokesman said.

The spokesman said the WHO was aware that the researchers are planning to publish a follow-up report "in the near future".

Story continues

He said the UN agency has contacted all researchers who have published or provided information on samples collected in 2019 that were reported to have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 but does not yet have the final interpretation of the results.

It is believed that the virus may have been circulating in Italy in 2019. Source: AP

Virus circulating 'long before reported cases'

The Italian researchers' findings, published by the INT's scientific magazine Tumori Journal, showed neutralising antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in blood taken from healthy volunteers in Italy in October 2019 during a lung cancer screening trial.

Most of the volunteers were from Lombardy, the northern region around Milan, which was the first and hardest hit by the virus in Italy.

"None of the studies published so far have ever questioned the geographical origin," Apolone told Reuters.

"The growing doubt is that the virus, probably less powerful compared to later months, was circulating in China long before the reported cases," Apolone added.

The WHO chose the laboratory of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam for the re-test, Emanuele Montomoli, co-author of the original study and professor of Public Health at the Molecular Medicine Department in the University of Siena, said.

The Erasmus University did not reply to requests for comment.

Italian researchers sent the team in Rotterdam 30 biological samples from October-December 2019 that they had found positive, 30 samples from the same period they had tested negative and 30 samples from as far back as 2018, that were negative.

"We sent them blind, that means our colleagues did not know which samples were positive and which negative," Apolone said.

"They rechecked our samples with commercial tests, which are much less sensitive than the ones we devised and validated," Montomoli said.

Despite the differences in the two detection methods, both Italian scientists said they were satisfied with the results, delivered to them in late February, adding that they could not comment further until the team of Italian and Dutch scientists have published their findings.

"We did not say in our study that we could establish without a doubt that the coronavirus, later sequenced in Wuhan, was already circulating in Italy in October," Montomoli said.

"We only found the response to the virus, namely the antibodies. So we can say that this coronavirus or a very similar one, perhaps a less transmissible variant, was circulating here in October," he added.

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.
The reporter asked a question from the supermarket during Alexander Zverev's post-match press conference. Image: Roland Garros

The furore surrounding press conferences at the French Open took another extraordinary twist on Wednesday when a reporter was temporarily banned for asking a question from a supermarket.

Player press conferences have been under the spotlight this week after Naomi Osaka announced her withdrawal from the French Open following backlash over her decision to boycott them.

'REVEALED': Stunning detail on Ash Barty's French Open face-mask

'DESERVE BETTER': French Open slammed over 'disgraceful' moment

Organisers put the hammer down on a reporter on Wednesday when they asked a question from a supermarket.

Press conferences at this year's French Open are being held digitally and most of the accredited reporters are not on site.

One reporter, who is known for his left-field questions, said he was "actually at the supermarket" when he was given his chance to speak to Alexander Zverev.

It was apparently a "step too far" for organisers, who confirmed that the reporter's credentials had been revoked for that reason.

However French Open officials later announced that he was getting his accreditation back after apologising.

Asked about the incident after his second-round match on Tuesday, Zverev said: "He is a very nice guy. I hope he gets his media pass back.

"I don't want to be the reason why he lost his media pass.

"I think he did it more as a joke. But the other way around, I also do jokes sometimes that are taken the wrong way."

Zverev appeared to be referencing a cheeky comment he made about Osaka before his first-round match, which was widely condemned by fans.

Walking onto the court for the coin toss before his win over Oscar Otte, Zverev was informed by chair umpire Louise Azemar Engzell that he was late.

You know how Naomi said you could fine her for every single match she is not at the press conference?" he responded.

You can fine me for every single match Im late.

Story continues

Alexander Zverev celebrates his victory over Roman Safiullin at the French Open. (Photo by TPN/Getty Images)

Zverev and Tsitipas advance to third round

Sixth seed Zverev had to come from two sets down in his opening-round match but managed to keep it to three sets this time, beating qualifier Roman Safiullin 7-6 (4) 6-3 7-6 (1).

"First week you play against guys, some of them play first, second, third time of a grand slam," Zverev told reporters.

"They're very motivated. They're excited to play on the big courts, like I thought today.

"I think he played a fantastic match. I'm happy to be through in three sets. The match definitely wasn't easy."

And Stefanos Tsitsipas is yet to drop a set at the French Open, but the fifth seed is looking to up his game when he takes on towering John Isner in the third round.

Stefanos Tsitsipas in action against Pedro Martinez at the French Open. (Photo by CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP via Getty Images)

The fifth seed is seen as the biggest danger to Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic after a brilliant 2021 so far, and he followed up victory over Jeremy Chardy with a 6-3 6-4 6-4 success against Spaniard Pedro Martinez.

But Tsitsipas was left frustrated by his performance, saying: "I felt like I had better days at the French Open, so I would love to see myself play a little bit better next time."

He has won his last three meetings with Isner but the pair have never met on clay and Isner, who defeated Filip Krajinovic 7-6 (6) 6-1 7-6 (5) is thoroughly enjoying the warm, dry conditions.

with agencies

Watch 'Mind Games', the new series from Yahoo Sport Australia exploring the often brutal mental toil elite athletes go through in pursuit of greatness:

Click here to sign up to our newsletter for all the latest and breaking stories from Australia and around the world.
Ten New York students who received their first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine have been awarded full scholarships to attend a public college or university in the state.

The first round of winners in the "Get a Shot to Make Your Future" scholarship raffle was announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday. The program launched last week to provide an added incentive for young people ages 12-17 to get vaccinated.

Cuomo said 45,883 young people have been given their first dose of the vaccine since the incentive was announced last week. The program runs through July 7, with weekly winners announced every Wednesday.

The first 10 winners are Liam Burke, Westchester; Charlotte D'Agostino, Bronx; Chase French, Penfield; Adam Judson, Albany; Hannah Lee, Westbury; Jack Lucchesi, Victor; Jack McAuliffe, Chazy; Ariana Nasr, Bayside; Peter Smith, Syracuse; and Bai Tang Jiang, Queens.

The winners receive a 4-year scholarship to any State University of New York or City University of New York school. The scholarship covers tuition, room and board. Cuomo said it's about a $100,000 value.
The state Thruway Authority has altered its plans and will rebuild the 67-year-old Canton Street bridge that passes over Interstate 90 in Onondaga County.

Matthew Driscoll, the executive director of the Thruway Authority and former mayor of Syracuse, announced Wednesday that the bridge will be replaced. The bridge, which is in the town of Van Buren, was built in 1954  the same year the Thruway opened to motorists.

There was opposition from local leaders to the Thruway Authority's original proposal. The authority wanted to tear down the bridge but not replace it.

Onondaga County Legislator Ken Bush introduced a resolution in March to oppose the removal of the bridge. He wrote in the resolution that the proposed removal of the bridge would "negatively impact commercial and industrial business, as well as property values within the hamlet of Warners, towns of Camillus and Van Buren." The county legislature unanimously approved the resolution.

State representatives also opposed the Thruway Authority's proposal to remove the bridge. State Sen. John Mannion, whose district includes the town of Van Buren, wrote letters to Driscoll to express his concerns over the plan.
New York is one step closer to requiring that information about congenital cytomegalovirus is included in training materials for child care providers.

The state Senate unanimously passed legislation on Tuesday that would boost awareness of the virus, which is considered a workplace hazard by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The virus is common, but it can cause birth defects in children.

The bill is sponsored by state Sen. John Mannion, who represents parts of Cayuga and Onondaga counties. It was inspired by Elizabeth Saunders, the daughter of Jim and Lisa Saunders. Elizabeth, who was infected with CMV and had health problems throughout her young life, died after suffering a seizure in 2006.

Mannion, D-Geddes, named the bill "Elizabeth's Law" in her honor.

"CMV is a rare occupational hazard for pregnant women working with young children in day care settings," he said. "My legislation will provide for training and increased awareness so expecting moms have the information they need to make informed decisions to keep themselves and their babies safe. I thank and commend Lisa and Jim Saunders, who have turned their heartache into potentially life-saving action. We are grateful to have them in our community."
After Biden rolled out his immigration plan, Katko claimed it was a "shift toward open borders."

Regarding Biden's budget proposal, Katko thinks it fails to acknowledge many homeland security threats. He also explained why he's disappointed it eliminates funding for the construction of a border wall.

"Physical barriers are a proven asset to Border Patrol agents on the ground  acting as a force multiplier that allows resources to be directed toward stopping dangerous cartel activity," Katko said. "With the administration's open border policies, lethal drugs will continue to pour across our border and have devastating consequences in communities across the country. We must give our border patrol agents the tools they need to be successful  including physical barriers, technology and personnel."

Katko is also concerned about funding levels for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. He believes that CISA, which was created in 2018 within the Department of Homeland Security, needs a boost.
A shame and a sham ... yet again, the egos of our old adults have crushed the ambitions of our young children.

In a recent letter to the editor, John Rossis instructive lesson exposed the roots of Auburns racism dating back to the early 1900s, pointing specifically to Auburns system of deliberately segregated high schools. The branches of those trees still overshadow the buildings.

I doubt that many, if any, other Auburnians have viewed the painfully racist yearbook from my grandmothers class of 1903. But she was undeterred, graduating with honors. No doubt Harriet Tubman was very proud of her grandniece.

When her daughter (my mother) graduated 20 years later and matriculated at Syracuse University School of Business Administration, her high school education equipped her to teach and tutor freshman classmates. She helped Brud Holland pass his classes at Cornell.

I daresay such a rigorous education has been unmatched since Auburn Academic High School was closed and demolished for reasons unknown to me.
Researchers figured out how the ancestors of modern horses migrated

An international research team determined that ancestors of modern domestic horses and the Przewalski horse moved from the territory of Eurasia (Russian Urals, Siberia, Chukotka, and eastern China) to North America (Yukon, Alaska, continental USA) from one continent on another at least twice. It happened during the Late Pleistocene (2.5 million years ago - 11.7 thousand years ago). The analysis results are published in the journal. The findings and description of horse genomes are published in the journal Molecular Ecology.

"We found out that the Beringian Land Bridge, or the area known as Beringia, influenced genetic diversity within horses and beyond," said senior researcher at the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Ural Federal University (Russia) Dmitry Gimranov. "Owing to the appearance of this land part, the flow of genes among mammoths, bison, and wolves could occur regularly. And if 1-0.8 million years ago horses from North America were not yet widespread in Eurasia, then in the periods of 950-450 and 200-50 thousand years ago, there was a bidirectional spread of genes over long distances."

In other words, horses migrated between continents not only in one direction but also vice versa. The first wave of migration was predominantly from North America to Eurasia. The second migration was dominated by the movement from Eurasia to North America.

The most important researchers conclude that most animals used the Beringian Land Bridge only once, and horses several times. This fact could significantly affect the genetic structure of horse populations and made them very interesting objects of research for paleogeneticists.

To determine the area of settlement of horses, molecular biologists studied horses' DNA from both continents. From 262 samples of bones and teeth, they selected 78 with sufficient DNA. Researchers conducted radiocarbon dating and genetic analysis at the Denmark and USA laboratories. In addition, they looked at the research data from 112 samples.

"The data shows that horses returned to North America from Eurasia across Beringia at about the same time as bison, brown bears, and lions," says Dmitry Gimranov. "That is, in the last "days" of the late Pleistocene, when the territory was not covered by water and it was like a bridge for the movement of many groups of animals. With the beginning of climate warming (the beginning of the Holocene or 11.7 thousand years ago) and the last disappearance of Beringia at the end of the Pleistocene, the biogeographic significance of this ecological corridor radically changed the history of terrestrial animal species on both continents."

Although the North American horse population eventually became extinct in the early Holocene, horses became widespread on both continents due to domestication and are now found far beyond their historical range.

###

Note

The Bering Land Bridge was located on the place of the modern Bering Strait, separating the extreme northwest of America and the extreme northeast of Asia. The physical and geographical region of Beringia stretched from the Lena River in Russia to the Mackenzie River in Canada. It consisted of both land and sea components. The land area of Beringia changed during the Pleistocene (from 2.6 million years to 11.7 thousand years ago) along with the size of continental ice and its effect on sea level.

This story has been published on: 2021-06-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Three individuals were arrested last night after Indiana State Police discovered drugs and paraphernalia in a vehicle.

Last night at approximately 10:28 p.m., ISP Trooper David Kewish initiated a traffic stop on a GMC Envoy on East Hoffer Street for a traffic violation. Kewish allegedly smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle, which led to a search. Officers found methamphetamine, marijuana, a hypodermic needle, and other drug paraphernalia.

One individual, Zeppelin King, fled the vehicle while officers were searching the vehicle, and he was captured by ISP. Records showed ISP troopers that King had an active arrest warrant for auto theft.

Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute

As a result of the investigation, David King, 53; Kristin Pounds, 35; and King, 33, were arrested.

King faces charges of resisting law enforcement. David was arrested for possession of methamphetamine and possession of marijuana, and Pounds was charged with possession of a hypodermic needle and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Kewish was assisted by Trooper Andrew Baldwin, Trooper Abby Russell, ISP Sergeant Andrew Smith, ISP Sergeant Adam Moor, Trooper Dukengtson Lavache, Trooper Doug Weaver, and Trooper Edward Titus.
The Adult Survivors Act that is before the state Legislature will bring more harm than good to adult survivors of sexual assault.

While the Child Victims Act has helped thousands file a civil claim in court against their abuser or institution involved, also it has thousands of victims disillusioned with the process.

We have found that, if an abuser is not wealthy and your case does not involve a rich abuser or institution, no lawyer will take your case to court .

I personally have heard from many victims how frustrating it is to think you had a shot at justice then calling multiple lawyers to be rejected.

Few CVA cases filed have been settled or gone to a jury after almost two years.

In fact 96% of cases filed from NYS court records involve a wealthy abuser or rich institution like the Boy Scouts or religious organization. In real life, 9 % of abuse that occurs involves no wealthy abuser or institution. There have been zero rural or inner city non-institution cases filed so far despite 90% of abuse taking place in these locations.
Mercedes-Benz India on Wednesday announced a massive change in how customers in the country can now buy their luxury vehicle in a move that is likely to benefit not just buyers but dealers as well. Terming it as 'Retail of the Future', Mercedes-Benz informed that it is implementing a Direct to Customer (D2C) model with its established franchise network and on its official online sales platform. The first-in-India move, the car maker claims, will help Mercedes buyers not only help make informed decision from the complete product list but also strive for a more seamless buying process.

Under the Retail of Future model, customers of Mercedes-Benz in India can look at a larger pool of cars for consideration from Mercedes-Benz dealers while saving time and effort. Mercedes states that there won't be any need for negotiating as the best prices will be offered by the company directly. Additionally, there is the assurance of complete transparency while buyers can also make price comparisons in a more simplified manner, as per the car maker.

File photo of Mercedes-Benz GLE LWB.

Martin Schwenk, MD and CEO at Mercedes-Benz India, is of the opinion that while the new business model for new cars would appeal to buyers, it also takes Mercedes dealers into strong consideration. "The advent of new sales channel have brought sweeping changes in customers aspirations and requirements, and being a customer obsessed brand, we have adapted our current business models to meet our customers aspirations and needs," he said. "We are also glad to have the collaboration of our Franchise Partners in this transition, further empowering them to have significantly less financial and operational risks, resulting into a profitable and sustainable business model.

Martin Schwenk of Mercedes-Benz India is seen here with the A-Class Limousine and the A35 AMG. (File photo)

Most significantly, the centralized stock will now be owned by Mercedes-Benz India and it will usher in a centralized ordering system. This is likely to ensure better financial health of dealer partners due to lower cost structure and zero inventory. Why this could be a shot in the arm for Mercedes dealers is during times of lockdown and restrictions because of Covid-19, these dealers are most likely to now suffer less of a hit than before. Mercedes further highlights that it could mean better customer relationship building and no market-facing risk.

Mercedes maintains that the cars eventually will be sold through its dealers and that these franchise partners will remain brand representatives in the market.

Retail of Future business model, however, is only applicable for sale of new cars and there will be no changes in separate business lines like customer service, pre-owned cars and accessories.
Vandals struck Sechrist Elementary School in Flagstaff sometime over the Memorial Day weekend, breaking at least 15 windows, defacing walls and carpeting with spray paint, damaging computers and rendering three classrooms temporarily unusable.

Principal John Albert said Tuesday that he was alerted to the school break-in on Monday night and that he suspects the incident occurred on Sunday evening. A police report has been filed, according to Flagstaff Unified School District spokesman Zach Fountain.

Albert said he could not speculate as to the monetary damage, but said, Its a lot.

As he walked through the damaged rooms and hallways Tuesday morning, stepping over a severed globe splayed on the floor of one paint-saturated classroom, Albert said the extent of the damage was unlike anything he has seen in 13 years as Sechrists principal.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Albert said, after an initial assessment, it does not appear that any items were stolen. But the damage to computers and infrastructure was significant. What he is most concerned about is the psychological toll on the students and staff at the school.
Birthday wishes

Call 281-422-8302 or email david.bloom@baytownsun.com to wish someone a happy birthday. We will print your birthday wish on Page 2 of The Sun.

Happy Birthday Wishes
Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

t was passed with a vote of 44 senators and was later signed by the governor, County Board Chairman Erich Tiemann said. We want to formally say thank you for all the senators hard work on this."

Tiemann said during the meeting that it may now be possible to finish paying the judgment within the next three years.

That effectively will reduce our payments on this judgment by one year, he said. "The light is at the end of the tunnel. Were at that four year range, and three years potentially with this. Were going to keep clicking away and this will be behind us before we know it.

The Beatrice 6, Ada JoAnn Taylor, Thomas Winslow, James Dean, Kathleen Gonzalez, Debra Shelden and the estate of Joseph White, were convicted in the 1985 rape and murder of Helen Wilson in her downtown Beatrice apartment.

They were arrested in March and April 1989 and ultimately spent a combined 75 years in prison until DNA evidence showed another man had committed the crime. In 2016, a federal jury awarded the six a combined $28.1 million.
It felt good, because none of the coaches have seen recruits for 16 months. Just seeing everyone, it was what it used to be when I was a freshman, said Scottsdale Saguaro edge rusher Tristan Monday, who is committed to the UA's 2022 recruiting class.
A Basin man who was convicted in 2005 for cutting off the head of a dog is back in court after a federal grand jury in Billings returned an indictment on May 20 charging him with hate crime and firearm violations for allegedly firing a gun into a person's house and threatening the individual with violent, homophobic slurs in 2020, the U.S. Attorney's office said Wednesday.

John Russell Howald, 44, is charged with violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and with the use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, court documents said.

The indictment alleges that on March 22, 2020, Howald tried to injure an individual in Basin because of their actual and perceived sexual orientation by shooting a firearm into the persons house, stating that he wanted to get rid of the lesbians (and) gays. The offense included an attempt to kill the individual, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Howald is scheduled for an arraignment on June 29 before a U.S. magistrate judge in Great Falls. If convicted, Howald faces up to life in prison on the hate crime charge and a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison, consecutive to any other sentence, on the firearm charge.
Wyoming has been selected as the site of a new nuclear power plant.

The state will house the first Natrium Reactor in a partnership with Bill Gates' TerraPower company, PacifiCorp and the U.S. Department of Energy, Gov. Mark Gordon announced Wednesday.

"Wyoming has been a leader in energy for over a century," Gates said remotely at a news conference from the state Capitol, "and we hope our investment in Natrium will allow Wyoming to stay in the lead for many decades to come."

The reactor would be just the second nuclear plant built in the U.S. in the last 20 years.

"Today is an exciting, exciting day," Gordon said, adding that the plant will create hundreds of jobs that are comparable in pay and quality to fossil fuels industry positions.

The reactor is scheduled to begin generating electricity in mid-2028. It's estimated that the project will involve two to three years of design and licensing work before construction begins.
JBS, which has not stated publicly that the attack was ransomware, said the cyberattack affected servers supporting its operations in North America and Australia. Backup servers werent affected and it said it was not aware of any customer, supplier or employee data being compromised.

Malone said the disruption could further raise meat prices ahead of summer barbecues. Even before the attack, U.S. meat prices were rising due to coronavirus shutdowns, bad weather and high plant absenteeism. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has said it expects beef prices to climb 1% to 2% this year, poultry as much as 1.5% and pork between by from 2% and 3%.

JBS, which is a majority shareholder of Pilgrim's Pride, didn't say which of its 84 U.S. facilities were closed Monday and Tuesday because of the attack. It said JBS USA and Pilgrims were able to ship meat from nearly all of its facilities Tuesday. The company also said it was making progress toward resuming plant operations in the U.S. and Australia. Several of the companys pork, poultry and prepared foods plants were operational Tuesday and its Canada beef facility resumed production, it said.
Our institutions arent what they once were. Opinion polls show overwhelmingly that trust in the government, in Congress, and in business has fallen in previous years and remains low. One exception is the military, which is consistently among our most respected institutions. This reputation has been hard-won, over decades of apolitical service to the nation. Americans recognize that service by honoring our servicemen and women, and extending our armed forces enormous respect and deference.

That legacy, however, is under attack. Our servicemen and women are the same selfless servants of the Republic that they have always been, but there is a growing movement among the climbers and the bureaucrats at the Department of Defense to turn the military into a tool of leftwing ideology. Leftists have completed their long march through the universities, through large corporations, and through our primary and secondary education systems. They see the military as one of the last bastions to storm in order to make their cultural control over our society complete.
North Dakota's prison system will move up to 15 female inmates to the Youth Correctional Center in Mandan this month.

Women are housed at the Dakota Womens Correctional and Rehabilitation Center in New England and at the State Hospital in Jamestown. Plans call for up to 50 of them over the next two years to be housed at a section of the YCC that will be called Heart River Correctional Center, according to Dave Krabbenhoft, director of the Corrections and Rehabilitation Department.

"Easier visitation, access to services, access to medical -- all of those things are a little easier to do at a Bismarck-Mandan location," Krabbenhoft told Prairie Public.

The New England facility still will have between 95 and 110 female inmates for the next two years, according to Krabbenhoft. The department has ended its contract with the State Hospital for housing some of the female inmates.

Future plans for the New England lockup are to transition it to a rehabilitation facility, for people who are on supervision or transitioning back into the community.
As a consequence, the court delivered decisions that withdrew various subjects from the orbit of the national government and identified them as within the province of state authority. For example, in 1918, in Hammer v. Dagenhart, the court prohibited Congress from enacting a law prohibiting the transportation in inter-state commerce of goods produced by child labor, on the theory that the state police power governed local manufacturing.

But the pendulum began to swing back toward the Marshall courts view and held that powers reserved to states could not be invoked to curtail federal authority. In 1941, in U.S. v. Darby, the court declared: The amendment states but a truism that all is retained which has not been surrendered. There is nothing in its adoption to suggest that it was more than declaratory of the relationship between the national and state governments as it had been established by the Constitution before the Amendment.
The question is whether Republicans will find any issue they are willing to seek reasonable compromise on. The key test at the moment involves Bidens massive proposal for infrastructure overhaul. Hes in talks with Republicans, and counter proposals are being considered.

If Biden and Republican negotiators reach a deal, will GOP leadership accept it? When Hoeven, Cramer and Armstrong ran for office they all talked about the need to work across the aisle. All three condemned gridlock in Washington.

The only way to resolve gridlock is for both parties to bend, be more flexible. The infrastructure bill provides an opportunity to achieve improvements long overdue. Trump talked about introducing his own infrastructure proposal during his term, but it didnt happen.

Now Congress and Biden have a chance to move forward on improvements needed across the country. They arent Republican or Democratic needs, but American problems. Its sad that seven months after the November election theres more concern with the midterm elections and the 2024 presidential election than accomplishing something in Congress.
Finish this article for as low as $1 when you purchase a day pass. Just click the sign up button to purchase. If you are already a subscriber, just click log in to continue reading.
But those stumbles mean that Tesla still isn't installing the solar roof in volume  the company has never disclosed how many Solarglass roofs it has installed  and that limits demand for what is supposed to be the main product made at the Buffalo gigafactory.

To fill out the Buffalo factory and help it meet its job target, Tesla has shifted electronics assembly work here and, earlier this year, asked local politicians to help promote job opportunities for high school-level data annotation specialist jobs tied to its self-driving vehicle initiatives.

Production has gone fine, but we are choked at the installation point, Musk said during a conference call last month. Despite raising the price, the demand is still significantly in excess of our ability to meet the demand to install the solar roofs.

Tesla said in February 2020 that its workforce in Buffalo had exceeded the 1,500 mark, including Tesla employees and contract workers.

Then Covid hit and the plant closed temporarily. While it reopened once last spring's lockdown was lifted, the company last month said operations at the Buffalo factory "have not yet fully ramped due to a number of factors related to the pandemic."
Trudeau, however, has insisted that at least 75% of the Canadian public must be vaccinated before the border restrictions can be loosened.

"We all want to reopen, we all want to go back to traveling to see friends, take vacations, go on trips," Trudeau said at a press conference in Ottawa on Monday. "But we don't want to have to close again, tighten up again, because there's another wave."

According to the Our World in Data Covid-19 Data Explorer, 58.31% of Canadians had received at least one shot of vaccine as of Tuesday. The pace of vaccinations accelerated rapidly in Canada in recent weeks, which is why the percentage of Canadians who have received their first dose is now higher than it is in the U.S., where that figure stood at 50.38% as of Tuesday.

The Canadian prime minister also made clear Monday that he won't be pressured into relaxing the border restrictions.

"We're on the right path, but we'll make our decisions based on the interests of Canadians and not based on what other countries want," Trudeau said.

Despite Trudeau's comments, Higgins also said that he's more optimistic about a border reopening than he was a month ago.
M&T and the University at Buffalo are two key players in a planned joint Buffalo-Rochester bid to be selected for one of the regional tech hubs. The legislation aims to promote job growth in areas outside of the usual tech hotbeds. By design, the tech hubs would be geographically dispersed.

Gallagher called the push for tech funding a "moonshot for the next generation, making sure we are relevant in the future in innovation and technology. And every industry needs it  not just manufacturing, not just banking  but every industry will be driven by this.

"This is our opportunity, and I think really could be a huge difference-maker for a community like Western New York, as opposed to the Silicon Valley," Gallagher said. "This will be able to change our community, the face of our community, for years to come."

Gallagher said she has already reached out to her counterpart in Rochester, Robert Duffy, about a joint effort. Business leaders are awaiting specifics of what comes next, if the legislation passes, she said.

"We don't know exactly what we're going to be asked to do yet, but we do know it's going to be sort of an all hands on deck," Gallagher said.
Speakers lamented the effects of Covid-19 restrictions on their children and criticized the purported influence of teachers unions. Some also blasted the teaching of critical race theory, an academic framework centered on the idea that racism is systemic and harms people of color in schools, courts, medical offices and countless other places.

The discussion reflects the political divide seen throughout this country  now bubbling up in a well-to-do suburb that celebrates its high-performing schools.

Its painful that weve lost our ability to talk to each other, said Jay Worona, general counsel for the New York State School Boards Association.

Visits went unnoticed before

Christopher Spicer has worked for Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York for 23 years and he said the organization has gone into Clarence schools for at least that long.

The organization has presented at more than 200 schools, in 15 to 20 school districts, said Spicer, the Buffalo-based vice president of programs who oversees a staff of 100.

The invitations come from students or student groups, or from their teachers, and Planned Parenthood representatives cover a range of topics in the appearances.
"The memories that you make, thats what matters," he said. "The big thing, too, is the immense respect youre teaching them for firearms. My kids know, do not go near Dads guns, plain and simple."

Stromecki, whose son died of cancer in 2018, the day before his 13th birthday, said he wished he could have spent more time hunting with his son closer to home than spending so much of fall in Pennsylvania, where there is no age limit for youth hunters as long as they are with an experienced mentor.

Ben would have been allowed to hunt deer in New York with a regular, compound bow under state rules, but he wasn't strong enough to pull one, his father said.

"We want to be able to hunt in our own territories, in our state and in our counties, and we couldnt," Stromecki said.

The flip side

Many animal rights advocates and those concerned about gun violence involving youth have objected to laws that allow firearms into the hands of kids.

Anne Muller, a representative with the League of Humane Voters, a political organization that opposes hunting and advocates for animal protection legislation, said the Erie County Legislature should not pass laws that advocate having adolescents shoot bullets and arrows into animals.
One of three people arrested during a police crackdown on ATVs and dirt bikes driven on city streets over the weekend faces charges she shoved a Buffalo police officer.

A Buffalo man was arrested after police responded to a report of gunfire saw about 50 ATVs and bikes. While trying to stop one of the ATVs, an officer reported seeing the man running away and grabbing at his waistband.

By the time the sun set on Sunday, police also impounded 31 vehicles and issued 40 traffic summonses.

The operation, conducted by the Buffalo Police Department with assistance from the State Police, was part of ongoing efforts to clamp down on driving ATVs or motorized dirt bikes on the streets, which is illegal in the city.

Buffalo police say the enforcement will continue through the remainder of the year.

"The illegal operation of ATVs and unregistered dirt bikes on city streets is extremely dangerous," Capt. Jeff Rinaldo said in an email. "We have seen citizens killed while riding these vehicles, as well as numerous injuries."

Sunday's operation, which began in the late morning, included a State Police helicopter.

So far this year, police have impounded 89 ATVs and dirt bikes, Rinaldo said.
Gomez Sanchez, 33, hadnt been checked on for between 2 and 2 1/2 hours before being found dead at the start of the next shift, investigators concluded.

Gomez Sanchez died of "natural causes and a complication of chronic alcoholism," authorities said last June when they announced OGrady was being criminally charged.

Watson said he agreed with the Niagara County Probation Departments recommendation that OGrady receive a conditional discharge and told OGrady, before issuing the sentence, he would have to deal with what he did the rest of his life.

OGrady was initially charged with one felony and seven misdemeanor counts of tampering with public records.

"I am extremely remorseful for what happened," OGrady told the judge during a court appearance conducted over video conferencing software. He also said he was "deeply sorry" for any pain he caused.

A mental health counselor who specializes in the treatment of individuals with police and military backgrounds has recommended OGrady undergo counseling "on a continuing basis," said Joseph M. LaTona, OGradys defense attorney.

OGrady "was in an emotional crisis" at the time of his crime, LaTona said, including his wife's and son's serious health issues.
Rod Watson Urban Affairs Editor/Columnist I write a weekly column, most often about socioeconomic and political issues affecting people of color and the disadvantaged in Western New York. Follow Rod Watson Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

When you think of power couples, Bill and Hillary Clinton probably come to mind.

Or maybe  at least until their recent divorce announcement  Bill and Melinda Gates.

But when it comes to longevity and local impact  especially in boosting those who need help most  it would be hard to top Arthur and Constance Eve.

As they celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary Thursday, the decidedly liberal couple remain the embodiment of the dream conservatives have long tried to claim as their own: a strong two-parent family that nurtured five successful children.

Yet they also found ways to do so much more.

The Eves  he as a 36-year member of the State Assembly who rose to deputy speaker, she as a college professor and founder of a program to help troubled women  have always lived a faith that recognizes that not everyone was as fortunate as they were in overcoming obstacles.

Rather than pulling the ladder up behind them, they extended it so that more New Yorkers who need help could get a foothold. Its a philosophy of reaching out and reaching back that has regularly come under political assault in America.
The Two State solution to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict is dead. Good riddance. Creating competing theocracies would foster neither peace nor justice.

Israel today is an apartheid society, not a true democracy. Water access, employment rights, building permits, property rights, policing and education policies, marriage rights and legal status characterize pernicious injustices suffered by Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.

Civil rights must never depend upon religious affiliation. Americans, especially, ought know this. The world changed in 1945. Military conquest no longer justifies ethnic cleansing. The Nakba created 750,000 Palestinian refugees who never have been allowed to return to their homeland, in gross violation of their basic human rights. Arabs within Israel endure institutional, governmental repression and perpetual second-class citizenship. Religiously biased land confiscation and racist disenfranchisement only exacerbate injustice and hostility.

Americans reviled Yasser Arafat for rejecting peace proposals containing 90% of what Palestinians wanted. Unfortunately, thats patent nonsense; 90% of what Palestinians have always wanted is the right to return to their homeland.
Posted 6/1/21

The Dallas County Health Department is offering COVID-19 vaccines on the following dates: June 4 from 8 to 11:30 a.m. June 11 from 1 to 4 p.m. June 25 from 8 to 11:30 a.m. July 16 from 1 
Posted 6/2/21

Motorcyclist injured in crash with box truck east of Buffalo Crash near BuffaloA Strafford man was injured Saturday, May 29, in a crash involving a box truck and a motorcycle east of Buffalo, 
GARY  The Gary/Chicago International Airport is firing up its engines and moving forward on the taxiway as it continues getting closer to propelling Northwest Indiana's economy into the stratosphere.

That was the sentiment of federal, state and local officials Tuesday as they announced the Gary airport is receiving a $3.5 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant to finish rehabilitating a critical approach to the main runway located near Lake Michigan, north of the Indiana Toll Road and east of Cline Avenue.

Specifically, the money will complete ongoing improvements to Taxiway Alpha by adding a 14-inch concrete overlay 75 feet wide and 350 feet long.

"Rehabilitation of our taxiways, and all paved surfaces, are critical to meet the needs of our current operations, and opens the door for new development opportunities and infrastructure improvements in the future," said Duane Hayden, airport executive director.

Tim Fesko, the governor-appointed chairman of the airport's board of directors, said replacing the current asphalt taxiway with concrete will extend the life of the pavement 20 years and reduce the airport's repair and maintenance costs over that period.

"I'm excited for the future of the Gary/Chicago International Airport," said Fesko, a Republican former state representative from Dyer.

"Projects such as these are vital to the overall viability of our Region as they provide opportunities to improve our local economy and provide well-paying jobs to local residents."

Both men, along with Gary Mayor Jerome Prince, credited U.S. Rep. Frank J. Mrvan, D-Highland, for his assistance in securing the federal grant for Gary, and in seeing the value of both short-term construction jobs at the airport and long-term economic opportunities.

"Today marks the continuation of the developments and enhancements that have gone on at this airport for quite some time," Prince said. "We are poised, from our perspective, to see this airport reach heights that we only could imagine some years ago."

In particular, Prince pointed to the main runway extension completed in 2015 that gave Gary the second-longest runway in all of Chicagoland, the 2018 opening of a customs facility that enables the airport to more efficiently handle international arrivals, as well as the recent construction of new terminals, hangars and other structures, including a cargo facility for UPS.

Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute

"Things like this don't just happen. Just as it takes teamwork to move aircraft into and out of this facility, it certainly takes true collaboration to realize events that are going to become economic drivers for Northwest Indiana," Prince said.

"And we believe that we're poised to return Gary as an economic driver for the Region as well."

Mrvan agreed with the Democratic mayor the grant is "proof that when you invest, and when you work in a collaborative effort between federal, state, local and private industries, great things can happen."

"Today is about new beginnings and showing the world that the Gary airport, and the city of Gary, is competing for your investment," Mrvan said.

The first-term congressman and former North Township trustee pointed to the largely vacant land surrounding the airport and declared it primed for investment by any logistics enterprise that might benefit from having nearby air, rail, water and highway links.

WATCH NOW: Riding Shotgun with NWI Cops: Monitoring LaPorte with Specialist Justin Dyer

He said the federal government through this grant, along with the American Jobs Plan currently under consideration in Congress, is setting the table by investing in the infrastructure that will help the private sector create new opportunities and grow the economy.

"What we want to do is allow private business to do what they do best and create life-sustaining opportunities for individuals to relocate into the city of Gary, and for individuals who live here in the city of Gary to have sustainable incomes," Mrvan said.

"Let the world know that the Gary/Chicago International Airport is open and welcoming investment from anywhere we can get it."

Hard Rock Casino opening guitar smash
Visual of the Indian Army officials in Kashmir Valley (Photo/ANI)

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], June 2 (ANI): Indian Army Chief General MM Naravane reviewed the prevailing security situation in the Kashmir valley on Wednesday during his two-day visit to the union territory.

On arrival in Srinagar, the Army Chief, accompanied by Chinar Corps Commander Lieutenant General DP Pandey visited units and formations in the hinterland where he was briefed by the local Commanders on the existing security situation and the measures being taken to identify and target the over-ground workers (OGWs)'s network involved in radicalisation and recruitment of youth into terrorist ranks.

Efforts to prevent local recruitment and facilitate the surrender of local terrorists were also discussed, informed an official release.

While interacting with troops, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) expressed his appreciation to the jawans and commanders who are relentlessly battling the dual challenges of Pakistan abetted terror and the global pandemic. He further reinforced the need to be prepared to meet emerging security challenges effectively.

Later, the COAS was briefed by the Chinar Corps Commander on the overall situation pertaining to the Line of Control and the hinterland.

The Army Chief complimented the excellent synergy exhibited by all sections of the Civil Administration, Jammu and Kashmir Police, Central Armed Police Forces and other Security agencies in projecting a 'whole of Government' approach that has resulted in improvement in the security situation conducive for fostering a new era of development in the UT.

In the evening, the COAS called on Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at Raj Bhawan and discussed the emerging challenges and road map for long-term peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

The LG appreciated the role played by the Indian Army in restoring and preserving peace in the UT and providing aid to the civil authorities against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ceasefire between the armies of India and Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) would be entering the 100th day on Thursday. (ANI)
Indonesia has ended its efforts to salvage the remains of a navy submarine that sank off the coast of Bali on 21 April, killing all 53 crew on board.

The KRI Nanggala disappeared after requesting permission to dive during live torpedo exercises in the Bali Sea.

The 40-year-old vessel was found days later, split into three parts.

Efforts have so far failed to retrieve the wreckage from a depth of more than 800m (2,600 ft). The cause of the disaster is still being investigated.

"The salvage is over," navy spokesman Julius Widjojono told the Reuters news agency.

The joint Indonesia-China team dived 20 times to collect photos, videos and parts of the sunken sub, the Indonesian navy said in a statement.

None of the bodies of the 53 on board have been retrieved.

"Our family is hoping they can lift it," Sudarmaji, the father of one crew member was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency shortly before Wednesday's announcement to end the salvage operation.

"It doesn't matter if it takes a while or we have to ask for more help from other countries," he added.

None of the bodies of the crew have been retrieved

Soon after the sub went missing, the Indonesian military confirmed that debris, including prayer mats, had been found in the area where it disappeared.

The KRI Nanggala's disappearance led to an international search operation with the US, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and India providing help.

Images from an underwater rescue vehicle showed the shattered remains of the sub

The German-built vessel last underwent a refit in 2012.

Journalist and military analyst Edna Caroline Pattisina told Reuters that the sub's commander, Lt Col Heri Oktavian, admitted to her that an overhaul of the vessel scheduled to take place last year had been delayed because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Peel District School Board (PDSB) purchases Air Sniper units, through Blade Air, to help protect faculty and students from COVID-19 and other airborne contaminants.

CALGARY, AB, June 1, 2021 /CNW/ - A Canadian manufacturer of air purification systems, Air Sniper, has partnered with Blade Air, Blade Filters' air purification division, to engage the Peel District School Board (PDSB) in Southern Ontario to help protect faculty and students from COVID-19 and other airborne contaminants. UVC is one of the few technologies approved and recommended by ASHRAE to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The PDSB's investment in Air Sniper is an exciting opportunity for both Air Sniper and Blade Air, two proud Canadian companies, in their ongoing commitment to providing innovative solutions against COVID-19.

Over 250 Schools Protecting Students and Staff With Air Sniper UVC Technology

ABOUT AIR SNIPER

Air Sniper, based in Calgary, AB, develops and manufactures one of the most advanced air sanitization solutions. Their units will be rolled out to the region's 257 schools through the remainder of 2021. Air Sniper's advanced air purification solution properly applies UV-C technology and is installed within existing heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. The equipment also has BAS/BAC net compatibility for monitoring and control.

All Air Sniper solutions are independently tested by third-party labs and have been proven effective at removing airborne contaminants such as Escherichia virus MS2 (Covid-19), staphylococcus epidermidis, influenza A (H1N1), and Aspergillus Niger (Mold). The system leverages Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) light at a spectrum of 253.7 nanometers to produce its germicidal effect. The system's technologies produce zero ozone and will provide the schools with the safest and most effective air sanitization measures. Air Sniper has provided complete air purification solutions for businesses across Canada since 2015 and continues to create flexible options that meet industrial-scale needs.

Story continues

"Air Sniper is excited to work on the Peel project in partnership with Blade Air. They are an exceptional team to work with. We are proud to be providing solutions for the school district to protect faculty and students against COVID-19 and other airborne viruses.," says Stuart Henley, President of Air Sniper. "For us to be able to provide safe and effective air purification solutions to the Peel school district is a great honour."

ABOUT BLADE FILTERS

Blade Filters is a proudly Canadian company located in Toronto, Ontario, focused on providing Canadian-made industrial air quality solutions. After revolutionizing the cannabis air filtration industry with their replaceable carbon cartridge filter, Blade Filters created their new operating division, Blade Air. This division was developed as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and specializes in providing air quality solutions for industrial facilities.

With a desire to make a difference by helping businesses improve air quality, the team utilized their resources and technology to develop the Blade Air HEPA-Carbon Air Purifier. Now, with thousands of units deployed in classrooms and companies, Blade Filters is a trusted partner of Ontario Together and the Ontario Education Collaborative Marketplace (OECM). Through their partnership with Air Sniper, Blade Filters is now a licensed distributor of all Air Sniper products. As an exponentially growing company, Blade Filters offers advanced air quality solutions to create the safest environment for all businesses, schools, and organizations.

"The Blade Filters team is extremely excited and proud to be partnered with another all-Canadian company, Air Sniper, to provide in-line air purification solutions," says Aedan Fida, CEO of Blade Filters. "Air Sniper's team has demonstrated a deep understanding of their product offering, has exemplified excellent customer service, and has perfected their industry-leading UV-C-based technologies. We're looking forward to continuing the relationship and collaborating on future projects."

SOURCE Air Sniper

Cision

View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2021/02/c9743.html
Hector Vila, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Whitehorse, at a gathering in Whitehorse on Monday, after remains of 215 children were found on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in B.C. (Vincent Bonnay/Radio-Canada - image credit)

The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Whitehorse says he's committed to working with local First Nations chiefs toward healing and reconciliation  and clarity about what happened at church-run residential schools.

Bishop Hector Vila was responding to the recent discovery of remains on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in B.C. Preliminary findings uncovered the remains of 215 children.

"If you think of the life of these children, it just breaks your heart," Vila said.

"I think that this is a horrendous event that needs clarity, and the Church is committed to bring light to it."

The Kamloops school was operated by the Catholic Church in Canada, as was the infamous Lower Post residential school in northern B.C., where many Yukon children were sent.

On Monday, Vila joined a large procession of people marching through downtown Whitehorse to the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre. Many in the crowd that day wore orange and carried childrens' shoes to represent the victims of residential schools.

Vila was among those who gathered, holding a small pair of shoes and listening to local Indigenous leaders speak about trauma, grieving and healing. He says he was invited by local chiefs, including Kwanlin Dun Chief Doris Bill and Ta'an Kwach'an Council Chief Kristina Kane.

Vila said he was there in solidarity.

"I walk along with them because I know they are hurting. I know they need all the support that we can give. And that is why I went and joined them in this walk," he said.

Chief Bill acknowledged Vila's presence before the crowd on Monday, and called on those gathered to help build understanding. Vila says he was "very touched" by Bill's comments.

'How can I say I love you if I don't even know you, if I don't even know what makes you suffer?' Vila asked. (Steve Silva/CBC)

"She asked the people to come forward and to talk to me, to talk to others who have no residential school experience or knowledge, and to touch practically the wounds that people are carrying today," Vila said.

Story continues

"You cannot say or tell someone that you love that person unless you really know what makes that person suffer. And this is fundamental in any kind of relations. I mean, how can I say I love you if I don't even know you, if I don't even know what makes you suffer?"

Asked about whether the Catholic Church should issue a formal apology for its residential schools, Vila said that's a matter for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to address.

"But I would say that certainly there needs to be an event in which we can gather together, and work together with the chiefs here in Whitehorse, as to how to bring about this this particular apology and, you know, to openly work towards that, towards reconciliation," he said.

The Roman Catholic Church was responsible for operating up to 70 per cent of residential schools, according to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society (IRSSS). United, Anglican and Presbyterian churches were among those operating the remainder. In the years since, the Roman Catholic Church is the only one that hasn't made a formal apology.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 2)  Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno expressed confidence that the agency will hit its digitalization targets before the end of 2022.

In a statement, Diokno said before the end of 2022, we will accomplish those goals. He noted that the central bank targets to digitalize at least 50% of financial transactions and 70% of financial accounts owned by Filipinos next year.

He made the statement during the recently held Institute of International Finance Asia Pacific Summit.

Diokno made the projection amid the sustained rise in digital transactions in the Philippines during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. The health crisis is pushing many to turn to online modes of transactions to avoid transmitting the coronavirus.

In a separate statement, the BSP reported that the combined transactions using PESONet and InstaPay in April surged in terms of volume and value compared to the same month last year.

The PESONet and InstaPay are two automated clearing houses under the National Retail Payment System.

It added that 82 BSP-Supervised Financial Institutions are currently participating under PESONet, while 52 are in InstaPay as of end April.

Meanwhile, the volume and value of QR Ph person-to-person payments in the same month also increased by 23% and 38%, respectively, BSP said.

This system entails code scanning and provides consumers with faster, easier, cheaper and more convenient payment options, the agency explained.

The data are encouraging. These indicate the sustained adoption of digital payments in the country, BSP said.

New adopters have experienced first-hand the advantages of going digital. Their positive experiences are expected to create a ripple effect and to promote the wider use of digital payments, it added.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 2) - Miss Universe Philippines 2020 Rabiya Mateo advised her successor to be tough amid the negativity on social media.

Although she trained on how to deal with online bashers, Mateo said she did not expect it would be hard not to notice negative comments about her.

"I was meant to be trained for situations like these. But when I was in the situation, it was 10 times hard pala (it was 10 times harder than I expected). Kasi (Because) sometimes you try to build your confidence and then with one comment that you see on social media, parang lahat ng efforts mo na-invalidate (it feels like all your efforts were invalidated)," she told CNN Philippines' News.PH.

"Pero na-realize ko (But I realized), this would be my advice to the next Miss Universe Philippines...be tough. You need to have a tougher mind in trying to handle things around you kasi sobrang hirap dahil sa social media (because social media would make it hard)," she added.

The 24-year-old beauty from Iloilo City continued the country's 11-year placement in the Miss Universe pageant, after she landed in the Top 21. Despite failing to bring home the fifth crown for the Philippines, Mateo said she has no regrets at all.

"I realized a lot of things and one of them is that ginawa ko yung best ko (I did my best) during that journey and kung hindi ko man siya naiuwi, alam ko sa sarili ko na that I did my part (even if I did not bring the crown home, I know I did my part)," she said.

Mateo added that her Miss Universe journey led her to "self-awareness."

"There's a lot of self-awareness I guess, because during this journey, with the social media that we have, andami talagang negative comments about my look or what I wear (there were many negative comments about my look or what I wear)," she said. "So always remember to listen to that voice inside you, because you will find peace and happiness once you follow yourself."

The Miss Universe Philippines has already opened the applications for the 2021 edition of the pageant.
Editors note: Interviews with patients were not allowed by the facility due to privacy issues.

One of the most vulnerable sectors are the drug, alcohol, gambling, and behavioral addiction patients undergoing rehab at various facilities in the Philippines. But at Bridges of Hope (BoH), the in-house clients are doing quite well today despite the challenges of the pandemic.

Guillermo Gimo Gomez, an internationally certified addiction professional and a senior program director at BoH, is not that surprised. He thinks that the controlled and sanitized environment BoH imposes as a matter of routine in their therapies has helped greatly to shield the addiction patients from the health vicissitudes of quarantine lockdown. It may be something the rest of us can pick up on as a way out of our suffering in these unprecedented times.

Guillermo Gimo Gomez, an internationally certified addiction professional and a senior program director at Bridges of Hope also teaches Jeet Kune Do at a gym outside the facility. Photo by KARL R. DE MESA

Hell is around the corner

Before he came to work for Bridges of Hope, Gomez was himself a patient at the facility. He has years of substance addiction behind him, all the way back when he took his first hit of meth as a young man in 1988. He could still clearly remember that first hit of shabu and how, in hindsight, it led to a moment of legitimate addiction.

My head exploded that first time with a rush I couldnt understand. I just keep on drinking alcohol to down this new overwhelming feeling, said Gomez.

The consequent hits through the 1990s eventually got him hooked, landing him in jail in the year 2000. A series of rehab stays and relapses followed, each one lasting 18 to 22 months, each slightly better than the last, but no true management system had stuck.

There was no real rock bottom, rather for Gomez it was a series of hells that waited just around the corner. Hell for me was stealing my childrens allowance (which I just gave to my wife to give to them), Gomez said. Selling my childrens T.V. and selling my own clean laundry which my wife had washed. And waking up somewhere near a railway, in a shack with no electricity, no furniture, and no running water.

Though he smiles thinking about it now, one of those hells was also Gomez hiding from his own family in 2012, who was searching for him with a rehab team from Bridges of Hope in tow. After a revolving door of stays to kick his substance addictions, Gomez exited his program at BoH and started as a volunteer for them in 2013.

Hes been working there ever since. This time, the management program had stuck.

Sleeping quarters at the Paranaque facility. Photo courtesy of BRIDGES OF HOPE/GIMO GOMEZ

First, ask for help

Since Gomez knows too well how relapses can both be easy to slide into and the hardest to climb out of, it informs his interactions with patients on a deeply compassionate level  an I know because Ive been there quality absent in old school therapy paradigms.

There are certain triggers that can bring me back to my addiction, said Gomez. And my program from Bridges of Hope helps me with my awareness.

There are hundreds of DOH-accredited substance and alcohol rehab facilities in the country and seven within Metro Manila alone. Bridges of Hope is one of the few that offers a holistic variant of the 12-step program, a system which they call the Eclectic Therapeutic Community.

The pandemic is a force of its own and should not be taken lightly. It will continue to hit anybody recovering, much harder than it would a person free of the maladies of a mental and emotional diagnosis.

This is an alternative to what is usually a punitive approach to therapy made famous by Alcoholics Anonymous that focuses on abstinence, known in therapy circles as the Minnesota Model of drug and alcohol management.

BoH adheres to the Therapeutic Community (TC) model. A methodology that moves away from just self-denial, acknowledging that recovery must focus on the whole person and consequently the society that he moves in  in fact, the first step listed on the BoH websites 12 steps is asking for help: We admitted we were powerless over our addiction  that our lives had become unmanageable.

Recovery looks different for everyone

The eclectic part of the therapeutic community system is in acknowledging the uniqueness of each abuser and their history. Therefore, recovery looks different for everyone.

Each abuser will move towards management at different speeds, through different obstacles, hence being open to what works for one person might not work for another because each brains infrastructure and development is unique  a set of stimuli may be a big dopamine hit for somebody, yet that same amount may be nothing to the next person.

Some brains are just stronger and have better synaptic systems, said Gomez. It's like the circuit breaker in your house. With a high amperage ceiling, no matter what the current fluctuation is, if it's a good breaker, it's not going to flip. Others pop much more easily.

The TC orientation also recognizes that relapses do occur, viewing them as learning opportunities rather than chances to intensify punishment.

In the eclectic model we try to understand the person's feelings and thought processes, said Gomez. The old therapy model, like the one I experienced as a patient in the 1990s, would just simply address everyones addiction the same way. They tell you you know you took the substances, you're addicted to it, whether you accept it or not, here's the punishment. I'm going to hit you, give you such a horrible experience that by the time you come out your brain will go one plus one equals pain!

BoHs biggest center is the one in Los Banos, Laguna that houses up to 50 clients. It has a land size of 900 sqm, and an activity space spanning 700 sqm that includes a swimming pool. At the seven BoH rehab facilities in the country, patients are encouraged to accept that going through the program will take time. That everyone advances at their own pace. Each center has a staff of around 20 people composed of nurses, counsellors, psychometricians, and administration managers like Gomez.

Aside from taking responsibility for ones behavior, the emphasis on shared, communal liability means that recovery at BoH is viewed as a gradual and always ongoing process of cognitive change overseen by clinical interventions. Full recovery is the high ideal, but the truth is that its an ongoing, daily process.

Healing and relaxing geothermal (hot spring) pool at the Los Banos facility. Photo courtesy of BRIDGES OF HOPE/GIMO GOMEZ

Virus safety inside the rehab facility

Robert Ty, Executive Director at BoH BF Paranaque, says that their hundreds of in-house rehab patients have been fairly cushioned from the ravages of COVID-19. This is due to the controlled and highly sanitized environment of their facilities and in no small part because the residents are already in a quite benign quarantine of their own.

Ty said, With the family culture fostered between our staff members and directorate levels weve been prepared to sacrifice to respect and follow the protocols which demand time away from families and friends in exchange for the safety of our clients.

They are actually not experiencing stress as we are outside, in the natural environment, said Gomez. Our program is quite effective in shielding patients from the normal mental or emotional tensions of a lockdown.

Its a state of multi-layered safety only reached however through the sacrifice of medical and administrative staff. Converting buffer zone structures for quarantine before patients and staff go into the main facility has been the order of the day, as well as a buying bender on disinfection equipment like ion guns, fog machines, and hypochloric acid disseminators.

Relapses are the hardest

According to Gomez, its not the in-house patients theyre worried about but rather those who are at the end of their treatment and about to go back to real life. Among this group are those who have pulled out of the 12-step program early, leaving their treatment unfinished  these have proven the most vulnerable and suffered the most relapses.

Those who decide not to be monitored in their last and final stages of reintegration with the consent of their families have definitely faltered. A common denominator in this group, for both substance or non-substance cases, is a failure to adjust to the new, unseen factors of the pandemic. Gambling and drug addicts discover how intense being lonely in quarantine is. Casinos and bars are closed, and the usual ways of scoring meth or other illegal substances have been restricted by the curfew hours, lack of public transport options, and simply a shortage in product because the transport supply chain is broken.

Each abuser will move towards management at different speeds, through different obstacles, hence being open to what works for one person might not work for another because each brains infrastructure and development is unique  a set of stimuli may be a big dopamine hit for somebody, yet that same amount may be nothing to the next person.

Coupled with the fear of catching the virus, the pandemic can bring down an already damaged willpower and self-esteem. The pandemic is a force of its own and should not be taken lightly, said Gomez. It will continue to hit anybody recovering, much harder than it would a person free of the maladies of a mental and emotional diagnosis.

At BoH, one of the special perks a patient earns when he completes the 12-step program is a Lifetime Halfway Privilege. This means you can return for a limited stay and a bed to sleep in at any of the facilities for free, no questions asked, as long as you are drug-free and theres an available bed. Had a fight with the wife? Go back for a stay. Want to avoid your old druggie friends? Be welcome at BoH.

Gomez and Ty confess that many relapses have been avoided because a former patient opted to lie low and stay out of trouble by availing of their halfway house privilege. But since the pandemic, and for the protection of the current in-house patients, this privilege has been rescinded (with a few special exceptions), as the halfway facilities have been turned into quarantine housing for the BoH staff.

The snake in the grass

Relapses have been a reality for the early program pull-outs and a few re-integrationists whove finished their treatment. For the latter, its usually when they notice that they are simply jumping from one type of confinement to another, and they find that theres a scarcity of work and nothing to do.

Gomez knows full well the pain a relapse brings, especially since hes had six of them  the latest one back in 2012. Relapses really dont happen immediately or obviously but are slow, gradual, and unseen just like a snake in the grass gradually slithers through a field of daisies. But a relapse is the most painful thing.

Stories of common reasons why the early BoH pullouts relapsed range from how they fell in love with the wrong person or their family refused to listen to how they needed support in fostering the best environment to prevent a backslide. But the most common one is when a patient mistakenly believes they are in control again chasing that elusive, ultimately false grail of the functional addict.

Gomez referred to this myth as the Manageability Theory. Its akin to a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow being chased by hardcore addicts, like a magic balance struck between using substances while also being able to keep up with professional and social responsibilities.

The effect of this fabulous, illusory state is that the drug use is effectively concealed, to a point that the user is perceived aus Functional or Normal, thereby rendering the addiction as no problem at all, said Gomez. This was the part that I couldnt believe and was hardest for me to grasp during my long years of using: that I alone would not be able to stop this addiction!

Studies have proven that relapses are harder to stop because the disease has already implanted in the brain a thick neural pathway of habit. Combine that with inherited genetic predispositions (were your parents drug abusers or alcoholics?) that make some patients more vulnerable, and the recovery-and-relapse becomes a cycle that makes it almost impossible to resist alone, sans clinical help.

Bridges of Hope patients are fairly shielded from the pandemic due to the controlled and highly sanitized environment of their facilities and in no small part because the residents are already in a quite benign quarantine of their own. Photo courtesy of BRIDGES OF HOPE/GIMO GOMEZ

A process, not a cure all

To combat this, Gomez and Ty strongly urge their in-house patients to finish their treatment programs but also, for those whove already transitioned out to the world and into the realities of the pandemic, to continue relying on their newfound support community.

Their program staff have had to work doubly hard to train the participant-families to anticipate the triggers this pandemic has brought about and that of the new normal outside. As a result, plenty of their newly released rehab patients are doing quite well, through constant case check-ups leaning on what they call power of the group  meaning counsellor supervised Viber, FB Messenger, and bi-monthly Zoom groups calls.

Those with a developed plan, like the proverbial 13th step homework beyond their therapy, are the best armed. They also tend to have the correct and strong support system enabling their adjustment away from BoH.

Those who feel their familys support, whove been educated on how the program works, are doing well because they see the beginning of a new life, said Gomez. They are our role models. With our open-arms approach many people look back on their time with us as something where they were able to stitch together a pattern of sustainable recovery. A place where they were given hope.

To Gomez, the fact that there are newly released patients who have successfully hurdled the challenges of the pandemic and are currently managing quite well, or even better than non-rehabbed addicts, is a great sign that the community-based and compassionate system of BoH works well.

He still cautions though, that addiction recovery isnt a one and done kind of deal even for him, who has since found that the practice of martial arts and collaborative activity with his children are great supplements to therapy.

Nobody really plans to become an addict. We are forever in recovery, said Gomez.

***

For inquiries, contact 0917 509 8826 for a consultation or write to a counsellor through their website.

Correction: Each of Bridges of Hope facilities has around 20 personnel instead of 9 to 12 as first stated in the article.
WATCH NOW: Over 63K COVID-19 vaccine doses administered through NWI program

GARY  A combined state and federal effort to make the free COVID-19 vaccine easy to access in Northwest Indiana immunized more than 63,000 people during its seven weeks of operation.

According to the Indiana Department of Health, a total of 47,586 individuals 12 and older were protected against hospitalization and death from COVID-19 between April 7 and May 29 through the mass vaccination program at the former Roosevelt College and Career Academy in Gary, operated in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Another 16,163 people got their shots over the same time period at 16 affiliated mobile clinics operating in the Region and across northern Indiana, records show.

"We are pleased by the impact these clinics had in Lake County and northern Indiana by giving thousands of Hoosiers greater access to this lifesaving vaccine," said Dr. Kristina Box, the state health commissioner.

The Gary Roosevelt site opened to tremendous fanfare because FEMA provided the state up to 2,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses a day for the program, on top of the state's regular allotment, during a time of limited vaccine availability  particularly among medically underserved populations in Indiana.

Another 1,000 daily doses were made available for the mobile vaccination clinics.

Records show the program never approached the maximum possible distribution of 159,000 doses during its 53 days of operation, despite officials ranging from Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb to Democratic U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg regularly encouraging Hoosiers to take advantage of the site.

Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute

In the end, the 63,749 total doses administered through the mass vaccination program were just 40% of capacity.

At the same time, the conditions that spurred the establishment of the mass vaccination clinic  limited COVID-19 vaccine supplies  largely were alleviated during its operating period, and the COVID-19 vaccine is available, as of Wednesday, at 75 hospitals, health clinics, retail pharmacies and other locations in Lake County, 25 sites in Porter County and 18 in LaPorte County.

WATCH NOW: Riding Shotgun with NWI Cops: Monitoring LaPorte with Specialist Justin Dyer

Individuals can find a COVID-19 vaccine site and make an appointment to receive the free vaccine online at ourshot.in.gov, or by calling 211.

"I can't overstate the importance of getting vaccinated so we can all be protected from this virus that has claimed more than 13,000 Hoosier lives," Box said.

Nearly all Northwest Indiana vaccine sites also are serving any person who walks in the door during regular hours, regardless of whether they have an appointment.

COVID-19: Hoosiers We've Lost
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 1) The House of Representatives adopted on third and final reading on Tuesday a resolution seeking to amend "restrictive" economic provisions of the Constitution.

The Resolution of Both Houses No. 2 was approved on a vote of 251-21 with two abstentions.

The measure, primarily authored by House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, seeks to include the line "unless otherwise provided by law" to constitutional provisions restricting foreign ownership of public utilities, educational institutions, media, and advertising companies.

The resolution will be now transmitted to the Senate for its own consideration.

Senate President Tito Sotto has said the upper chamber may not have "enough time" to take a look into the proposal before session adjourns this week, noting that the resolution may be tackled after President Rodrigo Duterte's State of the Nation Address in July.

In a previous interview with CNN Philippines, Sotto also said he was "not convinced" the government needs charter change at this time. He said it may be easier to discuss the inclusion of the phrase through a regular legislation in Congress.

However, Velasco expressed hope the senators will "see the wisdom in this measure."

"Our intention then, as now, was purely to help our country rise above this pandemic through liberalizing the restrictive economic provisions in the Constitution that have long prevented us from becoming fully competitive with our Asian neighbors," Velasco said in a statement.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 2)  A senator argues records of the governments bloody war on drugs do not have implications on national security, contrary to a previous remark by President Rodrigo Duterte.

"In the words of the Supreme Court, drug war records 'do not obviously involve state secrets affecting national security' for the information and documents relate to routine police operations involving violations of laws against the sale or use of illegal drugs," said Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday.

The senator cited the SC ruling in Almora et al. and Dano et. al v. the Philippine National Police in 2018, wherein the highest court in the land denied the defense of the Office of the Solicitor General that drug war records may implicate the countrys security.

Duterte said in his recent public address that the government cannot reveal information on individuals killed during anti-drug operations not because authorities are hiding something, but because of security issues.

READ: Duterte: Records on drug war, NPA killings cannot be revealed publicly

To claim that it involves national security is unfounded, said Drilon. By any stretch of imagination, I could not think how would a single poorest of the poor Filipino, who was killed in an anti-narcotic operation, have planned to overthrow the government?"

These records also do not involve rebellion, invasion, terrorism, espionage, infringement of national sovereignty or sovereign rights by foreign powers, or any military, diplomatic or state secret involving national security, Drilon further explained.

Drilon also cited his experience during his term as Justice Secretary, noting he has not seen any police records with such security implications.

What we want to find out is what, where, when, and under what circumstances these thousands of people were killed, said the senator, adding that only police records will reveal this information.

Critics have slammed Dutertes war on drugs, flagging concerns on violations of human rights and the lack of due process.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 2)  The Philippines is "doing well" in terms of vaccinating its healthcare workers against COVID-19, but the same cannot be said when it comes to senior citizens and persons with comorbidities, a member of the Inter-Agency Task Force's sub-technical working group on data analytics said Wednesday.

Dr. John Wong, who is also an epidemiologist, based his analysis on the current vaccination rates of priority sectors.

He said 90% of the country's healthcare workers have been inoculated since the country's vaccination drive started on March 1. However, only 14% percent of senior citizens have gotten their COVID-19 shots, while only 8% of those with comorbidities have been vaccinated.

"We are doing well with healthcare workers, not so good with seniors and persons with comorbidities," Wong told a town hall hosted by the Department of Health.

He said the low vaccination coverage of A2 and A3 may be attributed to vaccine hesitancy, low vaccine supply, and access issues.

Maximizing the impact of vaccines

To boost the COVID-19 vaccination rates, Wong recommended an "easier" pre-registration.

"Just do it by age," he said, adding those 50 years old must be inoculated first as they have the "highest risk" of dying due to the infectious disease.

"Those 50 years and above make up only about 17% of the population, a very small percentage, but they make up 80% of the deaths," he added.

Why use age to qualify vaccinees

Wong explained that age is easier to verify than comorbidity or employment. He noted some people's comorbidities are undiagnosed.

The Philippines will soon vaccinate frontline essential workers alongside the A1 to A3 groups.

The Health Department earlier proposed that the older workers get their COVID-19 shot first over the younger ones.

"We have recommended that if there will be some form of prioritization and maybe we can do it by stratifying by age group, [we can consider] prioritizing those who are more aged, like we start from 50 to 60, then 40 to 50 and down the line," Health Undersecretary and Spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire told CNN Philippines' The Source on Monday.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 2) - The Department of Energy (DOE) is looking into possible criminal liability on the part of power companies that contributed to the supply problem in Luzon, an energy official said Wednesday.

Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said they are coordinating with the Department of Justice in studying if some firms' non-compliance with government policies can be considered tantamount to economic sabotage.

"Our lawyers in DOE are exploring that. We are in the process of gathering pieces of evidence," he said in a media briefing.

According to Fuentebella, some power plants have implemented preventive maintenance despite the policy prohibiting such, except for hydropower plants, during the months of April to June.

The official added the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), which acts as the system operator, failed to secure enough power reserves, thus breaching a DOE circular issued in 2019 to ensure reliability of the electrical grid.

The Energy Regulatory Commission has given erring generation companies seven days to explain their unplanned outages that exceeded the maximum allowable days per year.

Fuentebella said the power supply for Luzon has already reached a deficit of 200 megawatts. This means the capacity of generators is not enough to meet the demand for electricity, prompting rotational power interruptions, which the NGCP said may last until June 7.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 2)  The Supreme Court has lifted its order stopping the plea bargain deal of retired Major General Carlos Garcia.

"Considering the prosecution's failure to prove private respondent Garcia's guilt for plunder and money laundering beyond reasonable doubt, respondent Sandiganbayan cannot be said to have gravely abused its discretion in approving the assailed Plea Bargaining Agreement," read the decision penned by Justice Marvic Leonen promulgated last September but only released this Tuesday.

The high court also lifted the 2013 temporary restraining order that stopped the anti-graft court from implementing its 2010 resolution approving the former military comptroller's request for bail.

A plunder case was filed against Garcia in 2005, nearly two years after customs agents at the San Francisco International Airport in the United States seized $100,000 (about 4.76 million) of undeclared cash from his sons Juan Paolo and Ian Carl.

Their mother Clarita had claimed the cash came from Garcia's salary as a two-star general, and their family's two corporations.

Garcia allegedly amassed ill-gotten wealth worth 300 million while he was comptroller of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Under the plea bargaining agreement, Garcia would return 135 million to the government - a deal that was challenged by the Office of the Solicitor General for being "lopsided."
(CNN) -- More than a month since Colombians first took to the streets this year to protest against a botched tax overhaul and the government's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, tensions across the country are escalating rapidly with more than a dozen deaths over the weekend -- and a risky new government tactic.

On Friday, the southern city of Cali witnessed new scenes of panic when several people in civilian clothing appeared to open fire against protesters, social media footage shows. Colombia's Attorney General Francisco Barbosa later confirmed that one of the shooters was an off-duty employee of his office's investigative unit. Preliminary investigations suggest that the man killed two protesters before the surrounding crowd lynched him, Barbosa said. Footage of the man beaten to death has since gone viral on Colombia social media.

In another episode, a civilian was photographed aiming his gun towards protesters while standing next to uniformed police officers who did not intervene. The man, Andres Escobar, later published a video on social media saying he was shooting non-lethal rubber bullets and asking for forgiveness for his actions. In an interview with local radio station BluRadio, Escobar said he was prompted to action by seeing "vandals" running wild in his neighbourhood, and did not intend to kill anybody.

Colombia's police director Jorge Vargas Valencia has announced his office is investigating the incident.

In Cali alone, at least 13 people were killed over the weekend, according to Colombia's Defense Ministry. In response to escalating violence around the country, President Ivan Duque has deployed the military to thirteen cities to reinforce local police. Defense Minister Diego Molano even posted a video of 500 infantrymen on their way to Cali, set to triumphant music.

Duque said he was pushed to send the military in order to lift dozens of protester roadblocks that since early May have brought the country to a standstill -- but critics and some analysts see the deployment as a risky bet destined to add fuel to the fire.

Soldiers facing protesters

"Having more security forces on the streets is not a step in the direction of peace," said Sebastian Lanz of Temblores, a Colombian NGO specialized in documenting police violence. His organization has identified over 3400 cases of police abuse in dealing with the protesters, he says.

Lanz says dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflicts should be prioritized as a means of de-escalating the situation while respecting civilians' right to protest. "We ask ourselves, is this deployment of soldiers really intended to pacify the city, or is it to intimidate and limit the rights of the protesters?" he said.

Colombia's government disputes Temblores' figures, but it's hard to deny the heavy-handedness employed by some Colombian security forces. On Monday, Police Inspector General Jorge Luis Ramirez said his office is investigating 170 cases of abuse at the hands of the police. Eleven of those cases are directly linked to the assassination of protesters at the hands of policemen.

Adding active soldiers to the mix could increase the risk of lethal encounters at otherwise peaceful protests, warns Juan Carlos Ruiz, a professor of political science at Bogota's Universidad del Rosario.

"Having the military handle a protest rally is not the best idea," he told CNN. "Even the anti-riot police, with all the issues and incidents they have been involved so far in the protest, at least they are a body of trained professionals specialized in dealing with protesters. A soldier is not trained in conflict resolution: they are trained to kill."

At the same time, Ruiz says the government's decision to add military muscle seemed "inevitable," given the damage the roadblocks cause to a Colombian economy already battered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Colombia suffers from chronic infrastructure problems and is heavily dependent on road transportation between ports and big cities. One of the most effective tools of the protesters this past month has been to block key highways around Cali and other major urban areas to put pressure on the government by effectively freezing commerce. Over the last month, shortages of fuel and basic goods have been reported in Cali and the surrounding region, and the government says roadblocks are also getting in the way of its Covid-19 vaccination campaign.

The roadblocks are a sensitive point of discussion in ongoing negotiations between the government and Colombia's National Strike Committee, an organization of workers unions and civic associations that is setting the protests' agenda. Protesters see roadblocking as a legitimate tactic, while the government wants to clear the streets as quickly as possible and is promising zero-tolerance for picketers in the way.

The negotiations, still ongoing, have so far failed to provide concrete results and tension continues to grow.

The view from Washington

Throughout its history, the Colombian military has received substantial assistance from the United States, which has financed training and equipment to empower Colombian soldiers in the fight against guerrillas and drug-trafficking organizations. Just last year, the US earmarked $267 million for security assistance to Colombia.

Ruiz, the political scientist, tells CNN that Duque should be careful about how it deploys its troops now. The image of Colombian soldiers involved in repressing the protesters could be hard to stomach not just in Bogota, but also in Washington, where more than 50 US lawmakers last month called for a halt to assistance to the Colombian police until allegations of human rights abuse have been cleared.

According to Amnesty International, weapons provided by the US to Colombian police have already been linked to human rights violations.

"Secretary (of State) Blinken has the power to stop the fear and terror that Colombian protesters are enduring, and he must do so immediately," said Philippe Nassif, the advocacy director at Amnesty International USA, in joining calls for an immediate suspension of weapons-related assistance to the Colombian police.

"We condemn violence and vandalism connected with the protests and reaffirm our support for the right to peaceful protest," a State Department spokesperson told CNN. They added, "We welcome announcements by the Colombian government to investigate allegations of excessive use of force by police."

This weekend, Colombian Vice President and Foreign Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez traveled to Washington to meet with Blinken. While Blinken affirmed close ties between the two countries, he also "reiterated the unquestionable right of citizens to protest peacefully," according to a State Department readout.

Long-lasting consequences

In issuing the decree on Friday that authorized military assistance to police facing protesters, Duque stressed it was a temporary decision. Soldiers would be withdrawn as soon as the situation returned to calm, he said.

But Lanz of the NGO Temblores, warns the consequences of this decision could last much longer. "What we're seeing here is that the security forces are reclaiming the territorial control of the public space," he said.

"Because of Covid-19 and the lockdowns, we lost the right to a shared public space where everyone could be free. On one side you have protesters who are reclaiming that space for themselves, but on the other the government is sending the Army to fight for control. It's a territorial fight, and it won't end soon," he added.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Amid escalating violence, Colombia sends in troops"
(CNN)  Peru has more than doubled its official death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic following a government review of the figures, leaving the country with the highest coronavirus-related death rate per capita in the world.

Peru's prime minister announced Monday that the death toll from March 1, 2020 to May 22, 2021 had been revised up to 180,764. The previous figure as of Sunday was 69,342, which is 2.6 times lower than the revised total.

Speaking at a press conference on CNN affiliate TV Peru, Violeta Bermudez said the updated figures were based on advice taken from a panel of Peruvian and international experts.

"It [is] our duty to make the updated information public, not only as part of our commitment to transparency, but also to comply with our obligations as a State," Bermudez said.

Peru already had one of the world's worst death rates before the government review. The new numbers bring the mortality rate from just over 200 to more than 500 deaths per 100,000 people -- topping Hungary, which had 305 deaths per 100,000 people as of May 22, according to John Hopkins University data.

Bermudez was joined for the announcement by Health Minister Oscar Ugarte and the group of civil servants and independent professionals who worked to refine the number of deaths.

Ugarte said Peru would immediately implement the methodology recommended by the group in order "to have a daily figure which more closely reflects the reality of what is happening with the pandemic in our country."

Peru is one of the worst hit countries in Latin America, with a crippling fresh wave of cases at the beginning of the year pushing doctors to breaking point and causing a critical shortage of intensive care unit beds. In late May, Peru extended a state of emergency and nationwide lockdown until the end of June, Reuters reported.

The announcement of the review comes just days before Peruvians head to the polls for the second round of presidential elections on Sunday. Peruvians cast their ballots in the first round back in April, where they were asked to choose the country's fifth president in just four years, and voters have been left disillusioned by the political class following a spate of corruption scandals.

Last week, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Carissa Etienne said Covid-19 cases and deaths were plateauing at alarming levels in the Americas.

The region reported over 1.2 million new Covid-19 cases and 31,000 deaths for the week prior -- figures that remain unchanged over the last few weeks, Etienne said, before adding that the data showed "Latin American countries also represented the top five highest mortality rates worldwide."

Regarding the slow vaccination rollout in the Americas, the PAHO's director called on the global community once again to help expand the region's vaccine coverage.

"In our region of nearly 700 million people, just 37 million have been fully vaccinated against Covid, I hope you agree that this is completely unacceptable."

Covid-19 vaccines in Latin America are in perilously short supply. Etienne previously told reporters on May 19: "Indeed just 3% of Latin Americans have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and we still have a long way to go to ensure that everyone is protected."

Separately, WHO warned Monday it would be a "monumental error" to think the danger of Covid-19 has passed.

"The reality is, we still have a lot of work to do to end this pandemic," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during the closing of the 74th World Health Assembly.. "We're very encouraged that cases and deaths are continuing to decline globally, but it would be a monumental error for any country to think the danger has passed."

The way out of the pandemic, he said, is tailored and consistent use of public health measures, alongside equitable vaccination.

Tedros urged member states to commit to supporting targets of achieving at least 10% of the population of all countries vaccinated by the end of September, and at least 30% by the end of the year.

"One day -- hopefully soon -- the pandemic will be behind us, but the psychological scars will remain for those who have lost loved ones, health workers who have been stretched beyond breaking point. and the millions of people of all ages confronted with months of loneliness and isolation," he said.
(CNN)  Xi Jinping wants China to learn how to make friends and influence people.

Speaking at a study session for the Communist Party's top leadership on Monday, the Chinese President said it was important for the country to tell its story in a positive way, presenting the image of a "credible, lovable, and respectable China," according to state-run news agency Xinhua.

He added that the Party's propaganda organizations need to make it clear to the world that Beijing wants "nothing but the Chinese people's well-being."

Xi's vision makes sense. Since taking power in 2012, he has pushed for China to take a bigger role in global affairs, but aside from Russia and Pakistan, China has few strong diplomatic relationships with major world powers.

What Xi didn't say was that his country currently has a big image problem in many parts of the world. A Pew Research report from late 2020 found that of 14 countries surveyed across Europe, North America and East Asia, every one had a majority negative view of China.

Part of Beijing's image problem comes from the Covid-19 pandemic, and allegations the government covered up the original outbreak in Wuhan in December 2019, potentially worsening the global spread of the virus.

But opinions of China were worsening even before the pandemic  and part of that is down to the country's embrace of "wolf warrior" diplomacy.

Named after a series of nationalistic Chinese action films, this jingoistic foreign policy first began to take shape in 2019 when top diplomats began aggressively calling out alleged slights against China in press conferences or on social media.

In July 2019, Zhao Lijian, then a counselor at the Chinese embassy in Pakistan, began to condemn what he saw as the United States' hypocrisy over human rights, pointing out Washington's own problems with racism, income inequality and gun violence.

Zhao's full-throated defense of China was controversial. But it got him a promotion to Foreign Ministry spokesman and other Chinese diplomats started to mirror him.

There have been reports of unease over the wolf warriors inside China's diplomatic community, but for now, there is no sign that Zhao or his colleagues being reined in, especially not when their approach is so popular with domestic audiences.

After top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi told his US counterparts in March that Washington "does not have the qualification to speak to China," his catchphrase was quickly printed on T-shirts sold in Beijing and other cities.

Xi might want China to extend the hand of friendship to the world, but with the wolf warriors of the Foreign Ministry howling at his back, many countries might be reticent to take the chance.

This story was first published on CNN.com "Xi Jinping wants to 'make friends' with the world. But Beijing can't kick its wolf warrior habits"
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 2)  China has been "remiss" in its obligations as a bilateral partner to the Philippines and as a state party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, two Filipino envoys said Wednesday.

They made separate statements in response to Senator Risa Hontiveros, who asked them about the presence of Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea during their confirmation hearings at the Commission on Appointments.

"I agree with you that there are quite a number of points where of course China is remiss in being a good partner, bilateral partner to the Philippines," said Roderico Atienza, whose ad interim appointment as career minister was approved by the powerful CA.

Atienza, former Philippine Consul General in Hong Kong, is now director of a division at the Department of Foreign Affairs handling the West Philippine Sea and maritime jurisdiction.

He said the DFA did not lack in pointing out to China that "they have not exactly met our expectations," citing the involvement of its vessels in the illegal harvesting of giant clams and destruction of coral reefs in the West Philippine Sea.

Beijing has denied violating UNCLOS as it insists on owning almost the entire South China Sea, including parts of the West Philippine Sea. It rejects the landmark decision of an UNCLOS-backed tribunal invalidating its sweeping maritime claims.

Deputy Permanent Representative Elizabeth Te of the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also shared her sentiments against China's actions but reiterated the diplomatic stance that the sea row is not the totality of the relationship between Manila and Beijing.

"China has not exactly been abiding by its responsibilities because China is a state party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and China has not been exactly implementing its obligations under the convention," said Te, whom the CA confirmed as chief of mission.

"Yes, China has been remiss and in fact in my meetings with the Chinese mission here in ASEAN, we have also emphasized that it is important that the situation on the ground in the South China Sea be taken into consideration," she added.

The DFA has filed several diplomatic protests against Chinese incursions in the West Philippine Sea. The Philippines is country coordinator for negotiations between China and 10-member regional bloc ASEAN for a Code of Conduct that will dictate the only allowable actions parties can take in the contested waters.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 2)  Senator Richard Gordon wants policemen convicted of heinous crimes to be put in a special penitentiary, as the Philippine National Police grapples to cleanse and professionalize its ranks.

Speaking to CNN Philippines' The Source on Wednesday, Gordon shared his thoughts on the recent killing of 52-year-old Lilibeth Valdez by Police Master Sergeant Hensie Zinampan, and the incident involving Senior Master Sergeant Jonel Nuezca, who fatally shot his neighbors Sonya and Frank Gregorio last year. Both incidents were caught on video and sparked massive backlash against the police.

"I have a bill that would put these people into heinous crimes in penitentiary separate from the population of jailed prisoners. This has been approved in the Senate and I'm just waiting for approval in the lower house," Gordon said.

Gordon was referring to Senate Bill 1055, or the Separate Facility for Heinous Crimes Inmates Act, which seeks to isolate heinous crime convicts from the general prison population. The bill was already approved on third and final reading in 2019 but its counterpart measure is still pending at the House justice committee.

Gordon also urged PNP Chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, the Department of Justice and the entire government to act on such "dastardic cases" by ensuring that erring policemen can be convicted in less than two or three months.

"The macho gaze of Duterte has gotten in the minds of our police forces and thats why I think they can have the law in their own hands," he added.

Gordon also stressed that there is no need to impose the death penalty on those who have committed heinous crimes. Instead, he said government should get rid of the "kabaro system" and ensure a speedy justice system that will apply to everyone, including erring policemen who are supposed to protect and serve the public.

On Tuesday, Eleazar ordered the filing of administrative and criminal charges against Zinampan who shot Valdez on the back of her head, leading to her instantaneous death.

Zinampan, who is assigned to the PNP-Police Security and Protection Group, was reportedly drunk when he shot the elderly woman in Barangay Greater Fairview, according to a police report.

Nuezca, the Paranaque police officer who shot point blank his two unarmed neighbors in December 2020, has been dismissed from service. He has entered a "not guilty" plea before the Paniqui Regiontal Trial Court in Tarlac where he is charged with double murder.
Press Release

June 2, 2021 De Lima deplores brutal killing of 52-year-old by a cop Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has condemned the brutal killing of a 52-year-old woman by a "drunk" policeman in a store in Quezon City last May 31. De Lima, a staunch human rights defender, said the gruesome death of 52-year-old Lilybeth Valdez under the hands of Police Master Sergeant Hensie Zinampan should remind Mr. Duterte that his blatant encouragement of killings, especially by authorities, put the Filipino people's lives in great danger. "This is murder in one of its worst forms, done by no less than someone who is expected to enforce the law and protect the Filipinos. Ang lakas pa ng loob na i-deny ng pulis na ito ang pagpatay sa isang inang walang kalaban-laban, eh kitang-kita sa nakuhang video ang karumal-dumal at kalunos-lunos na krimeng ginawa niya. Appalling and unacceptable!" she said. "Ilang inosenteng buhay pa ba ang patuloy na masasayang bago itigil ni Duterte ang pag-udyok at pagkunsinte sa mga karahasan at pagpatay, na nagpapalakas ng loob sa mga mamamatay-tao at mapang-abusong pulis na lalong umabuso at pumatay nang walang pakundangan?" she added. According to the family, Zinampan, who appeared to be drunk, pulled Lilybeth Valdez's hair and shot her in the neck, killing her instantly. The now viral video of the said killing, captured by the victim's grandson, confirms the family's account of the incident. Zinampan denied the shooting. The incident reportedly comes a month after Valdez's son figured in a fistfight with the cop last May 1. Since then, Zinampan purportedly started to threaten their family. Zinampan was arrested and turned over to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit of the Quezon City Police District last June 1 as PNP Chief Police General Guillermo Eleazar ordered the filing of a murder complaint and an administrative case against him. Aside from expressing their outrage over the recent killings in the country, De Lima stressed that the public should never tire in demanding accountability for all the injustices and abuses happening in the country. "As we deplore the killing of Lilybeth and all the other victims of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) under this murderous Duterte regime, we must stand up and protect human rights and dignity in our nation, now more than ever," she added. On June 1, the hashtag #PulisAngTerorista topped Philippine Twitter trends, with netizens blasting the police for sowing "terror" in communities.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 2)  President Rodrigo Duterte's political party and allies have been pushing him to run for vice president in the 2022 polls  another opportunity to stay in power even after stepping down from the highest government post next year.

But for Senator Richard Gordon, this would be in violation of the Constitution.

"Its very clear that the President shall not be eligible, and this is an operative word, ANY re-election," Gordon told CNN Philippines' The Source on Wednesday.

Gordon was referring to Article 7, Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution, which reads: "The President shall not be eligible for any re-election. No person who has succeeded as President and has served as such for more than four years shall be qualified for election to the same office at any time."

"So the intent of the Constitution, once youre President, thats it, thats the ultimate role you can play. Otherwise, people will be flouting the Constitution," the senator said.

According to Gordon, the people must also take the challenge of debunking "myths," like the inability to change the system where only the ones in power can maintain the status quo. People should also continuously educate themselves instead of being "bamboozled" by opinion polls on top presidential choices.

On Monday, ruling party PDP-Laban adopted a resolution urging Duterte to run for vice president in 2022 and to choose his running mate for president. Duterte serves as the current chairman of the party.

READ: PDP-Laban adopts resolution urging President Duterte to run for VP in 2022

PDP-Laban Vice President for External Affairs Raul Lambino previously told The Source that even local government units, different sectors and other non-party members have expressed their support for the continuity of the Duterte administration. This can also be seen in the President's "high approval ratings," he said.

In a separate interview, Lambino said he would support a possible pairing between Duterte and his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.

Duterte-Carpio topped the April Pulse Asia survey on preferred presidential bets for next year. The President had previously warned his daughter that being a president was not a woman's job.

Malacanang previously said Duterte was leaving his VP bid "to God," a statement similar to the one he made in an interview in 2015 before announcing his bid for the presidency.

Meanwhile, Vice President Leni Robredo topped the list of people being eyed by the new opposition coalition 1Sambayan as a presidential candidate in the upcoming polls, but Robredo has yet to decide on the matter.
Its one of those moments that pop back up on your personal timeline that seem a lifetime ago. I absolutely cant believe it, but only two years ago I had just returned from a gathering in Washington D.C. hosted by the Aspen Institutes Weave project.

Weaves founders intended the project to battle the social division apparent in our nations political and social scene at the time. Well, to say that mission has been challenged since then is truly a massive understatement. Nobody at that time couldve imagined the tears in our social fabric caused by a truly tumultuous 24 months.

The Nebraska contingent was invited to the Weave event after New York Times columnist David Brooks visited Nebraska to examine how the Nebraska Community Foundation network was weaving people together throughout the state. He was impressed enough by his visit to include us in the content for the D.C. event.
For the first time in three years, Frankfort Square in downtown Columbus filled with American flags and community members paying their respects to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

On Monday morning, local veteran organizations held a Memorial Day service at the park. The 2019 ceremony was rained out and subsequently held in the Hartman Post 84 American Legion building. Last year's services were canceled altogether due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jim Costello, a past commander of the American Legion Department of Nebraska, shared the stories of veterans who were prisoners of war, some of whom didn't survive. One story included the story of one man named Wendy who grew up in Seward, Nebraska, and served in the Vietnam War.

He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and later received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, Costello said. On Sept. 10, 1965, while flying an A-4E Skyhawk, the Attack Squadron 155 off of the USS 4OC witnessed his plane exploding over Vietnam. When ejected safely, those captured remained prisoners of war until he was released on Feb. 12, 1973.

Wendy spent seven-and-a-half years in unimaginable conditions, Costello noted. Wendy died on March 9, 2009, and was buried in Seward. He received the Silver Star for his service.
Source: iStock/freedarst

Crypto miners fleeing Chinas latest mining-focused crypto crackdown may turn to a nearby nation in a bid to continue doing business  with Kazakhstan increasingly looking set to provide a new home for those looking to set up shop outside Mainland China.

Per Kaktus Media, the number of mining operations in the country is increasing, while mining entrepreneurs are getting richer  with the state happy to take a share of the profits.

Last year, Kazakhstans Economy Ministry announced that the nation would begin taxing miners at a rate of 15% in a bid to help it mitigate the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And the media outlet noted that according to Ministry of Digital Development figures, the crypto mining industry in Kazakhstan is now worth some USD 216m - USD 300m per year  although this only takes into account the revenues of large-scale industrial miners. With smaller-scale setups becoming more widespread, the real number could be higher  particularly if reports of Chinese mining operations relocation to the country are true.

Quoting token data and rating agency TokenInsight data, the media outlet reported that Kazakhstan is one of the worlds top five mining countries, with only China, the USA, and Russia boasting more mining revenue.

The nations government has fostered the mining sector and until 2019 was still talking about allowing miners to operate on a tax-free basis, spending some USD 200m on mining and crypto infrastructure-elated projects that have thus far seen 17 mega crypto farms become operational in Kazakhstan.

Also, last week, Cryptonews.com reported that the Chinese mining firm BIT Mining has formed a partnership with an unnamed Kazakhstan-based company. The duo will jointly invest in a crypto mining center to be built on Kazakh territory, with BIT Mining footing 80% of the expenses.

Meanwhile, the South China Morning Post reported that large Chinese Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies are looking at moving to North America and Central Asia as the Mainland crackdown intensifies.

The media outlet quoted major crypto exchange Huobi as stating that its mining operations would now focus on the expansion of its overseas presence rather than the Mainland, while it also quoted Jiang Zhuoer, the founder of the BTC.TOP mining pool, as stating that he was thinking of moving his pools machines to North America and Central Asia. The BTC.TOP chief added:

North America has the best security and political environment for mining, but the cost is high. Central Asia is close to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Xinjiang shares a large land border with Kazakhstan to the north and Kyrgyzstan to the northwest.

However, Kaktus Media reported that in Kyrgyzstan, a temporary block has been placed on mining after electricity shortages. Regardless, illegal mining ventures appear to be flourishing. The Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security has shuttered six large illegal mines operating in industrial facilities and has seized more than 2,000 pieces of mining equipment in recent months.

____

Learn more:

- Chinas Mining Crackdown Continues  But Some Sense Hope

- No, China Didnt Just Ban Crypto (Again): Heres What Really Happened

- Chinese Miners Block Mainland IP Access as Beijings Purge Intensifies

- 'Next Great Miner Migration Will be Away from China' - Poolin Exec

- Key Clues Emerge as to What Beijing Really Thinks About Bitcoin & Mining

- Analysts See 'Seismic shift' In Bitcoin Mining Amid Chinese 'Crackdown'
Cumberland County Judge Thomas Placey is off the bench as of Tuesday as part of the ongoing disciplinary case against him for alleged erratic and aggressive behavior.

A motion made Friday by the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board dropped some of the counts of the complaint against Placey, citing the fact that he would be retiring from his position on the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas effective June 1.

The motion to withdraw portions of the complaint was part of an agreement in which Placey offered to step down early, according to Richard Long, chief counsel for the conduct board.

The board considered that request and deemed it to be an acceptable arrangement, Long said.

Placey did not seek retention on the 2021 ballot, and would thus have been off the bench next year regardless.

The counts of the complaint that were withdrawn Friday were those that charged that Placeys behavior had brought the judicial office into disrepute in violation of the Pennsylvania Constitution. The remainder of the counts against Placey, which do not invoke the disrepute clause of the state constitution, will continue to proceed through the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline.
WASHINGTON (AP)  For nearly an hour, President Joe Biden and the top Senate Republican negotiating infrastructure met Wednesday behind closed doors  two seasoned legislators engaged in another round of conversations, but emerging with few outward signs of tangible progress ahead of a deadline next week.

The White House billed the private meeting as more of a conversation with West Virginia GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, rather than a formal negotiation. No new offers were expected to be presented. More than anything, the session in the Oval Office was seen through the political lens of the president and Republicans trying to show the public what Americans say they want  a willingness to work together, even if no deal is within reach.

Biden and Capito had a constructive and frank conversation," according to a White House official granted anonymity to discuss the private talks. The senator's office said she is encouraged by the ongoing conversations. The two agreed to reconnect Friday.

Still, talks over Bidens top legislative priority have been moving slowly, a daunting undertaking given the massive infrastructure investment, and time for a deal is running out. The administration has set a June 7 deadline to see clear direction and signs of progress.
Vanuatu turns the Corner LETS USE THIS AS A SPRINGBOARD FOR THE FUTURE
Speaker of Parliament, Gracia Shadrack, ruled in Parliament chamber that the motion deposited by the Government side to oust him as Speaker has not yet matured for debate.

Photo: Hilaire Bule
The vaccine is safe and effective and could save your life, says the Health Minister
Press Release

June 2, 2021 Drilon: Supreme Court has ruled that drug war records do not have national security implications Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon said that the records of the bloody anti-drug war campaign do not have national security implications and that the Philippine National Police must follow the Supreme Court ruling in Almora et al. and Dano et al. v. the PNP in 2018. "In the words of the Supreme Court, drug war records 'do not obviously involve state secrets affecting national security' for the information and documents relate to routine police operations involving violations of laws against the sale or use of illegal drugs," Drilon said in a statement on Wednesday. "That is, plain and simple, a police blotter. Ito po ay public record at may karapatan ang taumbayan na malaman ang katotohanan," he added. "I do not think that by any stretch of imagination police records would involve national security," he stressed. Drilon said the PNP must follow the rule of law. "Th PNP is walking on a thin line between following the high court's order or keeping the records under wraps. But they must abide by the court ruling," Drilon said. "Wala naman po tayong tinatago, hindi po ba?" he asked. In 2018, the Supreme Court, in two cases against the Philippine National Police represented by then former PNP Director General and now Senator Ronald Dela Rosa (G.R. No. 234359 and G.R. No. 234484), denied the Office of Solicitor General's defense that drug war records could implicate national security in a bid to stop the sharing of the police records. The former justice secretary said that in accordance with the Supreme Court decision, drug war records "do not involve rebellion, invasion, terrorism, espionage, infringement of our sovereignty or sovereign rights by foreign powers, or any military, diplomatic or state secret involving national security." "To claim that it involves national security is unfounded. By any stretch of imagination, I could not think how would a single poorest of the poor Filipino, who was killed in an anti-narcotic operation, have planned to overthrow the government?" Drilon said. The government's anti-drug war campaign has left thousands of alleged drug users dead during police operations, children orphaned and wives widowed in the past five years, he noted. "How the likes of Kian delos Santos and many young victims of the anti-drug campaign could have threatened our national security?" he added. Drilon said that during his stint at the justice department, he had never seen police records that have national security implications. "What we want to find out is what, where, when, and under what circumstances these thousands of people were killed. The police records will reveal only that information," he added.
Mr Mosese Vereti (far right) and Mr Bruce Thomas (far left), the Chairman and Vice Chair of the Fiji Community committee with team Nabanga from left Tony Atnelo, Paul Stephen Zebedee, and Jean Pierre Sam.
RICHMOND  Offshore wind energy is headed to the East Coast on the back of a monster famed for creating giant whirlpools to overturn ships.

Charybdis will be the name given to the offshore wind installation vessel Dominion Energy is building in Texas, which will be used to construct not only Virginias proposed 2.6-gigawatt wind farm off the coast of Virginia Beach but also the Revolution and Sunrise Wind projects off the coasts of New England and New York. The latter two projects are being developed by offshore wind companies rsted and Eversource.

Most known for the havoc she wreaked on Odysseuss fleet in Homers Odyssey, Charybdis was originally a nymph who was transformed into a monster either for flooding too much land or stealing sheep. Another monster, Scylla, also attacked ships across the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Calabria on the Italian mainland.

Dominion spokesperson Rayhan Daudani said the name for the companys new vessel was chosen by ship designer Seajacks.
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashleys Sack, a Black Family Keepsake By Tiya Miles, Random House





NONFICTION  Knowing her daughter was about to be sold, Rose, enslaved in 1850s South Carolina, handed her 9-year-old a cotton bag of keepsakes. That heirloom, passed from one generation to the next, led Miles, a MacArthur fellow and historian, to re-create the trajectory of Roses descendants. Faced with inadequate records, the author uses the bags contents to conjure a mosaic of Black womens lives during and after slavery. (Available Tuesday)

Black BuckBy Mateo Askaripour, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

FICTION  Askaripours irresistible novel concerns Darren, a young Black man who trades a job at Starbucks for staggering success at an absurd tech start-up. This razor-sharp corporate satire also delves into the thorny issue of race in the modern workplace. As the only Black man in the office, Darren finds himself among colleagues determined to prove how post-racial they are. You can imagine how well that goes.

Broken (in the Best Possible Way)By Jenny Lawson, Henry Holt and Co.
And while each note had a nearly medicinal effect, each was also a reminder of the acoustic value of human bodies  preferably a couple thousand of them  absorbing the force and grace of the orchestras excitement. As close as we all finally were to the musicians, it was an effort throughout to bridge that faraway feeling, as the concentrated force of the NSO under Noseda diffused slightly as it searched the space for listeners.

Of course, thats a problem that patience alone can fix. Whatever acoustic obstacles the room presented, Noseda and Co. surmounted with bright, muscular sound that as deftly retained Coleridge-Taylors elegant delicacy as it released Haydns explosive tensions.

Coleridge-Taylor was born in London in 1875, the son of an English mother and a physician from Sierra Leone. After showing early promise singing in church choirs, he would go on to be one of the first Black students at the Royal College of Music.

His breakthrough came at 23 with his setting of Longfellows popular The Song of Hiawatha  with the 1898 premiere later described by Sir Hubert Parry as one of the most remarkable events in modern English musical history.

Post-Hiawatha, and before his death at 37 in 1912, his music started to incorporate a wider sweep of vernaculars.
The margins are now razor thin because of the PBMs, Seymour said. When I got out of pharmacy school in 1983, all of our business was basically cash. Now, 95% is insurance.

The power of the PBMs, of which only three take up 80% of the market, and the other parts of health care conglomerates leave pharmacists little room to negotiate better deals for themselves in what is a take it or leave it contract, according to Seymour.

Other businesses can adapt to these price fluctuations, but pharmacies cannot because they lack control over their own prices, according to Seymour.

Say my landlord raises my rent. If Im a pizza parlor, I start charging more for large pepperoni pizzas to cover my rent, passing [the cost] on, Seymour said. Theres no way we can pass it on because of the fixed contracts.

The pharmacists said that if they turn down a bad deal, it will only make things worse. Once out of coverage for customers, the pharmacy loses a sizable chunk of its customers who will likely no longer be able to afford medication from the independent pharmacy due to the increased price of buying out of pocket.
The Israeli military did not respond when asked what bombs were used in the al-Wahda Street strikes.



Earlier this year, the International Criminal Court began investigating Israel and Hamas for possible war crimes going back to the previous 2014 war. This includes random Hamas rocket fire toward Israeli communities  widely seen as a violation of the rules of war  and some of Israels deadliest practices, such as the toppling of high-rises that killed entire families in pursuit of militants.

Two Gaza rights groups  al-Mezan and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights  have been documenting Israels strikes and incursions for years. This time, they again interviewed survivors, including the al-Kawlaks, visited hospitals, took photos and collected death certificates, in preparation for possible new submissions to the ICC.

Samir Zakout of al-Mezan and Mohammed al-Alami of PCHR said they believe the al-Wahda Street bombings  along with other deadly airstrikes  violated the laws of war, arguing the value of any possible military target was dwarfed by significant harm to civilians.

Zakout accused Israel of intentionally using excessive firepower to sow fear, saying it was one of the direct goals of the war.
At a previous meeting, Mark Wengierski, Scout Clean Energy director of development, explained that the distance between towers is set to reduce turbulence that affects the turbines.

Supervisor Eric Skoog asked where the power will be sold after it is generated.

Rocca said the local utilities buy the energy and the credit for the energy can be purchased elsewhere.

Its like putting money in the bank, he said. You end up in Hawaii and you pull money out there  its not the same dollars.

Supervisor Kyle Schultz said that when he was a secondary roads employee he had good experiences with wind power companies - and County Engineer Paul Assman would hold their feet to the fire.

He said the board wants to establish rules that will be good in 10 years  and asked how much the height of wind towers has increased over time.

Rocca said machines with double the output are only about 4% bigger than older machines, and the turbine blades have not increased in size that much.

The Bulletin and Review asked the supervisors how many people had made complaints about wind towers.
Bangladesh: Cyclone Yaas: Fish farmers in Patuakhali looking at Tk 55cr loss

June 02,2021 | Source: The Daily Star

Patuakhali District Fisheries Department has informed the higher authorities to rehabilitate the affected farmers. According to the Water Development Board, a large area of ??Patuakhali has been inundated due to the impact of Cyclone Yaas. The currents of the main rivers have flowed above the danger level of 74 cm, which is more compared to last year's Cyclone Amphan  resulting in flooding of several fish farms in Kalapara, Rangabali and Galachipa upazilas. According to the District Fisheries Office, 1,742 ponds and 605 ghers in Kalapara Upazila, 1,167 ponds and 63 ghers in Dashmina, 1,142 ponds and 123 ghers in Baufal, 755 ponds in Sadar, 308 ponds and 850 ghers in Rangabali, 185 ponds and 40 ghers in Mirzaganj, 105 ponds in Galachipa and 500 ponds in Dumki have been flooded. Chalitabunia UP Chairman Zahidur Rahman said, the area is vulnerable and unprotected as the embankment was destroyed a long time ago.



The entire union has been inundated with tidal water as the embankment has not been repaired. Fish in ponds and ghers have been washed away. Fish farmers need financial support, he said. Rangabali Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Mashfaqur Rahman said that water has entered the locality through embankment due to excessive tidal pressure. As a result, many ponds and ghers in the area have been submerged and the fish have been washed away. Patuakhali District Fisheries Officer Mollah Emdadullah said at least 7585 ponds and ghers' fish worth Tk 55.44 crore have been washed away in Patuakhali. The list of affected fish farmers has been sent to the higher authorities. Once allocated, it will be distributed among the farmers, he said.

 2021 / thedailystar.net
Press Release

June 2, 2021 MAY BLACKOUTS NA, MAY BAGYO PA:

Hontiveros wants probe on rotational blackouts amid logistical challenge with unadministered vaccines Senator Risa Hontiveros is calling for an investigation into the rotational blackouts experienced by some areas in Luzon after its grid was placed under red alert status, forcing distribution utilities to implement load shedding. Hontiveros, who is also a member of the Senate's Committee on Energy, says impending brownouts and the onslaught of Tropical Storm Dante present an extra logistical challenge for unadministered vaccines sitting in freezers. "Hindi lamang ito tungkol sa appliances sa ating mga bahay. Napakarami pang mga bakuna sa freezer at may bagyo pang dumating. Mahalagang malaman ng publiko ang paliwanag dahil kailangang-kailangan ng bansa ng kuryente ngayon," Hontiveros stated. "Noong nakaraang linggo, sinigurado ni Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi na walang magiging problema sa suplay ng kuryente ngayong summer. Bakit biglang nagkaganito? Kung kailan pa may COVID-19 at may bagyo, saka niya tayo binigo," she said. The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) on June 1 has placed the Luzon grid on yellow to red alert status when demand peaked at to 11,593MW vis-a-vis available supply of only 11,408MW only, leaving the system with a very thin reserve. Reports from the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said this was mainly due to a spike in demand owing to higher use of cooling appliances to counter the summer heat. Hontiveros said that the increased demand for power due to the summer heat is the "weakest explanation" to offer as the country regularly confronts this challenge every year. She added that this should have been anticipated and a reliable replacement power should have been installed already. "Kung ang mga langgam ay regular na pinaghahandaan ang tag-ulan, dapat ganoon din ang paghahanda ng DOE at NGCP sa tag-init. Pero nakakadismaya na instead of addressing this problem head on, the DOE Secretary is seen presiding over a political party meeting, the agenda of which is to convince the President to run as Vice President. Problema nga ito kung ibang continuity of power ang inaasikaso ng energy chief," Hontiveros stated. The senator wants to seek clarification on why, despite a robust energy supply outlook under the DOE's Philippine Energy Plan 2018-2040, the country is still saddled with diminishing supply in a specific period of the year. Under the said plan, the DOE has already projected the peak demand for Luzon to be reached 12,916 MW for 2021; 2,568 MW for the Visayas; 2,442 MW for Mindanao, or a total of 17,927 MW for the entire national grid. On the supply side, installed capacity has already reached 23,815 MW since 2018 with more additional capacities committed in the pipeline. "So, if we look at the numbers, rotational blackouts are least of the scenarios. Unless someone is withholding supply during critical moments, or there is a failure in securing the needed reserve which is the duty of the grid operator, the NGCP. Ito ang mga kailangan nating malaman. Alam naman nilang nasa ilalim tayo ng pandemya. Dapat napaghandaan ito," Hontiveros said. Aside from this investigation, Hontiveros is set to file a resolution seeking to reduce the price of electricity which is one of the primary objectives of the 20-year old EPIRA or the Electric Power Reform Act of 2001.
Sri Lanka: Facing Worst marine disaster, investigates cargo ship fire

June 02,2021 | Source: The New York Times

The authorities in Sri Lanka have opened a criminal investigation into the crew of a cargo ship laden with toxic chemicals that has been burning off the island nations coast for 12 days, spilling debris into the ocean and polluting the countrys beaches. Several tons of plastic pellets that were being transported on the ship have washed ashore, and Sri Lankas Marine Protection Authority described the spill as probably the worst beach pollution in our history. Security personnel have been employed to scour the countrys beaches for the pellets used in the production of plastic bags and fishing has been discouraged for miles along the coast. A spokesman for Sri Lankas Navy said the fire, which broke out aboard the ship, MV X-Press Pearl, on May 20, had been contained, but on Tuesday thick, black smoke was still seen rising from the burned containers on the ships deck. The spokesman, Captain Indika de Silva, said the ship was carrying 1,486 containers, many of which contained so-called dangerous goods, including nitric acid, caustic soda, sodium methoxide and methane. The ship was loaded with 350 tons of oil, and a combination of heavy fuel and marine fuel. Captain de Silva said it was too early to say about an oil spill, but warned that there was still a possibility. This is one of the worst marine disasters that has happened in Sri Lanka, said Dr. Asha de Vos, a marine biologist. Our only saving grace is that there was no oil spill. If that happens, that will be incredibly tragic. X-Press Feeders, the company that operated the vessel, said that a container onboard had been leaking nitric acid well before the ship entered the waters off Sri Lanka, a teardrop-shaped island near India. The ships crew requested it be permitted to offload the leaking container at two previous stops, in India and Qatar, but were denied because the ports lacked the specialist facilities or expertise needed to deal with the leaking acid, according to X-Press Feeders.



The police have questioned the ships crew and sent contaminated water samples to labs for testing. Of the 25 crew members who were rescued and taken to quarantine facilities, two required treatment for injuries sustained during the evacuation and one tested positive for Covid-19, the ships operator said. As the authorities seek to determine the cause of the fire, locals living along the coast near Colombo, the capital, have begun a major cleanup. I have never seen anything like this before, said Dinesh Wijayasinghe, 47, an employee at a hotel in the coastal town of Negombo. When I first saw this, about three to four days ago, the beach was covered with these pellets. They looked like fish eyes. Mr. Wijayasinghe said Sri Lankan security personnel have collected as many as 200 bags worth of plastic pellets every day since the fire began. Still, more keeps washing ashore, he said. We are told not to go to this area. So we are keeping away. Dr. De Vos, the marine biologist, said the amount of plastic found on the islands western and southern coasts was troubling. Plastic pollution, she said, can be a danger to humans and animals, including endangered species like turtles, which hatch their eggs on the beach. The pellets can soak and absorb the chemicals from the environment, she said. This is an issue because when we eat whole fish, we will also be eating these chemicals.

 2021 The New York Times Company
Andhra Pradesh: Krishna tops in marine exports

June 02,2021 | Source: The Hans India

Krishna district ranks first in marine products exports in the State. The district exported 13,83,110 tonnes of marine products to other States and countries in 2020-21. The district has coastline of 111 km and fish is cultivated in 49,000 hectares and prawn cultivated in over 19,000 hectares in the district. Besides, fishing in the sea is providing livelihood to a large number of families in the coastal villages. The fish and prawn grown in the district are exported to north eastern States, Odisha and West Bengal. Tiger prawn is exported to other countries.



In order to give further boost to the marine production, the state government is setting up fishing harbour in Machilipatnam at a cost of Rs 348 crore in association with the Central government. The State government will spend about Rs 8000 crore for construction of fishing harbours in the State in association with the Central government. Under the Matsyakara Bharosa scheme, the State government is sanctioning Rs10,000 financial assistance to the fishermen during the fishing ban period. A total of Rs119.87 crore was distributed to 1,19,875 fishermen families for the year 2021-22 and Rs109.23 crore distributed to 10,9237 families in the financial year 2020-21.



The State government had allocated Rs50.30 crore for setting up of 35 aqua labs in nine coastal districts. In Krishna district, aqua labs will be set up in Kaikaluru, Gudivada, Avanigadda, Machilipatnam and Kankipadu areas. These labs will be useful to test the quality fish seed and prawn seed and feed. Krishna district Collector Md Imtiaz in a press release said the State government is giving subsidy on the purchase of diesel to the fishermen. The subsidy price increased from Rs6.03 per litre to Rs9 after the YSRCP government came to power. Subsidy is being given to a total of 2231 registered mechanised boats, he added. Similarly, the ex-gratia to the fishermen families increased from Rs5 lakh to Rs10 lakh in case of death of fisherman in the sea while fishing. The scheme is applicable to 1,12,977 families in the district.

 2021 Hyderabad Media House Limited/The Hans India.
Maharashtra: Ban imposed from June 1 to July 31 on fishing activities using mechanical boats

June 02,2021 | Source: Mumbai Live

Maharashtra State Fisheries Minister, Aslam Sheikh, on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, said that the use of mechanical fishing boats will be banned in the state from June 1 to July 31, 2021. The decision was taken to protect fish stocks and the fishermen during monsoons. As per reports, the months of June and July provide a fertile environment for fish to breed and keeping this in mind, the ban has been implemented on fishing during this period to protect the the fish seed production and save the fish stock. On the other hand, coastal areas in Maharashtra, every year, face torrential rainfall and many fishermen lose their lives and finances due to stormy weather. Considering these factors, an order was issued by the Fisheries Department which clarified that starting June 1 to July 31, 2021, bans have been imposed on mechanical fishing boats up to 12 nautical miles from the coast of the state. However, the fishing ban will not apply to non-mechanical boats and if the same is being done in the traditional manner. Meanwhile, if any mechanical fishing boat is found fishing in the waters, during the monsoon fishing ban period, the same will be confiscated under section 14 of the Maharashtra Maritime Fisheries Regulation Act, 1981 and the provisions of section 17. Moreover, maximum punishment will be imposed as well. A few weeks later, the fishermen from some coastal regions in Maharashtra requested the state to postpone the ban from June 15, 2021, as they were not able to earn money or run business during the recent cyclone. Furthermore, the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has also affected the business in a harsh manner.
Once in awhile you meet someone who was absolutely born to do what theyre doing.

Linda Van Powell of Corvallis is such a person. Powell owns Civic Outreach, and as such is one of the first faces many new professionals see when they move to the area.

Im the connector of Corvallis, Powell said. She describes her work as meeting business leaders and their families who are new to the community, providing them with the information they need, and introducing them to local businesses and professionals, as well as to Oregon.

Long-established area businesses pay a monthly sponsorship fee for Powell's services. She works with local employers to learn of professional people moving to the area, and otherwise keeps her ear to the ground for this information.

She contacts the new professional and they meet at the person's office or get together for coffee. Each new contact is given a directory of long-term local businesses. The linen pages tell the stories of these businesses. Powell's welcome package also includes a map of Corvallis and a selection of restaurant menus, which she said are very popular with those new to town.

I have a huge desire to connect people with what theyre needing, she said. I really do love connecting people.
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
Entertainment

Vandal defaced new mural

Sometime over the weekend, a vandal defaced the newly painted mural Foundation of Our History at Robertson Street and Bell Avenue.

Courtesy photo A vandal painted over the portrait of influential Black Denton resident Alice Alexander sometime over the weekend.

The mural honors Dentons influential Black women leaders and lifelong residents: Betty Kimble, Ruby Cole, Alice Alexander, Alma Clark and Dorothy Minter. Minter worked as a special education administrator for the Denton school district, and Alexander was among the teachers who made the transition from segregated to desegregated schools in Denton. Cole retired as a successful businesswoman. Clark and Kimble were both community activists who ushered real change over the decades.

An earlier iteration of the mural was first painted on the side of a consignment store run by Willie Hudspeth, a local activist who has promoted Black history and anti-racism in Denton for decades. When the owner of the building sold it, Dentons public art committee worked to paint a new version of the mural.

The vandal targeted Alexanders portrait with dark spray paint.

I was just out there with the city earlier today while they were pressure-washing it off, said Dan Black, the muralist who recently completed the piece at Robertson Street and Bell Avenue, which is considered a gateway to Southeast Denton. Thats the region many of Dentons Black residents settled after city and Texas Womans University leaders forced them to relocate from Quakertown between 1920 and 1923.

The graffiti coating they used did great. I got some supplies to touch it up. , Black said, adding that he planned to work on the mural Tuesday night.

Denton Police Department spokeswoman Amy Cunningham said police are investigating the incident but wont know the severity of the crime until the damage is assessed.

Any charges would depend on the amount of pecuniary loss caused by the offense, Cunningham said. It is a Class C misdemeanor if the amount is less than $100, a Class B misdemeanor if the amount is $100 or more but less than $750, a Class A misdemeanor if the amount is $750 or more but less than $2,500.

Vandal appears to target portrait of influential resident

Police will search for and review any surveillance footage captured from nearby cameras in their investigation.

Black said the vandal or vandals used a rattle can to apply the paint, but they also threw eggs at the portrait.

The vandalism appears to be the second piece of public art depicting a Black Denton resident targeted by vandals. In 2017, a vandal bashed a stained glass sculpture of beloved local blues musician, Pops Carter. The damaged sculpture was moved from Quakertown Park to the Patterson-Appleton Arts Center, with the damage preserved as a way to provoke thought and conversation about racism.

I dont even want to speculate about why someone would do it, Black said. Theres no way to know why someone would do it.

Black said he developed artistically in graffiti art spaces, which conditioned him to get accustomed to having his work tagged, or painted over by another artist. Black said hes had other murals tagged, but mostly, people confine their interactions to taking photos of his work.

Its pretty unique [to have vandalism] for a project of this size, he said. Ive definitely had my murals defaced before, but its been in a location where there is more of a graffiti culture. I dont know many graffiti artists who walk around with eggs in their pocket.

Black said it was curious to see the paint on Alexanders portrait.

I can tell you that people would see me painting, people from the neighborhood, and theyd stop  like theyd block traffic to tell me that these women taught them or how they had been in their lives. By far, it was Mrs. Alexander that people talked about the most. She was the one of the group that people mentioned the most. I dont know if there was some kind of vendetta, but like I said, I dont even want to speculate.

Drew Huffman, the assistant director of Denton Parks and Recreation, said the citys public art is routinely defaced. The parks maintenance program regularly checks public artwork and also gets alerts about vandalism through the Engage Denton app.

They get cleaned yearly, or as needed, Huffman said. Some probably need it once a year. Different groups in our crew have routes so that we are able to check on all the routes. Murals are watched, and they are either cleaned yearly, or if they need any touch up work, thats usually on a five-year plan.

Newer murals are treated with a powder coating that protects them enough that they need touch-ups every 10 to 20 years.

Most of the work we do maintaining the public art in the city has to do with them being outside in Texas. It can get really cold sometimes, and then it gets really hot a lot, and we all know about the hail here in Texas. Most of the maintenance is for that.

Black said the city plans to officially present the mural on June 17.
Press Release

June 2, 2021 Sponsorship Speech at the Commission on Appointments

by Senator Panfilo M. Lacson

More at: https://pinglacson.net/2021/06/02/sponsorship-speech-for-16-dfa-officials-at-the-commission-on-appointments/ Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the Commission on Appointments, this Representation as the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs presided over a public hearing this morning to deliberate on the nominations of two (2) Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. The Committee likewise deliberated on the ad interim appointments of 14 Senior Officers of the Department of Foreign Affairs consisting of one (1) Senior Official who is promoted to the rank of Chief of Mission, Class I; five (5) Senior Officials promoted to the rank of Chief of Mission, Class II; four (4) Senior Officials promoted to the rank of Career Minister; and, four (4) Senior Officials promoted to the rank of Foreign Service Officer, Class I. Your Committee, after deliberating on their qualifications and fitness during the public hearing, determined that they are fit and qualified to be in the posts where they are nominated and appointed, and therefore ruled to recommend to the plenary their appointments for the consent and approval of this body. Mr. Chairman, it is my privilege and honor to recommend that this body give its consent to the nomination of AMBASSADOR MYLA GRACE RAGENIA CATALBAS MACAHILIG as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Holy See with concurrent jurisdiction over the Sovereign Order of Malta with the rank and emoluments of a Chief of Mission, Class II. As the current Assistant Secretary of the Office of Financial Management Services of the DFA, our nominee has a sterling reputation for introducing financial management reforms in the Department. Under her leadership, the Office of Financial Management earned the Global Implementer Award for executing and utilizing electronic budgeting systems - the first time DFA has been recognized for a national award since the systems were introduced and adopted for its global and local operations. In her 22 years of service, she has also capably served in various foreign postings, particularly at the Embassies in Wellington, New Zealand from 2002 to 2009; and London, United Kingdom from 2012 to 2014. Mr. Chairman and distinguished colleagues, it is my privilege and honor to recommend that this body give its consent to the nomination of AMBASSADOR MYLA GRACE RAGENIA CATALBAS MACAHILIG as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Holy See, with concurrent jurisdiction over the Sovereign Order of Malta with the rank and emoluments of a Chief of Mission, Class II. I so move, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, it is my honor and privilege to recommend that the Commission give its consent to the nomination of AMBASSADOR EZZEDIN HAMDI TAGO as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Arab Republic of Egypt, with concurrent jurisdiction over the Republic of Djibouti, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the State of Eritrea, and the Republic of the Sudan with the rank and emoluments of a Chief of Mission, Class II. Our nominee started his career in the DFA as a casual employee and moved his way up to the ladder in his 26 years of Foreign Service. He handled sensitive positions at the Home Office and overseas, particularly, at the Philippine consulate in Jeddah; Jakarta, Indonesia; Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; and, Philippine Consulate General in Sydney, Australia, until his subsequent nomination to his proposed post. In 2007, he was conferred with the Order of Lakandula, Rank of Officer, and a Gawad Mabini, Rank of Commander Award for his various diplomatic services. His high-level intelligence and diplomatic skills, particularly his specialization in Arabic, Middle East, and Islamic issues and the peace process in Southern Philippines make him a highly reputable official in the Department. Mr. Chairman and distinguished colleagues, it is my privilege and honor to recommend that this body give its consent to the nomination of AMBASSADOR EZZEDIN HAMDI TAGO as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Arab Republic of Egypt with concurrent jurisdiction over the Republic of Djibouti, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the State of Eritrea, and the Republic of Sudan with the rank and emoluments of a Chief of Mission, Class II. I so move, Mr. Chairman. At this point, Mr. Chairman, I would also like to recommend to the Commission the confirmation of the ad interim appointment of MS. MARIA TERESITA CRUZ DAZA to the rank of Chief of Mission, Class I. I so move, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would also like to recommend to the Commission the confirmation of the ad interim appointments of the following officials to the rank of Chief of Mission, Class II: 1, MS. CHARMAINE ROWENA CAOILE AVIQUIVIL, I so move Mr. Chairman

2. MR. ADRIAN BERNIE CABARDO CANDOLADA, I so move Mr. Chairman

3. MS. LILIBETH VELASCO PONO, I so move Mr. Chairman

4. MS. JOSEPHINE MAGPANTAY REYNANTE, I so move, Mr. Chairman

5. MS. ELIZABETH TAN TE, I so move, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I likewise recommend the confirmation of the ad interim appointment of the following senior officials to the rank of Career Ministers: 1. MR. RODERICO CAPARAS ATIENZA, I so move, Mr. Chairman

2. MS. DONNA CELESTE D. FELICIANO-GATMAYTAN, I so move, Mr. Chairman

3. MR. EMMANUEL DONATO KOCH GUZMAN, I so move, Mr. Chairman

4. GONARANAO BANTUAS MUSOR, I so move, Mr. Chairman Finally, Mr. Chairman, I recommend the confirmation of the ad interim appointments of the following senior officials to the rank of Foreign Service Officers, Class I: 1. MS. ERICKA ANNA TAN ABAD, I so move, Mr. Chairman

2. MS. LILY ANN CHEN CHENG, I so move Mr. Chairman

3. MS. SHIENA R. ESCOTO-TESORERO, I so move, Mr. Chairman; and finally,

4. MS. ANNA MARIE C. SANTOS, I so move, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
There have been media reports that Syrias Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection has approved articles of association for a potential third wireless provider.

A photo circulated on Sunday claiming the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection had approved the operation of a new company, Wafa Telecom.

However, the Syrian Ministry of Communication and Technology (MoCT) denied on Monday granting a license to a third mobile operator in the country.

Director-General of Communications Regulatory Authority for Post and Communications Manhal Gunaidi clarified that announcing the entry of a third operator is made exclusively by the Ministry and Authority.

He pointed out that the ministry will announce this when the final license is granted, adding that one of the conditions for the third operator is that the Syrian Telecom Company is a partner in the operator.

Incidentally, the approval dates back to 2020 and was published in the Gazette but it does not bear the signature or seal of the Ministry.

According to the decision, the new company Wafa Telecom consists of seven firms operating in Syria, and their headquarters are in Damascus, namely: Wafa Telecom, ABC, IBC Advanced, IBC Technology, IBC Telecom, Tele Space, and Tell You.

Following the circulation of the information, however, a spokesperson for MoCT clarified that Wafa Telecom has not been issued the necessary licences by the sector authorities.

Two companies (Syrtel) and (MTN) for cellular communications have been operating in Syria since 2000.
The Delhi High Court has given Twitter three weeks to demonstrate that its operations comply with intermediary guidelines implemented by India on the 25th May.

While Indias government ordered companies to comply with the revised rules immediately, Twitter has requested a three-month grace period. The new regulations stipulate that tech firms must appoint employees resident in India to the roles of Chief Compliance Officer, Nodal Contact Person and Grievance Officer.

Major international groups such as Google and Facebook as well as local platforms like Koo and ShareChat have complied with this directive, but Twitter had listed a lawyer employed by an Indian firm as its Nodal Contact Person and Grievance Officer, and provided no details for the Chief Compliance Officer role.

Indias Economic Times reported that the ruling was made in response to a petition filed on Friday 28th May by Amit Acharya, which stated that Twitter had failed to appoint a Grievance Officer despite being given three months to prepare before the law came into effect. Acharya also sought to register his complaint against some defamatory and untrue tweets but could not find the redressal mechanism on its site.

In a statement, Twitter said that it strives to comply with applicable law in India. We continue to be strictly guided by principles of transparency, a commitment to empowering every voice on the service, and protecting freedom of expression and privacy under the Indian law.

Failing to comply with the revised regulations could result in Twitter losing its intermediary immunity, meaning that in the event that a user committed a crime, the firms executives could be prosecuted as abettors.

Vivek Sood, Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court, told the ET that Twitter must now eithermove to the Supreme Court orcomply with the High Courts order. And, if Twitter decides to leave India, then it would be a big blow to free speech of people who express themselves on this democratic social media platform. The Government must engage with Twitter to address its concerns over the Intermediary Rules.

Twitter is not the only tech firm raising issues with the revised regulations; Google has told the Delhi High Court that Indias new IT rules are not applicable to its search engine after a judge ruled that it must abide by them.

In a statement, Google claimed that the judge had "mischaracterised" Google Search as a 'significant social media intermediary to which the law should apply, and had thereby misinterpreted and misapplied the new rules.
Slovenian fixed and mobile operator T-2 has completed the buyout of regional telco Telesat.

According to a press release from Telesat, on 30 June 2021, all subscribers of Telesat's services will become T-2 subscribers.

Established in 1992, Telesat serves 3,700 customers in the area of Jesenice, offering pay-TV, broadband internet, and fixed telephony services.

The release noted that the existing subscription agreement will remain in force, as T-2, as the universal legal successor, will enter into all legal relations of the acquired company Telesat.

At the same time, Telesat subscribers will continue to use the already ordered services without interruption, as the volume of ordered services and the monthly subscription remain the same.
Tania Bruguera: 'We are engaged in a symbolic/psychological war' in Cuba 'It's a very dangerous time' for the life of Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, the artist states in this interview, in which she talks about INSTAR, her 'artivism,' and her vision of Cuban civil society.

With the Hannah Arendt Institute of Artivism (INSTAR), the Cuban artist Tania Bruguera has taken her artistic practice a step further by endowing other creators and civil society groups with tools, and providing support to alternative projects outside the official circuit in Cuba.

On the occasion of the 6th anniversary of the independent project, I interviewed the INSTAR team in a series of online talks on the institute's Facebook page. In the last one, I spoke with Bruguera herself about INSTAR's main challenges and principles, as well as her vision of political art and activism.

"INSTAR was inspired by an interrogation I underwent, with Kenya," Bruguera confessed, alluding to the State Security agent, well known among activists involved in art.

In response to her work El Susurro de Tatlin, Bruguera was interrogated on several occasions. The artist related how she ended up explaining to the agents the difference between theater and performance: "It was like an Art History lesson that I gave her (Kenya) in the middle of the interrogation." This experience led her to understood that knowledge is "a way to counteract hatred" and "violence."

"Because hatred and violence often come from a place of ignorance and a lack of resources. Later I realized that I maybe it didn't really help her; I don't think so. But I came out of there saying: 'I have to do this in a more systematic way,'" she said.

INSTAR is "a project that I also needed, as a human being," the creator acknowledged. The project "came about during a frictional relationship with the Government. They were upset by us calling it an 'institute', for appropriating the idea by creating a parallel institutionality and institutions."

Bruguera said that, in addition, this point is part of her artistic practice: "creating parallel institutions, not to criticize those that exist, but to provide a constructive example of what we desire.

"The best thing that can happen to a social project that I work on is that there no longer be any need for it, as this means that what originated it has changed, that the reason why the project had to be created no longer exists."

Another key aspect of INSTAR's work is its spirit of "support and fellowship" with other groups and independent projects. "Im very aware of my privilege," said Bruguera, as during her artistic career she traveled a path on which she worked with Cuban cultural institutions and became an artist recognized by the government, with works in the collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts.

But her approach to activism and her art, increasingly critical of the system, distanced her from official institutions. In 2015 she returned her Distinction for National Culture and resigned from the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC).

"The challenge is also not to succumb to Cuban Government's toxic, tedious, abusive and cyclical dynamics of repression," said the artivist, who confessed that her team, on more than one occasion, has had to ponder whether to make public aggressions they have suffered.

"At INSTAR they put acid under the door and the windows. They locked it up so that we could not get in. They have constantly cut off our Internet, and we have had police outside surrounding the place. We have suffered a smear campaign, and people from our team have been interrogated by State Security several times. We have a very specific challenge, which is this constant aggression, and part of our challenge is how to respond with clear minds and in a fresh way, without becoming intoxicated with all that ideological acid that they subject us to, in the mental sense ... And theyre always trying to sabotage projects, she explained.

"INSTAR's greatest attribute and this is something for which I personally fight every day is that, no matter what is going on in Cuba, no matter what is happening on other projects, or with ourselves, INSTAR has to continue, it cannot stop. Because the day that INSTAR stops, they will have won."

Another important aspect for Bruguera is its self-financing model, through donations. "We had 936 people who donated, everything from one dollar to 3,000" Bruguera also asked institutions that had to pay her fees for exhibitions, to give donations to INSTAR on her behalf. The origins of the donations are detailed on the project website, in an exercise of transparency that is unprecedented in Cuban society.

"We can pay fair wages, and we have been able to economically empower people to whom all the doors allowing them to live from their work had been closed."

The loneliness of the artivist

"Sometimes you have to distance yourself from people you love, to protect them," confessed Bruguera, whose political position has affected her relationships with friends and family: "Family and partners are something that they (the political police ) affect a lot."

Loneliness also manifests itself at the professional level. "I remember in 2014, when I did 'El Susurro de Tatlin', which was an appeal to Cubans to turn out at the Plaza and share their vision of the Cuba they wanted to see, at that time more than 80 people were arrested. Many of my fellow artists decided not to support it. Many said that they didn't know what they were talking about when someone asked them about it," recalled Bruguera, who, despite this, did not publicly criticize the lack of solidarity she suffered at that time.

"If I'm fighting for freedom of expression, I cannot condemn a person just because we disagree," she explained. "It's their right to think as they do. Do I believe that they're wrong? Yes, I do. Does it hurt me that they don't support me? Yes, it does. And yes, that is an achievement by the Government. But I can't force anyone to do what they don't want to do."

From art to activism

When we talk about political art in Cuba, Tania Bruguera's name immediately comes to mind. But the Cuban artist is heir to an artistic tradition that in the 80's opted for this artistic discourse. "There's a group of artists who came before me who have not yet been assigned their place in the history of Cuban art: the artists of the 80s, who inspired me to be the artist that I am today. The actions, the performances that they did at the institutions, Arte-Calle, Glexis Novoa, Angel Delgado, Sandra Ceballos herself.

There is a very strong generation of people who marked a turning point in Cuban art, and they have not been appreciated as they should have, in their sphere. I think you have to be fair."

Although the political arena has been an essential component in Bruguera's work, she took a step further when she came into contact with activists in the United States. There she learned strategies to speak to power. "Can art change reality, society?" was one of the questions she asked herself, which led her to approach her artistic creation in another way: "For me it was no longer enough to condemn. Rather, it was about creating systems of change."

Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, the enthusiastic student

Before INSTAR, Tania Bruguera led workshops on projects such as the Catedra de Arte de Conducta (Behavior Art School). At INSTAR the creator has continued and strengthened her pedagogical work Among the artists who has studied the most at INSTAR is the independent artist and coordinator of the MSI Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara: "He went to all the workshops, from the beginning. He was always very enthusiastic about INSTAR. He and Yanelis Nunez grasped very well what INSTAR was about from the beginning. They're very smart people."

"Art is not only about producing an object. Its also about creating a gesture that breaks with a narrative  so you can communicate something that makes people think, and I believe that is what hes doing at this time," she said in defense of Otero Alcantara's artivism.

"We're engaged in a symbolic/psychological war, and it's a very dangerous time for Luis Manuel's life. It's a time when, no matter what you think of him as a human being, or as an activist or an artist, there are things that cannot be allowed, based on human principles, ethical principles ... to be able to look at yourself tomorrow," Bruguera declared.

Fortunately for Otero Alcantara, Bruguera went on, "we're no longer in 2014. Artists feel a certain responsibility with respect to others, and they know that their voices are being heard ... People are beginning to understand that they have to use their privileges so that other people can survive. It's the perfect time for all of us to come together and tell the government that we're not going to allow any more abuse," she stressed.

The search for 'common ground' to build a better country

"Im on the Left. I define myself as someone who is interested in fighting against social injustice, and I believe that governments should not be realms of privilege for a few, but rather ones where we can all exert an influence," she said. "It is very difficult for left-wing groups in the world to understand and support you," she said, since "the Cuban government has been weaving a narrative for more than 60 years" that is accompanied by "strong economic" support for those left-wing groups. "There are other loyalties," she observed.

Although her political positioning brings with it harassment by the regime and exclusion from cultural life on the Island, Bruguera has been a role model and an inspiration for other artists to decide to come out of the ideological closet. "For me this is a time of great happiness, as an activist, because I used to be so alone, and now I'm seeing a lot of solidarity. I don't mean that the alliances are not complex, that there aren't times when we argue, but this is a very special time, because Im seeing the Cuba that I want. It's not in power, it is not the majority, we do not have in our hands the tools to create laws that support these behaviors, but that Cuba already exists," she said, referring to the burgeoning civil society groups, such as 27N.

"I don't agree with banning any political party. I am for creating a state of rights that naturally prevents these things from flourishing." We have to "break the cycle of violence and of emotional and political abuse that exists. Eliminate the political hatred that we have been subjected to for so long."

It's not an easy road. () There will undoubtedly be people who will have to pay, but we cannot embrace an attitude of revenge," she said, pointing out that most Cubans have a relative involved in the structures created by the Revolution: "You're not going to kill your cousin. You have to make him understand why what he did was wrong."

"It's going to be a difficult process, but in 27N we're doing things of this kind, (...) We have always managed to find a point on which we all agree (...) This common ground that we all have to find has to be one to build on. Because for 60 years we have been subjected to a process of destruction."

Asked what remains to be done, Bruguera confessed that she would like to be part of the team that drafts a new constitution for Cuba: "I would love to advance a bill against hatred and political violence."
Am I the only one who has fix-it projects fail but only if I button everything up prior to testing? As an example, when I was a computer technician I would frequently open up computers to replace parts for newer parts or sometimes to replace a broken part.
Press Release

June 2, 2021 SSFI answers PGH's call for help The Senate Spouses Foundation, Inc. (SSFI), upon the initiative of Ms. Ciara Sotto, turned over Tuesday, June 1, 2021, some essential supplies to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Pediatric Ward. On May 16, a fire that started from the PGH's operating room on the third floor seriously damaged the nursery room for newborn babies, prompting the evacuation of the hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and the transfer of the babies to Sta. Ana Hospital. Learning about the incident, Sotto immediately mobilized the SSFI and called for a donation drive in response to the hospital's appeal for help. Together they were able to gather diapers for the babies, PediaSure milk for children who are critically ill, as well as baby wipes, surgical gloves and masks, pulse oximeters, sphygmomanometers (blood pressure instrument), alcohol and bath soaps, among others. "The Senate Spouses Foundation has always been actively supporting the welfare of our nation's children. PGH Children's Ward has a special place in the heart of our organization. Over the years we have been a proud partner in their various projects. When we heard about the fire affecting the nursery, we just had to extend our help," Sotto said. The SSFI has always been a partner of PGH in many advocacies and charities. PGH, the country's largest government-run hospital catering to thousands of indigent Filipinos nationwide, was in need of a major facelift in 2006, and SSFI was among those who donated funds and helped address the increasing medical needs of indigent patients by taking part in the renovation of the hospital's charity wards.
Responding to Twitter and Facebook blocking former President Donald Trump, Republicans across the country have attacked social media companies for what they say is censorship of conservative ideology. While similar bills have been filed in other states, DeSantis was the first governor to sign one into law.

The governors office defended the new law, saying Big Tech companies discriminate on political and ideological line and the law protects Floridians constitutional rights.

Big Tech is in some ways more powerful than government, and certainly less accountable. Free speech is a sacred right for all Americans. It is recognized that government has a role in protecting consumers against discrimination and deceptive/unfair trade practices, and this law is within that authority to rein in a powerful entity that oversteps individuals free speech rights, DeSantis spokeswoman Taryn Fenske said in an email.

The law that goes into effect July 1 calls for a $250,000 a day fine if a statewide political candidates account is inactivated and $25,000 a day if they remove an account of someone running for a local office.
City sewer crisis to be aired

Faced with a crisis in its waste treatment practices, City of Marianna officials meet tonight with representatives of the state Environmental Protection Agency.

Hanging over the meeting will be the specter of a warning from the president of the West Florida Livestock Market that if the markets planned new building isnt permitted to tie into city sewer,  then we will have no alternative but to close the place down.

The state ordered a halt to additional sewer hookups as of Jan. 1 in all areas where the quality of the effluent was not at least 90 percent pure. Mariannas system, like many others in the state, fell well below the cutoff point. Cattleman R.D. Bennett, president of the cooperative livestock market and one of 225 local persons who invested to save it two years ago, said all he is asking is that the city live up to its obligation to do what you said you would do a year ago.

The problem arose after expansion plans were announced and the city told them there would be no problem tying in. Jackson County Floridan, Wednesday, June 6, 1973

Contract details delay Jennings Field project
MONTGOMERY  Katie Boyd Britt announced Tuesday that she is stepping down as president and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama, a decision that comes amid speculation that she will run for U.S. Senate.

BCA announced Britts decision in a statement and said her resignation is effective Friday. Britt has led the influential business lobby since 2019. She previously served as chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, who announced in February at the age of 86 that he would not seek a seventh term.

While she has not announced a run, it has been speculated that Britt could run for the Senate seat being vacated by Shelby. The BCA statement said Britt is leaving to pursue other opportunities.

Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

One of my greatest prides at BCA has been bringing the previously forgotten back into the fold  our small businesses on Main Street, and the rural businesses and industry that are the heart beats of local communities in every corner of our great state, Britt said in a statement about her departure from BCA.
Gov. Kay Ivey has awarded nearly $1.2 million to further assist five counties, including two in the Wiregrass, in continuing their recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The awards to Barbour, Geneva, Bullock, Butler and Conecuh counties are part of more than $40 million allocated to Alabama under a special Community Development Block Grant program funded from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Barbour County was awarded $300,000 and will use funds to supply food and utility assistance to qualified families. Funds will also be used to upgrade hospital equipment.

Geneva County was awarded $300,000 and will use funds to purchase personal protection equipment for emergency personnel and front-line workers and construct a facility for the volunteer rescue squad to sanitize ambulances.

Ivey will announce additional grants to other Alabama cities and counties as applications are processed. The grant funds are required to be expended on projects relating to the recovery from or preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus or any future infectious diseases.
Buckle up. The Dothans northwest sector of the city will soon be inundated with roadwork as crews begin preparing to add lanes to Highway 84 West and reconfigure median access.

City commissioners concurred with the Alabama Department of Transportations decision to award the contract for the West Main Street project to MidSouth Paving for $5.5 million during Tuesdays meeting. They also entered into an agreement with Poly, Inc. for construction engineering and inspection services for an amount not to exceed $544,688.

The City of Dothan is paying just more than $4 million towards the project while the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program (ATRIP II) is paying $2 million.

Construction is estimated to begin in around four to six weeks and will run concurrently with ongoing roadwork in close proximity on Ross Clark Circle.

Randy Morris, acting public works director, said he believes the additional roadwork will cause minimal interruption during the majority of the projects timeline. He told commissioners that both lanes would be kept open most of the time, but will occasionally have to drop down to one lane to accommodate certain projects.
TUSCALOOSA  Mayor Walt Maddox has appointed Scott Holmes to replace Glenda Webb as city attorney for the City of Tuscaloosa, effective June 5.

Holmes is originally from Slocomb and graduated from Wicksburg High School in 1999. His parents, David and Susan Holmes, still live in Slocomb where his father practices law.

Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Scott joined our team as an associate city attorney in 2014 and has played a significant role in the citys administration in many key areas including legal advisor and operations section chief for Incident Command during our COVID-19 response, designing regulations for short-term rentals, pier electrical permits, Elevate Tuscaloosa, Project Unity, and the Crime Response Team, Maddox said. I am honored and excited that Scott is leading our Office of the City Attorney, and I believe he has what it takes to make us the most innovative and effectively managed city in the United States.

Holmes is active in both the local community and the legal community, having served as president of the board of Focus on Senior Citizens, as a board member for the Tuscaloosa County Alternative Sentencing Program and a member of Kiwanis of Greater Tuscaloosa. Holmes was also elected president of the Tuscaloosa County Bar Association in 2017 and served as an Alabama State Bar Commissioner for the 6th Judicial Circuit for the past three years.